Besides Chairs, Tables, Book-Shelves, Etc., In
Great Numbers, There Were Several Roofs Of Cottages, Which
Had Been Transported Almost Whole.
The storehouses at Talcahuano
had been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba,
and other valuable merchandise were
Scattered on the shore.
During my walk round the island, I observed that numerous
fragments of rock, which, from the marine productions adhering
to them, must recently have been lying in deep water,
had been cast up high on the beach; one of these was six feet
long, three broad, and two thick.
The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming
power of the earthquake, as the beach did that of the consequent
great wave. The ground in many parts was fissured
in north and south lines, perhaps caused by the yielding of
the parallel and steep sides of this narrow island. Some of
the fissures near the cliffs were a yard wide. Many enormous
masses had already fallen on the beach; and the inhabitants
thought that when the rains commenced far greater slips would
happen. The effect of the vibration on the hard primary slate,
which composes the foundation of the island, was still more
curious: the superficial parts of some narrow ridges were as
completely shivered as if they had been blasted by gunpowder.
This effect, which was rendered conspicuous by the
fresh fractures and displaced soil, must be confined to near
the surface, for otherwise there would not exist a block of
solid rock throughout Chile; nor is this improbable, as it is
known that the surface of a vibrating body is affected
differently from the central part.
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