i .t
!Sii
r i '
hering to the remains of the walls were left the lower parts of
some buttresses—the upper parts of others—while in one place
a buttress stood on its own foundation, separated entirely from
the wall.
The city of Concepcion stands upon a plain, very little higher
than the level of the river Bio Bio. The soil is loose and alluvial.
To the eastward and northward lie rocky irregular hills:
from the foot of which the loose earth was every where parted
by the great convulsion, large cracks being left, from an inch
to more than a foot in width. It seemed as if the low land had
been separated from the hills, having been more disturbed by
the shock.
Women washing in the river near Concepcion were startled
by the sudden rise of the water—from their ankles to their
knees—and at the same moment felt the beginning of the convulsion.
It was said that the dogs avoided the ruin, by running
away before it occurred. This, though known with
certainty to have been the case at Talcahuano, wants confirmation
with respect to Concepcion. Of nine men who were
repairing the inside of a church, seven were killed, and two
severely hurt. One of these poor fellows was half-buried in the
ruins, during five days, with a dead body lying across him,
through which it was necessary to cut, for his release. A mother,
escaping with her children, saw one fall into a hole; a wall
close to her was tottering ; she pushed a piece of wood across
the hole, and ran on; the wall fell, covering the hole with
masses of brick-work; but,.next day, the child was taken out unhurt.
Another woman missed a child ; saw that a high wall was
tottering, hut ran for her son, and brought him out. As she
crossed the street, the wall fell, but they were safe ; when the
tremendous crash came, the whole street, which she had just
crossed, was filled up with part of the ruins of the cathedral.
Besides a waving or undulatory movement, vertical, horizontal,
and circular or twisting motions were felt. An angular stone
pinnacle was particularly noticed, which had been turned half
round, without being thrown down, or leaving its base.
Persons riding at the time of the great shock, were stopped
: *