At times, and in certain places,
she acts with startling abruptness and extraordinary violence. Let the
volcano and the earthquake attest the immensity of her power. Let the
earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coast-line of
Chili, for 100 miles about Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the
Andes, was hoisted at one blow, and in a single night (November 19,
1822), from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach
below the old low-water mark high and dry. One of the Andean peaks
upheaved on this occasion was the colossal mass of Aconcagua, which
overlooks Valparaiso, and measures nearly 24,000 feet in height. On the
same occasion, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as
having been upheaved; and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but
extended far away to sea,--which was proved by the soundings off
Valparaiso and along the coast having been found considerably shallower
than they were before the shock.
In the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cutch,
bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long
and sixteen miles broad was suddenly raised _ten feet_ above its former
level.
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