. The earth and its inhabitants ... ions of the ground are causedby the subterranean disturbances. Occasionally the shocks are extremely violent,and Arica, which was destroyed in 1605, suffered much in the middle of theeighteenth century. The earthquakes of 1868 and 1877 were still more disastrous,because it had become a flourishing trading place. But so strongly built are thelow houses that they run little risk of being overthrown, and the chief dangercomes from the sea, which first retires, leaving the shipping stranded on the beach, TOPOGKAPHY OF CHILI. 449 and then returns in a prodigious
. The earth and its inhabitants ... ions of the ground are causedby the subterranean disturbances. Occasionally the shocks are extremely violent,and Arica, which was destroyed in 1605, suffered much in the middle of theeighteenth century. The earthquakes of 1868 and 1877 were still more disastrous,because it had become a flourishing trading place. But so strongly built are thelow houses that they run little risk of being overthrown, and the chief dangercomes from the sea, which first retires, leaving the shipping stranded on the beach, TOPOGKAPHY OF CHILI. 449 and then returns in a prodigious wave, rolling in with irresistible force, andsweeping away all obstacles. In 1868 it tore a frigate from its moorings, andhurled it to a distance of over a mile inland. Then in 1877 another wave bore itback to within half a mile of the sea, without drowning the numerous families thathad taken up their abode in the hull. These disasters have not prevented Arica from rising from its ruins. It occu- Fig. 169.— 1 : 32, 70° a 70° 20 West oF Greenw ch Depths. 0to5Fathoms. 5 Fathomsand upwards. 5 Mile. pies too favourable a position at the natural issue of the Tacora pass to be neglectedby vessels plying in these waters. Before the completion of the Arequipaand Antofagasta railways it was the chief inter medio, or port of call, betweenValparaiso and Callao, and it still carries on a brisk export trade in Bolivian woolsand metals. The surrounding plain is a mere waste of sands and stones ; but the village ofLluta in the north-east collects sufficient water in its river bed to grow a little30 450 SOUTH AMERICA—THE ANDES EEGIONS. maize and lucerne. Formerly the district must have been far more thickly peopled,as is evident from the remains of buildings and of numerous tombs full of mum-mies, whose large yellow eyes are formed by the shells of a species of molluscfished in the neighbouring waters. Pisagua, Jiinin, Mejillones del Norte, Caleta Biiena, Iquique and Pati
Size: 1624px × 1539px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
