Two years and three-quarters afterwards Valdivia and
Chiloe were again shaken, more violently than on the 20th, and an
island in the Chonos Archipelago was permanently elevated more than
eight feet. It will give a better idea of the scale of these
phenomena, if (as in the case of the glaciers) we suppose them to
have taken place at corresponding distances in Europe:--then would
the land from the North Sea to the Mediterranean have been
violently shaken, and at the same instant of time a large tract of
the eastern coast of England would have been permanently elevated,
together with some outlying islands,--a train of volcanos on the
coast of Holland would have burst forth in action, and an eruption
taken place at the bottom of the sea, near the northern extremity
of Ireland--and lastly, the ancient vents of Auvergne, Cantal, and
Mont d'Or would each have sent up to the sky a dark column of
smoke, and have long remained in fierce action. Two years and
three-quarters afterwards, France, from its centre to the English
Channel, would have been again desolated by an earthquake, and an
island permanently upraised in the Mediterranean.
The space, from under which volcanic matter on the 20th was
actually erupted, is 720 miles in one line, and 400 miles in
another line at right angles to the first: hence, in all
probability, a subterranean lake of lava is here stretched out, of
nearly double the area of the Black Sea.
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