The northerly shore-wave seems to have been more considerable; and a moment’s study of a chart of the two Americas will show that this circumstance is highly significant. When we remember that the principal effects of the land-shock were experienced within that angle which the Peruvian Andes form with the long north-and-south line of the Chilian and Bolivian Andes, we see at once that, had the centre of the subterranean action been near the scene where the most destructive effects were perceived, no sea-wave, or but a small one, could have been sent towards the shores of North America. The projecting shores of northern Peru and Ecuador could not have failed to divert the sea-wave towards the west; and though a reflected wave might have reached California, it would only have been after a considerable interval of time, and with dimensions much less than those of the sea-wave which travelled southwards. When we see that, on the contrary, a wave of even greater proportions travelled towards the shores of North America, we seem forced to the conclusion that the centre of the subterranean action must have been so far to the west that the sea-wave generated by it had a free course to the shores of California. Be this as it may, there can be no doubt that the wave which swept the shores of Southern California, rising upwards of sixty feet above the ordinary sea-level, was absolutely the most imposing of all the indirect effects of the great earthquake. When we consider that even in San Pedro Bay, fully five thousand miles from the centre of disturbance, a wave twice the height of an ordinary house rolled in with unspeakable violence only a few hours after the occurrence of the earth-throe, we are most strikingly impressed with the tremendous energy of the earth’s movement. Turning to the open ocean, let us track the great wave on its course past the multitudinous islands which dot the surface of the great Pacific. The inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, which lie about 6,300 miles from Arica, might have imagined themselves safe from any effects which could be produced by an earthquake taking place so far away from them. But on the night between August 13 and 14, the sea around this island-group rose in a surprising manner, insomuch that many thought the islands were sinking and would shortly subside altogether beneath the waves. Some of the smaller islands, indeed, were for a time completely submerged. Before long, however, the sea fell again, and as it did so the observers ‘found it impossible to resist the impression that the islands were rising bodily out of the water.’ For no less than three days this strange oscillation of the sea continued to be experienced, the most remarkable ebbs and floods being noticed at Honolulu, on the island of Woahoo. But the sea-wave swept onwards far beyond these islands.