78 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the tumultuous bosom of the river, carrying down with them the 

 eottonwood trees cracking and crashing, tossing their arms to and 

 fro, as if sensible of their danger, while they disappeared beneath the 

 flood. From the check given to the current by the heaving bottom, the 

 river rose in a few minutes five or six feet and again rushed forward 

 with redoubled impetuosity, hurrying along the boats, now let loose by 

 the horror-stricken boatmen, as in less clanger on the water than on the 

 land." 



Whole islands disappeared. Captain Sarpy of St. Louis, with bis 

 family and considerable money aboard, tied up at an island on the 

 evening of the fifteenth of December, 1811. In looking around they 

 found that a party of river pirates occupied part of the island and were 

 expecting Sarpy with the intention of robbing him. As soon as the 

 latter found that out he quietly dropped lower down the river. In the 

 night the earthquake came, and next morning when the accompanying 

 haziness disappeared, the island could no longer be seen ; it had been 

 utterly destroyed as well as its pirate inhabitants. 



Few scientists were in the region during the period of shocks, but 

 we are fortunate in having handed down to us a realistic picture from 

 the pen of the great naturalist Audubon. 



Traveling through the Barrens of Kentucky (of which I shall give you an 

 account elsewhere) in the month of November, I was jogging on one afternoon, 

 when I remarked a sudden and strange darkness rising from the western horizon. 

 Accustomed to our heavy storms of thunder and rain, I took no notice of it, 

 as I thought the speed of my horse might enable me to get under shelter of the 

 roof of an acquaintance, who lived not far distant, before it should come up. 

 I had proceeded about a mile, when I heard what I imagined to be the distant 

 rumbling of a violent tornado, on which I spurred my steed, with a wish to 

 gallop as fast as possible to a place of shelter; but it would not do, the animal 

 krew better than I what was forthcoming, and instead of going faster, so nearly 

 stopped that I remarked he placed one foot after another on the ground, with 

 as much precaution as if walking on a smooth sheet of ice. I thought he had 

 suddenly foundered, and, speaking to him, was on the point of dismounting and 

 leading him, when he all of a sudden fell a-groaning piteously, hung his head, 

 spread out his four legs as if to save himself from falling, and stood stock still, 

 continuing to groan. I thought my horse was about to die, and would have 

 sprung from his back had a minute more elapsed, but at that instant all the 

 shrubs and trees began to move from their very roots, the ground rose and fell 

 in successive furrows, like the ruffled waters of a lake, and I became bewildered 

 in my ideas, as I too plainly discovered that all this awful commotion in 

 nature was the result of an earthquake. 



The vibrations did not cease for over a year from December six- 

 teenth, the date memorable for the first shock. During the succeeding 

 three months 1,874 shocks were recorded, of which eight were violently 

 destructive, ten very severe and thirty-five generally alarming. In 

 fact, this earthquake is famous all over the world as one of the few 

 instances of almost incessant shaking for a period of many months in 

 a region remote from the seat of any volcanic action. 



