Plain of the Lagunilla, New Granada. 199" 



heard a great noise in the plain of the River Lagunilla,* and at 

 the same time an earttiquake took place. Immediately there ap- 

 peared in the strait or ravine, in the mountains from which the 

 River Lagunilla arises, an innnense flood of liquid clay, which pur- 

 sued its course with the greatest rapidity through the whole plain on 

 both sides of the river, carrying away wood and tall trees like straw, 

 rolling them away, and covering them in such a manner as to leave 

 no sign of there having been wood at all. The same happened 

 with regard to the houses and cottages which it met with in its 

 course, overwhelming them with their inhabitants, and carrying 

 away and burying those unhappy persons who were fleeing from, 

 death, so that nearly all the population of the higher part of the 

 valley has been destroyed ; and many who had escaped from the tor- 

 rent and gained some high or enclosed place, have found themselves 

 insulated, and have perished by famine. It was quite impossible to 

 succour them, for the whole plain was covered with a layer of mud 

 and sand, so deep that no one could pass without being swallowed 

 up. Some few persons, however, found an asylum by being near the 

 edge of the torrent, and saved themselves by roads formed of the 

 branches of trees. 



" It is impossible to calculate with accuracy the number of per- 

 sons who have perished ; but, considering how few have escaped, it 

 is probable that a thousand or more have been thus buried alive. 



" In the plain the torrent divided itself into two currents, the one 

 following the course of the old river, or the ancient channel of the 

 River Lagunilla, as far as the Magdalena. So great was the eleva- 

 tion of the flood at its first leaving the ravine, that a great torrent 

 separated itself from the principal mass at a right angle, and fol- 

 lowed its destructive course towards the north through the valley of 

 Saint Domingo, choking up the woods and carrying them away, like 

 the principal torrent, as far as the River Sabandiga ; and here the 

 trees and the mud formed a kind of dam, and held back the waters 

 of the river so far as to threaten an inundation of all the low grounds 

 by the shore about the village of Guayabal. Providentially a strong 

 rain on Friday night increased the tributary streams of the Saban- 

 diga, and the force of the water overcame the dam and gave liberty 

 to the imprisoned streams. 



" This great torrent did not consist solely of mud, but was a mix-. 

 ture of stones, gravel, sand, and clay, joined with great masses of 

 snow, which fell in such a quantity that even in three days it had; 

 not entirely melted, for the mantle of mud which covered it so pro-, 

 tected it from heat that many have probably perished, having lost 



* Lagunilla is a small stream, emptying itself into the River Magda^ 

 l«na, and situated in the north-western extremity of South America, ia 

 New Granada. Ibaguc, the town alluded to in the subsequent docu- 

 ment, is some distance to the west of Santa Fe d^. Bogota. 



