168 Volcanic Ertq)tlons and Earthqua'kes. 



appearance of the men in it was that of fishermen, I had some 

 ideas that they were soldiers in disguise, and that arms were con- 

 cealed in the bottom of the boat. Other travellers, however, 

 subsequently dispelled all my doubts. 



" I observed nothing remarkable in the atmosphere or ap- 

 pearance of the night of the S2d, and no ashes such as 1 have 

 .since heard fell in other places ; neither were ashes seen in Isa- 

 bal, and the inhabitants there supposed a volcanic eruption had 

 taken place in some mountain to their south. In Omoa they 

 had the same idea. In Trugillo showers of ashes fell, and they 

 supposed there that the sound proceeded from some mountains 

 due south of them. 



" In San Salvador, the federal city, the. eruption was sup- 

 posed to have been of the volcano of San Vicento, a day's jour- 

 ney to the east ; the heart of the indigo country was said to be 

 destroyed, and forty thousand inhabitants to have perished. Sub- 

 sequent accounts have shewn the fallacy of all these conjectures, 



" In Leon, the capital of Nicaragua, the noise of the night of 

 the 22d was accompanied by a violent earthquake. The fol- 

 lowing day was dark, and the ashes that fell formed a layer nine 

 inches thick. However, the loss of seven lives, and the ruin of 

 two farms in the immediate neighbourhood of the volcano, have 

 been the only damage done by it in that state. Persons at some 

 distance from Quesaltenango, supposed the eruption proceeded 

 from the volcano near that city. The noise in that direction is 

 known to have been heard as far as Oajaca. 



*' At the port of Balize, in the Bay of Honduras, the British 

 authorities there were doubtful whether the firing of the night 

 of the 22d proceeded from a man-of-war in distress, or a naval 

 action ; in the case of the first, the superintendent ordered the 

 ffuns of the fort to answer. In the interior of the settlement of 

 Balize, the inhabitants universally believed that it was myself 

 attacking their port with a Central American force. 



*' At Peten, to the westward of Balize, it was likewise sup- 

 posed to be myself at the head of an independent insurrection in 

 the British settlement. 



<' At Kingston, and other southern' ports of Jamaica, where 

 the sound was heard, it was supposed to proceed from the Bri- 

 tish man-of-war Fly, cast on the Pedro bank. However, the 



