WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 5II 



200 deep-sea galleons in its harbor ; the quake was so severe that 

 besides other great damage caused in the Kingdom, it overturned a 

 mountain ridge and threw it across this large river. This dammed 

 it up and for a considerable time it was unable to follow its course 

 to the ocean ; it formed an inland sea which caused great damage 

 and flooded out many settlements in the district, while its bed down 

 to sea dried up. Then its powerful current burst forth with great 

 violence across country and it rushed in furious vexation down to 

 the ocean ; there were some ships sailing by the harbor, and its furious 

 violence was such that it carried them several leagues out to sea. 

 In the case of another earthquake which occurred at Quito, another 

 volcano erupted, and the filthy mass of red-hot rocks and pumice 

 stone which it cast out, dammed a large river which flowed nearby, 

 so that its current was blocked for a period of 3 days, until the water 

 ran over, and carrying ahead most of the mass, cleaned out and 

 resumed its channel. In Nicaragua there were such great shocks 

 caused by the volcanoes which they have in that province that in 

 the year 1606 the Leon volcano thundered and roared violently 

 and at the same time caused such terrible quakes that the very earth 

 lifted itself over a stade above its former level and was left all 

 full of cracks, openings, and caverns ; it ruined and destroyed that 

 city, and I have already remarked that the earth seemed desirous 

 of swallowing them up. In Guatemala the proximity of its volcanoes 

 has caused terrible quakes, which it would take too long to describe ; 

 the same is true of Mexico City and Puebla and all that region, 

 occasioned more by the volcano and sierra of Tlaxcala than by any 

 other. 



1408. A possible cause of earthquakes might also be found in the 

 fact that along the seacoasts cracks and hollows in the earth get 

 plugged and choked by the dampness from the water and thus the 

 hot vapors produced in the bowels and cavities of the earth, might 

 issue forth. But that does not seem to be a sufficient reason, for 

 it does not apply equally everywhere ; that might happen in Spain, 

 but there are no volcanoes or earthquakes there, as there commonly 

 are in the Indies, for the reasons given, unless the following is the 

 principal cause and reason. 



In the Indies they do not have wells, as in Spain ; these might 

 easily obviate their affliction ; or at least by opening up wells in all 

 localities in the Indies, there would be more breathing holes and 

 fewer earthquakes. This must suffice for this subject, so that we 

 may continue with regard to the jurisdiction of the Diocese of 

 iVrequipa. 



