SIO ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



to the city, where they seemed to 

 be less miserable among their com- 

 panions in misfortune, the silence 

 and solitude of the country appa- 

 rently adding to the dismal aspect 

 of nature. 



The markets were without pro- 

 visions; the farmers brought none 

 into town; and many, after wan- 

 dering about in search of food, at 

 length laid down and died of hun- 

 ger : those who survived obtained 

 sustenance with much difficulty. 

 Had not some cocoa, sugar, and 

 maize been saved (which were 

 retailed at a most exorbitant price), 

 more would have perished from 

 hunger than from the effects of the 

 earthquake. 



Three thousand wounded of all 

 ranks were collected and placed 

 at first on the banks of a river, 

 under the shade of some trees : but 

 they were absolutely in want of 

 every thing, even the most indis- 

 pensable requisites: they were 

 abandoned to the medicine of con- 

 solation : they were told that they 

 must conform to the decrees of 

 Providence, and that every thing 

 was for the best. 

 ^ During this awful crisis, a judi- 

 cious observer of mankind might 

 have witnessed a striking exhibi- 

 tion of the manners, character, 

 and principles, by which the Spa- 

 nish people are regulated in their 

 conduct. 



Their extreme insensibility is 

 scarcely credible : I saw fathers of 

 families who had lost five or six 

 children, friends, relations, and 

 their whole property without shed- 

 ding a tear; most of them con- 

 soling themselves by holding a 



conversation with an image of the 

 Virgin, or some privileged saint.* 

 Others gaily drowned their sor- 

 row in rum ; and all appeared 

 much less grieved at the event, 

 than they would have been at the 

 loss of a process which affected 

 their rank as nobles, or deprived 

 them of their precedence in a 

 public company or at a religious 

 procession. 



It is too true, that human be- 

 ings, naturally superstitious and 

 ungrateful, never so cordially re- 

 spect their deities or their kings 

 when they are beneficent as when 

 they are severe : the more rigor- 

 ous they are, the more just and 

 equitable are they esteemed. Such 

 is the lot of mankind 1 they forget 

 benefits ; and governors, in order 

 to acquire the homage which is 

 due to them, must be feared : gra- 

 titude and love are sentiments too 

 delicate to be common among 

 mankind. 



Good Friday is without doubt 

 the most imposing of the Catholic 

 holidays : it is that which ought to 

 inspire the most pious reflections ; 

 but at the Caraccas, as in many 

 other places, on this occasion, the 

 women are occupied with their 

 dress, more anxious perhaps to ap- 

 pear amiable in the sight of men 

 than to worship the Supreme Be- 

 ing : they think of nothing but 

 amusement, and they almost for- 

 get that Being who does not ma- 

 nifest himself openly. But scarcely 

 had they experienced the earth- 

 quake, when they said it was the 

 thunder of heaven sent to punish 

 the crimes of mortals : their ele- 

 gant clothes were immediately laid 



• The Divine Being among the Spaniards seems to be absolutely unknown ; they 

 never speak of him : it is the Virgin and the Saints who receive all their homage. 



