a 5 
; 
~ 
ewbich took place in Peru in the Year1797. 39 
_ with flames, either from their craters or through their lateral 
fiffures. In the midft of the moft profound calm there is 
frequently heard a dreadful bellowing noife, the forerunner 
of earthquakes, to which this part of the world is often ex- 
pofed. After the year 1791, this noife was frequently heard 
in the neighbourhood of the mountain of Tunguragua. An- 
tonio Pineda and Née, the ‘two naturalifts employed in the 
expedition round the world, when examining the declivity 
of this volcano, the lava of which had been hardened more 
by the internal fire than by the ardour of the fun, were ftruck 
with terror by the horrible found which they heard, and the 
heat which they experienced. Pineda, that valuable member 
of fociety, whofe premature death is ftill deplored by the 
friends of fcience, foretold that a terrible eruption was pre- 
paring in the mountain of Tunguragua; and his conjectures 
were confirmed by the event. On the 4th of February 1797, 
-at three quarters paft feven in the morning, the fummit of 
the volcano was more free from. vapours than ufual; the in- 
terior part of the mountain was agitated by frequent fhocks, 
and the adjacent chains burft in fuch a manner, that in the 
fpace of four minutes an immenfe tract of country was con- 
vulfed by an undulating movement. Never did hiftory relate 
the effects of an earthquake fo extraordinary, and never did 
any phenomenon of Nature produce more misfortunes, or 
deftroy a greater number of human beings. A number of . 
towns and villages were deftroyed in a moment: fome of 
‘them, fuch as Riobamba, Quero, Pelileo, Patate, Pillaro, 
were buried under the ruins of the neighbouring mountains ; 
and others in the jurifdictions of Harnbata, Latacunga, 
Guaranda, Riobamba, and Alaufi, were entirely overthrown. 
Some fuftained prodigious lofs by the gulphs which were 
formed, and by the reflux of rivers intercepted in their 
courfe by mounds of earth; and others, though in part 
faved, were in fuch a fhattered ftate as to threaten their total 
‘tuin. The number of perfons who perifhed during the firft 
and fucceeding fhocks are eftimated at 16,000. At ten 
‘o’clock in the morning, and four in the afternoon, the fame 
day, (February 4,) after a dreadful noife, the earth was again 
agitated with great violence, and it did not ceafe to fhake, 
though 
