EARTHQUAKE IN PERU. 215 



mountain lias ever been the seat of such terrible and 

 destructive eruptions as those which have burst forth 

 from Cotopaxi. The intensity of the heat which pre- 

 vails during eruption will be readily gathered from the 

 circumstance that in January, 1803, the enormous bed 

 of snow which usually covers the cone of the volcano 

 was dissolved in a single night. 



It would seem that the Mexican volcanoes also 

 belong to the same region of disturbances. Near the 

 Isthmus of Panama the great Cordillera of the Andes 

 lowers itself to the height of about 800 feet, and beyond 

 begins the continuation of the volcanic chain in Cen- 

 tral America and Mexico. JSTor are the volcanoes of 

 the West Indian or Caribbee Islands wholly discon- 

 nected with the region of disturbance in Southern 

 America. And it is rather singular that even the 

 earthquakes which have occurred in the valley of the 

 Mississippi seem to be connected with the West Indian 

 and South American volcanic region. The violent 

 earthquakes which took place at New Madrid in 1812, 

 occurred at exactly the same time as the earthquake of 

 Paranas, " so that it is possible," says Sir Charles Lyell, 

 " that these two points are part of one volcanic region." 



(From the Daily News, September 18, 1868.) 



