400 VOLTAIC ACTION, AND 



on ; or that a ship was in distress. It is stated 

 that during this earthquake, the country was 

 convulsed for more than a thousand miles. 



It is here worthy of special notice, that nearly 

 all the volcanos of our planet that are situated 

 on dry land, amounting to about two hundred, 

 have been found in the vicinity of the ocean ; 

 while it is probable, from the vast number of 

 volcanic islands, that there are at least three 

 times as many beneath the sea. 



It is well known to modern geologists, that 

 submarine eruptions are exceedingly frequent. 

 On the 12th of June, 1811, immense volumes 

 of smoke were observed to arise from the sea, 

 near the island of St. Michael, one of the Azores, 

 by Captain Tillard of the Sabrina, from which 

 issued at intervals, for several days, the most 

 vivid flashes of lightning, and sometimes a con- 

 tinual blaze. During these eruptions an island 

 was formed, about a mile in circumference, and 

 two hundred and eighty feet high, which Cap- 

 tain Tillard visited, in company with several of 

 his officers, on the 4th of July, when he named 

 it Sabrina, after his ship. By the middle of 

 October, it had disappeared, leaving a dangerous 

 shoal. 



During an earthquake on the 9th of July, 

 1757, eighteen small islands emerged from the 

 sea, near the N. west corner of St. George, 

 another of the Azores ; which also disappeared 

 in a few months. 



