ON ITS EXTERIOR. SPRINGS OF VAPOUR AND GAS. 215 



subsequently very peaceful mud-volcanoes, in the region 

 of the old continent already referred to. (Taman, 1793 ; 

 on the Caspian at Jokmali, 1827; at Baklichli, 1839 ; 

 and at Kuschtschy in the Caucasus, 1846.) 



The apparently small phenomenon of the salses of 

 Turbaco has gained in geological interest by the great 

 outbursts of flame and changes of surface, which in 1839 

 extended between thirty and forty miles N.N.E. of 

 Carthagena to the port of Sabanilla, not far from the 

 mouth of the great Magdalena River, and for the know- 

 ledge of which we are also indebted to the late lamented 

 Artillery-Colonel, Acosta. The proper central point of 

 this latter phsenomenon appears to have been situated 

 in the narrow peninsula called Cape Gralera Zamba, which 

 runs out six or eight miles into the sea. In the middle 

 of this tongue of land there stood a conical hill having 

 a crater-like opening, from which smoke (vapours and 

 gases) sometimes rose with such vehemence, that boards 

 and large pieces of wood, which had been thrown into 

 it, were expelled; and hurled to a great distance. In the 

 year 1839 this cone disappeared, its disappearance being 

 accompanied by a considerable outbreak of fire ; and the 

 whole peninsula of Gralera Zamba became an island, 

 separated from the mainland by a channel more than 

 thirty feet deep. The surface of the sea remained tran- 

 quilly in this state until, on the 7th of October 1848, 

 without any earthquake being felt in the country round, 

 there appeared a second great outburst of flames, ( 297 ) 

 which lasted several days and were visible to distances 

 of between forty and fifty miles. The salse emitted only 

 gases, not solid or liquid substances. When the flames 

 had ceased, the sea-bottom was found to have been 



