PROPAGATION OF EARTHQUAKES. 3 



granitic soil of the two banks of the Orinoco was agitated 

 as far as the Kan dales of Atures and Maypures. South of 

 these Raudales shocks are sometimes felt, which are confined 

 to the basin of the Upper Orinoco and the Kio Negro. 

 They appear to depend on a volcanic focus distant from that 

 of the Caribbee Islands. We were told by the missionaries 

 at Javita and San Fernando de Atabapo, that in 1798 violent 

 earthquakes took place between the GKiaviare and the Kio 

 Negro, which were not propagated on the north towards 

 IMaypures. We cannot be sufficiently attentive to whatever 

 relates to the simultaneity of the oscillations, and to the 

 independence of the movements in contiguous ground. 

 Everything seems to prove that the propagation of the com- 

 motion is not superficial, but depends on very deep crevices, 

 that terminate in different centres of action. 



The scenery around the town of Angostura is little varied; 

 but the view of the river, which forms a vast canal, stretch- 

 ing from south-west to north-east, is singularly majestic. 



When the waters are high, the river inundates the quays; 

 and it sometimes happens that, even in the town, imprudent 

 persons become the prey of crocodiles. I shall transcribe 

 from my journal a fact that took place during M. Bonpland's 

 illness. A Guaykeri Indian, from the island of La Marga- 

 reta, was anchoring his canoe in a cove where there were not 

 three feet of water. A very fierce crocodile, which habitually 

 haunted that spot, seized him by the leg, and withdrew from 

 the shore, remaining on the surface of the water. The cries 

 of the Indian drew together a crowd of spectators. This 

 unfortunate man was first seen seeking, with astonishing 

 presence of mind, for a knife which he had in his pocket. 

 Not being able to find it, he seized the head of the crocodile 

 and thrust his fingers into its eyes. No man in the hot 

 regions of America is ignorant that this carnivorous reptile, 

 covered with a buckler of hard and dry scales, is extremely 

 sensitive in the only parts of his body which are soft and 

 unprotected, such as the eyes, the hollow underneath the 

 shoulders, the nostrils, and beneath the lower jaw, where 

 there are two glands of musk. The Guaykeri Indian was 

 less fortunate than the negro of Mungo Park, and the girl 

 of Uritucu, whom I mentioned in a former part of this 

 work, for the crocodile did not open its jaws and lose hold 



B 3 



