in New 

 Andalusi.u 



66 EAUTUQUAJIES. 



CHAP. V. centre of action to be very remote from the earth's 

 Diffusimi surface. Hence it is clear tliat earthquakes are not 

 of eartii- restricted to certain species of rocks, as some naturalists 

 **"" *"*■ assert, but pervade all ; although sometimes, in the 



same rock, the upper strata seem to form an insuperable 

 obstacle to the propagation of the motion. It is curious 

 also, that in a district of small extent certain formations 

 interrupt the sliocks. Thus, at Cumana, before the 

 catastrophe of 1797, the earthquakes were felt only 

 along the southern or calcareous coast of the Gulf of 

 Cariaco, as far as the town of that name, while in the 

 peninsula of Araya, and at the village of Maniquarez, 

 the ground was not agitated. At present, however, the 

 peninsula is as liable to earthquakes ixs the district 

 around Cumana. 

 Eartiiquaki'4 In New Andalusia, as in Chili and Peru, the shocks 

 follow the line of the shore, and extend but little into 

 the interior, — a circumstance which indicates an inti- 

 mate connexion between the causes that produce earth- 

 quakes and volcanic eruptions. If the land along the 

 coasts is most agitated because it is generally lowest, 

 why should not the shocks be equally strong in the 

 savannahs, which are onl}' a few yards above the level 

 of the sea ? 

 Relation The earthquakes of Cumana are connected with those 



Quakcv' <^f the West Indies, and are even suspected to have some 

 relation to the volcanic phenomena of tlie Andes. On 

 the 4th February 1797, the province of Quito under- 

 went so violent a conmiotion that 40,000 pursons were 

 destroyed ; and at the same period shocks were experi- 

 enced in the Eastern Antilles, followed by an ei-uption 

 of the volcano of Guadaloupe, in the end of September 

 1707. On the 14th December the great concussion 

 took place at Cumana. 

 r.^iont of It has long been remarked, that earthquakes extend 



their cfl^ects to much greater distances than volcanoes ; 

 and it is i)roba))le, as has just been mentioned, that the 

 causes wliicli produce the former have an intimate con- 

 nexion with the latter. When seated within the verge 



etl 



