MORAL EFFECTS OF TUE EAUTPIQUAKE. JI41 



far as the Rio Guayra, which was considerably swollen, chap, xiil 

 and there were no vessels for drawing it. 



" There remained to be performed towards the dead a Buruing the 

 duty imposed alike by piety and the dread of infection. ^'^^'^ 

 As it was impossible to inter so many thousands of 

 bodies half buried in the ruins, commissioners were 

 appointed to burn them. Funeral- piles were erected 

 among the heaps of rubbish. This ceremony lasted 

 several days. Amid so many public calamities, the 

 people ardently engaged in the religious exercises which p^,. .^^^ 

 they thought best adapted to appease the anger of Heaven, exercises. 

 Some walked in bodies chanting funeral- hymns, while 

 others, in a state of distraction, confessed themselves 

 aloud in the streets. In this city was now repeated 

 what had taken place in the province of Quito after the 

 dreadful earthquake of the 4th February 1797. Mar- 

 riages were contracted between persons who for many 

 years had neglected to sanction their union by the sacer- 

 dotal blessing. Children found parents in persons who jf„j.,,i 

 had till then disavowed them ; restitution was promised effects. 

 by individuals who had never been accused of theft ; 

 and families who had long been at enmity drew together 

 from the feeling of a common evil. But while in some 

 this feeling seemed to soften the heart and open it to 

 compassion, it had a contrary effect on others, rendering 

 them more obdurate and inhumane. In great calamities 

 vulgar minds retain still less goodness than strength ; 

 for misfortune acts like the pursuit of literature and the 

 investigation of nature, which exercise their happy 

 influence only upon a few, giving more warmth to the 

 feelings, more elevation to the mind, and more benevo- 

 lence to the character. 



"Shocks so violent as these, which in the space of jr^jfentofthe 

 one minute overthrew the city of Caraccas, could not be earthquake. 

 confined to a small portion of the continent. Their 

 fatal effects extended to the provinces of Venezuela, 

 Varinas, and Maracaybo, along the coast, and were more 

 especially felt in the mountains of the interior. La 

 Guayra, Mayquetia, Antimaua, Baruta, La Vega, San 



