Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes. 335 
“J observed nothing remarkable in the atmosphere or appearance 
of the night of the 22d, and no ashes, such as I have since heard fell in 
other places; neither were ashes seen in Isabal, and the inhabitants 
there supposed a volcanic eruption had taken place in some moun- 
tain to their south. In Omoa they had the same idea. In Trugillo 
showers of ashes fell, and they also supposed there that the sound 
proceeded from some mountains due south of them.” 
‘In San Salvador, the federal city, the eruption was supposed to 
have been of the volcano of San Vicento, a day’s journey to the east ; 
the heart of the indigo country was said to be destroyed, and forty 
thousand inhabitants to have perished.” 
“¢ Subsequent accounts have shown the fallacy of all these conjec- 
tures.” 
In Leon, the capital of Nicaragua, the noise of the night of the 
22d was.accompanied by a violent earthquake, the following day was 
dark, and the ashes that fell formed a layer nine inches thick: how- 
ever, the loss of seven lives, and the ruin of two farms in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of the volcano, have been the only damage done 
by it in that state. 
Persons at some distance from Quesaltenango, supposed the erup- 
tion proceeded from the volcano near that city. The noise in that 
direction is known to have been heard as far as Oajaca. 
At the port of Balize in the bay of Honduras, the British authori- 
ties there were doubtful whether the firing of the night of the 22d 
proceeded from a man of war in distress, or a naval action ; in case 
of the first, the superintendant ordered the guns of the fort to an- 
swer. In the interior of the settlement of Balize, the inhabitants 
universally believed that it was myself attacking their port with a 
Central American force. 
At Peten, to the westward of Balize, it was likewise supposed to 
be myself at the head of an independent insurrection in the British 
settlement. 
At Kingston, and the other southern ports of Jamaica, where the 
sound was heard, it was supposed to proceed from the British man 
of war Fly, cast on the Pedro bank: however the ashes which sub- 
sequently fell, convinced the observers in Jamaica that a volcano 
was the origin. 
- At Santamartha in New Grenada, it was supposed to be the firing 
of the same vessel in distress: the noise was heard as far as Bogota. 
Captain McQuay, who commanded the Fly, was in the harbor of 
