^xv 



Ul. 



of 





is 

 in 



L 



^^y the 



^uiiilar 



e 



in the 

 t' that 



viulent 

 surface 

 ¥ heard 

 tmrehes 

 3 of the 



ks were 

 liat the 

 iu'ht bj 

 on any 

 ^ threw 



Lcr into 

 ,1 heing 



. TOUll 



ii 



iiieiise 

 ahnicia, 

 earth ; 



111 



ibolJt 









111 



d tl^^' 





t 



Ch. XXVIII.] EAKTIIQUAKE IN CARACCAS IN 1812. 



107 



shocks continued till those cities were destroyed. Tlie valley 

 also of tlie Mississippi, from tlie village of New Madrid 

 to tlie uiontli of tlie Ohio in one direction, and to the St. 

 Francis in another, was convulsed in such a degree as to 

 create new lakes and ishinds. It has been remarked by 

 Humboldt in his Cosmos, that the earthquake of New Madrid 

 presents one of the few examples on record of the incessant 

 quaking of the ground for several successive months /ar /rom 

 any volcano. Flint, the geographer, who visited the country 

 seven years after the event, informs us, that a tract of many 

 miles in extent, near the Little Prairie, became covered with 

 water 3 or 4 feet deep ; and Avhen the water disappeared 

 a stratum of sand was left in its place. Large lakes of 

 20 miles in extent were formed in the course of an hour, 

 and others were drained. The s^raveyard at 



The graveyard at New Madrid 

 was precipitated into the bed of the Mississippi; and it is 

 stated that the ground whereon the toAvn is built, and the 

 river bank for 15 miles above, sank 8 feet below their 

 former level.^ The neighbouring forest presented for some 

 years afterAvards ^ a singular scene of confusion ; the trees 

 standing inclined in every direction, and many having their 



trunks and branches broken. 't 



The inhabitants relate that the earth rose in great undu- 

 lations ; and when these reached a certain fearful height, the 

 soil burst, and vast volumes of water, sand, and pit-coal were 

 discharged as high as the tops of the trees, 

 hundreds of these deep chasms remaining in an alluvial soil, 

 seven years after. As the shocks lasted throughout a period 

 of three months the country peoi3le had time to remark that 

 there were certain prevailing directions in which the fissures 

 opened in their district. Being all of them familiar with the 

 use of the axe, they felled the tallest trees and made them fall 

 at right angles to the direction of the chasms which usually 

 ran from SW. to NE., and by stationing themselves on the 

 trees they often escaped being swallowed up when the earth 

 opened beneath them. At one period during this earthquake, 



Flint saw 



'-^ Cramor's Navigator, p. 243. Titts- 

 hmgh, 1821. 



t Long's Exped. to the Eocky Moun- 

 tains, vol. iii. p. 184. 



