3Gi REVIEWS — NOTES OS CEWPBA1 A.MEBICA. 



" The volcano of Izalco may, however, be regarded as the most interesting vol- 

 canic feature of the state. This volcano and that of Jorullo, in Mexico, described 

 by Humboldt, are, I believe, the only ones which have originated on this conti- 

 nent since the discovery. It arose from the plain, near the great mass of the ex- 

 tinct volcano of Santa Anna, in 1770, and covers what was then a fine cattle ha- 

 cienda or estate. About the close of 17G9 the dwellers on this estate were alarmed 

 by subterranean noises and shocks of earthquakes, which continued to increase in 

 loudness and >:.rength until the twenty-third of February following, when the earth 

 opened about half a mile from the dwellings on the estate, sending out lava, accom- 

 panied by fire and smoke. The inhabitants fled, but the vaqueros or herdsmen, 

 who visited the estate daily, reported a constant increase in the smoke and flame, 

 and that the ejection of lava was at times suspended, and vast quantities of ashes, 

 cinders, and stones sent ont instead, forming an increasing cone around the vent or 

 crater. Thi3 process was repeated for a long period, but for many years the vol- 

 cano has thrown out no lava. It has, however, remained in a state of constant 

 eruption, and received, in consequence, the designation of ,: El Faro del Salvador," 

 the Light-house of Salvador. Its explosions occur with great regularity, at inter- 

 vals of from ten to twenty minutes, with a noise like the discharge of a pnrk of ar- 

 tillery, accompanied with a dense smoke, and a cloud of ashes and stones which 

 fall upon every side, and add to the height of the cone, which is now about twenty- 

 five hundred feet in altitude. 



" The volcanoes of San Vicente aud Tecapa have several orifices or vents, 

 emitting smoke, steam, and sulphurous vapors, which arc called " Infernillos" 

 literally " Little Hells." In a word, it may be said, with truth, that San Salvador 

 comprehends more volcanoes, and has within its limits more rmrked results of vol- 

 canic action, than probably any other equal extent of the earth. For days the trav- 

 eller within its border-? journeys over unbroken beds of lava, scoria?, and volcanic 

 sand, constituting, contrary to what most people would suppose, a soil of unbound- 

 ed fertility, and densely covered with vegetati 



In many respects this region of Central America resembles the 

 fair deceitful Italian ileitis, surrounding the classic crater of Vesuvius, 

 and like them too, it has its buried Pompeii : the city of San Salvador, 

 reared on a table land wholly made up of scoria.', volcanic aslies. and 

 fragments of pumice, overlying to the depth of hundreds of feet, the 

 beds of lava which had ilowed from the volcano before their ejection. 

 The great volcano of " Our Saviour," as it is oddly enough named, n 

 its cone about three miles to the westward of the ruined city, to a 

 height of about eight thousand feet, while beneath it. at a much 

 lower altitude, is the jagged mouth of the crater, yawning its huge 

 jaws, it is said, a league and half in circumference and nearly three 

 thousand feet deep. Such is the chief central object of the region 

 originally chosen as the site for the capital of the republic of San 

 Salvador. The hills around the plain of the same name are covered 

 with verdure, and the loose, but fertilising volcanic soil adds some 

 other singular features to the locality. 



