410 MISCELLANEA. 



IV. Account of a Torrent of Mud in the Plain of the Lagunilla, 



NEW GrRANADA. 



The following account of a remarkable torrent of mud is ex- 

 tracted from a newspaper lately received from Colombia. The 

 facts are attested officially by the local authorities. The first 

 extract is a simple translation of an account dated " Tasajeras, 

 Friday, February 21. 1845," and signed a R. J. Treffery." 



" On Wednesday, the 19th instant, a little before seven, a. m., 

 there was heard a great noise in the plain of the River Lagunilla *, 

 and at the same time an earthquake took place. Immediately 

 there appeared in the strait or ravine in the mountains from which 

 the River Lagunilla arises, an immense flood of liquid clay, which 

 pursued its course with the greatest rapidity through the whole 

 plain on both sides of the river, carrying away woods of tall trees 

 like straw, rolling them away, and covering them in such a manner 

 as to leave no sign of there having been a wood at all. The same 

 happened with regard to the houses and cottages which it met with 

 in its course, overwhelming them with their inhabitants, and carrying 

 away and burying those unhappy persons who were fleeing from 

 death, so that nearly all the population of the higher part of the 

 valley has been destroyed, and many who had escaped from the 

 torrent and gained some high or enclosed place have found them- 

 selves insulated, and have perished by famine. It was quite im- 

 possible to succour them, for the whole plain was covered with a 

 layer of mud and sand, so deep that no one could pass without 

 being swallowed up. Some few persons, however, found an 

 asylum by being near the edge of the torrent, and saved them- 

 selves by roads formed of the branches of trees. 



"It is impossible to calculate with accuracy the number of 

 persons who have perished ; but considering how few have escaped, 

 it is probable that a thousand or more have been thus buried alive. 



" In the plain, the torrent divided itself into two currents, the one 

 following the course of the old river, or the ancient channel of the 

 River Lagunilla, as far as the Magdalena. So great was the 

 elevation of the flood at its first leaving the ravine, that a great 

 torrent separated itself from the principal mass at a right angle, 

 and followed its destructive course towards the north through the 

 valley of Saint Domingo, choking up the woods and carrying them 

 away like the principal torrent as far as the river Sabandiga, and 

 here the trees and the mud formed a kind of dam, and held back 

 the waters of the river so far as to threaten an inundation of all 

 the low grounds by the shore, about the village of Guayabal. 

 Providentially, a strong rain . on Friday night increased the 



* The Lagunilla is a small stream emptying itself into the river Magdalena, 

 and situated in the north-western extremity of South America, in New Granada, 

 Ibague, the town alluded to in the subsequent document, is some distance to the 

 west of Santa Fe de Bogota. 



