326 Expedition to the 



felt, and much terror expressed. " Don't be alarmed" said 

 the lady of the house, " it is nothing but an earthquake." 



Several houses in and about Cape Girardeau, have for- 

 merly been shaken down, forests have been overthrown,* 

 and other considerable changes produced by their agency. 

 Their effect upon the constantly varying channels and bars 

 in the bed of the Mississippi, must doubtless be very con- 

 siderable. 



These concussions are ordinarily felt through a great ex- 

 tent of country, from the settlements on Red river, and the 

 Washita, to the falls of Ohio, and from the mouth of the 

 Missouri to New Orleans. Their great extent, and the 

 very considerable degree of violence with which they affect 

 not only a large portion of the valley of the Mississippi, but 

 of the adjacent hilly and mountainous country, appear to us 

 most clearly to indicate a cause far more efficient, and deep 

 seated than " the decomposition of beds of lignite or wood 

 coal, situated near the level of the river, and filled with py- 

 rites," according to the suggestion of Mr. Nuttall.f 



From the beginning of the year 1811 till 1813, a vast ex- 

 tent of the earth lying between 50 and 45 '^ of north latitude, 

 limited by the meridian of the Azores, the range of the Al- 

 leghanies and the Green Mountains of Vermont,:|: the valley 

 of the Missouri, the Cordilleras of New Grenada, the coasts 

 of Venezuela, and the Volcanoes of the smaller West India 

 islands, was shaken at the same time by commotions attribu- 

 ted to subterranean fire.$ The destruction of Carraccas in 

 1811, and of other towns along the south-western shores of 



* The forest adjoining the settlement at Little Prairie below New- 

 Madrid, presents a singular scene of confusion, the trees standing- inclined 

 in every direction, and many having their trunks and branches broken. 

 See Mississippi JVavigalor, p. 180. 



t Travels into the Arkansa Territory, p. 53. 



I Several of the earthquakes of 1811, were distinctly felt at Middle- 

 bury in Vermont, on the shores of Lake Champlain, and at many other 

 places along the northwestern side of the Alleghany Mountains. 



$ See Humb. Pers. Nar. vol. 4. p. 8. 



