MITCHILL ON THE EARTHQUAKES AT VENEZUELA. 311 



terrupted calm, the heat was considerably increased. Lightning and 

 meteors were multiplied to an alarming degree ; although the horizon 

 was not loaded with clouds, nor were there any tokens of an approach- 

 ing storm. 



Mr. Drouet thinks it worthy of investigation, how far the Venezuela 

 earthquakes may have had a connexion with the Cordilleras, with the 

 workings of volcanoes, and particularly with the furious eruption at 

 St. Vincent, an island belonging to the chain of the Antilles, about 

 the beginning of May, 1812. On the theory of earthquakes, this 

 gentleman, after examining the several hypotheses of those who ascribe 

 them to fire acting upon subterranean fuel and forming very elastic 

 vapour; to fire acting upon water and converting it to most powerful 

 steam; to fire producing both rarified air and rarified water; and, 

 lastly, to the subtile, pervading, and irresistible force of electricity; leaves 

 the subject, in that respect, like his predecessors, exactly where he 

 found it. 



To this abstract of Mr. Drouet's pamphlet, I shall annex a few of 

 the statements made by residents in Venezuela, to their friends in the 

 United States. 



The first is contained in a letter from a merchant in Laguira to his 

 friend in New-York, dated April 1, 1812: 



" On the 26th. ult. at 4 p. m. we had an earthquake here, which has 

 completely ruined this part of the province. Not a house is standing 

 that any person would venture to remain in a single hour, and nine 

 tenths of the town are level with the ground. From two thousand 

 five hundred to three thousand persons, it is calculated, have lost their 

 lives. Caraccas has shared the same fate. I was there at the time the 

 dreadful catastrophe happened, and escaped by running from the house 

 into a large court yard in which nothing could fall upon me, where I re- 

 mained until it was over. We had one or more shocks every day since. 



