a 
EXTENT OF DAMAGE. 163 
and were more especially felt in the mountains of 
the interior. La Guayra, Mayguetia, Antimana, 
Baruta, La Vega, San Felipe, and Merida, were 
almost entirely destroyed. The number of dead 
exceeded four or five thousand at La Guayra, and 
at the villa de San Felipe, near the copper-mines of 
Aroa. The earthquake would appear to have been 
most violent along a line running from E. N. E. to 
W.S. W., from Guayra and Caraccas towards the 
high mountains of Niquitas and Merida. It was 
felt in the kingdom of New Grenada, from the ra- 
mifications of the lofty Sierra of Santa Martha to 
Santa Fe de Bogota, and Honda on the banks of 
the Magdalena, 620 miles distant from Caraccas. 
In all parts it was more violent in the cordilleras of 
gneiss and mica-slate, or immediately at their base, 
than in the plains. This difference was particular- 
ly remarkable in the savannahs of Varinas and Ca- 
sanare. In the valleys of Aragua, situated between 
Caraccas and the town of San Felipe, the shocks 
were very weak. La Victoria, Maracay, and Va- 
lencia, scarcely suffered, notwithstanding the proxi- 
mity of the capital. At Valecillo, not many leagues 
distant from Valencia, the ground opened and emit- 
ted so great a mass of water that a new torrent was 
formed. The same phenomenon took place near 
Porto Cabello. On the other hand, the Lake of 
Maracaybo underwent considerable diminution. At 
Coro no commotion was felt, although the town was 
situated on the coast between other towns which suf- 
fered. The fishermen who had passed the day of the 
26th March in the island of Orchila, 130 miles N. E. 
of La Guayra, were not sensible of any shock.” 
Toward the east of Caraccas the commotions were 
