136 EARTHQUAKE OF CARACCAS. 



the destruction of Cumana in 1797 and the eruption 

 of volcanoes in the smaller West India islands. A 

 similar principle was manifested in 1812, in the case 

 of Caraccas. From the beginning of 1811 till 1813, 

 a vast extent of the earth's surface, limited by the 

 meridian of the Azores, the valley of the Ohio, the 

 Cordilleras of New-Grenada, the coasts of Venezuela, 

 and the volcanoes of the West Indies, was shaken 

 by subterranean commotions, indicative of a common 

 agency exerted at a great depth in the interior of 

 the globe. At the period when these earthquakes 

 commenced in the valley of the Mississippi, the city 

 of Caraccas felt the first shock in December, 1811 ; 

 and on the 26th of March 1812 it was totally de- 

 stroyed. 



" The inhabitants of Terra Firma were ignorant 

 of the agitation, which on the one hand the volcano 

 of the island of St. Vincent had experienced, and on 

 the other the basin of the Mississippi, where, on the 

 7th and 8th of February, 1812, the ground was day 

 and night in a state of continual oscillation. At this 

 period the province of Venezuela laboured under 

 great drought ; not a drop of rain had fallen at Ca- 

 raccas, or to the distance of 311 miles around, during 

 the five months which preceded the destruction of 

 the capital. The 26th March was excessively hot ; 

 the air was calm and the sky cloudless. It was 

 Holy Thursday, and a great part of the population 

 was in the churches. The calamities of the day 

 were preceded by no indications of danger. At 

 seven minutes after four in the evening the first 

 commotion was felt. It was so strong as to make 

 the bells of the churches ring. It lasted from five 

 to six seconds, and was immediately followed by an- 

 other shock of from ten to twelve seconds, during 

 which the ground was in a continual state of undu- 

 lation, and heaved like a fluid under ebullition. The 

 danger was thought to be over, w T hen a prodigious 

 subterranean noise was heard, resembling the rolling 



