34 EARTHQUAKE. 



in the churches. Nothing seemed to pre- 

 sage the calamities of the day. At seven 

 minutes after four in the afternoon, the 

 first shock was felt : it was sufficiently 

 powerful to make the bells of the churches 

 toll; it lasted five or six seconds, during 

 which the ground was in a continual un- 

 dulating movement, and seemed to heave 

 up like a boiling liquid. The danger 

 was thought to have passed, when a tre- 

 mendous subterraneous noise was heard, re- 

 sembling the rolling of thunder, but louder, 

 and of longer continuance than that heard 

 within the tropics in time of storms. This 

 noise preceded a perpendicular motion of 

 three or four seconds, followed by an undu- 

 latory movement somewhat longer. The 

 shocks were in opposite directions, from 

 north to south and from east to west. 

 Nothing could resist the movement from 

 beneath upward, and the undulations cross- 

 ing each other. The town of Caraccas was 



