210 



PANAMA. 



St. Antonio^ south of Buenos Ayres, where the 

 ashes fell which had been thrown up from a 



the sky became overcast and gloomy, which increased 

 until noon, when it was totally and fearfully dark, and a 

 heavy fall of black dust began and continued for three 

 days. The churches were opened, and all the forms gone 

 through enjoined by the Catholic religion, to mitigate the 

 wrath of Heaven, such as processions, confessions, and 

 penances, with the aid of all the saints in the calendar. 

 At the village of Muy Muy, eighteen leagues north-west 

 of Granada, the dust covered the ground to the depth of 

 eighteen inches. It was afterwards washed away by a very 

 heavy rain. 



" A leopard seeking the protection of man in the midst 

 of this convulsion, was killed in the street. 



" On this subject, the governor of Nicaragua, wrote as 

 follows : — * By the mail, which left this city on the 23d of 

 January, I would have acquainted you with the pheno- 

 menon of the bursting out of the volcano of Cosiguina, 

 but I thought it advisable to wait for accounts from 

 the villages and places adjacent, to enable me to furnish 

 you with the details of the appearances and effects for the 

 information of the confederation. Early in the morning 

 the inhabitants of the village of Masaya, heard a noise 

 in the north-east like thunder, and saw a stream of fire 



