212 



smell of sulphur was perceived near the hill of 

 the convent of St. Francis; and on the same 

 spot a subterraneous noise, which seemed to 

 proceed from the south-east to the north-west, 

 was heard the loudest. At the same time flames 

 appeared on the banks of the Manzanares, near 

 the hospice of the Capuchins, and in the gulf of 

 Cariaco, near Mariguitar. This last phenome- 

 non, so extraordinary in a country not volcanic, 

 is pretty frequent in the Alpine calcareous moun- 

 tains near Cumanacoa, in the valley of Bordones, 

 in the island of Margaretta, and amidst the 

 Llanos* or savannahs of New Andalusia. In 

 these savannahs flakes of fire rise to a consi- 

 derable height ; they are seen for hours together 

 in the dryest places ; and it is asserted, that, on 

 examining the ground which furnishes the in- 

 flammable matter, no crevice is to be found. 

 This fire, which resembles the sources of hydro- 

 gen, or Sake, of Modena rf» 4 or what is called the 

 Will o' the wisp of our marshes, does not burn 

 the grass; because, no doubt the column of gas, 

 which developes itself, is mixed with azot, and 

 carbonic acid, and does not burn at it's basis. 

 The people, although less superstitious here than 

 in Spain, call these reddish flames by the singu- 



* In the Mesa of Cari, to the north of Aguasay, and in 

 the Mesa of Guanipa, far from the Morichales, which are the 

 humid spots where the mauritia palm-tree grows. 



+ Brieslak, Geologia, t. ii, p. 284. 



