316 



was cracked on every side. On the 4th of 

 November, about two in the afternoon, large 

 clouds of an extraordinary blackness enveloped 

 the high mountains of the Brigantine and Tata- 

 raqual. They extended by degrees as far as 

 the zenith. About four in the afternoon, thun- 

 der was heard over our heads, but at an im- 

 mense height, without rolling, and wit h a hoarse 

 and often interrupted sound. At the moment 

 of the strongest electric explosion, at 4 h 12', 

 there were two shocks of an earth quake, which 

 followed at fifteen seconds distance from each 

 other. The people in the streets filled the air 

 with their cries. Mr. Bonpland, who was lean- 

 ing over a table examining plants, was almost 

 thrown on the floor. I felt the shock very 

 strongly, though I was lying in -a hammock. 

 It's direction was from north to south, which is 

 rare at Cumana. Slaves, who were drawing 

 water from a well more than eighteen or 

 twenty feet deep, near the river Manzanares *, 

 heard a noise like the explosion of a strong 

 charge of gunpowder. The noise seemed to 

 come from the bottom of the well, a very singu- 

 gular phenomenon, though very common in the 

 greater part of the countries of America exposed 

 to earthquakes. 



* In the plantation (chara) of the colonel of artillery, Don 

 Antonio Montana. See ch. iv, Vol. ii, p. 227. 



