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chives, on account of the continual devastations 

 of the termites, or white ants, contain no docu- 

 ment, that goes back farther than a hundred and 

 fifty years, we are unacquainted with the precise 

 dates of the ancient earthquakes. We only 

 know, that, in times nearer our own, the year 

 1776 was at the same time the most fatal to the 

 colonists, and the most remarkable for the na- 

 tural history of the country. A drought, like 

 those which are felt at times in the islands of 

 Cape Verd, had reigned during fifteen months, 

 when, on the 21st of October, 1766, the city of 

 Cumana was entirely destroyed. The remem- 

 brance of this day is every year renewed by a 

 religious festival, attended with a solemn pro- 

 cession. The whole of the houses were over- 

 turned in the space of a few minutes, and the 

 shocks were hourly repeated during fourteen 

 months. In several parts of the province the 

 earth opened, and threw out sulphureous waters. 

 These irruptions were very frequent in a plain 

 extending toward Casanay, two leagues to the 

 east of the town of Cariaco, and known by the 

 name of the hollow ground, tierra hueca, be- 

 cause it appears entirely undermined by thermal 

 springs. During the years 1766 and 1767, the 

 inhabitants of Cumana encamped in the streets ; 

 and they began to rebuild their houses, when 

 the earthquakes took plapce only once a month. 

 What was felt at Quito, immediately after the 



