25 



of Terra Firma appeared, since the great earth- 

 quake of Quito, in a state of agitation, which 

 led to an apprehension, that the province of Ve- . 

 nezuela would gradually be subjected to violent 

 commotions. I added, that when a country had 

 been long subject to frequent shocks, new sub- 

 terraneous communications seemed to open with 

 neighbouring countries ; and that the volcanoes 

 of the West India islands, lying in the direction 

 of the Silla, to the North-East of the city, were 

 perhaps the vents by which, at the time of an 

 eruption, those elastic fluids gushed out, that 

 cause the earthquakes on the coasts of the con- 

 tinent. These considerations, founded on a local 

 knowledge of the place, and on simple analogies, 

 are very far from a prediction justified by the 

 course of physical events. 



While violent commotions were felt at the 

 same time in the valley of the Missisippi, in the 

 island of St. Vincent, and in the province of 

 Venezuela, the inhabitants of Caraccas, of 

 Calabozo, situate in the midst of the steppes, 

 and on the borders of the rio Apura, in a space 

 of four thousand square leagues, were terrified 

 on the 30th of April, 1812, by a subterraneous 

 noise, which resembled frequent discharges of 

 the largest cannon. This noise began at two in 

 the morning. It was accompanied by no shock ; 

 and, which is very remarkable, it was as loud on 

 the coast as at eighty leagues distance inland. 



