6 



the regions toward which the motion was pro- 

 pagated at the surface of the globe. 



From the beginning of 1811 till 1813, a vast 

 extent of the Earth i \ limited by the meridian of 

 the Azores, the valley of the Ohio, the Cordil- 

 leras of New Grenada, the coasts of Venezuela, 

 and the volcanoes of the smaller West India 

 islands, has been shaken almost at the same 

 time by commotions, which may be attributed to 

 subterraneous fires. The following series of 

 phenomena seems to indicate communications at 

 enormous distances. On the 30th of January, 

 1811, a submarine volcano appeared near the 

 island of St. Michael, one of the Azores. At a 

 place, where the sea was sixty fathoms deep, a 

 rock appeared above the surface of the waters. 

 The heaving up of the softened crust of the globe 

 appears to have preceded the eruption of flames 

 by the crater -f^ as had already been observed at 

 the volcanoes of Jorullo in Mexico, and at the 

 apparition of the little island of Kameni near 

 Santorino. The new islet of the Azores was at 

 first nothing more than a shoal; but on the 15th 

 of January an eruption, which lasted six days, 

 enlarged it's extent, and carried it progressively 

 to the height of fifty toises above the surface of 



* Between the latitudes of 5° and 36* North, and the 

 meridians of 31* and 91° West from Paris, 

 t See vol, i, p, 240. 



