28 



very place where we happen to be. If the erup- 

 tions of the volcano of St. Vincent, Cotopaxi, or 

 Tunguragua, resounded from afar, like a cannon 

 of an immense magnitude, the noise ought to 

 have increased in the inverse ratio of the dis- 

 tance: but observations prove, that this aug- 

 mentation does not take place. I must further 

 observe, that Mr. Bonpland and I, going from 

 Guayaquil to the coast of Mexico, crossed lati- 

 tudes in the South Sea, where all the mariners 

 of our ship were affrighted by a hollow sound, 

 that came from the depth of the ocean, and was 

 transmitted to us by the waters. It was the 

 period of a new eruption of Cotopaxi, and we 

 were as far distant from that volcano, as Etna 

 from the city of Naples. The little town of 

 Honda, on the banks of the Magdalena, is not 

 less than one hundred and forty-five leagues * 

 from Cotopaxi ; and yet in the great explosions 

 of this volcano, in 1744, a subterraneous noise 

 was heard at Honda, and supposed to be dis- 

 charges of heavy artillery. The monks of St. 

 Francis spread the news, that the town of Car- 

 thagena was besieged and bombarded by the 

 English ; and the intelligence was believed 

 throughout the country. Now the volcano of 

 Cotopaxi is a cone, more than one thousand 

 eight hundred toises above the basin of Honda, 



* This is the distance from Vesuvius to Mont Blanc. 



