53 



ejections of muddy substances attended with 

 explosions, of which I acquired the knowledge 

 in the vast provinces of Venezuela, in a space of 

 two hundred leagues from East to West. These 

 various phenomena have singularly agitated the 

 minds of the inhabitants since the great catas- 

 trophes of 1797 and 1812: yet they present 

 nothing that constitutes a volcano, in the sense 

 which has hitherto been attributed to this word. 

 If the apertures, which throw up vapours and 

 water with a violent noise, be sometimes called 

 volcancitos, it is only by such of the inhabitants, 

 as are persuaded, that volcanoes must neces- 

 sarily exist in countries so frequently exposed to 

 earthquakes. Proceeding from the burning 

 crater of St. Vincent's to the South, the West, 

 and South- West, first by the chain of the 

 Caribbee islands, then by the littoral chain of 

 Cumana and Venezuela, and finally by the Cor- 

 dilleras of New Grenada, for the space of three 

 hundred and eighty leagues, no active volcano 

 occurs before Purace, near Popayan. One 

 of the most remarkable geological facts is this 

 total absence of apertures, through which melted 

 substances can issue, in that part of the con- 

 tinent, which stretches to the East of the Cor- 

 dillera of the Andes, and to the East of the 

 Stony Mountains. 



We have examined in this chapter the great 

 commotions, which shake from time to time the 



