£74 
Humboldt’s account of the EarthquaJcc 
'walls of the tiouses that were not thrown dowit, as those of the 
street San J uan, near the Capuchin Hospital, were cracked in such 
a manner, that it was impossible to run the risk of inhabiting them. 
Estimating at nine or ten thousand the number of the dead 
in the city of Caraccas, we do not include those unhappy per- 
sons, who, dangerously wounded, perished several months after, 
for want of food and proper attention. The night of Holy Thurs- 
day presented the most distressing scene of desolation and sor- 
row. That thick cloud of dust, which, rising above the ruins, 
darkened the sky like a fog, had settled on the ground, No 
shock was felt, and never was a night more calm or more serene. 
The moon, nearly full, illumined the rounded domes of the 
Silla, and the aspect of the sky formed a perfect contrast to that 
of the earth, covered with the dead, and heaped with ruins. 
Mothers were seen bearing in their arms their children, whom 
they hoped to recall to life. Desolate families wandered through 
the city, seeking a brother, a husband, a friend, of whose fate 
they were ignorant, and whom they believed to be lost in the 
crowd. The people pressed along the streets, which could no 
more be recognised but by long lines of ruins. 
All the calamities experienced in the great catastrophes of 
Lisbon, Messina, Lima, and Riobamba, were renewed on the 
fatal day of the £6th of March 181£. The wounded, buried 
under the ruins, implored by their cries the help of the passers 
by, and nearly £000 were dug out. Implements for digging, 
and clearing away the ruins were entirely wanting ; and the 
people were obliged to use their bare hands to disinter the 
living. The wounded, as well as the sick who had escaped 
from the hospitals, were laid on the banks of the small river 
Guayra. They found no shelter but the foliage of trees. Beds, 
linen to dress the wounds, instruments of surgery, medicines^ 
and objects of the most urgent necessity, were buried under the 
ruins. Every thing, even food, was wanting during the first 
days. W ater became alike scarce in the interior of the city. 
The commotion had rent the pipes of the fountains ; the falling 
in of the earth had choked up the springs that supplied them ; 
and it became necessary, in order to have water, to go down to 
the river Guayra, which was considerably svrclle.d ; and thc®^ 
' V.essels to convey tlie water were wanting. 
