rSOPAGATION OF EARTHQUAKES. 
granibic soil of the two banks of the Orinoco was agitated 
as far as the Eandales of Atures and Maypures. South of 
these Eandales shocks are sometimes felt, which are confined 
^ the basin of the Upper Orinoco and the Eio Negro. 
They appear to depend on a volcanic focus distant from that 
of the Caribbee Islands. We were told by the missionaries 
at Javita and San Fernando de Atabapo, that in 1798 violent 
■earthquakes took place between the Guaviare and the Eio 
Negro, -which were not propagated on the north towards 
-Maypures, We cannot be sufficiently attentive to whatever 
Fektes to the simultaneity of the oscillations, and to the 
’^aependence of the movements in contiguous ground. 
■•Everything seems to prove that the propagation of the com- 
inotiou is not superficial, but depends on very deep crevices, 
th^ terminate in different centres of action. 
The scenery around the town of Angostura is little varied; 
put the view of the river, which forms a vast canal, stretch- 
^vatn south-west to north-east, is singularly majestic, 
^yhen the waters are high, the river inundates the quays; 
and it sometimes happens that, even in the town, impirudent 
persons become the prey of crocodiles. I shall transcribe 
Fom my journal a fact tliat took place during M. Bonpland’s 
Illness. A Guaykeri Indian, from the island of La Marga- 
rets, -was anchoring his canoe in a cove where there were not 
nree feet of water. A very fierce crocodOe, which habitually 
. .^vinted that spot, seized him by the leg, and withdrew from 
®"°re, remaining on the surface of the water. The cries 
o the Indian drew together a crowd of spectators. This 
n ortunate man was first seen seeking, with astonishing 
mind, for a knife which he had in his pocket, 
fl seized the head of the crocodile 
hd thrust his fingers into its eyes. No man in the hot 
regions of America is ignorant that this carnivorous reptile, 
overed with a buckler of hard and dry scales, is extremely 
ensitive in the only parts of his body which are soft and 
m eyes, the hollow underneath the 
oulders, the nostrils, and beneath the lower jaw, where 
ere are two glands of musk. The Guaykeri Indian was 
/ ® *°?J'iriate than the negro of Mungo Park, and the girl 
•wn t vvhom I mentioned in a former part of this 
fk:, lor the crocodile did not open its jaws and lose hold 
B 2 
