IM'LUKSCJE OF VOLCANOS. 
447 
elevated towns, and not- aware tliat the peninsula of Araya, 
composed of mica-slate, shares the commotions of the cal- 
careous coast of Cumana, well-informed persons imagined 
they discerned security in the structure of the primitive 
rocks of Caracas, as well as in the elevated situation of this 
valley. Eeligious ceremonies celebrated at La Guayra, and 
even in the capital, in the middle of the night,* doubtless 
called to mind the fact that the province of Venezuela had 
been subject at intervals to earthquakes ; but dangers of 
rare occurrence are slightly feared. However, in the year 
1811, fatal experience destroyed the illusion of theory and 
of popular opinion. Caracas, situated in the mountains, 
three degrees west of Cumana, and five degrees west of the 
volcanos of the Caribbee islands, has suffered greater 
shocks than were ever experienced on the coast of Paria or 
New Andalusia. 
At my arrival in Terra Firma, I was struck with the con- 
nection between the destruction of Cumana on the 14th 
of December, 1797, and the eruption of the volcanos in the 
smaller AVest India Islands. This connection was again 
manifest in the destruction of Caracas on the 26th of 
March, 1812. The volcatio of Guadaloupc seemed in 1797 
to have exercised a reaction on the coasts of Cumana. 
Fftcen years later, it was a volcano situated nearer the 
continent (that of St. A r incent), which appeared to have 
extended its influence as far as Caracas and the banks of 
Apure. Possibly, at both those periods, the centre of the 
explosion was, at an immense depth, equally distant from 
the regions towards which the motion was propagated at the 
surface of the globe. 
From the beginning of 1811 to 1813, a vast superficies of 
the earth, f bound by the meridian of the Azores, the vallev 
of the Ohio, the Cordilleras of New Grenada, the coasts of 
Venezuela, and the volcanos of the smaller AVest India 
1 slands, was shaken throughout its whole extent, by com- 
* For instance, the nocturnal procession of the 21st of October, insti- 
tuted in commemoration of the great earthquake which took place cn 
that day of the month, at one o'clock in the morning, in 17/3. Other 
■•erv violent shocks were those of 1041, 1703, and 1802. 
f Between latitudes 5° and 30° North, ar.d 31° and 91° Vest Ion. 
from Paris. 
