LINE OF COMMOTION. 
454 
minute * overthrew the city of Caracas, could not be con- 
fined to a small portion of the continent. Their fatal effects 
extended as far as the provinces of Venezuela, Various, and 
Maracaibo, along the coast ; and especially to the inland 
mountains. La Guayra, Mayquetia, Antimano, Baruta, La 
Vega, San Felipe, and Merida, were almost entirely de- 
stroyed. The number of the dead exceeded four or five 
thousand at La Guayra, and at the town of San Felipe, near 
the copper-mines of Aroa. It would appear that on a line 
running E.N.E. and W.S.W. from La Guayra and Caracas 
to the lofty mountains of Niquitao and Merida, the violence 
of the earthquake was principally directed. It was felt in 
the kingdom of New Grenada from the branches of the 
high Sierra de Santa Marthat as far as Santa Fe de Bogota 
and Honda, on the banks of the Magdalena, one hundred 
and eighty leagues from Caracas. It was everywhere more 
violent in the Cordilleras of gneiss and mica-slate, or imme- 
diately at their base, than in the plains ; and this difference 
was particularly striking in the savannahs of Varinas and 
Casauara.J lu the valleys of Aragua, between Caracas and 
the town of San Felipe, the commotions were very slight ; 
and La Victoria, Maracay, and Valencia, scarcely suffered at 
all, notwithstanding their proximity to the capital. At 
Valecillo, a few leagues from Valencia, the yawning earth 
threw out such an immense quantity of water, that it formed 
a new torrent. The same phenomenon took place near 
Porto-Cahello.§ On the other hand, the lake of Maracaibo 
diminished sensibly. At Coro no commotion was felt, 
though the town is situated on the coast, between other 
towns which suffered from the earthquake. Fishermen, who 
* The duration of the earthquake, that is to say the whole of the 
movements of undulation and rising (nndulacion y trepidation), which 
occasioned the horrible catastrophe of the 26th of March, IS 12, was 
estimated by some at 50", by others at 1' 12". 
*t As far as Villa de I.os Remedies, and even to Cartkagena. 
X This is easily explained according to the system of those geologists 
who are of opinion that all chains of mountains, volcanic and not vol- 
canic, have been formed by being raised up, as if through crevices. 
§ It is asserted that, in the mountains of Aroa, the ground, immedi- 
ately after the great shocks, was found covered with a very liae and 
white earth, which appeared to have been projected through crevices, 
