Tlic Nciv Madrid Earthquake. — Droadhcad. yy 
March 22d, 1816.* This letter was pubHshed in newspapers 
and also in several books. We extract as follows : 
On i6th Dec, 181 1, about 2' i\. M. we were visited by an earthquake 
shock accompanied with an awful noise resembling loud and distant 
thunder, but more hoarse and vibrating, followed in a few minutes 
by complete saturation of the atmosphere with sulphurous vapor and 
accompanied with total darkness. The afifrighted inhabitants ran to 
and fro. The fowls and beasts cried ; trees fell ; the Mississippi roared, 
the current for a few minutes was retrograde. From that time until 
sunrise there were a number of lighter shocks, then there occurred 
a much more violent shock than the first, but with similar accompan- 
iments to the first. But the excitement and terror of all animated 
nature seemed to be double. 
The inhabitants fled in every direction to the country. One woman 
fainted from terror and could not be restored. There were several 
lighter shocks during the day and some every day until the 23rd of 
January, 1812, when a shock was felt that was as violent as the most 
severe of the former shocks. It was accompanied by similar phenom- 
ena. From this time until Feb. 4 the earth seemed to be in continual 
agitation. On the 4th of February there occurred a shock nearly as 
severe as the preceding ones. On the next day there were four such 
and ,on the 7th at 4 P. M. a concussion took place which was so much, 
more violent than the preceding that it was known as the hard shock. 
The awful darkness of the atmosphere which now. as formerly, was 
saturated with sulphurous vapor, and the violence of the tempestuous 
thundering noise that" accompanied it, together with the other phenom- 
ena mentioned as attendant on the former ones, formed a scene, the 
description of which would require the most sublime and fanciful 
imagination. At first the Mississippi seemed to recede from its banks, 
its waters gathered up like mountains, leaving boats high upon the 
sands. The waters then moved inward with a front wall 15 to 20 
feet perpendicular and tore the boats from their moorings and carried 
thesn up a creek closely packed for a quarter of a mile. The river fell 
as rapidly as it Ijad risen, and receded within it banks with such 
violence that it took with it the grove of cottonwood trees which hedged 
its borders. They were broken off with such regularity that in some 
instances persons who had not witnessed the fact could with difficulty 
be persuaded that it was not the work of art. A great many fish were 
left upon the banks. The river was literally covered witli the wrecks of 
boats. There were at that time nlany boats in the river and at the 
landing, bound for New Orleans. During all the hard shocks the 
earth seemed horribly torn to pieces. The surface of hundreds of 
acres was from time to time covered over for various depths by sand 
which issued from the numerous fissures. Some of these fissures 
closed up immediately after they had vomited forth sand and water. 
What seemed to l)e coal was thrown up with the sand in some places. 
It was impossible to say how deep the fissures were. The site of the 
*L.orenzo Dow's Works, Cincinnati, 1850, p. 344. 
