Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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Religious 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.
(* For instance, the nocturnal
procession of the 21st of October, instituted in commemoration of
the great earthquake which took place on that day of the month, at
one o'clock in the morning, in 1778.
Other very violent shocks were
those of 1641, 1703, and 1802.) 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 volcanoes 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 connection
between the destruction of Cumana on the 14th of December, 1797,
and the eruption of the volcanoes in the smaller West India
Islands. This connection was again manifest in the destruction of
Caracas on the 26th of March, 1812. The volcano of Guadaloupe
seemed in 1797 to have exercised a reaction on the coasts of
Cumana. Fifteen years later, it was a volcano situated nearer the
continent (that of St. Vincent), 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,* (* Between latitudes 5 and 36 degrees north, and 31 and 91
degrees west longitude from Paris.) bound by the meridian of the
Azores, the valley of the Ohio, the Cordilleras of New Grenada, the
coasts of Venezuela, and the volcanoes of the smaller West India
Islands, was shaken throughout its whole extent, by commotions
which may be attributed to subterranean fires. The following series
of phenomena seems to indicate communications at enormous
distances. On the 30th of January, 1811, a submarine volcano broke
out near the island of St. Michael, one of the Azores. At a place
where the sea was sixty fathoms deep, a rock made its appearance
above the surface of the waters. The heaving-up of the softened
crust of the globe appears to have preceded the eruption of flame
at the crater, as had already been observed at the volcanoes of
Jorullo in Mexico, and on the appearance of the little island of
Kameni, near Santorino. The new islet of the Azores was at first a
mere shoal; but on the 15th of June, an eruption, which lasted six
days, enlarged its extent, and carried it progressively to the
height of fifty toises above the surface of the sea. This new land,
of which captain Tillard took possession in the name of the British
government, giving it the name of Sabrina Island, was nine hundred
toises in diameter.
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