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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At Coro No Commotion Was Felt, Though The Town Is
Situated On The Coast, Between Other Towns Which Suffered From The
Earthquake.
Fishermen, who had passed the day of the 26th of March
in the island of Orchila, thirty leagues north-east of La Guayra,
felt no shock.
These differences in the direction and propagation
of the shock, are probably owing to the peculiar position of the
stony strata.
Having thus traced the effects of the earthquake to the west of
Caracas, as far as the snowy mountains of Santa Martha, and the
table-land of Santa Fe de Bogota, we will proceed to consider their
action on the country eastward of the capital. The commotions were
very violent beyond Caurimare, in the valley of Capaya, where they
extended as far as the meridian of Cape Codera: but it is extremely
remarkable that they were very feeble on the coasts of Nueva
Barcelona, Cumana, and Paria; though these coasts are the
continuation of the shore of La Guayra, and were formerly known to
have been often agitated by subterranean commotions. Admitting that
the destruction of the four towns of Caracas, La Guayra, San
Felipe, and Merida, may be attributed to a volcanic focus situated
under or near the island of St. Vincent, we may conceive that the
motion might have been propagated from north-east to south-west in
a line passing through the islands of Los Hermanos, near
Blanquilla, without touching the coasts of Araya, Cumana, and Nueva
Barcelona. This propagation of the shock might even have taken
place without any commotion having been felt at the intermediate
points on the surface of the globe (the Hermanos Islands for
instance). This phenomenon is frequently remarked at Peru and
Mexico, in earthquakes which have followed during ages a fixed
direction. The inhabitants of the Andes say, speaking of an
intermediary tract of ground, not affected by the general
commotion, "that it forms a bridge" (que hace puente): as if they
mean to indicate by this expression that the undulations are
propagated at an immense depth under an inert rock.
At Caracas, fifteen or eighteen hours after the great catastrophe,
the earth was tranquil. The night, as has already been observed,
was fine and calm; and the commotions did not recommence till after
the 27th. They were then attended by a very loud and long continued
subterranean noise (bramido). The inhabitants of the destroyed city
wandered into the country; but the villages and farms having
suffered as much as the town, they could find no shelter till they
were beyond the mountains of los Teques, in the valleys of Aragua,
and in the llanos or savannahs. No less than fifteen oscillations
were felt in one day. On the 5th of April there was almost as
violent an earthquake as that which overthrew the capital. During
several hours the ground was in a state of perpetual undulation.
Large heaps of earth fell in the mountains; and enormous masses of
rock were detached from the Silla of Caracas.
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