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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Even The Partisans Of The Huttonian Or Volcanic
Theory Make A Distinction Between The Lavas Melted Under The Mere
Pressure Of The Atmosphere At The Surface Of The Globe, And Those
Layers Formed By Fire Beneath The Immense Weight Of The Ocean And
Superincumbent Rocks.
They would not confound Auvergne and the
granitic valley of Caracas in the same denomination; that of a
country of extinct volcanoes.
I never could have pronounced the opinion, that the Silla and the
Cerro de Avila, mountains of gneiss and mica-slate, were in
dangerous proximity to the city of Caracas because they contained a
great quantity of pyrites in subordinate beds of primitive
limestone. But I remember having said, during my stay at Caracas,
that the eastern extremity of Terra Firma appeared, since the great
earthquake of Quito, in a state of agitation, which warranted
apprehension that the province of Venezuela would gradually be
exposed to violent commotions. I added, that when a country had
been long subject to frequent shocks, new subterranean
communications seemed to open with neighbouring countries; and that
the volcanoes of the West India Islands, lying in the direction of
the Silla, north-east of the city, were perhaps the vents, at the
time of an eruption, for those elastic fluids which cause
earthquakes on the coasts of the continent. These considerations,
founded on local knowledge of the place, and on simple analogies,
are very far from a prediction justified by the course of physical
events.
On the 30th of April, 1812, whilst violent commotions were felt
simultaneously in the valley of the Mississippi, in the island of
St. Vincent, and in the province of Venezuela, a subterranean noise
resembling frequent discharges of large cannon was heard at
Caracas, at Calabozo (situated in the midst of the steppes), and on
the borders of the Rio Apure, over a superficies of four thousand
square leagues. This noise began at two in the morning. It was
accompanied by no shock; and it is very remarkable, that it was as
loud on the coast as at the distance of eighty leagues inland. It
was everywhere believed to be transmitted through the air; and was
so far from being thought a subterranean noise, that in several
places, preparations were made for defence against an enemy, who
seemed to be advancing with heavy artillery. Senor Palacio,
crossing the Rio Apure below the Orivante, near the junction of the
Rio Nula, was told by the inhabitants, that the firing of cannon
had been heard distinctly at the western extremity of the province
of Varinas, as well as at the port of La Guayra to the north of the
chain of the coast.
The day on which the inhabitants of Terra Firma were alarmed by a
subterranean noise was that of the great eruption of the volcano in
the island of St. Vincent. That mountain, near five hundred toises
high, had not thrown out lava since the year 1718. Scarcely was any
smoke perceived to issue from it, when, in the month of May 1811,
frequent shocks announced that the volcanic fire was either
rekindled, or directed anew to that part of the West Indies.
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