islands, the coasts of Venezuela, the Cordillera of New Grenada, and
the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio. For nearly two years the
earthquakes had continued, when they culminated in one great
tragedy, which should be read at length in the pages of Humboldt.
{43b} On March 26, 1812, when the people of Caraccas were assembled
in the churches, beneath a still and blazing sky, one minute of
earthquake sufficed to bury, amid the ruins of churches and houses,
nearly 10,000 souls. The same earthquake wrought terrible
destruction along the whole line of the northern Cordilleras, and
was felt even at Santa Fe de Bogota, and Honda, 180 leagues from
Caraccas. But the end was not yet. While the wretched survivors of
Caraccas were dying of fever and starvation, and wandering inland to
escape from ever-renewed earthquake shocks, among villages and
farms, which, ruined like their own city, could give them no
shelter, the almost forgotten volcano of St. Vincent was muttering
in suppressed wrath. It had thrown out no lava since 1718; if, at
least, the eruption spoken of by Moreau de Jonnes took place in the
Souffriere. According to him, with a terrific earthquake, clouds of
ashes were driven into the air with violent detonations from a
mountain situated at the eastern end of the island. When the
eruption had ceased, it was found that the whole mountain had
disappeared. Now there is no eastern end to St. Vincent, nor any
mountain on the east coast: and the Souffriere is at the northern
end. It is impossible, meanwhile, that the wreck of such a mountain
should not have left traces visible and notorious to this day. May
not the truth be, that the Souffriere had once a lofty cone, which
was blasted away in 1718, leaving the present crater-ring of cliffs
and peaks; and that thus may be explained the discrepancies in the
accounts of its height, which Mr. Scrope gives as 4940 feet, and
Humboldt and Dr. Davy at 3000, a measurement which seems to me to be