Digitalphilologie

Titel

Volcanic Fish

Jahr

1806

Ort

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Nachweis

in: The Literary Magazine, and American Register 5:32 (Mai 1806), S. 366–367.

Sprache

Englisch

Typografischer Befund

Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung; Schmuck: Initialen.

Identifikation

Textnummer Druckausgabe: II.44
Dateiname: 1806-Memoir_on_a_new_species_of_Pimelodus-2-neu

Statistiken

Seitenanzahl:	2
Spaltenanzahl:	1
Zeichenanzahl:	3121

Weitere Fassungen
	Memoir on a new Species of Pimelodus thrown out of the Volcanoes in the Kingdom of Quito; with some Particulars respecting the Volcanoes of the Andes (London, 1806, Englisch)
	Volcanic Fish (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1806, Englisch)
	Particulars respecting the Volcanoes in the Andes, and the Fishes thrown out by them (Edinburgh, 1806, Englisch)

|366|

volcanic fish.

THE volcanoes in the kingdomof Quito, says Humboldt, present,from time to time, a different spec-tacle, less alarming, indeed, thoughnot less curious to the naturalist.The grand explosions are periodi-cal, but not very frequent. TheCotopaxi, the Tunguragua, and theSangay do not experience one ofthese eruptions in the course oftwenty or thirty years; but, in theintervals, they discharge enormousquantities of argillaceous mud, and,which is more surprising, immensequantities of fish. These volcanicinundations did not take place inthe year which I passed on the An-des of Quito: but ejection of fish isso common, and so generally knownto the inhabitants of the country,that there remains not the least |Spaltenumbruch| doubt of the fact; and as theseregions contain many well-informedpersons, I have been able to obtainexact drawings of these fish. M. deLarrea, who is versed in the studyof chemistry, and who has formeda cabinet of the minerals of hiscountry, has been very useful to mein these researches. In the ar-chives of several little towns in thevicinity of Cotopaxi, I have foundsome notes respecting the fishthrown out by the volcanoes. Onthe estates of the marquis de Sel-valigree, the Cotopaxi emitted sogreat a quantity of them, that theirputrefaction diffused a fœtid odourall around. The almost extinct vol-cano of Imbaburu, in the year 1691,vomited some millions of them onthe fields which surround the cityof Ibarra; and the putrid fevers,which commenced at this period,were attributed to the miasmata,which exhaled from these fish, ly-ing in heaps on the surface of theground, and exposed to the actionof the sun. In more recent times,the Imbaburu has ejected fish; andwhen, on June 19, 1698, the volcanoof Cargneirazo subsided, thousandsof these animals, entangled in argil-laceous mud, issued from the top,which was shaken down. The Cotopaxi and Tunguraguasometimes throw out fish at thecrater which is at the top of thesemountains, and sometimes at thelateral openings, but constantly at aheight of 5200 yards (nearly threemiles) above the level of the sea.Some Indians have assured me thatthe fish which issued from the vol-canoes were sometimes alive whenthey came down the sides of themountain: but this fact is not suffi-ciently confirmed: it is howevercertain that, among the thousandsof dead fish which in the course of afew hours are seen descending fromCotopaxi with large quantities ofcold and soft water, very few ofthem are so much disfigured as toinduce the belief that they have beenexposed to the action of a strongheat. This fact becomes more strik-ing when we consider the soft flesh |367| of these animals, and the thicksmoke which this volcano emits atthe same time. I took great painsto ascertain the species of these ani-mals. All the inhabitants agreethat they are the same with thosethat are found in the streams whichrun at the foot of these volcanoes,and which they call Prennadillas; which is also the only kind of fishto be found at a height of 8,400 feetin the waters of the kingdom ofQuito.

Digitale Ausgabe

Download

Ansicht

Zitierempfehlung

URL und Versionierung

	Textgröße
	Originalzeilenfall ein/aus
	Zeichen original/normiert