Digitale Ausgabe
Download
| TEI-XML (Ansicht) | |
| Text (Ansicht) | |
| Text normalisiert (Ansicht) |
Ansicht
| Textgröße | |
| Originalzeilenfall ein/aus | |
| Zeichen original/normiert | |
Zitierempfehlung
Alexander von Humboldt: „On the volcanos of Jorullo“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1809-Description_du_volcan-07-neu> [abgerufen am 25.04.2024].
URL und Versionierung
|
Permalink: https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1809-Description_du_volcan-07-neu |
| Die Versionsgeschichte zu diesem Text finden Sie auf github. |
| Titel | On the volcanos of Jorullo | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jahr | 1810 | ||||||
| Ort | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ||||||
|
Nachweis in: Select Reviews, and Spirit of the Foreign Magazines 4:23 (November 1810), S. 343–346.
|
|||||||
| Sprache | Englisch | ||||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Fußnoten mit Asterisken. | ||||||
|
Identifikation |
|||||||
Statistiken
|
|||||||
|343|
|Spaltenumbruch|
THE grand catastrophe in whichthis volcanick mountain issued fromthe earth, and by which the face ofa considerable extent of ground wastotally altered, was, perhaps, one ofthe most extensive physical chan-ges, that the history of our globe ex-hibits. Geology points out spots inthe ocean, where, within the last
|Spaltenumbruch|two thousand years, volcanick isletshave arisen above the surface of thesea, as near as the Azores, in theArchipelago, and on the south ofIceland: but it records no instanceof a mountain of scoriæ and ashes,517 met. [563 yards] above the oldlevel of the neighbouring plains,suddenly formed in the centre of a
* Extracted from his Essay on New Spain. Journal de Physique, vol. LXIX. p. 149.|344| |Spaltenumbruch|thousand small burning cones, thirtysix leagues from the seashore, andforty two leagues from any othervolcano. This phenomenon remainedunknown to the mineralogists andnatural philosophers of Europe,though it took place but fifty yearsago, and within six days journey ofthe capital of Mexico. Descending from the central flattowards the coasts of the Pacifickocean, a vast plain extends from thehills of Aguasarco to the villagesof Toipa, and Patatlan, equally cele-brated for their fine cotton planta-tions. Between the picachos delMortero and the cerras de las Cue-vas and de Cuiche, this plain is onlyfrom 750 to 800 met. [820 to 880yards] above the level of the sea.Basaltick hills rise in the midst ofa country, in which porphyry withbase of greenstone predominates.Their summits are crowned withoaks always in verdure, and the foli-age of laurels and olives intermin-gled with dwarf fan palms. Thisbeautiful vegetation forms a singularcontrast with the arid plain, whichhas been laid waste by volcanickfire. To the middle of the eighteenthcentury, fields of sugar canes and in-digo extended between two rivulets,called Cuitimba and San Pedro.They were skirted by basaltickmountains, the structure of whichseems to indicate, that all the coun-try, in remote periods, has severaltimes experienced the violent actionof volcanos. These fields, irrigatedby art, belonged to the estate ofSan Pedro de Jorullo (Xorullo, orJuvriso) one of the largest and mostvaluable in the country. In the monthof June, 1759, fearful rumbling noi-ses were accompanied with frequentshocks of an earthquake, which suc-ceeded each other at intervals forfifty or sixty days, and threw the in-habitants of the estate into thegreatest consternation. From thebeginning of the month of Septem-ber, every thing seemed perfectly |Spaltenumbruch|quiet, when, in the night of the 28thof that month, a terrible subterra-nean noise was heard anew. Thefrightened Indians fled to the moun-tains of Aguasarco. A space of threeor four square miles, known by thename of Malpays, rose in the shapeof a bladder. The boundaries of thisrising are still distinguishable in theruptured strata. The Malpays to-wards the edge is only 12 met. [13yards] above the former level of theplain, called las playas de Jorullo;but the convexity of the ground in-creases progressively toward thecentre, till it reaches the height of160 met. [175 yards.] They who witnessed this grandcatastrophe from the top of Agua-sarco assert, that they saw flamesissue out of the ground for the spaceof more than half a league square;that fragments of redhot rockswere thrown to a prodigious height;and that through a thick cloud ofashes, illumined by the volcanickfire, and resembling a stormy sea,the softened crust of the earth wasseen to swell up. The rivers of Cui-timba and San Pedro then precipi-tated themselves in the burning cre-vices. The decomposition of the wa-ter contributed to reanimate theflames, which were perceptible atthe city of Pascuoro, though stand-ing on a very wide plain 1400 met.[1530 yards] above the level of theplayas de Jorullo. Eruptions of mud,particularly of the strata of clay, in-cluding decomposed nodules of ba-saltes with concentrick layers, seemto prove, that subterranean watershad no small part in this extraordina-ry revolution. Thousands of smallcones, only two or three yards high,which the Indians call ovens, issuedfrom the raised dome of the Mal-pays. Though the heat of these vol-canick ovens has diminished greatlywithin these fifteen years, accordingto the testimony of the Indians, Ifound the thermometer rise to 95° [ifcentig. 203° F.] in the crevices thatemitted an aqueous vapour. Each |345| |Spaltenumbruch|little cone is a chimney, from whicha thick smoke rises to the height often or fifteen met. [11 or 16 yards.]In several, a subterranean noise isheard like that of some fluid boilingat no great depth. Amid these ovens, in a fissure,the direction of which is from N.N. E. to S. S. W. six large hum-mocks rise 400 or 500 met. [440 or550 yards] above the old level ofthe plain. This is the phenomenonof Monte Novo at Naples repeatedseveral times in a row of volcanickhills. The loftiest of these hugehummocks, which reminded me ofthe country of Auvergne, is thelarge volcano of Jorullo. It is con-stantly burning, and has thrown out,on the north side, an immense quan-tity of scorified and basaltick lava,including fragments of primitiverocks. These grand eruptions of thecentral volcano continued till Feb-ruary, 1760. In the succeedingyears they became gradually lessfrequent. The Indians, alarmed bythe horrible noise of the new volca-no, at first deserted the villages forseven or eight leagues round theplain of Jorullo. In a few monthsthey became familiar with the alarm-ing sight, returned to their huts,and went down to the mountains of Aguasarco and Santa Ines, to ad-mire the sheaves of fire thrown outby an infinite number of large andsmall volcanick openings. The ash-es then covered the houses of Que-retoro, more than 48 leagues [120miles] in a right line from the placeof the explosion. Though the sub-terranean fire appears to be in nogreat activity* at present, and theMalpays and the great volcano be-gin to be covered with vegetables,we found the air so heated by thelittle ovens, that in the shade, and |Spaltenumbruch|at a considerable distance from theground, the thermometer rose to43° [109·4° F.] This fact evinces,that there is no exaggeration in thereport of some of the old Indians, whosay, that the plains of Jorullo wereuninhabitable for several years, andeven to a considerable distance fromthe ground raised up, on account ofthe excessive heat. Near the cerro of Santa Ines thetraveller is still shown the rivers ofCuitimba and San Pedro, the limpidwaters of which formerly refreshedthe sugar canes on the estate of Don Andrew Pimantel. These springswere lost in the night of the 29th ofSeptember, 1759: but 2000 met.[near 2200 yards] to the westward,in the soil that has been elevated,two rivulets are seen to break outof the clayey dome of the furnaces,exhibiting themselves as therinalwaters, in which the thermometerrises to 52·7° [126·86°F.] The In-dians still give these the names ofSan Pedro and Cuitimba, because inseveral parts of the Malpays largebodies of water are supposed to beheard running from east to west,from the mountains of Santa Ines tothe estate of the Presentation. Nearthis estate is a brook, that emitssulphuretted hidrogen gas. It ismore than 7 met. [near 8 yards]wide, and is the most copious hidro-sulphurous spring I ever saw. In the opinion of the natives, theseextraordinary changes I have descri-bed, the crust of earth raised andcracked by volcanick fire, the moun-tains of scoriæ and ashes heaped up,are the works of monks; the great-est, no doubt, they ever produced ineither hemisphere. Our Indian host,at the hut we inhabited in the plainof Jorullo, told us, that some mis-sionary capuchins preached at the
* In the bottom of the crater we found the heat of the air 47° [116·6°F.] and in someplaces 58° and 60° [136·4° and 140°.] We had to pass over cracks exhaling sulphurousvapours, in which the thermometer rose to 85° [185°.] From these cracks, and the heapsof scoriæ that cover considerable hollows, the descent into the crater is not withoutdanger.|346| |Spaltenumbruch|estate of San Pedro, and, not meet-ing a favourable reception, utteredthe most horrible and complicatedimprecations against this plain, thenso beautiful and fertile. They pro-phesied, that the estate should firstbe swallowed up by flames issuingout of the bowels of the earth; andthat the air should afterward becooled to such a degree, that theneighbouring mountains should re-main for ever covered with ice andsnow. The first of these maledictionshaving been so fatally verified, thecommon people foresee, in the gra-dual cooling of the volcano, the pre-sage of a perpetual winter. I havethought it right to mention this vul-gar tradition, worthy a place in theepic poem of the jesuit Landivar,because it exhibits a striking featureof the manners and prejudices ofthese remote countries. It shows theactive industry of a class of men,who, too frequently abusing thecredulity of the people, and pretend-ing to possess the power of suspend-ing the immutable laws of nature,know how to avail themselves ofevery event for establishing theirempire by the fear of physical evil. The situation of the new volcanoof Jorullo leads to a very curiousgeological observation. It has alrea-dy been observed in the 3d chapter,that there is, in New Spain, a line ofgreat heights, or a narrow zone in-cluded between the latitudes of 18°59′ and 19° 12′, in which are allthe summits of Anahuack that riseabove the region of perpetual snow.These summits are either volcanosstill actually burning; or mountains,the form of which, as well as thenature of their rocks, renders it ex-tremely probable, that they formerlycontained subterranean fire. Settingout from the coast of the gulf ofMexico, and proceeding westward,we find the peak of Oribaza, the |Spaltenumbruch|two volcanos of la Puebla, the Ne-vado de Toluca, the peak of Tanci-taro, and the volcano of Colima.These great heights, instead offorming the ridge of the cordilleraof Anahuack, and following its di-rection, which is from S. E. to N.W. are, on the contrary, in a line per-pendicular to the axis of the greatchain of mountains. It is certainlyworthy remark, that in the year 1759the new volcano of Jorullo wasformed in the continuation of thisline, and on the same parallel as theancient Mexican volcanos. A view of my plan of the environsof Jorullo will show, that the sixlarge hummocks have risen out ofthe earth on a vein, that crosses theplain from the cerro of las Cuevasto the pichaco del Montero. Thenew mouths of Vesuvius, too, arefound ranged along a fissure. Donot these analogies give us reasonto suppose, that there exists in thispart of Mexico, at a great depthwithin the earth, a fissure stretch-ing from east to west through aspace of 137 leagues [343 miles]and through which the volcanickfire has made its way at differenttimes, bursting the outer crust ofporphyritick rocks, from the coastsof the gulf of Mexico to the SouthSea? Is this fissure prolonged tothat little groupe of islands, calledby Collnet, the Archipelago of Re-gigedo, and round which, in thesame parallel with the Mexicanvolcanos, pummice stone has beenseen floating? Naturalists who dis-tinguish the facts offered by de-scriptive mineralogy from theoreti-cal reveries concerning the primitivestate of our planet, will pardon mefor having consigned these observa-tions to the general map of NewSpain, contained in the MexicanAtlas.
ON THE VOLCANOS OF JORULLO. BY ALEXANDER HUMBOLDT.*
* Extracted from his Essay on New Spain. Journal de Physique, vol. LXIX. p. 149.|344| |Spaltenumbruch|thousand small burning cones, thirtysix leagues from the seashore, andforty two leagues from any othervolcano. This phenomenon remainedunknown to the mineralogists andnatural philosophers of Europe,though it took place but fifty yearsago, and within six days journey ofthe capital of Mexico. Descending from the central flattowards the coasts of the Pacifickocean, a vast plain extends from thehills of Aguasarco to the villagesof Toipa, and Patatlan, equally cele-brated for their fine cotton planta-tions. Between the picachos delMortero and the cerras de las Cue-vas and de Cuiche, this plain is onlyfrom 750 to 800 met. [820 to 880yards] above the level of the sea.Basaltick hills rise in the midst ofa country, in which porphyry withbase of greenstone predominates.Their summits are crowned withoaks always in verdure, and the foli-age of laurels and olives intermin-gled with dwarf fan palms. Thisbeautiful vegetation forms a singularcontrast with the arid plain, whichhas been laid waste by volcanickfire. To the middle of the eighteenthcentury, fields of sugar canes and in-digo extended between two rivulets,called Cuitimba and San Pedro.They were skirted by basaltickmountains, the structure of whichseems to indicate, that all the coun-try, in remote periods, has severaltimes experienced the violent actionof volcanos. These fields, irrigatedby art, belonged to the estate ofSan Pedro de Jorullo (Xorullo, orJuvriso) one of the largest and mostvaluable in the country. In the monthof June, 1759, fearful rumbling noi-ses were accompanied with frequentshocks of an earthquake, which suc-ceeded each other at intervals forfifty or sixty days, and threw the in-habitants of the estate into thegreatest consternation. From thebeginning of the month of Septem-ber, every thing seemed perfectly |Spaltenumbruch|quiet, when, in the night of the 28thof that month, a terrible subterra-nean noise was heard anew. Thefrightened Indians fled to the moun-tains of Aguasarco. A space of threeor four square miles, known by thename of Malpays, rose in the shapeof a bladder. The boundaries of thisrising are still distinguishable in theruptured strata. The Malpays to-wards the edge is only 12 met. [13yards] above the former level of theplain, called las playas de Jorullo;but the convexity of the ground in-creases progressively toward thecentre, till it reaches the height of160 met. [175 yards.] They who witnessed this grandcatastrophe from the top of Agua-sarco assert, that they saw flamesissue out of the ground for the spaceof more than half a league square;that fragments of redhot rockswere thrown to a prodigious height;and that through a thick cloud ofashes, illumined by the volcanickfire, and resembling a stormy sea,the softened crust of the earth wasseen to swell up. The rivers of Cui-timba and San Pedro then precipi-tated themselves in the burning cre-vices. The decomposition of the wa-ter contributed to reanimate theflames, which were perceptible atthe city of Pascuoro, though stand-ing on a very wide plain 1400 met.[1530 yards] above the level of theplayas de Jorullo. Eruptions of mud,particularly of the strata of clay, in-cluding decomposed nodules of ba-saltes with concentrick layers, seemto prove, that subterranean watershad no small part in this extraordina-ry revolution. Thousands of smallcones, only two or three yards high,which the Indians call ovens, issuedfrom the raised dome of the Mal-pays. Though the heat of these vol-canick ovens has diminished greatlywithin these fifteen years, accordingto the testimony of the Indians, Ifound the thermometer rise to 95° [ifcentig. 203° F.] in the crevices thatemitted an aqueous vapour. Each |345| |Spaltenumbruch|little cone is a chimney, from whicha thick smoke rises to the height often or fifteen met. [11 or 16 yards.]In several, a subterranean noise isheard like that of some fluid boilingat no great depth. Amid these ovens, in a fissure,the direction of which is from N.N. E. to S. S. W. six large hum-mocks rise 400 or 500 met. [440 or550 yards] above the old level ofthe plain. This is the phenomenonof Monte Novo at Naples repeatedseveral times in a row of volcanickhills. The loftiest of these hugehummocks, which reminded me ofthe country of Auvergne, is thelarge volcano of Jorullo. It is con-stantly burning, and has thrown out,on the north side, an immense quan-tity of scorified and basaltick lava,including fragments of primitiverocks. These grand eruptions of thecentral volcano continued till Feb-ruary, 1760. In the succeedingyears they became gradually lessfrequent. The Indians, alarmed bythe horrible noise of the new volca-no, at first deserted the villages forseven or eight leagues round theplain of Jorullo. In a few monthsthey became familiar with the alarm-ing sight, returned to their huts,and went down to the mountains of Aguasarco and Santa Ines, to ad-mire the sheaves of fire thrown outby an infinite number of large andsmall volcanick openings. The ash-es then covered the houses of Que-retoro, more than 48 leagues [120miles] in a right line from the placeof the explosion. Though the sub-terranean fire appears to be in nogreat activity* at present, and theMalpays and the great volcano be-gin to be covered with vegetables,we found the air so heated by thelittle ovens, that in the shade, and |Spaltenumbruch|at a considerable distance from theground, the thermometer rose to43° [109·4° F.] This fact evinces,that there is no exaggeration in thereport of some of the old Indians, whosay, that the plains of Jorullo wereuninhabitable for several years, andeven to a considerable distance fromthe ground raised up, on account ofthe excessive heat. Near the cerro of Santa Ines thetraveller is still shown the rivers ofCuitimba and San Pedro, the limpidwaters of which formerly refreshedthe sugar canes on the estate of Don Andrew Pimantel. These springswere lost in the night of the 29th ofSeptember, 1759: but 2000 met.[near 2200 yards] to the westward,in the soil that has been elevated,two rivulets are seen to break outof the clayey dome of the furnaces,exhibiting themselves as therinalwaters, in which the thermometerrises to 52·7° [126·86°F.] The In-dians still give these the names ofSan Pedro and Cuitimba, because inseveral parts of the Malpays largebodies of water are supposed to beheard running from east to west,from the mountains of Santa Ines tothe estate of the Presentation. Nearthis estate is a brook, that emitssulphuretted hidrogen gas. It ismore than 7 met. [near 8 yards]wide, and is the most copious hidro-sulphurous spring I ever saw. In the opinion of the natives, theseextraordinary changes I have descri-bed, the crust of earth raised andcracked by volcanick fire, the moun-tains of scoriæ and ashes heaped up,are the works of monks; the great-est, no doubt, they ever produced ineither hemisphere. Our Indian host,at the hut we inhabited in the plainof Jorullo, told us, that some mis-sionary capuchins preached at the
* In the bottom of the crater we found the heat of the air 47° [116·6°F.] and in someplaces 58° and 60° [136·4° and 140°.] We had to pass over cracks exhaling sulphurousvapours, in which the thermometer rose to 85° [185°.] From these cracks, and the heapsof scoriæ that cover considerable hollows, the descent into the crater is not withoutdanger.|346| |Spaltenumbruch|estate of San Pedro, and, not meet-ing a favourable reception, utteredthe most horrible and complicatedimprecations against this plain, thenso beautiful and fertile. They pro-phesied, that the estate should firstbe swallowed up by flames issuingout of the bowels of the earth; andthat the air should afterward becooled to such a degree, that theneighbouring mountains should re-main for ever covered with ice andsnow. The first of these maledictionshaving been so fatally verified, thecommon people foresee, in the gra-dual cooling of the volcano, the pre-sage of a perpetual winter. I havethought it right to mention this vul-gar tradition, worthy a place in theepic poem of the jesuit Landivar,because it exhibits a striking featureof the manners and prejudices ofthese remote countries. It shows theactive industry of a class of men,who, too frequently abusing thecredulity of the people, and pretend-ing to possess the power of suspend-ing the immutable laws of nature,know how to avail themselves ofevery event for establishing theirempire by the fear of physical evil. The situation of the new volcanoof Jorullo leads to a very curiousgeological observation. It has alrea-dy been observed in the 3d chapter,that there is, in New Spain, a line ofgreat heights, or a narrow zone in-cluded between the latitudes of 18°59′ and 19° 12′, in which are allthe summits of Anahuack that riseabove the region of perpetual snow.These summits are either volcanosstill actually burning; or mountains,the form of which, as well as thenature of their rocks, renders it ex-tremely probable, that they formerlycontained subterranean fire. Settingout from the coast of the gulf ofMexico, and proceeding westward,we find the peak of Oribaza, the |Spaltenumbruch|two volcanos of la Puebla, the Ne-vado de Toluca, the peak of Tanci-taro, and the volcano of Colima.These great heights, instead offorming the ridge of the cordilleraof Anahuack, and following its di-rection, which is from S. E. to N.W. are, on the contrary, in a line per-pendicular to the axis of the greatchain of mountains. It is certainlyworthy remark, that in the year 1759the new volcano of Jorullo wasformed in the continuation of thisline, and on the same parallel as theancient Mexican volcanos. A view of my plan of the environsof Jorullo will show, that the sixlarge hummocks have risen out ofthe earth on a vein, that crosses theplain from the cerro of las Cuevasto the pichaco del Montero. Thenew mouths of Vesuvius, too, arefound ranged along a fissure. Donot these analogies give us reasonto suppose, that there exists in thispart of Mexico, at a great depthwithin the earth, a fissure stretch-ing from east to west through aspace of 137 leagues [343 miles]and through which the volcanickfire has made its way at differenttimes, bursting the outer crust ofporphyritick rocks, from the coastsof the gulf of Mexico to the SouthSea? Is this fissure prolonged tothat little groupe of islands, calledby Collnet, the Archipelago of Re-gigedo, and round which, in thesame parallel with the Mexicanvolcanos, pummice stone has beenseen floating? Naturalists who dis-tinguish the facts offered by de-scriptive mineralogy from theoreti-cal reveries concerning the primitivestate of our planet, will pardon mefor having consigned these observa-tions to the general map of NewSpain, contained in the MexicanAtlas.