Digitale Ausgabe

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There are few events in the physicalworld which are calculated to excite so deepand permanent an interest as the earthquakewhich destroyed the town of Caraccas,and by which more than 20,000 personsperished, almost at the same instant, in theprovince of Venezuela. The general resultsof this frightful catastrophe have been longknown in this country; but its particulardetails, so afflicting to human feelings, andthe physical phenomena by which it wasaccompanied, so important in geologicalspeculations, have been only recently de-scribed by M. Humboldt.* This distin-guished traveller, who had visited the cityof Caraccas previous to its destruction,has been at great pains to collect and com-pare the descriptions of individuals whohad witnessed the effects of the earthquake,and has thus been enabled to draw a faithfulpicture of this terrible convulsion, markedwith that glowing eloquence which charac-terises all his writings. We regret that ourlimits will not permit us to present ourreaders with all his reasonings respectingthe influence of a system of volcanoes overa vast extent of circumjacent country; butwe may afterwards have another opportunityof resuming this branch of the subject. “The 26th of March was a remarkablyhot day. The air was calm, and the skyunclouded. It was Holy Thursday, and agreat part of the population was assembledin the churches. Nothing seemed to pre-sage the calamities of the day. At sevenminutes after four in the afternoon the firstshock was felt; it was sufficiently powerfulto make the bells of the churches toll; itlasted five or six seconds, during whichtime the ground was in a continual undu-lating movement, and seemed to heave uplike a boiling liquid. The danger wasthought to be past, when a tremendoussubterraneous noise was heard, resemblingthe rolling of thunder, but louder, and oflonger continuance, than that heard withinthe tropics. This noise preceded a perpen-dicular motion of three or four seconds,followed by an undulatory movement some-what longer. The shocks were in oppositedirections, from north to south, and fromeast to west. Nothing could resist themovement from beneath upward, and undu-lations crossing each other. The town ofCaraccas was entirely overthrown. Be-tween nine and ten thousand of the inha-bitants were buried under the ruins of thehouses and churches. The procession hadnot yet set out; but the crowd was so greatin the churches, that nearly three or fourthousand persons were crushed by the fallof their vaulted roofs. The explosion wasstronger towards the north, in that part ofthe town situated nearest the mountain of |Spaltenumbruch|Avila, and the Silla. The churches of LaTrinidad and Alta Gracia, which were morethan 150 feet high, and the naves of whichwere supported by pillars of twelve or fifteenfeet diameter, left a mass of ruins scarcelyexceeding five or six feet in elevation. Thesinking of the ruins has been so considera-ble, that there now scarcely remain anyvestiges of pillars or columns. The bar-racks, called El Quartel de San Carlos,situate farther north of the Church of theTrinity, on the road from the Custom-housede la Pastora, almost entirely disappeared.A regiment of troops of the line, that wasassembled under arms, ready to join theprocession, was, with the exception of afew men, buried under the ruins of thisgreat edifice. Nine tenths of the fine townof Caraccas were entirely destroyed. Thewalls of the houses that were not throwndown, as those of the street San Juan, nearthe Capuchin Hospital, were cracked insuch a manner, that it was impossible to runthe risk of inhabiting them. “Estimating at nine or ten thousand thenumber of the dead in the city of Caraccas,we do not include those unhappy persons,who, dangerously wounded, perished severalmonths after, from want of food and properattention. The night of Holy Thursdaypresented the most distressing scene of de-solation and sorrow. That thick cloud ofdust, which, rising above the ruins, darkenedthe sky like a fog, had settled on theground. No shock was felt, and never wasa night more calm or more serene. Themoon, nearly full, illumined the roundeddomes of the Silla, and the aspect of thesky formed a perfect contrast to that of theearth, covered with the dead, and heapedwith ruins. Mothers were seen bearing intheir arms their children, whom they hopedto recal to life. Desolate families wanderedthrough the city, seeking a brother, a hus-band, a friend, of whose fate they wereignorant, and whom they believed to be lostin the crowd. The people pressed alongthe streets, which could no more be recog-nised but by long lines of ruins. “All the calamities experienced in thegreat catastrophes of Lisbon, Messina, Li-ma, and Riobamba, were renewed on thefatal day of the 26th of March, 1812. Thewounded, buried under the ruins, imploredby their cries the help of the passers by,and nearly 2000 were dug out. Implementsfor digging, and clearing away the ruinswere entirely wanting; and the people wereobliged to use their bare hands to disinterthe living. The wounded, as well as thesick who had escaped from the hospitals,were laid on the banks of the small riverGuayra, They found no shelter but thefoliage of trees. Beds, linen to dress thewounds, instruments of surgery, medicines,and objects of the most urgent necessity,were buried under the ruins. Every thing,even food, was wanting during the firstdays. Water became alike scarce in theinterior of the city. The commotion hadrent the pipes of the fountains; the fallingin of the earth had choked up the springsthat supplied them; and it became necessaryin order to have water, to go down to theriver Guayra, which was considerablyswelled; and then vessels to convey thewater were wanting. |Spaltenumbruch| “There remained a duty to be fulfilledtowards the dead, enjoined at once by pietyand the dread of infection. It being im-possible to inter so many thousand corpses,half-buried under the ruins, commissarieswere appointed to burn the bodies: and forthis purpose, funeral piles were erectedbetween the heaps of ruins. This ceremonylasted several days. Amid so many publiccalamities, the people devoted themselvesto those religious duties, which they thoughtwere the most fitted to appease the wrathof Heaven. Some, assembling in proces-sion, sung funeral hymns; others, in a stateof distraction, confessed themselves aloudin the streets. In this town was now re-peated what had been remarked in the pro-vince of Quito, after the tremendous earth-quake of 1797; a number of marriageswere contracted between persons, who hadneglected for many years to sanction theirunion by the sacerdotal benediction. Chil-dren found parents, by whom they had nevertill then been acknowledged; restitutionswere promised by persons, who had neverbeen accused of fraud; and families, whohad long been enemies, were drawn togetherby the tie of common calamity. If thisfeeling seemed to calm the passions of some,and open the heart to pity, it had a contraryeffect on others, rendering them more rigidand inhuman. “Shocks as violent as those which, inthe space of one minute,† overthrew thecity of Caraccas, could not be confined toa small portion of the continent. Theirfatal effects extended as far as the provincesof Venezuela, Varinas, and Maracaybo,along the coast; and still more to the in-land mountains. La Guayra, Mayquetia,Antimano, Baruta, La Vega, San Felipe,near the copper mines of Aroa. It appears,that it was on a line running east north-east,and west south-west, from La Guayra andCaraccas to the lofty mountains of Niquitaoand Merida, that the violence of the earth-quake was principally directed. It was feltin the kingdom of New Granada from thebranches of the high Sierra de Santa Mar-tha as far as Santa Fe de Bogota and Hondaon the banks of the Magdalena, 180 leaguesfrom Caraccas. It was everywhere moreviolent in the Cordilleras of gneiss and mica-slate, or immediately at their foot, thanin the plains: and this difference was par-ticularly striking in the savannahs of Varinasand Casanara. In the valleys of Aragua,situate between Caraccas and the town ofSan Felipe, the commotions were veryweak: and La Victoria, Maracay, andValencia, scarcely suffered at all, notwith-standing their proximity to the capital. AtValecillo, a few leagues from Valencia, theearth, opening, threw out such an immensequantity of water, that it formed a newtorrent. The same phenomenon took placenear Porto-Cabello. On the other hand,the lake of Maracaybo diminished sensibly.At Coro no commotion was felt, thoughthe town is situated upon the coast, betweenother towns which suffered from the earth-quake. “Fifteen or eighteen hours after thegreat catastrophe, the ground remainedtranquil. The night, as we have alreadyobserved, was fine and calm; and the com-motions did not recommence till after the |Spaltenumbruch|27th. They were then attended with a veryloud and long continued subterranean noise.The inhabitants of Caraccas wandered intothe country; but the villages and farmshaving suffered as much as the town, theycould find no shelter till they were beyondthe mountains of Los Teques, in the valleysof Aragua, and in the Llanos or savannahs.No less than fifteen oscillations were oftenfelt in one day. On the 5th of April therewas almost as violent an earthquake as thatwhich overthrew the capital. During se-veral hours the ground was in a state ofperpetual undulation. Large masses ofearth fell in the mountains; and enormousrocks were detached from the Silla of Ca-raccas. It was even asserted and believedthat the two domes of the Silla sunk fifty orsixty toises; but this assertion is foundedon no measurement whatever. “While violent commotions were felt atthe same time in the valley of the Missisippi,in the island of St. Vincent, and in theprovince of Venezuela, the inhabitants ofCaraccas, of Calabozo, situated in themidst of the steppes, and on the borders ofthe Rio Apura, in a space of 4000 squareleagues, were terrified on the 30th of April1812, by a subterraneous noise, which re-sembled frequent discharges of the largestcannon. This noise began at two in themorning. It was accompanied by no shock;and, what is very remarkable, it was asloud on the coast as at eighty leagues dis-tance inland. It was everywhere believedto be transmitted through the air; and wasso far from being thought a subterraneousnoise, that at Caraccas, as well as at Cala-bozo, preparations were made to put theplace into a state of defence against anenemy, who seemed to be advancing withheavy artillery. Mr. Palacio, crossing theRio Apura near the junction of the RioNula, was told by the inhabitants that the‘firing of cannon’ had been heard as dis-tinctly at the western extremity of theprovince of Varinas, as at the port of LaGuayra to the north of the chain of thecoast. “The day on which the inhabitants ofTerra Firma were alarmed by a subterra-neous noise, was that on which happenedthe eruption of the volcano in the island ofSt. Vincent. This mountain, near 500toises high, had not thrown out any lavasince the year 1718. Scarcely was anysmoke perceived to issue from its top, when,in the month of May 1811, frequent shocksannounced, that the volcanic fire was eitherre-kindled, or directed anew toward thatpart of the West Indies. The first erup-tion did not take place till the 27th of April1812, at noon. It was only an ejection ofashes, but attended with a tremendousnoise. On the 30th, the lava passed thebrink of the crater, and, after a course offour hours, reached the sea. The noise ofthe explosion ‘resembled that of alternatedischarges of very large cannon and ofmusketry; and, what is well worthy ofremark, it seemed much louder at sea, at agreat distance from the island, than in sightof land, and near the burning volcano.’ “The distance in a straight line from the volcanoof St. Vincent to the Rio Apura, near the mouth ofthe Nula, is 210 nautical leagues. The explosionswere consequently heard at a distance equal to that

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* Personal Narrative, vol. iv. p. 12.† The duration of the earthquake, that is to say thewhole of the movements of undulation and risingwhich occasioned the horrible catastrophe of the 26thof March, 1812, was estimated by some at 50 seconds,by others at 1 minute 12 seconds.|78||Spaltenumbruch|between Vesuvius and Paris. This phenomenonconnected with a great number of facts observed inthe Cordilleras of the Andes, shows how much moreextensive the subterranean sphere of activity of avolcano is, than we are disposed to admit from thesmall changes effected at the surface of the globe.The detonations heard during whole days togetherin the New World, 80, 100, or even 200 leaguesdistant from a crater, do not reach us by the propa-gation of sound through the air; they are transmit-ted to us by the ground. The little town of Honda,on the banks of the Magdalena, is not less than 145leagues from Cotopaxi; and yet in the great explo-sions of this volcano, in 1774, a subterraneousnoise was heard at Honda, and supposed to be dis-charges of heavy artillery. The monks of St.Francis spread the news, that the town of Carthagenawas bombarded by the English; and the intelligencewas believed. Now the volcano of Cotopaxi is acone, more than 1800 toises above the basin ofHonda, and rises from a table-land the elevation ofwhich is more than 1500 toises above the valley ofthe Magdalena. In all the colossal mountains ofQuito, of the provinces of Los Pastos, and ofPopayan, crevices and valleys without number areinterposed. It cannot be admitted, under thesecircumstances, that the noise could be transmittedthrough the air, or by the superior surface of theglobe, and that it came from that point, where thecone and crater of Cotopaxi are placed. It appearsprobable, that the higher part of the kingdom ofQuito and the neighbouring Cordilleras, far frombeing a group of distinct volcanoes, constitute asingle swollen mass, an enormous volcanic wall,stretching from south to north, and the crest ofwhich exhibits a surface of more than six hundredsquare leagues. Cotopaxi, Tunguragua, Antisana,and Pichincha, are placed upon this same vault, onthis raised ground. The fire issues sometimes fromone, sometimes from another of these summits. Theobstructed craters appear to be extinguished volca-noes; but we may presume, that, while Cotopaxior Tunguragua have only one or two eruptions inthe course of a century, the fire is not less continu-ally active under the town of Quito, under Pichin-cha and Imbahuru. “Advancing towards the north, we find, betweenthe volcano of Cotopaxi and the town of Honda,two other systems of volcanic mountains, those ofLos Pastos and of Popayan. The connection ofthese systems was manifested in the Andes in anincontestible manner by a phenomenon, which Ihave already had occasion to notice. Since themonth of November 1796, a thick column of smokehad issued from the volcano of Pasto, west of thetown of that name, and near the valley of RioGuaytara. The months of the volcano are lateral,and placed on its western declivity, yet duringthree successive months the column rose so muchhigher than the ridge of the mountain, that it wasconstantly visible to the inhabitants of the town ofPasto. They related to us their astonishment, when,on the 4th of February 1797, they observed thesmoke disappear in an instant, without feeling anyshock whatever. At that very moment, sixty-fiveleagues to the south, between Chimborazo, Tungu-ragua, and the Altar, (Capac Urcu) the town ofRiobamba was overthrown by the most dreadfulearthquake of which tradition has transmitted thehistory. Is it possible to doubt from this coincidenceof phenomena, that the vapours issuing from thesmall apertures or ventanillas of the volcano ofPasto, had an influence on the pressure of thoseelastic fluids, which shook the ground of the king-dom of Quito, and destroyed in a few minutes thirtyor forty thousand inhabitants? “In order to explain these great effects of volcanicreactions, and to prove, that the group or systemof the volcanoes of the West India Islands maysometimes shake the continent, it was necessary tocite the Cordillera of the Andes. Geological rea-soning can be supported only on the analogy of factsthat are recent, and consequently well authenticated:and in what other region of the globe could we findgreater, and at the same time more varied volcanicphenomena, than in that double chain of mountainsheaved up by fire?—in that land, where Nature hascovered every summit and every valley with herwonders? If we consider a burning crater only asan insulated phenomenon, if we satisfy ourselveswith examining the mass of stony substances whichit has thrown up, the volcanic action at the surfaceof the globe will appear neither very powerful norvery extensive. But the image of this action swellsin the mind, when we study the relations that linktogether volcanoes of the same group; for instance,those of Naples and Sicily, of the Canary Islands,of the Azores, of the Caribbee Islands, of Mexico,of Guatimala, and of the table-land of Quito; whenwe examine either the reactions of these differentsystems of volcanoes on one another, or the distanceto which, by subterranean communications, theyat the same moment shake the Earth.‡”