was full, and every one was shaken to the earth. To the amount of nine hundred or one thousand persons can be counted in two churches, all having perished. Not a house in Caraccas is inhabited. The people have, as well as here, left the place, and raised tents in the open fields.

"I was a witness to the interment of about fifty, who, on their knees, were imploring the protection of the Divinity, and who, at a less distance than twenty steps, were covered by the falling of two houses."

The fourth of these pieces I shall add, is dated April 4th, 1812, at Laguira, and is as follows:

“A very heavy earthquake, which took place here on the 26th ult. has laid this town in total ruins; not a house standing except a few which are so shaken and shattered as to be uninhabitable. The city of Caraccas, fifteen miles distant, is in a still more deplorable condition. There a total fall of all the houses has been effected. In Laguira the custom-house is still standing, but is cracked in many places. The killed in Caraccas are estimated at nine thousand. In Laguira, at one thousand five hundred. My own escape is miraculous, for I was amidst the destruction in Caraccas, whither multitudes of people had gone in consequence of the great holydays, which began on the very day of the earthquake. The houses in the street where I walked did not fall immediately. I ran to the market square, which was close by; there were five of us in company, only three survived. As soon as the earth began to shake, the Spaniards dropt on their knees; had they run like the strangers, many more of them would have escaped."

For the relief of the sufferers by these calamitous occurrences, congress passed an act appropriating fifty thousand dollars for the purchase of flour. This donation was promptly forwarded to Venezuela, in vessels chartered for the purpose; and the transaction is worthy of being

remembered as an instance of friendship and generosity in the highest degree honourable to its authors.

It does not appear from any document in my possession to what extent these earthquakes prevailed; nor in what manner they affected the remote and internal provinces.

Description of the Volcano and Earthquake which happened in the Island of St. Vincents, on the 30th day of April, 1812.

THE gazette published at Bridgetown, in Barbadoes, for May 6th, 1812, contained the original intelligence of a terrible eruption in the mountain called Souffriere, in St. Vincents; and this may serve as an introduction to the present paper.

Amongst the evils, natural and experimental, which this island did already most wofully experience, it has now to enumerate the awful visitation of an eruption of the Souffriere Mountain; which, in its symptoms and effects, surpasses the most terrific picture we can possibly draw of it. The following, as far as we have yet ascertained, are the particulars.

"On Monday last, a loud explosion of the volcanic mountain took place, followed by an immense column of thick sulphureous smoke, which suddenly burst over the vicinity of the crater, and in the course of a minute discharged vast quantities of volcanic matter. The whole surface became covered with ashes, which presented an alarming appearance; and the noise which proceeded from the bowels of the mountain, threw the whole neighbourhood into the utmost consternation.

But this is not all: the amazing scene remains yet to be told! The eruption, continuing with increased violence, presented on Thursday night, and yesterday morning, one of the most awful sights human imagination can form an idea of. The mountain burst forth in a most tremendous blaze, throwing up huge spouts of fire and burning stones, accompanied with the most frightful thundering noise, at the same time sending down its sides torrents of burning matter, and scattering in the air large pieces of rock, which, in their descent, made a dreadful ravage among the cattle, &c. Some idea may be formed of this awful conflagration, when it is stated, that showers of volcanic particles continued pouring for several hours all over the island, accompanied at intervals with violent shocks of earthquake; and, at times, from the dreadful aperture of the mountain, were shot off rocks of enormous size, which, in their fatal fall, have done the most calamitous injury; and such has been the destructive impetuosity of the liquid fire, that its baneful effects are of the most serious nature. The brilliancy of the flames, which majestically rose from the mouth of the crater, had a most sublime and awful effect, and the burning stones which darted in the air resembled the stars in a rocket. The vivid flashes of lightning which shot forth with a noise far exceeding the heaviest artillery, resembled in colour and brightness what is usually seen in a tempest; and the curling sheets of smoke so obscured the sky, that yesterday morning, until ten o'clock, was nearly involved in nocturnal darkness. So dreadful were these appearances, that our terrors added new horrors to the scene; the whole island was in a state of trepidation, and the people, filled with supplication and dread, precipitately retreated from their homes to places

of shelter.

"About noon yesterday, the wind blew from the southeast, the sun made its appearance, and the whole heavens began to brighten. The eruption, we find, has abated considerably in its violence; but we under

stand that the leeward and windward plantations are covered all over with torrents of melted matter.

“We have not been able, as yet, to ascertain correctly the extent of damage done, or the number of lives lost; but the principal rivers of the island (those particularly within the influence of the volcano) are all dried up. The Negro provision grounds, for miles around, are completely destroyed, and the pastures, on the windward and leeward side of the island, are so covered over with ashes and vitrified pieces of stone, that there is not left a bit of ground, in appearance, for the cattle to feed upon. Every means should instantly be resorted to, to prevent the calamities likely to ensue from so distressing a catastrophe; and we trust, the legislature will immediately adopt such measures as will ensure the importation of dry provisions, sufficient for the call of the inhabitants.

"Accounts from the post at Owin have just reached town; they report that that part of the island presents nothing but objects of desolation. The stupendous block-house there having fallen to the ground, and the range of the mountain on the windward side split open-from which issued torrents of lava, consuming, in its course, every tree and shrub that impeded its way; and the surface of the hills and valleys, in that quarter, covered all over, several inches thick, with a sort of volcanic matter, resembling the dross that is thrown from a smith's forge. The noise from the mountain has been so violently felt there, that to give an idea of it, one may imagine a mixed sound made up of the raging of a tempest—the murmur of a troubled sea-and the roaring of thunder and artillery, confused altogether."

Afterward a more full and comprehensive account was drawn up by some gentleman whose name I regret that I have not been able to ascertain; and the more so, as he unquestionably possesses good powers for observation as well as delineation.

The Souffriere Mountain, the most northerly of the lofty chain running through the centre of this island, and the highest of the whole, as computed by the most accurate survey that has yet been taken, had for some time past indicated much disquietude; and from the extraordinary frequency and violence of earthquakes which occurred within the last year, portended some great movement or eruption. The apprehension, however, was not so immediate as to restrain curiosity, or to prevent repeated visits to the crater, which of late had been more numerous than at any former period, even up to Sunday the 26th of April; when several gentlemen ascended it, and remained there some time. Nothing unusual was then remarked, or any external difference observed, except rather a stronger emission of smoke from the interstices of the conical hill, at the bottom of the crater. To those who have not visited this romantic and wonderful spot, a slight description of it, as it lately stood, is previously necessary and indispensable to form any conception of it, and to the better understanding the account which follows; for no one living can expect to see it again in the perfection and beauty in which it was on Sunday, the 26th of April.

"About two thousand feet from the level of the sea, (calculating from conjecture,) on the south side of the mountain, and rather more than two thirds of its height, opens a circular chasm, somewhat exceeding half a mile in diameter, and between four and five hundred feet in depth; exactly in the centre of this capacious bowl, rose a conical hill, about two hundred and sixty or three hundred feet in height, and about two hundred in diameter, richly covered and variegated with shrubs, brushwood, and vines, above half way up, and for the remainder, powdered over with virgin sulphur to the top. From the fissures in the cone and interstices of the rocks, a thin white smoke was constantly emitted, occasionally tinged with a slight bluish flame. The precipitous sides of this magnificent amphitheatre were fringed with various ever