Litchfield enquirer., 1850-08-29
T1.e Volc.Uoes of Csniral America.

ENE gOIGGuyDD O1 O~@~
 veroDv the following very interesting a
 ,-,,,,,, or .ome of;he Volcanoes uf Central 4
 ,..r,ca. from Ihe Hon. F.. G. SQUIER's Le
 ,,,r. h,.f,,re the American Association, at Ne
 Haven. on TbuIsday evening last.
 The volcsno of Jernllo rose, I believe
 in. a single night; but as we have seer
 IsaIco IS the result of long contRne'
 depnsits, and it seems to me tbat mos
 If the volcanoes of Cca.!al Amtrca
 ;n,ludinc some of the largest, have bcei
 formed in like manner. Iu fact l have
 h,en a personal witness of the origin o
 . Dew volcano, which, if it does not
 meet a premature extinguishment' bids
 fair to add another hign cone to those
 which now strew the great plain of he-
 .n, This plain, the finest nave ever
 .asn . lies be,Ween Lake Monagua (which
 mas its outlet through Lake Nicaragua
 ,nd the River San Juan into the A.lan>
 ,ic1 and the Pacific, Here the CordllIer-
 ,as are wholly interrupted. and the Al
 m:ol,ty hand has smoothed the way for me orandest enterprise which human da,ing has conceived and which human rncr.sy seems now on the eve ot accom-, plis6ing, the opening of a Ship Canal hetween the two Oceans. Standing up- on A moderately elevated point in thls great plain, tie traveller looks down upon The one hand on the slrery waters of Monapua, and upon the other, on the bo d Pacific, stretching far away to |" Catt,ay and the Spice Islands" A narrow belt of.land less than 60 feet 'Iioher than the Lake, alone prevents Monasua, from sending her waters in the Western rather than the Eastern ocean into the placid Pacific rather than the turbulent Atlantic. This plain is trav- ersed by succession of volcanic cones from the gigantic Momotombo. standing boldly out into the Lake, to the memora> ble Cosequina, projecting its base not less boldly into the ocean. Fourteen distinct volcanoes occur within one hun dred miles, on this line. all of which are vivid at the same time. Around some of these volcanoes, that IS to say those having visible craters. are many smaller cones, of great regularity. composed of ashes. volcanic sand, and trituraled ,toues resembling septana. They seldom support any but few dwarf trees and are covered with coarse grass. This grass when grown gives them beautiful emerald appearance. In the dry seas n this color is exchanged for yellow, which after the annual burnings gives place to black. They constitute with their changes very singular and striking fea- lures in the Central American landscape. :. On the llth and 18th days of April last, rumbling sounds resembling thun> der were heard in the city of Leon. situ- ated in the center of the plain I have described. They seemed to proceed from the direction of the volcanoes and were supposed to come from the great volcano of Monotombo, which often emits noises, and shows other symptoms of activity besides sending out smoke. This volcano however on this occasion exhibited no unusual indications. The sounds increased in loudness and fre- quency on the night of the 18th and oc> casional tremors of the earth, were felt as far as Leon. which near the mountains were quite violent. terrifying the inhabi- tants. Early on the morning of the 18th, an ori6ce opened near the base of the long extinguished volcanoes of Las Pilas, about 20 miles distant from Leon. The throes of the earth at the time of the outburst were very severe in the vicini- ty, resembling from the accounts of the natives, a series of concussions. The precise point where the opering was made might be said to be in the plain t was however, somewhat elevated by the lava which had ages before flowed down from the volcano, and it was thro' this bed of lava that the eruption took place. No people reside within some miles of the spot, consequently, am not well informed concerning the earlier exhibited by the new volca- no. It seems however, that the out burst was attended by much flame. and that at fist, quantities of melted matter } were ejected irregularly. in every dircc, ton. Indeed, this was clearly the case. as was shown upon my visit to the spot, some days thei eafter. For a wide dis tance around were scattered large faxes, resembling freshly cast iron. This re- gular discharge continued only a few i hours, and it was followed by a current of lava, which flowed down the slope of | the land towards the West, in the form of high ridge, rising above the tons of the trees and bearing down everything which opposed its progress. While this flow continued. which it did for the remainder of the day, the earth was oui, ct, excepting only very slight tremor. which was not felt beyond a few miles
 Upon the l4th, however, the lava stop>
 pea flowing, and an entirely new mode
 ot acton followed. A series of erun,
 ''cns commenced, each lasting about 3
 minutes, succeeded by a pause If eoSaI
 duration. Each errnrt;on o41"'