The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-06-15
Earthquakes on the American Conti-
upnt.

One of the first earthquakes recorded
in the western hemisphere was in Ven
ezuela, along the coast of Cumana and
in the Gulf of Paria. II took place in
1880, and was accompanied by great
sea-wave of twenty-four feet in height
The earth opened with large assures,
discharging fetid, black, salt water.
while mountain near the Gulf of Car
racas was split in twain, and is still in
that condition. In 1868, there were two
earthquakes; one on the coast of Peru,
with sea-wave eighty-four feet high,
inundating the coast for ten miles in
land; and second overthrow the city
of Guatemala, in Central America. In
1857, the coast of Peru had another visit,
while q great sea-wave destroyed the
town and harbor ofCallao. In 1858, the
island of Jamaica was shaken, and in
1892 there was more violent shake, the
ground rising and sinking in waves like
the sea, while the city of Port Royal
was destroyed, and lot of 1000 acres
sank into the sea; earth and rocks, and
even forests with timber, were torn from
the mountains and hurled into the sea !;
also, storehouses and ships along the
coasts were destroyed and wrecked !;
plantations were overwhelmed by land
slides or ingulfed in chasms that
opened and became lakes. In 1893, Quito
was violently shaken at the time when
the cone and crater Of the volcano Car
guairazo fell in, while streams of water
and mud issued from its sides. Another
very dreadful convulsion took place in
Peru in l746, when, by alternate up
heavals and sinkings of the coast, the
sea twice retreated and dashed in again
with q wave one hundred feet high,
overwhelming Lima and four other
ports. The coast kept at last its lowest
level, and formed new bay at Callao.
In May, 175l, the city of Conception,
in Chill, was entirely swallowed up, and
the sea rolled over its site. Being ut
terly gone and buried under the sea,
the new city was built ten miles inland,
The sea-wave which rolled up on this
occasion overwhelmed a colony on the
island of Juan Fernandez, while the
coast near the old port Of Conception
was raised twenty-four feet. That this
has repeatedly happened there is proved
by the abundance of recent shells found
several hundred feet high on the tops
Of the hills along the coast. In the same
year San Domingo suffered, and the
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Prince, was Overthrown, tract of land
sinking in the sea and forming an ex-
tcnsivc bay.
On Nov. !, 1850, the earthquake of
Lisbon was felt in the English colonies,
while on the 18th New England was
violently shaken, and underground ex-
plosions were heard; the sea was much
agitated in the harbors along the coast,
and many dead fish were thrown up.
This agitation was felt in Long Island,
New Jersey, Virginia, and as far south
as Florida and the West Indies. Ships
i'll the Atlantic ocean, three hundred
miles east from Cape Ann, felt the
shock, which was also felt in Portugal,
Spain, Italy, England, and even inland
along the German Rhine. In 1766, the
whole city ofCumana was ruined, while
the entire coast of Caracas and the is
land of Trinidad were violently shaken
he shocks were almost hourly, and con-
tinued for upwards of year, while at
last the island of Orinoca disappeared.
In l77O, st. Domingo had another turn,
and the city of Port all Prince was near
ly destroyed; clefts in the earth, poi
sonous vapors arising, epidemic dis
eases, and sea-waves, sweeping for six
miles inland, were among the smaller
items. In 1873 and 1775, Guatemala
was visited by successive shocks. in
duced by volcanic cruptions in the
neighborhood, and the city of st. Iago,
with all its inhabitants, was ingulfed in
huge chasms which opened in the earth.
In 1897, the lesser Antilles were sha-
ken from February until September,
when the eruption of the volcano in
Guadeloupe appears to have brought re-
lief, as then it ceased. The coast OF
Caracas was also visited, and those
portions of Cumana which had been re-
built during the previous thirty years
were again ruined. On the shores OF
the bay of Carlsco, Immediately before
the shocks, flames issued from assures
in the earth