OCR Text |
Show 400 :EARTUQUAKE 1~ MURCIA, A.D. 1829. ejections, anc.l the upheaving of it by forces acting from below. The same remark applies to a very lm·ge proportion of modern accounts; and how much reason we have to regret this deficiency of information is apparent from the fact, that in every instance where a spirit of scientific inquiry has animated the eye-witnesses of these events, facts calculated to throw much light on former modifications of the earth's structure have been recorded. As we shaH confine ourselves almost entirely, in our notice of certain earthquakes, to the changes brought about by them in the configuration of the earth's crust, we may mention, gcncl ·a1ly, some accompaniments of these terrible events which are almost uniformly commemorated in history, that it may be unnecessary to advert to them agt~in. Irregularities in the seasons preceue or follow the shocks; sudden gusts of wind, interrupted by deau calms ; violent rains, in countries or at seasons when such phenomena are unusual or unknown; a reddening of the sun's disk, and a haziness in the air, often continued for months; an evolution of electric matter, or of inflammable gas from the soil, with sulphureons and mephitic vapours; noises underground, like the running of carriages, or the discharge of artillery, or distant thunder ; animals utter cries of distress, and evince extraordinary alarm, being more sensitive than men of the slightest movement ; a sensation like sea-sickness, and a dizziness in the head, are experienced :-these, and other phenomena which do not immediately bear on our present subject, have recurred again and again at distant ages, and in all parts of the globe. We shall now begin our enumeration with the latest authentic narratives of earthquakes, and so carry back our survey retrospectively, that we may bring before the reader, in the first place, the'minute and circumstantial details of modem times, and enable him, by observing the extraordinary amoun.t of change within the last hundred and fifty years, to perceive how great must be the deficiency in the meagre annals of earlier eras. Murda, 18~9.--'l'he first event which presents itself in our chronological order, is the earthquake which happened in the south of Spain on the ~1st of March, 18~9. It a~pears, by the narrative of M. Cassas, the French Consul at Ahcant, that EARTHQUAKE OF B ' OGOTA, 1827-CIIILI, 1822. 401 the da ccounts of th e catastrophe were rate . The district viol tl . generally much exao-o-e- sq~are miles in area, being ~~e b a?Itated '":as only ·about f~ur Onhuela and the sea All a~m o~ the nver Segura between thrown down by a ver;ical t le VIllages in this tract were bY m· numerable crevices ~ movement ' th e sol·1 b e·m g traversed 1] . I . lOUr or five . h a uvia plam, especially th t me es broad. In the ape ~ t . a part near the 1 . mes were formed, out of which bJa sea, sma I Circular marme shells were vomited . d . ck mud, salt-water and . · ' an In other 1 ./!. ' gteen micaceous sand like t1 paces nne yellowish-tl . . ' 1at on the be ·I . lrown up m Jets No ac 1 at Ahcant was . . crater sent forti I ' m several Spanish journals')(:. 1 ava, as was asserted Bogota, 18~7.-0n the 16th N Bogota was convulsed by 1 ovember, 18~7, the plain of f an eart lqnake and o towns were thrown d 'T ' a great number M d l own. orrents of . ag a ena, sweeping alon vast . . ram swelled the !lubstances, which emitted! I h quantities of mud and other th.e fish. Popayan, which i:~i~ ureous vapour and destroyed miles S.S.W. of Bogota suffit~n~ two hundred geographical appeared in the road of G' eie greatly. Wide crevices h 1 uanacas leavin d b w o e of the Cordilleras s t . d' g no ou t that the fi us ame a powerful h k SSUJ'es opened near C t . h . s oc . Other the river Tunza immeod~ at,lmbt e plams of Bogota, into which Ia e y egan to flo t I we may observe, the ancient gravel bed t . . n .such cases, and a new one formed t l o a nver Is deserted relation in the position :r :uu:~~r b:;~l; so tha.t, .a want of courses may be no test of th h. 1 ~ to. the existmg waterto a geologist, in countries ~a~Tt~~~~tlqmty of such deposits quakes. Extraordinar . y convulsed by earthmentioned and t\vo v ly rams acco.mpanied the shocks before · ' o canos are s 1d t 1 ln the mountain-chain nearest t Ba o lave been in eruption o ogota. ?~ili, 18~~.-0n the 19th of N Chth was visited by a most d ~vember, 18~~, the coast of was felt simultaneous} tl estructtve earthquake. The shock two hundred miles fr y lrhoughout a space of one thousand and om nort to south St J V 1 some other places were g . t1 . . . . ago, a paraiso, ' Iea y InJUred. When the district • F~russac ' Bull et '~ ~ d cs Set.. Nat., November, 182!J 203 t Phll. Mag. July 1898 37 1 p. · Vot I. ' 1 - 1 P· • 2D |