27th of September, 1796. Eruption in the West India Islands.
(Volcano of Guadaloupe).
November, 1796. The volcano of Pasto began to emit smoke.
14th of December, 1796. Destruction of Cumana.
4th of February, 1797. Destruction of Riobamba.
30th of January, 1811. Appearance of Sabrina Island, in the Azores.
The island enlarged very considerably on the 15th of June, 1811.
May, 1811. Commencement of the earthquakes in the island of St.
Vincent, which lasted till May 1812.
16th of December, 1811. Commencement of the commotions in the
valley of the Mississippi and the Ohio, which lasted till 1813.
December, 1811. Earthquake at Caracas.
26th of March, 1811. Destruction of Caracas. Earthquakes, which
continued till 1813.
30th of April, 1811. Eruption of the volcano in St. Vincent; and
the same day subterranean noises at Caracas, and on the banks of
the Apure.)
The volcanic islands form one-fifth of that great arc extending
from the coast of Paria to the peninsula of Florida. Running from
south to north, they close the Caribbean Sea on the eastern side,
while the greater West India Islands appear like the remains of a
group of primitive mountains, the summit of which seems to have
been between Cape Abacou, Point Morant, and the Copper Mountains,
in that part where the islands of St. Domingo, Cuba, and Jamaica,
are nearest to each other. Considering the basin of the Atlantic as
an immense valley* which separates the two continents, and where,
from 20 degrees south to 30 degrees north, the salient angles
(Brazil and Senegambia) correspond to the receding angles (the gulf
of Guinea and the Caribbean Sea), we are led to think that the
latter sea owes its formation to the action of currents, which,
like the current of rotation now existing, have flowed from east to
west; and have given the southern coast of Porto Rico, St. Domingo,
and the island of Cuba their uniform configuration. (* The valley
is narrowest (300 leagues) between Cape St. Roque and Sierra Leone.
Proceeding toward the north along the Coasts of the New Continent,
from its pyramidal extremity, or the Straits of Magellan, we
imagine we recognise the effects of a repulsion directed first
toward the north-east, then toward the north-west, and finally
again to the north-east.) This supposition of an oceanic irruption
has been the source of two other hypotheses on the origin of the
smaller West India Islands. Some geologists admit that the
uninterrupted chain of islands from Trinidad to Florida exhibits
the remains of an ancient chain of mountains. They connect this
chain sometimes with the granite of French Guiana, sometimes with
the calcareous mountains of Pari. Others, struck with the
difference of geological constitution between the primitive
mountains of the Greater and the volcanic cones of the Lesser
Antilles, consider the latter as having risen from the bottom of
the sea.
If we recollect that volcanic upheavings, when they take place
through elongated crevices, usually take a straight direction, we
shall find it difficult to judge from the disposition of the
craters alone, whether the volcanoes have belonged to the same
chain, or have always been isolated.
