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fifty or sixty toises; but this assertion is founded on no measurement whatever. I am informed, that in the
province of Quito also, the people, at every period of great commotions, imagine, that the volcano of
Tunguragua is diminished in height.—It has been affirmed, in many descriptions published of the
destruction of Caraccas, "that the mountain of the Silla is an extinguished volcano; that a great quantity of
volcanic substances are found on the road from La Guayra to Caraccas*; that the rocks do not present any
regular stratification; and that every thing bears the stamp of the action of fire." It is even added, "that,
twelve years before the great catastrophe, Mr. Bonpland and myself, from our physical and mineralogical
researches, had considered the Silla as a very dangerous neighbour to the city, because that mountain
contained a great quantity of sulphur, and that the commotions must come from the North-East." It is
seldom that natural philosophers have to justify themselves for an accomplished prediction; but I think it
my duty to combat ideas,
* See the account given by Mr. Drouet of Guadaloupe, translated in the Trans. of New York, vol. i,
p, 308. The author, in giving to the Silla nine hundred toises of absolute height, has confounded the
height of the mountain, in my measurement, above the level of the sea, with its height above the
valley of Caraccas, which makes a difference of four hundred and sixty toises.