The basket was emptied, and then he once more
descended into the lurid crater, collected another store and was again
drawn up; but far from shrinking from his task, he descended again
several times, till a sufficiency had been obtained, with which the
party descended to the plain.
THE VOLCANO JORULLO
No further back than the middle of the eighteenth century the site of
Jorullo was a level plain, including several highly-cultivated fields,
which formed the farm of Don Pedro di Jorullo. The plain was watered
by two small rivers, called Cuitimba and San Pedro, and was bounded by
mountains composed of basalt--the only indications of former volcanic
action. These fields were well irrigated, and among the most fertile in
the country, producing abundant crops of sugar-cane and indigo.
In the month of June, 1759, the cultivators of the farm began to
be disturbed by strange subterranean noises of an alarming kind,
accompanied by frequent shocks of earthquake, which continued for nearly
a couple of months; but they afterward entirely ceased, so that the
inhabitants of the place were lulled into security. On the night between
the 28th and 29th of September, however, the subterranean noises
were renewed with greater loudness than before, and the ground shook
severely. The Indian servants living on the place started from their
beds in terror, and fled to the neighboring mountains. Thence gazing
upon their master's farm they beheld it, along with a tract of ground
measuring between three and four square miles, in the midst of which it
stood, rise up bodily, as if it had been inflated from beneath like a
bladder.
Pages:
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372