Note 3 — Chapter II
Reading edition
It is a well-known fact that the noise of the approach of an earthquake is generally heard; but in Port-au-Prince there is a curious phenomenon which I have never known explained. A subterranean noise is frequently heard approaching from the plains, and appears to pass under the town without any movement of the earth being perceptible. The Haytians call it “le gouffre,” or “le bruit du gouffre,” and many fancy the whole of that portion of the island to be undermined, and predict a fearful fate for the capital.