Note IX-45 — Chapter IX · SALVADOR, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA. 1824-1840.

A dense yellow cloud rose suddenly, accompanied by a strong smell of sulphur and a shower of fine white dust. The alarmed inhabitants closed their doors and windows, but the dust could not be kept out. Breathing became difficult. This lasted nearly three days. On the 23d, at 1 a. m., a loud detonation, followed by heavy shocks of earthquake, rain of sand, and total darkness, rendered the terror of the people complete. Flocks of birds fell dead to the ground, and wild animals sought refuge in buildings. The frightened inhabitants ran to their yards, or hurried to the churches to implore divine mercy. Forty-three hours passed before the earth became quiet, when a strong wind cleared the atmosphere, enabling the people to ascertain the damage. The ashes in the vicinity of the volcano were several feet deep. The river Chiquito had been wholly dried up, and two new islands were formed. A large number of animals had perished, and the living ones were in a state of starvation. Such had been the force of the convulsion that the detonations and the rain of ashes had reached a distance of hundreds of leagues, as far as Oajaca, Jamaica, and Bogotá in Colombia. Montúfar, Reseña Hist., ii. 145-50, in giving an account of the event, adds that the priests called it a punishment from heaven because tithes had been abolished, freedom of conscience proclaimed, and the decrees of 1829 and 1830 upheld. The parish priests in several towns, during the prevailing darkness, preached from their pulpits that this shaking of the earth was a manifestation of God's wrath for the crimes of the liberals. Squier, Trav., ii. 110-11, says that the superintendent of Belize, on hearing the explosions, mustered his troops, thinking that a battle was being fought somewhere near the coast. Stephens, Cent. Am., ii. 38, relates a similar incident of the military commander of Guatemala.