Cavities which are
either on the declivity or at the foot of the mountain are gradually
converted into subterranean resevoirs of water, which communicate by
numerous narrow openings with mountain streams, as we see exemplified in the
highlands of Quito. the fishes of these rivulets multiply, especially in
the obscurity of the hollows; and when the shocks of earthquakes, which
precede all eruptions in the andes, have violently shaken the whole mass of
the volcano, these subterranean caverns are suddenly opened, and water,
fishes, and tufaceous mud are all ejected together. It is through this
singular phenomenon* that the inhabitants of the highlands of Quito became
acquainted with the existence of the little cyclopic fishes, termed by them
the prenadilla.
[footnote] *Pimelodes cyclopum. See Humboldt, 'Recueil d'Observations de
Zoologie et d'Anatomie Comparee', t. i., p. 21-25.
On the night between the 19th and 20th of June, 1698, when the summit of
Carguairazo, a mountain 19,720 feet in height, fell in, leaving only two
huge masses of rock remaining of the ledge of the crater, a space of nearly
thirty-two square miles was overflowed and devastated by streams of liquid
tufa and argillaceous mud ('lodazales'), containing large quantities of dead
fish.
Pages:
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490