Читать книгу The English Colony in New South Wales (Vol. 1&2). Narrative of the British First Settlement in Australia 1788-1801 онлайн

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We were informed that a slight shock of an earthquake had been felt here in the month of February preceding, but was unattended with any eruption from the Peak, which had not alarmed the island since the year 1703, when it destroyed the port of Guarrachica.

When the weather was very hot at Santa Cruz, the better sort of the inhabitants chose cooler residences higher up in the mountains, and these they could establish in whatever degree of temperature they chose; for in proportion as they ascended the air became cooler, the famous Peak being (though a volcano) clad in perpetual snow at its summit. We understood that the rain fell very heavy at certain seasons; and, on the sides of the hills which surrounded the town, ridges or low walls of stone were constructed at short distances, with intervals in them, to break the force of the water, which otherwise, descending in torrents, would sweep away every thing before it. Around Santa Cruz, indeed, there appeared but little vegetation for which to be apprehensive, nor did the prospect brighten till we came within view of the town named Laguna, an inland settlement, and once the capital of the island.