. Audubon and his journals . emade having impressed upon the new settlers a salutarydread, which restrains them from the commission offlacrrant crimes. THE EARTHQUAKE Travelling through the Barrens of Kentucky (of whichI shall give you an account elsewhere) in the monthof November, I was jogging on one afternoon, whenI remarked a sudden and strange darkness rising fromthe western horizon. Accustomed to our heavy stormsof thunder and rain I took no more notice of it, as Ithought the speed of my horse might enable me to getunder shelter of the roof of an acquaintance, who livednot far distant, b
. Audubon and his journals . emade having impressed upon the new settlers a salutarydread, which restrains them from the commission offlacrrant crimes. THE EARTHQUAKE Travelling through the Barrens of Kentucky (of whichI shall give you an account elsewhere) in the monthof November, I was jogging on one afternoon, whenI remarked a sudden and strange darkness rising fromthe western horizon. Accustomed to our heavy stormsof thunder and rain I took no more notice of it, as Ithought the speed of my horse might enable me to getunder shelter of the roof of an acquaintance, who livednot far distant, before it should come up. I had proceededabout a mile, when I heard what I imagined to be thedistaint rumbling of a violent tornado, on which I spurredmy steed, with a wish to gallop as fast as possible to aplace of shelter; but it would not do, the animal knewbetter than I what was forthcoming, and instead of goingfaster, so nearly stopped that I remarked he placed onefoot after another on the ground, with as much precaution. AUDLllOX, 1839. PAINTED IN liDINKlKGH KV J. W. AUm;BON. EPISODES 235 as if walking on a smooth sheet of ice. I thought he hadsuddenly foundered, and, speaking to him, was on thepoint of dismounting and leading him, when he all of asudden fell a-groaning piteously, hung his head, spreadout his four legs, as if to save himself from falling, andstood stock still, continuing to groan. I thought my horsewas about to die, and would have sprung from his backhad a minute more elapsed, but at that instant all theshrubs and trees began to move from their very roots, theground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the ruffledWaters of a lake, and I became bewildered in my ideas, asI too plainly discovered that all this awful commotion innature was the result of an earthquake. I had never witnessed anything of the kind before,although, like every other person, I knew of earthquakesby description. But what is description compared with thereality? Who can tell of th
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