tife'^n^m a state 6f* pefnianient dictivity; and they seetti rather 



tb liave played the part of spiracles t(y the causes of earth- 

 <iuakes, when ** the earth seemed, with a kind of colic; 

 pinched and'veked," and fit of vomiting of lara or of flames. 

 On the border of the chain of mountains, and eighteen miles 

 from Luckput, the most westerly town in Cutch, is a hill 

 believed by the Hindoos at one time to have been a volcano. 

 It has long ceai^ed to emit flames or smoke, but is still 'ttti 

 object of worship among the Hitidobs.* It dofes not a^peaf 

 to exhibit any variety of lava, scoriae, or ashes. A bitumi- 

 nous earth, With a strong disagreeable odour, is dug oiit Of 

 the side of it, and used as incense in the worship of Assa- 

 poora. It is found in small pieces imbedded in the common 

 soil, from which it is separated without difficulty/^" * nflfluu 

 On the occuiTence of the great earthquake shock of June 

 1819, vast clouds of dust were seen to ascend from almost 

 every hill on the range of hills in Goojerat and Cutch. Smoke 

 was in many cases visible,! and some fire was perceived. 

 At a place 26 miles west from Bhooj, fire was seen in con- 

 siderable volume to burst forth, a blazing ball was projected 

 ihtb''th§^^il', aiid fell to the ground, where it Was broken iiltd 



JUL '"'y^'SlO jj \ • ■ ^ V^W • -'.,,,, UJ — : \ : ,_ij.' 



^'*'^#^urclo's Account of '^he^rovlilde' of Cutch, "Bdrtbay-Lit. Transietions, 

 4d>i<t{;'p. 210, quarto edition.' XUOKO'iq ib'JU^'lft'jqqfJ yilT y'fijaail ^AX 

 /ftjDlr ThumsoD, in his Accoin»*^of the ;Geolt)gy of BombiEiy,' published in. tfce 

 Ma<|]^^ Ijiiterary Transactions for 1837, after describing the hurricane and earth- 

 quake which occurred all along the coast on the 15th and IGth May, (the 2Gth 

 and 27th new style, exactly 200 years to a day before the occurrence of shni- 

 lar events in 1848) says, " Besides the appearance of a violent commotion in the 

 atmosphere, and a perceptible concussion in the earth, volcanic action seems to 

 have occurred, if we maybe allowed to deduce such an inference from the highly- 

 embellished representations of the historian, of giants seen in the air throwing 

 great globes of fire at each other ; confusion of human voices in the atmosphere, 

 the trampling of hoi-sea, and the sound of warlike instruments." It is added 

 that much of this nature occurred in Salsette and other places. (Souza's Por- 

 tuguese India, tom. iii.) " The metaphorical figures," concludes Dr Thomson, 

 " expressed in the latter part of the description, are strikingly similar to those 

 employed by Dion (Jassius, in his account of the eruption which destroyed Her- 

 culaneum and Pompeii, where we are told giants were seen, and the sounds of 

 trumpets heard in the vicinity." There is so little appearance of any recent 

 volcanic eruption near Bombay, that I should be disposed to ascribe the ap- 

 pearances, probably in both cases, to the meteorological phenomena always 

 coincident with earthquakes and volcanic action. 



