HuTTON. — Tha Ea)thq2i.akc in the Amuri. 279 



observations on the intensity of the shock cannot do more 

 than give us a rough approximation to the position of the 

 epicentrum; nevertheless, tliis approximation, although rough, 

 will be undoubtedly correct so far as it goes, and will thus 

 enable us to discard evidently erroneous observations of the 

 second and third class of evidence. I shall therefore begin 

 with the evidence of the first class. 



Intcnsitij of tJte Shock at Different Places. — The intensity of 

 shock can be roughly estmiated by the damage done to 

 buildings, or to glass and crockery on shelves ; but great 

 anomalies occur locally (which will be considered later on), 

 and it is only by taking a comprehensive view that we can 

 arrive at any results. There is no difficulty in concluding 

 that where wooden houses have been wrenched out of shape 

 the shock has been more intense than where chimneys only 

 have suffered. But there are great differences in chimneys — 

 in proportions, in supports, in construction, and in materials 

 — and we cannot make any close comparison between them. 

 Bottles and crockery on shelves are, however, under more 

 similar conditions, and afford a better comparison than chim- 

 neys in estimating the relative intensity of the shock. Fissures 

 and landslips also afford good evidence when the conditions 

 are tolerably equal. 



From the record of facts already given it will be seen that 

 Glynn Wye, on the River Hope, appears to have sustained 

 the greatest shock. It is the only place where wooden houses 

 have been wrenched out of shape ; and here the fissures and 

 landslips are greater than elsewhere. 



Glass and crockery were thrown off shelves at Waikari, 

 Rangiora, Reefton, Westport, Greymouth, Marsden, Notown, 

 Kumara, and Hokitika, all being within a radius of seventy 

 miles from Glynn Wye. 



Chimneys were thrown down or damaged at Kaikoura and 

 Christchurch, within a radius of eighty miles of Glynn Wye ; 

 and slight damages are reported from Ashburton and Nelson, 

 each about a hundred miles from Glynn Wye. 



At further distances no damage was done to buildings. The 

 greatest damage, however, does not take place at the epicen- 

 trum, where the shock is vertical, but where the direction of 

 the wave makes an angle of between 55° and 45° with the 

 horizon ; consequently the position of the epicentrum would 

 probably be somewhere to the west of the meridian of Glynn 

 Wye; and Mr. 0. Thompson, the manager, says that the 

 shock passed to the eastward, down the valley, with a hoarse 

 crashing sound which gradually died away in the distance, 

 while things were quiet at the place where he stood. At Reef- 

 ton no chimneys were thrown, so that the shock there must 

 have been less than at the Hanmer Plains. This may have 



