HuTTON. — The Earthquake in the Amuri. 285 



but it would not agree with the time given at Bealey. The 

 postmaster at Queenstown informs me that the shock occurred 

 there at about 4h. 10m., but he cannot guarantee the accuracy 

 of the clock observed : the direction he gives is N.W. to S.E. 

 The same explanation, however, will not apply to New Ply- 

 mouth, although, on the other hand, we cannot believe that 

 there is an error here of thirteen minutes in the time. I give 

 this problem up. 



Judging from the slow rate of propagation, this earthquake 

 ought to be considered as a small one, notwithstanding the 

 great area over which it w^as felt ; but until we have seismo- 

 graphs to register the amplitude of the wave it will not be 

 possible to compare our earthquakes with those of other coun- 

 tries. 



Sounds heard. 



In several places the rumbling sound which often precedes- 

 an earthquake was heard — caused, no doubt, by the fractm'e 

 of rocks, and transmitted as a sound-wave through the earth, 

 the noise which accompanies or follows an earthquake being a 

 sound-wave through the air. In the Otira loud rumbling 

 noises like thunder were heard before the shock ; and at Jack- 

 son's accommodation-house, on the Teremakau, there was a 

 long-continued roll, as of artillery, during the greater part of 

 the night. This latter, however, like the noise heard at Tekoa 

 station, was probably produced by falling rocks. 



In the Amuri District noises like the falling of avalanches 

 or the firing of cannon were very frequent and loud on the 

 Saturday and Sunday following the earthquake of the 1st Sep- 

 tember. By the end of the v\eek they had become faint, and 

 at distant, irregular intervals only ; but they are heard occa- 

 sionally up to the present time. There can, I think, be no 

 doubt but that these sounds were heard occasionally for many 

 months before the earthquake ; but before that date they were 

 never followed by a shock, and consequently must have been 

 small. Mr. Stewart, who has charge of the baths at Hanmer, 

 told me that on the 19th August he heard a number of sharp- 

 booms at regular intervals, none of which was accompanied by 

 a shock. He heard no more until after the main shock on the 

 1st September. Even on that day the noises were not very 

 loud. They were loud enough to be heard in a coach when 

 travelling, but it is a great exaggeration to say that they 

 were so loud that people could not hear each other speak. 

 Earthquakes often occurred without any sounds ; but imme- 

 diately after the severe shock of 11.30 p.m., 28th September,, 

 the booming sounds became again very frequent, more than 

 twenty-five loud booms being counted within an hour after the 

 first shock, and these booms continued for two days. Again,. 



