394 1^- f^OTÖ: PAUSE OF THE TSREAT 



Y. Relation of the Great Fault to the Recent Earthquake. 



As introîluptorv to tlio nocoiint of the late oveiit. it seems 

 well to insert here a few notes of my own experience of the enrtli- 

 (inake of Knmamoto, of wliich 110 details liave as vet lieen li'iven in 

 anv forei^ii'n lan^ü'uage. (hi -Jnhj :?St]i. 18'^9, a r'mloii rnrtlnpKil.c 

 oceurird in ihr Nriijliltoiirliooil of Kiuuanioto. a jloun's]iifi<i ritti in ilw 

 hlaiul of Kiiü-Slni. I'eing entrusted by the ( reoJoo-ical Sar\ey 

 witli making a reconnaissance survey of the ])rovince of lîungo, 

 I was at tlie time engaged i]i that work in the vicinity of (ape 

 Sau'ano-sckij and thus liad the fortune to feel the sliocks wlii(h 

 caused nnuh damage to 1)ot]i life and property in Kumamoto. killing 

 fiftv-tliree persons and destroying about four liundred and sixty- 

 three houses. On receiving the intelligence of the cntastrophe in 

 the jieiii'hbouring ])rovince. T immediately started f)r the seenc of 

 disaster to examine its effects, and on my arri\al saw a large 

 nund)er of housi^s that had eollapse<l, and many others suppoi'ted 

 from filling by wooden poles. 



The night of the ord of August was particularly distressiiig. 

 Shocks came regularly almost every hour, seemingly increasing 

 rapidly in intensity. At last, at about 2h.. iN' midnight, a great 

 earthquake, next only to the slioek of the week befoi'e, \isited 

 Kinnamoto. throwing the whole city, with its population of fiftv 

 thousand, at once into wild agitation, and filling the mouths 

 OÎ one and all with the (|uestion. where was the source of the 

 distur])ance. 



To tlie west of the eitv of Kumamoto lies :ni extinct volcano, 

 locallv known as Xishi-yama. the •• western mountain." whose 

 effusive nature was then hardly suspected. Ascending it next day 



