EARTHQUAKE OF CENTRAL JAFAX, 1891. 327 



such seismic lines or zonei miy possibly exist just as in violent 

 eartliquiikes ; but as their mignitude is very small, these lines 

 must generally escape our recognition, and it is habitually, though 

 erroneously, considered that the disturbance is uniform over a 

 circular seismic are:i. 



When the intelligence of the outbreak in ]\lino, Owari, and 

 Echizen, wliich t(jok place on the morning of October '2Hth, lS9l, 

 was received in Tokyo, seismologists, architects, and other repre- 

 sentative scientific men were sent out to the shaken district from 

 several Government Departments. Particulars of the earthcjuake 

 soon began to reitch Tokyo, but nothing of any volcanic eruption 

 having anywhere taken ])lace. 



A teleu'ram from Gifu announced a rumour that the centre 

 of the seismic disturbance must be in the neighbourhood of Neo- 

 dani. iîeport of remarkable physical changes in that quarter having 

 been recei^'ed, an official of the Meteorological Jîureau was sent 

 thither, and he reported that at Xogô a marked subsidence had 

 taken place, and that the gener:d n])pearance of Midori had under- 

 gone a complete transformation. On hearing this news, I started 

 for the scene of disaster to examine lines of fa all like those in Kuma- 

 molo, should there be any in the devastated region. I ascended the 

 Neo valley, which is said to contain the source of the great earthquake, 

 and found the conditi(jn of things very remarkable. The first thing 

 that attracted attention were many boulders that had been hurled 

 from the steep mountain sides, the number of which increased 

 at about Kimbai-a to such an extent that practically the sides 

 of the valley had slidden into the river, while the road had totally 

 f'-one in places. Ascending the v:dley higher, lnndslip>s v\'ere more 



