124 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



last night we experienced a vio- 

 lent concussion of tiie earth. Our 

 principal steeple is a good deal 

 injured, and a great many chim- 

 ney-tops thrown to the middle of 

 the street : bells were nuig by it, 

 and bell-wires broken to pieces. 

 Women fainted, and many were 

 seen in the streets almost naked, 

 calling out that their children had 

 been killed in their arms. I have 

 not, however, heard of real in- 

 juiy, except that done to pro- 

 perty : many houses are damaged, 

 and almost the whole were for- 

 saken by the inhabitants, who 

 fled from town, \mder an impres- 

 sion that, from the calmness and 

 closeness of the night, a second 

 shock might occur. I had gone 

 to bed here, and begun to sleep. 

 After the crashing noise, which 

 lasted for a full minute, I never 

 was so tossed on board of ship as 

 I was in bed, before I could rise, 

 for full five min»tes. At last I 

 rose, and went to my family, about 

 two miles out of town, and found 

 that two female servants had gone 

 to bed with their mistress, but a 

 lad rose to search the house in 

 case of fire. On my way I met 

 two gentlemen who left Seabank- 

 house. They said they believed 

 it was drove down the Moray 

 Frith. I think the shock came 

 in a south-west direction, from 

 Lochness, &c. ; and I understand, 

 by the guard of the mail-coach, 

 that it was equally felt at Nairn, 

 &c." 



Another Letter from Inverness, 

 same date. — " At 17 minutes be- 

 fore eleven o'clock, p.m. of the 

 13th instant, therr; was expe- 

 rienced here, and for many miles 

 round, a most severe shock of an 

 earthquake : it is very difficult to 



describe its immediate eifects. 

 The first shock seemed to remove 

 the bed in which I lay, and for 15 

 or 20 seconds the walls of the 

 room appeared falling. It was 

 accompanied with great noise 

 from stones falling down the 

 chimney, and fragments rolling 

 on the slates ; the chimney, though 

 very solidly built of hewn stone, 

 having been lent from top to bot- 

 tom, and several of the lai'gest 

 stones thrown down on the roof. 

 The walls of many houses are rent 

 from top to bottom, and chimnies 

 demolished. The steeple of the 

 gaol is very materially injured. 

 How far the shock reached is not 

 yet ascertained ; but the mail- 

 coach guard says it was felt at 

 Elgiiv 40 miles to the east. The 

 night was most serene and beau- 

 tiful at the time, and till morning 

 not a breath of wind stirring. I 

 think the shock proceeded from 

 south-west to north-east, as the 

 stones fell in that direction ; and 

 the soot, which came in vast quan- 

 tities from every chimney, instead 

 of falling forward into the rooms, 

 fell along the w ash-boards to the 

 north of the fire-places, and alto- 

 gether within a foot of the walls. 

 Many persons who have lived 

 long in the West-Indies say they 

 never felt nearly so severe a shock. 

 At six o'clock next morning a 

 slight shock was felt, but it did 

 no harm. I hear this earthquake 

 extended far to the north and 

 west. Many people in Inverness 

 left their homes, and passed the 

 night in the fields. There was a 

 noise at the time like a distant 

 and long peal of thunder." 



13. Dunkeld. — This night, 

 about eleven o'clock, the shock of 

 an earthquake was felt here. My 



house 



