574 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



ticularly in the West Indies, 

 where such convulsions aie very 

 frequent, that they had never he- 

 fore felt so smart a shock. 



From Tain, Dingwall, Dor- 

 noch, Wick, and all the towns to 

 tlie northward of this, there were 

 similai' accoinits to those given of 

 Forres, and the other towns al- 

 ready mentioned. I had several 

 very interesting and intelligent 

 letters from Sutherland. One 

 gentleman describes the sensation 

 he and his party felt, to have 

 been just as if they liad been all 

 suddenly launchevl in a boat from 

 dry land to sea. At fiist he siij)- 

 posed, for a moment, that one 

 side of his chair, and the wall 

 against which he was leaning, 

 had suddenly given way. The 

 hens made a prodigious noise on 

 their roost ; and a i)ointer dog- 

 howled for a considerable time 

 afterwards. On looking out im- 

 mediately afterwards, this gentle- 

 man remarked that the niglit -was 

 warm, and quite clear, but rather 

 dark ; the atmosi)liere heavy, and 

 forming one cloud, cxccj^t on the 

 eastern and south-east horizon, 

 where it had the aj'|jear;u>ce ge- 

 nerally observable before :?uu- 

 I'iso. Another gentleman, who 

 was on the road near iJiora, in .a 

 gig, writes me thai lie was not in 

 the least bcusible of any thing, 

 and WHS quile ignorant of the 

 shock, imtil he heard i)f it on 

 reaching liunic, where he found 

 his I'unily had hern alarmed. A 

 lad wiio was standing on a rock 

 in the middle of the counLiy, at 

 the time of the con\ulsion, de- 

 clared that it moved up and down 

 under him like a f^uaking bog. 



j\.t Aberdeen, Montrose, Dun- 

 keld, Perth, Pitmain, aiid the 



other places intervening between 

 this and the river Tay, the earth- 

 (juake seems to have been gener- 

 ally felt, with equal violence, ma- 

 king allowance for variety of si- 

 tuation. At Aberdeen, a person 

 who had been present during the 

 earthquake in Lisbon on .Tune 6, 

 ] 807 , described the kite shock as 

 exactly resembling the commence- 

 ment of it. In many houses the 

 bells were set aringing, and tlie 

 wires continued to vibrate for 

 .some time after their sound had 

 ceased. The houses were shaken 

 to their foundations, and the 

 heaviest articles of furniture were 

 moved. A second, but more 

 slight and partial shock, was felt 

 about half an hour after the first ; 

 and this was also remarked by 

 some individuals in almost every 

 quarter wheie the chief one liad 

 been experienced. At Parkhill, 

 the seat of (General Gordon, near 

 Abei'deen, a circumstance occiu'- 

 red wliich deserves particular at- 

 tention. The sluice-gate of a 

 ])iece of water, weigliing several 

 tons, was raised from its founda- 

 tion ai)<)ut 12 inches : and some 

 luge stones having itGcidentally 

 rolled underneath it, kcjit it U}) 

 in that situation till most of the 

 waters escii.pcd before it could be 

 replaced. i<everal in^trutnents 

 have been from time to time })ro- 

 posed fr)j- measuiiiig the degree of 

 force of the shock of eartlujuakes ; 

 but here was one perfectly fortu- 

 itcHis, which, though perhaj'S it 

 did not maik the utmost extent 

 of its eneigy, proved that the 

 jjowe! of the late one had been at 

 least equal to an ele\ation of 1^2 

 inches. Jn tlie neighbourhood of 

 JMontiose a very anmsing occur- 

 rence happened. Two excisemen 



having 



