EARTHQUAKES. 



271 



The tract over which it was felt, as far as at present 

 known, would be comprised within a circle, with a 

 centre about ten miles due east of Sedbergh, the diam- 

 eter of which would be a line drawn from Dumfries 

 to Doncaster, the farthest limits to the northwest 

 and to the southeast, respectively, to which the earth- 

 wave extended. The greatest effects appear to have 

 been experienced in a belt, about thirty miles broad, 

 running inside this circle, the inner margin running 

 along the towns of Scarborough, New Malton, York, 

 Leeds, and Bradford, Preston, Longridge, Kendal. 

 Penrith, Carlisle, Newcastle, and Sunderland, and 

 thence probably passing out to sea and curving 

 round to Scarborough. The outer margin, or circle 

 before mentioned, runs by the Humber, Doncaster, 

 Manchester, Salford, Koby, Huyton, Seaforth, South- 

 port, and probably for some distance put to sea, 

 Blackpool, west or Ulverstone and Coniston Lake. 

 Dumfries, by the north of Tyneside, to the sea. If 

 this belt be drawn on a map, it will be seen that that 

 segment of the circle which occurs from Sunderland 

 to Scarborough, falls entirely out to sea, and up to 

 the present time the earthquake is not known to 

 have been felt on that coast between these points. 

 It would, therefore, appear probable that this earth- 

 wave traversed the country in a circular belt, the 

 entire northeastern segment and the outer margin 

 of the Lancashire portion being beneath the sea ; 

 that the area of greatest intensity was near the inner 

 margin, but especially at Preston, Lancaster, Ulver- 

 stone, and Blaydon, near Newcastle ; that the area 



chain. 



At Preston, where the earthquake occurred at 11.4 

 p. M., Greenwich time, the motion I observed to be 

 from southeast to northwest ; the oscillation was con- 

 siderable, and the hollow noise, which commenced 

 and ceased with the vibration, resembled express- 

 trains running in underground tunnels. The air was 

 close and oppressive, the wind southwest, the night 

 starless and hazy, and the sky from the northwest 

 to the northeast covered by a peculiar glare, resem- 

 bling an incipient aurora, which lasted until 1.30 A. M. 



In several places more than one shock is reported 

 to have occurred: thus at Singleton Brook, Man- 

 chester, the first shock occurred at 10.56 ; the second, 

 lasting two seconds, at 11.5; and the third, lasting 

 four seconds, half a second after. Two shocks near 

 together were also felt at Leeds, the second being 

 the sharpest, which was felt at Armley, Headingley, 

 Woodhouse, New Leeds, Chapeltown, and Westbar. 

 Two shocks also occurred at Kendal, the first at 6.20 

 p. M. ; the second,' which was the most severe, at 

 11.15, lasting twelve seconds, that experienced by 

 myself at Preston lasting about seventeen. From 

 Grasmere also three shocks are reported, the first 

 being at 6.40, and the second and worst at 11 p. M. 

 At Ambleside, the first shock was also felt at 6.30, the 

 true time probably of the two noted above, the sec- 

 ond being at 11.3 p. M. At Coniston, a slight shock 

 was felt at 7.0 P.M. on the 17th, and another at 6.3 

 A. M. on the 18th. 



At Hexham, the chief shock is recorded as taking 

 place at 11.15; Ambleside, 11.3; Ulverston, 11.5; 

 Preston (by myself), 11.5; Bowdon, Manchester, 

 11.4; Singleton Brook, Manchester, 11.4; Newcastle, 

 11.30; Leeds, 11.15; Penrith, 11.4; Liverpool, 11.15 ; 

 Kendal, 11.15 ; from which it will be seen that local- 

 ities, comparatively near together, often differ more 

 as to the time of occurrence than some of those far 

 apart, and thus there is, therefore, strong reason to 

 believe that these various observations (from 10.30 

 P. M. to 11.30 P. M.) represent one shock, occurring 

 practically at the same moment over the whole area 

 about 11.5 P.M. 



In the year 1786, on August llth, an earthquake 

 which extended over nearly a similar area to the re- 

 cent one, and like it, slightly displaced the waters of 



Windermere and the Lake District, was felt ; and the 

 same district was also visited by an earthquake on 

 February 22, 1867, which was particularly felt on the 

 north shores of Morecambe Bay. It is curious to 

 observe that the northern margin of the area of the 

 earthquake, which was felt over the greater part of 

 Central and Southern England, in 1863, exactly coin- 

 cides with the soutliern margin of the recent one, and 

 that the latter, in its course to the northwest, directly 

 crossed the Pennine chain in two places. 



March 2d, Eureka, California, experienced a 

 brief shock from an earthquake. Chimneys 

 were thrown down in the vicinity of Rohner- 

 ville ; the light-keeper's house at Cape Mendo- 

 cino was badly damaged, though the tower 

 was uninjured. At Petrolia, all the chimneys 

 were thrown down. Oscillations lasted about 

 twenty minutes. 



The island Camiguin, of the Philippine group, 

 was the scene of terrific earthquake-shocks in 

 the latter part of April, and on the 1st of May, 

 about 5 p. M., the earth burst asunder, and an 

 opening was formed 1,500 feet long. Smoke 

 and ashes, earth and stones, were thrown up, 

 and covered the ground far and near. At 

 about seven o'clock, as darkness was coming 

 on, this crater burst into activity with a loud 

 explosion, followed by a shower of lava and 

 ashes. About 150 persons were destroyed. 

 The eruption of the new volcano has since 

 been so tremendous that the inhabitants have 

 forsaken the island, and, of the 26,000 previ- 

 ously there, not 300 are left. Camiguin is only 

 about thirty-six miles in circumference, and 

 was very productive in dbacd (the Manila 

 hemp), yielding annually from 30,000 to 40, 000 

 piculs, or more than a tenth of the produce of 

 the world. There is little hope of the island 

 ever being again reoccupied or cultivated. 



Togolanda, a small island in latitude 2 20' 

 north and longitude 125 20' east, suffered ter- 

 ribly from earthquakes between March 24th 

 and March 29th. Part of the island was sub- 

 merged to the depth of twenty-live fathoms, 

 and 400 of the inhabitants perished. 



Earthquake-shocks were felt at times during 

 the year in different parts of the Atlantic 

 States ; but none of them were worthy of men- 

 tion, excepting the disturbance throughout 

 N"ew Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, Octo- 

 ber 9th. The vibrations were very marked, 

 causing persons in houses to run to their doors 

 to see what had happened. Some described 

 the noise as resembling the dragging of heavy 

 furniture over the upper floors of houses. 



Particulars of the great earthquake in Ba- 

 thang, a remote province of China, in 1870, 

 did not reach this country till June of last 

 year. It is officially reported that government 

 houses, temples, and buildings of all descrip- 

 tions, were thrown to the ground, and most 

 of the inmates killed. Flames burst out in 

 four places, setting the ruins of the structures 

 on fire, and destroying what the earthquake 

 had spared. During this time the earth rocked 

 and rolled, and a terrible sound as of thunder 

 was heard. 



