$52 Gov. Sargent’s account of an earthquake. 
middle story glass, plate, and China were put in motion upon the 
shelves of a large moveable cupboard: I should observe to you that 
the building is of brick, lofty, (thirteen feet stories) and very substan- 
tially constructed. In cisterns at Natchez ten feet square, water was 
_ thrown up on the N E and S W sides full six inches, and the hanging 
leaves of tables, in sli¢ht buildings, had considerable motion. An old 
servant, who is very wakeful, and in whom I have some confidence, 
observes, that this earthquake was immediately preceded by a noise 
like near and very low thunder. Precisely at 7 o’clock A. M. we had 
another shock which was light, and gave only a small tremulous mo- 
tion to our beds and bed curtains. Some persons living in wooden 
houses believe that they felt many small shocks between the hours of 
7and 8 A few minutes past 11 A. M. of the succeeding day, anoth- 
er shock of an earthquake was felt at Natchez and the vicinity; not 
powerful, like the first, but giving a considerable vibratory motion to 
articles suspended from the ceilings of stores and shops in that city: 
neither of those earthquakes exceeded one minute in duration. — 
: 
ee. ne 
Upon the Thursday morning of January 23, 1812, 35 minutes af- 
ter 3 o’clock A.M. (solar time) we experienced another shock of an 
earthquake of one minute duration ; not of so great force, as that o 
the 16th of December, but giving motion to our beds, glass, China 
&c. thermometer stood at 50°, barometer 30°18; weather cloudy: ; 
wind SE and moderate. At noon the barometer had fallen, and 
thermometer risen much; some little faint sunshine in the day— 
sprinkling of rain in the afternoon—generally cloudy—wind strong 
in squalls from between S and E, increasing after the earthquake. 
__ Friday, Feb. 7th, 3 hoursand 10 minutes A. M. an earthquake of 
equal force, duration, and effect with that upon the 16th of December 
The night preceding was rainy with SE — sometimes mod 
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