116 EEPOKT — 1892. 



other. Whilst this was going on trees were swinging about, telegraph- 

 wires were clattering together, the brickwork of the tank was cracked, 

 and the college workshop, a few yards away, was so far shattered that it 

 has had to be partially rebuilt. The effect of the motion upon niyself 

 was to make me feel giddy and slightly sea-sick. The chimney of a 

 paper-mill in Tokio fell, and also a chimney at the electric-light works in 

 Yokohama. 



The constructor of the latter chimney derived some satisfaction from 

 the fact that it fell as a heap of loose brick round its base, for had it 

 been made of better materials, it might have toppled over in large 

 masses, and destroyed neighbouring buildings. Many sti-uctures were 

 slightly fractured. During the day twenty-one other shocks were re- 

 coi'ded, but nearly all of them were so slight that they failed to give a 

 diagram sufficiently large for analysis. From the slow and easy, swing- 

 ing nature of the motion, it was known that the shock was not of local 

 origin, but that it had originated at a distance. As disturbjinees of this 

 character had often reached ns from an area beneath the Pacific Ocean 

 about 400 miles to the north-east, it was from the northern parts that 

 we expected to receive further information. The surmise that the origin 

 was at a distance proved correct, but instead of being beneath the ocean 

 to the north-east, it was beneath the land in an exactly contrary direction. 

 The first news was that in Kobe, which is about 400 miles towards the 

 south, many chimneys had fallen, earthquake shocks continued, and all 

 were in alarm ; whilst at Osaka, which is 356 miles from Tokio, a cotton- 

 mill had collapsed and many people had lost their lives. Little by little 

 news of destruction arrived from many towns, and as it came it grew 

 more terrible. The scene of greatest disaster was the Nagoya-Gifu Plain, 

 which lies about 140 miles W.S.W. of Tokio, and 80 miles N.E. of Kobo. 

 In this district destruction had been total. Cities and villages had been 

 shaken down, the ruins were burning, bridges had fallen, river embank- 

 ments had been destroyed, the ground was fissured in all directions, and 

 mountain sides had slipped down to dam the valleys. More accurate 

 estimates of certain damages are now before us. The killed numbered 

 9,960, the wounded 19,994, and the houses which were totally destroyed 

 were 128,750. In addition to these there were many temples, factories, 

 and other buildings. In an area of 4,176 square miles, which embraces 

 one of the most fertile plains of Japan, and where there is a population 

 of perhaps 1,000 to the square mile, all the buildings which had not 

 been reduced to a heap of rubbish had been badly shattered. To rebuild 

 the railway, reconstruct bridges, roads, and embankments, and to relieve 

 immediate distress, about one and three-quarter million pounds sterling 

 have been poured into the district, the greater portion of which came 

 from the Imperial treasury. This sum, however, only measures a 

 fraction of the total destruction. One hundred thousand houses have yet 

 to be rebuilt, irrigation works have to be repaired ; a value has to be 

 given to land which has been buried by landslides or lost by what 

 appears to be a permanent compression of valleys ; there has been a six- 

 months interruption of traffic and of industries, and nearly 10,000 

 people have lost their lives — all of which ai-e factors which cannot be 

 overlooked when measuring the effect of an earthquake by the sum it 

 takes to replace the damage it has occasioned. 



The immediate cause of this great disturbance was apparently the 

 formation of a fault which, according to Dr. B. Koto, can be traced on 



