4 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



water threatened the destruction of the hotel, and the labours of 

 all who were engaged were directed to the diversion of its course. 

 While so engaged, the great slip came down and overwhelmed 

 them, raising the total loss of life to about two hundred persons, 

 of whom forty-three were Europeans. 



This last fall is believed to have not occupied more than one- 

 fourth of a minute in its descent, although several large buildings 

 appear to have been carried along on the surface of the debris for 

 some distance before they fell. The material of the fall consisted 

 of broken, splintery shales, humus, and vegetation, which rested 

 upon the upturned edges of a 25one of much contorted and shat- 

 tered shales. After settling down, the surface of the debris pre- 

 sented the following appearance : — It was about 600 yards long, 

 of which the lower half dipped at an angle of about 15°, and the 

 upper at from 25° up to the vertical. Owing to the immense 

 quantity of water which had been absorbed into the mass before it 

 began to slide, the whole was in a semi-fluid condition, which was 

 testified, not only by the low angle of repose, but also by the fact 

 that those who ventured upon it sunk up to the knees. 



One of the principal objections urged by Mr. Theobald to my 

 view of the origin of the barrier closing Naini Tal was, that those 

 slips " possessed of most mobility, from the greater fluidity of their 

 composition, are in the precise ratio of such fluidity, least capable 

 of . . . bearing upon their surface craggy masses of rook, such as 

 I should term erratics." 



This almost ex cathedra statement assumes, what is by no means 

 necessary, that the blocks should be carried on the surface : and 

 it breaks down altogether when compared with the actual fact, 

 that this Naini Tal slip,- by no means an extensive one, as com- 

 pared with many others known to have occurred in the Himalayas, 

 did carry down blocks 9 or 10 feet in diameter in the mass of 

 detritus not on the surface. Heavy rainfall and streams acting 

 on such an accumulation would, undoubtedly, produce an appear- 

 ance, by the removal of the finer portions, very closely resembling 

 that presented by ordinary moraines, and such an accumulation as 

 that which forms the retaining barrier of Naini Tal, 



It would not be difficult to further illustrate these views by 

 reference to several famous landslips which have taken place in 

 Switzerland, in which cases large masses of rock, together with 



