﻿558 Trof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 



j^iven to me by Miss Cathleen Campbell, now Mrs. Szlenker, who 

 had been keeping a record of meteorological and other phenomena. 

 The shock took place at 2-55 a.m. on the 4th September. It was at 

 first felt in a direction from east to west, but after If minutes it 

 changed to N.E. and S.W. The shock, which was severe, caused 

 ornaments on the table to rattle, and a few bottles which were close 

 together knocked each other with so much force that they fell over. 

 There were thirteen of them, and they tutnbled in various directions 

 — nine fell on the table, and four were broken on the floor. Watches 

 and clocks were stopped, and screws IJ in. long, fastened in the 

 wall to keep a clock straight, were drawn out. Preceding this shock, 

 from observations which I saw, the barometer appears to have been 

 lower than usual. 



From a list of earthquakes drawn up by MM. Orlof and Stuikin 

 as having occurred between the years 1725 and 1874, there appear 

 to have been at least 188 different days on which shocks were dis- 

 tinctly felt. As these were all perceptible to the inhabitants, and 

 not such as needed celicate instruments in order that they should be 

 recorded, we cannot well make comparisons as to their frequency, 

 but only as to their relative intensity. 



The severest of these happened at the end of the year 1861. The 

 district where the effects were most observed was near Irkutsk and 

 along the shores of Lake Baikal. On the N.E. portion of the delta 

 formed by the Eiver Selinga where it enters the Baikal, the effects 

 were permanent. This district, which was violently disturbed, is 

 about forty versts long and 20 versts wide, and runs along the shores 

 of the lake. On this strip of land were situated the Russian villages 

 of Kudara, Doobeeneena, Oimoorchi, and a Bourat village, with a 

 population amounting in all to 1300, 



The first shocks, which were light, took place on the 29th 

 of December. Next morning they were stronger, and on the 

 succeeding night, that is, between the 30th and 31st, they not only 

 increased in number, but their power also increased. On the after- 

 noon of the 31st, at 3 p.m., a heavy underground rumbling was 

 heard, and this was followed by a series of shocks so strong that 

 it was impossible for persons to remain standing. Barrels in a yai'd, 

 each containing twenty pouds (720 lbs.) weight of fish, were rolled 

 backwards and forwards from one end of the yard to the other. In 

 the yard and in the street the earth was cracked, and water charged 

 with mud issued from the crevices thus formed. In some of the 

 wells water rose like a " fountain " a fathom or more in height. 

 Some of the fissures formed springs of clear fresh water, one of 

 which, issuing from a crack about one arsheen (28 inches) wide, and 

 two fathoms (12 feet) deep, gave so much water that a small lake 

 was formed a verst in area. In the village of Krasnikova a hollow 

 place twenty fathoms wide and three fathoms (18 feet) deep, with b, 

 spring in it, was formed. 



In a church at the village of Kudara, the shocks were so strong 

 that the cupola fell down inside, breaking a chandelier which was 

 hanging beneath. In the houses at the same village so much 



