14 OLDHAM : THE CACHA.R EARTHQUAKE OF lOl'H JANUARY 1869. 



and huts one-half standing here the other wildly thrown in a heap 

 there, all in most inextricable confusion. 



The sketches will themselves give the key to all this. In the fore- 

 ground of several will be noticed long cracks or fissures eveu in the very 

 road ; and on looking from the bazaar road towards the river, the surface 

 of which was there about 50 feet below the level of the bazaar, these 

 cracks and fissures were seen to be repeated in successive steps down to 

 the water's edge. Bamboo and mat huts, which on the unbroken surface 

 of the ground adjoining to the west stood quite uninjured, here were 

 torn to pieces and destroyed, not by the waves of short duration, which 

 would have affected them here as little as elsewhere, but by the absolute 

 separation and unequal sinking of the ground on which they stood. No 

 elasticity and flexibility of material could withstand this, and these mat 

 huts yielded with as much facility as the more permanent buildings. 



One of the thoughts which first suggested themselves on the sight 

 of such wide-spread ruin was that there must have been very serious 

 loss of life in a place so crowded ; but most fortunately this was not so. 

 The earthquake occurred at a time of day when most of the inhabitants 

 were, outside their houses, or were sitting close to the doors and could 

 therefore easily escape ; while from a dread which had seized many, that 

 they would be impressed as coolies, the number actually in the town 

 was less than usual. The total number of lives lost, both in the town 

 and district after very careful enquiry, were found not to exceed five 

 or six, and very few serious injuries to persons were reported. 



Kochela. — Near this a building had been years since erected as a saw- 

 mill but had recently been disused. It consisted of a simple parallelo- 

 gram, the walls enclosing the space being on all- sides composed of a series 

 of openings arched above. These openings, at the time of the earthquake, 

 were quite free, having no wood- work or other enclosures. The sketch 

 plan given in PI. VII will indicate the proportions and mode of 

 construction of the building. At one corner the masonry was enlarged 

 and carried out so as to form a projecting square buttress as it were, 



( U ) 



