18 OLDHAM: THE CACHAR EARTHQUAKE OF 10TH JANUARY 1869. 



The inspection bungalow at Panchgaon was thrown down. From 

 Panchgaon to Budderpore the soil was cracked in many places. 



He was informed that the road near Katta Khali has been cracked 

 and sunk. The villages between the road and the rivers at Kalinuggur 

 had sunk so much that little is to be seen of them. 



" At Sealtic bazaar houses have sunk 40 to 50 feet below the sur- 

 face. Nut trees (Areca) from 40 to 50 feet high had disappeared 

 below the surface in some places, and in others were 1 feet or 3 feet 

 above the ground. A merchant's godown had sunk 15 feet below the 

 ground. The Barak River, at this place, had become so shallow that 

 boats passed with difficulty. 



" A boat, laden with lime, which was sunk some years ago, and be- 

 came imbedded in the mud, has been thrown out. I have also been 

 informed that the Katta Khali has been blocked up, and that passengers 

 are crossing dry shod. 



" There were two shocks of an earthquake this morning (14th Jan- 

 uary) at 3 o'clock, the sound of which was quite violent.'" — (Overseer 

 Bahu RamesJmr GJwsal.) 



Clierra Poonjee.—The station of Cherra is very peculiarly situated, 

 and it is necessary, before describing the effects of the earthquake of 

 January 10th at this station, to notice briefly the physical characters of 

 the ground. 



The station is built on a level flat or plateau of sandstone. From 

 the surface of this plateau, whatever soil at any time existed, has been 

 almost entirely washed away by the excessive rains of this part of the 

 hills, leaving a great slab of bare rock, forming a slightly undulating 

 surface cut up here and there by water-courses. To the north of this 

 plateau, small irregularly waving hills rise, on which the station of 

 Cherra Poonjee is placed; to the west, with rolling interruption, the flat 

 ground is inclined to the village of Maomlo beyond which it is inter- 

 rupted by the deep and narrow glen of the Um Nangnian River ; to the 

 south-west small isolated hills of limestone (nummulitic), overlaid with 

 beds of coal and sandstone, dot the plain ; while to the south-east the 

 ( 18 ) 



