2 OLDHAM : THE CACHAR EARTHQUAKE OF IOtH JANUARY 1869. 



During- the succeeding- hours a few trifling undulations were felt, 

 but no distinct wave or shock. Carefully noting, from such indications 

 as were available, the direction in which the great wave had passed under 

 Barrackpore, we felt satisfied that, as soon as time admitted of the news 

 reaching the capital, we should hear of some very violent and possibly 

 very destructive shock in the country beyond the limits of the great 

 alluvial plain far away in East Bengal, and, as we determined from such 

 evidence as was then before us, in the direction of Sylhet and Cachar. 



Nor were our anticipations in this respect without sound basis ; for 

 next morning the telegraph wires brought the intelligence that Silchar 

 town had been shaken to its very centre, that serious destruction had 

 ensued, and, allowing for the sensational terms in which some of the 

 messages were conveyed, the result obviously of the first alarm before the 

 facts had been realised, it was still clear that a very unusually severe shock 

 had occurred, that much injury to property and possibly destruction of life 

 had resulted and further that, as the news could be gathered up, it would 

 be found that other places also as well as Silchar had suffered severely. 



For some time, each successive morning's newspaper brought additions 

 to the reports of damage done, and were filled with communications from 

 various people who had experienced the shock. It soon became evident 

 that the district of north Cachar or the hills between that and Assam 

 must have been the centre of disturbance or near to it. Manipur also 

 had been much shaken, and all the country between that and the Brahma- 

 putra to the north. 



I had noticed all these communications with great interest, trusting 

 that some one of the numerous writers would give data on which to 

 build up a satisfactory conclusion as to the true direction of the shock 

 in various places, and so by inference as to the centre of disturbance. 

 It was clear that among the buildings partly overthrown and injured, evi- 

 dence could be obtained by careful investigation on the spot, which 

 would lead to a knowledge of the position of the seismic focus, and 

 possibly also as to the force of the wave and the rapidity of the motion 

 of its particles. But no such information came in any of the published 

 ( 2 ) 



