MEMOIRS 



OF THE 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA, 



The Cachar Earthquake of 10th January 1869, Ly the late Thomas 

 Oldham, l.l.d., f.r.s., etc., Superintendent of the Geological Survey 

 of India, edited by R. D. 'Oldham, a.r.s.m., Geological Survey of 

 India, 



INTRODUCTION. 



On the afternoon of Sunday, the 10th day of January 1869, all 

 Calcutta was startled by one of the sharpest shocks of earthquake ever 

 felt there. On that evening I was myself sitting- reading in a house 

 at Barrackpore about 1 5 miles from the city when, without any warning, 

 the chair was violently rocked under me, everything in the room was 

 shaken, doors and windows rattled and the chandeliers hanging from the 

 ceiling were set swinging with considerable force. At once noting the 

 time of the shock by my own watch, and just then feeling a second but 

 less violent shock pass under me, I got up to see more particularly what 

 had occurred. 



The loud cries of alarm raised by all the native servants in the com- 



pound, and from the bazaar at no great distance, first struck the ear. 



All stood in the open air, with mouths gaping or violently gasping out 



their short exclamations of entreaty or worship calling on their deities 



to protect them, and in the greater crowd of the bazaar surged back and 



forwards for a few minutes, when finding that no further shocks occur- 



red, their amazement died away, and they quieted down to' their wonted 



occupations as if nothing had happened. 



(" 1 ) 

 Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XIX, Art. 1. 



