PREVIOUS NOTICES. 41 



Captain Godwin-Austen, writing to friends in England shortly after 

 the occurrence of the earthquake, gave some particulars, subsequently- 

 published in the proceedings of the Boyal Geographical Society, Vol. 

 XIII, p. 370. Having just gone into his tent he heard the cry outside 

 " an earthquake ! an earthquake \" and ran out. He had just got out when 

 the ground began to rise and fall tremendously and at last became so bad 

 that it was with difficulty he could keep his feet. Children sitting on 

 the ground all crying, the shouting of the servants, kicking of the ponies, 

 prevented his hearing any particular noise, save the crashing of the 

 large forest trees near the camp ; these were tossed about in the wildest 

 way, and one very large one came down. 



The motion in addition to the waves that passed by consisted of a 

 jerking or shaking. Everything upon tables or chairs was thrown off; 

 no two-storied or even one-storied house of brick could have stood it; 

 here where the houses are of wood and bamboo — a mere frame — it would 

 require a terrible earthquake indeed to throw them over. After about 

 fifty seconds he got out the chronometer. The intensity of the shock 

 which must have occurred about twenty seconds from the time of first 

 shock was then passed; the last waves " very like those of a gentle swell 

 at sea" were just passing as he noted the time. "It was a curious sight to 

 see the way in which the waves passed over the forest-clad mountain 

 side, as if the trees were bowed by the passage of a mighty wind." The 

 direction of the motion was from west to east. 



After noting the several shocks which occurred up to the 14th he 

 adds : — " I shall be anxious to hear whether these earthquakes have travel- 

 led from the westward far, but possibly they may have had their origin in 

 this range. This part of Caehar is an area of great contortion and 

 upheaval, where we may expect a weakness in the earthy crust, and a 

 renewal of former disturbing action." 



Later on, the 1st February, he wrote, quoting from newspaper reports, 

 that the disturbances were still going on ; the earth hardly ever seems 

 firm; a constantly recurring tremor is very perceptible, and very disagree- 

 able. The river Barak is stated to have flowed back for an hour, and 



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