4& OLDHAM: THE CACHAR EARTHQUAKE OF IOtII JANUARY I860. 



near Sylliet to have been so lessened in depth that boats now navigate 

 with difficulty. The earth opened in many places, swallowing- up trees and 

 houses; mud and hot water were thrown out of fissures; large areas have 

 sunk, others have been raised. Near Cachar a village has been left on 

 a slope where a long line of low hills has been formed. (I cpiote the 

 writer's own words, as an excellent instance of how greatly exaggerated, 

 and therefore absolutely unfounded, statements, made on the merest 

 hearsay evidence, become part of the records regarding such phenomena.) 

 His letter then concludes: — "It will be most interesting to find out 

 how the levels of the country have been altered. I feel certain that 

 great changes have taken place in the peaks. I am getting together 

 all the data," &c, &c. 



We may at once state that there has not been a shadow of evidence 

 obtained to show that any change whatever has resulted in the general 

 levels of the country. The local breaks, fissures, slips, falls, &c, were 

 all merely secondary results of the disturbance, and produced no effect 

 on the general relative surface of the country. To this we shall have 

 to refer more fully again. 



The Meteorological Hepoter to the Government of Bengal, Mr. H. F. 

 Blanford, in bringing together a tabular summary of the returns received 

 by the Government, gave a brief but very interesting sketch of the pheno- 

 mena so far as the information received enabled him to do so. He discusses 

 some of the papers noticed above, shows clearly that Captain Godwin- 

 Austen's inference as to the line of origin and its position, although 

 in itself not improbable, required more evidence to warrant its acceptance. 

 He points out the remarkable discrepancies between his statements as to 

 the direction of the motions and the general conviction in Cachar, as 

 obtained by Mr. Leonard, and justly remarks, " A careful observation of 

 its effects on buildings, &c, will probably enable a more satisfactory opi- 

 nion to be formed as to the progression of the earth-wave." He notices 

 how easily the direction may be supposed to be, and stated to be, directly 

 opposite to that which actually obtained. He briefly discusses the 

 rate of the horizontal transmission of wave, and shows that as indicated 

 ( 42 ) 



