PREVIOUS NOTICES. 43 



by the observation at Asaloo, taken in connection with the time of 

 stoppage of the astronomical clocks in the Surveyor General's Office, 

 Calcutta, this rate would appear to be vastly greater than that of any 

 earth-wave recorded, and while showing that this was highly improb- 

 able, he adds " it must be admitted that the data on which the calculation 

 is based are at least as trustworthy as those of any earthquake quoted 

 by Mr. Mallet," an assertion which certainly " requires confirmation." 

 He proceeds to notice the geographical position of Cachar in relation to 

 the great volcanic band stretching from the Sunda Islands to the east 

 of the Andamans. 



Mr. Blanford then refers to the structure of the surface in Cachar, 

 &c, to show that the disturbance of the ground there was due not 

 solely to the comparatively greater violence of the shock in those 

 districts and their proximity to the centre of the disturbance, but in 

 part also to the geological character of the surface rocks in these 

 tracts, and notices also the remarkable similarity of these so-called 

 sand-craters, earth-cracks, &c, to the results produced by the great 

 Calabrian earthquake of 1783. And he also notices the absence of 

 any peculiarity worth notice in the state of the atmosphere at the time 

 or just previous to the earthquake. This report was dated the 13th 

 March 1869. 



In the Christian Intelligencer (Calcutta), Vol. XXXIX, April 1869, 

 there appeared the most correct and trustworthy notice of this earth- 

 quake that I can refer to. The physical reasonings are sound and just, 

 and the whole is characterised by that full appreciation of the facts 

 which we should have expected from so distinguished a mathematician 

 and physicist as its author, the late Archdeacon Pratt. He came to the 

 district in the course of a visitation of that part of the diocese, and he 

 gives the following notice. 



Several indications were seen in passing up the river of the severity 

 of the earthquake, but nowhere are they so strong as at Silchar itself. 

 The church was nearly completed, but now the tower is a heap of 

 ruins lying at the north-west angle. There is a piece of brick masonry 



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