450 Proceedings. 
this remarkable phenomenon. All parts of Australia appear to have been 
visited by the wave except Port Phillip, as, for instance, Sydney, Brisbane, 
Adelaide, and King George Sound. In South Australia several slight 
earthquake shocks were felt, the two events, the shocks and the waves 
being quite distinct. In Peru the first great shock was felt at 5 p.m. on 
the 13th of August, which time corresponds in Wellington with 9.30 a.m. 
on the morning of Friday, the 14th. This shock is described to have come 
from the south-west, and there is no doubt that it was the result of a great 
submarine eruption at a considerable distance from the coast, for it appears 
that there was sufficient time for the people to escape from the towns along 
the shore to the hills before the great wave arrived. The same wave 
reached New Zealand seventeen hours after, and its velocity having been 
calculated from the time it reached Chatham Islands, Australia, &c., was 
found to agree with previous results. The earthquake shock, if felt here, 
must have travelled over six thousand miles; the wave, having a slower 
velocity, or at the rate of about six miles per minute, reached us much later. 
Dr. Hector then, by means of maps and diagrams, explained the course 
such a wave would travel, forming a curve on maps laid down on Mer- 
cator's projection principle. He stated that in the deep sea the wave 
would only be felt by a slight tremor, and would be scarcely perceptible 
until it reached shallow water. The author concluded by saying that we 
have no historic record of so stupendous a wave, and that the outburst 
which caused it must have been of a very unusual and perhaps unprece- 
dented character. 
Captain Vine Hall, on being asked by the Chairman, stated that the 
wave had been felt at Rapa, where it washed away a portion of the jetty. 
It arrived there apparently from the south-east, but he could not yet inform 
them of the exact time of its occurrence. 
Mr. Hart explained that, in his opinion, Port Phillip had not experienced 
any of the effects of the wave, from its narrow entrance, as well as the 
protection afforded by Tasmania. He indorsed Dr. Hector's opinion, that 
the outburst must have been oceanic. 
Dr. Hector wished to state, that it appeared from recent intelligence, 
that the south-east portion of the Chathams had felt the wave most; but, not 
being so thickly populated as the western or northern portion, the damage 
done had not been so great. 
Mr. Travers alluded to the New Zealand earthquake of 1855 as haying 
caused an immense wave, over thirty feet in height, which did much damage 
along the east coast of this province, and expressed a wish that any one 
who knew the particulars of that event would communicate them to the 
