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 Greorge 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 Priday, 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 Eapa, 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 Avave, 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 having 

 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 

 Society. 



