316 s. SEKIYA 



inference is supported by the fact that the parts of the country 

 through which the western half of the hand passes consists of rocks 

 of differerit geological formations, interwoven in such a way that 

 their junctions present Hnes of weakness favourable to earth-snaps. 

 The topogi'aphical features of the district — high mountains on the 

 north and comparative law plateau and sea-shore, on the south — also 

 lend strength to this conclusion. Unequal distribution of loads on the 

 earth's surface tends to facilitate bending and folding of the rocks. 

 Efud^^ud ^^ ^'^ along the above-named axis or band that the effects were 



most striking. They were mainly confined, however, to a small 

 breadth on either side of it, so that places as little as two or three 

 miles to the north or south experienced a. well-marked diminution of 

 seismic energy. This is not the first instance in the history of the 

 severer shocks in'/Avhich the destructive effects have been practically 

 limited to a small area near the origin. 



More especially on the hilly or western portion of the origin, 

 land-slips and cracks were numerous. The cracks mostly took place 

 in banks, hill-sides, or other situations favourable for their formation. 

 The writer counted no fewer than seventy-two in a distance of seven 

 miles, the largest measuring a foot wide and five hundred feet long, 

 and all of them running parallel to the axis of origin, which is also 

 parallel to the general contour of the country. Several wells became 

 turbid. In some of artesian character the water permanently de- 

 creased; in others it increased. There is a ferry across the large 

 river BanyO where it is crossed by the axial band;' but the water was 

 so agitated by the shock that for some times afterwards the boat could 

 not be used. T'lie water in one of the rivulets on the west became 

 muddy. The shock was severely felt on board of vessels in Yoko- 

 hama harbour, the people in many of them rushing on deck under the 

 impression that they had been run into. The eff'ects upon these 



