1888.] Lt.-Col. J. Waterhouse— On the Barisdl Guns. 107 



heard from the S. W. At Schillerganj, which is distant about a tide 

 from the open sea, the sounds were heard much louder than they were at 

 Khulna, while below that point, as far down the Haranghatta river as 

 a boat could venture oat in the S. W. Monsoon, he heard them with even 

 still greater precision, but the reports were qaite as distinct then from 

 one another as they were elsewhere, and he considers this as not bear- 

 ing out Mr. Pellew's surf theory. 



In the paper we have just heard read Babu G-aurdas Bysack 

 records that similar sounds are heard at Tamluk on the Rupnarain river 

 in the estuary of the Hughli, about 50 miles from the sea and only 

 about 36 from Calcutta. Also that Mr. Medlicott had told him of their 

 being heard at Cherra Pnnji, which is about 200 miles from the coast 

 at the head of the Bay, and that a friend of his had heard them in Bik- 

 rampur near Miinsliiganj, about the confluence of the Megna and the 

 Padda rivers, some 104 miles from the coast, bat never in Dacca. 



It will be noticed that many of these places where the sounds are 

 undoubtedly heard are at a great distance from the sea-beach, and further 

 than one would imagine that the sound of breaking surf could possibly 

 be heard. The transmission of sound waves is however dependent very 

 much on the conditions under which it takes place, and when these are 

 acoustically favourable they travel to enormous distances. With the 

 exception, perhaps, of Cherra Punji,none of the stations named are outside 

 the distance at which the sound of guns could be heard, and it is probable 

 that the simultaneous breaking of heavy surf rollers two or three miles 

 in length, as mentioned by Mr. Pellew, would be at least as loud if not 

 louder. Under certain atmospheric conditions the noise might be heard 

 at places a great distance from the sea more distinctly than at nearer 

 places. 



It is said that the cannonade at Waterloo was heard at Dover, and 

 other instances are on record of cannon fired during naval engagements 

 in the Channel being heard in the centre of England. Col. Sconce tells 

 me that he heard the cannonade daring the siege of Delhi over 60 miles 

 away, and I may mention that when on duty with my battery at Saugor in 

 Central India, between 1860 and 1864, we heard one day the sound of a 

 salute of guns fired at Jubbulpore, over 80 miles away with intervening 

 hills. I do not recollect hearing it myself, but it was the talk oB the 

 mess, and, I believe, was verified by letter. The guns used must have 

 been the ordinary old bronze nine-pounders, which would give a sharper 

 report than larger iron guns. 



As regards distance, therefore, it seems quite within possibility that 

 the sounds heard at places so far inland could be caused by the enor- 

 mous rollers of the S. W. Monsoon, especially as it appears from the 



