SSH RE ca cee tee ee ee Ce Tere 
3 BOS ge ie eae ent aia 'e 
= 
Bin ee a | eo re Sead a eS ee 
a te ae 
erally called, is also varia 
Notices of Earthquakes. 363 
me, for it was almost entirely clear, no clouds whatever visible 
that in the least indicated thunder, rain, or change of weather. 
I was at this time going in a southeasterly direction, and the 
thunder, as for the moment I had taken it to be, seemed to be __ 
exactly in the opposite direction from that in which I was then 
going. Astounded as I was, I stopped, and, turning to ascertain © 
trom whence this noise proceeded, the earth began to vibrate to 
and fro from northwest to southeast, and continued for several 
times, the first vibration being the greatest (apparently not less 
than three or four inches), and gradually diminishing. On 
turning fully around, the noise which I had taken for thunder, 
but which, in fact, was the noise accompanying the earthquake, 
seemed to be about in a northwesterly direction from here; an 
had it been thunder, I should have thought it not over twelve or 
fifteen miles distant. It seemed to roll or pass off in a north- 
easterly direction, or at right angles to the vibrations of the 
earth. The noise and vibrations lasted about a minute. 
In the town, the druggists’ jars, bottles, &., were all rocked 
to the very edge of the shelves, and some of them off. Chim- 
neys were considerably damaged ; dishes, cups, saucers, glasses, 
&e. suffered much. The cattle and dogs all ran in confusion 
and seemed much alarmed, and utterly at a loss to know where 
or in what direction to go. : 
I was talking to a ferryman here a few days since about the 
earthquake, and he told me that he was at the time crossing the 
Mississippi river in a skiff, and that the water rolled as if a 
steamboat had just passed. He said he was much frightened - 
until he heard the noise and thought what it was. The fact is, . 
owever—and such was the case at the time referred to—that 
ES 
ds, : . 
Another remarkable fact about the earthquakes here, is, that 
while sometimes the earth quakes or trembles, as it were, at 
other times it seems to roll in ware on the Resi werk at ae 
ers, as in the one I am more particularly speaking of at presen 
ers, as in the one I am par eet Breeton They ‘most 
generally come from the west or northwest, sometimes from the 
‘Southwest. The character of the noise, or roaring, as It 1s gen- 
ble. 272 : 
