1833.] Further particulars of the Earthquake in Nepal. 637 



on this side of it, was alone the theatre of the earthquake's presence, 

 and that it was not even in the slightest degree felt beyond a very 

 short distance on the Tibetan side of those huge mountains. The 

 Embassy was at Lassa, on the 26th of August, when and where the 

 shock was not experienced. At Digarchi, in the following month, it first 

 received accounts of its occurrence from Nepal ; to the inhabitants of 

 that place the circumstance was known only from reports brought from 

 this side of the mountains ; along the road from Digarchi, the answer to 

 all inquiries was the same, " No earthquake on the 26th of August," 

 and not until its arrival at Tingri was it found that the shock had 

 been felt. Tingri is a small Chinese post, immediately beyond the 

 great Himalaya, and the first stage on the table land (as it is called) 

 of Tibet, going from hence to Lassa, (by the Kdti or eastern pass 

 from the valley of Nepal.) From Tingri to Kirung, a distance of 

 8 or 10 marches, the route is nearly due west, running along ; and 

 through the northern side of the Himalaya, and throughout this tract, 

 though but thinly inhabited, authentic reports of the occurrence of the 

 shock were received. By Kirung (the eastern pass from the valley 

 into Bhote), the Mission penetrated the great range, and at each stage 

 (four in number through the pass), intelligence of the occurrence was 

 communicated by the few individuals who inhabit that wild and sterile 

 region. But such information was not required, as its effects were 

 sufficiently manifest : in the village of Kirung itself, supposed to con- 

 tain 400 houses, 60 were fairly demolished, and many more seriously 

 injured : two men had been killed under the ruins of their houses, and 

 about a dozen wounded. From the exit of the pass to Kathmandu' 

 there are no towns along the route, and scarcely any villages ; but at 

 many places, insulated houses of the mountaineers had been thrown 

 down, and the precipitous banks of hills and mountains had been 

 hurled into the subjacent valleys. 



This shews the extent of damage done towards the north, and ena- 

 bles us to fix upon the line of Tingri (Lat. 2S") as the northern 

 limit, of the earthquake's presence, and reports would shew that of 

 Jabalpiir and Calcutta to have been the southern one. Rangptir* 

 defines the east and Dehli the west. 



North-east from Kathmandu, as far as Dulka and Kiiti, the violence 

 of the shock would seem to have been greater than in the valley. West 

 from Kathmandu it diminished at every step. At Gorlcha, only two 

 houses were destroyed ; at Palpa, none ; and at Doti, on the borders of 

 Kemaon, the shock was felt, but not by any means severely. It will 

 * Mr. Walters informs me that it was also felt at Cbittagong. — Ed. 



