1038* Memoir on Indian Earthquakes. [No. 144. 



Dangerfield states, that in the neighbouring Vindhyas, and in the wild 

 tract of Rajpeeply, (Malcolm's Central India, Vol. II, p. 325), some 

 hills are said to have hollows in their summits resembling extinct cra- 

 ters, but as he had never seen them, he could not hazard an opinion 

 as to their true nature. In Malwa, where igneous rocks are almost 

 universal, Earthquakes are said to be frequent, but no special instances 

 are mentioned. 



It is not until the year 1842, that the dates of any Earthquakes 

 emanating from the Vindhyas have been ascertained. The Earthquakes 

 of the 21st and 23rd of May 1842, by which many places in the vici- 

 nity of the Rajmahal hills, the eastern termination of the Vindhyas, 

 were smartly affected, are decidedly referable to the tract now under 

 notice. The direction of the shocks as noted in my Register, and their 

 comparative intensity at different points varying in their distance from 

 the hills establish the point. Since the publication of the Register for 

 1842, I have received a few farther details connected with the above 

 mentioned Earthquakes which I may give here. For these I am in- 

 debted to the ever-active kindness of Mr. Piddington, Sub-Secre- 

 tary, Asiatic Society, who forwarded to me the proof sheets of his 

 Seventh Memoir on Storms, in which the details in question were given. 

 This is only one of the many similar acts of kind assistance I have" 

 received from this gentleman, and my best acknowledgments are due 

 to him. 



Gya. — Lat. 24° 49' N., long. 85° E. Relative to the Earthquake 

 of the 21st May, W. St. Quintin, Esq. C. S. writes as follows: — 



21 st May. — "At 20 minutes before 9 o'clock a. m. we had two 

 smart shocks of Earthquake from West to East ; for some days before 

 and after this, the sky had a white, thick, hazy appearance. The heat 

 of the weather was most oppressive. Thermometer never under 90° 

 and often at 95° in the house, and 115° in the shade of the outside 

 verandah." 



Monghyr.—LdX. 25° 23' N., long. 86° 38' E. Mr. Palmer of Mon- 

 ghyr writes thus : " The whole of this season, I mean from January 

 (1842,) has been rather a remarkable one, and very different from what 

 I have observed at this station for the last seven years. The annual 

 passing showers of January and February did not visit us. March and 

 April, though generally one stream of strong N. W. and N. E. winds, 

 approached us with somewhat less fury, and with a succession of a day 

 or two intervening between the gusts. May was sultry in the day 

 without the usual hot winds, but attended with a cooler feeling by mid- 

 night, until near the 19th, when the air became heavy and oppressive to 

 a degree, and the sky had a peculiar hue about the time of sun setting. 

 This continued until the morning of the 21st, and though we looked 

 forward to some kind of coolness, or a light air about dawn, it was the 

 reverse this morning : a lethargic sensation seemed to hang about until 

 a quarter after nine, when the earth was observed to tremble and rock 

 from East to West (from West to East ?) for half a minute, vibrating 



