10o6* Memoir on Indian Earthquakes. [No. 144. 



experienced, which will be duly recorded in the Register, the materials 

 for which are not yet arranged. 



9. Earthquakes of the Tract of the Eastern Ghauts. 



The notices of Earthquakes along the line of the Eastern Ghauts 

 which I have been able to procure are few and brief : indeed my in- 

 formation from Southern India generally is of a very limited character, 

 but as there are many intelligent and active cultivators of natural 

 science in that portion of the empire, I do not despair of yet having it 

 considerably extended. 



The earliest, as also the most severe recorded shock was experienced 

 at Ongole, (lat. 15° 13' N., long. 79° 56' E.) in the year 1800. I am 

 indebted to H. Piddington, Esq. for the following extract from the 

 Asiatic Annual Register for 1801, in which the effects of the Earth- 

 quake and its accompanying hurricane are detailed : — 



11 Extract from a letter dated Ongole, 29th October 1800. We have 

 experienced such exceeding heavy rain at Ongole for the last twenty- 

 four days, that the surface of the country exhibits an entire sheet of 

 water. 



"On the 19th instant, about 10 minutes after 4 o'clock a. m., the wind 

 blew a hurricane, when suddenly we felt a severe shock of an Earth- 

 quake, which kept the earth in continued agitation for nearly a minute. 

 It shook down many houses, but I believe no person was killed in con- 

 sequence. 



" The Earthquake was introductory to a scene the most painful to my 

 feelings to describe: at about 8 o'clock last night, the wind began 

 to blow strongly with rain, and in about two hours the wind and rain 

 had increased so violently, that the doors and windows were blown open 

 and shivered to atoms. 



" In this dreadful situation, it would have been advisable to have 

 quitted our houses for the open plain, but that was impossible, as no one 

 could stand for a moment against the impetuosity of the hurricane, nor 

 would an object be observed at a yard's distance. We trusted in this 

 dilemma to Omnipotence for protection, and placing ourselves in the 

 strongest situations we could think of, we continually heard the trees 

 and walls falling around us. 



" The incessant loud claps of thunder, the vivid lightning, the 

 strength of the wind, and the uncommonly heavy rain, were such as the 

 oldest inhabitant never before experienced. The wind blew from the 

 N. E., and continued till two o'clock this morning, when we had an in- 

 terval of calm till three o'clock, during which we were employed in 

 endeavouring to extricate our cattle from the ruins of the fallen build- 

 ings. 



" At three o'clock, the storm recommenced from the S. E., and if pos- 

 sible with increased violence, and the houses being at this time all 

 unroofed, we remained till day-break exposed to its utmost fury. 

 When day-light appeared, nothing but death and destruction met the 

 eye in every direction. The ground was covered with dead cattle, 



