1054f Memoir on Indian Earthquakes. [No. 144. 



that Earthquakes of great violence have frequently devastated China, 

 it is not improbable, that we may yet find this region extending across 

 that country, and ultimately intersecting the train of the Philippines 

 and Moluccas. 



Returning to the westward, it would appear that from the eastern 

 shores of the Caspian Sea, the line of volcanic force becomes divided, 

 one portion following the course through the Himalayas just noted, 

 while another diverging to the southward, passes through Persia, along 

 the shores of the Persian Gulf and those of the Arabian Sea, till 

 through Mukran, Scinde and Cutch, it becomes connected with the 

 tract of the Vindhyas, and is thus prolonged across the base of the 

 Indian Peninsula, until it abuts upon the Himalayan line, by means of 

 the mountains bordering Assam. 



In this same vicinity, we find the northern limit of the great band of 

 the Moluccas which has been extended through Arracan and Chitta- 

 gong to the Kassya Mountains, where as formerly adverted to, indications 

 of violent action are remarkably developed. With this portion of the 

 Vindhyan and Molucca bands, are probably connected those forces 

 which have given origin to the Earthquakes of the Gangetic Delta. 

 And these latter may again form the link that joins the tract of the 

 Eastern Ghauts with that of Chittagong, Arracan, and the Malayalan 

 peninsula. 



The tract of the Solimaun Mountains connects those of the Hima- 

 layas and the Delta of the Indus, while that of the Aravulli would 

 seem to be an off-shoot from the Vindhyas. 



Two main lines in which the volcanic forces are distributed through- 

 out India are therefore directly connected with that band which Mr. 

 Lyell has traced from the Western Islands to the shores of the Caspian, 

 while the third is similarly connected with the band that extends from 

 the Aleutian or Fox Islands, in Russian America, to Barren Island 

 in the Bay of Bengal. Nine distinct Earthquake tracts have been spe- 

 cified in this paper: of these two, namely, the central and lateral 

 Himalayan tracts, are the indices of one of the main lines above alluded 

 to ; the other two, those of the Delta of the Indus and the Vindhyas, con- 

 stitute the second, while the third is that of the Eastern Coast of the 

 Bay of Bengal. With the last mentioned, the tracts of the Delta of 

 the Ganges and of the Eastern Ghauts are considered to be connected, 

 and the two remaining tracts, those of the Solimaun and Aravulli 

 mountains, are merely subordinate lines. 



Having thus endeavoured to exhibit briefly the results of this sum- 

 mary, I may now conclude by presenting a general Tabular View of 

 Indian Earthquakes, compiled from the materials here collected. A 

 very few shocks have not been referred to specific tracts, because the 

 information relative to them was indistinct, but this may be rectified 

 under more favourable circumstances. * 





