174 Miscellaneous, [Feb. 



three seconds, before there was any sensation of a shock, gradually 

 approaching and for some seconds after it had passed, and it distinctly 

 notified the direction of perturbation and gave me a vivid idea of the 

 rapidity with which it moved. 



Mr. C. K. Hodgson, Burpetah. — I have the pleasure to send you 

 some notes about the late earthquakes ; the weather has been very 

 changeable since the 15th, with rain occasionally, but I have observed 

 that these earthquakes generally take place after a heavy fall of rain 

 in the hills. They appear to come this year from the Himalayas, and 

 not as in 1845, from the Cossya hills. The first one on Monday last 

 (the 22nd) was rather severe, and caused a few cracks in the walls of my 

 new house, but I am thankful that the injury was not worse. 



Memorandum on earthquakes in January, 1849, at Burpetah, Assam. 



There was an earthquake felt at 8 a. m. on the 22nd January ; it 

 commenced with only a gentle undulation of the ground for about a 

 minute, accompanied by the usual rumbling noise ; the noise gradually 

 became louder and was followed by a smart shock ; apparently from the 

 north, and then a second more severe one, which made the timbers of 

 the house crack and rattled the doors and windows fearfully. The 

 whole lasted for about a minute and half. The morning was very 

 foggy and cold, with a sharp north-east wind, and the Thermometer 

 in the shade down to 54°, or 6 degrees lower than it was on the pre- 

 vious morning, and the fog did not clear up until near noon.* 



There was another smart shock of earthquake at a quarter past 11, 

 p. m. on the night of the 23rd, which also appeared to come from 

 the north. And we had 2 more slight shocks about 6 a. m. on the 

 morning of the 26th. 



The following is an extract from my diary of the weather from the 

 17th to the 27th January, 1849 :— 



* The weather as here described agrees perfectly with the weather at Gowhatty 

 on the same morning. We had the same heavy rain on the 18th also. 



