550 On the Local and Relative Geology of Singapore, [June, 



earth opening on them, and others were drowned by the sudden irrup- 

 tion of the waters of the ocean." 



On the 18th April, 1818, another violent earthquake was experienced 

 on the west coast. Sir T. Raffles, who arrived at Bencoolen the day 

 after, found that every house was more or less shattered, and many in 

 ruins. In the Island of Pulo Nias, on the west coast, earthquakes appear 

 to be felt very severely. The same remark may possibly apply to the 

 other Islands in the same chain, for our knowledge of these phenomena 

 in the native countries has been hitherto almost entirely accidental, and 

 our information regarding Pulo Nias arises from the connection of 

 Europeans with it. Marsden mentions that in 1763 a village in that 

 Island was swallowed up by an earthquake, and a recent shock, which 

 will be immediately noticed more at large, was still more disas- 

 trous in its effects. That the undulations in most cases extend across 

 the straits to the semi-volcanic line is highly probable. Although our 

 connection with the straits now extends over a period of 60 years, 

 unfortunately no connected records have been preserved of the critical 

 geological and meteorological phenomena that have been experienced 

 during that time. In Pinang during the last 12 years several shocks 

 have been felt. These occurred in November 1833, August 1835, 

 September 1837 and January 1843.* 



Those of 1837 were the most violent, and the undulations appear to 

 have been from south to north, and to have lasted a minute and a half.f 

 The shocks in 1843 happened about half an hour after midnight on the 

 morning of the 6th of January, and at \ past 2 p.m. on the 8th. The 



* Pinang Gazette of 7th, 14th and 28th January, 1843. 



t " It is said that on that occasion several herds of cattle in the neighbourhood were 

 observed running in the utmost confusion in all directions, that lamps and picture frames 

 oscillated, that the Roman Catholic Church bell rang of its own accord, that quantities 

 of large shot piled up in the Fort were thrown down and scattered about, that a stone 

 wall of a substantial building in town was rent, and that the whole inhabitants were thrown 

 into a state of consternation. The shipping in the harbour did not experience this shock, 

 nor did the sea appear agitated. Five days subsequently, however, another smart shock 

 was felt and was followed by a very heavy squall from the N. W. and great agitation 

 and rise of the sea in the harbour. The tides overflowed the Northern beach, and flood- 

 ed the compounds and lower rooms of the houses in the neighbourhood. This convul- 

 sion was experienced about the same time at Acheen and along the Pedier coast, and it 

 is said that these places sustained considerable damage." Pinang Gazette of 28lh Janua- 

 ry, 1843, 



