426 A Twenty-fourth Memoir on the Law of Storms. [No. 5. 



cane which ensued was terrific. When he left his house all the Venetians* 

 doors and glass windows of the upper and lower story were all blown in. 

 The roof of one room had fallen, and the brick pillars of the verandahs were 

 broken in two or three places, the storm had a clear drift through the house 

 and some of the furniture was even blown out of the windows ; chairs, 

 &c. being found on the bank of the river the following morning. There 

 was no thunder or lightning daring the storm. Mr. Crank being repeatedly 

 out in it, so that he speaks very positively as to this, which he must have 

 perceived had there been any. It was at three in the morning that Mr. 

 Crank's family were obliged to take shelter ; first in a low cow-house, of 

 which the roof also beginning to give way they were driven as a last 

 resource to a pucka (brick-built) pig-stye ! which being still smaller and 

 lower, and substantially constructed, fortunately withstood the fury of 

 the elements,* which was so great that the family were repeatedly blown 

 down in their retreat from the house to their place of refuge. 



Mr. Crank stating in his private letter that " earthquakes prevailed 

 throughout the whole night," my query on this head and his very import- 

 ant reply are as follows : — 



In " What were the nature of the earthquake shocks you mention, and 

 are you quite sure of them, as distinguished from the vibrations of the 

 house in the gusts of wind ? Are you also familiar with earthquake shocks 

 so as readily to recognise them ? 



Answer. — The shocks I experienced when out of the house, at about 

 2h. 15' a. m. of the 15th were oscillatory and very severe. One I expe- 

 rienced in the upper story of my house I cannot correctly describe. An- 

 other at 4 a. m. or thereabouts was of the same character as the above. 

 It could not in this case have been the vibration of the building I was 

 in, because it is an extremely low one, being used as a pig-stye and pigeon- 

 house, and is a very strong pucka edifice. As I have experienced many 

 earthquakes both in Persia and Assam, and am generally calm and col- 

 lected I feel sure the shocks were those as described (to his Calcutta 

 friends) and that throughout the night. After the hurricane set in, they 

 were repeated. With the first shock outside the house, I plainly expe- 

 rienced a very unpleasant smell which I attributed to some gaseous exhal- 

 ation ;f I have noted the same peculiar odour on other similar occasions, 



* This is exactly the history of the Mauritius and West India planters, who on 

 the large plantations have a strong low built " hurricane house" ready for these 

 occasions, and on the poorer ones the families take refuge in the negro huts in 

 sheltered spots. 



f Perhaps Ozone ? — H. P. 



