X MIDDLEMISS: KANGRA EARTHQUAKE. 



( b) Dotails of cracks in buildings, with sketches showing their directions, 



and an accurate record of the direction of every wall affected. 



(c) Effects on the water of tanks and bath-tubs, giving the direction of 



the movement, 

 (e?) Direction and amount of movement of free swinging objects, such as 



hanging lamps. 

 ( i) Occurrence of earth-fissures, their direction and nature, with critical 



observations of any relative displacement of the ground on opposite 



sides of the fissures. 



11. Aftershocks. — Date, time and approximate intensity of shocks noticed sub- 

 sequently to the main earthquake which occurred in the early morning of April 4th, 1905. 



That the observations entered in these forms must necessarily 



Th v . vary in accuracy and consequent value is obvious, 



curacy, but are since the writers vary from the completely irrespon- 



generally reliable. - 



sible person through a long list of more or less 

 sincere and careful witnesses up to the trained officers of scientific 

 departments under the Government of India, and a small sprinkling 

 of unofficial observers, scientific in spirit, if not by profession. In 

 spite of a few defects of exaggeration on the one hand, and of apathe- 

 tic indifference on. the other, the evidence under this heading as a 

 whole, though nowhere pretending to infallibility, may be said to 

 convey a generally accurate picture of the visible and tangible pheno- 

 mena of the earthquake ; whether evanescent, such as the recorded 

 times, sounds, number of shocks and subjective sensations ; or whether 

 of a less transitory nature, such as the damage to buildings, to com 

 munications, ard to natural features of the country. Furthermore 

 the very numerous and variously derived observations have all tended 

 to check one another, and so eliminate any form of extreme error. 

 The resulting body of data presented under this heading of evidence 

 has therefore a strong warranty for being measurably, or even closely, 

 in accordance with fact. It is fortunate that one can feel an assur- 

 ance of this, for earthquake phenomena, even of the less transitory 

 kind, soon become obliterated by time ; and no corroboration or revi- 

 sion of observations is possible in later years, as it is for instance in 

 the case of ordinary geological data. 



