326 MIDDLEMISS : KANGRA EARTHQUAKE. 



content with speaking of it as 1, 2 or 3 strong sets of vibrations, whilst 

 the sound, no longer a roar or like a gale of wind, is far more commonly 

 described as a rumble like thunder or surf, or a rattling noise like a 

 railway train. One noticeable feature with regard to the sound is that 

 none at all is recorded from Lahore, and a large number of observers 

 state that there was no sound. I am unable to explain this except by 

 the suggestion that the sound was mistaken for the ordinary rumble of 

 street traffic. 



Another peculiarity is that in addition to the quicker vibrations 

 TT , , which one observer puts at 200 a minute, we have a 



Undulose waves. 



great deal of evidence from many towns such as 

 Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Sialkot, Jamu, Ludhiana, Rurki and 

 Meerut of a slow rolling or undulating motion described as " like being 

 on board a steamer in a moderate sea,"" " like an open boat at sea," 

 " the whole ground heaved like the sea and houses rocked," " caused 

 tress to rock and dance as in a high wind." This motion made it diffi- 

 cult for the observers to keep their balance without legs wide apart 

 and in some cases produced nausea and giddiness, and made animals 

 restless and restive. These waves were accompanied also by fissures in 

 the alluvium through which sand and water in fountains spurted, as at 

 Rurki and Karnal. 



The Himalayan areas of Kashmir and Garhwal and Kumaun, with 

 the exception of Islamabad which is in a flat plain, generally did not 

 experience these long slow undulations, which seem to have been more 

 typical of places on the thick Indo-Gangetic alluvium. But Simla ac- 

 cording to a correspondent of the Statesman experienced a similar 

 but somewhat quicker type of undulation (see page 75). 



The above appear largely to have been characteristic gravitational 

 waves, and entirely without the strong lateral thrusts as experienced at 

 Dharmsala and elsewhere within area X, and spoken of as " fearful 

 lurches." One observer at Ludhiana, however, speaks of a "push of 

 thrust ' ' in a westerly direction with intermediate violent vibrations too 

 rapid to count, as if the house were a " box shaken by giant hands." 

 But this is a very exceptional description for this area. 



