1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 95 



earthquake lies upon a definable line, and not upon a centre, and that 

 the waves of motion imparted to the earth's crust travelled away on 

 both sides at right angles to that line of dislocation (if we may call 

 it one,) it is not to be expected that such a rupture would be 

 confined to a straight line, it would be more or less divergent at differ- 

 ent points affected by rock masses below the surface ; it might even 

 bifurcate at any point on its course, and the effect on the surface might 

 greatly diminish for many miles, and again shew with great severity. 

 It must be, however, expected, that near the line, and particularly at 

 the point where the disturbance is excessive, the direction would be 

 very various, and the motion more like that of a chopping sea ; or the 

 undulations of the surface might merely rise and fall vertically, with 

 but very little horizontal motion to any particular point of the com- 



From all the accounts that have reached me from distant quarters, 

 — and I have but very few details as yet to work on, — Silchar seems 

 to have felt its force more than any other place. I read in the English- 

 man that Nowgong suffered much, while Gowhatty in a much less 

 degree. Again, a correspondent in Chittagong who appears to 

 have been in a very favorable position for observation of what took 

 place, states that the waves were travelling east with slight north- 

 erly direction ; this would place the motion at right angles to a line 

 south of Cachar to the west of his position. The direction noted by 

 M. Lafont in Calcutta, was an east and west one, not from a central 

 spot, say Cachar, but from a line drawn south-south westerly from that 

 place into Tipperah Hills. It will be interesting to discover the direc- 

 tion of the earth-waves at Gowhatty and Nowgong. 



At the junction of the Diyiing and Kopoli they were travelling 



eastward and the shock was very severe indeed ; in the Khasi Hills 



from the N. Eastward ;* in the Garo Hillsf from N. E. to S. W. ; 



at GolaghatJ it was from the Naga Hills i. e. the south-west ; 



at Lukhimpoor§ from S. W. In these few instances, that I can now 



quote, the directions are not divergent from a centre, but from a line 



or curve. Looking at a map of this part of India, it must be at once 



* On Lat. 25-40, Long. 92-45 from the East. 



f Englishman of January 25th, 1869. 



j Englishman 



§ Englishman, January 27th, 1869. 



