204 
EARTHQUAKES. 
ness, it is a great disappointment to us that we 
are still living our tranquil life in Fatunaba : 
there is work to do, the wet season is beginning 
to pass, and H. is anxious to get away into the 
interior. He would like to leave me comfortably 
housed ; and there is no use making botanical 
collections without a drying-house. 
Recently frequent shocks of earthquake have 
occurred. I do not know that any great con- 
vulsion has taken place in Timor in late years ; 
but those we experience are sufficiently alarming, 
since one never knows to what extent the shock 
may devastate. Many of the buildings in Dilly 
are out of repair, as the effect of earthquake. It 
is not long since the hospital was shaken to its 
foundations, ami some of the poor invalids were 
killed from debris or died from fright. Just after 
we arrived in Timor there was a very slight 
shock one night. H. warned me when he left 
for Fatunaba to run out into the courtyard on 
the least sensation of another, and to keep clear 
of the buildings. One morning, just as, light was 
faintly dawning, I was awakened by an unearthly 
noise and flash and glare. 
“ An earthquake ! ” I cried ; “ all the houses 
are tumbling ! " and I sprang up and ran into 
the back courtyard. Darkness and silence only 
