PART +.] 
UJilhum: Note on thr. Mnini T,(l Linukrip. 
•in 
Note on the Naini Tal Landslip ( 18 th September 1880 ), hj 
R. D. Oldham, A.B.S.M., Geological Survey of India. 
On Saturday, tlie 18tli of September, at half past one in tlie afternoon, after 
more than tbii-ty-six hours of heavy continuous rain, a portion of the hill forming 
the north-east slope of the valley of Naini Tal fell, sweeping a^vay sevei'al 
houses, and causing the death of 43 Europeans and more than 150 Natives. 
Briefly told, the stoiy of the’slip is this ; On the morning of the 18th, at ten 
o’clock, a small slip occurred behind the Victoila Hotel, burying part of the build 
ings in which were some Natives and an European child. A party of volunteers 
and a Avorking-party from the depot were soon on the spot, but after a while the 
greater portion of the latter were AvithdraAvn. After rescuing all that there 
seemed any probability Avere still alive, they found that the house Avas in danger 
of being washed aAvay by a stream of water, and so turned their atiention to the 
diversion of the stream ; and while engaged in this, the great slqA came down ami 
overAA-helmed them. It is possible that the wash of this diverted .stream may 
have directly conti’ibuted to bringing down the landslip, but it seems to me very 
improbable that it had any .such eifect; at most it can but have hastened the 
cata.strophe by a few hours. 
The part of the hill Avhicli has fallen extends up to the old Government House, 
marked as such on the map. From hero the Avestorn boundary runs down a little 
to the east of Marshal Cottage and Charlton; the eastern boundary passe.s down 
just to the ea.st of the Victoria Hotel. The mass of debris which has fallen fi-om 
the hill extends over the level ground at the head of the lake, as far as the Assem¬ 
bly Rooms, of -R'kich but the southern end remains standing. 
The slip, a.s it at present stands, stretches in a long, gentle slope, Avhich, omitting 
irregularities of surface, is not more than 15° iiji to whci-e the old Victoria Hotel 
stood; from there it rises in a steep slope of 25° or so, and at the top comes a short 
space nearly vertical. This steep slope is formed by the small slopes of drier debris 
Avhioh fell after the great one. The total length of the slip, measirred horizontally, 
is about 600 yards, of which over 300 are occupied by the gentle slope, and the 
remainder are more or less steep. 
The hill on the north-east of the lake consists of more or less imperfectly- 
cleaved clay slates, occasionally showing signs of an initial metamorphism into 
schist, but for the most part a simple clay slate. The dip is very disturbed, and 
varies much in different parts in close proximity to each other; but the general 
dip is to the south-west. The rock also is traversed by very numerous joint 
planes, which cause it to split up into innumerable fragments under the action 
of the Aveather. 
Although the whole of the ridge bounding the Naini Tal valley on the north¬ 
east is practically one as regards its internal structure, yet, supei’ficially, the 
south-east portion is very different from the north-Avest. Looking from the head 
of the lake, oi-, still better, from near the old Government House, one cannot fail 
to be struck by the difference of profile ; toAvards the lower end of the lake the hill 
sweeps doAvn at an even slope of about 25° from almost the top down to the level 
of the lake, Avhile nearer the spot Avhere the landslip took place there is a peculiar 
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