FAfiT !■.] 
Ohlhaiii; N^otc on the Xitiiii. 'I'n! LiDidslip. 
rx 
occurred; on the Ibtli a larger one fell, sliortly to be followed by tlic great land- 
8Hp, wliicli was itself followed by one or two minor ones, tbougb the 2 ^i'occss of 
smootliiiig down tlio slojio lias not yet been completed. 
Apj)lying this liyjiotbcsis to tlio determination of the question of bow nuicii 
of tins same ridge must be jn-onounced as uu.safe and liable to .slijipage, we 
must condemn tlie bill side from a line running upwards fi'om tbe bauk-bonsc to 
a similar line running down from a little to west of Fairligbt Hall, it being all 
more or less bulged; of tins, tbat ^jart extemling from tbe old land.slip to tba 
stream flowing down to tbe cast of tbe Mi.ssiou premises mu.st fall in a few' more 
years, but, with this excejjtion, a judicious system of revetment of tbe torrent 
beds and a com 2 )lete sj’stcm of drainage of tbe cleared sites will do much to 
2 )ro]ong tbe existence of tbe 2 Jresout bill side. 
As regards tbe slo 2 }es below’ Cbina, there is but little cbancc of such a sli 2 i 
taking 2 )lace; these slo 2 )cs are the talus of the stee2} scaiqi of Cbina, and are 
coiitinnally receiving additions from above, and though on them there may be 
danger from the largo boulders which occasionally fall from China, the slopes 
2 Jass ofi so gently into the com 2 iarativc]y IcA'cl ground at the bead of the lake, aiul 
are moreover concave rather than convex in profile, tbat 1 consider the 2 )fo- 
bability of any of them forming a large sliiJ to be very small indeed. 
iMany interesting 2 *oints might doubtless be elicited as to the manner in 
w'bicb the mass moved, were there any sati.sfactory accounts of ej'C-witncsses; but 
such there arc not, and for tbe same rea.son tbat it is almost im250ssiblo to get a 
trustw’ortby account of a great earthquake,—tbe thing is so sudden and so a^^■ful 
tliat none but trained observers can keep their pi'escnec of mind necessary for 
making those exact observations wbicb only can bo of any scientific use. 
Tbe only points wbicb can be satisfactorily established are, tbat the whole 
fall must have been over in less than quarter of a minute, and tbat the \ ictorja 
Hotel and Bell’s Shop (Racquet Court) Avere carried along some distance before 
they fell; in the latter case there is proof of the fact, inasmuch as the ruins are 
now some yards from tbe S 2 >ot on which the building orig-inally stood. As the 
ground on wbicb both these building.s stood consisted entirely of debris, locallj^ 
known as ‘ shale, ’ Avbicb must have been saturated Avitli a\ ater after tbe bea\ y 
I’ains Avbicb for thirty hours and more bad been pouring into it, it is not surpri,-;- 
ing tbat when tbe wreck of the bill side Avas prcci 2 jitatod on to it, it should yield 
as a semi-fluid body Avould do and float the buildings for some little distance 
before tbe actual slip overtook and ovciAvbelnied them. Tbat the Avbole mass 
must have been in a semi-fluid state from tbe amount of Avater contained in its 
substance, is shown by tbe low angle at wbicb it now lies, and by the fact that 
those Avbo A’entured on to tbe fallen mass immediately after its fall sank U2t to 
their Jtnees in tbe slush, as it has been described. 
Houbtless, tbe point of most scientific interest in connection Avitb this land¬ 
slip is its bearing on the theory of lake formation by landslips. One of tbe 
2 jrinci 2 tal objections raised to the su 2 t 2 *osition tbat tbe bariiei at tbe outlet of 
Haini Ta],for iustauco, can be formed by a landslip is, tbat those slips “possessed 
of most mobility, from tbe greater fluidity oi their com 2 )Ositiou, are in tbe 
