Page:Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute - Volume 1 (2nd ed.).djvu/484

450 this remarkable phenomenon. All parts of Australia appear to have been visited by the wave except Port Phillip, as, for instance, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and King Greorge Sound. In South Australia several slight earthquake shocks were felt, the two events, the shocks and the waves being quite distinct. In Peru the first great shock was felt at 5 p.m. on the 13th of August, which time corresponds in Wellington with 9.30 a.m. on the morning of Priday, the 14th. This shock is described to have come from the south-west, and there is no doubt that it was the result of a great submarine eruption at a considerable distance from the coast, for it appears that there was sufficient time for the people to escape from the towns along the shore to the hills before the great wave arrived. The same wave reached New Zealand seventeen hours after, and its velocity having been calculated from the time it reached Chatham Islands, Australia, &c., was found to agree with previous results. The earthquake shock, if felt here, must have travelled over six thousand miles; the wave, having a slower velocity, or at the rate of about six miles per minute, reached us much later. Dr. Hector then, by means of maps and diagrams, explained the course such a wave would travel, forming a curve on maps laid down on Mercator's projection principle. He stated that in the deep sea the wave would only be felt by a slight tremor, and would be scarcely perceptible until it reached shallow water. The author concluded by saying that we have no historic record of so stupendous a wave, and that the outburst which caused it must have been of a very unusual and perhaps unprecedented character.

Captain Vine Hall, on being asked by the Chairman, stated that the wave had been felt at Rapa, where it washed away a portion of the jetty. It arrived there apparently from the south-east, but he could not yet inform them of the exact time of its occurrence.

Mr. Hart explained that, in his opinion. Port Phillip had not experienced any of the effects of the wave, from its narrow entrance, as well as the protection afforded by Tasmania. He indorsed Dr. Hector's opinion, that the outburst must have been oceanic.

Dr. Hector wished to state, that it appeared from recent intelligence, that the south-east portion of the Chathams had felt the wave most; but, not being so thickly populated as the western or northern portion, the damage done had not been so great.

Mr. Travers alluded to the New Zealand earthquake of 1855 as having caused an immense wave, over thirty feet in height, which did much damage along the east coast of this province, and expressed a wish that any one who knew the particulars of that event would communicate them to the Society.