watch and
compass to notice duration and direction of the shock. It was undulatory,
very violent, and oscillating from S.S.W. to N.N.E. The duration was
exactly four minutes two seconds. The earthquake began at 5.20 P.M. and
ended at 5h. 24m. 2s.

"It strikes me that it would have been wise to have gone out of the
house," said I. "It is a wonder the building did not collapse. My cup is
full of mud and debris from the ceiling."[10]

"I have saved the tea for you!" said the Doctor, triumphantly lifting in
his muscular hands the teapot, which he had carefully nursed. He had soon
discovered my devotion to the yellow liquid.

We were quietly going on with our refreshment when a band of excited
Shokas broke into the room.

"Sahib! Sahib! where has it gone?" cried they in a chorus, stretching
their hands towards me and then folding them in sign of prayer. "Sahib!
tell us where it has gone!"

"What?" rejoined I, amused at their suspense.

"Did you not feel the earth shake and quiver?" exclaimed the astounded
visitors.

"Oh yes, but that is nothing."

"Oh no, Sahib! That is the precursory notice of some great calamity. The
'spirit' under the earth is waking up and is shaking its back."

"I would rather it shook its back than mine," said I jokingly.

[Illustration: A WELL-ATTENDED SCHOOL]

"Or mine," added the Doctor lightly, much to the astonishment of our
awestricken callers.

"Which way did it go?" repeated the impatient Shokas.

I pointed towards the N.N.E. and they gave a sigh of satisfaction. It
must have proceeded to the other side of the Himahlyas.

It appears, according to the primitive notions of the Shokas, that inside
the earth lives in a torpid condition an evil spirit in the shape of a
gigantic reptile. The rumbling preceding an earthquake is, to the Shoka
mind, nothing else than the heavy breathing of the monster previous to
waking, whereas the actual shock is caused by the brute stretching its
limbs. When fully awake the serpent-like demon darts and forces its way
in one direction, compelling the earth to quake all along its
subterranean passage, often causing by so violent a procedure great
damage to property and loss of life, not to speak of the fear and terror
which it strikes in man and beast, should the capricious spirit by chance
make a return journey to the spot below the earth's crust directly
underfoot. It is curious and interesting, in analysing these crude
notions, to find that, indepe