'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎145] (278/458)

vessels (oj
the risk of j
air m dart,
s we hear no M
Bank, was m
ryf and Cliitt®
i met in witkljj
nd Chedook:!
ton remarks tkt
thquakesalloE
j which tlifi
• it, and the®
whole sliorfi
feet; ^
e now
id Asiatic
: the vast
reading
i phenol
ject of er
BAY OF BENGAL.—CHEDOOBA. - t -
14 J
mountains above 1000 feet bigb.^ On the 15th September, 1751,
the capital of St. Domingo was destroyed by an earthquake, and part
of the coast, 20 leagues in length, sunk down, and has ever since
formed a bay of the sea. The Lisbon earthquake, one of the most
fearful on record, occurred in November, 1755, and in 1757 the
Azores were struck with an earthquake, during which eighteen small
islands arose, about ^00 yards from the shore * these corresponded
very closely with the Pondicherry explosion.f
The volcanic region in the Bay of Bengal seems about this time to
have been in a state of general activity. Off the coast of Arracan,
lies an island called Chedooba situted in lat 18°50 ' N. and long. 90°40 /
fifteen miles in length and seventeen in breadth, or of about 200 square
miles in area. Its general appearance is that of a fertile, well-
wooded island, of moderate height and irregular outline. A band of
level land, covered with fragments of coral, shells, and gravel, and but
a little way elevated above the sea, surrounds it : three distinct terraces
are visible, the result of so many separate upheavals.^
There are four large volcanoes in Chedooba, detached mounds rather
than cones, varying from 100 to 1000 feet above the level of the sea.
They are composed of stiff grey clay, with large quantities of singular
fragments of stone : their sides are much cut up with rain; their
summits, which are from 50 to 240 yards in diameter, are quite bare.§
On the summits of these are numerous well-formed cones, from a few
* Lyell’s Elements, vol. i. p. 440. Edition 1850, p. 43J, gives it 1848 English feet.
f The following extract is from Dr. Thomson’s paper on the Geology of Bombay (Mad. Lit.
Iratis.) It bears directly on the subject, and carries us three centuries further back : I have
not considered the description specilic enough for the text, but see no reason to doubt the
authenticity of the fact :—“ The Island of Vaypi, on the north side of Cochin, rose from out
tne seam the year 1341 : the date of its appearance is determined by its having given rise to
anew era amongst the Hindoos, called Puduvepa, or the new introduction. Contempora-
neously with the appearance of Vaypi the waters, which during the rainy season were
iscnarged from the Uhaut, broke through the banks of the channel which usually confined
em, overwhelmed a village, and f ormed a lake and harbour so spacious that light ships
ou a anchor where dry land formerly prevailed.”—Bartolome's Voyage to the East Indies,
tfome 17% ; Translation 1800.
Tra i 11 his admirable paper on Indian earthquakes, published in 1842, Bl. As.
whH 8 ’.* X ^‘’ ^ ves an account from the “ Gentleman’s Magazine” of a violent earthquake
been l° C f CUrre ^ at ^ a ^ cutta 1737. Twenty thousand vessels of various sizes are said to have
lost o Th yed i uunc l a ti°n which accompanied it, and 30,000 lives are said to have been
took ni 6 ? CC * aS ^ ori \ -N 0 v °l can ic phenomena, strictly so called, seem to have attended it. It
given ' C fn Ur * n ? a : l' ur i ous hurricane. The earliest Indian earthquake of which particulars are
vessels 18 ^ich accompanied the hurricane of *20th May, 1018, by which 200J lives and 60
from r4 Ue to have been lost at Bombay. See Madras Lit. Trans., 1837, already quoted
Jrom Gower’s Portuguese India, tome iii.
T0 t ^o' 0 ' 11 Halsted* 8 Report on th® Island of Chedooba. Bl As. Trans. 1841.
it. 'tm * Gapt Halsted gives maps of the Islands of Chedooba and Eeguan, adjoining to
0 atter is copied into Johnstone’s Physical Atlas, map 3.