An earthquake of a very different kind occurred the next year in the province of Assam, India (June 12th, 1897). Unlike the Icelandic earthquake, almost the whole damage was here the result of the first shock. Everything was destroyed within the first fifteen seconds of the earthquake, and the heavy shocks had all passed before two and a half minutes had elapsed. In this brief space of time an area of 1,750,000 square miles had been shaken and 150,000 square miles laid in ruins. A member of the Geological Survey of India, who was in the town of Shillong, says that a rumbling sound like near thunder preceded the shocks by a second or so and increased in loudness, so that when masonry began to fall the noise and rattle of the falling stones were hardly to be perceived. Unable to stand on his feet, this observer sat down on the ground, and not only felt but saw the ground thrown into violent waves as if "composed of soft jelly." These waves seemed to run along the ground. When the shocks had passed all the masonry houses in Shillong had been levelled to the ground, and over each hung a cloud of pink plaster particles and dust. Some of the shocks seem to have occurred with a kind of twist, and stone monuments were given the appearance of corkscrews. There were left many fissures and depressions in the ground, and the rivers and lakes and streams were greatly affected. Thirty new lakes were formed; along the great Brahmaputra River rolled a great wave ten feet high. One great rent in the geological strata at the earth's surface was twelve miles long. Important changes of level of great blocks of country were clearly shown by the alterations in the aspect of the landscape. Ranges of hills which before had not been visible from certain points now came into view for the first time, while others had disappeared. Though the most destructive shock was that felt during the first few seconds, there were others which followed, lasting for nearly a week afterwards. This earthquake is of special interest, because it was the first one which was registered on the earthquake instruments set up in Europe. Since that date these instruments have been set up all over the world, and, as we say elsewhere, a great earthquake is now usually recorded on the seismometers and seismographic instruments set up in observatories stationed thousands of miles away.