of an hour the sea rose and fell, but it was noticed that it rose twice as rapidly as it sank.  This peculiarity is well worth remarking.  The eminent physicist Mallet speaks thus (we follow Lyell’s quotation) about the waves which traverse an open sea:  “The great sea-wave, advancing at the rate of several miles in a minute, consists, in the deep ocean, of a long, low swell of enormous volume, having an equal slope before and behind, and that so gentle that it might pass under a ship without being noticed.  But when it reaches the edge of soundings, its front slope becomes short and steep, while its rear slope is long and gentle.”  On the shores visited by such a wave, the sea would appear to rise more rapidly than it sank.  We have seen that this happened on the shores of the Samoa group, and therefore the way in which the sea rose and fell on the days following the great earthquake gave significant evidence of the nature of the sea-bottom in the neighborhood of these islands.  As the change of the great wave’s figure could not have been quickly communicated, we may conclude with certainty that the Samoan Islands are the summits of lofty mountains, whose sloping sides extend far toward the east.

This conclusion affords interesting evidence of the necessity of observing even the seemingly trifling details of important phenomena.

The wave which visited the New Zealand Isles was altogether different in character, affording a noteworthy illustration of another remark of Mallet’s.  He says that where the sea-bottom slopes in such a way that there is water of some depth close inshore, the great wave may roll in and do little damage; and we have seen that so it happened in the case of the Samoan Islands.  But he adds that, “where the shore is shelving there will be first a retreat of the water, and then the wave will break upon the beach and roll far in upon the land.”  This is precisely what happened when the great wave reached the eastern shores of New Zealand, which are known to shelve down to very shallow water, continuing far away to sea toward the east.

At about half-past three on the morning of August 14th the water began to retreat in a singular manner from the port of Littleton, on the eastern shores of the southernmost of the New Zealand Islands.  At length the whole port was left entirely dry, and so remained for about twenty minutes.  Then the water was seen returning like a wall of foam ten or twelve feet in height, which rushed with a tremendous noise upon the port and town.  Toward five o’clock the water again retired, very slowly as before, not reaching its lowest ebb until six.  An hour later a second huge wave inundated the port.  Four times the sea retired and returned with great power at intervals of about two hours.  Afterward the oscillation of the water was less considerable, but it had not wholly ceased until August 17th, and only on the 18th did the regular ebb and flow of the tide recommence.