60 The East Anglian Earthquake.
facing E. or W. Such cracks appeared to me to furnish no certain
indication of the direction of the movement, but to be simply
the effects of a series of oscillations, tending to overthrow
the chimneys which, when sufficiently strong to resist com-
plete dislocation, would crack along its line of junction with
Fig. 2.—Cottage at Abberton.
the sloping roof, the mode and angle of detachment deter-
mining the angle of fracture. In other cases, tall, rect-
angular, outside chimneys, standing at the end of a cottage
high above the building, were prevented from being thrown
down by the iron "stays" attaching them to the roof,
although the chimney would sometimes be seen to be cracked
completely across below the " stay." In other instances,
again, the "stay" seems to have actually saved chimneys
from any damage whatever, although the brickwork showed
signs of being old and rotten.
At a cottage near the last, and standing in the same
direction (N. and S.), a long bifurcating crack appeared on
the western face, running from roof to basement, and in-
clining towards the north at an angle of from 30° to 40° with