Disastrous Visitation in China.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1462, 23 September 1885, Page 4

Disastrous Visitation in China.

(Per Mail Steamer). , Details have been received of the great destruction caused m Canton, China, and its vicinity by a recent great rainstorm. The flood lias been the most serious which has visited the country for 30 3 r ears. More than 10,000 persons lost their lives, and a far greater number are left m a starving condition. Entire villages were engiilphed, and the rice r and silk crops m that vicinity are mostly ruine I. The rain fell m the latter part of June, filling and overflowing many rivers. The streets of Canton were flooded for over a week. At Sezne the water broke over the City wall, and several thousand people were drowned m that place. The embankments of the river were broken m numerous places, and the water swept acres inundating the country, and carrying everything before it. A foreigner, who was an eyewitness of the scenes of devastation, reports that one night a boat he occupied was anchored near a Bamboo Grove, arid by morning the water had risen to the top of the bamboos. At other points it was as high as 40 feet. During the night the inhabitants fled from the villages and camped on the hillsides. In some places parents tied their children on high branches of trees while they instituted measures for general safety. The trees were smashed up by the roots, and the heartrending cries of the children wore silenced by surging water. The body of a bride dressed m her bridal robes, was floating m the river at Carton. A large tub was also seen-, and it was picked up and found to contain a boy and girl and with them was found a paper stating their names and day and hour of their birth. The parents had instituted this means to save the lives of their offspring. The suffering" Which thonsands are enduring is heartrending. Parents replying, with tears m their eyes, to their children's request for food, that they have none.