THE FEARFUL EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 210, 5 September 1871, Page 2

THE FEARFUL EARTHQUAKE I N CHI NA.

20,000 Square Miles of Country Devastated. 2,293 Lites Lost. The American Minister in China General Lowe, has forwarded to the Secretary of State in Washington the following account of a fearful earthquake which occurred in the Bathang, iv the Province of Szchuen, on the 11th April, which he has translated from the report of the Chinese G-ove.rnor-G-eneral of the Province in , which it occurred : — " General Lowe says that Bathang lies on a very elevated spot beyond the Province, about 200 miles west of Li-Tang, and about thirty post stations from the district town of Tatsein, on the high road to Thibet. About eleven . o'clock on the morning of the 11th April the earth at Bathang trembled so. violently that the Government offices, temples, granaries, stone houses, store houses, and fortifications, with all the common dwellings, and the temple of Ting-lin were at once overthrown and ruined; the only exception was the hall in the temple's grounds called Ta Cbao which stood unharmed in its isolation. A few of the troops and people escaped, but most of the inmates were crushed and killed under the falling ltinaber;a.nd; stone. Flames also suddenly burst out in four places, which stroDg winds drove abjput until the heavens were -darkened f .wjth; the smoke, and their roar,ang.was mingled; with the' lamentations of distressed people. On the 16th the flames were beaten down, but .ihej 'rumbling noise's 'we^e still hearo: junker .grpund like d istan t < tbu nder> as thai earth. Tolled like a ship in a; storm; The multiplied miseries of the afflicted'^inhabitants' Were' lncreased by a thousand, fears, .but in.about f ten days matters* begW to grow quiet, and the motion of the earth to cease. The grain collector safc Bathang say¥that for several days before the earthquake the water had overflowed the dykes, but after that the earth cracked in many places, and black foetid water spurted oat in a furious manner. I once poked the earth, the,, spurting instantly followed, just as in tjh&; case with the salt wells and fire wells tin

the eastern part of the province; and this explains how it happened that fire followed the earthquake in Bathang. As nearly as can be ascertained, there were destroyed two large temples, the offices of the collector of grain tax, the local magistrates' office, the colonels' offices, the Tiog-lin temple, and nearly 700 fathoms of wall round it, and 351 rooms, besides 1,849 rooms and houses of the common people. The number of people killed by the crash, including the soldiers, was 2,298, among whom were the local magistrate and his second in office. The earthquake extended from Bathang eastward to Pang Chahemutb, westward to Nan-Tun, on the south to Lintsahshih, and on the north to the salt, wells of Atimtoz, a circuit of over 400 miles. It occurred simultaneously over the whole of this region. In some places steep hills split and sunk into deep chasms, in others mounds on level plains Became precipitous cliffs, and the roads and highways were rendered impassable by obstructions; The people were beggared and scattered like autumn leaves, and this calamity to the people of Bathang and the vicinity is really one of the most distressing and destructive that has ever occurred in China."