TERRIBLE TYPHOON IN CHINA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 290, 8 December 1874, Page 4

TERRIBLE TYPHOON IN CHINA.

; - A terrible typhoon occurred in South „ - China between midnight and 4 a.m. of . Wednesday, 23rd September, and is \ - described as the most violent and fatal within the memory of living man. It is estimated that the lobs of life in the city of Victoria, in the island and villages of the immediate neighborhood and ■ the adjacent waters amounted to several thousands. Six steamers and * twenty-seven European large vessels in the harbor were either sunk, driven onshore, dismasted, or more or less damaged, whilst the destruction of pro* perty on shore was wholesale. - The European houses in the colony, though most substantially built, suffered v great damage. The roofs of many were blown of£ and there being a heavy - xain, the rooms were saturated, and the furniture was destroyed. The Catholic J Church of St. Joseph was demolished, only portions of the end walls being left standing. The destruction in the Chinese part of the city was, however, greatest* The native dwellings are bat slight erections. Many of these - were blown completely down to the ground, the inmates in some oases being buried beneath the ruins. Thousands of the beautiful trees which adorned the streets and promenades — obtained at much expense and tended with great oare, were uprooted. But the greatest devastation and destruction were to be seen on the front of the cfty. Strongly-built walls were en- - tirely washed away; several vessels were washed -aground, some having dashed into each other, whilst others - , only showed the tops of their masts; and the wreckage of junks and boats was floating about in all directions. The Praya wall, consisting of huge blocks of granite bound together with iron links, was broken and dashed away, and the road was in some parts ' washed op, or here and there rendered \ impassable from the piled-up debris. The Chinese villages in other parts of the island, or across the harbor on the mainland— notwithstanding their sheltered positions—suffered terribly, both in loss of life and damage to property. The full extent of the damage ~ caused by the typhoon^ which extended \ far beyond Hong Kong, will probably - never be known. Many Chinese - villages were wholly destroyed. Macao —a small peninsula belonging to Port ugal—s uffered worse even than Hong Kong, being left literally a colossal ruin. The loss of life was enormous. The labor of grave-digging becoming too great, the dead bodies as washed up by the sea, and disentombed from fallen houses, were heaped together and burned; more than a thousand being thus destroyed in one day. At least 10,000 persons perished in the Kwangtung province only, and some accounts put the number at 100,000. The special correspondent, of the Hong Kong Times gives the following - account of the typhoon at Macao : — "Whole streets are obliberated, the houses either levelled to the ground, or but heaps of rubbish. A' gentleman staying at the hotel, who was at Manilla a few days ago after the great earthquake, says there is a greater destruction of property here than there. I myself saw the worst that the Prussian ? artillery did in the neighborhood of : Paris, but great as the destruction was r there, the damage to Macao by the , typhoon and fire is worse." At the Monte Fort, roofs have been blown off, walls thrown down, and -^ many of the rooms are untenable. Some notion of the violence of the storm may be gathered when it is stated that heavy guns were dismantled. The ; Chinese parts fared worst. Not only single houses, but blocks of buildings and tihole streets were demolished — for a considerable extent not a single upright wall was to be seen. The - debris of scores of these houses made up a huge confused heap, on which : % : tampans and junks were lying. The "X- church of St. Antonio is an utter wreck, only portions of the outer walls being left. This church has been destroyed :: — not by the gale, but by fire. The Catholic burial-ground has suffered severely, the church built upon it being but a mass of ruin. The loss amongst the shipping was by no means so great at Macao as at „ Hong Kong. At the same time hundreds of junks, sampans, and small boats have been destroyed, and many of their occupants lost. The Poyang was lying at the steam- ;^ boat buoy in the inner harbor, and Captain Carroll had everything prepared for bad weather, She bad seven anchors down, three being attached to the buoy. Two life-boats were lost, one of the awning decks were swept away, the wheelhouae was destroyed, all moveable articles were carried from the deck, and much damage was done. Full steam was kept up all the time. Having seen all the chief thoroughfares, and buildings of Macao, I determined to visit the spot which one might judge to be most fatal — the Chinese district near the Barra Fort. It was bo use to take a chair, for the way lies over huge mounds of debris, on which one can walk only with the utmost difficulty, and occasionally not a little danger. No description could convey an adequate idea of this desolating J scene. As you near the place you are ;• . almost arrested by a smell, horrid and cT repugnant in the extreme. The large &'. mass of ruins over which . I was treading were indeed, a huge sepulchre, a -v . mighty tomb. What number of dead /bodies are lying beneath them will not be known for weeks; the putrid

essences which they emit are the only indications of death. Only a few yards off the harbor* 8 edge a dozen corpses are floating in the water, stiff and rigid, with uplifted hands, as though the last human efforts had been to clutch anything which promised succour. It is impossible to give anything like an accurate estimate. No one put the number at less than 5,000, while others say it will reach 20,000. Home readers who peruse this account may think such a loss inCredible; but those who know what crowds dwell in small boats and in Chinese houses will receive the statement without hesitation. Between two and three thousand have been already buried or burnt. Never, or at least hot in modern times, has there been cremation on such a scale. Burying was tried for the first few day, until the labor of digging graves became too great. Then it was determined to try burning. For this purpo3e tar was sought, but only one or two barrels could be had. The method of cremation was very simple; too simple, indeed, for any one near the huge burial mounds is painfully made aware of what is going on. Some hundreds were burned on Saturday, and on Sunday over a thousand bodies were destroyed in this way. The place is a city of ruin and death.