CHOICE EXTRACTS. THE CYCLONE IN BENGAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 259, 20 February 1877, Page 2

CHOICE EXTRACTS.

THE CYCLONE IN BENGAL.

The cyclone appears to have been the greatest calamity of the kind known to history. Calamities of far less extent have stamped themselves upon the imati nation of the world, and live in popular tradition as typical illustrations of the fearful power of destruction which lies | dormant in nature. The great earthquake at Lisbon, for instance, has acquired a supreme notoriety among such disasters, Upwards of 50,000 persons are said to have been swallowed wp in Lisbon alone, several other cities in the Peninsula suffered severely, and the destruction extended to Morocco and Madeira. Bui the loss of life in the present instance seems to have been far greater and equally sudden. Its full extent is even as yet unknown, but it can hardly be estimated as fallin;-; much short of half a million lives. An enormous storm-wave is described as having swept, with scarcely anj warning, over the islands and low-lying lands at the mouth of the Ganges and Brahmapootra. The population of three of these islands alone is estimated at 340,000, and barely a fourth of them are believed to be surviving. But, in addition to this, the wave swept over the mainland to a distance of five or six miles from the coast, and it is believed that wherever it passe 1 not one-third of the population is surviving. All this fright- 1 ful destruction came upon the people without warning, in the of,- night. Up to eleven o'clock oh the evening of the catastrophe there were no signs of danger ; but before midnight the stormwave surprised the people fn It is described as sweeping over the islands to a depth, in some places, of 20ft., completely submerging them. Only one refuge was available. In these districts it is usual fov the villages to be surrounded by dense groves of trees, chiefly cocoa and palm ; and those who could reach their branches seem to have had the only chance of escape. Almost every one perished who failed in reaching trees. A natural instinct was to seek refuge on the ( roofs of the houses, but the waters burst into the houses, tore off the roofs, and carried them miles away, generally out to sea, and a few are said to have been thui carried across a channel ten miles wide to the mainland. But the vast majority was never heard of again. The cattle were all drowned, the boats swept away, and the ordinary means of communication thus destroyed. The European residents have shared in the general destruction, almost all the civil officers and police officials in the principal islands having perished.— London Times.