Star.
London, England, 1808-06-17 00:00:00

BAST INDIES..

• CEYLON, JANUARY 1.
The famine which threatened the coast, as mention.
ed in my last, was happily prevented by the judicious
resolutions of the Madras Government, in giving a
great premium on the importation of rice, and taking
off the restrictions on neutrals ; thus Danes, Swedes,
Americans, as well as almost every vessel in India,
were employed in bringing/hat article from Bengal;
since which time nothing very particular has occurred,
except an affair, in which our arms were worsted in
storming a fort above Bengal, the particulars of whim h
have not transpired, and a dreadful storm arldadras,
a few days since.
We extract the following account of the storm from
The Madras Government Casette Extraordinary, Dec. 12.
The state of the surf at Madras, cn Wednesday
morning last, gave early indication of an approach.
ing storm ; during the day the clouds to ga:l er
to the Northward, extremely thick andbelgclk, and to-
wards the evening a few showers of rain fell. During
the night and the whole of Thursday, the rain increa-
sed, and the wind, which was northerly, freshened.
About eleven o'clock at night it blew a compl_te
gale, gradually increasing to the North-west, until
one o'clock, when one of the most tremendous gales
Aver remembered at Madras set in. and blew with in-'
creasing violence until about five o'clock on Friday
morning. carrying before it huts, trees, and nearly
every thing that opposed its current ; the windows
,and dgors of the
vicilenmost substantial built houses were
thrown with ce.into the premises, or in an oppo-
site direction.
0 The canal, about this hour, forced its banks.—
The sea had previously risen far beyond the usual
limits; luckily, however, it was not the spring tides.
The surf beat with amazing violence over the ram-
parts of the forts, sentry bons were thrown down in
-all directions. and. the boats from the canal reached
to the edge of the Mount-road ; several are now lying
near the burying-ground, and one at the foot of the
Governinentbricige.
About five the gale abated :Ind the wind shifted
to the southward, increasing gradually until about
half past six, when one of the most tremendous hur-
ricanes since the year 1762 at Pondicherry, commen-
ced ; those trees and native houses which had been
sheltered, or withstood the N.. W. gale, now in their,
turn gave way, and the eye was wearied in behold.
ing the awful grandeur of the desolating scene which
every where surrounded ; scarcely the vestige of a tree
or shrub was standing, but lay promiscuously mingled
on the earth ; the wind blowing with• that dreadful
force which gave the mind the idea of thunder ; rain
descending in torrents, and every person momenta-
rily expecting the house which sheltered him giving
'ay to the elements. About ten on Friday morn-
ing the wind began to decrease, and during the last
night there was much thunder and lightning, accom-
panied with heavy rain, and this morning the wind
appears steady in the south-east.
" It would be impossible at this time to enter into
any thing like a detail of the mischief that has taken
place: most of the houses of the European inhabitants
are partially injured, not a tree we believe in the neigh-
bourhood of Madras has escaped, mostly torn up by
the rootA or split- in the middle, ac from lightning.
Carts are lying upset in every direction, and the cattle,
and in some instances their drivers, are dead near the
spot. Ai brig and a Pariah vessel, lying in the roads,
were driven on shoe and stranded ; many villages,
and the banks of tanks and rivers, are completely I
swept away, and it is feared most of their inhabitants
are lost. The houses in the Black Town, St. Thorne,
and the neighbouring villages, are completely or par-
tially' unroofed, the mud houses of the natives are
level with the ground.—There was not any thunder or
lightning during tile storm.—At the Mount the flag-
staff is blown down, and most of the houses have been
stript of their tiles, and otherwise damaged. Many
thousand lives have been lost in thisdreadfill hurricane,
but we have not heard of any European having suf.-
fer‘d, except the crew of the brig stranded."