The Hawaiian gazette., 1868-07-15
Hurricane in the Mauritius.

Hurricane i'm the 8Iauritius.
The Island of Mauritius has suffered during
the past year from variety OF disasters.
Hardly recovered from pestilence which
carried off thousands of the inhabitants,
hurricane swept over the island and destroy
ed thousands Of dollars worth of property.
The following letter gives nm account of the
effect of the storm, and puts the loss on the
expected sugar crop of the year from fifteen
to thirty per cent
In a dispatch dated March Ia, Sir H. Bark
ley, Governor of the Island Of Mauritius,
gives the following account of the destruc-
tive hurricane which occurred there on the
18th and 18th Of that MONTH
On the morning of the 18th ult, the
barometer, which had been for several days
below thirty degrees, began steadily to de-
scend further and the strength of the south
east trades to Increase. This lasted all day
and throughout the night, but il was not I'M
| til noon OF the 18th that the full fury ofEaRe
| gale was felt, the wind beginning about the
same time to veer in tremendous gusts to-
wards the north, reaching before sunset the
opposite point of the compass from which it
4
this rotary movement was well nigh irresis-
tible; the canes were leveled like grass; the
largest trees torn up by the roots or broken
| of short ut fifteen or twenty feet from the
ground; church towers and belfreys fell;
mansions of tue better class collapsed over
their atfrighted inmates, or were stripped
wholly or partially of their roofing v bile
the camps OF estates laborers, and shops and
dwellings of the general population, both in
| town and country, were literally blown to
pieces. The Government House of Rebuilt,
which, though thousand feet above the lev
ell of the sea, is SO well sheltered as TO have
/ braved the worst blasts for nearly entury
comparatively uninjured, lost the 70 of one
wing as if by the stroke Of an enc .Anter's
wand, and suffered grievous dilapidations
otherwise. In Port Louis, out of upwards
of fifty vessels in the harbor three alone es-
| capped without damage, seven were dismast-
| ed, and thirteen driven ashore, Including the
| Union Company's steamer Mauritius, which
| is expected to be abandoned. No wrecks
are yet known, but several coasters are sup
posed to have foundered.. The three princi
4 pal dock companies are stated to have each
sustained losses to the extent OF Sl0O, 600.
In the town itself, three churches-two Pro-
testant, Zone of iron and one of stone) and
one Roman Catholic, were reduced to ruins,
and hundreds of houses were destroyed.
The gasworks are expected to be closed for
a month at least, and there are scarcely any
of the public buildings that have not more
or less suffered. But it is on the railways
that the greatest amount of damage has been
done; every station, on both lines having
been unroofed with the exception of the cen
trail terminus, where the passenger house
ard carriage-shed have done the greatest
'creditto Mr.. Connars engineering and archi-
! tectura skill. Two spans of .he Grand
River iron viaduct, each measuring 1926 feet
iu length, and weighing, l believe, nearly as
many tons, were actually lifted off the piers
and hurled into the ravine below, where they
lie at an angle of at least ten degrees to the
direction of the railway. At the workshops
on Plaine Lawsun the havoc was even great
err; not only the whole of she wooden build
ings have been levelIed with the ground, and
goods wagons which were standing on the
line turned over on their sides, but the hinge
iron doors of the engine repairing shed had
been burst open, though shored up by every
means from within, with such violence as to
cause the crOwno Of the arch above them to
give way, and the massive stone walls and
the girders of the roof to fall, burying the
whole Of the machinery and one of the large
eight-wheel locomotives in the ruins.
A better illustration of the force Of the
wind cannot, perhaps, be given than the
fact that | saw yesterday one of the wings
of these doors, above a ton and a quarter in
weight, lying twisted and shattered on the
grass on the further side Of the line Of rails
leading past the workshops, and at least 20
feet from its original position. II bad been
fortunately decided beforehand not TO run
trains during cyclone, so that no accident !
happened as regards the traffic. That on |
the north line was, am glad TO say, resumed |
the day after the storm, while on the Mid |
land passenger trains from Mahebourg to /
Coromandel are now running, five engines |
having fortunately been on the further side |
of the Grand River viaduct. The interrup- !
ton Of the goods traffic on this line must |
be, fear, Of long duration, and the loss of I
revenue thereby viii probably exceed the |
cost OF repairs. The extent Of damage TO I
the ordinary roads and bridges IL not vet I
ascertained, accounts having not been re- 4
ceiyed from some districts, but il Is known 4
to be very considerable Tie injury 10 the 4
sugar cultivation has been enormous. the 4
diTninution in the probable yield being vari-
ously estimated By planters atfrom Is to 80 4
per cent, which, as a magnificent crop Of \
not less than 10000 tons was confidently
relied on, represents at the lowest a loss Of /
not far short OF half million sterling Much,
however will depend on the nature Of the
weather during the next six weeks, and If
rain in moderation continues TO fall, the
canes may In great degree recover Tn /
fortunately on most estates the mills and 4
boiliHg-houses have more or less suffered.
and on not few they are reported to be
totally destroyed, the vacuum pans, centri-
pensive machinery commonly used in this
colony. being oTerwhslmed BY the falling
materials of the bufidings. There Is still I
time before the commencement OF the crop
10 remedy most of these losses, but II Is TO
be feared that some planters will not have
means or eredit to do so, and that the dis
tress of the agricultural interest will be
fearfully aggravated. This must increase
the destitution and misery of the rest Of the
community, which had previously arrived at
a terrible pitch, and Utmost shrink from
contemplating the sad prospects before US,
for some months 10 come, at any rate. I
deem il no exaggeration, from what I have
seen and from the reports | have received
from the police, 10 state that the day after
the hurricane there were fully fifty thousand
persons in various paris Of the Island abso-
lutely houseless aud exposed to the still
Indictment weather, large proportion suffer
ing from the epidemic, and many MANNED
and injured from the fall of their iabitatious.
This will. no ldonbt, for some time 10 come.
swell the returns OF mortality. The loss OF
life during the storm must have been very
considerable. Thirty bodies were extricated
by the police from the ruins Of houses In
Port Louis alone, and the Inspector. General
informs me that the numbers as yet reported
throughout the whole island cannot be less
wrecked upon the coast. Many Of the casu-
allies were of most deplorable character.
Two Of the Christian Brethren (Freres de Ia
Doctrine Chretienne), together with two Of
their pupils and 1t is supposed several other
persons, were killed by the downfall OF their
chapel in Port Louis, and two other brethren
severely wounded. Several Indians were
also buried IN the ruins of, the Rev. Mr..
Ansorge's and the Rev. Mr. Huxstable's