, 1868-06-12
From Wilmer and Smiths European Times,
April "a, 1862
HURRICANE IN THE MAURITIUs.

In a despatch, dated March II, Sir II.
Barkly, Governor of the Island OF Maui
rltius, gives the following account of the
destructive Hurricane which occurred
there on the 18th and 18th ult. -
On the morning of the 18th ult. the ba-
rometer, which had been for several days
below 80 deg, began steadily to descend
further, and the strength of the sout-
east trades to increase. This lasted all
day and throughout the night, but it was
not until noon Of the 18Th that the full
fury of the gale was felt, the wind begin
ming about the same time to veer in ire
mendous gusts towards the north, reach
ing before sunset the opposite point of
the compass from which it had started
the northwest. Its force during this ro-
tatory movement was well nigh ~irresist-
lille. The canes were levelled like grass;
the largest trees torn up by the roots, or
broken off short at is or 90 feet from the
ground church towers and bellfries fell ;
mansions of the bettermoSt class collapsed
over their affrighted inmates, or were
stripped wholly or partially of their roof
ing; while the camps of estates labourers,
and the shops and dwellings of the general
population, both an town and country,
were literally blown TO pieces. The
Government House Of Rebuilt, which,
though nearly "a thousand feet above the
level Of the sea, is so we'll sheltered as to
have braved the worst blasts for nearly y
century comparatively uniniured, lost the
roof of one wing as if by the stroke of an
enchanter's wand, and suffered grievous
adaptations otherwise. In Port Louis
out of upwards of fifty vessels in the har-
bour three alone escaped without damage,
seven were diSmasted, and thirteen driven
ashore, including the Union Company's
steamer MauritiuS, which is expected 10
be abandoned. No wrecks are yet known,
but several coasters are supposed to have
f~oandered. The three principal dock
companies are stated to have each su-
stained losses to the extent of 100000.
In the town itself three churches, two
Protestant Zone Of iron and one of stone)
and one Roman Catholic, were reduced
to ruins, ard hundreds of houses were
destroyed. Tie gasworks are expected
to be closed for a month at least, and
there are scarcely any OF the public build
ings that have not more or less suffered.
But it is on the railways that the greatest
uIIlOuHU VI t'tILb &c IdS tCOu ONHSS =
station on both lines having been unroofed
with the exception of the central terminus,
where the passenger-house and The car
riage-shed have done the greatest credit
to Mr.. Connal's engineering and archl-
t%ectural skill. Two spans Of the Grand
River iron viaduct, each measuring 1875
feet in length, and weighing, [ believe,
nearly as many tons. were actually lifted
off the piers and hurled into The ravlnU
below, where they lie at an angle of at
least 10 degrees to the direction of the
railway. At the workshops on Plalne
Lawsun the havoc was even greater; not
only the whole of The wooden buildings
having 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 repair
shed-shed have been hurst open, though
shored up by every means from within,
with such violence AS to cause the crown