The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-01-12
VSI. XII. NO 40.
The BENGA4. CYCLONE.

The BENGAX. CYCLONE.
Particulars of i's Desirueiive Eascts-
Thousands of sleeping Huns@..
Beings swept into n Wafcry
GTRve-An 0verwheIm-
ing Disaster.
The Calcutta correspondent of the
London Times, writing under date of
November 18th, furnishes the following
particulars concerning the appalling cv-
lone in Bengal
ORIGIN OF THE CYCLONE.
The cyclone appears to have had its
origin somew here In the eastern portion
of the bay of Bengal, probably a little
to the north of the Anamans. Proceed.
ing In q northerly direction. it struck
the land at the island of Sundeep on the
coast of Chittagong II would then Ap-
pear to have gone north, and, after get
ting tC some distant inland, to have
tarned and swept down The Meghna, car
rylng with it an enormous storm wave.
or, | should say rather, a suc 'ession OF
storm waves. At any rate this descrip-
tIon of Che course of the cyclone is ap-
parently the only one which will account
for the difference in the marks left at
Dalhin, Shahabazpore and Hattiah from
-n1<-- the east. sssa,ss-l~e,- aud lshitt,
gong. In the two FIRST named places the
lie of the trees and ruins would seem to
indicate that they were blown down or
unrOOtsd by storm or wave from the
north, while in the other two the des.
truction seems have come from a south
ely quarter
APPALL1HG SCENES AND TERRIFIC LOSS
OF L1FE,
BE this as it may, there can be no
dCubt of the fact that about midnight.
and without warning OF anv kind. The
three islands Of Dakhin Shahabazpore.
Hattiah and SRndeep were-entirely sub
merged. A number Of the inhabitants,
startled from their sleep, took refuge in
the trees, which most fortunately sur
rounded efefy village and they alone
were saved. Many, unable to reach the
trees, climbed on the roofs of their homes.
There they found only temporary safety,
for the water, rushing into the houses TO
the depth of twenty feet, soon burst of
the roofs, and the receding waves carried
them ont to sea, with the unhappy
wretches still cliDging to them. Some
few of the people of supdeep were
driited on roofs or planks across the
channel to the mainland, distance of
ten miles. Every soul who was caught
by the water before he had made for a
tree or a roof was drowned at once and
it is hardly an eXaggeration to sdv that
the early morning OF the first saw all the
survivors of the population of the three
islands | have named, as well as of the
seaboard of the adjoining mainland,
perched in the trees which aiUneremained
visible above the water. 1t is difficult TO
say, and perhaps it will never be accu-
rately known, what was the exact loss of
life on that night. The first reports we re- |
ceived in Calcutta put il at twenty
thousand. Subsequently that number
was said to be forty thousand and then
one hundred and fifty thousand but since
the retuTr Of the lieutenant governor
party | have learned that after a careful
examination of the reports from the sew
eral police stations, the loss of life cannot
have been less than two hundred and
fifteen thousand persons. When we re-
member that three islands, themselves
containing at least three hundred and
forty thousand souls, were almost in a
moment submerged under from twenty
to thirty feet OF water, the stoi m-wave
from the sea meeting the stOrm-waye
from the Magma, a terrific gale blowing
all the time and not an inch Of hieh
ground on which 20 take refuge, nothing.
~ fact, but the trees-When we remem-
Der all this, the only marvel is that a
single person escaped to tell the tale of
the awful night 1t was remarked by 4
the lieutenant governors party. during 4
their tour through the districts and 4
islands, that in every house at which /
they made inquiries they were told that 4
one or more members Of the family had .
perished.
PROBABLE OUTBREAK OF EPIDEMIC Dis /
EASE
1t is some satisfaction to know that
this calamity is not likely to give rise to
much material distress among the peo-
pie. If the people of Backergunge and
can only tide over the next
two or three weeks no. apprehension
need be entertained. Meanwhile relief
centres have been established, and the
officers of the government have been in
structed to give assistance to all who
really need it. An outbreak of epidemic
disease is what is now most to be feared,
and it j. said that cholera has already
made its appearance in Noakholy. See
ing that dead bodies of men and cattle,
and debris of all kinds are scattered over
the country, it seems likely that the dis
ease may spread to Backergunge, Chitta-
gong and other distr cts. Among the 1.
other inconvenience suffered by the peo-
pie Is the loss eff their boats-no slight
in the Gangetic delta-where
wheeled cOnveyances are unknown. The
cattle, too. have been almest all swept
away. Society was, for time at least,
utterly disorganized. The police were
drowned, almost to man, and most of
the civil officers on the islands perished.
In former days the people of those parts
bore an evil name, and were reputed to
be given to robbery and theft. For a
few days it appeared as if, among the
general confusion, the survivors were
about to fall back on the ways of their
fathers. But the energy of the district
officers, backed by a large body of po-
lice from the neighboring collectorates,
soon restored order, and now everything
is quiet and peaceable.