The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-02-07
THE BENGAL DISASTER.
The Cyclonc-Strickcn Districts Described
by nm Eyewitness.

The Cyclonc-Strickcn D1str1cts Dcscrlpcd
by nm Eyewitness.
The Gazette of India contains the fol-
lowing minute of the Acknowledgements
of Bengal, Sir Richard Temple, on
the cyclone and storm wave III the dis
tricts of Backerg1lnge and Noacolly.
In an area of some 3, 600 square miles
out of 100000 persons suddenly
thrown into more or less of danger, 2l5,-
900 must have perished. This, of course,
is only an estimate the exact number
cannot be known yet awhile, perhaps
never will be known. We found in some
villages thirty per cent. of the inhabl-
tants lost, in others fifty per cent, in
some even seventy per cent. There was
a severe cyclone in the bay of Bengal on
the night of the thirty-frst of October.
But it was not the wind which proved 80
destructive, though thatwas bad enough;
it was the storm wave, sweeping along
to height of from ten feet to twenty
feet, according to different localities
in some places, where it met with any
resistance, it mounted even higher than
that. In the evening the weather was
little windy and hazy, and had been
somewhat hot; but the people, million
or thereabouts of souls, retired to rest
apprehending nothing. But before
eleven o'clock the wind suddenly fresh
ened, and about midnight there arose
cry of "The water is on us, and great
wave burst over the country several feet
high it was followed by another wave,
and again by third, all three rushing
rapidly southwark, the air and wind be-
ing chilly cold. The people were thus
caught up before they had time even to
climb on their roofs, and were lifted to
the surface of the water, together with
the beams and thatches of their cottages.
When the storm burst there was an
abundant rice crop ripening for the har-
vest-the we'll known deltaic rice crop
which is much beyond the needs Of local
consumption, and quantities (measured
by thousands Of tons annually for ex-
portation to distant districts. A part is
lost, that in which the plant had not adj
vanced beyond the stage of Towering,
and part is still safe, that in which the
grain had formed or begun to form.
If even one-third is saved that would
suffice for the population now on the
land. The wealth lost was almost en-
tirely agric,,ltural-crops or cattle: 10
this, however, there is one noticeable ex-
ception, namely, Dowlutllhan, rich
trading town, clean destroyed, with loss
of miscellaneous property and valuable
records. 1t had ght thousand inhabi-
tants, one-fourth of whom perished, per-
haps more. 1t may be asked, in con-
clusion, whether any protective means
against such calamities in future can be
devised Any embankments or the like z
This question will be duly considered
but at present I know not how to de-
wise such safeguard, nor have 1 seen any
one who can suggest anything. The
area to be protected would be too great
to be eencompassed with protective works.
If embankments became preached Ill
such storm, they would afterward do
more harm than good, for they would
prevent or retard the running off and
the subsistence of the waters. Perhaps
the people might build perches for them
selves on platforms, Oh stills, and the
like but the trees which invariably sur-
round the homesteads serve this plr-
pose admirably, and it is to them that
the survivors mainly owe their escape.