The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-10-08
A Fatal Landslip.

In the northern part Of Bengal b cool and
sequestered resort called Mama Tai Il IL
perched up among the hills and has long been
q special refuge during the sitting heats Of the
Hind0stan summer for Englishmen Ct both
the OWL and military service. Many such
residents have been wont 70 ~ With their
families on the approach Of tho parchins
weather OF tho extreme season and to ind an
asylum In the moist shades Of Naina Tai. A
considerable mountain stream passes the spot
on its course toward the plains, and . beauti-
ful Lake temperS the atmosphere hard by.
At Mama Tai some Of the most romantic cpl
eodes OF Indian life have had their beginning
and their end, and more than ono novelist has
chosen the place - . scene for picturesque
incident and description. Such arc some Of
the associations of Mama Tal's past; but that
its history win be embellished BY aimilar pes.
sages in the future il scarcely probable. Tho
village, as We just learn BY telegraph, has been
absolutely overwhelmed; and 1t ID oven likely,
II fears now expressed are confirmed, that
Mama Tai viii be obliterated from the face Of
the earth.
The fate that has come upon this remote
Bengal settlement, while q rare one, u BY no
means without precedent. A memorable ex-
ample has been known in this country, and
ticulars. There IL some likeness between the
two cases. But instead Of lying 1t the foot OF
ono or two mountains Mama Tai was sur
rounded By them. It might b described Is
lying In cup or basin; and was liable from tts
typographical position to sudden inundafion.
1t ives due, NO doubt, to q great rush Of
water that Mama Tai was destroyed. But the
food was only the indirect cause Of destruc-
ton. It appears that rain began falling heavi-
ly there, as We read the dispatches, ON last
Friday morning, and that It continued to do
scend In prodigious torrents until Saturday
afternoon. The gauge by that time showed Q
rainfall Of twenty-five inches in forty hours.
The neighboring lake swelled to q threatening
height. The river had become cataract.
Soon after twelve o'clock there was q sullen
roar and rumbling, followed by vast clouds of
dust, and the whole place shook. The lake
rose in moment far above it's usual height
and swept in q massive wave toward the river,
when an enormous mass Of land came down,
buryirg the hotel and the band Of rescuers."
1t appears that some Of the visitors at the ho-
tel had taken alarm in season and fed. Later
on, when the rest were in imminent danger, .
party was organized to save them; and these
were the ''rescuers" who, with the remaining
guests, were thus smothered by the ava
lanche. Some thirty natives and an unknown
number Of visitors were included among the
victims: and by the last advices the Hood had
not subsidized but was devastating the whole
surrounding country.
The most terrible feature about this disaster
has apparently lain in its unexpectedness. In
parts Of Italian Switzerland, in the high val.
leys of the Rhone, or at spots like the site Of
Briel, in Valais, where avalanches of snow
have already occurred, 1t may be said that q
danger signal is always flying, and people know
what they have to look for. At any point ~
ing below and near to a possible glacial frac-
ture such chance of catastrophe is ever Inn
pending, and those who encounter it do so at
their own choice and peril. Where, however,
no such evil has heretofore been known its
coming is more awful in the degree that it ID
unlocked for, and that its victims are totally
unprepared either for flight or for any other
means of protection.
In the case of Mama Tai the fatal mischief
has obviously at the first thought been inn
puted to u cataclysm merely; but it may be
suspected that the tremendous rush Of earth
that buried the village was partly of q volcanic
origin like the many minor earthquakes which
during the current year have been experienced
at SO many points Of the globe in both its
western and eastern hemispheres.-N. r.
Evening Post.