The comet., 1880-10-23
TIE LANDsIDE IN INDIA.
Detail Of the Late Shocking CntHs-
trOphe at NRini Tai.


Calcutta special to the London Times
| Naini Tai, a hill station in the
: Rumaon district, and the summer
/ headquarters of the northwest Prov
: inces Government, was ON the after
noon of the 18th, the scene of terri
, BILE catastrophe. Landslips on small
scale have been matters of not infre-
quent occurrence there, and II has
often been pointed out that many OF
the houses were most unsafe. No
serious measures, however, have ever
been taken to prevent the accidents
and up to the end of the week before
last the regular inhabitants and a
; crowd of summer visitors continued to
live in a FOOLS paradise. The station
has the reputation Of being the pref
tiest in the Himalayas. 1t is the only
one in which lake and mountain
scenery is combined. Naturally 1t Is
a favorite resort of visitors, and up to
the moment of the accident their num-
bers were being daily increased by
people running up from the plains to
spend the autumn holidays in The hills.
Rain began TO fall heavily ut Naini
Tai on the evening of Thursday, the
18th, and continued almost without
intermission till noon on Sunday, the
18th. 1t is said that the gauge showed
fall of twenty-five inches in forty
hours. On Saturday morning the
danger first became apparent to the
most careless. A small landslip oc-
Cured near the Victoria hotel, carry
ing away an outbui ding and killing
an ayah and child. Mr.. Taylor, a
magistrate, in charge of the station,
with a body of police and working
party from the depot, under Capt.
Balderston, Thirty-fourth Foot, sta
ton staff officer, Immediately repaired
to the spot and commenced to clear
away the DEBRIS and try TO divert the
course of torrent which threatened |
the hotel and some other houses. |
The hotel was full of visitors, including |
Mr.. Justice and Mrs. Straight. The
warning in the morning gave them all
time to seek safety elsewhere, but some,
unfortunately, sought she ter i'm the
library--a portion of the assembly
rooms building close to the lake. About
1870 the great catastrophe happened.
An eyewitness thus describes it:
"a noise, a vision of parting earth
and moving trees, rush of matter to-
ward the lake, a roar of water and of
falling material, and then Il deep
brown smoke, rising in slow wreaths
through the gloom and furious rain. A
great wave of water, caused by pre-
cipitati0n of part of the assembly
rooms and an immense mass of earth
into the lake, swept across its length
some five feet high 1t dashed over
the sluice gates at the entrance of the
gorge with such' power as to sweep
away several persons standing by
them. Sir Henry Ramsey, commits
sioner of Kamaon, was all but carried
away by the wild rush of the waters"
A correspondent of the Pioneer
gives most graphic account, which
[ abridge as follows: "At o'clock all
seemed well, and the working party
we're busy at their task at the bottom
If the ascent which overhung the
lotel. About 1:30 Naini Tai was
startled by sudden and sullen roar, ,
ouder than the simultaneous crash of :
leavy guns, followed by prolonged
as of distant thunder, and
hen by an ominous silence. Vast j,
LIQUIDS of dust rose heavenward il
through the murky atmosphere, en- !,
in one dense shroud the tract N
# ground from the hotel to Bells shop,
nd onward to the assembly rooms and g
he lake. The whole place shook as !
hough an earthquake had passed.
'he waters of the lake rose in u
far above their usual
init, and swept, in massive wave,
oward the weir. Then all was still.
from the top of the lower spur, under C
Which the Victoria hotel had Stood a
minute before, down to the edge of the {
nothing was to be seen Of q
ut a vast eXpanse of loose earth, be- ST
en-, road and orderly room. 1t was as nj nj
1ountain on the spot, blotting out, in 50
Hing up the hollows and reducing to CO
ne dead slope all that lay below. j.
)eep below laid the working party sT sT
lot a vestige of them was to be seen III
My the lone hillside, silent and dark. P,
rounds presented a strange contrast wi
the gentle sweep above. Toward to
ne pavilion, they were intact, save
n the streams of water pouring in
very direction, but on the other side
lS SIIHpIJ dll cHOInlOuS HlOullu dI
asst extent and varying height, u
lngled mass of broken walls and
,ots, fallen trees and heaped-up earth
| horrid confusion, with spoils of the
lop and orderly-room. Saddest of
| was the spectacle of the few corpses
lat were visible among the ruins.
ever was havoc more sudden, more
vful, or more complete. Without a
oment's warning, without pre-
onitory rumble to awaken suspicion,
Dwn came the enormous landslip,
lrying in deadly embrace the hotel
I'd the working party behind, engulf-
g ordcrly-room and shop, assembly
oms and library, with almost every
iing soul they contained. OF. the
lmber of peOp'e in the shop, all save
lr, Of whom three were women,
ere swept away. a sadder scene
yer saw. 1t was worse than battle
Id"