The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-01-04
APPALLING CALAMITY.
Eleven Cities in China Com
pletely Inundated.
Incalculable Loss of Life and Mill
ions Of People Starving.

The steamship City Of Sydney has arrived
atSan Francisco from Hong Kong. Chinese
papers give details of disaster occasioned
by the Yellow River overhowing its banks in
the province of Honau, and describe it as one
Of the most appalling occurrences in loss OF
life and property re corded in recent times
The river broke its banks on the evening
Of September 2S, southwest of the city of
Chingchow, and not only completely mum
dated that city, but also ten other
populous cities The whole area is now
. raging sea ten to thirty feet deep,
where was once a densely 2op9laeed
Yellow Ri!er is now dry and the present
lake was the bed Of the river centuries ago.
The loss Or life is incalcu'able, and the state
ment is made by missionaries that millions OF
Chinese are homeless and starving.
Thomas Patton, one Of the American mis-
under date of October %, says: THE newly
gathered crops, houses and trees are all swept
away, involving fearful loss of life. The
country was covered with fine winter braid,
which is gone, and implies complete destruc-
tioa to newt years crop. Bread, bread! IS
the cy Of thousands who are on the river
bank.
Benevolent reople go in boats and throw
bread among the masses here and there, but
1t is nuUnlng compared with the require
ments. The mass Of people is still being in
creased by continuous arrivals even
more hungry than thu last. There they sit.
stu med, hungry and detected, without rag
10 wear or morsel Of food. Mat huts are
being erected for them. What it will be in
two months cannot conceive. The misery
is increased owing to the bitter cold
weather.
Yellow River has long been known as
China's sorrow. and the present disaster has
served to reassert its right to the terrible
title.
The Governor in Honau reports to the
Throne that nearly all people have been
drowned in the district reached by the water,
the survivors being those who escaped to the
high ground or took refuge in trees, where
they remained till they were rescued" :" This
gives but little impression as to what the ex-
tent Of the disaster really is.
The Chinese Times, in the Province OF
Chihli, where disastrous inundations have
also occurred says there are 2TO people home.
hess and adds that the misery in that province
is triaing as compared with that caused
The extent Of ground swept over by the
overwhelming flood, given in English fig.
ures. is over seven thousand square miles,
and land thus submerged formed part OF
one OF the richest and most densely popu.
iaCeQ plans or NorCnern Cnlna.
Already considerable sums have been con-
tributed toward the relief Of sufferers. Tho
Emperor of China has given two millions
Of taels, and the Chsnese have started
subscription lists in Shanghai, to which
foreigners have literally contributed
Millions have been rendered houSeless and
entirely deprived Of all chances Of earning
their live ihood, for their fields will either
become permanent lakes or uninha5itable
swamps 1t is feared that the distress which
will be felt during the winter will equal in
intensity the famine of ten years ago, when
charitable donations contributed from all
parts Of the world were utterly in
adequate. 1t is stated that owing. to
the course taken by the Yellow, River
content to convert Eastern Honau and
Northern Nganwhui into a lake. 1t may
ultimately flow into the sea through the
Kiangon, or it may even possibly join the
Yangtses
The news Of this terrible calamity in China
viii not be surprise to persons er S.Ta, who
River, known to the Chinese as the
Hwano-ho. From time immemorial this
great Chinese stream has swept through its
banks and over the adjoining country, carry
ing death and destruction before it. The
Golden River, rising in the Mongoian wilder
ness, runs by q clrcultouS route INTO Cnna,
entering in the neighborhood of Kai-Fung
Foo, on the great eastern plain of China, the
scene Of the present disaster. According to
the Chinese records, the river has changed
its bed nine times within $500 years, and
each change has been attended by calamites
that have earned for the fatal stream the
title Of 1.-THE Sorrow of Han" The last
change was in 1S5l-53, when the river, swol-
len by phenomenal rains, swept over an
extensive belt of country, and struck the bed Of
the Ta-tsing River, following that channel to
the sea- Alarge section of country was per.
manently flooded, and the old bed of the
stream was left dry
Tie grand catastrophe described has long
been foleseen, owing to the gradual breaking
of the banks of the last channel. The greater
portion of the delta in which the destructive
inundation has occurred is below the level of
the Yellow River, which partly accounts for
the devastation wrought. This plain is very
populous, though the vast majority Of the
inhabitants are poor, and make the barest
subsistence.
The province Of Ho Nan contains popula.
tion of more than twenty three million per-
sons. The chief city is Ilai Fong. Its
northern mart is intersected by the Hoans
Ho. The soil is very fertile, Or more proper
lv sneakinp the sojl which ia nnyV covaro5 hv