The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-29


linus Correspondent of The Chicago Re
cord
II is raining, and might have made the
same statement at any minute during the
last four days with equaf truth. except
that I might have varied il 60 say II was
pouring. We have had q hood the like OF
which l hope never to see again, and ii
quite outdid the Oldest inhabitsnt who.
by The way. lives downstairs in the house
we occupy; that Is. he lives down there
when we dent have foods. But ne and his
family and the chickens all came up here
with US wien the water rose. and We have
had most soc.abie time for some days.
with aE OF them and all Of US, and two
orderlies. and our Chinaman and the chick
ems. Occasionally some one would go wad-
ing along where the street ought to be AMI
would splash in 10 see us. and then splash
OUT again IN water waist deep.
The food was almost beyond eomprehen-
sion, because there IS no hiily region to
drain on US and the Whole country about
us is cut deep with stream beds that would
carry off a tremendous amount Of water.
and at least as much as you could expect
10 fail on he territory drained even in an
unusual downpOur; so thal The depth Of the
fan In inches must have been something
tremendous. 1t was not the sort OF flood
We sometimes have in the states, due TO a
mountain stream or any other stream over
flowing It's banks, but the entire country
was covered several feet deep We are not
in low land, either. and the water was
running swift. Can you imagine il, gent
ly sloping ground with no mountains
near, covered in a few hours several feet
deep with water, all running swiftly to
ward the oce an?
We now saw the wisdom of building
houses several feet from the ground,
standing up on bamboo posts which offer
no resistance to the water, and which af
ford a safe retreat at such times. To be
sure, the ground is apt u be damp at all
times during the rainy season, and the
houses should be up some distance but
this is the first time the necessity has
appeared for building them quite so high
in the air
For the first two days there was a good
deal of loud thunder, and every little
while a heavier downpour would burst
upon US. and as We happen to be under
a galvanized iron roof, the roar was tre-
mendous and made it necessary for US
to shout at each other. Some of the thun-
der was so like artillery fire that We could
hardly believe 1t was anything else first
came the distinct short report of the
shot, and then a lower-toned rhythmical
whining sound as the shell went through
the air. terminating in the muffled burst
at the end Of its flight The resemblance
was startling, and we had to reason our
selves into believing it was thunder. Ana
how it did pour! Verify, the rains de-
seconded and the floods came and beat upon
our house. but it had an iron roof and was
not built upon sand, 80 we did not come
to grief. You could hardly see across the
stIecr az MIDDAY. Then it would rest
awhile and burst out again with a fresh
deluge that seemed as though it must
exhaust the clouds of their supply. And
all night long this kept up, or, rather,
1t kept coming down, and all the next
day and that night, and then another day
| and night-three whole days and nights
with hardly thirty minutes cessation at
any time and not a minute of rest for
hours and hours a a time At first ev-
erybody got wet, but went about stopping
in the mud and water and taking il philo>
sophically then il grew deeper and shoes
came of and everybody went barefooted,
| officers and men, and, of course, the
natives. AS it grew deeper still our mems
trousers were rolled up and those Of The
| natives came off, and it became too deep
for the children, many of whom earlier
had been splaAhing about naked.
Finally it grew 70 be serious question
for any one to venture out and families
were seen moving from flooded quarters to
any place they could find above water.
saw one man holding a long bamboo pole
and followed by his wife carrying a baby
and holding the pole with her other hand.
while several little ones came after her
the smallest occasionally disappearing in
hole but coming up blowing and sputter-
ing and holding on for dear life. Another
| family l saw moving in a bun cart and
| the buffalo was the only member of the
| party that did not seem to mind it, and
when he went into a deep hole he swan
out, drawing the cart after him. Chickens
that had gone up in trees to roost remained
there and after few half-hearted crows
in the morning would look down puzzled
at the water on one side and then on the
other and perhaps after a while would
foolishly fly away and alght almost any
where, and then look as though they wish
ed they hadn't
Early in the proceedings we took the pre-
caution to lay in a supply of cOmmissaries,
so we were all right in that respect. but
as the different troops got flooded out they
found theselves without tirewood and some
were compelled to eat uncooked rations
for day or two. But nobody actually
suffered from hunger, though the situation
began to look quite serious before ii was
over MY old friend, the eX-president of
the town, or presidente saliente as he calls
it, came to the rescue and made hot coffee
at his house for quite lot of soldiers in
his neighborhood, who could not build a
fire.
The second morning we slept late, as Il
was so dark and finally l awoke hearing
a low whispering and looking about I saw
sitting on the floor nearby the family
from downs airs, who had been driven out
and had come up to us in their own house
AS there were several women among them
ii was rather embarrassing for US to get
up, but there was no escape we were all
in one large room, and fortunately paia-
mas are considered quite proper for a
morning costume. For three days l wore
my pajamas with my coat and trousers
over them in the daytime. We put the
women and children in small room in one
corner that gave them a little privacy,
and we happened to have just the thing
for their entertainment in some illustrated
American magazines. One or two of them.
with pictures of actresses, were the most
attractive. and those girls and women
seemed not TO grow tired of looking at
them.
And we among ourselves did all sorts Of