The times., 1901-05-26

ing their reassuring statement the noun
tain came down and buried the village OF
Elm. Ten million cubic metres Of rock
fell down depth. on an average, OF about
40 metres, and shot across the valley and
up on the opposite slope to a height of 100
metres. Then it spread itself out and
covered a space of 910090 square metres to
q depth Of from 10 to 20 metres. The killed
numbered f15.
Even these 'andslips. terrible though
they have been. seem Insignificant be
side those we hear Of from the Hira-
lavas. 1t is not only th5t these noun
tains are so much higher than the Alps.
g Eg Tar hEaNIet rainfall also causes them
10 fall more easily. Consequently, whole
lea plantations situated on the hillslides
re not infreGuently carried bodily into
the valleys. and mountains as big as
Mont Blanc have been known to col
lapse and choke the narrow river gorSeS.
Weird and startling stories of this sort of
thing are TO be found buried in the re
ports of the Geological Survey of India,
the most sensational story being that of
the Maithana Hill Q1,0yj feet nigh),
which only q few years ago pitched
bodily rather than slid into a valley
down which flowed one of the tributaries
of the Gangcs The falling continued for
several days with a terrific noise, oark-
ening the air with dust. Masses OF rock
We're hurled mile away ana knockec
down trees on the opposite slopes. Blocks
weighing fifty tons sped through the alH
like cannon balls When the fall was over
ii was found that the course of the river
was absolutely blocked by an immense
dam, COMPOSED Of so, COO. U0G tons OF rub-
hish 500 feet nigh. and several thousand
feet thick, stretching right across the va
ley. The river, considerable mountain
stream, unable to set past the barrier, was
forming 4 lake behind, ana pressing
against it: and preparations had TO be
made for the day when the dam would
burst and the hood come down the valley.
Fortunately there was no hurry. Inc
dam giving way was not immediate. ana
the Government engineers had plenty of
time to take counsel together. They held
conference at Lucknow, and decided that
there was no practical means of draining
the lake that the food must come. and
that all they could do was to be ready for
it, and see that * did as little mischief as
possible. Then followed a period of or
ganization and waiting. Engineers were
stationed at the point of the threatened
landslip TO watch and report upon the Tis-
ing of the waters, and to give the word TO
the inhabitants o: the valley as soon as
the peril became imminent, and telegraph
operators were kept in readiness to trans
nit the urgent warning at any hour of the
day or night. This state of things lasted
for no less than eleven months. The date
OF the iandslp was September p and the
flood did not reach the top of the dam until
the end of the following August. The dam
then yielded and the lake was emptied, the
flood coming down at the rate of twenty
miles an hour, rising in places as much as
255 feet above the normal level of the
river. Thanks to the watchfulness of the
engineers and telegraph operators, not
single life was lost, everyone having mad
ample time to seek safety on the hills But
towns and bridges and temples all went
down before the food, for a distance Of
almost $50 miles from its starting point.
StrinGgar, the capital Of British Carnival,
was obliterated; slices of the hilisideS
trees and ALL were washed into the val
leys. and when the buildings reappeared
they were found to be buried inches deep
in Slimy mud.