prevalent Disorders, fyc., xmth Volcanic Emanations. 147 



similar phenomena, tried by the same test, have produced 

 similar results ; and it is in full confidence that I leave the 

 enquiry, commenced in these papers, to the investigation of 

 future observers of the natural world, assured that these spe- 

 culations will not be found worthless. The subject matter 

 before me is not, however, exhausted; and in my future 

 papers I shall endeavour to strengthen what has been already 

 advanced by additional evidence ; first introducing here a few 

 facts illustrative of what has gone before, relating to 1834, 

 which were accidentally omitted to be introduced in their pro- 

 per places. As in 1833 (VIII. 10.), China was visited by 

 inundations of a fearful character in 1834. On June 21st, 

 22d, and 23d, the water was 7 in. deeper than in the great 

 flood of August, 1833, and higher than ever known by the 

 oldest Chinese. Bengal, too, in August, and the country 

 about Surat, were also inundated to a wide extent, great 

 damage being in consequence produced. A tremendous gale 

 occurred at Calcutta on August 3., preceded by a great fall of 

 the barometer on the 2d. The wind blew first from n.w. in 

 hard gusts, with heavy rain (7 in. in forty-eight hours), then 

 suddenly changed to s. and s.e. Immense damage was done 

 by it. It was remarked that the spring-tides were " most 

 unusually high for the month of August : " the salt-water 

 lake at Baloory was within an inch of the level it stood at 

 during the hurricane of 1833. (Cat. Cour.) The accounts 

 from all parts of India speak of awful inundations, especially 

 in the west of Bengal, in Madras, and Bombay, on the 9th, 

 10th, and 11th of August. Villages and towns were carried 

 away, bridges destroyed; the water stood in some places 

 over the country, 40 ft. deep ; in others the trees were under 

 water. Such a flood had not been known " for twenty-five 

 years ; " " for forty years ; " M for ages past." At Kumptee 

 they had a flood on August 6. ; the water falling in the Canar 

 as rapidly as it rose. The mischief done to the crops, and 

 the consequent famine, independent of the actual loss of life, 

 were extreme. " The stench from the dead and putrid 

 corpses is highly offensive," says one writer ; M and will, it 

 is feared, be the cause of more sickness." The details are 

 given, as collected from various quarters, in the Asiatic 

 Journal^ No. 62. The Meerut Observer of May 1. states, 

 moreover, that immense flights of locusts (as in China 

 [VII. 308.] in 1832, 1833, and 1834) passed over Meerut, 

 Saharanpore, and Muzuffurnuggur, doing incalculable mis- 

 chief, leaving " a worse plague behind them, in the shape 

 of myriads of young locusts, which covered the small trees 

 and bushes ; " and, when in motion, this mass made a 



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