124 HURRICANE AT THE MAURITIUS. 



"that the velocity of the wind was 121 miles an hour, at 

 its maximum, which corresponds with a pressure of 67 Ibs. 

 to the square foot." : 



So far as we can ascertain, this appears to be the 

 highest velocity ever recorded, from actual observation, 

 and the enormous force it represents was clearly 

 sufficient to actually blow men away like chaff; and 

 it was therefore not surprising to learn that in fact, 

 it did "carry all before it." "In Port St. Louis whole 

 streets were literally swept away, about 3000 houses 

 being destroyed."! 



So extensive and severe was the distress occasioned, 

 that upon the intelligence reaching England, public 

 subscriptions were at once raised for the relief of the 

 sufferers; a special fund being collected by the Lord 

 Mayor of London, at the Mansion House, for that pur- 

 pose, upon receipt of dispatches from Lord Knutsford, 

 Secretary to the Colonies, in which he says that 

 the disaster was " if anything, greater than the first 

 news led me to believe, and demands all the help the 

 friends of the colony are able to afford it in this 

 calamity. " 



In Blackwood's Magazine for September 1892, a 

 graphic description of the terrible scene is given by 

 the Lieut.-Governor of the Mauritius, well worth 

 perusal. 



"The wind (he says) blew N.E. by E., at 22 miles an 

 hour, at 6 a.m. At noon its direction was N.E. -| E., and 



* The Cyclone of April 29 in the Mauritius, by Robert E. H. 

 Jermingham, C.M.G., Lieut.-Governor of Mauritius ; in Blackwood's 

 Magazine for September 1892, pp. 342 347. 



j- Times report in paper of June 3, 1892. 



Extract Letter of the Secretary to the Colonies to the Lord Mayor 

 of London, in Times of June 3, 1892. 



