28 TKAVEL, ADVEXTUEE, AND SPORT. 



In rowing in and about the town on our mission of 

 rescue, I saw terrible scenes, and all the more terrible 

 because, in some cases, it was impossible to afford 

 timely succour. In one particular instance, I re- 

 marked a good-sized house, the inmates had gathered 

 on the roof, and in the windows of the loft women 

 were seen holding out their infants and imploring aid. 

 Before a boat could be brought to the spot the whole 

 building collapsed with a dreadful crash, a cloud of 

 dust rose in the air, and then all was over the house 

 and its inmates had disappeared in the surging flood. 

 "Whole streets were laid in ruins ; the place knows 

 them no more. In the space of two minutes I saw 

 six houses dissolve away in the flood. I do not know 

 whether there were any people still in them. I fear 

 that in this large city of 70,000, indeed we may say 

 80,000 inhabitants, there must have been many sick 

 and aged who were unhappily overlooked in the 

 dreadful misery and confusion of the time. It is 

 necessary to remark that by far the greater part of 

 the houses at Szegedin was built of sun-dried bricks, 

 having the roofs tiled with shingle. Good founda- 

 tions even were wanting ; for there is no stone in the 

 great plain, and the people build with the materials 

 nearest at hand and cheapest. This will account for 

 the rapid destruction of the dwellings in the poorer 

 parts of the town. The task of rescue was also ren- 

 dered more difficult in consequence; for when the 

 walls of a house caved in, it frequently happened 



