THE MICROBE 



up a subscription for the ruined village, but I cannot 

 imagine how life went with them. For I have often 

 since that time seen alluvial valley land washed away 

 after the same fashion in America, and know well 

 what it means. But in such cases it was merely por- 

 tions of large properties, and the loss was not irretriev- 

 able. But still the land affected remains useless for ages, 

 and how these unfortunates fared, to whom their 

 land was their all, I cannot conceive. 



43 



