288 RECENT EARTHQUAKE WAVE ON COAST OF JAPAN 
j)laying the game of “ go ” in a hillside temple. Eight children 
floated away and left on high gi’ound were believed to be the 
only survivors of one village, until one hundred people were 
found who had been borne across and stranded on the opposite 
shores of their bay. One hundred and fifty people were found 
cast away on one island oftshore. From two large villages on one 
hay only thirty 3 'oung men survived, hard^'-, muscular young 
fishermen and powerful swimmers, yet in other places the strong- 
est perished, and the aged and infirm, crij)ples, and tin}^ children 
were miraculousU’^ ])reserved. The wave flooded the cells of 
Okachi prison and the jailers broke the bolts and let the 195 
convicts free. Onlv two convicts attempted to escape, the others 
waiting in good order until marched to the high ground b}”^ their 
keepers. The good Pere Rasi)ail had just reached Kamaishi 
from Ids all-day walk of 50 miles over tlie mountains and en- 
tered his inn, when his assistant called to him from the street. 
The ])riest came to the veranda, but in an instant the water 
was upon him. He was seen later, swimming, but evidently 
was struck by timbers or swej)t out to sea, as his body has not 
been recovered. Ja])anese men-of-war cruised for a week off 
Kamaishi, recovering bodies daily. The Japanese system of 
census enumeration is so complete and minute that the name of 
every person who lost his life was soon known, and the Official 
Gazette was able to state that out of a population of 6,529 at 
Kamaishi 4,985 were lost and 500 injured, while 953 dwellings 
and 867 warehouses and other structures were destroyed or car- 
ried away, and 176 ships carried inland or swept out and lost. 
The survivors were so stunned with the appalling disaster that 
few could do anything for themselves or others. With houses, 
nets, and fishing-boats carried away and the fish retreating to 
further and deeper waters, starvation faced them, and, the great 
heat continuing while so many bodies were strewn along shore 
and imprisoned in ruins, the atmosphere fast became poisonous. 
The north-coast peojde are o))posed to cremation and insisted 
on earth burial, which dela}'ed the disposal of the dead and aug- 
mented the danger of pestilence. Disinfectants were sent in 
quantity, and the work of recoverv and burial was so pressing 
that soldiers were put to it after all available coolies had been 
impressed. The Red Cross Society, with its hospitals and nurses, 
had difficulty in caring for all the wounded, the greater number 
of whom, besides requiring surgical aid, were suffering from 
pneumonia and internal inflammations consequent upon their 
