332 CONCLUSION. 



<5ontained tiie following : — " The Garonne has now subsided almost as 

 rapidly as it rose, and on gazing on the scene of ruin and destruction 

 the waters disclosed as they receded, it is difficult to realise that such an 

 amount of destruction could have been the work of a few hours. Readers 

 will, however, be able to form some notion of the nature of the calamity 

 if they will understand that St Cyprien, the ravaged suburb, stands with 

 regard to Toulouse very much as Southwark does to London. The Garonne 

 runs between Toulouse and St Cyprien, and on three sides hems in St 

 Cyprien in its bend, every part of the suburb being considerably below 

 the normal level of the river, from which it is protected by e-nbankments. 

 On Thursday last, after several days' heavy rain, and receiving an influx of 

 water beyond all precedent from the mountain streams that feed it, it rose 

 upwards of eight mfetres, swept away the two suspension bridges, and 

 bursting over the embankments on the south side, gradually laid_ the 

 whole of the place under water. Many of the houses, being lath and 

 plaster, speedily collapsed under the rush of the waters. For nearly ten 

 hours it was impossible to afford assistance to the sufferers, and 35,000 

 men, women, and children were clambering out of the way of the waters. 

 The greater number were eventually saved through the pluck of the 

 garrison and the heroism of a few civilians, who, like the Marquis d'Haut- 

 poul, fell victims to their zeal. It is not known, and cannot be for some 

 time to come, how many bodies may be lying under the debris of the 

 shattered houses. One of the local papers talks of 15,000 victims. It is 

 probable that that number, and more, of artizans have lost their little 

 all, but the dead bodies as yet recovered may be stated at 310. The 

 site of the catastrophe just now is a scene of desolation, but it is not 

 picturesque. The soil being clay you have to wade in the streets knee- 

 deep in water, while now and then a wall totters and falls to the ground. 

 Soldiers in fatigue dress are busy clearing the ruins, but it will be a long 

 operation, and there is a rumour that dynamite will be resorted to. A 

 strong detachment is stationed at the only bridge left standing, and no one 

 is allowed to go over but male inhabitants of the suburb, who are working 

 \n seas of mud to try and save some of their goods and chattels from the 

 wreck, and these are provided with a special permission. The body of the 

 Marquis d'Hautpool was recovered this morning, a few miles down the 

 river. His funeral at six o'clock this afternoon was attended by all the 

 local notabilities. Toulouse is just now crammed to overflowing. From all 

 parts of the neighbourhood people are flocking in to inquire for missing 

 relatives and friends." 



The correspondent of the Gaulois, writing on the 26th, said, — " The 

 Garonne has this morning again taken its normal course, but has imfortun- 

 ately committed more ravages in re-entering its bed than in quitting it. 

 The ground has so sunk under the influence of the waters that the few 

 houses which had resisted the inundation crumbled to pieces like houses of 

 cards. The ground is everywhere overlaid with a coat of slime. One sees 

 only ruins. Where there was a house, there is now a pit ; where there was 

 a street, one finds a shapeless mass, composed of pieces of walls, chimney 

 pots, bales of merchandise, broken marbles, and rubbish of every descrip- 

 tion, in the midst of which are discovered every other instant human 

 remains — pieces of flesh and crushed limbs." The correspondent had seen 

 between two stones a man's head horribly disfigured, and a little farther on 

 an arm separated from the trunk, and half buried in the mud. 



