INUNDATION OP HANKEY. 339 



but, the rain coming on, we were obliged to desist, and having again 

 prayed and sung, the bodies were laid in the grave, mats were laid 

 over them, and the earth closed over their heads. Dr Philip, who was 

 present, then concluded with a few solemn admonitions, and we dispersed." 



In a paper cited in the Preface it is stated : " I have before me details of 

 destructive eifects of torrents which have occurred since Heft the colony in 

 the beginning of 1867. Towards the close of that year there occurred one, 

 the damage occasioned by which to roads and to house property at Port 

 Elizabeth alone was estimated at from £25,000 to £30,000. Within a 

 year thereafter a similar destructive torrent occurred at Natal, in regard to 

 which it was stated that the damage done to public works alone was esti- 

 mated at £50,000, while the loss to private persons was estimated variously 

 at from £50,000 to £100,000. In the following year, 1869, a torrent in 

 the Western Provinces occasioned the fall of a railway bridge, which issued 

 in loss of life and loss of property, and personal injuries, for one case alone 

 of which the railway proprietors were prosecutedfor damages amounting to 

 £5000. In Beaufort West a deluge of rain washed down the dam, and the 

 next year the town was flooded by the waters of the Gamka ; and in 1871, 

 Victoria West was visited with a similar disaster." The loss of property here 

 was great, and fifty-three dead bodies were recovered after the waters had 

 subsided. On the same day similar destructive eflfects were produced by the 

 fall of torrents of rain near Oudtshorn. In the following year, 1872, heavy 

 rains fell in all parts of the colony, and in Capetown they caused a flood 

 which for a time turned several of the streets into rivers, while many of 

 the houses and stores had water in them to the depth of four feet ; and 

 last year, 1874, still more disastrous effects were produced- by torrential 

 floods. According to the report given by one of the colonial newspapers, 

 the daiuages done could not be estimated at much less than £300,000. 

 According to the report given by another the damage done to public works 

 alone was estimated at £350,000. From a statement made in Parliament 

 by the late Commissioner of Crown Lands and Public Works, I am led to 

 conclude that there must be some error in this latter statement ; but 

 in any case, evidence is given by the facts adduced that in South Africa 

 floods and inundations similar in character to that of this year in Laaquedoc 

 are not unknown. In a volume on the Hydrology of South Africa I have 

 given details of the effects of some of these floods, and of others, which, 

 like that here given of the inundation of Hankey, present considerable 

 similarity to those given of the inundations in France — only less destructive 

 of life and property than was this, because there was less of life and prC- 

 perty there to destroy. 



In addition to what is there given, I may cite in illustration of what I 

 now affirm the following account, given in the Eastern Frovince Herald, of 

 the inundation of Port Elizabeth, in Nov. 1867 : — 



" On Tuesday last there was a stiff' south-easter on in the bay, and in the 

 course of the day and during the night a good deal of rain fell. Next day 

 the wind and sea showed no signs of abatement, and the steam-tug St Croix, 

 which had parted from her anchor, but was happily brought up by another 

 within one hundred yards of the rocks near the Bethel, seemed to be in 

 imminent danger. There was but one man on board, and he, poor fellow, 

 hung out an old handkerchief as a flag of distress. The Sailor's Friend 



