344 CONCLUSION. 



As we have said, the large craft rode it bravely out, thanks to Providence, 

 their cables, and the stout holding ground of the bay. But a number of 

 small craft sunk at their moorings within the breakwater, having been 

 actually swamped by the force of the rain. Here is a list of them . . . 



" Several persons had very narrow escapes, more perhaps than we know 

 of. The Rev. E. Pickering fell into the ravine formed by the current at 

 the top of White's Road, and after floundering about up to his neck in 

 water, managed to scramble out comparatively unhurt. The water broke 

 his fall, or he might have been killed where he fell. Then Messrs Amyot and 

 Thompson fell into a gully, and escaped with difficulty. Lieutenant Shaw, 

 86th, while passing from a friend's house to his cottage was suddenly 

 brought up by a flash of lightning, which revealed to him the awful fact 

 that, had he moved a step further, he would have fallen "over a fearful pre- 

 cipice, and been dashed to pieces. Then Mr Suter, who was passing 

 up Russell Road to his home, just before the storm was at its height, was 

 knocked down by a huge stone, which was impelled from the Hill, and 

 nearly carried away by the volume of water which followed it ; and we hear 

 that, shortly after, Mr French, who lives in Russel Road, had to make his 

 escape with his family by the back window, such was the rush of the torrent 

 into his house. The escapes from almost certain death were truly mira- 

 culous. Those who happened to be out in the storm had to make their way 

 home waist deep in water, which poured down from the hills in all directions. 



" Out at the Fishery the flood was immense. The Shark's River dam 

 was partly broken, and Lippert's dam was carried away, while the house 

 near it was stove in. . . . 



" The damage to the roads and house property here is estimated at from 

 X25,000 to £30,000, while the injury to the stock and crops in the district, 

 it is feared, will be something distressing." 



Such are forms of the evils with which the inhabitants of not a few 

 newly settled lands are familiar. It may be difficult, as is stated by a writer 

 in the Spectator on the inundations in the valley of the Garonne, for 

 Englishmen who have never quitted their own country to comprehend the 

 destruction such can inflict, and above all to realise the special horror — a 

 horror like that caused by an earthquake — which water can inspire in those 

 who suffer from its ravages. England has been visited by terrible calami- 

 ties, like the floods in Morayshire, in August 1829, and the bursting of the 

 Sheffield reservoir, but even such calamities are of rare occurrence. Else- 

 where it is different. At the very time of the inundations in Lanquedoc 

 it was reported from Bohemia, Carinthia, South Tyrol, and Banot, that 

 similar inundations had occurred in these districts, with corresponding 

 calamities — of railways being injured ; bridges, horses, and herds of cattle 

 carried away; houses totally destroyed; and men, women, and children 

 drowned. According to one account, — " A thunderstorm, with hailstones, 

 caused terrible destruction in Buda-Pesth. The hills and the roofs of the 

 houses were covered with ice two feet thick ; the torrents rushed into the 

 streets of Ofen. Five hundred persons are missing, and at least one hun- 

 dred have been drowned, or killed by the falling houses." 



Next day it was reported, — " The disaster in Ofen is greater than was 

 feared. 120 corpses have been found, but many dead bod,ies have been 

 carried away by the Danube. Baron Bela Lipthay, a distinguished member 

 of the Conservative party, recently nominated deputy of Ofen, is missed." 



