130 WRECKED HOUSES 
The suddenness of the whole thing—the tremendous 
noise, the terrible exhibition of the power of a flood of 
water to toss enormous boulders about like playthings— 
combined to fix the scene indelibly upon my mind, but. 
no description can do any justice to it. 
In about three hours it was all over, and a small 
stream of water only ran along the course so short a 
time before in raging flood. It was caused, I have no 
doubt, by the hot weather we had lately experienced, 
and the heavy rain acting on the snow on the mountain 
ranges, perhaps some miles distant. 
I slept at the mission-house that night, it being a 
treat to get clean lodgings after what I had gone 
through in some of the Chinese inns. The missionaries 
were very hospitable. They are under their bishop, 
who resides at Ta-tsien-lu. 
On July 3 we left the mission station at 8 a.M., and 
found a difficulty almost immediately, for the storm of 
last night had washed part of the road away. I had 
hired some mules the evening before, but these now 
could not proceed, and had to be left, we having to 
travel on foot again as usual. I noticed the wrecks of 
many houses that had been built on low-lying ground, 
some having been washed away, others being filled 
with mud and rendered uninhabitable. These would 
all be put to rights again in the course of a few weeks, 
