66 



Cyclone at Nellore. [no. 5, new series, 



could be judged by the result of its operations on the houses and 

 trees. The scene out of doors was, at this time, one of utter de- 

 solation ; out of many hundreds of trees which the night before had 

 stood covered with the rich foliage of this period of the year, three- 

 fourths were blown down, and nearly all the rest stripped of branches 

 and leaves. Tiled houses were more or less unroofed, walls had 

 fallen and were crumbling, balustrades of terraced houses were in 

 a ruinous state, and the low country was flooded. 



I started off to look at the Tank, which I was afraid must have 

 sustained serious injury, and I hoped to be able to get back before 

 t he gale became again serious. On the bund I found Captain 

 Ritherdon and the Tahsildar, together with several peons and some 

 of the Ryots. The Tank was but little injured, but there was a 

 heavy swell running against the revetment, and the waves were 

 breaking high over the Calingala. I had barely reached the bund 

 when the gale came on again with great violence, and in 2 or 3 

 minutes a hurricane set in which exceeded greatly in its violence 

 what we had felt early in the morning, the wind being from south 

 east. The massive stone gate way of a small Hindoo temple, si- 

 tuated on the bund, afforded some shelter, and here we were 

 forced to remain as no man or animal could for a moment have 

 withstood the wind, as it was then blowing, and the sheets of water 

 that were driven over the bund, were enough of themselves to pre- 

 vent any hope of forcing our way to the nearest house, which was 

 not more than about 300 yards distant. The Pagoda was built 

 many years ago, when the bund of the Tank was much lower, and 

 as this latter has been raised, a thin bund strongly rivetted on both 

 sides with stone has been built up between the Pagoda compound 

 and the Tank. On this wall, the waves which by this time were 

 something terrible, soon began to tell, and in 20 minutes the wall 

 was breached in several places and the court of the temple was 

 deluged with waves and spray. The spot at which Captain Rither- 

 don and myself stood was within 4 or 5 yards of the edge of the 

 bund, the state of which and the effect of the waves upon 

 it were anxiously watched, but so thickly was the water blown 

 over the bund, that frequently many minutes elapsed ere the front of 

 the bund could be distinguished, and as it from time to time ap- 



