VIL Part of a Letter written hy Roelof Dlodati, Supream 
Direilor of the Council of Mauricius ; to Mr, Witfen, 
Burger Ma/ter of Amfterdam, and F. R. 5. Dated 
Auguft 8. 1697. Coticernir/g an extraordinary Inunda» 
tion in that Ifland. 
WE cannot but give your Worfliip notice, that on 
the xith of March laft, at half an Hour after 
Twelve a Clock, being Calm but alicte Rainy Weather, 
the River which pafleth by the plain Ground of Hoord- 
wyck, did, in the fpace of a quarter of an Hour, Iwell to 
that Height, that the Sugar- Mill, the Sugar- Work, and 
almoft all the faid Ground was thereby ruin'd, the moft 
part of the Sugar-Canes being rooted or torn out of the 
Ground by the Violence of the Torrent. We cannot 
imagine whence fo fuddain a Swelling of this River has 
been caufed, while the Rain not being very hard, could 
not be of that effed, for in fuch Ca(e it ftiould have con- 
tinued longer ; for about Twelve a Clock, when the 
Company's Servants aflembled for their Dinner, the 
Water of the River was at its ordinary Height, and be- 
fore they had half dined all the Country was overflown 
by the Water, viz. One Foot higher than Two Years 
ago, by reafon of the Hurricane, when we had fo vio- 
lent a Storm asei^er was heard of. It is very remarkable, 
that at One a Clock all the Extraordinary Water'was 
gone, and the River again at his ordinary Heighth. There 
has been no Earthqu^rke that could caufe it, neither was 
there any fiich thing in other Rivers, but only in this 
paffing by the pl^un Ground of Noordwyck. 
LONDON: Printed for Sam, Smith, znd. Be nj.lValford, Printers to tiic 
Royal Society, SLt tliQ Frmee's Arms in St. P^^^/'s Church- Yard. 16 $S, 
