JAPAN, The following account of his experiences has been kindly written for the Noth China Daily News by xn American traveller who was at Shinachu's Hotel, Nagoya, on the morning of the 28th October last," Its interest will much more than compensate for its being rather late in making its" appearance At 6.40, on the morning of 28: h October, Nayuya was a fair und goodly cit: it was w place of desolation and dismay in that brief interval the earthquake had slain ite thousands and wrecked their hones by tens of thousands, Tt was preceded by " low heavy rumble which woke me from a sound sleep, Look at my watch T noted the time, also that in five accends there was a sharp shock; windows rattled, furniture was knocked about and houses were perceptibly shaken. After lull of five seconds there came a heavier shock which made the buildings stagger, and the floors rock: my bed shook so that T cot scarcely hold on to its iron bars, while outside was heard the crash of falling tiles and houses, There was no question now as to the gravity of the situation and with beating heart. L sat bolt upright, watching, waiting: and thinking: that was" long five seconds, at the end of which the third shock burst upon us with the fury of a whirlwind.—If, in the second shock, the buildings sta: gered, they were now shaken as the storm at sea shakes a tiny boat; timbers cracked and parted, chimneys came tumbling down axylight streamed universally in through great cracks in the walls; walls themselves were thrown down, houses fell crashing into the street, peuple under them, people in them; there were cries groans from the wounded and the dying, then a lor interval of silence, for death and destruction had done their work. Justat this time, my, guide who had a room on the floor below, came tumbling upstairs and with ghastly face asked me what to do?' Do," said I, "get into your clothes and get out of this Sreased with lightning speed, picked our way ace before we're buried alive." So we through the debris, found some remnants of cold meat and rice, and two bottles of soda water and sallied forth. I had with me in addition my family photos, my banker's letter of credit, a pair of extra socks and a mackintosh; the rest of my gear I bequeathed for the time being or for all time, as the case might be, to the earthquake.
The house we left was sorry spectacle. Part of the front and side had been thrown out into the street, walls had been wrenched apart, beams disjointed, floor canted, stairways "skewed while furniture, crockery, buttles, of id auc venus bad been thrown helter-skelter about the rooms; but around and about our resting place the destruction had been even greater downs or warehouses on the one side had been partially ur wholly wrecked, while diagonally across the street, on the other ile, " row of houses had been so completely dem hed that you could have used the debris for firewood. How great the loss of life in these cases it was impossible to tell; many buildings were so completely wrecked that escape would have been well-nigh a miracle, und rescue, even if attempted, a matter of long hours; but the people were so thoroughly frightened and recurring shocks s" frequent that every house was now deserted, all survivors having now congregated in the few broad streets, the open places, and outlying fields, "The main street, over a tile in length and perhaps a hundred and fifty feet wide, was absolutely crowded, because comparatively safe, so on each just beyond the reach of falling tiles or walls that, still remained into these poor people had thrown their mate or bedding or whatever had been saved, and where possible th-y protected these cloths hung between corner posts and a roof of bamboo or mats. These were shelter for all people during the first day nnd night, ax those who had houses even dared hem, but to thi ds whose little homes destroyed they remained, and still remai the only shelter possible.
If, in this grext_publie thoroughfare, it was 8 crowded and full of moving incident, you can imagine the condition of those trow tortuous streets of which the is so full; passage through some was con pletely blocked by fallen houses, while Others the debris was so great that 0 had repeatedly to clamber over great heaps or make " long cirentt around; some houses lad ssu far escaped that by propping them up with poles they could still stand upright, and again, strange to say, there were lon; rows of houses that seemed to have suffete scarcely any damage whatever, Speaking of this afterward to Professor Milne, of Tokiv.~a most distinguished authority remarked that many of these houses. with-stond the shock because instead of being lin line with the vibrat that is, north and south or east and west, they faced diagoually—northesst and southwest, thus offering greater resistance.
These narrow streets however were Hargely deserted, for not only were tiles falling continually from the roofs but the recurring shocks were likely at any moment jo over such houses as were still ug. Along the river's edg" and on the sides of the canals it was a sad but curious sight, for here houses had been literally shaken into the water and seemed in many places like lumber yards which had been overturned: equally curious but alto gether different was the sight in the outlying fields, for here people had congregated py the thousand, tuking with them their few household remnants and seeming, for the time, utterly bewildered: yet among the thousands whom I saw in that and following days there were scarcely any who in look of manner showed any sign of being disheartened: on the contrary, they laughed and chatted and lounged about just as in ordinary times, One thing alone seemed of vital interest and that the rumour that we
tremendous shocks. As this meant practical annihilation we felt interested to know whence the rumour came and whether or not it was based on seismological authority, 80 I posted off to the observatory, where I was fortunate enough to find a director who had studied under Milne at Tokio and who spoke English. He at once told me that the runwur aforesaid had no foundation in fact and that although shocks would continue for a long time they were likely to be lose violent rather than more. After getting practical information as to the safest part ofa house during shock and how to deport one's self satisfactorily (2)on such an occasion. departed somewhat cheered but uncertain where to spend the night. My list of acquaintances was absolutely nil' and everybody was living al fresco. Finally Tbethougit a cluisoriné manufacturer whose damaged stock I had inspected in my rounds and with whom I hud condoled in all sincerity; he had betoken himself with his family, workmen and wares to what was trulycalledaplaceofshelter, i.e. a large "pon plot back of hishouso where beyond thereuch falling tiles or walls the usual ¢atami, of mats, cloth sand bamboo roof, had been erect ed, Having intimated my desire for 'a lodge in some vast wilderness" he good-naturedly replied that his brother had such a place and would be glad to accommodate me, at dusk T presented myself at the lodge" where I found his hesther, his workmen, and their families all on the point of retiring. The process was simple, each one wrapping futon or Japanese comforter around hin. and lying down on the matting next his neighbour. A place of honour was reserved for me in the centre and at the outset was long enough for me to move my legs and arms about very comfortably, but towards ing these petty distinctions were done away with, and my neighbours pillowed themselves comfortably on all parts of m: body sans pour et sans reproche. Just before going th sleep, the night patrol exme along and told us that we must look out for fire and thieves, the latter having all escaped or been let Mose during the heavy shocks; there was trinity in respect of which there was no unbelief, but which added nothing to our comfort or satisfaction.
There were two severe shocks during the night, both accompanied by a low distinct rumbling which shook the earth where we lay; but as no buildings could tumble down on us and our only danger was in being swallowed up by an opening and closing of the earth we calmly ignored them and went on with our slumbers, At break of day we theow off our fu tons, took a primitive wash xt the well and parted, wy friends to their work and I to the hotel to see what was left and get a further supply of cold meat and rice, I found everything in confusion but intact, and after breakfasting with Spartan. simplicity commenced my wanderings, searching at the same time for x means of escape from the city. The railway to and from Nagoya was closed for miles, bridges being down and the track hors de combat from its straggle with the earthquake. Two sprained ankles forbade gving on foot and so jintieshas were the only alternative though held at earthquake prices, Isucceeded finally in engaging four, two for myself and guile and two for lug:
and arranged to atart ently the next morning. Asforth night Teoncluded to risk spending it at th~ hotel, but in a room on the ground floor next to the entrance; this would enable me in case of heavy shock to run quickly to small open place which was comparatively safe, as most of the surrounding buildings, had already tumbled down. Just as T'was xbout to retire Mr. Pownall, the well known engineer of the Tokaido Railway, sent in his card and we Were soon engaged in discussing the ravages of the earthquake and the lessons to be learned from it in the way of constructing buildings, bridges, etc. One could not
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.