Thus on the steep inclines of the hills, the floods have been so violent that the surface soil, the rich loam which ig the product of generations of labour on the part of the peasants and constitutes in most cases what might be called their only capital, has been swept completely away and the bare sand and rock exposed, affording only a prospect. of misery and sterility with no option but (if the land is to be restored) to begin again the work of reclamation as the pioneer settlers did, years ago.
On the plains the reverse process has been in operation. What the floods have torn away from the mountains they have deposited in the plains but that, not as a bless ing but a bane. Unfortunately the subsoil, (sand and stones) has been carried downwards as well as the loam of the cultivated fields and this has been spread abroad over the river valleys in some places te the depth of several feet so as to choke the crops of rice and destroy the food supply of the people for the coming season. Added to this is the universal ruin of houses, city walls, embankments and irrigation works.
The words of a visiting missionary (the Rev. L. O. Hylbert) who tours the Siao Wong Miao District will best bring home to the understanding the extent of the devastation:—"I walked from Kong Keo to Siao Wong Miao, a distance of about 20 U4. The road there is
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.