In my intercourse with the sufferers it has been most pathetic to hear from their own lips the unfolding of those awful nights and days of storm. The disastrous typhoons and floods covered a wide belt of territory, Strange to say, in this particular region, the land was first smitten by drought. Then cama the overrunning flood. The, extremely rugged with rolling! topography of this prefecture is
green hills and myriads of mountain torrents dashing down from the distant heights. 'I'he tempestuous rivulets swelled the larger streams and there capricious waters in their relentless spurt through the lower reaches soon transformed the rich cultivated land into a heap of sand and stone. Frields,} dykes, and homesteads were swept away leaving a broad expanse of ruin and. distress, The Indian corn was beaten down and buried in the ground by the force of the wind and rain, and of land and fields, in many instances not a trace remains and so multitudes are now living on the ragged edge of starvation.
To give some idea of the force of these mountain streams I may mention a certain embankment—a new work just completed at a cost of some $3,000. In the space of a few hours the whole structure waa, washed away and not a vestige of} what had been remained. cores; of water mills were demolished. jIn one instance the flat circular grinding stones, something like 600 pounds-each in weight, were found {buried in the sand some three miles from the site of the old mill which had been destroyed. Whole stretches through which I have passed can only be likened to some of the devastated areas of Belgium and Northern France. There, of course, the crack of doom, was brought about by fire and sword Here, the widespread wreck is the result of wind and water.
The peasants say the noise of the rain was deafening and there was a peculiar roar in the great blasts of wind which continued for a space of 30 hours without cessation. Throughout the district the face of the hills is pitted and gashed like open wounds and there attempt to "squeeze" on the part' have been some serious landslides! ordinary rain, become torrents of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.