The river Sungari at Kirin has high banks.
But for this I-imagine that the tale of destruction would be appalling. Further north I fear that the havoc will be immense. We have had a very wet summer and for two months or more the river has been very full. 7 Yesterday it began to rise rapidly and_to-day it is. about 15 feet above its summer level. Several scores of houses are surrounded by_water and many of them are collapsing. Some of the streets in low-lying suburbs are The branch of the railway for loading timber is submerged for a quarter of a mile. Work in the saw mills has been suspended and the employees are out trying to save their stocks.of wood from being swept away. Hundreds of dug-outs are plying to and fro picking up furniture and harpooning stray logs: The homeless are to be seen in groups sitting beside their household goods and thousands of spectators line the Bund commenting on the progress of the flood. I have not yet heard of any loss of life, but it will be surprising if there is nolle. The losses of timber merchants must be heavy, as valuable beams are floating by all the time. As far as I can judge the water has not risen more than a few inches during the last two or three hours, so I think that things are now at their worst.
Outside the East Gate of the city the river has formed a loop enclosing a strip of land several miles long. On this, for the time being, island stand, part of the east suburb of the town, several villages and factories, the Government Boys' Normal School, ete. Communication with the city_is quite cut off except by boat. Opposite my house the river, which is normally about a quarter of a mile wide, is just now at least mile and a half.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.