DREADFUL lIURRICANE AT THE MAURITIUS, ON THE 11TH AND 12TH OF MARCH.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 60, 19 May 1868, Page 3

DREADFUL lIURRICANE AT THE MAURITIUS, ON THE 11TH AND 12TH OF MARCH.

FEAEFUL LOSS OF LIFE AND DESTRUCTION OF PKOrESTY. [Prom the Sydney Morning Herald, May 2.] We regret to have to announce to our readers that a dreadful huvrieiino took place at the Mauritius on the 11th and 12th of March, which caused great loss of life and an immense destruction of property. We translate the following account from an Extraordinary of the linllelin Commercial dv Cerncen, of the lSlh of March, which has just reached us. The paper, which was printed for transmission by the steamer Mozambique to Huez, gives full particulars of this sad disaster :—: — Port Louis, 18th March, 18G8. Tho mail which was to have left for Ceylon on the 11th instant, was delayed to the 16th, in consequence of a violent hurricane which occurred here on the llth'and 12th, the disastrous effects of which we give below. All business has for the present been put a stop to by tho above-mentioned event. No one talks or concerns himself about anything but the serious losses occasioned by the hurricane, both in the city and in the country districts. The damage which has been done can scarcely yet be estimated. The calculations made as to the reduction so caused upon the returns of the approaching harvest, aro far from being alike — some reckoning it at 25, and some at 10 per cent. It is very difficult to make an exact valuation, for everything depends upon the season. If (he rain should not fall short, the harm done will not be so severely felt ; but if, on the other hand, wo should have dry weather for several weeks, the gathering in will be reduced fully oue fourth, if not one-third. The sugar-canes are for tho most part beaten down in the fields, but very few of them arc much broken. The sugar-factories have all suffered greatly ; on some of the estates they have been completely destroyed. It is estimated that from 25,000 to 80,000 bags of sugar (more or less) must have got wet in the docks, and in the other stores of the city ; probably the actual loss will, nevertheless, be found to amount to not more than one-tenth of that quantity. The Bulletin- Commercial describes tho disastrous effect of the cyclone on tho 11th and 12th of March, as follows: — According to a comparative statement made by tho inhabitants, tho damage done would appear to be from 15 to 25 per cent., and thai, us will bo observed, is a sufficiently large amount. As almost everywhere it is said that the canes are beaten down (couchees), and not torn up by tho roots, the damage may perhaps turn out to be less than ifc was at first. sight feared to be. What we want just now is a little rain, a want always felt after these hurricanes. At Port; Louis, ifc is impossible to go along a single street without being stopped by heaps of rubbish. Several of the stores suffered a twofold damage ; the wind attacked them above and destroyed their roofs, and their collars have been filled with water. A great misfortune happened to the establishment of the Frercs de la Doctrine Chretienne, in the Eastern Faubourg. At the moment thatVhe brethren and the children had repaired to the the house was swept away, and even the chapel made a complete ruin (eerase). Brother Gaume Joseph and Brother Zelinas Louis, together with a young pupil and an Indian woman, were buried under the ruins, from which they could not be got out until the folio tying morning. Brother Hortcnsius was dreadfully injured, and so was another pupil j the latter died, three days afterwards. Tho roof of the Protestant Chapel of St. Paul at Pluinc Vert was carried away, and three Indians were killed by tho -wreck that was there made. About twenty dead bodies have been picked up in different parts of tho city. At the Albion Dock nearly all the roofs have been carried away. One of the stores has tumbled down, and the covering of tho soldiers' camp was carried away by a waterspout to the disl unco of from 300 to 400 feet. Tho deadhouse built near Albion Dock is destroyed. The public garden, known as "The Company's Garden," has been taken by storm (saccage) ; the trees, which have fallen there in great numbers, aro entangled together in one huge mass, which can only be cleared away by the axe. The water has rushed into tho theatre, and still remains there to a considerable depth. At tho timo that we write this we have not yet been able to exhaust this strangely formed reservoir. The streets of the city arc in a deplorable stale. Everywhere you see nothing but heaps of rubbish which has been displaced from some adjacent quarter, heaps of boughs and leaves, which have already begun to decompose and to produce exhalations which arc exceedingly dangerous in a season of jjrevalent fever. The police have placed the labour of 300 prisoners at the disposal of the Municipality. In the port several ships wero wrecked, and amongst others the Ste. Anne, the Jacques Seurin, tho Dresden, the Prefet de Mentque, the Henry Ellis, the Eat he-Shaw-Alan, and the Vigilant. Several ships have been dismasted, amongst which are the Ganges, tho Congun, and the Prussian schooner La Margaretta. The cables of the ships have so fouled one with tho other that it will take much labour and time to separate them. Independently of the visible damage done to the upper portions of tho shipping, ifc is to be feared that a large amount of injury has beeu done to tho hulls not yet examined. The third steam-tug of the port, the Wasp, was wrecked near tho Jacques Seurin. Tho Mauritius steamer, belongiug to the Union Company, got wrecked upon Barkly Islet. This ship foundered, and it is feared that she cannot again be raised from where she lies. Many ilal-bottoracd boats which had got merchandize entrusted to them on board ship, as well as boats full of ballast and lime, have sunk. The Bulletin then gives particulars of the damage done by the cyclone afc Moka, Elacq, Savanne, Grand Port, Kiviere Noir, Plaines-Wilhelms, Petilo Eiviere, Les Pailles, and Pamplo-mousses. It states that tho districts of Poudro dOr and of Kiviere dv Eampart, appear to have suffered less than the other parts of the island. Here arc some episodes of this disaster : — At Hedout, his Excellency the Governor and Lady Barkly were seated in a room near a table, when Sir Henry suddenly rose, and followed by Lady Uarkly, went into another room to consult his barometer. Scarcely had both of them left the apartment, when a chimney, carried away by the wind, fell through part of the roof, and smashed the very table and chairs at which his Excellency and Lady Barkly had taken refuge, under the imprcsaion that they would there be saie. On the 18th March, Lady Barkly sailed for Europe [via Suez), with her servant, by the Mozambique steamer, her immediate destination being Marseilles. A family journeying in a wagon to the PlaincsWilholniß, were overtaken by the tempest. At Plume Lauzun the wagon was literally uplifted and carried away for 500 feet out of the road, in the direction of the blacksmith's shop attached to the railway line. |Tho man who was driving was killed on the spot, and one person was hurt. The rest of the party escaped uninjured.