might very easily have been capsized and the consequences would
probably have proved disastrous. Fortunately, however, nothing
happened and he reached home in safety.

The cyclone commenced before midnight the previous evening and
increased in intensity as daylight approached and the day advanced. It
was pretty bad when I left the house at about 9 o'clock for office,
still I managed to struggle through. But it was an entirely different
proposition with which I was confronted on my return journey in the
evening.

[Illustration: _Photo. by B. & S._ A Street in Burra Bazaar.]
[Illustration: _Photo. by Bourne & Shepherd_ Chitpure Road]

I was then living in a chummery in Circular Road, Ballygunge, and the
entrance from Lower Circular Road, Calcutta, was so blocked up with
fallen trees and other _debris_ that I found it impossible to make
headway against it in my gharry, so I sent it back to the office and
walked to the house, or rather scrambled over trees and other
obstacles the best way I could.

I can never forget the terrible scene of heartbreaking desolation and
destruction that I encountered in every direction on going down to
office next morning. It seemed at first sight as if the town had
suffered from the effects of a bombardment. As I slowly wended my way
along the various streets and across the maidan, I was confronted on
all sides with striking evidence of the frightful ruin that had
overtaken the city. On every hand were to be seen great stately trees,
that had safely weathered innumerable storms of the past, lying prone
on their sides, either uprooted or cut through as with a knife: many