in falling had broken through the masonry of the boundary walls of the
compounds in which they were growing, greatly intensifying the look
of misery and desolation. There were also to be seen myriads of
branches of trees stripped off and flung about in all directions in
the wildest confusion, and in some parts the ground was so thickly
strewn with fallen leaves as to form a sort of carpet.

Many of the buildings had also suffered very severely. Some had had
their verandahs and sides blown in, and others had had corners
literally cut off where the fury of the storm had struck a particular
angle. Amongst some others that had fared so badly was unhappily St.
James's Theatre in Circular Road, the home of the "CATS." All the
members at once felt that it had become a thing of the past, as the
owner, Mr. Jimmy Brown, who had built it at a cost of Rs. 30,000,
could never afford the expense of repairing it. The picture will show
the wreck it had become. But bad and distressing as all this appeared
to be, it absolutely paled into insignificance in comparison with what
I Was to witness on arrival at the river bank. The sight that there
greeted me was truly appalling and beggared description. Of the whole
of that grand and superb array of vessels which had been seen the day
before gracefully riding safely at their moorings, decked out in all
their pride and glory and lined up alongside the Strand, three and
four abreast from the Pepper Box to the Eden Gardens, one alone was
left, all the others having been violently torn adrift and swept clean
away to the four winds of heaven. Besides these were all the country
traders moored to the south of the Pepper Box known as Coolie Bazar,
extending as far as Tackta Ghât, which shared the same fate.

[Illustration: Remains of St. James's Theatre, Circular Road.]