and Theiss, in order to prevent
the stoppage of traffic, unavoidable at low water. The water and ice
brought down by the flood hurled themselves with such force against the
closed gates of the canal that they were burst open, and a masonry wall
7 feet in thickness and 250 in length was entirely overthrown. This
incident, together with many others, helps to illustrate the action of
water in flood as a factor in certain geological changes--the gorge of
Kasan, to wit, where the Danube has broken through the Carpathian chain.

In the course of little more than a day the waters at Buda-Pest had
fallen two and a half feet; but afterwards the fall was very slow
indeed, which circumstance greatly protracted the misery of the
unfortunate inhabitants of Old Buda and New Pest, the two districts most
seriously compromised. Joining a relief party, I went in a pontoon to
visit New Pest. Vast blocks of ice were lying heaped up amidst the
_debris_ of the ruin they had made; whole terraces and streets were only
distinguishable by lines of rubbish somewhat raised above the flood: the
devastation was complete.

On our way to the pontoon we passed a tongue of land which had not been
submerged, with a few houses intact. In this street, if it may be so
called, a crowd of more than a hundred women was collected; these were
mostly seated on boxes or other fragments of furniture that had been
saved; one and all had their faces turned towards the waste of waters,
where their homes had been. I shall never forget their looks of mute
despair; there was no crying, no noise, their very silence was a gauge
of the utter misery that had befallen them.

The sea of trouble in which we found ourselves was strewn with wreckage
of all kinds, including the bodies of many domestic animals. Doubtless
many lives were lost; it will perhaps never be known how many. It was
unfortunate that no service was organised for saving life at the
bridges. Several lamentable accidents and loss of life took place owing
to the drifting away of boats and barges up stream. A friend of mine saw
a barge with four men on board jammed in between blocks of ice, and
hurried under the suspension bridge and down the stream. No one was able
to respond to the heart-rending appeals of the men, who very probably
might have been saved if simply ropes had been hanging from the bridge.
I myself saw a poor fellow perish in those churning waters; it was
terrible to think of his thus drowning in