The remaining part of the black inhabitants, who escaped from the inundation of the sea, are now dying by dozens for want of food; and, if we do not receive supplies very soon, very soon there will not be a native alive in the Nillapillce havelly.'
His letters also contain a distressing account'of the sufferings of the European men and women in the place, all of whom, however, escaped with their lives. Five hundred bags of rice and other provisions were despatched to Injaram from Madras before the end of the month, and this terminated the immediate sufferings of the natives. Further down the coast, the inundation was much less felt; and the reports from Narasapur complain less of it than of the hurricane.
This hurricane not only wrecked a great number of ships along the coast but was also felt far inland. As far north as Yernagúdem (now in the Kistna district) the camp of a detachment of sepoys was completely wrecked. 'The trees under which the tents were, fell upon them and tore them to pieces,' writes an officer on May 23rd. 'With the greatest exertion the ammunition was saved. The men were flying about like footballs endeavouring to find the village. Lieutenant Cuningham and I very nearly lost our lives in the same attempt. . . When we reached the village (we) found nothing but the walls of the houses and the greatest misery among the inhabitants.' A similar story is told of the effects of the storm at Samalkot. 'This dreadful hurricane has not left a roof standing even to the Commanding Officer's house. A range of barracks for two battalions, the guard-room and several other buildings are level with the ground.' So great was the force of the wind that near Yernagúdem scarcely a tree was left standing, and at Narasapur for some time no one could stand upright.
The zamindars suffered very considerably from this visitation, but they seem all to have much overstated their losses in order to support extravagant demands for remissions of revenue, and the real amount of these seems never to have been even approximately ascertained. An officer who was directed to enquire into their extent in this district assessed them at over sixteen lakhs; but his data were of a very doubtful character, and both the Council of Masulipatam and the Board of Revenue considered his estimate 'entirely inadmissible.' In the end no remissions were given, but forbearance was shown in the collection of the kists.
In 1839 a cyclone raged all along the coast from Vizagapatam to Narasapur. It was accompanied by a tidal wave which burst upon the shore and inundated Cocanada and Coringa. Much of the shipping was driven on shore, some of
