In the same
year great floods occurred in the vicinity of the Rhine and in
France, which could not be attributed to rain alone; for,
everywhere, even on tops of mountains, springs were seen to burst
forth, and dry tracts were laid under water in an inexplicable
manner. In the following year, the mountain Hong-tchang, in
China, fell in, and caused a destructive deluge; and in Pien-
tcheon and Leang-tcheou, after three months' rain, there followed
unheard-of inundations, which destroyed seven cities. In Egypt
and Syria, violent earthquakes took place; and in China they
became, from this time, more and more frequent; for they recurred,
in 1344, in Ven-tcheou, where the sea overflowed in consequence;
in 1345, in Ki-tcheou, and in both the following years in Canton,
with subterraneous thunder. Meanwhile, floods and famine
devastated various districts, until 1347, when the fury of the
elements subsided in China.
The signs of terrestrial commotions commenced in Europe in the
year 1348, after the intervening districts of country in Asia had
probably been visited in the same manner.
On the island of Cyprus, the plague from the East had already
broken out; when an earthquake shook the foundations of the
island, and was accompanied by so frightful a hurricane, that the
inhabitants who had slain their Mahometan slaves, in order that
they might not themselves be subjugated by them, fled in dismay,
in all directions.
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