,000,000 of people. A few
months afterwards an earthquake followed, at and near Kingsai; and
subsequent to the falling in of the mountains of Ki-ming-chan, a lake was
formed of more than a hundred leagues in circumference, where, again,
thousands found their grave. In Houkouang and Honan, a drought prevailed
for five months; and innumerable swarms of locusts destroyed the
vegetation; while famine and pestilence, as usual, followed in their
train. Connected accounts of the condition of Europe before this great
catastrophe are not to be expected from the writers of the fourteenth
century. It is remarkable, however, that simultaneously with a drought
and renewed floods in China, in 1336, many uncommon atmospheric
phenomena, and in the winter, frequent thunderstorms, were observed in
the north of France; and so early as the eventful year of 1333 an
eruption of Etna took place. According to the Chinese annuals, about
4,000,000 of people perished by famine in the neighbourhood of Kiang in
1337; and deluges, swarms of locusts, and an earthquake which lasted six
days, caused incredible devastation. In the same year, the first swarms
of locusts appeared in Franconia, which were succeeded in the following
year by myriads of these insects. In 1338 Kingsai was visited by an
earthquake of ten days' duration; at the same time France suffered from a
failure in the harvest; and thenceforth, till the year 1342, there was in
China a constant succession of inundations, earthquakes, and famines. 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 commot