The valley- of the Garonne was visited on the 23rd
of June with a most destructive flood, which destroyed St. Cyprien, the workmen's quarter of Toulouse, Agen, and a number of smaller towns. It is stated that 3,000 lives have been lost, that 3,000 houses have been destroyed, and that £4,000,000 will not do more than replace the buildings. We have endeavotired to give some account . of the floods elsewhere, but must mention here that subscriptions have been opened for the sufferers in France and ' London, and that the Assembly has voted 180,000 for immediate relief. The people generally show great elasticity, and in a year or two the misfortune will probably be forgotten. There is no chance _whatever of adequate remedial measures, for the designs for them were drawn up in 1855 and pronounced too costly ; but there is a chance that Toulouse will organise a system of watchers in the mountains, who will give the valley warning by telegraph. Floods of this magnitude are infrequent in the valley, but there is a flood of some importance every twenty years. During this century they have recurred so exactly as to suggest the existence of some unknown law.
