THE FLOOD OF 1 843. 69 



rapidity, until at length it burst through the building carry- 

 ing away the two middle dwellings, and with them George 

 Hargraves, the father, and his four older children, into the 

 destroying flood, but they were not immediately drowned. 

 William Hargraves, when he found the walls of the house 

 were yielding, plunged into the flood, and by this step not 

 only succeeded in preserving his own life, but was placed in 

 a situation to witness what befel his less fortunate brother 

 and his brother's children, up to the time their lives were sac- 

 rificed to the impetuous fury of the flood. William supposes 

 that part of the wall of the house struck him and carried him 

 under the water, but he at length succeeded in reaching the 

 surface, and was carried down by the current nearly half a 

 mile, with the logs and drifting timber at times passing over 

 him. At one time he thought he would not again be able to 

 reach the surface, so long was he kept submerged by these 

 floating materials. After catching in vain at every twig or 

 branch which came in his way, he at length encountered a 

 standing tree, to which he held, and was not afterwards sub- 

 jected to further danger. When William reached this place 

 of security, he supposes George and his children were about 

 one hundred yards behind him. They, however, soon swept 

 past him on a bed, George calling out as he passed, " hold on 

 to it, William." Scarcely had George given this admonition 

 to his brother, when he and his four children were swept from 

 their position on the bed and engulphed beneath the turbulent 

 waters of the flood, not to rise again. George Hargraves was 

 aged 38 years, and his children, Sarah, Andrew, George and 

 Samuel were respectively aged 13, 11,9 and 6 years. Their 

 bodies were found about a mile below, the body of the young- 

 est child being clasped in the arms of its father. William 

 Hargraves maintained his position in the tree during four 

 hours when he was rescued and brought to shore by means of 

 a rope. He says that during all the scenes of peril through 

 which he passed, his presence of mind at no time forsook him 

 for a single moment. Jane Hargraves, the wife (now widow 



