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Canadian Forestry Journal. 



the weight of some dreadful commission 

 they were charged to execute. The rjver, 

 tortured iuto violence by the hurricane, 

 foamed with rage, and flung its boiling 

 spray upon the land. The thunder peal- 

 ed along the vault of heaven; the light- 

 ning rent the firmament in pieces. For 

 a moment all was still and a deep and 

 awful silence reigned over everything. All 

 nature appeared to be hushed into dumb- 

 ness, when suddenly a lengthened and 

 sullen roar came booming through the 

 forest, and driving a thousand massive 

 and devouring flames before it. Then 

 Newcastle and Douglastown and the whole 

 northern side of the river, extending from 

 Bartibog to the Nashwaak, a distance of 

 more than one hundred miles in length, 

 became enveloped in an immense sheet of 

 flame that spread over nearly six thousand 

 square miles. 



That the stranger may form a faint 

 idea of the desolation and misery no pen 

 can describe, he must picture to himself 

 a large and rapid river, thickly settled 

 for one hundred miles or more, on both 

 sides of it. lie must also fancy four 

 thriving towns, two on each side of this 

 river; and then reflect that these towns 

 and settlements were all composed of 

 wooden houses, stores, stables and barns, 

 that these barns and stables were filled 

 with the crops, and that the arrival of the 

 fall importation had stocked the ware- 

 houses and stores with spirits, powder and 

 a variety of combustible articles, as well 

 as with the necessary supplies for the ap- 

 proaching winter. He must then remem- 

 ber that the cultivated, or settled, part of 

 the river is but a long narrow strip, about 

 a quarter of a mile wide, and lying be- 

 tween the river and almost interminable 

 forests that stretch along the very edge 

 of its precincts and all round it. Extend- 

 ing his conception, he will see these for- 

 ests thickly extending over more than six 

 thousand square miles, and absolutely 

 parched into tinder by the protracted heat 

 of a long summer and by the large fires 

 that had streamed through almost every 

 part of them. Let him then animate the 

 picture by scattering countless tribes of 

 wild animals, hundreds of domestic ones, 

 and even thousands of men through the 

 interior. Having done all this, he will 

 have before him a feeble description of 

 the extent, features and general circum- 

 stances of the country, which, on the 

 night I have mentioned, was suddenly 

 buried in fire. 



What shall we say of the inconceivably 

 awful and terrific scene that now present- 

 ed itself? Who shall attempt to describe 

 the condition of a country, tortured and 

 agonized by a hurricane, on every blast 

 of which a messenger of vengeance seem- 

 ed to ride? Unpardonably vain would 

 that man be, exceedingly high would he 

 stand in his own esteem, who would for a 



moment think himself capable of describ- 

 ing the situation of a country, overwhelm- 

 ed by a. conflagration whose every blast 

 resembled the emissions of hell, and whose 

 every billow appeared to sustain a demon. 



What eye can follow the impetuous 

 course of a raging and consuming fire, 

 sweeping over forests, towns, villages, and 

 hamlets, rooting up trees, ploughing the 

 earth and destroying everything? 



What shall we say of the trelnendous 

 howling of the storm, dashing broken and 

 burning trees, scorching sand, and flaming 

 houses through the air? What of the boil- 

 ing surges of the river and its tributaries, 

 flinging their maddened foam all around 

 them, and smashing everything that came 

 within their fury? What of the indescrib- 

 able confusion on board of one hundred 

 and fifty large vessels imminently exposed 

 to danger, many of them frequently on 

 fire, some burning and others burned? 



It is painful to dwell on the agonized 

 feelings and indescribable terrors of the 

 wretched and miserable inhabitants. But 

 painful, however, as such a task would 

 be, to overcome the aversion is not half 

 so difiicult as to acquire the competency. 

 Even now the shrieks, screams and cries 

 of a wretched and beggared people, in- 

 volved in ruin, desolation and despair, 

 ring their mournful cadences upon the 

 ear. Oh, God! merciful and just, how 

 shuddering were the frantic cries, the wild 

 expressions of horror and the despairing 

 groans of hundreds upon hundreds of poor 

 houseless creatures, flying from their 

 smoking habitations, they l;new not 

 whither, and mingling the thrilling' echoes 

 of their anguish with the yells, roarings 

 and bellowings of wild beasts and domes- 

 tic animals perishing by fire and suffoca- 

 tion! 



Who can gauge the misery, or estimate 

 the agony of poor industrious people sud- 

 denly stript of their all, and exposed, al- 

 most without a hope, to the dreadful al- 

 ternative of being either consumed by fire 

 or famished by hunger? What tongue can 

 express the intensity of anguish, what 

 mind can contemplate the poignancy of 

 that sorrow, which must have wrung the 

 bursting hearts of men and women, run- 

 ning half naked, and in wild disorder, de- 

 ploring their loss, and anticipating their 

 end? Of children looking for their par- 

 ents, parents looking for their children, 

 and mothers encumbered with their in- 

 fants, urging their way through the lakes 

 of fire and volumes of smoke? 



The more I endeavour to contemplate 

 this awful dispensation, the more con- 

 vinced am I of my inadequacy to do so. 

 When I strive to raise my mind to a full 

 consideration of it, its overwhelming mag- 

 nitude crushes the attempt. Every step 

 I make to approach it, the farther am I 

 flung from it; and the more intensely I 

 strain my aching eyes to observe it, the 



