AMERICAN PINES. 69 



to blow furiously from the north-west, and the inha- 

 bitants on the banks of the river were suddenly 

 alarmed by a tremendous roaring in the woods, 

 resembling the incessant rolling of thunder; while, 

 at the same time, the atmosphere became thickly 

 darkened with smoke. They had scarcely time to 

 ascertain the cause of this phenomenon, before all the 

 surrounding woods appeared in one vast blaze, the 

 flames ascending more than a hundred feet above 

 the tops of the loftiest trees, and the fire, like agulph 

 in flames, rolling forward with inconceivable celerity. 

 In less than an hour, Douglastown and Newcastle 

 were enveloped in one vast blaze, and many of the 

 wretched inhabitants, unable to escape, perished in 

 the midst of this terrible tire." 



A Miramichi paper, published on the llth of 

 October, at the scene of this fearful conflagration, 

 contains some interesting particulars, from which it 

 appears that several hundred lives were lost in New- 

 castle, Douglastown, and Fredericton; that nearly 

 all the ' lumberers' in the woods perished; that in 

 many parts of the country the cattle were all de- 

 stroyed; and that the loss of property in the towns 

 was immense, as the fire rushed upon the inhabit- 

 ants with such inconceivable rapidity, that the pre- 

 servation of their lives could be their only care. 



Two new species of pine, of more gigantic dimen- 

 sions than any that have hitherto been described in 

 Europe or America, have been found by Mr. David 

 Douglas, a most enterprising botanist, who was sent 

 out by the Horticultural Society of London in 1825, 

 to explore the west coast of North America. He re- 

 turned from that country in the autumn of 1827, 

 bringing with him a rich addition to the known 

 catalogue of plants. These pines are: 



1. Pinus Douglasii. This pine grows to the 



