232 A BIRCH-BARK CANOE TRIP 



was with no small relief that we found the ravages of fire had here 

 terminated, and once more we welcomed the green woods. 



Fire has been the curse of New Brunswick. The terrible 

 Miramichi fire that occurred some scores of years ago is one of the 

 most awful instances on record of the ravages of that element. 

 Picture the Miramichi River, with farmhouses and clearings 

 bordering its banks on both sides for a distance of upwards of 

 one hundred miles. Flanking this double strip of cultivated and 

 inhabited country, extended the unbroken forest of spruce and 

 pine in every direction. The summer of 1826 had proved excep- 

 tionally hot and dry. All nature was parched and scorched. A 

 party of unlucky hunters had kindled a campfire and allowed it 

 to get beyond control. The flames spread with fearful rapidity, 

 devouring the feast which the extraordinary drought had prepared. 

 One fatal evening the dwellers on the banks of the Miramichi beheld 

 the sun sink red as blood, and as night fell saw lurid gleams shoot 

 high into the sky, while the air grew dense with smoke and resinous 

 vapours. With a hideous roaring and crackling the fire closed upon 

 the wretched people with a speed exceeding the pace of a fast 

 horse. So intense was the heat that every fibre of wood was licked 

 up in its progress, and the very rocks seemed to melt before it. 

 Hundreds were overtaken in the act of flight, and burned to death ; 

 men in lumber camps were first stifled, and then consumed ere 

 they left their tents. Large numbers rushing from death by fire, 

 met death in the river by overcrowding of boats. Whole villages 

 were swept away. Families were dispersed never to be reunited. 

 Thousands were left bereft of homes, property, kindred, and every 

 earthly possession. 



Subscriptions were mercifully set on foot for the miserable 

 survivors, and the tragic tale aroused the sympathy and pity of 

 England and America. A fire so disastrous to humanity told 

 with added force against the helpless animals of the forest. Many 

 touching stories are recorded of the terror of the dumb creation 

 that seemed to lose all fear of man in presence of the dreadful com- 

 mon calamity. Even birds were seen to fall from a height over- 

 powered by the heat, and moose and bears cowered peacefully 

 together in the saving waters of the river. Almost all, however, 

 fell victims to the fury of the fire. For many years the hunter's 

 occupation was gone. No game survived but the mink and 

 otter and beaver, which could exist below the surface of the 

 water. Hundreds of square miles of most valuable timber 

 land were left bare as the Sahara. The district we. had 

 now reached had suffered severely. Though sixty years had 

 elapsed, only in a few places had any vigorous growth of trees 



