BURNING OF THE FORESTS. 399 



quarters of an inch in length, and as green as the leaves of the trees they 

 fed on, when they committed their ravages. I must tell you also, that 

 in most of the places over which the fire passed, a new growth of wood 

 has already sprung up, of what we lumberers call hard wood, which 

 consists of all other sorts but pine or fir ; and I have always remarked 

 that wherever the first natural growth of a forest is destroyed, either by 

 the axe, the hurricane, or the fire, there springs up spontaneously another 

 of quite a different kind." I again stopped my host to inquire if he 

 knew the method or nature of the first kindling of the fires. 



" Why, Sir," said he, " there are different opinions about this. ' Many 

 believe that the Indians did it, either to be the better able to kill the 

 game, or to punish their enemies the Pale-faces. My opinion, however, 

 is different ; and I derive it from my experience in the woods as a lum- 

 berer. I have always thought that the fires began by the accidental fall 

 of a dry trunk against another, when their rubbing together, especially 

 as many of them are covered with resin, would produce fire. The dry 

 leaves on the ground are at once kindled, next the twigs and branches, 

 when nothing but the intervention of the Almighty could stop the pro- 

 gress of the fire. 



" In some instances, owiiig to the wind, the destructive element ap- 

 proached the dwellings of the inhabitants of the woods so rapidly that it 

 was difficult for them to escape. In some parts^ indeed, hundreds of 

 famihes were obliged to flee from their homes, leaving all they had be- 

 hind them, and here and there some of the affrighted fugitives were burnt 

 alive." 



At this moment a rush of wind came down the chimney, blowing the 

 blaze of the fire towards the room. The wife and daughter, imagining 

 for a moment that the woods were again on fire, made for the door, but 

 the husband, explaining the cause of their terror, they resumed their 

 work. 



" Poor things," said the lumberer, " I dare say that what I have told 

 you brings sad recollections to the minds of my wife and eldest daughter, 

 who, with myself, had to fly from our home, at the time of the great 

 fires." I felt so interested in his relation of the causes of the burnings, 

 that I asked him to describe to me the particulars of his misfortunes at 

 the time. " If Prudence and Polly," said he, " looking towards his 

 wife and daughter, will promise to sit still, should another puflF of smoke 

 come down the chimney, I will do so." The good natured smile with 



