MIRAMICHI DESTROYED BY FIRE. 239 



instantaneous destruction was the consequence ; 

 men were seen trembling with fear, and women 

 shrieking, ran with their children to the shore, 

 in the hope of escaping the destroying element 

 on rafts, logs, or any buoyant article that might 

 float them. At the same time was heard the 

 bellowing of the terrified cattle, and the roaring 

 of the flames ; these, together with the general 

 illumination, presented a spectacle which ima- 

 gination would fail to describe. The hurricane 

 raged so tremendously at some points, that 

 large bodies of burning timber, and parts of the 

 flaming houses, were carried to the rivers with 

 astonishing velocity, and so affected the water, 

 as to occasion, in the shallow places, large quan- 

 tities of salmon, and other fish, to spring on the 

 shore. They were seen afterwards lying along 

 the sand, by hundreds, and many human bodies 

 also, that had been burnt, and drowned in the 

 wide and terrible devastation. Property to the 

 amount of about three hundred thousand 

 pounds is stated to have been destroyed ; but 

 what is property, when compared with the lives 

 of nearly two hundred persons who were de- 

 voured by the flames, or perished by the waters ? 

 The awful catastrophe speaks volumes, and is 

 well calculated to excite enquiries for our sal- 

 vation, at the final audit which will suddenly 



