6 Introductory remarks. 



or other, be cleared away. Hence, it is no uncom- 

 mon thing for thousands of acres of it to be con- 

 sumed by fire* in a single season, for the purpose of 



* The method of burning, pursued in British America, for 

 the purpose of clearing the land, often consumes far beyond the 

 limits intended by those who practise it. Whether the dread- 

 ful conflagration, which took place at Miramichi in 1825, pro- 

 ceeded from this, or some other cause, does not seem to be well 

 ascertained ; but it furnishes a striking example of the mis- 

 chief that may be done by fire among growing wood, and may 

 be quoted as a warning against tampering with that element in 

 the neighbourhood of plantations, — a practice to which many 

 people in Scotland are too much addicted, on occasions of heath 

 and furze burning. The following is an account of the above 

 mentioned conflagration, from Macgregor's " Sketches of the 

 Maritime Colonies of British America — 



" In October 1825, upwards of a hundred miles of the coun- 

 try, on the north side of Miramichi river, became a scene of 

 the most dreadful conflagration that has perhaps ever occurred 

 in the history of the world. In Europe, we can scarcely form 

 a conception of the fury and rapidity with which the fires rage 

 through the American forests during a dry hot season ; at 

 which time the underwood, decayed vegetable substances, fallen 

 branches, bark, and withered trees, are as inflammable as a to- 

 tal absence of moisture can render them. When these tremen- 

 dous fires are once in motion, or, at least, when the flames ex- 

 tend over a few miles of the forest, the surrounding air be- 

 comes highly rarified, and the wind naturally increases to a 

 hurricane. It appears that the woods had been on both sides: 



