EXPLOSION OF THE HELEN m'gREGOR. 455 
not fit to die. I inquired : none could be had. On every side 
were to be heard groans and mingled exclamations of grief 
and despair. 
To add to the confusion, persons were every moment run- 
ning about to learn the fate of their friends and relatives : fa- 
thers, sons, brothers : for, in this scene of unmixed calamity, 
it was impossible to say who were saved, or who had perish- 
ed. The countenances of many were so much disfigured as to 
be past recognition. My attention, after some time, was parti- 
cularly drawn toward a poor fellow who lay unnoticed on the 
floor, without uttering a single word of complaint. He was 
at a little distance removed from the rest. He was not much 
scalded, but one of his thighs was broken, and a principal ar- 
tery had been severed, from which the blood was gushing 
rapidly. He betrayed no displeasure at the apparent neglect 
with Avhich he was treated — he was perfectly calm. I spoke 
to him; he said " he was very weak ; he felt himself going — 
It would be soon over." A gentleman ran for one of the phy- 
sicians ; he came, and declared that, if expedition were used, 
he might be preserved by amputating the limb : but that, to 
efiect this, it would be necessary to remove him from the 
boat. Unfortunately the boat was not sufficiently near to run 
a plank ashore. We were obliged to wait until it could be 
close hauled. I stood by him calling for help; we placed him 
on a matress, and bore him to the guards ; there we were de- 
fined some time, from the cause I have mentioned. Never did 
any thing appear to me so slow as the movements of those 
engaged in hauling the boat. 
I knew, and he knew, that delay was death — that life was 
fast ebbing. I could not take my gaze from his face — there 
was all coolness and resignation. No word or gesture indi- 
cative of impatience escaped him. He perceived by my loud 
and, perhaps, angry tone of voice, how mu@h I was excited 
by what I thought the barbarous slowness of those around : 
he begged me not to take so much trouble ; that they were 
doing their best. At length we got him on shore — it was too 
late : he was too much exhausted, and died immediately after 
the amputation. 
So soon as I was relieved from attending on those in the 
cabin, I went to examine that part of the boat where the boil- 
er had burst. It was a complete wreck — a picture of destruc- 
tion. It bore ample testimony of the tremendous force of 
that power which the ingenuity of man has brought to his aid. 
The steam had given every thing a whitish hue — the boilers 
