A ^‘BURN.” 
at noon, and that they were to hold themselves in 
readiness, with promtitude, to respond to any urgent 
demand on their services, in case the fire should catch 
upon ‘^ourcofiee.” 
Between twelve and one o’clock, volumes of white 
smoke he^an to curl up ; thicker, denser, and darker 
they became, until it all settled into a dark almost 
black smoke. This in vai'iably indicates “ a good burn.’* 
It curled onwards and upwards. It was a bright hot 
day, not a cloud in the sky, and soon no sun was 
visible, or, if occasionally, it looked like a huge red ball of 
lire shining through black smoke. So completely had 
it lost its power you could look at it st -adily the 
same as if you iiad a blaekeued glass at the eye, A 
roaring sound now catches the ear, louder and louder, 
until, as the smoke obscures all else to the sight, so 
does the roar of the fire deaden all other sounds. 
There was a thin belt of jungle left between the two 
estates. The belt was full of dead decayed wood, and 
standing up in it tall dried-up stumps, the remains of 
what had once been trees. They were trees still, but 
dead and .quite dried into tinder by the late scorch- 
ing weather. A little green btuishwood \vas growing 
underneath, which only served to conceal a mass of dry 
rotten stacks lying thick on the ground. The luinniiig 
fire came up to tire belt, wliidi checked it a little., 
but only apparently to gather fresh strength. A strong 
gust of wind and the fire is into the belt, und soon, 
the whole mass of decayed rubbish is in a red glow. 
It soon began to lick up the dry stumps, it caught 
hold of tliem and wound round them up to their 
very tops like some huge corkscrew of fire. Trom these 
blazing trees, sparks of fire were carried hy the wind 
far into Mr. Brown’s coffee, and the first intimation 
he had of bis unpleasant fact was seeing a small white 
cola run of smoke up amongst tire coffee trees. Those 
who have never seen or read of a coffee estate may 
ask, ‘‘How cam green trees burn ? ” For man3;^ years 
after the foiunation of an estate, the ground is covered 
with timber in process of decay, logs, slumps, rootSj^ 
and large masses of rotten Vvood reduced to touchwood, 
that had perhaps been lying there for years before the 
forest was felled. Into these masses of rotteif 'timber 
a small spark had been carried by the wind, where, 
having found a suitable btd, it wms fanned by tbewunci 
into a red-hot glow, until the whole tree became a mass 
of fire. All the coffee trees next or near the influence 
of this glowing mass of course became speedily scorched 
and dried up. So speedily did they dry up, that their 
leaves and twigs became the means of continuing the 
run of fire until it came upon another dry tree, where 
the same occurrence was repeated, and so spread on.. 
