FOREST FIRES IN AMERICA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 280, 24 November 1881, Page 1

FOREST FIRES IN AMERICA.

{European Mail.)

Great as have been the sufferings of our agriculturalists through the continuous rainfall, they will not bear comparison with the terrible results of weather of the opposite extreme in various parts" of America. During the last, two months very little rain has fallen to temper the extreme heat' which has prevailed, and /in consequence everything became parched and dry. When in this state a .spark is sufficient to set whole districts in a blaze. Such calamities have just occurred, and the horrors of the scene have been increased by a hurricane sweeping over the district, carrying with it a sheet of flame that left nothing but death and ruin in its track. The entire penipsula between Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay has been ravaged, embracing a surface of fifty square miles. Whole families have been burnt to death, and fertile villages made utterly desolate. Out of a population of about 50,000; mostly recent settlers, it is estimated that more than 500 have perished, and at least 5000 are homeless, having lost everything they possessed in the world, "The survivors are with-

out food," shelter, or clothing, and almost without hope," telegraphs Senator Conger. " They huddle together in crowds, or wander about half naked, waiting for help." Relief committees, we are glad to learn, are already active, and food and. clothing are' being: sent to the sufferers >by these truly appalling forest fires. , The heat has been attended by remarkable phenomena in other parts of America. At Providence the grass assumed a bluish tint ; in Boston it looked like venMg.-is, and the complexions of the people became a saffron hue. There has beeii darkness at noon in Massachussets, and in Rhjode Island at midday birds went to roost, and the chirping insects which begin their hum at night were heard in the fields. At Toronto the appearance of the heavens was compared to a great orange-col-oured dome. In the presence of these natural wonders it is not surprising to hear that superstitious people were strangely excited. The Millerites, a sect whose principal tenet is that the second advent is near, put on their accension robes, which have been prepared for some years, in readiness for the Last Day.