The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-21 00:00:00

A FIRE IN THE WOODS.

The following appalling account of one of these scenes
of devastation is given by Mr. Audubon, as he received _it
from the mouth of a wood-cutter :

" We were sound asleep one night, in a cabin about a
hundred miles fcom this, when about two hours before
day, the snorting of the horses and lowing of the cattle
which I had ranged in the woods, suddenly awakened us.
I took yon rifle, and went to the door to see what beast
had caused the hubbub, when I was struck by the glare of
light reflected on all the trees before me, as far as I could
see through the woods. My horses were leaping about,
snorting loudly, and the cattle ran amongst them with their
tails raised straight over their backs. On going to the
back of the house, I plainly heard the crackling made by
the burning brushwood, and saw the flames coming towards
us in a far extended line. I ran to the house, told my
wife to dress herself and the child as quickly as possible,
and take the little money we had, while I managed to catch
and saddle the two best horses. All this was done in a
very short time, for I guessed that every moment was pre-
cious to us.

"We then mounted, and made off from the fire. My
wife, who is an excellent rider, stuck close to me ; my
daughter, who was then a small child, I took in one arm.
When making off, as I said, I looked back, and saw that the
frightful blaze was close upon us, and had already laid hold
of the house. By good luck, there was a horn attached to
my hunting clothes, and I blew it, to bring after us, if pos-
sible, the remainder of my live stock, as well as the dogs.
The cattle followed for a while ; but, before an hour had
elapsed, they all ran as if mad through the woods, and
that, Sir, was the last of them. My dogs, too, though at
other times extremely tractable, ran after the deer that in
bodies sprung before us, as if fully aware of the death that
was so rapidly approaching.
" We heard blasts from the horns of our neighbours, as
we proceeded, and knew that they were in the same predi
cament. Intent on striving to the utmost to preserve our
lives, I thought of a large lake, some miles off, which might
possibly check the flames ; and urging my wife to whip up
her horse, we set off at full speed, making the best way we
could over the fallen trees and the brush heaps, which lay
like so many articles placed on purpose to keep up the ter-
rific fires that advanced with a broad front upon us.
" By this time we could feel the heat : and we were
afraid that our horses would drop every instant. A sin-
gular kind of breeze was passing over our head, and the
glare of the atmosphere shone over the day light. I was
sensible of a slight faintness, and my wife looked pale. The
heat had produced such a flush in the child's face, that when
she turned towards either of us, our grief and perplexity
were greatly increased. Ten miles, you know, are soon
gone over, on swift horses ; but, notwithstanding this, when
we reached the borders of the lake, covered with sweat and
quite exhausted, our hearts failed us. The heat of the
smoke was insufferable, and sheets of blazing fire flew over
us in a manner beyond belief. We reached the shores,
however, coasted the lake for a while, and got round to the
lee side. There we gave up our horses, which we never saw
again. Down among the rushes we plunged by the edge of
the water, and laid ourselves flat, to wait the chance of es-
caping from being burnt or devoured. The water refreshed
us, and we enjoyed the coolness.
" On went the fire, rushing and crashing through the
woods. Such a sight may we never see ! The heavens
themselves I thought were frightened, for all above us was
a red glare, mixed with clouds of smoke, rolling and sweep-
ing away. Our bodies were cool enough, but our heads
were scorching, and the child, who now seemed to under-
stand the mattes, cried so as nearly to break our hearts.
" The day passed on, and we became hungry. Many
wild beasts came plunging into the water beside us, and
others swam across to our side and stood still. Although
faint and weary, I managed to shoot a porcupine, and we
all tasted its flesh. The night passed I cannot tell you how.
Smouldering fires covered the ground, and the trees stood
like pillars of fire, or fell across each other. The stifling
and sickening smoke still rushed over us. How we got
through that night I really cannot tell, for about some of it
I remember nothing.

" Towards morning, although the heat did not abate,
the smoke became less, and blasts of fresh air sometimes
made their way to us. When morning came, all was calm,
but a dismal smoke still filled the air, and the smell seemed
worse than ever. We were now cooled enough, and
shivered as if in an ague fit ; so we removed from the
water, and went up to a burning log, where we warmed
ourselves. What was to become of us I did not know.
My wife hugged the child to her breast, and wept bitterly ;
but God had preserved us through the worst of the danger,
and the flames had gone past, so I thought it would be
both ungrateful to Him, and unmanly to despair now.
Hunger once more pressed upon us, but this was easily re-
medied. Several deer were still standing in the water, up
to the head, and I shot one of them. Some of its flesh
was soon roasted ; and, after eating it, we felt wonderfully
strengthened.

By this time the blaze of the fire was beyond our sight,
although the ground was still burning in many places, and
it was dangerous to go among the burnt trees. After rest-

ing awhile, and trimming ourselves, we prepared to com-
mence our march. Taking up the child, I led the way over
the hot ground and rocks ; and after two, weary days and
nights, durinc, which we shifted in the best manner we
could, we at last reached the hard woods,' which had been
free of the fire. Soon after we came to a house, where we
were kindly treated for a while. Since, then, Sir, I have
worked hard and ',..onstantly as a, lumberer ; but, thanks be
to God, here we are safe, sound, and happy."

HORRORS OF THE SLAVE TRADE•

The following description of a cruel manoeuvre practised
on board a slave vessel, to divert the chase of a frigate, is
given in " The Unfortunate Man," a Novel, by Captain
Chathier, just published :
" It is a chance, and the only chance," said the Captain,
" and no one will care a pin about the business if we get
away."

" Oh, yes," said the mate, " if we could only get away
Why, to be sure, I should not be so slack in stays myself,
but that confounded vessel sails well, and we are evidently
losing ground fast."
" Well," said Smith, " let the worst be the worst, that
is our capture and the fore-yard-arm. I will be responsi-
ble since you fear, and seeing, as I do, that the taking of the
Rapid is at once the downfall of myself and family, I am
resolved to have one chance more of escape. If we can go
on until night, the frequent squalls may allow us to try
another manoeuvre, which may prove more fortunate than
ott.••
• last ; and if the bait does not tempt sufficiently, why
we are only saving one or two human beings from a life of
misery."
said ,;*lie mate, " I'm agreed. Forward there,"
Well"
said he. . _

" Sir," answered a rongb-looking fellow.
" Jump down," said the Captain, " and hoist up one or
two empty casks, and send the cooper aft with his tools."
" Ay, ay, Sir," responded a man witl.l all the indifference
of a sailor.
The cooper soon made his appearance ; in five minutes
stile- empty casks were on deck, the heads of both were
taken out, and the cooper set to work to cut out a circle
large enough for a man's neck. The mate, who was a
handy fellow of all work, began at one cask, and the car
tain stood by, urging the workmen to use every despatch-
The breeze had freshened, and we held our own pretty well
with the stranger ; at any rate I was fearful that she did
not gain upon us very rapidly. In the mean time, both
cooper and assistant worked away with the greatest indif-
ference, and no human eye could have detected the slightest
Variation of countenance in the mate, although he was fully
aware of the desperate act about to be committed. When
the casks were ready, the upper hoops were taken off, so
as to allow the cooper to place the heads in when required.
A pig of iron ballast was fastened in each cask, and then it
was that the mate said in a firm voice :
" Now, Sir, we are ready. If you are still determined,
d—n me if you shall ever say that John Collins was afraid
when death was at hand."

The captain's son had been all along watching the move-
ments of the cooper, but was quite in ignorance of the
in-
tention of his father. Once, indeed, he asked what was
the hole cut in the head of the cask for ; but be was told
to be silent, in a tone of voice which set me shaking like $
monkey in frosty weather.
" Bring one of the slaves upon deck," said the captain;
" and, do you hear ? pick out a lively and a slim one.
The slave was brought unshackled upon deck : he, looked
round him with surprise, and yet with indifference ; his de
was sunken from care and from sickness, and his poor ema-
ciated form had qualified him to come forward in the capa-
city alluded to.
" He's the liveliest we can find, sir," said one of the sea-
men ; for he was the only one who was talking, and I fancy
he is as slim as any one of the rest ; but for that matter we
shall have no trouble to find another."

" Oh then," said his son, " try my black wife."
• " Ah !" ejaculated the Captain.
That would do just as well," said the mate ;" so.bring
her aft ; here's you're not the first in the world who would
like to get so sure a divorce."
zlway went that incarnate devil, and in two minutes he
was seen .ugging along his miserable victim by the hair of
the head : ono
,or two more of that sex tame on deck, but
were instantly seni below again.
" Here, you Ganjam, jump in the cask, ay.(' show this
young lady how she is to sit, for none but the devil can
talk the negro language."
I did as I was desired, and then got out again. The
girl was then told to do as I had done ; but she hesitated,
as if warned by some unseen power of the danger whirl*
awaited her. As she could not succeed the first time'
I was desired 'to place her properly,' which I did. Tile
cooper was told to fix the head in, fitting the part about
her neck.
" Come, down with you," said the mate ; " now, cooper,
fit-an-lier-necklacc, and take • care it does not fit too tight,
for she is going into strange company."
The remorse of conscience which had at first exhibited
itself in this worthy associate of the captain's, had entirely
vanished : like many others who, having made one false
step, from that instant fly to the other extreme. Thus we
not unfrequently see women whose virtues have been sacri-
ficed, suddenly assume the open countenance of vice, and
from being modest and reserved, become shameless and im-
pudent.
The last stroke of the mallet had driven home the upper
hoop of the cask ; the poor girl, who imagined, perhaps,
that some kind of amusement was to follow, kept laughing
and smiling, and vainly endeavoured to make us understand
her delight, as she poured forth a volume of words. The
Captain had walked aft and called the mate : the stranger,
had evidently gained so much, that in two hours she would
have had us under her guns ; and after remarking this
aloud, the former said, " Well, it is ohr-Only alternative;
but, used as I am to scenes of horror, I cannot bear to see
a person smile, when stulh a chance awaits them."
" The stranger," said the. master, "is right astern, and
it is impossible for them not to ,see the cask ; now let us see
if their christian charity can overeone their love of prie-
money. If you intend to do it, we hate no time to lose.

" Do it !" said the Captain.
The mate walked to the gangway, and ptit the cask close
to the side. It was now that the poor imprisoned wretch
imagined her destiny ; she gave a shriek so loud and. Pier'
cing, that every slave below startled at the sound, and, ere
she could continue her loud cry for mercy, the mate and oae
of the seamen had lifted the cask clear of the side, and, it
brating it one and twice, the third time they relinquished
their grasp, and the poor creature, who had been sold t°
enrich others, now found herself the victim for their security'
The cask,* when it fell into the water, twirled round and
round with fearful rapidity, but, owing to the ballast, it al-
ways kept end up, leaving the girl's head plainly visible. Her
eye, whenever the twirl of the cask allowed it to rest on the
ship, had more of imploring mercy than the words of the
most frightened convict ; she screamed for pity—alas ! pity
was not known to those who had purchased her life :
safety, was the only thought which occupied her half-ma-
derer's mind. The freshness of the breeze, the noise occa-
sioned by the rapidity of the vessel's way, soon predomi-
nated, and the shriek of the negro girl was lost in the disc
tance. The eyes of the crew now rested on the cask ; the
Captain kept his glass steadily fixed on what the mate,
called the water-nymph, and a quarter of an hour woe?
decide the fate of the girl, the Rapid, and the Captain'
Then was conjecture at its utmost. The cask, being small'
appeared
,at a greater distance than the stranger, and as'
from the slight variation in steering, and the send of the
sea, the cask was to leeward of the vessel, it was imagine
that either the negress had passed unseen, or was left to
inevitable death, the spirit of gain having predominate'
over the spirit of charity. But it was only the fears of the
villains which could have harboured such an idea ; fejt
sailors are generally the most humane beings alive, anui
when a woman is alive, they would risk more than anY

the biped race.
* The whole of this story is founded on fact. It wag
Majesty's ship the Eden, I believe, that picked up the negrei
turned adrift, as is related.

BIRTHS.
In Glasgow College, the wife of Dr. Badham, Professor of Air
dicine in that Uersity, of a son.
On the 18th inst., at her father's house, Reading, the lady of the
Rev. Charles Mackenzie, of a son.
On the 15th inst., the wife of Mr. Bratt, of the Mitre Taire'lb
Broad-wall, Blackfriars-road, of a son.

... iry Hancock, Esq. e,
Harley-street, to Rachel Ann, daughter of the late Rev. fatia -
William Burford, D.D., Vicar of Pelham Furneaux, Herts. illy
On the 20th inst., at All Souls' Church, St. Marylebone, :
John Waugh, jun., of Buccleugh-place, Edinburgh, to Catheriee'
eldest daughter of Mr. James IN isbet, of Beiners-street, Londoo.o,
On the 19th inst., at Old Swinford, Worcestershire, John n'eh,
jun., Esq., of Schneild House, Warwickshire, to Caroline, cialty
ter to the late John Pidcock, Esq., of " The Plaits," in the eou"
of Staffordshire.
DIED.
On the 14th inst., at Winchester, Lady Rivers, relict of the It°.
Sir Peter Rivers, Bart., in her 86th year.
T 1
On the 20th inst., at Lambeth Palace, Willoughby ..as
third son of Sir George H. W. Beaumont, Bart.,
ton
Hall, Leicestershire, aged two years and six months. , „yeti
On the 15th inst., at Potter's Bar, in her 75th year, D'az
31'llst relict of of the late Daniel Carpenter, Esq. of
On the 17th inst., Lucy, the wife of the Rev. William
Exeter, late of Harrow, leaving ten children. bur
On the 18th inst., Thomas Goodchild, Esq., Mecklen
square, in his 58th year.
On the 7th inst., Mrs. A. Chambers, of Arundel-street, Pia
aged 74. chelsea'
On the 11th inst., at Box Farm Cottage, King's-road, the
Mrs. Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Southbrook, daughter
late Philip Denoyer, Esq., of Albemarle-st
oriunnee,mmosioncerammca....•••••••• f
London : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, °
112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in the a°
of Middlesex. of Coleor

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