The Alexandria herald. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1811-1826, 1823-05-19
TINE GREAT FIRE AT CANTON.

ton, dated November 80, 1929
My ias' ieuer,written in great hurry,
day or two after the late FIRE. raye YOU
niormation OF that dreadful caiami,y.-
AFTER moving from ship to shin and from
ooa' 70 ooat' Tor fortnight, - and
myself succeeded in getting snug es.
Punishment on shore, I say snug, as we
nave but one small sleeping room, which
during the day, performs tho double duty
OF office. L cannot exactly say, in the
words OF tho old song, (which serves us
Tor parlour for kitchen and hall,'' as we
pave, fortunately secured, in another
building, rooms which, though not the
most splendid, answ err well enough, under
present circumstances, for dining room.
SC. Sec.
The first estimates of damages by the
ire, are now found much short of the
fruth you will doubtless see in some of
The newspapers, Ia translation of) the Of
hcial account Of the number of buildings,
<5c. sc. destroyed it is, however, very
erronous, aid is made so, no doubt, intcn-
ttioraliy, and the estimate of damages
therein published from interested mo.
tives on the part Of the Mandarins, whose
wish It is to make the affair appear much
pess distressing than it really is. From
the best authorities we learn that not less
than $500 or 10000 houses, shops, sc.
gc. are laid in ashes, several hundred
lives lost. and property amounting 10
is 100000 destroyed. Of the latter.
1.-THE British East India Company has lost,
esay 100000 or 100000, our country.
men about l50te Sl30,OO0. small Dor.
ton OF loss falls upon other foreigners
resident here, and the remaining heavy
balance upon the Chinese.
IL would be a vain attempt, on my part,
to endeavor to give any thing like Just
idea OF the scene that presented itself on
the morning of November the Cd, thro'
the day and ensuing night. The fire
commenced early on the night of the
firs,, about half or three quarters of a
mile directly back of our houses. At
that time we felt no alarm for the safety
OF our property the wind, however, in.
creased gradually during the night, s. in
the morning became hard gale, sending
the flames directly upon us at 8 O'Clock.
or The morning OF the I'd was presented
as lar as the eye could distinguish, one
vast body of flames. At this moment
che square In front Of the factories was
crowded with people Of every description.
tongue and colour, Chinese, Persees,
bengalees, Europeans. Americans, sc.
&c. all striving To preserve from pil,ape,
the property they had preserved from
their burning dwellings,. On the river,
to leeward OF TIE FIRE, were seen boats
at large, drifting and wrapt in flames,
and many who had fed to them for re-
fuge, had only a choice of fiery or a
watery grave. The scene was, you may
we'll imagine, truly horrible. You may
Judge how rapidly the destructive ele>
ment progressed, when tell you, that
while our houses were still enveloped in
fsmss,i 1t had reached buildings nearly a
mile TO leeward of us.
There had been no rain for LONG
time previous to the fire the buildings
destroyed were OF very combus,ible
nature, and closely connected, and few
OF what were dignified by the name oil
streets, were wider than the general run
OF alleys with US you cannot, therefore,
wonder much at the extent of the evil,
more particularly as the Chinese were
very much dismayed and made very lit
tie exertion TO stop it. They said it was
Joss hidgeon, and the 4pind qDas on
fire, of course any thing they could do
would avail nothing.
We ieel that we have been fortunate,
when we compare our losses with those
OF many others we shall not, however,
escape SO cheaply as at first supposed. We
shall feel severely the loss of our Facto.
yies. We have the satisfaction to know
that our constituents Will not loose by the
accident, with the exception Of two con-
Germs, for whose account we held par
col Of sandal wood, which was destroyed
with the buildings in which it was stored.
The FIRE took place at time of the
year when its effects are much more Sc.
rlous TO foreigners than they would have
been IN any other, as the months Of No.
vember and December. are those in
which the most active BUSINESS is trans
acted, and ships are taking in their re.
turn cargoes. TO the poorer class of
Chinese ii is certainly the most uniortu>
nate, being just upon the commencement
Of winter. sWork OF God
The American loss, says the Boston
Palladium, must have been very small
rom the amount il is thought they had.
w g know OF two china from This citv