rent intervals fitful blazes and flashes
were observed to issue from different parts of the woods, particularly
up the northwest, at the rear of New Castle, in the vicinity of
Douglasstown and Moorfields, and along the banks of the Bartibog. Many
persons heard the crackling of falling trees and shriveled branches,
while a hoarse rumbling noise, not dissimilar to the roaring of distant
thunder, and divided by pauses, like the intermittent discharges of
artillery, was distinct and audible. On the 7th of October, the heat
increased to such a degree, and became so very oppressive, that many
complained of its enervating effects. About twelve o'clock, a pale,
sickly mist, lightly tinged with purple, emerged from the forest and
settled over it.

"This cloud soon retreated before a large, dark one, which, occupying
its place, wrapped the firmament in a pall of vapor. This incumbrance
retaining its position till about three o'clock, the heat became
tormentingly sultry. There was not a breath of air; the atmosphere was
overloaded; and irresistible lassitude seized the people. A stupefying
dullness seemed to pervade every place but the woods, which now
trembled, and rustled, and shook with an incessant and thrilling noise
of explosions, rapidly following each other, and mingling their reports
with a discordant variety of loud and boisterous sounds. At this time,
the whole country appeared to be encircled by a _fiery zone_, which,
gradually contracting its circle by the devastation it had made, seemed
as if it would not converge into a point while any thing remained to be
destroyed. A little after four o'clock, an immense pillar of smoke rose,
in a vertical direction, at some distance northeast of New Castle, for a
while, and the sky was absolutely blackened by this huge cloud; but a
light, northerly breeze springing up, it gradually distended, and then
dissipated into a variety of shapeless mists. About an hour after, or
probably at half past five, innumerable large spires of smoke, issuing
from different parts of the woods, and illuminated the flames that
seemed to pierce them, mounted the sky. A heavy and suffocating canopy,
extending to the utmost verge of observation, and appearing mere
terrific by the vivid flashes and blazes that darted irregularly through
it, now hung over New Castle and Douglass in threatening suspension,
while showers of flaming brands, calcined leaves, ashes, and cinders,
seemed to scream through the gro