Fortunately only one life was lost.
This was a most serious calamity; and, no cause having appeared to
indicate an approaching overflow of the river, the settlers were not
prepared for such a disaster. It was said, that the natives foresaw it,
and advised the inhabitants; but this wanted confirmation. If true, the
trait was a favourable one. There could, however, be no doubt, that,
unperceived by our people, a heavy fall of rain had taken place in the
interior of the country, among the mountains, and which, from the parched
state of the land for such a length of time, had in no part been
absorbed, but ran down the sides of the hills, as from mountains of solid
rock, filling all the low grounds, and branches of the river, which,
being in form suddenly serpentine, could not give vent so fast as the
waters descended.
It was hoped and believed, that this uncommon inundation would, in the
end, prove highly beneficial to the grounds so overflowed, causing them
for a season or more to produce with such abundance as to recover the
loss which the sufferers had sustained.
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