New Hampshire Statesman

AWFUL HURRICANE.

Letters from the West Indies give numerous particulars of the destruction by the late hurricane in Guadaloupe, St. Kitts, St. Martin's Dominica, Martinique, &c. Guadaloupe appears to have suffered more severely than the other Islands. The following extract of a letter dated at Basseterre, July 29, gives a vivid account of the calamity:-

"A dreadful calamity has just fell over our unfortunate town, and the greatest part of the colony. A hurricane more dreadful than any mentioned in the annals of this island, has in a few hours changed Basseterre into a heap of ruins. On the 26 inst. about 9 o'clock in the morning, the most sinister warnings announced the approach of the desolating misfortune. The barometer fell several lines below the degree of storm, the wind blowing by squalls and whirlwinds; the overflow of the grass river, whose waters rose several feet above the parapet of the bridge, and poured in torrents into the streets; a furious tide and earthquakes; the falling of the houses of the inhabitants and of the public buildings; the largest trees rooted out: presented the most terrible sight, and which I cannot think of without shuddering.

"The country has equally suffered; the houses, the works, the trees, are all destroyed. Our unfortunate town and its vicinity, a few days ago so flourishing, presents now only a vast ruin. A multitude of people have been crushed by the falling of the houses, or carried away by the river: we are about clearing away the rubbish, from which 150 dead bodies have already been taken out, and among them some of the most respectable people of the island. In Basseterre more than 500 houses have been unroofed, or entirely destroyed, and those remaining have suffered more or less.

The government house, the palace of justice, the register house, the records the gaol the beautiful hospital of St. Louis, the new barracks, and the king's stores, are entirely destroyed or materially damaged; a part of the walls of Fort Richepanse are thrown down."