Richmond Enquirer

Advices from Bagdad, furnish distressing details of the sufferings which had been experienced in consequence of the most tremendous summer ever known, even in that parched country. "The thermometers," says the account, "placed in the coolest part of the house, rose to 120. and at midnight were sometimes at 108 in the open air. There had been, during the summer, a storm: accompanied by heavy rain, an occurrence said to be totally unprecedented in that climate, at that season; and the effect on the burning soil, already overheated by the simoon, was similar to that of the hottest steam bath. Multitudes of people, both in the country and in the streets of the city, dropt down dead from the intense heat. One small caravan lost 22 persons in this manner in the last three days of its journey towards Bagdad! and every hour brought accounts of some fearful accident of this nature. The river rose and became of a turbid red color, the waters were so offensive that it was impossible to drink of them. The people exclaimed that the divine judgment was at hand. deprecatory hymns were chanted from the minarets, and the almost dismay and consternation prevailed. The extreme heat had subsided at the date of the account. but the thermometer remained then at 108"