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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West, by Samuel Strickland
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West
+
+Author: Samuel Strickland
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2005 [eBook #15245]
+[Most recently updated: January 22, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: E.D. (Tedd) Brien
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN CANADA WEST ***
+
+
+
+
+Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West;
+
+or The Experience of an Early Settler
+
+by MAJOR STRICKLAND, C.M
+
+
+EDITED BY AGNES STRICKLAND,
+Author of “The Queens of England,”, etc.
+
+
+And when those toils rewarding,
+Broad lands at length they’ll claim,
+They’ll call the new possession,
+By some familiar name.
+
+Agnes Strickland.—_Historic Scenes_.
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+VOL. I.
+
+LONDON:
+RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
+Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
+1853.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+No one can give an adequate view of the general life of a colonist,
+unless he has been one himself. Unless he has experienced all the
+various gradations of colonial existence, from that of the pioneer in
+the backwoods and the inhabitant of a shanty, up to the epoch of his
+career, when he becomes the owner, by his own exertions, of a
+comfortable house and well-cleared farm, affording him the comforts and
+many of the luxuries of civilization, he is hardly competent to write
+on such a subject. I have myself passed through all these grades. I
+have had the honour of filling many colonial appointments, such as
+Commissioner of the Court of Requests, and Justice of the Peace. My
+commission in her Majesty’s Militia, and my connection with the Canada
+Company, have also afforded me some opportunities of acquiring
+additional information. I was in the Company’s service during the early
+settlement of Guelph and also of Goderich, in the Huron tract. I am,
+therefore, as intimately acquainted with those flourishing settlements
+as with the townships in my own county of Peterborough.
+
+Upon my return to my native country in August, on a visit to my
+venerable mother, I was advised by my family to give my colonial
+experience to the world in a plain, practical manner. I followed the
+flattering suggestions of relatives so distinguished for literary
+attainments, and so dear to my affections, and “Twenty-seven Years in
+Canada West; or, The Experience of an Early Settler,” is the result of
+my compliance with their wishes.
+
+The subject of colonization is, indeed, one of vital importance, and
+demands much consideration, for it is the wholesome channel through
+which the superfluous population of England and Ireland passes, from a
+state of poverty to one of comfort. It is true that the independence of
+the Canadian settler must be the fruit of his own labour, for none but
+the industrious can hope to obtain that reward. In fact, idle and
+indolent persons will not change their natures by going out to Canada.
+Poverty and discontent will be the lot of the sluggard in the Bush, as
+it was in his native land—nay, deeper poverty, for “he cannot work, to
+beg he is ashamed,” and if he be surrounded by a family, those nearest
+and dearest to him will share in his disappointment and regret.
+
+But let the steady, the industrious, the cheerful man go forth in hope,
+and turn his talents to account in a new country, whose resources are
+not confined to tillage alone—where the engineer, the land-surveyor,
+the navigator, the accountant, the lawyer, the medical practitioner,
+the manufacturer, will each find a suitable field for the exercise of
+his talents; where, too, the services of the clergyman are much
+required, and the pastoral character is valued and appreciated as it
+ought to be.
+
+To the artizan, the hand-loom weaver, and the peasant, Canada is indeed
+a true land of Goshen. In fact, the stream of migration cannot flow too
+freely in that direction. However numerous the emigrants may be,
+employment can be obtained for all.
+
+That the industrial classes do become the richest men cannot be denied,
+because their artificial wants are fewer, and their labours greater
+than those of the higher ranks. However, the man of education and
+refinement will always keep the balance steady, and will hold offices
+in the Colony and responsible situations which his richer but less
+learned neighbour can never fill with ease or propriety.
+
+The Canadian settler possesses vast social advantages over other
+colonists. He has no convict neighbours—no cruel savages, now, to
+contend with—no war—no arid soil wherewith to contend. The land is,
+generally speaking, of a rich quality, and the colonist has fire-wood
+for the labour of cutting, fish for the catching, game for the pleasant
+exercise of hunting and shooting in Nature’s own preserves, without the
+expense of a licence, or the annoyance of being warned off by a surly
+gamekeeper.
+
+The climate of Canada West is healthier and really pleasanter than that
+of England or Ireland. The cold is bracing, and easily mitigated by
+good fires and warm clothing; but it is not so really chilling as the
+damp atmosphere of the mother-country. Those who have not visited the
+Canadas are apt to endow the Upper Province with the severe climate of
+the Lower one, whereas that of Western Canada is neither so extremely
+hot nor so cold as many districts of the United States.
+
+Emigration to Canada is no longer attended with the difficulties and
+disadvantages experienced by the early settlers, of which such
+lamentable, and perhaps exaggerated accounts have frequently issued
+from the press. The civilizing efforts of the Canada Company have
+covered much of the wild forest-land with smiling corn-fields and
+populous villages. Indeed, the liberal manner in which the Company have
+offered their lands on sale or lease, have greatly conduced to the
+prosperity of the Western Province.
+
+If the facts and suggestions contained in the following pages should
+prove useful and beneficial to the emigrant, by smoothing his rough
+path to comfort and independence, my object will be attained, and my
+first literary effort will not have been made in vain.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Embarkation for Canada.—Voyage out.—Sea-life.—Icebergs.—Passage up the
+St. Lawrence.—Quebec.—Memorials of General
+Wolfe.—Cathedral.—Hospitality.—Earthquakes.—Nuns.—Montreal.—Progress up
+the Country.—My Roman Catholic Fellow-traveller.—Attempt at
+Conversion.—The Township of Whitby.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+Arrival at Darlington.—Kind Reception.—My Friend’s Location.—His
+Inexperience.—Damage to his Land by Fire.—Great Conflagration at
+Miramichi.—Forest Fires.—Mighty Conflagration of the 6th of
+October.—Affecting Story of a Lumber-foreman.—His Presence of Mind, and
+wonderful Preservation.—The sad Fate of his Companions.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Inexperience of my Friend.—Bad State of his Land—Fall
+Wheat.—Fencing.—Grasses.—Invitation to a “Bee.”—United Labour.—Canadian
+Sports.—Degeneracy of Bees.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+My Marriage.—I become a Settler on my own Account—I purchase Land in
+Otonabee.—Return to Darlington.—My first Attempt at driving a
+Span.—Active Measures to remedy a Disaster.—Patience of my
+Father-in-law.—My first Bear-hunt.—Beaver-meadows.—Canadian
+Thunder-storms.—Fright of a Settler’s Family
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Canadian Harvest.—Preparing Timber for Frame-buildings.—Raising
+“Bee.”—Beauty of the Canadian Autumn.—Visit to Otonabee.—Rough
+Conveyance.—Disaccommodation.—Learned Landlord.—Cobourg.—Otonabee
+River.—Church of Gore’s Landing.—Effects of persevering industry
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Wood-duck Shooting.—Adventure on Rice Lake.—Irish Howl.—Arrival at
+Gore’s Landing.—General Howling for the Defunct.—Dangers of our
+Journey.—Safe Arrival at Cobourg.—Salmon-fishing.—Canoe-building after
+a bad Fashion.—Salmon-spearing.—Canadian Fish and Fisheries.—Indian
+Summer.—Sleighs and Sleighing.—Domestic Love
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Employments of a Man of Education in the Colony.—Yankee Wedding.—My
+Commission.—Winter in Canada.—Healthiness of the Canadian
+Climate.—Search for Land.—Purchase Wild Land at Douro.—My Flitting.—Put
+up a Shanty.—Inexperience in Clearing.—Plan-heaps
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+A Logging-Bee.—Lime-burning.—Shingling.—Arrival of my
+Brother-in-law.—Birth of my Son.—Sad Journey to Darlington.—Lose my
+Way.—Am refused a Lift.—My boyish Anger.—My Wife’s Death.—The
+Funeral.—I leave Darlington
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Return to Otonabee.—Benevolence of my Neighbour.—Serious Accident to a
+Settler.—His singular Misfortunes.—Particulars of his Life
+
+CHAPTER X.
+Preparations for my second Marriage.—Dangerous Adventure.—My Wife’s
+nocturnal Visitor.—We prepare for the Reception of our uninvited
+Guest.—Bruin’s unwelcome Visit to an Irish Shanty.—Our Bear-hunt.—Major
+Elliott’s Duel with Bruin.—His Wounds and Victory
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+Canada the Poor Man’s Country.—Disadvantages of Inexperience.—Township
+of Harvey Settlement.—Pauper Emigration.—Superior Advantages of the
+Labourer Colonist.—Temperance and Temperance Societies.—A dry Answer to
+watery Arguments.—British and Foreign Temperance Society
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+Want of Home-pasturage in Canada.—Danger of being lost in the
+Woods.—Plain Directions to the Traveller in the Bush.—Story of a
+Settler from Emily.—An old Woman’s Ramble in the Woods.—Adventure of a
+Trapper.—Fortunate Meeting with his Partner
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+Directions for ascertaining the Quality of Land in the Bush.—Site of
+Log-shanty.—Chopping.—Preparation for Spring-crops.—Method of planting
+Indian Corn.—Pumpkins and Potatoes.—Making Pot-ash
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+My first Shot at a Buck.—Hunting and Shooting Parties.—Destructiveness
+of Wolves.—Loss of my Flocks.—Cowardice of the Wolf.—The Lady and her
+Pet.—Colonel Crawford’s Adventure.—Ingenious Trick of an American
+Trapper.—A disagreeable Adventure.—How to poison Wolves.—A stern Chase
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+Formation of the Canada Company.—Interview with Mr. Galt.—His personal
+Description and Character.—Guelph.—Dr. Dunlop.—My Medical Services at
+Guelph.—Dr. Dunlop and the Paisley Bodies.—An eccentric Character.—An
+unfortunate wife
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+Porcupine-catching.—Handsome Behaviour of Mr.
+Galt.—Owlingale.—Introduction to the Son of the celebrated Indian
+Chief, Brandt.—Expedition to Wilmot.—Sham Wolves.—Night in a Barn with
+Dr. Dunlop.—The Doctor and his Snuffbox.—His Bath in the Nith.—Louis
+XVIII. and his Tabatiere.—Camp in the Woods.—Return to Guelph
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+A new Way of keeping a Birthday.—Lost in the Woods.—Kindness of Mr.
+Galt.—Advice to new Settlers.—Unexpected Retirement of Mr. Galt.—I
+accompany him to the Landing-place.—Receive orders to leave Guelph for
+Goderich.—Whirlwinds at Guelph and Douro
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+The Huron tract.—Journal of Dr. Dunlop.—His Hardships.—I leave Guelph
+for Goderich.—Want of Accommodation.—Curious Supper.—Remarkable
+Trees.—The Beverly Oak.—Noble Butter-wood Trees.—Goderich.—Fine Wheat
+Crop.—Purchase a Log-house.—Construction of a Raft
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+My new House at Goderich.—Carpentry an essential Art.—American
+Energy.—Agreeable Visitors.—My Wife’s Disasters.—Hints for Anglers.—The
+Nine-mile Creek Frolic.—The Tempest.—Our Skipper and his
+Lemon-punch.—Short Commons.—Camp in the Woods.—Return on
+Foot.—Ludicrous termination to our Frolic
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+Choice of a Location.—The Company’s Lands.—Crown Lands.—Tables
+published by the Canada Company.—Progressive Improvement of the Huron
+Tract
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+The King proclaimed in the Bush.—Fete and Ball in the Evening.—My
+Yankee Fellow-traveller.—Awful Storm.—My lonely Journey.—Magical Effect
+of a Name
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+Visit of the Passenger-pigeon to the Canadas.—Canadian
+Blackbirds.—Breeding-places of the Passenger-pigeons.—Squirrels
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+The Rebel, Von Egmond, the first agricultural Settler on the
+Huron.—Cutting the first Sheaf
+
+
+
+
+TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN CANADA WEST.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+EMBARKATION FOR CANADA.—VOYAGE OUT.—SEA-LIFE.—ICEBERGS.—PASSAGE UP THE
+ST. LAWRENCE.—QUEBEC.—MEMORIALS OF GENERAL
+WOLFE.—CATHEDRAL.—HOSPITALITY.—EARTHQUAKES.—NUNS.—MONTREAL.—PROGRESS UP
+THE COUNTRY.—MY ROMAN CATHOLIC FELLOW-TRAVELLER.—ATTEMPT AT
+CONVERSION.—THE TOWNSHIP OF WHITBY.
+
+A preference for an active, rather than a professional life, induced me
+to accept the offer made by an old friend, of joining him at
+Darlington, in Upper Canada, in the year 1825. I therefore took leave
+of my family and pleasant home, in Suffolk, and engaged a passage in
+the brig “William M’Gilevray,” commanded by William Stoddart, an
+experienced American seaman.
+
+On the 28th of March we left the London Docks, and dropped down the
+river to Gravesend, and on the following day put our pilot ashore off
+Deal, and reached down as far as the coast of Sussex, where we were
+becalmed for two days. Here one of our cabin-boys, a German, met with a
+very serious accident by falling down the after hatchway, and
+fracturing several of his ribs. On this occasion I officiated as a
+surgeon, and bled him twice, with excellent effect, for he quickly
+recovered from the severe injury he had received. Before quitting
+Suffolk I had learned the art of blood-letting from our own medical
+attendant. Every person intending to settle in a distant colony ought
+to acquire this simple branch of surgery: I have often exercised it
+myself for the benefit of my fellow-creatures when no medical
+assistance could be procured.
+
+It blew so fresh for two or three days, that we made up for our lost
+time, and were soon out of sight of Scilly: then I bade a long farewell
+to old England. I had often been on the sea before, but this was my
+first long voyage; every object, therefore, was new to me. I caught
+some birds in the rigging they were of a species unknown to me, but
+very beautiful. Being in want, too, of something to do, I amused myself
+with cleaning the captain’s guns, which I hoped to use for our joint
+benefit before the end of the voyage.
+
+The 18th and 19th of April were very stormy: the sea ran mountains
+high; we had a foot of water in the cabin, and all hands were at the
+pumps to lessen the growing evil. The gale lasted till the following
+morning. In the night the aurora borealis was particularly brilliant;
+but though the storm lulled, the wind was against us. On the 26th of
+April, I saw a whale, and, boy-like, fired at the huge creature: the
+shot must have hit him, for he made the water fly in all directions.
+
+To vary the monotony of a sea-life, I sometimes played draughts with
+the mate, whom I always beat; but he took his defeats in good part,
+being a very easy-tempered fellow.
+
+I awoke on the 21st of April literally wet to my skin by the deluge of
+water pouring down the cabin. I dressed myself in great haste and
+hurried upon deck to learn the cause of this disaster, which I found
+originated in the coming on of a terrible hurricane, which would not
+permit us to show a stitch of canvas, and found us continual employment
+at the pumps; my chest in the cabin shipped a sea which did not improve
+the appearance of my wardrobe. The following day we had calmer weather,
+and pursued our course steadily, no longer exposed to the fury of the
+elements.
+
+On the following day I killed several birds, and saw two whales and
+many porpoises. The weather was foggy, but the wind favourable for us.
+As we were near the bank of Newfoundland, we got our fishing tackle
+ready, with the hope of mending our fare with cod; but the water was
+not calm enough for the purpose, and the fish would not bite. We passed
+over the Great Bank without any danger, though the wind was high and
+the sea rough.
+
+On the 29th of April we fell in with some icebergs. A more magnificent
+and imposing spectacle cannot be conceived; but it is very fearful and
+sufficiently appalling. Suddenly, we found ourselves close to an
+immense body of ice, whose vicinity bad been concealed from us by the
+denseness of the fog. Our dangerous neighbour towered in majestic
+grandeur in the form of a triple cone rising from a square base, and
+surpassed the tallest cathedral in altitude. The centre cone being
+cleft in the middle by the force of the waves, displayed the phenomenon
+of a waterfall, the water rushing into the sea from the height of
+thirty feet. If the sun had pierced the vapoury veil which concealed it
+from our view, the refraction of his rays would have given to the ice
+the many-coloured tints of the rainbow. We took care to keep a good
+look out; but the fog was thick. We fell in with many other icebergs;
+but none so beautiful as this.
+
+We doubled Cape Ray, and entered, on the 5th of May, the Gulf of St.
+Lawrence. The thermometer fell many degrees a change caused by the
+vicinity of the ice. On the 5th of May we passed the Bird Rocks, three
+in number, to windward, so called from the immense number of geese and
+aquatic birds which resort thither to rear their broods. These rocks
+rise to the height of four hundred feet, perpendicularly from the sea.
+The fishermen, nevertheless, contrive to climb them for the sake of the
+eggs they find there.
+
+The 6th of May found us in the river St. Lawrence, between the
+westernmost point of Anticosti to the north, and Cape Gaspe to the
+south, in the middle of the channel, surrounded by ships tacking up the
+stream, bound for Quebec and Montreal. We had plenty of sea-room, as
+the river was more than ninety miles in breadth, and it is supposed to
+be full a hundred at its _embouchure_.
+
+The land was partially covered with snow, which fell throughout the
+day. On the 8th of May we sailed as far as the Seven Islands. The day
+was glorious, and the prospect most beautiful. Our vicinity to “the
+cold and pitiless Labrador,” rendered the air chilly, and we could hear
+the howling of the wolves at night, to me a new and dismal sound. The
+aurora borealis was particularly splendid, for the air was clear and
+frosty.
+
+On the 10th of May we stood for the Island of Bic, and took on board a
+pilot. He was a handsome young man, a French-Canadian, under whose
+guidance we made the place, but we were becalmed before it for the
+whole forenoon.
+
+The beauty of the scenery atoned, however, for the delay. Nothing,
+indeed, could surpass it in my eyes, which had then only been
+accustomed to the highly-cultivated and richly-wooded tracts in Suffolk
+and Norfolk, and therefore dwelt with wonder and delight upon the
+picturesque shores and lofty heights that crowned the noble St.
+Lawrence.
+
+The wind changing in our favour, carried us swiftly up the stream,
+which was still thirty-six miles in breadth, though distant 280 miles
+from the Gulf. We passed Green Island and the Kamouraska Island, and
+Goose and Crane Islands. These beautiful islets, which stud the broad
+bosom of the St. Lawrence, are evidently of volcanic origin. That of
+Kamouraska displays vast masses of granite, which rise in the form of
+conical hills, one of which attains the height of five hundred feet.
+The same features are discernible in the Penguins, and even the strata
+about Quebec still indicate the same mysterious agency.[1]
+
+ [1] “Encyclopædia of Geography,” p. 1304.
+
+
+Our progress through the river continually presented the new continent
+in an attractive point of view. The shores were dotted with farmhouses
+and adorned with fine gardens and orchards, while lovely islands,
+covered with lofty trees, rose from the river and delighted the eye. I
+thought Canada then and I have never changed my opinion since the most
+beautiful country in the world.
+
+On the 13th of May we passed the Island of Orleans, which we no sooner
+rounded than the Falls of Montmorenci burst upon my sight. I was
+unprepared for the scene, which I contemplated in silent astonishment.
+No words written down by the man, at this distance of time, can
+describe the vivid feelings of the boy. I have since beheld the mighty
+cataracts of Niagara, so finely described by its Indian name, “The
+Thunder of Waters;” but I concur in the general opinion, that if those
+of Niagara are more stupendous, the Falls of Montmorenci are more
+beautiful and picturesque.
+
+Quebec soon came in view, with its strong fortress crowning the
+imposing height of Cape Diamond. No one can look upon the old capital
+of Canada without remembering that the most gallant British soldier of
+the age fell in the battle that added the colony to the other
+dependencies of the English crown.
+
+I remembered, too, with some pleasure, that the paternal dining-room
+contained a looking-glass one of the fine old Venetian plates, framed
+with ebony, which had once formed a part of the General’s personal
+property. It had been for two centuries in his family, but had since
+become a valued heirloom in mine. His manly features must often have
+been reflected on its brilliant surface, and that circumstance, which
+had formerly endeared it to his aged mother, had made it prized by
+mine.
+
+We have also a bureau, very complete, but evidently constructed more
+for use than ornament, which might have once contained the papers of
+this distinguished soldier, while the book-case, to which it was
+annexed, had probably held his little library. His cruet-stand, which
+looks as if it had been made in the patriarchal times, is still in use
+at Reydon Hall.
+
+The reader must pardon this digression, since distinguished worth and
+valour give an interest even to trivial objects.
+
+Quebec consists of two towns, the Upper and Lower, and is adorned with
+a cathedral, whose metallic roof glitters in the sun like a vast
+diamond. Indeed, the tin-roofs of the churches and public buildings
+give this city a splendid look on a bright sunshiny day, testifying,
+moreover, to the dryness of the air. Captain Stoddart took me all over
+this curious city, and kindly introduced me to one of the partners of a
+great mercantile house, who invited us both to dinner. We regaled
+ourselves on smelts, fillet of veal, and old English roast beef, to
+which hospitable meal we did ample justice, not forgetting to pledge
+our absent friends in bumpers of excellent wine.
+
+The inhabitants of Quebec are very kind to strangers, and are a fine
+race of people. French is spoken here not, however, very purely, being
+a _patois_ as old as the time of Henry IV. of France, when this part of
+Canada was first colonized; but English is generally understood by the
+mercantile classes.
+
+This city is visited, at intervals, with slight shocks of
+earthquake.[2] Nothing serious has yet followed this periodical
+phenomenon. But will this visitation be only confined to the mountain
+range north of Quebec, where the great earthquake that convulsed a
+portion of the globe in 1663 has left visible marks of its influence,
+by overturning the sand-stone rocks of a tract extending over three
+hundred miles?[3] Quebec contains several nunneries, for the French
+inhabitants are mostly Roman catholics. The nuns are very useful to
+emigrants, who have often been bountifully relieved by these charitable
+vestals, who employ themselves in nursing the sick and feeding the
+hungry.
+
+ [2] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology.”
+
+
+ [3] “Encyclopædia of Geography.”
+
+
+The inhabitants—or _habitans_, as the French Canadians are usually
+termed—are an amiable, hospitable, simple people, kind in manner, and
+generous in disposition. The women are lively and agreeable, and as
+fond of dress in Quebec as in other civilized places. They are pretty
+in early youth in the Lower Province, but lose their complexions sooner
+than the English ladies, owing, perhaps, to the rigour of the
+climate.[4] However, they possess charms superior to beauty, and seem
+to retain the affections of their husbands to the last hour of their
+lives.
+
+ [4] Mac Taggart’s “Three Years’ Residence in Canada.”
+
+
+Short as was my stay in Quebec, I could not leave without regret the
+hospitable city where I had received from strangers such a warm
+welcome. I have never visited the Lower Province since; but my
+remembrance of its old capital is still as agreeable as it is distinct.
+The next day our brig was taken in tow by the fine steam-boat, the
+“Richelieu de Chambly,” and with a leading wind and tide in our favour
+we proceeded at a rapid rate up the river.
+
+I shall not attempt to describe the charming scenery of this most
+beautiful of all rivers, which has already been so amply described by
+abler writers. I was delighted with everything I saw; but nothing
+occurred worthy of narration.
+
+The next day saw us safely moored in the port of Montreal, just
+forty-five days from our departure from the London Docks. Montreal is a
+handsome town, well situated, and must eventually become the most
+important city in British North America. The river here is very broad.
+The Lachine rapids commence immediately above the town, which are an
+impediment to the navigation, now obviated by a canal terminating at
+the village of Lachine, I believe nine miles distant from Montreal.
+
+I took my passage in a Durham boat, bound for Kingston, which started
+the next day. We had hard work poling up the rapids. I found I had
+fallen in with a rough set of customers, and determined in my own mind
+to leave them as soon as possible, which I happily effected the next
+evening when we landed at Les Cedres. Here the great Otawa pours its
+mighty stream into the St. Lawrence, tinging its green waters with a
+darker hue, which can be traced for miles, till it is ultimately lost
+in the rapids below.
+
+I now determined to walk to Prescot, where I knew I should be able to
+take the steam-boat for Kingston, on Lake Ontario. At the Coteau du Lac
+I fell in with a Roman Catholic Irishman, named Mooney. We travelled in
+company for three days, and as I had nothing else to do, I thought I
+might as well make an effort to convert him. However, I signally
+failed; and only endangered my own head by my zeal.
+
+In the heat of argument and the indiscretion of youth, I used
+expressions which the Papist considered insulting to his religion. He
+was not one to put up patiently with this, so he would fire up, twirl
+his blackthorn round his head, and say, “By St. Patrick, you had better
+not say that again!” In everything else we agreed well enough; but I
+found, on parting, that all my eloquence had been entirely thrown away.
+Mr. Mooney remained just as firm a Roman Catholic as ever. Indeed, it
+was the height of presumption in me, a boy in my twentieth year, to
+attempt the conversion of such a strict Romanist as this Irishman.
+
+The weather was excessively fine. The trees were just bursting into
+leaf. The islands in the St. Lawrence, which are here numerous, wore
+the brightest hues, and presented a charming contrast to the foaming
+rapids.
+
+I remained two or three days at Prescot, waiting the arrival of my
+baggage, which I had left on board the Durham boat. I amused myself
+during the interval by taking walks in the neighbourhood. The land
+appeared very sandy, the timber being chiefly hemlock: the situation of
+the town is good. Steam-navigation commenced at this place, and now
+that the Welland Canal is completed, it affords an uninterrupted
+navigation be borne in mind that at the time of which I am to the head
+of Lakes Huron and Michigan. It must speaking (1825), the great St.
+Lawrence Canal and the Rideau were not commenced, but since their
+completion the Durham boats and small steamers have given place to a
+set of superb boats affording the best accommodation, whereby the
+passage from Montreal to Toronto can be performed at half the expense,
+and in one-third of the time.
+
+My baggage having arrived, I left Prescot by boat in the evening for
+Kingston, at that time the second town both in size and importance in
+Canada West. It must, on account of its situation as a military and
+naval post, always be a place of consequence. I fell in there with an
+old sea-dog, who had commanded a vessel, for many years trading between
+London and Quebec. He had had the misfortune to lose his vessel, which
+was wrecked on the rocks at Gaspe, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence.
+I was glad to find the friends I was going to reside with had come out
+passengers in his ship, and that the schooner he then commanded was
+bound for the Big-bay (now called Windsor), in the township of Whitby,
+within six or seven miles of my friends’ residence, and that they would
+sail in two days at farthest.
+
+On our passage from Prescot to Kingston we passed Brockville, which
+looked very pretty from the river, and soon afterwards we were
+threading our way through the intricacies of the Thousand Islands.[5]
+Who has not heard of the far-famed Thousand Islands—the Archipelago of
+the St. Lawrence? Nothing can exceed the beauty of this spot. The river
+is here several miles in width, studded with innumerable islands, of
+every variety of form. The moon shone brightly on this lovely scene:
+not a ripple stirred the mirror-like bosom of the stream—“There was not
+a breath the blue wave to curl.”
+
+ [5] “The Lake of the Thousand Isles. The expression was thought to be
+ a vague exaggeration, till the Isles were officially surveyed, and
+ found to amount to 1692. A sail through them presents one of the most
+ singular and romantic succession of scenes that can be imagined—the
+ Isles are of every size, form, height and aspect; woody, verdant,
+ rocky; naked, smiling, barren; and they present as numerous a
+ succession of bays, inlets, and channels as occur in all the rest of
+ the continent put together.” “Encyclopædia of Geography,” iv. 1321.
+
+
+The reflection of the trees in the water enhanced the natural beauties
+I have endeavoured to describe.
+
+The next morning, June the 3rd, I embarked on board the schooner
+“Shamrock,” on my way to Darlington. We passed the Duck islands towards
+evening, and found ourselves fairly launched on the bosom of the Great
+Ontario. We anchored next day opposite the town of Cobourg, then a
+small village, without a harbour, now a fine, handsome, well-built
+town, containing a population of nearly 4,000 inhabitants. A large sum
+of money has been laid out in the construction of a harbour, which
+appears to answer very well.
+
+Cobourg is the county-town for the counties of Northumberland and
+Durham, which comprehend the following townships: Darlington, Clarke,
+Hope, Hamilton, Haldimand, Cramache, Murray, Seymour, Percy, Alnwick,
+South Monaghan, Cavan, Manvers, and Cartwright. The soil of most of
+these townships is of excellent quality, particularly the fronts of
+Hamilton, Haldimand, and all Cavan, being generally composed of a deep
+rich loam.
+
+These townships are well watered by numerous spring creeks, bounded to
+the north and east by the river Trent, Skugog and Rice Lakes; and to
+the south, for about sixty miles, by Lake Ontario. The chief towns are
+Cobourg, Port Hope, and Bournauville. As I shall have occasion in
+another place to speak more fully respecting these counties, I shall
+take my readers again on board the “Shamrock.”
+
+Our captain having to land some goods at Cobourg, we were detained
+there all night. He invited a few friends to pass the evening. A jolly
+set of fellows they were, and they initiated me into the mysteries of
+brewing whiskey-punch, a beverage I had never before tasted, and which
+I found very palatable. The song and the joke went round till the small
+hours warned us to retire.
+
+On Sunday morning, June the 5th, I landed at the Big-bay (Windsor), in
+Whitby, and after bidding adieu to my fellow-voyagers commenced my
+journey to my friends in Darlington on foot. Whitby, at the time of
+which I am speaking, was only partially settled, and chiefly by
+Americans. This township is justly considered one of the best between
+Toronto and Kingston. At present the township is well settled and
+well-cultivated. Nearly all the old settlers are gone, and their farms
+have, for the most part, been purchased by old country farmers and
+gentlemen, the log-buildings having given place to substantial stone,
+brick, or frame houses. The village of Oshawa, in this township, now
+contains upwards of one thousand inhabitants, more than double the
+number the whole township could boast of when I first set foot on its
+soil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+ARRIVAL AT DARLINGTON.—KIND RECEPTION.—MY FRIEND’S LOCATION.—HIS
+INEXPERIENCE.—DAMAGE TO HIS LAND BY FIRE.—GREAT CONFLAGRATION AT
+MIRAMACHI.—FOREST FIRES.—MIGHTY CONFLAGRATION OF THE 6TH OF
+OCTOBER.—AFFECTING STORY OF A LUMBER-FOREMAN.—HIS PRESENCE OF MIND, AND
+WONDERFUL PRESERVATION.—THE SAD FATE OF HIS COMPANIONS.
+
+I was now very near to my ark of refuge, and the buoyant spirit of
+early youth, with its joyous anticipations of a radiant future, bore me
+exultingly forward. It might have been said of me in the beautiful
+lines of the poet:
+
+“He left his home with a bounding heart,
+    For the world was all before him;
+And he scarcely felt it a pain to part,
+    Such sun-bright hopes came o’er him.”[1]
+
+
+ [1] Alarie A. Watts.
+
+
+Two hours’ brisk walking brought me to the long-looked-for end of my
+journey. I was received with the greatest kindness and hospitality;
+and, in a few days, felt quite at home and comfortable in my new
+quarters.
+
+After some days’ rest, I commenced operations by assisting my friend on
+the farm and in the store. From my practical knowledge of farming,
+acquired upon my mother’s estate, I was soon installed as manager in
+that department.
+
+Our farm contained upwards of two hundred acres of cleared land, the
+largest proportion of which consisted of meadows and pastures, but the
+soil was light and sandy, and altogether very indifferent. My friend,
+Colonel B—— had been imposed upon by the Yankee, of whom he had bought
+it, and no wonder, when I tell you that my friend had formerly held a
+situation under Government, and had lived in London all his life.
+
+Only the first three concessions of this township were settled at this
+time, the remainder of the land being generally in the hands of
+absentee proprietors. I am happy to say, the absentee tax has had the
+effect of throwing vast quantities of these lands into the market.
+
+This township, like Whitby, is now well settled, and though not
+generally equal in regard to soil, is still considered a good township.
+Bowmanville is the principal town, containing about twelve hundred
+inhabitants. In 1825 it only boasted a grist-mill, saw-mill, a store,
+and half-a-dozen houses. I mention this, merely to show how much the
+country has improved in a few years. This is not an isolated fact it
+applies to nearly all Canada West.
+
+My intention was, to stay with my friends till the ensuing spring, and
+to get a little insight into Canadian farming, clearing land, &c., that
+I might have some experience before commencing operations on my own
+account.
+
+The situation of my friend’s house was close to the Toronto road,
+partly built of logs and framework: it had been designed by the former
+Yankee proprietor, and could certainly boast of no architectural
+beauties. We lived about a mile and a half from the lake shore, and I
+took advantage of my vicinity to the water to bathe daily. I found
+great refreshment in this, for the weather was very hot and dry. The
+drought lasted for some time, and among its consequences, I may mention
+the prevalence of extensive fires.[2] Several broke out in our
+neighbourhood, and, at last, the mischief reached our own farm. It
+destroyed several thousand rails, and spread over forty or fifty acres
+of meadow land. We ultimately stopped its further progress in the
+clearing, by ploughing furrows round the fire and a thunder-shower in
+the evening completed its extinction. Fire seldom runs in the woods on
+good land, and where the timber is chiefly deciduous, but on sandy,
+pine, or hemlock lands, or where evergreens chiefly prevail.
+
+ [2] Fires in Canada are of frequent occurrence, and are generally
+ caused by the burning of brush-wood or log-heaps by the settlers. In
+ dry weather, with a brisk wind, the fire is apt to run on the surface
+ of the ground in the bush, where the dry leaves are thickest. In
+ clearing the land a good deal of brush-wood and tops of trees are
+ thrown into the edge of the woods. It follows, as a matter of course,
+ that the greatest danger to be apprehended is the burning the
+ boundary-fences of farms. I have heard it asserted that these fires
+ are sometimes caused by spontaneous combustion, which I consider
+ altogether a fallacy.
+
+
+I have seldom known very serious damage by these fires done in Canada
+West, although occasionally a barn or house falls a sacrifice to the
+devouring element. Not so, however, in some parts of Nova Scotia and
+New Brunswick, where extensive conflagrations often devastate the
+country for miles round. Of such a character was the great fire at
+Miramichi, which nearly destroyed Fredericton, and was attended not
+only with an immense loss of property but with the sad loss of many
+valuable lives. I will presently give in his own forcible and feeling
+language the history of a lumberer who escaped from destruction after
+being for some time in imminent peril of his life. He was one of the
+few persons who had the good fortune of escaping the great
+conflagration in Miramichi, which broke out in the October after my
+arrival, and excited so much general sympathy. Fifteen of his comrades
+perished in the flames.
+
+The narrative which I introduce here, anticipating by a few months the
+proper order of narration, was related to me by the man himself with
+that native eloquence which often surprises, and always interests us in
+the uneducated. The class to which he belongs is one peculiar to
+America. Rough in manners, and often only half-civilized, the lumberer,
+as an individual, resembles little the woodsman of other lands. He is
+generally a Canadian Frenchman, or a breed between the Irish and the
+native of the Lower Province. However, some Yankees may be found among
+these denizens of the woods and wilds of Canada. The fearful
+conflagration to which our poor lumberer nearly fell a victim, has been
+thus ably described in M’Gregor’s “British America.” “In October, 1825,
+about a hundred and forty miles in extent, and a vast breadth of the
+country on the north, and from sixty to seventy miles on the south side
+of Miramachi river, became a scene of perhaps the most dreadful
+conflagration that has occurred in the history of the world.
+
+“In Europe we can scarcely form a conception of the fury and rapidity
+with which fires rage through the forests of America during a dry hot
+season, at which period the broken underwood, decayed vegetable
+substances, fallen branches, bark, and withered trees, are as
+inflammable as the absence of moisture can make them. To such
+irresistible food for combustion we must add the auxiliary afforded by
+the boundless fir forests, every tree of which in its trunk, bark,
+branches, and leaves contains vast quantities of inflammable resin.
+
+“When one of these fires is once in motion, or at least when the flames
+extent over a few miles of the forest, the surrounding air becomes
+highly rarefied, and the wind consequently increases till it blows a
+perfect hurricane. It appears, that the woods had been on both sides of
+the north-west partially on fire for some days, but not to an alarming
+extent until the 7th of October, when it came on to blow furiously from
+the westward, and the inhabitants along the river were suddenly
+surprised by an extraordinary roaring in the woods, resembling the
+crashing and detonation of loud and incessant thunder, while at the
+same instant the atmosphere became thick darkened with smoke.
+
+“They had scarcely time to ascertain the cause of this awful phenomenon
+before all the surrounding woods appeared in one vast blaze, the flames
+ascending from one to two hundred feet above the tops of the loftiest
+trees; and the fire rolling forward with inconceivable celerity,
+presented the terribly sublime appearance of an impetuous flaming
+ocean. In less than an hour, Douglas Town and Newcastle were in a
+blaze: many of the wretched inhabitants perished in the flames. More
+than a hundred miles of the Miramichi were laid waste, independent of
+the north-west branch, the Baltibag, and the Nappen settlements. From
+one to two hundred persons perished within immediate observation, while
+thrice that number were miserably burned or wounded, and at least two
+thousand were left destitute of the means of subsistence, and were
+thrown for a time on the humanity of the Province of New Brunswick. The
+number of lives that were lost in the woods could not at the time be
+ascertained, but it was thought few were left to tell the tale.
+
+“Newcastle presented a fearful scene of ruin and devastation, only
+fourteen out of two hundred and fifty houses and stores remained
+standing.
+
+“The court-house, jail, church, and barracks, Messrs. Gilmour, Rankin,
+and Co.’s, and Messrs. Abrams and Co.’s establishment, with two ships
+on the stocks, were reduced to ashes.
+
+“The loss of property is incalculable, for the fire, borne upon the
+wings of a hurricane, rushed on the wretched inhabitants with such
+inconceivable rapidity that the preservation of their lives could be
+their only care.
+
+“Several ships were burned on shore, while others were saved from the
+flames by the exertions of their owners, after being actually on fire.
+
+“At Douglas Town scarcely any kind of property escaped the ravages of
+the fire, which swept off the surface everything coming in contact with
+it, leaving but time for the unfortunate inhabitants to fly to the
+shore; and there, by means of boats, canoes, rafts of timber, logs, or
+any article, however ill calculated for the purpose, they endeavoured
+to escape from the dreadful scene and reach the town of Chatham,
+numbers of men, women, and children perishing in the attempt.
+
+“In some parts of the country all the cattle were either destroyed or
+suffering greatly, for the very soil was parched and burnt up, while
+scarcely any article of provision was rescued from the flames.
+
+“The hurricane raged with such dreadful violence, that large bodies of
+timber on fire, as well as trees from the forest and parts of the
+flaming houses and stores, were carried to the rivers with amazing
+velocity, to such an extent and affecting the water in such a manner,
+as to occasion large quantities of salmon and other fish to resort to
+land, hundreds of which were scattered on the shores of the south and
+west branches.
+
+“Chatham was filled with three hundred miserable sufferers: every hour
+brought to it the wounded and burned in the most abject state of
+distress. Great fires raged about the same time in the forests of the
+River St. John, which destroyed much property and timber, with the
+governor’s house, and about eighty private houses at Fredericton. Fires
+raged also at the same time in the northern parts of the Province, as
+far as the Bay de Chaleur.
+
+“It is impossible to tell how many lives were lost, as many of those
+who were in the woods among the lumbering parties, had no friends nor
+connections in the country to remark on their non-appearance. Five
+hundred have been computed as the least number that actually perished
+in the flames.
+
+“The destruction of bears, foxes, tiger-cats, martens, hares,
+squirrels, and other wild animals, was very great. These, when
+surprised by such fires, are said to lose their usual sense of
+preservation, and becoming, as it were, either giddy or fascinated,
+often rush into the face of inevitable destruction: even the birds,
+except these of very strong wing, seldom escape. Some, particularly the
+partridge, become stupified; and the density of the smoke, the rapid
+velocity of the flames, and the violence of the winds, effectually
+prevent the flight of others.”
+
+It was from this mighty destruction that the forecast and admirable
+presence of mind displayed by the lumberer, whose pathetic story I am
+about to relate, saved him. I could not fail, while rejoicing in his
+escape, to impute his self-possession to the compassion of the all-wise
+Being who had made him such an instance of His mercy.
+
+“The weather,” said he, “had been unusually dry for the season, and
+there had been no rain for upwards of three weeks before this calamity
+took place. We had only just completed our shanty, and had commenced
+felling timber ready for squaring, when it occurred. We had heard from
+our teamsters, who had brought us out pork and flour, the day previous,
+that fires were raging in the woods some miles to the eastward of us.
+However, we paid but little attention to what appeared to us a common
+occurrence.
+
+“After supper, one of our men went out of the shanty, but immediately
+returned to tell us ‘that a dreadful conflagration was raging within a
+mile or so of our dwelling.’ We immediately rushed out to ascertain the
+truth of his assertion. I shall never forget,” he continued, “the sight
+presented to our view: as far as the eye could reach we saw a wall of
+fire higher than the tree-tops, and we heard the mighty sound of the
+rushing flames mingled with the crashing fall of the timber.
+
+“A single glance convinced us that not a minute was to be lost; we did
+not stop even to try and secure our clothing, but made our way as
+quickly as possible to a small river about two hundred yards from our
+shanty, and which we knew was our only chance of preservation.
+
+“We reached the stream in safety, where I determined to take my stand.
+My comrades, however, were of a different opinion: they contended that
+the fire would not cross the river, which was upwards of thirty yards
+in width. Unfortunately, no argument of mine could induce them to stay,
+though I was well aware, and represented to them that such a body of
+flame would not be stayed a minute by such a barrier.
+
+“My comrades, hoping to reach an old clearance of some acres, about
+half a mile in advance, in spite of all entreaties crossed the stream,
+and were soon lost to my view never more to be seen alive by me.
+
+“I waded down the stream, till I found a place where the water was up
+to my arm-pits, and the bank of the river rose about six feet over my
+head. There I took my stand, and awaited the event in breathless
+anxiety. I had no time to look around me. The few minutes which had
+elapsed, had greatly added to the terrors of the scene.
+
+“As the wall of fire advanced, fresh trees in succession were enveloped
+by the flames. A bright glare crimsoned the clouds with a lurid glow,
+while the air was filled with a terrible noise. The heat now became
+intense. I looked up once more; the trees above me caught fire at that
+instant, the next, I was holding my breath a foot beneath the surface
+of the running stream. Every few seconds I was compelled to raise my
+head to breathe, which I accomplished with great difficulty. In a few
+minutes, which seemed ages to me, I was enabled to stand upright, and
+look around me. What desolation a short half hour had effected! In
+front, the conflagration was still raging with unabated fury, while in
+the rear the fire had consumed all the under-brush and limbs of the
+trees, leaving a forest of blackened poles still blazing fiercely,
+though not with the intense heat caused by the balsam and
+pine-brushwood.
+
+“It was several hours before I durst quit my sanctuary to search for my
+companions, the blackened remains of whom I found not a quarter of a
+mile from the river.
+
+“Our shanty,[3] and all that it contained, was utterly consumed. I,
+however, succeeded in finding in the cellar beneath its ruins, as much
+provisions uninjured as served to carry me through to the settlements,
+which I ultimately reached, though not without great difficulty.”
+
+ [3] A shanty is a building made with logs, higher in the front than
+ the back, making a fall to the roof, which is generally covered with
+ troughs made of pine or bass-wood logs; the logs are first split fair
+ in the middle, and hollowed out with the axe and adze. A row of these
+ troughs is then laid from the front or upper wall-plate, sloping down
+ to the back plate, the hollowed side uppermost. The covering-troughs
+ is then placed with the hollow reversed, either edge resting in the
+ centre of the under trough. A door in the front and one window
+ complete the building. Such is commonly the first dwelling of the
+ settler. The lumber-shanty differs both in shape and size, being much
+ larger, and the roof sloping both ways, with a raised hearth in the
+ centre of the floor, with an aperture directly above for the escape of
+ the smoke. It has no window. One door at the end, and two tier of bed
+ berths, one above the other, complete the _tout ensemble_. These
+ shanties are generally constructed to accommodate from two to three
+ gangs of lumber men, with shed-room for twelve or fourteen span of
+ oxen or horses span being the Canadian term for pair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+INEXPERIENCE OF MY FRIEND.—BAD STATE OF HIS LAND.—FALL
+WHEAT.—FENCING.—GRASSES.—INVITATION TO A “BEE.”—UNITED LABOUR.—CANADIAN
+SPORTS.—DEGENERACY OF BEES.
+
+Colonel B—— was an old and valued friend of my family, who had held a
+lucrative situation under Government for many years. His retirement
+from public life, on some disgust, had eventually led to his settlement
+in Canada.
+
+Now, his literary tastes and sedentary habits had ill-fitted him for
+the rough customs of the colony. Besides having scarcely seen a grain
+of corn in its progressive state from the blade to its earing and
+harvest, he knew nothing of agricultural operations. Of stock he was
+equally ignorant, and of the comparative goodness or badness of soil he
+was, of course, no judge. Such a man, in the choice of a farm, was sure
+to be shaved by the shrewd Yankee proprietor, and my poor friend was
+shaved accordingly.
+
+I found my friend’s farm had been much neglected. His out-door
+labourers were all from the south of Ireland, and had never before
+followed farming operations. In consequence of their inexperience, half
+the clearing was quite overrun with raspberries and Canadian thistles.
+(The latter weed is far more troublesome to eradicate than any other I
+know. It is the same as the common corn-thistle, or _Serratula
+arvensis_, so well known to English agriculturists).
+
+As we intended to prepare a large piece of ground for summer-fallow, it
+was necessary to get rid of those stumps of the trees, which, according
+to the practice of chopping them two or three feet from the ground,
+present a continual obstacle to the advance of the plough. We, however,
+succeeded in getting clear of them by hitching a logging-chain round
+the stump near the top, when a sudden jerk from the oxen was generally
+sufficient to pull it up. For the larger, and those more firmly fixed
+in the ground, we made use of a lever about twenty feet long, and about
+eight or nine inches in diameter, one end of which was securely chained
+to the stump, the oxen being fastened to the other and made to go in a
+circular direction, a manoeuvre which rarely fails of the desired
+effect. This plan will not answer unless the roots are sufficiently
+decayed. During dry weather the application of fire produces more
+effectual results. A few embers shaken from a cedar-torch on the crown
+of the stump are sufficient for the purpose: some hundreds of these
+blazing merrily at night have a very pretty effect.
+
+In ten or twelve years the hard woods, such as oak, ash, beech and
+maple disappear; but the stumps of the evergreens, such as pine,
+hemlock and cedar, are much more difficult to eradicate.
+
+The land being of a sandy nature, we had but few stones to contend
+with. When such is the case, we raise them above the surface, by the
+help of levers. By these means, stones of half a ton weight can be
+easily lifted from their beds. The larger ones are generally drawn off
+the fields to make the foundations of fences, and those of a smaller
+size are used in the construction of French drains.
+
+To succeed well with your summer fallow, it is necessary to have the
+sod all turned over with the plough by the end of May, or sooner if
+possible. Shortly afterwards the fallow should be well harrowed; in
+July it should be crossed, ploughed and harrowed, and rolled at least
+twice before the final ploughing or ridging up, which should be
+completed by the last week in August.
+
+Fall-wheat should be sown between the first and fifteenth day of
+September.[1] The sooner the better, in my opinion, because the plant
+is stronger and better able to withstand the frost, and is decidedly
+less liable to rust. Our fallow having been prepared in this manner,
+and sown broad-cast with fall-wheat, the next object was to fence in
+the field securely, which is done in the following way. Trees of a
+straight growth and straight also in the grain are selected and cut
+into twelve feet lengths, and are then, by the means of a beetle and
+wedges, split into rails as nearly four inches square as possible. The
+rails are then laid in a zigzag direction, crossing each other about a
+foot from the end, making an angle of about six feet. Seven rails in
+height, crowned by a stake and rider, complete the fence. The best
+timbers for making rails, are pine, cedar, oak and black and white ash:
+these kinds of timbers will last about thirty years. Bass-wood is more
+commonly used for the first fences, because it is to be procured in
+greater abundance, and splits more easily; but as it will not last more
+than ten years, I would not recommend settlers to use it, if the other
+sorts can readily be obtained.
+
+ [1] “Fall” is the term usually applied to wheat sown in the autumn by
+ the Canadian farmer, and will be used in this sense throughout a work
+ especially written for the service of the inexperienced settler.
+
+
+In this country, hay-cutting commences about the first or second week
+in July. Timothy-grass and clover mixed or timothy alone are the best
+for hay, and the most productive. The quantity of seed required for new
+land is six quarts of grass-seed and two pounds of clover to the acre;
+on old cleared farms nearly double this seed is required. Timothy is a
+solid grass with a bulbous root. If the weather is hot and dry, the hay
+should be carted the second day after cutting, for there is no danger
+in carting it at once into your barn, the climate being so dry that it
+never heats enough to cause spontaneous combustion. We have other sorts
+of grasses, such as red-top, blue-joint, &c.: these grasses, however,
+are inferior, and therefore never grown from choice.
+
+Soon after my arrival at Darlington, one of my neighbours residing on
+the lake-shore invited me to a mowing and cradling “Bee.”[2] As I had
+never seen anything of the kind, I accepted the invitation. On my
+arrival at the farm on the appointed day, I found assembled about forty
+men and boys. A man with a pail of spring water with a wooden cup
+floating on the surface in one hand, and a bottle of whiskey and glass
+in the other, now approached the swarm, every one helping himself as he
+pleased. This man is the most important personage at the “Bee,” and is
+known by the appellation of the “Grog-bos.” On this occasion his office
+was anything but a sinecure. The heat of the weather, I suppose, had
+made our party very thirsty. There were thirty-five bees cutting hay,
+among whom I was a rather awkward volunteer, and ten cradlers[3]
+employed in cutting rye.
+
+ [2] What the Canadian settlers call a “Bee” is a neighbourly gathering
+ for any industrious purpose a friendly clubbing of labour, assisted by
+ an abundance of good cheer.
+
+
+ [3] The cradle is a scythe of larger dimensions than the common
+ hay-scythe, and is both wider in the blade and longer. A straight
+ piece of wood, called a standard, thirty inches long, is fixed
+ upright; near the end of the snaith, or handle, are four fingers made
+ of wood, the same bend as the scythe, and from six to seven inches
+ apart, directly above the scythe, and fixed firmly into the standard,
+ from which wire braces with nuts and screws to adjust the fingers.
+ These braces are secured to the fingers about eight inches from the
+ standard. The other end of the wire is then passed through the snaith
+ and drawn tight by means of a screw-nut. These machines are very
+ effective, and in the hands of a person who understands their use will
+ cut from two to three acres a-day of either wheat, oats, barley, or
+ rye.
+
+
+At eleven o’clock, cakes and pailfuls of tea were served round. At one,
+we were summoned by the sound of a tin bugle to dinner, which we found
+laid out in the barn. Some long pine-boards resting on tressels served
+for a table, which almost groaned with the good things of this earth,
+in the shape of roast lamb and green peas, roast sucking-pig, shoulder
+of mutton, apple-sauce, and pies, puddings, and preserves in abundance,
+with plenty of beer and Canadian whiskey. Our bees proved so
+industrious, that before six o’clock all Mr. Burke’s hay and rye were
+finished cutting. Supper was then served on the same scale of
+profusion, with the addition of tea. After supper a variety of games
+and gymnastics were introduced, various trials of strength, wrestling,
+running, jumping, putting the stone, throwing the hammer, &c.
+
+About nine o’clock our party broke up, and returned to their respective
+homes, well pleased with their day’s entertainment, leaving their host
+perfectly satisfied with their voluntary labour. One word about bees
+and their attendant frolic. I confess I do not like the system. I
+acknowledge, that in raising a log-house or barn it is absolutely
+necessary, especially in the Bush, but the general practice is bad.
+Some people can do nothing without a bee, and as the work has to be
+returned in the same manner, it causes a continual round of dissipation
+if not of something worse. I have known several cases of manslaughter
+arising out of quarrels produced by intoxication at these every-day
+gatherings. As population increases, and labour becomes cheaper, of
+course there will be less occasion for them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+MY MARRIAGE.—I BECOME A SETTLER ON MY OWN ACCOUNT.—I PURCHASE LAND IN
+OTONABEE.—RETURN TO DARLINGTON.—MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT DRIVING A
+SPAN.—ACTIVE MEASURES TO REMEDY A DISASTER.—PATIENCE OF MY
+FATHER-IN-LAW.—MY FIRST BEAR-HUNT.—BEAVER-MEADOWS.—CANADIAN
+THUNDERSTORMS.—FRIGHT OF A SETTLER’S FAMILY.
+
+I must now say something of myself. During my domestication under my
+friend’s roof, I became attached to one of his daughters. The affection
+was mutual; and our happiness was completed by the approbation of our
+friends. We were married; and it seemed that there was a goodly
+prospect of many years of wedded happiness before us.
+
+But it was necessary that I, who was now a husband, and might become a
+father, should become a settler on my own account, and look about for
+lands of my own. I examined, therefore, several locations in the
+neighbourhood; but one objection or another presented itself, and I
+declined fixing my settlement at Darlington. Ultimately, I bought two
+hundred acres of land in the township of Otonabee, within a mile of the
+newly laid out town of Peterborough. It was arranged that I should stop
+at Darlington, and assist my father-in-law, until it was time to
+commence operations in the spring. This arrangement proved very
+beneficial to me, as I was able to learn many useful things, and make
+myself acquainted with the manners and customs of the people with whom
+I was going to live.
+
+We kept two pair of horses and a yoke of oxen to work the farm. One
+pair of our horses were French Canadian. Generally speaking, they are
+rough-looking beasts, with shaggy manes and tails, but strong, active,
+and stout for their size, which, however, is much less than that of the
+Upper Canadian horse. I have seen, nevertheless, some very handsome
+carriage-horses of this breed. Of late years, both the Upper and Lower
+Canadian breed of horses have been much improved by the importation of
+stallions.
+
+The working oxen of this country are very docile and easily managed.
+They are extremely useful in the new settlement; indeed, I do not know
+what could be done without them. It is next to an impossibility to
+plough among the green stumps and roots with horses the plough being
+continually checked by roots and stones therefore, till these obstacles
+are removed, which cannot be effectually done for seven or eight years,
+oxen are indispensably necessary, particularly for logging up new
+fallows. Yet notwithstanding their usefulness, I do not know a worse
+treated set of animals than Canadian oxen. Their weight, when fat,
+varies from seven to eight hundred weight. A yoke and bows, made of
+birch or soft maple, is the only harness needed; and, in my opinion,
+for double draught, better, and certainly less troublesome than the
+collar and traces used in England.
+
+The ox-yoke is made of a piece of wood, four feet in length, and nine
+inches deep in the centre, to which a staple is fitted, and from which
+an iron ring depends, about a foot from the middle of the yoke each
+way, which is hollowed out, so as to fit on the top of the oxen’s
+necks. A hole is bored, two inches in diameter, on each side of the
+hollow, through which the bow is passed, and fastened on the upper side
+of the yoke by a wooden pin. The bow is bent in the shape of a
+horse-shoe, the upper, or narrow ends being passed through the yoke. If
+the yoke and bows are properly made and fit the cattle, there is no
+fear of galling the beast. The bows are made of hickory, white or rock
+elm, in this way. Cut a piece of elm, five feet and a half long, large
+enough to split into quarters, each of which will dress to two inches
+in diameter; put them in a steam-box for an hour at least; take them
+out hot, and bend on a mould made on purpose; tie the two bent-up ends
+together until dry. Every settler should know how to do these things,
+and to make his own axe-handles, and many other articles which are
+constantly required in the bush.
+
+My first attempt at driving oxen was accompanied by an unfortunate
+accident, which gave me some trouble and mortification. My
+father-in-law had lent a neighbour a plough, of which we were much in
+want. I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to try my hand
+with the oxen, to fetch it home. Now, it happened the cattle were
+young, and not very well broken, so that I found some difficulty in
+yoking and attaching them to the cart. However, I succeeded at last,
+and drove up to the door of Mr. Stephens’ house in great style. I found
+the family just going to dinner, which they courteously invited me to
+partake with them. I accepted their hospitality, and left the oxen
+standing before the door.
+
+I discussed my neighbour’s good cheer with an excellent appetite, and
+was in the very act of pledging mine host, when I heard the cattle
+start off. We left the table with precipitation, but-were, alas! too
+late to stop the refractory oxen, which galloping down a steep hill, on
+the summit of which the house was built, stumbled in their descent, and
+fell to the bottom, where we found them struggling, apparently, in the
+agonies of death. We cut the bows from their necks as soon as possible,
+but not in time to save the life of poor Spot, the near ox, who was
+quite dead; and it was for some minutes doubtful if Dandy the off
+“critter,” as the Yankees would style him would survive his companion.
+I killed the dead one over again to make its flesh fit for consumption,
+and bled the other, which happily saved its life. But, notwithstanding
+my careful endeavour to make the best of a foolish matter, I felt
+myself in an awkward predicament. To my worthy father-in-law the loss
+of an animal worth thirty dollars was, at that time, particularly
+inconvenient; but his moral justice was high and his temper mild; so he
+listened meekly to my account of the misfortune, quietly remarking,
+that it could not be helped, and that no blame attached to me. It is in
+these worrying affairs of every-day life that we discern the real
+beauty of the Christian character. My mother-in-law behaved as well, on
+this trying occasion, as any lady could do who found her larder
+suddenly stocked with a quantity of lean tough beef a prospect, indeed,
+by no means cheering to any member of the household.
+
+On my return home from my first essay in ox-driving, or rather
+ox-killing, I found Dennis, our Irish servant, waiting for me with the
+greatest impatience.
+
+“Och, sir,” he exclaimed; “if you had but been with me you might have
+shot a bear. I was out in the bush searching for the cows, and just as
+I was crossing the Big creek, near the beaver meadow, I heard a noise
+from a thicket of cedar bushes close by me, and thinking it might be
+one of the lost cows I ran forward to see, when to my astonishment and
+dismay I came suddenly upon a large bear.”
+
+“Well,” said I, “what did you do?”
+
+“Faith, then, sir, to tell you the truth, I did not do much only took
+to my heels, and ran home as fast as I could to tell you; as I thought
+yer honour might perhaps get a shot at the baste, and, troth! he warn’t
+in the laste bit of a hurry to get out my way, sure.”
+
+“Well, Dennis, only show me the brute, and it shall be a hard case if I
+do not make the addition of fat bear to eat with the lean beef, with
+which I have already stocked the larder.”
+
+I loaded my gun with ball, and in company with Dennis and his father
+started for the place where Master Bruin had been seen. I took Neptune
+with me a remarkably fine Irish greyhound one of the most powerfully
+built dogs of that breed I had ever seen, and well he proved his
+strength and courage this day, as you shall hear.
+
+After proceeding nearly two miles in an easterly direction close to the
+edge of the beaver meadow,[1] Neptune suddenly raised his head and
+looked round. In the next instant he was dashing along in full chase of
+Mr. Bruin, who was making the best of his way up a hill on the opposite
+side of the meadow.
+
+ [1] These meadows are to be found within two or three miles of each
+ other on almost every creek or small stream in Canada West. Those
+ industrious animals, the beavers, build their dams across the creeks
+ in a very ingenious manner, with clay and brush-wood. It is very
+ astonishing what ingenuity they display, and what sagacity, almost
+ amounting to reason, they show in the choice of situation for the
+ erection of these dams. It has been asserted that some years ago, when
+ the French were masters of the country, the Indians cut away the dams,
+ and killed all the beavers they could possibly find, as they did not
+ wish the reservoirs where the beavers bred to fall into the hands of
+ their white brethren. The size of these meadows varies from two or
+ three acres to two or three hundred, and in some few cases is much
+ larger.
+
+
+We joined in the chase with the greatest alacrity, but not in time to
+witness the first set-to between these savage opponents; for while we
+were gaining the brow of the hill a desperate fight was going on only a
+few yards from us. Neptune sometimes having the best of it sometimes
+Bruin. I found it quite impossible to fire for fear of killing the dog.
+We then tried to pull him off so as to enable me to shoot the bear.
+This we found equally difficult, the dog had such fast hold of his
+throat. He was, indeed, perfectly furious.
+
+Dennis, by my direction, cut a strong pole twelve or fourteen feet
+long, which we laid across the brute’s back, and pressed him down as
+tightly as we could, which, with the able assistance of Nep. kept my
+gentleman tolerably quiet till the old man cut and twisted a couple of
+withes, which he passed under the bear, near the hind and forelegs, and
+secured him firmly to the pole, which my companions lifted on their
+shoulders, from which the beast now hung suspended, and commenced our
+march homewards.
+
+I had great difficulty in keeping the dog off. He would rush in, every
+minute, in spite of all I could do, and seize poor Bruin by the side
+and shake him most unmercifully. I had enough to do with the help of a
+stout stick to keep him and the bear in order. The latter was equally
+violent striking with his fore-paws at the men who were luckily for
+them just out of his reach, and particularly so for Dennis, who marched
+in front, whose unmentionables not being in the best possible repair,
+appeared to excite Master Bruin’s particular attention.
+
+I very much wished to preserve this creature alive, that I might try
+and tame him. In this, however, I was destined to be disappointed; for
+what with the beating I was obliged to give him to keep him quiet, and
+the savage attack of the dog, he died just as we came within sight of
+the clearing. When we skinned him, we found his side much lacerated
+where the dog had bitten him. From the exaggerated description Dennis
+had given me of his size, I fully expected to find him as big as a
+bullock. He, however, only weighed a hundred and fifty-seven pounds,
+which, for a bear of two years old, which appeared to be his age, is, I
+believe, the average weight.
+
+The summer of 1825 was warm, even for Canada, where this season is
+always hot. The thermometer often ranged above 90 degrees in the shade.
+Such weather would be quite unbearable, were it not for a fine breeze
+which almost invariably springs up from the westward between ten and
+eleven o’clock in the forenoon, and continues till sunset.
+
+The nights are cooler in proportion to the heat of the day, than in
+England.
+
+This climate is subject to violent thunder-storms, accompanied by vivid
+forked lightning and heavy rain, which greatly tend to cool the air and
+make the country more healthy. Fatal accidents, however, sometimes
+occur, and houses and barns are burnt down by the electric fluid, and I
+have no doubt that, were it not for the proximity of the woods, a great
+deal more damage would be done.
+
+The lofty trees serve as conductors, particularly the pine and hemlock,
+the former, from its great height above all the other trees of the
+forest, being much more likely to be struck by the lightning than any
+other. It is a curious fact that the electric fluid invariably follows
+the grain the wood. I have often noticed in pines which had been
+struck, that the fluid had followed the grain in a spiral form,
+encircling the tree three or four times in its descent to the earth. I
+have myself witnessed some extraordinary effects produced by lightning.
+I remember that, not more than two years since, I had occasion to go
+out into the township of Douro to attend the sitting of the Council of
+which I was then a member, and I had, on my way, to pass through a
+small clearing occupied by an Irish settler, one James Lynch.
+
+This man, to save trouble, had left several large hemlock trees near
+his house. These trees had been dead for some years, consequently the
+wood was tolerably dry.[2] The day before, there had been a terrific
+thunder-storm which struck the largest, which was fully four feet in
+diameter, shivering it from top to bottom, and throwing the pieces
+around for upwards of sixty yards in every direction. If a barrel of
+gunpowder had been placed under the tree, greater devastation could not
+have been made. Lynch told me that the storm had been very severe in
+that neighbourhood.
+
+ [2] It is well knows that dry timber offers a greater resistance to
+ the electric fluid than the green.
+
+
+“We were at dinner,” he said, “when the dreadful flash came which
+shattered that tree. We were all knocked down by the shock, and
+narrowly escaped being killed, not only by the lightning, but by the
+pieces of timber which were, as you may observe, scattered in all
+directions.”
+
+After a thunder-storm, attended by heavy rain, a substance very much
+resembling sulphur is left floating on all the pools, which many people
+believe to be sulphur. This, however, is quite a mistake, for it is, in
+reality, nothing more than the farina from the cone of the pine trees.
+I have observed this substance equally abundant on the Huron tract,
+many miles from any pine grove. It must, therefore, from its lightness,
+have been carried up into the air, from whence it has been beaten down
+by the rain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+CANADIAN HARVEST.—PREPARING TIMBER FOR FRAME-BUILDINGS.—RAISING
+“BEE.”—BEAUTY OF THE CANADIAN AUTUMN.—VISIT TO OTONABEE.—ROUGH
+CONVEYANCE.—DISACCOMMODATION.—LEARNED LANDLORD.—COBOURG.—OTONABEE
+RIVER.—CHURCH OF GORE’S LANDING.—EFFECTS OF PERSERVING INDUSTRY.
+
+Our harvest, with the exception of some late oats, was all carefully
+housed by the 18th of August. Very little grain is stacked out in this
+country: even the hay is put up in barns. As timber can be had for the
+cutting, log or frame-barns can be built very cheaply. I would
+certainly recommend frame in preference to log-buildings.
+
+Square timber, fit for framing, can be purchased from four to five
+dollars per hundred feet, running measure. Twelve hundred feet are
+sufficient, varying in size from four inches to a foot square. This
+quantity will frame a barn fifty feet long by thirty feet wide, and
+sixteen in height, from the sill to the plate which supports the roof.
+Twelve thousand feet of boards and plank, at five dollars per thousand,
+superficial measure, will be enough to enclose the frame, and lay the
+threshing-floor, and board the roof ready for shingling.
+
+The best and cheapest method of barn-building is as follows: In the
+winter season cut and square with the broad axe all the frame timber
+you require, and draw it home to the place you have fixed on for the
+building, and from the saw-mill all the lumber you require. As soon as
+the weather is warm enough hire a framer, whose business is to mark out
+all the tenons and mortices, and to make or superintend the making of
+them. When ready, the building is put together in what is called bents,
+each bent consisting of two posts, one on each side of the building,
+connected together by a strong beam running across the building. The
+foundation is composed of twelve cedar blocks, three feet long, sunk
+two-thirds of their depth into the ground, one under each corner of the
+barn, and under the foot of each post. These blocks support the sills,
+which are firmly united at the corner to the cross sills. The bents,
+four in number, are then laid on this foundation, and are ready for
+raising, which is done by calling a “bee.” Thirty-five men are ample
+for this service—more are only in the way. Every two persons should be
+provided with a light balsam or cedar pole, fifteen feet in length,
+shod at the end with a ring and strong spike. These pike-poles are laid
+in order in front of the bent to be raised, one between each person.
+All being ready, the framer-gives the word “attention,” when each man
+lays hold of the bent, one man being stationed at the foot of each post
+with a hand-spike, which he presses against it to prevent its slipping.
+“Yeo heave!” is then shouted by the framer, at which every man lifts,
+waiting always for the word, and lifting together. As soon as the bent
+is lifted as high as they can reach, the pike-poles are driven into the
+beam, and the bent is soon in a perpendicular position. Several pikes
+are then stuck into the opposite side to keep the bent from being
+swayed over, until the tenons on the foot of the post is entered into
+the mortice on the sill: it is then secured by stays, until the next
+bent is raised, when the girts connect them together. In this manner
+all the bents are raised: the wall-plates are then lifted upon the
+building which connect all the bents. The tenon on the top of each post
+goes through the plate, and is firmly pinned; the putting up the
+rafters completes the frame. The raising of a building of this size
+should not occupy more than three quarters of a-day. No liquor should
+be served out to the swarm of working bees till the raising is over, as
+many serious accidents having occurred for want of this precaution.
+
+I am particular in giving these descriptions, because I flatter myself
+they may prove useful to the future colonist.
+
+The first week in September we commenced sowing our fall-wheat, and
+finished on the tenth, which is considered in good season. I would by
+all means recommend early sowing, especially on old cleared farms. Late
+sown wheat is more liable to winter-kill and rust. In fact, you can
+hardly sow too early to ensure a good crop.
+
+September is the most beautiful month in the Canadian year. The weather
+is neither too hot nor too cold. Nothing can be more delightfully
+pleasant; for, in this month, the foliage of the trees begins to put on
+that gorgeous livery for which the North American continent is so
+justly celebrated. Every variety of tint, from the brightest scarlet
+and deepest orange, yellow and green, with all the intermediate shades
+blended together, form one of the most beautiful natural pictures you
+can possibly conceive.
+
+I received a very pressing invitation from my wife’s brother-in-law,
+who resided near the foot of Rice Lake, in the township of Otonabee, to
+come and spend a few days with him. As an additional inducement, he
+promised to show me some capital duck-shooting. I was too fond of
+fowling to decline such an invitation as this. Besides, I wished to see
+that new settlement. The township lies north of Rice Lake, which forms
+its southern boundary: it is the largest in the county of Peterborough,
+with the exception of Harvey. Otonabee contains above eighty thousand
+acres, and is now the most populous as well as one of the most fertile
+townships in the county, which, at the time of which I am writing, had
+been just opened by the Government for location.
+
+The only practicable road then to this settlement was from Cobourg,
+distant twelve miles from the southern shore of Rice Lake, leading over
+a chain of hills, the highest of which is, I believe, about seven
+hundred feet above the level of Lake Ontario, and from whence, on a
+very clear day, the opposite shore may be seen, though the distance is
+nearly sixty-five miles. I have heard this statement disputed, but I am
+perfectly convinced of the truth from having myself seen, on several
+occasions, the United States’ shore of the lake from White’s Hill,
+which is several hundred feet lower.
+
+It was arranged that I should drive my wife as far as Cobourg, and
+leave her with some friends till my return. I was to take out with me
+from Cobourg the gentleman’s sister, Miss Jane W——, who was to return
+with me.
+
+We left Darlington in a one-horse pleasure-waggon so called, or rather
+mis-called, by the natives. For my part, I never could find in what the
+pleasure consisted, unless in being jerked every minute two or three
+feet from your seat by the unevenness of the road and want of springs
+in your vehicle, or the next moment being soused to the axletree in a
+mud-hole, from which, perhaps, you were obliged to extricate your
+carriage by the help of a lever in the shape of a rail taken from some
+farmer’s fence by the roadside. You are no sooner freed from this
+Charybdis, than you fall into Scylla, formed by half a mile of
+corduroy-bridge, made of round logs, varying from nine to fifteen
+inches in diameter, which, as you may suppose, does not make the most
+even surface imaginable, and over which you are jolted in the roughest
+style possible, at the expense of your breath and injury of your
+person. I am happy to say that better roads and a better description of
+pleasure-carriages have superseded these inconvenient conveyances.
+
+Since the institution of county councils, and the formation of towns
+and townships into municipalities, great attention has been bestowed,
+and large sums of money voted, for the improvement of roads and
+bridges; and several Joint-stock companies, chartered by the Provincial
+Parliament, have completed sundry lines of plank and macadamized roads,
+on which toll-gates have been erected. What has already been done in
+this way has added greatly to the wealth and settlement of the
+province. No one can understand, indeed, except the early settler, what
+a blessing a good road is, especially to those who are too far back for
+the benefit of water communication.
+
+The day was fine and clear when we started, and we congratulated
+ourselves on the prospect of a pleasant journey, which, I am sorry to
+say, was not to be verified. Distant thunder soon warned us that we
+might expect a storm. We hurried on as fast as possible, in hope we
+might be able to get through the nine-mile woods, in the township of
+Clarke, before the bursting of the storm. In this, however, we were
+disappointed; for, before we were half through the woods, the rain fell
+in torrents, accompanied by the loudest thunder and most vivid
+lightning I had ever seen. After above an hour’s most pitiless pelting,
+we found ourselves suddenly before a small log-house, in front of
+which, swinging between two upright posts, a cross-bar connecting them
+at the top, depended a sign, on which was described, in large
+characters, for the information of all way-worn or thirsty-travellers,
+“that good liquor, good beds, and good accommodations, both for man and
+horse, could be had from the proprietor, Thomas Turner Orton.”
+
+Although from the outward appearance of the premises we did not expect
+the best accommodation, we thought anything better than being exposed
+longer to the fury of the storm, so giving our horse and waggon to the
+charge of the ostler, we entered Mr. Orton’s tavern, and demanded to be
+shown into a private room, which request we found it was out of the
+power of mine host to comply with, seeing he had only one apartment,
+which answered the treble purpose of parlour, kitchen, and bar-room.
+Besides this general apartment there were two small bedrooms on the
+ground-floor. Luckily for us, a good fire blazed on the ample hearth,
+its only occupant, in the shape of a guest, being a gentleman from Port
+Hope, who, like ourselves, had just taken refuge from the storm.
+
+While our clothes were being dried, our hostess prepared dinner, which
+consisted of a boiled chicken, eggs, and fried ham, which we found
+excellent, and, as a preventive against catching cold, after the
+soaking we had got, I ordered some whiskey-punch, which I have always
+found very efficacious on such occasions. Some people recommend tea
+made from the boughs of the hemlock-pine, which, I dare say, is
+excellent for some constitutions; but it never agreed half so well with
+mine as the former antidote, which I can conscientiously recommend but,
+like all other medicines, an over-dose may do more harm than good.
+
+Our host, who appeared to make himself quite at home in his own house,
+joined in the conversation, and being very communicative about his own
+affairs, wanted us to be equally so about ours. His eccentricity
+greatly amused us. He informed me that he was by birth a Yorkshireman,
+and that he had been in business in London, where he had built some
+fine “place” or “terrace,” which still bore his name. He spouted Latin
+occasionally, and showed me a Greek lexicon, which he told me was his
+constant companion. His real stock of Latin and Greek consisted only of
+a few words and sentences he had picked up, and which he quoted
+ostentatiously before the ignorant, who of course thought him a prodigy
+of learning.
+
+As it continued to rain all the evening, I was obliged to give orders
+to have my horse put up for the night, and also to see what
+accommodation could be had for ourselves. I found on examination that
+this was bad enough at least I thought so then, though many a time
+since I should have been happy to obtain any half as good.
+
+We started early next morning, and reached Cobourg, without any farther
+adventure, about noon on the same day. We halted there three days. I
+left my wife with our friends, and took charge of Miss W—— to escort
+her to her brother’s house.
+
+We left Cobourg for Rice Lake which was distant about twelve or
+thirteen miles from thence. It was a delightful morning in October; and
+our road, though very bad, and in some places positively dangerous,
+where it descended into the deep ravines, was at the same time so
+picturesque that we were quite delighted with our drive, and
+particularly so when, emerging from the woods, we entered
+Hamilton-plains, and beheld in the distance the glittering waters of
+Rice Lake, and the gem-like islands which adorn its unruffled surface.
+
+Rice Lake, or the Lake of the Burning Plains, as it is called in the
+Indian language, is a fine sheet of water, twenty-seven miles in length
+from east to west, varying from two to three and a half miles in width.
+About six miles from its head on the northern shore it receives the
+waters of the Otonabee river, which, rising near the head-waters of the
+Madawaska, flows in nearly a westerly direction, into Balsam Lake,
+where it takes a more southerly direction, forming in its course a
+succession of beautiful lakes for upwards of sixty miles. Ten miles
+above Peterborough, and directly opposite my own farm in the township
+of Douro, it suddenly contracts its channel and becomes a rapid and
+impetuous stream. According to a survey ordered by the-government, it
+was ascertained that from a point on my farm, at the foot of
+Kawchewahnoonk Lake, and distant from Peterborough nearly ten miles,
+there is a fall of one hundred and forty-seven feet, affording an
+unlimited water-power, which has already been extensively applied not
+only in the town of Peterborough, where several fine flour and
+saw-mills have been erected, but also in the townships through which it
+flows.
+
+At Peterborough the rapids cease, from whence the river becomes
+navigable for steam-boats to the Rice Lake, at the distance of
+twenty-one miles, which it enters after a course of fully two hundred
+and fifty miles.
+
+The Indian river takes its rise close to Stony Lake, from which it is
+only divided by a narrow ridge of granite: this ridge has been cut
+across at the sole expense of the Hon. Zacheus Burnham and Dr. John
+Gilchrist, for the purpose of obtaining a larger supply of water for
+the use of their mills at Warsaw, in Dummer and Keane, in Otonabee,
+thus connecting the two rivers by this canal. This river flows through
+the townships of Dummer, Douro, and Otonabee, its whole course not
+exceeding thirty-five or forty miles, with the exception of a few small
+streams. No other river of consequence flows into Rice Lake.
+
+Our drive over the plains was truly delightful. New beauties presented
+themselves at every step. It can hardly be imagined what a relief it is
+to the eye, after travelling for miles through a dense forest, to see
+such a beautiful landscape suddenly burst on your sight.
+
+For nearly three miles our road lay through natural park-like scenery,
+flowery knolls, deep ravines, and oak-crowned hills, with every now and
+then the blue waters of the lake glittering through the trees. Our path
+now entered a deep and finely-wooded ravine, which wound round the base
+of steep hills on either hand, rising to a considerable height, their
+summits crowned here and there with beautiful clumps of oak.
+
+For nearly a mile we followed the sharp descent and windings of the
+beautiful valley, till a sudden turning of the road revealed to our
+sight the whole expanse of this fine sheet of water. Not a ripple
+dimpled the surface; but, mirror-like, it lay with all its lovely
+islands thickly wooded to their summits with the sugar-maple, which
+rose, tree above tree, up the steep ascent of these conical islets,
+which, reflected in the clear lake, added new beauties to the scene.
+
+A few minutes more brought us to the tavern, a small log-house, kept by
+one David Tidy, a very respectable Scotchman. The situation of this
+man’s farm is one of the best on the lake shore. It is now the property
+of Mr. Alfred Hayward, whose good taste has added greatly to its
+natural beauties. Mrs. Hayward, who is an accomplished artist, has
+taken a view of the lake from her garden, and also one of Port Hope,
+both of which have been lithographed, and are much admired.
+
+Tidy’s tavern, and two other log-houses, were at this time the only
+settlements on the Rice Lake plains, which extend for nearly twenty
+miles along the south shore, forming the rear of the townships of
+Hamilton and Alnwick, but which are now dotted over with fine
+productive farms, substantial stone, brick, or frame-houses,
+full-bearing orchards, and possessing in fact almost every comfort and
+convenience a farmer could wish.
+
+The pretty village of Gore’s Landing is built partly on the lot
+formerly possessed by Tidy, and partly on the adjoining lot at present
+occupied by Captain Gore, from whom the village takes its name. The
+gentlemen in this neighbourhood have, nearly at their own expense,
+built a very neat church, which is romantically situated on the top of
+a high hill overlooking the lake. In summer time nothing can exceed the
+beauty of this spot, or be more suitable for the erection of a fane
+dedicated to Him
+
+“Whose temple is all space!”
+
+
+This village contains two excellent taverns, a large steam saw-mill,
+two stores, and several other buildings. Two steam-boats, the “Royal
+George” and “Forester,” leave it daily for Peterborough, distant
+twenty-five miles, making their return-trip the same day. Another
+steamer is being constructed to run from the village of Keane, on the
+Indian river in Otonabee down the Trent as far as Heely’s Falls and
+back to Gore’s Landing. These boats meet Weller’s line of mail stages
+at one o’clock, P.M. A fine line of plank road has been constructed
+from this place to Cobourg, avoiding all the high hills. The stage time
+is an hour and a half between lake and lake.
+
+As nearly all the lumber and shingles manufactured at Peterborough and
+the neighbouring townships intended for exportation to the United
+States, must be either landed here or at Bewdley, at the head of the
+lake, whence it is conveyed across in waggons to Port Hope or Cobourg,
+this village bids fair to become a stirring little place.
+
+One of my objects in writing this work is to point out what the country
+was twenty-seven years ago, and what it is now, showing clearly that
+what appeared to the pioneer of those days insurmountable difficulties,
+have by persevering industry been overcome, “and the howling wilderness
+made to blossom as the rose.” The desolating torrent has been utilised
+and restrained; mills and factories have been erected; bridges span our
+broadest rivers, and magnificent steamers plough our inland seas. Nor
+is this all: the first sod of a railway has been turned, which is
+ultimately intended to connect Lake Huron with Halifax and Boston,
+bringing the riches of the Far West through its natural channel to the
+sea.
+
+Nothing, indeed, but industry and enterprise is needed to change the
+waste and solitary places of Upper Canada into a garden of Eden, which
+it is designed by the Supreme Architect to become.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+WOOD-DUCK SHOOTING.—ADVENTURE ON RICE LAKE.—IRISH HOWL.—ARRIVAL AT
+GORE’S LANDING.—GENERAL HOWLING FOR THE DEFUNCT.—DANGERS OF OUR
+JOURNEY.—SAFE ARRIVAL AT COBOURG.—SALMON-FISHING.—CANOE-BUILDING AFTER
+A BAD FASHION.—SALMON SPEARING.—CANADIAN FISH AND FISHERIES.—INDIAN
+SUMMER.—SLEIGHS AND SLEIGHING.—DOMESTIC LOVE.
+
+After committing the care of my horse to our landlord, I ordered dinner
+to be got ready immediately, as we had thirteen miles to row, and I
+wished to reach Mr. W——’s before dark. Our hostess exerted herself, and
+we soon sat down to a sumptuous feast, consisting of a brace of fine
+fat wood-ducks and fried black bass, two dishes I am particularly fond
+of, and which at this time of the year can always be obtained from the
+lake.
+
+The wood-duck is a delicious bird. It makes its appearance early in the
+spring, as soon as the ice breaks up. Its plumage is very fine—I should
+say the most beautiful of any of its species. Its head and upper part
+of the neck are dark green; from the top of the head a long crest
+depends, richly variegated with green, white, and dark purple feathers.
+The lower part of the throat and breast is cinnamon speckled with
+white, but under the wings and sides towards the tail, grey, speckled
+and fringed with black; the back of the wings dark blue and black
+feathers. The wood-duck frequents close-wooded streams, little bays,
+and nooks, sitting upon old logs or the limbs of trees which have
+fallen into the water. It feeds on the wild rice, and is very fat from
+the middle of August to November, when it migrates to a warmer climate.
+This kind of duck is more easily approached than any other. The
+sportsman should be seated near the centre of a small canoe, his gun
+lying before him ready cocked, when he should paddle very cautiously
+through the rice, keeping his head as low as possible. A person who
+understands the management of a canoe can generally get within
+twenty-five or thirty yards before he is seen, which gives him ample
+opportunity to put down his paddle and take his gun, in time to fire
+both barrels. In this manner I have often killed from fifteen to twenty
+brace in a few hours.
+
+After dinner we hired a skiff and proceeded on our voyage. The lake was
+calm, so we made good progress, passing the Indian village belonging to
+the Mississauga tribe of Indians, a branch of the Chippewas, which I
+shall have occasion to speak of hereafter, Pantaush’s point, Designs
+Bay, and the _embouchure_ of the Indian river; and just at dusk landed
+opposite my friend’s house, pretty well tired, though much delighted
+with our day’s journey. We were received with a welcome such as only a
+backwoodsman knows how to give. In half an hour I felt as much at home
+as if I had belonged to the family.
+
+During my stay here, which was upwards of a week, I amused myself with
+fishing and shooting. The fall and winter duck were beginning to come
+in from the north, a sure sign that hard weather was close at hand.
+
+We had had an early spring and a long warm summer. Generally speaking,
+the ground does not close till about the middle of November; but this
+year the frost set in much earlier. It did not, however, continue, for
+the ground again opened, and we had nearly two weeks of beautiful
+Indian summer in the early part of November.
+
+On the 17th the ice was sufficiently strong to skate upon. On the 27th
+day of October the first hard weather commenced, and as there was some
+fear of the lake freezing, we determined to start for Cobourg the
+following morning. I accordingly made the necessary preparations, and
+hired an old man-of-war’s-man, one Robert Redpath, to row us up the
+lake to Tidy’s.
+
+It froze hard during the night. The ice was fully half an inch thick on
+the bays, and along the margin of the lake we were obliged to break a
+passage for the skiff for upwards of fifty yards before we got into
+clear water. It was cold, and blew fresh from the north-west, and the
+wind being directly down the lake, caused a heavy swell, which
+increased every minute. As the gale freshened, our skiff shipped so
+much water that we thought it prudent to put across to the Alnwick
+shore, which was more under the lee, being sheltered by islands. While
+passing near one of these, I observed some person walking to and fro,
+apparently making signals of distress. I called Redpath’s attention to
+this, and bade him “row to the shore that we might ascertain what he
+wanted.” This our boatman positively refused to do, saying that “he had
+hired himself to ferry us to Tidy’s, and he was not bound to go half a
+mile out of his way to hunt after every infernal Ingine (Indian) we
+might see on our road.”
+
+I, however, insisted on his immediately complying with my request. It
+was fortunate I did so, for on landing we found a man walking backwards
+and forwards, trying to keep himself warm. Indeed, the poor fellow
+looked nearly frozen. He seemed to have lost all power over his limbs,
+and was quite unable to articulate. I made Redpath light a fire, and in
+the meantime I gave the man a dram from our whiskey-bottle, which
+greatly revived him. We soon had a blazing fire, which had the desired
+effect of unloosing the tongue of our new acquaintance, and he informed
+us, “he was one of the Irish emigrants sent off by Government under the
+superintendence of the Honourable Peter Robinson; that several hundreds
+of them had been forwarded from Cobourg to Rice Lake, a few days
+before, on their way to the new settlements up the Otonabee River, and
+were now camped at Tidy’s. He and his friend, a man of the name of
+Daly, a tailor by trade, wished to settle in the township of Asphodel,
+on the River Trent. They had accordingly taken a boat and had rowed
+down the lake in the hope of reaching Crook’s Rapids on the Trent
+before nightfall. Irishman-like, their only stores for the voyage
+consisted of a bottle of whiskey, to which it appears they applied
+themselves more diligently than to the navigation of their boat, which
+they let drift at the mercy of the winds and waves while they slept.
+
+They did not wake up from their drunken slumbers till dark, when they
+found themselves stuck in a rice bed, and unable to extricate
+themselves from the dilemma in which they were placed; whereupon they
+again had recourse to the bottle, which this time proved fatal to Daly
+who, being very drunk, fell overboard. His companion, however, managed
+to catch hold of him and succeeded in getting him into the boat only to
+suffer a more lingering death, for he was frozen stiff before morning
+dawned. The survivor had covered his unfortunate companion with a
+blanket, the only one they had with them, in the hope it would keep him
+from perishing with cold during the night, which care, however, proved
+unavailing. He managed at dawn to extricate the boat from the rice bed,
+but not being able to row so large a boat, especially in his present
+condition, she drifted upon the point of the island on which we found
+him.
+
+As soon as he was well warmed and refreshed, we proceeded to the place
+pointed out by him, where we found the boat thumping in the surf, on a
+ledge of rocks. After hauling it up, we proceeded to lift the blanket,
+when a shocking sight presented itself. The dead man was sitting
+upright on the seat, with his mouth and eyes half-open. We lifted him
+out, laid him under a tree, and spread the blanket over him. We found
+our skiff too small to accommodate another passenger, so we determined
+to leave it behind and take the large boat, which we accordingly did;
+and we put our new-comer to the oar with Redpath, whilst I took the
+helm.
+
+We had a long, tedious row against the headwind, which now blew a gale.
+Our new acquaintance, every now-and-then, would throw down his oar, and
+howl and clap his hands to show his grief for the loss of his departed
+friend. These pathetic lamentations elicited no sympathy from Redpath,
+who abused him for “a lazy lubber,” and ordered him “to pull and not
+make such an infernal howling, worse than a wild Ingin’s yell.”
+
+We made the landing at Tidy’s, just before dark, and found several
+hundred emigrants in the tavern, and camped round about it.
+
+As soon as we came within hearing, our passenger commenced the loudest
+howl he had yet perpetrated, which had the immediate effect of bringing
+down to the landing the whole of his countrymen, who, as soon as they
+learned the loss of their friend, gave us a genuine Irish howl, in
+which the women took the most prominent part.
+
+On our way up to the house, we were met by the landlord, who, with a
+most woful look, informed us that our horse had strayed away from the
+pasture, and that he had searched the plains in every direction, and
+could hear no tidings of him, but as soon as he turned up he would send
+him home. “I am sorry, sir.” he added, “this misfortune has happened,
+and particularly as I am unable to accommodate you and the young lady,
+for my house is full of drunken Irish, as you see. Indeed, the only
+chance you have of getting to Cobourg to-night is by an ox-cart, which
+will start about nine o’clock this evening.”
+
+I was very angry with the landlord for his carelessness, and told him I
+should look to him for payment unless my horse was forthcoming. I found
+the owner of the ox-cart, and made a bargain with him to set us down at
+my friend’s house in Cobourg.
+
+Our equipage was very unique of its kind, it having been constructed
+for the sole purpose of carrying barrels of flour and pork. The box was
+a kind of open rack, with two rows of upright stakes instead of sides:
+two long boards, laid on cross-bars, formed the bottom: we spread our
+buffaloes on these, and fastened a strong piece of rope across the
+cart, from stake to stake on either side, to hold on by.
+
+Thus equipped, we commenced our journey. It was pitch-dark, so our
+driver let the cattle go as they liked, for guiding them was perfectly
+out of the question. I shall never forget the way our oxen galloped
+down those steep hills. Miss W. was dreadfully frightened. All we could
+do was to hold on and trust in Providence. Luckily, the oxen kept the
+track; for had they deviated in the least, going down some of the steep
+pitches, the cart would have been upset to a certainty, and very likely
+we should have been seriously injured, or killed on the spot.
+
+It was past one in the morning before we reached Cobourg, thoroughly
+fatigued with our expedition.
+
+I heard no tidings of my horse for upwards of four months, and had
+given up all thoughts of beholding him again, when one morning I was
+surprised to see him, waggon, harness and all, drive into the yard.
+Upon inquiry, I found that the hard weather and snow had made him seek
+the clearings for food, when he was easily secured; but one of his
+fetlocks was cut almost to the bone by the piece of rope he had been
+tethered with, and which was still upon him when he was found.
+
+One of the most exciting amusements at this season of the year, is
+salmon-fishing. In order to enjoy this sport, I made a canoe sixteen
+feet in length, and two feet nine inches at its greatest breadth. It
+was my first attempt, and, certainly the thing looked more like a
+hog-trough than a boat. It, however, answered the purpose for which it
+was intended, and I can assure the reader I felt not a little proud of
+this, my first attempt at canoe-making.
+
+Salmon-fishing commences in October, when the fish run up the rivers
+and creeks in great numbers. The usual way of catching them is by
+spearing, which is done as follows.—An iron grate—or jack, as it is
+called by the Canadians—is made in the shape of a small cradle,
+composed of iron bars three or four inches apart. This cradle is made
+to swing in a frame, so that it may be always on the level, or the
+swell would cause the pine-knots to fall out. Fat pine and light-wood
+are used to burn in the jack, which give a very brilliant light for
+several yards round the bow of the canoe. The fish can be easily seen
+at the depth of from four to five feet. One person sits in the stern
+and steers with a paddle, propelling the canoe at the same time. The
+bowman either kneels or stands up with the spear poised ready for
+striking. An expert hand will scarcely miss a stroke. I have known two
+fishermen in this manner kill upwards of two hundred salmon in one
+night. I believe, however, the fishing is not nearly so productive as
+formerly.
+
+Mr. Stephens showed me a small stream running through his farm, which I
+could easily jump over. He told me that one afternoon he was watering
+his horses, when he perceived a shoal of salmon swimming up the creek.
+He had no spear at home, having lent it to a neighbour. He, however,
+succeeded with a pitchfork in capturing fifty-six fine fish.
+
+Thirty years ago, all the small streams and rivers, from the head of
+the lake downwards to the Bay of Quinte, used to abound with salmon.
+The erection of saw-mills on the creeks, and other causes, have tended
+materially to injure the fisheries. White fish and salmon-trout are,
+however, taken in vast quantities, particularly the former, which has
+become quite an article of commerce. The most extensive fisheries are
+on the Manitoulin island, in Lake Huron, and along the Canadian shore
+of Ontario, opposite the township of Haldimand, Crambe, and Murray, in
+the county of Northumberland, and part of the district of Prince
+Edward. Very large seine nets being used, many barrels of fish are
+often taken at a haul, which are cured and packed on the spot: the
+usual price of a barrel varies from five to six dollars.
+
+Lake Ontario abounds with herring, of much the same flavour as the sea
+species, but not so strong and oily, nor so large. Sturgeon, pike,
+pickerel, black bass, sheep-heads, mullets, suckers, eels, and a
+variety of other fish, are plentiful in these waters: the spring-creeks
+and mill-ponds yield plenty of spotted trout, from four ounces to a
+pound weight: they are easily caught either with the worm or fly.
+
+The best creek I ever fished in was the Speed, a branch of the Grand
+River, or Ouse, which runs through the township of Guelph. In winter
+you can catch them by fishing through a hole in the ice. The best way
+is to dig and store by in a box filled with earth, a quantity of worms,
+which must be kept in the cellar for use. A small piece of fat pork is
+commonly employed as bait, but is not nearly so good as the other.
+
+A friend of mine, living near Colborne, told me rather an amusing story
+of a Yankee, who was fishing through the ice with the usual bait, a
+piece of pork. He had been very unsuccessful, and tired of the sport,
+he walked over to where my friend was throwing out the trout as fast as
+possible, when the following colloquy took place:
+
+“Wal, how, under Heaven, did you get all them ’ere fish?”
+
+“Caught them.”
+
+“Wal, I s’pose you did; but what kinder bait do you use?”
+
+“Worms.”
+
+“Varms! Why, under Heaven, where do you get varms at this time of the
+year?”
+
+“I got these out of my cellar.”
+
+“Get out! how you do talk!”
+
+“You may believe me or not, as you like; but I can assure you I did.”
+
+“Wal, do tell. I guess I never thought of diggin’ in the cellar; I will
+go to hum and try.”
+
+My friend met him a few days afterwards, when the Yankee said—“I
+calculate, Mister, you told me a tarnation lie, the other day, about
+them ’ere varms. I went and dug up every bit of my cellar, and, I do
+declare, I never got a single varm.”
+
+My friend laughed very heartily at this “Yankee diggin,” but at the
+same time kindly informed his neighbour of the method he pursued, to
+provide worms for winter-fishing.
+
+Before the winter fairly sets in, we generally have ten days or a
+fortnight of the Indian summer; indeed, it is the sure harbinger of
+winter. The air is mild and temperate; a haze, resembling smoke,
+pervades the atmosphere, that at times obscures the sun, which, when
+visible, is of a blood-red colour. Various causes have been assigned
+for this appearance, but none very satisfactory.
+
+Towards the end of November this year, the ice was strong enough to
+bear the weight of a man, and the ground was soon whitened with snow,
+but not in sufficient depth to make good sleighing. Just a week before
+Christmas, we had a fall of eight or ten inches, which made pretty good
+going: the sleighs were, of course, in immediate requisition.
+
+A family sleigh is made to carry from six to ten persons; the more
+stylish ones from four to six; a cutter, or single sleigh, two. These
+are all for pleasure, but every farmer is obliged to have a
+lumber-sleigh for general use. A much larger load can be drawn on
+runners in winter than on wheels in summer. Sleighing is, without
+doubt, the most delightful mode of travelling you can possibly
+conceive, but it takes several falls of snow to make the sleighing
+good. All the inequalities must be filled up and levelled, but the snow
+soon packs solid by the constant friction of the sleigh-runner. The
+horses are each provided with a ring of bells, the sound of which is
+not unmusical; and I am assured is delightful indeed to the ears of the
+anxious wife, watching for the return of her husband from a winter
+journey. Some years ago, when the country was unsettled, the females of
+the family had some cause for fear, since the absence of the father,
+son, or husband, was not always followed by his safe return; and the
+snow-storm, or the wolves, were thought of with alarm, till the music
+of the sleigh-bells announced the safety of the beloved absentee.
+
+In no country on the face of the earth does the torch of wedded love
+beam brighter than in Canada, where the husband always finds “the wife
+dearer than the bride.” I have seen many an accomplished and beautiful
+English girl, “forgetting with her father’s house,” the amusements of a
+fashionable life, to realize with a half-pay officer or “younger
+brother,” the purer, holier pleasures of domestic love in this country,
+where a numerous issue, the fruits of their union, are considered a
+blessing and a source of wealth, instead of bringing with them, as in
+the old country, an increase of care.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+EMPLOYMENTS OF A MAN OF EDUCATION IN THE COLONY.—YANKEE WEDDING.—MY
+COMMISSION.—WINTER IN CANADA.—HEALTHINESS OF THE CANADIAN
+CLIMATE.—SERACH FOR LAND.—PURCHASE WILD LAND AT DOURO.—MY FLITTING.—PUT
+UP A SHANTY.—INEXPERIENCE IN CLEARING.—PLAN-HEAPS.
+
+The employments of a respectable Canadian settler are certainly of a
+very multifarious character, and he may be said to combine, in his own
+person, several professions, if not trades. A man of education will
+always possess an influence, even in bush society: he may be poor, but
+his value will not be tested by the low standard of money, and
+notwithstanding his want of the current coin of the realm, he will be
+appealed to for his judgment in many matters, and will be inducted into
+several offices, infinitely more honourable than lucrative. My friend
+and father-in-law, being mild in manners, good-natured, and very
+sensible, was speedily promoted to the bench, and was given the
+colonelcy of the second battalion of the Durham Militia.
+
+At this time there was no place of worship nearer than Port Hope, where
+the marriage ceremony could be legally performed. According to the
+Colonial law, if a magistrate resides more than eighteen miles from a
+church, he is empowered to marry parties applying to him for that
+purpose, after three written notices have been put up in the most
+public places in the township, with the names and residences of the
+parties for at least a fortnight previous to the marriage. I witnessed
+several of these marriages during my stay in Darlington, some of which
+were highly amusing.
+
+One morning a near neighbour presented himself and a very pretty young
+woman, as candidates for matrimony. He was an American by birth, and a
+shrewd, clever, sensible person. After the ceremony, the bridegroom
+invited me to partake of the wedding-dinner, and I went.
+
+The dinner was very good, though not served exactly in the English
+fashion. We, however, managed to enjoy ourselves very much. After tea,
+dancing commenced, to the music of two fiddles, when country-dances,
+reels, and French fours were all performed with much spirit. The music
+was very good, the dancing but indifferent. I could not help thinking
+
+“How ill the motion with the music suits,
+So Orpheus fiddled, and so danced the brutes.”
+
+
+During the pauses between the dances; some lady or gentleman would
+favour the company with a song. Then plays—as they are called—were
+introduced; such as hunt the slipper, cross questions and crooked
+answers, ladies’ toilette, and several others of the same kind, in
+which forfeits had to be redeemed by the parties making mistakes in the
+game—a procedure of course productive of much noise, kissing, and
+laughter. Refreshments were handed round in great profusion, and the
+entertainment wound up with a dance, which, I believe, is of purely
+American origin. A chair is placed in the middle of the room, on which
+a young lady is seated; the company then join hands, and dance round
+her, singing these elegant lines:—
+
+“There was a young woman sat down to sleep,
+Sat down to sleep, sat down to sleep;
+There was a young woman sat down to sleep,
+Heigh-ho!—heigh-ho!—heigh-ho!
+
+“There was a young man to keep her awake,
+To keep her awake, to keep her awake;
+There was a young man to keep her awake,
+Heigh-ho!—heigh-ho!—heigh ho!
+
+“John R—— his name shall be,
+His name shall be, his name shall be;
+John R—— his name shall be,
+Heigh-ho!—heigh-ho!—heigh-ho!
+
+
+The gentleman named walks up to the lady, salutes her, raises her from
+the chair, and seats himself in her stead, the rest dancing round, and
+singing as before, only substituting the gentleman, and naming the lady
+who is to release the gentleman in the same way, till all the ladies
+and gentlemen have been seated in their turn.
+
+As soon as this queer species of Mazurka was concluded, the company
+broke up, seemingly well pleased with their entertainment. The
+introduction of English manners and customs during the last quarter of
+a century has tended greatly to improve society. It is now only amongst
+the lower orders that parties of this kind would be tolerated.
+
+On my return home, I found an official letter from the Adjutant-general
+of the Upper Canada Militia, in which I was informed I was appointed by
+his Excellency Sir P. Maitland to an Ensigncy in the first regiment of
+Durham Militia. The effective militia of this province is, I believe,
+about 150,000 men. All persons, from sixteen to sixty, must enrol their
+names once a year, and all from sixteen to forty, must muster for
+general training on the 28th of June in each year. The officers, in
+time of war, receive the same pay and allowances as those in the line.
+
+The winters of 1825 and 1826 were considered cold, even for Canada. The
+sleighing was good from the middle of December to the middle of March,
+with the exception of the January thaw, which continued for upwards of
+a week, and took away nearly all the snow. This thaw, though
+periodical, is not every year of the same duration, nor does it always
+take away the snow. Sometimes it is attended by strong gales of wind,
+from the southward, and with heavy thunder and lightning, which was
+particularly the case last January. The month of February is generally
+considered the coldest of the winter months. I have frequently known
+the thermometer range from 16 degrees to 20 degrees below zero, for a
+week together. On one day of the winter of which I am speaking, it was
+as low as 35 degrees. This, however, is unusual.
+
+The coldest day I ever remember was in the winter of 1833. It was
+called the “Cold Sunday.” The quicksilver in Fahrenheit’s thermometer
+was frozen in the ball, which marks 39 degrees below zero. It was,
+however, stated in the papers, both in Canada and the State of New
+York, that the real cold was 40 degrees below zero, or 72 degrees below
+freezing point. I dined at a friend’s that day, who resided three miles
+from my farm in Douro. The day was clear, not a cloud being above the
+horizon. The sun was of a dull copper-colour, and the horizon towards
+the north-west tinged with the same hue. Not a breath of wind was
+stirring. The smoke from the chimneys rose straight up into the air,
+and appeared unable to disperse through the atmosphere. My horses were
+as white as snow from the steam of their bodies freezing upon them; the
+reins were frozen as stiff as rods; the air seemed to cut like a knife.
+I was only a quarter of an hour upon the road, but even in that time I
+felt the cold severely, and was very glad when I got into the house to
+a large wood fire. The cold obliged the whole party at dinner to take
+their plates upon their knees and sit round the fire. But, as I said
+before, this is only an extreme case, and might not happen again for
+twenty years.
+
+The excessive cold seldom lasts more than three days at a time, when it
+generally moderates, though not sufficiently to soften the snow. The
+dryness of the atmosphere and snow makes you feel the cold much less in
+proportion than in England. You do not experience that clinging,
+chilly, damp sort of cold in Canada that you do in the British Isles.
+For my part, I much prefer a Canadian winter, where the roads are good,
+the sleighing good, and your health good. Sickness is scarcely known
+here in the winter months.
+
+If I could have purchased land on the lakeshore, I should have liked to
+settle in Darlington; but I found the farms I fancied much too
+high-priced for my pocket. So at last I made up my mind to go back to
+the new settlement of Peterborough, and see what sort of a place it
+was, and what it was likely to become.
+
+Accordingly, I started on my journey, and travelled east, along the
+Kingston road, parallel with the shore of lake Ontario for about
+twenty-four or five miles to the boundary line, between the townships
+of Hope and Hamilton. After this I walked for twenty-seven miles
+through Cavan and Monaghan, to the town of Peterborough, which, at that
+time contained one log-house and a very poor saw-mill, erected some
+five or six years before by one Adam Scott to supply the new settlement
+of Smith with lumber.
+
+I found several hundreds of Mr. Robinson’s Irish emigrants camped on
+the plains. Many had built themselves huts of pine and spruce boughs;
+some with slabs and others with logs of trees. Three or four Government
+store-houses and a house for the Superintendent, the Hon. Peter
+Robinson, were in course of erection. I had letters of introduction to
+that gentleman, and also to the Hon. T. A. Stewart, and Robert Reid,
+Esq. The two latter gentlemen resided in the township of Douro, and
+were at that time the only settlers in that part of Canada.
+
+As I did not much like the appearance of the lodgings I was likely to
+obtain in the new town, I went on to Mr. Stewart’s house, and presented
+my credentials. Nothing could have been more cordial than the welcome I
+received from him. This gentleman and his brother-in-law, Robert Reid,
+Esq., obtained a grant of land from the Colonial Government, on
+condition that they would become actual settlers on the land, and
+perform certain settlement duties, which consisted in chopping out and
+clearing the concession lines.[1] Before the Crown patent could issue,
+the party contracting to perform the settlement duties was obliged to
+appear before a magistrate, and make an affidavit that he or they had
+chopped and cleared certain concession lines opposite the lots of land
+mentioned in the certificate.
+
+ [1] Every township is laid out by the surveyor in parallel lines,
+ sixty-six chains apart. These lines are sixty-six feet in width, and
+ are given by government as road allowances, for the use of the public,
+ and are called concession lines. Cross lines run at right angles with
+ the former every thirty chains, and are called lot-lines: they
+ subdivide the township into two hundred acre lots: every fifth cross
+ line is a road allowance.
+
+
+This was a bad law, because many of these lines crossing high hills,
+swamps or lakes, were impracticable for road-purposes: many thousand
+pounds consequently were entirely and uselessly thrown away: besides,
+it opened a door for perjury.
+
+Land-speculators would employ a third party to perform their settlement
+duties; all they required to obtain the deed, or “lift” as it is called
+in Canadian parlance, was the sworn certificate for cutting the road,
+allowances, and the payment of certain fees to Government. The
+consequence of this was, that many false certificates were sworn to, as
+few persons or magistrates would be at the trouble and expense of
+travelling thirty or forty miles back into an uninhabited part of the
+country, to ascertain if the parties had sworn truly or not.
+
+A magistrate in my neighbourhood told me that a Yankee chopper came to
+him one day and demanded to be sworn on a settlement duty certificate,
+which he did to the following effect, “that he had cut a chain between
+two posts opposite lots so and so, in the concession of—— township. The
+road allowances are a chain in width, and posts are planted and marked
+on each side of the concession, at the corners of each lot.
+
+“I had some suspicions,” he said, “in my own mind that the fellow had
+sworn falsely, so I determined to ascertain the truth. I knew a person
+residing within a mile or two of the place, to whom I wrote for
+information, when I found, as I expected, that not a tree bad been cut
+on the line. I therefore summoned the Yankee, on the information of the
+farmer, to appear before a brother magistrate and myself to answer for
+his delinquency.
+
+“So, sir,” I said, “you came before me and swore to a false
+certificate. Do not you know you have committed perjury, which is a
+very serious offence. What have you to say for yourself?”
+
+“Wal, I guess, Mister, I han’t committed no perjury. I swore I cut a
+chain between two posts opposite them lots, and I can prove it by Ina
+Buck, for he was with me the hul time I was doing on’t.”
+
+“Now, Mr. Buck, what can you prove?”
+
+“Wal, gentlemen, I was along with Jonathan Stubbs when he went to chop
+the settlement duties, and when we got to the posts opposite the lots,
+he said, ‘Wal, this looks plaguy ugly any how! I calculate I must fix
+these duties the short way,’ so he pulled out of his pocket a short
+piece of trace-chain which he laid on a stone in a line between the two
+posts, and with a stroke or two of his axe severed it in two. ‘Now,’
+said he, ‘Ina Buck, I guess you are a witness that I cut a chain
+between two posts, so they can’t fix me nohow?’”
+
+“He was, however, a little out of his calculation, for we did fix him,
+and sent him to jail, where I dare say he had ample time to plan some
+new device for performing settlement duties.”
+
+My new friend advised me to purchase land adjoining his grant, which
+was very prettily situated on the banks of the Otonabee, in the
+township of the same name, within a mile of Peterborough. The price
+asked was fifteen shillings per acre, which was high for wild land at
+that time, but the prospect of a town so near had improved the market
+considerably.
+
+I took his advice, closed the bargain, and became a landed proprietor
+in Canada West. On the 16th of May, 1826, I moved up with all my goods
+and chattels, which were then easily packed into a single horse waggon,
+and consisted of a plough iron, six pails, a sugar kettle, two iron
+pots, a frying pan with a long handle, a tea kettle, a chest of
+carpenters’ tools, a Canadian axe, and a cross-cut saw. My stock of
+provisions comprised a parcel of groceries, half a barrel of pork and a
+barrel of flour.
+
+The roads were so bad that it took me three days to perform a journey
+of little more than fifty miles. We (that is to say myself and my two
+labourers) had numerous upsets; but at last reached the promised land
+without any further trouble. My friend in Douro turned out the next day
+and assisted me to put up the walls of my shanty and roof it with
+bass-wood troughs, which was completed before dark.
+
+I was kept busy for more than a week chinking between the logs and
+plastering up all the crevices, cutting out a doorway and place for a
+window, casing them; making a door and hanging it on wooden hinges, &c.
+I also made a rough table and some stools, which answered better than
+they looked. Four thick slabs of lime-stone, placed upright in one
+corner of the shanty with clay well packed behind them to keep the fire
+off the logs, answered very well for a chimney with a hole cut through
+the roof directly above, to vent the smoke.
+
+I made a tolerably good bedstead out of some iron-wood poles, by
+stretching strips of elm-bark across, which I plaited strongly together
+to support my bed, which was a very good one, and the only article of
+luxury I possessed.
+
+I had very foolishly hired two Irish emigrants, who had not been longer
+in Canada than myself, and of course knew nothing either of chopping,
+logging, fencing, or, indeed, any work belonging to the country. The
+consequence of this imprudence was, that the first ten acres I cleared
+cost me nearly 5 pounds an acre[2]—at least 2 pounds more than it
+should have done. Experience is often dearly bought, and in this
+instance the proverb was fully verified.
+
+ [2] The usual price for clearing land, and fencing it fit for sowing,
+ is, for hard wood, from eleven to twelve dollars per acre; for
+ evergreen, such as pine, hemlock, cedar, or where that kind of timber
+ predominates, from twelve to fourteen dollars per acre. There is no
+ fixed price for swamp.
+
+
+I found chopping, in the summer months, very laborious. I should have
+underbrushed my fallow in the fall, before the leaves fell, and chopped
+the large timber during the winter months, when I should have had the
+warm weather for logging and burning, which should be completed by the
+first day of September. So, for want of experience, it was all up-hill
+work with me.
+
+This was the season for musquitoes and black flies. The latter are ten
+times the worse of the two. This happened to be a bad fly year, and I,
+being a new comer, was nearly devoured by them. Luckily, they do not
+last more than a month, and it is only before rain that they are so
+very annoying. I have seen children whose necks were one mass of sores,
+from the poisonous nature of their bite: sheep, calves, and foals, are
+sometimes killed by them. Nor is this, indeed, an unfrequent
+occurrence. It must be, however, borne in mind that, as the country is
+cleared up, and the woods recede, the flies disappear. In the clearings
+along the front townships, the flies are not more troublesome than they
+are in England.
+
+The farm on which I now reside used to swarm terribly with flies,
+lying, as it does, near the water; but, for the last three years, it
+has been entirely free from them, especially from the black flies.[3]
+
+ [3] These insects are always much worse, and more numerous, when the
+ spring is backward, and the floods are higher than usual. From close
+ observation, I believe the larvae are deposited during high water on
+ the rocks, when, as soon as the water falls, the heat of the sun
+ hatches the insects. I have remarked large stones, which had been
+ under water during the flood, covered over with small brown coloured
+ cells, exactly the shape, and very little bigger than a seed of
+ buckwheat. From out of these cells, on a sunny day, the flies rise in
+ clouds, for they bite through the envelope, and emancipate themselves.
+ Being provided with a sharp appetite, they will attack you the minute
+ they are at liberty. These pests begin to appear between the 10th of
+ May and 1st of June, according to the earliness or lateness of the
+ season. Towards the end of June, numbers of small dragon-flies make
+ their appearance, which soon eat up all the black-flies, to which
+ repast, you may be sure, they are heartily welcome.
+
+
+A person who understands chopping, can save himself a good deal of
+trouble and hard work by making what is called a plan-heap. Three or
+four of these may be made on an acre, but not more. The largest and
+most difficult trees are felled, the limbs only being cut off and
+piled. Then all the trees that will fall in the same direction, should
+be thrown along, on the top of the others, the more the better chance
+of burning well. If you succeed in getting a good burn for your fallow,
+the chances are, if your plan-heaps are well made, that they will be
+mostly consumed, which will save a great many blows of the axe, and
+some heavy logging.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+A LOGGING BEE.—LIME-BURNING.—SHINGLING.—ARRIVAL OF MY
+BROTHER-IN-LAW.—BIRTH OF MY SON.—SAD JOURNEY TO DARLINGTON.—LOSE MY
+WAY.—AM REFUSED A LIFT.—MY BOYISH ANGER.—MY WIFE’S DEATH.—THE
+FUNERAL.—I LEAVE DARLINGTON.
+
+My fallow was finished by the first week in July, but I did not put
+fire to it until the first week in August, because the timber was so
+green. Indeed, I did not expect the fire would run at all. I was,
+however, agreeably deceived, for I got a very respectable burn, which
+gave me great help.
+
+As soon as the ground was cool enough, I made a logging Bee, at which I
+had five yokes of oxen and twenty men, four men to each team. The
+teamster selects a good place to commence a heap, generally against
+some large log which the cattle would be unable to move. They draw all
+the logs within a reasonable distance in front of the large log. The
+men with hand-spikes roll them, one upon the top of the other, until
+the heap is seven or eight feet high, and ten or twelve broad. All the
+chips, sticks, and rubbish are then picked up and thrown on the top of
+the heap. A team and four good men should log and pick an acre a day
+when the burn has been good.
+
+My hive worked well, for we had five acres logged and set fire to the
+same evening. On a dark night, a hundred or two of these large heaps
+all on fire at once have a very fine effect, and shed a broad glare of
+light for a considerable distance. In the month of July in the new
+settlements, the whole country at night appears lit up by these fires.
+
+I was anxious to commence building my house, so that I might have it
+ready to receive my wife in before the winter commenced. My first step
+towards it was to build a lime-heap. I calculated I should require for
+plastering my walls and building my chimneys, about a hundred bushels.
+
+We set to work, accordingly, and built an immense log-heap of all the
+largest logs I could get together. It took at least the timber growing
+on half an acre of land for this purpose, and kept five men and myself
+busy all day to complete it. We made a frame of logs on the top of the
+heap, to keep the stone from falling over the side. We drew for this
+purpose twenty cart-loads of lime-stone, which we threw upon the summit
+of the heap, having broken it small with a sledge-hammer; fire was then
+applied to the heap, which was consumed by the next morning. But it
+left such a mass of hot coals, that it was a week before the lime could
+be collected and covered. This is the easiest and most expeditious way
+of burning lime; but the lime is not so white, and there are more
+pieces of unburnt stone, which make it not so good for plastering.
+
+I built my house of elm-logs, thirty-six feet long by twenty-four feet
+wide, which I divided into three rooms on the ground-floor, besides an
+entrance-hall and staircase, and three bed-rooms up stairs. I was very
+busy till October making the shingles,[1] roofing, cutting out the door
+and window-spaces, and hewing the logs down inside the house.
+
+ [1] Shingles are made either of pine or cedar. I prefer the white
+ pine, because it is less liable to gutter with the rain, and makes an
+ evener roof. Every settler in the bush should know how to make
+ shingles, and how to choose a tree fit for that purpose, or much
+ labour may be thrown uselessly away. I do not know anything more
+ annoying than, after cutting down a tree, perhaps more than four feet
+ in diameter, and sawing a block eighteen inches long out of the
+ centre, to find that it will not split fair, or (if it does) that the
+ wood eats, which means, that the grain, though straight in the length
+ of the shingle, makes short deep curves, which render it bad to split,
+ and cause holes to appear in the shingle when you come to shave them.
+ The grain of most trees naturally inclines towards the sun, or the
+ same way round the tree as the sun’s course. Consequently, a tree may
+ be perfectly straight in the grain, where you chop it down, yet, ten
+ or twelve feet up, it may wind so much as to be totally useless. To
+ obviate this difficulty, attend to the following hints.:—First, select
+ a good-sized tree, the larger the better, perfectly clear of outside
+ knots for fifty or sixty feet. The head should be luxuriant, and the
+ large limbs drooping downwards. Peel off with your axe a stripe of
+ bark as high as you can reach. If, on examination, the grain is the
+ least inclined towards the sun, reject it. If, on the contrary, it
+ curves slightly in the opposite direction, or against the sun, you may
+ proceed to try it by cutting out a piece a foot long, and three or
+ four inches deep. Place your axe in the centre, and split it open.
+ Continue to do so till you have reduced the piece to the thickness of
+ two shingles, which again divide neatly in the middle. If the timber
+ is good and fit for your purpose, the pieces will fly apart with a
+ sudden snap, and will be perfectly clear in the grain on both sides,
+ while, if the timber be not good, the grain of the one piece will eat
+ into the other, or run off without splitting clear the whole length of
+ the block. The blocks should be cut eighteen inches long, and split
+ into quarters, and the sap-wood dressed off. It is then ready for the
+ frow—as the instrument used for splitting shingles is called. A good
+ splitter will keep two men shaving and packing. The proper thickness
+ is four to the inch: the packing-frame should be forty inches long,
+ and contain fifty courses of shingles, which make a thousand. The
+ price varies from five shillings to seven and sixpence, according to
+ quality. The upper bar of the packing-frame should be wedged down very
+ tightly across the centre of the bunch, which will keep them from
+ warping with the sun.
+
+
+I was anxious to complete the outside walls, roof, and chimneys before
+the winter set in, so that I might be able to work at the finishing
+part inside, under cover, and with the benefit of a fire.
+
+As soon as my little fallow was ready for sowing with wheat, I
+discharged my two Irishmen, of whom I was very glad to be rid. I would
+advise new colonists never to employ men who have not been some time in
+Canada: it is much better to pay higher wages than to be troubled with
+fellows who know nothing about the work of the country. Besides, these
+persons, though accustomed to bad wages and food at home, actually
+expect better provisions and wages than men who thoroughly understand
+their business: take the following for a fair example.
+
+One day, a stout able-bodied fellow, a fresh importation from the
+emerald isle, dressed in breeches open at the knees, long worsted
+stockings, rucked down to the ankles, and a great-coat with at least
+three capes, while a high-crowned black hat, the top of which opened
+and shut with every breeze like the lid of a basket, completed his
+costume—rather a curious one for July, with the thermometer above 80
+degrees in the shade—accosted me with—“Does yer honor want to hire a
+boy to-day?”
+
+He stood at least six feet in his stockings.
+
+“What can you do, and what makes you wear that great coat this hot
+weather?”
+
+“Why, sure, yer honour, it’s a good un to keep out the heat, and I can
+do almost anything.”
+
+“Can you log, chop, or fence?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Can you plough?”
+
+“No; but I think I could soon larn.”
+
+“Can you mow or cradle wheat?”
+
+“I can mow a trifle, but I don’t know what the other thing is at all,
+at all.”
+
+“Pray, then, what can you do?”
+
+“Well, then, yer honour, I am illigant at the spade entirely.”
+
+“What wages do you expect?”
+
+“Twelve dollars, sir, and my boord, if it be plasing to you.”
+
+“No, no, my good fellow; I do not please to do any such thing, and I do
+not think any one else in his senses will, either. I think you had
+better apply for work to the road-contractors, who require a good deal
+of spade-labour, which I think is at present all you are fit for.”
+
+Upon returning to my shanty in the evening, I was surprised to find
+that my brother-in-law had just arrived with the intelligence of the
+birth of my first-born son, and the dangerous illness of my dear wife.
+Little hope was entertained of her recovery. My poor Emma had been
+safely delivered of a fine boy, and was supposed to be progressing
+favourably, when some alarming symptoms appeared which made it
+necessary to send immediately for me.
+
+Long before dawn I was some miles upon my sad journey to Darlington. I
+had no horse. The way was long and toilsome; and I had had neither time
+for rest nor appetite for food. I loved my amiable and excellent wife
+with all the warmth of a youthful husband united to the object of his
+affections. I am very fond of little children, and the idea of having
+one of my own to pet and work for had given a stimulus to all my
+labours. My first-born seemed dearly purchased now at the cost of his
+poor mother’s peril. Still, my ardent temperament led me to hope that
+my dear wife would be spared. Her loss seemed an event too dreadful to
+realize, for the boy-husband had had no experience in sorrow then, and
+his buoyant spirits had never anticipated the crushing blow that had
+already annihilated his visions of domestic happiness. Fifty-five miles
+lay between me and my suffering wife. The roads were heavy from the
+effects of the late rains, and I had the misfortune to lose my way,
+which added three miles to my long pedestrian journey. Once I overtook
+a cart containing a boy and girl, whom I vainly entreated to give me a
+ride. I told them the painful circumstances which induced me to solicit
+their aid; but the boy was over-cautious, and the girl unusually
+hard-hearted for one of her kind and compassionate sex. I could easily
+have compelled them to give me a seat, but for a sense of moral justice
+which would not permit me to take that by force which they denied to
+pity. Mr boyish indignation, I recollect, was so great that I could
+scarcely help throwing stones after my unkind fellow-travellers.
+
+It was evening by the time I reached Darlington Mills, and I was still
+five miles from my father-in-law’s house. It was quite dark, and I was
+so overpowered with my fifty miles’ walk, that to proceed without
+refreshment and rest appeared then to be impossible. I stopped at the
+tavern and asked for some tea.
+
+I had scarcely been seated two minutes before some men entered, in
+whose conversation I became immediately and deeply interested. They
+were discussing what to them was merely local news, but the question,
+“When is the funeral to take place?” riveted my attention at once.
+
+Putting down the much-needed but untasted refreshment, I demanded of
+the speaker “Whose funeral?” My heart at once foretold from its inmost
+depths what the dreaded answer would be.
+
+Yes, she in whom I had placed my earthly hopes of a life-long happiness
+was, indeed, no more. She was snatched away in the bright morning of
+her existence with the rapturous feelings of maternity just budding
+into life. I never knew how I got out of the house, or in what manner I
+performed the last five miles of the journey. But I remember that in
+the excitement of that hour I felt neither hunger, thirst, nor
+weariness. Sometimes I doubted the truth of what I had heard. Indeed,
+it seemed really too dreadful to be true.
+
+On my arrival at my father-in-law’s house, I found that the information
+I had accidentally heard was unfortunately a sad reality. My
+brother-in-law had not left Darlington an hour on his journey to
+Otonabee before my wife breathed her last. I had not even the
+consolation of bidding her a last adieu. Few can comprehend my feelings
+on this trying occasion, except those who have suffered under a similar
+bereavement. I was not yet twenty-one years of age. I was in a strange
+country—the tie severed between me and my only friends in a manner so
+afflicting and melancholy—all my hopes and future prospects in life
+dashed, as it were, to the ground. I had expended all my little capital
+in providing a comfortable home for her, who, alas! was doomed never to
+behold it; and I had a little son to bring up without the aid of my
+poor Emma, whose piety and sweet temper would have been so invaluable
+to our child.
+
+A nurse was obtained for my poor motherless babe, the babe over whom I
+shed so many tears—a sad welcome, this, to as fine a boy as ever a
+father’s eye looked upon!
+
+I followed the remains of my beloved wife to the grave; and then
+tarried for a month in that house of sorrow. My only consolation was
+derived from my knowledge that Emma loved her Saviour, and put her
+trust in him while passing through the valley of the shadow of death.
+
+“How many hopes have sprung in radiance hence;
+Their trace yet lights the dust where thou art sleeping.
+A solemn joy comes o’er me, and a sense
+Of triumph blent with nature’s gush of weeping.”
+
+
+I left my little son in the care of his Irish nurse, and quitted my
+friend’s house, with a heavy heart, for my new settlement at Otonabee.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+RETURN TO OTONABEE.—BENEVOLENCE OF MY NEIGHBOUR.—SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO A
+SETTLER.—HIS SINGULAR MISFORTUNES.—PARTICULARS OF HIS LIFE.
+
+I returned in sadness to my lonely and desolate home, feeling like a
+shipwrecked mariner, cast upon a desert shore. In fact, I had to begin
+life again, without the stimulus of domestic love to quicken my
+exertions. I had left my land unsown, and therefore the prospect of a
+crop of wheat for the next year’s harvest was, I felt assured, entirely
+gone. Upon reaching my clearing, I was surprised to find my fallow not
+only sown but showing the green blade, for some friendly hands had been
+at work for me in my absence, that pecuniary losses might not be added
+to my heavy domestic bereavement.
+
+On inquiry, I found I was indebted to the considerate kindness of my
+excellent neighbour Mr. Reid and his sons, for this act of Christian
+benevolence. I hurried to his house to thank him for the important
+service he had rendered one, to whom he was almost a stranger. He
+considered, however, that he had done nothing more than a neighbourly
+duty, and insisted that I should take up my abode with him, instead of
+returning to my unfinished and melancholy home.
+
+My residence under his hospitable roof increased my esteem for his
+character, which my long experience of six-and-twenty years has never
+diminished. Mrs. Reid treated me with maternal kindness; and in their
+amiable family-circle my bruised heart recovered its peace, and my
+spirits their healthy tone. The kindly disposition of my host in all
+his domestic relations, his cheerful activity, pure morality, and
+unaffected piety, presented an admirable example to a young man left
+without guidance in a distant colony. But I did not at that time think
+about becoming his son-in-law, though I had been several months
+domesticated in his family, till the alacrity displayed by his eldest
+daughter in hastening to the assistance of a wounded neighbour, through
+the unknown intricacies of a Canadian forest, led me to consider her
+character in a new and endearing point of view.
+
+A Mr. G. and his family had just commenced a settlement, about four
+miles east of Mr. Reid’s clearing, when, early one morning, his eldest
+son, a lad of twelve or thirteen, with a face full of trouble ran to
+tell us “that his father had nearly cut his foot off with an axe while
+chopping logs to build his house, that his mother could not stop the
+bleeding, and that they were afraid he would bleed to death.”
+
+Mr. Reid’s eldest daughter immediately volunteered to return with the
+boy, to render what assistance she could. Without any thought of
+fatigue, or danger, or trial to her feelings, she set out instantly
+with the proper bandages. Mr. Reid, his sons, and myself were all
+chopping in the woods when the lad came, so that Mary followed the
+spontaneous impulse of her own heart; but as soon as we heard what had
+happened, her father sent over the river for our nearest neighbour, a
+stout canny Scotchman, to assist us in carrying the wounded man through
+the woods to his (Mr. Reid’s) house.
+
+John Morison readily obeyed the summons; and had we required any
+additional help we should have had no difficulty, in a case like this,
+of finding plenty of volunteers. The only road leading to Mr. G.’s was
+from the town, a mere bush-road, and full three miles farther than if
+we could go straight back through the woods.
+
+As the number of his lot was the same as the one[1] we resided on, we
+knew that a direct east course would bring us within call of his
+clearing. It was, therefore, agreed that Mr. Reid’s eldest son should
+endeavour, with a pocket compass, to run a line in the direction which
+we wanted to go, and that I should blaze[2] out the line with the axe,
+while the rest chopped out the under-brush and levelled the path
+sufficiently wide to allow the passage of a litter.
+
+ [1] Each concession is divided into two hundred acre lots, numbering
+ from the boundary line from number one upwards. According to the new
+ survey, the lots run nearly east and west; therefore, number one in
+ the first concession will have a corresponding number west across
+ every concession in the township.
+
+
+ [2] Blazing is a term used by the backwoodsman for chopping off a
+ portion of the bark from each side of a tree to mark a surveyor’s line
+ through the woods. All concession roads, or lot lines are marked in
+ this manner; wherever a lot line strikes a concession, a short post
+ with the number of the lot and concession is marked on each side of
+ the post. If a tree comes directly on the line where the post should
+ be planted, the tree is substituted. A blaze is made on each side,
+ about three feet from the ground, and the numbers marked. I have
+ frequently in the matter of disputed lines seen the surveyor cut the
+ old blaze off, perhaps, of twenty years’ growth, and discover the
+ numbers perfect, although the wood had made such a growth over the
+ original blaze.
+
+
+We had some difficulty in avoiding one or two small swamps and a high
+hill, but finally succeeded in finding a good line of road; and so
+accurate was our surveyor and engineer in this, his first attempt, that
+his line actually struck the little chopping[3] of not more than a
+quarter of an acre where poor G. lay.
+
+ [3] This gentleman, John Reid, Esq. is now a deputy provincial
+ surveyor and county engineer. As a land surveyor there are few better
+ in the province.
+
+
+It was past three o’clock in the afternoon before the road was
+completed and the litter made, the last being effected by cutting two
+iron-wood poles eight feet long, and fastening them together by broad
+straps of bass-wood bark three feet apart. A blanket, doubled, was then
+laid over these straps, upon which we placed the poor man, whose
+bleeding wound had been stopped with some difficulty.
+
+It appeared that a small twig had caught the axe, which caused it to
+glance in its descent, and struck the instep of his right foot, making
+a gash about five inches long, the edge of the axe coming out at the
+sole of the foot. It was a dreadful cut,—one of the worst I ever
+saw—and I have seen and dressed a great many axe wounds since my
+residence in Canada.
+
+Mr. G. was a very heavy man, and as _only_ four persons could
+conveniently carry him at once, we found it very hard work. I was
+completely done up when we reached the house.
+
+Mr. Reid and his family did everything in their power to make him and
+his wife comfortable. Mr. Stewart, his brother-in-law, kindly sent for
+two of the children: the other two remained with their father and
+mother.
+
+It was ten months before the poor invalid was able to leave his
+hospitable host, and resume his settlement in the bush. I mention this
+little circumstance to show what kindly feelings exist between the
+settlers, especially in cases of this kind. I shall also relate some
+remarkable passages in this poor man’s life which present an almost
+unparalleled train of misfortune. I shall tell his dismal story, as
+nearly as possible, in his own words.
+
+The experience of life proves to a certainty, that some persons are
+compelled to drink deeper of the cup of adversity than others, nay even
+to drain it to the dregs.
+
+We know that the Jews of old and the heathen world still suppose that
+such are visited for their sins by the judgment of Heaven; but the
+Divine Teacher has taught us better things, and warned us against such
+rash conclusions, instructing us indeed that
+
+“There surely is some guardian power
+    That rightly suffers wrong;
+Gives vice to bloom its little hour,
+    But virtue late and long.”
+
+
+Poor G. was one of these unfortunate persons, whose melancholy history
+I will now relate, in his own words.—He was, it seems, a native of
+Ireland, from which country he emigrated soon after the last American
+war, with his wife and two children, leaving three other children at
+home with his father and mother, who were the proprietors of a small
+estate in the county of Cork. He arrived safely with his family at the
+Big Bay in Whitby (Windsor,) and purchased a lot of land close to the
+lake-shore.
+
+In those days, the emigrant’s trials were indeed hard, compared with
+what they are now. The country was quite unsettled, excepting that here
+and there the nucleus of a small village appeared to vary its
+loneliness, for the clearings were mostly confined to the vicinity of
+the Great Lake. There were no plank, gravel, or macadamized roads then;
+saw and grist-mills were few-and-far-between. It was no uncommon thing
+then for a farmer to go thirty or forty miles to mill, which cause
+indeed sometimes detained him a whole week from his family; and, even
+more, if any accident had happened to the machinery. Besides this
+inconvenience, he had to encounter risks for himself and his
+cattle,—from bad bridges, deep mud-holes, and many other annoyances—I
+might say, with truth, “too numerous to mention.” The few farms in that
+neighbourhood were then chiefly occupied by Americans, some of whom had
+found it highly desirable to expatriate themselves; and might have
+exclaimed with the celebrated pick-pocket, Barrington, in a prologue
+spoken to a convict-audience in New South Wales,—
+
+“Friends, be it understood,
+We left our country for our country’s good.”
+
+
+I have no intention of reflecting here on the national honour of the
+American nation; but it is a well-known fact, that many of the early
+frontier settlers were persons who had evaded the payment of their just
+debts or, perhaps, legal penalties for worse offences, by crossing the
+lines, and forming settlements in Canada. Such persons are not a fair
+specimen of American character. Individually, I have nothing to say
+against the Americans, but rather the contrary, for I have found them
+good and obliging neighbours.
+
+I have heard it generally asserted, that the Yankees are the greatest
+rogues under the sun. If _smartness_ in trading, or barter, be roguery,
+they richly deserve the epithet; but I deny that their intentions are
+one whit more dishonest than those of the persons with whom they trade.
+That their natural shrewdness and general knowledge give them an
+advantage, I am quite ready to admit; and perhaps they are not
+over-scrupulous in exercising it to the discomfiture of their
+less-gifted neighbours.
+
+Unfortunately, Mr. G. purchased his land of a squatter, who had no
+title himself, and consequently could give none to the purchaser, who,
+after three or four years of hard labour upon it—when he had fondly
+hoped he had surmounted the greatest difficulties—found that the
+Government had issued a deed for the benefit of another person before
+he came into possession, who could not be induced to give up his legal
+rights to the unfortunate cultivator. He was so disheartened by this
+occurrence, that he determined to sell all he had and leave the
+country, which resolution he put into immediate execution.
+
+He took a passage for himself and family in a ship, timber-laden, from
+Quebec, bound for Liverpool. It was late in the fall: the vessel was
+one of the last that sailed; consequently, they experienced very rough
+weather, accompanied with snow and sleet. Mid-way across the Atlantic,
+they encountered a dreadful storm, which left the ship a mere wreck on
+the ocean. To add to their misfortunes, a plank had started, owing, it
+was supposed, to the shifting of some part of the cargo during the
+gale; and so quickly did the vessel fill that they only saved two
+eight-pound pieces of salt pork and a few biscuits.
+
+“I had,” he said, “also in my pocket, a paper containing two or three
+ounces of cream of tartar. Luckily, a cask of water, lashed on deck,
+was providentially preserved, amidst the general destruction.
+
+“Our ship’s company consisted of the captain, mate, and six seamen,
+besides a medical man, myself, my poor wife, and two children, who were
+cabin passengers. We made several unsuccessful attempts to procure a
+supply of provisions; consequently, it became absolutely necessary to
+give out what we had in the smallest possible rations.
+
+“The fourth night was ushered in by another storm, more terrific even
+than the last. A heavy sea struck the vessel, sweeping overboard the
+captain and three seamen; and the poor doctor’s leg was broken at the
+same time, by a loose spar.
+
+“We passed a fearful night; nor did the morning add to our comfort, for
+my daughter died from exposure and want, just as the day dawned.
+
+“On the seventh morning, the doctor, who had suffered the greatest
+agony from his swollen leg, sank at last; the paper of cream of tartar
+I had in my pocket being the only relief for his dreadful fever, during
+his misery. My poor wife and remaining child soon followed. We now had
+fine dry weather, which was some relief to our intolerable misery.
+
+“On the twentieth day, the last of our provisions was consumed. I had
+an old pair of deer-skin mocassins on my feet: these we carefully
+divided amongst us. We had now serious thoughts of drawing lots, to see
+which of us should die, for the preservation of the rest. I, however,
+begged they would defer such a dreadful alternative to the latest
+minute.
+
+“On the twenty-first night of our disaster, I had a most remarkable
+dream: I thought I saw a fine ship bearing down to our assistance, and
+that she was called “The London of London.” I related my dream to my
+companions, in hopes it might raise their spirits, which, however, it
+failed to do; for nothing was to be seen on that dreary waste of water,
+though we scanned the horizon in every direction. For upwards of two
+hours after, we scarcely spoke a word, when suddenly the sun, which had
+been obscured all the morning, shone out brightly and warm for the
+season of the year. I mechanically raised myself and looked over the
+bulwarks, when, to my astonishment and delight, I beheld a ship, the
+very counterpart of the one I had seen in my dream, bearing down
+directly for the wreck.
+
+“It is not easy to describe our various feelings on this occasion: we
+could scarcely believe our senses when the boat came along side. We
+were so reduced by famine and exposure, that we had to be lifted into
+her. In this state of exhaustion every attention was paid us by the
+humane captain and crew.
+
+“As soon as I was on board, I asked the name of the vessel, when I was
+surprised to find she was called the ‘Portaferry of Portaferry.’
+Although the name was not that borne by the vessel of which I had
+dreamed, it must be considered at least a remarkable coincidence.
+
+“Great care was taken to prevent us eating too ravenously at first: we
+received every kindness our weak condition required; but,
+notwithstanding these precautions, two of my companions in misery died
+before we reached Ireland.
+
+“When we arrived at Strangford, in the north of Ireland, I was entirely
+destitute—I had lost everything I possessed. Fortunately for me, I
+belonged to the honourable fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, who
+kindly furnished me with clothing, and money sufficient to take me
+home, which I reached in safety.
+
+“Like almost every person who has resided a few years in Canada, I
+found it impossible to content myself at home; and, although I had no
+great reason to be fond of the country on account of the treatment I
+had experienced, still, there is that indescribable charm in the free
+life of a Canadian settler, which is wanting in a more civilized
+country: I, therefore, determined once more to try my fortune.
+
+“I accordingly embarked with the young wife I had lately married, and
+the three children I had formerly left in Ireland with my parents. We
+sailed early in the spring of 1825. My ill luck still attended me; for
+owing to the dense fogs we experienced on the banks of Newfoundland, we
+got out of our course, and our ship struck the shore near Cape Ray:
+fortunately the sea was smooth and the weather fine: so that when
+daylight broke we were able, without much difficulty, to be landed on
+that most inhospitable shore,
+
+“Where the bones of many a tall ship lie buried.”
+
+
+“We saved little or nothing from the wreck; for, as the day advanced,
+the wind freshened into a gale, which blowing on shore, soon settled
+the fate of our gallant bark. The shore was soon strewn with casks,
+bales, and packages, some of which we were able to secure. Our captain
+chartered a small fishing-vessel, which landed us at last safely at
+Quebec. And now, you see, after enduring almost unheard-of sufferings,
+I am again prostrated by this unfortunate accident.”
+
+Such was the account given me by Mr. G——, who put into my hand, at the
+same time, an old Belfast newspaper, containing the account of his
+first wreck and sufferings. So I have no reason to doubt the entire
+truth of his statement.
+
+After his foot healed he returned to his land, and, with the assistance
+of his family, cleared up a large farm. His location, however, was not
+well chosen; and, consequently, he was not a thriving settler. He,
+however, managed to bring up a large family, who are now sufficiently
+independent of him to maintain themselves and families comfortably.
+
+On his father’s death, about three years since, he returned with his
+wife to Ireland, where I believe he intends to pass the remainder of
+his days.
+
+I wish to make one remark before closing this chapter: does it not
+speak well for Canada, when a person, who was neither an active nor a
+clever person, and who had suffered almost unheard-of misfortunes, was
+still able to gain a living and see his family settled in comparative
+comfort? Under such circumstances, what would have been the fate of
+these people in England or Ireland?—Abject pauperism.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+PREPARATIONS FOR MY SECOND MARRIAGE.—DANGEROUS ADVENTURE.—MY WIFE’S
+NOCTURNAL VISITOR.—WE PREPARE FOR THE RECEPTION OF OUR UNINVITED
+GUEST.—BRUIN’S UNWELCOME VISIT TO AN IRISH SHANTY.—OUR BEAR HUNT.—MAJOR
+ELLIOTT’S DUEL WITH BRUIN.—HIS WOUNDS AND VICTORY.
+
+I spent the spring of 1827 very pleasantly in the company of my new
+friends. I used to go down to my farm every morning, and return in the
+evening to a cheerful fire-side and agreeable society, which rewarded
+me for the toils of the day. I had fenced in my fields, planted my
+spring crops, Indian corn, and potatoes, which looked promising; and I
+had my house nearly finished. I, therefore, considered it was time I
+should go and reside in it, and not trespass any longer on the
+hospitality of my kind and generous friends. As, however, I did not
+like the thought of living the life of a hermit, and my little boy; for
+whom I had sent, was weaned, and growing healthy and lovely under the
+kind hospitality of my friends, required now a watchful parental care,
+I proposed to, and was accepted by, my friend’s eldest daughter, in
+whom I found what I sought—a faithful mother for my child, and the most
+devoted and affectionate wife for myself. A better woman, indeed, never
+existed. For upwards of twenty-two years she shared my various
+fortunes, and formed my greatest earthly blessing. A few days before my
+marriage—an event to which I naturally looked forward for an increase
+of happiness—an accident occurred, which might have been attended with
+fatal results to myself, and actually was so to a lad who was in my
+service. A kind Providence, however, watched over my life, and
+delivered me from this danger.
+
+My farm was situated on the east shore of the Otonabee river, the town
+of Peterborough being on the west of that line; and there was no bridge
+communication between us and that place, so that we were obliged to
+cross in skiffs, canoes, or any other craft we could get. When the
+river is flooded in the spring, it is dangerous for persons crossing,
+unless they are well acquainted with the management of a canoe. Several
+fatal accidents have indeed happened to the inexperienced at that time
+of the year, from this cause. Such was the state of the river, when I
+had to cross it to reach the store, where I wanted to purchase some
+articles for my intended marriage. The stream was then at its greatest
+height, running with extreme rapidity, and I had, to contend with its
+force, only a small log-canoe, about twelve feet in length, by thirty
+inches at its greatest breadth, in which three of us ventured upon the
+turbid water, namely, John Fontaine, a French boy; Michael Walsh, and
+myself. We crossed a little above the new mill-dam, which had been
+constructed at the expense of the Government for the Irish emigration,
+and we managed to get over pretty well. Not so, however, on our return.
+I was near the middle of the canoe, with a pair of small oars, one of
+the boys at each end, and all seated at the bottom for greater
+security. In this manner we got over the main channel; but owing to the
+swiftness of the current, we were carried down much nearer the dam than
+we intended. This alarmed the boys a good deal. I begged them to sit
+still, assuring them I should be able to fetch the canoe into an eddy a
+little lower down the stream. We were at this time close to an island,
+which was deeply flooded, owing to the raising of the water by the
+construction of the dam. From the point of this sunken island, a cedar
+tree had fallen into the river. It was therefore necessary that we
+should drop below this, before we could make the eddy. In the act of
+passing, the boy Walsh—I suppose from fright—caught hold of the tree,
+which caused the canoe to swing round broadside to the current, and it
+instantly filled and upset.
+
+A large quantity of timber had been cut on the island, for the use of
+the mill and dam. The workmen had piled the tops and limbs of these
+trees in large heaps, which now floated above the surface of the
+island. To one of these I immediately swam, and succeeded in getting
+upon it. I then perceived that Walsh had been swept from the tree to
+which he had clung, by the force of the current, into the middle of the
+river, and close to the edge of the falls. I saw at a glance, that his
+only chance was to swim for the opposite side, which I called on him to
+do, but he appeared to have lost all self-possession; for he neither
+swam for one shore nor the other, but kept his head facing up the
+stream, uttering wild cries, which, in a few seconds, were silenced for
+ever.
+
+In the meantime, John Fontaine, the French boy, had succeeded in
+getting partly across the canoe, which was floating past the heap on
+which I had taken refuge, and only a few yards from where I was
+standing. I immediately plucked a long stick from the brush-heap, and
+swam near enough to the lad for him to grasp one end of the pole,
+bidding him leave the canoe, which I told him would be carried over the
+dam to a certainty, and him with it, if he did not abandon his hold.
+He, with apparent reluctance, followed my directions, but I had a hard
+struggle to regain my former place of refuge, with the boy’s additional
+weight. I had some trouble to persuade him to trust himself again in
+the water. And no wonder; for darkness was fast approaching, and both
+the island and a narrow channel of the river had still to be crossed.
+However, trusting to the mercy of God, we again committed ourselves to
+those wild, swollen waters, which, by the providence of the Almighty,
+we successfully accomplished. I was obliged to hold the stick between
+my teeth whilst crossing the channel, drawing along with me my
+terrified companion, it being necessary for our preservation, that I
+should have the free use of both my arms. I had on at the time a
+velveteen shooting coat, the large pockets of which were filled with
+things I had just purchased from the store; among which I remember
+there was a dozen cups and saucers, which added no inconsiderable
+weight to the swimmer.
+
+As soon as we made the shore, we ran down to the falls, to see if we
+could hear anything of the poor boy. We shouted, for it was now quite
+dark, but all in vain; indeed, I had not the slightest hope, as I had
+seen him carried backwards over the dam into the boiling rapids below,
+where the best swimmer would not have had the least chance. We failed
+to discover his remains then, but found his mangled body six days
+afterwards in a small lake, a mile and a half below the dam.
+
+I was much concerned at the fate of my poor young servant, but felt
+deeply grateful for my own preservation and that of Fontaine.
+
+A few weeks after my marriage, I was detained one night from home by
+business, leaving my wife, her little sister, and a small dog, called
+Suffolk—so named by me in honour of my native county—the sole occupiers
+of my house, of which the kitchen was still in an unfinished state,
+part of the floor only being laid. We, however, had to make use of it,
+until I could procure more boards to finish it, which, in those days,
+were not very easy to obtain.
+
+In the middle of the night, my wife and her sister were awakened and
+dreadfully alarmed by a terrible noise in the kitchen, accompanied by
+the sharp barking of the little dog. They were quite sure by the low
+growls and the fury of Suffolk, that it was some wild animal, but
+whether a bear or wolf they could not tell. Towards morning, this
+unwelcome visitor took himself off, to their infinite joy. When I came
+home, they told me the story, at which I laughed very heartily, for I
+thought their fears had magnified the visit of some neighbour’s dog
+into a bear, or some other wild beast; but they appeared unconvinced,
+being both frightened and positive. My wife declared, that in the
+morning she found some of the salt-pork had been abstracted from the
+barrel, which stood in one corner of the kitchen, by the savage guest.
+
+Now, I knew very well that master Bruin was fond of fresh pork, and I
+thought it possible that he might think the salt an improvement. At all
+events, I resolved to be prepared, in case he should pay us a second
+visit. Accordingly, before going to bed, I loaded my gun with ball, and
+tied Suffolk up in the vicinity of the pork-barrel. At midnight we were
+suddenly awakened by the piteous howlings of the poor dog, and by a
+noise, as if everything in the room had been violently thrown down. I
+jumped out of bed instantly, and seizing my gun, crept cautiously along
+the passage, till I came to the kitchen-door, which I threw open,
+whereupon some large dark-looking object made a rush for the unfinished
+part of the floor. I immediately fired; but it was so dark, and the
+beast so quick in its movements, that I had little chance of hitting
+him. Whether or not, it had the effect of scaring him so much that he
+never resumed his nocturnal visitation. Indeed, I stopped his supplies
+from my larder by finishing the floor and building up the hole between
+the lower log of the house and the ground.
+
+But to return to my story. As soon as the beast had made his exit, we
+lighted a candle and examined the room, which we found in confusion and
+disorder. The barrel of pork was upset and the brine running in
+miniature rivers over the floor, while poor little Suffolk was bleeding
+from his wounds—indeed nearly killed. From what I could make out of the
+footprints outside I am inclined to think my unwelcome visiter was a
+bear; but this, of course, will for ever remain a mystery.
+
+I have heard many stories of their boldness, to some instances of which
+I have been an eye-witness. Not very long after the occurrence I have
+just related, the wife of an Irish emigrant saw a large bear walking
+very deliberately towards the shanty, which no doubt he mistook for a
+pigsty, and the inmates for pigs, for they were quite as dirty,
+therefore it was no great mistake, after all. The woman and her three
+children had barely time to get into the potato-cellar and shut down
+the trap-door, when his bear-ship made his forcible entrance through
+the feeble barrier the door opposed to his strength, much to the dismay
+and terror of the subterranean lodgers, who lay shaking and quaking for
+more than an hour, till the dying screams of their fatted pig told them
+he was after game of a more savoury nature.
+
+In the fall of the year it is no uncommon thing for farmers to have
+their pigs killed by the bears, particularly in the new settlements.
+
+Bears are, we know, very fond of good things. They are epicures in
+their way. They like honey, and love pork, and, you may be sure, often
+pay the settler a visit for the sake of his pigs. As Bruin makes very
+good eating himself, these visitations are sometimes made at the risk
+of his own bacon; his warm jacket, which makes comfortable robes for
+the settler’s sleigh, keeping him warm during his journeys on pleasure
+or business throughout the long Canadian winters.
+
+One day, I was assisting my father-in-law and his sons in logging up
+his fallow, when we heard a great outcry among the pigs in a belt of
+woods between Mr. Reid’s and Mr. Stewart’s clearing, when, suspecting
+it was a bear attacking the swine, we ran for our guns, and made the
+best of our way towards the spot from whence the outcry proceeded.
+
+Near the edge of the clearing we met Mr. B——, who was on a visit to his
+friend and relative Mr. Stewart, driving before him Mr. Reid’s sow,
+which he had just rescued from the grip of an immense bear, that,
+alarmed by his shouts, dropped his prey and made off in the direction
+of a small cedar-swamp. We immediately proposed surrounding the place,
+as there were three of us provided with double-barrelled guns. Mr.
+B——took up his station behind a large tree, close to where a small
+creek ran into the swamp. My brother-in-law John and myself went round
+to the opposite side, which we entered a few yards apart. We had not
+proceeded far, when an enormous brute popped up his head from behind
+some fallen logs and brush, for we had disturbed him in the act of
+devouring a pig. We both fired at the same instant, but apparently
+without effect; for he scampered off, passing within a few feet of
+where B—— was hid, who fired only one of his barrels, reserving his
+second in case the bear should turn on him. We ran as fast as we could
+to the river, for we knew he had gone in that direction. Indeed, Bruin
+took to the water in fine style, swimming across gallantly. Before we
+could get another shot at him he had gained the opposite bank. There we
+gave him a second volley, which did not appear in the least to retard
+his ascent, so we concluded that it was a regular miss all round. B——
+maintained, however, that he had hit him, and wanted us to cross the
+river and follow the track. We only laughed at him for not firing his
+second shot, and returned home very much crestfallen at the ill success
+of our expedition.
+
+Had we but complied with B——’s wish, we should have found our hunt had
+been more successful than we imagined, for eight or ten days afterwards
+John Morison was going on the opposite side of the river to
+Peterborough, when, upon crossing a small creek, he came quite
+unexpectedly on the carcass of a large bear, not thirty yards from the
+bank we had seen him climb. No doubt B——’s shot was the fatal one, as
+he was not more than five or six yards from him when he fired. The
+stream, where the beast was found, is in the township of Smith, about a
+mile and a half from Peterborough, on the river road, and is well-known
+by the name of Bear Creek to this day.
+
+There is very little danger of being attacked by Bruin, unless you
+first molest him. An old she-bear, with cubs, is the most dangerous
+customer to meddle with.
+
+Major Elliott, of the Canadian Militia, a gentleman with whom I was
+well acquainted, residing near Rice Lake, in the township of Monaghan,
+was out one day in the woods partridge-shooting, near the big swamp on
+the boundary line between Monaghan and Cavan, when he fell in with
+several old bears and their cubs. He had only one ball with him which
+he fired at the biggest fellow he could see among them, and wounded him
+very severely, though not enough to stop him from following his
+companions. But Elliott was not the man to be baulked without an effort
+to capture his wounded adversary; so, being in want of a ball, he cut
+of from his waistcoat some open-work brass buttons, with which he
+loaded his gun, and followed the track of the wounded bear, which he
+soon overtook.
+
+Bruin, however, being possessed of considerable pluck, immediately
+faced about and attacked the major, who gave him a taste of the
+buttons, as he advanced. But the bear, nothing daunted, returned to the
+charge, which Elliott met with a blow from the butt-end of his gun,
+that was instantly struck from his hand by his formidable antagonist,
+who immediately closed with him. It now became a regular stand-up fight
+between Major Elliott and Ursus Major. For a long time it was doubtful
+which would come off victorious. Elliott was severely wounded about the
+breast and arms; notwithstanding which, he boldly maintained his
+ground, and ultimately succeeded in rolling the beast over the trunk of
+a large pine tree which lay on the ground beside them. Bruin was too
+much exhausted to climb over the tree, to renew the combat.
+
+Luckily, Elliott received no internal injury, though his flesh was
+severely lacerated in the contest, which only ended with the bear’s
+life. Ireland, indeed, never sent from her shores a bolder hunter,
+braver man, or more active backwoodsman, than Major Elliott.[1]
+
+ [1] This gentleman was afterwards returned as Member of the Provincial
+ Parliament for the county of Durham.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+CANADA THE POOR MAN’S COUNTRY.—DISADVANTAGES OF INEXPERIENCE.—TOWNSHIP
+OF HARVEY SETTLEMENT.—PAUPER EMIGRATION.—SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES OF THE
+LABOURER COLONIST.—TEMPERANCE AND TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES.—A DRY ANSWER TO
+WATERY ARGUMENTS.—BRITISH AND FOREIGN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.
+
+There is no colony belonging to the British Crown better adapted for
+the poor industrious emigrant than the Canadas, particularly the Upper
+Province, which is essentially the poor man’s country. Twenty-five
+years ago, the expense of the voyage out to Quebec, and the difficulty,
+delay, and additional outlay of the inland journey put it completely
+out of the power of the needy agriculturist or artizan to emigrate; the
+very classes, however, who, from their having been brought up from
+their infancy to hard labour, and used to all sorts of privations, were
+the best fitted to cope with the dangers and hardships attending the
+settlement of a new country. The impossibility of the working hand
+raising funds for emigration, confined the colonists to a set of men
+less calculated to contend with difficulties—namely, half-pay officers
+and gentlemen of better family than income, who were almost invariably
+the pioneers of every new settlement.
+
+Many high-spirited gentlemen were, doubtless, tempted by the grants of
+land bestowed upon them by the Government, which made actual settlement
+one of the conditions of the grant. It followed, as a matter of course,
+that the majority of these persons were physically disqualified for
+such an undertaking, a fact which many deserted farms in the rear
+townships of the county in which I reside painfully indicate.
+
+Eighteen or twenty years ago a number of gentlemen located themselves
+in the township of Harvey. The spot chosen by them was one of great
+natural beauty; but it possessed no other advantages, except an
+abundance of game, which was no small inducement to them. They spent
+several thousand pounds in building fancy log-houses and making large
+clearings which they had neither the ability nor industry to cultivate.
+But, even if they had possessed sufficient perseverance, their great
+distance from a market, bad roads, want of knowledge in cropping after
+they had cleared the land, lack of bridges, and poor soil, would have
+been a great drawback to the chance of effecting a prosperous
+settlement. In a few years not a settler remained of this little
+colony. Some stayed till their means were thoroughly exhausted; others,
+more wise, purchased ready-cleared farms in the settlements or followed
+some profession more congenial to their taste, or more suited to their
+abilities.
+
+The only persons fit to undertake the hardships of a bush-life, are
+those who have obtained a certain degree of experience in their own
+country upon the paternal estate or farm. Men who have large families
+to provide for, and who have been successful in wood-clearing, are
+generally willing to sell their improvements, and purchase wild land
+for their families, whose united industry soon places them in a better
+farm than they owned before. They are thus rendered greater
+capitalists, with increased means of providing for their children, who
+soon take up their standing in society as its favoured class. Indeed, I
+would strongly advise gentlemen of small capital to purchase
+ready-cleared farms, which can be obtained in most parts of the
+country, with almost every convenience, for half what the clearing of
+bush-land would cost, especially by an inexperienced settler. In fact,
+since grants of land are no longer given to the emigrant, there is less
+inducement to go so far back into the woods.
+
+Since 1826, a steady influx of the working classes from Great Britain
+and Ireland has taken place. This has tended much to the prosperity of
+the country, by cheapening labour, and the settlement of vast tracts of
+wild land.
+
+Several experiments have been made by Government in sending out pauper
+emigration: that from the south of Ireland, under the superintendance
+of the late Hon. Peter Robinson in 1824, was the most extensive, and
+came more immediately under my own observation. I have understood that
+some most obnoxious and dangerous characters were shipped off in this
+expedition—no doubt to the great comfort of landlords, agents, and
+tithe-proctors.
+
+The Government behaved very liberally to these settlers. A grant of a
+hundred acres of good land was given to each head of a family, and to
+every son above twenty-one years of age.
+
+A good milch cow, and rations of pork and flour were assigned to each
+emigrant family. These provisions they continued to receive for upwards
+of eighteen months, besides a variety of stores, such as axes, hammers,
+saws, nails, grindstones, &c. A good log-shanty was also built on each
+settler’s lot. These people have done as well as could be expected,
+considering the material of which they were composed. It has been
+observed that, whenever these people were located amongst the
+Protestant population, they made much better settlers than when
+remaining with Catholics.
+
+In fact, a great improvement is perceptible in the morality, industry
+and education of the rising generation, who grow up more virtuous and
+less bigoted to their exclusive religious opinions.
+
+As a general rule, the English, Scotch, and north of Ireland men make
+much better and more independent colonists than emigrants from the
+south of Ireland.
+
+Seven years after the location of Robinson’s emigrants, a colony of
+Wiltshire people settled in the township of Dummer under many more
+disadvantages than those placed by Government in the township of Douro.
+
+The Dummer people had no shanties built for them, no cows, and were
+given much worse land; and yet they have done much more in a shorter
+time. An air of comfort and cleanliness pervades their dwellings, and
+there is a neatness about their farms and homesteads which is generally
+wanted in the former.
+
+It must, however, be borne in mind that paupers sent out by the
+Government, or by their own parishes, are not a fair specimen by which
+to judge the working classes, who emigrated at their own expenses. Of
+the latter, I know hundreds who, upon their arrival in the Upper
+Province, had spent their last shilling, and who, by persevering
+industry, are now worth hundreds of pounds. No person need starve in
+Canada, where there is plenty of work and good wages for every man who
+is willing to labour, and who keeps himself sober. The working man with
+a family of grown children, when fairly established on his farm, is
+fully on a par, as regards his prospects, with the gentleman, the owner
+of a similar farm, and possessing an income of 100 pounds per annum.
+The reason is obvious. The gentleman and his family have been used to
+wear finer clothes, keep better company, and maintain a more
+respectable appearance, and if he has children, to give them a more
+expensive education.
+
+Then, again, the gentleman and his family are physically less qualified
+to undergo the hardships and toil of a practical farmer’s life. On the
+other hand, the working man thinks it no degradation to send his sons
+and daughters out to service, and the united product of their wages
+amount, probably to eight or ten pounds per month. He is contented with
+home-spun cloth, while the spinning and knitting—and sometimes
+weaving—required by the family, are done at home. Labour, indeed, is
+money; and hence in a few years the gentleman with his income is soon
+distanced, and the working hand becomes the man of wealth, while his
+children eventually form a part of the aristocracy of the country, if
+the father gives them a suitable education.
+
+There is one thing, however, to be said in favour of the
+gentleman—namely, his education, which fits him for offices and
+professions which must remain for ever out of the reach of the
+half-ignorant. It is, therefore, only in agricultural pursuits, and
+mechanical operations, that the working man is able to obtain a
+superiority; and then only if he be sober and industrious, for whiskey
+has been the great bane of the colony. Hundreds of our cleverest
+mechanics, and many of gentler blood, have fallen victims to its
+influence.
+
+It is said that temperance societies have done a great deal towards
+checking this evil, and that the new society, the “Sons of Temperance,”
+will complete what the others began. I am quite willing to admit it as
+a fact, because I believe that the practice of temperance has gained
+ground, both in Canada and the United States. But I am unwilling to
+allow that the means taken to effect that much-desired object are the
+best that might be adopted. Indeed, I think, in some instances, the
+endeavour to prohibit the use of fermented drink altogether, has been
+carried to unchristian lengths.
+
+I believe that, if the same amount of money had been expended in
+propagating the gospel, as has been laid out by these total abstinence
+societies, more real converts to temperance would have been gained,
+because principle and true religion would have been the bases on which
+the reformation was founded.
+
+Throughout the whole Bible and Testament, there is not a single command
+to abstain totally from either wine or strong drink; but there is a
+positive one respecting the abuse, and dreadful denunciations against
+the drunkard. Then in respect to the prohibition, the false prophet
+has, in the Koran, forbidden his followers to use wine at all. Now,
+which do we profess to follow,—the precepts of Jesus Christ, or those
+of Mahomet? But some will say, if your brother offends by his
+intemperate habits, you should abstain altogether, that you may become
+a good example to him. By the same rule, if my brother is a glutton, I
+should abstain from food also. Now, I believe with the Apostle, “that
+all the creatures of God are good,” and lawful for us to use; but we
+are not to abuse them, “but to be temperate in all things,” thus acting
+up to the rule of scripture, and setting a better example than if we
+wholly abstained from fermented drink. Any other rule, excepting in
+cases of notorious drunkenness, is, in my opinion, anti-scriptural, and
+therefore wrong.
+
+The new American society, “The Sons of Temperance,” which now takes the
+lead of all other temperance or tee-total societies, is a secret and
+benefit society, having its signs and pass-words. In the hands of
+clever leaders and designing men, may not a society of this kind become
+a great political engine?
+
+Sometimes very ludicrous scenes occur at temperance meetings. A few
+years ago, when this question was first agitated in Canada, a meeting
+was held in a school-house on the English line, in the township of
+Dummer. The lecturer, on that occasion, was an itinerant preacher of
+the Methodist persuasion. After descanting some time in a very fluent
+manner, on the evils arising from intemperance, and the great numbers
+who had lost their lives by violent means, “for my part,” said the
+lecturer, “I have known nearly three hundred cases of this kind
+myself.”
+
+This broad assertion was too much for one of the audience, an old
+Wiltshire man, who exclaimed, in his peculiar dialect, “Now, I know
+that ’ere be a lie. Can you swear that you did ever see three out of
+them three hundred violent deaths you speak on?”
+
+“Well, I have heard and read of them in books and newspapers; and I
+once saw a man lying dead on the road, and a jar, half full of whiskey,
+beside him, which, I think, you will allow is proof enough.”
+
+“I thought your three hundred cases would turn out like the boy’s cats
+in his grandmother’s garden. Now, I will tell thee, that I did know
+three men that did kill themselves by drinking of cold water. There was
+John H——, that over-heated hisself, walking from Cobourg, and drank so
+much water at the cold springs, that he fell down and died in a few
+minutes. Then there was that workman of Elliott’s, in Smith, who
+dropped in the harvest-field, from the same cause; and the Irishman
+from Asphodel, whose name I forget. So, you see, that more people do
+die from drinking cold water than whiskey.” Then he turned round to a
+neighbour, who, like himself, was not over-fond of cold water, and
+said, “I say, Jerome, which would you rather have, a glass of cold
+water, or a drap of good beer?”
+
+“I know which I would take,” exclaimed Jerome; “I would like a drap of
+good beer best, I do know.”
+
+This dialogue raised such a laugh against the apostle of temperance,
+that the meeting was fairly broken up, leaving the Wiltshire man
+triumphing in his victory over cold water and oratory, in the person of
+the lecturer. The dryness of his arguments prevailed against the
+refreshing and copious draughts of the pure element recommended by his
+discomfited opponent.
+
+A good joke is not, however, a good argument, though it stood for one
+at this meeting. Total abstinence is the best plan to be adopted by
+habitual drunkards, who, if they can get at strong drink at all, seldom
+keep their pledge of sobriety. The British and Foreign Temperance
+Society, in fact, advises the habitually intemperate to abstain
+altogether, while, at the same time, it aims at bringing the man to
+repentance and reformation, by the renovating influence of the gospel.
+If I differ in some respects from that society, in its prohibition
+against the use of spirits altogether, in such a climate as Canada, I
+still must consider its views far more liberal, and more consistent
+with scripture rules, than that of any other for the promotion of
+temperance, as, indeed, possessing more of that charity, without which
+even the most fervent zeal is worse than useless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+WANT OF HOME-PASTURAGE IN CANADA.—DANGER OF BEING LOST IN THE
+WOODS.—PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THE TRAVELLER IN THE BUSH.—STORY OF A
+SETTLER FROM EMILY.—AN OLD WOMAN’S RAMBLE IN THE WOODS.—ADVENTURE OF A
+TRAPPER.—FORTUNATE MEETING WITH HIS PARTNER.
+
+One of the greatest inconveniences belonging to a new settlement, for
+the first four or five years, is the want of pasturage for your working
+cattle and cows. Consequently, the farmer has to depend entirely on the
+Bush for their support, for at least seven months out of the twelve.
+The inconvenience does not arise from any want of food; for the woods,
+beaver meadows, and the margins of lakes and streams yield an
+abundance, and the cattle, towards the fall of the year, are sure to
+grow fat. But it is the trouble of seeking for your cattle.
+
+Sometimes, indeed, in the midst of your greatest hurry, your oxen are
+nowhere to be found. I have myself often spent two or three days in
+succession, searching the woods in vain; and it not unfrequently
+happens that, while looking for the strayed beasts, you lose yourself
+in the woods.
+
+As we generally carry a gun with us in these excursions, we often fall
+in with deer or partridges, which makes the way not only seem less
+fatiguing, but even pleasant, unless during the season of musquitoes
+and black flies, when rambling through the Bush is no pleasure to any
+one.
+
+New-comers are very apt to lose themselves at first, until they get
+acquainted with the creeks and ridges; and even then, on a dark day or
+during a snow-storm, they are very likely to go astray. If you have no
+compass with you, and the sun is obscured, the best way of extricating
+yourself is, to observe the moss on the trees, which—not every one
+knows—grows more luxuriantly and in greater quantities on the north
+side of the tree. It is of little use to look at any tree separately:
+this will perhaps only mislead you; but if you observe the general
+aspect of the woods around, the indications may be of great service to
+you. Towards the north, the trunks of the trees will appear light and
+cheerful, while the south side will look dark and spotted. This plan,
+however, will only answer amongst hard woods.[1] The ridges mostly run
+north-east and south-west, and the swamps parallel with them. Then,
+again, in pine woods the general inclination of the timber is from the
+north-west. All these indications have been successfully followed, and
+should be borne in mind.
+
+ [1] Deciduous trees are called hard-wood.
+
+
+People who lose themselves in the Bush seldom persevere long enough in
+any one direction. They fancy they are going wrong, and keep changing
+their course; till probably, after four or five hours’ walking, they
+find themselves near the spot from whence they started. This has
+occurred to me more than once, and I shall relate a melancholy incident
+which happened only a few years ago, and which proves what I have just
+stated.
+
+The person to whom I allude, resided in the township of Emily, and had
+been all the summer working at his trade in the village of Bowmanville,
+to earn money sufficient to pay for his land, which he had succeeded by
+the fall in doing. As the cold weather had set in, he determined to
+return home, and chop all the winter on his farm. He knew that by
+crossing the township of Darlington and Manvers in an oblique
+direction, twenty-five or six miles in length, he could reach his own
+house in half the time, the distance by the road being more than double
+that by which he proposed to travel. He therefore determined to try the
+short way, although he was well aware that the last eight or ten miles
+of his road was through the Bush, with not even a blazed line to guide
+him. He was, however, young and active, and moreover considered himself
+a good backwoodsman. He started one fine frosty morning early in
+December, expecting he should be able to reach his own house sometime
+before sundown.
+
+For the first ten or twelve miles he got on pretty well, as he had a
+sleigh-track to follow, and as long as the sun shone out he made a good
+course. Unfortunately for him, a snow-storm came on and obscured his
+only guide. He, however, struggled on manfully through cedar-swamps and
+over ridges, with the snow half-way up to his knees, till the approach
+of darkness compelled him to look out for some place to shelter him
+from the storm, where he might best pass the weary hours of the coming
+night.
+
+He selected a dry spot beneath some spreading cedars, and busied
+himself as long as daylight lasted in collecting as much fire-wood as
+would last till the morning. He then gathered a quantity of
+hemlock-brush for his bed, and by breaking off some large limbs from
+the surrounding evergreens, succeeded at last in forming a temporary
+shelter. For a long time he despaired of getting a fire, till he at
+length found some dry cedar-bark, which he finally succeeded in
+igniting with a piece of punk,[2] which every backwoodsman carries with
+him for that purpose. Though the poor fellow had only taken with him
+provisions for a day’s journey, he made a hearty supper, merely
+reserving a portion for his breakfast, not suspecting that he should
+fail in reaching his destination. He fully expected he should see the
+sun in the morning, which would enable him to correct this course; for
+he knew that he was in the township of Manvers, and not more than seven
+or eight miles from his own home.
+
+ [2] A substance obtained from the sugar-maple, similar to German
+ tinder.
+
+
+Wearied with his day’s journey, he slept the greater part of the night,
+although awakened occasionally by the cold. At such times he would heap
+fresh fuel on the fire, and again compose himself to sleep.
+
+To his infinite joy the morning beamed brightly—the sun shone out. With
+a light heart and renewed confidence he again shaped his course
+eastward, following the direction in which his house lay; and there is
+no doubt, had the day remained clear, he would in a few hours have
+extricated himself from the dilemma into which he had fallen. His
+disappointment was great when he again beheld the sky overcast, and the
+snow falling thickly around him. He pushed on, however, bravely, till
+at length a thick cedar-swamp lay before him. For some time he
+travelled along its edge, in the hope of finding a narrow spot to
+cross, but in this he was disappointed, so he determined to attempt the
+passage. He fully believed, once on the other side, he should know the
+face of the country, from his having so often hunted game, or searched
+for his cattle in that direction.
+
+For fully an hour he pressed on through a complete thicket of cedar;
+but it was all random work, for the evergreens were so loaded with
+snow, that it was quite impossible to go one hundred yards in a
+straight course. At last he saw the tops of hard-wood trees before him,
+which again revived his sinking spirits, for he thought he had crossed
+the swamp. Alas, poor fellow! he was mistaken. He had come out on the
+very side by which he had entered it, but of this he was not aware at
+the time. He, however, wondered that he did not recognize any part of
+the ground he was travelling over.
+
+At length, to his great joy, he came upon the fresh track of a man,
+which he had no doubt belonged to some person, who was then out from
+the settlement, still hunting;[3] for he knew that Manvers was the most
+celebrated township for deer in the Newcastle District. As he observed
+that the footprints were going in a contrary direction to what he was,
+this circumstance gave him increased confidence. Two or three times,
+however, he thought some of the small swamps and ridges looked vastly
+like what he had traversed in the early part of the day. At last, about
+an hour before dark, he saw a thin wreath of blue smoke in a thicket
+before him. Judge of his disappointment and dismay, when, on his nearer
+approach, he found he had actually followed his own track, which had
+brought him back to the spot where he had passed the night. To describe
+his feelings on this occasion would be difficult and painful. He
+thought of his wife and his young children, who were hourly expecting
+his return, and who had, no doubt, prepared some little treat to
+welcome the wanderer home.
+
+ [3] Canadian term for deer-stalking.
+
+
+Bitter were his reflections during the waking hours of that long night!
+Hungry, tired, and unrefreshed, the morning’s light saw him struggling
+through the snow, but whither he knew not; for though it had ceased
+snowing, the sky was still overcast, and continued so till the middle
+of the afternoon, when the wind suddenly veered round to the
+north-west, attended with intense cold. He now renewed every effort;
+for once or twice he thought he heard the sounds of civilized life—the
+distant supper-horn or cattle-bell—but the fierce howling of the wind,
+which blew half a gale, rendered his hearing indistinct.
+
+As long as daylight lasted he dragged on his wearied limbs, till utter
+exhaustion and coming darkness rendered his further progress
+impossible. To add to his misfortune, on attempting to kindle a fire,
+he found that his punk was damp, from the snow having come in contact
+with it when pressing his way through the swamp. He now gave himself up
+for lost, for the night was extremely cold, and he had neither fire to
+warm him, nor roof to shelter his head. To sleep thus he knew was
+certain death. He therefore paced up and down as long as he was able to
+stand, but his boots were frozen stiff, and his feet numb with the
+cold. After great difficulty he managed to pull off his boots, and
+having wrapped up his feet in his woollen cap, he lay down on the path
+he bad beaten in the snow, for he could no longer resist the
+inclination to sleep.
+
+While in the act of lying down, he distinctly heard a cock crow at no
+great distance. By a great effort he roused himself, and called as
+loudly as he was able. Once he thought he heard an answer to his
+cry—again the horn seemed to ring in his ears,—and then all was blank.
+
+At daylight he was found by some of his own neighbours; one of whom was
+up early in the morning feeding his oxen, preparatory to a journey to
+the front, when he heard the shouts, which sounded to him like those of
+some person in distress. He immediately blew his dinner horn, that the
+sound might guide the lost person, and having collected three or four
+of his neighbours, they started into the woods in the direction from
+whence the shouts of the lost man had proceeded. Half a mile from the
+clearing, they came across his track, which they only followed for a
+few yards, when to their surprise they found their poor neighbour, whom
+at first they concluded to be dead. It was some time indeed before they
+could wake him, so overpowered was he with fatigue and the death-like
+sleep he had fallen into.
+
+His friends lost no time in carrying him home; but unfortunately they
+placed him near a large fire, instead of rubbing his hands and feet
+with snow. The too sudden reaction of the blood caused him the most
+excruciating agony, for both his hands and feet were badly frozen. At
+length Dr. Hutchinson[4] was sent for from Peterborough, who found
+mortification had commenced, and that there was no chance of the poor
+fellow’s recovery which proved too true, for he expired the next day, a
+week from the morning he was found.
+
+ [4] Dr. Hutchinson, is a medical practitioner of great note, and one
+ of the first settlers and oldest magistrates in that section of the
+ country. I had the particulars of this story from him; though, as it
+ was some years ago, I may have made some mistake as to the exact
+ locality.
+
+
+He, however, died in the arms of his afflicted wife, and was surrounded
+by his family, a privilege purchased at the expense of severe pain, but
+still one to the husband and father—even though he had been snatched
+from his pangless death-sleep to possess it, poor fellow!
+
+The mischances consequent upon being lost in the woods, which were so
+frequent in the early settlement of Western Canada, are of rare
+occurrence now. Since, roads have been cut, and the clearings have
+brought the Bush-settlers nearer together. In my young time I have
+often searched for missing persons, and indeed have sometimes been lost
+myself.
+
+I remember, the first summer I passed in Canada, making one of a party,
+who were for eight days looking for an old woman nearly eighty years of
+age, and her little grandson, who were lost in the Bush.
+
+The old lady was going by a foot-path across a piece of woodland
+between her son-in-law’s house and a neighbour’s, which, by-the-by,
+were almost within sight of each other. The little boy, it seems, ran a
+short distance off the path to gather some wild-flowers, and was
+followed by his grandmother, who, either from her defectiveness of
+sight, or, more probably, from having crossed without perceiving it,
+was, unable to regain the track. Her friends finding that she did not
+return, went over to their neighbour’s house to see if she was there;
+but they only learned that neither she nor her grandson had found their
+way thither. Search was instantly made till night came on, but without
+success.
+
+The next day, all their friends and neighbours turned out, myself among
+the number, to search for the unfortunate woman and the boy. We
+concluded, from her advanced age and the tender years of the child,
+that they could not be very far off; consequently we confined our
+search for several days within a radius of two or three miles.
+
+On the fifth day, tracks were discovered near the edge of a small
+creek, which from being the prints of a small and large foot, left no
+doubt as to whom they belonged. Strange as it may appear, this was the
+only sure indication of the lost ones that we had yet seen. No further
+trail was seen till the evening of the seventh day, when fresh signs
+were found. Our party therefore determined to camp out all night, and
+follow these new indications early in the morning, which object they
+succeeded in effecting. The lost ones were then found, and both were
+discovered alive.
+
+The old woman had suffered the most; but the two had sustained
+themselves by eating roots and beech-mast: the little boy was quite
+frightened when he saw the men coming, and hid himself; such were the
+consequences of solitude and privation on his mind.
+
+The place where they were found was in the township of Beach, at least
+fourteen miles due east from the place where they were lost; and it is
+more than probable, in their wanderings, that they had more than
+doubled that distance—a most extraordinary circumstance, when the ages
+of the parties are considered.
+
+About three years since, two young men, with whom I was well
+acquainted, went back into the uninhabited township of Methuen, to trap
+for fur, and hunt deer. They set a line of marten-traps,[5] extending
+upwards of three miles. One or other of them used to go every alternate
+morning, to examine these traps—to re-set any that were sprung; and
+bring back to their camp any furry animal that might chance to be
+captured.
+
+ [5] The method pursued by the trappers and Indians is to blaze a line
+ through the bush for several miles. Along this line is set, at
+ intervals of one or two hundred yards, a kind of trap, called a dead
+ fall, which is constructed thus:—Two rows of short sticks are driven
+ into the ground about one foot apart, open only at one end, the top
+ being covered with brush-wood at the entrance. A piece of wood two or
+ three feet long is bedded into the ground, or snow, as the case may
+ be. The falling pole is supported immediately over this by three
+ pieces of stick notched together in the form of a figure of four. The
+ centre-piece is made long and sharp at the point, to which the bait is
+ attached, and projects well into the miniature house. The marten or
+ fisher, allured by the bait, reaches in to snatch it, which springs
+ the trap, and causes the pole to fall across the neck of the animal,
+ which is instantly killed by the blow.
+
+
+One morning, the less-experienced trapper of the two, this being his
+first season, went along the line to look at the traps, as usual. He
+had his gun with him, but only two or three charges of powder. After
+proceeding to the extreme end of the line, he thought he would go on
+and look for some partridges, which he heard “drumming”[6] some little
+distance a-head.
+
+ [6] This sound is made by the Canadian partridge (a species of the
+ grouse) during its season of courtship. The cock-bird perches himself
+ on the top of a large hollow log, or fallen tree, and with his wings
+ produces a vibratory sound, like the distant roll of a drum, which, in
+ still weather, can easily be heard at the distance of a mile in the
+ woods.
+
+
+In the pursuit of his game, he was induced to go further than he had at
+first intended. He never doubted that he should easily find his way
+back to the line. In this, however, he was woefully deceived, for the
+day was cloudy, and the face of the country was very rough. It formed,
+indeed, a part of the great granite range, which is said to cross the
+St. Lawrence, at the Lake of the Thousand Islands, traversing the rear
+of the Midland District and the counties of Hastings and Peterborough,
+through the unsurveyed lands north of Lake Simcoe, to the shores of
+Lake Huron. This granite formation is supposed to have an average
+breadth of ten or twelve miles, being intersected with small lakes,
+deep ravines and precipitous rocks. The woods of this region being
+composed principally of pine, hemlock, and cedar, are of a peculiarly
+gloomy character. In such a difficult country as this, it was no wonder
+that our inexperienced trapper went astray.
+
+After an hour’s fruitless search for the line, he came to the
+conclusion that he was lost, and that his only chance was to fire off
+his gun, in the hope that his companion would hear and return it. As no
+answering sound greeted his ear, he durst not fire his only remaining
+charge of powder, for it was all he had to defend himself from wolves,
+or to obtain some animal or bird whereupon to sustain his life.
+
+For four days and three nights did this poor fellow wander through
+these rugged wilds. On the afternoon of the fourth day he came upon a
+ridge of land, which appeared better timbered and more open; so he
+determined to follow this route, expecting it might lead him to the
+lakeshore, where his camp was situated.
+
+He had not walked a hundred yards in this new direction, when to his
+surprise he saw quite a fresh blaze on a tree, and within a fear yards
+of the spot on which he stood, a newly constructed marten-trap. Words
+cannot express the joy he felt at this discovery; it was his own line
+he had so fortunately come upon. Had he only gone the smallest distance
+to his left, he would have missed it altogether; but he came,
+providentially, upon the very spot where he had set his last trap, and
+within a few feet of the place he had left four days before.
+
+On his way to the camp, a sudden fear came over him! Had his companion
+left it, supposing him to be irrecoverably lost? If so, what was to
+become of him on the north shore of Stony Lake, without a canoe to
+cross over to the settlement, food, or ammunition to procure any for
+his support. His fears were, however, groundless, as the report of a
+gun, and soon after the appearance of his companion convinced him; but
+the danger had been great; for, from the statement of his
+fellow-trapper, he found that the latter was then on his way to the end
+of the line, hoping that he might see or hear something of him before
+he broke up their camp, which he intended to have done in the morning,
+if he had not unexpectedly fallen in with his friend. Thus had
+Providence again interposed in his behalf, and a few days of rest
+restored him to his wonted health, spirits, and activity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+DIRECTIONS FOR ASCERTAINING THE QUALITY OF LAND IN THE BUSH.—SITE OF
+LOG-SHANTY.—CHOPPING.—PREPARATION FOR SPRING-CROPS.—METHOD OF PLANTING
+INDIAN CORN.—PUMPKINS AND POTATOES.—MAKING POT-ASH.
+
+I shall now endeavour to give the emigrant some information to guide
+him in the selection of his land, and other matters connected with a
+settlement in the bush. In the first place, the quality of the land is
+the greatest consideration, and to make a good choice requires a
+practical knowledge as to the nature of the soils, and the different
+kinds of timber growing thereon.
+
+The best land is timbered with oak, ash, elm, beech, bass-wood, and
+sugar maple. A fair mixture of this species of trees is best, with here
+and there a large pine, and a few Canadian balsams scattered among the
+hard-wood. Too great a proportion of beech indicates sand or light
+loam: a preponderance of rock elm is a sign of gravel or limestone-rock
+near the surface.
+
+The timber should be lofty, clean in the bark and straight in the
+grain, and of quick growth. The woods should be open, free from
+evergreens, and with little under-brush. Generally speaking, the soil
+is of excellent quality, when timbered in the manner described.
+
+It however, often happens, that the best land is full of boulders,
+which are both troublesome and expensive to remove. Two-thirds of these
+stones are not visible above the surface, and the remainder are so
+covered with moss and leaves, that they require a practised eye to
+detect them. I have no objection to a small quantity of stones, as they
+are useful to construct French drains, or to roll into the bottoms of
+the rail-fences.
+
+When limestone-flag is near the surface, the stems of the trees will be
+shorter, their heads more bushy, and the roots spreading along the top
+of the ground. Such land is apt to burn in hot weather, and soon
+becomes exhausted. White pine, or hemlock ridges, are almost always
+sandy, and good for little—except the timber, which is valuable, if
+near enough to water. White-pine, mixed with hard-wood, generally
+indicates strong clay land, good for wheat; but the difficulty of
+clearing off such heavy timber, and the long time it takes to get rid
+of the stumps, render such a selection unprofitable, and add additional
+toil to the emigrant.
+
+The best land for wheat should be gently undulating soil, rich loam, on
+a clay bottom. In the summer months you can judge the quality of the
+land by the freshly turned-up roots of trees, which have fallen by the
+wind.
+
+In winter, when the surface of the ground is covered with snow, and
+frozen hard, the growth and quality of the timber, as before described,
+are your only mode of judging correctly.
+
+A constant supply of water is absolutely necessary, in a country liable
+to such extreme heat in summer. Canada West, abounding, as it does, in
+small spring-creeks, rivers, and lakes, is, perhaps, as well watered as
+any country in the world; and, in almost every section of the country,
+even on the highest ridges, good water can be obtained by digging
+wells, which seldom require to be sunk more than twenty feet; and in
+many townships, not half that depth is required.
+
+After the emigrant has selected a proper location, his next object is
+to choose the best situation to build his shanty, and chop his first
+fallow. Most settlers like to commence as near as possible to the
+concession-line or public road; but sometimes the vicinity of a stream
+of water or good spring is preferred. In fact, circumstances must, in
+some measure, guide them in their choice.
+
+The best time of the year to commence operations is early in September.
+The weather is then moderately warm and pleasant, and there are no
+flies in the Bush to annoy you.
+
+A log shanty, twenty-four feet long by sixteen, is large enough to
+begin with, and should be roofed either with shingles or troughs. A
+small cellar should be dug near the fire-place, commodious enough to
+hold twenty or thirty bushels of potatoes, a barrel or two of pork, &c.
+
+As soon as your shanty is completed, measure off as many acres as you
+intend to chop during the winter, and mark the boundaries by blazing
+the trees on each side.
+
+The next operation is to cut down all the small trees and brush—this is
+called under-brushing. The rule is to cut everything close to the
+ground from the diameter of six inches downwards.
+
+There are two modes of piling, either in heaps or in wind-rows. If your
+fallow is full of evergreens, such as hemlock, pine, balsam, cedar, and
+such description of timber, then I should say wind-rows are the best;
+but when the timber is deciduous, heaps are better.
+
+The brush should be carefully piled and laid all one way, by which
+means it packs closer and burns better. The regular price for
+underbrushing hard-wood land, and cutting up-all the old fallen
+timber—which is always considered a part of the underbrushing—is one
+dollar per acre, and board. Rough land and swamp vary from seven
+shillings and sixpence to ten shillings. Your under-brush should be all
+cut and piled by the end of November, before the snow falls to the
+depth of four inches, for after that it would be both difficult and
+tedious.
+
+The chopping now begins, and may be followed without any interruption
+until the season for sugar-making commences. The heads of the trees
+should be thrown upon the heaps or wind-rows. A skilful chopper will
+scarcely ever miss a heap when felling the timber, besides it saves a
+great deal of labour in piling the limbs.
+
+The trunks of the trees must be cut into lengths, from fourteen to
+sixteen feet, according to the size of the timber. Now and then a large
+maple or beech, when felled, may be left without cutting up, with the
+exception of the top, which is called a plan-heap, and is left to log
+against: this is only done when the tree is too large to be cut through
+easily with the axe.
+
+All timber fit for making rails should be left in double and treble
+lengths, as it is less likely to burn.
+
+A good axe-man should be able, with fair chopping, to cut an acre in
+eight days after the under-brushing is done. The regular price of
+chopping is five dollars per acre, with board, or six without.
+
+The emigrant should endeavour to get as much chopping done as possible
+during the first three years, because after that time he has so many
+other things to attend to, such as increase of stock, barn and
+house-building, thrashing, ploughing, &c., which, of course, give him
+every year less time for chopping, particularly if his family be small,
+in which case fifty or sixty acres are enough to clear at first, till
+his boys are old enough to give him assistance.
+
+Clearing up too large a farm, when labour is so high, is not wise, for
+it will not answer to disburse much for hire, at the present prices.
+If, therefore, you are not able to cultivate what you have cleared
+properly, it will grow up again with raspberries, blackberries, small
+trees, and brush, and be nearly as bad to clear as it was at first.
+
+The size of the farm must, however, depend on the resources of the
+emigrant, the strength and number of his family, and the quantity of
+acres he may possess.
+
+In the month of May the settler should spring-burn three or four acres,
+and log them up for his spring-crops, such as potatoes and Indian-corn.
+The Indian-corn should be planted with the hoe in rows, three feet
+apart and thirty inches in the row. A pumpkin-seed or two should be
+sown in every second or third hole in each third row. The corn must be
+earthed or hilled up by drawing the mould close round the roots, and
+five or six inches up the stalks, which should be done when the plants
+are fifteen or sixteen inches high. No further cultivation is necessary
+until the time of cutting, except breaking off some shoots from the
+roots, if too many are thrown out.
+
+Potatoes on the new land are also planted with the hoe, and in hills of
+about five thousand to the acre. A hole is scraped with the hoe, in
+which four or five sets, or a whole potato is dropped. The earth is
+then heaped over them in the form of a mole-hill, but somewhat larger.
+After the plants have appeared above the surface, a little more mould
+is drawn around them. Very large crops of potatoes are raised in this
+manner. Two hundred and fifty bushels per acre are no uncommon crop. I
+have assisted in raising double that quantity; but of late years, since
+the disease has been prevalent, but poor crops have been realized.
+
+Both white turnips and swedes do well, and grow to a large size,
+particularly on new land: the roots must be either pitted or put in a
+root-house, or cellar, as the winter is too severe for them to remain
+unhoused.
+
+The remainder of the fallow should be burnt off and logged up in July,
+the rail-cuts split into quarters and drawn off to the site of the
+fences, ready for splitting into rails. After the log-heaps are burnt,
+you should either spread the ashes or rake them while hot into heaps,
+if you intend to make potash,[1] with which, by the by, I should advise
+the new-comer to have nothing to do until he has made himself
+thoroughly acquainted with the process.
+
+ [1] This article is very extensively made in nearly all the new
+ settlements, and may be considered one of the staples of the country.
+ The process is very simple; but great care must be taken in collecting
+ the ashes clear of sand or dirt of any description. If your ashes are
+ well saved and from good timber, ten acres should produce at least
+ five barrels of potash, each barrel containing five hundred weight.
+ Several things should be considered before the emigrant attempts the
+ manufacture of this article. Firstly, his land should be well timbered
+ with oak, elm, maple, and bass-wood. Secondly, it must have a stream
+ of water, near which he may erect his works. And, lastly, it ought to
+ be within reach of a market and a remunerating price, which, to pay
+ the manufacturer, should not be less than twenty-five shillings,
+ Halifax currency, per cwt.
+    The best situation to erect an ashery upon, is the side of a bank,
+    beside a running stream; and if there should be fall enough in the
+    creek to bring a supply of water over head into the leaches, a
+    great deal of labour will be saved. An ash-house, six or eight
+    leach-tubs, a pot-ash kettle, and three or four coolers are all the
+    requisites necessary. Most persons use a small portion of common
+    salt and lime in the manufacture of pot-ash. After the lye is run
+    off it is boiled down into black salts, which are melted into
+    pot-ash, cooled off, and packed into air-tight barrels ready for
+    market.
+
+
+As soon as the settler has cleared up fifteen or twenty acres, his
+first care should be to erect a frame or log-barn; I should strongly
+recommend the former, if boards can be obtained in the neighbourhood,
+as it is undoubtedly the best and cheapest in the long run. If I were
+commencing life again in the woods, I would not build anything of logs
+except a shanty or a pig-sty; for experience has plainly told me that
+log buildings are the dirtiest, most inconvenient, and the dearest when
+everything is taken into consideration.
+
+As soon as the settler is ready to build, let him put up a good frame,
+roughcast, or stone-house, if he can possibly raise the means, as
+stone, timber, and lime, cost nothing but the labour of collecting and
+carrying the materials. When I say that they “cost nothing,” I mean
+that no cash is required for these articles, as they can be prepared by
+the exertion of the family.
+
+With the addition of from a hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds in
+money to the raw material, a good substantial and comfortable dwelling
+can be completed. Two or three years should be spent in preparing and
+collecting materials, so that your timber may be perfectly seasoned
+before you commence building.
+
+Apple and plum orchards should be planted as soon as possible, and well
+fenced from the cattle and sheep. The best kind of grafted fruit-trees,
+from three to seven years old, can be obtained for a shilling a tree;
+ungrafted, at four shillings the dozen.
+
+The apple-tree flourishes extremely well in this country, and grows to
+a large size. I gathered last year, out of my orchard, several Ribstone
+Pippins, each of which weighed more than twelve ounces, and were of a
+very fine flavour. The native plums are not very good in their raw
+state, but they make an excellent preserve, and good wine.
+
+Some of the particulars mentioned in this chapter have been glanced at
+in an earlier portion of the work; but I make no apology for the
+repetition. My object is, to offer instruction to the inexperienced
+settler, and to impress these important matters more firmly upon his
+mind and memory, that he may have his experience at a cheaper rate than
+if he purchased it at the expense of wasted time, labour, and capital.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+MY FIRST SHOT AT A BUCK.—HUNTING AND SHOOTING PARTIES.—DESTRUCTIVENESS
+OF WOLVES.—LOSS OF MY FLOCKS.—COWARDICE OF THE WOLF.—THE LADY AND HER
+PET.—COLONEL CRAWFORD’S ADVENTURE.—INGENIOUS TRICK OF AN AMERICAN
+TRAPPER.—A DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE.—HOW TO POISON WOLVES.—A STERN CHASE.
+
+My father-in-law had a large field of fall wheat, upon which, during
+the night, the deer were very fond of grazing. Just before dark, the
+herd used to make their appearance, and we tried repeatedly to get a
+shot at them, but in vain. At the least noise, or if they winded us, up
+went their tails, and they were off in an instant. I was determined,
+however, not to be so continually balked. I had observed, by the
+tracks, the direction they took in their way to the field; so, an hour
+before their usual time of coming, I sallied out, and concealed myself
+in the top of an old fallen tree which lay a few feet from the ground,
+and about twenty yards from a path which I suspected had been beaten by
+the deer, going backwards and forwards to the field.
+
+The place I had selected to watch for them was an old settlement
+duty-road, which had been cut out some years before, but was now
+partially grown up again with a second growth of timber and underbrush.
+Having seated myself very snugly, I took out of my pocket a volume of
+Shakespeare to pass away the time. I had not been half-an-hour so
+employed, before my attention was suddenly aroused by hearing a stick
+break near me, when upon looking up I beheld the head and horns of a
+large buck projecting from behind a thicket of trees. He appeared to be
+in a listening attitude, so I durst not stir till he should have
+lowered his head, as I knew the least movement then would make him
+start off in an instant. Luckily, however, the wind was blowing from
+his direction to mine. Presently, he walked into the open space; and
+whilst I was cautiously raising my gun, he disappeared beneath the brow
+of a small hill; but almost immediately, from the inequality of the
+ground, his head and shoulders again became visible. On this, I
+instantly fired.
+
+Astonished and mortified was I, when I saw him scamper off with his
+tail up, as if nothing had happened. Still, I was sure I must have hit
+him, as he was not forty yards from where I sat, his broadside being
+towards me. So I followed the track for about two hundred yards, but
+without seeing any blood; and was in the act of turning back,
+concluding, that as he had hoisted his tail, I had missed him
+altogether. Indeed, I had often heard, that if they show the white
+feather, as putting up their tail is called by Canadian sportsmen—they
+are not hit. This, however, is a mistake; for, in the act of turning
+round to retrace my steps, I saw a small drop of blood upon a dry leaf.
+I now felt quite certain that I had struck him. On proceeding a few
+yards further, I saw several large splashes of blood. There was now no
+room left for doubt; and, in another minute I was standing beside the
+first buck I had ever killed. On opening him, I found I had put a ball
+and five buck-shot into him, which had entered just behind the
+fore-shoulder; and though two of these shots had lodged in the lungs,
+he had, notwithstanding this, continued to run on the full jump, more
+than two hundred yards.
+
+Not long after this adventure, my brother-in-law shot a deer through
+the heart, which ran full a hundred yards before he dropped.
+
+Two or three years after, in the township of Douro, where I now reside,
+I was walking down to the saw-mill about half a mile from my house,
+with my American rifle in my hand, when, on coming close to the river,
+I saw a large buck swimming down the middle of the stream near the
+mill-dam. I ran down to the spot as fast as I could, for I expected he
+would land on the opposite shore, at the corner of the dam. The surmise
+proved to be correct. He was in the act of climbing up the bank when I
+fired, and he fell back into the river. Recovering himself, however, he
+scrambled out and made off. I crossed the bridge and went round to the
+spot where he landed, and followed on the track.
+
+While in chase I was joined by an old hunter, who had been out since
+day-light, still-hunting (deer-stalking); so he agreed to go with me
+and examine the track, which we followed for about half a mile without
+seeing any blood. But at last we came to a place where the buck had
+stood and pawed up the ground. My companion, remarking upon the
+circumstance, said—
+
+“He was quite satisfied the fellow was hit; and you will find,” added
+he, “if we get him, that he is hit on the top of the back, and that is
+the reason there is no blood to be seen.”
+
+The track led us round nearly in a circle; for we came back to the
+river within a few yards of where I had fired at the buck. My companion
+now suggested that we should recross the river and follow up the stream
+on the opposite bank. “For,” said he, “we shall probably find him on
+one of the islands opposite your house.”
+
+Acting on his suggestion, we retraced our steps, and found, as he had
+predicted, that the buck, after taking the water, had swum up the river
+and taken refuge on the west side of the lower island. We saw him
+standing near the edge of the water, partially hidden by the trunk of a
+fallen pine, when we both fired our rifles at the same instant. This
+did not, however, drop him, for he bounded across the island, and took
+the opposite channel in gallant style.
+
+As the distance from which we fired was less than a hundred yards, we
+concluded that one of us at least had hit him. Reinforced by my old
+hound Towler, who, attracted by the firing, had joined us, we recrossed
+the river, and put the dog on the track. Towler was in high spirits,
+and soon made the wood ring with music pleasant to the hunter’s ear.
+
+We momentarily expected to see our quarry again take the water; but
+from the continued howling of the hound in the same spot, I began to
+think the buck was standing at bay, which was really the case; for on
+my near approach he was busily employed with his head down, keeping off
+old Towler by making sudden plunges at him every now and then. The
+moment he saw me, he made a rush for the river, but as he passed me on
+the full bound, I fired at his fore-shoulder; and though he still
+continued his course to the river, I knew by the jet of blood which
+followed my shot that his fate was sealed. Near the river he made a
+sudden turn, striking his head against a hemlock tree, and at the same
+instant a shot from my companion stretched him lifeless on the ground.
+And thus concluded an exciting chase of more than two hours.
+
+This was the largest buck I ever killed, for he weighed, after he was
+skinned and dressed, two hundred and thirty pounds. We found that four
+out of the five shots had hit him. The last shot I fired, cut away the
+small end of his heart, though he actually managed to run thirty or
+forty paces afterwards.
+
+Deer-hunting is a very exciting sport; but I prefer still-hunting (or
+deer-stalling, as it is called in the Highlands of Scotland) to driving
+them into the lakes and rivers with hounds.
+
+The deer are not now nearly so numerous as they formerly were.
+Civilization has driven them back into the unsurveyed lands or less
+populated townships. To give my readers some idea how plentiful these
+wild denizens of the forest were, some years since, I need only mention
+that a Trapper with whom I was acquainted, and four of his companions,
+passed my house on a small raft, on which lay the carcasses of
+thirty-two deer—the trophies of a fortnight’s chase near Stony Lake.
+The greater number of these were fine bucks.
+
+I once had seventeen deer hanging up in my barn at one time—the produce
+of three days’ sport, out of which I had the good fortune to kill
+seven. Parties are now made yearly every October to Stony Lake, Deer
+Bay, or the River Trent. I do not know anything more pleasant than
+these excursions, especially if you have agreeable companions, a warm
+camp, and plenty to eat and drink. Indeed, poor hunters must they be
+who cannot furnish their camp-larder with wild-ducks and venison. This
+is one of the great charms of a Canadian life, particularly to young
+sportsmen from the mother-country, who require here neither license nor
+qualification to enable them to follow their game; but may rove about
+in chase of deer, or other game, at will.
+
+The greatest enemy the deer has to contend with is the wolf. In the
+spring of the year, when the snow is in the woods, and a crust is
+formed on the surface, the deer are unable to travel any distance, the
+snow not being sufficiently hard to bear their weight. Consequently,
+great numbers of them are destroyed by their more nimble adversaries,
+who from their lighter make and rounder-shaped feet, are able to run on
+the top of the crust, which gives the deer but little chance of escape.
+
+The wolves commonly hunt in packs, and generally at night. The deer,
+when pursued, always make straight for the water, which, if they
+succeed in reaching it, saves them for that time.
+
+When the wolves reach the shore and find their prey gone, they utter
+the most diabolical yells. One night I was awakened by a pack of these
+rascals, who were in chase of a deer. They ran through my wood-yard
+within sixty feet of the house in full chorus. I think I never heard in
+the stillness of the night a more wild and unearthly din.
+
+For some years, till the country became more settled, I was obliged to
+shut up my sheep at night for fear of these prowling wretches. The
+first flock I ever had were all killed by these thieves. One night I
+was awakened by my dog barking furiously, and from the manner in which
+he kept rushing against the door I was sure some wild animals were
+about the premises. At first I thought it was useless to get up; for
+the night was dark, and I knew the sheep were housed. However, the
+increased fury of my dog Grouse, who seemed intent on getting into the
+house, as if he were frightened, obliged me to dress and turn out. On
+my opening the door, Grouse rushed in looking dreadfully scared, so
+with a lantern in one hand and a gun in the other, I marched towards
+the sheep-pen, the door of which not having been securely fastened by
+my lad, I found open, and six sheep out, and for these I now commenced
+a cautious search.
+
+About twenty yards from the pen, I found one of my best sheep lying on
+the grass with his throat cut very scientifically just behind the ear.
+A few paces further on, I found another, and so on, till five were
+forthcoming. The sixth I did not get till the morning, which was the
+only one that escaped the teeth of the marauders. It seems that my
+appearance with the light drove the wolves from their prey.
+
+Luckily for me, the weather was cold, my sheep fat, and well-butchered,
+as far as bleeding was concerned, so that I was no great loser, except
+by having a rather larger supply of mutton at one time than was quite
+convenient for the housekeeping department.
+
+About eleven or twelve years since, I lost in one season a flock of
+sheep by the wolves. This misfortune occurred, unluckily for me, in the
+hottest month of the Canadian year, July. I had not housed my sheep,
+because I found that, in very sultry weather, during the fly-season,
+they would not feed in the day-time, but would creep under the fences
+and into the Bush for shade. I, therefore, thought it best to risk
+losing some, than to spoil the whole flock; for I knew the only time
+they would graze was during the night, or very early in the morning.
+Consequently, for three or four years previously, I had allowed them to
+run at large during the summer months.
+
+One morning, I observed from the veranda in front of my house, a sheep,
+which was standing on the opposite bank of the river. As I knew there
+was no farm within two or three miles of the river in that direction, I
+thought I would go over in a canoe, and see what brought it there. I
+had not gone half way to the river when I discovered the mangled
+carcass of one of my own sheep, and on further search found ten more,
+lying, half-devoured, in different directions—the murder was now out.
+The sheep I had seen on the opposite shore was one of my own, which had
+taken to the water, and had thus escaped the fangs of the wolves. I saw
+two more of my luckless flock on a shoal more than a mile down the
+river, which—less fortunate than their companion—had been swept down by
+the current and drowned. Exactly a week afterwards, I had a similar
+number destroyed by the wolves. As far as I was personally concerned, I
+may say that they were a total loss; for the weather was too hot to
+keep the meat any length of time, so I gave the greater part of the
+mutton to my neighbours. Since that time, I have had better luck, not
+having lost any part of my flock, although I have invariably left my
+sheep abroad during the night.
+
+Notwithstanding his ravenous propensities and cruel disposition, the
+wolf is a very cowardly animal in his solitary state. Indeed, it is
+only when he hunts in a pack, that he becomes formidable to man. Nature
+has, in some measure, checked his evil disposition, by rendering him
+timid. If he falls into a snare, he never attempts to get out of the
+scrape; but crouches in a corner, awaiting his fate, without the least
+intention of displaying any pluck to the trapper.
+
+That the cowardice of the wolf is very great, the following anecdote
+will sufficiently prove.
+
+My wife’s youngest sister had a pet-sheep that she had brought up from
+a lamb, and to which she was much attached. One afternoon she was going
+down to the spring for a pitcher of water, when she saw a large dog—as
+she thought—worrying her sheep, upon which, being naturally courageous,
+she picked up a large stick and struck the beast two or three strokes
+with all her strength, thus compelling him to drop her favorite. This,
+however, he did very reluctantly, turning his head at the same time,
+and showing his teeth with a most diabolical snarl. She saw at once,
+when he faced her, by his pricked ears, high cheek-bones, long
+bushy-tail, and gaunt figure, that her antagonist was a wolf. Nothing
+daunted, she again bravely attacked him; for he seemed determined, in
+spite of her valiant opposition, to have her pet, which he again
+attacked. She boldly beat him off the second time; following him down
+the creek, thrashing him and calling for aid with all her might; when,
+fortunately, one of her brothers, attracted by her cries, ran down with
+the dogs and his gun, but was not in time for a shot; for when the
+felon wolf saw the reinforcement, he scampered off with all his speed.
+
+There are few dogs bred in the Canadas fit to cope with the wolf;
+indeed, they seem in general to have a great dread of him.
+
+Colonel Crawford, a gentleman with whom I am well-acquainted, for he
+was many years one of my nearest and best neighbours, was one day
+partridge-shooting, near Buckhorn Mills, in the township of Harvey,
+when his sporting-dog, which had been ranging the bush a little in
+advance, came running towards him, yelping in a most piteous manner,
+followed by a large wolf. So intent was the beast on his prey, that he
+did not perceive the gallant colonel, who met his advance with both
+barrels, which stopped his earthly career, and rescued poor Carlo from
+his impending fate. The colonel was very proud of this exploit, both
+because he had killed so large an animal with partridge-shot and had
+saved his dog at the same time.
+
+According to an act of the Provincial Parliament, six dollars must be
+paid by the county treasurer for every wolf-certificate, signed by a
+magistrate. No certificate now will be granted, unless the scalp of the
+animal is produced, which is then taken possession of by the
+magistrate. This precaution is absolutely necessary; for, previously to
+this arrangement, it was found that double the number of wolves were
+killed, or, rather twice the number of scalps were brought in—one wolf
+often furnishing two pates—a curious feature in Natural History.
+
+Many petty frauds of this kind have been brought to light; amongst
+other cases, that of a magistrate, not a hundred miles from the county
+town, who forged seventeen wolf certificates, and succeeded in getting
+the money for them; and, most likely, emboldened by his success, would
+have continued to drive a flourishing trade, had not his career been
+suddenly stopped in the following manner.
+
+One of the persons, whose name had been made use of in one or more of
+the certificates, was congratulated on his recent success. He, however,
+denied that he had either shot or trapped a wolf during the last year,
+and declared, “that there must certainly be some mistake.” An inquiry
+was accordingly made, whereupon the whole nefarious transaction was
+brought to light.
+
+Our magistrate was not long in availing himself of the proximity of the
+United States; for the next day saw him an inhabitant of the good city
+of Rochester, in the State of New York, where, I make no doubt, over
+gin-cocktail, or mint-julep, he entertains the free and enlightened
+citizens with an account of his adroit manner of “sloping” the British
+Government. Luckily for Rochester, there are no wolves in that
+neighbourhood.
+
+A celebrated wolf-trapper, in the township of Smith, once caught a fine
+she-wolf, big with young. Her fore-paw broken below the knee, was the
+only injury she had sustained. So he thought, if he could but keep her
+alive till after her accouchement, he should be able to demand the
+bounty for every scalp; for he considered that as there was no mention
+made in the act respecting the size the wolves must be, he might as
+well have the benefit of that oversight. He put his scheme,
+accordingly, into effect, and it proved quite successful. Her wolfship
+in a few days was safely delivered of five fine whelps, whose scalps,
+with that of their mother, were duly presented to the magistrate. At
+first he demurred respecting the certificate, but upon referring to the
+statute, he found there was no provision to meet a case of this kind.
+He, however, satisfied his moral justice by the reflection, “that if
+the dam had remained at large a few days longer, and whelped in the
+Bush, it would have amounted to the same thing, and that, perhaps, many
+sheep had been saved from the greedy fangs of the growing family, by
+the ingenious plan of the trapper.” It was a clever trick, no doubt—a
+real Yankee shave; but one for which the sternest moralist can scarcely
+get up an effective lecture.
+
+The Canadian wolf is not nearly so ferocious as the European animal,
+nor I believe quite so large. I have heard of very few
+well-authenticated accounts of persons having been destroyed by these
+creatures, though I must say I should not like again to be in their
+vicinity in a dark night, as more than once I have been. I was
+returning from Whitby after dark, and had just entered the woods,
+through which my path lay for a full mile and a half. The night being
+dark, and the road not particularly good, I gave Prince the rein, and
+allowed him to choose his own pace. Presently, I thought I heard a
+pattering on the leaves, like the tread of animals, at which sound my
+horse pricked up his ears, snorted, and shied nearly across the road,
+so suddenly that I was nearly thrown out of the saddle. Well for me was
+it, however, that I kept my seat; for instantly such an infernal
+howling was raised all round me as made my heart leap up to my mouth,
+and I must candidly own I felt horribly afraid I should fall into the
+clutches of devouring wolves. My good steed Prince, I fancy, was as
+scared as myself, for he galloped off, followed by the pack, who fairly
+made the woods ring with their unearthly yells. They did not chase us
+far, and ceased howling, having seemingly lost the scent; but in a few
+minutes a fresh burst in the direction of the lake-shore plainly told
+me they had regained it, and were on the track of a deer, which most
+probably had crossed the road at the time when I first heard their
+chorus. It is not very easy to describe one’s feelings on such
+occasions.
+
+There is something particularly appalling in the full cry of a pack of
+wolves, especially when alone in the woods, and at night. I have
+frequently heard them at such times, when camped out on hunting
+expeditions. However, we mustered strong and were well armed, so we
+cared little for them or their yells.
+
+The only instance of any one being killed by wolves, to which I can
+speak with certainty, occurred a few years back in the township of
+Douro. A young lad of the name of M’Ewen was sent by his father to a
+shoemaker, one George Disney, for his shoes. The distance was not more
+than a mile by a path through the woods, and the boy was well
+acquainted with the road. It appears, he went to Disney’s, and waited
+for his shoes till nearly dark, when he started for home. But nothing
+more was ever heard or seen of him till the thaw in the spring,
+although diligent search was made at the time. Owing to a snow-storm
+which fell the same night, he was lost. It was impossible to follow the
+boy’s tracks, and as a pack of wolves had been heard the same night in
+the immediate neighbourhood, no doubt was entertained that he had been
+attacked and eaten by these ravenous monsters. Some bones and pieces of
+clothing, supposed to have belonged to the unfortunate youth, were the
+only memorials found of him.
+
+I have heard the old settlers say, that very few instances have
+occurred like this in their recollection, though from the many persons
+lost in the woods and never again discovered, it is more than probable
+that some of them, when weakened by fatigue and hunger and no longer
+able to defend themselves, may have fallen victims to their insatiable
+maws.
+
+Several plans have been devised by the inhabitants for the destruction
+of these animals. That most commonly resorted to, and which is
+considered the least troublesome and the most efficacious, is poison.
+The best and surest for that purpose is strychnine, one grain of which,
+if genuine, will kill the largest wolf in Canada. I have used this
+poison myself, when baiting for foxes. The properest method in the
+winter-season, is to take a piece of hog’s-lard, about the size of a
+walnut, make a hole in the centre, and insert it carefully with a quill
+or the point of a small knife, taking care not to spill any on the
+outside, then to fill up the puncture with some fresh lard.
+
+If you have heard, or have reason to know, that wolves are in the
+vicinity, your best way is to bait with pieces of carrion of any
+description. This must be done at some distance from the clearing, or
+you will be sure to lose your own dogs, or kill those of your
+neighbours, when you come to lay your poison, which you need not do
+till you see some of your bait taken, and observe their fresh tracks.
+
+I know a gentleman who had lost an ox, which he had drawn away some
+distance into the Bush. In a few days, finding the wolves had paid
+their respects to the carcass, he laid out several poison-balls, and
+actually killed six of them before the carcass was eaten. The value of
+the wolves, including their skins and the bounty-money, amounted to
+forty-four dollars, a nice little sum for a few hours’ trouble, not to
+speak of the satisfaction of having contributed to extirpate this
+devouring crew. I must, however, caution the uninitiated to be very
+careful in the use of this deadly poison: indeed it should only be used
+by the most experienced trappers, and then at some distance from the
+settlement.
+
+The price of the wolf-skin varies from 5 shillings to 7 shillings, 6
+pence, Halifax currency, according to size and quality: they are always
+in good demand for sleigh-robes.[1] Those made of this species of fur
+are considered the most elegant and _distingué_.
+
+ [1] Sleigh-robes are commonly made of bear or buffalo skins dressed
+ with the hair on. The most fashionable are racoon or wolf. Several of
+ these skins are sewn together, with the tails of the animals stitched
+ to the bottom of the robe. The inside lining is generally scarlet or
+ purple cloth. A well equipped sleigh should have two robes for each
+ seat, one of which should cover the cushions, and fall gracefully over
+ the back of the seat, whilst the other is drawn over the passengers,
+ and wraps them securely from the cold.
+
+
+A perilous adventure once befel my brother-in-law, James. He was a bold
+brave boy, of ten years old at the time, and was on his return home
+with a pair of oxen, with which he had been assisting a neighbour
+residing about six miles from his father’s house. His road lay by the
+river shore, which was dreary enough at the fall of the year and in the
+evening hour: but the child was fearless, and saw the deepening shades
+sink into night without experiencing anything like apprehension.
+
+He was trudging on steadily, singing cheerfully as he walked, when a
+sound came on the night-air that sent a shiver through the young
+pedestrian’s frame—the war-cry of the wolves. At first he hoped he was
+not the object of pursuit; but the hideous uproar came nearer and
+nearer, and then he knew that he must instantly adopt some plan for his
+escape.
+
+His route lay by the river shore, and he could swim well; but the night
+was dark, and he might be hurried into the rapids; and to be dashed to
+pieces on the rocks was scarcely less dreadful than to be mangled and
+devoured by wolves. In this extremity, the child lifted up his brave
+young heart to God, and resolved to use the only chance left him of
+escape. So he mounted Buck, the near-ox, making use of his goad,
+shouting at the same time to the animal, to excite him to his utmost
+speed.
+
+In most cases, the horned steed would have flung off his rider, and
+left him for wolves’ meat, without hesitation; but Buck set off with
+the speed of a race-horse, as if fully aware of his young rider’s
+peril. Nor was his companion less tardy. Fast, however, as the trio
+fled, still faster came upon them the yelling pack behind; and James
+could ever hear—
+
+“Their long hard gallop which could tire
+The hound’s deep hate and hunter’s fire.”
+
+
+Fortunately for him, old Buck heard it too, and galloped on and on; but
+still the wolves came neater and nearer. James shouted to keep them
+off; the oxen almost flying; their chains rattling as they went. This
+clanking sound, to which the hateful pack were unaccustomed, made them
+pause whenever they came close upon the oxen, whilst the latter
+redoubled their speed, till at length these gallant racers left the
+wolves behind, and finding themselves within a short distance of home,
+never stopped till they brought the brave little fellow safely to his
+own door.
+
+He had felt afraid but once; and that was when those dismal yells first
+broke upon his ear—and _never_ lost his presence of mind. He trusted in
+God, and used the means within his reach for his preservation, and
+arrived safe at last.
+
+Few boys would have displayed so much sense and spirit—but the boy is
+almost always the father of the man; and what James was then, he is
+now.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+FORMATION OF THE CANADA COMPANY.—INTERVIEW WITH MR. GALT.—HIS PERSONAL
+DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTER.—GUELPH.—DR. DUNLOP.—MY MEDICAL SERVICES AT
+GUELPH.—DR. DUNLOP AND THE “PAISLEY BODIES.”—AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER.—AN
+UNFORTUNATE WIFE.
+
+I remember on my first visit to the mouth of the river Maitland, now
+the site of Goderich, a bridle-path for seventy miles through the
+trackless forest was the only available communication between the
+settlements and Lake Huron. This was only twenty-four years ago. This
+vast and fertile tract of more than one million acres, at that time did
+not contain a population of three hundred souls; no teeming fields of
+golden grain, no manufactories, no mills, no roads; the rivers were
+unbridged, and one vast solitude reigned around, unbroken, save by the
+whoop of the red-man, or the distant shot of the trapper.
+
+Reverse the picture, and behold what the energies and good management
+of the Canada Company have effected. Stage-coaches travel with safety
+and dispatch along the same tract where formerly I had the utmost
+difficulty to make my way on horseback without the chance of being
+swept from the saddle by the limbs of trees and tangled brushwood. A
+continuous settlement of the finest farms now skirts both sides of this
+road, from the southern boundary-line of this district to Goderich.
+
+Another road equally good, traverses the block from the western
+boundary. Thriving villages, saw and grist-mills, manufactories,
+together with an abundance of horses, cattle, sheep, grain, and every
+necessary of life enjoyed by a population of 26,000 souls, fully prove
+the success caused by the persevering industry of the emigrants who
+were so fortunate as to select this fruitful and healthy locality for
+their future homes.
+
+Much of this prosperity is due to the liberality and excellent
+arrangements of the Canada Company, who have afforded every facility to
+their settlers in regard to the payments for their land: I particularly
+refer to their system of leasing, which affords the best chance
+possible to the poor emigrant.
+
+“This spirited and enterprising” Company’s principal tract of land lies
+nearly in a triangular form, commencing in latitude 43 degrees, and
+extending about sixty-miles along the coast. In 1824, this incorporated
+company contracted with Government for this line of country and some
+others, as well as for a portion of the clergy reserves, comprehending
+in all about two million acres, payable in fifteen years.[1]
+
+ [1] M’Gregor’s “British America.”
+
+
+In the spring of 1827, a memorable year for Canada, the Company
+commenced their operations at Guelph, under the superintendence of John
+Galt, Esq.
+
+I had heard a great deal about the fertility of their lands, especially
+of those in the Huron tract, containing a million of acres in one
+block, of which I shall hereafter speak more particularly.[2] As I was
+enterprising, and fond of an active life, I resolved to go and judge
+for myself; and as I heard the superintendent was then at Toronto, I
+determined to call upon him there and collect all the information in my
+power.
+
+ [2] The territory from which the Huron tract has been selected, was
+ explored previously to the selection being made, and the reports which
+ were received from the parties employed on that mission were of the
+ most satisfactory nature. This tract is bounded on the west by Lake
+ Huron, along which it runs for nearly sixty miles, having within its
+ limits one considerable river, at the mouth of which is a good
+ harbour; another river, which may probably be rendered navigable, and
+ numerous creeks and streamlets, many of which are large enough, and
+ have fall sufficient to drive mills or machinery of any
+ description.—Mac Taggart’s “Three Years in Canada.”
+
+
+My first interview with Mr. Galt, the celebrated author of “Laurie
+Todd,” took place at the Old Steam-boat Hotel, in February, 1828. He
+received me with great kindness, and asked me many particulars of
+Bush-life, connected with a first settlement.
+
+I suppose my answers were satisfactory, for he turned towards me
+abruptly, and asked me, “If I would like to enter the Canada Company’s
+Service; for,” said he, “I want a practical person to take charge of
+the out-door department in the absence of Mr. Prior, whom I am about to
+send to the Huron tract with a party of men to clear up and lay off the
+New-town plot of Goderich. You will have charge of the Company’s
+stores, keep the labour-rolls, and superintend the road-making and
+bridge-building, and indeed everything connected with the practical
+part of the settlement.”
+
+This was just the sort of life I wished; so I closed at once with his
+offer. No salary was to be named, till I had been three months in the
+Company’s employ. Indeed, I left everything to Mr. Galt, who, I felt
+certain, would remunerate me according to my deserts.
+
+In person, Mr. Galt was, I should think, considerably above six feet in
+height, and rather of a heavy build; his aspect grave and dignified,
+and his appearance prepossessing. His disposition was kind and
+considerate; but at the same time he commanded respect; and I can say
+with sincerity, I always found him an upright and honourable gentleman.
+
+Of Mr. Galt’s fitness for the office of superintendent of the Canada
+Company, it would, perhaps, be considered presumptuous in me to give an
+opinion. His position was an unfortunate one, and from his first
+residence in the country till his resignation, there appears to have
+been a serious misunderstanding between him, the Governor, and the
+Executive-council, in consequence of which, Galt’s character was
+misrepresented at home as that of a meddling politician and troublesome
+person. Other charges regarding the wasteful expenditure of money in
+forming the new settlements were laid before the Directors, and these
+repeated complaints against him left him no other alternative than to
+resign his situation.
+
+My own opinion is, that Galt was ill-used by the Canadian Government.
+He says in his “Autobiography,” that his whole and sole offence
+consisted of having accepted a file of the “Colonial Advocate,” and
+shaken hands with the editor, the notorious William Lyon Mackenzie. In
+those days of ultra-toryism, such an instance of liberality and freedom
+from party-prejudice was sufficient to excite the displeasure of the
+Governor and his council. There is no doubt that Galt acted imprudently
+in this matter, though I fully believe without any intention of
+opposing the Government.
+
+In regard to the Company’s affairs, more might be said to his
+prejudice—not in respect of his integrity, for, I believe him to have
+been a most honourable man, and incapable of any meanness—but in regard
+to his management. Although, as the original projector of the Canada
+Company, he evinced much cleverness, and afterwards displayed
+considerable judgment in the choice of the best situations for building
+towns and villages, yet he committed some grievous mistakes. His ideas
+were generally good; but often not well carried out in detail.
+
+His first error was in the selection of persons to fill the various
+offices belonging to the Company. For, instead of appointing men who
+had long experience in the country, and who were, therefore,
+practically qualified to superintend the workmen by their experience of
+all the requirements of a new settlement, he filled these situations,
+for the most part, with inexperienced young men, recently arrived from
+the old country, who, of course, could know nothing of road-making and
+bridge-building, and were, therefore, incapable of directing a number
+of workmen. Then, again, most of the hands employed on the Company’s
+works were new settlers, and, of course, knew nothing of chopping,
+house-building, or clearing land; and yet these men were paid just as
+much as if they had served a long apprenticeship in the country. If Mr.
+Galt’s appointments had been judicious, there is no doubt, in my mind,
+that half the outlay would have produced greater results.
+
+It was arranged that I should meet Mr. Galt at Toronto, in April, at
+the commencement of the spring operations. At the appointed time, I
+again waited upon him, when he ordered me to Guelph, to take charge of
+the department, as formerly agreed upon between us. He then introduced
+me to Dr. Dunlop and Mr. Prior, who kindly invited me to take a seat in
+their waggon, which would leave for Guelph in a few hours. The former
+gentleman is well known in the literary world, as the author of the
+“Backwoodsman.”
+
+During our journey, I found that he deserved his celebrity for good
+companionship, which was fully borne out on this occasion. He could,
+indeed, speak well on any subject. He was full of sound information,
+and overflowed with anecdote—in fact, his way of telling a story was
+inimitable. He had a fund of wit, which seemed almost inexhaustible.
+
+My fellow-travellers left me at Mr. Galt’s house, near Burlington
+Heights, where, after taking some refreshment, I again proceeded on my
+journey, and ultimately reached Guelph on the afternoon of the second
+day.
+
+The situation of the town I found exceedingly pleasant, and well
+watered. It was built in an angle, formed by the confluence of the
+rivers Speed and Eramosa. The town-plot also abounds with copious
+never-failing springs, of the purest water.
+
+I found some twenty or thirty log-houses, about as many shanties, a
+large frame-tavern building, a store, two blacksmiths’ shops, and the
+walls of two stone-buildings, one of which was intended, when finished,
+for the company’s office. Besides these edifices, Dr. Dunlop and Mr.
+Prior had each a good house, and there was the Priory, a large
+log-building, afterwards occupied by the superintendent. This was
+pretty well, considering that a year only had elapsed since the first
+tree was felled.
+
+Mr. Galt, in his “Autobiography,” has given an account of the founding
+of the town of Guelph,[3] and how Mr. Prior, Dr. Dunlop, and himself,
+cut down the first tree—a large sugar-maple, whereupon the Dr. produced
+a flask of whiskey, and they named and drank success to the new town.
+This was on St. George’s day, April 23rd, 1827. Eighteen months after
+this, by Mr. Galt’s orders, I had the stump of that tree inclosed by a
+fence, though, I make no doubt, it has long since decayed. The name of
+the founder will, however, remain,—a better and more enduring memorial.
+
+ [3] “This name was chosen in compliment to the royal family, both
+ because I thought it auspicious in itself, and because I could not
+ recollect that it had ever been before used in all the king’s
+ dominions.”—Galt’s Autobioography.
+
+
+On my arrival, I drove up to the only tavern in the place, a small
+log-house, kept by one Philip Jones, an Englishman—or, rather, by his
+wife—a buxom, bustling body, who was, undoubtedly, the head of the
+establishment. In answer to my inquiry for lodgings, she courteously
+informed me that she had neither bed nor blanket, but what was doubly
+occupied, and, moreover, that she was sure I could not obtain one in
+town, as every house was full of emigrants; but as the most of her
+lodgers would leave for the Huron tract on the morrow, she should be
+able and happy to accommodate me after their departure. With this
+promise I was obliged to be satisfied.
+
+I might, perhaps, have succeeded in obtaining a share of a bed, but as
+I did not know what population I might gain, or, indeed, what might be
+the unpleasant results of such an arrangement, I preferred a hay-loft,
+in which I slept soundly till the break of day.
+
+The superintendent and his staff arrived the next morning, when I was
+duly installed in my office. Mr. Galt’s coach-house being unoccupied, I
+took immediate possession, and converted it into a very respectable
+store-house and office, till a building was completed for that purpose.
+I was thus fairly established as an _employe_ in the service of the
+Canada Company.
+
+The township of Guelph contains upwards of forty thousand acres of
+land, of a fair average quality, well timbered, and well watered. I
+believe the Company have disposed of all their saleable lots in this
+township. I was fully employed the whole summer in constructing two
+bridges, one over the Speed, and the other over the Eramosa branch, and
+also in opening a good road to each. These bridges were built of cedar
+logs, and on a plan of my own, which Mr. Galt highly approved. I
+should, however, have preferred square timber, framed in bents, which,
+I think, would have been more durable, and better adapted for the
+stream they were intended to cross.
+
+Amongst the men under my charge, I had two Mohawk Indians, both of whom
+were excellent choppers, and behaved themselves remarkably well. One of
+them was called Henhawk, and the other William Fish. The Mohawks are
+more civilized, and make better farmers than the Chippewas, and I think
+are a finer-looking race of men.[4]
+
+ [4] Benjamin West, the celebrated American painter, on being shown the
+ Apollo Belvidere, astonished a number of Italian cognoscenti by
+ comparing that _chef d’œuvre_ of ancient Greek art to a young Mohawk
+ warrior. But the fine proportions of these savage warriors, and their
+ free and graceful action, rendered the remark of this great artist a
+ just and beautiful critique, and of a complimentary not a depreciating
+ character.
+
+
+My time passed pleasantly enough at Guelph, for I had plenty of work to
+do, and in all labour there is profit. And what could be better for a
+healthy, active young man than the employment of assisting in settling
+a new country?
+
+The only drawback to my comfort was the temporary loss of the society
+of my wife; a pretty, sensible young woman, whose mental and personal
+charms had, since my union with her, formed the happiness of my life.
+We cannot, however, have every blessing at once, and I worked on
+cheerfully in the hope of getting things comfortably round me for my
+dear girl against the moment when she would join me.
+
+Besides the services rendered to the Company, I performed _con amore_
+some gratuitous ones for the benefit of the township of Guelph, which
+will, doubtless, both surprise and astonish my readers. We had no
+medical man in Guelph for some months after my arrival, so, for want of
+a better, I was obliged to turn physician and surgeon, and soon became
+very skilful in bleeding and tooth-drawing, and, as I charged nothing,
+you may be sure I had plenty of customers. And so well pleased was Dr.
+Dunlop with my proficiency, that he invariably sent all his patients to
+me.
+
+I remember one time in particular, he came over to my office and
+inquired for me, when, on the store-porter telling him I had just gone
+out, he said,
+
+“Tell him when he comes back, to take the calomel and jalap down to my
+house, and treat those Paisley bodies with a dose apiece.”
+
+“What! all of them, sir?”
+
+“Yes, to be sure; they are but just arrived, and have got as fat as
+pigs on the voyage. Some of their bacon must be taken off, or with this
+heat we shall have them all sick on our hands. And tell him not to
+spare the jalap.”
+
+When I returned and heard the message, I literally obeyed his order by
+administering forty-two doses of various strengths to the men, women
+and children, designated by the Doctor as the “Paisley bodies.”
+
+This wholesale way of medical treatment was in this instance attended
+with a good effect; for there did not occur a single case of sickness
+amongst them during the summer.
+
+Shortly after this, a medical man, a Mr. W——, applied for a town-lot
+and commenced practice. This gentleman was certainly a great oddity. He
+never had but two patients that I ever heard of, and they both died.
+The settlers used to call him the “mad doctor,” and I believe not
+without good reason. He built a log-house without any door, his mode of
+entrance being through a square hole he had cut out of the end of the
+house about six feet from the ground.
+
+I walked over to his place one day to speak to him on some business,
+and found him very busy in his garden, driving into the ground a great
+quantity of short sticks.
+
+I asked him “what all those sticks were for.”
+
+“Why you see, sir, I have planted part of my garden with Indian corn,
+and I am putting sticks down to mark the places where I have planted
+them.”
+
+A day or two afterwards I met him wearing his coat turned inside out,
+the rough seams and red-edging of which had a very curious effect. I
+inquired “what might be his reason for going about in such a costume?”
+
+“Well, you see I call this my morning attire; in the evening I have
+nothing to do but turn my coat, and, lo! I am dressed; a very capital
+arrangement, and quite good enough for the Bush. Do not you think so?”
+
+“As far as regards economy,” I replied, “it may do well enough, and as
+you do not appear to care about being laughed at, your plan will
+answer: and who knows but that you may have the pleasure of introducing
+a new fashion into the colonies?”
+
+Amongst other odd characters I had to deal with, was a Mr. W——, I
+believe a portrait and miniature painter by profession, who had
+travelled a good deal in Russia, and understood that language well. He
+purchased a lot of land from the company on the Waterloo-road, about a
+mile from the village. Under the ground-plot chosen by him to build on,
+he found there existed a good quarry of limestone; so he made up his
+mind to build a stone-house, although he had spent his last dollar, and
+his profession in a new and poor settlement would avail him very
+little.
+
+However, he went to work, excavating the stone which he had found when
+digging his cellar, for building the walls of his house: his only
+assistant in the undertaking was a delicate ladylike young woman, whom
+he had married in the United States, and brought here as a bride. He
+treated his unfortunate partner like a slave. She had to mix and carry
+all the mortar, and help him to raise the stone.
+
+I often, on an evening, walked down to see how they were getting on
+with their job, and was quite astonished to find how well they
+progressed. But, at the same time, I pitied the poor wife exceedingly,
+whom the neighbours said he treated very harshly, notwithstanding her
+conjugal devotion to him.
+
+At the end of three months his creditors began to threaten him. His
+land was still unpaid for, and the walls of his house unfinished. When
+too late, he counted the cost of completion, and found his best plan
+was to take a Yankee leave, and clear out, leaving his unfinished home
+as a legacy to his creditors.
+
+How to beat a retreat, and take his goods and chattels with him,
+without discovery, was a difficult matter. He, however, set his wits to
+work, and adopted the following plan, which, in theory, looked feasible
+enough, but, when put in practice, was found not quite so easy as he
+had anticipated.
+
+He knew that the river Speed, which ran at the rear of his lot, after a
+course of fourteen or fifteen miles, debouched into the Grand River,
+and was, from thence, navigable for boats to Lake Erie, a distance of
+some seventy or eighty miles further. He, therefore, conceived the plan
+of building a small scow,[5] large enough to hold his wife, himself,
+and his effects, and silently dropping down with the current, bade
+adieu to their sylvan retreat, and the great city of Guelph, which,
+however, he was destined to see again, much sooner than he expected.
+
+ [5] A long-shaped flat-bottomed boat of the same width the entire
+ length, rising gently at each end, built of two-inch plank, and much
+ used on shallow rivers and creeks.
+
+
+He built his boat close to the river’s edge, having, with the
+assistance of his wife, carried the planks down for that purpose. I
+suppose he took a lesson from Robinson Crusoe, not to build his scow
+too far from the water.
+
+Everything being ready, the boat was launched and freighted, our hero
+in the stern, with steering paddle in hand, and his patient _compagnon
+de voyage_ acting, as bowman.
+
+The Speed is a shallow, swift, running stream, seldom exceeding three
+feet in depth during the dry season. For the first mile they got on
+pretty well, till they came to a jam of drift wood; over this with
+great difficulty they hauled their scow; every few yards fresh
+obstructions occurred in the shape of snags, fallen trees, and drift
+wood, which caused them to upset twice before they had accomplished the
+second mile, till at last an extensive jam across the river many yards
+in length, put a complete barrier to their further advance.
+
+Wet and weary, half the day gone, and no chance of proceeding down the
+stream, they determined to retrace their course. This was not easy to
+accomplish, for the current was too swift to paddle against; so, tying
+a short piece of rope to the stem of the scow, he ordered his
+unfortunate wife to take the water and tow the boat, whilst he sat in
+state in the stern assisting with his paddle.
+
+In the evening, I was walking out with my wife; and as we were passing
+I thought we would look in and see how their work progressed, when to
+my astonishment I saw Mrs. W—— sitting on a stone, weeping bitterly. I
+perceived at once that something extraordinary had occurred, for her
+dress was sadly torn and saturated with wet. Upon making an inquiry
+respecting her appearance, and the causes of her grief, she told me the
+sad story I have just related, adding, that they had only just got back
+from their expedition, and that all her clothes, bed, and blankets were
+wringing wet.
+
+My wife, who had lately joined me, and was of a most kind disposition,
+always ready to help those in distress, offered her an asylum for a few
+days, and a change of apparel, which she thankfully accepted. Her
+brutal husband cleared out the next day, and she joined him the week
+following.
+
+Some time afterwards, I was told that Mrs. W—— had committed suicide,
+goaded, doubtless, to desperation by the ill usage of her partner, and
+the hardships she had to endure. As this, however, is only hearsay, I
+will not vouch for its truth; though from my knowledge of the parties I
+am afraid it was only too true.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+PORCUPINE-CATCHING.—HANDSOME BEHAVIOUR OF MR.
+GALT.—OWLINGALE.—INTRODUCTION TO THE SON OF THE CELEBRATED INDIAN
+CHIEF, BRANDT.—EXPEDITION TO WILMOT.—SHAM WOLVES.—NIGHT IN A BARN WITH
+DR. DUNLOP.—THE DOCTOR AND HIS SNUFF-BOX.—HIS BATH IN THE NITH.—LOUIS
+XVIII. AND HIS TABATIERE.—CAMP IN THE WOODS.—RETURN TO GUELPH.
+
+One day, being out in the woods with an emigrant, examining a lot of
+land, I was attracted by the barking of my dog, who had treed some
+animal, which, upon coming up, I discovered was a porcupine. We cut
+down the tree, a small beech, in which he had taken refuge, and secured
+him alive. I did not notice my dog till I got home, when I found his
+mouth was full of quills, which the porcupine, in self-defence, had
+darted into him. The manner in which they accomplish this is, by
+striking the object that offends them with their tail, when the outside
+points of the quills, being finely barbed, if inserted ever so
+slightly, retain their hold, and are easily detached from the porcupine
+without pain.
+
+I once lost a fine Irish greyhound, who was stuck full of quills in
+this way, although I pulled out hundreds of them from his mouth, head,
+and different parts of his body, with a pair of pincers. In fact, some
+of these barbs had worked into him nearly their whole length, so that I
+had a difficulty in getting hold of the end of the quills to extract
+them; and I have no doubt, as the dog died, that many of them had
+completely buried themselves in some vital part, and caused his death.
+
+I took home my prize, and put it into a barrel in a dark corner of the
+store, which was half full of nails. A few minutes afterwards, Dr.
+Dunlop, as he often did, came in to see me, and drink a glass of cider,
+of which I had at that time some of excellent quality in bottle. The
+Doctor, as he said, used to “improve” it, making what he called, “a
+stone-fence,” by inserting a small _soupcon_ of brandy from a
+pocket-pistol, which he was too much in the habit of carrying about
+with him in hot weather.
+
+“Now,” said I, “Doctor, I know you like a bit of fun. When Fielding,
+the porter, comes in, ask him to go to that barrel in the corner and
+fetch you a nail; for I have got a live porcupine in it that I have
+just brought home from the woods.”
+
+The Doctor was mightily tickled with the notion; so, as soon as poor
+Fielding made his appearance, he sent him off to the barrel. Quite
+unsuspiciously the man put in his hand for the nail, and as quickly
+drew it out again, with the addition of some half a score quills
+sticking to his fingers, to the no small delight of the Doctor, who
+greatly enjoyed Fielding’s consternation, for the porter thought the
+devil himself was in the tub.
+
+Every one who came into the store during the afternoon was served the
+same trick by the Doctor, and it was certainly amusing to watch their
+countenances and hear their remarks, those who showed the most anger
+being of course the most laughed at for their pains.
+
+Shortly after, a Mr. Smith, an accountant, was sent out by the
+directors to examine the accounts, and report on the state of the
+Company’s affairs in the colony. A few days after his arrival, he went
+round with the superintendent, and examined the works that had been
+completed, and those in progress. Mr. Galt and the accountant both
+expressed themselves much pleased with what I had done, especially with
+the bridge connecting the clergy-block (now called the township of
+Puslinch) with the town of Guelph.
+
+In the afternoon, Mr. Smith called upon me and said he was authorized
+by the superintendent to arrange with me as to the amount of salary I
+was to receive. He then informed me the amount that Mr. Galt had
+instructed him to offer me—a liberal income, and the use of a house
+rent-free, desiring him at the same time to express his satisfaction at
+the manner in which I had conducted the operations since my engagement
+with the Company, in which, he said, from what he had seen, he fully
+concurred.
+
+As this result was entirely unsolicited by me, and as it was generally
+understood that the accountant had been sent out partly as a check on
+the superintendent, to prevent extravagant expenditure, I took this as
+a compliment paid by both to my abilities and integrity.
+
+Several of the clerks had light neatly-made boats, in which we used to
+make excursions up the Speed for the purpose of trout-fishing. I think,
+without exception, this stream is the best for that species of fish I
+ever saw. I have frequently caught a pailful of these delicious trout
+in the space of two or three hours. For my own part, I found a small
+garden-worm the best bait; but one of our clerks, a Mr. Hodgett, was
+skilful with the fly, and consequently used to catch his fish in a more
+scientific manner.
+
+My native county, Suffolk, with the exception of that part watered by
+the Waveney, is not famed for its fly-fishing: therefore I was no adept
+in the gentle art, but in ground-bait angling I consider myself no
+contemptible performer.
+
+The small streams and creeks are so overarched with trees in Canada,
+that it is almost impossible, except in odd spots, to make a cast with
+the fly without endangering your tackle.
+
+The speckled trout in the river Speed vary in size from four ounces to
+a pound and a half, though it is seldom that one of the latter size is
+captured.
+
+Guelph I consider to be remarkably healthy, and for an inland town very
+prettily situated. I think, however, that the town-plot was laid out on
+too large a scale—especially the market-place, which is large enough
+for a city containing fifty thousand inhabitants. I have not been there
+since 1832. It has since become the assize-town for the Wellington
+district, and consequently has greatly increased both in size and
+population.
+
+Although I had been several months a resident in Guelph, I had neither
+seen nor heard a clergyman of the Established Church. Why are we always
+the last to send labourers into the vineyard? No sooner does a small
+village, composed of a mill, a black-smith’s shop, and a few houses,
+spring up in the woods, than you find a Presbyterian, Methodist, or
+Baptist Church—or perhaps all three—settled there immediately. No
+wonder, then, that our church is losing ground when so little energy is
+displayed either in building churches or sending active and zealous men
+to preach the gospel.
+
+The first person I heard preach in Guelph was a tailor, who had made a
+professional visit to the city, and who had the reputation of being
+considered a very eloquent man. Due notice having been given, a large
+congregation assembled to hear Mr. H——, who, to do him justice, was
+eloquent enough, though his sermon was all in his own praise from
+beginning to end.
+
+He said that “he had once been a great infidel and an evil liver, but
+now he was converted, and was as good as he formerly had been wicked;
+and be hoped that all his hearers would take example from him and do as
+he had done—forsake the crooked paths and steadfastly follow the
+straight.” After this autobiographical discourse was at length over,
+and a brother snip invited him to dinner, I was also honoured with an
+invitation, which my curiosity induced me to accept.
+
+I found that the party consisted of a magistrate and his wife, from
+E——, the mad Doctor, and Mr. Y——, one of the Company’s clerks. Our
+host-tailor, No. 1, took the head of the table; the preacher, tailor
+No. 2, sat at the foot. The dinner itself was quite a professional
+spread, and consisted of a fine fat roast goose at the top, and another
+at the bottom—a large dish of cabbage in the centre, and a plate of
+hard dumplings on each side. Mr. Y——, who sat opposite, gave me such a
+comical look when the second goose made its appearance, that I found it
+impossible to suppress my risibility, which, unfortunately for me,
+exploded just as the preacher—who, of course, mentally consigned me to
+perdition—commenced a long grace; but if the Governor-General himself
+had been present, I do not think I could have restrained my inclination
+to laugh.
+
+The dinner was certainly excellent of its kind; and in a new settlement
+where nothing but salt pork and beef could be obtained, I might with
+truth say, that it was a great treat. After the cloth was removed, it
+was proposed by the magistrate’s lady, that the company should sing a
+hymn, upon which the mad Doctor, who was considered the most pious, as
+well as the most scientific, singer of the company, sang like an
+owlingale, Pope’s celebrated lines:—
+
+“Vital spark of heavenly flame,
+Quit, O quit; this mortal frame.
+
+
+I am ashamed to say that I was obliged to stuff my handkerchief into my
+mouth to keep from laughing outright; and no wonder, for I never heard
+such an insane screeching in all my life.
+
+In the course of the summer, Mr. Buchanan, the British Consul, visited
+Guelph, when the superintendent gave a public dinner at the Priory, to
+which I had the honour of an invitation. Amongst other guests was John
+Brandt, the chief of the Mohawks, and son of the celebrated chief whom
+Campbell the poet, in his “Gertrude of Wyoming,” has stigmatized as—
+
+“The monster, Brandt,
+With all his howling, desolating band.”
+
+
+And again—
+
+“Accursed Brandt! he left of all my tribe,
+Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth.”
+
+
+It is said that John Brandt was very angry when these lines were
+pointed out to him.[1]
+
+ [1] Campbell subsequently made an apology to him.
+
+
+On his health being drunk, he acknowledged the courtesy in a short but
+eloquent speech. He was not handsome, though rather a fine-looking man.
+I believe he died of cholera in 1832.
+
+One day, Dr. Dunlop came to my house, and informed me that I was to
+accompany him on an expedition to the township of Wilmot, joining the
+Huron tract, to examine the site, and make a report of the probable
+cost of building a bridge over the river Nith—or “Smith’s Creek,” as it
+was then called—one of the tributaries of the Grand River. “The
+accountant,” he said, “has taken it into his head that he will
+accompany us; and, as he has never been in the Bush before, won’t we
+put him through his facings before he gets back? that is all. Mind, and
+keep your eye on me. When I am ready to play him off, I will give the
+signal to you.”
+
+“Well, Doctor,” said I, “if you will take the blame, I have no
+objection to the fun; but remember! I am a very young man, and if Mr.
+Smith should complain to the Company—”
+
+“Oh, never fear,” was his reply, “for I will make it all right with
+Galt, if he do. In the meantime, order my man to saddle the horses. Let
+the Cockney have the roan-mare. You can take your own pony; and do not
+forget to tell Hinds to bring the brandy. Should we have to camp out
+all-night, a small _soupcon_ of the creature will do us no harm.”
+
+Everything being in readiness, we started about two o’clock, P.M. Our
+route lay through the new settlement of Guelph and the fine townships
+of Upper and Lower Waterloo. This tract of land was originally bought
+and settled by a company of Dutch Pennsylvanians, upwards of fifty
+years ago. The Grand River, or Ouse, intersects these townships—a fine
+stream, spanned by several substantial bridges. This part of the
+country is densely populated and very fertile. The soil, for the most
+part, is a light rich loam.
+
+As soon as we had crossed the open country, we entered a narrow
+bush-road, only just wide enough for two persons to ride abreast. It
+must be remembered that Smith was a very bad rider, and looked as if he
+had never been on horse-back before; for every time he rose in his
+saddle you could see his horse’s head under him.
+
+The Doctor now gave me the wink to fall into the rear; then riding up
+abreast of Smith, he commenced operations by slyly sticking his spur
+into the roan mare, exclaiming at the same time, “Come, man, if we
+don’t push on a little, we shall not reach Blenheim to-night.”
+
+As soon as the roan mare felt the spur, off she went at a rattling
+pace, the Dr. keeping close along-side, and applying the spur whenever
+he could get a chance. At first, Smith tried hard to pull in the mare;
+then he shouted to the Doctor to stop her; instead of which, the spur
+was only applied the sharper. At last, quite frightened, he seized the
+mane with both his hands. And then commenced a neck-and-neck race for
+nearly two miles—myself and the Doctor’s man, John Hinds, bringing up
+the rear, and shouting with laughter. Smith was so frightened, and so
+intent on stopping his run-away steed, that he never suspected his
+persecutor who, looking quite grave, said, “He never remembered his
+roan running off in that extraordinary manner before; but,” he added
+with a grin, “I suspect, Smith, she knew you were a Cockney.”
+
+After this exploit, we went on soberly enough, until we entered the
+township of Blenheim. We had still some distance to travel through a
+dense forest, before we should reach Springer’s—a farm-house where we
+intended to stop all night, and where the Doctor kept a store of good
+things, under the charge of Mrs. Springer; for this was always his
+halting-place, on his various journeys to Goderich.
+
+Darkness fell as we entered the Blenheim woods, and now the Doctor took
+the opportunity of asking me, “If I thought that I could howl?” I
+expressed confidence in my abilities that way.
+
+The Doctor then said, “Second any move of mine for pushing you on to
+Springer’s. But mind,” continued he, “you are to stop within half a
+mile of his clearing; and when you hear us coming, you must howl with
+all your might, and leave the rest to me.”
+
+After a while, when it was quite dark, so that we could scarcely see
+our horses’ heads, the Doctor proposed that I should take Hinds, and
+“ride on as hard as we could, and tell Mrs. Springer to have supper
+ready for us; and,” said he, “let the old man tap the whiskey I
+forwarded to his house last week. We will follow you at our leisure;
+for my friend is not used to travel after dark on such roads as these.”
+
+We accordingly rode on smartly, till we could perceive a slight
+glimmering of light through the trees, which we knew to be Springer’s
+clearing. We then halted, one on each side of the road, but entirely
+concealed from view by the thick underbrush. As soon as we heard the
+party coming, we set up a most unearthly yell, which made the woods
+fairly ring again. We could hear the Doctor cry out, “The wolves! the
+wolves! ride for your life, man,” and he then galloped off in the
+direction from which they had just come.
+
+Poor Smith shouted after him at the top of his voice, imploring the
+Doctor, for God’s sake, not to leave him. “Oh Lord!” we heard him say,
+as he rode after the Doctor, “I shall surely be devoured by the
+ravenous wretches. Help—help! Doctor—stop!” and such like piteous
+ejaculations.
+
+The Doctor, who had ridden ahead, as soon as he heard his victim
+approach, commenced in the same key as we had done before, and a dismal
+howling we all made. Fear now compelled poor Smith to wheel the mare
+round and ride back, whereupon we again greeted him with a second
+edition, even—if that were possible—more diabolical than the first,
+which terminated the fun sooner than we expected; for, losing all
+presence of mind, he let his steed get off the track into the woods,
+and, consequently, he was swept off by the branches. We heard him fall
+and roar for help, which we left the Doctor to administer, and made the
+best of our way to Springer’s, where, half an hour after, we were
+joined by our fellow-travellers, one of whom had scarcely recovered
+from his fright, and still looked as pale as a ghost. Two or three
+glasses of whiskey-punch, however, soon restored him to his natural
+complexion.
+
+I do not know if he ever found out the trick we had so successfully
+played him; but if he did, he kept it to himself, rightly judging that
+if the story got wind he would never hear the last of it.
+
+Springer had only one spare bed, which we resigned in favour of the
+accountant, as some little compensation for the fright he had
+sustained. The Doctor and I took possession of the barn, where we found
+plenty of fresh hay, which we infinitely preferred to the spare bed and
+its familiars. There we slept delightfully, till a chorus of cocks (or
+_roosters_, as the more delicate Americans would call them) awakened us
+from our repose, to the wrathful indignation of Dunlop, who
+anathematized them for “an unmusical ornithological set of fiends.”
+
+We made an early breakfast off fried sausages, and the never-failing
+ham and eggs, and were soon again in the saddle. We took the nearest
+road to Plum Creek, where we left our horses, and proceeded for the
+remaining four miles on foot, through a magnificent forest.
+
+We were now in that part of the township of Wilmot belonging to the
+Canada Company, which did not then contain a single farm, but has been
+since completely settled. At length, we came to a narrow valley, some
+fifty or sixty feet below the level of the country through which we had
+been travelling, in the centre of which flowed the Nith, sparkling in
+the sun: the wild grapes hanging in rich festoons from tree to tree,
+gave an air of rural beauty to the scene. For the convenience of
+foot-passengers, some good Samaritan had felled a tree directly across
+the stream, which at that place was not more than fifty feet wide. The
+current was swift, though not more than four or five feet deep.
+
+Here a small misfortune happened to the Doctor, who was an inveterate
+snuff-taker, and carried a large box he called a coffin—I presume from
+its resemblance to that dreary receptacle.
+
+While in the act of crossing the temporary bridge, and at the same time
+regaling his olfactory nerves with a pinch of the best Irish, his
+famous coffin slipped from his grasp and floated away majestically down
+the swift-flowing waters of the sylvan Nith.
+
+The Doctor was a man of decision: he hesitated not even for a moment,
+but pitched himself headlong into the stream, from which he quickly
+emerged with his recovered treasure. It is but justice to my friend
+Dunlop, to remind the reader that his extravagant affection for his
+snuff-box is not without a parallel in history, since Louis XVIII has
+recorded with his own royal hand an attachment to his _tabatiere_,
+equally eccentric and misplaced.
+
+Scarcely had this Prince escaped three miles from Paris and its
+democrats, when, on putting his hand into his waistcoat-pocket, in
+order to take a consoling pinch, he missed his snuff-box, which, in his
+hurry, he had left upon his toilette, at the discretion of the mob.
+“Mon Dieu, ma tabatiere!” was his horrified exclamation, as he
+deliberated for a moment upon a misfortune so overwhelming.
+
+To go back to Paris was only to risk his life, while to proceed on his
+journey was to lose his snuff-box. His philo-tabatierishness triumphed:
+he returned, snatched up his beloved box, and made it the companion of
+his flight; and, in all his vicissitudes, from exile to a throne, he
+considered the possession of his favourite _tabatiere_ as his principal
+consolation. The Doctor was no less rash than the French monarch, and
+in recovering his _tabatiere_ equally fortunate.
+
+A good fire and some brandy soon made the Doctor all right again, after
+his cold bath in the Nith. We now prepared our camp for the night: this
+we had no trouble in doing, for we found plenty of poles and bark,
+which had been used by the labourers, whilst cutting out the road to
+the Huron tract. The Doctor’s man had brought a bundle of blankets and
+an axe, from Springer’s, and I, like Dalgetty, carried the provender.
+
+While Hinds was cooking the supper, I prepared our bed, by breaking a
+quantity of fine hemlock-brush to thatch the bottom of the camp, to
+keep us from the damp ground, which it did quite effectually. I have
+camped out, I dare say, hundreds of times, both in winter and summer;
+and I never caught cold yet. I recommend, from experience, a
+hemlock-bed, and hemlock-tea, with a dash of whiskey in it, merely to
+assist the flavour, as the best preventive.
+
+The Doctor was in first-rate humour, and seemed determined to make a
+night of it; and even the Cockney appeared to enjoy himself amazingly.
+I knew, by the wicked eye of the Doctor, that he was bent on mischief.
+Hinds was kept busy after supper in making brandy-punch, the Doctor
+keeping us in a roar of laughter with his amusing anecdotes. I knew by
+the long Latin quotations that Smith indulged in, that he was fast
+verging on intoxication. For my part, tired and drowsy, I soon fell
+into a state of pleasing forgetfulness, leaving my two companions in
+the middle of some learned discussion, the subject of which I have long
+forgotten.
+
+In the morning we examined the proposed site for building the bridge,
+which we found presented no unusual difficulties. I have since been
+informed that excellent mills and a thriving village now occupy the
+very spot where we bivouacked on this memorable occasion.
+
+At Plum Creek we again resumed our horses, and, at the village of
+Galt[2] we parted company. The Doctor and his man went on to
+Flamborough[3] West; whilst Smith and I returned to Guelph, which we
+reached a short time after dark, without inflicting on him any more
+adventures.
+
+ [2] Galt is a thriving town, situated on the west bank of the Grand
+ River, in the township of Dumfries. The town-plot originally belonged
+ to the Honourable William Dixon, who gave it that name in compliment
+ to the superintendent of the Canada Company.
+
+
+ [3] One of the prettiest situations in Canada West, commanding a fine
+ prospect of Ancaster and the surrounding country; and also the seat of
+ the Hon. James Crooks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+A NEW WAY OF KEEPING A BIRTHDAY.—LOST IN THE WOODS.—KINDNESS OF MR.
+GALT.—ADVICE TO NEW SETTLERS.—UNEXPECTED RETIREMENT OF MR. GALT.—I
+ACCOMPANY HIM TO THE LANDING-PLACE.—RECEIVE ORDERS TO LEAVE GUELPH FOR
+GODERICH.—WHIRLWINDS AT GUELPH AND DOURO.
+
+The 6th of November was my birthday, so I determined to give myself a
+holiday, and go out _still-hunting_. I had been told by some of the
+workmen that deer were very plentiful in the Clergy-block, so I started
+early in the morning without waiting for my regular breakfast, merely
+taking a biscuit, as I was too eager for the sport to have much
+appetite; besides, I intended to be home to an early dinner. The sky
+was overcast, and a few flakes of snow were falling, but I did not
+dislike these signs; for I prefer a little dampness on the leaves,
+which causes less noise from the tread—an important point to the
+hunter; for when the leaves are crisp and dry, it is useless to attempt
+approaching the deer, who are sure to hear you long before you get
+within range.
+
+I considered myself a tolerably good woodsman, and was, therefore, not
+much afraid of being lost; but I reckoned without my host in this
+instance. After crossing the river, I proceeded for some distance along
+a hard-wood ridge, till I came to a thicket of brush-wood, out of which
+sprang three fine deer, a buck and two does. I fired at the buck as he
+scampered off, and had the satisfaction of finding blood on the track,
+which I followed for more than two miles. But I lost him at last in the
+middle of a cedar-swamp, owing to the quantity of soft snow, which was
+by this time falling heavily. I, therefore, thought it best to return
+home, and put off my hunt to a more propitious day.
+
+On emerging from the swamp, which I did on the wrong side—for I had no
+sun to guide me—I saw a fine doe within fifty yards of me, feeding on
+the side of a hill. I thought I was sure of this one at any rate; but,
+in this also, I was woefully disappointed; for the powder in the pan of
+the lock had got damp by the wet snow, and only flashed in the pan. My
+gun had the old flint-lock, percussion-caps being then hardly known in
+the colonies.
+
+My second disappointment decided me to return home. This, however, was
+sooner said than done; for, after walking for more than two hours, I
+found I had lost my way, a conclusion as to which there could be no
+mistake. At first, I thought it would be best to take my back-track,
+but I found this would not answer; for the snow was melting as fast as
+it fell. I could not even avail myself of the common indications for
+finding my way, because the under-brush was still loaded with snow, so
+that it was quite impossible to see fifty yards in any direction.
+
+Whilst I was debating what I had best do to extricate myself from this
+dilemma, I came upon a tolerably fresh blazed line, which I suspected
+was the boundary between the townships of Guelph and the
+Clergy-reserve-block of Puslinch. In this idea I was perfectly right;
+but the question now with me was, in which direction I should follow
+the line. After considering for some time, as ill-luck would have it, I
+took the wrong route, and, having walked at least three miles, came to
+the end of the blaze, where I found a surveyor’s post, on which was
+legibly written, in red chalk, on each side, the names of the four
+townships, of which it was the corner-post; viz. Guelph, Puslinch,
+Nasagiweya, and Eramosa; and lower down on the post, “_seven miles and
+a half to Guelph_.” I had, therefore, nothing for it, but to turn back
+on the line and retrace my steps. This I did in a smart run, for I saw
+the shades of night fast gathering around me.
+
+In less than an hour I had passed the place where I first found the
+blaze, but soon after came to a windfall,[1] where I found it
+impossible to follow the line through. I was, therefore, compelled to
+leave the blaze—my only sure guide—which, however, I still hoped to
+re-find, by keeping round the edge of the windfall, till I again struck
+the line. Just before dark, I saw a partridge sitting on a log, I
+believe. I fresh primed, and snapped half a dozen times at him, without
+effect, but the gun had got so wet, that at last I gave it up as a bad
+job; though I should have liked him very much for my supper, for which
+I had a ravenous appetite.
+
+ [1] A heap of great trees blown down by the wind.
+
+
+Presently, I came to a nice little spring creek running under some fine
+shady cedars. The ground looked dry and mossy; and as it was nearly
+dark, I thought the best thing I could do was to camp for the night,
+for I knew it was impossible to find my way after dark. I immediately
+collected a large quantity of dry balsam-fir, which lay about in great
+profusion, and chose a cluster of spreading cedars for my camp. After
+this, I piled a large heap of wood against one of the trees; and
+rubbing some dry cedar-bark quite fine, put it under my wood. In order
+to light my fire, I tore up a piece of a cotton handkerchief, which I
+laid over the pan of my gun, newly primed. Having fired the cotton in
+this manner, I enclosed it in the cedar-bark, keeping up the flame—not
+by using that primitive bellows, my mouth—but, by waving the bark to
+and fro, after the method used by the Indians. Thus, I soon had a large
+cheerful fire, which I much needed, for I was thoroughly wet.
+
+My first care was to dry my gun and reload it, in case of wolves.
+Whilst I was busy doing this, I heard a shot, and then another; but the
+gunners were a long way off, as I knew by the sound—certainly not less
+than three miles; and as I was quite aware it was useless for me to
+attempt to make my way out, I contented myself with firing my gun in
+answer to their shots, which, not being repeated, I also ceased firing,
+though I had no doubt my neighbours were searching for me, but not near
+enough to find me out. However, I discovered the direction in which
+Guelph lay, by the sound of their volleys, so I did not despair, as I
+felt sure of being able to regain my home in the morning.
+
+The snow soon ceased to fall, and the night came out fine and clear,
+though rather sharp. I had a famous fire, and slept tolerably well,
+though awaking occasionally with the cold; when I would replenish the
+fire and turn my chilled side to the blaze, by which means I managed to
+pass the night as well as I could expect under the circumstances,
+considering, too, that I had eaten nothing from six o’clock the
+previous morning.
+
+By day-break, I was on my march in the direction in which I supposed
+Guelph to lie. The sun rose clear and bright, which enabled me to make
+a true course in half an hour; for I began to recognize ridges I had
+before traversed in former hunting excursions; and was soon confirmed
+in this opinion, by the firing of guns and blowing of horns in the
+direction I was going. In a few minutes, I heard two men in
+conversation, one of whom was a native of Somersetshire, living close
+to me. I stepped behind a large tree, directly in their path, when I
+heard my neighbour say to his companion—“This is the way he generally
+takes; I will warrant we shall find he.” At that instant, I fired my
+gun close to them, which made them start with surprise. They then
+informed me that Mr. Galt had sent out all the workmen in search of me.
+This I was well-aware of, from the continual volleys which rang in all
+directions. We were soon out on the main-road leading to the bridge,
+where I found more than fifty of the inhabitants looking for me.
+
+This birthday hunting excursion turned out anything but a frolic; for
+the result was, twenty-six hours’ starvation and the loss of a fine
+buck; besides my being hungry, weary, and stiff, from sleeping all
+night in the woods. Moreover, in common gratitude, I was bound to treat
+my neighbours and the workmen sent to look for me, and the treat cost
+me five gallons of whiskey. To add to this chapter of accidents, two of
+the party who turned out to hunt for me in the woods, lost themselves,
+and spent the night in as disagreeable a manner as I had myself done.
+
+I would advise all new settlers to provide themselves with a
+pocket-compass, which can be procured for a few shillings. This should
+be suspended round the neck by a ribbon, in the same manner as a
+watch—and I need not add that in the Bush it is of infinitely more use.
+
+My employments in the Company’s service often obliged me to leave home
+and take long journeys—fatiguing enough, indeed, they often were. But
+youth is the season of enterprise, and always have accustomed myself to
+look upon the bright side of everything, leaving to the grumblers the
+reverse of the picture, upon which I fear they are only too fond of
+dwelling. But I am sure a cheerful spirit is the best assistant in
+carrying a settler through every difficultly.
+
+Early in the spring of 1829, I made a tour of the Newcastle district,
+selling land and receiving payments for the Company. Whilst so
+employed, I received a letter from the superintendent, informing me of
+his resignation, and appointing me to meet him in Toronto with what
+money I had collected.
+
+I was very sorry to hear of Mr. Galt’s retirement. He had always acted
+in a kind and liberal manner towards me; and, indeed, when he left the
+Company, I considered that I had lost a true and affectionate friend. I
+could not help, therefore, noticing with regret that, although most of
+the clerks belonging to the office were at that time in Toronto, only
+Dr. Dunlop, Mr. Reid[2] and myself accompanied Mr. Galt to the
+landing-place to see him depart and cry “God speed!” But this is the
+way of the world. Those who should be most grateful when the hour of
+adversity dawns on their benefactor, are often the first to desert him.
+
+ [2] Mr. Galt’s friend and ornate secretary.
+
+
+On the same day the Doctor introduced me to one of our new
+Commissioners, Thomas Mercer Jones, Esq., a fine gentlemanly-looking
+person. The other Commissioner was the Hon. William Allen. These
+gentlemen were appointed by the directors to supersede Mr. Galt in the
+direction of the Company’s affairs in Canada. On my return to Guelph, I
+received an intimation that I must prepare to take up my residence in
+Goderich, as my services in future would be required in the Huron
+tract.
+
+A few days before my departure, I witnessed the most appalling land
+tornado (if so I may term it), I ever saw in my life. As this is a
+phenomenon seldom if ever witnessed in England, I think a particular
+description may possibly interest those readers who are unaccustomed to
+such eccentricities of Nature.
+
+In my hunting excursions and rambles through the Upper Canadian
+forests, I had frequently met with extensive windfalls; and observed
+with some surprise that the fallen trees appeared to have been twisted
+off at the stumps, for they lay strewn in a succession of circles. I
+also remarked, that these windfalls were generally narrow, and had the
+appearance of a wide road slashed through the forest.
+
+From observations made at the time, and since confirmed, I have no
+doubt Colonel Reid’s theory of storms is a correct one, viz.:—“That all
+windstorms move in a circular direction, and the nearer the centre, the
+more violent the wind.” Having seen the effects of several similar
+hurricanes since my residence in Canada West, I shall describe one
+which happened in the township of Guelph, during the early part of the
+summer of 1829.
+
+The weather, for the season of the year (May) had been hot and sultry,
+with scarcely a breath of wind stirring. I had heard distant thunder
+from an early hour of the morning, which from the eastward is rather an
+unusual occurrence. About ten A.M. the sky had a most singular, I may
+say, a most awful appearance; presenting to the view a vast arch of
+rolling blackness, which seemed to gather strength and density as it
+approached the zenith. All at once the clouds began to work round in
+circles, as if chasing one another through the air. Suddenly, the dark
+arch of clouds appeared to break up into detached masses, whirling and
+eddying through each other in dreadful commotion. The forked lightning
+was incessant, accompanied by heavy thunder. In a short space the
+clouds seemed to converge to a point, which approached very near the
+earth, still whirling with great rapidity directly under this point;
+and apparently from the midst of the woods arose a black column in the
+shape of a cone, which instantly joined itself to the depending cloud:
+the sight was now grand and awful in the extreme.
+
+Let any one picture to the imagination a vast column of smoke of inky
+blackness reaching from earth to heaven, gyrating with fearful
+velocity; bright lightnings issuing from the vortex—the roar of the
+thunder—the rushing of the blast—the crashing of timber—the limbs of
+trees, leaves and rubbish, mingled with clouds of dust, whirling
+through the air—a faint idea is then given of the scene.
+
+“Through all the sky arise outrageous storms,
+And death stands threatening in a thousand forms;
+Clouds charged with loud destruction drown the day,
+And airy demons in wild whirlwinds play;
+Thick thunder-claps, and lightnings’ vivid glare
+Disturb the sky, and trouble all the air.”
+
+
+I had ample time for observation as the hurricane commenced its
+desolating course about two miles from the town, through the centre of
+which it took its way, passing within fifty yards of the spot where a
+number of persons and myself were standing watching its fearful
+progress. As the tornado approached, the trees seemed to fall like a
+pack of cards before its irresistible current. After passing through
+the clearing made around the town, the force of the wind gradually
+abated, and in a few minutes died away entirely.
+
+As soon as the storm was over, I went to see what damage it had done.
+From the point where I first observed the black column to rise from the
+woods and join the cloud, the trees were twisted in every direction. A
+belt of timber had been levelled to the ground about two miles in
+length, and about one hundred yards in breadth: at the entrance of the
+town it crossed the river Speed, and up-rooted about six acres of wood
+which had been thinned out and left by Mr. Galt as an ornament to his
+house.
+
+The Eremosa road was completely blocked up for nearly half a mile, in
+the wildest confusion possible. In its progress through the town, it
+unroofed several houses, levelled the fences to the ground, and
+entirely demolished a frame-barn: windows were dashed in, and in one
+instance the floor of a log-house was carried up through the roof. Some
+hair-breadth escapes occurred, but, luckily, no lives were lost.
+
+About twelve years since, a storm of this kind occurred in the north
+part of the township of Douro, though of less magnitude. I heard an
+intelligent settler who resided some years in the township of Madoc
+state that, during his residence there, a similar hurricane to the one
+I have described, but of a more awful character, passed through a part
+of Marmora and Madoc, which had been traced in a north-easterly
+direction upwards of forty miles into the unsurveyed lands, the uniform
+width of which appeared to be upwards of three quarters of a mile.
+
+It appears very evident that storms of this description have not been
+unfrequent in the wooded regions of Canada; and it becomes a matter of
+interesting consideration, whether the clearing of our immense forests
+will not, in a great measure, remove the cause of these phenomena.
+
+Dark, heavy clouds were gathering in the west,
+    Wrapping the forest in funereal gloom;
+Onward they roll’d and rear’d each livid crest,
+    Like death’s murk shadows frowning o’er earth’s tomb:
+From out the inky womb of that deep night
+    Burst livid flashes of electric flame:
+Whirling and circling with terrific might,
+    In wild confusion on the tempest came.
+Nature, awakening from her still repose,
+    Shudders responsive to the whirlwind’s shock
+Feels at her mighty heart convulsive throes;
+    Her groaning forests to earth’s bosom rock.
+
+But, hark! what means that hollow rushing sound,
+    That breaks the sudden stillness of the morn?
+Red forked lightnings fiercely glare around:
+    What crashing thunders on the winds are borne!
+And see yon spiral column, black as night,
+    Rearing triumphantly its wreathing form;
+Ruin’s abroad, and through the murky light,
+    Drear desolation marks the spirit of the storm.
+*   *   *   *   *   *
+How changed the scene; the awful tempest’s o’er;
+    From dread array and elemental war
+The lightning’s flash hath ceased, the thunder’s roar—
+    The glorious sun resumes his golden car.[3]
+
+
+ [3] My description of this whirlwind, and the accompanying lines, have
+ already appeared in the “Victoria Magazine,” published in Canada West,
+ under the signature of “Pioneer.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+THE HURON TRACT.—JOURNAL OF DR. DUNLOP.—HIS HARDSHIPS.—I LEAVE GUELPH
+FOR GODERICH.—WANT OF ACCOMODATION.—CURIOUS SUPPER.—REMARKABLE
+TREES.—THE BEVERLY OAK.—NOBLE BUTTER-WOOD TREES.—GODERICH.—FINE WHEAT
+CROP.—PURCHASE A LOG-HOUSE.—CONSTRUCTION OF A RAFT.
+
+I had always wished to go to the Huron tract, whose fine lake, noble
+forests, and productive soil, have made it a source of wealth to many a
+settler. The climate too, was mild, and I had heard a great deal about
+it from my gifted and facetious friend Dr. Dunlop, whose services in
+exploring that part of their possessions were not only useful but
+inestimable to the Company, and, in fact, to emigration in general.
+
+“Dr. Dunlop, the Warden of the Company’s Woods and Forests, surveyed
+the great Huron tract in the summer of 1827, assisted by the Chief of
+the Mohawk nation, and Messrs. Sproat and MacDonald. They penetrated
+the huge untravelled wilderness in all directions, until they came out
+on the shores of the Huron, having experienced and withstood every
+privation that wanderers can possibly be subject to in such places.”[1]
+
+ [1] Mac Taggart’s “Three Years in Canada.”
+
+
+The Doctor himself has given a very accurate account of the valuable
+resources of the Huron tract. He says in his journal—“I have already
+adverted to its nature and fertility, and think I may be justified in
+adding, such is the general excellence of the land, that if ordinary
+care can be taken to give each lot no more than its own share of any
+small swamp in its vicinity, it would be difficult, if not impossible,
+to find two hundred acres together in the whole territory, that would
+make a bad farm. Although the land may be capable of raising any kind
+of produce usual in that country, yet some spots are more particularly
+advantageous for particular crops. The black ash-swales (a kind of
+swamp) make the best ground for hemp; as by the scourging effect of two
+or three crops, the ground will be made more fit for the raising of
+wheat, for which, in the original state, it is too strong. The rich
+meadows by the side of the rivers, (more especially such as are
+annually overflowed,) are ready without farther preparation, for
+tobacco, hemp, and flax. The lower meadows, and meadows adjoining
+Beaver dams, which are abundant, produce at this moment enormous
+quantities of natural hay and pasture; and the rest of the land, for
+the production of potatoes, Indian corn, wheat, and other grain, is at
+least equal, if not superior, to any other land in the Canadas.
+Independent of the swamps, the timber on the land is very soon
+described.
+
+“The sugar-maple is the principal growth, and the size and height which
+it, as well as other trees, attains, sufficiently evince the strength
+and power of the soil. Next to this come the beech, elm, and bass-wood,
+in various proportions. In some instances, the beech and elm
+predominate over the maple, but this is rare. Near the streams the
+hemlock is found; and interspersed through the whole is the cherry,
+butter-nut, the different species of oak, and the birch.”[2]
+
+ [2] Mac Taggart’s “Journal of Dr. Dunlop.”
+
+
+In exploring this, then unknown, wilderness, Dr. Dunlop encountered
+many difficulties, and was more than once in danger of
+starvation—though an Indian Mohawk Chief shared his risks and
+perils.[3] As he told a story admirably well, I was delighted to hear
+him discuss his peregrinations over a glass of brandy-punch, of which
+he was very fond. Whatever might have been his feelings at the time, he
+only made a joke of his trials at the period in which he related them
+to me.
+
+ [3] Mac Taggart’s “Journal of Dr. Dunlop.”
+
+
+I should have experienced some regret in quitting Guelph, if the
+society had been more to my taste. The only persons of education in
+that town were, in fact, the Company’s officers, many of whom I might
+reasonably expect to meet again at Goderich. Of course, I found some
+exceptions, but the average was not in favour of Guelph. Besides, the
+water was an attraction to me, as my Suffolk home was within a short
+distance of the German Ocean. Brought up so near a sea-port, my natural
+inclinations made me dislike an inland situation; and if I were not
+going to have a sea-side residence, at least the shores of the mighty
+Huron Lake came the nearest to it in my estimation.
+
+I left Guelph early in June with Mr. Prior, the Company’s agent at
+Goderich. Our road after leaving Springer’s in Blenheim lay through the
+township of Wilmot to the southern boundary of the Huron tract, and
+from thence nearly in a straight line to the town of Goderich at the
+mouth of the river Maitland, on Lake Huron, on our route for a distance
+of nearly seventy miles, being bounded on the east by the townships of
+North Easthope, Ellice, Logan, McKillop, Hullett, and the east part of
+Goderich to the west, by South Easthope, Downie, Fullarton, Hibbert,
+Tucker Smith, and the west part of Goderich.
+
+This road was a mere sleigh-track through the woods, newly cut out, and
+rarely exceeding twelve feet in width. At this time we saw only three
+log-cabins during the whole way, these being about twenty miles apart
+from each other. These three were kept by Dutch or German emigrants,
+who supplied travellers with whiskey and provisions—when they had
+any—which was not always the case. Indeed, I can testify, to my sorrow,
+to the uncertainty of finding a decent table provided for guests by
+these foreigners; for I once had to stop at old Sebach’s, the centre
+house, for the night, and being tired by a long day’s march through the
+snow, I had calculated on making a capital supper. Not that I expected
+anything better than tea, fried pork and bread and butter, to which,
+hungry as I was, I should no doubt have done ample justice. Judge,
+then, of my astonishment and disappointment, when mine hostess placed
+before me a piece of dirty-looking Indian meal-bread, and a large cake
+of beef-tallow, and, to wash down this elegant repast, a dish of crust
+coffee without either milk or sugar, assuring me at the same time in
+her broken English, “That she had nothing better in the house till the
+return of her husband, who had gone fifty miles to the mill and store
+for a supply of flour, groceries, and other fixings.”
+
+Not being a Russian, I rejected the tallow with disgust, and made but a
+sorry meal of the other delicacies.
+
+On our route, we crossed several pretty streams, the principal of which
+are the Avon, then called the Little Thames, the Big Thames, and the
+Black Water. The Bayfield does not cross the road, though it makes a
+bend close to it, and within sight. I believe I am correct in saying,
+that we did not cross a single cedar-swamp from the time we entered the
+Huron tract[4] till we reached Goderich, a distance of sixty-seven
+miles. I consider this block the finest tract of land I ever travelled
+over in Canada West.
+
+ [4] “This interesting portion of the Company’s possessions contains a
+ million of acres in one block, within the compass of which a bad farm
+ could scarcely be found. The soil is a rich black loam, on clay or
+ limestone; and as it is entirely timbered with the best kind of hard
+ wood, no land in the Province is so well adapted for the manufacture
+ of potash, an object of considerable importance to the industrious
+ settler. It is bounded, for an extent of sixty miles, by Lake Huron;
+ is a separate district; and Goderich, its principal town, where the
+ district courts are held, is situated at the confluence of the river
+ Maitland with Lake Huron, where it forms an admirable harbour. The
+ population of the town is seven hundred, and there are several good
+ stores and shops in it; mechanics carrying on some useful trades.
+ There are also an episcopal church and other houses of religious
+ worship, and a good school, where the higher branches of the classics
+ are taught, as well as the more ordinary routine of
+ education.”—Statistics published by the Canada Company.
+
+
+The land is well timbered with the best description of hard wood,
+amongst which is to be found in considerable abundance, the black
+cherry. This tree grows often to a large size, and is used extensively
+for furniture, particularly for dining-tables: if well made and
+polished, it is little inferior to mahogany, either in appearance or
+durability.
+
+I remember, on this very journey, that Mr. Prior and myself were much
+struck by the size and magnificent appearance of one of these
+cherry-trees, which grew close to the road side, not far from the Big
+Thames. Two years afterwards, passing the same tree, I got out of my
+sleigh and measured the circumference as high as I could reach, which I
+found to be ten feet seven inches, and, I should think, it was not less
+than fifty feet in height from the ground to the first branch: it is a
+great pity to see such noble trees as these either burned or split up
+into fencing rails.
+
+I think the largest tree of the hard wood species I ever saw in this
+country, was near Bliss’s Tavern, in the township of Beverly, and it
+was called the Beverly-oak.[5] I was induced to visit this giant of the
+woods from the many accounts I had heard of its vast dimensions, and
+was, certainly, astonished at its size and symmetry. I measured it as
+accurately as I could about six feet from the ground, and found the
+diameter to be as nearly eleven feet as possible, the trunk rising like
+a majestic column towering upwards for sixty or seventy feet before
+branching off its mighty head. Mr. Galt, who was induced to visit this
+tree from my description has, in his “Autobiography,” mentioned the
+height of the trunk from the ground to the branches, as eighty feet;
+but I think he has overrated it. I was accompanied to the tree by the
+landlord, who remarked, “that he calculated that he should cut that
+’ere tree down some day, for he guessed it would make enough rails to
+fence the side of a ten acre field”
+
+ [5] “On the road to Guelph, a short distance from Galt, there is an
+ uncleared portion of the primeval forest, on the edge of the township
+ of Beverly, where, in those days, a small tavern, convenient to rest
+ the horses of travellers, was situated. One day, when I stopped at
+ this house, while my horse was taking his corn, I strayed into the
+ woods, not many hundred yards, and came to a tree, the most stupendous
+ I had ever seen.
+    “At the first glance, the trunk reminded me of the London Monument,
+    an effect of the amaze which the greatness of its dimensions
+    produced. I measured its girth, however, at the height of a man
+    from the ground, and it was thirty-three feet, above which the
+    trunk rose without a branch to the height of at least eighty feet,
+    crowned with vast branches.
+    “This was an oak, probably the greatest known, and it lifted its
+    head far above the rest of the forest. The trees around, myrmidons
+    of inferior growth, were large, massy, and vigorous, but possessed
+    none of the patriarchal antiquity with which that magnificent
+    ‘monarch of the woods’ was invested. I think, therefore, that I was
+    not wrong in imagining it the scion of a forest that had passed
+    away, the ancestral predecessor of the present woods.
+    “Had I been convinced it was perfectly sound, I would have taken
+    measures for cutting it down and sending home planks of it to
+    Windsor Castle. The fate that awaited it would have justified the
+    profanation. The doubt of its soundness, however, and the
+    difficulty of finding tools large enough to do it justice,
+    procrastinated the period of its doom. I recommended the landlord
+    of the tavern to direct his guests, from time to time, to inspect
+    this Goliath of oaks.”—Galt’s “Autobiography.”
+
+
+I replied, “Surely, you would not be such a Goth as to cut down such a
+splendid oak merely for fence-wood, when you have plenty of rail-timber
+which will answer that purpose equally well; and, besides, it may be
+the means of drawing customers to your tavern.”
+
+“I do not know what you mean by a Goth; but I do know, if I could get a
+crosscut saw long enough to cut that tree, I would not let it stand
+there long; for you see it is mighty straight in the grain, and would
+split like a ribbon.”
+
+Thus was this gigantic specimen of the primeval forest preserved for a
+time, because there was not a saw long enough to cut it through in
+Canada. I dare say there are many old oaks in England that exceed this
+in diameter; but I do not believe one is to be found whose length of
+trunk can be at all compared to it.
+
+On the flats about a mile from the mouth of the Maitland, are some very
+large button-wood trees. There is one, in particular, growing near a
+fine spring of water, the circumference of which appeared very vast,
+though I did not measure it; but the tree was a complete shell, and had
+a sort of natural arched doorway, just high enough to admit a
+full-sized man. I was once inside this tree with Dr. Dunlop and eleven
+other persons, at the same time. The trunk of this tree forked at
+twelve or fourteen feet from the ground. There are several others of
+this species near to the one I have described, of very large growth,
+which apparently are sound, but not equalling it in size.
+
+I left a noble oak-tree standing in the middle of one of my fields in
+the township of Douro, which I hoped I should have been able to
+preserve, as it was such a remarkably fine tree. It, however, was
+doomed to destruction; for in the summer of 1838, it was twice struck
+with lightning in the space of a week. The first time, the bark only
+was furrowed by the electric fluid, but at the second stroke it was
+split from the top to the bottom, and thrown down by the violence of
+the shock. I measured this tree correctly, and found the diameter,
+twenty-four feet from the ground, to be five feet three inches. The
+length of the trunk was forty-eight feet up to the first branch, and it
+was perfectly sound to within three or four feet of the soil.
+
+Generally speaking, the white or American pine, from its vast length of
+trunk, contains a larger number of cubic feet than any other tree in
+the Canadian forest. I have seen several of these pines sold for masts,
+the trunks of which were upwards of one hundred feet in length, and
+full three feet in diameter, a third of the way up from the butt-end.
+There is very little pine-timber on the Huron tract, which, though a
+disadvantage in regard to building, is all the better in respect to the
+land, hard wood being the best indication of a good soil.
+
+I did not—as I have said—regret my transfer to Goderich, though that
+flourishing town was then in its infancy, the most unpleasant aspect in
+which any Canadian settlement can be viewed. Still, I am pleased that I
+have had the opportunity of tracing some of these important places from
+their dawn to their present prosperous condition.
+
+I found the general aspect of the country level. There is scarcely a
+rise of land sufficient to justify the appellation of hill from Wilmot
+to Goderich; but as you approach the lake, the land becomes more
+rolling, and better watered by fine spring streams.
+
+I was quite delighted with the situation of Goderich, though the
+town-plot was only just surveyed. Three frame-houses were in process of
+building. A log-house, beautifully situated on a bold hill, overlooking
+the harbour, called by Dr. Dunlop, the Castle,[6] and a dozen or so of
+log-cabins, comprised the whole town of Goderich, most of the latter
+being inhabited by French Canadians and half-breeds. The upper town is
+situated on a fine cliff fronting the lake and harbour, and upwards of
+one hundred feet above the level of the water.
+
+ [6] “In the afternoon of the following day, we saw afar off, by our
+ telescope, a small clearing in the forest, and on the brow of a rising
+ ground a cottage delightfully situated. The appearance of such a sight
+ in such a place was unexpected, and we had some debate, if it could be
+ the location of Dr. Dunlop, who had guided the land-exploring party
+ already alluded to. Nor were we left long in doubt; for on approaching
+ the place we met a canoe, having on board a strange combination of
+ Indians, velveteens and whiskers, and discovered within the roots of
+ the red hair, the living features of the Doctor. About an hour after,
+ having crossed the river’s bar of eight feet, we came to a beautiful
+ anchorage of fourteen feet water, in an uncommonly pleasant small
+ basin. The place had been selected by the Doctor, and is now the site
+ of the flourishing town of Goderich.”—Galt’s “Autobiography.”
+
+
+The lower town comprises a few acres of alluvial flat, only a few feet
+elevated above the river. This piece of land was destitute of trees or
+stumps, and had evidently been cleared many years ago by the Indians,
+who had cultivated it with Indian corn. I ploughed up this flat of land
+for the benefit of the Company, and sowed it with oats in the spring of
+’29; and, therefore, I can justly claim the honour—for the sake of
+which I did it—of putting the first plough into the ground of the Huron
+tract. I also put in four acres of wheat on the top of the hill near
+the castle, in the fall of the same year, the yield of which was
+upwards of forty bushels to the acre—a good yield for any country,
+especially when it is considered that at least one-twelfth of the
+ground may be fairly deducted for stumps of trees, stones, and other
+obstructions, usually found in all new clearings. I believe, however, I
+may say without exaggeration, that the Company’s tract may safely
+challenge any other block of land of the same dimensions either in
+Canada East or West, for fertility of soil, average yield per acre, or
+healthiness of the climate.[7]
+
+ [7] “The Canada Company’s Huron tract is known to be one of the most
+ healthy and fertile settlements in Canada. The tract in the year 1842
+ contained 7101 souls. In June last year (1849) the Huron district
+ numbered 20,450 souls, according to official reports, exclusive of the
+ townships of Bosanquet and Williams. The Canada Company’s tract now
+ contains a population of 26,000 souls, showing an increase of 18,900,
+ and that the population has nearly quadrupled itself in seven years—a
+ progress of settlement of a tract of country scarcely exceeded in any
+ part of the North America.”—Information to Emigrants by Frederick
+ Widder, Esq.
+
+
+I bought a small log-house and town-lot, or rather the good-will of
+them, from a French Canadian, putting myself in his place with the
+Company, with whom I completed the purchase. The situation was very
+pretty, commanding a fine view of the Lake. I immediately prepared to
+build a suitable house, to receive my wife and family, whom I had been
+under the necessity of leaving behind me in Guelph, till I could make
+suitable preparations to receive them here.
+
+At this time, there was only one saw-mill[8] in the whole Company’s
+tract, and that was ten miles up the river, situated near the mouth of
+a large creek, which flowed into the Maitland. This mill was built
+close to one of the finest pine-groves in the block.
+
+ [8] “In no situation can settlers be distant from a mill, as there are
+ at convenient places distributed throughout the tract twelve
+ grist-mills and twenty saw-mills, and the facilities for communication
+ are very great; for seventeen of the townships are bounded on the one
+ side by the great roads traversing the tract in two directions for one
+ hundred miles in extent, and six of them are bounded by the Lake on
+ the other side.”—Statistics published by the Canada Company.
+
+
+I hired a man, who had been a raftsman on the Delaware, to go with me
+by land up to the mill, for a few thousand feet of boards, that I
+required for my new house. It was only seven miles to the mill by a new
+cut-out sleigh-track, through the township of Goderich as far as the
+Falls, which we crossed by wading the river just above them, which at
+that time we were able to do, though not without some caution; for,
+although the spring-floods were considerably abated, the water ran with
+great rapidity, and in some places was up to our middles; but with the
+help of a strong setting-pole, we got over with safety.
+
+We made our little raft in three cribs, of a thousand feet of boards in
+each crib, which we connected together by short pieces of scantling,
+which are bored near each end with a two-inch auger and strung on the
+corner-pickets of each crib, thus uniting them in one length. At each
+end of the raft, a long oar is securely fixed, in temporary rowlocks
+for that purpose.
+
+The whole course of the river, from the mill to the harbour at
+Goderich, is a strong rapid: two perpendicular falls occur in its
+course to the lake. The Upper, or Big Fall, is about six feet, and the
+Little Fall three. We made a capital run down, though in plunging over
+the first Fall we were up to our arm-pits in water. But our little raft
+rose gallantly to the surface; and we encountered no further
+difficulty.
+
+I enjoyed my trip down the river amazingly. I do not know anything more
+delightful, when all goes well than being borne over the foaming rapids
+at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour. The channel of the Maitland
+is wide, and the banks picturesque. Our voyage did not exceed an hour,
+though the distance was above nine miles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+MY NEW HOUSE AT GODERICH.—CARPENTRY AN ESSENTIAL ART.—AMERICAN
+ENERGY.—AGREEABLE VISITORS.—MY WIFE’S DISASTERS.—HINTS FOR ANGLERS.—THE
+NINE-MILE-CREEK FROLIC.—THE TEMPEST.—OUR SKIPPER AND HIS
+LEMON-PUNCH.—SHORT COMMONS.—CAMP IN THE WOODS.—RETURN ON
+FOOT.—LUDICROUS TERMINATION TO OUR FROLIC.
+
+My new house at Goderich was constructed with cherry-logs neatly
+counter-hewed both inside and out, the interstices between the logs
+being nicely pointed with mortar. I had no upstair-rooms, excepting for
+stowage. The ground-story I divided into a parlour, kitchen, and three
+bedrooms. After office-hours I used to work a good deal at the
+carpenter’s bench—for I was always fond of it when a boy. I had made
+some useful observations, as well as tormenting our workmen on repairs
+at home, with the usual amount of mischief, and I now reaped the
+benefit of my juvenile experience. I was able to make the doors, and do
+nearly all the insidework of my house myself. Indeed, it is really
+essential for the well-doing of the emigrant, that he, or some members
+of his family, should have some knowledge of carpentry—in fact, be a
+jack-of-all-trades; and, in that excellent profession, educated
+persons, healthy in mind and body, excel the most.
+
+There is a very true saying, that necessity is the mother of invention,
+and in no country is it better exemplified than in Canada. The emigrant
+has there, especially when distant from a town or settlement, to make a
+hundred shifts, substituting wood for iron, in the construction of
+various articles, such as hinges for barn-door gates, stable and
+barn-shovels, and a variety of other contrivances whereby both money
+and time are saved.
+
+I have often heard young men say, they “could not” do this or do that.
+“Did you ever try?” is a fair question to such people. I believe that
+many persons, with average capacities, can effect much more than they
+give themselves credit for. I had no more been bred a carpenter than a
+civil engineer, in which last capacity I was holding office
+satisfactorily. My education had consisted of Latin, Greek, and French,
+and the mathematics. My time had been spent in my own country; riding,
+shooting, boating, filled up with a little amateur gardening.
+
+Want of energy is not the fault of the Americans; they will dash at
+_everything_, and generally succeed. I had known them contract to do
+difficult jobs that required the skill of the engineer or regular
+architect, and accomplish them cleverly too, although they had never
+attempted anything of the kind before; and they generally completed
+their task to the satisfaction of the parties furnishing the contract.
+“I cannot do it” is a phrase not to be found in the Yankee vocabulary,
+I guess.
+
+It is astonishing how a few years’ residence in Canada or the United
+States brightens the intellects of the labouring classes. The reason is
+quite obvious. The agricultural population of England are born and die
+in their own parishes, seldom or never looking out into a world of
+which they know nothing. Thus, they become too local in their ideas,
+are awake to nought but the one business they have been brought up to
+follow; they have indeed no motive to improve their general knowledge.
+
+But place the honest and industrious peasant in Canada, and, no matter
+how ignorant he may be, when he sees that by his perseverance and
+industry he will in a short time better his situation in life, and most
+likely become the possessor of a freehold, this motive for exertion
+will call forth the best energies of his mind, which had hitherto, for
+want of a proper stimulus, lain dormant. Having to act and think for
+himself, and being better acquainted with the world, he soon becomes a
+theoretical as well as a practical man, and consequently a cleverer and
+more enlightened person, than he was before in his hopeless servitude
+in the mother-country.
+
+When I left Guelph, I had arranged with my wife that as soon as I could
+get the new house ready, I would send for her. I did not think that
+this could possibly be done before sleighing-time, as the newly-cut
+road was almost impassable for waggons. Judge, then, of my surprise
+when, on returning home from the store-house one day, I noticed the
+door of my log-cabin open, and saw a lovely curly-headed child sitting
+in the doorway. I could hardly believe my eyes—it was my own little
+Maria. My dear little boy had remained at Douro with my wife’s sister
+Eliza, of whom he was so fond that my wife did not like to separate
+such friends from each other. On my entrance I found my wife surrounded
+by a pile of luggage, laughing heartily at my astonishment.
+
+She told me, she felt so lonely that she determined to brave all the
+dangers of the road in order to join me. Accordingly, she hired a
+settler who was the owner of a waggon and a yoke of oxen, which she
+loaded with the most useful articles we required—bedding and
+bed-clothes, &c.,—reserving room in the waggon for herself, the child,
+and nursemaid.
+
+During the whole of the first day’s journey and part of the next, all
+went on smoothly enough, their route lying through settlements; but as
+soon as they entered the newly-cut road their difficulties commenced,
+and before they had traversed five miles, the waggon was twice upset.
+This so alarmed my poor wife, on account of the baby; that she durst
+not ride another step of the way, although the travellers had still
+upwards of sixty miles to go. Moreover, she was obliged to carry the
+child the entire distance; for their teamster had enough to do to look
+after and guide his cattle, and the servant girl was too young and too
+tired to render much assistance.
+
+Fifteen miles a day was the outside distance they could persuade the
+oxen to travel, consequently, they were compelled to camp out two
+nights out of the six in which they were on the road. Luckily, the
+weather was dry and warm. At night the musquitoes were dreadfully
+annoying, as my poor little Maria’s neck and arms too plainly showed.
+
+During the afternoon of the second day, when within six miles of
+Trifogle’s tavern, their intended resting-place for the night, they
+were overtaken by a man who was going in the same direction, who very
+politely—as my wife thought—offered to carry her baby part of the way.
+She was, of course, very glad to avail herself of his kind offer; nor
+did she perceive, till after he had got possession of the bairn, that
+he was intoxicated. She immediately demanded back her little treasure,
+but no inducement could persuade him to relinquish it, and he set off
+with the infant as fast as he could. In vain the poor mother besought
+him to stop—in vain she sobbed and cried. On he went, followed by my
+Mary, who found great difficulty in keeping up with him, which she did
+at first, till, at length, exhausted by the unusual fatigue, maternal
+anxiety, and the roughness of the road, she lost sight of him when
+about a mile from the tavern. He had walked off with his little burden.
+
+She was now dreadfully alarmed, for night was fast coming on, and she
+did not know whether she was on the right track or not. Fortunately, a
+light through the trees extricated her from this dilemma: her only
+uneasiness was now for her child. She was soon, however, relieved from
+this uncertainty; for, on entering the house, there sat the man with
+the baby on his knee. The child appeared to be on very friendly terms
+with him, and had, no doubt, enjoyed herself amazingly while her bearer
+was running away with her.
+
+He at once restored the child to her mother’s arms, observing, “that he
+hoped she would give him the price of a quart of whiskey for his
+trouble, for the child was main heavy, God bless her.”
+
+My wife, of course, did not dispute the payment. She was only too glad
+to recover her little pet, whom she took good care not again to trust
+to masculine keeping, however tired she might be. So Maria remained
+safely in her mother’s arms, for the remainder of the journey.
+
+At length, when down-hearted and weary, the bright waters of the Huron
+gladdened their eyes, on the morning of the sixth day, and a few
+minutes afterwards they took possession of my log-cabin, and gave me
+the happy surprise already recorded.
+
+“I wonder you were not afraid of encountering such hardships, and even
+danger, in travelling so many miles through the wild woods and on foot,
+and with that heavy child to carry in your arms,” was my remark to my
+enterprising wife. She replied, “that there had certainly been more
+difficulties than she had anticipated; but had they been double, it
+would not have prevented her from joining me.” So much for woman’s love
+and devotion.
+
+During the summer months, we were plentifully supplied with fish. On
+some days the harbour appeared to swarm with them. When the sun shone
+brightly, you could see hundreds lying near the surface. There was no
+difficulty in catching them, for the moment you threw in your bait, you
+had a fish on your hook.
+
+In the early part of the season, I used to make an imitation mouse of a
+piece of musk-rat fur. This is a killing bait for trolling either for
+black bass or maskilonge—as the season advances, a red and white rag,
+or a small green-frog. But the best bait for the larger fish, such as
+salmon-trout and maskilonge, is a piece of brass, or copper, about the
+shape and size of the bowl of a tablespoon, with a large hook soldered
+upon the narrow end. If properly made, and drawn fast through the
+water, it will spin round and glitter, and thus is sure to attract the
+fish. I have caught hundreds by this method, and can therefore
+recommend it as the most certain. Your trolling line, which is attached
+to your left arm, should not be less than eighty or a hundred feet in
+length, and sufficiently leaded to sink the bait three or four feet
+beneath the surface, this line following the canoe as you paddle it
+swiftly through the water.
+
+The scenery up the Maitland, from the harbour’s mouth to the flats, or
+natural meadows, two miles from the lake, is very pretty and
+interesting. I think it would be difficult to find for a summer
+residence a more charming situation than the town of Goderich, and I
+might say with equal confidence, a more healthy one. The water is
+excellent, and the town-plot abounds with copious springs.
+
+About a mile from the town, there is one of the largest and purest
+springs of the coldest and best water I ever drank. It gushes out of
+the side of a hill, and rushes down the declivity with great swiftness
+over its pebbly bed, till it is joined in its course, a few yards below
+the hill, by another spring of nearly equal size, within half a mile of
+its source, turning a grist-mill on its way to swell the waters of the
+Maitland.
+
+Nine miles up the lake-shore, east of Goderich, a fine little stream
+empties its bright waters into the mighty Huron. A party of us had
+often expressed a wish to explore the outlet of this stream, and at
+length a day was fixed for the expedition. As we intended merely to
+pass one night at the river, and return the next day, we only supplied
+ourselves with as much provisions and grog as would last for that
+time—a great mistake, as it afterwards proved. However, I will not
+anticipate.
+
+A large piece-log canoe was furnished by Mr. W. F. Gooding, our
+Goderich store-keeper, who was one of the party, which consisted of
+nine persons, including myself. All things being in readiness, Mr.
+Fullarton was dubbed Captain for the occasion. At an early hour one
+fine sunny morning in June, we stood out of the harbour with a light
+breeze, having rigged up two blankets as sprit-sails. They answered
+very well, as long as we had any wind, which, however, unfortunately
+soon died entirely away.
+
+“Come, boys,” said the Captain, “this won’t do. We must raise a
+white-ash-breeze (meaning that we must have recourse to our paddles) or
+we shall not see the Nine-Mile Creek this day, I can tell you.” The
+impetus given to our canoe by the vigorous application of eight
+paddles, independent of our steersman, made the De Witt Clinton (the
+name of our canoe) fly through the water, which was now as calm as a
+mirror. After the wind fell, the heat was intense; and, towards noon
+huge double-headed thunder-clouds showed themselves, slowly emerging
+out of the still waters of the Huron, far away to the north-west—a
+certain indication of a thunder-storm and change of wind.
+
+About noon, we entered the creek by a very narrow channel, not ten feet
+in width. Indeed, the lake has choked up the entrance of the little
+harbour with sand and gravel, which, the water, descending the creek in
+summer-time, is not sufficient to disperse. I think, however, by
+clearing out, and piling the channel, and erecting two piers a short
+distance from each other, carried out upon the lake, and curving
+towards each other, until only sufficient space is left between them
+for the entrance of steam-boats and schooners, it might yet be made
+navigable. The harbour at Cobourg has been built something on this
+plan, which answers tolerably well; but if it had had a creek only the
+size of this I am describing, it would have been much better, as the
+current is a great help in clearing out the sand and gravel.
+
+On crossing the bar, we found ourselves in a snug little basin,
+sufficiently deep for a vessel drawing six or seven feet water. We
+landed on a little peninsula, between the lake and the harbour, and
+commenced operations for cooking.
+
+After dinner, we paddled through the harbour, and up the river, as far
+as we could go, which was only a very short distance, the navigation
+being interrupted by a pretty fall of water, which tumbled from ledge
+to ledge, like a succession of stone stairs, stretching from bank to
+bank across the stream, and forming, as the Americans would say, an
+elegant mill-privilege.
+
+Since I left Goderich, a township, called Ashfield, has been laid out
+north of the Company’s township of Colborne; the principal place of
+which is the village of Port Albert—the very spot we went to explore.
+
+What a difference a few years make in a new country like Canada! With
+the aid of a compass, or by following the course of some unknown
+stream, with much toil and difficulty we make our way back for miles,
+through dense forests, swamps, and creeks; scale the rocky precipice,
+or launch the light bark-canoe on some far distant lake. We travel the
+same route twenty-five years afterwards, and the forests have bowed
+their lofty heads—the swamps are drained—the rivers bridged, and the
+steamer ploughs the inland wave, where shortly before glided the canoe
+of the hunter. Such is no over-coloured picture. I have seen it in my
+day realized many a time. The Huron tract, and the county of
+Peterborough, are the proofs of my assertion; and various other
+settlements I could name, would equally bear me out.
+
+But to return to our expedition—or as I might with greater truth
+say—our _pic-nic_, for we did little else than paddle up and down the
+creek, ramble about the falls, and eat and drink whenever we felt
+inclined. In this manner we spent the first day; till the coming night,
+and the distant growl of the thunder, warned us to prepare for our
+night-bivouac.
+
+One of our party, Mr. Brewster—the professor, as we generally called
+him—from the circumstance of his being a near relation of Sir David
+Brewster, the talented author of “Natural Magic,” had a small
+tent-cloth with him, but not sufficiently large for the whole party. It
+was, therefore, determined that four of us should sleep under the
+canoe, and the remaining five under the tent. Quite a contention now
+arose between us, as to who should be the favoured possessors of the
+tent.
+
+Not liking the appearance of the weather, I resigned any pretensions I
+might have had to the canvas, knowing the canoe was, from its length
+and size, capable of effectually sheltering four persons. We,
+accordingly, turned the canoe bottom upwards, and raised one side of it
+sufficiently high to allow us to creep under. To keep it in that
+position, we supported the raised edge on some forked sticks; and a
+quantity of hemlock brush and fern, spread evenly under it, made as
+good a bed as I would care to sleep on in hot weather. Our companions
+pitched their tent close beside us, so that we might be more sociable.
+After supper, we amused ourselves by singing songs, telling stories,
+and—if the truth must be told—drinking whiskey-punch.
+
+The lightning was now incessant, illuminating the harbour and lake, and
+revealing dark masses of clouds, piled upon one another in endless
+succession. Few spectacles are more grand than the coming storm, or
+more awful when it bursts in its wildest fury. Such was its appalling
+character on this night. For the last hour I had been watching its
+progress, and admiring the brilliant forked lightning, and listening to
+the deep-toned thunder, which woke the lone echoes of the wood-crowned
+heights.
+
+A few large drops of rain warned us to seek the friendly shelter of our
+respective camps. I had just settled myself snugly, when our skipper
+came to me with a jug of lemon-punch fresh mixed. I declined taking any
+more. He was too old a stager, however, to be put off that way, and was
+proceeding to show me the necessity of taking a night-cap, when he was
+saved all the trouble of any farther solicitation, and me of refusal,
+by a blinding flash of lightning, followed by a succession of deafening
+reports. At the same instant, the wind burst upon us like a whirlwind,
+prostrating in its irresistible fury our unfortunate skipper, punch,
+and all. As for the tent, it was whisked half across the harbour, in
+one blast, and the unfortunate inmates were left exposed to all the
+pelting of the pitiless storm, which raged with unmitigated violence
+till the dawn of day. We made room under the canoe for the professor
+and our skipper, the utmost we could accommodate. The three remaining
+unfortunate fellows were left to brave the tempest as they best might.
+
+The next morning, the lake was white with breakers. The storm of the
+preceding night had brought a strong north-wester in its train, so that
+we found it impossible to launch our canoe—and, indeed, if we had, it
+would have been unsafe to have attempted the passage therein; there was
+nothing else for us but patience. But the worst part of the business
+was, that we had barely sufficient provisions for breakfast, and what
+the professor said—“Was worse than all—there was not a single horn of
+whiskey left in the jar.”
+
+The merchant and three of our party now determined to take the woods,
+and endeavour to reach Goderich by that route, leaving us to follow
+with the canoe if the wind should fall, of which, however, there
+appeared but little chance.
+
+It now became expedient that we should look out for food of some
+description, as there was no doubt we should have to pass another
+night. On examining the state of our larder, we found that our whole
+stock consisted of half a loaf of bread, and a few ounces of
+sugar—rather short commons for four hungry men, even for a single meal.
+
+We had no gun with us, or any fishing-lines. I had, it is true, a
+spear, but there was too much wind to fish in the harbour. Luckily, I
+bethought myself of the falls up the creek, where there was a pool
+sheltered by the woods. Thither we went with the canoe, and succeeded
+in spearing a number of suckers, which are, without exception, the
+softest and worst of all Canadian fish, especially in the hot months;
+but even bad suckers are better than nothing. Our first
+starvation-dinner consisted of a dish of boiled fish, a little bread,
+and a cup of hemlock-tea; our supper, boiled fish without bread, and
+hemlock-tea without sugar.
+
+To amuse ourselves, we built a nice camp on a wooded point overlooking
+the harbour, and arranged everything comfortably to pass the night;
+and, although we had such bad commons, we were merry enough,
+considering we had nothing stronger to drink than hemlock-tea.
+
+In the morning, as appearances were no better in respect to the
+weather, and as we were heartily sick of boiled suckers, we determined
+to do—as some of our party had done previously—take the bush-route for
+Goderich.
+
+Accordingly, we crossed the harbour in the canoe, which we hid amongst
+the bushes, and commenced our journey along the lake-shore. In some
+places we found tolerably good walking, while in others we were
+compelled to mount the cliffs to avoid the break of the surges, where
+headlands jutted out into the lake. For the most part, however, we were
+enabled to travel upon natural terraces about half way up the bank,
+which I should think averages nearly one hundred feet in height.
+
+To our great delight, we discovered an abundance of fine wild
+strawberries, the largest and most delicious I had ever seen. We found
+this a very seasonable refreshment. The day was fine, and we enjoyed
+the prospect, which, viewed from some of the highest points of land,
+was truly magnificent.
+
+About four o’clock in the afternoon we reached Goderich, weary and
+half-starved. Thus ended our memorable pic-nic to the Nine-Mile Creek.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+CHOICE OF A LOCATION.—THE COMPANY’S LANDS.—CROWN LANDS.—TABLES
+PUBLISHED BY THE CANADA COMPANY.—PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT OF THE HURON
+TRACT.
+
+After twenty-seven years’ residence in Canada West, it may be
+reasonably inferred that I am justly entitled, from my long experience,
+to give a fair opinion as to the best chances of location at present
+available to the emigrant.
+
+On mature consideration, I must give the preference to the Huron tract,
+as affording a greater facility for settlement, and this for three
+reasons. First, on account of the excellent roads constructed by the
+Company—an inestimable boon, which none but the early pioneer can fully
+appreciate. Secondly, because of the excellent quality of the soil,
+which is remarkably free from surface-stone, that every old settler
+knows is both troublesome and expensive to clear away. And, thirdly the
+low price of these lands, and the facility of payment. Indeed, their
+system of leasing affords the poor man every chance. I shall copy a
+table of the yearly rent of farms leased on this plan by the Company,
+for the information of those of my readers who contemplate emigrating
+to Canada West. The present price of the Company’s lands in the Huron
+tract, is from 12 shillings 6 pence to 20 shillings currency per acre.
+
+The Company dispose of their lands, according to quality and situation,
+for ready cash, or by lease for a term of ten years. In the latter case
+no money is required to be paid down, the lease being granted upon the
+following terms:—
+
+s.d.            L. s. d.
+100 acres, at 2 0 per acre, ann. rent 0 10 0 and no more.
+”     3 6   ”     ”   0 12  0   ”
+”     5 0   ”     ”   0 18  0   ”
+”     6 3   ”     ”   1  4  0   ”
+”     7 6   ”     ”   1 10  0   ”
+”     8 9   ”     ”   1 17  0   ”
+”    10 0   ”     ”   2  5  0   ”
+”    11 3   ”     ”   2 12  0   ”
+”    12 6   ”     ”   3  0  0   ”
+”    13 9   ”     ”   3  7  6   ”
+”    16 3   ”     ”   3 15  0   ”
+”    17 6   ”     ”   4  2  6   ”
+
+The rent is payable on the first day of February in each year, full
+power being reserved to the settler to purchase the freehold, and take
+his deed for the land he occupies, at any time during the lease, an
+arrangement, of course, saving all future payment of rent.
+
+Many persons unacquainted with the country, might object to pay from
+twelve shillings and six pence to twenty shillings for the Company’s
+lands, when they see that the Government price on the wild lands
+belonging to the Crown, in most townships, is only eight shillings per
+acre.
+
+However, they must recollect, that all the choice lands belonging to
+the Crown have long since been located; and unless the emigrant is
+prepared to go back into the remote townships, he cannot expect to get
+land as good as that belonging to the Canada Company.
+
+Indeed, the only Crown-lands which could at all compete with the
+Company’s lands are the townships lately surveyed north of the Huron
+track to the River Saugeen, and the new settlements of Owen’s Sound and
+the Queen’s Bush.
+
+In a report, drawn up and published by Daniel Lizars, clerk of the
+peace for the united counties of Huron, Perth, and Bruce, May, 1851, he
+says,—
+
+“In this favoured portion of the province of Upper Canada, blest with a
+salubrious climate and a fertile soil, watered with crystal springs and
+brooks in every direction, reposing upon a table-land whose natural
+drainage flows uninterruptedly onwards to the streams and great rivers
+which intersect it in every quarter towards the noble Huron, or Lake
+St. Clair, the energies of the people have been steadily devoted to
+practical progress and improvement; having, in the short period above
+alluded to, brought upwards of eighty thousand acres of the wilderness
+into cultivation, erected five thousand dwelling-houses, fifty-six
+schools, fourteen churches, twelve grist mills, with nineteen run of
+stores, five oat and barley-mills, five distilleries, two breweries,
+eight tanneries, and twenty-four pot and pearl-ash factories.”
+
+“Among other matters which crowned their industry in 1850, I may state
+the following productions:—
+
+Wheat   .  .  .  .  .  292,949 bushels.
+Barley  .  .  .  .  .   13,012  ”
+Rye     .  .  .  .  .    2,181  ”
+Oats    .  .  .  .  .  215,415  ”
+Peas    .  .  .  .  .   54,657  ”
+Indian Corn.  .  .  .    5,352  ”
+Potatoes.  .  .  .  .  210,913  ”
+Buck-wheat .  .  .  .  .   673  ”
+Mangel-wurzel .  .  .  .   297  ”
+Turnips .  .  .  .  .  143,725  ”
+Hay     .  .  .  .  .   12,823 tons.
+Flax or Hemp  .  .  .  . 7,359 pounds.
+Maple Sugar.  .  .  .  351,721  ”
+Wool       .  .  .  .   54,347 pounds.
+Fulled cloth  .  .  .   10,303 yards.
+Linen, or cotton cloth   1,197  ”
+Flannel, or
+other unfulled cloth   41,397  ”
+Cheese for Market .  .   7,761 pounds.
+Butter for Market .  .  58,873  ”
+Beef, or Pork for Market 1,308 barrels.
+
+“And they further rejoice in the possession of the following stock:—
+
+Neat Cattle . . . 26,260
+Horses  . . . . .  2,646
+Sheep . . . . . . 20,022
+Hogs  . . . . . . 14,655
+
+“The above gratifying examples speak loudly for the industry of the
+settlers; and where hired labour can, with difficulty, be obtained at a
+high remuneration, notwithstanding the yearly increased ratio of new
+comers, and, moreover, where all are diligently employed in the onward
+march to happiness and independence, we may truly be thankful to a
+superintending Providence, that prosperity is in the ascendant.”
+
+Mr. Lizars states in another part of his Report, that the population of
+the Huron district
+
+In 1841, was   .  .  .  .  .   5,600
+In 1847, six years afterwards 16,641 increase 11,043
+In 1848, one year do .  .  .  20,450   ”   3,807
+In 1850, two years do.  .  .  26,933   ”   6,483
+
+According to this ratio of increase, we may safely infer the population
+at the present time (1852), to exceed thirty-two thousand souls; an
+increase almost incredible; as, upon reference to Smith’s Work on
+Canada, it will be found that the Huron district has made more rapid
+progress since its first settlement in 1827, than Lower Canada did in
+one hundred and four years; its population then being (in 1721),
+24,511.
+
+Many contradictory statements have been made and published in respect
+to what is the real actual grain average of Canada West. My own opinion
+is, that even could a truthful average be obtained, it would throw very
+little light on the real capability of the land—and for this reason.
+One-half of the emigrants who settle upon land in Canada, and adopt
+cultivation as their employment, are weavers, tinkers, tailors,
+sailors, and twenty other trades and professions. It must be the work
+of years to convert such settlers into good practical farmers. In such
+cases, how can a fair yield be extracted from land ignorantly
+cultivated? But I will venture to affirm, that wherever good farming is
+in practice, as good an average yield will be obtained, as in any
+country in the world.
+
+“The following average of ten years for the Huron tract, has been
+published:—Wheat, 25 bushels; barley, 30 bushels; oats, 40 bushels;
+rye, 30 bushels; potatoes, 250 bushels per acre. Swedish turnips,
+mangel-wurzel, and other roots of a similar kind, are not yet
+sufficiently cultivated, to enable an average yield to be given; but it
+may very safely be said, that, with similar care, culture, and
+attention, the produce will not be less per acre than in England.
+Indeed, it may be said with truth to apply to every grain except beans,
+which do not thrive well in the Canadian climate.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+THE KING PROCLAIMED IN THE BUSH.—FETE AND BALL IN THE EVENING.—MY
+YANKEE FELLOW-TRAVELLER.—AWFUL STORM.—MY LONELY JOURNEY.—MAGICAL EFFECT
+OF A NAME.
+
+I was busy in the storehouse one afternoon, when Mr. Prior entered with
+a newspaper in his hand, which he had just received from the old
+country.
+
+“I see by this paper, Strickland, that George IV. is dead; and that his
+Majesty King William IV. has been proclaimed. Now, I think, we must
+give the workmen a holiday on this memorable occasion.”
+
+“In what manner do you intend to celebrate the day?” was my rejoinder.
+
+“I have been thinking,” he replied, “of making a little fete, and
+inviting all the settlers within reach to assemble on the Button-wood
+Flats. We will have some refreshments served round; and if the day is
+fine, I have no doubt we shall enjoy ourselves much.”
+
+Due notice having been given, upon the appointed day every-one within
+ten miles assembled on the Flats, dressed in their best attire; and
+ready to show their loyalty in any way Mr. Prior might think proper to
+recommend.
+
+As soon as the squire made his appearance, he ascended a large stump;
+and, in a patriotic and loyal speech, informed us “that he had called
+this meeting to hear him proclaim his most gracious Majesty King
+William IV.”
+
+He then read the proclamation, which was received with nine rounds of
+British cheers. Our party then formed a large circle by joining hands;
+and sang the national anthem, accompanied by the Goderich band, which
+was composed of two fiddles and a tambourine. “Rule Britannia” for our
+sailor-king was also played and sung—I was going to say in good style,
+but at all events with great loyalty and enthusiasm.
+
+As soon as this ceremony was over, a pail of whiskey, with a tea-cup
+floating on the surface, was handed round, followed by another pail
+containing spring-water. Every person present drank his Majesty’s
+health; even the fair sex, on this propitious occasion, did not disdain
+to moisten their pretty lips with the beverage.
+
+The eating and drinking part of the festival now commenced in earnest.
+We had seated ourselves on the grass, under the shade of four or five
+immense button-wood trees, which effectually sheltered us from the
+scorching rays of the sun. In the centre of the group, the union-jack
+of Old-England waved gracefully above our heads—
+
+“The flag that braved a thousand years
+The battle and the breeze.”
+
+
+As soon as we had eaten and drunk to our satisfaction, a dance was
+proposed and acceded to by the party. The band struck up “The Wind
+Shakes the Barley:” country dances, Scotch reels, and “French fours,”
+were kept up with great spirit on the level turf—“All under the
+greenwood tree.”
+
+“For all that day to the rebeck gay
+They danced with frolicsome swains.”
+
+
+Those of our party who did not patronize the dance, amused themselves
+with ball-playing and a variety of old English games.
+
+The day was lovely; and the spot chosen for our sports is one of the
+most beautiful natural meadows I ever beheld. We kept our fete in
+honour of King William on a smooth green semi-circular meadow, of large
+extent, ornamented here-and-there with clumps of magnificent
+button-wood trees.[1] Towards the north, skirting the meadow, a steep
+bank rises in the form of an amphitheatre, thickly-wooded—tree above
+tree, from the base to the crown of the ridge. The rapid waters of the
+Maitland form the southern and western boundary of this charming
+spot,—then not a little enhanced by the merry groups which dotted the
+surface of the meadow, and woke its lone echoes with music and song.
+
+ [1] Both the wood and the growth of this tree greatly resemble the
+ sycamore.
+
+
+I was much amused by a Yankee mill-wright, who had contracted to build
+a large grist-mill for the Company, both in Guelph and Goderich. He
+appeared enchanted with the whole day’s proceedings.
+
+“I do declare,” he said, “if this don’t almost put me in mind of the
+4th of July. Why, you Britishers make as much fuss proclaiming your
+king as we do celebrating our anniversary of Independence. Well, it
+does me good to look at you. I vow if I don’t feel quite loyal. Come,
+let us drink the old gentleman’s health agin. I guess, I feel as dry as
+a sand-bank after so much hollering.”
+
+The setting sun warned us to discontinue our pastime and prepare for a
+move. Before doing so, however, the squire again came forward, and
+after thanking us for our attendance, loyalty, &c., he proposed “we
+should give three cheers more for the King, and three for Queen
+Adelaide,” which were given with all the power of our lungs, not a
+little aided by sundry potations imbibed by the loyal in drinking their
+Majesties’ healths during the day’s proceeding.
+
+Three cheers were then given for the Canada Company, three for the
+Commissioners, and three for the old Doctor. Thus terminated the
+proclamation of our sovereign in the Bush.
+
+Mr. Prior had kindly issued invitations to the _élite_ to a ball and
+supper at Reid’s Hotel, which was well attended. The refreshments were
+excellent, the supper capital; and the dancing was kept up with great
+spirit till day-light warned us to depart.
+
+The next day, I started for Guelph with the Yankee mill-wright, whom I
+found a clever, shrewd man. He told me he had travelled over a great
+part of the Western States and Canada; but in all his wanderings he had
+never seen a section of country, of the same size, that pleased him
+equal to the Huron tract.
+
+“I guess, when this country of your’n is once cleared up, and good
+roads made, and the creeks bridged, there won’t be such another place
+in all creation.”
+
+“What makes you think so?” I enquired.
+
+“Wal, just look what a fine frontage you have on that ’ere big pond (he
+meant Lake Huron) and good harbours and land that can’t be beat not no
+how. All you want is ‘to go a-head,’ and you may take my word for it
+that this will be the garden of Canada yet.”
+
+We had only one horse between us, which belonged to the Doctor, so that
+we were obliged to ride turn about. In this manner we got on pretty
+well, so that by four o’clock we were within two miles of old Sebach’s.
+The day had been excessively hot, and for the last hour we had heard
+distant thunder. We, therefore, pushed on with redoubled energy, in
+hopes of escaping the storm.
+
+Ever since I had witnessed the devastating effects of the whirlwind
+which passed through Guelph, and which I have described in a previous
+chapter, I had a dread of being exposed in the woods to the fury of
+such a tempest. In this instance, however, we had the good fortune to
+reach the shanty just as the rain commenced; and well for us it proved
+that we had gained a shelter for ourselves and steed; for I seldom
+witnessed a more terrific storm. The lightning was awful, accompanied
+by the loudest thunder I ever heard. The volleys of heavy hail-stones
+on the shingled roof, together with the rushing sound of the wind, and
+the crash of falling trees, made it impossible for us to hear a word
+that was said. Indeed, I did not feel much inclined for conversation;
+for I could not help meditating on the peril we had escaped. Had the
+storm commenced an hour or two earlier or later, we should have bean
+exposed to its utmost fury, as there was no place of refuge nearer than
+twenty miles either way.
+
+To show the terrible danger we had avoided, I counted a hundred and
+seventy-six large trees that had fallen across the road between
+Sebach’s and Trifogle’s—a distance not exceeding twenty miles.
+
+What a contrast this road now presents to what it was when I used to be
+in the habit of travelling over it! I remember, once having been sent
+on some important business to the settlement, which admitted of no
+delay. It was late in November; the snow had fallen unusually early,
+and there was no horse then to be procured at Goderich; so that I was
+obliged to walk without even a companion to cheer the solitary way. I
+found the walking exceedingly laborious: the snow was fully a foot deep
+and unbroken, save by the foot-marks of some lonely traveller.
+
+I was very curious to learn who the person could be who had been
+necessitated to take such a long journey through the wilderness alone.
+The second day of my journey, my curiosity was gratified by seeing the
+name of the person written in large characters in the snow. I stopped
+and read it with much interest: it was that of a Scotchman I knew,—one
+James Haliday. After reading that name, it appeared as if half the
+loneliness of the road was gone; for I knew from the freshness of the
+track, that a human being was travelling on the same path, and that he
+was, perhaps, not far ahead.
+
+Not many minutes after this occurrence, whilst descending a slight
+hill, I saw nine fine deer cross the road, within a short gun-shot of
+the spot where I stood. I had no gun with me; for I thought, if I did
+kill a deer, I should be obliged to leave it in the woods. Nothing
+further occurred till within a short distance of Trifogle’s, when a
+large wolf bounded close past me: he seemed, however, the more
+frightened of the two, which I was not at all sorry to perceive.
+
+When I arrived at the tavern, I told Trifogle what I had seen. He said,
+it was very lucky I had not fallen in with the pack; for only the night
+before he had gone to a beaver-meadow, about two miles distant, to look
+for his working oxen which had strayed, when he was surrounded by the
+whole pack of wolves, and was obliged “to tree,” to save his bacon. He
+was, it seems, kept for more than three hours in that uncomfortable fix
+before he durst venture down—“when he made tracks,” as the Yankees say,
+“for hum pretty considerably smart, I guess.”
+
+My solitary journey was performed in the fall of 1830: at the present
+time (1853) you may travel at your ease in a stage-coach and four
+horses, with taverns every few miles, and more villages on the road
+than formerly there were houses. Such are the changes that a few short
+years have produced in this fast-rising country!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+VISIT OF THE PASSENGER-PIGEON TO THE CANADAS.—CANADIAN
+BLACKBIRDS.—BREEDING-PLACES OF THE PASSENGER-PIGEONS.—SQUIRRELS.
+
+The passenger-pigeon[1] visits the Canadas in the early spring-months,
+and during August, in immense flocks, bringing with them an agreeable
+change in the diet of the settler.
+
+ [1] The passenger-pigeon is not so large as the wild pigeon of Europe.
+ It is slender in form, having a very long-forked tail. Its plumage is
+ a bluish-grey, and it has a lovely pink breast. It is, indeed, a very
+ elegant bird.
+
+
+Persons unacquainted with the country and the gregarious habits of this
+lovely bird, are apt to doubt the accounts they have heard or read
+respecting their vast numbers: since my return to England I have
+repeatedly been questioned upon the subject. In answer to these
+queries, I can only say that, in some parts of the province, early in
+the spring and directly after wheat-harvest, their numbers are
+incredible. Some days they commence flying as soon as it is light in
+the morning, and continue, flock after flock, till sun-down. To
+calculate the sum-total of birds passing even on one day, appears to be
+impossible. I think, the greatest masses fly near the shores of the
+great Canadian lakes, and sometimes so low, that they may be easily
+killed with a horse-pistol, or even knocked down with a long pole.
+
+During the first spring in which I resided at Goderich, the
+store-keeper was out of shot, and the pigeons happened to be uncommonly
+numerous. I had a large fowling-piece with a wide bore; so I tried a
+charge of fine shingle off the beach at the first flock that came
+within close range, and had the satisfaction of bagging seven birds at
+the first shot—indeed, it was almost impossible to miss them, they flew
+in such thick clouds. I have frequently killed on the stubbles, from
+twenty to thirty at one shot.
+
+Directly after the wheat is carted, the pigeons alight on the stubble
+in vast flocks. As they are chiefly the young broods, they are very
+easily approached: the sportsman should creep up behind them; for they
+are so intent on feeding, that they will seldom notice his approach
+till he is within fair range of them.
+
+The hindmost ranks are continually rising from the ground, and dropping
+in front of the others. This is the proper time to fire, just as the
+hind-rank are a couple or three feet from the ground; firing the second
+barrel as the whole flock takes fight.
+
+In the vicinity of the towns, sometimes a regular _battue_ takes place,
+when all kind of firearms are in requisition, from the old Tower musket
+to the celebrated Joe Manton.
+
+In July, the pigeons feed a great deal on wild berries, such as
+raspberries, huckle-berries, blue-berries, and a variety of other
+kinds. Many people would naturally think that such vast flocks of birds
+would alight on the standing grain, and destroy the crop: such,
+however, is not the case. Sometimes, during the seed-time in the
+spring, they are a little troublesome; but I have never known them
+alight on the ripening grain. The Canadian blackbirds are far more
+destructive in that particular—especially that species with the
+orange-bar across the wings. These birds alight on the Indian corn
+crops and oats in such numbers, that they do a great deal of damage,
+particularly the oats, which they break down by their weight.
+
+There is another kind of blackbird, smaller than the former, and
+speckled very much like a starling. Indeed, I believe it is a species
+of that bird; for it frequents marshes, and lodges amongst the reeds at
+night. This bird is also destructive in the corn-fields.
+
+There is yet a third species of blackbird, larger than either of the
+above, whose colour is of a glossy blue-black, very like our rooks.
+These birds are just as troublesome as the rest; but it must be
+admitted that their destroy an immense quantity of caterpillars and
+grubs. They are easily frightened away by firing a few shots. There is,
+however, no doubt but that they are a greater plague to the farmers
+than the pigeons: besides, the latter are excellent eating.
+
+I once accompanied the Doctor on an exploring expedition through the
+tract. We encamped close to a breeding-place of these birds, when we
+were kept awake all night by the noise they made. Sometimes, too, a
+limb of a tree would break with the weight of the birds which had
+alighted on it, when there would be such fluttering and flapping of
+wings, as made it impossible for us to sleep.
+
+Towards morning, the sound of their departure to their feeding-grounds
+resembled thunder. For nearly two hours there was one incessant roar,
+as flock after flock took its departure eastward. The ground under the
+trees was whitened with their excrement, and strewn with broken
+branches of trees.
+
+The Americans have a plan of capturing these birds, by means of a
+decoy, or stool-pigeon, and nets. Thousands are often taken in this way
+during seed-time in the spring. When I first resided in the township of
+Douro, the pigeons used to be very plentiful at that time, their chief
+breeding-place being in the township of Fenelon, in a direct line west
+from my residence, some forty or fifty miles. And yet, soon after
+day-light, they would be passing eastward over my clearing, so vast is
+their swiftness and strength on the wing.
+
+It is a curious fact that, although thousands passed daily for many
+days in succession, yet not one of them returned by the same route they
+went. I have been informed that this breeding-place has been deserted
+for several years, owing to the settlements having approached too near
+to please the winged possessors.
+
+This satisfactorily accounts for the decrease I have noticed amongst
+these feathered denizens of the forest, during the last seven or eight
+years. In consequence of their having been disturbed, they have sought
+a more remote breeding-place. I am not at all certain whether this
+decrease is general through the province; but I feel quite convinced
+that, as civilization increases, all kinds of birds and wild animals
+will become less numerous, with the exception of crows and mice, which
+are greatly on the increase. Rats also have been imported, and appear
+to thrive well in the towns; though, I am happy to say, they have not
+found their way into my township yet—and long may they be ignorant of
+my location.
+
+There is also another animal, which I think is more numerous than
+formerly—I mean the black squirrel. These pretty little creatures are
+very destructive amongst the Indian-corn crops. I have seen them
+carrying off a whole cob of corn at once, which I will be bound to say
+was quite as heavy as themselves.
+
+The form of this animal is very elegant; the colour jet black—with a
+large bushy tail: the fur, however, is too open to be of any value. The
+flesh is excellent eating, far superior to that of the rabbit. In a
+good nut-season, in the western part of the province, the quantity of
+these animals is almost incredible.
+
+I have heard old hunters say that, if the squirrels are numerous in the
+summer, the bears will be plenty in the fall, and also that their
+numbers give a sure indication of a severe winter. This saying, I
+believe to be true; because neither the squirrels nor bears are
+plentiful, unless there is an abundant supply of beech-mast,
+butter-nuts, hickory-nuts, &c., which Providence has kindly provided in
+more superabundant quantity on the approach of a longer and severer
+winter than usual.
+
+Besides the _Niger_, or black squirrel, there are three other species
+in Canada West; first, the _Cinereus_, or grey squirrel, which is
+larger than the black squirrel. Its fur is something better, but the
+animal is not near so numerous. Secondly, the _Ruber_, or red squirrel,
+smaller than the last, but equally destructive.
+
+The chitmunck, or _Siriatus_, or ground squirrel, is much smaller and
+more mischievous than any of the former species. The ridge of the back
+is marked with a black stripe; the sides are of a reddish yellow,
+spotted with white; the feet and legs pale red; the eyes black and
+projecting. These pretty little creatures never run up trees, unless
+they are pursued. They burrow and form their habitations under ground
+with two entrances. During the maize-harvest, they fill their mouths so
+full of corn that their cheeks distend to the size of a hen’s egg. The
+chitmunck sometimes inhabits hollow trees and logs.
+
+I have frequently cut down trees in which they had deposited their
+winter-store, to the amount of half-a-bushel of beech-mast, Indian
+corn, and grain of different descriptions. It is a very curious
+circumstance that, before storing away for the winter, they carefully
+skin every beechnut.
+
+Towards the spring, when the days begin to be a little warm, they leave
+their winter-holes and enter the barns—compelled, most probably, by the
+failure of their winter-store. Great numbers are then destroyed by the
+cats. Their fur is of little value, and their flesh uneatable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+THE REBEL, VON-EGMOND, THE FIRST AGRICULTURAL SETTLER ON THE
+HURON.—CUTTING THE FIRST SHEAF.
+
+The celebrated Anthony J.W.G. Von Egmond, who commanded the rebels at
+Gallows Hill during Mackenzie’s rebellion, was the first agricultural
+settler on the Huron tract. He had formerly been a Colonel in the old
+Imperial Army; and after Buonaparte’s abdication and retirement to
+Elba, he joined the Allies, and held the rank of an officer in one of
+the Belgian regiments at Waterloo.
+
+He was a pushing, clever sort of man; and had he but been contented,
+and stuck to his last, instead of troubling his head about politics, he
+would, in all probability, have become one of the richest and most
+independent farmers in the Huron tract.
+
+Within the short period of twenty months, Von Egmond had chopped and
+cleared, fit for a crop, nearly a hundred acres of land, fifty of which
+were sown wheat. As this was the first field ripe in the tract, the old
+man determined to celebrate the event by asking some of the gentlemen
+connected with the Canada Company to dinner, and to witness the cutting
+of the first sheaf.
+
+Thomas Mercer Jones, Esq., one of the Company’s Commissioners, Dr.
+Dunlop, Mr. Prior, the Professor, and myself, composed the party on
+this important occasion. As the distance was little short of eighteen
+miles through the Bush, and we had no way of getting there—except by
+walking—it was arranged that we should start the day previous, and
+sleep all night at Von Egmond’s.
+
+Accordingly, we left Goderich about eleven o’clock, A.M., by the newly
+cut-out road, through the forest. I wonder what our English friends
+would think of walking in their shirt-sleeves, with their coats and
+neckcloths thrown over their arms, eighteen miles to a dinner-party,
+with the thermometer ranging something like 90 degrees in the shade.
+
+The day was hot, though not unpleasantly so; for the leafy screen above
+our heads effectually protected us from the scorching rays of a July
+sun, which would otherwise have been very oppressive.
+
+The musquitoes were particularly civil—indeed the reign of these
+gentlemen was nearly over for the season. They begin to be troublesome
+in the middle of May. From the 1st of June to the middle of July, they
+are in the very height of their impertinence; and, although they have
+not sufficient strength in their proboscis to penetrate a top-boot, yet
+they easily pierce through a summer coat and shirt, and a wee bit into
+the skin beneath. From the middle of July to the middle of August, they
+become much less venomous; and are then only annoying for an hour or so
+in the evening, in the woods or marshes. By the 1st of September, they
+finally disappear for the season.
+
+Our long road was considerably shortened by the amusing stories and
+anecdotes of the Doctor, who kept us in good humour during the whole
+journey. Nearly mid-way between Goderich and Von Egmond’s, a small rill
+crosses the road: here we stopped for an hour, and refreshed ourselves
+with beef-sandwiches and brandy and water—no bad things in the Bush.
+
+Close by the side of this little stream was a small log-shanty, which
+had been erected by the people who had been employed by the men cutting
+out the new road, which, from this to the southern boundary of the
+Huron tract, was already cleared out, the full width of sixty-six feet,
+preparatory to its being turnpiked.[1]
+
+ [1] This is merely an American term for a road which has been ploughed
+ on each side, and the earth, so raised, thrown up in the centre by the
+ means of a road-scraper, or turnpike shovel, worked either with horses
+ or oxen. A road engineer or surveyor would call this grading,
+ preparatory to gravelling or planking.
+
+
+We reached our destination about five o’clock, where we were received
+with every mark of respect and hospitality. We were shown upstairs into
+a newly-finished room—the only apartment as yet completed in the tavern
+old Von Egmond was building. Here we found an excellent supper ready
+for us, to which, after a walk of eighteen miles, you may be sure we
+did ample justice.
+
+In the morning, we walked over the farm with the old Colonel, and were
+much gratified by seeing the prosperous condition of the crops, which
+argued well for the goodness of the land. I think I never saw a finer
+crop of oats, or better promise for turnips, in my life. The wheat also
+looked extremely well. It was certainly an interesting sight, after
+walking for miles through a dense forest, suddenly to emerge from the
+wooded solitude upon a sea of waving grain, white for the harvest.
+
+“The Harvest! the Harvest! how fair on each plain
+It waves in its golden luxuriance of grain!
+The wealth of a nation is spread on the ground,
+And the year with its joyful abundance is crowned.
+The barley is whitening on upland and lea,
+And the oat-locks are drooping, all graceful to see;
+Like the long yellow hair of a beautiful maid,
+When it flows on the breezes, unloosed from the braid.
+
+“The Harvest! the Harvest! how brightly the sun
+Looks down on the prospect! its toils are begun;
+And the wheat-sheaves so thick on the valleys are piled,
+That the land in its glorious profusion has smiled.
+The reaper has shouted the furrows among;
+In the midst of his labour he breaks into song;
+And the light-hearted gleaners, forgetful of care,
+Laugh loud, and exult as they gather their share.
+
+
+Agnes Strickland.
+
+About noonday, we all proceeded to the harvest-field, headed by our
+host and his lady, and her fair daughters. As soon as we arrived at the
+scene of action, a sickle was placed in the hands of Madame Von Egmond;
+and she was requested to cut and bind the first sheaf of wheat ever
+harvested in the Huron tract—an honour of which any person might be
+justly proud.
+
+“Lord! thou hast blessed the people,
+And made the plant of bread
+To spring, where’er beneath thine eye
+Fair Nature’s carpet spread.
+Earth’s thirst drank in thy freshening rain,
+Earth’s bosom wooed thy sun,
+Beautiful grew the golden grain,
+Like prize of labour won!”
+
+
+What were the red battle-fields of Napoleon, in comparison to this
+bloodless victory, won over the forests of the Huron! The sight of that
+first sheaf, cut by the gentle hand of woman, was one that angels
+rejoiced to see; while the fruits of his conquests were such as might
+well make “the seraphs weep.”
+
+Madame Von Egmond handled her sickle something better than a mere
+amateur, which make us conjecture it was not the first sheaf she had
+ever cut and bound. As soon as this interesting ceremony was over, we
+gave three hearty cheers for the Canada Company. A horn of whiskey was
+served round, in which we pledged our host and hostess, and drank
+success to the settlement.
+
+On our return to the house, we found a capital dinner awaiting us.
+Indeed, the old soldier had spared neither pains nor expense in
+providing handsomely on the occasion. After the cloth was removed, a
+nice dessert was laid out, consisting of almonds and raisins, oranges,
+and red and black raspberries. The two latter dishes are easily
+procured, for they grow more plentifully in the angles of the
+snake-fences in Canada than blackberries do in England. They are a
+delicious fruit, and particularly grateful in a hot day to the weary
+traveller.
+
+I need hardly describe our evening’s entertainment, save that “we ate,
+drank, and were merry.” Indeed, it would have been difficult to be
+otherwise with Doctor Dunlop as one of our companions.
+
+END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
+
+LONDON:
+Printed by Samuel Bentley & Co.
+Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN CANADA WEST ***
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