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'1; fi W i\\ i I f fH I ,ti- f^^f^fii f fi 7.x J »• 105119 • \ DEDICATORY EPISTLE TO THE READER. . « Respected Friend/ ,, ^ The following letters which constitute what the re-actions of random recollections have permitted the Author to annotate on, from a three month's rambles in Canada, are not, as he desires, most distinctly to remark — particular sections from the epistolary communications of a correspondent abroad, to his friend at hom*?, published in aid of the Foreign Missionary Society, or anj*" other Society whatever, but rather simple expositions of a retiring nature, hitherto known only to himself, and which he now introduces to your notice, in order that he may not merit the pertinency of your cen- sure, which he is aware he unquestionably would, were he to become so far forgetful of his own I J • .% ^ 1 1 1 *'■ • IT. TO THE READEB. M interests as to resist the temptations of the press, and eschew that too moderate degree of selfishness, as would entitle him to be ranked amongst the "infidels." In adopting an epistolatory mode of com- munication, the Author need say little in vin- dication of his choice, if the simple consideration of not having had an opportunity of addressing you in person, be a sufficiently forcible argu- ment in itself, as it has ever shone conspicuous throughout the entu'e compilation of the fol- lowing pages, in stimulating him to exertion and enterprise, so that he might reckon upon attaining to that particular portion of end and object which is in connexion with your valuable friendship. , / . .r- -r.';; I am, Sir, ' ' '»'^) With the greatest respect, ... Your very obedient Servant, >• t: „ * C xi. c •J • ' ■ .- ■ •' : ''■ " .. ■■ •'flr nrv ^UU-.f,^'^ '^M.' CONTENTS. ■'ll : , I ^ w ^ ^»%^^-»^i»r^.*V^ rf- ■^000 i^ *^^ LETTER 1. 7 • PAOB. ..ftfV fS, Leave Montreal— Canadian Parliaments — Road Tra- velling— Island of Montreal— Governor-General's House —Mountain Residences— Village of St. Martin's— Louis « B. Papineau — his political schemes in order to attain '" private ends— Determination of the Habitans— Bell River t Village— M. De La his operations — discomfiture — * treatment by the Government — ^particular view of the Government Policy, &c.— Mansion House of M. De La General Remarks 1 nmif rf^?^*i-*tH LETTER II. '■''^'■' '■ '-'''' 5^^' River Ottawa and its scenery— Village ofBytown— Rideau Canal— Navigation of the River— Waterfalls, &c. Suspension Bridge— Scenery— Sporting Expedition down the Ri-v^r— Description of Wild Fowl— Irish Limxberers — Dil 5lties to be encountered — General account of the ' Shantee, and manner of Cookery, &c. &c. — Success on the days amusement — Opinions on Canadian Field Sports — Certain manner of procuring Game in Canada — Disco- very of a Porcupine — his successful combat with the Dogs —Death and Execution — Return up Stream — Independent Millerite and his Doctrine — Accounts of his non-success through the United States — description of his Lecture the following evening in Bytown — Account of a similar Preacher in the Niagara District — his prophetic descrip- tion of the final day, and its objects — Successful mode of procuring money— popularity of the imposter — Instances rf M : -' f . V' 'I I ▼1. CONTENTS. PAQB. of the pernicious effects of Millerism — Jock River — ^The Duke of Richmond's death from the bite of a mad Fox — soxirce of information as to its authenticity— Richmond Tillage, and its loss 18 *..«?"* LETTEE III. Frigidity of the Weather, no incimibrance to the Working Man — ^The Ice Boat, and its Accommodation for Travelling — ^Rate of Speed to be Attained — Known as a mode of conveyance in Northern Countries many years back — ^Disagreeableness of meeting with Commu- nicative Strangers — Differences as to Ireland — ^The Scotch Highlander — Conversation — Madawaska River — Mada- waska Hotel, and its Accommodation — Capture of a Yoimg Bear— Bear History — Battle with a Bear, his Damage and Overthrow — Enter the Territory of the M'Nab — Irreclaimed Forests — Scotchman's Nationality — The M'Nab, of M«Nab— Differences with the Clan- Government Interference — Territory, and its present Inhabitants— Travelling Companions Home — ^Residence ' of the Gcelic Chieftain — Scenery compared with Scot- land—Personal Appearance of the Chief, his dress, &c. — Mississippi River, its extent and power, Scotch and Irish Inhabitants along its banks — Pride and Nationa- lity — Differences in Religious Opinions, not always pre- iudifial — English, Irish, and Scotch — Successes attend- ^ ing Imigration — No trust to be placed in the Faith of Emigrants — Donald M'Shane, hb credulity, misfortuiics, and death — Advice to the Emigrant b7 LETTER IV. Fatigues of Travelling— State of the Weather- Impossibility of Speed— Indians' Hunting Establish- ment—Bed and Breakfast— Town and Township of Perth, their Inhabitants, Public Buildijigs, &c.— Des- cription of Squatter Settlements, their originalUty of COMTXXn. v^ PAGE. living, and independence — Canadian Mines — American Mineralist, his opinions — The Wisconsin Temtory — Re- moval of the Provincial Penitentiary — Beauty of Wood and Water — Kentbh Panner, his wife, fvnily, and home — Distance from Niagara and the Falls — Dis- agreeable Intelligence — ^Forest Travels, difficulty in find- ing the way — Unpleasant Accident — ^Temporary Raft — American Snags — ^Rev. Van Ootlipstide, and his mis- fortunes — Procurable Pumiture, and its conveniencies — ^Desert lake, and its description — Quantity of Wolves — ^Extermination of the Wild Deer, inferences drawn, &c. — ^Enter Loughborough — ^Dutchnum, and his civility — ^Excellent Suppa — ^Feather Bedis — ^Ignorance of English Language— Psalm Singing, its purposes and generality throughout North America, impropriety and inconsis- tency of the same — Leave for Barry next morning lOT LETTER V. Description of Country — Lidependence of the Fanners — ^Moneyed Speculations — Manner of procuring' Wealth in Canada — Canada the Country for the Poor Man, in preference to the Rich-^Tlie Rich Man, and his entertainments — Landed Proprietors in L«land, their motives, political and personal— Ten and Fifty Pound Freeholders, their inducements to emigrate, and pro- babilities of success — Rice Lake, and the Lidians — Missionary Efforts — ^Divine Service, and manner of performance — Sermons and Psalmody — ^Drive across the Lake — Picturesque Islands — ^Wood Grouse — Indian Im- provements and Happiness — ^Wild Duck Shooting on Rice Lake — Wild Rice — ^Roads — ^Appearance of the Country — ^Peterborough — Stormy Weather — ^Descriptiasis^ seem as if they in their tum^ were but waiting the presence of seme incautious visitor on whom they could take vengeance for the prema- tureness of their own destruction. i II ' At the southern extremity of this conflagrant offering to licentiousness^ may be seen the elegant residence of M. De La — — - — , a standing witness of the imperfection and unsteadiness of Canadian governments, and the defective manner in which British laws are administered in this especial por- tion of the empire. This gentleman, who it ap- pears was originally a citizen of the United States, translated into Canada, had, in these latter days, in imitation of Mr. Papeneau, and in fur- therance of his consecrated object, the liberty of mankind, been successful in prevailing upon some hundreds of his adopted fellow-countrymen to for- sake the plough-share and sickle, and take up arms for the rescue of their country. It appears from the information that I was enabled to collect upon the spot, that this accelerator of equality had made very considerable progress in drilling and habituating his corps of militia to the several republican evolutions whichitwasnecessary they should be made acquaint- ed with, preparatory to a state of freedom, having previously perfected them in that entirely new sys- tem of revolutionary manoeuvres, which he main- tained was so inseparable for the go-a-head policy H f n times. Things continued in this st/ice of progres- sive harmony for a considerable period of time, when behold; all of a sudden, the " armies came upon them, they were discomfited, and did flee ;" whilst their general, in his promptitude and hurry to do homage to the first law of nature, entirely overlooked the aid and protection consequently due his neighbours, leaving his benighted followers, in downright down-east fashion, to look after them- selves, and " rim with as much consarn as possible, as, tarnation the day was lost." I will not now dilate upon the different scenes of melancholy mis- fortune which afterwards befei the unfortimate followers of this delusory demagogue, and which have been so often repeateid over to ' me : how that their houses were pillaged, plundered, and razed to the ground by the infuriated soldiery ; their barns,, out-offices, and granaries, the entire substance of their worldly dependance, set fire to in reckless revenge, and consimied without pity ; their horses, cattle, sheep, &c. driven from their native pasturage, sold and made over to the stran- ger ; and finally, how that they themselves and families were left homeless and friendless, to seek the necessaries of even life's existence, at the hands of an insidious and hard-hearted world. For all these, though 'tis true they are untoward circum- stances, and to be deplored, are nevertheless the natural as well as necessary consequences attendant ; i I V :■;■ t 'i , ! iilF*^''* ij ^iijfe. >!>( 12 b upon the raphsodies of blindfolded adventuresome- ness ; similar instances of which may be inniimera- bly collected from the historical pages of any nation or country whose glories are past and gone, so as to enable you to form a compromise with my silence upon the subject ; but I entertain an idea that I cannot be very far infringing upon the pro- perty of common place statistics, should I con- sider it necessary to make mention of the precise manner in which the sage progenitor of the parti- cular disasters above referred to was treated, on this occasion, by the representatives of Lord Sydenham's model responsible government in Canada. _ After the breaMng up of the rebel forces, in the manner as above dilated, the first step taken by government towards the punishment of those individuals who were implicated in so diabolical a conspiracy, was exemplified by their offering the sum of £1,000 for the countenance of the gallant commander, who was unfortunate enough to loose the fight. This proceeding was by the loyal part of the community considered to be nothing more than what was really fair, impartial, and justly due their enemy, as they themselves, whilst labouring under the determination of remaining neuter during the struggle, had suffered very severely at the hands of the convulsive party. Things continued in this unsettled state for about the space of six months. 13 ^hen the advocates for peace and resuscitators of general harmony, the then government (perceiving that according to the foregoing conditions^the mulct phiz of M. De La was not disposed to malie its sombre appearance,) undertook by means of one of those singular strokes of political wisdom which, when properly emblazoned forth to the world forits sympathy and respect, is generally headed by that undefined species of liberality, y'clept clemency, to unite the jarring interests of the different families at stake in one indissoluble bond of political con- federacy and union, as well as bring the whole disorganized state of society in Canada back to its accustomed routine of loyalty and devotion to the throne. This benign undertaking, on the part of those in authority, was considered by the reform part of the community to be in strict unison with jus- tice and mercy, as in conjunction with the all-suffi- ciency which it possessed, of being able, radically, to correct the different series of abuses which had so unhappily crept into the state ; it embraced a desire and willingness to pardon to the uttermost the most malignant offences, holding out at the same time, a generous offer of love and forbearance towards the opposite party, the constitutional loy- alists of the day. . .. r In taking a more particular view of the policy of goyemment in this important transaction, I find J I •! i : i m i ■ *r!i! 14 that, first of all, it proffered to those v^ry individiial^, whose, till then, forward and cadave- rous coimtenances, could not, by means of money or measures, be prevailed upon to come into the presence of the viceroy and council in that vulgar vegetable accipient, ahandbasket, ai^, iree, and general pardon, with remuneration for the tempo- rary loss of prop :rty, jH tan of same, and good substantial lucrative situations in the inside of twelve montl y iit the furthest, provided the same did certify on their honors, as gentlemen, that they would refrain from giving any ftirther annoyance to her Majesty's government, except under those very particular circumstances which would legally en- title them to do so, and of which they should have special and general notice. Secondly, it proposed to all those of the community to whose steady and faithful attachment to the existing order and con- dition of the British constitution, had been the sole means of their properties having been anni- hilated by the " patriot" party, as a just punish- ment for their not coming forward and showing themselves like men determined to be free, a con- tinuation and furtherance of their fatherly care and piotection, provided the same would continue as ttsj i to livij peaceably and quietly amongst their neighbours, and not put her Majesty's government to the extraordinary expence of placing public spies over their private persons for the purpose of superintending the constitution oi" general opinion. !i H > " 15 ViiT The first of these humane and generous offers, it is useless to state, ww found to work with a de- gree of efficacy that quite exceeded, as they say themselves, the most sanguine expectations of her Majesty's government; for no sooner had the de- graded outcast of Bell x.. r become acquainted with the institution of the v der of compassionate mercy, than, throwing aside a those uncharitable feelings with which his mi Jid hu till up to the then present time been so de >ly mpregna.ed, and taking into considera' on ti salutary effects that must naturally ensue from his m king himself a public example for the benefi' ^f his country, he came forward with a noble, g rous, and humane spirit, worthy of the age in »* ich he lived, and prostrated himself at the feet of Her Majesty's vice- roy, to remain, during the rema g portion of his natural life, his Excellency's mt • obedient, hum- ble, and devoted servant, M. D' La . . A stranger whilst passing ^he delapidated ruins of Bell River village, if ht . > loyally dis- posed, must not feel surprised should he receive information to this effect, that the handsome man- sion-house, offices, and rich grounds which natu- turally attract his attention, are the sole property of M .De La , and have been erected under the immediate superintendance of her Majesty's board of works in Canada, . ' > .1 7 > :. 16 \i t,: fci i ii> I > I; ' It is very strange and unaccountable to my mind why tiiat the authorized powers of the present day seem to take sudh delight in adopting the dark and intricate course of unprofitable leniency^ in preference to that more satisfactory way of doing business, which the wisdom and foresight of their political ancestors conceived it necessary to have recourse to, when those who were found impli- cated in rebellion or high treason came before their notice. One century back, and where an individual found guilty of having taken up arms against his king and country, or of even conspiring with others for the purpose of renovating the then ex- isting order of things, he would have been hanged, drawn, and quartered, his house made a dung hill, his family shorn of their independancy, and his name expunged from the vocabulary of proper names in the English language, for at least a space of five and twenty years ; whereas, now-a-days, we find the several governors in this country vieing with each other in extenuation, and in shewing a willingness to pardon the most malignant crimes and ofiences ; and not only this, but in tendering the olive branch of peace to he whose proper de- serts justly entitle him to a suspension froni an oak one of somewhat thicker dimensions, " sans cere- they come not empty handed ; but favours monie and lucrative appointments of various description, hitherto held oiJy by the loyal and well-disposed I ii*.;^ VK^fT- "-ifv*"- ■ 17 '.!,?> of the land, are laid down for his unconditional acceptance. That the merciful dispositions of the present Anglo Canadian goyemment towards those whom they themselves consider entitled to mercy, are, in their own estimation, honest, upright, and sincere, I believe no man will take upon himself deliberately to deny ; but that the " quality" of mercy has, in many instances, been •• avorstrain- ed," and operated on by a spirit of policy that will prevail against English interests, I do as firmly believe, as that many of those individuals who were foremost in suppressing the conspiracy, of thelate rebellion, will be found to be the forth- coming candidates for place and pension, should a second recourse to arms be deemed necessary, in order to insure the stability of the British empire in North America. ^ fj . ;^^ : d IS Bytovm, Novembtr 2Zrd, 1844. if' The beautiful river Ottawa, along whose pic- turesque shores of unrestricted nature, (observant specimens of that primeval stile which owe no origin to man,) I have been travelling for the space of ten days since I last wrote to you, has, in con- junction with the hospitalities of a kind friend, whose valued acquaintance I fortuitously made during the period of my stay in Montreal, been laying an embargo on my liberty for the last fort- night, and prevailing upon me to remain a visitor in this delightful part of the country much longer than I originally intended. By way, however, of passing a censure on my own undetermination, I purpose taking my departure in the inside of two days, and, in furtherance of my settled intention, resume journeying N.W., still further up the river, a distance of one hundred miles, to Les Chats, and then bending my course in a southerly direc- tion, so as to reach Niagara and the Falls about the middle of January, " a consummation devoutly to be wished ;" as during that prescribed period of the year the rush of many waters will be alone and deserted, save by the really interested few who 19 come for the sole purpose of witnessing the awful grandeur and magnificence of itself entire, and not for that of presenting the plenitude of their own extatic persons, to the speculatory world. This picturesque little viUage, which owes its name and existence to the special exertions of an Engineer Officer in the British service, (Colonel By) is situated on the Ottawa, or Grand River, one hundred and fifty miles ahove Montreal. Till within these last few years it was a place of little or no importance ; but the opening of the Great Bideau Canal, by government, whose sole property it is, in connexion with the immense rafting trade carried on in the summer season, from the great pine forests, two hundred miles to the westward, have made it one of the most thriving and flourish- ing towns in the province ; and, as a ready cash market for grain, or other agricultural productions, superior to every other settlement in Canada West. Individuals who have expressed their opinions as to the newly selected city of Montreal, being a situation altogether unfit for the seat of govern- ment, owing to its too close connexion with the border country, have, amongst various other towns, candidates for the high honor, named Bytown, not only on account of its being the most central situ- ated locality in the province, but also owing to its capabilities of being made a fortress of strength : 1 t i 11 %!' B^n U I. I- {» j 'if I ji i I 20 unequalled, with the exception of Quebec, by any other position in British North America. The little fort which has been already erected, stands upon an elevation of three hundred feet above the Ottawa, which river is upwards of eighty feet deep immediately opposite the town, navigable for steam vessels of the largest construction the entire distance down to Montreal, and, with a very trifling expence, could be made capable of displaying its utility to the mariner, a distance of full two hundred miles up current. There are two magnificent waterfalls in the vicinity of Bytown — the chiefest called the " Chaudiere," is on the Ottawa River, and only second in grandeur to Niagara, of any I recollect ever to have seen ; it is not, perhaps, more than fifty feet high; but the immense body of water, and the reckless impetuosity with which it rushes over the rugged rocks that lie concealed beneath the foaming rapids above the Falls, give it an appearance of grandeur and magnificence that cannot easily be imagined. A beautiful metallic suspension bridge connect- ing the Canadas East and West, throws its proud undulating span across the fathomless torrent, about one hundred and fifty yards below the Falls, whilst an immense granite rock, situated almost un- derneath its expansion^ and in the very centre 'M^' ' I n of the stream, stands up in bold defiance before an ever-boiling surf; and the ceaseless pro- vocations to mutilation it receives from the thou- sand remnants of scattered rafts, uprooted cedars, and winter-felled pine trees, which come crowd- ing indiscriminately around its base. The other Fall, which is the "Rideau," so called by the French Habitans, from the resemblance it bears to an unfolded curtain at the distance, is si- tuated on a river of similar appellation, and in that particular geographical position, by an observance of which it will be seen that the imperious desire of the lesser stream to over- rate its superior, has been the means of anni- hilating its own further name and existence. This cataract, which has upwards of seventy feet of perpendicular fall, is so constructed that in its rere and underneath the summit of the projecting rock over which it precipitates itself, a passage of some two hundred feet in length, and three in breadth, may be traversed with perfect ease and safety, by any individual whose ambitious propensity to become immortalized as one of the aquatic daughters of Nenus, renders the necessary injunction of being wet from end to end by the spray, a consideration of trifling importance. 'II \ i ill J. '. \ m •'K! There are very few of the interior parts f -V'' . ■ IM ^11 \i of Canada^ at least none with which I am ac- quainted, wherein the allotments of nature seem to be so remarkably concentrated in the pic- turesque and beautiful, as those which come under the immediate observation of the spectator whilst standing upon the rugged cliffs, which protect this sweet little village and neighbour- hood from the rush of one of the mightiest rivers on the Continent of North America. For the beneficial purposes of man also, the valuable gifts of nature seem here to have been unsparingly bestowed. Convenient situa- tions for the erection of every description of machinery being laid out for his acceptance, and offer to his most distinguished consideration unfailing privileges of an aqueous agency, ca- pable of overcoming a force of resistance that would render ineffectual the united power of every steam engine, at present in operation throughout Great Britain. , . A few days ago I was kindly invited, by a gentleman resident in this neighbourhood, to buckle on my armour and take chance of the pleasures and discriminous adventures that might be derived from a shooting expedition, which he was about undertaking to a mountainous dis" trict of country, situated upon the banks of the ! f 28 Ottawa River, about forty miles N. E. of By- town, and which he contended was a conside- ration well worth my notice, as I could not but afterwards acknowledge, that the sport had been of the most inimitable description. I do not mean to deteriorate in the slightest degree from the value of this gentleman's kind and considerate proffer, which was to afford me every amusement in his power, but rather enhance it, when I presume that the constitution of his own private affairs were so circmnstanced, as to compel him to pay a regular quarterly visitation to that remote district of country, for the pur- pose of comparing a three months expenditure of 2000 dollars, with the aggregate amount of squared timber which five and twenty of his stout Canadian Voyageurs were able to extract from the complicated densities of the Pine For- rests, during his absence ; for, there is no indi- vidual who has ever been a resident in this country for any considerable period of time, who can afford to appropriate the migrations of even a single day, to the sole subserviency of field sports, without having the consumma- tion of some more important and more money- making objects in view; with perhaps the ex- ception of that description of Venatic Forrester who lives alone by his |;rigger, ajid Jmows ! ' 1 ■ I i : H i , i' li '■> M: u no better than to gaze intensely for two hours on the sarcastic grins of a black Bear, endeayonring to poke his nose through a pumpkin, before he can bring himself to fire with a sufficient de- gree of confidence, so as to ensure success. In connexion with the invitation alluded to, I felt anxious for this amusement, as the winter had then all the appearance of closing in for good, and the wild ducks, wood-grouse, quail, &c. would be either wending their way to the more congenial climes of the south, or shutting themselves up in their fastnesses until the next approach of spring. Having accordingly given my consent, we engaged a large commodious birch bark canoe, in which, with two French Voyageurs, and the necessary ac- companiments of guns and dogs, (the external ap- pearances of those animals requiring a more fre- quent intercourse to the old adage of " handsome is that handsome does," in order to qualify them as at all companionable to the sportsman and his gun, than any others of the same description I ever recollect to have seen) — ^we set sail about seven o'clock in the morning, and with a favourable breeze and rapid current, soon accomplished a distance of thirty miles down stream. At the en- trance of every little entuary or creek into the greater stream, we seldom failed in bagging one or more brace of the wood canvass back, or black 25 duck specie ; the last of those three, though con> siderably larger in appearance than any other bird of that genus which has as yet been discovered in North America, is, nevertheless, much lighter in proportion, and by no means so palatable in its flavour as either of the other two descriptions. On our arrival at the port of embarkation, from whence we were to hav e perambulated the remain- der of the journey, we were met by a number of L. M.'s workmen who had come down from the highlands the previous evening for the purpose of carrying up a three months' provision to their mountain retreat. These were all principally French Canadians, with the exception of a solitary Yankee Citizen and two lately arrived Irish Imi- grants, which worshipful sons of the shamrock it may be well to mention had contrived, in the inside of half a year, not only to make themselves dis- tinctly intelligible in the French Canadian dialect, but also to administer the necessary maledictions upon their friends and enemies in the same com- plicated language. We were now to overcome the difficulties attending a walk of fifteen miles before reaching our place of destination, the first six of those insatiable enemies to exertion, being altoge- ther up hill, and allotted to a most melancholy condition of thoroughfare. Our party consisted of fourteen individuals, each of whom, with the ex- ception of L. M. and myself, (who were portioned 'ir t\ k I ^ 1 > - t ^ i| ii / 26 fi !.| llll off with two double barrelled guns and a brace of shot belts) was loaded with an important comple- ment of thirty-six pounds weight of provisions, flour biscuits, smoaked beef, &c. in connection with that indispensible accompaniment to the Lumberor, a Masachuset*s broad axe. We started about twenty minutes after landing, and reached the summit of elevation after three hours of ener- getic exertions. A lake of seven miles long, which 1.3/ next before us, and on whose tranquil bosom lay in perspective the delightftil task of having to embark our hopes and enterprises, T«ras rendered altogether unnavigable by the frosts of the preced- ing night. This was a serious drawback to our speedy peregrinations, as the forests along the lake shore were rendered almost impassible by the den- sity of the underwood, and the number of lately fallen pine trees, which seemed literally to cover the entire surface of the ground. Five men were however eased of their burdens, and marched 09 in front by way of pioneers ; they done very excellent service, by enabling us to travel at a rate somewhat better than two miles an hour, and to arrive at our destination at eleven o'clock the same night. The hospitable roof under which I was invited was a shantee of rather larger dimensions than that which is usually erected for lumbering purposes, being no less than a fourteen by twelve, possessing the necessary accommodations for five and twenty rt full grown adults to ventilaio in a horrizontal posi- tion comfortably^ a system which seemed to be the authorised mode of recreation, at least during the period of my visit, a general perpendicular amongst the inmates being, I fancy, rather incon- venient and altogether unsuitable to their style and design of society. A large fire-place, occu- pying the entire ftuthermost end of the domicile, with about a quarter of a cord of hard maple blazing on its hearth, overhung by a huge copper kettle containing at least twenty pounds of pease soup, surrounded with a variety of other little contin- gencies in culinary utensils of smaller calibre, in a very forward state of preferment to table, greeted our immediate entrance, and was far from being inapplicable to the circumstances of my fellow- travellers and self, as the thermometer was ranging in the neighbourhood of five below 0, and our feet almost frozen, from trampling through the deep snow drifts, or breaking in upon the slightly concreted ice ponds. We had not long to remain in a state of anxiety after our arrival, on the score of a speedy introduction to dinner, as it was very quickly produced, and, I need scarcely say, done most ample justice to. A trifling insight into this grand chaotic ebullition, or general admixture, will, I presume, at once, convince the admirers of modem French cookery, that the hardy descendants of the proud sons of France who B 2 'h\ m. liii M :>IJ 2$ first crossed the Western wave, for the purpose of making trial of the allurements unconditionally promised a life in the woods, have not, as yet, been put in possession of that particularly momentous discovery, by a practical knowledge of which, the more civilized inhabitf^nts of their mother country, are so systematically enabled to produce from the gelatinous excrescence of a few beef bones, a dinner capable of administer- ing to the necessities of a dozen individuals, and the charitable bequest society, in the nature of as many dishes of fragments. There was, as I have previously mentioned, pease soup, which important article for consumption was substan- tiated by the following occular demonstrations of once animal existence, viz. : — One leg of pork, one brace of wood grouse, ditto of wild ducks, ditto of black squirrels, one hare, and a pro- portional quantity of quails ; the disposable pro- perties of the latter bird being merely used as a sort of assistance to the maxillary muscles, whilst mastication of the peas, which were whole und entire, was being effectuated, and not at all intended to absorb the special interference of knife and fork, or be taken into a series of separate considerations afterwards. As the palatable qua- lities of this decoction are not supposed to be suffi- ciently developed until after having been heated and sent up four successive days, each day adding a little trifle of something new, by way of an as- 29 tfingent to tlie original, I was begged of, in the most abject terms, by the cook, not to form too hasty an opinion as to the merits of his kettle, as it was but the first day*s boiling, and of course watery; but, taking it for granted, that the representations of this letter are not of such a calumniating nature as to produce any differences of real consequence between this profound proge- nitor of high living and myself, should they ever happen to be unintentionally placed before his no- tice, I do positively assert, that the contents of his kettle were, even on the first day rich, and that to such a degree, that were it not that I felt excessively hungry at the time, and determined to dine at all risks, I am positive I could not have attempted on more than ilf a dozen spoonfulls at the most, of their saturating qualities. It was, indeed, a valuable preparation, which might, without offering any injustice to the claims of two shillings or half-a- crown, have become bottled and vended out as the concentrated essence of higgledy-piggledy, having previously taken its place beside mullagatawny and ox-tail in the bow window of a victualty de- partment, without entitling the innate properties of these two worshipfulls, in the slightest degree, to the privilege of becoming sarcastic, at the ex- pense of this latest introduction amongst the most fashionable varieties of the day. > '^iil Ifl V f /^" 30 h if il i I I li - ;i . The snow which commenced falling in im- mense quantities^ immediately after our arrival, continued steady so during the remainder of the night, so that our Boss, (as the Overseer of any important work is ludicrously termed in this country), who predicted that little g09d could be done next morning in the way of chopping or getting out lumber, offered to accompany us through the woods during the day, and conduct us to a particular vein of country, known only to himself, which he con- tended was never known to fail in producing plenty of hares and wood grouse. We turned out immediately after an early breakfast, with an augmentation to our force of four armed men and three dogs; and during our beat, which occupied eight hours of the day, kept not further asunder than about two hundred yards, thereby offering an imbroken frontage of three quaiters of a mile, in which, if game were of a certainty to exist, it would have been next to an impossibility not to have come upon them. We met with one or two small lakes or ponds, and were pretty successful un- der the auspices of our Boss, in surrounding them, so as to render the feathered denizens there- of, liable to a warm reception, fly in what direction they might. Three brace and a half of the canvass back were killed at the first i • : ' !f tt of these silent estuaries, and four at the second ; these, with seven brace of wood grouse — a leish of hares, and half-a-dozen red squirrels, constituted our entire success upon the day's sport ; a very fair remuneration from the wilds of Canada, " I guess," notwithstanding the trouble we had even taken in rushing through the thick copses of standing and fallen brushwood that lay con- cealed beneath eighteen inches of fresh fallen snow, a distance of twenty miles. ...... u That the extatic admirer of the dog and gun, in our own country, would be induced » from his presumptuous knowledge of field sports in Canada, to depreciate the real value of this day's amusement, I do not, for a moment, hesitate to admit; particularly when the more minute accounts, which should go to exhibit the schemes that had been so successfully adopted, for the purpose of conferring a some- what of momentous appearance on our game bag, were laid open to his scrutation. Duiing the summer and fall seasons of the year, the wood grouse, which are then invariably found in flocks of from ten to fifteen in number, offer to the sportsman accessible difficulties, of so unimportant a nature, that should he find him- self successful enough at the start as to secure iv single bird from the flock, th^ captivation o^ 11 ■ J \\ 92 every remaining member of the family follows in train^ as a matter of course* In the winter season hje will find the realization of his amuse* ments to be accurately reversed, as during that lengthened period of inclemency, the birds seem constantly when come upon, exposed to all those peculiarities so inseparable, the sex would say, from a state of celibacy, such as ambiguity, »hiness of disposition, misanthropy, &c. These (in connexion with a peculiar habit, and one which seems to have been naturally given the bird, for the purpose of advancing its own safety, that of spearing down almost perpen- dicularly from its roost, into the snow drifts, whenever they are of a sufficient depth to ensure it a safe retreat from the enemy, and from which places of concealment it is impos- sible (by dint of noise) to enforce its evacuation,) are, it may be presum^.d, of a nature sufficiently coercive, so as to render the temper and tempera- ment of the sportsman, (particularly when the aptitude of his hopes and enterprise are taken into consideration,) any thing but agreeable, and consequently after having been bafifled in patience, perseverance, and caution, he is na- turally found ready and willing to adopt any measures, however inapplicable they may be, with the conditional obligations of a true sportsman of the old country, that will ensure him even m a partial success. Let it not therefore be sup- posed, that we were much infringing upon the prerogatives of our fowling-pieces, should I un- reservedly disclose to you, that our shooting party, upon turning out for the day's amusement, were accompanied with such collateral auxiliarys as a small garden hoe and pick-ax could properly afford. Had we not been in possession of these secondary implements of the chace, the loss of five brace of wood grouse would have inevitably been the consequence. Indeed it appears to have been thoroughly understood by the ma- jority of the party, that the only effectual mode cf extracting the birds from beneath the deep snows which had drifted around the decayed hemlocks, or fallen pine trees, was, in having immediate recourse to one or both of these in- struments. Of the particular manner in which the prisoners were put to death immediately after their exhumation, I will say nothing, more than it appears to me positively certoin, that the French Canadian has not as yet been put in possession of those distinguishing qualifications <"^ conscience, which will enable him to bear ^j) against the reverses of uncertainty, and taste not, when the aptitude of his appetite is placed in direct opposition to that primitive Apostolic order, which commands the abstaining from things strangled. In palliation also of the C'a- B 3 - h i ; t; u if k nadian, for his having recourse to these sinister expedients, in pursuit of game, let this be taken into consideration, that with the excep- tion of widgeon, pigeon, and wild duck shoot- ing — ^which unquestionably in this country rank of the first order — ^there is no description of field amusements to be met with in Canada, or, indeed I may safely say in any part of North America, not even the Prairies excepted, that can at all compete with the invigorating sports which are to be consummated at home. — And though from the generality of accounts to the stranger when first entering the Bush, the sports of the country would appear to be of the most animated kind imaginable, yet he can not but conscientiously admit, after having been perambulating for a single day through the woods and wilds of Canada, that the excite- ments which would so naturally present themselves to his notice, after an entire fiask of gun- powder and the contents of a double shot belt, are having been fruitlessly expended upon a solitary jack snipe, inadvertently kicked up out of a morass in his own country, are of a nature more contemplative, and more stimulating to his commencing a similar course of operations next morning, than any satisfactory proffers to him- self of almost certain success, arising from a knowledge that a dozen wild turkeys are to i! <^. r- be met with, basking upon the banks of " Cat- taraugus Creek, in the Township of Chinga- cochy," would be sufficiently influential in per- suading him a second time to visit the wopdR. ■ ■•■■ r - '-*.' * -- I- •*A*-i:'-^»' ■ 4 >t-r -*;■'.' » On our return home towards evening, our dogs were unsuccessful in coming upon tlie sullen retreat of one of those particular si)eci- mens of the ferae naturae, whose only ambition-^ judging from his habits and external appearance — one would think would be, just to be allowed to be, and remain incognito and unmolested during the entire period of his natural life. I think our dogs on their first approach to- wards the habitation of this inoffensive, if let alone, animal, evidently displayed a very consider- able portion of well intentioned sincerity towards the wish of their masters, as they seemed deter- mined upon taking him and his fortress by storm, without even allowing the debatement of a single shot to be fired in self-defence, by the besieged. Their first attack was un-* questionably made with a degree of fearlessness and intrepidity that would have done honour to a better cause, and with a less powerful enemy, gone a considerable way in support of odds in their favour; the second was not so formidable, but infinitely of much importance in making a breach, if the possibility of the 19 X .1 ^ 1 x' If ! I m ' 'i t : I I circumstances at all permitted of it ; in tlic third charge there was evidently a falling off; and, at the conclusion of the fourth, a sneak- ing away, with heads dejected, and suspended tails, indicative at once of the battle's having been lost and won. ■-■'i.-*^? Various at first were the opinions and con- jectures amongst the Voyageurs, as to the name, nature, quality, and obligations of the animal in question, as he had very dexterously taken refuge underneath the trunk of an immense fallen oak tree, from which it seemed almost impossible to extricate him — some maintained one opinion, others were of a diametrically opposite way of thinking; but real ignorance on the subject with the majority, seemed to me to be the most mature prevalency, and ac- cordingly I relinquished all ideas of coales- cing with the representations of any one man. — After the several diversities of opinion had gone their respective rounds, the Yankee undertook, of his own accord, to clear up all matters of difficulty then in contemplation, by stating that, his most " mature consideration had led him to believe, that the thing itself was merely a critter of an indifferent natur, and in coorse contemptible." But in confirmation of the benefits to be de- rived from democratic privileges, and perceiving r ->■ f7 that his dog Perry was determined upon making a powerful demonstration of his fidelity, the Bepuhlican suddenly changed his mind, and gave it out as his most " snoring calculation," that the brute itself was nothing less than a " tarnation painter, and one too of the most Apostolic or- der ;" but if he is, gentlemen, continued he, " dam me if the Commodore wont crowd him up as tight as Jericho.' » ■fc- \: ' For the more satisfactory development of each private opinion, it was at length unanimously agreed, that an immediate recourse be had to such means as would prove effectual in bringing the animal to light, and which, after well-nigh half an hour's expenditure in displaying the utilities of the pick-ax and garden-hoe, proved successful in producing to public gaze the personage* of a full- grown porcupine, a visible witness of the imbe- cility of every previous opinion that had been ad- vanced in reference to the constitutional calling of the, till then, concealed one. Perceiving that the sanctity of his retirement was thus forcibly broken in upon, the animal appeared outrageously sullen, denying to move from the spot whereon he had been deposited, but, with quills on tip-toe, stood at bay, presenting a regular " chevaux-de- frieze" like defence to the notice of his enemies, especially to they of the canine race, which latter, /^ I' ■ I { ,1 n 58 perceiving a more advantagous open for display' g their warlike propensities than had been previously offered, commenced a renewal of hostilities in the nature of a joint attack, but even here they were more unsuccessful than at first, and, eventually, found it necessary to retire from the field, whilst labouring in the possession of several very dis- tiguished marks of the enemy's disapprobation and displeasure. Indeed I never saw animals suffer such exquisite torture, from the effects of any rounds, as they did from having rushed inadver- tently upon the quills of the *' fretful porcupine ;" their lips and noses were pierced through in every direction ; in their agony they tried to bite them- selves; even their masters were not exempted from dental marks of their disapprobation, when- ever they approached to render them the necessary assistance ; and, it was not untill ailter our return to the shantee, and the remediable instrumentality of a pair of pincers, rather rudely had recourse to, that they could be induced to admit of any relief whatever. Previous to our taking leave of the porcupine, a court of inquiry sat, for the pur- pose of determining upon his fate, when it was almost unanimously agreed that, for the injuries he had committed upon the faithful friend of man, he should not be permitted to live. I interceded in his behalf, but it was of no avail, a double- barrel was levelled, the shock acknowledged, and 39 his poignant arrows sunk slowly down into their acclivous beds, never again to rise in sacred reve* rence of self-defence. This closed the day's amusement, and we returned to our rude, yet not uncomfortable quarters. That night and the fol- lowing day the snow fell in such quantities that it was found impossible to proceed in quest of any further amusement, so that to render nugatory the inconvenience of being blocked up in the mountains until nature, in her fulness, thought proper to adopt a thaw, a speedy return to the river's bank was proposed, and carried into imme- diate execution. ■■T^-f' (*♦?* •■'-'/ !«•<}* Hr!t>»-i.* ft.v'ts' list w ^'^ua . if On our return expedition up stream, we found ourselves necessitated, for lack of sufficient phy- sical force to prosecute our journey, to accept the voluntary assistance of a solitary stranger, who we accidentally picked up, wending his way along the bank of the river towards Bytown, for the express purpose, he afterwards contended, of propagating the undeniable doctrines of the true faith. This benign promulgator of the gospel, (who very quickly discovered himself to be no less a personage than an American Citizen, fresh from Cape Cod, Massachusets, where, he was proud to acknowledge, he had been both bom and raised) gave us to understand, that he was an indepen- dant MiUerite, or true believer in the proximate i '-'I d H vl It '"^'i ■■:"■ h i M' •» f! li t'nffi Ht il -^ ;i i,l. ^'1 40 iippearance of the second advent, and that, conse* quently, this world and all its delusions would be found to come to a close on or about the 23rd of April next. On the nature and consequences attached to this infallible doctrine, he remarked he had been lecturing incessantly for the last six months throughout the different parts of the great Republic ; and had now, with a Christian like spirit, so indispensibly nesessary with the times, crossed over the lines for the sole purpose of letting the pensioners of John Bull have a slight inkling in relation to the forthcoming alteration of affairs in general. In reporting progcss in the work, he said he felt almost ashamed to do so, as the particu- lar love he bore to mankind in general, was but ill- requited, by his being enabled to make so very few converts to his way of thinking ; at the same time remarking, that the frailties of human nature in general could alone be called in question for the consequences, and not he himself, as it might inadvertently be supposed. During the progress of our journey up stream, he undertook to place before our consideration several of the many instances of unbelief and hard- ness of heart which had come under his own especial notice, whilst propagating the promised blessings of the gospel ; these lamentable infirmi- ties, he contended, being of a much more conspi- cuous character amongst the farmers and mer- v 41 chants than any other class ef people with whom he had been accustomed to deal, many of them, from his own personal knowledge, after having been duly cautioned against such works of supere- rogation as would be maintained in the putting in of crops, draining of land, making up fences, &c. were still going on in their old ways, as if the world and its delusions should be expected to last throughout the countless ages of eternity. One individual, a son of Satan, living upon Connec- ticut river, in that state, had not only allowed the wily remonstrances of his spiritual guide to in- veigle him into a state of slavish subordination, as the planting of two hundred acres of fallen wheat could so conspicuously demonstrate, but had ac- tually entered into partnership with an Indian farmer, Zachariah Bigdeer by name, living in an adjoining township, for the real intent and pur- pose of having it harvested when the proper season for doing so should arrive. Another imbecile de- moniac had, last week, entered into a solemn engagement with a Louisiana slave driver, to have ready, for turning out of his establishment on the 4th of July next, (independance day) one thou- sand nigger wheelbarrows, with fifteen hundred yards of trebble-strong patent steel catenations, their gyves and shackles, and was actually now in the act of sticking up to the very spirit and letter of the contract. In fact, instances of those par- 'i ; \ \U( 1? ' I j I IJ I 42 ticular descriptions, he remarked, were inhurftera* ble, and went convincingly to prove what very extraordinary criturs the living folks of this world must be, to a certainty* .... . ,< .^^t Having received rather a cordial invitation to attend a course of lectures which he proposed giving, for the particular benefit of the good people of Bytown, indiscriminately, I made it a duty of especial importance, to present myself in person the first evening of his spiritual outpourings, and was not a little surprised to find, after having listened attentively to him for five and twenty mi- nutes, that there was not less than a congregation of four hundred people assembled to pay deference to the wily expostulations of a man, who, were he even in England, (a country wherein it is uni- versally acknowledged, the inhabitants pay a greater respect to the conclamation? af gullery, than any other,) would be considered a fit sub- ject for the special interference of the Lord Chancellor, that is, provided he had money; or, in case he had not, which is a possibility ot not less firequent occurrence, be construed into very apposite materials for inhabiting the very inner- most dungeon of a lunatic asylum. For his text he separated out the 16th chapter of the Book of Revelations, and this he undertook to unravel in such a plain and simple manner, as not to leave %. mg m the slightest doubt upon the minds of his hearers, as to the proximity of the great day. In the esti- mation of many then present, I do firmly believe, he brought his arguments to bear with such force, as to make very considerable progress, as I could easily perceive the meanderous tear trinkle slowly down the wan cheeks of the trembling sinner, as far as the preventional gyrations of the upper lip, before he could be prevailed upon to have recourse to his pocket-kerchief for relief. In the tender minds of the rising ge- neration, his convincing proofs were altogether successful, as the very frequent applications for parental assistance, and the determined avowals of never parting from the protection of dearest dear mamma, were sufficient proofs of. His lecture lasted for about one hour, and might have conti* nued for double that space of time, had not some of the more rational tradesmen of the neighbour- hood (who, in connexion with the Apostolic Mis- sion of the New Englander, which they looked upon as altogether spurious, seem.^d to be labour- ing under ideas somewhat similar to those which, in days of yore, engaged the particular attention of the " Faber Argentarius" of Ephesus, namely, that their craft would be endangered,) came in a body consonant, and threatened instant destruction upon the head of the false prophet, if he did not immediately close his discourse and leave the town. li •|! is \ li M 1 44 The possibility of carrying this menace into imme- diate execution, met with its desired effect : the lecturer ceased to remonstrate with the people; tlirew himself upon the merciful protection of his enemies ; was allowed conditionally to spend the remainder of that night in the village, and next morning betook himself rather hurriedly out of town, never again to contaminate the soles of his feet among such a disreputable mob of infidelity immorality* ' \ I Some six or eight months back an individual of this stamp came preaching about in the neighbourhood of Niagara, giving out that he himself was some great person, and that the final day of retribution, by the minutest calculations, was certainly to take place in the inside of twenty- five days after the original notices of his appear- ance had been officially posted up on the several cross roads and finger-posts in that vicinity. This ingenious missionary it appears turned out to be so very forcible in his arguments, and clear in his demonstrations, that before the time of taking his final departure from that favoured portion of this terraqueous globe had arrived, he proved so successful as to bring over to the credulity of his own way of thinking, not less than one hundred of the wisest old men, and most respectable old women, that could possibly 45 be picked up in and around that entire neigh- bourhood. For the more effectual protection of these dispassionate devotees during the remain- ing days of their pilgrimage in this world, and as private property was then beginning to be considered as rather cumbrous upon the face of the earth, it was solemnly ordained under the immediate sanction of their spiritual Cap- tain, that each individual of their community should be permitted to range about at large, over hedges and ditches, under the special cog- nomination of an " enfranchised Lamb ;" whilst their enemies, or obdurate unbelievers, who I need scarcely say constituted the majority of society in the district, should be allowed to chew the cud of their reflections along the old beaten track, by having had affixed to their foreheads the emphatic sign of that particular animal, whose marketable qualities it will be perceived are generally marred by wilful obstinacy, stand- ing up in conjunction with the most ridiculous pride. Having remained in that part of the countiy for the space of ten days, and taken into conrjideration the unpleasant consequences that must naturally ensue, from want of cash, and the imbecile means that were offered to its pro- curence, particularly as Ids idolizing follower* had considered it altogether unnecessary to •upply him with any of those sinister means n iif ', ii 46 of subsistence to which the people of this world generally habituate themselves to apply, in case of necessity. This speculatory prophet deter- mined upon giving a farewell lecture, as the most efficient means not only of raising the wind, he being then upon his last legs, but also of enabling him to proceed to some new district of country, where the marvelous astonishments of his doctrine were not so well known, and a greater field would, of course, be laid open for displaying his abilities — accordingly a special night was set apart for the purpose, and a ge- neral meeting of hi:c ^'^if^nds and foes adver- tised. . "- '. - .. ;\ M I "I On this evening we find the immaculate prophet not only undertook to inform his hearers as to the identical day and hour on which the general conflagration would commence, but also to un- veil the precise manner in which the awful catastrophe itself would be consummated. First of all he staked the meritorial existence of his heavenly calling that, for the future, no fall of snow should evermore cover the face of the earth (rather a bold assertion I should say, to be made in the very heart of Canada), but in lieu thereof thirty-six inches of sulphur — best quality, an unconditional quantity of finest flamniferous pitch — three feet of pulverised 47 "H charcoal, and half a dozen showers of sifted rosin would prevail — this powerful admixture when ignited, the learned prophet was in- clined to apprehend, would cause considerable of a blaze — ^bum up the world and all that in there is, and finally put a stop to railway specula- tions, and the prevaricating inconsistencies of John Bull, in asserting his rights to that portion of the Orregon Territory, lying south of the 55th degree of North latitude. After having expatiated for a considerable length of time on this subject, he then undertook to point out to his hearers the va- nity of all things earthly, and the certainty of their immediate annihilation ; the curse of worldy riches, and the unhappy end of they who put their trust in them ; the folly of unbelief, and the dread con- sequences attendant upon they who refuse to listen to the voice of the charmer ; and finally wound up his discourse by calling upon them to pay a marked tribute of respect to their sovereign ex- pectations, by enfranchising the servile contents of their several private purses, for the express purpose of maintaining the p'">r helpless body of their spiritual guide through life's then short, but still state uniformity, even out unto the end. At the close of this impressive appeal to the tender hearts of the benevolent, a collection was immedi- ately set on foot, for the purpose of enabling the prophet the better to bear up against the reactions ^ -t^:-^ »» ■■'■ > ! • ■ " J i^ - ii a tf r . " i « ■ jl m I I I >, f ■ ,1 ! 48 of a craving stomach, during the few weeks that were of necessity to intervene before the promised change could be properly brought into operation ; but, owing to some very good ostensible reasons, by which the faith of the lambs were shaken, or other mental difficulties arising, probably out of the love of money, placing itself in direct opposi- tion to that of our neighbour, in which it seems certain the former prevailed, having operated, it stands fully upon record, that the special forth- comings of ready cash, on that occasion, proved to be so scarce and valueless, that a sufficiency was with difficvdty procured, in order to defray the expenses of a cold collation, got up for the immediate consideration of the prophet that even- ing ; not to make mention of the sum of money it would have required, in order to have had his quadruped installed in the occupancy of some hos- pitable crib, such as would have entitled him to a trifle more than a promiscuous run through the common indigenous daisy that grows alongside her Majesty's highways and byways in Canada. Extra- ordinary to relate, the inconveniencies attending these deficiencies on the part of the lambs and faithful followers were met, and to a considerable extent made amends for, by a very generous and unexpected offer of true charity, coming from the caprigcnus side of the congregation, many of whom nobly came forward and gratuitously offered, ac- 49 cording to the quantity and quality of their pos- sessions, steers, sheep, hogs, &c., with their pro- portionate amount of barn-door fowl, for the sole purpose, they contended, of rendering ineffec- tual the prognosticating difficulties aimed at by the prophet. Consequently, next morning the ani- mal value of one hundred and fifty dollars was seized and urged forward into the unconditional service of the spiritual needy one, who, having tendered his most gracious acceptance of the same, agreed with a neighbouring farmer close at hand, for the feeding of his flock upon shares, and finally took his departure from that accelerated por- tion of the world, leaving as a subject for conside- rable argumentation amongst the learnedj whe- ther, at the general inspection of spiritual weights and measures, the appointed officer of heaven's mayorality holding the scales, the munificent dona- tions presented on that day by the left-handed infidels, will, or will not prove possessed, when laid in the balance, of a certain specific gravity, capable of weighing down :it !: -With a heavy fall, The usurping pretenpions of their adversaries," those effulgent lambs who refused to be shoni, in order to provide food to eat, and raiment to put on. It is really extraordinary with what ^ 50 i 1^ i i' f ' I :[ ,t. success the labours of these infamous deceivers, in propagating their infatuated opinions on one of the most fearful and dangerous to be inter- fered with solemnities which the mind of man can possibly contemplate on, haye in this coun- try been attend d. In every district of Canada persons are to be met with who have not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing as to the in- fallibility of the great advocates for immediate earthly annihilation; and, though upon close examination they will be found ready and will- ing to admit, that they themselves have been more than once disappointed in their expecta- tions, by the non-appearance of promised re- lief ; yet, so far from acknowledging that their faith is at all shaken, or that they feel more happy and contented that things in general are allowed to remain in a position exactly as they are, they actually contend their belief to have become more spiritualized, and more at variance with the secular entertainments of this wicked world : " For how," say they, " can we deny access to the convincing arguments and proofs of men, who have no other object in view, above the eternal happiness of mankind." Even the vigilant observances bestowed in support of human life itself, can not be said always to have effectually maintained their object, after having been exposed to the assiduities of these fraudulent imposters. t' nl 61 m In the village of Fredonia, Pensylvania, two children, of twelve and thirteen years of age, were discovered in a grave-yard frightened to death, from the effects of their having been compelled to keep watch throughout an entire night, in order to witness the resurrection of their parents on the following morning ; and in the town of Brockville, Upper Canada, in Decem- ber last, an aged man and his wife were found, with the exception of a linen covering, in a state of complete nudity, frozen to the earth, from having, it appeared, been persuaded to take their seats amongst the tombs, upon an exactly similar errant. So much for the perti- nence of man's advice upon a subject, to which the immaculate wisdom of heaven itself has de- barred even the angels of light from daring to allude. Situated about thirty-five miles S. W. of Bytown, and falling into the Rideau, is a beautiful little stream named the Jock ; which, though unimportant in this country as to size, as well being altogether inapplicable for the purposes of steam navigation, is nevertheless rendered somewhat notable, as being the stream upon the banks of which, the late lamented Duke of Richmond came to his untimely end, from the bite of a mad fox. The reports cir- c 2 '-!: !lll ^i h Mi S '■■ I if ii' 5^ culated in connexion with this nobleman's death are so varied, a> so altogether incon- sistent with the principles of common probabi- lity, that the anxious inquirer after truth, is enabled to suspend his inquiries on the subject, only upon ascertaining, that Death, coming in its most horrid form, does not seem to be possessed of terrors sufficiently forcible, to debar the machinations of vanity and falsehood from in- truding their pretensions, to the entire exclusion of every ve?*itable represe^tation. Many of these reports are without the slightest shadow of foundation, and seem to have been appa- rently got up, for the sole purpose of confer- ing an air of romance and marvelousness upon a subject, that requires merely to be furnished with the simple declarations of artless truisms, in order to constitute it a sufficiently interesting narra- tive in itself, as well as one perfectly capable of animadverting upon the liabilities of human nature. In bringing before your notice the few incentives to common reason^, which I have been enabled to pick up, whilst journeying along the banks of the Jock River, I do so under the expectation that they will be award- ed to a certain share of reputation on your part, particularly as they are confirmed by the protestations of that individual who was there to witness, and who is at present in the un- 53 disputed occupation of that particular spot of ground, whereon the awfiil catastrophe itself took place, simply they run thus : — The late Duke of Bichmond whilst Go* vernor General of Canada, had principally re- sided in Montreal, from which central si- tuation, he could conveniently visit the remote parts of the province by water, carriage, and canoe, the only salutary mode of transportation known in that country previous to, and during the period of his lieutenancy. It was on the occasion of his pajdng an annual visit to Rich- mond, a village or district so named after its noble patron, that this unexpected incident took place, a melancholy one, which deprived the Canadian people of the valued services of the most popular as well as talented of Governors, who ever held the sword of justice in the pro- vince, since the period of French evacuation. In this village it appears he had remained for two successive days, principally occupied in making a survey of the adjoining county, and in recommending to the settlers, such an ef- fective system of police, as he considered ex- pedient to the welfare of the infant settlement. On the third morning after having partaken of an early breakfast, his Grace and Swite embarked on board three large canoes, paddled by Indians, I 'i! ^ R ii- M^:i \i II 54 for the purpose of descending the Jock Eiver, on their way to the Ottawa and Montreal, but had not proceeded more than four miles upon the jour- ney, when the Duke complained of a slight gid- diness in his head, and desired the Indians to paddle him to shore, as a walk along the river's bank might prove of service in relieving him from the burdensome effects of the stupor. — They done so at his request, but no sooner was the unfortunate man landed, than the irreme- diable nature of his complaint began to make its appearance, in a series of violent spasmodic fits, during which, from the convulsive appear- ance of his countenance, it was evident he was labouring under agonies of the most excruciating kind. Recovering for a short interval from their ef- fects, during which he seemed apparently to regain his reason, he communicated to those around him the melancholy intelligence, that for the then few days past he had been labouring under the direful apprehensions of Hydrophobia — that he felt his fears to be at last fully realized, and that all hopes of life and recovery he looked upon as perfectly at an end. He was then asked for permission by his Aid-de- Camp to allow of his being conveyed to a respectable farmer's house, which lay convenient, and in which the proper antidotes for the dis- 55 ease could be more effectually administered: but to this request he positively refused giving his assent, as every remedy, hbwever powerful, he remarked, must of necessity, prove fruitless and imavailing; and finally made it a dying request, that under no circuinstance whatever should he be removed from off the river's bank, where he then lay, until the alleviations of death should come to put an end to his sufferings. The paroxisms, however, shortly re- turning, and his agonies every moment increas- ing, it was judged expedient that he should be removed to a small log bam close at hand, in an obscure comer of which, and on such fitting materials for a great man's death-bed, as a bundle of wheaten straw could opportunely afford. Great Richmond died ; and this I believe to be the entire substance of all essential and veritable information, connected with the imtimely fate of Lennox, Duke of Richmond in Eng- land, Aubigney in France, and Governor Ge- neral of British North Amr ica. In connexion with this melancholy subject, it appears that the Duke's death proved to be an event causing the most deplorable conse- quences to Richmond Village and neighbourhood. Under the auspices of its noble founder, it was generally, (say without exception,) accounted rif II' if': Ml il Ml il 8? . .1 p I' I I ^ I < I if V:' i. M : ii ) 56 to be the most thriving and flourishing settle- ment^ as well as eligible situation for a monied man to have invested capital in^ through- out the entire section of Canada West. But, immediately on its benefactor ceasing to exist, a sudden panic, tending to despondency, seized the majority of the most wealthy proprietors in the township, who, in place of imiting in co- operative efforts in order to resist the progress of declining prosperity, caused by so deletery a stroke, husbanded its existence, by disposing of their properties, and leaving every thing, it would be supposed, to the consummation of its fate; and to this day Kichmond and its town- ship are entitled to rc more importancy in the eyes of the speculative capitalist than they were five-and-twenty years ago. n I ^ '■*"■ III 1 1— * !■ I l«.^l»^.- 67 Packenham, December 4, 1844. The weather for the last ten days has been immoderately cold, so much so that it is next to an impossibility keeping the extremities of the body sufficiently animated, so as to enable rhe tr Teller t > remain out of doors longer than two hours at \ stretch. To the hard-working labouring nun however, who is deputed to suf- licierc iesources within himself, by his having business of larger importance to transact, than peregrinating through " snow clad coppice and suspected fen," the atmospheric frigidity does not appear to be in the slightest degree op- pressive ; on the contrary you see him every where in the depth of winter when work is to, and must be done, dispensing with all the unnecessary appendages to dress, as so many incumbrances to business, and save and except by his nether garments, with now and again perhaps a slight inkling of tesselated flannel, to qualify his visibility ; he very much reminds you of that delightful picture of innocency, ere the fall. c 8 M'tM': mn 9 if 11 ' 1 ! ill J I I 68 With the exception of about five-and-twenty miles of land carriage along the river's bank, my method of journeying from By town, up the Ottawa to Les Chats, was carried out under the immediate auspices of the ice boat, a style of travelling which is even yet very uncommon, in this country, and till within these last few years, I may say^i altogether unknown to the Western world. With the Swedes and Nor- wegians in the North of Europe, the ice boat has, however, for an indefinite number of years, been employed as a 'water conveyance ; our general ignorance of its existence in those coun- tries being, I fancy, altogether occasioned by th.it particular portion of the year in which its use- fulness is being brought into operation, not coalescing with the spring and summer months, the stated seasons, in which the Southern Euro- pean tourist invariably takes his journey towards the North. In giving you some idea of this primogcnial locomotive, I would say, that the ice boat is unquestionably in itself, the simplest and least expensive stile of carriage architecture that has ever yet come under my observation, or that, in my 'opinion, the most economical coach factor in New Bond-street could, with decency, advertise for the especial benefit of gentlemen of moderate means and large fami- lies ; it being notliing more than a right angle «»aM ■» • V i^j^ » r ^ j^-f - >» M^i" 68 eitades of the day, as conversible events, with- out their being in the slightest degree prejudi- cial to any man. For my own part I can assign no posi- tive reason for the defection, but certain it is, that in travelling through this country I have, almost at all times, experienced how that nature, in the plenitude of hei wisdom, has deeply impregnated me with an antipathy somewhat bordering upon horror, to the fc,jciety of that individual, who, uninvited, and of his own accord, can come wilfully forward and inform you that he is going both your way and his own, and will embrace the opportu- nity of your company for a few hours along the way. Perhaps the reason for my being so very defective in common sociableness is this, that the individuals, one are likely to meet with under such circumstances, and in this country, generally belong- to that particular class of the community who imagine, that be- cause they are living in a land where equa- lity renders the amalgamations of society pre- d(i;ainant, as far as the outward and bodUy creature is concerned, the operative intelligence oi the inward or sensitive man, if not like- wise at par should be, and that, j? , «\ matter of course, anj information relative I tnc local m - VJj'•f^^''i-.^M,^ 64 ^iij M "'^i l. > !l i^ 1 I, -i • 1: ' ,' I m > 66 tions as should be supposed to develop them- selves, from fetching a compass due South, and entering a warmer climate, it was my fortune to fall into conversation with a poor Highlander, who had been on a two days* journey from his home to the nighest market, although a resident in the country for well nigh a term of three-and-twenty years. At first I felt very much disposed to offer a cold shoulder to the prudent remarks and wise say- ings of the North Britain, taking it for granted, and as a matter of course, that he was one of the presumptuous previously adverted to, and, as such, should unquestionably be avoid- ed. But, at length, the impossibility of tra- ducing his remarks, combined with the gra- dual progress he made in my conviction of the disinterestedness of his motives, influenced him so much in my favour, that I feel proud to acknowledge, that whatever perplexities he might have subjected himself to, from the worthlessness of my society along the way, nothing of the sort whatever transpired in my mind, so as to have occasioned a continuance of his company ought else but interesting and agreeable. " Ye be gain doon to Paokonham, I warrant ? " " Oh, yes." 67 ** Do ye ken t\e Chief ava?" " I had the pleasure of knowing him slightly in Montreal." " It's a' ain whether you do or na' ; ye dinna think of passin' by wi'out seein' him. The Chief would tak' it an afiront, if a stranger travelin' thro* these distant parts did no' call up to see him. He's a muckle fine man, M'Nab, tho' nathin' ava to what he was at hame. A gude friend to me he ever was ; paid my expences frae Scotland, where 1 was but a poor gaberlunzie, to this country ; and now I want for nathin,' Lord be thankit. But we had better be footin' it lightly ; it« eighteen lang miles to the Chief's, and na' sleigh to be got for love or money. Maun, but it's snp's hard." Our direct curse to Packenham now lay along the shoies of the Madawaska river, a remarkable deep but narrow stream, which runs in an easterly direction about ov hun- dred and fifty miles from its source, previ- ously to falling into the Ottawa, immediately above the cascades of Les Chats. The snow continued i > fall in immense quantities through- out the day, and towards evening the sky as- sumed a darker and more gloomy appearance, indicative at once of a much heavier fall : to ' \ I I \. I^» '^:! 68 l^r .1 avoid therefore the unpleasant necessity which lay in perspective, of remaining out until the following morning, probably underneath the shelter of a hemlock tree, or up the frowzy spout of some decayed pine, did we insist upon enforcing our journey, we camo to the more rational conclusion of putting up for the night at the first stopping place which should present itself to our notice, and which desired retreat, shortly afterwards proved to be a log hut of fourteen feet square, which its uncompromising inmates had the audacity to have ostensibly denominated the Madawaska Hotel. The sort of accommodation, both edible and cubiculary, which this rustic apperture afforded, was, I need scarcely say, of the most inferior description, being entirely comprised in an ill got ip rasher, just enough for one, submitted to a rehearsal of ceremonious civi- lities between two, and a couple of rather fallacious looking benches, upon which we were to affix the conditions of our respective persons for rest, throughout the entire of all night. The random recollections therefore con- nected with this place would be altogether uninteresting and unworthy of notice, were it not that an incident occurred a short time previous to our arrival, which, l^ing one of rare occurrence in these parts, proved the means n ! I 69 r^ \ ^\\ of creating a sensation of no ordinary nature amongst the natives. This was nothing less than the capturing and execution of a young black bear, who, to shelter himself, I suppose, from the inclemency of the weather, had very unceremoniously taken up his quarters in the sheep pens of an adjoining farm, to the great terror and discomfiture of the fleecy inhabi- tants thereof. Like the wonderful works of fabled nature, in connexion with the immense magnitude of all animals of this description, Mr. Bruen was rated at such size, and of such prodigious parts, as sufficient to baffle the conceptions altogether of people possessed of but common rate abilities, particularly if they had not been gifted with an opportunity of witnessing in person. The common place and unpretending ponderosity of two hundred and a half, which seemed to me to be the very maximum of importance that could in justice be adjudicated to his unctious bearship was nothing at all. Any thing short of half a ton, standing beam, would not satisfy the landlady herself, who informed me, with no moderate share of concern depicted in her countenance, that though it took two yoke of oxen to drag him home, it was most provi- dential they ever succeeded in getting him home at all. On our arrival at the Mada- wm^m t'' -s^-iaa rf S. wT ^ I >%> . . 70 a r ^ :'. waska Hotel, Mr. Bruen was undergoing the ignominious process of being stripped of his rayment, after having, we were informed, been strung up for half an hour by the neck, as a warning to bears in general, which impor- tant operation was carried into effect by two gentlemen amateurs, whose services, though im- questionably very defective, were very liberally offered, as the seemed to be labouring under the happy impression, that two fine fat hams ready smoked and dried, towards the conclu- sion of the ensuing spring, awaited their la- bours. Talking of bears, and the certain degree of terror and amazement which their sudden ap- pearance is always capable of creating, brings to my recollection an incident which came un- der my own special observation, not many weeks sine©, and which inattention alone prevented me firom making mention of at the time: — - , Travelling through that part of Canada, East, which is appropriated to the distinguished appellation of the Papeneau seigniory, I happened to observe the skin of one of those animals, de- cidedly in this instance, of immense size, larger than I ever recollect to have seen before, nailed up to the outside frame work of a farm house. 71 in order to arefy a salutary pr^jcaution, I find always adopted in this country preparatory to the tan yard. A curiosity to learn the his- torical wonders connected with fame and fate of this great bear, operated so powerfully upon me, that I felt but little difficulty in making my wray up to the owner's establishment, for the purpose of communicating the secret cause of my complaint, and requesting immediate advice, in order to allay my inquisitiveness. On my entrance into the establishment in question, I rndeavoured in the best possible manner to pal- liate the presumptiveness of my visit, by ob- serving to a lady who sat alone in the very centre of the room, that it was an affair of no fmall importance that could have induced mt to break in upon the privacy of any family, particularly as I was a stranger ; but that be- holding in part, the mortal remains of such a huge animal gibbeted up to public gaze, com- bined with the consciousness that in passing un- heeded the wreck of such former magnificence, I would not be doing justice to my own per- sonal feeling ; I was led to believe that the object of my strange entrance could, with diffi- culty be misconstrued, and that it would not be supposed I had any thing else whatever in yiew, than to obtain the most satisfactory in- formation, in the shortest possible space of time. '■■ 1' ' X ff. *-^* I ll (. n > I I \ This special indemnification of self, possessed the instantaneous effect of producing, on the part of the lady in question, a surprising degree of civility and attention, which, judging from the expression of her countenance and manner, pre- vious to my taking leave of her establishment, I conceived was rather a temporary imposition upon her real nature and character than other- wise. I would sincerely wish, however, that the avowed principles of my criticism, were of that particular class, which the charitably dis- posed of this sometimes kind-hearted world, could feel themselves called upon to denounce as false, and totally void of foundation ; but at present 1 labour under the belief that they are unimpeachable in their nature, and en- titled to a very considerable share of authen- ticity. ! I After an expression of desire on the part of the lady that I should be seated, had been acquiesced with, and conceiving as I did, that the pressing exigencies of my visit would be entitled to the more respect, and prove much more instrumental in the service of their own object by a despatch of business, I immediately opened proceedings by enquiring in as interested a manner as I felt myself possibly empowered ( 73 II to do — ^whether her husband had been success- ful in destroying the entire animal by means of one shot, or of ten. But judge of my sur- prise, when in place of receiving, at least, an indirect answer to so very simple an enquiry, the lady rose from off her chair, gained the furthermost end of the room, and there, for reasons I conclude best known to herself, gave vent to the overflowings of her sensibility in three separate sighs, and a flood of tears. I need scarcely relate under the circumstances, (for, at this time, I was existing in ignorance as to the real nature of the lady's grievances) how confused I felt, and sorry that I should have been the innocent cause of so much love- liness being become discomposed : I began to reflect to myself that it was more than probable, that the poor inoflensive animal, whose lifeless habiliment was hanging outside of doors, had once upon a time, been the playful inmate of the house, and the agreeable and pleasant com- panion of the now almost broken-hearted lady ; had eat of her bread, and drank of her cup — lay in her bosom, and was unto her as a daughter. My feeble fancies were just about carrying me to a pitch of refinement somewhat bordering upon the ridiculous, when a sudden and happy conceived idea of common sense interfered, point- ■' \ :t I ; 74 ( I i i ing out to me the folly of indulging in such vague and unmeaning reflections, and the im- mediate necessity of putting myself to rights up- on the subjects It could not be possible, I then argued, that such a great rough unwieldy animal, as this bear must have been, could have ever dared to encroach so far upon that line of de- markation laid out between men and animals, as to have enforced the contumely of his presence upon such high and enlightened society, more pro- bable far, the crumbs that fell trom his mistresses table, were swept up, and sent out to him, as so many emblematical hints, signifying that he must seek his bread elsewhere, than from the internal subsidies of the house — that nature, in the plenitude of her wisdom, had supplied liim with a remedy for every grievance, and a sub- stitute f( r every want, in the hollow of his paw, which he could lick at pleasure ; and where, if he did not please to have recourse to now and again for assistance, he might 'bide the conse- quences. Fortunately for me, at this period of our ncgociations, the state of mental ambiguity, under which it appears I had been labouring all the time, was quickly brought to a close, by an act of especial interforcr :e on the pait of the lady herself, who, no doubt, taking my unpleasant situation into her benign considera- tion, gradually regained confidence-, and gathered I 75 strength, so as to enable her eventually return- ing to her seat : here, however, she did not suffer herself to remain long in a state of im- becility, for, elevating the importance of her person up in a choleric attitude, somewhat re- sembling the Boa Constrictor, about to strike, and suiting the action of a clenched fist to the aptitude of her position, she informed me how proud she was to acknowledge that she herself was native of New England, and just married ; but that sooner than be devoured up alive by bears, wolves, and other obnoxious animals, she should return to her own country, first intimating to her husband that she was about to '* start,'* if he accompanied her well, but if not she pledged her sacred existence leaving liim and his " traps" behind, for ever. The intelligence deducible from this declaration, as regai'dcd my own per- gonal convenience, appeared of such niomen- s us importance, that a proper tendency of mind, 'suitable to the occasion, immediately commenced setting in, to the entire suppression of all er- roneous calculations whatever. Her husband now eiitered the room, and very apropos — indeed liis presence a few minutes sooner might have been attended with rather unpleasant consequences to some of the individuals in question, as a gen- tleman entering an apartment and there and then finding his wife bathed in tears, in the D 2 I lii I ^1 ! 1 1 ! Pi n I \i^t ' 1 ,1 76 prefjencc of a stranger, is a circumstance, if not of sufficient importance in itself, to form the ground-work for an action of separation, would decidedly be of no small weight in adjusting any slight uncertainties, which might hitherto have prevailed, as to whether the green-eyed monster formed a concomitant part of the ma- ti'iiaonial system or not; as it was he looked upon me with an eye boding no friendship; but when informed that I had come into the presence of his lady, merely to learn the history of a bear, he softened down instantaneously, said that I was perfectly welcome to his house, and that if I would but make myself contented for a few minutes, he, himself^, should recount the whole story over to me, exactly as it happened, a strange coincidence, he contended, unequalled in the annals of " all Christian society." — Owing entirely to the deliberations of breathless atten- tion, in connexion with guarded anxiety, by which I maintained my position throughout the recital of my learned informant, who communi- cated to mc the circumstances of this event, in a mixture of Canadian French, and Yankee Eufrlish dialects, I 'as enabled to make out much more of thf real spirit of the transaction, than I judged it prudent to indulge expecta- ^on in, at the commenctwent of his narrative. 77 It appears that the very night previous to the day on which I had the honour of paying my respects in person to the inmates of this es- tablishment, a Bear finding himself moved by considerable motives of reverence towards man- kind, had the audacity to approach that special apartment, wherein lay concentrated in bed, a lord of the soil and his fair lady, and knock several times, praying for admission. Finding, how- ever, that he was not likely to effect his pur- pose by such a formal mode of proceedings, he very unceremoniously shoved the entire cluster of his fore-foot through a pain of glass, and drawing it suddenly back, succeeded in removing a considerable portion of the window-sash, to the great consternation and dismay of the inmates, no doubt. The distressed couple, who (with the exception of a solitary servant, sick of influenza, and Pompey, the dog,) were the sole occupiers of the house, were now obliged to rise from their beds, for the purpose of measui*- ing swords with the intruder ; and judging that further delay in coming to immediate action might prove dangerous to their liberties, they determined upon giving battle to the bear in- stauter. The engines of warfare inside the house, were at this time very few, and those too, of such innoxious appearance, as would have involved me, had I been one of tiieir exhibitors 78 n I m I in contemplations of considerable doubt, as to how the contest would terminate, being nothing more than a brace of very mistrustful looking pistols, and an obtuse meat axe; notwithstand- ing, under the protection of these unostentatious weapons, but with stout hearts, the hall door was thrown open, and free access given to Mr. Bruen, to make his entre as soon as convenient. This indirect manner of acting upon the de- fensive, I must remark, not being duly had re- course to, until the entire window-frame, had been previously dragged out into the street, and a full persuasion prevailed, that the enemy would, of his own corporeal system, be found to iur- nish the fresh materials for closing up the aper- ture. From accounts, it appears, that Bruen was not long in accepting of the proffered invitation : a few strides upon his latter legs, soon brought him up in direct opposition with his foes, when standing upright, and presenting the symmetri- cal range of his enviable fury, as a claim upon their consideration and forbearance, at the same time placing his arms in an encircling attitude, indicative at once of his willingness to squeeze his open enemies into closer friends, you would have vouched upon honour, said my informant, that he really came to ask pardon for the trouble he had caused through his untimely visit. — A couple oi' pistols were now discharged instan- 79 taneously in the face of the invader, out, whe- ther these small fire arms had been previously loaded with leaden missiles, sufficient of creating even a superficial sensation or not, was an interrogatory to which I could procure no sa- tisfactory answer ; however, I might have been incensed into the belief, that they had been hanging up in a very dry corner of the house for the last six months. At all events, when the smoke cleared away, neither party appeared to have suffered by the explosion ; Bruen was still standing firmly upon his legs- and his antagonists preserving their balance, not- withstanding the disappearance of the pistols, which went off, to all intents and purposes, their shattered remains not being discoverable until the following morning's daylight. I ■■J P i| ! Whatever ill success might have attended the discharge of fire arms, it appears certain that the dog Pompey proved more effectual in his endeavours to grapple with the foe> who, though unable to combat to death with an enemy possessed of such superior physical force and acknowledged prowess, was, nevertheless, successful, in compelling him to retreat from the imperial residence of his master, for that humbler and less ostentatious edifice, which is inhabited by the most unpretending species of I ' 80 h il >* ■i i ■ :' f- 'i the animal creation, and denomiated, the hog sty. Here Mr. Bruen despatched for his temporary relief, the delicious vicety, of a yoi),'^ pig of twenty pounds weight, in ii increaible short spaciB of time, and with not more outcry on the part of the poor sufferer, than an inevi- dent grunt, merely to shew that all his hopes were at an end ; this he had well nigh de- voured upon the arrival of the owner, who had, by this time, proci :ed a special re- strainer, in the natur- of a pitchfork, from the farm yard, and was descending the steps of the slaughter-house in the character of a man " studious at once of his interest and his vengeance," and determined, by a sudden thrust, to wipe away the foul stain that had so lately tarnished the reputation of his pistols. In his hurry, however, to execute justice upon the aggressor, he overlooked the necessity of hav- ing had a due recourse to caution, as the loss of his dog can but too well asseverate ; for, mak- ing an incautious thrust at the bear imme- diately on his entrance, that animal, quick as lightening, with a sudden stroke of his paw, glanced the weapon off before it came within twelve inches of assailing him, by which pro- cedure, with force unbroken, the fork entered the left side of poor Pompey, and killed him dead upon the spot. Had the bear, at this third ! tory nizing last m( i«*k 81 unfortunate crisis, been fully intent upon com- mitting depredations, to any considerable ex- tent, he might easily have closed in upon his antagonist, and so ended the contest, fatally, no doubt, to my proud informant ; but, as it fortunately turned out, his mind was more bent in discussing the merits of his little pig, than depreciating the nature of his appetite down to such indigestible stuff as human flesh, so, consequently, another and better opportunity for displaying the utilities of the pitchfork lay open to the consideration of his enemy, who, in this instance, it appears, proved more successful than at first, whilst a tliird and a fourth thrust completed the vic- tory over the fallen foe, who, with an ago- nizing grin, tumbled down dead over the last mouthful of his victim. 1 I A % i' ■ As I have retrograded from following up the narration of my own personal adventures, for the purpose of conferring opulency upon the exploits of a bear, and have recounted over what I considered to be most worthy of acceptation, and free of prejudice, I will now return to ray abandoned post, quoting, in ex- tenuation of such act of aberation, the old, yet still prevailing aphorism, that " necessity has no law." Eaxly next morning we took D 3 \ t I I < \\ \ ;i 82 our departure from the Madawaska Hotel, and succeeded, with some difficulty, in crossing the deep and dangerous current of the river on the perilous materiality of two inches and a half of ice ; this thin incrustation owing its existence to the rapids which ferment th( stream in this part of its course, and caus< the waters to boil up with infuriated force, almost prohibitory to the frosts having any effect upon their surface. In mild winters they completely debar all communication between shore and shore, as the liquid element is then neither sufficiently frozen, so as to admit of its being made a safe traverse, or free enough of ice to allow of intercourse, by means of boats. On the opposite bank of the river we entered upon the territory of the M*Nab, which, in this most eastern part of its boundary, is very thinly settled, a circumstance owing al- together to the nature and quality of the land, and the impossibility almost of its ever being sufficiently freed from timber, so as to suit the purposes of agriculture. Thousands upon thousands of acres of unfrequented pine fo- rests are here, wherein the foot of the white man never treads, with the exception, perhaps, of the migratory forester, who may be in- duced to visit these silent recesses of perpe- tual twilight, in the hope of being able to 83 call out from amongst the million candidates for exportation, a solitary stick, that can boast a uniform length of two hundred feet, exempt from defect, in the shape of branch or knot, or ought else that would mar its marketable va- lue. After journeying for seven? -riles through- out these dreary woods, and tocriag a compass arse due south, we again stuck upon the Tadawaska river, where, finding the ice suffici- ently thick so as to enable us travelling it without danger, and less interfering with our progres- fcion, than respirating over fallen trees, or into unfor.eseen snow drifts, we again entered the river, and continued our journey upon the fickle element a distance of fourteen miles, with- out meeting with any impediment, other than trampling down at every step, the porosity of eight inches of fresh fallen snow into an ad- hesive consistancy, with some difficulty got rid of. During our ambulations up mid channel, my travelling companion, whose energetic ex- ertions to enable us to bear up against the toil- someness of the journey, were unceasing, by a series of undeniable arguments, which went to prove that Scotland and the Scotch were the greatest country and people upon the face of the earth, undertook once to break in upon the main stay of his discourse, by giving me a short account of the fortunes, and misfortunes, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I IL25 i 1.4 I^IM |25 ■^ Uii 12.2 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation ^v c\ \ as WIST MAIN STMIT WIMTIi.N Y MSIO (71*) ira^sos i\ i i I i 1( I I ( V'V 84 of his chief, which more than an ordinary interest in the person of the individual referred to, has induced me partly to' recollect. The M*Nab, of M*Nab, he remarked, was once a powerful chieftain in the Western Highlands of Scotland, where, from time im- memorial, his family had lived in the posses- sion of rather comfortable estates, and consi- derable hereditery privileges. Of that precise period, in which the present chief succeeded to the possession of his parental property, my travelling companion could give me no satis- factory information, but, at all events, he mentioned his having been married shortly after he had attained his twenty-first year, to a lady of great personal charms, and considera- ble fortune, but unfortunately, of rather extra- vagant propensities. The consummation of this marriage was the commencement of a continu- ed series of expensive entertainments, and ill- managed sumptuosities, by no means propor- tioned to their circumstances, and which ended by making a total wreck of the chief's establishment ; compelling him to part with the greater portion of his property, and re- treating to a foreign country, for the purpose of seeking after a home. His wife, however, remarked John Highlandman, had her jointure, fy'i V 85 atid her jointure house, and chosed to remain in Scotland. Af);er numberless unsuccessful attempts to set matters again to rights, the chief embarked fur Canada in the year of 1821, and there agreed with the government of the country, for the grant of one township, to be called by his own name, and which he imdertook, unconditionally, to colonize at his oYirn expense. He now set saU for his native country, disposed of the remnant of his pro- perty to the Marquess of Bredalbane, pur- suaded the entire clan of M'Nab to accom- pany him back to America, puid their expenses, and arrived in Canada a second time towards the opening of the foUowing year. Of the mutual agreements entered into, said my in^ formant, between the chief and his clan at the commencement of this new epoch in their history, common-place rumour affords but little information; however, it is not so scanty of intelligence, when the duration of the partner- ship, and the measures which lead to its dis- solution, are made the theme of general con- versation. These are subjects, though for very pertinent reasons, I feel a delicacy in speak- ing of, or giving my opinion too freely on ; not to ca}l in question, that the making of them public would be inexpedient in itself, as being altogether a work of supererogation; I ■ I • ' ' \ < w -''■'.*>• i jj f( !! i i S6 a knowledge of the facts and circumstances, being interesting only to those individuals who are acquainted with the parties, and the re- spective stations in society, which each holds in this distant part of the country; it is suffi- cient here to mention, that at the end of six years from the commencement of the M'Nab set- tlement in Canada West, the entire clan, with but one or two exceptions, refused granting their chief any :^ther compensation for their lands ; that neither the means taken to enforce a con- tinued observance of the contract, or the op- position shewn, though finally effectual, were of such a nature as would add much lustre to the characters of the individuals in ques- tion, or be perused with pleasure in the annals of their adopted country; and that fi- nally, government, for the general preserva- tion of peace, fou" it necessary to interfere between the combav> i.s, take the management of the township under their own immediate authority, and supersede the chief from hav- ing ought to say to the general arrangements of the settlement, more than that connected with the little spot of groimd upon which he himself resides. , ,, - , : r ..:. : :. .... ; ': :...„ .; ;,. . \ On our arrival on shore, we approached a very beautiftil and rich division of the ter- ritory, which has been occupied by a majo- rity of the clansmen ever since the period of their emigration from the land of cakes, till within these last four years. The differences howerer arising with their chief, has been the means of inducing Pat to venture himself into those backward parts^ for the purpose of comparing the virtues of his boxty bread with the Scotchman's bonnock; and, if report speaks true, his movements are not altogether incompatible with the wishes of the chief, an infringment upon nationality on the part of the latter, that, had one of his kith or kin been found guilty of a century back, in his native country, would have been a sufficient pretext, for a methodical system of jealousy to have been immediately called into ope- ratior, and continued flourishing in impor- tance for the then next sixty years, so as to have finally consummated its object, upon the devoted head of some great-grandchild. Here we arrived at the modest mansion of my tra- velling companion, who insisted upon taking me under his protection until the following morning, a provident interference on his part, which I felt very happy to succumb to, as,, in connexion with my being extremely tired, I received the promise of a cutter slight at my command, for the purpose of propogating my journey a distance of five-and-twenty milei the following day. I' i \ m 88 On the nortii-west side of White Lake, a beautiful little inland sea, extending over a surface of two thousand acres, is situated the residence of the Gselic Chieftain, the M*Nab of M'Nab — ^it is a square cottage, built entirely of stone, containing about eight apartments, and standing upon an eminence of ten feet above the level of the water. On the opposite shores of the lake the land graduates from the level of the country, into a beautiful chain of wood- land elevations, which, though inferior inawfiil magnificence and grandeur, to the hills of his native Perthshire, in Scotland, are nevertheless richer in the possession of a much more ex- uberant soil, and the greater capabilities of being improved. Were such fair scenery as this is, discoverable within or aroimd, any of the all- hallowed demesnes of the mother country, its protected graces would, doubtless, conde- scendingly be thrown open by the ennobled owner, to the services of all health-seeking re- creationists — the ennui of the fashionable idler, and the admission of every seven days in the week merchant man, who could find means for once, to escape subjugating himself to the denun- ciatirns threatened against the breakers of the fourth oommandment, by squaring up his leger on Saturday night, so as to enable him to spend the mollifications of the following day amongst y . 89 the delightfiil scenery of wood and water. But it is not^ while lake and its loy&liness, are ap- portioned by indelible decrees of omnipotency to the immeasurable wastes of the New World, situated in the wilds of Canada, a thousand miles inland, its wood-girt shores are all but unknown, and entirely unfrequented, save by the few scarcely naturalized clansmen, and Irish adven- turers, who have come hither, for the purpose of prefering their claims upon prosperity, to those supreme prospects of success, which rigorous hard- ships and oppressive labours, are alone empowered in this country to have legitimate access to. — Living in this solitary retirement, with a perma- nent sameness of scenery and incident ever in reserve, it is but reasonable to suppose that the active mind of an individual, previously accustomed to the vicissitudes attendant upon much so- ciety, would naturally become weary in itself, and seek for the indispensible necessaries of a change, to ensure it even a temporary happiness ; consequently the M'Nab is absent from his woodland retreat in Montreal, Kingstovm, or Quebec, eight months out of the twelve, as is the case at present; whilst the knowledge of his arrival at home, or departure, scarcely ever ex- tends beyond the immediate circle of his own domestics. From the singularity of his dress, and the dignified appearance of his person, the 90 chief is easily recognised in the street amongst the heterogeneous mass of foreign adventurers^ who daQy crowd into this speculating country j ?md though some thousand miles distant from his native country, he nei*r forgets his moun- tain home. . l':'::^oi^, i^-^^*'--*;* ;:■:■. ,^' ,^^^;r ?/-: « The dirk and plaid he wears them too, And Scotland owns his heart true blue." Indifferent as to the influences of modish ele- gancies, he seldom appears either at home or abroad, imless invested with that peculiar cos- tume, in which his ancestors proudly distinguished themselves some centuries back, but which the circumscriptions of modem adornments, have been at last successful, in annihilating from his native country altogether. The stream upon which this village is situated is the Mississippi, a poor resemblance, no doubt, of its great prototype, the father of streams, but nevertheless a body of water, which, had nature moulded within the limits of the British Isles, would be capable of driving before it into the sea, such tiny resistance as the Thames, the Severn, the Liffey, or the Clyde could connect- ively present. It has a course of 120 miles, previous to falling into the grand river, imme- diately below the beautiful cascades of Los Chats, ^^" 1 eighteen inches thick> carrying on its bosom from suii^rise to snn^set, the antecedent propensities of every con« sequential idler in the neighbourhood^ who may happen to be in the possession of a pair of skates, or of that more important, but less can- servative turn out, a pleasure sleigh. .^Jong the banks of this river, the country for many miles, and for a considerable period of time, has been settled principally by Scotch and Irish Imigrants," which separate and distinct races have contrived, with the most admirable dexterity, to know as Uttlc of each other, and keep up as much social intercourse, as the men of Gowrie do with the ' peep of day boys' around the Galtee moujitains. This distinction is owing, in a great measure, to the hereditary pride of the Scot, who considers that a Scotchman, let him be in whatever part of the world he may, should ever bear in mind that he is a ScotchrYJan, and ken nane that were na' Scotch ; and a aort of un- affected indifference on the part of Pat, when he sees friendship more whimsical in his neigh- bour than necessary, to flatter him with the attributes of an interrogatory, as to who or what he may be. A difference in religious opinions also, I am inclined to apprehend, tends in no small degree to widen the breach, though in n 1'^ ' ii ii : ! n the spiritual arrangements of many settlements, this is certainly not the case, as in New Glen- garry for instance, where, by computation, two thirds of the inhabitants are descendants of Western Highland Scotch, and adhere so strictly to the ancient language and reKgion of their forefathers, as to denounce all other creeds as fanciful and facinerious; and the remaining portion. Lowland Borderers, genuine sticklers to the sapient opinations of John Knox, who conceive themselves alone predestined by Pro- vidence as fit objects for eternal mercy. — The most cordial co-operation in all secular matters is found to exist, and no general diiHuencies in their assigned colony, have, for their origin, any differences in religious opinions whatever. I could give many other instances, all of a similar nature, in ivhich the distinctions caused by religious bigotry, especially amongst the Imigrants from North Britain, do not seem to be of such a pernicious character as to effect, in the slightest degree, the progressive condi- tion of the Colony ; but then the inhabitants of these districts are natives of the same country, and not the emulous representatives of two rival nations, whose antipathy to each other is rather increased than otherwise, by being too suddenly forced into a reflection that they are, of neces- sity, to remain close neighbours for the remain- '' 1 ' <^ 93 i remain- ing portion of their lives. The sidesmen for old England are, in this part of the country, very few in number, when compared with either Irish or Scotch ; and strange to say they marry and are given in marriage, much more with the former than the latter — ^this circumstance, however, may, in some measure, be accounted for, by taking into consideration the numerical strength of each individual nation, and the different position in society which each finds itself obligated to maintain. The English, as I have already mentioned, are comparatively few, and very poor indeed, their privations com- pelling them to have recourse, in many instances, to their neighbours for assistance, in order to enable them to stem the torrent at all. The Irish are, as usual, poor enough, but very nu- merous, and, as is generally the case, all the world over, are found ready and willing to give or take with any man — whUst the Scotch being the oldest settlers, (in point of numbers, are not scant, and mostly all independant,) neither wish to " borrowers or lenders be" with any man ; every one just looks to hi' sel.' This sort of fastidious selfishness on the part of brother Sandy, in conjunction with the all-powerful de- mands of necessity, to which the other parties find themselves called upon to pay competent deference, proves the means of a greater .'' V >) '): 94 intimacy subsistiiig between the persons of John Bull and Faddy^ than it is almost possible to conceive there could be, particularly when we take into consideration that the constitution of their private amity towards each other at home, is not generally heralded about as possessing that liberality of sentiment, and exaltation of soul, which would entitle it to be classified imder the conscionable head of friendship platonic. -v Though this part of "West Canada is adver- tised under the important cognomination of an aged settlement, clearances having been effected so far back as twenty years, yet new Imigrants continue to flock in yearly, a sufficient evi- dence, notwithstanding the existence of national prejudices, and religious animosity, of the Colony's being in a thriving condition, and the value of property on the ascendancy. There are many instances, no doubt, in which we find a " beggarly account" given of the successes and fortunes attending upon these new importations, but then these are in a great measure owing to the impoverished state of the Imigrants upon their arrival, consequent upon their having placed an unguarded share of confidence in t^e protestations of far away friends. Unquestion- ably J have always considered it an important i~- <^ 96 consideration^ admitting of but little doubt^ that whatever success, may have attended the elevated fancies of that experimentalist, who leaves his native home for the sole purpose of acquiring an independency in either the United States of Canada, it remains for his nearest and dearest of kin, who are still droiling out their days in distress and poverty, ever to bear in mind, that such visitations of prosperity are to be looked upon, more in the light of providential inter- ferences on behalf of their brother alone, for which they should rejoice and be thankiiil, than as fortunate circumstances, part of which they might rationally indulge in the expectation of being enabled to turn to their own personal advantage. I am not speaking in the language of hyperbole when I maintain, that from the moment the poor stranger of the mother country, first plants his foot upon the land of inexpli- cable liberty, or in Canada, for the purpose of testing the aptitude of his fortune, according to the manners and condition of the country — from that moment I repeat, he ceases to be what he really was, a fit and affectionate friend. The kind regards and benevolence with which his breast was frdl towards others, whilst in his native country, and which poverty alone prevented him from giving ample proo& of, are here all changed into fus many subservient r \ ^vfi f ,j I I /( ii i : 'J I: Ii k /' i I I ! ■»- !: principles to self aggrandizement^ or kept cau- tiously concealed, except when the interest of the proprietor is unconditionally concerned. In many instances, no doubt, we hear of the poorer classes of people in Ireland, receiving considerable moneyed presents from their enterprising con- nexions in America, and invitations to follow them with all possible speed; but the first of these are merely spiritless gifts, culled out firom amongst the faints of scarce re-animated friend- ship, the effects of duty more than love, and are seldom known to have been repeated spon- taneously, after the Imigrant has for one year been expatiating upon the nature of his own importance in the land of freedom; and the last, though zealous persuasions would, for both parties, be much better received as cold disavowals, or at least, as they often are, artfiil remonstrances, placed upon paper, for the pm- pose of instigating them on to a series of un- dertakings, which they themselves are perfectly aware it would be next *-o an impossibility for them ever to accomplish. Donald M'Shane was once a respectable tradesman of the city of Dublin, in which alleged claimant for the most distinguished re- sidence which the Prince of Darkness is said to give preference to, in opposition to Tarta* 97 rean title^ he had^ for the space of fifty ^ears, in the capacity of a tailor, exercised his elbow not in vain, having, at the close of that conspicuous period in deeds omnigenous, amassed, if not a very considerable sum of money, at least a sufficiency to maintain him for the remainder of his days, in a state of ease ^d affluence, compatible to his station in society. On his eldest daughter having attained her five-and-twentieth year, she en- viously wroTight upon, by the advice of some specT'lating acquaintances, who were about to leave their native land, for the purpose of meliorating their condition amongst the wild woods of Canada, and contrary to the wish of more interested Mends, determined to accon. - pany them; and having, in her turn, en- gaged the assent and support of her yoiinger sister, as a sort of approveable accomplice to her voyage of discovery, the adventurous girls, with their companions, took an eternal fare- well of the Insula Sanctorum, and arrived safely in that land where " The pine wood o'ertops the red forests of beech, ''■* 1 In forests as far as the eye can reach." To say that man in general is very often- times mistaken in his calculations, so as to E i\ 7 I I ' 1/ ! I W I ii (1 i 98 fail in them altogether, is a simple hypothe> sis of reasonable nature, that requires to be furnished with not more important evidence to prove its validity, than, in proportion, it is exorbitant and unjust to advance for argu- ment, that the reason why misconceptions and disappointments do so frequently present them- selves to our notice, is, that the realities of this life are never intended by Providence to fulfil the aspirings of premier imaginations. In many instances we hear of even the ex- perimentalist, succeeding to the very acme of his most sanguine expectations, as we find exemplified, in the biographical annals connected with the fame and fate of those two young ladies, of whom it remains upon record, that in the incredible short space of four weeks after their arrival, and without an hour beyond half that periods of time having been bestowed in adjusting the formal preliminaries of court- ship, they were married to their hearts' con- tent, and made mistresses of comfortable es- tablishments ; but to the intent and purpose of my story : — After three years had elapsed from the arrival of the sisters in Canada, and the re- alization of general independency, been every day becoming more and more visible, it was x\l 99 mutually agreed upon between them^ that a request should be made to their aged &ther^ in order to intreat of him selling off the entire of his stock on hand^ proceeding immediately to Canada, and there spending the remainder of his days by their firesides, where, as they emphatically remarked, no expedient would be left unresorted to, which would enable him to live as comfortable and happy as he could possibly desire. From adyices, it appears that their first application to this efiect, was alto- gether unsuccessful — ^the second likewise — ^the third akin too ; and it was not until the old man received a fourth letter from his daugh- ters, intimating to him that if he did not comply with the nature of their request, they would be put to the imnecessary sufferance of proceeding to Ireland, and taking him off " vi-et-arniis." After been harassed by a suc- cession of such beseeming loves, the old man, in an evil hour, gave way to the impulses of unlucky scepticism, disposed of all his worldly concerns for the ready money, took shipping at the Quay of Dublin, escaped the terrors of the deep, and, in the inside of two months after his departure, presented himself before the establishments of his daughters, a visible candidate for the emoluments of theli' prof- fered friendship. E 2 i I H i ji i\ ii^ 100 .'S Here, for the first six months after his arrival, Donald M'Shane enjoyed a life of un' interrupted happiness. Living in the society of his two daughters, to whom he had made over the entire residue of his earthly property, the old man believed himself fortunate in the change, and was just about to bless the hour in which the allurements of filial affection tri- umphed over the dictates of his own consci- ence, and brought him to America, when an unlucky circumstance suddenly broke in upon the resourses of all his tranquillity, felled his serial castles to the ground, and left him but the mortifying 'satisfaction of knowing, that the workmanship of his frail edifices had been cemented together with untempered mortar. Having gone security, to a considerable amount, for the pecuniary liabilities of one of those ambiguous characters which the friendship and frailty of human nature generally designate a friend, said valuable acquaintance, chosing to absent himself somewhere about that particular period of time wherein his presence was most anxiously required; the husband ot the elder daughter, had his personal property seized, his farm sequestered, and was under the neces- sity of absconding in person, for the purpoiie of securing his own personal liberty. 101 It was now that the old man, at the ex- press desire of his elder daughter, bid fare- well to her establishment, for the purpose of becoming m inmate altogether in that of her sister, or \t least until such times as the pros- pects of the former, should properly be consi- dered to have taken a turn towards resusci- tation. Things, notwithstanding, continued to remain similarly situated for the then ensuing four months, no apparent alteration for the better having taken place in the unfortunate affairs of the elder sister; certainly none that seemed warranted in holding out to her, any hopes of her husband's circumstances becoming less embarrased, or indulge her in the expec- tation that his idtimate fate would be con- nected with ought else save a general bank- ruptcy. At the close of this period the earth- ly happiness of Donald M'Shane might be said virtually to have closed. A suspension of amicableness on the part of the two sisters, brought about, in consequence of their father having remained an unusual length of time under the protection of the younger daughter, was but the signal, for a series of violent dis- putes and malignant controversies, which, un- fortunately, could only be terminated, by the tragical interposition of the old man's death, and that too, in a manner which might be t ''^i n i\ i i ! HI i lOd sufficient to shock the rude sensibilities of the savage or barbarian, with a condition of sen- timent not very far removed from disgust At the command of the younger daughter, the old man now left her establishment for that of her sister, which latter had been reduced to the deplorable necessity of living in a re- tired part of the out-houses connected with her former dwelling-house. After having fulfilled his month amongst the ruins of this domestic down&ll, in a manner little suitable to what he had been previously accustomed, he re- turned again to his younger daughter, but here he met with but scomM rebuffs and re- proaches, for his despicable meaness and want of pride, in having enforced his presence into the establishment of any individual unasked. As the inheritable right of the old man to demand from his children food to eat, and raiment to put on, had now, to all intents, ceased to ex- ist, or be available, the unnatural expedient, of throwing himself upon their generosity, was adopted, as the last resource which this despised object, and martyr to credulity, could well be- think of; but the unnatural hags, in their hurry to do, what they termed justice to their own selfish interests, not only refused listen- ing to his remonstrances, but actually fell upon him conjointly, and beat him with an 10.1 esctent of savage barbaritj^ that the criminal annaJs of the Newgate Calendar^ coiild fur- nish few so forcible examples of. This was, in itself^ a sufficient sample of ris daughters intentions, to prevent the poor old man from ever giving them an opportunity of carrying them into operation : turning to give a last look of agonizing contempt, at the sordid re*- mains, of what had been once his daughters, Donald M'Shane took his hat in his hand, walked with hurried steps towards the banks of the Mississippi, and there, with a sudden rush, as if to bar the interference of pro- crastination, closed the fated career of an earthly existence, which an uninterrupted series of kindness and attention, would scarcely have proved available, in inducing to remain but for a few months longer the burthen of any one. a Would to Heaven it were in my power, to have closed the sad memoirs, connected with the life and death of Donald M'Shane in Canada, by an asseveration, which would go to confirm, that from the precise moment in which the unfortunate man put an end to his earthly existence, the revengeful thuinderbolts of Hea- ven's justice, due the murderer, had fallen, with unerring aim, upon the worldly circum- 1 104 ' I ' : ,, I ^'1 / stances of his two daughters : that they had heen " cursed in their basket, and in their store ; cursed in their going out, and in their coming in ; that they had become an astonish- ment, and a proverb, and a by-word, among all people ; and that the pestilence had clea- ven unto them until it had destroyed them from off the face of the land." But, as by the rightful interposition of Providence, this a pleasing task to have performed, is not per- mitted me, I consequently bow in deference to the unsearchable author of all wisdom, and avow his indelible right to fix the day of retribution ; for " vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." ;V. : Ji.!,' '::l-H< y'Z.J. A:.Ji ;«a;. This is not a singular instance of that particular description of usage, which the pre- viously unaccustomed to native of the old world, should prepare himself, for entering into negociations with, immediately upon his arrival in the new, should it have been his misfortune, to have placed over confidence, in the protestations and promises of epistolary com- munications, the authors of which, in general, are themselves seeking after an independency, and whose lot it has been, be it remembered, previously to have run the giddy race set before them, by inquiring friends residing in >!'9 V \ o ;nce, in 105 America, who had, no doubt, themselves, in their turn, been made the dupes of such other speculatory acquaintances. I could give maiiy other wellnigh similar circumstanced instances, but I have chosen the foregoing one from amongst the mass, as being, in my opinion, the most appropriate of any, for the purpose of upholding the principle of my argument, which is this — that no individual, however im- poverished his circumstances, or dependant he may be upon the charities of fellow-creatures, in the land of his birth, (that is to say in Europe) should ever think of accepting the wily proposals of such acquaintances as have been residing for one year or upwards, either in the Model Republic, or in Canada, unless he finds, upon overhauling the significancy of his own personal prowess, comprised in the strength of his right arm, a sufficiency of available matter, such as will enable him to hurl defiance at the favours and affections of every animated being on this side of the Atlantic. If the person and presence of an aged and venerable parent, proves not of suffi- cient weight, in commanding the common ne- cessaries of life, at the hands of his own children, allow me to ask, upon what good and practicable reasons, can those individuals support their claims to assistance, who are E 3 »;■ I ■( i f 1. 1 106 possessed of no other recommendations^ than such as would come under the head of old acquaintanceship^ or, as is very commonly the case, their having subscribed their &yours and affections as wives and sweethearts, some twelve or twenty years back ? '*y<. t vij:. . >;-da4V'' .a' ;'';^44viitJ M . ---. '-■•tv-*V^ , ' 1'" ' ^^,V:i..,-;^ - "V ■''■* Y"- ' '%■■ ^.■L-.;S-, .-.-" -••. t-- ■vjr:;,, ,..^f,' fs sf-ai^ (i# ^*; ri - \* f ■'*. ,' r ^^ 107 iletoal/e, Dee. 24, 1844. tinder the patronage of as fatigued a pair of nether limbs^ as ever denied obeisance to their sovereign lord and master, the body, I feel my- self fireely empowered again to renew the con- siderations of my epistolatory communication, re- marking for the especial benefit of your own private perusal, that I have judged it expedient to reserve ta myself, the privilege of remaining silent upon every subject, which, after due ex-- amination, I may consider to be uninteresting, or rightfully entitled to the parliamentary privilege of being termed Mvolous and vexatious. After having remained in Packenham for well nigh one week, owing to the severity of the weather, (the condition of which, without any sinistrous interpretation whatever, might be fairly said, to have completely put a stop to every description of travelling, whether by land or water,) I resumed the task of my journey, and proceeded in a south eastern direction along the banks of the Mississippi. Owing to I t w ^4 It i ■ feif^ 7.. 108 the extraordinary depths of the fresh fallen snow, which were, in some localities, better than three feet, I was unable to proceed more than eight miles on the first day, and found myself ne- cessitated, to put up for the night in the wigwam of a Mississauga Indian, who had lately arrived in that part of the country, for the purpose of deer hunting, and collecting furs. He 1 p.? his two Squaws and eight children to accompany him; an Indian's family, I imder stand, being a necessary appendage to his person, upon every expedition, connected with war or hunting. I was provided with a deer's hide, rather elevated from the ground by a few hemlock branches, as a substitute for a bed; and, contrary to my ex- pectations, slept exceedingly well, and found myself quite refreshed the following morning.— Iiideed I have ever been fiilly convinced, that in this description of knowledge, so diametrically opposite, are the resources of our real nature, to what our most shrude sensibilities lead us to expect — mankind can not be said to vie even with the beast of the field ; he knows but little, and with that little put unto the test, his know- ledge proves aba^^d. I had a very excellent breakfast, prepare tury '< my dt^-^ture from the wigwam, consisting oi smoked and fresh venison, Indian meal bread, with a decoction of the sasafras plant, as a substitute for tea. This 109 sort of morning's meal, and the manner in which it was served up, might not, in every instance, I am certain, suit the delicate appetite of that individual, whose capabilities of doing justice to the breakfast table, are ia a great measure guided by the proportionable amount of con- sequence, to which his nasal extremity will be found to have elevated itself above its ordinary position in society, when it so happens that it is absolutely necessary that the culinary uten- sils of the kitchen be removed, in order to make way for the parlour ; as the exhalements arising from the Indians unrefin d method of cookery, preparatory to the effects being placed upon the table for consideration, did not cer-^ tainly partake much of that very refined odo- riferousness, which a person of such construc- tion, could feel much satisfaction, in introducing to the notice of his olfactory senses : notwith- standing the repast was partaken of, on my part, with a degree of voraciousness, that would have done honour to a more polite company, a more princely decoction of the lapsang, and a less epicurean description of animal nutri- ment. ■- --"• '-'■■'■ ■■ -5 -...<- - -; -' .i-^ -.-■ ■ I.- .i ri-i'/ia.:r} >ii. .isif.'oy The town and township of Perth, now lay in the direct course, which I had preparatively set apart, for the purpose of testing my own ..^. ^4... -, . 110 li' :; l! S I i.J personal prowess witk the indubitable ferocit3r of a Canadian winter. This part of country, if I am permitted to form an.' opinion from hyemal appearances, is one of tk^ richest and most flourishing settlements in this entire di* vision of Canada West Commenced under the immediate auspices of ^Govemment, so far back as the year 1815, Perth can boast a con- dition of domestic comforts and agricultural pros- perity, suck as is unknown within side a space of fifty mile& round. Tke primitive settlers were all originally Scotck, as migkt be expected from tke discriminative appellation of tke townskip ; but tke persons of Jokn Bull and Paddy are botk discernable kere at present, doubtless brougkt kitker, from tke ckaritable motive of interlard- ing tke Scotckman's nationaHty, witk tkeir plum* pudding and potatoes; and tkings in general are found to be in a very considerable state of advancement. I must not forget to observe, tkat kere and tkere tkrougkout tke settlement, a sligkt inkling of brotker Jonatkan, from tke States, may be traced, wko kas, unquestionably, removed kimself from under tke protection of tke star spangled Banker, and arrived in tkis country, for tke express purpose of preventing tke liabilities of a direct taxation, interfering with the liberties of tke citizen, as well as for co- operating wick tke naturaUsed Canadian, in pre- - ^'- HI paring the model of a new form of Government, hitherto altogether unknown^ which shall have for its object, the entire exemption firom restrsdnt and tyranny, of every individual under Heaven, with the exception, of course, of Niggers ; and those who may be so unfortunate as to have themselves denominated Statesmen, and the ma- nagement of the public treasury placed in their hands. - > The town of Perth is beautifully situated upon a branch of the River Rideau, and oc- cupies a central situation between the St. Law- rence and Ottawa. The public buildings — such as gaol, court-house, churches, &c. erected of massive white sparkling granite, (a description of building stone for which the quarries in this particular district of country are beginning to be somewhat celebrated,) are decidedly hand- some ; and the private dwelling-house, boasts of every comfort and convenience, essential to the townsman. For a distance of fully ten miles on every side, the original forests have so far receded, as to give the face of the country, more the appearance of a large district in Ireland, appertaining to a private park, and set apart for the purpose of allowing timber to undergo the process of maturation in patches— than an immense tract of cleared country in Canada, i.^(in^l I < II ^1 ! lii ii I [ :! 11^ deprived of its original covering, and appropriated to agricultural purposes. I remained here for two days, and then took my departure per sleigh, down the frozen current of the Eideau Canal, a distance of twenty miles. The travelling was excellent, and with the exception of one or two locks, slightly interfering with our progression, we were not necessitated to pull a rein during the entire of that distance. I could easily have continued my journey, per Canal, all the way to Kingston ; but following the old beaten track of every Canadian tourist, was not my object from the commencement, and I accordingly veered off to the south, south-west, and once more entered the taciturnities of the opaque and vacuous forest. , v - j. ., > , ,, About thirty-five miles South-west of Perth, is a district of country, which has for a number of years, been settled by a particular class of Imigrants, who may easily be particularized from amongst the common order of mankind, by the peculiarities of their own confessions, which un- equivocally go to inform the traveller, that the inhabitants of this district, are enjoying the blessed fruits of their own labours, without ever having considered it necessary, to pay primary deference to the ordinary course of proceedings, which it seems is to consult the wishes of her i"3=5?iU • -''SaBHixwarraBu lis Britannic Majesty's Land Commissioners npon the sale and purchase of property, preparatory to entering into possessioni These primatiye think'* ing people, are denominated by the larger portion of society. Squatters, and are to be met with in various parts of Canada, though generally individually, or at least, with this one excep* tion of which I am acquainted, not in num- bers sufficient, so as to entitle the district of country in which they reside, to the enviable denomination of the Squatter Settlement. The Squatter is, in every particular meaning of the phrase, an original sensitive being, of Heaven's creation, acknowledging the supreme right, of no individual upon the face of the earth, to lord it over him, or reprove even the habitual observances of his misdoings, without his own free will and permission; he is every thing to himself; and if the refractory spirit of his affairs, sometimes proves of so very untoward a nature as, that it be absolutely necessary he should ask counsel and advice of his neighbours, he does so under the impression that (whether he accepts of it or not) no man under the canopy of Heaven, has a right to comprehend the affairs of another man, as well as that other man himself. As a community this settlement seems to be thriving very considerably — indeed they have no tyranny whatever to groan beneath. 1 1 i f< I I I \ . 114 More than perhaps a trifling tineaJsihess which might prevail, upon the score of their sub&isting on property, the rightful entitlement to whichy some time hereafter, may be claimed by indi^ viduals, whose consciences more tenacious of rectitude, will have proved the means of in^ ducing them, to hand over to her Majesty's Government, some thousand dollars for liberty to chop, log, burn, fence, and clear off a dis* trict of country, which^ upon their arrival they will perceive to have been already reclaimed. This change of proprietorship, however, may, most probably remain in embryo, for a very con- siderable period, before being properly brought into operation, as I have not the slightest hesi- tation in saying, that at present the life of that individual woidd be one, to which its owner would attach a very trifling importance, should he dare to think of carrying into effect, his premeditated purpose, of retiring to those back- ward parts, under the qualification and protec- tion of a Crown Deed j even though there were affixed to such, the most exquisitely beautiful design, in medallion, of her most gracious Ma- jesty, that ever fell from the hands of the artist. Here are no rents — no taxes — no equi- valent given or offered for landed property of any description ; and I feel myself justified in warning every sect and persuasion of people '! 1 115 whatever, against enforcing the contumely of their presence into this settlement, after having proposed to Government, never so trifling a re» muneration for their allotments ; lest they be i< , beaten bobb'd and thump'd, ^- And on record left the heirs of shame." I visited the territorial possessions of this tribe of Squatters, remaining in their settlement for one night, and I do positively assert, that in point of hospitality, and rivabry to render the stranger every comfort and accommodation in their power, they were not excelled by the strictest observer of the law, who ever swore fealty and the oath of allegiance to his Sovereign, and who it was my fortune, to ever have entered into negociations with. Twenty miles south of this settlement, is a tract of country, which, from its remarka- ble appearance, would seem to abound with best reservoirs of valuable minerals, though, till within these last few years, when a joint company, I understand, from Montreal, under- took to commence operations, no efforts seem to have been made, for the purpose of testing the value of the fossil riches which are sup- posed to lie here concealed. This company I •f , I ! h I .?f. 116 ' t)penfed their adventures on plans of very con- siderable extent, so much so, that it appears the shareholders were unable to hold up against some trifling disappointment, met with at the commence- ment; and consequently, after having completed roads of a very superior description throughout the immediate neighbourhood, and sunk two shafts, in which v. considerable portion of silver and leaden ores were discovered, though not suffi- cient to defray the expence&, they were ne- cessarily obliged to suspend operations, previ- ous to allowing the mines a fair opportunity for exhibiting their riches. A young American mineralist, from the Wisconsin territory, west of the great Mississippi, who had travelled hither the entire distance for the purpose of forming " calculations" upon the benefits to be derived from hunting the fossil districts of Canada, happened to be speculating in design, round about the surface of the shafts, during the period of my visitation. He informed me that from the nature of the soil, and geolo- gical appearance of the country in the vicinity in general, mines of immense value must lie treasured here ; but that the difliculty of work- ing them, would always exceed, to a very great extent, those of the Wisconsin, in which territory, lead and other ores were seldom found more than three feet beneath the surface, 117 vere ne- at least scarcely ever sought after below that mark, as the superficies of the earth has yet, for many years, inexhaustable treasures of wealth mthin itself, sufficient to render the necessity of seeking deeper, quite superfluous. It has, I understand, been a subject of much considera- tion, with the Canadian government, the remove- ing of the site of the Provincial Penitentary from Kingston, where it is at present situated, to these mines, in order that the convicts, who at present are very triflingly employed, scarce- ly ever beyond the ordinary routine of making ropes, shoes, caps, &c., could be set to work upon their resources; a reasonable entertain- ment, which, if carried into operation, would, in the opinions of many, be quickly rewarded with a handsome recompense for the trouble; not taking into consideration the advantages which would arise, from opening up an entire tract of country, which has till within those few last years, been almost altogether un- known. There is no section of Canada West, through which I have travelled, wherein the admirable interspersions of wood and water, seem to prevail to such an extent, as in this backward region of the mines. The country here is actually studded with lakes, which i V 11 I 1K I : . ! i':'!i ill i! I 118 look as though they would enclose the stranger in on every side, and present a complete barrier to making his escape, when once in search of the picturesque, he has become so unmindful of his real interests, as to allow of himself becoming entangled amongst their wily attractions. Some of these lakes were com- pletely frozen over and safe to traverse, whilst others, though in their immediate vicinity, ap- peared altogether impervious to the firosts hav- ing the slightest effect upon their surface. In this retired district there is but one soli* tary house standing, originally erected by the mining company, for the purpose of affording protection to their workmen. It is now oc- cupied by a Kentish farmer, who appears to lay hold, with avidity, upon aU the advan- tages which the solitary game enactments in this country have laid open to his considera- tion, his fowling-piece having been scarcely ever freed of his hand during the entire five days in which I enjoyed the pleasurable sa- tisfaction of remaining his guest. The wood- grouse are very plenty in the neighbourhood, and during the mUder seasons, the lakes are completely covered over with every description of wild fowl, indigenous to the country. This man is blessed with a beautiful wife and mo- derate family, and seems to live in the en- 119 icome so jojrment of .as much earthly felicity, as it is probable a house in the city, and a less pro- fitable partner, could consistently administer to fallen man. ' - At this retired habitation, I was situated a distance of one hundred and forty miles from the town of Hamilton, lying at the head of Lake Ontario, through which my direct course to the Ealls of Niagara lay, and fifty from the nighest inlet of that great sheet of water, to reach which, I was necessitated to pass through the t ownship of Loughborough, a Pen- sylvania Dutch settlement, founded by those particular inhabitants of America, who chose to retire to this country, at the close of the revolu- tionary war with the United States, and whose descendants, have remained loyal subjects to the Crown of Great Britain ever since. The nighest opening into this exclusive colony, was now dis- tanced thirty nules; and I had just completed an imaginary route at my own discretion, when I found my plan of operations well nigh al- together rendered nugatory, by the disagreeable intelligence, that throughout the entire of that distance, a single habitation, house, shelter, or protection of any description whatever, was not to be met with; and what I considered to be equally distressing to my interests was, that ,i i 120 ■ .: ! the whole line of country was, as yet unsurveyed, devoid of roads, and the vastest receptacle for wolves and other obnoxious animals, which the surrounding territory of one hundred miles could boast of. In this situation of distress I had re- course to the man of Kent for his advice and assistance, who, without hesitation, at first re- commended to me returning by the way I came, a distance of twenty miles, and then striking due south, again regaio the Rideau Canal, and so continue my journey west. But following too closely the nature of that advice, I found upon due consideration, would have been at- tended with inconveniencies more than equally balancing any delicacy I might subject myself to, in jourrejing through the territory of so formidable an enemy as the wolf, as owing to the numberless lakes, over and around many of which, I would have found it necessary to pass, it would have added an extension to my land labours, of well nigh twenty miles ; an incon- venience, which might easily be avoided, by one day's perseverance and determination. After several amicable controversies, the night previous to my departure with the Saxon, he at length yielded to the consistency of my opinion on the matter, which was, that it would be advisable to maintain the direct course— suffer not the sensibilities of my heart to falter, and leave the ■ iip irm iii uj-.ijj 1^1 remainder to the guidance and protection of Providence. I started early the next morning, after having partaken of a most excellent break- fast with my worthy host ; " be certain," he said, " and carry a stout staff with you all through ; don*t give way to the representations of fear or fancy; have constant recourse to your com- pass, and depend upon it, before another twelve hours will have passed and gone, you will have an opportunity of comparing your own northern grittural, with the flippant qualities of both high and low dutch." After having given me a hearty shake of the hand, I turned towards the scene of action, and was soon lost to his view, amongst the dense underbrush, which skirts the boun- daries of these almost impervious forests. The snow's, of which had fallen the previous night about four inches deep, had rendered the pro ler track (which under ordinary circum- stances would have been sufficiently difficult of ascertaining,) quite imperceptible, so that no clue to its discovery was left me, save the almost age-worn blaze, which every now-and- again, might be evidenced along the rough bark of the hickery, or nighest birch tree, that lined the way; a salutary mark of pre- caution, which early travellers had introduced, but which more modern perambulators, through ! i 1^ !.' i lir' perverse iBadTertency^ seemed not to hare tak^ the trouble of haying properly renovated. Under these circumstances it was more through the partial interpositions of good fortune^ than any personal discernment, t^t I was enabled to re- port progress whilst {Nropagating speed; not- withstanding, for the first eight or ten miles I pursued my journey with an operative spirit and uniformity of determination^ such as was necessary to ensure success tbxough these dis- mal forests, hitherto considered almost impassable in the winter season, and at the hour of one P. M. succeeded in overcoming the half of my journey, and arriving on the banks of Desert Creek, a considerable stream of about fifty feet wide, by eight or ten deep. There had, it ap- pears, been a temporary boom thrown athwart here by the Indians, some years back, for the purpose of affording accommodation to their iiunters whenever they visited these remote districts in pursuit of game ; but whether their having had it removed, previously to their leaving the neighbourhood, or the natural decay, con- sequent to the component parts of so feail a construction having unhappily prevailed, was the cause of its non-appearance, I know not; but certain it is that, upon my arrival at the banks of the stream in question, scar<;e a vestige of itremained> and I was l^ft to the resources of i:i 12S ft' my own ingenuity, bearing testimony to their effi- ciency, in the construction of some temporary raft, capable of conveying my proper person to the opposite shore, or swim, the latter alterna- tive introducing to the notice of human imper- fections, a sensation by no means the most agree- able in the wilds of Canada, North, latitude forty-four degrees, thirteen minutes, and sea- son winter. In about half an hour's time, however, I succeeded in adjusting a small raft, composed of broken timber, and which I fastened together with the tough peel of the leatherwood plant, a shrub, which, though scarce in most dis- tricts of the country, appeared to grow along the banks of this stream in considerable quan- tities. On this frail construction I embarked my hopes and enterprise, making withii eight or ten feet of the opposite shore, notwithstandkig the rapidity of the current, with admirable dex- terity; but when within that distance of the rescue, owing to one of those erratic appen- dages to all American rivers, a snag, having upraised his proud crest, and shot through the very centre of my bark, I was upset, immersed in about three feet of half frozen water, and consequently left without any assistance whatever, to makethe shore in the best maimer I could. This was very disagreeable, but a run of twenty minutes, combined with the constiiientiousne^s of ¥2 I 1) lU having cleared the difficulty, at least sufficiently so as far as personal safety was concerned, soon brought all to rights again, and I upheaved a chair from beneath its snowy pressure, drew it close to the table, and sat down to enjoy the sweet restorative of a quarter of an hour's rest. 1' There was a story at no very distant period in general circulation throughout the neighbour- hood of Loughborough, which seems to have been got up for the express purpose of abrogat- ing a certain unwarrantable misstatement, which had previously been set forth, concerning the fate of the Rev. Van Gotlipstide, a German itinerant preacher, of whom it had been said, that whilst travelling, unaccompanied, through these deserted woods, he had, very unceremo- niously been set upon by a band of wolves, and devoured up, before he became aware of even the possible condition of his situation. From this contradictory account, and which of itself seems to be nothing more than what is really entitled to the respect and belief of all reasonable and sober thinking men — it ap- pears that the Rev. Van Gotlipstide, of the Prin?'tive American Dutch Reformed Lutheran Aposiolic Church, having, about five years 125 ago, been desirous of removing his person and property from the scene of his then pre- sent labours to a more advantageous locality, had, contrary to the wish and advice of his most conciliatory hearers, initiated his horse into a cutter sleigh, loaded the carriage there- of with the comprisals of every stick of fur- niture he possessed in the world, seated him- self upon the loading, and commenced driving through these woods, at a pace which would have required rather a satisfactory reference to the systematic influence of a Mac Adamised road, to have ensured a continuance of the same, than an introduction to a line of forest country, wherein the print of a horse's hoof had never before been discovered. This rectiflable account then went on to say, that the Rev. Van Gotlipstide, during the further- ance of his experimental career, having been so unfortunate as to have had himself and load upset a dozen times in the inside of as many miles, and finding that the obscurities of the night were commencing to close in upon him, had undertaken to release his quadruped from beneath his oppressive burthen, fasten him to a tree, roll his reverend self up in an integral suit of bed apparatus, and lay him- self down to sleep beneath the evergreen branches of a hemlock tree until the following "'I ' »')i i 111 ii I ' / 126 morning, upon the earliest dawn of which, it was his intention to have prosecuted his jour- ney with all possible speed. That about mid- night, when all was hushed and silent as the grave, a fierce band of wolfish invaders came rushing down upon the retreat of the Rev. Van Gotlipstide and quadruped, devouring up the latter, and compelling the former to re- move the local position of his dormitory from beneath the blandishments of his florulent coun- terpane, to the twenty-first limb, or thereabouts, of the nighest chesnut tree which nature had so happily planted in the vicinity. That the same Kev. Van Gotlipstide, knowing full well that a more attentive con- gregation, or one who studied the real value of his earthly tabernacle with greater interest, never sat beneath the explorations of a pul- pit, for a thousand eyes were upon him, in order to discover how long the mortifications of mental anxiety on the part of his hearers, and bodily suffering on that of himself, could openly bo endured, had determined to remain in the occupation of his arborious si- tuation until the following morning. That the possession of this desired knowledge, on the part of the Rev. Gentleman, was not fully acquired until the seventh hour of the succeed- Ill ll m ing day, at which period of happy deliverance, the bright luminary of Heaven was just com- mencing to reveal through the dark recesses of the forest, a conscientiousness of his pre- sence; when, if report speaks true, the con- gregation dismissed themselves, (disgusted of course with pastorial imbecility,) leaving his reverence a full opportunity of descending in safety, and of making his escape back to the scene of his former labours, there to be re- warded accordingly. That the entire stock of tumiture on hand, the property of the Rev. Van GotHpstide, consisting of bed and bed- room utensils, mahogany dr?*.wers and basin- stand, and other valuable commodities, worthy the commendation of a George Roberts, were, of necessity, evacuated to their fate, and are, until this day, discernable in the neighbour- hood of the Rev. Gent.'s misfortunes, with the exception of such few portable articles as the prudent foresight of the pedestrian has enabled him, with considerable inconvenience to himself, to carry home upon his shoulders, ior the purpose of presenting to his better half, in order that the remonstrances of the unruly member, which might be expected to break forth upon him, for his rashness in daring to venture his person through these dread forests unaccompanied and unarmed, might, upon receipt thereof, be allayed. 4' I I &■ 1 li I.. 1 V j' ! I T. i i ! u\. :!; y ns From this much to be credited account; it cannot be thought strange^ that upon my arrival at the seat of action in question^ I should have been accommodated with a chair, or indeed half a dozen of such articles^ had I been possessed of sufficient corpulent eccentricities to occupy them, and a table ; and that with such oonveniencies at hand, I should not have he- sitated to open upon the vivifications of a pocket lunch, which my kind hostess had the benign foresight to have had properly orga- nized, to receive my addresses by the way- side, preparatory to my departure from her hospitable roof that morning. In the midst of this vast wilderness of breathless tranquillity, is situated Desert Lake, an unconnected sheet of water, of about eight miles long by four broad. It was off my direct course to the right hand about two hundred perches ; but the desire of gazing upon a disjunctive work of nature, the name of which is so closely connected with every idea that solitary imagination could devise, having prevailed over the dictates of pro- priety, I supended my progressive operations for a time, and veered off to examine its de- serted shores. Jlv, 1 1^0 I cannot say that I ever recollect to have witnessed or heard the resources of beautiful silent nature pourtrayed either in penciled work- manship^ or language terse, sufficiently qualified to give even the slightest idea of this con- summate specimen of God's pristine handy- work upon earth. Here was the lake, magni- ficently grand in itself, surrounded with rocky shores of red cancellated granite, the richest I ever beheld, over which hung the ten thousand cedars, weighed down to the water's ^dge, with sparkling chrystalizations of con- cretive firosts. Here were the hundred little islands of perhaps not more than an acre each, whose adamantive coasts seemed rather fitted to thwart the convulsive roll that breathes Atl&ntic fame, than to stand up in bold defiance before the diminitive ripple, that, during summer alone, is opportuned to test the inflexibility of their nature ; and here was the uniform existency of all uninhabitiveness, the bereft of living clay, with not even the semblance of a throb to tender life's exist- ence, beyond what the presentiality of the rattle snake could afford, and even he was sleeping, or numbed to torpitude before the frigidity of dreary winter. The day on which I called there seemed as though set apart by na- ture, for the purpose of affording the stranger, r 3 I TTVM I t t'fi I ! h ii 130 ■ t / ,; hitherto accustomed only to the incitations attendant upon ever restless society, some in- sight into the beautiful resources of her Author, when and where He alone is, is present in His fulness, and saith, I am, with as evident tokens of omnipotency, as upon that eventful day wherein '* a cloud received Him out of their sight." Not a breath of air was in motion, even the sear ajiji yellow beech leaf which had escaped the ravishing immolations of the autumnal breeze, and was clinging with fibrous tendency to the succourless continuity of its parent stem, was silent, leaning over, shade- ing its mellowed tints of ripened age in relief, through the deep rooted incrustations of gla- cious matter, which had spread their thick stalactities around every work of nature here present. The sun was brightly shining as on a summer's day, but not endued with strength sufficient, to break in upon the works of all- prevailing silence, by exuding even a single drop from the congealed icicle which down- ward hung, emblazoned rich in tints of a thousand changing colours, as against its varie- gated sides he poured forth his brilliant rays of unavailing heat. ^ But whatever might have been the still- ness wliich, on my approach to this unfre- 131 quented water, seemed to reign predominant over all the works of nature, it is certain, that, from the observations which I was then and there enabled to make, its sameness had of late been broken in upon, by a visit from a very turbulent fraternity, who, had they been aware of my presence, would unquestionably have resolved themselves into a general committee, for the puT' pose of questioning my right of thoroughfare through their dominions — I mean the wolves. The woods here, from all accounts, are infested with thousands of those obnoxious animals, and, indeed, I can very well credit the report which exists, from the million foot-tracks which lay scattered over the ground in every direction, and covering the entire surface of the frozen water, that the damage done to sheep, &c. in the neighbouring parts of this wilderness, is very considerable, and by no means over-r rated. They have well nigh altogether exter* minated the wild deer of these woods ; and it is sincerely hoped, by the resident farmers of the adjoining townships, that when this work of extirpation will have been effectually completed, they, the wolves, will betake them* selves to some other remote district, where the better opportunities of procuring plunder, will, in some degree, remunerate them for the toils of journey, and the disagreeable necessity of ^\\l\ '^1 ^1 11 I t 132 forming fresh acquaintances. I remained at the lake shore for well nigh half an hour, and then took my departure, unconscious dur- ing my visit, that the breath of life had re- vealed itself, save by my own presence, and the contemptuous challenge of the little chip monk, who, induced by the mildness and beauty of the day, had ventured forth, from out of his hollow cell, in order to renew his simple stock of winter edibles, from the cerated semina of the ever green hemlock tree. Having regained my proper path, I commenced curtailing the remainder of my journey at a rate somewhat quicker than that which I had previously adopted, musing along the way upon the mutability of all things earthly. Now, thought I to myself, have I seen an actual specimen of the fair works of nature, unaltered by the hand of man, and unaccustomed to his haunts, before which, the accidental visit of even the Ked Indian of the forest has passed away in deference to the wily demonstrations of the pale face, leaving no mark nor token of his former sovereignty, save the enchantments of silence, which were his, and shall be his alone, until the last soul of his name and nation are cut off for ever from the face of the earth. But can this scene of sameness and silence long continue i- 1 'U >■ A \1\ ISS in the enjoyment of its present state ? Com- mon reasor dictated to by little else than the spirit of progression so peculiar to the times we live in, will at once answer, no. Every year, nay, every day and hour, adds to the list of fresh encroachments being made in upon the privacy of these hitherto scarcely known districts ; and I myself have little or no doubt in saying, that there are at present in exist- ence many wretched remains of ill spent lives, whose impaired constitutions, by being proper- ly respected for the future, and the anti-me- dical restorative of all-sufficient nature alone being had recourse to in their behalf, may yet survive to hear and bear testimony to the rocks and shores of Desert Lake re-echoing the sound of some clamorous locomotive, car- rying out the manifestations of human in- genuity, at a rate not exceeding sixty miles an hour. . I After a walk of five hours longer, and favoured with a bright moonlight for the last two, I enjoyed the pleasurable satisfaction of espying the first opening of the woods into Loughborough, and in half an hour after- wards came to a resting place for the night, underneath the hospitable roof of a Pensyl- vania Dutchman, cold, fatigued, and hungry. 1 ^1 I'll i' i ' ?' 'i lli ..,- i f ;■! if : n:i|| 1 1 ll II { 1S4 Nothing that civility and attention could do to ameliorate the condition of my suBferings was left unresorted to by the kind inmates of this house. A supper consisting of the many excellencies for which a Canadian farmer's table is so justly famed, provided by the Mynheer's two pretty daughters, with a dispatch worthy the conunendations of an Amsterdam burgo- master, was notj^ you may be certain, a con- sideration beneath the travellers notice, together with a comfortable bed, and an opportunity of bearing testimony as to the precise quantity of comfort and convenience there is att^nable from the subjecting of a persons self to one of those primitive customs which yet exist amongst the inhabitants of the Netherlands^ that of sleeping beneath two eiderdown beds, during the winter season ; add to this the qualification possessed on the part of every indivi- dual member of the Dutchman's family, except himself, of being incapable of comprehending three monosyllables in the English language, or speaMng in any other dialect than that of low Dutch, a deficiency of the linguacious system, which was attended with a series of very pleasing consequences to myself, as it completely exonerated me from the disa- greeable necessity of being obliged to exhibit; a number of dull and iuanimate answers to 7 v t 135 the as many useless interrogatories^ which otherwise would have poured in upon me, to the great discomfiture of my personal liherty. Haying retired to hed, I slept uncease- ingly happy until midnight, when, all of a sudden, I found the delightsomeness of "tired nature's sweet restorer" to be unconditionally broken in upon, by an e^tatic burst of inopi- nate melody. This^ during another season, at a greater distance, and under more advantageous circumstances than those in connexion wil^ my having belaboured the whole of the previous day through the obscure dependencies of a wolf forest, as well as being excessively fatigued, might have passed off before me for a pleasing delineation of moonlight music, wherein a slight dissertation upon the calami- ties which are brought about by dejected love, was in the act of being harmonized ; but, in this instance, that was totally out of the question, and I started up with discordant thoughts upon ^h:- '•<;;-<■ " The wolf and his howl, ' The Dei'l and his cowl, The hiss of the snake when trod on." i'l 1^ I'l I I The inconsiderate habit, for it is nothing else, of singing hymns and psahns, upon almost every • f 3f '! 1.1' 136 J occasion, is one which is to be met with through- out the entire civilised North American Con- tinent ; at least, in all of those parts which I have enjoyed the honour of being conversant with ; instances of which may be gleaned from the sumptuous cabin of the * Henry Clay, steam vessel,' which may be happening to convey the valuable person of the great Senator of that name, from New Orleans, up stream to Ken- tucky, down to the humble mansion of the Louisiana Negro, who is permitted to appro- priate Sunday to his own desires, on condition of his not praying or singing sacred music, but does so at his penl. In Canada, the cus- tom even more generally prevails, and is prac- tised amongst the members of almost every religious persuasion ; though I find by the me- thodistical part of the community, its observance is appropriated to a larger share of uniformity, than by any other. The stranger, who is not accustomed to a continued series of psalm sing- ing, must not take it for granted that in this country such is practised, either for the express purpose of communing with the spi- ritual Author of all consolation, or sounding the depth of His praises on high, for such is not in anywise the case; the music appertains solely to circumstances of a secular nature, such as the lessening of I dily inconveniences, conse- 187 quent upon bodily demands, by compelling the resources of the mind to take share in the burthen of the operations. The fiirrowed frill that binds the fair neck of the lady, cannot be laid across the symmetrical restrictions of the italian iron, without an hymn — ^the gesti- culations of the chum-dash are ineffectual with- out an incantation — and the querulous sigh of the bellows, resigns its claim upon ignition, bereft of doxology. It is by no means an un- common occurrence, or one which is looked upon in any other light than that of general expediency, that the lady of the house should (after having devoted a frdl quarter of an hour to calling down aught but blessings upon the mutilated head of the housemaid, who has proved so unfortunate as to check the progress of the kitchen clock, by accelerating it upon the top of aer pericranium,) reverse the order of her contumely, so as to sing ^ •* That land of piire delight, Where saints inunortal reign." Neither is it a circumstance entirely destitute of authority, to have witnessed mamma, cease at intervals, from inflicting the necessary casti- gation upon the shoulders of Bomulus, her eldest, a lad of fourteen years of age, who had I < i I ii is !|: r I li Illl; J i i,i I'l iss very awkwardly upset the entiie teapot of scalding Twankay, over the loveKest baby that ever breathed existence in a cradle, in order to adjust the antidotes for the disaster^ with that beautifol portion fi:om the collection of John Wesley, appointed to be sung at the opening of the approaching camp meeting. If the old adage of believing nothing of what we hear, and only half of what we see, be still necessary for the discovery and maintenance of truth, I beg leave to remark, even under the circumstances, though I possess a clear im- doubted right in my own mind to dispute the interventional agency of any optical delusion, or auricular misunderstanding whatever— ^at I feel myself perfectly qualified to pay such mark of deference and respect to instances of both of the above anecdotes, as enables me con- scientiously to believe them true, and without scruple, to advertise them to the world as erents, of which numberless examples may. every day, be witnessed by the stranger and the sojourner ; who is only cautious enough, whilst the inter- changes of sentiment from asperity to humility are in operation, as not to appear embar- rassed, or seem as though he would prove ungrateful enough, as to have them afterwards emblazoned forth in print, to the animadver- sions of the world. ^1 I think It must appear evident to any in- dividual member of our own country, who is gifted with even a ratio of common under- standing, that this practice of desultory psalm- singing, is not only liable to be attended with very unsatisfactory consequences to the practi- tioner, but is capable, to a very great extent, of embarrassing the simple belief of those indi- viduals who look upon the consolation they im- bibe in singing the praises of their Creator, as one which it is unlawful to deal with unadvisedly, or^ at all times, as well as a feeling fraught with love, to which as much respect should be paid in action, word, and thought, as the celebrating God's express com- mands by prayer itself: notwithstanding, in this country, a difference of opinion exists upon the subject ; and I have n^^t the slightest hesitation in saying, that were Ebenezer, the apprenticed shoe-black, discovered of having promiscuously daubed on the effulgent properties of Day and Martin, unaccompanied by a preliminary para- phrase of glory ; oi , in his extra capacity of cow-herd, were the family thoroughly convinced he had been so unmindful of his own interests, as to have let loose the dog Neptune, upon far- mer Fitch's cattle, who had broken in upon the fences, devoid of sacred song, preparatory to the halloo being given, he would be considered 'I ijj I I E> > ;'.! 140 by them as a naughty boy of improper habits, whose sulky disposition, if unrestrained, would one day or other lead him to the very gates of profanation. ■. :i ■ > The singing lasted until two o'clock the following morning, at which late and early hour, I conclude the organization of the apple dump- lings had been effected, and the fresh laved asperity's of the p '^ticoat, laid down in their ne- cessary folds; and a second time I became composed. Early next day I took my depar- ture from the Dutchman and his feather h^ ''■ and arrived in this village a few hours a' wards. The snows have commenced falling again, and, at the present moment, there is an ac- cumulation of three feet, devoid of drift, co- vering the entire surface of the ground. I ' v^^ ■^^ "i»! t 141 '!| h ». ■-'-ti 'i ' . '\ Barry, January 5, 1846. ' The entire tract of country, south-west of Loughborough, to the head of Lake On- tario, with the exceptions of Indian reserva- tions, and larch wood, fpirnts larix) swamps, has been settled for a considerable number of years back; and throughout the several of its districts, can boast an uniform condition of farms and farm-houses, comfort and consistency, to be met with no where in Ireland — to be met with rarely in England. Young-street, a distinguished tract of agricultural country, bear- ing that name, not an unbroken frontage of connected dwelling houses, and which extends a distance of thirty-five miles, between Torronto and Lake Simcoe, vies in wealth and elegance with the most improved districts of the State of New York, unquestionably the favoured por- tion of the Union. The farmer here may be said to live in a state of ease and affluence, commensurate with the importance which is said to be attached to a gentleman in the mother country, whose annual income is limited to about four hundred pounds, and with the excep- tion of rather a rude education, which is all that r?' If. H 'i i { \ li U2 , r i ': W^ the most learned of their farmerships can con- scientiou ly boast of, certainly enjoys a more en- viable and independent posidon in society, than such qnalified gentleman. Few of these model farms have, however, been called out of the original bush, by their present occupiers ; many of them no doubt are the worshipful remains, of once moneyed individuals, who arrived in this jountry some years back, spent all, and left the immovable fixtures of their improvements to the consideration of their creditors, rather than have triumphed in any sordid revenge that might be obtained over their once trustworthy acquaintances, by undertaking voluntary, to place themselves under the immediate superintendency of the sheriflf. Many of the occupying land- holders have, in a great measure, attained to their present state of independence ; firstly, by their having laboured under the almost necessary qualification of being poor men, and not in possession of a single sixpence ; secondly, by their having accumulated a few dollars, per means of manual labour ; tJiirdly, by the keep- ing of small stores ; fourthly, by the increase of both quant, y and quality of stock ; and, finally, by their having made and sc cured as much ready money as enabled them tu })urchase an indepen- dent property, and so live i;umfortable during the remainder of their days. I 1 143 There is no doubt but that Canada is the country for the poor man. It is the country where the hard working imigrant^ without the consolation of any other earthly possession, beyond health, stands a bettter chance of suc- ceeding, than he who inunures himself up in the woods, with five hundred pounds in his pocket, and dictates to the subscribed qualifi- cation of that amount. Not that I speak in disrespect of money, 'or of the extatic wonders which it is so systematically capable of accom- plishing, for there is no coimtry upon the face of the earth, where the validity of a little of that same can be placed to more advantageous ac- count than in Canada ; but this I do say, that the individual who lands in this country, beneath the superintendence of that particular consequence which he himself contends is due to the keeper of a heavy purse, puts his trust in the same, and means to live idle for the remainder of his days, would do well to turn his sovereigns into dollars as speedily as possible, deal them out cautiously, and look to the end. If he follows not this advice, and becomes embarrassed in his circumstances, and then moneyless, his resources are but faint indeed, when compared with those that lie within the reach of his poorer neighbour. •"%in ■■•^a r, 1 i I '1 \ 144 ;;. 1 ' Emigration amongst the poorer classes in Ireland; is by no means encouraged by the independent corps of gentlemen landed pro- prietors of " the isle," in that spirit of Chris- tian charity which men (whose primary ob- jects, as faithful stewards, is to assist in acce- lerating, as far as lies in their power, the progress of universal happiness amongst man- kind,) ought to pursue. On the contrary, do we not often read of, and attend many pub- lic political meetings, at which intemperate orators, in endeavouring to propagate the prin- ciples of their party, willingly cast a slur upon the loyal and devoted poor of their own creed, emigrating from their native country; avering, in justification of such principles, that the solitary" wilds of North America are in- tended but as resources for indiscretion, in- temperance, and their enemies ; as if that beautiful portion of God's inexhaustible self, the visible half of this earthly existence, from the labours of which He rested on the seventh day and hallowed it, was intended by Him to remain, durinrr the lapse of time, a mere hypothesis of His infinity, a wild waste of dark mysteriousness, for the exclusive mo- notony of the Bed Indian of the forest, who scarce vouchsafes to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow : this is what we read of 'M: 145 hisses in by the Bd pro- f Chris- ary ob- in acce- rer, the [st man- :ary, do ,ny pub- emperate he prin- a slur tieir own country ; les, that are in- ;ion, in- if that Ible self, ice, from I seventh by Him a mere wraste of ive mo- 38t, who by the read of and hear. How much more laudable would it appear in those very individuals who discard the propriety of emigration, merely for poli- tical or even personal motives, were they to come forward and assist with their purses and interests, in extricating from misery and star- vation, the mass of indigent beings who con- taminate the land, who are the discarded of their own independent countrymen, and the despised of every foreigner who visits Ireland h routine. I say then, let the landed pro- prietors give the poor a chance of doing some- thing for themselves ; and should the attempt fail, they will, at all events, have exonerated their own consciences from the burthen of any stigma which might hereafter be cast upon them, on the score of selfish interestedness. In my opinion, the landholder who is compelled to give evidence, upon oath, that he is worth the annual exuberance of ten pounds, would be much better in Canada than in Ireland. I do not say that the fifty pound freeholder would; but should the perverseness of the times induce even him to emigrate, how much better for his children ! How much more easily would he be enabled, after a little time, to ueher them forth into the great battle- field of this world's contingencies, so as to o ■■•* 3| 146 insxire of their successfully combating for them* selves. I could say much more upon this sl' ject, were it not that I dread its interference with the original intention of my wanderings. From such then I turn aside and say — It Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud." Since the confessions of my last epistle were bestowed, I have visited Rice Lake, and the Indian settlements adjoining. This in- teresting sheet of water lies ten miles due north of the village of Cobourgh, on Lake Ontario^ and is decidedly, in my opinion, in point of beauty combined with utility, enti- tled to no secondary rank amongst the in- land seas of Upper Canada. The name it bears is derived from the wild rice, which grows all along its banks in immense quan- tities, a subsidiary gift of Providence, which the Indians collect towards the fall of the year, for their own domestic uses, or for the purpose of disposing to their white brethren, who inhabit the adjoining townships. There are two Indian settlements in this part of the country, one lying on the eastern side of the lake, about two miles distant from its shores, and the other on the western, quite conve* nient to its waters. They are both under the i 1*1 |H 1 for them- this s'S terference andeiings. ;ay — , tdoud." ast epistle Lice Lake, . Thisin- miles due on Lake opinion, in ility, enli- st the in- name it ice, which ense quan- nce, which ■all of the or for the brethren, ps. There part of the side of the its shores, uite conve* under the 147 auperintendence of the Canadian Wesleyan Missionaries, a society of men to whom too much praise cannot be accorded, for the pro- vident manner in which they have succeeded in bringing t)ver to a lively sense of who and what they are, the remains of one of the most wretched and degraded people that ever inhabited an acknowledged position in British North America. A tribe, whose name, till very lately, seemed the implacability of every thing that tended to civilization, or such as would induce them to become anything more than what they ever previously were, a set of wandering vagabonds upon the face of the earth. I arrived on Saturday evening last at the former of these settlements. The snow had been densely falling throughout the day, which rendered the progress of my journey very slow ; not even a sleigh track to point out to me the direct road, or assist in extricating me from the many difficulties which every step seemed but further to envelope me in. About sundown, however, I succeeded in reaching the first mentioned Indian village ; and though unsuc- cessful in my endeavours to procure a bed at the residence of Elder Case, the Missionary Clergjrman, who is attached to the temporal as well as spiritual charge of the settlement, I was fortunate enough to manage for the o2 n i\ 1' .' ill- '1«! ? M\ I I 5 ii! ' 148 night's accommodation in the comfortable dwel- ling-house of a poor Indian^ where an undis- sembled welcome, and excellent supper, seemed to eradicate from further consideration any unpleasant difHculties I might have sustained during the day. The next day being Sunday, I attended divine service of the morning, in their small but neat and appropriate chapel. The Elder being absent on a missionary tour, the vacant stewardship was filled, pro tem. by an Indian chief. The entire service, together with the sermon, which was extempore, and occupied not more than twenty minutes, were in the Mississauga language ; but whether the earnest entreaties, or impendent warnings, as the case might have been, of the worthy pastor, were sufficient in pursuading men of the terror of the Lord, or not, is an important considera- tion of the real nature of which, for informations sake, I cannot permit myself to indulge even in conjecture; nevertheless, for conscience sake, were I expressly questioned upon the matter, it is possible I might give my opinion in tliis form — that from the looks and behaviour of the congregation, which were decidedly regu- lar and impolitic, and seemed to have little pretensions to the enlightened privileges en- I a Hi I i 149 Hi joyed by those two or three when gathered together in. the sight of God in our own coun- try> it is not at all improbable^ but that " the Prince of the power of the air" had been effec- tually excommunicated for a season. The sing- ing was decidedly much to the purpose, every one I believe, inside the church, except myself, joining in that most delightful portion of pub- lic worship ; and although in almost all in- stances, in which the majority of the con- gregation habituate themselves from request, to take part in the celebration of the psalm, there is generally found a discrepancy and perplexity of sound, which, if not perfectly disgusting in itself, is very likely to turn into ridicule its own object ; yet, amongst the native Indians here in question, in no one instance could I detect the slightest digression from harmony, or the discordant voice of any member of the community, who did not seem previously to have been well initiated in the rudiments and art of psalmody. How sweetly they sang the Mississauga version of Bishop Heber's beautiful missionary hymn — From Oreenland's icy mountaiii, From India's coral strand, &c. &c. &c. I am at a loss to tell. It was indeed a spi- ritual importunity, poured forth with an ele^ t ! 1 .1 n\ u f \ \ 'i'> III ' ; V !l mr I \ % f 11! 150 Tation of sentiment, yet humility of soul, such as I never recollect to have heard before. It was an appeal to God and man, of innate sincerity, which, if failing of success, would have been sufficient in itself to draw down dread dipleasure from on High, upon the reck- less and indifferent manner in which this part of divine service is so often celebrated in our country churches at home ; in many of which, the indefinite notes of the parish clerk aie considered a sufficient indemnity for the gra- tulations of the whole congregation. After divine service I drove across the lake, with an Indian, in a one horse cutter, a distance here of only eight miles. The sleighing was very miserable indeed, owing to the late heavy falls of snow not having been sufficiently congealed with frost, so as to support the carriage runners upon their surface ; notwithstanding which, we were little better than two hours in completing the journey. This lake, which is about thirty miles long, by an average of eight broad, is adorned with a panoply of beautiful picturesque islands, whose towering cliffs surmounted with the red and white beeches, advance their title to dis- tinction, by being, in many instances, up- wards of sixty feet above the water's level. 151 We landed upon one of these islands, if land- ing I can call it, for the purpose of keeping our direct course, and preventing the unneces- gary trouble of circumnavigating its coasts. The distance through, was not more than three hundred yards ; but the gratifying relief af- forded to the eye, from entering the twilight shades of this fairy isle, after having borne, during the day, the effects of the sun's im- pressive rays, reflected back from the spark- ling snows, was so accept;.ble, t^at we found it impossible to leave our tiny retreat ^or a considerable length of time after our arrival. A pack of wood grouse sprung i.i the centre ^ which, taking wing, flew to the nighest head- land, a distance of three miles, before alight- ing : they were fourteen in number, and from their tameness and unwillingness to be disturbed, might have been easily captured, were we fortunate enough as to have been placed in the possession of any better quali- fied missiles, than a few ill-prepared snowt balls. The lands in fl>r vicinity of this lake have been reserved by government as hunting grounds for the immediate use of the Missis- saugas, and, till within these few last years, preserved altogether as such ; but the politic superiority of the white man in the ad- joining settlements, in search of wealth, hat I . f ' I I 152 I M lil II M induced many of them to forsake the uncer- tainties of the trigger, for the indefeasible rights of the plough ; and consequently, in con- nexion with the many privileges which they en- joy under the sagacious policy of the British go- verement, as the aborigines of the western world, the people whom God first placed there, and the formidable wielders of the tomahawk and scalping knife, in the day of battle, they live in a ratio of ease, affluence, and comfort, commensurate with the real meaning of inde- pendence, and suffer as little irom the en- tailed calamities of Eve and her apple, as any other people with whose history I am at present acquainted. Rice Lake and its environs are considered, by the intrepid followers of the chace, to be better worth their attention, than any other sporting district, at present frequented as such, in Canada west. In the spring and fall of the year, vast numbers of the trigger gentlemen arrive here, for the pupose of widgeon and duck shooting, as, during those seasons, the lake is literally covered with quantities of wild fowl, which flock in from the adjacent dis- tricts of the country, in order to feed upon the wild rice. The Indian kills them in hun- dreds; the white man, with his more effec- 153 tual weapons, actually in thousands. In taking into consideration the many attractions to which this lake is unquestionably entitled to lay claim, I must not forget to mention, that it suffers one very important drawback, as far as appear- ances are concerned, from the overabundance of this very wild rice itself, the tops of which, in the summer season, may be seen issuing from a depth of fourteen feet of water, reaching the surface, and extending till within one mile of the very centre of the lake itself, giving it more the appearance of an immense tract of cultivated country, in which the newly sown grain may be seen spearing through the earth's superfice, than a large body of water, which the feasibilities of modern ingenuity, are about appropriating to the purposes of navigation and commerce. The heaving surges of the lake roll but lazily along, and when they approach the shore, are so overcome by the all-prevailment of this aquatic plant, that they sink sluggishly down into the repose of their own element, without casting never so small a ripple upon, the beach. I' I From Rice Lake to Peterborough, is a distance of twelve nules, commanding roads of no inferior description, for so retired a district of country. In some localities^ the lands alon^ G 3 154 < 111 lif ■IM the way are so very thickly wooded, as to pre- clude a possibility almost of their ever being cleared, whilst in others the nature of the soil not only appears totally devoid of that arborious appearance, which is in general association with nine-tenths of American scenery, but ac- tually presents to the weary traveller, a very fair field for a display of suppositious nature coming to his aid, by permitting him to imagine himself a solitary wanderer, through an Indian jungle, upon the banks of the Hoogly, wherein he is very reasonably entitled to be remon- strated with by a Bengal Tiger, in preference to any uniform sentiments of sameness he would feel called upon to take pleasure in, from supposing himself still to be in Canada, and have inad- vertently trampelled down the corny tail of a torpid Rattk ;>ake. !l Peterborough, in the township of Monaghan, situated on the Otanabee River, is a handsome neatly built town, containing about three thou- sand inhabitants, whose religion and morality^ (if I be permitted to give my opinion from the number of houses of worship with which their city is adorned,) must certainly be upon a very exalted scale, there being no less than fourteen churches of different denominations, elevating their toll spires to the sky, witUin the immc- ii i.^ 155 diate limitations of Peterborough. Amongst this privileged people, I found myself necessitated to remain a visitor for some days, owing to the extreme severity of the weather, which con- tinued in an unintercepted state of fluctuation, for an entire week. Frost, hail, snow, sleet, rain, and tempest, were unceasing in their ef- forts to render nugatory, the adverse influences of each other ; and it was not, until after the full expiration of that period, when then, it would seem as though some some kind of tem- porary suspension of hostilities had been en- tered into between the respective belligerents, for the purpose of recruiting their strength, and that the flrst mentioned of them had been for a time permitted to hold imperious sway, that the stranger unacquainted with the geo- graphical position of the surrounding country would have been justified in removing himself a single mile from his abode of safety. la imitation of the ancient custom so prevalent in many districts of our own country, that of holding public fairs in public places, for the propagation of general consociation^ the inhabitants of Peterborough, and its vicinity, have resolved themselves into a series of meet* ingd which are held four times a year;, not more, I am convinced, for the plain pur- f ! Li \ ii \i i 166 r !• If • I fi' If I pose of testing the facilities of trade, by shrewd inquiries into the value of horses, oKen^ sheep, &c. than for the certainly more ostensible one, of ascertaining, by practical experiment, the precise quantity of Hollands, or real St. Croix, it is necessary for each individual to carry off, before the close of evening, in order to enable him to return home, per sleigh, with his wife and family, at a velocity double that by which the dietales of monotonous sobriety had so ceremoniously conducted him into town in the morning. In pursuance of public represen- tation and private determination, one of these grand negociating conventions took place a few days ago in the town of Peterborough : it was the Christmas meeting, and consequently on account of the roads being at that season of the year better adapted to the circumstances of those who have any lengthened distance to travel, considered always the best attended in the year. So early as nine o'clock in the morn- ing, notwithstanding the severity of the weathti, the sleighs were to be seeyi coming in from every quarter in immense numbers, and before twelve (without intentionally exceeding the H- mits of veracity, if I am,) I candidly avow, that there could not have been less than three hun- dred conveyances of different aorts and sizes, congregated in Peterborough, containing', if not ^ 4, )y shrewd n, sheep, >le one, of he precise roix, it is carry off, to enable his wife that bv )riety had town in represen- of these lace a fev/ 1 : it was uently on season of lumstanccs listancc to ttended in the morn- e weathti, J in from and before ng the li- avow, that bree hun- and sizes, ng*, if not 157 many marketable specimens of divine favour, the out-door productions of the farm, certainly some very fair samples of in-door benedictions, in the nature of such women and children as the rational philanthrophist would judge to be well worthy his best acknowledgments. After having sufficiently saturated my eyes from the windows of my lodging, with exhibitions from this grand family expositor, I turned out into the street for the purpose of overhauling the market, in reference to that particular portion of its pro- perty which appertained to the beastly train ; but, judge of my astonishment, when, after having been engaged for a considerable length of time in perambulating the diiFerent streets in search of four-footed animals, subdued beasts of the field, the number and quality of which, to a certain extent, in our own country, ge- nerally enable the stranger to form some idea as to the property's and character of the fair, I succeeded only in discovering the benumbed looking effects of two yoke of oxen, and about half a dozen sheep^ ?md they too, ex- hiiv ng such a state of meagre wretchedness and poverty withal, as well nigh to engender a complete prohibition upon any animals of a superior class, even after displaying their vendi- ble qualities inside thv market square ^' Peter- borough. That there are, however, sowiC very i: !■ ? I M i iu t hi 158 excellent breeds of horses, black cattle, &c., in the Canadas, I have very little reason to ques- tion ; but, where such <^re to be found, they are seldom or ever exposed to jni'iic sale, as the owners ran, at ai-.y itme. dispose of them at borne, for si; oh considerations, as the plea of indifference to sell, generally makes commensui'ate with a sporting price. But whatever might hu> been the conse- quences attendant upon the general character of the fair, from the undoubted fact, that the spoculator was altogether deprived the gratification of dealing amongst the horse or lowing train; it is certain, that with the pleasurable part of the community, no expedient was left un- resorted to, that could in any way assist in upholding the last Christmas Quarters Meeting, as the best specimen of hilarity and amusement that had presented itself from their earUest com- mencement. Indeed I cannot say that I ever recollect to have witnessed any thing like so large an assembly of both sexes collected in to small a space, amongst whorn^ ihe blessings cf harmony, confronted to every stimulant which it was possible to procure, as standing up in direct opposition to temperance, seemed so thoroughly to be anderstood, or so systema- tically to prevail. Towards the close of e^-u- 159 ing, almost every individual (the ladies of course^ in part, excepted) had arrived at that most excellent pitch of philanthropic refinement, wherein all is love ; and, save and except by the occasional eccentricities of a few dozen of rather hot headed Irishmen, who were doing their utmost, and that effectually, to keep up ;he recollections of olden times, by imprinting several small complimentary changes of civility upon the visionary organs of each others coun- tenances, I cannot say otherwise than that every thing went off with a degree of decency and decorum that would have done honour to a more enlightened assembly, and such as would have been sufficiently entitled to have caUed ibrth a burst of applause from the surrounding country gentlemen of any provincial town in Ireland, wherein a charity ball had been given the previous evening, for the express purpose of enabling the poor man to take up his bed and walk for a couple of days, and the rich to lie down in his, for the same space of time, or probably more. !! I made my journey from Peterborough to Lake Simcoe, a distance of sixty miles, per aleigh, being only able to accomplish twenty of the stated number the first day, owing to the effective resistance offered to speedy tiavel- 11 /^ 160 iri.: ling, by the deep snows which in some districts actually fell four feet, independent of drift. It was with very great difficulty that the horses were, in many instances, prevailed upon, to encounter the obstacles that lay presented to them along the way; and throughout the entire of their task, were never able to estab- lish a speed beyond that cumbersome gate which predominates between an amble and a walk, and for which there is as yet no speci- fied appellation. The country all along the main road is thickly inhabited ; a very fortunate circumstance for the traveller, as the laws of the land compel every individual who is in possession of a horse and sleigh, to turn out for the express purpose of opening the roads, throughout his own immediate neighbourhood after every heavy fall of snow. One other day's sleighing brought me to Beaver, a disconsolate looking village, erected upon the N. E. shores of Lake Simcoe. '/.here are about one hun- dred houses here in society, with, I believe, not more than an indemnification of as. many inhabitants, which latter, it is to be presumed, live amicably together, if not that mutual be- nefits should arise, then, for the purpose of affording a sufficient check ta the towns be- coming altogether decomposed, to which ii «eem« sttj fast approximating, or sacrificing I I' |i r districts of drift, tiat the ;d upon, resented out the ;o estab- tne gate and a LO speci- ong the brtunate laws of lo is in ;urn out ,e roads, )ourhood iier day's consolate . shores ae hun> believe, a& many resumed, itual be- rpose of wns be- vhich. it acrificing 161 itself for the benefits of those two or three gentlemen antiquarians, who perchance may be living half a century hence, and travel here a great many miles, for the sole purpose of as- certaining the exact situation upon which Bea- ver once stood, and digging for diamonds amongst its ruins. "Were I asked for a con- sciencious opimon as to what this village, as it now stands, appears most like, I would not have the slightest hesitation in answering, that Beaver at present resembles a number of de- cayed relics systematically arra.iged from the hallucinations of a proud blunderer, who, in order to have himself installed in the privileges of a gentleman of large landed property, had come hither with a full purse, erected a coun- try town and ma:jiiificent mansion-house, aris- tocratically changed the wild forests into prrjce- ly preserves, with a very pertinent caution against trespassers, afterwards spent all, and, eventually, found it nocessary to abscond with- out even paying his tailor's bill. This is the nighest simile that, at present I find my- self empowered to bethink of, and really, if tome people judge it to be inappli<,iV^e to the circumstances, I cannot, for the life of me, see it as such. There is the squire's hall un- occupied, and without an heir. The noisy walls j> *' Wher^ '.nee the sign post caught the passing eye,'* I i \ : • '1 1 r ' 1 ] i' i; w 1 1 }' I i i iii| i I im bereft of roof^ laid open to the breeze ; and there are the trackless streets, with (as I un- derstand in the summer season) as methodical a coat of hay sprouting up through their pave- ments, as if they had originally been laid down with a basis of the finest Italian rye grass, or tiiv^uiy. - - • ; • • i :| 1 'I'i On my way to this forlorn settlement, I was unfortunate enough to witness the direful effects of one of those unforeseen accidents, which occur much more frequently iii. this country than it is either generally supposed, or the columns of the public newspapers hav« an opportunity of ccminenting upon. A young man of about twenty years of ag* , the only son of his mother, and to whom alone she looked up as the mainstay and support of her declining years, was crushed down into a state of insensibility from the force of a large maple tree, which he was in the very act of felling, for the purpose of renovating their winter's stock of fire-wood. We came up a few mo- ments after the accident occured; and a more heart-rending scene, or one better calculated to difiTuse into the human heart salutary emotions ipoT the instability of all things earthly, I think it was never my lot to witness, 'iiie »' Vi 163 unfortunate young man was just breathing out his last ; his mother fainting on the floor ; and his father lying in bed insensible, and in the most paralised state of intoxication. Any as- eitance that we could have rendered these unfortunate people, was willingly proffered;, but it was to little purpose, more than that of collecting the neighbours in the immediate vicinity of the cottage, who came flocking in in great numbers when informed of the melan- choly catastrophe. Incisions were made in both arms, by a neighbouring phlebotonist, (for in this country numbers of individuals, woodsmen of the original stock, are found to be in possession of the lancet,) but they proved altogether un- available ; and we felt obliged to leave the cot- tage, per lack of time, after having remained there for well nigh half an hour, before the beguiled father or wretched mother of the im- fortunate youth, could be brought to a proper sense of their bereavement. Accidents of this description very fre- quently occur in Canada, particularly with the newly arrived old countryman, who, in his hurry and anxiety to have an opportunity of making the woods re-echo their own destruc- tion, often himself falls a victim to the first hemlock or oak tree that sinks beneath hift >-_^: % • I UM i; I, ' 'l IK ; i il i '! ! 164. . untutored arm. Too much caution cannot be accorded to the employment of felling timber j and no newly arrived imigrant should, with impunity, dare to satisfy his curiosity in the bush, without first having fully indemnified him- self from the practical lessons of an experi- enced woodsman. In the winter season much damage is likely to occur, without great pre- caution, amongst the lowing herd, as those animals will hurry from a great distance to the sound of an ax, for the purpose of brows- ing upon the beech and maple tops, after their being felled. When cattle are found missing from their homes for any considerable length of time, the first search of the looser un- questionably should be made amongst the lately felled timber of the imigrant, where, beneath the inflexible limbs of some monarch of the forest, he may, almost to a certainty, reckon upon discovering the objects of his labour. I my- self have seen the carcass of a young steer actually divided in twain, and two others ren- dered ever afterwards perfectly useless, from the fall of a white cedar, which the inexpert woodsman had been hacking at for full two hours, before he was enabled to fetch to the earth. * Lake Simcoe, which is one of th« most 165 extensive sheets of water in the interior of Canada west, has a surface level of upwards of six hundred and fifty feet above the tide water of the Atlantic ; and, although it is little better than thirty miles distance from Toronto Bay, in Ontario, yet the current of its waters has a journey of one thousand miles to perform, before reaching the entrance of that great lake ; elevated to a considerable height above the waters of Huron, Erie, or On- tario, it is early in the winter frozen over, and is, at this season of the year, seized with a coating of three feet thick of ice. As my nighest course to Niagara now lay directly across this lake, the weather fine, and the dangers trifling, I had little difficulty in coming to the conclusion of propagating my journey on foot, over the glassy surface, the morning after my arrival at Beaver. I had for my travel- ling companion a Chippewa Indian, a young lad of eighteen years, who had crossed over to Beaver the previous day, for the purpose of disposing of a number of Otter and Fsher skins, to the ftir traders. We started at seven o'clock in the morning, and though the dis- tance was upwards of thirty miles to the nighest landing, yet we contrived in the in- side of fourteen hours to arrive at our desti- nation for the night, at the village of Barry ■ 'i D! '^' m upon Kempenfelt Bay. The sun was shining beautifully bright throughout the whole of the day^ not a breath of air in motion^ sufficient to harrow up a blush from the cheek of either of us, or in itself, trace a single de- monstration of winter. The only inccnvenience I felt was from the want of provisions, our slender stock, owing to mismanagement, haying been exhausted before we accomplished a third of the journey, in consequence of which, a tendency to hunger set in with such infuriated vigour, that I felt compelled not only to slacken speed considerably, but several times to take my length and breadth unconditionally upon the ice. To relieve my anxiety upon the subject, my kind hearted companion, more than once informed me, that before three in the afternoon we should arrive at an Indian fishing station, adjacent to an island, where he undertook to promise some very desira- ble fried fish would be placed at my dis- posal. He proved very correct in his state- ments, not only as to the time, but also as to the fare we were likely to receive ; for, on our approach to the Indians, who were encamped close to the shore of a little inlet, about fourteen miles from the main land, and on whom we came rather imexpectedly, I perceived my olfactory faculties to be instanta- 167 neously called into action^ by the vaporous ex* halations arising from a couple of fine Masken- pgue^ and several black Bass^ which were un- dergoing the process of assation before the blaze of a huge beech-wood fire. After having re- mained here for about half an hour, and partaken of, though I can not call it the most refined and delicate of entertainments, certainly the most agreeable and welcome one I ever recollect to have sat down to in the whole course of my life, we took our leave of the Indians, whose hospitality on this, as on every other occasion in which it was my lot, or rather fortune, to have encountered their notice, was generous and un- bounded to an extreme; and resuming our journey towards the lake shores, arrived at Barry, per nine o'clock. If it be essentially necessary to a new set- tlement in search of name and fame, that it should be distinguished from the general mass, by its having had a^ed to its many other pri- vilegesj the pomp and circumstances of being termed aristocratic, the qualifications for such appellation being extended only to such districts of country as can boast a troop of half-pay of- ficers and broken down gentlemen of f(>rtune, from the mother country, unquestionably Barry aad surrounding neighbournood advance cHmr m r \^. r II i. lifU I 168 to that honourable distinction, before those of any other district with which I am acquainted in the Canadas. There is every grade of mili- tary officer here, from the general down ; some of them living well, and in the possession of beautiful houses and offices, in my opinion too extravagantly ornamental, for so retired a district of country ; whilst others, to use a common-place idiom, live poorly enough, as may be fairly supposed from the contemptible appearance of their habitations, which look as if they would, in mockery, belay the efficacious agency of the subaltern's allowance, the equitable half of a daily s^ven shillings and three-pence, pro- spectively dealt out in forest scrip, the genuine value of which no man knoweth. The country, in the imm diate neighbour- hood of this Lake, on the score of beauty, cer- tainly falls very far short of the general routine which the traveller is accustomed to meet with in the vicinity of all the great Lakes of Canada. There is here a continued flatness and equality of surface, which admits of no relief to the eye ; and the distant waters of the lake itself, seem as though they would o'errun, •• Ab weary wastes expanded to the skies" > their our appraised limits without controul ; every 169 thing appears dull and uninteresting. On the southern shores of the lake, immense tracts of pigmy larch wood prevail, a certain indication of the worst of soils, and the unnecessary ob- ligation upon man of attending to them, so long as an acre of hard timbered land can be had in the province. This, however, is not the case with the settled districts upon the other three sides of the lake. Those lands, though level and uninteresting in appearance, are of the very best quality, as the black walnut, and other valuable timbers, bear full testimony to. In addition to this, Lake Simcoe takes precedence as a fishing water before every other inland sea, either in the United States or Canada ; a salutary reason, I should suppose, why so many of the ancient aristocracy are found to be congregated around its shores. The beau- tiful river Severn, whirh connects it with lake Huron by a course of seventy miles, and on which there are three magnificent cataracts, of sixty feet fall each, presents to the fisherman im- measurable resourceo of employment and profit. In the spring time of the year, the fish can bo taken along the shelving banks of the river below the waterfalls, by the simple means of a landing net, in the greatest quantities ; and the sports- man in the possession of a double barrel gun, sI«ould he prove so unfortunate amongst the no 1 J I } i I i i'ff ■ 1'-: i i 1. i 1 I y '1|: feathered family as to dread the facetious coun- tenances of friends at home, in mockery of his labours, need but have recourse to a well directed volley in amongst the finny tribe, to en title his gamebag to present a materiality of cub' sistence, such as will enable him to turn the ballance of jocosity in favour of himself. Yesterday's night I was favoured with an opportunity of witixcssing the operations and effects in detail, of one of those old libertine customs, which (originally introduced into this country by its primitive settlors, the French,) is now very generally practised by the de- scendants of all other nations resident in Canada, and known as the Bridal " Cheravari." It would appear that whenever a matri- monial alliance has taken place, at which one of the two most interested parties is suspected of having been previously engaged in quali- fying himself or herself as an useful auxiliary to society, or, in less complicated terms, is virtually found guilty of having been married before, the bereaved widow, or disconsolati widower, the observance of a " Cheravar ' is by his and her friends or enemies, as the case may be, considered essentially necessary, not onljr for the purpose of convincing tin f ■' I 171 new married couple, that the affairs of this life are not intended by Providence to run so smack smooth with them as they themselves are led to believe they will, from the possitive assurances of the original matrimonial contractor, but also, that by letting them have a slight inkling of nugatory inconveniences at the start, they may be the better enabled to hold up against more important anxieties, whenever they should feel disposed to present themselves. terms, is This, to a part of the community, ex- hilirating sport, consists in the gathering to- gether (by some ind.istrious agitator, who wishes to play the most conspicuous part in the proceedings, and is very often the remains of an unsuccessful suitor to the would, if allowed to be happy lady) of every true philanthropic volun- teer who may happen to reside within sound of his splenitive percussion, or is supposed to be in possession of one of those sonorific ven- tilators called a bugle, an indefinite number of which, ** en masse," is said to lay claim to the conspicuous cognomenation of a brass band, v^though, in many instances, I am informed, they are altogether unablcd to justify their pretensions to that invigorating appellation,) and marching under the influence of as much im- passioned harmony) as the imited powers of h2 ! i II I J 172 rr i[ [• r the performers are capable of extending to themselves and the community at large, from a given place of rendezvous, to the happy and blissful mansion just entered into by the new married couple. Arrived in the immediate neighbourhood of their future operations, the gentlemen amateurs cease indiscriminately from preferring their pretensions on the score of har- mony, to the decision of Apollo and the Muses, for the more apposite purpose of carrying into effect a performance of those didactic pieces, from the results of which, the immediate cause of their being so unanimously collected together, is supposed to be derived ; and which description of music may partly be com- prehended, by dint of stressful imagination, leading you to conceive, what the results must be, from every individual musician of fifty, trying to enforce himself into the absolute be- lief, that he alone is sufficiently capable of pre- serving the honour of the band untarnished, command universal attention, and be heard pre- ferring his modulations far above the perti- nent pretensions of every one else present. In fact, I firmly believe, that there is no in- dividual who has ever witnessed the established observance of a Bridal Chcravari during this important stage of its proceedings, but must candidly admit, that there are no means by 173 which the qualification of any number of sounds, such as would dare to have the slightest allusion t» harmony, or lay claim to the simple appella- tion of a tune, can be turned into ridicule, that are left unresorted to. Matters generally con- tinue in this unsettled state for about the space of half an hour after the arrival of the per- formers, when silence is mooted by some in- fluential member of the community, and an appropriate message, denoting peace, is des- patched, under the protection of half a dozen pistols being first discharged of their contents, as indicative of consecutive results, in case of re- fusal, to inform the by this time, generally distracted bridegroom, that it is essentially ne- cessary, for the acquirement and furtherance of universal peace and harmony, he should immediately open his bed-room window, and conspicuously unfold himself to the assembly ; whereupon, and on receiving three cheers, he is to inform them that it is his good will and pleasure, that his most attached friends and faithful adherents, who have been honouring him with their cadences outside of doors, be immediately admitted witliin ; that the remain- der of the evening be given over to the re- sources of general hilarity ; that as plentiful and luxurious a repast as it is possible to procure, under the circumstances, will be spread out for their mature consideration ; and finally, # ( f i t\ i I I I ! •: \ 114 i ' ' - ■Tf-- H I should it be deemed practicable by his visi- tors in waiting, that the person of the fair lady herself be produced to the assembled multitude, in order that they may have an op- portunity of witnessing her beauty, and drink- ing to her future health and happiness, he will at once accede to the request. If the nature of these obligations are immediately and unconditionally complied with, well, but if not, then a second and more enlarged sphere of action is offered to every individual present t ^ play, ad " libitum," or in any other way he may consider will best tend to produce that uni- versal confusion, on the strength of which, is placed their entire hopes of success. In some instances, it has been known that the frail couyle have held out with a determina- tion worthy a better cause, for an entire week, rather than tarnish the remonstrances of pri- mitive resolution, which had bound them on honour never to accede ; but woe to them for so doing, as I have most credibly been informed^ that the quality and style of the music, rather than improve under afflictions, are found invariably to decrease ; and if such be the case, who would not resign at the very first onset. The Cheravari to which I have alluded ills visi- the fair ssembled e an op- d drink- nesS; he If the itely and it if not, phere of •resent t ► T he may that uni- which, 3ess. In that the etermina- re week, of pri- them on them >ly been of the fflictions, 1 if such the very alluded 175 ^ , f^' [ ■ as having witnessed, came into full operation I here yesterday's night about eleven o'clock, I anc; ras looked to with a very considerable P degicc of anxiety on the part of the villagers, as it was the third night in which the dis- tressed couple had been serenaded, previous to which, no appearance of capitulation, or terms of any kind vhatever, would be listened to by the besieged party. I went out once or twice to \lew the operations, oifensive and defensive, but ot seeing a breach likely to be effected, or the besieged coming to any rational terms, I retired to bed. This morning, however, I received the important intelligence that about one o'clock last night, Jericho the second, after a most obstinate defence, fell a victim to the braying and blowing of trum- pets ; and the garrison not only put to ilit; ordinary necessity of providing a supper for some fifty peop.'/, but actually compelled to ingraft into their discontented countenances ap- pearances of general satisfaction as to tlie re- sult of the operations. In taking a retrospective view i)f ilu; Cheravari for tiie last fifty years, lor tiic puipose of comparing it with its present ob- servance, I find that in those latter days, it is unquestionably on the decline. Tliis falling u I'l ■f \\'i 1 I ' ; i f 1', i' \1!^ 176 ■ .;) I H ^' off is decidedly more to be attributed to the increase of population in Canada^ than perhaps any other cause which could properly be as- signed; as temporary amusements of this des- cription, originally introduced into a country, for the sole purpose of making up the de- ficiencies of society, caused by the inhabitants of the land being few and far between, can not be supposed to work with the same degree of spirit or energy amongst a people, who are plentiful in community, and whose resources of real pleasure are sufficiently adequate to their wants. In many instances also of late it has been found necessary that the strong arm of the law should interfere in behalf of public tranquillity, as serious riots were known to have taken place, wherein parties were identified of having retired to their respective houses with broken heads, and other sinister marks of displeasure, caused by the dispersion of various destructive missiles, in defiance hurled from the fortress ot the besieged party. Notwithstanding these impedi- ments the Cheravari prevails to a considerable extent in the provinces, even to this day; and in no one instance, I am informed, can the distressed lady, bereft of her first husband, who, in order to insure the residue of her earthly happiness, would plight her troth to 177 love, honour, and obey a second lord of the creation, or the disconsolate widower, whose heart is almost rent assunder by the grimly foe having broken in on his family circle, and who would insure the future happiness of his bereft little one? by treating them to an in- dulgent step-m dare, a second time, to take to themsel ut receiving a powerful remonstrance to U rate course of prudence and foresight, which .he world, in its cen- soriousness, is often pleased to term selfishness, in the nature and appliance of a Cheravari. J i] ) \l H 3 ^^^^^o. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k /. {./ ,ff '4^ /. J z 1.0 I.I 11.25 ■ 50 ■^" mm u m m Ug 12.0 li^H |22 U i 1.6 ^ ^ B Photographic ^Sciences Corporation ;\ 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WIUTIR.N.Y. USSO (716)173-4303 178 t^' ^>i=- 5^ Catherine' a, January 25, 1846. Guelph, an inland town^ situated upon the river Speed, is not a singular instance of what John Bull and his money are capable of ac- complishing when left to themselves, and un- molested by the remonstrances of any other individual on the face of the earth, save an Englishman. 'Till within these last few years, and in which a number of Scotch and Irish imi- grants have arrived, this town was more ex- clusively British than any other to be met with in the province. Commenced in the year 1827, solely by English imigrants, under the super- intendence of the Canada Company, whose pro- perty it is ; Guelph and its vicinity rose sud- denly to a pitch of agricultural prosperity, and mercantile operativeness, that baffles description ; and though only eighteen years since their foun- dation and commencement, can now boast of every comfort, convenience, and solidity to be met with in the towns of sixty years standing, throughout any part of the empire. The chiu'ches 179 placed upon elevated situations are particularly handsome in Guelph, and the views horn, them of the surrounding country, beautiful, extensive, and varied. An unfortunate circumstance oc- curred here a few months back which was well nigh proving altogether effectual in the destruc- tion of the Boman Catholic Church, decidedly the most extensive building in the town. On intelligence having been received from Ireland, that Mr. O'Connell and his co-adjutors had bten liberated from their incarceration, the party attached to the repeal cause, insisted, contrary to the advice and warnings of the opposition- ists, in lighting bonfires in the principle streets, and parading through the town, with torch and music, &c. The consequences, however, atten- dant upon these exultations proved widely dif- ferent to what I sincerely hope the most de- termined enemies to repeal could have desired. — The Roman CathoJic Church took fire and was almost burned to the ground, before any ef- fectual assistance could be procured to stop the progress of the flames. Various were the opi- nions and suggestions in circulation, as to the causes which originated this unfortunate catas- trophe : The repealers charged the orangemen, (for Guelph, at present, is happy in the possession of branches of both those patriotic constitution- alists,) as being the sole perpetrators of the dii- I ill X 180 ,;( ' ■li, aster ; whilst the orangemen, in their turn, re- futed the charge, by alleging their incapability to commit so diabolical an act, many of them subscribing to the re-erection of the house of worship, and expressing their determination to expunge from their society, any member who was even suspected of being accessary to the crime. On the circumstance having being made known to government, a reward of five hundred pounds was instantaneously offered for discover- ing the perpetrators, if such there were ; but asr yet no information has been redeived at head quarters, or secrets disclosed, sufficient to coun- teract the now general belief, which is, that the conflagration was nothing more than purely accidental. :?!&■ It is much to be deplored that religious animosities have at length been effectual in wind; their way, from the contaminating dif- ferenceb which seems ever to beset European spiritual institutions, to the once peaceful re- tirements of Canada. A few years back, and whatever the professed creed of the Backwood*s- man might have been, he was seldom or never known to have been so unmindfid of his Heavenly interests, as to call down dread ana- themas upon the head of that individual whose mean» of seeking salvation were not exactly in m« 181 strict accordance with his own: at present i course of diametrically opposite principles seems to pervade the minds of the majority of every rank and persuasion in this country ; and^ I have not the slightest hesitation in saying, that there exists amongst the present condition of society in Canada, as mach hatred and bad feeling towards each other, on the score of re- ligious differences, as the sixpenny adventurer in search of knowledge is likely to hear voci- ferated in the Conciliation Hall, or round room of the Rotunda in Dublin. j"^:,;il m a. The winter seasons in Guelph, are generally severe, owing to the situation of the town, which stands very exalted, being upwards of eight hundred feet above the level of Lake Ontario, consequently the heat in summer is much less oppressive than it otherwise would be, were it on a standard height with the ad- joining townships, an incontrovertible conveni- ence, in my opinion, capable of overbalancing any disadvantages that could be endured from the most frigid winter. The line of country between Guelph and Hamilton is beautifully wooded, very few pine trees interspersing their proud tops amongst the variegated groves of beech, elm, and maple, a sure proof of the fecundity of the soil. A rail-road is in contem- 11 ^ ' I I f'.V lii! i '1 ! Ill i 4, 18^ plation between the two towns, which, if car- ried into operation, would be the means it is supposed, of realizing the value of the Canada Company's property, at least, one hundred and fifty per cent. In Hamilton I remained for some days, not bound by stress of weather, but by as fully an effectual detention upon advance, the gratification of meeting with many of those friends who formed the basis of my acquain- tance, when, for the first and last time I ven- tured upon the experiment of rusticating amongst the wild woods of Canada, in search of name and consequence, some ten years back. Any observations that I could make relative to the acknowledged prosperity and increasing success of this town, once speculations of rather ques- tionable character, would, I am certain, be deemed altogether superfluous, as it is foreign to the express purpose for which I originated a winters tour; my intention being, from the start, to have as little reference as possible to the valued contents of those volumes, which may be seen displaying their profundities in the front windows of every booksellers' shop in the united kingdom, the works of Canadian tourists, whose principle aim and object, after having enlarged upon the propriety and privileges of emigration, seems to be compressed in a cer- tain desire of laying open to Great Britain, and 183 her Colonies in general, the vast importance there should he attached to every gratuitous harbour along the frontiers of Canada, from the head of Lake Superior, down the beaten track of the St. Laurence, to the fortress of Quebec itself. This, however, I will say, from personal knowledge of circumstances, that but a few years back, Hamilton was a miserable village, situated two miles from the lake shore, with a population of one thousand — at present it has advanced to the water side, with a community of six times that number ; and that for wealth, respectability, and importance, it is soon likely to qualify itself for maintaining the distinguished appellation of Queen of the West, 'h^ ^ ^ This country upon examination, will, I think, be found to prefer as suitable opportu- nities to the drunkard for gratifying the bent of his desire, as any other British Colony either in the Eastern or Western hemisphere could lay open to his notice. It is a well ascer- tained fact, and one that can be proved from the most unquestionable authority, that in Ca- nada, from the emoluments to be derived through the dissemination of three half-pence, the most enthusiastic objectionist to the mono- tony of sober life, can effectually eradicate his thoughts from the common-place incidents of % I, PI 'fTM^VJr^J' i; 1 ■' i i! '< a Wi ! i i li' I if 184 the day : that for another similar sum he will be enabled to qualify his nether limbs as in- active members of the material substance in general, and that if the authorized value to be derived from four-pence hal^enny, is systema- tically placed in abeyance, and finally had recourse to, he wiU find himself entitled to dispense with- the entire perturbations of human nature, and shuffle off this mortal coil accordingly. ' On "Wed- esday last, at seven o'clock, A. M. the remains of a young man, English, by birth and education, were discovered within a few miles of Hamilton, re- clining against the rugged branches of a fallen cedar tree, in a state of conglaciation. It ap- pears that he had been speculating the evening before with but rather partial success — got cha- grined at the world, its perfidiousness and du- plicity, drank an entire sixpence worth of brandy, by way of systematic remuneration for his loss — got into a sleigh, and was in the act of returning home with a number of exalted friends, when he inadvertently tumbled out, was missed some two hours afterwards, as in decency shoidd be expected, and eventually pe- rished by the way-nide, through inability and intensity of the frosts. Now, this is one in- stance of the particular benefits which in this country are to be derived from that nominal taxation upon spirits, which the provincial go- r, 185 vethment^ in order to possess the confidence and respect of the many, at the expense of loss of human understanding, and then life itself to the few, have, in their wisdom thought proper to adopt. I could give twenty other of a simi- lar nature, but doing so would be imp litic to my own interests, as their relation would ne*' cessarily invest you with an idea, that inebri- ation amongst the people in general, is a vice of so common and every^day occurrence, that any importance I could attach to its e^stence, would, of necessity, fail to be interesting, so long as a sufficiency of more special and less ordinary matter lay open to my consideration. I shall, however, venture upon one other ex- ample, which (as it is fresh in my memory, and in its nature rather diversified from the common routine of Bachanalian imprudences,) I trust may meet with a certain share of your observant attention ♦ which is my reward. *' ^^ '^^■ ■'■'Hi •r'^'-^'-ir .'"iy i'JikSJ'X .f'f'.. '^il? f^t-^fi^ 'rf .*• Passing througn the township of N- last week, I happened to espy a considerable crowd of people, of both sexes, assembled toge- ther in the immediate vicinity of the parish church, whose perturbed countenances upon even less close examination, would unquestion- ably have gone far in submitting subject matter for considerable curiosity and excitement, could >f^ s M 1 i I. , 'fi : ' in :! i!l iU. 186 ■ ' •' !-'i. < t U they have been detected standing before the firont entrance of St. George's Church, Hanover'- /r^ square, itself. The unpretending manner in which I made my appearance amongst this strange looking assembly, was sufficiently indicative to them all, that I came not for the purpose of disseminating the validity of either good or bad news, and consequently my presence was neither greeted by avowals of friendly affection, or branded with the deserts due intrusiveness, forut- nate circumstances in their way, as they presented a fair opportunity to my scanning the particular condition of each several countenance, without my being burdensome to any individual of the community at large. A young lady of about eighteen years of age, who (by her modest, de- portment, in connexion with the distinguishing mark of a snow white ha]}iliment, in which she was clad,) I very naturally concluded to have been a bride, was standing in the centre of the group, rather agitated than otherwise, whilst from the indecision of her coimtenance, it was evident that a disagreeable uncertainty of mind was in the very act of prevailing, as to whether or not her eye-balls were in a sufficient state of porosity, so as to enable her successfully, and with proper effect, to draw upon the financeis of the numerous bystanders in the nature of , pity and condolement ; this interesting personage 187 was certainly much to be pitied. Next in association stood an elderly lady (peradventure her mother^) whose unwearied endeavours to alienate the affections and good will of the ge- neral assembly from that hitherto respectable young person, who had now wrought confusion ' in Israel, 8eem«d to be attended with very emi- nent success ; every where, and with every one, the person of this indefatigable lady might have been distinguished in allaying the elements of dis- pute and adding to confusion. I need scarcely say that this woman was very much to be dreaded. In the third rank stood the bridesmaids and other young people bidden to the wedding, of whom there were about two dozen; and, I must candidly confess, if I be allowed to form an opinion, from the expressions of their several countenances, which seemed to me to be very inopportune, and much given to risibility, that the sincerity of their good wishes, towards the most interesting lady of the group, was much to be suspected. Last of all stood the council of the aged and venerable of both sexes, to the number of eight, debating in high rivalry and union, as to what measures it would be most prudent to adopt, in order to give at least an appearance of feasibility to the awkwardeness of their meeting: by the spiritual and temporal laws of the universe, these old people were I. 1 •/. . /' 188 /i mr m / touch to be respected. I think I have adverted to (in a previous part of these letters) that general temperament which prevails amongst the inhabitants of Canada, of preferring to the stranger and unknown amongst them, unre- stricted information, gratis, of men and things in general, unsought after and unsupplica- ted ; a very fair sample of the justness of this remark was, during the progress of the present transaction, laid open to my observation. r /-; VI . ..i.-.f*-*,j^ ' How that the wily delusions of Satan the wicked one, the old enemy that was from the commencement of the world, had been success- ful in inducing that model of moderation, Geoffrey , to swallow down, upon the morning of his intended marriage, a dozen full glasses of the most pernicious represen- tation of French cogniac that ever entered the lips of man, was, I understand, the theme of general conversation amongst the pious of the neighbourhood for full four and twenty hours after the triumph of sin had been offi- cially announced to the world. How that the cause assigned for such intemperance was a forfeiture of two dollars on the part of Geoff- rey , in case he announced himself in- capable of fulfiling the task, was a suspicious affdr altogether, said to be set apart for the special interference of justice ; and how that 1 191 he died immediately after having pocketed the money, and was buried, are the simple facts which eight feet by four of a wooden slab, placed horizontally in a neighbouring church- yard, bearing his name and age, will, it is probable, remain for a term of ten years, better than circumstantial evidence of the truth of^ '%^^-''""*?^' •■.4'^, ''■-' "? a-' -:' ■'"• '^■••■■i'* In the neighbourhood of Perth, last winter, there were no less than four individuals over^ come to the death, through the influence of atmospheric frigidity, upon an overcharge of the " liquores generosi." In Montreal and By- town I have heard of other similar instances, and in the Model Kepublic, imtil the traveller shall have arrived below the korth latitudinal line of thirty-five, in which jnore temperate climate, the vigilant observer of Christmas-day, New-year's-day, and o»,ijer spiritual anniversa- ries, times of festivity and rejoicing, can, with impunity lie out of doors, private sacrifices of life may be heard of, which, for indiscre- tion and intemperance, exceed anything else of the sort to be met with in the annals of old Ireland itself. From Hamilton to St. Catherine's, in the Niagara district, a distance of forty-five miles, 11 f (:*!■ 'a .< I'- . I : ! it :-- ♦i , 't 11 192 I accomplished, per sleigh. I had for. my tra- velling companions, a young gentleman belong- ing to the government offices in Montreal, and two newspaper agents, of opposite political princi- ciples to each other, of course, which latter were on their half yearly tour, for the purpose of en- lightening the darkened inhabitants of the land upon the importance to be attached to tiieir private opinions in the next general council of the nation, m well as of convincing them as to the special necessity which existed of their becoming permanent subscribers to weekly copies of their journals. As far as the duplicity of editorial courtesy could be effectually blended into unfeigned friendship, through the in- strumentality of a glass of brandy and water every ten miles along the way, I feel my- self justified in saying, that the travelling representatives of the two most powerfully edited newspapers in all North America (as they, without the slightest hesitation, affirmed themselves to be,) shewed the very best pos- sible inclination to spare neither trouble or expense ; and that neither of them, through, out the entire journey, evinced the slightest disposition to remain silent, or in dread re spect of the superiority of his own press, when the pleasurable effects to be derived from a bottle of eau de vie, were undergoing fa- V 198 yourable considerations. That this apparent friendship amongst the gentlemen of the press, prevails to such an alarming extent, as to threaten their own liberties as a particular class of the community, I presume no rational man can, for a second, indulge in the idea of, as the following few remarks will, I hope, consen- taneously go to prove. Considering its size, Ca- nada stands unrivalled in the production of a vast number of printed public documents or newspapers, which it is to be supposed were originally got up for the procreation of gene- ral knowledge, and the especial enlightenment of the public, particularly those beings of so- ciety who live at a distance from the seat of knowledge, and are left no other opportunities of acquiring political or other information than through the means of a public press. Those newspapers which, in other countries go, to a certain extent, in vindication of the princi- ples for which they were originaQy designed, are, in Canada all and entirely devoted and given over as receptacles of private abuse and editorial wrangling. Imagine what soporiferous despondencies, drowsy oscitations, and imbecile mutterings must fall to the lot of that unfor- tunate man, who happens to lay hold of a public newspaper, for the purpose of conning over the latest intelligence from Europe, per «' if I " :1 :l lit K i l\ I 1 V ' XH / royal mail steamer ; thereby seeking, perKaps^, to discover if Sir Robert Peel has been in- duced to amalgamate a little consistency with his political despotism \ if it is considered pos- sible for the Queen to visit Ireland, without putting the nation to the disagreeable neces- sity of despatching an ambassador e^^traordi- nary from New Bond-street, to the Court of Louis Philippe, for the purpose of inspect- ing the panels of his bullet-proof carriages ; whether or not Mr. O'Connell has been suc- cessful in procuring for his countrymen a re- peal of the union ; and, in case the majority of the imperial parliament are still found to diflfer with him in opinion on that subject, then if he has consented at last openly to lay his head upon the block, as he promised to do some years back, and other interesting subjects relative to the fate of his native coun- try, and is put off with the trivial and unimpor- tant notification that " our learned of the patriot was discovered yesterday's night, between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock, dabbling through the dirty streets of the town, in a most disreputable state of intoxication." If the situation of such a person is not as truly miserable as many others, it would be possible to mention, is he not entitled to a consider- able share of pity and commiseration, when ' • • ^'V' 195 /-- ;ive coun- we suppose him a subscriber, and is unable to procure a public newspaper from any section of the province, wherein the leading article is not set apart for the purpose of animadverting upon the private as well as public character of some adverse member of the press,—" We are sorry again to be compelled to notice, after so many previous, yet ineffectual warnings, the cold in- difference to external appearances which our respectable opponent of the Constitution still de- lights to dwell in. To avoid again the necessity of restricting ourselves to set apart so valuable a column of our paper for such, to all appear- ance, imservicable purposes, we would wil- lingly and freely, out of our own private ex- chequer loan out, or indeed subscribe a suffi- cient sum, for the purpose of providing as much soft soap and potatoe starch as will en- able him to sport the novel appendage to his person, of a clean got up dickey, provided he consents to take to his bed until the laundry- maid be enabled to report progress in ablution. We sincerely trust that this may be the last time wherein we shall feel ourselves called upon to make known to the public, and our fair readers especially, the slovenly, slothfril, and dirty deportment of our contemporary ; but we have a duty to perform, both to the public and ourselves, and must not fail in I ii' 'ii! I J! .-i I inm I IflM Si i I SI i % 1 i' fi ■hill ^! m: : J': 196 the performance." The potency of this article, / it is to be presumed, would not be much overrated if it was said to possess the inherent property of driving he of the Constitution into a fit of distractedness, worthy more satis^ factory revenge than could be obtained by vindicating the character of his linen in the first column, first page, of his next Saturday's express paper; and consequently, under such circumstances, we not imfrequently have op- portunities of perusing in answer, such an ar- ticle as the following few lines may be said not to give a very unsuitable idea of : — " Were it not that we have matter of a most impor- tant nature to communicate to the public, con- cerning the family connexions of the Governor- general's private secretary, of whom, be it known to the world, that they are conserva- tive, whereby it behoves the loyal and firee- born men of Canada to be up and doing, for their liberties are endangered ; and that we do not wish to risk the character of our paper, by allowing it to be supposed that it was mere revenge that prompted us to take any notice whatever of the indelicate and per- sonal remarks of our foul mouthed contempo* rary, we could to him say enough, and more than enough, upon the nauseous and filthy appearance which his comigerous extremities ^ • 197 are never known to be free from, and which compel us to look upon him in the light, more of an individual representing the cha- racter of King Nebuchadnezzar, when he lost his reason and took to the hills, than a reverenced brother of the press, whom we always expect, for the honour of the profession, to have the appearance of a Christian of the nineteenth century, in bodily as well as men- tal qualities, prominently developed upon him. Let him, however, of this be perfectly certain that for the better preservation of his health and general appearance, it would be advisable for him to remain much more indoors than he has been accustomed to do for the last fe\if days ; our gentlemen are very determined fellows." Professing the same opinion in political matters, do'nt, in the slightest degree, inter- fere with the gentlemen of the press, in pre- venting differences of a private nature being made public, for instance — " We copy from our learned friend of the Statesman, upon whose veracity we can place the most implicit reli- ance, ' that her Majesty is not in that inte- resting situation which her loving subjects in Canada would so devotedly wish.' " — And, in a succeeding number of the same paper may ♦■ I ' I 'i 198 be read the following—" We strictly cautioii /'' our fallacious contemporary, the Statesman, against publishing, for the future, any asper- sions upon the characters of the several young men employed in our office. Let him due warning take, lest we should feel ourselves tailed upon to come down upon him with the entire weight of our displeasure." So much for news and newspapers in this country. Let us now, in order to assist in facilitating the operations of end and object, take a slight view into the peculiarities of government, as far as regards patron and patronage, and see if anything of an interesting nature can at all he picked up. It appears that there is in this country an over anxiety, which a less important per- sonage than a theoretical reformist might very naturally call selfish interest, on the part of every individual under the immediate superin- tendence of her Majesty's government, to have it generally understood, that his most anxious wish and desire is, that the country should look upon his services in exactly the same light which he feels inclined to look upon them himself; or, in other words, he wishes it to be very pertinently understood by those whose duty it is to look into and reform the '^ 199 abuses of Bociety, that the sums of money he annually receives from gbvemment, as a re- muneration for his services, fall very fat short of the intended object for which they were originally granted. Now this selfish sensation, or desire of obtaining lucrative employment, in furtherance of its object, has rendered it- self liable to the performance of several very strict and rather complicated ordinances, the observance though of which, if jproperly car- ried into effect, seldonk or ever lose their re- ward. If, for example, the conservative party be in power, as they are at present, it is a matter of the most essential importance, that the individual in pursuit of emolument, be able, tiot only to give the most satisfactory evidences of his loyalty to the throne of Great Britain, but that he be found ready and willing to stand up in defohce of British laws and British institutions, in despite of all opposition, or the introduction of any sys- tem of political improvenient whatever, which had not originally been brought before the united wisdom of the home parliament, and afterwards received its sanction. If, on the contrary, the reform party, by the manifesta- tions of fortune's frolicks, are empowered to make known to their opponents, that her Ma- jesty's representative requires their services no \ ^ ! j I- ! 200 f ■ ui n\ v'A hi ;l !il^ I / longer^ it is indispensablynecessary, by unavoidable consequences, that the individual in question should not only deny himself sufficiently, so as to keep pace with the progressive spirit of the times, but also be found ready and willing to prove, by the most constitutional arguments, that reform in church and state is essentially necessary to the stability of the throne, the liberty of the subject, and the welfare of the empire in ge- neral ; and finally, give it as his unbiassed opi- nion, if necessary, that the bill brought into parliament by the honourable member for , for the purposes therein declared, is one which, though ousted by the late government, every well-wisher of his country should desire to see re-introduced to the consideration of the legis- lature, and passed into a law, not only on account of the very successM manner in which it was found to have worked in the state of Massachusetts, where it had originally been propounded, but also that it might serve to point out to any future governors, who might arrive from England, what was the undivided opinion of the people of Canada, in respect to the contempt displayed by the late Lord Sydenham, for " Yankee laws and Yankee institutions. »» ,Mw.i.-«- ,i:-i* ^t >v./t.i.4.ii»p(- xM .»>*j The young gentleman, one of our travel- i^Ol ling companions alluded to some few pages back; informed us that He himself was a living instance of the benefits and advantages to be derived irom this shifting system of political traffic. That for the last five years he felt it to be an incumbent duty owed his country and himself, to mortify any little qualms of conscience which he might have happened to be in the possession of, so as to secure the patronage of the party in power, no matter what their principles might be. That during the entire period in which the whig ministry had remained in rulers of the land, he had adopted the principles of republicanism to that extent, which enabled him, with the greatest ease and facility, to abuse the private as well as public character of the govenor-general, just as though he were president of the United States, and he himself a member of the House of Representatives at Washington ; and that, during that period of his life, he considered annual parliaments, universal sufifrage, and vote by ballot, to be the imquestionable rights of the people of Canada, to procure which, he would have willingly buckled on his armour and fought to the death. When, however, the Baldwin ad- ministration were turned out by the unanimous voice of the loyal people of Canada, he felt himself importunately called upon to go along I 3 > I! !: i i' ! 202 ■ ' ii m I?' m ]* k with the conservative spirit of the times. That now he perfectly understood the respect due to the Lord's anointed, or governors sent by her for the furtherance of justice ; and that he had not the smallest particle of doubt re- maining upon his mind, hvx th'it a republic form of government was mcreiy a provisional school of justice, which the temperaments of a frantic mob had introdi.ced to their own private necessities, in Heu of knowing no better. From the mental commutations consequent upon these ministerial revolutions, he remarked, indeed that his sufierings wero but of a very trivial and unimportant nature, scarcely worth noticing ; but that from his corporeal mutations, in the style and manner of Uving, which were also essentially necessary to success, he had suffered privations which none but the most distin- guished christian of the day could possibly hold up against, and which, he very much feared, had specially affected his longevity, and driven many nails in his coffin ; in attesta- tion of which, he begged leave to call our at- tenu^jj ohose particular habits and manners of /Ivl-j-, vvhich iie had adopted during the period in which the whig administration held office, so as to compare them with his present mode 6f sustentation. " In those by gone days," remarked this martyr to commutability. ws ** I lived a republican of the strictest sect ima- ginable, a tom-and-jerry, three mint julaps, and a sherry coblei every morning before breakfast, with a one o'clock dinner of pork, molasses, and pumpkin pie, formed the princi < ingre- dients of my every day's bill of fa^ and, by way of allowing my digestive orgaii tyi scope for exercising their functions, 1 hac pri- vileged myself to an hour's nap aj r every meal, on the two hinder legs ol an ai « cV ir, with my legs suspended from the moatle pie e. But now that ev ry thing is British, for the most part conservative, I am depr I of my morning's glass, or more consistently ing, glasses, reduced to the unaltemati dining at eight o'clock in the night, something nice, as it is ludicrously, in opinion, termed, such as a mutton chop beef stake ; and, by ^vay of exercise, am com- pelled to expose the perfections of my half dressed person, standing straight up with en- folded arms in the centre of a grass plot, gazing upon the frantic evolutions of a cricket baU." I have introduced these few observations upon papers and politics into this letter, more for the purpose of permitting you to form some idea of the particular description of travelling jeak- ot on ny or «!! !; i 1 r ! I rii M / d: 'l *l 3 " J. ^ i ^^ H ■W' ^^ ^ '1' ■ ;a! 1 , ^ nrr If r !•■ B|| !' / ■ ■ f r. 1' ' ^ '-Hi i i < '. ( ' " jf^ ' j i V i ' -1 '^ ') . ,i ■h , •■'f ■'?■; , • * ; ! f ' ' > f. ' i ( |.i :>i' ' ■ h ; li {i|i|i ' 1 1 »1' I I \ 1 : V 1 3 ii ik 4 204 acquaintances which the stranger is likely to meet with in this country, when the conveni- encies of a public conveyance are had recourse to, than for that of expatiating upon the prin- ciples of those two dogmatical ways of subsis- tence, or upon the particular characters of those individuals who stake their existence on their durability. Were I to undertake the task of descanting generally upon the politics and press of Canada, it would needs be under more ad- vantageous circumstances of acquiring knowledge, than the confessipns of a stage coach could lay at my disposal ; but of those two branches of society we may say, like as of all others, faint sketches may be picked up along the way, which, though not of sufficient weight in themselves, to give us an entire insight into their peculiari- ties, may, nevertheless, still be deserving of so much of our attention, as would entitle them to be contradicted by very special argumentation, before they could be radically removed from our notice. ., The fine tract of country comprising the Niagara district, and in which St. Catherine's is situated, has been settled for upwards of half a century back, principally by Dutch, who ori- ginally received grants of land from the Crown, on conditions of actual settlement. The sa- 205 lubrity of the climate, and richness of soil, rank second to no other locality in the province; and, as a fruit country, it is unquestionably su- perior to any part of the adjoining state of New York ; peaches and grapes growing here in the greatest abundance. Owing to its peninsular situation, between sections of the lakes Erie and Ontario, and the great portion of ^its frontiers which should lie exposed to the invasion of the enemy, in case war unhappily broke out be- tween Great Britain and the United States, emigration to this district has not been so rapid as in many other parts of the province, and the value of land, as a matter of course, is not on the ascendancy. The Welland Canal, cut some few years back, in order to avoid the barrier presented to navigation by the Falls of Niagara, passes through the centre of St. Catherine's, which town occupies a central position between the two lakes : *till within these last two years the basins and locks upon the canal, were al- lowed to fall into considerable decay — govern- ment has, however, taken the repairing and en- larging of them under their own immediate super- intendence ; and those public works, when finally completed, will present a continuation of artificial inland navigation, unequalled in any other part of the world. In some few months hence, ves- sels of three hundred tons burthen will be en- u S06 abled to leave the ports of Liverpool and Lon- don, and discharge their cargoes on the distant shores of lakes Huron and Superior. There are now between two and three thousand Irish- men employed upon this Canal; indeed I be- lieve none other, save Irishmen, ever think of offering their services ; taking it for granted, as 1 suppose they do, that a sound head is, under any circumstances, preferrable to a broken one, the latter commodity being a sort of embla- matic mark of the quality of persons, which every man who is not of the true Milesian blood, is certain of having had affixed to his personal appearance, should he prove so far forgetftJ of the respect due to Pat, as to pre- sent himself with spade or pick-axe, within three statute miles of the public works. It is to be deplored, that amongst the va- rious publications, which are continually pour- ing forth their lucid instructions for the benefit of the poor Irish Emigrant, preparatory to his taking leave of his native land, informing him of the various habits and manners of the coim- try of his adoption, the style of farming, the nature of the soil and climate, with the other manifold differences which must consequently come under his observation, and to which he is unaccustomed, it never once has entered 207 'Vi into the conceptions of their learned authors, the necessity of pointing out to him how indispen- sably requisite it is, that a total change in his own habits, manners, and devices, should first take place, before he ever need expect to be- come the respectable inhabitant of a country, in many districts of which, the arrival of Pat, at pre- sent, to take possession of his lot of land, is looked upon by the older settlers more in the light of a providential warning, importing to them the necessity of their being somewhat more par- ticular than heretofore, in taking a daily inven- tory of their stock on hand, than as any valu- able addition to their neighbourhood from which considerable benefits could hereafter accrue. — Now, were I undertaking to arrange a work for the express purpose of affording useful information to my benighted countrymen, I would think Jt imperative upon me, in the first instance, dis- tinctly and clearly to shew, that in order to permit of their having a fair opportunity for ameliorating their present deplorable condition, as well as for the purpose of enabling them to exist in any other state than that of the most degrading dependency, it was of the most es- sential importance, that the immorality, conse- quent upon being in a state of perpetual in- toxication — the avaricious propensity of appro- priating to themselves the goods and chattels of \ h II ' f ;i I' ii. ■ 208 their neighbours, without permission — and the mischievous tendency of quarrelling with every one who happens to differ with them on religious opinions, be, in the first instance, sufficiently and successfully got rid of. On the first of these three delinquencies in society, I have already said much, much more than I "originally in- tended, but were I arranging for Paddy's spe- cial instruction and edification, I might be in- duced to repeat certain portions of such men- tioned matter, adding thereto, as much other va- luable information and advice, as I should con- sider to be wholesome and admonitory. These too, from a simple epitome of the work in conspi- cuous Koman characters, to be seen upon open- ing the first page, part of which should go to acquaint the reader, amongst other formidable in- telligencies, that there are more confirmed drunk- ards land in America, from Ireland, than all the rest of the world besides, would be found to constitute the ground work of the first chap- ter. I should then endeavour, in furtherance of my object, to strike out a plan of operations, for the purpose of assisting Pat in counteract- ing that selfish propensity which so many of his fellow-counirymen labour under, namely — the appropriating to their own private use, every little article of chattel or portable property, which may happen to lie unprotected or not. ^09 under the immediate eye of the owner : en* deavouring, in iuitherance of my object, to point out to him, how unreasonable and pre- sumptuous it is in any man, whilst walking along the public road or elsewhere, and he espys an ox or an ass, not chained to an im- moveable stake, to come to the settled conclu- sion, that he is in greater need of them him- self than their owner, and march off with them accordingly. Here, whilst descanting upon the several descriptions of thieves and thieving, cog- nizable to this country, I would remark, that in many instances it has been clearly ascertained, that wolves, and other voracious animals, lead consigned over to their own special purposes, such tempting delicacies as a leg of mutton, or uncautious guarded pork chop could present ; but that in no one instance, did I ever recol- lect to have heard, that they had became so delicate in th;jir appetites, or apprehensive of indigestion, as to carry off the culinary utensils, (which, in the summer season, are invariably left out of doors,) for the purpose of conferring a little cookery upon the rewards of their la- bour, or a few bushels of onions, and the like of potatoes, as a species of vegetable diet by way of change ; observing, that where instances of this description occur, they are almost invariably placed down to the credit of some newly imported i j 1 '.' i ' i i I I i 1 hi I />< no I 1 1 ( 'I i I u /I n 1, ' 'ii ' i ti / Irisli Imigrant, from whom I grieve to say, much better should be expected. On the nature of quarrelling with his neighbour, on the score of religion, I would have much to say, and much to lament; a thousand instances I could give, in which the contentious disposition of Paddy had debarred him, not only from all re- spectable society, but from a good market, (in its most copious meaning,) as well as a ready sale for the productions of his farm ; and how, that by his irascible propensities he had insti- tuted over the wholie continent of North America, even amongst the Bed Indians of the forest, an antipathy to his name and nation, which the most exemplary characters of his country can, with difficulty, free themselves from labouring under the burthen of. Such would, to a con- siderable extent, form the outlines of my volume, Ivritten for the express benefit of my countrymen ; and not one single ray of hope or happiness would I hold out, until I considered that I had first duly impressed him with the indispen- sable necessity of for ever and effectually getting rid of these three fatal propensities. The temperature of the atmosphere in Ca- nada, has, at this season of the year, arrived at the very acme of its frigidity, whereupon the weather-wise predict an immediate thaw, not- 211 !' withstanding the azure of the skies is beautifully transparent and pure, and during a few hours of each day, the glowing rays of the sun may be felt penetrating their caloric through the folds of the thickest raiment. Yesterday evening I could perceive at a distance of five and twenty miles, revolving clouds of white spiral mist, ascending in irregidar forms towards the Hea- vens, and this I concluded must have been Niagara. ••fr ^ ^i»- ■: .^.- i i ii/i 111 !' It a' ;11 ! 1 \i > ^n • ■.. /CuiVf Niagara Town, February 5, 1845. ;>i) ■hi '^n, I k\ ri I • The month of February is decidedly the most impleasant portion of a Canadian winter, owing to the extensive thaw which invariably sets in towards the close of the foregoing month, and continues for about a fortnight, during which time it is almost impossible to move out of doors, even under the protection of the newly improved United States Royal Indian Bubber Shoes, (for such are really advertised for sale,) without your nether extremities being regularly scrutinized by the dissolving snows: the massive bodies of ice which cover the great lakes, seldom remove sufficiently, so as to per- mit of the navigations being opened, but in lieu thereof, a tegument of sixteen inches of water prevails over the surface, which completely puts a bar to all traffic being carried on be- tween the United States and Canada; no por- tion of the year is more distressing upon work- ing cattle than this sloppy splashy season. The enow being well nigh dissolved along the beaten f>iS track of the highway, renders sleigh travelling altogether impracticable, whilst the carriage wheels if remediably had recourse to, sink through the faint admixture of mud and snow without any opposition. More horses are killed from hard work in Canada, during this incle- ment season, than in the whole remaining por- tion of the year put together: no doubt the commencement of sleighing is generally ushered in by distressing accounts from the different parts of the country, in which the destruc- tion of horses, cattle, sheep, &c. is somewhat respectively commented on, such as — " it is with unfeigned regret that we have to announce a loss of such considerable importance, as that which yesterday befel an amiable townsman, M. Bosanquet, not less than three span of his beautiful Norman French horses, were precipi- tated down the rapids of the St. Lawrence, in their endeavours to cross the Coteau de Lac;" and again — " we understand, owing to the very unsettled state of the weather, that fifteen head of cattle perished in the ice, about three miles above the cascades, on the River de Richelieu ;" but then, these are occurrences which, though it appears they happen to a certain extent every year, at the commencement of sleighing, are generally placed under the head of accidents and misfortunes, that might easily be avoided v\ } i A t, ! II J 214 i ( >; i were sufficient recourse had to caution ; whereas, when the destruction of the brute creation, in the latter end of the month of January, or thereabouts, is adverted to, it may very reason- ably be inferred, that the sufferer is an avaricious man — tenacious of the loaves and fishes! and, has lost his pound in endeavouring to save his penny. It is, however, during this inclement season of the year that the mighty surges of the unrivalled Niagara maybe seen sweeping along in the very acme of their magnificence ; the body of water precipitated over the cataract is at least, one third greater than in any other por- tion of the year, not even the general ' break- ing up of the ice' excepted, a phenomenon, caused in this country, more through the in- fiuence of atmospheric heat, than humidity, or prevalence of heavy rains. ■ -I In endeavouring to call your attention io the magnitude of the falls in the winter season, I would indeed, be doing but trifling justice to my own feelings, if I did not, in the first instance, make mention of the lively sense of pleasurable satisfaction which so impressively presented itself, when, for the first time, I had an opportunity of witnessing Niagara alone, the shores thereof bereft of company, and its roar of many waters crowding down that rush of enomenon. 215 unrivalled magnificence, before not that I cathcd the breath of human existence, save myself. It is now seven years since I last visited the falls, my motives then as now, curiosity, a frailty somewhat excusable in this pait of the world, the season summer, that particular por- tion of the year wherein groups of transient visitors gathered together from the four corner^ of the earth, seemingly intent upon Niagara, exhibit this lively image of Heaven's omni- pQtency, more in the light of a panorama of human invention, descriptive of the awfully grand — the dread — ^the magnificent at earth's extreme — our antipodes — than the very thing itself — the cataract — superstructure raised of, and on omnipotency — standing imrivalled and alone, proclaiming forth, what God can by His Word, man never alter by his hand. It is now Fe- bruary, cold and dreary, and standing upon the Table Rock which yet overhangs* the " dark unfathomed caves" of troubled waters under- neath, I hear not sound of man, nor mark his footsteps, save the solitary track of some contemplative wanderer, who had ventured here belike for conscience sake, in order to give imagination free access to scenes of sixty years back, when the Red Indian, from Ontario's side, driven from his native home by dark dissimulation and deceit, might have been seen I i,l i i; I! I l-il' vif'.-" (';'■■ F 216 I* f r, stooping beneath this sacred altar of his soul's delight; in order to call down dread anathe- mas upon the cursed spirit of the pale-face^ his disinheritor and inthraller. When standing close by the Falls, at thit; wintry season of the year, the " rush of many waters" is decidedly more grand and imposing than during the milder months, notwithstand- ing the sound at a greater distance is said not to be so perceptible as in summer. If such be really the case, (an hypothesis which I feel very much disposed to question the truth of,) it is no doubt owing altogether to an atmospheric influence, and as such, by philosophic reasonings, may perhaps be accounted for; but if it is not, which is more probable than otherwise, we have not to blame for the inaccuracy of the remark, save the aspiring pretensions of imbe- cile travellers, which willingly sacrifice truth rather than that their profound authors should be supposed not to have arrived at the very precise period, when the foaming and maddened eddys of the great abyss, were at the very acme of re-echoing their pretensions to a seat on the loftiest pinnacle of fame. Even the si- multaneous rush of the hurrying rapids above the Falls, in the winter season, must exceed in grandeur and design, the stranger's most M 217 extatic conceptions of all things earthly, when, for the first time, he comes to see, and leaves the convincing testimonies of optical evidence", and not the force of pitiful imagination, to remind him, he is standing in presence of one of the Almightiest works of nature here below. I\ "'. Almost every traveller who has over vi- sited Niagara, from the celestial di})lomatif5t here upon earth, who is willing to give the praise to God, and rejoice in His works, down to the atheistical demoniac, who is carried away by the force of an untutored imagination, and presumes himself some person, has written more or less concern ing the beauty and mag- nificence of its falls ; but under whatever perti- nent cognomenation it may please }ou, the reader of these remarks, to characterize me by, I will, at all events, endeavour to leave it out of your power preferring a charge of gar- rulous inutility against me on the subject, when, for apposite descriptions, &c., and such as will be found best suitable to your understanding and capacity, I refer you to the works ol all the learned men who have ever written upon the subject, from those of magnanimous Goldsmith, who mooted the navigation of the falls, not an impossibility, down to the latest advices ^ll .^ f 1? I • •' !'§ I; . 'i' n,- 218 received from Charles Dickens, Esq. and lady, whilst on their tour of observation through North America. I hope, however, I may not be leaving myself exposed to the mortifications of either direct or indirect censure, when in connexion with the proper season for visiting the falls, I feel myself called upon to pay deference to the few following observations, by tendering them as an advice, and say — you ver- satile gentlemen of the eastern hemisphere, who would forsake your happy homes and com- fortable firesides, for the purpose of gratifying erratic ambition, come not here in the sum- mer season, lest, whilst labouring under the influence of an over anxiety to witness the all wonderful works of nature, in the western world, concentrated in her Niagara, you will have little else to link imagination with on the spot, save a motley group of " Turks, Mahomedans, and Jew?, Greeks, Romans, Yankee Doodles, and Hindoos," the real object of your ambition, during that portion of the year, being little better than at par, and you be compelled to return home to the bosom of your families disgusted and disappointed. But put winter to the arbitre- ment ; observe the month January, and in doing so, rely upon it, you will be saved the 219 otherwise disagreeable necessity of being frus- trated in your hopes and expectations ; be provided with a sufficient stock of condign in- formation, such as will prove available in baf- fling the necessity of framing exaggerated conscriptions, in order to support your preten- sions as a traveller ; and finally, have an op- portunity of witnessing the summit of earthly magnificence and grandeur in all its glory, and at a season too, which the defections of human nature have hitherto been unfortunately suc- cessful in precluding, with but few exceptions, the ardent admirer and votai'ist from paying sufficient attention to the claims of. Before leaving the immediate neighbour- hood of the falls, I crossed over the boundary line between Canada and the United States, for the purpose of paying a flying visit to brother Jonathan, in the latter country. The ferry, which lies at a distance of about nine hundred yards below the horse-shoe fall, is, with considerable difficulty arrived at, espe- cially on the republican side of the river, as a spiral staircase, of rather apprehensive ap- pearance, is all that is left the experimenta- list to enter into negociations with, lor the preservation of his person, during a descendent passage of one hundred and ( ighty feot, to the ) 220 1 I i.i river's bank. On entering the land of free- dom, I was greeted with a very considerable share of attention by the natives, many of them actually crossing over from the opposite sides of the street for the purpose of having a look at me, as well, no doubt, as of affording an oppor- tunity to the subject, of afterwards declaiming in his enslaved countrv, how that the citizen dealt condescendingly and liberally towards him ; and in proof of such condescension and libera- lity, he would have it in his power to state, that pertinent answers to half a hundred inter- rogatories were virtually placed down to his ac- count, before that a sufficient time to liquidate the debt incurred by his having listened to the first of them, had satisfactorily been ob- tained. 1 am not exceeding the bounds of pro- bity or decorum when I state, that during the few hours in which I remained in the little town of Manchester, close by the American ca- taract, I received full two dozen invitations from individuals I never recollect to have seen be- fore, to come forward and incorporate myself into rational society, by means of the brandy bottle. Some of these biddings were, to all appearances sincere, and certainly, very much to tlie purpose. " Well, I sware, you'l take a tn at tins cold day, squire." " Come along Mr. : I ciilcnlate, vou and I will be better ,4 acquainted shortly." " Well, I snore, captain, if this 'aint the most tarnation cold weather I ever seed in the hull coorse of my nateral Kfe. What do you say, eh, the D 1, eh?" In the event of my not acceding, which was altogether the case, to the prayer of any one of these hospitable petitions, indeed I may say injunctions, as they were pretty generally adverted to by an appellatory clap on the shoulder, I was immediately put down, by the individual in ouestion, as a " mean critter, and entirely unworthy of any gentleman's no- tice ;" and after having underwent the rounds of attention from every individual in Man- chester, who chose to speculate upon the de- sign and scheme of ray unexpected visit, and shewn a shyness of disposition and general un- willingness to become ingrafted into society, I was branded as belonging to that particular cast, which free civilized gentlemen should not demean themselves to associate with, by a " long chalk." The fact of the matter is, I am in- clined to believe, that they took me for one of those premature experimentalists on free trade, who infest the boundary line between Canada and the United States, and from whom the altogether prohibited article, in the latter country, of a cloth coat, of English manufac- ture, can be obtained in lieu of a few pounds I n m /I i m hi .1'' . - - J \ of young Hyson or Twankay ; and finding afterwards that such was not in reality the case, they felt chagrined at their own credu- lity, and fell back upon the republican pri- vileges of personal abuse, by way of a gfiiie- ral indemnification for disappointment and the loss of time. •"^ iV^i Though the political excitement caused by the late Presidential election, has, to a certain extent subsided, owing to the elevation of Mr. Polk, to the office of first magistrate of the re- public, yet it by no means follows, as a matter of course, that his victory is to be looked upon by his enemies in any other light than that of a temporary triumph gained by bribery and corruption over all liberal and constitutional means. In order, therefore, to prove to the world at large, that such is in reality the case, as well as to prevent him ever again submit- ing his traitorous designs to the consideration of the people of the United States, the patriotic party, as they designate themselves, keep up a perpetual war against their inaugurated, in the nature of personal attacks and public abuse, with as much vehemence and animosity, as they would against the Queen of England herself, were she to threaten the Boston ians with a fresh impor- tation of tea, direct from the r( lestisd f iiipire. 223 That the Presidential party are, however, suf- ficiently powerful to maintain a very considerable share of respect from certain individuals of all classes, must as fairly be acknowledged, ar< that their opponents are determined to lose no op- portunity of disputing their constitutional right to partake of the benefits of same ; and to the truth of this statement the stranger may have a full opportunity of bearing testimony, if he is only conceding enough as not to allow of hi$ becoming wilfully bUndfolded from the first moment he plants his foot in the " land of liberty," down to that particular crisis of his being, when he begins to think it high time to retire from the same. In almost every part of the state of New York, banners dis- playing their several devices may be seen fronting the residence of every individual who considers the existence of the United States as a nation, entirely depending upon his own personal assiduity, and which is generally about four-fifths of the land ; and though it is not at all necessary, that, in order to be ac- quainted with the nature of the several ensigns which adorn the patriotic poles which support them, the traveller should look upwards as the quality of the stick itself, is sufficiently ex- plained by its bark — that of ash, stripped of its superfluous branches, being appropriated for 1 224 ^} # the purpose of exalting Henry Clay to the skies, and that of hickory, submitting its tough- ened cuticle to the inclemencies of the weather, in order to immortalize Polk and Dallas ; yet, if the expostulations of curiosity get the better of him, and he feels determined to gratify them, he may read time about, throughout this garden of political infatuation, quaint devices wrought in enamelled letters of silver and gold, which cither go to represent the present President of the United States, as the most patriotic citizen who ever swayed the destinies of the entire civilized world, together with being the terror of England, or the most pernicious traitor who ever unfolded his pretensions to the conside- ration of the high and mighty republic ; but I must conclude, as I perceive myself to be digressing. I ' After having sufficiently gratified my curi- osity amongst the worthy citizens of New York State, I retired back upon the Cana- das — it was evening, beautifully bright, and I could distinguish whilst cros ing the ferry, a bald-headed eagle, soar down from his serial mansions amidst the clouds, aid snatch a fish from the very summit of the pro- jecting rock o'er which rolls the mighty cataract. FINIS. -Ami':': ,•...■ ,';■■- -t5>1^Ki ■■■' ■ irr^ji;. ERRATA. ^' PiV* II— -For •* consequently"— Jvarf " consecutively.' -f'y .— i7__For " conspiracy" — reorf *• conspixacica." ii'j 21 ^For ♦' Nenu»"— read " Nereus." ?.c< 23— For ** •wete"—read «♦ was." A^- "- 24— For " wood canvass back" read " wood, canvasi OiAli; ; back." ^ T£ 41— For « faUen"— read " fall." ,5 . - 63— For " water, carriage"— r(jod •• water carriage." 63— For " suite"— reflsrf «• suit." 70— For •' the"— read '• they." 98— For " periods"— rcod " period." ■ 112— For " south, south west"— reorf *' S. S. W." 116— For " best"— read " vast." 117 — ^For " penitentary" — read " penitentiary." 166 -For •• dictales"— read " dictates." I-" 168— For '• ever"--re«d " never." 165 -For " ffshcr" -rtw/ " lishor." 168 -For ** um" —read " own.'" bid ir"