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 7 
 
 
 
 . (*a; *'=;-4; 
 
 
 
THE 
 
 C A N A D A S 
 
 IN 18H. 
 
 BY 
 
 Sru UICHAllD II. IJOXXYCAS'I'Ki:, 
 
 MKrTKXANT-(OL().\KI, lUIVAL KN'dlNREIlt), AND LI KITKNAyT-COI.nX Kl 
 I.N THK MILITIA OK ll'I'KIl I ANADA. 
 
 IN TWO V0LU3IES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 FALLS or MA(.AHA 
 
 LONDON : 
 HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, 
 
 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 1842. 
 
BrbtcattlK 
 
 TO 
 
 THE BRAVE MILITIA 
 
 OP 
 
 THE MIDLAND, PRINCE EDWARD, VICTORIA, 
 
 AND 
 
 EASTERN DISTRICTS 
 
 OP 
 
 UPPER CANADA, 
 
 By 
 
 THEIIl AFFECTIONATE FRIEND, 
 
 COMPANION IN ARMS, AND FORMFR COMMANDER, 
 
 R. H. BONNYCASTLE. 
 
 NK. 
 
il 
 
 hdV 
 
 ten 
 adv 
 seal 
 pov 
 will 
 able 
 acti 
 1 
 age 
 dut 
 of 1 
 diff 
 the 
 bra 
 in t 
 soli 
 me 
 
P R E F A C E. 
 
 The British Colonics in North America 
 hdvc advanced so rapidly during the last 
 ten years, that those who have not had the 
 advantage of viewing their progress, can 
 scarcely credit the extent of their present 
 power and importance; the British public 
 will, therefore, naturally look with a favour- 
 able eye upon any work treating of their 
 actual condition. 
 
 A long residence in Canada ; several voy- 
 ages across the Atlantic ; the nature of the 
 duties I had to perform, and the advantage 
 of my official station, which obliged me at 
 different times to visit nearly every part of 
 the country, from the lonely shores of La- 
 brador, Anticosti, and the Bay of Chaleurs, 
 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to the far off 
 solitudes of Lake Huron, of course afforded 
 me opportunities, seldom to be otherwise 
 
VI 
 
 PUEFACE. 
 
 i 
 
 •rained, of obtain in<r a knowledge of tlie 
 immense territory embraced in these limits. 
 
 In the course of such extensive travels, I 
 became actjuainted with the people inbab't- 
 ing that territory, from the resident of the 
 city to the hard-working pioneers in the 
 vast forests, and to the wandering and 
 savage Indian. 
 
 Leisure to embodv all the information 
 thus gleaned has not, however, hitherto been 
 afforded me ; and even in undertaking to 
 place before the public the present volumes, 
 other avocations scarcely allow me time to 
 prepare them for the press with that care 
 which is so desirable in a work seeking to 
 blend information with amusement. 
 
 I have not attempted any very methodical 
 arrangement, but have divided the work 
 into such chapters as the reader may take 
 up separately, according as his taste and 
 objects may dictate. I am not without hope, 
 however, that the local as well as national 
 connexion between the several subjects may 
 give a continuous interest to the whole. 
 
 R. H. B. 
 
 ( lioice o 
 l)arkati( 
 Gale o 
 Dolphii 
 concern 
 Squulls 
 Carey's 
 of youn 
 of Am* 
 ordinarj 
 of the i 
 Milk-w 
 Montmi 
 Lawren^ 
 
the 
 lits. 
 
 I't. 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 or 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 lioice of a Vessel — Necessary Precautions — Period of Em- 
 barkation — A Contrast — Monotony — Curious Slicll-fish — A 
 Gale of Wind — A Messenger from the Gulph Stream — A 
 Dolphin captured — Its Extraordinary Heauty — Vulgar Error 
 concerning the dying Dolphin — Detailed Description of" one — 
 Squalls— The Banks of Newfoundland — Cod-fishing — Mother 
 Carey's Chickens — A Shark — A narrow Escape — A Covey 
 of young Whales — Aurora Borealis — Land Birds — First Sight 
 of America — Tremendous Gale — Hawking at Sea — Extra, 
 ordinary Phenomenon — Nearing Land — Pilot Boats — Estuary 
 of the St. Lawrence — A Canadian Pilot — Singular Sunset — 
 Milk-white Porpoises — Preserved Meats — The Falls of 
 Montmorency — Indian Encampment — Quebec from the St. 
 Lawrence . Page 1 
 
Vlll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 QUEBEC. 
 
 French Character of the Lower Town — Tin Spires end Roofs 
 — Peculiar Situation of Quebec — The Scene of Wolfe's 
 Glory — The Spot where he fell — The Fortifications — The 
 Citadel — The Garrison — Public Puildings — Remarkable Lo- 
 calities — Provisions — Geolotrical Character of the Rock of 
 Quebec — Cape Diamond — Primitive Mountairs of the St. 
 Charles 44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 VOYAGE UP THE ST. LAWRENCE TO MONTREAL. 
 
 Steaming on the St. Lawrence — English Character of the 
 Scenery — Continuous Village from Quebec to Montreal — 
 The Richelieu Rapids — Military Post of Three Rivers — 
 Lake St. Pierre — Sorel — Its present State and future Pros- 
 pects — The Rideau Canal — The Rapid of St. Marie — 
 Improvements in Steam Power — Art triumphai.t over 
 Nature GO 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MONTREAL. 
 
 First Viewof Montreal— Enchanting River Scenery — Character 
 of the Great American Rivers — The Great Rapids — Mon- 
 treal as a Place of Residence — The Harbour — Con.mercial 
 Prospects of Montreal — Its Climate— Its Public Buildings — 
 Its Inhabitants — Its Hotels — Mr. Molson, Projector of Steam- 
 boat Navigation on the St. Lawrence — Literary and Philoso- 
 phical Societies of Montreal — Monastic Character of the 
 French Public Seminaries — Schools for the Lower Orders — 
 Mischiefs of Party-spirit ...... 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 JOURNEY FROM THE LOWER TO THE UPPER 
 PROVINCE. 
 
 Departure from Montreal — French Diligence — Nature of th* 
 Scenery — La Chine — Bad Specimen of Steaming — The Cas- 
 cades — Government Canal — Dangerous Night Journey — Sal- 
 
 mon-! 
 
 of th( 
 
 Rapif 
 
 Scene 
 
 St. 
 
 Horrc 
 
 lirigai 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 ProbabU 
 racter 
 A rcid 
 Mills 
 to Ki 
 Hospi 
 at Kii 
 Fortre 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX 
 
 and Roofs 
 {■ Wolfe's 
 ions — The 
 rkable Lo- 
 ; Rock of 
 of the St. 
 . 44 
 
 TREAL. 
 
 er of the 
 Montreal — 
 I Rivers — 
 iture Pros- 
 Marie — 
 hai;t over 
 . (iU 
 
 -Character 
 ds— Mon- 
 on.mercial 
 luildings — 
 • of Steam- 
 d Philoso- 
 er of the 
 ■ Orders — 
 . 69 
 
 mon-spearing by Torch-light— Lake St. Francis— Boundaries 
 of the United States— A Tribe of Indians— The Loiig-leap 
 Rapids— A Passage down them in a ('anoe— Grandeur of the 
 Scenciy— Canadian Boatmen— Floating Population of the 
 
 St. Lawrence— The Lumberers— Prescott-Ogdensburg 
 
 Horrors committed during the late Troubles— Battle with 
 i^rigands gj 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. 
 
 Probable Origin of the Thousand Islands— Extraordinary Cha- 
 racter of the Scenery— Sporting among the Islands— An 
 Accident— Exploits of the celebrated Bill Johnson— The 
 Mills of Gananoqui— Iron Ore— Marble Quarry— Approach 
 to Kingston— Long Island— Fortification— The (Harrison 
 Hospital— Aspect of Kingston from the River— Tom INIoore 
 at Kingston — The Lover's Tree— Noble View from the 
 Fortress •■....... 102 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 KINGSTON. 
 
 Origin of Kingston— Magnificent View from the Upper Town 
 —Stockade and Block-houses— American Hatred of Trees— 
 Government Works— Commercial Prospects of Kingston- 
 Principal Streets— Curious Wooden Bridge— -Commanding 
 Commercial Position of Kingston— Mistake of Emigrants— 
 The new Fortifications— The Key of the St. Lawrence— The 
 Penitentiary— The Silent System— Crime in Canada— Tern- 
 perance Societies — Their Origin and Results — Popular 
 Mistakes on this point 115 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 VOYAGE TO TORONTO ON LAKE ONTARIO. 
 
 Mistaken Notion of the American Lakes— Ontario unfathom- 
 able— Dr. Daubeny— Dangers of Lake Navigation— The 
 Great Britain Steamer nearly lost— Singular Clay Bank— 
 Toronto— Moore, the Poet— Charges and Arrangements of 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 the Steamers — American and English after-dinner Customs — 
 Gentlemen the same all over the World — Mischief of Abusing 
 the Americans— Mrs. TroUope's Misrepresentations — Yankee 
 Dialect — Summer Travellers on Lake Ontario — Blunder of 
 Miss Martineau 131 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TORONTO. 
 
 Approach to Toronto — First Impressions on Landing— Incon- 
 venience and Danger of the Pier — Improvements suggested — 
 Singular History of Toronto — The Iroquois Indians — The 
 Red Men o^ the Forest — Fatal Effects of Spirituous Liquors 
 on the Indian — Origin of the Name of Toronto — French 
 Fort — Description of the City — Immense Value of Land — 
 Public Buildings — Residences of the Gentry — Houses of 
 Parliament — The Roads — Brine Springs — Characteristic 
 Anecdotes of the late War — Prices of Provisions in 1824, and in 
 1840 — Frozen Provisions — Fishery — Game — Public Amuse- 
 ments — Society at Toronto — The Aristocracy — Servants — 
 Wiiges of Labourers and Artizans — New Mode of heating 
 Houses 145 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 TORONTO, AS THE LATE CAPITAL OF UPPER CANADA. 
 
 Toronto before the Union — The Court of Chancery and other 
 Courts of Justice — Government Officers — The Church, and 
 various Religious Sects — Local Courts — The College of 
 Upper Canada — Public Schools— Banks and Banking Com- 
 panics — Commercial System — Price of Provisions and Lux- 
 uries — Mischievous Ostentation in the Style of Living — 
 Official Incomes — Astonishing Increase in the Value of 
 Land — The Canada Land Company . . . .178 
 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NIAGARA, OR NEWARK. 
 
 An Excursion across Ontario — Splendid Steam-ships— Foam 
 of the Falls — American and British Forts— The Town of 
 Niagara — Welland Canal — A Blunder — Professional Pre- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 judices — Civil Engineering in Canada — System of giving false 
 Estimates — A Bridge projected across the Niagara — A Board 
 of Works necessary — The Docks and Maine Railway — 
 Cheapness ot Provisions at Niagara— Extraordinary Differ- 
 ence of Seasons at Niagara — Fruits and Vegetables of Upper 
 Canada — Climate and Soil — Diary of a Winter at Kingston, 
 Upper Canada— The Queenstown Falls of the St. Lavvrence 
 — The Hero, Brock — The Spot, where he fell — Outrage 
 committed on bis Monument ..... 102 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson at the F'alls of Niagara— Do they run upwards ? 
 — The German School — Its inordinate Expectations — The 
 Falls from various points of view — How to approach thorn — 
 The Horse-shoe Fall— The Rainbow Rock— The Cauldron— 
 Freischutz Scene — The Great Fall — Projected Bridge across 
 — an Eighth Wonder of the World — Descent of the Precipice 
 — American Curiosity — Indescribable Grandeur of the View 
 into the Cauldron — The Great Fall from the Sturgeon Rocks 
 A Newfoundland Dog in the Falls — Singular Diving Bird — 
 The Falls from above the Cauldron . . . .218 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE WHIRLPOOL OF THE NIAGARA. 
 
 The Whirlpool— The Devil's Cavern— The Rattlesnake's Den 
 — Sir John Colborne — American Cupidity — Projected Plea- 
 sure City at Niagara — Influence versus Law — Timber in the 
 Whirlpool— A Soldier sucked into the Vortex— Rattlesnakes 
 — Angling in the Whirlpool — Singular overhanging Rock — 
 The most splendid View of the Falls .... 241 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE VOYAGE TO AMHURSTBUIIGH ON LAKE ERIE. 
 
 Inferiority of the American Falls — Immense Importance of the 
 Welland Canal— A rival Plan— Chippewa, the Site of famous 
 Battles— The cutting out of the Caroline by Captain Drew 
 and his Companions — The Rebel Mackenzie — His Exploits 
 
XII 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 on Navy Island — Rout of the Rebels — Admirable Conduct of 
 the Canadian Militia — Policy of Sir Francis Head — Rallying 
 of the Farmers— Sir Al.an M'Nabb — Village of Waterloo — 
 Lake Erie — The Erie Canal — Its unparalleled Length — Fort 
 Erie — Graves of Colonel Drumrnond and his Companions — 
 Amhurstburgh — The Detroit — Beauty and Richness of the 
 Country — Profusion of Game — Introduction of the British 
 Pheasant — Colonel Prince — Settlement of the Huron Indians 
 -—The Great Huron ....... 255 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LAKE HURON — GODERICH. 
 
 The Huron Lake — Its Dimensions — Proceedings of the Canada 
 Land Company — Goderich — Mr. Gait and Dr. Dunlop — 
 Guelph — Roads through the Wilderness — The Progress of 
 Colonization — Sir Francis Head and the Indians — The Islands 
 of the Great Spirit — Excellent Results of colonizing this Dis- 
 trict — The Georgian Gulph — Singular Indian Vase — Proofs 
 of a more civilized Race, now extinct. . . . 275 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 penetangueshene, the indians, and the 
 giant's tomb. 
 
 Naval Establishment on the Huron — Increase of Military Set- 
 tlements — Romantic Story of two Brothers — Meeting with an 
 Indian Tribe — Appropriate Scene of the Conference — The 
 old Chief — Prowess of the young Warriors — Their Reverence 
 for the British Flag — Grotesque Ornaments — Indian Mourning 
 — A War Drama— Surprise of an American Officer by the 
 Savages — A Chippewa Chief — Eastern Origin of the Indians 
 — Sad Change in their Condition — The Giant's Tomb — Chris- 
 tian Islands — Sir John Colborne and the Indians — The Vic- 
 tims of Civilization 289 
 
 ArVENDlX 
 
 .313 
 
Conduct of 
 —Rallying 
 li'^aterloo — 
 gth— Fort 
 ipanions — 
 ess of the 
 le British 
 on Indians 
 . 255 
 
 :he Canada 
 Dunlop — 
 'regress of 
 ?he Islands 
 ig this Dis> 
 56 — Proofs 
 . 275 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Page 
 The Parliament Buildings, Toronto . . Frontispiece. 
 Sketch Map of Upper and Lower Canada, to 
 ILLUSTRATE THE AUTHOR'S RouTE . . End of the volume. 
 
 VIGNETTES. 
 
 The Falls of Niagara Viynette Title. 
 
 Beautiful Sunset 33 
 
 View of Kingston 115 
 
 THE 
 
 itary Set- 
 ng with an 
 nee — The 
 Reverence 
 Mourning 
 cer by the 
 be Indians 
 -Chris- 
 -The Vic. 
 . 289 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 White Trout River, Trinity Cove, Labrador 
 Coast Frontispiece. 
 
 VIGNETTES. 
 
 Mission of Restigouche Vignette Title. 
 
 The Flies at Toronto 53 
 
 Indian Mission at Pointe-a-la- Croix 147 
 
 The Pierced Rock, in the Bay of Chaleurs . . . 190 
 
 Janvrin's Fishin 1 Station, Gaspe Bay 206 
 
 Cape Gaspe and the Old Woman 237 
 
 Entrance of Jupiter River, in the Island of 
 
 Anticosti 243 
 
 The Seven Islands 272 
 
 .313 
 
Choice 
 Embai 
 —AG 
 — AE 
 Error 
 of one 
 fishing 
 Escape 
 Land ] 
 Hawki 
 Land- 
 Canadi 
 Preser> 
 Encara 
 
 Alt 
 present 
 of whi( 
 yet, wh 
 
 VOL. 
 
CANADA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 Choice of a Vessel — Necessary Precautions — Period of 
 Embarkation — A Contrast — Monotony — Curious Shell-fish 
 — A Gale of Wind — A Messenger from the Gulph Stream 
 — A Dolphin captured — Its extraordinary Beauty — Vulgar 
 Error concerning the dying Dolphin — Detailed Description 
 of one — Squalls — The Banks of Newfoundland — Cod- 
 fishing — Mother Carey's Chickens — A Shark — A narrow 
 Escape — A Covey of young Whales — Aurora Borealis — 
 Land Birds— First Sight of America — Tremendous Gale — 
 Hawking at Sea — Extraordinary Phenomenon — Nearing 
 Land— Pilot Boats — Estuary of the St. Lawrence — A 
 Canadian Pilot — Singular Sunset — Milk-white Porpoises — 
 Preserved Meats — The Falls of Montmorency — Indian 
 Encampment — Quebec from the St. Lawrence. 
 
 Although voyages across the Atlantic 
 present in general few incidents the relation 
 of which can interest the general reader, 
 yet, when it is remembered that the tide of 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 
 
 HINTS TO TRAVELLERS. 
 
 emigration flows again with increased vigour 
 towards the Canadian shores, amusement, as 
 well as information, may perhaps be afforded 
 to those about to undertake the painful task 
 of quitting the home of their fathers, by my 
 offering some faint sketches of such an un- 
 dertaking. 
 
 I have embarked at different times from 
 different ports, but shall select for description 
 my last voyage out from the London Docks. 
 
 Tl.ose going out to Canada, or any of the 
 British American colonies, should always 
 attend to the following circumstances, where 
 their means do not permit them to make the 
 voyage either by New York or Halifax, in 
 steam or packet-vessels. 
 
 First of all, inquire what class the vessel is 
 rated in upon Lloyd's books, and take care 
 not to be deceived by having AE. 1, printed 
 or written on her placard in such a manner 
 as to make the second letter E almost invisi- 
 ble ; a trick frequently performed. A, 1, is 
 a first class vessel, as to security in insurance 
 lists. AE. 1, is an old ship, which may, 
 
 
 howcT 
 
 makii 
 
 tainec 
 
 in ba 
 
 plcasa 
 
 port : 
 
 ment 
 
 and st 
 
 and er 
 
 Aft. 
 
 of the 
 
 inquir. 
 
 to navi 
 
 larly, ; 
 
 uses hi 
 
 provide 
 
 wholesi 
 
 in raak 
 
 he lays 
 
HINTS TO TRAVELLERS. 
 
 3 
 
 however, be perfectly seaworthy ; and by 
 makin<^ minute inquiries, this is easily ascer- 
 tained. Timber ships go to Quebec usually 
 in ballast, and are not always either the 
 pleasantest or the safest descrintion of trans- 
 port : in fact, the laws require great amend- 
 ment respecting the character, capabilities, 
 and stowage of ships taking out passengers 
 and emigrants. 
 
 After ascertaining the state and condition 
 of the vessel you propose to embark in, 
 inquire the character of the master who is 
 to navigate her, as to sobriety, most particu- 
 larly, and as to seamanship ; whether he 
 uses his passengers well, and whether he is 
 provided by his owners with proper and 
 wholesome sea-stores. Be also very careful, 
 in making your bargain for the voyage, that 
 he lays in a sufficient stock of fresh provi- 
 sion, poultry, pigs and sheep. If it is a large 
 vessel, see how she is manned ; for most of 
 the traders are deficient in this particular, 
 as well as in useful instruments : few use 
 a chronometer j still fewer attend to the 
 
 B 2 
 
TIME OF EMBARKATION. 
 
 advantafi^cs to be derived from the baro- 
 meter ; but a careful and experienced sea- 
 man, who has received a proper nautical 
 education, will never neglect the latter. 
 
 Embark, if possible, in April or May, and 
 not later than June ; thus arriving in fine 
 weather at your destination, by which you 
 will be able to perform the inland voyage or 
 journey, if going westward, and get settled 
 before the severity of the winter's frosts 
 commence. 
 
 Those who have never been at sea, or 
 who have only made pleasure trips in ves- 
 sels abounding with comforts and luxuries, 
 can form very inadequate notions on the 
 subject ; whilst, on the other hand, an old 
 traveller, accustomed to view the world as 
 his home, however much he may dislike the 
 dangers and discomforts of a long voyage, 
 looks on things with a balanced mind, and 
 w^eighing in equal scale delight and dole, 
 sufi\3rs himself to be transported to his desti- 
 nation without morbidly fancying that New- 
 gate, according to Dr. Johnson's notion, is 
 
 
 
 thing 
 
FINAL ADIEUS. 
 
 baro- 
 i sca- 
 utical 
 
 % and 
 I fine 
 1 you 
 go or 
 ettled 
 frosts 
 
 a, or 
 i ves- 
 uries, 
 1 the 
 in old 
 Id as 
 e the 
 >yage, 
 and 
 dole, 
 desti- 
 New- 
 3n, is 
 
 an infinitely preferable dwelling-place to the 
 cabin of a vessel. 
 
 To an Englishman, however frequent may 
 have been the calls of duty or of pleasure, 
 which may have estranged him from his na- 
 tive land, when the actual certainty arrives 
 of being about again to leave it for an uncer- 
 tain and an indefinite period, there is some- 
 thing which calls forth most potently the 
 natural melancholy of his temperament. To 
 me, the song of 'he sailors, particularly the 
 lengthened cadences of " top the boom," and 
 " ho cheerly," appeared unusually aflfecting, 
 following as it did, the adieus of dear and 
 lovin^x friends and relati\ os. Whilst sailinor 
 through the dangerous channels of the Es- 
 tuary of the Thames, these thoughts had 
 ample food for rumination. Here we passed 
 within the ship's length of the solitary mast 
 of a vessel buried beneath the waters ; the 
 sole visible testimonial of what had lately 
 been a scene of agony and woe. 
 
 The final adieus of all parties on board 
 were now made, as the ship lay to, off Deal, 
 
6 
 
 LAST SIGHT OF ENGLAND. 
 
 on a spot where, many years before, I had 
 made my first essay of the pleasures and 
 penalties of a sailor's life. At that time I 
 had, with a young and buoyant spirit, beheld 
 its bosom covered with one of the mightiest 
 navies that England, the mistress of the 
 ocean, had ever gathered together to assert 
 her rights. It was the expedition to the 
 Scheldt. What a different scene was now 
 presented to my observation ! With the ex- 
 ception of our light vessel, and two or three 
 outward bound merchantmen, the vast road 
 of the Downs was one tract of tenantless 
 water. 
 
 With a fine steady breeze and fair weather 
 we continued our progress down the chan- 
 nel. Soon the lofty white cliffs of England 
 and the pale shores of France faded from 
 our sight : Dover, Calais, Plymouth, the 
 Land's End, the Scilly Isles, all passed in 
 distant view, and each in turn was the 
 object of the most intense interest. The 
 fleet of fishinrr-boats near Plymouth and 
 along the Cornish shores, the numerous 
 
 i 
 
 e 
 
 i 
 
 ! 
 t 
 
 merch 
 from .' 
 nients 
 were n 
 pathl 
 An 
 for nc 
 first ^ 
 every 
 the se 
 every 
 it is f 
 the de 
 are re 
 that m 
 tricate 
 to kn( 
 caboos 
 we des 
 sailor'i 
 roundt 
 and nc 
 mate 1 
 of the 
 
SEAUCII FOR NOVELTY. 
 
 I had 
 ? and 
 irae I 
 icheld 
 liticst 
 f tho 
 assert 
 
 the 
 ; now 
 le ex- 
 three 
 
 road 
 ritless 
 
 ather 
 chan- 
 ^land 
 from 
 , the 
 ;d in | 
 
 1 the 
 The 
 and 
 
 srous 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 j 
 
 merchant vessels wending their way to and 
 from all parts of the world, moving monu- 
 ments of the national feature and industrv, 
 were now to be suddenly exchanged for the 
 pathless tracks of the silent ocean. 
 
 And now commenced that earnest search 
 for novelty which invariably succeeds the 
 first week of a landsman's voyage, when 
 every eye is strained to find the sail that 
 the seaman descries in the distant horizon ; 
 every ripple in the wave is marked to see if 
 it is formed by some unknown monster of 
 the deep. Now we become certain that we 
 are really embarked on the wild sea, and 
 that nothing but time and patience can ex- 
 tricate us from our prison. Now we begin 
 to know each sailor's face ; we visit the 
 caboose, the cook, the carpenter, the mate ; 
 we descend into the hold j we listen to the 
 sailor's song of an evening, as he sits sur- 
 rounded by his comrades on the forecastle ; 
 and now we begin to ask the master and his 
 mate the news of the voyage, the situation 
 of the ship, and the state of the weather. 
 
8 
 
 FLYING FISU. 
 
 Day succeeds day, and night succeeds 
 night, with the like occupations ; and time 
 seems to hang heavier and heavier in pro- 
 portion as its load is in reality lessening. 
 
 In 16° of longitude, we observed masses 
 of a jelly-like substance floating on the 
 waters ; and during the calms which pre- 
 vailed, I obtained a portion of it, to which a 
 beautiful purple shell of the kdix tribe was 
 attached : on its upper spiral two or three 
 living small shells of the barnacle species, but 
 much furrowed, were firmly fastened. 
 
 In 45° 30' north latitude, and about ^9° 
 of west longitude, we first observed, during 
 this voyage, the beautiful flying-fish. They 
 were as large as a herring, and very nu- 
 merous ; which I think is uncommon in so 
 high a latitude. During a high sea on 
 the 17th August they came to us fre- 
 quently. 
 
 We had until now fair and moderate 
 weather ; but on the night of the same day 
 we were to experience some of the alarms 
 and uneasinesses of an atlantic voyage. A 
 
 stro 
 on. 
 
A DOLPHIN CAUGHT. 
 
 strong and heavy gale from the north came 
 on, and carried away the bulwarks of the 
 waist, split three sails, and caused us to 
 ship a sea, which came down the companion 
 ladder, and fairly washed a passenger out of 
 his berth in the state-room. This gale, 
 however, did not last very long ; and as the 
 damages to the vessel were not serious, it 
 left us laughing at the wetting our compa- 
 nion had received. 
 
 On the 20th of August, in latitude 45"^ 
 10', and longitude S3° 53\ 1 sent overboard 
 a sealed bottle, to which a white flag was 
 attached, with a weight below to make it 
 float upright. It contained a brief state- 
 ment of our situation in four languages, — 
 English, French, Spanish, and Italian. 
 
 This day we caught a dolphin at the bow 
 of the vessel with the grains. Its stomach 
 was full of small and singularly-shaped 
 fishes, as well as of the flying-fish, which 
 appears to be its chief food, and amongst 
 these was one of a beautiful bright 1)1 uc 
 colour. Nothing on a fine day can exceed 
 
 B 3 
 
10 
 
 A DYING DOLPHIN. 
 
 the beauty of the dolphin, as he plays and 
 gambols about the ship. The green tinge 
 of the transparent medium through which 
 he is seen gives him the most gorgeous 
 appearance, and the brilliancy of his colours, 
 as reflected in the sunshine, it is impossible 
 to describe. 
 
 On the 21st, we saw a number of these 
 lively and beautiful fishes about the vessel, 
 and caught another with a h'ok and line 
 trailed astern. I witnessed the actual death 
 on board the vessel of both these dolphins ; 
 and must observe, that the common notion 
 of the beauty exhibited bv the play of 
 colours on the fish, when in the agonies of 
 death, appears to be nearly as false as the 
 mis-shapen monstrous form under which the 
 ancients depicted it. There is certainly a 
 great display of the swift passage of the dif- 
 ferent primitive colours into the secondary 
 ones whilst the creature is strufjolinnr and 
 heaving ; but all this is perfectly natural, 
 considering the variety of glorious tints with 
 which its body is painted — the vividness of 
 
A DYING DOLPHIN. 
 
 11 
 
 which no pencil or human art could pour- 
 tray. 
 
 The following faint description is made 
 from a drawing of the dolphin, carefully exe- 
 cuted at the time I have just referred to. 
 The body of it was two feet nine inches long, 
 and perfectly straight ; the back very slightly 
 curved, and the upper jaw and nose coming 
 down on the lower in a blunt sweep; the 
 under jaw was projected a little (say two 
 inches) beyond the upper, and was much 
 sharper. From the pectoral fin, which is 
 very small, to the caudal fin, the body of 
 the fish gradually tapers away by a beautiful 
 swelling curve, and the tail then branches 
 out vertically into a long and pointed semi- 
 lune, eleven inches in span. The dorsal fin 
 reaches from the back of the head, above the 
 eye, to very near the insertion of the tail, 
 and is nearly as broad as half the vertical 
 measure of the fish : it contained fiftv-four 
 spines, or ribs, which were about half an 
 inch distant from each other. The ventral 
 and thoracic fins are two in number j the 
 
12 
 
 COLOURS OF THE DOLPHIN. 
 
 former, twelve inches in length, by one inch 
 and a quarter of breadth, at the smaller end, 
 has twenty-three small spines, or rays, and 
 two large ones, and commences near the tail, 
 and proceeds for nearly half the length of 
 the belly, much dentated, when it suddenly 
 drops away, by a backward curve, in two 
 long spines. The thoracic fin is four inches 
 and three-quarters long, and bends also back. 
 The dolphin's eye is placed at about two- 
 thirds of the distance from the termination 
 of the dorsal fin on the head, and very for- 
 ward near the lips : it is large, and has a 
 red iris. 
 
 In its characters, this dolphin did not at 
 all agree as to form of the head, colours, or 
 disposition of the tail, with the species de- 
 scribed in the Regne Animale. Its colours, 
 generalized, were a dark but lively blue on 
 the back, interspersed with magnificent spots 
 of ultra-marine ; next came a band, joining 
 by imperceptible gradations with the former, 
 of a dark, but clear sea-green, covered with 
 the same eye-like spots ; then another band, 
 
 i 
 
COLOURS OF THE DOLPHIN. 
 
 13 
 
 )r shade, of light and vivid sea-green, 
 ilso similarly, but less frequently, spotted, 
 'he centres of the sides were painted with 
 )range, red, and golden colours, intimately 
 )lended, and the belly passed into a cerulean 
 3lue and a brilliant white. Few maculae 
 Dccupy these last shades. The tail was a 
 subdued white, with golden shades. The 
 Ihead was similarly coloured as the body, the 
 ibands continuing along it ; but the beauty 
 jof the dorsal fin exceeds any attempt at de- 
 |Scription ; the blue with which it was co- 
 loured was dark, and, at the same time, 
 transparent. The other fins were of a 
 j lighter, but less lively blue ; the mouth and 
 I lips of a pale white. 
 
 I have been particular in this description, 
 because it appears to me that this beautiful 
 fish has been hitherto inadequately exa- 
 mined. What could cause the ancients to 
 transform its back into a chariot, is difficult 
 to conceive. The dolphin certainly swims 
 very swiftly; but Arion must have had a 
 patent pair of wire breeches, if he could 
 
14 
 
 HEAVY SQUALLS. 
 
 stick on its spiny and straight back. As to 
 the common story of the dolphin sometimes 
 springing out of the sea so high as to fall on 
 the deck, I entirely disbelieve it. We saw l 
 many in all kinds of weather, and none of 
 them appeared to be inclined to pay the 
 upper air a visit. 
 
 The dolphin is not inserted amongst the 
 fishes usuallv reckoned as edible, in works 
 treating of aliment ; but it is sometimes eaten, J 
 though, according to the accounts of old 
 seamen, not always with impunity. 
 
 In 31° west longitude, we began to ob- 
 serve great quantities of sea- weed, of singu- 
 larlv beautiful varieties ; we also saw a live 
 crab, about the size of the palm of the hand, 
 float past on a mass of weed. 
 
 On the S3rd and 26th of August, we 
 experienced heavy squalls, both during the 
 day and the night, and accompanied by a 
 deluge of rain. During the latter day, we 
 saw a sail ; and, as it seemed bearing down 
 for us, we lay to and spoke the United States ^ j 
 ship, Alexander, from the Havannah, bound 
 
 to Mars 
 
 sel cam 
 high a 
 the last 
 with lai 
 I caugh 
 
 On 
 fishes ; 
 lines, o 
 These 
 tances i 
 a large 
 high. 
 
 On t] 
 latitude, 
 southeri 
 land. > 
 large sh 
 manv oi 
 the eve 
 peared 
 let dowi 
 thorns t 
 crossed 
 
MOTHER Carey's chickens. 
 
 15 
 
 As to 
 Dtimes 
 fall on 
 e saw 
 me of 
 y the 
 
 ;t the 
 ^vorks 
 3aten, 
 f old 
 
 o ob- 
 ingu- 
 i live 
 land. 
 
 :, we 
 r the 
 
 
 to Marseilles and Gibraltar. How this ves- 
 sel came from such a southern port into so 
 high a latitude, we could not discover. For 
 the last three or four davs, we had fallen in 
 with large quantities of sea-weed, on which 
 I caught several small nondescript fish. 
 
 On the ^7th, we observed many flying- 
 fishes ; and now the sea-weed came in lonjr 
 Hnes, or masses, laying north and south. 
 These lines were generally at equal dis- 
 tances from each other. This diw we saw 
 a large bird, with a long tail, flying very 
 high. 
 
 On the 28th, we got into 44° 28' north 
 latitude, and supposed ourselves near the 
 southern edge of the banks of Newfound- 
 land. Soon after daylight, we observed a 
 large shoal of albicores and flying-fish, with 
 many of Mother Carey's chickens. Towards 
 the evening, the colour of the water ap- 
 peared so much altered, that the line was 
 let dow^n : but at one hundred and thirty fa- 
 thorns there was no o^round. We afterwards 
 crossed a strong and noisy current, and 
 
16 
 
 CAPE FLYAWAY. 
 
 saw many boatswain-birds, and an immense 
 shoal of small fish. 
 
 There was now a heavy swell ; and after 
 sunset two large grampuses came and played 
 about under the bows of the vessel ; and one 
 afterwards visited us astern. There now 
 appeared every indication of the banks, par- 
 ticularly as the birds were very numerous, 
 and busily employed in fishing and crying 
 about the ship. Cape Flyaway was distinct 
 at sunset. At night a strong rippling passed 
 the vessel, which was supposed to be either 
 a current or one of those immense shoals of 
 fish common in these latitudes. A grampus 
 was again seen during the night. 
 
 On the 29th there was a pleasant breeze, 
 but still an unpleasant swell, which, how- 
 ever, was a convincing proof that we were 
 among the banks j and to confirm our con- 
 jectures, we discovered in the evening a 
 schooner lying to, and engaged busily in the 
 fishing. We now again sounded, and, to 
 our great joy, had bottom at thirty-six fa- 
 thoms, coarse gravel and broken shells. 
 
 1; 
 
 On tl 
 curred w 
 this tram 
 and befc 
 up by tl 
 cod and 
 hippogloi 
 monstroi 
 line, was 
 one line ; 
 reckoned 
 followed 
 I get it. 
 
 There 
 chickens 
 I catch, 
 ance porl 
 I erroneoui 
 I York to ] 
 
 I almost e' 
 
 't . 
 
 1 immense 
 
 ■I 
 ".* 
 
 : by the o 
 i vain to n 
 
 .i 
 
MONSTER FLAT-FISH. 
 
 17 
 
 menso | On the 30th, at daylight, a scene oc 
 curred which is one of great interest during 
 this transit. All hands turned out to fish, 
 and before twelve o'clock we had hauled 
 up by the deep lines twenty-one fine large 
 cod and one enormous halibut (pleuronectes 
 hippoglossus). The appearance of this 
 monstrous flat-fish, as he rose up with the 
 line, was singular. We caught two cod on 
 one line ; but altogether our fishery was not 
 reckoned very successful. A rudder-fish 
 followed us for some time, but we could not 
 
 after 
 )laye(l 
 id one 
 I now 
 , par- 
 3rous, 
 :rying 
 
 I 
 
 J 
 
 get it. 
 
 There were now many of Mother Carey's 
 
 jchickens; but they were difficult to shoot or 
 
 catch. The vulgar notion of their appear- 
 
 iance portending stormy weather seems to be 
 
 ll erroneous, as in my recent voyage from New 
 
 I York to England and back again, I saw them 
 
 I almost every day, in a lower latitude. An 
 
 j immense shark also paid us a visit, attracted 
 
 I by the ofFal thrown over; but we tried in 
 
 ; vain to make him better acquainted with us. 
 
18 
 
 A DAY OF CURIOSITIES. 
 
 That beautiful and curious animal, the 
 Portuguese man-of-war, of a bright purple 
 colour, passed us to-day in full sail. It was 
 very large, and I regretted our inability to 
 obtain it, as I should have wished to have 
 seen what species of nautilus it was ; or 
 rather, whether it really is of the nautilus 
 family or not. 
 
 This day was a day of curiosities : the 
 lines brought up with the cod some speci- 
 mens of the granite-stones, or small boulders, 
 which form the bed of the sea here ; and at- 
 tached to these small blocks were several 
 singular animals. 
 
 On the 1st of September a pretty little [ 
 miniature boat, painted red and completely 
 rigged, passed by us, but as the sea rani 
 hiirh we could not fjct it aboard. At twelve | 
 o'clock sounded again, and at eighty fathoms 
 had fine sand. In the middle of the night f 
 we had a perfect calm; but in a moment 
 there came on one of those heavy squalls to 
 which the Banks arc subject, and took the 
 
 ship ab{ 
 consider 
 but mos 
 men, th( 
 owing t 
 about 
 stitch of 
 After 
 starlight 
 narrow 
 and on 
 was, lou 
 and told 
 wind, w: 
 The he] 
 the wroi 
 time hii 
 brig she 
 almost 1 
 gratulat 
 fact w^as 
 our for( 
 alvvavs 1 
 tracks. 
 
A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 19 
 
 ship aback ; a circumstance attended with 
 considerable danger to a heavily loaded vessel, 
 but most frequently occurring to merchant- 
 men, the masters of which are, in general, 
 ovvinff to their want of hands, too careless 
 about carrying sail, and will not take in a 
 stitch of canvass during a calm. 
 
 After this squall we fortunately had a 
 starlight night, but experienced a still more 
 narrow escape. A high sea was running, 
 and on a sudden the mate, whose watch it 
 was, loudly called the master out of his bed, 
 and told him that a ship coming before the 
 wind, with all sail set, was running us down. 
 The helmsman, in a fright, put the helm 
 the wrong way, and the master had but just 
 time himself to right the vessel, when the 
 brig shot athwart our stern, so near that it 
 thorns^' I almost touched us. The two masters con- 
 gratulated each other on their escape. The 
 fact was, I believe, that we had no light in 
 our forecastle, a precaution which should 
 alwavs be taken at nio^ht in much traversed 
 tracks. 
 
 J, the 
 )urplt' 
 It was ] 
 lity to 
 I have 
 s ; or 
 Lutilus 
 
 5: the 
 speci- 
 dders, 
 
 nd at-' 
 everal 
 
 ^ little 
 )letelv 
 
 a ran 
 
 t\ 
 
 :welve 
 
 night 
 oment | 
 alls to 
 >k the 
 
20 
 
 YOUNG WHALES. 
 
 On the 2nd, wc pcassed through another I 
 
 strong rippling current, and saw a whale, or 
 
 very large grampus, at a distance. We had 
 
 seen few birds lately. At noon we were 
 
 much pleased with seeing from seven to ten 
 
 finners, or young whales, of a large size, 
 
 sporting about close to the ship. They 
 
 seemed perfectly at their ease, and remained | ' ° ' 
 
 a long while gambolling about, and showing 
 
 the sea 
 
 master s 
 
 faint Iv a 
 the nigl 
 On t 
 dark gi 
 rents ah 
 bo acco 
 furrows 
 
 their huge unwieldy forms through the me- 
 dium of a light blue water. Their appear- 
 ance was singularly picturesque, and excited 
 much surprise to those of the passengers who 
 had never been in high latitudes ; I, how- 
 ever, had seen a much grt /.3r quantity in a 
 smaller space, and had been present at the 
 destruction of the almost incredible number 
 of one hundred and twenty-three, in a small 
 voe, or harbour, in Unst, an island of Shet- | 
 land, whither they had been driven by a 
 storm. 
 
 During this night, which was fine and 
 clear, between ten and twelve, we first saw 
 the aurora borealis. It arose in the north, 
 
 ^ past, ani 
 : us a visi 
 I small, 1 
 
 breast. 
 ^ On t 
 pusses 
 tinued t 
 proved 
 had set 
 I seven k 
 
 i3 
 
 I onincT \ 
 master 
 feel con 
 
SIGNS OF LAND. 
 
 21 
 
 other 
 ,le, or 
 e had 
 
 were 
 to ten 
 
 size, 
 Thev 
 aincd 
 
 )wing 
 e me- 
 
 )pcar- 
 scited 
 
 s who ] I 
 how- ' \ 
 
 at the j f 
 
 iraber | 
 
 small t 
 
 Shet- 
 
 by a 
 
 faintly at first, but became more brilliant as 
 the ni(^ht advanced. 
 
 On this day (the Srd) the sea was of a 
 dark orecn, and full of the lines of cur- 
 rents already noticed j whi.ih may, perhaps, 
 be accounted for by the deep channels or 
 furrows between the various branches of 
 the great banks, themselves very high sub- 
 marine mountains. After twelve this day 
 the sea became much darker in colour. The 
 master saw four or five small land birds fly 
 past, and in the evening the first one paid 
 us a visit by settling on the rigging : it was 
 small, like a sparrow, and had a yellow 
 breast. 
 
 On the 4th, the master saw many gram- 
 pusses at an early hour ; the sea con- 
 tinued dark, and no soundings. This night 
 proved a stormy one, and after the evening 
 had set in, it blew hard. We ran all nicrht 
 
 to 
 
 seven knots and a half, although our reck- 
 oning was by no means assured, and the 
 master had never sailed in these seas. I 
 feel convinced that he did not conceive he 
 
22 
 
 GULPH OF ST. LAWRENCE, 
 
 I 
 
 US but J 
 
 iGulph. 
 
 land 01 
 
 I usual, r 
 
 came o 
 
 being a 
 
 absolute 
 
 was near the land, or he would certainly not 
 have made all sail in a dark stormy night ; 
 and I believe he was not a little surprised, 
 when, on the morning of the 5th of Sep- 
 tember, at about five o'clock, the daylight 
 showed him, during the heaviest part of the 
 gale, the land of America. 
 
 When I rose, I saw before me a long line f gone by 
 of high, romantic, bold shore, the iron- J setting ( 
 bound coast of the Island of Cape Breton, 
 near the bay in which its chief town, Sydney, 
 is situated. We could also perceive the Isle 
 of St. Paul, a lofty, rocky, and dangerous 
 mass, which points out the entrance of the 
 Gulph of St. Lawrence. 
 
 We soon made Cape No-th, in G0° 20' west 
 longitude, and during the gale saw some 
 large white birds, with wings tipped blacke 
 Cape North is exceedingly precipitous, high, 
 and bold. A tremendous gale came off this 
 land from the S. W., during which we saw a 
 fine large ship, labouring very hard, and 
 standing on almost every tack. This gale, 
 
 if the W( 
 
 not succ( 
 
 We hi 
 
 round wl 
 
 to avoid 
 
 land; ar 
 
 these see 
 
 and haul 
 
 ever, hav 
 
 On the 
 
 Southern 
 
 to experie 
 
 on sudden 
 
 It was for 
 
 the hardest we had yet experienced, gave I day, and 
 
THE BIRD ISLES. 
 
 23 
 
 US but an unfavourable opinion of the Great 
 iGulph. It lasted from mid-day until night; 
 land our venturous master, carrying, as 
 I usual, rather a heavy press of sail when it 
 I came on, sprung the fore-yard, and not 
 I beinff able to ease off the mainsail, was in 
 absolute fear that his mainmast wo, Id have 
 gone by the board, which, or else the up- 
 setting of the vessel, must have happened, 
 '' if the weak crew, after great exertions, had 
 not succeeded in letting it fly. 
 
 We had now to pass the Bird Isles, rocks 
 round which vessels commonly go, in order 
 to avoid others lying between them and the 
 land ; and, by great good luck, we passed 
 west I these scenes of shipwreck after midnight, 
 some il and hauled to the westward, without, how- 
 lack Ji ever, having seen the rocks. 
 
 I On the 6th of September we stood for the 
 
 I Southern Anticosti Channel, and had again 
 
 I to experience a most severe gale, which came 
 
 on suddenly from the N. E. about eight a.m. 
 
 I It was fortunately fair for us, but lasted all 
 
 o-ave I day, and the ship lurched so much as to 
 
 J not 
 ght; 
 ised, 
 Sep- 
 light 
 f the 
 
 f line 
 iron- 
 •eton, 
 dney, 
 Isle 
 erous 
 f the 
 
 .! 
 
 ■•! 
 
24 
 
 LARGE WHALE. 
 
 EJ 
 
 make us heartily wish for an end of our 
 voyage. We supposed we were under the 
 lee of the dreaded barren Island of Anti- 
 costi, at half-past three ; but the weather 
 was so thick, cold, and mizzly, that nothing 
 could be observed. It cleared up, and became 
 more moderate at five, and at last ended in 
 a fine starlight night, with a bright aurora i 
 borealis. 
 
 On the 7th, the mate saw a very large 
 whale in the morning ; there v/as also 
 plenty of weed ; and a large sparrow-hawk 
 settled with a small bird in his talons on 
 the fore-yard. We allowed him quietly to 
 devour his prey, as a new set of sails were 
 bent, which rendered it hazardous to shoot 
 au him. The weather was cold, with a 
 westerlv wind. We now saw Anticosti at a 
 great distance, and on the opposite shore 
 Gaspe Point was descried. Here the coast 
 looks like the chalky cliffs of the English 
 Channel ; but it is well known that chalk is 
 not found in America. The sea was now 
 of a dark-green colour ; and we found that 
 
 the curi 
 
 perience 
 
 Gulph, 
 
 on the 1{ 
 
 Durir 
 
 I the lane 
 
 Canada 
 
 singular 
 
 About 
 
 mate sue 
 
 by callin 
 
 come on 
 
 usual ap 
 
 The 1 
 
 was a cle 
 
 wind fr( 
 
 standing 
 
 such a h 
 
 vens bee 
 
 over the 
 
 and an 
 
 liant lig 
 
 out of tl 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON. 
 
 25 
 
 large 
 also : 
 lawk 
 IS on 
 tly to 
 were 
 shoot 
 th a 
 . at a 
 shore 
 coast 
 iglish 
 ilk is 
 I no^v 
 that 
 
 the current, which so much deceives inex- 
 perieuced navigators in this part of the 
 Gulph, had set us, during the night, almost 
 on the land of Gasp^ so very strong is it. 
 
 During this night we made easy sail along 
 the land of Comwallis County, in Lower 
 Canada ; and I have now to relate a most 
 singular phenomenon that presented itself. 
 
 About two o'clock in the morning, the 
 mate suddenly alarmed us all in the cabins, 
 by calling loudly for the master to rise and 
 come on deck, as he observed a most un- 
 usual appearance on the lee-bow. 
 
 The weather had been cold, but there 
 was a clear starry firmament, and not much 
 wind from the south-west, and we were 
 standing on as favourably as could be with 
 such a breeze, when, in a moment, the hea- 
 vens became overcast to the southward, or 
 over the high land of Cornwallis County, 
 and an instantaneous and intensely-bril- 
 liant light, resembling a fiery aurora, shot 
 out of the sea under the lee-bow, and ren- 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
^26 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON. 
 
 dcrcd every thing minutely discernible, even 
 to tlie mast-head. 
 
 The mate and his watch immediately put 
 the helm down, called up the whole crew, 
 and awakened the captain ; but before all 
 this could be accomplished, the light spread 
 more vividly than ever over the whole sur- 
 rounding sea, and the waves, hitherto tran- 
 quil, became much agitated, whilst thick 
 dark clouds from the land seemed to 
 threaten dreadful weather. The master 
 called me up ; and when I got upon deck, 
 a spectacle presented itself which I fancy 
 will never again faR to my lot to behokl 
 The whole sea, as far as could be seen, 
 was now one entire sheet of an awfully- 
 brilliant flame, above which, in splendour, 
 shone along the base of the high, frowning, 
 and dark land abreast of us, a long and 
 magnificent line of fire. 
 
 The fish, plentiful in these latitudes, and 
 of a large sizc^ seemed alarmed ; long, tortu- 
 ous, darting lines of light, in a contrary direc- 
 
 I 
 
 tion to tl 
 
 large fis 
 
 The; 
 
 !had a p 
 length ( 
 I scene wl 
 occurren 
 the sun i 
 
 To sa 
 
 "I 
 
 litude I 
 ' 1 have fi 
 
 ocean on 
 I that onl) 
 
 be comp 
 ; than a ^ 
 :| murkily 
 ithe brig 
 r| luminary 
 i oldest sa 
 I nesscd a 
 iresembla: 
 
 asserted 
 ^Ithinof ver 
 The b 
 
EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON. 
 
 27 
 
 even 
 
 ning, 
 
 ' and 
 
 ;, and 
 tortu- 
 direc- 
 
 tion to the sea, showed us immense numbers of 
 large fish, flying about as if they were lost. 
 
 The wind, which had increased a little, 
 had a peculiar hollow sound; and, after a 
 length of time passed in contemplating a 
 scene which I am persuaded is of very rare 
 occurrence, day broke slowly and sullenly, 
 I the sun rising very fiery and gloomily. 
 
 To sail on a sea of lire is the only simi- 
 litude I can fancy to this really awful scene. 
 1 have frequently observed the waters of the 
 ocean on fire, as it is vulgarly termed, but 
 that only in small masses, and no more to 
 be compared to what we then witnessed, 
 than a November day, when the sun peers 
 murkily through the fog of England, is to 
 I the bright and glorious appearance of that 
 I luminary on a fine day in the tropics. The 
 I oldest sailor in our vessel had never wit- 
 nessed any thing bearing even a distant 
 resemblance to it, except the master, who 
 asserted that he had once observed some- 
 thing very hke it in the Trades. 
 The brilliancy of the light may be con- 
 
 c 2 
 
^8 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON. 
 
 ccivcd, when I say that the spritsail-yard 
 and mizen-boom were lit by the reflection, 
 as though they had had gaslights suspended 
 from them ; and even before the day broke, 
 at four o'clock, 1 could distinctly see the most 
 minute objects on the face of my watch. 
 
 This appearance came first from the 
 north-west, and there had been a slight 
 aurora about eleven o'clock. 
 
 1 drew upon deck, during the most vivid 
 part of the phenomenon, a bucket of the 
 sea water, which, when stirred by the hand, 
 appeared like a mass of phosphorence. Of 
 this water I immediately bottled a quart and 
 sealed it down, and I kept a larger quantity 
 in an open jug, * which it will be observed 
 
 * I regret that the sealed bottle, in the hurry of moving, 
 was left on board at Quebec. The water in it, when shook, 
 never exhibited any light. In the jug, on the first night 
 succeeding the appearance, the water was very luminous, 
 principally at the bottom ; second night the same, perhaps 
 more vivid ; third night, the same ; fourth night, oil from a 
 lamp was accidentally spilt in the jug, but still the water was 
 as luminous as ever ; fifth night, the same ; sixth night, still 
 luminous, although much of the water had been lost by acci- 
 dent ; on the seventh night the water was all gone. 
 
 by the a 
 six nigl 
 most ca 
 culai in 
 from th( 
 and pun 
 On F 
 three pe 
 
 * Sea-wa 
 phate of mi 
 lowing expe 
 a chemical 
 Take four 
 it into two ( 
 water; let 
 and, on shak 
 tiful luminc 
 until the foi 
 £psom sa 
 Perhaps 
 from its soli 
 I acknow 
 of fish, parti 
 Gulph of St 
 ficient matte 
 sometimes s( 
 dare not deti 
 create phosp 
 to such an aj 
 
PHOSPHORESCENT WATER. 
 
 29 
 
 ird 
 on, 
 led 
 ike, 
 lost 
 
 the 
 ight 
 
 rivid 
 
 the 
 
 and, 
 
 Of 
 
 and! 
 ntitv 
 
 by the appended note remained luminous for 
 six nights afterwards. I could not, by the 
 most careful scrutiny, discover any animal- 
 culae in the jug; and the water, excepting 
 from the admixture of a little oil, was clear 
 and pure during the whole time*. 
 
 On Friday, the 8th, a small boat with 
 three people in it, the first we had seen 
 
 * Sea-water being a compound of muriate of soda, sul- 
 phate of magnesia, oxygen and hydrogen, perhaps the fol- 
 lowing experiment may yield some data on which to ground 
 a chemical theory of the nature of the light of the ocean.— 
 Take four drachms of the substance of fresh herring and put 
 it into two drachms of sulphate of magnesia in two ounces of 
 water ; let the phial remain at rest for twenty-four hours, 
 and, on shaking it briskly in the dark, you will observe a beau- 
 tiful luminous appearance all over the bottle, which will last 
 until the fourth night. 
 
 Epsom salts are now chiefly obtained from sea-water. 
 
 Perhaps a phosphate is formed, which, readily melting 
 from its solid form, diffuses itself over a vast surface. 
 
 I acknowledge, however, that even the inconceivable shoals 
 of fish, particularly herrings ( Gasperaux), which people the 
 Gulph of St. Lawrence, would scarcely appear to afford suf- 
 ficient matter, although an entire shoal or mass (which is 
 sometimes seen aUve covering an extent of surface which I 
 dare not detail) were to be suddenly deprived of existence, to 
 create phosphoric atoms to the extent requisite to give birth 
 to such an appearance as that which I have described. 
 
30 
 
 LABRADOR. 
 
 since our quitting the shores of England, 
 passed us at a distance. This morning 
 proved rainy, but we plainly distinguished 
 Cape St. Anne, and very high land con- 
 tinuing from it. 
 
 There was now plenty of the gulph weed, 
 a sure token that we were not yet in the 
 estuary of the great St. Lawrence. 
 
 After three o'clock, p.m., the coast of 
 Labrador came in sight to the northward ; 
 and at eight a strong squall, which however 
 soon passed off ; and we stood into this 
 shore until midni^^ht, when we as^ain made 
 for the Canadian side of the gulph until 
 
 evening. 
 
 On the 9th, the morning proved calm, and 
 we saw a huge seal, or some other largo 
 marine animal, floating past. The weather 
 abated its coldness, but the sky was dull, 
 and we had no wind. At three the next 
 morning, the mate reported a large drove 
 of grampusses, and at daylight we again 
 saw the land, but it was not until the mist 
 cleared away, after breakfast, that it could 
 
 I be obsei 
 
 our rec 
 
 Caribon 
 
 fore enl 
 
 ' the mou 
 
 Everj 
 
 out, and 
 
 ^ mirage ( 
 
 ; conceive 
 
 us and j 
 
 voyage. 
 
 elapsed 
 
 pilot-boa 
 
 calm pn 
 
 were mu( 
 
 birds w 
 
 whales a 
 
 about us, 
 
 the ship. 
 
 the pleas 
 
 merals a\ 
 
 of the p 
 
 perienced 
 
 wards us. 
 
MIRAGE. 
 
 31 
 
 be observed on both sides of the vessel. By 
 our reckoning, we were now abreast of 
 Caribon Point and Cape Chat, and there- 
 fore entering the dangerous navigation of 
 the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 Every eye was now employed in looking 
 out, and with some uncertainty, owing to a 
 mirage on the edge of the land : we at last 
 conceived that two boats were making for 
 us and another ship which had joined our 
 voyage. A considerable time, however, 
 elapsed before we were assured that two 
 pilot-boats were actually nearing us. The 
 calm prevented our making way, and we 
 were much amused by the number of small 
 birds which visited our rigging ; huge 
 whales and grampusses were also playing 
 about us, and a large s&al came up close to 
 tbc ship. It would be useless to describe 
 the pleasure we felt in making out the nu- 
 merals which are painted on the mainsail 
 of the pilot-boats, or the anxiety we ex- 
 perienced during their tedious progress to- 
 wards us. 
 
32 
 
 A CANADIAN PILOT. 
 
 At mid-day the pilot, his boy, his boat, 
 and all his stock were safely landed on our 
 deck. Monsieur Prisque Meteille* was a 
 fair sample of the Canadian sailor ; he spoke 
 some English, smoked his pipe incessantly, 
 and possessed that phlegmatic temperament 
 which the descendants of the lively French 
 appear somewhat unnaturally to have ac- 
 quired in the uncertain climate of this part 
 of the New World ; and as he brought some 
 fresh fish, and bread, together with fine 
 weather in the afternoon, we were all very 
 glad to see him. 
 
 Monsieur Prisque Meteille's man informed 
 me that the other pilot had got some curious 
 stones, which they had picked up, having 
 been confined to the desert shore of Caribou 
 Point for some weeks, waiting for winds and 
 ships. He described them as like fingers, 
 being glittering and of various colours. 1 
 conjectured they were fine quartz crystals. 
 
 After a fine sunset, the moon rose verv 
 grandly, and the weather became warmer; 
 
 * Priscus Metellus, 
 
 and tl] 
 
 to inf( 
 
 countr 
 
 scssors 
 
 now at 
 
 was nc 
 
 observe 
 
 stance 
 
 rope fij 
 
 very be; 
 
 The I 
 
 tiful as j 
 
 May it 
 
SINGULAR APPEARANCE. 
 
 33 
 
 and that pest of America, a musquito, came 
 to inform us that we were entering into a 
 country where his tribe are certainly pos- 
 sessors of a vast inheritance. The sea was 
 now again slightly luminous; but as there 
 was no wind, this appearance could only be 
 observed by throwing a rope or some sub- 
 stance into the water. The agitation of a 
 rope fixed by both ends on board, showed 
 very beautiful and brilliant scintillations.* 
 
 The sunset I have mentioned was so beau- 
 tiful as to excite the attention of all on board. 
 
 iMtb.jfmnFtiiti': -s^-'^-- — -7—— 
 
 May it not l)e, after all, that the sea-light is electric ? 
 
34 
 
 SINGULAR APPEARANCE. 
 
 First, there was a double sun bv rcflec- 
 tion, each disc equally distinct ; afterwards, 
 when the orb reached the mark x a solid 
 body of light, equal in breadth with the sun 
 itself, but of great length from the shore, 
 shot down on the sea, and remained like n 
 broad fiery golden colimni, or bar, until the 
 black hiffh land hid the luminary itself. 
 This occurred near Cape Deamon, or be- 
 tween it and Caribon Point. On the op])o- 
 site shore all was dull, the clouds being 
 half way down the lower mountains of the 
 coast. 
 
 This night, although the sea was calm, 
 we again saw it covered with light, almost 
 as intense in brilliancy as before; but of 
 course, not equally interesting, from the 
 absence of wind and other phenomena. 
 
 On Monday the 11th, at ten a. m., we saw 
 the first house, and were nearly in the river, 
 off the Pass of Matane, wind N. E., and at 
 night the sea very brilliant again. The 
 wind foul all this night and until Tuesday at 
 four o'clock. We saw Cape Arignole almost 
 
MAL HAY. 
 
 35 
 
 tho whole day, and on the opposite, or La- 
 
 the h 
 
 OUSC} 
 
 I 
 
 brador side, Port-ncuf, wi 
 settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company 
 there. A great deal of rock-weed floated 
 past, and many porpoises visited us. In th(? 
 evening we descried, as we passed, Trois 
 Pistoles, Bic, Bicquette, Basque Isle, and 
 (Jreen Island; at eleven the light on the 
 latter came in sight. 
 
 We ran very fast all this night ; and heing 
 on dangerous ground, as a thick fog came 
 on, we anchored at eight on Wednesday 
 morning off Mai or Murray Bay. The fog 
 had been frequent and intense as we drew 
 into the narrower parts of the St. Law- 
 rence ; and we were told that it was owing to 
 some extensive fires in the woods, which, 
 indeed, appeared the more likely, as it had 
 a strong odour, like that produced by burn- 
 ing peat. 
 
 Mai Bay is a very pretty picturesque set- 
 tlement, amid the mountains of this part of 
 the Canadian shore. As the fog cleared, we 
 
86 
 
 xilTE PORPOISES. 
 
 saw good houses and farms covering the land 
 down to the water's edge ; and the effect of 
 the curtain of fog slowly passing away was 
 the more singular, as we now successively 
 saw five ships near us ; the village of Mur- 
 ray, bounded by Goose Cape, a high pro- 
 montory ; the Pilgrims and Hare Island ; 
 and Kamourasha, with the large village or 
 town of St. Louis on the opposite shore. 
 
 Those singular fish, the milk-white por- 
 poises of the St. Lawrence, also now shewed 
 themselves close to the vessel, playing about 
 and turning up their silver coats to the 
 bright sun. 
 
 Before I proceed in my detail, it may be 
 amusing to state, that at our first anchorage 
 in Mai Bay, our dinner consisted of a Don- 
 kin preserved turkey, preserved soup and 
 bouillie, and new potatoes, which had been 
 kept in earth. These vegetables we had 
 every day, as well as preserved milk for tea 
 and breakfast, and our Thames water had 
 always proved good. Such is the height to 
 
 which ii 
 person 
 shorp^ a 
 
 We \N 
 gerous ' 
 narrow 
 night, a 
 appeare( 
 his pilot 
 hours di 
 
 OnT 
 us up at 
 morenc} 
 tance. 
 of this 
 shower ^ 
 so far o: 
 appeara 
 
 A ne 
 scene nc 
 
 * On b( 
 Captain C. 
 fectly to in 
 
 t ColoiK 
 very effect' 
 
 i 
 
FALLS OF MONTMORENCY. 
 
 37 
 
 which invention has carried matters, that a 
 person may now live as well at sea as on 
 shore> and enjoy nearly as many luxuries.* 
 
 We were now, it appears, .naking a dan- 
 gerous experiment — that of running in a 
 narrow channel and thick foo- during the 
 night, and with a brisk breeze. The master 
 appeared not to place too great reliance on 
 his pilot, for he sounded continually for two 
 hours during the worst part of the run. 
 
 On Thursday the 14th, the captain called 
 us up at day-break to see the Falls of Mont- 
 morency, which -we were passing at a dis- 
 tance. As the sun rose, I had a good view 
 of this beautiful scene, before a very heavy 
 shower of rain came on ; but the Falls were 
 k so far off, that I am unable to describe their 
 appearance accurately.t 
 
 A new, a nearer, and a most splendid 
 scene now began to unfold. The bold and 
 
 * On board a New York packet afterwards, my friend, 
 Captain C. H. Charnplin, of the Mediator, proved this per- 
 fectly to my satisfaction. 
 
 t Colonel Cockburn of the Royal Artillery has done this 
 very effectually in his beautiful drawing of Montmorency. 
 
38 
 
 INDIAN ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 lofty pT*omontory of Cape Diamond appeared 
 before us ; astern the rich and large Isle of 
 Orleans, thickly cov3red with good dwell 
 ings ; the lofty mountains of Canada on the 
 starboard side, and Point Levi on the lar. 
 board quarter ; whilst our ship was scudding 
 through the great basin which expands the 
 St. Lawrence into a road capable of contain, 
 inty any Uvivy that ever swam. 
 
 As we neared the shore from which Point 
 Levi projects, we saw an Indian encamp- 
 ment under the woods, in a cave on the 
 beach. Their night fires were expiring 
 slowly, and a man and woman were pacing 
 about before the cancos, apparently watch- 
 
 ing them. 
 
 The contrast between this scene of soli- 
 tary wretchedness — between the miserable 
 wigwams hastily formed of boughs, incapable 
 of resisting the rain-storm that poured over 
 them, and the good and substantially com- 
 fortable houses which came into view as 
 we turned the point — was to me striking 
 and very melancholy. The poor creatures 
 
 seemed 
 lonely cc 
 ders on t 
 tion and 
 few feet 
 ledge tht 
 stranger 
 Red fan 
 originall 
 creased 
 whose < 
 ameliora 
 as bad as 
 gun, the 
 versal de 
 
 We an 
 at seven 
 template 
 natural ^ 
 ever rem 
 
 Tower 
 and twen 
 river St. 
 Cape Di 
 
MELANCHOLY CONTRAST. 
 
 39 
 
 iarod 
 sle of 
 well. 
 1 the 
 ! lar- 
 Iding 
 3 the 
 tain- 
 
 ^int 
 
 amp- 
 
 th( 
 
 irin*: 
 
 .cmg 
 Itch- 
 soli, 
 •able 
 lable 
 over 
 3om- 
 V as 
 king- 
 ures I 
 
 seemed to have been pushed back into the 
 lonely cove of the wood by the arrogant intru- 
 ders on their soil. The extremes of civiliza- 
 tion and barbarism were separated only by a 
 few feet of mountain land ; whilst the know- 
 ledge that the power of the white and bearded 
 stranger, as the Mexican and others of the 
 Red family designate their conquerors, was 
 originally exerted only to annihilate, in- 
 creased the feeling of interest for a people 
 whose condition, although now somewhat 
 ameliorated, is perhaps, with few exceptions, 
 as bad as it can possibly be made, from the 
 gmi, the sword, the small-pox, and that uni- 
 versal destroyer — the produce of the still. 
 
 We anchored very near the King's Wharf 
 at seven o'clock, and had full leisure to con- 
 template a scene of human industry and 
 natural grandeur, which equals any that I 
 ever remember to have beheld. 
 
 Towering to the altitude of three hundred 
 and twenty feet above the level of the majestic 
 river St. Lawrence, the bold promontorv, 
 Cape Diamond, was high above our mast- 
 
 f. 
 
40 
 
 QUEBEC. 
 
 head, and on its summit, and around its 
 brow, a vast chain of fortifications shewed 
 their nearly inaccessible lines. To the right 
 hand, the promontory appeared gradually to 
 lower, exhibiting, as it passed towards the 
 east, a very beautiful section of its schistose 
 rocks, above the most precipitous and per- 
 pendicular ledge of which, the massive fabric 
 of the Chateau of St. Lewis is erected. 
 Underneath this building, which is a very 
 substantial, but a tasteless piece of archi- 
 tecture, a part of the lower town runs along 
 the water's edge, and appears, as I suppose 
 it really is, built on a projecting shelf formed 
 under the ancient level of the river, by the 
 debris from the shivering rocks above. 
 
 Farther to the right, the promontory 
 having subsided rapidly, shows that part of 
 the city which runs across its back. Here, 
 along the water's ed;:;e, and on a space 
 gained from the St. Lawrence, sweeps the 
 Lower Town J and above it, in successive 
 stages, the Upper Town projected the sharp 
 outlines of its exteisive buildings on a 
 
 cloudle 
 where 
 any fui 
 situatec 
 spires, 
 like sih 
 dark st 
 wooden 
 face of £ 
 hourly < 
 military 
 the high 
 constant 
 cmployn 
 rectly at 
 a pictur 
 bined as 
 of one c 
 folded, 
 vast har 
 to us, 
 admiral's 
 line of 1; 
 steam-bo 
 
QUEBEC. 
 
 41 
 
 cloudless sky. A rapid turn in the river, 
 where it joins the St. Charles, prevented 
 any further view of Quehec, as we were 
 situated ; but the assemblage of numerous 
 spires, coated with bright tin, glittering 
 like silver in the morning sun ; the strong 
 dark stone dwellings, mixed with painted 
 wooden houses, hanging as it were on the 
 face of a precipice which seemed to threaten 
 hourly destruction to those below it ; the 
 military works, impregnable in their aspect ; 
 the high watch-tower, on which signals were 
 constantly making ; the workmen at their 
 employment on the summit of bastions di- 
 rectly above our heads ; all these presented 
 a picture of the most lively interest, com- 
 bined as it was with that which the bosom 
 of one of the mightiest of floods also un- 
 folded. Here, on the tranquil expanse of a 
 vast harbour or lake, floated at anchor, close 
 to us, a sixty-four-f'un ship bearing an 
 admiral's flag, a sloop of war, and a vv^hole 
 line of large merchantmen, mixed with fine 
 steam-boats. 
 
42 
 
 QUEBEC. 
 
 Around us, on all sides, boats of every 
 description were sailing or rowing ; and here 
 and there a log or a birch canoe paddling 
 along, called to our recollection that it was 
 on the breast of an American river we were 
 contemplating Nature and Art vicing with 
 each other. 
 
 Far to the westward as the eye could 
 reach, the St. Lawrence rolled in grandeur 
 unequalled, through a channel whose con- 
 fines appeared to consist of high and fertile 
 lands, agreeably intermixed with cleared 
 farms and the ancient forest. 
 
 A fleet of merchant shipping rode in this 
 part of the stream, preparing to load timber. 
 
 Opposite to Quebec the bank is high, but 
 not so abrupt ; and on Point Levi and the 
 adjacent ridge a pretty assemblage of neat 
 dwellings and rich farms spread themselves 
 to the view. 
 
 The depth of the river is here about 28 
 fathoms, and the water rises from I7 to 18 
 feet at the neaps, and from 23 to ^4 at the 
 spring tides, running generally, I should 
 
 > 
 
 think, 
 safely a 
 to Poin 
 boat* 
 united 
 circle in 
 to answ 
 scngers 
 with ano 
 in Uppe 
 State of 
 find thai 
 steam-bo 
 wharf at 
 boats an( 
 apparent 
 and cond 
 
 * These 
 Toronto usee 
 Black Rock, 
 Fort Erie, oi 
 
QUEBEC. 
 
 43 
 
 think, very strong. A passage is effected 
 safely and continually across from Quebec 
 to Point Levi, by a vessel called a team- 
 boat*, impelled by paddle-wheels, from the 
 united efforts of four horses moving in a 
 circle in the centre of the waist. It appears 
 to answer very well, and was full of pas- 
 sengers when I saw it. I afterwards met 
 with another, which plies between Prescott, 
 in Upper Canada, and Ogdensburgh, in the 
 State of New York, and was surprised to 
 find that it was governed as well as any 
 steam-boat, as I observed it work into the 
 wharf at Prescott, amongst several steam- 
 boats and schooners, in a difficult place, and 
 apparently with great ease to the helmsman 
 and conductor. 
 
 28 
 18 
 he 
 lild 
 
 * These team-boats are common. There was one at 
 Toronto used as a pleasure-party boat, and one plies betvveer» 
 Black Rock, in the United States, and Waterloo VillagCj neat 
 Fort Erie, on the Niagara. 
 
44 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 QUEBEC. 
 
 French Character of ihp Lower Town — Tin Spires and Roofs 
 — Peculiar Situation of Quebec — The Scene of Wolfe's 
 Glory — The Spot where he fell— The Fortifications — The 
 Citadel— The Garrison — Public Buildings — Remarkable 
 Localities — Provisions — Geological Character of the Rock 
 of Quebec — Cape Diamond — Primitive Mountains of the 
 St. Charles. 
 
 The harbour-master having paid us a 
 visit, and having ascertained the name, size, 
 cargo, &c., of the vessel, the number of pas- 
 sengers, and other particulars, we ^anded nt 
 ten, without any further inquiries, at the 
 King's Wharf. 
 
 In going through the Lower Town, a 
 traveller aecuf^tomed to France and its port 
 towns is at once sensible oi the origin of the 
 
 spu'es 
 
QUEBEC. 
 
 45 
 
 Size, 
 ' pas- 
 ed nt 
 the 
 
 race who first colonized this ^jart of the 
 
 world. High stone houses with long folding 
 
 windows, of a suhstantial but unfinished 
 appearance ; narrow streets, very far from 
 
 clean ; but little display of shop-windows, 
 and no great outward signs of business, cha- 
 racterise this portion of Quebec. 
 
 Several steep flights of steps, which must 
 be vcrv awkward and dangerous in winter, 
 lead you to the Upper Town, where wider 
 streets, kept in rather better order, a better 
 • style of building, and more apparent comfort, 
 prevail. 
 
 Wooden houses do not predominate at 
 Quebec, as might be expected ; but the tin 
 spires of the churches, and tbe tin roofs of 
 the best houses, give it a lively appearance, 
 and one very diffbrent from those of Europe, 
 ivhen viewed from the river. It is singular 
 to see these bright coverings glistening in 
 the sun, years after they were originally laid 
 over the buildings, although for a great 
 part of the time snow and rain pour over 
 tnem. The whole secret of p^-eventing oxi- 
 
46 
 
 TIN ROOFS. 
 
 dation consists in fasteninfr tlic sheets of tin 
 with tinned nails, in such a manner that 
 the wet of the atmosphere never touches the 
 nails, or the holes made hy them in the 
 tinned iron. 
 
 These roofs, highly useful as they are in 
 affording a free passage for the body of 
 snow which lodges on them when the thaw 
 commences, and also for the safety they 
 afford from fires in chimnies, have never- 
 theless their inconveniences. They are of 
 course very expensive ; and if, by the neg- 
 lect of the workmen who put them on, or 
 by any damp, the sheets of tinned iron 
 may have previously contracted, they be- 
 come oxidized, and holes are formed, which 
 soon become large, and give much trouble. 
 Sometimes the whole side of a roof must 
 be taken off, if the slightest repair, which 
 the soldering-iron cannot effect, becomes 
 requisite. 
 
 A description of Quebec is certainly ex- 
 pected from a traveller who professes to 
 offer a personal narrative to the public eye. 
 
 But, c 
 Cape 
 culars 
 who J] 
 as far 
 days' g 
 much i 
 the key 
 interest 
 famous 
 I ha^ 
 the riv( 
 promont 
 La wren ( 
 on the 
 towards 
 siderabh 
 the wes 
 the escai 
 but an 
 presentee 
 ff north- wei 
 boundary 
 ^t. Charl 
 
SITUATION OF QUF.IIF.C. 
 
 47 
 
 :in 
 lat 
 he 
 the 
 
 in 1 1 
 
 of 1 
 
 law : 
 
 hey I 
 
 vcr- 1 
 
 3 of 
 
 I, or 
 
 iron 
 
 be- 
 
 lich 
 
 3le. 
 
 nust 
 lich 
 )nies 
 
 ■f ex- 
 to 
 
 .1 
 
 
 s 
 
 eye. 
 
 liut, excepting in a geological point of view, 
 Cape Diamond presents few other parti- 
 culars than those already noticed hy writers 
 who have preceded me. 1 shall, however, 
 as far as the limited experience of a two 
 days' sojourn there will allow, detail as 
 much as possible concerning a city, at once 
 the key and capital of a vast, and now most 
 interesting region, and rendered eternally 
 famous by the daring valour of Wolfe. 
 
 I have already noticed, in my view from 
 the river, the situation of Quebec. The 
 promontory, which separates it from the St. 
 Lawrence on one side and the St. Charles 
 on the other, has generally a very steep face 
 towards the Great River, and retains con- 
 siderable elevation for about two miles to 
 the westw^ard. Towards the St. Charles 
 the escarpment of the land is more gentle ; 
 but an almost continuous rapid flank is 
 presented for a considerable distance to the 
 north-west. This flank forms the southern 
 boundary of the broad valley in which the 
 St. Charles now runs, in a diminished and 
 
48 
 
 IIKICIITS OF AIJRAIIAM. 
 
 serpentine channel, at a medium distance 
 of about lialf a mile from the ed^^^e of the 
 promontory. 
 
 The ridge of which the promontory itself 
 consists, is about three-quarters of a mile in 
 medium breadth, and is much broken and 
 diversified on that part of its summit nearest 
 to the St. Lawrence, by sharp, unequal, 
 and irregular eminences, constituting the 
 southern portion of the Heights of Abrabam, 
 a desiijnation rendered ever famous in the 
 history of British conquest. 
 
 A sort of plain, much broken however, 
 covers the central crown of this jagged ridge, 
 at the distance of about half a mile from the 
 town ; and on this spot, now partly under 
 cultivation, Wolfe's genius and undaunted 
 foresight achieved one of the most splendid 
 victories ever recorded in the c.nnals of 
 military exploits. The Cove, where, under 
 the face of an apparently impassable series 
 of rocks, piled above each other, he effected 
 his landing before daybreak on the lath of 
 September, 1759, is an object of great 
 
 m teres 
 is son 
 compel 
 forgot t 
 to eten 
 is a fai 
 
 spot OE 
 
 found ; 
 field ha 
 from in 
 lowed ei 
 private 
 freedom 
 Here si 
 pointin* 
 hand o 
 was plac 
 The 
 
 * (( 
 
 J"- 
 
 Ir 
 Ol 
 
 VOL. I 
 
GRAVE OF WOLFE. 
 
 40 
 
 interest to the British traveller ; but there 
 is some difficulty in finding it without a 
 competent jt^uide, and its situation will be 
 forn^otten, if some patriot does not start up 
 to eternize it by an adequate memorial. It 
 is a fact, that the stone which marked the 
 spot on which the hero fell is not now to be 
 found ; and I heard that the owner of the 
 field had removed it, to prevent the curious 
 from intruding on his premises. This hal- 
 lowed earth * should never have passed into 
 private hands ; the public of a land where 
 freedom is not a name, claim it as their own. 
 Here should have been reared the " star-y- 
 pointing pyramid," which, by the fostering 
 hand of a late governor, Lord Dalhousie, 
 was placed at the chateau-gate. 
 The fortifications, which give so much 
 
 * " What hallows ground where heroes sleep ? 
 'Tis not the sculptured piles yoa heap : 
 In dews that heavens, far distant, weep, 
 
 Their turf may bloom ; 
 Or genii twine, beneath the deep, 
 Their coral "'^i •> " 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
50 
 
 FORTTFICATIOxVS 
 
 celebrity to Quebec as to have rendered it 
 
 amongst 
 
 th( 
 
 e most eininent of fortresses of 
 the second order, have undergone great 
 alterations and revision ; and, when com- 
 pleted, it will probably be the strongest 
 place of that class in the world. The land 
 front of course embraces the whole extent of 
 the promontory, from its most perpendicular 
 precipices on the St. Lawrence, to the edge 
 of the estuary of the St. Charles. Its greatest 
 faulty in coiiocquence of the nature of this 
 portion of the site, arose from the extreme 
 straightness of the line to be secured, thus 
 rendering ii necessary to make the bastions 
 very flat, in aii extent of front of much more 
 thaii half a mile, close to which the irregu- 
 lar eminences above-mentioned presented a 
 scries of deep hollows and hiding-places. 
 
 On the St. Lawrence, or south- western 
 extremity of this line, and where Cape Diu 
 mond has its highest crown, the citadel is 
 built ; but this work was very inadequate 
 to tlie proposed effect. It has undergone 
 great revision and addition ; and the vaulted 
 
 i 
 
 (lefcni 
 
 promi 
 
 Frc 
 
 side, 
 
 verv ci 
 
 alono" 
 
 to the 
 
 The pj 
 
 is brist 
 
 conneci 
 
 tery, w 
 
 and pa 
 
 twenty-: 
 
 larly sti 
 
 Gates, I 
 
 by joini 
 
 Palais. 
 
 The c 
 drv, and 
 lent stuc 
 tary eve. 
 which or 
 be broug 
 the rock. 
 
OF QUEBEC. 
 
 51 
 
 defences, erected with great skill and care, 
 promise to render it impregnable. 
 
 From the citadel, on the south-eastern 
 side, a strongly-flanked wall runs to the 
 very edge of the precipitous ledge of rocks, 
 along the brow of which it continues 
 to the gateway leading to the lower town. 
 The passage from hence to the upper town 
 is bristled with cannon ; a similar line then 
 connects these works with the ground bat- 
 tery, which can completely cover the basin 
 and passage of the river with a storm of 
 twenty-four pound balls. Another line, simi- 
 lar!}' strong, runs past the Hope and Palace 
 Gates, and completes the circuit of the city, 
 by joining the bastion of the Coteau-du- 
 Palais. 
 
 The ditch of the land front is of course 
 dry, and the whole work presents an excel- 
 lent studv of an irregular fortress, to a mill- 
 tary eye. The singular flight of stairs by 
 which ordnance and the bulky materials can 
 be brought up from the river to the top of 
 the rock, is also a striking object from the 
 
 D 2 
 
52 
 
 THE GARRISON. 
 
 deck of a vessel. It is called the Inclined 
 Plane. 
 
 Appertaining to the works, are several 
 ranges of barracks, viz., the Jesuits, formerly 
 a college of that order, and the Casernes 
 nouvelle^ or artillery barrack, &c. None of 
 them are handsome edifices ; the latter is, 
 however, very durable, forty feet in breadth, 
 527 long» and two stories high. In it are 
 the gunners' barrack, the ordnance oflBce, 
 armoury, storehouses, and w^orkshops. In 
 the armoury there is always 20,000 stand of 
 arms of every description, in perfect and well- 
 arranged order. 
 
 The garrison usually, in peace, consists of 
 two regiments of the line, two companies of 
 artillery, and one of sappers and miners. 
 There are, in addition, and at all times im- 
 mediately available, a fine corps of militia 
 cavalry, and two battalions of infantry, with 
 a proportion of artillery j so that the place is 
 never in adequately garrisoned, or unprepared. 
 The fixed population of Quebec may be 
 stated at 18,000. The streets of this city 
 
 n 
 
 are, frc 
 
 equal. 
 
 ings ar 
 
 street o 
 
 Cape D 
 
 half a 
 
 and hei 
 
 houses a 
 
 such dee 
 
 their car 
 
 Theb 
 
 seldom e 
 
 usually 1 
 
 street is i 
 
 and the 
 
 highest p 
 
 also mor 
 
 those in 
 
 Palace sti 
 
 French si 
 
 also « the 
 
 do congrc 
 
 tolerably y 
 
 be proper] 
 
STREETS OF QUEBEC. 
 
 53 
 
 are, from the site, very irregular and un- 
 equal. In the upper town, the best build- 
 ings are too obiiciir ; but the principal 
 street of the lower town, which runs from 
 Cape Diamond towards the St. Charles, for 
 half a mile, also contains some good houses ; 
 and here there are very extensive ware- 
 houses and ship-yards, many of these having 
 such deep water, that large vessels discharge 
 their cargoes afloat. 
 
 The breadth of the great streets of Quebec 
 seldom exceeds thirty-two feet, but it is more 
 usually less than twenty-seven. St. Lewis- 
 street is reckoned the best locale for the rich 
 and the government officers, being in the 
 highest part of the town ; the houses are 
 also more modern and comfortable than 
 those in St. John, Buade, Fabrique, and 
 Palace streets, where the old gloomy style of 
 French stone buildings prevails, and where 
 also " the merchants of the earth the most 
 do congregate." Most part of Quebec is 
 tolerably well paved, but does not appear to 
 be properly lit, though it is now traversable 
 
54 
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 by carriages with safety in nearly every 
 direction. 
 
 An extensive ma] ket-place, an esplanade, 
 place d*armes, grani parade, and the ram- 
 parts, afford plenty of vacant space for the 
 free circulation of a r ; and from its peculiar 
 natural advantages, the Upper Town of Que- 
 bec is one of the cleinest cities in the world. 
 
 Of public buildings not already men- 
 tioned, the Hotel ])ieu, Ursuline Convent, 
 Protestant and Catholic cathedrals, kirk, 
 lower town church, seminary, and new jail, 
 are the principal, wi th the Chateau, or Castle 
 of St. Lewis. None of these deserve much 
 notice for architectural beauty or design; 
 but most of them are extensive and sub- 
 stantial; which, in i fortified city, is perhaps 
 better. The Cath )lic cathedral is no- less 
 than 216 feet in lei gth, by 108 in breadth ; 
 but is surpassed in taste by the Protestant 
 cathedral, which h the handsomest edifice 
 in Quebec, 136 fest long, and 75 broad, 
 with a lofty and vei y well constructed spire, 
 coated with bright 1 in plates. 
 
 Thi 
 is a pi 
 laid 
 what ( 
 of the 
 conne( 
 adom( 
 
 The 
 
 lookin, 
 
 style ( 
 
 name ; 
 
 siege i 
 
 former 
 
 A ti 
 
 the soi 
 
 place V 
 
 was ki 
 
 Abrah 
 
 wall nc 
 
 the Ca 
 
 from a 
 
 * Keni 
 tober, lo'fj 
 
THE JAIL AND CASTLE. 
 
 55 
 
 The jail is said to have cost £15,000 ; it 
 I is a plain strong stone building, and is well 
 laid out in the interior. It is now some- 
 what difficult for a stranger to obtain a view 
 of the interior of the convent : the chapel 
 connected with it is beautifully and chastely 
 adorned. 
 
 The castle is a very plain, unpretending 
 looking building, bearing no analogy to the 
 style of buildinc^ whence it has taken its 
 name ; though, from the plate given of the 
 siege in 1629, in Hennessin,* I sup^.ose it 
 formerly had its towers and turrets. 
 
 A traveller should, above all things, visit 
 the south-west part of the works, and see the 
 place where Montgomery scaled them and 
 was killed ; he should traverse the plains of 
 Abraham, and look down either from the 
 wall near where Montgomery fell, and \vhere 
 the Cape is 360 feet above the river, or else 
 from a still higher pinnacle, the top or plat- 
 
 * Kennessin and La Salle's Discoveries in America. Oc- 
 tober, 1699. Now a very scarce book. 
 
56 
 
 THE MARKET, 
 
 form of the- tower on which the signal staff is 
 erected. Under his feet the ships seem 
 mere boats, and Shakspeare's Cliff bursts, 
 if he be a Briton, on his recollection. The 
 river may be traced as on a vast map, and 
 the view altogether is one which cannot be 
 adequately described. 
 
 The market seemed well supplied with 
 fish, flesh, fruit and vegetables, all of which, 
 bv the kindness of a brother officer, I had 
 soon an opportunity of forming an opiniori 
 of. Our dinner, amongst other good things, 
 consisted of bar-fish, an excellent product of 
 the St. Lawrence, and partridges, and the 
 luxury of butter cooled by large pieces of 
 ice being brought on table with it on the 
 same plate. Our dessert had blue and white 
 very large grapes, fresh from Montreal,* 
 with melons from the same place, and excel- 
 
 Our breakfast next 
 
 ipple 
 
 pears. 
 
 day was alike good, and we had moreover 
 capital river trout. 
 
 * They do not arrive at perfection in Quebec. 
 
 I 
 
 south 
 
 notwi 
 
 its w 
 
 flowei 
 
 (wate 
 
 air, ai 
 
 the su 
 
 and h( 
 
 As 
 
 more f 
 
 provin 
 
 in the < 
 
 is com 
 
 veins a 
 
 quentl} 
 
 may be 
 
 works. 
 
 been ol 
 
 limpid ( 
 
 hollow i 
 
 monton 
 
 Diamor 
 
CAPE DIAMOND. 
 
 57 
 
 I could not avoid observing, that the 
 southern latitude of Quebec, 46° 50', has, 
 notwithstanding the length and severity of 
 its winter, a very strong influence on its 
 flowers and fruits. We observed melons 
 (water and common) growing in the open 
 air, and ordinary European flowers, such as 
 the sunflower and hollyhock, attaining a size 
 and height quite unknown in England. 
 
 As I intend, on a future occasion, to enter 
 more fully into the natural history of these 
 provinces, I shall here merely observe, that 
 in the clay slate of which the rock of Quebec 
 is composed, there are some very singular 
 veins and crystals of carbonate of lime fre- 
 quently occurring, fine specimens of which 
 may be had on the foundations of the new 
 works. Fluatc of lime has now and then 
 been observed, and the imperfect crystals of 
 limpid quartz so abundantly adhering to the 
 hollow surfaces, have obtained for this pro- 
 montory's termination, the name of Cape 
 Diamond ; although at present the large 
 
 D 3 
 
58 
 
 GEOLOGICAL ClIARACTElt 
 
 prisms which have been so eagorly sought 
 after for English cabinets, and which are 
 worked by the lapidaries of Quebec into 
 omatnen :, ar : rot ^ound here, but at some 
 distance tiom tJu town. The largest crystal 
 I could get on C pe Diamond from the 
 workmen, is about the size of the first joint 
 of ihe thumb, and is imperfect, and shivered 
 in its interior. 
 
 The Quebec rock is a very bad buildin^ 
 stone, from its schistose and shivering cha- 
 racter ; but it was conjectured that a pro- 
 fitable quarry of dark blue limestone might 
 be opened on the heights. This was attempted 
 by an officer of engineers ;* but the strata 
 dipped very rapidly and unexpectedly under 
 the clay slate. 
 
 The mountains on the opposite side of the 
 St. Charles are primitive, and consist chiefly 
 of granite, gniess and mica slate, affording 
 
 * Captain Jiaddely, the most active and best geologist then 
 in Canada, and to whom that country is under much obliga- 
 tion for his scientific explorations. 
 
OF QUFBEC. 
 
 ^0 
 
 a n. tg:?.ificent spectacle as a vessel ap- 
 prci ;hes the fortress of North America, 
 and forming an P^^mirable back-ground to 
 the beautiful scenerv around the 1 1 eights 
 of Abraham. 
 
60 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 VOYAGE UP THE ST. LAWRENCE TO 
 MONTREAL. 
 
 Steaming on the St. La\rrence— English Character rf the 
 Scenery—Continuous Village from Quebec to Montreal— 
 The Richelieu Rapids— MiHtary Post of Three Rivers- 
 Lake St. Pierre — Sorel — Its present State and future 
 pKspects— The Rideau Canal— The Riipid of St. Marie 
 — Imi.-ovements in Steam Power— Art triumphant over 
 Nature. 
 
 Bidding adieu to Quebec, and tranship- 
 ping my baggage from the vessel to the 
 steam-boat which lay alongside of us at the 
 King's Wharf to receive our cargo of Indian 
 presents, we once more got under weigh at 
 one o^clock in the morning of the lyth of 
 September, and steamed away. 
 
 The boat was a good one, and possessed 
 of every comfort that could be expected ; but 
 
SETTLEMENT ON THE ST. LAWRENCE. 6l 
 
 its tremulous motion prevented sleep, and 
 therefore getting up at an early hour,* I 
 found that during the night we had passed 
 the slight Rapids at the mouth of the Chau- 
 di^re, and that we were now stemming the 
 nohle St. Lawrf'nce, with the land on either 
 side very clear. ^ 
 
 At Batiscai;, a straggling village, and 
 after you pass it on the route to Montreal, 
 the English traveller is strongly reminded of 
 the scenes he has quitted, as the trees are 
 chiefly hard wood, and the soil appears fine, 
 so that the farms bear the outward look of 
 great comfort and plenty. 
 
 From this place I observed that both sides, 
 but particularly the northern bank of the St. 
 Lawrence, were covered by a continuous 
 settlement, apparently in a very flourishing 
 condition. Indeed, it may with propriety 
 be styled a continuous villac^e all the wav to 
 Three Rivers ; and as there is a fine sandy 
 
 * By the regulation of these conveyances in Canada, every 
 one rises before eight, so that the beds may be curtained 
 and breakfast decently prepared in the cabin. 
 
62 
 
 THE RICIIKLIEi; RAPID. 
 
 hcacli, there is every facility for obtaininir 
 easily the supply of food wliich the St. Law- 
 rence affords in such abundance. This con- 
 tinuity of farms may, without exai^geration, 
 be said to reach from Quebec, with few 
 intervals, all the way to Montreal ; thus 
 affording a well watched frontier in war, an 
 easy communication, and excellent opportu- 
 nities of transporting the produce of the 
 interior in peace, whenever the rich country 
 at the back of this belt of settlement shall b(> 
 opened. 
 
 After passing the mouth of the Jacques 
 Car tier, a name dear to Canadian history, 
 we encountered the Richelieu Rapids, where 
 the St. Lawrence makes a great bend to the 
 south-east ; and here we vcre more than 
 ever convinced, that the day is not far distant 
 when no sailing vessel will be seen on this 
 mighty stream. 
 
 The river St. Anne, with a pretty village 
 at its estuary, next presented itself, also on 
 the northern beach, and soon afterwards the 
 Batiscan. 
 
THREE RIVERS. 
 
 63 
 
 \Vc passed Throe Rivers (Trois llivit'res), 
 a small town and military post, prettily situ- 
 ated at the (jonfluenee of the St. Maurice with 
 the St. Lawrence. The houses were mostly 
 of wood, and altogether respectahle in their 
 ap[)earance ; and, with a large stone edifice 
 in which the nuns of St. Ursula have a con- 
 vent and church (the steeple of which is a 
 little out of the perpendicular), a stone bar- 
 rack on the high ground, a court-house and 
 a jail, also of stone, and the Protestant and 
 the Catholic churches, they formed a striking 
 feature to Europeans accustomed by a long 
 voyage to sea and sky, and, after quitting 
 the capital of Canada, to long straggling 
 farms and forests only. 
 
 Three Rivers is at present the third town 
 in Lower Canada, having a population of 
 about 2500. The iron mines in its vicinitv, 
 a considerable trade n pot- and pearl-ash, 
 and its being still one of the depots of the 
 north-west traders, render this place of some 
 importance, in a commercial point of view ; 
 
G4 
 
 LAKES OF ST. LAWRENCE. 
 
 added to which is the convenience of its 
 port, as large vessels may come up to the 
 wharfs. Three Rivers is seventy-ave miles 
 from Quebec. 
 
 Hitherto the St. Lawrence had kept nearly 
 a rogular width, but it now narrows a little 
 previous to entering one of those great en- 
 largements of its bed which, in the lan- 
 guage of the country, are named lakes. 
 Lake St. Peter, or St. Pierre, is perhaps 
 one of the largest of the third-class of these, 
 and as it is in general very shallow, is dan- 
 gerous to the inexperienced seaman during 
 hazy weather and dark nights, lighthouses 
 being as yet scarce along the windings of the 
 St. Lawrence. We were so unfortunate as 
 to encounter a thick fog, and were therefore 
 obliijed to remain at anchor in the middle 
 of this great expanse of the .dver during the 
 whole night. 
 
 On the morning of the 1 8th we again got 
 under weigh for Sorel, or William Henry, 
 where the steam-boat was to take in wood. 
 
 The pa 
 the nui 
 River i 
 
 Sorel 
 eastern 
 two huK 
 shore as 
 town is 
 
 Great 
 
 mode in 
 
 at prese 
 
 fifteen h 
 
 though j 
 
 A stone 
 
 another i 
 other go 
 
 cipal edil 
 
 The s 
 
 side of £ 
 
 good gro 
 
 on the op 
 
 assume a 
 
 free navi 
 
 lakes is o 
 
SOREL. 
 
 65 
 
 The passage out of Lake St. Peter, amongst 
 the numerous islands at the mouth of the 
 River Richelieu, is very picturesque. 
 
 Sorel, or William Henry, is built on the 
 eastern hank of the Richelieu, which is here 
 two hundred and fifty yards broad. As the 
 shore ascends rapidly, the best part of ihe 
 town is situated on a height. 
 
 Great regularity appears to prevail in the 
 mode in which the streets are laid out, but 
 at present the town does not contain above 
 fifteen hundred inhabitants. The houses, 
 though generally well built, are of wood. 
 A stone church for the Protestants, and 
 
 another for the Catholics, the barracks, and 
 other government buildings, are the prin- 
 cipal edifices. 
 
 The steam-boat laid in her wood along- 
 side of an indifferent wharf; but there is 
 good ground for building-slips or wharfage 
 on the opposite shore. Sorel will probably 
 assume a more commercial aspect when the 
 free navigation of the Great River to the 
 lakes is opened, by means of the stupendous 
 
66 
 
 SITUATION OF SOREL. 
 
 undertaking of the Ridcau Canal, and by 
 the St. Lawrence being cleared from pri- 
 vate locks. Its situation at the mouth of a 
 river, conducting in almost a straight line 
 to the interior of the northern States of the 
 American union by Lakes Champlain and 
 the Western Canal, and thus also communi- 
 cating with the ocean, will no doubt render 
 William Henry of great importance in the 
 future condition of Canada. 
 
 Near this place is a country house belong- 
 ing to the governor, who usually resided 
 during the summer at Sorel. It is now the 
 residence of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 After taking a walk through the place, 
 and waiting until some cords * of soft wood 
 (Pinette rouge), were put aboard, we again 
 
 . 
 
 real. 
 
 * Wood is sold in Canada by the cord, which is eight feet 
 in length by four in breadth and in height, or a double culx 
 of four feet face. The government contract is, liowever, 
 somewhat different in Upper Canada, as the wood is obtained 
 by the ancient French pied-du-roi, as in Lower Canada: 
 this is about four inches more than the English measure of 
 Upper Canada per foot. The prices of wood vary much in 
 different localities- 
 
STRONG CURRENT. 
 
 67 
 
 
 got in motion, and steamed towards Mont- 
 real. The scenery now became very inte- 
 resting. We passed the numerous islands 
 of Bouchard, St. Therese, and the great 
 channel of the southern face of the Island of 
 Montreal, until we came at night to the 
 current or rapid, St. Marie, about a mile 
 below the city of Montreal, where, the master 
 of the steam-boat told us, that, a few years 
 ago, it required, for the small steamers then 
 in use, ten or twelve oxen on Vae shore to 
 tow the vessel up; and that sometimes, 
 when the oxen were not readv, after cndea- 
 voiiring by force of steam to stem the cur- 
 rent, which is unusually strong, they found 
 that not an inch of wav could be made, so 
 that the boat was dropped to the foot of the 
 rapid, and remained at anchor all night. 
 
 It was an interesting scene to look on the 
 high bank, covered with houses and foliage, 
 in the bright starlight, whilst we were, 
 though applying immense power, sometimes 
 perfectly stationary, amid the silent swift- 
 ness of the mighty river. Art here strove 
 
68 
 
 POWER OF THE STREAM. 
 
 against Nature, wh( so majestic powers, ex- 
 erted without visib e efforts, seem proudlv 
 to contemn the puiy insignificance of the 
 ima^nary lord of tl e creation. Such is the 
 strength and volume with which the St. 
 Lawrence rushes al mg the broad channel of 
 its bed at this pi ice, that ships w^ere for- 
 merly detained ev m for weeks, only two 
 miles from the ci y, waiting for a strong 
 north-easterly win 1 to stem it. Steam- 
 boats of large size can, however, generally 
 conquer the diific alty, as we did ; but of 
 course there are si ates of the river when it 
 is very difficult to tow ships up. 
 
 This is some d 'awback against the com- 
 mercial prosperit} of Montreal; and it seems 
 somewhat singulir that no plan has ever 
 been adopted to counteract so serious an 
 evil ; as, even wi :h the power of tow-boats, 
 vessels are subj 3cted to heavy expenses ; 
 w^ithout taking into account the dangers 
 they encounter :n the passage, should any 
 accident occur t( their machinery. 
 
69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MONTREAL. 
 
 First View of Montreal— Enchanting River Scenery— Cha- 
 racter of the Great American Rivers — The Great Rapids — 
 Montreal as a Place of Residence — The Harbour — Com- 
 mercial Prospects of Montreal— Its Climate — Its Public 
 Buildings — Its Inhabitants — Its Hotels — Mr. Molson, Pro- 
 jector of 8team-boat Navigation on the St. Lawrence — 
 Literary and Philosophical Societies of Montreal — Mo- 
 nastic Character of the French Public Seminaries — Schools 
 for the Lower Orders — Mischiefs of Party-spirit. 
 
 From the water we perceived no good view 
 of Montreal. High buildings, confusedly 
 massed, and dirty quays, or rather wharfs, 
 appeared to our fancies to give no great pro- 
 mise of the rival of Quebec. But the scenery 
 on the river itself was enchanting. The 
 rapids and shoals above the town, the beau- 
 
70 
 
 MONTREAL. 
 
 tiful island of St. Helen, covered with wood 
 and lawn, and the great expanse of the 
 shallow river, with its foaming currents, 
 amid which small stcam-hoats were winding 
 their dangerous way, altogethei' formed a 
 coup'd'a'd nowhere else to he ohservcd. 
 
 INIonireal surpasses Quebec in the rich- 
 ness and variety ot its picturesque environs, 
 but it yields to its rival in grandeur and 
 sublimity. At Quebec, the St. Lawrence ij 
 indeer'' the ideal of the father of American 
 floods ; at Montreal, the peculiar features 
 of North American rivers are powerfully dis- 
 played in an immense expanse of ^vatcr 
 rushing over shallow channels. The ap- 
 proach to Quebec has, how^ever, a tolerably 
 near view of the splendid Mh vi the Mont- 
 morencv ; wdiile Montreal has only a real 
 and tremendous series of rapids to exhibit. 
 But the true character of the St. Lawreii':*' 
 is better felt at Montreal, and the travellci 
 is here, as it v/ere, initiated into the awful 
 scenes he must encounter in a passage up 
 the miijhtv flood. 
 
 The 
 ing CO I 
 highest 
 swell 01 
 of the i 
 point of 
 blende 
 vou lo( 
 Here t 
 their mi 
 their tu 
 riers wl 
 Here vr 
 ing its 
 and heri 
 of ages 
 clear ati 
 grouped 
 wooden 
 nastericf 
 with tin 
 silver; a 
 at vour f( 
 
MONTREAL. 
 
 The best view of the town and surround- 
 ing country is obtained by ascending the 
 highest of the hills, or elevations, wliich 
 swell out of the otherwise nearly flat surface 
 of the island of Montreal. At the highest 
 point of those forested eminences, on a horn- 
 blende rock at about a mile from the city, 
 vou look down on an immense horizon. 
 Here the grand rapids may be felt in all 
 their magnificence and terrors : for vou hear 
 their tumultuous rage against the rocky bar- 
 riers which oppose their incalculable force. 
 Here you see the noble river again resum- 
 ing its solemn course towards the ocean ; 
 and here, amid groves which give evidences 
 of ages long gone by, you look through a 
 clear atmosphero on a h7rge city, irrcgularlv 
 grouped in lofty dwellin. rg of dark limestone", 
 wooden edifices painted of all colours, mo- 
 nasteries, churches, and public buildings, 
 with tin roofs and spires shining as polished 
 silver; and these are contrasted, immediately 
 at your feet and around *« The Mountain," by 
 
72 
 
 HARBOUR OF MONTREAL. 
 
 pretty country houses, frardcns, orchards, 
 
 and ricli farms. 
 
 The city and island of Montreal are 
 indeed very strikinir objects to an European 
 traveller ; and with a better regulation in 
 the care of the streets, which are not over 
 clean, Montreal would certainly he as desir- 
 able a resting-place as ( auld he found in 
 British America ; and house-rent is not so 
 extravagant as at Quebec. 
 
 The harbour of Montreal is good, when 
 attained, but it is not large. Ships draw- 
 in"- two fathoms and a-half water can lav 
 alongside the wharfs. It is, however, an 
 opinion in which I am not singular, that 
 Montreal is built on the wrong site for a 
 great commercial city, and that, as it is, the 
 town, at least the mercantile portion of it, 
 will probably gradually remove until it is 
 fixed below the foot of the current St. Marv. 
 
 • 
 
 Montreal has lonjx heen the "-reat entre- 
 pot of the north-west traders, and also of 
 the mercantile relations of Canada with the 
 
 [Jnitei 
 II vcr) 
 west, 
 and be 
 south 
 impoi't 
 (luring 
 readih 
 
 ft- 
 
 flowers 
 
 tliose ( 
 
 Mon 
 
 from tl 
 
 regions 
 
 falls tc 
 
 curv 01 
 
 rises, i 
 
 tropica! 
 
 On 1 
 
 and res 
 
 where 
 
 from th 
 
 torn of 
 
 window 
 
 a monc 
 
 VOL. 
 
CLIMATE OF MONTREAL. 
 
 73 
 
 United States, and appears destined to hold 
 !i vcrv hi**!) station amid the cities of the 
 west. It is 120 miles south-west of Quehec, 
 and being in 45° 31' north latitude, is 1° 19' 
 south of that capital, — a difference of vast 
 iniportiince on this part of the continent 
 during' the season of vegetat'on, as may be 
 readily seen by observinf]^ the fruits and 
 flowers of the neighbourhood of Quebec and 
 those of Montreal at the same period. 
 
 Montreal suffers, however, almost as much 
 from the intense cold of the North American 
 regions as Quebec, where the thermometer 
 falls to nearly the solidifying point of mer- 
 cury on some days durino- the winter, and 
 rises, in a few of the summer hours, to a 
 tropical elevation. 
 
 On the whole, Montreal is a fine town, 
 and regularly laid out in the newer portion, 
 where there are some "ood liouscs ; but 
 from the darkness of the stone, and the cus- 
 tom of painting the iron-coveied doors and 
 window-shutters of a similar colour, there is 
 a monotony about the look of the wliole, 
 
 VOL. U E 
 
74 
 
 THE STUKKTS. 
 
 especially in the I *ij narrow streets, which 
 is not very invitini>-. 
 
 Th(» st.'ite of the shore, as it is called, or 
 that ])art of the city adjoininf^* the; river, is 
 in some pju'ts most disgraceful to those in 
 power ; and I have heen told that the streets 
 in i;eneral are hut hadly kept, })rohal)ly 
 owinn" to there havin<j' heen no actual muni- 
 cipal oovernment of the place until of late 
 years. 
 
 The principal mercantile street is St. 
 Paul-street, or that running' parallel with the 
 shore, from which short cuts, at right angles, 
 communicate with Notre Dame-street, where 
 the principal merchants reside. These long 
 corsos arc rendered still Ioniser hv the 
 suhurhs of Quehoc, and of Recollet and St. 
 Antoine, Avhilst in the middle of Rue Notre 
 Dame the suhurh of St. Lawrence runs in 
 the form of a Ion": street to the west. 
 
 I did not per 
 
 strik 
 
 *ceive any very 
 cimens of architecture in jMontreal 
 
 m<r s 
 
 any 
 
 pe- 
 
 more 
 
 than nt Quehec. The principal arc the 
 Hotel Dieu, an excellent charity for the 
 
THE I'UDLir lUJILDINGS. 
 
 
 re 
 
 in 
 
 )Uil(liiii'- ; 
 
 destitute sick, served by nuns, whicli 
 St. Paul-street ; the Court House, in 
 Dame-street is a plain and gooi' ' 
 the District Jail, and the (lovcrnmenl 
 House, arc ancient and forlorn-lookini^ edi- 
 fices of some size. The old monastery of 
 the Recollcts finishes the west of Rue Notre 
 Dame. The convent of the Srours Oris, 
 or general hospital for the aged and infirm, 
 and the convent of Notre Dame, a religious 
 house of education, are buildings more use- 
 ful than ornamental. 
 
 The Catholic cathedral is a larw but not 
 fme church, finished with singular bad taste 
 in the interior ; near it, is the Seminaire de 
 St. Sulpicc ; and in the RecoUet suburbs is 
 the Petit Seminaire, or new college, which 
 is an addition to the former establishment, 
 and exhibits some correctness of taste in the 
 l)lan on which it is laid out. 
 
 The old market-place and Post Office 
 are in the lower town, but a new market- 
 place has been built in the upper town. 
 The barracks and other public buildings 
 
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76 
 
 THE INHABITANTS 
 
 connected with the government have no- 
 ih'uvf verv strikinuf in their exterior. 
 
 The Place d'Armes, the largest open 
 space in the city, offers nothing particular, 
 excepting when filled by the citizens, to listen 
 to the enlivening strains of a military hand. 
 
 In the town, or rather in the suburbs, 
 the prettiest spot I observed was the neigh- 
 bourhood of the mouth of the Lachine 
 canal, where the sondireness of the old 
 town is altotrether lost sifjht of; and the 
 European traveller is gratified by seeing a 
 well-finished, and apparently well-planned, 
 canal send forth the riches of the upper 
 country. 
 
 In this citv, one is amused bv sceino- the 
 never changing lineaments, the long queue, 
 the bonnet-rouge, and the incessant garru- 
 lity, of Jean Baptistc, mingling with the 
 sober demeanour, the equally unchanging 
 feature, and the national plaid, of the High- 
 lander ; whilst the untutored sons of labour, 
 from the green isle of the ocean, are here 
 as thoughtless, as ragged, and as numerous, 
 
OF MONTREAL. 
 
 77 
 
 as at Quebec. Amongst all these, the 
 shrewd and calculating citizen from the 
 neighbouring republic drives his hard bar- 
 ijains with all his wonted zeal and industry, 
 amid the fumes of Jamaica and gin-sling. 
 
 These remarks apply, of course, to the 
 streets only. In the counting-houses, al- 
 though the races remain the same, the 
 advantages of situation and of education 
 make the same differences as in other coun- 
 tries. I cannot, however, help thinking 
 that the descendant of the Gaui has not 
 gained by being transplanted ; and the vastly 
 absurd notions which a few turbulent spirits 
 have of late years engendered, and endea- 
 voured to instil into the unsophisticated 
 and naturallv "ood mind of the Canadian 
 tiller of the soil, have tended to restrict the 
 exercise of that inborn urbanity and suavity, 
 which are the Frenchman's })roudest boast 
 after those of l\wiour et la nloire. 
 
 A traveller will expect some account of 
 the accommodation he is likelv to meet with 
 in this city. I went, on landing, to a large 
 
78 
 
 THE HOTELS. 
 
 hotel, built, as I understood, by the late 
 enterprising director of the Montreal bank, 
 Mr. Molson, who was also the projector of 
 the steam-boat navigation on the Sr. Law- 
 rence, and who, in spite of all the ditficulties 
 he had to encounter fr'^m the lukewarmness 
 of the provincial parliament, succeeded in 
 his grand design, and lived to see his 
 adopted country actually enriched by his 
 spirited undertaking, which, with other com- 
 mercial speculations, such as an extensivi> 
 brewery, also rendered him one of the most 
 opulent mercliants in Canada. At this 
 hotel we found every thinnf verv fair and 
 good ; but there is some difficulty in obtain- 
 ing private dinners for families, or for those 
 who do not choose to mino^le in the society 
 of the table-d'hote, or ordinary ; and the 
 a,ttendanco, as in most of the Canadian inns, 
 is bad. 
 
 Next to this buildinir, and erected bv the 
 same individual, is the Tvlontreal theatre; but 
 I believe neither the hotel nor the theatre 
 has answered its expectations, as the forme]- 
 
PARTY SPIRIT. 
 
 79 
 
 has frequently changed its host, and the 
 latter is not properly patronized. Indeed, it 
 is said that there is a great dearth of public 
 amusement in this fine city, owing probably 
 to the political jealousy which so unfortu- 
 nately exists at present, and which has ex- 
 tended its unhappy consequences so I'ar, 
 both at Quebec and Montreal, as to inter- 
 fere with every design of liberal um\ public- 
 spirited men, which could in any ;vay benefit 
 those places. 
 
 At Quebec, although a great proportion 
 of the first and of the middling classes are, 
 as at Montreal, extremely well-informed, yet 
 no societies have been warmlv aided in the 
 diffusion of knowledge by the higher orders ; 
 and it is with pain I have observed, in a 
 country abounding with materials, that a 
 society of natural historv struf{"lcs into 
 existence with the greatest difficulty in both 
 cities. Religious and political feuds should 
 alike be forgotten, where such result must 
 tend to the general good, and can interfere 
 with no particular modes of thinking on 
 
80 
 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 those subjects. The Historical Society of 
 Quebec will, I trust, however, yet flourish ; 
 and if once it could, by the exertions of 
 those at present composing its members, 
 annually publish its valuable transactions,* 
 it would rapidly gather head, as it would 
 then gain protectors on both sides of the 
 Atlantic, not omitting the support of those 
 names, dear to science, which have lately 
 beamed amid the rolls of the offspring of 
 Albion in the states of the north. 
 
 At Montreal, a similar institution has 
 been set on foot, but from the want of suc- 
 cess in every literary undertaking which has 
 hitherto been started in that city, I cannot 
 argue well for its ultimate success. 
 
 It is a singular fact, and worthy of atten- 
 tive consideration in the present state of 
 Lower Canada, that although the French 
 gentry have such good incentives fur the 
 pursuits of literature from the halo of glory 
 thrown around the literary French name in 
 
 * Three volumes have been published only since its com- 
 mencement twelve years ago. 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 81 
 
 the old world, yet they appear in Canada to 
 slumber contented with the pedantic appli- 
 cation of the classics and of theological dis- 
 (iuisition, as their sole merits to their peculiar 
 dogmas at the seminaires. No douht there 
 arc well-informed and able instructors 
 amongst the priests ; but, with the excep- 
 tion of the system generally pursued by the 
 Jesuits, it would be very difficult to per- 
 suade a sensible man of old France that the 
 ministers of their religion pursue, in general, 
 the readiest modes of imparting that sort of 
 instruction to their scholars which niav 
 eventually cause them to expand the closed 
 bud of genius, or to render their future in- 
 tercourse with the world pleasing and useful. 
 I do not pretend to arraign the mode of 
 teaching adopted in these institutions ; but, 
 from the specimens of young British colo- 
 nists emerging from them, I do not con- 
 ceive that high praise can be afforded, or 
 that the clamour against monastic instruc- 
 tion in France would not equally appiv to 
 that of Canada. 
 
 E 3 
 
82 
 
 EDICATION IN 
 
 With respect to the scliools tauf^ht In 
 British settlers, and the opportunities of 
 affording education to children of hoth sexes 
 in Canada from these sources, I am fearful 
 that similar inconveniences result from tliu 
 want of able teachers, added to thnt of in- 
 sufficient funds. In the Lancastrian and 
 other establishments for the farmers, and 
 for the lower classes of the population, the 
 spirit of the aije appears more clearly shown, 
 as these are rapidly swelling their lists, and 
 evincing their beneficial consequences. The 
 spirit of party fortunately does not reach 
 these preparatory schools ; and they will 
 flourish proportionably to the increase of 
 the population : but the jealousy of ancient 
 rivalrv extends itself to all classes of the 
 more wealthy orders, in a country composed 
 of such a mixed population. 
 
 Even in Upper Canada, where the French 
 party is unknown, and where almost all the 
 settlers derive their origin from a common 
 source, the prejudices of country and of reli- 
 gion mar every attempt to confer permanent 
 
UPrER CANADA. 
 
 83 
 
 l)cncfit on the country. This is exemplified 
 ill tlie stern opposition whieh lias been 
 evinced towards the establishment of a 
 university, and which 1 shall have further 
 occasion to notice hereafter, and by the 
 failure of well-laid schemes to institute a 
 literary and philosophical society in the ca- 
 pital. The ancient regime reigns as stub- 
 bornly there as its most devoted admirer 
 could wish, and prevents the introduction 
 of what is absurdly considered as foreign 
 talent. 
 
84. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 JOURNEY FROM TIIK LOWER TO THE UPPER 
 
 PROVIN( E. 
 
 Departure from Montreal — French Diligence — Nature of the 
 Scenery — La Chine — Bad Specimen of Steaming — The 
 Cascades — (Jovernment Canal — Dangerous Night Journey 
 — Salmon-spearing by Torch-light — Lake St. Francis — 
 lioundaries of the United States — A Tribe of Indians — 
 The Long-leap Rapids — A Passage down them in a Canoe 
 — dranf' 'ir of the Scenery — Canadian Boatmen — Floating 
 Population of the St. Lawrence — The Lumberers — Prescott 
 —Ogdensburg— Horrors committed during the late Troubles 
 — Battle with Brigands. 
 
 Inquiring as to the most rapid and thi' 
 l)cst modes of pursuing our journey to the 
 Great Lakes, we found that what is called 
 the land voyage is at present the quickest, 
 and therefore the best ; and having put our 
 
CANADIAN STACJE COACH. 
 
 85 
 
 heavy bagf^afrc in a proper tniiii for aseeiul- 
 iiiir tlie river in batteuux, we left Montreal 
 about midday, on tlic '^Otb of Septcndier, in 
 a heavy, strong- built country open coach, of 
 Frcrch make, and drawn by four sturdy 
 little Canadian liorses. This vehicle held 
 nine i)assengers, having a seat slung- in the 
 middle, so that the centre row sat with their 
 backs to those in the back s(»at ; and as 
 there were also great piles of baggage stowed 
 in tlu; boots bcbind and before, I was not 
 without apprehensions that a break down 
 must be the result. But having- a<rreeable 
 cnmpag'uons de voj/age, though, unfortu- 
 natelv, not one native of the count rv, we 
 went away merrily enough over this tine 
 island, passing almost constantly by a tole- 
 rable road tbrougb a vcrv fertile countrv, 
 with beautifully picturesque glances of the 
 noble river, at intervals, and surprised at the 
 appearance of continual successions of apple 
 orchards, loaded with rich and varied fruit. 
 Wo were not long in reaching La Chine, 
 a pretty village on the river, or rather. 
 
80 
 
 LA CHINi:. 
 
 on a great expanse of its bed, called Lake 
 St. Louis, and nine miles from the city, with 
 which th(^ canal (;alled hv the name of the 
 village comnmnicates. La Chine is, in fact, 
 the [)ort of Montreal for the pnxliice of the 
 upper country and the north-west trade, and 
 is likely to become of greater importjince 
 when the llideau Canal is fully completed, 
 as is already the line on the Great Ottawa. 
 At present the greatest commercial activity 
 is observable in the trading ifeason for the 
 North-western Company, whose batteaux 
 and canoes rendezvous here. 
 
 We were now to commcmce a series of 
 coaching, or rather waggoning, and steaming; 
 and accordingly, we embarked immediately 
 on board a small steam- vessel, where, in a 
 limited space close to the boiler, we had 
 a bad and a very dear dinner, with no 
 better beverage than warm water. Luckily, 
 this small boat has only tw^enty-seven miles 
 to run on Lake St. Louis. After passing 
 the mouth of the Chateaugay river, we came 
 to the Cascades, near Isle Perrault, which 
 
TIIK CASCADES. 
 
 87 
 
 niav 1)0 considered as forniiii"- the ilmnnels 
 of the main estuary of the Ottawa, a river 
 scarcely inferior to the St. Lawreniv, and 
 whose sources in the north-west are hardly 
 
 »t k 
 
 vet known. 
 
 At the Ca.scades a most lovely scene u 
 
 J) re- 
 
 sented : the river here, as is usual with it on 
 approaching its numerous lai^oons, narrowin^r 
 its vast channel, and tumbling in'(»ci])itatelv 
 over a chain of bars. At the Cascade^ the 
 Royal Staff C'or})s had formerly a detachment 
 constantly stationed, to guard and })reserve 
 the small canal which has been constructed 
 l)y government at this point, to facilitate the 
 })assage of the river. 
 
 We were now transferred into another 
 coach, or waggon-like equipage, and as night 
 soon fell, wc had rather a dangerous ride, 
 close to the high banks of the St. Lawrence,* 
 and mostly along their very edge, with but 
 few trees or guards to prevent an accident 
 
 * We saw on our route the great operations of the !St. 
 Lawrence canal in progress, which will render this route easy 
 and pleasant. 
 
88 
 
 SPEARING SALMON. 
 
 from precipitating the vcliiclo into the rapid 
 stream below. The niuht was somewhat 
 dark, and we saw the interestinfr spectacle, 
 at a distance, of the fishermen pursuing their 
 avocation by torchlight, spearing salmon and 
 other large fish, near the dangerous rapids 
 of the Cedars, where there is also a small 
 canal, and a little village, thirty-two miles? 
 from Montreal. 
 
 At Coteau-du-lac, a small village about 
 eleven or twelve miles from the Cascades, we 
 embarked in a better steam-boat than the 
 last, on board of which we were to pass the 
 night. We got under weigh about one in 
 the morning, and steamed away through 
 Lake St. Francis, another large basin of 
 t^e St. Lawrence. On the left bank the 
 ihore is studded every here and there with 
 those characteristic little stone churches and 
 comfortable farm-houses before noticed in 
 connexion with Quebec; and we now ap- 
 proached the islands claimed by the United 
 States ; and near Cornwall, amid their pic- 
 turesque channels, we first saw, on the St. 
 
CORNWALL. 
 
 89 
 
 Lawrence, the actual boundaries of tliat vast 
 republic. 
 
 We landed, early after breakfast, at Corn- 
 wall, and found that we were rapidly leaving 
 the signs of French population, aijd entering 
 on a country almost exclusively settled by 
 British colonists. Cornwall is about five 
 miles, on the opposite side of the river, from 
 the American line, which runs through a 
 village called St,. Regis, occupied chiefly by 
 a tribe of Indians, part of which acknow- 
 ledges the superiority of Great Britain, and 
 part owns allegiance to the Republic. 
 
 Cornwall is a recent town, but appears to 
 be rapidly increasing ; it has a church and 
 court-house, and is the chief place of the 
 eastern district, and one of the most populous 
 and best situated of the divisions of Upper 
 Canada, as it is bounded on two sides by the 
 s:reat Rivers Ottawa and St. Lawrence. 
 
 About nine o'clock we got into another 
 I'oach-wao'ffon, similar to the last, and tra- 
 veiled in it all day, for fifty miles, through a 
 line settled country, full of apple orchards 
 
90 
 
 THE LONG LEAP. 
 
 and flourishing farms. The road, not the 
 best in the world, offers some very nervous 
 spectacles to those who dislike experiments 
 in charioteering, as it runs along the edge 
 of the steep banks of the river, and gives 
 full views of the tremendous rapids of the 
 Longue Sault, the Cheval Ecarte, &c. The 
 Long Leap, or Fall, is said to be a rapid 
 of nine miles, through which the channel 
 is intricate ; and vet, notwithstandinof this, 
 and the many other dangers of the river, 
 but few accidents happen to the unwieldy 
 Durham boats and batteaux which navioate 
 them during the summer months.* 
 
 Hennesin, one of the first travellers in 
 this part of the world, describes his sensa- 
 tions on going through this scene, in a 
 lively manner ; and as I know his statemcnl 
 to be correct, by abundant testimony, I shall 
 quote it here. 
 
 " The stream in the Thousand Islands is 
 very rapid, but its swiftness is prodigiously 
 
 * A steam-boat traversed these formidable rapids^ which 
 the canal will overcome. 
 
FALLS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 
 
 91 
 
 increased by the great quantity of waters 
 that come from the other lake abovemen- 
 tioncd, and a great many rivers that run 
 into this, in the place called the Long Fall, 
 which makes it as dreadful as the great Fall 
 of Niagara. But besides this great quan- 
 tity of waters, and the decliyity of the clian- 
 nel, which make the current so rapid, there 
 are also on the banks, and on the middle of 
 the riyer of St. Lawrence, about eight or ten 
 leagues below the said lake, great rocks, 
 which appear above water, which stopping 
 the stream of the riyer, make as great a 
 noise as the great Fall of Niagara. This 
 dreadful encounter of water that beats so 
 furiously against these rocks, continues about 
 two leagues ; the waters spurt up ten or 
 twelve yards high, and appear like huge 
 snow-balls, hail, and rain, with dreadful 
 thunder, and a voice-like hissing and howl- 
 ing of fierce beasts ; and I do certainly be- 
 lieve, that if a man continued there a con- 
 siderable time, he would become deaf, without 
 any hope of cure. 
 
92 
 
 CANADIAN BOATMEN. 
 
 " My men refusing to carry by land the 
 canoe and the skins they had got, I was 
 forced to adventure with them, which I did 
 wiUingly, having formerly passed the streams 
 in a canoe : I trusted myself attain to the 
 same God who had delivered me from so 
 many great dangers. The stream is so rapid 
 that we could not tell the trees that were on 
 the bank, and yet there was hardly room for 
 our canoe to pass between the rocks. We 
 were carried away by these horrid currents 
 above two crreat leai^ues, in a very short 
 time ; and in two days we came from Fron- 
 tenal to Montreal, which are about three- 
 score leagues distant one from another !" 
 
 It is down, as well as up, these tremen- 
 dous places, that all the commercial entor- 
 prize of the two Canadas has had to toil! 
 And such is the dexterity of the Canadian 
 boatmen, who are chiefly of French origin, 
 that travellers commonly prefer going down 
 the Rapids in the batteaux, to the more 
 laborious and tiresome journeys by coach and 
 steam-boat. Coming up, is however, another 
 
CANADIAN BOATMEN. 
 
 93 
 
 affair, as the boats have to be poled or towed 
 in the most dangerous passes ; and so much 
 time is consumed, that unless the wind is 
 fair, a fortnight may elapse on the voyage 
 from Montreal to Kingston. 
 
 The scenery is represented as grand be- 
 yond the power of description, in the transit 
 by the Rapids, and such as amply to repay 
 the alarms which inexperienced travellers 
 must necessarily undergo. But when it is 
 knoun that ladies frequently choose this 
 route, par preference^ the dangers must be 
 more in appearance than in reality ; although 
 accidents do happen.* 
 
 Canadian boatmen are a race distinct from 
 all other colonists. They seem to partake 
 of the Indian more largely than the French 
 character, and are very expert at their call- 
 ing. Their cliaunt has often been set to 
 music, and is certainly heard to great advan- 
 
 • Mr. Hamilton, of Queenstown, in Upper Canada, built 
 a splendid steam-boat, called the Ontario, on purpose to pass 
 up and down these dreadful rapids to Montreal. Captain 
 Hillyar and a brave crew actually took her to lilontreal, but 
 the attempt is too hazardous to repeat. 
 
9'^ 
 
 CANADIAN BOATMEN. 
 
 tairc on the wide solitudes of the miffhtv St. 
 Lawrence. From a people who pass their 
 lives during summer on its waters, holding 
 little intercourse with the world, we should ex- 
 pect peculiar simplicity. Travellers, however, 
 tell strange tales of them ; and it is averred, 
 that the stratagems practised to obtain wines 
 or liquors entrusted to their care, are inge- 
 nious in the extreme. At all events, I know 
 that rope fastenings of baggage, and light 
 articles, are deemed lawful prize. Such too 
 is their heedlessness, that many valuable 
 articles belonging to me were spoilt by their 
 neixlect in baling the boats. 
 
 The commissariat department formerly 
 caused all the casks of rum to be ffauoed 
 and subjected to the hydrometer, after receiv- 
 ing it from the batteaux ; but private persons 
 fancying sometimes that they can procure 
 better articles from Montreal themselves, 
 than are to be bought in Kingston, are 
 occasionally subjected by these skilful prac- 
 titioners to great losses. I knew a person 
 who had a barrel of wine, which was enclosed 
 
CANADIAN BOATMEN. 
 
 f)5 
 
 in a wooden case, drained of all its contents, 
 excepting about a gallon ; and yet the inodus 
 operandi could not be discovered. The trick 
 of the jackdaw in the fable, who made water 
 rise in a partly fdled jug by dropping stones 
 into it, is also resorted to. In fact, the rou^-h 
 untutored son of nature that vve are apt to 
 imagine 'Monsieur le voijageur' to be, with 
 his long queue, red night-cap, and half-savage 
 countenance, proves that first appearances 
 often deceive, and that he does not pass a 
 winter on shore without gathering much 
 information, as to the conduct and capabi- 
 lities of that bad portion of his race with 
 whom he is thrown in contact in the cities 
 and towns. 
 
 The St. Lawrence, like many other great 
 rivers, supports a floating population, during 
 the season at which it is free from ice ; and 
 this population may be divided into the 
 crews of the steam-boats, those of the 
 schooners, and of the Durham boats, the 
 batteaux-men, and the lumberers. All these 
 river men are s.iid to drink desperately; 
 
96 
 
 THE LUMIJERKRS. 
 
 but in the stoam-vcsscls I did not perccivo 
 this to be the case, especially in those 
 manned by the Canadian French. The 
 lumberers are, however, a set of men more 
 to be pitied than censured. Employed in 
 the depth of an almost arctic winter, in fell- 
 ing the timber for their rafts ; and during 
 the summer, in constructing those rafts in 
 the vvatc^', and then in navigating them amid 
 all the dann^ers and difficulties of the river ; 
 they scarcely ever mingle with their fellow, 
 men, in any way by which they can benefit 
 in moral worth. To them drink is a re^ 
 source and a necessary of life ; and knowing 
 the hardships and uncertainty of their con- 
 dition, they fly to it without check or reason, 
 and soon become the victims of its insatiable 
 power. A haftsman rarely lives beyond tho 
 meridian term of human life. 
 
 In our journey we passed Chrysler's farm, 
 where the field of battle which bears its 
 name was pointed out to us. 
 
 Very good taverns are found along this 
 road, which is one continuous line of farms. 
 
I'HESCOTT. 
 
 1)7 
 
 and thus offers a very defensible frontier to 
 the opposite shore of the United States, 
 which continues almost constantly in view, 
 and fre(|uently within shot. 
 
 Passin*,^ Johnstown, a small villas ^ in the 
 vicinity, we came to Fort Wellington, tlien 
 a moulderinn" earth-work, near Prescott, 
 where we arrived at about eight o'clock. 
 Prescott is a large village, rapidly approach- 
 ing to a town, and is seated on the sloping 
 side of a hill, which rises above the banks 
 of the St. Lawrence. It has one long prin- 
 cipal street, parallel with the river, and 
 several others branching off from it at right 
 angles, towards the top of the hill, which is 
 crowned by three places of worship, situated 
 in a line, two of them bein"' built of wood, 
 and the third of stone. Most of the houses 
 are of painted wood- work ; but I observed 
 that the fine limestone, quarried in the 
 neighbourhood, was getting into use on my 
 second visit to this place. Fort Wellington, 
 with a small interval, terminates Prescott to 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
OH 
 
 OGDENSBUIIGII. 
 
 tho cast, and its western extremity consists, 
 as usual on this road, of scattered farms and 
 dvvellin<,rs, vvhi(;h arc beautifully seated along 
 the bank of the river. There is a <^ood inn 
 or two in this place ; and its extending 
 wharfs and warehouses show that it is 
 thriving. Fort Wellington is a strong, 
 square, masonry tower, built during the 
 lato troubles, with a square earth-work 
 round it. 
 
 Opposite to Prescott, the traveller sees 
 the first American town on his route, as 
 well as the last, until he arrives at Nia<rara. 
 
 Ogdensburg is within gunshot of Prescott, 
 and, like it, is built on a hill-side, at the 
 foot of which runs a very picturescjuc river, 
 the Oswegatchie, with a cascade and ex- 
 tensive mills. This town is larger than 
 Prescott, and is the capital of St. Lawrence 
 County, in the State of New York. Its 
 harbour is secure, and tolerably spacious, 
 and it has had a considerable trade with 
 Canada. The county buildings, a pretty 
 
TEAM-130AT. 
 
 U9 
 
 l)ut ratlior whimsical-lookinnr church, and 
 the case and comfort displayed in most of 
 the private edifices, render tliis little town a 
 very agreeable place ; the more so, as that 
 war of extermination a<rainst trees has not 
 been carried so much into effect here as in 
 most towns of the American continent. The 
 scene on the steep bank of the Oswcfratchie, 
 looking from amidst the few trees left there 
 down on the cascade, mills, and forest, is 
 very beautiful. 
 
 A team-boat, worked by horses, plies con- 
 stantly during summer from Oi?densburo- to 
 Prescott, and ferry-boats may be had at any 
 hour during the day. The court-house is 
 marked with a memento of the late war, in 
 the shape of a hole made by a cannon-ball, 
 which passed through the building whilst 
 the judges were sitting. Ogdensburg was 
 taken by surprise during that war. We 
 heard frequent complaints made, during our 
 journey, of the savage hostility practised on 
 
 F 2 
 
100 OUTRAGES DURING TIIK WAR. 
 
 unoffondincr travcllors along the Canadian 
 road, from riflemen on tli(^ opposite sliore; 
 wliieh conduct, as well as the annoyance 
 (experienced from a small and inade(piat(' 
 force kept in «rarrison here, and frecpiciit 
 firincps of cannon-shot across the ice, led to 
 its capture. 
 
 It is to he hoped, that, should the ravjures 
 of an unnatural contest arrain hurst forth at 
 any future period, the dreadful acts per- 
 l)etrated during the last will not he resorted 
 to. Burning unprotected villages in the 
 depth of a Canadian winter, firing across 
 the lines on women and children, or on 
 casual passengers, and even firing into 
 dwellings whence no annoyance had been 
 offered, are acts unworthy of the soldiers 
 and citizens of any country desirous of heing 
 enrolled amongst the eminent states of the 
 civilized world. 
 
 The mill about a mile from Prescott is 
 ftmious for the battle with the brio-ands, in 
 
IM.MENJiE STEAM-HOAT. 
 
 101 
 
 18:38, whore rlic Upper Caiuidi.an militia, 
 the British saibrs, and the 83rd rco-imcnt, 
 were so distinguished. 
 
 We now once more cmharked in a steam- 
 boat on the waters of the; St. Lawrence. 
 This vessel was one of the finest we had 
 yet observed on our route. It was called 
 die " Great P»ritain," was worked bv verv 
 fine engines, and resembled a floating village 
 in its extent, and was so remarkably easy 
 in its motion, that our night transit was 
 scarcely perceptible. We left Prcscott before 
 midnight ; but having the wind ahead, and 
 a strong current to oppose, we made but 
 little way ; and when morning broke, had, 
 therefore, full leisure to gaze upon the ma- 
 jestic flood and its beautiful shores. 
 
102 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. 
 
 Probable Origin of the Thousand Islands— Extraordinary 
 Character of the Scenery—Sporting among the Islands- 
 An Accident— Exploits of the celebrated Bill Johnson- 
 The Mills of Gananoqui— Iron Ore— Marble Quarry- 
 Approach to Kingston— Long Island— Fortification— The 
 Garrison Hospital— Aspect of Kingston from the River- 
 Tom xMoore at Kingston-The Lover's Tree— Noble View 
 from the Fortress. 
 
 Nothing can possibly exceed in singu- 
 larity the scene which presents itself to the 
 traveller, on entering that vast expanse of 
 the noble St. Lawrence, known, on account 
 of its innumerable channels amono-st the 
 granite rocks, as the Thousand Islands. 
 Here Nature appears to have used her 
 utmost fancy in preparing a grand pro- 
 
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. 
 
 103 
 
 scenium to feast the wanderer*s eye, ere it 
 reaches the vast open seas of fresh water, 
 which he is about to launch out upon. Of 
 immense width, the St. Lawrence winds in 
 arms of every dimension, through a rocky 
 country, which is singularly contrasted with 
 the comparatively flat and tame scene we 
 had just left behind. 
 
 Here, in fact, in ages long gone by, the 
 mighty stream, probably pent up in the vast 
 inland basin of North America, urged its 
 vexed waters against that portion of the 
 primitive barrier which visibly extends from 
 the granite mountains of the east, over to 
 the dividing ridge between the wild regicis 
 of Hudson's Bay, and the tributary waters 
 of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence. Here, 
 by some tremendous effort, which has evi- 
 dently shaken the whole country, from 
 Kingston, at the eastern extremity of Lake 
 Ontario, to the other side of the region 
 through which the granite ridge pursues its 
 north-westerly course, the river has once 
 
104 
 
 THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. 
 
 rushed over a sheet of cascades and rapids 
 inaiiy miles in breadth, which now have dis- 
 appeared, and, amid the torn and denuded 
 masses of electric granite,* the mi<ihty Iro- 
 quois,! silently, but swiftly wends its undis- 
 turbed way to the rapids many leagues 
 below. 
 
 Most of the Thousand Islands are covered 
 with dense masses of forest trees ; and some 
 of these woody isles, low and flat, give the 
 idea of the tranquil scenes of an Italian 
 lagoon, as seen in the heated, but pure at- 
 mosphere and sky of a Canadian autumn ; 
 others are split and rent into a variety of 
 fantastic forms, and present views of sin- 
 gular wildness : again, at another turn of 
 the labyrinthine channel, we pass under a 
 frowning wall of precipitous rock, covered 
 with the moss and lichens of ages, and on 
 whose bare tops, where never yet has man 
 
 * The Thousand Islands are composed of granite, pro- 
 fusely filled with tourmaline. 
 ■f Indian name of the St. La^vrence here. 
 
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. 
 
 105 
 
 set his foot, the hoary pine or fir lifts its 
 proud dark head, supported only by the 
 liniicr-like fibres of which its few, but firmlv- 
 clasping' bare roots are formed. Then, again, 
 another fairy picture presents itself, 1.1 
 groves growing, as it were, out of the water, 
 and apparently stopping all further pro- 
 gress ; whilst, in a single second, the ver- 
 dant curtain is drawn, and the eye wanders 
 over a vast tract of rippling water, broken, 
 here and there only bv a few small rocks 
 projecting above its surface, and bounded by 
 the ancient and interminable forests of the 
 main land. 
 
 But it would be vain to attempt descrip- 
 tions of scenery having no parallel as a 
 whole, and through which even a steam-boat 
 requires a day to traverse ; and which, to be 
 truly felt in all its varied grandeur, should 
 be observed at leisure. 
 
 Herds of deer inhabit these rcoions in 
 summer, and parties sometimes go from 
 Kingston to shoot them. A bivouac, in the 
 
 f3 
 
106 
 
 BILL JOHNSON. 
 
 Thousand Islands, where the frcsh-wator 
 breeze somewhat allays the intense heat, is 
 one of the many delightful modes of passing 
 the fleeting hours, which a residence in that 
 part of Canada affords. 
 
 We met with an accident on the morninir 
 of the '^Snd, by which the bilge- water pump 
 of the engine was put out of order, and were 
 therefore obliged to moor alonsj^side of a 
 rocky inlet, amidst one of the most lonely ot 
 the passes of the river.* 
 
 * It was amongst the lonely Thousand Islands that the 
 would-be buccanier, Bill Johnson, played his game for noto- 
 riety, which commenced and ended with the felon's crime of 
 burning, not a house, but a steam-boat, and gallantly turn- 
 ing a few defenceless women out of it, to perish amidst the 
 icy winds and snows of a northern winter. They were saved. 
 however, by chance, and this disgusting brute (for he de- 
 serves no better name) has since been consigned to oblivioii, 
 or, rather, to infamy. He was coward as well as pirate, and 
 his whole course, magnified by a lying press on the frontier, 
 would disgrace the veriest jail-bird that ever flung his shoes 
 in the air when turned off at Newgate ; and yet this man 
 was an officer in the Revenue Department of the United 
 States, and idolized on the frontier, because he skulked about 
 in two whale-boats, and robbed some farmers on the Isle of 
 Tanti. 
 
FLOUR MILLS. 
 
 107 
 
 The Thousand Islands continue until we 
 approach the eastern end of Lake Ontario, 
 when the river becomes at once wider and 
 less tranquil, and is broken into not more 
 than two or three grand channels. 
 
 A few miles from Kingston, is Gananoqui, 
 a small village at the mouth of a river of the 
 same name, where some of the steam- vessels 
 take in fuel, and where there is now esta- 
 blished a set of mills, principally for flour, 
 which are, perhaps, the most valuable in 
 Canada, as wtII as the best conducted. 1 
 was indeed surprised, on a subsequent visit 
 to this interesting spot, to see such an esta- 
 bhshment reared, as it were, in the bosom of 
 the forest, and possessing machinery of the 
 most expensive and complicated description, 
 for all the various operations of reducing 
 grain to its different conditions of use and 
 food. This establishment is set in motion 
 by the falling waters of the Gananoqui, and 
 is the property of the Messrs. M*Donell, 
 who are extremely obliging to strangers, and 
 
108 
 
 IKON OUE. 
 
 allow a free inspection of the various build- 
 ings and machinery. The Gananoqui flour 
 is deservedly celebrated in the Canadian 
 markets, and is, in the finer qualities, quite 
 as good as any manufactured either in the 
 United States, or in Great Britain. 
 
 On the banks of the lake and river of 
 Gananoqui, a few miles from the mills, iron 
 ore exists in large quantities ; and some 
 works were established, but, for want of suf- 
 ficient capital, they failed. A very pure 
 white coarse marble, and some beautiful ser- 
 pentine and steatitt arc also found in abun- 
 dance ; so that whenever the country is 
 opened, this village will become a place of 
 considerable importance. It is about seven- 
 teen or eighteen miles from Kingston by the 
 land road. 
 
 The approach to Kingston is very inte- 
 resting ; the channel by which you advance 
 becomes gradually broader and broader, and 
 is formed bv an extensive island, called 
 Wolfe, or Long Island, on the borders of 
 
POINT HENRY. 
 
 loy 
 
 which arc several islets, and by the main- 
 land of the townships of Pittsburgh and 
 Kingston. 
 
 Long Island rises gradually from its beach 
 to a central ridge of no great height, but 
 covered with a dense and magnificent forest 
 of hard wood and firs, scantily interspersed 
 with clearincfs and farms. 
 
 On nearing the harbour, the first object is 
 the strong modern fortification which crowns 
 the promontory of Point Henry, about 100 
 feet above the level of the lake, and com- 
 manding an exceedingly narrow entrance 
 between Cedar Island and Hamilton Cove. 
 Here the eye is struck by a very pleasing 
 scene. On a verdant slope facing the pic- 
 turesque rocks of Cedar Island, and com- 
 manding a beautiful view of the opening of 
 the lake, stands the garrison hospital, an 
 extrcmelv neat buildino- of dark blue stone, 
 with a shining tin roof, and ample verandah 
 in front, under which, in the hottest summer 
 days, the patients can w^alk and enjoy the 
 
110 
 
 NOBLE VIEW. 
 
 air. Such evident attention as is manifested 
 by the British Government on all occasions, 
 and in every corner of the globe, towards 
 the well-being and comfort of those who pro- 
 tect and uphold the honour of their country, 
 cannot fiiil to strike a foreigner with the 
 liveliest impressions. 
 
 Passing the hospital and the guns of Fort 
 Henry, a noble prospect suddenly expands. 
 The oj)ening of the lake is seen in the dis- 
 tancc ; the town of Kingston begins to show 
 itself ; and the vessel glides past Navy Bav 
 and Point Frederick, between which the eve 
 rested, in days of yore, on several enormous 
 hulls of first-rate men-of-war and frigates, 
 with the customary appendages of a large 
 royal dock-yard and ordnance wharf.* 
 
 Every thing now bears a military aspect. 
 The huge ships, the pow^ler magazinc^^, the 
 forts and batteries, the sentries passing their 
 rounds, a fine range of store-houses, built of 
 
 * Most of these noble vessels have since been sold or 
 burnt. 
 
LAKE ONTARIO. 
 
 Ill 
 
 a beautiful white stone, and a long row of 
 neat barracks for the persons in the employ 
 of the navy, arc objects concentrated on a 
 spot admirably chosen for the defence of the 
 harbour, and serviim- as a kev to the great 
 inland seas of the interior. 
 
 A dangerous shoal runs off from Point 
 Frederick, and thus obliges the steam-ves- 
 sels to make a large curve ere they can gain 
 the harbour ; a circumstance affording addi- 
 tional beauty to the prospect of the approach, 
 as it gives ample time to observe in detail 
 every feature ; and I think most travellers 
 will coincide with me in savin^f, that a more 
 agreeable and unexpected series of changes 
 in the panoramic view they thus obtain is 
 seldom presented. 
 
 The expanse of Ontario, " the Beautiful 
 Lake" as its name implies ; the broad cur- 
 rent of nearly four miles between Long 
 Island and the town ; the forts and ships ; 
 the fine estuary of the Great Cataraqui 
 
112 
 
 MOORE, THE TOET. 
 
 Rivor, across which, and six hundred yards 
 in length, a wooden hridge is built in fifteen 
 feet water; tlie houses of the town risin«r 
 above each other on a oentle acclivity, and 
 spreading for a mile and a-half along the 
 verge of the lake; the wharfs and ship- 
 ping ; the distant forest, and the prettily 
 situated village of Banicfield on the opposite 
 shore of the Cataraqui ;— all these objects 
 combine to form a very varied and grand 
 picture, and to impress the stranger with 
 high notions of the beauty of the country, 
 and the industry of those who have made it 
 the land of their adoption. 
 
 Kingston is, in short, classic ground ; for 
 as it was one of the very first settlements of 
 the French on the great fresh-water seas of 
 the new world, so Moore has lent his share 
 to immortalize it, by writing the beautiful 
 lines on the " Woodpecker," and " Fly not 
 yet," under the shade of a venerable thorn- 
 tree, on the margin of the lake at the western 
 
SPLENDID I'ANOllAMA. 
 
 113 
 
 '11(1 of the town, which is thence called the 
 
 ' Lovers' Tree." 
 
 The view from the new fortress, the cita- 
 del of Kingston, is perhaps as fine a one as 
 any in tlie world. The expanse of Ontario, 
 the commencement of the lahyrinthine Thou- 
 sand Islands of the great Iroquois, or Cata- 
 raqui, the masses of forest, the neat and 
 well-arranged town, the long and singular 
 bridge, the solemn scenery of the entrance 
 of the Rideau canal, the huge hulks rottinu" 
 HI the dock-yard, and the constant pas- 
 sage of first-rate steam-ships, form a coup- 
 (P(Ci'l which requires to he viewed, as it can- 
 not, excepting in the panoramic style, be 
 painted. 
 
 ■ When I first saw this portal o( the lakes, 
 I (Ircam'd not then that, ere the rolling year 
 Had fiU'd its circle, I should wander here 
 In musing awe, should tread this wondrous world, 
 See all its stores of inland waters hurl'd 
 In one vast volume down Niagara's steep, 
 Or calm behold them, in transparent sleep, 
 ^Vhere the blue hills of old Toronto shed 
 Their evening shadows o'er Ontario's bed ! 
 
IH. 
 
 ONTARIO. 
 
 Should tracp tlic grand Cat,ira(|ui, and glide 
 Down the white rapids of his lordly tide ; 
 Through mossy woods, through islets flowery fair, 
 Through shades of bloom, where the first simple pair. 
 For consolati(»n, might have weeping trod. 
 When banished irom the garden of their (ion ! 
 Oh ! Lady, there are miracles which man, 
 Caged in the bounds of Kurope's pigmy plan, 
 Can scarcely dream of, which his eye must see, 
 To know how beautiful this world can be." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 KINGSTON. 
 
 Origin of Kingston — Magnificent View from the Upper 
 Town— Stockade and IJlock-houses — American hatred of 
 Trees — Government Works — Commercial Prospects of 
 Kingston — Principal Streets — Curious Wooden Bridge — 
 Commanding Commercial position of Kingston — Mistake 
 of Emigrants — The new Fortifications — The Key of the 
 St. Lawrence — The Penitentiary — The Silent System — 
 Crime in Canada — Temperance Societies — Their Origin 
 and Results — Popular Mistakes on this point. 
 
 Kingston is an ancient settlement. It 
 was first called Cataraqui, and was esta- 
 blished by French missionaries, as a post 
 
116 
 
 ORIGIN OF KINGSTON. 
 
 amongst the Iroquois. Father Ilcncssin 
 gives a short account of its foundation, and 
 informs us that it was soon discovered to be 
 so advantageous a situation for the command 
 of the interior, that a large fort, with four 
 bastions, was erected by order of Count 
 Frontcnac, then governor-general of Canada, 
 as a bulwark against the excursions of the 
 Iroquois, and to interrupt the fur trade 
 carried on between those powerful Indians 
 and the inhabitants of New York and the 
 Hollanders, who had just settled a new 
 colony ; and so important did Fort Fronte- 
 nae appear in the eyes of the French, that it 
 was speedily strengthened and enlarged to 
 the circumference of three hundred and sixty 
 toises,* and adorned with freestone, which 
 they found naturally polished by the action of 
 the water upon the brink of Lake Ontario, 
 or Frontenae.t 
 
 * 1080 feet. 
 
 t A coarse limestone, of a dead white colour, and very 
 much resembling freestone, is now found at Fort Henry, and 
 
ORIGIN OF KINGSTON. 
 
 117 
 
 La Galle, whose unfortunate adventures 
 in discovering the Mississipi are well known, 
 was the commander under whose directions 
 this fort was finished, and it took two years 
 to complete. Henessin's account of its site 
 is not the most intelligible ; but there still 
 remained, in 1830, enough of the old work 
 extant, to show its former strength, in the 
 shape of a tower and a triangular building, 
 which surmounted one of the bastions. 
 
 The French had also a small naval esta- 
 blishm »nt at Frontcnae ; and a few years ago 
 one of their schooners was raised from the 
 bottom of the lake, and shown as a curiosity. 
 
 Frontcnae, of course, fell into the hands 
 of the British, and soon became a place of 
 the greatest importance in Upper Canada ; 
 and the name was again change ^1 to Kings- 
 
 of it the naval store-house is built ; but it does not resist the 
 weather, and takes no polish. It is, I think, a transition 
 rock, and exists in a large mass, surrounded by blue earthy, 
 secondary limestone, with few shells. 
 
118 
 
 KINGSTON. 
 
 ton. From 1784 to the present time, such 
 has been its extension, that it now presents 
 a front of more than a mile in length, alonif 
 the low shore of Lake Ontario, and the 
 somewhat more rapid bank of the Great 
 Cataroqui River ; whilst its extent towards 
 the country is nearly half that distance, and 
 is every year gaining on the fields and 
 woods. 
 
 Kingston, which might just as well have 
 retained its Indian appellation, is laid out 
 with some regularity, the principal streets 
 being sixty-six feet in width, and running 
 towards the cardinal points, and conse- 
 quently at right angles to each other. The 
 lower part of the town, near the lake and 
 river, is very level and convenient ; but the 
 ascent towards the newer part is rather 
 sudden, along the edge of the limestone 
 rocks, which then begin to show themselves, 
 and are but scantily covered with soil. The 
 superior portion of the town is beautifully 
 
 laid o 
 
 snigui 
 
KINGSTON. 
 
 119 
 
 me, sucli 
 presents 
 h, alontf 
 
 c 
 
 and the 
 e Great 
 towards 
 'ice, and 
 Ids and 
 
 ell have 
 aid out 
 . streets 
 runniniT 
 
 conse- 
 '. The 
 ,ke and 
 but the 
 
 rather 
 Qestono 
 iselves, 
 I. The 
 utifullv 
 
 laid out on a vast plateau of rock, which is 
 singuhirly even and level, and extends a 
 long way towards the woods. 
 
 From this fine table a magnificent view 
 ')f the Great Lake, the river, the forts, the 
 islands, and the forests is obtained ; and on 
 this spot, in all probability, the town resi- 
 dences of the Kingstonian gentry will here- 
 after be seated. Two or three good houses 
 are already erected here, and the neat stone 
 Scotch church is a great ornament. 
 
 On the summit of the ridge by which 
 this plateau is gained, are the remains of 
 a stockade, which, during the last war, 
 covered the town, and ran from lake to 
 river. Three block-houses for cannon still 
 remain, as they were partly built of stone, 
 and they add greatly to the view, but will 
 probably disappear as the place increases, as 
 they are all except one on private property. 
 On this ridge a few ancient trees still wave 
 their venerable heads ; and here, unless pri- 
 vate interest interferes, a public square and 
 
120 
 
 PROSPECTS or KINGSTON. 
 
 promenade should be made ; but trees in 
 America are regarded with a sort of horror, 
 and the building spirits of a new town arc 
 not likely to spare them.* 
 
 The principal interest the place at pre- 
 sent has, is that to be derived from thv 
 important works under execution by tlif 
 government, and from the circumstance of 
 its being declared a free port. Indeed, we 
 may venture to predict, notwithstanding sonn' 
 artificial disadvantages, that the natural im- 
 portance of Kingston, as the key of the St. 
 Lawrence and the lakes, its tine harbour, 
 and its being at the mouth of the Rideau 
 Canal, will, in half a century, cause it to 
 become one of the great cities of the fresh- 
 water seas ; and, owing to its freedom from 
 the discoura"'in<T and inconvenient mixturo 
 
 o o 
 
 of the feudal barbarism of French law with 
 the free and enlightened jurisprudence of 
 
 * On this beautiful site, in the parish of Sehna, the vene- 
 rable Catholic Bishop of llegiopolis, M'Donell, is about to 
 establish a college. 
 
SINGULAR BRIDGE. 
 
 121 
 
 Britain, it will attract eventually, in hrvro 
 numbers, men of talent and character, in 
 every department of public and private life. 
 The principal streets now, are Store- 
 street, leading from the Lake to the back 
 country, and Toronto-road, Church-street, 
 Brock-street, and Mont-street, runninf*- 
 nearly north and south, and parallel with 
 the Lake shore, the latter having, at its 
 northern end, the new Cataraqui Bridge, 
 and the military enclosure, called the Tcte- 
 dc-Pont, which is a system of defensible 
 stone barracks and storehouses, surrounded 
 by a loop-holed wall ; and, near its southern 
 extremity, is a fine marine railwav, on which 
 the largest vessels are taken upon an in- 
 clined plane for repair. 
 
 The new Cataraqui bridge is a verv in- 
 genious wooden structure, built by two 
 American carpenters, and extending, on 
 loose stone piers of eighty feet span, across 
 the wide estuary of the river, in a troubled 
 and deep water. It forms a pleasing addi- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
122 
 
 SINGULAR BRIDGE. 
 
 tion to the scenery, and a very useful orna- 
 ment to the town ; hut as its materials arc 
 perishable, and its piers are not of solid 
 masonry, it is much to he regretted, that, 
 instead of heing the work of a private conj- 
 pany, who arc repaid by a heavy and onerous 
 toll, it was not undertaken by the govern- 
 ment, particularly as the troops are chiefly 
 interested in its stabilitv. Even now, while 
 with most others who view this interesting 
 structure, I give every possible praise to its 
 projectors, I think that the bridge ought to 
 be a military one, and that the British go- 
 vernment could not confer a greater boon 
 on Kingston than by making its passage 
 free, or charging only so low a toll as would 
 pay for the repairs. 
 
 Front-street is now becoming very valu- 
 able property, as may be observed by the 
 number of wharfs which are building on 
 its water-lots, alongside of which, steam- 
 boats, rivalling those of the Thames, the 
 Forth, the Clyde, and the Hudson, can dis- 
 
SITUATION OF KINGSTON. 
 
 123 
 
 charge their cargos. So large and splendid, 
 indeed, are those vessels, that it is not un- 
 common to see from a thousand to twelve 
 hundred emigrants on their decks*, whilst 
 their cabins arc filled with passengers. 
 
 When the St. Lawrence Canal is com- 
 pleted, the Welland Canal made fully avail- 
 able for steamers, the railroads finished to 
 connect Huron and Ontario and Erie, and 
 the Rideau in full operation, Kingston will 
 no doubt become a great city, as the trade 
 of all the surrounding countries, from the 
 Atlantic to Superior, from Hudson's Bay 
 to the farthest southern extremity of the 
 States, will centre in its magnificent road- 
 stead. 
 
 Kingston has suffered much of late years 
 by fires, by the Rideau not being in full 
 work, and by the faultiness of construction 
 in the Welland Canal, which, instead of 
 being a boat, should have been a ship 
 transit, and which has been aptly designated 
 
 • The Great Britain has had this number at once on deck. 
 
 G 2 
 
124^ 
 
 RIDEAU CANAL, 
 
 as a failure in the middle, and a job at both 
 ends. 
 
 A good brokcn-stonc road is now in pro- 
 grcss, to connect this town with the interior; 
 and as the limestone-rock bassets out in all 
 the streets, Kingston is generally dry, and 
 passable for travellers, immediately after the 
 heaviest storais. 
 
 The fine settlements in the western dis- 
 tricts of Upper Canada have attracted the 
 emigrants hitherto, much to the detriment 
 of Kingston, as the back country remains 
 there almost unexplored, and would pro- 
 bably not have been entered at all, as yet, 
 but for the Rideau Canal ; although, after 
 passing the rocky belt which shoots from 
 the Thousand Islands, it consists of excel- 
 lent land, interspersed with innumerable 
 lakes. 
 
 The traveller should not pass Kingston 
 without a visit to the new fortification, which 
 is constructed upoii modern principles, and 
 has been excavated from a solid granite and 
 
THE FORTIFICATION. 
 
 12.0 
 
 limestone mass of the most singular nature. 
 The work, which is part of a system, is huilt 
 of the transition limestone, in the most 
 (lurahle manner, with a broad deep ditch 
 cut out of the rock, and vaulted or case- 
 mated throughout, having a double tier of 
 casemated barracks, storehouses, &c. The 
 appearance on entering the main gate is 
 very striking, from the extent, solidity, 
 and strength of the work. On the outside, 
 excepting to a military eye, it does not afford 
 any appearance of interest, as it is hidden by 
 the steep glacis, until the edge of its ditch is 
 approached. 
 
 This position is the key of the central St. 
 Lawrence, as Quebec is of its seaward extre- 
 mity ; for here the noble river first expands 
 into those majestic seas, Ontario, Erie, 
 Huron, and Superior. 
 
 Another object of a traveller's visit should 
 be the general public hospital, at the western 
 end of the town, a handsome stone building, 
 and the new penitentiary at Hatter's Bay, 
 
126 
 
 THE SILENT SYSTEM. 
 
 about two miles westward, now partly finished 
 in stone, and laid out according to the models 
 of those in the United States. 
 
 In its present unfinished state, it is useless 
 to describe this latter institution, save to sav, 
 that the system adopted is the silent one, by 
 coercion and solitary confinement, and that 
 it seems to work well ; but such is the per- 
 versity of human nature, that a few days 
 before I visited the jail, a man who had 
 long been confined in it, and was discharged, 
 returned at night over the wooden wall, and 
 stole the money out of the clerk's pay-box, 
 and other articles, and was taken in the 
 fact. The class of persons who suffer here 
 are chiefly vagabonds from the neighbouring 
 populous states, or from the old countries ; 
 and most of the convicts come from the 
 upper borders of the lake. 
 
 Crime, in the country places in Upper 
 Canada, is yet happily rare ; and when it 
 docs occur there, it chiefly arises from that 
 shockingindulgence in spirituous drink which 
 
INTEMPERANCE IN CANADA. 
 
 U7 
 
 characterizes the depraved in all countries, 
 and is unfortunately but too common in 
 these new regions of the Transatlantic. 
 p]niploymcnt is the grand victor of bad 
 habit ; and if a man's mind, or his body, is 
 constantly at rest, where society and example 
 are rare in new settlements, ennui and drink 
 follow. The common labourers who are 
 oinployed by government on the fortifica- 
 tions, or public works, are not those who 
 got into the penitentiary. They have no 
 time to steal ; and if they drink, which many 
 of them do, it is at night, after their daily 
 labour, which labour must be renewed the 
 next morning; and thus, although they 
 injure the vital powers, opportunity is want- 
 ing to injure themselves more deeply by the 
 commission of crime.* 
 
 Temperance societies, in a discussion like 
 the present, naturally present themselves ; 
 and the question also, of the quantum of 
 
 * In 1839 there were only six females in the penitentiary, 
 whilst there were one hundred and fifty males. 
 
128 
 
 TEMPEUANCi: SOCIETIES. 
 
 «iood they do, and have done. It is unfortu- 
 nately the case, that in a state of society so 
 new as that of Upper Canada, there are 
 never \vantin«r motives to incite obscure indi- 
 viduals to the attainment of a pseudo cele- 
 brity, without the previous acquirements of 
 education, observation, and research. Hence, 
 perhaps, as much evil arises from the med- 
 dling of these persons with temperance 
 societies, as the good they achieve. Farragos 
 of voluminous temperance tracts issue in 
 clouds from the presses, under the aus- 
 pices, frequently, of the most inadequate 
 people, and of people too, whose previous 
 career has convinced the thinking that the 
 desire to become known is the prime mover. 
 The temperance doctors are as innumerable 
 as the rehgious schisms in this new country ; 
 and the result is the same in both ; fewer 
 are really convinced ; for where everybody 
 is right nobody can be wrong. Thus you 
 will find, that political quacks, whose whole 
 dependance and livelihood depend on keep- 
 
TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 
 
 V2{) 
 
 ing up a scurrilous, agitating, unprincipled 
 nevvspai)cr, are generally the firmest and most 
 untiring temperance advocates, although 
 the whole tenor of their lives shows, clear as 
 noon day, that their very soul is drunken. 
 
 All this does verv well for a time ; the 
 partially educated read these pestiferous 
 productions to the wholly uneducated, and 
 make as great merit of politically convert- 
 ing from the habitual dram, as i iicy do from 
 the Catholic, the Scotch, the P^ncriish, or 
 the Methodist Church ; and upon the same 
 reasoning too, because their situation and 
 Umited education, assure them thcv can rise 
 no higher; and they are willing therefore to 
 have a drink and a religion of their own, 
 where neither science nor reason shall swav, 
 any more than birth, the customs of uood 
 society, nor education. 
 
 By-and-bye, comes the re-action; — tlie 
 drunkard who never read before, reads now 
 a little, and he finds he is just as good a 
 reasoner as his teacher, and quite equal to 
 
130 
 
 TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 
 
 him as a man ; and why should he, forsooth, 
 be controlled ? Wine was made for man, hut 
 not for man to make a political use of ; and 
 so " le chien retoiirne a sonpropre vomis^e- 
 ment." And thus it is with all similarly 
 conducted innovations ; as much harm is 
 done as good. Separate temperance socie- 
 ties from politics and religious discussion, 
 and they will do more good than they have 
 hitherto done ; strip them of the absurdities of 
 total abstinence and privation, and shew the 
 half- educated and the uneducated, that man 
 is a brute only when drunken, and that his 
 superiors in society can never admit him to 
 a confidence, or a level, if you please, and he 
 will be convinced : in short, show him that 
 the world is grown wiser, and that drunken- 
 ness and debasement are not just now the 
 fashion. 
 
13i 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VOYAGE TO TORONTO ON LAKE ONTARIO. 
 
 Mistaken Notion of the American Lakes — Ontario unfathom- 
 able — Dr. Daubeny— Dangers of Lake Navigation — The 
 Great Britain Steamer nearly lost— Singular Clay Bank- 
 Toronto— Moore, the Poet— Charges and Arrangements 
 of the Steanitrs— American and English after Dinner 
 Customs — Gentlemen the same all over tL>e 'W^orld— 
 —Mischief of Abusing the Americans— Mrs. Trollope's 
 Misrepresentations— Yankee Dialect— Summer Travellers 
 on Lake Ontario— Blunder of Miss Martineau. 
 
 A STRANGER froiTi Europe has a vast con- 
 tempt for lake navigation ; and the English 
 and French generally compare in their ideas 
 Huron and Ontario with the Lakes of Geneva 
 and Windermere. I know of nothino- after 
 having had a pretty good experience of the 
 matter, so likely to deceive, as any con- 
 temptuous notions of the American lakes. 
 
13'2 
 
 THE AMERICAN LAKES. 
 
 Ontario 's not so auitatcd as Eric, as its 
 waters arc deeper ; indeed, some say they 
 are uufathomal)le. Commodore Earrie, I 
 believe, tried with very deep sea-lines, with- 
 out finding bottom in the centre, and I know 
 that Ijctwceii Toronto and Niagara, which is 
 the most stormy part of the lake, eighty or 
 ninety fathoms are an insufficient lead. Dr. 
 Daubeny,* in one of his interesting experi- 
 ments last autumn, had seventv-five or eiyhtv 
 fathoms of line out, with the clever instru- 
 ment he invented for ascertaining the tem- 
 perature and qualities of water at great 
 depths, without any symj^toms of bottom. 
 
 There is nothing pleasanter than steam- 
 boating on the lakes in fine weather, and in 
 summer ; and there is nothing more unplea- 
 sant in the fall of the year, when the waves 
 
 * I had the pleasure of crossing the Atlantic in that beau- 
 tiful packet, the Mediator, last summer, with this philoso- 
 pher, and suggested to him to employ the instrument on the 
 lake, to ascertain whether the sub- waters were sahne, as it was 
 supposed they were. His experiment did not, I believe, 
 verify the idea. 
 
 run 
 short I 
 Octol 
 occasi 
 sevcr^ 
 board! 
 blcof 
 when 
 Th 
 steam 
 tor sci 
 
LAKE STEAMERS. 
 
 133 
 
 run mountains high, and there is a nasty 
 short cross sea. Vessels are sometimes in 
 October and November in great danger, and 
 occasional wrecks happen. I have been out 
 several times in these storms, and was on 
 board the Great Britain, a steam-boat capa- 
 ble of carrying more than a thousand people, 
 when she was very nearly lost. 
 
 They are now beginning to build the lake 
 steamers on a better model, and more fitted 
 for sea and bad weather, than hitherto ; and 
 it is very necessary, for in the instance I have 
 alluded to in this personal narrative, nothing 
 but the great power of the engines saved the 
 vessel, and had any thing happened to them 
 she would have been lost. 
 
 It surprises the traveller on leaving King- 
 ston, after a lapse of an hour or two, to find 
 himself on the boundless sea ajjain ; for if 
 the vessel keeps out from either shore, the 
 land soon fades away, and nothing but sky 
 and ever-agitated wave meet the view. But 
 the course of the smaUe^* boats is usually 
 
134 
 
 COASTING. 
 
 either along the British or the American 
 shores, in order to touch at the various httle 
 ports which are starting yearly into existence. 
 
 In the transit from Kingston to Toronto, 
 it is usual, unless you go by the very laroo 
 steam vessels, which cross the lake to the 
 American town of Oswego, to proceed as far 
 as Cobdurgh, a thriving little town about 
 sixty miles from Toronto, and thence to a 
 village called Port Hope, about seven miles 
 farther, after which you proceed direct to 
 Toronto. The land is usually in view during 
 the whole voyage, and there are lighthouses 
 on the most dangerous shoals. The shores 
 are not very high, and are generally either 
 sands, or a precipitous clay bank, of from 
 twenty to one hundred and fifty feet in 
 height ; and, unlike Lower Canada, the cul- 
 tivation and farm-houses appear but rarely 
 to break the monotonous forest. 
 
 There is nothing very striking in any of 
 the coasting views, excepting at the high- 
 lands near the metropolis, where the clay 
 
TORONTO. 
 
 135 
 
 bank is furrowed and twisted, and washed 
 into singularly precipitous forms, and is so 
 high as to form a conspicuous land mark. 
 
 The approach to Toronto is concealed by a 
 long horn of sand, which runs for several 
 miles in a sort of sickle shape, in front of 
 the city, and forms its splendid harbour, 
 whose mouth it shuts in by a narrow pass of 
 a few cables width. 
 
 " The blue hills of old Toronto," so poeti- 
 criily spoken of by Moore, exist only in the 
 imagination of the poet, as the land rises very 
 gently and gradually into the back country, 
 clothed with forest, eternal forest. " Blue 
 hills " are, however, perhaps a good phrase, 
 as the distant view in Upper Canada, in 
 clear w^eather, is always, wherever there aro 
 woods, a blue one, and that blue so soft, so 
 cerulean, and so unattainable even in paint- 
 ing, that it is useless to attempt it in poetry 
 or prose. 
 But we must sav somethino- here about 
 
13G 
 
 LAKE STEAMERS. 
 
 the voyage. The passenger pays six dollars* 
 for a cabin passage, and two for a steora<re 
 one. In the cabin you are found, as it is 
 called, or in other words, provided with 
 breakfast, dinner, and tea, all which are 
 usually good of their kind, the latter par- 
 taking, of course, a good deal of vapourized 
 water, and the accompaniments are clean, and 
 the waiters civil and attentive, and usually 
 coloured men. A single berth, or sleeping- 
 place is provided, and the linen is clean. 
 You have to pay separately for wine, liquors, 
 luncheon, and cleaning the boots. The 
 charf^e for wine is shameful, and should be 
 altered by a general determination amongst 
 the owners. It is, I believe, a perquisite of 
 the steward, or caterer, and is as high as 
 
 * The best general way to calculate the dollar, in small 
 transactions, is to make the English sixpence seven-pence 
 halfpenny, provincial ; and the shilling, one and three pence, 
 and so on in proportion, the half-crown being three shillings ; 
 and as the American dollar contains eight New York shillings, 
 or English sixpences, the value of the dollar is just five shil- 
 Ungs currency. 
 
LAKE STEAMERS. 
 
 137 
 
 seven shillings and sixpence a bottle for very 
 inferior stuff. Travellers are so aware of 
 this, that they usually call only for a pint, 
 for which they pay three shillings, or three 
 and sixpence, the original cost being from 
 seven to nine or ten shillings a gallon. Porter 
 and ale are on the same ratio. This is the only 
 imposition to which the traveller is subjected 
 in the Upper Canada steamers, which are 
 well regulated, and commanded under ex- 
 cellent discipline. 
 
 Accidents seldom occur ; for twenty years 
 not ono explosion has taken place, and no 
 other accident that I have heard of, of any 
 consequence, has happened, although the 
 vessels are exposed to very severe weather 
 at times. 
 
 The system of captaining, if I may use 
 the term, is a very good one. The owners 
 choose some person, chiefly from among 
 themselves, who has been well accustomed 
 to lake service, and who is known to most of 
 the respectable people in the country, with 
 
138 
 
 LAKE STEAMERS. 
 
 whom the captains freely mix, when their 
 boats are laid up in winter. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the comfort and style 
 of some of these vessels. One of them, com- 
 manded by Captain Ilichardson, called the 
 Transit, which plies between Toronto and 
 Niafjs-ara, is fitted out with a service of plato 
 and china. They very often have music on fl 
 board, and in the Indies' cabin a piano. A 
 respectable stewardess waits on the female 
 cabin passengers, who are ushered to dinner, 
 &c. by the captain, and take the head of the 
 table. 
 
 In sliort, every thing is very orderly, and 
 very well conducted on board the British 
 steam-boats ; and, I have no doubt, it is the 
 same on board the Americans, wdiich are 
 very splendid. The difference in form, ' 
 am told (for I v/as never on board an Ame- 
 rican lake-boat) consists in the passengers in 
 the cabin not sitting at table after dinner to 
 a desert : and if that :s ail, it amounts to 
 very little ; although it cannot be doubted, 
 
 
MRS. TROLLOPE. 
 
 139 
 
 their I ^^} ^^J ^^^ ^^^ ^^^'^ travcll jd out of the 
 United States, that the English custom of 
 social conversation after dinner is as rational 
 a mode of passing the otherwise monotonous 
 time on hoard a steamer, as that of rushing 
 avvav from table before the cloth is removed, 
 and taking the solace of King Jamie's abo- 
 mination. But American gentlemen, never 
 commit such a TroUopian sin ; in fact, so 
 far as I have observed, there is yery little 
 (liiFerence between gentlemen, /. e., men ac- 
 customed to good society, in any part of the 
 civilized w-orld. 
 
 JVIrs. Trollope, and the other ladies who 
 have visited the sins of the Americans, 
 in print, so severely, have certainly effected 
 some good; but the mode m which that 
 pood hai' been done, has greatly limited its 
 effect. In fact, such vituperations have 
 about as much hold on the minds of the pre- 
 sent generation, as similar American scold- 
 ings, by much more gifted individuals, have 
 on the tone of society in England ; and they 
 
HO 
 
 iMISREPIlESENTATIONS OF 
 
 are to be regretted, because a healtby, sound, 
 and true reconciliation between tbe parent 
 and tbe child is gradually working its way, 
 and tbe travels of men of property, charac- 
 ter, and intellect, from the United States in 
 Britain, every day tend to confirm it. Na- 
 tions, like individuals, have their pecu- 
 liarities ; and, as it happens that most of the 
 peculiarities of America arc derived from 
 England, Englishmen should be "to their 
 faults a little blind," and " to their virtues 
 very kind." We ourselves are sore enough 
 when our national characteristics are made 
 the subject of foreign animadversion, and 
 we unmercifully criticise the author ; and it 
 is but fair, after all, to forgive a young 
 nation for a little extra vanity and love 
 of country, seeing that our own is firmly 
 based on the rock of ages, and that our 
 transatlantic brethren are but reflecting its 
 glories, and striving to render them still 
 brighter. The name of an English gentle- 
 man is there a passport to all good American 
 
MRS. TROLLOPE. 
 
 141 
 
 society, and it would ill become him to com- 
 mit to memory every little want of what he 
 conceives to be ** hkmmnce'' 
 
 The natural results of dense population 
 in older states, namely, wealth and science, 
 arc beginning to work their way, and it will 
 soon be difficult to distinguish the educated 
 American from his English brother. I have 
 travelled a good deal in the great state of 
 New York, the most populous and wealthy 
 of the union, and have seen a good deal of 
 the intelligent people of the New England, 
 the land of steady habits ; and I must say 
 that, excepting in taverns and bar-rooms, 
 where one only stops to rest in travelling, 
 because one is obliged to do it, I have seen 
 very little of the genus which Mrs. Trollope 
 so wittily makes a book upon. 
 
 The genuine Yankee tin, or clock-pedlar, 
 the horse-dealer, or the wandering specu- 
 lator, may commit the outrages on Priscian 
 which Major Jack Downing makes one 
 laugh so heartily at ; but it is not the Ian- 
 
142 
 
 AMKllICAN PIIllASKS. 
 
 ^ua<jje of any other class of the people, and 
 dialects are not a whit more extended, nor, 
 indeed, half so much, as at homo ; for in 
 whatever part of the United States the tni- 
 vcllcr from Britain may find himself, he can 
 clearly understand their I'^nglish ; which is 
 more, I f^mcy, than can be said of some parts 
 of England. It is true, that such phrases 
 as *' We^', now, that ere weathercock wants 
 fijcin^, I guess," seem odd enough to 
 unpractised ears ; as nmch as, perhaps, 
 "Would you believe, I saw him kill a 
 painter! ^\^lrn't that a cautioji?" A 
 " painter" being a sort of great wild cat, or 
 pantlier, and the caution being meant to im- 
 ply, that it was something worth remember- 
 ing, or out of the usual way. J^ut you will 
 not hear well-educated people talking in this 
 countrified stvle ; nor is the nasal enuncia- 
 tion so common as is stated ; out of a cabin- 
 full of passengers with whom I t ^^sscd a 
 several weeks' voyage across the Atlantic, 
 there was not a single instance of it : it 
 
AMERICAN CIIAllACTKU. 
 
 143 
 
 appears confiiUMl to particular states, and 
 would certainly be much more honoured in 
 the breach than in the observance, as it is 
 an unnatural mode of speakinf)- in English, 
 and injures the harmony of the lan'nia<»e as 
 much as the ridiculous copy from the ^rut- 
 tural German, which now disfioures Parisian 
 French. It very possibly arose from the 
 Puritans, and has been continued, bv force 
 of habit ; and, as education and free inter- 
 mixture with European society advance, it 
 will be abandoned. 
 
 In the summer, the British traveller on 
 Lake Ontario may see a good deal of the 
 Americans, who are decidedly a locomotive 
 race, and who then visit the Falls of Niaoara, 
 and the British provinces, in shoals. But 
 he must beware of forming fixed impressions 
 from so cursory a view, and take care not to 
 tax the whole nation with bad manners, be- 
 cause he sees a female now and then eat 
 fish, flesh, and fv wl off the same plate at 
 the same time j nor must he do as the tra- 
 
lU 
 
 MISS MARTINEAU. 
 
 veller in Alsace did, who, when he woke out 
 of his comfortable nap, and saw a drunken 
 man and a red-haired girl, wrote down in 
 his tablets " all the men in Alsace drunk- 
 ards, and all the v/omen red-haired ;" an 
 error into which Miss Martineau fell at 
 Boston, respecting the ladies of that stcadv 
 city. 
 
145 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TORONTO. 
 
 Approach to Toronto— First Impressions on Landing— Incon- 
 venience and Danger of the Pier — Improvements suggested 
 -—Singular History of Toronto — The Iroquois Indians— 
 The Red Men of the Forest— Fatal Effects of Spirituous 
 Liquors on the Indian— Origin of the Name of Toronto- 
 French Fort— Description of the City— Immense Value of 
 Land — Public Buildings — Residences of the Gentry- 
 Houses of Parliameiit— The Roads— Brine Springs— Cha- 
 racteristic Anecdotes of the late War— Prices of Provisions 
 in 1824, and in 1840— Frozen Provisions— Fishery— Game 
 -Public Amusements— Society at Toionto— The Aristo- 
 cracy—Servants— Wages of Labourers and Artizans— New 
 Mode of heating Houses. 
 
 When we first approach the capital of an y 
 strange rountry, our imagination, notwith- 
 standing the nil admirari which travel more 
 or less imparts, naturally pictures forth all 
 sorts of ideas ; and when we consider that, 
 
 VOL. J. H 
 
140 
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 in visiting Toronto, we come to a city which 
 has started into existence within thirty years, 
 we are naturally eager to examine it and its 
 history closely. Accordingly, I watched the 
 shores of its great pear-shaped bay, or har- 
 hour, lined with buildings on the north, and 
 a barren sand on the south, finished bv a 
 stagnant marsh on the east, with intense 
 interest, as the steamer wended its way to 
 the inconvenient wharfs, placed almost at 
 the extremity of the port. 
 
 Our landing, on a narrow decaying pier, 
 jostled, as we were, almost into the water, 
 by rude carters plying for hire on its nar- 
 row bounds, and pestered by crowds of 
 equally rude pliers for hotel preferences, 
 gave us no very exalted notions of the ffran- 
 dour or the police of Toronto. The system 
 is, hov.xver, the same every where on both 
 shores of the Canadian lakes, and to female 
 passengers it must be dreadful, particularly 
 on dark rainy nights ; for at night, for some 
 unaccountable reason, most of the boats pre- 
 
FIRST LANDIIs^G, 
 
 147 
 
 fer to start. Piers of rotten planks, nearly 
 on a level with the w ater, and without gas, 
 or any other lights, n>'.:t create, as they in- 
 deed do, not merely great inconvenience, 
 but loss of life ; an instance of which latter 
 1 witnessed at Kingston, where a poor youno- 
 man, of respectable connections, met his 
 death by stepping over the unprotected 
 wharf, when coming, on a very dark boister- 
 ous evening, to seek ihe steam-boat with 
 letters. 
 
 The private wharfs should be regulated 
 by an act of the provincial legislature on the 
 British side ; and the law ought to provide 
 for their lighting, width, and repair, and 
 should prevent altogether the cartaoc of 
 goods on them, as iron rails, on which 
 trucks are used, would not only be prefer- 
 able in point of expense, and w^ear and 
 tear, but would effectually prevent accident. 
 
 When we refer to the history of this capi- 
 tal of Upper Canada, it will be felt that 
 
 H 2 
 
148 
 
 ORIGIN OF TORONTO. 
 
 nothing can afford a better lesson on the 
 extraordinary workings of time and fate. In 
 1794, or only forty-five years ago, this city, 
 which now contains nearly fifteen thousand 
 inhabitants, and spreads over a surface of 
 more than two miles in length, by a mile in 
 breadth, was occupied only by the murder- 
 ing p-nd savage Indian ; and when Governor 
 Simcoe first came to it, not more than two 
 wigwams were seen in the unbroken and 
 siatelv forest which towered over the shores 
 of its beautiful bay. 
 
 Near it, probably either on the banks of 
 the Don or of the Humber, was originally 
 a village, or camp, of the Iroquois, those 
 Indian conquerors who spread the fame of 
 their arms and the terror of their name, to 
 the extirpation of every aboriginal nation 
 with which they came in contact ; who over- 
 ran Canada, and caused the vain and con- 
 fident soldiers of France to tremble at the 
 distant sound of their war-whoop, and to 
 
THE IROQUOIS INDIANS. 
 
 IMJ 
 
 abandon, hastily, possessions which they 
 vainly imagined their own appearance alone 
 was sufficient to secure. 
 
 \Vhere is now the mighty Iroquois ? A 
 century has not passed, the sun has not 
 made his annual revolution one hund^-ed 
 times, and yet the Iroquois, his wars, and 
 his people, have alike been forgotten and 
 lost. His very memory at Toronto is in- 
 volved in utter obscurity ; and those forests 
 in which the white man has erected a statelv 
 city from the bosom of a howling desert, no 
 longer give even the protection of their 
 shade to his red brother ; for, excepting 
 during the occasional visits of the civilized 
 Indians, upon matters of business with the 
 government, a red man is seldom seen in 
 the capital ; and when there, as he is usually 
 clothed as the Europeans are, and wears 
 their garb, he excites no attention or sur- 
 prise. 
 
 It was not until a year or two ago, that 
 the real denizen of the forest — the wild, un- 
 
150 
 
 THE NATIVE INDIAN. 
 
 tutored, unclad, and heathen warrior — be- 
 came an object of much curiosity to the 
 citizens. 
 
 Owing to the system pursued by the neigh- 
 bouring states, of ejecting the Indians alto- 
 gether, a section of the PoU'tah-ivah-tamiea 
 left the upper regions of the Mississipi, where 
 they had been an equestrian tribe, and lived 
 chiefly on the buffalo, to throw themselves 
 on the protection of their great father, the 
 king of England. I was fortunately at Pene- 
 tangueshene, a distant frontier post, when 
 the nation arrived there ; and shall, in my 
 account of that post, state what I saw when 
 they first trod the British soil in all their 
 warrior glory. 
 
 I would that they had been able to live 
 in their native wild woods and prairies. I 
 was delighted with the fresh display of un- 
 taught and uncivilized nature ; for with all 
 the barbarous and blood-thirsty warlike 
 deeds which they there performed, there 
 was something so noble, simple, and chaste, 
 
THE NATIVE INDIAN. 
 
 151 
 
 in the manners, bearing, and demeanour of 
 these sons of the soil, that it won oolden 
 opinions from all beholders. 
 
 But a few short months afterwards, and I 
 again saw my friends, the Pou-tah-wah- 
 tamies, or, as they are vulgarly called, Pot- 
 tawatamis, on the green sward in front of 
 the parliament buildings at Toronto, hag' 
 gard, clothed in rags and filthy blankets, 
 bearing the evidence of starvation in their 
 intelligent features. Want had driven tliem 
 to do that which an Indian recoils from with 
 horror — to rob the friends who had protected 
 them. Whiskey, the accursed " fire-water," 
 as their eloquent language styles it, had swept 
 awav reason from the wise men, and strength 
 from the youthful warrior. Their stock of 
 ornamental and requisite personal appen- 
 dages had been bartered for it, and the very 
 provisions and blankets, which their great 
 Father had so liberallv bestowed for the 
 support and comfort of his wandering red 
 children, had been converted by it to profit 
 
1 no 
 
 THE SITi: OF TORONTO. 
 
 a lawless and vile race of traders, who batten 
 on the spoils cf these unsuspecting sons of 
 the soil, and whose unholv thirst for ooUl 
 has Fwevt fr<^n ^t surface alr^ost the vcrv 
 name of U.> a^cv at possessors. 
 
 Our contciiiplat! '^s on a mass of brick, 
 wood, and mortar, have not, we trust, been 
 without interest. The council-fire of the 
 red man burned brightly in the forest, where 
 the white stranger now holds his more poli- 
 tic deliberations in safety and in luxury ; 
 (or on the site of the Parliament-house the 
 hrst council with the Indian was held bv 
 the Britons, ere thev built their town. 
 
 But the councils of the pale faces, are 
 they not as stormy, and as full of bad passions, 
 as ever were those of the revengeful and 
 turbulent Iroquois, who seems to have left 
 the curse of the eyterminati?if^ wrath with 
 which the stranfjer from the risiuij sun 
 visited his race, to spread its baleful venom 
 amongst those who have usurped his ancient 
 domain ? 
 
 
 
FRENCH lOIlT. 
 
 1.53 
 
 Thij name of tlie fair city w^ arc now 
 enter.ng I" not, as is generally supposed, 
 ^ndJan. In th^ cr^ rect, and now valuable 
 map, by Major Holland, of the Britisb 
 Colonies in North America, and corrected 
 from Governor Pownall's late map, of 177^>» 
 the place is thus designated, " Torento pres- 
 quiley in the country of the Northern Iro- 
 quois." 
 
 7.'he French had a small square palisaded 
 fort here, about a mile westward of the pre- 
 sent garrison, the remains of which are still 
 very plain ; and this was called Fort Ta- 
 rento, Torento, or some such name, from (as 
 it is supposed) the Italian engineer w'h(> 
 erected it ; for the Indians have no word of 
 this kind in any language now understood 
 in Canada. 
 
 The country in the r.aighbourhood, when 
 cleared by the British (for the French never 
 attempted any other settlement), was gra- 
 dually called Toronto, and the village they 
 erected in lyOi, York, by Governor Simcoc. 
 
 H 3 
 
15 h 
 
 ORIGIN OF TORONTO. 
 
 York, being on a stiff clayey soil, was a very 
 dirty place in wet weather, and out of deri- 
 sion, by t^ w Americans, and in contradis- 
 tinction CO the great emporium of the neigh- 
 bo' i-ing state, was styled Uirty, or Lirtlo 
 i^ork. 
 
 In 1834, Sir John Colborne restored the 
 ancient and much more euphonious name, 
 Toronto, and constituted it a city, the capital 
 of the province. Since this time a new life 
 seems to have been given to it, and public 
 anc private feeling against the site have 
 vanishv,^!. It is now decidedly the capital, 
 and is likely to remain so, unless Kingston 
 disputes it. 
 
 Toronto stretches nearly east and west 
 along the shores of its spacious and beautiful 
 bay, and consists of six parallel streets, of 
 nearly two miles in length each, intersected 
 by cross ones at right angles, at every two or 
 three acres distance, and the w4iole depth 
 being less than a mile. 
 
 The chief streets are of course the longi- 
 
VALUE OF LAND. 
 
 1.^^ 
 
 tudlnal ones, and thrsc arc calUnl I'ront- 
 strcct, or that next the water, Market-street, 
 KinjT-strect, Newgate, Hospital and Lot- 
 streets, which arc continued in a new por- 
 tion lately ceded hy the Ordnance, under 
 the names o^* Ontario-terrace, Welliniiton- 
 phice, King-street, west, Adelaide and Sim- 
 coe-streets. 
 
 The value of property here is incredible. 
 On the military reserve, now forming' into 
 the new western portion of the city, acre lots 
 sold by government fetched five and six 
 hundred pounds, at some distance from the 
 parts of the city built upon. Building- 
 ground in the populous streets is worth from 
 ten pounds to twenty pounds a foot, and will 
 no doubt be much higher ; and thus manv 
 persons who were formerly very needy, and 
 who obtained the land as grants when it was 
 of little value, are now amongst tlie richest. 
 
 Until about six or seven vears auo, the 
 buildings in Toronto were mostly of wood, 
 as stone is not found in sufficient quantitv 
 
156 
 
 PUBLIC nUILDINGS. 
 
 in the neighbourhood, and consequently iires 
 frequently devastated the town. I^riok has 
 since been chiefly employed, as the soil is so 
 good a clay, that the foundation and cellar- 
 age of a house often yield the ni^cessary 
 material for the superstructure. 
 
 King-street, the main artery of the city, 
 promises to be very handsome ; already 
 many excellent brick stores and houses line 
 its sides, and in the shops the superfluous 
 luxuries of large plate glass and brass railings 
 are beginning to appear. It is well paved 
 with flag-walks, and a broad belt of round 
 stone on each side, with a broken stone road 
 in the centre. A capacious and very exten- 
 sive sewer runs under the who.:). 
 
 None of the towns in Upper Canada yet 
 display much expense or taste in the public 
 edifices, and Toronto has certainly not con- 
 tended for the palm. The principal struc- 
 tures are the Parliament buildings and public 
 offices J the English, the Catholic, and the 
 Scotch churches, the Methodist chapels, the 
 
GOVEllNMKNT HOUSE. 
 
 157 
 
 Bank of Upper Canada, the Market-house 
 and City-hall, the Upper Canada College 
 and Bank, and Osgoode or Lawyer's Halls.' 
 
 The government-house is an old wooden 
 structure, recently stuccoed and re])aircd. 
 It is heautifuUy situated on a fine lawn, 
 shaded by trees on one side, but facing 
 the streets on two others. Some of the 
 residences of the gentry are handsome brick 
 structures ; and the Parliament houses and 
 public offices are convenient, if not ele- 
 !,rant ; they however now require enlarging. 
 Th(3 Legislative Council Chamber, and the 
 House of Commons* room, are well propor- 
 tioned, lofty cubes, nearly alike ; but the 
 former is enriched with stucco-work and 
 handsome furniture, although the throne is 
 not in the best possible taste, being a simjde 
 chaste canopy supportc d by a Patagonian 
 crown, which looks like the sign of an inn. 
 The royal arms well executed on the back 
 pannel would have been much better. 
 
 The Commons' chamber is quite plain and 
 
158 
 
 GOVERNMENT HOUSE. 
 
 appropriate, hut sound is not well convc-.^rl 
 in it, and the huilding vants the necessary 
 accessories of a o-ood library ana committee- 
 rooms, the latter being- small and in p dark 
 passaae. 
 
 The public offices are wings toth.; Iloibc- 
 of Parliament, and should ])e united by hand- 
 some corridors. Thev are very convenient. 
 Those on the left contain tho ExeciUivi 
 Council chamber and office, the offices of thi 
 Aajutant-general of ^lilitia, the Inspector- 
 general and Auditor of Public Accounts, tlu 
 Commissioners of Crown Lands, Surveyor- 
 general of the Indian Department, and ot 
 the Emigrant Accent. In the riiifht win:] 
 are the Court of King's Bench, and the 
 offices of the Attorney-general, the Pro- 
 vincial Secretary, the Ci^rk of the Crown. 
 and of the Receiver-General. 
 
 About half a mile up an avenue in the 
 centre of Lot-street, is the site of the Uni- 
 versity of Upper Canada. The plan for 
 building it is extensive, appropriate, and 
 
GREAT ROADS. 
 
 159 
 
 iccessarv 
 mmitrei'- 
 n p (lark 
 
 J Holl^e^ 
 bv haml- 
 ivcnicnt. 
 Ixccutivf 
 ;cs of thr 
 ispector- 
 unts, tk 
 urvevor- 
 aiid ()i 
 it winu 
 md tilt' 
 
 tic Pl'O- 
 
 Crown. 
 
 in r'he 
 10 Uni- 
 )laii for 
 .to, and 
 
 handsome, and is now being carried into 
 execution. 
 
 A new jail and a court-house are build- 
 ina' at the eastern extremity of the city, in a 
 very strange situation, close to the great 
 marsh. A lyceum is also about to be 
 erected at the western end, with grounds 
 attached, for zoologic and botanic purposes, 
 under the patronage of government. 
 
 The military works and buildings at this 
 place, having been originally merely tempo- 
 rarv erections, are unworthv of notice. New 
 barracks for the troops, at a distance from 
 the town, are in the course of erection. 
 
 In Toronto unite the great roads from the 
 Xia;;ara and western districts ; the George- 
 street, a straio-ht road of thirtv-six miles 
 from Lake Simcoc, leading to the wilderness 
 of tliO north, and thickly settled ; the eastern 
 road, leading to Kingston and Lower Canada ; 
 all being for several miles well laid out, with 
 a broken stone cover, formed at vast expense 
 and labour, by collecting the granite buul- 
 
160 
 
 BRINE SPRINGS. 
 
 ders in the woods and fields and shores of 
 the neighbourhood. The farmers were at 
 first averse to the turnpikes estabUshcd on 
 them, but they now yield a fair revenue to 
 keep them in repair. 
 
 Toronto being situated over that forma- 
 tion in which saline rocks exist, is remark- 
 able for its brine springs. In digging wells 
 in any part of the city, to forty feet deep, 
 these are struck, and thus the water is gene- 
 rally bad. Near the garrison one of these 
 springs comes to the surface. I made an 
 attempt to bore for the salt ; but not finding 
 that the inhabitants were much interested in 
 the matter, gave it up, on account of the 
 expense, although there cannot be mueh 
 doubt that a profitable investment might bo 
 made in such an undertaking, as salt is a 
 dearly imported article at present. 
 
 Toronto was taken by the Americans 
 during the late war, bv an overwhelmini: 
 force. A characteristic anecdote was told 
 me when I first went there, by an itinerant 
 
GENERAL PIKE. 
 
 161 
 
 American, of the mode in which General 
 Pike, their loader, met his death. " Did 
 you know our brigadier ?" said my friend, 
 whom I had by-the-bye never seen before. 
 I replied, " No, I was not in this part of 
 the country during the war." " Well,'* re- 
 torted he, " that is wonderful ! I thouoht 
 every body knew our Brigadier — Brigadier 
 Pike. Then I suppose you don't know how 
 he was fixed here ?"—" No," I answered. 
 " Why, just here in this fort, that tarnation 
 British p-e-o-iud-e-r (powder) took fire, and 
 heaved up a stone of fifty weight, and smashed 
 our general right in." 
 
 The general, with many others on botli 
 sides, fell ; and in forming a road this sum- 
 mer to the new breakwater-pier at the mouth 
 of the harbour (a very excellent provincial 
 work, projecting into the lake for a thou- 
 sand feet), the bones of several were dug up ^ 
 amongst others, near the old flag-staff (the 
 foot of which, of white oak, was found as 
 fresh as the day it was sunk), were the bones 
 
162 
 
 COST OF LIVING. 
 
 of a man enclosed in boards, one arm beinn 
 cut off near tbe wrist, both pieces perfect 
 and fresh. This is supposed to be a mark 
 bv which one of the American oflicers was 
 known, and he was re-interred at the foot 
 of the signal-post in the government-house 
 reserve, so that, if required, the remains 
 mav be claimed. 
 
 It may be well to make some remarks on 
 the mode of living and state of society in 
 this new citv ; but not liavino- been a resi- 
 dent there, thev must be brief. The citv 
 is divided into five wr.rds : St. George, St. 
 Patrick, St. Andrew, St. David, and St. La^\- 
 rence, each returning two aldermen and two 
 common councilmen. 1^'rom amongst these 
 a mavor is chosen. The elections are an- 
 nual ; the voters being male householders, 
 freehold, or tenant for a year or term of 
 years, within the liberties or v.ards. 
 
 This vearlv election annuallv disturbs the 
 peace of the city, and does not seem neces- 
 sary, anles: , perliaps, for the mayor. 
 
COST OF LIVING. l63 
 
 The population of this city has increased 
 in the following ratio : — 
 
 Aiithoritios. 
 
 In 1817 it was 1,200, Gonriai/. 
 
 — 1826 1,077, Fother[)Ul. 
 
 — 183G 9,()52, ReAurns. 
 
 — 1837 1 l,.-iO(), (within the city) Returns. 
 
 — 1839 15,000. 
 
 With this increase, the claims of luxury, 
 and the value of provisions and fuel, have 
 increased in proportion. In 18^1', the market 
 prices were, as Mr. Fothcrgill states : — 
 
 Beef per pound, in the butcliers' stalls, 3ri. to 3,'//., currency. 
 
 Ditto, by the quarter, 2^/. to 2,3'/. 
 
 Mutton, per pound, \-d. 
 
 Ditto, by the whole carcass, 10*. to II.9., currency. 
 
 Veal, per pound, 3rf. to 5d. 
 
 Pork, ditto, 3rf. to Sfrf. 
 
 Butter, Id. to 9d. 
 
 Turkies, half a dollar, or 2.y. Qd. 
 
 Geese nearly the same. 
 
 Ducks, a quarter of a dollar, or 1*. 3'/., wild or tame. 
 
 Fowls the same. 
 
 Eg;;s, Id, a dozen. 
 
 Fresh salmon, of 15 or KJ pounds weight, a quarter of a dollar. 
 
 A barrel of salt or pickled salmon, of forty fish, 256\ to 30*. 
 
 A barrel of fine flour, 2Qs. 
 
 Barley or wheat, 26'. Gd. to 36'. a bushel. 
 
 Oats, Is, or \s, 'id.. 
 
 Hay, per ton, 30*. 
 
 Fire-wood, a cord, 8 feet long by \ feet wide and high, lO*. 
 
 The four-pound fine white loaf, (yd. 
 
164^ 
 
 FROZEN MEAT. 
 
 All these prices arc reckoned in provincial 
 money, which may be considered as twopence 
 less than the sterlinij shilling. 
 
 Now the market price for beef and mutton 
 is 7^. or 7^6?., and has been mach higher; 
 butter is generally a shilling a pound ; tur- 
 kies 7^' ^^'j and all other poultry in pro- 
 portion ; a fresh almon cannot be bought 
 under '^s. Gd.^ or at the least a dollar, when 
 plentiful ; flour of fine quality has been as 
 high ?^ ^en dollars a barrel, and is now about 
 seven, five and a half being the common 
 price when the market is full ; wheat in pro- 
 portion ; oats ^5. to Qs. 6d. ; hay seldom less 
 than nine or ten dollars a ton, or 2/. 105., 
 and occasionally rising much higher ; fire- 
 wood V2s, 6d, a cord, of the best quality, 
 delivered on the spot ; bread varies from '7(1- 
 to Sd. a loaf. 
 
 Provident families generally, on the ap- 
 proach of winter, purchase carcases of mut- 
 ton and beef, which they obtain for ^^d, or 
 3d. a pound for the former, and about 4rf. 
 
VEGETABLES. 
 
 165 
 
 for the latter, of the best quralitics. The 
 mutton is frozen and hung- up ; the beef 
 salted and put in tubs. Poultry killed and 
 packed in snow keeps the whole winter, or 
 from the middle of December to the begin- 
 ning of April. 
 
 Potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, celery, 
 turnips, &c., may be kept in cellars made 
 frost proof, and by purchasing them before 
 the frost sets in, in the beginning of No- 
 vember, may be obtained reasonably ; pota- 
 toes last year (1839) were only l.s. 3^., or 
 about a shilling English money, a bushel ; 
 turnips two shillings ; onions are usually 
 from four to five ; and celery is, of course, 
 dear, being from two to four dollars a hun- 
 dred, according to the ((uality. 
 
 Apples may be procu/ed abundantly from 
 the United States, or from Niagara, at from 
 two to three dollars for a flour barrel-full 
 of the finest kinds, and they are kept in 
 cellars, or frost proof root-houses, in the 
 same manner. 
 
1G6 
 
 LAKE FISH. 
 
 There is a fishery cstahlislicd hy the mu- 
 iiicipal authorities on the lake shores of the 
 peninsula, opposite to the city, where ahun- 
 dance of the folk)\viii(j;' kinds of fij^h arc 
 caught: white fisli, pickerel, herring-s, anrl 
 salmon-trout. In the winter, when the hav 
 is frozen over solidly, lints arc erected, and 
 holes made in the ice, wlicre the fish arc 
 caught hy spearing. Spearing hy tor(.*li- light 
 in boats is also much j)ra(;tised in the warm 
 seasons ; and in this way sturgeon, eels, and 
 pike of an enormous size, are caught in the 
 
 Fishini? for recreation is no orcat affair 
 at Toronto, as there is no fly-fishing, and 
 the bait only secures perch sun-fish (a small, 
 glittering, bony, flat fish, called pan-fish by 
 the settlers), and rock-bass, the latter seldom 
 weighing more than a pound, and the others 
 very small. The sportsman occasionally 
 hooks an eel or a cat-fish. The latter is 
 a disagreeable-looking creature, which ^'s, 
 nevertheless, good eating, if the head be cut 
 
tuiitll: and ga.»ie. 
 
 IG7 
 
 :ic mu- 
 of the 
 ; .^bun- 
 sli arc 
 ^s, anrl 
 the bay 
 ;d, and 
 ish are 
 •li-li^ht 
 3 warm 
 lis, and 
 in the 
 
 t affair 
 g, and 
 
 small, 
 fish bv 
 seldom 
 
 others 
 ionally 
 Ltter is 
 ich ^?, 
 
 be cut 
 
 ilf. It is about two pounds wei;Lj'ht when 
 
 larg'o. 
 
 There is a larn-c; species of land-turtle 
 found in the lagoons and muddy ponds here, 
 about the size of a very lar<>e meat-dish, 
 covered ^vith a dh'ty-coloured, br(j\vn, im- 
 j)enctral)le armour, with a long projecting 
 neck, and hawk's bill. This animal is edi- 
 ble, and very good 30up may be made of it, 
 if the precaution be taken of clearing away 
 the gall-bladder and ducts as soon as it is 
 killed. It lavs a ffreat number of white 
 round ei^gs, about the .size of a grape- 
 shot ; and these are excellent. A small and 
 beautiful tortoise, marked with vermillion 
 and green, is also very common in the 
 marshy grounds ; but these, although re- 
 sembling the New York terra])in, are never 
 used in Canada for food. 
 
 The Indians from the Credit River bring 
 occasionally supplies of game ; and there are 
 persons who make a livelihood by supplying 
 the market with partridges, wild ducks, and 
 
168 
 
 PUDLIC AMUSKMENTS. 
 
 venison, wliich *s very fine, and often plcn. 
 tif'ul, at throe-pence a pound, a live deer 
 being worth about fifteen or tvventy shilHiigs. 
 Hares and wild geese are now and then 
 met with ; but the Toronto market is not 
 well su})plied with game, as it does not now 
 abound in the neighbourhood. The sports- 
 man finds few snipe, woodcock, pigeons, or 
 plover, in comparison with former years. 
 
 The public amusements in Toronto arc 
 not of a nature to attract much attention. 
 There have been various attempts to get up 
 respectable races, and to establish a theatre, 
 and a winter assembly for dancing ; but 
 owing to the peculiar state of society, these 
 attempts have always proved nearly abortivr, 
 as well as those of a much higher and more 
 useful kind, which have been made by per- 
 sons attached to science and the arts. A 
 national Literary and Philosophical Society 
 was by great exertion established; but, after 
 beinii in a w-averinc^ state for about a vear, 
 it dropped. The United Service Club met 
 
 
SOCIETY IN TORONTO. 
 
 iGi) 
 
 with tlu; same fate ; and there is now only 
 a Mechanics* Institute, and a commercial 
 news-room, which can fairly be mentioned, 
 although some young men, under the pa- 
 tronage of the vice-chancellor, have recently 
 l^ot up a literary club. 
 
 In Toronto, which has only advanced 
 rapidly within the last five vears, the ori- 
 irinal settlers were chiefly persons holding 
 public appointments, whose duty obliged 
 them to reside at the seat of government. 
 Tradesmen, mechanics, and labourers came 
 to the village by very slow degrees ; and, as 
 they were chiefly concerned in supplying the 
 wants of the gentry, were not, until recently, 
 enabled to amass much money. Thus, a 
 very clear and defined line was drawn in the 
 society of York ; and, as the families of the 
 office-holders became connected bv marriage 
 (for York was not sought as a place of 
 residence by general settlers in the countrv, 
 and was chiefly visited by them on public 
 business), a close and impenetrable bond of 
 
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 IMAGE EVALUATION 
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 Corporation 
 
 
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 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, NY. MS80 
 
 (716) 873-4503 
 
^ 
 
170 
 
 SOCIETY IN TORONTO. 
 
 union arose amongst these public servants ; 
 and the aristocracy of Little York was able 
 to carve out at will the destinies of the town, 
 naturally endeavouring to retain in the fa- 
 mily compact all situations of profit and 
 honour. They were, however, too few to 
 establish, however wilUng, any useful public 
 institutions j and hence, when the place 
 became a city, and wealth and intellect 
 flowed into it from foreign sources, a little 
 jealousy would obviously, for some time, 
 prevent these self-constituted leaders from 
 patronizing efforts made by strangers. But 
 the time has nearly arrived when such pre- 
 judices must vanish, and when a man will 
 no longer be able to claim, whether pos- 
 sessed of talent or not, all the public places 
 and honours, merely on the ground that he 
 was born in the country. Canada is not 
 yet old enough for such a claim; and British 
 subjects, from any part of the world, have 
 as great a natural right as the natives to 
 enter into the lists of competition j and it is 
 
THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY. I7I 
 
 the opinion of all dispassionate and unpre- 
 judiced persons, that the safety and ultimate 
 welfare of the province wholly hinge on 
 their being able to do so. 
 
 Look attentively at the avowed objects 
 and conduct of the revolutionary party in 
 Upper Canada. What is their great griev- 
 ance?— Why, the family domination. And 
 for what are they seeking to throw off the 
 light yoke of Britain, and the proud name 
 of Britons ? — Why, to get rid of the family 
 domination for ever. But is it with a view 
 to benefit the countrv? — No I that never 
 enters into their thoughts. As long as such 
 reckless adventurers attain their main ob- 
 ject, they care not whether they arc the 
 ultima Thule of the United States, or on a 
 footing with Texas. 
 
 I have great respect personally for many 
 of the members of the aristocracy of Upper 
 Canada ; but that respect must not prevent 
 me, as a writer willing to inform the public, 
 and to do my best for the interests of the 
 
 I 2 
 
1752 
 
 BRITISH FEELING. 
 
 colony, from stating the truth ; and I firmlv 
 believe, from an observation of several years, 
 that Toronto will never be a flourishintr 
 city, nor Upper Canada a thriving countrj, 
 until offices and honours are alike open to 
 all classes of the British people in it, ai. 
 they are in England, where the poorest man 
 from Upper Canada, if he be a man of high 
 talent, may become lord-chancellor, without 
 any question as to where he was born, or 
 who educated him. It is the British feeling 
 which will preserve Canada from merging 
 into an obscure state, or into another Texas ; 
 and no coalition with the revolutionists, no 
 truckling of any kind, in the event of that 
 feeling being silenced, will preserve the loyal 
 Canadian from the fate which will then as- 
 surcdlv await him— a fate like that of the 
 Israelites under the taskmasters of Pharaoh, 
 and from which nothing short of a miracle 
 will release him. 
 
 Families enii^'atino- to Toronto will wish 
 to know as well about markets as about 
 
HIGHWAYS. 
 
 173 
 
 servants and houso-rcnt. Servants are not 
 in general of the best kind. Females coming 
 out usually get married after a short service, 
 and settle, either as the wives of mechanics 
 or farmers ; and men or boys obtain so much 
 wages as mechanics or labourers, that it is 
 obviously their interest to seek such em- 
 ployment. A good mason or carpenter may 
 stipulate for 6s. or Js, 6d, a day; a la- 
 bourer gets constant employment at from 
 25. ()d. to 3s, 9d,, according to the nature of 
 his work ; and many of them, by keeping a 
 horse and cart and a cow, may double that 
 amount. 
 
 Considering that from eight to ten dollars 
 a month (forty to fifty shillings currency) 
 are the highest wages given to men servants, 
 and from four to six dollars to women (1 
 mean as an average, for some of the higher 
 classes give more, in order to keep their 
 servants with them), with their daily food, 
 it is not to be wondered at that, in a cheap 
 country, they seek labour with a view to 
 
171^ 
 
 HOUSE RENT. 
 
 ultimate rest, on property independently 
 derived. 
 
 House rent is high at Toronto. A good 
 house for a small family, consistinff of two 
 stories, with kitchen and cellar, perhaps 
 about five or six rooms above the level of 
 the street, costs forty-five or fifty pounds a- 
 year, and about two pounds for road and 
 other city taxes. With this limited accom- 
 modation, there is generally a small stable 
 and sleigh-house, and a yard just suflicicnt 
 to hold about half the wood required for the 
 winter, which, for a family able to afford 
 such a lodging, would amount to about 
 thirty or forty cords. Stoves are generally 
 used, although coals from the state of Ohio, 
 on Lake Erie, are coming into the market, 
 by way of the Welland canal, and cost at 
 present, from Is, 6d, to I*. 8c?. per bushel. 
 
 Stoves are certainly the most efficacious 
 in heating a wooden house ; but in a brick 
 one, coals are equally good, and hot air is 
 better and cheaper than either. A simple 
 
HEATING APPARATUS. 
 
 175 
 
 plan of effecting this latter purpose has been 
 resorted to at the Government House, and is 
 worth recording. An oven, or reveiberatory 
 furnace, is constructed in the cellar, in the 
 form of a common vault, big enough for a 
 man to get into, but not above three feet six 
 inches or four feet high, by three wide, 
 strongly built, with a straight back and 
 front. The roof inside and indeed all the 
 inside walls, must be evenly and carefully 
 built, either of fire-brick or stone, and 
 coated well with a thick cement of mortar 
 and cowdung, smoothed as much as possible. 
 In the circle of the arch, but not in its key- 
 course, round holes, capable of admitting 
 sheet-iron pipes, such as those ordinarily 
 used for stoves, must be left, according to 
 the number of stories in the house, and the 
 disposition of the rooms which the pipes arc 
 to reach. 
 
 Into this oven, a large stove of thick 
 metal, such as the Lower Canada stoves are 
 made of, must be inserted, and the front of 
 
17G 
 
 HEATING ArrAKATUS. 
 
 the oven then built solidly up, leaving an 
 aperture for the square mouth or door of 
 the stove to be opened, for the admission 
 of fuel. 
 
 Under the front of tlie stove, the wall 
 must have two circular holes, with regula- 
 tors, similar to the ventilators in room win- 
 dows, but made flat, so as to close, as they 
 are turned round by hand, and not by the 
 current of air. These holes, when opened, 
 admit a constant current of cold air to regu- 
 late the temperature within. A cast-iron 
 man-hole may be built in on one of the sides, 
 for the C(mvenience of getting at the interior 
 for repairs. 
 
 On the flat top of the stove may be placed 
 an arrangement of sheet-iron stove pipes, 
 made like a flat still- worm, to increase the 
 surface of metal. 
 
 By conducting sheet-iron pipes from this 
 oven, of a good bore, seven or eight inches, 
 into the different rooms, a constant supply 
 of warm air goes through the building, and 
 
HEATINC; APPARATUS. 
 
 w7 
 
 it mav ho regulated and shut off hv th<' 
 ventilators mentioned. 
 
 Thus, for about one-third of the cost in 
 fuel for stoves, a good weather-tight build- 
 ing may be pleasantly warmed, and without 
 the dry suffocating heat arising from the 
 metal stove when placed in a room, and also 
 without the dust arising from the wood-asl). 
 
 i3 
 
178 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TORONTO, AS THE LATE CAPITAL OF UPPER 
 
 CANADA. 
 
 Toronto before the Union — The Court of Chancery and other 
 Courts of Justice — Government Officers — The Church, and 
 various Religious Sects — Local Courts — The College ol 
 Upper Canada — Public Schools— Banks and Banking Com- 
 panies—Commercial System— Price of Provisions and Lux- 
 uries — Mischievous Ostentation in the Style of Living- 
 Official Incomes — Astonishing Increase in the Value of 
 Land — The Canada Land Company. 
 
 It seems fitting, on introducing the 
 stranger to Toronto, to give him a brief 
 account of the colonial official administra- 
 tion carried on there previously to the 
 Union. 
 
 First in rank is the Court of Chancerv, 
 which was established latelv, during the ad- 
 ministration of Sir John Colborne. The 
 
LAW COURTS. 
 
 179 
 
 licutcnant-govcrnor is ox-officio chancellor ; 
 and the estahlishmcnt at present consists 
 of a vice-chancellor, R. S. Jameson, Esq., 
 masters, registrar, and treasurer. It held 
 its sittings in Osgoode, or Lawyer's-hall, a 
 sort of inn of court in Lot-street, which was 
 converted, during the insurrection in Lower 
 Canada, into infantry barracks. 
 
 The other legal dignitaries arc, a chief- 
 justice, the attorney and the solicitor-gene- 
 ral, the clerks of the Crown and Pleas. 
 
 The chief-justice used, somewhat unne- 
 cessarily, to go the circuit; but now that 
 the country increases so rapidly in popula- 
 tion, this anomaly will be rectified. He 
 was also speaker of the legislative council, 
 and at one time had a seat in the executive ; 
 but as the laws and customs of the mother 
 countrv become better understood, the adop- 
 tion of the healthy system practised there 
 has gradu&Uy gained ground. A chief-jus- 
 tice of a colony, it is very clear, should be 
 as free as possible from political bias ; and, 
 
180 
 
 PU13L1L OFFICES. 
 
 accorilin<^ly, should hold no other ])uhli( 
 office whatever than his own, which should 
 he independent of the crown and of tin* 
 people. The present chief-justice is said 
 tc be a very able and learned lawyer, con- 
 sidering the limited practice he can alone 
 have had in so young a colony. 
 
 The chief-justice of the upper ])art of 
 Canada has four i)uisne judges associated 
 with him, so that courts mav be held twice 
 a-year in the outer districts. 
 
 The Clerk of the Crown has four clerks 
 in his office, and ten deputies in the dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 The public offices next in rank are those 
 
 of the Provincial Secretary and Registrar; 
 the Queen's Receiver-general ; the Inspector- 
 general of Provincial Accounts ; the Com- 
 missioner of Crown Lands, Woods and 
 Forests, and Surveyor-general of Lands ; 
 the Commissioners of the Heir and Devisee 
 Act ; the Clergy Lands Corporation ; the 
 Emigrant Agent; the King's College Land 
 
ECCLKSIASTKAL AUTIIOIUTIKS. 181 
 
 Office; the Rcgistnir of tlio District, the 
 Sheriff, Clerk of the Peace, Treasurer of 
 the District, Coroners, Court of Commis- 
 sioners of Customs, Collector of liie Port, 
 and Inspector of Licences. 
 
 The ecclesiastical authorities at Toronto 
 arc, the Bishop of Toronto, who usually 
 resides there, with an official Principal of 
 the IVohate and Surrogate Court, of which 
 the governor is judge, and to which there 
 is a registrar attached. 
 
 There is at present only one archdeacon 
 in Upper Canada; at Kingston, sixty-six 
 clergj-men and missionaries. 
 
 The Synod of the Church of Scotland has 
 a moderator, clerk, and treasurer ; and un- 
 der its jurisdiction in Lower Canada, eleven, 
 and in Upper Canada, thirty-two clergymen. 
 
 The United Synod of Presbyterians in 
 Upper Canada, in connection with the Esta- 
 bhshed Church of Scotland, has five Presby- 
 tories, and fifty-three ministers. 
 
 The Church of Rome, in Upper Canada, 
 
182 
 
 RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 
 
 is under the spiritual guidance of the Bishop 
 of llegiopolis, with a coadjutor bishop, and 
 two vicars-general, who preside over eleven 
 districts, and thirty-three clergymen. 
 
 The Bri'ish Wesleyan Methodist Church 
 has lately been united to the Episcopal Me- 
 thodist sect ; its ministers are one hundred 
 and six in number, itinerant every two years, 
 and devote their labours amongst sixteen 
 thousand and forty-four church members. 
 This denomination of Christians publish a 
 weekly newspaper in Toronto, from which 
 politics are, it is to be regretted, not ex- 
 cluded. 
 
 The Wesleyan British Missionary Society, 
 auxiliary to that at home, has a superin- 
 tendent and treasurer, and employs twelve 
 missionaries, and about fifteen schoolmas- 
 ters, amongst the civilized Indians, who have 
 preachers also, chosen from amongst them- 
 selves. The number of Wesleyan Methodist 
 Indians in society, as it is called, is upwards 
 of a thousand, whilst there are upwards of 
 
RELIGIOUS SECTS. 
 
 183 
 
 three hundred and fifty children in the 
 schools. 
 
 The Church of England also established 
 a society in 1830 for converting and civil- 
 izing the Indians, and for propagating the 
 gospel amongst the destitute settlers ; and 
 its missionaries are actively, and very labori- 
 ously employed in this good work. The late 
 Bishop Stewart, of the see of Quebec, de- 
 voted a life to this labour. 
 
 There are an amazins^ diversity of sects in 
 Upper Canada, as must always be the case 
 in new countries, where the farm settlements 
 are at great distances from towns. I cannot 
 undertake to enumerate them all, as they 
 frequently change. The most respectable 
 and numerous are the Primitive Methodists, 
 Baptists, Unitariii.is, Independents, or Con- 
 gregationalists, and Quakers. The Primi- 
 tive Methodists have one superintendent at 
 Toronto, four travel 
 
 '»> 
 
 preachers, with three hundred and thirty 
 
!■■■'¥ 
 
 184 
 
 RELIGIOUS SECTS. 
 
 members, and forty-two district congrega- 
 tions. The Baptists have a chapel at To- 
 ronto, and in the province, four associations, 
 comprising fifty-three churches, thirty-three 
 ministers, and seventeen licentiates. The 
 people of African origin have also a chapel 
 at Toronto. 
 
 From the difficulty of assembling for pub- 
 lic worship at given points, the population 
 of Upper Canada abounds in sects uncon- 
 nected with the three great divisions of 
 Christians, the English, Scotch, and Romish 
 Churches. Wesleyan Methodists may, of 
 course, be classed in the English division, 
 as many of the members attend the service 
 of that church. It is to be feared that this 
 diversity of opinions on religious subjects is 
 unfavourable to the rapid growth of Chris- 
 tianity; as, where so many are right, the 
 feeble-minded and the ignorant are apt to 
 judge that wrong does not consist in difier- 
 ence. 
 
LOCAL COURTS. 
 
 185 
 
 Toronto, besides being the centre of all 
 this mass of civil and religious occupation, 
 has also employment for several local courts 
 and offices. It has a district court, at which 
 minor offences against the laws are adjudged, 
 a Court of Requests, a Mayor's Court, and 
 Police Office. The Courts of Oyer and 
 Terminer, Nisi Prius, and General Goal 
 Delivery, are held twice a-year. The Court 
 of Queen's Bench has four terms, as well as 
 that of Quarter Sessions. 
 
 The Government Office is under the pri- 
 vate secretarv, who has a chief clerk and 
 three assistants. 
 
 Immediately under the controul of the 
 governor, is the Indian Department, which 
 is a military one, and has one chief super- 
 intendent, and five deputies residing with 
 the tribes. 
 
 Amongst the public institutions of To- 
 ronto now in operation, is the College of 
 Upper Canada, of which the lieutenant go- 
 
186 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 vernor is visitor, with a principal, five mas- 
 ters, and five teachers. This is a preparatory 
 school for the university about to be esta- 
 blished. 
 
 The Central, or National School of Up- 
 per Canada, on the principles of Bell and 
 Lancaster, the Infant School, and the Dis- 
 trict School, are also useful public institu- 
 tions ; and there is a Board of Education in 
 the city, for the supervision of the common 
 schools. 
 
 The private societies, or institutions, for 
 religious purposes, are very numerous. 
 
 The British North American Banking 
 Company, of London, with a capital of one 
 million sterling, have established an agency 
 here, which is likely to turn out a profitable 
 and very useful undertaking, and will have 
 the good effect of keeping the Bank of Up- 
 per Canada within due bounds, as well as of 
 checking the constant starting up of mush- 
 room institutions, without adequate capitals, 
 
BANKING. 
 
 187 
 
 five mas. 
 eparatory 
 > be esta- 
 
 3l of Up. 
 Bell and 
 the Dis- 
 c institu. 
 leation in 
 i common 
 
 tions, for 
 
 )US. 
 
 Banking 
 al of one 
 ti agency 
 )rofitable 
 vill have 
 k of Up. 
 i^ell as of 
 )f mush, 
 capitals, 
 
 and which usually are either made up for 
 political purposes, or are mere speculations, 
 ending fatally for the stockholders. 
 
 Investment in this bank, in that of Upper 
 Canada, where the Government is a large 
 shareholder, or in the Bank of the Midland 
 District, which has a respectable branch in 
 this city, may be considered as safe as such 
 investments generally are. The legal in- 
 terest is six per cent. ; but the Bank of 
 Upper Canada has usually paid eight, in the 
 wav of bonus, and has at all times made a 
 dividend which is almost incredible. All 
 these banks would find it to their advantage 
 to be more liberal in discounting good British 
 bills, which are, at present, chiefly negotiated 
 by the importing merchants. 
 
 Very few, howeve**, of the merchants of 
 Upper Canada, import direct from Britain, 
 but are generally agents only of British 
 houses, or of houses at Montreal. This 
 arises from want of pecuniary accommoda- 
 tion in the banking systems, as well as from 
 
188 
 
 MODE OF LIVING. 
 
 the natural poverty of a new countrj-. The 
 scale of commerce is gradually extending ; 
 and, could goods be delivered at a sea-port 
 belonging to Upper Canada, or be permitted 
 transit through the states from New York 
 at a moderate charge, there would soon bo 
 customers and sellers enough to make the 
 Upper Canada trade attract men of capital. 
 
 You can procure all the necessaries, and 
 most of the luxuries of life, on compara- 
 tively easy terms at Toronto. Wines and 
 groceries are not high ; and the dinner-table 
 may be set out as richly and as well as at 
 New York, excepting only in pine-apples and 
 other tropical fruits, and in the summer the 
 luxury of ice. In the fall of the year, and in 
 winter, cod, oysters, lobsters, and other fish 
 are brought to Toronto in a fresh state, or 
 frozen, such is the rapidity of transport by 
 the canals, railroads, or on the snow. 
 
 An income of about a thousand or fifteen 
 hundred a-year enables the official, or the 
 private person, to assume some state. He 
 
AMERICAN OSTENTATION. 
 
 189 
 
 can keep his carriage, horses, and necessary 
 servants, and entertain in a stvlc, which in 
 England no man under double that income 
 would attempt ; and such is the eagerness 
 to vie with the gentry at home, that it is to 
 be feared many worthy people sacrifice, as 
 they do in the States, much of their pros- 
 pects, for the sake of having it said that 
 their dinners are better than such a person's 
 in a circle one degree higher than them- 
 selves. 
 
 An American author, I forget who, well 
 observe?, that the English are not ashamed 
 to own that they cannot afford to do so and 
 so ; whilst the American gentleman toils all 
 day, in order to establish his family in a 
 richly.furnished house, and to spend his in- 
 come in vying with the class of neighbours 
 among whom he moves. 
 
 Large fortunes in business, or land, are 
 however more common in the older portions 
 of the United States than is supposed ; and 
 luxury is carried in some of the towns to a 
 
190 
 
 OFFICIAL INCOMES. 
 
 greater extent. But in Upper Canada there 
 is, as yet, no such thing as a large fortune ; 
 all the people are as new as their country ; 
 and although the early settlers, who were 
 fortunate enough to obtain office or to make 
 money, were able to obtain or purchase im^ 
 mense tracts of land almost for nothing, yot 
 that land has never, nor will it for many 
 years, yield large revenues ; whilst from in- 
 crease of family claims, and the increase of 
 all articles in value, in consequence of the 
 country filling with po])ulation, the land of 
 the great holders of it has been diminished 
 by their urgent wants. 
 
 The highest official income in Upper 
 Canada is that of the chief-justice, which 
 may be about £2000, whilst those of the 
 first rank seldom reach more than £1000. 
 A private person, with £1200 a-year, is 
 reckoned very rich, and it is doubtful whe- 
 ther there are many who can regularly com- 
 mand that income from any source. 
 
 Several of the wealthy members of society 
 
TRICE OF LAND. 
 
 191 
 
 arc persons originally belonging to the civil 
 branches of the army, or who held office 
 under the first governors ; and those who 
 ^-ere fortunate enough to obtain grants of 
 lanv., or get them at the rates they first sold 
 for when York was a paltry village, are now 
 the magnates of Toronto. Land, which 
 then would scarcely fetch a dollar, or five 
 shillings, an acre, is now worth, in some 
 situations, almost as many thousand pounds. 
 The Canada Land Company, of which 
 hereafter, has its principal office at Toronto. 
 As it is to be expected that, before this 
 work can go to press, the union of the 
 Canadas will have taken place, I shall for 
 the present abstain from further discussion 
 of Canadian politics. In the meantime, these 
 details may be so far useful, that they will 
 show what Upper Canada was before that 
 union. 
 
192 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NIAGARA, OR NEWARK. 
 
 An Excursion across Ontario^Splendid Steam--,hii)s — Foam 
 of the Falls — American and British Forts— The Town of 
 Niagara — ^Velland Canal— A Bhinder — Proiessional Pre- 
 judices — Civil Engineering in Canada — System of givinc 
 False Estimates — A Bridge projected across the Niagara— 
 A Board of ^V'orks necessary — The Docks and Maint 
 Railway — Cheapness of Provisions at Niagara — Extraoi • 
 nary Difference of Seasons at Niagara— Fruits and Vegeta- 
 bles of Upper Canada— Climate and Soil— Diary of c 
 Winter at Kingston, Upper Canada — The Queenstowu 
 Falls of the St. Lawrence— The Hero, Brock— The Spot 
 where he fell — Outrage committed on his Monument. 
 
 When I determined to compose this work, 
 I set out on my mental travels with a tho- 
 rough hobbv-horse intention to make the 
 
 CD t/ 
 
 country I described as easy as possible to 
 my own seat in the saddle ; and, as I 
 
STEAM-UOAT TRIP, 
 
 193 
 
 as I did not intend to fatigue myself unne- 
 cessarily, I was as little desirous of fati'ruin<r 
 my reader. I could not indeed, as Sterne 
 (lid, get up into a vehicle standing quietly 
 in the remise, and try how I should dream 
 away my likings or dislikings ; hut I felt 
 assured that, by intermixing personal luir- 
 rative with the more dry and less interesting 
 details, we should be able to jog alon"- to«>e- 
 ther pretty smoothly. 
 
 We will, therefore, leave Toronto for 
 awhile — its politics, religious differences, 
 and statistics — for a steam-boat trip across 
 Lake Ontario, in the splendid steamino- 
 sea-boat, the Transit, Captain Richardson, 
 master, which leaves the citv everv mornin<r 
 at seven o'clock, and drops you either at Fort 
 George, Queenston, or on the American 
 frontier at Lewiston ; thus enablino- you to 
 go up the mighty river of Niagara about 
 seven miles of its course, or one half of the 
 way towards the Falls. 
 
 If you go in summer, or, in fact, in any 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
0)1 
 
 APPUOACII TO TIIK FALLS. 
 
 season, exceptintr very early in the spring 
 or late in the fall, you will liave a pleasant 
 passage ; and as the lake is sekloni at rest 
 here, and it is a thirty-six miles journey, 
 you lose si<»ht of land, perhaps, whilst you 
 see in the sky ahove, at an enormous dis- 
 tance (as the mariner views Popocatepetrs, 
 or Orizaba's snowy top, when approach in <i[ 
 the shores of Mexico), the white foam or 
 niistv cloud of the mi^htv Fall. 
 
 The passage takes usually three and a-half 
 hours to Fort George, which is close to the 
 town of Newark, or Niagara ; and in ap- 
 proaching the exit us of the river at five 
 miles distance, and even more, the differ- 
 ence of colour between the greenish-blue 
 waters of Ontario, and of the disturbed 
 Niagara, is marked by a distinct line, where 
 the shoals below end, and where, of course, 
 the current of the flood is turned downwards 
 towards the natural declination of the rapid 
 waters of Lake Ontario. 
 
 On ncaring the land, the estuary of the 
 
TOWN OF NIAGAIIA. 
 
 lO^i 
 
 rivor narrows to about half a mile, and on 
 out' bank is the United States Fort, Niai-ara. 
 l)eiii<r the old French work modernized and 
 well white- washed, with a lighthouse or lant- 
 horn on the top of a lange of arched bar- 
 racks. On the other side are the ruins of 
 Fort George and Fort iMississagua ; the 
 former an old earth work, thrown up durino- 
 the war ; the latter an attempt at a Martello 
 rower, erected also in a hurry, to suit the 
 uxio'cncies of the occasion. 
 
 Between these British forts is the town 
 of Niagara, a pretty, neat, and clean vil- 
 lage, laid out in parallelograms and wide 
 streets, as at Toronto, with an English, a 
 Scotch, and a Roman Catholic church, meet- 
 ing-houses, market-place, town-hall, court- 
 house, jail, and barracks. Niagara was, as 
 is well known, burnt during the war, and 
 with difficulty rose from its ruins. It now 
 promises more fairly than of late years 
 to becomo a place of some importance, 
 
 K 2 
 
196 
 
 THE WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 which its natural advantages should enable 
 it to do. 
 
 At the confluence of the great river Nia- 
 gara with Lake Ontario should have been 
 the termination, or at least the principal 
 one, of the Welland Canal, which is at pre- 
 sent an abortive attempt to connect the two 
 oreat lakes with the far west. I shall sav 
 very little of this job, which might have been 
 made a grand national source of revenue and 
 wealth ; instead of which it is a mere ditch, 
 lined with wooden locks, and its principal 
 powers are wasted in securing profitable mill 
 sites, or as they are called in the language 
 of the country, water privileges. 
 
 I remember being examined as a witness 
 before a very respectable Niagara jury, about 
 the merits of the branch of this canal which 
 it was proposed to bring to Niagara, as it 
 ought to have been brought at first ; and to 
 show the improbability of a fortunate termi- 
 nation to this interminable job, unless the 
 
THE WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 197 
 
 government takes it up on the just and broad 
 principle of making it a national work, to 
 secure the transit of commerce from the 
 ocean to the Mississipi.* 
 
 The barrister who examined me on the 
 part of the defendants, 1 being a witness for 
 the plaintiff, was the person who chiefly em- 
 ployed the plaintiff^, a civil engineer, in sur- 
 veying, planning, and estimating the branch 
 canal to the town of Niagara. 
 
 This barrister waited upon me just pre- 
 viously to my recent voyage to England, to 
 request me, on the part of the inhabitants, 
 to take a petition to the home government, 
 to endeavour to interest the minister in for- 
 warding the objects of the branch ; and in 
 order to account for his selecting me, I must 
 explain, that I had been consulted as to the 
 choice of route for the canal, and the ap- 
 pointment of the plaintiff, the civil engineer, 
 whose plans, &c. were given me to take 
 home, to elucidate the work proposed. 
 
 * Lord Sydenham has lately turned his attention to this. 
 
* '.'A 
 
 198 
 
 DISPUTED CLAIM. 
 
 I took these documents, and, bv order ot 
 the local government, also took the petition, 
 which was favourablv received. 
 
 A few days after my return the plaintiff 
 called on me, and said that he was afraid 
 he must trouble me for my evidence in 
 court, to prove that he had been employed 
 as above stated, and that his charges were 
 rensonable. He had surveyed a country pre- 
 senting much difficulty, had formed plans, 
 reports, and estimates amounting to upwards 
 of £250,000, which had been highly ap- 
 proved of by the barrister and those con- 
 cerned, and they now refused to pay him, 
 because, in consequence of the fiscal diffi- 
 culties of the province, the necessary funds 
 for the construction of the canal could not be 
 raised. His charge was about £30, and he 
 had been paid about £40 for himself, his 
 labourers, assistants, plans, estimates, and 
 all, or at the rate of about a guinea a day. 
 
 The argument of the counsel, himself 
 the most interested of all the parties, was, 
 
DISPUTED CLAIM. 
 
 199 
 
 that I had concocted a grand ship canal 
 scheme with the civil engineer, and that I 
 ought to pay for it. They only wanted a 
 canal like the present Welland. And this 
 argument the learned counsel pursued for 
 several hours, with all the twistings and 
 mystifications he could throw over it, after 
 it had been printed and sent forth to the 
 parliament and the public with his name, 
 that the ^^ plot was a good plot, an excellent 
 good plot." The plot, however, I had unfor- 
 tunately been guiltless of, for it was con- 
 cocted by the civil engineer himself, who very 
 naturally took the w^orks of the St. Lawrence 
 canal, then in operation, and a part of the 
 chain of communication, as his guide. The 
 jury, of course, gave a verdict for the plain- 
 tiff, with some addition. 
 
 The public must not, however, judge by 
 this, that civil engineers are always so treated 
 in Upper Canada. They arc well paid on 
 the provincial works, a person on the Wel- 
 land canal so employed having proved that 
 
200 
 
 AMERICAN ENGINEERS. 
 
 he received ten dollars, or two pounds ten 
 shillings a day. 
 
 The misfortune is that there is a stronnj 
 belief prevalent in the country, that men of 
 talent cannot be had without sendin<>' to the 
 neighbouring states for them ; and the con- 
 sequence is, that people who know nothing 
 of the profession, but perfectly understand 
 the art of making wooden nutmegs, get the 
 work, and do it accordingly. 
 
 In the great St. Lawrence canal, a work 
 of the first class, no person could be selected 
 but an American engineer, certainlv a com- 
 petent one, and his immense salary is thus 
 lost to the province. So with the Huron and 
 Ontario railroad ; so with the Erie railroad 
 near Chippewa ; and so, in fact, with every 
 thing of the same kind. This disheartens 
 persons from the old country, and prevents 
 young men of the province from studying 
 the profession. 
 
 As I write this work to do all the good it 
 can, I shall just touch upon another subject 
 
FALSE ESTIMATES. 
 
 '201 
 
 connected with public works ; namely, the 
 system of forming very low estimates, to be 
 laid before the Assembly, in order to get 
 the work done, as started by private or 
 public companies. Of this nature was the 
 grand and mafi^nificent idea of throwing a 
 suspension-bridge across the Niagara liiver, 
 at the tremendous gorge near Queci ton ; 
 an undertaking equal in utility and grandeur 
 to the Menai Bridge, and calculated to con- 
 nect the frontiers of Canada and the United 
 States. Five thousand pounds were at first, 
 stated to the parliament to be a sufficient 
 sum for this work ! 
 
 It is to be hoped that a better system will 
 gain ground, and that a Board of Works, or 
 some other public control, will be instituted, 
 to correct the estimates and plans of joint- 
 stock companies, to overlook the execution, 
 and to place the formation, of canals, roads, 
 bridges, and public works generally, under 
 the guardianship of rigid economy and effi- 
 cient regulation. 
 
' ; r 
 
 202 
 
 USE OF PRIVILEGE. 
 
 Having thus glanced at the subject of 
 public works, it may not be amiss to notice 
 an undertaking at Niagara, by which the 
 town would have benefited a great deal 
 more, had its original intention been carried 
 out. Certain of the inhabitants, seeing the 
 difficulties which all vessels on the lake had 
 to contend against when requiring repair, 
 on account of the want of docks and good 
 harbours, petitioned the government to allot 
 them a large slice of the military reserve, 
 bordering on the estuary of the river, to 
 enable them, as a joint-stock company, to 
 excavate docks, and make marine railways. 
 
 No sooner did they obtain the ground, 
 than the docks and railways were formed on 
 about a fourth of its surface ; and although 
 not a word was mentioned in their charter, 
 or contemplated by the government, about 
 any thing else than the necessary appendages 
 of a dockyard, they commenced laying out 
 the rest in a sort of village, or New Wapping; 
 thus marring the utility of the liberal grant. 
 
DOCKS AT NIAGARA. 
 
 •■^OS 
 
 in order to secure profit to the stock-holders, 
 bv a mode which no lawyer could have 
 dreamed of in drawing up their charter. 
 
 It is a pity such things are done, as it 
 tends to evil in a variety of forms, and will 
 create litigation hereafter : whilst it renders 
 those, who have the power of doing good, 
 suspicious. 
 
 To do justice, however, to the originatcjrs 
 of the scheme, the docks, warehouses, and 
 wharfs are very well laid out, and of in- 
 finite service to the trade and navigation of 
 the lake. The foundrv is an admirable one, 
 
 a/ 
 
 and capable of supplying brass and iron 
 work to any extent required; whilst the 
 inclined plane, or marine railway, to haul 
 up the largest vessels, is an excellent work, 
 moved by steam. The only fault 1 observed 
 was, that the chain is unnecessarily heavy 
 and expensive, that at Kingston being like 
 a ladv's necklace in comparison to it, and 
 answering the same purpose. 
 
 The town of Niagara has very little else 
 
'204 
 
 CLniATE. 
 
 remarkable about it. Its pure air, clean- 
 liness, and appearance of comfort, with the 
 cheapness of its market, which is a third 
 less than that at Toronto, are its chief 
 recommendations. 
 
 The difference in climate between Nia- 
 gara and Toronto, although only thirty-six 
 miles distant from each other, and with but 
 little in latitude, is remarkable. The sea- 
 sons at Niagara are full three weeks earlier 
 and later than at the capital. Peaches and 
 quinces, which grow in the fields by the 
 side of the road, will not come to maturity 
 at Toronto ; and there is even some diffi- 
 culty in getting the trees to grow. The 
 severe w^inter of 1836 killed standards in 
 my garden in that city, which had been 
 thriving for fifteen years, as I have been 
 told. In 1835, I had one fine peach nearly 
 ripe ; but it is very unusual to obtain them, 
 although with great care thcv have been 
 brought to that state, but not of late 
 
 vears. 
 
FRUITS OF CANADA. 
 
 205 
 
 clean- 
 ith the 
 I third 
 ; chief 
 
 1 Nia- 
 rty-six 
 ith but 
 le sea- 
 earlier 
 3S and 
 >y the 
 ituritv 
 s diffi- 
 
 Thc 
 rds in 
 
 been 
 
 been 
 learly 
 them, 
 
 been 
 late 
 
 The fences of the fields, called snake 
 fences, from their zigzag form, arc planted 
 with these fruits in the Niagara district, as 
 well as with cherries. Apple- orchards arc 
 as abundant as corn-fields, no farm being 
 without one or two large ones ; but it does 
 not appear to me that the pear, the plum, 
 the apricot, or the nectarine come to any per- 
 fection, — probably from want of care only. 
 
 In my garden, before mentioned, I had 
 the following varieties of fruit, from which 
 the customary gifts of Pomona, in Upper 
 Canada, in favourable situations, may be 
 inferred: — Of apples, the golden pippin, not 
 so good as in England, but healthier ; the 
 pomme-de-neige, a ruddy-streaked apple, 
 with white flesh, and very sweet and plea- 
 sant, but which will not keep long, and 
 hence its name ; the snow -apple, keeping 
 sound only until winter snows ; the bou- 
 rassou, a russet and highly-flavoured keep- 
 ing apple ; the pomme-gris, or grey apple, 
 also excellent : with manv other varieties of 
 
20i) 
 
 MIL ITS OF CANADA. 
 
 inferior kinds, such as codlings, little red- 
 streaks, &c. 
 
 The pears wore of two kinds, one the 
 little early yellow, and the other a small 
 hard one, but neither oood. 
 
 Of plums, there were the greengage, and 
 iigg plum, the buUace, the common blue and 
 the common yellow plum, but none of them 
 possessing the taste of those in France or 
 England, and more fit for preserves than for 
 the table. 
 
 Of grapes I had only the Isabella, and 
 these were not productive, requiring in this 
 climate great care and management. 
 
 Of cherries, the Kentish and the Morello ; 
 the sour Kentish is however the comnion 
 fruit of the country, and very little pains has 
 been taken to improve the stock. 
 
 Raspberries, red and white ; gooseberries, 
 larofe and small, rou^^h and smooth-skinned ; 
 the red, the white, and the black currant, 
 were in profusion, and yielded abundantly. 
 
 Of strawberries, there were several of the 
 
VEGETABLES OF CANADA. 
 
 ^207 
 
 ittlo red- 
 
 one tlu' 
 a small 
 
 ;age, and 
 blue and 
 
 of them 
 'ranee or 
 
 than for 
 
 ella, and 
 cr in this 
 
 t. 
 
 MorcUo ; 
 
 common 
 
 pains has 
 
 seberries, 
 skinned ; 
 currant, 
 idantlv. 
 ral of the 
 
 European varieties, but they have not the 
 rich flavour of their orioinals ; in fact, the 
 wild Canadian strawberry, thoui^h smaller, 
 is better, and makes a richer preserve. 
 
 Amongst the vegetables cultivated in the 
 garden, asparagus bore a very prominent 
 share, and thrives well in Canada, as do all 
 the eonmion English pot-herbs, and garden- 
 roots, and plants. Cucumbers and melons 
 raised in frames, or under matting, early in 
 April, may be put out in the open beds as 
 soon as the warm weather sets in; so also 
 may tomatos, which, with a little care at the 
 beginning, yield a most luxuriahc crop, and 
 make a preserve nearlv f'qual to guava jam. 
 
 The broad bean is rather difficult to rear, 
 as it is attacked by a grub, which also plays 
 sad havoc v/ith the common and water-me- 
 lons,, with cauliflowers, broccoli and cabbage, 
 if not watched. Celerv must be reared in 
 frames, or under cover, early, and then set 
 out, and is better for being twice transplanted, 
 the first time in a box. Indian corn requires 
 
'20H 
 
 DIlIEUEr.Ci: OF CLIMATE. 
 
 but little trouble; after it jL^ets over tbe enriv 
 frosts. Tlie ^inisol, or as it is called Jeru- 
 salem artieboke, orows freelv, and to a "rear 
 heiglit, but tbe artieboke proper I liivc 
 never seen cultivated in Ui)per Canada. 
 Broccoli and cauliflower require earlv 
 
 frames, and very great care to brini»- tbeni to 
 perfection. 
 
 Tbe only plausible explanation of tbe dif. 
 ference in climate between two places not 
 mucb more tban tbirty miles apart, consists 
 in tbe fact of tbe i)revalencc of soutbern 
 winds, wbicb baving' to pass over a mass of 
 cbillcd water in tbe spring and fall, retard 
 tbat of Toronto, and tbe nortbern sliorcs of 
 Ontario. Tbe soil being too sandy at Nia- 
 gara, is better adapted to receive tbe solar 
 beat tban tbat at Toronto, wbicb is a 
 muddy clay, until tbe country rises into 
 tbe interior, wberc tbe sandv ri(kes bavo 
 a^ain a climate scmewbat resembling- tbat of 
 Fort George, but not quite so early. 
 
 Snow seldom remains on tbe ground at 
 
CLIMATE. 
 
 209 
 
 Toronto. In five years I ohscrvcd but two 
 sovon; vvint(M's, those of 183.5 and 183(), 
 ill which sleighs could be used ; whilst at 
 Nitinara the snow lies better, and thus 
 i"ovcrin<>- the soil with its protecting mantle, 
 renders vegetation tlie more rapid in the 
 spring. There are very few days, however, 
 at (^ither place, in which a person in good 
 hv'alth mav not use out of door exercise ; in 
 fact, onlv a few hours durin*' the winter, 
 in which the mercury stands so much below 
 zero, with a keen cutting wind, as to render 
 the air painfully cold. 
 
 The winter roads are, of course, the best ; 
 and wherever they traverse the forest, remain 
 f^enerally good from the middle of November 
 to the end of March, or middle of April. 
 
 I subjoin a diary of the weather, carefully 
 kept in the Royal Engineer's office at Kings- 
 ton, in the years 1825 and 182G, to show 
 the climate of an Upper Canadian winter. 
 
210 
 
 CLIMATE OF 
 
 KINGSTON, UPPER CANADA, 1825 and 182G. 
 (Fahrenheit's) N.W. Exposure in the Open Air. 
 
 1825 
 Nov. 
 
 Dec 
 
 If) 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 30 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 40 
 22 
 21 
 
 38 
 
 38 
 
 32 
 
 27 
 
 29. 
 
 26 
 
 28 
 
 42 
 
 40 
 
 37 
 
 32 
 
 29 
 
 26 
 
 32 
 
 31 
 
 11 
 
 40 
 5 
 
 19 
 - 4 
 -19 
 
 26 
 
 39 
 
 38 
 
 40 
 
 30 
 
 36 
 
 29 
 44 
 27 
 30 
 43 
 42 
 42 
 44 
 43 
 41 
 48 
 52 
 
 50 
 37 
 35 
 32 
 34 
 32 
 31 
 27 
 35 
 19 
 26 
 
 + ^ 
 
 - 6 
 
 30 
 41 
 47 
 41 
 34 
 38 
 
 O P.3I. 
 
 34 
 42 
 26 
 31 
 40 
 40 
 36 
 42 
 40 
 40 
 46 
 47 
 
 47 
 3() 
 32 
 32 
 32 
 34 
 24 
 26 
 26 
 23 
 20 
 - 3 
 . 2 
 32 
 40 
 46 
 40 
 36 
 32 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Snow last night, 4 in. 
 
 Rain. 
 
 Snow. 
 
 Snow. 
 
 Snow in the night. 
 Thaw- 
 Rain. 
 
UPPER CANADA. 
 
 211 
 
 and 1826, 
 len Air. 
 
 ARKS. 
 
 1 S2.5 
 ])ec. 
 
 ight, 4 in. 
 
 night. 
 
 •20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 
 24 
 25 
 
 2() 
 27 
 
 28 
 29 
 
 ;30 
 81 
 
 1826: 
 Jan. 1 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 lo 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 
 / AM. 
 
 22 
 17 
 
 - 4 
 25 
 37 
 21 
 23 
 12 
 IG 
 14 
 28 
 
 37 
 25 
 21 
 21 
 
 - 7 
 12 
 24 
 36 
 
 43 
 42 
 34 
 32 
 29 
 24 
 22 
 20 
 25 
 18 
 19 
 12 
 16 
 15 
 31 
 28 
 o 
 
 12 
 
 p.:.i. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 29 
 
 24 
 
 4" i) 
 
 + -3 
 32 
 
 39 
 22 
 31 
 21 
 21 
 21 
 32 
 
 38 
 28 
 32 
 22 
 + 8 
 20 
 33 
 41 
 
 47 
 50 
 37 
 32 
 36 
 22 
 30 
 19 
 30 
 36 
 27 
 17 
 28 
 29 
 36 
 34 
 5 
 
 24 
 22 
 
 +"7 
 + 13 
 32 
 39 
 ]6 
 35 
 21 
 17 
 23 
 33 
 
 35 
 16 
 30 
 
 16 
 
 + 11 
 22 
 
 35 
 
 41 
 
 45 
 45 
 38 
 29 
 32 
 20 
 25 
 ]5 
 27 
 29 
 25 
 20 
 24 
 28 
 32 
 24 
 11 
 
 Rain. 
 
 Very heavy fog, witi) 
 rain. 
 Rain and foggy. 
 
 Snow. 
 
 Snow. 
 
212 
 
 CLIMATE OF 
 
 1826: 
 Jan. 20 
 27 
 
 28 
 29 
 
 30 
 31 
 
 Feb. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 
 / A.M. 
 
 — •> 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 + 17 
 
 + 12 
 -24 
 
 -26 
 
 + « 
 + 10 
 
 + 11 
 +29 
 
 +27 
 
 +28 
 
 +30 
 
 - 
 
 +29 
 +33 
 +30 
 
 + 
 + 11 
 
 - 7 
 
 16 i+12 
 
 17 1+ 1 
 
 12 31. 
 
 + 8 
 25 
 34 
 
 +20 
 
 +22 
 -12 
 
 + 4 
 
 + 10 
 + 14 
 +20 
 +34 
 +34 
 +41 
 +28 
 +20 
 
 +42 
 +29 
 +38 
 +23 
 +28 
 +21 
 
 +28 
 +25 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 + 7 
 27 
 34 
 
 +12 
 
 + 17 
 — 10 
 
 + 9 
 
 + 11 
 + 12 
 +23 
 +25 
 +28 
 +37 
 + 18 
 +20 
 
 +38 
 +23 
 +33 
 + 19 
 
 + 18 
 + 17 
 
 +23 
 + 19 
 
 — 3 between 8 and 9 
 
 P.M. 
 
 A difference of 41" in 
 14 h. 
 
 Snow at 3 a.m. — 30, 
 (A difference of 30" in 
 5h). 
 
 A difference of 26" in 
 5h. 
 
 Snow. 
 
 A difference of 28° in 
 5h. 
 I 
 
 I A difference of 24" in 
 '5h. 
 
 18 
 
 + 10 
 
 +28 
 
 +22 
 
 
 19 +14 
 
 +34 
 
 +21 
 
 
 20 + 9 
 
 i 
 
 +36 
 
 +34 
 
 A difference of 27° in 
 5h. 
 
 21 +34 
 
 +38 
 
 +36 
 
 
 22 
 
 + 16 
 
 +21 
 
 +21 
 
 
 23 
 
 + 5 
 
 +30 
 
 +34 
 
 A difference of 25° in 
 5 h. 
 
 24 
 
 +25 
 
 +40 
 
 +34 
 
 
 25 
 
 +45 
 
 +46 
 
 +46 
 
 
UPPER CANADA. 
 
 213 
 
 in 8 and y 
 
 ce of 26'' in 
 
 ze of 28° in 
 }e of 24" in 
 
 ;e of 25° in 
 
 
 7 A.M. 
 
 12 .M. 
 
 5 I'.M. 
 
 Hemakks. 
 
 1826: 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 +34 
 
 +37 
 
 +30 
 
 
 27 
 
 +20 
 
 +28 
 
 +26 
 
 
 28 
 
 +22 
 
 +31 
 
 +32 
 
 
 March 1 
 
 +22 
 
 +36 
 
 +36 
 
 
 2 
 
 +33 
 
 +39 
 
 +38 
 
 
 3 
 
 +34 
 
 +40 
 
 +41 
 
 
 4 
 
 +36 
 
 +38 
 
 +39 
 
 
 5 
 
 +35 
 
 +41 
 
 +37 
 
 
 6 
 
 +32 
 
 +30 
 
 +31 
 
 
 7 
 
 +22 
 
 +36 
 
 4:36 
 
 
 8 
 
 +34 
 
 +38 
 
 +36 
 
 
 9 
 
 +39 
 
 +45 
 
 +39 
 
 
 10 
 
 +37 
 
 +46 
 
 +40 
 
 
 11 
 
 +25 
 
 +33 
 
 +32 
 
 
 12 
 
 +25 
 
 +38 
 
 +43 
 
 
 13 
 
 +32 
 
 +40 
 
 +36 
 
 
 14 
 
 + 16 
 
 +30 
 
 +35 
 
 
 15 
 
 + 17 
 
 +41 
 
 +42 
 
 A difference of 24 in 
 
 16 
 
 +31 
 
 +32 
 
 +20 
 
 5 h. 
 
 17 
 
 + 10 
 
 +23 
 
 +30 
 
 
 18 
 
 + 11 
 
 +28 
 
 +25 
 
 
 19 
 
 +22 
 
 +26 
 
 +22 
 
 
 20 
 
 +33 
 
 +41 
 
 +37 
 
 
 21 
 
 +33 
 
 +33 
 
 +38 
 
 
 22 
 
 +25 
 
 +45 
 
 +44 
 
 
 23 
 
 34 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 
 24 
 
 55 
 
 56 
 
 43 
 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 36 
 
 30 
 
 
 26 
 
 20 
 
 2M 
 
 29 
 
 
 27 
 
 14 
 
 28 
 
 36 
 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 42 
 
 34 
 
 
 29 
 
 32 
 
 38 
 
 34 
 
 
 30 
 
 15 
 
 28 
 
 36 
 
 
 31 
 
 21 
 
 35 
 
 48 
 
 
 April 1 
 
 32 
 
 48 
 
 54 
 
 
 2 
 
 32 
 
 46 
 
 39 
 
 
 3 
 
 26 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 
 4 
 
 32 
 
 46 
 
 55 
 
 
, l-J 
 
 li^ 
 
 
 CLIMATE TABLE. 
 
 
 7 A.M. 
 
 12 M. 
 
 5 P.M. 
 
 Rkmaiiks. 
 
 182G: 
 
 
 
 
 
 April 5 
 
 34 
 
 47 
 
 44 
 
 
 <5 
 
 32 
 
 36 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 37 
 
 44 
 
 
 8 
 
 29 
 
 41 
 
 44 
 
 
 9 
 
 41 
 
 47 
 
 48 
 
 
 10 
 
 27 
 
 34 
 
 32 
 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 22 
 
 27 
 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 33 
 
 36 
 
 
 13 
 
 32 
 
 45 
 
 49 
 
 
 14 
 
 42 
 
 48 
 
 54 
 
 
 15 
 
 37 
 
 5G 
 
 64 
 
 
 16 
 
 48 
 
 51 
 
 46 
 
 
 17 
 
 44 
 
 52 
 
 54 
 
 
 18 
 
 43 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 A difference of 2V' n 
 
 19 
 
 43 
 
 51 
 
 53 
 
 5h. and <it 2 a.m. 78 . 
 
 20 
 
 37 
 
 42 
 
 43 
 
 
 21 
 
 34 
 
 38 
 
 36 
 
 
 22 
 
 30 
 
 38 
 
 45 
 
 
 23 
 
 34 
 
 46 
 
 53 
 
 
 24 
 
 36 
 
 39 
 
 39 
 
 
 2,5 
 
 39 
 
 48 
 
 52 
 
 
 26 
 
 40 
 
 59 
 
 49 
 
 
 27 
 
 41 
 
 58 
 
 52 
 
 
 2S 
 
 29 
 
 58 
 
 51 
 
 
 29 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 57 
 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 48 
 
 53 
 
 
 May 1 
 
 41 
 
 5o 
 
 54 
 
 
 2 
 
 54 
 
 72 
 
 75 
 
 
 3 
 
 64 
 
 63 
 
 69 
 
 
 4 
 
 53 
 
 m 
 
 83 
 
 A diff. of 30 in loh. 
 
 5 
 
 50 
 
 58 
 
 65 
 
 
 6 
 
 44 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 
 7 
 
 45 
 
 51 
 
 51 
 
 
 8 
 
 42 
 
 56 
 
 64 
 
 
 9 
 
 47 
 
 61 
 
 70 
 
 
 10 
 
 51 
 
 67 
 
 76 
 
 
 11 
 
 51 
 
 Q5 
 
 70 
 
 
 12 
 
 52 
 
 m 
 
 72 
 
 
 Xe 
 
 Xii 
 or 
 stei 
 the 
 ;inc 
 the 
 the 
 wal 
 ver 
 ful 
 wid 
 will 
 the 
 rus] 
 cess 
 witl 
 wh( 
 hol( 
 pen 
 I 
 
QUEENSTON RAPIDS. 
 
 215 
 
 A short journey of seven miles from 
 Xewark, or, as it is now generally termed, 
 Niagara, takes you, either bv the stcam-boat 
 or coaeh, to Queens ton. By the former you 
 stem this beautiful and rapid stream, having 
 the most delightful scenery on either shore, 
 and come suddenly, near Queenston, under 
 the shadow of the rocky barrier w^hich 
 there hems in the mighty river, with a 
 wall of rock almost perpendicular, and se- 
 vered, as if by an earthquake, into a dread- 
 ful chasm, only five or six hundred feet in 
 width, up which neither steam, sail, nor oar 
 will ever navigate ; for, from Queenston to 
 the Falls, seven miles more, the angry river 
 rushes between these aged walls, in a suc- 
 cession of rapids, whirlpools, and rushings, 
 without affording even a continuous edge, 
 whereon the human foot may tread, to be- 
 hold these mysterious strugglings of the 
 pent-up Father of Rivers. 
 If you go by stage to Queenston and the 
 
216 
 
 GRAVE OF BROCK. 
 
 Falls, almost the whole line of journcv, fur 
 fourteen miles, reminds you of dear En^r. 
 land, being a succession of fine fields, farms, 
 and orchards, interspersed with noble groves 
 of chestnut, whose dark foliage adds subli- 
 mity to the swift and deep current that rolls, 
 in ceaseless course, so frequently within 
 your view, for the first seven miles of the 
 journey. 
 
 It is worth while to stop at Queenston, 
 and, having scaled the mountain, as it is 
 called, which is exactly three hundred and 
 forty-six feet above the Niagara, to mount 
 the lofty monument, under which Brock, 
 and M*Donell, his aid-de-camp, repose. 
 From this lofty station, a panoramic view 
 of a most singular kind is obtained, the 
 eye ranging for miles over forest and fell, 
 over mountain, towns, and river, and over 
 the broad and unlimited expanse of the 
 blue Ontario. Beneath you, at the back of 
 the village of Queenston, and under the 
 
MONUMENT OF BROCK. 
 
 217 
 
 heights, is a meadow with a solitary tree; 
 here fell Brock, in the arms of Victory.* 
 
 * Some scoundrels blew up this noble monument lately ; 
 but the militia of Upper Canada, assisted by those of Nova 
 Scotia and New Brunswick, have subscribed a princely sum 
 for its re-edification. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
SIS 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FALLS O^^ NIAGARA. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson at the Falls of Niagara — Do they run upwards ? 
 —The German School—Its inordinate Expectations— The 
 Falls from various points of view— How to approach them 
 —The Horse-shoe Fall-The Rainbow Rock— The Caul- 
 dron — Freischutz Scene — The Great Fall — Projected 
 Bridge across— an Eighth Wonder of the "\Forl J— Descent 
 of the Precipice — American Curiosity — Indescribable 
 (irandeur of the View into the Cauldron— The Great Fall 
 from the Sturgeon Rocks— A Newfoundland Dog in the 
 Falls— Singular Diving Bird — The Falls fron: above the 
 Cauldron. 
 
 I CONSIDER it fortunate that I have before 
 my eyes the little work recently published by 
 Mrs. Jameson, y'clept ** Winter Studies and 
 Summer Rambles," in which that lady, 
 f,afted as she undoubtedly is, calls herself an 
 
MRS. JAMESON. 
 
 219 
 
 ass-head, a clod, a wooden spoon, a fat weed 
 growing on Lethe's banks, a stock, a stone, 
 a petrifaction — because she had seen Nia- 
 gara, the wonder of wonders, and felt — no 
 words can tell what disappointment. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson made a hurried visit to the 
 Falls in the depth of winter, when it was 
 dangerous to tread on the ice-covered preci- 
 pice, and when all the roads and the paths 
 were unexplorable, even by so ardent an 
 admirer of nature. 
 
 I recollect a story, current at the Falls, 
 of a person who expressed great disappoint- 
 ment on seeing them ; and some one asked 
 him if he expected them to run upwards ! 
 Mrs. Jameson should have visited them in 
 summer, or in autumn ; and even then she 
 would have found it difficult to obtain some 
 of the best views, which require the more 
 robust frame of the male sex to attain, and 
 involve some little personal danger. J am 
 afraid, too, that her preconceived notions 
 were fatal to the possibility of forming a just 
 
 L 2 
 
2^20 
 
 Tin: GERMAN SCHOOL. 
 
 o})iiiion ; for, altliouo'li she is an adept in 
 painting, she is also an adept in Ciermanic 
 lore ; and 1 have ever found that the 
 strongest minds, and those otherwise ori- 
 ginally imbued with the strongest sense of 
 the beauties and awfulness of visible nature, 
 are the most apt in leaning, afterw^ards, to 
 the mysticism and false philosophy of the 
 Almain school, to view visible nature in a 
 new light, and to expect impossibilities 
 where probabilities only exist. 
 
 Much as I admire the works of my god- 
 father Fuseli, as abounding in uncontrollable 
 genius and sublimity, I would a thousand 
 times rather he had never turned his 
 thoughts towards the insubstantial pageants 
 he depicted, and that he had contented him- 
 self with being the second Greek scholar, 
 and the best Shakspearian, in England, than 
 of having founded a Germanized mystic 
 school of painting. I abominate Fridolin 
 and the Furnace in poetry, as much as I 
 do the Nightmare of my dear departed 
 
FALLS OF NIAGARA. 
 
 QQl 
 
 painter, and both, because they arc cut of 
 the ordinary course of nature, and have not 
 even probability to recommend them. 
 
 It appears to me, that a true worshipper 
 of nature can never fancy that Niagara is to 
 be seen pouring out of a cloud, of rainbow 
 hue, surrounded by thick darkness, a mile 
 or two above his head ; or that he is to be 
 shaken off his feet by the seesawing of the 
 earth under the Falls, or deafened irremedi- 
 ably by the roar of the waters. A storm at 
 sea, or a good half-hurricane, near the gulph- 
 stream, in the month of August, cures you 
 of this nonsense, and is as superior to 
 Niagara in terror, sublimity, sound, and 
 awfulness, as Niagara is to any other earthly 
 scene. 
 
 Ai d am I, after this peroration, to enter 
 the lists with the charming authoress above- 
 named, and to combat her recorded opinion 
 a routrance ? Well, be it so j and the only 
 excuse I shall offer for writing on this much- 
 
222 
 
 now TO SEE THE FALLS. 
 
 worn subject is, that I have resided at the 
 Falls for many months, and for four years 
 have had constant opportunities of viewing' 
 them under every aspect ; and I shall now 
 give my ideas respecting these wonderful 
 creations, as they strike me at this moment, 
 from my memoranda made on the spot. 
 
 Traveller, if you go to sec Niagara, go in 
 the summer, or in autumn. If you go there 
 from the United States, stop in Manchester; 
 shut your eyes until the ferryman lands you 
 on the British side at Clifton House ; then 
 let them drink in their fill of the American 
 Fall. If you go from Quebec, Montreal, 
 Kingston, or Toronto, stop at Lundy's-lane, 
 and see the battle-ground ; then go down 
 the lane, bordered with black chestnut-trees ; 
 and stop alyo at the Clifton House precipice, 
 and there muse upon the straight curtain of 
 cloudy foam before you. 
 
 After seeing the American Fall, then 
 walk to the British Niagara, to the Horse- 
 
WONDEIIS OF NIAGARA. 
 
 'Z'ZS 
 
 (I at the 
 ur years 
 vicwinir 
 hall now 
 ondcrfiil 
 moment, 
 
 30t. 
 
 ra, (TO in 
 (TO there 
 [Chester; 
 mds you 
 30 ; then 
 imerican 
 lontreal, 
 ly's-iane, 
 ro down 
 ut-trees ; 
 irecipice, 
 urtain of 
 
 ill, then 
 3 Horse- 
 
 shoe, and, without more ado, descend the 
 ladder, or stand on the tahle rock. If 
 you arc then disappointed, it cannot he 
 helped. 
 
 I shall divide the further description of 
 Niaj[rara into sections, in order to point out 
 the host stations for the tourist. First, 
 
 THK VIKW OF PART OF TIIK HORSRSIIOE FALL FROM 
 THE ROCKY KDOE ABOVE TUE DESCENT TO THK 
 CAULDRON. 
 
 The power of language is as imperfect as 
 that of the pencil, to describe the wonders 
 of creation at Niagara. They must be seen, 
 and that, too, at leisure, to feel their beau- 
 ties as well as their grandeur. 
 
 Having had charge of the public property 
 there, I enjoyed opportunities of a closer 
 examination than is aflPorded to the lot of 
 European travellers ; and although I have 
 for weeks together scanned Niagara, its 
 absolute features, its individual parts, are 
 still as mysterious as when I first saw them. 
 To see them " aright," you must not only 
 
221. 
 
 CHAOTIC SCENE. 
 
 visit them "by fair moonlight," but you 
 must descend to the very edire of the trcm- 
 bling rocky brink of the cauldron en 'he 
 British side, immediately under the stairs, 
 and sixty or seventy feet below the narrow 
 platforn^ of rock on which you havo stood 
 when you have reached the last of these 
 stairs. This is not to be effected without 
 some trouble, risk, and fatigue ; but it repays 
 all your exertion ; for when you have reached 
 the edge, close to the rainbow or split rock, 
 you are, as it were, at once in a new world : 
 chaos seems there to have never been dis- 
 turbed by the regularity of nature, but reigns 
 solemn and supreme. 
 
 Place your back against the projecting, 
 blackened, and slime-covered rocks, and look 
 towards the mighty mass of vapour and water 
 before you, around you, beneath you, and 
 above you. Hearing, sight, feeling, become, 
 as it were, blended and confounded. You 
 are sensible that you exist, perhaps ; but 
 in what state of existence has, for a few 
 
INDESCRIBAPLE EFFECT. 
 
 225 
 
 but you 
 he trem- 
 i en 'he 
 e stairs, 
 i narrow 
 vo stood 
 3f these 
 without 
 it repays 
 reached 
 lit rock, 
 T world : 
 leen dis- 
 
 it reigns 
 
 ejecting, 
 ind look 
 id water 
 ou, and 
 become, 
 I. You 
 ps ; but 
 ' a few 
 
 minutes, vanished from vour imafjination. 
 The rocks vibrate under vour feet ; the 
 milk-white boilini^ and mountain sur<xo ad- 
 vances, swells up, subsides, recoils, lashes, 
 and mingles with the thick vapour. An 
 indescribable and terrific, dull, yet deafening 
 sound shakes the air ; vour nerves feel the 
 concussion, and the words of surprise which 
 at length escape from your lips arc inaudi- 
 ble, even to yourself, so awfully stern is 
 the uproar of the contending air and water 
 in their conflict for mastery. 
 
 The ideas which first struck me when I 
 had recovered from this stupor of astonish- 
 ment, w^ere those of being swept away by the 
 foaminty mountains, bubbling' and seethino- 
 in the huge cauldron at my feet ; of being 
 on the point of losing the sense of hearing, 
 for mv temeritv in venturinif to prv so nearly 
 into the unattainable mysteries of nature : 
 and of instant annihilation from the mass of 
 oyerhano'ing black and beetlinfy rock above 
 my head, at an absolute height of nearly two 
 
 L 3 
 
X r'- 
 
 226 
 
 THE RAINBOW ROCK. 
 
 hundred feet. In fact, I experienced the 
 same sensations so beautifully described by 
 Shakspeare in Lear, but from a reverse 
 cause ; so true is it, that extremes meet. 1 
 became giddy and confounded by looking at 
 and up to the dizzy scene, instead of from 
 glancing the eye down towards an unfathom- 
 able abvss of air and water below. 
 
 There are few visitors who venture to the 
 " imminent deadlv breach" of the edffc of the 
 cauldron, and of the Split Rainbow Rock. 
 These form a huge mass, buried cables deep 
 in the gulph, fallen headlong from above, rent 
 by the fall in twain nearly to its base ; wedged 
 into the lip of the cauldron, and towering 
 twenty or thirty feet above the mounting 
 surge. How it became so transfixed baffles 
 conjecture, for it was evidently hurled from 
 the table rock above. 
 
 This rainbow rock, as it is called, or 
 Iris' throne, from the extremity of the an; 
 appearing to rest upon it, when you view the 
 great fall from the rocky table above, cannot 
 
PERILOUS POSITION. 
 
 ^2^27 
 
 iced the 
 ribed by 
 
 reverse 
 tneet. I 
 loking at 
 
 of from 
 nfathom- 
 
 re to the 
 ge of the 
 w Rock. 
 )les deep 
 ove, rent 
 ; wedged 
 towerinir 
 lounting 
 d baffles 
 led from 
 
 ailed, or 
 
 the arc 
 
 view the 
 
 !, cannot 
 
 now be approached so easily. The ladder 
 by which, at much personal hazard, its flat 
 and slippery surface was gained, has been 
 swept away by the raging flood ; and it is 
 perhaps fortunate that it is so, for the expe- 
 riment of gaining and standing on the surface 
 was attended with great risk. 
 
 I saw one person, whilst I was sketching 
 the scene, actually lying down at full length 
 upon the edge of it, with his head projected 
 over, to look into the verv cauldron. I shud- 
 dered at the hardihood displayed, for a false 
 movement would be inevitable and instant 
 destruction on that slippery platform. When 
 he descended the ladder, I told him what 
 I had felt, and he was fullv aware of his 
 danger, but said, that from his childhood he 
 had been a ranger in the Alps. 
 
 To add to the difficulties of vour situation 
 on the ediic of the cauldron, the dcscendhiir 
 and ascending spray is so great, that you are 
 wet throuoh verv soon ; whilst the clouds of 
 arrowy sleet driving in your eyes, render 
 
r .!": ' •■ 
 
 228 
 
 THE GREAT FALL. 
 
 sketching not very pleasant ; whilst, to add 
 to your stock of ideas, you hchold a truly 
 Frcischiitz display : for crawling at your 
 feet, amidst a mass of ground and splintered 
 timber, bones and shivered rock, are the 
 loathsome and large black toad, the hide- 
 ously deformed black lizard, eels of a most 
 equivocal appearance, and even that proto- 
 type of the eel, the fierce black water-serpent. 
 
 THE GREAT FALL OF NIAGARA FR03I THE PERRY 
 ON THE CANADA SHORE, 
 
 The best general distant view of the Great 
 Fall is from some sharp slate rocks near the 
 ferrv on the Canada shore, which vou can 
 almost al'A'ays reach, and mount to the top of. 
 The roar and splendour of the American Fall, 
 then within a few hundred feet on your left, 
 detracts, however, somewhat from this other- 
 wise good station, as you cannot Keep your 
 eye from the wall of waters so close to you. 
 
 It is a little below this point, w^here the 
 precipice is two hundred feet sheer down. 
 
EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD. 229 
 
 t, to add 
 a truly 
 at vour 
 jlintered 
 are the 
 lie hide- 
 F a most 
 t proto- 
 •serpent. 
 
 E FERRY 
 
 le Great 
 lear the 
 you can 
 e top of. 
 ;an Fall, 
 our left, 
 is other- 
 !ep your 
 to you. 
 lere the 
 r down, 
 
 that it is projected to erect a suspension- 
 bridge, which, if executed (and there is no 
 doubt that it can be), will be the most mag- 
 nificent work of art in the world, and become 
 the eighth wonder. The verge, or brink of 
 the precipice, on the Canadian side v,f the 
 rushing river, is one thousand and fifty-six 
 feet from the verge on the American shore, 
 where the wall of rock has a thick bank of 
 debris at its base, and for a con side fable way 
 up. The actual span or chord required for 
 the metallic portion of the bridge is not 
 greater than that of the Menai ; but the 
 pyramids and arch- work will be colossal. 
 The expense is, however, great ; upwards of 
 £80,000, according to the calculations which 
 I deduced from the best data I could procure, 
 in a report to the provincial parliament. 
 
 PART OF THE HORSESHOE FALL FROM THE FOOT OF 
 THE OLD STAIRCASE, CANADA SIDE, WITH THE 
 TABLE ROCK. 
 
 We now turn to another, a nearer and a 
 most interesting coup-crwil of the horseshoe, 
 
230 
 
 THE HORSESHOE FALL. 
 
 taken at a point fifty or sixty feet above the 
 waters of the boiling gulf, and about one 
 hundred feet below the edge of the prccipico, 
 which is here perfectly perpendicular, and 
 could not be scaled, were it not that a very 
 ingenious geometrical staircase has been con- 
 structed. Yet so dizzy was the height, and 
 so nervous the descent, that it was found 
 absolutely necessary to board it in all round 
 from top to bottom ; as few persons had firm- 
 ness enough otherwise to dcscciid. Such, 
 however, is the security afforded by shutting 
 out the view of the fall and overhanging 
 table rock, which are only to be observed by 
 small loop-holes, cut to admit light here and 
 there, that a child may go up and down the 
 ladder with perfect safety ; and yet I have 
 frequently observed men, who have travelled 
 hundreds of miles on purpose to see the Falls, 
 decline the descent. 
 
 I met with a very amusing instance of this 
 a short time ago. A party from the Atlantic 
 coast, consisting of a very old gentleman, a 
 
A TRAVELLING PARTY. 
 
 231 
 
 above the 
 ibout one 
 precipice, 
 ular, and 
 lat a very 
 been coii- 
 oight, and 
 vas found 
 all round 
 had firm- 
 i. Such, 
 ^ shutting 
 3rlianging 
 iserved by 
 here and 
 down the 
 et I have 
 I travelled 
 the Falls, 
 
 ice of this 
 3 Atlantic 
 itlemaii, a 
 
 middle-aged, and a young man, arrived one 
 fine autumnal day, to see the great wonder as 
 near as possible, and having walked along 
 the upper paths, and viewed the world of 
 waters plunging into the gulf, became satis- 
 fied that the scene was *' amazing fine," but 
 that a little negus, or gin-sling, or mint- 
 julep, or something of that kind was neces- 
 sary, to imitate the pouring down they had 
 witnessed ; such a descent of liquid gene- 
 rating a natural desire of the kind. They 
 came accordingly into the bar, kept in a 
 small cottage built over the head of the stair- 
 case, and discussed both the liquor and the 
 liquid elements. I was sketching at the 
 time, and the old gentleman, seeing a British 
 officer, wished, as is generally the case, to 
 have a little conversation with him : for ijood 
 feeling towards the British uniform appears 
 to be general amongst the better classes in 
 the States. He told me what he had been 
 seeing, where he came from to see it, and in 
 what relation to him his companions stood. 
 
QS2 
 
 A TRAVELLING PARTY. 
 
 Of course I informed them, that mcrclv to 
 view the Fall from ahove was doin*^ vcrv little 
 after so long a journey, and proposed to show 
 it to them from below. He hesitated about 
 the descent of the staircase, on account of 
 his age, but said that he would persuade the 
 younger men to go down it ; but they refused, 
 stating that they had seen as much as thev 
 wished. Upon this, the old gentleman im- 
 mediately requested me to show him the wav, 
 and went down the ladder, and even as far 
 as the turning to the curtain, where the spray 
 drove him back. On re-ascending we found 
 his companions busily recording their names 
 in the visitor's book, and they cursorily ob- 
 served that he looked tired, and asked him 
 what he h: d seen. 
 
 " \Vhy," observed the senior, " Fve seen 
 that W'hich is worth comino- from the shore 
 of the Atlantic to sec." 
 
 " Well," said one, " what sort of ladder 
 did you go down ? " 
 
 " Why, its just like o\ir lighthouse on 
 Rhode Island." 
 
 "■:r^:K 
 
THE CAULDRON. 
 
 233 
 
 iicrcly to 
 k'crv little 
 :l to show 
 ed about 
 ^couiit of 
 ;uado the 
 ,• refused, 
 11 as they 
 iman ini- 
 tlie u av, 
 en as tar 
 the spray 
 we found 
 lir names 
 ;orilv ob- 
 iked him 
 
 I've seen 
 he shore 
 
 >f ladder 
 
 louse on 
 
 *' Is that all ?" observed the others ; " now 
 then, put your name down here, and let us 
 be off." 
 
 PART OP THE HORSESHOE PROM THE VERGE 
 OP THE CAULDRON. 
 
 This is a more limited view of part of the 
 scene described at the commencem nt of 
 this chapter, and requires no further expla- 
 nation, excepting that it is the point at 
 which the nearest approach to the wall of 
 waters on the Canada shore can now be 
 gained ; and here it was that the person 
 ah-eady mentioned was seen lying at full 
 length on the Iris Rock, with his head over 
 the edge, looking down into the boiling 
 gulf of seething foam, where form or figure 
 there is none, and where air and water are 
 blended together, and lost in mysterious 
 shadowings. 
 
 It does not require much stretch of the 
 imagination to fancy that you see, amidst 
 the huge mountains of creaming foam and 
 vapour, the dim forms of the water king, 
 
234 
 
 SUDLIME SCENE. 
 
 combating, a l^outrance, with the monarch 
 of air, and the battle hurtling between their 
 mighty scjuadrons ; for the fantastic shapes 
 on which mystic light is continually impres- 
 sing new creations, is, perhaps, the most 
 wonderful portion of the phenomena of ;i 
 near view of the cauldron ; whilst the roseate 
 lustre, in peculiar states of the atmosphere, 
 which pervades the spray, creates a beauty 
 of tints, and an indescribable glory of co- 
 louring, combined with the partial glimpses 
 of the bright wall of liquid deep marine 
 emerald in the depths of the Horse-shoe, 
 which it is useless to write about, as no lan- 
 guage can convey even a faint idea of its 
 gorgeous sublimity. 
 
 THE GREAT FALL FROM THE STURGEON ROCKS, 
 
 NIAGARA. 
 
 A view of the Great Fall, which is seldom 
 seen, is that from the Sturgeon Rocks, 
 nearly under that part of the precipice 
 opposite to the Museum. You here em- 
 brace within the distinct sphere of vision 
 
ENORMOUS STURGEONS. 
 
 235 
 
 )N ROCKS, 
 
 the whole Fall, at a sufficient distance not to 
 be wet with the spray, and yet to catch all 
 the varying tints which, however, it is, of 
 course, impossihle to cmhody in a picture. 
 You may also derive amusement, if not 
 surprise, at seeing those monsters of the 
 river, the huge sturgeons, come sailing up 
 amid the swelling green waves at your feet. 
 They are hideously ugly, with their hrown 
 coarse skins and deformed snouts, hut evince 
 amazing power and strength, and seem well 
 calculated to combat the tremendous series 
 of rapids up which they must fight their 
 way from Lake Ontario. 
 
 I do not know whether the salmon are 
 able to accomplish this feat, never having 
 seen them at the Falls ; but the sturgeon is 
 a much larger and more powerful fish ; very 
 different, however, from his royal prototype 
 in England, as to delicacy of flavour. Their 
 coarse flesh has the taste of veal, and is 
 eaten by the inhabitants ; but the fish is 
 killed, I suppose, chiefly for its isinglass. 
 
 K m ' il tK a ya a-a: 
 
236 
 
 FEAT OF A 
 
 The persons occupied in capturing it have 
 not much profit to obtain, as it fVcnpiently 
 requires long and anxious watchings betbro 
 one is speared ; and they often get away, 
 from their amazing strength, and the impos- 
 sibility of the fisher quitting the rocks, 
 owing to the rapidity of the flood, which 
 rushes around liini in the shore eddies to 
 which the fish resorts. Instances have in- 
 deed occurred, in which men have been 
 drawn with their spears into the water, and 
 have only been saved by great exertion. 
 
 I had a very large Newfoundland dog, who 
 was watching the spearing at this place, and 
 in his eagerness fell over the rock. He was 
 swept round and round by the eddies for a 
 long while, and then carried into the boilini,^ 
 surge of the foamy current, which drove him 
 rapidly down the river for about a milc^ and 
 the ferryman, a good-natured hardy boat- 
 iaan, seeing him pass the ferry, very kindly 
 crossed over to the Americ« ide, below 
 the Fall, and found Mr. Caesar had passed 
 
NKWFOUXDLANI) DOG. 
 
 237 
 
 it have 
 '(Mjuently 
 js b(3tbro 
 et awav, 
 10 impos- 
 o rocks, 
 lI, which 
 LukUcs to 
 have in- 
 avc been 
 ator, and 
 rtion. 
 dog, who 
 lace, and 
 He was 
 les for a 
 boiling 
 rove him 
 milc^ and 
 .'dy boat- 
 ;'y kindly 
 le, below 
 d passed 
 
 10 
 
 the rubic'on, :ind bad got into tlie slack 
 water, where he was, nothing loth, taken 
 into the boat. It is possible that a good 
 swimmer, by keeping quiet, might have ac- 
 (omplished the same feat ; but I scarcely 
 think that there is one who would volun- 
 tarilv trv it. 
 
 Picherel and bass are caught in the still 
 waters or eddies, and there are plenty of 
 small fry j but whether these fish are bred 
 there, or whether they come from above the 
 Full, it is difficult to determine. Animals 
 frequently come over, but are generally, I 
 believe always, mutilated. The last time I 
 was there, nineteen loons (^colj/mbus gla- 
 cia(is)y the great northern diver, a very 
 large and powerful bird, as big as a swan, 
 and with singular black and white tesselated 
 plumage, came over. Their skins, in some 
 instances, were perfect enough for preserva- 
 tion ; but the buoyancy of these oily birds, 
 who can use their wings like fins, and live a 
 long time under w^ater, ] probably preserved 
 
' " f 
 
 238 
 
 THE TABLE ROCK. 
 
 them from utter destruction. The sij^ht of 
 the loon is remarkable, for there is no bird 
 on the Canadian lakes so difficult to obtain 
 as this solitary wanderer. He will dive in 
 the interval of the flash and reach of the 
 shot ; and thus, although he is so large an 
 object, and so distinct, by his black plumage, 
 from the water, he is seldom killed. 
 
 THE FAT LS OF NIAGARA FROM ABOVE THE 
 CAULDRON AND TABLE ROCK. 
 
 We shall, with the above view, conclude 
 the present selection of sketches of the 
 "Thundering Pciver," or the "Thunder 
 of Water," as its original name in the 
 Indian tongues signifies, the Senecas call- 
 ing it 0-ni-riw-o'a-r''^h, and almost all the 
 tribes of Chippewa descent, or who con- 
 verse in that general dialect, calling it 
 Ni-aw-garah. 
 
 One of the most ir^.teresting places and 
 periods at which the vast descent of the 
 "still vcxt" ocean-river can be viewed, is 
 from above the table rock, on a day dark 
 
A CONTRAST. 
 
 -2.39 
 
 3 sight of 
 LS no bird 
 to obtain 
 [1 dive in 
 ch of the 
 ) large an 
 plumage, 
 
 -^E THE 
 
 conclude 
 ;s of the 
 * Thunder 
 e in the 
 lecas call- 
 (St all the 
 
 who con- 
 calling it 
 
 ilaces and 
 
 int of the 
 
 viewed, is 
 
 day dark 
 
 with " thunder, lightning, wind, and rain/' 
 The blacker and more gloomy the sky, the 
 more grand and awful the contrast of the 
 white, foaming, and indescribable flood. It 
 forms an exact opposite to the view on a fine 
 and tranquil afternoon of autumn, with the 
 gloriously tinted forest ; the blue — the pecu- 
 liar blue sky of Canada ; the glittering of the 
 waters ; their thousand hues, from the eme- 
 rald to the diamond, through every shade 
 of green, yellow, brown, purple, red, blue ; 
 the soft and wool-like mountains of vapour 
 in the cauldron ; the rainbow stealhig into 
 the very depths of it; and that mellow 
 and peculiar shade, the slightest imaginable, 
 of rose colour, thrown over the ascendin<r 
 
 o 
 
 vapour. 
 
 On a dark day of elemental warrings, 
 wlien every thing seems as though chaos 
 was coming again, to confound this fair 
 world in inexplicable confusion, you should 
 50C the Falls from above ; and if the senses 
 of man are capable of further gratification in 
 
240 
 
 A NEW WONDER. 
 
 their present condition, I know not where 
 in this world they are to seek it. 
 
 I cannot close this somewhat lei ^.hened 
 notice of Niagara without taking my reader 
 with me along the high bank of the great 
 river, for about four miles towards the cape, 
 in order to show him another, and scarcely 
 a lesser wonder ; this I shall do, however, 
 in another chapter. 
 
211 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE WHIRLPOOL OF THE NIAGARA. 
 
 The Whirlpool-The Devil's Cavern— The Rattlesnakes' Den 
 —Sir John Colborne — American Cupidity— Projected Plea- 
 sure City at Niagara — Influence vo'sus Law — Timber in 
 the W'hirlpool — A Soldier sucked into the Vortex — Rattle- 
 snakes—Angling in the Whirlpool — Singular overhanging 
 Rock — The most splendid View of the Fails. 
 
 I ATTEMPTED to make a road from the 
 Clifton Hotel towards the Whirlpool, but 
 found ::o many conflictino^ interests, that I 
 had not the success which a longer residence 
 might have afforded me. At present the road 
 is somewhat difficult to follow along the top 
 of the high, rocky, precipitous wall which 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
24^'2 
 
 SIR JOHN COLBORNE. 
 
 licms in the stream ; but an active adventu- 
 rous person may achieve it, and well he is 
 repaid. A succession of magnificent rapids, 
 caverns, and precipices are presented to his 
 view ; and the road itself, as it exists, is not 
 bad for the first distance, or about a mile 
 down to the Devil's Cavern, which is a laroe 
 excavation, or natural hole, in the face of the 
 ])recipice, about one-third of the way down. 
 Rattlesnakes' Denis another on the opposite 
 side. This road is a military reservation, 
 iuid should be opened. It has not to contend 
 v.ith the difficulties which avarice otherwise 
 threw in the way of the military reserve at 
 the Falls being made free to the public. 
 
 Sir John Colborne, and his predecessor 
 Sir Peregrine Maitland, attempted to make 
 the Falls available to all visitors without 
 expense. Sir Peregrine was resisted by an 
 American, who kept the great hotel, and 
 took possession of the public property ; and 
 finding he could pocket a dollar or so for 
 each person passing down to the Table 
 
■MlPlil 
 
 SIR JOHN COLBORNE. 
 
 24^3 
 
 Ivcntu- 
 1 he is 
 lipids, 
 I to his 
 , is not 
 a mile 
 a large 
 :e of the 
 y down, 
 apposite 
 rvation, 
 contend 
 thcrwisc 
 serve at 
 )lic. 
 
 docessor 
 to make 
 without 
 ;d bv an 
 tcl, and 
 'tv ; and 
 )r so for 
 c Table 
 
 Rock, fought the government a long time 
 with success ; and, owing to the cnginecr- 
 ofliccr having employed an unarmed working 
 party of soldiers to level the obstacles this 
 person had purposely made in the paths, a 
 most lucrative and excellent case of griev- 
 ance was got up, which fed the traitor 
 Mackenzie for years, and, 1 believe, is 
 scarcely yet ended. The juries of the dis- 
 trict, however, did not agree with the Ame- 
 rican hotel-keeper, and ultimately gave a 
 verdict in favour of the government. 
 
 Sir John Colborne, desirous to open th(^ 
 Falls to the travelling world, gave a licence 
 of occupation, revokable at pleasure, to 
 Messrs. Clarke and Street, merchants of 
 some wealth residing at the Falls, with the 
 express understanding that they were to 
 offer no obstacles to the public, were to 
 keep the staircases and roads in order, and 
 to plant and beautify the banks. They had 
 a iireat interest in the locality ; and having, 
 with others, planned the construction of a 
 
241. 
 
 A PLEASURE-CITY. 
 
 pleasure city, if I may use the term, at the 
 Falls of Niagara, which should become the 
 most fashionable place of British North 
 America, and having commenced a rail- 
 road to bring the American travellers and 
 produce from Buffalo, they began erecting 
 baths, a museum. Sec, on the military re- 
 serve, and, contrary to the express articles 
 of the agreement which had been made with 
 them — probably because they were the par- 
 ties who had most strenuously resisted the 
 American hotel-keeper in his endeavours to 
 make Niagara a closed raree-show. 
 
 The lieutenant-oovernor immediately took 
 active measures to put a stop to the pro- 
 ceedings of these worthy merchants, one of 
 whom was a Scotchman, the other oriainallv 
 from the United States. With this view, he 
 employed the officer of enoineers in charj>o 
 of ilie reserve, to roquire them to desist from 
 enclosing and building, and that officer, 
 warned by the fate of his predecessor, taking 
 t are not to employ the military in any shape. 
 
AMERICAN JUSTICE. 
 
 ^I.* 
 
 caused one small stone to be removed pub- 
 Kcly from the walls. On this, the very per- 
 sons who had obtained the licence of occu- 
 pation, with the full understanding that it 
 was granted to them in order to prevent tho 
 possibility of such another attempt as that 
 of the American inn-keeper, now turned, 
 full of grievance, against the government, 
 brought two actions of trespass against the 
 officer of engineers, and, mirabile dicta! 
 although one of them had sat on the judg- 
 ment seat when the jury punished the Ame- 
 rican for his covetousness, they, by their 
 great influence in the neighbourhood, were 
 able to obtain a decided verdict, with da- 
 mages of five hundred pounds against the 
 crown ; and either they, or their heirs, 
 now remain in actual possession of land of 
 which they had humbly begged the tempo- 
 rary occupancy ! 
 
 The City of the Falls proved, as any 
 sensible person might have anticipated, a 
 thorough failure, and the public have still 
 
mmmmgm 
 
 24- G 
 
 NIAGARA IN CHANCERY. 
 
 access to the Table >tock, ard staircase, 
 owins!" to Messrs. Cl'ke and Street boino 
 liiiable to ojeci the govcrniTient f/on: a space 
 of one chain, or sixty feet in width, along 
 the upper edge of the precipice. 
 
 Travellers may, therefore, without paying 
 toll to the miller, proceed as far as the mill, 
 constructed by one of the parties on the rapids 
 above, and may also go down the staircase 
 for nothing ; though such is the profit de- 
 rived from this staircase, that the bar-room, 
 through which you must pass to descend, 
 pays these people, as I am told, two hundred 
 a-vear. 
 
 You must also pay for going under the 
 sheet of water, which is fair enough, as you 
 must have a guide and water-proof dress. 
 
 But enough of this, which would not have 
 been mentioned, were it not that the trc^vel- 
 ling public from all parts of the world is 
 interested in it ; and if the local govern- 
 ment will put the case in Chancery, as I 
 intended to do, there is but little fear that 
 
taircase, 
 
 et bciii'i 
 
 a space 
 
 ti, along 
 
 t paying 
 the mill, 
 le rapids 
 staircase 
 rofit de- 
 lar-room, 
 descend, 
 hundred 
 
 ader the 
 1, as vou 
 iress. 
 not have 
 le trcvvel- 
 world is 
 govern- 
 ;rv, as 1 
 fear thai 
 
 THE WIIIRLrOOL. 
 
 Q17 
 
 *hc beautiful banks of the Falls will noi Im^ 
 remain at the mercy of private speculatc^^'s. 
 
 But, en avnnt, to the whirlpool. TIk; 
 river, which has gradually contracted its 
 channel very much, after passing the great 
 white sheet of the /* •:^^orican Fall, proceeds 
 in a curved form to' ' u''' *he north-west, and 
 after falling ove-' vf iiendous rapids, sud- 
 denly turns, at 'ig>*t angles to its former 
 course, and rut^ tiowards the north-east, 
 still hemmed in by the precipice, which now 
 increases in altitude. Here it has scooped 
 out a vast basin in the rocks, of a circular 
 form, and the rushing and roaring waters, 
 entering the narrow gorge from the south- 
 east, strike by their impetus with such force 
 on the perpendicular w^all of the opposite 
 o'orofe, that an under-current is immcdiatelv 
 created, and the waters wliirl in a dizzv 
 vortex until they find ec^rcss towards the 
 north-east, between the precipitous walls of 
 the chasm. 
 
 As the rock is very lofty here (between 
 
i248 
 
 THE WIIIULPOOL. 
 
 two and three hundred feet), the view from 
 above is so distant, that very little but the' 
 faint whirling, or concentrically enlarginf,^ 
 circles of the water can be traced ; for the 
 largest trunks of trees which are spinning in 
 its eddies seem there no biiJ-ffCi ^han sticks. 
 It is from below that the curious visitant 
 must see the effect. But the descent is dan- 
 gerous, from the vicinity of the Table Rock, 
 and it is necessary to go back about a mile 
 on the road, and ask permission to cross a 
 farmer's grounds, where there is a path more 
 accessible. 
 
 Here, after crossing a field or two, you 
 enter into a beautiful wood, and, going 
 through it for a quarter of a mile, begin to 
 descend by a narrow, obscure, and winding 
 path, cut out of the mountain, which is 
 covered with the primaeval forest. The de- 
 scent is not very difficult, perfectly safe, and 
 with a little expense would be pleasant. It 
 leads to the centre of the bay-coast of the 
 whirlpool, where there are but few rocks, 
 
THE WIIIllLPOOL. 
 
 24<J 
 
 cw from 
 
 but till' 
 
 nlaroin<; 
 
 o o 
 
 for the 
 inning in 
 
 n sticks, 
 visitant 
 it is dan- 
 ile Rock, 
 at a mile 
 ► cross a 
 ath more 
 
 two, vou 
 1, going 
 begin to 
 
 winding 
 tvbich is 
 
 The de- 
 safe, and 
 sant. It 
 st of the 
 w rocks. 
 
 and a narrow shingle beach. Here you see 
 the vastness of the scene, the great expanse 
 of the circular basin, the mass of mountain 
 which encloses it almost to its very edge, and 
 the overhanixiii"' Table Rock, ncarlv like 
 that at the Falls, and probably produced by a 
 similar cause, the disintegration of the slate 
 beds under the more unvieldinfj lime-stone. 
 
 So extensive, however, is the surface of 
 water, that the huge trunks of trees float- 
 ing in the concentric circles of the whirling 
 waters, when they reach their ultimate doom 
 in the actual vortex, appear still not larger 
 than small logs. They revolve for a great 
 lenirth of time, touchinir the shores in their 
 extreme tifvrations, and then, as the circles 
 narrow, are tossed about with increasing 
 rapidity, until, in the middle, the largest 
 giants of the forest are lifted perpendicu- 
 larly, and appear to be sucked under, after a 
 time, altogether. 
 
 A singular part of the view is the very 
 sharp angle of the precipice, and it^ bank of 
 
 M 3 
 
2.50 
 
 A MAN IN THE VORTEX. 
 
 debris on tho American side. You also just 
 catch a view of the foamin<^ rapid on the 
 right ; and an attentive ol)server will per- 
 ceive that in the centre of the vast hasin of 
 the whirlpool, the water is several feet higher 
 than at the edges, appearing to hoil up from 
 the hottom. It varies, I should think, in 
 the degrees of its agitation, depending per- 
 haps on the increase or diminution of the 
 quantity of supplied water ; for there have 
 been instances of persons who have attempted 
 to save the timber floating round it, having, 
 by their want of caution, allowed themselves 
 to be engulfed, and yet escaping at last. A 
 soldier, a few vcars aoo I think of the CSth 
 regiment, got thus drawn from the edge, and 
 was whirled round and round for several 
 hours, but saved at last by the exc'tions of 
 the neighbouring farmers, who came with 
 ropes to his rescue. I have heard naval men 
 say, that they thought a stout boat might 
 cross ; but I confess, from the manner in 
 which the largest trees are treated, notwith- 
 
TIMUEIl IN THK VOIITKX. 
 
 ^J 1 
 
 ilso just 
 on tile 
 »ill per- 
 basiii of 
 t higher 
 up from 
 link, in 
 ing per- 
 1 of the 
 I'c have 
 tempted 
 having, 
 'mselves 
 ast. A 
 ho 68th 
 Ige, and 
 several 
 •tions of 
 (10 with 
 vai men 
 t miofht 
 nner in 
 lotwith- 
 
 standing their buoyancy, I should he very 
 unwilling to try the experiment, and it is 
 known that persons have been destroyed. 
 
 It is said, that timber and logs coming over 
 the rapids from the falls are detained some- 
 times for months before thcv are finallv en- 
 gulfed in the whirlpool, and, doubtless, it is 
 never free from them ; and perhaps there 
 may be occasic lally a counteracting current, 
 from the furious winds which raijc in the 
 chasm, or other causes, to prevent their ap- 
 proach to the centre ; and in this way those 
 who have escaped, have escaped merely he- 
 cause they were only tossed about in the outer 
 rings of the whirl, and never approached its 
 tremendous centre, from which, f conceive, 
 by an under-current, the water e::capes to 
 the gorge below, and from which, when once 
 involved, nothing could possibly emerge ; a^; 
 the very boiling up of the waters, and the 
 tremendous force exertc'l tliere on the trees 
 and logs, evince. 
 
 The visit to the shores of the ^vhirlpool 
 
^^^ 
 
 RATTLE SNAKES. 
 
 may be attended with the gratification ot 
 another kind of curiosity to the naturalist, 
 lor he may there see the rattlesnake in his 
 native horrors. The bov who went with me 
 as a ^juide, endeavoured to find a den, or 
 cleft, in which this tremendous reptile might 
 be lying, but he was unsuccessful, although 
 they are frequently seen and killed there, 
 being, after all, fortunately sluggish and in- 
 active. We saw other snakes, but not the 
 dreaded one. 
 
 The edge of the whirlpool is resorted to 
 in the fishing season by anglers, for the 
 pickerel and black bass, which are caught 
 there, and are esteemed the finest fish in 
 Canada. 
 
 There is one other spot from which this 
 wonderful scene should be viewed : 
 
 THE WHIRLPOOL FROM ABOVE ON THE TABLE ROCK. 
 
 The view of the whirlpool from above is 
 more beautiful than that from below, where 
 the height of the precipice causes a continual 
 
THE TABLE ROCK. 
 
 Q53 
 
 :atioii ol 
 atiiralist, 
 ^e in his 
 with me 
 L den, or 
 ile might 
 although 
 3(1 there, 
 h and in- 
 : not the 
 
 sorted to 
 
 for the 
 
 c caught 
 
 t fish in 
 
 hich this 
 
 lble rock. 
 
 above is 
 w, where 
 continual 
 
 gloom and dark shadowings ; but it is too 
 distant to see the effect of the Charvbdis 
 itself. 
 
 From the Table Rock, which overhangs 
 tVightfuUy, you sec up the gorge or glen of 
 the Niagara, even as far as the village of the 
 American Fail, Manchester; but the windings 
 of the water prevent vour discernina' much 
 of the rapids, or of the river. In some states 
 of the weather a mist hangs over the whole 
 length of the river, from the whirlpool to the 
 Falls, and ever a cloud of vapour distinctlv 
 traces every winding. It is necessary there- 
 foi-e to choose a fine day for a visit to the 
 whirlpool, when you may either look down 
 from an absolute height of near three hun- 
 dred feet sheer upon the seething gulf, or 
 you may look up from below to the over- 
 hanging precipice, which juts into the air, 
 a table of self-suspended rock, kept in posi- 
 tion merelv bv the tenacitv of its composition. 
 
 There is a cave below the precipice, con- 
 taining large (juantities of calcareous tufa ; 
 
'254^ 
 
 SPLENDID SCENE. 
 
 and an adventurous person may scramble, 
 about three-quarters of a mile from the whirl- 
 pool, up the river's brink, when he will bo 
 gratified by a close view of the rapids of the 
 strait, which are even more tumultuous, 
 rao-ino-, and awful than those of the river 
 above the Falls. This, in fact, is the most 
 splendid scene, after the Horseshoe, on the 
 whole river, the water descending, as it is 
 supposed, nearly thirty feet, over successive 
 breaks in the rock. 
 
<155 
 
 ramble, 
 e whirl- 
 I will bo 
 s of the 
 ultuous, 
 le river 
 he most 
 on the 
 as it is 
 ccessive 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE VOYAGE TO AMHURSTBURGH ON 
 LAKE ERIE. 
 
 Inferiority of the American Falls— Immense Importance of 
 the AV'elland Canal— A rival Plan — Chippewa, the Site of 
 famous Battles — The cutting out of the Caroline by Cap- 
 tain Drew and i.is Companions — The Rebel Mackenzie — 
 His Exploits on Navy Island — Rout of the Rebels — Ad- 
 mirable conduct of the Canadian MiUtia— PoHcy of Sir 
 Francis Head — Rallying of the Farmers — Sir Allan 
 M'Nabb — Village of Waterloo — Lake Erie— The Erie 
 ('anal— Its unparalleled Length— Fort Erie— Graves of 
 Colonel Drummond and his Companions— Amherstbur<^h 
 —The Detroit— Beauty and Richness of the Country — 
 Profusion of Game — Introduction of the British Pheasant 
 —Colonel Prince — Settlement of the Huron Indians — The 
 Great Huron. 
 
 I HAVE said nothing of the American 
 Fall, or of tlic views of the British Fall from 
 the American shcre, because the former is 
 nothinir more than the laroest sheet of 
 
'256 
 
 THE WELLAND CANAL. 
 
 nearly unbroken waterfall in the world, dis- 
 figured by a bridge, mills, and a village, 
 which destroy all pictorial harmony. The 
 scenery, indeed, of Goat Island, and the 
 views of the Horseshoe, are equallv fine as 
 those on the Canadian side ; but there vou 
 have neither the sheet of water to look up 
 to, nor to go under, and there American 
 enterprise and taste have built another 
 bridge, as far as was practicable, with a sort 
 of liti^hthouse at the end, which detracts 
 much from the still grandeur of the scene — 
 so much so, that it is to be hoped, some 
 windv nio'ht or other, when nobody is in it, 
 it may follow the fate of the Caroline. 
 
 Hut we must now travel to the mouth of 
 the river Welland, one of the openings into 
 the canal of that name, which canal has, 
 until now, been a liiere job. The govern- 
 ment have, however, observed with a quiet 
 eye the proceedings of this job, and at last, 
 under Lord Sydenham's administration, seem 
 disposed to do something about it ; and if it 
 
AMERICAN EXTERPRIZE. 
 
 O 
 
 257 
 
 is ever made a good navigable steam-boat or 
 ship canal, Canada will increase in wealth 
 and population from the hour which opens 
 its gates to the first vessel from Erie or 
 Huron. 
 
 The Americans are so sensible of tliis, 
 that for years they have been planning and 
 projecting a magnificent ship navigation, to 
 connect Erie, Ontario, and the Erie Canal. 
 The plans of their topographical engineers 
 for this stupendous work are beautifully exe- 
 cuted, and would have been followed up, but 
 that the monied concerns of the Republic 
 have been in rather a ticklish state of late 
 years, and the defalcations of their public 
 servants of such alarming extent, as to cause 
 the Executive to pause ere it enter upon so 
 splendid a national undertaking. 
 
 If the Welland Canal be now seriouslv set 
 about, and competent military engineers em- 
 ployed in its construction, the trade of the 
 far- West must centre in Canada, and of its 
 extent, what stat' lies can afford even a 
 
'2.58 
 
 CHIPPEWA. 
 
 ^^limpsc ? For the Americans well know that 
 even if their grand ship canal were opened 
 round the Falls, thev have still a most .^eri- 
 ous disadvantage to contend against, in the 
 ice of Lake Erie, and that coming from 
 Niagara ; whereas, the mouth of the A\'cl- 
 land will always be open on the Canada 
 shore, for weeks earlier than the mouth of 
 any canal on the New York side of the 
 river ; and^ as its exitus on Lake Ontario 
 will be at a great distance from the exitus 
 of the Niagara, it will never be embarrassed 
 there by the spring ice. 
 
 Travellers cross ever the Welland river 
 by a long wooden bridge in the village of 
 Chippewa, famous for a battle in the last 
 American war, and still more famous in 1837 
 as the head quarters of the brave Canadian 
 militia, who took up arms in the gloomy 
 depth of that winter, to resist the friendly 
 intentions of their opposite neighbours. 
 
 If you proceed out of the Welland in a 
 Canadian steam- boat, you will pass into the 
 
THE CAROLINE. 
 
 259 
 
 enow that 
 ^c opened 
 nost seri- 
 st, in the 
 ing from 
 tlie Wd- 
 3 Canada 
 mouth of 
 le of the 
 3 Ontario 
 the exitus 
 ibarrasscd 
 
 land river 
 village of 
 1 the last 
 lis in 1837 
 Canadian 
 le o'loomv 
 e friendly 
 >ours. 
 Hand in a 
 5S into the 
 
 River Niagara at rather a nervous place, 
 where the river widens to an immense ex- 
 panse, before it suddenly contracts again to 
 form the rapids and cataract of Niagara. 
 The first idea, to a stranger, on reaching 
 this spot is— supposing the engine should 
 get out of order, is the vessel to go down 
 the Fall, which is boiling up at about tw(j 
 miles below ? There is, however, 1 believe, 
 very little re J danger, as it is the site of 
 the traject, or common ferry between Chip- 
 pewa and the New York shore at Fort 
 Schlosser, at that celebrated spot where 
 Captain Drew and his dauntless militia 
 sailors cut out the Caroline in the darkness 
 of the night, and sent the pirate vessel flam- 
 ing down into the abyss below. A deed 
 more heroical was never performed by Bri- 
 tish seamen, and though the policy of it at 
 the time was questionable, yet what good 
 man can jzi'ieve that the laws of nations were 
 perhaps for a moment lost sight of, when 
 
260 
 
 NAVY ISLAND. 
 
 it was as notorious as noon day, that, for the 
 sake of gain and desperate spite, the wicked 
 ship was constantly carrying over to Naw 
 Island swarms of rafroed adventurers, eaircr 
 to imhue their unholy weapons in Canadian 
 blood, and stolen cannon to he pointed at a 
 shore whose people were at peace with the 
 United States, hut were deemed, neverthe- 
 less, fit suhjocts for a demoni.ic bombard- 
 ment, and afterwards for midnight assassi- 
 nation ? 
 
 Either by a steam-boat, which passes as 
 far as the entrance into Lake Erie, at Wa- 
 terloo village, or by the coach, which takes 
 the road along the edge of the river, you 
 must pass Navy Island, a small isle reserved 
 bv Great Britain for timber, and as com- 
 manding the channels of the river. Here 
 the rebel Mackenzie, a man possessing 
 neither character, influence, nor common 
 prudence, took his stand after he escaped 
 from the action at Gallows Hill, near To- 
 
 j 
 
NAVY ISLAND. 
 
 '2Gl 
 
 at, for the 
 lie wicked 
 ' to Navy 
 ers, eaf^er 
 Canadian 
 nted at ;i 
 with the 
 ncvcrthe- 
 ])ombar(l- 
 it assassi- 
 
 passes as 
 e, at Wa- 
 lich takes 
 :'iver, vou 
 3 reserved 
 I as com- 
 ;r. Here 
 possessing 
 common 
 e escaped 
 
 near To- 
 
 j 
 
 ronto, where he most appropriately opened 
 the campaign against order, morality, and 
 reason. 
 
 The width of the river is about five hun- 
 dred yards, between the island and the Chip- 
 pewa shore. On the island, Mackenzie's 
 1 ;renoral, a pot-liouse hero, erected batteries 
 of badly-mounted and ill-furnished cannon, 
 which consequently did very little execution 
 upon the Upper Canadian militia, assembled 
 under the command of the Speaker of the 
 House of Assembly. The regular troops, it 
 is well known, had been wholly withdrawn ; 
 the only disposable officers of artillery, or of 
 t'ljgineers, were busily employed in strength- 
 ening the fortifications of Toronto and Kiinrs- 
 tun, and in getting cogether the guns and 
 stores, not above a dozen artillerymen having 
 l)een left in the province. 
 
 The consequence was natural. The mili- 
 tia, brave and enthusiastic as thev were, 
 were wholly unaccustomed to field opera- 
 tions, and Navy Island remained, therefore, 
 
2Cy2 
 
 NAVY ISLAND. 
 
 (lay after clay, as an iiiipivgiiablo l'ortre;>s, 
 the resources of which were magiiiiied be- 
 yond cred'Mlity ; and by trees having b<'eii 
 cut down on it, and huts erected, it was 
 thought that a heavy work, in the shape of 
 a citadel block-house, had been l)uilt, whicli 
 commanded all its batteries. A forniida])li' 
 army of militia were thus employed, eager 
 for the figiit, and led by an officer who had 
 had, in his youth, a little experience. 
 
 The gallant act of Captain Drew lifted 
 up the veil. An artillery officer was sent by 
 the commander-in-chief, and an engineer 
 officer followed ; but, as is always the case 
 when a campaign is opened under the un- 
 favourable circumstances of a long previous 
 peace, and in the depth of winter, it was 
 some time ere the guns, mortars, rockets, 
 and stores could be sent up. They no sooner 
 began in earnest, and some symptoms were 
 evinced of preparations for assault, than the 
 ragged army on the island vanished ; and 
 when it was taken possession of, the grantl 
 
C'AXAiHAN MILITIA. 
 
 Q63 
 
 block-house, and formidable batteries, were 
 found to exist in Mackenzie's or his pot- 
 house general's proclamations only, whilst 
 the number of slain from the guns and mor- 
 tars of Chippewa were proofs that the enemy 
 acted wisely in evacuating their pseudo 
 strongholds. 
 
 The experience gained by the militia was 
 not however thrown away. Two companies 
 of regular troops would, with Captain Drew's 
 boats, have cleared these vermin from the 
 bland with case in two hours, and the militia 
 afterwards proved that they could do the 
 <ame thing at Prescott and elsewhere. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the patient forbear- 
 ance of people called from their homes in the 
 'lead of a Canadian winter, to work at the 
 construction of batteries, and be prepared 
 liourly for invasion ; and without intendin^r 
 liio slightest disparagement to their brave 
 leader, whose zeal, energy, and tact, kept 
 fills vast body together under the most un- 
 lavourable circumstances, had they been com- 
 

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 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 A 
 
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 2.0 
 
 18 
 
 
 1-25 U ||.6 
 
 =^ II == lllll^^ 
 
 
 ■• 6" 
 
 ► 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 33 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 873-4503 
 

 vV 
 
;1 
 
 '26'tf 
 
 8111 FRANCIS HEAD. 
 
 manded, as they afterwards usually were, 1)v 
 officers of the re<rular army, the result must 
 have been different ; for I am certain ho 
 will allow that nothing is more difficult than 
 to be called upon, after a quarter of a cen- 
 tury of the most profound peace, when the 
 sword had literally been turned into a reap- 
 ing-hook, to act at a moment of alarm and 
 dismay, as a general, in whose })erson is 
 combined the adjutant and quartermaster, 
 the artilleryman and the engineer, as well 
 as the leader of wholly uninstructed thou- 
 sands. 
 
 The policy of Sir Francis Head in remov- 
 ing the regular troops, and in throwing him- 
 self upon the patriotism and loyalty of the 
 people, was noble, and nobly was he responded 
 to. No sooner had the ruffian Mackenzie, 
 (for it is useless to palter about terms in 
 reference to such an outcast), unfurled tho 
 Bidwell flag at Montgomery's tavern, and as- 
 sumed Gallows Hill as his rendezvous, than 
 ten thousand farmers and farm labourers 
 
THE CANADIAN MILITIA. 
 
 265 
 
 were, l)v 
 ijult must 
 jrtain he 
 [cult than 
 jf a ccn- 
 when the 
 a rcap- 
 larm and 
 person is 
 crraastcr, 
 % as well 
 ted thou- 
 
 in rcmov- 
 wing hiin- 
 ilty of the 
 responded 
 lackenzio, 
 ; terms in 
 furled the 
 rn, and as- 
 vous, than 
 labourers 
 
 rushed to the capital, to support the inhabit- 
 ants in arms thare. I actually believe there 
 were at one period of the outbreak no fewer 
 than forty thousand militia in the field, 
 throughout the upper province. 
 
 The alacritv with which these brave men 
 rushed to the defence of their country, may 
 be surmised from the fact, that at Kingston, 
 when the first despatch was received by me 
 from the seat of government, it arrived at 
 night. Before day -break there was an 
 organized guard for the town, and next day 
 the forts and batteries were occupied; and 
 in the course of a day or two more, many 
 had actually to be sent back, for want of 
 accommodation for them in the barracks 
 and town. 
 
 Loyal and brave men ! Long may Sir 
 Allan M'Nabb enjoy the satisfaction of hav- 
 ing first led you in the career of glory and of 
 honour ! For my own part, being separated 
 from you, I can do no more to show how I 
 appreciate your excellence, than dedicate 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 N 
 
26C) 
 
 THE GRAVE OF UROCK. 
 
 this humble work to such of you as served 
 with mc ; and I am persuaded that every 
 British officer whose lot was in the course 
 of duty mingled with yours, will record, 
 whenever he may have an opportunity, a 
 sense of your merits. It must have been a 
 proud day when your officers met under the 
 disfigured and disjointed column erected on 
 Queenston heights, to the memory of the 
 leader whom the militia of Upper Canada 
 loved as a father — the gallant, the victorious 
 Brock ; and the soul of the miscreant, whose 
 unholy hand despoiled that shrine, must 
 have been " disquieted within him," if he wit- 
 nessed, as probably he did, that noble scene. 
 Rebuild it on sure foundations ! Guard 
 it, as the apple of your eye, and inscribe 
 upon it Navy Island, Point Pelee, Amherst- 
 burgh, Hickory Island, Prescott! Yes, all 
 those places where invaders dared to show 
 themselves, where " treason looked so giant 
 like," but where it could " but peep at what 
 it would," and acted " little of its will." 
 
ERIE CAXAL. 
 
 267 
 
 served 
 
 it every 
 D course 
 
 record, 
 iiiity, a 
 3 been a 
 ider the 
 jcted on 
 ' of the 
 Canada 
 ctorious 
 t, whose 
 e, must 
 fhewit- 
 ic scene. 
 
 Guard 
 inscribe 
 imhcrst- 
 Yes, all 
 to show 
 so giant 
 at what 
 ill." 
 
 The villa<:e of Waterloo is the first vou 
 come to, either in steam-boat or carriage ; 
 and here the great lake of the Cat, or Lake 
 Erie, opens out its expanse, and a strong 
 rapid is formed, which somewhat hinders 
 the navigation ; and here commences, at the 
 opposite city of Buffalo, in the United States, 
 the oreat Clinton, or Erie Canal, which 
 enters the Hudson River at the head of the 
 tide at Alba\iy, after a course almost unpa- 
 ralleled in length. It is, however, no far- 
 ther a magnificent undertaking, than as 
 HMJ-ards the "iijantic idea being actuallv 
 completed, of uniting Lake Erie with the 
 aVtlantic : l:br its locks and works are chieflv 
 of wood, too narrow for other than mere 
 boats, and requiring great and constant 
 repair. 
 
 When the W'elland Canal shall be com- 
 pleted, this will be disused, as far as that 
 part of it which meets the Oswego Canal, 
 as the transit of goods from the ivestcrn 
 
 states will then be made in vessels capable 
 
 N 2 
 
2G8 
 
 GRAVE OF DRUMMOND. 
 
 of navigating the lakes from Superior to 
 Oswego, and only one transhipment he re- 
 quired, whilst the vessel may proceed to sea, 
 if necessary, hy the completion of the St. 
 Lawrence, or by the liideau. It is, however, 
 never to be contemplated that ocean-going 
 vessels will ascend to Huron { nd Superior, 
 nor is it requisite they should. They must 
 discharge at Montreal into smaller ships, 
 which, passing all the series of canals, many 
 of which require widening, will convey goods 
 nearly two thousand miles westward, if the 
 country round Huron and Superior be ever 
 opened to commerce to that extent. 
 
 Passing Waterloo you see Fort Erie, a 
 scene of slaughter and of siege during the 
 war. Here the gallant Colonel Drummond 
 was killed whilst storming the breach, and 
 here is a long row of graves where he anJ 
 his comrades repose in peace. The fort and 
 barracks remained in 1838, and I believe 
 still do so, in the same state as when fire 
 and sword passed over them. 
 
LAKE ERIE. 
 
 '2G9 
 
 nor to 
 be rc- 
 l to sea, 
 the St. 
 owever, 
 n-going 
 aperior, 
 jy must 
 r ships, 
 s, many 
 y goods 
 , if the 
 be ever 
 
 Erie, a 
 ing the 
 immond 
 ch, and 
 
 he ani 
 fort and 
 
 believe 
 hen fire 
 
 Lake Erie is the most shallow of all the 
 great inland seas of Canada, and conse- 
 quently the most dangerous in stormy wea- 
 ther. It affords few harbours, and you pass 
 the mouth of the Welland Canal, and the 
 naval station at the Grand River, without 
 much diversity of scenery, the banks being 
 far from lofty. Long Point, reaching for 
 many miles into the lake, is perhaps the most 
 singular portion of the Canada side, being 
 separated from the main land by a shifting 
 breach, sometimes navigable and often closed. 
 Here, when the Welland Canal is completed, 
 there must be pains taken to create an open 
 channel, as it will save the navigation of the 
 most exposed portion of the lake. The Ame- 
 ricans have a great number of large, but 
 slightly built steam-boats, plying from Buffalo 
 to Lake Michigan, and some of these occa- 
 sionally stop at Amherstburgh, so that the 
 traveller may with ease visit the far-west. 
 
 Amherstburgh, called also Maiden, is an 
 old settlement, originally occupied by the 
 
270 
 
 THE GARDEN OF CANADA. 
 
 French. It is however merely a larjje villajre, 
 ])osscssino- little worthy of notice, cxceptinu 
 the beauty of its position. It is protected 
 by an eastern fort, and has the island of Bois 
 Blanc in its front, whilst the river or strait 
 which passes by it, is named the Detroit, 
 leading from Lake Eric to Lake St. Clair. 
 
 This part of Upper Canada, from Kettle 
 Creek, or Port Stanley, an artificial harbour, 
 round to Sarnia and Goderich, is the garden 
 of the province, being less affected by the 
 weather and climate than other parts, and 
 capable of producing all the cereal g' amina 
 in abundance. European fruits of every de- 
 scription flourish, and tobacco is grown in 
 large quantities. The country is diversified 
 by rivers and undulating laixls, and covered, 
 where man has not opened it, with the most 
 luxuriant forests of beech, birch, elm, maple, 
 chestnut, walnut, cherry, black, red and white 
 oak, hickory, cedar, fir, spruce and pine, with 
 the wild vine, gooseberries, currants, straw- 
 berries, raspberries, and a profusion of flowers. 
 
GAME IN CANADA. 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 I know of no country more smilinfj, or of a 
 more ^^encrous soil than this, and it is rapidly 
 fillinf^ np. The sportsman meets here the 
 partrid«j^e or pheasant of Canada, for it is 
 more like the latter ; snipe, woodcock, cur- 
 lew, plover, teal, black duck, wood duck, 
 and a great variety of other ducks ; occa- 
 sionally wild geese, the bittern, and flocks of 
 wild pigeons innumerable ; also the Cana- 
 dian hare, a sort of rabbit, which turns white 
 in winter; deer; occasionally a bear or a 
 moose-deer; racoons, the loup-cervier, or 
 mountain-cat, the lynx, the wolf, and the 
 otter. 
 
 I have heard that Colonel Prince intro- 
 duced the British pheasant on his property, 
 with what success I know not ; and it is at 
 Amherstburgh you may find that noble 
 forest bird, the wild turkey. 
 
 Amherstburgh is two hundred and sixty- 
 nine miles by land from Toronto; has a 
 population of about fifteen hundred, fluctu- 
 ating, however, much beyond that, by the 
 
272 
 
 THE FRENCH SETTLERS. 
 
 continual arrival of black or coloured people 
 migrating from the land of liberty, where 
 they alone arc doomed to slavery. 
 
 Sandwich, another village, sixteen miles 
 westward, has a larger population ; and near 
 them is another settlement, named Windsor. 
 The old French settlers in this part of 
 Upper Canada are in larger numbers than 
 elsewhere ; and here, at nearly one thousand 
 miles from Quebec, you meet the same Jean 
 Baptiste face and feature, and hear the 
 patois which was formerly the vernacular of 
 the Canadas. The Upper Canadian French- 
 man retains, however, his loyalty to England, 
 with his native good-humour and bienseance-j 
 and I know few more estimable people than 
 the farmers and French gentlemen of this 
 part of the world. 
 
 Amherstburgh and its vicinity is cele- 
 brated for the manufacture of a beautiful 
 straw-plat ; and the summer traveller should 
 not neglect to provide himself with a hat of 
 Amherstburgh manufacture. Near the town 
 
INDIAN SETTLEMENT. 
 
 *27^ 
 
 is the Huron settlement, where a brunch of 
 the fluron Indians have a large tract of 
 land allotted to them, which is so far worthy 
 of a visit, as it is the first opportunity you 
 mav have of seeing the Indian in an half- 
 civilized condition. 
 
 A steam-boat ran from this place, or 
 Windsor, to Port (joderich, on Lake Huron, 
 and I dare say still ccmtinues to do so. 
 Sailing-vessels pass round the south shore 
 to Huron and Penetan<rueshcne. I shall, 
 therefore, convev the traveller in imaijina- 
 tion, by touching- at Goderich, en pdssmttf 
 and proceeding, through the Detroit, into 
 the beautiful little Lake St. Clair, and then, 
 through the tortuous channels of the mouth 
 of the river of that name, into it, and so to 
 the Great Huron. 
 
 Near the opening of the St. Clair into 
 Lake Huron, you pass Port Sarnia, two 
 hundred and fortv-seven miles from Toronto 
 by land, where there are flourishing settle- 
 
 N 3 
 
^27 V 
 
 LAKi: III; HON. 
 
 niciits, as is, indeed, the case almost all the 
 way from Quebec aloii«^ the shon; lor up- 
 wards of one thousand mil'js, and then the 
 immense Lake of Huron !)ears you on its 
 bosom. 
 
'V f >f 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LAKE HURON-CJOUERICn. 
 
 The Huron Lake — ItsDii.cnsions— Proceedings of the (.'aiiada 
 Land ( onipany—Cioderich — Mr. tialt and Dr. Dunlop— 
 Uuclph— Roads through the Wihlerness— The I'rogress of 
 Colonization — Sir Francis Head and the In(hans— Tlu- 
 Islands of the Great Spirit— Excellent Results of colonizin.- 
 this District- The Georgian (iulph— Singular Indian Va^t- 
 — Proofs of a more civilized Race, now extinct. 
 
 To sail on Lake Huron is to sail on one 
 of the lar<rest seas of fresli water in tho 
 world, whose waves emulate those of the 
 ocean; and from its immense expanse, length, 
 and depth, the swell and roll are, perhaps, as 
 long and as full. Huron is quite different 
 from Ontario and Erie, more oceanic, and 
 more solemnly grand. It is two hundred 
 and fifty miles long, by one hundred and 
 
276 
 
 LAKE HURON. 
 
 ninety broad; so that you may sail one 
 thousand one hundred miles along its shores, 
 and by taking the windings and bays nearly 
 as much more. Its mean depth is said to 
 be one thousand feet, and its elevation five 
 hundred and seventy-eight above the tide- 
 waters of the Atlantic.* Michigan is un- 
 
 ^" The Canadian lakes have the following mean depths, 
 elevations above the Atlantic, length and breadth, and cir- 
 cumference: — 
 
 buperior 
 Huron . 
 Michigan 
 Erie 
 Ontario 
 St. Clair 
 Simcoe . 
 
 Lou-tl). 
 
 Brcmitli. 
 
 ( irciini- 
 tcrencc. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 4i0 
 
 200 
 
 1525 
 
 250 
 
 190 
 
 1100 
 
 2G0 
 
 90 
 
 1000 
 
 275 
 
 50 
 
 700 
 
 180 
 
 80 
 
 500 
 
 35 
 
 30 
 
 lOO 
 
 40 
 
 30 
 
 120 
 
 Mean 
 Depth. 
 
 Elevation. 
 
 Feet. . Fee'. 
 
 900 ' 596 
 
 1000 : 578 
 
 1000 ! 578 
 
 84 ' 565 
 
 500 ' 232 
 
 20 ' 570 
 
 — ^712, or 480 
 above Lake 
 Ontario. 
 
 It has been computed that the Canadian lakes contain 
 14,000 cubic miles of water, or more than half that on the 
 whole earth. 
 
 These deductions have been drawn from careful surveys ; 
 but the mean depths of the large lakes are assumed, as some 
 of them have been sounded in places near their centre without 
 
CANADA LAND COMPANY. 
 
 277 
 
 doubtedly a gulph of Huron, and therefore 
 these breadths and lengths may be doubled. 
 
 But as our plan is to gallop on, we must 
 now reach Goderich, where the Canada 
 Company have shown how much can be 
 done by enterprize. 
 
 In 1825, the commissioners appointed by 
 the Canada Land Company arrived in Upper 
 Canada. In 1827, Guelph, the capital of 
 their great tract of land, called the Huron 
 tract, was founded with much ceremony by 
 Mr. Gait and Dr. Dunlop ; and in 1833 
 Goderich became a settlement. Both are 
 now flourishing towns. Guelph is eighty- 
 seven miles from Toronto, and Goderich one 
 hundred and fiftv-five ; the former with a 
 population exceeding two thousand. 
 The Canada Company, consisting of wealthy 
 and highly-respectable London merchants, 
 purchased of the government 1,384,413 acres 
 
 finding bottom ; and it is conjectured that Ontario has a bed 
 of salt in its deepest part ; which is very probable, as the sur- 
 rounding country is of the salt formation. 
 
^278 
 
 CANADA LAND COMPANY. 
 
 of crown revenues, and of clergy land 829,439; 
 or, altogether, 2,213,813 acres of territory, 
 valued at three shillings and sixpence an | 
 acre. Difficulties afterwards arose respect- 
 ing the right of the government to dispose 
 of the clerg}' reserves; and the company, 
 having abandoned the claim to them, re- 
 ceived in lieu a block in the western and 
 London districts, of one million of acres, part 
 of a tract purchased from the six nations of 
 Indians ; and in consequence of this tract 
 being a complete and unbroken forest, the 
 government granted the company a draw- 
 back upon the purchase-money, of one-third, 
 or £48,380, which the company was bound 
 to expend in making canals, roads, bridges, 
 churches, wharfs, school-houses, and other 
 improvements, for the behoof of the settlers. 
 These improvements were to be estimated 
 for, and submitted to, the approval of the 
 deputy-governor, who was authorized to grant 
 credits to the amount thus estimated and 
 expended. 
 
CANADA LAND COMPANY. 
 
 279 
 
 Up to 1838, which is the latest informa- 
 tion 1 possess, the company had opened a 
 road from Wilmot to Goderich, sixty-four 
 miles ; from the Goderich line to the town- 
 ship of London, thirty-five miles. They have 
 turnpiked the London road, widened that 
 from Wilmot through Goderich to Lake 
 Huron, sixty-four miles, and turnpiked it ; 
 opened the Bayfield road for thirteen miles ; 
 six miles through Goderich to Lake Huron ; 
 opened five miles through Tuckersmith ; and 
 expended £100 towards erecting an episco- 
 pal church in Goderich ; — in all amounting to 
 £27,493 ; and they had contracted for various 
 other works to the amount of £2,500, which 
 were executed, and works to a further amount 
 of £5,000 were in the course of progress. 
 
 The one hundred miles of road executed 
 by the Canada Company through the wil- 
 derness, is equal to any road in the pro- 
 vince ; and hesides this great outlay on the 
 drawback allowed them by government, the 
 immense sum of £87,000 had been expended 
 
280 
 
 CANADA LAND COMPANY. 
 
 up to 1838, in the formation of public build- 
 ings, bridges, roads, and piers, out of their 
 capital. 
 
 1 will not tire the patience of the general 
 reader by entering into a detail of the agree- 
 ments by the colonial-office with this com- 
 pany. Suffice it merely to say, that every 
 precaution has been taken for tying the com- 
 pany down, so as to prevent their speculatin<,^ 
 with the land, beyond their means of pay- 
 ment to the Crown. They were allowed 
 sixteen years from the 1st of July 18^6, for 
 the fulfilment of their contract, and the pur- 
 chase-money was to be paid by annual instal- 
 ments, varying in amount from £1.0,000 to 
 £20,000. Thus their contract terminates 
 on the 1st of July 1842, when they must 
 take up whatever land remains inipaid tor, 
 or abandon their claim to it ; and thev are 
 bound in each of the fifteen vears to locate, 
 by actual settlers, one-half of the land annu- 
 ally paid for. Up to 1837, they had actually 
 located about 100,000 acres, by bond fde 
 
EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 
 
 281 
 
 sales to settlers, and to ^ 840 had spent a 
 large additioniti sum in roads, bridges, and 
 the improvement of Goderich harbour. 
 Their operations commenced in 1827, up to 
 which year the average annual immigration 
 for (say) ten years, amounted in Upper 
 Canada to about 13,000 souls. 
 
 In 1830, when by diffusing information, 
 and by numerous agencies, the advantages 
 of this province to settlers of small capital 
 becams known in Europe, the emigration 
 rose as high as 24,300. In 1831, it reached 
 t9,200, and in 1832, 51,400. Since that 
 year it gradually declined or fluctuated, and 
 immense exertions were made to turn the 
 tide to Australasia, the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and the United States. Towards 1837, 
 emigration almost ceased to the Canadas, 
 owing to the unsettled political aspect of 
 Lower Canada, and the desire to thwart it, 
 which was evinced by Papineau and his col- 
 leagues, by imposing a poll-tax, and by 
 throwing every possible obstacle in the way 
 
^282 
 
 GODEIIICII. 
 
 of British settlers. In IcSSS and 1839 it 
 amounted to nothing, comparatively spoak- 
 ing, hut in 1840, it recovered its tone. The 
 bravery displayed by the militia in the 
 defence of their soil, the strength they 
 exhibited, and the proud position their ill- 
 used country stood in, when compared with 
 that of their neighbours, induced the sons of 
 Britain once more to seek a home amongst 
 them ; and accordingly, up to the loth of 
 August, 19,507 had arrived at the port of 
 Quebec ; and it may be fairly presumed, 
 that in the rest of August, September, and 
 part of October, as many as 5000 more. 
 
 Goderich is the only harbour of any con- 
 sequence from the River St. Clair to Cabot's 
 Head, on Lake Huron, a distance of nearly 
 two hundred and fifty miles, and is formed 
 by the mouth of the river Maitland, which is 
 barred, as are most of the rivers emptying 
 themselves into the lakes. 
 
 This long unbroken sweep of shore is ex- 
 posed to all the fury of the winds prevailing 
 
GODERICH. 
 
 283 
 
 [1 1 839 it 
 lily spoak- 
 one. The 
 ia in the 
 [Igtll tlu'v 
 1 their ill- 
 )aro(l with 
 the sons of 
 e amonixst 
 le Ijth of 
 he port of 
 presumed, 
 mber, and 
 more, 
 if anv con- 
 to Cabot's 
 J of nearly 
 . is formed 
 d, which is 
 5 emptyina' 
 
 ihore is ex- 
 prevaihng 
 
 on the lake ; and thus the Canada Company, 
 having failed in an attempt to induce the 
 radical parliament of Upper Canada to grant 
 money for lessening the bar, were obliged to 
 solicit a lease of the water-lots adjoining it 
 from the government, and to undertake the 
 expense of forming an artificial harbour, by 
 means of piers, which were estimated at 
 nearly £8,000. The bar had only three and 
 a half feet of water over it ; that is to sav, 
 vessels above that floatage could not pass 
 over. The shallowest portion in 1838, had 
 eight and a half by the improvements then 
 executed, and there will be eleven feet when 
 the piers are completed, which is fully suffi- 
 cient for any schooner or steamer navigating 
 the lake. 
 
 Goderich is in the county of Huron, and 
 its chief town. In 1829, this county was a 
 wilderness, inhabited by only four families ; 
 in 1838 it had a population of five thousand 
 
 souls, returned a member to the legislature, 
 
28i SIR F. HEAD AND THE INDIANS. 
 
 and promises to become one of the richest 
 portions of the colony. 
 
 To the north of Goderich is a vast tract 
 owned by the Indians, but not inhabited by 
 them, and only used as occasional huntin<v 
 grounds. Sir Francis Head having visited 
 the country, and having assembled all the 
 tributary Indians on the Manitoulin Islands, 
 entered into a treaty, by which the whole of 
 the Indian reservations on the south side of 
 Lake Huron, it was agreed by the chicts, 
 should be ceded to the British government 
 for a certain sum of money, and the Indians 
 were to take up their future abode on the 
 islands of the Great Spirit, as Manitoulin 
 signifies. He erected some buildings at 
 Manitou-a-wanning, a bay of the large 
 island, and having held a council with some 
 thousands of>the aborigines, returned to To- 
 ronto, with the intention of opening this vast 
 tract to the British emigrant. I believe this 
 noble scheme has not yet been completed. 
 
NEW SETTLING GROUNDS. 
 
 285 
 
 It would be advantageous beyond conception 
 to the indigent settler, as well as to the 
 defence of the country ; and if the govern- 
 ment were to take up the land and settle it 
 with discharged soldiers, and deserving small 
 farmers and labourers, invasion by way of 
 Penetangueshcne, always a vulnerable point, 
 would no longer be dreaded ; whilst the 
 magnificent harbours to the eastward of 
 Cabot*s Head, such as Owen's Sound, Col- 
 poy*s Bay, and many others, would become 
 the seats of flourishing towns, and the resort 
 of steam-boats and lake-going vessels. 
 
 There is, moreover, every indication of coal 
 in this vicinity, as I have obtained on the 
 shores the fossils accompanying the coal 
 strata. The country is still unexplored, and 
 is most diversified, and rises into lofty hills 
 covered with enormous timber, of all the 
 usual descriptions. In fact, nothing can 
 exceed the beauty of the whole southern 
 coast of the Georgian Gulf, as this part of 
 Lake Huron is called j its most exposed and 
 
286 
 
 SINGULAR DISCOVKUY. 
 
 least valuable portion l)ein<r the great bav 
 of Nottawa.ssaga, of whicli hereafter. 
 
 My reader must not bo surprised that I 
 occasionallv wander a little from mv subject. 
 Travelling in western Canada is not subject 
 to stage-coach rules ; and I have just recol- 
 lected a singular specimen of the industry of 
 a race long extinct and unknown, which 
 came into my possession, and was found in 
 clearino- the forest for buildinfj at Goderich. 
 It will interest the antiquarian reader, inas- 
 much as there exist, in various parts of 
 western Canada, relics of a race, anterior 
 to the present Indian, farther advanced in 
 the arts, and connected, probably, with the 
 more civilized conquerors of Mexico, the 
 Aztecs. 
 
 It would be labour lost, in a w^ork like the 
 present, to enter into a learned disquisition 
 to prove the Asiatic origin of the Indians 
 of America ; and it will be quite sufficient 
 to observe, that there appears every day 
 strong proofs that their migration from the 
 
ANTIQUE INDIAN VASE. 
 
 287 
 
 eastern shores of the old world will be soon 
 verified. 
 
 The vase in (|uestioii was fbiiiid on the 
 Canada ("ompany's lands near the eastern 
 shores of Huron, and at the new town or 
 settlement of (Joderich, in clearing the forest 
 in the year 183^. It is made, apparently, of 
 feldspar, or a <^Tanitic composition in which 
 I feldspar holds the foremost place, and is 
 10^ inches wide in its longest diameter, 8^?, 
 in.'hes in its shortest, oval, 6^ inches hii^h, 
 and £ths of an inch thick. It is perfect, 
 excepting part of the lip, and appears not to 
 have had any handle, and to have been 
 painted. It was presented to Lady Colborne, 
 who very kindly left it with the author. 
 
 Great quantities of Indian pottery are 
 fuund in all the townships from Toronto to 
 Lake Simcoe, and thence to Penetano-ue- 
 shene ; but all the specimens I have seen 
 are of hard-baked clay, and are less elegant 
 than this, which is, moreover, the onb- 
 nearly perfect relic of such antiquities that 
 
^288 
 
 ANTIQUE INDIAN VASK, 
 
 has, to my knovvlcd<,% been discovered in 
 Canada, and is evidently the production of 
 a state of society superior to that in which 
 the modern race of uncivilized Indians of 
 this portion of North America have existed. 
 It resembles strongly, in shape, the vessels 
 for coolin<j water, used at this day in the 
 East. 
 
289 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PENETAXGUKSIIENF:, the INDIAxXS, AM) 
 THE GIANi'S TOMB. 
 
 Naval Establishment on the Huron-Increase of Military 
 Settlements-Romantic Story of two Brothers-Meeting 
 with an Indian Tribe-Appropriate Scene of the Confer- 
 ence-The old Chief-Prowess of the young AV'arriors— 
 Their Reverence for the British Flag-(Jrote.que Orna- 
 ments—Indian Mourning-A War Drama-Surprise of an 
 American Officer by the Savages-A Chippewa Chief- 
 Eastern Origin of the Indians- Sad Change in their Con- 
 dition-The Giant's Tomb-Christian Islands-Sir John 
 Colborne and the Indians— The Victims of Civilization. 
 
 Penetanglesiiene is a fishing sottlcmont 
 in a small but excellent harbour of the 
 Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, whicli was 
 chosen as the seat of a naval establishment, 
 in order to protect Upper Canada from in- 
 vasion by the lak*.-, as the capital is ap- 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
290 
 
 LAKE SIMCOE. 
 
 proachable from it. This harbour is capable 
 of holding a large fleet securely in all wea- 
 thers. At the mouth of the harbour are 
 stone barracks, always occupied by troops, a 
 naval storehouse, and wharfs. 
 
 The village is at the bottom of the har- 
 bour, and is small, but pleasantly seated, 
 (communicating by a road, not much better 
 than a bridle-path, with Lake Simcoe, and 
 by a portage with Nottawassaga Bay, on 
 Lake Huron. 
 
 The waters of Lake Simcoe are discharged 
 into the Georgian Bay by the River Matche- 
 dash, through a series of highly romantic and 
 picturesque falls, which, before the bridle 
 road was made, were, by means of portages, 
 the only route priacticable to Penetanguc- 
 shene from the capital. 
 
 Of late years military settlers have been 
 located along the path, which has improved 
 it very much. The path is practicable gene- 
 rally for a strong light waggon, but horse- 
 back is the more usual mode of proceeding 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS. 
 
 291 
 
 capable 
 all wea- 
 >our are 
 roops, a 
 
 the har- 
 seated, 
 h better 
 Lcoe, and 
 Bav, on 
 
 scharged 
 Matche- 
 mtic and 
 le bridle 
 portages, 
 letanguc- 
 
 lave been 
 improved 
 ible ^<i\^^- 
 mt horse- 
 roceeding 
 
 from Penetangueshene to Lake Simcoe. — 
 Settlements are graduplly spreading- along 
 the whole line, and the distance of twelve 
 miles cannot now be passed in these ancient 
 forests without meeting a house or hut. 
 
 So much was this transit formerly dreaded, 
 on account of the dreary woods which, to- 
 wards the north, are of course interminable, 
 that it was accounted a sort of wonder when 
 a female above the rank of a soldier's wife 
 reached Penetangueshene, the most distant of 
 all the Canadian settlements on the southern 
 arm of Huron. It is still a journey of 
 some difficulty for a lady ; ahd seven or 
 eight years ago two soldiers perished on the 
 march. They were brothers, one healthy, 
 the other weak ; the weak one became faint 
 in the long woods, and his brother under- 
 took to stay by him under a huge tree, whilst 
 the detachment marched to the nearest set- 
 tlement, to procure the means of bringing 
 him on. On the return of the soldiers and 
 settlers to the spot, after the lapse of a few 
 
 o 2 
 
'292 
 
 AMERICAN INDIANS. 
 
 hours, tlicy found both dead, prohably from 
 f(3ar and oxcitcmcnt, for the weather wa> 
 fine and cheerful. I have often passed tbi> 
 tree on horseback and alone, and have never 
 done so without shuddering. No person 
 \N'as to blame ; and to account for the deaths, 
 both of the healthy and the weakly man, in 
 so short an interval, is impossible. Drink 
 had nothinfj to do with the matter, thounh 
 fraternal affection may have had much. In 
 all likelihood, the weakly brother died in 
 the course of nature ; whilst the strong one 
 may have become alarmed, from beinof left in 
 
 ^ 'CD 
 
 the vast wilderness with his brother's corse, 
 and yielded his life to the impulse of cause- 
 less terror. The tree is marked by the 
 settlers with the dead brothers' names. 
 
 On arrivinn^ the first time at Penetanofuc- 
 shene, I was fortunate enough to reach it at 
 a time of the year when the Indians resorted 
 to it to receive their annual presents ; and I 
 \vas still more fortunate in finding that the 
 meeting was not, as usual, composed of the 
 
mf^mmmm^^^^ 
 
 m^-" 
 
 y from 
 er was 
 lod this 
 c never 
 persDii 
 deaths, 
 nan, in 
 Drink 
 though 
 ch. In 
 died in 
 onix one 
 re left in 
 s corse, 
 cause- 
 by the 
 
 tano'ue- 
 ,ch it at 
 •esorted 
 and I 
 hat the 
 I of the 
 
 AMERICAN INDIANS. 
 
 29i 
 
 half-civilized races, but was attended bv a 
 tribe from the far-west, composed of the pure 
 and unmixed breed of the children of the 
 forest. 
 
 In treating of the capital of Upper Canada, 
 I have alluded to a scene which I am now 
 about to describe somewhat minutely, as 
 it falls to the lot of very few travellers from 
 Europe, now-a-days, to see the pure and un- 
 mixed American Indian, and the time is not 
 distant when, to visit the savage, as he is 
 called, will require a journey far beyond the 
 wilds of the Missisippi ; unless, indeed, that 
 savaixe takes it into his head to visit his bro- 
 ther, the white man, in the United States, 
 to return some of the unsparing evil which 
 ihe long-knife* has dealt out to him : a con- 
 summation by no means probable. 
 
 I happened then to be at Penetanguc- 
 shene, when the unfortunate Pou-tah-wah- 
 tamies, and nearlv two thousand other 
 
 * Chomoko-man, or long-knife, is the Indian name for a 
 white man. 
 
294 
 
 AMERICAN INDIANS. 
 
 Indians, arrived there, the latter to receive 
 their annual gifts, and the former to implore 
 protection. I had never seen the wild and 
 heathen Indians before, and shall never 
 forget the impression their appearance, in 
 an August evening, with every thing beau- 
 tiful in the scenery around, made upon 
 me. 
 
 To do honour to the commandant of the 
 British post and his guests, these warlike 
 savages selected for the conference a slopin<( 
 green field in front of his house, whose base 
 was washed by the waters of Huron, which 
 exhibited the lovely expanse of the basin, 
 with its high and wooded back-ground, and 
 the single sparkling islet in the middle. No 
 spot could have been imagined more suitable. 
 Behind it rose the high hill, destined to re- 
 ceive a future fortress, and which, cleared 
 of timber, is dotted here and there with the 
 neat dwellings of the military residents. 
 
 The young warriors of the tribe, led by a 
 grave and solemn sachem, advanced along 
 
mrw'r'wmiiifmmim^mim'mmf. 
 
 \ receive 
 ► implore 
 wild .111(1 
 11 never 
 •ance, in 
 njj beau- 
 de upon 
 
 it of the 
 ! warlike 
 
 a slopinjr 
 bose base 
 »n, which 
 lie basin, 
 und, and 
 ddle. No 
 ; suitable, 
 led to re- 
 i, cleared 
 ; with the 
 ents. 
 , led bv a 
 ced along 
 
 THE WAR WHOOP. 
 
 ^29.5 
 
 the road, from where they had landed towards 
 the council ground, dancing to the measured 
 and yet vehement cadence of the war- drum, 
 and displaying, with majestic earnestness, 
 the mode in which the tribe was ready to 
 step forth to light for the flag under which 
 they now marched ; for an old and tattered 
 standard, composed of remnants of the flag 
 of Britain, was borne over their heads. Each 
 warrior, his knees bent, his body lowered, 
 and all his weapons exhibited, slowly, and in 
 a sort of jumping and stamping motion, ad- 
 vanced, singing a low and very melancholy 
 war song, in time to the notes of a cylindric 
 wooden drum, covered with the hide of an 
 animal. 
 
 When the tribe arrived at the gate of the 
 commandant's house, where we were all as- 
 sembled, the song and the drum instantly 
 ceased j every warrior in a moment quitted 
 the stealthy and crouching posture and look, 
 and erecting himself in all the stateliness of 
 
^290 
 
 INDIAN WARRIORS. 
 
 savage grandeur, shook his war weapon:*, 
 and uttered the most terrific of all sounds, 
 the war-whoop. 
 
 The sachem or chief, a very venerable 
 old man, then advanced, the weapons were 
 lowered, and all shook hands with the British 
 officers, and proceeded to the council ground, 
 where they speedily seated themselves in a 
 semicircle fronting the waters of Huron. 
 
 I now had an unlimited opportunity of 
 examining this singular race, hut could not 
 converse with them, excepting through the 
 interpreter, as they spoke only their own 
 language, and only one of them understood 
 the Chippewa, which is the general medium 
 of correspondence amongst all the tribes 
 east of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 The warriors were all perfectly unclothed, 
 with the exception of the blue cloth about 
 the loins, which is so universally worn by all 
 the wandering nations. Their forms were 
 generally above the middle size, and elegant, 
 
■¥""T 
 
 INDIAN MOURNING. 
 
 297 
 
 Taponii, 
 sounds, 
 
 ;ncrable 
 ns were 
 British 
 ground, 
 es in a 
 ron. 
 
 unity of 
 luld not 
 igh. tlie 
 ;ir own 
 ierstood 
 nedium 
 1 tribes 
 
 3lothed, 
 1 about 
 n by all 
 IS were 
 jlefj^ant, 
 
 but their arms exhibited very little muscle. 
 The colour of the skin could not be traced, 
 excepting in the second chief, who was, as 
 we were told, a Chippewa, as the whole body 
 and face were covered with paint. One half 
 of the body, from the nec^k downwards, in- 
 cluding the right leg and arm, was black, 
 and in like manner the other half white. 
 The face was painted red, or white, or black, 
 with bright vcrmillion streaks, and gave them 
 a most terrific look, particularly in those who 
 were tattooed ; and the hair was decorated 
 with beads, feathers, pipes, &c. 
 
 They were armed with short rifles, toma- 
 hawks, knives, bows and arrows, and clubs ; 
 and on their legs some had bells and brace- 
 lets, whilst medals, wampum, and scalps 
 hung from their necks, and the pipe and 
 tobacco-pouch, with their ammunition, and 
 various useful articles, were tied about the 
 waist in ornamented cases. Those who had 
 lust their wives, or very near relatives, had 
 rlie face painted entirely black, and this we 
 
 o 3 
 
298 
 
 SPEECH OF THE CHIEF. 
 
 were told is continued during the whole time 
 of mourning. 
 
 After they had been for some time seated, 
 and the old sachem had explained that his 
 young men sought the protection of their 
 Great Father across the (jreat Lake, and 
 that they had quitted for ever the soil which 
 covered the bones of their ancestors, to 
 smoke the calumet of peace with the British 
 warriors, — he stated that the Pow-tah-uah- 
 tamies had sold their noble war-horses, and 
 were no longer an equestrian nation ; that 
 they had sold them to purchase canoes, and 
 the necessary provision to enable them to 
 travel fifteen hundred miles to meet their 
 white brethren ; and that the Big Knives 
 having taken up the hatchet to exterminate 
 them, and having bought all their land, the 
 old men, the young men and their squaws 
 had only now to look for happiness to their 
 G^'eat Father, for whom the Pow-tah-wah- 
 t amies had fought, and watered the earth with 
 their blood, — as his voung men were about 
 
^W ^^ W^W^-i^^(rw-T -TT^"^ K ' «... v»T^ '^f'-'.^T-t*^*- S-T 'f-^^ 
 
 THE OLD WARRIOR. 
 
 299 
 
 )le time 
 
 seated, 
 liat his 
 of their 
 ke, and 
 11 which 
 tors, to 
 I British 
 ;ah-wah- 
 ses, and 
 m ; that 
 oes, and 
 them to 
 ^et their 
 r Knives 
 erminatc 
 land, the 
 r squaws 
 s to their 
 ■tah-wah- 
 larth witli 
 jre about 
 
 to show to the British warriors. For himself, 
 he said, his days were few and his vears 
 many. « But," said he, striking at the 
 same time the pole on which floated the 
 resemblance of a British ension, and which 
 had been planted on the centre of the council 
 ground, " I have been a brave warrior, and 
 sixty scalps adorned my wigwam. Ila! is 
 it not true, my young men, that which your 
 father tells the pale faces ?" 
 
 " Ugh ! ugh ! ugh !" responded the war- 
 nors, in deep sonorous interjections ; " it is 
 true, father." 
 
 The old man's countenance beamed with 
 the fire which had long slumbered, and he 
 again struck the flag-staff, which is the 
 usual mode of vouching for warlike actions, 
 and a modest method of accountino- for his 
 egotism in a western warrior; after which 
 ceremonial, should he assert a falsehood, he 
 would be an object of derision and contempt 
 — a by- word among his people. 
 
 He now gathered his blanket around his 
 
iiOO 
 
 INDIAN WAR DIIAMA. 
 
 .shoulders (fur he was the only one, from his 
 ;^reat age, excepting the 'Chippewa, who 
 wore any clothing), and striding lo his 
 seat, he once more assumed the patient and 
 solemn demeanour of an Indian in council. 
 
 The interpreter then told us that the 
 young warriors were about to show their 
 brother warriors their prowess in a late ac- 
 tion with the Bi<»- Knives. The drum be<^an 
 to send forth its deep monotonous incentives 
 to battle, and a very handsome middle-sized 
 athletic young warrior, with a fine intelligent 
 countenance, and an eye like that of a hawk, 
 started up, and shook the numberless war 
 trappings that covered his painted body. 
 
 lie was followed by another and an older 
 man, but as we were told, one of the most 
 subtle and able warriors of the tribe. I can 
 iikcn this last exhil)itcr, with his lonir thin 
 bony arms, his emaciated body, on which the 
 lines of the protruding ribs were painted 
 black and white to resemble a skeleton ; his 
 wide and well-armed mouth, his scowling 
 
INDIAN WAR DRAMA. 
 
 301 
 
 brow cand piercing eye, combined with the 
 lynx-likc crouching attitude he assumed, — to 
 nothing else than those images of the arch- 
 fiend whicli haunt our schoolboy imagina- 
 tions. 
 
 The young warrior, displaying a rifle 
 richly ornamented with porcupines' quills 
 and beads, sewn on a covering of scarlet 
 cloth in which it was enveloped, set out with 
 the stamping trot at which an Indian com- 
 mences his war-dance, keeping a wide circle, 
 and holding all the while a vehement col- 
 loquy with his follower, who kept close 
 behind him, and whose business it appeared 
 to be, to look well at every object thtj en- 
 countered, and to give the young man timely 
 notice of the presence of the Big Knives ; 
 for so they term the soldiers of the United 
 States army. 
 
 To prove to us that they had been accus- 
 tomed to carry on their wars on horseback, 
 the young warrior placed his rifle, and his 
 follower his spear, in the same position as a 
 
3(M 
 
 INDIAN WAR DRAMA. 
 
 schoolboy does his hobby-horse, and both 
 commenced trottinjr exactly as a child would 
 on a stick. After they had thus ridden tor 
 some distance, the drum still beatinir, they 
 both made a sudden halt, bent forward their 
 heads, and seemed to perceive a trail or 
 track in the grass. Their conversation bo- 
 fore had been loud and vehement, it no^v 
 became cautious, and was carried on onlv 
 in audible whisperings, accompanied by 
 great gesticulation, and examination of the 
 trail. 
 
 Motions were now made to indicate 
 that the horses were tied up and the 
 warriors rapidly ran forward, bending the 
 body to the ground, examining every now 
 and then their arms, and constantly peeriiifi 
 at the track. 
 
 The follower now stopped, crept in ad- 
 vance of his leader, and motioned to him to 
 enter a canoe. They then appeared to float 
 silently for some time on the supposed river, 
 the guide merely steering, until all at oncu 
 
^m 
 
 mmm 
 
 INDIAN WAR DRAMA. 
 
 30J 
 
 Liid both 
 1(1 would 
 (Iden tor 
 inir, th(») 
 nd tlii'ir 
 trail or 
 ition bo- 
 it now 
 on only 
 I lied by 
 1 of the 
 
 indicate 
 and the 
 ling the 
 ery now 
 peerinfT 
 
 t in ad- 
 ) him to 
 . to float 
 )d river, 
 at once 
 
 thoy both laid down their arms, and paddled 
 might and main. 
 
 This lasted for some time, until the guide 
 stopped, crept out of the supposed canoe, 
 made it ftist, and both began to crawl like 
 serpents on the grass. 
 
 I had no conception that it was possible to 
 make the flesh and sinews of the body move 
 in the way it did on these singular creatures. 
 It was positively unpleasant to behold the 
 vermicular motion of the sinews and flesh on 
 the back and shoulders. 
 
 Having crawled like snakes in the grass 
 for some time, the guide pointed with his 
 spear, and both became perfectly still, their 
 bright eyes alone, by their fearful glitterings, 
 showing that they were animated beings. 
 
 Slowly the warrior raised his head, and 
 the guide again motioned forward with the 
 point of his bright spear. 
 
 The young warrior's flesh then fairly qui- 
 vered in every limb, and cautiously pushing 
 forward his rifle, he, still extended on the 
 
304 
 
 INDIAN WAR DRAMA. 
 
 t^rass, took a deliberate aim, and with the 
 quickness of thought, a ball sped into the 
 lucid waters of Huron below us. 
 
 The whole tribe then placed their hands 
 on their mouths, and gave a most terrific war- 
 whoop. The young warrior and his guide 
 sprang to their feet, the rifle was re-loaded 
 with ball, and they ran to the supposed spot 
 on which their enemy had been slain. Here 
 they again set up the war-whoop, and ex- 
 hibited signs of demoniac joy, capering and 
 jumping about with the most extravagant 
 tjl-estures. 
 
 The young warrior and his attendant then 
 held a long and anxious talk, and this was 
 only interrupted by what I suppcje was 
 the appearance, to them, of some symptoms of 
 life on the part of their foe, and of their 
 station beino- an insecure one. 
 
 The guide examined in every direction, 
 and the youn:if w'arrior drawinnf forth the 
 tomahawk, turned the hammer end out- 
 wards, and stooping down, struck three hard 
 
A CHIPPEWA CHIEF. 
 
 305 
 
 ith the 
 ito the 
 
 hands 
 fie war- 
 5 guide 
 -loaded 
 ed spot 
 , Here 
 md cx- 
 ing and 
 avjigant 
 
 it then 
 lis was 
 50 was 
 toms of 
 f their 
 
 cction, 
 th the 
 1 out- 
 e hard 
 
 hlows with it on the supposed victim's head, 
 and then slinging the weapon in his wam- 
 pum belt, he unsheathed his scalping knife, 
 and completed his victory. 
 
 The guide now returned, and after com- 
 municating with his brother, they both ga- 
 thered sticks, grass, and leaves, and went 
 through the representation of concealing or 
 burying the slain, and hastening away again 
 to the canoe. After this, the scene was 
 ended, the tribe expressed the usual guttural 
 assent, and the hero touched the flag-staflP. 
 
 This re|;resentation, the interpreter told 
 us, was a faithful one, of the surprise of an 
 American officer and his party by the savages. 
 
 Many other warriors afterwards detailed 
 their exploits to us, and the ceremony was 
 concluded by the Chippewa, a noble majestic 
 Asiatic-looking figure, exceedingly well and 
 even richly clothed, with several silver medals 
 hung over a fine white linen shirt, which was 
 worn over his leggins, and bolted around his 
 waist, having a loose and very Turkish-look- 
 
 
306 
 
 A CHIPPEWA CHIEF. 
 
 ing body coat of blue cloth over all, orna- 
 mented, as the leggins were, with stripes of 
 gold and red cloth. 
 
 This Indian, who appeared to be very cele- 
 brated in the tribe, and took upon himself 
 the office of speaker in the talks, was not 
 painted, excepting on the face, which was 
 blackened all over, in mourning for the recent 
 loss of his squaw. He was the best-looking 
 Indian I have ever seen — tall, stout, and 
 with a perfect Asiatic face, of that descrip- 
 tion seen in Turkey, with a high and ample 
 forehead, prominent thin nose, and small 
 and well-formed mouth and ears, and a fine 
 head of long black hair, highly ornamented 
 with beads and long feathers. 
 
 He afterwards took off all his clothing, and 
 exhibited a muscular stout frame, covered bv 
 a soft and pliable skin, whose hue did not 
 very greatly differ from that of a dark coni- 
 plexioned European, and yet he was a full- 
 bred Indian. 
 
 Amongst the western tribes there are 
 
A CONTRACT. 
 
 307 
 
 all, orna- 
 stripes of 
 
 very cele- 
 n himself 
 , was not 
 hich was 
 ;he recent 
 st-looking 
 tout, and 
 t descrip- 
 nd ample 
 nd small 
 ind a fine 
 [lamented 
 
 hing, and 
 Dvered bv 
 3 did not 
 lark com- 
 mas a full- 
 here ai'c 
 
 several with this handsome cast of Asiatic 
 features, the prominent nose and fair skin, 
 which is an additional confirmation of the 
 eastern origin of these wanderers. 
 
 Having touched the flag-staff, the Chip- 
 pewa related his war deeds, and danced the 
 pipe dance, handing the calumet of peace to 
 the principal officers present, and very grace- 
 fully concluded by asking for refreshment for 
 the warriors and the wise men, which of 
 course was immediately and liberally given. 
 
 Would that I could continue this little 
 narrative, with the same interesting features 
 of untaught and uncivilized nature ; for with 
 all the barbarous and blood-thirsty display 
 of their warlike deeds, there was something 
 so noble, simple, and chaste in the manners, 
 bearing, and demeanour of these sons of the 
 forest, that it won golden opinions from all 
 beholders ! But a few short months after- 
 wards, as I have before observed, I ajrain 
 saw my friends the Pou-tah-wah-tamies, 
 sitting on the sward in front of the very 
 
308 
 
 THE GIANT S TOMB. 
 
 parliament buildings at Toronto, haggard, 
 clothed in rags and filthy blankets, bearing 
 the evidence of starvation in their intelligent 
 features. 
 
 Before we leave Pcnetangueshene (tho 
 harbour of the rolling white sand), we will 
 just take a peep outside, and look at some 
 beautiful scenery in the Georgian Bay, par- 
 ticularly the Giant's Tomb. 
 
 This is a sounding title, but it means lit- 
 tle. I took a long and fatiguing journey to 
 sec Thunder Bay, the Christian Islands, 
 and the Giant's Tomb, fit materials, as I 
 imagined, for poesy and prose. Here, me- 
 thought, some pious disciple of the excel- 
 lent Bunyan had been, and from that uni- 
 versal book extracted names worthy of a 
 Pilgrim's Progress. Here, methought, I 
 may, with Goldsmith, 
 
 " Behold the duteous son, the sire decay 'd, 
 The modest matron, and the blushing maid. 
 Forced from their homes, a melancholy train. 
 To traverse climes beyond the western main, 
 AV^here wild Oswego spreads her swamps around, 
 And Niagara stuns with thundering sound ! 
 
^^fl^PWWS 
 
 VOLUNTARY EXILES. 
 
 S09 
 
 laggard, 
 
 bearing 
 
 telligent 
 
 me (the 
 , we will 
 at some 
 Jay, par- 
 
 leans lit- 
 iirney to 
 Islands, 
 lIs, as I 
 ere, me- 
 le excel- 
 hat uni- 
 hy of a 
 ught, I 
 
 1^ 
 
 in, 
 n, 
 
 •ound, 
 I 
 
 E'en now, perhaps, as there some pilgrim strays 
 
 Througli tangled forests, and through dangerous ways, 
 
 AV'here beasts with man divided empire claim, 
 
 And the brown Indian marks with murd'rous aim ; 
 
 There, while above the giddy tempest flies, 
 
 And all around distressful yells arise. 
 
 The pensive exile, bending with his woe, 
 
 To stop, too fearful, and too faint to go. 
 
 Casts a long look where England's glories shine, 
 
 And bids his bosom sympathize with mine." 
 
 But, alas ! for those visions of vapour 
 which haunt the imagination, I found at 
 Thunder Bay, after penetrating miles from 
 the habitation of man through the tanoled 
 forest, but one pilgrim, and he a Canadian 
 Frenchman, of most sinister aspect, in a 
 sheilino- which would have diso-raced a Hioh- 
 land shepherd, with a ragged and dirty 
 family, with whom I should be very sorry 
 indeed to pass one night. Monsieur Le Bat, 
 as he is styled, is a voluntary exile, and 
 exists bv the fisherv, and has but one ncioh- 
 hour, who resides five miles distant, and is 
 only to be reached by an extremely difficult 
 Indian path. 
 
310 
 
 THE GREAT SPIRIT. 
 
 The Christian Islands are more practi- 
 cable ; they are so called from a missionary 
 station for converting the Indians, which 
 was formerly established on them, and from 
 the remains of a Catholic chapel, which still 
 exists. 
 
 But the Giant's Tomb — surely this must 
 mean something! And so it does, for 
 Indians, Frenchmen, Englishmen, all call it 
 by the same designation — which simply 
 means that its form is very like that of an 
 enormous grave. It is uninhabited, as all 
 this coast is, and as wild as imagination can 
 picture it. 
 
 I took a view of this spot from a project- 
 ing ledge of rocks, from which the expanse 
 of Huron first becomes visible, after emerg- 
 infj from the chain of huo^e isles which block 
 up the cast end of the Georgian Bay. 
 
 The Indians seem to avoid all settlement 
 on any of the isles or woody shores in this 
 neighbourhood, perhaps on account of the 
 sacred nature of the Manitoulin chain in 
 
T—T- 
 
 e practi- 
 issionarv 
 s, which 
 and from 
 hich still 
 
 this must 
 does, for 
 all call it 
 h simply 
 bat of an 
 3d, as all 
 lation can 
 
 a project- 
 
 e expanse 
 
 er emerg- 
 
 lich block 
 
 ay. 
 ettlement 
 
 es in this 
 int of the 
 chain in 
 
 SIR JOHN COLBORNE. 
 
 311 
 
 their vicinity, where the great Manitou is 
 supposed by them to reside. 
 
 On the largest of these islands, called 
 Manitou-a -wanning. Sir John Colborne was, 
 however, forming a settlement for those 
 wandering tribes who had no fixed lands 
 assigned to them in Canada. But whether 
 the missionaries will be able to overcome 
 their superstitions respecting it, I have, as 
 yet, had no opportunity of knowing. 
 
 Sir John Colborne was called the father 
 of the Indians, with strict justice, for every 
 leisure moment was spent by him in endea- 
 vours to ameliorate their condition. Let us 
 hope that his grand scheme for concentrating 
 the almost starving tribes of Huron and 
 Superior on this magnificent island will yet 
 be effected ; and that Britain will ever hold 
 out a fostering and paternal hand to the 
 victims of civilization, who have been driven, 
 by pestilential disorders brought amongst 
 them, by the sword, and (worst of all) by 
 what they still eagerly seek for, the scourge 
 
312 
 
 SIR JOHN COLBORNE. 
 
 firc-vvatcr (scu-te-wah-bah) from the homes 
 of their fathers, their natal soil, and inalien- 
 able property, to the howling deserts of 
 Huron and Superior, where game is not 
 found sufficiently abundant for their support, 
 and where the frightful climate soon thins 
 their numbers and paralyzes their energies. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 I'FUNTKD IIV WILLIAM \\IL(0( KSON, UOLLS 111 ILDlMiS, FETTLK LANK. 
 
he homes 
 d inalien- 
 leserts of 
 le is not 
 r support, 
 oon thins 
 energies. 
 
 ETTKR LANK. 
 
 muz^0f 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TO 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 As, since the present work was written, the Union 
 OF THE Canadas, One of the most important events 
 in the history of the countries on which they treat, has 
 been carried into effect, which event took place on the 
 morning of the 23rd of July of the present year, agree- 
 ably to an Act of the Imperial Parliament, (3 and 4 
 Victorise, cap. 35.) passed for that purpose ; and as this 
 Union comprehends io many matters of the highest con- 
 sequence to all who .nay have any connexion with, or 
 who may feel any interest in, the affairs of Canada, the 
 Author presumes he cannot do a more acceptable ser- 
 vice than to insert the aforesaid Act, in full. 
 
 The reader must also bear in mind, that the Capital 
 of the United Province is now Kingston, at the 
 north-eastern extremity of Lake Ontario, and that, 
 consequently, many of the observations applied, in the 
 earlier part of this work, to Toronto, will now apply 
 equally well to the above-named city ; and that, al- 
 though politically the distinction between Upper and 
 Lower Canada is no longer acknowledged, the geogra- 
 phical distinction still, of course, remains the same. 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
314 
 
 ACT TO RF.-UNITE 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 TO RK-UNITK THE I'ROVINCKS OF UPPER AND 
 LOWER CANADA, AND TOR THE GOVERNMENT 
 OF CANADA. [23d July 1840.J 
 
 Whereas it is necessary that provision be made for the 
 good government of the Provinces of Upper Canada 
 and Lower Canada, in such manner as may secure the 
 rights and liberties and promote the interests of all 
 classes of Her Majesty's subjects within the same : And 
 whereas to this end it is expedient that the said Pro- 
 vinces be re-united and form one Province for the pur- 
 poses of executive government and legislation : Be it 
 therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Ma- 
 jesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords 
 spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present 
 Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, 
 That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, with the advice 
 of Her Privy Council, to declare, or to authorize the 
 Governor General of the said Two Provinces of Upper 
 and Lower Canada, to declare, by Proclamation, that 
 the said Provinces, upon, from, and after a certain day 
 in such Proclamation to be appointed, which day shall 
 be within fifteen calendar months next after the passing 
 of this Act, shall form and be One Province, under the 
 name of the Province of Canada, and thenceforth the 
 said Provinces shall constitute and be One Province, 
 under the name aforesaid, upon, from, and after the day 
 so appointed as aforesaid. 
 
 U. And be it enacted, That so much of an Act 
 passed in the Session of Parliament held in the thirty- 
 
I'PPEIl AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 {31.> 
 
 'ER AND 
 IINMENT 
 
 ,Y 1840.J 
 
 ide for the 
 !r Canada 
 secure the 
 Bsts of all 
 anie: And 
 
 said Pro- 
 Dr the pur- 
 ion : Be it 
 client Ma- 
 
 the Lords 
 his present 
 f the same, 
 
 the advice 
 thorize the 
 s of Upper 
 lation, that 
 certain day 
 h day shall 
 the passing 
 , under the 
 iceforth the 
 B Province, 
 fter the day 
 
 of an Act 
 1 the thirty- 
 
 
 first year of the reign of King George the Third, intitu- 
 led "An Act to repeal certain Parts of an Act passed 
 in the Fourteenth Year of His Majesty's Reign, intituled 
 * An Act for making more effectual Provision for the 
 Government of the Province of Quebec in North Ame- 
 rica,' and to make further Provision for the Government 
 of the said Province," as provides for constituting and 
 composing a Legislative Council and Assembly within 
 each of the said Provinces respectively, and for the 
 makings of laws ; and also the whole of an Act passed 
 in the Session of Parliament held in the first and second 
 years of the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled "An 
 Act to make temporary Provision for the Government 
 of Lower Canada ; and also the whole of an Act passed 
 in the Session of Parliament held in the second and third 
 years of the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled 
 " An Act to amend an Act of the last Session of Parlia- 
 ment for making temporary Provision for the Govern- 
 ment of Lower Canada :" and also the whole of an Act 
 passed in the Session of Parliament, held in the first and 
 second years of the reign of His late Majesty King 
 William the Fourth, intituled " An Act to amend an 
 Act of the Fourteenth Year of His Majesty King (jeorge 
 the Third, for establishing a Fund towards defraying the 
 Charges of the Administration of Justice and the Sup- 
 port of Civil Government in the Province of Quebec in 
 America," shall continue ai.d remain in force until the 
 day on which it shall be declared, by Proclamation as 
 aforesaid, that the said Two Provinces shall constitute 
 and be One Province as aforesaid, and shall be repealed 
 on, from, and after such day : Provided always, that the 
 repeal of the said several Acts of Parliament and parts 
 of Acts of Parlian)ent shall not be held to revive or o-ive 
 any force or effect to any enactment which has by the 
 
 p2 
 
;316 
 
 ACT TO HE-L'NITE 
 
 said Acts, or any of them, been repealed or deter- 
 mined. 
 
 III. And be it enacted. That from and after the re- 
 union of the said Two Provinces there shall be within 
 tlie Province of Canada One Legishitive Council and 
 One Assembly, to be severally coiistituted and com- 
 posed in tlu! manner hereinafter prescribed, which shall 
 be called ** The Legislative Council and Assembly of 
 Canada ;" and that, within the Province of Canada, 
 Her Majesty shall have power, by and with the advice 
 and consent of the said Legislative Council and Assem- 
 bly, to make laws for the peace, welfare, and good 
 government of the Province of Canada, such laws not 
 being repugnant to this Act, or to such parts of the 
 said Act passed in the thirty-first year of the reign of 
 His said late Majesty as are not hereby repealed, or to 
 any Act of Parliament made or to be made, and not 
 hereby repealed, which does or shall, by express enact- 
 ment or by necessary intendment, extend to the Pro- 
 vinces of Upper and Lower Canada, or to either of 
 them, or to the Province of Canada; and that all such 
 laws being passed by the said Legislative Council and 
 Assembly, and assented to by Her Majesty, or assented 
 to in Her Meijesty's name by the Governor of the Pro- 
 vince of Canada, shall be valid and binding to all 
 intents and purposes within the Province of Canada. 
 
 IV. And be it enacted, That for the purpose of com- 
 posing the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada 
 it shall be lawfid for Her Majesty, before the time to be 
 appointed for the first meeting of the said Legislative 
 Council and Assembly, by an instrument imder the sign 
 manual, to authorize the Governor, in Her Majesty's 
 name, by an instrument under the Great Seal of the said 
 Province, to summon to the said Legislative Council of 
 
U1»1'EU AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 017 
 
 r tleter- 
 
 r the rc- 
 le within 
 ncil and 
 ml com- 
 ich shall 
 cmbly of 
 Canada, 
 le advice 
 d Assem- 
 md good 
 laws not 
 ts of the 
 ; reign of 
 led, or to 
 , and not 
 2SS enact- 
 the Pro- 
 either of 
 it all such 
 III ncil and 
 V assented 
 r the Pro- 
 ing to all 
 jauada. 
 se of com- 
 of Canada 
 time to be 
 Legislative 
 ler the sign 
 ■ Majesty's 
 of the said 
 Council of 
 
 the said Province such persons, being not fewer than 
 twenty, as Her Majesty shall think (it ; and that it shall 
 also be lawful for Her Mujesty from time to time to 
 authorize the Governor in like manner to summon to 
 the said Fx'gislative Council such other person or persons 
 as Her Majesty shall think tit, anfl that every person 
 who shall be so surnnioned shall thereby become a 
 member of the Legislative Council of the Province of 
 Canada : Provided always, that no person shull be 
 summoned to the said Legislative Council of the Pro- 
 vince of Canada who shall not be of the full age of 
 twenty-one years, and a natural-born subject of Her 
 Majesty, or a subject of Her Majesty naturalized by 
 Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, or by Act of the 
 Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, or by an Act of the Legislature of either of the 
 Provinces of Upper or Lower Canada, or by an Act of 
 the Legislature of the Province of Canada. 
 
 V. And be it enacted. That every member of the 
 Legislative Council of the Province of Canada shall 
 hold his seat therein for the term of his life, but subject 
 nevertheless to the provisions hereinafter contained for 
 vacating the same. 
 
 VL And be it enacted. That it shall be lawful for 
 any member of the Legislative Council of the Province 
 of Canada to resign his seat in the said Legislative 
 Council, and upon such resignation the seat of such 
 Legislative Councillor shall become vacant. 
 
 Vn. And be it enacted. That if any Legislative 
 Councillor of the Province of Canada shall for two suc- 
 cessive sessions of the Legislature of the said Province 
 fail to give his attendance in the said Legislative Coun- 
 cil, without the permission of Her Majesty or of the 
 Governor of the said Province, signified by the said 
 
318 
 
 ACT TO RE-UNITE 
 
 Governor to the Legislative Council, or shall take any 
 oath or make any declaration or acknowledgment of 
 allegiance, obedience, or adherence to any foreign 
 prince or power, or shall do, concur in, or adopt any 
 Act whereby he may become a rjubjcct or citizen of any 
 foreign state or power, or whereby he may become en- 
 titled to the rights, privileges, or immunities of a subject 
 or citizen of ony foreign state or power, or shall become 
 bankrupt, or take the benefit of any law relating to in- 
 solvent debtors, or become a public defaulter, or be 
 attainted of treason, or be convicted of felony or of any 
 infamous crime, his seat in such council shall thereby 
 become vacant. 
 
 VIII. And be it enacted, That any question which 
 shall arise respecting any vacancy in i,he Legislative 
 Council of the Province of Canada, on occasion of any 
 of the matters aforesaid, shall be referred by the Go- 
 vernor of the Province of Canada to the said Legislative 
 Council, to be by the said Legislative Council heard 
 and determined : Provided always, that it shall be law- 
 ful, either for the person respecting whose seat such 
 question shall have arisen, or for Her Majesty's Attorney 
 General for the said Province on Her Majesty's behalf, 
 to appeal from the determination of *he said Council in 
 such case to Her Majesty, and that the judgment of Her 
 Majesty given with the advice of Her Privy Council 
 thereon shall be final and conclusive to all intents and 
 purposes. 
 
 IX. And be it enacted, That the Governor of the 
 Province of Canada shall have power and authority 
 from time to time, by an instrument under the Great 
 Seal of the said Province, to appoint one member of the 
 said Legislative Council to be Speaker of the said Legis- 
 lative Council, and to remove him, and appoint another 
 in his stead. 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 319 
 
 take any 
 jmerit of 
 f foreign 
 dopt any 
 en of any 
 !Come en- 
 a subject 
 11 become 
 ing to in- 
 ;er, or be 
 or of any 
 11 thereby 
 
 ion which 
 Legislative 
 on of any 
 y the Go- 
 Legislative 
 ncil heard 
 all be law- 
 seat such 
 s Attorney 
 :y's behalf, 
 Council in 
 lent of Her 
 vy Council 
 iitents and 
 
 -nor of the 
 1 authority 
 r the Great 
 mber of the 
 said Legis- 
 )int another 
 
 X. And be it enacted, That the presence of at least 
 ten members of the said Legislative Council, including 
 the Speaker, shall be necessary to constitute a meeting 
 for the exercise of its powers ; and that all questions 
 which shall arise in the said Legislative Council shall 
 be decided by a majority of voices of the members pre- 
 sent other than the Speaker, and when the voices shall 
 be equal the Speaker shall have the casting vote. 
 
 XI. And be it enacted. That for the purpose of con- 
 stituting the Legislative Assembly of the Province of 
 Canada it shall be lawful lor the Governor of the said 
 Province, within the time hereinafter mentioned, and 
 thereafter from time to time as occasion shall re([uirc, 
 in Her Majesty's name, and by an instrument or instru- 
 ments under the Great Seal of the said Province, to 
 summon and call together a Legislative Assembly in 
 and for the said Province. 
 
 XH. And be it enacted, That in the Legislative As- 
 sembly of the Province of Canada to be constituted as 
 aforesaid the parts of the said Province which now con- 
 stitute the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada re- 
 spectively shall, subject to the provisions hereinafter 
 contained, be represented by an equal number of repre- 
 sentatives, to be elected for the places and in the man- 
 ner hereinafter mpntioned. 
 
 XHL And be it enacted, That the County of Halton 
 in the Province of Uppei' Canada shall be divided into 
 Two Ridings, to be called respectively the East Riding 
 and the West Riding ; and that the East Riding of the 
 said County shall consist of the following Townships, 
 namely, Trafalgar, Nelson, Esquesing, Nassagawega, 
 East Flamborough, West Flamborough, Ering, Bever- 
 ley ; and that the West Riding of the said County 
 shall consist of the following Townships, namely, Gara- 
 
320 
 
 ACT TO RE-UNITE 
 
 fraxa, Nichol, Woolwich, Guelph, Waterloo, Wilmot, 
 Dumfries, Puslinch, Eramosa ; and that the East 
 Riding and West Riding of the said County shall each 
 be represented by one member in the Legislative As- 
 sembly of the Province of Canada. 
 
 XIV. And be it enacted. That the County of Nor- 
 thumberland in the Province of Upper Canada shall be 
 divided into Two Ridings, to be called respectively the 
 North Riding and the South Riding ; and that the 
 Noith Riding of the last-mentioned County shall con- 
 sist of the following Townships, namely, Monaghan, 
 Otonabee, Asphodel, Smith, Douro, Dummer, Belmont, 
 Methuen, Burleigh, Harvey, Emily, Gore, Ennismore ; 
 arid that the South Ridino; of the last-mentioned Countv 
 shall consist of the following Townships, namely, Ha- 
 milton, Haldimand, Cramak, Murray, Seymour, Percy; 
 and that the North Riding and South Riding of the 
 last-mentioned County shall each be represented by 
 one member in the Legislative Assembly of the Pro- 
 vince of Canada. 
 
 XV. And be it enacted. That the County of Lincoln 
 in the Province of Upper Canada shall be divided into 
 Two Ridings, to be called respectively the North Riding 
 and the South Hiding; and that the North Riding shall 
 be formed by uniting the First Riding and Second 
 Riding of the said County, and the South Riding by 
 uniting the Third Riding and Fourth Riding of the said 
 County; and that the North and South Riding of the 
 last-mentioned County shall each be represented by one 
 member in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of 
 Canada. 
 
 XVL And be it enacted. That every County and 
 Riding, other than those hereinbefore specified, which 
 at the time of luv. passing of this Act was by luw en^ 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 321 
 
 Wilmot, 
 the East 
 hall each 
 ative As- 
 
 r of Nor- 
 1 shall be 
 lively the 
 
 that the 
 ihall con- 
 on a ghan, 
 Belmont, 
 inismore ; 
 d County 
 nely, Ha- 
 ir, Percy; 
 ns: of the 
 ented by 
 
 the Pro- 
 
 if Lincoln 
 vided into 
 th Riding 
 ding shall 
 d Secund 
 Riding by 
 )f the said 
 ing of the 
 ted bv one 
 rovince of 
 
 )unty and 
 ied, which 
 oy law ers' 
 
 titled to be represented in the Assembly of the Pro- 
 vince of Upper Canada, shall be represented by one 
 member in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of 
 Canada. 
 
 ll XVIL And be it enacted, That the City of Toronto 
 
 " shall be represented by two members, and the Towns of 
 
 Kingston, Brockville, Htimilton, Cornwall, Niagara, 
 London, and Bytown shall each be represented bv one 
 member in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of 
 Canada. 
 
 XVIII. And be it enacted. That every County which 
 before and at the time of the passing of the said Act of 
 Parliament, intituled ** An Act to make temporary Pro- 
 vision for the Government of Lower Canada," was en- 
 titled to be represented in the Assembly of the Province 
 of Lower Canada, except the Counties of Montmorency, 
 Orleans, L'Assomption, La Chesnaye, L'Acadie, La- 
 prairie, Dorchester, and Beauce, hereinafter mentioned, 
 shall be represented by one member in the Legislative 
 Assembly of the Province of Canada. 
 
 XIX. And be it enacted. That the said Counties of 
 Montmorency and Orleans shall be united into and 
 form One County, to be called the County of Mont- 
 morency; and that the said Counties of L'Assomption, 
 and La Chesnaye shall be united into and form One 
 County, to be called the County of Leinster; and that 
 the said Counties of L'Acadie and Laprairie shall be 
 united into and form One County, to be called the 
 County of Huntingdon ; and that the Counties of Dor- 
 chester and Beauce sliall be united into and form One 
 Countv, to be called the Countv of Dorchester : and 
 that each of the said Counties of Montmorency, Lein- 
 ster, Huntingdon, and Dorchester shall be represented 
 
32-2 
 
 ACT TO RE-UNITE 
 
 by one member in the Legislative Assembly of the said 
 Province of Canada. 
 
 XX. And be it enacted, That the Cities of Quebec 
 and Montreal shall each be represented by two mem- 
 bers, and the Towns of Three Rivers and Sherbrooke 
 shall each be represented by one member in the Legis- 
 lative Assembly of the Province of Canada. 
 
 XXL And be it enacted, That for the purpose of 
 electins^ their several representatives to the said Legis- 
 lative Assembly, the cities and towns hereinbefore men- 
 tioned shall be deemed to be bounded and limited in 
 such manner as the Governor of the Province of Ca- 
 nada, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the 
 Province, to be issued within thirty days after the Union 
 of the said Provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Ca- 
 nada, shall set forth and describe ; and such parts of 
 any such city or town (if any) which shall not be 
 included within the boundary of such city or town 
 respectively by such Letters Patent, for the purposes of 
 this Act shall be taken to be a part of the adjoining 
 County or Riding, for the purpose of being represented 
 in the said Legislative Assembly. 
 
 XXIL And be it enacted. That for the purpose of 
 electing the members of the Legislative Assembly of the 
 Province of Canada, it shall be lawful for the Governor 
 of the said Province, from time to time, to nom.inate 
 proper persons to execute the office of Returning Offi- 
 cer in each of the Counties, Ridings, Cities, and Towns 
 which shall be represented in the Legislative Assembly 
 of the Province of Canada, subject nevertheless to the 
 provisions hereinafter contained. 
 
 XXIII. And be it enacted. That no person shall be 
 obliged to execute the said office of returning otHcer for 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 3'23 
 
 e said 
 
 Quebec 
 mem- 
 irooke 
 Legis- 
 
 (ose of 
 
 Legis- 
 
 e nien- 
 
 lited in 
 
 of Ca- 
 
 of the 
 
 ; Union 
 
 ver Ca- 
 
 aarts of 
 
 not be 
 
 )r town 
 
 poses of 
 
 [Ijoining 
 
 resented 
 
 ••pose of 
 ly of the 
 Governor 
 lominate 
 ing Offi- 
 id Towns 
 Assembly 
 3SS to the 
 
 I shall be 
 officer for 
 
 any longer term than one year, or oftener than once, un- 
 less it shall be at any time otherwise provided by some act 
 or acts of the Legislature of the Province of Canada. 
 
 XXIV. And be it enacted, That Writs for the Elec- 
 tion of members to serve in the Legislative Assembly of 
 the Province of Canada shall be issued by the governor 
 of the said Province, within fourteen days after the seal- 
 ing of such instrument as aforesaid, for summoninir and 
 calling together such Legislative Assembly; and that 
 such Writs shall be directed to the returning officers of 
 the said Counties, Riding, Cities, and Towns respec- 
 tively ; and that such writs shall be made returnable 
 within fifty days at farthest from the day on which they 
 shall bear date, unless it shall at any time be otherwise 
 provided by any Act of the Legislature of the said Pro- 
 vince ; and that Writs shall in like manner and form be 
 issued for the Election of members in the case of any 
 vacancy which shall happen by the death or resignation 
 of the person chosen or by his being summoned to t!.e 
 Legislative Council of the said Province, or from any 
 other legal cause; and that such Writs shall be made 
 returnable within fifty days at farthest from the day on 
 which they shall bear date, unless it shall be at any time 
 otherwise provided by any Act of the Legislature of the 
 said Province ; and that in any case of any such vacancy 
 which shall happen by the death of the person chosen, 
 or by reason of his being so summoned as aforesaid, the 
 Writ for the Election of a new member shall be issued 
 within six days after notice thereof shall have been de- 
 livered to or left at the office of the proper officer tor 
 issuing such Writs of Election. 
 
 XXV. And be it enacted. That it shall be lawful for 
 the Governor of the Province of Canada for the time 
 being to fix the time and place of holding Elections of 
 
3-24 
 
 ACT TO RE-UNITE 
 
 members to serve in the Legislative Assembly of the said 
 Province, until otherwise provided for as hereinafter is 
 mentioned, giving not less than eight days notice of such 
 time and place. 
 
 XXVI. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful 
 for the Legislature of the Province of Canada, by any 
 Act or Acts to be hereafter passed, to alter the divisions 
 and extent of the several Counties, Ridings, Cities, and 
 Towns which shall be represented in the Legislative 
 Assembly of the Province of Canada, and to establish 
 new and other divisions of the same, and to alter the 
 apportionment of representatives to be chosen by the said 
 Counties, Ridings, Cities and Towns respectively, and 
 make a new and different Apportionment of the number 
 of representatives to be chosen in and for those parts o*' 
 the Province of Canada which now constitute the said 
 Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada respectively, and 
 in and for the several Districts, Counties, Ridings, and 
 Towns in the same, and to alter and regulate the appoint- 
 ment of returning officers in and for the same, and make 
 provision in such manner as they may v.!eem expedient, 
 for the issuing and return of writs for the election of mem- 
 bers to serve in the said Legislative Assembly, and the 
 time and place of holding such elections : provided 
 always, that it shall not be lawful to present to the 
 Governor of the Province of Canada for Her Majesty's 
 assent any Bill of the Legislative Council and Assembly 
 of the said Province by which the number of repre- 
 .^entatives in the Legislative Assembly may be altered, 
 unless the second and third reading of such Bill in the 
 Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly shall 
 have been passed with the concurrence of two thirds of 
 the members for the time being of the said Legislative As- 
 sembly respectively, and the assent of Her Majesty shall 
 
UPPLR AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 325 
 
 not be given to any such Bill unless addresses shall have 
 been presented by the Legislative Council and the Le- 
 gislative Assembly respectively to the Governor, stating 
 that such Bill has been so passed. 
 
 XXVIL And be it enacted, That until provisions 
 shall otherwise be made by an Act or Acts of the Legis- 
 lature of the Province of Canada all the laws which 
 at the time of the passing of this Act are in force in the 
 Province of Upper Canada, and all the laws which at 
 the Time of the passing of the said Act of Parliament, 
 intituled, *' An Act to make temporary provision for the 
 Government of Lower Canada," were in force in the 
 Province of Lower Canada, relating to the qualification 
 and disqualification of any person to be elected or to sit 
 or vote as a member of the Assembly in the said Pro- 
 vinces respectively, (except those which require a qualifi- 
 cation of property in candidates for election, for which 
 provision is herein after made,) and relating to the 
 qualification and disqualification of voters at the election 
 of members to serve in the Assemblies of the said Pro- 
 vinces respectively, and to the oaths to be taken by any 
 such voters, and to the powers and duties of returning 
 officers, and the proceedings at such elections, and the 
 period during which such Elections may be lawfully con- 
 tinued, and relating to the trial of controverted elections, 
 and the proceedings incident thereto, and to the vacating 
 of seats of members, and the issuing and execution ot" 
 new writs in case of any seat being vacated otherwise 
 than by a dissolution of the Assembly, shall respectively 
 be applied to elections of members to serve in the Le- 
 gislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for places 
 situated in those parts of the Province of Canada for 
 which such laws were passed. 
 
 XXVIIL And be it enacted, That no person shall 
 
326 
 
 ACT TO UK-UNITE 
 
 be capable of being elected a member of the Legislative 
 Assembly of the Province of Canada who shall not he 
 legally or equitably seised as of freehold, for his own 
 use and benefit, of lands or tenements held in free and 
 common socage, or seised or possessed, for his own use 
 and benefit, of lands or tenements held in fief or in 
 rotufo, -.vithin the said Province of Canada, of the 
 value of five hundred pounds of sterling money of 
 Great Britain, over and above all rents, charges, mort- 
 gages, and incumbrances charged upon and due and 
 payable out of or affecting the same; and that every 
 candidate at such election, before he shall be capable of 
 being elected, shall, if required by any other candidate, 
 or by any elector, or by the returning officer, make the 
 following declaration : 
 
 '• I A. B. do declare and testify, That I am duly 
 " seised at law or in equity as of freehold, for my own use 
 " and benefit, of lands or tenements held in free and 
 '* common socage, [or duly seised or possessed, for my 
 •' own use and benefit, of lands or tenements held in 
 *' fief or in roture, (as the case may be),] in the Province 
 ** of Canada, of the value of five hundred pounds of 
 '* sterling money of Great Britain, over and above all 
 *' rents, mortgages, charj.;3S, and incumbrances charged 
 '* upon or due and payable out of or af^octing the sani'? ; 
 ** and that I have not -^ollusively or : oiouraMy obtaiiiCd 
 *' a title to or become possessed of the said lands and 
 " tenements, or any part thereof, for the purpose of 
 *' qualifying o'* enabling me to I)e returned a member of 
 " the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canatla." 
 
 XXIX. And be it enicted. That if any person shall 
 knowingly i id wilfully make a false declaration respect- 
 ing his qualification as a candidate at any elecHon as 
 aforesaid, such person shall be deemed to be guilty of a 
 
 i 
 
 ij 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 327 
 
 egislative 
 ill not he 
 
 his own 
 , free and 
 i own ust; 
 fief or in 
 I, of the 
 noney of 
 es, mort- 
 
 due and 
 liat every 
 apable of 
 andidate, 
 make the 
 
 am duly 
 y own use 
 
 free and 
 d, for my 
 ts held in 
 ; Province 
 pounds of 
 
 above all 
 ;s charged 
 the same ; 
 f obtained 
 lands and 
 urpose of 
 member of 
 
 Canat'.a." 
 irson shall 
 »n respect- 
 ilection as 
 Sfuilty of a 
 
 misdemeanor, and ycinj^ thereof lawfully convicted shall 
 suffer the like pains and penalties as by law are incurred 
 by persons guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury in the 
 place in which such false declaration shall have been 
 made. 
 
 XXX. And be it enacted, That it sha'l be lawful for 
 the Governor of the Province of Canada for the time 
 being to fix such place or places within any part of the 
 Province of Canada, and such times for holding the first 
 and every other Session of the Legislative Council and 
 Assembly of the said Province, as he may think fit, 
 such times and places to be afterwards changed or varied 
 as the Governor may judge advisable and most consis- 
 tent with general convenience and the public welfare, 
 giving sufficient notice thereof; and also to prorogue 
 the said Legislative Council and Assembly from time to 
 time, and dissolve the same, by proclamation or other- 
 wise, whenever he shall deem it expedient. 
 
 XXXL And be it enacted, That there shall be a 
 session of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the 
 Province of Canada once at least in every year, so that 
 a period of twelve calendar months shall not intervene 
 between the last sitlmg of the Legislative Council and 
 Assembly in one session and the first sittir;g of the 
 Legislative Council and Assembly in the next session ; 
 and that every Legislative Assembly of the said Province 
 hereafter to be summoned and chosen shall continue for 
 four years from the day of the return of the writs for 
 choosing the same, and no longer, subject nevertheless 
 to be sooner prorogued or dissolved by the Governor of 
 the said Province. 
 
 XXXII. And be it enacted, That the Legislative 
 Council and / ssembly of the Province of Canada shall 
 be called together for the first time at some period not 
 
 c,,- 
 v^ h. 
 
328 
 
 ACT TO RE-UNITE 
 
 later than six calendar months after the time at whicli 
 the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada shall become 
 reunited as aforesaid. 
 
 XXXIII. And be it enacted, That the members of 
 the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada 
 shall, upon the first assembling after every general elec- 
 tion, proceed forthwith to elect one of their number to 
 be Speaker; and in case of his death, resignation, or 
 removal by a vote of the said Legislative Assembly, the 
 said members shall forthwith proceed to elect another 
 of such members to be such .Speaker; and the Speaker 
 so elected shall preside at all meetings of the said 
 Legislative Assembly. 
 
 XXXIV. And be it enacted, That the presence of at 
 least twenty members of the Legislative Assembly of 
 the Province of Canada, including the Speaker, shall 
 bo necessary to constitute a meeting of the said Legis- 
 lative Assembly for the exercise of its powers ; and that 
 all questions which shall arise in the said Assembly shall 
 be decided by the majority of voices of such members as 
 shall be present, other than the Speaker, and when the 
 voices shall be equal the Speaker shall !-ave the casting 
 voice. 
 
 XXXV. And be it enacted. That no member, either 
 of the Legislative Council or of the Legislative Assembly 
 of the Province of Canada, shall be permitted to sit or 
 vote therein until he shall have taken and subscribed 
 the following oath before the Governor of the said Pro- 
 vince, or before some person or persons authorized by 
 such Governor to administer such oath : 
 
 "I A. B. do sincerely promise and swear. That I 
 will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty 
 Queen Victoria, as lawful sovereign of the United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of this Province 
 
 ?• 1 
 
 He 
 
 the 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 320 
 
 at which 
 1 become 
 
 mbers of 
 Canada 
 2ral elec- 
 iiiiber to 
 Htion, or 
 iibly, the 
 t another 
 I Speaker 
 the said 
 
 !nce of at 
 embly of 
 ker, sliall 
 lid Legis- 
 and that 
 nbly shall 
 embers as 
 when the 
 le casting 
 
 )er, either 
 Assembly 
 
 to sit or 
 ubscribed 
 
 said Pro- 
 orized by 
 
 That I 
 r Majesty 
 ted King- 
 i Province 
 
 of Canada, dependent on and belonging to the said 
 United Kingdom ; and that I will defend Her to the 
 utmost of my power against all traitorous conspiracies 
 and attempts whatever which shall be nuide against Her 
 person, crown, and dignity ; and that I will do my 
 utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to Her 
 Majesty, Her heirs and successors, all treasons and 
 traitorous conspiracies and attempts which I shall know 
 to be against Her or any of them ; and all this I do 
 swear without any equivocation, mental evasion, or 
 secret reservation, and renouncing all pardons and dis- 
 pensations from any person or persons whatever to the 
 contrary. So help me GOD." 
 
 XXXVI. And be it enacted, That every person 
 authorized by law to make an affirmation instead of 
 taking an oath may make such affirmation in every 
 case in which an oath is hereinbefore required to be 
 taken. 
 
 XXXVH. And be it enacted, That whenever any 
 Bill which hiis been passed by the Legislative Council 
 and Assembly of the Province of Canada shall be pre- 
 sented for Her Majesty's assent to the Governor of the 
 said Province, such Governor shall declare, according 
 to his discretion, but subject nevertheless to the pro- 
 visions contained in this Act, and to such instructions 
 as may from time to time be given in that behalf by 
 Her Majesty, Her heirs or successors, that he assents to 
 such Bill in Her Majesty's name, or that he withholds 
 Her Majesty's assent, or that he reserves such Bill for 
 the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon. 
 
 XXXVHI. And be it enacted, That whenever any 
 Bill which shall have been presented for Her Majesty's 
 assent to the Governor of the said Province of Canada 
 shall by such Governor have been assented to in Her 
 
ono 
 
 ACT TO IIE-UNITR 
 
 Majesty's name, sucli (lovernor sliall by tlic first conve- 
 nient opportunity transmit to one of Her Majesty's 
 principal Secretaries of Slate an authentic cojiy of such 
 Bill so assented to; and that it shall be lawful, at any 
 time within two years aft(;r such Bill shall have been so 
 received by such Secretary of State, for Her Majesty, 
 by Order in Council, to declaro Her disallowance of 
 such Bill ; and that such disallowance, together with a 
 certificate under the hand and seal of such Secretary of 
 State, certifying the day on which such Bill was received 
 as aforesaid, being signified by such Governor to tlie 
 Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, by speech 
 or message to the Legislative Council and Assembly of 
 the said province, or by proclamation, shall make void 
 and annul the same from and after the day of such 
 signification. 
 
 XXXI X. And be it enacted, That no Bill which shall 
 be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's plea- 
 sure thereon shall have any force or authority within 
 the province of Canada until the Governor of the said 
 Province shall signify, either by speech or message to 
 the Legislative Council and Assembly of the said Pro- 
 vince, or by proclamation, that such Bill has been laid 
 before Her Majesty in council and that Her Majesty 
 has been pleased to t^ssent to the same ; and that an 
 entry shall be made in the Journals of the said Legis- 
 lative Council of every such speech, message, or procla- 
 mation, and a duplicate thereof, duly attested, shall be 
 delivered to the proper oflficer, to be kept among the 
 records of the said Provi; le ; and that no Bill which 
 shall be so reserved as aforesaid shall have any force 
 or authority in the said Province unless Her Majesty's 
 assent thereto shall have been so signified as aforesaid 
 within the space of two years from the day on which 
 
UPI'Kll ANn I.OWKR CANADA. 
 
 nni 
 
 St conve- 
 Mujesty's 
 y of swell 
 il, at any 
 e been so 
 Majesty, 
 iwance of 
 ler with a 
 cretary of 
 s received 
 or to the 
 by speech 
 scnibly of 
 nake void 
 y of such 
 
 i'hich shall 
 sty's plea- 
 ity within 
 f the said 
 fiessage to 
 said Pro- 
 been laid 
 ir Majesty 
 id that an 
 aid Legis- 
 or procla- 
 d, shall be 
 among the 
 Bill which 
 ; any force 
 • Majesty's 
 s aforesaid 
 1 on which 
 
 such Bill shall have been presented for Her Majesty's 
 assent to the (Jovernor as aforesaid. 
 
 XL. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing 
 herein contained shall be construed to limit or restrain 
 the exercise of Her Majesty's prerogative in aiithori/ing, 
 and that notwithstanding this Act, and any other Act 
 or Acts passed in the Parliament of Great Britain, or in 
 the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, or of the Legislature of the Province of 
 Quebec, or of the Provinces of Upper or Lower Canada 
 respectively, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to 
 authorize the Lieutenant Governor of the Province of 
 Canada to exercise and execute within such parts of 
 the said Province as Her Majesty shall think fit, not- 
 withstanding the presence of the Governor within the 
 Province, such of the powers, functions, and authority, 
 as well judicial as other, which before and at the time 
 of passing of this Act were and are vested in the Gover- 
 nor, Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the 
 governmentof the Provinces of Upper Canada and Lower 
 Canada respectively, or of either of them, and which 
 from and after the said reunion of the said Two Pro- 
 vinces shall become vested in the Governor of the Pro- 
 vince of Canada ; and to authorize the Governor of th^ 
 Province of Canada to assign, depute, substitute, and 
 appoint any person or persons, jointly or severally, to 
 be his deputy or deputies within any part or parts of 
 the Province of Canada, and in that capacity to exer- 
 cise, perform, and execute during the pleasure of the 
 said Governor, such of the powers, functions, and autho- 
 rties, as well judicial as other, as before and at the time 
 < . ,1 passing of this Act were and eire vested in the 
 Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person administering 
 the government of the Provinces of Upper and Lower 
 
3.32 
 
 ACT TO RE-UNITE 
 
 Canada respectively, and which from and after the union 
 of the said Provinces shall become vested in the Gover- 
 nor of the Province of Canada, as the Governor of the 
 Province of Canada shall deem to be necesi-ary or ex- 
 pedient : Provided always, that by the appointment of 
 a deputy or deputies as aforesaid the power and autho- 
 rity of the Governor of the Province of Canada shal! 
 not be abridged, altered, or in any way affected other- 
 wise than as Her Majesty shall think proper to direct. 
 
 XLI. And be it enacted, That fronj and after the 
 said reunion of the said Two Provinces, ail writs, pro- 
 clamations, instruments for summoning and calling to- 
 gether the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly 
 of the Province of Canada, and for ororoguing and 
 'dissolving the same, and all writs of summons and 
 election, and all writs and public instruments whatso- 
 ever relating to the said Legislative Council and Legis- 
 lative Assembly, or either of them, and all returns to 
 such writs and instruments, and all journals, ent ies, 
 and written or printed proceedings, of what nature 
 soever, of the said Legislative Council and Legislative 
 Assembly, and of each of them respectively, and all 
 writter or printed proceedings and reports of ,ommittees 
 of th'.' said Legislative Council and Legislative Assen^bly 
 respectively, shall be in the English language only : 
 Provided always thai this enactment shall not be con- 
 strued to prevent translated copies of any such docu- 
 ments being made, but no such copy shall be kept 
 among the records of the Legislative Council or Legis- 
 lative Assembly, or be deemed in any case to have 1/3 
 force of an original record. 
 
 XLI I. And be it enacted, That whenever any Bill or 
 Bills shall be passed by the Legislative Council and 
 Absenibly of the Province of Canada, containing any 
 
 the 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 333 
 
 :ie union 
 I Gover- 
 )r of the 
 y or ex- 
 tment of 
 cl autho- 
 ida shall 
 3(1 other- 
 ) direct, 
 after the 
 'fits, pro- 
 ailing to- 
 Assembly 
 uing and 
 lions and 
 Ls whatso- 
 ind Legis- 
 returns to 
 s, ent'ies. 
 at nature 
 .egislative 
 and all 
 omniittees 
 Assen^bly 
 ,ge only : 
 t be con- 
 uch docu- 
 l be kept 
 or Legis- 
 have til 3 
 
 kny Bill or 
 )uncil and 
 lining any 
 
 provisions to vary or repeal any of the piovisions now 
 in force coiitaincd in an Act of the Parliament of Great 
 Britain passed in the fourteenth year of the reign of his 
 late Majesty King George the Third, intituled " An Act 
 for making more effectual Provision for the Government 
 of the Province of Quebec in No»"th America," or in the 
 aforesaid Acts of Parliament passed in the thirty-first 
 year of the same reign, respecting the accustomed dues 
 and rights of the clergy of the church of Rome ; or to 
 vary or repeal any of the several provisions contained in 
 the said lastmentioned Act, respecting the allotment 
 and appropriation of lands for the su|)port of the Pro- 
 testant clergy within the Province of Canada, or re- 
 specting the constituting, erectinti, or endowing of 
 parsonages or rectories within the Province of Canada, 
 or respecting the presentation of incumbents or ministers 
 of the same, or respecting the tenure on which such 
 incumbents or ministers shall hold or enjoy the same; 
 and also that whenever any Bill or Bills shall be passed 
 containing any provisions which shall in any manner 
 relide to or atl'eet the enjoyment or exercise of any form 
 or mode of religious worship, or shall impose or create 
 any penalties, burdens, disabilities, or disqualifications 
 in respect of the same, or shall in any manner relate to 
 or affect the payment, recovery, or enjoyment of any of 
 the accustomed d'les or rights hereinbefore mentioned , 
 or shall in any manner relate to the granting, imposing, 
 or recovering of any other dues, or stipends, or emolu- 
 ments, to be paid to or for the use of any minister, 
 priest, ecclesiastic, or teacher according to any form or 
 mode of religious worship, in respect of his said office 
 or function ; or shall in any manner relate to or aflfect 
 the establishment or discipline of the united church of 
 England and Ireland among the members thereof within 
 
334 
 
 ACT TO RE-UNITE 
 
 the said Province ; or shall in any .Planner relate to 
 or aft'ect Her Majesty's prerogative touching the grant- 
 ing of'waste lands of the crown within the said Province ; 
 every such Bill or Bills shall, previously to any declara- 
 tion or signification of Her Majesty's assent thereto, be 
 laid before both houses of Parliament of the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ; and that it 
 shall not be lawful for Her Majesty to signify Her assent 
 to any such Bill or Bills until thirty days after the same 
 shall have been laid before the said houses, or to assent 
 to any such Bill or Bills in case either House of Parlia- 
 ment shall, within the said thirty days, address Her 
 Majesty to withhold Her assent from any such Bill or 
 Bills; and that no such Bill shall be valid or effectual 
 to any of the said purposes within the said Province of 
 Canada unless the Legislative Council and Assembly of 
 such Province shall, in the session in which the same 
 shall have been passed by them, have presented to the 
 Governor of the said Province an address or addresses 
 specifying that such Bill or Bills contains provisions for 
 some of the purposes hereinbefore specially described, 
 and desiring that, in order to give effect to the same, 
 such Bill or Bills may be transmitted to England with- 
 out delay, for the purpose of its being laid before Par- 
 liament previously to the signification of Her Majesty's 
 assent thereto. 
 
 XLin. And whereas by an Act passed in the eigh- 
 teenth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George 
 the TUrd, intituled " An Act for removing all Doubts 
 and Apprehensions concerning Taxation by the Parlia- 
 ment of Great Britain in any of the Colonies, Provinces, 
 and Plantations in North America and the West Indies; 
 and for repealing so much of an Act made in the Seventh 
 Year of the Reign of His present Majesty as imposes a 
 
LTPEIl AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 335 
 
 ,ate to 
 
 grant- 
 
 )vince ; 
 
 eclara- 
 
 -eto, be 
 
 United 
 
 that it 
 
 ;r assent 
 
 he same 
 
 :o assent 
 
 : Parlia- 
 
 ress Her 
 
 1 Bill or 
 
 effectual 
 
 Dvince of 
 
 sembly of 
 
 the same 
 
 id to the 
 
 addresses 
 
 .isions for 
 
 lescribed, 
 
 [he same, 
 nd with- 
 jfore Par- 
 Majesty's 
 
 I the eigh- 
 ig George 
 111 Doubts 
 He Parlia- 
 
 'rovinces, 
 1st Indies ; 
 le Seventh 
 
 Imposes a 
 
 Duty ou Tea imported from Great Britain into any 
 Colony or Plantation in America, or relating tliereto," 
 it was declared, that " the King and Parliament of 
 Great Britain would not impose any duty, tax, or 
 asse- .nent whatever, payable in any of His Majesty's 
 Colonies, Provinces, and Plantations in North America 
 or the West Indies, except only such duties as it might 
 be expedient to impose for the regulation of commerce, 
 the net produce of such duties to be always paid and 
 applied to and for the use of the Colony, Province, or 
 Plantation in which the same shall he respectively 
 levied, in such manner as other duties collected by the 
 authority of the respective General Courts or General 
 Assemblies of such Colonies, Provinces, or Plantations 
 were ordinarily paid and applied :" And whereas it is 
 necessary, for the general benefit of the emj)ire, that 
 such power of regulation of commerce should continue 
 to be exercised by Her Majesty and the Parliament of 
 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, sub- 
 ject nevertheless to the conditions hereinbefore recited 
 with respect to the application of any duties which may 
 be imposed for that purpose ; be it therefore enacted, 
 That nothing in this Act contained shall prevent or 
 affect the execution of any law which hath been or 
 shall be made in the Parliament of the said United 
 Kingdom for establishing regulations and prohibitions, 
 or for the imposing, levying, o\ collecting duties for the 
 regulation of navigation, or for the regulation of the 
 commerce between the Pro 'ince of Canada and any 
 other part of Her Majesty's dominions, or between the 
 said Province of Canada or any part thereof and any 
 foreign couritry or state, or for appointing and directing 
 the payment of drawbacks of such duties so "mposed, or 
 to give to Her Majesty any power or authority, by and 
 
836 
 
 ACT TO RE- UNITE 
 
 with the advice and consent of such Legislative Council 
 and Assembly of the said Province of Canada, to vary 
 or repeal any such law or laws, or any part thereof, or in 
 any manner to prevent or obstrtict the execution thereof: 
 Provided always, that the net produce of all duties 
 which shall be so imposed shall at all times hereafter be 
 applied to and for the use of the said Province of Canada, 
 and (except as hereinafter provided) in such manner 
 only as shall be directed by any law or laws which may 
 be made by Her Majesty, by and with the advice and 
 consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of such 
 Province. 
 
 XLIV. And whereas by the laws now in force in the 
 said Province of Upper Canada the Governor, Lieute- 
 nant Governor, or person administering the government 
 of the said Province, or the Chief Justice of the said 
 Province, together with any two or more of the members 
 of the Executive Council of the said Province, constitute 
 and are a Court of Appeal for hearing and determining 
 all appeals from such judgments or sentences as may 
 lawfully be brought before <hem: And whereas by an 
 Act of the Legislature of the said Province of Upper 
 Canada, passed in the thirty-third year of the reign of 
 His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled " An 
 Act to establish a Court of Probate in the said Province, 
 and also a Surrogate Court in every District thereof," 
 there was and is established a Court of Probate in the 
 said Province, in which Act it was enacted that the 
 Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person administering 
 the government of the said lastnientioned Province 
 should preside, and that he should have the powers and 
 authorities in the said Act specified : And whereas by 
 an Act of the Legislature of the said Province of Upper 
 Canada, passed in the second year of the reign of His 
 
 I 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 337 
 
 Council 
 to vary 
 of, or in 
 Lhereof : 
 I duties 
 jafter be 
 Canada, 
 manner 
 lich may 
 vice and 
 y of such 
 
 rce in the 
 •, Lieute- 
 ivernment 
 [ the said 
 I members 
 constitute 
 termining 
 s as may 
 las by an 
 of Upper 
 reign of 
 luled " An 
 Province, 
 thereof," 
 .te in the 
 that the 
 [linistering 
 Province 
 wers and 
 [hereas by 
 of Upper 
 i(Tn of His 
 
 TO 
 
 late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled ** An 
 Act respecting the Time and Place of Sitting of the 
 Court of King's Bench," it was among other things 
 enacteJ, that His Majesty's Court of King's Bench in 
 that Province should be holden in a place certain; that 
 is, in the city, town, or place which should be for the 
 time being the seat of the civil government of the said 
 Province or within one mile therefrom : And whereas 
 by an Act of the Legislatuu of the said Province of 
 Upper Canada, passed in the seventh year of the reign 
 of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled 
 " An Act to establish a Court of Chancery in this Pro- 
 vince," it was enacted, that there should be constituted 
 and established a Court of Chancery, to be called and 
 known by the name and style of " The Court of Chan- 
 cery for the Province of Upper Canada," of which 
 Court the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person 
 administering the government of the said Province 
 should be Chancellor; and which Court, it was also 
 enacted, should be holden at the seat of government in 
 the said Province, or in such other place as should be 
 appointed by proclamation of the Governor, Lieutenant 
 Governor, or person administering the government of 
 the said Province : And whereas by an Act of the Legis- 
 lature of the Province of Lower Canada, passed in the 
 thirty-fourth year of the reign of His late Majesty King 
 George the Third, intituled •* An Act for the Division of 
 the Province of Lower Canada, for amending the Judi- 
 cature thereof, and for repealing certain Laws therein 
 mentioned," it was enacted, that the Governor, Lieute- 
 nant Governor, or the person administering the govern- 
 ment, the Members of the Executive Council of the said 
 Province, the Chief Justice thereof, and the Chief Jus- 
 tice to be appointed for the Court of King's Bench at 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
338 
 
 ACT TO K]>uNrn: 
 
 Montreal, or any five of tlieni, the Judges of the Court 
 of the district wherei4i tlie judgment appealed from was 
 given excepted, should constitute a Superior Court of 
 Civil Jurisdiction, or Provincial Court of Appeals, and 
 should take cognizance of, hear, try, and determine all 
 causes, matters, and things appealed from all civil juris- 
 dictions and courts wherein an appeal is Ijy law allowed ; 
 be it enacted. That until otherwise provided by an Act 
 of the Legislature of the Province of Canada, all judicial 
 and ministerial authority which before and at the time 
 of passing this Act was vested in or might be exercised 
 by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person admi- 
 nistering the government of the said Province of Upper 
 Canada, or the members or any number of the mem- 
 bers of the Executive Council of the same Province, or 
 was vested in or might be exercised by the Governor, 
 Lieutenant Governor, or the person administering the 
 government of the Province of Lower Canada, and the 
 niemb(!rs of the Executive Council of that Province, 
 shall be vested in and may be exercised by the Governor, 
 Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the go- 
 vernment of the Province of Canada, and in the mem- 
 bers or the like number of the members of the Executive 
 Council of the Province of Canada respectively ; and 
 that, until otherwise provided by Act or Acts of the 
 Legislature of the Province of Canada, the said Court 
 of King's Bench, now called the Court of Queen's Bench 
 of Upper Canada, shall from and after the union of the 
 Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada be hokbn at the 
 city of Toronto, or within one mile from the municipal 
 boundary of the said city of Toronto : Provided always, 
 that, until otherwise provided by Act or Acts of the 
 Leoislature of the Province of Canada, it shall be lawful 
 for the Governor of the Province of Canada, by and 
 
 Exc 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 039 
 
 Court 
 
 m was 
 
 jurt of 
 
 Is, and 
 
 line all 
 
 1 juris- 
 
 lowed ; 
 
 an Act 
 
 judicial 
 
 iie time 
 
 vcrcised 
 
 u admi- 
 
 f Upper 
 
 e mem- 
 
 ance, or 
 
 overnor, 
 
 ring the 
 and the 
 
 'rovince, 
 
 overnor, 
 the go- 
 
 16 mem- 
 xecutive 
 y ; and 
 s of the 
 id Court 
 s Bench 
 )n of the 
 n at the 
 lunicipal 
 :l always, 
 ,s of tlic 
 }e lawful 
 by and 
 
 witli the advice and consent of the Executive Council 
 of the same Province, by his proclamation to fix and 
 api)oint such other place as he may think fit within that 
 part of the last mentioned Province which now consti- 
 tutes the Province of Upper Canada for the holding of 
 the said Court of Queen's Bench. 
 
 XLV. And be it enacted, That all powers, authorities, 
 and functions which by the said Act passed in the 
 thirty-first year of the reign of His late Majesty King 
 George the Tln'rd, or by any other Act of Parliament, 
 or by any Act of the Legislature of the Provinces of 
 Upper and Lower Canada res|)ectively, are vested in or 
 are authorized or re([uirc(l to be exercised by the respec- 
 tive Cxovernors or Lieutenant Governors of the said 
 Provinces, with the advice or with the advice and con- 
 sent of the Executive Council of such Provinces respec- 
 tively, or in conjunction with such Executive Council, 
 or with any number of the niembers thereof, or by the 
 said Governors or Lieutenant Governors individually 
 and alone, shall, in so far as the same are not repugnant 
 to or inconsistent with the nrovision of this Act, be 
 vested in and may be exercised by the Governor of the 
 Province of Canada, with the adviee or with the advice 
 and consent of, or in conjunction, as the case may 
 require, with such Executive Council, or any members 
 thereof, as may be appointed by Her Majesty for the 
 affairs of the Province of Canada, or by the said Gover- 
 nor of the Province of Canada individually and alone in 
 cases where the advice, consent, or concurrence of the 
 Executive Council is not required. 
 
 XLVL And be it enacted, That all laws, statutes, and 
 ordinances, which at the time of the Union of the Pro- 
 vinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada shall be in 
 force within the said Provinces or either of them, or 
 
040 
 
 ACT TO RE- UNITE 
 
 any part, of the said Prcivinces res[)ectively, shall remai»« 
 am! fonlinuo to be of the same force, authority, and 
 < ffect in those parts of the Province of Canada whir! 
 now constitute the said Provinces respcctiviv as if this 
 A. t b d not bc'jn made, and ;ts if the s lidTwo Provinces 
 / !jfl not been united as aforesaid, except in so far as the 
 ;-4i';o are repealed or varied by this Act, or in so fv.r as 
 the 3," ? sliall or may hereafter, by virtue and under the 
 authority of this Act, be repealed or varied by any Act 
 or Acts of the Le^^islature of the Province of Canad .. 
 
 XLVII. And be it enacted, That all the Courts of 
 Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction within the Piovinces of 
 Upper and Lower Canada at the time of the Union of 
 the said Provinces, and all legal commissions, pov"?rs, 
 and authorities, and all officers, judicial, administrative, 
 or ministerial, within the said Provinces respectively, 
 except in so far as the same may he abolished, altered, 
 or varied by or may be inconsistent with the provisions 
 of this Act, or ?hali be abolished, altered, or varied by 
 any Act or Acts of the Lci^islature of the Province 
 of Canada, sliall continue to subsist within those parts 
 of the Province of Canada which now constitute the 
 said two Provinces respectively, in the same form and 
 with the same etfeci as if this Act had not been made, 
 and as if the said two Provinces had not been re-united 
 as aforesaid. 
 
 XLVIII. And whereas the Legislatures of the said Pro- 
 vinces of Upper and Lower Canada have from time to 
 time passed enactments, which enactments were to con- 
 tinue in force for a certain number of years after the 
 passing thereof, " and from thence to the end of the then 
 next ensuing Session of the Legislature of the Province 
 in which the same were passed ;" be it thereibre enacted, 
 That whenever the words " and from thence to the end 
 
1 
 
 remaui 
 ty, and 
 I whic. 
 s if tl'.s 
 ovinces 
 ir as the 
 ,0 far as 
 :ider the 
 any Act 
 uiad V. 
 ourts of 
 'inces of 
 Jnion of 
 
 pOVil'S, 
 
 istrative, 
 ectively, 
 altered, 
 rovisions 
 aried by 
 Province 
 jse parts 
 itute the 
 brm and 
 Ml made, 
 re-united 
 
 said Pro- 
 [1 time to 
 e to con- 
 after the 
 f the then 
 Province 
 J enacted, 
 the end 
 
 . pi>i:i; AM) LOW r, II can aha. 
 
 .341 
 
 of tlio then next cnsnin ;• Session of the Legislature," or 
 words to the same cHcTt, have been used in any tem- 
 ])orary Act of (it her of the said Two Provinces "which 
 s'uii: .lot have cxjiircd before the Reunion of the said 
 Two Provinces, the said words sliall be construed to 
 extend and apply to the next Session of the Legislature 
 of the Province of Canaria. 
 
 XLIX. And whereas by a certain Act passer' . lie 
 third year of the reign of His late Majesty Kin- " Ic: -^ 
 the Fourth, intituled " An Act to regulate thf m k ,J 
 the Provinces of Lower and Upper Canad • , ac ' for 
 other Purposes relatin- to the said Provinc -,," .ertain 
 Provisions were made for appointing arbi^ or- with 
 power to hear and determine certain claims c-the Pro- 
 vince of Upper Canada upon the Province of Lower 
 Canada, and to hear any claim which might be advanced 
 on the part of the Province of Upper Canada to a pro- 
 portion of certain duties therein mentioned, and for 
 prescribing the course of proceeding to be pm-su.ed by 
 such arbitrators ; be it enacted, That the said recited 
 provisions of the said last mentioned Act, and all mat- 
 ters in the same Act contained which are consequent to 
 or dependent upon the said provisions or any of them, 
 shall be repealed. 
 
 L. And be it enacted, That upon the Union of th(> 
 Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada all d uties and reve- 
 nues over which the respective Legislatures of the said 
 Provinces before and at the time of the passing of this 
 Act had and have power of appropriation shall form one 
 consolidated revenue fund, to be appropriated for the 
 public service of the Province of Canada, in the manner 
 and subject to the charges hereinafter mentioned. 
 
 LL And be it enacted. That the said Consolidated 
 Revenue Fund of the Province of Canada shall be 
 
342 
 
 ACT TO RK-UNITE 
 
 poriniinently oliarged with all the costs, charges, and 
 expences incident to the collection, numagenient, and 
 rec(!i|)t thereof, such costs, charj^es, and expences being 
 subject nev( rtlicdcss to be reviewed and audited in sucli 
 manner as si i all be directed by any Act of the Legisla- 
 ture of the Province of Canada. 
 
 Lll. Aufl be it enacted. That out of the consolidated 
 reveiuie fund of the Province of Canada there shall be 
 payal)le in every year to Her Majesty, her heirs and 
 successors, the sum of forty-five thousand pounds, for 
 defraying the expence of the several services and pur- 
 poses named in the Schedule marked A. to this Act 
 annexed ; and during the life of Her Majesty, and for 
 five years after the demise of Her Majesty, there shall 
 be payable to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, 
 out of the said consolidated revenue fund, a further sum 
 of thirty thousand pounds, for defraying the expence of 
 the several services and purposes named in the Schedule 
 marked B. to this Act annexed; the said sums of forty- 
 five thousand pounds and thirty thousand pounds to be 
 issued by the Receiver General in discharge of such 
 warrant or warrants as shall be from time to time directed 
 to him under the hand and seal of the Governor ; and 
 the said Receiver General shall account to Her Ma- 
 jesty for the same, through the Lord High Treasurer or 
 the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's treasury, in 
 such manner and form as Her Majesty shall be graciously 
 pleased to direct. 
 
 Llll. And be it enacted, That, until altered by any 
 Act of the Legislature of the Province of Canada, the 
 salaries of the Governor and of the Judges shall be those 
 res[)ectively set against their several oilices in the said 
 Schedule A. ; but that it shall be lawful for the Governor 
 to abolish anv of the offices named in the said Schedule 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 343 
 
 B3, and 
 nt, and 
 3S being 
 in such 
 Legisla- 
 
 iolidated 
 shall be 
 eiis and 
 inuls, for 
 and pur- 
 this Act 
 , and for 
 iiere shall 
 iccessors, 
 rther sum 
 jipence of 
 Schedule 
 of forty- 
 nds to be 
 
 of such 
 e directed 
 nor ; and 
 Her Ma- 
 easurer or 
 easury, in 
 
 raciously 
 
 ed by any 
 mada, the 
 11 be those 
 11 the said 
 I Governor 
 i Schedule 
 
 I 
 
 B., or to vary the sums appropriated to any of the ser- 
 vices or purposes named in the said Sclie(hde B. ; and 
 tiiat the amount of saving which may accrue from any 
 such alteration in either of the said Schedules shall be 
 aj)propriiite(l to such j)urposes connected with the admi- 
 nistration of the (lovernmeiit of the said Province as to 
 Her Majesty shall seem fit; and that accounts in detail 
 '<f the expenditure of the several sums of forty-five thou- 
 sand pounds and thirty thousand pounds hcrein-before 
 granted, and of every part thereof, shall be laid before 
 the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of tlu; 
 said Province within thirty days next after the beginning 
 of the Session after such expenditure shall have been 
 made : Provided always, that not more than two thou- 
 sand pounds shall be })ayable at the same time for pen- 
 sions to the Judges out of the said sum of forty-five 
 thousand pounds, and that not more than five thousand 
 pounds shall be payable at the same time for pensions 
 out of the said sum of thirty thousand pounds ; and 
 that a list of all such pensions, and of the persons to 
 whom the same shall have been granted, shall be laid 
 in every year before the said Legislative Council and 
 Legislative Assembly. 
 
 LIV. And be it enacted, That during the time for 
 ■which the said several sums of forty-five thousand 
 pounds and thirty thousand pounds are severally pay- 
 able the same shall be accepted and taken by Her Ma- 
 jesty by way of Civil List instead of all territorial and 
 other revenues now at the disposal of the Crown, arising 
 in either of the said Provinces of Upper Canada or Lower 
 Canada, or in the Province of Canada, and that three - 
 fifths of the net produce of the said territorial and other 
 revenues now at the disposal of the Crown within the 
 Province of Canada shall be paid over to the account 
 
344 
 
 ACT TO Hr,-i;MTF, 
 
 of th(> s;ii(l ('onsf)li(latt'(l revenue I'luid ; and also during 
 tlie life of Her Majesty, ami for Hve years after tlio 
 demise of Her Majesty, the remaining; tvvo-lifths of the 
 net proihiee of the; siiid territorial and <jther revenues 
 now at the (hsposal of tlie Crown within the I'rovince 
 of Canachi shall he also |)aid over in like manner to tlie 
 account of the said consolidated revenue fund. 
 
 \.V. And he it enacted, That the consolidation of the 
 duties and revenues of the said Province shall not he 
 taken to all'ect the payment out of the said consolidated 
 revenue fund of any sum or sums heretofei'i char;^ed 
 upon the rat(,'s and duties already raised, Icic^d, and 
 collected, and to be raised, levied, and collected, to and 
 for the use of (lither of the; said I'rovinces of Upper 
 Canada or Lower Canada or of the Province of Canada, 
 for such time as shall have been appointed by the several 
 Acts of the Pr(jvince by which such charges were seve- 
 rally authorized. 
 
 LVI. And be it enacted, That the expeucos of the 
 collection, inanac:ement, and receipt of the said conso- 
 lidated revenue fund shall form the first charge thereon; 
 and that the annual interest of the public debt of the 
 Provinces of Uppi^r and Lower Canada, or of cither of 
 them, at the time of the re-union of the said Provinces, 
 shall ibrm the second charge tliereon ; and that the 
 payments to be made to the clergy of the united church 
 of England and Ireland, and to clergy of the church of 
 Scotland, and to ministers of other Christian denomi- 
 nations, pursuant to any law or usage whereby such 
 payments, before or at the time of passing this Act, 
 were or are legally or usually paid out of the public or 
 Crown revenue of either of the Provinces of Upper and 
 Lower Canada, shall from the third charge upon the 
 said consolidated revenue fund ; and that the said sum 
 
 I 
 
uppr.ii AND Lowrn Canada. 
 
 345 
 
 (luring 
 'tor the 
 9 of the 
 cvcnues 
 'roviiice 
 r to the 
 
 n of the 
 not be 
 olidatcd 
 chiir'j2;ed 
 (!(!, and 
 , to and 
 }■ Upper 
 Canada, 
 e several 
 ire seVe- 
 
 s of the 
 [1 conso- 
 thcreon ; 
 )t of the 
 cither of 
 rovinces, 
 that the 
 id church 
 :hiirch of 
 denomi- 
 eby such 
 tliis Act, 
 public or 
 ipper and 
 upon the 
 said sum 
 
 of forty-five thousand j/ounds shall form the fourth 
 charge thereon; and that the said sum of thirty thous- 
 and j)ounds, so long as the same shall continue to be 
 payable, shall form the fifth charg(! thereon ; and that 
 the other charges uj)on the rates and duties levied within 
 the said Province of Canada herein-before reserved shall 
 form the sixth (diarge thereon, so long as such charges 
 shall continue to be |)ayable. 
 
 LVII. And be it enacted, that, subject to the several 
 payments hereby charged on the said consolidated re- 
 venue; fund, the same shall be ap|)ropriated by the 
 Legislature of the Province of Canada for the public 
 service, in such manner as they shall t^- nk proper : 
 Provided always, that all Bills for appropriating any 
 part of the sur[)lus of the said consolidated revenue 
 fund, or for imposing any new tax or impost, shall 
 originate in the Legislative Assembly of the said Pro- 
 vince of Canada : Provided also, that it shall not be 
 lawful for the said Legislative Assembly to originate or 
 pass any vote, resolution, or Bill for the apj)ropriation 
 of any part of the surplus of the said consolidated revenue 
 fund, or of any other tax or impost, to any purpose 
 which shall not have been first recommended by a 
 message of the Governor to the said Legislative As- 
 sembly, during the Session in which such vote, resolu- 
 tion, or Bill shall be passed. 
 
 LVl IL And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for 
 the Go\ernor, by an instrument or instruments to be 
 issued by him for that purpose under the Great Seal of 
 the Province, to constitute townships in those parts of 
 the Province of Canada in which townships are nol 
 already constituted, and to fix the metes and bounds 
 thereof, and to provide for the election and appoint!-'!';;t 
 
34G 
 
 ACT TO RK-UNITE 
 
 of township officers therein, who shah have and exer- 
 cise the hke powers us arc exercised hy ti.' hke officers 
 in tlie townsliips already constituted in that part of the 
 Province of Canada now ca. jd Upper Canada; and 
 every sucli instrument shall be published by pr'^clama- 
 tion, and shall have the force of law, *rom a day to be 
 named in each case in such proclamation. 
 
 LIX. And be it enacted, That all powers and autho- 
 rities expressed in this Act to be given to the Governor 
 of the Province of Canada, shall be exercised by sucli 
 Governor in conformity with and subject to such orders, 
 instructions, and directions as Her Majesty shall from 
 time to time see fit to make cr issue. 
 
 LX. And whereas his late Majesty King George the 
 Third, by his royal proclamation, bearing date the seventh 
 day of October in the third year of his reign, was pleased 
 to declare that he had put the coast of Labrador, from 
 the river Saint John to Hudson's Straits, with the Islands 
 of Anticosti and Madclaine, and all other smaller islands 
 lying on the coast, under the care and inspection of the 
 Governor of Newfoundland : And whereas by an Act 
 passed in the fourteenth year of the reign of his said late 
 Majesty, intituled An Act for making more effectual 
 provision for the government of the Province of Quebec 
 in North America, all such territories, islands, and coun- 
 ties which had, since the tenth day of February in the 
 year one thousand s-even hundred and sixty-three, been 
 made part of the government of Newfoundland, were 
 duiing his Majesty's pleasure annexed to and made 
 part and parcel of the Province of Quebec, as created 
 and established by the said royal proclamation ; be it 
 declared and enacted. That nothing in this or any other 
 Act contained shall be construed to restrain Her Ma- 
 
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 347 
 
 § 
 
 jcsty, if she sliall l)e so pleased, from annexing the 
 Mafrdalen Islands in the Ciulf of Saint Lawrence to 
 Her Mujt'sty's Island of Prince Edward. 
 
 LXI. And be it enacted, That in this Act, unless other- 
 wise expressed therein, the words " Act of the Legislature 
 of the Province of Canada " are to be understood to mean 
 " Act of Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, enacted 
 by Her Majesty, or by the Governor on behalf of Her 
 Majesty, witli the advice and consent of the Legislative 
 Council and Assembly of the Province of Canada ;" 
 and the words " Governor of the Province of Canada " 
 are to be understood as comprehending the Governor, 
 Lieutenant-Governor, or person authorized to execute 
 the office or the functions of Governor of the said 
 Province. 
 
 LXIL And be it enacted. That thi.s Act ma'' be 
 amended or repealed by any Act to be passed ia the 
 present Session of Parliament. 
 
 :J'^;/'J- 
 
348 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SCHEDULES. 
 
 SCHEDULE A. £. 
 
 Governor 7,000 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor 1,000 
 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 1 Chief Justice I'-^OO 
 
 4 Puisne Judges, at 900/. each 3,600 
 
 1 Vice Chancellor 1,125 
 
 Lower Canada. 
 
 1 Chief Justice, Quebec 1,500 
 
 3 Puisne Judges, Quebec, at 900Z. each 2,700 
 
 1 Chief Justice, Montreal 1 JO^ 
 
 3 Puisne Judges, Montreal, at 900/. each 2,700 
 
 1 Resident Judge at Three Rivers 900 
 
 1 Judge of the Inferior District of St. Francis . 500 
 
 1 Judge of the Inferior District of Gaspe .... 500 
 Pensions to the Judges, Salaries of ihe Attornies 
 and Solicitors General, and Contingent and 
 Miscellaneous Expences of Admi .istration of 
 
 Justice throughout the Province t f Canada . 20,875 
 
 £45,000 
 SCHEDULE B. 
 
 Civil Secretaries and their Offices 8,000 
 
 Provincial Secretaries and their Offices ...... 3,000 
 
 Receiver General and his Office 3,000 
 
 Inspector General and his Office 2,000 
 
 Executive Council 3,000 
 
 Board of Works • - 2,000 
 
 Emigrant Agent '^^^ 
 
 Pensions 5,000 
 
 Contingent Expences of Public Offices 3,300 
 
 £30,000 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 & 
 
 PRINTED BY Wil.LIA.M WILCOCKSON', ROLLS DLILDINCiS, KErfEP LANK. 
 
 -^>f:'?8i yV4 
 
£. 
 
 7,000 
 1,000 
 
 1,500 
 3,600 
 1,125 
 
 1,500 
 
 2,700 
 
 1,100 
 
 2,700 
 
 900 
 
 500 
 
 500 
 
 20,875 
 £45,000 
 
 8,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 700 
 
 , 5,000 
 
 , 3,300 
 
 £30,000 
 
 :r LANE. 
 
5? 
 
 66 
 
 HV 
 
 SO 
 
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 SKETCH MAP 
 
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