NAllONAl. LIBRARY 
 
 CANADA 
 
 BIBUOTHtXJlF. NATIONALE 
 
 
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 By Jane Tritton Gitrney {nee Wheatley). 
 
 ?N board The Parisian / We watch our friends 
 going down the steep gangway into the little 
 tender below. All is confusion, partings are 
 going on all around us — soTie sad, some full of hope 
 for the future. Ours is not altogether sad, as my 
 husband and I are starting for our new home in the 
 north-west, and hope to see a good deal of Canada on 
 the way. The voyage was splendid — the sea being 
 sometimes as smooth as a lake, and the reflections on 
 the water from the brilliant sunsets most beautiful. We 
 saw off the banks of Newfoundland several grand 
 icebergs glittering in the sun. Only about one-third 
 of these huge masses of ice usually appears above the 
 surface of the water, so that they are dangerous 
 opponents for a ship to run against. When we 
 neared the mouth of the St. Lawrence we suddenly 
 found ourselves in the middle of a field of ice. There 
 we remained twelve hours, and then had to back out 
 slowly, and make our way round by another channel. 
 The river is so wide here that you cannot see any land. 
 One of the grandest sights is to watch the sun rise over 
 the St. Lawrence, shedding a blaze of glory over this 
 magnificent river. 
 
 We reached Quebec on Sunday, after a voyage of 
 only ten days. The fact of a thousand emigrants land- 
 ing with all their luggage on a strange shore caused no 
 small confusion, and it was refreshing after all this bustle 
 to attend the afternoon service at the English church, 
 and join in the old familiar prayers and chants. 
 
/^C 72 
 
 178 A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 
 
 Quebec Is built on a hill. Princess Louise's sketches 
 give a very good representation of it, and the two finest 
 views are from the hill and the Governor's house. 
 
 It is difficult to believe that Quebec is part of an 
 English colony, as it is quite a French settlement, and 
 you hear very little English spoken. 
 
 We hired a charette — a peculiar little two-wheeled 
 carriage with leather springs — to visit the Montmorenci 
 Falls. We passed through an Indian village, where some 
 of the ferocious Indian tribes are now living peaceably 
 together, gaining a livelihood by working at feather 
 and straw work, specimens of which were shewn at the 
 Colonial Exhibition. The Montmorenci Falls are very 
 beautiful — surpassing Niagara in height. 
 
 There is a splendid line of steamers running from 
 Quebec to Montreal ; they are like floating palaces 
 with handsomely furnished saloons in the middle, and 
 two tiers of bedrooms round. This is by far the 
 pleasantest way of travelling, and strongly to be 
 recommended to any invalid or over-worked clergy- 
 men. .The sensation of gliding noiselessly through the 
 calm waters is most charming. The banks are very 
 picturesque, and interspersed with cottages, but these 
 settlements looked very new and regular compared with 
 our English thatched cottages with their rich colouring. 
 
 We reached Montreal after a twelve hours' journey. 
 This is a very handsome city ; the French and English 
 population live happily side by side. The Roman 
 r itholics own a great deal of property, and there is a 
 large convent outside the city precincts. Every visitor to 
 Montreal should make a point of ascending the mountain. 
 The view over the city and the St. Lawrence, and the 
 tubular Victoria Bridge, are quite unique. 
 
 The next day we went a few miles up the river by 
 train, and got on board the boat which was to " shoot 
 the Rapids." 
 
 An Indian pilot, in full native costume, comes on 
 board, to steer us through the most dangerous parts. 
 The water shoots in a narrow stream through enormous 
 rocks, which are barely covered by the water, and at 
 
f/ 
 
 A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 1 79 
 
 times it seems as if the prow of the boat must be 
 dashed ag ir.is: these rocks. It is curious to notice 
 the different levels of water, there being a marked rise 
 and fall even within a few yards. It is very exciting 
 work, dashing in the little steamer through the whirl- 
 pools and foaming mass of water, and you feel thankful 
 when you have passed safely through it. 
 
 We paid a flying visit to Ottowa — the political 
 capital of Canada. The Houses of Parliament are 
 very fine buildings, and the town is beautifully situated 
 on a hill overlooking the Ottowa river. This is also 
 the great centre for timber exportation. The wood is 
 stacked on large rafts, and floated down the river. 
 From here we took the train back to the St. Lawrence, 
 where we went on board the boat which was to pass 
 through " The Thousand Islands," and bring us to a 
 scene of unparalleled beauty. The river is here literally 
 dotted over with a thousand islands of various sizes 
 and shapes. One after the other rises up ojt of the 
 water as we glide down the winding river : some are 
 rocky, with only a few pine trees on them, while others 
 have picturesque ch&lets. Many of these islets have 
 been bought by private individuals, who spend some 
 months of the summer on them, leading a picnic life, 
 and depending on the daily steamer for provisions. 
 
 Toronto was our next halting place. This was 
 reached by Lake Ontario, on which lake the city is 
 built. It is the great centre for manufactures and 
 produce of all kinds. In 1885 it celebrated its semi- 
 centenary ; and in the procession that was formed on 
 the day of jubilee, art, education, manufacture, and 
 natural products were variously represented ; and one 
 could not help being struck with the fact that England 
 possesses in Canada a colony of which she may well 
 be proud. 
 
 Toronto has two universities — one. Trinity College, 
 which is a Church of England university ; the fees 
 are extremely low, and the teaching is given by English 
 professors of high standing. The other is the 
 public university of the province, and has an average 
 
l8o A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 
 
 attendance of six hundred. There is also near Toronto 
 a very good military college, from which several cadets 
 are annually drafted into tne British army. 
 
 From Toronto my husband took temporary charge 
 of a large parish in Algoma. Algoma is a missionary 
 diocese, with a thousand miles of coast-line on Lake 
 Superior, and many hundred square miles of forest 
 lying eastward from the lake. We started to our parish 
 by railway, then took the steamer across Lake Rosseau, 
 and lastly had twenty miles of forest country to drive 
 through. We were packed in a wagon without springs ; 
 and just as we were starting, a friend, seeing that I had 
 placed my arm on the side of the wagon, said, " You 
 must keep your arm well within the edge of the wagon, 
 or your ribs will be broken " ; and certainly this was no 
 unnecessary precaution. It took us ten hours to 
 accomplish the twenty miles of road. We were shaken 
 up and down, and from side to side, like peas in a 
 child's rattle ; the horses sometimes climbed rocks as 
 high as a table, and then slid down the other side ; 
 we had to spring out of the wagon when called to do so 
 by the driver. 
 
 We reached the little log vicarage, with its adjacent 
 log church, at sunset. The view from the house was 
 over miles and miles of forest, lit up by the sunset glow. 
 Only here and there could a break be seen, from which 
 the blue smoke betokened some settler's home. 
 
 It was intensely interesting to go among the two 
 hundred settlers of this backwoods parish of two hundred 
 and fifty square miles, and see with what eagerness any 
 services in church or gifts of books were welcomed. I 
 well remember one rough farmer, who had emigrated to 
 the bush, telling me that for seven years he had had no 
 church to go to, and then, when a service was started, 
 and the grand old Te Denm was sung, it was too much 
 for him, and he quite broke down. We in England can 
 hardly realise what the Church's services are to these 
 lonely settlers in the backwoods of America. They 
 will walk many miles over rough roads, through swamps 
 and deep mud and thick forests, to attend divine 
 
A JOURNEY TO CANADA. l8l 
 
 service in the little log church, on which many of them 
 have bestowed much personal labour. 
 
 Many of the settlers come out with very little 
 money, and they have to undergo great hardships in 
 making for themselves a home in the trackless forest. 
 Each tree has to be cut down, chopped into lengths, 
 and burnt ; and then it is perhaps years before the root 
 remaining in the ground can be extracted, to allow the 
 free use of the plough. 
 
 My husband's duties on Sundays were of a very 
 varied description. He began by milking two cows. 
 At eight o'clock he started for the first mission station, 
 six miles off, called Hoodstown. First a lake had lo be 
 crossed ; then several miles of bush — some of which 
 consisted of smouldering logs, which had to be climbed 
 over ; then another lake was reached, across which he 
 had to paddle his own canoe for a distance of seven 
 miles. These canoes need the greatest care. My 
 husband made me a bed of ferns in the stem, and 
 told me not to move an inch if I wished to get safely 
 to the other side. 
 
 He reached the little mission church at half-past ten, 
 and had a hearty service, the people starting the chants 
 themselves, as there was no harmonium. These settlers 
 had built the church themselves, and were in con- 
 sequence very proud of it. The service over, he 
 retraced his steps ; dinner at half-past two, and at three 
 o'clock, service at v/hat might be called the mother 
 church, to which settlers came from many miles round. 
 
 The next station to be reached for evening service 
 was ten miles off, near Round Lake. 
 
 After crossing our own lake we landed on the left 
 bank, and followed an Indian trail through the bush. 
 It is very difficult otherwise to find your way through 
 the tangled brushwood, and if you once lose the track 
 you are almost sure to go round and round in a circle. 
 The Indians " blaze " a path by cutting with an axe 
 the barks of the large trees, and by bending the tops of 
 smaller bushes. Occasionally you meet with their 
 deserted wigwams in some very lonely spot ; and in 
 
^"SnCT 
 
 183 A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 
 
 the autumn they go about selling skins and basket 
 and birch-bark work. 
 
 It came on to pour with rain when we were half way 
 across the bush, and pushing through the thick wet 
 underwood, by no means improved the appearance of my 
 cotton dress. On nearing the shore ot Round Lake, 
 E called out, and received a shout in return from the 
 
 dear old man Smith, at whose house we were to stop for 
 the night, and who had come to paddle us in his canoe 
 across the lake. At last we reached the log hut, and 
 made friends with old Mrs. Smith, who was a picture of 
 neatness, with her closely-fitting snow-white cap and 
 plain dress. She proved a most kind hostess, and soon 
 dried our wet clothes, lending me a dress of her own. 
 This old couple had lived for many years in this lonelv 
 backwoods hut, and it was delightful to meet with such 
 refined minds, and to see by their lives that they had 
 lived in close communion with Nature's God, though 
 they had had no church to go to. The missionary, whose 
 work my husband took for a time, held a service in their 
 cottage once a fortnight. Everything was spotlessly 
 clean, and the whole house consisted of a kitchen and 
 one long room, made out of the rough logs. 
 
 I shall long remember that evening service, the happy 
 faces of that old couple, their wrapt attention, and the 
 heartiness of their responses. Another old couple had 
 walked far through swamps and over felled trees to 
 attend this little cottage-service, and had to return the 
 same way through darkness and rain. After a delicious 
 supper of milk and bread and butter and cake we were 
 glad to go to rest. The next day Smith talked over a 
 long-cherished plan of his to build a small mission-church 
 on his own land. 
 
 On our journey home we fell in with a hunting-party, 
 who were just towing a deer to land. They kindly 
 presented us with a haunch of venison — a gift much to be 
 prized when you can get meat only once a week ; it 
 was no easy task, however, to carry it safely through the- 
 swamps and over the stumps. 
 
 I must not omit to mention another little mission-^ 
 
A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 183 
 
 Station, called RavensclifT, which consisted of a little 
 colony of settlers from England, and was hidden away 
 in the depths of the forest. One family in particular 
 determined to build a church as soon as the ground 
 could be cleared and the timber prepared. But the 
 father was stricken down, and died before his wish could 
 be carried out, and on his dying-bed he bade his sons 
 set to work as soon as they could ; and now a lovely 
 little church stands on the spot where the old man was 
 buried. This large diocese of Algoma is presided over 
 by one of Canada's most zealous bishops, and he goes 
 through many perils and hardships in his long journeys. 
 The Indians form a most interesting part of the work, 
 and at Sault St. Marie, at the entrance to Lake Superior, 
 a very successful home for Indian boys has been opened, 
 where they are taught all kinds of handiwork and trades, 
 and are civilised in every way. The English clergyman 
 at the head of the home devotes his whole life to it. 
 These Indian boys are kept only six months in the year 
 in the home, as the change from their roving out-door 
 life is very trying to them, and they often go into a 
 decline, and die. There is an interesting story told of a 
 tribe of Indians who had heard an account from one of 
 their tribe of a man who had preached about the unknown 
 God. They longed to know more ; but years passed on, 
 and they went on worshipping the "Great Maniton," and 
 trusting to all kinds of superstitions. After thirty years 
 of waiting the first missionary bishop of Algoma (Bishop 
 Fauquier), in travelling through this part of his diocese, 
 heard of this settlement of Indians, and great was his 
 surprise on arriving to find himself most warmly welcomed 
 by these rude Indians. They were eager to learn what 
 he could tell them of the unknown God. A resident 
 missionary was appointed, and these three thousand Red 
 Indians are now all Christians and loyal subjects of the 
 Queen. 
 
 I must now pass on to our visit to Manitoba, the 
 vast prairie country, with its inexhaustible farming 
 resources. It forms a great contrast to the backwoods, 
 where the soil is rocky and poor. 
 
V 
 
 184 A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 
 
 We crossed Lake Superior in a steamer, and realised 
 the size of this inland lake when we were told that the 
 whole of England could be swallowed up in it. We 
 were five days on the water, and on reaching Deluth 
 took tickets by the famous Canadian Pacific Railway. 
 
 Six years ago Winnipeg was only a hamlet consisting 
 of a few scattered houses, but was conveniently situated 
 between the two rivers — the Assiniboine and the Red 
 River ; and hence, when the line reached this point, it 
 grew to be the centre for the north-west traffic. 
 
 Thousands of emigrants streamed in in 1884 — every 
 train was laden with them, and prices went up enormously. 
 Tents were erected round the town, and wooden booths 
 hastily run up to meet the demand for house accommo- 
 dation. As might be expected under these circumstances, 
 typhoid-fever broke out after the hot summer months, 
 and the hospital was crowded with patients. There 
 were sad cases of young Englishmen, who had come out 
 from comfortable homes, dying friendless in a strange 
 land. 
 
 Wages were very high, and servants at a premium — 
 waitresses in hotels getting as much as £q/S a year and 
 their board. I had to pay a laundress four shillings a 
 dozen for clothes. Food was proportionately dear, and 
 every drop of water had to be bought. We paid thirty- 
 five dollars per month for a tiny unfurnished cottage, 
 which stood in a foot of black slippery mud. 
 
 The Hudson's Bay Company nave large stores of fur 
 here. Buffalo "robes" are becoming rare and expensive, 
 for the buffaloes are driven further and further off as the 
 white man advances. 
 
 After a stay of six weeks in Winnipeg we were glad 
 to get out on the prairie, with its beautiful flora and 
 clear air and lovely northern lights. My husband's 
 *' homestead " was one hundred and forty miles from 
 Winnipeg, and consisted of one hundred and sixty acres. 
 The Government offer a free grant of land, or " home- 
 stead," to settlers, on condition that they put up a house, 
 fence and cultivate a certain portion of the land, reside 
 on it for three years (or one year without absence), and 
 pay the regulation fee of two pounds for entry. 
 
Jl!jJ|i*,dlfc'_, -•r- 
 
 A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 1 85 
 
 Our house consisted of a verandah, a kitchen, and a 
 bedroom above the kitchen. There was no bed to sleep 
 on, and until E manufactured one of rough boards 
 
 we had to sleep on our buffalo-robes. We had, of course, 
 
 to do everything for ourselves, but E was well 
 
 accustomed to this, and could bake and cook. He had 
 built the house himself, bringing the timber one hundred 
 and forty miles across the prairie, with the glass 40^ 
 below zero. 
 
 We were miles from any " stores," and had in great 
 measure to depend for food on the prairie chickens and 
 wild ducks, which abounded. The wild ducks were very 
 
 shy, and E had to crawl stealthily through the 
 
 high grass, followed by his faithful dog Carlo. On 
 one occasion he brought home fourteen ducks and 
 prairie chickens, which made soup worthy of any London 
 dinner-party. 
 
 We looKed out upon miles of prairie, with scarcely a 
 house in view. I remember one day counting five 
 prairie fires that were raging around us. These huge 
 fires, which sweep for hundreds of miles over the vast 
 plain, are very frequent in the autumn, when the grass is 
 dry. They are sometimes started by the lighting of a 
 pipe, or some trivial carelessness on the part of a settler. 
 The only safeguard against these fires is to plough a 
 broad belt round the homestead. 
 
 The soil is wonderfully productive, yielding in some 
 parts fifty bushels to the acre ; but owing to the expense 
 of carriage, and the great distance the wheat has to be 
 conveyed, farming does not pay as well as might be 
 expected — in fact wheat is a drug in the market, and 
 the supply greater than the demand. 
 
 The Indians in this part of Manitoba belong to the 
 Sioux tribe, and are very clever. The men are of small 
 stature, but wiry ; they look very picturesque in their 
 native dress of embroidered leather, with bright-coloured 
 bead ornaments. The women wear a sort of blanket 
 dress, fastened round the waist with a girdle. They 
 carry their babies on their back in a kind of upright 
 wooden crib, which is suspended from their shoulders. 
 
l86 A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 
 
 These Indians lived very peaceably side by side with 
 the white men, and at that time we never dreamt of an 
 Indian rebellion. They are a very impassive race. An 
 Indian would sometimes walk into the cottage, without 
 knocking, sit down, and say " Indian hungry ! " or 
 *' Indian thirsty! " and then, on being satisfied, walk out 
 without saying another word. One Indian on being 
 reprimanded for being lazy at his work quietly said, 
 *' Indian born tired !" 
 
 The climate of Manitoba is very healthy, but 
 intensely cold in winter and hot in summer. The 
 winter lasts about six months, and the glass sometimes 
 sinks to 50° below zero. 
 
 When a " blizzard " sweeps over the prairie, any 
 unfortunate traveller is in great danger of losing his 
 life. These tremendous snow-storms, which sometimes 
 last thirty-six hours, are ushered in by a sound which 
 resembles a gun going off, and are generally preceded 
 by the appearance of mock suns in the sky ; and the 
 only hope of escape is to take shelter in the nearest 
 cottage. 
 
 In the summer the mosquitoes are very troublesome, 
 and our little prairie pony used to come to the house 
 door and make us understand it wanted a " mosquito 
 smudge " lit (this is the Canadian name for a bonfire). 
 The farm-house animals gather round these " smudges," 
 preferring the smoke to the bites of the mosquitoes. 
 
 There is something very grand in the stillness and 
 vastness of the prairie. An infinite variety of bright 
 flowers, tall waving grasses, low copses, small lakes of 
 deepest blue, make a charming variety in the landscape ; 
 and it is very enjoyable driving for miles over the grass 
 in a " buck-board " (a rough four-wheeled cart) with a 
 fast-trotting Indian pony. Occasionally we made our 
 way through bushes and logs and ploughed fields as 
 deliberately as if it were the best English road — for a 
 settler has often to make a road for himself. 
 
 I have said nothing in these rough notes of the 
 character of the people of Canada, but this is almost 
 impossible in a country that is made up of emigrants 
 
-Ad^ 
 
 A JOURNEY TO CANADA. 
 
 .87 
 
 
 and settlers of different nationalities. All the separate 
 national characters and characteristics are lost, however, 
 in the one great fact that Canada is a part of the British 
 empire. In the words of Mr. Froude, " The Colonies 
 are a part of ourselves ; they are British subjects ; they 
 honour and love their Sovereign, though they never look 
 upon her presence . . . and they are proud of 
 belonging to a nation on whose flag the sun never sets 
 
 n 
 
 ; 
 
 Wimim.