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Les images suivantes ont lA^lA^ ^\.)'\t ^^' ^/liivw .Dli'^ '1 •?/^« CV^^ "> iVJwv M ¥, I I lyfL. PICKERINGS GUIDE TO EMIGRANTS. ♦ From a number of high Testimoniak in favour of Mr. Pickering's "GUIDE TO EMIGRANTS," THE FOLLOWINO AHE SELECTED. ! " Kmichatiov appears the only remedy in the hands of tho;e who may have sufficient money to carry them out of the country." The Awhor. \ " The Author of this little work is neither more nor less tian a Plain Practical K\(;i,isn Farjieti. His Narrative is interspersed with a number of amusing incidents and useful hints, accompanied also with such other remarks as occasion and circumstances seemed to reqiiire. There is one quality in this little work which we cannot but value— and which is the absence of all attempt at deception." Farmer s Journal, . \ " We assure our readers that there is much information, especially upon agricultural topics, to be found in this little work." Gentleman's Magazine. " This is a practical work. The author took a farm in 1813, ob a seven-years' lease, at a heavy rent, which his landlord, with a verj- trifling abatement, compelled him to pay. He lost half his capital in consequence ; was unable to restock his land ; and thus became an Emigrant. He sailed in October 1824, for Baltimore ; and after remain- ing some months in that city, he removed to Canada. Our farmer is not wanting in shrewdness ; and his observations are valuable ftom their evident truth. He does not much like the Americans, yet his account of them is favourable enough notwithstanding. He speaks in high terms of Upper Canada in respect of soil, climate, and inhabitants. We like his book, which is full of minute information." » Spectator. INQUIRIES AN EMIGRANT: BEING THE IVARRATIVE OK AN ENGLISH FARMER, FROM TIIK YEAR 1824 to 1830 ; nUKINri WHICH PERIOD HE TRAVERSED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE BRITISH PROVINCE OF CANADA, WITH A VIEW TO SETTLE AS AN EMIGRANT. » CONTAININO OBSr.llV ATIONS ON THE MANNERS, SOU., CLIMATE, AND HUSBANDRY or THE AMERICANS; W ITH KSTI MATES OF OUTFIT, CHARGES OF VOYAGE. AND TRAVELLING EXPENSES, AND A COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE ADVANTAGES OFFERED IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA : THUS ENABLING PERSONS TO FORM A JUDGMENT ON THE PROPRIETY OF EMIGRATING. BY JOSEPH PICKERING, LATE OF FENNY STRATFORD, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. A NEW EDITION, LONDON : PUBLISHED BY EFFINGHAM WILSON, 88, ROYAL EXCHANGE. 1831. LONDON: HRINTED BY S. MANNING AND CO.. London-bons.- Yard, St. Paul's. In: Th Ar Joi Ai Cc D( CONTENTS. lNTRODucTiON.->On the Causes of Emigration FACE - vii CHAPTER I. The Author's motives for Emigrating — Preparation for the Voyage — Embarkation, and Passage out 1 CHAPTER II. Arrival at Baltimore — Description of the Town, its Inhabitants, and Customs — Excursions in the Neighbourhood, and continued residence — with a variety of Miscellaneous Remarks . . 8 CHAPTER III. Journey from Baltimore to BufTaloe and Canada, in the Steam Boat, to the Head of the B^ — By land to Philadelphia — Pro- duce and Cultivation of the Country — Further proceedings - 27 CHAPTER IV. Arrival in Ui>per Canada — Comparison of the State on each side of Lake Erie — Introduction to Col. Talbot — Inspection of Lots of Land — Engagement with him — His Establishment — Modes of Cultivation — Natural Produce and various places noticed • 36 CHAPTER V. Col. Talbot's Farm, Garden, and Orchards described — Journey to Fort Erie— The Country, its Produce and Resouices . • 45 CHAPTER VI. Departure from Colonel Talbot's — Road-making, and a Settler's Establishment described — Capabilities of the Country, and Manners of the Residents noticed — Arrival at Ancaster, and Journey to York - - -- • - - -68 u CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. PAGE Opening oF the Colonial Session — Various Journeys from York ( •—A natural Oil Spring — Canadian Auction — A Dutch Settle* ment — Amherstburgh, Sandwich, and other Places — A Voyage on Lake Erie, and Detroit River described - • • • 78 CHAPTER VIII. General Habits, Customs, and Modes of Cultivation practised by original Settlers, described — The Value of Canada to Great Bntain — Thoughts on the original Extent of the Lakes— State of the Forests — Produce of tne Land, and the Outgoings and Profits of a Farm shewn - 100 CHAPTER IX. Departure from Upper Canada to Quebec, and Return to England 113 APPENDIX. 1. General Observations — The Western Lakes - - - -124 2. Taxes of Upper Canada - 127 3. Religious Institutions ....... ib. 4. Laws and Liberties ....... ib. 5. Roads and Bridges 128 6. Government Notice for Grants of Land * • - • ib. 7. Passage by New York to Canada 130 8. Passage by way of Quebec to Upper Canada - . - ib. 9. Estimate of Expenses, and Quantity of Provisions for Voyage • ib. 10. Various Opinions on the Province of Canada - - -132 Tl ai vvi fo V( in C E c< n ^ ( c' ( PACE nYork f Settle- ''^oyage 78 Jed by Great ■State 8 and - 100 2;land 113 :e 124 127 ib. ib. 128 ib. 130 ib. ib. 132 I I I PREFACE. The privations and distress of the manufacturing districts, and the embarrassments of the farming interests, combined with the attention turned towards Emigration as a remedy for the evil, has induced the Author of this work, to endea- vour to supply the apparent want of practical and authentic information respecting the superior advantages of Upper Canada, by detailing his personal narrative, from leaving England to settling in that province. It will be found to comprise his passage out to the United States, with six months travels and residence therein; upwards of four years sojourn in Upper Canada, his travels through Lower Canada, and return to England, via Ireland. He has en- deavoured to detail a clear statement of facts, with remarks on the soil and climate of America, — the customs and man- ners — and a particular description of the methods of clear- ing the soil and cultivating the land, with the prices of stock, grain, &c. He has also given a comparative statement of the views held out by the United States and Upper Canada, as the best for British Emigrants ; in which he flatters him- self that the superior advantages of the latter to farmers, farm-labourers, and most useful tradesmen, will be fully B IV PHI.FACF. proved ; ami as an Appendix, ho has stated many particulars useful to whoever may proceed to either of those places. lie would not recommend those that are far advanced in years, except with younger branches of their families, or arc comfortably situated, with small families, in com- merce, trades, or placemen, and not losinpj money, (unless persons of enterprizo, who could set difficulties at defiance) to emigrate to any country ; as all emigrants that were com- fortably situated, and particularly those from England, must nuiko some sacrifice to obtain any future success. The disadvantages of all new countries (particularly away from towns), are the want of conveniences, comforts, and society — these have to be made. The advantages are, the absence of burdensome imposts and taxes — the great scope for skill and industry in improvements of all kinds — a large field unoccupied lying open for all — a choice of good land and situation — a feeling of independence, and an ab- sence of care for the future welfare of their families. He will endeavour to state opinions and impressions, unbiassed by prejudice or partiality, so that Emigration, or No Emi- gration, may be deliberately weighed before decided on. The great mistake of Englishmen in particular is, that they hang about the sea- ports, in the hopes something lucra- tive may offer, until they spend their little property, or if they settle as farmers, they are so fond of their own opi- nions as to attempt the introduction of English husbandry, and entail a heavy expense upon themselves for their folly. The young and enthusiastic often form romantic and ex- travagant notions of distant countries ; this ought to be particularly guarded against, or it will assuredly end in dis- appointment and vexation. There is no perfect Paradise to be seen on earth — there is no country, however fine and prosperous, without a drawback; nor, on the other hand, U lit 4 particulars 5 pincos. advanced r fnmiJics, in com- y, (unless defiance) vero com- and, must rticularly comforts, iages are, the great 1 kinds — 3 of good d an ab- es. Ho nbiassed Vo Emi- [ on. is, that g lucra- , or if wn opi- bandry, folly. nd ex- to be in dis- iradise >e and hand, I 4 i'UKr.\cp,. V will there be discoverod any country, however forbidding, en- tirely destitute uf attraction. Authors of Travels, &c. are often the cnuse, yet unintentionally, probably, of the forma- tion of such wild fancies. " Countries," as Goldsmith ob- serves, *' wear difl'erent appearances to travellers of different circumstances. A man who is whirled through Europe, (or any country) in a post-chaise, and the pilgrim that walks the tour on foot, will form very different conclusions." The little incidents and particulars which will be found in this Journal, may appear in themselves but trifling, yet, collec- tively, with the frequent and familiar comparisons made of things in America to similar ones in England, they will give more striking and correct ideas than general observations and disconnected statements. " Trifles discover characters more than actions of importance. " Perseverance alone can ensure success ; the emigrant to either the United States or Canada must work to prosper, or bring that property with him to purchase land cleared and cultivated, with which he might have enjoyed comfort at home. On having a grant of land that is in a state of nature, much is to be done before he can even 6nd a shel- ter, and he must wait for the seasons for his crops. It is in the New World as in the Old, connections must be formed before prosperity can be ensured ; but the difliculty in doing this is not so great as it is in England, from the rapid increase of population, each seeking mutual assistance and correspondence with their establishments, agricultural and commercial ; therefore, if a person is industrious, and so fortunate as to have a family capable of joining in his labours, and living in the bonds of affection, there can be no doubt that he will prosper ; that his declining years may be passed in ease ; and his descendants be in possession of ample affluence. VI PREFACE. Feeling his inability to detail the information acquired by experience in the pleasing manner he could wish, he craves the indulgence of his readers ; he offers no speculative theory, clothed in visions of fancy, to their notice ; his are the proceedings of a man, who, used to move in a respect- able sphere, felt the reverses brought about by political causes, and who, as a true citizen of the world, sought the reinstatement of his former circumstances by seeking a place, where his diminished means, his personal labour, and the resources cf his mind, could be actively employed ; and he trusts his information will not be less valued, from being conveyed in a plain unvarnished style. I cquired by he craves ipeculadve e ; his are a respect- y political ought the seeking a hour, and •yed ; and •om being INTRODUCTION. ON THE CAUStS OF EMIGRATION. The first and by far the most prominent one is privation, and its consequent distress. The next, periiaps, is dissatis- faction under real or fancied political grievances. Some f?\v emigrate for a warmer, dryer, or healthier climate, and others for no reason but a love of change. Formerly religious persecution was the chief cause of ex- patriation, but happily that barbarous age is gone by ; yet, unfortunately, there is another cause of late years in opera- tion, although not of so violent a character, more dangerous from its insidious and constantly increasing power. That this privation and distress should occur to thousands and tens of thousands, in a country the richest on earth, the most flourishing in arts, manufactures, commerce, and agri- culture, is of so anomalous and glaring a character, that it forces itself on the attention of every one. I have not the ability to exhibit a full elucidation of a cause of such magnitude ; but as it has the effect of driving so many of my countrymen yearly into exile, I may be al- lowed a few words on the subject of this extraordinary state of things. The chief source of the evils complained of, is the accu- mulating immense wealth into large masses ; virtually mo- nopolizing (since the introduction of steam power and other modern machinery) the means and sources of the middle and lower classes, Uke large globules of quicksilver swallow- ing up small ones within their sphere of attraction. In the first place, is not this incontrovertibly the case with respect to the soil, the primary and only solid source b2 Vlll INTRODUCTION. of wealth of most countries ? For instance, are there one half the number of proprietors and occupiers of land now in England there were 30 or 40 years ago? Is it not a notorious fact that large landed proprietors buy up all the small farms and lots of land they can meet with? I have known parishes that had 40 or more small proprietors and occupiers of land, where now there is not more than one third of that number ; the remainder generally become labourers, nearly their only resource, throwing an extra quantity of the article of labour into a market sufficiently supplied, and, consequently, depreciating its value below a just and equitable price, the landlord and fundholder reap- ing the benefit from the depreciation. But it will be asked, why will farmers give a greater rent than they can afford ? I answer, because those farmers, that still have a little money left, must rent a farm at some price ; they cannot do any thing else ; all other trades and occupations are already overdone. The landlord is enabled to keep up his high rents by throwing three or four farms into one, thereby creating a competition, by reducing the number in the market; while, as I before said, two or three of these farmers must, probably, go to the parish ; the one that gets the enlarged farm will curtail his expenses to meet the high rent, by reducing the number of labourers kept on the four farms ; thus he impoverishes the farm, and that in return impoverishes him, until perhaps in a short time his resource also is the same degraded station, the parish. I by no means intend unqualified censure to any class, — for it is not reasonable to expect land-owners will take low rents while they can get high ones, any more than any other classes will dispose of their property at a less value than it will bring in the market. It is the business of legislators^ by wise enactments, to regulate, either directly or indirectly, those matters, and prevent unjust monopoly. In manufactures, some of the arts, and navigation, this monopolizing system, chiefly through the aid of steam power, is still more apparent. Suppose, for a moment, that, within ten years from the present date, one-third of the human labour now required in Great Britain be superseded by ma- chinery, in addition to the present amount, there would then be nearly half the population unemployed, or unprofitably employed, the evils of which, if not counteracted, must over- v.'helm the country in inevitable confusion : in a word, means INTRODUCTION. IX there one land now Is it not up all the ? I have ietors and than one y become an extra uflSciently e below a Ider reap- be asked, m afford ? e a little cannot do •e already his high !, thereby 3r in the of these that gets the high the four in return resource class, — ake low ny other than it jislators, directly, on, this power, within human by ma- id then ofitably it over- means of living must be found, either without or with labour. Capital, in conjunction with machinery, is rapidly, though silently, creating a greater revolution in the kingdom than was ever done by politics. How can these evils be avoided, it may be asked, or would I have machinery destroyed? To destroy machinery, I answer, would be retrograding towards barbarism, and who could say to what extent it should be carried, even if practicable ? In fact its destruction could only be effected by the united consent and power of every country ; which I need not add can never be obtained. Nor is its destruction necessary to the happiness and welfare of the world ; but that it may prove a blessing instead of a curse, it must be reduced from a mountain toi.ent to ferti- lizing streams. How this is to be accomplished is worthy serious attention. I shall not presume to enter deeply into it, but only suggest a few hints. A recurrence might be had to the old system of cottages and small farms. If in each parish every farm that is over 200 acres were divided into two, there would be then, on an average, four or five farms more in each township, requiring as many extra farmers to occupy them. These farms, when divided, would probably employ more labourers in proportion, and the land be kept in better condition than before. In conjunction with this, let a number of neat and convenient cottages be built in each parish, (if there are not enough already) and three or four, to eight or ten, or more acres, of land, be attached to each by the rich land-owner, the parish, or act of parlia- ment, to be let to the most industrious and honest part of the labouring class, allowing at least one-half to be retained in arable, for potatoes, other vegetables, and grain. These, with a little assistance and indulgence at first, would pay as much rent per acre as a farmer. By this means labour would be taken from the present overstocked market, and poor rates proportionably reduced. A stimulus would be given to in- dustry and honesty in the lower classes, from aspiring to those cottage farms, and thence to a higher grade ; from being now degraded nearly as low, and as incapable of emanci- pating themselves and rising in the scale of society, as the unfortunate African. By the cottage and small farm system, in conjunction with an adequate and permanent abatement of rents, in proportion to the price of grain, all the present population might be beneficially employed. The former would be a INTRODUCTION. W kind of reserve of labour, to which recourse could be had by the farmer ia busy times, to the mutual benefit of each. To check the monopolizing system in land, and to give effi- cacy to the cottage and small farm system, let a graduated tax be levied on all occupiers who retain in their possession more than 100 acres, to be appropriated to the use of the poor; this would effectually put a stop to the system now in practice, of holding more than can be cultivated to the best advantage to the country, and would, perhaps, keep three or four families, and employ double the number of labourers it now does, if divided and conducted with energy. Numbers of large farms might easily be pointed out at the present moment, capable of keeping a great increase of stock, and producing much more grain than they now do. — The want of capital is, perhaps, the chief obstacle that pre- A'enJs large farms being cultivated to the best advantage; nine out of ten of their occupiers have had their capitals reduced by these retrograding times, and, unwilling to lose any of their dignity or appearance in society, continue to occupy them, though at a certain loss. To counteract the growing and pernicious influence of immense monopolizing capitals, and further to relieve the poor and industrious classes, let taxes be taken off every article and commodity of general utility, and the necessaries of life, and put on property and luxury only. Whatever difference in opinion may be held respecting the causes of the frequent embarrassments of the agricultural and manufacturing interests, and the more severe privations of the labouring classes, all must acknowledge its frequent existence, and the paramount necessity of an adequate and speedy remedy. Whether our rulers, or any body of the people, take the case up seriously, before it manifests itself in a more forcibly convincing manner, remains to be seen. But if they do not, emigration appears to me the only re- medy in the hands of those who may have^ sufficient money to carry them out of the influence of the evil — out of the country. In case such an event be the alternative adopted, the following sheets may be of some service to direct in the choice of a situation. W be had by jfit of each, to give effi. a graduated r possession > use of the stem now in to the best ep three or f labourers Numbers he present of stock, do.— The that pre- d vantage; Jr capitals ng to lose )ntinue to teract the tiopoh'zing idustrious ommodity id put on cting the ricu'tural •rivations frequent late and y of the sts itself' be seen, only re- t money t of the idopted, irect in NOTICE TO THE READER. On account of the Author's absence from London while the work wa.' going through the press, the following errors have crept in. Pace .'5, line 13 from bottom, for sea lurch read "lee lurch." 15, line 19, for starved, read " stewed." — - — 38, line 1*2, for similar, read " smaller." 48, line 21, ior first, read "few." 51, line 6, for not umtsiial, read " is unusual." 54, first line, for common, read " uncommon." 57, line 14 from bottom, for 20s., read "458." 58, line 25, for county, read " country." 60, line 22, for blockades, read "blocks." 01, line 8, for must, read " mush." 64, line 5, for rooted, read " rotted." 75, line 17, for strung, read "stony." 82, bottom line, for holls, read " barrels." 92, line 16, for sleek, read " slick " 118, line 27, for tower, read "town." 119, line 3 from bottom, for 30, read " SO." 131, line 4 from- bottom, for lemons, read "damsons." "Ti»». TIIW ,JSr u i CHAPTER 1. Tin: AUTHORS MOTIVES FOR EMIGRATION*, PREPA- RATION FOR THE voyage; EMBARKATION, AND PASSAGE OUT. I SHALL premise the causes of leaving my native country, and reasons for preferring the United States ; in doing which I am only describing the misfortunes and fate of thousands of my countrymen. I took a farm previous to the close of the late war (about 1813), on a seven years' lease, and of course at a high rental. The year following, peace came, and with it ruin to nearly one-fourth of the agriculturists. My landlord compelled me to hold the farm for the term I had taken, with but a small and insufficient abatement of rent. The consequence was, that with strict attention to economy and industry, at the close of my lease I had lost one-half of my little capital, the remains of which not being sufficient to stock the farm, I was obliged to give it up, although offered it at one half the former rent. I then took his Majesty's ministers* advice, that " if farming would not answer, farmers must engage in some other business." I engaged in another business, but through the shortness of my funds, and a com- bination of untoward circumstances, I lost the remainder of my property. I now determined to leave a country that no longer afforded me a respectable and comfortable subsist- ence, thinking no person with one spark of independent spirit, could hesitate a moment in a choice between honor- able, though even laborious, exertion and dangers, with in- dependence, to a dronish uselessness in society, or a mean ignoble dependence on friends. Van Diemen's Island and the United States presented me with a choice of place for my exile. I weighed the in- ducements held out by each, deliberately, and their attrac- tions counterpoised in the balance for some time, until the f! . ;|t , t I itfi 2 EMIGRATION, OR shortness and cheapness of the passage to the latter pre- ponderated, and decided my choice : 1 then had not the least intention of going to Canada, a place I had been led to believe was frozen up two-thirds of the year, and scorched up the remainder ; but on arriving in the United States, I procured better information, without seeking it. In October, 1824, 1 engaged with an American captain of a brig, lying in the London Docks, bound to Baltimore, for a passage in the steerage, for six guineas, my finances not allowing me to go in the cabin ; and being the only passenger on board (excepting two young American seamen who worked their passage) had the privilege of a small apartment to my- self, dignilicd with the name of "state-room." Some days passed in providing provisions, &c. with great trouble in pro- curing the variety of articles wanted, to the best advantage, and on the 18th we sailed with the morning tide and a fair wind, down the river Thames; a frosty morning, but a fine pleasant day ; numbers of vessels going out ; and an- chored off Gravesend for the night. I had paid 1/. to a person residing near the entrance of the Docks, for procuring me a "cocket" or clearance, which I am inclined to think was rather an imposition, but he said he would have pro- cured the same for four or five passengers, had there been as many, for the same money ; went on shore to the custom- house at Gravesend, to deliver the above cocket ; was asked my name, and if an Englishman, and for a reference in London. I had nothing to pay, nor was any certificate of my occupation or identity, required, as I had been led to ex- pect; some officers came on board, but did not examine my trunks, merely asking if they contained wearing apparel and personals only. The provisions I took for my passage were laid in for eight weeks' consumption, and I had no restriction in quantity or variety (there are restrictions in some ports respecting quantity, particularly if a considerable number of passengers are going in a ship) ; in the Appendix I have stated particulars at length. We left Gravesend with a fair wind, and pretty good spirits, my thoughts ranging through the New World I had now fairly embarked for, and then returning again to the land of my nativity, friends, and former home, which, at times, would cause an involuntary sigh ; but the hopes and prospect ever-cheating fancy pre- sented to my mind, dissipated all gloom, and I bade adieu to Old England without much regret. The wind being a-head. I latter pre- )d not tlie ad been led id scorched id States, I I captain of more, for a nances not I'' passenger I'ho worked lent to my- Some days ible in pro- advantage, and a lair ng, but a ;; and an- d 1/. to a • procuring d to think have pro- there been 18 custom- was asked 'erence in ficate of ed to ex- amine my »parel and sage were 'estriction ►me ports umber of I have with a ranging for, and mds, and oluntary ncy pre- adieu to ; a -head. ti NO KMIGIIATION'. 4 we tacked and came to anchor off Margate for the night; in the morning beat up into the Downs, when the pilot left us ; a New York packet-ship, the Trident, passed in fine stile, without tacking once, through her superior powers of sailing, and was in port three weeks before us ; this may serve as a hint to emigrants to engage a passage in a good sailing vessel, which may bo ascertained generally by in- quiry, or by the sharpness of their bows. T would also re- commend every one, before engaging his passage in a ship, to inquire her ago (from two to ten years are best), and to see it' her sails, rigging, anchors, and cables are good, and also if the captain is steady, respectable, and agreeable ; a middle aged one I would generally prefer. On leaving the Downs, we experienced a rough sea, which produced sickness in the captain as well as myself ; the weather was quite warm, the thermometer being at 63 ; the wind increasing, we made considersxble head-way, and in two days lost sight of the Lizard Point, and a pigeon passed us fifteen miles from the land ; a packet spoke us from the Straits, bound to Liverpool. There is no regard paid to Sunday, as a sabbath, on board this vessel, indeed, some- times it would be impossible ; on the 26th, a heavy gale came on, and continued throughout the day ; I could hardly get from my berth or help tumbling out ; no life nor power to move — ^just enough to wish myself on some shore ; the wind dropped in the night, but the sea continued to roll its mighty waves — " Oh wonderful thou art, great element, And fearful in thy spleeny humours bent, Yet lovely in repose ! " This was succeeded by a calm (three vessels in sight) ; eat a little gruel and a pancake only ; a good deal of the latter used in the cabin. October 29th, another strong gale during the night, in which we again "lay too:" wind south-west, which drove us in sight of Cape Clear, in Ireland, by the morning, and in the heavy squall which followed, we had near been capsized through the negligence of the mate not taking in the sails soon enough ; the captain, who was in bed when it came on, was instantly on deck, and gave the , mate a deserved reprimand ; one of the sails giving way, and the wind lowering, they were enabled to set all right again ; the weather for several days various, and we felt a warmer EMIOUATIOX, OR liii If'-. if climato, with longer day^, north latitude 44: 29 — longitude, 12 ; 30, west — thermometer 63; on the evening of Nov. 2d, a bank of clouds arose north-west, and a breeze sprung up in our favour ; we had now been thirteen days at sea, and its cftccts were such, that provisions were in some mea- sure useless, tea, gruel, pudding, or a roasted potatoe being all I could take, with soda-water, or a little warm porter for drink ; but at this time the weather became pleasant and warm, with light wind, thermometer 65, and the sea being nearly smooth, partially restored my health, and I made ample amends in eating after my long abstinence ; we now got so far from land that the gulls and other sea birds left us, and experienced a variety of winds, but generally warm weather, and the voyager would have some pleasure in agreeable and decorous company ; whales sported about, and other large fish were occasionally near the vessel. The saline air caused my apparel to become damp and mouldy, and knives, &c. to rust ; attention to these matters, assisted in passing time away, but occasional squalls would interrupt my business ; in the twilight I often amused myself, when there was a gentle breeze fanning the surface of the water, by viewing the ripples it made with their white caps, it looked so much like an extensive fallow-field, with a slight scattering of snow on its unevennesses ; and fancy, ever busy, conjured up in the distance some well- known familiar spot for the imagination to feast on, till the darkening shades of right, or the approach and noise of sailors, aroused me from my reverie : — ten days thus passed, when we had a heavy breeze all day, and took in the main top-gallant sails. Have seen of late a large brown bird of the gull species, which the sailors call a shear-water, and some small birds like martins they denominate Mother Gary's chickens. The ship's store of potatoes became half rotten through having been dug before they were ripe, and put on board in a wet state. Mine remained quite sound, but began to shoot, through the mild season. Rather disagreeable weather followed this gale, and several seas broke over the vessel ; then a dead calm ensued, and the ship rolled much ; but a smart breeze soon sprung up, north by east, which carried us eight knots per hour, and was the first wind the sailors called fair, that is, lying aft, or at the hind part of the vessel. The sea water is quite warm, and sparkles alongside the ship at night like fir^ sidi thi bul arc an<| spa wai sidI he( MO EMIGRATION. — longitude, ng of Nov. eeze sprung days at sea, 1 some mea- otatoe being ni porter for )Ieasant and le sea being uid I made ce ; we now ea birds left orally warm pleasure in 1 about, and The saline louldy, and , assisted in Id interrupt Itself, when ace of the their white fallow-field, lesses; and some well- on, till the )d noise of lus passed, a the main wn bird of water, and e Mother !came half vera ripe, ned quite season, nd several sued, and M'ung up, )er hour, that is, sea water light like fire; this appearance is caused, apparently, by the ship's side dashing the salt water into air-bubbles : some assert that this fiery appearance arises from a kind of animalculee, but this opinion is evidently erroneous, for these animalcula are never numerous enough in the water in any one plac^, and but occasionally to be met with at all, when those sparkles are everywhere to be seen in the night in salt water. The air from the waves which break at the ship's side, on leaning over, rises in the face like the steam from heated water. The vessel now made a good deal of water when the sea was rough. The captain swears and storms like a madman; at one time cursing the men (by-the-bye, some of them were a stupid set of fellows), then the ship, and the weather, and almost in the same breath saying, they could not have had a better day for the work they had to do, and that we had been highly favoured throughout: so inconsistent is human nature ! We were often compelled to •* lay to," in which there is little danger in any moderate gale, provided you have plenty of sea-room to drift, and the vessel has far less motion than if sailing in the sam6 wind, or in a calm, [u one of the late gales the tiller rope broke, when it threw down, and very much cut and bruised, the man steering. My butter was all spoiled through the warm weather, not having been potted close, and sufficient salt put in it. Squalls, calms, head winds, &c. continue, and the captain says he never experienced so much bad weather and oppos- ing winds before. A disagreeable life on board in such seasons : perhaps you are pitched head-foremost against one side of the vessel by a *' sea- lurch," or a roll, and before you have time to recover your legs, tumbled to the other side ; or at dinner, the dishes and plates with their contents are suddenly dashed to the floor, when the potatoes, &c. are rolling about from one side of the vessel to the other, as if playfully amusing themselves ; and, while at^ tempting their recovery, you roll after them, or tumble headforemost, to the no small amusement of the rest of the company. We continued to experience westerly winds, which retarded our progress greatly, a proof of which was, that we spoke a brig from New Yo(k» bound to Buenos Ayres, out only eight 'days, and it took us three weeks to get into port; indeed, c EMIO RATION, OR I III it If lii:'' m their prevaTenco is a strong rcnson why the voynge out should not bo undertaken at this season, and that this poriodi or a little earlier, is often chosen to return to Kng- land. Appearances indicated an approach to the New World, and like similar circumstances to Columbus filled us ivith hope. Great quantities of sea or gulph-weed floated past US, and on the 4th December we were in latitude 34: 35, and southed a degree. Beautiful April-like weather, thermometer 71 in the shade, and 73 in the water; some* times some light showers, with occasionally lightning in the evenings. The air exhibited a curious appearance, being of a yellowish red colour, and the clouds of a cincrous blue, which were in a thousand fantastic and singular forms, the sailors called thorn snow-clouds. Saw a number of flying fish pursued by a dolphin, and also numerous beautiful coloured nautilus or *' men of war," with their sails ex- panded to the breeze, blown swiftly over the undulating waves. My botlkd porter was excellent, and of great ser- vice now I have recovered from the - sea-sickness ; saw no more gulph-wecd. We had now crossed the back stream, and were between the two; it runs down the eastern coast of America, across the banks of Newfoundland, round the Western Isles, and along the coast of Africa. Dec. 6.— Squally again of late.. Getting near the gulph- stream, which makes it warm, and great quantities of the gulph, or sea-weed is seen again ; it nearly covers the sur** face of the water in some placus, and in others ijt is extended for miles. in parallel lines, north-east, and south-west; I should suppo.se drifted from the side of the stream, which runs in that direction in this part. Dec. 10. — Getting too far south, through the prevalence of north-west winds; latitude 33 : 30, thermometer 65 in the air, and 72 in the water. A shark ten or twelve feet in length came alongside the vessel, and a number of gram- puses were seen at a distance. Fine weather, and would be delightful if on shore, and not altogether otherwise here. Dec. 12.— Light wind, and smooth sea ; clear, bright, -warm day. Two dolphins came swimming about the vessel, one of which the captain struck with a fish-spear, and suc- ceeded in getting it on board ; they all said it was the largest they had ever seen, six feet peven and a half inches in length, and I should suppose weighed throe quarters of a cwt. or move, >.. ,,..■ ... ., ,■ . : . no EMIOHATIO.V. 'oyngG out that this rn to Eng- tho New lis filled us sed floated in latitude e weather, er; 80ineer of small reduce, &c. acks, geese, and flying; lere! ed up soon mchor, and ul a day as ght breeze, with well- its white lills, as we one whose ing of the led a very KD EMIGRATION. 9 E TOWIC,. URSIONS iD RESI- -ANEOUS lall now ter than »nd pre- e occu.* On the 1 8th Dec, at two o'clock, the pilot laid the vessel along;side the wharf, when, in an instant its deck was cohered with people of all sorts, looking about and asking qtiestions. After packing my luggage, I went into the town to procure something to eat, lodgings, &c., when I felt myself a stranger, on a foreign, although a kindred strand. After dining heartily on some exceileiit sausages, with some > pleasant mild ale, I took a ramble through the city ; but I hardly knew how to walk, the pavement seemed to have the motion of the vessel. Baltimore is a large town, with some handsome public and private buildings ; the streets are spacious, airy, and clean ; the centres pitched with rock stone, and the side walks paved with red brick, of which also houses are mostly built. Pratt Street, along the water side, was all in a bustle, and apparently full of business, but the method of doing it evidently difl'ers considerably from the manner in England. Dec. 19. Sunday. — At one church, and two meeting- houses (no chapels here) ; some of them elegant buildings, with very respectable-looking congregations. Dined with the captain, whose treatment was hospitable. The manners of the Americans appear widely different to the English, particularly of the females, who are more easy and un- embarrassed, yet reserved, in their address, than the retiring diilidence of thejatter. Took lodgings at a respectable ship carpenter's, at three dollars, or 1 3s. 6d. sterling, per week, board, washing, and mending including, Dec. 20 A clear, bright, frosty air this morning. Ther- mometer in my sleeping room 43. Went to the custom- house, with the captain, to clear my luggage. Paid half a dollar to a notary (a very polite, agreeable person) for draw- ing up an inventory and certificate of my luggage, and 20 cents (one-fifth of a dollar, or about lle^. sterling) on pre- senting it, when the only question asked was. Will you swe£^r this is a correct statement, and that the articles are for your own private use ? I merely answered in the affirmative. Had a ramble through the town and its en- virons. Like the appearance of the Americans generally, and think the place prosperous, as the people appear to be all employed and busy, and have the air of ease and content in their countenances, with but little superciliousness. The markets are well supplied with meat as to quantity, but tho G 2 # XWIGRATION, OK lilhr i 1 'ti ;: i. i|Dality not quite so good as in England, excepting the pork, which is fine; some little good beef, but veal and mutton Tery indifierent, nor is trouble taken to »et it off to the best advantage. The vegetables brought to market now are chiefly potatoes, beets, and cabbages, great quan- tities of the latter^ and mostly drumheads ; some few carrots, turnips, onions, sweet potatoes, &e. at moderate prices. A great many negroes about the markets and wharfs, who appear far more lively and as independent as the whites, but are treated by the latter as inferior beings ; will not eat at the same table, or walk in their company, and have separate places of worship. There are five market houses in Baltimore, some of them large, and all conveniently built, very similar to the old Fleet Market in Loudon. The centres, which are spa- cious, are occupied on eaeh side by the butchers ; on the outside of the butchers' stalls is also a passage on each side, with stalls on either hand, where vegetables, country pro- duce, flour, meal, &c., ready-made clothes, shoes, tin- ware, &c. are exposed. The fish markets are at the ends of the others, and generally well supplied. To-day are their Christmas markets, at which there is great plenty of every thing — some good beef, pork excellent, mutton thin and small, veal (calf) hardly fit to eat, killed too young. Beef, 2c?. to 3hd. per pound; the best cuts, 4^d. (I have stated •the prices in sterling money, being far more conveniently understood by the British reader) ; pork generally sold by the carcass, brought in by the farmers from the country, from 2d. to S^rf. per pound, and sometimes even lower ; veal and mutton by the quarter, at Is. 2d. to 2s. 3d. each; turke)'s. Is. 2d. to 2s. 3d. eaeh ; fowls, G^d. to 9d. ditto ; cabbages, (drumheads) Id. to 2d. each ; potatoes and turnips, \0d. to Is. 2c?. per bushel, &c. I was asked in the market 51. for a eow and calf, worth in England 8/. or 10/., only five or six cows in the market ; no fairs for cattle he^e, and but few sold in the markets ; there are some farmers that deal in them, and supply those who want, and I am told do pretty well by it ; wholesale butchers buy up the droves of cattle that are driven from Ohio and the west, slaughter^ and sell them to the retail ones. The regulations respecting the markets in this warm climate are judicious ; no slaughtering allowed in the town — no butchers' shops opened anywhere ^ the cattle are killed out of town, and the meat taken to the: KO EMIGRATION. V It ing the pork, and mutton it it ofF to t to market great quan- few carrots, irate prices, wharfs, who the whites, will not eat % and have e, gome of nilar to the eh are spa- jrs; on the » each side, ountry pro- s, tin- ware, ends of the ' are their ty of every n thin and Beef, lave stated >nveniently ly sold by country, bwer; veal ; turkeys, cabbages, >s, 1 Orf. to t 51. for a five or six but few- It deal in do pretty of cattle , and sell cting the ightering y where y en. to the: market houses early in the morning, where the inhabitants flock at break of day with their baskets, as every one carries home their purchases. The markets close in summer at eleven o'clock, in winter at one. Great numbers of country waggons at the market every day through the fall, [autumn] winter, and spring, with country produce. Large quantities of water-fowl, from the Bay, brought to the markets during^ the winter ; wild ducks, a great variety, from ^\d. to 5rf. each ; the canvas-back is large, and considered a delicacy. Is. \d. to \s.6d. each; partridges, 4rf. to 7c?. each; quails, \d. to 2\d, ditto; hares and rabbits, small, from Qd, to is. each. The land round the city is hilly, commanding fine views- down the bay, and over the country. The soil in the vicinity is a mixture of dirty yellow clay, with sand and gravel, but the bottoms or small valleys which lie to the east and north-west are good, and here are the gardens that supply the markets. On the little hills and risings are situated some country seats, that the wealthy inhabitants retire to in summer; their whiteness, enlivened with the brightness of the sun, on opening to the view in different directions, from behind the slips of woods, reminds me of some spots in the neighbourhood of London, but on ap- proaching them, many are in a dilapidated state, and the gardens and fences in a slovenly, neglected condition. Dec. 25. — Christmas Day: instead of ringing bells, &c. as in England (there are but few bells here to ring) it was ushered in by firing guns, squibs, and crackers all last night, and continues with intervals through the day. The moment I arose this morning, I was presented with a glass of *' egg- mogg," as they termed it, a compound of rum, eggs, milk, and sugar, also with ginger-cake, and a cake with raisins in it, which is their " Christmas cake ;" all for merry- making and *' parties." I was pressed to one in the evening with the captain and his wife, a number of fine females and their beaus present ; the time was spent with a variety of plays, singing songs, playing on the piano, eating cake, drinking toddy, peach brandy, &c., quite a sociable party, the female part easy and apparently unaffected ; broke up early by the request of our host, the next day being Sun- day. Americans use very little or no ceremony, except the introduction by shaking hands, &c. ; each leaves table at meal-time as soon as done eating, and they are generall;j5 ^M w II . I ■, II. ■.■ Ill r w. tt:i ■111! 1^' ' I I. J 12 EMIGRATION, OR quick : no biddiug good night, or otljer ceremony, on going to bed. Dec. 26, Sunday. — The day as fine as the preceding, thermometer 47, with a clear bright air; the sun rises twenty-five minutes after seven o*cIocIc on the shortest day, and sets thirty-five minutes past four. At the Roman Catholic cathedral this morning ; it is just finished, and is a large elegant place, far superior to the one in Moorfields, London ; there is another church here also of that persuasion, and a grand Unitarian one, but the latter has but a small con- gregation ; there are besides. Episcopalians [church of Eng- land], Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers, and Methodists ; the latter appear to be the most numerous, they having four or five large meetings, and all well at- tended. At one of them this evening the male part of the audience on one side of the meeting, and the female on the other; the preacher respectable, but rather too noisy, yet he had to beg the attention of the congregation more than once ; no pews, but long enclosed seats from one end to the Other of the gallery, and below, from the aisles to the sides, and across between them ; every one appeared to sit where he thought proper; the floors most disgustingly dirty from the eflfects of tobacco ; more than half the males of the age of fourteen chew tobacco ; and boys of ten or twelve years may often be seen smoking a cigar. Dec. 27. — A thick fog this morning, wind east, and no frost ; sun broke through the mist at noon, when it was quite warm. I took my gun into the woods, but found no game ; on my return, by the race-ground, a number of people had a bull tied to a stake for the purpose of baiting ; I stopped to see a ** set-to," as I had never seen one before ; the bull was a fine, well-bred, gentle creature; seven or eighl dogs were turned loose at him at once ! They soon tore his ears o£F, and shockingly lacerated his head, which made the poor thing bellow hideously, and run about in every direc- tion to the length of his chain, maddened with pain ; in ten minutes he had killed one dog, and lamed others, when I turned away with disgust at the cruel sport ; I was after- wards informed, the animals head was literally torn to pieces ! One might be led to suppose, by this spectacle, the Baltimoreans are a depraved set of beings, but I must eay to their credit, I saw not more than ten or twelve of respectable looking people there, the others, about one hua-« dreJ theil ties] StO{ II atio| yet caus I hi rail: thai Bays has u KO EMIGRATION. 13 Yf on going preceding, 3 sun rises lortest (lay, he Roman led, and is Moorfields, persuasion, small con- ch of Eng- , Quakers, numerous, II well at- )art of the lale on the isy, yet he Kiore than end to the the sides, sit where lirty from if the age >Ive years and no n it was found no Jniber of baiting ; before ; or eighl tore his lade the y direc- ; in ten when I s after, torn to ectacle, I must elve of dred, consisted of the refuse of the place, and a number of them job butchers. Bull-baiting is not allowed in the liber- ties of the city, and means are about to be taken to put a •top to it altogether. 1 have been looking out for some little business, or a situ-* ation as superintendent, or overseer of a farm, but have not yet succeeded ; I find I am not prepared for the latter, be- cause / do not understand the management of Blacks, I have been introduced to some Englishmen, but they, gene- rally, have treated me with far more reserve and coolness than the Americans. One from the Isle of Wight, a Mr. S., says he was an extensive farmer and butcher there : he has been here about two years, and is doing pretty well as a butcher, having nothing much when he came, and has some ungracious feelings towards his native country. Another from Hampshire has been here fifty-six years, and is seventy- eight years of age. He shouldered his musket in the late war, he tells me, to defend his home. SundaytJan. 2f 1825. — Some snow in the night, with rain, and afterwards frost, which makes the streets all ice ; some few sleighs about to day, with bells, which I am told they are compelled to have by law, that they may not run foul of each other in the night. Heard a rather cele« hrated orator (a Methodist preacher from the back woods,) hold forth in a meeting belonging to another denomination, in aid of a subscription for building an asylum for orphan females; a fluent speaker, but manner too theatrical, and language bombastic. Jan. 10. — Frosty of late, when there were plenty of people to be seen skaiting. Been to ask the price of land to rent ; one lot of fifty acres, only half cleared, four miles from town, 18s. per acre per annum: another of rich bot- tom land, or meadow, several miles ofi^, near the river, I was asked 1 2 dollars, or 21. 1 4s, per acre, rent. Great num- bers of waggons from distant parts of the country every day, with barrels of fiour for the merchants, and fat hogs, dead, for the market ; some come four hundred miles, the drivers sleeping in the waggons at night, and carry with them the horses' feed; the waggons are excellent, strong, and light; narrow wheels, narrow in the body, with tilts, seven or eight bows bent over, and removeable at pleasure, these covered by a light-coloured fine canvas, drawn together at each end like a purse : the horses go double, with a pole, like a w EMIGRATION, OR r-1 iii '^ fl !^ ■;■'» n ! I ' ' "•} bnf: t'! ;r ■•(a' if coach, generally four or six in each, sometimes five, the driver riding the near hind horse, with reins in one hand and Ivhip in the other, and mostly go a trot. Smaller and very light waggons, drawn by one horse, called carry-alls, or carioles, are used to bring in milk, butter, eggs, fowls, &c. Vendues [auctions] of books, and almost every descrip- tion of merchandize, are held every few days, and others at night. Sometimes things are sold very low,— I saw some British goods nearly as cheap as in London; American books hiuch lower, but they are not quite so well printed, and paper generally inferior. Sunday, Jan. 16. — Dull foggy day; frost out of the ground again. Witnessed a military funeral procession, (General Harper, who died suddenly on Friday last) ; an early burial, we should think, yet here, I am told, it is the custom to inter a corpse the next, and often the same day of its decease. A grand parade of near 2000 soldiers, vo- lunteers, there are no regulars in the city ; there were three bands of music with muffled drums ; each company having a peculiar dress made thtir appearance quite novel ; two com- panies with different coloured plaid dresses ; they all had frock jackets, I believe. The procession began with some officers, then some companies, and music playing various solemn airs ; three or four more companies and music ; then two brass field pieces, and company of artillery-men ; more music, and companies ; then the hearse, (a small one, open on the side, as they all appear to be here) ; the Ge- neraKs horse, with sword, boots, &c. ; mourning coaches ; rifllemen in companies, and closed with a great number of hackney coaches, and thousands of pedestrians. Some of the above companies are composed of respectable tradesmen, who have ex|)ensive dresses, with ostrich feathers on their caps, which gives them much the appearance of the ancient Spanish dress. General Harper was a Federalist, and like the whole of that party was looked upon with a kind of suspicion, as they are thought to have too great an attach- ment to the English constitution. • Jan. 23, Sunday. — At a Methodist meeting to-ua^ ; a troman cried out " mercy," and some others shouted ** glory," and clapped hands, mostly women, and generally by the same persons ; a common thing here I am told, Vvhich appears evident, as it excited little or no surprise, liven amongst the most thoughtless; the preacher encou- fag< fVOI ravi( presi of l| and still beei dent to will" VO EMIGRATION. 15 ve, the driver le hand and Her and very arry-alls, or , fowls, &c. iry descrip- ind others at I saw some erica n books d, and paper out of the procession, »y last) ; an 'Id, it is the le same day soldiers, vo- ! were three ny having a I ; two com- ley all had with some ng; various nd music ; llery-men ; small one, ) ; the Ge- ', coaches ; number of Some of tradesmen, s on their he ancient , and like a kind of an attach* ;o-ja> ; a shouted generally am told, surprise, 3r encou- raged it, by preaching, or rather exclaiming louder as the ivomen cried the more, till at last it amounted to almost raving ; and, because he could not make any apparent im- pression on the rest of the congregation, he accused them of hardness of heart, &c. I fear there is more weakness and enthusiasm than true devotion in such scenes as these ; still custom makes it sufferable, and the Methodists have been rapidly increasing the last few years, and have evi* dently done much good ; in most of the meetings here, of every denomination, they have another disgusting practice in the middle of the service, by holding a green bag at the end of a pole, in your face, along every seat, for money to purchase wood for the stoves, candles, &c. Here I will say a word or two on the excessive fondness of Ame»» ricans for stoves: every church and meeting has from two to four in each : hardly a poor family in Baltimore but has one or more, at which the cooking is all done in winter, which makes their rooms like ovens, and many people look as if half starved. Lotteries are continually drawing here, and I believe have a bad tendency on the morals of the middle and lower classes. Almost every tavern keeps a bowling-alley, where the idle resort to play at ten pins (nine pins having been prohibited by law ! ) and various other games. Luxury and licentiousness appear to be usual ia the lower part of the community, through the latitude and ability given by the republican institutions — as monarchial governments tend to the same effect in the upper classes of their subjects. Jan. 27. — There has been little frost through the win^ ter, and finer weather I never saw ; the people say they never knew so mild a season, the winters being sometimes rather severe. Walked into the country, by a small stream full of falls, on which twelve or fourteen mills are erected within three or four miles, a most beautiful romantic place*; the water coming from high ground, has washed a channel of one hundred feet deep, and laid bare, in places, rocks and loose stones of an enormous size, some of thirty or forty tons ; trees grow out of the steep banks, fifty feet over head, and many from the top of the banks, entwined with the slender vine; saw a fine field of cock's-foot (here termed orchard- grass) pasture, which they were manur- ing, rather an uncommon practice it would seem ; thie farmers are either too idle to draw out manure, or do ndt J I V 16 EMIGRATION, OR "I ■11 4 |t:i know its value, or else it will not pay for the trouble, as such large quantities are seen lying about the town, treading to waste. It is said the machinery of several mills about Baltimore, is some of the finest in the world ; a large steam mill, at one of the wharfs, takes the wheat out of the holds of vessels by a screw, grinds it, dresses it, and barrels it, with hardly the least intervention of human labour. In- quired the price of some rich land that was advertised to let, belonging to a prudent Scotchman, and was asked 3/. 3s. per acre, a-year; he said it would produce from 1000 to 1400 bushels of potatoes per acre; it was rather singular, I replied, inasmuch as at a late agricultural meeting, a crop of only 250 bushels obtained a premium. In Market Street there are the remains of two triumphal arches erected in honour of General Lafayette, on his visit to this city. The people where I lodge, had what they call a *' quilting frolic/' where a number of neighbours came to quilt, by invitation. A South American brig just refitted here, commanded by a Baltimore captain, who is considered but little better than a pirate. A frigate is just lying on the stocks, to be built for the same power, which causes a considerable demand for ship carpenters, and rise in wages — now giving from 7s. to 9s. per day, without board, the trade having been very flat before; Baltimore ships are allowed to be the fastest sailers in the United States, and perhaps in the world; they are built very sharp, as it is termed, and are called clippers. Feb. 14. Valentine's day, — in which Cupid holds court here as well as in England. There was some sharp weather at ■the beginning of the month, but the harbour has not been frozen over through the winter so as to stop trade, which is rather singular, I am told. The air continues cool, but the sun at times is very warm; the thermometer 50, in the house; dirty unsettled weather of late; ducking parties often made, when four or five, or more persons, with three or four days' provision, get a small vessel and some skiffs, and go down the bay to the islands, where they place them- selves, and perhaps bag a hundred or two hundred in a day. March 7. — General M'Donald, an old revolutionary ofl&cer, having advertised for a superintendant over his farms, I made application, with an anxious and palpitating heart, for -the humble situation ; and yet (as I feared) I was rejected ; •I did not suit, not having a wife to look after the dairy, nor having been acquainted with the American methods of farm- '•3 ^\W NO EMIGRATIOK. 17 ubie, as :readin^ s about e steam le holds irrels it, r. In- d to let, 3/. 3s. 1000 to ingular, ', a crop It Street ectcd in r. The frolic," Imitation, led by a r than a be built land for n 7s. to rery flat t sailers hey are pers. iirt here ither at lot been which ool, but 50, in parties :h three 3 skiffs, 3 theni- i a day. ^oflScer, irms, I art, for jected ; ry, nor f farm- ing, nor the management of blacks (slaves). I begin to feel in rather an unpleasant situation; disappointed in all my endeavours, and my finances getting low ; but I am schooled to disappointments and misfortunes, they seem my unalienable property. I now turned my attention, towards home, from whence I expected a letter, and some little money. No one that has not been placed in similar circumstances can tell my feelings at this time : no friend near to console or assist me, and I had neglected to bring letters of recommendation, which, when 1 left England,! sup- posed would be useless ; the lowest station seemed to await me, but ] summoned courage to wait with patience, and rely on Providence. General M'Donald is upwards of eighty years of age, yet is very active, and has been robust ; he is an in- stance, by no means uncommon here, of the longevity of tluropeans. It would seem, the climate is congenial to the robust and over-luxuriant constitutions bred in Britain. The dryness of the air, perhaps, desicates the super- abundant moisture generated by the dampness of an English climate. A young man, a ship carpenter from the Canada frontiers, has come to board where I am, he was compelled to lepve that neighbourhood, having been detected in smug- gling merchandise into that province in a fictitious or forged name : he gives a flattering account of the above country^ near Detroit, and says the climate is fine and healthy. Sunday, March 13. — Heard a woman preach, and the meeting was crowded to excess. She had a strong, and not unpleasant voice, except when strained abov« its natural key ; she prayed fervently and rather eloquently, but her discourse not sufficiently explanatory. This was the first woman I have heard preach ; and it appears to me, that a woman assuming the sacred and dignified office of a preacher, must sacrifice some of that modesty and delicacy of feeling, indispensable to the character of an amiable and virtuoui female. March 17. St. Patrick's Day.- The sons of Hibernia, after going in procession, and attending the Roman Catholic church, exhibit a little of the overflowings of their natural warm-heartedness, excited by a drop of the *' cratur.** Weather getting as hot as May in England, with occasional thunder showers, and the thermometer 65 this morning at sunrise, I have heard no birds singing in the fieldj^, -h I ^0*' '; t I 18 EMIGRATION, OR i ill a ' r I vl 111; > It except a small blue bird, warbling like the lowest notes of the blackbird, and the chirping of robins— a bird of the size of field-fares, and like them in colour, with a reddish breast. Not one fourth so many small birds here as in England. Frogs are croaking, and a small sort whistling. Passed over Belvidero Bridge on the stream before-mentioned ; it is a largvi and ingenious piece of wooden workmanship, of one arch, one hundred and ninety feet span ; with two cart ways, twelve feet each, and two foot ways six feet each, and is covered over with a shingled roof, to keep it dry ; horses are not allowed to be trotted over it, under a penalty ; a considerable cotton factory near it (with one hundred and forty windows) worked by water. Passed through several *' burying-grounds" at the back of the town, on the common, slightly railed in ; on the tombs and head-stones in the Roman Catholic one, I found Irish names generally. Bal- timore consists, 1 believe, of more than half Irish and their descendants. The bye-roads, and some of the turnpike ones, are now in a bad state through the thaws and heavy rains; but it soon dries up by the heat of the sun. It is said, there is more rain falls here than in England, which I think is probable, arising from its vicinity to the gulph-stream, as, whenever the wind is from that quarter, rain or heavy fogs generally follow. Turnips sprouting, and grass beginning to grow ; saw some snow-drops, crocuses, &c. b^i ving, in the "Columbian Garden," a poor place, belonging to a tavern, and made public in summer, to drink in, &c. But few private gardens in and about the town, although so much ground lying waste in every back street. Hous^es here mostiv full of windows ; a small room, in which 1 am now writing, has four; I have seen six in one room, yet still more singular, often tw'o-thirds of them closed by shut- ters and blinds. Some few of the houses are built narrow, with the roofs inclining only one way. like half a large house split down the middle into two. Eloofs are univer- sally formed of shingles, which have some appearance of tiles, but handsomer, and far preferable to either slates or tiles, as non-conductors of heat in this hot climate, yet of course more dangerous to fire. One evening, at the request of a respectable young man, I accompanied him to a for- tune-teller ; she was a respectable-looking woman, with a family, in a well -furnished house; the latter, probably, the fruits of disgusting culpability. Captains of vessels make it KO EMIGRATION. 19 in large a practico to go to ono uf these oracles before embarking, to know their success! Even strict professors of religion do not scruple to avow their belief, that they can give the desired information, past, present, and to come. I have been as near highly offending some of them as prudence would dic- tate, by laughing at their credulity. SunJajjy March 21.— Heard an English Missionary preach ; two of them just arrived from the West Indies on their way home. The Captain with whom they came would not take any thing for their passage. The difference in manner and countenance of an Englishman and an American, when placed in juxta-position, is striking. The latter have the appearance of less animation, good humour, and frankness, and I may add solidity and firmness of cha- racter ; but on the other hand they exhibit a more composed and even temperament; shrewd, easy, and unembarrassed, accompanied with an independent carelessness, the latter arising, probably, from their republican institutions which recognize no superior. It is said '' the liberal government ,of the United States has the effect of producing generally in the deportment of individuals, who know neither superiors nor inferiors, a certain degree of ease and dignity that is equally removed from servility and arrogance ; and that it is one of these practical principles that the poorer classes in this country are more civilized, more polite and friendly, though not so submissive, as persons of the same fortune in Europe." Attended a Bible Society ; no applause or appa- rent emotion excited by the speeches of the orators, more than at an ordinary religious meeting. The English, generally, have fuller features, and ruddier, healthier coun- tenances than the Americans, still there are many fine, healthy, and fresh-looking of the latter, although some have a touch of the dark yellow tinge of the French and Spaniards, and others of a nankeen colour, which may, in part, arise from the heat of the climate. At the first in- terview with an American family, there is another feature strikingly evident — the precocious sage-like appearance, and unembarrassed deportment of the children; no diffidence or reserve before strangers ; and yet 1 can hardly call it impudence, it seems to them so easy and natural. Through the warmth of the climate it would seem, they arrive at maturity at an earlier age^ generally, than in England ; the t.r I t MO EMIGRATION, OR |( l! II "ii ( Hi youngsters, from twelve to sixteen years of nge, have the airs of men and women, and females then enter the matri- monial state; there are instances at the earliest of the above periods. A woman of twenty-five is undeservedly punished with the vile and reproachful epithet of •* confirmed old maid;" even at twenty they do not entirely escape it. The mistress of the house in which I lodge was married at four- teen years of age; though I may just note by the way there are no mistresses or masters in this country, except for blacks; the mistresses are all misses, married as well as single, with this distinction— an unmarried female has her christinn, or (as it is called) " given " name added to Mi8s> which is not used to married females. March 22.— Fine bright warm weather, thermometer about CO ; something like a fine English April. Had a stroll into the country ; grass and wheat begin to shew green ; the last looks well ; fruit trees budding ; weeping- willows green. Great quantities of fish tied in bunches, lying along the Bay side, tainting the air. When the fisher- men are not able to dispose of them before being spoiled, they are thus thrown into the water. Shad season just commenced ; a fine fish of the herring kind, but ten times as largo, sold at from Is. Id. to ls.6d. a pair, weighing from one, to two or three lbs. each. One fisherman, the first day» caught 12,000, and sold them on the spot at 11. 2s. 6d. per hundred, which is the general price. The fisheries for shad find herring, in the bay, let for high rents. Great plenty of regetables at market; greens, turnip-tops, turnips, beets, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, celery, &c. and herbs, shruba, and fruit trees. March ^\. — Took a long ramble into the country; the day warm and pleasant, thermometer 64. Saw a man break- ing up ley, which was rather stiflf, with a pair of horses, and another at plough on some short lands, with one horse : their ploughs are very light and neatly made, better adapted for light work than any I have seen in general use in Eng- land. The Americans appear to adopt things to circum- stances generally, not being chained with old customs and prejudices; they likewise think their " mingled descent from various nations has a benign influence on genius, something like the improving effects of an analogous state upon vege- tables, and other inferior animals." Been to see some fat NO EMIOUATIOV. 21 Bhcw-becf at tho Marsh Market, tliat was advertised ; it was what would be called protty good in England ; tho butcher had the American flag stuck over his stall. April 4. — Took a walk to the race-ground, a new cleared piece of land, with a tavorn erected on it, kept by the pro- prietor, who gave a siKer cup to bo run for, to attract customers ; six horsec started, some pretty good ones ; a great number of men and boys of the working classes, and apprentices, throwing quoits, bowling, shooting at marks, pitch and hustle, &c. and gambling in the booths ; but only live or six females on the course. April 12. — There are English thorn hedges on two farms near, which are badly taken care of. and are just coming on the leaf. Apple and other trees out, and cherries in blossom ; saw some green peas fit to stick. The mocking birds begin to sing, they are about the size of a thrush, with notes very similar; I cannot distinguish the imitative powers which gave them their name. I have seen a number of black and other snakes, the former as nimble as weasels. Coughs and colds are not half so usual as in England; I have not felt one until now ; had a bad one on leaving Lon- don, as likewise had several of the ship's crew, but they left us the first day we got to sea, as the sailors had foretold. April 20. — Changeable weather; thermometer sometimes at 45, then again up to near 70! House flies get busy, and dance their merry meanders near the ceiling. Cockchaffers buz around you by thousands when walking out of town in an evening. Trees getting into full leaf; rye will soon be in the ear ; the people ploughing, sowing, &c. busily ; oats coming up and grass growing. Martins and swallows here some days, the former much larger than those in England, and of the colour of a starling, with a note not dissimilar. April 22. — Guns firing a& Fort M*Henry; saw some field pieces and artillery-men ranged round, by beat of drum, the monument erected in memory of those who fell at the battle of Northpoint, in the late war. The Americans, when in company with Englishmen, are fond of introducing the last war into conversation, as if it was over but yesterday, it being also a continual theme in their newspapers ; the women are particularly warm on the subject, and will recount the plun- dering and burnings of their coasts, by the British, with great animation and indignation; and if you answer them it was ii^ D 2 ' M ^» 22 EMIGRATION, OR f'Wi k (r'l! "i -4 W ' 'III retaliation for plunderings and burnings in Canada, they will positively deny it; so prejudiced and ignorant are they kept of the true circumstances of the case by an interested public press. The Baltimoreans pride themselves on the determined and successful defence of their city, when attacked and bombarded by the British, yet acknowledge it was per- fect madness in the latter to make the attempt with only 7,000 men, while the place was defended by 30,000, and its neighbourhood well fortified. There are two monuments built of marble; the one I have mentioned elegantly adorned with emblems, and the other a large one, nearly finished, to the memory of General Washington. Marble is plentiful ; some of the best houses have steps to their doors and win- dow-sills made of it ; 1 am informed it is brought down the Susquahanna river. The evenings are very short ; it is, after sunset, almost immediately dark, and the further south, of course, the more so, as the sun rises and sets more vertical and perpendicular, and consequently, is sooner from the horizon. April 28.— Thermometer 72. Walked up Federal Hill— a high hill opposite the wharfs, on a neck of land (on the point of which Fort M' Henry is built) where signals are given of vessels coming up the Bay, which can be seen more than twenty miles. Rye in the ear ; clover and grass grow- ing ; white- thorn in blossom ; fields green and scenery de- lightful where a few weeks ago the ground was bare, and looked barren and wild, so quick is vegetation here. I went on board a new small steam boat, with the paddles placed behind, built on purpose to navigate the rapids of the Sus- quahanna river ; it will not draw more than two feet water when loaded. A number of Irish and Scotch clearing the bottoms of the wharfs with horses and machines, and making new ones. Americans here do but little of the laborious work ; what is not done by slaves and free blacks is generally done by Europeans; the slaves grow less in number yearly in this State, as agents are stationed to buy up all they can for the sugar plantations at New Orleans. May 1 — Fine cool, pleasant, English-like weather : peo- ple all flocking into the country on parties of pleasure, called Maying; soldiers out, being reviewed, shooting at targets for silver cups, &e. Matf 7 — Very hot day, thermometer 82 in my room ; ^ame on some thunder and rain, which made it cooler. On NO EMIGRATION. 23 drinking a little cold water this morning it struck a chill over me ; a fit of ague came on, and afterwards a strong fever, which forced me to bed. A number of people yearly lose their Hves in this hot climate, by drinking cold water. It is best, after drinking, to keep up perspiration by walking or some other exercise, or take a little spirits with it. May 8. — Thermometer sunk to 68; to day 14 degrees colder than yesterday. The fever took by drinking cold water yesterday continues, and has thrown a painful hu- mour into one of my feet. May 18. — Fine pleasant day, not too warm, thermometer 72 ; thunder storm last night. Wheat coming on the ear, a month earlier than in England. Saw at market to-day ripe wild-stawberries, green currants, and gooseberries ; green peas Is. 8d. peck, cabbages Id. each, and pretty good Iamb at 4d. per lb. I have been thinking of going back into the Western States, and have inquired after wag- gons to send my trunks by. Saw one from Wheeling, on the Ohio river, and one from the State of Tennasee, back of Kentucky. Their horses are generally strong, like our largest coach horses, and in good condition. Carriage to Pittsburgh is 7s. lOd. per 100 lb., 240 miles; a good road, I am told, all the way, on which regular stage coaches run. May 21. — Fine and pleasant, thermometer 74. I had almost engaged with a waggon for taking my trunks to the west, with an intention of going to Birkbeck's Settlement, but a carpenter from the west arrived here yesterday, and is now lodging in the house I am in. Says he has been sick (ill) out there, and the country generally is unhealthy ; there is hardly a house but has one or more sick, and otherwise thinks it a poor place for a person without a family. Pork Id. per lb., and labourer's wages 6s. 9d. per week only. May 25. — BrigHt hot day, thermometer 87 in my bed- room, the windows all up. In the custom-house, 83; came on a thunder gust, when it sunk to 76. Yesterday was Whitmonday ; nobody at work ; horse racing and country parties were the order of the day. Took a longj ramble southwards into the country, over a bridge 600 yards long, thrown across a creek or arm of the Bay, for horses and fooi-men. The bright glowing atmosphere ; the fragrant breeze over the undulating little inclosures ; trees,, shrubs. M' i 24 EMIGRATION, OB i 1^ blossoms, and green grass, the latter of which will soon be ready for the scythe:— elegant houses peeping through the waving trees on the brows of the little hills, and a large ex- panse of water, where the wild ducks were carelessly swim- ming, and the fishermen tending their calling in various di- rections along the Bay, its banks adorned with fields of grain ; crickets singing, birds chirping, and other objects, would have been enchanting to a mind at ease. Ou my return, I drank most delicious water at one of the city springs ; there are several of them in the place truly elegant, with clean, neat inclosures, and a person to attend each to prevent nui- sances. Water is the general drink here for quenching thirst, and no one that has never been out of our cool climate can conceive its delicious taste in a hot one. May 27. — Fine bright pleasant day, thermometer 78. After looking over the newspapers at the reading room at Change, I took another ramble northward, which I thought the finest part I had yet seen ; but the glowing brightness of the sun, and natural beauty of a fine May day may have heightened the scene. The ground, which appeared rich, rises into little undulating ridges, with vales between, covered with luxuriant clover and grass. Indian corn ancle high, and several gardens better cultivated than any I had before seen, with neat houses and orchards attached. Re- turned through some barren woods, wheio there were plenty of buckle or hurtle berries, and wild flowers. May 28. — Very hot again, thermometer 86. Been east- ward to day from the city ; wheat in full ear, apples of the size of crabs, but likely to be few, the frosts having killed their blossoms : there were great quantities last year, and very fine, at from Is. \d. to 2s. 3c?. per bushel. The water in the Bay is as warm nearly as new milk. Some green clover cut and brought to market, and sold at 6ld. a bundle; green peas \s. peck, full and getting old. A young Scotch- man, from Canada, here, as boarder and lodger, having put himself apprentice to a shipwright, to have 13s. 6d. per week wages first year, and 22s. 6d. the second, to board himself. He speaks very highly of Upper Canada as to climate and soil, the kindness and hospitality of its inhabi- tants, the cheapness and goodness of land, with little or no taxes. He resided there four years as a potash manufac- turer, but left it some time ago on account of the low price of that article in the English market, and has been rambling KO EMIGRATION. 25 through the States since. On a f< m Occupied by an Eng* lishman, [ saw some Indian corfi planted in continued rows, nltich looked very fine, and also some transplanted beets; and a field of fine white wheat, short in the straw and ear, but plump and thick on the ground ; and some rye whose ears were very long. Maryland has the character of growing wheat of the best quality in the Union, and BaltU more for manufacturing the best fiour. Great quantities of fine linen shirts made up in Baltimore for the South American market: women getting only Is. each for their making. The South American trade benefits the States much, and the enterprising inhabitants promptly avail themselves of its advantages. June 4. — Rather cold day, thermometer 67. In England it would be thought warm, such a difference does use and comparison make. On reading the papers at 'Change, I see in England, that nothing but forming companies and specu* lations is the order of the day, some to work gold and silver mines, &c. in South America, cut a canal across the Isthmus of Darien, and join the Pacific with the Atlantic, &c. &c. Here they are also, everywhere, cutting canals and forming companies ; going to commence one from the river Ohio to Lake Erie. A company is also forming to cut one from the Chesapeak to that river. The different States appear a little jealous of each other's prosperity, which acts as a stimulant to outdo the rest in all improvements to attract trade, &c. June 7. — Fine and very hot, thermometer 87. I am told it is sometimes 100. Received the long wished for lettfer, and the news of more adverse fortune ; therefore it is time to bo doing something. I immediately determined to go to New York, and should nothing offer there, to Albany, or perhaps onward to Upper Canada, to which latter place I had turned my attention of late, in conse- quence of the information I had received from the two young men before-mentioned, viz. that Canada was healthy, the climate good, and the people hospitable and friendly; and, on the other hand, I had been informed Ohio, and the ^/estern States, were too hot and unhealthy, and the produce of land, &c. too low in price. But to me there is another and by far stronger motive for preferring Upper Canada to the States. In the former I shall enjoy, as a British subject, every privilege and advantage of the British consti- ?. 1' 1^ |1 ^^1 ^f':, < ill ■I I i 26 EMIGRATION, OR ■■5. ' I'll I liH probably from the glowing brightness and warmth of the atmosphere, aided by a wide expanse of water, surrounded by woodland scenery. I was led to this observation by the beautiful prospects presented on approaching New York. A bright serene air, and cloudless sky — a gentle breeze — ships sailing, others at quarantine — fishing-boats here, steam-boats there. Houses rising every minute, as we ap- proach, on each hand, on the eminences and slopes, inter- sected with woodland scenery, and enclosures, with cattle and sheep grazing in them. In front the city, with its spires — the masts of the numerous shipping along the wharfs, all presented to the sense of vision nearly at once, caused a most pleasing sensation. An American passes such a scene and the dullest objects with equal indif- ference. Indifference and shrewdness are the most striking features in the character of an American. They are never intoxicated with joy at success, nor depressed to despon- dency; defeated in one object, they are planning and cal- culating on the success of another ; never at a loss for an expedient ; generally content, if not cheerful ; never lose their confidence, or are thrown off their guard by passion ; this nonchalance arises probably from equality in "ircum- stances and much intercourse by travelling. But to return, — we landed, and after some search for lodgings, took my trunks to a tavern in Albany Street ; 6|c?. for lodging, and Is. \d. for each meal ; five beds in the room I sleep in, occupied by civil and respectable decent-looking young men, who gave ine not the least molestation. No suspicion was attached to going to and from the bed-room at any time of the day, which I think speaks very favourably of the ho- nesty of the Americans. June 17. — Fine pleasant day, thermometer 78. On see- ing an advertisement in a newspaper, for an overseer to superintend a plantation in a southern state, I made appli- cation, but fouiid several applicants before me — " Still I think I shall succeed, But still am disappointed." Had a walk through the town and vicinity : it is situated on the south-east end of Mahatten Island, which is apparently about two miles across, and several in length. North or Hudson River runs on one side, and East River on the other, at the end of which they join. A very great num- NO EMIGRATION'. 31 ber of vessels, of all kinds and sizes, lyin:^ at the wharfs on both sides of the town, and a great deal of business going- forward, more like London than any other place I have seen. Broadway is a fine street, as are also some others. Markets are well supplied, but appear to bo much crowded. At the back of the town there are evident marks of an overwhelming flood. On the highest parts of the island the soil is washed off the rocks, and huge stones laid bare, or tumbled together in the ravines. Another such a place near Trenton, on high land. Almost all the roads leading to a town in America are full of houses on their sides, called " taverns," or ** liquor," ** boer and cake," or ** grocery" stores. My notice was attracted to-day by one with a small kitchen garden before it, with a fev; benches for seats, with Watf.rloo Gardens in printed capitals over the gate! as a magnet, I suppose, to attract the contents of Johnny Bull's purse. New Yoik is a place of great trade, and will still increase, it is so well situated. Open at all times to the sea — at the confluence of several fine rivers, and the canal from Albany to Lake Erie greatly augments it. The state of New York is the richest in the Union, and the cli- mate the most genial and moderate for Europeans. The prices of wheat, flour, &c. here, at Baltimore and Philadel- phia, are nearly the same. As building in summer is always going on, house-carpenters, brick-makers, and bricklayers, generally find employment almost anywhere, except in the depth of winter, at 45. 6c/. to 7s. or 8s. per day ; also shoemakers, tailors, and persons well acquainted with any useful common trade, may meet with employ in some place or other. I determined to proceed to Albany, and thence, if nothing offers, to Upper Canada, by canal. A farmer would cut a sorry figure in a store amongst the Yankees, and there appears to be but few other situa- tions vacant, and that occupation uncertain. June 18.— On board the steam tug-boat (a boat tugged along by a bteam-boat) for Albany ; the fare was one dollar, or 4s 6d. one trunk included. Is. \{d. for the other ; in the steam-boat the fare is higher. The passengers con- sist principally of farmers, fiirmers' wives, and trades-people, two or three of the former are *' squires," as they are termed (justices of the peace). With this company I pass as a Yankee ! Like the rest of the passengers I Qa,rYy provisions for twenty-four hours, and half a pint r ; ii-i t ' •:i h ¥W 32 EMIGRATION, OR of rye whisky {2d. only), a little of which, I find, with water, agrees with me better this hot weather than water alone, or even beer. Jiine 19, Stmdaij.— "Warm last night and pleasant to-day. The Hudson river, up which we are travelling, is a noble stream running between high romantic hills and mountains on each hand. The Kaatskill mountains are the most con- spicuous, making a grand appearance with the clouds flying far below their tops along their sides. The Chancellor Li- vingstone, and another noble steam-boat, two-deckers, past us down ; they are really floating-palaces. The steam- boats are larger, and more elegantly fitted up, than any I have seen in the Thames ; indeed they are carried to ex- cess, more fitted for voluptuaries than for cool calculating Republicans. Arrive in Albany, and stop at a tavern kept by an Hibernian, for the night. June 20. — Finding I am not likely to procure any situa- tion hereabouts, I have determined to continue westward by the canal (here pronounced canol), in company with an itine- rant bookselling merchant, who is going to Canada. He put his books, and I my trunks, on board a trading boat, and walked on a nearer way, to see the country and save ex- pense^ till the boat should overtake us. Pare something less than \d. a mile for myself and one trunk, and 3s. 4ld, for the other, 751b., to Lockport, near 300 miles. The boats have relays of horses, and go night and day. Albany is an old, large, and improving place, with but indifferent land about it, yet the trade by the Erie and east canals en- sures great prosperity in trade. Travelled twenty-five miles to-day, and stopped for the night at a plain Dutch farmer's tavern, seven miles above Schenectada, on the flats of the Mohawk river, on which, to nearly the whole extent, the Dutch are settled. Flats a*^e what would be termed meadows in England; but there is this difference, in England the meadows in general are subject to floods, but here in Ame- rica there are but few rivers that overflow their banks, their banks being mostly high, and till the land is generally cleared, the woods and swamps preserve the heavy rains from running off in torrents. The flats of the Mohawk river in many places are bounded on each side by high barren hills and mountains, covered with scrub limber, and brush-wood. The Mohav\k flats are considered some of the very richest land in the Union; they are settled nearly, if Is. 4ld. NO EMIGRATION". 3.3 not entirely, by Dutch. It is a fact rather singular, that tiio Dutch (as farmers, which most of them are) thrive best of all settlers; the reason is obvious; they are a close-living-, hard-working, frugal people, and, what most ensures success, they always settle in companies, and generally on the richest land. Corn, grain, &c. looking pretty well, and the farms in tolerable good order. Green peas just coming in ; they, and other crops, are three weeks later than in Maryland. Heard the first whip-poor-will and the first bull frog, the latter I at first took to be the bellowing of a bull at a distance. June 21 — Very warm to-day, the people say hot: the high hills keep off the cold breezes from these low confined grounds. Walked thirty-two miles to-day in company with the merchant, a curious old bachelor of forty-five, and dis- ciple of Malthus. The canal, which runs all up the fiats near the river, has a good deal of traffic on it. The boat- men, in general, civil, and even respectable, a contrast to some of that class in England ; but a good number of them are farmers, who carry their own produce to market, or leave their farms at the least busy time and go as captains and mates to rhe trading boats. Some elegantly fitted up packet boats, drawn by three horses on a trot, pass us to- day, full of fine ladies and gentlemen. There is the same easy indifference, or nonchalance, in the American females as I before remarked in the males. Some of them are fine figures, with handsome features, and pretty good colour, yet but little of the play of the soul. You may ad- mire their handsome forms, and enjoy their company unem- barrassed and with corresponding indifference, without being in any great danger of having a more tender passion excited. Should much disagreement arise between husband and wife, they generally separate, and a newspaper is seldom seen without advertisements respecting them, warning not to trust, &e. '; June 22. — Passed through what are called the German flats ; a pretty well settled country ai.d good land, where the boat overtook us in which we had left aur luggage, inta which we got, where there were twelve or fourteen passen- gers already, several of them women, who occupy all the beds and fore cabin, so we are forced to be content with the body of the boat, and spread the blankets (which are plen- tiful) on the packages of merchandize to sleep, which is e2 «' ! i 34 EMIGRATION, OR '1 not very disagreeable tliia warm weather. It has been ro- inarked that Englishmen generally are the most particular and fastidious about such trifles on travelling in this country. The boats are one-third wider than those used on canals in England, and covered their whole length, leaving sufficient room for standing erect in them. Though so far back in the woods, the people are very similar in their manners and behaviour to those in and near towns ; generally civil, some polite and intelligent ; no awkward rudeness or embarrass- ment in their behaviour ; no provincialisms, and but few peculiarities in their language. All speak the English lan- guage plainly, and mostly correct, with some few exceptions, chiefly in pronunciation, which they have generally adopted, as improvements or corrections of Walker — thus, in engine^ acorn, excellent^ and some others, the accent is placed on the second syllable. Thames is by them pronounced Thaymes. June 23. — The canal appears about three-fourths the size of the Grand Junction in England. The bridges are nearly all of wood, and too low, not allowing a person to sit upright on a boat passing them. The canal is shut up in winter by frost. The water is let through the locks by a much quicker and easier method than what I have seen in England, by merely turning a lever about one-third of a circle. There are several companies that run '* lines" of boats regularly, the ** packet line" fitted up chiefly for passengers, drawn by three horses, a boy riding one of them and keeping them on a trot; charge '2h per mile, board, &c. included. " Pilot line," *• merchant line," and others, carry both passengers and merchandize, drawn by two horses each, go night and day, (60 or 70 miles in 24 hours) and charge \d. per mile, and board yourself, and 4s. 6d. per 100 lb. weight of luggage and merchandize from Albany to Buffaloe, 296 miles. Towns are much called after Greek, Roman, and other ancient names — as Rome, Troy, Camillus, MauHnes, Galen, Utica, Syracuse, &c. At Salina, near the latter place, are extensive salt works. A great many buildings made to evaporate the salt water by the sun, with sliding roofs, and others for evaporation by boiling. The salt sells for about Is. 2d. per bushel, and 2s. 4c?. per cvvt. very good quality of fine and coarse sorts. Houses springing up like mushrooms; here and there a young village or town. The canal crosses the skirts of NO EMIOUATIOV. 35 " of some small lakes, and extensive open marfthes, and througli some smart towns. Uticn, one of the largest and prettiest, has two or three churches, and other places of worship, with large and neat houses, some few of brick, but the greater part of frame, and painted in various shades of yellow and stone colouring, which gives them a gay and lively appear- ance. In some of these new towns, the streets arc as yet only ridged, or " turnpiked," in the centre; others are gra- velled, but none, 1 believe, yet paved. Land worth from 6 to 25 or 30 dollars per acre, or from 30fi. to 71. \0s. Cows from 21. 4s. to 4/. lOi*. each; sheep 45. 6d. to 9s; horses from 4/. 10s. to 16 or 17/. June 24. — A cloudy pleasant day. An agreeable way of travelling, by boat ; you can sit and view the varied scenes of the country through which you pass, write or read, lie down at your ease, or get out and walk for exercise when you please. Passed by a small plot of ground planted with hops, which lodged pretty well. People busy ploughing between their corn, or maize, (wheat, rye, barley, &c. are here universally called grain). The people ever since I left Baltimore are all *' guessers" and ** calculators," and on asking a question, and it be not understood, they say — " how, sir?" or " how is that, sir?" or ** which V* or " which is it?" June 25. — Passed through Rochester, situated on the Genessee river, near some large falls of water, which work a number of flour mills and other machinery. This place is well situated for trade, and has thriven remarkably. There are no locks between Rochester and Lockport, a distance of 65 miles ; nor is the country much settled, being too wet and flat. Lockport is a place of some business ; five of the locks rise 60 or 80 feet up a rock of blackish hard stone ; they are finished off in a neat, not to say elegant style. People in some parts of this western country appear to act under little restraint with regard to the duties of a Christian Sabbath ; for although no stores (shops) are open, I saw along the canal, in several places, people loading boats, carting, &c., and a woman in the boat knitting all day with- out exciting any notice or remark. June 26. — Walked the five miles portage, and gave Is. Ihd. for the carriage of my trunks. A number of peo- ple, chiefly Irish, blasting the rocks, and clearing out the bottom of the canal. Slept at a log-tavern to-night for the first of the kind, in the bar room, which had a hole through ■i ■ J t .«■ '-1 36 EMIGRATION, OR m the roof as a substitute for a chimney f Paid old. fof my bed, which is the general price in the western country if two sleep in a bed, but mostly double that if alone. June 27.— Arrived at Black-Rock, a large and smart village on the Niagara Kiver, 24 miles from Lockport, and two from Buffaloe, and nearly opposite Fort Erie, in Canada, at the head of the Niagara river. After seeing my trunks safe, I walked to Buflaloe, a great shipping port for the western States, situate on or near the Upper Lakes. Buf- faloe was burnt in the war, and some other places, by the British, in retaliation for the burning and plundering the Canada side by the Americans. It is now rebuilt, and is a thriving place. The wind being brisk and westward, drives down the lake the big rolling waves, which break on the pier and beech with a thundering noise. Returned to Black- Rock, where the ferry is kept, to cross into Canada, it being the narrowest part of the river, (near a mile across) and rather rapid, and which is made more so by a pier run into it on the American side. The water is clear, and is gene- rally used by those who live on the banks. The charge at the ferry is Is.l hd. There is no town on the Canada side, only two or three stores or shops, (" stores " may be distin^ guished by — dry goods, stores, hardware, or general, the last keep an assortment of every thing), a mill, a small church, a few private houses, three taverns or inns, all having good accommodation, to one of which I went for the night. i« , i w ■ CHAPTER IV. ARRIVAL IN UPPER CANADA COMPARISON OF TKE STATE OF EACH SIDE OF LAKE ERIE — INTRODUC- TION TO COL. TALBOT — INSPECTION OF LOTS OF LAND — ENGAGEMENT WITH HIM — IIIS ESTABLISH- MENT — MODES OF CULTIVATION — NATURAL PRO- DUCE, AND VARIOUS PLACES, NOTICED. June 28.— I am once again under the jurisdiction of the British government and laws, and therefore feel myself no longer an alien. Though the Americans, in general, are civil and friendly, slill an Englishman, himself as a stranger amongst them, is annoyed and disgusted by "ite NO EMIGRATION. 37 their vaunted prowess in the late puny war, and euperi- ority over all other nations. They assume it as a Self- evident fact, that " the Americans surpass all others in virtue, wisdom, valour, liberty, government, and every other excellence!*' Yet much as the Americans deserve ridicule for this foible, still I admire the energy and en- terprize every where exhibited, and regret the apathy of the British government with regard to the improvement of this province. A single glance down the banks of the Niagara tells on which side the most efficient goveruinent has resided. On the United Slates side large towns springing up; the numerous shipping, with piers to protect them in harbour, coaches rattling along the road, and trade evidenced by waggons, carts and horses, and people on fuot, in various directions. On the Canadian side> although in the immediate vicinity, an older settlement, and apparently better land, there are Only two or three stores, a tavern or two, a natural harbour without piers, but few vessels, and two temporary landing places. Farm houses there are all over the district, nearly one on each farm, and probably the farmers, &c. doing very well. A town cannot be built, as government retain the land for fortifications. Trade there cannot be much till the upper part of the province is more settled. Inquired of two Englishmen, who had considerable farms, if they wanted a person to superintend them, or knew of any person who did ; but no, ei'ery person looks after his own business in this country. The land is a stiffish black earth, on a rock several feet under the surface : it is excellent for wheat, clover, and grass, and is chiefly settled and owned by Dutch from the States. Left my trunks and travelled down the level banks of the wide Niagara river; the roaring sound of the Great Falls broke on my ear at twelve or fourteen miles distance. This wonder of the world, although it does not come up to the idea I had formed of it by reading travellers' de- scriptions, is yet truly grand; the immense body of water which accumulates in the Great Lakes above, from a thousand creeks and rivers, is here concentrated. From Chippawa it rushes down a sharp rapid, dashing over huge stones and broken rock (which, for a moment, appear to arrest its impetuous course), near a mile befoie it comes to the precipice, where it is converged to a com- V i 4 I 38 EMIGRATION, OR 114 . an m K " * paratively narrow space, when it pours down over Iho rock in a sheet, with great force and noise, amongst the masses of broken rock in the gulph below, forcing up the spray to a great height, at a distance looking like steam rising from an enormous boiling cauldron fixed in the bowels of the earth ; sometimes, in clear weather it con- denses into a thick cloud, and is seen more than sixty miles. The sun shining on the misty spray, forms beautiful rainbows. The water, on rolling from the abyss below, down the comparatively narrow but deep chasm it has formed, is white with air bubbles, similar to the effervescence of soda water. There is a similar Fall on the American side, running round a piece of land called Goat Island. There are occasional instances of people in boats crossing the river above the rapids, venturing too near them ; and, unable to stem the rapidity of the current, are consequently forced over the Falls. There are three large and elegant hotels, one on the American and two on the Canada side; the latter standing on a small rise of ground, on the bank of the river, 150 or 200 feet above the top of the falls, commanding a fine view of the rapids and river above. Met some Indians to day on horseback; saw numbers of them at Buffaloe yesterday, some in almost every store, and sitting and loitering about the doors; numbers of them wear large ear-rings. Saw one with a wooden leg, and another with one arm : many of them at a little distance have the appearance of gypsies; their colour and hair being nearly the same, but features and dress different. The features of the Indians rather more broad, and have strong-er expression, more grave in their manner, and less fire in their eyes, both equally straight in their persons aui' active, which arises probably through intermitting exertions and absence of hard labour. Walked on towards Lake On- tario, along a nearly level country, for seven miles, through two small villages, and came to the edge of a mountain three or four hundred feet high, overlooking a considerable extent of country on both sides the river, and the Lake Ontario. The village of Queenston is situated at the foot of this mountain or ridge, where the Falls evidently have been, seven miles from the present one ; the river here is amazingly deep at the foot of the mountain. This village is situated at the head of the Ontario navigation, and though small has been a thriving place, but now in a state !,. ^ UO EMIGRATION. 39 , and them , and stance hair The •ong-er (ire in ictive, and On- rough mtain erable Lake foot have ere is illage and state of decay ; the town of Niagara, seven miles below, at the mouth of the Niagara river, having engrossed all the trade, excepting the forwarding of merchandise up, and produce down from the upper part of the province. Queenston is in a pleasant and very healthy situation, and the country pretty well cleared back ; the houses are in a state of dila- pidation. There is the small but neat and healthy village of St. David's, two miles back of hence. A steam boat lay at the wharf, which runs to various parts of Lake Ontario. June 30.- -Returned again through Chippawa to the Ferry. People busy getting up their hay ; crops are light through the unusual drought : great plenty of cherries along the road side, in the orchards, of which every passer by takes what he can eat without let or hindrance, or it being thought a trespass. Two or three stages run between the Falls and the Ferry during the summer months. July 1. — Stopping with a farmer, a native of Canada, till I can look about for a situation. Cherries are abundant this year, us, "so fine large red currants, some of which they preserv d dry others. Wild gooseberries and currants nea j woods, but not very tempting. Wild raspberries plenty, and tolerably good. Plenty of grapes also, but not yet ripe. Saw a number of dead fish along the beach ^ one upwards of twenty pounds weight, killed against the rocks by the violence of the waves in a storm. Also a few of the only species of a duck that breeds here, called shell-duck, they live on fish, and are not very good eating ; one of them had thirty-five young ones. July 4. — Fine and warm, or rather hot. The Americans celebrating their independence by firing guns, cannon, &c. Grass rather alight crop, through the uncommon dryness of the season, not having been any rain of consequence for seven or eight weeks; still the pastures are not burnt up, nor is the ground one quarter so much cracked as it would have been in England with the same drought. The dryness of the ground causes the atmosphere to be more heated than usual, yet there has been only two or three daj's I thought too hot, and in these I was helping the farmer and his son get up some hay without being much incon- venienced, as there is often a fine cool breeze from the lake in hot weather. July '24. — Left the above farmer, who had treated me friendly, and wished me to call on him, and make his house I, 1) ' t; H * ; I V'-.J 40 EMIGRATION, OR my home, whenever convenient. Travelled up the Lake beach, in company with a man from the Talbot settlement, whither I am proceeding to take up a lot of government land. Good walking along the white sandy beach, except in a few places round points of land where it is rocky (some of it lime stone), or rough with coarse gravel. Tra- velled thirty-one miles to day, and stopped at a miserable log tavern to sleep ; my companion having remained behind at a farmer's to make some shoes. This part of the province is settled chiefly by Dutch, most of them a sturdy, old fashioned, and honest race of people; high, sand banks back the beach, covered with pines, juniper, and other evergreen trees and shrubs. Behind these sand banks are marshes and swamps in some places; in others, and behind the swamps, is a rich black soil on ahme-stone rock, and in places, a considerable quantity of loose stones are scattered over the surface. It has evidently been overflown, at some remote period, by the lake. Saw a woman washing on the beach, her family of small children playing around, and rolling on the sand; her husband looking after the yoke of oxen, that had drawn down on a sled the washing tub and pot to boil the clothes in, &c. This is a common way in dry seasons, when good soft water is not to be had near home. I passed a remarkably peaked hill to day, in the form of a sugar loaf, which name it bears ; it is covered with timber to its very top. It is a good sea-mark for sailors on the lake. Some of the people about here have a half Indian appearance ; dirty habits, sallow thin visages, and meanly dressed ; living in the woods, sur- rounded by swamps, they are half hunter and half farmer. July 25. — Walked on for Grand River or Ouse — M'- " Remote, imfriended, melancholy, slow, ' ' Or on the woody banks or beech below. Or onward where the free Canadian booi'. Welcomes the houseless stranger to his door." A heavy shower coming on, I took shelter in the Naval Depot. Several old vessels of war lie sunk in the mouth of the river rotting, and a number of cannon and cannon-balls strewed about the beech. This depot consists apparently of one well furnished, low, but rather large, house, for the officers, and twelve or fourteen small log-huts as bar- racks, for about eighteen or twenty soldiers and sailors. J : KO EMIGRATION. 41 le There is a small island near called Gull Island, under which is one of the few places on this Lake shipping can run into in safety for anchorage in bad weather. A large tract of rich land on the river is still in possession of the Mohawk Indians ; saw a party of them to-day at camp under the shade of some trees, making baskets ; they had plenty of fish in their canoe, which they had speared. After leaving Grand River, I passed through eight miles of Indian wood- land without a house, and came to Evans' Tavern, one of the best on the liake banks I am told, though but indif- ferent; it is kept by an Irishman, a captain of militia, where I stopped for the night. • '^* July 26. — Arrive at Paterson's Creek, (small rivers and brooks are in America improperly called creeks), the begin- ning of the Long Point Settlement. It is a dry sandy soil, thinly wooded with low white oaks, and is what is here termed plains. The land is not very rich, but will bear good crops for several years, and if manured, and plaster (gypsum) applied, of which there is great plenty at Grand River, and is now beginning to be used, and a proper rota- tion of crops introduced, it would be some of the most use- ful and valuable land in the province : it is well watered with constant spring streams. On the greater part of these "plains" the settler has only to cut up here and there a little under-brush or shrubs, and girdle the trees (chop a ring round them through the bark to stop the rising of the sap, when they die), when he may put in the plough ; it will require a strong team to break it up the first time, but afterwards can be ploughed with one yoke of oxen, or a " span*' of horses. The few trees, which stand twenty or thirty or more yards apart, when killed by girdling, do not in the least injure the crop, nor much inconvenience the ploughing. There are some rather extensive farms here- abouts, which raise (grow) large quantities of rye, corn, and buck-wheat, chiefly for distilling, and also wheat, since clover, which it bears remarkably well, and gypsum have been introduced. But it is evident their system of manage- ment is too deteriorating for this or any other soil. Rye, corn, wheat, and oats continually, with only a few peas, and a little clover intervening, and then but seldom ; when clo- ver is sown, it is too often on the ground in a bad state, lying two or three years and becoming full of grass and rubbish, in which state it is, perhaps, ploughed up for wheat, &c. F ■ ■ i .;i 4a EMIGRATION, OR y'ii 1 But little fallowing of land, nor indeed is it necessary under a proper system. Land, if ever so foul, can be easily cleaned with a corn crop. There are no tares, turnips, or cabbages, to pulverise and ameliorate the soil, which I think might be introduced in a small way to advantage; and although the two latter will not stand all through the win- ter, (except Swedish turnips), yet there is seldom any frost to hurt them till after the middle of December, when they might be put into cellars made in the ground for the pur- pose. Rape or cole-seed (a small patch of which I have seen looking tolerably well, but evidently sown too late) I believe would ans ver well on this soil, and some others, for its seed, as oil milb are introduced into the province ; I be- lieve it would grow to perfection on new, or rich old land ; in the latter case it might be sown after wheat, rye, barley, or peas, as they are off the ground generally early enough. Sunflowers also have been sown for their seeds for poultry and oil, and I think are deserving notice, as they grow re- markably luxuriant, evidently produce a large quantity of seed per acre, and require little trouble in their cultivation. Every person busy getting the harvest in ; good hands for cradling the grain in request, 35. 4d. in cash, or 4s. 6d. in trade, with board, per day ; there is but little advance of wages given in harvest from other times. Up to the present time almost every payment has been made in trade — that is an exchange of articles of grain, cattle, or goods from the store (shop). Juli/ 29. — Stopped a day or two with an agreeable, re- spectable working farmer (as they all are in this country) from Nova Scotia, who wanted to engage me to stop and help him twelve months for the share of one-third of the produce of his farm, and treated as one of the family. He Wis going to put in (sow) forty acres of wheat this fall (au- tumn), and calculated they would produce 1000 bushels, besides other grain and corn ; but I declined. Farmers, captains, and esquires, rich and poor, none think it a dis- grace to work, even for each other; yet, except in hay- time and harvest, there is but little steady work from morn to night. It has been said, that, *' in America, if you want any thing done, you must do it yourself," which, generally, is true, as you cannot always hire others ; this is peculiarly the case in new settled parts, where every one can get land to himself. This is one reason customs differ from those in li ' -3 NO EMIGRATION. 43 I' I England. If you want grist ground, you must take it in your waggon or sleigh to the mill, and even into the mill, and out again when ground; the same at the distilleries and stores ; goods are seldom delivered even to the door ; every person in business acts as if conferring a favour. I had been directed to Colonel Talbot, who has a grant of two townships from the government, with a view to having a *' lot,*' and in proceeding to his residence passed through several miles of pine wood to Big Creek, and twelve miles further of wood before coming into *' Talbot Street/* as it is called, having houses on each side, at about one-fourth of a mile distance from each other, or about eight in a mile, one on each lot of 200 acres. This lower part of Talbot Street is on a bank of sand, or pine ridge, of barren soil. There is some good land on each side of this ridge, but rather flat and swampy. Three parts of the houses are empty, the inhabitants having '* cleared out" for better land, I ** guess ;" — but those that remain say in consequence of ** sickness'' (illness). Stop often to get a drink of water, or butter-milk, and inquire about the country. A person is always welcome in every house to rest himself, and need not hesitate to ask any question, as he v'V\ be answered generally without reserve. A stout, jovial, and rather liberal, Yankee working miller, who has been in the pro- vince three years, overtook me to-day, going to " draw " land of the Colonel, so we travelled on together. On first coming into the wilderness, it is rather depressing to the spirits ; but the mind soon recovers by the cheerful- ness and absence of discontent in the settlers, and the pros- pect, although at first perhaps slow, yet certain, of growing prosperity. From the two Otter Creeks, and Catfish to Kettle Creek, the land appears pretty good, of sandy and clayey loams, but in some places is much broken by ravines and gullys. We arrived at the new small village of St. Thomas, rather pleasantly situated on the banks of Kettle Creek ; it has a church, two taverns, a mill, two stores, and an academy, &c. ; and on July 30th, we arrived at Col. Talbot's. As the Colonel takes no fee for his trouble in giving out the government land, and people are continually going to him for information respecting new lots to draw, (choose), as well as exchanging them (sometimes repeatedly) for others, it cannot be surprising that he should sometimes assume a severity of manner not natural to him, to pre- I;' I *. m :i!i mm <\(- 4$ EMIGRATION, OR r4iii vexatious applications. The house in which the Colonel lives is situated on the banks of the lake, upwards of 100 feet high, and commands a fine view of the banks and shore of Lake Erie for twenty miles down, and also the Colonel's Creek winding through the " flats " below. The Colonel was not at home when we arrived, but soon returned, and after procuring a list of some vacant lots of land thirty miles above, we proceeded forward from Port Talbot. It may not be unnecessary to inform my readers, that port, and shipping, and the name of a township, and a town, de facto t are not necessarily concomitants in America. We stopped in Ireland at night, five miles from the Colonel's, with a farmer who came from Pensylvania, a thriving and comparatively a forehanded one. After leaving *' Ireland," as it is called, we passed through three miles of woods into the " Scotch settlement," the settlers of which having only fifty acres of land each, which was given by the Colonel for their clearing out the street in front of their lots. This street, or road, runs through his two townships, Dunwich and Aid-' borough, onward to the head of Lake Erie. The Scotch settlers are highlanders, and very hospitable. July 31.'— Arrived at Clear Creek, a fine little stream of spring water, arising about two miles from the lake, and one from the street, in the township of Orford. Stayed the night with an Englishman from Northumberland, who has been here six or seven years. He suffered considerable privations at first, commencing on his lot at the begin- ning of the winter ; he had first to build a house, and then work out for provisions for the family. He has since built himself another house and barn, dug a well and a cellar, planted an orchard, and cleared forty or fifty acres of land, and is now comfortably situated and thriving, although hav- ing only 30s. "- 405. left on his first arrival. Aug. 2. — Accompanied an Irishman and sons with a con- ductor into the ** Bush" to look at some lots of land, part of which we found both rich and dry, and have taken a note of their numbers. The lots are laid out in parallelo- grams, or long squares, of 100 or 200 acres each, having an end abutting to a road or street, with small posts bearing their numbers at the corners. I next proceeded towards the townships of Howard and Harwich, to view some va- cant lots of land, and in my way was hospitably entertained by a new settler, gratuitously, although he was indigent ; % KO EMIGRATION. 45 but learning that the land I was going to was swampy, re- turned to Clear Creek. I found musquitoes in this trip, but not so troublesome as I had supposed they would be, and there were also a variety of snakes, all harmless, except the copper-head and rattle snake ; but it is seldom that persons are bit by these, and old residents do not dread them, as many vegetable antidotes are well hnown in the woods ; in fact, they are acquainted with the name and virtues of every plant, while new comers are years learning the names of trees only. I' CHAPTER V. KNGAGEMENT WITH COLONEL TALBOT — II19 FARM, GAR- DEN, AND ORCHARDS DESCRrBED — JOURNEY TO FORT ERIE — THE COUNTRY, ITS PRODUCE, AND RESOURCES NOTICED. Aug. 9. — Returned to Colonel Talbot's, who recommended my waiting until the survey of the new township of Orford should return from the land office at York, where it had been sent for inspection, and the reserves marked out, I could have an early choice, to which I assented : and as the Colonel's foreman, or overseer of his farm, soon after left his situation, I engaged to succeed him. The harvest this sea- son is earlier than usual, through the long continued drought and hot weather. A Canada summer is much like the finest and hottest we have in England : but I am told the heat increases at a distance from the lakes. The Colonel's wheat and oat crops fair, the peas good ; but too dry for potatoes and corn. Aug. 14. — '* Hauling " peas, (that is, drawing them on waggons to the stack). -^'^'r Aug. 16. — Rain all day, with the wheat and oats in the field yet for want of hands, the harvest in the neighbour- hood being nearly all finished for the year. The Colonel has about 150 sheep shut up in a pen at night to preserve them from the wolves, (this is not done in old settlements) ; they are of various breeds, some with and some without horns. Twenty-five milch cows ; four yoke of oxen broken in, besides one yoke killed this fall ; fifty or sixty head of young cattle, which run in the woods all the summer; F 2 % l»- 46 EMIGRATION, Oil w>ii twenty-three weaning calves; four horses of the nag kind, with uncut long tails, the only sort in this country, and aro generally pretty good, but want a little more blood ; four sows and a number of store pigs, who also get their living in the woods through the summer, and during the winter, when there are plenty of nuts and acorns. Fattened forty- two hogs this fall in an open pen, with peas given them on the ground, and water in troughs, in about eight weeks. Filled thirty-five barrels of 200 lbs. each with them ; worth about 3/. 3s. per barrel. There aro some good hogs a few miles from the Colonel's, yet the Berkshire breed would be an acquisition, as also Leicester sheep. Cows appear to be suited to the woods, with a middle-sized carcass, and horns not very long. All their stock might be improved by proper selections. A few good blood stallions, and two or three large cart horses would probably pay for importing. Colonel Talbot has a garden pretty well stocked with shrubs, fruit- trees, &c. in better order than most in America, yet not like a common one in England. There are cherries, plums, apri- cots, peaches, nectarines, gooseberries, currants, &c. also water, or musk melons, and cucumbers fine and plenty — cab- bages and other vegetables thrive very well. A patch of Swed- ish turnips (or ruta-baga) of a good size, notwithstanding the dry season. A few hills of hops at one corner of the gar- den look remarkably well ; they are gathered at the beginning of September. There is also a few bunches of English cow- slips, but none wild in the woods. There is a species of the violet in the fields, with less fragrance than the English ones. The Colonel has likewise extensive orchards ; some of the fiuit fine, yet the great proportion raised from apple- kernels, and remain ungrafted ; although they bear well, their fruit is small and inferior to those grafted, except for cider. A great portion were suffered to hang too long on the trees, until the frosts came and spoiled them. The beautiful little humming-birds are numerous this season. Sowed wheat from the beginning to the end of September, and a little in October. A large flock of wild turkeys seen near the woods, and came to the farm-yard, where the men shot several of them; one weighed 151b. after being picked. There are plenty in the woods, of the same breed bs the tame black turkey, and excellent eating. Ciit the •' corn" about the 20th September, which was much eaten by the racoons and black squirrels, who are extraordinarily KO EMIGHATION. 47 tiutnerous, troublesome, and destructive, from the scarcity of nuts and mast in the woods this season. Dec. 10. — ^The summer and fall has been remarkably dry and still continues. Many mills cannot grind for want of water. November was mild and pleasant, sometimes too warm, and the weather is yet mild. Been ploughing for peas and spring wheat, on the furrows of which they are to be sown next spring without more ploughing. The person with whom I left my trunks at Fort Erie, through a misun- derstanding, neglected to forward thorn, which caused me a journey on foot about 140 miles, and back in a schooner as far as Long Point Bay, where I landed on the 1 8th of De- cember, on which day there came a heavy fall of snow and sharp frost. Long Point Bay, like most other bays on these Lakes, is formed by a sand bank, having a slight bend thirty or more miles down the Lake. This peninsula varies in width from a few rods to a mile or two ; much covered with fine timber, scrub pines and cedar only. There is a river (Big Creek) empties within the bay, running through a considerable tract of sandy plains and pine woods. The frosts generally close the navigation of the lakes earlier than this time, and the vessels are laid up in harbour. After leaving the schooner, passed through marshes half-leg deep in water and snow, with a Yankee who came in the schooner, with whom I left my trunks to be forwarded with his own. He was just returning from tiie States, with his mother and her family, to settle in Canada. Nearly one- half of the inhabitants of this province are from the States, or their descendants. All the Dutch came from there, and numbers are coming in yearly, on account of the cheapness and goodness of the land, and general healthiness of the climate. Stopped at a Dutchman's for the night, who has a large frame house not entirely finished (houses in new settlements are often two or three years before completed). This industrious man has 200 acres of good land, which he says he paid 800 dollars for, by the skins of musk rats he killed in the marshes, and sold for their fine furs, at 2s. 3c?. each ; they are getting much less numerous, through being continually hunted ; they are killed by thrusting a spear in their hills, which are like mole-hills. My host also keeps a seine, with which he takes a considerable quantity of white fish, and others, in the spring and all. White fish are much larger and finer eating than herrings, and sell at 1 li ¥: r I 48 EMIGRATION, OR h''\ about 27s. to 32s. per barrel of 200 pounds. In the marshes about the Bay grows a long coarse grass, which the settlers cut for hay at the fall of the year,when the water is low. . Dec. 19. —Proceeded to Otter Creek, eighteen miles, chiefly through woods and by occasional beginnings of set- tlements. Ihis will be a fine country, not only for its dry and good soil, and consequent healthiness, but for its excel- lent pines for lumber, and the fine streams for machinery to cut it up. Many saw mills are erected in the neighbour- hood, and in operation ; and several schooners employed transporting the lumber to Buffaloe, Cleaveland, and De- troit in the United States, where it generally fetches good prices, as there are but few good pineries on the American side of the Lake ; it is worth from 15s. to 35s. per thousand feet at the mill, and from 35s. to 3/. 10s. in the States after paying the duties (4s. 6d. per thousand feet, I believe). Dec. 20. — Left the Lakes, and pass through the woods to Talbot Street again, passing a few solitary houses and a mill or two in my way. Stopped for the night at Wheeler's tavern (one of the first frame ones in the street). An Indian, from a neighbouring camp, came in with two " hams," (haunches) of venison, and a deer skin, having killed two deer and wounded three others that day, and killed nearly forty this season. The tavern keeper gave him one pint of whisky for each ham, and two pints for the skin, only ; and that nearly half water; but liquors are their bane. On the Cat-fish Creek, between the Otter and Kettle Creek, a little back from the street, is a settlement of Quakers; there are several others about the province, one at the back of Fort Erie ; they are mostly from the State of Pensyl- vania. Dec. 21. — Arrived at Port Talbot again : snow here not half an inch deep, but sharpish frost. Salt selling at five dollars per barrel, or 22s. 6d. ; at Buflfaloe only 9s. Tea in the latter place 4s., here 6s. or more. Salt nearly all comes from the States, and as there is so much used by the universal practice and necessity of giving cattle, sheep, and horses, some every week or two, it, with tea and leather,* • Tea is now imported into Canada, direct from China, in an East India ship yearly, and is as cheap as in the States, which has stopped the smuggling from thence, and, in some instances, it is re- NO EMIT. IVATIO.V. 49 in an :h has is re- drains all the cash from this part of the province : there are importation duties on each, but they arc often evaded. There are salt springs in various parts of the province, but not worked for want of capital, and more for want of energy and encouragement. As yet there have been but few, very few, people of capital, settled in this country; certainly, I think, for want of knovving its superior advan- tages. If individuals will not, or are not able, to establish works of this kind, which are beneficial to the community at largo, government would do well to offer premiums for the purpose. A premium was offered for the first paper mill, and one was soon erected, to the advantage of the proprietor as well as the public ; another, or two, have boen erected since. The practice of giving sal. to cattle is attri- buted to the freshness of the ai»', on account 'vf the great distance of the ocean ; cattle and sheep are al! fon i of it, and will take it from the hand ; deer will go milos to the salt spring, or " licks," as ihey are called. What seems t > confirm the opinion of the freshness of the air is, that h ).\ will hardly rust, as scythes, &c. are often hung in the open air from one year's end to another without receiv.tr;^ injury, merely tarnishing a little. Jan, 1, 1826. — Been a few very sharp frosty days, with a little snow, which has put tho people all in motion, sleighing, cuttering, &c. A sleigh is drawn by two horses abreast, here called a ** span;'' a cutter is dra'^r) by one horse: they are both made alike as to shape; the box, or frame, is made light, and painted green or blue mostly, and some fancifully ; they are something in tho form of a chariot, fixed on two runners in the shape of skates, made of wood, and shod with steel or cast iron. With the com- mencement of this year terminated t)* ' f.iginal regulations for granting land to settlers, and by an Order in Council new rules were set forth, to be continued for two years, which are noticed in the Append j.i. The winters of Ca- nada are a terror to Englishme i; but though colder, ihey versed. With regard to le. ther, the province in a few years will be able to supply itself, as the country gets full of cattle ; and it is be- coming a practice for the farmers to kill one or more each, at the beginning of the winter, for their own use, besides others they sell. No new settlement can raise sufficient at first, as cows are then pre- served for breeders until old. Sole leather selling in Buflfaloe at iSJrf. per pound, in York ISJrZ., and up in the West 22^d. C \ ^ V i 50 EMIGRATION, OR ill Kifc ( f. 'i, . 'I are more pleasant, and the inhabitants do not suffer so much from their severity ; their dryness has less effect on the human constitution, and even cattle, than a raw damp air several degrees warmer. Cattle require less fodder, and are much fed upon wheat and oat straw, which they eat up clean, and do well, if they get enough of it. The winter is the most lively part of the year ; when there is about four inches snow with a frost, sleighing is universal, for business or pleasure, from one end of the province to the other. A span of good horses conveys two or three persons in a sleigh forty or fifty miles a day with ease, and they often go sixty or seventy. With warm clothing, a fur cap, and a bear or buffalo skin over the back and feet, it is a pleasant and very easy way of travelling, enlivened by the numerous sleighs and the jingling of bells, which the horses are required to wear ; in this season many of the Canadians have quite a military appearance. During the winter I took a journey to the Mill, at St. Thomas's, and to have the horses shod, which will last the year, as the roads do not wear them out quick. The days in length are more equal at all seasons, and the sun has more power. Some wolves made their appearance about the pre- mises, during the foggy nights, after a dead hog ; the dogs retreated to the house much frightened, but they very rarely attack the human species. Feb. 12. — It has been a steady frost the last three or four weeks, so that the farmers have got their hauling pretty well done. Last winter there was no sleighing, no snow, and hardly any frost in the western part of the province. Feb. 26. — It has been quite moderate weather of late, and yesterday and to-day mild and thawing. March 5. — Foggy open weather, thermometer 48 ; snow nearly all gone, and ice breaking up along the lake shore. The noise caused by its breaking, when driven by a south wind on the shore, is like the various noises arising from the rattling of carriages, and the bustle of a large town on approaching it. In the depth of winter, in the sharpest weather, the trees, on the sun rising on them, snap and crack like the report of pistols in all directions, though there are no cracks to be seen. Grass and wheat begin to shoot, hens lay, &c. Been sowing some Timothy grass seed, and the ground very tender, it being flat and not properly drained ; the water stands as long as there is any froi pen the boi very snow shore. south : from wn on arpest p and hough ^in to grass Id not fs any NO EMIGRATION* 51 frost to prevent it sinking into the sub soil. The frost has penetrated from three to five inches in open places, but in the woods hardly through the dead leaves. March 12. — Frost nearly out of the ground, and ice off the lake ; a good deal of rain ; fo%^y weather of late, the latter of which is not unusual. The sugar harvest now commences ; parties take large kettles and go out into the " sugar bush/* (those parts of the wood which consist chiefly of the sugar maple tree). A notch is cut or a hole bored into each tree, and a small wooden trough placed to catch the sap, when it is carried in pails or drawn in barrels placed on an ox sled, to the " Camp," and evaporated by boiling down to the proper consistence, when it is run into various fanciful shapes in moulds, or stirred while cooling to make it into powder, like muscovado, for sale, or use in the family, selling from Ad. to Q%d. per pound, or Qd. to \s. New York currency (in which trade is generally done in the western part of the province), while in the eastern, it is in Halifax currency, 18s. sterling to the pound, or 5s. to the dollar. When it is a good season (sharp frosts at night and sun warm in the day), on an average each tree will yield twelve gallons or more of sap, producing, on evapo- ration, near three pounds of sugar ; some families making from 1000 to 3000 pounds in the season, if it be a good one, which lasts three or four weeks generally. Maple sugar is considered wholesome, and if well drained from molasses, is nearly equal in grain and taste to the West India Muscovado. March 19. — ^Been three severe cold days this last week, and a snow storm, which made a little sleighing, but it is gone again, with rain and thunder. Employed in mending the seine for fishing, making ladders, drag-rakes, and a roller ; the two latter are novelties, people ask if the last is to thresh grain. March 26. — Some frosty and cold, and some wet and mild days, and thunder, of late ; thermometer has been as high as temperate, and down below the freezing point. April 2. — Fine pleasant day, and has been pretty much so all the week, yet some frosty nights. Went to the village for whiskey, and for two new cast-iron ploughs (cast at Long Point Furnace, their price 21. each), and have the wrought-iron ploughshares laid, which are do'ie only once a year, the ground being so free from stones and gravel the i 13 EMIGRATION, OR •r .,v.. riM' irons wear but little. A new iron furnace, and forge, esta- blishing on Otter Creek, forty miles below here, where good hands get thirteen dollars wages per month and board now, and fifteen dollars offered for the summer, payable chiefly in their casting* ware.* The Colonel has his thrash- ing all done by the flail, but a great deal of the grain in the province is trodden out by either horses or oxen. A man with four horses will tread out thirty bushels, or more, in a day, which does very well for grain that is used in the distillery, but is too dirty, though often done, for flour for the merchant, and baking in the family. When flail thrashing is hired, the thrasher gets one-tenth and his board.; and as the dryness of the climate makes it thrash well, one man often thrashes from eight to twelve, or even fifteen bushels in a day. Millers are allowed by law, for grinding, one-twelfth, it has been one-tenth I am told ; but some wise-acres, who thought it was not enough, petitioned for one-twelfth ! April 8. — This week has been partly wet and cold, and partly fine and pleasant. Sowing spring wheat, with clover, and Timothy grass, on land that was ploughed last fall ; it harrowed pretty well considering the wet undrained state it was in. Ploughed with two yoke of oxen at each plough, yet most people use only one, except in breaking up new land. Sheep began lambing. Pigeons, in great flocks, going out daily northward ; some people, with nets and decoy pigeons, will catch several hundreds in a day, when they sometimes take only their breasts, and salt them down in barrels, and make beds of their feathers. Turned the calves out of the yard to grass. The one, two, and three year old cattle go to the woods, and do very well on the wild leeks and onions, &c. Only the milch cows and horses have any hay now, and the sheep a few oats in the sheaf in a morning. April 15. — Two or three rather severe frosty days at the * Iron ore plentiful and good in various parts of the province, chiefly found in swamps, on sandy land ; and forges and furnaces arc now so common that iron and cast ware is plentiful, and moderately cheap. Wrought iron, which, if well made, is very tough and good, fetches its price, and mill machinery cast is about 2^d. per pound. Stoves, pots, kettles, &c., at an advance in proportion to extra work- manship, &c. NO EMIGRATION. ^3 beginning of the week : one morning seventeen degrees, the next at thirteen only above zero, when the next it was as high as fifty-three ; these fluctuations arise by the change of the wind from north-west to south-west. The severity of two nights killed several lambs, but have yet as many as ewes. Wolves last night bit a calf's tail off, and otherwise lacerated it behind, and would have killed it, had not the oxen been with them. Oxen will drive any number of wolves, and even throw down the strongest fence, with a strange noise to get at them, when a calf or a cow is attacked. Began sowing peas (a white sort) 2| bushels per acre, many people sow much less : the early maple and grey peas, I think, would answer much better here, as peas are mostly grown for hogs only. There is a kind of dwarf kidney beans (white) sown in the fields, and eaten in winter, which are very good, better than peas^ and I think would thrive well in England. Pigeons very troublesome, both on the peas and spring wheat ; two boys employed to keep them off. Used the new roller on the wheat and meadow, made entirely of wood, which answers well. Sowed a little Swedish turnip seed in the orchard. Cows troubled with the hollow horn, never heard of it in England. But the most destructive complaint incident to cows and oxen is the murrain : the attack being sudden they are often dead before found. There are two species of this disease, the bloody and the dry murrain. It appears to be an affection of the liver, or rather the blood, which is abstracted from the heart and blood vessels to the liver and bladder, and evacuated, while the animal lives, through the latter ; and in the dry murrain the blood is nearly or quite dried up. When the complaint comes on, they have a dull sleepy appearance, and great pains and trembling as it proceeds. I thought it might be caused by the want of sufficient salt, as some cattle appear more subject to it than others; yet I am told there are numbers of cases, where ciattle have as much salt as they will take. It is supposed to be caused by the sharp frosts : the remedy is to bore a hole with a gimblet into the horns, about three inches from the head, when wind, and sometimes blood, issues out. April 22. — This last week has been cold, and the spring is later than usual ; fields hardly look green yet. Spring wheat just coming up, only three weeks in the ground. Sowed oats, and more clover and Timothy grass, and pcckefl \ i f bf, m 54 £Ml6RAtlON, Oft and levelled the land (a very common thing in America) j sowed three bushels of cats to the acre (more than is sown in general), with four or five pounds of clover, and as much Timothy grass. Timothy, or cat's-tail, as it is called in England, is not a good grass to sow with clover, as it is not fit to cut so soon by a fortnight, and throws up no latter or aftermath. Some of the better sorts of rye grass, cocksfoot, or sweet scented vernal grass, I think, would be much better ; but they are not introduced into use here at present, and little attention is paid to improvements. Clover, even by itself, answers admirably on a clear tilth, and will last well in the ground for six or seven or more years, yet it is not sown by one farmer in half a dozen in this western part of the province ; even Colonel Talbot I am told never had any but once before, which was suf- fered to stand till dead ripe (like all grass here) before cutting, when the cattle would not eat the hay, and it therefore was condemned. It is getting into general use at Long Point, and the seed sells from seven to eight dollars per bushel, or about 35s. per cwt. Ploughing up new land for the first time, that was chopped and cleared several years ago ; rough work, amongst roots, &c. Have sixty lambs dropped, which are strong and thriving. Two sheep and lambs left out of the pen last night, by mistake, when either a dog or wolf killed one of the sheep. Many dogs I believe kill sheep hereabouts, through their being used to hunt racoons and deer. Hauled the seine yesterday in the lake, and caught nine maskinonge (a large fish, very like a pike) from five to thirty pounds each. April 29. — There has been several days heavy rain, which is not uncommon, as, with the exception of thunder showers, it generally lasts for a longer time than in England. The fruits, wheat, and grass begin to bud ; and on hauling the seine every day or two, we take a variety of fine fish in great numbers. May 6. — ^This has been a stormy week and mostly cold ; but one very warm day, thermometer 71 in ray sleeping- room at noon ; generally from 48 to 62, Peas up, and pigeons done coming. Ploughing prevented by the water standing on the land, in what are termed cradle-holes, formed by trees being blown up by the roots, and are found only on a wet, or a loose soil. The spring later by three weeks than the last. Whitethorn just budding ; grass grows i'l No EMIGRATION. 65 nerica) j is sown as much ailed in it is not 10 latter B grass, ivould be ise here rements. ar tilth, or more dozen in I Talbot was suf- ) before and it i\ use at t dollars lew land '. several re sixty 70 sheep if when ny dcgs used to T in the y like a y rain, ihunder jngland. lauling fish in |y cold ; ieping- |p, and water ■holes, found three grows but little ; cattle live hard ; working oxen eat much corn ; sheep done lambing ; heard the wolves howl last night in the woods for the first time. ■ May 13. — A warm growing week; thermometer 65 this morning, at noon 81. Vegetation grows fast, and the woods begin to assume the livery of spring. Tne wind has taken its fine weather summer courses, blowing off land at nights, and off the lake at days, which tempers and purifies the atmosphere. Sent 200 bushels of wheat to the " still," to have seven quarts of whisky per bushel for it ; three, to three and a half gallons are made from a bushel of wheat, corn, or rye. Potatoes and pumpkins can be distilled, but are seldom used. May 20. — A warm and dry week, except a thunder storm, which cooled the air. Finished sowing oats, and been ploughing for corn. There is little peach and apple blossom this season, but other fruits set well ; and a bed of asparagus in Colonel Talbot's garden is very good. The woods abound with the notes of the well-known bird ** whip-poor-will," and many others which, though not harmonious, are cheer- ful ; the muskitoes are numerous in and about the woods, but none in the houses, or on the clearings. May 27. — Dry, warm weather; vegetation wants rain; thermometer has varied from 60 to 75. Planted the corn ; which is done thus : after ploughing and well harrowing the ground, parallel furrows are run by the plough three or four feet asunder, straight across the field, and sometimes inter- sected ; when the planter, with a little bag of corn before him, (something like bean-setters in England), and a hoe, proceeds along these furrows, and drops, at from three ,to four feet apart, two, three, or four grains of the corn in one place, and slightly overs them with the hoe ; some prefer planting in the furrows, others between them, according to the dryness of the soil, or the season. The quantity of seed required is only about one peck per acre ; corn is sometimes planted on the furrow (or sod, as it is here called) of new ploughed grass land, and does very well. Washed the sheep in the creek, and ploughed ground for potatoes. The Colonel has been to the village of St. Thomas, to the Anni- versary Dinner held in honour of himself in establishing the " Talbot Settlement :" it is generally well attended by store- keepers, and people of various trades and callings, as well as v the more respectable farmers. Milk will now hardly keep I I '^■h 56 EMIGRATION, OR &f\| sweet some days from morning to night, through having a bad *' milk- house" (dairy) situated above ground and with- out shade. June 4. — The last two days foggy, but no rain, which is wanted. This is " training day," when the militia meet at appointed stations near home, throughout the province, to be trained, some with guns and some without. I need not say they learn but little, when the reader is informed this is the only day in the year they meet, and then not half of them, perhaps ; and nearly one half their officers know as little of military exercise as themselves : it is merely a *' frolic" for the youngsters; nor is it necessary to train, except in prospect of a war speedily coming on. All males between the ages of eighteen and sixty, with few exceptions, are subject to the militia duties. Those between the ages of eighteen and forty-five only are called out in ordinary cases. Some Indian corn coming up, and some yet dry in the ground for want of rain ; oats up, and grow apace ; peas on the bottom or meadow land look well ; those on the uplands too dry. Finished planting potatoes, and hoed the first set ones : they are planted thus ; being cut as in England ; three or four of these cuttings are dropped together in one place, then the soil hoed over them into a " hill," 2| feet apart each way. This is the only method that can be used on new cleared land among the stumps, and before it is ploughed ; but this method is adhered to when there are no stumps, or necessity for it, which I think an injudicious practice. June 6. — Sheared the sheep to-day ; the Canadians shear the belly and neck, and then tie the sheeps' legs, and shear along them, or rather any, or every way, and are not nice about their appearance when finished. One Canadian sheared near fifty. The Canadians are generally active, or smart as they term it, in which they pride themselves, and generally at work strive to outdo each other in expertness ; but they do not like long, and steady hard work, yet at tim.es submit to it, and in general are able to endure it. Castrated the male lambs, and cut all their tails at the time of shearing. June 6. — The thermometer to-day 81: it has been as high here once before this season ; but by a Montreal paper I see it has been at 88 there some time ago. Clover get- ting on the head. I have found some bunches of vernal- grass, and some of cocksfoot (the latter here termed orchard- NO EMIGRATION. 57 laving a id with- ivhich 1*3 meet at ie, to be not say is is the f them, as little ' frolic" xcept in between )ns, are ages of y cases. ' in the peas on uplands first set ngland ; r in one 2 1 feet be used re it is are no dicious shear shear ot nice leared iiart as tieraily it they submit ed the ring. en as paper r get- ernal- ihard- grass), the seed of which was brought from England some years ago, and scattered in tiie fields ; both of which look well, particularly the former. The Colonel has also a bunch or two of good sainfoin in his garden. Some vessels of late seen sailing up the Lake for the first time this season. June 10. — The last has proved a very hot week j but a thunder storm last night has cooled the air : thermo- meter to-day 68, but has been 75 and upwards all the week. Not quite enough rain for potatoes and corn, but it has done all other things good: winter wheat looks well, and is coming on the ear. Began cutting clover to-day ; a fair crop, but sown rather too thin on the ground (only two or three pounds per acre). The blossoms of the wild grapes, growing about the fences, perfume the air with their pleasant odour -, something like mignionette. Have twenty cows calved, and milk plenty. June 18. — Some rain and a cool week : thermometer 55 to 67. Finished mowing the clover ; some of it laid or lodged — about 25 cwt. per acre : got it up and stacked it ; in which we mixed salt, as an experiment. Hay and grain are carried together, on waggons or sleds (the latter without wheels), which is properly called hauling. Waggon wheels are strong and light, the tire being an entire ring, which strengthens the wheel j the body (or box, as it is culled, and properly, as it is nothing but four boards fastened together by hooks or pins, in a long square form) can be put on or taken off at pleasure : a kind of frame, not much unlike an open sheep crib, is put on for carrying. Two young men, just arrived from England, came and hired themselves to the Colonel at twenty shillings per month, to live in the house and to work on the farm. June 24. — Been plenty of rain of late. Yesterday a thunder storm hung nearly the whole day in one position, about two miles off; it thundered and rained all the time 3 yet no rain with us. July 1. — The weather fine and temperate, with little rain. Fruit and vegetables ripen well, and are plentiful. As the month advanced, some hot days in succession, during which the harvest was got in j the Timothy grass pretty good, but the Indian, or wild grass of the pea species, a poor crop to mow. In foddering cattle in winter no hay knives are used, generally ; but the top of the stack thrown off until all used ; being but little or no rain g2 n 58 EMIGRATION, OR in winter, it does not take any damage. Col. Talbot hnsi just received a sample of long wool from Lincolnshire, and intends procuring some of that breed of sheep, as he says government have removed all restrictions respecting the exportation of sheep. I think the Leicester sheep better adapted to this county in every respect, they are not so liable to get entangled in the woods with their wool, or to get cast on their backs, requiring less food and a shorter pasture, and being more active to leap logs, &c. and yet a sufficient length of wool j but southdowns, with regard to subsistence, would do better than either, and perhaps in some other respect (a few at least), as finer wool is getting more in request. Wool is from Is. Ijrf. to 2s. 3d. per pound, if soldj but the settlers either send it to jv carding machine (one or more of which are to be found in every district of the county) to be carded, for which twopence or threepence per pound is charged, and then spun at home by the families, and perhaps wove, as many farmers keep a loom in the house ; or else it is sent to the little factors to be made into cloth, for coats, trowsers, &c. J one half of the cloth produced from the wool is re- tained for making, the other is returned, which part is ge- nerally in rather a greater proportion than one yard of cloth to two pounds of wool. Is it not singular and pecu- liar to this county, that sheep never have the scab, or the maggot } nor have I heard of any rotting ! Still it is not properly a sheep country, till more cleared, except on the plains, and there but few are kept. Generally, through the new settled parts of the province, each farmer has from five or six to twenty or thirty, and in some instance to fifty or sixty, but rarely more. July 22. — Cradling the wheat, and reaping that which has been knocked dovtrn with the rains. Peas, o-its, and spring wheat nearly ripe. July 29. — A cool week: thermometer about 70 — morn- ings rather cold j winds north-west at night, and south only in the days. Finished cutting and getting up the winter wheat ', some of it a large cro[), thirty or more bushels per acre. Cradling the oats. The Canadians are expert at cradling, and will do, for a short time, from two to three, or even four acres per day, according to the weight of the crop, one person tying up into sheaves after them. . August 5. — Another mild week j yesterday and to-day ii^ __■. ii._ NO EMIGRATION. 60 as he fmorn- south nnter lushels )ert at J three, lof the lo-day the hottest: thermometer at noon 82, when a short but sharp thunder gust came on, and the thermometer sunk immediately. Cut spring wheat and housed it j not good, too thick on the ground — two bushels and a half per acre sown. I believe the Talavera wheat would be an excellent spring wheat, as it generally answers best in warm seasons in England. Thousands of long large flies, similar to the English dragon fly, but a little smaller, are flying about the fields ; they are called musquito hawks, on account o^ their killing and living on those insects. August 12. — Very hot, and no wind: thermometer 83} two hot days preceding. At the beginning of the week, the thermometer was at 52 only. Hooked and stacked the peas ) those growing on the bottoms or flats, a very heavy crop, some of the straw from six to nine feet long, and well podded. Cutting a second crop of clover, about 23 cwt. per acre j it would have been an excellent crop for seed, it was so well headed. Millions of flies (called May flies in England, but here June flies) along the lake shore, and to half a mile distance, smothering every thing, they are so numerous : it is said they only live one day, when they settle on something in the evening and die ; the next morning a young one bursts out of the old one's skin. August 19. — It has been a hot week : thermometer ranging from 72 to Q6 ; no rain, but showers flying about. Stacked the second crop of clover. Clover only wants once turning in the swath, if the crop is large, to make into hay J and if light, and grass, none at all, only laying a day or two, and then got together into rows and stacked. The beavers have eat down several small trees, some inches diameter, in the last year, along the side of the Cole Creek : they are a small sort, and but few of them left now. August 26. — From this date to the second week in Sep- tember was remarkably fine weather, the thermometer ranging between 58 and 76, and all agricuftural business Avent on as well as could be desired. Near the creeks and woody swamps the cattle are annoyed by large flies, which sting them so severely as to draw blood. Pigeons again made their appearance in large flocks, as also wild turkeys ; partridges, larger than the English breed, and quails, less than those of Europe, are also numerous. The Canadian farmers, in general, never thatch their grain; all kinds are tied up into sheaves, and made into small stacks, with the t ■i> ii 60 EMIGRATION, OR middle kept full, the butts out and inclining downwards, to shoot the rain ; but I scarcely need add, it is ineffectual to keep it dry and from sprouting ; yet it is but of little con- sequence while they use it themselves, or in the distillery ; but the Welland Canal will induce them to raise more wheat for exportation, and then it will be essentially necessary to thatch and preserve the grain in the best possible order. September 9. — Started on foot westward to Bear Creek, thirty miles, to look at a lot of land, in company with a l^eighbour who is going there to settle. On our road some settlers were clearing the street through a two mile swamp. This is not a good system, to give out lands for the settlors to clear the: public roads, as the swamps are never taken up ; therefore the roads remain unopened, or the other settlors near must go and clear them, as well as their own ; and as nine out of ten of the first settlors in the woods have only their own bodily exertions to depend on, they find enough to do the first year or two to build a house and barn, and clear a few acres to grow something to live on, without cut- ting ".nd clearing public roads. Crossed from Talbot Street to the " Big-bend" of the river Thames, eight miles through an entire wilderness, having only a slight track, owned by Colonel Talbot : there are numerous such blockades of wild uncultivated land in the province, which have been like fet- ters to the country's prosperity. A m(^t judicious tax has since been laid on such wild lands, although violently op- posed by the pretended friends of the people. This tax ought to be high enough on those wild lands that are situated in townships partially settled, to compel their own- ers to either improve, or sell them to those who would, which is nothing but just. The settlor, as he improves his own land, has the more taxes to pay, at the same time he is enhancing the value of this wild land, without any cost or trouble to the owners. Tho river Thames is a fine stream, about thirty or forty yards wide, never overflowing, confined in banks ten or fifteen feet high, out of which, every little way, issue numerous fine springs. It is navigable for schooners for twenty or thirty miles from its mouth, and as far again for boats, in the spring. The flats, which in some places are extensive, arc the richest land in the province ; the soil in some parts a loamy fat clay, covered by a rich black mould, very similar to the fertile Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire ; in other places a sandy or gravelly loam, ...1*1.. NO EMIGRATION. 61 dry, rich, and woH watered with springs. In passing through a new settlement in the woods, the traveller is wel- comed in every house ; but perhaps he may have occa- sionnlly to sleep on a straw bed, on the floor before the fire, with a blanket or two over him, and in the same room the whole of the family live and sleep, perhaps the only one in the house ; for eating, he has bread, or cake, and butter and potatoes, or *' must-and-milk," if for supper (ground Indian corn boiled in water to the consistence of hasty pud- ding, then eaten with cold milk). It is the favourite dish, and most people are fond of it, from its wholesomeness and lightness, as a supper meal. Indian meal is also sometimes made into cakes, which are called Johnny cakes, — an'l per- haps some meat; this is the living generally of the first settling for a year or^ two, by those who bring little other property into the woods bit their own hands, with health and strength; and with these they appear the most independent and contented people in the world, as " No contiguous palace rears its head, To shame the meanness of their humble shed ; At night returning, every labour sped, ♦. They sit them down the monarchs of the shed." At this time of the year the water in the river is mostly low, and may be crossed at the rapids with high boots. Pass down the river along the road leading from the head of Lake Ontario, through Oxford, Westminster, and Dela- ware, to Sandwich, above the head of Lake Erie ; also over the site and ruins of the late Moravian Indian village, and got some apples from one of their small orchards ; some In- dian boys there, one of whom shewed his dexterity by shooting single apples from the trees with his bow and arrows. The Moravian village was destroyed in the war by the American Indians, and has since been built on the opposite side of the river. It is said Indians never build on the spot where one has been destroyed, thinking it would be opposing the Great Spirit, as he, they say, would not have suffered it to have been destroyed if in the right place. These Moravian Indians are civilized, live in houses, and cultivate as much land and raise as much stock as the white settlors. Speak pretty good English,, and assume, in part at least, the dress and manners of the white settlors. ■.ii H' I I'' \i , 1 62 EMIGRATION, OR and by whom many are much trusted av'\ > emed. A minister of the Moravian persuasion b Mtvi among them. September 10. — Cross over from the river at Cornwall Mill, where we slept last night, to Bear Creek, five miles, mostly dry good land, yet some swamps. The flatneus of this western part of the province is the cause of the swamps : a greater part of them are made by the beavers fbrming dams across narrow water courses, between two little risings of the ground, thereby backing the water over large pieces of level land above them, which in many places has destroyed the trees, and left an open prarie^ or wet meadow, which, generally, would be easily drained by merely cutting through these beaver dams. There is a string of swamps on each side of the river Thames in many places, between the fiats and the rising ground, where the water springs out. To drain these, some general plan ought to be adopted, not only to recover the rich land now covered with stagnant water, but to destroy the chief, if %; not the only cause of agues, so prevalent in this neigh- bourhood. Bear Creek is a fine stream of clear water, running parallel with, and about six or eight miles from the Thames, and about two-thirds of its size, and is navi- gable nearly as far up as that stream from Lake St. Clair, into which they both empty. The laud on Bear Creek in the township of Zon, or Zone, are now settling ; and, ge- nerally, is of an excellent quality and dry, not so clayey as on the river flats. There is in the bottom of the creek, in many places, a hard slaty rock, some of which will burn, and is supposed to cover a bed of coal. There is some lime stone also. In one of the shallow rapids, I saw two large stones of the size of millstones, embedded in the bot- tom of the creek, perfectly round, and flat on the upper surface ; but I believe rounded on the other side, with a groove on the upper sides of each, within an inch of the rim all round, about the breadth and depth of those made in the millstones 3 but no others. It is evident they have been formed by human hands j but for what purpose I cannot tell, except for grinding grain. The Indians camp much on the creek, and say it is the best fishing and hunting place they lately had, and are sorry they have sold it. There is a fall of water in this creek in the township of Zone, of six or seven feet. It is un excellent place for \0 EMIGRATION. 63 med. A I among IJornwall ^e miles, itneus of ! of the beuvers een two >e water in many rarie, or ained by tere is a in many ^here the ;rul plan [and now chief, if s nelgh- ir water, les from is navi- $t. Clair, Creek in and, ge- ayey as reek, in 1 burn, is sOme saw two the bot- e upper with a of the 36 made ey have rpose I IS camp }g and IV e sold wnship lace for mills, but its neighbourhood is as yet unsettled. The Indians are just returned from Sandwich, whither they had been to receive their annual gifts or presents from govern- ment, of blankets, guns, knives, tomahawks, &c. &c. which are generally bartered immediately for a little whisky, &c. The timber on the flats of the Creeks is very tall and straight, with little underbrush, indicating the richness of the land. Two kinds of ash timber here I had not seen before, called blue and hoop*ash ; both very tough, and the latter well adapted for making hoops, whence it derives its name. I am told there are very fine large hops growing hereabouts. As beer is coming into use hops can be culti- vated to advantage, as they thrive remarkably well ; and some raised in the province sell from lOdf. to 2s. per pound. Corn is seven or eight feet high, and pumpkins (Americans call them punkins) are very large, nearly as much as a man can carry. Pumpkins are cut in sHces, and dried, for making pies in winter ; they are also excellent for fattening cattle and milch cows in winter, superior I think to any turnips, and give beef a fine golden colour; they must be preserved in cellars from the frost'. They are generally sown among the Indian corn, and answer very well, as they do not injure, nor are injured by it. Saw six acres of new cleared ground, with its first crop on ; viz. corn, oats, peas, kidney beans, turnips, cabbages, cucumbers, melons, and tobacco, and all very fine. The owner said this first crop would pay for clearing the land, and all other expenses attending the crop. Tobacco is becoming quite a staple ar- ticle of produce in these western parts of the province. I am told there are several hundred acres of land in tobacco towards Amherstburgh this season : while it continues to be used so generally, and I fear excessively, it will pay the cultivator much better than any grain crop. Land here adapted for it (rich sand or loam) producing from eight to fifteen cwt. per acre, and selHng to the merchants at from 1/. to 1/. 12s. or l^ 15s. per cwt. according to quality and demand at home. Black slaves, who have run away from their masters in Kentucky, arrive in Canada almost weekly (where they are free), and work at raising tobacco; I believe they introduced the practice. One person will attend, and manage the whole process of four acres, planting, hoeing, budding, &c. during the summer. Called on a re- spectable family from Hertfordshire; I mean an orderly, :l-r I } ij 1-' i '):h H 64 EMIGRATION, OR honest, decent, industrious, and therefore an improving family. They had resided several years in the States, from whence they came to this place. Crossed the Thames again, and passed down it a few miles ; some fine cleared farms hereabouts, with the stumps of the trees rooted out, but are, apparently, managed in a slovenly manner. They belong chiefly to merchants in Sandwich, and elsewhere, and are let out in shares; the owners getting one-third, and the tenant two-thirds of the grain " raised" (grown) thereon: the houses and barns are also in a dilapidated state. Some good apple and peach orchards, which bear the finest fruit in the country ; ungrafted apples finer than half the grafted ones in England. Cider from 4s. 6d. to 9$. per barrel ; or take two empty barrels at the time of cider making, you have one of them back full. An English farmer of property has been about here lately, looking out a cleared farm to purchase. Old cleared farms, with houses and barns, on the flats, worth from 355. to 21. per acre. A lot of uncleared land on Bear Creek Flats was lately sold for 9s. per acre, and generally can be bought for ready money at 4s. or 5s. per acre. Passed a man digging a mill race at the side of a rapid in the river, and a large quantity of timber cut out just by for the mill; he is doing it all himself, having no money to hire with, and his neighbours tardy in helping him ; as he told me he had expected fourteen or fifteen the day before. It is a very general practice for settlors in the new parts help- ing, and even in some instances doing the whole of the work, in making mill dams, for something to eat and drink only while doing it. Although the land is rich enough for any- thing, yet there is nothing sown but wheat, corn, and oats, and a few peas : no clover, or very little at least, which I am confident would grow in the greatest luxuriance ; wheat often several years successively, then without sowing any grass seeds, it remains in its rough state, when up comes the wild grass and lies a few years, when it is again ploughed for the same deteriorating rotation. There appears no energy in the people for improvement ; a small couch or twitch grass spreads in these ill-managed farms, which might with little trouble be eradicated. Some of the great wheat farmers half starve their cattle in winter, as they are too idle to get any hay ; and although government have offered a premium of 25/. to those who may grow the most hemp on not less than KO EMIGRATIO!^. C5 (proving States, Thames cleared ted out. They ewhere, le -third, (grown) ipidated ch bear ler than . 6d. to time of IL An J lately, d farms, m 35s, r Creek r can be Passed in the for the to hire he told lore. It ts help- work, nk only 'or any- iid oats, which I wheat ng any Ties the hed for energy h grass little 3rs half :et any ium of 3S than five acres, (and it would thrive admirably), no person has hitherto claimed this bounty. But the government have been deemed dilatory in their proceedings, and the people supine, so that the upper part of the province has been out of the reach of trade or commerce ; and what little has been carried on across the lines, has been mostly done by Indian smugglers, who are not annoyed by the custom-house offi- cers. It is not unlikely that the Welland Canal may cause a great improvement. September 12. — Crossed the river to Talbot Street, fif- teen miles of wood, to a small settlement on Howard Ridge, which is a rich dry soil, well watered and healthy ; but a canal or good road is wanted from hence to Rondeau, or Round O as it is called, a distance of sixteen miles, which would save the present route of ten times of that distance to a market for produce. Lake Erie has few natural harbours, and as yet but few are made. I have arrived once more at Clear Creek, where there are mills standing many years unfinished, one belongs to a land-surveyor ; and that class get possession of the best lands, which they will not ^"wt with at any reasonable rate. There are mills enough, out they are frequently stopped for want of water, and grist must then be carried thirty miles to be ground, while there are probably plenty of springs in the immediate neighbour- hood without mills, but they are in many cases on the government reserves for the crown and clergy. Overtook a ** nigger" and his boy, just come from Kentucky, where he took French leave of his master, and brought a horse, which he sold near Detroit. There are some hundreds of these people settled at Sandwich and Amherstburg, who are formed into a volunteer militia corps, and trained to arms. Sept. 16. — Warm of late, the two last nights rather cold. This morning the thermometer 53, and at noon at 71. Cut the corn and set it up into shocks without being bound into sheaves. The method of doing it is thus : with either a sharp short-handled hoe, or a sickle, in one hand, you put the other round one bunch, or what grows on one hill, and chop it off close to the ground, when it is sec up into shocks, of two or three armfuls together, and a piece of a stem wrapped round the top to prevent their bsing'blown down ; after having stood a week or two, they are dragged round a centre, and the husks stripped from the ears by people sitting in a circle ; the husks are thrpwn in a heap II i i''. r M EMIGRATION, OR n. in the middle, and the stalks tied into sheaves and agairt set into shocks, to remain till quite dry before being- stacked for fodder. The ears are picked up in baskets made for the purpose, put into waggons, and drawn to cribs made of small sapling poles, twelve or fourteen feet long, and notched and crossed at the ends by short ones, four or five feet long, laid alternately to the height of six or seven feet, and covered over with slabs rent out of logs, aad laid with suificient inclination one way to shoot off the rai n. The corn ears are generally shelled by hand, but a much more expe- ditious way is to thrash them on a barn floor, with a flail ; one person will thrash twenty-five bushels in a day, and a thrashing machine 500 or more. There are no thrashing machines in the western part of the province, but I have heard of a few at the east. There are dressing-machines (mills they are here called) in general use. Should emi- grants bring out thrashing machines, I would recommend two-horse portable ones, as more adapted to this country than larger ; but perhaps miniature models would be better, as castings are easily procured, moderately cheap, and to have the frame-work done on the spot would be a much less expense. I sowed last May about a rood of ground with three pecks of Indian corn as an experiment, to stand for hay, which was cut and carried in July. Cattle are very fond of it, and in seasons when fodder and hay are likely to be scarce, it might be sown to advantage, any time in June ; but the great quantity of saccharine juice the stalks contain, requires considerable time to dry it sufficiently for stack- ing, to prevent too much heat, or moulding. The produce would be, on good land, I think, three or four tons per acre : it leaves the ground in excellent order for wheat, and I think it might be sovv'u for that purpose to advantage, or for soiling hogs and cattle, in England. Since my return I have seen some corn that has ripened in England, and though it is small in the ear compared with what it is in America, and evidently will not answer as a seed i;rop, yet, for the above purpose, and the green ears for boiling, it will answer very well ; boiled green ears, with butter as a sauce, or with meat, are considered a delicacy by some. Corn is a very useful article, both in the family', and for feeding hogs and oxen, and although it requires con- siderable attention and trouble in hoeing, and ploughing between the rows, husking, &c. ; yet these processesleave id agaiil e being- tts made bs made )ng, and r or five ren feet, aid with riie corn re expe- 1 a flail ; y, and a irashing it I have nachines u!d emi« oramend country e better, ap, and jr a much ground to stand are very ely to be June ; contain, stack- produce acre : and I , or for return id, and it is in crop, joiiing-, butter iicy by ly, and s con- ughing- ealeave . NO EMIGRATION. 67 the land in excellent condition for wheat, or for oats, to sow clover with ; and the husking may, I have no doubt, be rendered unnecessary, by letting it stand till perfectly ripe and dry, when the ear with the husk may be stripped from the stalk ; the latter may be then cut and tied into sheaves and shocked, and the former carted directly to cribs till wanted to thrash ; it is said they will not keep in the husk, but if carried quite dry, and put into narrow cribs, I am confident they will. September 23. — We had a very smart clap of thunder, with some rain, which improved vegetation ; and by this period, fruits have all ripened, and there are considerable quantities of wild grapes, called thorn plumbs, the size of a buUace : the orchard produces about 200 bushels of apples, and the potatoes are plentiful, many being raised for ex- portation. October 1. — A beautiful day, with a serene sky and still air ; and the gullies and ravines covered with flowers the most beautiful ; the shumac, a tender shrub, growing ten feet high. There are also great quantities of nuts, which prevents the corn being devoured by the racoons, squirrels, &c. and keeps the hogs in good order for the winter. October 8. — Very fine week : thermometer this morning 45, at noon 60, about which it has been all the week, with a slight frost one morning. Killing beef for the winter ; ploughing for spring ; digging potatoes, &c. Potatoes, when dug, are thrown into heaps, on the ''>vel ground, about ten to thirty bushels in each ; covered first with a coat of straw, and then the dirt is shovelled up all round and thrown upon them, about six inches thick. One of the men while digging found two heads of Indian arrows, made of flint, on the site of an ancient Indian village, where pieces of coarse earthernware, stone tobacco-pipe bowls, &c. are often discovered. 68 EMIGRATION, OR CHAPTER VI. DEPARTURE FROM COLONEL TALBOt's — ROAD MAKING, AND A settler's ESTABLISHMENT DESCRIBED — CAPA- BILITIES OF THE COUNTRY, AND MANNERS OF THE RESIDENTS NOTICED — ARRIVAL AT ANCASTER, AND JOURNEY TO YORK. Oct. 14. — Some rain, but generally fine and pleasant through the week ; thermometer varying from 55 to 63. Grass grows, and looks like spring, but nuts and leaves begin to drop from the trees. Employed husking corn ; the neighbours round used to come for a bushel of apples per day and victuals, but none came this year, as apples are be- come more plentiful and cheaper. Oct.2\. — ^There has been one or two frosty mornings this last week, but days warm ; thermometer 50. Leaves mostly off the trees, except the beech and a few others. By the newspapers I learn that the wheat sent from t>ls coun- try to England is not in good condition, but very foul, which is in no degree surprising, when the method of cultivation and stacking I have described is considered. T am fully of opinion, that with the same management as is in use in England, or as near as circumstances require, this province would, generally speaking, produce fully equal, and, I think, superior wheat to the former. Colonel Talbot's wheat is a good sample this year, and I weighed some in the spring, of last year's growth, which weighed 621bs. to the Winches- ter bushel. Nov. 1. — Been generally mild and pleasant, with some little rain of late ; thermometer 50 to 60. Having given Colonel Talbot notice that I should quit his service, 1 left him this day to proceed to York, and found it bad walking on account of the late showers, particularly in places where the road had been recently thrown up. On first making roads through flat swampy places, logs are cut, about ten or twelve feet long, laying them crosswise, side by side, through the aboves places, which as iheyare left round, and little or no dirt upon them, are abominably rough ; but along the " street" they are getting them up, and ploughing the sides, and with a kind of large shovel, having a handle, (called a scraper) and a yoke of oxen, the dirt is drawn into the centre and rounded, which is called " turnpiking." Four A KING, — CAPA- OF THE R, AND pleasant ) to 63. i leaves >rn ; the pies per are be- lornings Leaves ers. By !s coun- 1, which Itivation fully of use in rovince think, leat is a spring, 'inches- h some given 1 left talking where naking ten or h rough ittle or ng the g the andle, m into Four KO EMIGRATION. 69 men and two yoke of oxen — one yoke and luo men to plough, and the other to scrape, will do as much work in this way, M'here there are no obstructions, as fifteen or twenty men in the same time, by the ordinary way of dig- ging. The bottoms of the canals are often done the same way. and always ploughed, I believe ; and in that case sho- velled into carts, or wheelbarrows, seldom or ever dug. In the evening I was overtaken by an elderly man, who pro- cured me a lodging, and I was hospitably received by his family ; they had every thing comfortable in their log-house, and were among the earliest settlers of the State. The settlers in the woods appear to be the most independent and contented people, in their way, I ever met with ; perhaps with only a log house unplastered, containing two rooms, one above and one below, sometimes only one below, witli a large open fire place and a log fire. The chimney back and hearth built of stone, picked up about the farm ; a boarded floor unplaned, perhaps hewed only, if too far from a saw mill, one or two small glass sash windows, iind some- times, at first, none ; doors and gates with wooden hooks and hinges. A few articles of common household utensils, two spinning wheels — one for flax and one for wool, with reaves of spun yarn hung round the inside of the house, on wooden pegs driven into the logs ; an upright churn ; (women always milk the cows and churn) ; a gun, or rifle ; one, two, or more dogs ; ^n oven out of doors at a little distance from the house, sometimes built of clay only, at others of brick or stones, often placed on the stump of a tree near the house, and a shed covered over with bark of a tree, or slabs to keep it dry ; a yoke of oxen, some young- steers, two or three cows, eight or ten sheep, perhaps a horse or a ** span ;" a sleigh waggon, plough and harrow, the latter, perhaps, with wooden teeth, form all their riches except their land, and they often raise 100 or 200 bushels of wheat, 80 or 100 of corn, some oats, peas, and perhaps buck wheat, and a patch of flax, and fatten three or four hogs, and a cow, or yoke of oxen in a season, besides seven or eight more store pigs, and a sow or two. But those who brought property with them, or were fortunate in having a large family of sons, industrious, and keep from the tavern, perhaps have got a good frame-house, or, at all events, a good frame barn, 80 or 100 acres of land cleared : gvow 400 to 600 or more bushels of wheat ; other things in proportion, with two or three yoke 11 2 70 EMIGRATIOJI, on of oxen, eight to ten or more cows, twelve to twenty or thirty fat hogs, two to four or five liorses, (half of them or more brood mares), &c. At the age of 21, the sons gene- rally leave their parents, if not before, and probably marry, and either buy a cleared farm, or go into the bush, or new wild land ; the last they will do without regret or hesitation ; indeed some prefer it on account of cattle doing so well through the summer in the woods, and the great crops new land produces, and as to the trouble of clearing it, a native -would any time rather do it than fallow the same quantity of ground. November 2. — Bid my friend good morning, and thanked him for his kindness, as he would not accept of any remu- neration for my supper and bed ; and proceeded on my journey. Called at a respectable tavern to breakfast. The landlord was gone to the mill ; the mistresp to a neighbour's, gossiping ; and no bread in the house nor flour, until the landlord came back. Went on to the next bouse, a private one, where I procured some fried meat, boiled potatoes, tea, bread and butter, for which they could not be prevailed on to accept any thing ! Called on an English farmer from Gloucestershire, who lives on a rented farm near the Catfish Creek. He had been in good circumstances in England, but was reduced, like thousands of others, and must have felt severely. I was glad to find the old man hearty and cheerful ; he was hauling up some logs for fuel, with a yoke of oxen, dressed in his old country breeches. He has some good cows, and pretty good sheep. He has a small patch of hops planted in his garden, whose bines have run up the poles very high. Overtaken, to day, on the road, by an English gentleman on horseback, from the countr of Sussex, now residing in Ancaster, who accosted me, as he said '* he supposed I was his countryman." Ho is taking a circuit round the country, to obtain sub- «"jribers to a wee'ily newspaper he is going to publish. He speaks very highly of the couriry for health, &c., and for the means of pvocuring a living by almost any kind of business, labour, or employment; — he has travelled through much of the States. Several Englishmen, hereabouts,- -and indeed all over the provinces, perhaps one-sixth or one- eighth of the whole population. Stopped at Loder's. Some smart lasses came in during the evening, who live just by, most of whom took a smoke with "the landlord and the NO EMIGRATION. 71 r thirty or more } gene- marry, or new itation ; so well ops new I native intity of thanked y remu- on my St. The hbour's, r, until )ouse, a , boiled d not be English irm near instances jrs, and )ld man for fuel, reeches. e has a e bines lay, on torn the Iccosted jyman." lin sub- He ind for :ind of trough l,-~and ]r one- Some ist by, id the landlady, passing the short black pipe from one to another! Disgusting as this practice is, it is not so much so as one in common use in the Eastern part of Maryland, of gi;l8 taking a " rubber" of snuff — that is, taking as much snult* as will lie on the end of the forefinger out of a box, and rub- bing it round the inside of the mouth! ■., Nov. 3. — Passed through the Pinewoods again, and breakfasted at Umstead's tavern; as usual, fried beef or pork, pickles and preserves, tea-cakes and butter — charge Is. 6d. New York currency, or about lOirf, which is the general charge in the west ; and '3hd. for bed. From this place I travelled over new ground, to Big Creek ; sandy hills and swampy hollows, and apparently but an indifferent soil generally ; but, on asking a man who was letting off some water from the road near his house, if the land hekc- abouts was not poor? he said, — I have no reason to com- plain ; I get good crops, and if I had had my health I should have done well enough — saying, the place had been very sickly for some years until this, which had been healthy. The many swamps easily account for sickness in the neigh- bourhood. It is rather extraordinary, that I have not met with a single person who complained of having bad land I and but few that appeared discontented. Some higher and better land on its banks than I have come through of late. Sove- reign's tavern is pleasantly situated on a small eminence a little east of it, at the lower end of Talbot Street, and one of the best in its whole length, kept by a civil, and what is here called a clever, obliging person, son of a Dutchman. It is a good new farm-house, with barns and other outbuild- ings, and a shed to bait travellers' horses under — and all being painted and white-washed, cut a dashing appearance at a distance ; but when you approach you may see it is only a Canadian, or I might have said an American tavern, with some of its windows broken, and the holes stopped with fragments of old clothes.* There is, too generally, in some of the best hou es, both here and in the States, a kind of genteel shabbiuess and inconvenience about them ; but here it is quite a new country, and we must not be fastidious. * Glass of American manufacture is much used, and being very thin and brittle is easily broken, which, perhaps, is a sufficient apology for the above unsightly objects iu a new settlement, when perhaps several miles from a store where glass can be procured. ' i [ h;? 72 EMIOUATION, OH as it is daily improving, all the way I have come. Some good barns have been erected, and in various places good houses, within the last two years. Indeed, if we consider the great diflSculties the first settlers had to encounter, with- out roads for their communication, and consequently without a market for their produce, and the low, nay, almost des- titute circumstances which nine-tenths of Ihem were in, on their arrival in the woods, it is matter of surprise that so much has been done. The mistress of this house, who is about thirty years of age, is no dissenter to the custom of the neighbourhood — seldom long without a beloved pipe. A girl of eighteen or nineteen, smart and lively, but without stockings,* came for a pound of tobacco (some of the land- lord's own raising), to learn to smoke, she said. The land- lord had been with some neighbours five miles into the woods, to clear out some windfalls, which had blocked up the road. At dark the above lass (who had now her stock- ings on) and her mother, came with a " Jersey waggon," to take the tavern keeper and his wife to a paring ** 6ee," or " 6e," that is, an assemblage of neighbours invited to one house, to prepare apples for drying. Almost every thing here is done by '* bees " (in the States they are called frolics). They always contrive to have some whiskey at these " bees," which are a kind of merry-meeting, when sometimes danc- ing and rustic plays are carried on at the close, and occa- sionally, by drinking too much, quarrels will sometimes arise among the men ; and doubtless a sudicicnt quantum of scandal, nearly equal to a tea-party in another part of the world, among the women. November 4.— Snows and sleets all day ; quite a con- trast to yesterday, which was a beautiful, fine mild day. Passed through ten miles of woods ; pine land and sandy oak plains, some of inferior quality, chiefly belonging to ** United Empire Loyalists," or " United Empire" men. Those loyalists who stuck to the British standard in the Re- volution, and their children, both male and female, are so called ; each of whom can, upon application, receive 200 acres of land of the government in this province, free from all settling and road duties until settled ; so the lands are * Stockings are harflly ever worn by the settlers in the woods in summer, either by males or females. In winter the latter wear stock- ings, and the former socks. Some id good onsider r, with- without )st des- 3 in, on that so who is 3tom of d pipe, without le laiid- le land- nto the ked up r stock - von," to bee" or 1 to one ing here frolics). ' bees," s danc- d occa- (le times ttum of of the a con- Id day. sandy ting to men. le Re- |e, are '0 200 |e from ids are lood? in stock- NO EMIGRATION. 73 left in wilderness and the roads uncleared, except the settlers " turn out" and clear them. It was here the tavern keepers and others had come five miles yesterday, to remove trees that had fell acros the track, and which is often occur- ing. This is another instance and proof, I conceive, of the injudicious system adopted by government, in leaving the public roads to be cleared by settlers. Passed some oak plains^ with so few trees on them, that if the brushwood was moved off, they would look like immense parks! There are a few small villages on these plains, scattered at no great distance. Watcrford, Simcoe, and Dover, with from fifteen to thirty houses, have more of the rural simplicity and neatness of English villages than any other I have seen in this country. In a few years, when sheep shall be more attended to, a new system of husbandry in- troduced, and farmers of capital emigrate to Upper Canada, these plains will, I think, be some of the most valuable in the province. — Cut down some or all the few trees to rend into rails for fences ; mow off the few bunches of willow and sassafras brush with a strong scythe; plough up the ground (a sand) in the fall, and either sow winter tares, or peas in the spring, harrowed in on the furrow ; the second year, plant corn and well work it; third year, barley or oats, and with it clover or sanfoin, and with turnips and plenty of sheep, it may be made, I think, very profitable land, and certainly easy and pleasant working, with healthy situations for building, and generally good water. Breakfasted at " a house of entertainment" (houses that have no tavern license). You eat, and drink whisky if you choose, it is set before you, they charge only for the former, though not forgetting the latter in the charge. Whisky at taverns is three-pence halfpenny per gill, which is more than 500 per cent, profit ; the same quantity, by the gallon, is about a halfpenny. Licenses for taverns and stills in the province are rather high, to prevent their extension to excess * Stills pay ac- cording to their capacity, 4s. 6d. per gallon yearly ; and as the smallest stills that are in use, I believe, are forty gallons, they of course pay forty dollars, or 10/. currency per year. Taverns pay according to their situation for business, which is determined yearly by the magistrates, from 25s. to 61. . * Stills cost erecting from 60?. to 200i., which will distil from thirty to sixty or eighty gallons of whisky per diem. iil:. I fv ^■iii: !::: 74 EMIGRATION, OR and upwards. A ** bee ** commenced at tlie above houso while eating my breakfast ; the women quilting and the men husking corn. They had just kihed a sheep to enter- tain them with. From this place I entered a country, in some places approaching to hilly, and better settled and open, some pleasant situations and good orchards. A ntan accident- ally drowned yesterday at a mill, and while I ^^ as passing it to-day, people were flocking from all the country, on foot, in waggons, and on horseback, to attend, as is customary, this early funeral, at twelve o'clock. Stopped for the night at the village of Brentford, on the banks of Grand River, ovtv which is a large strong wooden bridge, lately erected. Villages in this country are mostly embryos of towns, full of trade and business, and some of them increasing fast. This village is situate well both for trade and health, being on high ground. Indians live on the flat of the river, and still hold six miles width on its banks ; some of which they lease out for a term of years, at a low rate, to white people. There are some extensive views from the high land over the cultivated rich bottoms. Nov. 5. — Walked forward to Ancaster ; dined at a tavern on the road, where a printed bill was stuck up, to inform the public, that a Yankee show would be exhibited there to- morrow; and among other things, will be *'the glorious victory over the British at New Orleans !" which is a public insult. Stopped at Vanderlip's tavern, three miles from Ancastev : the proprietor a thriving Dutchman, who had, he said, three sons in the battle of Queenston. The government and some military officers have been here and at the '* short hills " lately, looking out eligible situations for the erection of fortifications. Overtook an old Scotch- man from the west, going down the country on a visit to a relation ; has been four years from Scotland, and wishes himself back again, which is rather singular, as generally, it is said, a " Scotchman is never at home but when from home;" indeed, this is the first of that country I have met with discontented. But old people from Europe, without pro- perty, seldom can fall in cordially with the customs and manners of this new country. Frost last night, but a thaw to-day, which makes the road bad by the melting of the snow. Cash given for grain, and produce hereabouts, which makes this part more thriving than westward, being nearer a market. Wheat is low just now, 2s. 6\d. per m NO EMIGRATION. 75 e house and the to enter- , in some en, some iccident- assing it n foot, in ary, this night at \'eT, ovfcv erected, ivns, full ing fast, h, being ver, and lich they i people, over the a tavern o inform here to- glorious ich is a e miles Ian, who The ere and tuations Scotch- lisit to a wishes nerally, n from ve met ut pro- |ms and a thaw of the abouts, being \d. per bushel, considerable quantities grown in this neighbourhood ; some farmers have from twelve to 1400 bushels in a year, although they seldom employ but few hands besides their own families. Indeed they are not to be procured, as nobody in the country works out much ; they nearly all have land of their own. From the west you approach Ancaster without any rise of ground, but on arriving at it you find yourself on the edge of an eminence, or mountain. The country before you, and on each hand, is broken, preci- pitous and romantic, and in summer must bo beautiful, and no doubt healthy. This ridge or mountain runs north-west towards Lake Huron circuitously, and south-east across the Niagara at Qaeenston, before noticed, and onward through Lockfort, in the States. Ancaster ' large thriving hand- some village, with some smart build. ,.s, good houses, and a neat new church situated on the brow of the hill, down which a small but constant spring-stream runs, supplying two distilleries, a brewhouse, and a large mill, &c. This place, I am told, mostly belongs to one of four brothers, Scotchmen, of the name of Crooks, who have all been members of the colonial assembly. Passed on along a meandering road over hill and through dale, to Dundas, a pretty little, yet fast increasing, village, situated in a vale, by the side of a clear stream, two miles from Ancaster. It is also about two miles from the Little Lake, from which a canal is to be cut next spring. This is a beautiful, romantic part of the country. A harbour is now making at Bur- lington, and a communication between the Little Lake and Lake Ontario, and should the proposed canal through the country to London, from this place, be carried into effect, it will become the emporium of a large and fertile part of the province. Stopped in Dundas for the night, at an excel- lent tavern kept by a Mr. Jones from Birmingham ; in the village there is another tavern, kept by another English- man, but most of the inhabitants appear to be Scotch. There is a thriving settlement of tolerably rich Dutchmen north-west of this place, in the township of Waterloo. Nov. 7. — After purchasing a pair of common boots, 18s., pair of socks, 2s. 3rf., and pair of mittens, 2s. 3c?., I left Dundas, along Dundas Street (road), winding up round the hills with my friend, and then through a deep vale, on a partly new-formed road, which was very dirty and very slippery, through the thawing of the remains of the snow. t.. *t IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I I^IM |25 Vi lii 12.2 Hi lU u IM 12.0 m III 1.25 III ,. 4,, .6 ^ 6" ► V] ^>* ^> '/ /A Hiotographic Sciences Corporalion 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) S73-4503 M \ N> N^. 4^\ \ %y 76 EMlGRATIOlT, OR li descended the mountain again into a more open, level, and better settled country, and diued at Sumner^s Tavern, at a small village in Dundas Street. This appears a tolerably thriving part, which is evidently caused by the stimulus of a cash market near at hand, for all kinds of produce. Con- siderable quantity of wheat is grown in this neighbourhood ; twenty-two to twenty-five bushels per acre considered a good crop. Not much corn grown ; the ground appears too stiff for it. The street from this place to York runs parallel with the north shore of Lake Ontario, about two or three miles from it. i : r - i i . ' Nov. 8.— Came a heavy rain in the night, which has washed the remains of the snow and seme of the dust from the roads. Crossed a number of creeks (small rivers) over some pretty good wooden bridges, near which are mills, stores, &c. &c. the buds of future towns and villages. The river Credit, a small fine clear stream with a strong bottom, is a great resort of salmon, trout, &c. in the spring or fall ; numbers of people every night spearing and selling them, at 305. to 35s. per barrel of 2001b. weight. No nets allowed in the river or near its mouth, as they would soon destroy all the fish, or at least keep them from going up the river into the country. Two persons in a canoe,* with a spear and a torch, will sometimes kill eight or ten barrels of salmon in one night, yet sometimes none at all, as they swim in shoals. From this place to York there are some sandy plains, with white oak, pines, &c., and a cedar swamp or two, and here and there a fertile spot ; on one of which was a fine large nursery of thriving young fruit trees. Stopped at a tavern two miles from York, (taverns every few miles), kept by an agreeable American, who is just starting a furnace for casting all kinds of iron ware. Nov. 9.— At York, the present capital of Upper Canada, being in 43 degrees 35 minutes north, contains between 2000 and 3000 inhabitants, and is a fast increasing and im- proving place, having a number of good buildings, villas, &c. The government offices are large, and built of brick. The houses and other buildings, although generally small, are neat, and better furnished than what I have seen in some • There has been an act passed in the Assembly since, to prevent any but the Indians, who own the land in its neighbourhcod and live on it, from fishing therein. - -, ^ , NO EMiaRATION. 77 other places. The country round the town is rather too flat for show. No distant object strikes the eye except the light- house, the shores of the lake, and the peninsula on the oppo- site side of th(B bay, which are pleasing. The town has been unhealthy till of late; a swamp at the back of it was the cause. It is now drained, and the place is healthy. There are two churches, one of the establishment and the other Roman Catholic, and two or three meeting houses. In Canada, as in the States, the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists, appear the most numerous, except in particular places, (but I may be incorrect, as I have no data to guide me), yet the Episcopalians, or Church of England Congrega- tionalists, (Independents), and Roman Catholics, are pretty numerous ; besides others, such as Quakers, Dunkards, (who are Germans) Universalists, Unitarians, and some new sects, " Davidites," and Christians, &c. &c. On my leav- ing the Province a grand Law-Hall was building, and a new House of Assembly and College to be commenced imme- diately, which makes a demand for stone cutters and masons, and is a great stimulus to the place ^ there is also a talk of a new Episcopal church being shortly erected. Only a few of the Wesleyan Methodists — the greater part being what is termed American Methodists, who have sepa- rated from the other, and are now subject to the American Conference. There is only a small market-house at- present, which is well attended every day ; and, as the town increases, another will of course be erected — one is now talked of. The main, or King's Street, is the only one as yet gravelled ; the others are thrown up into ridges, and are very dirty just now. The streets in towns and villages in this country are wider and more regular; and the houses being all new.^ and many painted or whitewashed, they have a more light and airy appearance than those in old countries. There is one bank, called the " York Bank," which is in good repute; there is also one in Montreal which has a banking-house here, besides one or two in Quebec. Any respectable, steady tradesman can procure money by giving a joint note of hand at the banks, which is a won- derful advantage in a new country, where skill and enter- prise have such ample room for its beneficial employment. I think it might be now extended, to very manifest advantage of the province. It is the numerous banks in every part of the States, that have given such a stimulus to enterprise I PI m m-- 1! 78 EMIGRATION, OR among the Americans; and though it may cause rather wild speculations, and some bankruptcies occasionally, and, consequently, individual losses, the latter soon recover by the same means ; and these speculations are, at all events, public benefits, and cause great undertakings with little or no capital. The notes here are from one dollar, or 5s. cur- rency, to 1/., 5Ly 10/., 20/., &c. payable in cash on de- mand. York Harbour is formed by a semicircular strip of land or sandbank, with some trees growing thereon, leaving an outlet to the south-west — the lighthouse being near its point. The bay is about three miles in diameter, having a small river, the Don, emptying into it, where salmon, herrings, eels, &c., are caught; some wild ducks also resort to it in spring and fall. It is a good place, also, for domestic geese, where a considerable number are seen ; and, like the generality of the geese kept in the province, appear a smaller breed than the English, though perhaps hardier ; at Col. Talbot's, and a few other places, I have seen some of the latter. A few hundred soldiers are sta- tioned here in the barracks, which are situated opposite the lighthouse and entrance of the bay. Building lots of land, within the last year or two, have risen in value very fast, on account, it is said, of the seat of government being decided to remain here for some years lo come. CHAPTER VH. OPENING OF THE COLONIAL SESSION VARIOUS JOUR- NEYS FROM YORK A NATURAL OIL SPRING CANA- DIAN AUCTION A DUTCH SETTLEMENT AMHERST- BURG, SANDWICH, AND OTHER PLACES, — A VOYAGE ON LAKE ERIE, AND DETROIT RIVER DESCRIBED. , Nov, 10. — Took a long walk down the Kingston road, chiefly through pine woods and, of course, sandy land, with occasionally a clearing of a house. There are some very fine townships below, and well settled. Saw some of the tall Eu- ropean thistles for the first time in the Province. Great quan- tities of staves for barrels, squared timber, and lumber, yearly prepared on the shores of Lake Ontario, and sent to Mon* treal and Quebec markets, where they bring a good price, generally to be shipped for the West Indies, and various NO EMIGRATION. 79 parts of the United Kingdom. Upwards of GOO vessels, with 3,000,000/. worth of timber, loaded yearly, which is a great benefit to the country, as it is full of timber. Cord wood in York sells at 9s. to 13s. 6d. per cord, (a cord is a stack of eight feet long, four feet high, and cleft in lengths laid across, of four feet); 2s. 6d. per cordis given for chop- ping and splitting it up; an expert chopper will do three cords in a day. Europeans, on their first arrival in this country, are inferior to Americans in the use of the axe, but soon will, with attention, get suiliciently handy, and be their equals. Fine large fruit grows at the heads of both Lake Erie and Ontario; saw an apple from the latter, which weighed 18oz. and there are some 25 ounces each. Dec. 1. — Engaged board and lodging at a respectable tradesman's house, at lis. 3d. per week. The members of the general Assembly or Parliament are coming in to open the Session on the 6th, according to proclamation ; the greater part lodge at private houses, (two in the house with me), at from '13$. 6d, to 18s. per week, with a private room and board. Many members of this assembly come thirty or forty miles on foot, through bad roads, which their legislative powers ought to place in a good state, but grants for improv- ing the highways are opposed, Avhile they vote themselves 9s. per day from the time of leaving home to their return, which they contrive to make as long as possible by their lame, petty wrangling and squabbles in the House, evidently, in some instances, to protract the close of the session. The seat of government will be eventually removed to some more eligible and secure part of the Province, as it is too open, and exposed to surprise by an enemy in time of war, and the country too flat for fortifications. London is talked of, at the forks of the Thames; but perhaps at the head of Lake Ontario, in the beautiful, romantic, and healthy neigh- bourhood of the Little Lake, would be the most eligible. Dec. 5. — Fine pleasant day. At one o'clock the cannon announced the attendance of the Lieutenant Governor (Sir Peregrine Maitlund) to open the Session of Parliiiment, ac- companied by a number of the military, and a band of music playing national airs. When he was seated on the throne^ surrounded by his aid-de-camps, and some members col- lected in front, the Governor delivered u written speech, after which the members retired from the council chamber to , •'!■ ml l\i s_dtt.S- 80 EMIOBATION, OR I proceed to business, and the Governor to his carriage, to be escorted back to his house by the soldiers^ the music playing, cannon firing, &c. Dec. 10. — Left Yorlc in a schooner, to cross the Lake to Niagara (or Fort George) for 45. 6d., about thirty-six miles j arrived in the evening. Niagara is pleasantly situated on apparently a dry healthy soil, at the outlet of the noble river from i^hich it derives its name. This was the first place burnt during the last war by the American General M'Clare. It is a very smart, neat, clean place, with some large stores and good taverns. The air is milder than on the other side of the lake, and the snow never falls so soon nor so deep. Niagara to Queenston, and indeed round the head of the lake to Dundas, Hamilton, and Ancaster, is a fine country, genial air, healthy, well watered, and settled. Land from 30s. to 4/. lOs. per acre. Fruit is plentiful, good, and cheap. Apples are pared, quartered, and cored, then strung on a thread to dry, either by the sun or fire. The peaches have their stones taken out and dried in the same way, and otherwise preserved. The American " Nia- gara Fort," a small village of Young's town, is situated on the opposite side of the river ; and Leweston opposite Queenston, at which I arrived seven miles above Niagara. Gen. Brock's monument is finished, and stands very con- spicuous on the mountain top near the road to the Falls. It is to be seen plainly at Niagara, and with a glass, in a clear day, at York, on the other side of the lake. It is a very neat, strong-built pile ; being Sunday, it has the Bri« tish flag on its top. Passed Lunday's Lane, which is within a short distance of the falls. A sharp and obstinate battle was fought here in the late war, which terminated in favour of the British. At a little distance, but within sight of the road, a few miles nearer Queenston, the present Governor has a country house, in which he resides during the sum- mer 5 it is in about the stile of a first-rate farmer's in Eng- land. There is a small village near, with a little neat stone church. Orchards still have some apples hanging on their trees, and great quantities lying under them rotting. The young wheat all along my route looks well. A small steam boat ran this last season on the river between Chip- pawa and Buffaloe, and a horse boat runs across at the Ferry at Blackrock. JS NO EMIGRATION. 81 t>ec. 18. — Arrived once more at Port Talbot on foot. The Canadians and settlers think little of travelling 100 or 200 miles out at a time. Dec, 25. - Christmas day. Frost has set in sharp, and plenty of snow fallen, (about six or eight inches) and of course good sleighing. Started in a cutter, or one horse sleigh, for the river Thames and Bear Creek. The settlers on the former, generally speaking, have the character of being idle and inhospitable, quite a contrast in the latter feature to most parts of the Province. This inhospitality is the more inexcusable, on account of there being but few, if any, taverns on the river. Dec. 28. — Passed up the river, along the Westminster Road, for York. The flats of the river are extensive, as high up as Moravian Town, where they get narrow, and the country more broken into gentle hills and dales : rich land, well watered with springs and small streams. A sin- gular spring of oil issues out of the banks of the river near here, on the land belonging to the Indians. It is of the con- sistence and colour of tar, with a peculiar smell. It is ge- nerally supposed to be coal tar, (Petrotium) arising from a bed of coal said to run across the country. There are sulphur springs also in the neighbourhood, and in various other parts of the Province. The oil is gathered from the surface of the water, (by Indians and others), by blankets extended and lightly dropped on the surface, when they absorb the oil. It is sold from 2s. 3d. to 4s. dd. per quart, and sent to all parts of the Province, and even the States, as a cure for rheumatism, sprains, &c , and is sometimes taken internally, in small quantities, for strengthening the tone of the stomach, and other complaints. In the Long- wood settlement, I saw a spot of twenty or thirty acres of wood torn up, and broken oflF some fifty years ago by a hur- ricane or whirlwind, and the trees scattered in heaps on the ground. I have seen similar places in different parts of the Province j I have been told there has been none in the settled parts of the Province since its settlement. The country is rough and broken by ravines through the neigh- bouring high lands, bounding the flats of the river j the roads in some places not cleared, because not settled, till near Delawar Town, at which place I crossed the river on the ice^ between unfrozen springs on each hand, kept so by i2 H' !f V »? 82 EMIGRATION, OR the motion of the current; but few houses, situated on the banks of the river, and a saw-mill and tavern, which will increase in a few years, probably, to a large village or town, as the spot is healthy and adapted for business, and at the lowest point of the river, where pines grow, which are here sawed into boards, &c. and rafted down to Sand« wich, Detroit, and other places. I am informed near 400 deer have been killed this season, within a few miles of this place, chiefly by Indians ; haunches of venison to be bought at about Is. Id. each, weighing from ten to fifteen pounds. Stopped at a tavern for the night in the township of West- minster; same day a number of people called in, having just arrived from the quarter sessions for the county of Mid- dlesex, held in London, situated on the opposite side of the river Thames. Petty Sessions are held at private houses or taverns in almost every township, one or twice a month, where the " Squires *'* attend to settle trifling appeals to the law, and grant summonses to creditors for the appear- ance of debtors owing small sums, or giving notes of hand, at their next sitting, to either pay them or shew cause why they neglect, when in the latter case the Magistrates decide ; and if for the creditor, and the money is not paid, a writ is issued for the sale of property to the amount and expenses. Notes of hand to any amount can be recovered, and, I believe, to the amount of 10/. in book debts, except tavern keepers bills for liquor, which is limited to a much less amount. The township of Westminster is good land, and so also is London, and well settled and hesdthy, with numerous flne springs, and also thriving by the extensive clearings ; and good large frame houses, and barns being erected along the street. The extreme of heat and cold is rather greater here than near the lakes. Jan. .5, 1827. — Arrived again in York, which is all bus- tle by the numerous sleighs from every part of the Pro- vince ; some with produce, such as wheat-flour in bolls, • Justices of the Peace, or " Squires," as they are here called, are made in every township if they are eligible persons. In the new settle- ments they are mostly farmers, with some store-keepers. One duty of a " Squire is, to marry, if no clergyman of the Church of England is settled within eighteen miles, I believe. NO EMIGRATION. 83 on the ch will lage or iss, and , which ) Sand« ;ar 400 I of this bought K)unds. f West- ing just )f Mid- e of the houses month, peals to appear- lotes of w cause pstrates lot paid, lunt and overed, except a much od land, ly, with ctensive s being nd cold all bus- he Pro- n bolls. ailed, are 8w settle- duty of a ngland is oats, barley,* pork, beef, butter, eggs, fowls, &c. ; many on other business, and some on visits. The assembly too being still sitting, makes the town yet more stirring. Jan. 6. — Left York again for the west) the road full of sleighs, and the taverns full of travellers, a great proportion of whom, both ladies and gentlemen, are as well and as fashionably attired, and respectable in appearance, as might be expected from the same number in £ngland. Sumner's Tavern, in Dundas-street, has a great run of business, and deservedly, as it is well conducted, and kept by an obliging person ; and there are several other good taverns on this route. Travellers with sleighs generally stop to bait and warm themselves every ten or twelve miles. Farmers ge- nerally carry their own provisions and oats for horses, and mostly keep them well, the Dutchmen in particular, who may be compared to the Quakers for prudence and success- ful perseverance, but inferior in education. Turned off Dundas-street, by the Little Lake to the village of Hamil- ton. Here, in the neighbourhood of Burlington Bay, is perhaps as beautiful and romantic a situation as any in the interior of America, and seems eminently situated and adapted by nature as one of the first commercial points in the province. Jan. 8. — Arrived at the Great Falls once more, which appear ever grand, and ever new. This astonishing, and almost incalculable concentrated power — the greatest in the world, is nearly unheeded as to useful purposes, there being only three small mills put in operation by its might efforts, while thousands might be wrought. At the village of Chip- pawa, where the river Welland enters the Niagara, is the beginning of the rapids, which run to the Falls. At their commencement, the water in the river is within five or six feet of the top of the level bank, and has a descent of 200 feet in a mile and a quarter. By means of a duct or chan- nel, cut to convey the water from the mouth of the Welland towards the Falls, how easy this immense power might be brought into operation, at much less expense in proportion, • The winter barley is mostly sown in Canada. It is asserted by some that spring barley will not do well, but I believe the contrary, with proper management. 1 would recommend emigrants to bring out a small quantity of the early Thanet or Fulham barley, as good barley is, and will be, in request, since breweries are established. 84 EMIGRATION, Oil II than a single piece of machinery ; and this, in a situation as a central point for commerce and communication with Europe, and the whole of North America, not to be equalled : indeed, every thing seems most admirably adapted by nature for the health, comfort, security, convenience, and trade, of the metropolis of a flourishing country. The Americans have established a manufactory on their side of the Falls, and likewise considerable machinery for various purposes, to take the advantages offered by the Erie Canal : and, although I have not heard that they contemplate the appropriation of any great portion of this immense and economical power to manufactories, the present use they make of it will soon suggest to them a more extensive application. Nature has been lavish in the advantages conferred on the Canadian side of the Niagara river over the American, through its whole route : the best harbours (indeed there is not a good one on the other side), the best view of the Falls, the nearest and best natural roads, and, generally speaking, the best land. Jan. 12. — Stopped at a Dutch farmer's to sleep, and this morning crossed Grand River on the ice, when I passed a number of sleighs loaded with the machinery of a steam- engine for a mill ; slept again at another Dutch farmer's, whose family have rather more than common primitive appearance : the men with long hair, hanging down over their shoulders, and parted over the forehead, and a home- spun dress nearly of the cut of the Quaker, to which sect I at first thought they belonged, as they had a silent grace before and after meals. I have since learned they are Dunkards or Menonists, and I was cordially invited to par- take of their simple fare. One of the men was communica- tive : he was going with a sleigh load of wheat to the head of Lake Ontario (thirty-five miles) to store it till the spring, expecting an advance in price then. The Dutch in general are in pretty good circumstances, living in large substantial though plain-built houses ; built with a stoop, that is, the roof projecting considerably over for shade in front of the house ; this is rather common in America ; the Dutch hang the horses' harness and ox-yokes, and other implements of husbandry, under them, on pegs driven into the wall of the house; and having very large barns, and generally good yards and other convenient out- buildings for cattle, <&c. In this house, and in that which I slept last night, they had large log fires on the hearth, besides a large stove in th« P' VO EMIGRATION. •« sitting rooms of each, placed on the opposite side, so when sitting at the fire you had the stove at your bacic ! Another custom peculiar to the Dutch is, instead of lying upon a fea- ther bed, to have it for a covering in lieu of a sheet and blankets, having a straw or chaff one underneath ! It is certainly a warm, but to me not pleasant, metliud of lying. Some severe cold nights of late; one night I believe the thermometer was ten or twelve degrees below Zero, but it is milder again and pleasant. Feb. 6. — There has been a greater quantity of snow this winter than was ever known since the settlement of the country. In the west, twelve to eighteen inches deep on a level; back about London, and down at York, twenty-four to twenty-eight inches; and farther down the province, three feet and upwards. The weather has been proportion- ably cold, and frost steady till now, except a small thaw a few days in January, which it is said always happens, little or much, in that month. Feb. 23. — A beautiful and clear warm day ; the snow has been wasting for some days past, which has broken up the excellent sleighing that had lasted steady all winter. The strength of the crust of the snow has this winter enabled the wolves to hunt down the deer, and great numbers have been destroyed. Attended a vendue, or auction sale of farming- stock lately, for which a credit of ten months was given, and the payment to be in wheat at the market price of the time of payment. The sale was conducted in much the same manner as an English country auction, with this peculiarity, that every time a person gives a bidding, he is offered the bottle of whisky to drink, besides its free and constant circulation through the whole company. A neigh- bour acts as auctioneer, paying for a license As. 6d, for a year. On account of credit being given, things went off much higher than they otherwise would have done. A small aged horse, 1 II. 7s. 6d. ; cows from 3/. to 51. 6s. ; a yoke of oxen, 16/. 8s. ; sheep from 6s. 9d. to 14s. 9d. each, with their wool on; a wooden clock, 3/. 16$. This man's circumstances and progress may be stated as a criterion of the success of steady industrious settlers in general He, with several others of the family, came into Canada seven years ago, from the United States, with little or no property besides a bed, and a few other things, of small value. After 1 ' :i 'I I J EMIGRATION, on working out a while to procuro n cow, and some necessary articles, ho drew fifty acres of land of Colonel Talbot, ,xo clear the road, and settled on it, where he continued to this period, steady and industrious. lie has sold his land now at 123/. 15s., and the proceeds of the auction sale, 108/. — together 231/. 1 5s. sterling. But there are too many that love idleness and the tavern more than is consistent with much prosperity; still, idlers are despised. I have not chosen this man's experience as the most successful, but what any may attain with industry and prudence ; for those who had a family of boys, and drew 200 acres of land, and worked on it with equal perseverance, have pro- bably doubled the above amount. 'I'he sugar harvest now begins, which is not so promising as last year. March 25. — Open weather of late ; some days mild and pleasant. Ice off the Lake, frost out of the ground, and snow all gone, except a small remnant drifted on the north sides of the ravines. March 30. — Started in an open boat up the Lake fur Sandwich and Detroit, about 130 miles, in company with a squire, his son, and another neighbour, farmers ; the former of whom was taking up seven or eight hundred weight of butter and cheese for sale. The wind being unfavourable, we made but small progress, and the roughness of the Lake caused sea-sickness for awhile. We stopped at a private- house for the night, on the Lake shore, and were treated hospitably by its owner, a Scotchman. March 31. — After fitting out a boat belonging to our friend, better adapted for sailing than the one we had, and shifting the cargo, we sailed with a fair but light breeze ; but it soon after hauled round with the sun, and the Lake got rough, so we were unable to go on shore to dine on account of the surf. At sun-set we made Point Aux-Pins or Rondeau, and about nine o'clock we run our boat into a creek, and made safe for the night. No house being near, we were compelled to *' camp out," which is no very strange thing in some parts of America. After making a good fire of wood drifted on the beech, at the side of some bushes, over which we threw our sails for shelter from the wind, we sat down to supper, and then spread a sail on the ground, on which we lay with our feet to the fire for the night, each of us wrapped in a blanket. The wind getting KO rmiohatiov. 87 Bcessary ilbot, .10 I to this 1 now nt 108/.— my that mt with avQ not iful, but ice ; for acres of ave pro- est now mild and ind, and le north Lake fur ly with a le former ('eight of k^ourable, :he Lake private- e treated to our lad, and breeze ; the Lake dine on Vux-Pins at into a ng near, f strange good fire bushes, he wind, on the for the d getting round early in the morning, and being rather cold, it awakened us, and as it was favourable we determined to proceed before daylight. April 1. — Left the outlet at three o'clock this morning, with a light, but fair and pleasant breeze, which continued through the day, with mild air and cloudless sky. Doubled Point Peel, or south foreland, the most southern part of Canada, soon after noon, and rowed round Pigeon Bay, a great fishing place of the Indians, particularly for sturgeon. Cedars grow along the sand banks which surround the point, and enclose large ponds and marshes as at Rondeau, and perhaps a greater place for water-fowl. Stopped near the mouth of Sturgeon Creek, at an American's, for the night. April 2. — A most beautiful day, and warm, with a fine light breeze from the east. Ranged within a mile or two of the coast of whnt is called the New Settlement, although it lias been settled longer than most other new parts. Saw some fine well-built houses of both frame and brick, with good orchards every little way. Entered the Detroit river about noon, and was soon at the town of Maiden, or Amherst- burgh, three miles from its mouth ; a smart, neat, French- built town, opposite the fine small island of Bois Blanc, and others. There is good and safe anchorage between the island and main shore, well adapted for wharfs and other conveniences for naval or commercial purposes. The houses have long steep roofs, after the French fashion : some neat gardens round the town, enclosed with paling. The inhabi- tants are the greater part French, the first settlers. This place is well situated for trade, in the very mildest and southernmost part of the province, latitude 42^; but it wants some enterprising spirits to make it flourish rapidly. Considerable quantities of tobacco are grown in the neigh- bourhood, which it is evident will soon become quite a staple article. Potatoes are selling here at 2s. 3d. per bushel, and brought out of the States, like many other articles. We left this place in the evening for Sandwich, my friend not being willing to take 7rf. per lb. for his butter, and a little less for his cheese. We camped out again on the beach under the river bank ; being a warm nlghi and wind still, we were pretty comfortable. About midnight some American smugglers were attracted by our fires to the spot, from the opposite side. One was a pleasant person, i u 88 EMIGRATION, OR ; and had brought a patent churn to shew, and of course to sell if he could. It was to be hung up in a room, and put in motion by a string while sitting. He had also a patent keg, with four heads, to contain as many di£ferent kinds of liquors. April 3. — Started again before daylight up the river, and got lost in the marshy mouth of Duck River, where, if variety of notes could charm, we had an excellent chance of being delighted ; and indeed as an expression of natural joy excited by the return of spring, in the animal creation, it must be agreeable to any but a vitiated mind. We rectified our mistake just at daybreak, and continued up the river, with a fine breeze in our favour, by some large islands, some of them entire marshes, whose flaggy grass had just been burned, for the double purpose of getting at the musk rats, and to destroy all the old grass, and allow the young to shoot up for mowing for hay. This is a fine old settled country ; large orchards, and numerous white houses along the shore, in the French fashion, being first settled by French, and the greater part still held by their descendants. An author has said, '' in passing these straits of Detroit, when fruit-trees are in blossom, the prospect is perhaps as delightful as any in the world." The wind rising, we were wafted rapidly along to Sandwich Harbour, where we landed at the only and unfrequented wharf, eighteen miles from Amherstburgh. Sandwich is pleasantly situated on a fine rise of ground, and apparently a good and moderately dry soil ; but the town, on entering it, excites feelings of disap- pointment and disgust. There are some few good houses, surrounded by others that have the appearance of desolation and poverty, occupied apparently by a dilatory, listless set of beings, and such was the miserable state of the taverns, that we could not procure refreshments, or be accom- modated with a room at any one of them. We called at a house or two to ask if any butter was wanted, but were not the least disappointed after the above reception, and took to our boat again for the ferry two miles above, and opposite Detroit, where we found two good taverns, with plenty of beer, cider, &c. Detroit, on the opposite bank of the river, which is about three quarters of a mile across, has a very pretty appearance, with the spires ?nd steeples of two or three churches and the capital. Passed over in the ferry-boat ; charge 3hd. A number of good large eitores, NO EMIGRATION. 89 course to , and put a patent t kinds of river, and where, if chance of atural joy eation, it 3 rectified the river, e islands, ; had just the musk I young to Id settled ises along settled by icendants. f Detroit, >erhaps as , we were we landed liles from on a fine rately dry of dlsap- >d houses, desolation less set of i taverns, e accom- ^e called but were , and took d opposite plenty of the river, las a very ss of two er in the ge GLtores, to several of which we went. My friend could not meet with a market for his butter and cheese at so high a price, as at Amherstburgh, large quantities having already arrived. Detroit, as well as Sandwich, was settled by the French about the same time as Philadelphia. There is a large Roman Catholic church, and a moderate size Presby-- terian one. Re-crossed the river, and stopped for the night at one of the ferry-houses. Two or three young men, from the river Thames, are here with twenty barrels of cider in a boat, ready to ** run " across to Detroit in the night, to evade the duty. They had sold it at three dollars per barrel. April 4. — My friends return to Amherstburgh, where they will leave their butter and cheese at a store, to be sold on commission, and return home ; while I proceed on foot, on my route up the Detroit, for the river Thames, along the road through Westminster to the head of Lake Ontario. The banks of the river Detroit, near the ferry, and some distance up on the Canada side, are from ten to twenty feet high, giving a pleasant commanding prospect, with some good and neat French houses, having orchards and gardens at short distances, on the side of the road, which runs along the banks of the river. The land is cleared nearly two miles back, and free from stumps — those unsightly objects to " old country '* people, on first coming into America, on new* cleared, farms. The flower gardens enclosed with pales, though rude, and the old orchards, and green pastures, give it more the appearance of my native country, which is thus .brought to my imagination, than any part I have yet seen in the new world. Farms sell here at from 45s. to 3/. 10$. per acre, a house and some buildings included. The French have a neater way of making their zig-zag fences, by strait- ening them a little, and putting a stake on each side of the corners, which are pinned together nearer the top than is in general use. Their houses, that were in good repair, are also m'ore neat, by being covered over their sides with bark. Six or seven miles above Detroit is Lake St. Clair ; and just on entering it is an island in the river ; this lake is, I believe, nearly circular, and twenty or thirty miles across. Along the Canada side of it I travelled to the mouth of the Thames. Its banks are very low, and in places are large marshes ; but where there are none it is chiefly settled, and mostly by French, who speak English barely sufficient to be understood. At the mouth of the river Thames there are ■ t i w h I i:ii 90 EMIGRATION, OR ^'. very extensive marshes, in some places uncovered by water, and in others but just covered, round which people have settled, and keep great numbers of cattle and horses to breed for sale, mowing the marsh grass for hay. I should have supposed these marshes unhealthy, had I not been told otherwise, and the looks of the people confirm the assertion. April 5.— After crossing four miles of the Big Marsh I came to the Thames, a mile or two from its mouth, and a few miles below Chatham. At Chatham there is a church, and a mill, but no town or village at present. The river is about fourteen or fifteen rods or poles wide, of uniform breadth, and of sufficient depth to admit schooners up it twenty miles or more. There are some rich farms along its banks, but it is not settled backward. For several miles it is settled by French, but higher up are Dutch and some others. Wheat grows and looks well, just covering the ground. There is a store, and mill, once in ten or fifteen miles. The French, along Lake St. Clare, and Detroit river, Lave several windmills. Fish are now coming up the river in shoals to spawn. One man told me he had already caught forty barrels, close by his house, with a small seine. April 6. — Passed over from the river to Talbot Street, again along the road or track, which, at best, is but little better than an Indian trail, and now nearly blocked up by trees blown across it ; while the late rains have filled the swamps, making it ulmost impassable for either man or beast. This is the only communication to the river where there is a bridge, and is much used when passable. Why do not government cut these public roads, with the fees and other money arising from the sale of lands ? If no other funds can be appropriated to such purposes, I would say, establish toll-gates. April 9. — Returned home again, where my friends had arrived the day preceding. Some heavy rain yesterday. Weather warm of late, and hardly the slightest frost for two or three weeks past — thermometer 60 to 60 ; and spring in all its beauty appears. May 25. — The latter part of last month was wet and cold, which has made the spring late, contrary to what was expected. Wheat on the wet soils looks but indiffer- ently on account of it, but on the dry and sandy ones very good. June 1. — There has been a frosty night or two of late. NO EMIGRATION. 91 3y watier, >ple have 3 to breed )uld have leen told assertion. Marsh I th, and a I church, le river is uniform ers up it along its d miles it md some Bring the sen miles, iver, iidve > river in iy caught ot Street, but little ced up by filled the 1 or beast, e there is ly do not md other her funds , establish lends had (Yesterday. frost for nd spring wet and to what t indi£fer- ones very ) of late. that has slightly nipped the young potatoe tops and some other plants, but has not hurt fruit trees much. The wea- ther is quite warm again, and vegetation grows apace. The ploughing and sowing has been protracted on account of the hot weather, as few people think of draining their land, either by ditch or water furrows. June 10. — Dry warm weather, with an occasional small thunder shower, which has improved the wheat much, and it is now coming on the ear. The sowing of oats, planting corn, and potatoes hardly yet finished. Now is the season to transplant the young tobacco plants from the beds, sown as soon as the frosts were out of the ground ; its cultiva- tion seems to be extending. July 2. — Fine pleasant summer of late, with but little sultry weather. Sailed this morning on board the schooner Michigan, loaded with lumber (timber sawed) and tobacco, for Fort Erie, from thence to proceed to Niagara, York, and Kingston, with the former. July 6.- After experiencing some contrary winds, a gale came on, which washed some of the lumber from the deck, and tore the sails, &c., but the wind soon abating we proceeded on our course, and were becalmed a day or two before arriving at Fort Erie, on the 9th July, where two other small schooners lay. July 10. — Proceeded to Chippawa. July 13. — Walked out to the Deep Cut, seven miles from this place j several hundreds of people were excavating for the canal 3 hands are in request to get it through as soon as possible ; good wages are oflFered, and the work is not extreme by any means ; '21. 15s. to 3/. 15s. per month, and board, is given according to the abilities of the workmen, and to those having horses and oxen more in proportion j work from sunrise to sunset ; this is general in all kinds of work, both here and in the United States. I was rather surprised, or disappointed at least, after hearing so much said of the magnitude of the undertaking — its large size to admit schooners, &c.- to find it but very little wider than the Grand Junction boat canal in England. Passed down the canal to St. Catharine's, which is on the line of canal, and two miles from the Lake Ontario } the land generally of a white clayey loam j in some places strong, and in others approaching to sandy. Beans pretty good } wheat, peas, and clover (white and red) useful and profitable under good I I .'■ -I t 92 EMIGRATION, OR management, yet not very rich. Great quantities of wild muBtard growing luxuriantly along the new formed canal banks, in the bottom of the Twelve Mile Creek. A number of beautiful spreading shady trees on the sides of the creek, of the butter-nut and hickery species. St. Catharine's is a thriving and rapidly improving village, very pleasantly si- tuated along the pleasantly diversified romantic banks of the Twelve Mile Creek, down in which, 1 00 feet below the houses, is seen meandering the great unfinished canal. The inhabitants are chiefly Americans. A '' darned tar- nation" pretty sample of them here ** I swear," some " I guess," from the ^* States prison," and some that have broke the ** limits," " I calculate," &c. In short ** blue bellies" of all sorts and conditions, equal to any of the frontier towns on both sides of the " lines." To come at a faint idea of a group of these half-dandified, ** sleek," smooth-faced, whis- kerless, whiskey-drinking, third-commandment breaking, speculating, money-hunting gentry, with various other quali- fications, too numerous and too bad to mention, take nine tailors, a few barbers, half a dozen strolling players, three or four quack doctors, some few waiters at taverns, hackney coachmen, shoe makers, and lawyers' clerks, half a dozen Jews, and three or four honest men, (perhaps as great a proportion as to be found in some other places) the last from Yorkshire, one half of the others from that county, and the remainder cockneys. Let the barbers shave all the whiskers off the others and themselves ; leave the hair on their heads thick but short, something like a thrum mop, or similar to the fashion in King Charles's days. Let them have very high-crowned hats, some few white, or buff; others black, full of long nap and very narrow brim ; blue surtout, black silk vest, laced up tight behind, blue or black trowsers, full enough round the hips to hold fifty dollars* worth of smuggled goods, with boots, of course ; yes, all boots, or nearly so. This for the first '^ grade" dress, the others as near as their circumstances will admit. Now place them in a large room in an inn, with free liberty of ingress, egress, and regress, with benches to lie on, and chaiis to sit on to throw themselves back against the wall, or pace up and down, in and out of the room, as they think proper. Parti- tion off one corner of the room, the bottom with boards, the top with latticed wooden bars, like palisadoes, with three or lour in the middle to slide up to admit two or three hands or NO EMIGRATION. 93 of wild d canal number e creek, ne's is a intly si- :s of the i houses, ned tar- Dme " I ve broke bellies" er towns Idea of a d, whis- ireaking, er quali- m, take players, taverns, clerks, (perhaps r places) rom that srs shave ! the hair um mop, jet them f; others surtout, rowsers, worth of loots, or Dthers as them in egress, sit on to up and Parti- ards, the three or hands or more at a time as occasion requires. In this partition, which we will call a bar, place one of the quack doctors, and after he has locked himself in, let him give out drams of whiskey, "Jamaica spirits," (best rum), ** bitters," (any kind of liquor taken in a morning ostensibly for procuring an ap- petite), " sling," " black strap," &c., from a tier of yellow painted kegs, standing behind him, with gin, whisky, &c. in large letters on them, to the others, as they pace up and down the room. By the time they have all taken a " drink" or two a-piece, and swallowed a mouthful of water after it, you will hear " guessing" and ** calculating" enough. Un- doubtedly, and something better, '* I don*t think !" Be care- ful they do not tread on your toes at this time, and if you wish to retain a seat, do not get up from it even for a '' York minute." A " word to the wise," &c. : — You must not sup- pose them impudent or intruding if they sit down before you, or stand betwixt you and the fire, with their backs to it ; nor must you be offended at the number of questions that maybe put about your own business and concerns, not even at being asked if you are an honest man ; all this is only the exercise of the refinements of a superior liberty and freedom ! Some of them will smoke cigars, and others chew tobacco, therefore be careful, and keep a " good look-out." If you wish to be cleanly, you had better not leave any furniture in the room, as they generally carry " Roger's penknives" about them. A few pieces of pine splints, or other woods, put into the room, will, perhaps, keep them from " whittling" the chairs, tables, and window frame, and, as the saying goes, '* they will make something of them." You must not be moved should they cast foul abuse and slander on their relation John Bull; this is one of the most delightful privileges " uncle Sam" and '* brother Jonathan" enjoy ! It would be a pity to debar them from such a cheap and innocent amuse- ment, that hurts nobody. But hark ! the horns blow and bells ring to call the hull of them hum (home) *' right away straight" to a dinner of* fat pork and molasses," then "Johnny cake and pumpkin pie." After you have awakened " them 'are two men asleep on the benches," (who were " high " when they came in, and full of " develtry," having been on a drinking " scale" of late) and cleaned out the room, I will drop the curtain and leave you to ruminate on a scene in an American tavern, while I proceed on my journey. Took a K 2 ■k 'i i\ f 94 EMIGRATION, OR walk into the country : it being Sunday, and the day fine and pleasant, numbers of farmers and others, and fine veiled females in gigs, cabrioles, and Jersey waggons, were dashing along the different cross roads. Monday, went to Niagara; the houses mostly frame, and painted white, with sash windows and Venetian blinds; some good convertible lands on the road, and others indifferent ; the roads the best in the Province, and some fine orchards ; altogether this is a pleasant and healthy part of the country. They have plenty of fruit in most of the old settled parts, yet are deficient in variety. There are but few of the best sort of apples grown in Eng- land, which is to be regretted, as most kinds flourish admi- rably, but few good pears and plums ; damsons, apricots, and nectarines are rare, but excellent. July 23. — Returned to Chippawa. Harvest is now ge- neral ; crops good ; better than in the west this season. Only two steam mills in this village, though so near the power of the rapids and great Falls ; there is also an iron foundry and still-maker. Most of the visitors to the Falls go to see Brock^s Monument, and view the surrounding country and Lake Ontario from its top (which is 126 feet high, the base twenty- one), the greater part of whom are Americans from all parts of the States, but mostly from the southern. Numbers of them seem f urprised ; Canada is such a fine country, '* and what a pity it does not belong to the States," they say. I happened to be in company at a tavern with some very respectable and sensible New Yorkers, who spoke feelingly on the worse than folly of two nations so nearly allied by blood, who speak the same language, and whose interests are the same, to go to war, as Great Britain and the United States. *' Many valuable lives were lost on both sides, and what did they gain !" asked one of them, and much censured his government for the invasion of Canada, to attempt to take it. This is the general feeling of the most enlightened part of the Americans. Aug. 1.- -Mild moderate weather, with some rain and thunder of late. Neither men, women, or children in this country alarmed or " scared '^ at thunder, nor are the latter frightened to go any where in the dark, or indeed but seldom at real dangers, through habit. Saw the first stage coach in this country formed in the English style, built very strong and neat, and drawn by six horses. About 3Q0 sheep brought >- NO EMIGRATION. 95 day fine e veiled dashing &ra; the ows and ie road, rovince, lant and fruit in variety, in Eng- ih admi- apricots, now ge- season. near the an iron Falls go country ligh, the nericans outhern. h a fine States," em with iio spoke nearly d whose tain and on both 3ni, and Canada, the most ain and 1 in this he latter t seldom coach in rang and brought over the river at the ferry from the States, and duties paid, some for the canal and others to be shipped for York. Ame- ricans from the southern States, and others, are often put to some trouble with their " niggers " while visiting Canada, as some of them take advantage of our just laws, which admit of no slavery. " They touch our country and their shakles fall ! That's noble!" A French officer who was over here had one of these un- fortunates, (a female slave servant), whose skin was a shade darker than his own, take " French leave," when he hired a number of the " sons of liberty" to cross the river and kidnap her back again, in which they too well succeeded under false pretences of pitying her, and procuring her a situation. Having got her near the water, they carried her by force into a boat, and before the inhabitants could arrive to her rescue, she was wafted in triumph across to " the land of the free and the home of the brave," with the hearty execrations of the indignant Canadians. Aug. 2. — Took the steam boat from Niagara to York; fare on deck 4s. 6d., in the cabin 9s. ; four hours crossing thirty-six miles; pleasant day and lake smooth; large sturgeon springing quite out of the water at play; people in boats about the mouth of the Niagara river, and in other places, for a long time back, dragging for the body of one Morgan, a free-mason, who, it is pretty well ascertained, was murdered in or near Fort Niagara, at the mouth of t^e river, in the State of New York, and is supposed to have been af- terwards thrown into the lake by a number of brother masons, for the crime of publishing a book professing to explain and expose the whole secrets of that fraternity. Great rewards have been offered for the recovery of the body, but as yet without efifect. Aug. 3. — Not much business stirring in York just now ; harvest time keeps people busy at home. A number of emi- grants just arrived in steam boats from below, chiefly Irish, but also a few English. In this country, generally, all trades give premiums, or wages to apprentices, which makes almost any trade easy of attainment to the poorest classes. Some showers of rain every few days, which makes things grow and flourish, and keeps the weather cool and pleasant. There is a singular kind of toad, called a tree toad, on account of '4 96 EMIGRATION, OR its being mostly seen on trees, up which it climbs, where it sits, and in rainy weather makes a loud noise similar to an English quail ; but its greatest curiosity is its power of changing its colour to that on which it is placed, from nearly white to almost black, and intervening colours; it is not done instantaneously but gradually, in about ten or fifteen minutes. Had I not witnessed it more than once, I certainly should not have been easily convinced. While standing on the wharf lately, a pleasant behaved American came up to me, and, in the true spirit of his country, was in an instant as inquisitive and communicative as if he had been parti- cularly acquainted. Taking me for an American, he said he had just come from Salem, near Boston, New England; after a lot of land some few miles back of York, which had been made over to him for a debt incurred for shoes sent from there to here, (z. e. smuggled, of course). He never had been much from home before, but said, '' I see people are alike all over the world ; " and added, he had been taken as much care of, and as civilly treated, in Ca- nada, as he had been in the States, as far as he could see. This person's surprise in finding people in Canada as civi- lized and polite as in the States, is by no means singular among Americans. Gardens in York are generally in good order, better than I have seen elsewhere in America), and the vegetables, &c. in them very thriving, except when too much crowded or under fruit trees. Brewers appear to do well. There are two or three in York thriving, who began with but little. A porter brewer would, I think, succeed well, if he made a good article. Aug, 21. — Sail for Kingston in a schooner made by two farmers, brothers ! farmers are ship-builders, or any, or every thing, as inclination leads, or necessity dictates ! A few good ship-builders are wanted on both Lakes, and like- wise a few steady sailors. The latter get from 14 to 18 or 20 dollars per month during summer, and the former 1 ^ to 2 dollars per day. Aug. 27. — After experiencing a smart gale, and some head winds and calms, we arrived at Kingston with a fair wind and pleasant weather. As you approach the town by Long Island it looks very fine. Point Frederic in front, on which is situated the navy yard, barracks, offices, and houses of the government officers and others, has a very similar appearance, in miniature, to New York and vicinity. NO EMIGRATION. 97 where it nilar to )Ower of 1 nearly it is not r fifteen iertainly iding on ae up to 1 instant in parti- he said England ; I, which or shoes ie). He " I see he had , in Ca- 3uld see. as civi- singular ^ in good ica), and pt when s appear thriving, 1 think, e by two any, or tes ! A lud like- to 18 or ler 1^ to [id some ;h a fair town by Tont, on ;es, and i a very vicinity. Kingston is an old settled place, situated on the west bank of the Catarauqnui river, opposite th > naval depot, over which a large bridge is about to be built ot wood. Wooden bridges in this country, generally, are the most proper at present, being more economical, requiring less outlay from the scanty finances of a new country ; yet, as there is here such im- mense rocks, and good building and lime stone, on the spot, (laid bare by an overflowing of the water over the surround- ing neighbourhood at some early period), I should have sup- posed it would have been nearly as cheap, and if so, cer- tainly more desirable for its durability and strength. The harbour is good, and an excellent place for wharfs ; but, with the exception of two or three, you run the risk of a broken limb in crossing them. The houses are built chiefly of stone, and generally larger than those in York ; the streets are also paved with stones, (in rather a rough manner), which gives it much the appearance of a small-sized market town in England, about 3000 inhabitants. There are a number of good stores, and three or four large druggists* shops, as elegantly arranged as some in London, in all their neatness of order, much better than the general part I have seen in America. A pretty large and handsome stone-built church, and another small one belonging to the Establish- ment, besides Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Methodist places of worship. I like the appearance of Kingston gene- rally, but it is not so thriving as York ; and here also there is a little of the American feature before noticed. Houses and premises half built and half in ruins, unmeaning, slo- venly arrangements, &c. ; but they are fully counter- balanced by a number of specimens of real neatness and order, in different parts of the town, and particularly along the banks of the bay. The military establishment in the neighbourhood causes some little business, yet the inhabi- tants complain times are not now as they have been. A band of music from the barracks parades the town occa- sionally at night, playing lively airs. Four steam-boats ply between here and Prescott and up the bay of Quintie (pro- nounced Kanty, or Canty), besides three to Niagara, York, and Queenston, once a week. Three very large ships of war on the stocks, one above 100 guns, where they have remained since the w^ar. Kingston is inhabited chiefly by Europeans, the greater part Irish, I believe, considerable numbers of Scotch, some Americans, and a few English. i '1^ h 98 EMIOUATION, OR With a little of the downright hearty good-feeling of my countrymen, I also witnessed some of the haughty super- ciliousness of aristocratic pride, and the impudence of pam- pered menials. The market is well supplitsd with meat, fruit, and vegetables. Potatoes very fine, and only lOd. per bushel now, they have been higher. Apples Is. 6d. per bushel. Peaches dear, Gs. 9d. to 9s. ditto, brought from Niagara and the Genessee river. Melons of various prices, from 6d. to 2s. 6d. each. Plums, pines, &c. Beef 4d. per lb. Great quantities of the tall European thistle hereabout, and seed flying in all directions. If there be no means taken to pre- vent them spreading, by mowing them before their seeding time, they will prove a curse to this country in a few years, as they increase surprisingly, and here literally cover the ground in places. Durham boats, with produce, run from here to Montreal, and large rafts of staves and lumber from the bay of Quintie. The Rideau Canal is commenced a little above Kingston, which it will greatly benefit, particu- larly if reduced to a boat canal only. It at first was in- tended to be made large enough for schooners and steam- boats. It has been unusually sickly hereabouts : fevers and agues, and what are called dumb agues, which are the worst, and sometimes fatal, have been very prevalent. The work on the above canal has been entirely stopped by them for the present, until the cool weather comes on ; the neigh- bourhood where they are now cutting, is swampy, with a number of ponds and small lakes. Aug. 29. — The last two or three nights the aurora bo- realis, or northern lights, have been remarkably brilliant and grand. The assizes are now holding in the new built court-house, which is large and spacious, with a dome in the roof, and is well constructed to convey the sound of the pleaders' voices to the audience. The gaol is contained under the same roof. Court-houses and gaols in this coun- try are mostly large, and well constructed and convenient. A number of Irishmen, Orangemen and Catholics, under trial for rioting. The land in the immediate vicinity of the town is but interior, indeed in many places nothing but bare rock, and large loose uncovered stones ; but I am told there are very fine tracts a few miles back. No gardens of any account, for the above reason. Peaches, I am informed, will not thrive here. Sept. 10. — Left Kingston in the steam-boat for York, cabin MO EMIOIIATION. 99 ; of my f Buper- of pam- it, fruit» r bushel bushel. ;ara and a Qd, to Great ind seed \ to pre- seeding IV years, aver the un from aer from enced a particu- ; was in- 1 steam- ivers and are the t. The >y them neigh- with a irora bo- brilliant ew built dome in ound of Dntained lis coun- Lvenient. under y of the but bare >Id there of any [led, will rk, cabin passage 455. and boarded, on deck 135. 6^ing executed in a more lenient, and I think for that reason in a more judicious manner, for petty crimes, than in England. Sept. 21. — At Chippawa, 150 young Americans, training as cadets for officers, were viewing the Falls, and the battle grounds on the Canada side, &c. Fort EriCt Oct. 1 . — The weather for the last fortnight has been cloudy, dull, and coldish, but no rain of any consequence. Mr. Gait, the agent of the Canada Land Com- pany, has begun a settlement on the Grand River and near its head, which is settling fast, and chiefly by old country people; a few lately arrived from South America, whither they had emigrated, but left it dissatisfied. Roads are cutting to various points, and a canal is talked of. A town or city is commenced and proceeding fast, which is named Guelph, in honour of the Royal Family, that being their patronimic name. CHAPTER VIII. GENERAL HABITS, CUSTOMS, AND MODES OF CULTI- VATION PRACTISED BY ORIGINAL SETTLERS, DE- SCRIBED — THE VALUE OF CANADA TO GREAT BRI- TAIN THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN AL* EXTENT OF THE LAKES — STATE OP THE FORESTS PRODUCE OF THE ' LAND — AND OUTGOINGS AND PROFITS OF A FARM SHEWN. i The winter of 1827-8 was open and dry, and mills could not grind for want of water ; a wet cold spring followed. The alternate rain and frosts, without a snow covering, hurt the wheat and made it thin on the ground (indeed, every kind of grain is grown too thin in general in this country), and the warm weather coming on made it stool, or tiller, and run up too quick , when the hot dry weather caused it to mildew and rust, and of course thin in the grain. Have been busy during the winter and spring, in conjunction with NO KMIORATION. 101 WO towed t little of Niagara, his wife. I trust it in a more judicious ), training the battle * fortnight n of any and Com- and near d country I, whither loads are A town is named eing their P CULTI- l£RS, D£- EAT BRl- T OF THE i OF TIIF, A FARM r nills could followed, iring, hurt jed, every I country), tiller, and used it to in. Have iction with a partner, erecting a saw mill, to saw black walnut-tree for furniture. The summer of 1828 various and changeable ; some very hot days, but generally pleasant, with showers. The wheat crop, throughout the two provinces, and the northern and western States, is a very inferior one, and I believe, in some measure, so in England, which has caused it to rise here to 4s. 6d. in the west, and 65. or 7s. in the east and Lower Canada. Indian corn is excellent, and also all other spring crops, and hay. I'he scarcity of wheat has caused cash to be given for it by the merchants in all parts of the province ; and in the London district, where the crops of wheat are tolerably good, numbers of fresh storekeepers have started, the consequence is, the fall of merchandize full one-third, particularly in dry goods. A general election this summer, which occurs every four years, if not sooner dissolved. At the one for the county of Middlesex, where there was a spirited opposition continued the whole week (which is the extent allowed bylaw) without any great advantage on either side, no vulgar abuse was used; in other respects it was carried on similar to ours in England, drinking, occasional fighting, &c. ; the latter of which arose not from political quarrels, but private drunken squabbles. I have sometimes read of travellers in this country being in danger of their lives, through the woods being on fire all around them ! but I believe they have, fortunately, always been able to escape to tell the wonderful stories. The fact is, it is only the leaves, and rotten logs, that take fire in the woods; and it is almost needless to add, there is no personal risk from them whatever, the smoke only being a little annoying. But if the wind should be brisk in a dry time, fences, and sometimes buildings, are in danger of these running fires. Bees thrive remarkably well, often producing three or four and sometimes more swarms from one hive ; they gather a good deal of honey from the woods, and there are often swarms fly into the woods and take up their abode in a hollow tree, which the settlers chop down, and take their honey at the proper season. Honey is worth from three pence half-penny to five pence per pound. Many of the Canadians, Americans, and settlers are rather improvident and wasteful ; this, I think, may be traced to habits, in- duced by the peculiar circumstances in which they were I. '■-*.. i! 102 EMIGRATION, OR unavoidably placed at the first settlement of the country ; and like all other habits, not easily shaken ofF. The public prints at this period more than hinted that Great Britain intended giving up this fine province to the United States for an equivalent ; and although many persons deemed the apparent inattention of the government to the importance of Canada, a sanction to the lUmour, it was too absurd to be seriously thought of by any reflecting person. During the late war, the noble stand made by the inhabi- tants, shewed the value they placed upon British laws and protection, and proved that they do not want a separation, if treated with justice and liberality ; they quickly fire, if any attack is made on their freedom and privileges, but they are as loyal as any county in England. At the commencement of the late war, the province was invaded by the Americans in great force, who had the choice of points of attack : they burnt several places, and expected an easy conquest, from the un- prepared state of defence ; yet with scarcely 1 000 regular troops, and undisciplined militia, drawn from a population of 50,000 men, (scarcely one to a square mile) they guarded a line of 500 miles, and eventually repelled their assailants. The conduct of the Americans in that war has drawn the bonds of con- nexion closer to England, and the additional population, cultivation, resources, commerce, and revenue of the coun- try, will become of such importance, as to render the pos- sessors of Canada virtually sovereigns of the sea ; therefore to yield this province to " the most restless and ambitious nation on the globe," would be to enable them to become conquerors of all our other possessions in America and the West Indies, and render it unnecessary for them to sup- plicate a favour from any power in the world. There are ample proofs that the lakes and bodies of water in these extensive countries, have covered a much larger space than they now occupy ; for the mountain, as it is generally called, which runs by Queenston to Ancaster (and onward north-west) within a few miles of the south of the head of Lake Ontario, approaching it at its extreme point, is evidently an original bank of Ontario. The be^s of gravel and sand, in courses, the washed muddy clay, and indeed the sub-soil in general, between the mountain and the present boundary of the lake, as well as the off-sets and broken fragments that tumble from the mountain sides, and the level table land above, all coincide to prove the fact. How far this NO EMIGRATION. 103 ountry ; ed that ! to the persons it to the was too person. inhabi- iws and ation, if , if any hey are icement icans in jy burnt the un- r troops, • 50,000 e of 500 conduct of con- mlation, le coun- he pos- herefore nbitious become and the to sup- )f water I larger IS it is er (and of the B point, f gravel leed the present broken he level far this original bank has extended on the States' side, I have not the means of knowing, — but it is the same at Lockfort, where the locks are situated, on the Erie Canal. It is possible the head of the Mohawk and Hudson River were within its boundary ; and perhaps the tremendous Kaatskill mountains formed the outline on that side. In Canada it may be traced a considerable distance with the eye from the lake. This bank is in some places more than 300 feet high. At the back of Kingston, thirty or forty feet, or perhaps more, above the present high water-mark of the lake, there are places where the rock is not only quite bare of soil, but the interstices washed out, and chasms have been also made, evidently by the washing of the water over this part, ex- actly similar to the rock at the bottom of the lake, near Fort Erie, which is often laid bare by a strong east wind blowing the water back up the lake. The water in the lakes this winter has fallen to the gene- ral level, or rather lower, which may be attributed to the extraordinary dryness of the fall and winter, and the almost constant westerly winds, which have blown so much of the water down, and consequently out of the lakes. So dry has it been, that now, at the latter end of January, there has been so little rain or snow that the swamps are as com- pletely dry as they were during the last summer, and mills cannot grind on many of the creeks for want of water : the season, for mildness and pleasant clear weather, was hardly ever known to be equalled, except four years ago. It is generally believed that the seasons are much more temperate of late years than at the first settlement of the province. In December last, a large piece of the rock over which the water pours at the Niagara Falls, gave way ; the noise and shock, it is said, were heard and felt at Chippawa. It has somewhat altered its appearance ; the horse-shoe is now deeper and more circular. 'Oct, 10. — Sailed again in a schooner for the west, from Fort Erie, late at night ; as high a wind came on as I almost ever witnessed. Our little vessel bounded off the rolling surges, without shipping any seas ; but our sails being old, all gave way, and at day-light we had not a single sail left ! The consequence was, we were fast drifting ashore in a direct line for a reef of rocks, that run out near a mile from a point of land ; we used every exertion to round this point, l2 104 EMIGRATION, OR as there was a good harbour there for anchorage, where numbers of schooners had already run in, and three steam boats ; one of the former stuck for a moment on its point, but the swells washed her over. As we found we could not accomplish our object, we had no alternative, but to put the vessel about, and run ashore on the sand beach, just above the reef, which was done in a very favourable spot ; on ap- proaching the shore, the swells were so large and short, that her stern was raised, and her bows driven under water ; but on striking the bottom, she rebounded ; and after striking two or three times, was driven close to the beech ; so that watching the retreat of the waves, we all jumped out without being above our knees in water. We then instantly turned too at our merchandize, both sailors and passengers, the latter being the owners of the goods on board ; nearly half we had accomplished, when through hunger, and fatigue in the water, we had to desist awhile, and procure other help from the neighbouring settlers ; twenty or thirty of whom came before night, and we then soon cleared the vessel of the remaining goods, which were considerably damaged by the water breaking over the vessel into the hold, and as the rolling had sprung some of the planks on her side. We had to remain a week in the neighbourhood, until another schooner was procured to take us off. After clear- ing the vessel, she was driven ** high and dry " as they term it, being on the subsiding of the storm sixteen or eighteen yards from the water ; forty or fifty hands were procured, and the vessel raised on blocks, to have her planks fastened and caulked, which was done in ten or twelve days, and she was once more launched into her element. Several schooners were driven ashore from their anchors in various parts of the lake, and one of them quite into the wood, so violent was the storm ; but I have heard of no total wrecks. Arrived safe at Port Stanley or Kettle Creek, where there are two piers just finished^ to keep the sand from blocking the mouth of the river ; but it is so much exposed, that the entire accomplishment is very doubtful. Lake Erie also has had a more extreme boundary than at the present time, which is particularly evident at both ends of it, and as high up as Long Point, from the lower end, and nearly or quite across to Lake Ontario. I should sup- pose, by the sandbanks and other evident former boundaries, NO EMIGRATION. 105 where e steam 3 point, ould not put the it above on ap- )rt, that er; but striking ch ; so ped out astantly iengers, nearly i fatigue her help f whom essel of aged by and as ie. dy until )r clear- as they teen or [Is were r planks twelve element. :hors in into the d of no ) Creek, ad from ixposedj than at »th ends 'er end, Id sup- ndaries, that the water in Lake Erie has stood thirty or forty feet higher than now. The Indians have a tradition, that both lakes formerly joined. This fall (1828) has been unusually sickly at the lower part of the province, particularly near the shores of Lake Ontario, supposed to be in consequence of the very extraor- dinary high water in the lakeS this season,* being three or four feet higher than was ever known before on both the lakes ; but the generally high banks of Erie prevented any ill effects. There has been a report that the high water was caused by the breaking away of some portion of the land- barrier in the river between Lake Superior and Huron. May 1, 1829. — Winter mild, dry, and open till the middle of February, when we had a little snow and some sharp frost, but no rain, and the frost not steady ; indeed, only si few days sleighing together, occasionally, till the latter end of March, when the snow entirely cleared off; and some few showers of rain came about the 1st of April; but the swamps have not been filled at all this spring. July 18. — The month of May was rather hot throughout; therm, as high as 86** at times, which brought on the crops very rapidly. June, and up to the present time, cool, plea- sant weather; therm. 10" below what it was in May. All kinds of crops good, particularly the wheat, which is elegant, as the Americans term it, and of very superior quality. There is a great variety of timber in this country : a short sketch of the most valuable, and the uses to which it is ap- plied, is subjoined. It generally stands pretty thick on the ground, from one to six or eight yards apart. — White oak, good for shipbuilding, staves, and square timber for exporta- tion, wheelwrights, coopers, &c. Red and swamp oak, fit for rails and other inferior purposes, but bad to burn. Pine, for shingle boards and other lumber, building, &c. Black walnut, cherry and curled maple, for cabinet work. Young hickory, for flails, axe-handles, handspikes and horsewhips, hoops, &c. Basswood (lime-tree or linden), used by coach and chair makers, for its lightness, and for bars instead of • It is generally asserted and believed, that the water in the lakes rises annually for seven successive years, and then gradually sinks that number, alternately. That it has been rising the last two years, is a fact. * 106 EMIORATIOK; OR gates, — holes being made in the posts to let them inside^ which are used in the new settlements : basswood bark, for ropes. Butternut-tree and cedar, for bar-posts, &c. Sugar maple and two other sorts, for firewood. Chestnut and white wood, for boards, and the former, with two or three sorts of ash and hickory, for rails. Hemlock and oak bark, for tanning. Buttonwood (sycamore), beech, two sorts, elm, two sorts, birch, two sorts, locust, balm of Gilead (very large), sassafras, juniper, tamrisk, &c. Trees here, in general, are not so tough as in England, except those that stand open and exposed. The method pursued, on going into the woods (or bush, as it is termed) to settle, is, to clear a proper site for a house, and cut logs for that purpose into proper lengths. This can be done in a week by one person. He then invites his neighbours to raise it, which they will do in a day. He has then to build a chimney ; the bottom of stones, the top wattled with small lath wood, and plastered with tem- pered clay 3 the hearth to be laid with stones, if bricks are not made in the neighbourhood. [They are made in all the old settled parts, and sold at about from 23s. to 305. per thousand.] Boarded floor, — the boards to be procured at a saw-mill, if one be near 5 if not, some split and hewed logs will answer the purpose.* If the settler arrives on his lot in the spring, which is best, or early in the summer, he next clears off a piece of ground for potatoes, and corn the first summer, by chopping the trees down about four feet from the ground j he then cuts them into fourteen feet lengths, and throws their heads into brush heaps, hauls the logs into heaps, six or eight in each, with a yoke of oxen, and a hand or two to help ; he then burns them, as well as the brush heaps, and preserves the ashes, if a potashery be in the neighbourhood, f Observe, when felling the trees. * Saw and grist mills cost from 180i. to 600/. in erecting, according to the expense in making the dam, and the manner in which they are finished. A single saw, with plenty of water, will cut from 800 to 2000 feet per day, according to the water-power and the kind of wood, which sells at the mills at from 20s. to 35s. per 1000 feet superficial measure. t Ashes are generally preserved in little log houses made on the spot for the purpose, to be kept dry for sale in the winter, to merchants, at od. per busnel, or to steep them yourself in water, and Ix^l the lye until evaporated to black salts (coarse potash^, to be sold at from 9t, to IBs. ¥ r inside, Dd bark, sts, &c. hestnut rith two ock and , beech, st, balm isk, &c. Cngland, bush, as a house, s. This 1 invites in a day. ones, the ith tem- ricks are ido in all r. to 30^. procured id hewed rrives on summer, and corn t)out four rteen feet bauls the of oxen, is well as ishery be he trees. according :h they are )0 to 2000 Dod, which measure, n the spot nts, at 5d. lye until 98. to IBs. NO EMIGRATION. 107 to bring them down alongside each other as much as pos- sible, and their heads where you make the brush heaps ; and be careful they do not fall on yourself, for should one lodge on another that is standing, it is dangerous get- ting it down, to one unacquainted with the business ; be- sides, the boughs breaking, are often propelled back with great force. There are too often people killed by trees in new settlements, where several are at work together, and all new beginners. Plant the corn and potatoes without ploughing, as before described. Now clear more land in the same way for wheat, to be sown in the fall ; and after- wards some for oats, next spring, for the cattle — each to be only harrowed in, without any ploughing. Settlers generally sow Timothy grass among the wheat or oats, but red clover is far preferable by itself or mixed with the former, or (could it be procured) good rye or vernal grass. White or Dutch clover generally springs up in n year or two, spon- taneously on some land, yet perhaps it would be better to sow it if it could be procured, as it would come immediately, and be more uniform. A good chopper will chop an acre or more of moderately heavy timber in a week, and in making a bee for logging, four or five acres can be drawn into heaps in a day, by giving about 4s. or 5s. worth of whiskey and something to eat ; but of course you must assist at the bees of others if required. There are generally plenty of people willing to go to bees, for the sake of the company and the whiskey, and frolic at night. They work briskly at these bees, and in good humour, striving against each other. To a person who is about to settle on entire woodland, I would recommend the following system : after well clearing a few acres in the immediate vicinity in which the house is intended to be built, and all round, that the trees left standing may be at sufficient distance to be out of danger of falling on it, and a small piece fenced off for cattle to lie in at night, out of the same danger, in windy weather ; then cut down, on ten or fifteen acres, the small and decayed trees per cwt. Prices vary according to the demand in England. When potash brings a good price, and the land to be cleared has those sorts of timber growing on it the most proper for the purpose, the ashes will often pay for clearing the laud. If not preserved at all, land can be hired, to be chopped, logged, burned, and fenced, at from 45i. to 52«. per acre. * 108 EMIGRATION, OR and underbrush t burn them, and girdle the remainder of the trees ; sow this ground with wheat early in the fall, or part with oats in the spring, and with them clover, and a small quantity of grass seeds mixed ; the clover grass to be mowed the first year or two, and grazed afterwards. Do the same the next year with some more, for six or seven years in succession, and likewise clear a small piece quite off, for corn and potatoes, cabbages, &c. in front of the house, and next to the road or street. In about six or seven years the roots of the trees will be rotten, and some of the girdled ones fallen; then begin and chop down ten or fifteen acres of these girdled trees, yearly, in a dry time, felling them across each other to break them into pieces ; put fire into them in various parts of the field, and it will burn most of them up ; what little may be left unconsumed, must be collected into heaps and burnt. It is necessary to keep a watch over the fences while this is going on, that they do not take fire. After this you may plough and plant what you please, as generally the ground will be in pretty good condition. This system is pursued in some plains, and ought to be more generally adopted, particularly the first few years of entering upon an entire wild farm, on account of the little trouble at a time there is so much else to do. But some object, and say there is too much danger that the cattle will be killed by the falling of the girdled trees, and the fences also broken. To which I answer, cattle need not be near them, only a little in the fall of the first two years, as the clover and grass will be mown for hay ; and they may be put there only in still weather afterwards, and in the day time ; and as to the fences, after cutting out the decayed standing trees, and a few of those that stand near, and have an inclination towards them, there will be but few, if any, rails broken by their falling ; and if there should be a few, they can soon be replaced, as one man will cut and split five or six rods of fence in a day, and put it up, if the tim- ber be good. In choosing a farm, or lot of wild land, or indeed, aiiy land in this country, it should always be first ascertained if there be plenty of good rail timber growing thereon, such as oak, hickory, ash, cedar, chestnut, pine, butternut, cherry, and black walnut ; but good trees of the two latter kind, I would never use for that purpose, as they now are useful, and will be in a few years very valuable, for NO EBIIORATION. 109 inder of ) fall, or iTj and a ass to be ds. Do [)r seven }ce quite It of the or seven e of the i ten or Iry time, pieces; id it will msumed, essary to on, that ^nd plant in pretty ght to be years of the little But some he cattle and the ed not be years, as they may id in the 3 decayed and have r, if any, be a few, and split the tim- land, or s be first • growing mt, pine, ies of the ij as they uable, for furniture, &c., as there are, comparatively speaking, but few in the country, and none much below the head of Lake Ontario, of walnut. Nor would I recommend wasting fine straight white oak that is growing near any water commu- nication, as it is valuable for staves, &c. And the sugar maple tree, if growing in what is called bushes, that is a number together, should never be wantonly destroyed, as it is a useful and valuable appendage to a farm. If the above system be adopted, there will be but very little plough- ing the first few years, and only one yoke of oxen be re- quired. But should it be thought prudent to clear all the timber ofiF the land at once, it should always, as much as possible, be sown the first or second year with clover, or clover and grass seeds, to lay until the stumps are rotten before being ploughed ; when fire should be put into each stump, and the greater part will burn up. Near towns and villages, almost all kind of wood is valuable as cord wood for fuel, and when drawn in, sold at from 6s. 9d. to 95. or 10s. per cord. Good pine, growing near a lake, or river com- municating with one, is becoming valuable. Near the Otter Creeks, land can be had cleared for the pines growing theiccn. I have sometimes heard it asserted in this country, that a farm cannot be cultivated to a profit in America, if the whole of the labour done on it be hired, which I am con- ^ fident is erroneous. That some are not, in the way they are managed, I i^tdily (admit ; but that, under judicious management, they cannot be, — my little experience con- vinces me of the contrary. To make it intelligible, I will state the whole hired expenses, and the value of the pro- duce of a small farm for a year ; and if it can be proved that a profit, however small, may be made on the cultivation of seventy acres only, of cleared land, when the labour is all hired, it will appear evident that a worthy farmer and two or three sons doing all, or onlj part of this work, must be improving his circumstances, and that a larger farm may be managed to a proportionate profit. A farm of good land can be purchased on, or about Talbot Street, or almost any where in the western part of the province, and the back settlements of the middle parts, at from 2i dollars (Us. 3c?.) to 5 dollars (22s. 6c?.) per acre, and at but a moderate advance, exclusive of buildings, according to situation, &c., in any part of the province. I have calculated the state- ment in dollars at 4s. 6d. sterling. no EMIGRATION, OR A farm of 200 acres ; 70 cleared ; with a good log, or small frame house, or barn, and a young orchard, &c. ; 2^ acres, say at 4 dollars, or 185. per acre, 800 dollars, or 180i. ; — 100 dollars, or 22^ 10s. paid down as part of the purchase, and 22^ 10s. yearly, and interest until paid, of the remainder. A person with 2001. may settle very comfortably on such a farm, and cover all necessary outgoings ; and the following items would be required. As stock, &c., two yoke of oxen, one well broken yoke, 45 dollars, one yoke steers, unbroken, 35 dollars . Three ox chains, 12dollars; two yokes, 3 dollars ; sled, 5 dollars A horse (or brood mare) to ride, go to mill, &c., plough between potatoes, corn, &c •Light Jersey waggon, second hand (a new one would be 65 dollars), with spring seat, both for pleasure and profit, 50 dollars ; harness, 10 dollars ; and saadle, 15 dollars . Two ploughs, 18 dollars ; harrows, 6 dollars ; two axes, 5 dol- lars; hoes, &c. 3 dollars Six cows at 15 dollars each, six calves and heifers at 5 dollars Two sows, 6 dollars ; thirty store pigs at 1 dollar each Twenty sheep at 1^ dollar each Geese, fowls, &c., 5 dollars Household furniture — three beds and bedding, 50 dollars ; tables, 10 dollars ; crockery, 10 dollars ; pots and kettles, 10 dollars ; clock, 15 dollars ; common chairs, ^ dollar each ; painted Windsor ones, one to two dollars each, say 10 dollars The first deposit, towards payment of farm .... Dollars. 80 ■ 20 50 75 32 120 36 25 5 V. 117 100 148L 10s., or 660 ds. One year*s outgoings and offenses. Girdling ten acres of vvoods, clearing out the finderbrush and fern, 5 dollars per acre 50, -^ Seed wheat for the same (H bushel per acre), at | dollar '\^^. per bushel sT'" Sowing and harrowing of ditto Ten acres wheat sown after peas, ploughing 2 dollars per acre Seed as above, 9 dollars j sowing and harrowing 5 dollars Cradling and binding the 20 acres, at 1^ dollar per acre Carting and stacking, 23 dollars Thrashing 360 bushels, at one-tenth of a dollar . Suppose ten acres of clover sown the year before with oats at 7 lbs. per acre (often only three or four lbs. sown) . Mowing first crop early clover for hay, | dollar per acre ; getting together, 1 dollar (it wanting no making), and haul- ing together. If dollar Mowing the second crop for seed, &c Thrashmg the seed, two bushels produce per acre, at 1 dollar per bushel Ten acres ploughed for peas, 2 dollars per acre (often done for 1]^ dollar); seed for ditto, three bushels (generally only two), at ^ dollar per bushel 35 t 5 20 23 27 8 20 nail frame t 4 dollars, . 10s. paid erest until omfortably I following Dollars. 80 20 50 75 . 32 rs 120 . 36 . 25 5 'J rs 117 . 100 or 660 ds. H. M id ' I • 50.a ar • r- • 5 ' re 20 • • u- • 23 27 at • 8. e; * al- • ^ • ^ /.^^^ lar -" • 20 for ' »). 35 NO EMIGRATION. Ill Brought forward . . 311 ds. Sowing and harrowing, 5 dollars; thrashing 50 bushels, 3 dollars 8 [The remainder, 150, give to hogs in the straw unthrashed, if the straw be not good for sheep and cattle (t. e. not got well) ; but if good, I would recommend it being given to the sheep, lightly thrashed, as the very best food to be had here for them, and which they are very fond of]. Four acres of oats for calves, sheep, milch cows and horse, the seed three bushels per acre, at |; dollar per bushel, 3 dollars ; ploughing, &c. 10 dollars 13 Six acres com, ploughing twice, 18 dollars; planting and har- rowing, 4 dollars ; twoTioeings, 9 dollars ; ploughing between . the rows, 2 dollars ; husking, &c. 12 dollars ; hauling and thrashing, and seed, 10 dollars 65 Eight acres in Timothy, or other grass, for hay, mowing and stacking, as for clover . 24 Twelve acres in sheep pasture Two acres for potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and other vege- ' tables for house (chiefly), sheep, calves, &c.; hiring a stout boy at 5 dollars per month, and board for a year, to attend ♦ cattle, milk, &c 100 ^ To the above expenses may be added one year's interest of the / Surchase money, yet unpaid; being 6 per cent, on 700 ollars 42 Total 563 Produce of the 70 acres. Twenty acres of wheat, at eighteen bushels per acre (some- times thirty), at | dollar per bushel .... Ten acres of clover seed, at two bushels per acre, and seven dollars per bushel .*.«•. Six acres of Indian corn, at 25 bushels per acre, 150 bushels, at J dollar ....•• Thirty store pigs * (for fattening next season) . . Thirty fat hogs, weighing, at least, 200 lbs. each (or one barrel), thirty barrels, at 12 dollars per barrel Six cows, butter and cheese for summer . . . A yoke of fat oxen, 60 dollars (besides a cow or two killed for the house) Twenty lambs 20 dollars, and twenty fleeces of wool 20 dollars Geese, feathers, eggs, fowls, &c, . . , . . One year's farm produce Ditto expenses .... 270 140 Surplus 75 30 360 60 60 40 10 1045 563 482 * Five bushels of Indian corn, or peas, will fatten a fresh store hog, or keep one through the winter ; they get their living in the woods and pastures during the summer, also during the winter, when nuts are plentiful, which generally happens three years out of five. r. ■ p. >l If I t>i 1 M i ^>« 112 EMIGRATION, OR With the beef and vegetables allowed above, 282 dollara will keep a family of four or five persons well during the year, leaving a clear profit of 200 dollars, or 45/., be- sides the improvement of the farm ; and if hemp or tobacco were made part of the productions, the profits, probably, would be larger. No one that is well acquainted with Canada will, I think, say that I have made a partial state- ment. Some may think I have stated the number of fat hogs on so small a farm in one season, too high, as there are but a very fc-v ^'ii-mers that fatten so many. I allow there are not many ; yet as there are some that do, and as I have allowed sufficient grain for the purpose, if there be any nuts at all in the woods, that objection, of course, falls to the ground. It would be to the interest of the Canadian farmers, particularly those in back settlements, to pay more attention than they now do, both to the breed- ing and feeding of hogs. There is too little spirit and taste for improvements, for want of a proper stimulus. As there is comparatively but little capital vested in farming pursuits, there are no leading characters to introduce, or excite, a spirit of improvement. For this purpose I would strongly recommend the immediate establishment of agri- cultural societies in each district. They have been esta- blished in Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Bruns- wick, as well as in the United States, with very general success and benefit to the community ; and as the Upper Canadians have an emulative spirit, I tim confident their in- troduction would produce a spirit of enterprise equal to that of any country. If farms were set apart in each district for the purpose, and conducted by a competent person, the most approved system of farming introduced, and the im- proved breeds of cattle, sheep, &c., selected and imported, with superior implements of husbandry, and clover, grass, and other seeds cultivated, with an annual exhibition and sale by auction of the same, and appropriate premiums given for agricultural improvements, &c. the best effects would cer- tainly result to the whole community, and particularly to the agricultural part of it. And if these farms, stock, &c. were judiciously arranged, I think they might be made even a profitable concern. Hemp, tobacco, and clover seed, may be made enriching staple articles in the western part of the province, and to the advantage of the trade of Great Britain. The finest no mr. RATION 113 12 dollars 1 during 15/., be- r tobacco probably, ted with ial state- er of fat as there I allow 0, and as if there f course, !t of the ments, to le breed- pirit and ilus. As L farming }duce, or e I would ; of agri- een esta- V Bruns- y general he Upper their in- al to that h district >r9on, the i the im- imported, er, grass, n and sale given for rould cer- arly to the , &c. were ie even a enriching e, and to Fhe finest c\o\ er seed -m be rai^^ed, anA, by the agency of thrashing machines, i> uugbt • marktt early enough to be shipped to Europe a the s. ae season. There is a species of wild cotton growing about the fields, which, of an improved kind, perhaps, might be of some service in stuffing mattrasses, &c. or to the manufacturer. Every person must perceive the great advantages of the provinces of Canada over the United States, with regard to a market for the produce of the two countries. Canada can export to Great Britain timber, grain, whiskey, pork, hemp, clover, tobacco, and any other produce at all times, on paying a trifling duty ; while the States often cannot export some of the above articles to Britain at all, except through Canada; and then, and in every other case, by paying higher duties than the Canadas. CHAPTER IX. DEPARTURF. FROM UPPER CANADA TO QUEBEC, AND RETURN TO ENGLAND. • July 22, 1829. — Left the western part of the province with a vessel load of lumber for the lower part, by the way of Fort Erie and the Falls, landed on the 24th, and forwarded the lumber by Durham boats to Chippawa, eighteen miles, to be drawn in waggons across the Portage. August 18. — Arrived at Kingston in a steam boat from Niagara and York, (a considerable influx of new store- keepers into York this season), and left it on the 20th for Prescott, down what is called the river, having the main land on the left, broken into numerous little bays and inlets. On the right hand, hundreds of islands of all sizes, from eight or ten miles across, to as many rods only. We some- times passed between two of them, so near each, that an active person could almost leap from the steam boat deck on either hand. These islands are still retained in tlie hands of government, generally; and are not inhabited, being in most places too barren, except on the south sides, where some squatters have made clearings, and settled, for making rafts. . - - ■' Stopped a few minutes at some places in our passage down. Brockville is a handsome improving village, with two M 114 EMIGRATION, OR churches, and a number of good stone-built houses. Stone wall fepce is a new feature, and well cleared fields appear more like England, than this new country. The land is kindly and good, with a fine slope from half a mile back to the river's edge, which is more than a mile across, and nearly uniform banks. The Canada side appears the best cleared and settled, with large field of twenty acres each, free from stumps, but not from stones ; and the grpss, although the weather is dry and hot, has a freshness not common at this time of year. Very fine situations as far as Prescott, with good substantial farm houses. • ' v: .• ">r*' t .n-weJ:* August 24. — Arrived at Ogdansburgh, nearly opposite Prescott, on the States side the river, a town much larger than Prescott, but not so thriving, from the latter place being the lowest part of the river that lake-vessels and steam boats can run to ; of course, the produce is landed to be put in Durham boats and batteaux for Montreal, and the passengers go by the same or the stages. The latter run every day in the week, except Sunday, during summer; steam boats also arrive every day from dififerent parts of the lake and bay of Quintre. The charge 31s. 6d. to Montreal, 140 miles, by stage and steam boats, in one day. Almost all the villages are commercial ones, and thrive .or decay according as traffic and trade increase, or are directed into other channels. When the Rideau Canal is finished, this place will cease to thrive. Houses are built of stone chiefly, and some pretty large. Excellent wharfs and warehouses both here and at Brockville, also three churches, and a Methodist meeting house, very near each other. The English and Scotch churches are built exactly of the same pattern, one on each side ; the other is Roman Catholic. ^ Some of the land about Prescott is very good red loam Ml a lime stone rock, some indifferent, and others bad; sandy banks or swampy hollows, and in places covered with fragments of rock ; the wheat crops are all just in, but corn not near ripe, a fortnight later than in the south-western part of the province. Clover and grass grow on this loamy soil very luxuriantly, but the farms are not well managed, as there is not much of either skill or capital employed in agriculture, most other trades and branches of industry, being conducted with more advantage. Snow here last winter was four feet ; two and a half at York, and ten or twelve in the west. > - : v^ n ■ ?: v < c VO EMIORATIOK. \l Stone appear land is >ack to nearly cleared 9e from igh the tnon at rescotti jpposite larger place els and nded to and the ;ter run immer ; s of the ontreal, Almost >r decay ;ted into led, this I chiefly, rehouses , and a r. The he same bolic. ed loam )rs bad; red with but corn •western is loamy lanaged, »loyed in ndustry, lere last d ten or A considerable number of emigrants arriving up from Mon- treal, in Durham boats ; all of them going to the upper part of the province, chiefly Highland Scotch and Irish ; some of tolerably decent, respectable appearance, others a picture of squalid poverty. Some have no point fixed as their destination ; others have, near some friends come before. One party for Talbot Street, were going to Bur- lington at the head of the lake, when they would have 100 miles of land carriage to haul their luggage ; while by Queenston, Chippawa, and Lake Erie, there are only eight miles by land. August 30. — Left Prescott for Montreal, with several other passengers in a batteau or Canadian boat, in pre- ference to the stage and steam boats, both for cheapness of passage (4s. 6d. only), — and particularly to see the Rapids, which we had to go down. The country has a fine appearance along the river, and land appears good, except in a few places. On coming to each Rapid, the boatmen (French Canadians) being Roman Catholics, perform slight and quick acts of ceremonial devotion, the captains or conductors particularly, there being danger in some of them, for, should they not keep directly in the proper chan- nels down these shoals, or the boatmen not keep the vessel steady and head-foremost, they are indeed almost certain to be upset and lost. These Rapids are very grand, and repay fbr once what risk there may be in going down them, and in fine weather, with a good boat and experienced men, I do not conceive there is much danger. The Long Saut, a rapid of nine miles in length, is very narrow and swift; this distance, it is said, with a light loaded boat and wind favourable, has been run in fifteen minutes, but it took us full double that tinke. Crossed two small lakes, in places quite shallow ) steam boats ply across them. Both sides pf the St. Lawrence are in Canada. In Lower Canada the houses are all built in the French fashion, and occupied by French Canadians. A house nearly every hundred yards ftlong the river banks, chiefly of one story, with long roofs, and one door in front j two windows on one side of the door, and one on the other, and two or three at the ends of the house ; and garrets. Many stud built and lath plas- tered, and often rough cast and white- washed. Their barns are thatched; but in a rough manner ; the Americans call it shingling with straw ! The Canadians are tolerably neat 116 EMIGRATION, OR and clean in their houses, and excepting the boatmen, and a few of the lowest classes, in their persons also ; they are of a nankeen, fresh colour ; not many of them in the country speak much English. We have passed several smart vil- lages on our route : — Cornwall, in Upper Canada, Cota-du- lac and Lachine, in Lower Canada, are pleasantly situated, and apparently thriving by the trade from the Upper Province. Numbers of boats and batteaux going up, which, in the Rapids, have to be pulled and hauled with horses and oxen. In some places there are locks to go through in going up, to avoid the worst parts. It takes five or six days, and some- times more, going up from Montreal to Prescott, and two and a half down. Entered Lachine Canal, nine miles above Montreal. This canal is cut to avoid the Lachine Rapids ; the most dangerous and lowest on the river, of any importance. It is small, admitting only boats. The first night we put a shore after dark, at a tavern kept by a Dutchman, to sleep; and although the boatmen assured us he was a person of some property, he had miserable accommodations. The second night, stopped at Cotu-du-lac, at a French tavern ; a good house, but the beds all taken by travellers, and too late to seek farther, so we had some of us to be content with a " bunk," or a '' shake down," (sleep on a bed laid on the floor), no very uncommon thing for travellers in America. Warm weather of late, but some rain and thunder last night has cooled the air. Left Lachine in a caleche, or calash, drawn by one horse, to Montreal ; this was the first time I saw the pluck and spirit of the little Canadian or French horse. It is astonishing what heavy weights they draw, — thorough bottom, not handsome, thick, bony, and fat, with hairy fetlocks. In c^irting wood, stone, &c., about town, one person will manage three or more carts with one horse each : he drives the first, the others follow close after. The first tavern I stopped at in Montreal, I paid 4s. 6d. per day for board and lodging ; but after a few days I removed to another, with very good accommodations, at 25. 3d. per day. Montreal is a large and improving place, and of great trade. Merchants from the upper province come here once a year for ^ supply of merchandise for the coming year, and take the money for the last year's produce sent down. A considerable number of them are in the town at the present time. Some of the streets are too narrow, NO EMIGRATION. 117 particularly St. Paul's Street, in which a great deal of the wholesale business is done ; the footways only three or four feet wide. Some of the streets are tolerably well paved, others roughly ; and M'Adamising going forward in some of them. Houses are mostly of stone, neat, strong, and capacious ; and if it were not for their high sharp tinned roofs, would have much the appearance of a large town in England. No private warehouses ; goods are landed on a high made bank, and in some places on the beach of the river, and then hauled up to the warehouses. The immense accu- mulation of ice in the winter, has carried away some ware- houses that had been built. Several vessels from Europe, and steam-boats, are continually coming and going to va- rious parts up and down the river, and such is the opposi- tion by the two companies that run them between Montreal and Quebec, that each has one boat that carries passengers between the two places, 180 miles, in the cabin, and board, for 7s. 6d.y and the deck passengers for 6d. each only ! The most remarkable attraction in the place is the new Roman Catholic Church, the largest in America, and not surpassed in size by a great many in Europe, covering, it is said, an acre of land, and accommodating 12,000 people. It is truly a grand stone building, elegantly and substantially finished. '^ Sunday y Sept. 7. — At the Catholic Church, about six or seven thousand people. The sermon was in French ; con- gregation not large. I was also at the Episcopal church ; small and neat ; no sermon. I also stepped into the Methodist, and one of the Presbyterian meetings, which were well built places, and had considerable congregations ; shops all shut up, and no business going on. The first settlers were of course French (belonging to France when first settled), and a considerable portion yet remain so ; but most of the merchants and traders are Americans and Euro- peans — chiefly Scotch. The sides of the Canal locks, at Montreal, are built of hard cut stone (got somewhere in the vicinity); the bottoms are of the same material, and the locks and the masonry excellent. Two large warehouses not far from its outlet, and three or four windmills. The fond- ness of the French Canadians for windmills is rather re- markable, when the river St. Lawrence, for 100 miles up, is full of rapids, and the water could easily be applied to any kind of machinery. A remarkable high mountain at the back of the town (Mount Royal, or Mont-re-all, as it is / 118 EMIGRATION, OR here pronounced), from which it derives its name ; it can only be ascended in a few places. It is broken into two heads, and an excellent road passes between them, and round the back of it, three or four miles in length. Its top and sides are covered with brushwood and small trees. In some places it is nearly a perpendicular rock, with broken fragments, and large masses lie tumbled and scattered at its base. It has evidently been overflown with water, and probably was, afterwards, an island in the original large lake, bounded, perhaps, by the New England and Kaatskill mountains, as before supposed. There are pleasant seats, owned by the merchants, be* tween the town and mountain, and round the foot of it. If not for the extremes of climate, this might be considered almost a paradise. Along the public road, round, and over part of the mountain, is a beautiful drive, having a fine perspective view of the town and country in every direction. The race-ground is on one side of the mountain, where the horses are daily training. There is a pack of fox- hounds kept in the neighbourhood of Montreal, and a hunting club established. On their first introduction, the Canadians thought the Europeans were all going mad ; and laughed at the ridiculous idea of being pleased by galloping after a fox ! Large auction sales of merchandise every day, the place full of bustle and business, and but few complaints ; scores of women are to be seen daily, along the sides of the river, above and below the tower, in the water, washing clothes among the huge stones, on which they beat the clothes with a kind of mallet, instead of rubbing them, and appear to use but little soap— an excellent way for the good of trade, as the clothes are soon pounded to pieces. The two markets are better supplied than most markets on the continent of North America, and goods reasonably cheap, particularly within these few years since, as there has been some spirit of enterprise excited by emigration. Attended an agricultural show, and was glad to perceive some interest taken in it by the attendance of farmers (or habitons) and thr inhabitants generally; and although but a small show, there were a few good Leicestershire sheep, and one or two good bulls, but the cows rather indi£ferent; a few good hogs, and a number of very useful brood mares and foals, some Canadian, and some English half-bloods. These are very useful institutions, and ought to be more extended X NO EMIGRATION. 119 it can to two n, and Its top !S. In broken ered at er, and \ large aatskill Dts, be- 'it. If isidered nd over ^ a fine irection. lere the •hounds ing club madians iighed at jr a fox ! ^e place ; scores he river, r clothes hes with !ar to use trade, as markets itinent of rticularly en some snded an t interest habitons) ; a small and one it; a few lares and s. These extended and patronised in both provinces. On some conspicuous part of almost every large farm hereabouts, there is a wooden cross set up, and ridiculously surmounted by a wooden weathercock. Crossing one of these farms, I saw a piece of sward land, manured with common farm dung ; the good effect was equal to any thing I had seen in Eng- land, although it was badly spread. A few years back, I am told, people hired others to take it out of the way, to either throw it into the river, or lay it in heaps out of town ! The large quantities of dung necessarily made in such a place as Montreal, and the apparently little value set upon it even now, by the heaps thrown into holes and treading to waste, — the goodness and cheapness of old cleared land, free from stumps (about 51. to 61. only per acre) in the neighbour- hood, — and the comparative plenty and low price of labour (30s. to 35s. and board per month), point this place out as an eligible part for enterprising farmers with some capital, for any kind of produce, and particularly, I think, for the raising of hemp and clover, as there are no taxes. Hemp grows very luxuriantly about yards and fences, and the labour required for manufacturing it for sale may be done in the winter, when other work is scarce, and labourers, of course, plenty ; and as government will purchase any quantity, and premiums are given, I think it would prove a most profitable speculation. A rope walk in connexion, would succeed excellently. Winter wheat is but little sown in Lower Canada as yet ; but a Canadian informs me he knew a small piece this season, that answered extremely well, much better than the spring wheat, yet farmers are afraid to try much on account of the severity of the winter ; but T think their fears are groundless, as the snow would preserve it. Several days racing, which were numerously attended. Some good horses, and carried on with con- siderable spirit, with a good deal of betting, and it is said, not a little jockeying. An English horse here, and two or three English jockeys. Houses in the city are covered with tin, cut in diamond shapes, and also the churches. It is very bright and durable, and the dryness of climate keeps it from rusting ; this, with sheet-iron shutters to the windows and doors, in the best streets, is a great preventive of fire. Sept. 2. — Was sultry, close, and warm, thermometer 30", some little rain came, and wind changed to the north-west ; and the nert morning it was chilling cold, then not much 120 EMIGRATION, OR ."m above 40°. Large floats of timber hourly passing down the river to Quebec, from the upper province. Sept,23.—Left Montreal, for Quebec, at eight o'clock at night, in the John Molson steamer, and arrived at three o'clock the following day; distance, 180 mUes ; paid 18s. for a cabin birth. The river St. Lawrence is truly called noble, and the scenery in many places along its banks is grand. Passed some smart villages and towns; and the roads are thickly studded with long-roofed, neat, white houses ; and the churches, with their tin-covered roofs and aspiring pinnacles glistening in the sun, have an enlivening appearance. It is a pity the river has so many obstructions to navigation at its upper part ; as, otherwise, it would be the most commercial stream in the world. There is only one slight rapid between Montreal and Quebec (the Richelieu), or indeed the Ocean, nearly 1000 miles, and that is only difficult for large rafts in adverse winds, its course being narrow, but deep. The tide running a little above it, there is no rapid at high water. Anticosta is a very large island, dangerous to navigation, lying across the gulf. Vessels of any size are now invariably towed up by steamers from Quebec to Montreal. For the timber trade, Quebec is of great and growing im- portance. This season, nearly 800 vessels have already arrived, and numbers are daily arriving, — too many, in- deed, as the lowness of the water in the rivers this spring has prevented a great portion of the best timber being brought to market. The consequence is a rise in price of from 50 to 100 per cent. The best of the timber growing near the shores of the St. Lawrence and lower part of Lake Ontario, has been brought to market ; and when the Upper Canada canals are 0|»ened, there will be a fine field for the industrious lumberer, in the immense forests of superior timber, growing on the shores of lakes Erie and Huron, and even Lake Superior, and their tributary streams, which are inexhaustible for centuries to come. ;^ \ The time is not far distant when vessels will be built on the Upper Lakes, 1500 miles from the sea, and freighted thence for Europe and the West Indies. Indeed, one is already built for that purpose, and is now plying on Lake Erie, waiting the completion of the canals. On approach- ing Quebec, the river for miles was lined along its sides with ships loading lumber. KO EMIGRATION. 121 »wn the :lock at it three ad 18s. y called banks is and the t, white )ofs and livening tructions (Tould be only one chelieu), ; is only se being it, there re island, 'essels of lers from wing im- already lany, in- lis spring )er being a price of growing t of Lake he Upper lid for the superior d Huron, ns> which built on freighted >d, one is ^ on Lake approach- its sides Quebec is situated on a point of land (Cape Diamond), on the north-west side of the river, and opposite to Point Lewis, nine miles above the falls of Montmorency, and five or six above the island of Orleans. The old town is a narrow, in- convenient, and dirty place: it is situated under the im- mense rocks of hard black stone, which rise almost perpen- dicularly in some places, several hundred feet, nearly all round the Cape ; its length is, extending upwards to Wolfe's Cove (the place where General Wolfe landed on taking Quebec) two miles, and downward to St. Roche, at the mouth of the St. Charles's River, two miles. Near the latter there are many new wharfs built, some ship-yards, steam, and saw mills, &c. The river St. Charles is a fine stream, running through an extensive vale of good land, open, cleared, and pretty well cultivated, partly by Scotch and Irish. Viewing this vale from the heights of Abraham, in fine weather, awakens recollections of a former view of one of the beautiful champaign vales of England. — The Upper Town is much better built, having wider streets, and is altogether more handsome: it is founded upon the above-mentioned rock, overlooking the Lower Town, the shipping, the country north of the Isle of Orleans, and Point Levi, across the river. The Upper Town is walled in, and is amazingly strong both by nature and art, particularly the citadel, on the highest and outermost point of Cape Diamond, and is still improving. Strangers are not allowed ingress to it, without a ticket. It is a second Gityraltar, and the key of the Canadas. There is a good garrison stationed here, who enliven the place daily with two or three bands of music. There is a small race-ground on the plains. Land in the neighbourhood appears very good, and cultivated chiefly by Scotch, I believe. The grass fields are more luxuriant than I expected, having that deep verdure so natural to England. I have noticed that the pasture land had a fresher appear- ance the lower I came down the province, attributable, per- haps, to the greater dampness of climate ; the approxima- tion to the sea has some effect, for there have been far more misty, foggy days together since I have been in Quebec, than I have ever seen in the Upper Provinces. The hedges about Quebec are of the native thorn, and grow well ; but they are badly managed, not having ditches to protect them ; and it is evident the people know nothing of improving by 122 EMIGRATION, OR cutting and plashing. Dogs are much used for drawing trucks, &c. and it is astonishing what weights they will haul up the steep roads to the Upper Town. As the assizes or courts of justice were open both here and at Montreal, I had an opportunity of witnessing the manner of conducting them, which is much the same as in England, with perhaps a little more so'emnity. As juries are generally a mixture of French and Europeans, it is necessary for the evidence to be interpreted in which ever language it be given in. The courts were crowded with spectators, who behaved with more becoming gravity and decorum than I have often seen in courts in England. Canadians on Sunday flock to their churches, with Prayer books in their hand, a decent deportment, and generally clean and neat, if not respectably attired. As Irish Catholics that emigrate, mostly go to the States, would it not be good feeling to settle them liberally in Lower Canada, where their own religious rites are performed ? They would make loyal subjects, and neutralize the political influence of the French Canadians, without exciting enmity, and probably introduce the English language and customs more generally. Attended an agricultural meeting two miles out of Que- bec, and was highly gratified by tho excellent show of cab- bages (drumheads), savoys, &c., carrots, beets^ turnips, potatoes, celery, onions, &c. and all good. A sample of Wheat, pretty good, but shorter than it grows in Upper Canada. Some tolerable samples of barley, and a kind called mountain barley; it is naked, and has some ap- pearance of large rye, but more of common barley, with its skin taken off; also good English oats. Fine apples, pears, &c. Ploughing, with cast iron ploughs, two hoi'ses abreast, and held without exception by old country people, Irish or Scotch, eight or ten ploughs, and the ploughing good. The Canadians generally use clumsy wheel ploughs, drawn by a yoke of oxen, and a horse for a leader. Some pretty good cattle shewn. The society consists altogether of settlers, or nearly so, and practical farmers. I was sorry to see so few people at it. There has been another show and ploughing match since, by another agricultural society, open to all competitors. It was well attended, and the Canadians joined in competition for the premiums. I am informed, the show of both cattle and vegetables would have been a credit to most countries. lo m EMIGRATION, OR NO EMIGRATION. 123 drawing* ;vill haul [)th here sing the me as in LS juries as, it is lich ever Jed with vity and id. - h Prayer Generally Catholics t not he la, where aid make ce of the probably generally. t of Que- wr of cab- , turnips, sample of in Upper id a kind some ap- •ley, with ae apples, wo hotses iry people, ploughing a ploughs, 3r. Some altogether was sorry Itch since, titers. It ompetition both cattle countries. To return to the former society, I will copy an extract respecting it from the Star Newspaper : " This is the third exhibition of this small society, which was formed about three years ago by a few of the most eminent practical farmers in the vicinity of Quebec. The constitution of this society requiring that the committee of management should always be composed of practical farmers. The original founders of the society have hitherto had the management of affairs ; and the manner in which it has been con- ducted, will be best appreciated by those who witnessed the exhibition on Friday last. There was, to be sure, besides the great improvement in ploughing, such samples of farm-stock, vegetables, grain, iScc. as are rarely to be met with in this part of the world. Several public-spirited individuals, who are not practical farmers, have from time to time en- rolled themselves as members, which strengthened the funds, and enabled the committee to extend the prizes this year beyond tlie two preceding ones. As great things often aiise from small beginnings, may this society continue to prosper, till it shall have raised a spirit of emulation amongst all classes of farmers, so as to have the effect of riising the agri* cultural character of Lower Canada to an equality in respect, with that of any other part of the world : then will it have fulfilled the wishes and intentions of its founders, and be an honour to their names after they have bade adieu to this world, and a lasting benefit to their offspring in after generations. I have often wondered that the Quebec Agricultural Society, having the command of the public money for the encourage-* ment of agriculture, should never have thought of giving any public aid to this society. It appears to me, that a little money laid out in this way would turn to good account. " Signed, » A Farmer." Great and general complaints are made by shippers and masters of vessels^ respecting the port regulations at Quebec, and the want of attention to their interests gene- rally. The want of light-houses in di£ferent parts of the Gulf, and river St. Lawrence in particular, is a great dis- advantage, and an annual loss of property and lives. Oct. 18.— Left Quebec for Old England j just five years from the day I left London for America. I go by the way of Limerick, because it is a shorter water passage, some- thing less risk, and at but little more expense, taking my journey across that kingdom into consideration ; as a passage to Ireland is less than to England : I should have had to pay to London or Liverpool, in the cabin, 12/., but I pay only 9/. for the same to Ireland, which is rather lower this season than usual, on account of the scarcity and lowness of freight. We fortunately cleared the Gulf with a north-west wind, and of course clear weather, in five days, which is rather quick ; and arrived in the Shannon in twenty-six days. i : ^ rt :^ : ^ r . :; ^ .'* ,.,x^. APPENDIX. No. 1.— OBSERVATIONS. Upper Canada, or that part between the great Lake, is in length from the lint' that divides it at Lancaster from Lower Canada on the north east, to Sandwich, south west, 500 miles, and its mean breadth, 140; containing 70,000 square miles, or 45,000,000 of acres of land. It is divided into ten districts, and in 1809 a law was enacted establishing a school in each district, in which the classics and mathematics are taught, the teacher to have a salary of 100/. ; there were eight established in 1810, others since; besides in 1816 common schools in every township, whose teachers I believe are each allowed a salary of fifty dollars from govern- ment, and what they can get from those parents sending children to them : these latter schools are very beneficial. A charter and funds have been granted by the home government for the erec- tion of a college in York, for the education of the youth of the province; there is thus every chance of procuring as good an education here, and at much less expense, than in England. No country is naturally better adapted for water carriage than Upper Canada, and should the canals now in contemplation be carried into efiect, there would be no country of the same extent equal to it in water communications, in the world. The follow- ing is a summary of particulars connected with the — Name. Ontario Erie Huron Michigan Green Bay Superior WESTERN LAKES. Length. Width. Depth. Elevation. Above what place. 180 miles 40 miles 500 feet 218 feet Three rivers 270 250 400 105 480 80 100 50 50 109 200 566 Albany 900 570 Tide Water Unknown Same as Huron 900 1048 Tidewater. The whole of these roposed canals would not, I believe, P _ be in anywise equal in length, though of greater magnitude, to those in the state of New York only. The Welland Canal, which to imite Lake Ontario with Lake Erie, to avoid the falls, is to IS be opened in the spring of 1830. Its course is placed at a distance from the Lines, to avoid interruption in case of a war, and enters Lake Erie high enough to have three weeks advantage of Buf- faloe, in opening the navigation in the spring — the latter place being blocked up so long by the masses of floating ice getting jammed in the narrows and shallows at the bottom of the lake. in length 'anada on its mean 5,000,000 in 1809 a in which to have a lers since ; e teachers n govem- g children barter and the erec- uth of the 13 good an land. rriage than iplation be ime extent rhe foUow- rewhat place. iree rivers Ibany de Water s Huron de Water. I believe, agnitude, to anal, which 3 falls, is to ,t a distance , and enters age of Bnf- latter place ice getting of the lake. APPENDIX. 125 The Rideau Canal,» begun two years ago by government, is cutting, to avoid the rapids of the river St. Lawrence, above Montreal, and is expected to be completed in two years. These two canals will give to the river St. Lawrence the greater part of the trade of upwards of COOO miles of coast, by the admission of schooners (and probably steamboats, ultimately), from the ocean through Lakes Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, with a trifling expense by locking a short rapid, to Lake Superior and Michigan. A canal is also completed on the States' side from Lake Erie, through Ohio State to Ohio River, which, with the Canals on the Canada side, will open a water communicdtion between Quebec and New Orleans, through the centre of America. The Welland Canal will unlock the energies of the west, — the granary of America! The greater part of the improvements in the province have been made since the war (Canada was hardly known in England before, and not now as it deserves). The influx of money at that period was a great, but short-lived, stimulus to its prosperity, as by it, and the derangement of trade and industry occassioned by the war, idleness and profusion were for a time induced. It is from the want of money (in coniunc- tion with a liberal emigration from home) being introduced in a proper, and of course a profitable manner, that this province is slower in its progress than any other new settled state. Ohio was settled about the same time as Canada, yet that State contains near five times the number of inhabitants, with towns of ten to twenty thousand each. Is it better situated for trade, or has it greater water comnmnication ? Not any, and will not be equal to Canada when the canals are completed. Is it superior in healthiness of climate ? On the contrary, those who have been at both places allow Canada has the advantage, and its soil fully equal, if not superior for general produce ; and that its markets are much superior I will shew, by an extract of the market prices in Ohio, compared with those of Canada : — Cents, in Ohio. Gents in Canada. Wheat - 33J to 37j - - 50 to 95 per bushel • Indian Com - 12 J only - - 50 ditto Potatoes 16i - - - 25 to 30 ditto Beef - 2 to 3 - 3 to 6 per lb. Pork - 2i only - 3J to 6 ditto Butter - 4 to 5i - - 10 toll ditto Eggs - 3 6 to 9 per dozen "Wool - 33J to 62^ - - 50 (generally) per lb. Tallow - 6i - - 8 to 12 ditto Whiskey 12§tol8i - - 25 to 50 ditto ♦ Farm labourers, who may emigrate to Upper Canada this summer, and the next, get immediate employment on the Ilideau Canal, as they are more used to digging and shovelling, than the Americans. Wages are generally from 45s., to 68s. 6d. per month, with board, and work more moderate than on English Canals. JJ ■ - ■ 126 APPENDIX. I would recommend thott jfljjl t intend to marry, to bring out wives with them, if they can ■JRood ones. Women are wanted ; and, although there is no verygreat scarcity, there are more males than females, which is the reverse of England; therefore it would be a pity to increase the number of the latter, already un- avoidably doomed to remain single; and besides, generally speaking, a man will find a woman of his own country more congenial to his habits and taste, as a wife, than any other. This is not a bad country for single females to come to as house servants, they will get from 20«. to 30«. a month ; and, if steady, industrious, and deserving, may probably soon (if they choose) become the mistress of a house of their own. Strong, handy boys will get the same wages per month, and board. The inducements held out by Canada to men of capital, com- bined with skill, are great, and equal to any country. Money can be invested in almost every kind of property- to advantage, if done with judgment : — in purchasing land, particularly near towns and villages that must increase; in building houses, mills, &c. ; in establishing breweries on a moderate scale ; in distilleries, fur- naces and forges, and all manufactures. Emigrants, who seek present conveniences, cash markets, and a moderately good soil, with a country in some measure cleared, and generally healthy, would do best to settle either near Port Hope, York, Niagara, or round the head of Lake Ontario ; but others, who prefer a more moderate climate, a richer soil, cheaper land, with the prospect of as good a market when the Welland Canal is in operation,* will probably go to the westward. People of most couunon useful tradei will find encouragement both as masters and journeymen ; good blacksmiths and tailors are in request, house-carpenters, plasterers, bricklayers, and brick- makers, shoe-makers, boat-builders, wheelwrights, coopers, &c. will find openings almost everywhere, and with wages equal to any part of the States ;t a few good innkeepers, to keep re- spectable houses, I think would succeed; and maltsters and brewers also. It is unnecessary to add more in proof of the great importance of Upper Canada, and other American Possessions, to England ; and the superiority of the former over the United States, for British emigrants. No. 2.— TAXES OF UPPER CAN/ DA. The taxes are very trifling in Upper Canada, and, I believe, chiefly expended in the county in which they are collected, for building bridges, court-houses and gaols, and defraying the ex- penses of the latter, A friend of mine, who owns 200 acres, informs me his taxes never exceeded 7s. Gd. in any one year. * The Welland Canal has been opened while this work was at press. t An Iiishman, a bricktayer, who came out this last spring, has been engaged in building a house this summer, at 6$. 9d. a day, and board, and a pint of whiskey ; most of the above trades in proportion. APPENDIX. 1-27 ng out anted ; males Itore it dy un- nerally more other, s house steady, choose) handy il, com- ney can if done ivns and &c. ; in ,es, fur- ets, and cleared, sar Port rio; but cheaper Welland agement d tailors id brick- >ers, Sec, equal to keep re- ters and iportance England ; ;ates, fur r believe, collected, g the ex- 00 acres, year. $ at press. , has been nd board, These trifling rates are mos^, levied on improvements. A common log-house pays nothings a 4iewn loe-housc a trifle, and a frame, or brick house, mori|J|i proportion. Two assessors are chosen, by vote, in each townsmp, at the yearly meeting held for that purpose and the choice ot other town ofiicers, and the makine of town laws respecting the liberty of cattle, fences, roads, &c. The other officers are, two collectors, a constable, church- warden, town clerk for keeping accounts, 8cc. and several road masters, and pound keeper. A farmer pays according to liis number of cattle, &c. which may be termed a property tax. No. 3.— RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. The Church of England is established, churches are build- ing in various parts of the province, and clergymen appointed, who each receive a salary of 200/. per annum, from a society in England, at present, but land is set apart for the purpose in every township, on its first survey, o£ which but little has been brought into cultivation, and consequently unavailable. Meeting-houses of various sects are foimd in every town ; and, indeed, in almost every township in the Province, where there is neither town nor village. Thev are generally situated on the public road sides, built by subscription, and some of their preachers supported by the same means ; others are termed local, and selected from the settlers in the neighbourhood. Some of the meeting-houses are large, and tolerably well finished. Sometimes the public services of the church, as well as other sects, are held in private houses in tlie back settlements. The founders of the province being originally French, there are many CathoUc places of worship, particularly in the large towns, and their ceremonies are conducted in a man- ner more splendid than in the Protestant establishments. No. 4.— LAWS AND LIBERTIES. The laws are assiinilated to those of England in regard to the liberty of the subject, with the exception of the game laws. No tithes, or excisemen. Every person holding a deed of 40s. a year freehold, has the right of voting at elections ; and, as land is 89 easily attainable, any industrious person may soon become a freeholder. The government consists of a lieutenant-governor and his council, and the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, cor- responding with King, Lords, and Commons of England; the Governor, of course, is chosen oy his Majesty and his Ministers. No. S.—ROADS AND BRIDGES. This necessary work has, until lately, been less attended to by the public authorities than any other department of their duty ; the requiring purchasers to form a road m firont of their lands, left many p&ces untouched, from the lots not being occupied : <)thers were badly formed, as I hftve before noticed ; and in the ''»**„ m 128 APPENDIX. spring and fall many were almost impassable. The only piece of grnvclled liard-made road I noticed for some years, was the main street of York. There is plen^ of stone or gravel along the Lake shores, and, indeed, in some places it is to be procured on the roadside. Stone or gravel, in some narts of the west, is scarce, I allow ; yet, if it must be conveyed by water, or carted some dis- tance, it ought to be done for the main roads at least, and when once done would take little trouble to keep in good order ; it is only in the spring and fall that any are required, as the summer and winter roads would be used nearly three quarters of the year. Good bridges are likewise much wanted in almost every part of the province. There are a few good substantial wooden frame ones built of late ; but there are numbers of logs, some of which are nuisances — it is at the risk of the neck to ride over them, and probably you cannot avoid them. A native will pass over these bridges, through practice, without noticing them, while an European just arrived would shudder. A settler at Niagara has obtained a patent to nm stages from Ancaster to Sandwich, through Oxford and Westminster, for twenty-one years, on condition of running a sufficient number for public accommodation, and to keep the road in proper order ; this may probably benefit the province, although the Contractor's being a foreigner caused some dissatisfaction, and an observation that it was an American job, to convey their own mail via Detroit, as being the nearest route. V No. 6.— GOVERNMENT NOTICE FOR GRANTING LAND. " For the information of persons arriving in Upper Canada, as settlers, the following summary of the rules whicn his Majesty's Government has thought fit to lay down for the future regulation of grants of land in the province, in conformity to the system which has been recently adopted with respect to other colonies of his majesty, has been prepared, in comphance with instructions from Earl Bathurst." 1. A valuation will be forthwith made of the lands throughout the colony, and average prices struck for each district. 2. All lands in the colony, not hitherto granted and appro- priated for public purposes, will be offered for sale at the average prices thus fixed. 3. All persons proposing to purchase lands, must transmit a written application to the government through the office of the Surveyor General, or by an officer to be appointed by him for that purpose in the several districts, on payment of a fee of 2s. 6d. 4. All correspondence with the government respecting grants of land, must take place through the same office. 5. The purchase money is to be paid by four quarterly, or five annual instalments, as the party applying may desire, but in the latter case, legal interest shall be payable annually, from the time APPENDIX. 129 ' piece of the main the Lake [1 on the scarce, I lome (lis- nd when ler; it is ! summer the year. ■y part of en frame of which er them, pass over while an iges from Qster, for imher for •der; this or's heing xtion that 'etroit, as LAND. anada, as Majesty's egulation e system clonics of itructions roughout d appro- 5 average ansmit a ce of the n for that J. 6d. ig grants or five ut in the the time of making the agreement. A discount will be allowed for ready money payment. G. On payment of the money, a grant will he made in fee simple to the purchaser at the expense of the Crown, with the usual reservations of '* mines and minerals, and white pine timber." 7. The hirgest quantity of land wliicli will be sold to any indi- vidual is 10,()()() acres, and when put up to sale, it will be offered in such tracts, not less than 100 acres, as may be directed. Per- sons wishing more extensive purchases, must applv in writing, through the Lieutenont Governor in Council to his Majesty s principal Secretary of State for the colonies, with full explanation of their objects and means. 8. Lands may also be obtained without purchase, but upon different conditions. 9. Persons desirous to acquire lands without purchasing, will make their application to government, in writing, through the Surveyor General's office, in a prescribed form. Copies of which will be furnished by the Surveyor-General upon payment of 2*. Gil. 10. The largest grant that will be made without purchase, is 1200 acres, the smallest 100 acres. 11. No grant will be made to any person without purchase, unless the government is satisfied that the grantee has both the f)Ower and the intention of expending in the cultivation of the ands, capital equal to half the estimated value, or in case the grant does not exceed 200 acres, that he intends to reside upon and improve the same. 12. A quit rent of 5/. per cent, per annum, upon the estimated value, will be fixed on the land granted without purchase. 13. The quit rent will be redeemable within the first twenty- five years next following the grant, on payment of a sum equal to twenty times the annual amount of it. 14. Until the expiration of the first seven years next succeed- ing each grant without purchase, no quit rent will become due upon the lands comprised in it. 15. Every grantee without purchase, must, at the expiration of the before-mentioned term of seven years, prove to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, that he has expended in the cultivation and improvement of his land, a capital equal to half its value, as that value was estimated at the time of his grant, or in case the grant shall not exceed 200 acres, that he has during that time resided on and improved his land. On failure of such proof, his claim to the land shall be forfeited, and the same may be granted to another applicant. It is to be understood, however, that if at any time within that period the condition of expendi- ture and cultivation shall have been complied with, the patent may immediately issue. 16. No additional gra"<^^ of land will be made to any person who has not proved, as last mentioned, the necessary expenditure of capital on the lands already granted to him. 130 APFJINPIX, 17. Persons receiving a gMut of land without purchase, will become liable to pay a auit rent upon the land comprised in such second grant immediately Upon the date of it. 18. PersoQfi desirous to receive grants of land without pur- chase, on terms dBfierent from those above stated, must lay before the Lieutenant Gavemor in Council a full explanation, in writing, of the circumstances which they may conceive to exempt them from the' fair operations of these general rules. 19. TTnited English loyalists, and other persons entitled to gratuitous grants by the general regulations of his Majesty's Government, are not to be ^ected by these rules. The above rules to take effect from the first of January, 1826. By order of his Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor. ^ JOHN SMALL, Clerk, Ex-Com. No. 7.— PASSAGE BY NEW YORK TO CANADA. Passage from Liverpool, in steerage Provisions for nine weeks - - - Passage to Albany in steam-boat, two tnmks, and provi- sions ------ 'from Albany, in canal-boat, to Buffaloe, provisions, &c. Passage by schooner to any part of the Canada shore, or Lakes Erie or Ontario, 3 dol., provisions 1 dol. WaiterSj and incidental expenses, four dollars m 3 9 6 . 2 9 6 13 18 11 4 -■ No. 8.r-PASSAGE BY QUEBEC TO UPPER CANADA. Fetuutge from Hull to Quebec, in the steerage - £4 Eight weeks' provisions (only six in coming) Fcom Quebec to MontreaUin steam-boat, two dollars; . to Prescott in Durham boats, two dollars; to Queen- Bton, in steam-boat, four doUars; and provisions for ^^ree weeks, while coming up, four dollars -'ky ^ 4 2 14 9 18 r> chase, will led in such. thout pur- ; lay before in writing, BUipt them entitled to Majesty's ury, 1826. -Governor. rCom. ADA. M 3 9 6 . 2 9 6 18 18 11 4 LNADA. £4 9 4 2 14 9 18 ■a. APPEKDIX. 181 No. 9.— ESTIMATE OF EXPENSES AND QUANTITY OF PROVISIONS FOR A VOYAGE. The following is a list of the provisions, Set, which ! flapped for m^ passage, and which I calculated at eight weeks' con- sumption. In some vessels, where the number of p^sengert it great, I believe the quantity is restricted. Biscuit 281bs. (I recommend the best). If half were bread, sliced and baked dry, or toasted, and packed close in a barrel, an agreeable variety Sufficient: I had «ome left. I had also two large sweet seed cakes, but they were not used, as sweet things cannot be eaten in sea sickness. A case of preserved beef, 9lbs. Had been a voyage, or it would have been dearer. Two quart bottles of preserved soup lOlbs. of beef %t 6d. and lOlbs. of pork at 9d. Useful, because fresh; but unnecessary if fqwls are t&ken, which are better. Mpat nearly half left, on account of continued sickness, but enough if well. A few red herrings should be added, lib. of tea, and ^Ib. of coffee - For want of milk, both disagreeable and little used. I had preserved a glass bottle of milk, ^ but unfortunately broke it. Cream or milk may be preserved by boiling, and adding two pounds of loaf sugar to a quart, and bottled. 71b8. sugar [plenty] - - - - 71bs. flour [hardly enough — ^useful for fruit puddings] 51bs. rice [very palatable in pudding — I would recom- mend five or six pounds] - - - 51bs. butter 5^., 3lbs. cheese 2s, 3d. - Mustard, pepper, salt, vinegar, ginger, nutmegs, &c. [necessary articles] Two gallons of porter, in bottles (or cider, if more agreeable) _ - - - Very palatable and strengthening when sea sick- ness is over, with a little watier, nutmeg, and ginger ; but one bottle of port-wine, with half or one-third of the porter, I would recommend in preference. The wine is excellent in sea sick- ness ; and so also is beef-tea, when it can be had. Bottle of brandy 5*., ditto rum 2«. 6d., but both unneces- sary — not palatable in sickness ; I used but little. Half a bushel of apples, and a few oranges Very useful. I had no preserved lemons, or any fruit, but much wanted them when sea sick. 2 Bushels of potatoes, onions, carrots, &c., with a net to boil the potatoes in - £ s. d. -070 3 3 12 6 8 m 3 6 1 6 2 7 3 -016 4 2 6 5 3 9 132 APPENDIX. W'i I I ■ No. 10.— VARIOUS OPINIONS ON CANADA. " Such was the fertility of Upper Canada, between Lakes Erie and Ontario, and so cheap were the lands sold by the British government, that the settlers there could afford to undersell the farmer of the United States, whose land cost him ten time:? as much." — Mr. Clay's Speech in Congress, in 1824. Another Member of Congress (Mr. Vane, of Ohio State), said — " Upper Canada is now, and will be more so, one of the great- est wheat-growing countries in the world." The following is an extract from a book published in the States, during the late war between them and Great Britain. The author, Mr. Smith, schoolmaster, left the province at the breaking out of the war, and therefore cannot be supposed to be over par- tial to any thing British. He says, "The constitution, laws, and government of Upper Canada, are much better than people in the United States, unaquainted with them, expect." Again: — "It is an idea entertained by the States, that the inhabitants of Canada are some of the worst people in the world, made up of rogues, and murderers, and the like characters. However, the idea is entirely false ; that there are some bad characters, escaped us a different parts of the United States to Canada, no one wiL" ! v ; but these cannot be called the inha- bitants, only the s . t )rs. But I may say, whether I am believed or not, that tne main body of the people of Canada are peaceable, just, and generous in all their intercourse with one another, and strangers also. They are benevolent ; being once ])oor themselves, they know how to feel for human want, and luman woe. I have been acquainted with some of tlie inha- bitants of almost every neighbourhood." I copied the following from one of the United States news- papers, at the time the first Alien Bill was in agitation, which caused considerable sensation at the time. " The people of Upper Canada are blessed with a fine healthy climate, and fruitful soil ; when the improvements in navigation between the waters of Erie and the St. Lawrence are completed, they will possess commereial advantages superior to any people (having respect to their population) under heaven. Their im- portations, being chiefly from the mother country, are subjected only to a slight tariff. The support of th:^ provincial government, or such part of it that comes from the people's pockets, is not burihensome. Their taxes are not so many or so heavy as ours, apd^he expense of the fortification and defence of the country comes exclusively from the parent State ; it must, therefore, be a serious attempt of aggression, which can induce a people thus favoured to disturb the public tranquillity." • ■% THE END. : ' S. Manning & Co. Piinteis, Lundon-Huusv Yiird, St. Paul's. # DA. jakes Erie he British iersell the 1 time:^ as Itate), said the great- the States, ain. The e breaking e over par- , laws, and tople in the 3, that the the world, characters. some bad d States to I the inha- sther I am Canada are ; with one being once want, and f tlie inha- ;ates news- ition, which ine healthy navigation completed, any people Their im- e subjected government, ;kets, is not ivy as owrs, the country jrefore, be a people thus ul's. ^ '%r. :B