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COMPREHENDING ITS RESOURCES, PRODUCTIONS, IMPROVEMENTS, AND CAPABILITIES; % AND INCLUDING SKETCHES OF THE STATE OF SOCIETY, ADVICE TO EMIGRANTS, &c. BY JOHN MACTAGGART, CIVIL BIfOIMEER, IN THE SERVICE OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. L ■-'" f ■ ■ ■-''>- . , r- LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1829. 2B5658 />;, r/^Qc/\fir i !■ LONDON : PllIi^TED BY S. AND B. BENTtSr, PorielSUect, Fleet Street. 5W .iHimllt^ PREFACE. The great and growing interests of the Cana- das, and the readiness shown by Great Britain to promote the advancement and prosperity of a country of such extent and importance, must ren- der any account of its actual state, at the present moment, highly desirable. The encouragement given to emigrants to settle at such a distance from their native land ; the magnitude of the improve- ments at present in active operation ; and the imperfect knowledge we have hitherto possessed of the internal resources, productions, and capa- bilities of one of the most valuable of our colonies — have excited a very lively curiosity in the public mind for any new particulars on these interesting points, on the truth of which the fullest reliance may be placed. . ^ Having obtained, from personal observation and experience, the most minute and accurate informa- nt iv PREFACE. tion on a variety of subjects almost entirely un- known, I have considered it a duty which I owe to my countrymen, to lay before them the results of my investigations. Early in the year 18S6, Mr. Rennie was request- ed by Government to furnish a Clerk of Works to the Rideau Canal, in Upper Canada, then about to be commenced, and proposed to extend between the Ottawa River and Lake Ontario, a distance of 160 miles, through an uncleared wilderness. Being selected as a proper person to fill this situation, I undertook the arduous duties attached to it, and immediately proceeded to the active scene of operations. Having zealously pursued my avocations, the nature of which will be foimd detailed in the work, my health began to suffer in the summer of 1828, from the malaria of the swampy wastes, to which I was necessarily much exposed. With a view to benefit by the change of climate, and to regulate other affairs, I returned to England at the close of last year. The following extract, from an official letter. .rjZt iittti It PREFACB. may serve to show how far my humble exertions have been appreciated. " Royal Engineers' Office, Rideau Canal, 6|li August, 1828. ** SIR, ** I have the honour to state, for the information of his Lordship the Master-General, and Right Honourable and Honourable Board, that Mr. Mac- taggart. Clerk of Works at the Rideau Canal, is so much recovered of a dangerous fever, as to ena- ble him to return to England according to order. And I beg leave to report, that I have found him a man of strong natural abilities, well grounded in the practical part of his profession, and a zealous, hard-working man in the field. " I most respectfully recommend him to your pro- tection and that of the Honourable Board. He is fond of research, and of exploring this untracked country ; his reports are faithful, and I have always found him a man of honour and integrity* " I have the honour to be. Sir; Your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) John By, Lieut-Colonel Royal Engineers, Commanding Rideau Canal." ** To General Mann, Inspector.Oeneral of Fortifications, Board of Ordnance." 4t fl PRBPACB. In conclusion, I may be permitted to observe, that our possessions in North America embrace a large but ill-defined property, the nature of which we have yet failed to investigate, and re- specting which the most erroneous ideas have been entertained. In proof of this assertion, the follow- ing letter, from the very first authority, may prove acceptable. " Glengarry, Upper Canada, 9th September, 1828. " SIR, " The warm zeal which you have displayed in forwarding the improvements of the Canadas since you have been at the head of the Colonial depart- ment, induces me to believe that it would not be unacceptable to you, Sir, to recommend the bearer, Mr. Mactaggart, to your notice, as, perhaps, the ablest practical engineer and geologist, and the properest person that has ever been in these Pro- vinces for exploring the natural productions and latent resources of the country. "In recommending Mr. Mactaggart, I rely much more on the testimony of Colonel By» of the Royal Engineers, and other gentlemen of superior talents and science in those branches, who have spoken highly of him to me, than on my own judgment. >lt' ■-.iaEtrs PREFACE. ?H " From the knowledge which my own travels in the discharge of my pastoral duties, through this Province for thousands of miles annually, for the period of four-and-twenty years, enabled me to acquire, I have no hesitation in saying that very little more than the borders of some of the lakes have yet been explored, and that the inex- haustible resources and capabilities of these inde- terminable forests remain yet to be discovered. ** I have the honour to be. Sir, Your faithful and devoted servant, (Signed) Alexander Macdonbll, Catholic Bishop of Upper Canada." To Lieut-Oeneral the Rt. Hon. Sir George Alurray, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, &c. &c. &c." \ v. CONTENTS OP THB FIRST VOLUME. • fl PAUX Notes on the Atlantic . . . < 1 Banks and Island of Newfoundland 18 The Isle of Bic . . . . . 1 . 21 Notes on the St. Lawrence, beneath Quebec 27 Canadian Cities . 33 Rummaging 44 Frosts and Floods . . 66 The Lakes 81 The Forest . 91 The Rideau Canal 103 Wilderness of Rideau . 106 Long Island Rapids 121 Burrett's Rapids . 125 Nicholson's Rapids 126 Rapids of Merrick's Mills . 127 Merrick's Falls . 128 Maitland't Rapids . . 13i Edmund's Rapids 132 II » CONTENTS. PitOE Rapids of Smith's Falls .... 134 Smith's Falls • 135 First Rapids of the Rideau .... 138 River Tay, or Perth River • 140 Oliver's Ferry ..... 143 Upper Narrows, Rideau Lake • ib. Isthmus of Rideau Lake .... 144 Isthmus of Clear Lake .... • 145 Chaffey's Rapids ..... ih. Davis's Rapids ..... • 147 Jones's Falls ..... 148 Cranberry Marsh .... t 161 Round Tail ..... ib. Brewer's Upper Mill .... • 152 Brewer's Lower Mill .... 153 Billydore's Rifts .... • ib. Jack's Rifts ..... 154 Kingston Mills and Mill Creek . • ib. System proposed for conducting the Works of the Rideau Canal, in Upper Canada .... 157 Society for tlie Promotion of Natural History , fl 170 Settlers and Squatters .... 192 Letters and Remarks respecting the Americans • 209 Curiosities in Natural History — Snakes 223 The Avrill, or Wood Worm • 224 Carrion Crows ..... 229 Lachine, Granville, and the Petite Nation Canals • 235 Lumbermen ..... 240 sw Character of the Canadians, and their Boat Songs • 249 Prophecies and Dialogues of Jonathan 258 1^ Celebrated Original Characters . • 266 i Philemon Wright, Esq. .... t^. Capt. Andrew Wilson, R.N. • 269 B;1 To Dr. Dunlop, Warden of the Woods and Forests for the Canada Company .... • 274 MMMMWa MN PilOE '^H ^M CONTENTS 135 ^m 138 ^1 Chief Mac Nab H The Canadian Missiuippi 143 |H Disputes and Crimes . . ib. Wm Burlington Bay and Forty Mile Creek |h The Forty-Mile Creek 145 ^1 Canoes and Cottages ^H Canadian Improvements . . 147 ^H Canadian Mintage and Cash Circulation . 148 H The Union Bridge . 1^1 s tt. s 152 S ■ % 153 jH ^H . 154 ^m ib. m ^^m 170 H , 192 S 209 ■[ _ - I . 223 H ,-*■ 224 H . 229 |H 235 H . 240 ^ * 249 '^ . 258 'M 266 S , t^. -M > 269 >;« •jr.^ xi rAOc . 277 280 . 290 296 . 303 305 . 312 320 . 326 274 I 1 .: mttam THREE YEARS IN CANADA. .^^* NOTES ON THE ATLANTIC. - Before entering on subjects immediately relat- ing to Canada, I may be allowed to make a few introductory remarks connected with that expanse of waters, which Europeans have to cross ere they can visit America. They are given as taken down on shipboard, without any touching up whatever ; as to do so might efface the rust contracted .by coming in contact with the salt ocean, — which it may be better to avoid, in order to show things as they are. The best place in the world for composition is not always the academic grove, where all is quietness and harmony. Only on the deep can its scenes be faithfully depicted according to nature. . VOL. I. t •", '*^- if I \ I 9 THREB YEARS IN When quite out of soundings, the general ap- pearance of the ocean becomes considerably al- tered,—- the waves are much longer, while the hollows between seem extensive valleys. When an undulation bursts, the broken water spreads in froth over an extensive portion of the sur- rounding surface of the deep; and should the ship be where one of these bursts takes place, the surges and surf roar gloriously over the deck. It is a singular thing to find dew falling on the ocean : not so plentiful indeed as on land, but still after a warm day it is found descending in the evening, — not to cool the tender herb cer- tainly, but for some purpose, no doubt, which we have not yet discovered. When about 600 miles west from the LandVend of England, we were surrounded by a winged moth or butterfly in swarms, with ash-coloured wings. They kept bobbing and dancing about in the air, sometimes alighting on the smooth face of the deep, then starting up again. The weather for some time previous had been very warm. These insects must have been engendered in the ocean. Before we were half-seas-over, we met with many American ships, seemingly bound for Eu- rope. The sailors knew them by their mould. rw -■riiiiiii HI iM ■> iliir i "f CANADA. t with Eu- lould, method of painting, and form of sails. The name is often printed in large characters on the fore-topsail. They will not deviate from their course one yard in order to speak with any strange ship ; their pride even in this respect is great. They are particularly fond of flashing their flag with its stars and stripes, when they have no notion of an enemy being near at hand ; were such the case, the stars would be hauled down from the firmament, and something of a deceptive cast stuck up in their place. The scenes of the sun rising and setting on a Midsummer ocean are beautiful. The nearer the face of the deep the glorious orb comes, the beams condense the more in the liquid mirror. What a blaze of radiance comes to eye, when the under-edge touches the horizon ! which, from the decks of common merchant-ships, is about five miles distant. Much depends on the man at the helm for keeping a dry vessel. A bad steersman has her often shipping seas; he does not know how to meet her, as the sailors say, — that is, to hu- mour her with the helm. The sailors will some- times yaw the ship for fun, when the passengers are walking the deck, and the surges will come lashing over them; but if grog has been given fi 2 i THREE YEARS IN them now and then, the poor fellows will never play this trick. Persons who have never been at sea, fancy that the wooden crib for the bed is too narrow in dimension ; but when the ship begins to roll and toss amongst the billows, they soon find the error of the supposition. Were the beds not of circumscribed width, they would be tumbled about from one side to the other, and very likely hove out altogether. Many have their beds widened in harbour, but are glad to reverse matters again on the ocean. Strangers soon become acquainted with each other ; for the natural disposition will show itself there sooner than any where else. How pleasant a voyage is, when a few good-hearted, sensible creatures meet together; and how disagreeable, when they are otherwise, as they most common- ly are. He who has had what some will term comforts ashore, finds them not aboard; — then the poor wretch frets himself to death ; while the wanderer, who has roughed out life in many a dismal climate, laughs at such trifles. Fe- males are always our best companions both on sea and land : although they may be more troubled with sickness in ships than we, still the soft-soothing remark, the resigned state, and I T IftfHMWMMMiMMMIi mti tlUM CANADA. B a, fancy narrow } to roll find the s not of 1 tumbled :\ id very ^ V6 their | reverse 1 hi th each | w itself 1 pleasant 1 sensible 1 reeable, 1 amnion- , | ill term 1 ; — then 1 ; while 1 1 many ^ I. Fe- s both :^ B more ' e, still tj te, and | sometimes cheerful smile, counterbalance that. The ladies often make cowards of us there; they brave storms with fortitude, at which we tremble. Fogs off Newfoundland Banks generally arise with a little westerly breeze. They are extremely dense; so much so, that the bowsprit of the ship cannot be seen from the quarter-deck. While the fog continues, the weather is very cold, and the thickest woollen clothes and mits that we have, are in request. Often it will not clear away for a month or six weeks after it comes on : such duration, however, is rare about Midsummer; in the spring and fall it is more common. Fog-horns are blown in the ships at intervals, night and day, so that they may not run foul of each other. ^ Lights of any kind cannot be seen very far off; the sun is quite obscured, and about the summer solstice the day is nearly as dark as the night ; in order to read, we must burn candles. The sailors argue that the fogs raise the sea, — that is, create a commo- tion in the waters. The cause of this is not known, nor the reason why the fogs prevail more on the Banks than elsewhere. The gulf- stream being of a warmer nature than the sur- rounding ocean, may have some effect, while its # • THRBB YBARS IN exhalations are condensed by the cold westerly wind. The fog is not so thick immediately on the surface of the ocean, as it is about one hun- dred feet above it ; hence lighthouses should not be built higher than this. Like the lamp of Humphry Davy, the flame of which keeps at a little distance from the wire immersed in it ;<— or, steam issuing from a tube is not resolved into smoky vapour the instant it leaves it, but at a small distance from the mouth : which may apply to the exhalations from the tepid waters of the Banks not being turned to fog by the cold wind immediately on the surface of the ocean. Those immense masses of vapour, called fog banks, often assume a singular appearance as to form and variety of colour, before they shroud the sun from the observer; the tints are quite differ- ent from those of the common clouds; the shades of black, blue, and red, are surprising. To obtain the set of a current of the ocean, a pitchpot is let down by a rope probably one hun- dred fathoms long, — this anchors a small boat, as it were : the log is then hove, and whichever way it trends is taken by the compass, and velocity per hour by the sand-glass ; currents being always . considered to increase in velocity the nearer they run to the surface. This may be well exemplified i:i IV l-:4 f' CANADA. 7 by setting coloured fluids in motion on the same inclined plane; those above outrun those below. The muddy-tinged floods of rivers also represent the truth in a natural point of view. Complex machinery is a bad thing any where, but of all places it is worse at sea ; many appa- rently valuable improvements on the land, when transported to the waves lose their efiect. To manage any piece of mechanics well in a turbulent ocean, requires it to be made extremely simple. God-fish are caught on the banks of Newfound- land by hook and line ; one man can attend to four lines, although fishing in forty fathoms water: the bait is generally a piece of white pork. Thus, as the poet says, ** They wind them up by barrelfulls, To feed a hungry world." The greatest quantities are caught in the latitude of St. John^s, Newfoundland. The fishermen change their fishing-ground with the season. The old cod-fish are lousy, and not good food, haunting deep banks. The fish are generally salted aboard the schooners, and dried on the shores of New- foundland. This trade might be greatly improved, and better methods applied for procuring the fish ; something after the trowling mode, and not by ■^ i i- ■ I ill V- THREE YEARS IN chapsticks. The banks require the investigation of very able naturalists. Numbers of various fish are met with in a voyage over the Atlantic. Porpoises gambol and plunge about the ships in shoals, while the sail- ors harpoon them beneath the bows. Sharks are often seen prowling round, with dorsal fins above the water, and sometimes will take the bait hung out for them astern : when the weather is extremely fine, the ocean unruffled and pure, they may be seen playing with the bait in the chambers of the deep— this is an interesting scene ; fain would they grasp it, yet are suspicious. Dog-fish play round it in the same manner, turning up the edges of their white bellies, while they munch at it with their singular cross-set mouths: they are much like the shark, but not so large : they bring forth their young alive; after they have been caught, the pregnant females deliver themselves on the deck. It is said that the shark cannot suffer the smell of tobacco-smoke : he is not singular in this respect, for there are human beings who do not relish it either, — ^at least they pretend so. The In- dians are aware of this fact, and dare not smoke while they are crossing the bays of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or the river itself, lest they rouse the ire of the shark. They have a story of an Indian CANADA. 9 and his squaw, who were crossing, but forgot the precaution regarding the tobacco-smoke: an in- furiated shark, of enormous size, came whack against their canoe, and cut it in two with his tail, when the poor wretches were devoured by the monster. There may be some truth in this state- ment. Beating up the St. Lawrence, while the pilot, a Canadian, was relating the above story, an immense shark approached the ship, swimming with great swiftness, and was seen distinctly by all on the deck ; the water frothed about him, and he seemed much in wrath at something, which was concluded to be the cloud of smoke issuing from the sailors^ pipes. Small fish are often found squatting on his back, along the side of the fins, called pilot-fish. Where sharks, dog-fish, and other rapacious fish are met with, all else are rare ; in- nocence flees the domain of the savage : sharks and salmon, tigers and sheep, hawks and linnets, all feel the instinct to keep as much out of one ano- ther's company as possible. Whales, or what are called finners, are common about the Gulf; they will come up and blow so near alongside sometimes, that the spray from their nostrils will fall aboard the ship. When they throw their tails out of water, they take a deep dive, and are seen no more for that time. B 5 ».' 10 THRBB YEARS IN 'II f )' J (1 Much oil might be obtained from them, if a method was found of playing the rocket-shot on them to advantage. A species of porpoise, very large, called bottle- noses by the sailors, is also very plentiful. This fish is of a white colour in the river St. Law- rence : when they turn up above the surface, they resemble a wreath of snow. How they become white is not known, their natural colour being black ; some think it is the water that effects this change, the same being fresh or brackish. The young ones are grey. Probably this is a fish of a different kind from either the porpoise or bottle- nose ; the Canadian says, that he changes his skin by rubbing it off beneath the ice. It is to be re- gretted that they are rarely caught ; and when that happens, there is seldom any body present who makes any inquiry about the matter. Salmon and herrings are extremely plentiful in the Gulf, as also mackerel and halibut. Drying- houses should be built on this coast, where so much timber grows, and these valuable fish properly cured ; and, were it wished that they should be smoke-dried with scented wood, the juniper, which gives the relish to the Westphalian hams, is here in abundance. ■ Birds are met with in great variety. How mai CANADA. 11 many species of gull can there be? more than fifty have already been discnvcred. Some are almost white, others hav^ black-tipped wings ; again, black behind the head; bUek upper side of wings ; black and white speckled ; black br^ait* &c. : others with broad green bill ; yellow narrow and black bill ; brown tufted crest ; black leg^ ; yellow legs, &c. The gulls and wild ducks would form, if stuffed, a very interesting museum of them- selves. The gulls of the middle Atlantic are quite different in plumage and bulk from those on the coasts. Those found out at sea, are in general very light, as if they did not there find food very plentiful, which is not unlikely. They are sometimes met with asleep in large flocks, " rocked on the billows'' as the poet has it. They will follow in the wake of the ships, and are easily caught with hook and bait. The large herring, gull is quite common over all the American coast : he follows the herring shoals, and ever seems to be a substantial, well-fed bird. When fully out to sea, we fall in with the stormy petrels, better known by the name of Mother Carew's chickens : on the eve of a storm, they gather in to the wake of the ship in great numbers. Mother Carew was an old witch, it is said, good at raising the wind. These birds are about the size of the swallow :4 \, : THREB YBARS IN only their tails are not so long ; with brown plu- mage, short bills, feet not webbed; they keep on the wing — sometimes they let their little legs droop, and trip along the water with their wings ex- tended, but at rest. They seem to be fond of any little crumbs of food that fall from the ships. The sailors will not shoot them on any account ; they pay them great respect, that their mother"*8 wrath may not be roused. They gather about the ships in storms for this reason, that the ships afford them a kind of shelter from the surge and spray, and also a little food ; they get weary of buffeting storms, like every thing else, and seem not to relish the spray lashing over them. Those birds that hover ever on wing close on the surface of the ocean, when it gets agitated, have more trouble, as it were, in watching the sudden undula- tions — in short, have more ups and downs to make. How these birds breed, has not been known ; they are not found on any shores, but over the ex- panse of the widest oceans — ^ <^ Their home is on the deep." The sea parrot and pied diver, are met with on the margin of the banks of Newfoundland; seldom any where else:— this diver is much like the puffin, only rather blacker in plumage. There i< CANADA. 13 is also another sea-bird found with these, called the bank pigeon. Specimens of all are difficult to be obtained. The white birds of the tropics, and sea eagles, hover about the ships; and when in soundings, either on one side of the Atlantic or the other, soland geese are met with. Sailors say, when a string of them are seen flying together, " that they are going out to the mackerel fishery." Some- times they nre met with near the middle of the ocean ; it is not always the fact, as argued, that they are never found '^ out of soundings:" they are a shy bird, and keep well out of the reach of fire-arms. Icebergs are met with aground on the Banks at Midsummer : I saw one at rest in seventy fathoms water, and taking its altitude, found one of the peaks one hundred and fifty feet above water : which nearly corresponds with the reports of Arctic voyagers, that two-thirds of them are below, while one-third is above. Had this iceberg been afloat, the truth of the proposition could not have been so easily obtained ; but sounding gave the depth below, while the angle of altitude and distance gave the height above. It caused the atmosphere around to be very cold. The appearance was not unlike the chalk cliff's of the south of England at . f ii: •1 ^ • h :m ' \l '■■i f 1 i I 1 i il i i ! i I'. I I 14 THREE YEARS IN a distance ; when the sun shone on it, the scene was beautiful ; the regions above were illuminated at night to a certain extent. Various fish kept swarming about. Ships are not allowed to run near them, as the attractive power is considered to be great by the sailors. They go ashore on them frequently with the boats and bring off fresh water, streams of which are found flowing down their sides ; they have often relieved ships in distress for this^article. There are currents setting from the north, else how would icebergs drift into southern latitudes ? — perhaps eddies of the Gulf stream. A bird was flying about it of the diver species, called willock by the sailors. . , The depth of the ocean has amused spectators ; it is likely as deep in some places as the moun- tains are high above. Fish are not suspected to be found on the bottom everywhere, no more than birds in the higher regions of the atmosphere ; beyond a certain depth darkness reigns, and life is considered extinct. Many laden ships which foun- der at sea, do not sink to the bottom ; but so far towards it as specific gravity will let, and no far- ther. *' How deep will a cast-iron box sink in the \ .;'.«« CANADA. 15 -eF he scene m iminated 1 ish kept [ to run M idered to m on them M )h water. M wn their m stress for m from the m southern m sam. A m es, called i ocean, twenty tons in weight, and inclosing a cubic yard of air?" The ocean may be considered the best place for burial ; that is, a sufficient weight may be hung to a dead body to sink it beyond the reach of all voracious fish, where no shark can follow,— this is a consolation to the friends of the deceased, — ^and also where no resurrectionists of earth can dis- turb him; from thence he cannot be served to the dissection-table. Admirals, and other great men who die at sea, are seldom thrown overboard, but brought home preserved in casks of spirits, the which are not unfrequently tapped by the sailors : — all this is wrong, for no family-vault can equal the sepulchre of the deep ; there, no monu- ment can be raised, no false epitaph engraved. What would be said in an obituarj', might run thus : " Buried in such a latitude and longitude, having a si king weight attached of ten miles deep.*" Common sailors, with a shot at their feet, never sink above half a mile. Sailors are ever taking observations of some- thing or other : about meridian time, or a little before it, they try for the altitude of the sun with Hadley''s quadrant. The captains have generally sextants^ mates inferior instruments. So long as the sun keeps rising, the index is advanced on '^.f / r^ '■' THRBB YEARS IN the rhomb ; when his reflected form lingers on the horizon, he is said to dip. There is much art required to use the sextant properly. When there are clear skies and moonlight nights, lunars are taken. This is the art of measuring the de- grees between sun and moon, or between known stars and the moon ; which being obtained, and referred to the tables of the nautical almanack, give (as well known to many) the longitude. La- titude they find, too, by taking double altitudes of the sun or stars ; that is to say, when clouds clear away, the latitude may always be had either by night or day. Not so the longitude, if the moon is changing, unless a good Harrison be aboard, which is a chronometer, and its rates of going be properly ascertained. On the Banks, the soundings tell where the ship is by the chart; and when in the Gulf stream, the green bunchy weed, called the gulf weed. Common merchant-ships are sailing well at seven knots or miles an hour ; few of them with the strongest wind will go ten. In storms, they dare not run before the wind, for fear of the sea dashing in the dead-lights — which are the shut- ters of the cabin windows, and broaching too, as the term goes, — that is, sinking stem foremost. Feathery clouds and brassy skies betoken storms. CANADA. 17 There is something terrific in sailing under bare poles; man then feels his insignificance strongly. If the breeze blows fresh off the Canadian con> tinent, the smell of fir forests prevails for fifty miles and more out at sea. Small birds that live by insects, such as the brown fly-catcher, about the size of a sparrow, hover about the ships ; and large dragon-flies, with eyes composed of many minute sparkling stars. These may be easily caught and examined. - The nautilus, or Portuguese man-of-war, a little sea-snail with a sail up, is common ; it can veer this sail according to the course it means to steer. The sea-marygold, a species of sting ray, is met with between the Gulf and the Banks ; it is of many colours, but yellow prevails,—- whence it takes the name. Passengers, generally, are anxious to see land : some of them boast of having good watches, equal to the best chronometers for regularity of move- ment. They keep reckonings by their account, which, according to their hopes, are far ahead of the ship ; and it not unfrequently happens that the vessel is found to be beating about on the Banks of Newfoundland, instead of being, according to them, snug at anchor in the harbour of Quebec. i < I ■t H 4--< ) i ■a 18 THREE YEARS IN 1 I BANKS AND ISLAND OF NEWFOUNDLAND. ! 1^ These famous shoals seem to be formed, as all minor sand-banks are, by the depositions which take place wherever contending tides, ed* dies, and currents prevail. The great discharge from the fresh- water rivers of Canada by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Hudson^s Bay, uniting with the Gulf stream and western setting tides of the Atlantic, creates that singular commotion in the waters, distinctly felt at a considerable distance from the shores of North America, while their various sediments incline to the bottom. That these Banks continue to shift is almost obvious from the soundings taken upon them at various periods. In some instances, they have risen so high as to become flats of dry land : Sable Island and others are instances of this. These islands continue to enlarge, and the waters round their shores to shallow : they may therefore become, 1 CANADA. 10 in course of a few years, very fertile lands. And what seems singular, when these banks have emerged above the ocean any considerable time, they get covered with forest trees. Whe- ther the seeds of such trees are naturally in the soil, or floated to it from the distant wilderness, is a question. Thus, it seems, we have reason to suppose that, in the course of time, the present Banks of Newfoundland will expand above the waves to the extent they do below, and be then as eagerly prized by the agriculturist, as they are now by the fishermen. The Continent of Ame- rica will then have advanced on that of Europe by several hundred miles ; whilst other banks, with their myriads of fish, may be encircling the islands of the Azores. And would we push the specu- lation farther, who can tell but that Great Bri- tain and America be united, or Europe swallowed up by the great western Continent ? The Banks at present are macadamised with crabs, cockles, and shell-fish of various kinds, to many of which we are yet strangers. On these, cod, turbot, halibut, and such fish feed ; while other larger fish come hither and devour them : so the Banks absolutely seem to live and grow from the nu- merous aquatic animals that resort to them. The Island of Newfoundland appears to have been i 20 THREE YEARS IN fe ! n produced after the same manner as those we have been considering; and it is a lamentable thing that only the coasts of it should have been explored, and those but imperfectly. The interior is doubt- less full of various excellencies in natural history, some of which might be ultimately turned to our benefit ; but no one has yet dared to penetrate its wilderness and minutely examine its contents. As a fisherman^s island, it is certainly unequalled in the world ; but the dreary fogs and long cold winters that beset it, render it gloomy and cheerless. Fishermen should try the effects of the lobster- trap on the Banks. The seal-trade, too, ought to be better attended to now, as gas- lighting has become so general in the luxurious world. The small rivers which fall into the Bay of Chaleur swarm with the finest salmon fish, which are also very much neglected in this and all the other bays opening into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The tides generally rise in Chaleur to three feet, in spring tides to six. Trap-nets might, there- fore, be fixed to some advantage in the shallows. Snow and ice are both very plentiful in their season, and proper houses might be constructed to preserve them in the summer; a small steam- boat would then carry the fish while . sweet to CANADA. 31 Quebec, where a ready sale could at once be obtained ; or to Montreal, where they would be always very graciously received. Such things require a little cash at the outset ; but, as the thing is now represented, fishermen will soon be seen there. r I ^ THE ISLE OF BIC. This is a large uninhabited island in the river St. Lawrence, about three miles from the south shore, and one hundred and fifty from Quebec. The following account is from my Journal, kept during the voyage. *' Brought the ship to anchor in seven fathoms water, about two miles from the shore, between the island and the main land, thinking that by giving her a rest, she would be more refreshed to pursue her journey against a head wind. The jolly-boat was prepared to go ashore on the island to get spars, and some grass for the live stock. The Captain asked the passengers if any of them would accompany him ; but as it was just at dinner- time, none of them would go but myself, who cer- tainly needed no entreaty, nor would the best dinner ifi the world have kept me from the ex- t? 3ESS& '•^ 22 THREB YEARS IN if- , cursion. The Captain took with him the second mate, and the carpenter, with a Canadian, one of the crew of the name of Harry ; Ringy^ another of the crew, nicknamed so from his wearing ear- rings ; and the boy, Carroty Pole, who pulled the bow-oar, and I pulled one ashore for fun myself. We took with us in the boat, a hatchet, an adze, a bag and cords, a compass, spy-glass, a jar of rum, another of water, with some biscuit. On nearing the island, the fires on the main land, which had been burning all the week, the weather being extremely dry, now assumed an awful appear- ance, and gave the waters of the great river a deep orange tinge, while the sun glimmering through the smoke, seemed sooty and bloated; between the isle and a lot of high cliffy rocks on the main land, where I had seen a couple of bald-headed eagles the day before, there was ingulfed a dark blue mass of smoke, having a different appearance from any thing I had ever seen. There is variety in the hues of smoke as well as in its smell ; that from a forest of spruce-fir in flame is quite dif- ferent from that emanating from the houses of London. We landed in a sweet little bay, and having all got out of the boat, we clambered up to the summit of a bunch of rocks, doffed our hats, and gave three cheers. This was my first landing 'i' »»• (I CANADA. 23 in America. Round the rocky beach we obserred plenty of gooseberries growing on their bushes — the sleek green grozari ; and, as this berry was found of this colour in its wild state, we may con- clude it to be the origin of all the varieties. A gentleman in Scotland, whom I knew, relished this kind : he must have had a natural taste. We also found abundance of cranberries, and others we knew nothing about; but I pulled some of all kinds, and have them preserved in spirits. There was a species of red-coloured currant, with a rough rind, that had a very singular taste. We rooted out bushes and all, and bundled various lots to the boat; we also procured an immense quantity of curious grasses and flowers, few of which I had ever seen any thing like before, and regretted that my botanical knowledge was small. We found growing profusely a large kind of goose-grass, the com of which, then ripening, was saturated with a thick glutinous matter of a clear colour. There was a flower, very common, of a pink hue, having its cups laden with a sweet juice ; the pea called the Indian vetch ; the hemlock, dock, and marygoldy were to be met with frequently. Hav- ing procured our quantity of herbage, we pro- ceeded into the bush in quest of spars, where we found fine larches, and spruce enough for our '' ; ■I^mmSimm 24 THREE YEARS IN I (. wants, while a stick of rowan-tree was cut to frighten the witches out of the ship, it being fancied, from the many foul winds we had been blessed with, that there were such characters aboard. Having returned out of the woods to the beach, the Captain and I took a ramble round the shore, until the sailors had their raft of spars prepared. We coasted the west headland, and found many sea -eggs, the shells of a speqies of fish, some rough, others smooth : we also met with many nests in which sea-fowl had been hatched and dun-coloured shells remained. We started out of the rocky creeks various cormorants, and other birds of the willock tribe. We often stood amazed at the im- mense quantities of driftwood which had at various times been rolled in on the desert shore, and flung up high and dry by the tides and storms : some of it was in a very decayed state, with gooseberry- bushes growing on it. Amongst this timber, the Captain found the last of a lady's slipper, which he carefully preserved, as a token of respect to the fair sex. There was also seen amongst it bamboo cane of various thicknesses, which must have been brought from some distant country by the eddies of the southern Atlantic. Having coasted a couple of miles, we entered a singular valley that stretched up from the shore into the heart of the island as 7 ^: CANADA. far as we could see ; on either side beautiful spruce- fir trees were growing. This vale was about five hundred ards wide, having a small stream of fresh water rippling down its middle. We followed up the stream and came to a lagoon, where a number of birds of the heron tribe— called quacks by the Canadians — were fishing. They were either so tame, or so much afraid, that if the grass of the valley had not been long and tangly, we should have succeeded in obtaining some of them even without a gun : they are almost as large as geese, of a dark-brown colour, and dirty-white head. This place would be a good situation for a settler to take up his abode, there being plenty of food for live stock ; and from the peas and wild-rye found growing wild, good crops of any kind of grain might be raised : from these circumstances, we called it the Vale of Food. The smoke from the south-shore wilds getting thicker, we hurried back to the boat ; and on returning, I fell in with, for the first time, the arctic boulder stones, de- scribed elsewhere. The native rock of the isle was a compact clay slate, dipping in strata towards the south-west. As the tide ebbed out, we found enormous quan- tities of shell-fish, particularly mussels, and we might have shovelled them into the boat ; there VOL. I. c 26 THREE YEARS IN were also clams and cockles, with the large peri- winkle, well known in Scotland by the name of Roaring Bucky; and we obtained specimens of flint and coral quite new to me. The raft being fixed, we got into the boat, and had a hard pull to get free of a surf that was beating in on the island : we steered for the ship by compass, as the smoke had quite obscured her. After an hour's hard work with the oar, we came into the lee of her wake, and got aboard well-pleased with the trip. These Islands in the St. Lawrence are well worthy the attention of farmers, fishermen, and naturalists; they are very rarely visited by man, and contain many things to which he is a stranger. CANADA. m NOTES ON THE ST. LAWRENCE, BENEATH QUEBEC. Ships coming up the St. Lawrence, generally meet with pilots off Cape Chat, which is about three hundred miles below Quebec; but these persons take no charge of them until they are past the Isle of Bic. They are French farmers, and but poorly informed. Their knowledge of the seaman's art is, indeed, very small, and few of them can speak English so as to be understood by those who know no other language. They are obliged to undergo a kind of apprenticeship to the pilotage business ; and during that time must make at least one voyage across the Atlantic. They are generally very snug-looking, are warmly clad, smoke their pipes, and swallow their grog, extremely comfortably. They make, at an aver- age, about 250/. per annum, conducting about twelve ships up and down. They live to a good C 2 * K I THREE YEARS IN old age, and are considered rich by their country- men. The daughter of a pilot is fancied to have more charms than any girl else on the coast — the reason is obvious. The pilots inform the sailors, that there is a personage who lives in the Bush, called St. An- tonio, who has a method of bagging up the wind ; and that, if grog goes freely round to the glory of this Saint, the winds will be set free, and the ships allowed to proceed on their voyage. There are no soundings in the middle of the St. Lawrence, until we are about a hundred and fifty miles up it. The snow on the banks in win- ter is about five feet deep. Sometimes the soil on the breasts of the hills will shove down with all its trees to the plains below. The spots where these shoves have taken place, are plainly seen from the river, and have a singular appearance. Milton''s simile of the downfall of the rebel an- gels might have been derived from this scene. The Mother Carey''s chickens forsake the ships in going up the river, and follow the outward- bound. This singular bird seems to dislike the very appearance of land. Numbers of little trading-vessels toil about in the river, and these have always a full complement of crew; but none of them, like the Manx boats. \ CANADA. 29 have any masters : they are cooks, captains, and sailors, turn about, and live very merrily together. There are three islands of rock, called the Brandy Pots, from their being round, high, and extremely like one another : ships are often cast away upon them. Also a very dangerous place in the river, called the Traverse, where the waters have a strong tendency to whirl the ships ashore, unless aided by favourable winds, or tiding it at the proper times. There is a singular high conical mountain seen away in the country, about ten miles off, called by the French Mount Carmel : I have met with nothing like it of the kind in Canada : it seems to be about 1500 feet high. Ships going up the stream have to anchor at the turn of the flood-tide, unless aided by a very strong fair wind. Numbers of shipwrecks occur yearly in the Gulf and River St. Lawrence; this proceeds from many causes. The pilots are none of the most skilful ; the navigation of itself is intricate and difficult; the shoals of Manicogan are horrible. Then there are many ships sent out for timber, which are old, crazed, and unfit for any other trade. These are often laden beyond what they can bear ; too muck deck wood is heaped on them, !; I ■ 30 THREE YEARS IN SO that the sailors cannot get to the ropes ; and there are many ships so poorly found, that the captains cannot afford to give fifteen pounds to a pilot to take them up, and so endeavour to perform the task themselves. In spring and fall, they are troubled with cold weather and floating ice. One winter a ship was wrecked, and lifted by contend- ing ice into a flaw : there she sat, high and dry, as the sailors say, and moved out of and in the Gulf, by way of the Gut of Causo, with the tides and winds, during the inclement season ; at last it melted, and she sank. The scenery about Cape Chat is composed of high curving hills, closely planted to the top by nature with all kinds of trees, particularly firs. Where the soil is scanty, the trees are small in stature ; yet they contrive to grow in the most barren situations possible, on the bare rocks, to the water''s edge, and sometimes in the water, to a certain extent. The country seems intersected with deep gullies and glens ; and the shades the sun casts upon them, while passing over, are strange, and not to be seen in a country cleared of trees. Kamaraska is the sea-bathing place of the Ca- nadians ; there they obtain salt water. Afar in the woods the smell of freshness becomes disagree- CANADA. 31 able to those who have been used to the sea, and they feel the sensation very strongly. I think this absence of salt, which prevails on the Ameri- can continent, operates against health ; as in sum- mer the decomposition of animal and vegetable matters is much more rapid than in Britain, which may be partly ascribed to this freshness. How happily we quaff the sea-breeze after being immured for a time in the wilderness ! To be aboard a ship in the Gulf of St. Law- rence in an extremely stormy, dark night, when the weather is bitter cold, is perhaps as dismal a situation as human beings can be placed in. Some- times a blaze of lightning between the squalls will illuminate for a moment the awful scene ; then over the bulwarks comes the icy surge, cutting to the bone ; while the ropes snap, and the yards, topmasts, &c. come thundering upon the deck. We crawl about on the obvious brink of eternity — no one speaks to his neighbour — the soul which has not fortitude must sink^there is no vain cheering — the poor human voice is hushed, and anxiety begins to give way to resignation. We do not long for the morning, for it may be little better than the evening, and probably worse. Religion is then the stronghold of the Christian, and the hope after death becomes stronger than i 32 THREE YEARS IN the wish to survive. After a time the feelings become torpid, and misery loses its influence ; nor do we recover with the first warm sun and fair wind ; there is an impression left which years will scarcely obliterate The anguish of dismay is not suddenly forgotten, neither can the smiles of Fortune ever fairly uplift the heart that has actually known distress. s ^.<. '.'^,' I -l 4^ CANADA. CANADIAN CITIES. Quebec, the capital of Canada, is built on a- very high promontory that juts out from the north side of the river St. Lawrence ; it may be said to be about 350 miles up this noble stream. There is an Upper and Lower Town, with ex- tensive suburbs. The Upper Town is surrounded by a strong stone wall and fortifications ; the Lower is nearly on a level with the river. The great fortification is on the highest situation, — of course, commanding the whole town. As the saying goes, the houses are chiefly built of stone, but there seem to be no good quarries near the place. Good material of this kind has to be brought from Montreal. The streets are well paved ; and the public buildings look not so much amiss, but these have all been often described. The Chateau, or house where the Governor re- sides, is placed in a very fine and lofty situation. c 5 m THREE YEARS IN The Parliament-house is much farther down the hill, at that place where flights of steps or stairs lead from the one town to the other. The top of the hill, or Cape Diamond, is about 350 feet above the river. •An inclined plane is constructed be- tween, that stone may be dragged to the extensive works termed the New Fortifications, which have been building there for several years past : the old wwe built by the French when the city was in their possession. Behind this Cape the land falls away gently, forming the Plains of Abram. The greystone, where General Wolfe fell, is yet pointed out. A monumental obelisk has been raised to his memory, which looks very well from the river. Wolfe's Cove is about three miles farther up the stream than Quebec ; it was here the brave officer landed his troops during the night, and crawled up a steep ravine to the heights, dragging the cannon after. The foe marched out of their fort in the morning somewhat astonished, and so began the desperate conflict. It seems to me, that if they had not come out of their fort, an act much repro- bated by military men, the fort would have been very easily taken ; and that the best thing they could do was to come out and be honourably beaten, rather than remain within and allow them- .#• ^ CANADA. 35 selves meanly to be smothered ; and I am farther inclined to think that, if a hostile Yankee army should appear on the plains, we should hurry out too, and meet it with the bayonet. There is a reading-room here, as at Montreal, well filled with periodicals. The population is also considered to be as great, if not greater than there, — perhaps about 38,000 ; the French Cana- dians form the body of the people. The heat and cold here run to the utmost extreme; mercury often freezes, and the sentinels, at their posts on the Cape, often perish by the cold. A brilliant kind of spar is found on the hill ; hence the name Cape Diamond : breast-pins and broaches are made of them. The' improvements of this city must extend by way of the river Charles; there is no room in any other direction. The tide rises here about eighteen feet at a medium. Ships have no harbour, as it were ; they anchor in the open channel of the river, where the water is deep, and holding-ground good. There are drowned here every year a great number of persons, the shore eddies being very strong, whirling amongst the wharfs with dangerous fury, where the waters of the river and precipice of the Cape seem to meet. The place is called by the French Cul de 'li r (■ (I |! 11 M*"*^ W^ 36 THREE YEARS IN Sac, or Bottom of the Bag, as here the contending currents deposit their stores: — hither run the friends of the drowned to look for their bodies. Quebec is one of those rare places that I love ; the beautiful scenery, from the Cape, of the wild and strange country, the Falls of Montmorency, an Indian village in the distance called Laurette, the woody mountains. Point Levi, the British ships in the river, the rafts coming down from the remote wilderness, and various nameless things, refresh me much. There is less vanity and conceit here, too, than is to be met with in the country : here the Canadians will have their own way, and that way seems extremely interesting : here too we find some intercourse with the world, which is almost denied us elsewhere, and we can hold re- gular converse with friends at home, which is ever reviving. Montreal is nearly as large as Quebec, and is supposed to have about 35,000 inhabitants. It is built on a swelling ridge of land, on an island of the same name, at the head of the natural na- vigation of the St. Lawrence, about 180 miles above Quebec. The streets are well paved ; the houses about three stories high, chiefly built of stone : in the suburbs there are many very inferior wooden buildings, deserving the character of huts I ■:! CANADA. 37 more than houses. There are in Montreal se- veral French churches, well filled on Sundays by the Canadians ; and there is one now finishing, a very large Canadian cathedral : which, had it been placed in a good situation, would have been a noble piece of architecture. The architect is a Mr. O'Connel, very skilful and attentive to his business. It is built on a slanting confined piece of ground; the French apparently have no idea of elegance in this respect. It is con- structed of red limestone,' well cut and polished ; the order, I believe, is Gothic ; the windows are to have stained glass ; and the walls are to be plas- tered with fresco paintings. There are also Eng- lish and Scottish places of divine worship ; while the Methodists and Americans have also the same. The Theatre is tolerably neat, and the Masonic Hall hotel is the most splendid building of the kind on the new continent. There are four or five newspapers published weekly— the Herald twice a week ; sometimes they contain articles of no mean talent. The majority of the inhabitants are French ; but the Scotch and Irish, taken by themselves, are more numerous than the English. Some of the unthinking Scotch ape the manners of the latter, and are termed Canadiariized Scotch- men. A good deal of the Yankee mannerism runs 38 THRBB YEARS IN through the whole ; nevertheless it is a tolerably comfortable place. In winter the markets are thronged with people and provisions. Strangers are apt to dislike this city, from the wonderful importance that many of the leading merchants imagine to belong to their character. The fol- lowing letter to a friend in London, gives an idea of the manners of the people. ** You are quite a townsman, my dear fellow ; so it is needless for me to bore you about lakes, snows, serpents, &c. I have been through all the Canadian cities, towns, and villages, worth speaking about — Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, York, &c. The inhabitants are tolerably civil. In a common tavern, your food and bed v ill ease your pocket of a dollar a-day ; if in an hotel, half as much more, exclusive of wines, which are so so — ^no great shakes, a dollar a bottle — and grogs in proportion. The fashionable young fellows follow a good deal the manners of the Americans— drink gin sling, sangaree, and lemonade, smoke segars, and in the morning take bitters, cocktail, and soda- water. The theatres are not open very often, unless some of your stars get erratic, and come over the water. I have seen Kean at his old Richard here : he is ruffed much, and I dare say deserves it ; — as for me, I never ruff any body, but CANADA. 39 keep quiet. They have their parties and their scandal through all the towns, the same as at home. You are well off who are not bothered with th^se things in London ; it is the only place in Britain where pride and presumption dare never show themselves, and where scandal can never thrive. The ladies dress very well, and seem to have a considerable quantity of conceit ; their dresses here are not so plain and so elegant as with you ; they have too great a profusion of flounces, feathers, and ruffles : few of them are to be met with very good-looking ; the climate robs their complexions of all the beautiful colours, leaving behind the sallow, dun, and yellow : no pure red and white in Canada, and dimples and smiles are rare. I endeavoured to fall in love once or twice, and flung my old heart quite open to the little archer ; but the frost, or something or other, would not allow the arrows to penetrate. I have met with girls from my own Old Scotland, that I liked to spend the day with very much, but they had no preten- sions to beauty ; we could talk of witches, and quote Burns together. But this love proceeds from many causes, which have but small connexion with beauty of person ; it is to be traced to the affinity of mind — Humph ! " Your gentry, with their swords, buttons, U ' ''X- 40 THREE YEARS IN &c. figure about here, and the people like to look at them: it is all very fine; they flash round the streets, and are to be met with at every turning. It would be a good thing, we often think, if friend Jonathan would give them something to do : they are much more thought of here than at home; here nobody may become somebody ; an insipM trifler, a delightful gen- tleman : what you would not look at in England, is stared at here with admiration ; and what you love or admire at home, is not to be found. If you would show off and become of some conse- quence, you had better come over as soon as you can find it convenient ; but if you love respect and no nonsense, as you do, stay at home. Those who have wives here seem to kill them with kind- You would fancy that the ladies in Britain ness. receive more attention from the lords of crea- tion than in any other country ; but let me tell you and them, that there is an error in the ballad. What must not be said before ladies here on any account whatever, may be said before them with you without any notice at all ; and I am sure you are as great judges of delicacy as they are. They have frequently hushed me to silence when going on swimmingly with some of my favourite anec- dotes and tales, that I had told a hundred times CANADA. 41 before much more respectable people, to my judg- ment, than they are or ever will be. I have seen a counter-jumper, alias a shopman, assume the office of reforming the manners of the age; nay, I am cer- tain, that even if the celebrated Beau Brummel had been with me, — he who caught cold from a damp man entering a room in which he was, — he would have met with many who would have beggared him at the affectation of delicacy. " Do not let yourself be any longer deceived with the tale that there are no unmarried ladies here, for there are in the greatest abundance ; and also more bachelors than I like to live among, having boarded in a house fur a few days where there were above thirty bachelors, between twenty and forty years of age, every day at dinner. What do you think of this ? Canada is not a place for people to get married in. What is the cause, it is not easy to assign ; methinks it pro- ceeds from the bachelors being chiefly foreigners — people badgered up and down this world, who forget that there is such a state as matrimony. Those who are long without a home get careless about finding one. The natives, however, and settled residents, wed as becomes them; and at their weddings they have what are called Shireve- rees, a parading kind of a show, with sleighs if in .. f I I i|P THREE YEARS IN winter, or a two- wheeled kind of gig, if in summer. Round the towns they fly — what a set out ! — fid- dles playing, pistols firing, ^altogether composing lots of fun : a true Canadian spree is worth the looking at. In Montrt J, the snow accumulates to a great depth in the streets during winter, render- ing the walking very precarious : people wear a kind of crampon on their feet, called creepers, and the ladies move about with stockings drawn over their boots. The Scotch brogue here is not only conceived vulgar, but highly offensive. How they turn up their noses when they hear me speak ! To please them, I have set to work to study the English lisp, and I dare say time will make a beau of my grannie. How polite I find myself get- ting! soon I shall not know where to look for Scotland on a map of the world ; and as to Sir Walter's writings, his Scotch characters do in- deed — (O 1/es I) — disgust me. " I take great delight in walking through the market-places and examining every thing that comes to be disposed of, and I really meet some- times with singular articles : amongst other things is Indian grass, that smells like the tonquin bean ; the butter seems good, but there is no cheese ; vegetables they have in great abundance, and fruit, — beautiful apples called pomgrees. The CANADA. Indians produce their handy-work in the shape of baskets and mocasoons. There is a pleasure in getting into the midst of a club of country Ca- nadians; how they do gabble and laugh, and how fond they are of dollars and half-crowns ! They lodge none of their cash in the banks, but keep it in the corner of a chest at home; and I have been told, that there are marketing ma- dams who have no inconsiderable hoards by them. During winter, there are at times assembly balls, got up by some lady patroness or other; but I never made any attempt to go to any of them : perhaps, if I had, my absence would have 1^» • cordial. Had you been here in your buffs ahl oang-ups, there is no saying how you would have %ured off. Strange world this we live in ! — True, O king ! You on one side of it, and I on the other ; nevertheless we are ever on the same as regards esteem and affection." i ;i^ .1 1} I THREE YEARS IN RUMMAGING. This is the art of exploring whatever lies in a state of nature, or in one that may be considered similar ; it may also be explained as a method whereby curiosities are discovered, and singular information obtained. It forms no uninterest- ing study, and some, I have heard, prefer it to phrenology ; examples, however, will throw more light on the subject. Having been told of moun- tains of iron ore, by my famous and worthy friend Philemon Wright, Esq. of Hull, we took our way on horseback through the forest to inspect the said ore-bed, that had begun to make some noise, and had hindered the magnetic needle of many a surveyor's compass from traversing properly. Four of us mounted, with a guide, at the celebrated, Columbian hotel, and away we went ; our con- ductor having provisions, axes, hammers, &c. in a bag on the saddle with him. Having cantered \ CANADA. m away a couple of miles through cleaned land, we began to enter the wilderness; and lis I am no great horseman, let the animal or the road be ever so good, I soon found my eyes and nose beginning to be scratched to death from the brushwood lashing and rubbing against them, — and soon, alas! I found myself comfortably landed on my back on the trunk of an old tree that had fallen by age many years before. On looking round me, I saw my quiet old pony, thinking for a wonder what was become of me, one of his fore feet having trod out the crown of a good new thirty-shilling hat I had bought in London. My companions gathered round, but could not prevail on me to mount again ; the guide led the horse, and I trudged along on foot. Getting weary, however, and seeing tKe comparatively easy manner in which my friends the Americans got along, in spite of the thick brush- wood and old trees that lay stretching over one another at all angles, I got upon the back of the quiet little animal again, but soon found it almost impossible to follow my companions, with- out getting myself bruised in all quarters, and perhaps some of my bones broken. They had got about an hundred yards before, and hallooed out to me to follow ; I exerted myself to the utmost, but one of my legs getting into the cleft of a I »,. 46 THREE YEARS IN small tree, I was torn off my horse'*s back, and left amongst the briers again. Bawling out, they waited until I came up: none of them but Mr. Mackay, as good a Scotsman as lives, laughed, and I was almost inclined to curse him ; the fellow being a good horseman, and used to the rough roads of Canada, could keep his seat on the saddle in a way, but the skin of his legs was partly peeled like my own, and his clothes torn in va- rious places. After travelling a great deal, riding but little, and being pulled down frequently as de- scribed, we got to a stream which the guide said had its origin in the iron-mountain. Pr jceeding up the stream to its source, we at last came upon the famous ore-bed; but through excessive fatigue, aftex having taken a little refreshment, I fell asleep, as did all my companions but one, the en- terprising Lord of the Manor of Hull : he kindly let us take a nap for about an hour, when he roused us, much recovered. Traversing these wild mountains in all directions, we were much pleased with immense specimens of iron ore that every- where appeared ; and said to ourselves, that this place might be a muirkirk at no very distant date. Mr. Mackay wielded the hammer with masonic skill, and laid the rich rocks open to inspection. These mountains seem to range over an extent of more ' n CANADA. 47 than four miles square : at one place they are not more than two miles from the first Falls of the Oattineau, where a road might easily be con- structed, and where machinery and engines could be erected at a very moderate rate, as water- power may be had to any extent from the Falls. The country all round is growing thickly with hard wood, particularly maple, which makes the best charcoal of any. From all I can think, this is the best place for an iron-manufactory in Canada. While examining these mountains, we filled the bag with various specimens of minerals, such as iron felspar, hornblende, native iron ore, granite of various colours, white, grey, and red, and a kind of stone very common in Canada, which we called Limestone granite ; it being limestone that calcinates to powder, yet to all appearance by fracture granite. We also found marble blocks of great variety, white, green, and variegated. The stream before-mentioned discharges itself into the Oattineau near to the Falls, and has wash- ed down, through a series of ages, great quanti- ties of the finest particles of plumbago ; the banks of the river in that neighbourhood being covered with it to a great extent. I tried its effect in fur- bishing metals, and found it surprising, making my rusty bush- knife gleam with brightness. We at ?? life I ? ■'-H '^t: 48 THREE YEARS IN I \ > length thought of returning to the inn. Night came on, and in the forenoon of the next day T found myself alive at the Falls of Chaudiere : the troubles I had undergone were amply repaid, my bruises recovered, the skin came over my arms and legs, but I will never try to explore the wilds of Canada on horseback ngain. When I first arrived at the Rideau, the Gover- nor of Canada, Lord Dalhousie, and Colonel By, were there, and had fixed the entrance of the Ri- deau canal to be in Rafting Bay ; a beautiful bay about two miles farther up the Ottawa river than where Mr. Samuel Clowes, Civil Engineer to the Provincial Government of Upper Canada, had pro- posed, as being the only practical place where the Rideau river could be carried into the Ottawa by a canal. Accordingly, my first duty seemed to be that of proving if the said engineer was right or not ; Rafting Bay being by far the most elegant en- trance for the canal, and nearer the head of the Ottawa navigation. Having procured three faithful men to assist me to explore, as many axe-men, and two to carry provisions, we sallied out into the woods in the be- ginning of November 1826. The axe-men continu- ally cutting down a line through the underwood, we were enabled to take, what is called in surveying, a CANADA. 49 flying level, which is a rough guess to a foot, more or less, of the rise or fall of the country above any fixed data. Having continued at this fagging em- ployment for three days, my assistants keeping in the neighbourhood, returning nightly and giving information respecting swamps, gullies, streams, mountains, &c. I at last came upon the famous Rideaii, at a distance of between four and five miles from the above beautiful bay. Taking a level of this extent in England would not have occupied more than a day; but in a dark dense wood the subject is quite altered, and a surveyor has to change his home system altoge-^ ther : for instance, if we get upon a hill or other eminence in Britain, we may see the natural lead of the land ; but in Canada, owing to the wilderness, you have to grope for tliis like blind men. On coming out on the river, I found it to be forty-five feet above the level of the Ottawa, and that if a cut were to be made from thence to the valley which descended into the bay, a rocky ridge would have to be broken through, nearly two miles long, and about sixty feet deep to the bottom level of the* canal. To attempt such a work would have been madness : the thing is by no means impracticable, but it would devour an enormous sum of money. Finding this, we left behind our various scienti/ic iinstruments, VOL. I. D •"m> Stmmmmmi^mimii'k £^ ..* 50 THREE YEARS IN and ascended the river. Having penetrated about three miles, we came upon foaming rapids, where the river was narrow in width and the banks high. Here was the famous Hog^s Back, and here we pro- posed to raise the river by a dam, so that the water might be brought on a level with the head of En- trance Valley above alluded to, which was eighty feet above the Ottawa. But the question arose again, if the river could be raised here to the required level, was it possible for us to retain that level through the wilderness, — a distance, as we supposed, of seven miles ? To ascertain this, now became the object of research, and we set to work accordingly ; but meeting with variolas gullies, and huge swamps, to get through which (they being full of water) be- came almost impossible, we waded, and were often obliged to crawl on our hands and knees under the brushwood, and this in water. Finding, there- fore, we could make no good job of surveying theoii until the swamps froze, we wended our wearyhnray to the Ottawa as we best could, and there awaited the coming of the frost, which did not hap- pen sufficiently for our purpose until the 20th of De- cember, and then it was accompanied by a foot-depth of snow. No matter ; we started again, cut holes through the thickets of these dismal swamps, di- rected a person to go about half a mile before. CANADA. 51 and wind a horn, keeping to one place, until those behind came up ; so that by the compass and the sound, there being no sun, we might better grope out our course. For in the woods you have not only to keep to a course, but you have also to discover what that course is; not as on sea, where the course is known, before the ship starts, that one port bears from another ; but in the wilderness the relative position of places is not known, — a cause which improves the instinct of the Indian, making it so superior to that of a European. We had this matter to study deeply ; and we had likewise to. seek for that track where we could best pre- serve our level, in the shortest possible distance. This compelled us frequently to diverge from the direct course ; a ridge of rocks or a deep swamp, the one much above, the other beneath, the required level, had necessarily to be shunned as much as possible. I mention these things out of no vain boast, but as curiosities in science, and must own that the sub- ject perplexed me not a little. Placed in thick and dark snow-covered woods, where, unless the axe-men cut holes, a prospect of five yards could not be obtained ; doubtful what kind of land lay on either side, or directly before ; calculating at the same time, the nature of canal-making in such D 2 i. i :f r 52 THREE YEARS IN places, the depths to dig, or the banks to raise, so that the level might be kept from one sheet of water to another, the former eighty feet above the latter ; while the weather was extremely cold, and the screws of the theodolite would scarcely move : these things all considered, were teasing enough to overcome, and required a little patience. When night drew on, two of the axe-men were sent off to rig the wigwam shanty by the side of a swamp. This was done for two reasons, or say three : first, because water could be had in the swamps to drink and cook with, if the ice were broken to get at it ; secondly, the boughs of the hemlock grow more bushy in such places, and are so far more easily ob- tained to cover the shanty ; and thirdly, there are generally dry ceJar-trees found there, which make excellent firewood, and the bark of dry cedar is the best thing in the world for lighting a fire with. When the party got to the place, there was a very comfortable house set out, a blazing fire with a maple back log, ranging along for a length of twenty or thirty feet. There, on the bushy hem- lock would we lie down ; roast-pork before the fire on wooden prongs, each man roasting for himself ; while plenty of tea was thrown into a large kettle of boiling water, ^he tin mug was turned out, the only tea-cup, which being filled, went round until CANADA. 53 all had drunk ; then it was filled again, and o on ; while each with his bush-knife cut toasted ))urk on a shive of bread, ever using the thumb-piece to protect the* thumb from being burned : a tot or two round of weak grog finished the feast, when some would fall asleep,— others to sleep and snore ; and after having lain an hour or so on one side, some one would cry Spoon!— the order to turn to the other — which was often an agreeable order, if a spike of tree-root or such substance stuck up beneath the ribs. Reclining thus, like a parcel of spoons, our feet to the fire, we have found the hair of our heads often frozen to the place where we lay. For many days together did we lie in these wild places, before we could satisfy ourselves with a solution of the pro- blem already represented. In Dow''s great swamp, one of the most dismal places in the wilderness, did five Irishmen, two Englishmen, two Amer- icans, one French Canadian, and one Scotchman, hold their merry Christmas of 1826, — or rather forgot to hold it at all. These instances of Rummaging occurring the first year I left London, made more impression on me than others I could detail, fraught far beyond comparison with hardship and difficulty. For two or three months at a time would we penetrate up these wild rivers, wading past the % % 64 THREE YEARS IN > 1 rapids for miles together, or clamber through a dreary country, bitten with insects night and day-^ ivith bloody, swelled faces ; while the heat of the sun blistered the skir exposed to its rays, produ- cing frightful ulcers ; while the water was perfect poison to drink, and our food far from being plenty. Often a rock or root would run through the bottom of our canoes; and sometimes they would overset in the rapids, whereby the provisions would be much injured, and ourselves half drown- ed into the bargain : nevertheless, we met with strange scenes, which kept the spirits from sink- ing. If the mind can find nothing interesting, disease and every evil afflict both it and the body ; but where it can find plenty of employment, dan- gers and difficulties are easily surmounted. In winter, we traversed distant regions on sleighs, and in snow-shoes; broke through the ice fre- quently, and got ourselves wet and frost-bitten :•— no matter ; there is ever some balm in Gilead ; and although nothing on earth would make, me do over again what I have done, still I might under- take an enterprise that would ultimately turn out worse. In some of my curious wanderings I was ac- companied by Colonel By, of the Royal Engineers, a gentleman I shall ever esteem and value. He .» ,. * * CANADA. 65 encountered all privations with wonderful patience and good-humour ; was even too daring in some instances ; would run rapids that his Indians trembled to look at ; and cross wide lakes with the canoe when the Canadians were gaping with fear at the waves that were rolling around them. He could sleep soundly any where, and eat any thing, even to raw pork. One night we lost our- selves altogether in Craneberry Lake, on our route through the waters from the Ottawa to Lake Ontario. There were two canoes of us, and the poor fellows paddled away lustily ; but it was of no use ; the more we sailed, the farther astray we went, and could not find the outlet of the river Cataraque. Getting through a frightful marsh, partly overflowed by water, we entered with the canoes into an expanse of flooded woods, and one of the canoes stuck in the fork of a tree buried in the water. We went alongside, and the crew hav- ing got into the other canoe, we succeeded in lifting it out pf the fork. Dark night came on, and we landed on some sort of wild shore about ten oVlock, clambered up the brow amongst the trees, and pulled the canoes and their cargoes after. We had parted with our provision canoe on the morn- ing before, and appointed to have met with it that night at a station called Brewer's Mills : thus we mtm mmmimmmi'iimm 1 t^ lln > g^ f m . 5Q THREE YEARS IN had nothing to eat but a small bit of cheese ; and as for drink, there was nothing but a little drop of brandy in a bottle, and this was not allowed to be touched. There we were, no one knew where, in the heart of an endless wild, without food or any thing else whatever for the comfort of human life ; but we minded it not. Although we had had a fagging day, no one was inclined to sleep: could we have knocked up any thing in the shape of a dinner, we might then all have snoozed profoundly ; but hunger kept us from the arms of Morpheus, and allowed us to ruminate on our forlorn situation. We hallooed out fre- quently as loud as we could, but no one heard us. We were sometimes answered by the owl, afar in the solitary woods, and the lake bird, called loon, also deigned to reply from the distant waters. At one time we heard, or thought we heard, the barking of a dog, — which might have been so, but I thought it that of the wolf species. Having a gun with us, we succeeded in tighting a good fire, which is always a pleasant thing to look at; while the light reflected aloft on the woods was beautiful. We frequently loaded the gun with powder and fired it off; and the sound reverberating through the forest and rocks m :■ .*■■ % CANADA. 57 on led the was heard for a long time after. Thinking we had got into Loughborough Lake, which opens out of Craneberry Marsh, tovards morning we started with the light of the moon, and after paddling away five or six miles until we came to the head of a deep bay, swimming-full of drift- wood, we there put about, and were glad to get back to the fire we had left on the unknown shore. We had supplied it well with fuel before we started, in hopes that we might use its light, like that of a Pharos, to guide us on our proper course ; but, alas ! we now all began to droop a little, for there was a probability that we might not find our way out of the Lake, and of course, therefore, must perish. The sun arose ; we took to the canoes again, and seeing some wild ducks^ we shot at them seve- ral times, but could not succeed in killing one of them. Having paddled away several miles, and taking our bearing by the sun, the compass being useless, I found we were returning as we had come the day before ; we therefore lay to, to strike the course. While doing so, we heard the report of a musket at a distance. We bore away to the place whence the sound proceeded, heard another shot let off, and even saw the smoke. It was D 5 ;««*•! '•'■■♦* lip^ % CANADA. 59 " DEAR SAUNDERS, *< It is with the most consummate happiness, my old cock, that I have to inform you, that the grand object of my summer^s wandering hath been accomplished. I have penetrated the wilderness of the Missouri, and found some remains of an ancient city, as hath been stated ; but there seem to be no brick buildings, nor Doric columns, though some dovetailing, tolerably executed, may exist. On the banks of the Wabash, I looked into the caves of the mammoth, and have brought, O Saunders, for thy edification, a most perfect knee-joint of the monster : — a particular, and, I would fain hope, highly interesting account of the Mammoth Caves is forthcoming, together with some singular tales respecting the habits of the animals of the antedi- luvian world. In sailing down the Ohio, we came upon a den of rattlesnakes : this, to me, was in the highest degree delicious. The den was in a clump of brushwood, exposed to the sun ; the ca- dence of the rattles much amused us, as no snake is so ill-bred as to strike his rattle whilst another is sounding. O that Jonathan would take a hint from this, and neither guess nor gabble while another person in company governs the conver- sation ! '* After considerable travel and fatigue, we came ^1 i a wmm wm ji*dfe. i wi . li ;. .y I sm i / .4 *. 60 THREE YEARS IN {^^ \^i upon the Rocky Mountains, alias the Backbone of America; and here, as you may expect, all my mi- neralogical science was brought into full request. My bag is full of the rarest specimens, and, what will astonish the sons of Mammon, I have both gold and silver ores. In fact, I conceive these mountains to be much more valuable than those of the Andes. The crow-bar will be at work there di- rectly, Saunders, and ingots turned out as quickly as slate-stones. A new Mining Company will be formed in Lombard-street, London, before you can say Jack Robinson ! " On Lake Winnipeck, I met Captain Franklin, from Bear Lake, bearing home with all sails set : he is a hardy rook, and, I dare say, would outdo me at regular rummaging. We finished a brandy- flask between us, and then away went he and away went I, whilst the voyagers struck up Chantez doux. " When at the forks of Red River, 1 beheld with sorrow the battle-field of the Fur Companies — you know where I am. High waves the grass over the place where Governor Semple fell ; — the ghost of the murdered are frequently seen stalking about, and' even heard howling at times in the woods, sometimes like a loon, at others like an owl. " At Moose Factory, I fell in with the sociable tf CANADA. 61 and good Governor of the Hudson'*s Bay Company, Mr. Simson : he laid before me the Mrhole of the fur>trade ; and really, Saunders, I must draw you out a copy of my notes on that interesting subject; they are much more curious than you can possi- bly imagine. " Returning from Hudson^s Bay by a new route, I met, about the head of the Peace River, with a party of fur-traders from New York. Their canoes were full of pieces : the fellows knew well where to lay their hand on peltry. Where any game is to be had, Mr. Yankee must come in for a share. ** I have often gone a^hunting with the Indians, and not unfrequently rifled a bear, a fox, or a buffalo of his life. Speaking of rifles, they are a species of fusee not sufficiently studied in Britain : they were the weapons that galled us in the late American war. The foe gets behind the root of an old tree, and quietly selects the officers of an army as his victims, and pops them like sparrows at a quarter of a mile^s distance. # "Deluding deer at night with a lantern and candle, and then lodging a slug in their vitals, seems to be a favourite murdering kind of sport with the traversing tribes of the wild rivers of Canada. How frequently have I seen the eyes of the poor 1 ' It ^ ■*■*"» .M:.. •y^ iS^ 62 THREE YEf^H IN 9f u creatures flash at the light of the candle, that the pan of the musket might flash in return. It is a false idea that people have in the old country, that we may enjoy good shooting in Canada ; no such thing. Wild ducks we may blatter at out of a canoe, and have some laughs at the scene ; but all else is pot-work and slave- work ; no fun at all. Emigrants always bring out guns, and the best of guns ; but they are like a countryman of ours, Saunders, who brought out a curling-stone, and never got a shot with it. For all the ice in Canada, confound it if he could find a rink : and for all the game — ^you may fag yourself to death in the bush in quest thereof, and bring home nothing at night, saving, perhaps, a long-necked heron. '* The extensive savannahs of Asnaboyne, where the wild horses and bufialoes range, are beauti- ful to behold, and the wild regions of AthabasCo amuse the poetic fancy. While coming into the civilized world again, I had nearly lost my life at the Appletree Falls, Grand River : away went the canoe, as we say in Scotland, *' heels over gowdie C but, being a tolerable swimmer, I reached the shore. So after arriving at the village of the Lake of the Two Mountains, and seeing my Indian friends, &c. I got to Montreal, and found you ab- sent. The next trip I take is to New York, to '"^w •I?- %^ "w^ *• .M "%■ ■ ^■- . OANApA. §8 see the States* people at home ; and I hope when I do see them, I shall have a more favourable opi- nion of their worthy deeds and glorious achieve- ments than I have hitherto. ** You are bustling yourself about politics, I see, as usual : these are things I know nothing at all about. Try to keep people in peace^ however ; you will never receive any thanks if you bother yourself about setting friends together by the ears. " By the by, my spouse Kate, honest body, begs to be remembered to you. She has been in- quiring much about your dear Bell of late : this is natural, I believe, in women, when they feel them- selves in a certain situation. You mean to bring grannie to this country. Now I think you must consider that business more philosophically ; the danger of bringing an old Mause out of her native glen is very great, and may operate against even her tough constitution. ** Be pleased to keep this letter out of the hands of those editor folks. Look upon it more as a private epistle than a thing written for the critics of Canada. You know my extreme deli- cacy on this subject. I have all my life detested to appear in print, and yet you see how often we have been both dragged into it. When I do sport in the press, let me be aware of it ; then I i ■■"- -^iCN^- f m. H THRBB YBAR8 IN ■ *, I shall cut my pen, and trim my genius accordingly : then you shall see me make wonderful dashes, soaring, like a poetic cronie I once had, this mo- ment * amang the stars,^ and the next down below, * amang the puddock-stools/ « Letters from Scotland have winged their way to me dudng my absence, and even from one My- narble, Iu#of Man. This Manks letter is a curio- sity in its way. The fair of Laxy is a piece of notable colouring : I shall show it. That fellow from Ruglin, that old fool llobbin, you know, means to come out to this country. You may re- member that crambo sonnet of mine in the Mont- real Herald, — that has awakened him. In truth, some of your letters and some of my own have created a wonderful sensation about Clyde side. I dare say, if I petitioned his Majesty at present, he would give me an additional situation of * De- puty Assistant Emigrant General.^ But I need not complain ; my birth of ' Rummager General,' which I have now enjoyed for some years, with its accompanying salary of sixty pounds, is enough for me, and the * Curiosities of Canada,'* first vo- lume (there will be ten), now publishing in Lon- don, will bring me at least a hundred more — so says my bookseller. " But where am I running .'' writing you a long i 4 •'•'■ ■'>""*""'^''fc"' ■' ■""■■^ CANADA. 65 foolish narrative : there's no use in it ; — this night, Heaven willing, I 'm at your fire-side, when my budget shall be opened effectually. Meanwhile, believe me, my dear Saunders," &c rt Ill k Note. — The modesty of the Indians ia very great. Their noble chief, De Campsie, being at a party once, where English ladies were showing off their snowy necks and lovely heaving bosoms, on being asked what he thought of them, replied, shak- ing his head, " They show much too great face for me." The Indian children are nursed in a case of wood, and the poor little dears seem very happy in this shell, as it were : when the mothers give them the breast, one would think, they were hold- ing up a violin to play. Perhaps it is from keep- ing their infants in this position, that they are so erect in stature ever afterwards, although they generally walk in-toed. • if li ■■♦* 7 .*4 --,.- r ■* j- .- s I- i .| n^fmmmm .^ G6 THRRR YEARS IN FROSTS AND FLOODS. During the winters, I used to indulge in re- flections respecting the ice and snow, and make a few experiments on them. It was found that about six cubit feet of lake ice made five feet of water when melted ; and of river ice, which was not so compact, particularly if near to a fall or ra- pid, eight cubit feet required to be dissolved for five of water: the most compact black ice any- where to be found, will be about five and three- quarters to five. Canadian ice is not so compact as that to be found in Britain : the thinner the ice, the more solid it is ; when thick, it is more full of little air cells, and of a greyish colour. It is not of so hard a nature, either, as that at home ; a per- son can cut a hole through it with a hatchet as quickly as they can at home, although it may be four times as thick. #**•■. .Wl^- CANADA. 67 I :1 In the winter of 1826, the ice of Lake Ontario, when at the thickest, was within half an inch of two feet; the Lake of Chaudiere was three feet and a half: they are not so thick, by about half a foot, towards the middle, and begin to take (that is, freeze) round the sides first before the middle ; sometimes towards the centre they will not freeze ut all, unless the frost be very severe. The road for sleighs is, therefore, rpund the sides. The Ca- nadian adopts this for two substantial reasons : first, that the ice is more safe there, and, secondly, that should it break in, he has a better chance to get out. Often horses and sleighs will break smack through, sink beneath the ice, and be seen no more : the drivers generally contrive to escape, although sometimes they get entangled or con- fused, and sink with the rest. An honest settler and his wife were cantering along the Ottawa to hold their merry new year in Montreal : what a gay set-out ! and what a span of beautiful Ame- rican bay horses ! they went like the wind ; while the cutter (an elegant species of sleigh) tilted over the cracks and cahots in glorious style. My much respected friend John SherrifF, Esq. was a passenger aboard, — who would not have had his interesting company if it were to be obtained ? — a profound connoisseur in the news and manners t'' m I ^ "%: 68 THREE YEARS IN of Canada, deeply read in the periodical literature of the old country, a great traveller all over the world, ever retaining a good and cheerful dispo- sition. Often would he warn the farmer to take care of the ice, as about the eddies of Long Island it was never to be fully depended upon ; but the other still replied there could be no fear, seeing by the track that two laden traineaux bad lately passed before them. Thus gliding along with a swift and smooth velocity, down they went with a plunging crash. My humorous friend, whose presence of mind never forsook him, vaulted on to the solid ice, and very politely handed out thc !ady ; while her husband, poor fellow, kept touch- ing up the cattle slightly with the whip, uncor uS of his dangerous situation, and, had my friend not caught him by the coat-tai], he would have sunk, like his horses, beneath the cold casement of the river, to be seen no more. If the horses are al- lowed to plunge much, there is no chance of saving tbem : they have therefore to hang them, to keep them quiet, until they are pulled out, when the noose on the neck is slackened, and life permitted # to return. While on this subject, I may mention a question which was once laid before me for de- cision. A gentleman sent his servant with a sleigh and two valuable horses to a neighbouring village -r m- ,«*-'. CANADA. 69 for some purpose or other, when this servant and another servant of the same gentleman, who was likewise there on some business of his master's, happened to meet : the one who had charge of the sleigh getting intoxicated with rum, the other insisted on driving the vehicle home for him : while doing so, the ice towards the middle of a river gave way, and the horses, sleigh, and cargo, were lost. " Was it proper, or not, to dis- miss those servants from their master''s employ ?"" The voice of the multitude was in favour of the servants, but I doubt if that was right ; humanity, however, ought to be coupled with rigid justice. In England such servants would have been turned off; but there they can soon find other masters, and masters other servants : — not so in Canada. The large lakes have never such a thick flooring of ice as the lesser under the same parallel of la- titude. Thus a lake twelve miles long by six broad, will rot only have thicker ice than one a hundred miles long by fifty, but also surpass a lake three miles long by one broad : in the first case the waters are prevented from freezing fast by winds, eddies, &c. and in the other by trees. A quantity of virgin snow will be dissolved by thawing to about one-fortieth part its bulk of water ;< if having undergone the greatest compres- .0 '\ H ' '% i 70 THREE YEARS IN sion, one-tenth will be about the mark : the weight, dissolved, or not, is the same, if no evapo- ration during the process of thawing take place. I had to regret my want of good apparatus in these wild and distant places, but found, with the rough tools I had to work with, that the fresh water in winter was heavier than it is in summer ; even the water of melted snow was lighter than the common water of winter. When swimming in the lakes or rivers in summer, that degree of buoyancy which we feel in the ocean is much re- duced ; we are often troubled to keep the mouth free : hence one of the causes for so many people being drowned in the hot season. The great river St. Lawrence discharges to the ocean annually about 4,277,880 millions of tons of fresh water, of which 2,112,120 millions of tons may be reckoned melted snow ; the quantity ^Us- charging before the thaw comes on being 4,512 millions of tons at an average per day, for 240 days, and the quantity after the thaw begins being 25,560 millions per day for 125 days, the depths and velocity when in and out of flood duly considered. Hence we And that if a ton of water be nearly equal to fifty-five cubic yards of pyre snow, this river frees a country of more than 2000 miles square covered with it three feet deep. Vs/\ ^!%-?^.* CANADA. 71 There are rivers in Canada, such as the Ottawa, and Gattineau, that have two floods every spring. The first flood, which is of small note compared with the second, comes on in April — the great flood in June. From this cause I infer that there are not many large lakes in the courses of these rivers, and that their sources are more northerly than those of the St. Lawrence ; for were there large reservoirs to receive the waters of dissolving snows, then there would be but one flood, which would keep rising, as the altitude of the sun in- creased, so long as any unmelted snow remained in the region valleys, as it were, of these rivers. The April flood arises from the early action of the sun on the southern regions : all the small drainers flowing in from the south, are flooded to the brim ; while those coming from the north and north-west, are almost unaffected by it ; — and these are of much more ex tensive dimensions; they have to await the progress of the sun for nearly six weeks longer, before they are set in foaming commotion. The thaws are not attended with much rain generally : the sun is partly obscured with a very luminous vapour, — a kind of hot mist, if the term might be used : such weather dissolves ice and snow sooner than if the sun was unobscured by clouds, or if torrents of rain fell. The floods which fall # '-• . ) 'fi 'If « ** THREE YEARS IN 4». - f,, into Hudson's Bay and the North Pacific Ocean , are not at their height until the middle of July. The more elevated the sources of rivers are, the greater, of course, will be their velocity ; and those having the greatest velocity, have the straightest courses. Serpentine rivers are all of small eleva- tion ; the banks never rise high ; but in the other case they do, as where the greatest currents are, the deeper is the channePs ground. The eleva- tion of the banks of a river at the bottom of a rapid, is generally equal to the height of that rapid : this is a natural consequence from a rapid forming through a succession of ages in a country of table lands. If a river, then, has two floods at periodical times, and the days between those times are known likewise, the quantity of water in each flood, and the velocity, together with the quan- tity and velocity when the river is at the lowest, — ** the length of it may be nearly obtained from the main source to the point of discharge, and the elevation of the said source above said point, with the general course of the river."" Such information is useful, before we set about exploring a wild river which no one knows any thing about ; and many such rivers there are in Canada. The Ottawa for instance, which is larger than all the rivers in Great Britain, were they running in one, which CANADA. 73 divides the civilized parts of Upper and Lower Canada, and forms the great highway through the interior of the country, is, I may say, quite unknown. Raftsmen penetrate and procure some of their timber for market about three hundred miles up it ; and fur-traders pass from i nto Lake Neppising, and from thence into Lake Huron, when going to their great Indian territories. Thus, there is one of the largest and noblest rivers in the world running through the heart of one of our greatest colonies, and yet we are strangers to it: few have the means to explore such a river alone, and those who have will never attempt it. In the absorce of all farther information, I should infer, from observations made with care, that the most distant source of this large river is in that tract of country between Lake superior and Hudson^s Bay ; that there are few large lakes in its course ; that its utmost length is about 1800 miles^ and its elevation above the ocean, nearly 1100 feet. The lake ice, freezing to the thickness it does, cannot be supposed to remain level ; it swells and gently curves upwards, when enormous cracks from side to side take place along the crown of the curve. The roaring of these cracks when forming was a sound such as I never before heard ; VOL. i. E e a V ; I J % . i!' tM 'J iB 1 m -^11 !1 1 ■■> 1 ,hi iJ f— "rsj^Witur -.-.^.i' T4 THREE YEARS IN it was not at all like thunder, except in loudness; it might probably resemble the sound of cannon fired in a wide rocky cavern. These cracks open upwards, and are dangerous to be passed with horses and sleighs ; they yawn, as it were, to re- ceive them. When the thaw comes on, large tablets of ice, formed by these cracks, sail about the lakes from side to side, according as the winds or currents prevail, trending always toward the outlet, where there generally is a ra- pid: away they tumble, and are broken into a thousand fragments, while they vault down the roaring chute, turning up their transparent glories to the gleaming sun. After the ice and floods have passed away, large round stones are sometimes found at the bottom of these rapids: they are generally of quite a different nature from the rocks which compose the banks or bottom of the rivei". Some think that they are conveyed on these ice-floes from the sides of the lake, and hurled with them down the rapids. I think also that they are indebted to the frost for mov- ing them about ; but that they have not fallen from the banks upon the ice-floes, as suspected, but are taken up, by being frozen into them, from the shallow shores of the lakes. When the floes are compelled to move before the floods, they take CANADA. the boulders with them, like plums in a cake. They are chiefly formed of hornblende and gypsum, and are not unlike the potted head-stone, well known to the Scotch curlers. On the shores of the great gulf of St. Lawrence we met with boulders of an enormous size ; many of these de- tached stones could not be less than twenty tons. These are quite a different kind of boulder-stone from those we have been considering: they are, ten times larger, and not to be found on the shores of any of the lakes, nor by the rapids ot' any of the rivers. What theircomponent parts are, is beyond my mineralogical skill, but the specimens brought home may elucidate them. The colour is very black grey, having pointed particles of a brilliant nature ; they are very hard ; the blocks without veins, generally all of one colour ; those which deviate in this respect incline to brown. There is evidently trap about them, but altogether I have seen no stones like them. What cause has brought them to where we find them, is hard to say, or even where they have come from, as the rocks of the Gulf shore are generally a slaty lime stone. To venture s humble opinion, however, methinks they are some of the products of the arctic regions, and therefore I shall call them, until we find out a more proper name, the arctic E 2 I V. ^ J i ' $ J !T,-. i ,1 - i 76 THRBE YEARS IN h l''^ boulder ; and that they are frozen into, and con- veyed to the Gulf shores by the icebergs, or thick- ribbed ice-floes, which visit the Gulf every season, where some of them are left on the shore after the ice is dissolved. At low-water mark I found the largest ; the smallest are found higher up the beach : from which I would infer, that the largest come in the largest floes, and these require deeper water to float in, and that those of the greatest magnitude are probably deposited where the water never ebbs sufliciently low that they may be seen. Independent of there being nothing valuable about them as minerals, that is to say, nothing to please the lapidary and man of com- merce, still, to the naturalist, they are gems not to be sneezed at. If they come with the Polar ice, as I have every reason to think, they come from where the eye of the most intrepid man will never see them, perhaps from under the Pole it- self : bowled, as it were, by the hand of the frost, on a theatre where they may be inspected : a curiosity conveyed by Nature ia*a singular manner, from dreary, frigid regions, fo^lte |p look at :— and, lay- ing poetry aside, they seem to b§, after all, the best of mill-stone metal. ^ ' Amongst the ledges of limestone which occur in the neighbourhood of rapids, there are round CANADA. 77 holes discovered, some of which are two feet in diameter. When they happened, as they often did, to be in quarries opened for the use of the public works, the quarriers, after a time, came to the bottom, and found a round stone there in each, of a very hard nature, like a cannon-ball, of six inches diameter. These boulders were of a flinty spar, of a yellow colour. Sometimes the holes would veach twelve feet in depth, quite perpendicular, bored through the limestone strata with great regularity ; and the blocks of stone raised off the holes had a singular appearance. But what may seem strange, al- though these holes generally began at the sur- face, they were sometimes met with beneath it, in the heart of a solid lime-stone stratum, more than ten feet down. On examining the matter minutely, it was always found that a crevice led from some part of the hole, between beds of strata; and where this crevice ended — which might have been five hundred yards off, for any thing that appeared to the contrary— ^ we never knew. From this I inferred, that Nature made use of many kinds of machinery, in order to grind away the rocky banks and channels of her rivers, so as to give work to her various agents. The bullet-stone found in the hole was evi- §i f 78 THREE YEARS. IN K dently what had ground it, by a pressure of water whirling it round like Barker^s mill, and then es- caping out of the crevice. A mass of waters pass- ing down a rocky channel, would be a long time in grinding it deeper, or forming a ledge so as to have a fall ; but millions of unseen grinding-mills, at work as described, are able to make great altera- tions. Where we found these holes in greatest abundance, was fifty feet above the present bed of the Ottawa. The Falls of Chaudiere, which are now thirty-one feet in height, were evidently once as high as the Lake of Chaudiere, which is sixty-four feet above the level of the present wa- ter below the Falls. How long these thirty-three feet have been grinding away, it would be difBcult to say. Old Indians state, that they have gone with their canoes where they cannot go now ; that the passage of Chaudiere is more difficult to make than formerly ; they will even point out the an- cient passage of their fathers : however, the data of tradition do not satisfy mathematicians. All frozen lakes, toward their outlets, have what are called their breathing-places. These are of great extent, and although seemingly tranquil, never freeze. They are evidently, however, sub- ject to tremulous motion from the action of the CANADA. 79 frost on the lake, and from the surplus waters smoothly discharging themselves. The " treasures of the snow" are wonderful ; we may peep at, but cannot ** enter into" them : it is ordered to be on the earth, and *' out of whose womb it comes" even Job himself durst not say. It has been thought that we are going to lose in some distant day our grand Canadian ri- vers ; the St. Lawrence and Ottawa begin to dwindle : •— so the natives will argue, and will point out marks on the banks of those noble streams, where they remember the waters at Midsummer to have had their margin. These marks are several feet above the present Trinity data. A few feet higher are the marks of the grandfathers, and higher stiU, those of the great- grandfathers. Thus do the banks of the rivers afford a scale whereby the generations of mankind may be numbered ; by them we may know near- ly the exact age of the world, and quibble no longer with the Chinese, or any other nation, about the time " When Adam delved and Eve spun." Now the truth is,- that the beds of the rivers are always changing, but the rivers themselves ! .1] IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) # .^ A% 4^ 1.0 Ittitt u m ^ U£ 12.0 u 25 2.2 Hiotographic ScMioes Corporation » WIST MAM smiT W im, H.Y. 14910 (7U) •73-4509 80 THRBB YEARS IN remain as they have probably done from the first formation. The rapids grind down the rocks over which they roll, leaving the still lake to cover the spot where they once roared; yet neither does the number of the lakes nor that of the rapids diminish in consequence. Niagara Falls and Lake Erie may translate themselves, but will never be annihilated : for how can they, when the height of the head water remains the same above the level of the ocean, whither they are ever de- scending ? We may, therefore, draw a conclusion from this, that if the lakes and rapids of any Ca- nadian river become fewer in number than they are at present, their dimensions will be larger, and in the course of time there may be waterfalls in Canada to the height of five hundred feet. ■I ;;JK li il CANADA. 81 THE LAKES. These are many in number, and several of them of great extent, as is well known. The waters of those which may be said to belong to the river St. Lawrence, are very pellucid. On a calm sum- mer's day, a white object of about one foot square may be seen to a depth of about forty feet. The ^ waters near their shores are neither so clear nor so pure as they are towards the middle : some argue that they are not very wholesome to drink, but this, I think, is incorrect. Lake Ontario is about 183 miles long, 42 miles wide ; in some places, more than 450 feet deep, and 220 feet above the level of the tide waters of the ocean ; consequently, in some places, it must be about 230 feet below the level of the ocean. The water is very fresh-tasted, and allays thirst very well. The wind blows strong on the lakes sometimes, and the waves are of that short, jump- E 5 I ,1 f ^ ii til 82 THREE YEARS IN ing nature, so disliked by sailors. When much agitated, a small boat finds great difficulty to live amongst them ; the ground-swell, and the shore deflection, create a most singular kind of undu- lation. The oldest salt-water sailors will fre- quently get sea-sick on them. There are no tides on any of the lakes, as reported, — none, at least, from the moon's influence ; the floods of spring generally raise them from three to four feet. It is said that Lake Ontario rises once in every seven years higher than it usually does, by two feet. The people ascribe this to some supernatural cause. In the spring of 1827, it had one of those periodic tides, rising nearly three feet higher than it had done the previous year, and keeping high the whole summer. Being in the neighbourhood, I paid the utmost attention to the phsenomenon ; and found that there fell during that summer much more rain than had fallen for many years before; that there was little sunshine through- out the season, and consequently, I concluded, the exhalations from the lake were not so copious. There was another circumstance which puzzled me that season. Lake Ontario, and, indeed, all the lakes, were up at their very highest surface- marks, but the rivers flowing out of them were not. These surface-marks are very obvious on CANADA. I|p the rocky shores of all the lakes ; they are drawn, like so many chalk lines, by Nature herself. Rivers do not rise exactly from the same cause as lakes: if in spring the snow melts off the country on a sudden, and the frozen swamps break up and disembogue their contents, then the rivers swell to their utmost height, as water pours into them on all sides by guUy, vale, and creek ; but when the sun has effected this, when the snows have been dissolved, and hurried down with the contents of the swamps to the ocean, the rivers begin to fall. The lakes swell, it is true, from the same cause, but not with the same com- parative haste ; their surfaces being of great ex- tent, the floods can only spread over them by slow degrees; and if the sky keep cloudy, and the weather moist, so that little evaporation is going on, the surface of the lake will continue to swell, while that of the river will fall, as the country on either side is drained, and nothing tending to keep up its flood but the mere dis- charge from the lake ; but while the lake keeps up, the river will not fall so low as it would were it down ; it will continue as it were, for the season, under the influence of a partial flood. Ri- vers and lakes are, therefore, never at their utmost pitch of flood together, neither are they ever at the 1 i I ■> 84 THREE YEARS IN lowest ebb at the same time ; for when the floods of a river have subsided to a certain extent, the intense heat of the sun, acting on the shelving sides of rocky channels, and even on the rocky bed of the river itself, tends greatly to promote the absorption of the waters ; whereas, in the deep wide lake, this action cannot take place. Hence the quantities of water which immediately flow from lakes into rivers are greater than at the points of discharge, so long as hot sunny weather continues ; there is much more, as it were, flows into them, than flows out. Lake Erie is about 270 miles long, and may nearly average about 25 in width ; it is considered to be about 220 feet deep in some places, and is generally laid down by the American levellers at 565 feet above the tide waters of the ocean at Albany. But this I consider rather too much ; for, by even allowing the medium rise of tide at Quebec to be twenty feet, I can only bring the le- vel of this lake to be 570 feet ; and by the Albany tide-table, I find ten feet difference, making the height of level 560 feet, which is Ave feet less than the Americans make it. However, as none of these beautiful and extensive lakes have yet been sur- veyed with that care they deserve — a thing much CANADA. 85 to be regretted — little differences will occasionally occur in the calculation of casual travellers. The Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Green Bay, have been considered all on one level. Lake Hu- ron is strewn with beautiful large and fertile is- lands ; it is generally considered to be about 250 miles long, 120 miles in width, 860 feet in depth, and 590 feet above the level of the ocean. Now, as there seem to be about 370 feet between the level of this lake and Ontario, in some places then, (if all soundings be taken correctly,) its bottom must be 490 feet beneath the surface of Ontario, so that their bottoms may be considered not far from a level. Lake Ontario being, as I said before, about 450 feet deep, if any subterraneous passage exist between those immense sheets of water, the one having a head level so much above the other, a quantity of water will find its way into Lake Ontario, without tumbling over the Falls of Nia- gara. That such a passage may exist is merely one of my own conjectures, deduced from the •• above data of heights, depths, floods, &c., and from observing, that the proportion of waters that come over the falls, is less than one would reasonably expect from seeing the discharge out of Lake Ontario. I it 86 THREE YEARS IN hr The noble reservoir and head fountain of all, Lake Superior, is accounted to be 480 miles long, 420 wide, 930 feet in depth, and 1050 above the ocean. Numerous streams fall into it in all directions : and its shores are generally composed of fine sand. When the fur-trading canoes are caught on it in a storm, they fly into the creeks for safety, and the mouths of these are often shut up with the fine drift sand, and the water dammed up above its natural level. When the storms abate, a slight rut is made through the sand-bank ; and out runs the water, forming a channel wide enough to let out the laden canoes in a very short time. These great lakes of North America seem to answer some of the ends that the mountains in South America do; they are the means of wa- tering extensive territories. The Andes attract the vapours ever rising out of the huge oceans on either side of them, by which means their great rivers are supplied ; while the lakes, by evapora- tion, do the same thing. Hence, where there are large mountains on the globe, there are no extensive lakes ; and vice versa. It is singular too to remark, that the loftiest mountain is generally found to be the farthest inland, and also the most capacious lake. Chimborazo stands in majesty OANADA. 87 towards the centre of his realms, while Superior is an ocean in the heart of a splendid wilderness. A hill, or a pool, in such places would, so far as we may judge, produce thirst and sterility. Turn where we will, observe what we can, we must ac- knowledge and adore the wisdom of Providence. Once while on Lake Ontario, I dropped a letter to my old friend; perhaps it may be acceptable in this place. . . *< DBAR SAUNDERS, " Wearied out at York, I flung my corpus aboard the first schooner that dared this year to navigate Lake Ontario, and away I came. A puff of wind run us out of the harbour about forty miles, and then came on a calm, and the most wonderful scenes of refraction ever beheld by man. Refrac- tion, thou knowest, is a kind of game that the light indulges in occasionally— optical delusions, or the whims of the French mirage. Islands turn up- side down, while the trees o.p^nd on the tops of those below — tops to tops ; the white surf of the ground beach swells, is also translated aloof, and seems like the smoke of artillery blazing away from a fort. At one time we fancied ourselves in the midst of a splendid ewer, water pouring in all directions round to the seeming depth of p •' 88 THREE YEARS IN i'l I twenty feet; again, the distant American shore would rise above a sheet of something like a white haze, then would it fall away again out of sight, while large mountains of water would seem to swell up on the horizon. But I am rather getting Brewsterized, so shall content myself some morning with explaining these spectacles. They arise from the state of the atmosphere and the condition of the surface of the waters. When long, smooth, oily tracks, as formed by the spawn of fish, are surrounded by what sailors call the cats- paw or ripple, then begins the gambol of light, changing with the undulating waters. '* When night came, it brought wind, rain, thunder, and all manner of stormy materials; so we bared our sticks, and were driven in with a vengeance to the harbour of Presqueisle. — Coming to anchor in the morning, I espied seme ducks near the head of the bay, seemingly very impudent ; so I went ashore, like Robinson Crusoe, with a gun over each shoulder to salute them. I rattled some slugs amongst them, seem- ingly to their amusement, for they werie too far off. I therefore had recourse to a method taught me by Dr. Dunlap, which is, to send a bullet into the flock with one barrel, and then meet them on the wing, as they come overhead, with the other, CANADA. well filled with small shot. By this plan we had some black ducks for dinner. " The wind drawing south, we set out to the lake again. How pure are its waters ! — what a luxury to drink, and to wash one's face in the morning! The lakes are the reservoirs that purify the St. Lawrence, and water the huge con- tinent of America. At length we ran the extent of the lake, and found ourselves becalmed once more amid the Thousand Islands. These brought the vision of Mirza before me, and I felt some- thing like what people term poetry entering my mind. If you had been here, Saunders, you would have been raving in rhyme like a mad bard, and frightening the skipper of the boat, honest lad, who sat beside me by the tafferel and whistled * Blow, breeze, blow."* '* On the bank of one of the islands my eyes, roaming about, met with the solitary grave of some poor individual. This was one of the thou- sand instances I have observed of the want of proper respect being shown to the dead in Canada. I like to live, said I to myself, very well in this country, but I should not like to die here and be buried : for, spite of all the immense tracts of land there are here, a poor fellow cannot have so much of it at the last as will make a grave for him. The ^ ! 90 THREE YEARS IN churchyards are always placed in the most bar- ren, sterile, rocky spots that can be selected, sel- dom or never fenced in, but left to the mercy of the pigs and geese, the former to grub, the latter to gabble. Shame that things should be carried on in this way ! I like to see the dead attended to as well as the living. How pleasing to find people weep- ing over the dust of their departed friends ! — how easily do we enter into their feelings and weep with them. But I am getting melancholy, and there is a melancholy peculiar to Canada. There many strangers meet from many nations: in a great wilderness, reflection begins to work ; while the songless birds and hollow sounding waters add to the sombre situation of the whole. " To counteract this, the Canadians have their boat-songs and their convivial meetings; they laugh, they live in herds together : for this they have their bells upon horses to cheer along the caravan of sleighs, while they travel their long snowy journeys. *' But, Saunders, I find I am getting out of my latitude ; far too serious to-day ; yet, though in a doldrum, still your friend." I CANADA. 91 THE FOREST. Thb enormous extent of Canadian forest has baffled naturalists to account for its general utility. Trees of various kinds are to be found thickly growing together for thousands of miles. That they serve to allay the severity of climate, is surely one of the uses for which they are in- tended ; it neither being so hot amongst the trees in summer, nor yet so cold in winter, as it is in the cleared country. In the former season, the rays of the sun are chiefly withheld from the soil by the leaves and branches; and in the latter, the cold which is generated in the atmosphere is also prevented by them from darting down and freezing up the pores of the earth: they may, therefore, be said to act both as a shade and co- vering. When rain falls, they imbibe and re- tain more cooling moisture than the land would do without them ; hence the many springs we find .1 I 1 I; 92 THREE YEARS IN in the woods. Perhaps the rivers and lakes will become affected differently, if once these immense territories are shorn of their trees ; some of them may dry up altogether in summer : although this is a question, there being more rain in the cleared than the uncleared countries, and less snow. What is termed cultivation, does not improve climate, in my estimation. The United States of America were more salubrious sixty years ago than they are now. The laws of Nature, when too much disturbed by the hand of man, are apt to retaliate to his ipjury ; disease and sickness seem to follow those, or their descendants, who annihilate the stately forests. The Americans, as they are termed, are not a healthy people; they are evidently much dege- nerated and degenerating; so are those in the cleared townships of Canada. What a difference between them and the athletic Indian of the wild ! We are certainly acting diametrically against the laws of nature by levelling the fore'jt, but not im- proving it by any means. Before Europeans ar- rived in America, there were as many people, and some will say more, in it, than there are now ; these existed, and what are left do yet exist, with- out cutting down the trees ; yet it seems we f^an- not get on now at all, without going through this CANADA. al fatigue with the hatchet. Our wish seems to be to despise the good things which the country naturally affords in abundance, and to introduce into it, with much care and labour, those things which we and our forefathers were accustomed to. We cut down the beautiful umbrellas that Nature has prepared to hinder the sun from glowing upon us; we frighten and extirpate the game which breed and thrive so plentifully in the woods. Where are the herds of deer, and flocks of turkeys now ? — they are retired with their friend' the Indian to the remote territories. And where are the fish that gambolled in the shady pools ?— why, the pools are dried up in the summer^s drought, and the trout are no more. Where, then, are our boasted improvements ? — ^for my own part, I do not know where to find them. I can see as many beauties in the forest,— in truth, more than in the cleared and cultivated country ; and had I been an Indian instead of a Scotchman, there is no doubt but I should have seen many more—and an Indian is as good a man as I, and, I would hope, much better. We are taking, and have taken, large domains from him for the purpose of ex- tending our race and multiplying it over the face of the earth; in fact, we are labouring to extirpate a set of people as good as ourselves, even much su- V ■-MiMfrr-'-iW^^Wwr,-** ■»» I I 94 THREE YEARS IN perior, and thus evidently subverting the order of Nature. We think our iivay best, and will have it best, be the consequence what it will. We cut down the woods, and set the plough and harrow to work, that bread may be produced ; we spriead our arts, manners, morals, and learning over the world, for we are right, and all others are decidedly wrong ! —we are the only people regularly enlightened of the race of Adam ; all else are in the dark, and their situation is miserable ! Just so, boasting Civilians ! Wretched is the lot of the poor savage, according to you, both »here and hereafter : but many others besides me have met with him in this world, more happy and contented than you are, with all your refinements and exquisite com- forts ; and, as far as humble mortals can judge, as befitting subjects as any of us for entering the kingdom of Heaven. But, laying these speculations aside, let us exa- mine the trees of this Canadian forest, and see what stuff they are made of. The oak is not so endurable a wood as that of Britain ; the fibre is not so compact and strong. It grows in extensive groves near the banks of some of the large lakes and rivers. I have seen it square to two feet six inches, and fifty feet in length ; but such a stick of timber is rare. The medium is about eighteen CANADA. Oi inches, and of the same length as stated. It will endure the seasons, when put in work, for about fifteen years ; it will not swim by itself in logs, being more than the specific gravity of water ; so the rafts of oak are bound up with cross-bars of pine, that they may float down the rivers * and lakes to market. When a raft of oak arrives at a water-fall, it has to be dragged past it by oxen or horses on the land ; for, if allowed to run over as other timber is, when it broke up in the cataract and boilers, it would sink. It is a timber easily squared by the hatchet, answers for ship-build, ing and heavy work well, and does not decay in England so soon as in Canada. There is ano- ther kind of this oak, called scrubby oak, which grows on rocky hills : — the wood of this is much like the British gnarly oak ; it is difficult to work with the hatchet, but of a very durable nature, and might be employed for many useful purposes. The worst species for art or commerce seems to be the swamp oak : it grows in marshy places, is full of branches, soft to work, and irregular in form : the butts are often found very thick, and when water- soaked, that is, in a certain state of decay, it would be found extremely useful in forming wharfs and jetties, in sandy bays where there are no stones, and where piles will not drive. ! u %\ il H i)iii'<"< '"*" i 96 THREE YEARS IN As it is extremely heavy, and might be packed like sacks of coal, I have often recommended its use in the construction of the harl^ours of the lakes, where jt surely could be employed to much advantage. The quantity of good oak in Ca- nada is great, and might furnish navies for Britain as often as she required them ; for this alone, in a political point of view, the colony ought not to be lost sight of; but we have ever been endeavour- ing to oblige it, (and for our own benefit at some time, which is all perfectly right,) without making those diligent inquiries that we ought, regarding the best method of acting. What we have hitherto done, has been to her and our own injury, as I shall prove elsiewhere. The pinie grows on sandy soils, which are considered not good for agricultural purposes ; and this I consider a blessing, as pine stumps being full of resinous matter, will not quite decay in less than twenty-five years ; there- fore, the farmer on the good land is not troubled with them. White pine is .the most common tim- .ber in Canada for mercantile purposes ; it is found chiefly in large quantities growing together, called pineries. I have seen it square to thr^ feet, but the medium is about twenty inches, and sixty feet long. It is not of a very durable nature; in Ca- nada it is far gone in six years, but in England CANADA. 97 pine is generally not of such large growth as the white. It is a very useful wood, and much used in house-building ; it has a considerable quantity of resin in its composition; as a valuable wood it stands next to the oak. The pitch-pine is the same with that well- known tree called the Scotch-fir : it has much resin, which is extracted by cutting into it about three inches; no resin is near the heari of the tree. Sometimes,' in Canada, this wood goes under the name of the Norway-pine : it is seldom wrought into any thing. Besides all these pines, there are various firs and larches of small growth met with, according to their soils. The spruce-fir is very common, and furnishes materials for spruce-beer, a beverase in. high request amongst the Canadians ; and spruce knees, which arie the roots of this tree, are found to be a good substitute for crooked oak, in boat and ship-building. The pine is the loftiest tree that grows in the forest ; it looks down on the oak, and is often to , be seen nearly a hundred feet high before a branch appears. I have seen it tower to near two hun- dred feet in height. Travellers tell me that beyond the Rocky Mountains, towards the Pacific Ocean, they have met with them much higher than this,* VOL. I. F 1 Ml 1 ii «•■■ X. \ I, K A. ^» V \ ^' 98 THREE YEARS IN and girthing fifty feet ; but these things are not all to be believed: let the tape or foot-rule be applied, and these will tell the truth.— The fir spe- cies is more numerous than that of any other tree. There are many kinds of ash — the swamp ash, white ash, and prickly ash, all varying according to soil : it is not a very serviceable wood. The prickly ash is ornamental, of a wavy nature; tables and furniture for houses are made of it, which look very well ; it produces a berry consi- dered to qualify bitters extraordinarily, as will elsewhere be considered. Black and white birch are very useful timber, and tolerably plentiful. It is with the bark of the white birch that the Indians make their beautiful canoes. The beech, elm, sleek-skinned and shaggy hickory, are very common on the fertile soils, along with maple, curly and sugar maple. The curly or bird's-eye maple makes beautiful house furniture, and is an ornamental wood highly prized : a figure like a birdVeye is brought out on polishing, which looks beautiful. From the sugar-maple the sugar is derived, a process else- where to be considered. Butter-nut is also a tree which furnishes orna- mental wood : it is not a large tree, and has many CANADA. 99 branches, knots, and holes, in which squirrels lodge. The nuts are as large as hen-eggs, rough skinned, of an olive colour, and taste something like butter. Iron-wood may also be accounted one of those which grow on what is callqd hard- wood land : it is neither a thick nor a tall tree, about the size of hickory, and may be converted into a useful wood for many purposes. In the deep gullies we meet with the white sy- camore and button-wood tree. In the marshes, alder, spotted alder, willow shrub, and a variety of thorn appear ; and in the swamps, red cedar, tama- rack, hemlock of many shades. From the tama- rack the gum is extracted with which the Indians make water-tight the seams of their canoes. The hemlock grows large, but often with a hollow heart ; it is a useful wood for house frames. There are great varieties of shrubs ; the shu- rnack may be accounted one, and also the leather- wood tree, of which beautiful hats are manu- factured. The briars are of numerous kinds, as wild raspberries, black-currant and gooseberry. Wild plumb, apple, hazel, walnut, and cherry- trees are in abundance ; while the vines, like the ivy, twine luxuriantly round the aged cedar of the loamy marsh. Barrel-staves are made of oak and pine ; hoops of ash, and withies of birch. This F 2 100 THREE YEARS IN 1^ subject would require a learned botanist to ex- plore it ; the world, however, must accept such as can penetrate through thickets, albeit they may not have Linnaeus every moment at the tip of their tongue : it is difficult to carry a college about on one''s back everywhere ; and probably by attending too much to classification, genera, &c. broad views of the subject are often overlooked. The hush is the native title of the boundless forests of Canada. How different from a mere shrub, as the English language has it ! Is the term from the French bois (wood) ^ or where is its root ? The matter is worthy philosophical consi- deration. To the bush goes the settler, hungered out of the old world, and there he finds food for his family. To the bush goes the lumber-man, and there is a supply of timber for the Quebec market for ever and a day. To the bush goes the furrier, and there are his otters and beavers, the muffs and the tippets. In exploring the bush, a person fancies at times that he has got into complete solitude : he bustles along, and the rustling he makes in getting through the brushwood, deafens his ears to other sounds, while musquitoes, &c. are too apt to ob- scure the functions of the eyes ; but let him listen a little, and various singular sounds meet the ear, as ^k: CANADA. 101 do also strange prospects the eye. Birds fly about, screaming piteously, as if their nests had been lately robbed: these remind us of the lapwings in England. None of the feathered tribe in the woody wilderness perch upon boughs, and warble sweet notes; no linnets, no nightingales there: the music is melancholy, the cadence is sorrow, creating similar sensations in the wanderer. Par- tridges there sit on the branches, and there is the robin redbreast as large as a thrush, yet a much greater coward than the British robin ; he turns tail on the proffered crumb, and fears to enter the most hospitable mansion, although the doors may be flung open to receive him. In the bushy hemlock the owl is found dozing; while the swamps croak with bull-frogs and bitterns. During the cold frosty nights, the trees creak, as if ten thousand Mcherons were at them with their hatchets. On the banks of the wild rivers, are cu- rious trodden paths — these are the walks of the wolves, foxes, deer, &c. These roads the Indians always adopt, when on their journeys. Places called deer-licks are also frequent : these are salt- marshes, where the deer assemble to lick the sa- line soil. Hunters looking for the animals await them at these marshes with their guns, and shoot scores of them. I 102 THRBB YBARS IN The bush is an interesting scene. There is, as Byron says — " A pleasure in the pathless woods." When a man loses his way, he follows down the first running brook he comes to, and this never fails to conduct him to the banks of some river, where he generally may obtain information of his situation. l*he Indian writes his letters on the bark of a tree, and places them in some post-office well known to his tribe ; which post-office is, generally, an old hollow cedar. . Thus they conduct their business in the bush, and breathe sighs to their squaws from Lake Simcoe, perchance, to beyond the Rocky Mountains. — Think what ye will, ye denizens of gay luxuriant cities ; ye who boast of your wealth, your wines, your comforts, your society — ^give an honest Canadian a bit of pig, his wife, and his pipe, and he is as happy in the bush as you are ; and treads his brushwood-way as pleasantly as you do a Turkey carpet. i CANADA. 103 RIDEAU CANAL. EvRRY man to his business; and this being mine in Canada, of course I am mor^ at home on this than on any other subject. It claimed the greater part of my attention while in the country, and by confining me to it, prevented me from ex- ploring much, which I should otherwise have done; yet, by this very confinement, I was better enabled to examine things minutely ; and the statements about to be given, will form safe data for various deductions, which may be applied to the whole of North America. The two great rivers of Canada, viz. the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, meet at the Island of Montreal ; the former forming the south bound- ary, the latter flowing through the interior of Ca- nada, and dividing the Upper and Lower Pro- vinces. There are great rapids on both rivers; 104 THRBB YKAR8 IN and during the Canadian wars, it was found ex- tremely difficult to get stores dragged up the St. Lawrence, to supply our forces on the lakes ; the rapids and the enemy greatly hindered the forward* ing of the necessary supplies along the frontier. On the return of peace, various methods were pro- posed to remove this obstacle, by canalling the St. Lawrence, constructing better roads, or connecting a chain of small rivers and lakes, that lay between Lake Ontario and the Ottawa river. The last of these methods was considered the best ; since, if found practicable, it was conceived that it might not only answer for transporting stores safely, either in times of war or peace, but might also be the means of opening an important tract in the inte- rior of Canada. Various persons considered capa- ble of forming a proper judgment of this scheme, were sent through the route to report on the same, by orders both of the Provincial and Imperial parliament ; and all accounts seeming very favour- able, the construction of the Rideau Canal, by the latter, was determined upon. In the autumn of 1826, I was ordered to make a survey, and after a very fatiguing task, reported thus to my worthy commander, Lieutenant-colonel By. ■\ ^ vl CANADA. 10J5 C( Wt/(krnes8 of Uideau. «* December 38, 182(1. *' DKAR SIR, " Having by your orders explored the country ill all directions, between the Bay on the Ottawa river, called Rafting Bay, in lat. 45° 30' north, long. 77" 2(y west, where the Rideau Canal is pro- posed to commence, and the sheet of still water at Captain Wilson^s, being a part of the River Rideau, embracing in the survey an interesting tract of country about eight miles long and four broad : I feel disposed to report to you as follows. " From the level of the low water in the Ottawa river to the head of the entrance valley which runs into Rafting Bay, in the above river, the height is eighty-three feet, which is proposed to be surmount- ed by locks and a basin to eighty feet ; the distance from the shore of the entrance bay, to this sum- mit-level, is 1090 feet. A distance of six chains farther brings the Canal into an extensive beaver meadow of about twelve acres, where a beautiful basin, or lay-by, may be constructed. From this place the route of the Canal leads gently away in a southerly direction, on the line of a number of small swamps, which have their origin in the bea- ver meadow, until it comes to a celebrated spot called the Notch of the Mountain, a distance of F 5 ■»- ,* "l' . « LIHX.,l» W»'-v»'<^yf or rafting channel, we propose to place three CANADA. U9 locks, each of eight feet four inches lift. The channel is shelving limestone, and tolerably fa- vourable for such buildings. No coffer-dam for river-lock will be required, as six feet is thrown back from the dam, at the foot of Merrick's Rapids, which is sufficient for the chamber of river-lock. Where the rafting-channel termi- nates in Merrick^s Mill-pond, the distance is 1250 feet to the waters below. The channel runs straight; and when it leaves the Mill-pond, a dist^ce of two hundred and ten feet, a wooden truss-bridge, sixteen feet wide, well-constructed, passes over it. The width of the channel at the bridge is forty-six feet. Twenty-four feet four inches is the elevation of Mill-pond above the still-water below, leaving a fall of three feet six inches from Macrea^s to the Mill-pond. In the middle of this fall, directly above Mill-pond, where the river is narrow and shallow, a six-feet dam in height is proposed : one hundred and fifty feet is the width of the river at this place, the bot- tom of which is hard limestone. The object of this dam, which is two hundred yards from the bridge, is to lift the river into a snie on the east side, which snie terminates in the mouth of the rafting-chan- nel, where are the proposed locks. Now this I t 1 %, 130 THRBB YEARS IN snie, by a little deepening and stone embanking, can be connected with the entrance of the locks, which not only brings the Canal above Merrick's Mills, but over the Rapids above them, and into Macrea^s still- water. This is seven miles in length, being all the way to Maitland's Rapids, and there raises the river one foot six inches; there will, nevertheless, for about five hundred yards at Mac- rea's, be one foot of rock excavation required, which will be a troublesome thing to execute ; but, as the banks of the river alongside will bear nothing more, an obstacle that cannot be avoided must be encountered. There is a possibility of passing Merrick's Mills with the Canal at the west end of the dry stone dam ; but some rock excavation, averaging twelve feet in depth, for two hundred and fifty yards, would have to be encountered ; and moreover, by taking the Canal this way, it would be injurious to a grist-mill, forty feet by thirty, and a saw-mill, thirty-four by twenty-four, which are almost in the line on this side the river. On the whole, the masonry and building in the works at Merrick's Mills will be considerable. The locks, wing-walls, stone embankments, dam, &c. will form altogether a larg6 piece of work; yet the materials of all kinds being on the spot, make the business comparatively easy. CANADA. 131 ' is piroposed to be placed within one quarter of a mile of Philips^ Bay, about four miles above the former, at a spot where the river is narrow and banks are favourable. Water-way at this place is 160 feet, and there are 150 feet of five feet embank- ing; height of dam eleven feet: the lock to be placed on the east side of the river, where there is a convenient place : lift of lock 5 feet 1 inch and a quarter; excavation for lock and entrance 6 feet deep, partly rock. This dam will drown a little rapid above of 2 feet 1 inch and a quarter, and throw up 4 feet to Sly'*s Dam, at the foot of the rapids of Smithes Falls, a distance of two miles. It will also raise the river into a snie on the east side of the river, beside Philips' Bay, by which means an ugly bend in the river will be avoided. (( « Rapids of Smith's Falls. At an old- settler's house of the name of Sly, a dam is proposed, called Sly's Dam, to do the business of these rapids, and form a free naviga- tion to the foot of Smith's Palls, four miles above. Dam 19 feet inheight, width of river 150 feet, and length of embankment 250 feet, averaging six feet high. The banks are extremely favourable for retention on both sides, and there is plenty of white free-stone rock. Two locks are proposed to ■m CANADA. 135 be placed here on the west side of the river, where a favourable bight is discovered ; one lock will require to be 8 feet lift, and another 7. By this dam no land of any consequence will be drowned or molested, but the lower part of old Sly^s house will be inundated, and a new one will be required for him at 50/. value. At this place the cubic feet of water passing down the Rideau per hour are 345,000 ; a sufficient supply for ten locks of ten-feet lift every hour ; but when the large lakes and reservoirs are filled, they will be able to supply more than a thousand locks per hour, without being sensibly diminished in level. In estimating the quantity of waters in the Rideau, we find them, when they leave the Rideau Lake at 01iver''s Ferry, to be double what they are at Burret^s, thirty miles down the river : the cause of this seems not to be accounted for, by suppos- ing that there are subterranean ducts which swallow a portion of the waters ; but may rather be explained by evaporation, since for the above distance the river flows rapidly in thin sheets over horizontal beds of warm limestone rock. , ,--.'. . - *..- >-v ' ■"■'■'-.- ■ ''-■? " Smithes Falls. "To the minds of people accustomed to canalling business, these Falls become as appalling an object f SI ^,:i i •! 136 THREE YEARS IN * i as any that is to be met with : they fall over beds of hard bastard marble rock, 36 feet in less than one quarter of a mile. At this place there are num- bers of islands formed by snies winding round the Falls, Between one of these and the west bank of the river, we propose a dam of 23 feet ; this dam is directly in the middle of the rapid, and nearly opposite to Rykert's Store: 96 feet at bottom, 200 at top, will be the length of the dam. This dam is proposed to check the water oozing through the fissures at the above rocky island, and to throw the water over the Falls, so that the still-water above may be deepened 2 feet 7 inches, and also that the snie immediately behind the island may be filled with water ; for in this place we propose three locks of 11 feet 2 inches lift each, the dam forming the waste-weir to the same. <' The width of the Rocky Island, from dam to snie, is 290 feet, and of height sufficient for the dam. The snie has low banks for 420 feet on its east side, which will require a stone embank- ment, so as to get above the rapid from wing-wall of upper lock, and save Ward'*s Farm from inun- dation. At the bottom of the snie, about 50 feet from the Rideau, the locks begin to be put in. At the bottom, the rock is of a shelving nature, doing away with the necessity of having inverted I V t ' ' CANADA. 137 arches; indeed, few inverted arches seem to be necessary throughout the whole work. The first lock-pit will have to be excavated seven, the second two feet ; the bottom of the third is five feet above level. Considerable backing-in and retaining wing-wall work are required about the Hornef s Snie-— we denominate it so, from the trouble these insects gave us; while patiently measuring and surveying it we were severely stung, yet this snie could not be lost sight. of: its average width is 60 feet, its banks, at lower end, are 20 feet, and width 86 feet. The banks of the Rideau, oppo- site the mouth of the snie, are 86 feet, and the mouth is 220 feet, beneath a saw-mill. This mill is 150 feet beneath the end of the proposed dam, being nearly between Saw-mill Dam and the saw- mill. We are thus particular, as the dam to be built nearer the mill would destroy it, and if farther up the stream, the water would get out of the snie behind it. By the above means, therefore, we surmount the Falls without being obliged to cut three miles round them, through a rocky country averaging ten feet deep to caAal bottom, with rock that defies the strength of gunpowder or crow-bars to remove it, and would weary the British treasury with expenses. " Behind Smithes Falls, about three miles on the I i: It 1* A 'm \ V 138 THRBB YEARS IN west side of the river, there is a large swampy tract of country, a chain of extensive beaver mea- dows winding-in, and terminating somewhere nigh to Merrick^s Mills, fifteen miles below. These swamps, from the river levels, must form some, thing like an inclined plane, having an elevation of nearly 100 feet. Now, to cut through these swamps for fifteen miles, and miss six miles of natural river navigation, and to construct ten locks in a swamp, and all apart from each other, the whole, too, remote from reservoirs which such works re- quire, seems to me a preposterous idea. Yet it is advanced, and I must own it preferable to the one almost adopted, of cutting through the above mentioned long ledges of Plutonic rock. « First Rapids of the Rideau. '* No sooner have we struggled over our difficul- ties at Smithes Falls, than we encounter others al- most equally irksome, but different in their nature. These are a chain of small rapids, where the river banks are low and swampy, where the bed of the river is the above-mentioned rock, and where, in short, we neither can dam, deepen, nor yet cut through the country. At th? head of the chain of rapids, it is true, the banks of the river can bear a dam of four feet ; but what avails that when it is CANADA. 139 above the rapids ? nevertheless, a dam of four feet in height is proposed there. This place is about eight miles from Oliver's Ferry, and about three from Smith's Falls. The Rideau here is 260 feet wide, running shallow over a smooth bed of lime- stone, to the depth of six inches. This dam will deepen the shallows at the mouth of the Perth River, as it falls into the Rideau ; also those of the Upper Narrows, Rideau Lake. It will also deepen the Tay, or Perth riveri and throw 3 feet 6 inches of water upon the Fishing Falls there. Past its east end a quantity of water will flow, which can be diverted down the swampy bank, to the still- water below the rapids, a distance of about a mile. This swamp has 3^ feet of black mud, resting on a smooth bed of the above limestone. We propose to widen the cutting of the Canal through this swamp, and scrape the black mud from the rock, forming with it the necessary embankments. At the bottom of the rapids stands the lock of seven- feet lift to bring the Canal into the still-water. Notwithstanding all our precaution in avoiding this rock, I am afraid that at times we may be obliged to undertake the excavation of a foot or two of it, which would be a serious matter, if it even con- tinued, 60 yards. By the above dam, and the one at Smith's Falls, some of the swampy wilderness 140 THREE YEARS IN must be transformed into lakes. Altogether, the land required for the Rideau Canal, by keeping the river, is small ; for if the average of the sur- face of the river be taken into account, and the same for forty feet from either brink up the banks, which is Government property, there remains not half the quantity of land to be purchased from in- dividuals, as there would have been if the Canal had taken an expensive inland route, and forsaken the river. Moreover, the dams proposed to be placed in the Rideau will drown but very little more land than the river at pr3sent drowns when in flood. The extensive swamps along many places of its banks, are the property of no private indi- viduals, from which cause Government may treat them as is thought proper. An acre of water is generally more valuable than an acre of land. This is a truth nowhere better known than in England. ;, :.^,-s.i >.v ^- .,:''/;■ *^ River Tay^ or Perth River, ' << Having now climbed up by a great succession of dams and locks to the noble summit pond of the Rideau Lake, I digress a little, and give an account of a survej made of the Perth River. About five miles from Oliver's Ferry, the mouth of the Tay opens into the Rideau : for two miles CANADA. 141 up, it may be easily made navigable, requiring only a little mud scraping, pnd rushy matters taken out of the way. After this distance we come to the Fishing Falls, so named by the inha- bitants from the fishing-nets placed there. These rapids are about a mile and a half in length', with limestone horizontal rock, but shelving, and fall about 19 feet throughout the rapids. The banks of the river are generally low. At one place, however, about 200 yards below, where the waters make a sudden fall of 4 feet at once, a dam of 12 feet and lock may be obtained; the dam 140 feet long, sufficient to luU the rapids above. The remainder of the rapids below can only be overcome either by deepening the channel, or quitting the river, and digging about half a mile through loamy wilderness. These rapids or Fish- ing Falls surmounted, we come to M'Vittie^s still- water, of three feet in depth, for two miles, and pass- ing it to the Upper Rapids, there are only 550 yards in length, with a fail of four feet to overcome, when the river must be left again, and the country cut through for the above distance, putting in the lock where it falls into the still-waters below. We next gained the Perth still-water, a sheet of about fivemileslong, average depth three feet, banks swampy, and river choked with sedge-grass, bul- '.{ '4 •I 142 THREB YEARS IN i *\ rush, and wild rice, which being cleared away, a navigation of three feet in depth is open to Perth ; to go one foot deeper would require much money and labour. *' Between the Fishing Falls and Upper Rapids, a creek runs out on the south side of the river, call- ed JebVs Creek, after the intelligent man of that name who first explored it. This creek flows from Otty Lake, which is about a mile from Rideau Lake ; perhaps a route might be found up this creek. There are also good accounts of a swamp snie which leaves M'Vittie^s still-water, and falls into the Rideau Lake. All these snies and creeks I would have searched, had there not been much more important service on my hands ; but I regret they are not thoroughly examined. Had the Tay, like the Jocque, fallen into the Rideau, beneath some of the Rideau Falls, the dams and locks on these rapids of the Rideau would have opened up the Perth navigation ; whereas it is only aided two feet, which are thrown into it by the last dam, as already mentioned. The land around Perth is tolerably fertile, but the situa- tion of the town is unhealthy, from its surround- ing swamps. It is about 30 feet above the level of Rideau Lake, and nearly 400 feet above the city of Montreal ; it is almost on a level with the Mis- Ei f CANADA. 143 sissipi Lake, and it seems to me, that if the navi- gation of Gockburn Creek, which fall into the Rideau at First Rapids, was opened to the above mentioned lake, (an object, by all reports of an easy nature to perform,) then a navigation through Perth Settlement, by way of creek and lake, might become an advantageous concern. « Oliver's Terry. '* This will become an important station on the Rideau Canal, as the public road between Perth and Brock ville passes by here; from Perth, 8 miles, from Brockville, 35 miles. Rideau Lake at this place, is 464 feet wide and 35 deep, and rises in spring 3^ feet; foot-passengers here pay three pence a piece for ferryagc,and waggons fifteen pence. A wooden truss bridge might be raised over the Ferry for 1500/. This Ferry runs across what is termed the Lower Narrows, Rideau Lake. « V'p^er Narrows, Rideau Lake. ** Here the lake contracts to about 100 feet in width, and becomes very shallow : 4^ feet deepen- ing will be required through free-stone rock and gravel ; two coffer-dams will be required here ; south coffer-dam must be 180 feet wide, and the north 150. I thought it might be more proper r 71 144 THRKB YEARS IN 1/ to cut through the low head-land ; but the water on the north side keeping shallow, prevented the attempt. The length of deepening will be about 250 feet. This is a fine situation for a small vil- lage. The shores of the Rideau Lake are rocky and bold, yet they abound in unexplored bays, which should be examined. ;; ' " Isthmus of Rideau Lake. * *< Between Mud Lake and Rideau Lake, there is an isthmus of one mile and a quarter ; a swamp runs from the north landing-place: half-way across, where it terminates, it is about 30 feet above level. This swamp, which is an inclined plane, will have an average cutting of 12 feet. A small ridge, 130 yards wide, requires 25 feet cutting ; the line then falls into a beaver meadow, where there will be 14 feet cutting, and thence into Mud Lake. This lake being below the level of Rideau Lake 3| feet, hap, of consequence, to be raised by the dam at ChafFey^s Mills. Throughout this line of proposed cutting, little rock is expected to be met with, except about the ridge; but had the line been run straight, as laid out between the lakes, a hill of rock would have to be cut through 44 feet above level for 300 yards. For this work two small coffer-dams are required to deepen the Canal into I « CANADA. 145 either lake ; but the coffer-dam on the north side will require to be 6^ feet, and that on the south side 4 feet. The excavations through this cut will probably be full of mineral substances ; at least, if we may judge from surface appearance. ** Isthmus of Clear Lake. " This isthmus is 143 feet wide; cutting about 4 feet, and two small coffer-dams, of 4 feet deep each. As 3^ feet is backed from the dam at Chaf- fey'*s Mills, Clear Lake and Indian Lake are on a level. Deepening and clearing out will be re- quired between Mud Lake and Clear Lake, 2 feet for 300 yards, and the banks to be dressed. =;■ ■■-; t\: .■'^- . ' . ; .; : ;t '.' . = 5 ^ ^^ s. ^^ Chaffey^s Rapids. . s *^ Having passed Rideau Lake, Mud, Clear, and Indian Lakes, we come to Chaffey's Mills, a very extensive establishment, consisting of saw, grist, and fulling-mills, carding-machines, stores, bams, distillery, &c. filling up the whole river, and not to be estimated at a less expense than 5000/. On first examining this place, I thought to have found no difficulty in passing the mills with the Canal, as a valley on the east side of the river seemed to set the matter at rest. But, in exploring this valley, nothing was found but deep rocky excavation, and VOL. I, H i J 1 f I i i 146 THRBB YBAR8 IN it appeared that, after all, it would lead the Canal through woods and swamps two miles about ' these were sufficient causes for a relinquishment of that route. The river was most carefully ex- amined on its western side, with even worse suc- cess. A place was discovered below the mills, where a dam could easily be put, and two locks, uuf- ficient for overcoming the whole rapids, of 13 feet, deepening the river above, raising the level of the lakes, &c. ; but by this course the great mill esta- blishment became drowned. Under these circum- stances, I am not ashamed to own that I was more puzzled to know how to act, than on any other part of the route. High banks on either side of a river, and mills choking up that river, seemed to defy the science of engineering to pass them with the Canal, unless by running matters to a great expense. But, after taking the following measurements, levels, &c. and pondering on the subject, I came at last to a conclusion. Nine and a quarter feet was found to be the fall of Chaffey's Mill-dam, and the remainder of Rapid 3 feet 9| inches, beneath the mill-dam — where this Rapid began below it, was 1136 feet from the mill- bridge ; length of the bridge 91 feet. On going to the bottom of the rapids, it was found that a break took place in the rocky bank, in which a CANADA. 147 lock might be advantageously built ; and this lock might be 6-feet lift, without injuring the mills in any respect, farther than obliging the millers to lift their small horizontal wheels about 14 inches —a thing of no great trouble. By placing a lock here, it was found that the mills might be passed, by a trifling cutting of 10 feet. The dam for this lock requires to be 60 feet wide. Beneath the lock, the river will have to be deepened 2 feet for 150 feet ; the bottom is rocky. Where the Canal takes the river again, above the mills, a lock of 11 feet 2 inches is required, and a dam 65 feet long across the river, so as to raise it 5 feet, on a level with the Rideau Lake, and to deepen the fords between. The stone abounding at ChafTey's Mills is of a singular nature, resembling white granite, but it is a species of limestone. f,j *^ Davis's Rapids. "* ** After leaving Chaffey^s Mills, we sail through Davis^s Lake to Davis^s Rapids and Mills, where we easily carry the Canal past the Mills on west side of river ; 7 feet 3f inches, the fall of rapid, requiring a 9-feet lock. The cutting here will be 363 feet: no dam is necessary, as asnie, 30 feet wide, is taken advantage of; but probably Davis^s Mill-dam, which is 270 feet in length, will have to H 2 f (i 148 THREE YEARS IN be constructed anew, as it is the engine which at present backs up the water. A little bar above the Mills requires deepening ; the excavations are supposed to be gravel. ' ^^ Jones's Falls. It " These are the greatest in the least distance that are met with in the whole route, rolling down a narrow ravine scarcely a mile in length, and hav- ing a 60-feet fall. The banks of this narrow and crooked ravine are lofty, averaging 90 feet in height ; and on their west side there are deep bogs, surrounded by high land. The methods which have been proposed to pass these falls with the Rideau Canal are various: one is to build the locks, of 10-feet lift each, in the bottom of the ravine ; but this plan is objectionable on the score that they will be placed in the way of freshets and Hoods, and suffer from that cause. It is also an ob- jection that as the ravine is crooked, and cannot be straightened, from the nature of its steep free- stone banks, the locks cannot be placed in such a manner as not to have their entrances awkwardly set for boats to get in and out of them. Again, if placed in the ravine, the rock excavation will be great, and the builders troubled with waters ; as it yet remains a problem, whether a dam at the CANADA. 149 head ot the fidls can hinder the water from flow- ing in from the lake. Secondly, two dams, of 30 feet each, are proposed to be raised at the two narrow guts of the ravine, where it is 50 feet in width, and to place three locks behind each ; but this method is subject to some of the evils- of the former, such as to floods, and to finding a proper si- tuation for the locks, &c. Thirdly, it is proposed to raise a dam of 20 feet beneath the first rapid, and throw the Canal into a valley on the east side of the river ; but here would be much cutting, and the Canal would be taken nearly two miles round. Fourthly, it is proposed to build a dam at the~ lower gut, ^62 feet from the still-water below, and 14 feet up the rapids; this dam to be 48 feet in height. The whole rapids in the wild ravine would thus be drowned, and the lake above raised to 2 feet, which would give depth of water at Davis^s Mill. But the erection of this dam would also throw the waters down Mao- donald^s gully, the mouth of which opens beside it on the west side. The highest part of the bottom of the gully would be covered with 33 feet 6 inches depth of water. The dimensions of this strange gully are as follow: 677 yards in length, 1009 feet from its upper mouth to summit height, and from thence 1012 to the still-water below. I V- 150 THREB YEARS IN Never was there a better place than this gully to build the locks. A combination of three locks at two places is therefore proposed, having a basin between, 304 feet long, and 130 feet wide. The banks on each side of this gully average 50 feet, and seem to contain beautiful quarries of free- stone for the locks. At the summit-level of the gully, its width is 130 feet — a space of sufficient dimensions for all the purposes of the Canal. The dam will require, from the nature of the banks, to be 216 feet long at the top, but the average length will not be above 100 feet. It is almost made already, from lumps of rock standing 20 feet ftom its base; the whole requires filling in from the high rocky banks above, and to be cased, as with other cauls. The construction of this dam, which id 3 feet higher than that at Hog''s Back, will, after all, be a trifle when compared to the latter. The superiority of this plan to the others seems to me so obvious, that even proofs are un- necessary. By it the works come to a focus. The locks and diim are beside one another, sur- rounded by quarries : the dam in a gut of the river which no floods can shake; the locks lie in fair entrance lines, without requiring any thing like heavy cutting. The whole of the trouble OANADA. 151 of building in water, or in being troubled with water when built^ is thus avoided. " Cranberry Marsh. << This requires a little deepening with the marsh- drag, as in the fens of England. The dam at Brew- er's Upper Mill will drown them 2 feet 6 inches ; so the labours here are trivial, scarcely deserving to be estimated. The dam at White Fish Falls, on the River Gananoque, and that at Round Tail, on the River Ca^aroque, must both be re- moved, and some dead timber taken out of Cran- berry Lake, which has been drowned by the raising of these dams. Cranberry Marsh is about nine miles in length, and its lake about the same. " Round Tail. *< This is rather a remarkable spot on the line, being a break in a ledge of rocks that the Cata- roque, or Kingston River, may burst from its source, the lake— 45 feet is its width. In it is placed a dam which must be removed: lift of dam being 4 feet 8 inches, and depth below dam-cill 7 feet. The dam proposed at Brewer's Upper Mill will do away with this dam, and throw 2 feet 6 inches over the drowned woods more than at present. !; ,i! t & i !• I.li V ii w- ■■.- --%*ie.*« —♦»!•»* 152 THREE YEARS IN n^ •A' i.-- (( Brewer's Upper Mill. " About a mile beneath the Round Tail is this place, an extensive mill establishment, built on a rapid, whose declivity is 10 feet 9 inches. On the west side of the river indulgent Nature has given us a valley to tiEike the Canal past the Mills to the still-water below, a distance of about 500 yards ; 1490 feet from water above to the summit of valley, and 1250 from thence to water below : 25 feet is the highest land met with in the valley above the level of the waters below ; — width of the valley averages 120, and banks 20 feet. The proposed dam, 180 feet above the Mill, will require to be 50 feet long, with a side retaining-wall of 80 feet, from an island of 10 feet in height to the main land: between said island and main shore, a dis- tance of 50 feet, the canal leaves the river. Two locks, of 9 feet-lift each, are required to be placed on the south exposure of the valley ; 12 feet will be the average depth of clay excavation of the locks, and 6 feet the average cutting from the river below to the locks, which is 800 feet. The dam will require to lift the water above sur-' face of Mill-pond about 9 feet. This Mill is 43 by 61 i feet, and is altogether so respectable, «%••*•«*.-•«• "'- .»>j^- CANADA. 153 that it is needless to drown it, when it is not in the way of , the Canal, as has been proposed. " Brewer* s Lower Mill. ^^ This is about three miles and a half farther down the stream than the former, 11 feet being the fall of the Mill-dam, and a small rapid be- tween the Mills of 2 feet 6f inches. Of course, the whole fall to be overcome is 13 feet Q^ inches ; but as 4 feet is proposed to be backed up on this Mill from the dam at Billydore''s Rifts, and only one foot from the Lower Mill to the Upper, a lock of 10 feet 7 inches will answer : 822 feet will be the length of cutting round the Mill, averaging 10 feet cutting loamy clay. Here the River Ca- taroque is 80 feet in width, having deep loamy clay banks ; 140 feet is the.length of the Mill-dam, and the Mill 24 by 60. Some flinty whitstone abounds in the bed of the river, but it is difficult to say if it be of a quality to build the locks with. (C Billy dare's Rifts. ^ " These rifts, as they are called, otherwise small ripples, continue about a mile. Their fall is about four feet ; but from the rough state of this country, we found it impracticable to take the levels accurately until it be cleared. The banks H 5 I 154 THREE YEARS IN to Brewer^s Lower Mill admit of a dam sufficient for the rapid and lift of lock, which will require to be 6^ feet. The bottom of the river is rocky, the banks are loamy clay. Sometimes temporary dams are made here by raftsmen, that they may bring down their timber to market. The River Cataroque is about a quarter part less than the Rideau at Merrick^s Mills. *' Jack's Rifts. " These are about seven miles beneath the for- mer Rifts, and will require a dam and lock of nearly similar dimensions. But this country being then clearing of trees and brushwood, it was impossible to take the levels over it ; however, it was easily seen that the river, with small trouble, might be made perfectly navigable, as it wound gently along, 4 feet deep, 80 feet wide, between clay banks, averaging 8 feet in height. " Kingston Mills, and Mill Creek. *' Six miles beneath Jack^s Rifts, we come to Kingston Mills, situated oh a fall of 26 feet; and with little trouble, excepting cutting through a lump of granite rock 120 feet long, and ave- raging 20 feet in depth. We can lock ourselves CANADA. 165 down by three locks of 9 feet 4 inches lift each, into Kingston Mill Creek, as two feet will have to be backed over the pond shallows to Jack^'s Rifts, by a dam at Mill-bridge 183 feet long. The depth of the water at the bridge is 8 feet 6 inches, so the height of the dam from the bottom will be 10 feet 6 inches. Opposite the mouth of the proposed locks, the MiU-creek (which is the Cor- taroque) is 130 feet wide, banks rocky, and rising to the height of 100 feet ; where the locks fall into the creek, it is 596 feet below the MiU-dam. At a natural rend in the rock, the excavation of rivei?-lock and second lock will be rock to their depths; but the third will not require any: from the head of the locks to the Mill-pond, as the distance is 220 yards, and ground uneven, 8 feet will be about this average cutting. Get- ting into this creek, we have plenty of deep water all the way to Kingston Bay, where the Canal tenninates, excepting at a small ford opposite Ganeox's Farm, where there was only 4| feet for about 100 feet. This may be deepened, say 3 feet, and that is allowing 2 feet for the fluc- tuations of Lake Ontario. Ought not this, surely, to be adopted, before cutting two miles through marshes, and two miles more through swamps, as proposed and laid out ? II 156 THREE YEARS IN ** Having now brought the Canal into that beau- tiful bay of Lake Ontario, Kingston Bay, my labours come to a close. ** To my assistants, one and all, my warmest wishes for their welfare are due. If ever men struggled to do their duty, we did ; and if that duty be wrongly conceived, I submit with the utmost deference to persons of superior judg- ment, who I -sincerely hope will correct what may be found erroneous. - ' - > ' "I am, &c."^ if The estimate of all this work, carefully made out, was 398,560/. which, with the former 87,500/. brought the expenses of the Rideau Canal to 486,060/. When the woods came to be cleared away, and roads opened, an examination of the survey was entered into, when it was found to be nearly correct; and, although the dimensions of locks have been altered and made larger, to pass steam- vessels, still this does not a£Pect the survey, al- though it will alter the estimate. The locks were first, laid out of the size of those of Lachine, 100 feet long, 20 feet wide, but after- wards 142 feet by 33 ; in both cases the depth of ii^ '.' ' CANADA. 167 water was the same, 5 feet : the number of locks in all amounted to 47* In the winter, previous to the survey from Black Rapids to Kingston, I drew out the following plan for managing this large work, which was allowed to be made public in the newspapers. ** System proposed for conducting the Works of the Rideau Canal, in Upper Canada. . ** As the Rideau Canal is evidently an under- taking of great enterprise, it therefore requires that a proper system should be adopted as soon as possible, and that the execution of the same be carried into effect in the best and most economical manner possible. " The British Government has determined upon executing this undertaking, and now looks to those who have been considered qualified for that pur- pose, for such plans, and for that matured system, which will, in all probability, accomplish the great work in question. " For this purpose, let it be stated in the out- set, that all views of the subject shall be extensive, nothing of a contracted nature shall enter into competition ; it is false economy, not to take the Rideau Canal on a broad scale. No squandering. 158 THRBB YEARS IN nor vain and foolish speculation can be, of course, allowed ; but yet, what long practice and experience warrant, must be attended to and acted on, in de- fiance of those who consider a shilling thrown away, when they have not the penetration and sagacity to discover that it was spent for other purposes, and for what they know nothing about. The British Go- vernment has concluded that the extensive works of the Rideau Canal shall be executed by con- tract ; and this conclusion is certainly the result of wise investigation into works of a similar na- ture ; for, of a surety, there is no method hitherto discovered which can equal in every respect that of letting out the works to be executed to con- tractors, who have proved themselves, by works they have previously performed, tq be fully com- petent for the tasks they take on hand. And, in giving out contracts, it is best to allow no con- tractor to have any thing to do with them, be his cash or consequence what they may, unless he is well known as a practical artist, competent for what he professes ; for when Government advances nothing more, or not so much money on contracts, as the contractor has laid out, of course there is little for any surety work in the matter : so that, when Government finds a contractor qualified for the execution of his contract, if that person has but -- '{ CANADA. 159 little money or means, he may, nevertheless, turn out an excellent contractor. For, as the Oovern- ment will keep an extensive store at the works of every article requisite for their expeditious prose- cution, contractors can be supplied therefrom, if unable to supply themselves elsewhere ; and it would be useless for them to seek elsewhere, as Government can supply them cheaper and better than they will find any where else in Canada. " No contractor shall be allowed to contract for any wdrk out of his line and profession. Thus, to a mason shall not be given a job of excavation, any more than to an excavator a piece of building or mason-work. ' ** The works of the Rideau Canal seem to di- vide themselves into the following great branches : building and finishing locks of heavy masonry, excavating earth and clay, excavating rock and gravel, constructing heavy dams across the Oideau of rough rubble masonry, framing aqueducts and bridges of wood, &c. ^trni * ** Now any one of these branches is quite enough for any contractor to perform properly, and will absorb his utmost attention; and all contractors who prove, or have proved themselves capable to conduct the work they take in hand, ought to haVe as much of their own particular branch given them »\ 160 THRKB YEARS IN as they have possible power to perform : this is no more than doing justice to worthy men, and at the same time (whatever may be argued to the con- trary) doing justice to the British Government. Here are liberality and -economy working for one another''s mutual interests. " Every care shall be taken with respect to the comfort of the contractors and their people : they will have places near the works (wherever these may be) whereon temporary buildings may be erected; and the utmost assistance will be afforded by the Government to the erection of such build- ings, so that every person will be safely sheltered, and no time lost in coming and going to the works. There shall be a subaltem^s command of sixty soldiers always stationed near, that peace and qui- etness may be preserved ; as in a wilderness, like that through which the Rideau Canal has to pass, there is no protection to be had from the civil power. Surgeons shall be engaged, and furnished with medicines, for the benefit of the sick ; as the swampy wilderness, and swampy waters, may «ometimes create distempers. Plenty of spirits, and provisions of all sorts, with beds, blankets, mits, caps, shoes, &c. shall be always at hand, in the Government store, to answer whatever de- mands may come for such articles by the people on 1 CANADA. J 61 the work, so that every one may be kept strong, healthy, and *heerful. There is a melancholy pe- culiar to Canada, which must be combated. Peo- ple who labour under it must be encouraged with soothing language, good treatment, and now and then, as circumstances require, a little assistance, gratis, as a stimulant. ** It shall always be ascertained if contractors pay their workmen's wages, and a certain sum of money shall be kept out of the contractor's hands to meet this special purpose. " The whole of the works on the line of the Ri- deau Canal shall be commenced^ if possible, nearly at the same time ; the period allowed to complete the undertaking being short for a work of such magnitude, in such a situation, and under such a climate, where people cannot work to any great advantage more than one-half of the year. All contractors ought to be bound to remain in person on the works they engage to execute ; for unless they do so, the works, in all probability, will suifer by their absence, and they themselves be much in- jured by such inattention. " By such a system, it is expected, with all de- pendence on the kindness of Providence, that the Rideau Canal may be constructed." ii 162 THRBB YBARS IN When I drew up this system, there was one cir- cumstance mentioned which I greatly regretted to find expunged, as it gave us much trouble. This was the clause that ^ no sub-contractors would be allowed on any account whatever.' Vagabonds were hired to perform jobs by contractors ; and these thought the Government entitled to look after them, — just as if they would have any thing to do with those they did not know. Sub-con- tractors are the worst animals that can ever come upon a public work. However, the system did good ; the sharks of storekeepers were held at bay, and poor labourers were not devoured. * - The Rideau Canal, when constructed, will be perfectly different from any other in the known world, since it is not ditched or cut out by the hand of man. Natural rivers and lakes are made use of for this Canal, and all that science or art has to do in the matter, is in the lockage of the rapids or waterfalls, which exist either between ex- tensive sheets of still river water, or expansive lakes. To surmount this difficulty, dams are pro- posed, and, in many instances, already raised, at the bottom of the rapids, or sometimes at their head, or even, as the rase may be, in their middle, by which means the rapids and waterfalls are con- verted into still-water. These dams are of various ' ■ I f CANADA. 163 heights, according to the lift of the rapid they have to overcome ; they cross the rivers where the banks are found to be most retentive and the space narrow ; and immediately behind them, or in some instances, a? the nature of the country requires, at one end, the locks are excavated out and built. These locks vary in lift according to the lift of rapid : where the rapid is 60 feet, the locks are proposed to be six in number ; if 80 feet, eight, and so forth : 10 feet being always con> sidered a proper lift for a lock. The extensive utility of these dams must be oh <, lous to any per- son who considers the business in an engireering point of view ; they do away with lines of extended excavations through a thick- wooded wilderness. In several instances, a dam not more than 24 feet high, and 180 feet wide, will throw the rapids and rivers into a still sheet above it for a distance of more than 20 miles. The dams also back the wa- ters up creeks, ravines, and valleys ; and, instead of making one canal, they form numerous canals of various ramifications, which will all tend great)y to the improvement of a very fertile country. As they convert the rivers into extensive reservoirs, they may be filled and emptied as often as possible, without creating either the slightest disturbance in the movements of the %^' •s 164 THREE YEARS IN waters of the lakes, or sensible diminution of their contents. But, when a canal is ditched through a country, if the locks have occasion to be often opened and shut, a current is raised in the canal, and the waters are not unfrequently drained out of it, or, at least, are reduced beneath the proper navigable depth. Does it not, then, appear in the clearest manner possible, that the Rideau Canal can never be in want of water, unless a con- vulsion take place amongst the elements of nature ? And as for evaporation, the dams will lessen more than increase it, as they deepen the rivers over beds of warm limestone-rock, and thus destroy the present influence of the hot summer sun of Canada ; exhalations are trivial from the surface of lakes, compared with those from shallow rivers. Thus is this Canal formed by dam and lock, and not by locks and cuts, as in England. The land drowned by the raising of the dams is not worth mentioning, consisting chiefly of swampy wastes, the haunts of otters and beavers. ^ < • • ' Were Canada a country where floods and freshets are obnoxious to works placed in the beds of rivers, it would then be proper to shun the rivers with the works ; but this is not the case. Floods there certainly are, but as these come periodically, they can be calculated upon with the greatest certainty ; guard-gates and sluices can be flxed for their re- ! I i with there r, they tainty ; leir re- CANADA. 165 ception. Dams even d.estroy the effect of floods, for, as they form extensive lakes, the floods in getting through them expend their fury. Thus the Great Rideau Lake, the summit reservoir, which averages . 2^ miles long and 6 broad, only rises, with the greatest floods, 3 feet; while, in narrow places in the River Rideau, the rise is from 10 to 14 feet : were, therefore, all the dams and lakes raised, the floods would never be deeper over the waste-weirs than 2 feet. It has been stated that the Rideau Canal has been estimated to cost 169»000/. : this is per- fectly true, and, if the works were executed in a weak and unsatisfactory manner, might, probably, be found sufficient; bat if British substantiality is required^ — and required it always is — three times the above sum will perhaps not be found to be too much. How can it be otherwise ? If any practical engineer is applied to, he will at once state, that to build a substantial, good lock of cut stone, si- milar to those of the Lachine Canal, and those proposed first for the Rideau Canal, will cost (excavation of lock-pit included) something near the sum of 6000/. Now, as the rise from the Ottawa River to the grand summit-level of the Rideau Lake is 283 feet, and the descent from thence into Lake Ontario 154 feet, making a total lift, ^8 it were, for lockage of 437 ^^U and con? M y % CANADA. 171 did he do after returning from his travels? Is he dead ?•— where did he die ? Is there any ac- count of him to be found in any periodical work ? —if there be not, he has been a much neglected man. We have heard much of Mackenzie and Franklin, but can any one say any thing of Mr. Hearne? " Where are the salt springs of Canada — ^in what Townships ? and where are they considered strongest? Is there any salt made in the coun- try ? and whence do the Indians sometimes bring rock salt with them down their wild rivers, and expose it to the civilized community ? " Where are the Mineral Fountains — are there any ? — and are there not phosphoric burning springs ? " What are the causes of the Lake Fever ?— -can it be considered as marsh malaria, or does it differ? " What are the Rocky Mountains ?-r-have they been fully explored ? — is there not a large notch or breach in them beyond Lake Superior ? — do not rivers rise out of them which flow both into the Atlantic and Pacific ? — ^have not valuable ores and minerals been discovered in their neigh- bourhood? — are they not sufficiently interesting for rummagers to search for them ? " What are the names of the trees, brieris, 1 2 *' i t-r I ' © 172 THREE YEARS IN t slirubs, plants, herbs, flowers, mosses, &c. which are or have been found in the country ? Let the local names be given, as prickly ash, spotted alder, pitch pine, curl if maple, winter green, &c. Let the reasons for such names be expounded, and their qualities told; let specimens of about six inches cube be obtained of each tree, and let the name be stamped on each ; let the leaves be pre- served in a book, and the berries in spirits of wine. Let sugar maple be thoroughly consi- dered, and let it be ascertained whether or not the juice of the sugar maple would make a spirit by distillation equal to the best Jamaica rum, or Craigdarroch's Peat-reek at Perth. If so, let it drive the Yankee whisky into the lakes, even though it might poison the pikes there. Ne- vertheless, let what the people of the States of America call cocktail be fully analyzed — let us pry into the wonderful mysteries of Bitters. " What are the local names of the fishes ? Let black bass, mosquenonge, fresh water herrings, salmon of the lakes, &c. be examined. How are fish speared? and will the heat of the sun dry them ? — are they taken beneath the ice ? and are not the Indians lords of the islands of all the ri- vers, and of the fish that swim therein ? — do the fish horde up little stones in the rivers.? and are not the best fish always found in the best waters— % CANADA. 173 « sharks in the wild salt wave, but trout in the lovely brook ? , " Who will be so good as to write an elaborate essay on Athabasca, stating the boundaries of the same, the Indian tribes in that wild district, the nature of the rivers, soils, trees, animals, atmos- phere, &c. with every other information that can be obtained ? " What sort of a country is that about Fort Laprairie ? Say what is the nature of those exten- sive meadows of Asnial)oyne. Are there no trees there ? and what are the grasses on the meadows ? are these havannahs nigh, or on the banks of the Red JR-iver? Let a proper description of the herds of buffaloes which graze there be given, with the manner of catching them, and also the wild horses. . - , " How many posts have the Hudson'^s Bay Com- pany ? Where are these situated ? and what are the names of the clerks at the various posts ? " Are there any clerks who belonged to the North-west Company detained by any tribes in the North-west, and not allowed to return to their friends ? Why are the Scottish Bois Brules the most savage of all the Bois Brules ? A half- bred Canadian has ten times more humanity. A Highlandman and a squaw beget an infernal progeny. What is the cause of all this .'' i ■»■ 'J m I **'^ '* '^ M>fl t ' J '- " I 1'^ y n ■ iiiw i i W i W«*»ii ^t^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ^^ I2£ II n 1^ 12.0 ■ 1.8 HiotograiJiJc Sdraices CorpcHHtion 4^ '^ <> 23 MffiST MAIN STRIIT WltSTIi,N.Y. I45M (716)172-4503 4^ .V \ .^I^ ^^% ^ ^ 174 THREE YEARS IN \ ■ \ " What is the extent of the Columbian River ? Where does it rise ? What are the colour and taste of its waters ? Has it many rapids ? Has it any fish ? What are to be seen on its banks ? Have oaks sixteen feet in diameter been seen there ? ** The mineralogy of Canada must be explored. It is full of valuable mines. Coal seems rare. Does any one see or hear of any specimens of sea coal ? Where are the best grind-stones to be had, also mill-stones, hones, slates, granite, free-stone, marble, flag-stones, &c. ? Where is good clay for brick-making ? and is there not flre-stone ? Would not the hollow cedar answer for chanty chimneys ? Why is it not used where no stone is to be had ? '' What are the names of the animals from which fur is derived ^ Tell us about the hlack and silver foxes, and let whole pages be written about the iSiusk rat; also of all other kinds of martins, &c. <* Are there rattle-snakes in the country ? and what is a nest of rattle-snakes like ? Are there any snake boots made ? Are the tales of snakes from the Ohio country true, or are they streUhers of Jonathan ? Let all serpents, whether of water or land, be examined. '' What are the windfalls ? Do they sometimes M '. Sf,. CANADA. 175 lay waste the forests, for miles in breadth, from one side of the province to the other? Are there frost-blows in the intensity of winter, as there are sun-blows in the tropical climates ? People are said, at least, to have been frozen to death in an instant. ' *- * " The birds must be considered, and proved whether the partridges belong to the pheasant or turkey brood. Where do the wild turkeys take up their abode, and what are their habits and general manners? The flocks of black- birds, too, must be examined ; they seem to be the rooks of Canada ; there is more of the star- ling than thrush about them. All woodpeckers, whipperwhails, blue birds, snow birdsj bats, ro- bins, carrion crows, kingfishers, &c. must be ob- tained, and their nature investigated. '^ The bees are to come under philosophical examination. Do they not thrive amazingly in this country? Hives multiply vastly, and is there not a method of translating them to hives without using Bonar*^ system ? May not lots of mead be made ? Spiders and all the insect tribe must be laid before the microscope, and the black Jly and musquito well deserve to be anatomized. " Have Nootka Sound and Cook's Inlet been fuUy explored by rummagers ? If not, the sooner they are on that coast the better. A 176 THRBE YEARS IN y : history of Hudson''s Bay would be gratefully received, and all journals, notes, diaries, para- graphs, &c. of travellers will ever be welcome. " An Encyclopaedia is to be published, called the Canadian Encii/clopadia, in which all the articles will be arranged according to the al- phabet, netttly printed, with plates, &c. Contri- butors will be paid for their labours. Some of the articles will be. headed thus : — Furrology, or the science of furs ; Stumpologi/, or the science of stumps, &c. " Such are proposed to become the transac- tions of the Society at its outset; and all young men in Canada, who are enthusiasts in Natural History, Natural Philosophy, and Mathema,tics, will receive every encouragement, and will be fitted out on expeditions to explore woods, wa- ters, and wilds, for which they will be liberally rewarded.'' After these questions were published a few months, there were two answers given, of a very unsatisfactory nature, respecting the eminent tra- veller Mr. Heame. They both agreed that he died in London, that some account was given of him in some magazine ; but no dates were mentioned. I am determined the matter shall not yet rest ; he shall be searched out, and a proper memoir of him given, as he surely deserves it. iir^^i m iita Mimv '»" • !>' 0i mMW» - : CANADA. 177 The notices respecting this excellent traveller were the only ones that appeared in answer to any of the questions ; but I am inclined to think, that they set enquiry on foot in all directions. A " So- ciety of Natural History*" was formed afterwards in Montreal, and I felt highly delighted on- receiv- ing the following letter. ** Montreal, August 9, 1827< «* SIR, " I HAVE the pleasure of informing you, that at the last meeting of the Montreal Natural His- tory Society, you were unanimously elected a member " I take the opportunity which is thus afforded me, of requesting your assistance in aiding the de- signs of the Society, by collecting specimens for its Museum. Your situation on the Canal may afford means of acquiring valuable minerals, which will always be highly acceptable, particularly as the Society is more exclusively designed for the pro- motion of the Natural History of the Province. "Any other object of Natural History which might come in your way, would be acceptable. " I am. Sir, Your obedient servant, A. F. Holmes, M. D. Secretary. '' J. Mc.Taggart, Esgr ; I 5 ( 178 THREE YEARS IN It will be seen in the course of this work, how far I succeeded in obtaining information respecting the queries proposed, a part of which may be given at present. Salt springs are numerous in the country. A very fine one is at St. Catherine's, Upper Canada, at the Welland Canal. Much salt is also made in the United States, from the salt springs at Utica and Canandague; but they can hardly furnish it so cheap as it can be brought from Liverpool. The Indians bring rock salt with them from the Rocky Mountains — I have a specimen, kindly given me by one of the Chiefs. The Deer-licks in the wilderness are places where the deer as- semble to lick the salt moisture oozing in various parts out of the earth;'— at such places, the hunters gather for another purpose. There are various mineral wells discovered, chiefly of a chalybeate nature : one in the district of Cornwall is famous, and much resorted to by invfdids. I found out a very good one in a rocky snie at the Falls of Chaudiere. There my worthy friend Dr. Christie analyzed it in various ways : he boiled it down and showed that it left a red precipitate behind ; particles of iron ad- hered to Mrs. Frith* s magnet, when put into it, and gin was turned to the colour of ink. The Doctor fl^F: CANADA. 179 said that this proved the deleterious quality of the gin, and showed there were some vegetable pro> ducts in it that ought not to be ; and as he was Dean of Guild in the honourable corporation at By-town, the mineral waters aided him in his vocation, and were the means of bringing more genuine spirits to the city of By. " Confound the Doctor, Mactaggart, and the mineral spaT was the phrase got up on that occasion. The Indians tell me of valuable fountains with which they are acquainted in the wilds. It is generally conceived, that a country liable to diseases has also some things in it for a remedy. These mineral wells may be, and I believe are found to answer well with the invalid long afflicted with the fever and ague. If this one which I found at the falls ^ proves to have any healing virtues, these, and the lovely situation of the place, may induce multi- tudes to frequent it. The lak& fever proceeds not from marsh mal- aria, but from a kind of putrefaction that takes place on the large fresh-water lakes during the hot season. If we visit these lakes shortly after having come off the salt ocean, we smell the effluvia that creates the lake fever ; while those who have been long in the habit of residing near them, feel it not. \ ' I V IRO THREE YEARS IN The Rocky Mountains ought certainly to be ex- plored as soon as possible. I have valuable silver ore witli me, given by an Indian who resided amongst them ; he had also minerals with him that I knew nothing about. My dear friend Mr. Fleming, of the Trent, who has often been over them, declared to me, that he and a party of voi/ageurs discovered a notch, which led them through from the Great Lakes to Black River, which falls into the Columbia. I have no doubt that as valuable mines may be found there as amongst the Andes of South America. Sugar-maple rum may be made of excellent quality, but whether to match Craigdarroch of Perth, I will not say. The latter is the name of a whisky made after the Glenlivet mode, by Mr. Fergusson, of Perth, Upper Canada ; the flavour is very good ; it is by far the most excellent spirit distilled in the country. Mr. Thompson, the astronomer, repeatedly told me, that often when he was on the Columbia, striking the boundary line between Canada and the States, he has seen many pine-trees that it would require a cross-cut saw sixteen feet in the blade to do any thing with them. Now this gen- tleman is generally considered to speak something ''^ %- m ■ . I CANADA. 1«1 like truth ; however, I should be glad to see these large pines with my own eyes. In order to obtain a method to extract stumps from the earth, those bugbears of the American farmers, they have exhausted their mechanical ge- nius in vain, and it is generally believed that the best plan is to let them rot out at their own leisure. The wild beasts of Canada are not ferocious ; a person may lie down and take a co Jifortable sleep in the wildest,- darkest jungle. I have never heard of any one being disturbed by bear, wolf, or vnld cat ; and these must be considered to be the only savage beasts in the country that would be apt to break through the rules of good behaviour. The wolf of America is larger than that of Europe ; he keeps in the deepest fo- rest during day, sleeping amongst loose moun- tain rocks, where the bushy hemlock hinders a ray of the sun from penetrating through the gloom. At night he be tirs himself, and prowls along the banks of the rivers and lakes in quest of deer, of which he is fond. I have frequently heard a pack of wolves in full cry after a deer, and once beheld a large one in close pursuit of a buck on the glare ice of the Mississipi Lake. The deer could not keep its feet, the ice being without snow so very slippery. The wolf, therefore, soon came •I \ i| 11 ^ 182 THREE YEARS IN up with it ; they struggled hard, but the savage effected its death before we could reach it in the aieigh. He did not observe us until we were within twenty yards ; and then, with his tail curved be- tween his hind legs, he skulked reluctantly away to the forest. The wolves have been known to be very troublesome amongst the sheep in remote settle- ments. I went out one morning with an old farmer in the Lower Rideau Settlement, to see the remains of three of his sheep that had been worried during the night. Nothing had the greedy savages left but the skins, backbones, and parts of the skulls. At the Lake of Chaudiere, I met with three Ca- nadians who had captured a very large one alive ; they had bamboozled him amongst the deep snows, and, after tying his legs with a cord, and securing his jaws with another, they placed him on a temporary handbarrow, and moved away vrith him highly delighted, exclaiming as they went, " Le hup ! le hup ! sacre le hup r — " The wolf! the wolf! damn the wolf!"" There is a reward in cash given per head for slain wolves by the Provincial Government. The black bear is not like the wolf; he has degenerated in the New World, and is a very insignificant animal; sometim'^es he is known to steal out of his hollow tree in the woods, and .Jt CANADA. 183 feast upon a young pig or the like. The boys are so little afraid of him, that, when they find him in his den, they will surround him with sticks, and thresh the life out of him. Often, again, they will secure him, like the wolf lately men- tioned, and sell him as a pet to the bear-fanciers for half a dollar or so. In Montreal, bear-hams sell well, and are considered by the kitcheners of Canada exquisite in their way. The Indians tell me he takes great delight in destroying the wasps^ nests. It seems to be a favourite amusement, as all the food he obtains from the destruction of them would but ill repay him for the stings he must receive ; but they think he does not suffer so much this way as they do, which may be true. As to wild cats, I have never seen any : the In- dians say they are rarely to be met with, and never but in the neighbourhood of rapids and precipices. While exploring the famous Rapids and rocks of Chats (the French name for these animals), with my friend Mr. Sheriff, we ex- pected to fall in with them, but were disap- pointed. These are the most beautiful rapids I have seen ; the Ottawa coming roaring down a height of near eighty feet, while quite across the river, from shore to shore, which is about a mile, the rapids and falls are broken and divided by I 1 184 THREE YBAR8 IN numerous islands covered with green trees, and the water dashing white around them. The musquitoes are very numerous during tho hot months of summer in the uncleared country, and in that too partly shorn of the woods. They are extremely troublesome, and nothing hitherto discovered will prevent their biting the exposed parts of the body. The Indians and French Canadians, who may be called the natives of the country, suffer almost as much from them as new- comers, but their flesh does not swell so. Peo- ple from Britain are frequently to be met with nearly blind from the poisonous effects of these insects. It is vain to rub the skin with grease or camphor ; they mind it nothing. Some will fling veils over their faces ; and these would keep them off, were not veils troublesome things too in hot weather to wear ; they conflne the breathing, and add an additional warmth to the cheeks that have no need of it. Nothing will keep them at bay but the strong, smudging smoke of fire ; nor will this do unless we completely envelope ourselves in the midst of it, which is not very comfortable. In Europe, the cattle run to the hill tops to get rid of the flies, but in Canada they move towards the smoke. How contented will the old horses and cows hang over the smouldering embers, neighing and lowing for perfect joy. When the weather is CANADA. 185 (lamp and moist, they get numerous; the swamps and little inland rivers are perfectly covered with them. In these places they are considered to breed. In dog-days they are not so troublesome : towards the latter end of August they are at the worst, and larger grown than in the spring. They are extremely greedy ; if with a pair of sharp scis- sors we clip away the half of the body of one that is sucking, it will not desist and attempt to fly away, but continue to suck for hours, the blood flowing from where it was severed in two. It is said that they have succeeded in killing animals, nor does this seem at all wonderful, when their virulent nature is known. Night and day they are equally annoying : it is in vain to go to bed at any prescribed hour, for no sleep can pos- sibly be obtained, unless we are completely fa^ tigued out; and when we wake, the face is co- vered with blood ; and if the hands or legs be exposed, they are rendered frightful to look at, and the feet will not go into the shoes or boots they have been accustomed to. Settlers in the heart of the woods sufl^er dreadfully from them ; they keep a smudge always at the threshold of the door of the dwelling. The black flies are almost as bad as the musquitoes ; they are not such a large insect, nor so poisonous. When examined with the microscope, the mouth is not unlike that of t r •I ( ■ I J » > , Jf ')\ 186 THRB^ yPABS IN • buUrdog ; yrh(drea»9 the other sucks with a pro- bosois. The iand-fiy is something like the cheese- mite ; the akin feels itchy, but we know not the cause, and sometimes even rub the skin off in order to get rid of them. The gadnipper, a large species of gadfly, is also common, but not so trou- blesome as those above described. There are various other flies in the woods, but they seem to be without names. There is one kind, however, which, wherever it alights on the human body, causes a blister as large as a kidney- jbean in a few hours j nor will it fall away for many days. When such occurs to strangers, it is some time ere they know the cause it proceeds from : this is probably a species of the cantharides. Mp. Waterton, the naturalist, has my warmest thanks for his able vindication of the character of that curious bird the woodpecker. It certainly does not injure the forest-trees by boring them full of holes. Those trees which are in a state of decay; chiefly from sheer old age, are the only ones which are paid attention to by the woodpecker ; for these are the same in which its insect food is bred. The green thriving trees will not produce it a meal ; indeed, it is too knowing ever to bother itself by alighting on such. It knows the trees that are likely to produce food even when on the wing — an excellent judge of timber infected with the CANADA. 187 dry-rot. Now this bird not only selects trees in- fected by the worms, but by doing so, promotes their decomposition, and so succeeds sooner in clearing the forest of incumbrances. Without this bird, the trees running to decay would not moulder so soon, for the rain gets into the hole^ made by the bird. It is very voracious, eats away the whole day, and never seen^s to weary. Where it finds a fertile stump of worms, it will not leave it, but continues to dig in, until it is buried out of sight. Often have I witnessed its greediness carrying it thus far, and cautiously creeping up, have succeeded in covering it with my hat, if it was not too high up the trunk of the tree, as it generally was. When inspecting a tree, it hops down the trunk in per- pendicular hops of about four inches each. In this work it is much assisted by the feathers of the tail, which are kept turned into the tree ; by which the feathers have all their soft down near the top worn off, and the stems left very sharp. They act as shifting props, assist its holding by the sharp claws of the toes, and steady the bird in its laborious operations, where the standing ground does not afford it a platform. This bird makes two distinct noises with its beak on the trees, the mean- ing of which is perfectly different : the one may be called tapping, the other drumming. The in- tention of the tapping is to bore through the bark ■| I ,*i 88 THREE YEARS IN i of the trees, where that bark partly adheres to the tree ; the other is beating or drumming furious- ly on the hollow bark, so that the insects behind are frightened, or fall down to where the bark ad- heres to the tree, where they are received by the bird. Now the reason of this is obvious ; for if it tapped a hole where the bark was hollow, it would find no insects behind, they would hear their com- mon enemy and scamper off; whereas it knows where to frighten, and where to catch them. This drumming of the woodpecker has often astonished me in the wild woods, and it cost me some atten- tion to discover the cause of it ; but I found that where it drummed, there were no holes, — that these were farther down the tree, in belts, where the bark was in the situation I have stated. The woodpecker is one of the most ingenious of birds ; it is not every hole in the trees that it will build its nest in. Those standing erect, partly re- mote from the rest, very much decayed, with no top branches, are selected for the great purpose of breeding in. A hole is bored into the tree, about two yards from the top, sufficient to admit the birds to their nests ; and immediately beneath this, for the same distance down the tree, it is pecked into an inverted curve all round, the top of the tree somewhat resembling a sand-glass : this is done in order to prevent the squirrels from visiting them. ^^ V- I CANADA. 189 This quadruped seldom runs up trees which are in a state of rottenness ; however, when it does, this in- genious curve puts an end to the ascent, as past that it is perfectly unable to go. Its^ claws will not hold so well in decayed wood as in fresh; and when it is partly obliged to move on, or back down, there is every likelihood that it will fall. I have always continued to write to my humor- ous friend Dr. Dunlop, of the Canada Company, when any thing of,not^ happened. When the before-mentioned Society was formed, the follow- ing was sent to him. " MY WORTHY DOCTOR, " Allow me to pay you my best respects. I am got into the world of civilization again, so I must behave like a friend and gentleman. Like yourself, I have been rummaging since May, and have discovered many, what I conceive to be, curiosities. How came you on by the Huron ?— I heard of your murder, but disbelieved the state- ment. Heaven keep you well ! 1 long to crack a night or two with you. When shall I have that sa- tisfaction ? Is it not astonishing that you and I keep our health so well ? To think of persons like us, inured to all the sweets and luxuries of London, launched out to Canada to raw pork, Yankified rum, and a soft bed of leaves beneath the wild- A i ■■^ 190 THREE YEARS IN Hl>-(H f^ ^H'li V ^H 1 \ ■i i\ I \ 4 wood tree ! True, 'tis < habit is every thing.' How is our dear Ghilt ? I have written to him, but as yet got no answer. Has he finished his novel of * The Settler ?' That character, the Indian Witchf is true poetry. Doctor. Has he a play ready for Quebec this winter? if he has not, stir him up, or write one yourself. Keep out Yankee cha- racters; poor creatures! they cannot (like the Scot- tish and English) bear to be laughed at. The good people of Montreal are to be treated to a comedy of the Convener's. You have seen the sketch — * Humours of the Grand River, or a Trip to Athabasca :' the thing is now in rehearsal. " The land is good, you say, about the Speed : I always thought so ; settlers will do well there. On the whole, your Company is going to do won- ders in Canada; there never was a better one formed ; I think more of it than the East India Company. Canada is a valuable colony ; in fact, she is at the head of all the colonies, for she has the means to protect all the rest, and to give a consequence to Britain not to be sneered at. Po- litics here are making a stir amongst the cobblers — I never mind them. What are Canadian petty po- litics to those we have dabbled in ? When we are politicians, we are so indeed. I believe, however, our worthy Governor has had his own vexations of late. Some French bodies have been bothering \\ I CANADA. 191 him. I do not like this ; I like the French Cana- dian very well, — a kind, thoughtless, light-hearted soul ; but there are busy, meddling, evil-disposed characters amongst them. We have clapped them too much of late, — this spoils them. We must al- ways keep a respectable distance ; and when a mu. tiny appears about any thing, the best way to have peace, is just to take the North- wester'*s plan- dash into the mob, and knock the first down you meet, with a whack beneath the ear, when quiet- ness is restored in a twinkling. . " When we meet, which will be before Christ- mas, 1 hope you will give me a glimpse of your journal; it must be extremely amusing, and no doubt you have curiosities of the greatest value extracted from the depths of the forest. A Society of Natural History has been established here, and we have the honour to be elected members : I like this very well, and am only sorry that we have bound ourselves so firmly to the Royal Society at home, that I am afraid we cannot do our duty to- wards it as we ought : however, we shall do our best. I am extremely happy; never was king prouder than I to inform you that I have obtained one great object of my mission to this country, namely, a Canadian hoolet as big as a gander. " Peace be with you. Amen." I f *« V \m V 192 THREE YEARS IN ^ 'f- i V SETTLERS AND SQUATTERS. '1*1 S ETTL ERS come on better by planting themselves down in large communities from one and the same country than by any other plan. The Irish thrive well in Monaghan and about the Rice Lake. The Glasgow weavers revel in Lanark, along the Banks and Lakes of the Massapi, vulgarly termed Missis- sipi, while the Yankees generally agree with Upper Canada, and the French with the Lower Pro- vince ; Highlandmen cling by Glengarry, and so forth. Where a number of people who are of one way of thinking, whether as regards the affairs of earth or of heaven, and who have the same habits, customs, and manners, club together, there is conir monly found more peace and contentment than where there are intermixtures. I would, there- fore, advise settlers to consider this before they locate themselves ; find out your countrymen, seek OA.NADA. 193 for the largest nest of them, and there take up your abode. I do not mean that because you are a native of Scotland you are to go exactly where Scotchmen are : you are to be stricter than this ; you are to set yourselves down near those who have led such a life as yourself, and whose wants are similar to your own. The word is, " Go not to Glengarry, if you be not a Highlandman.*" There is a fault emigrants have, of wandering up and down the country for months before they think of fixing themselves. The agents of the Canada Company, it is to be expected, will, by giving them proper information, do away with this. There have often strange reflections dome over me when observing people prowling about in quest of land, to be lairds themselL This is a won- derful matter ; and although land in Canada is of very little value, comparatively speaking, to what it is in England, yet when a poor creature re- ceives a grant, he is little less in his own conceit than the King himself, or the first Governor in the land. He lays on lustily with the hatchet for a year or two, but then begins to weary. Still his love for the farm is as great as ever. He will allow no one to cut a stick ofl^ it, if he know; and if any tell him, the guilty are sure to have a summons in their hand in a very short time. If a road, or VOL. I. K 194 THREE YEARS IN any thing that way, affecting the lands, is pro- posed to be run, the problem is studied with more anxiety than at home. The best settlers who can go out to Canada, are those who have been badgered and abused in Great Britain, and who, spite of all their misfor- tunes, have a little cash left. They will there find all the animal necessaries of life without much trouble; that is, enough for back and belly, though but few comforts for the mind : so, if they have been harshly treated at home, they regret that home the less, and resign themselves to their fate with a considerable share of philosophy. If they go out with cash, and have not been kicked and scorned at home, they will certainly become growl- ers in Canada ; and this is the cause of the greatest part of the discontent that prevails, although there are a number of the emigrants naturally discontent- ed people, and who would be so in any country. Friends, associates, churches, schools, news, &c. are not to be found in the remote settlements ; and these are things which tend greatly to the comfort of the human mind. What are plenty of pigs, poul- try, and bread, when a social party cannot be form- ed to partake of a feast ? The good man, if a Scotchman, would like to enjoy a glass of whisky toddy now and then with a neighbour ; the wife, a 'Cup of tea; then the dear lasses, Mary, Nelly, and KiSf-^t^t^ CANADA. 105 Peggy, where are the lads coining about to see them in the evening ? Perhaps a Yankee may pop in his long rasor-nose, and guess ^* as how they are omnipotent:^ this is not a touching strain; it is colder than frost itself. The love of Jonathan is in- deed small ; I have never seen him or his females the least thrilled by this the most heavenly of all passions. They marry, to be sure, and have fa- milies ; but what of that ? brutes have the same. Hiere is generally a settled kind of sulkiness about the Americans ; they seem downcast some way or Other, seldom if ever laugh, and hold no conversa- tions about the real pleasures of the soul. When they talk of females, their sentiments are abomina- ble; they appear to hold a constant warfare against the laws of nature, so that they will neither feed, clothe, nor house themselves according to the cli- mate. The French Canadians, on the contrary, pay great attention to this, and live in comparative hap- piness. Those who emigrate from Britain ought to follow their example; would they do so, they would live much more comfortably than they do. It has been argued that if a whole parish emigrated in a body to Canada, clergyman. Dominie and all, happiness would ensue, and the whole would live in the greatest harmony together. This has, it may be K 2 » ■m 196 THREE YEARS IN Mi Maid, been tried, but it will not do. One farmer is more industrious than his neighbour, his wife and daughters get better dressed : scandal and jealousy thus arise, and who can allay them ? The church is coid in winter, yet the clergyman insists on their coming to it and hearing his doctrines ; the more he complains of a small congregation, the less it be- comes, till disputes arise, which have no termina- tion. Then some boys at the school are better learners than others; the parents blame the dominie for want of attention, he leaves the parish, finds teaching elsewhere, and no one is found to replace him : these and many such things create growling, and to a greater degree than is heard in any parish of Scotland ; to account for it fully would be diificult. In Scotland a parish has its charac- ter to support ; but, let it behave in Canada as it mav, few will find fault. No one will there blame you for not attending the church, nor care whether you educate your children or no ; rivalship is out of the question. If you like to live in elegance, no one will care, nor praise your house furniture, or say unto thy Turkey carpet that it is beautiful. Nay, Jonathan will squirt tobacco-juice at thy splendid fender, nor care to drive his white hat through the face of the looking-glass. Preachers may preach, and schoolmasters teach, but what \H CANADA. 197 avails it ? The way to Heaven is considered by no means very complex, when people think little about it ; and as for Latin and Algebra, yea even common English and the multiplication table, they are not respected. The young men have no expectations ; they have no interest in the old world beyond the flood; yet all the situations among them worth any thing, are filled by people sent from thence ; so they are led to regard both with indifference. They are never heard to praise either Britain or Canada. *' Without some object in view — without emula- tion — the functions of man fall asleep. 'A settler of eminence in Canada is a kind of monopolist in his way. He has a grist-mill to grind his own and his neighbour's grain ; — a saw- mill, wherewith he furnishes boards for those who are building houses in his village ; for every big man must have his clauchan, as the Scotch say, and give it his name. He has likewise a fulling and carding-mill, for preparing woollen yams for cloths of home manufacture ; a smithery and trip- hammer, which is a large sledge-hammer, driven by the power of water, applied to necessary ma- chinery ; also an ox-shoeing stall, or place where the oxen are fixed by belts, and their feet by chinks, until they are shoed. These engines he 196 THRKli YBAR8 IN obtains by procuring for himself, in the first place, a mill'ieat, or what the Yankees call a hydraulic privilege, which he enjoys by setting himself down by the side of a rapid of some river or other, as there he may erect as many mills as he pleases. There are few estates of any extent in the country that have not plenty of mill-seats on them; in- deed, there are more mills erected, in many in- stances, than there seems to be work for. But mills alone by no means complete the finished es- tablishment. A distillery is a thing quite indis- pensable, so that raw grain whisky may be pro- duced at a couple of shillings per gallon, the flavour of which is qualified by frosty potatoes and yellow pumpkins. Such aqua is extremely delicious ; and those who know what Glenlivet is, may, perhaps, touch it with a long stick, confining their nostrils at the same time. A tannery is also an appendage ; while a store may finish the list. In this store is a lot of goods from Mont- real merchants, to give in barter for the produc- tions of the townships — white hats for Yankees, black hats for Irish, and Kilmarnock bonnets for Canadians. It is an old remark, that people who have *' too many irons in the fire at once, never thrive,^ which \'. CANADA. 109 id the way with those having these regular ettta- blishmentfi. A man cannot be both a farmer and a fisher ; neither can he be a farmer and a miller, nor yet a farmer and a lumberer. One trade ih always quite sufficient ; and the twentieth part of one, if properly att^ded to, will procure a for- tune in London. I am happy to find, by a late act, pasHed in the Provincial Government of Upper Canada, that potatoe whisky distillation will be almost put an end to ; for this is the absolute poison of Upper Canada,— the laudanum that sends thousands of settlers to their eternal rest every season. There is a particular charm about the name of whisky, which Irishmen and Scotsmen feel more strongly than the natives of any other country : which is one of the causes why this infernal liquid gets hold of and overcomes so many of them as it does. But look at the affair. A Scotchman plants himself down in the bush^ but often thinks ot his old habits in the old country. A Yankee comes about with whisky to sell : — can Donald withstand this ? No ; he would drink it — ^he would drain it to the dregs, were it fire and brimstone ; and it is a distillation little better — made of frosty pota- toes, hemlock, pumpkins, and black mouldy rye. f t It- 200 THREB YEARS IN No hell broth that the witches concocted of yore, can et|ual it. They never put such ingredients in their cauldrons, — " Bubble, bubble — toil and trouble, •'''': Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.'* *.' t ■ ' "^ Squatters are those who come to the country for the purpose of becoming settlers ; but, not having wherewithal to come by a grant of land in a regular way, set themselves down where they think it will best suit them, on unlocated lands, or those not in a state of any cultivation. I have frequently thought that the squatters go to work the best of any: they deprive the clerks of the Land-oiiice of all fees,-— a thing they deserve ; and, instead of being pointed out farms on diagrams, where, probably, no such things exist, or, if they do, are not worth the cultivating, they go forth their own surveyor into the wilds, and where they meet with a fine river, a fertile valley, and cool spring well, squat in contentment. Years may roll over before they have a chance of being molested by any one ; and should they be, they always obtain their farm at a fair value, possession being nine points of the law. Wandering through the woods, in the winter of 1827, we came upon the track of a sleigh ; and as we all believed ourselves far from the abode of V ak % :i CANADA. 201 settlers, we were almost as much surprised as Ro- binson Crusoe was with the print of a man''s foot on the sandy shore of his lonely isle. We fol- lowed the track for a mile or two, and at length came upon a clearing of about seven acres in ex- tent, near the middle of which a neat little .log hut sat smoking. About fifty yards farther on, there were a few small houses huddled on each other ; but these did uot seem to be human dwell- ings — the grunt of a hog and the crow of a cock proclaimed their purpose. We were met at the door by a man about the age of forty : he was clean dressed and healthy looking ; in one of his hands was a child about five years old, and in the other a hatchet ; he asked us with a tremulous, yet kind voice, to ^*come ben.'''' This emotion arose from his not being in the habit of seeing company, as Almack's has it. We all marched in, and there was a snug little cabin, with a wife, two more children, some good sleek grey cats, and a very respectable-looking dog. Having broached the rum-keg, we sat down by the fire, and enjoyed the man"'s narrative over a glass and a pipe. His name was Peter Armstrong, from the town of Hawick, Scotland. He had been fifteen years in Canada, was just a plain working man, saved as much as paid for his passage out, and fought up K 5 202 THREE YEARS IN i the water St. Lawrence to a place they ca'*ed Perth, and there finding nought ado— nae country work — ^he just went afar into the heart of the wild woods with his axe, dog, and gun, and after looking about him, fixed on the place where we found him for his abode in this world. There he built a little hut, not the one he then was in, but one that the pet- deer had ; for he had tamed many deer. Year dfter year he wrought away all by himself, read the Bible every Sabbath-day, made a journey to Perth twice every year, and bought wee needfuls ; at length got a horse and sleigh, and cleared about four acres of the woods : this was five years after he had come to the place. He had but few wants, his health was aye good ; there was spring-water plenty just aside him, and enough to make a good fire in winter, while with what he caught, shot, gathered, and grew in the yard, he lived well enough. All at once, on one of his visits to Perth, whom should he meet but Tibby Patterson, toha was the hyrewoman at the Laird of Branksome''Sf where he was once a herd- lad : it is needless to add, they had met far frae hame in a wild land — they had few friends — so Tibby just came awa' with me to the woods, and we just took ane anilher''s word on't : — that ''s the way we were married, and here we are, and have Hfeir»H»^ CANADA. 203 been for the last nine years. We are contented, and that is enough ; we are not much bothered, and Tibby likes to live in this kind o^ way as weel as mysell. I own this information gave me much pleasure. There was no melancholy, but a cheerful resigna- tion apparent throughout ; they were Christians of a very high character — both originals in their way. It was with difficulty we could prevail on ourselves to leave them ; the same feeling that they had, was beginning to be felt by the whole party. Since meeting with these people, I havie met with others in similar situations ; but these have all been Yankees — they did not read any Bibles, nor sing hamely sangs like Armstrong and his Tibby ; they were gloomy, ill-natured, growl- ed a good deal, would not leave the woods and fight for an honest living and cheerful society, nor yet be at peace in them : there seemed to be some- thing gnawing at the conscience — a venom, cer- tainly, without any victim to rouse it into action. They gave no account of themselves, nor could I ever pump any out of them, but from one per- iP son of the name of Hammond : he certainly told his tale, but for the sake of human nature, I re- frain from giving it. He had been in the wars of Canada, and once broke the States' Prison. / 204 THREE YEARS IN It was once after parting with some of those vile Cains, that the following letter was written ; it paints the gloomy side of the community, but it has long been thought that fair and foul are both required in an honest representation. :■;«!' " MY DEAR FRIEND, " Unless I cross the ocean again, there can be no hope of our meeting, for you will never come to this country, that 's certain, and I believe the sooner I get out of it the better. Every true honest Briton here gets his feelings so hurt, go where he will, that melancholy besets him like the eastern Sirocco, and shrivels the very flesh on his liones. The natural beauties of Canada are indeed not to be matched in the world ; her forests, lakes, water-falls, and rivers are truly splendid, but her human population is composed of such mate- rials, that to mingle with them is one of the severest punishments that can be inilicted on a feeling heart, and to associate with them requires either the fimmess and deliberation of the philoso- pher, or the sneaking manners of the low unedu- cated vagabond. The cause of this arises chiefly from droves of discontented people pouring an- nually into the country — ^people, who from stress of weather, or more often from bad behaviour, are Vr \ 1 CANADA. 205 obliged to quit the mother shore. These, on coming hither, meet with tribes of wanderers like themselves, destitute of almost every thing save pride and presumption, and boasting of something they term independence, which baffles me, I con- fess, to know what it is. All that Britain does, or proposes to do, for Canada, is laughed at ; they would take from John Bull all the cash in his coffers, but would not thank him for it : — a cold, indifferent race, equal, any day, to Jonathan and his brood ; in fact, I sbmeti«ies think them worse, and feel inclined to box them one by one as long as my strength will hold out. If you happen to travel on a rough tract, — a thing you generally have to do if you travel at all, — then the Govern- ment is blamed at every jolt for not making better roads ; and the constitution of my country is sure to be cursed every time a carriole is overset by running over a stump. If you have to pass through a swamp, you will hear honest John blamed for not draining it; and if through a settlement made fertile by his influence, not a word to his praise will be uttered. Law without justice prevails greatly all over the country, and the villages swarm with lawyers ; owing to the manner in which the lands are laid out and sur- veyed. Never were such codes of practical mathe- jpj 1 f 1 l 206 THREE YEARS IN U matics displayed. Those gentlemen of the robe are to be met with everywhere in the country beating up for trade in law, much like English travelling merchants with their packs of prints and muslins. They fill their petty prisons with debtors, and scores are there incarcerated for sums not exceeding a dollar. Once I popped into a court-house to hear what was going on, and by so doing got my ears well filled with lengthened orations respecting an old dirty thief, who had stolen a shirt. I retired perfectly disgusted, from one of the most trivial scenes ever beheld. " As to teaching and preaching, these are tilings but Very little regarded: the best schoolmaster that ever appeared would be baffled, in my opi- nion, to make one solitary scholar ; and the ablest pulpit speaker would succeed no better in making a good Christian out of a bad one, for the predo- minant feeling seems to be to detest all forms, trammels, and restrictions, and to trample under foot those glorious functions of man, which by making him lord of Creation, uplift him above the beasts of the field. When any of such characters happen to die, holes are carelessly dug, and the bodies tumbled therein, without any regard to solemnity. Churchyards are seldom fenced— few are the monuments erected over graves — and ->.*«..«LXaL.,- CANADA. 207 the visits made by the living to the narrow beds of the departed, are, * like angels visits, few, and far between.' ** Let those come to Canada who wish to study anatomy ; here they may have as many subjects to examine as they please ; here resurrectionists may do their duty in the open day, and no one will scare them. In winter, the French Cana- dians (and these are by far the most respectable people in the country, for what is worthy of hu- man nature) lay theii* coffined dead in their churches until the thaws of spring soften the ground, so that they may be buried in an easier manner than when frost binds up the earth : — so the anatomist walks through the churches unmo- lested, and takes away to his dissecting-rooms as many subjects as he will. " The French Canadians are a singular people. They scorn to improve the country, because it be- longs to Britain ; and if their farms happen to lie on the banks of rivers, they conceive themselves comfortably situated, as the rivers will carry away from them all the manure which they can throw into them, and so rid their hand, and the land, of what they consider to be a nuisance. " In Upper Canada the feeling is totally Yankee, and the inhabitants care not a fig for the institur I :f < I '-I I 208 THREE YEARS IN I I h I tions of Great Britain. In Lower Canada it is French, and there it is not much different with respect to England, only the French have better hearts, and are naturally of a kinder and more social nature than turn-coat Englishmen. ** I will not say, that the people of Canada wish that the country should belong to the United States, and that it should be taxed and governed by the laws of Congress ; but it seems they would wish it not to belong to the present owner : yet I think they hardly want to manage and rule the roast themselves. The truth is, they are dis- contented, and know not what they want; they will growl and complain without any cause, purely for growling''s sake. They are as able a set of grumblers as you can meet with in the world, and certainly deserve to be given up by Great Britain altogether ; but this she will not do, as I think she will yet be able to make a reformation in the country : — not that she will reform the bad spirits, the insignificant spawn that is engendered in it. From her may yet spring up a race of wholesome characters, who will live unpolluted amid the refuse that may encircle them ; who will hold up with manly front for the noble institutions of their na- tive country ; who will introduce common sense and morality, and be an honour to the nation they left, and a blessing to rising generations.**^ \ V ^ ■L. CANADA. 209 r \ LETTERS AND REMARKS RESPECTING THE ^ AMERICANS. . " MY DEAR FRIEND. ' :^-l " What you have heard respecting the cha- racter of the people on this side the Atlantic, is generally true : the books of Howison and other authors may be perfectly relied on ; I have not found them once wrong. Neither do I con- ceive it at all criminal to let you know all about them we possibly can. You will not, of course) bfelieve the half of it : this is the way with you ; but no matter, it is truth nevertheless, and will be found to be such by all who follow our paths, or have been in similar routes. And as to ' stirring up animosity between nations,^ a thing that tra- vellers, are blamed for if they attempt to pourtray people properly, I hold it to be no sound doctrine; the nearer the truth they are drawn, the less bick- ering there will be in the matter. We cannot 4 m ' filO THRBB YBARS IN I- / m \ ': i !^ bear to see the Scotch or Irish represented on the stage, unless the absolute manners in every respect be attended to : — it is the same with Jonathan ; hit him fair, and he will by no means be offended. * He will guess as how we are pretty considerably damned clever, that we get along slick, and by the jumping Jesus, are not to be made wheelbarrows oV I therefore say, let us not slacken our exertions ; let our attention be frequently turned to the Americans; let us be- lieve more about them than we have done, as our travellers tell the truth. They certainly have ac- quired singular manners and customs in a short time, comparatively speaking, and make use of expressions that are perfectly destitute of wit and humour, but grafted on the roots of blasphemy and blackguardism ; and this language gains ground. The genuine English is vanishing from the land. One of their members of Congress, a long time ago, proposed an act for doing away with it, which was then laughed at ; but now it is going into effect, without being passed or enforced— a vo- luntary act of the people. In the course of a cen- tury, the English will not understand the twen- tieth part that will be spoken here. *^ You may think that the British books in cir- culation amongst them will preserve the Ian- CANADA. Ill \ ' guage : — no such thing. Few of these ane now read, and fewer will be, unless our writers conde- scend to please them by vile compositions in slang diction. But do not imagine that, because they despise your books, they do the same with their own : the press teems with newspapers, pam- phlets, and tracts, which are greedily devoured, written in that kind of strain that pleases them, ma- king use, of course, of all those words and phrases they are accustomed to. Even in their colleges this is attended to; — thie voice of the people in a Republic is sure to be heard. Nothing like solid learning is known ; the arts and sciences are skimmed. Men of common sense and shrewdness arise among them occasionally ; but these, you know, are never indebted for their sense to scho- lastic knowledge. Any thing that smacks of de- licacy of taste, refinement of feeling, &c. is utter- ly despised. Whatever deals in generalisms, what- ever seems sanctified grossness, is sure to go well down. All threats, invitations, advices, orders, &c. are whistled at; to dictate to Jonathan how he should get along, is certainly presumption. *Hey, Jem, cocktail won''t hurt; damn all, let's have a phogmatic.** With such exclamations will they clear out from the sanctums of the Solons. " Peace be with you r 1 i i 1 : 219 THRBB YBAR8 IN ( •i* " DEAR SIR, '• . .. ^ " The AmericanB are no great guzzlerR, or wine-bibbers. They hurry in to the dinner-tables at the sound of a bell in the hotels : — you would laugh to see them bustle about at this important period, every one carving for himself: — but no sooner have they done eating, than they bolt : that is, leave the table as quick as they came to it. Fifteen minutes is about the average time they consume at their dinners. There is little con- versation going on while employed in this busi- ness ; it is in the bars, and on the side benches out of doors, where dialogues are held. Our peo- ple from home here have a saying amongst them, * That they take at dinner what no Yankee does.' At first, we think this to be some pudding or other ; but on a short consideration we find it to be what I have been speaking of,— namely, time. 1 have often found that watch-note of use to me while travelling amongst them, — * help yourself.' Although this will not be told you by any Yankee, still you must act accordingly. On coming to one of their taverns, it is in vain to ask for any thing to eat or drink ; — if you get an answer at all, (but most likely you will get none,) it will be quite evasive and inconclusive. Look spr^, as they say, and walk through the bar and pantry, as CANADA. 213 if at home, and if you can find any thing to eat or drink, a8 you probably may, then snap it up, and you will be thought the more of for ho doing. They may guess as how you are an almighty odd sort of a man ; but no matter for that. You must take no heed of what you get to eat, or drink, or where is to be your bed ; * sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.' If they guess that you are mightff particular, conclude yourself no favourite. They seem to pay but little attention to health, and look wasted and sickly ; they drink vast quantities of hitters and other deleterious mixtures. When sick, they listen to every quack who offers an opi- nion, and, after all, take their own ; they are often troubled with a kind of dysentery, for which they swallow burnt-brandy and pepper. They seem to have no great stamina, yet they can en- dure hardships well, for ! CANADA. 223 CURIOSITIES IN NATURAL HISTORV. i » Snakes. Blackwater snakes are common in lakes which have their shallow shores flagged with horizontal beds of limestone. They are very much like eels, from two to five feet in length. They move swiftly along the bottom on being alarmed, and when they have got to what they suppose to be a respectable distance from danger, they fling their tails into a spiral, and pop their heads above water. The Canadians will hunt them in their canoes, and on coming near them will cut off their heads by striking at them with their paddles. They do not seem to relish deep cold water, but where it is not above three inches deep and tepid, they lay their eggs, about the size of schoolboys^ marbles, of a yellow dirty colour, about one inch and a half in diameter : the ova is 224 THREE YEARS IN not shielded in a shell, as those of birds, but in a very thick tough skin, covered with minute tuber- cles. Doubtless, the warm situation in which they are deposited is the means of hatching the young snakes. They seem to be perfectly harm- less ; at least, the Canadians have no dread of them : were they otherwise, my friends would cer- tainly fly from them sooner than any people, as they will sport with nothing of a dangerous and mischievous nature. The Avrill, or Wood Worm. Resting myself, one excessively warm day, on a projecting block of moor-stone rock on the shore of the Rideau Lake, I took a large clam shell that was lying beside me bleaching in the sun, and pitched it into the pellucid waters. My eye fol- lowed it as it sunk in zig-zag fashion to the bot- tom, which seemed to be about twenty feet down ; but on trying it with our sounding apparatus, it astonished me to find the depth forty-two feet. How much deeper the eye could have pur- sued the object, there is no saying, as it seemed to increase in size the deeper it went. While pondering on this matter, one of our Canadian party brought me a large black worm out of the wood in the hollow of his hand, — the same I had CANADA. 225 often seen before, but never having had leisure to examine him minutely, I now set about that very important matter. He was four inches and a quar- ter long, one quarter of an inch in thickness ; had sixteen legs on each side of his belly, making in all, thirty-two ; the body was of one thickness from end to end. The tail and head were ro^mded in the same manner, only in the head there seemed to be a mouth, wimble-shaped, — no doubt set round with cutting edges, if a microsco))e were brought to assist the vision, as it can bore holes into trees that are in a certain state of decay us neatly as any gimlet ; hence its French name of avrill. On minute examination we also found, that it had eight vertebrae or divisions, with four legs to each. The trees which this singular ani- mal seems to admire, are those which have been deprived of their bark by age ; it crawls into thein first at some crack, or at a hole from which a knot has fallen out ; for be it known, that when a tree gets shrunk from the want of sap, the knots being of a hard nature, do not shrink so much, but ge- nerally either drop out, and leave a hole behind them, or a vacant space partly round between them and the tree: — the reverse being the case when it is young and growing; the knots are then formed by being acted upon by the pressure of L 6 % 226 THREE YEAR8 |N timber that keeps swelling about them. Once in, this strange worm keeps boring holes to the outer rind, and through it ; for although the tree has no bark, a hard casement incloses the rotten interior. Now this would seem to be done for the purpose of introducing moisture, and promoting the decomposition ; as Nature seems as anxious ■ to encourage decay as growth, and this certainly does it. A capillary action is brought about by these worms, and moisture conducted through the tree ; were no holes made, the casement alluded to would remain for many years, being rendered almost as hard as stone by the dry weather and heat of the sun. This worm and the woodpecker are never at work on the same tree: the season for the bird is before the hsixV. falls off, which it greatly promotes ; that of the worm, after. The movements of this worm are not very quick; when laid down on the warm horizontal rock, it travelled about at a yard in a minute. One of the Canadians, unknown to me, took it up and threw it a little way into the lake, where the water was about ten feet deep. This rather dis- pleased me : the .poor fellow seeing this, was as sorry as myself; so we went down on the lower ledge of the rock, and what was to me extremely curious, we beheld the avrill crawling slowly on \ CANADA. 227 the bottom beneath the deep water. In alniut five minuted time it reached the bottom of the rock, and continued very slowly to clamber up to thi> Aurface, in doing which it seemed to have great difficulty, and was frequently about to relinquisli its hold, and fall again to the bottom. Had the lake at this time been the least agitated, it would not have succeeded in ascending the face of the rock. At length it came out very much exhaust- ed, having been beneath the water al)out twenty minutes. How it can. live in such a situation so long, I leave it to anatomists to judge ; and how it knew the way direct towards the shore, instead of steering its course farther out, is also a mystery. It must have seen the rock rising up from the water ; or the small declivity of the beach might have given it some information as to this. I am thus minute, for worms and their ways are things not sufficiently attended to by us, although they get our bodies to themselves at last. The manner in which they work out their holes is very curi- ous ; the borings are passed beneath the belly, in a hollow between the rows of legs. These, being strong, move about the dust of the rotten wootl. The hollow is not unlike the groove of a gimlet. In Plymouth Sound there is a marine worm, about three-quarters of an inch thick, and about the same ■j^ . ♦ ., 228 THREE YEARS IN ¥ length as the avrill, which bores holes through the limestone rocks in the bottom of the sound, where the salt-water is from forty to twenty feet deep. I have seen many of these stones so l)ored, and when inspecting the bottom with a diving-bell for a good foundation to a sea-wall that was about to be erected, we found acres of it bored as with a wimble, to a considerable depth ; even many of the limestone blocks that compose the Breakwater in the Sound are bored like a sieve, and actually devoured by this worm. It succeeds in making these holes by putting a quantity of sand before its head, when it works away like a marble-cutter, making a circular aperture. It may not be pro- per, perhaps, to say, that this worm will gnaw the Breakwater so that the damages may take some cash to repair : this work keeps sinking every year, perhaps it may be mainly attributed to that cause. Thus do we see very insignificant animals per- form wonders. The interminable forests of Ame- rica are cleared of their dead timber by a worm that grinds its hard particles, when the friability of the substance absorbs moisture, and decomposition rapidly ensues. We observe the bottom of the ocean changed in a strange manner, and the hard rocks reduced to powder ; the sand, in due time, ._ fc..i iii. J i CANADA. 229 after shifting about from one coast to another, be- comes consolidated again somewhere else, by meet- ing with minerals of a plastic composition. In short, look where we will, the constant transition of Nature is sufficiently obvious. . / -■•■•» •'■ ' i ' Carrion Crows. . • These birds are very common in Canada, but the rook is not to be seen ; it could not live through the snows of winter : yet there are rookeries in the southern States of America. When nearly in the middle of the Atlantic, re- turning to England, the ship was visited by a couple of carrion crows. After flying round the vessel several times, one of them dared to alight on the maintop-gallant-mast ; it seemed very much exhausted, and flung its extended wings around the ropes. When one of the sailors went up the rigging to catch it, no symptoms of feai' were observed about the bird ; it calmly submitted to be taken alive. When brought below to the deck, it refused both fresh mutton and biscuit, and even would not take a drink of fresh water, which induced the sailors to remark, that it was not his ^rog-time yet. Poor fellow ! he had not come to his senses properly. When taken into the cabin of the half-deck, he speedily recovered ; so we 9: > I 230 THREE YEARS IN i i ■f. I'- ' w brought him home to Old England. As a carrion crow, he is a very beautiful one, plump, sleek, and glossy of plumage. After securing this one, its partner came hovering round, and alighted on the ship also ; but he disdained to be caught. Perhaps it was the male bird. He preferred plunging into the surge and drowning himself, to a cabin- passage along with his mate, — perhaps at free board. These crows must have been on the wing a long time, as there was no land nearer the ship at the time than the Azores Islands, and these must have been more than 400 miles distant. It is probable that they might have lost their reckon- ing, by taking a voyage on the wreck of some si. that was floating about the shores : — who kn^ whether attracted by a barrel of beef, or perchance the corpse of some of our poor fellow-creatures ! Black Wild Ducks. These ducks are nearly as large as geese, and make excellent roasting birds. While coming home over the ocean, one of them continued to follow the ship the greater part of a day : it would come up on wing almost to the cabin win- dows ; and had any fowling-pieces been on board, it would certainly have lost itb life for its audacity. It had evidently gone adrift, as the sailors term s*>^ CANADA. 231 it ; that is, lost the flock it belonged to ; and was driven out to perish in the deep, as there is no food for such birds far in the Atlantic. When the ducks quacked in the ship''s coops, it seemed to delight in the sound, and quacked in reply : how anxious did the poor bird seem to enjoy the sweets of society again ! this is the more remark- able, as wild-ducks are \ery timid birds. In Ca- nada, duck-hunting is carried on as largely as in Engb.nd ; but were the people to form decoys, such as those in the Fens of Lincolnshire, or make use of the swivel-armed raft, the quantity that might be procured would surely be greater. The Camerons were the best hunters I ever knew in Canada. They were brothers, of High- land extract, hardy fellows, and extremely fearless : they would go out a deer-hunting, and sometimes bring home fifteen in a couple of days ; and as for shooting ducks, they wer? unmatched, and filled the canoe with large fat fowls when nobody else could get a shot : they would go out on a morning and procure four and five dozen with ease. The black wood duck is the best of all the wild-duck tribe : it is of a sooty colour, with a dirty yellow speckled breast, and nearly as large as a goose. They feed on the wild rice, which grows plenti- fidly in the small streams in the remote woods : i E ■;; 232 THREB YEARS IN they are not met with in large flocks : many of them remain during summer, and are met with large broods following after them. One of the Camerons having observed a large flock of wild geese on the Lake of the Chaudiere, used every means in his power to have a shot at them, but could not : he crawled round the rushy banks, from one point to another, but it would not do, still the flock kept aloof, and vexed him with their shyness. At length he took his canoe, and having cautiously got into it, allowed himself to drift out into the Big Bay towards his prey ; and when he had got, as he considered, within shot, he let fly, and, dreadful to relate, the canoe upset from the percussion of the musket, and launched the keen sportsman into the deep. This, how- ever, did not concern him much ; instead of cling- ing to the canoe, or even catching a paddle, as many others would, he quietly swam ashore, with- out saying a word, with the gun in his hand, u distance nearly of a mile. His brothers on the bank did not seem at all alarmed : they got out on a point, and rode a tree to the canoe ; that is, took a branch of some one or other that had tumbled down— these are always in superabund- ance — sat on it as we would on a saddle, and pad- dled away in the water to the canoe, which having i\ . , t I CANADA. 233 uprighted, they easily succeeded, with the aid of the branch, in embarking by the stern, when away they hunted the wounded wild-geese, and brought a good shot ashore, where, on arriving, they found their brother had prepared a fire, was drying his clothes, and broiling something to eat. This is an instance of the advantage friends derive from' " working into one another's hands.""' Wild ducks may be scared from one end of a lake, or from one bay of a river to another, but it is no easy matter to frighten them out of a lake or river en- tirely : so the sportsmen take their stations, and keep the flocks in exercise, — that is, when they fly to one end or comer, they are graciously saluted by a volley, and when the remainder return, they are greeted in like manner, until consultations in loud quacks announce that they mean to make themselves scarce, by visiting distant waters, where the thunder of the hunter is not heard. When the buds begin to come on the trees, the pigeons arrive in immense clouds from the south- ern regions of America. Some of these clouds I have seen seemingly above five acres in extent. They move with great rapidity, not in strings or any regular kind of figures, as waterfowl do, but in irregular clouds ; those before are often flung behind, while they warp and veer round one ano- -,? :' il \ i 234 THREE YBARS IN k-. ther. The shooters plant themselves on rising ground, and bring them down in great plenty, as they fly over them. They are not near so large as the wood-pigeons of England, but of the same colour, and have longer tails ; they seem to live in the wilderness, on the buds of various hard- wood trees, as the contents of their crops affirm. Those skilful in pigeons say, that they are fre- quently shot in Canada with the rice of Mexico in their stomachs, inferring from this, that they can easily go two thousand miles, or so, for a din- ner, without being fatigued. They breed together in the woods by millions, and the singular noise they make in their crowded nursery, or matri- monial haunt, surpasses any sound I have ever heard — ^it is a loud and confused buzz of love. V \ ^'M ,j,r'*fl- tU. ' I CANADA. 235 V. < ♦, 'i: ,i • : !■:} LACHINE, GRANVILLE, AND THE PETITE NATION CANALS. ;',.:-• -Jii • .•j:^_.- The Canal of Lachine was the first thing of the kind constructed in Canada; it began in 1821, and was completed three years afterwards. The civil engineer was Mr. Burnett, a gentleman of great practical experience in such works, more particu- larly in heavy masonry, sent out from Britain by the celebrated Mr. Telford. This work does Mr. B. the greatest credit ; its construction is equal in merit to any canal in the world ; and such work being quite new in that country, he found great trouble in getting it done thus well. His anxiety brought on a disorder that carried him off before he had the pleasure of seeing his work completed. His son was with us at the Rideau, a young man of natural strong talents ; but the swampy wilder- ness was too much for his constitution,— he died of a lingering disease, and left us all in tears. This \ : m >"iip,i;^pim>i»«^j^f^»»:pwr ^ !/. ( 1' \ h f" 336 THREB YEARS IN canal begins at Montreal, and extends up the side of the Island of Montreal for nine miles, until it gelb to the still-water at the head of the Rapids of Lachine. It is twenty-eight feet wide at bot- tom, forty-eight at the water-line, slopes generally two to one, has five feet depth of water, and a towing path. The whole fall is forty-two feet ; it has six locks, and two elegant stone-bridges. Much of the cutting was through rock, pretty deep. It cost, when completed, about 115,000/. which was defrayed by a spirited company of merchants, while the Provincial and Imperial Go- vernments assisted. It does, during the season, much business, and will soon leave the sharehold- ers a handsome per-centage yearly ; it is frozen up about four months in winter. The Canal of Granville was begun some time after Lachine, but it is not yet above one-half completed. It is about forty miles from La- chine, at the Rapids called Long-Sault and Chute of Blundo, Ottawa River. It is of the same magnitude as the above in almost every respect. The expense is all defrayed by the Imperial Go- vernment. I have often thought that a dam might have been raised across the Ottawa, be- neath the rapids, and the rock-cutting have been thus partly avoided. . ^ "«««■ CANADA. 237 Between these canals, a steam-boat lock has been built by Mr. Drummond, of dry stone, on a new principle, which answers well ; and as it gives him the command of this part of the naviga- tion with his steam-boat, it is to be hoped he will be fully rewarded for his enterprise. It is somewhat curious to remark, that in the estu-' aries of rivers, and at the head of rapids, there are always islands. In the first case, these are formed by the whirling eddies of contending currents : the larger the rivers, the more extensive the islands. In the last case, their formation arises from quite a dif- ferent cause ; the bottoms of rivers near to rapids being uneven, owing to water being spread over a large surface, which still keeps trending away to the narrow outlet by numerous winding ripples, which, in time, get deeper, while the bumps be- low approach nearer and nearer the surface. In due course of time, as these sinuous streams and the great rapids themselves grind away their channels, the protuberances of the bottom come above the water, and become islands. These con- tinue to enlarge for a certain length of time, so long as the waters surrounding them do not make a very quick descent ; but when this takes place, decay comes on, though unseen, and gradually wears them down, until they find their situation ^' ^3Q THKKE YKARS 1% • on the brink of the rapid, when they are under- mined, and conveyed in pieces down the rumbling cataract. Thus, by a curious process of Nature, the islands in rivers change situations. People have generally fancied that, the distance being only about sixty miles, the Petite Nation River would be the best route for a canal, if it were intended to connect the St. Lawrence and Ottawa* The fall was reported to be trifling ; and the source, near the above large river, where, by a short cut, plenty of water for supply might be obtained. But, considering the matter, I found the fall to be 1 56 feet ; distance of cutting, eleven miles, through rocky gravel, and averaging twenty feet deep, in order to bring in the St. Lawrence, at St. Johnstone'^s, to the Black Creek source of the Petite Nation River; — and these were no trifles to encounter. Moreover, St. Johnstone^s is about fifty miles from Lake' Ontario, along the States' frontier, which was to be avoided. Casual travellers, passing through a chain of Canadian rivers and lakes, conceive that, as they meet with plenty of water on all sides, and smooth sheets deeply gliding for many miles, the whole could easily be converted into an extensive inland navigation at a very small expense. Would they examine the rapids with care, and 'ft CANADA. 239 not the still sheets, the truth would be guessed much nearer. But these are not looked at, as the canoes in which they travel have to be carried past them, and this part of the journey travelled on foot by a path through the woods, so that the rapids are not seen in many instances at all. Would they, in making the portages, as this' business is termed, examine the rapids, and obtain something near the number of feet of fall they have, and then say 1600/. is about the expense of every foot-lift of a gobd . commercial canal, they would pretty nearly hit the estimate. There are always, too, a host of interested persons making assertions by no means to be depended on. We must see with our own eyes, feel with our own hands, and tramp with our own feet, before we can hunt out any thing near the truth ; and this is but as it should be : it gives a certain class of beings something to do, and obliges them to do it. .^--■:i t.':^ •: 'i' '.•■''} 240 THREE YEARS IN ;.|j m f LUMBERMEN. Lumbermen are persons who procure logs of timber, deals, planks, spars, staves, &c. in the forest, and bring them down the wild lakes and rivers to market. The term * lumber* is quite . applicable ; for what are these wooden wares but lumber ? In winter they make it on the remote banks of small streams; and when these swell with the spring freshets, it is floated into the larger, of which they are branches, where there is never any scarcity of water, and where they can have no dread of being detained for the season. Often the thaw is such, that the small rivers do not rise ; the consequence is, that the lumber must remain, in hopes that the next spring will be more • favourable. This is a misfortune, however, to those in the trade ; at least, with those who have it in such a situation. Those who can get it to CANADA. 241 market, however, obtain a better price for the commodity. The tributa'*y streams of the Ot- tawa, or Grand River, such as the Madawaska, Bonchere, and Calumie, are those where the lum- berman's operations are, at present, the most ex- tensive in Canada. They will average about 7OO miles from Quebec. Lumbermen and Shantj/men are nearly synony- mous; with this difference, that the former are generally the masters, or, what the Canadians call, the Bourgeois of the latter. The Shanty- men live in hordes of from thirty to forty to- gether ; throughout the day they cut down the pine trees, and square them in the pineries^ or the oaks in the groves, and afterwards draw the logs to what is termed the bank^ with oxen. When spring draws on, they form the lumber into small rafts, called cribs, and drop away down the rapids to market. When they come to any extensive sheets of still-water, the cribs are brought into one grand flotilla; masts, white flags, and sails are sported ; while, with long rude oars, they con- trive to glide slowly along. Thus they will come from Lake Alumet, on the Ottawa, to Wolfe's , Cove, Quebec, a distance of nearly 800 miles, in about six weeks. On these rafts they have a fire for cooking, burning on a sandy hearth ; and VOL. I. M 11 > 242 THRBB YEARS IN 1 '. places to sleep in, formed of broad stripes of bark, resembling the half of a cylinder, the arch about four feet high, and in length about eight. To these beds, or lairs, trams or handles are attached, so that they can be moved about from crib to crib, or from crib to the shore, as circumstances render it necessary. When they are passing a breaking'Up rapid, they live ashore in these lairs, imtil the raft is new withed, and fixed on the still- water below. As these people live in huts in the woods, as stated, which huts are houses only for a season, they are called shanties, and hence, shantymen : but there is something more attached to the name shanty than m^e hut, in the lumberman's dic- tionary. Thus, so many men, oxen, so much pork, flour, &c. compose a shanty. A beehive, with him, is not one, unless it be stocked with bees, combs, honey, &c. In these shanties they pass the time pretty well, considering them to be made up of Highlandmen, Irishmen, and Yankees. Great quantities of spurious whi^y are swallowed, many battles fought, and so forth ; yet these things being perfectly natural to the shantyman, his could hardly endure life i^ithout them. In the conceited towns he is held in abhorrence by the clerk and counter-jumper, who know no more of 1 CANADA. 243 the laws of Nature, or the elements of human life, than a parcel of magpies. They fancy that the wood-cutter from the wilderness should be made up of nods and smiles, starch and ruffles, like their dear affected selves, never thinking that he is a creature by himself, like the sailor, bred amid dangers and difficulties, and made somewhat roguish by the sharking rogues of the cities. For the storekeepers cram their stuffs into their shan- ties, almost whether the poor fellows will or no, giving long credit ; and if they do not get three times the value for them, they decoy the lumber- man, who probably had himself nearly drowned in the rapids, and his raft spread about in all directions, the chief part never to be obtained again. The truth is, that the lumberman can do very well without the storekeeper, but the latter not without the former; so the man of intrusion decoys the man of real business. The lumberman, with all his roughness of manner, is the person who does good to the country. He brings an article to market with much risk — the only staple commo- dity, in fact, that is ; and, consequently, he is the means of bringing the greater portion of cash to Canada. What is the storekeeper but a person living on his exertions, — a person that might be M 2 4 ' *• I' 244) THREE YEARS IN . i dispensed with ? He is the rogue, not the lumber- man. His intent is to have three values for goods, which, were they not forced on the poor woods- man, he would not take. He thus contrives to get him into what he calls his debt, although in com- mon justice he is no such thing, and then abuses him for being so; although, to get a lumbermafi in debt, is the drift of the storekeeper, as there he keeps his victim, feeds, clothes, kicks, and tanta- lizes him to madness, making him a character far worse than he otherwise would be. Let this matter be better considered than it has been — ^let the saddle be put on the back of the right horse. The lumberman has a rough beard, a wild counte- nance, is in the habit of using uncouth language, and performing many ugly actions, certainly ; but there is the sleek>shaven storekeeper, mild as a lamb, and tame as a dove, uttering delicious phra- ses, and, nevertheless, behaving abominably. Craf- ty old fellows ! but we see through them. The poor lumbermen and shantymen are not properly represented ; we have the tales of the cities re- specting them, and these are false. To know them, we must visit their wigwams afar in the depth of the forest ; we must live with them for a time, and partake of all their joys and sorrows; we must run the rapids with them, and get well wet with CANADA. 245 spray and sweat alternately : then begin to judge of the character. But to hear it attempted to be deve- loped over R counter by a smart-looking fellow with a quill behind his ear, is all humbug and falsehood. The greatest care and attention ought to be paid to the lumberman in Canada ; without him, what is she? His rights ought to be better considered*; and lawyers mistake themselves much on this very subject. At Quebec, there are people called Cullers, who are appointed to select lots of timber according to quality. The refuse wood is called culls, and brings an inferior price. There is a good deal of corruption and bribery going on in this bu- siness, and many rafts of timber get a worse character than they deserve. The honest Eng- lish captains of ships are the best cullers, in my opinion ; and our merchants at home would be acting wisely, if they allowed them to select their own cargoes, instead of their agents there. Nearly two-thirds of all the timber that comes to market is the white pine, which generally brings five-pence currency per cubic foot at Quebec, red pine eight-pence, and oak ten-pence. A duty of one penny per foot is paid for it by the timber-merchant, as it passes the Falls of Chau- diere, on the Ottawa. This cash is meant to be 246 THREE YEARS IN . i ■ expended on the improvements of the rapids, that the rafts may pass them without breaking up; and about 2000/. has already been expended for this purpose at the Chaudiere, in building dams and deepening channels; but it is a difficult matter for science to improve a chute. When the water is deep enough' to run rafts down, the turbulence of itf^thundering against the sides, and rebound- ing in a frightful ridge towards the centre, breaks up the rafts. A fall of 31 feet in 200 yards is a pretty steep inclined plane. I have thought that, if its bottom had been blasted out to something approaching the logarithmic curve, steep above, and taking the lake below nearly in a line, this might be found to answer, as we found it to do where the waters reeling down the chute struck the smooth sheet below, so that the rafts were knock- ed asunder. Being called on to give my dis- tinct opinion respecting this business, I proposed to abandon the chute entirely, and build two rough strong stone-locks in an adjoining gully, where every kind of material lay at hand, and the situation was very favourable: —this is meant to be adopted. TIm scene of passing rafts down the Big Ket^ tie is one of the most beautiful we can look at. The lumbermen cautiously proceed fnun off \i CANADA. 247 Rafting Bai/y above the falls, with the raft, to which a boat is attached. When they have pushed sufficiently out, and come between a small island and the Great Cauldron, where the suction or draught begins, they hurry into the boat, and make for the icland, leaving the raft to its fate. Away it comes, and when descending into the Big Kettle, it generally makes a somerset in magnifi- cent style, and spreads amid the foam, every log swimming by itself. Sometimes the raftsmen will venture too far, and in .the hurry to get into the boat, are caught by the descending ripple : no- thing for them then but to fly into the rock which stands at the head of the falls ; and when there, it is a business of great difficulty to bring them off to the main-land. Three men had almost died of hunger before this could be effected : at length the log thrown drifted to the rock, to which a rope was fastened ; they got upon it, stride-legs, hav- ing bound themselves by the rope, and so were dragged through the waterfall, on the brink of the Kettle, to the shore, by their anxious friends. The lumbermen have also to pay so much per hundred cubic feet to the Provincial Government, or to those to whom the land is located whereon they obtained their timber; so the lumber' is not had for nothing, as some are led to conceive. ill m \ ■.'• yi - '"g| n > ' ii * "'»»w» j ( W^-''- . l ufiii j uafc awaiMwiMMMMM 248 THREE YEARS IN Sticks, or pines suitable for making masts of, are rare, and not to be found in the forest but by very intelligent lumbermen ; nor can they be got out of the woods to the rivers without a great deal of trouble : 50/. is the common price of a good pine, such as a main-mast may be made of answerable for a ship of 800 tons burthen. r1 -' ■-* K»f4* I iw,4i^ 1 1 1 1 ** •-■«'.' '-^smmm M CANADA. 249 CHARACTER OF THE CANADIANS, AND THEIR' BOAT.SONOS. Travellers have all been pleased with these people, and so have I, to a great degree. They are kind, tender-hearted, very social, no way very ambitious nor industrious, rarely speculative. The French blood freely circulates through their veins, nor will they leave any of their old habits. How proud they are when they see us adopting any of their customs. If we can speak their lan- guage but indifferently, they are sure to help us out with the words, and will never laugh at our blunders. The girls are, many of them, very good-looking, their faces oval-shaped, of fair olive complexion, while, as the Poet sings, *< Their glossy locks to shame might bring The plumage of the raven's wing." None of them are very tall, or yet slender ; they are amorous, but never presumptive or disgust- id 6 \ Xr-'IK'MKr.-U^ '«»«,j.ni«y!iinii(pii,IP 850 THRUB YEARS IN ting ; generally, they enjoy good health, but sel- dom have very large families ; they rarely wrinkle before three-score years have passed over them, and, quite unlike the American ladies, they keep their teeth entire to the last : this is, because they live according to the laws of Nature, the former do not. In winter, they neither wrap themselves up from the cold so much, nor, in summer, strip for the heat, as the former; they love to run barefoot in the country during summer, and wade in the waters ; even the young peasant boys are to be seen jump- ing about amongst the snows, \nthout any cover- ing on their feet. They commonly marry young, and almost never with any other than their own people ; they make affectionate wives ; and old cou- ples are to be seen as fond of one another as the young. In the country, they make their own simple clothes, and purchase as few luxuries out of the shops as possible. Sugar they obtain from theBush, and also Indian tea. The young ladies, however, are at times fond of little trimmings for bonnets, yet they never make any foolish display of ribbons, rings, beads, or ear-rings. Their ideas of sense and simplicity are just ; they have abundance of fine feelings, and few fierce passions ; very little calcu- lation, and generally seem to have a large share of contentment. They keep their houses very warm At -X:;""" ' 4*SrEK5r^''^^'^^"'f i-i«<*'~i.f«*Ji: ''■^■^:''-'smsm' CANADA. 251 in winter, and are seldom without plenty to eat and drink. Some of them, however, on barren lands, are not very well off; for this they have to blame their own industry, — they will not improve their land by manuring it : however, they are fre- quently compelled by the urgent calls of hunger to do so. They make very good tradesmen, and monopolise the stone-cutting business. The wood- en houses they build are very strong and substan- tial. When we go into any of their houses, they very kindly salute us ; if the men or boys have on their hats or caps, they instantly doff them, while the girls curtsey : chairs are quickly ranged round the fire, if the weather is cold, and you are invited to rest yourself ; if the sun is hot out of doors, milk and spring-water are produced: they seem to know our very wishes ; we have no need to speak, only that they like to hear us speaking, — and who would not gratify them ? If hungry, bacon and eggs are soon set a broiling ; if fatigued, a bed is made ready ; if seeking for fun, the fiddle is uncased, and we all fall a dan- cing. How different from the treatment we meet with from Jonathan ! Should we lose our way through the woods, a common thing, the boys run out, glad to conduct us : to be sure, they like to get a few coppers, but this is not the main motive ■wmam" vV»|»( ty^y ) »y j Hr .?«j)a|iSg "^ .-^ , ft ^l^ 252 THRBB YEARS IN to the action; it is their very nature to oblige, their disposition is kindness. The Canadian has no plots, he cannot intrigue ; it is perfectly easy to see the drift, if a little duplicity be meant ; — he makes a wretched rogue — the most pitiable scoun- drel ; he dare not steal above a dollar, at most ; beyond this, the idea would crush him. During summer, they sit in large parties beneath the verandas of their houses, and enjoy their pipes and the cool breeze, while the endless chat is kept up, and we wonder what they have got to say, as so little pausing takes place. Fun, as Bums says, seems to be their cronnie dear ; with their dogs, sleighs, fiddles, and canoes, they pass through life very merrily. When they meet each other in their sleighs on the snow roads, they will not steer much aside; an upset in a deep wreath is a source of great enjoyment. For some years, the Americans coming from the States with their notions to the Montreal great mart, were in the habit of running the Canadians off the road, their lumber-sleighs being much heavier. This did by no means please Jean Baptiste, my hero : he took his sleighs to the forge, and got a hoop of strong iron round them at the point of concussion ; and one day, being apprised of a huge caravan of Yankees coming across the St. Law- !*■ f. n- ■.-»>«M m *»i^*- .tM>0^ ^.'t^ '" « ji-. v!« : r^-w.-*""?*, r*?N' ; ■■■TWJSM?^- t:J» CANADA. 253 rence from Laprairie, the Canadians took to their iron-bound sleighs to meet them. Off at the full gallop they started, hurraing, and made a famous charge on the enemy, broke and overset their laden lumber-sleighs, wheeling pork, flour, eggs, and frozen hogs into the snow. How the whips did crack ! Jonathan yielded, growling ; he could do nothing else ; and never after that did he dare to abuse the' Canadians on the roads, but divided the path with them pleasantly. They have belU on their horse-harness, which add to the jangling confusion, and help greatly to cheer up their snowy exploits. They make very good soldiers, yet, in times of peace, are greatly astonished with any symp- tom of war's alarms. At an electioneering busi- ness in Montreal, an immense mob of them assem- bled : a friend of mine loaded a double-barrelled horse^pistol, and plunged in amongst them, firing o£P the shots in the air, at the same time uttering a hideous yell, when the greatest bustle took place about * who should be home first :^ in an instant the streets were cleared. What a difference between this and an Edinburgh mob ! Shots may make them cling closer together, but will not disperse them. Coming once past a village called the Grand Brulee, Mr. Mackay and one of them had an altercation Mi J. tammmmmmmtm p ^'umm.' sm^vstiKeib 254 THRBB YBARS IN < about a luggage-bearing businesg, when the whole village turned out, as if they would devour us at once; but Mac, knowing their nature, lifted up the porter^ and gave him a shake or two be- fore them, when the whole crowd quietly retired. Mr. Burnett used to keep a portable gallows in his pocket, with the effigy of a person hanging fixMn it. When they displeased him at any time, and would not work as directed, he would display the terrific engine, when they instantly reformed their ways. As voyageiir«, or ramblers of any kind, they find much delight, so that a number of them be toge- ther. They will endure privations with great pa- tience ; will live on peas and Indian com for years together.' They are seldom troubled with melan- choly ; suicides are very rare amongst them ; and madmen and lunatics as much so. They are good at composing easy, extemporaneous songs, some- what smutty, but never intolerant. Many of their canoe-songs are exquisite; more particularly the air they give them. Could I do justice to such, a few should be inserted here ; for I have all their good boat-songs, and mean to publish them with the music attached, without which they are use- less. Indeed, let me do my best with them, it will be impossible to inspire, those who have never p* '—'-*• vair j .; '*''''i''S^' *r ''*:".**''^""^ ' " t! 3ir '*^> **'^^^- i « Mi." ' j ' * ' "i'">*-'-;w.-?;il.«-(5s* '^mmamp^ ft CANADA. 255 heard them sing, with much emotion. We muAt be in a canoe with a dozen hearty paddlers, the lake pure, the weather fine, and the rapids past, before their influence can be powerfully fe]t. Music and song I have' revelled in all my days, and must own, that the chanson de vo^ageur has delighted me above all others, excepting those of Scotland. Our military band» in Canada pay much atten- tion to these airs, a thing which charms the Cana- dians. In cases of war, they will be doubly valua- ble ; although none of them are of a martial nature, they will nevertheless serve to rouse some of the noblest faculties of the mind. I may here give one of them : the poetry is trivial, but when sung in full chorus, as stated, it has an exhilarating effect. I ! '' PETITE J EUNETTON. Quand j*^toiB ohez luon p^re— £m Petit£ Jeunetton, Dondaine et don, Petite Jeunetton, ' Dondaine. > M'euvoye iL la fontaine— iw Four remplir mon cruchon. Dondaine, &c. La fontaine est profonde — bis Je suis coul6e au fond, Dondaine, &c. Par ici ii y passe— it« Trois cavaliers barons, Dondaine, &c. * , ' \ !•_ MJiAMMtMltv 256 THREE YEARS IN »> Que donneriez-vous, belle— 6m Qui vous tirois du fond ? Dondaine, &c. Tirez, tirez, dit-elle— M« Apres cela nous verronn, Dondaine, &c. Quand la belle fut tir£e — bia S'en va a la maison, Dondaine, &c. S'asseoit sur la fen^tre— 6m Composer une chanson, Dondaine, &c. Ce n'est pas cela, belle— 6t« Que nous vous demandons, Dondaine, &c. Votre petit cceur engag6— 6m Savoir si nous I'aurons, Dondaine, &c. Mon petit cceur engag^ — 6m N'est point pour des barons, Dondaine, &c. C'est pour un homme de guerre — 6m Qui a de la barbe an menton, Dondaine et don. Qui a de la barbe au menton, Dondaine. I The translation may run as follows. When Jeunetton was a little girl at her father's, she was sent to the fountain to fiU her little pitcher ; it was deep, and she fell to the bottom : when there passed by three titled knights. " What will you give, my beauty, to him who draws you out ?'' said one of them. " Draw ! draw !"'* she replied, " and after that wf shall see." When % i{*«l ..lyffi n i.i»^i. . "•ac ' ■ II ■ I I ii n r»^»>n>— Mpw I it'W''^''^*>'*;3', CANADA. 257 they had drawn her out, they went together home, and she sat down in the window to write a song. " It is not that we ask of you, sweet love,'*'' quoth they; "it is to know if your little heart's en- gaged.'" — " It is engaged,'" she replied ; " it is not for the knights — ^it is for a warrior who has a beard like a goat.*'' The zest of this seems to be, " that warriors are the favourites of the fair, and that truth lies at the bottom of a drato-weilC : *4 ■i 258 THREE YEARS IN PROPHECIES AND DIALOGUES OF JONATHAN. Hath not the day come when that which was foretold by Congress is come to pass ? True were thy words, O Benjamin Franklin ! and the speeches which came out of the mouth of General Washing- ton were clothed with wisdom. We are become the great and the mighty nation, and our arms are but yet stretching out. We feel our strength waxing daily ; our bones ai . filling with marrow. Have we not kept off our foes ? have we not beaten them ? They came forth with their heavy black ships, and their well-dressed armies; the coats of thdr soldiers were without a rend, and the buttons, well-gilt, did sparkle in the beams of the sun ;— but we battered their hulks out of our channels; we tore off the garments of their troops; with our rifles did we riddle them ; they will mind ', I , ■ :«..-!•— £ji»:ii : CANADA. 259 Bunker^s Hill, and Saratoga they have not forgot. We shall drink from the herb of tea, and our fami- lies for ever, but the tax shall not be paid. We will go forth to the coasts of Orient with our own barks, and we shall lade them there, sayeth Congress. We have gone over the Eastern seas, and we have done accordingly. The days were, when keep what we had was the watch-note of the brave ; now it is, take what we please. We have long passed the towering hills of the Alleghany, and have spread our domains from the ocean of the East even to the great Pa- cific of the West. Behold Kentucky now ! let the heart be charmed with the glories of Indiana! Look at the wheat waving in the country of Gene- see, at the cities and villages growing in grandeur: they coane forth in a dky, and will last for ever. Great are we, and ten times greater we -will be ! Few are the years gone by since Europe made us a laughing-stock ; but she will yet bend the knee be- fore us, and supplicate the help of the powerful. The sea shall be ours, sayeth Congress, and every ship that sails therein ; they will yet have to im- plore a port for shelter, and permission to pull up the anchor ; — but we will be liberal, we will let the voice of freedom be heard— meanness is not for our breasts. Let tht ^ow idea have no harbour I % i % I ? • ?"» .. yp»' i »»«iw" »^- 260 THREE YEARS IN W^ there— ours are the noble doings of enterprise and excellency. The land beyond the great lakes is ours ; look on it as such, for it is nothing else. The treasures of haughty England may build her forts, may run her canals : she doeth us good, yea, a great good thereby, sayeth Congress. The land of Canada is ours, and every tree therein. The time draws nigh, when a stick shall not be taken across the At- lantic — no oak then for Old England ! We will give them a tree now and then for pity's sake; yea, we will furnish her with a navy, if she will pay us for it — ^we will build her ships of high rate — we will give unto them three decks or four — we will fill them with sailors, and cannons, and shot : "they may launch forth — we will meet them — down shall they sink, sayeth Congress. We have sunk them before, and may guess we will do it again. Ours are gallant seamen ; we feed them with manna, clothe them with silk and cotton: wiien in harbour, they are ashore with their dears; thither they come from all nations. The scholars fill our colleges now ; yea, the men of great learning and profound reflection. What is Shakspeare to us ? and as for Milton, let not his name be heard : the genius of poetry is here — where else could it be ? Is not poetry the musical Ml ^=S^P^^•*ft!^«*54a*^^'''^ >e £tncl 3okon asures a,y run t good nada is s nigh, he At- Ve will i sake; ihe will gh rate ur — we d shot : —down re sunk again, manna, arbour, y come Ihe men What let not here— lusical CANADA. 261 language of Nature ? and here it is for the mere sitting down. Here are the waterfalls and woods, the rivers and mighty lakes : in reality they are before us, far beyond what fancy could tumish, or the eyes that have never seen convey to the mind. And here, too, the artists : — look to our steamers, uow they swarm on the noble sheets of inland wa- ter I If the ocean is yet to be ruled by steam, what a nursery here for our sailors ! sayeth Con- gress; and much greater we will be. England to us is a mere mussel-reef. . We are between Asia dnd Europe ; the one on our right, the other on our left. The Pole is our northern boundary ; and ti^e Canal of the Istnmus of Darien shall be dug, and for a time may become our Southern bourne ! Dialogue between John Bull and Jonathan. John Bull. — It seems to me, son Jonathan, that you are grown excessively greedy of late : I have been blamed for having an appetite myself, but nothing to yours : if you had all the earth, it is my opinion, you would long lo have the moon too. This is something like one of our Dukes, who was ever asking his King for s« ne favour or other ; when the monarch replied, that if he gave him the three Kingdoms, he would wish to have the Isle of Man also, to cure herrings on. ^ 4 ^1 'm)(NP^os 262 THREB YBARS IN ■X Jonathan. — ^Ay, ay, father Bull; but I should not term yej'ather, for the rough treatment you ga^e me when young. You attempted to crush me then, but could not ; now I am got strong, in spite of your disposition, and will treat you as I think proper. You may say revenge is a mean things and all that, but your revenge has been ten times worse than mine. What did ye bum Washington for, ye old rogue ? Here 's at ye like a stranger, as the Irishman said, not like a. father at ail. J. B. — ^That was more an accident than any thing else, and should be hushed up and forgotten. I certainly never meant to hold the blazing faggot to the capital of the States ; while, you know, I have allowed you to fish on the Banks of New- foundland for that little blunder, and given you many things else. Jon. — Given ! yies ! nothing but what you could not help ! Forget such accidents ! the thing is very likely, when the infernal story is in our popular school-booh / Let it be read there ; let it be mingled with the teaching of youth. May the young mind suck it in, and hate you for ever ! What was a barrel of cod-Jish to archives of valuable records? You burnt up the deeds of our lands ; you ctmsumed our charters ; you ■ i ^»-^ CANADA. 263 should it you I crush )ng, in u as I I mean s been e bum ye like [father an any rgotten. r faggot know, I f New- ren you at you the stor^ IS there ; youth. I you for irchives deeds rs; you broke down our civil laws, and disordered our in- ternal policy ; threw private property into con- fusion, set the lawyers abroad amongst us, and ruined thousands of honest, worthy men. Can the peasant forget you ? — the tea-tax was nothing to this ! " • J. B. — Be cool, Jonathan ; thy disposition is to calculate, and really thou shouldst not get into a passion, for thou knowest I can bum Washington again and again, and not allow thee to pluck up one codfish : and I dare say it t. ould be good for me to do so, seeing that thou art so ambitious and headstrong, but I will consider the matter a little. Nevertheless, do not wrap thyself up in the idea that 1 will not do it, for whenever I find thee troublesome amongst my colonies, and abusing my mercantile trade, a few ships will be sent out to set thy boasted sea-board a^flame ; New York shall be laid in ashes, and your representatives roasted in the House of Congress ! Jon. — tYou are perfectly welcome to come any day you can find it convenient ; you will find me at my post, with a handsome fleet to receive ye,— your Nile and Trafalgar will be nothing to the meeting. Come on ; I shall hunt you over the At- lantic. My steam-boats will ruin your Ply mouths and Portsmouths, and send Liverpool and London "'H\ 264 THREE VEARS IN 4 . to the devil ! Can you stop us ? I defy ye ! What is a battery of cannon to quick-moving steamers in a dusky evening ? Pass them right away, and consume ye. Stay at home, if you are wise ; if you come out, depend on a drubbing. J. B.— Why, really, Jonathan, you grow mightily in conceit, and in pride you wax great. The fact is, that I '11 bid the Canadians lick ye whenever I find ye troublesome : they will give you tit for tat, my chap. They broiled your bacon at Lun- dies-lane for the roasting you gave them at Platts- burg ; they will be upsides with ye, never fear. They have roads and canals now to get up their strength to the Lakes; so where are ye? You may shut up your sea-board ; clap on the tariff when you will; my goods go up to the Lakes, and there are your smugglers to receive them. Jon. — Just so, talk away ! Canada ! all fudge. Roads and canals ! what are they ? what 's our Lockport? why, a pound of gunpowder would ruin the New York Canal. Canada ! we will not hurt a hair of its head ; no, no, it is a drain for your odd dollars ; you fling them carelessly into it ; so much the better for me ; they all float into the State ; were there not such a place on our con- tinent, we could not catch them so well. I might ill CANADA. 265 easily extend my territories to the Pole, but won''t think of that. You must have a decoy, old fool. J. B. — So, my lad, you hate me yet, yea, as you do truth itself. You were ever bad, and will never improve. The ways of thy wickedness crave my attention ; they deserve my reprobation and- disgust. Thou art, in thine own language, pro- gresting to the Devil. M-- ,!-;: ; -."1 ;/ VOL. I. 266 THREE YEARS IN CELEBRATED ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. -su- The chief of these is Philemon Wright^ Esq. of' Hull, a Bostonian, who came to Canada about thirty-six years ago with 30,000 dollars. Rum- maging through the country in quest of land, he came upon the Ottawa River, and proceeded up it to the Falls of Chaudiere, in a canoe. " There," says the Squire, " I clambered up a tree, and on looking round, found myself at the head of the navigation: there I saw a number of rivers, as it were, pouring into one : the country, by the ap- pearance of the timber, seemed fit for agriculture. * Here shall I take up n^y abode,'' I exclaimed, * for this will become a place of vast importance in due time, although it is now nothing but a howling wilderness.'" Being pleased thus far, he hastened back to Quebec, and took out his deeds, invited some of his people to follow him, CAKADA. 267 came back up the river 100 miles from any neigh- bours, and there commenced operations in earnest, levelled down the forest, built houses, raised large crops of grain, and bred many cattle, pigs, and poultry. In a short time, he had more than a thousand acres cleared, and the township swarm- ing with people. The Indians could not under- stand this : they became alarmed lest their whole territory should be taken from them; but Mr. Wright quieted their fears, gave them tobacco, and granted them many indulgencies. Struggling on for about fifteen years, he found himself as wealthy a man as any in the whole country. He kept an extensive store, and supplied the traders with timber and fur, of which they stood in need ; he also put up a saw and grist-mill ; and numerous were the wares he conducted down the river to Quebec. Had all the people who have gone to Canada as much genuine enterprise as Philemon, the country would have presented a, different ap- pearance to-day from what it does. He soon be- came well-known far and near ; improved the breed of his cattle; became a great favourite at the court of his Governors, and colonel of his own r^pient of militia ; sent his son Ruggles to Eng- land and France, to observe the manners and im- provements of Europe — a trip that cost the old N 2 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 4^Ai 1.0 IttlM itt m m u u u 1*0 Urn 122 12.0 M ||||L25 III 1.4 ij^ ^ 6" » Photographic Sciences Corporation ^. 6^ as VnST MAIN STRIIT WIISTIR,N.Y. USaO (716)t7a-4S03 '4^ ^ J». ./ ? 268 THREE YEARS IN gentleman something to the tune of 3000/., but that he grudged not. How contented was he when his son returned, with a beautiful htill^ and a he- goat^ of the most renowned ancestors ! The township of Hull now became a fashion- able resort ; a splendid hotel was built ; livery stables were well stal^; a steam-boat set a-going ; flag-staff and bell erected : while a magazine was filled with gunpowder; and an armoury richly filled with cannons, muskets, and swords. The howling wilderness vanished; the bears and wolves sought more rem.ote regions. But this was not all, nor the half of all ; churches, and chapels, and schools were built ; and priests, surgeons, school- masters, and lawyers, were frequently to be met with at Hull. Yree^masonri/ also flourished : the squire was a Royal Arch-mason ; procured a char- ter; opened a lodge in high style ; while all the men of character about flocked in, and became mem- bers of the ancient craft. He was a perfect Jacob, and yet is truly an American; but a loyal man to Hull — and that is quite enough. He has also a kind heart; and will differ with none, unless an in- fringement be attempted on his lands. He is about six feet high ; a tight man, with a wonderfully strange, quick, reflective, wild eye. No one is more the father of his people than he ; when he has CANADA. 269 but been from home at any time, on his coming back guns are fired, bells rung, and flags waved. He is now about seventy years of age, but quite healthy, and can undergo any fatigue ; the most severe cold is nothing to him, and as for the heat, he minds it as little. All his enjoyments are of a sin- gular kind ; there is some domesticity about him, but not much. Talk of schemes of the wildest en- terprise, and he is then in his glory ; and if he can get any one to meet his views, how happy he is ! It was he who first proposed the Rideau Canal ; and I have heard him, with pleasure, pro- pose many other works equally great and inge- nious. Mr. Oalt amused the people of Quebec, by producing him on the stage, in the character of Obadiah Quincy, Bunker^ from Boston : the worthy old gentleman used to sit in the box, and laugh heartily at himself. Captain Andrew Wilson^ R.N. This gentleman is one of the most notable y<:/c- totums to be met with in Canada. He is at once a profound lawyer, with all the acts of the provin- dal legislatures on the top of his tongue, at a me- mentos warning ; and at home, a farmer of thejirst ra^e— will talk you blind about raising bullocks, wheat, onions, what not ; an author too — has pub- m \mn\ j sfra0m f^gtfii.*-"-'-, ^w-***-. 270 THREE YEARS IN lished in three volumes octavo a naval history, fraught with tactics and sea affairs. At his house on the banks of Rideau,— 0«stan Hall, a» he is pleased to term it, — there is the best librtti^ that ever was taken into the wilderness; books of all soits; and a vade-mecum full of sea scenec, and drawings of ships in action and out of it, while the outline of many a headland, cape, and bay, is there pourtrayed : this valuable album he t^ttns the sailor's hornpipe. Set the captain fully a>going, get him out to sea, some grog a-board, and how he dashes away ! One would imagine, to hear him, that there never was a battle fought on the ocean but he had the pleasure of being in it. Thus will he speechify : " We had given the fel- low chase for three days, d — n him ; and on the morning of the third, a slight fog came on, so who could see him ? One looked out fW>m the top after another, but no signs of him. Up went I, glass slung at my back, and after looking out a full quarter of an hour, I bawled down to the men at the wheel, * I have him !>^Hstarbbard*-^tet the compass — off the weather*bow — mark the direedon of the glass ;'^n an instant round ttOtte Hie ship. * Yet I have her !' I bawled dbwn. *Steittiy, ^■^att steadtf, Sir,"^ wad the teply; when I Hdih- dtew the glass, and went below. We bore up, CANADA. 271 do came in view, and in two hours we had him,— -a Spanish prize worth ten thousand dollars. Cap> tain Andrew Wilson did that by the Lord r — He was often with me in the woods. On engineering exploits the captain was an excellent rummager, and understood the nature of creeks and gullies well. Presenting him with a map of a part of the wilderness he was well acquainted with, *' Yes, Sir,^ he exclaimed, " it is the thing. Sir : there is OttersoiCi Howe to an inch, Sir ; you have marked the Deer Lichy Sir, — I know it well, — many a day I have been there with my gun. Sir. You have made your name immortal in the woods. Sir — or ril be d— d, Sm" There was a dam, however, which we were building, that did not please the Captain ; and he used to reprobate it thus. *' You are no engi- neersy I will tell you to your faces, gentlemen ; where will ye be when the floods come fifteen feet at a start, — when the ice of the lakes gives way,— whea the snows, trees, houses, and all the banks come before it? — where are ye, gentlemen?^' Matters did not turn out just so ill, however, as he suspected they would. One time at the Hull hotel, I observed the Captain present at a par^y who w«« flinging in full chcnrus a Canadian boat» iong ; the famous Judge Macdonnel was leading ; 272 THREE YEARS IN but our hero did not seem to enjoy the hilarity. The song was long, and he was mute : getting perfectly weary, he dashed down his wig on the table in great wrath, and burst forth with, " D — n your fresh-water nonsense ; come out to the salt ocean, my boys, and I ^m with ye l"" He is » Justice of Peace, and Notary Public too ; signed not only R.N. to his name, but J.P. and N.P. Married many an amorous couple^ although this is said to be against the law, if a clergyman be within fifteen miles : however, what cared the noble captain!^* he had soul and body to look after ; he had the county of Bathurst to govern ; the Perth lawyers to regulate ; the roads to lay out; and more to do than all Downing- street." However, his importance was not so great as he would have us believe ; indeed, with those who really knew him, he seemed quite aware of this, and would good-naturedly laugh at his own nonsense. There was one thing he insisted on, but never could prove to me its correctness, that every tree in the forest, great and small, was worth a dollar. If such be the case, Canada is much more valuable than I am led to believe it is. He held his weekly courts at By-town, where the following alarming case, amongst others, came before him. •^V-. CANADA. ^3 And really, to see the Captain on the bench, with his anchor-button coat, attending gravely to the examinations of witnesses, taking off his spectacles, occasionally wiping them, and then carefully laying them across his nose again, while the court of ignorance was marking his every motion, — the scene was highly ludicrous. Of this he was perfectly sensible, but it was an amusement to him ; he liked to be consulted, to make speeches, to have his pockets crammed with documents, and all the world following him. A couple of housewives becoming intimate, one of them made the other a present qf a fine breed- ing hen. But chuckif, not quite happy in her new abode, made her nest in a gentleman''s hayloft, and commenced hatching there. During the period of incubation, she regularly returned to the home of her old mistress, and received her food. When the brood came forth, a dozen in number, the gen- tleman laid claim to them, as being part of his property ; the woman to whom the hen was pre- sentedi also put in her claim ; while the original owner, because she had fed her, considered she had the best right to the flock of any. In such an embarrassing case, the justice called up all his learning, and recalled all the statutes ; when, after N 5 ....... THRBB YEARS IN consideriible bickering, the woman to irhonl nUie was made a present ^ received her otice more inCo her holy keeping. To Dr. Dunlopf Warden of the woods and foretis for the Canada Company^ ^c. " Well ! bless my life, Doctor, what emmest en- quiries you miftke after Mother Firth. Now thti ftet is, she never, so far as I^Km aware, was a mother ; that is to say, she never had children. Yet she is a good motherly body for all that, and, indeed^ has the folk of the Grand River under her holy charge. But I see what jrou would be at, so shall go a little into particulars. Her maiden name is Dal- mahoy, and she was originally a milliner girl in Edinburgh. She still makes for the mmnagers in these parts most beautiful black otter caps. She wandered, for someieause or odier, to London ; and there a clerk in a sugar^Wsnehouse^ a yoimg Yorkshire lad, of the name of Firth, fbll deeply in love with her. They have told me "this tale many a^lhne themselves, with a degree of simplicity and warmth, which has much pleased me. Her motfa^ having been married to a serjeant engi^ed in4he wars of Canada, Miss D. started off from -her dear lover, Isaac Firth, crossed the :A^tlantic, came up the wild Ottawa River to the Falls of Chaudiere, CANADA. 275 and there on Point Nepean became a-squatter of eminence. There her mother and her mother^! husband (who by the way was her stepfather) built a log house, after they had burrowed in the snow for some time ; and there they began to keep a house for refreshing the weary wet raftsmen, as they dabbled up and down the rivers : during which time our young woman was much courted by the beaux of the neighbourhood. A raftsman of my beloved acquaintance, a half-pay navy cap- tain, ditto ditto, and spnfie Americans from the famous township of Hull, struggled hard for the prize ; but whilst the contest ran high, out came the London clerk) and Miss D., like a compassion- ate, good-hearted soul, clasped him to her bosom. The log-hut on the Point now received an enlargement, and two or three small rooms were added. These were furnished in an elegant man> ner by the tasteful Mrs. Firth ; so much so, that when the late much-lamented Duke of Richmond, Governor of Canada, came up the Oiw^ .va River to establish his military townships, he was perfectly surprised to meet witdi such a neat furnished cabin in the heart of an endless wilderness. He stopped several days about the place, and examined the singular Falls of Chaudiere. He then went to Richmond, which was about twenty miles oif ; and 276 THREE YEARS IN after having examined the state of his township, he was hastening back to Mrs. Firth, when that most dreadful of all diseases, hydrophobia, broke out on him. I have been at the place. Doctor, where this happened, on the small river Jocque, about five miles from the now Clauchan of Richmond. He was crossing this stream in a birch canoe, when the spasmodic affection first appeared, and was taken into a hut by the bank, where he died. I have been in the hut, and shed a tear to his memory. "Alas, the poor Duke ! he did not return alive to Mrs. Firth'^s public-house, but his dead body was brought rhere by his attendants. Really, Doctor, she keeps a snug little inn, and has plenty of dogs and tom-cats, which I am sure would please you. We hold all our big nights here with much hilarity : our Halloweens, St. Andrew''s, and so forth. She is all in all with the other Governors of Canada and their ladies, — the first woman, in fact, at court; and were I wishing to have interest in the country amongst big folk, there could none be found to equal hers : — you may, therefore, conclude with me, that this lady from Auld Reekie is no joke in the wilderness of Canada. She is governess, truly, whenever she pleases; and should ever Walter Scott or you give a biographical account of eminent Scottish women, I hope neither of ye Vi. CANADA. 877 will be so unmerciful, or so unjust, as to exclude from the valuable work the meritorious Miss Dal« mahoy, alias Mother Firth. ** The Indians are allowed to retain all the islands in the great livers ; but this law is often broken through by settlers. In truth, they are often lo- cated on islands, and are not aware of the fact until the land is cleared ; they are then, perhaps, astonished to meet with a channel, or snie, leaving the river above the rapids, winding far into the country, then returning to the river again beneath the falls. Squire Wright built his town on an island of this kind. Mrs. Firth squatted, on one too, unknown to herself; and when she made the place famous, various people came forward, and began to claim the property according to their location tickets ; but Point Nepean being an island, they could not molest her : — so far, good.'\ ,. , ' Chief Mac Nab. This is a real chieftain from the Highlands of Scotland, domiciled in Canada, with a numerous clan about him. He received the grant of a whole township of good wild land' on the banks of the Lake de Chats : — this is a beautiful place ! Here stands the castle of Mac Nab, surrounded by the houses of his followers. He annually sells off his .'■ .A, I 978 THRBB YBAA8 IN •ftatc mn immenae quantity of fine pbe-timber ; and movm about through the provmea oocaium- ally with his tail, dressed always in full HighUmd €Q9hime, the piper going be£Dre» playing perhaps the Haekt o* CromdaU, or the CampbelU are earning. We were well acquainted; and on my once addressing him Mr». Mac Nab, he checked me—** Bir, {etad he) I thought you had known better : nothing but Mac Nab, if you please ; Mr. does not belong to me.^ I held myself corrected, and kindly thanked him, of course. Many emi- grants 4some 4)ut to him every year ; some lovefy Highland girlt ; he meets them at Quebec, and esoortft them up to the land of timber instead of heather. He is yet but a young man, very cheer- ful, and full of enthusiasm about Scotland: a thing rarely met with amongst people beyond the Atlantic. Any person wishing to know the nature of the Indians, their manners, customs, language, &c. should ai^ly to Judge Macdonnel, at Point For- tune. No man in Canada knows them and the French Canadians so well as he. For many years he was amongst them, and is yet to a certain de- gree. He means to .favour me with his notes. This gentleman is brother to the celebrated MUety now no more, who behaved so well in ♦•0AWAD4.' »^* i79 the trying scenes which happened at Red River between contending fur- companies. For local in- formation respecting men and things, there is no equal to my friend Theodore Davis; he knows every concession line, can put his hand on all sacred post-marks^ lead you up all wild rivers, show you all mines and minerals, and explain to you the lumber trade. I have his notes. He lives near the Judge above mentioned ; and I believe there are not two individuals on better terms in Canada : they will 4|uarrel and be friends twenty times in one day. Fortane fanroured me one frosty winter with a month of their coTOfMiny. gjt i • .4 . . ,4. V ^ ..r i 280 THREB YEARS IN t THE CANADIAN MISSISSIPI. Massapi is the proper Indian name for this district, which signifies a small river falling into a large one. Mississipi means a large river falling into the great deep. Our Canadian river disem- bogues into the Ottawa at the rapids of Chats, about one hundred and fifty miles from Montreal, and thirty-five from Bytown. This is a most in- teresting stream, and so deserves a minute account. It rises out of large lakes behind Kingston. One of them is near the Crow hake, where the famous Marmora iron-mines are situated ; its highest lake is about 415 feet above the level of the ocean. The country round these lakes, as far as it has been explored, is of the richest quality of any I have met with in Canada. Settlers thrive about them, and on every waterfall there is a mill. On one of these, called the Norway Falls, is to be ^. CANADA. 281 met Sawny Sneddotis mili, very ingeniously con- structed, and the water let upon it by a tunnel through a clay bank. Mr. Bolton, the miller, gave me much information respecting business in this quarter, with rude sketches of the lakes, for which he has my best thanks. The flourishing settlement of Lanark is here ; and it was in this part of Upper Canada where Peter Robinson, Esq. made his experiment with Irish emigrants : which did not very well succeed, his people, as all from Erin are, being so difficult to manage, so disposed to riot. The most beautiful bridge in the world may, some day or other, be built over the great river Ottawa, at the rapids of Chats; here it is about one mile broad, rushing down between fifteen islands, nearly equidistant from one another, each of which will form a pier for the future noble bridge. At this place is the settlement of Mr. SherrifF, — a lovely place! One branch of the Mississipi falls into the Ottawa above these rapids ; the other below, forming a large island between of 2500 acres. On this island a town is proposed to be built. This river might be made navigable at no great expense, were the portages locked with dry-stone locks, the stone laid on edge and well puddled behind^ This seems to be the sort ^^ r, i 283 THREE YEARS IN Iri f of lock most suitable for the country, as they may be constructed for much less than those built of ashler : the table limestone is common, and answers for this kind of work so well. The navigation of the river might be much more easily opened than the making of suitable roads : to form these in a woody country is a very difficult thing ; and, as the high trees seclude the wind, they are seldom so dry as to be passable. Were this river locked, it would open up an immensely large fertile coun- try, more than all the emigrants from England would require these ten years ; while a connexion by Cockbum Creek, and the Rideau Canal, would be soon effected. The entrance to this great na- vigation would be Fitzroy Harbour, then up the Channel of Dingwall and Mac Millan, blending together the great Lakes of Chaudiere and Chats with the rich Mississipi. My excellent ' friend Mr. Quinn, the surveyor, kindly sent me the fol- lowing very valuable letters, which confirm my own observations. « *»»'::* 294 THRBK YEARS IN I K down stairs we went. On coining below, we found the* greater part of the company had " cleared out/'' as they say. Venturing to make some in- quiries about the dead lad, we met with nothing but evasive answers,— as much as to say, it might be better for 4i8 all to keep a ** caum sough,^ alias, make no noise about it. However, I found this to be impossible; and although some of our party sunk down in sleep on the floor, where melted snow, brought in by the travellers^ feet, had flood- ed, some of us hung on by the wall by the sides of the fire. In the course of our distant inquiries, we found that the greater part of the guests had gone to the barn and the stable, there to kennel up amongst hay ; — that the dead body up-stairs was that of a young Irishman, who had been killed two days be- fore by a shot from a gun, carelessly let off by one of the sons of the landlord. In the morning, the father and mother of the lad came crying after us in great tribulation, wishing us to interfere, and bring, what they called, the " murtherer of their dear child^ to justice ; but this was a thing to us impossible, unless by engaging in an affair we had nothing to do with ; and, after having done our best, the laws of the country would not probably have been exercised then, as we had often ieen. To '•«*k,j>— -— - CANADA. 295 e found cleared Dme in- nothing t might f^"* alias, I this to r party melted dflood- ie sides account for all the whys and wherefores, is what I am not able to do. I have stated some cases, and given the results : this is all that can reasonably be expected from an humble traveller. There is something faulty in the administration of the cri- minal laws, no doubt; but energy and exertion lie dormant in Canada; humanity begins to be neither much felt nor talked about. Where no encou- ragement is held out to virtue and talent, the noble spirit of man begins to droop, and Vice to show her ugly visage. e found gone to mongst at of a ays be- )y one g, the ter us , and ■ their to us ire had le our >bably I. To v» T'. i- 296 THREE YEARS IN BURLINGTON BAY AND FORTY-MILE CREEK. This is one of the most beautiful bays in all Canada, and also one of great importance. It is situ- ated at the head of Lake Ontario, is about 12,000 acres in surface, shaped somewhat like an equila- teral triangle, and is from thirty to forty feet deep. The country encircling this bay is uncommonly fer- tile; the settlers are chiefly Dutch. The orchards are of great extent ; apple and pear trees loaded to the ground in the proper season. Burlington and Montreal vie with one another in fruit. I was called here by the Provincial Government of Up- per Canada, to examine a small cut that had often been attempted to be made through the beach be- tween the bay and the lake, but could never be ef- fected properly, although nearly 10,000/. had been expended on it. This beach forms, as it were, the base to the triangle, and is about six miles long. dK* m^^ Vff'^^ «.«>k'»M»^y«k.],V " CANADA. 297 composed of the finest grey drift sand. It is about 180 yards wide, curved concave to both bay and lake. This bay being shaped out by Nature to become part of Lake Ontario, the waters which gather into it from the adjoining country, rushing out, meet with those of the lake, frequently driven by a strong north-easterly wind, so that a com- motion and deposition of mud and drift-sand take place, which has formed, in the course of time, and yet continues to add to Burlington Beach. Were there less water coming out of the bay, or stronger winds on the lake, the beach would not be in the situation it now is ; being exactly where the ba- lance of power takes place between the contending causes. A cut through this beach to admit schoo- ners which navigate the lake, had long been at- tempted, as it is said ; but the fine drift-sand con- tinued to choke it up as soon as it was excavated. A dredging machine had long been at work, but could not keep the channel clear to the depth of ten feet, as required. Piles were extremely diffi- cult to drive, the sand being very compact beneath water, although of a shifting nature. No stone was near the place ; and the piers of the cut, or artificial channel, were formed with cribs of wood, filled with pebbles ; but, after these had been laid down, the fine drift-sand ran out from beneath O 5 il I 298 THREE YEARS IN i* them, and so they were undermined, while it flowed through beneath, and filled up the chan- nePs mouth towards the lake. A breakwater had been built, in hopes of preventing this ; but it went the way of the piers, and did no good. Under those perplexing circumstances, I humbly proposed the following plan : That in the absence of stone, wooden crihSf filled with pebbles, were good, but they ought not to have a bottom; if they inclosed the pebbles on the sides, that seemed the only thing wanted; — for where the storms of the lake had broken the cribs, and floated the wood which composed them out of the way, the flne sand was unable to find its way through the pebble wall. That this wall would answer well without timber inclosures, or wailing, but only, if such were used, fewer pebbles would be required to con- struct the piers ; and as they were rather expen- sive to be obtained, it was advisable to make use of timber inclosures. If the latter failed to confine the pebbles and spread, let more pebbles, or muffin stones, be added. It was easy to see that, the cribs being bottomed with cross-bars, these formed apertures for the drift-sand to get through into the channel. The north-east line formed the angle of storm, when the wind had the full sweep of the lake ; therefore the pier, to oppose the CANADA. 299 Storm, must be three times stronger than the other, and must have a return-head, as in Eng- land, that the fine sand coming before the storm, may be washed past the mouth of the channel, and spread on the beach, when the wind sweeps from one end of the lake to the other. It is called the ocean-wind, as it prevails on the ocean at the same time : this is a curious circumstance, the reason of which I was unable to fathom. These winds prevail in the spring and fall. Storms on the lakes are not so tempestuous as on the ocean ; the waves are shart jumping seas, as the sailors term them, and will undermine walls built within their influence, and ultimately upturn them sooner than will those of the ocean. The short swells run easily into eddies, and filter fine sand through orifices with great rapidity. That the undula- tions of the lakes are different from those of the ocean is obvious, from old sailors, and people long accustomed to the deep, getting sea-sick upon them. Surmising thus much, the piers ought to be flanked with water-soaked oak, — there was plen- ty of this in the adjoining forests, — which (oak) ought to be laid along in horizontal ranges ; or if it were wished to make a better job, let them be laid on their ends by one another"'s side, on the vertical slope of the stormy side of the pier, and 300 THREE YEARS IN thickly round the pier-head. In building sea- walls in America, where stone cannot be obtained, this water- soaked timber seems to be an excellent substitute, as it is very heavy, and, when sunk beneath water, may last for ages. As to excava- ting the channel by means of the dredging machine, it seemed it might be more easily done without it, if the operations of Nature were properly attend- ed to ; for the truth was, that when a north-east storm came on, the waters rushed through the cut into the bay at a velocity often between six and seven miles an hour, forming a tide in the bay, and raising the waters round its shores, flood- ing Coofs Paradise above, almost up to the town of Dundas ; so that, when the storm abated, the pent-up waters returned to the lake with a similar velocity. Let advantage be taken of this to scour out the channel through the beach ; let the fine sand be stirred when the current is flowing out, and that will certainly make it deep enough in a very short time, and preserve it so, without the aid of any dredging machine whatever. These hints have been somewhat attended to, I believe, and the channel is now kept free ; while there is not a finer harbour than Burlington in the world. Burlington Heights, at the head of the bay, are almost of impregnable strength by Nati^re; during Mlillii fill I'll ( CANADA. 301 last war, a Block-house and military-store were roughly built on them of timber. These Heights are a narrow neck of high land, about 250 feet above the level of the waters in the bay, which wash one of its sides for about two miles, while the great swamp of Coot^s Paradise ranges along the other, about 100 yards broad, where it joins the main-land. Ships drawing 20 feet of water may come in beneath the Heights : and Grindstone Creek^ just beside them, may be very easily con- verted into a beautiful dock for repairing them : a stream of water comes down it, which might fill a lock to lift them out of the waters of the bay into the stocks. This lock, with its small wing- walls, would also effect a most desirable object ; it would back up deep water over the unhealthy pest-hole of Coot'*s Paradise, so that ships might go up to the town of Dundas, which will yet be one of the largest towns in all Upper Canada. Coofs Paradise is a very singular place. It is also, like the Bay of Burlington, of a triangular shape, but not one-fortieth part the size. Banks all round it are very high. It derived its name from a sportsman called Coots, who considered himself in Paradise when he got amongst the im- mense flocks of wild water-fowl that haunt it : he would move about with his punt amongst the '4 302 THREE YEARS IN rushes, and shoot them by dozens. I have never seen such a variety of wild-fowl as comes to this place. Had time permitted me, some curious stuifed birds might have been obtained from this Paradise. It is, therefore, strongly recommended to ornithologists and sportsmen, as a place, above all others yet known in Canada, most deserving of attention. It is a swamp acted upon by a tide : this is a very rare thing to meet with. The waters rush over it from the bay when a lake storm exists; and when it lulls, the waters fall back, and leave it a paradise for water-fowl. As these tides irrigate the wild rice that grows luxu- riantly in it, perhaps it might be made a most valuable rice-farm; as such the agriculturist should examine it. If suitable for this purpose, it would form the richest farm in Canada ; there is no doubt of it. It may contain about 350 acres. Mr. Brandt, the celebrated Indian Chief of the Mohawk Indians, lives on the banks of the bay ; a polite, kind gentleman, a great favourite of mine, and well beloved by all who know him. We were talking about his schools, which he has erected to teach his Indian youth, when two of the Mohawk hunters brought him a present of wild ducks and pikes from the bay : they threw them down on the carpet of the parlour without any ceremony, CANADA. 303 )ay ; a mine, were ed to ihawk and vn on nony, s and he never seemed to thank them, nor did they seem to expect any thanks ; some words and a nod or so passed between, and they went away as they came, quite contented. Burlington Bay, with the adjoining country, is the loveliest place in civilized Canada. The na^ tural beauty, the fertility, the amusements which may be obtained in hunting and fishing, are greater than I have met with in any other place. The swamp creates sickness, however ; and until it be buried by a depth of water, will continue to trou- ble the worthy inhabitants. The Forty-Mile Creek. All round the head of Lake Ontario, large creeks or valleys are met with, running far into the country, — at right angles, generally speaking, with the lake. The fertility of these valleys is great, and they are all in a high state of cultiva- tion, and full of settlers ; in the greater number there are villages, with .churches and mills. Some of these mills are the largest I have seen, and well managed. Wherever stone can be procured, the houses are built of it in preference to timber. These creeks are named by their distance from Little York or Niagara; the forty-mile one seems the largest of them. Here is a neat vil- 304 THREE YEARS IN lagC) chiefly built of stone ; and when there in 1827) I observed a stone wall being built round the churchyard, which greatly pleased me; for these sacred receptacles for the dead are not paid that attention to they deserve : they are generally laid out in a piece of the worst land that can be selected, where a grave cannot be dug without much labout. I love to see a church built in a rich pleasant spot, closely flanked by little houses, with people in the church-yard now and tben, let- ting a tear drop over the graves of their d£ parted friends. When I see a church without houses, and a churchyard unfenced, doubts arise respect- ing the morality of the people. In these lovely glens of the lake, nothing was met with of a ha- rassing nature to the feelings i t>ie people seemed all to be enjoying life, were tolerably fat, and always well clad. In the little inns they were very kind: this is universal in Dutch settle- ments, or amongst the French Canadians. The Dutch, however, make better farmers than the French, and spare no pains in improving their lands to the utmost. They grow enormous quan- tities of the finest apples, and make a correspond- ing quantum of excellent cider. CANADA. 305 .»..» i CANOES AND COTTAGES. • c ' The canoes are generally made of birch bark, extremely neat, light, and altogether constructed with the greatest ingenuity; improvements one after another have been added through a lapse of ages, and now they may be said to be really bor- dering on perfection. No straight lines are here made use of in the moulding, but aquatic curves of the very first order, so that they may carry an immense load, and yet meet the water with the least resistance possible — ^formed light, yet very tight and strong. Birch bark of a yellowish colour, without wrinkles, is generally considered the best, and will last the longest : this bark is found in the remote woods, and the canoes from the inland territories of the north are always pre- ferred. It is rare to meet the Indian carpenters at work : they will walk through the i/ards with . ao6 THREE YEARS IN U8, which are commonly to be met with on the obscure banks of some lonely lake, and show every thing ; but they will not let us i ;y will not let us see them actually applying their moulds, like the artists of Britain. The dimensions of a canoe are not given by breadth of beam, depth of hold, &c. but by fathoms in length, from the shoulder of the bow to the bends of the stem. They will live in very agitated waters, where our boats would inevitably founder. The largest kinds of canoes are those of four and Jive fathoms. It is truly frightful to see them running rapids of rivers, in which, every moment, they are either expected to be upset or swamped, by those who do not understand them ; but the Indians and Canadians can manage them in a superior style. They will, with the largest, pass a portage of a mile, in less than half an hour, although they may have nearly a ton of luggage to carry. Three men will easily run along with a canoe on their shoulders, which in the water is laden with the before-mentioned burthen, and probably twelve paddlers. No boats in the world can carry, or be carried, like them ; but they do not sail very fast : perhaps five miles an hour may be about the medium rate of sailing. They swim in very little water; one drawing nine inches is consi- \m^ CANADA. 307 (lered to be deep. Sometimes a mast and sail are I'ajxed to a fair wind, and then they fly along the lake hke swallows. They are carried with the lM)ttom up, the gunwale resting on the shoulders of the bearers, who have a cord over the bow and item, to balance the huge-looking burthen. On the sides of the return bows and stems, various animals, such as serpents and beavers, are beauti- fully painted. The timbers, as I may say, are fine split pine or cedar: they are sewed with stripes of the leathenvood-tree, and the seams gummed with the juice of the tamarack-shrub. When they spring a leak, they run them' instantly ashore, pull them from the waters, and turn the bottom up ; a fire is then kindled, and a burning cleft faggot is taken and run along the seams, while the voyager blows through the cleft; this melts the gum, which is then pressed down by the thumb, and so the cure is effected. If a hole has been punched in the bark, the piece is extracted, and a new piece inserted. When done, she is soon in the water, and away again on the voyage. Log canoes are likewise very common, but chiefly insed amongst the settlers. They are scooped and moulded, as every one knows, out of the trunks of trees, and are quite inferior, in every sense of the word, to the birch canoes, being heavier, more 308 THREE YEARS IN liable to upset, and more difficult to be repaired when out of order; they likewise draw more water, crack with the sun, and rot very soon. They have a singular method of applying oars to them, by fixing an arm on each side, with a pin through the end, to act as a fulcrum to the oar : so rigged, a single rower can send a canoe of this kind very rapidly forward. It is a singular fact respecting canoes, that a couple of paddlers in a small one, will outrun another manned with twenty. There are few finer scenes than a Ca- nadian Regatta: fifty canoes on the smooth broad lake, voyagers fancifully adorned, the song up in full chorus, blades of the paddles flashing in the sun as they rapidly lift and dip, while the watery foambells hurry into the hollow of the wakes. The orders of architecture bafile all descrip- tion : every one builds his cottage or house ac- cording to his fancy ; and it is not a difficult thing, in passing through the country, to tell what nation the natiyes of the houses hail from, if we are aware of any of the whims or conceits that charac- terize them. Thus a plain rectangular house of brick or stone, with five windows and a door in front, and a window, perhaps, in either gable; the bams, sheds, stables, and offices at a respect- ^ ^ CANADA. 309 able distance behind ; a kitchen-garden ofF at one end) full of turnips, melons, onions, cabbages, &c. and at the other an orchard, full of fruit-trees, with a range of beehives in a comer, is the dwell- ing of an honest English farmer. — The wealthy Lowland Scotchman follows the same plan nearly : there is not such an air of neatness and uniformity, but there is more live stock about the doors : the pool, or river, is full of geese and ducks, while round the barn are numerous flocks of hens and turkeys ; a favourite cow, perhaps, hangs on for friendship about the gate ; a sow comes forth with her litter; and the cur-dogs seem not to be scarce. A house larger than either of these, chiefly built of wood, and painted white, with nine windows and a door in front, seven windows in either gable, and a semicircular one above all, almost at the top of the angle of the roof, the blinds painted green, the chimney stalks highly ornamented, and also the fanlight at the door ; the barns, stables, &c. off from the house at a great distance ; the arches of all the shed-doors turned of wood in eccentric elliptics; live stock not very plentiful about the place ; a disposition to be showy and clean, without neatness, proportion, or substan- tiality; a good-looking girl, I might say, about the head, but the shoes not shining with WarrerCs r It % h * ■i 'i; I 310 THREE YEARS IN besti with a tolerably well-made gown on, not very tawdry, the petdcoats, which may sometimes be seen if we mind our eye, having no charms, and any thing but the colour of the snow,— it is almost needless for me to say, that this is the mansion of Jonathan, or the U. £« Loyalist from the United States. A house nearly as large as the Americanos, but built of stone, and high roofed, having two tall chimney stalks growing out of either gable ; an attempt to be showy and substantial, without rhyme or reason; an air of great miscalculation, and a woeful sacrifice made with the intention to gain something, which something does not seem to have been properly defined ; a disposition evi- dently for a house like no other person'^s, beyond the reach of architecture, generally met with in a state of dilapidation and decay, the window-panes sadly mutilated, old straw-hats stuck in to keep out the wind, and so forth, — this (and there are many such places) was intended for the abode of a person who had made a few thousand pounds by the fiur-trade — a wild pushing Highland-man, who had often seen ths remotest regions of the north-west. The French Canadian has a little house with verandas all round, few windows, and few fan- cies; every thing done with an air of humble -.•**■ :■-' CANADA. 311 comfort ; a windmill, perhaps, turns round on the top of one chimney, and a cross is stuck up on an- other ; if a large pole stands before the door with a cock perched on the top of it, the owner is a captain in the Native Militia. — The Dutch copy the Canadians : have their houses small and com- fortable, but without much uniformity, and they seem to dislike little toi/s, such as windmills : if the house can be surrounded with an orchard, they will have it done ; and above the well is sure to be placed the long Dutch lever, a large spar, often nearly thirty feet long, balanced on a fulcrum of about twelve feet high ; a chain is fixed to the upper end, and a hook, by which the can or pail is let down into the well, and when full, the lever, to return to its equilibrium, assists the drawer of water to bring it up— a simple and useful in- vention. ^ ■n 312 THREE YEARS IN IS \i CANADIAN IMPROVEMENTS. \ il: if I P' The improvements already proposed are some- what curious in their way, and to those who may never have heard of them, may become both amus- ing and instructive. On St. PauVs Island there is a light-house to be built, to assist in conducting mariners through the dreary Gulf of St. Lawrence. This light should be eighty feet above the level of the ocean : if any higher, it will be frequently ob- scured by fog ; if lower, the curvature of the wa- ters will prevent it from being seen at the entrance of the gulf. The lower a light can be kept, the better, so as, nevertheless, to be seen twenty miles distant, as the density of the fogs are less near the surface than they are above. This light should be either a revolver or a galloper; the latter is pre- ferable, as more distinct, and not to be mistaken for any other light, — a thing very necessary op the CANADA. 313 coasts of America, particularly on those of the United States, where every rock and headland has a light, so that their multiplicity tends more to be- wilder than guide. To obtain this required ob- ject, coals should not be used, but gas from resin- ous wood, which abounds on the shores of the Gulf. Nothing but a small portable retort and furnace is required. The expense of this light- house will be about 5000/. Captain Lambly, of Quebec, iS certainly a worthy harbour-master, and ever looking round him for the benefit of the maritime public. An harbour in the Island of Anticosti is evidently required, as there is no port open for ships in distress, or ships detained by unfavourable winds, between Quebec and the Gulf, and a harbour could be made there which would answer every purpose. The expenses of forming it would be about 10,000/. A dock at Quebec, which would keep the trade from being transacted in the wild current of the river, is certainly a desideratum to wharfs sur- rourding a basin of still-water; and it can be easily obtained at the mouth of the River St. Charles. The French saw this proposed improvement long ago, and made some attempt to put it into execu- tion. This dock requires only wharf-walls, a lock, and pair of gates, with their wing- walls ; the exca- VOL. I. p 314 THREE YEARS IN vation of the whole would be simple and easy. At present merchants about Quebec object to this dock ; but why should trade suffer by petty in- terests ? The expense of this grand improvement would be 32,000/. ^ Water-works at Quebec are an object proposed by every body, and it is sometimes thought that this needful element will be brought to the city in pipes from a distance of five miles. It may be got more easily out of the river, by a sixty-horse power steam-engine. The best plan, probably, would be to make a reservoir somewhere about Louis Gate, and there is water always springing round the skirts of Cape Diamond which would keep it full. From this it might be carried in pipes all over the town, high and low; and this supply might answer for the citi- zens both in time of war and peace. And should the water for some purposes prove ftard, as it is sometimes termed, more ductile river fluid might be had, by placing a hydraulic forcing-engine in the current of the St. Lawrence. This engine would be endowed with tremendous power, by a proper appli- cation of the current. About 15,000/. would sup- ply water to Quebec. The half of this sum would light it up with gas, an object greatly desired. The gasometer might be placed on the side of the -TSSi'Mrrrrt-M rii.,j»,»iK_,j.. kif^MHlMlllMviauau^uiasfahi. CANADA. 315 1 easy, to this jtty in- »veinent roposed rht that J city in may be ty-horse make a I there is of Cape a this it ivn, high the citi- should as it is oftightbe le in the ^ould be er appli- uld sup- would d. The of the RiTer St. Charles. Seal oil would produce good gas, and so ii^ould that of the porpoise and gram- pus ; also resinous wood, and gum of turpentine, found in the bush. Were companies to form and execute the water and gas-works, about 8/. per cent, would be their profit. Private companies should not be allowed to work in a garrisoned town like Quebec ; — these ought to be Government works. A chain-bridge at Quebec has been discussed very frequently, and the practicability of the same much doubted by many individuals. Cer> tainly, a chain-bridge to stretch across the St. Lawrence from Cape Diamond to Point Levi, a distance of more than a mile, where the current is strong and water deep, seems no easy task ; yet it might be performed, if sufficient caution, patience, and mone^r^, were produced for its con- struction. The chain-bridge would require five Jtoating-piers ; and these may be so constructed, and so anchored, that even the heaviest drift ice rushing before a flood, would not be able to sweep them away. If, then, a bridge be really desired acrass the river at Quebec, it is hoped that those who ought to speak in its favour, will say nothing against it on the score that it cannot he perjormed ; for the work can be done, and in such a manner, p 2 316 THREE YEARS IN that the navigation will not be interrupted thereby in the least degree. The expenses attending such an undertaking, considering contingencies, might probably amount to 40,000/. ; nothing less, at least, could possibly answer. .Between Quebec and Montreal, the River St. Lawrence spreads out, at a certain place called Lake St. Peter, and becomes rather shallow for vessels of 400 tons, drawing twelve feet of water. The channel through this lake is proposed to be deepened, and engineers of eminence have care- fully bored, sounded, and explored the same. The public await their plans and conclusions with much anxiety. Doubtless, they will employ the steam-dredging machine ; but if the current be strong, and bottom running sand, the steam-drag will be found to be useful ; and if danger be ap- prehended that the channel, after being deepen- ed, will fill up again, probably skids along the banks, for the sand to back against, might answer a good end ; as, the higher banks can be raised, the deeper will get the channel. Dredging-ma- chines and diving-bells are engines much required in Canada, and may probably appear at work in it before long, to deepen this channel. Report says 1 4,000/. will be necessary. The harbour of Montreal requires attention. CANADA. 317 and is really not receiving so much as it ought, for this will be a large city in a short time, and should be properly regulated. Why have the citizens filled up that beautiful dock or basin which Nature, out of her extreme kindness, has given them P This is absolutely a shame. No man loves a dock more than a merchant, and no man is blinder than he as to where a dock should be made. For the sake of all parties, let not this place be built up with houses. Keep the builders back ! Confound brick and mortar ! When the day comes, as come it will, when up to- this basin by the creek come the steam-boats, and wharfs are all along its sides from the Current St. Mary'*s, and when the merchant-ships meet them by the creek from the harbour, what a trade in the very heart of the city will there then be ! Montreal is the Liverpool of Canada ; to it, by the canal and river, will flow the wealth of all the Upper Pror vinces ; it will become an emporium for the trea- sures of the interior. This city, like Quebec, should be lighted up" with gas. *5 f ^^ , Canadian Signals. J^long the whole extent of the boundary line between Canada and the huge American republic, telegraphs might be placed to the greatest ad- 318 THBEB YEARS IN vantage on the summits of the lofty mountains, by which we might easily learn the movements of the enemy, or of the ships in the Gulf and River St. Lawrence : they ought to be placed from ocean to ocean, and would serve to define our unknown property more distinctly: it was the method our forefathers took when claiming their rights to disputed lands. At night the signals might be well convey^ by placing lights in cer- tain order, which lights might tell the transac- tions of the day, or the discoveries of the teles- cope. Perhaps there is no improvement that can be suggested better than this for the country. Confines to look at, are cheerful; boundless wilds are discouraging and dreary. How delight- ful to us Britons to see the ocean rolling round us ! Were it a wilderness of trees and rocks instead, the effect would not be so great. Let us, therefore, have telegraph stations on Cape Breton ; on mountains along the banks of the St. Lawrence and shores of the Great Lakes; on the Rocky Moun- tains, and by the mouth of the Columbia, nigh the Pacific Ocean. To plant them would be a thing of the greatest ease. Let huts be built at them, and the Indians would be delighted to ma- nage them : they would do it for nothing almost in time of peace; and in war, of course, we \\ CANADA. 319 find it our interest to watch them ourselves. Qourlay, I dare say, hinted at this, when he talked of erecting cast-iron posts along the boun- dary lines, with the Highway of George the Fourth stamped upon them. Having mentioned Mr. Oourlay, I may add, that whatever opinion the public may have formed of this unfortunate per- son, his book on Canada is by far the best that has yet been written : it contains more local informa- tion than all the rest put together. As to his political creed, his furious enthusiasm, and '* grand scheme of emigration,^^ as he is pleased to term it, — these things are no favourites of mine. The author was basely and inhumanly treated abroad, nor does' it seem that we used him much better at home. ft .. ; / ^* ■ '-'^-^ >■ ^/-r'^ —A 320 THREB YEARS IN CANADIAN MINTAGE AND CASH CIRCULATION. The money in circulation is chiefly what in called dollar-bilis, being provincial bank-notes, and Yankee half-dollars, which are about the size of half-crown pieces; silver coins having eagles, stars, and emblems of liberty stamped upon them. British coins are very rare, and are eagerly in- quired after ; a sovereign is worth 24«. currency. Money matters are of a perplexing nature ; a Stock Exchange broker would be baffled, for some time, to manage them propierly, the exchanges and pre- miums vary so much. The troops are paid in army sterling, with dollars valued at 4*. 4«?. — ^with merchants, 4«. Qd. 100/. sterling is 115/. ^s. 84(/. currency, and 100/. currency is 86/. \s. 46?. ster- ling. On a bank bill of exchange for 100/. ster- ling, I have paid 125/. 12«. currency. There are numbers of shillings in circulation, CANADA. 321 out being the mintage of all nationH, few can tell the exact value of them, unlens weighed as old silver, which is never done, except one has a (|iian- tity of them. Who can be bothered with weighing single shillings, as we retiuire them for casual pay- ments ? and more than that, we cannot do it every where, were we willing ; for where is a sensitive pair of scales to be had in every shop, with the necessary drachms for balancing the matter ? and then to carry a weigh-beam about would be trou- blesome. While the French keep gabbling about quinze sous, and trente sous, which are perplexing to comprehend ; every sort of a copper-piece is an halfpenny. I have no less than 120 different kinds, the greater part of them old copper coins of Bri- tain, and merchants'* tokens all over the world. If a lot of farthings be taken into a smithery, and receive a blow from the sledge-hammer on the anvil, they will then be excellent Canadian cop- pers, or half-pennies. Some attention, by those who ought to give it, if any such there be, should be bestowed on the monei/ business of Canada. In the trade of sovereigns and British coin, consi- derable profits are, and might be made : I am sur- prised to find so few regular trading Jews in this business. Take over a bagj'ull of coins, and they may be disposed of to much advantage, and keep p5 1 I 322 THREE YEARS IN the Yankee dollars out of the market ; for the very coins of a realm, like the songSf affect its charac- ter. The emblems on the current coins of Canada help to make Yankees of the Colonists. At the same time, it would be difficult to establish a Canadian mint ; the Americans must coin for ifs there, so much the more pity. Rich men are by no means plentiful ; indeed, a 20,000/. man is very rare. Ladies with fortunes are, therefore, not in Canada, so fortune-hunters may seek for game nearer home. There are banks in the chief towns: rags and rag-cooks, as our doughty Cobbett has them and their bills. The Americaii system of banking is indeed curious : wherever a canal, road, bridge, &c. or other large work is going on, a bank is started beside it ; not a branch bank of some large establishment, as in Britain, but a bank purely for the business of that work alone, whatever it may be — as the Erie Canal Bank. In these dens of knavery, contractors can so manage their labourers and artists y/ith Jiash cre- dit, that payments in full can never be effected ; and the contractors themselves are so led by the nose, by the agents of the work, and the bankers, that they are often cheated of large amounts; but there are few complaints heard, not a mur- mur will come from the lips of Jonathan. It is bi* CANADA. 323 a truth that their public works are constructed without any one knowing who paid for them, and therefore they are public works indeed, and may well be exempted from tolls and taxes, A regular set of rogues employed together is a scene worthy the contemplation of a mannerist. An American contractor on the Rideau Canal paid a visit to the States, and returned with a budget of Auburn bills, seemingly bank-notes : these he flashed about everywhere, and some of the unknowing were a little deluded. He also brought Mrith him a sleigh and span of horses, • not to be matched in the country for elegance. While eating our bread and onions at dinner one day, he drove up to the humble cottage, and requested me to take a drive with him. Away we went de- lightfully, for the sleighing was fine, and pulled up at the Columbian Hotel, en passant, where we jumped out to taste a little of something, but more evidently with the intent of showing off. While cutting an important swell through the halls of the hotel, before a number of people, he pulled out a bunch of Auburn bills, and, without my paying much attention, pushed them into my hands, saying, " Take these, Mac, my boy ; I guess you Ul never want money while one of them here bills is in your pocket." — " No, no, my good fel- I 324 THREE YEARS IN t low,'' I replied, returning them to him ; " that big dam you are building must not have a blind gauger." He took the hint, the story took wing, and I afterwards met it in various parts of the country. America is not a laughing nation; a hearty laugh is not to be heard, except amongst the Canadians ; — the crafty, chatty laugh is fre- quent. The tears of laughter never bedewed the Yankee's cheek; they are too full of plots for giving way to this, and " the loud laugh that bespeaks the vacant mind," as the poet says: however, the Auburn bills created some fun in the wilderness of Rideau. All the labourers on the Canal were paid in Yankee half-dollars : the commissariat furnished these to the contractors, brought up in boxes from Montreal. It was curious enough to see the contractors crawl- ing through the woods with their dollar-hagu on their backs. Poor fellows ! the trouble Govern- ment found in making ready cash payments in- volved many of them in great distress. The vouchers required so many signatures that they were difficult to be obtained, as one officer was here, and another there, over the whole extent of the line ; but this difficulty is unknown where the work and the officers are at one place. Had the contractors been people who had had plenty of CANADA. 325 money of their own, then the Government might have taken its own time to pay them for work performed ; but being poor, the case was differ- ent, and much distress arose from this cause. Sometimes the whole of the necessary officers, clerks, &c. forming a moveable Somerset House^ as it were, would go through the line, and make payments according to progress and measure- ments; but this plan, again, was attended with much expense. In other large works, not con- ducted by Government, an agent is deputed to pay the money, so that distress arising from the rrocuring of signatures is avoided. This voucher- hunting business, as we called it, did much injury to the character of all persons connected with the public works, and to the Canal itself. We were blamed because ready payments, according to the system of accounts, could not be ^ade, and for the works being neglected by the contractors hunting up and down in quest of names, that they might have the military chest opened by producing the required documents, and the money drawn out. Government requires so many checks, that her very securities become bewildering ; and accounts, which at first are simplicity itself, become filled with various perplexities : we managed, however, to keep them correct. . .* * ' ^ jj I \^ •1) \ 4 -m n 326 THREE YEARS IN • "-,: - ^■1 ^ :l !.'■■ ■*:?. THE UNION-BRIDOE. This is the largest bridge in the country : it is over the Ottawa river, 120 miles from Montreal. The following letter, sent to a friend shortly after I arrived at it, will describe the place. X't- " Falls of Chaudiere (Ottawa River), Oct. 18, 1826.. <' Since I left Clamp'*s Coffee-house, I have been quite in my element, plunging amongst woods and waters, exploring and engineering. On my wan- dering thither, I found that the Governor and my commander. Colonel By, had laid me out plenty of work to superintend. What think ye of a bridge of stone over the Grand River,— a Union Bridge to connect Upper and Lower Canada ? A more imposing situation for such a piece of archi- tecture could no where be found. The arches are to curve between a chain of rocky islands, di- CANADA. 327 rectly over the magnificent and splendid Falls of Chaudiere ! Behold but the scene, look at the mass of waters coming smoking over the shelving pre^ dpices, formed of the hardest horizontal strata of laminated limestone :— down they tumble, in some places more than one hundred feet, into the caul- drons or kettles beneath ; where, instead of their furiously driving, as you may imagine, down the channel, they in some instances vanish fairly, work their way through subterranean passages, and come up boiling white half a mile down the river. It has been told me by one of my countrymen here, that a cow one morning, tumbled into the Little Kettle, or Chaudiere, and came up again at Fox Point, ten miles down the river ; and on my inquiring if she came up alive, he exclaimed, with all the water kelpie enthusiasm of his own old Scotland, * That she did sae ; she came up rowting, and lived fat and fu** for ye^s after.'' " But, to lay joking aside, this bridge, if we ma- nage to build and finish it off as we ought, will sur- pass almost any other in the world as a wonderful piece of superstructure. It is to have eight arches : five of 60 feet span, two of 70 feet, and one of 200 feet over the Big Kettle, where sounding-line hath not yet found a bottom at 300 feet deep. One of these bridges, of 60 feet span, we are just finishing. I . ) I i (I >l y 328 THREB YBARS IN V: \:) and putting up the centering for one of the 70 feet arches. Materials are just for the lifting, of the best quality. Nature never was so kind ; plenty of timber, plenty of stone, good abutments— the truth is, we build^no abutments, but spring with the arches directly from the rocks themselves. The road-way will be about 30 feet wide ; and as the spring floods of the Ottawa rise 24 feet, we are obliged to raise the arches high to keep out of harm^s way. " Our master-mason is M*Kay, from Montreal, he who built the locks of the Lachine Canal, from the plans of poor Burnett, the engineer. Mac is a good practical mason, and scorns to slim any work : this is to my liking, as I cannot suffer sliming and shuffling on any account. We are also busy forming a channel through the rapids, for the sake of the raftsmen. This is done by building two strong dams, and deepening what is called a dr^ snie. Can this word snie, for a channel, be French, or Indian ? I am inclined to think the latter. By the way, the Indians here amuse me ; often they come by the works, canoe on their heads, and there they will stand and wonder sometimes for a quarter of an hour together. Not so the Canadian voyagers ; they have no curiosity, but pass the portage without looking to the right or left. The CANADA. 329 Indians are full of reflection, and some of them vastly clever : one in particular, a young man be- longing to the Lake of the Two Mou .tains, who came thither as a guide to two officers of engi- neers from Lake Simcoe, drew out the whole line of the route travelled, and, when shown to the en- gineers he had conducted, they agreed with him at once, that the whole was executed most cor- rectly ; more so, I doubt, than many of our sci- entifics could do— for all I love the Canadians. Give me plenty of Canadian labourers and Irish- men, but let them work apart, and wonders may be wrought : as to Jonathan, I know not what to think. He comes here guessing, and after he has pried about for two or three days, goes away, and calculates that we have ' pretty considerable of a work in hand f but it won^t suit him ; he wants to fill his pockets, he cares not how ; but so long as a Scot is the Gauger, 111 be hanged if he shaU ! r >, « "We have laid out two villages, and all the lots are taken up ; it surprises me to see the anx- iety people have to become citizens here. On a morning, I have sometimes about me such swarms, that I cry out with the goose in the fable, ' that all the world and his wife are here.'' I love to oblige all ; but I find that, the more I oblige, the less thanks I have. There are no females here. •1 •■W*^*' 390 THRBB YEARS IN h: I / 1 ''. •■ , .a \ } ► I d except an old, smoked, Canadian's wife— no other woman is to be seen ; and there are 150 young men. ** The grand entrance-bay for the canal lies be- tween the Falls of Chaudiere and the Falls of the Rideau. The land on both sides of this bay, which is not more thpn 400 feet wide, rises high — about 250 feet* On one side. Colonel By has pro- posed a battery to be built, or fort, and on the other his own house : in this valley the trees and brushwood are clearing out, and chateaus build- ing. At the beach, two large wharfs are construct- ing, on which to land Government stores. Not less than 500 yards from the shore the grand canal will have eight locks, as the land rises quickly, which, on coming up the river, will look beautiful, as these locks will take in steam-boats of large dimensions. The weather keeps fine, and I do not think we shall have any snow at all this winter: at all events, we mean to continue the works, be the we;ather foul or fair. We are set to it in earnest, and expect to drive the levels through as far as between Perth and Gananoque this fall. So much towards the Rideau Canal ;^-and had we got over the Atlantic sooner, more of course would have been done. << You jog on, as usual, I expect, in Montreal. kk CANADA. % 331 What think you of putting a wharf round the harbour there, and opening a basin at that creek in the centre of the same for the shipping, while the Steam-boat Canal runs up to it from the Cross, and from thence to Porteus^ Basin, on the Lachine Canal ? It strikes me, some way or other, that Montreal is going to be a large town at some future, but no distant period, and that a few of you are spoiling it : — ^look to these Nuns, how they have filled up, during the last month, one of the chief streets with a rumble of a building, in- tended as a hospital, but that looks more like a jail. Excuse me, my good Sir, for so much non- sense ; I got upon my hobby, and the Devil would not unhorse me." U * - The following account was drawn up in a more careful manner : — '* Report on the Chaudiere Bridge, s. *' Haying surveyed and examined the site for the proposed bridge of communication between Upper and Lower Canada, at che great Falls of Chaudiere, Grand River Ottawa, we now dare to report thereon as follows :— - <' On each side of the main channel, or Big Kettle, there are several small channels, four of which must be passed on arches Two of these I' "> ^i I m I 1! i 332 THREE YEARS IN channels are on the north, and two on the south side of the main channel. The first arch on the north side will require to be 57 feet span, and 15 feet 6 inches rise, with abutments, as the rock is not sound. The second will require no abut- ments : the span is 25 feet, and height 10 ; this little arch will spring from the solid rock. The first channel, on the south side, viz. that over the new timber snie, will require to be 80 feet span, and 20 feet rise, with abutments 4 feet high on each side, so that rafts and raftsmen may freely pass through beneath. The second, 'JO feet span, and 18 feet rise over the lost channel : no abutments for this one will be necessary ; the arch may spring from the solid rock ; and from the nature of the banks and the waterfalls at this place, this arch will have the most beautiful situation of the whole. These arches are all proposed to be formed of blocks of limestone, hammer-dressed and rough-picked to their respective radii ; to be all laid without mor- tar. For the arch of 57 feet span, we consider that blocks three feet depth of face by one foot thick, may answer. That of 25 feet span will re- quire them 2 feet and a quarter by 8 inches. And the 7^ and 80 feet arches should have arch stones at least 3 feet 6 inches in the face, and 1 foot 3 inches thick. We would hope, however, V- ^ CANADA. 333 that if any stone of a stronger quality could be found than that about the Falls, and could be obtained without much trouble, such ought surely to be received for building the arches. " To get safely and economically across the main channel, or Big Kettle, becomes the only question of interest as regards this wonderful Union Bridge. The mind of the engineer flies flrst to wood for this purpose, and considers it might do very well ; but after measuring, sounding, boating, and pondering the subject maturely, he finds wood would not answer so well as at flrst supposed ; for the distance is full 200 fe^t across, which would require an immensely strong frame truss, as no support can be had from the bottom of the kettle, which is out of soundings, nor can a boat live very comfortably on the surface of the boiling cauldron ; moreover, were it even possible to get a wood bridge trussed over this romantic place, it would always be wet with the spray of the Falls, and consequently be subject to rapid dissolution. Were this ever done, however, we would propose that this wooden truss should form the centering for a stone bridge of 200 feet span. Plenty of fine granite blocks are to be had in the mountains of Hull, about four miles from the place, which would answer well : these blocks i v.; n aasBiBitmmmtaatfgf/t ^i-.JaAiMiti iijfiTffr- >■ M 834 THREE YKAR8 IN i if. ^ ., '1; should be about 5 feet deep in the face, and not le&s than 18 inches thick. Were this work ever done, and done without mortar, it would evi- dently, from its situation, be the most beautiful in the world. We should also suggest, that if this grand arch be ever built of stone, it should be the segment of a circle, 40 feet the rise or height of arch, and 30 feet wide. '* As an arch, however, of this description can- not at the present time, and in the present state of the infant colonies, be carried into effect, we are obliged, therefore, to look around us for the best substitute we can find ; and this, we imagine, is a catenary chain-bar-bridge ; a detailed account of which may not be uninteresting, and we therefore give it. *' Iron chain-bridges are an invention of the ingenious Capt. Samuel Brown, R. N. also paten- tee of the chain-cable. The first chain-bridge ever constructed in Britain was that across the River Tweed, at Berwick. Iron chain-bai'-bridges are an invention of the celebrated Mr. Telford, and he has used them with wonderful ingenuity in his grand bridge over the Straits of Bangor, 517 ^^^^ wide. Since then they have been used suc- cessfully in many smaller bridges ; as at that over the Thames at Hammersmith, where the river is .c> CANADA. 335 400 feet wide. They consist in formin^'' chains of wrought-iron bars, bolted together ; sometimes four bars go to form a chain, sometimes five ; the bars are bolted, and of a thickness thought pro- per for the weight they have to support. The chain we should think proper for the Union Bridge should be formed of the- common bar iron of the country, three quarters of an inch thick, 4 inches broad, and 10 feet long ; the bolts should be 1^ inches diameter, with a head, linch-pin, and hole: four of these bars should form a chain, and there should be five chains, each 5 feet asunder, giving thus a bridge of 25 feet wide. Great pains should be taken in punching the holes in the iron bars to receive the bolts ; no welding is allowed, and if a cracked bar is observed, it should in- stantly be condemned. The smith-work should be particularly well done; in this department no pains ought to be spared, and nothing should be hurried out of hand before it is properly finished. " On the north side of the main channel is a singular island of rock, called Pier Isle, because it seems formed by nature for the pier of a chain- bridge. By referring to the section, this will very strikingly appear. Over this we propose the chains to come, and to continue 120 feet farther, where they will pass over a small pier of eight feet high. t — ''j^ ^■*' 336 THREE YEARS IN i ( and then be fastened to the solid rock by cross- bars, bolts, &c. according to the common method. " Were the chain-bridge to terminate abruptly at Pier Isle, tifo stone arches more of 60 feet span each would . be necessary, which would be much more expensive than continuing the chains ; and if the chains were suddenly checked at Pier Isle, which they would have to be if stone bridges were to be built, then the chains would be in danger of snapping, as they would have to turn an angle too acute; and an allowance ought al- ways be made for this, as also for the contractive and expansive nature of iron. " With respect to this iron-bridge, which is by far the most economical we can propose, the road- way, instead of being suspended beneath the chains, as is the common method, is supported above them. This method, we own, is not so pro- per as the common way, as it throws the centre of gravity above the centre of suspension. The one way, however, is eq^ually strong with the other, but not equally steady ; and this last has been erected by Mons. Brunei, the celebrated French engineer, with much success, over some of the wide rivers of France. The plan and specification .will detail the whole minutely. * I' CANADA. 337 '* The expenses of this Bridge may seem large, but they are not so great as they really should be. We hope such an interesting undertaking as the Union Bridge, which will confer great benefit on both Provinces, will meet with every attention and regard; and that not only the Imperial but the Provincial Legislatures of the Canadas, will liberally assist in the erection of the superstructure.'^ ' ' * t. To build a stone-bridge over one of the wildest rapids, and in the depth of a very severe winter, was amongst the most arduous of my undertak- ings in Canada. Had I known what a winter was absolutely like in the country, perhaps I might have shuddered to make the attempt; but this being my Jirst, the business was set about without much dread. The idea was, it would be ex- tremely cold ; and the general opinion, that the thing could not be done during that inclement season ; it would be difficult to construct it even in summer, bridge-builders beiiig rare, and me- chanics very scarce in the colony; moreover, no mortar could be used, and nobody knew any thing about dry-stone bridges. To attempt the rearing of such a structure in England, in winter, with all our tools about us, in such a situation— VOL. I. Q ■■i> . 1 f 338 THREE YEARS IN but such a one is nowhere to be found— would be considered madness. However, we dared this in the wilderness, and succeeded. It somewhat vexed me to find the master-mason amongst those who reasoned '^ that it could not be built in such a place, in such a season of the year, and according to such a plan of arching with dry-stone;'' and to do away with quibbles that might afterwards arise regarding opinions, he was made to sign his name to his views as given, he being the only person whose ideas were valued, and not only the best mason in the colony, but one of the most sensible and worthy of men. He vowed to stick by me through thick and thin, as he has done most faithfully; and so he set to work with his people, under my directions. The span was 60 feet, rise 18 feet, width 24 feet. Banks of shelving limestone were 20 feet high ; ex- cellent blocks to be obtained about 500 yards from the proposed bridge. I was actuated by various causes to set about this work. A temporary bridge had been thrown over the same place before, vhich had fallen. There were a number of masons also out of employ, and the finding work for them a month or two in winter, by keeping them together near the public-works, was likewise a consideration. I was also anxious to learn if .«♦ OANA DA. 339 people could quarry and dress stone during the cold half of the Canadian year; moreover, to know if such an arch coidd be constructed of limestone-blocks, sledge-p'«jked to the radius of the circle of which it formed a segment. The trial was rather daring ; and looking to the fate of the former, to the original plan of this, and the situation I held respecting it, it created in my mind some anxiety. There was a climate to contend with, and a plan to execute according to that climate, — to both of which I was a stranger, having never seen, far less built, a dry-stone bridge. I felt reputation at stake ; but then a proof, would be obtained, if the thing succeeded, whereby much work might be done in the same way, to the be- nefit of many countries. Accordingly very deter- mined resolutions and resignations had to be en- tered into on my part A wandering mill-wright lad from Aberdeen succeeded admirably with the centering; and when put up, he was employed to form a scarf-screen, to keep the spray of the falls from the workmen. Morning, noon, and night he had to examine the centres, to be informed if the frost, which was intense, had any effect upon them. Every morn- ing, the first thing done was to sweep the snow away, which generally fell, more or less, during 340 THREE YEARS IN the night, and to cut clear the immense floats of ice which came down the Rapids, and were ar- rested by the frost round the abutments. Some- times they would come in such quantities as to choke up the Rapid altogether, while the water backing up would freeze over, forming the bridge and all into one huge mass of ice. But now a curious circumstance took place: the Rapid being as it were dammed up, the water found its way round the rocky island, and down a gut on the other side, while a considerable portion tumbled into a cauldron called the Little Kettle, and went out by its subterranean passage to the Ottawa. The master-mason also was very active amongst the quarriers and at the bridge; he saw every block cut to its proper mould. These were gene- rally three feet long by two broad, and about sixteen inches thick ; they were dressed chiefly in the quarry, and afterwards drawn upon a trai- neau, or sledge, to the bridge, by both oxen and horses. When there, they were moved into their courses by the masons with crow-bars, and set- tled down on the coomhead by a large mallet of hard wood. When the haunches of the arch were thus raised, for the blocks could be taken across on the ice to the island on the other side, the mill-wright erected a triangle; and. C;/INADA. 341 by a block and tackle, they were hoisted on to a stage made of three-inch plank, which acted as an inclined plane, and brought up the arch-stones to the crown. The key-stones were afterwards put in by Lewis, that is, an iron bolt of a construction well known to artists, let into a hole at top ; a fulcrum was raised, and the lever over it, laid them quietly into their places, ever fearing lest the frost should spring the centres ; bundles of straw were laid on the coomhead, for the stones to fall on wheh putting into their courses, so that percussion might be obviated as much as possible. Thus we wrought on, day after day. The artists were well looked after ; their master found them in the best food and lodging the dismal place could afford, and grog was served round once, and sometimes twice a day, as we found, the store to hold out. No man was frost- bitten but one ; and there were only two days in the whole winter they could not work for absolute cold: — those indeed were dreadful; the snow drifted into huge wreaths ; ray hands were bitten while in the act of shaving, in a room where there was no fire. That day the mercury froze in the thermometer in many parts of the country. Having built the bridge, we set off to Montreal, and on telling the people there what we had done, Q3 I 342 THREE YEARS IN they would hardly believe us ; but as we had not struck the centres, that is, taken away the frame from under the arch, we were considered not to have done the job entirely. Accordingly, these were to be struck without delay. I re- monstrated something against this, as the frost had destroyed friction to a great degree, so that the arch>stones were packed along side one ano- ther, as if they were lumps of ice ; and also it had rendered them brittle, so that if the centres were knocked out, then the pressure of the arch might squeeze the stones out of their places, and probably break many of them ; thinking that it would be much safer to let the bridge remain as it was until the thaw came, when the frame should be removed, some day, between the thaw and the flood, — as if the flood came on, and the cen- tres unstruck, it would sweep all before it. How- ever, the public would have them out, and a cau- tious carpenter from Edinburgh was sent to do it. Before he left town, however, I gave him my best instructions, and a letter to the mill-wright how to act. Having got up the Ottawa to the place, after having the ice and snow cleared away, the wedges were slackened with great care, the arch sunk not an inch, away went the centres, and left it to its own equilibrium ; for the blocks were ^•• f^ CANADA. 343 well dressed to the radius, as in doing this pro- perly the main secret lay. The great floods of the Ottawa, which in spring rolled foamingly down the Rapids, bringing hills of ice and snow before them, were yet to be dreaded : they came in due season, crammed the waterway of the bridge to the parapet ; but it defied their power — there it stands, and likely will for a length of time. It has been a model for several others, now con- structed, with this difference, that mortar has been used in them. Strong examples will not do away with old habits ; but it seems certain, that mortar, or cement, is of no use in rough arch-building. Such is the detail of a concern that brought me both friends and enemies. There are sitimtions in this life where a person will be blamed whether he act well or ill. I have always calculated on this, and have never been much disappointed, ever remaining regardless of receiving either praise or censure, acting to the best of my knowledge, and fortifying myself against abuse, misfortune, and flattery, whether the sun shines forth, or hides himself behind the clouds. ' The following letter appeared in the public newspapers, when this bridge was built, from the pen, I believe, of Dr. Christie, who was once Editor of the Herald : ^ 344 THRE£ YBARS IN '« Falls of the Chaudiere, 2l8t of February, 1827. "SIR, " As a transient passenger brought here yester- day by the grand provincial object of attraction, the reported Rideau Canal, I witnessed an event to me no less interesting than novel, namely, striking the wooden supporters from under the first arch in the chain of bridges to be passed across the Falls of the Chaudiere. The time and circumstances led me to delay my journey for one day : this, then, was employed in making inqui- ries ; and the answer to these confirmed in my mind the importance of the imposing operation to which I had been an eye-witness. I find this beautiful arch was suggested by Lieutenant- Colonel By, of the Royal Engineers ; planned by Mr. Mactaggart; and executed under the ap- propriate superintendence of Mr. M*Kay, of Mont- real, architect. At the same time it ought not to be forgotten, that the important duty of strik- ing the centres was entrusted to Mr. Drummond, architect. To all equal praise is due in their respective situations, for each and all have done their duty. Such has been the result of my in- quiries on the spot. But there are other cir- cumstances connected with this business equally deserving of notice to a passer-by. The bridge is one of the most beautiful specimens of rough «itft A CANADA. 345 masonry in the continent of America ; it is built of stones hammer-dressed to the size of the arch : the work has been carried on in the depth of a Canadian winter, and during a season unusually severe,— an effort reflecting the highest credit on both the artificers and superintendents. During the evening, I was led to other reflections, to which the event I had witnessed naturally gave rise. This bridge on the Chaudiere is the only point where the two Provinces can be connected on their water boundary. This, therefore is a solid step to the union of the Provinces, a question long in agita- tion among our politicians. This bridge is one of communication with the Chaudiere Canal, a work which, when finished, will penetrate into the very centre of the Upper Province, and by this bridge will lead directly to the central point of the Lower. It will open up a fertile and rich coun- try, for which generations yet unborn will grate- fully thank the projectors, and applaud the me- mory of those who shall execute this great work. "Yours, &c.'V^ .* A chain-bridge over the Big Kettle, as proposed in the Report, was not sanctioned. A wooden one, of a peculiar construction, was to be made. Chains and cables, however, had to form the scaffolding ; in fact, a chain-bridge had to be thrown across, .# ,-*: 346 THREB YEARS IN I i before the wooden one could be erected. While the carpenters were at work on this scaffold one even- ing, the chains, which had been got over the gulf, snapped, and precipitated twelve of them into the awful cauldron ; but as a number of boards fell with them, it fortunately happened, that while they laid hold of these, they were whirled round by the eddies to the little rope-bridge for pas- sengers fixed below, by which means they were all miraculously extricated from their fearful si- tuation, except one, who was probably entangled amongst the ropes and chains. It is singular, that one of these carpenters having put his handsaw be- neath his arm before he fell, brought it out with him in the same situation, perfectly unconscious that it was there. This accident viras always brought forward in the argument against chain- bridges being suitable for Canada, the frost being severe ; but there was no frost at the time when these chains snapt, to have any contracting effect ; the truth was, they were stretched by tension more than they could bear. Chain-bridges will an- swer in Canada as well as in England : the ex- tremes of heat and cold are certainly much greater, but proper allowances can always be made to meet them ; while iron does not corrode by rust to the twentieth part of the extent; the atmosphere #-. CANADA. 347 seems to contain no salt vapours. The tin-tiled churches remain for many years untainted, beaming in the rays of the sun with unsullied brightness. My worthy friend Colonel By amused himself with the Big Kettle, after the former accidents. The cauldron kept so turbulent that no boats could live near it, so there seemed to be some difficulty in getting over the chains again ; but he ingeniously planted a loaded cannon on the ledge, took a small rope, and, according to Manhy, fired it sheer over the rocky island. Thicker ropes being attached to this, the chains were dragged over with the cabs, good strong iron cables from the naval store at Kingston, and on them he succeeded in raising a beautiful wooden-frame bridge : the view from which no pen can pourtray. The whole bridging cost about 2500/. and afterwards became of great service to the Rideau ' Canal. I 1 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. PaiWTED BV a. AND U. BENTLEV, Dorset Street. Fleet Sfreit. m m m^ m