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WHAT 
 
 FUL] 
 
 JAME 
 
THE 
 
 EMIGRANT'S 
 POCKET COMPANION; 
 
 C! 
 
 
 COXT.MMNO, 
 
 WHAT EMIGRATION IS, WJIO SHOULD BE EMIGRANTS. 
 WHERE EMIGRANTS SHOULD GO • 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 
 
 ESPECIALLY 
 
 THE CANADAS; 
 
 AND 
 
 FULL INSTRUCTIONS TO INTENDING EMIGRANTS. 
 
 BY ROBERT MUDIE, 
 
 AUTHOn OF " THE p,CTURE OF AUSTRALIA," " pictURI 
 OF INDIA, " &C. 
 
 LONDON : 
 MMES COCHRANE AND CO., U. WATERLOO-PLACE. 
 
 9 MDCCCXXXir. 
 
M9 
 
 r ] L b ' '£ , ■"(< 
 
 • ' Jf^; 8 
 
 LONDON : 
 .SF1)IJ1.>G AM) rtUTl.K, 30, AKt' MIP.L STREET, STBANI 
 
 ^ 
 
1 n o f Q 
 
 TO 
 
 J. E. BICHENO, ESQ. RR.S. 
 
 
 Si:c. Ll.W, SOC, ETC. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 Although you are in no wise respon- 
 sible for any opinions advanced, or any facts 
 stated in the following pages, yet it would be 
 unjust to let those pages go abroad to the 
 world without an acknowledgment that the 
 idea of the work originated with you, and that I 
 have had the pleasure of repeatedly and freely 
 discussing along with you many of the points 
 on which it touches. I wish that I had been 
 able to make the execution more in accordance 
 with the advantage which I thus enjoyed. As 
 it is, I have endeavoured to make it strictly 
 
IV 
 
 DEDICATION'. 
 
 honest, and to comprise in it as much useful 
 nuitter as possible ; and, from your general 
 knowledge, as well as your particular know- 
 ledge of the subject and the country to which 
 it relates, if the book meets with your approba- 
 tion I shall have little to apprehend from any 
 candid and properly-informed criticism. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Robert Mudie. 
 
 Kew, April 16, 1832. 
 
 i 
 
useful 
 general 
 know- 
 vvhich 
 proba- 
 m any 
 
 DIE. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Emigration is proposed in so many forms, 
 
 and as a remedy for so many evils, that in the 
 
 multitude of words there is about it, plain people 
 
 are in some dang;er of altogether losing' sight of 
 
 what it means. So many places are proposed too, as 
 
 situations to which, above all others, it is desirable 
 
 to emigrate ; and those propositions have so often 
 
 failed, when brought to the trial, as to prove that, 
 
 though they have been made in probably a com- 
 
 I mendable spirit of mercantile projection, yet they 
 
 have been made in utter ignorance of the resources 
 
 of the places to which they referred, and of the 
 
 means by which those resources could be made 
 
 available to the interests of emigrants. There is 
 
 no need of referring to particular cases; because 
 
 in those projected and, as they pretend to be; -ys- 
 
 tematic emigrations, failure has been the rule, und 
 
 success the exception — Ay, and a rare exception 
 
 it has been. 
 
 The object of this little book, is to clear away 
 some of the mist that has thus been suffered to 
 
 a 3 
 
VI 
 
 P1U.FACE. 
 
 gather, or which has probably in some cases, been 
 intentionally |j;atlu'red around the ([uestion of emi- 
 j^^ration ; and though the limits to which it must be 
 restricted, in consecjuence of the class of persons 
 for whose information chiefly it is intended, have 
 necessarily prevented that full investigation of 
 almost every j)oint, which a philosophic view of 
 the subject would demand; yet it has been the con- 
 stant aim of the author, and he hopes not altogether 
 without success, to embrace, at least a summary of 
 all the leading points, and to place them in an as- 
 pect as clear, and as consistent with truth and 
 common sense, as the limits of this little work 
 would admit. 
 
 There is no question that one cause why emi- 
 gration has failed in producing the good anticipated 
 from it, is the want of information on the two great 
 leading points of " What emigration can do," and 
 " How that which it can do is to be accomplished." 
 Every one knows what bungling, people make in 
 common matters, when they go about to do that of 
 which they have no knowledge ; and one would 
 naturally think that common sense might ere now 
 have sufficiently demonstrated the truth, that if 
 ignorance necessarily produces error in ordinary 
 matters, where part at least, may belong to former 
 experience, much more must it produce error in the 
 
 I 
 
\ 
 
 REFAC K. 
 
 VU 
 
 ;s, been 
 of emi- 
 must be 
 persons 
 d, have 
 tion of 
 view of 
 ;he con- 
 :ogether 
 mary of 
 I an as- 
 Lith and 
 le work 
 
 hy emi- 
 
 icipated 
 
 w great 
 
 o," and 
 
 ished." 
 
 lake in 
 
 that of 
 
 would 
 
 re now 
 
 that if 
 
 rdinary 
 
 former 
 
 r in the 
 
 great matter of emigration, where every thing i» 
 new. 
 
 Here it would be unjust to conceal the fact, that 
 ignorance begins at the very fountain head, and 
 contaminates tlie whole matter, down to the employ- 
 ment of the humblest settler. It is always found 
 that, when lines of road or canal have to be made, 
 the ground has to be purchased at double its value; 
 and the public interest is sacriHced for that of 
 private individuals. To do, and then to consider 
 what should have been done ; to sell, and then 
 to survey, is the system : but the agent gets his 
 place, as a reward for something or nothing, and 
 that reward is the ofhce fee on the mere sale. Ac- 
 curate surveying is, no doubt, both a ditficult and 
 costly matter, even in an old country, and it must 
 be much more so in a new one ; but it is an ex- 
 pense which if laid out at the first, would be saved 
 a hundred fold in the end. It would not be 
 amiss that we should, in those regions from which 
 we drive the savages of America, imitate the ex- 
 ample of the Romans, when they drove the demi- 
 savages of Europe before them : — they made a road 
 across the country, and when they came to the 
 river, they builded a bridge. We make a map, and 
 write a book; but leave the country as we found it. 
 
 In the first chapter of the following pages, an 
 
vni 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 attempt has been made to show what emiirratlon is, 
 what are the circumstances under which it becomes 
 desirable, what yjood it may be rationally expected 
 to produce, and for whom. In that part of the 
 work, the common politics of emigration — the ad- 
 verse opinions, of the advantaf^o of a mere dimi- 
 nution of the number of the people, as an abstract 
 principle, and the loss of removinj^ an able bodied 
 man, after the country has been at the expense of 
 rearing him — have been most studiously avoided. 
 
 In the second chapter, a similar attempt has 
 been made to point out the description of persons 
 who have the greatest probability of being benefited 
 by emigration ; and although the premises were 
 not stated with the slightest view to the drawing of 
 such a conclusion, it really does appear, from a 
 fair comparison of an old and very highly improved 
 country with a new one, that the persons who 
 are the most likely to be benefited by emigration, 
 are they whose removal, if not a gain, will be the 
 least loss possible to the country which they leave. 
 If the author has succeeded in rendering the con- 
 viction which he felt, while writing these chapters, 
 intelligible to others, he is not without hopes that it 
 may be of use. 
 
 The point taken up in the third chapter, is the 
 country which an intending emigrant should select ; 
 
 
 ail 
 di 
 
 Pl 
 rel 
 
 /'I 
 wll 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 ration is, 
 becomes 
 expected 
 t of the 
 -the acl- 
 3re dimi- 
 abstract 
 le bodied 
 ;pense of 
 »^oided. 
 !mpt has 
 f persons 
 benefited 
 scs were 
 awing of 
 from a 
 uproved 
 )ns who 
 gration , 
 be the 
 y leave, 
 le con- 
 lapters, 
 that it 
 
 is the 
 select; 
 
 and upon that point the various considerations of 
 distance, similarity and dissimilarity, both in the 
 place and the people, are brought to view. The 
 result of the whole is, that the best country for a 
 free emigrant — that is, an emigrant who is free to go 
 where he pleases, and at the same time free from 
 prejudice — to go to, from any part of the British 
 islands, is the Britisli colonics in North America. 
 Information respecting these colonies should, there- 
 fore form a very considerable portion of any book 
 that professes to be an " Emigrant's Pocket-book." 
 
 Accordingly, the fourth chapter is devoted to a 
 sketch of those colonies. In preparing that sketch, 
 all, or nearly all the authorities have been collated ; 
 but the author regrets to say that they are some- 
 times not a little contradictory, and that he who 
 seems to be the most successful in contradicting 
 others, often puts his contradictory talents to the 
 proof in contradicting himself. 
 
 The first section of this chapter is devoted to a 
 mere notice of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and 
 New Brunswick ; which, though not so eligible for 
 emigrants as the other provinces, ought yet to be in 
 so far known by every one who is to become a 
 denizen of the Canadas. 
 
 The second section describes what may be consi- 
 dered as the geographical skeleton of the Canadas, — 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ■:! 
 
 their extent, their form, their leading divisions, and 
 the number of inhabitants in each, according to 
 the latest census of the population, and corrected 
 by more recent accounts, wherever these were 
 accessible and could be relied on. 
 
 The fifth chapter is devoted to the natural cha- 
 racters, — the climate, the seasons, the soil, and all 
 those partir".\lars that appeared to be the most de- 
 serving of being known, by those who are to en- 
 counter the country in its natural and uncultivated 
 state. 
 
 The first section of that chapter, gives a gk ice at 
 the general aspect of the country, the way in which 
 the land slopes, and the elevation and shape of the 
 more important divisions. 
 
 The second section treats of the rivers and lakes, 
 which are important features of all countries, but 
 probably more so of Canada than of any other. 
 
 The third section contains a short estimate of 
 the climate, the seasons, and the weather, with their 
 effect upon agricultural and other field labour, and 
 on the comforts of the inhabitants. 
 
 The fourth section gives a very short account of 
 the natural productions, the minerals, the plants, 
 ana the animals. 
 
 The sixth chapter gives some account of the prin- 
 cipal towns, the principal routes across the country 
 
 % 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 ns, and 
 ding to 
 jrrected 
 56 were 
 
 ral cha- 
 and all 
 lost de- 
 ! to en- 
 iltivated 
 
 Ir ice at 
 n which 
 e of the 
 
 d lakes, 
 ies, but 
 ler. 
 
 nate of 
 th their 
 ur, and 
 
 ount of 
 plants, 
 
 le prin- 
 jountry 
 
 by land, and by water, and the principal articles that 
 can be reared on the soil by cultivation. The last 
 part of the chapter is, however, made very short, as 
 it is not possible to teach an Englishman in Eng- 
 land, what he had best cultivate, or how he had 
 best cultivate it, in Canada. 
 
 It may be supposed that other chapters might have 
 followed here, on the manners of the Canadians, and 
 the manufactures and commerce in which they are 
 engaged ; but the Anglo-Canadians are too young, 
 too mixed, and too scattered a people, for having any 
 general manners ; and the manners of any people 
 are better met by practical civility than by pre- 
 tended knowledge. With regard to the manu- 
 factures and the commerce, they are afterthoughts 
 to the emigrant, his first object ought to be to find 
 a kingdom for himself ; and all that needs be said 
 about the laws and local government is, that in 
 Upper Canada, and partially also in the townships 
 of Lower Canada, the laws are English ; there are 
 few taxes, the people choose their own representa- 
 tives, and there does not appear to be many well- 
 grounded causes of complaint. Politics, too, should 
 (if a thought at all) be an afterthought with the 
 emigrant. 
 
 The seventh and concluding chapter, consists of 
 data by which the emigrant may, in part, regulate 
 
xu 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I 
 
 himself in the preparations, the voyage, the land- 
 ing, the journey to the place of settlement, and the 
 management of matters when there. Some may be 
 of opinion that this part of the work should have 
 been more extended, but there are already so many 
 books of counsel on the subject, and they are so 
 inapplicable to the vast variety of cases, that the 
 only safe plan, is to state merely the general facts, 
 and leave each individual to apply them to his own 
 case. 
 
 It has however been thought advisable to render 
 this latter portion of the work more documentary 
 than some of the other portions, by giving a few 
 extracts from the writings of eye-witnesses. These 
 have been fairly quoted and acknowledged, and 
 the principle upon which they have been selected 
 is that of usefulness and variety combined. It 
 would have been easy to multiply extracts ; but as 
 those which are given refer to the districts that 
 are perhaps the most eligible for receiving British 
 emigrants, they may suffice for general purposes. 
 
 The few documents given in the Appendix will 
 perhaps be of considerable use. 
 
he land- 
 , and the 
 e may be 
 uld have 
 so many 
 ;y are so 
 that the 
 ral facts, 
 ► his own 
 
 to render 
 imentary 
 ig a few 
 These 
 :ed, and 
 selected 
 led. It 
 but as 
 cts that 
 ? British 
 poses, 
 dix will 
 
 m 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— WHAT EMIGRATION IS. 
 
 Pag I 
 Migration and emigration — permanence and re- 
 moval — disadvantages of removal — advantages 
 — opinions on emigration — danger of some of 
 those opinions — a man's interest the only proper 
 ground of emigration — passion and prejudice 
 must be avoided — an emigrant must know his 
 own capability, the place which he leaves, and 
 the place to which he intends to go — he must 
 know the climate, the soil, the surface, and the 
 means of communication — families and con- 
 nexion — comparative demand for labour — man is 
 not so valuable in an old country as In a new one, 
 but in one perfectly new there are many things 
 to be done — emigration the means by which old 
 countries civilize new ones .... 1 — 36 
 
 CHAPTER II.— WHO SHOULD BE EMIGRANTS. 
 
 That is an important question — an emigiant should 
 be able to work and be industrious — artisans who 
 work at single branches should not emigrate — 
 people accustomed to out-door work best for a 
 new country — professional men of little use as 
 
 b 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 h I 
 
 ■ 
 
 I' 
 
 Mil 
 
 emigrants — the proper emigrants are those able- 
 bodied and steady persons who cannot find 
 work at home — emigration should proceed from 
 the parties themselves, and not be promoted 
 either by persons who have an interest in it, or 
 who deem it an advantage to the country at 
 home — the good to the emigrant is the good to 
 come, and must be in the country to which he 
 is going . . . . • 
 
 37—62 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHERE SHOULD THE EMIGRANT GO. 
 
 To the best land in the best climate — to the nearest 
 or most accessible country — to the country most 
 like that which he leaves, in soil and produc- 
 tions, in government and laws, and in manners 
 — the United States of America considered — 
 a Briton is an alien there — Western Africa — 
 Southern Africa — New Holland — Van Die- 
 men's Land, all considered — objections to them 
 all — British North America considered — cer- 
 tain parts of it most resemble the mother 
 country ..... 63 — 74 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SKETCH OF BRITISH AMERICA. 
 
 General position and boundaries . . . 75 — 78 
 
 SECTIOX I. PROVINCES. 
 
 Newfoundland — Nova Scotia — New Brunswick — 
 notices of these .... 78 — 86 
 
 i 
 
 ■M 
 
 Lo^ 
 Upj 
 
 Heal 
 
 The! 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 37—62 
 
 GO. 
 
 1 63—74 
 
 175—78 
 
 ''8—86 
 
 SECTION II. THE CANADAS. 
 
 Lower Canada — districts — counties — settlements 86 — 95 
 Upper Canada— extent — districts — other divisions 95 — 90 
 
 CHAPTER v.— NATURAL CHARACTERS 
 OF BRITISH AMERICA. 
 
 H ealthiness — fuel — water — seasons 
 
 100—105 
 
 SECTION I 
 
 EN ERA L ASPECT. 
 
 Surface of the different districts — heights — valleys 
 
 — plains ..... 105 — 110 
 
 SECTION II. RIVERS AND LAKES. 
 
 The St. Lawrence — Falls of Niagara — Lake Onta- 
 rio — other lakes, and rapids — the Ottawa — 
 branches of the Ottawa — branches of the St. 
 Lawrence below the Ottawa — rivers of Upper 
 Canada — the great Canadian lakes . . Ill — 124 
 
 SECTION III. CLIMATE, &C. 
 
 Heat and cold — moisture and drought — snow — 
 melting of the snow — winds . . 124 — 135 
 
 SECTION IV. NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 
 
 Minerals, comparatively few — vegetables; sugar- 
 maple, timber, berries, wild-rice — animals . 135 — 145 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— TOWNS, ROUTES, &c. 
 
 (Quebec — other towns on the St. Lawrence — route 
 on the St. Lawrence — route on the Ottawa — land 
 routes — towns in the interior — cultivated pro- 
 duce — grain — pulse — potatoes — grasses — fruits 
 — tobacco — hemp — costs of a farm — govern- 
 ments of the two provinces . . . 146 — 184 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 , I 
 
 i! 
 
 h 
 
 i ' 
 
 !i ! 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 MEANS AND MODE OF EMIGRATING. 
 
 General principles — Mr. Buchanan's directions 185 — 197 
 
 SECTION I. PREPARATIONS. 
 
 Preparation of the mind — getting to the port — 
 furnishings, provisions, utensils, employment — 
 knowledge, general knowledge, religious know- 
 ledge — books .... 197 — 211 
 
 SECTION II. THE VOYAGE. 
 
 Place of departure — time — ^kind of ship — at sea — 
 the Atlantic — banks and fogs — the St. Lawrence 
 — landing ..... 212 — ^218 
 
 SECTION III. ^JOURNEY TO THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Routes — method of obtaining land — Mr. Talbot's 
 account of it — the Canada company — cleared 
 lands ..... 21 8-— 232 
 
 SECTION IV. SETTLING. 
 
 Exploring— Mr. Mactaggart's account of " rum- 
 maging" — other accounts . . . 232 — 255 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NO. I. 
 
 Government information, Feb. 9, 1832 
 
 NO. II. 
 
 Canada company's statement . 
 
 NO. III. 
 
 Boats on the St. Lawrence 
 
 . 257—268 
 
 . 268—275 
 
 276 
 
NG. 
 
 185—197 
 
 THE 
 
 EMIGRANTS 
 
 POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 197—211 
 
 212—218 
 218—232 
 
 232—255 
 
 1257—268 
 1 268— 275 
 276 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHAT EMIGRATION IS. 
 
 Migration is shifting about from one place to 
 another, as we say of those birds that come to 
 England from warmer countries in the Spring, and 
 return again to those countries in Autumn ; Emi- 
 gration is leaving, or going out of one country, 
 not with the intention of returning to it again, but 
 of remaining permanently in another country ; and 
 Immigration is coming into a country with a view 
 of residing permanently in it. So that when any 
 person removes from one country to become a per- 
 manent inhabitant of another, that person is an 
 Emigrant in respect of the country left, and an 
 Immigrant in respect of the country come to. 
 
 Whether any individual should emigrate or not, 
 is a question that should be settled by that per- 
 son, from his own conviction, with the most inti- 
 
 B 
 
THE KM IG RANT S 
 
 lli'i 
 
 iih 
 
 In ; 
 
 I; i 
 
 mate knowledge, and after the most calm, careful, 
 and dispassionate consideration. All that informa- 
 tion and caution are necessary, because the ques- 
 tion is really one of the most important that any 
 man can consider. Poor men have become rich, 
 and miserable men have become happy in conse- 
 quence of having emigrated ; and on the other 
 hand emigration has made rich men poor, and 
 happy men miserable. From these considerations 
 it is plain that the good or the evil is not in the 
 mere emigration — in the changing of one country 
 for another ; but in the circumstances under which 
 the change is made, and also in the persons who 
 make it. 
 
 Sensible people never leave their parish, or their 
 village, or even their house, unless in the hope that 
 the change is to be of some advantage to them ; for 
 if there be no hope of advantage, the mere love of 
 change is folly, and as a removal, even for a short 
 distance, cannot be made without some expense and 
 loss of time, changing for the sake of change is 
 almost certain to make folks worse than they were 
 before. That makes them wish to change again ; 
 and thus they get a wandering and unsettled habit, 
 under which hardly any body can expect to do 
 good. That, however, is no general argument 
 against changing one's residence ; it is only an ar- 
 
roCKET COMPANION. 
 
 1, careful, 
 
 L informa- 
 
 the ques- 
 
 that any 
 
 ome rich, 
 
 in conse- 
 
 the other 
 
 )Oor, and 
 
 liderations 
 
 not in the 
 
 le country 
 
 ider which 
 
 rsons who 
 
 1, or their 
 
 hope that 
 
 them ; for 
 
 re love of 
 
 or a short 
 
 pense and 
 
 change is 
 
 hey were 
 
 ^e again ; 
 
 ed habit, 
 
 ct to do 
 
 argument 
 
 ly an ar- 
 
 gument against changing it without due knowledge 
 and consideration. Remaining doggedly in the 
 same place, and refusing to leave it when there 
 are plain and good reasons for doing so, proves 
 as unwise as shifting without reason ; and may of 
 course be productive of equal, if not greater mis- 
 chief. 
 
 Changing a house, a village, a parish, or even 
 a county, is but a trifling matter. The manners of 
 the people, and the employment to be entered upon, 
 are not very different; so that there is not much 
 either to forget or to learn : and as neither the dis- 
 tance nor the expense is very great, shifting back 
 again is always possible, and generally not very 
 costly. It must be kept in mind, however, that a 
 return of that kind is always attended with some 
 disadvantages. Those who return do so with the 
 character of wanderers ; and if they belong to any 
 of those classes of persons that have to earn their 
 bread by their own exertions, the chance is that 
 their place will have been filled up in their ab- 
 sence, and that they will be in a worse condition 
 than before their first removal. 
 
 Changing from country to country is a far more 
 serious matter than changing from one part of the 
 same country to another ; and thus it needs both 
 stronger inducements and more thought. The cli- 
 
 B 2 
 
THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ; 
 
 111 
 
 ii i 
 
 !! ! 
 
 'ii,; 
 
 !! l!li 
 
 mates of no two countries are exactly the same; 
 the soils are not tlie same ; the [)roductions are not 
 the same ; the methods of growing those produc- 
 tions are not quite the same; the manners of the 
 people are not the same ; and the laws and regu- 
 lations are not quite the same. So that, in all 
 those respects there is something to be learned, 
 and something already known that will not come 
 altogether into use. The new comer is thus, to 
 some extent at least, a less etficient man than he 
 was in the country \<?hich he left ; and with the 
 same natural abilities, the same bodily strength, 
 and the same skill, he is inferior to those who have 
 been for some time in the country, and are ac- 
 quainted with the nature of it, and the habits of 
 the people. 
 
 All those disadvantages will of course be modified 
 by the differences of the two countries and their 
 inhabitants. If the difference be great, the disad- 
 vantage will be correspondingly great ; and if the 
 difference be small, the disadvantage will be cor- 
 respondingly small : these disadvantages are of a 
 temporary nature only, and may be overcome by 
 care, but the overcoming of them is a loss of time. 
 
 The expense and total waste of time in passing 
 from the one country to the other, must of course 
 depend on the distance that they are apart, and 
 
POCKET COMPANIOV. 
 
 :he same; 
 [IS are not 
 I produc- 
 ers of the 
 and regu- 
 at, in all 
 ! learned, 
 not come 
 1 thus, to 
 n than he 
 with the 
 strength, 
 who have 
 d are ac- 
 habits of 
 
 modified 
 and their 
 the disad- 
 ind if the 
 
 1 be cor- 
 
 are of a 
 rcome by 
 
 of time. 
 
 n passing 
 
 of course 
 
 part, and 
 
 the kind and cost of communication between them. 
 But as they are much more considerable than in 
 the case of migration, or change from one place of 
 the same country to another, and as the return is 
 more difficult, tends more to give a character for 
 restlessness, and doubles both the expense and the 
 loss of time, it is a matter that re(|uires consider- 
 ation. 
 
 There are certain other considerations which, 
 though the value of them cannot be expressed in 
 money, or in time which, to those who live by their 
 labour, is of the same value as money, are yet of 
 too much importance for being altogether over- 
 looked. There are the different feelings that go 
 to the formation of what is called " love of coun- 
 try." Those feelings are natural, perhaps inse- 
 parable from human beings, more especially if they 
 and their ancestors have been long in the same 
 place. Even the humblest man loves to linger by 
 the green sod that covers the last resting place of 
 his father ; and not only that, but there is a com- 
 panionship in the very fields and trees with which 
 we are familiar by long acquaintance. There are 
 also the remaining play-fellows of our youth and 
 the associates of our manhood, how laborious 
 soever may have been the hours that we have spent 
 together, and how homely soever may have been 
 
6 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 ■ir 
 
 our common faro. The most lowly of mankind, 
 when their manners are pure and uncorrupted, 
 have those feelings ; and they are creditable to 
 them, and useful to their country. The love of 
 country lightens the burden of the country to the 
 man that has to bear it withoiit honour and dis- 
 tinction in the bearing; and therefore the feeling 
 is one that deserves to be cherished ; though no 
 man should be so applauded for it as to induce 
 him to love his country to his own injury. 
 
 That people take pleasure in it, and that the 
 poor, when they are intelligent, take more pleasure 
 in it than the wealthy, and take it because their 
 range of pleasures is much more limited, is in all 
 probability true ; and though, in deciding upon 
 the question of emigration mere feeling is not a 
 subject to which very much value should be at- 
 tached ; yet it is not possible, and would not be 
 fair if possible, to take away the pleasure even of 
 this feeling without offering something as an equi- 
 valent. The new country has no equivalent in 
 kind to offer ; and therefore the equivalent of per- 
 sonal advantage should be somewhat increased as 
 a compensation for the loss. For if a man goes to 
 one country with a feeling of regret that he is not 
 in another, the irritation of that feeling must, to a 
 certain extent, weaken his exertions, 
 
 ! 1- 
 
 I' i'i 
 
ro( KET COMPANION. 
 
 munkind, 
 corrupted, 
 ditable to 
 je love of 
 itry to the 
 • and dis- 
 he feelings 
 though no 
 
 to induce 
 
 • 
 
 1 that the 
 e pleasure 
 :ause their 
 d, is in all 
 ling upon 
 is not a 
 Id be at- 
 Id not be 
 re even of 
 s an equi- 
 ivalent in 
 nt of per- 
 ireased as 
 an goes to 
 t he is not 
 must, to a 
 
 These are some of the considerations against 
 which the emigrant has to measure his expectations 
 of benefiting hiniself by the chawj^e. Tiioy may 
 not amount to the li, I'f, or even the hundredth part 
 of that expectation ; but it would nut bo well to 
 put them out of consideration, at the time that the 
 question ** Emigrate, or not emigrate, " is under 
 consideration, because if they should come after- 
 wards they would appear of far greater importance 
 than they really are. If we have to tM'matc th" 
 value of any thing, we should always do it when 
 that thing is in our possession, or at all events 
 within our reach ; for if we delay till after it has 
 ceased to be in our possession, or accessible, we 
 may depend upon it that the remembrance will 
 appear to be of far more value than the reality. 
 
 There is another matter that requires considera- 
 tion in the case of emigration ; and that is the 
 opinions that are afloat on the subject. It is a 
 subject on which there arc very many opinions, 
 and as many motives for the holding of those opi- 
 nions. In the first place there are persons who 
 have an interest in emigration — who expect to 
 make a profit of emigrants, without any or much 
 reference to what may be the fate of those emi- 
 grants in the country to which they are invited. 
 From the mere circumstance of having an interest, 
 
 HMi' 
 
8 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 it ■ 
 
 I! I 
 
 it does not follow that that interest is selfish, ami 
 so altogether different from the interests of the 
 emigrants ; but still the reasonings of those that 
 have an interest must be listened to with caution. 
 
 A second set of opinions which must be carefully 
 examined, and not acted upon unless they are con- 
 firmed by other evidence, are those of parties who 
 hold out emigration as a certain means of relief to 
 the country at home. As a political question, that 
 is far from settled, and probably it never will be 
 settled, because the arguments used by those who 
 take the opposite sides of it do not meet each other. 
 It is, however, a question with which those who are 
 considering whether they shall emigrate or not have 
 little more to do than to avoid being misled by 
 either party. 
 
 It is certainly desirable that persons leaving one 
 country, in order to settle permanently in another, 
 should not go, or resolve upon going, under the 
 influence of anger or dislike, either toward the 
 country generally, or toward any particular indi- 
 viduals in it. The step which they are taking, or 
 deliberating on taking, is by much too important 
 for being thought of under the iniiuence of passion 
 of any kind, and especially under the influence of 
 passions that are so strong, and so apt to prevent 
 people from taking clear views of a subject, and 
 
 fori 
 dis! 
 
 l!i, 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 9 
 
 elfish, and 
 its of the 
 those that 
 caution. 
 3 carefully 
 y are con- 
 arties who 
 )f relief to 
 stion, that 
 er will be 
 those who 
 ach other, 
 e who are 
 [• not have 
 iiislecl by 
 
 iving one 
 
 another, 
 
 inder the 
 
 ward the 
 
 liar indi- 
 
 iking, or 
 
 mportant 
 
 f passion 
 
 uence of 
 
 prevent 
 
 ect, and 
 
 forming a sound judgment upon it, as anger and 
 disgust. On far more trifling subjects, indeed 
 upon almost every subject, people are almost sure 
 to repent, when they become cool, of the resolu- 
 tions they have made and the steps they have taken 
 under the influence of passion ; and if one were to 
 emigrate merely because one is offended with some- 
 thing or somebody at home, there are few who 
 would not emigrate at some time or other. 
 
 But, on the other hand it would be foolish, be- 
 cause contrary to the common feelings and prin- 
 ciples of action among human beings, to suppose 
 that any one would emigrate from love to the coun- 
 try which he was to leave for ever. That would 
 be acting from passion, just as much as leaving 
 the country in anger or disgust would be ; and on 
 that account it could no more be done with sound 
 judgment, or after clear views of the matter. In 
 some respects, it would be even less safe than the 
 other ; for while it would be equally a matter of 
 passion and not of reason, it would be an unnatural 
 application of the passion. 
 
 The natural desire that arises out of love of 
 country, whether that love of country be, as it 
 sometimes is, a mere passion or feeling, or, as it 
 always is among sensible folks, a conviction that 
 the country deserves to be loved, is a desire to live 
 
 b5 
 
10 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 9 
 
 li 1 
 
 'I 
 
 i! il 
 
 ji I 
 
 i|i !i 
 
 ill. 
 
 in the country, and not to leave it. The more ra- 
 tional, the more founded upon knowledge and con- 
 viction, that the love of country is, the stronger will 
 be the desire to live in it, even at a personal sacri- 
 fice. Therefore when any one speaks about emi- 
 grating for the good of the country — leaving it be- 
 cause he likes it, he speaks that which is unnatural 
 and inconsistent; and therefore, whatever may be 
 his feeling about it, it cannot be substantially tine. 
 
 People must not therefore put their resolutions to 
 emigrate upon what are called patriotic grounds, 
 that is, upon the plea of thereby benefiting their 
 country. It may happen that their departure may 
 be a benefit, and it may happen that it may be the 
 reverse ; but whether it be the one or the other 
 does not in any way depend on love of country, or 
 indeed on any feeling whatever, but on the facts of 
 the case. Indeed, unless it be under very parti- 
 cular circumstances, the departure of an emigrant 
 is a loss to the country. If a person is not good 
 for something, he is not fit for emigrating, and as 
 he must have been fed and reared at the expense of 
 the country which he leaves, the departure of a man 
 always is in itself a loss. 
 
 It may, as has been said, happen, from the par- 
 ticular circumstances of the country, that the de- 
 parture of a number of the people may be an advan- 
 
 \i ).; hi 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 II 
 
 ; more ra- 
 ! and con- 
 onger will 
 )nal sacri- 
 bout emi- 
 nng it be- 
 unnatural 
 IT may be 
 ally tme. 
 )lutions to 
 grounds, 
 iting their 
 rture may 
 lay be the 
 the other 
 )untry, or 
 e facts of 
 ry parti- 
 emigrant 
 not good 
 g, and as 
 xpense of 
 of a man 
 
 the par- 
 
 the de- 
 
 n advan- 
 
 tage to it ; but that is a point upon which politi- 
 cians are not agreed, and appear to have but little 
 chance of agreeing; and therefore it is not one 
 that the intending emigrant should try to settle, or 
 even to discuss at all ; for trulv he has no interest 
 in it. When he emigrates, the country ceases to 
 be his country ; and though he ought to part with it 
 on good terms, it is more for his own interest than 
 for that of the country that he should do so ; and 
 to carry with him any such feeling for its inte- 
 rests as he had when he thought it was to be his 
 for life, or as those have who remain in it, would 
 be an embarrassment to him in the country to 
 which he goes. 
 
 The only proper love by which a man delibe- 
 rating about emigrating should have, or can exer- 
 cise rationally and safely, is the love of himself, of 
 those who are to accompany him or follow him, or 
 of those whom he expects to meet in the country 
 to which he is going. The only interests that he 
 has to consider, and, if he is a sensible man, the 
 only interests that he will consider, are his own 
 and theirs, — or perhaps they may be as accurately, 
 as well as more shortly expressed, by considering 
 them all as his own interests. 
 
 The question thus becomes a very simple one ; 
 and though it is not so easy as one would be apt 
 
;i I 
 
 
 
 1' i' 
 
 ■\ I 
 
 12 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 to suppose to get correct answers to all the parts 
 of it, yet it is pleasant to have an important ques- 
 tion put in so plain and simple a form as that any 
 body can understand it. " Shall I better myself, 
 or shall I not ?" is the general question that the 
 man who is deliberating about emigrating should 
 propose; and he ought not to make up his mind,, 
 one way or the other, without clear and satisfac- 
 tory answers to it, in every point of view in which 
 it can present itself. 
 
 He must even clear himself very carefully of 
 prejudice before he enter upon it. When juries are 
 empanneled for the purpose of hearing evidence 
 and deciding upon matters of fact, of often much 
 less importance than the question of emigration is 
 to the man who is to try the question whether he 
 shall emigrate or not, they are ** purged of malice," 
 in order that they may see the truth, and the truth 
 only, in all the testimony that may come before 
 them. The man who has to try the question of 
 emigration, is a sort of juror in his own case ; and 
 like other jurors he should attend only to the facts, 
 and give each of them its full weight and no more. 
 
 But he must first clearly understand what is the 
 point at issue. The words are ** Shall I better 
 myself, or shall I not?" and the point to be un- 
 derstood is, the proper meaning of the words 
 
 $ 
 
 liiii 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 13 
 
 he parts 
 nt ques- 
 that any 
 myself, 
 that the 
 ^ should 
 lis mmd, . 
 satisfac- 
 in which 
 
 sfully of 
 uries are 
 evidence 
 in much 
 ration is 
 ether he 
 malice," 
 he truth 
 J before 
 stion of 
 se ; and 
 le facts, 
 ) more. 
 It is the 
 
 better 
 be un- 
 
 words 
 
 " better myself." These words are few, but they 
 are very important ; and the whole question de- 
 pends on their being rightly understood. 
 
 When a man speaks about " bettering himself," 
 what does he mean ? Does he mean that he shall 
 be better in fact, or that he shall feel himself better? 
 The first of these — being better in fact — is really 
 the point, but it cannot always be separated from 
 the other without a very great deal of care. The 
 time when a man is most likely to think about 
 emigrating, is when matters are not going very well 
 with him where he is. He is dissatisfied with his 
 condition, and wishes to change it : he is dissatis- 
 fied with his country, and wishes to leave it. 
 There may be good and sufficient reasons for both 
 liis dissatisfactions, and there may be wisdom in 
 both his wishes ; but still those dissatisfactions and 
 wishes are the very prejudices from which, if his 
 mind is not cleared before he enters upon the ques- 
 tion of emigration, he is in the utmost danger of 
 coming to a wrong decision, and repenting of it 
 ever after. 
 
 A man who, right or wrong, is dissatisfied with 
 his condition, is in no fit mood for changing it to 
 the best advantage. He is not capable of making 
 a fair comparison of the condition that he is in, 
 with the new one in which he wishes to be. To 
 
14 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 
 
 
 make that in perfect fairness, and of course to turn 
 the result of it most to his advantage, he should 
 have precisely the same feeling toward the two 
 conditions. He should not dislike or desire the 
 one more than the other. Indeed he should have 
 no like or dislike to the one or the other, until a 
 careful examination of the evidence — a perfectly 
 dispassionate estimate of the advantages and dis- 
 advantages of both sides, has furnished him with 
 a reason. 
 
 But when a man is dissatisfied with his present 
 condition, the case is in a great measure decided 
 before he comes to the consideration of the evidence 
 at all ; and thus, the decision that he comes to 
 ultimately is founded on ignorance as well as pre- 
 judice. 
 
 Besides there is another inequality in the com- 
 parison. The man's present condition is known 
 and felt; and the change that he contemplates is 
 only imagined ; and thus he has a real feeling of 
 that which he dislikes, and only a fancy of that 
 which he desires. Under these circumstances it 
 is not possible properly to make the estimate on 
 any one point, or to balance all the little advan- 
 tages and disadvantages, the sum of which is to 
 make the change a good or a bad one. If, there- 
 fore, any man is rationally to consider whether he 
 
 '9 
 
POCKRT COMPANION. 
 
 15 
 
 urse to turn 
 he should 
 rd the two 
 desire the 
 should have 
 ler, until a 
 a perfectly 
 IS and dis- 
 1 him with 
 
 his present 
 ire decided 
 le evidence 
 ! comes to 
 ell as pre- 
 
 the corn- 
 is known 
 mplates is 
 feeling of 
 y of that 
 istances it 
 itimate on 
 le ad van - 
 hich is to 
 If, there- 
 ^hether he 
 
 had better emigrate or not, he must do so at a 
 time when he is not dissatisfied with his present 
 condition ; because if he feels dissatisfaction, that 
 is sure to put him wrong, in spite of any care that 
 he may take when under its influence. 
 
 At the same time, persons who are very much and 
 very habitually satisfied with their present con- 
 dition, are not those who are the most likely to 
 emigrate ; because a man that is quite happy as he 
 is never thinks of changing, and he would be a fool 
 if he did so. But there is a feeling, and a very 
 creditable feeling, which, though it differs essen- 
 tially from dissatisfaction with one's present con- 
 dition, has yet a considerable resemblance to it ; 
 and that is the desire of bettering one's condition. 
 Persons may have that desire, although there is 
 nothing in their present condition that they dislike, 
 or can have any reason to dislike. And it is often 
 strongest in those who not only have the greatest 
 reason to be pleased with their present condition, 
 but who actually are the best pleased with it. 
 
 That feeling is the honest desire of rising in the 
 world, and the more that a man thrives, and feels 
 that he is thriving by his own exertions, the stronger 
 does it become, and the more good it is likely to 
 do him. Those who are always grumbling and 
 dissatisfied, and are never in temper to form their 
 
16 
 
 THE EMIGllAXT S 
 
 M" 
 
 ii 
 
 plans well, and who consequently fail in the exe- 
 cution of them, are very apt to lose the honest 
 desire of bettering their condition, and to seek 
 merely for an escape from present misery and irri- 
 tation by changing it, they care not, and they 
 never inquire for what, so that it is a change of 
 any kind. Persons of that habit are neither fit for 
 deciding the question of emigrating or not emi- 
 grating, nor are they very fit for becoming emi- 
 grants, although somebody else should decide that 
 question for them. An emigrant, whatever else he 
 may have, must have cool possession of himself, 
 and a mind not easily disturbed by trifles, because 
 his fate will be different from that of the majority 
 of emigrants, even of those who have emigrated 
 very much to their ultimate advantage, if he does 
 not meet with unforeseen difficulties of no trifling 
 nature. 
 
 The man who has every reason to be pleased 
 with his condition as to comfort in it, and as to his 
 own conduct in it, but who still wishes for change 
 from a feeling that he is honestly deserving of a 
 higher and better condition, and could conduct 
 himself creditably and profitably in such a con- 
 dition, is the only man fit for deciding whether 
 he should emigrate or not. Such a man, too, is 
 the one most likely to be benefited by emigration. 
 
 "n 
 
POCKET COMI'AXION. 
 
 17 
 
 the exe- 
 le honest 
 to seek 
 and irri- 
 and they 
 hange of 
 ler fit for 
 not enii- 
 ing enii- 
 cide that 
 ;r else he 
 himself, 
 because 
 majority 
 migrated 
 he does 
 trifling 
 
 pleased 
 as to his 
 : change 
 ing of a 
 conduct 
 
 a con- 
 whether 
 , too, is 
 igration, 
 
 most likely to meet its contingencies, and most 
 able to shift his conduct, if that which he has 
 chalked out for himself beforehand, and of course 
 from less perfect evidence than that of his own 
 senses, should not be found the best fitted for the 
 situation he had chosen. 
 
 Well then, we are to suppose that the man is in 
 a fit condition and temper of mind for entering 
 upon the examination of the question, — we are to 
 suppose that he has no dislike of a passionate na- 
 ture to the country he is in, that he is not actuated 
 by a merely blind fondness for change ; but that 
 his sole aim is to better his own condition, without 
 any fanciful belief that his emigrating will be either 
 the better or the worse for the country that he is 
 to leave, or that in which he is to settle. In short, 
 he is to consider the emigration as his own matter 
 altogether, and not to disturb himself with a single 
 consideration as to what effect his emigrating may 
 have on any body else ; because if he goes out as 
 a private emigrant, and not in some official capa- 
 city, (and if he goes in such a capacity, the office 
 and not the emigration is the cause of his going,) 
 the effect upon any body else, and the trouble that 
 any body else would give themselves about it, will 
 be very small, unless they see some prospect that 
 they shall thereby serve some purpose of their 
 
 % 
 
18 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 8 
 
 t , 
 
 own. The next view to be taken of the matter, in 
 order to get at a good and safe conclusion, is, that 
 the consideration must be wholly one's own, and 
 that it is not very safe to take any body's advice 
 upon it, unless both the person and the advice be 
 thoroughly understood, and then of course the ad- 
 vice goes as so much common evidence. Nobody 
 can properly settle for another the question as to 
 whether that other should or should not emigrate, 
 because nobody knows a man's capacities, feelings, 
 and disposition so well as he knows them himself. 
 There is another advantag-e of self-decision in cases 
 of that important kind, which is, that if the event 
 turn out ill, there is nobody to blame but the party 
 himself; and as a man has less tendency to blame 
 himself when he goes wrong of his own accord, 
 than to blame others when he has even the power 
 of thinking that they have Misled him, having the 
 blame on himself takes away one source of irrita- 
 tion and grumbling. It has another good effect : 
 there are no lessons so well remembered, or so 
 likely to be useful in the way of warning, as those 
 which a man gives to himself; and, the more sharply 
 that the event reproves him for having acted with- 
 out due knowledge, the less likely is he to be 
 inconsiderate again. 
 
 When the question has been cleared of all those 
 
 I 
 
 jn 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 if 
 
 matter, in 
 n, is, that 
 own, and 
 (t's advice 
 advice be 
 ie the ad- 
 Nobody 
 tion as to 
 emigrate, 
 , feelings, 
 a himself, 
 ti in cases 
 the event 
 the party 
 to blame 
 I accord, 
 he power 
 aving the 
 of irrita- 
 )d effect : 
 id, or so 
 as those 
 sharply 
 ted with- 
 le to be 
 
 all those 
 
 I 
 
 matters, the points to be settled are those in which 
 the man is to be better. 
 
 First. He may be better in respect of the use 
 to which lie may be able to put the abilities and 
 talents, whatever they are that he possesses, by 
 employing them more profitably. That is, the 
 same exertions may procure him more comforts, or 
 he may be able to occupy himself more fully or 
 more successfully — may live as well, compared with 
 the average of society, and at the same time save 
 more, either against the evil day, or for the purpose 
 of rising in the world. 
 
 The determining of that in a proper manner 
 involves a good many considerations : — 
 
 1. He must have a very correct knowledge of 
 his own capabilities, — a subject on which people 
 are very apt to have mistaken notions ; and, except 
 in the cases of those whose spirits have been broken 
 by misfortune, those mistakes all lean toward an 
 over-favourable opinion. 
 
 The state of a person's health, and the degree of 
 his strength, are first and important considerations. 
 If he is to emigrate, the first should be good, in 
 order that he may be able to bear changes and 
 vicissitudes ; and the second should be consider- 
 able, in order that he may be always able to help 
 himself. It is a good view for an emigrant to take, 
 
20 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 |.|; i:^ 
 
 that, for some time at least, he is to be " a man 
 alone," in his new habitation ; and he should be so 
 well acquainted with, and have so full confidence 
 in himself, as to feel that that would be no priva- 
 tion or inconvenience. 
 
 What he can turn his hand to, is another very 
 important consideration ; and the evidence must be 
 that he has succeeded, not that he has never failed 
 because he never tried, like the Highhndman with 
 playing on the fiddle. A man that can do only one 
 thing, however well he may do that, is not fit for 
 an emigrant, especially for an emigrant to a new 
 country. One very valuable means of judging is the 
 readiness with which he has found that he can turn 
 his hand to the doing of what he never did before. 
 
 A third personal consideration is temper. A 
 man who is easily put out of his way, and loses his 
 temper when he finds that things are not as he 
 wishes them to be, is by no means well fitted for 
 becoming an emigrant. No man can find out before 
 hand. all that he may chance to meet w ith in a new 
 country ; and therefore the best tempered man for 
 emigration is he who has been in the habit of 
 taking matters as they come. At the same time it 
 must not be in the spirit of indifference and lazi- 
 ness; he must take them with the steady and 
 active purpose of making the best of them. 
 
 I'iv 
 
PuCKtT COMPANION. 
 
 21 
 
 (( 
 
 a man 
 uld be so 
 onfidence 
 no priva- 
 
 ther very 
 i must be 
 ^er failed 
 nan with 
 only one 
 •t fit for 
 
 a new 
 ng is the 
 can turn 
 
 1 before. 
 t)er. A 
 
 OSes his 
 t as he 
 tted for 
 t before 
 1 a new 
 man for 
 abit of 
 time it 
 d lazi- 
 ly and 
 
 2. He must have correct notioiin of the place 
 that he iiitcfMls to leave: so that lie may understand 
 all those <iicunistanccs which, without any fault on 
 his part, have prevented him from ^ettin^■ on to 
 the same o.tent that he feels he would have f^ot 
 on had there been more scope for his abilities. 
 This is a part of the subject that demands the ut- 
 most care. There must be nothing- of a political 
 nature, and no envy of those that have succeeded 
 better than himself, taken into the account ; farther 
 than that, if those who have succeeded better than 
 he, have done so only from patronatje or connexion 
 of any kind, that is an ar;^ument in favour of his 
 emiy:ration. Indeed, every case in which he finds 
 that the reasons why others have succeeded better 
 than he have been, not their own personal abilities 
 and application, but the influence of others, that 
 is an encouragement to him ; and wherever he finds 
 that he has been beaten by individual exertion, 
 that is an argument on the other side. 
 
 On this branch of the subject there is another 
 consideration : Whether the means of rising which 
 he seeks might not be found in some other part 
 of the country at home, with less cost and loss of 
 time than must be suffered in the case of emigra- 
 tion. That requires a good deal of care, and pro- 
 bably more local knowledge than many of those 
 
22 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 H!' 
 
 iii: ; 
 
 i 
 
 )i,'i 
 
 who are disposed to emigrate may be supposed to 
 possess ; but still it is very necessary, and if it 
 cannot be absolutely ascertained, the nearest pos- 
 sible guess should be made at it. 
 
 3. The intending emigrant must have accurate 
 information respecting the country in which he 
 proposes to take up his residence. For the purpose 
 of detennining his choice, his foreign information, 
 as we may call it, should not be confined to any 
 one country, but should extend to all that are open 
 to him — to all to which he may go if he chooses ; 
 and the differences in distance, expense, and other 
 respects, are to be taken among the particulars 
 from the comparison of which he has to find out 
 which country deserves the preference. On this 
 part of the subject it is not necessary to go into all 
 particulars, but into only as many of the leading 
 ones as will give a just and reasonable ground of 
 preference. 
 
 After that preference is decided, the inquiry as 
 to the country chosen must be much more minute. 
 It should, indeed, go to every point. To climate, 
 as it affects the growth of plants, and the qualities 
 of those products that are useful ; and as it affects 
 the health of animals, especially the more valu- 
 able domestic animals ; but above all as it respects 
 a healthy and vigorous state of the hum.an body, 
 
POCKET COMPAVIOK 
 
 23 
 
 )posed to 
 and if it 
 irest pos- 
 
 accurate 
 kvhich he 
 I purpose 
 jrmation, 
 ?d to any 
 are open 
 chooses ; 
 ind other 
 irticulars 
 
 find out 
 
 On this 
 3 into all 
 
 leading 
 round of 
 
 quiry as 
 minute, 
 climate, 
 qualities 
 it affects 
 re valu- 
 respects 
 in body, 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 and reasonable lengtli of life. The succession of 
 tlie seasons, too, must be known, and their varia- 
 tions from each otlicr, with regard to heat and 
 cold, and to dryness and moisture. So also must 
 the weather be examined, whether it be variable 
 or run in long trains, and whether the changes be 
 great or small, rapid or gradual. These circum- 
 stances are of the utmost consequence, inasmuch 
 as, in countries that are comparatively new and have 
 few inhabitants, they affect more the natural value 
 of the country both as to life itself, and to the 
 obtaining of the means of life, than any other 
 causes whatever. 
 
 Next after the general consideration of climate, 
 seasons, and weather, the surface and soil merit 
 attention. One question is, Whether that surface 
 be flat or hilly ? If flat, highness and lowness, 
 and also the composition of the subsoil are points 
 of great consequence. Upland flats, except in 
 very warm countries, are usually bleak and barren 
 as compared with the slopes of hills of equal alti- 
 tude. On the other hand very low plains are 
 almost sure to be marshy, and however fertile they 
 may be, they are unhealthy until they have been 
 long under culture, and drained at great expense. 
 The subsoil of extensive plains is very seldom rock, 
 but consists of alluvial or accumulated matters, 
 
24 
 
 THE EMIGIl.WT S 
 
 varying in their consistency from loose sand and 
 gravel throuo-h which the water that falls on the 
 surface makes its escape as if through a sieve, to 
 clays of so stiff and retentive a consistency that 
 not a drop of water will pass through them. Both 
 kinds will in general be destitute of stone fit for 
 building; and both will contain few springs and 
 rivulets. They will also suffer in the dry season, 
 the gravelly soil by burning up and becoming pow- 
 dery, and the clay soil by binding and champing 
 like brick-bats. If the gravel is not very deep and 
 lies upon a retentive bottom, water may always be 
 found by sinking wells ; but in a clay soil that 
 mode of procuring water will be less successful, 
 because less of it gets into the soil, and what does 
 get in is reached with greater difficulty. If how- 
 ever there is a gravelly stratum under the clay, 
 water may be advantageously obtained by boring, 
 and when that operation is skilfully performed, the 
 hydrostatic pressure will convert the bore into a 
 spring, or even a fountain, which will certainly not 
 act the less powerfully in consequence of being 
 deep. When rain does fall, the surface of the clay 
 plain will be much more inundated than that ot the 
 gravel ; the water-courses will be more filled ; the 
 surface will be much longer in drying ; and the 
 
 > 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
 clin 
 less 
 
 I 
 stee 
 and 
 ones 
 and 
 soil, 
 fissu 
 in s 
 as V 
 mill: 
 On 
 or w 
 engii 
 fitab 
 engii 
 crow 
 new 
 
 C( 
 gene 
 fula 
 bleal 
 of til 
 
 be pi 
 
 tura« 
 
roCKET COMPANION. 
 
 iO 
 
 sand and 
 Is on the 
 
 sieve, to 
 ency that 
 m. Both 
 ne fit for 
 rings and 
 cy season, 
 ling pow- 
 champing 
 deep and 
 always be 
 
 soil that 
 ^ccessful, 
 
 hat does 
 
 If how- 
 the clay, 
 y boring, 
 *med, the 
 e into a 
 ainly not 
 of being 
 
 the clay 
 lat ot the 
 
 led ; the 
 
 and the 
 
 i 
 
 climate will at such times be rendered colder and 
 less wholesome. 
 
 If the surface be hilly, and the hills abrupt and 
 steep, there is almost a certainty of finding stone ; 
 and as it rains more in hilly countries than in flat 
 ones, supposing the climates in other respects equal, 
 and as the water, whether on the surface or in the 
 soil, is carried more to the hollows and through the 
 fissures of the rocky strata, such countries abound 
 in springs and rivulets. These are advantageous, 
 as well for common domestic use, » as for driving 
 mills and other contrivances for lightening labour. 
 On plains, these latter must be driven by the wind, 
 or worked by the power of man, animals, or steam- 
 engines ; and man and animals may be more pro- 
 fitably employed in a new country, while steam- 
 engines, which are so advantageous in old and 
 crowded countries, could not be introduced in a 
 new country without great and constant loss. 
 
 Comparing them with each other, it may be stated 
 generally that the hilly country is the more health- 
 ful and pleasant if it is not so elevated as to be too 
 bleak. It affords the finest situations, and admits 
 of the mos<^. varied culture, though the plain may 
 be preferable for grain crops, and also for the pas- 
 turage and feeding of cattle ; but sheep thrive better 
 
 c 
 
26 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 
 •I 
 •t- 
 
 on tl"^ uplands and cannot be profitably introduced 
 in t -l-iyey countries. 
 
 Ti. ' are nianv other considerations such as com- 
 niunication bttween one place and another, by 
 means of roads, or by water, in rivers or artificial 
 canals. Lines of road are of course most easily 
 laid out in level countries, but in these clays espe- 
 cially are bad, uidess paved with bricks under 
 a light coating of sand or gravel, as is the case in 
 Holland, and that can be done only in a country 
 which is thickly inhabited. Distance from the sea, 
 as a medium of communication with other countries, 
 is also of consecpience, though, as it is rather a mer- 
 cantile consideration, it is an after one with the in- 
 tending emigrants ; and too much importance should 
 not be attached to it. It is one of the considera- 
 tions which Britons, or any other persons who depend 
 greatly on the sea and on trade, are very likely to 
 overrate ; and therefore its very secondary nature 
 should be kept in mind, by the man who is judging 
 of the question of emigration. The trade and com- 
 merce, and their necessary tendency to accumulate 
 wealth in masses, while the great body of the people 
 have comparatively little, and thus to render the 
 majority mere handworkers, without any or much 
 voice in the matter as to what their hands are to be 
 employed in doing, and therefore without any means 
 
 i 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 27 
 
 roduced 
 
 as corn- 
 ier, by 
 artificial 
 ,t easily 
 fs espe- 
 s under 
 case in 
 country 
 the sea, 
 ountries, 
 IT a mer- 
 h the in- 
 e should 
 msidera- 
 depend 
 ikely to 
 nature 
 judging 
 nd com- 
 umulate 
 e people 
 ider the 
 lor much 
 re to be 
 ly means 
 
 of determining whether that be what they are best 
 adapted for, are the very causes that render it desi- 
 rable for individuals to emigrate ; and therefore, of 
 how much advantage soever they may be to the 
 country which the intending emigrant thinks of 
 leaving, they ought to be looked upon as evils rather 
 than advantages in the country to which he thinks 
 of going. 
 
 Secondly. After the intending emigrant has 
 carefully weighed all the advantages and disadvan- 
 tages of the particular country to which to emigrate ; 
 and whether, as respects himself personally, it is 
 desirable to emigrate or not, there still remains 
 the consideration of his family. This consideration 
 ought not to be omitted, even by those who may 
 not have families at the time when they deliberate 
 on the question ; and it is especially essential to a 
 man who has a family, and such a man makes pro- 
 bably the best of all emigrants, because there is 
 nothing that so soon turns to account in a new 
 country as a healthy and industrious family ; and 
 there is nothing that sweetens what otherwise woidd 
 be the solitude of a new situation, so much as the 
 domestic attentions of a family. 
 
 The consideration, Whether a man should or should 
 not emigrate for the benefit of his family, is there- 
 fore a very necessary and important one. As it is 
 
 c2 
 
28 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 desirable that he should not be separated from them, 
 but that for their mutual assistance they should all 
 go and share together, the removal of his family, 
 which will in every case greatly increase the ex- 
 pense, must be taken into the estimate. The prin- 
 cipal subject for consideration is, however, their 
 future destination and condition. Whatever public 
 men may do for fame, the private man is always 
 most in the line of duty when his exertions are made 
 for his family. The attentions, which, in our early 
 years, we receive from our parents, we can never 
 wholly repay to them, for they are gone before us. 
 We do not therefore deal fairly by society, if we 
 do not repay to the generation that is to follow us, 
 what we received from the generation that went 
 before ; and in this, the feelings of all persons of 
 right feeling go hand-in-hand with their duties. 
 
 Now it very often happens in old countries that, 
 even where a man is able to provide for his chil- 
 dren when they are young, he knows not what to 
 do with them when they grow up, as every place 
 and occupation is overstocked. An unemployed 
 family is certain ruin to the father, and highly inju- 
 rious to the children ; and there cannot be a more 
 painful feeling to a man who has toiled all his life 
 long for bare subsistence, than that in the case of 
 casualty his children must beg, and may follow 
 
POCKKT COMPANION. 
 
 29 
 
 [n them, 
 ould all 
 family, 
 the ex- 
 he prin- 
 r, their 
 ;r public 
 < always 
 re made 
 >ur early 
 m never 
 (fore us. 
 Y, if we 
 (llow us, 
 at went 
 rsons of 
 ;ies. 
 
 ies that, 
 
 lis chil- 
 
 what to 
 
 ry place 
 
 mployed 
 
 ily inju- 
 
 5 a more 
 
 his life 
 
 case of 
 
 follow 
 
 worse courses ; or that, if he should reach the years 
 of decrepitude, he and they must go to the work 
 house together ; and that in the days of his last 
 decline, when he needs attention the most, he should 
 not only have the least of it, but should have per- 
 haps to bear the taunts of those whom his labour 
 may in part have contributed to render independent. 
 There can be no more rational and even praise- 
 worthy ground of emigrating than that ; and he 
 who can clearly act upon it, — who sees how those 
 children, who are a burden to him in the country 
 where he is, may be wealth and comfort to him in 
 the country to which he is going, — and that their 
 joint labour will not fail to place all who are dear 
 to him in independence and even in affluence, when 
 he shall be taken from them, — should by all means 
 
 emigrate. 
 
 As that is the most justifiable ground c;f emigra- 
 tion, so also is it the most frequent one. The 
 tendency of a country like England, where even 
 capital cannot be profitably employed unless when 
 it is in great masses, and machinery which works 
 cheaper, and in merely mechanical ;natters better 
 than human beings, can be employed of the best 
 construction and on the most extensive scale, is 
 to throw people out of erapioyment. By men and 
 machines together tliere is as much work regularly 
 
 t 
 
 i 
 
30 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 .. * 
 
 ■1 I 
 
 • I' 
 ( 
 I 
 
 '■ r; 
 
 m 
 
 r;H 
 
 done in England, as would take the labour of at least 
 twenty times the whole population if done simply 
 by the hand, or even with common hand tools. If 
 the returns of that were to be shared among twenty 
 times as many as at present, the average share 
 would not support life. So that if an attempt were 
 made to destroy the machines and substitute human 
 labour for them, that would only make the average 
 condition worse. 
 
 In all that machinery can do, men cannot com- 
 pete with it, and it would be vain to try. The whole 
 people in a parish could not break in a month a 
 stone which a few ounces of gunpowder can break 
 in a minute ; and if they had no other way than to 
 grind it between stones with their hands, half the 
 people in England would be constantly employed 
 in grinding flour for their bread. 
 
 It would be vain to attempt competing with these 
 machines, and it would be ruin to attempt their abo- 
 lition. They make commodities of all kinds cheap ; 
 and a working man of the present day, if skilful 
 and constantly employed, can and does live as well 
 as a king lived long ago. But as so much has been 
 done by human skill, there is less to do by human 
 labour. Skill has therefore become the valuable 
 commodity, and labour is proportionably out of de- 
 mand. The skill of one man in that way, does as 
 
 i 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 31 
 
 much for the maintenance of twenty as they could 
 do with ♦heir own hands ; but the one man who has 
 the command of the skill necessarily has the control 
 of all that that skill produces, and will not part with 
 it without a fair marketable equivalent. All the 
 twenty have not that equivalent to give ; for one man 
 can make the machine, and another keep it in order ; 
 and thus the eighteen are left destitute, and must 
 either be supported by charity, or go to a place where 
 they can support themselves by their own labour. 
 
 Whether this diminution of the demand for human 
 labour be altogether a necessary result of the intro- 
 duction of mechanical contrivances and more skil- 
 ful modes of operation, — whether it be that the 
 skill of the heads of the few has, when properly put 
 in execution, a tendency, and the whole tendency 
 to render the hands of the many less valuable and 
 marketable, or whether a certain portion of the evil, 
 at least, be not owing to regulations which have 
 been made by those who were in ignorance of that 
 which they attempted to regulate, — is a question 
 which the emigrant is not called upon to decide; 
 and it is one of which the decision is by no means 
 easy. The fact is however open to every man's ob- 
 servation ; and no man who observes can help 
 noticing that the decreasing demand for human 
 labour, in proportion to the number of people able 
 
 
32 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 I 
 
 and willing to labour, is progressive, and independent 
 of any contingency of seasons, fluctuations of busi- 
 ness, or any thing else. It appears indeed to augment 
 the more, the more that the country is prospering : 
 and while the towns are extending rapidly over the 
 neighbouring fields, manufactories are being esta- 
 blished in all parts of the country, improvements in 
 public works are carrying on to an extent that is 
 (}uite unprecedented, still greater and greater num- 
 bers of the people are out of employment. If that 
 were owing to any temporary cause, there might be 
 .•*ome hope of supporting them till that cause ceased 
 to operate, and a better state of things came round ; 
 but as experience shows that it is not contingent, 
 but that the privations to which that portion of the 
 people are subjected are intimately connected with 
 and have been inseparable from the accumulation 
 of large fortunes by the other part of the society, it 
 is vain for any one to wait in the hope that those 
 privations will be lessened by any change M'hich 
 such a state of things can undergo. 
 
 It is indeed extremely doubtful whether this pri- 
 vation and distress, how painful soever they may be 
 to those that are overtaken by them, are to be con- 
 sidered as amounting in themselves to an evil. It is 
 only when men are in the lowest state of ignorance, 
 when heads and thinking are nothing, and hands 
 
 ■: 
 
 'i 
 
 ■I 
 
 1 
 
POCKKT COMPANION. 
 
 33 
 
 every thing, that men are upon any thing like an 
 ecjuality ; because it is then only that their relative 
 values to themselves or to others depend on their 
 
 imal 
 
 for, 
 
 mere animal strength ana swiitness ; lor, m propor- 
 tion as their minds become informed, differences 
 arise; and the man whose skill enables him to do 
 what requires two or twenty without the skill, is 
 twice as valuable in the one case, and twenty times 
 as valuable in the other case, as any one of the un- 
 skilful. The skilful man requires no more food and 
 clothing than the unskilful ; and therefore he is en- 
 abled to accumulate property where the unskilful can 
 barely live. This makes a second distinction ; and 
 the difference between the condition of one man and 
 that of another becomes greater and greater ; not be- 
 cause there has been any falling off on the part of him 
 who brings nothing but his hands into operation, but 
 because the man who has also laboured with his 
 head has become greatly superior to him. There is 
 another advantage in the employment of the head, in 
 which the hands cannot participate ; and that is, what 
 we may call skill by hereditary descent. A man who 
 can and does study any art or science, in which 
 there is thought and knowledge, becomes heir to all 
 the knowledge of those who have gone before him ; 
 and as that kind of estate is never incumbered, he 
 may improve it the very instant that he is in posses- 
 
 c 5 
 
34 
 
 TIIF tMICtKAN'T S 
 
 sion of it. But, on the other hand, a man who merely 
 works with his own Imnds has nothin<^ to inherit ; 
 all the dexterity of these must be acquired. Thus 
 while the think iiij; man succeeds to the thoughts of 
 all who went before him, the merely operative man 
 is heir to nobody. The distinction between the one 
 and the other is therefore necessarily unavoidable, 
 and if we suppose that justice is fairly done between 
 them, the one has just as much titW, to complain of 
 the other for being behind, as the other has to com- 
 plain of him for being before. 
 
 But this diftbrence is not only natural to, and in- 
 separable from civilization, — it not only increases, 
 as we perceive it to increase most rapidly in coun- 
 tries where the progress of improvement is most 
 rapid, but it really appears to be, if rightly directed, 
 one of the most valuable results of those states of 
 society. It is, as it were, the vital or productive 
 power of civilization, which, after it has done its 
 work in any one country, tends to issue forth of that 
 country and diffuse itself over other countries, until 
 its advantages shall be diffused over the globe ; and 
 that it becomes an evil only when its natural course 
 is prevented ; just in the same manner as those sub- 
 stances which must be discharged in order to a 
 healthy state of the body, become poisons when 
 they are retained it. 
 
 i 
 
 ;: 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 35 
 
 I 
 
 And those who know even a very little of tlie 
 history of tlie world, cannot have failed to observe 
 the good effects of this principle when it is allowed 
 its proper scope. The civilized Romans extended 
 civilization over all the southern and central parts 
 of Europe as far as Britain. The civilized Saracens 
 brought back knowledge into Spain, after what had 
 been done by the Romans had been almost lost through 
 the irruptions and wars of the Barbarians, and the 
 civilization of modern Europe has changed a vast 
 extent of country in America, which but a few cen- 
 turies ago was a wild forest inhabited by a few 
 hordes of savages in perpetual hostility with each 
 other, to a country even now comparatively civilized, 
 wealthy, and valuable. 
 
 All these things have been done without any very 
 clear perception of the principle on which they 
 worked. Some of the civilizers of those places 
 have been sent there as a punishment for individual 
 crimes, some for political reasons, and some by 
 causes of a more private nature ; but that such 
 settlement is a necessary consequence of civilization 
 and a high degree of improvement in the arts, is a 
 fact of comparatively recent discovery. 
 
 There need be no apprehension of an end to this 
 advantage arising from the distribution of civilized 
 men over the world, and the consequent improve- 
 
 I 
 

 36 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ment of those parts of it that are at present unpro- 
 fitable wastes. The people who leave a country by 
 well-directed emigration, — that is by emigration the 
 sole object of which is their own good obtained by 
 their own exertions, are always of far more service 
 to the country that they leave than they would be 
 were they remain in it. From Englishmen, or the 
 descendants of Englishmen, who are now scattered 
 over almost every quarter of the globe, England 
 receives more stimulus to industry, and actually 
 accumulates more wealth than it would have been 
 possible for her ever to do if none of her population 
 had gone out of the country. At the same time 
 their going out has not been attended with any 
 diminution of the number of people at home. On 
 the contrary these have increased more rapidly ; and 
 one of the principal causes is, that destructive perio- 
 dical diseases have almost entirely disappeared. 
 Emigration is therefore a necessary and a valuable 
 result of great national prosperity : Let us next 
 inquire who they are that should emigrate. 
 
POCKET COMP.ANIOy. 
 
 37 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHO SHOULD BE EMIGRANTS. 
 
 That is the second branch of the inquiry on which 
 every man who has thought respecting emigration 
 should inform himself; and though it cannot be 
 properly settled without a good deal of knowledge 
 and consideration, yet the knowledge is not difficult 
 to acquire, and the consideration is not very intri- 
 cate. As that "• necessity," which is the " mother 
 of the invention" of emigration, is the natural con- 
 sequence of great improvements in the mechanical 
 arts, and of the accumulation of large capitals, and 
 the introduction of machinery, it is natural to sup- 
 pose that the very persons who can be best spared 
 from the country that they are to leave, are precisely 
 those who are best fitted for succeeding in the coun- 
 try to which they intend to go ; and the more that 
 the matter is examined the more is that, in all re- 
 spects, found to be the fact. Nor is that the only 
 
^1. 
 
 38 
 
 THE F.MIGRANT S 
 
 :fr 
 
 information of which we are put in possession by 
 the same means ; for the description of persons 
 that are to be most benefited by emigration, is a 
 key to the kind of place to which it will be most ad- 
 vantageous for them to go. In order to give more 
 clearness and simplicity, it will, however, be better 
 to consider these two points separately : First, in 
 this chapter, Who are the proper persons to emi- 
 grate; and secondly, in another chapter. Where they 
 can most advantageously take up their new resi- 
 dence ; then, the remaining pages may be advan- 
 tageously occupied by the details of the place of 
 their adopted residence, and the way of reaching it 
 and conducting themselves in it. 
 
 In order to see more clearly who are the persons 
 that should emigrate we must consider a mistake 
 into which intending emigrants are but too prone to 
 fall, and into which there is some danger of their 
 being misled by those who are interested in the 
 mere fact of emigration, but have no interest in the 
 future fate of the emigrants. As an emigrant is, 
 generally speaking, to become a proprietor of the 
 soil, there is some danger of his confounding the 
 proprietorship of a wild and uncultivated soil, with 
 that of a soil which is cultivated and affords a re- 
 venue in rent. Now the proprietorship in a soil 
 wholly uncultivated, covered with a thick forest or 
 
 I 
 
 agrir 
 
 '^( 
 
 ii 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 with marshes, is very nearly the same with the pro- 
 prietorship which an inhabitant of the coast has 
 in the fish of the ocean. He must first catch them, 
 before they be of any use or value whatever ; and 
 just in like manner a man who gets a piece of wild 
 land must clear and cultivate that land, often at 
 considerable expense, and in all cases with much 
 labour, before he can turn it to any use whatever. 
 
 The other and more general branch of the mis- 
 take is, that a man can find his living more easily 
 in a wild country than in one which is well im- 
 proved ; that he shall, for instance, find it more 
 easily in a Canadian forest than in one of the agri- 
 cultu •! counties of England, his occupation being 
 affrif ' *-:l labour in both. Now if this were the 
 case, ...^provement would be in itself a bad thing ; 
 but it is not the case ; for it is just because a 
 smaller quantity of labour, under an improved sys- 
 tem, finds a greater quantity of the necessaries of 
 life, that a portion of the labourers are thrown out 
 of employment ; and it is just because the obtaining 
 of an equal quantity of the necessaries of life requires 
 more labour, that labourers are in more demand and 
 get higher wages in the new country than in the old 
 one. It is quite clear that if the wages of labour be 
 higher in one place than in another, the man who 
 either labours on his own account or gets others to 
 
40 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 r- . 
 
 :,.-i 
 
 labour for him, must do it at greater expense for the 
 same return than in places where the wages of labour 
 are lower. The emigrant, unless he goes to remain 
 as a hired labourer, a situation which is by no means 
 desirable, must therefore lay his account with work- 
 ing harder, for some time at least, in the new country 
 than he would have to work in the old one if he could 
 find constant employment there. And he must also 
 bear in mind that there are many things which he 
 will consider as necessaries of life, the prices of which 
 are, in consequence of there being no manufactories 
 in the new country, and the carriage being from a 
 distance, much higher than in the old country. 
 
 From this it immediately follows that no man is fit 
 for being an independent emigrant, or even existing 
 at all in a new country, who is not both able and 
 willing to work. He must have health, he must have 
 strength, he must have perseverance, and he must 
 have more consideration than is necessary in an old 
 country, where labour is divided and every man has 
 his little department marked out for him by the ge- 
 neral arrangements of society. He must not only be 
 able to turn his hand to many things, nay, almost to 
 every thing that he may require, but he must feel 
 that he is in possession of that power, otherwise he 
 will be in a state of perpetual apprehension, and quite 
 unable to get on. Of course this necessity excludes 
 
 selves, 
 
 countr> 
 
 ought 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 41 
 
 i 
 
 .4 
 
 '3 
 
 from the list of emi«jrants all persons who could not, 
 if they had the proper opportunity, support them- 
 selves, and also make some littl<i savings in the old 
 country. The maimed, the mutilated, or the silly, 
 ought not to go there, for as there is no person to 
 give them charity, their only fate would be starvation. 
 The idle and the dissolute, even supposing they 
 possess in a high degree those abilities which they 
 neglect, are, in their present condition, very unfit 
 subjects for emigration ; and as those are habits 
 which are reclaimed more by the restraints of society 
 than by any other means, it is doubtful whether they 
 would be benefited by the change, how much soever 
 the mother country might be the better for their 
 absence. 
 
 After the natural capacity and disposition of the 
 emigrant, the next consideration is. What he has been 
 accustomed to do ; and this is the point upon which 
 a comparison of the circumstances of the new country 
 with those of the old one, is essential to a clear under- 
 standing. It is because the old country is one of 
 highly improved manufactures, and efficient machi- 
 nery, and a minute division of labour, by means of 
 which the manufacturing individual has his whole 
 attention confined to a single object, and so learns to 
 accomplish chat object probably ten times as well 
 and in one-tenth of the time that he would require if 
 
 r. 
 
 1 ■ !■: 
 
42 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 I's' 'i 
 
 he were always shifting from one thing to another, — 
 it is just because that is the case that the whole 
 country has a surplus of labourers ; and of course 
 the labourers that it can spare are those who are the 
 worst adapted, and therefore in the least demand 
 for its own operations. In England the man who 
 punches the eyes of needles, or puts on heads of pins 
 from year's end to year's end, is better adapted for 
 the system of England than the man who could 
 cultivate two or three acres of land, and make all the 
 rude tools necessary for its cultivation ; but a man 
 who could only punch the eyes of needles and put 
 on the heads of pins would be of no use whatever 
 in a country where the houses are probably twenty 
 miles from each other, because there could not pos- 
 sibly be any employment for him. 
 
 In all the nicer manufactures, and especially in 
 those in which expensive machines are employed, 
 and which consequently cannot be carried on without 
 a crowded population, and an extensive and ready 
 sale, in the management of which the merely opera- 
 tive workmen should have no concern whatever to 
 distract them from their individual pursuits, the 
 workmen are a proper part of the system of a hig ily 
 improved country ; and, generally speaking, it w0L;ld 
 be imprudent in them, even for their own sakes, to 
 remove as workmen to any country, excepting to one 
 
 , 
 
 m' 
 
 f ■ 
 
POCKET C O M P . V N 1 N 
 
 43 
 
 in a liigher state of improvement than t'lat which 
 they left. As foremen or instructors, they might go 
 to one that were a little behind that which they left ; 
 but even in those cases they would be less valuable 
 as labourers ; and whether they made up the same 
 value or not, would depend upon their efficiency in 
 their new character of overseers or instructors. 
 
 The range to which the manufacturing population 
 are excluded from the list of advantageous emigrants 
 by this means, is very wide ; and it may be said to 
 include all those trades which are supported by the 
 staple manufactures, and the peculiar customs and 
 habits of the state of society in the country at 
 home. As, for instance, the various classes of workers 
 in metals ; the various classes of workers in wood ; 
 the various classes of shopkeepers — dealing only in 
 particular commodities; and the various classes of 
 workers in leather, and in all other things, the whole 
 of which are done better and more cheaply in conse- 
 quence of being portioned out among many hands. 
 Very few handicrafts of any description are wanted 
 in a new country, and of the few that are, each man 
 must be capable of exercising all the departments of 
 his province of the craft, and even occasionally 
 turning his hand to some of the others. An emigrant 
 smith for example should be a smith of all work ; 
 and besides making or repairing the iron part of the 
 
44 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 if: 
 
 ■■:X 
 
 tool or implement, he would be all the better if he 
 could fashion the timber also. With all others the 
 case would be exactly the same, — they would be of 
 no use as capable of doing some single operation 
 nicely, but as they could do a number of operations 
 even tolerably ; and a man who could begin and 
 finish the clumsiest imaginable house, so that he 
 made it only dry and warm, would be of ten times 
 more value than the most skilful architect or the 
 neatest handed carver. Considering the country as 
 perfectly new, there is, in fact, no use whatever for 
 artisans, or" people who are skilled only in the pro- 
 cesses of manufacturing, and whatever distress they 
 may occasionally be subjected to by the fluctuations 
 of business, emigration cannot in any way be made 
 a means of relief for them. 
 
 And that it should be so, would be in opposition to 
 the very principles upon which emigration can be 
 considered as a relief at all. The prosperity of the 
 manufacturing population fluctuates with the fluctu- 
 ations of that system of high improvement of which 
 they form a part. When trade is brisk, they are 
 fully employed and well paid, and when they are not 
 well paid, stagnation and change in trade are the 
 causes. To think of removing them in cases of stag- 
 nation or change, from a place where trade might 
 become brisk again, or where, if that were not the 
 
 .! 
 
 *! . 
 
POCKF.T COMPAMOX 
 
 45 
 
 case, they could g^radually change from one manual 
 operation to another, to a place where there was 
 absolutely no manual operation in existence, and no 
 one to be expected during the whole term of their 
 lives, to which they could by possibility turn them- 
 selves, would be a downright and palpable absurdity. 
 They are a constituent part of the system of the 
 country where they arc ; they would be no part, but 
 a burden and an excrescence in the new country ; 
 and therefore the duty of the country to itself is 
 to support them by every reasonable means in every 
 fluctuation under which they are unable, by a fair 
 exercise of prudence and temperance, to maintain 
 themselves ; and in the case of change, as there are 
 many changes in fashionable manufactures, it is also 
 the duty of the country to give them temporary sup- 
 port, and facilitate them in the directing of their 
 mechanical abilities into new channels. Those duties 
 hardly however require to be pointed out, inasmuch 
 as they are at the same time the interests of all the 
 parties concerned ; and people always manage their 
 own interests much better for themselves, than any 
 other persons can manage for them. 
 
 There is one other argument respecting the emi- 
 gration of mechanics to new countries, which it may 
 not be improper just to mention, although that which 
 has been stated is in itself conclusive. Mechanics 
 
46 
 
 THF, I:MIG HANTS 
 
 \\i ■ 
 
 8 ' 
 
 .»j. 
 
 li: 
 
 are accustomed to confinement within doors, thev 
 are in consequence ill adapted for enduring; fatig^ue 
 and exposure in the open air ; so that, even if we 
 should suppose them capable of soon acquiring skill 
 enough for all the operations called for by an emi- 
 grant, they must be considered as deficient in mus- 
 cular power and hardiness. Taking this argument 
 in conjunction with the other, it may be considered 
 as an established principle that mechanics ought 
 not to emigrate to a new country ; because they 
 would have to forget all they have learned, and to 
 learn from the beginning all that they had to do, 
 with constitutions and habits unfitted by their for- 
 mer occupations both for the learning and the 
 practice. 
 
 But there is a wide, and probably also a clearer 
 distinction, between those who should not and 
 those who should emigrate. It has been already 
 stated that the emigrant must depend on himself; 
 and therefore no person who depends upon the rest 
 of society, or who has any hope on such a depen- 
 dance can with propriety become an emigrant. In 
 thickly inhabited and highly civilized and improved 
 countries, such as England, a very great number of 
 the people are dependant on each other ; and if 
 you were to take away those on whom they depend , 
 they would have no alternative but to perish of 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 47 
 
 want. So extensive indeed is this dependance, 
 that it may be said to inehide all the popidation 
 which are necessary for the country, profitable to 
 themselves in it, and on that account unwise to 
 themselves if they leave it ; and the party among 
 whom emigrants are to be found, are those that are 
 out of this connexion and mutual dependance, — 
 those who are, as it were, no part of the system of 
 English society, but are merely filling room there, 
 to the injury of England and to their own great 
 injury ; and whose only plea of justification for 
 being in England at all, is their incapacity of leav- 
 ing the country, either from the want of information or 
 the want of means. In this view of the matter, no 
 professional person is wanted as an emigrant, at 
 least, to a very new country ; because in such a 
 country no professional man could possibly live by 
 his profession. So long as the houses are twenty 
 or even ten miles from each other, there is very little 
 occupation for surgeons, or teachers, or lawyers, or 
 even clergymen ; because any of those parties 
 would have to travel at the rate of one hundred 
 miles a day, in a country so tangled and destitute 
 of roads that ten miles are enough for ordinary 
 strength, before he could pick up any thing at all 
 approaching to a living. The scattered settlers in 
 such a country must content themselves with set- 
 
48 
 
 THE EM IG HA XT S 
 
 ting their own broken liones, and plastering- their 
 sores, and instructini^ tlieir chihlren, and arrang'in;.'' 
 their disputes, and findinp^ their own reli}^nous in- 
 struction, until thev have])ccome so numerous as to 
 have formed villai^es, and towns ; and whenever the 
 increase and prosperity of the population render 
 the assistance of professional men at all practicable 
 those men will be found, without any direct emijjra- 
 tion for the purpose ; and as the country must be 
 to some extent an improved country, before their 
 professional existence in it be possible, they will 
 not be the worse that they are born in it, and go 
 for a time to other countries to learn their profes- 
 sions. As a professional man therefore, no man 
 should, and indeed no man can be an emigrant ; 
 because in any place to which a new settler can go, 
 there is really no professional employment for him. 
 Thus all that he has expended in acquiring a know- 
 ledge of his profession would be utterly lost to him ; 
 and in proportion to his very eminence in that pro- 
 fession, which would of course be in proportion to 
 the exclusiveness with which he had devoted his 
 attention to it, would be his incapacity for the T 
 duties of his new station as an emigrant. He 
 would, in fact, be in the condition of a man having 
 every thing to sacrifice and having nothing to 
 gain in return ; and consequently emigration 
 
 would b 
 be a re 
 ciiance, 
 even a < 
 for that 
 question 
 Haviuj 
 not to e 
 emigratic 
 <'oniparat 
 artisans c 
 professior 
 like Engl 
 culiar sys 
 cropping, 
 implemen 
 duced int 
 the rude 
 manufacti 
 were in t 
 and form 
 dually ass 
 upon the 
 iind the m 
 ture, as ai 
 parts. Tl 
 farm baili 
 
POCKET COMPAMOV. 
 
 49 
 
 would be the very opposite of wisdom, as it would 
 be a removal from a place where he still had a 
 rhance, however slender, to another place where 
 even a chance, until he had taught himself anew 
 for that chance, would be altogether out of the 
 (juestion. 
 
 Having thus seen what classes of persons ought 
 not to emigrate, the discovery of those to whom 
 emigration might be desirable is reduced within a 
 comparatively narrow compass. They are not to be 
 artisans of any description ; and they are not to be 
 professional. But the agriculture of a country 
 like England is reduced almost as much to a pe- 
 culiar system as the manufactures. The modes of 
 cropping, the management of land, and the various 
 implements and machines that have been intro- 
 duced into farming, are probably as different 'from 
 the rude states of that art as the present English 
 manufactures of brass and iron are from what they 
 were in their early stages. They also harmonize, 
 and form parts of an entire whole, so that they mu- 
 tually assist each other, and the agriculture is 
 upon the whole as necessary to the manufactures, 
 iind the manufactures as necessary to the agricul- 
 ture, as any part of either of them is to the other 
 parts. The best landlord or the best farmer or 
 farm bailiff or ploughman in England would find 
 
 D 
 
r,o 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 
 all that gives him his superiority at home of not 
 very much more use than if he were a manufac- 
 turer, a foreman, or a handicraft. There would 
 be greater sameness in the pursuit no doubt, but 
 there would be the same diversity in the mode of 
 pursuing it, and thus not one of those parties could 
 emigrate unless at a very serious disadvantage. 
 
 Who then are the parties who should emigrate ? 
 That is best answered by considering what they 
 have to do in the country to which they are des- 
 tined. Now, as by emigration is meant not only a 
 removal to a country which is new in situation and 
 climate, but one which is new to culture altogether, 
 that man will necessarily be the best adapted foi 
 the country who is, as one would say, as new ai> 
 itself. He must have learned to use his hands, 
 and to turn them to various purposes ; but it is the 
 worse and not the better for him to have learned 
 any particular kind of working, or at all events 
 to have practised it so long as that it has become a 
 habit or system with him ; if it has done so, he will 
 have to change the habit by adapting it to the new 
 system, or rather to the want of system, which lu- 
 will have to deal with in the new country ; and as 
 the changing of a habit is a double labour while the 
 acquiring of an original one is only single, the man 
 who emigrates with his habits formed has double 
 
 lubo 
 Hnd, 
 who 
 some 
 with 
 less 
 systei 
 An 
 is in 1 
 extent 
 only V 
 the vei 
 and b 
 ulio ar 
 laboiire 
 at any 
 >imall 
 ^'old, s| 
 dwellini 
 every 
 very pel 
 'lothingi 
 'IS they 
 hope fol 
 meet thj 
 ni the 
 ^'iistomel 
 
POCKET COMPANIOX. 
 
 51 
 
 not 
 fac- 
 )uld 
 but 
 le of 
 
 ;0uUl 
 
 labour to perform. It is not perhaps possible to 
 tind, in such a country as England, any person 
 Avho has not to some extent been accustomed to 
 some sort of system ; but there is no question that 
 with equal strength, activity, and ingenuity, the 
 less that any man has been accustomed to mere 
 systems the better. 
 
 And it is both fortunate, and a proof that there 
 is in highly cultivated countries a provision for the 
 extending of cultivation into new countries, not 
 only without loss but at a positive advantage, that 
 the very persons who have become supernumerary 
 and burdensome in the mother country, are thev 
 who are the best fitted for emigration. Occasional 
 labourers,- those who have been obliged to work 
 at any thing for which they could obtain even a 
 small remuneration, who have been inured to 
 cold, scanty clothing, poor food, and comfortless 
 dwellings, who have little to lose or regret, and 
 every thing to hope from the change, are the 
 very persons who should emigrate. As they have 
 nothing to regret, so they have little to unlearn ; 
 as they have borne privations, where there was no 
 hope for them even in prospect, so they can better 
 meet the privations to which they must be exposed 
 iu the adopted country ; as they have been ac- 
 customed to do for themselves, with very little of 
 
 D 2 
 
52 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 If 
 
 the help of professional, or tradespeople, the tran- 
 sition will not be very great to them from England 
 to a place where such help is not to be had. The 
 ignorance, and want of the power of forming con- 
 sistent plans which naturally forms part of the 
 character of such people, may be some obstacle to 
 them ; but certainly not so much so as those who 
 found their judgment upon the conduct of well- 
 informed persons in England would be apt to sup- 
 pose ; for the plans that a settler in a new country 
 must form are probably nearer to those of a labourer 
 than of any other person whatever. 
 
 There is another consideration which must not 
 be overlooked, when we reflect that the question 
 for the emigrant, or the intending emigrant, to de- 
 termine, is his own good — his comfort in the country 
 to which he goes, and not any thing, in any way 
 connected with the welfare of the country that he 
 leaves, or with any effect, good or bad, that the 
 fact of his leaving may have upon it ; and that is 
 that, to the man who has no connexion, no pro- 
 perty, no regular occupation, and no tie whatever 
 to be broken asunder by the change, — but who 
 goes from a country in which most that he met 
 looked down upon him, and where he had not even 
 a hovel or a hole into which to put his head, but 
 by the sufferance of some one else, to be lord even 
 
 'i 
 
POCKET COMPANION'. 
 
 53 
 
 . 
 
 of fifty acres of the wilderness, is a change vastly 
 for the better, and calculated to give him that pride 
 in himself which, if not the very foundation, is 
 yet one of the principal supports of character and 
 virtue. 
 
 Almost any other man has some regret, feels 
 some privation and humiliation, in the mere fact of 
 becoming a denizen of the wilderness ; and will 
 hardly go there without some expectation of bet- 
 tering his condition, which upon the average stands 
 but little chance of being realized. Those dream- 
 ers of fortune, after the fashion of that of the 
 civilized country^ in a country where there is no 
 civilization, are the most insunerable bars in the 
 way of judicious emigration. For it is they who 
 first raise the benefits expected from it too high 
 in their anticipations — anticipations not founded on 
 knowledge of the subject, but on their own delusive 
 dreams ; and then sinks them unreasonably low, when 
 they find that those dreams have not been realized. 
 
 Along with the labourers, who are occasionally 
 out of employment, may be classed those cottage 
 farmers who are in daily apprehension of being so, 
 in consequence of their inability to take their part 
 in the improvements that are making around them ; 
 who, on that account, see nothing but decline and 
 dependance to themselves, in those years of their 
 
54 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 lives when they are the least able to bear up 
 as^ainst them ; and whose thoughts of their families, 
 when they can bear to think of these at all, are 
 nothing but bitterness. There are, all over the 
 country, very many families of this description, 
 who have actually fallen back, or, which amounts 
 to the same in effect, have not advanced with the 
 advances of the more skilful or more fortu- 
 nate part of the world ; who feel that they have, 
 from either or both of these causes, fallen from the 
 respectability which their fathers held, and who 
 fear and indeed feel that their children must fall 
 from their little remnant which they themselves 
 hold ; to whom every view in which either the pre- 
 sent or the future can appear, is gloom not easily 
 to be borne, and suflicient to damp their spirits, 
 and destroy any effort that they might be able to 
 make to regain their station. 
 
 There are very many families so situated, who 
 still possess enough to transport them to a new 
 country, and to keep them there, till they have 
 learned its customs and its ways, and become able 
 to support themselves comfortably in it. Not only 
 that, but to rise faster to independence and com- 
 parative affluence, than they had, in the bitterness of 
 their fears, dreaded that they would sink to utter 
 misery and dependance in the old country. To 
 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 55 
 
 such persons, the mere change is a source of relief 
 and hope. In the new country they would be, as 
 it were, at the head of society, and that is in itself 
 one of the most stimulating incentives towards 
 rising higher. It is clearly for the interest, the 
 very best interest, of all who are thus situated, to 
 emigrate ; and perhaps they are about the highest 
 class of persons that can with advantage, go to a 
 country that is entirely new, — that can sit down in 
 the wilderness satisfied with their own society, with 
 the full determination of turning that wilderness 
 into a profitable and pleasant heritage. 
 
 Thus it can be easily shewn that the description 
 of persons who would be the most benefited by 
 emi2:rating are precisely those that could be best 
 spared from the mother country ; and as that country 
 does, and must, support them so long as they remain 
 in it, it becomes a question whether the supporting of 
 them at home, in the certainty that both their neces- 
 sities and their numbers will increase, or the fur- 
 nishing of them with funds and facilities by means 
 of which they could soon provide, and provide 
 comfortably for themselves, in a country where they 
 would find plenty of work that they could do, anti 
 enjoy the whole profits of that work, be the better 
 plan. 
 
 It may be that, in but too many instances, the 
 
56 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 spirits of those people are so broken, and their feel- 
 ings of independence so blunted by the fact of 
 receiving parochial charity, that they might not have 
 energy left for acting their part properly in a new 
 country. But that that should be the case is much 
 more a matter of apprehension than of probability. 
 The feeling of personal pride may smoulder, and 
 seem, to common observation, for a long time to be 
 extinguished, and may yet be reared to wholesome 
 activity, by more favourable circumstances ; and 
 therefore it is rarely ever too late to have some hope 
 of good in so great a change, as from that of living 
 houseless in one country to that of being a proprietor 
 of the soil, however wild and unproductive that soil 
 might be, in another country. In all cases where 
 there is a rational desire of the change, that desire 
 is in itself a proof that it is not too late; and wher^ 
 there is no desire, then remains the question to be 
 determined whether the fault is in such a deadening 
 of the character, as that the desire cannot be excited, 
 or in the want of proper stimuli to cause the excite- 
 ment. 
 
 One thing is to be borne in mind, and that is, that 
 as the cause of the throwing of these people out of 
 employment, is not in the reverses and failures of that 
 society by which they are, in as far as usefulness is 
 concerned, ejected ; but in the very prosperity and 
 
POCKF-T COMPANION'. 
 
 ■ ;/ 
 
 improvement of that society, and always becomes the 
 greater the more rapidly and successfully that that 
 society improves, a natural suspension of it is not to 
 be looked for, or indeed, in so far as concerns the 
 whole of society, to be desired — at least by the rest 
 of the people, whatever it may be by the party them- 
 selves. 
 
 And if they do wish for a change from it, the wish 
 is a vain one, and if it were made in due knowledge 
 of the subject, it would be wicked. If those super- 
 numaries are the result of the improvement of the 
 country, and there can be no question that they are, 
 as they are found to increase more in peace than in 
 war, and to multiply faster under favourable circum- 
 stances — that is under circumstances that are favour- 
 able to the general prosperity and wealth of the 
 country, than under circumstances that are the re- 
 verse, then it is evident that no resident in the 
 country, not even the sufferers themselves, if they 
 understand the matter, should desire a removal of 
 them. If they did so desire, the hope of accom- 
 plishment would be vain, by any other means than 
 such an interruption in the regular affairs of the 
 country as would not fail to make the complainers 
 much worse than before, as the sufferings of others 
 would in no way tend to their relief; but they 
 N\ould destroy in others the power of relieving them. 
 
 D 5 
 
r.si 
 
 >S 
 
 THi: KM IG RANTS 
 
 As those ejected persons (for so we must call 
 them, as they are so in reality) are the necessary results 
 of the high degree of improvement, and the extended 
 use of mechanical power ; and as it is not possible, 
 and would not be desirable though it were possible, 
 to stem that improvement, or diminish that power, 
 their numbers must go on increasing till they destroy 
 the country either by consuming that which they 
 have not, and cannot have, the means of earning, 
 or replacing in any way or to any extent whatever, 
 or until they, goaded on by the sufferings which they 
 undergo, and which it is but fair that they should 
 undergo as compared with those who are really 
 useful to the country, break out into open insurrec- 
 tion and outrage, and the whole be destroyed by 
 civil commotion. 
 
 That, though not a result which it is pre-eminently 
 or absolutely necessary for the individual intending 
 to emigrate to take into his consideration, is yet a 
 result which is inseparable from the fair and proper 
 consideratian of the question of emigration ; and 
 circumstances have occurred lately, and are still 
 occurring, without any other assignable cause than 
 that of a number of persons who are not suited for 
 working in the best and most efficient manner the 
 system of the country, which give to it a very high 
 degree of importance. Those circumstances are the 
 
POC K F/r COM PA \ lO N . 
 
 59 
 
 wanton destruction of property, without any appro- 
 priation of it to the use of the parties who commit 
 the depredations. If it were appropriated, the fact 
 nii^ht be expkiined upon the ordinary principles of 
 necessitous human nature — as theft to preserve the 
 life, or felonious theft to gratify cupidity. But the 
 wanton destruction comes not within the ordinary 
 conduct of necessitous or of vitiated men ; but is a 
 species of hostility, — a waging of war by a certain 
 part of the population upon the rest ; and though the 
 acts may in some instances be performed at the 
 instigation of incendiaries that have purposes of their 
 own, that they fancy they shall thereby serve, other 
 than the mere destruction of the property, yet it is 
 doubtful whether that has been the case in all, or in 
 even the majority of the instances of destruction ; 
 and even if it had, there must have been something 
 wrong on the part of those who could be deluded 
 into a participation in such acts by any incendiaries 
 whatever. 
 
 And there is still another consideration, — that 
 while those persons are remaining in England, in a 
 state of alienism from the really necessary part of 
 the active system, of consequent misery and priva- 
 tion, and of still consequent though unnatural out- 
 rage, the good that they might be doing is all the 
 while utterly neglected. The very persons who are 
 
OU 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 thus living ill misery, and open to, and perpetuating 
 crime in England, are they who, under a wiser 
 system should have been preparing new markets for 
 the produce of English industry, at the same time 
 that those very products of that industry formed 
 part of the stimuli by which they themselves were 
 roused to exertion. 
 
 Thus, it is apparent and certain that, while there 
 is a power in a country like England, to diffuse civi- 
 lization and all its advantages over other countries, 
 and which, as it appears, by a necessary result of a 
 very high degree of improvement, is efficient, and as 
 we may conclude, prepared for that very purpose, 
 that power is left to stagnate not only unprofitably, 
 but as a burden on the country, at the same time 
 that all the advantages which the world ought to 
 derive, and might be deriving, from it, are lost ; and 
 that, while England and the world thus suffer, the 
 parties from whom that suffering arises are, in truth, 
 the greatest sufferers themselves. 
 
 The remedy of the evil obviously lies in the emi- 
 gration of that part of the people which have, not 
 from any faults of their own but from the system of 
 the country, become a burden at home. But how 
 that remedy is to be applied is another matter. 
 Compulsory emigration will not do ; and as for 
 seductive emigration, the effects of that cannot be 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 61 
 
 considered as much better. If people were, in any 
 way forced out of their country, they would land in 
 the new one with dispositions not the most likely to 
 enable them to do ^ood there ; and if they were 
 enticed away by glowing pictures of that of which 
 the reality would certainly prove the reverse, the 
 state of their feelings would not be much better. 
 There is also the consideration that though all might 
 be made right in the way of feelings, there would be 
 a still more serious, because more insurmountable, 
 ditticulty in the way of funds ; and it would be far 
 from an easy matter to find a satisfactory method 
 of getting the better of the difficulty there. 
 
 To give money to a large number of persons for 
 the purpose of wishing them to remove from one 
 country and settle in another, would be, to say the 
 best of it, but a doubtful sort of experiment, and to 
 carry them to the shore of an unknown, or the verge 
 of a barren, or wild country, and leave them there, 
 would be cruelty. 
 
 Fortunately, however, these are not points that we 
 are called upon to settle ; because it is not our ob- 
 ject to decide for any individual, whether that indi- 
 vidual should emigrate or not. That is for the 
 decision of the individual himself, and all that is 
 intended in these pages, is the humbler task of 
 
 \ laying before him, the infor- 
 
 irang-m 
 
 S' 
 
02 
 
 lllfc. LMKIUANT 8 
 
 mation that seems the best calculated for enabling 
 each to obtain for himself the fairest and most profit- 
 able decision of the question. 
 
 It is impossible to render the consideration of who 
 should be an cmij»:rant and who not, so precise as to 
 meet the cases of individuals, because the circum- 
 stances of the individual are hardly matter of obser- 
 vation. The statements that have been made will, 
 however, afford some guesses, if not some certainty 
 as to the classes, the members of which may find 
 it the least or the most desirable to emigrate, on 
 account of the general habits of the class, and its 
 relation to the system of things in a new or in an old 
 country. The next branch of the inquiry is. To 
 what country is it the most desirable to emigrate. 
 
 out, 
 
 adopt 
 
 lie wij 
 
 ThH 
 
 acre, 
 
 the 
 
 the de 
 
 of a n; 
 
 accura 
 
 for son 
 
! 
 
 POChET COMrANlnN. 
 
 63 
 
 t- 
 
 to 
 11- 
 n-- 
 ill, 
 ity 
 lul 
 on 
 its 
 oUl 
 To 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHERE SHOULD THE EMIGRANT GO. 
 
 That is an inquiry of so much consequence tliiit 
 if it is not answered in a satisfactory manner, the 
 whole question of * emigrate or not emigrate" 
 may be considered as remaining unsettled and in 
 suspense ; for if the emigrant is not perfectly satis- 
 fied in his own mind, however the result may turn 
 out, that he is to be better in the country of his 
 adoption than in that of which he takes farewell, 
 lie will not be contented with his situation. 
 
 The relative intrinsic value of the land, acre for 
 acre, and the climate and other circumstances of 
 the country are, without doubt, very important in 
 the decision of the question ; but many of these are 
 of a nature not easy to be judged of, with sufficient 
 accuracy, without personal examination, and that 
 for some length of time ; and therefore they cannot 
 
04 
 
 THE liMIGllANT S 
 
 |;4 
 
 be considered as comprising the whole grounds of 
 decision. 
 
 Proximity to the country left is one element that 
 is always worthy of being taken into the account, 
 not only as the closer that that is, the more are the 
 expenses and contingencies of the transit lessened, 
 and the less time is lost ; but because ti.c e is not 
 so great an interruption of that intercourse with the 
 parent country, which it is necessary under many 
 circumstances, and desirable under all circum- 
 stances, that the emigrant should keep up. To be 
 dependant on the mother country is not a desirable 
 situation for an emigrant, but still, as a return to 
 that country 7nay^ under many circumstances, be 
 necessary even for the comfort and prosperity of 
 the emigrant in the new country, that furnishes 
 another argument why, of countries that, in other 
 respects, present equal advantages, the one which 
 is at the least distance should have the preference. 
 
 Another, and a far more important ground of 
 preference is similarity, or that, of countries which 
 are equal in other respects, the emigrant should 
 choose that which more nearly resembles the coun- 
 try which he leaves. 
 
 This similarity admits of subdivision. There 
 may be simila»ity in the country itself, — in the 
 appearance, soil, and productions; there may be 
 
 try,- 
 kind 
 
POCKET COMPANION 
 
 65 
 
 I 
 
 be 
 
 similarity in the government and laws; and there 
 may be similarity in the manners of the people. 
 
 Now though, as has been said, the man who has 
 formed the fewest and least confirmed habits in the 
 rountry from which he emigrates, be on that ac- 
 count the better fitted for becoming an emigrant, 
 inasmuch as he has less to forget, and therefore 
 can learn more readily than the man whose habits 
 are confirmed, yet there is probably no man who has 
 lived long enough in a country to be capable of 
 independent emigration from it, who has not formed 
 not merely some habits, but a number of habits, 
 that he cannot change without inconvenience and 
 loss of time. Those habits may respect the coun- 
 try, — as he may be accustomed to the particular 
 kind of weather or succession of seasons, to the 
 particular productions and modes of culture ; and 
 though these may, at first sight, appear to be but 
 trifling matters, they are often found to be of very 
 great importance, not only in respect of feeling and 
 comfort, but in respect of success. Those who 
 have been accustomed to what may be called the 
 " uniformly" variable climate of Britain have often 
 surt'ered by carrying the remains of their experience 
 of that into countries where there are long periods 
 of drought and humidity, alternating with each 
 other after the lapse of several months. Great dif- 
 
66 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 ference of temperature is also an inconvenience, as 
 when an inhabitant of a cold or temperate country 
 ^oes to reside in a tropical one. 
 
 The difference of government and laws is, in all 
 probability, a more serious matter; and when one 
 has been inured to them, the change is probably 
 more difficult to be made, and more disagreeable in 
 the making, than that from one climate, or succession 
 of seasons and weather, to another. The laws of 
 England are, perhaps, more peculiar than those of 
 any other country, and, perhaps, from being for a 
 great length of time in the habit of hearing them 
 praised above all others. Englishmen are probably 
 more attached to their government and laws than 
 the people of any other country. We have nothing 
 to do with the ground of this preference. It may be 
 well-founded, or it may be a mere prejudice, but 
 still it exists ; and therefore an accordance with the 
 government and laws of England is an advantage, 
 and should be, and generally is, a ground of pre- 
 ference to an Englishman, in nuiking choice of a 
 foreign country in which to settle, and become one 
 of its permanent inhabitants. If the government 
 and laws ar^. the same, or very nearly the same, in 
 their substance, their form, or both, in the new 
 country as they are in England, the change will be 
 much less felt, and the emigrant will, in one im- 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 67 
 
 i 
 
 mi- 
 
 poitant respect, at least, hardly consider himself as 
 a stranger in his new locality, even at the time of 
 his first arrival. Now, even when any retnrn to it 
 is doubtful, any thing- that recalls the country of 
 our birth, by recallinij at the same time the me- 
 mory of the days of youth, which are pleasant 
 days in spite of situation, produces pleasurable 
 feelings ; and these conduce very much to success 
 in any enterprize, and also to render the result of 
 that more agreeable if it is successful, and less 
 painful if it is not. 
 
 But if it be agreeable to the emigrant to recog- 
 nize among the people in the land where he takes 
 up his residence, the government and the laws of 
 the land which gave him birth, it must bo far more 
 agreeable for him to meet and associate with his 
 countrymen there, — to see the same character of 
 faces to which he has all his life been accustomed, 
 to hear the same language — the very peculiarities, 
 perhaps, of the same identical village in which he 
 learned the use of speech, — and to witness the same 
 modes of life with which he is familiar. Those cir- 
 cumstances make him at once feel that he is quite 
 at home, and he is at once able to support his part 
 among them with a confidence which it would take 
 him many months to acquire among strange fea- 
 tures, unknown or imperfectly known sounds, and 
 
68 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 9 
 
 customs to which he were a stranger. There is a 
 translation of looks and of conduct, as well as of 
 words ; and the man who has any one of them to 
 work out by practice, to say nothing of the harder 
 task of them all, before he can understand or be 
 understood, must have very unpleasant feelings of 
 dependance and helplessness, as compared with him 
 who is previously furnished with them all. There 
 are many minor considerations arising out of the 
 similarity of the country left and that arrived in, 
 but those which have been mentioned, may be re- 
 garded as decisive. 
 
 The general inference is, that a British emigrant 
 should, for his own advantage, and without any ne- 
 cessary reference to the welfare of Britain, choose a 
 British colony for his permanent abode, unless he 
 has other inducements than that of mere residence. 
 In many other places, unless he renounces his 
 country, he is an alien ; and if he does renounce it, 
 and swear a foreign allegiance, he is always looked 
 upon as a sort of renegade, and never attains that 
 consideration in the adopted country that he lost in 
 the old one. He may accumulate wealth, though 
 the situation in which he is placed is not the most 
 favourable even for that ; but he can seldom, if ever, 
 so far gain the confidence of the strangers, as to rise 
 to any office or station of importance ; and the feel- 
 
rOCKET COMPAMOX. 
 
 69 
 
 ing of alienship that is expressed towards himself, 
 descends, in part at least, to his family. There may 
 be circumstances under which it is a man's interest 
 to take up his permanent residence in a strange 
 country ; there may be other circumstances under 
 which that becomes necessary ; and there may be 
 some that do it from capricious feeling ; but it is not 
 wise or natural, as a general practice, for those who 
 emigrate. 
 
 There are very few countries under native and 
 independent governments, to which an English 
 emigrant can have access, between which and Eng- 
 land there are not some remains of national jealousy. 
 Probably those remains are, in some cases, becom- 
 ing less and less, but in no case are they actually 
 extinct; and, in the United States of America, the 
 only place where English, or a dialect c^ English is 
 the common language, they are probably stronger 
 than in any other country. At all events, those 
 who have resided for some time in these states with- 
 out any particular prejudice in favour of their form 
 of government, and some who have gone thither 
 with that prejudice rather strong, have very ge- 
 nerally united in describing the United States, as 
 by no means an agreeable country for an English- 
 man. The language, although in substance ^^q- 
 lish, has undergone so many changes, that the man 
 
70 
 
 THE EM I Gil ANT S 
 
 who uses it most correctly according to the idioms 
 of Enghind, is the c^reatest blunderer in the opinion 
 of an American. The people too, are, to an Enj;- 
 lishman, too harsh in their manners, and too forward 
 and lively in their independence. There is little 
 bond of society among them. Their independence 
 is the independence of pebbles without their smooth- 
 ness ; and though they are probably in the practice 
 of the attrition thai may ultimately produce that 
 effect, the din of the grinding is harsh, and the 
 smoothness and polish are yet far distant. 
 
 In matters of bargaining too, the Englishman is 
 so different from the Americans that he cannot 
 easily meet them upon equal terms. American 
 with American is a fair match — " Greek meeting 
 Greek ;" but each and all of them are so constantly 
 governed by their own interests, and so unfastidious 
 about the means or the mode by which they hope 
 to attain those interests, that they are not the people 
 among whom an Englishman, and more especially 
 an Englishman of that class to which we have said 
 that an emigrant may most profitably for himself 
 belong, can associate either to the greatest profit, 
 or with the greatest pleasure. 
 
 The choice of the intending emigrant, who has nc 
 other motive for his change of country, tha\« that 
 he may remove from one where there is not scope 
 for his talents, to one where there is, 15 therefore 
 
I'OfKET COMPANION. 
 
 71 
 
 confined to those colonics that are more immediately 
 under the British government and laws, and par- 
 tially at least settled by British people. In India 
 colonization is not permitted, and thongh it were, 
 it would not be advisable for the class of persons, 
 whose interests and those of the country concur 
 most in the fact of emigration. The habits and 
 modes of cultivation, and indeed the whole economy 
 of the West India islands, and of the colonies on 
 the main land of South America, are just as little 
 suited to British tastes and habits. Western 
 Africa is a pest-house ; and those emigrants who 
 have gone to Southern Africa have not found their 
 choice a very agreeable or advantageous one. 
 Australia, too, whether the larger island of New 
 Holland, or the smaller one of Van Diemen, is far 
 distant, and very unlike Britain in almost every 
 respect. It is also the place for those that are ex- 
 patriated by law for delinquencies; and therefore 
 it is not, upon any account, a very eligible place 
 for those whose interest it is to emigrate. 
 
 Thus there remains but one locality ; -^nd that is 
 British North America. In that country there is, 
 h^)wever, abundance of space, and no want of in- 
 <lucements, although the distance is considerable, 
 and attended with some hazards and hardships that 
 are not experienced on some longer voyages that are 
 made wholly on the ocean ; and although but few 
 
72 
 
 THE EM 10 RANT S 
 
 commercial advantages can be expected, at least 
 for a very long time. Commerce Is not the object, 
 hovi'cver, to which the attention of the spare people 
 — the people who leave the country because there 
 is no proper scope for their working powers in it, 
 should be directed. It is because they are not fit 
 parts of the commercial system at home, or are not 
 wanted for the carrying on of that system, that they 
 are to spare. They have of course no commercial 
 knowledge, and therefore they would be out of their 
 element, were they to attempt any thing of the 
 kind. What they stand in need of is employment, 
 as similar as possible to that to which they have 
 been accustomed, and a reasonable hope of plenty 
 and independence, if they are diligent and perse- 
 vering in the performance of that labour. That 
 they are almost certain of in British North America, 
 if they can once get settled there, and go rightly to 
 work. There is also the advantage that, if they 
 make choice of the proper place, they may be in 
 the near neighbourhood not only of Britons, but of 
 persons from their own part of the country. That 
 is a very decided advantage, as it is calculated, 
 sooner than any thing else, perhaps, to reconcile 
 them to a place, where the scenery and the employ- 
 ment are almost entirely new. Another induce- 
 ment is their being wholly under British laws ; and 
 
POCKET COMPAMUX. 
 
 73 
 
 and 
 
 liaving their own Houses of Assembly and local 
 management, to a share in which they may naturally 
 aspire. Thus a Briton finds in that colony not 
 merely his brethren, but also his birth-right — that 
 which, if he has any knowledge at all, he has been 
 taught to esteem the most ; and thus, notwithstand- 
 ing the distance, and the change in the climate, the 
 seasons, and the appearance of the country, there 
 is still enough to justify the feeling that one is still 
 in a province, though a distant province, of Britain 
 itself. That feeling is one which is well worthy of 
 being cherished for that mutual advantage of the 
 mother country and the colony, upon which both 
 their interests are so dependant ; and the want of 
 which has been so painfully experienced, in colo- 
 nies that were established and conducted for long 
 periods, before the relations between them and the 
 countries from which they emanated, were so well 
 understood as they ought to be now. 
 
 There is one other consideration very much in 
 favour of those colonies, and that is, that a labourer, 
 ur one of the plain artisans that are necessary in 
 the state of the country, is sure to find work and 
 obtain wages, from the savings of which he may, 
 in a year or two, be able to purchase a lot of land. 
 In this way, single men, and also those who can 
 conveniently leave their families behind them for a 
 
 E 
 
74 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 year or two, may makf just as sure of anlvinu^ at 
 iiidc'])i'n(lcnce in Canada, as they are of coming to 
 beg'i^ary and the workliouso in Enjjfland ; and bitter 
 experience shows tluit that is the only certainty to 
 which an Eno;iish labourer can look. 
 
 The plan, in the days alluded to, was to make 
 the colony a source of direct revenue to the mother 
 country, — to endeavour to obtain from those who 
 had their country al)s()lutely to make — at least to 
 chan<i"e from a very wild state — a revenue for a 
 country that had been for a":es under civilization. 
 Pnjfitable in the way of commerce a country may 
 be ; and when the country is in a state at all re- 
 semblinii,- the present state of England, the colony 
 is of value, as aftbrding; profitable employment to 
 those who cannot obtain that at home ; but to sup- 
 pose that any one country can for any length of 
 time continue to yield a revenue to another, which 
 is in fact more wealthy than itself, is an absurdity ; 
 and in all cases where the attempt has been perse- 
 vered in, revolt and subsequent hatred have been 
 the conseq^iences. From the comparatively recent 
 settlements of the British portion of North Ame- 
 rica, there are some reasons for hoping that it 
 may form an exception ; and as it is interesting in 
 other respects, the remaining pages are devoted 
 chiefly to it. 
 
 
 OEOC 
 
 Alt 
 be exp( 
 knowie 
 pensibi 
 ledge 
 abode ; 
 are so e 
 product 
 tants, t 
 a prefac 
 Those 
 north bj 
 portion 
 to west. 
 1200 mi 
 ern bou 
 
POCKKT COMP WIOS. 
 
 75 
 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 It 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF BRITISH NORTH 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 Although it is not necessary, and indeed not to 
 be expected, that the emigrant should have a general 
 knowledjj^e of i^^eoe^raphy, yet it is absolutely indig- 
 pensible that he should have, at least, some know- 
 ledge of the country in which he is to take up his 
 abode ; and the British possessions in North America 
 are so extensive, and so various in their climates and 
 productions, and in the occupations of their inhabi- 
 tants, that a general account becomes necessary, as 
 a preface to the statistics of the particular districts. 
 
 Those possessions consist of the country on the 
 north bank of the great river St. Lawrence, with u 
 portion of that on the south, for an extent, from east 
 to west, as explored in part at least, of more than 
 1200 miles on the parallel of latitude, and the west- 
 ern boundary is indefinite. The extreme breadth 
 
 £ 2 
 
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 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 873-4503 
 
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76 
 
 THF, EMIGRANT S 
 
 tVom north to south, is also nearly 800 miles, and 
 the northern boundary is indefinite, — the country 
 being British as far as it is habitable, or admits being 
 visited during the summer months. 
 
 The boundaries of this great extent of territory, 
 even where they are definite, are very irregular, and 
 greatly exceed the straight-lined dimensions. From 
 the extreme east, there are about 800 miles of sea- 
 boundary, westward on the south side, without rec- 
 koning the smaller bays and creeks. Westward of 
 this, there are nearly 600 miles of a boundary along 
 the land, which is not absolutely settled. At the 
 extremity of that boundary, the great river St. Law- 
 rence separates the British territory from the United 
 States, extending south-westward for about 100 
 miles to Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is 150 miles 
 on the straight line to the mouth of the River Nia- 
 gara ; but the shores of that lake make, at least, 
 250 miles of coast. The River Niagara to Lake 
 Erie is about 25 miles ; and Lake Erie is 250 miles 
 on the straight line. From the head of Lake Erie, 
 through Lake St. Clair, to Lake Huron, is about 
 100 miles; Lake Huron is, at least, 300 miles, and 
 Lake Superior 400 miles. From the head of Lake 
 Superior the boundary stretches north-westward to 
 the Lake of the Woods ; and thence westward along 
 the parallel of 49°. The words of the treaty say, 
 
 ( 
 
POCKET COMPWIO.V. 
 
 77 
 
 
 
 that it is to be drawn to the Mississippi ; but the 
 source of the Mississippi is southward of the Lake of 
 the Woods. The north-west angle of the Lake of 
 the Woods being in 49° 20', the boundary stretches 
 southward to the parallel of 49° ; then westward 
 along that parallel to the highest ridge of the rocky 
 mountains ; and thence on the parallel 42° 50', to 
 the Pacific Ocean. A portion of the north west is 
 claimed by Russia as far south as to about the 51° 
 of latitude, and the Russian portion may be consi- 
 dered as bounded eastward by the meridian of 
 about 140° west of Greenwich, from Mount Elias 
 to the shores of the Arctic Sea. In the present state 
 of the country, however, those boundaries are not 
 of much consequence ; though the fur trade from 
 North-western America to China is a source of 
 very considerable revenue to the Russians. Rec- 
 koning the boundary only as far as Lake Superior, 
 there are, exclusive of bays, upwards of 2000 miles 
 which are water, and generally speaking, navigable 
 for vessels of large burden ; at least there are not 
 above 200 or 300 miles out of the 2000, that are 
 not deep water ; for the lakes have all the depth, 
 and all the danger of seas. 
 
 On the east coast the extent of water boundary is 
 also very great. From the extreme point of the 
 island of Cape Breton westward, on the south side 
 
78 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 of the St. Lawrence to Quebec, where the sea navi- 
 g-ation may be said to end, there are, exclusive of 
 bays and creeks, at least 1000 miles of coast; and 
 700 may be considered as approachable on the north 
 side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. That portion of 
 the St. Lawrence from Quebec, south-westward, 
 which lies wholly within the British territory, is, at 
 least, 200 miles in length, which gives an additional 
 400 miles of navigable shore. So that, without 
 taking islands, other navigable rivers besides the St. 
 Lawrence, or irregularities of the coast into the ac- 
 count, it may be stated that the British provinces 
 in North America have nearly 5000 miles susceptible 
 of being approached by ships or boats of some de- 
 scription or other. Much of this water-communica- 
 tion too, lies in the interior of the country ; and it 
 may be said, that the only portion that is exposed 
 to hostility, is the 100 miles of the St. Lawrence 
 below Lake Ontario ; and for commercial purposes 
 that may be avoided by means of the Rideau Canal, 
 from Kingston on Lake Ontario, to Hull on the 
 Ottawa River. 
 
 It will be more convenient to divide the remain- 
 der of this chapter into sections. 
 
 Section I. — Provinces. 
 The British territories in North America, at least 
 
POCKET COMPANION, 
 
 79 
 
 i) 
 
 that portion of them which is fit for being the 
 permanent residence of inhabitants, consists of five 
 provinces : — Newfoundland ; Nova Scotia ; New 
 Brunswick, including Prince Edward's Island ; 
 and Lower and Upper Canada. The three pro- 
 vinces first mentioned, are not very well adapted 
 for the residence of emigrants ; and in Lower Ca- 
 nada the English settler labours under a disadvan- 
 tage, because the majority of the people are French. 
 
 Newfoundland. 
 
 Newfoundland is an island of an irregular tri- 
 angular shape, lying between about 46g and 511° 
 north latitude, and between about 52\ and 59^^ 
 west longitude. Its greatest length is about 350 
 miles, in its greatest breadth nearly 300. It oc- 
 cupies the northern portion of the entrance to the 
 Gulf of the St. Lawrence ; and it used to be valued 
 chiefly on account of the fishing on the great banks 
 to the southward of it. The great bank is nearly 
 700 miles in length from north to south ; the 
 breadth also is considerable ; and the quantity of 
 fish, more especially of cod, that resort to it during 
 the fishing season, which lasts from April to Oc- 
 tober, is almost incredible. Exclusive of other 
 nations, it is estimated that the British employ on 
 the average annually, about 400 ships of nearly 
 
80 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 100 tons each, and 2000 fishing shallops or busses 
 of about 10 tons each, the whole manned by up- 
 wards of 20,000 individuals, a portion of whom, 
 however, are landsmen. There are twelve men in 
 each shallop; and in good seasons these catch 
 about 20,000 cod, which are of firm consistency, 
 but seldom more than three feet in length. The 
 value of the fish thus annually caught by British 
 adventurers alone, is not much less than 5,000,000/. 
 — a vast revenue to derive from, the sea over one 
 assemblage of banks. 
 
 There is no doubt, that those vast banks have 
 been accumulated by the two currents in the sea, 
 one from the St. Lawrence, and the other along the 
 eastern shore of America, all the way from the Gulf 
 of Mexico. The latter current, being by much the 
 warmer of the two, forms the surface water; and 
 the difference of temperature is sometimes as much 
 as from 15° to 20° of the common thermometer. 
 Sweeping along as those currents do, there is no 
 question that they collect, from a vast extent of sea, 
 food for the great shoals of cod. The heat of the 
 water is, however, attended with considerable incon- 
 venience. When air passes over a moist surface, 
 warmer than itself, it becomes loaded with fog ; 
 and that fog is dense in proportion to the difference 
 of temperature between them. h\ few cases is 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 81 
 
 there so great a difference between the temperature 
 of the surface and that of the air, as when the wind 
 blows from north-east toward Newfoundland ; and 
 the consequence is, that the fogs are denser there, 
 not only on the banks and the shores of the island, 
 but in the adjoining places at some seasons, than in 
 almost any other part of the world. Though by no 
 means a desirable place to settle in, Newfoundland 
 now contains probably about 80,000 inhabitants, 
 which is more than three times the number it con- 
 tained about forty years ago. Some spots are 
 susceptible of cultivation, but in general the island 
 consists of rocky eminences, interspersed with 
 marshes, and forests of stunted and not very valu- 
 able timber. There are numbers of bears, wolves, 
 foxes, and deer in the forests ; the rivers and lakes 
 are plentifully supplied with salmon ; and beavers, 
 otters, and other water quadrupeds are abundant. 
 It does not appear that the well-known Newfound- 
 land dog is a native of the island. 
 
 IS 
 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 The province of Nova Scotia occupies the ex- 
 treme east of continental America, southward of the 
 St. Lawrence ; and it is one of the most perfect 
 examples of a peninsula any where to be met with. 
 Its greatest length, which lies in the direction of 
 
 E 5 
 
82 
 
 Till'- EMIGRANT S 
 
 i 
 
 north-east and south-west, is nearly 400 miles, and 
 its breadth varies from 50 to more than 100. The 
 south-east and south-west sides are washed by the 
 Atlantic. The north-west side is bounded by the 
 extensive Bay of Fundy, and its continuation, Chig- 
 necto Bay, then by about eleven miles of a neck of 
 land to Bay Bute, which communicates with the 
 Northumberland Strait, which has Prince Edward's 
 Island on the north side. On the north-east it is 
 separated from the island of Cape Breton by St. 
 George's Bay and the Gulf of Canseau, so that, 
 with the exception of the eleven miles alluded to, 
 it is entirely bounded by sea. It has been proposed 
 to cut a canal through this eleven miles, and thereby 
 avoid the long and dangerous navigation round 
 Cape Breton; and an estimate under 70,000/. has 
 been given, for one that would admit vessels drawing 
 eight feet of water ; but it is doubtful if a due esti- 
 mate of the different rise of the tides has been made. 
 There are many creeks and inlets, several of which, 
 especially that at Halifax the capital, form excel- 
 lent, capacious, and safe harbours. In the Bay of 
 Fundy and its continuations, the tides rise to a 
 very great elevation, — more so than, perhaps, in 
 any other part of the world, as the opening of the 
 bay is right against the line of the current from the 
 south. 
 
 
POCKKT COMTAMON. 
 
 83 
 
 Though not a mountainous country, there being- 
 no elevation exceeding six hundred feet, Nova 
 Scotia is very much diversified by hill and dale ; 
 and it is remarkably well supplied with water. The 
 province altogether contains about nine millions of 
 acres, of which two millions are described as good 
 soil, three millions as moderate, two millions are 
 bad, and the remainder is absolutely sterile and 
 unfit for cultivation. About four millions of acres 
 are already appropriated ; and as these are equal 
 to all the good lands, and two-thirds of the mid- 
 dling sort, the remaining five millions hold out few 
 temptations to settlers. 
 
 The winters in Nova Scotia are long and cold ; 
 and the spring is remarkably short, so that the land 
 is cultivated at considerable expense, as more la- 
 bourers are wanted at that season than can be 
 employed during the rest of the year. The climate 
 is moist, and very foggy in the spring and autumn ; 
 but it is said to be disagreeable rather than un- 
 healthy. The wind, which is most pernicious, both 
 to vegetation and health, is a cold drying wind; 
 and not one that is so much charged with moisture 
 as to produce fogs. Both the people and the crops 
 suffer far more from the winds in the United States, 
 than they do in Nova Scotia. Vegetation is very 
 rapid and vigorous in the latter ; the fields are richly 
 
 i < 
 
84 
 
 TIIK EMUJllANT S 
 
 .ifreen ; and the potato, though understood to be a 
 native of the tropical parts of America, thrives better 
 in Nova Scotia than in any other part of the conti- 
 nent. 
 
 It was mentioned that Halifax has an excellent 
 harbour, — indeed it is one of the best in America — 
 accessible at all seasons, and capable of receiving 
 more than a thousand vessels, which can anchor in 
 perfect safety. The town corresponds. It contains 
 about fifteen thousand inhabitants; and in 1828 
 the exports, exclusive of coasting trade, amounted 
 to nearly 250,000/. ; and the imports to upwards 
 of 700,000/. Both ways, about 1100 vessels were 
 employed, and upwards of 6600 men. Pictou, on 
 the opposite coast of the same province, (Halifax is 
 eastward on the Atlantic), has a commodious har- 
 bour, and though there is a bar across it, there are 
 twenty-two feet on that at low water. There are 
 many other commodious towns and harbours in 
 Nova Scotia ; there is also an abundant supply of 
 coal, iron-stone, and building and grit stones ; but 
 from the circumstance that has been already stated, 
 as well as from its almost insular situation, it is 
 not the best possible country for emigrants ; and 
 altogether its characters are commercial rather than 
 agricultural — better adapted for speculating capi- 
 talists than for simple settlers. 
 
POCKET COMPAXION. 
 
 85 
 
 New Brunswick. 
 
 The province of New Brunswick lies immediately 
 to the west of Nova Scotia, from which it is separated 
 by the Bay of Fundy and Chignecto, and Bay Verte 
 on the St. Lawrence side ; and the northern part of 
 the east boundary is formed by Northumberland 
 Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Bay of 
 Chaleure, and the River Ristigauche, which falls 
 into that bay, form the separation from Lower Ca- 
 nada on the north ; and the western boundary, 
 from the Bay of Passamaquaddy northward, is 
 formed by the district of Maine in the United 
 States. 
 
 New Brunswick is a large province, containing 
 nearly 18,000,000 of acres, by computation; but a 
 small portion only of it is settled, and the rest con- 
 sists of vast forests. Great quantities of timber 
 have been cut down in those forests ; though the 
 operation has, in general, been carried on in rather a 
 slovenly manner, and double the quantity that has 
 been used has been wasted. The winter in New 
 Brunswick is long and severe, the thermometer being 
 sometimes as much as 50° below freezing ; and in 
 the summer it rises as high as 90°. It does not 
 appear, however, that the climate is unhealthy. 
 
86 
 
 Tin: KMUiR.VNT s 
 
 tliou^i^li it miiy, and intleed must, be more so than 
 that of Nova Scotia. The rivers in the interior are 
 generally fro/en over in winter ; but the harbours 
 that open into the Bay of Funcly are never wholly 
 blocked up by the ice. 
 
 Section II. — Tin: Caxadas. 
 
 The provinces of Lower and Upper Canada may 
 be described as occnpying the whole of the lower 
 valley of the St. Lawrence, and the northern hall 
 of the upper, and of the basin of the great hikes. 
 
 Lower Canada. 
 
 The lower province lies between 45*^ and 52° of 
 north latitude, and 63° and 81° of west longitude, 
 — thus having an extent from east to west of more 
 than 800 miles; and nearly 500 from north to 
 south. The northern boundary is the district of 
 East Maine, towards Hudson's Bay ; the eastern 
 boundaries are Labrador and the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence ; the southern New Brunswick, and 
 the United States ; the south-west Upper Ca- 
 nada, from which it is separated by the Ottawa 
 River, and the north-west the Hudson's Bay ter- 
 ritory. 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 87 
 
 iclll 
 
 are 
 urs 
 )llv 
 
 The province is divided into three principal dis- 
 tricts — Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers ; 
 vvitli the two minor ones of Gaspe and St. Francis. 
 These districts are subdivided into forty counties, 
 the names of which, with the number of holdings, 
 will be most conveniently shown in a tabular form. 
 It is to be borne in mind that the seigniories and 
 Jiefs are the old French grants while the province 
 belonged to that people, and they are held accord- 
 ing to the ancient feudal law of France. The 
 townships, on the other hand, are British grants, 
 and held upon the tenure of common soccage. 
 
 I > 
 
 The Montreal District contains, 19 Counties, 63 
 Seigniories, 6 Fiefs, and 59 Townships. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 S 
 5« 
 
 <L 
 
 
 1 
 
 Countie.'t. 
 
 a 
 
 .£ 
 
 tr! 
 
 a 
 if 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 f2 
 
 Acadie . . . 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 Rouville . . . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Ueauharnois . . 
 
 1 
 
 
 3 
 
 \ St. Ilyacinthe 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Berthier . . . 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 Shefford . . . 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 Chambly . . . 
 Lachenaye . . 
 La Prairie . . . 
 
 5 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Stanstead . . . 
 Terrebonne . . 
 Two Mountains . 
 
 4 
 3 
 
 
 6 
 3 
 6 
 
 L'Assomption 
 Missisqui . . . 
 Montreal . . . 
 Ottawa .... 
 Richelieu . . . 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 8 
 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 Vaudreuil . . 
 
 Vercheres . . . 
 ! Projected } 
 i Townships S 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 14 
 
 E 8 
 
88 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 The Quebec District contains, 13 Counties, 79 
 Seigniories, 12 Fiefs, and 38 Townships , 
 
 
 / 
 
 "^■^ 
 
 •/ 
 
 
 
 ""^ 
 
 [A 
 
 Coiuilifs. 
 
 iif 
 
 .T. 
 
 ■i 
 
 Coiintifs. 
 
 a 
 
 5J) 
 
 ,X1 
 
 e 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 
 
 v. 
 
 o. 
 
 H 
 
 
 CO 
 
 'jk 
 
 H 
 
 Beauce .... 
 
 7 
 
 
 9 
 
 Montmorenci . 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Bellecluisse . . . 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 Orleans . . . 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Dorchester . . 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Portneuf . . . 
 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 
 Kamouraska , . 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Quebec. . . . 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 L'lslet . . . 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Rimouski . . 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Lotbiniere . . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Saguenay . . . 
 
 6 
 
 
 1 
 
 Megantic . . . 
 
 • 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Three Rivers District contains, 6 Counties, 25 
 Seigniories, 9 Fiefs, atid 53 Townships. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 n 
 "3 
 
 42 
 
 4 
 
 a 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 2 
 
 Counties. 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 "v 
 
 Fiefs. 
 Towns. 
 
 Champlain , . 
 Drummond . . 
 Nioolet . . . 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 St. Maurice . . 
 Sherbrooke . . 
 Yamaska . . , 
 
 8 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 28 
 
 The Gaspe District contains, 2 Counties, 1 Seig- 
 niory, 6 Fiefs, and 10 Townships. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Sei;;ns. 
 
 Fiefs. 
 
 Towns. 
 
 Bonaventure 
 
 Gaspc 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 3 
 
79 
 
 POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 89 
 
 According to the census of 1829, the population 
 of those districts was as follows : — 
 
 Montreal 
 Quebec 
 Three Rivers . 
 Bonaventure 
 Gaspe 
 
 Total 
 
 268,681 
 
 143,761 
 
 51,657 
 
 5,160 
 
 2,617 
 
 471,876 
 
 In dancins: over the list of counties, the propor- 
 tion that the feudal tenures bear to the townships, 
 affords a means of judging whether the people be 
 chiefly French or British, a question of some im- 
 portance to British emigrants intending to take up 
 their abode in Lower Canada. Thus, for instance, 
 in the Montreal district, while Richelieu is wholly 
 French tenure, the country on the Ottawa is wholly 
 British. The French grants are the most accessi- 
 ble, and, generally speaking, the best lands in the 
 province. The whole surface of the French grants 
 amounts to little short of 10,000,000 of acres, but 
 more than the half of that immense surface is still 
 waste, and much of it is not fit for cultivation. 
 The best cultivated places are on the banks of the 
 St. Lawrence, the islands in that river, and some 
 of the tributaries that fall into it. The surveyed 
 
90 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 lands to be granted in townships amounts to nearly 
 the same as the feudal lands ; but they lie more in 
 the rear, and are in consequence neither so acces- 
 sible nor so valuable. In the interior, the town- 
 ships are about ten miles square ; and on the 
 rivers they are nine miles along the banks and twelve 
 miles backwards. One of these rectangular town- 
 ships contains eleven concessions, and each range 
 28 lots of 200 acres each inclusive of roads. Of 
 the 308 lots that are thus in a township, 88 are 
 reserved for the crown and the clergy, and 220 are 
 disposed of to settlers. 
 
 That portion of Lower Canada which lies on the 
 north, or left-hand bank, of the St. Lawrence may 
 be conveniently divided into three natural sections. 
 First, the country from the confluence of the 
 Ottawa with the St. Lawrence, including a small 
 portion on the opposite side of the mouth of the 
 Ottawa, to the confluence of the St. Maurice with 
 the St. Lawrence at the town of Trois Rivieres. 
 Secondly, from the last-mentioned river to the 
 mouth of the Seguenay, about 120 miles north- 
 eastward of Quebec ; and thirdly, from the Se- 
 guenay eastward along the estuary of the St. Law- 
 rence to Labrador. 
 
 ** The front which this," (the first section,) says 
 M. Bouchette, " presents on the Ottawa River, and 
 
rOCKET COMPANION. 
 
 91 
 
 on the St. Lawrence exceeds 450 miles ; the whole 
 of which distance, saving portages or carrying- 
 places in remote parts of the Ottawa, is navigable 
 for canoes and boats ; upwards of 200 miles of it 
 are navigable at long interstices, for steam-boats 
 drawing from four to fifteen feet water, and a sec- 
 tion of ninety miles, or the distance between Mon- 
 treal and Three Rivers, is actually navigated by 
 square-rigged vessels of various burdens, from 100 
 tons to 600." 
 j The settlers along the left or lower Canadian 
 
 bank of the Ottawa are chiefly British ; and though 
 much of the land there is in a state of wilderness, 
 and some of it marshy and subject to floodings 
 during the rai-is and melting of the snows, it is in 
 many places moderately fertile, better adapted for 
 grazing than the countries higher up ; and though 
 the climate is rather cold and moist, it is not very 
 unhealthy unless in the swamps where organic re- 
 mains are in a state of putrefaction. It is esti- 
 mated that more than 70,000 persons might be 
 comfortably located in that district alone. As 
 Three Rivers are approached, the land in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the St. Lawrence is more occu- 
 pied by French settlers, and consequently the 
 townships disposable to British emigrants are in 
 the rear and not so accessible. 
 
92 
 
 THE EMIGRAKT S 
 
 The bank of the St. Lawrence, for a considerable 
 portion of this extent is rich and beautiful, and so 
 is the island of Montreal, and some of the smaller 
 isles ; but the inhabitants have been a little over- 
 zealous in cutting down the timber. 
 
 The second section on the north — that from the 
 St. Maurice to the Seguenay, has a sea, or river 
 coast of about 190 miles, at the middle of which 
 the city of Quebec is situated. Above Quebec, 
 the seigniories are settled to a considerable dis- 
 tance back, with the exception of Ghamplain and 
 Cap la Magdalene, immediately to the eastward of 
 the St. Maurice, which are sandy, barren, and 
 hardly worth cultivating. In other places, the soil 
 toward the river is moderately good ; and it is 
 said to improve in the interior. Eastward of Que- 
 bec, the general surface of the country is more 
 elevated ; and the valleys of the rivers that flow 
 into the estuary of the St. Lawrence afford some 
 fine scenery. The population of this section 
 amounts to about 70,000. The interior of this 
 section has been but recently explored by the 
 British, and the settlements do not extend many 
 miles to the northward of Quebec. It is full of 
 streams and small lakes. 
 
 Of the third section, from the Seguenay east- 
 ward to Anee au Sablon, on the confines of Labra- 
 
 } 
 
POCKET COMPAXIOV. 
 
 93 
 
 dor, little is known except the coast, which ex- 
 tends along the estuary and gulf of the St. Law- 
 rence for between 600 and 700 miles. Wolves 
 and bears are the chief inhabitants. The hills are 
 supposed to contain mines ; but the climate is far 
 from inviting, and there is nothing to induce emi- 
 grants to settle in that part of the country. Rug- 
 ged cliffs, not lofty enough for being grand, inter- 
 spersed with forests or clumps of stunted pines and 
 spruces that appear bent and twisted by the fury 
 of the storms, are among the most characteristic 
 features of that inhospitable section of northern 
 Canada. 
 
 On the south side of the St. Lawrence there are 
 also three convenient natural sections of the coun- 
 try. First, westward of the Chaudi^re, which falls 
 into the St. Lawrence a little above Quebec ; 
 secondly, the country from the Chaudi^re to the 
 western frontier of the Gaspe district ; and thirdly, 
 that district itself. 
 
 The section to the west of the Chaudiere is a 
 very interesting portion of the province. Its form 
 is nearly triangular, having the American states of 
 New Hampshire, Vermount, and New York, on the 
 south, along the parallel of 45°, the St. Lawrence 
 on the north-west, and the remainder of southern 
 Canada on the east. The general position of the 
 
 .» i ] 
 
 I 1 
 
94 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 surface is a gradual slope from the high lands on 
 the American frontier to the St. Lawrence ; but 
 various insulated hills prevent its character from 
 being tame, and also supply it with water. The 
 shores of the St. Lawrence are granted in seigniories, 
 to a considerable distance from the river, so that 
 the townships are in the vicinity of the United 
 States, with which there is a water communication 
 along Lake Champlain to the Hudson River at New 
 York. Many parts of the section are rich land ; but 
 the British part of the population labour under some 
 disadvantages; they want good roads, and they 
 have people speaking a different language between 
 them and the St. Lawrence. In some parts, too, 
 there are extensive marshes and very close forests. 
 The second section, or that between the right 
 bank of the Chaudifere and the confines of Gaspe, 
 is less valuable ; and if the boundary claimed by 
 the United States — that which includes, on their 
 side, all the northern feeders of the upper part of 
 the river St. John — is to be the ultimate one, it will 
 be much smaller. That boundary cuts off more 
 than a million and a half of acres. The hills of 
 this part of Canada, approach wuthin sixty miles of 
 the St. Lawrence ; but the population does not ex- 
 tend so far, being confined to a tract of about nine 
 miles in breadth along the St. Lawrence and the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 95 
 
 right bank of the Chaudiere. The greater part of 
 the interior is an absolute wilderness, and has not 
 been even surveyed. 
 
 The third section on the south side of the estuary 
 is the territory of Gaspe. There are some patches 
 of good land on the coasts ; but the interior is a 
 thick forest, destitute of roads. 
 
 Such are the principal localities in Lower Ca- 
 nada; and perhaps the safest conclusion that can 
 be drawn from the very short notice that has been 
 taken of them is, that the country on the Ottawa 
 is probably the most eligible part of the province 
 for British emigrants, who resort to the country 
 for the purpose of cultivating the soil, and sup- 
 porting themselves and their families on the pro- 
 duce. 
 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 Upper Canada was separated from the lower 
 province in 1791, chiefly on purpose that there 
 might be one active colony in which the law of 
 property might be the same as in England. The 
 boundaries of the province, where they are in the 
 meantime of much importance, are very definite: 
 the centre of the St. Lawrence, of the great lakes, 
 and of their connecting narrows and streams, from 
 the boundary between and the United States, till 
 
96 
 
 THK EMIGRANT b 
 
 the distance westward into the wilderness becomes 
 so great, that a few miles one way or the other, 
 are not, in the meantime, much worth disputing 
 about. With the exception of a small corner to- 
 ward the St. Lawrence, which, having been granted 
 in seigniorage, it was desirable to include in the 
 lower province ; the Ottawa forms an equally defi- 
 nite boundary on the north-east, and the other 
 boundaries are in the wilderness. That toward 
 the north may however be considered as being de- 
 finite, being the water-shed between the sources 
 of the streams that flow toward the lakes or the 
 St. Lawrence, and those flow toward Hudson's 
 Bay. The whole extent of surface in Upper Ca- 
 nada exceeds 21,000,000 of acres; and the follow- 
 ing are the chief subdivisions : — 
 
 Districts. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Townships. 
 
 Population 1830. 
 
 Eastern 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 19,755 
 
 Ottawa 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 3,833 
 
 Johnstown .... 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 20,417 
 
 Bathurst 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 16,005 
 
 Midland 
 
 4 
 
 40 
 
 34,190 
 
 Newcastle 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 14,951 
 
 Home 
 
 2 
 
 52 
 
 28,565 
 
 Gore 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 20,945 
 
 Niagara 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 20,916 
 
 London 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 22,803 
 
 Western 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 9,288 
 
 11 
 
 27 
 
 277 
 
 211,668 
 
 I 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 97 
 
 W 
 
 
 Each township is estimated as containing about 
 61,600 acres, which gives a total of more than 
 17,000,000. Of these about 7,000,000 are already 
 granted, four of 500,000 are reserved, and there are 
 5,500,000 still to grant. 
 
 There are three natural divisions of Upper Ca- 
 nada, formed by two ridges of hills, or at least 
 elevations. The first ridge forms the south-western 
 boundary of what may be called the valley of the 
 Ottawa ; and the second ridge separates the 
 streams that flow northward into Lake Simcoe and 
 Lake Huron, from those that flow southward into 
 Lake Ontario. 
 
 The eastern division, as marked by these ridges, 
 comprises the Eastern district, and the districts of 
 Ottawa, Johnstown, Midland, and Bathurst. 
 
 Situated between two great rivers, and being no- 
 where very elevated, that part of the province is 
 fertile; but it abounds in marshes and swamps. 
 In the eastern part the summit level is much nearer 
 the St. Lawrence than the Ottawa, Beginning at 
 the frontier of Lower Canada, the eastern and 
 Johnstown districts skirt the bank of the St. Law- 
 rence ; and the Ottawa, Bathurst, and Midland 
 districts that of the Ottawa, the last however ex- 
 tending as far south as Lake Ontario, and along 
 the shore of that lake to the river Trent on the 
 
 F 
 
98 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 borders of Newcastle. It is probable that the 
 most salubrious part of this division may be in the 
 Midland district, higher up the Ottawa than the 
 junction of the Madawaska, as there are hills 
 there ; but the climate must be more severe than 
 toward Lake Ontario. 
 
 The centre division contains the Newcastle and 
 the Home districts, occupying about 120 miles on 
 the north shore of Lake Ontario. The Newcastle 
 district extends indefinitely toward the forests on 
 the upper part of the Ottawa ; and the Home dis- 
 trict extends toward the shores of the Georgian 
 Bay of Lake Huron. Lake Simcoe, which discharges 
 its waters into the said bay through the river 
 Severn, would be a large lake in any other country 
 than Canada. It is at least fifty miles long, and 
 thirty at its greatest breadth. The interior of that 
 part of the country has not been very carefully ex- 
 plored, but the probability is that it abounds in 
 small lakes and swamps. 
 
 The remaining, or third division, to the westward 
 of the second ridge, contains the Gore, Niagara, 
 London, and Western districts. It is of an irregu- 
 lar triangular form, having the Home district. Lake 
 Ontario, and the river Niagara on the east. Lake Erie 
 on the south, and Lake St. Clair, the Narrows, and 
 Lake Huron on the west. With the exception of the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 99 
 
 elevated ridge (which after all is not more than 
 590 feet in elevation), there are no mountains in it; 
 and though it contains several rivers, water does 
 not abound so much in it, as in most other parts of 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 Such are the principal divisions of the Canadas ; 
 they are just hinted at so far as that the reader may 
 understand and apply the few general remarks in 
 the next chapter. 
 
 f2 
 
100 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NATIRAL CHARACTERS OF BRITISH 
 AMERICA. 
 
 f 
 
 To the labouring or agricultural emigrant, who 
 resorts to a new country in order to derive from its 
 natural capabilities and resources, when called 
 forth by his labour, that pure reward, comfort, and 
 prospect of bettering the condition of himself and 
 his family, which had been denied to him by the 
 artificial and highly improved state of the country 
 which he left or intends to leave, this is a sub- 
 ject of far more importance than mere situation. 
 Health is the foundation of every thing, and there- 
 fore the very first question to which a satisfactory 
 answer should be sought is, *' Is the country to 
 which he purposes to go healthy ?" That is a far 
 more important question to the man who is to 
 emigrate than to the man who is to stay at home. 
 At home, there is help of some sort at hand : there 
 
POCKET rOMPANMOV. 
 
 101 
 
 is a friend to look in, or there is, humiliating 
 though it be, the parish workhouse. But in the 
 Canadian forest, the nearest friend may be twenty 
 miles off, and there is not even a workhouse. To 
 be sure there is the certainty of food, and there is 
 labour in the open air, and cheerful labour, because 
 the man has all the good of it himself; and these 
 are far from the worst preventives of disease. It i« 
 a fact, that disease very seldom attacks a man when 
 he is warm working, if his heart go with the work, 
 and he do not over-exert himself and be obliged to 
 stop. 
 
 After the healthiness, perhaps the very next 
 questions in importance, are these that relate to 
 fire and water. ** Is fuel plentiful and accessible ? 
 Is water pure, and the supply constant ?" They 
 who live in some of the bleak gravelly districts, or 
 over the dull clayey sand, where there is nothing 
 upon or under the earth that will burn, no not so 
 much as a black heath-turf the thickness of a pan- 
 cake, can estimate the blessing of a ready fire, for 
 art or for warmth ; and they who live upon the 
 tough clays, where, in the summer heats, the sur- 
 face of the ground rings like an anvil, and the 
 small remnant of water in the clay-pit is green 
 with mud, and alive with the larvee of insects, can 
 tell how deliarhtful it would be to have a little 
 
102 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 fountain bubbling in crystal from the rock, or a 
 gallant river racing by at the garden's end. 
 
 What the earth will return to reward the culti- 
 vation, is another important inquiry ; and connected 
 with it there are the characters of the seasons, and 
 the times and manner of their changes. These have 
 reference not only to what is to be grown upon the 
 land, but also to the kind of habitations and cloth- 
 ing, and the period of the year at which it is most 
 profitable for the settlers to begin their operations. 
 
 The lengths of the different seasons, and the rapi- 
 dity and extent of their several changes, are also 
 matters of very great importance. If the change be 
 gradual, as it is in the soi^therly and low-lying parts 
 of England, field-work of some kind or other may 
 be carried on throughout the whole year ; but if the 
 summer and winter be comparatively long, and the 
 spring and autumn short, agricultural labour will be 
 more hurried, and require more hands during those 
 seasons, while there will be leisure in the other parts 
 of the year. It may be considered, that winter and 
 summer are longer, in proportion, in new countries 
 than in old ones having the same latitude ; end 
 thus the hands which in such countries are required 
 additional in the fields in spring and in autumn, 
 are useful during the summer and winter in pro- 
 curing fuel, repairing buildings, and making and 
 
POCKET COMPAMON. 
 
 103 
 
 mending the necessary implements. If the fuel is 
 turf, the summer is the season for winning it ; but 
 if wood, winter is decidedly the time, as wood 
 grubbed in the inactive state, is better fuel than 
 when grubbed in growth. This holds not only of 
 those trees that shed their leaves in winter, but also 
 of the pines and other evergreens, which contain a 
 much greater quantity of water in the summer 
 season, and thus have much more of the heat which 
 is produced by combustion, wasted in converting 
 that water into steam. 
 
 If the winter be severe, whether there be or be not 
 snow permanently on the ground during the keen 
 frosts, is an important consideration to the cultivator. 
 When open frosts prevail, crops sown in autumn 
 stand the winter upon very few soils, and even the 
 perennial grasses are seriously injured. In such 
 weather too, turnips and other bulbous and tuberous 
 roots suffer, more especially if there be sunshine 
 during the days. If a covering of snow lies upon 
 the ground, those evils are in a great measure obvi- 
 ated, as that snow not only preserves the crops 
 that may be in the ground, but also prevents the 
 soil itself from being chilled by the immediate con- 
 tact of the cold air. It is true that if the snow lies 
 to a considerable depth, there is an end of all grazing 
 for domestic animals during the period of its con- 
 
104 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ^^ 
 
 J 
 
 tinuance ; but if the snow melts rapidly, which it 
 generally does if it lies as long as the month of 
 April, it is almost immediately followed by very 
 rich and succulent herbage. When snow melts thus 
 rapidly, if the beds of the rivers are not all the 
 deeper, and their currents the more rapid, there are 
 apt to be spring floods, which render it inconvenient 
 to have winter crops on the rich bottoms near the 
 rivers ; but the loss thereby sustained is to a consi- 
 derable extent made up by the deposition of new 
 soil left by the floods. 
 
 Another important inquiry for the settler is, what 
 are the direct natural products that the country is to 
 yield ? What timber is there for domestic purposes 
 or for fuel ? What fruits, seeds, or roots, are eat- 
 able ? What animals may be procured by the gun 
 or otherwise, and what is the value of their flesh, 
 their skin, their fur, or their feathers ? What do the 
 rivers yield in respect offish ? and how, when neces- 
 sity requires, may the said rivers and their tribu- 
 tary streams be employed for water-carriage and for 
 water-power ? These, and a variety of other ques- 
 tions connected with the nature of the country, are 
 necessary to be considered, with respect to the indi- 
 vidual emigrant's own comfort in his locality ; and 
 previous altogether to any consideration connected 
 with society and its arts, and the consequent de- 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 105 
 
 pendance of the several members of the community 
 upon each other. To solve all those questions in 
 detail, is more than the compass of any one volume, 
 or the life of any one man could embrace ; and as the 
 different ones vary in importance, with the views of 
 individuals as well as with the characters of places, 
 a selection of the details of a few would be of very 
 little use. A few general sketches, however, may 
 be of some service ; and a person of ordinary intel- 
 ligence can fill up the details for himself. 
 
 Section I. — General Aspect of the Country, 
 
 Leaving out of the consideration the islands, and 
 Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, as far as the 
 Bay of Chaleurs, British America may be consi- 
 dered as occupying the whole of the lower part of 
 the valley of the St. Lawrence, and the northern 
 portion of the upper part of that valley and the 
 plains of the great lakes. That portion of the 
 country which lies on the south of the St. Law- 
 rence has its general slope toward the north ; and 
 that which lies on the north has its general slope 
 toward the south ; but as the upper country (which 
 may he seen in the map) is ve|y much broken into 
 peninsulas by the lakes, and as the river Ottawa is 
 of great length and magnitude, the particular slopes 
 
 F 5 
 
106 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 of correspondingly large portions must be toward 
 these. 
 
 Some parts of Canada are hilly ; but there are 
 scarcely any that have a decidedly mountainous 
 character ; and those that approach to that cha- 
 racter, are remote from the St. Lawrence, or still 
 unsettled. 
 
 On the northern side of the St. Lawrence a 
 ridge of heights, which may be considered as a 
 continuation of those of Labrador, extends west- 
 ward close by the estuary, and forms rugged banks 
 as far as Cape Tourment, about thirty-five miles 
 below Quebec. From that point it follows the course 
 of the St. Lawrence westward for about 300 miles, 
 leaving a plain of from fifteen to thirty miles in 
 breadth. That tract of country is sheltered from 
 the north, well watered, level, fertile, and beauti- 
 ful ; and it forms great part of the old French 
 grants in Lower Canada. When the junction of 
 the Ottawa is approached, those mountains or hills, 
 turn to the north-west, and approach the bank of 
 the Ottawa at about 100 miles from its junction 
 with the St. Lawrence. Thence the ridge proceeds 
 northward toward the heights that separate the 
 northern part of Canada from the Hudson's Bay 
 Company's territory. 
 
 About 200 miles inland from the last-mentioned 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 107 
 
 ridge, there is another and, generally speakhig, a 
 more elevated one, which divides the sources of the 
 tributaries of the St,, Lawrence from those of the 
 Hudson's Bay rivers., The extensive back-country 
 between those two ridges is not, properly speaking, 
 a valley, but rather a table-land of irregular sur- 
 face, and most of the rivers that descend from the 
 Canada side of it have falls and rapids. It con- 
 tains no settlers ; but is one extensive forest, inter- 
 spersed with rocks, barren summits, and marshes, 
 and frequented only by a few hordes of wandering 
 Indians, and by the agents of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, who resort thither in summer to purchase 
 skins of the Indians. The characters and the ca- 
 pabilities of that part of the country are very little 
 known. 
 
 On the south side of the St. Lawrence, an ele- 
 vated ridge commences about 100 miles below 
 Quebec, and proceeds in a south-westerly direc- 
 tion, being about thirty miles distant from the river 
 when opposite to the city. Thence it turns south- 
 erly along the eastern bank of the Chaudiere, to- 
 ward the sources of that river. 
 
 Beyond this ridge, and about fifty miles inland 
 of it, there is another and loftier elevation, to which 
 the name of the Highlands, or Land's Height, is 
 given, because it divides the waters that flow to 
 
108 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 the estuary of the St. Lawrence from those that 
 How to the Ristigauche and the St. John. This 
 last ridge may be traced from Cape Rosiere, the 
 eastmost point of Gaspe to the sources of the Con- 
 necticut River, about latitude 45° and longitude 
 71°, which is an extent of about 400 miles. It 
 meets the former ridge on the upper part of the 
 Chaudi^re; and the country between them, like 
 the hilly part of the north, is but little known. 
 The shores of the St. Lawrence and banks of the 
 Chaudi^re are for some miles fertile and thickly 
 settled. As, from the sources of the Connecticut 
 River, the Canadian boundary extends westward 
 on the parallel of 45° to Regis on the St. Lawrence, 
 the summit level, which is, however, no great ele- 
 vation, passes southward into the territory of the 
 United States ; and the whole of Canada between 
 the parallel of 45° and the St. Lawrence is a gentle 
 slope, diversified, however, by occasional elevations. 
 Many parts of it are fertile, and the climate is very 
 good. 
 
 In Upper Canada there is hardly any marking 
 of the country by mountain ridges. The height to 
 the northward of Lake Ontario is very trifling ; and 
 the limestone ridge, and the Queenston heights, 
 which may be traced westward along the southern 
 shore of Lake Ontario ; the cutting of which by the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 109 
 
 water, forms the great gulf below the Fall of Nia- 
 gara, the remaining breast of which occasions the 
 fall itself, and which may be traced into the State 
 of New York, is the only portion of the country 
 between Lake Erie and the Georgian Bay of Lake 
 Huron, that can be considered as at all hilly. 
 There are dry lands and moist lands, infertile prai- 
 ries and rich bottoms, in various parts of the dis- 
 trict ; but the prairies are downs and not hills, and 
 they owe their dryness and infertility more to the 
 porous nature of the subsoil than to their ele- 
 vation. 
 
 Glancing back at what has been stated, the fol- 
 lowing are the general featurer of the Canadas : in 
 Lower Canada, the back country in the north is 
 hilly desert ; and so is that in the south as far as 
 the river Chaudi^re. Both those districts abound 
 in forests of large trees in the bottoms, and stunted 
 ones on the hills ; but these in general stand where 
 they are inaccessible, and therefore useless. As 
 there are no inducements to the agriculturist in 
 either of these districts, the emigrant may omit them 
 in his consideration of the Canadas. The country 
 on the north side of the St. Lawrence, eastward of 
 Quebec, and on the banks of the estuary, is hilly 
 and picturesque ; but the patches of land fit for 
 profitable cultivation are comparatively few. On 
 
110 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ■■'i V 
 
 the south side of the river, the patches of good land 
 are more abundant; but they are detached from 
 each other, and there is a great want of roads. The 
 valley of the St. Lawrence, as far as Lower Canada 
 extends, is fertile and well watered ; but the most 
 valuable parts of it, namely, those immediately ad- 
 joining the river and its navigable branches, are 
 chiefly occupied in seigniories by French Canadians. 
 
 The valley of the Ottawa is not so wide as that 
 of the St. Lawrence, and it is more irregular and 
 broken by hills ; but it in consequence affords finer 
 situations for rural buildings, and admits of more 
 varied culture. The lower parts of it flood more, 
 during the melting of the snows, than those of the 
 St.' Lawrence. 
 
 From the junction of the Ottawa to Kingston, at 
 the bottom of Lake Ontario, the country on the St. 
 Lawrence is very flat, only a few feet above the 
 level of the water in the river. The back country 
 there is full of swamps ; and as the upper part of 
 the Ottawa is approached, there are hills. With 
 few exceptions, the whole of Upper Canada may be 
 regarded as an alluvial deposit ; gravel and sand in 
 the dry places, and clay, of various degrees of con- 
 sistency, in the others. 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Section IT. — Rivers and Lakes. 
 
 The waters of every country are important fea- 
 tures of it ; but there are few countries in which 
 they are so very important as in the Canadas. 
 
 The St. Lawrence claims the chief notice, al- 
 though for a great part of its extent and its con- 
 tinuation through the lakes, it is merely the bound- 
 ary of the British territory. Though the St. Law- 
 rence is by no means the largest river on the globe, 
 yet if we take into consideration the lakes through 
 which it passes, it is certainly the largest accumu- 
 lation of fresh water any where to be met with ; 
 and its estuary and gulf are proportionally large 
 as compared with those of most rivers. The whole 
 length, lakes and all, cannot be estimated at less 
 than 200 miles; and as the very largest lakes 
 (Superior, Huron, and Michigan,) are near the 
 source of the river, the St. Lawrence, whenever it 
 narrows so as to have a current and be considered 
 a river, rolls onward a vast body of water. 
 
 There is one remarkable feature in the valley of 
 the St. Lawrence, in which it differs from those of 
 many other great rivers, and would lead us to sup- 
 pose that the emptying of a series of lakes has 
 brought the country into its present state. The 
 
 1 ,■■ 
 
112 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 great lakes toward the source of the St. Lawrence 
 occupy almost the summit level of that part of the 
 country, the sources of the rivers that flow south- 
 ward being but at a short distance southward, and 
 those that flow to the north at no great distance to 
 the northward. In the lower part of the valley 
 too, the first ridges of mountains are very near the 
 river on both sides, and it is possible that they 
 may have at one time been united below Quebec so 
 as to lay not only the lower part of the valley but 
 great part of the alluvial land in Upper Canada 
 under water. That however is a subject more in- 
 teresting to the naturalist than to the emigrant ; 
 although an emigrant will find a moderate degree 
 of natural knowledge more serviceable to him than 
 any other kind of knowledge, in a country where 
 nature and natural productions must form both his 
 business and his pleasure. At its mouth, b'tween 
 Gaspe and the opposite shore, the St. Lawrence is 
 at least ninety miles broad ; and at the mouth of 
 the Saguenay about 120 miles below Quebec, 
 which is 260 miles up the river, its breadth is 
 eighteen miles : 400 miles of it are navigable for 
 ships of the line, and vessels of 600 tons burden 
 may without much difficulty ascend to Montreal, 
 which is about 160 miles farther. For vessels 
 larger than this, the navigation is intricate, in con- 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 113 
 
 sequence of the number of islands and shoals, and 
 the currents that set between them. 
 
 The falls of the Niagara may be considered as 
 dividing the navigation of the St. Lawrence into 
 two equal parts. Above the falls there is an inland 
 navigation, having no direct intercourse with the 
 sea ; but there is scope enough for navigation of 
 any burden. The distance from Lake Erie to the 
 head of the falls is about twenty miles, and the 
 descent is fifteen feet for nineteen and a half miles, 
 and fifty-one feet for the last half mile ; so that to 
 approach within that distance of the falls is ex- 
 ceedingly dangerous. The fall is accompanied by 
 a remarkable bend and contraction in the river, 
 and when the limestone bank between the fall 
 and Queenston is examined, it becomes evident 
 that the fall has once been much higher than it is 
 now. The top of the limestone heights about a 
 mile from Queenston is about 350 feet above the 
 surface of the river, and that at the present falls in- 
 cluding the rapid is only 200. The channel, too, is 
 in many parts less than one-fourth the width of the 
 present fall, so that in former times the action of 
 the water must have been tremendous, and the cut- 
 ting through the strata must have been propor- 
 tionally great. The fall is divided into two parts 
 by Goat Island ; the portion on the American side is 
 
114 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 by much the higher ; and thus the rapid above the 
 fall in it, is not so violent as it is in the northern 
 or main fall, which has worn the rock into a horse- 
 shoe form. One hundred and sixty-two feet is the 
 present height of the American side of the fall; 104 
 feet the descent of the rapid in the narrow from the 
 base of the fall to Queenston, two feet more from 
 Queenston to Lake Ontario, to which, adding the 
 sixteen feet of descent from Lake Erie to the head 
 of the falls, gives a total of 344 feet difference of 
 elevation between the upper navigation of the St. 
 Lawrence and the lower. That is, of course, a com- 
 plete bar to the river navigation, as craft cannot 
 enter even the rapid below the fall, but the tran- 
 sport of goods may be effected by the Welland 
 Canal, from the mouth of the river Ouse on Lake 
 Erie, to Lake Ontario, 
 
 The navigation of Lake Ontario is fit for vessels 
 of any burden ; but between that lake and Mon- 
 treal there are rapids, and difficult channels, and 
 in some places the main channel of the river is 
 under the control of the Americans. From Lake 
 Ontario downward, the river expands into several 
 smaller lakes; and these lakes, as well as many 
 parts of the river itself, are very beautifully 
 studded with islands. The Lake of the Thousand 
 Isles, at the bottom of Lake Ontario, is very beauti- 
 
 ■ 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 115 
 
 till ; and after it the Lakes of St. Francis and St. 
 Louis follow in succession. Immediately below St. 
 Louis there is the Stzult or rapid of San Louis, 
 which is passed with considerable difficulty. The 
 island of Montreal, wl 'ch is of considerable extent 
 and very tastefully and highly cultivated, occu- 
 pies the centre of another lake ; and, near Three 
 Rivers, the St. Lawrence expands into Lake St. 
 Pierre, the largest below Lake Ontario. The St. 
 Lawrence may be considered as affording an unin- 
 terrupted ship and steam-boat navigation through- 
 out the whole length of Lower Canada, and a pas- 
 sage, surmountable by boats with some assistance 
 in the ascents, along the boundary of Upper Ca- 
 nada as far as Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario again 
 forms a ship and steam-boat navigation, and more 
 navigations occur on the lakes of the higher level. 
 
 The second river is the Ottawa, which may be 
 traced nearly 400 miles toward the mountains. 
 Not far from its junction with the St. Lawrence, 
 that is at Point Fortune, the Ottawa is interrupted 
 by rapids which render the ascent difficult, and at 
 Grenville the descent becomes more rapid in the 
 Long Sault, which requires all the skill of the Ca- 
 nadian boatmen. A canal is in progress to over- 
 come this impediment. For sixty miles farther, to 
 Hull, at the confluence of the Rideau River, there 
 
 it I 
 J 
 
116 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 is an uninterrupted navigation in a wide and placid 
 channel ; and immediately above these, are the falls 
 of Chaudiere, or the Cauldron. The total extent of 
 fall there is about sixty feet, so that there is a total 
 interruption to navigation. Above those falls, the. 
 river expands into the Lake of Chaudiere and Des 
 Chats ; and farther up there are successive rapids 
 and falls, so that though many parts of the Ottawa 
 are well adapted for local communication, it could 
 not easily be converted into a general navigation. 
 
 The other Canadian rivers are chiefly tributaries 
 of those that have been mentioned, or they fall 
 into the lakes. 
 
 The branches of the Ottawa, the chief of which 
 fall into it on the eastern or Lower Canada side, 
 are, like the Ottawa itself, interrupted by many rapids 
 and falls which, in an improved state of the coun- 
 try, will be highly advantageous for driving ma- 
 chinery. The principal ones are, the Calumet, the 
 Petite Nation (one on each bank), the two rivers 
 Blanche, the Aux Lievres, and Gatineau. 
 
 The Calumet flows through the country of the 
 Two Mountains ; it is deep and rapid, and abounds 
 with fish, but though the breadth is sixty or seventy 
 feet, it is navigable only for a few miles. The falls 
 on it may in time be valuable. There are quarries 
 of marble, or mountain limestone, on some parts of 
 its banks. 
 
 ' 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 117 
 
 f 
 
 The Petite Nation has a southern course of about 
 100 miles, the whole of which is rapid and unfit for 
 navigation, excepting- a few miles toward its junc- 
 tion with the Ottawa. At the head of the naviga- 
 ble part there are saw mills, where a great quan- 
 tity of the timber, with which the interior of this 
 part of the country abounds, is sawed for domestic 
 purposes. The planks and other forms into which 
 the timber is cut, are sent down from the mills to 
 the navigable part of the river, in a wooden canal, 
 2400 feet in length. The timber thus prepared is 
 floated in rafts as far as Quebec. 
 
 The great river Blanche has a course of about 
 100 miles; for the lowest fifteen of which it is na- 
 vigable during the spring floods ; but the upper 
 part is rapid. Like the last-mentioned river, it is 
 much employed in floating tinr.ber towards the 
 Ottawa. 
 
 The Gatineau rises in some lakes of considerable 
 size towards the Hudson's Bay country, and enters 
 the Ottawa a little below Hull. Steam-boats can 
 ascend it for four or five miles ; but then there 
 occur rapids which prevent the descent of timber 
 by the river. Above those rapids the river again 
 becomes navigable for the canoes of the Indians, 
 and is said to continue so for a distance of 300 
 miles. The Gatineau is by much the largest 
 
 :' ''I 
 
118 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 branch of the Ottawa, its confluence with that 
 river is nearly opposite to that of the Rideau, which 
 is the largest branch of the river on the western 
 side, — at least, the largest that has been examined. 
 If, however, the country shall ever become suffi- 
 ciently peopled, it is possible that a water commu- 
 nication may be opened between the Ottawa and 
 Lake Huron through Nipissing Lake, the absolute 
 distance being not above 120 miles, and there 
 being water the greater part of the way. The 
 number of rivers that fall into the Ottawa, especi- 
 ally from the east, the length of their courses, the 
 rapidity of their currents, and the size and value 
 of the timber in the back country, are very fa- 
 vourable indications of this part of Canada. As 
 the larger branches fall into the lower part of the 
 Ottawa, the floods and frethets (floods produced 
 by the melting of the snow in spring) rise much 
 higher there than in the upper parts of the river. 
 Unless at particular spots, as about Point Fortune, 
 the immediate banks of the Ottawa are rather tame ; 
 but at a little distance the country on the eastern 
 side is finely diversified. 
 
 From the mouth of the Ottawa to Three Rivers, 
 the branches of the St. Lawrence, though nume- 
 rous, are of smaller dimensions. The St. Maurice, 
 which falls in at the town of Three Rivers, is of 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 119 
 
 •vith that 
 au, which 
 e western 
 xamined. 
 me suffi- 
 ' commu- 
 tawa and 
 
 absolute 
 nd there 
 y. The 
 I, especi- 
 irses, the 
 nd value 
 
 very fa- 
 ida. As 
 irt of the 
 produced 
 ise much 
 :he river. 
 Fortune, 
 er tame ; 
 e eastern 
 
 5 Rivers, 
 ti nume- 
 Maurice, 
 TS, is of 
 
 considerable magnitude, and may be considered as 
 the third branch, in point of size, which the St. 
 Lawrence receives from the north. The St. Mau- 
 rice has many branches, and many small lakes are 
 connected with it. The banks are steep, and the 
 soil on the surface, sandy, and clothed with forests 
 of pine. This river is navigable in some places, but 
 very much interrupted by rapids. The lower part 
 of the river is shallow, but some of the still places 
 farther up have a depth of at least forty fathoms. 
 
 The Saguenay to the eastward of Quebec, is a 
 very large river, and remarkable for its depth. At 
 its mouth it is a mile in breadth, and has been 
 sounded with 500 fathoms of line, without any bot- 
 tom being met with. Generally speaking, though the 
 river is large, it is too rapid for being available in 
 navigation, though it is accessible for vessels of any 
 size for about twenty-two leagues to Ha-ha Bay. 
 
 As the hills are near the St. Lawrence, in all the 
 parts of Lower Canada, southward of the river, and 
 to the eastward of Quebec, there are no streams 
 of any consequence in that part of the country. 
 Above the city, where the summit level is farther 
 from the bank of the St. Lawrence, the rivers are 
 of greater magnitude. The principal ones are the 
 Chaudi^re, which has already been mentioned as 
 falling into the St. Lawrence a little above Quebec ; 
 
 t' \M 
 
120 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 the Becancour, a little below ; and the Nicolet, a 
 little above the mouth of the St. Maurice, the St. 
 Francois, and the Yamasca, both into Lake St. 
 Pierre; the Richelieu from Lake Champlain, into 
 the upper part of the same ; and the Chateauguay, 
 opposite Montreal Island. 
 
 Of these rivers, the only one which deserves par- 
 ticular notice is the Richelieu, as it affords an im- 
 mediate communication between Canada and the 
 United States. It is about 150 yards wide at its 
 mouth; and navigable for vessels of 150 tons bur- 
 den for twelve or fourteen miles. Above that 
 there are interruptions, which might, however, be 
 removed. The upper part of the river is rapid, so 
 that the descent from Lake Champlain is more 
 easily performed than the return. There is much 
 traffic upon the river, in rafts of timber, in potash, 
 flour, and various other articles of produce. 
 
 In Upper Canada, the rivers are, from the form of 
 the country and the absence of mountains, much 
 smaller, though their courses are in general beau- 
 tifully winding, and they are consequently highly 
 useful as well as ornamental to the districts through 
 which they pass. Besides the Rideau, already men- 
 tioned, the principal explored branch of the Ottawa 
 in Upper Canada, is the Madawaska, which is sup- 
 posed to rise within a very short distance of the 
 
 It 
 
 the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 121 
 
 icolet, a 
 the St. 
 !jake St. 
 iin, into 
 iauguay, 
 
 ves par- 
 an inl- 
 and the 
 [le at its 
 ons bur- 
 )ve that 
 ever, be 
 apid, so 
 is more 
 is much 
 potash, 
 
 form of 
 , much 
 ill beau- 
 y highly 
 through 
 ly men- 
 Ottawa 
 I is sup- 
 of the 
 
 remotest sources of the Trent. The Trent winds 
 through the Newcastle district, and discharges its 
 waters into the Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario. 
 It is the only river of consequence which falls into 
 that lake. 
 
 Into Lake Erie, there falls only one river of con- 
 sequence, the Ouse. It rises in the back country, 
 about sixty miles north-west of York, and, after a 
 winding course of more than 100 miles, falls into 
 Lake Erie about thirty miles westward of the mouth 
 of the Niagara River. 
 
 The only other river which it is necessary to men- 
 tion in a mere sketch, is the Thames. It flows 
 south-westward for nearly the same length as the 
 Ouse, and empties itself into Lake St. Clair. 
 
 Although from the peninsular form of Upper Ca- 
 nada, and the character of the country as being 
 alluvial and destitute of mountains, it is tolerably 
 well watered by minor streams. 
 
 Almost all the rivers in Canada, both Upper and 
 Lower, abound with fish ; though in many cases 
 salmon are confined to the portions below the falls 
 and rapids. 
 
 The great Canadian lakes deserve a few words 
 of general notice. Lake Ontario is about 220 feet 
 higher than the level of tide water in the estuary 
 of the St. Lawrence ; so that, notwithstanding its 
 
 G 
 
122 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 rapids, that is the whole of its descent, from Queen- 
 stoii to the sea. Lake Ontario is about 183 miles 
 long, and forty-two miles broad ; and as the depth 
 is in some places 450 feet, these are 230 lower than 
 the tide-way, and consequently no wearing down of 
 the bed of the river could ever empty Lake Ontario. 
 Lake Erie, which is 334 feet above Lake Ontario, 
 and consequently 564 above the tide of the ocean, 
 is about 270 miles long, and twenty-five wide, on 
 an average. Its depth is much less than that of 
 Lake Ontario, being only about 220 feet where 
 deepest ; so that it might be entirely emptied by the 
 destruction of the neck of land at Niagara. 
 
 From Lake Erie to Lakes Huron and Michigan, 
 through the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, 
 which may be considered as being on nearly the 
 same level, there is not a rise of above thirty feet. 
 Lake Huron, the first of these, is 250 miles long, 
 120 miles broad, stands about 584 feet above the 
 level of the ocean, and has a depth of 860 feet. It 
 is very much broken with bays, and abounds with 
 large and fertile islands. 
 
 Lake Superior is connected with Lake Huron by 
 the strait of St. Mary, a passage about forty miles 
 long, and having a descent of only thirty-two feet. 
 But such is the pressure occasioned by the great body 
 of water in the lake, that about the middle of the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 123 
 
 Queen- 
 3 miles 
 e depth 
 er than 
 down of 
 )ntario. 
 )ntario, 
 i ocean, 
 ide, on 
 that of 
 t where 
 d by the 
 
 ichigan, 
 ;. Clair, 
 arly the 
 rty feet, 
 es long, 
 )0ve the 
 eet. It 
 ids with 
 
 uron by 
 ty miles 
 ,wo feet, 
 eat body 
 le of the 
 
 passage the current gets the name, and displays the 
 foam and noise of a fall. It cannot be ascended ; 
 and the descent, from the extreme agitation of the 
 water and the rapidity of its motion, is an under- 
 taking of considerable hazard. Lake Superior is 
 thus about 616 feet above the level of the tide in 
 the ocean ; and as its depth is reported to be in 
 some places 930 feet, it is, of course, more than 300 
 feet below the tide-way. That, however, is no un- 
 usual thing in lakes ; for Loch Ness, in Scotland, 
 which is not many feet above the level of the sea, 
 nor many miles from it, and the intermediate space 
 wholly gravel, is in some places 780 feet deep, 
 which exceeds the depth of any part of the sea 
 between Britain and the shores of the opposite 
 continent. 
 
 Different authorities state the dimensions of Lake 
 Superior so differently, that the probability is, that 
 not one of them is nearly correct, — indeed, a survey 
 of all the lakes, and of most of the rivers, and much 
 of the land in Canada, is very much wanted; but 
 from the nature of the country, through great part 
 of which surveyors have absolutely to cut their way 
 with the axe, and where stations cannot be seen 
 from each other, accurate surveying is no easy mat- 
 ter. The average of the dimensions given to Lake 
 Superior, are, a length of about 380 miles, and a 
 
 g2 
 
124 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 Ijreadth of about 160. The shores ^ive evidence 
 that, at some time, this lake has stood higher than 
 its present level ; — perhaps, forty or fifty feet higher. 
 The shores chiefly consist of clean sand, and the 
 water is beautifully transparent, at a little distance 
 from the shore ; the bottom is fine clay, mixed 
 with shells. 
 
 Extensive as these lakes are, there is none of 
 them of sufficient magnitude to have tides ; but 
 they are subject to differences of elevation, arising 
 from floods, from the action of winds, and from 
 differences of atmospherical pressure. They are 
 subject to violent storms ; and as fresh water is of 
 less specific gravity than that of the ocean, the 
 waves are of a more tumbling and splashing cha- 
 racter, and the hold which vessels take of the 
 water, is with the same depth of draught much less 
 steady. Those who navigate sailing vessels skil- 
 fully upon the lakes, require to be bred to that 
 particular kind of navigation. 
 
 Section III. 
 Climate, Seasons, and Weather. 
 
 The inhabited part of Canada lies between the 
 parallels of 42° and 48° of latitude, or the same as 
 the southern and central parts of Europe ; and if 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 125 
 
 jvidence 
 ler than 
 t higher, 
 and the 
 distance 
 , mixed 
 
 none of 
 es ; but 
 , arising 
 nd from 
 rhey are 
 iter is of 
 ean, the 
 ing cha- 
 ! of the 
 luch less 
 sels skil- 
 [ to that 
 
 IR. 
 
 ween the 
 same as 
 ; and if 
 
 we were to suppose that the seasons depend upon 
 latitude alone, we would be led to conclude that 
 they should be the same in Canada, and that a re- 
 moval to Upper Canada would be the same as one 
 to the south of France. Such a conclusion would, 
 however, be a very erroneous one, because climate 
 is affected by many circumstances, besides that of 
 mere geographical position and latitude. The win- 
 ter throughout the greater part of Europe is ren- 
 dered much milder than it otherwise would be, by 
 the current of warm air which generally sets in from 
 the south-west, and also by the current of warm 
 water, brought round by the circulating tides of 
 the Atlantic. The summer, on the other hand, is 
 made more temperate by the varied surface, the 
 lofty mountains and deep vallies, and the currents 
 of air at different temperatures, and the consequent 
 showers and evaporations that are produced by 
 those. Thus the local surface and the action of 
 the Atlantic conspire to blend together the seasons 
 in southern and western Europe ; and it is only to 
 the northward of the Carpathian mountains, and to 
 the eastward of the Baltic, that the climate approxi- 
 mates that of northern America, in the length and 
 severity of winter, the shortness of the spring, and 
 the heat and drought of the summer. In Canada 
 there is hardly any elevation that deserves the 
 
 
 i 
 
126 
 
 THE EM 10 11 ANT S 
 
 name of a mountain. We have seen that the ge- 
 neral rise of the country, from Quebec to Lake 
 Superior, is little more than 600 feet, and few 
 portions of the elevated ridges that have been de- 
 scribed, much exceed that elevation. Canada may, 
 therefore, be considered as a plain, having its cli- 
 mate almost entirely dependant on geographical 
 position, unless in so far as that is counteracted by 
 the forests. Accordingly, taking the line of the 
 St. Lawrence, the climate gets warmer and warmer, 
 as we proceed toward the south-west. At Quebec 
 apples grow abundantly, but the climate is too 
 cold for peaches and grapes; at Montreal, which is 
 rather more than a degree farther south, peaches 
 and grapes come to very considerable perfection; 
 and in the western districts of Upper Canada, those 
 fruits are found in the most luxuriant state. 
 
 There is another circumstance which has some 
 effect upon the climate of the different parts of 
 Canada. In the countries to the north-east, in- 
 cluding Greenland and the whole range of the 
 western part of the polar ice, much of the summer 
 heat is absorbed in the melting of ice and snow ; 
 and thus the summer atmosphere in those regions 
 is colder than from the latitude we would be led 
 to expect. As the air over Lower Canada begins 
 to be heated it ascends, and its place is supplied 
 by this colder and more dense air from the north- 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 127 
 
 the ge- 
 to Lake 
 and few 
 been de- 
 ida may, 
 g its cli- 
 jraphical 
 acted by 
 le of the 
 
 warmer, 
 t Quebec 
 te is too 
 
 which is 
 
 peaches 
 rfection ; 
 da, those 
 
 las some 
 
 parts of 
 
 •east, in- 
 
 j of the 
 
 summer 
 
 d snow; 
 
 3 regions 
 
 d be led 
 
 ia begins 
 
 supplied 
 
 le north- 
 
 east. That air produces fogs over the warm sur- 
 face, which do not reach the Upper province, and 
 which are indeed more decidedly felt on the north 
 bank of the St. Lawrence than on the south, be- 
 cause southward, the fog-producing quality of the 
 air begins to be exerted at the banks of Newfound- 
 land, and it is also turned northward by the cur- 
 rent of warm water and warm air along with it, 
 which sets northward into the Bay of Fundy. It 
 is only in the spring and partially in the autumn, 
 when the surface of the earth is warmer than the 
 air which passes over it, that those fogs are expe- 
 rienced, for in winter and generally also in the 
 summer the atmosphere is clear ; and in Upper 
 Canada there are no fogs but local ones. 
 
 A fair estimate of heat and cold, and of the 
 quantities of rain and fair weather in a country, 
 cannot be taken in a manner perfectly satisfactory 
 without having a series of accurate observations 
 for a period of at least nineteen years. There is 
 probably no such table for the Canadas, at least, 
 there is none such published ; and therefore we 
 must be contented with one year, the year 1820, 
 as an approximation which may perhaps be near 
 enough for general purposes. 
 
 In the very southern part of Upper Canada, 
 that is at Lake Erie, in about latitude 42°, the 
 lowest temperature was about — 20°, or 52° below 
 
128 
 
 THE I'M 10 RANTS 
 
 freezing, and this was in January. The highest 
 temperature was 103°, and that was in July. 
 Thus the variation of temperature for the whole 
 year was 123°. The mean temperature of the 
 day for the same year was ahout 74° ; and the 
 mean temperature of the night about 26°, giving 
 a mean annual temperature of about 50°. 
 
 Comparing these observations with the correspond- 
 ing latitude in Europe, which is very nearly that of 
 Rome, we find that the average temperature of the 
 year is 10° lower in Upper Canada, that of Rome 
 being 60°. There is seldom any ice at Rome, so that 
 the lowest temperature there in winter may be taken 
 at 32°, which is 53° above that of Upper Canada, 
 and the summer temperature must be lower in pro- 
 portion in Canada. So that in Upper Canada there- 
 is aa Indian summer and a Lapland winter. 
 
 In respect of humidity, the absolute quantity 
 that falls in rain or in snow is not stated, but the 
 numbers of days of fair and of foul weather are 
 given. Two hundred and fourteen days of clear 
 sky, sixty-two cloudy, fifty-five of rain, and thirty- 
 four of snow. November, December, January, 
 and February are the months in which there is the 
 most snow ; and March, June, and October those 
 in which there is the most rain. April and July 
 are the clearest months ; but the rain from April 
 
POCKliT COMPANION. 
 
 129 
 
 to October is, with the exception of June, pretty 
 equally distributed. Indeed, the whole distribu- 
 tion of humidity is so uniform that it must be 
 highly favourable to vegetation and also to health, 
 if not counteracted by some circumstance in the 
 soil. The difference of temperature between the 
 summer and the winter is not in itself unhealthy ; 
 and the one is corrected by the rain, of which 
 there is more than one day in the week on an 
 average, and the other by the dry atmosphere. 
 Though they are drawn only from one year's ob- 
 servations, these conclusions are of great import- 
 ance. In a country so uniform as Upper Canada 
 one year cannot vary essentially from another; 
 and therefore we have evidence that, if the ground 
 is properly cleared and drained, there must be 
 both fertility and health. 
 
 Though the frost is sometimes so severe in Upper 
 Canada, the winter is not of very long duration. 
 The time that the ground is completely covered 
 with snow is not moic than two months in the 
 warmer places ; and three months may be taken as 
 the average period of the suspension of field labour 
 during the winter. These months are December, 
 January and February, and it is generally in Ja- 
 nuary when the cold is most intense, and in Febru- 
 ary when the weather is most stormy. Even in 
 
 G 5 
 
30 
 
 THE EMIOllANT S 
 
 these months, however, at least every third day is 
 clear, and not one above every third is snowy ; so 
 that the winter, though keen, cannot be regarded 
 as injurious. 
 
 Descending into Lower Canada, the climate be- 
 comes more rigorous, though there are fewer days 
 of cloudy, or rainy, or snowy weather. At the 
 southern extremity of Lower Canada, that is, about 
 latitude 45°, in the year alluded to, the lowest tem- 
 perature, which happened in February, was — 29°, 
 or 61° below freezing; and the lowest temperatures 
 for the other winter months were respectively — 13° 
 for November, — 21° for December, — 23° for Janu- 
 ary, and — 26° for March; so that there could be no 
 vegetation during these five months. The greatest 
 summer heat which took place in July, as in Upper 
 Canada, was 103°, making a range of temperature 
 for the whole year of 132°, or 9° greater than in 
 Upper Canada. The mean temperature of the day 
 for the year was about 68°, and that for the night 
 rather less than 12°; and June, July, and August 
 were the only months during which the tempera- 
 ture was not at sometime below freezing. The 
 iiean temperature of the year was about 42°, 
 which is at least 16*^ below the calculation for the 
 same parallel in Europe, and nearly the same as 
 that of Lapland at the northern extremity of the 
 Gulf of Bothnia. 
 
 8 
 
 ( 
 t 
 \ 
 ( 
 
I i 
 ■< i 
 
 POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 131 
 
 I day is 
 )wy ; so 
 egarded 
 
 nate be- 
 'er days 
 
 At the 
 s, about 
 Bst tem- 
 1^—29°, 
 eratures 
 ly— 13^ 
 r Janu- 
 d be no 
 greatest 
 i Upper 
 )erature 
 than in 
 the day 
 le night 
 August 
 impera- 
 . The 
 ;t 42", 
 for the 
 ame as 
 
 of the 
 
 The quantity, or at least the duration of the fall 
 of rain and snow, was much less than in Upper 
 Canada : — 256 were clear, 53 cloudy, 35 rain, and 
 21 snow. The greatest fall of rain appears to have 
 been in August and September ; the greatest fall of 
 snow in November, June and December the clear- 
 est months, and the remaining months pretty uni- 
 form. 
 
 The temperature of this southern boundary of 
 Lower Canada may seem to be severe, but it is 
 nothing to that which Captain Franklin experienced 
 at Fort Enterprize in latitude 64° 28', which ac- 
 cording to the table should average about 40° for 
 the year. There the lowest temperature was 16° 
 below freezing in September, 37° below freezing in 
 October, 63° below freezing in November, 89° be- 
 low freezing in December, 81° below freezing in 
 January, 83° below freezing in February, 81° be- 
 low freezing in March, 64° below freezing in April, 
 and 24° below freezing in May. The temperature 
 for the remaining three months is not taken, but 
 that of the night for those nine was — 27° ; and that 
 for the day 30°, so that the mean temperature of 
 the nine months was 0°, or 32° below freezing. 
 The temperature at which mercury becomes solid 
 and may be hammered on an anvil is 37°. From 
 December to March inclusive the lowest tempera- 
 ture was considerably below that ; and in Decern- 
 
132 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ber it exceeded the effect of any of the freezing 
 mixtures which are known to chemists — except 
 perhaps that of snow and muriate of lime. 
 
 Still descending into Lower Canada, the tem- 
 perature in winter becomes more intense. In all 
 the Quebec district, winter lasts from the middle of 
 November to the end of April ; which is five months 
 and a half. In the Montreal district the com- 
 mencement of winter is two or three weeks later, 
 and that of spring two or three weeks earlier, so 
 that four months may be considered as the average 
 duration of the winter there ; and it may also be 
 taken as the average of all Canada. The heat in 
 summer at Quebec is seldom above 97°, and per- 
 haps 90° may be about the highest in the average 
 of years. It does not appear also that the extreme 
 cold there is so great as in the interior parts of the 
 province. 
 
 The quantity of snow that falls in Canada is not 
 so great as that in countries which are much warmer 
 and have a shorter winter. It does not on the 
 average of seasons exceed six feet; but the tem- 
 porary falls are heavy and often accompanied by 
 violent winds, more especially in the month of Fe- 
 bruary. Small as this quantity of snow is, it serves 
 as a protecting mantle to the earth and to vegeta- 
 tion, which would be rendered almost unproductive 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 133 
 
 freezing 
 -except 
 
 le tem- 
 In all 
 iddle of 
 months 
 e com- 
 s later, 
 rlier, so 
 average 
 also be 
 heat in 
 id per- 
 iverage 
 ixtreme 
 of the 
 
 I is not 
 warmer 
 on the 
 e tem- 
 ied by 
 of re- 
 serves 
 ^egeta- 
 liictive 
 
 if exposed naked to the rigour of so inclement an 
 atmosphere. At the same time the snow, and the 
 ice on the streams, rivers, and lakes, facilitate 
 communication between the different parts of the 
 country. The people travel in a sort of sledges, 
 vernacularly termed sleighs, which are a species 
 of carriage bodies mounted on iron skates. Two 
 horses are usually yoked tandem, and the travellers 
 drive over the snow and ice with considerable 
 rapidity, and, well wrapt up in furs as they are, 
 with very little inconvenience from the intense cold 
 of the dry and pure air. 
 
 The rapidity with which the winter snow melts, is 
 in proportion i . the length of time that it lies on 
 the ground; ^ t.u at Quebec there is very little 
 interval between winter and summer ; while, as the 
 country is ascended, the spring, and also the 
 autumn, becomes longer and longer. When the 
 snow and ice are partially melted, travelling be- 
 comes both disagreeable and dangerous, as sleigh, 
 horses, travellers and all, are apt to get immersed 
 in the snow water before they are aware. At 
 that time too the " freshets," or snow floods, begin 
 to inundate the low ground ; boards of ice are 
 carried along crashing against each other, in the 
 rivers and down the rapids and falls ; and soon 
 after, floating icebergs make their appearance in the 
 
134 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 gulf of St. Lawrence and are hazardous to shipping, 
 and injurious to vegetation at places where they 
 happen to ground on the shores. 
 
 The prevailing winds in Canada take the direc- 
 tion of the river, or rather of the rivers, the St. 
 Lawrence and the Ottawa. The St. Lawrence 
 winds are, the north-east and the south-west. The 
 former is a cold wind and in itself dry ; the latter 
 is a warm wind, and moist. By dry is understood 
 that the wind absorbs moisture from the surfaces 
 over which it passes, and by moist, that it has no 
 such tendency. Winds of the former description 
 are always disagreeable and more or less unhealthy, 
 as the skin of the human body is both parched and 
 chilled by the evaporation : winds of the latter 
 kind are generally speaking pleasant and healthy. 
 Rain and snow usually fall when the north-east 
 wind blows along the surface ; but still, as is the 
 case in Britain, it is out of the south-west wind that 
 the humidity, which forms both the rain and the 
 snow, comes. The wind of the Ottawa is a north 
 wind. It is intensely cold, but, as it meets the 
 south-west current obliquely, and tends not to 
 arrest but to shift it southwards, it is usually dry 
 in Canada, though ii produces rain and very fre- 
 quently snow in the United States, even a con- 
 siderable way southward, and when the summer is 
 
1 v^ 
 
 POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 135 
 
 ) ' \, I'll 
 i 
 
 shipping, 
 lere they 
 
 tie direc- 
 , the St. 
 Lawrence 
 ist. The 
 the latter 
 iderstood 
 
 surfaces 
 t has no 
 scription 
 ihealthy, 
 ;hed and 
 le latter 
 healthy. 
 Drth-east 
 is IS the 
 'ind that 
 and the 
 
 a north 
 eets the 
 
 not to 
 ally dry 
 '^ery fre- 
 
 a con- 
 mmer is 
 
 far advanced. This is a beneficial state of things 
 for the Canadians, who thus escape those summer 
 blights, which are often injurious to their southern 
 neighbours. 
 
 The Canadian summer is often accompanied by 
 severe storms of thunder and lightning. As there 
 are no lofty ridges and peaks to attract the at- 
 mospheric vapours, those thunder storms are fre- 
 quently very violent and sometimes do considerable 
 injury. They are most frequent in the neighbour- 
 hood of Quebec : Upper Canada, with the excep- 
 tion of occasional storms and tornadoes, and whirl- 
 winds, and waterspouts, upon the lakes, is compara- 
 tively a tranquil country ; and perhaps there is no 
 country having so flat a surface that has so clear 
 an atmosphere. 
 
 Section IV. — Natural Productions. 
 
 The natural productions of any country may be 
 arranged into the three divisions of mineral, vege- 
 tation and animal ; and that arrangement may be 
 conveniently followed in giving a short sketch of 
 the Canadas. 
 
 Minerals. 
 
 The useful minerals hitherto discovered, or pro- 
 bably discoverable in the Canadas, are very few, 
 
 J. ^ 
 
136 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 and will never add very much to the wealth of the 
 country. The northern mountains are all of pri- 
 mary formation, — granite, gniess, quartz, feldt- 
 spar, mica slate, and primitive limestone ; these 
 formations contain iron in some places ; and there 
 are iron forges on the banks of the St. Maurice, 
 but no other metal has been met with. Building- 
 stone is of course procured in every situation where 
 this formation of rocks is sufficiently near — along 
 the whole northern bank of the St. Lawrence, with 
 the exception of the alluvial bottoms, and also 
 along the Ottawa. The mountain limestones are 
 in some cases described as marbles ; but it does not 
 appear that any of the schistose rocks are adapted 
 for roofing slates, as shingles, or tin and iron plates, 
 are employed in roofing. 
 
 In such a formation, coal is not to be expected, 
 and probably there are very few minerals of any 
 value. 
 
 The mountains to the south of the St. Lawrence 
 are probably of a similar structure and equally des- 
 titute of minerals. 
 
 In the alluvial part of the valley, and throughout 
 the greater part of Upper Canada, minerals are not 
 to be expected. The ridge which crosses at the 
 fall of Niagara is chiefly limestone ; and there is 
 iron there as well as in the heights to the northward 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 137 
 
 th of the 
 11 of pri- 
 :, feldt- 
 j ; these 
 nd there 
 Maurice, 
 •uilding- 
 ►n where 
 ■ — along 
 ce, with 
 nd also 
 )nes are 
 does not 
 adapted 
 I plates, 
 
 cpected, 
 of any 
 
 awrence 
 illy des- 
 
 oughout 
 
 are not 
 
 at the 
 
 there is 
 
 rthward 
 
 of Lake Ontario. There are also some forges ; 
 but British iron, and iron articles manufactured in 
 Britain are sold, probably cheaper than they can 
 be made in the country. 
 
 As there are clays alternating with the sand and 
 gravel in many of the alluvial tracts, there is of 
 course a facility of making bricks in those places 
 where stone is not to be found, and cannot be 
 brought by carriage, except at an expense of more 
 than it is worth. Plaster stone or sulphate of lime, 
 pipeclay, marl, black lead or carbonate of iron, and 
 iron ochres are also to be met with. There are 
 also salt springs, chiefly near the heights from 
 Niagara round Lake Ontario to the Bay of Quinte. 
 A small quantity of salt is made at those springs, 
 the supply of water is obtained by boring through 
 the limestone rock, which operation must sometimes 
 be carried to the depth of 200 or 300 feet. It is 
 reported that two men will bore five feet through 
 that rock in the course of a day. 
 
 In the same districts where the salt springs are 
 found by boring into the rocks, petroleum is some- 
 times met with, floating on the lakes. As it is not 
 known from what particular parts this petroleum 
 issues, it cannot of course be ascertained whether it 
 be produced by undiscovered beds of coal, or in any 
 other way. 
 
138 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 Veyetables. 
 
 In the present state of Canada, the vegetable 
 tribes have to serve many of the purposes to which 
 minerals are applied in other countries. Houses are 
 built of logs of wood ; bridges are constructed of the 
 same ; and wood serves to pave the roads. In the 
 way that they are commonly made those wooden 
 roads, which consist of undressed trunks laid in the 
 mud, are neither very seemly nor very safe ; but they 
 appear to be the best that the country can, in the 
 meantime afford, and they are better than nothing. 
 
 The timber-trees are very numerous, so that only 
 a few of those that are the most serviceable to the 
 settler can be named. 
 
 The Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharinum), thougli 
 not one of the most serviceable as a timber tree, is 
 yet a tree of considerable value to the settler, as 
 affording him a ready and cheap substitute for West 
 India sugar. This sugar is obtained by boiling 
 down the sap of the tree ; and that sap is taken 
 while in the wood, and before the leaves have begun 
 to expand. The end of March or beginning of 
 April, when the snow has hardly left the sheltered 
 places, is the time when the operation is commenced. 
 The wood of the tree is perforated either by notch- 
 ing it with an axe, or boring into it with an auger, 
 the latter method being least injurious to the tree, 
 
POCKET COiMPANION. 
 
 139 
 
 vegetable 
 to which 
 [ouses are 
 ted of the 
 . In the 
 J wooden 
 lid in the 
 but they 
 in, in the 
 nothing, 
 that only 
 »le to the 
 
 I, though 
 T tree, is 
 ettler, as 
 for West 
 f boilins: 
 is taken 
 ve begun 
 nning of 
 sheltered 
 imenced. 
 y notch- 
 in auger, 
 the tree. 
 
 
 and also most convenient for obtaining the sap. 
 The requisite apparatus are a boiler of about thirty 
 gallons, with a sufficient number of wooden troughs, 
 barrels, and buckets. The troughs cost not more 
 than \7s. per hundred; the barrels 4s. each; and 
 the buckets 2s. 6d. ; and if the settler is neat-hand- 
 ed he may make them for himself during the snow 
 season : and thus, his only expense for the sugar 
 manufactory is the boiler, which may be had for 
 2/. 10s., and it is an article which is generally use- 
 ful. The sap is conveyed from the incisions to the 
 troughs by little shoots about nine inches long. As 
 the troughs fill, the sap is carried to the reservoir, 
 where the flaky matter is allowed to settle ; but it 
 must not be allowed to remain too long in the re- 
 servoirs, otherwise it would ferment and pass into 
 weak vinegar. It is accordingly soon taken to the 
 boiler, and reduced by evaporation to the state of 
 molasses. When properly concentrated it is taken 
 from tlie boiler and placed in coolers; and when 
 nearly cold, it is strained through a woollen bag 
 into a clarifying boiler, mixed with the whites of eggs, 
 bullock's blood, or some other substance that coa- 
 gulates with heat. After boiling a sufficient length 
 of time, and being properly clarified, it is either 
 poured into moulds, where it crystallizes into a sort 
 of candy, or left to drain, as moist sugar, in a cask, 
 the bottom of which is drilled full of small holes. 
 
140 
 
 THE EiMIG RANTS 
 
 It may afterwards be made into a white or light-co- 
 loured sugar by farther clarifying ; and in that state 
 it is understood to be about half the value of West 
 India sugar. The principal danger to be guarded 
 against in the manufacture is charring the sugar in 
 the boiler. That is prevented by proper stirring, 
 and a uniform heat not too great ; and if those cir- 
 cumstances are not attended to, the sugar remains 
 dark in the colour and disagreeable to the taste. 
 Those imperfections are obviated however by a very 
 little attention. 
 
 This sugar is worth about four pence per pound, 
 and a family may easily make seven hundred or even 
 one thousand pounds in the course of the month ; 
 and the month is one which cannot be so profitably 
 employed in the fields in any other way. If there- 
 fore there are any sugar maples upon an estate 
 when a settler gets possession, it is always desirable 
 to preserve them. 
 
 There are various species of mapie in Canada ; 
 and though they are soft timber and not well adapted 
 for purposes where strength is required, they are 
 highly useful, as well as ornamental, in the manu- 
 facture of furniture. Some of them are beautifully 
 bird's -eyed, others clouded and mottled. They 
 work easily, take a fine polish, are by no means 
 liable to warp, hold glue, and receive varnish, re- 
 
POCKET COMPANION'. 
 
 141 
 
 light-co- 
 hat state 
 of West 
 
 guarded 
 sugar in 
 
 stirring, 
 hose cir- 
 
 remains 
 he taste. 
 by a very 
 
 ir pound, 
 d or even 
 ! month ; 
 >rofitably 
 If there- 
 n estate 
 desirable 
 
 Canada ; 
 adapted 
 they are 
 le manu- 
 autifully 
 They 
 means 
 nish, re- 
 
 markably well; and therefore they rank deservedly 
 high among ornamental timbers. 
 
 The Hiccories (Jugluns) which grow in the very 
 best soils, are a very valuable timber. They are 
 straight in the grain, and tough. The nuts of those 
 trees, as is the case with their congener the walnut, 
 contain a considerable quantity of oil. 
 
 There are several species of Beech, which are lo- 
 cally known as the white, which is chiefly used for 
 fuel; the red, which is used for palings; and the 
 blue, which is a shrub. 
 
 The Elms grow to an immense size, but they are 
 soft and porous timber, and very apt to be decayed 
 at the heart. 
 
 There are several kinds of Oak, and though they 
 are inferior to the oak of Europe, yet the white oak 
 is very serviceable for general purposes. 
 
 There are many other deciduous trees, some of 
 them of considerable use, and all of them of great 
 beauty in the autumn ; for it is a general character 
 of the deciduous trees of America to change into a 
 succession of remarkably bright tints before they 
 drop their leaves at that season. 
 
 There are two species of Larch found in the 
 Canadian forests, and though they are allied to 
 the Pine tribe, which are evergreens, yet like the 
 larch of Europe they shed their leaves in winter. 
 
142 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 One species, the Red Larch (Larix Microcarpa), 
 or the small coned, grows in soils that are mode- 
 rately good and moderately dry. In favourable 
 circumstances it rises to a great height, and is 
 valuable timber. The other species, the Black 
 Larch (Pendula), with drooping branches, grows 
 in swamps, and though it does not attain to the 
 same size it is better timber than the other. The 
 timber of both is rather rough and coarse, but it is 
 excellent for buildings, the posts of fences, and all 
 works of timber that are exposed to the weather. 
 
 Of the Canadian Pines the most magnificent is 
 the Weymouth pine (Pinus Strobus), sometimes 
 called the white pine. In the western part of the 
 country it sometimes attains the height of two hun- 
 dred and fifty feet, and has a diameter of six feet, 
 rising like a giant over every other tree in the forest. 
 Those pines grow remarkably straight and clean, 
 and are usually reserved by Government for the 
 navy. In the northern parts of Canada the Hud- 
 son's Bay pine is met with ; and the variable pine 
 occurs in the other forests. The pines are found 
 on the primitive mountains and soils of an inferior 
 quality. 
 
 There are at least three species of Spruces among 
 which the hemlock or Canada spruce, the twigs of 
 which are used in the manufacture of spruce beer, 
 
POCKF/r COMPANION. 
 
 143 
 
 rocarpa), 
 ire mode- 
 avourablc 
 t, and is 
 he Black 
 es, grows 
 in to the 
 ler. The 
 , but it is 
 \, and all 
 (ather. 
 nificent is 
 lometimes 
 irt of the 
 two hun- 
 r six feet, 
 he forest, 
 id clean, 
 t for the 
 the Hud- 
 able pine 
 ire found 
 n inferior 
 
 es among 
 i twigs of 
 uce beer, 
 
 and the Balm of Gilead spruce, the resin of which 
 forms the Canada balsam, are the most remark- 
 able. 
 
 The Yew and the Juniper are both natives of 
 Canada, and so is the American Arbor-vitee, and 
 the Arbor-vita3-leaved Cypress, which is called the 
 White Cedar. The lust mentioned is a very dura- 
 hie timber. 
 
 Wild berries are abundant in Canada, especially 
 Cranberries, which are found in vast quantities in 
 some of the swamps. The Ginseng and some other 
 valuable roots are also met with ; and the Canada 
 lice ( Zizania Aquatica,) which is found in the 
 swamps, supplies a coarse sort of grain. 
 
 With the exception of timber-trees, however, the 
 native vegetables are of minor consequence to the 
 settler, as his object is to grub them up and substi- 
 tute the more valuable cultivated vegetables in 
 their stead. There are, however, many of the na- 
 tive plants that might be serviceable as dye stuffs, 
 and some of the shrubs that may be employed in 
 the dressing of leather. 
 
 Animals. 
 
 The animals of Canada are very numerous in 
 most of the departments of zoology ; but it must 
 suffice to mention a few of the names. 
 
 « 1 
 
 '1 ■> 
 
144 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 Of ruminating animals the Buffalo is the largest; 
 but it is very rarely met with in any of the inha- 
 bited parts of the country, although still abundant 
 in the wilds. The skin of the buffalo is valuable 
 on account of its toughness, and also of the thick 
 mattingr of hair with which it is covered. The 
 length of a full grown buffalo, from the root of the 
 horns to the tail is fully nine feet. 
 
 There are several species of deer, of which one of 
 the most remarkable is the Wapiti, or Canadian 
 deer, with very large horns, and exceeding the 
 common deer in size. Another is the Caribou, or 
 American species of rein-deer. 
 
 Black bears are abundant in the forests, and 
 they are described as committing frequent and ex- 
 tensive ravages upon the herds of hogs. Their 
 flesh, their skin, and their fat, are all in estimation. 
 Wolves are abundant and troublesome, and so are 
 Foxes. Lynxes and Wild Cats are the chief mem- 
 bers of the feline race to be found. 
 
 Weasels of different kinds abound in the forests, 
 under the various names of Ermines, Martens, 
 Minks, and several other appellations. Their skins 
 are all valuable as furs, as are also those of the nu- 
 merous species of Squirrels that are met with in the 
 country. 
 
 Birds are numerous and many of them are valu- 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 145 
 
 e largest; 
 the inha- 
 abundant 
 valuable 
 the thick 
 id. The 
 »ot of the 
 
 ch one of 
 Canadian 
 ;ding the 
 iribou, or 
 
 ests, and 
 ; and ex- 
 5. Their 
 Jtimation. 
 nd so are 
 lief mem- 
 
 le forests, 
 Martens, 
 heir skins 
 )f the nu- 
 ith in the 
 
 able as food ; but thick forests are not the very 
 best places for shooting. 
 
 The most abundant, and at the same time the 
 most annoying of all living creatures in Canada, 
 are the flies. Nothing more completely proves the 
 erroneousness of the common belief that frost de- 
 stroys the eggs and the larvse of insects, than the 
 incredible swarms of flies and musquitos of various 
 kinds, but most of them equally annoying, that 
 infest the forests, the swamps, the houses, and, in 
 short, every place in Canada, during tlie summer. 
 The air is almost csolid with them, and so torment- 
 ing are they, that there is scarcely any comfort in 
 existence, on account of them, unless they are driven 
 off by smoke. It is extremely probable, that much 
 of the unhealthy character of the shallow and stag- 
 nant waters, is owing to the putrefaction of the vast 
 number of insects which are beaten into them by 
 the rains. As the forests are their favourite haunts, 
 their numbers must lessen as the country is cleared. 
 It has been already mentioned that the streams 
 and lakes of Canada abound with fish. 
 
 ' .1 
 
 are valu- 
 
 H 
 
146 
 
 THE EMIGRANT f> 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TOWNS, ROUTES, CUITIVATED PRODUCE, &c. 
 
 ".< 
 
 With but few exceptions, the towns in Canada 
 are yet in their infancy ; and the object of the emi- 
 grant should be not to lounge about the towns, but 
 to get to his location, or to a place where he may 
 find employment and wages, as speedily as possible. 
 
 Quebec is the capital of the lower province, and 
 the general sea-port of all the country to the west- 
 ward. It is situated on the porth-west side of the 
 St. Lawrence, upon Diamond Point, which is formed 
 between that river and the St. Charles, and about 
 345 feet above the level of the water; so that 
 Quebec, on the very margin of the river, stands 
 more than 100 feet higher than York, the capital of 
 the upper province, which is 556 miles farther in the 
 interior. The fashionable part of the town is on the 
 top of the rock, and the commercial and shipping 
 part on the bank of the river below. The town and 
 suburbs contain altogether about 30,000 inhabi- 
 tants. From 500 to 600 ships annually visit the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 147 
 
 LTE, &C. 
 
 i Canada 
 f the emi- 
 owns, but 
 e he may 
 i possible, 
 ince, and 
 the west- 
 ide of the 
 is formed 
 ind about 
 
 so that 
 er, stands 
 capital of 
 her in the 
 ; is on the 
 
 shipping 
 town and 
 inhabi- 
 
 visit the 
 
 port; and numerous steam-boats and other craft 
 ply upon the St. Lawrence. Ten steam-boats piy 
 between Quebec and Montreal — distance 180 miles. 
 Some of these boats are of 600 tons burden ; and 
 the engines of 120 horses power. The freights i.nd 
 fares by these boats are quoted as follows : — 
 
 Goods per ton 
 Steerage passengers 
 Cabin passengers 
 
 Upwards to Montreal. 
 
 £0 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 7 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Downwards to Quebec. 
 
 Goods per ton . . . £ 
 Steerage passengers . . 
 Cabin passengers . .15 
 
 The average time of the ascent, against the cur- 
 rent, by these boats is thirty hours, and that of the 
 descent twenty-four. The charge for the cabin in- 
 cludes provisions, which are good and plentifully 
 supplied ; that stated for the steerage (or on the 
 deck) does not include provisions. The charge for 
 steerage passengers in sailing vessels is from 5s. to 
 7s. 6rf. 
 
 The formation of ice in the river puts an end to 
 the navigation in December, and through the winter 
 the communication is carried on by '* stage sleighs." 
 
 H 2 
 
 
 n 
 
148 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 The vehicle, which is curtained with painted cloth, 
 and furnished with warm wrappers of buffalo hide, 
 contains six persons, with a moderate quantity of 
 luggage. Two horses, yoked tandem, draw it ; and 
 they are changed every ten miles. This mode of 
 intercourse continues from the beginning of Decem- 
 ber to the middle of April, during which period the 
 river is frozen as far as Kingston on the Ontario. 
 There is also ice on all the shallow margins of the 
 lakes, and on the narrow connexions, with the ex- 
 ception of the rapids and falls, but the lakes them- 
 selves are never frozen over the depths. 
 
 The distances and towns on the direct line of the 
 St. Lawrence from Quebec are as follows: — the 
 towns are printed in italics. 
 
 Miles 
 
 . 30 
 
 Quebec to Cap Sante 
 
 Port Neuf 
 St. Anne 
 Three Rivers 
 Riviere du Loup 
 
 5 
 25 
 30 
 21 
 
 Berthier and William Henry 24 
 
 L'Assomption . . 24 
 
 Montreal . . .21 
 
 La Chine ... 9 
 
 Coteau du Lac . . 34 
 
 Lancaster . . . 23 
 
 Cornwall , . .16 
 
 Miles 
 30 
 
 35 
 60 
 90 
 111 
 135 
 159 
 180 
 189 
 223 
 246 
 262 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 149 
 
 
 
 
 Miles 
 
 Miles 
 
 . . to Osnabruck . 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 275 
 
 Williamsburg 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
 9 
 
 284 
 
 Matilda 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 296 
 
 Prescott 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
 15 
 
 311 
 
 Maitland 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 318 
 
 Brockville 
 
 • 
 
 . 
 
 5 
 
 323 
 
 Gananoque . 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 355 
 
 Kingston 
 
 * 
 
 • 
 
 24 
 
 379 
 
 Bath 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 397 
 
 Napance 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
 12 
 
 409 
 
 Belleville 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 438 
 
 River Trent 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
 12 
 
 450 
 
 Murray 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 455 
 
 Colborne (late Cramahe) . 
 
 13 
 
 468 
 
 Cobourg 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 484 
 
 Port Hope 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 491 
 
 Darlington . 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 513 
 
 Whitby 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 525 
 
 Pickering 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 534 
 
 York 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 556 
 
 Toronto 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 570 
 
 Trafalgar 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 576 
 
 Nelson 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 588 
 
 Dundas 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 601 
 
 Ancaster 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 604 
 
 Stony Creek 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 618 
 
 Grimsby 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 628 
 
150 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 16 
 
 644 
 
 11 
 
 655 
 
 7 
 
 662 
 
 10 
 
 672 
 
 16 
 
 688 
 
 .... to St. Catherines . 
 Niagara 
 Queenston 
 Chippawa . 
 Fort Erie 
 
 The distance between any two places interme- 
 diate between Quebec and Fort Erie, may easily be 
 found by subtracting the number in the second 
 column opposite to the one nearest Quebec, from 
 the number in the same column opposite to the one 
 nearest Fort Erie. Thus to find the distance from 
 Montreal to York : — 
 
 Number opposite to York 
 
 Ditto Montreal 
 
 556 
 180 
 
 Miles from Montreal to York . . 376 
 
 Montreal is situated on a beautiful island in the 
 St. Lawrence, thirty-two miles long and ten and 
 a-half broad. In point of rank it is the second town 
 in Lower Canada ; but in situation and climate, and 
 convenience of access from all parts of Canada, it is 
 the first. It has been mentioned that, while the 
 river is open, there is a ship navigation to Montreal 
 from the gulf of St. Lawrence ; and a glance at the 
 map will show that Montreal is the centre from 
 which the three great passages into the interioi 
 diverge — westward bv the St. Lawrence, northward 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 151 
 
 es. Miles. 
 
 6 644 
 1 655 
 
 7 662 
 672 
 6 688 
 
 J interme- 
 T easily be 
 le second 
 (bee, from 
 to the one 
 ance from 
 
 556 
 180 
 
 376 
 
 and in the 
 1 ten and 
 :ond town 
 mate, and 
 nada, it is 
 while the 
 Montreal 
 nee at the 
 ntre from 
 e interior 
 lorthward 
 
 by the Ottawa, and southward by the Richelieu to 
 Lake Champlain ; the last-mentioned river indeed 
 falls into the St. Lawrence below Montreal ; but if an 
 opening were made from thatriverto La Prairie, where 
 the direct distance is not more than twelve miles, 
 more than sixty miles of navigation would be saved. 
 
 The city and suburbs contain about 23,000 in- 
 habitants, and the other parts of the island about 
 15,000 more. The island, and also the surround- 
 ing country are beautiful, and abound in all the 
 productions of the field and the garden. 
 
 In the older part of the town, the streets are 
 very narrow ; but in the new, toward the high 
 ground, they are more spacious. The best houses 
 are built of indurated limestone. The trade of 
 Montreal, and the resort of people to it, are very 
 considerable ; the latter being much increased by 
 the number of emigrants to the various parts of the 
 upper country, who make it a resting place. Very 
 many of those who have come out without proper 
 information and resources, are sometimes found 
 lingering about Montreal in a state of extreme 
 wretchedness, — the charity of the inhabitants having 
 been in a great measure exhausted by incessant 
 exercise. 
 
 The ship navigation of the St. Lawrence termi- 
 nates just above Montreal, as the current gets too 
 rapid, and the water too shallow. Flat-bottomed 
 
152 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 boats pointed at both extremities are found to be 
 the best suited for passing the rapids. These boats 
 are about forty feet long and six broad at the mid- 
 dle, and each carries about five tons. They are 
 manned by four hands and a pilot. There is a mast 
 and sail, for taking advantage of the breeze on the 
 still portions of the river, and poles seven feet in 
 length, with iron spikes at the ends to set up the 
 rapids. They have all their provisions and cooking 
 apparatus on board, and usually start five in a 
 party. If the wind is favourable they can sail 
 along Lake St. Louis, which is formed at the junc- 
 tion of the Ottawa, and onward about thirty miles. 
 At that point the difficulties of the upper naviga- 
 tion commence, in passing Isle Des Cascades. The 
 bed of the river is narrowed by the projecting point 
 of Soulange, the extremity of the peninsula between 
 the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, and it is narrowed 
 and broken by several islands, between which the 
 water rushes with great impetuosity. In conse- 
 quence, the ascending boats have to land their 
 baggage ; and even then, the boatmen are some- 
 times not able to set them up the rapids with their 
 poles, but must get out and tow them along ; and 
 the towing cannot be done to the greatest effect, 
 unless when the men are up to their middle in water. 
 The labour in ascending these rapids, even with an 
 empty boat, is excessive ; and it has often to be 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 153 
 
 continued for several hours without intermission, as 
 one minute's pause would undo the labour of half 
 an hour. The descent is also very hazardous, the 
 boats requiring no urging ; but the safe way of 
 descending a rapid is, to keep the boat to the side 
 from which the water sets, as the water is smoothest 
 there, the current slowest, and there is no danger of 
 striking. In a curved rapid, the water sets gene- 
 rally from the one side in the upper part, and from 
 the other side in the under; and the crossing of 
 such rapids is a nice point in river navigation. 
 
 The scenery on the right-hand side, in ascending 
 those rapids, is exceedingly picturesque, and the 
 Village of the Cedars, which is well built, and 
 contains about 150 houses, is a favourite place with 
 the people of Montreal during the summer. 
 
 The distance from Montreal to Prescott is only 
 about 130 miles ; but it is a navigation which occu- 
 pies at least ten days, and ten days of incessant la- 
 bour, in which the boatmen are alternately dripping 
 with warm perspiration, and with the cold water of 
 the St. Lawrence, and are compelled to have recourse 
 to frequent libations of unmixed spirits, otherwise 
 their toil would be insurmountable. On the way to 
 Prescott, there are other tide rapids, Coteau du 
 Lac, at the head of Lake St. Francis, near the ter- 
 mination of the British territory on the south side, 
 
 II 5 
 
154 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 and the Sault a little farther up, nearly opposite the 
 village Osnabruck. The latter rapid is nine miles 
 in length, and the ascent of it generally occupies an 
 entire day, while the descent is performed in fifteen 
 minutes, and has been performed in twelve, which 
 is at the astonishing rate of forty-five miles an hour. 
 
 When Prescott is reached, the laborious naviga- 
 tion of the St. Lawrence is at an end, and sloops 
 and steam-vessels ply upward as far as the Falls of 
 Niagara. The remaining eighty-six miles of the 
 river, up to Kingston, are highly picturesque, espe- 
 cially in the Lake of the Thousand Islands. Many 
 of these islands are mere specks, but they are so 
 diversified in their forms, that the place altogether 
 presents one of the most singular scenes in nature. 
 
 Kingston, though not the capital of Upper 
 Canada, is the largest town in the province. It 
 contains about 5,500 inhabitants, has a good har- 
 bour, and carries on considerable trade, besides 
 being a depot of all the trade and passage of Lake 
 Ontario. Regular stages run between Prescott and 
 Montreal, and steam-boats ply between it and the 
 different places on Lake Ontario. The fares for 
 cabin passengers are, — to or from Prescott and 
 Niagara, 21. IO5. ; Kingston and Niagara, or King- 
 ston and York, 21. ; between Kingston and Pres- 
 cott, 15*\; and between York and Niagara, lOs. 
 
 The navigation of Lake Ontario, from Kingston 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 155 
 
 posite tlie 
 line miles 
 cupies an 
 in fifteen 
 ve, which 
 J an hour. 
 IS naviga- 
 nd sloops 
 e Falls ot 
 es of the 
 jue, espe- 
 i. Many 
 ey are so 
 altogether 
 1 nature, 
 of Upper 
 ince. It 
 ^ood har- 
 , besides 
 B of Lake 
 jscott and 
 t and the 
 fares for 
 5C0tt and 
 , or King- 
 md Pres- 
 a, 10*. 
 Kin2:stoii 
 
 to York, the capital of Upper Canada, has all the 
 characters of a sea navigation. York, though a small 
 town, is rising rapidly in population. The harbour 
 is convenient, and the plan of the town well laid 
 out; the situation is low and dirty, but, since the 
 marsh has been drained, less unwholesome. York 
 may be considered as the head-quarters of emigrants, 
 who are to settle in the Home, or Newcastle dis- 
 tricts, as Kingston is for those who are to settle in 
 the Midland. The Niagara district is probably the 
 best in this part of Canada; but its inhabitants 
 liave, generally speaking, too much of the American 
 character for making it either very profitable or very 
 agreeable for plain Englishmen. 
 
 It may be proper here to notice the routes from 
 Montreal along the Ottawa, and to the newly-settled 
 country, in the Ottawa and Eastern districts, be- 
 tween that river and the St. Lawrence. 
 
 Route on the Ottawa. 
 
 • 
 
 Miles 
 
 Miles 
 
 From Montreal to St. Eustache 
 
 21 
 
 21 
 
 St. Andrews 
 
 24 
 
 45 
 
 Chatham . 
 
 3 
 
 48 
 
 Grenville 
 
 12 
 
 60 
 
 Petite Nation 
 
 30 
 
 90 
 
 By Town 
 
 33 
 
 123 
 
 Hull . 
 
 1 
 
 124 
 
 Total distance from Quebec to Hull 
 
 
 304 
 
156 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 The town of Hull is situated at the head of the 
 steam-boat navigation of the Ottawa, which extends 
 sixty miles down, to the rapids at Grenville ; and 
 opposite to Hull is situated By Town, in Upper 
 Canada, extending westward from the mouth of the 
 Ilideau River. That river enters the Ottawa by falls, 
 and therefore is unfit for the purposes of navigation ; 
 but the Rideau Canal is partly executed to enter 
 a bay about the middle of By Town, from whence 
 there is a ferry across the Ottawa to the steam-boat 
 landing at Hull. Both towns are remarkably well 
 situated ; and with the canal in full action to King- 
 ston, it is difficult to imagine a more desirable 
 situation than almost any part of the vicinity. The 
 land is good : there is excellent timber, excellent 
 building stone ; and, on the Lower Canada side 
 especially, abundance of water falls for turning any 
 description of machinery. The distance from Mon- 
 treal is but trifling, not so much as that to Prescott, 
 and the labour of ascending the Ottawa is not half 
 so great as that of ascending the St. Lawrence to 
 Prescott. There are other advantages : the Ottawa 
 lies wholly within the British territory, whereas, on 
 two-thirds of the other route, the American States 
 border ; and, at the most difficult part of the navi- 
 gation, they claim the channel, and could, in the 
 case of a war, interrupt the communication. The 
 climate also is favourable. The situation is about 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 167 
 
 ninety miles farther south than that of Quebec ; 
 and the low country is protected from the north- 
 east winds, by the heijj^hts and the thick forests in 
 the back country. In those forests the trees, so far 
 as they have been examined, grow to a much larger 
 size than in the country behind Quebec, and that is 
 a certain indication of both a better soil and a better 
 climate. To the south-west of the Ottawa, the 
 country is in some places swampy ; but as there are 
 rapids on all the rivers, there is every where suffi- 
 cient elevation for drainage ; and the lands which 
 are originally humid, as they collect the rich mould 
 when they are in that state, are always the most 
 fertile when drained. Whether, therefore, its easy 
 access, (for, with the exception of a few miles, it is 
 sailing all the way from any part of the British 
 islands to Hull and By Town), its fertility, its con- 
 nexion with the different parts of Canada, or the 
 circumstance of its population being all British, be 
 taken into consideration, it is difficult to imagine a 
 place better adapted for the comfortable residence 
 and successful employment of emigrants, than the 
 country on the Ottawa, whether on the side of 
 Upper or of Lower Canada. 
 
 Let us now examine the route from York to Am- 
 herstburg, the most south-westerly town in Upper 
 Canada, situated on the Detroit River between 
 Lake St. Clair and the head of Lake Erie. This 
 
158 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 line of communication may be made over land, 
 though, by proceeding to the entrance of the Wel- 
 land Canal, a little to the westward of that of the 
 Niagara River, that canal may be ascended to the 
 mouth of the Ouse in Lake Erie, aud thence the 
 navigation is uninterrupted all the way. 
 
 The land road is along Dundas Street, which h;.-;. 
 been opened all the way, and is tolerably made in 
 some places. The land over which it lies, is said 
 to be good all the way, and the "'imate mild for a 
 Canadian one, and becoming more so, as the forests 
 are cleared away. The distances from York aro as 
 follow :- 
 
 Dundas Street to 
 
 Amiierstburg. 
 
 
 
 
 Miles 
 
 Milt.^ 
 
 oRK to H umber 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 Trafalgar . 
 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 Mill Creek . 
 
 
 7 
 
 30 
 
 Dundas 
 
 
 12 
 
 42 
 
 Ancaster 
 
 
 3 
 
 45 
 
 Grand River 
 
 
 18 
 
 63 
 
 Burford 
 
 
 10 
 
 73 
 
 Oxford 
 
 
 30 
 
 103 
 
 Delaware 
 
 
 29 
 
 132 
 
 Chatham . 
 
 
 40 
 
 172 
 
 Sandwich 
 
 
 60 
 
 232 
 
 Amherstburg 
 
 
 18 
 
 250 
 
)ver 
 
 land, 
 
 the 
 
 Wel- 
 
 lat of the 
 
 led to the 
 
 .hence the 
 
 which ho*. 
 
 y made m 
 
 es, 
 
 is said 
 
 tnild for a 
 
 the forests 
 
 ork 
 
 are as 
 
 IIG. 
 
 
 files 
 
 Milt'^ 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 7 
 
 30 
 
 12 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 45 
 
 8 
 
 63 
 
 10 
 
 73 
 
 30 
 
 103 
 
 19 
 
 132 
 
 10 
 
 172 
 
 30 
 
 232 
 
 18 
 
 250 
 
 POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 159 
 
 As far as Dundas, that route lies along, or near, 
 the shore of Lake Ontario ; Dundas being seated 
 (ill the Bay of Burlington, at the western extremity 
 of that lake. Cross lines of road are marked out, 
 and in the progress of making, — one southward to 
 Port Talbot on Lake Erie, and another northward 
 from London (between Oxford and Delaware) to 
 (jroderich, on the shore of Lake Huron, in the mil- 
 lion of contiguous acres, belonging to the Canada 
 Company and stretching sixty miles along the shore 
 of the lake. The central road comes down upon 
 Lake St. Clair at Sandwich, and winds round the 
 margin of that lake and the bank of the Detroit 
 River, to Amherstburg. 
 
 The Canada Company are, according to report, 
 obviating on their land, in this part of the province, 
 one of the evils complained of in the preface : they 
 are making roads, which is decidedly beginning the 
 improvement where it ought to be begun ; but 
 where, in most cases of colonization, it has rather 
 unwisely ended — and sometimes it has ended before 
 it had reached that stage. 
 
 As the land route extends along the northern 
 shore of Lake Ontario, all the way from Kingston, it 
 may not be amiss to cast just a glance at the vil- 
 lages, or rudiments of towns, along thd whole line. 
 
 Kingston has been already mentioned in the no- 
 
 i 'jl 
 
160 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 II 
 
 tice of the navigation. The houses are built chiefly 
 of stone, substantially rather than tastefully; and 
 the land in the immediate neighbourhood is very 
 stony and not very fertile. That round the Bay of 
 Quinte to the westward, is better; but it is much 
 overrun with the Canada thistle, a scourging weed, 
 which is very difficult to extirpate. 
 
 To the westward of Kingston, the villages are 
 numerous and thriving ; but the place, with the ex- 
 ception of the interior, and that is, in some places, 
 settled by Irish paupers, is better adapted for find- 
 ing employment than for finding land. Ganna- 
 noque, Brockville, Belleville, Port Hope, Cobourg, 
 and several other places, are all in a very active 
 state. There are many flour mills, and saw mills 
 for timber, on the streams, and the whole country 
 is in a state of rapid improvement. 
 
 Beyond York, Dundas is well situated ; has tole- 
 rable roads, the one from Niagara, as well as that 
 from York ; and it enjoys the navigation of Bur- 
 lington bay. Ancaster, at the head of the Bay, is 
 in a very beautiful situation ; the people are mostly 
 Scotch, and their number amounts to more than 
 five hundred. 
 
 Brandtford, the next village, is also delightfully 
 situated. It is in the possession of John Brandt, 
 the son of the Indian chief, of whom that mention is 
 
 It 
 
 %a 
 
^ 1 
 
 POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 161 
 
 >uilt chiefly 
 ifully; and 
 )od is very 
 the Bay of 
 it is much 
 'ging weed, 
 
 ullages are 
 nth the ex- 
 )me places, 
 id for find- 
 Ganna- 
 , Cobourg, 
 very active 
 1 saw mills 
 ole country 
 
 ; has tole- 
 ell as that 
 on of Bur- 
 the Bay, is 
 are mostly 
 more than 
 
 ielightfully 
 hn Brandt, 
 ; mention is 
 
 made in '' Gertrude of Wyoming," which induced 
 Mr. Brandt, when in London some years ago, to 
 cause the author of the poem to mend his verse. A 
 friend of the author of these pages spent some time 
 with Mr. Brandt in 1819, and was astonished at 
 finding the son of the " Mohawk monster" one of 
 the most accomplished and amiable men in Canada. 
 It seems that, in spite of the poetry, the father was 
 as amiable. Brandt has been returned to the House 
 of Representatives in Upper Canada, and is the first 
 native Indian that has been so. 
 
 After leaving the shore of Lake Ontario, the vil- 
 lages in the central part of the country are very 
 small. London, for instance, consists but of two 
 or three houses. The central heights, or elevations, 
 after the limestone ridge is passed, are different from 
 those in most parts of Canada. They are open 
 plains, destitute of timber, and badly watered. Some 
 bits of substance, supposed to be ancient pottery, 
 have been found on them ; and that has led to the 
 supposition that they may have been cleared and in- 
 habited by some race of men that is now extinct. 
 That is of course wholly hypothesis. The gravelly 
 and sterile nature of the soil, and the want of water, 
 are quite sufficient to account for the absence of 
 trees, without the necessity of creating a people for 
 so very unprofitable a labour, and destroying them 
 
162 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 all after they had accomplished it. Whether, when 
 t>e better land has been denuded of its timber, it 
 will impart a portion of its fertility to those sterile 
 heights, or " plains," as they are called, or whe- 
 ther their sterility will invade it, are questions that 
 cannot in the meantime be solved. Report says 
 that the clearing of the woods in Upper Canada 
 makes the winter milder, or at any rate diminishes 
 the quantity of snow, and augments the heat and 
 drought of the summer. In other places it is found 
 to increase the cold of the one season and the heat 
 of the other ; and both causes tend equally to in- 
 jure vegetation. It may be that pasturage by 
 sheep, a species of animal much wanted in Canada, 
 and but ill adapted for the lower and more fertile 
 places, might be the best means of improving those 
 plains. There must be some hazard in too rapid 
 a destruction of the forests ; for though there is nci 
 occasion to dread the failure of rain altogether, in 
 the vicinity of such vast expances of water as the 
 lakes, yet the western country, beyond the Quten- 
 ston heights is very flat ; and there are more ot 
 those dry and barren plains between the Ouse and 
 the Thames than in all the rest of Canada. 
 
 Thetownof Guelph, is one of the new ones found- 
 ed by the Canada Company. It is on a crown 
 reserve of about 40,000 acres, sold to them, and 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 163 
 
 ther, when 
 s timber, it 
 liose sterile 
 d, or whe- 
 estions that 
 leport says 
 )er Canada 
 
 diminishes 
 e heat and 
 
 it is found 
 [id the heat 
 lally to in- 
 sturage by 
 [in Canada, 
 nore fertile 
 oving those 
 1 too rapid 
 
 there is iw 
 ogether, in 
 ater as tlit 
 the Queen- 
 re more :>\ 
 I Ouse and 
 
 nes found- 
 1 a crown 
 them, and 
 
 lying in the Gore district, about twenty-five miles 
 to the north of Dundas Street. Though it has 
 been founded only four years, it contains more than 
 400 inhabitants, which proves how judicious that 
 regulation of the Company's is, by which they make 
 loads in their settlements. Guelph is within thirty 
 miles of Lake Ontario; little more than fifty from 
 York ; about seventy from Lake Huron ; and within 
 fifteen of the Company's large Huron tract of land. 
 The township is well wafered, being on one of the 
 branches of the Ouse, one of which forms a bend 
 round one side of the town. 
 
 Goderich, on the shores of Lake Huron, is very 
 judiciously situated. Though close by the lake, 
 it is on a rising ground, and therefore dry. The 
 mouth of the river Maitland, in a bend of which the 
 site of the town lies, forms a harbour ; the lake 
 i(ives it all the advantages of a coasting port, and 
 besides abounds with fish, especially sturgeon ; the 
 • limate is good, and the soil capable of producing 
 all the crops of the warmer parts of Europe, except 
 those that have to stand in leaf during the winter. 
 The roads that are opening eastward through 
 Guelph to Lake Ontario, and southward in the 
 direction of Port Talbot on Lake Erie, will be of 
 j^reat advantage to all the intermediate country. 
 
 Though this alluvial part of Canada labours under 
 
164 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 
 t, I 
 
 some disadvantages, yet in the ease with which 
 roads (of some quality or other) can be formed it 
 has the advantage of the rocky districts. Guelph, 
 however, is not on the alluvial land, but on the lime- 
 stone ridge. The limestone squares well for build- 
 ing, and burns into good lime, either for mortar or 
 for manure. Goderich has not the advantage of 
 stone at hand, but brick earth of good quality 
 abounds. One of the chief disadvantages of this 
 alluvial part of Canada, is the want of pine and 
 cedar timber. The sugar maple is the prevailing 
 tree ; and though it has its uses, it is far from being 
 the best for a^^chitectural purposes : and, unless some 
 means be found of fetching timber by Lake Huron, 
 good timber will be very costly, as soon as the coun- 
 try becomes thickly peopled. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that the deciduous cypress (Taxodium dis- 
 ticha) might be introduced with great advantage in 
 the moist and swampy places. 
 
 Amherstburg, as it is the most south-westerly, 
 so it is the largest town on the western peninsula. 
 It is pleasantly situated on the east side of the De- 
 troit River, about three miles above Lake Erie. 
 The population is about 1200 ; and for a new place, 
 it is wealthy, and what may, in the wilderness, be 
 called fashionable. There is a good deal of trade 
 with the Americans on the opposite side of the 
 river ; and warm as the summer is, and short as is 
 
 ■-■tfi 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 165 
 
 with which 
 e formed it 
 i. Guelph, 
 )n the lime- 
 il for build- 
 r mortar or 
 [vantage of 
 •od quality 
 iges of this 
 f pine and 
 prevailing 
 from being 
 mless some 
 ike Huron, 
 s the coun- 
 )able, how- 
 odium dis- 
 1 vantage in 
 
 h-westerly, 
 peninsula, 
 of the De- 
 Lake Erie, 
 new place, 
 ierness, be 
 al of trade 
 de of the 
 short as is 
 
 the winter compared with that in Lower Canada, 
 the river is then completely frozen over, and forms a 
 bridge of communication. 
 
 Sandwich, though smaller than Amherstburg, is 
 still a considerable place, containing 800 or 900 
 people, and like the other well situated for trade. 
 
 Cultivated Productions. 
 
 The extent of Canada is so great, and the heat 
 of the summer so intense, that it would be much 
 more easy to enumerate the useful vegetables which 
 cannot be cultivated to advantage on it, than to 
 enumerate those which can. 
 
 In order that we may judge with the greater 
 accuracy of the relative productiveness of the soil, 
 in the staple articles of agricultural produce that 
 are also grown in England, it may not be amiss to 
 begin by stating the estimated average produce 
 per acre at home. That is given as follows : — 
 
 Bushch 
 
 . 20 
 
 Wheat per acre 
 
 Barley 
 
 Oats 
 
 Rye 
 
 Peas . 
 
 Beans 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 32 
 36 
 24 
 20 
 28 
 250 
 
166 
 
 THE EM 10 KANT S 
 
 Report says tl at wheat in the London district 
 (at Guelph), where it is all winter wheat, yields 
 from twenty to forty bushels an acre. But until 
 there are more domestic animals in the country, 
 the smaller return is probably too high, excepting 
 in the virgin year of the soil. 
 
 Pickering (" Emigration, or no Emigration") 
 estimates the produce in the same part of Upper 
 Canada, at eighteen bushels an acre for wheat, and 
 twenty-five for Indian corn or maize ; which, in 
 the article of wheat, is about the same as the worst 
 counties, though not the worst land in England. 
 An allowance must however be made for the want 
 of domestic animals and manure, and also of proper 
 experimental knowledge of the climate. It must 
 also be borne in mind that the Canadian farmer 
 pays not more foT- the freehold of his land, than 
 the English farmer pays in one year for parish 
 rates. 
 
 The return of wheat per acre in the neighbour- 
 hood of York is estimated at twenty-five bushels. 
 That must be on the very best land ; and the best 
 land there, is stronger than that about Guelph or 
 Goderich, where the estimate of eighteen bushels 
 was taken, so that both are probably correct. The 
 twenty-five bushels are supposed to be a first crop, 
 obtained from land tliat has been just cleared ot 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 167 
 
 timber, and not ploughed but simply harrowed. 
 The seed one bushel to the acre, which is twenty- 
 five returns. It is estimated that the third year's 
 crop would be from thirty to forty bushels an acre ; 
 l)iit the dates are not given, and the fact is rather 
 doubtful, more especially if a large space is cleared, 
 so that the drought and weather can act fully 
 upon it. 
 
 Winter wheat is sown from the first of August to 
 about the middle of September ; and it is harvested 
 in the end of July or beginning of August varying 
 with the situation. Spring wheat is put into the 
 ground about the last week of April, and reaped 
 about the end of August, or the first week of Sep- 
 tember, according to the climate. On good land 
 the average of winter wheat may be about equal to 
 that of England, or twenty bushels an acre ; spring 
 wheat cannot be estimated higher than eighteen or 
 perhaps than fifteen. It is easy to see that, unless 
 in very favoured spots, spring wheat must be a more 
 precarious crop. The spring frosts, alternating with 
 the rains, just after the snow is melted and the 
 ground is very soft, throw it out ; and the frosty 
 nights of autumn are apt to whiten it before it is 
 ripe. The Canadian wl\eat, especially the spring 
 wheat, though of good quality when properly 
 ripened, is very small in the grain. That may be 
 
 ' I' 
 
168 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ■'i 
 
 one reason why the Canadian fanners rarely sow 
 more than a bushel and a-half, and sometimes not 
 more than a bushel, on the acre. It is probable 
 however that that is an injudicious parsimony, as 
 on the very best prepared land in England, and 
 with the earliest sowing, it is never profitable to put 
 in less than two bushels an acre ; and the prudent 
 average is two and a-half, or two and three-(juarters. 
 Two bushels would therefore certainly not be too 
 much in Canada, especially as the value of the 
 seed bears a much less proportion to the expense of 
 labour than in England, and manure is not obtain- 
 able for such a breadth of land. 
 
 Rye answers well upon the light dry lands in 
 Upper Canada, though the produce per acre is less 
 than in England, being twenty bushels in place of 
 twenty-four. It is chiefly used in distillation. 
 
 Barley is not so well adapted to the Canadian 
 climate as wheat or rye. It is little sown in the 
 upper province, except in the comparatively humid 
 district to the northward of Lake Ontario. The 
 produce is not two-thirds of the average of Eng- 
 land, being only twenty bushels an acre, while that 
 in England is thirty-two, and in Lincolnshire as 
 much as forty-eight, or double the Canadian esti- 
 mate. 
 
 Oats never yield a good crop in very warm coun- 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 169 
 
 warm coun- 
 
 tries ; and perhaps ought not to be cultivated in 
 Canada at all, as there is no account of a single 
 pood field of that species of grain in the whole ex- 
 tent of the country. 
 
 Millet when sown answers very well, and so no 
 doubt would the other small grain which is culti- 
 vated in the upper districts of India. The report 
 is that three quarts of millet seed sow an acre, and 
 that the produce of the acre is eighty bushels. 
 
 Indian corn or maize is cultivated in Canada, 
 but the returns bear no proportion whatever to 
 those that are obtained in Mexico and the other 
 central parts of America. The produce in the 
 western districts is not more than twenty-five 
 bushels an acre, and that in the eastern districts 
 not more than sixteen. It is also a crop that re- 
 quires a considerable deal of care. That care is 
 sometimes, however, more than repaid by a crop of 
 pumpkins, which is raised between the drills of the 
 maize. Twelve hundred pumpkins of a large size 
 may be raised on a single acre. 
 
 The soil of Canada in those places where there is 
 perhaps sufficient warmth of climate, is not adapted 
 for the growth of rice, and accordingly that grain 
 has not been introduced. The Canadian rice 
 (Zizania aquatica), formerly mentioned, though 
 found abundantly in the wild state in some places, 
 
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 (716) 872-4503 
 
5? ..w 
 
170 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 more especially on the shores and shallows of the 
 Rice Lakes in the Newcastle district, a little to the 
 northward of Lake Ontario, has not been brought 
 into culture. It is however sometimes purchased 
 of the Indians. It is a very coarse grain ; but there 
 is little doubt that it might be cultivated with con- 
 siderable advantage in the swamps. 
 
 The Canadian summers are too warm for beans, 
 which either keep running up to stem without flower- 
 ing, or are infested with aphides ; but the smaller 
 legumes thrive well ; and there is no doubt that 
 much advantage, especially in the foddering of 
 cattle during those months when there is nothing 
 in the fields, and also in the sty-feeding of hogs, 
 might be derived from the general introduction of 
 the various kinds of tares, vetches, and lentils. 
 
 The potato, the most valuable of all esculent 
 roots, does not succeed very well in Canada. The 
 climate appears to be both too warm and too dry ; 
 and that is in part proved by its thriving better in 
 Nova Scotia, which is much colder and more humid 
 than any part of Canada. The same thing holds 
 in the British Islands. Potatoes are much more 
 productive, and of far better quality in Ireland, and 
 in Lancashire, and the other rainy countries in the 
 west, than they are in the best wheat districts of 
 England. It is probable also that the Canadian 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 171 
 
 soil is not well adapted to their growth, some parts 
 being too retentive, and others too porous. 
 
 The soil of Upper Canada should be well adapted 
 for turnips ; but as the turnip is a northern vege- 
 table, the summer is much too warm for its perfec- 
 tion ; and it could scarcely bear the rigour of the 
 winter. 
 
 Canada is not naturally a good grass country. 
 In the shade of pines scarcely any grasses will 
 grow ; and the deciduous forests are from their 
 thickness not a great deal better. The open plains 
 also are too warm and dry for grasses ; and the 
 plants in the marshes are coarse. Perhaps the 
 best of the true grasses is the common Timothy grass 
 (Phleum pratense). The length of its roots en- 
 ables it to bear the heat better than many of the 
 others, but it is a coarse grass. White clover 
 grows spontaneously, though hardly so close as to 
 form a pasturage ; but the most profitable grasses 
 for the Canadian farmers are red clover, lucerne, 
 and sainfoin, of which, upon lands duly prepared, 
 the crops are abundant. Imported seed is costly 
 however ; and thus, hitherto, most of the patches 
 that have been sown, have been allowed to stand 
 till they were useless as hay, for the sake of the 
 seed. No correct estimate can however yet be 
 formed of what Canada may become as a grazing 
 
 I 2 
 
17-2 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 9 
 
 ^ 
 
 country. Some of the best natural meadows in 
 England are in the county of Northampton, and 
 though that is comparatively a moist county, they 
 take a hundred years before they come to maturity. 
 If good grazings are to be found in Canada they 
 will take longer. 
 
 All the useful species of the gourd tribe ( Cucur- 
 hitacece) thrive uncommonly well in Canada. Me- 
 lons of excellent flavour, and weighing sometimes 
 as much as fifty pounds each, are reared without 
 any trouble. Water melons also grow on the dry 
 places ; and cucumbers, and all kinds of gourds, 
 vegetable marrows, and similar fruits, are reared 
 with the same ease. 
 
 Parsnips, carrots, and similar esculent roots, 
 grow to a large size, but they are rather insipid ; 
 and it is difficut to rear any of the cabbage tribe, 
 they are so infested with insects, and the heat is also 
 too great for them. 
 
 Capsicums, and several other pungent vegetables, 
 thrive well in the gardens of the upper provinces : — 
 The asparagin plants are not much cultivated. 
 
 Fruits are abundant, and of excellent quality. 
 In Lower Canada, near Quebec, apples are the 
 principal fruit. They sell for about one farthing a 
 pound : they are pared, sliced, strung upon threads, 
 and dried in the sun, or over the fire, and then 
 barrelled up for winter use. Pears are rarely met with. 
 
POCKET COMPAMOV. 
 
 173 
 
 Plums are abundant along the St. Lawrence, 
 from a little above Quebec, but they are less fre- 
 quent in the upper province. A sort of wild plums 
 are mentioned, as occurring in the forests, but they 
 are not good. Cherries are very abundant, both 
 cultivated and indigenous. The wild sorts grow on 
 very large trees, often three feet in diameter, and 
 more than a hundred feet high, so that there is no 
 way of getting at the cherries but by felling the 
 tree. Thus they are abandoned to the wild pigeons, 
 of which vast numbers resort to them in the season. 
 
 To the westward of York, the peach is one of the 
 most abundant fruits in Canada, though in the 
 districts farther to the east peaches are reared with 
 difficulty, as the spring frosts destroy the young 
 trees. In the districts first mentioned they are in 
 vast profusion and sell as low as Is. 6c?. per bushel. 
 They are dried and preserved for the winter after 
 much the same fashion as the apples. 
 
 The wild grape, which twines among the trees in 
 the Canadian forests, is small and not edible ; but 
 in the peach districts alluded to, cultivated grapes 
 grow easily, and to great perfection. 
 
 Gooseberries, currants, strawberries, cranberries, 
 and various other sorts are found wild in the bushes 
 and swamps. The currants, strawberries, and cran- 
 berries are excellent of their kinds ; the gooseberries 
 are rather tart. 
 
,t;-i' 
 
 174 
 
 THE I.MIGRANT S 
 
 
 /*' ■; 
 
 It is woryth of remark, that on a little red sand- 
 stone district, at St. Paul's Bay, about forty miles 
 below Quebec, fruit trees grow better than in the 
 country higher up, and even peaches ripen. 
 
 Tobacco is cultivated in the west, and there is no 
 doubt that the culture might be increased with 
 great advantage. Hemp also might be grown very 
 profitably on the swamps. The following is an 
 estimate of the probable advantage of cultivating 
 that plant : 
 
 " Expense of cultivating one acre of Hemp yielding 
 about two tons raw, or half a ton prepared. 
 
 Ploughing in the autumn 
 Cross ploughing in the spring 
 Harrowing .... 
 Sowing broadcast 
 Bush harrowing 
 
 Pulling and housing male stalks 
 Ditto female ditto . 
 Taking seed from the plants 
 
 Total expenses 
 The seed remains with the farmer say ^ 
 eight minots at IO5. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the seed would of itself 
 be almost sufficient to refund the outlay and labour. 
 
 Ha 
 
 lifax 
 
 £0 
 
 currency 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 ! 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
POCKET COMPAXION. 
 
 175 
 
 e red sand- 
 forty miles 
 than in the 
 pen. 
 
 I there is no 
 reased with 
 grown very 
 >wing is an 
 ' cultivating 
 
 ?mj9 yielding 
 repared. 
 
 Halifax currency 
 
 £0 10 
 7 6 
 1 
 11 3 
 6 
 
 18 10 
 
 1 6 3 
 9 2 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 lid of itself 
 ind labour. 
 
 Allowing the farmer, therefore, 15/. currency for 
 every four tons of raw, or one ton of prepared hemp, 
 the Company would be paying the grower very 
 liberally for his produce, offering thereby a power- 
 ful encouragement to the agriculturist, and ensur- 
 ing abundant supplies for the British market. 
 
 The cost of one ton of merchantable hemp to the 
 Company, when landed in England, would be as 
 follows : — 
 
 H. currency Sterling 
 
 To the grower for four tons of 
 rawhemp=one ton prepared £15 
 
 Freightage, insurance, stow- 
 age, &c. . . .500 
 
 Internal transport . . 10 
 
 Ratio of expense on establish- 
 ment . . . .020 
 
 Interest on outlay . 10 9 
 
 Tare and wear . . .10 9 
 
 Proportionate expense on seed 6 
 
 Riga Rhine, sells 
 Petersburg, clean 
 Outshot . 
 Half clean . 
 
 22 19 6=20 13 8 
 
 Per ton 
 
 44 
 
 43 
 40 
 36 
 
 
 
 
 
 4)163 
 
 Mean price of hemp . 40 15 
 
176 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 9 
 
 Per ton in England . 
 
 Profit, accruing to the Compa- 
 ny on one ton of prepared 
 hemp .... 
 
 £20 13 8 
 40 15 
 
 20 1 6 
 
 
 Now asssuming the number of heads of families 
 in the province who subsist upon the produce of 
 their lands to be 90,000 ; — of this number, suppose 
 one half only are disposed to cultivate hemp, 45,000 ; 
 — and granting that they devote two acres of their 
 farms to the growth of hemp, and that each acre 
 produces only half a ton of prepared hemp, then 
 we have 45,000 tons ; — 45,000 tons of hemp at 
 401. 15s. is 1,833,750/. ; — which sum is the pro- 
 bable extent of the Lower Canada hemp trade, after 
 it shall have been carried on for two or three years." 
 
 This estimate, which is in all probability a little 
 too sanguine, is extracted from a paper drawn up 
 by Mr. Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor General of 
 Canada, and author of a large work on that coun- 
 try. We shall close this section by a statement 
 of the expense and returns of Canadian farming 
 from a sensible little work by Mr. Joseph Pickering. 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 177 
 
 Costs and Returns of a Farm in Canada. 
 
 '* A farm of 200 acres ; seventy cleared ; with a 
 good log, or small farm house, or barn, and a young 
 orchard, &c. ; 200 acres, say at four dollars, or \Ss. 
 per acre, 800 dollars, or 180/. ; 100 dollars, or 
 22/. iOs. yearly, and interest until paid, of the 
 remainder. A person with 200/. may settle very 
 comfortably on such a farm, and cover all necessary 
 outgoings ; and the following items would be re- 
 quired : — 
 
 Dollars 
 
 As stock, &c., two yoke of oxen ; one well- 
 broken yoke, forty-five dollars ; one yoke of 
 steers, unbroken, thirty-five dollars 
 
 Three ox chains, twelve dollars ; two yokes, 
 three dollars ; sled, five dollars . 
 
 A horse (or brood mare) to ride, go to mill, 
 &c., plough between potatoes, corn, &c. 
 
 Light Jersey waggon, second hand, (a new 
 one would cost sixty-five dollars), with spring 
 seat, both for pleasure and profit, fifty dollars ; 
 harness, ten dollars ; and saddle, fifteen dollars 
 
 Two ploughs, eighteen dollars ; harrow, six 
 dollars; two axes, five dollars; hoes, &c., 
 three dollars 
 
 80 
 
 20 
 
 50 
 
 75 
 
 32 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 257 
 
 I 5 
 
178 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 J 
 
 DoIIhi.- 
 
 Brought forward . 257 
 Six cows at fifteen dollars each ; six calves, 
 and heifers at five dollars . . . .120 
 
 Two sows, six dollars ; thirty store pigs at 
 one dollar each ...... 36 
 
 Twenty sheep at one dollar and a quarter 
 each ........ 25 
 
 Geese, fowls, &c. ..... 5 
 
 Household furniture, — three beds and bed- 
 ding, fifty dollars; tables, ten dollars; crockery, 
 ten dollars ; pots and kettles, ten dollars; clock, 
 fifteen dollars ; common chairs, a quarter of a 
 dollar each ; painted Windsor, one to two 
 dollars each — say ten dollars . . .117 
 
 The first deposit towards payment of farm 100 
 
 £148 : 10 : 0=660 
 
 One Years Outgoings and Expenses. 
 
 Girdling ten acres of woods, clearing out the 
 underbrush and fern, five dollars per acre . 50 
 
 Seed wheat for the same (one bushel and a 
 quarter per acre) at three-quarters of a dollar 
 per bushel ....... 9 
 
 Sowing and harrowing ditto ... 5 
 
 Ten acres of wheat sown after peas, plough- 
 ing, two dollars per acre . . . .20 
 
 .^*; 
 
 Carried forward . 84 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 179 
 
 Dollar- 
 
 ird . 257 
 
 calves, 
 
 . 120 
 
 pigs at 
 
 . ;]fj 
 
 quarter 
 
 25 
 
 5 
 
 d bed- 
 Dckery, 
 ; clock, 
 ter of a 
 to two 
 
 . 117 
 farm 100 
 
 : 0- 
 
 660 
 
 nses. 
 
 
 out the 
 
 
 re 
 
 50 
 
 and a 
 
 
 dollar 
 
 
 • • 
 
 9 
 
 • • 
 
 5 
 
 Dough- 
 
 
 - 
 
 20 
 
 Brought forward 
 
 Seed as above, nine dollars; sowing and 
 harrowing, five dollars . . . . 
 
 Cradling and binding the twenty acres, at 
 one dollar and a-half per acre 
 
 Carting and stacking . . . . 
 
 Thrashing 360 bushels, at one-tenth of a 
 dollar ....... 
 
 Suppose ten acres of clover, sown the year 
 before with oats, at 71bs. per acre (often only 
 3 or 4lbs. sown) ...... 
 
 Mowing first crop of early clover, for hay, 
 three-quarters of a dollar per acre ; getting 
 together, one dollar (it wanting no making) ; 
 and hauling together, one dollar and three- 
 quarters ....... 
 
 Mowing the second crop for seed, &c. 
 
 Thrashing the seed, two bushels produce per 
 acre, at one dollar per bushel 
 
 Ten acres ploughed for peas, two dollars per 
 acre (often done for one dollar and a half) ; 
 seed for ditto, three bushels, (generally only 
 two), at one dollar and a-half per bushel 
 
 Sowing and harrowing, five dollars ; thrash- 
 ing fifty bushels, three dollars 
 
 [The remainder, 150 bushels, give to hogs in 
 
 Dullai's 
 
 84 
 
 14 
 
 30 
 23 
 
 27 
 
 H 
 
 35 
 35 
 
 20 
 
 35 
 
 8 
 
 'd . 84 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 319 
 
180 
 
 Til£ £M 10 HANI !i 
 
 ■f.,* 
 
 Brought forward . 
 the straw unthrashed, if the straw be not good 
 for sheep and cattle (i. e. not got well) ; but 
 if good, I would recommend it being given to 
 the sheep, lightly thrashed, as the very best 
 food to be had here for them, and which they 
 are very fond of.] 
 
 Four acres of oats for calves, sheep, milch 
 cows, and horse, the seed three bushels per 
 acre, at a quarter of a dollar per bushel, three 
 dollars; ploughing, &c., ten dollars 
 
 Six acres of corn, ploughing twice, eighteen 
 dollars ; planting and harrowing, four dollars ; 
 two hoeings, nine dollars; ploughing between the 
 rows, two dollars; husking, &c., twelve dol- 
 lars ; hauling, thrashing, and seed, ten dollars 
 
 Eight acres in Timothy, or other grass, for 
 hay ; mowing and stacking as for clover 
 
 Twelve acres in sheep pasture, two acres for 
 potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and other vege- 
 tables, for house (chiefly), sheep, calves, &c., 
 hiring a stout boy at five dollars per month, 
 and board for year, to attend cattle, milk, &c. 
 
 To the above expenses may be added one 
 year's interest of the purchase-money, yet un- 
 paid, being 6 per cent, on 700 dollars . 
 
 DdIIhi. 
 
 319 
 
 la 
 
 iDf> 
 
 24 
 
 100 
 
 42 
 
 Total 563 
 
 ., (':* 
 
 .:'i 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 181 
 
 rd . 
 
 ulltii> 
 
 319 
 
 t good 
 ); but 
 
 
 ven to 
 
 
 •y best 
 
 
 h they 
 
 
 milch 
 
 
 jIs per 
 , three 
 
 
 • 
 
 la 
 
 ghteen 
 oUars ; 
 
 
 ?en the 
 
 
 e dol- 
 
 
 llars 
 
 (3.5 
 
 js, for 
 
 
 • 
 
 '24 
 
 res for 
 
 
 vege- 
 ,&c., 
 
 
 lonth, 
 
 
 ,&c. 
 
 100 
 
 d one 
 
 
 5t un- 
 
 
 • 
 
 42 
 
 Total 
 
 563 
 
 () 
 
 Produce of the Seventy Acres. 
 
 Twenty acres of wheat at eij^hteen bushels 
 per acre (sometimes thirty,) at three-quarters 
 fa dollar per bushel ..... 270 
 
 Ten acres of clover seed, at two bushels per 
 acre, and seven dollars per bushel . .140 
 
 Six acres of Indian corn, at twenty-five 
 hiishels per acre, — 150 bushels at half a dollar 75 
 
 Thirty store pigs (for fattening next season) 30 
 
 Thirty fat hogs, weighing at least 200lb8. 
 each (or one barrel), thirty barrels at twelve 
 dollars per barrel 360 
 
 Six cows, butter and cheese for summer . 60 
 
 A yoke of fat oxen, sixty dollars (besides 
 a cow or two killed for the house) . . .60 
 
 Twenty lambs twenty dollars, and twenty 
 fleeces of wool twenty dollars . . .40 
 
 Geese, feathers, eggs, fowls, &c. . .10 
 
 One year's farm produce 
 Ditto expenses 
 
 1045 
 563 
 
 Surplus 482 
 
 " With the beef and vegetables allowed, above 
 282 dollars will keep a family of four or five per- 
 sons well during the year, leaving a clear profit of 
 200 dollars, or 45/. beside the improvement of the 
 

 f- 
 
 182 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 farm ; and if hemp or tobacco were made part of 
 the productions, the profits probably would be 
 larger. 
 
 " Five bushels of Indian corn or peas will fatten 
 a fresh store hog, or keep one through the winter ; 
 they get their livinp* in the woods and pastures 
 during the summer, also during the winter when 
 nuts are plentiful, which generally happens three 
 years out of five." 
 
 The name and particular locality of the farm 
 thus estimated are not mentioned, but from the 
 context it may be concluded that the farm is in 
 the London district of Upper Canada ; the expense 
 of which is probably a little less, and the returns a 
 little more than in some other parts of the country, 
 though the difference in either respect is probably 
 not so much as to make it differ greatly from the 
 average. 
 
 :/«! 
 
 Note. — On the Governments of the two Provinces. 
 
 The government of each of the provinces of Ca- 
 nada consists of a Governor, a Deputy Governor, 
 an Executive Council, a Legislative Council, and a 
 House of Assembly. The Governor and his Deputy 
 represent the King, and act under his commission ; 
 the Executive is a kind of Privy Council ; the Le- 
 
' I 
 
 POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 183 
 
 gislative Council are a sort of Peers appointed by 
 mandamus from the King, and, like that of the 
 Peers of the United Kingdom, their number is in- 
 definite ; and the House of Assembly are the Re- 
 presentatives of the People. These three branches 
 or estates are analogous to the King, Lords, and 
 Commons of the United Kingdom. 
 
 The Assembly of Lower Canada consists of 
 eighty-four members. Forty shillings freehold is 
 the qualification in the country for voters, and a 
 house and land of 51. in the cities of Quebec and 
 Montreal, and the boroughs of William Henry and 
 Three Rivers. 
 
 In Upper Canada there are forty Members of 
 Assembly. They must be British subjects by birth 
 or naturalization, and not Members of the Legisla- 
 tive Council, or Clergymen. 
 
 The Governor has, in each province, the power 
 of calling, proroguing, and dissolving the Assembly. 
 
 The criminal law, and municipal usage, resemble 
 those of England. Civil cases are decided by 
 Courts of King's Bench, with an appeal to the 
 Governor and Council, and finally to the King in 
 Council at home. The law in all matters relating 
 to the seignioral lands in Lower Canada, is the old 
 French law. 
 
 There is no tax in Upper Canada, or in the 
 
 < ■■: 
 
184 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ** townships" of Lower, but a property-tax, which 
 amounts to about one penny in the pound. In the 
 seigniories there is no tax to the Government, but 
 the holders of lands under the seigniory are subject 
 to feudal imposts and restrictions which English- 
 men do not much relish. 
 
 There are no tithes or other exactions from the 
 people for the support of any Protestant church 
 establishment. There are reserved lands for this 
 church ; but as these are not in general productive, 
 the officiating clergy are paid out of various funds. 
 
 There is the most perfect religious liberty, all 
 persuasions being equally free and equally pro- 
 tected, so long as they conform to the civil laws of 
 the colony. Accordingly there are preachers of all 
 denominations scattered up and down the country. 
 In fact, there is less to trammel industry than in 
 almost any other country. 
 
POCKET COMPAlflON, 
 
 185 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MEANS AND MODE OF EMIGRATING. 
 
 In a former chapter, an attempt was made to 
 point out the classes of persons to whom emigration 
 has every chance of being advantageous, if it be 
 conducted in ti.e proper manner ; and in the inter- 
 mediate chapters, a similar attempt has been made 
 to show that the British colonies in North America, 
 the Canadas especially, and of the Canadas the 
 districts on the Ottawa, and Upper Canada, are 
 the places to which, in preference to any others, an 
 emigrant from the British islands ought to turn his 
 attention. As many particulars respecting Canada 
 have also been noticed, as may, if carefully studied, 
 give the emigrant all the knowledge of that coun- 
 try, which is absolutely necessary previous to his 
 arrival in it. It therefore now remains to point out 
 the mode in which the emigrant may most conve- 
 niently get there, and be most at home and ready 
 
186 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 to begin his operations when he arrives. The 
 objects are, that the voyage should be made in 
 the way that shall combine, in the greatest pro- 
 portion, the three requisites of cheapness, expedi- 
 tion, and comfort ; that the emigrant shall know 
 where he has to go, and how he is to go, the mo- 
 ment that he lands, in order that he may not waste 
 his time and his resources in a place where he is a 
 stranger, and where, from the number of misdirect- 
 ed, or irresolute emigrants that are constantly ho- 
 vering listlessly about, the people cannot be sup- 
 posed to pay much attention to him or his concerns; 
 and that he should have with him, or know with 
 certainty where he can obtain, every information, 
 and every resource that is necessary, not only for 
 his mere settlement, but for his subsistence, and 
 the carrying on of his operations, until the fruits of 
 his labour in the new country have become a certain 
 means of support to himself, and to all whom he 
 may have taken out with him. 
 
 These are the plain principles which common 
 sense dictates ; but it is not easy so to modify them 
 for practice as that they will suit the case of eacli 
 individual. So that, after all the instructions that 
 can be given, the emigrant must be counsellor and 
 judge for himself. He must have the information 
 given him, but the decision, and the putting of that 
 
 ■'i 
 
■1 \i 
 
 POCKET COMPAXIOy. 
 
 187 
 
 decision in execution must be his own. Having 
 made up his mind he must abide resolutely by it, 
 in spite of every adverse circumstance that may 
 arise. He must be firm as a rock ; for an irresolute 
 emigrant is certain never to succeed. He must be 
 careful too, not to ask the advice of all persons 
 promiscuously, but to find out those who are as 
 much interested in giving him right information, 
 as he is in receiving it. 
 
 The following extract from Mr. A. C. Bucha- 
 nan's " Emigration practically Considered," con- 
 tains many useful hints. 
 
 " The following practical hints," says Mr. Bu- 
 chanan, '' may prove useful to emigrants proceed- 
 ing to North America. 
 
 '* Persons intending to emigrate to North Ame- 
 rica, who have no friends there before them, should 
 consider well the place to which they ought to 
 proceed. 
 
 " The rate of passage, exclusive of provisions, to 
 the United States, is from 51. to 61. per adult, and 
 from any of our colonies from 21. to 3/. ; a child 
 under seven years old pays one-third, and over 
 seven and under fourteen one-half. A voyage to 
 New York from the United Kingdom in the months 
 of April, May, June, and October, (in which the 
 shortest passages are generally made), is performed 
 
 I ■'' 
 
 i ,1 
 

 188 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 W i 
 
 in from thirty to thirty-five days. To Quebec, in 
 the month of April or May, from thirty to forty-five 
 days. Halifax and St. John's, New Brunswick, 
 from twenty-five to thirty-five days. 
 
 *' Persons proceeding to any part of the State 
 of Pennsylvania, and not immediately to Lake Erie, 
 should embark for Philadelphia; if to the back 
 part of Virginia, or any part of Maryland, or Ken- 
 tucky, take shipping for Baltimore ; if for Jersey, 
 or the State of New York, embark for New York, 
 from whence, in fact, you will find facilities to every 
 part of the continent. If you are destined to any 
 part of the Canadas (unless the district of Gaspe) 
 take shipping for Quebec. If for the district of 
 Gaspe or Chaleurs, go direct, if you can meet with 
 a conveyance; if not, Miramichi, or Prince Ed- 
 ward's Island, will be the most convenient ports to 
 embark for. Steam-boats ply daily from Quebec 
 to and from Montreal, which will be found the best 
 route to any part of Upper Canada, and the western 
 States boi rearing on the Lakes or River St. Law- 
 rence. If you have friends before you, and you are 
 going to New Brunswick, take shipping for St. 
 John's, St. Andrew's, or Miramichi, as your advices 
 may direct. 
 
 " If you have no fixed place in view, or friends 
 before you, if labour and farming be your ob- 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 189 
 
 jcct, and you have a family, bend your course 
 to the Canadas ; for there you will find the widest 
 field for your exertions, and the greatest demand 
 for labour. 
 
 ** In almost every part of the middle States of 
 America, you are subject to fever and ague, as also 
 in some parts of Upper Canada. Lower Canada, 
 New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, are exempt in 
 this respect. 
 
 " I would particularly recommend the months of 
 April and May for going out, as you may then ex- 
 pect a favourable passage ; on no account go in 
 July or August, as, from the prevalence of south- 
 west winds, you will have a tedious passage. Make 
 your bargain for your passage with the owner of the 
 ship, or some well-known respectable broker, or 
 siiip master ; avoid, by all means, those crimps that 
 are generally found about the docks and quays, 
 near where ships are taking in passengers. Be sure 
 that the ship is going to the port you contract for, 
 as much deception has been practised in this re- 
 spect. It is important to select a well-known cap- 
 tain and a fast-sailing ship, even at a higher rate. 
 
 ** When you arrive at the port you sail for, pro- 
 ceed immediately in the prosecution of your objects, 
 and do not loiter about, or suffer yourself to be 
 advised by designing people, who too often give 
 
190 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 their opinion unsolicited. If you want advice, and 
 there is no official person at the port you may land 
 at, go to some respectable person, or chief magis- 
 trate, and be guided by his advice. 
 
 *' Let your baggage be put up in as small a com- 
 pass as possible ; get a strong deal chest of conve- 
 nient size; let it be the shape of a sailor's box, 
 broader at bottom than top, so that it will be more 
 steady on board ship ; good strong linen or sacking 
 bags will be found very useful. Pack your oat- 
 meal, or flour, in a strong barrel or flax-seed cask, 
 (which you can purchase cheap in the spring of the 
 year). I would advise, in addition to the usual 
 wood hoops, two iron ones on each cask, w th 
 strong lid and good hinge, a padlock, &c. Bas- 
 kets or sacks are better adapted for potatoes than 
 casks. 
 
 " The following supply will be sufficient for a 
 family of five persons for a voyage to North Ame- 
 rica, viz. — 48 stone of potatoes, (if in season, say 
 not after the first of June) ; 2^ cwt. of oatmeal or 
 flour ; I cwt. of biscuits ; 20 lbs. of butter in a keg ; 
 1 gallon of molasses ; 20 lbs. of bacon ; 50 lbs. of 
 fish (herrings) in a small keg ; 1 gallon of spirits ; 
 and a little vinegar. — When you contract with the 
 captain for your passage, do not forget to insure a 
 sufficient supply of good water. An adult will 
 
 i 
 
POCKET COMPANION-. 
 
 191 
 
 require five pints per day — children in propor- 
 tion. 
 
 " The foregoing- will be found a sufficient supply 
 for an emigrant's family of five persons, for sixty or 
 seventy days, and will cost about 51. in Ireland or 
 Scotland; in England 6/. or 11. If the emigrant 
 has the means, let him purchase besides, 1 lb. of 
 tea and 14 lbs. of sugar for his wife. 
 
 " The preceding statement contains the principal 
 articles of food required, which may be varied as 
 the taste and circumstances of the emigrant may 
 best suit. In parting with your household furni- 
 ture, &c. reserve a pot, a tea-kettle, frying-pan, 
 feather-bed (the Irish peasantry generally possess a 
 feather-bed), as much coarse linen as you can, and 
 strong woollen stockings ; all these will be found 
 very useful on board ship, and at your settlement, 
 and are not difficul': to carry. Take your spade 
 and reaping-hook with you, and as many mecha- 
 nical tools as you can, such as augers, planes, 
 hammers, chisels, &c. ; thread, pins, needles, and 
 a strong pair of shoes for winter. In summer, in 
 Canada, very little clothing is required for six 
 months, only a coarse shirt and linen trowsers ; and 
 you will get cheap mocassins (Indian shoes) ; you 
 will also get cheap straw hats in the Canadas 
 which are better for summer than wool hats, and in 
 
■ t 
 
 192 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 8 
 
 . t 
 
 • .1 
 
 winter you will require a fur or Scotch woollen cap. 
 Take a little purgative medicine with you, and if you 
 have young children, suitable medicine for them. 
 Keep yourselves clean on board ship, eat such food 
 as you have beea generally accustomed to (but in 
 moderation), keep no dirty clothes about your 
 berths, nor filth of any kind. Keep on deck, and 
 air your bedding daily when the weather will per- 
 mit ; take a mug of salt water occasionally, in the 
 morning. By attending to these observations I will 
 ensure your landing in good health, and better- 
 looking than when you embarked. 
 
 " From the great disparity of male over female 
 population in the Canadas, I would have every 
 young farmer or labourer going out (who can pay 
 for the passage of two), to take an active young- 
 wife with him. 
 
 " In Lower Canada and New Brunswick winter 
 begins about the end of November, and the snow is 
 seldom clear from the ground till the beginning 
 of April. In Nova Scotia and Prince Edward's 
 Island, from their insulated situation, the winters are 
 milder than in New Brunswick or Lower Canada ; 
 and in Upper Canada they are pretty similar to 
 the back part of the State of New York. 
 
 " The risk of a bad harvest or hay-time is rarely 
 felt in Canada, and consequently farming is not 
 
POCKET COMPANION-. 
 
 193 
 
 attended with so much anxiety or labour as in the 
 United Kingdom. The winters are cold, but dry 
 and bracing. I have seen men in the woods, in 
 winter, felling trees, with their coats off, and other- 
 wise lightly clothed. The summers are extremely 
 iiot, particularly in July and August. 
 
 " The new settler must consult the seasons in all 
 his undertakings, and leave nothing to chance or 
 to be done another day. The farmers of Lower 
 Canada are worthy of remark in those respects. 
 
 " In conclusion, I beseech you, if you have any 
 party-feeling at home, if you wish to promote your 
 own prosperity, and that of your family, — wash 
 your hands clean of it, ere you embark. Such 
 characters are looked upon with suspicion in the 
 colonies ; and you could not possibly take with 
 you a worse recommendation. 
 
 " Prices of living, house rent, labour, &c. in the 
 principal towns of Canada, with the expense of 
 travelling on the great leading routes. — In Quebec 
 and Montreal, excellent board and lodging in the 
 principal hotels and boarding houses, 20s. to 305. 
 per week. Second rate ditto, from 155. to 20*. per 
 week. Board and lodging for a mechanic or la- 
 bourer, Is. to 95. Qd. per week, for which he will 
 get tea or coffee, with meat for breakfast, a good 
 dinner, and supper at night. 
 
 K 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 194 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 " Rate of wa^es, without food, generally in thf 
 Canadas. — Ship-carpenters, joiners, &c. from f)$. 
 to 7s. 6d. per day. Bricklayers or stonemasons, 
 from 5s. to 7s. 6d. per day. Labourers, 25. 6d. to 
 4.V. per day. Labourers in the country, 405. per 
 month, and fed. All handicraft tradesmen, from 
 .5*. to 7s. 6d. per day. House servants, men, from 
 265. to 365. per month, with food. Females, 205. to 
 305. per month, with food. 
 
 " House rent in Quebec or Montreal. — A first- 
 rate private dwelling-house from 100/. to 150/. per 
 year, unfurnished. Shops, according to situation, 
 from 30/. to 100/. Tradesmen's dwellings, from 
 20/. to 30/. Inferior class, 10/. to 15/. A farm 
 of 100 acres, with twenty or thirty acres clear, may 
 be purchased in the Canadas for, from 150/. to 
 300/., according to the situation. 
 
 " Passage from Quebec to Montreal, 180 miles, 
 by steam-boats, one of which leaves each place 
 daily, commencing the end of April, and ending 
 the latter end of November. — Cabin, including 
 board, &c. which is very luxurious and abundant, 
 from 2O5. to 3O5. Steerage, without board, from 5s. 
 to 75. 6d. Nearly a similar rate may be considered 
 an average data, in proportion to distance, in tra- 
 velling by steam, in all the great lakes and rivers 
 in North America. Time, in going from Quebec 
 
 '../• 
 
POC K KT COM P A N ION . 
 
 19/1 
 
 rally in tlu- 
 ;. from !")$. 
 onemasons, 
 I, 2s. 6(1. to 
 •y, 40s. per 
 smen, from 
 , men, from 
 ales, 205. to 
 
 lI. — A first- 
 to 1501. per 
 to situation, 
 llings, from 
 /. A farm 
 clear, may 
 •m 150/. to 
 
 180 miles, 
 each place 
 and ending- 
 including 
 abundant, 
 ird, from 5a-. 
 considered 
 nee, in tra- 
 and rivers 
 om Quebec 
 
 to Montreal, thirty hours. Ditto, in returninjjf, 
 twenty-four hours. From Montreal t<- York, 
 Upper Canada, two to thrcf' days. If by Durham 
 boats, which are cheapest for einipjrants, the total 
 expense to York, including provisions for family, 
 about 3/. 15s. To Prescott or Oe^densburg-, in- 
 cluding food, about 21. From Buffalow, or Nia- 
 gara, there are numerous conveyances, either by 
 steam-boats or sailing-vessels to the Talbot settle- 
 ment, and every where about Lake Erie ; and cheap 
 conveyances to the states of Ohio, back parts of 
 Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi Terri- 
 tory, Kentucky, Tennassee, and the adjacent coun- 
 try. Steam-boats and coaches ply daily from 
 Montreal towards New York ; also to Upper Cana- 
 da, and up the Ottawa; and, in fact, during the 
 summer months, conveyances in every direction 
 from Montreal are to be found daily ; and, when 
 winter sets in, travelling is good and expeditious 
 by sledging, or caryoling upon the snow or ice, 
 which generally commences about Christmas, and 
 continues till the end of March. 
 
 '* Route for an Englishman's family wishing to pro- 
 ceed from New York to settle in Upper Canada. — 
 From New York to Albany the expense will be for 
 160 miles, 4s. 6d. per head. Albany to Rochester, 
 13*. 6d. Rochester to Young's Town in Upper 
 
 K 2 
 
196 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 Canada, 45. 6d. Children, under twelve years, 
 half price. Infants, gratis. Baggage, when ex- 
 ceeding a moderate quantity, from New York to 
 Upper Canada, 4s. 6d. per cwt. 
 
 " Distances. — New York to Albany by the Hud- 
 son River, 160 miles. Albany to Utica by the 
 canal, 109 miles. Utica to Rochester by the canal, 
 160 miles. Rochester to Niagara River in Upper 
 Canada, by steam-boat, 80 miles. Total distance 
 from New York to Niagara, 509 m.iles. 
 
 " Price of provisions at Montreal and Quebec. — 
 Beef (winter), ^\d. per lb. Ditto (summer), 3|c?. 
 to 4c?. per lb. Mutton (winter), 2|c?. per lb. 
 Ditto (summer), Sd. to Qd, per lb. Veal (summer), 
 M. to 7c?. per lb. Ditto (winter), 1\d, to M. 
 per lb. Butter, M. to 9c?. per lb. Flour, 20s. to 26s. 
 per 196 lb. Hams, ^d. to 7c?. per lb. Cheese, M. 
 to 6c?. per lb. 
 
 " The rates in the country parts are much lower 
 than the above. 
 
 *' Wheat, in the Canadas, according to distance 
 from the part of export, 3s. to bs, per bushel. 
 Oats, Is. 4c?. to 2s. per bushel. Potatoes, Is. to 2s. 
 per bushel. A good goose or turkey, Is. to Is. ^d, 
 A pair of barn-door fowls, 10c?. to Is. 2c?. 
 
 '' Vegetables in every part remarkably good and 
 cheap ; and also fish in great abundance. 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 197 
 
 " Coals, at Quebec or Montreal, 30s. to 35s. per 
 chaldron, but wood chiefly burnt. 
 
 " Rum, 4s. to 5s., Cognac Brandy, 6s. to 6s. 6d., 
 Whiskey, 2s. 6d. to 2s. 8c?. per gallon. Sugar, 6c?. 
 to 7c?. per lb.. Hyson tea, 3s. 6c?. to 5s. per lb., 
 Congou, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. per lb., Eohea, 2s. per lb. 
 Madeira wine, 24s. to 40s., Port, 20s. to 24s., Claret, 
 20s. to 30s., Champaigne, 40s. to 60s., all per 
 dozen." 
 
 The remaining part of the chapter may be ren- 
 dered plainer by a division into sections ; because, 
 in that case only one subject will have to be con- 
 sidered at a time. 
 
 ■,, I, 
 
 Section I. — Preparation for the Voyage. 
 
 Besides the mere means of departure, there are 
 other preparations which the emigrant must make 
 if he is to emigrate comfortably and successfully ; 
 and it needs not be added that, if he is not com- 
 fortable he can hardly be successful. 
 
 The first thing that the emigrant should prepare, 
 is his mind, for that must be a principal means of 
 supporting him at all times, and his only support 
 when every thing else fails : therefore, the resolu- 
 tion to emigrate must not be hastily taken. It 
 
■l 
 
 198 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 •4 
 
 
 i I 
 
 must be well weighed, and the emigrant must con- 
 vince himself that it is the very best step that he 
 can take. He must do that, not upon any false 
 hope — any golden dream of good luck, but upon 
 the plain and straight-forward principle that, if he 
 work harder in the country to which he is going, 
 he shall win more. He may look forward to future 
 ease in that country ; but he must bear in mind, 
 that he must work first — that if he is indolent 
 there, he must be a beggar still, and a beggar 
 starving to death in the wilderness, without any 
 one to relieve him. 
 
 He must forget every thing behind, that is, he 
 must never look back for any assistance ; but bear 
 in mind that, as he is to have all the reward, 
 he must make all the exertion. Nothing must 
 bend him from his purpose ; and though he ought 
 to make every effort for preventing such a result, 
 he must be prepared to perish in the attempt rather 
 than turn back. When the mind is thus prepared, 
 the victory is half won, and all the rest is mere 
 matter of detail and arrangement. 
 
 If the emigrant is a family man, he may have 
 some trouble with his family. Children, indeed, 
 will go any where for novelty ; but even the best 
 meaning of wives may occasion a good deal ot 
 trouble, and the man may be justified in persuad- 
 
 'k 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 199 
 
 est is mere 
 
 ing his wife into the measure, by arguments that 
 would be neither safe nor wise in his own case. 
 The woman is more a creature of the moment than 
 the man, and therefore it is more difficult to break 
 her from the feeling of the moment. It must be 
 done, however, firmly though temperately ; and if 
 no other argument will prevail, the ultimate, ** I'll 
 ^0 without you," if persevered in without any 
 wavering, seldom fails. Once departed from, how- 
 ever, it destroys all others, and becomes useless 
 itself; and therefore it must not be resorted to 
 except in cases of extremity. 
 
 When the emigrant and his family are prepared, 
 the next thing is to " See their way to the ship." 
 There must be no hankering after favourite articles, 
 unless they are so small that they can be carried 
 about the person in a wild forest. Every consider- 
 tion must be one of economy ; and if the land- 
 journey to the port is long, it will be a question 
 whether articles that would be useful on the voy- 
 age, or after landing, should not be sold and re- 
 placed at the port. The port, too, should be the 
 nearest, for the most expensive and the least profit- 
 able part of an emigant's journey, is that overland 
 in the country which he is leaving. There are 
 many cases in which single men who have not 
 money to spare, can work themselves to the port 
 
200 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ^. 
 
 n 
 
 by stages. Married men may in many instances 
 do the same, and leave their families to follow 
 them by the coach or the waggon, when matters are 
 properly prepared for them. It is a good general 
 rule, never to put women and children in motion 
 until it be absolutely necessary, because their 
 motions backwards and forwards, are more fa- 
 tiguing to themselves, proportionally more costly, 
 and less useful than those of men. Families and 
 homes are so closely associated, that, unless in 
 cases where there is money to squander, a family 
 should always be at home when there is one, and 
 in the case of a change, they should shift from home 
 to home by the shortest and most expeditious 
 route possible. 
 
 Nothing makes a sea voyage, however short, — 
 and the shortest feels long enough to those who 
 have never been at sea before, — ^more agreeable 
 than confidence in the goodness or seaworthiness 
 of the ship, and the skill of the captain. The good 
 ship, and the captain in whom people can have 
 confidence, cost no more than those which are 
 doubtful, and therefore they should be looked out 
 for. 
 
 Ships that are constructed expressly for the con- 
 veyance of passengers, are unquestionably the best ; 
 and it is also best to go with captains who are 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 201 
 
 well acquainted with the voyage, — with all its 
 chances and dangers, and all the places at which 
 it may be necessary to take shelter in cases of 
 emergency. The cheapest passages may generally 
 be made in vessels that resort to St. John's, Pictou, 
 or Miramichi, for cargoes of timber ; and there 
 are now steam-boats, from Miramichi to Quebec ; 
 but as those vessels which are employed in the 
 timber trade, and go out in ballast, or with only 
 part freights for the purpose of bringing home 
 cargoes of timber, are generally of an inferior class, 
 they often make longer, and generally more dis- 
 agreeable passages than the others. So that, when 
 the inferiority of the vessel, the trouble and ex- 
 pense of the steam-boat, and the delay that often 
 takes place before an emigrant can get his family 
 and appointments re-shipped, are taken into the 
 account, it will be found that upon the whole the 
 passage either for the Ottawa district of Lower 
 Canada, or for Upper Canada, had better be taken 
 to Quebec at once. The emigrant is to consider 
 that every day by which his passage is prolonged is 
 a day lost to him, not only in the keep of himself 
 and his family, but in his labour ; and if he shall 
 linger a week by the way, any where or from any 
 cause, he thereby throws away the time, and con- 
 sumes the provisions that would go a good way to- 
 
 k5 
 
u 
 
 202 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 . 1. V 
 
 I 
 
 1, 
 
 , i 
 
 ward the erecting of a temporary house, in which 
 he could spend the first winter upon his allotment 
 of land. If an emigrant for the interior is obliged 
 to spend a few days, he should spend them at 
 Quebec or at Montreal, in preference to any 
 place farther down the St. Lawrence ; because 
 these are the chief points at which he can get 
 that local information which is to be most useful 
 to him. 
 
 The general rule in looking out for a vessel, is to 
 tind one whose voyage is from the port nearest 
 to the place which he leaves, directly, without any 
 intermediate stoppage, to the port nearest the place 
 where he is to settle. 
 
 The furnishings for the voyage, vary of course 
 with its expected length ; and also with the condi- 
 tion and ability of the emigrant. In all cases there 
 should be plenty ; but in every case the store 
 should be used with great economy. It should 
 also be borne in mind, that where there is no sea- 
 sickness, or after the sea-sickness is over, a ship is 
 a hungry habitation, and people actually eat more 
 then than they do on shore. The plainer the sea 
 stock is the better ; because, as the emigrant must 
 make luxuries for himself before he can have any 
 in the wilderness, without paying an extravagantly 
 high price, the sooner he accustoms himself to the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 203 
 
 iiost useful 
 
 sober and substantial fare of the new country the 
 better. Where there is a family, too, it is all the 
 better that there should be a little labour in 
 the getting ready of the meals. Hasty puddings, 
 gruels, and plain soups, are much better than even 
 common biscuits ; because the latter would be 
 costly, if they had to be carried for several hundred 
 miles through the woods. To those who can afford 
 the expense, a bag of grain and a small steel mill 
 are very useful on the voyage ; the latter is a most 
 convenient domestic implement in a new settlement. 
 The grain, which may be wheat, or any other single 
 kind, or a mixture of wheat and rye, keeps better 
 than flour; and if it is dried in an iron pot, a 
 utensil of great service in an emigrant's family, 
 it will furnish very fresh meal, either for puddings 
 or plain cakes. A small portion of the husk, 
 though it makes the meal darker, makes it more 
 wholesome, than when it is perfectly clean ; and a 
 common hair scarce, does quite well for bolting. 
 The few dishes and bowls that are used are most 
 serviceable when of timber ; they are less liable 
 to be broken, and the keeping of them clean is an 
 occupation. It is desirable that the whole family 
 should be busy at something or other when on 
 board ship. That is the best preventive, both of 
 sickness and fear, and it prevents idle habits from 
 
204 
 
 THE EMIGRANTS 
 
 being contracted by those who are going to a situ- 
 ation where idleness is the greatest evil that can 
 befal them. Hooped dishes are the best ones, as 
 they are not liable to split, and it is no bad exercise 
 for the emigrant and his sons, if he has any 
 old enough, to practice the making of such vessels 
 out of a few bits of stick by the way ; and the more 
 rude the tools with which that is done the better. 
 Very good and even handsome domestic articles 
 have been made before now, with no other tool 
 than an axe and pocket knife, with an awl or 
 gimlet, when holes and pegs are necessary. 
 
 Another very useful preparation is the materials 
 of a mimic log-house. A bundle of sticks may be 
 had for a few pence. When the emigrants are on 
 board, the men, and especially the boys, will find 
 something more than amusement in cutting them 
 of the proper lengths for sides and ends, notching 
 them when they cross the corners, piling them up, 
 making a roof, and so finishing a miniature habita- 
 tion. Plain models of houses, and of the more ne- 
 cessary implements used in the settlements, would 
 make excellent additions in every emigrant's ship ; 
 because by the assistance of them, a clever emi- 
 grant might have all his new trades half learned 
 before he landed ; and time which otherwise is ab- 
 solutely lost, would thus be applied to the most 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 205 
 
 useful of all purposes. Even a gnarly piece of 
 wood, to exercise the axe upon, is good for keeping 
 the hand employed ; and the notion of a Scotchman 
 having always a knife and stick in his fingers, 
 which is ridiculed in English company, is far from 
 a bad one among emigrants. 
 
 What the emigrant is to take with him, must in 
 so far depend upon his means ; but the general 
 maxim is, that he should take as much as he can in 
 the shape of money, not in his pocket, but in drafts, 
 payable on demand, for which he will get a profit 
 of from six to nine per cent, by the exchange. 
 Some people have an idea that hard cash in their 
 pockets, is the securest way of carrying money, 
 but this is wrong. It is liable to be lost; and if 
 they have been pinched in the former part of their 
 lives, they are under a constant temptation to spend 
 it. A man's money is very often in more danger 
 from himself than from any body else. A draft is 
 safe from that danger ; and though it is destroyed 
 by accident, the property is not lost, as the worst 
 that can happen is a little delay, and the profit 
 mentioned is a clear gain. 
 
 In taking out other matters, there is of course 
 no need for taking any thing of wood, carrying 
 wood to Canada would be worse than the old story 
 of carrying coals to Newcastle ; because if the land 
 
 ill 
 
1 
 
 206 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 8 
 
 which the emigrant chooses is worth cultivating, 
 his first and severest labour is the destruction of 
 wood. Clothes are among the most advantageous 
 things ; and as the settlers must scramble about in 
 all weathers, hot and cold, wet and dry, stout 
 flannels, and coarse cloths of the twilled kinds, 
 with thick threads which are not easily torn, arc 
 by far the best. Emigrants must not mind fashion ; 
 the best coat and breeches in Canada, are those 
 that can come farthest through the brush with 
 fewest holes in them ; and probably there is not ;i 
 better article for the purpose than Scotch blanket, 
 or what is in that country called ** plaiding." 
 
 After articles of clothing, those of metal are the 
 most serviceable, especially tools ; but the emi- 
 grant should inform himself of the kinds that are 
 to be the most useful, before he makes ^ vrchases ; 
 and, indeed, as metal articles are carried chiefly to 
 St. Lawrence in those vessels that go for cargoes 
 of wood and potash, they may generally be pur- 
 chased at the nearest town to the emigrant's 
 location, for very little more than they can be pur- 
 chased in England, — for less, certainly, than the 
 emigrant who pays his freight can purchase them 
 in Britain and carry them there ; because they are 
 done in the general way of trade, when quantity 
 lessens the expense on the individual article ; and 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 207 
 
 at the same time the emigrant is saved all the 
 trouble of taking care of them by the way. It is 
 doubtful even whether there be any saving in taking 
 out blankets and articles of that description, in any 
 greater number than are absolutely necessary on 
 the voyage. They are kicked about, soiled, and 
 destroyed at sea, and when the land journey comes 
 they are a burden ; and with all the provisions in 
 formation, that even sensible emigrants can ob- 
 tain, they often find that what they take with 
 them does not turn out to be that which is most 
 useful. Buchanan's general directions, quoted in 
 the early part of this chapter, are probably suf- 
 ficient. 
 
 There is one thing which the emigrant must be 
 careful not to mistake, and that is, not to fancy 
 that he is a migrant, and changing merely his 
 place, and not his country. The migrant wishes to 
 follow as nearly as he can the customs to which 
 lie has been habituated, and he accordingly takes 
 an outfit with him to serve him for years ; but were 
 the emigrant to do so he would be merely throwing 
 an obstacle in his own way, and protracting and 
 rendering more difficult and more disagreeable his 
 perfect naturalization in the country to which he 
 goes. All his work, and all the materials of his 
 work, are to be found in that new country; and all 
 
208 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 
 that is wanted of him is capabilit) , as little clogged 
 by old recollections as possible. 
 
 Though it is apt to be overlooked in the common 
 estimates, the most valuable commodity that the 
 emigrant can carry with him is knowledge, — plain, 
 well-grounded knowledge of everyday matters, — 
 and especially knowledge of the country to which 
 he is going. Though reading and writing may 
 appear to be of less immediate necessity and use 
 than bodily strength and activity, they are almost 
 equally indispensable ; and if some of the family 
 are not capable of them, the whole will be in a 
 most lonely and deplorable state. It is especially 
 necessary that emigrants should have some reli- 
 gious knowledge ; and that, before any parent en- 
 deavours to procure and prepare a freehold dwell- 
 ing for his family in this world, he should be ca- 
 pable of communicating to them the great points 
 of information which are most essential for their 
 wellbeing in the world to come. That is espe- 
 cially necessary, not only with a view to that future 
 world, but with a view to their proper conduct in 
 the present life. In such a country, the moral 
 restraints of law and public opinion operate lightly, 
 because in so scattered a population, faults are 
 easily concealed ; and the ministers of justice are 
 so far away, that chastisement almost ceases to 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 209 
 
 have the proper effect before the fault is disco- 
 vered. 
 
 There is a farther consideration of this branch of 
 the subject, which, though people are very apt to 
 lose sight of it, is yet o( very great importance to 
 the happiness of the individual, and to the value of 
 the society which is forming in the new country. 
 Where the means of religion are everywhere, and 
 access to them is easy to all, those very circum- 
 stances have at least a good deal of the effect of 
 religion itself upon the careless ; and though the 
 fear is not so strong, people who live in the neglect 
 of religion have still considerable and habitual 
 fears of offending against the religion of others. 
 The wholesome effect of those fears is far from 
 being an argument for the neglect of religion ; but 
 it is a strong proof of the goodness of religion itself, 
 which thus preserves in the ways of decency and 
 duty those by whom it is almost purposely neg- 
 lected. By religion here, is not meant church- 
 going, or ceremony of any kind whatever; for 
 there may be a great deal of these where there is 
 very little religion, or there may be a great deal of 
 religion where there is very little of these. The 
 religion which is meant is that which is shown by 
 the conduct of people, and which restrains their 
 bad passions in those important .noments of life 
 
n,ii 
 
 't'i 
 
 210 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 when neither the eye of the law nor that of society 
 is upon them. If that religion is wanting, no very 
 large number of persons can exist without finding 
 a substitute for it ; and therefore if a colony is 
 formed of persons ignorant of the true religion, 
 they are certain to frame a superstition ; and a 
 superstition formed in the gloom of a Canadian 
 winter, and the depths of the Canadian forests, 
 would be a dreadful one, as was proved by the 
 conduct of the natives of North America before 
 they had any intercourse with Europeans. In 
 such a country, men without the knowledge of 
 God, almost as a matter of course, imagine to them- 
 selves as many separate gods as there are little 
 knots or parties ; and half the business of such 
 people becomes a warfare of men and gods upon 
 each other. That is the true reason why savages 
 are so pugnacious ; and that again is the reason 
 why they never become civilized. In a colony 
 to which all are invited, religion should be free 
 in its forms, but it should be as powerful and as 
 pure as possible in its spirit. We are apt not tc 
 think of it; but to be placed alone in a wilderness, 
 and know nothing of the protection of God, is 
 certainly the most dreadful state of destitution to 
 which a human being can be reduced. 
 
 After religious knowledge, the knowledge of the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 211 
 
 new country is most important; and after that, 
 again, a general knowledge of the productions and 
 appearances of Nature. A man who goes to the 
 wilds without any counsellor should be prepared 
 never to stand in stupid wonder at any novelty he 
 may see, but should be at once capable of deter- 
 mining to what useful purpose it can be turned. 
 The first steps of that knowledge are not be ob- 
 tained without some books ; but after all it is not 
 book-learning that is wanted. The mere appetite 
 for reading is never much of a virtue — very gene- 
 rally it is vice ; and it often happens that they who 
 read the most have the least information. A few 
 good things to harmonize with knowledge got by 
 observation, and to set that actively to work, are 
 all that is ea»ential ; and to carry a fashionable 
 library into a Canadian forest would be about as 
 absurd as it would be to carry thither the furnish- 
 ings necessary for a fashionable party in the me- 
 tropolis. A fashionable novel would be just as 
 unserviceable an article as Paganini, or even 
 his fiddle, — indeed, much more so, for in the 
 pauses of the bull-frog music, the fiddle might 
 have some chance of being heard, and wild animals 
 have some feeling of music, but none of novels. 
 
 i\ 
 
1 
 
 212 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 Section II. — The Voyage. 
 
 V ^■ 
 
 Many of the particulars of the voyage have been 
 anticipated in the former section ; and those that 
 remain may be stated somewhat briefly. It has 
 been said that the port shoidd be the nearest one 
 to the residence of the intended emigrant, and that 
 he should not linger idly by the way, or after he 
 gets there. He must be careful not to be too late 
 and miss the ship ; because that is a great loss in 
 the meantime, and a great damper afterwards. 
 There is just as much harm in being too soon. 
 Idle habits are acquired, and money wasted by that 
 means. In all the steps of his progress the emi- 
 grant's thoughts should always be in a state of the 
 greatest activity, should be cool and reflective ; for 
 if he allows himself to get into a bustle he is almost 
 certain of forgetting something ; and as he cannot 
 return to amend it, it will disturb him as much as 
 if it were a matter of the very highest importance. 
 
 When the sides of the country are accessible 
 with nearly equal ease, the west side, whether of 
 Britain or of Ireland, should be preferred in going 
 to Canada. The voyage is shorter and also much 
 less hazardous in bad weather ; for when the south- 
 west of Ireland, or the north-west points of the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 213 
 
 Scottish Isles are cleared, the voyage across the 
 Atlantic is nearly half performed. 
 
 The early part of the season is beyond all calcu- 
 lation the best for departure ; and to have the most 
 certain chance of a short and comfortable voyage, 
 the departure should be about the first of April. 
 That is favourable in every way. The winds, both 
 on the south end and on the north end of Britain, 
 are more steady from the east than at any other 
 season ; and thus the ship gets much sooner clear 
 of the land. The Atlantic is also less stormy at 
 that season, and the east winds extend nearer to 
 the shore. The bay of St. Lawrence has a greater 
 chance of being free from icebergs, and the ship 
 arrives in Canada not only at the best time for the 
 emigrants, but also for getting a cargo homeward ; 
 and therefore, those early summer trips are cheaper 
 as well as better than if they were undertaken at 
 any other time of the year. 
 
 If the voyages are delayed till Midsummer, or 
 even till after the first of June, they are much 
 longer and more disastrous than those undertaken 
 in the early part of the season. If there be many 
 emigrants, room between decks is a vast advantage, 
 whether that room consists of length or of height. 
 Length gives more room for berthage ; and height 
 makes the berths more airy and healthy. An un- 
 
214 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 incumbered deck and secure nettings are also of 
 much advantage in fine weather. A ship will not 
 indeed carry a great number of passengers with 
 much comfort, unless it has been partially con- 
 structed on purpose. Cleanliness is of the utmost 
 consequence ; and a fast sailing vessel with a skil- 
 ful captain, is worth a few shillings more in freight 
 even to the poorest emigrant, as it is saved in pro- 
 visions, and in health and strength on landing". 
 Nor are those considerations less worthy the atten- 
 tion of those who contract for the sending out of 
 emigrants, than they are of persons who emigrate 
 on their own account. Upon such contracting 
 parties the obligation to obtain the very best ac- 
 commodation is indeed stronger, inasmuch as they 
 who take upon them the management of others are 
 morally pledged to a greater responsibility than 
 they who manage for themselves. 
 
 After the land is cleared, if it is favourable wea- 
 ther, there seldom occurs any thing particular in 
 crossing the Atlantic, until the great fishing-banks 
 of Newfoundland are approached. In this part of 
 the passage all that the emigrant has got to do is, 
 to cook his victuals, read his books on Canada, if 
 he has got any, and practise the little domestic 
 arts that have been already mentioned. In taking 
 exercise upon the deck, he should be careful not 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 215 
 
 to be in the way of the sailors, or to teaze them 
 with idle questions, while at their work. There is 
 seldom much useful information for an emigrant to 
 be got from the common sailors on board a ship, 
 who are generally \\ >t only the worst informants of 
 all persons respecting matters on land, but the 
 most erroneous and prejudiced in the little infor- 
 mation that they have. The emigrant should be 
 civil in all cases where it is necessary to have in- 
 tercourse with them, but the less of that intercourse 
 the better. In all their intercourse with passengers 
 of any description, the chief object of the common 
 sailors is to get grog ; and if the passengers make 
 themselves too familiar with them, they will yaw 
 the ship in order to splash them with seas, and 
 play a variety of other unpleasant tricks, in order 
 to accomplish that object. 
 
 It is essential, however, that passengers on board 
 a ship should not be peevish, but treat one another 
 with the utmost civility and good-humour ; and 
 properly improved, the voyage makes a much better 
 preparation for the life which the emigrant is to 
 enter upon, than if there were no voyage in the 
 case. Females, though probably a little more in- 
 clined to be sick than men, are still very handy at 
 sea, and perhaps accommodate themselves more 
 speedily and completely to the circumstances than 
 
 I 1 
 
 ''I 
 
I 
 
 
 i ■:■' 
 
 ^ 'I 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
 216 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 the other sex. Generally speaking, they can be 
 managed by a little attention, and a few words 
 bordering upon flattery. 
 
 When the banks of Newfoundland are approach- 
 ed, more especially in the early part of the season, 
 thick fogs are often encountered. If those are ap- 
 prehended, they should be provided against by 
 thick woollen clothes, as they are attended with 
 very severe cold in the atmosphere. These fogs 
 are often so close that it is difficult to see the one 
 end of the ship from the other ; and it is too dark 
 for reading, even at mid-day without candles. 
 Fog-horns are blown at short intervals on board 
 every ship day and night while the fog continues ; 
 and on shore, in Newfoundland, and sometimes in 
 the moored vessels on the fishing-bank, fog-bells 
 are tolled. Lights are comparatively of little use, 
 as they cannot be seen at any distance. Icebergs 
 are occasionally met with, floating or grounded on 
 the banks. The tops of these sometimes rise 150 
 or 200 feet, and they occasion a great increase of 
 the cold. Vessels, however, generally avoid the 
 thick of the fogs, so that the emigrant has not much 
 to apprehend in the way of annoyance, and nothing 
 whatever in that of danger from those gloomy states 
 of the atmosphere. 
 
 Vessels are also sometimes overtaken by fogs, in 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 217 
 
 ley can be 
 few words 
 
 e approach- 
 * the season, 
 liose are ap- 
 against by 
 tended with 
 These fogs 
 see the one 
 L is too dark 
 )ut candles, 
 lis on board 
 g continues ; 
 iometimes in 
 
 of little use, 
 e. Icebergs 
 grounded on 
 nes rise 150 
 increase of 
 y avoid the 
 las not much 
 and nothing 
 ;looniy states 
 
 1 by fogs, in 
 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which though they last 
 
 a shorter time, are rather more hazardous than those 
 
 on the banks, as during their continuance there is 
 
 some difficulty in finding the channels, and the 
 
 set of the currents is apt to carry a vessel too far 
 
 northward. When there is no fog, or after the fog 
 
 has cleared away, the voyage up the St. Lawrence 
 
 is rather agreeable, from the bold character of the 
 
 shores — consisting of wild rocks alternating with 
 
 trees, and from the number of islands in the 
 
 estuary. As Quebec is approached, those islands 
 
 begin to exhibit signs of cultivation, but the soil is 
 
 not very good, or the crops luxuriant, more espe- 
 
 ally those of wheat. 
 
 From the western parts of Ireland, the voyage 
 is sometimes made in five or six weeks ; and 
 eight weeks may be considered as about the fair 
 average ; so that vessels departing about the 
 middle of April, may be expected to reach Quebec 
 early in June. Some delay always take place in 
 consequence of the custom-house regulations, but 
 the best plan for emigrants who have but limited 
 funds, is to remain quietly in the ship until all 
 these matters are settled. The appearance of the 
 people at Quebec seems singular to English eyes, 
 and their language is anything but harmony to 
 
 L 
 
 .'I 
 
 \ -■( 
 
218 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 English ears. The great bulk of the people are of 
 French extraction, and of course the frame work of 
 their language is French ; but it is diversified by so 
 many words of other languages, that it has degene- 
 rated, or been changed into a sortof patois. As there 
 are natives of very many countries, or at least their 
 descendants in Quebec, the whole language is a 
 singular confusion ; and it would be in vain for 
 a plain Englishman to ask for information in the 
 streets. Casual information obtained in that way 
 is not very valuable any where ; and it is perhaps 
 less attainable in Quebec than in' most other 
 places. Perhaps that is an advantage to the emi- 
 grant; as he has little inducement to linger there, 
 and of course pushes on to his ultimate destination, 
 as soon as ever he can. 
 
 Section III. — Journey to the Interior. 
 
 If the emigrant has gone out under the direction 
 of the Canada Company, or of any other parties 
 who take charge of those matters, he will of course 
 find means of removal from Quebec provided for 
 him, in probably a better and cheaper manner than 
 an independent emigrant can provide there for 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 219 
 
 himself ; and thus it becomes a matter of calcu- 
 lation whether an emigrant should or should not go 
 under the auspices of some such company. 
 
 The Company of course expect a profit at the hands 
 of the emigrant ; and it would be useless to attempt 
 disguising that fact ; because without, not the hope 
 merely, but the reasonable certainty of such a 
 profit, no Company would be established ; and from 
 he knowledge which the Directors and Agents have 
 of all local matters, it is extremely probable, that 
 even allowing for their profits, an emigrant who has 
 no friends in the country, to whom he can im- 
 mediately go, and no friends to maintain him until 
 he acquire the requisite degree of local knowledge, 
 is in the end cheaper with them, than in any other 
 way. Emigrants who have friends in the country, 
 generally receive the requisite instructions from 
 those friends ; and those who can afford time to 
 acquire information resort into the interior, and 
 may perhaps find their advantage in taking the 
 first season to make a tour of the leading points in 
 the districts, ascending by the St. Lawrence, at 
 least as fer as York, or better still, to the very 
 extremity of Upper Canada, during the summer 
 months, and descending again by land ; after the 
 snow has fallen, the frost sets in, and the roads are 
 practicable all over the country. Even in ascend- 
 
 l2 
 

 4 
 
 ■\ 
 
 I' 
 
 4 
 
 220 
 
 THE EMIGIIAXT S 
 
 ing upon a reconnoissance of this kind, it is perhaps 
 desirable not to take the water immediately by the 
 St. Lawrence, because there is very little to tempt 
 settlers on the line of the St. Lawrence, from 
 Montreal to near the head of Lake Ontario, the 
 whole shore of the river being already settled, and 
 the interior being less desirable than the unsettled 
 land in some other places. To proceed up the 
 Ottawa as far as Hull, and the examination might 
 be profitably extended as far as Lac du Chats; 
 and it would be all the better if the progress up- 
 ward were made on the left bank of the river, and 
 that downward on the right. Kingston might then 
 be proceeded for, along the Rideau line. Lake 
 Ontario either navigated, or its northern shore 
 skirted to its western termination ; and then return- 
 ing by Niagara, (for every observer in Canada 
 should take a peep at the Falls, notwithstanding 
 that the descriptions of them are so hackneyed), 
 and so along Lake Erie, or its northern shore, to 
 Amherstburg. The Huron and Guelph districts, 
 belonging to the Canada Company, are well worthy 
 of being examined ; and so are some tracts along 
 the Thames and the Ouse, although upon the banks 
 of these rivers, and more especially the latter, there 
 are many pine-heights, and naked, arid, plains, 
 which in the present thinly-peopled state of the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 221 
 
 country, would not bear to be cultivated. The 
 richer lands on some parts of these rivers, are also 
 often swampy and not very healthy in their present 
 state : but where drainage can be accomplished 
 within the reasonable means of an emigrant, these 
 are much more likely subjects than the dry and 
 thirsty heights. 
 
 In returning, the exploring emigrant should keep 
 as much in the back country as he possibly can, 
 without getting entangled in the forests. On such 
 an excursion the less that he carries with him the 
 better ; but still it is desirable that he should have a 
 g^ood map, a pocket-compass, a watch to keep pretty 
 correct time, and if he has a pocket-sextant, and can 
 take " a sight" for latitude, or for time to regulate his 
 watch, he will feel all the more secure, and there- 
 fore have his mind more at ease to observe the 
 nature and value of the country. On such an ex- 
 cursion it is desirable to be ready to hear all 
 parties, and encourage them to furnish every in- 
 formation of which they may be possessed ; but it 
 is prudent to be slow in acting upon the informa- 
 tion so obtained. 
 
 For the instruction of those emigrants who may 
 intend to purchase crown lands on the spot, after 
 examination of their quality, it may not be amiss 
 to give a short abstract of the crown regulations, 
 and some account of the office fees. 
 
i 
 
 222 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 According to the regulations, the Commissioner 
 is to report, at least once a year, the quantity of 
 disposable land in the district, stating the quantity 
 upon which there is timber fit for the navy, as such 
 land is not to be disposed of, till that timber is cut 
 down. The Commissioner generally also names the 
 upset price ; and if the Governor so pleases he 
 orders a sale. 
 
 When a sale is ordered, the particulars are 
 advertised in the Gazette and Provincial news- 
 papers ; and when the time comes, if nobody offer 
 the upset price, there is, generally speaking, no 
 sale. 
 
 In cases of sale. Government never sells more 
 than 1200 acres in one lot. The purchase-money 
 i3 paid in four instalments, one down, and one at 
 the end of each of three successive years without 
 interest. 
 
 Poorer emigrants may have land, not exceeding 
 200 acres, at a quit-rent, equal to four per cent, on 
 the purchase-money, payable yearly. 
 
 If the purchaser fail in paying his instalments, or 
 the poor emigrant his quit-rent, an ejection, and 
 re-sale take place ; the quit-rent may also be 
 bought up at any time, for twenty years' purchase, 
 by instalments, not exceeding four ; but if some of 
 those are paid, and the occupant fails in others, 
 he may be ejected and the land re-sold, after the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 223 
 
 ommissioner 
 
 quit-rent has absorbed the instalments that are 
 paid. 
 
 Public notice to be annually given of the parties 
 in arrears, whether for instalments or quit-rents ; 
 and if these are not paid up, the lands are re-sold 
 the following year, — the surplus, if any, to go to 
 the party ejected. 
 
 Land to be granted at the current sales only, 
 except poor emigrants take quantities not exceed- 
 ing 200 acres, and these may be obtained at any 
 time, on the conditions of the last sale. 
 
 In districts which are not surveyed, permissions 
 of occupancy may be granted, upon payment of a 
 quit-rent, and that quit-rent may be redeemed at 
 twenty years' purchase, any time within seven years. 
 No patent is to be granted, and no transfer of the 
 property made, until all the purchase-money is paid, 
 and also all the arrears of quit-rent and other 
 matters. The following quotation from Mr. E. A. 
 Talbot's " Five Years in the Canadas," will show 
 that the purchase-money is not the only expense 
 that the person obtaining a grant of crown land 
 has to bear. 
 
 "In the first settlements of the country, as 
 might naturally be expected, the shores of the St. 
 Lawrence, and of the Lakes Ontario, Erie, and 
 St. Clair, became the property and choice of those 
 
224 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 persons who first arrived in the province. The 
 banks of the rivers which empty themselves into 
 these lakes, and all the circumjacent country, 
 have, since the termination of the war, become 
 entirely settled ; so that it is now impossible to 
 procure land, except by purchase, in any part of 
 Upper Canada, in which the various great advan- 
 tages of situation are attainable. But this is of 
 little consequence to any except the poorest class 
 of emigrants ; for those who carry * their friend in 
 their pocket,' may purchase land in the finest and 
 most eligible townships, for less than is paid for a 
 government grant, in the midst of interminable 
 forests. This is an assertion which may surprise 
 persons who are unacquainted with the country, 
 and offend the chaste ears of others, who are well 
 enough acquainted with it. But it is not a mere 
 assertion; it is a stubborn fact, the validity of 
 which I shall be able to substantiate by arguments 
 that may bid defiance to representation, and that 
 present themselves incidentally in the discussion of 
 emigration. 
 
 '* Before the administration of the present Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor, every person who applied for 
 land obtained 200 acres or more on the payment 
 of the under-mentioned fees : — 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 225 
 
 Acres 
 
 200 
 
 300 
 
 400 
 
 500 
 
 600 
 
 700 
 
 800 
 
 900 
 
 1000 
 
 1100 
 
 1200 
 
 8 
 
 «. 
 8 
 
 12 13 
 16 17 
 
 21 
 
 25 6 
 
 29 10 
 
 33 15 
 
 37 9 
 
 d. 
 
 9 
 
 n 
 
 6 
 1 10| 
 
 42 
 46 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 4^ 
 
 9 
 
 li 
 
 1200 
 
 70 16 
 78 10 
 
 93 18 
 
 d. 
 1 
 
 . 50 12 6 
 " In January 1819, these fees were increased to 
 the following sums, and the lower class of emi- 
 grants allowed only 100 acres : — 
 
 Acres £. s. 
 
 100 . . . . 5 14 
 
 200 ... 16 17 
 
 300 . . . .24 11 
 
 400 ... 32 5 
 
 500 .. . 
 
 600 ... 
 
 700 ... . 55 
 
 800 ... 63 
 
 900 ... . 
 
 1000 
 
 1100 . . . .86 
 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 
 39 13 9 
 47 18 10 
 17 11 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 
 ■'I 
 
 L 5 
 
■I 
 
 226 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 ** And now that unfortunate emigrants procure 
 money less easily than it could be procured hereto- 
 fore y the fees are raised to the following enormous 
 amount : — Fifty acres to pauper emigrants gratis. 
 
 Acres. 
 
 100 
 
 200 
 
 300 
 
 400 
 
 500 
 
 600 
 
 700 
 
 800 
 
 900 
 
 1000 
 
 1100 
 
 1200 
 
 £ 
 12 
 
 30 
 
 60 
 
 75 
 
 125 
 
 150 
 
 175 
 
 200 
 
 225 
 
 250 
 
 275 
 
 300 
 
 9. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Those sums are payable in three equal instal- 
 ments : the First on the receipt of a location- 
 ticket, which is always obtained as soon as the 
 Council have determined on the quantity of land 
 to which the applicant is entitled : the Second, on 
 filing a certificate of settlement duty : and the 
 Third, on receipt of the fat for a patent. Every 
 British subject, of what stamp soever his creed, is 
 entitled, on his arrival at the seat of Government 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 227 
 
 ints procure 
 ired hereto- 
 ig enormous 
 ants gratis. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 jqual instal- 
 a location- 
 soon as the 
 itity of land 
 Second, on 
 y: and the 
 ent. Every 
 his creed, is 
 Government 
 
 for Upper Canada, to receive any quantity of land 
 within the provincial limits of 1200 acres, which he 
 may possess the means of cultivating, and for which 
 he is willing to pay the required fees. 
 
 " I do not question the right of Government to 
 charge such enormous fees on lands which it has 
 fairly purchased, and is of course entitled to dispose 
 of in such way and manner as may most effectually 
 accomplish the objects which it has in view ; but 
 if it be the wish of England to increase the popula- 
 tion of Canada, and thus render it of some value to 
 the parent-country, I very much doubt the policy of 
 those measures which the Canadian Government 
 is now pursuii.r. Since the increase of the fees, I 
 have knowr r y emigrants who came here with 
 a determination of settling in the country, but who 
 — on finding that the Government, instead of freely 
 GRANTING land to the unfortunate among its sub- 
 jects, was actually in the habit of selling it at an 
 extravagant rate — turned their backs on the British 
 colonies, and immediately went over to the United 
 States, to add strength and numbers to our already 
 formidable rivals. I can confidently state, that 
 since the new scale of fees was adopted there have 
 not been five hundred-acre lots of land taken up 
 for the one hundred which were previously granted. 
 The object of increasing the fees, whatever it might 
 
228 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 have been, must therefore have defeated itself; un- 
 less, indeed, it was to retard the settlement of the 
 country. Some persons, perhaps, in the plenitude 
 of their loyalty, may, for the honour of the thing, 
 prefer dealing with Government on these terms, to 
 dealing with private individuals on much more ad- 
 vantageous terms : but these persons, if I may be 
 allowed such plainness of speech, have much more 
 money than wit. For land, in townships which 
 have been long settled, and whose contiguity to 
 navigable rivers, gives them a decided superiority 
 over Government-lands, can now be purchased for 
 less money than is required in accepting a grant 
 of an equal number of acres from Government." 
 
 Such is the account given of the fees on Govern- 
 ment grants of land. It may be proper in juxta- 
 position with the account of them, to take some 
 notice of 
 
 The Canada Company. 
 
 That Company was projected about the notorious 
 time of projects in 1824 and 1825, for improving 
 the waste lands in Canada, making roads, and 
 other objects for the benefit of the country. Their 
 original purchase was the reserved crown and 
 church lands in the different townships; but as 
 there was found to be some difficulty about the 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 229 
 
 church lands, one million acres of other land was 
 given to the Company instead. The land which 
 the Company selected was the tract on Lake Huron 
 already mentioned, on which the town of Goderich 
 has been founded ; they began their operations in 
 1827, and the sale and settlement of their lands 
 have been considerable. Land in the country 
 there, has sold at from 7s. 6d. to lOs. an acre ; and 
 building lots in the towns about 10/. an acre. 
 
 Good land may be said to average about \0s. 
 which are paid to the agents of the Company by 
 five instalments of 2s. each. The first down, and 
 the others at intervals of a year. The first instal- 
 ment may be paid in London, or at any other part 
 where the Company have agents ; and those going 
 out may also deposit their money with the Company 
 and have it returned in Canada, including the gain 
 by the exchange. 
 
 The Company also convey settlers from Quebec 
 or Montreal to York, at their expense, if the settlers 
 have paid one instalment of 25. on not less than 
 100 acres, that is a sum of not less than 10/. If 
 on the arrival of the emigrants at York, they should 
 prefer any other mode to that of settling upon the 
 Company's lands, the Company will return the 
 money to them, after deducting the expenses to 
 York. 
 
230 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 The Company give information in answer to post- 
 paid letters to the following addresses : — 
 N. S. Price, Esq., Secretary, St. Helen's Place, 
 
 London. 
 J. Davidson, Esq., Quebec. 
 Messrs. Hart, Logan and Co., Montreal. 
 J. C. Buchanan, Esq., New York. 
 Henry William Allan, and Thomas Mercer Jones, 
 
 York, Upper Canada. 
 Messrs. W. D. and W. E. Acraman, Bristol. 
 James Adam, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 John Astle, Esq., Dublin. 
 Sexton Bay lee, Esq., Cork. 
 George Buchanan, Esq., Armagh, Londonderry. 
 John Carroll, Esq., Limerick. 
 Mr. Thomas W. Evans, Liverpool. 
 Messrs. Robert Ewing and Co., Greenock. 
 Messrs. Gilkison and Brown, Glasgow. 
 Messrs. Watson and Graves, New Ross. 
 
 It must of course be useful to those who intend 
 to leave any part of the United Kingdom, under 
 the auspices of the Company, to apply to the near- 
 est agent to the place of their residence, before 
 they think of moving ; and if the inquiries which 
 are made are all to the purpose, the proper answers 
 may be depended upon. It must be understood, 
 however, that all who thus apply to the Company 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 231 
 
 must be in a condition to pay the passage to Que- 
 bec, and to deposit either there, or before sailing, 
 one instalment on their land, which, as has been 
 said, is in no case less than lOZ. 
 
 If emigrants are to find their own way into the 
 interior from Quebec, the fares are not extrava- 
 gant, A mere passage on the deck of the steam- 
 boat to Montreal may be had at any time when 
 the navigation of the river is open, for 55., and 
 there have been instances in which it has been 
 as low as 2s. 6d. Any place on the shore of 
 Lake Ontario may be reached for not more than 
 30s., exclusive of provisions, which can be ob- 
 tained at moderate prices. The land travelling 
 toward the settlement from the best part of the 
 river or lake navigation, is a matter which must be 
 regulated by the condition of the parties, and what 
 may be learned on the spot. If there are women 
 and children in the case, and if the settlement is to 
 be made in the wilds, the women and children had 
 better be left till there is some sort of dwelling 
 constructed. 
 
 It is sometimes better to purchase cleared lands 
 than those that are still in a state of nature, and 
 cleared lands may often be had cheap. But there 
 is a good deal of inquiry and caution necessary in 
 these cases, as the cleared land is often parted with 
 
232 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 i 
 4 
 
 because it has proved to be of an inferior quality to 
 what was expected ; or because it has been ex- 
 hausted by improper management. In both of 
 these cases it is of less value than good land with 
 the timber upon it ; and unless there be some ves- 
 tiges of the original timber remaining, it is seldom 
 safe to buy cleared land without very satisfactory 
 accounts both of its character, and of that of the 
 seller. 
 
 
 Section IV. — Settling. 
 
 If that is done upon land which is in whole or 
 in part cleared, or in the vicinity of land that is so, 
 it is comparatively a simple matter ; but if the 
 emigrant goes into a place that is wholly new (and 
 in such places he may often have a chance of better 
 land), he may have to " rummage," that is, to 
 make his way as he best can through the wild 
 woods. Some very lively and graphic accounts of 
 that operation are given by the late Mr. John 
 Mactaggart, engineer on the Rideau canal, from 
 which it may not be amiss to make a few short ex- 
 tracts ; only it must be borne in mind that he was 
 in quest of levels, and the emigrant is in quest of 
 lands. 
 
 '* Having cantered away a couple of miles," says 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 233 
 
 Mr. Mactaggart, " through cleared land, we began 
 to enter the wilderness, and as I am no great horse- 
 man, let the animal on the road be ever so good, 
 I soon found my nose and eyes beginning to get 
 scratched to death from the brushwood brushing 
 and rubbing against them ; and now, 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 found 
 my quiet old pony, thinking for a wonder what 
 was become of me, one of his feet having trod out 
 the crown of a new thirty-shilling hat, which I had 
 purchased 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 the comparatively easy manner in which 
 my American friends got along, in spite of the 
 thick brushwood and old trees that lay stretching 
 near each other at all angles, I got upon the back 
 of the quiet little animal again, but now found it 
 almost impossible to follow my companions without 
 getting myself bruised at all quarters, or perhaps 
 some of my bones broken, they had got about a 
 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 small tree, I 
 
^ 
 
 234 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 
 was torn off the horse's back, and left among the 
 briars again." 
 
 So much for equestrianship in a Canadian forest ; 
 let us now see how it fares with pedestrians. In 
 winter, 1826, Mactaggart went into the woods 
 with three assistants, three axe-men, and two car- 
 riers of provisions : — 
 
 " We started, and broke through the thickets of 
 those dismal swamps, directing a person to go 
 about half a mile before, and wind a horn, keeping 
 one place till those that were 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 a course, 
 but to discover what that course is." * * * * 
 '* When night drew on, two of the axe-men went 
 to rig the wig-wam 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 to 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 obtained to cover the shanty ; and, thirdly, 
 there are generally dry 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 
 
 I" 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 236 
 
 a very comfortable house set out, a blazing fire 
 with a maple black log*, ranging along for a length 
 of twenty or thirty feet. Thus on the bushy hem- 
 lock would we lie down ; roast pork before the 
 fire on wooden prongs, each man roasting for him- 
 self; while plenty of tea was thrown into a large 
 kettle of boiling water. The tin mug was turned 
 out, the only tea-cup, which being filled, went 
 round until all had drunk, then it was filled again, 
 and so on ; while each with his bush-knife cut 
 toasted pork on a shive of bread, even using the 
 thumb piece to prevent the thumb from being 
 burned ; a tot or two round of weak grog finished 
 the feasi^ 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 side — which was often an 
 agreeable order, if a spike of tree root, or some 
 such substance, stuck up beneath the ribs. Re- 
 clining this way 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 Americans, 
 
236 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 one French Canadian, and one Scotchman, hold 
 their merry Christmas of 1826 — or rather forgot to 
 hold it at all." 
 
 The following contains something both by land 
 and water : — 
 
 " One night we lost ourselves altogether in 
 Cranberry 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 Cataragou. Getting through a 
 frightful marsh, partly overflowed by water, we en- 
 tered 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 along side, and 
 the crew having got into the other canoe, we suc- 
 ceeded in lifting it out of the fork. Dark night 
 came on, and we landed on some sort of wild 
 shore, about ten o'clock ; clambered up the brow 
 among the trees, and pulled the canoes and their 
 cargoes after. We had parted with our provision- 
 canoe on the morning before, and appointed to 
 have met with it that night at a station called 
 Brewer's Mills : thus we 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 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 237 
 
 this was not allowed to be touclied. 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- 
 (jiiently 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 bark- 
 ing 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 light- 
 ing 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 to fire it off"; and the sound re- 
 verberating through the forest and rocks was heard 
 for a long time after. Thinking we had got to 
 Loughborough Lake, which opens out of Cran- 
 berry Marsh, towards morning we started with the 
 light of the moon, and after paddling away five or 
 
238 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 \ 
 
 f 
 
 ■T , 
 
 six miles until we came to the head of a deep bay, 
 swimming full of driftwood, we then 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 on 
 proper course ; but, alas ! we all now 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 
 several 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 an Indian 
 shooting wild ducks. We all felt rejoiced to see 
 him, divided the brandy, engaged him as guide, 
 and he brought us out at the famous Round Tail 
 mouth of the Cataragou ; from whence we proceeded 
 to Brewer's Mills, found the provision-canoe, and 
 made a hearty breakfast. So much for that time 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 239 
 
 )r that time 
 
 when I had bewildered in the Cranberry Marsh; 
 but it was by no means the first time." 
 
 These sketches of the process of " rummaging," 
 lively, though they be, are in all probability not 
 much overcharged, and they afford, perhaps a better 
 general notion of the tangled forests of the country, 
 than could be given by any more general or formal 
 reasons. It must, however, be understood that the 
 place of the country to which they apply, is in 
 more than the usual state of vegetable luxuriance. 
 The ground there is much stronger than in the 
 higher part of the upper province, toward the west- 
 ern lakes; the climate is more humid, the sur- 
 face is more diversified, so that the soil is wash- 
 ed more into the bottoms ; and there are more 
 small lakes, pools, and marshes. The best parts 
 of the country, are, indeed, generally the worst to 
 explore in the first instance. The deciduous trees, 
 of whatever kind, have more brush- wood under 
 them than the pines ; so that of all the wooded 
 places, and those which are not wooded are of very 
 little value, the pine barrows are the more easily 
 explored, and the least calculated to repay the 
 labour. 
 
 The following account of seeking a settlement 
 in the London district of Upper Canada, is from 
 Mr. Talbot's book, formerly mentioned : — 
 
240 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 " On the 26th of October, my brother and I, 
 with six men carrying provisions and felling-axes, 
 took our departure from Westminster, and, having 
 hired a guide, proceeded into London, to fix upon 
 the most desirable lot, for the erection of a house. 
 Twelve hundred acres were assigned my father for 
 his demesne, if I may so call it. We had, therefore, 
 a large tract of land to explore, before we could 
 decide on the most eligible site. After spending- 
 the greater part of the day in approving and dis- 
 approving of particular lots ; we unanimously de- 
 termined on the second lot, in the sixth concession, 
 for the future asylum of our exiled family. When we 
 had argued on this point, our next consideration, 
 was, to procure shelter for the night ; for we were 
 upwards of nine miles from the abode of civilized 
 beings, and in the midst of desolate wilds ; 
 
 • Where beasts with men divided empire claim, 
 And the brown Indian marks with murderous aim.' 
 
 After walking about for some time in quest of a 
 suitable place for making a fire, we discovered an 
 old Indian wig-wam deserted by its inhabitants. 
 In this bitter hut we resolved to continue during 
 the night ; and having a tinder-box with all the 
 other necessary materials, we speedily lighted an 
 excellent fire. After we had taken supper on the 
 
POCKFT COMPAMOX. 
 
 241 
 
 trunk of a tree, we lay down to rest, each rolling- 
 himself up in a blanket, and each in his turn sup- 
 plying fuel to the fire. Thus did we pass the first 
 night on our American estate. In the morning wi- 
 were suddenly awakened by the howling of o pack 
 of wolves, which were in full cry after an iinfbrtu- 
 11 ate deer. The howl of these ferocious animals so 
 resembles the cry of fox-dogs, that, when I awoke 
 and heard it, I fancied myself in the midst of the 
 sporting woods of Erin. But the delusion was not 
 of long continuance ; for I speedily discovered that 
 instead of being in my native land, 
 
 ' Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky 
 In colour though varied, in beauty may vie,' 
 
 1 was in the midst of a dreary and unvaried 
 wilderness, 
 
 ' Where couching wolves await their hapless prey, 
 And savage men more murderous still than they.' 
 
 To increase our consternation, or at least to 
 direct it into another channel, the horses, which we 
 l)rought with us to carry onr bed-clothes and pro- 
 visions, had broken from their tethers during the 
 night, and consumed every ounce of our bread. 
 
 • Calm is my soul, nor apt to rise in arms, 
 Except when fast approaching danger warns ;' 
 
 M 
 
242 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 and yet I was on this occasion sufficiently provoked, 
 to revenge our loss on the sides of the ill-natured 
 brutes. We had brought our provender with the 
 utmost difficulty a distance of nearly twelve miles, 
 through woods and swamps: and then, — to be de- 
 prived of it in this way was too much for a man of 
 my philosophy to bear without impatience ! We 
 should have been under the disagreeable necessity 
 of dispensing with a breakfast, if we had not had 
 the consideration to bring some potatoes with us, 
 which happily for us, are not so well suited to the 
 appetite of an American horse, as they are to the 
 palate of an Irishman. For if that had been the 
 case, we should have been compelled to stay our 
 hunger till provisions could arrive from Westminster. 
 " We continued in the woods from the 20th of 
 October until the 1st of December. During this 
 period, we laid the foundation of a house forty-six 
 feet long, and twenty-one feet wide ; one-half of 
 which we finished first for the accommodation of 
 the family, who removed into it on the 2nd of De- 
 cember, — five months and nineteen days after our 
 embarkation for America. During the thirty-five 
 days which we spent in the woods previous to the 
 arrival of the family, our only lodging was the mi- 
 serable wig-wam, which, like ancient Argus, had 
 an hundred eyes or rather eye-holes, through which, 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 243 
 
 y provoked, 
 : ill-natured 
 der with the 
 welve miles, 
 , — to be de- 
 for a man of 
 ience ! We 
 ble necessity 
 had not had 
 oes with us, 
 suited to the 
 ;y are to the 
 lad been the 
 to stay our 
 Westminster, 
 the 20th of 
 During this 
 •use fortv-six 
 ; one-half of 
 [imodation of 
 e 2nd of De- 
 ays after our 
 16 thirty-five 
 evious to the 
 ; was the mi- 
 : Argus, had 
 irough which. 
 
 w'len lying awake at night, we could easily note 
 every remarkable star that passed the meridian. 
 Our only bed all that time was composed of a few 
 withered leaves, while, 
 
 * A log contrived a double debt to pay, 
 By night a pillow and a seat by day.' 
 
 " These are only slight specimens of the hard- 
 ships which must be encountered by those who 
 settle in a wilderness ; and yet no small degree of 
 fortitude is requisite to support the mind of him 
 who is obliged to submit to them. It is a grievance 
 of no inconsiderable magnitude to be compelled 
 after a day of severe labour, to settle one's weary 
 limbs on the bare ground, in the cold month of No- 
 vember, and to be protected from * the fierce north 
 wind with his airy forces,* and from the chilling 
 frost, only by a miserable hut, with a fire sufficiently 
 near it to counteract in some degree their benumb- 
 ing effects. But the hope of independence is suffi- 
 cient to sustain the mind under privations still 
 greater than these ; and he, — who can bring him- 
 self to think, when lying down to rest on the bare 
 earth, that the day is not far distant when he may 
 happily repose upon a more inviting couch, without 
 one anxious thought respecting the future prospects 
 of himself and his family, — regards these transient 
 
 m2 
 
244 
 
 THE EMICllANT S 
 
 |i 
 
 \\ 
 
 sufferings with a kind of feeling- nearly allied to 
 actual pleasure. He sees the time fast approach- 
 ing- when the wilderness shall be to him ' a fruitful 
 field, and the desert shall blossom as the rose ;' 
 when the productive soil shall gratefully yield an 
 ample reward to his toils ; — and when the hardships 
 of his situation shall, by the blessing of heaven on 
 his exertions, gradually disappear, and leave him in 
 possession of health, plenty, and independence. 
 While indulging in such joyful and ecstatic visions 
 the wooden pillow of a new and industrious settler 
 becomes softer than bolsters of down, and his soli- 
 tary blanket feels more comfortable than sheets of 
 Holland." 
 
 It is not to be expected, and indeed not to be 
 wished, that every emigrant who goes to locate 
 himself in the Canadian forests should be as senti- 
 mental as Mr. Talbot, — shorter speeches and longer 
 tasks are more likely to ensure success in that coun- 
 try. The following is a more plain and practical 
 account of the operation of settling, by Mr. Joseph 
 Pickering, a plain English farmer, who finding his 
 speculations in Buckinghamshire unfortunate at the 
 time of the change from war to peace, took his de- 
 parture for America in 1824. 
 
 " The method pursued," says Mr. Pickering, 
 " on going into the woods (or bush, as it is termed) 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 245 
 
 to settle, is, to clear a proper site for a house, and 
 cut logs for that purpose into proper lengths. This 
 can be done in a week by one person. He then 
 invites his neighbours to raise it, which they will 
 do in a day. He has then to build a chimney ; 
 the bottom of stones, the top wattled with 
 small lath-wood, and plastered with tempered 
 clay ; tlie hearth to be laid with stones, if bricks 
 are not made in the neighbourhood. [They are 
 made in all the old settled parts, and sold at about 
 235. to 305. per thousand.] Boarded floor, — the 
 boards to be procured at a saw-mill, if one be near ; 
 if not, some split and hewed logs will answer the 
 purpose. If the settler arrives on his lot in the 
 spring, which is best, or early in the summer, he 
 next clears off a piece of ground for potatoes and corn 
 the first summer, by chopping the trees down about 
 four feet from the ground ; he then cuts them into 
 fourteen feet lengths and throws their heads into 
 hush heaps, hauls the logs into heaps, six or eight 
 in each, with a yoke of oxen, and a hand or two to 
 help; he then burns them as well as the bush heaps, 
 and preserves the ashes, if a potashery be in the 
 neighbourhood. Observe, when felling the trees, to 
 bring them down alongside each other as much as 
 pos,sible, and their heads when you make the bush 
 heaps ; and be careful they do not fall on yourself. 
 
246 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 for should one lodge on another that is standing, it 
 is dangerous getting it down, to one unacquainted 
 with the business ; besides, the boughs breaking, 
 are often propelled back with great force. There 
 are too often people killed by trees in new settle- 
 ments, where several are at work together, and all 
 new beginners. Plant the corn and potatoes with- 
 out ploughing. Now clear more land in the same 
 way for wheat, to be sown in the fall ; and after- 
 wards some for oats, next spring, for the cattle — 
 each to be only harrowed in without ploughing. 
 Settlers generally sow Timothy grass among wheat 
 or oats, but red clover is far preferable by itself or 
 mixed with the former, or, (could it be procured) 
 good rye or vernal grass. White or Dutch clover 
 generally springs up in a year or two, spontaneously 
 on some land ; yet perhaps it would be better to 
 sow it if it could be procured, as it would come im- 
 mediately and be more uniform. A good chopper 
 will chop an acre or more of moderately heavy 
 timber in a week ; and in making a bee for logging, 
 four or five acres can be drawn into heaps in a day, 
 by giving about 45. or 5s. worth of whiskey, and 
 something to eat ; but of course you must assist at 
 the bees of others if required. There are generally 
 plenty of people willing to go to bees, for the sake 
 of the company and the whiskey, and frolic at 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 247 
 
 night. They work briskly at those hees^ and in 
 good humour, striving against each other. 
 
 '* To a person who is about to settle on entire 
 woodland, I would recommend the following sys- 
 tem : after well clearing a few acres in the imme- 
 diate vicinity in which the house is intended to be 
 built, and all wood, that the trees left standing may 
 be at a sufficient distance to be out of danger of 
 falling on it, and a small piece fenced off for cattle 
 to lie in at night out of the same danger, in windy 
 weather ; then cut down fourteen or fifteen acres of 
 the small and decayed trees and rubbish, burn 
 them, and girdle the remainder of the trees ; sow 
 this ground with wheat early in the fall, or part 
 with oats in the spring, and with them clover and 
 a small quantity of grass seeds mixed ; the clover 
 grass to be mowed the first year or two, and grazed 
 afterwards. Do the same next year with some 
 more, for six or seven years in succession, and 
 likewise clear a small piece quite off, for corn and 
 potatoes, cabbages, &c. in front of the house, and 
 next to the road or street. In about six or seven 
 years the roots of the trees will be rotten, and some 
 of the girdled ones fallen ; then begin and chop 
 down ten or fifteen acres of these girdled trees 
 yearly in a dry time, felling them across each other 
 
248 
 
 THE EMIGRANT 9 
 
 ' i 
 I. 
 
 to break them in pieces ; put fire into them in 
 various parts of the field, and it will burn most of 
 them up. What little may be left unconsumed 
 must be collected into heaps and burnt. It is ne- 
 cessary to keep a watch over the fences while this 
 is going on, that they do not take fire. After this 
 you may plough and plant what you please, as 
 generally the ground will be in pretty good con- 
 dition. 
 
 '* This system is pursued in some plains, and 
 ought to be more generally adopted, particularly 
 the first few years of entering upon a wild farm, on 
 account of the little trouble at a time there is so 
 much else to do. But some object, and say there 
 is too much danger that the cattle will be killed by 
 the falling of the girdled trees, and the fences also 
 broken. To which I answer, cattle need not be 
 near them only a little in the fall of the first two 
 years, as the clover and grass will be mown for 
 hay ; and they may be put there only in still 
 weather afterwards, and in the day time ; and as to 
 the fences, after cutting out the decayed standing 
 trees, and a few of those that stand near, and have 
 an inclination towards them, there will be but few, 
 if any, rails broken by their falling ; and if there 
 should be a few, they can soon be replaced, as one 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 249 
 
 man will cut and split five or six rods in a day, and 
 put it up, if the timber be good. In choosing a 
 farm or lot of wild land, or indeed any land in this 
 country, it should always be first ascertained if 
 there be plenty of good rail timber growing thereon, 
 such as oak, hickory, ash, cedar, chestnut, pine, 
 butternut, cherry, and black walnut ; but good 
 trees of the two latter kind I would never use for 
 that purpose, as they now are useful, and will be 
 in a few years very valuable for furniture, &c. as 
 there are, comparatively speaking, but few in the 
 country, and none such below the head of Lake 
 Ontario of walnut. Nor would I recommend 
 wasting fine straight white oak that is growing 
 near any water communication, as it is valuable for 
 staves, &c. And the sugar maple-tree, if growing 
 in what is called bushes, that is, a number together, 
 should never be wantonly destroyed, as it is a useful 
 and valuable appendage to a farm. If the above 
 system be adopted, there will be very little plough- 
 ing the first few years, and only one yoke of oxen 
 required. But should it be thought prudent to 
 clear all the timber otf the land at once, it should 
 always, as much as possible, be sown the first or 
 second year with clover, or clover and grass seeds, 
 to lay until the stumps are rotten, before being 
 
 M 5 
 
'250 
 
 THE KM IG 11 A NT S 
 
 ploughed, when fire should be put into each stump, 
 and the greater part will burn up. Near towns 
 and villages almost all kinds of wood is valuable as 
 cord wood for fuel, and when drawn in, sold at 
 6s. to 95. or 10s. per cord. Good pine, grow- 
 ing near a lake, or river communication with one, 
 is becoming valuable." 
 
 The ** girdling" of trees mentioned in this pas- 
 sage, consists in notching them round with an axe, 
 and leaving them to decay, where that can be 
 easily done ; damming up the places where they 
 grow, till the trees stand three or four feet in the 
 water, produces the same effect, and also adds 
 much to the richness of the land, which may be 
 dried afterwards by breaking down the dams, and 
 forming drains, if necessary. Where the wood is 
 cut and burnt, the ashes are worth 5d. or 6c?. a 
 bushel for the potash they contain. 
 
 The following document may be useful as a sort 
 of guide to the humbler class of settlers : — 
 
 '* Estimate for locating a family in the colonies ol' 
 North America, of a pauper emigrant from Ire- 
 land ; each family to consist of man, wife, and 
 three children ; say three and a-half full rations 
 per day, for 450 days. 
 
roCKKT COMPANION'. 
 
 251 
 
 Four lbs. flour, Indian meal, and oat- 
 meal, with potatoes in lieu occa- 
 sionally 
 
 ^ lb. molasses, or maple-sugar . 
 
 lib. pork . . . . 
 
 2 herrings, or other fish 
 
 Per day 
 
 For 450 days is 
 One pair blankets 
 Two hoes .... 
 
 Two axes 
 
 One auger, and one iron wedj^e 
 Proportion of grindstone 
 Medical attendance . 
 Seed, grain, and potatoes . 
 Log-house 
 
 Transport to location 
 A young pig . 
 Proportion, expense of building store 
 
 house, clerks, &c &c. 
 Incidents 
 
 £. s. d. 
 
 6^ 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 . 1 
 
 li 
 
 . 25 6 
 
 3 
 
 . 6 
 
 
 
 . 2 
 
 10 
 
 . 16 
 
 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 
 . 5 
 
 
 
 . 10 
 
 
 
 . 1 
 
 
 
 . 2 10 
 
 
 
 . 6 
 
 
 
 . 6 
 
 6 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 
 . 14 
 
 5 
 
 £40 
 
 
 
 '* In the foregoing estimate, I presume that the 
 emigrant provides himself with a spade, a kettle, 
 
i. 
 
 252 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 and at least one pair of blankets ; in fact he will 
 have to provide himself with necessaries of this sort 
 for the voyage out. 
 
 " I maintain, taking in the average of New 
 Brunswick, Lower Canada, &c. that 61. is fully 
 adequate to cover any expense of transport to 
 location, unless you select situations of the v^Ci-*. 
 difficult access and distance; and with previous 
 arrangements, and ample time given for contracts, 
 I have not the shadow of a doubt b^it provisions may 
 be furnished at prices stated, taking present prices 
 as a data, and I presume the emigrant will feel 
 himself more at home with his herring and potato, 
 oatmeal, &c. and a little bit of pork, than altoge- 
 ther fed on salt pork and flour, the latter of which 
 the Irish peasantry are totally ignorant of usint/ 
 with management. 
 
 " No cow is introduced, as I have before stated, 
 as it is considered for the first twelve months the 
 emigrants will not possess means for feeding one ; 
 and if he is industrious he will easily earn by his 
 labour the price of a young two-year old heifer 
 in calf, as soon as he can obtain fodder for her 
 keeping. 
 
 (Signed) *' A. C. Buchanan." 
 
 Prices of course fluctuate very much, according 
 
POCKET COMrVMOX. 
 
 253 
 
 fact he will 
 i of this sort 
 
 of the pv>^ 
 
 HANAN. 
 
 to the greater or smaller influx of strangers ; but 
 some idea may be formed from the following : — 
 
 List of Prices of Articles in common use, at York, 
 Upper Canada. (W. Cattermole, on the spot 
 in 1830). 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 A salmon, from Gib. to iOlb. 
 
 . 3 
 
 9 
 
 to 
 
 r> 
 
 
 
 Ditto, when abundant 
 
 . 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 2 
 
 () 
 
 White fish, from2lb. to4lb.perdo 
 
 z. 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bread, 41b. 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 A Goose 
 
 . I 
 
 6 
 
 
 2 
 
 () 
 
 A Turkey 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 Cheese, Canadian, ptr lb. 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Ditto, English, ditto 
 
 . 1 
 
 m 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Sugar, West India 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 Ditto, maple 
 
 
 
 3^ 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Ditto, lump 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Soap, generally made, but al 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 stores 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 Candles, moulds 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 Vinegar, English, per gallon . 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ditto, Canadian, ordinary. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 from cyder 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Tobacco, per lb. 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Madeira wines, good, per gallon 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 -— 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 Port, inferior 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 U 
 
254 
 
 THE EMIGRANT S 
 
 Champagne, per dozen, good 
 
 Claret 
 
 Ditto, inferior 
 
 Best Cognac brandy 
 
 Common ditto 
 
 Rum 
 
 Hollands gin 
 
 Scotch whiskey 
 
 Irish, ditto 
 
 Common Canadian, ditto 
 
 London Porter per dozen 
 
 The country ale, bad 
 
 Young hyson tea, per lb. 
 
 Black, little used 
 
 Coffee 
 
 A good horse, 10/. to 251. 
 
 A Cow, 3/. to 51. 
 
 Sheep, I have seen all prices, from lOs. to 50s., 
 the latter was a prize, and of the Leicestershire 
 hxeed, introduced by Mr. P. Robinson. Bricks, 1/. 
 to 1/. 5s. per 1000 at the kiln, people who build, 
 usually burn them, to save carriage. Fowls and 
 vegetables very irregular, either dear, or so cheap 
 that even a Dutchman will not take the trouble to 
 bring them to market ; onions, 5s. to 6s. 3d. per 
 bushel. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d 
 
 45 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 7| 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
POCKET COMPANION. 
 
 255 
 
 s. 
 
 d 
 
 to 60 
 
 
 
 — 40 
 
 
 
 — 30 
 
 
 
 — 10 
 
 
 
 — 6 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 fi 
 
 — 14 
 
 
 
 — I 
 
 6 
 
 — 20 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 — 7 
 
 6 
 
 — 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 s. to 50^., 
 
 cestershire 
 
 Bricks, 
 
 I/. 
 
 ^ho build, 
 
 Fowls 5 
 
 md 
 
 ' so cheap 
 
 trouble to 
 
 •«. 3c?. 
 
 per 
 
 Many other directions might be given, and 
 probably much more applicable to particular 
 cases, than those which are contained in the 
 preceding pages; but in a short abstract, only 
 thosa which are of the most general character can 
 be stated ; and no instruction from others, can 
 supply the place of that self -observation, which is 
 the grand security for success. 
 
 Note. — It may be necessary to state, that the 
 present mode of letting lands in Canada is that 
 mentioned at page 222, and not that stated by Mr. 
 Talbot; though what he says ?nay once have been 
 the case. 
 
 u 
 
/• 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 1, 
 
 IVFOUMATION, PUBl.ISHKD BY HiS M\JKSTv's CoMJIISSIONKRS 
 
 Fon Emigration, rkspf.ctino the Bnrrisii Colomks in 
 North Amf.rka. 
 
 Colonial Office, Feb. 9, 1832. 
 
 TiiK object of the present notice is to aflford such informa- 
 tion as is likely to be useful to persons who desire either to 
 emigrate, or to assist others to emigrate, to the British pos- 
 sessions in North America. 
 
 In the first place, it seems desirable to define the nature 
 of the assistance to be expected from Govenmient iiy per- 
 sons proceeding to these Colonies. No pecuniary aid will 
 be allowed by Government to emigrants to the North Ame- 
 rican Colonies ; nor after tlieir arrival will they receive 
 grants of land, or gift of tools, or a supply of provisions. 
 Hopes of all these things have been sometimes held out to 
 emigrants by speculators in this country, desirous of making 
 a profit by their conveyance to North America, and willing 
 for that purpose to delude them with unfounded expectations, 
 regardless of their subsequent disappointment. But the 
 wish of Government is to furnish those who emigrate with a 
 
 ^' 
 
258 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 J h 
 
 
 I ^ 
 
 real knowledge of the circumstances they will find in the 
 countries to which they are going. 
 
 No assistance of the extraordinary extent above described 
 is allowed, because, in Colonies, where those who desire to 
 work cannot fail to do well for themselves, none such is 
 needed. Land, indeed, used formerly to be granted gratui- 
 tously ; but when it was taken by poor people, they found 
 that they had not the means of living during the interval 
 necessary to raise their crops, and farther, that they knew 
 not enough of the manner of farming in the Colonies to 
 make any progress. After all, therefore, they were obliged 
 to work for wages, until they could make a few savings, and 
 could learn a little of the way of farming in Canada. But 
 now, land is not disposed of except by sale. Tlie produce 
 of the sales, although the price is very moderate, is likely to 
 become a considerable fund which can be turned to the 
 benefit of the Colonies, and therefore of the emigrants: 
 while yet no hardship is inflicted on the poor emigrant, who 
 will work for wages just as he did before, and may after a 
 while acquire land, if land be his object, by the savings 
 which the high wages in these Colonies enable him speedily 
 to make. 
 
 Tliese are the reasons why Government does not think it 
 necessary to give away land in a country, where, by the 
 lowness of its price, the plentifulness of work, and the high 
 rates of wages, an industrious man can earn enough in a few 
 seasons to become a freeholder by means of his own acqui- 
 sitions. 
 
 The land which is for sale will be open to public com- 
 petition, and of course, therefore, its price must depend upon 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 259 
 
 ill find in the 
 
 the offers that may be made ; but it will generally not be 
 sold for less than from 4s. to 5s. per acre ; and in situations 
 where roads have been made, or the ground has been par- 
 tially cleared, the common prices lately have been 7s. Qd., 10*., 
 and 15.S'. Farther particulars will be best learned upon the 
 spot, where every endeavour will be made to meet the diffe- 
 rent circumstances and views of different purchasers. 
 
 Although Government will not make any gifts at the pub- 
 lic expense to emigrants to North America, agents will be 
 maintained at the principal Colonial ports, whose duty it 
 will be, without fee or reward from private individuals, to 
 protect emigrants against imposition upon their first landing, 
 to acquaint them with the demand for labour in different 
 districts, to point out the most advantageous routes, and to 
 furnish them generally with all useful advice upon the ob- 
 jects which they have had in view in emigrating. And 
 when a private engagement cannot be immediately obtained, 
 t'lnployment will be afforded on some of the public works in 
 progress in the Colonies. Persons newly arrived sliould not 
 omit to consult the Government agent for emigrants, and as 
 much as possible should avoid detention in the ports, where 
 they are exposed to all kinds of impositions, and of pretexts 
 for keeping them at taverns till any money they may possess 
 has been expended. — For the same purpose of guarding 
 ju^ainst the frauds practised on new comers, and of pr^ ent- 
 ing an improvident expenditure at the first moment of arrival, 
 it seems very desirable that individuals who may wish to 
 furnish emigrants with money for their use in the Colony 
 should have the means of making the money payable there, 
 instead of giving it into the hands of the emigrants in this 
 
260 
 
 AFl'KXUIX. 
 
 i 
 
 country. Tlie Commissioners for emigration are engaged in 
 effecting general arran-^ements for this purpose, and diu- 
 notice will be given to tl>e public when they shall be com- 
 pleted. Agents for emigration have been appointed at St. 
 John's, St. Andrew's, and Miramichi in New Brunswick, 
 and at Quebec and York in Canada. On this whole siil)- 
 ject of tlie manner of proceeding upon landing, it may In- 
 observed in conclusion, that no effort will be spared to ex- 
 empt emigrants from any necessity for delay at tlie plact 
 of disembarkation, and from uncertainty, as to the opjwrtu- 
 nities of at once turning their labour to account. 
 
 After this explanation of the extent of the aid to be ex- 
 pected from Government, the following statements sure sub- 
 joined of the ordinary chaiges for passage to the North 
 American Colonies, as well as of the usual rates of wages 
 and usual prices in them, in order that every individual may 
 have the means of judging for himself of the inducements to 
 emigrate to these parts of the British dominions. 
 
 Passage. 
 
 l^assages to Quebec or New Brunswick may either be en- 
 gaged inclusive of provisions, or exclusive of provisions, \\\ 
 which case the ship owner finds nothing but water, fuel, imd 
 bed places, without bedding. Children under fourteen years 
 of age are charged one-half, and under seven years of iige 
 one-third of the full price ; and for children under twelve 
 months of age no chai'ge is made. Upon these conditions 
 the price of passage from London, or from places on tlie 
 east coast of Great Britain, has generally been 6/. with prf)- 
 visions, or 3/, without. From Liverpool, Greenock, ;ui(l 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 261 
 
 ilie principiil ports of Iivland, us the chances of delay are 
 fewer, the cliarge is somewhat lower; this year it will pro- 
 bably be from 2/. to 2/. 10.v. without provisions, or from 4/. 
 to 5/. jncludintr provisions. It is possible that in March and 
 April passiiiies may be obtained from Dublin for 35s., or 
 even 30s. ; but the prices always grow higher as the season 
 idvances. In ships sailing from Scotland or Ireland, it has 
 mostly been the custom for passengers to find their own 
 provisions ; but this practice has not been so general in 
 r.oi»don, and some ship owners, sensible of the dangerous 
 mistakes which may be niade in this matter throuiih iuno- 
 rance, are very averse to receive pass( ngers who will not 
 agree to be victualled by tlie ship. Those who do resolve to 
 supply their own provisions, should at least be careful not to 
 lay in an insufficient stock ; fifty days is the shortest period 
 for which it is safe to provide, and from London the passage 
 IS sometimes prolonged to seventy-five days. 
 
 Hie best months for leaving I'^ngland are certainly March 
 ruid April ; the later emigrants do not find employment so 
 abundant, and have less time in the Colony before the com- 
 mencement of winter. 
 
 X'arious frauds are attempted upon emigrants which can 
 only be effectually defeated by the good sense of the parties 
 against whom they are contrived. Sometimes agents take 
 payment from the emigrant for his passage, and then recom- 
 mend him to some tavern, where he is detained from day to 
 day, under false pretences for delay, until before the depar- 
 ture of the ship the whole of his money is extracted from 
 him. This of course cannot hapien with agents connected 
 with respectable houses ; but the best security is to name in 
 
262 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 the bargain for passage a particular day, after which, whethor 
 or not the ship sail^ . the passenger is to be received on board 
 and victualled by the owners. In this manner the emigniut 
 cannot be intentionally brought to the place of embarkation 
 too soon, and be compelled to spend his money at ])iiblic 
 houses, by false accounts of the time of sailing ; for from the 
 very day of his arrival at the port, being the day previously 
 agreed upon, the ship becomes his home. 
 
 Tlie conveyance of passengers to the British possessions 
 in North America is regidated by an Act of Parliament 
 (9 Geo, IV. c. 21,) of which the following are the principal 
 provisions : — ships are not allowed to carry passengers to 
 these colonies unless they be of the height of five feet and 
 a-half between decks ; and tl.ey must not carry more than 
 three passengers for every four tons of the registered hur- 
 den ; there must be on board, at least, fifty gallons of pure 
 water, and fifty pounds of bread, biscuit, oatmeal, or bread- 
 stuff", for each passenger. When the ship carries the full 
 number of passengers allowed by law, no part of the cargo, 
 and no stores or provisions, may be carried between decks ; 
 but if there be less than the complete number of passengers, 
 goods may be stowed between decks in a proportion not 
 exceeding three cubical feet for each passenger wanting of 
 the highest number. Masters of vessels who land passen- 
 gers, unless with their own consent, at a place different 
 from that originally agreed upon, are subject to a penalty of 
 20/. recoverable by summary process before two Justices of 
 the Peace in any of the North American Colonies. 
 
 The enforcement of this law rests chiefly with the officers 
 of his Majesty's Customs ; and persons having complaints 
 
APPINDIX. 
 
 263 
 
 lo make of its infraction, should address themselves to the 
 nearest Custoni-liouse. 
 
 Besides the sea voyacie from England, ])ersons proceeding 
 to Canada should be provided with the means of paying for 
 the journey which they may have to make after their arrival 
 iit Quebec. The cost of this journey must, of course, de- 
 pend upon the situation of the place where the individual 
 may find employment, or where he may have previously 
 formed a wish to settle ; but to all it will, probably, be use- 
 ful to possess the following report of the prices of convey- 
 ance, during the last season, on the route from Quebec to 
 Vork, the capital of Upper Canada. From Quebec to 
 Montreal, (180 miles,) by steam-boat, tlie charge for an adult 
 was 6s. 6d. ; from Montreal to Prescott, (120 miles,) by 
 boats or barges, 7s. ; from Prescott to York, (250 miles,) by 
 steam-boat, 7.s'. The journey, performed in this manner, 
 usually occupies ten or twelve days; adding, therefore, lis. 
 for provisions, the total cost from Quebec to Vork (a dis- 
 tance of 550 miles) may be stated, according to the charges 
 of last year, at 1/. lis. 6d. Persons who are possessed of 
 sufficient means prefer to travel by land that part of the 
 rotite where the river St. Lawrence is not navigable by steam- 
 boats, and the journey is then usually performed in six 
 flays, at a cost of 6/. It must be observed, that the prices 
 of conveyance are necessarily fluctuating, and that the fore- 
 going account is only presented as sufficiently accurate for 
 purposes of information in this country, leaving it to the 
 Government Agent at Quel)ec to supply emigrants with 
 more exact particulars, according to the circumstances of 
 the time at which they may arrive. 
 
■,% 
 
 .>v^. w^. 
 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 tf 
 
 
 <9 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 
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 1^12^ |2.5 
 
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 7 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sdences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 
 6^ 
 
 '^ 
 

 I/a 
 
2(i4 
 
 APPKXDIX. 
 
 ' ) 
 
 Rates of Wages and Market Prices. 
 
 llie colonies in North America, to wliicli emigTants can 
 with advantage proceed, are Lower Canada, Up})er Canada, 
 and New Brunswick. From the reports received from the 
 other British Colonies in North America, namely, Prince 
 Edward's Island, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Ca]'e 
 Breton, it appears that they do not contain the mo-an^ 
 either of affording emjiloyment at wages to a considerahlc 
 numl)er of emigrants, or of settling them upon land. 
 
 Lower Canada. 
 From Lower Canada the Commissioners for emigration 
 have not received tlie official reports which were recpiired 
 from the North American Colonies, for the purpose of com- 
 piling the present statement. They helieve, however, tliat 
 the following account of the prices of grain and of waic^ 
 may he relied upon for its general correctness : — 
 
 s. (I. 
 
 Wheat, per bushel . . .4 
 Rye, ditto ... 3 
 
 Maize, ditto . . .2 
 
 Oats, ditto ... 1 3 
 
 Wages of labourers . . . 2 (i per da\ 
 Ship-builders, carpenters, joiners, 
 coopers, masons, and taUors 
 
 6 
 
 G 
 
 \ 5 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Upper Canada. 
 The following table exhibits the lowest and the highc?;t 
 price which the several articles therein-named bore, during 
 the year 1831, in each of the principal districts of Upper 
 Canada : — 
 
'rices. 
 
 einigranls cuii 
 Upper Canada, 
 ceived from tbf 
 namely, Prince 
 otia, and Caj'e 
 ;ain the meaii'v 
 
 a considerable 
 )n land. 
 
 , for emigration 
 1 were required 
 purpose of com- 
 B, however, that 
 n and of wa'ie> 
 
 
 G 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 6 per da\ . 
 ditto. 
 
 nd tlie highei^t 
 ed bore, during 
 ricts of Upjei 
 
 n 
 
 ■5 
 
 5 
 
 •3 
 
 s 
 
 « 
 
 a: '-" 
 
 X 
 
 ts o o -"as !c 
 
 © t. !>. O M to » 
 
 in y> ys n c* -< -< o©r»-«{>»»^ 
 
 M ^^ (>. ^ 
 
 © O © © 
 
 • Hr< -'it 
 
 "« © SI — S) O 
 
 w -f M M ro -H 
 
 h. !>• r. © n -o (3 
 
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 PO r^ h. -r 
 
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 TS O » a 'O » 
 
 jj o ?» -< rj ?» 
 
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 o-co'cooe© CO 
 
 ©rtM"<M|N,©lf5 © 
 
 ©ess © © N © © 
 
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 © © © © 
 
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 1-9 
 
 
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 t^ n 9* ^ <n -^ 
 
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 ^ © © © s © 
 
 
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 1 i 
 
 266 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 From a comparison of all the documents before the Com- 
 missioners for Emigration, it appears that the yearly wages 
 of labourers in Upper Canada, hired by the year, are from 
 27/. to 30/. ; that their monthly wages, in different situations 
 and at different seasons, range from 1/. 10s. to 3/. lOs. per 
 month ; and that daily wages range from 2s. to 3s. 9d. In 
 all these rates of wages, board and lodging are found by the 
 employer. Without board, daily wages vary from 3s. 6(/. 
 out of harvest to 5s. during harvest; 6s. 3d. besides pro- 
 visions, is sometimes given to harvest-men. The wages of 
 mechanics may be stated universally at from 5s. to 7s. 6d. 
 per day. 
 
 
 New Brunswick. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The following is 
 
 a list of prices 
 
 compiled 
 
 from docu- 
 
 ments sent in from 
 
 various parts of N 
 
 ew ] 
 
 3runswicl< 
 
 : — 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Wheat 
 
 . per bushel 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Maize 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Oats 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Barley 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 . per cwt. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 Butter (fresh) . 
 
 per lb. 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Ditto (salt) 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Cheese . 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 . Eggs 
 
 . per dozen 
 
 
 
 
 
 7i 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Ducks . 
 
 per pair 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 Fowls 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 Geese . 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Turkeys 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 267 
 
 before the Com- 
 lie yearly wages 
 ! year, are from 
 Ferent situations 
 t. to 3/. 10s. per 
 , to 3s. 9rf. In 
 ire found by the 
 iiy from 3s. 6(i. 
 id. besides pro- 
 The wages of 
 n 5s. to 7s. 6d. 
 
 ed from docu 
 
 nswick : — 
 
 £ 
 
 s. rf. 
 
 to 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 6 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 6 
 
 
 
 2 6 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Hay . 
 
 Straw 
 
 Bread 
 
 Beef 
 
 Mutton . 
 
 Pork 
 
 Veal 
 
 Flour 
 
 Salt Pork 
 
 Ditto Beef 
 
 Malt 
 
 Rye flour . 
 
 Indian ditto . 
 
 Oatmeal 
 
 Salt Cod 
 
 Ditto Mackarel 
 
 Ditto Alewives 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 per ton 1 10 to 
 
 ditto 10 
 
 per 41b. loaf 10 
 
 per stone 3 3 
 
 ditto 2 4 
 
 ditto 2 Oi 
 
 ditto 2 4 
 
 . perlOOlbs. 16 
 
 per barrel 4 15 
 
 ditto 3 
 
 per bushel 6 2 
 
 . per barrel 12 6 
 
 ditto 1 2 6 
 
 per cwt. 16 
 
 per 112 lbs. 10 
 
 . per barrel 17 
 
 ditto 10 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 Coals are sold at 30s. per chaldron. House-rent is from 
 5/. to 6/. per annum, for families occupying one room; and 
 for families occupying two rooms, from 6/. to 10/. Com- 
 mon labourers receive from 3s. to 4s. a-day, finding their 
 own subsistence ; but, when employed at the ports in load- 
 ing vessels, their subsistence is found for them. Mechanics 
 receive from 5s. to 7s. 6d. per day, and superior workmen 
 from 7s. 6i. to 10s. 
 
 Upon the foregoing statements it must be observed, that 
 eraigraiits, especially such of them as are agricultural labour- 
 ers, shou}d not expect the highest wages named until they 
 
268 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 i t. 
 
 have become accustomed to the work of the colony. Tlie 
 mechanics most in demand are those connected with the 
 business of house-building. Shoemakers, and tailors, and 
 ship-builders also find abundant employment. 
 
 Note. — Emigrants taking shipping at London may obtain 
 drafts on the Canada Bank, upon paying money at the 
 Banking Office of Smith, Payne, and Smiths, Mansion- 
 house-street, City. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 CANADA COMPANY'S STATEMENT. 
 
 1st. Detached Lots, or Separate FannH,Jrum 50 to 200 
 acres each, scattered through the different townships in the 
 province. — These lots are, in many instances, interspersed in 
 the old settlements, and have the advantage of established 
 roads in their immediate vicinity. 
 
 Considerable sales have been effected by the Company, 
 at prices varying from 7s. Qd. to 15s. an acre, one-fifth pay- 
 able down, and the remainder by annual instalments in 
 five years, with interest. 
 
 2nd. Blocks erf Land, containing from 1000 to 40,000 
 acres each, situated in the western districts of the province. 
 — A town, called Guelph, has been built, in a central situa- 
 tion, on one of the most considerable of these Blocks, in the 
 Gore District, and roads have been opened, at the expense 
 of the Company, to the various townships around ; and one 
 main road is now in operation from Guelph to Dundas, 
 twenty-four miles, which latter place will become the depot 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 269 
 
 J colony. Tlie 
 ected with the 
 ,nd tailors, and 
 
 Ion may obtain 
 
 money at the 
 
 [THs, Mansion- 
 
 ENT. 
 
 ^'rom 50 to 200 
 
 nv7is/iips in the 
 
 interspersed in 
 
 of established 
 
 the Company, 
 one-fifth pay- 
 instalments in 
 
 000 to 40,000 
 f the province. 
 
 1 central situa- 
 Blocks, in the 
 at the expense 
 und ; and one 
 h to Dundas, 
 ome the depot 
 
 for all grain raised in the back townships, fetching, with the 
 mere difference of carriage, as high a price there and at 
 Flajnborough, which is twenty miles distant from Guelph, 
 as at York, where it is shipped for the Montreal market. 
 Upwards of 200 houses are now built ; a first-rate stone 
 grist-mill will be in operation in January, 1831 ; there are 
 several taverns, vrfiere board and lodging may be procured 
 on moderate terms, and tradesmen of most descriptions are 
 among its inhabitants, which amount to about 800. Build- 
 ing lots, of a quarter of an acre, sell at 40 dollars ; farms in 
 the vicinity fetch from 15.s'. to 40.s. per acre, which, a few 
 years ago, were sold at 7s. 6d. to 10s. 6d. and 15s. the 
 highest. 
 
 Settlers with capital, who prefer establishing themselves 
 on land on which partial clearings have been made, and log- 
 houses erected, will generally find lots with such improve- 
 ments for sale. This arises from persons going originally 
 in very destitute circumstances, or rather dependant on the 
 Company's assistance, who, having succeeded on their lots, 
 are willing to sell their land, with a reasonable profit, to new 
 comers, at from four to six dollars, with the improvements 
 on the same, houses, bams, &c. These individuals gene- 
 rally remove farther westward, having acquired sufficient 
 knowledge of the country, and purchase on the Huron 
 Tract, which is equal in quality, at from 7s. 6rf. to 10s, 
 per acre. 
 
 Persons possessing small capitals will find the Upper 
 Province the most desirable part of the colony to fix them- 
 selves in, especially if they have large families. One hun- 
 dred pounds, on arriving at the spot, will enable an indus- 
 
 n3 
 
.>■, : 
 
 270 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 !• 
 
 tu 
 
 trious person to support his family, because, in purchasing 
 land, one-fifth only is required to be paid down, and the 
 remainder, with the advantage of having roads and a good 
 market within twenty-four miles, can be made off the farm 
 in time to meet the instalments, and in no one instance has 
 the Company, since its formation, had occasion to resort to 
 compulsion for any arrears. ^|\ 
 
 A large block of land in the township of Wilmot has been 
 surveyed, laid out into farms, and a road cut through it from 
 Guelph, leading to the Huron Tract, and again through that 
 to Goderich, on Lake Huron. 
 
 A considerable stream, offering great advantages for mill- 
 seats and hydraulic purposes, flows through part of this 
 Block. 
 
 3rd. The Huron Territory, a tract o/ 1,100,000 acrea, 
 in the shape of a triangle, its base being about sixty miles in 
 length, resting on Lake Huron, and having a direct navi- 
 gable communication, through Lakes Erie and Ontario, to 
 the Atlantic. — The Company have laid out a town in this 
 district, called Goderich, at the confluence of the River 
 Maitland with Lake Huion, which promises, from its local 
 advantages, to become one of the most important and flou- 
 rishing settlements in the province. 
 
 A considerable number of enterprising colonists, and 
 among them many possessed of capital, have this season 
 sold their old cultivated farms on Yonge Street, near York, 
 and proceeded to Goderich, where there is a grist-mill, saw- 
 mill, brick-kiln, and tavern, a considerable quantity of land 
 has recently been taken up by them : with this party arfi 
 several old American settlers, who have been fifteen and 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 271 
 
 !, in purchasing 
 down, and the 
 ids and a good 
 ide off the farm 
 me instance has 
 ion to resort to 
 
 ^ilmot has been 
 through it from 
 lin througli tliat 
 
 utages for mill- 
 jh part of this 
 
 ,100,000 acnti, 
 t sixty miles in 
 [ a direct navi- 
 nd Ontario, to 
 a town in this 
 e of the River 
 s, from its local 
 >rtant and flou- 
 
 colonists, and 
 ive this season 
 eet, near York, 
 grist-mill, saw- 
 uantity of land 
 
 this party are 
 een fifteen and 
 
 twenty years in the province, which is a strong proof of the 
 goodness both of soil and situation, they being, from ex- 
 perience, the best judges. Tlie harbour, tlie only one on 
 the Canadian side of the Lake, is capable of containing ves- 
 sels of the burden of 200 tons ; and it has been established 
 as a Port of Entry, which will ensure to the inhabitants a 
 great share of the trade with the upper countries, and their 
 opposite neighbours in the new settlements in the United 
 States. 
 
 The scenery on the River Maitland has been described 
 as more like English than any other in America. There is 
 abundance of brick-earth and potters' clay in every direction 
 round the town. 
 
 The establishments at Goderich have been formed by the 
 Company, principally to afford facilities, encouragement, 
 and protection to settlers, who may be disposed to purchase 
 and improve the adjoining lands. 
 
 Roads are in progress, as marked out in the map, from 
 Goderich to the town of London, where they will join the 
 Talbot road, and connect the Huron tract with Port Talbot 
 and the various settlements and towns on Lake Erie and the 
 Niagara frontier. Cattle and provisions can be obtained in 
 abundar.ce by this route, or the still more easy water-com- 
 municati :; between Goderich and the old well-cultivated 
 settlements A Sandwich, Amherstburg, and Detroit. 
 
 For the making of roads, and towards the improvement 
 of water-communications, the building of churches, school- 
 houses, bridges, wharfs, and other works, for the benefit and 
 accommodation of the public, the Company have engaged 
 to expend a sum of 48,000/. in the Huron tract ; all such 
 
H 
 
 212 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 ! I 
 
 works and improvements to be approved of and sanctioned 
 by the local authorities. 
 
 With respect to the soil in the Huron tract, it is only 
 necessary to quote the words of the Surveyor who has been 
 employed to lay out the line of road to connect Goderich 
 with the Talbot Settlements through the heart of the tract ; 
 viz. — ^ Tlie quality of the soil through the whole thirty-three 
 miles is such, that I have not seen its equal in the province ; 
 the soil is generally composed of a deep, rich, black loam, 
 and thinly timbered. For the purpose of the intended road 
 there is not one mile in the whole distance otherwise than 
 favourable ; and there are four permanent streams, branches 
 of main rivers." And with respect to the important con- 
 sideration of climate, reference may be made to the sub- 
 joined Report. — .See Canada Company'a Statement. 
 
 Tlie Company have made sales of lots of 100 and 200 
 acres to individual settlers, on the condition of actual settle- 
 ment. The value of lots, of course, varies according to 
 local circumstances and advantages, and will increase with 
 the settlement and consequent progressive value of property 
 in the country. 
 
 The Commissioners in Upper Canada have directions to 
 treat with associations of settlers for larger quantities, or 
 even whole blocks of land, if any should prefer this course ; 
 and there will be every disposition to encourage small 
 capitalists, and enterprising and industrious emigrants, by 
 tlie most extended credit, on such conditions as may be 
 only consistent with the final security of the Company. 
 
id sanctioned 
 
 ict, it is only 
 who has been 
 lect Goderich 
 t of the tract ; 
 le thirty-three 
 the province ; 
 I, black loam, 
 intended road 
 jtherwise than 
 ams, branches 
 nportant con- 
 i to the sub- 
 ment. 
 
 100 and 200 
 f actual settle- 
 according to 
 increase with 
 ;e of property 
 
 directions to 
 quantities, or 
 r this course >' 
 ourage small 
 emigrants, by 
 IS as may be 
 jmpany. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 273 
 
 To the agricultural class of emigrants every possible en- 
 couragement is given : sucli as are simply desirous to ()l)tain 
 work, if they proceed direct to York, are more sure to ob- 
 tain it than in tiie Lower Province, where the rate of wages 
 is much lower. The general prices to a farming labourer, in 
 the neighbourhood of York, Guelph, und Goderich, varies 
 from eight to twelve dollars per month, and his board. 
 Some thousands landed last season at York, and all found 
 employment. It is also a matter of much encouragement 
 to the poor class of emigrants to know, that the legislature, 
 aided by the assistance of some gentlemen in and about 
 York, have this year erected a commodious brick building in 
 York, for the temporary use of such emigrants as may need 
 it, and to prevent tlie inconvenience which has happened 
 from their not being able to find accommodation at inns on 
 their first arrival. It will be the duty of the Superintendant 
 of that establishment to seek out employ, and direct those 
 who wish it to persons in the country who require servants. 
 This last season, much grain, within fifteen and twenty miles 
 of York, was wasted for want of hands in the harvest. 
 
 Passages to Quebec may be obtained on the most reason- 
 able terms, from any of the great shipping ports in Great 
 Britain and Ireland; it is expedient that the emigrant 
 should embark early in the season, that he may have the 
 summer before him, and leisure to settle his family com- 
 fortably before the winter sets in. 
 
 Tlie expense of conveying a family from a port in the 
 United Kingdom to York, Upper Canada, is as follows: — 
 3/. for the passage of an adult from England to Quebec ; 
 children 1/. lOs. ; provisions about as much more, and from 
 
 '"\ 
 
274 
 
 APPKNOIX. 
 
 < I 
 
 
 Ireland antl Scoiland considerably less. From thence to 
 Yoik the exj)ensc is about 2/. for an fidult, and 1/. for chil- 
 dren, without provisions. 
 
 Hie Company's agents, on the arrival of emigrants at 
 Quebec or Montreal, will, for the present season, convey, at 
 the Company's expense, purchasers who pay a first instal- 
 ment, to the head of Lake Ontario, which is in the vicinity 
 of their choicest lands, and their agents in all parts of tlie 
 upper province will give such emigrants every informatiot\ 
 and assistance in their power. 
 
 No heavy or cumbrous baggage ought to be taken — house- 
 hold furniture, iron utensils, implements of husbandry, — in 
 short, all articles of considerable bulk or weight will cost, 
 in freight and carriage, more than the expense of replacing 
 them in Upper Canada; besides the trouble of their convey- 
 ance, the risk of damage, and the danger of articles carried 
 from England or Ireland being found unsuited for use in Ame- 
 rica. Tlie baggage of emigrants should consist only of their 
 wearing apparel, with such bedding, and utensils for cook- 
 ing, as may be required on the voyage ; and any articles of 
 clothing not intended to be used at sea, ought to be packed 
 in water-tight cases or trunks, not exceeding eighty or 
 ninety pounds in weight. 
 
 The Company will receive deposits of money at their 
 office, in London, from persons emigrating to Canada, giving 
 letters of credit on their Commissioners, in Canada, for the 
 amount, by which the emigrant gets the benefit of the cur- 
 rent rate of exchange, which was, in 1830, 6/. to 9/. per cent- 
 
A pr FN nix. 
 
 27.5 
 
 om thence to 
 id 1/. for chil- 
 
 emififrants at 
 son, convey, at 
 
 a first instal- 
 in the vicinity 
 all parts of the 
 ry information 
 
 taken — house- 
 msbandry, — in 
 eight will cost, 
 se of replacing 
 »f their convey- 
 articles carried 
 for use in Ame- 
 st only of their 
 nsils for cook- 
 any articles of 
 It to be packed 
 ling eighty or 
 
 noney at their 
 Canada, giving 
 Canada, for the 
 efit of the cur- 
 to 9/. per cent. 
 
 Besides the Canadian ("ompany, there are some otliers 
 formed or forming for purposes nearly similar. 
 
 One of these, the American Land Company, tlius ex- 
 presses its intentions: "The objects of this Company are 
 to purchase or obtain grants and possession of lands from 
 his Majesty's Government, corporate bodies, or individuals 
 in the province of Lower Canada, or other provinces and 
 colonies in British America, for the purpose of opening 
 roads, building bridges, erecting mills, &c., preparing lands 
 for occupation, and disposing of such lands, by sale, lease, 
 or otherwise, to emigrants and others — affording information 
 and assistance, and to facilitate the location and settlement 
 of emigrants and others disposed to purchase lands of the 
 Company, as well as to transmit their funds from this coun- . 
 try to the colonies — to promote general improvements, and 
 to follow up the principles and purposes of the existing 
 Canada Company, which have proved so eminently bene- 
 ficial to that corporation, the colony, and the emigrant; 
 bearing in mind such alterations as the localities, the popu- 
 lation, laws and circumstances of the respective neighbour- 
 hoods, may require." 
 
 Another of these Companies has for its object the settle- 
 ment of New Brunswick ; but it is possible that settlements 
 there may not be so easily formed, more especially till the 
 line of boundary with the United States is finally settled. 
 
•• 
 
 No 
 
 . 3. — Statement of Steam 
 Loicer Canada 
 
 1 
 
 276 
 
 and Team-Boats plying on the St, Lawrenct 
 , 1829, by Joseph Bouchette, Esq. 
 
 
 Betiveen Quebec and Montreal. \\ 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 Names. 
 
 It 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 
 b 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 Rate of 
 Freights 
 per ton. 
 
 Cabin 
 passage. 
 
 •J = 
 
 Rrmarks. 
 
 Up. 
 
 Down 
 
 Up. 
 
 Down 
 
 *Tlie John Molson - 
 *The Quebec - - - 
 'The Switisure - - 
 *The Chambly - - 
 
 The La Prairie - - 
 
 *The Waterloo - - 
 The Rich, 'ien - - 
 
 The Herc'ile. - - 
 ♦The St. I A, ice - 
 Tlie Lady of me Lake 
 
 500 
 500 
 300 
 400 
 
 100 
 
 130 
 350 
 
 600 
 
 350 
 
 70 
 
 120 
 00 
 65 
 60 
 
 30 
 
 45 
 415 
 
 100 
 
 05 
 
 28 
 
 a. 
 10 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 8. d. 
 7 6 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 1 10 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 £ 8. 
 
 1 5 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • a 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 8. 
 
 10 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • * 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 « « 
 
 • • 
 
 The boats markc 
 thus * beloniu; i 
 the St. Lawrenc, 
 Steam-boat Com 
 pany. 
 
 Belongs to J. Ma( 
 Kenzie and other 
 of Montreal. 
 
 Hon. Mathew Bel 
 
 and others. 
 To a Company n\ 
 
 Montreal. 
 To George Graficl^ 
 
 and others. 
 
 Ferry Steam-Boats plying between Montreal, Longueuil, and Montreal. | 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 The Edmond Henry 
 The Montreal - - 
 
 90 
 90 
 
 45 
 45 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 To Edmond Honn 
 Esq. and others. 
 
 To M. Raymonii 
 Esq. La Prairie. 
 
 
 Team- Boats. | 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 
 1 he E<imond - - - 
 The Longueuil - - 
 
 20 
 
 • • 
 
 10 i 
 
 
 Ferry Steam-Boats plying between Quebec and Poijtt Levi. 1 
 
 1 
 
 The Lauzon - - - 
 
 • • 
 
 30 
 
 Fourpence across. 
 
 To Mr. J. Mac KenI 
 zie, Point Levi.| 
 
 Team-Boats. [ 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 .. 10 
 8 
 
 1 1 
 
 Threepence across. 
 
 Belonging to tiiil 
 mers at Point 
 Levi. 1 
 
 Total 16 Steam-br,ats, and 4 Team-boats, plying on the St. Lawrence. 
 Total eo river crafts, navigating between Quebec and Montreal, of 25 to 100 ton> 
 burden. 
 Rate of Freight per ton, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Square rigged vessels on the stocks at Montreal - - - 2 
 Ditto ditto Quebec - ... 9 
 Small crafts 2 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 There are also two Ste 
 nd Hull, one between 1 
 nd the Cascades. 
 
 am-b 
 .a CI 
 
 oats 
 line i 
 
 on th 
 md ] 
 
 e Otta 
 Point F 
 
 Total 11 2 
 wa river, plying between Grenvilli 
 ortune, and one between La Chiiit 
 
 LONDON : 
 SBUDING ANU TURTf.B, 30, ARUNDEL STREET, STRAND. 
 
Ing on the St, Lawrenct 
 ichette, Esq. 
 
 eal. 
 
 own 
 
 u 
 
 V O 
 
 c» 
 
 s. 
 10 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 The boats marke^ 
 thus * belong t 
 the St. Lawreiio 
 Steam-boat Com 
 pany. 
 
 Belongs to J.Ms 
 Kenzie and other 
 of Montreal. 
 
 Hon. Mathew Bel 
 
 and others. 
 To a Company ai 
 
 Montreal. 
 
 jTo George Gra title 
 I and others. 
 
 ^ongueuit, and Montreal. 
 
 To Edmond Henry 
 Esq. and others 
 
 To M. Raymond 
 Esq. La Prairie. 
 
 ec and Poi7it Levi, 
 
 cross. 
 
 To Mr. J. Mac Ken 
 zie, Point Levi. 
 
 icross. 
 
 Belonging to tat 
 mers at Poi 
 Levi. 
 
 the St. Lawrence, 
 ad Montreal, of 25 to 100 ton 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 2 
 
 Total 11 2 
 rer, plying between Grenvilli. 
 e, and one between La Chintl 
 
 STREET, STRAND.