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CII

om\

(lARmSONS IN THE WEST

SKETCIIKS IN 15KITISH NOllTU AMERICA.

FRANCIS DUNCAN, M.A.,

l*Kr.r.O\V OF THE QEO^ \L SOCIETY ; KELLOW OF THE KOTAL «JEO(JRAPHIC V-

SOCIETY ; MEMBER OF COLONIES' COMMITTEE, SOCIETY OF AKTS ;

1>.C.L. king's COLLEGE, N.S. ;

LIEUTENANT, ROYAL ABTILLUItr.

LONDON:
CHAPMAN AND HALL, 11)3, inCCADU.LY.

180 1.

[TTip right of Translaticii re-vrreJ]

p/)f^p

r-r>

£>

MAJOR A. BRENDON,

AMD

THE OFFICEKS, NON-COMMISSIONED OFEICERS, AND MEN

NO. 5 BATTERY, 7tH BRIGADE, KOYAL ARTILLERY.

THE FOLLOWING SKETCHES

A HE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

BY THE ALTIIOIJ.

[

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vii
ha

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of

til
vi
ce
ir

P 11 K V A C K.

Confined to his room for a few weeks by tho
effects of ail accident, the author of tlie followinjnr
pa^es undertook the task of committing to paper
some reminiscences of 3ix years' service in our Ame-
rican colonies. At a time when we have compara-
tively so large a force in Canada and our other pro-
vinces, he lioped that many English readers would
have an unusual interest in oiu* Garrisons in the
West. lie would fain trust, also, that to the genera'
reader his few chapters on some of our finest colonies
may prove not destitute of information, nor devoid
of interest.

Written somewhat hurriedly, and yet at the same
time influenced by the fits and starts which are
visible in the employments of eveiy sick or c(m vales-
cent subj'^ct, the reader may possibly find much
irregularity in the style, and incompleteness in de-

J'UKI'.U'K.

srrijjtion. In such a cast', tho autlior can iiuTcIv
throw himself on thi' wiutous induli^eiu'c of a
|)ul)Iic, never severe v.n an inexjjerienced author t)r a
traveller who speaks truly, even though lamely, of
the scenes he has studied or taken part in.

30, Half Moon-street,
Piccddilly.

CONTENTS.

On the Sea
Halifax, Nova Scotia

C: I An Ell I.
• •

CHAPTER II.

., CHAPTER III.

Comic Adventures in the Woods

CHAPTER IV.

Si'ORT IN Earnest

Nova Scotia

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.
In- the Tracks of Longfellow-

New Brunswick

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

Halifax to Montreal

CHAPTER IX.
Through the T.tousAxn Isles to Kingston

PMiK
. • 1

. 16
. 46

. 59
. 79
. 104

. 117

. 110

. 171

• ••

VIII

CnNTF.NTs.

CIIAI'TKU X.

I'AOK

A SHOUT OlIAITKU, UKFKIIUINO MOKK K.M'ECl.VLLY To To-

iioNTOAXi) Hamilton, iu;t with a Word ok Two on the
Lakks . . . . . . .

CllAI»TKIl XI.

NiAOAUA

204

CHAPTER XII.
The Ovkklanp Maiuii to ('anada in the Wixteh

isr,|.()2

CIIAITKK XIII.

THK MaI« II CONTINUED, AND QUKHEr .

CHAPTER XIV.

"Our Misehahi.i: Little Isi-and"

CHAPTEK XV.

The Trade and Kducation ok our North Amkkk.vn

CoLOME.S

CHAPTER XVI.

On the Defences of Canada

•2\\)

•i.-. 1

272

2'J4

CHAPTER XVII.
Homeward Round, with a Look at our la.st Garrison
IN the West . . . . . . •i()7

i'\ur.

TO T.I.
) ON TIIK

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2'J4

IK I SON

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

CHAPTER I.

ON THE SEA.

— — a sedibus unis
Una Eunisque notusque ruunt, creberque procelHs
Africus. Virgil.

To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendent world.

Measure for Measure.

To the rather hackneyed notes of " Cheer, boys,

, cheer," and the pathetic strains of " Mary of Argyle,"

/ some four hundred of us marched off Woolwich

parade to embark on board the screw steam-ship

Lehanon, for service in Canada, Nova Scotia, and

New Brunswick.

Being my first round of foreign service, I have not
forgotten the many Httle annoyances which, though
novel then and striking, I know now, from seven
years' experience, are generally consequent on the
embarkation of troops, and tend to make the con-
fusion worse confounded. The muddy river, the

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I 1 i) '6 r 1 C C A-D ILLY.

OUR GAKKISONS IN THE WEST.

:| i

])onring rain, the dark and cheerless sky, (hirkcned
still more by the clouds of smoke from the many-
roofed arsenal, hiid rather a depressinir effect on lis ;
while excited staff-officers iiivinj]^ contradictory orders
tended somewhat to irritate.

By the way, in these days of model staff colleges
and teasing examinations, I wish the Board of Exa-
miners would insist on every candidate for an appoint-
ment solving the followinc; problem : " Given, a body
of men and a troo])-shi]), to leave them alone." When
a grateful country recognises my services by making
me commander-in-chief, mv first oeneral order shall
be that on all occasions of embarkation and disem-
l)arkation of troops, eveiy staff-officer in the garrison,
or other usl ic s and irritating agent, shall be confined
to his respective office, with an abundant sup})ly of
stationeiy to vent his inordinate zeal upon, but in no
way to be allowed communication with the troops in
question. I remember a horrible medley of baggage
lying about, the fragile articles, as a rule, lying under
such airy nothings as the battery arm-chests, or those
huge and marvellous packages, which, wrapped in
ancient bedding, and surmounted by a washing-tub,
represent in eveiy climate the goods and chattels of
the British married soldier. But a more horrible
medley in the eyes of the sailors, was to be found in
the living part of their cargo — in us, the four hundred ;
inasmuch as our excessive ])atriotism would not allow
us to stow ourselves away until our native land should
fade from our vision, or symptoms of maladie (hi mer
should make us fade from theirs beneath the hatch-
ways. Soldiers on board ship are for the first week a
great nuisance; but for the first twenty-four hours

il:

ON Tin: SEA.

tlioy arc sim[)ly iii^uffeml)le. AVere I ivf^uestod to
add anotlicr tri;d t<> the catalo«iue of the patient
patriarch's, 1 sh(»uld suiriivst iiivinu liim the command
of a crowded tr^msport, with a hir^e pro[)oition of
soldiers" wives and children on hoard. The British
soldier is so much in the hahit of meetin«^ a friend,
and havinn; a convivial g^ass with him the ni<!;ht
before a journe}', that his faculties are rather dense
when the start actually comes, and he acquires in a
high degree that unplea>ant property of being in
cveiy one's way. Were not sailors a good-natured
set oi fellows, they would treat their awkward pas-
senijers with inditrnation, instead of the amusinij com-
passion they generally disphiy.

At last came the moment of leaving the wharf, and
such of us as have friends down to see us off com-
mence a furious hand-shaking, and the men commence
of course to cheer, just as they would if we were
under orders to form part of the next sacrifice of tlie
amiable Kino; of Dahomey, for there is ixeneraUy
more noise than reason in the Briton's cheer; and
then came the shnv steaming past the muddy wharves,
and by-and-by came reaction. As excitement is gre-
i>;anous in its nature, so is the reaction solitary and of
a selfish tendency. And in om' case this appeared by
ll^' droppii.g off noiselessly to secure gcxKl berths, and
the best paraphernalia we could find. ^Vlas ! now f(jr
the junior subalterns ! hapi)y are they if they can get
any place to lie down on, or a single article of furni-
ture. Verily, in the army the greatest mistake a
man can make is to be a junior !

Fortunately, we dined in smooth water ; and the
hysterical mirth during dinner, with the prevailing

^ b2

OUR GARRISONS iN THE WEST.

infidel notions about sea-sickness, must have intensely
gratified the attendant stewards, and the older hands
among ourselves. Gradually, however, as we round
the shores of Kent, and steal towards dear, picturesque
old Dover, the public commence to recant their hasty
notions, and to make dreary inquiries as to the proper
remedies to be employed in case one should be taken
worse ; nor is it long before, one by one, we leave the
deck, and enter upon a course of anguish which, with
very- few exceptions, lasted for many days.

Yet again, through the dim vistas of memor}',
after a gap of eight or nine hours which is too hor-
rible to contemplate, I see my own sick and weary-
form clinging with affectionate tenacity to the vessel's
bulwarks, as she ploughed through a chopping sea
with a gale of wind in our teeth. The cold, gi'ey
daw^n is creeping under the friendly shroud of dark-
ness, which had hid the agonies of the earlier part of
my watch from public gaze.

Yes, reader, that unhappy figure is, by a prepos-
terous and laughable idea, dignified in orders by the
title of officer of the watch ! The only object for
four long hours which I contemplated, was the hateful
sea by the ship's side (not Tennyson's lotus-eaters
themselves could have hated it more), and the only
exercise of which I seemed capable was a species of
convulsive leap-frog, which though always attempting,
I could never wholly accomplish. The vessel might
have been boarded, sunk, set on fire, without the fact
crossing my engi'ossed faculties ; and as far as assist-
ing — as by a grim joke of the Admiralty the militaiy
watch is supposed to do — ir iie management of the
ship, I was about as capable as Mr. Bright is of com-

ON THE SEA.

mandiiig an iron-clad. I was outraged by a heartless
v\d soldier, who liad come to look on a journey of
three or four thousand miles much in the light of a
morning parade, and whose internal arrangements
would not have been disturbed by a hurricane.
Coming slowly towards me from amidships, in a voice
as soothing as foity years' strong tobacco and un-
limited spirits and water would admit of, he endea-
voured to console me by saying it would be " as good
as guineas to me." Kindly meant it was, no doubt,
but in the then state of my feelings I could have
slain him where he stood, and was only interrupted in
the midst of a look calculated to scorch and wither
him, by a sudden paroxysm of the veiy malady he
had ventured to praise. The British subaltern is no
Croesus, but rather than have that agony again, give
me — not guineas, but the parish !

I remember well that was the dawn of a Sunday,
and the most appalling thing I could ever devise to
an enemy of weak stomach, would be a Sunday in
the Channel with a screw too powerful for the vessel,
a hea\y sea, and a gale of wind. For on board ship
the first day of the week setjms selected by the cook
as an occasion on which he may run riot with all the
•contents of his larder, which are either powerful in
odour or greasy in constitution. Tioily our cook was
no exception ; and trying was the hour of dinner to
such as myself, prostrate in our berths, with its un-
pleasant appeals to our nostrils, and the still more
awful appeals of the steward, who, as every com*se
appeared, heaped a plate of the greasiest substances,
and, opening my cabin door, implored me to take some,
with the barefaced assurance that it would do me

OUR GARRISONS IN Till: WKST.

t (

ppoil. Of the two proceodinf»s, I should have sooner
walked out of my port-imle into the sea. ,

I have been informed that tliere was divine service
]>erformed on deek that day. The Queen's Ke^da-
tions — that elieerful volume — are very stron«i; on the
sul)jeet, an<l insist rigidly on the ]>resence of every
one on board. Had we all been j)resc'nt on this oeca-
sion, and the compiler of that delif^htful volume been
suddenly introduced among us, 1 feel confident that
the passage on that subject would have been speedily
expunged. Neither event took })laee, however, and I
have been incredulous on the subject of that service
ever since. The brother-officer who was doubled up
with me was rash enough to attemj^t the performance,
but he speedily returned, and seemed reluctant to
enter into conversation ui)on the matter. He was
very ill during the rest of the voyage.

The passage from- the JEneid which I have placed
at the head of this chapter, applies most liapi)ily to
our miserable voyage. All the winds that old ^Eolus
has the management of, seemed, as in the above case,
to have been let loose upon us with one exception. In
the Virgilian case, Boreifc is not mentioned, therefore,
I j)resume, that was a fair wind, and Avas kept in the
proprietor's cave ; now, I am not much of a sailor,
but still I suppose an east wind would have suited us,
and as we had nothing in the form of anything suit-
able, I imagine we hail no east wind. As a matter of
course, we had the roughest passage on record, but as
I have crossed the Atlantic four tunes now, and everv
time have heard tlie same remark from the nautical
authorities, I do not attach much unportance to thpt
fact. I crossed in the gale when the Royal Charter

A,^

ON THE SKA.

VQ sooner

love case.

went down, and I see before mo now the ^ravo I'ace
of the pilot who came on boaiJ at Holyhead, and
polntetl out to us the topmasts of tiiut unhajipy vessel
still showing uljove the boilin*^ sm'f, where but six-
anil-tiiirty hours before so many brave and liopin<;
hearts ceased for evermore to beat. I have crossed
one wild October, when all round us, as we lay in the
Downs with both anchors out, vessels were dra<,'^in«;,
and sinkin<;, and drifting on shore, and strono; men
were dying in the siu'ging waters. I have been on
board Siiiling vessels luid steamers alike in the wild
Atlantic; I have been taken aback in the fonner, and
had the screw fouled in the latter ; 1 have scudded
along almost under bare poles, lain to in a howling
storm, and crept along the coasts of Newfoundland
in a fog so thick that you could not see the bows from
the quarter-deck ; and my candid opinion is this, that
while on shore all is vanity and vexation of spirit, at
sea all is iji adilition vanity and vexation of bod}' ! I
cannot understand any one going to the sea as a i)ro-
fession ; I am confident that, if instead of capturing
young innocents at the tender age of midshipmen and
merchant apprentices, the age of discretion were
waited for, we would find r mie diffic^ulty in manning
GUI' vessels. I hate the sea myself, even the few
hours' agony between England and France ; and I
consider the miserable impostor anIio put to music
those idiotic sentiments about his bark being his bride,
and his prefemng a wet sheet, and a flowing sea, &c.,
should be publicly whipped and privately admonished.
Tliere was a monotony of anguish about the first
seven days of my voyage, on the occasion refeiTcd to
in the outset of tliis chapter, which may account for

>ii|

> 4

OUR GARRISON'S IN THK WEST.

the weak liold its detiiils have on my memory. For
I am sure tliat, to speak metapliysically, our faculties
retaiu liold of joyful or pleasaut impressions Ion;;er
and more vividly than of those which are soiTowful ;
so to speak, our thinking soul is ealculateil for a
liappy, not a miserable existence. But after tliat
time, as one's stamina return, as — many opinions to
the contrary, notwithstanding — I helievc they in-
varial)ly do, it is interesting to watch the various
stages of physical improvement. First, one can hear
with less horror the menu of the dinner which the
relentless steward rehearses daily. Secondly, one
ventures to converse with one's companions on the
subject of future dinners on shore. And here a sin-
gular phase occurs.

The fitful appetite commences in a morbid manner
to fancy the wildest and most incongruous art'cles of
food. I remember well, after a debate of three days,
that my immediate companion and myself selected as
the bonne houche of our first dinner on shore, codfish
and mulled port. Now I am not aware that I have
any natural or startling affection or predilection for
these luxuries ; I infiniteh prefer soles to codfish, and,
on the whole, am disposed to regard mulled port as a
pleasing but deadly poison. But from inscrutable
causes, perhaps because fresh fish and mulled wine
weie absent from the bill of fare whose daily recapi-
tulation prostrated us, these dishes did secure in our
hearts a position which whitebait or red mullet,
chickens and champagne, never could have ap-
proached. Through the weaiy hoiu's of more than
one restless night, these came before us with a garb
more alluring than ever beguiled us before or since.

OK THE SEA.

But the hour soon came when wc could face food
with confidence, even on the tossin<^ sliip. And on
the tracks of tliis golden time speedily followed in
close company the welcome forms of relish, desire, and
positive hunger. Then was it, in the times of these
pleasing transformations, that the steward ceased to ho
ii mocking demon, and was adored as a dear friend.
Pleasant be thy slumbers, O ])liant Currie, if still on
tlie unsteady deck you seek for rest after the day's
toil ! Never shall thy hannless fictions be forgotten,
as morning after morning, long after tlie shores of
England had disappeared, thy hand placed Ijefore our
eager lips coffee which thou fondly called Mocha, and
hot rolls which, with grave face and poetic license,
thou assured us were wann London-made luxuries.
Ah ! pleasing even to be deceived was it in those days
of returning appetite. What mattered it that a few
minutes before these veiy rolls had been kneaded by
rough hands that worked by the galley fire? what
matter that the coffee knew more of beans and chicoiy
than the balmy air of ^locha ?

So rolled the time away — eating and drinking,
sleeping and beating up and down the quarter-deck,
playing whist by day and by night, boring one another
with hackneyed stories, and becoming involuntanly
acquainted W'ith one another's weak points; for no-
where sooner than at sea does one's real character
develop itself; and in all respects did we have as
stupid a passage as usual, Veiy seldom had we any
extenial excitement from passing vessels, nor did we
make any land before Halifax. Indeed, with two
exceptions, I never in any of my journeys across the
Atlantic found much to excite or interest beyond our

If ,

OUR GARUISONS IN THE WEST.

o\>Ti little world. One of these occasions was on a
dull, stormy day — a Queen's birthday — when I was
on board a sailing vessel taken up for transj>ort of
troops. We had been endeavouring at dinner, by
means of good cheer and the flowing bowl, to keep
up our loyalty to the proper })itch in spite of the de-
pressing influence of the weather, and had adjourned
to the deck to attempt a royal stdute. Tliis was
managed by means of an unhappy and debauched-
looking carronade which we had discovered on board,
and which we fired, in the absence of tubes or port-
fires, by relays of hot pokers from the galley. This
method of serving ordnance, chiefly because it is not
to be fomid in the manual of artillery exercises, found
great favour with the gunners ; and we were in the
midst of rather a boisterous display of loyalty, when
one of om' number, more keen-sighted than the
rest, detected on the horizon an object which he
imagined was a wreck. Of course, being a lands-
man, he was pooh-poohed by the shijy s company ; but
we set upon the captain and badgered him into tdter-
ing cm' com'se, and bearing down on the suspicious
object. As we approached, ail doubt was cleared away
— a An'eck it was, with the topmasts broken short off,
bowsprit gone, no boats left, and the sea breaking
over it as it rolled heavily to every wave. We passed
within a few yards of her, and shouted ; but there
was no answer — not ewn a dog seemed to be on board.
No boat could have got alongside in the sea that was
rmining ; so, reluctantly, we had to bear away, and as
we passed under her stern, there we saw shining out
in large gilt letters her name — and of all names on
that day of the yeai' — The Old England. She was

A-^

ON THE SEA.

timber-laden, and not likely to sink; but often since
tlien one thinks with sadness of that tossing hull, with
the wind howling through the damaged rigging, and
the wa^■es beating on her deserted deck, as, for aught
1 know, they do to this day.

On boai'd the same ship, when we came to the
banks of Newfoundland, we were becalmed for nearly
a couple of days. Not one of those calms like the
Ancient Mariner's, when the vessel becomes

Like to a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean,

but a calm after a gale of wind, with a sullen swell
on the waters ; and the dull green waves crawUng
round the ship's sides, renunding one of Tennyson's
lines in " Vivien :"

As on a dull day in an ocean cave,

The blind wave feeling round his long sea-hall

In silence.

There are few positions more uncomfoi*table than a
passenger's on board a sailing ship in such a calm.
Eveiy timber in the vessel creaks abominably ; the
sails put up to invite the breeze flap with loud noise
against the masts; the articles in the cabins roll about
more almost than in a storm, for then the sails steady
the vessel; and at table you find vourself and your
vis-a-vis performing a see-sa^^• more ludicrous than com-
fortable. On the present occasion we were becalmed
among a nmnber of fishing "essels, which, in the
season, are anchored amid the banks, and ai*e relieved
of their fishy contents periodically by steamers sent
with food, &c., in exchange. The fishing is entirely
earned on with lines, and the fish caught are chiefly
cod and haUbut ; this latter being a gigantic species of

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

turbot, reaching as far as two hundred pounds weiglit.
To pass away the time, several of us volunteered to
accompany the second mate to the nearest of these
vessels, and procure some fresh fish in exchange for
beef and other luxuries which would probably prove
acceptable to the fishermen. On arriving at the
vessel, we found that in the swell running we should
find some difficulty in getting on board, and require
some ingenuity to prevent our boat from being
knocked to pieces against the side ; for it would at
one moment rise above the deck, and at the next
descend nearly to a line with the keel. However,
watching his opportunity, the mate made a jump and
succeeded in getting on board, and, prompted by
curiosity, I ventured to do the same, assisted by a hand
from the mate to prevent my falling on the deck, which
was slippery with fish scales and other abominations.
Once on board, we foimd no difficulty in making a
most liberal bargain, and filled our boat with about
fifty fine cod, and an enormous halibut. This last
gentleman we took more to show such of our friends
on the transport as had never seen one before; for
being over a hundred-weight, it was rather coarse for
eating. By this time we commenced to think of re-
turning ; but never was there a more decided case of
** revocare gradus, hie labor, hoc opus est." For it is
one thing to leap from a small oscillathig body to a
large and comparatively steady one, and quite another
to reverse the operation. The mate, accustomed from
boyhood to mast-1 eads, &c., did succeed with some
difficulty ; but I began to think that I should have to
remain behind and exchange my sword for a cod-line.
However, by placing myself on the shrouds, and keep-

ing

be]

fal

tin

as I

ful

i i

ON THE SEA-

ing my eye on the violent movements of tlie boat
below me, I prepared to drop at the moment when the
fall would be least. A moment's hesitation, or some-
thing of the sort, unfortunately delayed me, and just
as I let go, down with a heavy surge went the boat
fully twenty feet below me. Happily with one hand
I caught a hanging rope in a manner worthy of
Leotard or Olmar, and hung there till the boat rose
again on the next wave. This was the most danger-
ous time, for had the boat risen in exactly the same
spot as before I must have been crushed between it
and the ship's side, and the English army would have
been robbed of a distinijuished ornament. Fortu-
nately. Fate was propitious, and our country not des-
tined to lose her future Wellington, for the boat rose
a foot or two from the ship, and I was picked off like
a barnacle from the side by her crew, with no other
damage than a coating on my unmentionables of a
nauseous compomid of tar and fish entrails. The
open mouths and eyes of the troops on our return,
when the halibut was raised by a tackle on board,
atoned for my mishap ; and a cutlet of the same,
taken off near the tail and dressed with claret sauce,
more than compensated for our troubles.

We got a clear perception of the sudden way in
which fogs come down on the Banks of Newfoundland,
for having invited some of the men from the fishing
vessel to come on board and get a couple of bottles of
brandy — although we were only a couple of hunilred
yards from them — it was with great difficulty we
persuaded them to leave their own ship, and so great
a fever of anxiety were they in, when waiting along-
side, that I am sure, had we not been veiy quick —

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

that, much as thev loved the "cratur," they would
not have waited. They told us they had seen fogs
come down so instantaneously, and so impervious,
that had a boat been a hundred yards from the ship,
it would probably have failed to get back. Tlie acci-
dents in these foas are fearfullv numerous : ^vitness,
but the other day, that sad story of the Anglo-Saxon
and lier helpless crew; and, not long before, the Hu7i-
(jarian steamer of the same line.

But to return to ouv first ^'oyage, from which we
ha^-e rather wandered. Our weather was miserable,
as I liave alreadv remarked ; but in the davs of re-
turned health this did not so much matter, save as
affording greater or less amusement at dinner, in
watching the reanimated joints, or the restless fluids
that seemed always seeking a level, which thev never
found. Sometimes three or four days without any-
tliing to break the dull grey circle of heaving watei-s
round, save the seagulls in our wake, which never
left us the whole vovage. Sometimes we would see
on the horizon some ship ploughing its solitary way,
and with childish excitement would hasten to com-
municate with it. At last, one day a whisper went
through tlie ship that Ave were near the Banks of New-
foundland, and to oiu* m'eedv ears the announcement
was made by our servants at early morn, with a re-
servation on their parts that they were not yet visible.
Poor fellows ! little did they dream of banks that were
not green and willow-covered, i)ut lay fathoms down,
vast, silent, and treacherous. From this moment, how-
ever, the aspect of all on board changed. We com-
menced to gather our traps together, and never used
our brushes without retumini^ them to their travellinar-

:i t

ox THE SEA.

cases, lest we sliould have siKkleiily to land. We com-
menced to criticise our victuals with severitv, to l>ullv
Currie, and to make disparaging remarks on the Ijeer.
For two days now the decks forward were covered
witli belts bleacliing under a new coat of pipeclay ;
and a steady moment in the ship's progress might
have seen dozens of us rush, as if suicidally inclined,
franticallv to oui' razors. And then came the morn-
ing which saw us steam up the grand harbour of
Halifax, a noble specimen of npt'—e's works in Ame-
rica first to greet our eager e'\. . and never surely
did Columbus exaj^ine more curiously the features of
his newly-discovered continent, than did we those of
that part of it where we were destined for a time to

reside,
ennui :

And now Ave forgot all our troubles and our

All the past
Melts mistlike into this bright hour ;

And all the rich to come
Reels, as the golden autumn woodland reels,
Athwart the smoke of burning weeds.

Tennysoji.

iit

iif

OUR GARKISONS IN THE WEST.

l{in(!

CHAPTER II.

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

Scribe tui gregis hunc, et fortem crede bonumque.

Horace.

Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, is a city of the
highest importance to England, both in her capacity
of a great commercial country', and as a naval power.
Even apart from the history of Halifax during the
last fifty years, its geographical position and tlie mag-
nificence of its harbom* are sufficient evidence of
this. The former speaks for itself; but for the
benefit of those who have never themselves seen it,
I may be pardoned for a brief description of the
latter. There are two entrances to the harbour,
caused by the existence at its mouth of a large and
beautiful island, called McNab's Island. Of these
two, the western entrance is the one always used,
except by vessels of a very small draught of water,
and is protected on the west by high, steep rocks,
surmounted by a fort called York Redoubt, and on
the east by batteries now building on the island we
have named, and by a tower on a narrow neck of

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

RACE.

:v of the

:«ipacitj

power.

'ing the

le mag-

?nce of

for tlie

seen it,

of the

arbour,

2;e and

■ tliese

used,

water,

rocks,

nd on

nd we

?ck of

land, wliich, althougli used as a lighthouse, is also
anned, and is known as Sherbrooke Tower. A vessel
entering the har])our, finds, on the western side imme-
diately on passing York Redoubt, a brancli of the sea
about two miles and a half long, known, on account of
the direction in whicli it lies, as the north-west arm.
Tliis shall be more fully described hereafter. On tlie
point of land formed by this arm and the main harbour,
and called Point Pleasant, there are two heavily-armed
batteries on the shore, a large martello tower, called the
Prince of Wales's Tower, and another elevated battery,
almost concealed by brushwood and small spruce-trees,
which rejoices in the name of Fort Ogilvie. Tlie
harboiu*, which now opens out, has on the other side
another battery with a stone tower, built, I believe, by
the French, and also well armed ; while on the western
side, a little higher up, in the city itself, there is yet
another battery on the water's edge. Raising our
eyes, we see surmounting the liill on which Halifax is
built, the huge citadel, heavily armed, and command-
ing not only the harbour, but the whole country
round. These alone would seem sufficient defences
for ,any harbour : but as if nature destined for this one
n great future, she has placed in tlie centre of the
harbour, a mile or two north of McNab's Island, a
smaller one, called George's Island, which is heavily
armed, and on which there is also a barrack. Thus a
fire from every point of the compass can be kept u|)
on a vessel in any part of the harbour : and should
any one battery be cajitured, it would be made by the
fire of the others rather too warm to retain. It is to
the north of this island that vessels oenerallv anclior ;
and on the western shore of this part are situated our

OUR GAHIUSONS IN TIIK WEST.

dockyard and our ordnance wharves, as well as the
most im})ortant commercial docks and piers. Beyond
the dockyard the harbour <^radually closes in, forming
a ])assa;:^e called " The Narrows," hut deep enough to
float tlie larf!;est vessels. And on passing throu<Th these
straits, we come upon what is the most beautiful, as it
is the most strikinir, characteristic of the harbour, a
lar^e lake, so to sj)eak, of the sea, ten miles at least
in length, and several miles across, deej) enough and
large enough to float the whole navies of Eiu'ope. It
is called Bedford Basin, and as the poorness of the
soil surrounding it has not tempted any one to in-
fringe on the forest, except at one or two places on
the south and west, the effect produced by the wide
sheet of water fringed with a belt of forest whose
trees grow to its ^ery edge, is impressive, pleasing,
and not to be forgotten. Tradition, or I should rather
say history, says that a French fleet was sunk in this
basin, in the old days of the wars across the Atlantic
between France and England. Another more pleasing
historical relic is to be found on the western side in the
remains of what is called " The Prince's Lodge," the
residence of her Majesty's father, the Duke of Kent,
who )nany years ago resided in No\'a Scotia as go-
vernor. It will m^•e mv readers a ixood idea of the
size of this land-locked harbour, when I say that the
men-of-war go up there during the summer to prac-
tise even with their heaviest guns. And while using
this form of description, it will afford some notion of
the commodious nature of the harbour itself, when I
can state that the i^rmt Eastern came up to the usual
anchorage, and turned with ease among the shipping

.i C

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

ippillg

on leaviniT. B«t tlie time when Halifax harbour
sh<nvs to «'i*eatest advantat^e is on a summer moon-
huht nii^ht, when, as I have seen, the entire Enj^Usli
and French North- Anieiican squadrons are lyinn;
motionless, the lirjlits shining brightly in their rigging,
aiui their mighty shadows darkening the silveiy sur-
face of the unrippled water. On a night such as this,
I happened to be coming on shore from one of our
vessels, and while the silence was unbroken save by
the noise of our oars, and the water like a mirror save
in our own phosphorescent wake, I cannot describe
the feeling of power that seemed to me to lie in those
silent and motionless monsters. h\ addition to the
flagship, the Nile, and the St. George, with Prince
Alfred on board, two noble specimens of our old
three-deckers, we saw, within a few yards of one
another, the Mersei/, the Ariadne, the Immortal'ite,
and other of our finest frigates of that class, with
some half-score of smaller craft, including, I re-
member, the Rinaldo, aftenvards famous as the vessel
which received ^lessrs. Mason and Slidell from the
hands of those truckling bullies in the States. I heard
the caj)tain of one of our frigates say that evening,
that it would be a good thing for England if her
harbour of Halifax could be exchanged with Spit-
head.

In enumerating the defences of the harbour, I
omitted two, which, although silent, would play no
mean part against an invading fleet. These are —
first, a system of signalling from the outposts to tlie
citadel, by which notice can be given of any ap})roach-
ing vessel, when it is yet thirty or forty miles off.

C 2.

:'l1

•11-
Iff

OUK GARUISONS IN THE WEST.

II :

This is (lone by a system of ball-lioistin»x, by wliicii
an island called Samljoroii<;li re})orts to York Kedoubt,
and this latter communicates with the citadel.

The other means of defence to which I allude is
a certain intricacy of navigation at the entrance of
the harbour, owing to some shoals ; one in particular
round Point Pleasant, which renders pilotage neces-
sary, — a necessity, I presume, which favours the
possessors more than an invader.

So much — at least for the present — concerning the
liarbour. Now for a word about the good city itself.

To begin a la mode. Halifax is a city of some
thirty thousand inhabitants, with a large movable
})opulation in the crews of the men-of-war, which
spend about seven months of the twelve here, the re-
maining five being devoted to cruising among the
West India Islands. Its trade, like its architecture, is
somewhat of the composite order, as much of it con-
sists in supplying the wants of a garrison never less
than two thousand men, and a fleet whose proportions
have been already hinted at. But, on the whole, we
award the honour of being the chief item of commerce
to fish, the trade in which is really very extensive.
It is confined chiefly to salt cod, herring, and mackerel,
the latter of which is put in barrels, and numbered
according to quality and size ; and the West Indies
are the chief purchasers, now that the Southern States
are blockaded. In return for fish, sugar, molasses,
and fruit come to Halifax.

The city is built on the side of a hill, whose summit
is crowned by the citadel. A great proportion of the
houses are built of wood, painted white ; but under
certain new regulations, which enforce the use of

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

l)rick or stone in all future buildings, there is little
iloubt thut in this respect the appearance of the
town will sjK'edily undertjjo a change. Even already
two of the chief streets, whicli were within the last
two or three years severely injured by fire, have been
rebuilt in the stronger niatenal, with a taste and al-
most a mafjnificence which one seldom meets in colo-
nial towns, or even in provincial to^Mis at home of
similar size. The erection of several very handsome
banks, a lar^e club-house, and a building devoted to
the law and other public offices, mai*k the commence-
ment of an era of improvement in the city, which, if
.slow in coming, is now making rapid and earnest
strides. There havcj bee.i erected also by the Impe-
rial Go\"ernment new barracks at the north end of
the town, which have been called the Wellington
Barracks, and for their comfort and commodicjus
dimensions, as well as their imposing appearance, are
not often surpassed by the works of the Royal En-

gmeers.

But while congratulating oneself on the rapid im-
provements in such matters, and on the substitution
of stone for wood, it would be unfair to the inhabit-
ants to leave it to be imagi. ed that this substitution
was thrust on them by force of circumstances alone —
no other power having been able to overcome their
inertia. So far is this from being the case, that many
of the most experienced citizens, even now, while
l)owing to the new law, maintain that, for comfort to
the inhabitants of a house in an American climate,
wood is far superior tc stone, being warmer in winter
and more agreeable in summer. And certainly, in
point of appearance, there is something very attractive

OlIK OARin.SONS IN TIIK WKST.

in a (IwolUn^-liouse, newly painted win'te, witli ^een
Mlmtters 5itta<lie«l exteriiallv. And if the sinceritv of
one's motives may he inter)>reted l)y one's actions, it
is not natural to su])]k>si» that a people, in other respects
sin<^darly pnident, would, in a district where stone
is ahundant, have ])ersiste<l, nnless for a ^ood reason,
in building houses of wood, so nnich more ex|»ensive
to keep in repair, and which had to ])ay a nnicli
hif^hcr rate of insurance against fire. However, as
in a civilised community, the safety of the many
must ever come before the safety, and, far more, the
comfort, of the individual, for the future wood must
yield to stone, on account of the less risk in the
Latter of fire spreading ; and those citizens whose pre-
judices are in favour of the former will have to do
what we all have to do more or less in this world, —
grin and bear it.

There are manv reasons whv a jriirrison town or a
seaport should be un])leasant as a residence to those
who are neither soldiers nor sailors. The verv name
of Chatham or AVoolwich is an abomination to any
decent paterfamilias. But whether it is that the
civilians oatnamber the other part of the i)opulation
in a sufficient degree also to drown the grosser evils
eonsecjuent on the presence of a garrison or a fleet, or
that there is some other reason to account for their
al)sence, I caimot say, but of this I can speak with
certainty, that for seclusion and the absence of insult,
with at the same time a full amount of the social in-
tercourse which is necessary to the well-being of man,
and to his happiness, I have never met a town in
England or Scotland of its size to equal it. You may
enjoy, if you choose, all the calm repose of even some

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

slwpy cathcdriil town; or you may lisvvc tlu' (|uict
little (lihsipations, wliicli have the j)leii.sure without tiie
stiii^ of excitement, on a l;u-<^er scale; or, Hnally
— thanks, in a ^reat measure, to tlie garrison an«l the
fleet — you may have gaiety to a degree undreamt of
in towns of the same size at home. But there is no
compulsion in either case : you may be gay, if you
wish ; and you may be (juiet, if you wisli. Tliere is,
too, in Halifax, a little vice-regal ctmrt — small indeed,
just as the emoluments of the situation are small com-
j)ared with the tiriginal court — and yt)U have a General
and an Admiral, all of which dignities imply a certain
amount of stately excitement, and tend to produce a
good tone in the society of the [dace. And as the
capital of a province, even although a small one, you
have your J utiles, your Bishops, and during the ses-
sion, you have your Ministers and Parliament assem-
bled, all of whom, in their way, give that tone to the
society of the place which professional men always do
in a place devoted to trade. Nor would I imply by
this any disparagement to trade — far from it ; but
there is unquestionably something in the language
and manners of pnjfessional and of literary men
which softens and refines, while at the same time it
immeasurably elevates, the intercourse of a connnu-
nity. The po})ulation is more English in manners
and ideas than any other I have met in America, and
there is an absence of the rowdy element, which one
appreciates all the more after visiting otluT Transat-
lantic cities. The labouring classes are respectable,
an<l, as a rule, well-to-do ; the trading i)art of the in-
habitants are well-informed, civil, and honest ; and the
l)rofessions are rei)resented by men who have had an

OUIt GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

education far superior to most colonies and many dis-
tricts of England, ^vhile they pursue their various
avocations with an earnestness and singleness of
purpose which I fain would believe is attributable to
a far higher motive than mere love of gain. Nor is
science vithout its votaries in this good city ; in all
classes one r:tumb]?s upon some earnest student.
There are societies for the promotion of natural and
other sciences ; and although in their proceedings
there may be a little too much formality, and not a
little vapouring, yet their purpose is as sincere as it is
noble, and it is reasonable to suppose that there is a
youth in societies, just as there is in individuals ; and
if youth has its energy, we all know it has a little
bombast too, and not a little of what the " country
parson" would call " vealiness."

For practical students of the various branches of
natural science there are in the city several museums,
as ah.) the beginnings of a Botanical and Zoological
Garden, the latter under the management of one
Andrew Dov/nes, whose heart is in his work, if ever
man's was, and who has the liberality of spirit which
all true lovers of nature have. But in a new country
like Nova Scotia there is no lack of a field for the
explorer of nature, and although every year reveals
some fresh instance of its mineral wealth, there is
room, as there is temptation, for the naturalist, and
more especially the geologist, to prosecute his scientific
hii[uiries with pleasure to himself, and practical benefit
to his native countiy.

Although there is an English University in tlie
province, to which allusion will be made in its place,
and also many sectarian colleges, there is in Halifax

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

itself an institution, called Dalhousie College, for
all denominations, which, after rather a chequered
existence, has been reopened lately, under fresh
auspices, and with favourable chances of success.

As in most cities of America, there is a Lunatic
Asylum, very large to English eyes in proportion to
the })opulation of the j^rovince. There is also a large
public hospital, a dispensar}*, and an abundance of
charitable institutions, which speak well for the bene-
volence of the inhabitants.

But Halifax is not perfect. It has its evils, and it
has its follies. And looking at it in a comic point of
view, I should say that there is something outrage-
ously lui i . . rous in its policemen. I do not refer merely
to that peculiarity of their tribe, which they possess in
an eminent degree, of being out of the way when
wanted — that is a property of a policeman at which
no rightly-constituted tax-payer would ever grumble
— ])ut what struck me as so ludicrous was their ex-
treme age and decrepitude. Those seemed the v^ua-
iities whose absence, in a candidate for the baton
of a constable, could never be overlooked, and in
gazing on a Halifax policeman one was reininded
more of the venerable qualities of justice than of its
j)ower and majesty. I never had occasion to call
for their assistance save once, and, on hunting up and
down not more than seven streets, and waiting about
half an hour at a rorner, I was so fortunate as to
secure one. i think he was the oldest-looking man I
ever saw, and he was so overcome at being called on
to act — a duty which, I presume, he never contem-
plated on taking office — that I was afraid he would
expire on the pa^■ement. On being at length con-

h. I

"I I

OUR GARRISONS IX THE WEST.

fronted with his intended victim, I never saw abject
terror more perfectly personified than in this unhappy
right arm of justice. Really, a culprit must have had
a most powerful imagination to have detected any of
the majesty of the law in this its representative.

Another weakness in the population of this good city
is their proneness to ])rocessions, which they gratify on
every possible occasion. I have often wondered whether
it acted as a sedative, or was calculated to ]>roduce
an aj)petite for the dinner which generally followed ;
and again I have marvelled whether in the act of
marching in [)rocession these good people had disco-
vered a panacea for all mental emotions. For whether
it was to celebrate a birth, a marriage, or a death, the
feelings of the parties most concerned seemed to find
vent in a procession. In joy or sori'ow, on a feast-
day or a fast, in display of loyalty, or in celebration
of a saint's day, a procession seemed to occur to those
interested as an ai)propriate line of conduct. And it
was tlie constant and unremittinfx observation of these
solemn rites that made the idea of their acting as a
sedative occur to me ; for I assure you the expression
of the constituent atoms of these marching bands was
precisely the same, whether they were in rear of a
hearse, coming out of church, filing past the Prince of
Wales, or marching to dinner. So much did this im-
press me, that had I been of the medical profession,
and had been called on to prescribe for a feverish
patient, I should have felt very much disposed to say,
not " take a pill," but " try a procession."

One of the great evils of Halifax, if not the greatest,
is one which an author hesitates to ap})roach. It con-
cerns their public press ; and one is unwilling at first

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

to pass censure on an organ which can make such un-
pleasant retribution. But the very faults which I am
about to accuse them of have been lamented by the
best of their own journals ; and they are faults whicli,
while lowering the public tone, recoil also on the heads
of those who commit them. I refer to those two dis-
tinguishing faults of the Yankee press, which have
crept into our colonial journals since the institution of
represc t-i.tive government — personality and political
rancour. By giving way to these faults the j)ress,
whose power is so great and so searching, inflames the
worst i)assions of the people, lowers in their eyes the
men who rule them (and what man is so perfect as to
defy censure), and nullifies even the best acts of a
government. All this, too, independent of the evil
that the use of personality by the press creates among
individuals — sowing dissension, begetting suspicion,
enmity, and strife. And the danger is, that just as the
constant tasting of spirits produces the craving for
them, so the soup^ons of scandal or bitterness con-
stantly recurring in the columns which the people con-
sult for information, beget the relish and love for that
veiy style, and unfit the mind for the calm perusal of
that information, and of those sentiments which it
should be the pride, as it is the duty, of the public
press to afford.

Now, after this back-hander, let me return to the
more pleasing duty of description.

There are three thiuixs which are useful for a man
to know who is about to reside in a place, and pro-
fitable for a man to study when acquainted with it, as
affording sound criteria of the disposition of the
people, and the merits of the place. These are the

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

= '

])revailing amusements, the markets, and the weather.
In these thi'ee lie the chief history of a place.

Now with regard to the amusements of Halifax,
I do not mean to enter on the consideration of those
which ^are found to exist wherever you meet young
r^ople, such as dancing. I shall write of those
which are peculiar to the place, and of those which,
though not pecuharto it, are not am ig the necessary
amusements of youth, such as dancing. And I shall
select for descnption, skating, sleighing, boating, and
lobster-spearing. Hunting and fishing I shall describe
in another chapter.

The four I have selected are, in part, well known in
other parts of America, and of course the first and
third are familiar to my English readers. But the
method is not the same everywhere, even across the
Atlantic, and is totally different from anything in
England. I shall, in describing them, write as if
to one wholly uninitiated; so my more experienced
reader must pardon the simplicity of my account.

To commence, shortly, with skating. This amuse-
ment, so familiar to all, is entered into heartily in
Halifax by both sexes ; nor must we associate it with
all the dreaiy concomitants of skating on the Sei'pen-
tine. No ; you are to imagine a chain of lakes miles
long, or a rink^ which mysterious word I shall presently
explain. To begin with the chain of lakes ; and if
this method of description has no other merit, it has
at all events the advantafije of introducing information
which might otherwise have been overlooked.

Halifax is surrounded by lakes of all sizes and at
all levels. These are frozen every winter many feet
in thickness ; but the best, and perhaps the most pic-

tui

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

0()

tures(|ue, are a chain oi several, on the eastern side of
the liarboiir, to get at which you liave to pass tliroiigh
the little suburban town of Dartmouth. On tliese,
crowds used to meet of all ages and of both sexes, and
wlien the ice was gOv)d, and not covered with snow,
you cannot imagine a more lively picture. Grou})s in
different attitudes, either flying ahead at a tremendous
pace, or performing those mysterious evolutions,
wliich, by a wild amount of credulity, a spectator is
tc imagine a (quadrille ; health and colour in every
cheek, and laughter in every voice ; here some skilled
skater performing a pas seul of great intricacy ; and
there that object, without which no skating picture is
perfect, a beginner lying prostrate with heels well in
the air, and perhaps the young woman on whom his
affections are concentrated wheeling gaily round him
with peals of laughter, and making the forlorn one
wish the ice would open and swallow him ; on yonder
bank that melancholy self-sacrificing object so familiar
to the young, the elderly chaperone, with blue nose
and pinched cheek, compared with which the most
self-mortifying widow leads a happy and dissipated
life ; or in the distance some swift-going sleigh, with
cozy bearskins, or bright-edged buffalo robes, spanking
along to the tune of its own silvery bells ; while, if
you are lucky, you may see in the picture an ice-boat
darting before the wind on its flying runners. And
the frame of this picture, not the bleak, naked trees
that come with the winter at home, but the dense
masses of green sj)ruce-trees, standing out against
the clear, cloudless sky, and rising over a white cai'pet
of snow. Better this scene than the Serpentine on
one of the few occasions in the year when it is frozen,

r i

OUR GAKUISONS IN TlIK WKST.

wlien, instead of addiiiir a zest to life by the amuse-
ment of skatinij, vou are confronted on everv' hand bv
such a gloomy memento mori as a Humane Society
man \\ ith a drag in his hand, or a huge placard with
the ghastly word " Dangerous ! "

But skatinii in America is carried on also in a rink,
or large building, floored, so to speak, with the most
beautiful ice. This is managed l)y flooding it every
evening after the day's skating, and as the frost has
access to the building, r.ext morning it is perfect, and
with occasional swee})ing during the day, will bear
any amount of skating without spoiling. The ad-
vantages of having the ice under cover are several :
it renders the skaters independent of the weather, and,
what is more important, it saves the ice from being
covered with snow, which falls often for days at a
time, or from being softened by the rays of the sun at
n(X)n, which, as the season advances, get very power-
ful. In addition to these benefits, skating can be
carried on to any hour, as the rink is always lit up at
night, and makes a very pretty picture, whose charms
are constantly heightened by the presence of a band
— a recess for musicians being generally built in most
rinks of any size. There are frequently little dressing-
rooms, and a platform for the outsiders ; or those un-
happy devotees to whom we have already alluded.
When I first saw a rink, the thing that struck me most
was not so much the grace of the ladies skatmg, al-
though that is very great, but the beautiful and cun-
ning way they fall. They never, so to speak, lose their
heads like a man, who generally falls hideously, bring-
ing his head in smart contact with the ice, and throw-
ing his heels in the air ; the female performers come

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

down gradually, and even grace t'ldly. into a sittini^
position, gathering their garments round them care-
fullv as thev fall : and, like little stoics, never letting
the <mile leave their faces. This stiiick me as a great
accomplishment.

In Halifax, the rink is in a ])lace with a tautologi-
cal name, the Horticultural Gardens — originally, I
believe, the Ilorticidtural Societv's Gardens — and, as
in Quebec and Montreal, it is supported by subscrip-
tions and shares.

Now for a few practical words on sleighing. In
Halifax the taste for decoration in sleighs is not car-
ried to the extent that it is in New York, or most
Canadian cities. In fact, I may say that, as a rule,
the sleighs there are far from graceful. The primi-
tive iorm is a sled — that is, two runners with a few
planks across — and these are used for the conveyance
of country j)roduce and wood. An improvement on
the sled by the sul)stitution of liijhter and more grace-
ful materials, painted in some lively colour, is often
used by gentlemen who have a penchant for singu-
larity. A single sleigh is like the body of an old
country gig placed on runners, and with a buffalo
robe or bearskin usually hanging behind, a second
being used as an apron. They have generally shafts
merelv for one horse ; but thev may be used with a
pole, and are frequently driven tandem. In Canada
the shafts are mostly very much on one side, to
enable two sleighs to pass on a narrow or single track ;
but this is not the case in Nova Scotia. The various
wavs of decorating such a sleigh as this are the colour-
ing of the body, or devices on it ; the alteration of the
shape from the primitive box to some more graceful

*!i

■ 111

ill!

li/i

OUR GAUlilSONS IX THE WEST.

and loungino; form, and the lining and edging of the
skins or robes. The common skins in use are tlie
bearskin, the buffalo robe, and a robe made of racoon
skins with the tails all hanging in parallel rows. I
have also seen cariboo skins used, and even those of
foxes. The bells are worn in different ways on the
horse. The larger sort of them are attached to the
pad, but there are long bands with small bells at-
tached, worn round the neck in front of the harness,
between the fore-legs, like the lower part of a martin-
gale, or like a surcingle, round the horse's body and
outside the shafts. On account of the absence of noise
by a sleigh on a road, the use of bells of some sort is
com2:>ulsory. A double sleigh is like the former,
except that it has two or more seats, is always drawn
by a pair, and, for a reason presently to be mentioned,
has the runners frequently divided into two parts,
making altogether something resembling four large
skates. The close sleigh is merely an ordinary close
carriage taken off its wheels and placed upon runners.
All cabs, and many private carriages, are built so as
to admit of this change being carried out with ease.

The two most unpleasant things in sleigh-riding —
indeed, the only alloys to the charms of this amuse-
ment — are those arising from what are called "ca-
haux," and slewing. The former are hollows in the
road, caused by the drifting of the snow, and pro-
ducing much the same sensation as one experiences in
a boat daring a swell. The sudden check to the sleigh
on coming on one of these, is trving to the traces : and
in a large sleigh with long runners there would be
a danger of their breaking in the middle ; for much
the same reasons as 'Jiose wliich made many imagine

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

tliat the Great Eastern would break her back when
raised fore and aft by two waves. For the pur])ose
of obviating this risk, tlie runners, as I have ah'eady
said, are, in lono- sleighs, frequently di\nded. Slewing
happens when turning a corner, and particularly at
the foot of a hill, the limners having a tendency to
slide even sidewavs on the smooth, beaten surfiice of
the road. When turning sharply, the original impetus
tends to carry the sleigh straight on ; and as the fore
part of the sleigh is put in the new direction by the
shafts, the rear part swings heavily round, sometimes,
in the case of a hea^'y sleigh, with sufficient force to
turn the horses' heads in exactly the opposite of their
orifjinal direction.

Boating is carried on in Halifax to a considerable
extent, and the annual regatta aids greatly in keeping
the amusement alive. There are all sorts of rigs ;
but as I am an indifferent sailor I shall not commit
myself rashly to any technical nautical terms. One
of the most patronised styles is that called the
" whaler," a very safe sort of boat, and rigged with a
mttinsail, fore-sail and jib. Four-oars, wherries, punts,
and all sorts and sizes of rowing-boats are abimdant ;
and one of the most exciting parts of the regattas is
the trial for the championship of the harbour, by com-
petitors sculling in the most diminutive boats. But
all these are familiar enough to English readers ; it
was the desire to say a few words on the canoes used
in Nova Scotia that made me include boating in
my list of Halifax amusements. The canoe is used
only by the Indians, by sportsmen, and occasionally
by parties engaged in the labours of lobster-spearing.
It is made of birch-bark on a wooden frame, and

!■

OUK GAKUISONS IN TIU: WEST.

tsiperiiii; at l>oth ends. Tlic^ ;"e of all sizes, rnpable
of carrviiigfnun (ine toa dozer, -assengers. They are
very light, very buoyant, but very liable, from having
no keel, to be upset. They are ])ropelled not by oai's,
but by paddles, Avliich are worked without rowlocks,
and with the man who pulls facing the bow, not the
stern of the vessel. They are remarkably easy to
8teer with the paddle, and can be propelled without
any difficulty at a tremendous rate. Being so light
they can, on an expedition, be conveniently carried
from one lake to another, or across an island in a
river. This is called making a portage.

The most singular canoe journey I ever made, was
crossing the St. Lawrence at Quebec, in the early part
of Januaiy, 1862. The canoes there, although in
shape and method of propulsion precisely the same as
the Nova Scotian bark canoe, are made out of a single
trunk, hollowed by fire or the axe. You are placed —
if a })assenger, as I was — a little behind the centre of
the canoe, and are deposited there before the canoe
is launched. Being winter, I was covered with furs
and rugs by the crew mitil I could, not move my
arms ; so the instructions I received to remain quiet,
were rather superfluous.

Huge fields of ice were hunying down the current,
and looking at the distance between my side of the
river and the other, I could hardly see how we could
escape being knocked to pieces by them. However,
I resigned myself to my fate, and to my French-
Canadian crew ; and they, five in number, as soon as
I was ready, commmenced sliding the canoe down
the beach into the river, each springing in and
snatching his paddle as it w^as launched. Four of

th
th
(U

sti
wi

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

a.)

the crc'v knelt in the front part of the canoe, workiii£r
their jjaddles furiously, and yellinnr like so many
demons. Tlie fiftli, placiuiT himself l)ehind me, as-
sumed the duties of coxswain. The instant we were
in the stream, the fields of ice seemed stationary,
owiuf; to our bein«x swe])t down at tlie same rate : l)ut
still, I coidd not see how we were to cross, and waited
with some anxiety for the first sheet of ice. Tiiis
happened to be a lar^je one ; and, pulling straight for
it, as soon as the jirow of the canoe touched it, the
four men who were paddling sprung out, dragging
the canoe after them across the ice, and on reaching
the other side, launched it with wilder yells than ever,
springing into the canoe at the same time, and re-
smning their paddling as if for their lives. This was
repeated at every sheet of ice, and in a far shorter
time than I could have imagined, we touched the
Quebec side, when a number of idlers, attaching a
rope to our canoe, ran us up the slope from the river,
and left me sitting, with my crew still shouting and
gesticulating, in the veiy street, looking, I must own,
rather bewildered. I am led to believe that there are
very seldom accidents.

Lobster-spearing is, probably, the most novel amuse-
ment which one meets in Halifax. It is essentiallv a
summer amusement, and one in which you engage
after dark. It is necessary that the sea should be
perfectly calm; and for this reason I always pre-
ferred the north-west ann, which after sunset in
summer is as calm as a millpond. But should the
water be unrippled in the harbour or Bedford Basin,
you can have good sport on the eastern side of the
former, and round a small island called Na\'v Island

OT'R GAKRISONS IX THE WEST.

in the latter. Tlie nortli-west arm is unqnestioiinMv
the prettiest thinf^ ahoiit Ilahfax. The western side
rises ahiiiptly, and is covered witli wood : maple hireh,
and sj)nu'e. There are no houses on this side until
we a])[)roach its junction witli the harbour ; hut in a
heautiful recess near its head, there is an island
called Melville Island, on which is a red biick military
prison ; and if you can forget that it is so, you can
have no idea how beautiful this little spot is. The
other sitle of the ai*m, although rather abru])t every
now and then, and well wooded, except opposite Mel-
ville Island, where there are a good many beautiful
meadows, bears a very different appearance to its vis-h'
lis. It is studded with many pretty villas, whose white
walls contrast w^ell with the green back-ground ; and
not to be left behind in point of prison accommodation,
the civil powers have selected a site on this side near
the batteries at Point Pleasant for their Penitentiary,
an imposing gi'anite building. If one might venture
a little prophecy — assume for a moment the garb of
a Zadkiel — I should say that in a few years another
suburban city of villas will surround this branch of
the sea ; and that the man of business will go from
his house by the blue salt lake every morning to his
desk in the city, as naturally as in our ow^n busy me-
tropolis he takes his 'bus from the West-end to the
Bank.

In going on a lobster-spearing expedition, there is
no need of encumbering yourself with any gi'eat
quantity of paraphernalia. Your boat must be flat-
bottomed, and of small draught (the sort used are
called "flats"), to enable you to keep as near the
shore as possible ; you must have a good supply of

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

toivlies, the best description of wliicli is that made
Ijy tlie Iiulians, being merely rolls of birch-l)ark,
about a foot and a (|uarter long, giving a better and
more agreeable light than the pitch-torches which are
sometimt i used ; and you should have a thoroughly
good spear, a weapon of very simple constmction. It
is a long pole al)out the thickness of a child's wrist,
with at one end two prongs of wood, which open and
close with a spring ; and at the other a similar ar-
rangement with, in addition, an u'on prong ; the latter
part of the spear being used for eels, and the former
end for lobsters. The torch is placed in the bow of
the boat, and as you move slowly along the shore, the
light is so brilliant as to reveal everything at the bottom
of the water; the fish moving about, and the dark
bodies of the lobsters lying among the sea-weed. To
secm'e yom* prey, you put the end of the speai* gently
in the water over the animal, approach it gradually
until you are within an inch or two of his back ; then,
taking a good aim immediately behind the claws, dart
the spear smartly on him, and raise him out of the
water to drop him in the boat. As a rule, they re-
main perfectly motionless, as if fascinated by the
light ; but if you miss them, you see them dart away
like a shadow. Even a novice can take out dozens in
a night. I need hardly say that there are few articles
of food cheaper in the Halifax market than lobsters.

By selecting these fom* amusements, do not let it
be imagined that there is no cricket, nor rackets, nor
the hundred other amusements of the young. There
is an excellent cricket ground, besides a veiy large
common, and the number of clubs is legion. The
racket court, although of wood, like many others in

ll^

i'H >

h VV

61 Ml

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

America, is well patronised, and boasts of many ex-
cellent players among its subscribers. And in the long
winter evenings, for such as like it, there ib no lack
of the cosy rubber ; and in various buildings there
are constant courses of lectures. There is a theatre
of the very weakest description ; but in the first year
of my residence in Halifax, the lessee was Mr.
Sothem, since so famous in London as Lord Dun-
dreary.

In passing now to the consideration of Halifax
markets, I trust no apology is necessary for the intro-
duction of so dull and practical a subject. Even
viewing Halifax merely as a gamson, the commissariat
is no unimportant consideration ; but I hope that I
may be the means, in this rambling volume, of con-
vevinc; information concerning the various districts in
which I was quartered, which n: y be useful also to
the intending settler. And no matter can be more im-
portant to him than that bearing on the products of
a country wliich he may contemplate inaking his
home.

The animal products, so to speak, of Nova Scotia,
which are represented in the Halifax markets, include
as gi'eat a variety of fish flesh, and fowl, as you meet
in countries ten times its size. Cod, haddock, salmon,
sea-trout, brown-trout, mackerel, herring, and halibut
are among the common fish that crowd a market,
second, I should think in point of variety, only to
Billingsgate, and far ahead of it in point of cheap-
ness ; nor are eels, lobsters, and oysters absent. Beef,
mutton, moose and carriboo venison, are abundant
and cheap : turkeys, geese, ducks, fowls, with game
of all sorts — partridges, snipe, woodcock, plover, and

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

wild-fowl of endless varieties — are all to be procm-ed
ut juices which would amaze London housekeepers,
and make the Tenth Commandment a most difficult
one to obey. Salmon never rose above t)d. per lb. ;
the most dehcious cod and haddock could be had for
6d. a piece ; mackerel and herring often two or three
l)ence a dozen ; lake trout, about 2d. a bunch ; lialibut,
3d. sterling per lb. ; oysters, about 2s. Gd. a bushel ;
and lobsters, 2d. each. Beef and mutton could i^
bought in the markets at 5d. per lb., and much less
in winter ; pork and ham, good and cheap ; fowls, 2s.
a couple ; paiiridges. Is. a brace, and so on. Moose
meat was generally 4d. per lb. ; and carriboo venison
a little more.

Vegetables are represented in abundance ; the most
common being potatoes, parsnips, beets, squash or
pumpkin, cauliflower, peas, beans of all sorts, aspara-
gus, spinach, cabbage. Scorch and searkale, celery,
tomatoes, and onions, and all reaching great perfection.
A veiy favourite, and supposed to be wholesome, vege-
table is the dandelion.

Fruit is abundant : gi'apes, peaches, plums, melons,
apples, pears, gooseberries, raspberries, currants, the
wild strawberry and blackberry, bluebcmes, and
cranberries, being among the fruits produced in the
province ; and the trade with the West Indies and
other countries keeps the markets well sup])lied with
tropical fruits

Before giving a list of wholesale prices current,
taken from a recent paper, I should like my readers
to understand that it is possible for five or six months
of the year, during the cold weather, for housekeepers
to buy their meat and other perishable iirticles ii)

r V

■(

: J

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

large quantities, and thus get the benefit of wholesale
prices. For the carcases of the sheep, oxen, &c., in
the mai'kets, amve from the country frozen perfectly
stiff, and remain so without suffering any injuy for
any time. Before cooking, the part is choj^ped off
with an axe, and thawed with cold water. The beef
of No\a Scotia is much poorer than English beef, but
the nmtton, veal, and pork are ^ery good.

From the recent journal to which I referred, I
find that the prices during the autumn of 18()3,
were : flour, 1/. a^baiTel ; tea. Is. 8d. per lb., but the
best quality is 2s. ; sugar, from 3d. to 5d. per lb. ;
coffee, lO^d. per lb. ; salt cod, 14s. a barrel ; hemng,
the same; mackerel, from 19s. to 1/. 4s. a barrel;
haddock, 9s. a barrel; coal, 11. 4s. a chaldi'on ; wood,
14s. a cord; beef, 1/. Gs. per cwt. ; mutton, 4d. per
lb. ; eggs, 9d. a dozen ; fowls. Is. 6d. a couj^le ; tui'keys,
6d. per lb. ; ducks, 2s. 4d. a couple ; butter, lOd. per lb. ;
bacon and ham, 5d. per lb. ; oats, 2s. a bushel ; hay,
3/. a ton ; potatoes vary according to the time of the
year, from Is. 6d. to 2s. 9d. per bushel.

The currency of Nova Scotia is somewhat peculiar,
but the banks conduct everything in dollars and
cents ; 100 cents making a dollar, whose correspond-
ing English value is a little over 4s. But there is
no paper issue in notes less than four dollars, in this
respect differing from the neighbouring province of
New Brunswick, where one dollar notes and upwards
are iosued. The old Halifax cm'rency was rather
pecuhar and bewildering at first, one shilling of
English money being equal to one shilling and three-
pence of Nova Scotian money. An English half-
crown was, therefore, changed into the complicated

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

sum of 3s. l|cl. ; and a pound was only worth IDs.
En<Tlisli. There is no speciie, liowever, used in the
province, save our English coinage.

The banks in the citv are the Halifax Bank, the
Bank of Nova Scotia, the Union Bank, and a branch
of the Bank of British North America.

The chief public works progressing at present in
addition to those of the Imperial Government, which
are always pretty extensive, are the paving of the
whole city, the alteration and erection of some public
buildings, and alterations in the arranij-ements for the
v.ater supply of the city.

We pass now, in order, to a brief consideration of
the climate of Halifax. The most unpleasant season
is the spnng ; and when one thinks of the fearful
state of mud and slush in the streets at that season,
one cannot say a word in defence of a period of the
year which, even in England — where this impostor of
the year is supposed to be delicious — is too generally
objectionable. The most pleasant period of the year
is during the months of September and October, when
a second summer seems to commence, mingled with
some of the bracing qualities of winter. The cold is
tempered veiy much by the vicinity of the Atlantic ;
and in summer the heat is in like manner moderated
by the sea breezes. I never saw the thermometer lower
in winter than 10 deg. below zero (Fahrenheit), and
that is very exceptional. In summer I have seen the
thermometer at 80 deg. in the shade, but I do not
remember its ever havino; been hiiiher. Dense f()£<;s
during the early part of the summer render that
season veiy unpleasant, and are a source of great an-
noyance to vessels outward bound, or bound for the

{!»'

I' t

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

port. It is particularly annoying when the mails are
expected, and often detains the steamer off the har-
bour for several days. The mails arrive from Eng-
land once a fortnight by the Cunard line of steamers,
which call eu route for Boston. This line, so justly
celebrated for their punctuality, safety, and good
table, date their origin to an enterprising citizen of
Halifax; but, without wishhig them any loss, one
would like to see their monopoly interfered with, or
some measures taken to reduce the rates of passage-
money : 221. sterling is too much for a passage ave-
raging nine or ten days, when one considers the hand-
some subsidy the company receives for the carriage of
the mails.

The duration of winter is generally six months ;
but the commencement and the end of winter are
(capricious and variable. I have seen heavy snow in
November, and I remember a fall in the month of
June ; so, were not vegetation very rapid, the summer
season would be often too short. But winter is not
the same dreary season here that it is at home. Far
better is a diy frost or even heavy snow, than con-
stant rain and mist and easterly winds; and more
pleasant than a season of catarrhs and rheumatism,
and close cabs, is a time of sleighing and snowshoeing
and skating, and rosy cheeks. The very snow in
America is not like English snow ; you may roll in
it there and shake it off like dust, it is so dry.

When the thermometer gets below a certain point,
its further fall ceases to be so perceptible. And as
long as the weather is calm, one can stand a great
deal of cold ; it is when the wind is blowing fresh
and the frost keen, that you feel as if one of those

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

niany-bladed knives, i)atronised by wandering He-
brews, were at work on your face; and then it is
that men fall out of the ranks frostbitten ; and the
schooners come up the harbour covered with ice,
their rigging frozen, and then' crews disabled.

Generally speaking, 1 should say that tlie climate
of Halifax is very healthy, and that epidemics are
rare. Yellow fever cannot exist here ; and for this
reason all men-of-war in which this disease may
appear in the West Indies, have orders instantly to
make for this harbour.

So much for Halifax as it is. But what Halifax
may be, none can say. Nature has placed no limit
to its future greatness ; it remains for man, under
Providence, to make it a mighty and prosperous city.
There was a ])rospect — ^I hope it may still exist — that
this should be the Eastern terminus of the great in-
tercolonial railroad ; that line which, winter or sum-
mer, whether the St. Lawrence should be open, or
bound by the iron grasp of Canadian frosts, should
bring England within a few days of even the most
westerly points of these her loyal colonies ; that line,
too, which, without much straining of fancy, one
could see would be a high-road to the East of Asia,
over which the commerce of China, Japan, and India
might journey with ease, and the dangers of Cape
Horn become a tale that is told.

Whether it is inertia on the part of the Nova
Scotian Government, or jealousy on the part of the
Canadian, I cannot say; but there is a lull in the
eagerness whicli but lately influenced the promoters
of this undertaking, and the guarantee of the Impe-
rial Government, at which any comjjany would have

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

spruiiii; with a\idity at home, is left unused; and,
perhaps, if left much longer, may be lost altogether.

It is to be hoped that no short-sighted policy will
be piu'sued in this matter; apart from the military-
value of the line, which prompted our Government to
give their guarantee, its commercial value is such as
to enrich the Lower Provinces, and create a brilliant
future for Halifax as its terminus; while Canada,
no longer a sealed countiy in winter, or dependent on
the railways of the Northern States, might attain a
position of wealth and importance, compared with
which her present is dimmer and feebler than that of
her feeblest or remotest county.

Is there anything else to say of this our first gar-
I'ison, as far as concerns itself ? Much might I say of
pleasant days under its shadow, much of kind friends
among its people ; but our chapter is, perhaps, too
long already. But in the collection of pleasing remi-
niscences which we all carry in om' bosoms, to take
off the keen edge of present grief, or to beguile the
hours of listless idleness, there are few which will
yield me more pleasure in recalling than those which
hover over this straggling city among the pine-woods
of the Western Atlantic, which even now I see in mv
mind, with the blue smoke curling over its hospitable
roofs — the shadows floating on its mighty harbour —
the chui'ch-bells ringing out on its clear and bracing
air !

Iv I '!'

ffi

CHAPTER HI.

COMIC ADVENTURES IN THE AVOODS

At si condoluit tentatum frigore corpus.

Horace's Sat. book i.

Without going so far as to say that many of us
went to America with the idea that it was infested —
even to the streets — with wikl animals, or that we
could vary the monotony of daily parades by an occa-
sional shot from our windows at a moose or a bear,
I must admit that to the younger members of our
community nothing in the natural history line that
could have appeared would have seemed startling or
even siu-prising.

Walkinij even for a few miles into the countrv im-
mediately surrounding Halifax, one was always fain
to dream of forests primeval, and that absence of the
human tracks, which, to men of Cooper's stamp, con-
stitutes complete happiness.

For my own part I do not blush to admit that the
first Red Indian I saw can be described as nothing
more or less than a blow. The want of feathers, the
existence of trousers, indifferent indeed, but still there ;
the appeals to two of my senses made by the abundant

OUR GARraSOXS IN THE WEST.

1 I

>•

presence of filth on his person ; tlie keen and unro-
m intic relish ho had for coin, and his iinquenchahle
ap])etito for drink, were so ii'roconcileable with the
brilliant beinn; that the perusal of the " Last of the
Mohicans " had impressed on my mind, that I felt on
the spot that another mine had been spninc under the
fortress of human belief, and that my faith in any-
thing and o-erythinfr had received what Dick Swivel-
ler w . ^'- l>.'»ve called an "unmitifjated stan:o;erer."
Yes! 1 ;va eiy dirty, very indifferently clad ; for
the annual im} - ial blanket which is ^ven him as a
sort of feu-rent for his hunting-grounds, is speedily
converted into rum ; nor can I say that he possessed

that mft — so essential to the Indian of one's ima'T'ina-

~ I?

tion — solemn and dignified silence. If I said he
babbled and chattered, I should not exaggerate ; and
if I said he lied, and lied consumedly, I should be
statinop in a concise form the leadiniij characteristics of
the race.

I have said that we did not exactly expect to find
beasts of prey crouching in the barracks to receive the
deadly contents of our rifles ; but I must admit that we
had many vague ideas that we had only to go a little way
out of town, sleep as uncomfortably as possible in the
open air, or nearly so, and, Micawber-like, something
would be sure to turn up. "We would have been honi-
fi ed to be seen if an inch of snow was on the ground
in any other carb than that of an embrv'o snow-shoe-er,
althouofh in our Fatherland we should have been con-
tent with goloshes. One of our mess, let me call him
Smith,

Quid rides ? mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur,

actually invested in a garment of hideous appearance,
and exquisite discomfort, and casting off coat and

COMIC ADVENTURES IN 'lUE WOODS. 47

waistcoat as trammels of civilisation, would wander
about the outskirtvs of the town, where nought hut
cock}-oly birds abound, ir\m in hand, as if in momen-
tary anticipation of a panther.

My own mmtl was strongly impressed with the
necessity of sleeping in the open air as one of the ac-
comjdishments of the American hunter. I succeeded
in persuading one of my brother officers, now, alas !
no more, of this necessity also, and I am sure that had
we been prevented from indulging this whim, in the
legitimate forest, we would have dispensed ^''Hh our
ordinaiy beds, camped out in the little veget. bl« .rar-
den behind oiu* quarters, and there, in the liad'nr of
unromantic cauliflowers and to the tune of discordant
cats, would have dreamed of the eternal wood and the
lordly elk.

But we were saved from so degi'ading an alternative,
and it tc^ok us three trips of exquisite anguish to con-
vince us that

Venator non nascitur sed fit,

and that other conditions besides that of " Sub Jove
frigido " are necessarv to ensm'e success in sport. Let
me mention these thi'ee.

Somehow or other we got it into our poor benighted
heads that the wild geese were flying over in large
flocks one wild week in early spring, and that by going
out any morning about 2 a.m., and grovelling on the
damp gi'ound for about four hours, near some of the
lakes round Halifax, we would succeed in obtaining
some of these ill-fated fowl. We did not know much
about the topography of the district in those days, and
my impression to this day is that on that melancholy oc-
casion we prostrated ourselves for a whole night along-
side of the watenvorks, about two miles out of Halifax,

fil'

111

OUK GARRISONS IN THE WKST.

wliere one was as likely to get wild geese as '' IjufFa-
lers in Vemiont !" I know that nine ont of ten of niv
readers will be ready to let a little joke here, so I shall
antieij)ate them. Yes, dear, you are right and I am
wrong, there were at least two geese there that
stormy night.

But I wander. We set about our plans most me-
thodically. I think we dined early to be ready for
any emergency ; I believe we took a double allowance
like a couple of Esquimaux going off for a fortnight.
We would not dream of undressing or even lying down,
although we did not mean to start until after mid-
nio-ht. We dressed in the most serviceable and hideous
garments we had ; I do not think we yet had moccasins
or we should have put them on, and cut our feet to j)ieces
on the stony roads. At last the hour came — never more
solemnly did the hour of twelve fall on Postal' s ears ;
taking as much ammunition as would have extermi-
nated an army of human geese, we turned our backs
on civilisation and the barracks, and our faces to the
mighty forest. It was, I have said, two miles off ;
the night was dark as Erebus, and we stumbled and
hurt ourselves hombly ; it poured — oh ! how it did
})our ; but I think we should have been disappointed
if it had been fine, or if we had been at all comfort-
able. At last we reached the spot. Selecting a veiy
damp and muddy spot, we lay down, and waited for
the geese and the dawn. The latter came, but not
the former ; and by the time the daylight gun came
booming heavily over the tree-tops to where we lay,
we were as uncomfortable as we could wish. We
never saw anything in the form of animal life, not
even a robin, on which to wreak our vengeance : and

COMIC ADVENTURES IN THE WOODS.

at last, woni out, very cold, very wet, and ven- siU'iit,
we wended our wav back to barracks. On oiitorinij
onr rooms, our first exclamation must have been, on
lookinc; down, " Oh my poor feet I "

This was number one ; number two was verj'- nearly
being more serious, and certainly was very wretched.

Still pux'suing the plan of going entirely on our own
experience, or rather inexperience, we started one day
for a place called Ode Harbour, about four miles from
Halifax, where there is excellent fishing in summer
and autumn, and, at certain seasons of the year, very
fair chances of wild fowl. To reach Cole Harbour,
one has to cross the harbour of Halifax to Dartmouth,
a pretty little village, where business men often reside,
crossing daily to the city in the feny -boats, which ])ly
every few minutes until ten or eleven at night. I can
hardly recal the circumstances of this trip in their
entirety ; but I remember, and as the reader will
presently see with reason, that we took a large white
setter rejoicing in the name of Don. I do not know
why we took him, for he was no use as a sporting dog,
and proved an incumbrance ; but these were the days
of our sporting infancy, and our actions now seem
most unaccountable. Our intention was to camp out
near the harbour, which is merelv an inlet of the sea,
and not used for shipping, and in the early morning to
go out on the ice (for it was frozen almost entirely
over) and there and then put an end to any unhappy
wild duck that miglit present itself. We had about
as much idea of building a camp as of chiselling
a statue ; but we scorned advice, and accordingly
started, encumbered witli a number of articles which
proved utterly useless, and with a kit remarkable for

■{•■

f !

OUR r.ARRISONS IN THE WKST.

tlic absence of wliat would have been taken by any
experienced woodsman. For example, take tlie item
of tea — which we hud learned was the only orthodox
beveriiixe in the woods — we started with an amount in-
tended for twenty-four hours' consumption which
would have amj)ly sufficed in a lar^e family for a fort-
night. I remember, too, we drank it without milk,
and l)oiled it in snow ; I suppose because we woidd
not be indebted to any of the minions of civilisation,
although in our camp we were within heaiing of tlie
lowing of cattle more niunerous than the herds of
Abraham, and in five minutes could have obtained
any quantity of fresh water. Nor must I forget an
enormous axe, which, after much solemn deliberation,
we ])urchased, and which proved to us a source of great
agony and discomfort on our journey. As we plodded
along with it slung in a hanger, a la mode, behind our
backs alternately, we were constantly getting the
handle between our legs, and coming within an ace of
falling ; and while on board the ferry-boat the anguish
I endured when setting down with the keen edge of
that weapon within half an inch of my spinal cord,
can only be compared to the tortures of the Inquisition.
That dreadful animal, Don, was that day in such
exuberant spirits, and yielded to so wann and frequent
bursts of affection, that cold as the day was his move-
ments kept the bearer of that awful axe in a free per-
spiration. For it was no joke to have his hcayy body
leaping up against one's person, when the sliglitest
disturbance of the perpendicular might have severed
the lower part of our trunk from the upper ; but no
threats or blandishments could restrain him. I remem-
ber, also, an elaborate set of cooking utensils, called

COMIC ADVENTURES IN THE WOODS.

a cani|) oquipa^, wliirli would have amply sufficed to
pre])are a baiKjuet for twelve, instead of the tuihappy
little hit (»f salt provisions which, aceordintr to hunters*
custom, we carried with us. Fortunately y,e also pro-
videfl ourselves with a ))uffalo robe and two or three
raihv.'iy rugs, or tliis tale would never have been
written.

On our aiTival at the spot which seemed to our
eyes most suitable, we commenced our maiden attempt
at building a camp. Selecting two trees, tolerably
near to one another, we placed a cross piece betwi.'en
them over the branches, about six feet from the
ground ; and against this we commenced to lay a
number of long branches at an angle of about 45 deg.
We proj)osed to cover these with birch-bark, but being
stronger in the theory than the ])ractice of peeling
bark, to say nothing of there being rather a dearth of
birch-trees, we compromised the matter by spreading
a railway iiig over them. Under tliis canopy we
made a bed of green spruce boughs about a foot deep ;
and having thus in the dead of winter erected a poor
imitation of a summer camp, we proceeded to cut fire-
wood, and to make a blaze in front of our camp, where,
when we were lying down, our feet would be. But,
as a matter of course, at this moment the wind chopped
round, so that the smoke from the jBre was blown
straight in upon us ; and to our other miseries was
ad 'd the risk of suffocation. Nothing daunted, we
set about cutting as much firewood as would last the
whole niglit; and about six o'clock, wdth blistered
palms and aching shouldei's, we commenced to prepare
a meal.

Our attempts at tea were as ludicrous as the result

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

Vi\

D . ' -

was infamous ; and owing to our indifferent style of
frying bacon, we dropped more slices into the fire than
we ate ; but I do not hesitate to say that oiu* boiled
eggs were a triumph. True, some fastidious creatures
might have objected to them, on the ground of hard-
ness, even to the consistency of a bullet ; but who
shall talk of indigestion, that curse of civilisation, to
us, the denizens of the forest ?

Our meal being ended we commenced preparations
for repose, spreading the rugs and other articles of
dothino; so as to derive most benefit from them. The
cessation from work, the warmth of tlie fire, and the
soothinginfluei.ee of our self-prepared meal, produced
a feeling of comfort and pleasure, and for about an
horn* we sat talking and looking at the beautiful re-
flexion of the fire on the dark background of trees,
whose branches it tipped with a vivid glare, making
them stand out from the darkness which their own
brightness deepened, until one seemed in a region of
romance. The red sparks were hurrying upwards in
a confused army, until rising over the tree-tops they
were caught by the wind and beaten into the leeward
darkness to expire.

We then turned in, resolving to get up alternately
to put on fresh firewood ; but the fatigue induced by
our unwonted exercise soon threw ns both into a sound
slumber, which was not broken until about two a.m.,
when we both awoke almost simultaneously from cold.
Since falling asleep the wind had risen to nearly a
hurricane, and, coming howling up from the sea, it
seemed like a demon let loose. The noise it made
shrieking among the trees was wdd and dismal ; and
as I wTite this I can hear it almost again. For not

COMIC ADVENTURES IN THE WOODS.

, h

three Imiuli'ed yards from me the Channel is heaving
and roarinfj under the influence of a westerlv wind,
wliich, tearing in from the Atlantic, is churning into
a white foam the belt of sea between me and the Isle
of Wight. Vessels are scudding past under close-
reefed topsails ; and others, riding at anchor, are rising
and falling, jerking impatiently at their cables like a
restive horse. And through every crevice in the
windows the boisterous wind is whistling shrilly to
me in a falsetto accompaniment to the moan of the
sea as it beats heavily on the shingly shore.

Our fire had almost gone out — a few red embers
alone remaining to testify where it had been ; and the
frost had reached a i)itch of intensity which was posi-
tive anguish. Tlie darkness was like that which can
be felt — Egvpt itself, in that long dark night of pun-
ishment, could not have been darker ; and to crown
our hon'or, we found that our supply of firewood could
by no possibility last more than an hour or two longer,
so quickly did the cold and the wind make it burii.
To lie till dawn without a fire on that wild night, and
above a bed of snow, would have been certain death ;
so, there being no alternative, we set to work feeling
in the dark for trees whose branches we miixht break
off for bm'ning. One wit]\ a knife, the other with that
dreadful axe, we at last cut about an hour's supply of
small wood, and were going on in better spirits, when,
feeling my way in the darkness for another tree, I
suddeidy saw like a flash of liiiht before mv eves, and
felt mv left eve torn under the lower lid bv a sharp
sub.stance, which proved to be the forked branch of
a decayed tree, and then the wann blood trickling
down my face. Dropping the axe, and turning to-

* f,

i '(

i:il

ll?

[ ^^'

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

wards the fire, I soon managed with my companion's
aid to bind it up ; but my exploits in the firewood
line were for that nin;ht over. Half an hour's lonijer
work exhausted my companion, plucky though he
was ; and when he sat down beside me we felt that
although the dawn was several hours off, and at the
outside our supply would not see two, we could do no
more, and must content ourselves with our rucrs and
other coverings.

Cowering under our wraps, we soon, in spite of cold,
were again in the land of sleep ; dreaming as softly
on that bed of snow to the harsh lullabv of the howl-
ing wind as any fair girl on her bed of down ! Slowly
the hours passed over us and found us still unconscious,
and it was six o'clock ere we awoke and discovered, as
we anticipated, our fire to be out, and ourselves to be
in an agony of cold. Not caring to furnish a second
edition of the " Babes in the Wood," we sprang up
and commenced, dark though it still was, to run about,
to cut fresh wood, to make a brief and brilliant blaze
with the spruce branches which had formed our bed,
and, in short, to do an}i;hing which would aid in giving
us warmth by increased circulation. To little pm'pose,
however ; as any one wlio has experienced that gi'ey
hour before the dawn on an American winter morn-
ing will readily believe. We succeeded, however, in
making a feebly pennanent flame on our blackened
h earth ; and while one attempted with gigantic energy
to boil some snow, the other went to the back of our
1 ittle camp, where, with our other parcels, the tea,
wrapped in whity-brown, had been deposited. A
groan of anguish from the latter individual soon pro-
claimed that our catalogue of miseries Imd not been

COMIC ADVENTURES IX THE WOODS.

i J

completed, and brought his companion in hot haste to
know the worst. Consideration for my readers would
induce me to spare him, or her, should I be so fortu-
nate, the employment of a ver)' hackneyed simile, hut
really I can remember nothing equally expressive.
Marius over the ruins of Carthajje is of course the
simile I mean — but should in the mean time an earth-
(piake, or a new railway company^ demolish Temple
Bar, I shall substitute an agonised corporation weep-
ing over its unhappy stones : and yet I question
whether either of these similes would convey a good
idea of the frenzied grief that possessed us. For,
alais ! where, neatly folded, just under the curtain of
our camp, our tea had been placed for the night's re-
pose, we beheld a horrible confusion of tea-leaves,
dog-hairs, snow, and spiiice-needles, mixed to the con-
sistency of an inextricable paste ; and with wagging
tail but guilty eyes there stood the villain — Don —
who in the cold of the nis;lit had selected this as his
bed instead of the utterly outer world where we had
doomed him to repose.

Did we drink that tea? Dear reader! the ther-
mometer was at zero and below ; our limbs frozen,
our thirst severe, and the water commenced then to
sing merrily on the fire. What would you have done ?

': I

i li;

(li

The sky soon lightened towards the east to enable
us to make off for the harbour witli our guns, if we
meant to do the duck any harm. Seizing our guns —
trying to be as cheerful as possible — scowling horribly
at Don, and ordering liim to stay behind — a command
which, it is needless to say, he utterly disregarded, we
made tracks for the ice, and soon reaching it, com-

l^i

; 1

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

meiicecl to pick our way over the huge blocks vliioh
the tide had scattered in picturesque confusion uIon<^
the shore. On reaching tlie smooth surface, we com-
menced with anxious hearts and with a tremulous
itching at the locks of our guns, to move stealthily in
a direction where a promontory of the land jutted out,
and would afford us a good chance of a shot at any
birds that might be on the other side.

We had gone, it may be, a hundred yards, and were
walking in a line about fifteen feet apart^ — when —
crack ! a loud report, and like two clowns in a Christ-
mas pantomime, down we went into the sea through a
fissiu'e between two fields of ice which the night's frost
had frozen but treacherously over. Fortunately the
opening was narrow, and the ice on either side strong ;
so the instinct that made us throw out our nrnis
saved us, for we by this means supported om'selves,
and were never deeper in the water than our* waists.
While thus suspended, Doji's conduct was outrao'eous.
Circling round us with delighted gambols, and btirk-
ing himself hoarse as if to express approbation of a
perffirmance which he ov''"i<:.ntly thought was got up
entirely for hit, gi'atific^i * ., lie irritated us beyond
measi re — sore as we still were on the subject of the
tea. ^\'e soon swung oui'selves out, and in less time
than I take to write it our nether garments froze
stiff ; and while hurrying back to the camp as fast as
we could under the circumstances to thy ourselves
and tliaw our garments at the small iire we had left,
>ve were irresistibly like that gallant company of Fal-
staffs, who walked as if they liad gyves between
their legs. On arrival we stripped ofl" our unmen-

COMIC ADVENTURES IN THE WOODS.

tionablcs, improvised short petticoats with our raihv a y
rugs, and cutting more firewood, watched with much
interest the steam rising in chnuls for over an hour
from our suspended gamients. At last tliey were
dried ; and striking our camp in disgust, we moved off
with determination, and had a hot meal at the first
farm-house, of whicli wo partook witli energy, hut
with a dehglit quahfied by the feeHng that as far as
we were concerned, the wild duck seemed in no dan-
ger of extermination in the vicinity of Cole Harbour.
* # ♦ # *

I once thought of telling the tale of number three,
but on attempting it I find it impossible. Not that
the miseries we endured were beyond description — far
from it — but there rises before my mind with plaintive
associations a scene on a bright morning of June, after
a miserable niglit in a ^^Tetched camp under toiTents
of rain, when, being at last dry and comfortable, and
havincT a meal more fortunate than most witliin our
camping experience, we sat down to wiiile an hour or
two in idle talk, and in contemplating the picture be-
fore us. The dark waters of Coalpit Lake below —
the many tints of green which the forest had donned
to greet the sun after the weary hours of rain and
wind — the glittering drops of moisture on tho leaves,
like so many little min'ors held out by the loving
branches to catch the smiles of the cloud-dispelling
sun — the music of birds, the hum of insects, the lazy
smoke wreathing its blue column upwards from oui*
expiring fire, — truly it was a beautiful scene ! But,
alas I to-morrow I mio;ht <:!;o and see the same briirht
picture again, for natiu'e (Hes but to live again in a

|-4m|

lilii I

If'

^ 1

i .,

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

few short weeks in equal beauty ; but thou who wert
the cliami of tliat mornin<:^ with thy merry quips, tliy
cynical jokes put on to liide the warm stream of <2;ood
nature wellin<T up from thy fi^enial heart, thou canst
never more be tlier?. Sleepin<^ that sleep which
knows not storm nor sunshine ; where music of birds
can never reach thee, nor the whisperijif;; of trees ever
penetrate, — there would be a blank in the scene were
I to revisit it, which nor sun, nor bright tints, nor
sweet music, could ever refil. ,

4 i . • [

CHAPTER IV.

SPORT IN E.VRNEST.

Quince. This green plot shall be our sta^e: this hawthorn brake
our tyring-liouse : and we will do it in action.

Midsuviimr Night's Dream.

Although a glossary- of tenns comes generally at
the end of a book, there is one word which I think it
advisable to explain at once for the benefit of my
English reader. It is the word "hunting,'' as used
in America. It conveys a very different meaning
from that it bears in connexion with the H. IL, or the
Pytchley. It must raise no \-ision in yom* mind of
pink and buckskins, of post and rail or running
hounds; and, instead of giving tongue, you must
think more of holding it. A sporting tour in the Far
West is a little different from the immortal c>ne of
Mr. Sponge; and there is no resemblance between
Jorrick's hunt and a moose-hunt. In the w^ le of
British North America there is but one pack of fox-
hounds — at Montreal — and it is rather a failure.
Foxes are shot as vermin everywhere ; and top-boots
are replaced by moccasins.

The sport in Nova Scotia is various. The larger

»i

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

game are moose, camboo, and ])ears. The moose,
witli ^^■hose ungainly appearance most of my readers
are probably familiar, is hunted in various ways. It
is either called in autumn, run down on snow-shoes
in winter, or hunted with dogs. The last-mentioned
method is not orthodox. The carriboo, which is, I
believe, synonymous with the reindeer, is generally
stalked ; and is, in point of sport and of flavour, far
superior to the moose. The bear of Nova Scotia is
the black bear of America {Ur:us Amencanus)^ and is
hunted in summer chiefly at night, and killed in
winter when in a state of hibernation.

The smaller game are wild fowl of every descrip-
tion ; wild geese, teal, the blue-winged duck, brant,
and the eider-duck. The partridge of Nova Scotia
is of two species — the birch and the spruce partridge —
and has no resemblance to, or affinity with, the Eng-
lish partridge. In size and flavour it resembles an
English pheasant ; but its habits are peculiar to itself,
and will be alluded to more fully as our chapter pro-
gresses. Snipe and woodcock need no comment.

After describing simply the method pursued in
hunting or shooting the aforesaid animals, I shall
make some allusion to the fishing in the province.

But I approach the consideration of these matters
with considerable cUflidence. I am more of an ob-
serving naturalist than a Nimrod, although not prac-
tically ignorant of Nova Scotian sport. But I am so
unfortunate as to follow in the tracks of one who is
at once an accomplished naturalist and a thorough
sportsman.

In a book published some years ago by Captain
Hardy, of the same regiment as myself, the whole

SPORT IX EARNEST.

(;i

sport of Nova Scotia -was descrihed in a searching'
and almost volununous manner. Few liave liad so miicli
experience as lie of the Nova Scotian woods ; and, in
attrnij)ting a similar task, even although merely as a
chapter in a work meant to embrace many other
details and other subjects, I feel unpleasantly like
the ambitious frog of fabulous memory who at-
tempted to equal the ox. My excuses must be that
the work referred to is difficult now to obtain, and,
perhaps, beyond the means of many who would like
to hear a word or two on the sports of oiu* American
colonies ; and secondly, that I am in a measure com-
pelled to make some allusion to a subject without
wliich — particularly in the eyes of my militaiy readers
— a description of a province would be deemed very
incomplete.

My first task shall be the description of the outfit
required by a Nova Scotian sportsman, and \]\q dis-
tricts to which he ought to direct himself.

Moccasins are of various sorts. They are made of
either tanned or untanned hide ; of moose and car-
riboo-skin with the hair on ; or of other leathers, more
or less ornamented, according; as the fancv of the
wearer or the maker may have suggested. They are
indispensable in the woods. The best style of gar-
ments are those made of the homespun cloth woven
in the province, which, in addition to the virtue of
cheapness, has also the advantage of being easily
dried. It may be lined in winter for additi(jnal
warmth. A tight-fitting fur or woollen cap, with ear-
flaps, is the best head-dress; and for covering at
night there is nothing equal to the buffalo robe un-
lined. For weapons, a double-barrelled rifle, brcech-

i.ki I,

Wi:

iill'

OUR GAllRISONS IN THE WEST.

loiidln^ if possibk', is best, Avitli a good supply of
cartridfics in a wateq)i*oof-case ; and a stout axe is a
.n7ie (pid 11071. A large clasp-knife, worn like a sailor's,
is also very useful. For provisions, take plenty of
biscuit, an ample supply of tea, a little salt pork or
bacon, sugar, and a little bread or " Soft Tommy" as
it is called.

For camp-equipage, take a tin kettle, a fry^ing-pan,
a small saucepan, two or three tin pannikins, and two
or three knives and forks. Beginners err generally
in taking too many things, encuml^cnng themselves
unnecessarily ; \mi the above list includes all that are
absolutely required. You should take no spirits ;
chiefly because of your Indian, who cannot resist
liquor, and is helpless under it ; but also because tea
is a far better beverage for all in the woods. A little
ground ginger is not a bad thing to carry, to be used
medicinally, if required.

For use about your camp, in addition to yom' heavy
axe, a couple of snudl hatchets or tomahawks are con-
venient for lopping off small branches, and many
other little matters which will occur to any sportsman.
A sui)})ly of (;ord should always be carried.

The Indians in Nova Scotia are a verv degenerate
race, and there are few who can be recommended for
hunting companions. When I was there, the best
was a man known as John Williams ; and the others
most patronised were men of the name of Paul ; two
men, " Ole Bonus" and " Noel Bonus," for the spell-
ing of whose names I object to be held responsible ;
and an orch impostor in Cumberland county rejoicmg
in a name sounding like Barbei, familiarly known as
" Bob-my-eye." The wages an Indian receives on a

SPORT IN EARNKST.

r.3

luinting expedition are a dollar a day, and his keep.
Tiiey are, as a nUe, lazy do^s, and have to be kept
well to their work. They are filthy in person, and it
is a useful precaution to make them repose on tiie oj)-
posite side of the fire to yourself.

For moose, the districts var\' every year. One
year, ])erhiips, the best sport was round to the east-
ward of Halifax, next year to the westward. During
the years I resided in Nova Scotia, more moose were
killed in the countiy round the Ship Harbour Lakes,
Sheet Harbour, and Tangier, than any other, al-
though they were frequently met with in Upper
and Lower Stewiacke, and even on Hammond's
Plains. A good Indian can, if he chooses, almost
always ensure your falling in with moose ; but during
the last year or two there have been gold mines
opened round Tangier, so I fancy they have spoiled
one's chance of sj)ort in the neighboiu'hood.

Moose are called in autumn during the rutting
season. It is done at night by moonlight, and to
imitate the calls of the female moose, an artifice em-
ployed to In'ing up the bull moose, you employ a sort
of speaking-trumpet made of the birch-bark. The
call of the bull is often imitated, as at that season the
animal is wild and furious, and is as ready to gratify
the passion of combat with another bull, as any more
legitimate one. The hunter with his Indian, placing
themselves in a good position, commence calling, and
.should there be any moose in the vicinity, they will be
heard presently coming through the woods, crashing
and snapping the branches, with a noise like that of
fire-arms. Considerable skill is required, as may be
imagined, in the modulation of the calls, but should

ji^l

' III

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IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-S)

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Sciences

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23 WBT MAIN STRiET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14510

(716) S73-4S03

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OUR GAKRISONS IN THE WEST.

i T III

they be given properly, the animal can be easily
brought within range — indeed, within a few yards. So
huge does the animal look at this short distance, and
by the uncertain light, that firing at it seems — as I
heard a sportsman say — like firing into the side of a
house.

At this season of the year the hunter's camp is of
very simple construction, and is known as a summer
camp. It is built much as the imhappy edifice
alluded to in the last chapter was constructed, and
is floored with a considerable thickness of spruce
branches, forming a clean, fragrant, and luxurious
bed.

You sleep with your feet to the fire, and covered
with your buffalo robe, and it is the duty of the In-
dian to replenish the fire with wood dming the night.
The duty I found them very apt to neglect after
killing anything; for I remember on one occasion,
when my companion had shot a carriboo, our Indians
eat so greedily and so abundantly as to become per-
fectly torpid about midnight, and our fire — to our
great suffering — ^was allowed to go out. I remember
on that occasion, that after watching them eat incre-
dible quantities of the iiat, from about four o'clock,
steadily, till ten o'clock at night, the last thing I saw
before falling asleep was the whole brisket of the
animal stuck up on twigs in front of the fire to roast,
and before falling into their unearthly and loathsome
sleep they devoured every bit of it.

The winter camp is in construction perfectly dif-
ferent. It is more like a wigwam — a conical hut,
with a framework of poles or branches, and a cover-
ing of bark. The fire is in the centre of the build-

: .1

SPORT IX EARNEST.

ing, and unless you lie down you run a risk of suffo-
cation from the smoke.

In winter, the moose is either run down upon snow-
shoes, or shot when in a yard. This latter proceed-
ing is singular.

When the snow is very cleep, a herd of moose beat
down, by trotting up and down, a considerable space,
which is called a yard, and in which they remain as
long as they can obtain food from the branches of the
trees they thus enclose. Sometimes when the snow
is deeper than usual, the yard seems surrounded by
lofty walls of snow, and there is no egress. On the
discovery of a yard, and its being reported, men go
out and shoot the moose in it by half dozens.

To hunt the mooso on snow-shoes it is desirable to
have a slight crust on the snow, sufficient to support
the weight of the hunter on snow-shoes, but through
which the sharp hoofs of the animal sink at every
step, wounding and lacerating it, as well as making
its progress naturally slow. My readers are probably
familiar with the appearance of snow-shoes, oval
with points behind, and a close net-work of raw hide
in the frame. The wearer must use moccasins, and the ,
snow-shoe is attached to the foot by a small toe-band
on the shoe, and thongs on the moccasin. The heel
is perfectly free, and in raising the foot in progres-
sion, the rear part of the snow-shoe is allowed to drag
lightly on the snow. There are few exercises more
delightful than this, and an adept can perform any-
thing, even the most wonderful feats. A beginner is
pretty certain to meet with some falls, and in soft
deep snow it is not so easy a matter to rise on snow-
shoes.

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

Tlic moose when brought to bay is a dangerous
animal, its most effective weapon being its fore-feet,
with which it strikes out furiously. The horns are
very large and palmated ; and in moving through the
woods it carries its liead so as to bring the horns paral-
lel with its back. Its most rapid form of progression
is a long shambling trot, much faster than it looks.
The flesh of the moose is like coarse beef, and is
seldom fat ; but the choice part, in a culinary point of
view, is the mouffle, a long upper lip, somewhat taper-
like in ajjpearance, and which makes a soup superior to
turtle. The hair is coarse ; and a large tuft under the
throat of the bull is called the " bell." The colour is a
deep brown. The moose is quite capable of being
tamed if taken young ; and has been used in drawing
a sleigh. There was a young moose kept in the Artil-
lery Park in Halifax some years ago, which, inter alia,
knew the ti'mrpet calls for the various meals, I believe,
as well as the gunners. It was very fond of bread ;
but it died a victim to its appetite for turnips. There
having been some difficulty in obtaining moose-wood
in the winter, a shrub on which the animals live to a
great extent, its owner was advised to feed it with
turnips. Its relish for them was so great thai it died
from distension, arising from over-eating.

In the woods, when after moose or carriboo, as may
readily be imagined, all unnecessaiy noise is to be
avoided ; so in case of absence of sport one is often
driven to extremities for food. If no settlement is
near, and one dai'e not fire off one's gun at smaller
game, there are worse substitutes for better food than
the porcupine. This small animal generally makes
for a tree, and will remain there until you cut it

SPORT IN EARNEST.

down, when a blow on the nose will speedily put an
end to it. I krtow few animals that make a more
pleasant fricassh. They are easily dome«ticated to a
certain extent ; I remember two which lived for several
weeks in a large tree in our barrack-square.

The carriboo (Eangifer Tarandusj I think) is an
animal which affords a sport more like deer-staJking
in Scotland than any other of the tribe I know. It
is of a grey colour ; far inferior in size, as it is superior
in giace, to the moose ; and yielding a venison of deli-
cious flavour. Its antlers are long and slightly pal-
mated ; it travels in herds, and from all I have seen
or heard, the best district for finding them in Nova
Scotia is County Cumberland, and chiefly the barrens
between Parrsboro' and Amlierst.

The be.* . season for stalking the carriboo is imme-
diately after the first fall of snow, when you do not re-
quire snow-shoes, and can track them on the snow as
accurately as if you had the best staghounds. On
Christmas week, 1857, 1 was after carriboo in a dis-
trict about eight miles from Parrs box o', with a com-
panion and a couple of Indians. The reason one goes to
a baiTen for carriboo is, that there is a species of lichen,
called caniboo moss, on whlcli the animal feeds, and
which is foimd on these barren plains, even in winter,
in great abundance. On the leeward side of one
of these barrens, the day after Christmas, with on our
left a number of hardwood ridges, we were all crawl-
ing on all-fours looking carefully round us for tracks.
An old Indian was first, then my companion, then came
the second Indian, and lastly myself. Feeling con-
fident that those in front of me would detect any
tracks without my assistance, I suffered my eyes to

OUR GARRISONS IX THE WEST.

rove round our limited liorizon, and to mv amazement
I saw, about a quarter of mile to windward, some ten or
eleven grey animals gi'azing so peaceably, that never
having seen a carriboo before, I could not for the life
of me believe that they were anything but cows.

However, I pulled the Indian in front of me by the
leg, and pointed them out to him ; giving a grunt which
may have meant surprise, but certainly anything but
gratitude, he attracted the leading Indian's attention,
and soon, trembling with excitement, we were crawling
towards them rapidly ; nor did they get alanned until
we were within a couple of hundred yards, when, with
gnmts of terror they made off, and we rose and fired.

That same afternoon I saw a singular instance of
tenacity of life in a tarriboo which fell to my com-
panion's rifle. We had separated on a large barren,
and were some half mile apart when I heard the crack
of his piece, and after a few minutes saw him and his
Indian running. Concluding he had done something,
we made tracks after them, and came up with them, busy
in the work of dissecting a fine fat deer. Now it seems
that in his anxiety my companion had put both bullets
into one barrel, and on firing at the deer he aimed at, he
first pulled the trigger of the blank barrel, and then,
when the herd was a good deal f m-ther away, he fired
the second. The animal seemed to stagger, but went
on with the herd into a copse of spruce-trees which
bordered the barren. They, therefore, presumed that
the deer had been missed; however, they strolled
quietly over to where the herd had been feeding, and
to their surprise they saw large drops of blood on the
snow. They started running, and as they ran they
saw the crimson stream thicker in the snow; and

SPORT IN EARNEST.

61)

ill aljout fifty yards tliey came on a tree, the trunk
of which was covered with blood, where the poor dying
brute had staggered against it. Here its tracks
separated from the herd's, and they folh)wed them in a
circle about seventy or eighty yards further, when;
they came on it lying dead. On cutting it up we
found the heart actually torn in two by the bullets or
bullet ; and how the poor binite could have managed to
nm the distance it did, passed our comprehension. It
was speedily skinned and quartered, and eacli of us
with om* still warm and bleeding burden staggered
homewards to our camp and a hearty supper.

I never saw a bear in the woods, although I fre-
quently came on their tracks. I am led, however,
by those who have been more fortuiiate than myself,
to believe that the bear is singularly cunning when
pursued, and dangerous when brought to bay, or
wounded. They often leap from their tracks, several
feet to one side, and return almost in the same direc-
tion as they came, thus baffling for a time those in
chase. They are veiy annoying about a settlement,
destroying sheep and even calves. I remember one
about fourteen miles from St. John, New Brunswick,
which for a long time annoyed the settlers greatly in
this way. The hams are very good when ciu'ed ; and
the skin makes the most beautiful robes for the
sleigh.

There are indescribable charms in the life of a
hunter in the woods. Apart altogether from the
fact of sport and its consequent excitement, there is
a singular pleasure and sense of freedom in this life,
whicli require to be felt and enjoyed, before they
can be understood. There are so many appeals to

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

|{ ,i

li?

I !

the fancy, to the taste, — ay! — even solemn ones to
the soul, which even the dullest mind cannot resist.
There are certain irksome cares and ties in civilisa-
tion, which do not control one in the woods ; and, I
half think, of only one profession can it be said, even
the hunter's —

Post venatorem non sedet atra cura.

The inexperienced may imagine — not even the en-
thusiast can fully comprehend until he haa actually
enjoyed it — the pleasure of sitting round the camp-
fire after a good day's work, and a hearty supper,
vand chatting in that easy unforced way, which one
seldom can follow when under the shadow of more
substantial roofs, and within hearing of more critical
ears. And should you be more wakeful than your
companions, and sit later than they, you ^vill find
your solitude broken in upon by those grand myste-
rious noises in the woods at night, which make, to a
vivid fancy, the forest seem as an enchanted land.
Away in the great darkness, in the circle beyond the
little cosy arena reddened and glowing with our
merry fire, one hears every now and then — all as if
intensified by the solitude and the darkness — the crash
of some falling tree, the melancholy note of the
owl as he sits " warming his five wits," or the wail of
the loon bv some small forest lake. Such a moment
and such a scene might have suggested to a dark
genius, like that of Poe, his gloomy lines on,

The dim lake of Av.ber,
In the misty mid region of Weir :

down by the dank tarn of Auter,

In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir ;

or those wonderful dreamy lines when he sings of-

SPOUT IN EARNEST.

A route obscure and lonelv,
Haunted by ill-angcis only,
Where an Eidolon named Night,
On a black throne reigna upright.

But nok, to the cheerful spirit will it be a scene as to
his dark thoughts —

Where the traveller meets aghast
Sheeted memories of the Past.

Ah ! no ! to us would those other lines of his come
in more truly, we hope —

For the heart whose woes arj legion,
'Tis a peaceful soothing region :
For the spirit that walks m shadow,
'Tia, oh ! 'tis an Eldorado !

But we are gettiufj; iow-spirlted and romantic.
We are abruptly recalled from the poetical phase of
our reverie bv one of those sounds which — whether
in the woods or the city — are antidotes to poesy. I
mean a snore ; than which no humar utterance is
more pracucal or fancy-dispelling. So, coiling our
toasted limbs under the buffalo, and pausing just for
a moment to listen to the cry of some wandering
lucifee, we speedily exchange our waking dreams for
those of slumber, and aid to swell the discordant
chorus wliich rises from our ^onely camp.

There are no sluggards in the woods. Early astir,
we make for the neai'est water, should it be summer
to have a dip, and should it be winter to break the
ice and lave oui* face and hands ; returning, as
Dickens says in " Pickjvick," with a good digestion
waiting on appetite, and health on both, to our break-
fast. This meal, prepared in our absence by the In-
dians, who seem to have a constitutional objection to
ablutions of any sort, we soon despatch, maldng nothing

in--

I
.

OUR GAKRI80NS IN THE WKST.

!■!

of a pound or two of venison, should it be in camp, and
stoning away, witliout so much as winking;, as nincli
tea Havoured with brown sweetening (as sugar is called
by the peasantiy) and innocent of milk, as would si.'r\ c
with ease for the morning consumption of a large
public school. Arrangements are now made for the
direction in which we shall hunt during the day;
the singular instinct possessed by the Indian render-
ing it a matter of no uneasiness even in a strange
wood, how far we may wander from our camp. And
leaving this point to be discussed by the rest of our
party, let us look round at the woods by day. The
first thing "/vhich strikes one is the singular absence
of ornithological life. There is, to one accustomed
to the abundant songster world in our English copses,
something at first almost painful in the silence in
Nova Scotian woods — a silence which, like intense
darkness, can be felt. Around Halifax and other
places, there are a few varieties of " cockyoly" birds,
as small birds are called, but in the recesses of the
forest there are none. About the lakes and the small
woodland streams, there come out in the gi'ey even-
ings, the ghostly night-hawks, but there is something
bat-like in their flight, and singidarly unlike tlie
merry twittering denizens of our old country woods.

In parts of the forest, hundreds of merrj' squirrels
swami on the trees, and the " mustelina" are well re-
presented. Not a few snakes are to be met, some
veiy pretty, and all harmless. But in the warm
weather, the insect world become, especially to the
angler, something too insupportable. Two species,
the black fly and the moose fly, I will back against
any other in the art of disfigiu'ing the human face

SPORT IN EAKNEST.

divine. I have seen many go on a fishing expedition
in all their natural beauty, and come back in a feu-
days swollen into hideous parodies on their former
selves, and barely recognizable even to their vener-
able and anxious mothers. There is cmly one thing
worse, and that is a remedy sold under some such
taking title as, the " Angler s Defence," by the phi-
lanthropic chemists of Halifax, and which the angler
is supposed to smear over his face as a protection
aijainst blood-thirst v insects. Some wear veils, and
I have done so myself ; but in warm weather, I think,
five minutes of a veil is, to a man, rather worse than
the black hole of Calcutta.

For this reason, and the easier travelling' when the
underwood is dead, I think the winter is best in the
woods, and also the season in which they look to most
advantage. The snow lying on the broad green
spruce branches — however unpleasant for the locks of
your gun should you come up against them — gives an
air of fairj'-land to the woods ; and the carpet of snow-
on which the trees rise proudly, falsifies one's idea of
distance, and alters the perspective in a pleasing way,
which keeps up the illusion. The chief trees one
meets are the hemlock and pines of all varieties,
maple, birch, beech, and the evergreen spruce — the
true ornament of the American woods.

The two species of partridge are abundant, as their
market price will best testify. They are a stupid
class of birds, and when one goes after them, you
generally take a dog of the spaniel breed with a bell
round his neck to keep you from losing him in the
covers. As soon as the dog puts up a covey, they fly to
a neighbouiing tree, and remain there as if stupefied.

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WKST.

wliile the dojij, barking at its foot furiously, attracts
his master to tlie ^aine. They remain ])ei*fectly still,
and are therefore shot sitting — rather an un-£n;rlisli,
hut at the same time inevitable proceeding. Indeed,
if you conunence with the birds sitting on the lower
branelies and sluM>t uj)wards, you may get rid of an
entire covey, the birds waiting in that amiable man-
ner which one had supposed to belong merely to that
self-denying bird of nursery legends, which was ad-
dressed invitingly, and as if with every contidence
that the invitation would be readily accepted :

Dilly (lilly duck, come ami be killed.

The flesh of the partridge is white and rather dry,
but eaten with bread sauce it is extremely good, es-
pecially when cold.

At one season of the year, when they eat some
poisonous beny, one species is injui'ious as an article
of food. Althougli, even then, I have heard, if the
crop of the bird be ciit out immediately after it is
shot, the flesh is perfectly wholesome. I have heard
of Indians in the woods knocking these birds over
with a tomahawk.

It is hai'dly necessary for me to enter into any de-
tails on the subject of the sport afforded by the wild-fowl
of Nova Scotia. This sport is much the same all the
world o\ev. On some lakes in New Brunswick, and
I dai'esay in Nova Scotia also, although I cannot
vouch for it myself, the artifice is employed of cover-
ing the bows of a skiff with branches, and then
gradually coming within shot of the deceived and un-
conscious duck. They are generally in such numbers,
that, rising in a perfect cloud, many fall victims to

srOR'I IN EAUNEST.

tlie same Lairel. Wild geese arc migratorv', and, al-
though they fly verj' high, there is no mistaking the
outstretched necks and peculiar note as they i)ass over
Halifax in innnense numbers annually. They are so
large, that they afford a sportsman great satisfaction
as the heavy body comes tumbling down to his fire;
but they are of a strong, fishy, and unpleasant flavour.
I shall now devote the rest of this chapter to some
words on the fishing of this province. There is hardly
a stream, and never a lake, 1 imagine, in all the
myriad lakes of this country, where fish do not alxMind.
Where there is so great an abundance, it seems invi-
dious to make choice of any ])articular lake or river
in a chapter like this. On the spot of course one
would be guided by the season of the year very much.,
some streams being earlier thai others. For salmon,
Gould River is a good place ; also Musquedoboit, antl
the runs between the Ship Harbour Lakes. For sea-
trout, in my day, no place came up to Tangier River,
but I fear the gold-diggings have spoiled the fishing
there now. Very fine sea-trout used to be taken also
at Musquedoboit, good sized, strong, and delicious-
flavoured, and yielding the angler as much sport as a
])owerf ul young salmon. As for the common brown or
lake trout, you may get them anywhere and eveiy-
wliere, and of all sizes. There are one or two places
witiiin an hour's walk almost of Halifax, where one can
take out a dozen trout of an afternoon, not very large
perhaps, but very good in point of flavour. Imme-
diately behind York Redoubt the angler found Pine
Island Ponds, well known to eveiy one who has been
in the garrison of Halifax. And just across the north-
west arm, buried in the woods, a small sheet of dark

K' I

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

! I

water, called Coal Pit Lake, was safe to yield to the
sportsman some exquisite little trout, fit to make a
breakfast for an epicure. But these places are mere
child's play compared with Ship Harbour Lakes, where
I have taken out, as fast as I could throw my fly, two
at a time often ; and where in pulling across the lake,
your fly, dangling on the water, without any exertion
on your part, would be snapped at eagerly. I should
s?.y the trout of Nova Scotia are rather like the fair
sex — capricious, and not insensible to gaudy colours.
Some of the flies which are most successful on the
Acadian lakes would make the steady-going Izaak
Walton of Scotch or English streams stare rather by
their brilliant hues. There can be no more useful
accomplishment to the Nova Scotian angler than the
ability to tie his own flies. The caprice of the trout
already alluded to is so mysterious often and unac-
countable, that a fly which one day they seem unable
to resist, will be scouted by them next day under pre-
( isely the same circumstances as regards weather and
sun ; therefore, unless one has the art of humouring
their wayward fancies, there is every chance of the
acquaintance of the angler and the angled becoining
no closer than the occupation of theii* respective ele-
ments will permit.

Should it be necessary, the sportsman on the lakes
<ind rivers has to use a camp as much as his brother
on the plains or in the woods. But veiy often on ac-
count of the greater number of settlements near the
rivers and runs, one can manage always to sleep under
a roof, a system which if not so pleasant in many
things as camping out, has nevertheless its social
advantages, and saves a good deal of trouble on a
sliort excursion.

SPORT IN EARNEST.

The settlers are very hospitable, althoufj;]i rather
primitive, and in their conversation more a<^ 'icted to
" guessing," and other Yankee amenities, tiian their
brethren of the towns. I met with an ap})alling
instance of their rural simplicity, when on a fishing
excursion in June 1858, on the Ship Harbour Lakes.
As we contemplated a change of ground one day
of about fifteen miles, we*inquired of our landlord
for the time being as to any probable settlement near
our new destination, where we could be housed for
the night.

The name of a bachelor settler, living all alone,
was given us, with instructions how we were to find
his hut ; and starting after the evening's fishing, it
was nearly midnight when we reached our new abode.
After a good deal of hammering at the door (for
settlers who work hard, sleep hard), we at last heard
the fastenings being undone, and a figure with a
light presented itself. The figure in question was
of a huge man, about six feet three in height, clad
lightly in some garment in which he seemed to ha^^e
slept for many years, nor have dreamt of the necessity
of washing it. His hair was reddish, very long, and
wildly dishevelled ; and" his features — as far as they
were not drowned with an expression of amazement —
seemed more remarkable for the absence of intellect
than its presence. In answer to the inquiries of my
companion and myself (there were but two of us), he
led us into the kitchen with noises, which he may
have intended to mean welcome, but which resem-
bled the barks a dog would give, under the united
depressing influences of croup and a muzzle. On the
large hearth the logs of wood were still smouldering,
and were soon made up into a cheerful fire : and then

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

'■'; ! i

we made inquiries as to our bed. He scratched his
unkempt head a good deal, and at last showed us into
a room with a bed, from which he had e\adently just
risen. We protested against taking his own couch,
but he insisted; and imagining he had plenty more
in the house, and gave us his own as the best, we
dragged in our rugs and buffalo robes, shut the
door, and proceeded, accdrding to custom, to toss for
the bed, the unsuccessful one making a shakedown of
the rugs, &c., on the floor. Having settled this
knotty point, we were making ready for our respec-
tive resting-places when the door opened, and in
walked our host himself, still clad in his mediaeval
night-shirt, and nothing more.

While we paused to learn his en'and, he scratched
his head, smiled an imbecile smile, and gave utter-
ance to the following words :

" I guess m have to sleep with yez, m^'self ."

Horror, grim, ghastly horror, rushed through our
brains, and rendered us speechless for a time; but
recovering ourselves, we hastened to assure him that
had we known it was his only bed, we would never
have dreamt of taking it ; that we would lie down in
front of the kitchen fire ; that we preferred sleeping
before the kitchen fire ; indeed that from infancy we
had lived with no other object but that of sleeping
before the kitchen fire.

And, not to forfeit my reader's esteem, and my own
self-respect, I may add, that we did sleep before the
kitchen fire.

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'II

CHAPTER V.

NOVA SCOTIA.

Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among them,
Village, and mountain, and woodlands.

Longfellow's Evangeline.

Nova Scotia, as the Province once called Acadia
is pedantically named, is a colony of wliich it may be
safely predicated that its future will gi'eatly surpass
its present or its past. And yet there is in the past
of tliis province something which we seldom meet in
the past of our colonies. There is a history. Nova
Scotia is to our other colonies what Virginia, the Em-
pire State, was, in the days of union, to the United
States. We hear of tliis Httle country in the es-
cutcheons of many of our English baronets, and not
a few of our proudest peers ; we read in dry works of
history, as well as the sweet Hnes of Longfellow, of
times there of war, and sieges, and sorrow, and exile.
We trace in the remnant of a former people, still
existing in their fathers' happy home, and more pleas-
ingly in the orchards, and quaint farm-houses, and
dyked fields of its fairest counties, the story of the
days when not England, but France ruled here;

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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France, whose colonial history is one of such singular
discomfiture and defeat. We stumble on the ruined
battlements of Louisburg, which remind us of the
wars which brought about this change of govern-
ment ; and as we travel through the province, we can
read a disconnected, but intelligible histoiy in the
names of its counties and its towns. And it is a
species of history which it pleases the Englishman to
dwell on, reminding him of stirring times in the
annals of his own country across the sea; times
which rise forcibly before his memory as he comes
upon names like Annapolis, Amherst, Cornwallis,
and Halifax.

But this history has been written by one who is a
master of the art. It is not for a novice to follow
where he has trod. It shall be for me rather to glance
at this province as I have seen it with the bodily eye,
not the eye of study. But how to begin ; here, I
find, lies the rub of authorship. It is like taking up
a ball of tangled worsted, of which one cannot find
the ends. It is like being ushered into a large library,
and not knowing what to choose for perusal. It is, to
come from the sublime to the ridiculous, like getting
a dozen newspapers by one mail, or a budget of unin-
teresting letters by the same post, and being at a loss
Avith which to commence. Or, it is like getting a
bundle of new summer patterns from your tailor, each
of which by itself would make a sweet thing in
trousers, but which in the aggregate only bewilder.
And I have increased my confusion by having de-
voted a chapter to the capital of the province already !
so I am driven, like a beaten ministry, to the comitry,
and like an unpopular member, I do not know what

NOVA SCOTIA.

seat I shall choose in the hope of election. I re-
member once getting a fortnight's leave, ^vitll the in-
tention of making a visit to some country friends.
When on the eve of starting, I got a telegram, an-
nouncing the sudden and dangerous illness of one of
the household, and, consequently, postponing my visit.
What was I to do ? It was against my principles to
give up my leave ; and I had no particular choice in
the matter of lions, watering-places, or towns. Tlie
metropolis had gone to the country ; and being quar-
tered within a few miles of it, it seemed hardly worth
while to go there on an excursion. I was at my wit's
end. I had no sooner thought of one place, than
another rose in an alluring garb, claiming my wan-
dering allegiance ; and I was like a weathercock at a
season when Admiral Fitzroy has prophesied, " Un-
certain winds from all quarters." Suddenly, I be-
thought me of the way the people of old consulted
the oracles by putting their finger blindly on a verse
of the Bible, or a line of Virgil ; and I rushed for
Bradshaw. Procuring this interesting volume — which,
in point of being difficult to understand, is equal to
the most mysterious utterance that ever came from
Delphi — ^I opened it by chance at a certain page, re-
solving to limit my choice to the places that might
there be found. I selected a station whose name ended
in "Abbey," naturally imagining that where there was
an abbey, there must be something to see ; and in two
hours I had taken my ticket. You can have no idea
how I enjoyed that trip: the excitement as I ap-
proached the place ; the anxiety to see what it looked
like ; the ignorance of the name of any hotel in it ;
and the charming sensation of not knowing a soul

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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wlien T jTot there. I was referred to an inn rejoicing
in the nume of the " Four Swans," which has always
appeared to me the most unaccountable name for an
inn, except one in a village, near which I am writing
this chapter, which is called the " Five Bells." But,
in spite of the name, I found my ornithological hotel
a cosy and chamiing residence ; I took mine ease in
mine inn in a way which cannot be comprehended by
us in these days of mammoth railway palaces, where
you lose your identity, and become No. 20. In my
little inn I was that important individual, " the gen-
tleman in the parlour," whose bell was never left un-
answered; whose dinner was never somebody else's
recliauffe, nor a cut off a lukewarm joint ; and whose
bedroom was a perfect museum of cosy relics oi our
ancestors, which, even though unused, make one feel
comfortable; such, I mean, as warming-pans and
miraculous samplers, covered with the genealogy of
my landlady's family, with a sprinkling of the moral
maxims under which she had been brought up in the
way she should go, and all concluding with the Roman
numerals.

And the little place itself was so quaint and prett}',
and the people so obhging, that my fortnight passed
as if it had wings, and my sorrow was as great at
leaving as my bill was moderate.

Can I appeal to some such chance to aid my selec-
tion now ? And if I do, shall I give my readers the
same satisfaction that I gave myself on the occasion
referred to 'l I doubt it much, and gravely. Let
me think but once again : all ! I nave it ; of course !
how could I have been so stupid ? of course I must
begin with the j^eople of the province.

NOVA SCOTIA.

I have polished off the Fi'ench Acadians in a
chapter which I have written before this, but wliicli
my reader will not see until he or she has read the
present one ; so beyond mentioning the fact that
there are r* few of this people still in the province,
I shall proceed to enumerate as the other distinctive
classes of the community, the Indians, Highlanders,
Geimans, a great many Irish, and the balance Eng-
lish and Scotch.

The Indians are getting fewer every day, and more
degenerate. They are not a long-lived race, and are
subject to many diseases, consequent on their habits
of life. They receive from the Government a blanket
pnnually, and, I believe, one or two other advantages,
such as the liberty to sh ot game for their own use
at any season of the year. They are, generally speak-
ing, Roman Catholics, and they may be seen in con-
siderable numbers, on any solemn day in the church
of Rome, hanging about the doors of the Catholic
places of worship in Halifax. They belong to the
Mic-mac tribe of Indians, once a very powerful one,
but now becoming gradually extinct. The squaws
are very skilful in the fabrication of different articles
of fancy-work, in which the quills of the porcupine
and highly coloured glass beads form a predominant
feature. They also earn a good deal by making
moccasins, and torches for lobster-spearing; indeed,
the squaws show to their lazy lords a praiseworthy
example of industiy. They always live in wigvvams,
on the roadside often, leading a life, in some respect,
like our own gipsies ; and can be easily recognised by
their high cheek bones, their swarthy complexion,
and long black hair. The males generally wear

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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blanket coats, and always moccasins. The squaws
usually wear a species of bead- work head-dress, in
addition to the usual dress of civilised women, and
cany their papooses on their backs in the way fami-
liar to everyone from pictures. Their small cam])s
generally contain, in addition to other objects, one or
more canoes, of the making of which they Lave a
monopoly, and in the management of which, both
men and squaws, are great adepts. One of the
amusing incidents in the Halifax regattas is the
canoe race; and the squaw's race is perhaps more
so. They talk in a low, soft, and not unmelodious
manner, with little gesticulation. Their besetting sins
are chrunkenness, filth, and a proneness to Ij'^ing.

I have made a distinction between the Highlanders
and Scotch, because there is a very considerable com-
munity in Nova Scotia, particularly in Cape Breton,
now a part of this province, who talk nothing but
Gaelic. It is singular to find this body of Highlanders
(chiefly from the west of Scotland) so far from their
native land, but so retentive of its language and cus-
toms. I was told by a fellow-traveller, that he met
an old woman in the Hebrides, who had spent nine
years in Nova Scotia, and yet was unable to speak a
word of English. The' characteristics of this conser-
vative people are too well known to require any com-
ment.

The same may be said of the Germans, who are
to be found in considerable numbers all over the
province. Their head-quarters are at a town called
Lunenburg. At the time of the American war of
Independence, a great many Germans, naturally
loyal to the House of Hanover, came from the States

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NOVA SCOTIA.

to Nova Scotia; indee'\ Kin<; George sent a slnp-load
of them, I believe, from Virginia.

When at Ship Harbour in 1858, 1 met a Gennan,
of over ninety years of age, but in unclouded posses-
sion of all his faculties, who came from Virginia at
that time, and whose reminiscences of those stirring
seasons were clear and most interesting. But I am
iiot sure that Gentians, although i contented and
happy class of settlers, are a class calculated to benefit
the early years of a colony, or increase its trade and
agriculture, beyond the point at which their indivi-
dual ^vants cease.

I need hardly say that in this, and all our colo-
nies, the Irish is a prominent and unsettled element.
Some of their good equalities, and many of their bad,
seem to be fostered by their change of life ; and
while often active and useful citizens, they are not
the best stamp of men for settlers, or labourers on a
small scale. For an Irishman seems to imbibe politics,
and ihe love of them, with his mother's milk ; and
once in a country, where he has the power of giving
a vote — perhaps for an alderman — perhaps for a
Member of Parliament, you upset that man for the
practical duties of life. As long as he can exercise
this long-wished-for privilege, and proclaim his devo-
tion to Erin by occasional triumphal processions and
green banners, which he could have shown better
when ^^ on the sod " himself b}' a little attention to
his labour, and you will find him quite happy, should
he remain for ever a hired labourer on a weekly
wage. It seems so great a pity, that this should be
true of Irish emigrants, who are a merry, good-
hearted, and affectionate class, and in their religion a

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

' (

devout body ; but it is the case witli an Irish cottai*
or labourer, if you place on one side labour, comfort,
and prosperity; and on tlie other politic jhanco

of a row, and a hand-to-mouth living, you will find
the latter will carry the day. Of course these re-
marks do not apply to the upper and better educated
classes ; they are to be found in the first ranks, both
in politics, literature, the learned professions, and
trade. But even in their case, there is an absence of
the " cosmopolitan " which you find in the English
settler ; and in every class and station, the Irish settler
has his nationality as distinct as the German or the
Gael.

The English portion of the Nova Scotians includes
the descendants of the oldest settlers : men who came
from England with the Puritans, and all who came
under the noble title of loyalists, from the United
States at the Declaration of Independence. I wonder
a theme so noble as this has not been selected for some
work of poetry or romance ; for there are none so
worthy of immortality — so far as our poor liistories
can confer it — as those who would and did give up
a home and happy associations to come to a strange
and, it might be, bleak and inhospitable land, and
all for loyalty to a sovereign whom they had never
seen, but whose cro^vn was the centre in which they
and their brethren of the old countiy met, under the
proud name of Britons.

The Scotch portion of the community are almost
equally faithful to their nationality and their country's
customs as the Irish. They are best defined as a
singularly respectable constituent of the Nova Scotian
people — an adjective after a Scotchman's own heart.

NOVA SCOTIA.

So much for t'le people; now for their iiitenuil
government. In old times, before Reform was hoartl
of, Nova Scotia was governed by a governor in
comicil. This council consisted, I think, of twelve
membei*s, all men of approved honesty and position,
and with a stake in the pmvince sufficient to ensure
their looking after its interests.

But tlW/; simple and almost patriarchal form of
government — a fonii which has always seemed to
me particularly adapted to our infant and smaller
colonies — was rudely torn asunder, and the poor
country was jiresented with that dreadful eidolon,
re})resentative government. If the province could
have spoken, it would have said : " Save me from my
friends," or " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes ;" but as
it could not, it remained silent, while the people com-
menced, one half to amuse themselves like children
with a new toy, the other and more sensible half to
make the best of a bad job. There are two pictui'es
in old numbers of Punch which always remind me of
the giving representative government, with all its
forms and follies, to mihappy little nations, like those
of Prince Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick. The best was a sketch of Lord Palmer-
ston receiving Lord Clyde, after the mutiny in India
was crushed, and being at the same time presented
with a fine Bengal tiger, allegorical of that j residency.
Backing behmd a chair, the Premier mutters his
thanks, but exclaims :

" How about keeping the bru e ?"

With some such feeling must the respectable and
property-owning part of our colonists have received
the gift of representative government. And then*

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OUR GARRIS' .^S IN TII'C WEST.

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worst fears have been realised. No a})})le of dis-
cord could have been dc ;ised more certain to set a
peaceable and happy community by the ears. And
its existence has given birth to a class which could
not exist ni a country rich enough and old enough to
be ready for self-government. I mean the class of
professional politicians, men to whom to be in office is
luxuiy, to be on the opposition benches is beggary.
And need I say a word on the fearful temptalons to
a politician such a state of affairs must beget ? It is
unfiiir alike to the man and to his country.

It is, too, reasoning on utterly false principles to
imagine that every colony should at once be made
self-govemhig. It has taken England a good many
centmies, and a heavy discipline of blood and adver-
sity, to produce our present system of government.
Is there, then, to be no youth, no time of preparation
in our colonies? It has taken us a long time to
prove certain mathematical truths, but we do not
hesitate to make om* youth go through, as a whole-
some discipline, the processes of reasoning by which we
laboured out what, if we chose, we might tell them,
as axioms. And, although God forbid that we should
drag our colonies through the stern lessons of blood
and rebellion, as a preparation for self-government,
yet there are preliminary stages which it behoves a
country, as an individual, to traverse. It does not
give a young colony fair play to cut the leading
strings too soon, even although like a spoiled or pre-
cocious child, it should cry out to be released from the
parental authority.

And it is unfair to the wealthy few who have a heavy
stake in the country, to raise, by a system of vurtually

NOVA SCOTIA.

iinivcrnjil suffrage, all and even*, those whose stake
iiiny be nily to aw equality, as regards the administra-
tion of govemnicnt.

Perhaj)s in these enlightened days, when Bright
and Cobdcn hail an approaching time of democratic
revelling, and the ballot is hung, like the sword of
Damocles, over the heads of honest, easy-going
members, whose sole wish is to do their country
good, it may seem antiquated and prejudicial to
write as I have done. But I write from what I have
seen. I reason from no theoretical premises, but
from existing facts, and I know I am borne out by
men far better able to judge than I am of the per-
nicious results of our present colonial system. Witness
one who, from a seat in one of our Australian Houses
of Assembly, came to sit in our Imperial House of
Commons; see what he said of representative go-
vernment in our yomig colonies ; see what he thought
of universal suffrage and the ballot. It is like setting
children to play with edged tools; they cut them-
selves, and they dull the blades tliey sport with.
Liberty degenerates into license, and the politician has
to pander to the interests, or inflame the passions of
the voter, in order that he may rule him.

And as representative government is meant for
men, not for acres, it is no answer to say that the
territory of even our smaller colonies exceeds that of
many kingdoms in Continental Europe. The ridicu-
lous fact remains, that we have for communities, not
equal in number to the population of our third-rate
towns, all the forms and ceremonies attending a
House of Lords and a House of Commons.

And, as in petty debating societies we find boys

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OUR GARRISONS IX THE WEST.

passing solemn votes of censure on the conduct of
countries they never saw, and politics they never
studied, so we put in the power of these mimic par-
liaments to censure with all the solemnity of a mighty
senate, acts of the Imjierial Government, which they
probably have traced to some non-existent cause.
True, we have reserved the power of a " veto" to the
sovereign ; but would a young colony, intoxicated by
the excesses of self-government, yield without a mur-
mur to such a prerogative ; would not its exercise be
deemed despotic, and probably be resisted ?

And is it not :i farce, that in colonies which we
call English colonies and possessions, which we
garrison at Imperial expense — as we ought, which we
guai'd in war and give a prestige to in peace; is it
not a farce, I say, that in these colonies the Imperial
authorities, by giving them this entire self-govern-
ment, should place themselves in so false a position as
to have to submit Imperial questions to them, if they
relate however distantly to the colony, and run the
risk of defeat too, as I have seen. It is outrageous ;
we call it no breach of freedom, if, at home, an Act
of Parliament rides rough-shod over the privileges of
an individual, a city, or a county, because the good
of the majority takes precedence of that of the
minoritv. And such should be the state of thino;s in
our colonies, if they are to retain the title of English
possessions. Let me give an instance which shows
the evil results of this system of dual government.

It is connected with the position of the British
troops in Nova Scotia. As every one knows, thanks
to ]\Ir. Goldwin Smith, these troops are paid wholly
by the Home Government ; they receive not the

NOVA SCOTIA.

slightest colonial remuneration, although confen'ing a
great benefit on the colony by the money they cii'cu-
late. At this I do not grumble ; we garrison Nova
Scotia for Imperial purposes, and it is but just that
we should pay for it. But I object to one arrange-
ment.

In Great Britain there is an allowance made to
the troops, called Regent's allowance, by which the
officers' mess wines are cheapened. Now, in our
colonies, this is not given, because — with the single
exception, I believe, of Nova Scotia — the colonial
authorities permit mne for the troops to enter duty
free. And this was the case in Nova Scotia in the
good old days of the Governor in Council. How-
ever, being self-governing, the Nova Scotians have
an undeniable right to regulate the taxation of their
province, and further than regretting to see them
guilty of so ungracious an act, one would say nothing
were this all. But the fact is, that the Imperial
Government have submitted proposals to and repre-
sented, and wheedled the colonial parliament to con-
tinue the old system, and have been systematically
rebuffed : an instance of the evil arising from sei)a-
rating our colonies too far from the parent stem.

And above all this, there is a gross injustice perpe-
trated by the Nova Scotian Government in this
matter : for they tax in this way the military, a portion
of the community, which is unrepresented, and has no
political rights in the province.

So much for the evils existing : now for a remedy .
If universal suffrage, as it vh'tually is in om' cok>iiies,
must remain, then let property carry additional votes.
It sounds very well to say that the poor man and the

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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rich man have an equal stake in a country, because
they each have their all ; but the legislation of those
who have nothing to lose is very different from that
of those who have much to forfeit. To the former,
revolution and destruction of rights have not the same
ghastly appearance as to the latter. To the former,
laws which benefit the individual will have a popu-
larity which will not be granted to a prudent, far-
seeing legislation, whose tendency is to raise the
commercial, agricultural, and political status of the
country. And those who have little or no property
will levy with great unction taxes on those who have
much. To use the immortal words of Mr. Weller,
" It's unekal, Sammy, it's unekal," as he used to say
when his brandy-and-water was not half-and-half.

But another remedy to apply might suggest itself
in a way as flattering to our colonists as conducive to
the suavity of our relations with them. Let them
have some local form of legislation, but let them also
have representatives in proportion to their population
in the Imperial Parliament. If advisable, let each
colony have an Under-Secretary of State to offer
explanations concerning his province, and to attend to
its rights. Above all, let nothing be spared in mode-
ration, which, while giving the colonists all the privi-
leges of a constitutional government, shall also tighten
instead of severing those bonds which connect them
with the pai'ent country.

One of the worst things in the Houses of Assem-
bly in a small colony, is the paucity of questions of
importance for discussion. The result is, that the
time of the members is prostituted too frequently to
trifling and personal debates, in which they do not

NOVA SCOTIA.

sliow to advantage in the eyes of their constituents ;
and pubhc works are carried to a height of jobbery,
if one is to credit the successive oppositions, wliich
seems incredible. The railways of Nova Scotia,
which are built by Government, not by a company,
have, in addition to burdening the province with
debt, fmTiished food for debates and inflammatoiy
editorials, which, if collected, would equal in size a
very large library. Now all this brings constitutional
government down to a succession of stonns in a
saucer ; it is as if Macready or Kean were to act in
some children's charades. And il tends to keep out
of public life many men of talent and position, who
are too sensitive to allow their private life to be as-
sailed and laid bare. Yet it is wonderful to sec the
talent which one does meet in these Houses of Assem-
bly, considering the difficulties which are thrown in
their way. I have heard speakers in the Nova Sco-
tian House of Assembly, who would hold the ear of
our o^vn House of Commons, even on a budget night ;
and when hearing them I always felt a deep regret
that talent such as theirs should have so circum-
scribed a sphere of action ; for a mind cannot deal
with petty matters for ever, without a danger of be-
coming petty in its faculties.

There is one hope for such men yet ; it is that all
our American colonies may be ur**'^.d, and in a new
House of Assembly wider and nobler subjects may
call out the nobler minds — and in these minds call
out the nobler faculties. May that day soon come.

But I must leave this subject, into which I have
been carried at greater length than I had intended.
And in reading over what 1 iiave written, I am coh-

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

scious of an abruptness, and, so to speak, jerklness of
style, which generally accompanies one's opinions on
subjects which have been strongly considered, and on
wliicli strong views are entertained. Should this in-e-
gularity of style displease the reader, let me hope that
tlie sincerity of the wiiter, of which it is a symptom,
will in some measure atone for it.

I have spoken of the people and their government.
Let me next allude cursorily to their towns. In ad-
dition to Halifax, the metropolis, we have on tlie sea-
coast Annapolis, Digby, Liverpool, Lunnenburg,
Yarmouth, Guysboro', Windsor on the Avon near
the sea, Pictou, and in Cape Breton we have Sydney.
Of inland towns, Truro and Amherst are among the
most important. Annapolis is what is called a royal
city ; and the general commanding the forces in
the province draws a considerable salary as its go-
vernor.

Digby is situated on a pretty bay, and is celebrated
for its trade in a small herring, known as the Digby
chicken. Sydney is celebrated for its coal mines,
which are very extensive ; but are not the only coal
mines in Nova Scotia. If I remember right, it was
in some coal mine in Nova Scotia proper, that Pro-
fessor Dawson, the eminent geologist, found such ex-
cellent fossils, particularly stigmaria and sigillaria.
There are, in Cornwallis, two other pretty little
towns, Wolfville and Kentville, the latter of which is
situated in a hollow, and is painfully warm in sum-
mer. I cannot recapitulate the names of all the
little villages and towns in the province ; but in their
appearance, and in the monotony of the lives of the
inhabitants, there is a great similarity. With r*^.-

NOVA SCOTIA.

gard to the former of these features, the houses are
all of wood, painted white, and looking always clean
and comfortable ; the shops have as incongiiious a
medley in their windows as our shops have in coun-
tiy villages at home. There are always an abund-
ance of churches in the little towns, of different deno-
minations, but rather a scarcity of them in the thinly
settled districts. I came upon a settler's family near
a lake in the woods, who had been there some twenty
years, without a church to attend within many many
miles. Some of the children had been baptised by a tra-
velling missionary ; and some were waiting for a similar
chance. There is a dulness in these villages, which I
presume the inhabitants do not feel, but which I
confess weighed heavily on my spirits, when I had
occasion to spend any time in them. Among others,
I spent some days in Truro, at various times, and
had opportunities of studying the life and idiosyn-
crasies of the inhabitants. Being a terminus of one of
the lines of Nova Scotian railway, there was a little
more excitement in it than in most others ; but, as
far as I remember, the following was the routine
pursued daily by the male inhabitants ; and as the
town is built in a square, in which the hotel where
I was staying, and its neighbour the post-office^ occu-
pied a prominent position, I had excellent opportuni-
ties of studying their proceedings. After a little
badinage among themselves in the early morning,
they adjourned regularly en masse to meet the first
train from Halifax. This must have been a more
exhausting process than it looked, for the next pro-
ceeding was invariably to adjourn to the bar of my
hotel for refreshment. There they remained until

:tOil '1'

OUR OARRISOXS IX THE WEST.

i-l

(11

■

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the letters were sorted at tlie post-office, when each
secured liis own. Eveiy one got a penny daily papei',
which, according to his politics, was the Mornimj
Chronicle or British Colonist^ or any of tlie many
issued in the metropolis ; and I observed with amaze-
ment that all the letters were enclosed in yellow en-
velopes. This is the token, generally, of a bill in
Nova Scotia ; and I speculated as to whether Truro
subsisted on credit, or had an accumulation of back
debts unpaid. The time, until the arrival of the
second train, was spent in digesting the news ; and on
their return the second time from the station, they
congregated to fight the political battle in person,
varying the performance with constant refreshments.
The food at the Nova Scotiaii Inns is good, but mo-
notonous ; being on tlie " Toujours perdrix" system.
One day you had roast lamb and boiled fowl ; next
day, boiled lamb and roast fowl ; and so on, da capo.
I was particularly amused with the waitress at one of
the country inns, where I staid some ten days, and had
the everlasting bill of fare. She was a sort of gene-
ral slavey; made the beds, cooked the dinner, and
then, putting on a large collar of glass beads and
bugles (the only change in her costume, but in her
eyes I have no doubt a gorgeous livery), she brought
our food up and attended on us. But her attitude,
and the look on her face before uncovering, were
most ridiculous ; she looked as if defying you to
guess what new delicacy there was to-day, just as if,
from knowing yesterday's dinner, you did not too
well know to-day's. Have you ever seen the cun-
ning look of a thimblerigger, as he defies a bumpkin

NOVA SCOTIA.

to tell under which thimble the pea is? Then if
so, you know the expression of my waitress friend in
Acadia.

xVmherst is a pretty little place, and I should like
to have seen more of it. I was so unfortunate as to
pass thi'ough it three times at midnight, when going
overland to New Brunswick, so I could not judge
much of its merits or deficiencies. Tlie only time I
passed through it by daylight, I was more struck by
the abundance of turkeys in the fields round the
town, than by anything I saw in it ; because, if I re-
member right, I was prompted by a keen appetite to
devote the greater part of the time at my disposal
to a substantial meal in the hotel.

This same overland journey to New Brunswick
from Halifax, which is the only route one can take
in winter, owing to the impossibility of keeping up
the summer steam communication between Windsor
and St. John, is a novel and not unromantic style
of travelling. You go as far as Truro by train, and
then, after dining, you mount a large sleigh, and make
yourself as comfortable and warm as an abundance
of public buffalo robes and your own private wraps
will admit of. Should the weather look unsettled, you
will find a double-sized spirit-flask a great advantage.

The journey by daylight is same enough ; it is at
night that the novelty of the position asserts itself.
Particularly is this the case after leaving Amherst
which one does about two o'clock in the morning,
exchanging a blazing fire and cheerful room for a
dark, freezing night, an open sleigh, and a number of
fellow -passengers, wrapped up to an extent that makes
them look mammoths, not men.

III!

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

■' ,

rl\

Slioiily after reaching Amlicrst, I think you come
on tlic wide, bleak marsh of Tantamara, which, in the
darkness, looks like a level wliite and trackless plain,
across which it seems impossible that any living colicIi-
man could steer living horses. Should you got off
the track, or come upon a drift across the road (such
as you often find, many feet deep), the male pas-
sengers have frequently to get out, and tread down
the snow in front of the horses, to enable them to
move on. But before Amherst and Tantamara, you
come to the Cobequid mountains, the crossing of which
is an exciting and laborious task. Tlie shar}) turns in
the road; the dark forest through which the road
seems like a white and waving thread ; the utter and
deathlike silence, save the noise of our own horses'
bells ; the absence of any signs of human habitation
until you reach the summit of the mountain, where
there is a small house called Purdy's, v/here you change
horses; all this impresses you most forcibly, and I
found acted as a certain antidote to sleep. But Purdy's
itself is the most charming littl6 house I ever met in
my travels ; not from any architectural or luxurious ap-
pliances, but solely from its idea of what constitutes
a good fire. I never saw such fires as always are to be
found there ; the fireplace itself is as large as a good-
sized parlour, and it is piled with perfect trunks of trees,
round which the flames wander merrily, and the red
sparks ascend in clouds to a chorus of crackling^
which is as sweetest music to the half -frozen travellers.

I used to wonder what a Parisian housekeeper
would say on seeing such a fire, contrasting it with his
high-priced and miserable little fagots. We rushcv. o
it on amving, toasted ourselves thoroughly, and hung

NOVA SCOTIA.

up onr wraps to be thorourrhly warmed while we
should be at our supper. This meal being soon an-
nounced by our landlady, whose merry face was a
counterpart of the ruddy fire for cheerfulness, we
would attack it with relish, first pouring into our tea
— which, as a matter of course in Nova Scotia ac-
companied our supper — a couple of teaspoonfuls of
brandy to keep the night-air out ; no bad precaution,
I can tell you. Father Mathew. By the time we had
finished, we could hear the sounds of the horses' bells,
as the sleigh was being got ready ; and putting on
our snioking coats and comforters, pulling down our
ear-flaps, giving another warm to our toes, and, per-
haps, lighting a congenial pipe, we would go out into
the night, and mount into our seats with as great
comfort as if by our bedroom fire.

The amount of caloric we laid in at Purdy^s lasted
us the whole of the next stage ; and as a general rule,
after looking very fiercely awake for half an hour, we
would commence nodding, and soon be in a sweet,
unconscious sleep. This would be disturbed by the
sudden stoppage of our sleigh at Amherst, and by
finding our head in the pit of our opposite neigh-
bour's stomach. Our next stage would be Sackville,
an uncomfortable halting-place, and at Dorchester we
would breakfast ; but to compare Purdy's with Dor-
chester, would be to compare Hyperion with a satyr,
After breakfast, we would trot merrily on to IMonck-
ton, a station on the New Brunswick railwav ; but,
compared with the night, daylight and everything
seemed flat and tame ; our fellow-passengers were
cross, our venerable noses blue, and our feet cold.

A propos of the railways of Nova Scotia, I must

r i

100

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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say that there is a Scotch proverb wliich exemplifies
the rehitions between tliem and the province, namely,
the proverb relating to " Muckle cry, and little woo'."
There is a little over a hundred miles of railway in
the province, but owing to some cause which is unin-
telligible to an outsider, and many less important
reasons, which are easily understood, this undertaking
has burdened the province with a heavy debt, and
consequently heavy taxation, while it has irritated
opposing politicians, and been a cause of deferring —
perhaps for ever — many important acts of local legis-
lation. The pnmary error, undoubtedly, was the
making it a Government work, instead of leaving it
to a company. Heavy sums raised at six per cent.
on provincial debentures, make sad havoc with the
revenue of the country. And the next great error —
patent to all — is the custom too prevalent in our
colonies under the system of representative govern-
ment, of changing every official, however petty, at
every change of government. Ruinous as this system
has always proved in the United States, it bids fair
to be equally so in our colonies ; for no greater mis-
take can be committed than to displace an official as
soon as he is perfect in his duties, merely because
another party than that which appointed him comes
into power, who have other objects for their patronage.
I am afraid, however, that unless some change is made
in the law or in human nature, things will remain as
they are ; for however sensible the opinions of a party
on such matters may be when in opposition, they
undergo a woful change when in office.

The evil effects of the present system are palpable
in the generally inefficient way in which the lines are

iin as

party

L they

llpable
les are

NOVA SCOTIA.

101

worked. For slow rate of progression, I think tho
Nova Scotian lines of railway are as bad as the Grand
Trunk, and I can say no worse ; while for indifferent
accommodation at the stations, and for want of taste
in the route selected, I think, in Yankee phraseology,
they whip the world. I am led also to believe by tho
statements of successive governments on taking office,
that the roads and the rolling stock are neglected and
starved, in order that the returns of revenue and ex-
penditure may appear favourable to the public.

Leaving the railways, let us go to the shipping of
the province. This is in a fair way of becoming very
extensive, and should the threatened separation of the
Northern and Southern States take place, I have no
doubt that a great part of the carrying trade of
these countries will fall to Nova Scotia. Ship-build-
ing, if I may judge by recent journals, is making a
rapid progress, and the vessels built are of no despicable
tonnage. Steam communication is kept up between
Nova Scotia and England, as well as the United
States, Bermuda, Newfoundland, Prince Edward's
Island, and New Brunswick ; and sailing packets run
regularly between the province and the States, as
well as New Brunswick, and, during the seasons, lung-
land, Malaga, and the West Indies. The fish trade
of Nova Scotia, although injured by oui' treaty with
the States, is still very extensive, particularly with the
West Indies. A good many coasting vessels are em-
ployed in the coal trade, and the coal brought from
Sydney is of a very fair quality, although inferior to
English coal.

There is a considerable trade from Prince Edward's
Island to Halifax in potatoes and oysters ; and be-

102

OUR GARUISONS IN THE WKST.

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tween Cornwallis and the States in potatoes and fniit.
A system of agricultuial exliibitions — patronised by
the government, and well attended — bids fair to raise
the agriculture of the province to a much higher \h>-
bition than it now occupies.

But tliere are many bleak and rooky districts in
Nova Scotia which forbid the softening hand of the
agriculturist, and which can never be wrinkled by the
toiling j)lough. Here, what nature has refused in one
respect she has made up in another ; and the mineral
riches of Nova Scotia may fonn a more brilliant, if
not a more valuable feature in her futm'e career, than
the slow and sure riches of am'icultui'e.

The Nova Scotian gold mines are now very exten-
sively worked, and although accounts vary as to thei
remunerative qualities, there is a strong evidence in
tlieir favour in the numerous companies and private
sjieculators at work in every direction. On this sub-
ject, however, the best information can be obtained
readily from the provincial authorities — so diy details
may be spared in a work like this. But there are
other mineral sources of wealth, which, if not so
fascinating, are no less real and important. Coal,
limestone, grindstone, granite, even marble, are items
which are welcome on a nation's capital account ; and
in addition to amethysts there are rumours, approach-
ing certainty, of other precious stones being found
throughout the province. In some of the small rivers
of Cornwallis, pearls are found, although I believe not
in sufficient quantities to entitle the dealings in them
to be called a trade.

But as, to people in England, it is the agi'icultural —
not the mineral — wealth of Nova Scotia which is un-

NOVA SCOTIA.

103

known, I must recur boforc concluding to that point.
Thero is land, and thoro is clinuite in Nova Scotia,
equal to the best at home ; and what is equally im-
portant, there are plenty of markets. For the capi-
talist there are certain returns in the fanns of many
parts of the province ; and for the laboui'er there is
no lack of high wages. And what Nova Scotia needs,
and needs badly, is an influx of capital and of skilled
labour. Not a speculative capital, but such as will bo
sunk in the province, and will do it and the capitalist
both good ; and not a supply of needy and ignorant
workmen, but of artizans and stout-limbed farm
labourers. With the internal resources of Nova
Scotia properly worked, and the fisheries maintained
at their present height, there would be bright da} s in
store for its inhabitants.

104

1 'ii

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Ml:

CHAPTER VI.

IN THE TRACKS OF LONGFELLOW.

Nought but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grandpre.
* * * * *

Still stands the forest primeval, but under the shade of its branches
Dwells another nation with other customs and language.

I make no apology for asking my reader to step
aside from the observation of more practical matters,
to the contemplation of a scene which the genius of
a living poet has rendered hallowed ground.

It is the proud gift of poetic talent to animate with
its o^vn fire, and render sacred by the power of its
own associations, even dull, uninteresting localities,
and ignoble and miserable subjectb. But when the
theme it selects to adorn, and to paint in glowing
verse, and in undying colours, is one aided by a back-
ground of natural beauty, and by a tale of gallant
entiirance and unmerited suffering, then, indeed,
poetry speaks to the heart of man more surely than
the most impassioned direct appeal, and inspires every
little relic, whether of scenery or history, belonging to
the subject, with a v«lue such as hovers over the

IN THE TRACKS OF LONGFELLOW.

105

memorials of a lost friend, the toys and garments of
a dead child, the letters and sayings of a lost love !

I know no poem which more readily reached the
hearts of all classes of readers, than the beautiful
one of Evangeline. It does net owe an adventitious
success to its peculiar metre ; for in EngUsh verse the
hexameter is an unwieldy and halting rhyme. It
owes all to the plaintive beauty of the story, and to
the simple mode in which the poet tells it. Its heroes
and heroines are humble, their only nobility being
that derived from their sufferings, but there is no in-
consistency in the description of their lives and lan-
guage, and the very similes of the poet are borrowed
from the scenery and every-day circumstances, amid
which, not he himself, but the subjects of his poem
dwelt. And yet what analogies could be more simply
beautiful, or more successful in their appeal to a
reader's fancy? Take, for instance, that beautiful
illustration of the farmers' lives in the opening of
the poem :

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands,
Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven.

It is a marked feature of the best poets of our day
—Tennyson, Longfellow, ; nd also in a high degree
the author of a " Life Drama," that they shower over
their poems, like gold-dust, a sprinkling and abund-
ant supply of images borrowed from the scenes
of nature in the midst of which their own and
their readers' lives are spent. And as it is too com-
mon with us to leave to posterity the task of ana-
lyzing the poetry of our age, and of marking its
idiosyncrasies, one can picture the fond students of
these poets learning — owing to this their characteris-

V 1

106

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

|i ii ^

ii'' -MlJ-

M {

vril

tic — that not merely to sing of men and arms has
the Genius of Poetry come among men, but to paint
with undying tints the every-day life of a people in
all their little joys and sorrows, while showing side by
side all the beauties in their rivers and woodlands which
charmed them, with all the domestic habits which
ruled them. Thus shall we see return, even in these
practical ages, something akin to the manners of old,
when poetry was the vehicle in which history descended
to succeeding generations, or when it wandered about
with aged minstrels and hoary harpers alike into the
halls of the great, and the cabins of the poor.

There is always something sad in the dispersion of
a people or a family. There is a melancholy cadence
in the words of Scripture, " The land that knoweth
them now, shall know them again no more for exor.^'
Even in applying these words to the case of a family
leaving their native land for a far one with a certainty
of bettering their condition, it still sounds mournful ;
for there are ties between us and the land of om*
birth which sit hghtly, until ^trained by absence, or
tightened to irksomeness by circumstances which for-
bid return. But when, as in the story of Evangeline,
we see a simple people warned at a short notice to
leave the land of their birth, and that land so fair ;
to abandon their happy homes with all their primitive
household gods ; and, what to a simple people is more
trying than all, to forsake their dead, and leave their
ashes to sacrilegious hands ; and all this for the
stern prospect of strange lands and poverty — ah !
then the poetry secures our warmest sympathies, and
every step in the tale, every scene associated with
their sufferii:^s, becomes as it were our o^vu, and is

IN THE TRACKS OF LONGFELLOW.

107

.^j

tair

(•lasslfied with everything we prize or feel for most
strongly.

The beautiful village of Grandpr^ ! To be near it,
the place read of so many thousand miles awa}^ in the
long winter evenings, until our fancy had rebuilt it
in our minds, sometimes with the old father blessing
the children in the streets, sometimes as it was in that
gloomy day of the mournful exodus to the sea-shore
and the cruel ships. And yet to find, when close to
it, that gaping peasants and ignorant shopmen stared
as we asked for it, as if we had spoken in Greek ; or
" guessed that they did'nt know ; it war'nt to there-
abouts."

Quaintly does Bacon, in talking of the vicissitudes
of things, say that after any great destruction at a
place " it is further to be noted, that the remnant of
people which haj) to be reserved, are commonly igno-
rant and mountainous people, that can give no account
of the time past, so that the oblivion is all one, as if
none had been left." And although there may be
much of romance in the tale of Evangeline, and the
historical value of the leading circumstances be some-
what doubtful, still, coming to the scene of what is
among us in England a household word, and finding
it less familiar than to a Hindoo, would have been
most depressmg, had it not been aggravating.

It was but the other day that, running over a col-
lection of favourite poetical quotations, I found the
great majority were culled from this identical poem ;
and yet here, in the continent where Longfellow was
born, within a few fields of where the opening scene
of the poem is situated, to be greeted in answer to our
eager inquuies v xth the open mouth and listless man-

108

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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ner of stclid ignorance, did seem — perhaps unrea-
sonably — somewhat hard to bear.

And my ultimate informant was a Yankee skipper,
who, like his countrymen when they travel, as they
almost all do, had travelled to some purpose. It
really makes one blush sometimes, in conversing with
an intelligent Yankee, to find how much better they
know the places of historical or other interest, even in
one's own country, than oneself. And though it may
be said, and often truly, that these Yankees merely
do these sights, yet we do not even do that.

Grandpre is, or rather was, on the left bank of the
Avon, a small tidal river falling — if so small a river
can be said to fall — into the Basin of Minas. The
latter is more properly called the Basin of Mines, and
in it rises the tall crest of Blomidon, a large island-
mountain, whose rocky sides abound in amethysts.

The Basin of Minas is merely an extremity of the
Bay of Fundy, and like it, undergoes that enormous
tidal influence so well known to physical geographers,
and reaching to fifty or sixty feet.

Windsor, the head-quarters of the tourist to Grand-
pre, is a small, pretty town, also on the Avon, but
more inland than the scene of Evangeline's expulsion ;
it is now the terminus of a line of railway from Hali-
fax, a little over forty miles in length, which commu-
nicates with steamers from New Brunswick, plying
about eight months in the year, and thus economising
time and space to the '^^'aveller, in comparison with the
overland route which is elsewhere described. If I
remember right, the fare from Halifax to St. John,
New Brunswick, by this route, is about twenty-six
shillings sterling.

IN THE TRACKS OF LONGFELLOW.

109

Owing to the enormous ebb and flow in the river
Avon, Windsor must be described as a startling place
to an unprepared traveller. You arrive, perhaps, in
the afternoon, and while dinner is preparing you go
down to the wharves, a few paces from the door, and
see a broad sheet of red, muddy water, a steamer un-
loading with great bustle, schooners getting ready to go
out with the tide, and every sign of commercial prospe-
rity and maritime tumult. You then dine, spend an
hour over the paper, adjourn to the bar, which in Am -
rica is the lounge for the male part of t^o coinmunity,
and then while away another half -hour with your
coffee or unpacking your portmanteau, until, catching
a glimpse of a splendid moon through the window, you
resolve on a cigar by the water-side. Away you go,
strolling towards the wharf at which you saw the
steamer — reach it; you stop in amazement and rub
your eyes, for lo ! no steamers, no noise, no schooners,
and above all, no water! You pinch your arm to
see if you are in a dream ; but no, it gives you im-
mediate evidence to the contrary ; so there you stand
for a good half-hour, cigar in hand and fcn'gotten,
looking at a red field of mud sixty feet below you,
and extending far on every side, with a little thread
of water stealing down the centre, hardly broad
enough to reflect the moon to your astonished
vision I

Such being the case, it is a matter of no surprise
that frequently, owing to fogs or head-winds, passen-
gers on board the steamer losing one tide have to wait
twelve hours in imjiotent anger beyond the river's
mouth. And until modified by the introduction of
new boats, I know few places where, even under

110

OUR GAKRISONS IN THE WEST.

favourable external circumstances, one could spend
twelve hours to ^cater disadvantage.

Let me go back a few years to my first weary
night on that dreadful Bay of Fundy, and recal some
of the discomforts of a venerable steamer which, thank
heavcji, is now affording state-cabins gratis to the
dwellers at the bottom of the bay, who are in this
respect more fortunate than their superficial brethren.
Her name wrts the Creole, and in every respect was
she out of place in those rough seas which are to be
found generally between Nova Scotia and New Bnins-
wick. Let me see, too ; I think the creature had a
history of some sort — had been a pirate, or was en-
gaged in some Mexican expedition ; at all events, the
steward made some such assertion in his communica-
tive moments ; and to judge by the creaking and
groaning of its aged timbers, the vessel seemed con-
siderably distressed for the sins of its youth. I be-
lieve that for years before she went down, people
would have felt no surprise if the usual announce-
ment in the journals of her sailing had been replaced
by one to the effect that owing to her expected de-
cease having come off at last, there would be no
trip this week : so there was a spice of suspense and
excitement in going on board her, which tended at
once to relieve the monotony of the voyage, and to
deepen the warmth and affection of one's adieux. I
have been told that a class of brigs, which in old
times carried the mails' between Falmouth and Ame-
rica, rejoiced in the soubriquet of "His Majesty's
Coffins," and I am sure that this would have been no
misi mer in the case of the Creole. In the moments
dming which the unhappy landsman is, by a wild

IN THE TRACKS OF LONGFELLOW.

Ill

no
and
ed at
nd to

nx. I
n old
Ame-

esty's
en no
nents
wild

stretch of fancy, supposed to be sweetly sleeping on
board ship during a short voyage, he is too often
listening, with not a little uneasiness, to the dull ham-
mer of the waves against the two or three inches of
plank which separates his pillow from the cold grey
water, and on board the Creole there was no doubt
about this being the constant occupation of every
cabin occupant.

Tlie waves thundered against the crazy beams on
which the tea-trays, called state-berths, were sus-
pended, until you felt them give, and expected every
moment the cold plasli of water over your uneasy car-
cass. I forget whether I was sea-sick or not that
voyage ; but I remember attempting to partake of a
meal on board. Tliis may have been done as a ciu^
for the malady, for constant stuffing is supposed, by
some heathen, to be a remedy ; but whether it was so
or not, of this I am sure, that even to a sound and
healthy digestion, a meal on board the Creole would
have acted as a most idolent emetic. Down, far
down, in a part of the vessel where nothing but rats
and parboiled stewards could exist with comfort — in
a cabin whose sides were lined with the berths of
gentlemen in more or less advanced stages of illness,
you saw, by the flickering light of a suspended lamp,
the meal which was to entice your appetite or charm
away your sufferings. And that meal ! Those cubic
inches of steak, heated over and over again to suc-
ceeding lots of passengers until no trace of their ori-
ginal juiciness remained ; those awful little dishes,
containing about three sections of a potato, arranged
as if to display in a concise form the more advanced
stages of the potato disease; those warm, yellow

112

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

I .u

squares of Indian meal-cake, whose appearance and
taste so strongly resembled brown Windsor soap, tlif^.t
one expected every moment to see the assembled com-
pany produce their razors and attack their neglected
beards. The tea and coffee — Scylla and Charybdis,
for you were allowed your choice of evils — and the
horrible accompaniment to every meal served in Yan-
kee fashion — Rggs, in almost a raw state, beat up in a
tumbler, as if for a pudding, by travellers of both
sexes, and then, impregnated with pepper, swallowed
wholesale. Who can give a just description of the
horrors of the scene ?

AM'ay ! away to the cold deck, up that faithless,
unsteady companion ; and now, like a dream, dreamed
in bygone years, rises grey and slowly the picture of
this first night on the tossing Bay of Fundy. Wrap-
ping my plaid around me, and crouching on the stem
of the vessel, I watched the heaving sea, and the dull
leaden sky, where no star had yet hung out its silver
lamp, and whence no ray of the moon had commenced
to search in glittering path among the crests of the
tumbling waves. Every now and then I would catch
a glimpse of some bleak point of the shore, where,
like champions held back from combat, the lowering
rocks with stately pride, scowl at one another over
the restless waters. And like a ghost in the night-
watches, out comes Blomidon the Mighty from his
robe of mist, and more deeply darkens the sky

before us,

away to the northward,

where, as Longfellow sings :
Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty Atlantic !

IN THE TRACKS OF LONGFELLOW.

113

And so, after this circumlocution, we come back to
it and Evangeline and Grandpr^.

Of course we do not expect to find the \'illage of
Grandpre now. We have not forgotten that wild
description of the hour when

Columns of shining smoke arose, and flashes of flame were
Thrust through their folda and withdrawn, like the quivering hands
of a martyr !

Such a day as this, as might well be described in
the nervous language of Sallust : " Rapi virgines,
pueros, divelli liberos a parentum complexu, matres
familiainim pati quae victoribus collibuissent,fana atque
domos spoliari, csedem, incendia fieri, postremo armis,
cadaveribus, cruore atque luctu omnia compleri."

But still, although desolation succeeded these happy
homes, like wandering through the study or favourite
haunts of a departed friend, one fain would linger
among the fields where the village was, or by the
shore of that bay where on that day of sorrow

The ships with their wavering shadows were riding at anchor.

Or, when the stormwind is up and blowing, one would
fain hear in the voice of the turbulent waters, the
same wail

Which, with a mournful sound like the voice of a vast congregation,
Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its roar with the dirges,
' Twas the returning tide that afar from the waste of the ocean.
With the first dawn of the day came heaving and hurrying land-
ward.

The fields are green there now ; and the sea speaks
the same ; and the story must linger in the poet's
words, where the Acadians were not permitted to
linger ; but the forest is gone, and the simple homes,

1^'.

■

■ i

, I

! 1;

114

OUR GARRISONS IX THE WEST.

: ■ (

ii-

and the pure hearts. And hush! as we look, the
clouds part, and as of old to Evangeline —

Wc sec serenely the moon pass
Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow her footstej)."*,
As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered with Ha;,'nr!

But the original Acadians are not extinct even in
Nova Scotia, then* former home. Scattered in dif-
ferent parts of the i)rovince, but not mingling ^vit]l
the English settlers, retaining their religion, their
primitive manne.o, their picturesque costume made
after the fashion of old Nonnandv, whence the
French Acadians originally came, they live a peaceful,
subdued, and primitive life, their men honest, their
women singularly chaste. A good many are to be
found in Annapolis county, and a small colony of
them live at Chezetcook, not far from Halifax. Any
morning the Acadian women may be seen in the
streets of the town with baskets of fruit, or knitted
stockings or comforters, which they expose quietly for
sale, without impoilunity or haggling. Their costume
is a thick blue flannel petticoat, reaching to a little
above the ankles (not a vestige of crinoline, ladies),
a short blue jacket, a gaudy neckerchief tied bonnet-
like over the head, thick woollen stockings, and heavy-
soled shoes. Their manners and countenance are
quiet almost to melancholy; and though the dark
faces of their young women are often very beautiful,
and the black eyes of all are bright and sparkling, I
never saw anything approaching to coquetry among
them. Indeed, as I have already mentioned, they
always struck me as being a sad and subdued people :
and if one could fancy a whole people dazed with
some soiTow, as we so frequently see an individual,

V^ ^

IN THE TRACKS OF LONGFELLOW.

115

such a people does this French Acadian tribe seem to
be. They are verj' much influenced by their priests,
but I am glad to say that this influence is not turned
to any evil political end. Their domestic habits, I
am Sony to say, are not of the cleanest, and too many
crowd under one roof, as among the French Cana-
dians ; but no impropriety of conduct, nor looseness
of morals seems to result from thek crowded homes,
and the necessary mingling of the sexes.

Among the districts surrounding Grandpre from
Windsor to Horton, a distance of about twelve miles,
there are many traces of the original French settlers.
As in Canada, this is shown by the long lines of
poplars, so in Nova Scotia they are to b^ traced by
the abundance of orchards. From Windsor ail round
the shore to Annapolis through Comwallis, we find
these orchards at different points, and the high repu-
tation for fruit which Nova Scotia has obtained is to
be attributed chiefly to the original French settlers.
To show the value of Nova Scotian fruit, I may
mention an anecdote which was related to me. A
gentleman in Halifax anxious to get some remarkably
good apples for some dinner, sent to the New York
market, commissioning a friend in that city to procure
him the very best, totally regardless of expense, but
he stipulated that the place where the apples were
grown which might be selected, should be m( ationed
to him on forwarding them. The friend complied
with the conditions, and considering the numerous
fruit-growing districts whose produce finds its way to
the New York market, the Nova Scotian gentleman
was both surprised and pleased to find that the apples

116

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

wliicli ])orc off the palm, were grown in In's native
province, in the county of Cornwallis.

This little village, Ilorton, which I have mentioned
as being in the district round Grandpre, is situated
on the Basin of Minas, and is divided into Upper and
Lower Horton. Not being so high up a river as
Windsor, it is more convenient in many respects than
the latter for embarkation. On one occasion, being
anxious to cross the Basin of Minas on a sporting ex-
pedition to Parrsboro', I found on my arrival at
Windsor that the river was blocked up by ice, and
that, therefore, the steamer could not enter. I was
warned that my only chance was to drive on to
Horton, which I did, and fortunately persuaded the
proprietor of a small schooner to put me across. In
later times, the little village of Horton was honoured
by being made the port of embarkation for the Prince
of Wales, when en route from Halifax to New Bruns-
wick

It may not be uninteresting to some of my readers
to learn, in connexion with the little town of Windsor,
that in addition to its being the site of the university
mentioned in another chapter, it was once on a time
a garrison town, and even yet contains the remnant
of an old blockhouse, dignified by the name of a fort,
but now, like the skull of poor Yorick, " quite chap-
fallen ! "

In Windsor, also, resided for some years the im-
mortal Sam Slick ; indeed, the inn in which I stayed
on my first visit, now succeeded by a mammoth rail-
way hotel, was part of that comic judge's property.

117

CHAPTER VII.

NEW BRUNSWICK.

Having been sent in command of a small detach-
ment of artillery scattered over this province, I had
opportunities of studying it thoroughly, and some of
my impressions I propose giving in this chapter.

New Bnmswick is a larger, and in an agricultural
point of view, a finer province than Nova Scotia;
although the latter contains one county — Cornwallis
— wealthier by its natural advantages than any part
of the former. The distinctive superiority of New
Brunswick lies in the size of its rivers, just as that of
Nova Scotia lies in the splendour of its harbom's.
The chief rivers of the former are the St. John, the
Restigouche, and the Nipisiquit; the first of these
being navigable to steamers for more than one hundred
miles from its mouth, and constituting, when frozen
over in winter, a large natural highway, which opens
up the resources of the country. The other two are

■tr;;

118

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

1 !

more famous than it for the excellence of the fishing
they afford, the tales of sport on them being almost
incredible to those who, like most of us, consider a
salmon or two a very good day's work. I knew one
party of three rods — not very good sportsmen — who
in one day took thirty -five salmon. The great value
of rivers in a new country, is the facility they afford
for bringing out of the interior the timber procured
from the woods as they yield to the encroachments of
the various clearings. The trade in this timber, or,
as it is called, lumber, ' • one of the chief items of the
entire trade of the province, and the harbour of St.
John is surrounded by saw-mills, and wharves for
loading vessels with deals. This harbour of St. John
affords a melancholy instance of human discontent.
For, be it known to my reader, this city is the com-
mercial capital of the province, although not the seat
of government, and between it and Halifax, the
capital of Nova Scotia, there has always been a con-
siderable emulation and r' ab^-. Being of much the
same size, and within a short distance of one another,
as distances go in America, the rivalry produces a
little ill-feeling, fostered on both sides by the remarks
of a thoughtless press. Now, to a disinterested indi-
vidual, each city seems possessed of so many advan-
tages perfectly different and peculiar to each, that
quarrels seem out of place. But, instead of St. John
being satisfied with the magnificent river at whose
mouth it is situated, whose waters are equal to all the
running watei*s of Nova Scotia together, they must
needs claim credit for their harbour being equal to
that of Halifax. This seems so ridiculous to one who
has no personal feelmg to gi'atify either way, that

|l ', ' !i

NEW BRUNSWICK.

119

we hesitate whether to wonder most at the audacity
of the New Brunswickers, or the folly of the Nova
Scotians in condescending to argue the point. But it
is often argued, and sometimes in the most ludicrous
way. I remember, on one occasion, the people of
Halifax invested in a steam-tug for the aid of their
shipping. Owing to the width of their harbour, even
at its mouth, this investment was somewhat super-
fluous, for the largest vessel could beat in and out
with ease ; and while the tide is far from strong, it is
also unimportant, on account of the ample depth of
water throughout. The tug has, therefore, had to
eke out the profits from its lejjiHmate traffic by making
pleasure-trips up Bedford Basin, and along the coast
to the various gold-diggings now in operation. How-
ever, when the Halifax press announced the intended
purchase o^ the tug, the delight of the St. John
papers was unbounded. Rushing into extravagant
leading articles, they announced with yells of triumph
that the harbour of their good city boasted of about a
dozen. There is nothing like making the best of an
evil ; and the St. John editors commenced by ignoring
the evils of their harbour, and then boasted of the
remedies they had found requisite I

So might one deny the existence of headache, and
yet proclaim the number of pills it had rendered
necessary. For the harbour of St. John is a tidal
one, the tide flowing to the height of fifty or sixty
feet with all the force of an impetuous stream, and
hard work would it be for any ship to beat against
that tide, or even to sail against it with the fairest
wind that was ever let loose from the caves of ^olus.
Hence then' tugs ; and feeble must have been their

. !

120

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

■i

M J

!*•■!

reasoning powers who hurled, by way of boast, tlieir
existence in the teeth of their rivals. Truly it was
a foolish proceeding ; for even in the harbour itself,
apart from the magnificent river, there are not a few
causes for just pride. That very tide which sweeping
in and out in such volume leaves the mud at the foot
of the wharves bare twice a day, constitutes thereby
a natural dry dock, whose virtues go fai* to make up
for the other disadvantages. Had the editors boasted
of this instead of their steam-tugs, they would have
shown themselves as wise in their generation as that
Mayor of their city, who, learning that Her Majesty's
ship Hero with the Prince of Wales on board had
grazed off Quebec, telegraphed at once to offer the
harbour of St. John as a dock for inspection and re-
pair. Such an advertisement would be worth a year
of inflammatory editorials. Unfortunately, the press
on the other side is far from blameless; for it uses
the presence of our large North American squadron
every summer as a taunt against their neighbours;
whereas the sole reason, I believe, for selecting it in
preference to the other is its geographical position;
the inducements and facilities for desertion to the
Yankees being greater at St. John, and the British
tar not having yet attained that height of patriotism,
which would enable him to despise the dollars which
go hand-in-hand with the stars and stripes, even while
himself serving under that haughty banner which has
braved so many thin.Q;s a thousand years.

The presence of that ill-fated ship, the Great
Eastern^ in Halifax harbour was a sad blow to St.
John ; but as, owing to some preposterous mistake on
the part of the Nova Scotian authorities, the great

NEW BRUNSWICK.

121

ship left in a few hours boihng with rage, it was not
made such an occasion of boasting by the Haligonians
as it otherwise would have been.

But a soothing and eke a proud moment was it for
St. John when imder the stimulus of the " Trent "
affair, transport after transport landed its living
freight on their wharves en route for Canada ; and
right well did they earn this poor reward for their
staunch patriotism, at a t' ^ i when the outbreak of
hostilities with the United States would have ruined
their commerce, desolated their hearths, and made a
shambles of their fertile territory. After the sight
of their volunteers of all classes shouldering with
ready glee the baggage of the troops who had come
across the sea to fight by their sides, and with the re-
collection still fresh of banquet after banquet in their
honour, until one began to fear that in St. John the
English army would find a Capua — one would be
glad if, instead of an occasional gunboat in their
harbour, they might have a squadron for evermore ;
and in place of a single battery, and half a regiment,
they might have a second Aldershott hutted among
them by the green shores of the beautiful Kennebe-
casis. And the WTiting of this long and breakneck
word reminds me that I am at my old trade of
wandering from the subject more immediately in hand.

Now, in commencing a desciiption of a province,
I consider it best to begin with its capital. And
although de facto the capital of New Brunswick is
Fredericton, yet de jure St. John undoubtedly de-
serves the title. For although the former contains
the seat of government, the governor's residence, &c.,
yet it is but a village some eighty miles up the river,

122

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

'iii'lll

while St. John is a city of some forty thousand in-
habitants, and any street in it could buy up the whole
of Fredericton. Undoubtedly the last-named is more
picturesque; St. John having few claims to be con-
sidered so; and perhaps it is desirable in a new
country to use such levers as the presence of the
governor, and Houses of Assembly, for opening up
the interior ; but in reality, Fredericton is no more
the capital of the province than Windsor or Osborne,
compared with London, is of England.

St. John is built with considerable irregularity on
a hill, but contains a good many tolerably large streets.
The chief business thoroughf ai-es are Prince William-
street, King-^^treet, and Dock-street; and the favourite
streets for private residences are Germain, Charlotte,
and Sychiey-streets with Queen' s-square. There are
several good banks, the most handsome being the
new Bank of British North America, in Prince
William-street. At the comer of this last-named
street, near the reading room, and not far from the
Post-office and Telegraph-office, it is the custom for
business men much to congregate for the pm*pose of
deep and earnest conversation. I have an impression
that this is the Stock Exchange of St. John, but I
always regard with awe anything of that description,
and have a painful feeling when near such a group,
of being an irreligious and uninitiated interloper. I
would rather have plunged into the Maelstrom to
pull a friend out, than have attempted to extricate
him from the solemn group that always seemed to
stand at Chubb's corner. If I could not avoid pass-
ing near this spot, and felt called on by the courtesies
of life to say, " Good morning" to any of the indi-

NEW BRUNSWICK.

123

viduals there assembled, I would do so hysterically,
and feel as if I were guilty of a commercial sacrilege.
Had I been told afterwards that my flippant remark
had done something injurious to exchange, or played
the old Harry with deals, or that by inteiTupting the
remarks of some capitalist I had done something of-
fensive to ships' bottoms (a most important item, I
understand, in this good city), I should have felt no
surprise, but much penitence. In fact, so cheap did 1
hold myself when nea' this comer, that, but for one
circumstance, I should have for ever forfeited my self-
esteem, although that is no easy faculty to knock
out of a Scotchman. The means of its rescue was
as follows : Weather permitting, it was my custom
once a week to march my twenty men into the
country in the very heaviest marching order possible.
I would have gone miles out of my way then rather
than avoid that comer. I felt at these moments that
though my band was smaU, still they and I were re-
presentative men of a body which has created panics
among stocks, as well as foes ; and not deals, not
grain, not King Cotton himself, would have lowered
my pride there.

When away from the scene of these gi-ave and
solemn meetings, I could not help marvelling at
these gentlemen selecting "Sub Jove" to transact
their business, when so many spacious halls were
languishing empty around them. Could it be that
it was to enable Mr. A. to rush unnoticed to tele-
graph if the miUionaire, Mr. B., smiled, or to enable
Mr. 0. quietly to draw his last dollar from that neigh-
bouring bank if he detected gloom on the face of one
of its directors ? Or, is it that speculation is, pliysi-

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124

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

hJi

. .1.

cally as well as mentally, a feverish pursuit, and that
the investments of capital are made no less in a
draft than by a cheque? One thing I know, that
it happening one winter night to snow so heavily
that, aided by the wind on the following morning,
some six or seven feet deep of snow were banked on
this important spot, and all standing room was thus
prohibited, I never saw so sad a sight as the counte-
nances of the desolate merchants at every door and
window, their agonised features revealing harrowing
tales of speculations suppressed, and of undertaken
transactions left involuntarily in statu quo. Truly,
if everything is vanity and vexation of spirit, to me
maxima vanitas is Chubb's Comer !

The hotels of St. John are numerous and tolerably
good. For one making a hurried visit perhaps the
best and most convenient is Stubbs's; but, if a long
visit is proposed, the comforts of privacy and good
attendance are to be met with at the Waverley. Cabs
are abundant in St. John, and comfortable ; but here
for the first time, I met with the custom of turning
cabs into omnibuses at all the steam-boat landings
and the railway stations, and of compelling you to
pay for four seats if you object to have any one
thrust into the vehicle which you fondly hoped was
your own private property for the time. They have
all a pair of horses, and, being built in the States, are
all covered with a preposterous amount of plating and
ornament, the tendency of which, in a stranger's eyes,
is to make the Jehus appear, if possible, more vilely
attired than they really are, and that implies a bathos
of degradation in dress which is almost incredible.

The fortifications of St. John are not in so good a

II \i

NEW BRUNSWICK.

125

state as they would probably have been, had our Go-
vernment kept up a decent garrison during the last few
years. An island called Partridge Island lies off the
mouth of the harbour, and constitutes a strong natural
defence. It has a powerful armament in very weak
batteries ; and on the island there is in addition a
lighthouse, a powerful steam fog-whistle — producing
the most appalling noises ever heard by man — and a
quarantine hospital. The name. Partridge Island,
is not uncommon along the eastern shores of the
lower provinces ; and the two of the name with
which I am acquainted, afford the most glaring cases
of lucus a non lucendo I ever met with.

Partridges, indeed ! You are as likely to meet an
apteryx or a dodo !

The barracks are very good for their size, and are
situated to the south-east of the town, with a large
green parade in front reaching to the sea, and bounded
by three batteries, rejoicing in the names of the Dor-
chester, Mortar, and Graveyard batteries. The latter
gloomy title arises from a tradition that beneath the
gi'ound on which it is built were huddled many years
ago the bodies of those who fell victims to a severe epi-
demic. These barracks were rather permitted to go to
seed when the garrison was reduced to a few gun-
ners ; but the influx of troops at the time of the
Trent affair, caused them to be freshened up a little,
although they proved far inadequate to the de-
mands made on them by the troops pouring through.
Across the harbour, on an eminence, is an old
block-house called Carleton Tower ; and on a neck of
land to the south of the harbour, the authorities are
at present engaged in erecting powerful batteries, to

1 1

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126

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

be called, I understand, the Negrohead Forts. The
remains of an old fort, now used as a magazine, and
called Fort Howe, situated at the head of the harbour,
completes the catalogue of our defences for what in
case of war with the Yankees would prove a priceless
situation to retain, and constitute an irreparable loss
if captured. It would be a great matter for our
prestige, for the safety of our shipping, and the ad-
vantage of our colonists, did each of our chief colonial
harbom's contain a permanent iron -clad blockship
moored across, as an offensive and defensive weapon
against an enemy's fleet. Sea-going qualities need
not be insisted on; even rigging could be dispensed
with ; for there is no reason why they should not be
built in the hai'bours they are intended to protect ;
and yet in their armed inertia, they would be a
powerful addition to the land batteries, and a rallying
spot for merchantmen.

I had almost omitted, however, to mention, that
there are on charge, and in the hands of the volun-
teers, a good many field-pieces complete, and, from
what I saw of the volunteer artillery of New
Brunswick, they could not be trusted in better
hands.

The public city buildings are not very numerous.
There is, however, a tolerable Mechanics' Institute,
where courses of lectures are delivered every winter,
and which contains a library, and the nucleus of a
museum. The Roman Catholic cathedral is a very
handsome building; nor has it a rival in the form
of a Protestant one, the latter building being at
Fredericton, the bishop's see. The chief English
churches in St. John are Trinity, St. James's, the

NEW BRUNSWICK.

127

Stone church, and the Valley church. Tliere are
here, as in most American cities, an enormous number
of dissenters.

There is a large building coiTesponding to the
Palais de Justice, a prison, and across the river, near
the suspension bridge, a large lunatic asylum. It is
painful, although not astonishing, the number of
lunatics in the lower provinces of British North
America. It arises much, I believe, from constant
intermarriage ; and I have no doubt is aided in the
to^vns and \T[llages by habits of constant intemperance.
When will our colonists throw away the vile and too
prevalent habit of " nipping" spirits from morn till
night, and take, like their fathers, to beer ?

The first object to which you would be driven by a
native, is the Suspension Bridge over the rapids of
the St. John river. This is a fine specimen of work-
manship, but although much larger, is not I think so
pictui'esque as the bridge at the Grand Falls, some
one Imndi'ed and fifty miles further up the river.
The whole of the road traffic to Gagetowii and Fre-
dericton passes over this bridge ; and in summer, not-
withstanding the steamers plying day and night on
the river, this is by no means inconsiderable. The
rapids over which the bridge is swung, are at low
water considerably beneath it, and almost merit the
name of a waterfall. But an amusing circumstance,
although useful withal, is that at high tide the water
rises so much that the current actually runs the other
way ; the inequality of the river's surface disappearing,
the falls invisible, while steamers and sailing vessels
ply up with ease. I was stupefied the second time I
crossed the bridge, having seen it first at low water,

128

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

and now at high, without having been warnt-^^ >f the
peculiarity.

So much at present for the city itself, and now a
word or two on tlie inhabitants.

Were, in these days (,f competitive examination,
the various bishoprics offered to the public, and were
the subjects chosen those which, in the Bible, are con-
sidered the proper characteristics of a bishop, I be-
lieve that on the single ground of their absolute per-
fection in the Episcopal virtue of hospitality, eveiy
see from Canterbury to Sierre Leone would be
awarded to St. John.

The genial and uncalculating kindness of the whole
community, rich and poor, gentle and simple, is im-
printed on my recollection in ineffaceable characters.
Nor is it that dreary hospitality that dwells in
Bloomsbury and in provincial towns at home, where
dinners are given in the same spirit that debts are
paid ; and an evening party is always associated in
one's mind with a daughter to marry. The St. John
liospitnlity is after this wise ; and in no way can I
better describe it ; You are met in the street by Pater-
familias; after a little preliminary conversation, he
suggests luncheon, dinner, or a rubber in the evening
as the case may be ; and you know the custom of the
house, and do not dread a sour or gloomy welcome to
an unexpected guest, while thoughts of cold meat
rise in your hostess's discontented mind. Verily,
I have seen cold mutton assume the guise of a
royal banquet under the influence of genial smiles
and cheerful welcome ; and never was the merry
rubber for sixpenny points unaccompanied by the
cosy jug of steaming punch. Not that I by any
means insinuate that the usual life is one of cold

vou.

I51M K

NEW BRUNSWICK.

129

moat — fcor from it; let me tell you, fjood Mi*s.
Simpkins of IJaker-street, or you, Mrs. Scraf^gs of
Little Pa(l(lin<:jton, that your j^rim feasts, with wines
from a new company, joint from a bad butclier, and
attendant sprites whoso nature and name is green-
grocery, would, in these colonies of ours, pale away
into merited insignificance beside the dinners I have
seen, and — thanks to thee, O star of my nativity
— have tasted.

What think you of this for a dinner in the dead
of winter, in a city whose name mayhap is strange to
you, or, if known, has always been associated in your
mind with Indians, and bear -meat, and mouldy
biscuits ? Let me recal part of the menu : there
were quails from Virginia, prairie-fowls from the Far
West, canvas-back duck from the New York market,
and hare come all the way from England wrapped
tenderly in ice ! These wdth joints beside which
your inevitable roast and boiled looked miserably
tame ; fish as good as you ever bought in Billings-
gate ; soup not made with the debris of a week's
housekeeping; and sweets that would have done credit
to Gunter or Verey. But above all these luxuries
there rises in my mind the recollection of a hock,
whose bouquet and flavom* would open the eyes of
those many wine companies (limited we hope in their
dealings as well as constitution), which are now in-
undating our metropolis. And yet higher than it,
embracing feast and feasters in one sweet atmosphere,
was that feeling of genuine hospitality, beneath whose
surface you felt that the host was not counting the
cost, nor the hostess scoring off your name from her
list of creditors in re dinners and entertainments ! To

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OUR GAKiaSONS IN THE WKST.

some siu'li rronial host on some cold winter's nidit
Avonld Horncc linvo suni; those cosy and epicurcnii
lines :

DiHsolve fri^us, lipnn HUper foco
Liirfje ropDiu'Us : ntf|nn lioni^jiiiiis

I)pi)roino quadriinum Suhiim

() Thiiliarclii', luunnn diotJi!

I never knew a town in whose society there were
fewer elif[ues ; tlie result was, that any joint nnder-
takiiiij: was ijenerallv eminentlv successful. I enter-
tain most delightful recollections of ])leasant sleiu'li-
ing parties to a spot on the Kennebecasis some seven
mih's from town. The sleiglis used to parade in a
square in the town, or in the hollow by the Valley
church, and mustered as a rule pretty numerous.
Generally a four-in-hand containing; some eii>ht or
ten jjassengers would lead, and another bring up the
rear ; the others, pleasing m their variety, descended
through the several gi'ades of unicorn, tandem, the
domestic ])air of stout coach horses, even to the sled
with the fast trotting pony. The gay robes and skins
more varied than the coat of Joseph, the merry
tingling of many-toned bells, the joyous shoutings
and laughings, combined to render the effect on a
stranger, such as to make the pretty faces in these
same sleighs most dangerous and inflammatory in
their influences ; while to one past the impressiona])le
age, it seemed not unlike some gay travelling circus,
and beat Wombwell's menaijerie all to nothiuix.
Several times we attempted nmsic en route, but the
frost either split the reeds or froze up the cornet, and
the result was, that we kept the music for our danc-
inoj; after luncheon. On one melancholy occasion I
brought a corporal who was believed to be veiy strong
on the cornet, and a temperance man to boot ; while

NEW DHUNSWICK.

131

in ])()Wi'r of lun«Ts he was supposed to be more
tlian ii niaU'h for .Jack Frost himself. Wlietlier
he fjot an absolution on that day, or iml)il)ed it
medicinally, I cannot say: all I know is, that the
arch impostor required so many stimulants of the
veiy strongest spirits to keep him u]) to time, that
on commencing to dance at our destination, it was
found that he was only capal)le, in his part of the
orchestral perfonnance, of inter])(>lating an occasional
unearthly wail, and was speedily removed drunk and
speechless. When driving home in the evening, our
()r])heus was strapped to the boot of the leading
sleigh, and kept muttering the whole way a most
courteous wish " that we should not go out of our
way to drop him first !"

We generally had luncheon at a small hotel called
" Watts's," and danced till twilight, returning in the
grey evening, merry and too frequently sjwonei/, often
finishing at some house in town with a rubber, perhaps
a second dance and supper. In the vicinity of the
above-named hotel there are many prrtty cottages,
the summer residences of tlie wealthier classes of St.
John, whose windows command a beautiful view on
the Kennebecasis, a large lake or reservoir from the
St. John river, whose fm'ther shores are bounderl by
ranges of picturesque purple hills, fonning altogether
a picture more like our Scottish lakes than anything
I saw in America. It is a favourite spot for boating,
although subject to severe and sudden squalls, most
dangerous to the inexperienced.

A melancholy accident which occurred on it when
I was in St. John, was the means of bringing to my
notice a superstition perfectly strange to me, and I

132

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

1,1.

daresay to many of my readers. Preparatory to a
small yacht race, a gentleman, the owner of one of
the yachts, and also one of the wealthiest men in St.
John, had gone in a small skiff on the lake, and
through its being upset in a sudden squall he was
drowned. This happened in the afternoon, and at
about 6 A.M. on the foUo^ving day, I was awakened
by a request for the services of a gun detachment to
fire over the spot where the body had gone down, in
the expectation that the concussion of the water, or
some such cause, would make it rise. Of com-se,
however much I might doubt the efficacy of such a
proceeding, yet under the melancholy circumstances
I could nol. but grant their request ; but although my
anticipations were verified by the barren results, I
was suq>rised to find in many instances a belief i the
utility of this method, and from more than one indi-
vidual I received anecdotes which were supposed to
be corroborative. Still, while unprepared to refute
them, I fancied that other and more natural causes
could be brought to accomit for them.

While on the subject of the relaxations and amuse-
ments of the St. Johnians, I cannot but express my
surprise and regret that in no other town in British
North America, Quebec alone excepted, with which
I, at least, am acquainted, does the noble English
game of cricket meet with so little encouragement.
There are difficulties about a good ground, certainly,
but these would vanish before an energetic community
like this, were they in earnest in a desire to foster the
game. It may be, too, as I hint in another chapter,
that the absence for so many years of a garrison has
had much to do with the fact, but still there must be

NEW BRUNSWICK.

133

some other latent cause, or one, at least, not super-
liciallv visible. For little Fredericton is one of the
keenest places for ci-icket I ever saw, and would beat
many an old country village of twice its size all to
nothing. And in the neighbouring province as I
have ah'eady shown, the love of cricket always great,
is now waxing stronger every day.

Before entering on a few details more connected
with, the province than the city, I shall give to the
best of my recollection the current market prices of
most articles of food at the time I was there, and I
understand these are generally unaltered now. Beef
and mutton in the open market average about 3d.
a pound, and less if bought by the quarter, which in
winter every one can do, keeping it frozen until re-
quii'ed; potatoes, about Is. 6d. to 2s. sterling a
bushel ; partridges. Is. a brace ; rabbits, 5d. a couple ;
woodcock and snipe, 2s. to 3s. a couple ; carriboo
venison about 4d. per lb., and moose meat the same,
or Id. less ; salmon, 6d. per lb. ; sea-trout, less ; and
lake-trout, 2d. or 3d. a dozen : tea is from 2s. to 2s. 6d.
per lb. of the very best ; floui' varies, and also oat and
Indiar meal ; the beer of the country is tolerable and
cheap ; coal is generally about 18s. a chaldron, and
wood 3| to 4 dollars a cord. All vegetables are cheap
and good ; but everj'thing in the f oim of cloth or dry
goods, except the homespun cloth of the province, is
indifferent. House rents are high ; furniture dear
and bad ; and there is a sprinkling of the rowdy
element from the United States in the city ; but with
these exceptions you may go far before you will come
across a more cheerful residence than dear old St.
John.

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

Although the lumber trade of New Bninswick
affords more employment than any other to its inha-
bitants, I am disposed to think that it would be better
for the wealth and welfare of the province, and infi-
nitely more profitable in the long run for the settler,
if the agiicultural features of the province were more
studied than they are. The immense tracts of well-
watered and fertile land which are found all over the
province, seem to cry out for labour and cultivation ;
and the value of land when reclaimed and offered for
sale, shows that the colonists are not ignorant of the
agricultural richness of their soil. The lumber trade
is capricious, and even if not so, is exhaustible ; and
while it is wrong in the light of political economy to
see a province, or even a county, liable to the suffer-
ings incidental upon the depression of any one article
of trade, with no other item to counterbalance theu*
losses, it is surely even more than folly, actual suicide,
to continue living, as it were, not on a regular income,
but eating into a capital which one or two decades
will exhaust utterly. The emigrant who would turn
his hand to agriculture, would find in New Brunswick
not merely the advantages of soil I have mentioned,
but also good roads and rivers, which, winter and
summer alike, are so many highways ready-made for
him ; he will have numerous and excellent markets,
with great facilities of communication, and he will
reap the advantages resulting from a well-managed
and tolerably extensive system of railways. And in
colonies like our British American colonies, wliere as
a rule railways are inefficient, and too often are
gigantic political jobs, it is pleasant to be able to state
that we find exceptions, at least, in New Brunswick.

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NEW BRUNSWICK.

135

One line from St. John to Sliecliac, a port on the
east coast, about one hundred miles in length, is one
of the best built and most ably managed lines I have
ever met with ; and another line connecting St.
Andrews, a port on the shore of the Bay of Fundy,
near the State of Maine, with Woodstock, a mode-
rately large place, about forty miles higher up the
river St. John than Fredericton, although unfortunate
as yet financially, requires only time to make it as
good a speculation as it is beneficial to the province.
For I am certain, a?id I do not say so without know-
ing that I speak the opinion of no mean authorities
on railway matters, that a railway will always create
its own traffic, where it does not already exist. Run
a line through the Desert of Sahara itself, and I am
not sure that you would not have villas springing up
in a few years alongside, with occasional hospitals for
victims to pulmonary or other diseases, to which
moisture is antagonistic. Therefore, although I once
spent the most miserable twenty-four hours of my
life on the line of railway alluded to, I do not hesitate
to say and to hope that its success will be in proportion
to its merits, and when they are, may I be a share-
holder !

For farming, I should prefer the land around
Sussex Vale, Gagetown, Fredericton, and Woodstock;
or if prepared to rough it, I should commence clear-
ing any of the land on the river St. John. But
there is a district in New Brunswick, with which I
am unacquainted, away towards the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, and generally talked of as the " North
Shore." The sportsman would like this, but the

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

agricultural emigrant as well might fall there on his
feet, if report speaks correctly. I am the less dis-
posed, however, to make particular selections on my
own responsibihty, as I know that every information
can be obtained from the provincial authorities and
their agents, both in England and in the province,
far better than could be given by one of limited ex-
perience like myself.

I should here like to mention, par parenthese, the
advantages of the long drearjr winter which seems so
serious a drawback in English eyes. And, first, let
me say that, to a certain extent, nature herself re-
arranges the apparent disproportion of the seasons,
if we are obliged to take the English arrangement as
the standard. It does so by supplying an infinitely
gi'eater rapidity to vegetation, without producing
rankness or coarseness. This it is that enables dis-
tricts whose fields are covered with snow from Octo-
ber to June, to produce and ripen well in the open
air, grapes, peaches, and fruits, which one associates
with climates extremely temperate if not nearly
tropical. I would next say that this heavy blanket
of snow which in winter covers the ground, is highly
beneficial to the soil, acting as a protection against
the keen frosts, which would otherwise penetrate
many feet into the earth; and in the spring, by its
melting, fertilising the soil and preparing it for its
summer crops. And, lastly, I would state that to
this long winter, the sellers owe more than can be
described by the facilities of communication by
sleighing over the country where there may be no
roads, and where transit in summer would be wholly

NEW BRUNSWICK.

137

impossible. By this means also, they can take their
horses and oxen into the forest with ease, the un-
derwood being dead, and draw out the huge trunks
of trees which form so important an item of their
trade.

The shipping of New Brunswick is pretty exten-
sive, and owing to their cargoes being chiefly timber,
and therefore bulky, the vessels are generally of con-
siderable tonnage. In this respect they differ from the
Nova Scotian ships, which being chiefly employed in
the West India trade, or others where the cargoes are
not so bulky in proportion to their value as timber,
such as sugar, fish, fruit, &c., are themselves also
very small in comparison with the value of their con-
tents.

The fisheries of New Brunswick are not extensive.
In the Bay of Fundy the chie." fish is shad, a bony
but deL'cious fish.

Shediac is famous for oysters of an excellent qua-
lity, although larger and a little coarser than English
or Leith oysters; but one's palate soon gets accus-
tomed to the difference, as 3'e may well bear witness,
O noctes multse ambrosiana), when this little shell-
fish provoked the merry quip, the pearls of jest and
repartee, and begat again and again the thirst for
that mighty and refreshing fluid, beer!

And, lastly, I have to make the same sad statement
as in my chapter on Nova Scotia, as to the cruel evils
resulting to the province by its possession in this, its
unfledged youti\, of rejiresentative government, and
almost universal suffrage. I speak not merely of
the preposterous fact that some quarter of a million

138

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

fktl * f
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people should have theu* upper and lower Houses of
Parliament, with the many forms and ceremonies
which, although appropriate and dignified in England,
are a mere travestie there ; nor do I speak of the
folly and danger of intrusting in the hands of a few
men, too often ignorant and unprincipled, the destinies
of what ought, with fair play, to be some day a rich
and happy country; but I do protest against the
moral evil the system begets among the inhabitants,
— the loose habits of life and of thought which al-
most invariably accompany, among the lower orders,
the use of political power and the contemplation
of political dishonesty and traffic ! In my mind, to
ruin an honest labourer, the best thing vou can do is
to give him a vote : it unsettles him utterly, and de-
prives him of those characteristics which, I think, are
his chief virtues. I have drawn a conclusion from
what I have seen in six years of American politics,
and it is this : that for the purpose of gratifying a
prejudice, for it is nothing else, you periodically un-
settle the trade of a country, and the order and disci-
pline of its inhabitants, and that there is no man so
unbearable and so thirsty at election times as your
independent voter. On the question of the justice
of universal suffrage, I speak elsewhere ; but in con-
cluding this chapter, which I do while fresh from the
perusal of a new pair of orations at Rochdale by
Messrs. Bright and Cobden, I would say that, in the
contrast these gentlemen draw between our voting
colonists and our non-enfranchised peasantiy, they
are either greatly misled, or sinfully misleading. The
state which they term liberty in our colonies is de-

NEW BRUNSWICK.

139

generating daily into unbridled licence ; and the in-
terests of the provinces instead of being in the hands
of the few who have a [stake in them, are in the
power of a mob who cannot comprehend the great
principles of a nation's prosperity and liberty, and
who would not probably if they could. No ! no !
educate first, and then enfranchise; do not enfran-
chise in order to get a more extended system of educa-
tion, as these gentlemen propose to do.

140

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CHAPTER Viil.

HAI.IFAX' TO MONTREAL.

Per mare, per terras.

In the end of September, 1857, I resolved on
taking a run of a few weeks in Canada, taking a
glimpse also at the Northern States. To see many-
places was impossible, owing to the limited time at
my disposal, and the great distances in America com-
pared with England. By means, however, of Apple-
ton's Guide, I sketched out a route, which seemed to
include many places of interest, while it was at the
same time feasible as regarded the time at my dis-
posal. My intention was to proceed to St. John,
New Brunswick ; thence by sea to Portland ; from
the latter city to Montreal, by the Grand Trunk
Railway, and then up the St. Lawrence to Kingston
and Toronto. From Toronto I proposed crossing Lake
Ontario to Niagara, and, after a short stay at the
Falls, I should come home by Albany, Boston, and
St. John, or from Boston to Halifax direct, should
I hit off the Cunard steamer between these ports.

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

141

TIlis is a route, the gi'eatoi part of wliich has
been more than once described by able pens ; but,
as few people look at a place with the same eyes, I
do not think there is much danger of monotony in
description. Besides, although this particular journey
of mine was hurried, and my observations necessarily
superficial, I pui'pose embodying in this place, in-
formation which I afterwards obtained, by frequent
journeys, and prolonged residence in several of the
places, through which I passed very hastily in my
first expedition. And, as travellers are apt to note
either the " mores liominurrH^ or the " urbes" as their
minds may happen to be constituted, but seldom both
thoroughly, I trust that having lived more intimately
and thoroughly in our American colonies than a
mere traveller, more, indeed, like a resident, I may
give a tolerably accurate account of both these sub-
jects of travellers' contemj^lation.

In 1857 the railway from Halifax to Windsor was
incomplete, being open for ten miles only, as far as the
head of Bedford Basin, leaving the remainder of the
journey to be done in a coach. This coach, and its
fellows all over the province, were the most amazing
specimens of carriage architecture ever beheld. The
roads of Nova Scotia, to which, by the way, I should
have alluded in my chapter on the province, are a
disgrace to the country, and a source of extreme dis-
comfort and irritation to passengers in any cojivey-
ance, public or private, with springs or without. In
huge vehicles, like the old stage coaches to \N'hich we
have alluded, springs were utterly out of the question ;
so the body of the conveyance was hung on gigantic
leather bands, long enough to allow of considerable

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

oscillation, aiul, in a sharp turn of the road, to ^ive
the outside j)assen^ers a practical conce])tion of the
])ower of centiifugal force. The interior -was roomy,
and ])assengers sat three deep, through an ingenious
arrangement of leather bands, which without block-
ing u)) the ordinaiy two seats of a close carnage,
formed a movable back to a third. The horses were
wretched, the coachman important, the coach coated
with the mud of ages, but allowing, nevertheless,
sufficient antique gilding and ornaments to peep
through, to awaken in one's mind the idea of a Lord
Mayor's coach under a cloud. There was a reckless
way of piling passengers and luggage on the top,
which must have appalled the nervous insides ; in-
deed, old ladies seldom took their eyes off the interior
of the roof, but remained gazing, with a devotional
aspect, as if they hoped to prevent accidents by keei»-
ing the top of the coach in a mesmeric trance.

The method of diiving was one calculated more to
display the sure-footedness of the team than to re-
assiu'e timid passengers; the coachman generally
driving fmiously down hill, so as to get sufficient way
on to caiTy it up the incline which generally follows a
descent. At these moments, the compressed lips and
fixed look of horror to be seen in the elderly passen-
gers sei-ved to divert one's attention from the loosen-
ing Ijaggage and the extremely precarious tenure of
one's private portmanteau. I remember on a later
occasion than the one refeiTed to in this chapter, the
long-eypected break-down came off, but fortunately
without injury to anything save a wheel ; but we had
a walk of some Jive or six miles in consequence, as
well as a great deal of that mental anxiety which

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HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

143

afflicts the travc'llinn; Briton whenever he is separated
from his personal l)airmiire.

The first tuenty-Hve miles from Ilahfax to AVind-
sor is ns sterile and nnpromising a drive as the last ten
or fiftien is the re^■erse. On all sides there is nothinff
hut a stunted forest of sor time hardwood, sometime
pine, whose wretched growth speaks volumes about the
poorness of the soil, and whose monotony is only
varied bv the occasional bleached forms of ancient
giant trees, which rear themselves above the surround-
iuij foliaije with their dead branches covered with
sweejjing moss, and stretched wildly to heaven, re-
minding one of those beautiful lines in " Evangeline,"
speaking of these forest patriarchs :

Staml like Dniidf of old, with voices sad and pathetic,

(Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on tlieir bosoms.

Eveiy now and then you come on a small clearing
with a An'etched hut on it, or some miserable shed by
the roadside for the sale of spiiits to the men working
on the railroad ; but to the farmer, or the immigrant,
few spots can be conceived more uninviting than
those throuijh which we drove in the old stairinfr days
for the first two or three hours of our journey. But,
as far as sceneiy went, there is, to the artist, no lack
of wild and beautiful subjects — forest scenes, or water
scenes, for the whole country is covered by continuous
chains of lakes, in whose dark waters are miiTored with
strikino; effect the trees and the heavens. And there
is something so different in the little world of passen-
gers on a coach, from the six silent individuals in an
English railway carriage, each with his Times, — so
much heartiness, so abundant a conversation, that
when the country was more than usually uninterest-

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144

OUR GARRISONS I?I THE WKST.

itifT, wc were not left to twirl our tliumbs in stupid
silence. I have meditated on tliis sin<rular difference
between coach and rail, and have decided, to my own
satisfaction, at least, that the superior amenity and
cheerfulness of the passengers by the former, is due
to the presence of tlie coachman, who, acting partly
as a master of the ceremonies, partly as a speaker of
this little assembly, and partly as a species of host,
begets an ease and a conversation among tlie j)assen-
gers unknown in railway travelling. For instance,
who ever saw an outside passenger by the mail read-
ing a newspaper ? or who ever knew a couple of out-
siders sit together a mile without seeing them ex-
change information as to their destination and other
matters, to ask about which in a railwav carriaiie
would be deemed an impertinent intrusion ?

The first private residence of any consequence is
^fount Uniacke, a place more like an English manor-
house than any 1 have seen in the province.

But the first place which when found is to be made
a note of, is the hotel known as the Halfway House.
Alas ! as to many of our best inns in England, the
now completed railway has brought desolation and
silence on this hospitable hearth ; and the landlord
may well wring his hands and mutter, "Ichabod,
Ichabod." But in the days I talk of, twice a day did
a coach disgorge a hungry load of passengers to do
justice to breakfasts whose equal I never shall see
again. Rise yet again in our memories, O vision of
clean room and blazing log fire, where, on snowy
linen, the juicy steak reposed by the sputtering chop,
or the brown spatchcock was spread, as if in mockery,
vis-a-vis to a huge dish of eggs and bacon, while every

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

145

corner saw rolls and toast, Tiulian meal-cakes with de-
licious butter, aud excellent tea and coffee. Kise, too,
ye dear old waitresses, with snowy caj)s and ruddy
faces, whose welcome was as hearty as if we were the
only travellei's you ever saw, or ever should see again !
The charge, too, was so moderate, only eighteenpence,
or in American parlance, three York shillings; and
a very good eighteen penn'orth we always took, thanks
to the oxygen imbibed on the top of the coach ; and
plenty of time were we allowed to do our duty by it.

Ah me I when I went to Windsor by train, and
made an effort at one of the stations to obtain refresh-
ments, how sweetly did the memoiy of the old Half-
way House come before me, as I stood in a long
wooden shed, contemplating some cups of a thick,
dark fluid, mingled with plates of apple-tart, cut in
geometiical sections, and somewhat fossil-like in ap-
pearance. I dropped my shilling in my pocket again
with a sigh, and, as I turned away, I thought that,
perhaps, after all, in these racing days, we paid
somewhat heavily for rapid locomotion.

But I am waxing maudlin, and on a subject which
should appeal more to the feelings of Joe, the im-
mortal fat boy, than to any respectable traveller.
However, not to come too suddenly from the descrip-
tion of a meal to that of scenery, let me pause to
mention a fact connect^'d with the diet of the Nova
Scotian peasantry — I m^»v say, the peasantry of the
greater part of our American colonies and the Northern
States. As among our Australian brethren, but with
less reason, tea, among the peasants and domestic
servants, is an invariable concomitant with every
meal, completely taking the place of beer. One

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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reason may be that tea may be lia«l from Is. Gd. to
2s. a pound ; and another, that the beer of the colo-
nies is decidedly inferior to that which can be pro-
cured for the same price at home. For sucli of the
settlers as live far from any town or village, beer,
even if good, would be out of the question, on ac-
count of the impossibility of transport. So tea olfcrs
the easiest means of avoiding cold water as a beve-
rage, a drink to which I think the labouring misn has
a wholesome an apathy. Good beer, I have heard
many medical men declare, is far better for workino;
men than tea, which, taken in such enormous quanti-
ties, must have an evil effect on the nervous s\\stem,
while conferring, at the same time, no nourislmient.
But this is a trifle compared with a much worse habit,
which is gaining ground very rapidly in our American
tov^ns and villages. I refer to a custom, imported
from the United States, called "nipping," or dram-
drinking, which, without actual intoxication, keeps
the nerves under the continued influence of stimu-
lants. Although domestic servants in the towns have
the same habits, as regards tea, as the country settlers,
it is to be deplored that this abominable system of
nipping is acquiring a prevalence among the lower
classes — and even the young men of the middlo and
upper — nearly as great as in the Northern States.
The quality of the spirits within the reach of the
poor is infamous, rendered so by the fiery, poisonous
ingredients ^^•hicll are used to produce a cheap and
intoxicating compound. One vile diink, composed
largely of vitriol, and known variously as " AVhite-
eye " and " liazors," is so cheap that it has been truly
said a man can get drunk on it for twopence. This

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HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

147

filth is the ruin — physically and morally — of a great
portion <)f our soldiers and sailors in America ; and it
is dism-aceful to the colonial rjovernments that the
infamous traffic in it should be allowed to continue.
In six years' service in America I have seen many of
our finest men fall victims to its poison ; liave seen
healthy men dwindle into consumption and death ;
and have known wretched men under its influence
commit unmanly suicide. I have seen sober men
become habitual drunkards; happy famihes made
miserable by its desolating breath ; and men who, in
their reasonable moments, loathed their drunken
habits, I have seen unable, in the cold climate, to
resist its temptation, and go speedily down that ladder
of vice whose last step is in the grave. No intoxica-^
tion is more bestial than that produced by this vile
compound. Men under it are carried away scream-
ing ard Jiowling like devils. No other ch'unkenness
is followed by a reaction so dreadful as this. Phy-
sical anguish, intense mental depression, burning
thirst, all combme to drive the ^^Tetched victim back
to his enemy for an hour's forgetfulness. Although
the good things of life are meant to be used in mode-
ration, and the soldier who takes his beer is as good,
and better, than the man who inflates himself with
unwholesome ginger-pop, or curdles his blood with
lemonade, still there is a limit which the private
soldier is too easily led to transgress. And, although
Shakspeare remarks that

A soldier's a man and life's but a span,
Then come let the soldier drink :

yet he must not become a beast, either b}' drinking
to excess, or bad, unwholesome liquor. And where

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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advice "will not deter men, nor is power given to indi-
viduals to check the consumption and sale of such
poison as demoralises our gamsons in the west, surely
the government is bound to interfere, and assumes a
grave responsibility, as well as incurs an awful risk,
when it declines to do so.

But while we are moralisinfv the coach has changed
horses at j\Iartin's, and is speedily lessening the dis-
tance between us and Windsor, which we approach
through a beautiful, well-cultivated, and fertile dis-
trict. Ere long we see the University, and the many
spires of the village, which speak as much for its sec-
tarianism as its religion, and we are not long in em-
barking on board the steamer Creole, en route for St.
John. This unhappy vessel, to which allusion is
elsewhere made, was one of those singular-looking
American steamers universal on the rivers and lakes
of the continent, with whose appearance we are
rendered familiar from childhood by the vignette on
the first page of the Illustrated London News. They
are bad sea-boats, from the amount of top-hamper
they carry; but there are plenty of harbours along
the coast, where, in event of rough weather, they can
put in for shelter. On leaving St. John, a city else-
where described, which we did on the morning after
our arrival, I found myself on board a larger vessel
of the same description as the Creole, with a motley
crew of passengers.

One great beauty of these steamers is, that from all
the cabins being above water in tiers, with large win-
dows and balconies, one does not suffer from that
abominable sour atmosphere which one associates with
steamers on this side the Atlantic. There is a pleas-

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

149

ing attempt at decoration in the saloons, and a
general cleanliness in the sleeping berths of vessels of
this description belonging to American companies,
which tend greatly to lessen the discomfort usually
attendant on a short sea passage. We found, in this
respect, a marked superiorit}' in the journey from St.
Jolin to Portland, over that melancholy night on the
Creole, between Windsor and St. John.

The presence of negro stewards and stewardesses
on board the Portland steamer reminded us of our ap-
proach to Yankee land, for in that free countiy " a
man and a brother" generally is to be found in the
most menial offices. There was a bar on board — that
great American institution, and the attendant sprite
was an active young mulatto, who varied the mono-
tony of his spirituous duties by shaving the passengers
for a small consideration. It is singular in the States
to see the numbers who are dependent on professional
artists for this simple, and with us domestic, duty.
Every hotel of any size has its barber's shop attached ;
and hundreds, not merely the residents in the hotel,
troop there daily to have their lank yellow cheelis
shaved, and their beards t: 'mmed and pointed. The
shaving and hair-cutting establishments of New York
are conducted on a scale of magnificence, which make
them well worth a visit ; and in every petty river or
lake steamer you find, as a matter of course, a small
den for similar purposes, with almost invariably a
coloured barber.

Early as the hour was on the morning we left St.
John, I found the bar well filled with gentlemen hav-
ing their early bitters — their gin-sling, phlegm-cutter,
or morning glory, or some other of the drinks to

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150

OUR GAU'^ISON? IN THE WEST.

w'hKili an ardent fancy loves to give startling names.
And here for the first time I ^vitnessed the custom,
afterwards so familiar, of standing treat for drinks. No
matter if wholly unacquainted with those around him,
the first thing a time Yankee says is, " Strangers, lets
liquor !" And as a matter of course the strangers ac-
cept the invitation, and during the day most honour-
ably docs each one reciprocate the compliment. The
result is a life of stimulants, a disordered stomach, a
diseased appetite, and an unwholesome complexion.

In small inns, particularly in the country, where the
landlord is his own bar-keeper, he often avails himself
of this custom ^in a way that redomids highly to the
good of the house.

Being on one occasion, when travelling alone,
obliged to spend the night in one of these small
hotels, I went for company to the public room. Here
I found a considerable assemblaiie of the villan-e males
engaged in that desultory conversation which gene-
rally precedes liquid refreshment.

A stranger, and particularly a Brit'"^ / "% was an
unusual treat for this group, and in a i-! >;■ ent I was
helpless in their hands, commencing to suffer that
coiu'se of cross-examination in which the Yankee
excels. The landlord was a sharp fellow, and had an
eye to business ; and seeing that it was an advanta-
geous moment, he announced his intention of standing
"/re<3 drinks^'' all round to commence the evening's
entertainment. Whether it was the unusual charm
CI Irinking a landlord's liquor gratis, or not, I am
hardly pre[)arc'-. to state, but the heiu'ts of the com-
pany were at once opened.

Ilis r::a'".'p]e was followed by each in succession —

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151

and as there were some twenty of us, I looked forward
with some horror to having to accept the hospitahty
of them all. After an hour or so, tlierefore, I pleaded
fatigue, and retired to rest ; but just before I got into
bed I heard some one stumbling at the door, and, on
looking, I found one of my friends from below with a
steamino; a'lass of somethincp iu his hand, which he
pressed me hard to take, hiccuping out " only sleep-
ing drops — that's all."

The natures of American drinks are rather startling
to an Englishman at times. There is a small town
called Eastport, on the borders of the State of Elaine,
at which we made a short stoppage on our way to
Portland. Here I accepted the invitation of a fellow-
passenger to go on shore and " lickcr " at a rare place
with which he said he was acquainted.

This choice house of refreshment was in the main
street of the place, and seemed a species of small wine
merchant s. !My hospitable stranger gave his orders in
a low tone, and presently two large tumblerc of a
dark fluid were presented to us. Watching his move-
ments w^itli some anxiety, I saw him chuck the
contents of his glass down his throat as calmly as if
it had been a thimblefull.

Naturally concluding that it was some cooling
drink, I proceeded to treat mine in a similar manner.
In my haste I had swallowed half before I could
check myself; but concei\e my horror on finding,
while this autumn day was still young, that I was
di'inking port ivine in tumblers ; and no soft mellow
wine, but a good fiery mixture of raisins and brandy,
which reminded one more of the snapdragon of early
youth than anything else. And while doubled up by

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152

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

internal burning and remorse, insult was added to in-
jury by my companion remarking with a complacent
air:

" I reckon, stranger, you don't have no such stuff
as that down east where you was raised I"

Do^vn east, O gentle reader, is the Yankee synonyme
for our country, whose flag &c. &c.

Long before my dismay had subsided, the steamer
was ready to continue her journey, and we went on
board.

There was little to do there but to lounge on the
deck or in the saloons. Though rejoicing in the
name of The AdmiraL our vessel was a shocking slow
coach, and night coming on found us still some nine
or ten hours from our destination.

As we move over the swelling waters, where, like the
seagull, the shadows of the night are nestling closely
down, we can distrnguish the clouds thronging dark
and gloomy above as, and the wind wails, as in a
lonely house, whose corridors are haunted by memo-
ries of the dead. A rough night seems imminent, and
oui' boat may have to struggle with the winds and
waves for her gaudily-painted carcase.

And thought, like the sea, takes its hue from the
clouds, and is stormy and dark and troubled.

I am led to believe that at certain states of the
mind there it .0 gicntcT luxury than a good cry for
the fair sex.

A good think (if I may so utterly disregard Lindley
Murray) may be made an equal source of pleasure to
the male port of tl e ('immunity. Instead of yawning
and p'umbhng, when one happens to have nothing in
the way oi active employment, a solitary seat on deck,

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

153

or under a tree, with a perfect abandoning of the mind
to thought, may yield to a healthy mind a calm but
intense enjoyment.

Thought may be considered the atmosphere of the
universe, and as our terrestrial region of air is troubled
with clouds and eddies, mists and whirlwinds, so also
is the kingdom of thought ; but in both these are soon
surmounted, and far above, through all infinity,
stretches the calm, illimitable ether.

Thought is, too, as a ladder to heaven : on silent
feet, and with noiseless wings, the spirit clambers up
its steps, and strives to reach the infinite ! And as of
old to the patriarch at Bethel, so to many of us there
appear angels, ascending and descending, whose
bright forms are but rays glancing from the great
sun of all truth and all knowledge.

A life of thought is the life of angels, for we can
free ourselves from earth and body, and, soaring away
into space, and back into vanished ages, can gaze on
the mysterious and hold intercourse with the dead.

Verily, at times it is a good thing to dream and en-
courage reverie ! The mind will surely never linger
long in voluntary reflection on what is foul and sinful ;
let us ascend above that layer of the atmosphere of
thought, which, as in the earth, alone contains the
odours and impregnations of filth and crime ; let us
ascend, never wearying, to that calm blue ether of
thought, where we shall find that strange and pleasing
repose which, to the mind, accompanies pure and pro-
fitable action.

♦ # # * *

"Ease 'er!" "Stop-p 'er!" "Back 'eri" are the
familiar sounds which, at early dawn, wake me from

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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a brief but sound slumber, and announce to me our
arriviil in tJic harbour of Portland. This, one of the
finest harliours in the world, was selected two or three
years after, as the harbour to which the Great Eastern
should make her maiden voyage. On the strength of
this, the Mayor and Corporation built a fine large
wharf, and the hotels let apartments at enormous
prices weeks in advance of the great shijVs promised
arrival. Mighty was the wrath, and loud the cries for
legal vengeance, in the good city of Portland, when,
without assigning any cause, she went off to New
York, and in their fair harbour made no sign. And
as if heaping injury still further on them, although
the sea monster is now as familiar as a household
w^ord in New York, and has visited also Quebec and
Halifax, she has never thrown her mighty shadow
over the still waters of Portland harbour. Therefore,
and it is useful to know it, few things are more
calculated to rile the inhabitants of this fair city, than
any allusion, however distant, to the leviathan steam-
ship.

I landed about G A.M., and walked about an hour
or so, until the time should arrive for the train's de-
parture. I need hardly say that the first house I asked
to see was that rendered sacred by the name of Long-
fellow. How little did I dream then that the next
time I should visit these now quiet streets I should
find them filled with recruiting parties, and booths
erected in the squares and market places with gaudy
flao;s of invitation to the vouns nien of Maine, to
serve their unhappy country in her mad struggles for
empire in the swamps of far Virginia. More dread
sight than their own poet's skeleton in armour is this

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155

the skeleton of a great republic, donnino; the garb
of war, and hurling its mad weapons against its own
bosom.

The first hotel in the city, I l)elieve, is tlic Treble
House, and I can answer for its comfort from my
own later experience. The city is a fine and clean
looking one, large, busy, and populous, and with juany
pretty drives. Its magnificent harbour is the winter
port for the Canadian line of steamers, when the
freezing over of the St. Lawrence makes it unnavi-
gable. An Englishman, on visiting Portland and
the magnificent state of which it is the capital, can-
not but regret that, owing to the superior sharpness of
Yankee diplomacy, or our politicians' ignorance of
geography, we were cheated out of a district wliich
would have been so fair a jewel in our colonial
diadem.

Being my first landing-place in the United States,
I confess to a strong temptation to give a few of the
ideas Avliich impressed me with regard to Yankees
and Yankee land. I am only deterred by the feeling
that whatever I could say, would be merely a feeble
endorsing of the clever sketches of such men as
Dickens and Trollope. For it is a singular thing that
when an Englishman visits the United States for the
first time, he falls into one of two extremes ; either
the extreme of admiration of everything in the insti-
tutions and people before his eyes, like Messrs. Bright
and Cobden ; or the other extreme of depreciating or
ridiculing everything and everybody.

I confess, to so conceited a being as John Bull is
when out of England, the latter extreme is more
natiu'al and general. And, unfortunately for the

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150

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

Yankucs, there arc so many points in their national
customs and institutions which are assailal)le to ridi-
cule, that the traveller, predisposed in this way, may
be II long time in the country without exhausting
them, and ultimately leave with the impression that
there is nothing admirable in Yankee habits, institu-
tions, or country.

But although almost every traveller in the Northern
States carries away with liim a feeling that the natives
are, without exception, the most unpleasant people in
the world; yet, it would be a blind prejudice which
would induce one to deny the existence of magnificent
natural advantages and of some social customs, which
might be engrafted on the old country vnth consider-
able profit. There is but one thing in the United
States which is utterly wrong — and of which one's
most fervent wish is, that it may never cross the
Atlantic in even the smallest item — and that is their
entire political system as to be seen in city, county,
state, and union, in individual character, or in na-
tional results. Even in the palmy days of the Union,
before its hearths and plains were desolated by war
and death ; before its rulers became insane and irre-
sponsible tyrants, and its people unresisting slaves,
there was nothing amiable or lovely in the system of
mob government which prevailed in eveiy depart-
ment. The pandering to electors' private interests at
an election time was only less despicable than the in-
flaming of their passions, when it was desirable to
conceal from the public any political job or govern-
ment error. No ! we in our constitutional freedom
and under our happy government, can afford to pity
our unhappy transatlantic brethren; but may the

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

157

may

(lay be far distant when any one — save rantinn; Do-
nioci'cits or Chartist orators — sliall sugfrest to an En^;-
lish government to borrow even tlie most trifling in-
gredient in tlie system by Avhieli the United States
arc ir.led,

liut, as I have said, there arc some social cnstoms
which we might adopt with advantage. And anmng
these may be included the hotel arrangements ])ro-
vided for the travelling public, in all cities of any
size in the Union. And first, and to the Englislnnan
most satisfactory in its novelty, is the fixed tariff of
charges, by which you are enabled to calculate your
bill to a cent, however long you may stay.

The cliarge at the best hotels is alwavs ten shilh'njis.
a day ; equal, before the days of greenbacks, to two
dollars and a half. This included four meals a day ;
the free use of magnificent saloons, readIng-roo!as,
smoking-rooms; the entree of billiard and hair-cutting-
rooms in the premises, with good bedroom and excel-
lent attendance. In the best hotels in Boston, Xew
York, Philadelphia, and Washington, the cooking and
bills of fare were superior to anything even in l*aris,
and you were not limited to fixed hours for your meals.
Dinner was to be had from two to seven o'clock ; and
the tables in the salle a manger were of a size just
large enough to accommodate parties from four to
eight or ten.

In country hotels the impleasant system of dining
at a fixed hour at one long table prevails ; and it is
there that one sees most forcibly the unpleasant cus-
toms of the Yankees, who, if a disagreeable people
at most times, are particularly so when eating. But
in the first-class hotels, this inconvenience is modified,

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(716) 872-4S03

158

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

and one may have privacy to a great extent as well
as luxury. The extras, which in English hotels are
the mysterious and heaviest part of one's bill, are re-
duced to certain and known sums, and may be nil if
the traveller chooses ; for all fluid extras, save what
are called for at table, and which are checked by
wine-cards, are paid for in ready-money at the bar,
which is in these hotels always a large, well-fre-
quented, and comfortable chamber. I confess, on
looking back to many visits to the States, that I de-
rived more pleasure and comfort from their excellent
hotel system than from any other of their customs ;
and while unwilling to make invidious comparisons, I
feel called upon to award the highest honour in point
of comfort and luxury, to the Revere House in Boston.
This hotel, which was beautifully fitted up for the
Prince of Wales, on the occasion of his visit to Ame-
rica, belongs to a man who owns also the best hotels
in the other large cities of the States, and has the
supplying of travellers' wants, and the administering
to their most luxurious wishes, reduced to a system
the most perfect, and yet the most unobtrusive.

And, oh I E\2 ish reader, in America, the waiter
is reduced to his proper sphere. No smirking idiot
brings you your bill, and remains hovering round you
till you pay him his share of the plunder, although
you have a large item for attendance staring you in
the face on your receipted bill ; no chambermaid finds
it necessary to be sweeping your bedroom-door at the
last visit you make to your chamber ; no boots deserts
his duties to hover with the porter and page on the
door-steps, in the sure hope of douceur. No ; in the
States you receive and pay your bill at the hotel

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159

office to an individual who expects a tip about as
much as your banker ; your waiter appears, like your
chambermaid, when wanted, but they are not obtrusive
when you leave, nor strive to ease you of superfluous
half-dollars ; and the boots cleans your boots, and no-
thing more. Your wishes or complaints are attended
to promptly at the office ; and your deposits there are
as safe as in the Bank of England. You are wel-
comed on arrival ; looked after while staying ; and
not neglected when leaving. Is there nothing in all
this which D^ght be taught to the British bandit of a
landlord, greatly to the traveller's advantage ?

I have delayed thus long over the subject of Ameri-
can hotels, notwithstanding my resolution to avoid
committing myself to any detailed reflections on
Yankees and Yankeeism, merely because no subject
more nearly concerns the traveller in any coimtry
than the question of his accoimnodation. There-
fore, although in one sense the perfection of Yankee
hotels may seem piu'ely a national matter, yet in
another sense it may be considered a cosmopolitan
one. And apart from the mere considerations of
comfort for the wearied traveller, or luxury for the
delaying one, there is an undoubted pleasure to the
old traveller, and an encouragement to the intending
one, in being able to calculate to a fraction almost his
probable expenses. It is conmtionly said that in Ame-
rica one can travel with comfort — ^including every-
thing in the form of fares and hotel charges — for an
average of 1/. sterling a-day. And this is perfectly
true, provided you are moderate in the point of wine,
&c., stay a week at a time at a place, and do not in-
clude boxes at the theatres, or innumerable cabs,

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160

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

under the head of travelling expenses. Now, where
in England can you travel at that rate ? You pay
some 4/. sterling for the occupation of a seat in a
first-class railway carriage from King's Cross to
Scotland, from nine o'clock in the evening of one
day to four o'clock in the afternoon of the following.
And if you hint at a dinner such as you get in
America at any good hotel, why, your 1/. a-day will
not carry you as far as the cheese. No ! there is no
doubt about the matter. England is the most de-
lightful country in the world to spend money in — but
for the poor man or the traveller let him rather go to
Jericho.

But it is time to proceed to the station of the
Grand Trunk Railway — a most unimposing edifice —
and take our tickets for Montreal. And as the
Grand Trunk is no Yankee institution, but wofuUy a
British one — a shame to its contractors, and a soitow
to its shareholders — ^I may, without breaking my re-
solution, vent on it a few well-merited imprecations.
Not that I am an indignant and suffering shareholder.
I am thankful to say I was never trapped into lending
money on the debentures of this unhappy company ;
nor did I ever see shares of mine descend rapidly
from a premium (if those of the Grand Trunk were
ever at a premium) to a horrible irrecoverable dis-
count. I speak my wrath merely as an outraged
traveller — not a disappointed speculator — and that my
anger is justifiable, I appeal to all who have ever been
compelled to travel over its lines.

The rate of travelling is miserably slow, not ex-
ceeding, I should think, an average of ten miles an
hour. The stoppages are so numerous as to make one

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

161

imagine that the adventurous spirits who planned
the stations must have studied a map of the district
similar to that immortal map of Eden, prepared by
Mr. Scadder for the information of Martin Ghuzzle-
wit, and such like immigrants.

If an average of one traveller to ever^- station be
allowed, it is as much as can be done by even the
most liberal computer, and surely this is not compati-
ble with dividends. But the chief delay in travelling
by this line, the greatest job of even Grand Trunk
jobs, is that infamous imposition — ^Island Pond. Would
you believe it — oh I reader accustomed to fly in easy ex-
press through the long hours of night by silent York
and slumbering Carlisle ; wont to dine in Edinburgh
and breakfast in London; or dine in London and
breakfast in Paris — that travelling a short distance
from Quebec or Montreal to Portland, leaving late in
the afternoon, and with no pica of exhaustion to offer,
this good company of ours shunts its trains of pas-
sengers about ten o'clock a*, ight into a desolate
station called Island Pond, in the midst of an unin-
habited country, and thus drive you and yours into
a second-rate hotel — nolens volena — where you are
fleeced of your dollars for infamous fare, although,
fortunately, clean beds ; and then shot out at 5.30 a.m.
to complete your miserable journey by noon, whereas
you might have been easily at your destination by
sunrise. And should you be so un.ortunate as in
your ignorance to take your ticket by the Grand
Trunk on a Saturday, you will be dropped at Island
Pond that night, and not allowed a chance of escape
until Monday morning. And oh I who can do justice
to the horrors of a Sunday at Island Pond ?

162f

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

I do not know what consideration the company re-
ceives from the proprietor of the hotel for thus
goading into his arms the passengers by both up and
down trains, but it ought certainly to be something
very handsome. The fare is of the rudest, and the
independence of the attending damsels would make
you swear, if it did not make you laugh ; and while
waiting for your turn you have the satisfaction of
seeii.^' the guard of your train attended to at the same
table most obsequiously, and evidently considered the
greatest man of the company.

The guard, or conductor as he is termed, is a very
important official compared with our civil and decent
guards at homo. Only when the train is in motion
does he bind on a small label, ** conductor," as a badge
of servitude ; and to save himself trouble he issues to
the passengers supplementary tickets inscribed on
which— m/«r a/ta— are his own christian name and
surname. But although so high and mighty a man,
oxti American conductor occasionally condescends,
and shotdd th«re be a vacant seat among yoar party
he will not insist on an invitation, but will sit down
in it, giving you unasked the benefit of his conversa-
tion, and guessing enough for a dojsen less important
characters. A lady in the position of an unprotected
female was put in the same carriage with me, and in
the seat immediately next mine, by a gentleman, who
was too young for her father and too attentive for a
husband. After covering two or three of the nearest
seats with small parcels, bonnet-boxes, and the other
small et oeteray which the fair sex consider too valuable
to trust out of their reach^ he mentioned that he

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

163

knew the guard, and would ask him to look after the
lady. Presently he returned accompanied by a stout
party whose form was not yet degraded with the label
proclaiming his office ; he led him up to the lady :

"Mr. Smith," "Mrs. Brown;" "Mrs. Bro>vn,"
" Mr. Smith." Then, with as much solemnity as if
two dignitaries had been introduced by an official
M.C., Mr. Conductor Smith held out his hand, and,
as he shook that of the lady, mentioned that he would
be happy to keep an eye on her during the journey.
Oh ! Mr. Weller, sen., what would you have said to
this ? Oh ! decent guards on any line at home,,
would you rather have gone through this dignified
ceremony or accepted sixpence ?

In addition to his legitimate trade, the innkeeper
at Island Pond drove a thriving trade in exchange
since the war commenced. Being situated just on the
border between the States and Canada, this sharp
fellow used to make Canadian passengers pay him
their good dollars at par, while from Yankee travellers
he would only accept the Greenback at its current
rate of depreciation. The company was to be blamed
for all this, not the man in whose way they threw the
temptation ; and they will soon find that this iniqui-<-
tons system of delay on a short journey will affect
their passenger traffic. As it is, hundreds of travellera
who would otherwise use the Grand Trunk, go to
Boston from Montreal by the Vermont Central and
Lake Champlain Kailroad, a comfortable and very
fast rival line.

Another fault in the Grand Trunk arrangements is
the infamous nature of the refreshments offered at the

164

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

different stations : Stale biscuits, disgusting beer, bad
tea, with independent ruffians, male and female, to
sell them. Can the company do nothing to remedy
this? But the recalling the different items of dis-
comfiture in travelling by the Grand Trunk so swells
the burden of my discontent, that I get incoherent in
attempting to recapitulate them. I can only say that
I have made many, many a journey, since my first
on that line, and equally many on other lines, both
Yankee and colonial, and the result has been to make
me dislike the former more, and to raise unreasonably
the merits of the latter, when compared with the Grand
Trunk shortcomings. Even in the celebrated winter
of 1861-2, when the whole energies of the company
were called forth, and the remuneration they received
was great in proportion, there were too many instances
of neglect and want of foresight and preparation.
Witness the 63rd Regiment, on its way west from
Montreal, snowed up helplessly, when a little antici-
pation and care would have so easily prevented it.

The redeeming point in the line is the wonderful,
unrivalled Victoria-bridge at Montieal, although, by
the way, a company threatens this session to build
across the Forth an equally magnificent structure.
The melancholy feature in the Victoria-bridge is that
it was the crowning point of the company's financial
ruin, and dissipated for ever the first faint shadows of
future di\'idends, which highly imaginative share-
holders may have seen in thc^ dim regions of possi-
bility.

But to return. The course of time brought me to
Montreal, in spite of the Grand Trunk, and there I
spent a few days. As I was destined some years

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

165

afterwards to spend some months there, I shall, in
describing it, talk of it as it is, not as it was in 1857,
when only a few piers showed where the great bridge
now is.

Montreal is the commercial capital of Canada, ani
the miHtary head-quarters. Its population is, I be-
lieve, over 100,000, and the present garrison — I mean
by this the garrison in 1862, only altered in 1863 by
the substitution of a battalion of rifles for the 47th
Begiment — the garrison present when I was quartered
there, was composed of an Armstrong fleld battery, two
garrison batteries of Artillery, a company of Engineers,
a battalion of the MiL'tary Train, a battalion of Grena-
dier Guards, and another of Scots Fusilier Guards, the
1st battalion of the 16th Regimentof Foot, and the47th
Begiment. These, in addition to the staff, the commis-
sariat, military store, and army medical, department and
corps^ fonned a tolerably large ganison, and was
placed under the command of General Lora Frederick
Paulet. The Commander-in-Chief, Sir Fenwick
Williams, with his staff, also had their offices in
Montreal.

Although a fine city, and containing many wealthy
and hospitable inhabitants, Montreal is about the
least popular of our garrisons in the West. Almost
all the amusements of the military are got up and
maintained by themselves, and there is not the same
sympathy between the civilians and the troops as
exists in the Lower Pro^dnce3, and in such cities as
Quebec and Toronto.

There is a sad deficiency of public places of amuse-
ment, and such as arc there are but indifferently
patronised. The theatre is very poor, and there are

166

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

not so many means of evening enjoyment or improve-
ment as in towns quarter its size in the other provinces
or in England. A holiday, therefore, witnesses the
people thronging away in thousands by the various
steamers which ply on the river in all directions, or
the trains which ply east, west, and south, to places
where novelty affords the wearied labourer a charm.

The city itself is situated on the southern side of a
large island on tlie St. Lawrence, and slopes gradually
up from the water's edge to a mountain, from which
the city derives its name. By a strange piece of dis-
honesty, the poor mountain, in giving its name to the
city, lost it for itself, and is only known as "The
Mountain." The drive round it, and the view from
the summit, are well worthy of the traveller's atten-
tion, but would be more so were he not so persecuted
on the subject by every native of the place. The
houses are chiefly of white granite, and roofed with
tin, so the appearance of the place in a bright day is
remarkably clean and cheerful. The new streets are
broad and handsome, the old ones are narrow, and
remind one very much of the streets of old continental
towns. The street of Notre Dame is the most
important of the latter, that of St. James of the
former.

The public buildings are numerous, and some of
them are beautiful. The most imposing one is the
Eoman Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame, built in
granite, a little in the style of its Parisian namesake,
and containing, it is said, the largest bell on the
American continent. The market of Bonsecours is a
large and commodious building, where one can obtain
food for the mind, as well as nourishment and clothing

lULIPAX TO MONTREAL.

167

fur the body, aiid the most beautiful flowers. A
crowded market morning is a picturesque sight, the
faucdful dresses of the French Canadians uungling
with the more sombre garb of ordinary citizens, and
the blue and scarlet of the military, all combine to
produce that pleasing effect, which is often the result
of ui voluntary confusion.

The courts of law, the £nglish cathedral, and the
vai'ious convents, are among the other moat prominent
and attractive buildings.

The various barracks are conunodious, although
most of them are buildings hired and improvised for
the purpose at the time of the " Trent" disturbance ;
and the public offices are respectable and roomy.
But there is a considerable lack of accommodation for
the officers ; so much so, that most of the regimental
messes met at first in the various hotels in the city,
while the members lived in lodgings. A propos of
hotels, Montreal has not much to boast of m this re-
spect, compared with Yankee towns. The best are the
8t. Lawrence Hall, Donegana's, the Ottawa, and the
Montreal House. But these pale away into insigni-
ficance, beside "the many palatial mansions in the
States ; the only point in which they i*esemble them
being their charge ; and were these reduced, instead of
the comfort, one might pardon them. The great point
of inferiority in a Canadian hotel, is the style in
which the meals are served.

The best residences in Montreal are in the out-
skirts, near the mountain ; and many of them rival
the best English villas in style, comfort, and elegance.
There are many very wealthy men in Montreal, and
to their public spirit are the inhabitants indebted for

168

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

1!P

the well-supported educational institutions, as well as
most of the objects of interest in the place.

The majority of the inhabitants are French Ganap
dians, and of the balance not a few are Irish,
so the Roman Catholic religion is the general
creed among the people. At night, walking in the
streets, it is difficult to fancy oneself in an En-
glish town, so much more French is overheard
than English. The streets have both the French
and English names printed up ; the law courts con-
duct their business in both languages ; and the veiy
Houses of Parliament in this most indulgent colony,
carry on their debates in a double tongue. The
wealth of the Catholic Church is enormous, and this,
coupled with the indulgences concerning their own
laws, are good guarantees for the loyalty of the
French Canadians. He would be a rabid republican,
who would dream that a government, like that of the
United States, would allow these indulgences to
remain unrepealed, or that wealth uncoveted, were
they in a position to attack the one or rob the other.
But of this we hope to speak more fully in another
chapter. The French element, however, breaks out
in many singular ways in the community ; not the
least striking of which is displayed in the national
enmity, which has prompted the defacing of a large
monument, erected, in one of the squares, in comme-
moration of Nelson and his victories.

There is a large, but only partly turfed cricket-
ground in Montreal, rendered famous by having been
the first arena on which the All England Eleven
confronted their Transatlantic brethren. The game
of cricket requires fostering in America ; and the

HALIFAX TO MONTREAL.

169

best nurses in our colonies there are the army and
navy. The impulse given to this sport in Montreal
by the recent large increase in her garrison is very
apparent, and will, we hope, tide it over many years.
But to make it as national a game in our colonies as
in England, we must trust to the schools and colleges
taking it up in the same spirit that our public
schools do at home. Last season the annual match be-
tween Eton and Harrow was played on Lord's Ground,
in the presence of twelve thousand spectators. When
such a day comes in America, we at home will have to
look to our laurels ; and the progress of our National
Eleven will change from a procession of easy victo-
ries, to a succession of anxious and hard-fought
combats.

There are two strong objections to Montical. They
are the heat and consequent dust in summer and
autumn, and the mud in spring. They are both
equally abominable, unendurable, and any other
protesting adjective which the reader's invention can
apply. I am afraid to say how high the thermometer
went, sometimes out of sight, I should think; and,
by way of contrast, the mud was sometimes so deep
in spring as to put the passengers almost out of sight.

There are many pretty drives round Montreal ;
and through the suburbs — ^where, by the way, you
will meet that excellent university, known (from its
founder's name) as the McGill College, whose pre-
sent principal, a colonist himself, from Nova Scotia,
Dr. Dawson, is well known to the scientific world as
an eminent geologist. Out of consideration for your
driver's scruples, you will have to drive romid the
mountain first, but if you are then allowed an option,

170

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

ill

allow me to recommend the drive to Lachine, the
western extremity of the island. In one of those
bright autumn days, so well known to American
tourists, warm without being tropical, clear and
bracing without a chill for even the most sensitive
wbman, there ace few journeys can repay the tourist
so well. As you drive along the river's bank, you
meet it sometimes pouring along silent and sullen,
sometimes as by magic changed into a laughing, leap-
ing thing, full of life, and joy, and song. By-and-
by, you come on islands of marvellous green, be-
tween which you get a glimpse of the rapids of
Lachine. Ere long, you see them in their majesty,
tumbling in volumes as of white impetuous foam,
and yentling up to heaven, as incense from an altar,
gay columns of glittering spray.

Surrounding them is a varied panorama of great
beauty, which fills the heart, and stills the voice, with
emotions well known to the lover of nature. Unless,
indeed, emotion gives way to excitement, as a
steamer heaves in sight, ready to run the rapids ;
and we utter shouts of half wonder, half amusement,
as the throbbing vessel, half driven, half a free agent,
rolls and tumbles among the heaving waters, like
a porpoise on the sea in a summer day.

And then you enter the little village of Lachine,
with its thousands of logs lyir4g in the river at its
doors, waiting a purchaser, ere they shoot the rapids.
There is a terminus here for a small line of railway
from Montreal; but as far as hotel accommodation
goes, for the tourist, I would advise you to carry your
own basket, and return to your own bed.

171

CHAPTER IX.

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON.

•

A sudden splendour from behind

Flushed all the leaves with rich gold-green,

And, flowing rapidly between

Their interspaces, counter changed

The level lake with diamond plots

Of dark and bright.

Tbnnysox.

Let me commence this chapter by cautioning any
traveller in Canada, who desires either economy or
enjoyment of the scenery, to avoid on everr possible
occasion the railways, not so much from their dis-
comfort, as from the unhappy routes they take, giving
you a minimum of landscape beauties at a maximum
of charge. As a rule, steamers, which are built for
passenger traffic on the lakes and rivers, are remark-
ably comfortable, and the fare on board is equal to
what OaIC generally gets at Canadian hotels. The
charges ai-e moderate ; and one is saved frequently,
in long journeys, the expenses of nightly hotel accom-
modation, without the usual discomforts attending
night-travelling by rail. You may get a clean, airy
state-cabin for a trifle extra, and be just as comfort-

'' !|i

172

OUR GARKISONS IN THE WEST.

able as in a hotel ; while the saving in expense, and
in time, will be worthy the attention of even the
more wealthy tourist.

If it be a judicious advice, generally speaking,
which recommends steamers in America in place of
railway, there can be no doubt as to its worth and
value, when applied to the particular route which it
is intended to describe in the present chapter.

As a rule, river scenery is monotonous. Now, do
not let my English readers flare up at what they must
consider a heretical statement. I do not by the word
"river" allude to the streamlets which in Great
Britain are dignified by that name ; whose length is
not great enough to weary, and whose banks are
adorned with all the charms which the highest art
can bring to assist nature. I mean those rivers
which are the main arteries of continents, such as the
Mississippi, the Amazon, the Ganges, and the Volga,
whose wild banks are rank with a vegetation which
is tangled with age, and stunted to the dwarf dom of
a second childhood. On the waters of rivers like
the Mississippi you ai'e carried for days and nights
past precisely the same style of scenery, beautifid at
first to the eye, but soon sadly wearisome — so much
so that your attention is eagerly attracted by some
miserable log-hut, whose crazy timbers may vary the
monotony of your limited horizon. There is really
less sameness in a sea-voyage than in a journey on
the Mississippi ; for, in the former, the waters them-
selves show in the same day an infinite variety of
mood and countenance, and reflect faithfully the
changeable heavens.

But the St. Lawrence is the exception, which,

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 173

according to universal precedent, proves the asserted
rule as regards the scenery of large rivers. For by
its green waters, we have, alternately, noble efforts of
man and the wildest grandeur of nature: here we
come on a mighty city, in an hour we pass through
the silent forest. Nor do we find here the dull
sluggish waters of some rivers, nor the muddy hue of
others ; this noble river is now calm, now laughing,
now flowing peacefully between wide banks, anon
compressing its silent and earnest waters in a deep
dark channel ; sometimes studded with islands, some-
times like a wide sea sleeping.

Now-a-days, the class of tourists is so enormously
increased, that, in addition to the many other incon-
veniences consequent on this fact, the old and once
limited class of travellers cannot, on leaving home,
escape from the wrry and annoyances which are
often attendant on domestic life and home acquaint-
ances. There is no seclusion now, even among Alpine
glaciers ! and you may meet your tailor en famille
in a Swiss valley. Belgium is becoming another
Boulogne ; and you find your old neighbour in the
western postal district, rearing his family in seclusion
in the Quartier Leopold, on the rent of his London
house. Paris is becoming a suburb of London,
although S.M. L'Empereur thinks, I have no doubt,
that it is the other way ; and that singularly English
locality, the Palais Roy^l, with the institution yclept,
even in Paris, Tattersall's, serves to remove the idea
of a foreign country from the artless traveller's mind.
Oxford men pull their four-oars on the Danube ; and
your boot-maker takes Mrs. Balmoral and the Httle
Balmoral's on a cheap family return ticket up the

<' /

i^lfmgmmit

174

OUR GARRISONS TS THE WEST.

Rhine from Rotterdam. Ladies go head-long into
the interior of Africa, and the House of Peers may
be found poking about the Nile; while subaltern
officers write quarto volumes about Circassia and
Greorgia. Every owner of a boat over ten tons
carries a party to the Mediterranean, and brings them
back in six weeks with a thorough confidence in their
knowledge of Itahan politics, and a wrinkle or two
on the state of Greece. Even Spain itself, land of
the sullen hidalgo and vile cookery, cannot keep out
the Saxon ; our A.R.A's. go there with as much re-
gularity for subjects, as of old they went to the
British Museum ; and, by \\ ay of contrast, we find
merry Irish peers cracking their jokes within a few
degrees of the Pole.

A military tailor thinks less now of sending his
young man to Malta and Gibraltar for orders, than he
did formerly to Edinburgh ; and I defy you to name
a cathedral in Europe, where, hour after hour, open-
mouthed John Bull may not be seen gasping over its
beauties. As for the deHghtful fiction of going to
the Continent to learn the languages, one lias about
as much chance of becoming a linguist by attending
Sam's Coffee House, or the London Shades.

Therefore — for there is a Q.E.D. contemplated
aft^ all these seemingly irrelevant premises, — aa all
Europe, and not a little of Africa and Asia, are ex-
hausted for the traveller who wishes to have change of
the scenes and acquaintances that greet him daily at
the doors of Piccadilly, or by the railings round the
Padks, why noc strike out for another and fresher
continent ; where you can study grands scenery in a

as.

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 175

day than at home in a yearj? and where, if you do
meet prett]^ often with unpleasant Yankees, they have
this advantac e over unpleasant Englishmen — ^you will
find a novelty in them, and they will appeal to your
organ of dislike by new and untried methods; although,
I warrant you, with abundant success.

It is so easy now to get to America : the Cunard
boats, and the Great Eastern deposit you in Nova
Scotia or New York in eight or nine days ; or in a
day or two longer you can be deposited on the wharf
at Montreal by the Canadian packets. If time be
no object, a lift from a friend on board a man-of-war,
or a run in a fast sailing-vessel, like the Roseneath,
mil land you in three weeks at Halifax. You may,
when once across the Atlantic, vary the occupation of
mere travelling, or sight-seeing, by occasional fishing or
shooting excursions, for there are no game laws in
British North America to prevent you, and as it is
too large a district to preserve, it will be long ere the
shadow of a gamekeeper falls across these hunting-
grounds. The few regulations with regard to sport,
which are enforced, are favourable to the sportsman ;
a^ foT instance, the laws regarding sawmills, to pre-
vent their injury to the fishing, and, of course, those
relating to the seasons in which one may follow the
various species of game.

But should the object of the traveller merely be
sight-seeing, he will find few trips more agreeable and
compensating than a run up the St. Lawrence to
Niagara ; and to a description of this our more imme-
diate journey let us return.

The steamers run in about twelve hours between

176

OUK GAKRISONS IN THE WEST.

i»

C^.iebec and Montreal, and continue their journey to
Kingston and Toronto. I am wrong, howfever, there
is a change of steamers at Montreal.

Without any hurrying, and for a few dollars, you
may travel thus in three day s to Niagara. 1 think the
best time is the end of September or the early part of
October, when

The maple is donning his scarlet robe,

To usher the winter in :
And the hemlock is stripping his garments green,
While the birch shines out in a golden sheen.

My love to win !

Tlie autumnal tints of the American forests are too
well known to require much repetition here. The
best way I can describe them is in the language used
by us all on first seeing them, that they woiJd not be
believed in a picture. The maple parses through
every stage from ( reen to the deepest crimson ; the
birch has a yellow outrivalling Aberfeldie itself ; the
underwood has the many hues of brown peculiar to
the difFeren' eras of decay, and behind all, the deep
everlasting green of the spruce forms a background
worthy of the picture.

But although for these reasons autumn is the best
time on the St. Lawrence, the other seasons have also
their charms. Nay, winter itself is not the same
dreary season that it is at home.

One may be worse off than under a good buffalo
robe behind a fast-trotting horse, and as the sleigh
glides smoothly along the surface of the frozen river,
the bells ringing out on the horse's neck make a
merry peal in unison with our own thoughts ; for our
train of thought is keenly sensible to the physical in-
fluences which affect the body. Thanks to the abmi-

THROUGH THE THOUSAND 13LES TO KINGSTON. 177

dant spruce the eye does not rest on an expanse of
bleak snow varied with bare trunks of melancholy
trees; you meet few scenes in your lifetime more
beautiful than a green forest with a white carpet, and
perhaps tlie branches tit)sted with some recent fall of
snow. Were it not that the thermometer contradicts
the idea, you would fancy it like some picture from a
" Midsummer Night's Dream."

Still I return to my first love — the green river in
October. I started from Montreal by train to La-
chine, there to take the steamer up the river; for
although the rapids between these places allow of the
steamer coming over them in her downward trip, she
has to return humbly and ignominiously by a canaJ.
Between Montreal a> 1 Kingston is undoubtedly the-
most beautiful part of the St. Lawrence. It is above-
the Island of Montreal that the junction of the
Ottawa takes place, a river on whose bank a consider-
able way up, is in course of erection the future capital
of Canada. By this city hangs a tale illustrative of
humar>> weakness.

Owing to the great superficial extent of the pro-
vince, Canada has many towns of tolerably equal size,
each the capital, as it were, of a district. None of
these towns, however, are so large as to be indepen-
dent of the benefits accruing to their trade from the
presence of the Governor and Houses of Assembly,
Naturally, therefore, there arose a rivalry among
them, equal to that among the three goddesses of
classic memory. Of all the rivals for the honour and
the dollars belonging to a metropolis, the three most
important were Quebec, Toronto, and Montreal.
Quebec has an ancient prestige, powerful fortifica-

178

OUB GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

^^' ;.! i

tionSy and its position as a key to the river to offer in
its favour. Montreal had wealth, population, and
commerce on its side ; and Toronto had a more cen-
tral position, and— well, it is difficult to say exactly
what were the claims of this good city, although I have
no douht they were very great iii lier own estimation.
For a long time they squahbled amor*^ themselves,
and in Montreal some serious results followed ; so, as
a temporary measure — as they were unable to apply to
His Excellency the Governor-General the argument
employed by Solomon with regard to the disputed
baby — an agreement was made by which the sweets of
a capital might be enjoyed in succession for, I think,
four vears at a time. The result was that there never
could be any decent and permanent public buildings
in any city, and the dignity of the governor was
seriously compromised. When in Quebec in the be-
ginning of 1862, 1 found His Excellency living in a
house which, on first entering it, you imagined must be
a post-office instead of a palace. What an unfortu-
nate position for the representative of royalty I con-
founded in the public mind with letters paid and let-
ters unpaid. It is devoutly to be hoped that he has
not come in process of time to be regarded as a dead
letter. At last, however, the eyes of these keen rivals
were opened to the evils of the system, and they
agreed to refer the case to the arbitration of i disin-
terested party. Now, with the three goddesses a
good-looking young man was called in, and the de-
cision of this quarrel was as satisfactory as that of any
woman's generally is — to wit, smiles without, and
venom within ; to which was added in their case no

^m':\

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSl ON. 179

end of trouble to the unhappy arbitrator, Paiis.
TaMng warning by tliis, I doubt not, for Canada
reads the classics, mark you — and Montreal and To-
ronto have their universities, and good ones — the story
goes on to say, that they resolved to throw the onus of
selection on a woman, and that woman the Queen.
Poor Queen I how she must have wished that the
wisdom of Solomon had been hereditary, and come
down with the crown jewels aiid the family plate.
But no ; her poor head had to puzzle over the claims
of a number of places she had never seen, for a dig-
nity she could hardly appreciate, and with a certainty
rf offending the majority.

At last, with wisdom characteristic of her life, she
took the atlas, and probably putting a pin into the
centre of Canada — ^not the geographical centre, but
the centre of civilised and commercial Canada — she
resolved to ignore all other claims, and give the
coveted honor to the town which should be found
nearest the puncture.

This happened to be a small place called B3rtown,
situated on the Ottawa, and at the farther extremity
of the Rideau Canal, two circumstances which of
themselve.^ made it probable that the town would ulti-
mately be large and important, even apart from any
unexpected impetus such as it has received from Her
Majesty's decision. From the way in which the ap-
pointment of Bytown, now Ottawa City, as metro-
polis, will open up the back country without injuring
the remaind^ of the province, there is no doubt that
the decision will prove worthy of the judge, but I
fancy it staggered the most potent, grave, and re-

180

OUR GARRISONS IN THE Wtoj

i:i

t ■ if

vcrend seigniors of the Privy Council who witnessed
it — a style of action not to be found in Vattel or
Delolme.

We now come, however, to the point of the whole
as illustrative of human weakness. The disappointed
candidates, wild with anger, dismissed pro tern their
mutual liatred, and turning in concert on innocent
and hitherto unknown Ottawa, commenced to rend it
as dogs worry some unhappy cat. Loyalty and self-
respect prevented them turning on their judge, but
never did vicious school-girls take it out of a favourite
at school more venomouslv, when the mistress* back
was turned, than did, and still do, these beaten rivals
take it out of poor Ottawa. Tlie new capital of
Canada may be called the Cinderella of the colony,
and Victoria the good fairy who threw it in the way
of the glass slipper.

The public buildings now rising in Ottawa will cost,
it is said, more than a million, another of the straws
likely soon to break the back of the camel of Cana-
dian finance, unless they get more population and less
politics.

But we are always flying off at a tangent from the
river, and behaving as no cabin passenger with any
sense of propriety should. The junction of the
Ottawa with the St. Lawrence is marked by the dif-
ferent colour of their waters ; for many miles they run
side by side in the same channel, and can be readily
distinguished. The colour of the Ottawa, owing to
the immense amount of decayed vegetable matter it
contains, is of a rich brown ; while that of the St.
Lawrence — ^particularly as one approaches Kingston,
where it runs over trap, is green. It may be as well

THBOUGU THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 181

to mention h^re, that the distance from Montreal to
Quebec is one hundred and sixty-eight miles, from
Ottawa three hundred and thirty-five miles.

The scenery along the river is varied by many
pretty hamlets, and even towns. Prescott and Og-
densburgh are vis-a-vis to one another, and belong to
England and the States respectively. As the river is
the only line of demarcation, it is needless perhaps to
say that when we had troops on the English side, de-
sertion, stimulated by Yankee dollars, was easy and
frequent. On the south bank of the river for some
distance west of Montreal, near all the French settle-
ments, the usual sylvan scenery is varied by pop-
lars, whose tall, compressed forms afford a pleasing
contrast to the pines, maples, and birches which are
everywhere abundant. And it is to be remarked that
the French Canadians, different although they are in
many respects from their sires, still retain their taste
in decoration ; so that, although the interiors of their
cottages are more conspicuous for the absence, than
the presence of cleanliness, yet the exteriors are easily
distinguished from those of English settlers, by the
gay flowers and creepers which surround them, and
the other indescribable minutiae, whose sum total
leaves the impression on the visitor's mind of great
taste, and of considerable labour bestoAved in its gra-
tification. But alas ! however picture? que and admi-
rable all this may be from the road, or the deck of a
steamer, your feelings receive a sad shock should
circumstances compel yor to seek accommodation
within. The smell of roses and geraniums may be
exquisite, but hardly reconciles you to the stuffy and
fluffy smell of the inhabitants and their apartments ;

182

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

and however graceful a creeper may be on a porti ?o,
they are irritating and loathsome in a bed, when they
assume the form of — but oh I spare me further
recital.

The Thousand Islands, as they are called, occupied
no small portion of a day in passing; and even at
this distance of time that vision of beauty rises before
my mind with a clearness and vigour, such as attend
the impressions left on the mind of hildhood by
startling events of great joy or sorrow. Could one
imagine a beautiful dream or poem realised in nature,
one could more easily conceive this marvellous scene.
There are passages in Tennyson which remindea one
of these islands, and in some of our Scottish lakes
they are faintly shadowed forth, but not Helen's
Isle can approach in beauty the simplest of those
bright jewels, which are so profusely scattered over
the surface of this proud river.

Truly the beauties of that day were a brighter dream
than one could hope to dream in slumber. Our
vessel, as it threaded its way through the maze of
islands, almost touched their steep green sides, and
the branches of the trees which crowned them
almost brushed us, as we leant over the bulwarks in
silent admiration. There were many varieties of
waterfowl in the river round us ; but not the least
pleasing part of the picture was the utter wildness
of the islands, the absence of any signs of man's
handiwork or habitation, the untouched purity of
their pristine beauty. For there is a strange cabn
conies over man as he finds himself with nature
alone.

Now, to many this idea will be designated by the

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 183

one

title ^'bosh.'* Your eminently practical man will
say that a turnip-field is a far more picturesque and
soothing sight than a bramble-covered rock ; and,
buttoning up his pockets, will say that, for his part he
always considers sentimentality and swindling to be
twin-brothers. Your unimaginative friend of another
class, that class, I mean, who have but one idea, one
care, and one study, and that is " ego" — will say tliat
" Haw I for their parts, haw I This sort of thing
was all doosed fine in books, but haw I my dear fel-
low ! where do you get your gloves f And pretty
little Minnie, she will say, clapping her hands :

" Oh ! mamma I what a charming place for a pic-
nic ! and I could wear that new muslin, and the hat
that Charles liked so much, and you could put your
dear old feet in rubbers, and we would have such a
hamper ! But oh ! it would be so stupid without any
gentlemen, so I am afraid we should have to make
these dear Lslands ' marCa habitation ' for an after-
noon at any rate I"

Well, in answer to all this, I have merely got to
say, that if I could get these two gentlemen and the
charming Minnie on board a river steamer in the
Thousand Islands, I would wager that, for half an
hour at least, Mr. Consols would cease to be practical,
Mr. Butterfly would feel a tightening across the
chest different from any ever produced by a tailor's
nasfit, and even chattering little Minnie would be
quiet for a minute or two, and forget that such a
thing as muslin existed in the world.

There were many, many hard-looking men on board
with me that day, and many of the other sex, whose
hearts had been sadly tried by tMs life's worry, and the

184

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

n w^ i

cares of daily bread, which look so small on paper, but
which are sad things for aging us, and knocking the
romance out of our nature. But I doubt if there was
one among them all who did not feel softened by the
scenery around us ; whose face did not lose for a mo-
ment the look of anxious worry, and wear something
approaching the calm, placid look, which Death leaves
when he draws away the soul. All their souls had gone
out, as with a great longing to Nature the great mother,
as a lost and weary child falls on the loving maternal
bosom, which yearns over her ref ound treasure. And
in some eyes, \vhose daily sparkle is due to keen, hard
love of gain, I am not sure I did not see a tear. You
have seen, reader, in a crowded, festive room, one
quiet pensive face, whose spirit is far away in thought,
and whose owner is for the time all unconscious of the
throng, and the music, and the dance ; so on the deck
of that plodding steamer, we stood gazing our souls
out in unconscious love and admiration of the beauty
before us, and recking not that we were units in a
motley crowd of passengers.

In the prairie territories of America there is expe-
rienced by the traveller and the hunter, a strange
sensation which has been called the prairie fever. It
is a sweet and exhilarating feeling, absorbing for a
time all recollection of the past, and killing all anxiety
about the futm'e. It is a maddening enjoyment of
the present, arising from lightened spirits, and the
grandeur of surrounding nature. In the more settled
parts of the continent, where the advances of civilisa-
tion have furrowed the wild meadows, and the flowery-
prairie is wrinkled with the cares of toil, yet in the
forest and on the lakes, something approaching to this

fit

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 185

feeling is entertained. In tracing out the origin of
this state of mind, a metaphysician might discover
properties and faculties of whose existence he was
not formerly aware. We doubt whether any mental
philosopher has devoted his attention to the subject ;
or, if he has, whether he has not merely attributed it
to some excitement of the perception of the sublime
and beautiful ?

But, may it not be otherwise 1 Is it rash to say,
that away in great solitudes, fresh from the Creator's
hand — ^where man's toil has not defaced, nor his dul-
ness polluted — the mental faculties may acquire a
higher power over the body, and somewhat loosen his
faculties? Is it rash to say that in the flowers of
God's garden, in the trees and rocks of his untouched
mountains, there may be left an impress of His hand
which affects the spirit of his creature ? As the sound
of the trumpet inspires the old and weary war-horse,
or the strains of some melody heard in youth affects
the hardened sinner in the midst of crimes, may not
this music of nature, pure and fresh from God, in-
spire in some way the soul of man ?

Thoughts of God's majesty, and of infinity, make
our giddy brains reel ; yet with these same spirits we
are to enjoy or endure eternity. Must there not, then,
be some latent faculty, which, when the soul is freed
from the body, shall better comprehend all these;
and which, even now at odd times, in disease or deli-
rium — or as of old in inspiration — throws glimpses
into us of the mighty unknown and unfathomed ?

May not prophecy or inspu'ation, be merely the
momentary loosening of this mortal coil, to let some
mysterious dormant faculty have play? And may

186

OUE GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

M i

! i.;.!

not some such loosening come by the sudden sight
and enjojrment of a portion of God's works, as they
lie before our vision, fresh and unsullied?
• •- # • «

But this sort of thing must be put a stop to ; once
let a Scotchman back to his metaphysics — and you
require a heavy bit to hold him. O, outraged public !
you shall be that bit : so, after this little specimen of
what the Yankees would call " high-filutin" compo-
sition (I don't answer for the spelling), I shall come
back from mental faculties and prairies to my camp-
stool on the deck of the river steamer.

Let me look back and see where I was when I
mounted my metaphysical Pegasus. I see, yes ; we
had alluded to some water-fowl. Now, considering
the dearth of ornithological life in American forests,
to which we alluded in a former chapter, these
wild-fowl were not the least pleasing part of the pic-
ture we studied. I have often thought that the trans-
atlantic woods realise beautifully in one respect, what
England will be, when — according to terrified corre-
spondents of the Times — ^the small boys shall have
shot the last sparrow. And yet, with all this lack of
small birds, what will these same correspondents think
when they are told that in Halifax there exist not a
few omithophagites, whose prey is a bird whose name
is Robin, although in point of nature,, wise men put it
among the TurdincB f

The trees, even on the St. Lawrence, are not large,
save where now and then a bleached trunk has thrown
out its dead limbs to heaven; naked, except where
here and there some drooping moss, of the nature
called old men's beards, is floating about them in the

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 187

wind. Rearing themselves in hoary majesty above
the yomiger forest, these ancient monarchs remind
us of some Lear, whom storm and hurricane have
stripped of his garments, leaving but some bleached
and tattered fragments hanging about his withered
form.

The fires in America are so frequent, more espe-
cially in the woods round the settlements, that one
may travel miles and miles without meeting any
tree larger than you meet in our English parks. I
grani. you, when 3'^ou do meet a genuine forest giant,
he does out-Colossus your home experiences ; but, as a
rule, the hand of fire and of the woodman are too de-
solating to spare any such for your admiration. For
days and nights, ay, even weeks and months, you may
see in our American colonies the horizon darkened
with clouds of smoke by day, and illumined with
lurid glare by night, from the burning woods. Should
the scene of the conflagration be near, it amply repays
the inquirer to go and inspect it, keeping cautiously,
however, to windward. There are few sights more
wildly beautiful than the flame dancing and crawUng
with forked tongue among the brush and the dry-
grass, till, coming on a fresh spruce-tree, it glides Hke
lightning up among the branches, whose resinous
spines offer its cruel maw a dainty morsel ; and soon
all that is left is a black and charred trunk.

But the steward is ^^^ng his rounds to ascertain
who propose dining. The ladies are first stowed away
at the dinner-table — no extraordinary or superfluous
precaution with a number of hungry male Yankees on
board — and then the gentlemen are disposed of. I
was more impressc \ with the inferiority of the Yankee

188

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

to all other nations, in point of manners at table, on
this occasion than on any previous. We had certainly
one or two outrageous specimens on hoard, and to one
of them I was indebted for learning the origin of a
custom in the States which had hitherto bewildered
me. I refer to the arrangement by which each guest
at a table d'hote, however extensive, has a saltcellar to
himself, but no spoon, the true Yankee preferring to
use his knife. The circmnstance was as follows :

Immediately opposite me was a Yankee of virulent
vulgarity in point of eating, and on his right a timid,
nervous, but gentlemanly Canadian. By some acci-
dent, the timid gentleman's saltcellar had got adrift,
and he was at his wit's end to get one, knowing the
manners of the country better than I did. He seemed
diffident of asking his voracious neighbour, whose
knife and fork were generally three or foiu* inches
deep in his mouth, and whose whole soul was devoted
to the solution of the problem of devouring tha
greatest possible quantity in the least possible time,
and without any effort at mastication. At length,
goaded on by the insipidity of his diet — ^boiled veaJ,
or some such delicacy — our timid friend addressed the
Yankee :

" I beg your pardon, my dear sir, but if you will
excuse me, will you have the kindness to pass the
salt?"

What do you think, reader, was the answer of our
polished Yankee, crushing and prostrating our nervous
little friend?

" Sir," said he, with mouth full of viands, "I guess
there's sarvants ! "

As bad this, is it not, as the Yankee who, se'^ing a

ll!

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 189

soKtary dish of peas on the table in some hotel, anti-
cipating every one else, reached over, and, seizing the
dish, emptied the whole on his own plate, remarking
at the same time, in a cheerful voice,

" I reckon I'm a whale at green peas 1 "

I shudder as I recal some of the awful scenes I
have witnessed, in my travels, at American public
tables. Some are too fearful to commit to paper.
One individual near me, on one occasion, having
been longer over his soup than his neighbours, saw
with horror that a dish of potatoes in his immediate
vicinity was in a fair way of being out of sight before
he should be ready to help himself. What do you
think he did ? Ladling the soup to his mouth with his
right hand, he reached out his left towards the vege-
tables in question, and, selecting two or three of the
best, placed them on the table-cloth beside him ready
for use.

I collapsed — ^I could hardly go on with my dinner ;
and there he sat alternately gobbling his food and
chuckling over his 'tarnation 'cutenes-i. From the
pace at which Yankees eat, I was generally a shock-
ing laggard at meals, but on this occasion I was worse
than usual; yet I can honestly say that never was
sweeter compliment breathed by lover into his mis-
tress's ear than the words uttered to me through his
nose by that Yankee brute, with a smile of compla-
cency and satisfied superiority :

" I reckon, stranger, that you hail from down
east."

O dear country in the east I O land of courteous
men and well-ordered houses ! May I never forget —
even in the midst of the beauties and temptations of

■I

- 'iM

190

OtTR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

/i ;t

other lands — the proud feeling that swelled my heart
that day, when X thought that indeed I did hail from
down east I

There were the usual Americanisms at the table
that day — little djjshes of sweets and of pickles, eaten
as they were arranged, promiscuously, and the cheese
eaten invariably with tarts of all sorts. The absence
of beer and wine at dinner, at most jAmerican hotels
and on board their boats, seems odd at first to an
Englishman ; but it is not to be taken as an evidence
of national temperance : for as surely as these gentle-
men drink water now, so surely, in about five minutes,
will they be in the bar, swallowing hot drinks and
iced drinks, with many names, but one purpose — to
stimulate. However, chacun it son gouty I remember I
called for beer, to the amazement of my neighbours,
and drank it to the satisfaction of mysdf ; nor did I
find it interfere with my enjoyment and appreciation
of the scenery when I retumad on deck. But, having
some national prejudices in favour of mastication and
salivation, as being conducive to digestion, I and some
good Canadians were left speedily to ourselves, while
the Yankees rushed from the table to undergo, I
should think, the worst description of heartburn,
acidity, and indigestion. No wonder that in the
States quacks prosper, and that every newspaper is
filled with testimonials from eminent clergymen, all
residing in places ending with ville, recounting an
immediate cure, by one box of somebody's pills, of in-
digestion of thirty years' standing.

There is something positively awful in the way and
the pace at wliich Yankees eat. It was long before
I could 80 concentrate my thoughts as to be indepenr

THROUGH THE THOUSAND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 191

dent of my neighbour at the dinner table ; and iintH
I could do BO, I found myself daily getting into a
regular fever at meal-times, so much did the violent
huny of Yankees eating flush and flurry me.

By the time I got again on deck, evening was fast
closing in, for there is little or no twilight in America;
and we saw in the grey sky, the night hawks darting
about with their swift and bat-like flight. And we
saw the last light disappear in the West as we en-
tered the sleeping Ontario, a fit end to so glorious a
river ; appropriate after its alternate rapids and calms,
its gay scenes, and silent blanks, as is the great
sleeping sea of death, after the alternate joys and
sorrows of that ceaselessly flowing river, which we
call Human Life.

As we gaze, gradually the struggling moon and
twinkling stars awaken smiles and rays on the surface
of the lake, as when on a sleeping infant's face,
flit dreams, and smiles, and blushes ; while the low
hum of the wind among the tress sounds like some
subdued "Kyrie eleison," in the vast temple whose
roof is heaven, and whose walls are the ends of the
earth! By-and-by as we near Kingston, we see,
as stars on the border of some great cloud, the lights
peeping out from some student's dark chamber, or
the windows of some House of God.

And then we are abruptly recalled to everyday
life, by the falsetto voice of the boy, through whom
the captain communicates his wishes to the grimy
men who regulate the heart's palpitations in otr now
gently moving vessel. Now we can distinguish, in
frenzied conclave, the yelling cabmen of Kingston,
trying with their whips to mesmerise the passengers

192

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

i '5

while yet many yards from the wharf. Falling a ready
victim to the blandishments of an awful ruffian, who
overcharged me to an extent unheard of even in the
annals of cabmen, I found myself ultimately in the
interior of some house of entertainment in Kingston,
if such a word as entertainment can be applied, save
in mockery, to so sad and depressing a city. With a
word or two on this abode of melancholy, I shall con-
clude this wandering chapter.

Kingston, like every housekeeper who seeks an en-
gagement in a widower's family, has seen better days.
At least, for the sake of its inhabitants, we hope this
frequent assertion of theirs is true ; for it could
hardly fall upon worse or more gloomy days. I do
not know the exact period in the history of Kingston
when melancholy marked it for its own ; but if one
may judge by the length of grass in the streets, it
can hardly be within the recollection of the existing
generation. A walk in its most exciting localities is
about as cheerful a proceeding as a lounge in some of
the dismal streets in Marylebone near the New-road,
where the only individual you ever meet belongs to
the class whose energies in life are devoted to reliev-
ing their burdened brethren of the upper classes, of
their " old clo !" The merry people of Kingston (if
there are any) must keep strictly indoors, and confine
their jocularity to the back rooms ; for all you meet
in the streets are as dismal as, I was going to say,
undertakers, but they are proverbially merry, so I
shall substitute school-boys the first week after the
holidays, or lovers when they first know they love.
I reached my hotel with a horrible feeling .at I had
no right to be happy, if, indeed, I had any business
to be alive ; and Lord Lovel, in his first appearance

THROUGH THE THOUS.VND ISLES TO KINGSTON. 193

in public, is a cheery and jovial fellow compared with
what I must have looked when, in a meek voice, I
asked for a bedroom candle. As for any fluid refresh-
ment on that occasion, I should have felt no sur-
prise had I been informed that vinegar was the usual
beverage in Kingston, and their most uitoxicating
drink a black draught.

Since those days of my melancholy visit, Kingston
has been again included in the list of " Our Garri-
sons in the West." First, the 62nd, and now the
47th Regiment have been sent to warm the cockles
of the Kingstonian heart. And if it be true that
one body cannot emit caloric without losing it itself,
then, knowing what I do of the fathomless abyss
of that city's cold gloom, I shudder when I think
of the sufferings there of Her Majesty's troops. No
wonder that my old friends of the Wiltshire Regi-
ment could stand it no more than a year ; the wonder
was that suicide had not become a daily occurrence
among them after the first week. It speaks well for
the internal heartiness and cheerful souls of the
Sixty-second that they stood it as they did. And
if I have any inquisitive reader who would like some
details of the great melancholy that enwraps this
good city, let me answer him by illustration. Con-
cluding that there must be some city sights, at all
events, if no city joys, I asked what I shoidd find
most worthy of inspection. After some hesitation, I
was told "The Market." I shivered; for well I
know that where this is the chief thing in a city, that
city is to be shunned. In ten minutes my brushes
were restored to my bag, and the echo of my footfall
fell on Kingston no more.

194

CIIAPTEK X.

A SHORT CHAPTER, REFERRING MORE ESPECIALLY
TO TORONTO AND HAMILTON, BUT WITH A WORD
OR TWO ON THE LAKES.

From the great lakes of the north land.

Hiawatha.

Being heavily depressed with my brief stay at
Kingston, I was hardly in a fit state to appreciate the
scenery ol Lake Ontario. Fortunately, being night,
and the moon rising late and dimly, one did not feel
so imperatively called upon to remain on deck and
study the beauties of nature. So I was amusing my-
self, after two or three hours, in the saloon, of silent
wretchedness, by arranging my rug and great-coat to
look as much as possible like a large collection of
magnificent robes, and by placing my portmanteau so
cunningly as to upset any midnight assassin who
might think of making a permanent blank in my
family circle. Having succeeded, as I fondly hoped,
to an admirable degree, I was regarding complacently
my handiwork, when I was unexpectedly allowed a

TORONTO AND HAMILTON.

195

proof of the success of my labours. The door sud-
denly opened, and my little nervous Canadian, of the
last chapter, with whom I had sworn eternal friend-
ship, plunged headlong into my cabin, and, falling
artlessly into my trap, and over my portmanteau, was
soon lost as to liis head under the pillows of my berth,
and left behind him no sign, save a couple of quiver-
ing legs. As soon as my laughter subsided, I
extracted liim, as a dentist might a stubborn tooth,
and placed him, end on, on my indiscriminating
luggage.

As he sat there, gasping and flushed, and unable
to give any connected utterance to his ideas, I was
horror-struck to hear him half scream, half whisper,
the word " Jupiter" several times, but always in a
succession of hyphens, " Ju-ju-jup-iter," as if he were
endeavouring to name a favourite sweetmeat of
British youth.

I thought of Quintus Curtius Itufus, with his fa-
vourite oaths of " Mehercule," and those referring to
one Jupiter Ammon, and I wondered whether my
Httle friend had been at McGill College in his boy-
hood, and therefore became classical in his blasphemy
and imprecations. But, as his breath cr^ne back, he
kept raising his finger in a devotional aspect, as he re-
ferred to the premier of Roman Mythology, so I be-
gan to think of Wilkie Collins's novel " Antonina,"
with the enthusiastic Pagan, and wondered whether,
in my then prostrate condition, my small friend —
Pagan himself — saw in me a fit subject for conver-
sion to the worship of the cloud-compelling deity. At
last, after shaking him, hitting him in the back, and
waving mystically in his face my brandy-flask, he be-

19G

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

came more intelligible, and was enabled to state that
the cause of hia commotion was the brilliancy of tlio
planet Jupiter, as seen from the deck of our steamer.
Poor little man I I do not know if he knew one
planet from another, but he dragged me on deck to
show me one which he seemed certain was the indi-
vidual whose name stuck so in his throat. It certainly
was a most brilliant one, throwing a wake like a young
moon, and my admiration was so unfeigned as to
make him dance round me in his glee and pride, as if
instead of being a planet it were a private firework let
off by himself, and one whose brilliancy was entirely
due to him. Having feasted my eyes on it, I turned
them, as a second course, on the dark horizon which
bounded the great lake, and became so absent in its
contemplation, that I hardly heard the conversation of
my excited little friend, who, as if astronomy were a
thirsty science, kept muttering the word "Licker!"
There was not so much to occupy one's mind in the
actual scenery, as in the thoughts to which our situa-
tion inevitably gave birth. Here we were on a mighty
inland sea, a magnificent fresh-water ocean, in the
very heart of a continent, raised many feet above the
level of the sea itself, but suffering from the same
species of disturbances, in the form of storms and
tempests. There was something grand in the sight of
these mighty lakes, something elevating in the ideas
they gave birth to. But how coidd a man think of
scenery with a little creature dancing round him, as if
a victim to St. Vitus's dance, and using every means
short of force to drag him to the bar — not of judg-
ment, but of drinks.
What use would it have been attempting to elevate

I1 1

TORONTO AND HAMILTON.

197

with grand thoughts the mind of a being who pre-
ferred being elevated with a mint julep ? Tlie very
woods round Ontario^ and the night breeze rippling its
waters, echoed mournfully " Cui bono t" There was
a miserable owl giving vent in the wools, near which
we were steaming, to a melancholy hoot, and I might
have as well recited Martin F. Tupper to it, in hope of
its detecting some poetry in that dreary writer, as
called my clamorous little friend's attention to the
silent poem written in the scene around us. So, as
the next best thing to winning is losing with a good
grace, I yielded to his solicitations, and we adjourned
to the bar. Here, while watching the concoction of a
slingj I listened with some amusement to the boasting
of two or three Yankees, who, as is usual when
drinking, were talking of their country. Every sip of
spirits they swallowed soon steamed -out of their mouth
in the form of grandiose bunkum, so outrageously pre-
posterous, that one could hardly help smiling, if not
laughing outright. One amusing feature in the
Yankee character is, if you are drawn into an argu-
ment, as I regret to say my bump of combativeness
frequently did with me, that in talking of the United
States, they always call it "wy country," with the
accent on the pronoun instead of the substantive.
One would think they each claimed credit for having
made their country what it is, or that they were
afraid a stranger might offer to claim some property
in it. If the latter, may I assure them that such an
idea is the furthest from an Englishman's mind,
who lias once known the vices and follies which they
imagine virtue and wisdom.

The Yankee style of argument is in a high degree

198

OUR GARRISONS IN FHE WEST.

i- i I

entertaining, and ends either in a passion or some
wildly characteristic statement. I was engaged in an
argument with an intelligent Yankee on one occasion,
the subject of which was slavery. Being before the
day of secession, he thought it his duty to defend this
domestic institution merely because it was recognised
in some parts of " his " country, and, considering the
weakness of his case, he fenced and parried admirably.
As a clencher, I ventured to remark that the Bible
was rather against it — a remark I made with some
diffidence, because, really, there is very little in the
Scriptures against slavery. Fortunately for me, my
disputant did not know his Bible so well as he did the
number of stars and stripes in his country's banner,
so he assumed from my statement that it was dead
against him. How do you think he got out of it ?

" Wall, su*; the Bible ai'nt a bad book: no! sir!
but it was written at a period when the world was a
kinder young and slow. Niggers were meant to be
slaves all along ; but it were left to the 'Merican mind
to find it out !"

What could I do after such a statement? Just
what you would do, reader — laugh and give it up.

However, this chapter professed at starting to be
descriptive, in a small degree, of Toronto, Hamilton,
and the lakes ; so we must not stay in the bar all the
time. We reached Toronto, which is at the other
extremity of Lake Ontario from Kingston, early on
the following morning ; but just too late to catch the
steamer Zimmerman, which crosses to Niagara from
that city; I had, consequently, some little time to
spend in Toronto and inspect its lions.

Its lions — like the serpents of the Egyptian magi,

TORONTO AND HAMILTON.

199

which were made a mouthful of by that of Moses —
were swamped utterly by one of their number, at least
in my ^es — ^the devouring fiend being the University
of Toronto. This is the institution par excellence of
Canada, and would confer honour upon any country.
Scholars at its head producing scholars in annual
batches, and icirculating by their means a lofty tone, a
chaste learning, a cultivated intellect throughout the
whole of Canada. What destiny or purpose, save one,
can be nobler in a country ? Alas, alas ! in the vulgar
eye, the phrase, " the schoolmaster is abroad I" is as-
sociated merely with a wider suffrage and a broken
tenth commandment; literature is made a stepping-
stone to a vote, and the education of the poor is in-
tended to be a first step towards the spoliation of the
rich? Let us turn away from such a system of
schooling ; let us turn into classic shades which shall
not be an ambush for the spirits of revolution, and
chartism, and anarchy; let us step into the calm
abode of pure learning, of beneficial communion with
the Past, of healthy preparation for the active Future.
Oh ! dear Homer, and genial Horace ! oh ! quaint
Curtius, and eloquent Thucydides I oh ! dear, con-
ceited Cicero, and artlessly-exaggerating Herodotus !
better a year with you and yours than a bustling life-
time in the Little Peddlington of our working lives,
if we wish to store our minds with great truths, and
not weaken them with a thousand little drains in the
Present ! Oh ! my brethren in the West I do not let
your boys be men ere the down is on the lip, and the
iron in the soul ; they will age soon enough, and the
rust will be in their spirits, and the sorrow will brood
crushing in their hearts.

200

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

^'''

For a year, a year yet, or more, let them sit at the
feet of these grand old masters, whose very sentences
ring out in young ears like the blare of a war-trump :
let these large eyes, whose sockets know yet no crows-
feet, and whose tears pass swiftly away, let them gaze
yet awhile into the Past, along whose corridors shall
be found the noble lessons that make the Present —
honour, and the Future — ^hope ! Ah I these days in
college halls, these hours of generous emulation, as
between children rivals for a father^s love, how soon
they pass away !

Not school-days, with their petty tasks and tyran-
nies, are the summer-time of youth, but those gentle,
dreamy days when one is led — ^not driven — ^to the
fount of classic learning ; when one begins to under-
stand what has been as yet but a method of dreary
discipline, and a melancholy alloy in schoolboy
joys.

Alma mater I — sweet and kindly words — ^what a
cruel day it seems on looking back, when from thy
gentle arms we were thrust into the seething whirl-
pool of life, to struggle without sympathy, to sink
without a word of sorrow from those around, or — ah !
worse yet! — to succeed amid envy, and heart-burn-
ings, and , chilling hatred. Which is worse in our
weary life — success or failure ? The one looking out
on a sea of beaten and angry rivals, the other gazing
up from a dark abyss of blighted hopes and thwarted
energies ? None, none of this was there in the genial
circle that studied at the feet of the mighty Past, in-
stead of toiling in the littleness of a circumscribed
Present; that long-remembered circle in those long-
regretted halls, that pure-souled company of the young

TORONTO AND HAMILTON.

201

in their wanderings through the solemn-speaking
chambers of the Past !

Toronto is pleasant in itself, but pleasanter when
placed in contrast with Kingston. It is a bustling
and wealthy city, ^dth a community which is a happy
mixture of the professional, the literary, and the com-
mercial. There is an element in it which might be
spared in this as in most of our colonial towns — ^I
mean the political element. The press of Toronto is
able and well-conducted ; but in political matters it
is highly virulent. It leads a large party of the voting
public, and one of the papers is, I believe, the organ
of a large party in the House of Assembly. Although
naturally somewhat blinded by prejudice in matters
relating to Canada, the Toronto press has frequently
issued articles displaying wide, liberal, and most truth-
ful views on the subject of our colonial system ge-
nerally.

The city itself, as viewed from the water, lies very
low ; but is a clean and cheerful, as well as an impo-
sing, place. As a military quarter, it is much liked ;
and it is at present garrisoned by an Armstrong field-
battery, a garrison battery, and the 30th Regiment
of Foot. Its importance as a garrison, in event of
war with the States, would be very great, owing to
the importance to us of the command of the lakes.

From Toronto to Niagara, one may proceed by two
routes — one direct across by steamer to Fort Niagara,
with a rail journey of a few miles to the Falls, and
the other going round by land on the rail to Hamil-
ton, and on to Niagara. The former of these routes
th one adopted by me, so any remaiks I have

was

202

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

to make on Hamilton, will be brief and second-
hand. This city has acquired a most unpleasant no-
toriety, within the last year or two, by some repudi-
ation of which it was guilty in the matter of debts
incurred chiefly to English creditors, for the enlarge-
ment and beautifying of their streets and buildings.
The circumstances are not well known to the author,
but it is sad to see a system which was considered as
peculiar merely to Pennsylvania and other parts of
the United States, gaining a position in an English
colony. It is a foolish and expensive measure in the
end, even apart from all question of honour, as the
good city of Hamilton will discover the next time they
have occasion to borrow money. The present garri-
son of Hamilton consists of an Armstrong field-bat-
tery, and a battalion of the Rifle Brigade.

Before saying a word or two on the lakes, it may
be as well to mention that the only other garrison in
Canada of any importance, always excepting Quebec,
to which we shall allude in another chapter, is Lon-
don, Upper Canada. This garrison, once a favourite
quarter, and even now not destitute of attraction,
contains an Armstrong field-battery, the 63rd Eegi-
ment of Foot, and the head-quarters of the Canadian
Rifles. This last-mentioned corps — a most useful as
well as trustworthy body of old soldiers — is scattered
over Canada, more especially in stations such as the
Red River, where no other regular troops are sta-
tioned, and as a nucleus for volunteers and militia in
event of war would prove invaluable.

The chief advantages to the men are certain indul-
gences in the way of working at their trades, liberal
rations for their families, and no limit to matrimony.

v»k

TORONTO AND HAMILTON.

203

Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Mi-
chigan, and Lake Superior, are a group of lakes more
or less connected with one another, and all of great
size. Erie joins Ontaiio by means of the Niagara
river, just as Huron conununicates with Erie by the
river St. Clair. They are, it is needless to say, all
navigable and of great depth, but as they are subject
to sudden storms, there is a long annual list of wrecks
and loss of life.

Their importance in the event of a war I ween us
and the States was long ago rerognised, as, ' manifest
by the terms of a treaty be.,weer us, by which the
maintenance on the lakes during peace of vessels of
war is forbidden. If rumour may be credited, the
Yankees keep this treaty to the letter, but break it in
the sense, having gunboats ready to launch at a mo-
ment's notice, which would at once destroy our
commerce and endanger our lake cities. Whether
they do so or not it is evident that they have rather
the best of the bargain, as they could always have the
start of us in point of time. At the time of the Trent
affair, gunboats were sent out to Canada in pieces
ready to put together, thus showing how important in
the eyes of owe Government was the command of these
lakes. As yet. Lake Ontario is the most valuable to
us, on account of the more abundant settlements
scattered on its margin. But as the tendency of
emigration sets always to the west, where lands are
cheaper, this preeminence will soon disappear.

I (

204

CHAPTER XI.

NIAOABA.

Alack ! what poverty my muse brings forth,
That having such a scope to show her pride,
The argument, all bare, is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praise beside.

Shakspture.

Now-A-DAYS no man sees the Falls of Niagara
save at a disadvantage. When you are anxious to be
left alone with them in contemplation and silence,
you find a couple of insane photographers at your
elbow, ready for a quarter- dollar to give you a picture
of the Thunder of Waters with your own wretched
figure in the foreground by way of contrast. Should
you succeed in escaping these rufiians, you run into
the arms of some touter for the camera establishment,
which enables you to see the Falls from the interior of
a dark room at the low price of twelve and a half cents,
while you can see them for nothing to much greater
advantage outside. Should you be so self-denying as
ij resist these two temptations, you will not find your-
self by tliis means exempt from further blandishments.

.>'%>

NIAGARA.

205

It soon dawns upon your bewildered faculties that
the sole purpose of the remaining part of the trading
residents at Niagara Falls is to prevent you from
seeing the object, to view which you have travelled it
may be many thousand mileS.

Just as you have made up your mind to lie down
quietly on the Table Rock and drink in the beauties
of the tumbling waters before you, you are tapped on
the shoulder and warned imperatively that a visit to
the Falls is incomplete without inspecting the cele-
brated menagerie of wild beasts from every clime ; or
half an hour after, just as you are seated where you
combine a view of the rapids with a glimpse of the
green semicircle in the English Falls known as the
Horseshoe, you find some wretched creature with a
tray suspended from his miserable neck containing
petrifactions and mineral curiosities which have oc-
curred, goodness knows why, to the vendor as appro-
priate reminiscences to carry away with one.

Should you make up your mind to go under the
Falls, you are implored to come and see the Sulphur
Springs ; or should you resist this entreaty, you are
infonned that it is a matter of urgent necessity that
you should go down the river some mile and a half to
contemplate that most uninteresting of sights — a whirl-
pool. Should, again, you evince a desire to go down the
rocks to see the bottom of the Falls, you drive the
trading public frantic if you refuse to go down a
species of imderground railway, extremely uncom-
fortable and hideously dangerous. And if you make
up your mind to retire to the Lonely Tower on Gout
Island, to escape persecution, you are recommended
before doing so to invest to a large amount in Indian

206

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

' I

work, as if a parcel of beadwork moccasins and birch-
bark canoes would enable one more fully to appreciate
the scenery from the new point you have selected for
your observations.

You can go nowhere without advice, and do no-
thing without suggestions. A large population have
adopted the Falls, as if they were some private
dancing bear or talking fish ; and you dare no more
break through their drea^ routine than you would
venture to violate the etiquette of a court. If you go
under the Falls, you are presented with a certificate
as if you were taking a degree ; although it is diffi-
cult to conceive any reason why a traveller should
require any diploma, in a matter which hardly sug-
gests deception or falsehood.

Your hotels are conducted on the gay and noisy
principle, as if with the object of driving the water-
fall out of your head. Bands play, and all con-
ceivable inducements are invented to keep the travel-
ler from what should be his legitimate purpose. In
fact, so far from one being left to a contemplation of
some of nature's greatest and most imposing scenes,
every device of man is called into play to drown the
very fact of their existence. So much for the disad-
vantages of Niagara, now for a few words on the
best way of seeing it, in spite of all these drawbacks.

To begin with the point of accommodation ; there
is of this no lack. Hotels have sprung up like mush-
rooms, and the traveller has no difficulty in selecting
an excellent one on either side of the Falls, or should
he prefer it, at some little distance from them, and
near the railway terminus and Suspension Bridge.

The Clifton House is the best on the English side,

NIAGARA.

207

2re
st-

and is quite close to the Table Rock and Horseshoe
Fall ; the correspondin|T one on the other side being
the International or American. Near the Suspension
Bridge on the English side was the Great Western
Railway Hotel, when I was there in 1857, and on the
other side was j. hotel called the Mounteagle House.
All of these are good, clean, and comfortable houses ;
but for an English traveller, the preference should
undoubtedly be given to the Clifton House.

The season of the year at which it is best to visit
the Falls varies of course with the taste and disposi-
tion of the tourist. While Only and August are
fashionable months, the heat is very oppressive ; and,
on the other hand, while October is a perfect month
in point of climate, you run the risk of finding the
best hotels closed. For my own part I have always
fancied, from the descriptions I have received, that in
the dead of winter one would see the Falls to the
greatest advantage ; and after seeing at that season of
the year* the Grand FaUs of the St. John, which in
height and volume are nothing to Niagara, I am
more firmly wedded than ever to my opinion. One
thing, however, is certain, that at no season can the
Falls be anything but magnificent, and amply repay-
ing to any traveller. ^

The next point to be considered, is the time which
one should devote to Niagara. And here let me say
that if, with most sights in the world, merely doing
them is unsatisfactory, it is more especially so with
these great Falls. It is a singular metaphysical fact,
that they grow on the mind both in size and in fasci-
nation the longer one contemplates them. I spent a
week by them^ and I can honestly say that I was far

208

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

more impressed by their grandeur at the end than the
beginning of that term. It was with reluctance that
I was obliged to tear myself away, and had time per-
mitted, I should gladly have spent a month longer
beside them.

Grand as the Falls of Niagara are, it would be
wrong to disguise the fact, that the traveller is gene-
rally disappointed the first time he looks at them. He
has gradually worked himself up to a pitch of expec-
tation, which ensures disappointment. Partly from
the written description of others, partly from their
world-wide reputation, and partly from the ideas con-
ceived in his own mind through the powerful agencies
of imagination and hope, the traveller arrives at
Niagara with such exaggerated notions that it would
be next to impossible wholly to gratify them. That
these feelings of disappointment are but shortlived,
I need hardly say; for just as truly as on arrival
every one feels some disappointment, so on leaving
every one feels lost in utter amazement and admi-
ration.

The first interview with a great man is often dis-
appointing ; but a lengthened interview seldom fails
to remove this feeling. And as in this case, it is the
gradual comparison of the opinions and thoughts of a
truly great mind with those of the petty minds of
ever}'-day association which enables us fully to ap-
preciate its inherent nobility, so it is not until one has
taken points of contrast in the surrounding landscape
or out of the storehouse of his memory, that he does
full justice to the grandeur of Niagara. The great
width of the Falls seems to detract from their height
on first viewing them, and the huge volume of water

.^m

NIAGARA.

209

which unceasingly pours over their height is not at
at once perceptible.

There are so many points which offer singularly
favourable views of the Falls, that in naming any
one of them, I must guard myself by saying that I
merely give utterance to my own opinions. But
with tliis reservation I would suggest two places from
which a traveller can obtain a magnificent view,
namely, the top of the tower on Goat Island, which
while affording him a sight of the vast circumference
of the English and American Falls, enables him best
also to appreciate the huge volume of water which
passes over the Horseshoe; and, secondly, the deck
of the small steamer, called the Maid of the Misty
which carries, or at all events used to carrj', pas-
sengers up the river almost to the very foot of the
Falls. After careful experiment of every available
spot, I selected these two; but there is no point
from which one can help being overpowered by the
grandeur of the mighty cascade.

If I might venture to suggest another piece of
advice to tourists, it is that they should visit the Falls
alone for the first time, breaking up t^eir party, if
necessary, for a few hours. Having chosen a spot,
let the traveller sit or lie down, and give himself up
to silent gazing at the Falls. Not till then will he
realise the feeling I have alluded to —the growing of
their magnificence into the mind. Hours will pass to
him unconsciously, and day succeeding day will bring
no weariness or satiety. To-day, perhaps, the spray
which rises in a cloud to heaven will be glittering in
rainbow hues under the rays of the sun; while to-
morrow the sky may be dull and overcast, and there

210

OUU GAUUI80NS IN THE WEST.

will be a sullen majesty in the groon volnmo ponrintr
over the nH<^lity precipice, jiiid a dismal f»loom brood-
inrr over the dark pool at the feet of the thundering;
ctttaraet. And in gradually realising the beauties
and tlie majesty of Niagara one becomes impatient of
intrusion, and even of the presence of man or any-
thing artificial. The reader can imagine, therefore,
the acute sufferings to which one is exposed by those
miserable intruders whose wretched officiousness is
alluded to in the beginning of this chapter. The
longing to be alone which comes over one barred
to me one of the finest points for viewing the Falls
which a tourist can have; for it was perpetually
thnmged by artists sketching it from this favourite
spot, in numbers which reminded one of those old
pictures in Pimoh of crowds of anglers fishing in the
Thames at Putney. For, in addition to the artists
themselves, who weare bad enough, there stood sur-
rounding each a little mob of the open-mouthed, who
seemed to, consider the mixing of colours to be the
highest department in chemical wonders, and the
transferring them to canvas, however indifferently, as
nothing short of a miracle.

The Falls of Niagara are divided, as -we have
already liinted, into two main cataracts, called respec-
tively the English, or Horseshoe, and the American
Fall. Of these two, which are placed at an angle of,
I should think, some 60 deg. or 70 deg., I can say that
it is from no national prejudice that I claim the supe-
riority for the English one. The "wider and deej^er
volume of water, conAined with the appearance of
the rapids, extending above it for miles, make it un-
quiestioaably the grander waterfall, although the

NUGARA.

211

Amcncan seems to have the advantage in lioiirht.
The Table Rock, a piece of which has fallen since
my visit to Niagara, is a very picturesque object on
the En^Hsh side, and in the apex of the angle fonned
by tlie two Falls, Goat Island witli its tower fonn a
picture which, while beautiful in itself, greatly en-
hances the effect of tlie entire taJbleau.

The promenade under the Horseshoe Fall, to
which we have already alluded as conferring on the
hardy traveller a diploma, was performed by your
obedient servant in a state of great terror and water-
proof. On the deposit of the sum of two shillings
sterling, if I remember aright, at a small house in the
village (payment always in advance, and therefore
hoiTibly suggestive), I was sir -plied with a suit of oil-
skin and a sou'-wester, under whose miited influence
I appeared in a character combining happily the
dustman with a ship's mate on a damp night. By the
above deposit of Her Majesty's coin I* also became en-
titled to the services of a guide, who was a negro.
This last circumstance, considering the cheap rate at
which the descendants of Ham are held across the
Atlantic, seemed to me, if possible, more ghastly and
suggestive even than the demand for payment in
advance. Being, however, goaded on by the curiosity
of some ladies to know what it was like, I was speedily
arrayed, and followed my guide down the footpath
leading below the Table Rock to the foot of the Falls.
Preparatory to passing behind the falling sheet my
guide gave me some instructions, which I should like
very much to have heard, but unfortunately, although
by his mouth I could see he was yelling, I could not
catch a word he said, so loud was the din and thunder

212

OUR GARBISONS IN THE WEST.

<i I ■•

;.» ; ■

of the falling water. I bowed, however, as if I quite
comprehended him, and he turned away to make what
seemed to me a most foolhardy excursion.

Following him, T found myself on a narrow ledge,
very slippery, and with on one side the sheet of thun-
dering water, and on the other the vertical rock,
whose wet, slippery face I convulsively tried to grasp
in vain hope of support. One false step would have
hurled us into eternity, consequently I need hardly
say I endeavoured to avoid that step, and kept my
eyes either on my feet or on the wall cf rock against
which I was e tinging, avoiding carefully any view of
the cruel, thundering curtain on my left. After we
had gone what seemed to me a mile, but which was,
I believe, about a hundred feet, I saw through the
clouds of spray which half-blinded me my guide stop
and reach out h's hand.

"At last," i tli ought, "it will be all over soon,
he wishes to bid me adieu!" So I reached out my
left hand, which w:i8 nearest him, and gave him a
sad squeeze of farewell, when, to my surprise, I
found he retained a firm hold of Lie, as if resolved
that we should take the fatal plunge together. I
was greatly relieved, therefore, when I found him
commence to move on, dragging me after him; his
hand pantomime having evidently meant, not sen-
timent, but assistance. Fondly, therefore, did I
squeeze that black paw, with more feeling than ever
did any Komeo the lily hand of his Juliet; and,
somewhat reassured, but still thinking it very awful,
I slipped, in the literal sense, after him. About this
moment I began to think how unpleasant it would be
if my sable conductor should have any latent insanity.

NIAGARA.

213

or be subject to fits, and in the course of my specular
tions had just arrived at the point of wondering
whether he had a mother, and if she were subject to
fits, when he stopped and looking at me rather wildly,
I thought, showed me his white teeth in a succession
of gigantic smiles. Rather nervously I returned the
smiles, somewhat spasmodically, but still I presume
successfully, for he next turned round, and, pointing
at the falling water behind us, seemed endeavouring
to persuade me to look at it. At this time I was
standing spread out, facing the rock, somewhat like
an erect spatch-cock, if such a thing can be realised
by the reader, and to turn round would have involved
the complete alteration of every limb's position, so
smiling blandly, but at the same time shaking my
head, I said to myself, " Not if I know it, my poor
nerd is quite giddy enough already, and this last sug-
gestion of yours is not in the bond, i.e. diploma."
So I remained immovable, and contemplating sun-
dry little yellow streams, as of sulphur, which were
oozing out of the rock, until we started on our return
journey. This was successfully accomplished, and
pulling off my damp waterproofs, I prepared to re-
ceive my diploma and the congratulations of my
friends. Carrying out the saying, that no truly great
achievement is ever adequately rewarded, I found the
diploma a very miserable little piece of paper, like a
luggage label ; while aruoiig my friends there was a
decided disposition to undervalue the dangers through
which I had passed. So I was obliged to content
myself with hoping that some day I should find some
Desdemona whose sympathies would atone for their
unconcern, and for the paltry diploma.

t ii

214

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

I \

i I

On the American side the Cave of the Winds is
the cariosity, which corresponds to the passage behind
the Horseshoe Fall. I have heard since my visit to
Niagara that owing to some fall of rock this passage
is now obstructed. Should this be mere rumour, so
much the better for future adventurous students of
the interior of a waterfall ; should it be fact, so much
the better for me that I was in time. But how un-
pleasant had it fallen when one was on the wrong
side.

The rapids above the Falls are considered by
some to be even grander than the waterfall itself.
Although not entertaining that opinion myself, I must
own that it is only because they are in the immediate
vicinity of a greater wonder, that the rapids have
not an equally great reputation in the world. This
may seem a bull, but it is not so ; for as all our world
wonders are not equally great, so it is certain that
were these mighty rapids situated in another place,
where they could not be overwhelmed in the be-
holder's mind by the Falls, they would be as much in
the traveller's mouth as the cataract itself.

It is above the Falls that the celebrated sulphm*
springs are to be found, and, if I mistake not, they
are in the grounds of some private dwelling. To
prevent constant persecution, I yielded myself into
the hands of some wretch who took me to the spot,
and if I had not been at Niagara I should have been
much interested.

FoUowmg OTtt this principle, I even so far forgot
myself as to enter the world-renowned menagerie,
and of all tlie mangy, ill-conditioned brutes, whose
wildness must have been driven out of them by star-

NIAGARA.

215

vation or cruelty, those at Niagara were the worst.
I even; yielded to the importunities of a vendor of
mineral curiosities^ and purchased a piece of petrified
moss ; which, however, hardly carried out its original
intention, if it was supposed to awake in the owner's
mind accurate and pensive recollections of Niagara's
wonders*

Having thus earned a right to be left undisturbed
in my peregrinatio " —a right which, though dearly
bought^ was, all things considered, worth the purchase-
money — ^I had four days' peaceable enjoyment of the
Falls, if I may except a regular morning assault on
me by an insane photographer, as I went from my
hotel to the water.

The day before I left, I went to see the whii'lpool,
which, unless my memory fails me, was about a mile
and a quarter below the Falls. It is caused by a
very sudden bend in the Niagara river, and is a most
quiet and harmless-looking Maelstrom, although I
believe not the less sure and deadly. A gentleman:
whqpi I met in the hotel informed me that some
years before, when on a visit to Niagara, the bodies
of two or three Highland soldiers, who had been
drowned in endeavouring to desert into the States,
were floating in the whirlpool, a ghastly sight, day after
day. Nothing so unpleasant was there when I saw
it, but it was illustrated sufficiently for my purpose,
by an empty oyster-baiTel which had got into it.
During half of every revolution the ban'el was
sucked under, reappearing with the regularity of
clock-work during the other half, and always rising
and sinking accurately at the same spot. The whirl-
pool is. viewed from a considerable height, the banks

i'i

210

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

of the river being lofty precipices, with wild shrubs
and stunted trees growing out of them. On the
Canadian bank, near the whirlpool, I was told that
the victims of some pestilence, which many years
before had de^^'-iated the inhabitants of the district,
had been huddled in an imceremonious sepulture.

Between the whirlpool and the Falls is the ele-
brated Railway Suspension Bridge, a work of great
strength, and which exercised much ingenuity in its
construction, while it also cost an immense sum of
money before completion. It is in two compartments,
one for the trains and the other for foot passengers
and carriages, and is an immense convenience to resi-
dents and tourists. A little above the bridge was the
place selected by Blondin for his famous perfor-
mances.

The number of accidents by going over the Falls
of Niagara is very great. Never a year passes with-
out some melancholy addition to their catalogue.
Occasional suicides, oftener accidents caused by boats
being carried down the rapids, are the origin of these
sad catastrophes.

There is an old Indian legend which states that
three lives require to be offered up annually to the
Spirit of Niagara ; and it has been also remarked that
this average is kept up. Apart from the superstition,
however, there is little reason to doubt that most of
the accidents are due to gross carelessness, and might
easily be prevented. The bodies of those who go
over the Falls, it is said, are always found stripped
naked, the force of the water having beaten the
clothes off their persons. I heard a horrible story of

NIAGARA.

217

an unhappy man, who, being carried down the rapids,
managed to check himself on a rock in their midst,
and to scramble out on to it. There he remained two
days and nights, no assistance being practicable from
the shore, although every one could see him, hour
after hour ; and at last, worn out and exhausted, he
fell again into the rapids and was hurled over the
cataract to a horrible death.

The depth of water that passes over the Horseshoe
Fall is very great. Some years ago a condemned
steamer that was allowed to go over, did so without
grazing the rock, although it drew a good many feet
of water. The said steamer, like everthing that goes
over the Fall, was dashed instantaneously into a thou-
sand fragments.

There is, it is said, a constant abrasion of the rock
going on by the action of the water, the Falls thus
receding imperceptibly but surely. Curious and
mathematical travellers have calculated the position
of the Falls at the date of man's creation, and also
their future position some sia; thousand years hence.
As far as one can see, we have the advantage in our
day over our children of siv thousand years hence, as,
owing to the river being much wider above than below
the Falls, the chances are that the fall will, at that
date, be wider perhaps, but certainly shallower and less
imposing. However, such speculations are idle ; long
before that date it is more than probable that a prac-
tical people like the Yankees will have availed them-
selves of this immense water power, and, just as we
have made the lightning from heaven cany our
messages, they will degrade Niagara from its position

'il

218

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

US one of the world's lions, to being the motive power
of some cotton mill or snuff manufactory.

The Niagara River is at the Falls the boundary line
between Canada and the United States. In old
times this was one of the easy places for the escape
of our deserters ; but now-ardays the tables are turned,
and we find tiie Yankees availing themselves of it to
display their skedaddling propensities.

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219

CHAPTER XII.

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA IN THE WINTER

1861-62.

The saucer, which represented our world in Hali-
fax, was thrown into a great state of disturbance a
little before Christmas, 1861, by the celebrated Trent
affair. The excitement and indignation produced by
that insolent act of an insolent Government was only
equalled by the longing desires of our community that
war would spring of it. We dreaded lest our Govern-
ment, always rather yielding to the Yankees, would
not take sufficiently strong measures now, and as the
time approached when, by the arrival of the English
mail, we should have our doubts and anxieties ended,
the fever rose to an incontroUable pitch. The con-
duct of our Government on that occasion is a matter
of history, and as vessel after vessel arrived with their
thousands of picked troops, and hoards of munitions
of war, the excitement gave way to a feeling of proud
satisfaction that our country had proved true to itself.

The St. Lawrence being frozen during the winter

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220

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

months, and winter having now set in, it was well
known that all transport of men and material to
Canada must take place overland from Halifax or
St. John, whose harbom's are accessible to shipping
even in the severest winters. Every one's attention was
therefore directed to the best method of carrying on
this service, and many a council of war did General
Doyle, who commanded in the Lower Provinces, hold
with his heads of departments on the subject. At
last the 62nd Regiment, which had been inured by
several years' American service to the cold of the win-
ter, was put under orders to proceed in the steamer
Delta to St. Andrew's, a harbour on the New Bnms-
wick coast, and thence by rail to Woodstock, a village
near the borders of the State of Maine, the intention
being to open and hold the route to Canada for suc-
ceeding troops, and, if necessary, to capture Houlton,
a small recruiting depot of the Yankees, about nine
miles from Woodstock. To aid this plan a couple of
guns and a detachment of forty gunners, under my
command, were to accompany the infantry.

As bad luck would have it, the day before we
started, it was telegraphed from Washington that the
Yankees had submitted to give up Messrs. Mason and
Slidell.

The feelings of disappointment in every breast
were almost ludicrous. We never had an exalted
opinion — ^who has ? — of the Yankee nation ; but we
never thought so meanly of them as this. No, not
into any of our speculations had this idea entered,
that the same nation which, a week or two before,
alike in the drunken orgies of cor.vivial banquets and
the solemn meetings of its Senate, ratified by vote and

i I

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

221

applause the deed for which satisfaction was now de-
manded, would, on the first stem word from the
injured party, fall down on its craven knees, and,
like a beaten bully at school, give up everything
asked for.

But although all chance of war was thus dispelled,
there was not accommodation in Halifax for the troops
already arrived, and on their way from England, and
it was at the same time desirable that the force in
Canada should be augmented, as, in event of hostili-
ties, our great weakness would be found in the
immense undefended frontier of that province. So
the force already alluded to had not its destination
altered ; the only change made in this part of the pro-
gramme being that the guns were left behind, the
gunners merely taking their carbines. The Delta,
with these troops on board, arrived at St. Andrew's on
New Year's-day, and the whole, under the command
of Colonel Ingall, C.B., 62nd Regiment, disembarked
immediately.

Before following the movements of the little force
with which the author was more immediately con-
nected, it is desirable, for the benefit of those unac-
quainted with the country, to make some general
remarks on the route followed by the troops during
this great ranter march, and should the details be
somewhat uninteresting, it is to be hoped the reader
will pardon the circumstance, in consideration of the
greater ease with which the narrative of the march
will be understood.

When the first two or three vessels left England
for Canada, with troops, the instructions given to the
captains were that, if possible, they were to land the

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OUR GARUISONS I^ THE WEST.

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soldiers on some point in the Gulf of St. Lavr 'ncc, such
us Riviere du Loup, or Bic, and should they be suc-
cessful in doing so a handsome bonus would be paid by
the Government. Should they be prevented, however,
by the ice in the Gulf, as was too probable, they were
then to make for Halifax. Only one vessel was suc-
cessful in landing; troops in Canada, direct — the
Cunard steamer Persia, with the 16th Regiment on
board — which landed its living freight at Bic. But
even this vessel was only partially successful, for the
ice came down on them so suddenly, that, while one
company was yet on board, although its luggage un-
fortunately had gone on shore, the Persia had to run
for it and steam round to Halifax. Part of the crew
having gone on shore, the few remaining troops on
board had to turn sailors for the time, and by all
accounts they made very good and willing ones. The
Adriatic got to the Gulf, but was unable to land any
of its cargo, so it was obliged to make for Halifax
also, as did all the others.

On consulting a map of our American possessions,
the reader will observe that commmiication between
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick may be maintained
by land round the head of the Bay of Fundy, or by
sea to any of the ports on the New Brunswick coast,
in the same bay. In winter it is not possible to make
the direct excursion from Windsor, Nova Scotia, to
St. John, N.B., therefore the sea route to N^w
Bnins\vick from Halifax is round the province— con-
siderably longer than the summer route. By this way
St. Andrew's is a nearer port than St. John, for
troops proceeding northward to Canada, and there is,
in addition, a line of railway fi'om the former port to

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

223

Woodstock, the point wliere the routes to Canada
from St. John and St. Andrew's intersect, and after
whicli they proceed together. From Woodstock the
road to Canada follows the river St. John, and was
divided thus : First da/s march, to Florenceville ;
second ditto, to Tobique ; third ditto, Grand Falls ;
fourth ditto, Little Falls.

Here we enter Canada, and owing to the supe-
riority of the roads, the day's march lengthened, and
was divided into two journeys of forty miles each — ^to
Fort Ingall and Rivi6re du Loup. The latter place
is the eastern terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway,
and from it the troops were carried westward by rail
to their various destinations. Supposing the troops
came from St. John to Woodstock, instead of from
St. Andrew's, the journey occupied four days, two
days between St. John and Fredericton, and two be-
tween Fredericton and Woodstock, This was the
route taken ultimately by most of the ti'oops, partly
because the accommodation at St. John in case of
any accumulation of troops was better than at St.
Andrew's, and partly because at first the weather was
unfortunately so severe as to interfere with the
running of the trains between St. Andrew's and
Woodstock, as we shall have occasion to show more
fully as we go on.

On studying the map, the reader will observe that
fi-om Woodstock to Little Falls, the road lies very
nearly alongside of the Yankee frontier. The remem-
bering this fact will enable the reader to judge bettei*
oS the difficulties we suffered from agents endeavour-
ing to make our men desert, by first making them
half drunk, and then tempting them by offers of large

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224

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

bounty and enormous pay. But wholly apart from
this consideration, in this close vicinity of the Yankee
frontier lies the danger and weakness of this route in
time of war. Although we were able, easily enough,
when there was no fear of molestation, to transport
our men in small columns of 100 or 200 strong, yet
had we had a small body of hostile cavalry or riflemen,
or a couple of guns commanding the road at any
point, it is needless to say that our advance would
have been completely stopped, unless our little army
marched together in strong enough force to overcome
an enemy.

When, therefore, our press was filled with boastings
on account of the ease with which our troops were
transported overland on this occasion, every one who
had any practical experience of this military move-
ment, knew well that it was no guarantee for the
safety of a similar force on any future occasion, when
war might be declared between us and the States,
All that could be said of the arrangements on this
occasion was, that it showed greater perfection of our
commissariat and medical departments, and the higher
ability of our staff, when compared with the Crimea,
and other campaigns. As for danger and difficulties,
there were no more to be encountered than in a fort-
night's march from Aldershott through our southern
counties. Undoubtedly, the arrangements were ex-
cellent, and there was never any hitchy save where the
inclemency of the weather occasioned any stoppage ;
but we must bear in mind always that although a
model march through a strange but friendly country,
it affords no precedent for any similar movement,
when the same route might be exposed to attack and

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

225

jment.

annoyance from an activo and powerful enemy.
Should such a risk exist, one of three alternatives
would liave to be adopted :

1st. The road wo dd have to be kept free by large
moving columns of our own troops, while the main
body was marching.

2nd. The entire force would have to march to-
gether, and, consequently, much more slowly; and
would have to put up with much worse faro and more
indifferent accommodation than was afforded to the
small columns that daily and methodically succeeded
one another in the march of 1801-62.

Srd. A new route would have to be adopted, more
to the eastward, so as to escape annoyance from the
enemy. This new route would probably bo more like
the line proposed for the Intercolonial Railway, which,
if made, of course would afford a fourth, and more
satisfactory solution of the difficulty than any other.

With these preliminary remarks, I shall merely
mention the various regiments which took part in
this march, and then proceed t(< the more personal
part of this chapter. These troops were :

Artillery. — 4th Brigade. Field Artilleiy. Se-
veral batteries, with Armstrong guns complete, but
no horses ; these being afterwards purchased in Ca-
nada. 7th Brigade. Garrison Artillery. Two bat-
teries (Nos. 5 and 6). 10th Brigade, about half the
brigade, or rather more.

Infantry. — Grenadif^r Guards and Scots Fusilier
Guards, one battalion each; 16th Regiment, one com-
pany ; 62nd Regiment ; 63rd Regiment. One bat-
talion Rifle Brigade ; loth Regiment, as far as Fre-
dericton

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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f '

Miscellaneous. — Royal Engineers ; Military
Train, two battalions ; Army Hospital Corps ; Com-
missariat Staff Corps ; Cavalry Instructors for Militia
and Volunteers.

A battalion of the 16th and 17th Regiments re-
spectively, which came abroad at this time, remained
in Halifax ; and a battery of the 10th Brigade, Royal
Artillery, proceeded to Newfoundland. An Arm-
etrong field-battery of the 8th Brigade, Royal Artil-
lery, which came out rather later, remained at Halifax
for some months, and then proceeded to New Bruns-
wick.

Soma six months after the whole movements were
over, the 7tli Brigade Royal Artillery, whose term of
foreign service was over, was replaced by the 15th
Brigade from England. On this occasi i, the part
of the 10th Brigade which had been left in Halifax
moved on to Canada, leaving the former station to be
garrisoned by the newly arrived 15th Brigade.

The infantry regiments, already in Canada before
the Trent affair, were the 1st battalion 17th Regi-
ment, the 30th Regiment, the 47th, and a battalion
of the 60th Rifles, in addition tc the Royal Canadian
Rifles ; and in Nova Scotia, the 62nd and 63rd Regi-
ments. Of these regiments, the 30th and 60th had
come out, along with a battery of the 4th Brigade,
in the Great Eastern^ some time before.

Of course, this force would have been inadequate
to take the field by itself, against the large armies of
the States ; but they would have formed a powerful
nucleus for the colonial militia and volunteers ; and,
besides, tlie political effect they had, coming out as
they did, with the demand made by om' Government

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

227

for reparation, was more powerful tlian we w^ould at
first believe, considering their comparatively sraiall
numerical strength.

And the staff sent out bv the authorities was of the
best in every way. Sii' Fenwick Williams was sur-
rounded by men who in every part of the world
had gained a name for zeal, gallantry, and high
military talent ; his several generals of division
were picked men, as the regiments were picked
troops; the medical and commissariat departments
were headed by their best officers respectively; the
Lower Provinces were under General Doyle, a
man whose antecedents justified one in expecting
the administrative and military talent he has dis-
played ; tlie tone of the whole army was good, and
the materiel of the best ; while along the American
coast we had, under a prudent and talented admiral,
a fleet which would have astonished Nelson.

Thus, had war come, as the troops and even the
colonists wished, our model army and magnificent fleet,
backed by tlie sturdy loyalty of our colonists, who
never showed to such advantage as at this time, when
war would have made them heavy sufferers even in
case of continual victory, would have probably assisted
the Southerners in the lessons they taught their vain
foes on many a battle-field beyond Washington.

To resume our narrative. When our small force,
under Colonel Ingall, disembarked at St. Andrew's on
New Year's-day, we found everything in readiness
for housing part of us, and for the remainder to pro-
ceed towards Woodstock by rail. The troops having
first dined, and the officers having received hospitality
from the manager of the line, and others of the inha-

<12

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

■ I

"bitants, the head-quarters of the regiment and three
companies, as far as I remember, with my detachment
of gunners, got into the train, and as we did not ex-
pect to be longer than a few hours, we did not carry
rations. Unfortunately, the weather had been snowy
tmd threatening, and before we had gone half way,
the line was blocked up, and we were left stationary.
The storm of that day, and the intensity of the cold,
will not soon be forgotten ; nor will the passengers in
that unhappy train soon forget their unpleasant posi-
tion. The manager, who was with us, finding that
the engine could not draw the whole train, had se-
veral carriages detached, and endeavoured to go on
with the remainder. But the first part of the train
even, in which I was, was too heavy to permit the
engine to make any way through the snow, which
the wind had drifted on to the track in perfect moun-
tains, so in about half a mile, we came also to a
stop ; and, as a last experiment, the engine went on
alone to procure assistance, carrying with it the ma-
nager and the colonel. We learned next day that in
about ten minutes after leaving us, the engine began
to show symptoms of giving out ; there was no water,
and snow was a tedious substitute; so when about
three miles in advance of us, it also stopped, and in
half an liour or so, was frozen hard. The manager
was frost-bitten ; and had it not been for a small log-
hut near, it would have gone hard with the small
party on the engine. In the meantime, we sat wait-
ing for its return ; evening came on, then night, then
morning, but still no sign. Our hunger was great,
for in the liuny at St. Andrew's, we had not done so
much justice to our luncheon as we might ; and the

l! I.

tWitirnntT-

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

22»

cold, which was intense, whetted our appetite in no
inconsiderable degree. The feeling, too, that we could
get nothing to eat, tended to make us all the more
eager for food, for there is more sentiment in our
appetites than we think. Each of the long cars, in
which we were, was supplied with a stove, as is the
custom in America ; but oui' supply of fuel soon was
exhausted. To avoid being frozen as well as starved,
the pioneers got out of the carriages, and cut down
as much of the branches and dead wood near the rail-
way as would keep the fires going all night ; although^
poor fellows, tjiey had to stand up to their arm-pits
in snow whilo doing so.

I myself had brought with me a tolerably large
brandy flask, and to no provident act of mine in my
whole life do I iook back with such unmixed satisfac-
tion. It was a peculiar one, called a "hydraulic
canteen," an American idea and a very good one. It
was oblong, and was slung round the shoulder by a
strap mider the great-coat. To avoid unbuttoning
everything when one desired to moisten one's clay,
a long flexible tube with an amber mouthpiece was
attached to the strap and communicated with the can-
teen. When slung correctly, tlie mouthpiece was
just under the chin, so all one had to do was to insert it
in the mouth and suck away calmly until one's thirst was
gratified. Unfortunately this same operation could be
performed should one fall asleep by another without
disturbing the owner, and during the snatches of re-
pose I had dming the night, I can say safely that I
seldom if ever awoke without finding some head, not
my own, fondly reclining on my bosom and sucking

230

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

at the tube in perfect frenzy. The opportunities I
had of studying the phrenological organs of the hack
of the human head dunng that night would have
made Gall and Spurzheim truly happy.

But morning came, and yet no sign of food or as-
sistance. Nothing to eat, but ever so many hungry
mouths. We were getting desperate, and commenced
feeling sullenly in our pockets for crumbs. When
thus engaged I came upon a piece of paper con-
taining some half-dozen peppermint lozenges. Our
delight was imbounded, and in our^sraall group at one
end of the carriage they were honestly divided and
eaten with a solemnity befitting the occasion. What
a scene for an artist ! the British officer campaigning
and taking a light breakfast off a peppermint ! Ye
gentlemen of England, who live at home at ease! what
do you think of such a breakfast mtli the thermome-
ter at zero ? But allow me, as a friend, to suggest
that should you ever be in our position you th:ow the
peppermint out of the window rather. The conse-
quences of this dainty are familiar to most people,
and chiefly elderly ladies, but on an empty stomach
after a twentv-four hours' fast the effect is something
awful.

Fortunately the drum-major (may he live a thou-
sand years), who was in our carriage, found a little
coffee in his haversack, and this was boiled in a tin
canteen on the top of the stove, and with snow in
place of water. Yet even under these trying cir-
cumstances, in the absence too of milk and sugar, we
found it very delicious and reviving. And yet to-
morrow we will be growling that our coffee is too

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

231

thick, or the milk too thin, and, generally speaking,
will be making domestic brntes of ourselves. Such is
life ! Eveiything — physical and moral — every temper
and laugh, every joy and sorrow, seems to have a
most unromantic connexion with the state of the
stomach at the time.

About noon, just as we had made up our minds to
get out and march to the nearest station, we observed
a figure on the track making towards us. On his ar-
rival we learned the fate of the engine, but received
the cheering intelhgence that the sr w-ploughs were
at work, and that we would probably resume our
journey in a couple of hours. The thoughtful ma-
nager of the line had sent by the messenger a small
supply of food, which was divided into as many por-
tions as possible and thoroughly appreciated.

The railway was not at that time open the whole
way to Woodstock; about twenty-three miles, if I
remember aright, had to be done on sleighs. When
we at length reached the station, where our means of
conveyance was to be changed, which was not until
late in the evening of the second day, we found to our
intense disgast that, owing to the sleighs having been
kept waiting two days, all the available provisions of the
small inn had been devoured by the drivers, and we
had to continue our journey without any refreshment.
It was midnight before we reached Woodstock, when
we got a little food, but very little. The men's
barracks were a series of large brick warerooms hired
at an enormous rent, and in a very unfinished state.
They were very cold, and for the first few days con-
tained no beds, the men sleeping on spruce branches
and straw spread on the floor. Ultimately they got more

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

habitable, but it was impossible to keep them clean or
warm. Several houses had been hired for officers*
quarters, but as they were perfectly nude of furni-
ture, and the officers were restricted to a very small
amount of baggage, they were quite useless, and we
had to find accommodation at our own expense in the
hotels of the town. Fortunately there was one very
large inn ■with tolerably good bedrooms, in which at
one time so many as thirty or forty officers lived to-
gether, having a joint mess, with the cuHnary arrange-
ments under our own supervision. Here, after a while,
we managed to shake om'selves down very comfort-
ably, but our amusements were on the most limited
scale, consisting entirely of whist and snow-shoeing.
Every building that could be hired was taken at enor-
mous rentals by the Government, both here and at all
the stations along the road. The money scattered
through the district by this means, as well as the
various contracts for bread, meat, and groceries, must
have been enormous ; and as, in addition, every man
who had a sleigh and a pair of liorses could have them
hired at a good price, this winter must be looked back
on by the New Brunswickers as a golden age.

There not being the same immediate hurry as if
war had been imminent, the troops were not allowed
to leave Woodstock until all the arrangements were
completed in advance along the road to Riviere du
Loup. These were admirable and yet simple. Every
morning a column of one hundred and sixty men with
their baggage left Woodstock in sleighs for Florence-
ville, about twenty-five miles. On their arrival at
this place it was the duty of the officer commanding
to despatch two telegrams, one to the station im-

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

233

mediately behind — in this case Woodstock — and the
other to St. John, for the information of the general,
reporting their safe arrival or otherwise, and the state
of the roads. The same messages were despatched
from every station by every column, so that there
could be no confusion by the accumulation of troops
at stations where there was not adequate accommoda-
tion. In the long stages, between Little Falls and
Rivi6re du Loup, there was a mid-day halting place,
where refreshments could be had for payment at a
moderate rate. The accommodation for the men was
much the same at every station after Woodstock. It
was always a large building, containing a huge stove,
and with the floor covered a foot deep with spruce-
boughs, forming a soft and fragrant bed for the troops.
The first step on the arrival of a column at its
night's resting-place was to issue to every one, officers
included, a small ration of rum — excellent spirit al-
ways. The men then had their warm tea and bread,
and the cooks, who were detailed daily, proceeded to
prepare the dinner for the following day, which was
carried by each man in his haversack and eaten when
he liked. The barns in which they slept were
always comfortable and well wanned, and the men
were always cheerful. Their clothing was abundant
and excellent. Each man had a fur cap with ear-
lappets, a woollen comforter, a chamois waistcoat, and
flannel shirt; warm gloves, thick woollen stockings,
and moccasins instead of boots. They always wore
their great-coats, and packed their knapsacks and car-
bines in their sleighs. A surgeon and a commissariat
officer were at each station, and almost every column
had its burgeon along with it. The precautions taken

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OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

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.sr-

against frost-bites and any discomfort v/ere so nu-
merous as to waiTant the use of the term " coddling."
To prevent confusion an officer of the quartermaster-
general's department was stationed at the most impor-
tant places along the road, such as 8t. John, Frederic-
ton, Woodstock, and Riviere du Loup. Staff-officers
were also constantly on the move between the ex-
tremities of the route, so that it was almost impossible
to find any error v <.n > lion, or, if such existed, that
it should continue.

The sleighs were furnished by contractors. The
line was divided into portions allotted to different in-
dividuals for this purpose. One man had the road
between St. John and Fredericton, another between
Fredericton and Woodstock. The four stages be-
tween Woodstock and Little Falls, and the stage be-
tween the terminus of the St. Andrew's railway and
Woodstock were all in the hands of a third; while
Canadian sleighs were employed after Little Falls to
Riviere du Loup. It was fortunate that this season
the lumber trade was not brisk, and many horses out
of work, else the contractors would not have had so
good and easy a bargain. As it was, in the square
before the hotel at Woodstock, every morning, many
more sleighs came to be hired than were needed,
particularly early in the season, before the weak teams
were knocked up, so that the contractor managed to
make as goo<l a bargain as he could have wished. The
sleighs employed were of the rudest construction.
Each was capable of carrying eight men, seated
either on small cross-seats holding two each, or on
planks nailed round the sleigh, so that the men had
their feet in the box-part of the vehicle together.
There was always an abundance of straw, and as the

THE OVERLAND MARCH TO CANADA.

23rj

nu-

m^.

march progressed, and the men became more accus-
tomed to it, it was amusin(]r to see how cunning they
became in the ai*t of stowing away their knapsacks
and carbines, and in making the most of their some-
what limited accommodation. The sleighs used by
the officers were similar to those employed by the
men, but as they had not to cairy so many, their pro-
prietors gave, in consideration of this, ample supplies
of buffalo robes.

The order of march was generally as follows : First,
a sleigh with half the officers attached to the column ;
next, the baggage-sleighs, with their guard ; then, the
body of the troops ; and, lastly, the remaining half of
the officers in another sleigh. By this arrangement
there was less danger of straggling, and the pace of
the sleighs was adapted to the baggage, which was , i
heaviest, and therefore slowest part of the column.

The drivers of the sleighs were, as a rule, good,
jolly felloVfS. One or two instances of insubordina-
tion being promptly punished had a good effect ; and
in our column I can answer for it, that there was al-
ways thorough good-temper and readiness among our
thirty Jehus.

After the road was thoroughly ready, the move*
ment onv/arda was carried out ^vith unceasing regu-
larity. After the 62nd Regiment had gone from
Woodstock, my detachment was attached to a newly-
arrived party of gunners, and with a company of the
16th Regiment, all under the command of Captahi
F. Carey, R.A., was despatched on its journey about
the 20th of January, 1862.

The details I have already given, will enable me to
dispense with many particulars connected with our
individual joui'ney. Our party consisted of eight

! 11

! I

II I

236

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

regimental and two medical officers ; and the men
were divided about equally into eighty gunners and
eighty of the IGth Regiment. There was, however,
another member of our party who deserves to be men-
tioned. He was my dog, Carlo, a spaniel, who ran
the whole way, and made his appearance in Quebec
with feet swollen to the size of cricket-balls ; but with
undiminished spirit and activity. On the principle of
" Nil nisi bonum de mortuis," I should like to devote
a page or two to Carlo's praise. For, alas I victim to
a mistaken order, he lies under the turf at Quebec,
where he made his triumphal entry. How he was
petted and caressed every night, and coaxed every
morning to persuade him to accompany any particu-
lar sleigh, must be well remembered by all of our
party. Poor, dear Carlo! fated while alive to be-
come a soldier's pet, and, therefore, a cur at last, and
in death to fall a victim to martial-law, let me here
commemorate thy proudest achievement in life, and
my own affection and admiration.

But we are fairly under weigh, and to the merry
sound of our sleigh-bells are leaving the now familiar
town of Woodstock. Soon we are flying past the
spruce trees, and exchanging greetings with the in-
habitants of the various cottages on the road, while
many a pipe is lit, and rugs and great-coats are made
the most of, and speculations are rife as to the accom-
modation likely to be found at Florenceville, our
halting-place for the night.

And as our chapter is now pretty long, I shall take
breath before continuing our journey, and resume it
on another page.

and

237

CHAPTER Xm.

THE MARCH CONTINUED, AND QUEBEC.

Florenceville is one of those uninteresting vil-
lages we meet in America, which arc so numerous
and so destitute of any distinctive individuality. We
did not arrive until late in the day, and before we had
the men comfortably housed for the night — an opera-
tion which seemed to possess an unwearying interest
for the villagers wherever we went — we were all
hungry enough to do justice to even a worse dinner
than was provided for us by our host. This, our inn
at Florenceville, was the only place along the route
where arrangements had been made for billeting the
officers, leaving them merely to pay for their meals.
In all other inns we were treated as ordinary travel-
lers, save that we were charged for everything extra-
ordinary prices. As we had rather more than the
usual number of officers with our column, there was
some difficulty in finding beds ; indeed, some four or
five able-bodied specimens of the British subaltern lay

238

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

all ni'rrlit on the parlour floor, round the fire-place,
like so many gigantic si)ecimen8 of crickets on the
hearth.

We always paraded in the morninfij while it was
yet dark, so our toilets were humed and incomplete.
Indeed, those of us who did not utterly nef^lect their
beartls, were driven to adopt the custom of shaving
over night. The morning was unquestionably our
most miserable time. The cold was more intense
then, and tweaked our noses and other extremities in
a way not calculated to promote geniality of temper.
There was always a little confusion then about bag-
gage ; the drivers were denser in the morning than at
any other period of the day ; and the irritation which
is always [)roduced in the bosom of the time Briton
by the paAinent of a hotel bill, was not lessened
by the many little trials we had to go through in
starting.

Froir Florenceville onwards, we gradually ap-
proached nearer to the Yankee frontier, until at
length the only line of demarcation was the river St.
John, on whose eastern bank the road winds on which
we travelled. Tobiquo, which was our next halting-
place, had already acquired a bad name as the head-
quarters of some Yankee agents, Avho endeavoured
every night to deooy the soldiers from their alle-
giance. This traffic, when successful, was very remu-
nerative to those engaged ; the bounty given to a man
who would bring in a weU-drilled recruit being very
considerable. Fore-waraed being proverbially fore-
armed, we took every precaution, on our amval, to
ensure the safety of our men from the drink aad
bribes offered so freely by those miscreants, and I am

Tlin MARCH CONTINUED, AND QUEBEC. 230

plad to say, we met with success. But sitting round
the fire that evening, we discussed a pro|>osal which
we resolved to execute at the next »iii;ht'H haltinir-
place, to the followinf^ effect. It was resolved to take
tarns durin*^ the night among the officers, putting on
a soldier's great-coat and accoutrements, and ])acing
up and down in any pmminent place as if on sentry.
We thus hoped to attract some of the Yankee agents,
who were known to be very active with their enticing
offers among the sentinels ; and should we succeed in
getting them to broach the subject to us, we would
immediately arrest them ; the punishment being se-
vere for such an offence as this — and necessarily so
— in countries where desertion is so easy.

The station where we proposed to put this plan
into execution, wns Grand Falls, but whether it would
have proved a successful one or not, we were not
allowed to judge, owing to ;i ludicrous misadventure.
After dinner, arrangements had been made, and it
fell to the author to go on sentry first. AiTaying
myself, with the assistance of my amused confederates,
I went out into the cold dark night, carbine in hand,
and selecting what seemed a choice spot, I commenced
parading solemnly up and down, after the manner of
sentries. This lasted without any adventure for about
half an hour, and being rather weary of the monotony
of the thing. I extended mv beat along the road. I
had gone ab* ut three hundred yards, when a turn of
the road brought me in sight of a sentry — a Simon
Pure — in close confab with a civilian. No sooner
did my delighted optics ascertain this for me, than off
I started for the group, and, not listening to any ex-
plaiiation, I requested my suspicious gentleman to

240

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

■(< I

precede me to the hotel, a request I took the liberty
of enforcing by bringing my carbine to the trail be-
hind him, the muzzle wthin six inches of his back.
The unhappy man, in a fit of violent trembling,
obeyed — who would not obey so practical an argu-
ment? — and inwardly exulting, I walked behind
dreaming of glory awaiting me, the Victoria Cross,
the command of the forces in America, what reward
could be too great for so distinguished an action ?
While in the seventh heaven of hope and ambition, I
w as brought hurriedly down by my prisoner remarking
to me in a weak and qu ivering voice, ye'; as if in a
conciliatory way too, that " it was a fine night." Good
heavens ! I was aghast. What right had a prisoner
to tell his captor and escort that it w^as a fine night?
This was infinitely worse tlian the plaintiff's counsel
in Pickwick, telling the defendant's that it was a fine

monnna;.

But / wasn't going to be taken in by any of liis
miserable artifices ! No ! >vith a profound silence, I
merely hui'ried my pace and my prisoner all tlie
faster until we arrived at the hotel, where, steering
him dexterously into the parlour among my brother
officers, I stood in the glare of the lamp with the con-
victed one, awaiting congratulation for myself, and a
magistrate for him.

But, why that dead silence as of amazement, and
then those peals of ironical laughter ? Oh ! agony !
take me away and liide me ! My prisoner is no Yankee,
but one of our own most harmless drivers ! Need I
say there was no more done in that line that night ;
and that in my bed I strove in vain to drown the re-

,^'''m !

THE MARCH CONTINUED, AND QUEBEC. 241

armi-

>ros3.

Good

membrance of the captured one, and forget my wild
dreams of merited preferment.

The Grand Falls of the river St. John, are worthy
the visit of the American tourist. Although, of course,
nothing to Niagpra, it is yet a considerable body of
water, and at the season of the year when we were
there, the fall looked to particular advantage, owing
to the immense icicles hanging round it. There is a
very fine, although not very large, suspension bridge
here; but in winter the traffic crosses on the ice,
which is capable of bearing any weight,

I do not remember much of Little Falls, our next
halting-place, save that it was a bustling little village.
But we have every reason to remember Fort Ingall,
the stage some forty miles farther on, where we spent
the next night. Of all dreary and dismal habitations, I
consider Fort Ingall the most dreary and most dismal ',
and of all deserted-looking forts and abominable inns,
the fort where our men slept that night, and the inn
tinder whose roof w^e remained, were respectively the
mc*st deserted and the most abominable. Beds being
limited in number in the inn, we most of us lay on a
rotten, ruined floor (in whose gaps and crevices we were
tripping all the time, as we moved about), and there
seemed as little idea of fires in that house for warm-
ing the outer man, as of cooking for comforting the
inner. The only fluid we could procure in the place,
was ice-cold, flat bottled ale, at the moderate pnce of
two shillings a bottle ; so we were compelled to make
the most of our ration rum. I do hope that succeed-
ing bodies of troops were enabled to make some im-
provement in this establishment, but in my time, it

242

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

was sometliing too disgraceful. We were delighted
to get away, and its wretched state — if it had no other
good effect — acted on us as a tonic, enabling us all
the more to enjoy Kiviere du Loup, our next halting-
place, with its superior and civilised comforts.

Riviere du Loup, is a favourite watering-place
among the Canadians, and contains very good hotels
and lodging-houses. We fomid our hotel particularly
comfortable and clean ; but nothing marked so dis-
tinctly our return to civilised life, as the reappearance
of that important domestic institution — a waiter. Here,
also, we were enabled for the first time since our de-
parture from Halifax to procure a glass of sherry, an
article which would have been somewhat incongruous
in the hovels where we had frequently spent the night.

At Eiviere du Loup we parted with our sleighs,
and travelled by rail on the Grand Trunk. We had
got accustomed to the former method of journeying,
with its bracing, open-air work, and sense of liberty,
with the amusement of chaffing our driver and one
another ; singing songs in a way that would horrify
steady-going railway passengers ; getting out to run
))y the side of the sleigh to keep up the circulation,
and in every way conducting om'selves more like
schoolboys out for a lark, than as staid men, engaged
in what had been considered by the Press as likely to
prove an uncomfortable, if not dangerous, expedition.
The change seemed all the worse, when we took our
seats in the huge unwieldy railway cars, with their
close, stifling stoves, and noisy rattling.

Before, however, we take our seats, will the reader
pardon a digression on a subject which the last two
days sleighing had brought prominently before us ? I

THE MARCH CONTINUED, AND QUEBEC. 243

mean tlie loyalty of our French Canadian popula-
tion.

By many people and journals, doubts and suspicion
had been cast on this, long before the Trent affair had
created a position, where the feelings of so large a
portion of our Canadian subjects would have been of
any political importance. During the Crimean war,
it was angrily argued by some, that the French Cana-
dians were not so jubilant over the victories of the
English army, as the French. But surely it would
have been alien to human nature, had this not been
the case. The Scotchman sine-led out as his heroes
the gallant Highland Brigade, and in any battle in
which it was engaged, what Irishman but w^ould boast
over the doings of the brave regiment of Connaught
K-angers. But if there had been any time when the
supposed disloyalty of the Lower Canadians would
have found a vent, it would have been at a season,
when war seemed inevitable between the American
Government and England. So far, however, was
this from being the case, that, to the amazement of
none so much as the Yankees, there was not even a
hint thrown out as to this opportunity of rushing into
the arms of a grand republic, nor a mmTnur uttered
as to the losses which they would sustain by living in
the scene of such a war as seemed only too probable.
During our sleigh journey through the French dis-
trict south of Riviere du Loup, I observed nothing
but the most exuberant welcome and assurances of
loyalty. Li one village in particular, I remember
our colmnn was met on entering by the pt-iest, who
stood blessing us as we passed ; while a little farther
on we came on a gi'oup of peasants surrounding with

244

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

Hooks of pride the village fidcller, an old blind Frencli-
man, who was labouring to extract from the loose
strings of a crazy violin our national anthem, " God
save the Queen ! "

But apart from all sentiment in the matter, nor
taking into consideration the jealousy which generally
exists between two adjoining nations, differently
governed, let us ask on the sound British principles
of self-interest and common sense, what have the
French Canadians to gain by an exchange of their
allegiance from our flag to the Brummagem banner
of Yankee-dora.

We can find nothing ; but we see that they have
on the contrary every thing to lose. Never under
the States would they be allowed their present liberty
in point of law and language ; never under the States
would they hold the immense landed estates they pos-
sess in undisputed tenure all over Canada. As for
the sentimental idea of liberty, v/hich, until the days
in which we write, was supposed by many to lie in
the ffovernn ent of a nation b"'- i mob -instead of a
monarch, it .'s as difficult to sec b > v the French Ca-
nadians womcT be happier uiider Abe Lincoln than
under England, as it is to see in what points they
are trod upon by the grinding heel of an Aristo-
cratic despotism, which is the paradoxical idea the
Yankees have of our constitutional monarchy.

In proceeding to Point Levi, immediately opposite
Quebec, from Riviere du Loup, we had the journey
agreeably broken half way by a very good dinner
provicit'l gratis to us by the Company. I have com-
plained so much in ither places of the Grand Trunk,
thai I air glad to have an opportunity of admitting

■MMi^'

*."

THE MARCH CONTINUED, AND QUEBEC.

24')

FreTicli-
le loose
, "God

ter. nor
inerally
ferently
'inciples
ive the
of their
banner

?iy have
' under
!; liberty
e States
ley pos-

As for
;he days
to lie in
jad of a
ncli Ca-
in than
nts they

Aristo-
dea the

opposite
journey
[ dinner
ve corn-
Trunk,
Imitting

any merit in it at all ; and I confess with much plea-
sure, that we all considered this dinner singularly
meritorious and thoughtful.

Y^e crossed from Point Levi to Quebec in canoes,
in the manner described by me in the second chapter
of this book. An enthusiastic welcome awaited us
from the crowds on the shore and wharves of the
citadel city; but the pleasure which we at starting
had imagined awaiting us at our joui'ney's end, was
sadly qualified by the feeling that that journey which
had been so pleasant, and growing daily more fasci-
nating was now at an end altogether. Such of my
readers as have perused Collins's " Cruise upon
wheels," will understand our feelings better, if they
call to mind those charming passages at the conclusion
of the volume, when the cruise is finished, and poor
Blinkers has to be sold.

But although I have finished my personal narra-
tive of the march, the description of it as a military
undertaking would be incomplete, without some re-
ference to the method in which the artillery materiel
was transported, belonging to the Ai'mstrong field
batteries, which had come from England with the
other reinforcements. That reference shall be as
brief as possible. When the batteries came abroad,
the Government had a number of sleighs made in
Woolwich Arsenal, which were very pretty to look at,
and perhaps very good in theory, but which would
have failed lamentably in practice, had they ever been
employed. I was not present when the first lot was
unpacked at St. John, New Brunswick, but I am
told that they were received by the natives with howls
of derision. They were condemned at once as being far

ill

■MM:

i ■

I .

I!
M

"''' J

246

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

too heavy for the roads ; and unfit for travelling over
the drifts and hollows, which afford no hindrance to
the light country sleds. On these latter the whole of
the materiel of the batteries was carried, without any
inconvenience or injury. The horses were purchased
at the different stations where the batteries ultimately
served, with the exception of a few horses belonging
to a battery of the 8th brigade, which came with it
from England. A good many were lost belonging to
this battery during the voyage, the transport in which
they were embarked having met with very rough
weather ; an*! the survivors were in a sad plight on
their arrival ai Halifax. A battery of the 4:th brigade
at Montreal, which came out in the Great Eastern
some time before the Trent affair, brought its own
horses ; there being ample accommodation for them
on board so large a vessel.

Quebec ir. the city in Canada round which is col-
lected the greatest historical interest. It is not for
me tc recal to my reader the days of Wolfe and
Montcalm, men round v/hose memories is encircled a
halo of undyiuj; 2;lory' ; nor is it for me to recount the
various occasions in our American wars, when the
pictiuesque city held as bold and prominent a place
in history, as its rugged heights do in nature. It is
for me to mention merely the few features in its
appeuvsiicce 'tvhich first strike the traveller, and to
allude to the lif( one mav lead m this our old and
imposing garusou in the west.

Quebec, as my readers well know, is on the north
side of the St Lawrence, at a part where, approach-
ing tlie Gulf, the river is gradually widening, and

THE MARCH CONTINUED, AND QUEBEC.

247

where it is affected very considerably by the rise and
fall of the tides. The hill on which the citadel is
built rises almost perpendicularly from the river, and
the whole town is on a steep incline. It is the only
instance I have met in America of a walled city,
with regular gates and bridges ; more resembling an
old continental city, or our own Portsmouth, than an
American town. The various barracks and their oc-
cupants in Jaiiuaiy, 1862, when I arrived in Quebec,
were the Palace-Gate and Hope-Gate Barracks,
occupied by batteries of the 7th Brigade Royal Artil-
lery, relieved now by the lOtli Brigade ; the citadel,
occupied by the 60th liifles, relieved since by the
62nd Regiment ; and the Jesuit barracks occupied
then and now by the 1st Battalion of the 17th Regi-
ment.

The warlike stores in Quebec are of great extent,
but in many respects considerably antiquated ; and the
walls are manned by scores of guns, which are very
imposing to look at, but would raise a smile at Shoe-
buryness, if adduced as specimens of our colonial
defences. The artillery practice is generally, nay
always, carried on in winter on the ice on a small
river which falls into the St. Lawrence. The brigade
drills are carried on upon the famous plains of Abra-
ham, where a monument has been erected to the
joint memory of Wolfe and Montcalm. The idea
which prompted but one and the same memorial oi
these gallant enemies was a beautiful and chivalrous
one. It is well for our soldiers to remember that as
duty is the ruHng principle of their active life, so in the
death which duty exacts as a sacrifice in battle, there

k^'

248

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

is a salve to heal over for ever the rivalry and con-
tests of life, and side by side may soldiers of both
armies lie, in the one mystical shroud of duty done,
and of bravery to the death.

The walks and drives round Quebec are veiy
beautiful, the favourite being the celebrated Falls of
Montmorenci. In winter, there is a great attraction
found at these falls in a huge ice cone, which is
fonned. The chief streets in Quebec are John and
Louis streets, but there is in most respects quite an-
other city in the Lower Town, by the river, when
compared with the upper and more fashionable dis-
trict. There is a good club-house ; a cathedral and
many beautiful churches; and beyond the gates a
capital covered skating rink.

Many of the private dwelling-houses are well built
and commodious, and their owners hospitable. In-
deed, in point of hospitality to the garrison, Quebec
far surpasses the other cities of Canada ; and you
generally find that those military men who are most
enthusiai^tic on Canada, have served in Quebec. The
society is good, and more professional than one gene-
rally meets in American cities ; and its position com-
pared with its rival, Montreal, is very like that of
Edinburgh compared with Glasgow. There is a con-
siderable French element, which gives a piquancy to
social intercourse, far from disagreeable, and if one
dare give an opinion on so delicate a matter, I should
think that in point of feminine beauty Quebec reigns
monarch in Canada.

There is a tandem club, plent}- of sleighing, skating,
a little, but very little, cricket, and all the indoor

THE MAKCII CONTINUED, AND QUEBEC.

249

amusements of a large city. There was rather a
dearth of moans for gratifying a love of literature,
but perhaps this was only apparent, and due to one's
ignorance of the reading whereabouts. There is no
lack of newspaper literature — where is there in
America? — and the Quebec Chronicle is one of the
most important, if not the most important, colonial
journal.

For sport, military men generally go down the
river to the Saguenay, where, in addition to this more
active relaxation, one can spend days of contempla-
tive idleness among picturesque landscape. But there
is also steam communication, at a reasonable rate, be-
tween Quebec and the eastern shore of New Bruns-
wick, where better fishing can be had than in any part
of America.

During more than half the year there is direct
steam communication between Quebec and England,
by the Montreal line of steamers, and at a lower rate
than is charged by the Cunard line. As a contra to
this, however, we must bear in mind the numerous
misfortunes of the Canadian line, and the wonderful
luck and excellent discipline of the other.

There is a small and pretty island farther down the
river, where the musketry practice of the infantry is
carried on during the summer. But my experience
of these small Canadian islands, although limited to
one, St. Helen's, opposite Montreal, was so unfavour-
able, that I will not allow myself to be trapped into
any enthusiasm by the blandishments of \ts Quebec
sister.

But the mention of St. Helen's, the last garrison in

j'i< }

250

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

the west in which I served, lias curdled the ink in my
pen, and raised emotions which prevent me talking
reasonably on any other subject. In case my pub-
lishers should take out a commission de lunatico in-
quirendo, I think I had better pull up, and, leaving
any further description of Quebec to some other
hand, I shall take a fresh pen, and in a new chapter
devote myself to the unburdening of my indignant
bosom on the subject of " Our miserable little
Island."

I : '

251

CHAPTER XIV.

" OUR MISEEiVBLE LITTLE ISLAND."

Gonzalo. Had I plantation of this isle, my lord :

Antonio. He'd sow it with nettle seed :

Sebastian, Or docks or mallows.

Ttmj)e3t.

I WONDER if any of my readers ever suffered from
the Crusoe mania, a disease wliich makes one pine to
be away in some lone island in the sea, where the
only thing to be dreaded would be the print of the
human foot, where some intelligent dog or goat
should more than compensate for the loss of the
human race ; where, under the exertions of one's un-
aided hand, acres of wild ground should become
fertile, and damp caves be changed into impregnable
fortresses from without, but imperial salons within ?

Hear, then, the words of one who dwelt on a lonely
island, with the fortress old but ready-made, with a
marvellous lack of society, but an aggravating abun-
dance of the beautiful ; near to a large city, and yet
so far, owing to a rapid river — and then believe me
that islands are a delusion, and solitude a snare. How
often have I gnashed my teeth, as, meeting some

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252

OUR GArUISONS IN THE WEST.

adventurous acquaintance engaged in a pic-nic, I
have been greeted with, "What! you living here I
Oh, how charming you must find it I So picturesque,
so quiet, so lovely I" At these moments lunacy be-
came imminent, and the melancholy which, from
hopelessness of sympathy, I was obliged to conceal, be-
came a devouring fiend.

Our island was small, uncommonly small, so con-
foundedly small that, including eveiy stone and pro-
montory in its whole circumference, we could accom-
plish its circuit in half an hour ; and our constitutional
walks must have averaged generally ten or twenty per
diem. For I have always observed in my life that the
more restricted our opportunities are for gratifying a
propensity, the more methodical and determined are
we in carrying it out, and the more positive we are
in maintaining the necessity of this gratification.
Ghiefiy so is this the case in the matter of exercise ;
for no man appreciates the value and pleasure of that
physical abandonment so much as the individual who
is unable to gratify it. But yesterday the course of
my duty led me to visit, in the regimental cells, a
gurv.-^r, of whom the only thing one could safely
preuicate would be, a thorough and complete ac-
quaintance with the amenities and torments of that
domicile. On my asking whether he had any com-
plaints to offer, and being answered in the affirmative,
I awaited with some interest his details ; and much
amused was I to find that not on the subject of indif-
ferent fare, not because his bed was hard, his pillow
non-existent, his blankets few and far between,
neither that his convivial qualities were lost in the
weaiy silence of solitary conBnement, but solely on

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND.*'

253

the score of want of sufficient exercise did this lazy
scoundrel make his wail — this man, who looked on
an ordinary hour's parade as an infliction, a fatigue as
an injustice, and a heavy marching-order turn-out as
an enormity only to be expiated by enormous libations
of beer I

We came to regard our island much as that un-
happy polar bear in the Regent's Park Zoological
Gardens must view the few wet slabs on which it
walks up and down, sometimes forwards, sometimes
backwards, now wagging its head solemnly, now
bowing ridiculously, yet all the while affecting to
think that it had the whole unlimited use of the
Arctic regions, but failing horribly in the attempt.
To make matters worse, our island was in a river, not
in stationary water — a river with a rapid current and
mighty volume — no less a river than the great St.
Lawrence. The wind blew this river into ugly
waves at times, and cut us, with our little skiffs, off
from the mainland ; and, even in calm weather, the
weary current so prolonged the laboiur of crossing,
that after achieving the feat one always felt inclined
never to re-attempt it.

Our island is situated opposite Montreal, the com-
mercial capital of Canada, and is surrounded on other
sides by the fertile plains of St. Lambert, St. Hya-
cinth, and La Prairie. It is a military station only,
and to civilians landing the stem warning is given
that martial law is to be obeyed. Oh, merry paradox,
and strange picture of peace and war I where the
guns are strewn thickest, the grass is greenest and the
wild flowers fairest ; »vhere tons and tons of powder lie
buried in a dark magazine, the frogs cioak loudest in

! I

254

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

' t

my ears as I visit the lonely post at night, and the
wild strawberry blushes under my feet, and the elms
wave greenly over my head. My sword, as I do my
rounds, clanks not heavily on paved parades, nor
echoes ringingly in the ears of armed men ; it drags
lightly over the green moss, and rings only agauist
some fallen tree or flower-buried stone. In Dickens's
" Bleak House " the sketch of Mr. Boythom raging
and storming with the canary perched on his head is
not more ludicrous — ay, even to the pathetic — than
the picture which I see every day. The birds perched
on the top of order-boards, hanging on silent walls,
but breathing the sternest denunciations against
possible offenders ; while the spider, weaving its
web on a summer day across the door of a vacant
sentry-box, is no Inappropriate companion to the
martins that build their nests amid the pile of shot
and shell, and feed their young in the shadow of
cannon and other instruments of war.

Our island made believe to have many merits which
would not bear the minute inspection of residents, and
at last we came to look on Mr. Pumblechook as an in-
carnation of candour and modesty in comparison with
this arch impostor. It pretended — did our island — to
be cool when the mainland 77as grilling its inhabi-
tants ; but do ye bear witness, O panting and outraged
few, who lay day after day under any possible shade
dissolving into fluid, until the tormenting insects,
once so boldly resisted, came to make their meals on
our helpless bodies unavenged.

Bear witness too, the open doors and windows, the
iced water and sherry cobblers, the departing appe-

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND."

255

tite, the increasing liver, the despondency, apathy,
weariness of life.

Our island pretended to have unlimited capacities
for cricket, and made much of p few yards of turf on
one side. Need I say that there the grass became
capxicious in its growtli, that the cows in the island
made that spot a rendezvous for their elephantine
sports, and something worse ; that a good hit sent the
ball either into the river or up into the tree-tops ; that
no living batsman could make certain of a ball with
such a background of dark stumps and fallen trees ;
and that the unhappy long-stop (heu ! me miserum ! )
had to stand amid a series of pitfalls which inevitably
covered him with ignominy.

It had a ludicrous idea that it was fortified, had our
island. There was a decayed and trembling draw-
bridge, and in various parts of the island were the
remnants of what may once have been formidable
gates, but whope rheumatic bars were now swayed
about, creaKing and groaning, by every summer
breeze. Under my window was a platform, once
meant to support a gun, but which was now past sujv
poning itself. From under its rotting timbers one
day I heard a sound, by no means unfamiliar, but
hardly waHike, and presently out strutted a stately
fowl, accompanied by a brood of newly-hatched
chickens, whose chirping seemed a satire on the
heavy boom meant to echo amid the dense smoke
hanging over the gun whose existence never went be-
yond some sanguine fancy.

We had an atrocious and weedy parapet, bro-
ken up by many a winter's frost, and washed by

i3j

256

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

\ui

hit '

■m

I!'

^:i

many a summer^s rain, where, in idle hours and
hours of lonehness (and that they were many let it
testify), we would erect flower stands and rustic seats,
sow seeds which never appeared, and plant flowers
only to die, or, like some mariner on the deck of a
drifting vessel, would eye, through eager glass, any
passing vessel, as if we hoped for release. There
was a salljrport meant for warriors which we used for
suspending mutton ; there were magazines, meant for
deadly shell, which we made reservoirs for b^er ; and
while our own bomb-proof baiTacks were allowed
quietly to decay, a partial department or an idiotic
Government patched and repaired annually wooden
buildings weak as those of cards, and intrusted to
their mouldering walls piles of destructible but valu-
able material, whose chief characteristic was inappro-
priateness on an island. We had there two or three
field batteries, with all the harness complete, on an
island where not one gim could travel, and only one
horse existed. It had a strange history, had that
horse, or rather absence of history : for, older than the
oldest inhabitants, no tradition of its advent had been
handed down. In winter it slept in the ruins of what
had once been a prison, and lived, or rather starved,
upon what it could pick up ; in summer it blew itself
out with green food until the skeleton of the spring
renewed its youth like the witch of old, and turned out
again in the autumn, sleek, placid, and comfortable.

To further gloom in our minds we had a cemetery
on our island, where, according to the rude wooden
tombstones, the victims to a plague which once broke
out on the island were huddled in unseemly crowd :
prisoners in their lives, in their deaths they were not

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND."

257

released. It was situated in a gloomy recess, where
the snow lay longest, and the sunbeams could not
penetrate ; where the grass was rank and weedy, and
your feet went splashing through green and hidden
pools, while the white tombstones stood out in the un-
certain light like ghosts.

For anachronisms we had our block-houses, our
gates, and our guard-rooms. On the tops of imposing
rocks were to be seen dark windowless buildings
buried in a rank undergrowth of shrubs, towers whoso
dismal walls whisper of death and defiance ; but ah I
when we come near them, like many men whom we
meet in life, we detect the cracked roof, the rotting^
rafters, and read in their lineaments weakness and
imbecility.

And our gates, what gates so fearful in aspect, what
spikes more likely to make the human frame shiver^
till a nearer inspection shows the broken lock and
missing hinge, and some summer breeze comes and
shakes their creaking ribs in ribaldry, like rheumatism
and palsy playing antics with a cripple's bones. And
our guard-rooms — one there is on the quiet beach of
the quietest part of our island, where adventurous
cows wander in utter amazement, where solemn pigs
grunt, and vain fowls cackle — half, merely, of a house
whose other half is tenanted by an ancient dame
whose life is spent in washing linen, which, in the
form of nameless garments, flaps in the very face of
our bearded guard. Ah I this, our guard-room, is the
climax of our paradox, and here we sit down and
laugh. For seizing an hour for rest from her steam-
ing toil, our ancient dame sits down on the lickety
seat before the guard-room door, and laughs with the

J- ^

If • 1

258

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

men as if they were but children playing at some
solemn game, while the fowls pick seeds from under
the butts of their carbines, and the wild duck oomes
close in to the shore as if it knew they were i:ot
loaded ; and the clank of their swords as they saunter
up and down mingles with the drowzy hum of grass-
hoppers, or the whisperings of the trees.

And our island had its ghost, in a dark frog-
haunted pool near our largest magazine, in a lonely
part of the island, the solitary sentry has been known
to see rise in the still watches of the night a green
lady whose chief amusement was to scream — a hys-
terical ghost whose fit never wore off.

The only other inhabitants were a few old pen-
sioners, encouraged to live there no doubt by an
economical government with the object of accelerating
their end and of shortening their pensions. Inasmuch
as we were wholly dependent, on these individuals for
the produce of the cow and the domestic fowl, we did
not object to the arrangement. A few transitory
individuals in the form of infantry come over for
musketry instruction were never regarded by us as
part of the community; indeed, living as they did
under canvas and being engaged the whole day, we
would hardly have been aware of their existence were
it not that their firing often closed one angle of " our
island " against our daily constitutionals.

There was an abundance of ornithological life on
the island ; no fewer than thirty-seven varieties of
birds having been known to \'isit it.

But by the insect world did our island seem to be
most highly appreciated — no limit being placed to
their variety and number.

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND."

259

our

Every day some new and more horrible species
would make its appearance, displaying to our appalled
optics a singularly superfluous number of wings and
legs. And among this class of the animal kingdom,
I have observed that our loatliing towards them is
always in proportion as their legs exceed the respect-
able and commonplace number of four. In the hot
evenings of a Canadian summer, sitting reading or
writing in one's room, the windows were always left
open to create a ckaught. The common way of
lighting the apartment was by suspending against the
walls paraffina lamps with reflectors attached. The
brilliancy of these attracted the insects from all parts
of the surrounding darkness, and one would soon hear
the buzz and conversation of enterprising individuals
rushing wildly to the lamps and destruction. The
walls and floor s iii ounding these lamps would have af-
forded an int(^resting field for study to the entomolo-
gist, covered as they were with the flattened bodies
of every variety of insect, differing in everything save
the conmion penchant for suicide. I remember one
evening when I had been reading the "Woman in
Whi e," or some other work calculated to make the
hair stand on end or otherwise unstring the nervous
system, I heard in the room a deeper voice than the
insects generally employed, accompanied by a sound
as of a female in pattens. A hurried examination
soon disclosed a mysterious animal of the size of a
full-grown aAid weli-fed mouse endeavouring to secrete
itself behind the door. Had I done the thing properly
I should have addi'essed it as jVIi'. Poe did his raven,
but I merely devoted myself to disappointing the in-
truder ; I accordingly proceeded with rude intent and

'I* ■

260

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

ready boot to add liim to the other group of insects in
the room already victims to felo-de-se; but, to my
liorror, and witli what in my fright seemed a yell of
triumph and mockery, he raised something on his
back ; shot out several pairs of wings ; tucked in- his
legs, and rose, brushing my pale face as he passed, and
ultimately alighting on a white curtain, where, pro-
ducing his legs again and packing up his wings, he sat
crooning and buzzing to himself in a very discontented
tone. By this time my feelings were awful ; had ho
produced a revolver and aimed it at me I should
hardly have been surprised, and I thought seriously
of leaving him in undisturbed possession of the apart-
ment. I resolved, however, to give him one chance,
and opening all the ^vindows and the door — even
more than before — in a most alluring manner, I
stood at a respectful distance and commenced hissing
at him and using every discordant sound I could in-
vent, until an insect of the slightest musical tempera-
ment would have made its escape in self-defence. But
although this gentleman had horns he seemed to have
no ear, and I could almost swear he turned round and
winked at me in derision. Then, stowing away his
legs as before, he made straight at me, and I turned
ignominiously and fled. I forget how I ultimately
procured his departure ; I rather think he got an im-
pression that there was some one on the staircase
even more nervous than myself, and while he peeped
out to ascertain I drove the door to in triumph,
leaving him objecting loudly on the landing. I fell
on the sofa in relief and a cold perspiration, and
meditated on the anomalies of the insect world in
general, and of this individual in particular.

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND."

261

I need liardly say that on our island tlic number of
dogs was as t^ie sands of the desert. The Interna-
tional Dog Show at Islington was shadowed forth
among m. Dogs of biveding, d<^gs of none ; small
dogs, large dogs, amiabK'} dogs, vicious dogs; dogs
with hla/<(! look, dogs with pricked cars and impudent
eye; all were there. The loneliness of the island
compelled us in the absence of their betters to turn
our eyes and affections towards some of the lower
orders of creation — hinc illi canes,

A month or two on the island rendered us all very
dyspeptic ; and dyspepsia rendered us miserably un-
certain in our tempers. We would part in cheerful
and jovial mood, say at ten o'clock : at eleven we would
meet taciturn and scowling; on parade we would
study the countenance of our commanding officer as
he came on, with feelings akin to those of a dog
walking on tip-toe round a strange and larger dog;
mingled feelings of awe, interest, and uncertainty.
Did his face look bright and his eyes clear — we
also at once looked bright and felt relieved. Did the
the skin look muddy, the eye yellow, the general
appearance bilious, then we looked out for squalls.
For myself, I look back with disgust to the cynical
and misanthropic brute which my residence on that
island made me. Practising at * cricket, if anyone
made a hit which necessitated my running for it, I
scowled at and hated that man with a murderous
hatred. Our once placid rubber became viciou" as
any old ladies' at Bath ; we criticised our food until
the cook must frequently have contemplated suicide
in despair ; we even gave up corresponding much with
our friends in the outer world, partly, indeed, because

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202

OUR GARRISONS IN THE ^VEST.

wc liftd nothing to say, but partly also because in our
bosoms the milk of human kindness, that lifeblood of
the domestic affections, had turned to gall. We had
our moods pensive, and moods merry, verging even
on hysterics ; the former I associate chiefly in my
mind with sherry cobblers, the latter vnt\i unlimited
claret-cnp. For, mark you, the sherrj* cobbler is par
excellence the cup of solitude ; but who brews Bad-
minton for himself alone 1

We had a snug little mess, and took in an enor-
mous amount of newspapers, which, in the form of
pipelights, ultimately filled a harmless little bronze
image of a mortar, which, in admirable keeping with
the other defences of the island, bore in huge letters
on its side the inscription " Terrible." The catering
of the mess passed through several hands, every one
commencing zealously, but passing speedily into the
apathy which was the inevitable consequence of
living on our island. Each caterer's career is associa-
ted in my mind with ludicrous misfortune. One, I
remember, filled all the empty wine cases with soil,
and sowed enormous quantities of mustard and cress,
enough, had it lived, to supply the wants of the grand
hotel itself. Need I say that as soon as it approached
the stage which gladdened the caterer's heart and
made the rest of us dream of a cool accompaniment to
our grills, some mysterious atmospheric influence pecu-
liar to our island instantly blighted it ; and long after
the abdication of that caterer, these melancholy boxes
lined the parapets, a sad check on the presumption of
his successors. One of these latter thought of chickens
as a species of live stock which wer6 likely to do him
credit and be exempt from meteorological phenomena.

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND."

263

Crossing at eiirly morn in a fit of zeal and a canoe,
he procured at a ])rice not more than half as much
again as others paid, a brood of eighteen or so from
an old woman in the market of lionsecours. Two
came to a melanclioly end in crossin«x, being smothered
in the basket, and, witli (me exceptiim, the others all
died, never having attainetl a larger size although
consuming a fabulous amount of fr»od. The unhappy
survivor, ever eating, never growing, lived in solitude
in an enoimous residence improvised for the occasion
and faced with an enormous grating of iron. Before
this gi'siting, the canuie and feline inhabitants would
sit for horn's watcliing impotently the movements of
the miserable little inmate, and getting melancholy on
the subject of its being beyond their reach. We had
been at some pains in constructing many most inviting
roosting bars, but in the most obstinate manner it
preferred an extremely uncomfortable angle of the
edifice, which seemed to us singularly ill-adapted for
repose. I forget its idtimate fate, it was either the
pip or curry.

Among Englishmen everywhere the weather forms
a never-failing topic of conversation, while it is also
employed as a scape-goat for many evils. But on
our island it was an almost universal scape-goat, re-
ceiving the credit alike of physical and of mental
depression. One of us I remember had a theory chat
our troubles were due to the mountain, elsewhere de-
scribed. This moimtain rising as it does behind the
city of Montreal eclipsed any view we might other-
wise have had to the northward, and checked the cool
breeze which might have fanned our fevered brows.
The very name of this mountain, even writing as I

264

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

.i^--

now do at some distance of time and space, exasperates
me, and reminds me of much aggravation caused
thereby. Everyone you meet in Montreal, every
shop-keeper you engage in conversation, every waiter
who may attend you, however you might strive to
lead the conversation, invariably broke in with the
dreaded and inevitable question, " Have you been up
the mountain ? Its great charm was a cemetery half
way up, where people were laid in their graves in a
situation reminding one forcibly of the suspended
coffin of Mahomet, midway between heaven and earth.

But to retiun. I frequently meditated writing
a treatise on the effects of solitude on the soul and
stomach ; but want of energy, while showing in my
own person one of its effects, robbed the world of a
similar opportunity. But looking back on that dreary
time 1 can most positively assert that the absence of
that mental friction which one has in the midst of
ci\'ilised communities is productive of much disease
in the mind, and, I think, conducive to indigestion in
the body. One may, perhaps, think or study alone in
a warped and prejudiced manner ; but, good heavens !
to dine alone, there is the evil. Nor is it my mitiga-
tion that two or thi'ee others are alone with you in
your sad predicament ; for too early do we sound the
depths of our respective minds, too soon do we know
by heart — aye ! even to loathing, our mutual witticisms,
— too soon does that awful social hour arrive when
during a whole meal we cannot raise among ourselves
even the shadow of a laugh I

But the most melancholy feature in our imprison-
ment was the woful lack of energy and application
wliich supervened. Two of my brother officers con-

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND."

265

templated writing a treatise on some such subject as
Napoleon I., and agi- J to divide the labour in rather
a novel manner; one doing the reading, the other the
writing. They failed to get beyond the first chapter,
and ended as most of our enterprises did — in beer.

In an effervescing fit of zeal, we all agreed one day
to go in for water-colours. Eushing over to Montreal
we purchased the materials, hunted up and down the
streets for a master, engaged him to come over regu-
larly for purposes of instruction'; got through our first
lesson, yawned through our second, and on the morn-
ing of the third sent him a message that on that day
we were engaged. His periodical visits coming round
on us, made us soon regard him as another Old Man
of the Sea ; nor could we find any way or excuse for
getting rid of him, for he was an excellent artist and
a tolerable teacher, nor could we plead no further
need of his services. At last, one day, there came a
rumour that we were to be removed to Quebec ; so
meeting in solemn conclave, we concocted an elabo-
rate letter to him, stating that our preparations for
departure were so urgent, our setting our house in
order so engrossing, that we feared we could not give
that attention to his valuable instructions which they
merited, and therefore, &c. &c.

We attempted fishing from our island, and occa-
sionally caught some of the most diminutive fish that
ever existed, provided, with what seemed to us, a most
unnecessary abundance of bones. Duck-shooting was
attempted ; but further than a great amount of dis-
comfort incurred, and firing off our guns on our re-
turn, we can hardly be said to have had much excitf>
ment from this sport.

! I

266

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

Shut out as we were from the world, I remember,
as in a dream, that we were always craving for news.
The post came over twice a day, and we generally
went down in a body to meet him, and lived in con-
stant expectation of letters. Every time any of our
number crossed to Montreal he was received with
yells of execration if he dared to return without some
intelligence. Fortunately, the very air in America,
that year, was rife with rumours, and our morbid and
almost Yankee anxiety for news was generally grati-
fied abundantly. As for the little events that oc-
curred in our own community, they iiimished us with
as much conversation as any choice tit-bits of scandal
would an old lady's tea-table in a country village.
An occasional desertion (I wonder every one did not
not desert), sickness, an exchange, or any small mat-
ter, was long and weD- ventilated. One man, I re-
member, disappeared one night, and after a consider-
able lapse of time his body was brought up from the
muddy bottom of the river by the dredging-machine.
The chatter about this was childish ; and though the
man had not been overpopular in his life, yet all were
anxious to go to his funeral for a new sensation.

I had almost forgot to mention, among other enter-
prises which we undertook with spasmodic energy —
that we seriously contemplated a heavy course of gar-
dening. An acre of land, or so, near our quarters,
had once been cultivated for potatoes. On this we
cast covetous eyes, and soon obtained authority to ap-
propriate it. A solemn commission was sent into
Montreal to purchase seed, tools, flower-pots, and
frames, sufficient altogether to start in life, with the

" OUE MISERABLE LITTLE ISIAND."

267

greatest comfort, several market-gardeners. Before
the pm*chased goods reached us, the fit had worn off ;
and with the exception of one small bed of salad, on
which, while yet in infancy, many cows danced one
frenzied night, the acre or so remained Bareacres the
whole sunmier.

So much for the dark side of our island life ; such
was its weary routine. Exhausting it was, alike to
mind and body ; leaving on us few impressions save a
sensation as of dull, deadened pain — a conviction of
wasted energy and of lost time. I am sure, to speak
figuratively, that in the time of our residence there,
the clocks of our lives were put back several years,
and the elasticity of their springs for ever injured.

But to our cloud there was a silver lining. There
was one thing of which we never wearied. At night,
on »;he shore or on the green parapet, to stand watch-
ing the play of the merry stars on that hurrying river,
or the grand white sheen of the patient moon spread-
ing over its surface like a garment. Shadows on the
shore, light on the water and in the tree-tops, a great
silence everywhere— one never wearied then. The
buzz ctf some lazy inseqt, or the echo of distant oars
on the St. Lawrence, with the cry, at stated intervals,
of " All's well" from the sentry on his lonely post
iinder the ehns by the haunted pool, these were the
only sounds that broke the sweet stillness of that
moonlight, and made it seem stiller and sweeter. So
might one dream for ever in that happier land where
the Lord himself shall lighten all things, and the na-
tions of them that are saved shall dwell in the light
ofiti

I ;

268

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

r kk

111

V-

t il

And as one would stand gazing^ he would see the
many lights of a great city come twinkling over the
rippling water as if to cheer without interrupting
one's solitude. Or one might hear, borne fitfully on
the night-air, the bells of many churches sounding
eacli passing hour, or inviting one to pray in a voice
more solemn in this still island than in the crowded
streets and thronging populace of a restless city. As
I open my mind to the thoughts bom of these solemn
chimes, I hear, caught up by the wind and borne to
my ears, those mysterious sounds swelling up from a
distant multitude which the fancy so loves to dwell on
and analyse I

And in our island we have objects which awaken
and cultivate many faculties which in a crowded
community would lie dormant. We have scenes, too,
that quicken the imagination — the time ruler of the
mind after all — scenes of great and varied beauty ;
and we have always in that little dell a lonely group
of bleaching headstones, which whisper to us that even
this little spot has not been overlooked by the keen-
eyed reaper. Death ! And in this dreamy phase of
our life the seasons may come and go, and bring with
them their respective occupations and interests ; but
they do not bring weariness.

To-day, as it were, I am sitting in the shade of a
green tree, and watching between me and the great
river the butterflies glance, and the birds flutter and
sing; to-morrow, the leaves are red and yellow, and
the wind whirls them before me, where but yester-
day were the gaudy insects ; and so rapid seems the
versatile year, that it seems but another day when I

" OUR MISERABLE LITTLE ISLAND."

269

too.

but

find our island clad with snow, and the river overcast
as with a sullen and immovable mask, while the trees
wave their wild arms naked in the chilly wind, and
the birds are silent and the butterflies gone I

But to thee, O great river, as of old to his gods did
the cultured Grecian kneel, does our fancy bend in
an adoring sympathy. I cannot analyse the senti-
ment, but we soon came to personify the river ; and
though now smooth, now turbid, now crowded with
sweeping craft, and anon lonely with a great loneli-
ness, still it was always as of a being that we talked
and thought of it — this great river St. Lawrence.
Sometimes drowsily watching it speeding on like
some living thing bent on some earnest purpose, we
would see in it a picture of our own minds in this her-
mit life. The varied blocks and sheets of ice humed
down in early spring by its restless current, are not
more /aried than the thoughts which chase one
another on the placid river of our mind ; the lights
and shadows that dance across its surface are not
more rapid in their transitions than the dreams that
chequer our half-waking fancy by the side of this
green river, in the light of this western sun. Yet
sooner even than these floating fragments shall melt
in the glare of a noonday sun, will the half-formed
thoughts disappear in the Lethe of the past before the
glare of an ever-changing present, or the dazzle of
the hopes that crowd a luring future. Shall we ..ot,
then, as yonder child reaches its little hand to seize
from the rapid current some waif branch sweeping
out to the sea, seize also some fancies from the stream
of our thought ere they sweep on to that ocean of ob-

i: I]

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270

OUR GARRISONS m THE WEST.

;il

livion which we all cany within us, until that last
day shall bid its waters, like yonder real waves before

us, give up its shadowy dead I

♦ * • • ♦

But as our jailer, we would sometimes, in our dark
moods, hate this cold, unrelenting river, sweeping
round us with surging arms, and binding us in with
fetters that were dark often and deadly. Deadly, in-
deed ! as one night showed us. Four people left be-
hind after some pic-nic, started in a small boat pulled
by one of our own men, and ere they had gone a
hundred yards from the shore were upset, through
some sudden panic or unexpected wave. A wild cry
pierced the darkness, as •? glitteriiig fish parts the
black waters of some sullen pool, and four of the five
were hurried into eternity. Threo were women, and
twu were yoimg ; but this deadly stream knows not of
age or sex, but sucks them, in boa-like grasp, to a
choking death. Few sadder sights did the sun wit-
ness, some two or three days after, than the huddled
group of dead that the glutted waters threw up on a
small island near us, with white faces and distorted
limbs, lying in fantastic attitudes, grouped by that
Eideous linmer, Death I Hurry the imseemly dead
out of sight, as we soon shall out of mind ; the earth
will not give them up as this dainty river doth, until
one day we wot of, when the echoes of a great trump
shall reach the deepest and darkest grave, and wake
the humblest and most forgotten dead I

* * * # «

And at last v/e left our island. On a bright Sep-
tember day a small steamer came and carried us away
to put us on our first stage to England. We were

" OUR MISERABLE UTTLE ISLAND."

271

marched on board with hardly energy enough to
cheer ; and we babbled in an idiotic manner to one
another. We could not realise that we were actually
goin^?, that the speck on the horizon, getting smaller
and smaller, was our island, fading from our sight for
ever. And in the wild nights at sea, its image rose
before our minds in a strange and unearthly calm,
such as one could fancy to a man awakened from a
trance, must the dim, mysterious gap in his life ap-
pear. And then, months after, came the first letter I
received from one of our successors on the island.
It seemed so strange to hold that thin sheet of paper
in my hand and to think that the words had been
written by the diowsy trees and scorching grass I
knew so well. Instinctively it all came before me like
a dream — the grey barracks, the dark pool, the little
yard of the silent, the hot air, the surging river. And
like the forgiveness of injuries, when those who did
them are dead, so did this, our island, seem more en-
durable now, when far away from its dreary paths,
its melancholy shores.

i'l

272

CHAPTER XV.

THE TRADE AND EDUCATION OF OUR NORTH
AMERICAN COLONIES.

I CANNOT say that my book has as yet given the
public much in the way of useful statistics. I have
written more from memory than from notes, and my
recollections have been of the idle lazy sort which are
often pleasing enough to the individual, but sadly
boring to the public. Let me in this chapter try and
redeem myself in this particular, and before conclud-
ing my short account of our American Provinces
let me give a few facts and tables, throwing light on
a trade which, although in its infancy, bids fair to be
herculean, and on an education which although not
exactly carried out on a reguSr system, has yet ad-
vantages too prominent to be overlooked.

And first on the trade of our American Colonies,
let me indicate its vastness by illustration.

In Prince Edward's Island — our smallest American
Colony — the following table has been recently pub-
lished, showing the amount cleared at the Custom
House as exported from the port of Charlottetown :

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

273

Valua

£ a.

[d.

665,599 bushels oats . .

. 66,599 18

210,297 „ potatoes .

15,239 18

18,138 „ barley

3,627 12

110,626 „ turnips

. 5,318

806 barrels oatmeal

. 1,209 10

26,029 dt en eggs

758 18

10,173 sheepskins

. 2,543 5

21,958 lbs. wool . . .

2,407 5

£97,704 6 10

The above articles enumerated are independent of
timber, deals, lathwood, horses, horned cattle, sheep,
p<'iultry, pearl barley, beef, pork, dry fish, mackerel,
herrings, oil, oysters, parsnips, carrots, hay, &c.

In comparing the above with the exports of former
years, we find that in 1830 the exports from the
whole island ~ore valued at 55,522/., about half the
value of the exports from the one port of Charlotte-
town during the past twelve months. These facts are
taken from a recent number of a journal pubUshed in
the province called the Islander^ and they may be
assumed as correct.

Let us now turn to New Brunswick. Here we find
that the amount of wood goods sent from St. John to
Great Britain during 1863, has been in 314 vessels of
221,798 tons: carrying 8,070 tons birch, 18,296
tons pine, and 176,854,000 feet of deals. There
were in the port of St. John on the 22nd December,
1863, thirty-two ships of 26,557 tons, against 14 ships
of 10,932 tons at the same date in 1862, of which 11
were loading for Liverpool against 4 in 1862.

274

OUR GARKISOHS IN THE WEST.

Goin^ now to Canafla, we find the Quebec i^apei-s
proclaiming tliat i ohip-biiikling trade alone in

that port the amount ex])ended in wages during the
year 18(53 was a million dollars. It is stated that not
less than 55,(K)0 tons of shi]iping wore constructed in
that port, consuming at least 3,000,000 feet of lum-
ber during the year I8fi3, and if the whole be
averaged at forty dollars the ton, it will be seen that
the value of the ship-building for one season has at-
tained the handsome sum of 2,200,000 dollars.

In Nova Scotia tlie gold trade bids fair to be ex-
tremely remunerative. The press of the Northern
States speaks in the highest terms of it, and capital is
pouring towards this province in a steady stream.
Some specimens shown lately in Boston, Massachu-
setts, were 22 carats fine, and the bars, two in num-
ber, weiglied respectively 25 oz. and 15 «z. For
jewellery no gold is jnore beautiful. I find tliat in
mineral wealth Nora Scotia is gradually afisuming a
prominent place. Her exports of coal during 1862,
chiefly to the Nortliern States, exceeded 200,000 tons;
her gold mines yielded 00,000/. sterliug ; her trade in
gypsum aod grindstone has increased, while her ex-
ports in iron ore and iron in pigs wsxe considerable.
Nova Scotia ir&a is better loiown in England than
Nova Scotia itself.

New Brunswick, if I may rely oh ihe Rtatement «f
an intellig^at coEPespondent of the Nova Scotian
journals, during the year 1861 mined 18,000 tone of
Albw^ne 'Coal chiefly f c«r the oil ; above 12/)00 terns
of gypeum; saanulactured 43^000 casks of lune, ami.
42,000 griiudstoHes
Being jToferred by the a»me writer to the official

TIUDE AND EDUCATION.

276

census of these two provinces, we discovoroJ the

follow!

18t>l:

following; interesting details taken in the later half of

Nova Scotia.

Acres cleared . . 1,028,032

Estimated value of 1 18,801,365
cleared land . J dollars.

TStm DximawicK.

3,787,524

81,lf)9,946
dollai's.

CHIEF AORICULTURAX PRODTJCTS.

Nova ScomA. Nbw Brunswick.

334,287

312,061
l,978,ia7
3,824,864
4,532,711

901,296

Hay, tons . .
Wheat, bushels
Oats, „
Potatoes, „
Butter, lbs.
Cheese, lbs.

324,100

278,775

2,656,883

4,041,339

4,591,447

218,067

Tlie value of agricultural produce 'oring that year
in New Brunswick is stated at over sc ven millions and
three quarters in dollars. The value of the lumber
exported was three jnillion dollars, though it is pro-
bably much greater now. The value of ships built
th«i more than a million and a half of dollars,
although the present annual value is probably very
much higher, ovdng to the impetus given by the
American civil war to our carrying trade, and the
temptations offered ^-o the shipowners by that lucrative
business — running the blockade.

In Nova Scotia, during 1861, the tonnage of
vessels built amounted to two hundred and fifty
thousand tons, although probably this is far below the
present amuial total. Among gold items, we find
that during the last jsununer, both at Tangier and

276

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

Oldham, while the returns averaged 4 oz. of gold to a
ton of quartz, they occasionally reached so high aS
25 oz. ; and that at another place 53 oz. were taken
out by five men in six days. In April, 1863, at Wine
Harbour, the gold crushers turned out 476 oz. of gold,
and at Sherbrooke, 605 oz.

Continuing this loose way of stating commercial
facts, we find, on consulting the provincial press, that
at a place called Merigonish in Nova Scotia, during
the last season, 40,000 lbs. of salmon had been pre-
pared in cans, and exported.

The value of money in a place is no bad way of
showing the extent of its trade. In Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick the ordinary rate of interest is 6 per
cent., while in Canada it rises higher. Money ad-
vanced on mortgages, even first mortgage, well pro-
tected by insurance or other collateral s.icurity, always
demands 6 per cent. ; and when invested in house
property, the investor would think himself ill-repaid
unless he could get a return of 10 per cent. Even
the Government Debentures, corresponding' to our
Three per Cents., yield an interest of 6 per cent., and
as they are seldom quoted higher in the market than
6 or 7 per cent, premium, these Colonial Government
Securities afford a remunerative and safe investment
for loose capital. Bank Stock is a good, but some-
what capricious form of speculation, yielding fre-
quently enormous returns. The Bank of Montreal is
one of the soundest companies in the world, if one
may judge by the enormous premium its shares are
quoted at in the market.

When I was in the States, in the autumn of 1857,
during a commercial panic, and again after the issue

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

277

of greenbacks during the civil war, it was soothing
to one's national vanity to sec the high appreciation
among the Yankees of British coin and British bank
notes, whether Imperial or Colonial. A note of any
Canadian or Nova Scotian Bank was received as
greedily as specie.

Land is not so regularly remunerative an invest-
ment in our American colonies, as mortgages or
Government Debentures. If one is prepared to
spend money on the land purchased, there is no
country in the world where good returns can be more
certain, but if, on the other hand, one merely wishes
to obtain some return from the land bought without
any further expenditure, there is no doubt that this
return wiU be very appreciably affected by the many
depressing influences common in a new country, of
which I may quote as an instance the scarcity of
proper markets, and as another the difficulty of pro-
curing sufficient labour at reasonable rates.

But if a capitalist can afford to leave his money
unproductive for a few years, I know of no way in
which one might obtain a more certain return ulti-
mately than by investing in wild lands near any
increasing township, or any new line of railway,
where, in time to come, the force of circumstances,
without labour or further expenditure, will raise the
value of the land immeasurably.

A country where money is dear, and wages high, is
the paradise of the lower orders. In former chapters
I have hinted at the cheapness of provisions, an
inevitable consequence of dear money and a small
population, and I mention in this place the high rate
of wages. In the Lower Provinces, and, I presiune,

278

OUB GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

i!!i'

M i

also in Canada, the ordinary daily yrage of a skilled
labourer is over [a dollar a day, and I have seen the
wages of slaters and stonemasons rise to three dollars
a day. This, with beef at 3d. per lb., and tea at
Is. Gd. to 2s., will satisfy my reader that America is
no bad place for working men. But mere unskilled
labour is not so certain of good wages; in fact,
common labourers and domestic servants are better
off in England.

For the middle classes, our American colonies offer
a comfortable home. Cheap housekeeping without
jiarsimony, Hght taxes, delightful cKmate, the prestige
of the British flag, without many of the drawbacks of
the old country — all these unite to form a pleasant
residence, and to do away with home sickness, with-
out lessening the love for the old country, which
every colonist still calls by the sweet name of home.

The study of the trade of British America irre-
sistibly carries the reader into contemplation of the
great futui'e which it requires no strong fancy to
foresee for these colonies. When one sees the grain
pouring up from the west, down the St. Lawrence,
the wood and fish from the Lower Provinces, the
immense mineral wealth of all sorts which is daily
revealed ; here it may be in coal, there in gold, here
in u'on, there in that daily increasing trade — natural
oil, or it may be furs from the Hudson's Bay Terri-
toiy and the Far West, it is impossible to help feeling
that, with an increased population and a stable go-
vernment, the wealth of this part of our Colonial
Empire may rival that of the princely Indies, or the
wonderful Australia.

And again, when one sees the return vessels laden

1 j >

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

279

kiUed
fn the
loUars
iea at
ica is
Ikilled
fact,
)etter

with the luxuries of England and France, China and
Lidia, the fruits of the West Indies, and the manu-
factures of the Northern States, one would fahi
dream of a brighter day still when British America
would afford a high road between the Atlantic and
the Pacific, and the trade between eaat and west would
be immeasurably facihtated.

But, before this dream can be realised, railway ex-
tension must be energetically carried on, and must be
regarded by our colonial governments as a matter of
political life and death, not as a favourable oppor-
tunity for successful individual speculation, at the
cost of their respective provinces. The tales of the
Grand Trunk and Great Western must not be re-
peated, nor must we have, as in Nova Scotia, a
railway of some eighty miles in length producing a
debt on the colony of a million sterling, at a rate of
interest so high as six per cent. At present we have
at work in British America the following lines of
railway: in Caxiada', the Grand Trunk, the Great
Western, and the Northern Railway of Canada; in
New Brunswick, the line between St. John and
Shediac, about one hundred miles long, and the New
Brunswick and Canada Railway, open between St.
Andrew's and Woodstock, as yet ; and in Nova Scotia
we hare the railways between Halifax and Windsor,
and Halifax and Truro, respectively. All these lines
are very well as the beginning of a network, but it
will be well for our colonial politicians to remember
that it is bu* the beginning. The traffic is increasing
on these lines every year, and they are doing good by
raising the value of the sun'ounding land ; but, until
the links are made in this vast iron chain which shall

! \i

280

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

connect its various parts, and establish an uninter-
rupted communication, the work can only be said to
have begun. Provincial isolation and a blundering
neglect to make railways which individually are
burdens, but would become, as a grand whole, a
source of revenue and profit, are among the features
at present most apparent in our British American
railway system. Nor need the new connecting lines
be nearly so expensive as the existing ones. Although
labour is dearer, the land required is cheaper than in
Great Britain, and in many cases would cost nothing ;
and there is no reason why, under a jealous supervi-
sion, the new lines should not be built at the same
cost as our cheapest Scotch Hnes, 7000^. per mile.

In addition to which, the Imperial guarantee which
has been promised for a new system ^f intercolonial
railway would enable money to be borrowed on de-
benture at a rate little more than half the rate paid
by provincial bonds unguaranteed. The new Hnes
might be worked with the rolling stock of the existing
companies, and no despicable sources of revenue
would be immediately found in the mails and the
constant transport of troops and miHtary stores.

These things must be, if om' American colonies
wish to prosper. It is well said by one of their own
journals, "We cannot afford to bear the burden of
our present incomplete road." The railway system
among om' American brethren in these provinces
bears the same relation to what it should be, as that
well-known incomplete edifice on the Calton Hill at
Edinburgh bears to the Louvre.

Even dry trade has its picturesque features. Need
I remind any of my readers who have been in Canada

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

281

of those striking objects on the St. Lawrence, the
immense rafts of great value sweeping down to
Quebec, with the small dwellings and little colonies
on each, an occasional spruce-tree or flag propped up
between the huge floating trunks, and the blue smoke
curling from the small chimney. The value of the
wood in some of these rafts is something more than
ordinary people, unacquainted with the trade, would
believe ; and the wages of the men employed on the
rafts is proportionally high. On board the steamers
on the river, or living in such a spot as our miserable
little island, there were few objects so pleasing to
v/atch as these gigantic floating colonies.

There is a branch of trade in the Lower Provinces
which has suffered more than perhaps any other by
the American civil war. In one sense, the sufferers
in this branch of commerce are equally deserving, and
in another sense far more deserving, of sympathy
than even the Lancashire operatives. I allude to the
fisheries of the Lower Provinces, as affected, first, by
our idiotic Reciprocity Treaty, and, secondly, by the
blockade of the Southern ports. The circumstance
which renders the Nova Scotia and Newfoundland
fishermen particularly deserving of our sympathy is
that their present sufferings are due greatly to an un-
fortunate legislation, while the cotton trade suffers
from " '^idental commercial derangements, to which
any branch of trade is liable as long as war is possible
on the earth. Probably, to most of my readers the
very name of the Reciprocity Treaty is unknown. I
may be pardoned, therefore, if I introduce a few
words of explanation. Some years ago the Imperial
(iovemment (subject, however, I am led to believe,

282

OUR GARKISONS IN THE WEST.

? •

! I

to the approbation of the colonial authorities) entered
on a treaty with the United States, which was after-
wards concluded. By its terms the Yankees were
admitted to equal rights and privileges with ourselves,
in all the fisheries along the shores of our American
colonies, with liberty to introduce their manufactured
goods into the respective provinces, free of duty. In
return for these great privileges all that the British
colonies received was the right of introducing into the
United States, free of duty, any raw material they
might have, and the free use, for sale of fish, &c., of
the porta of the Southern States. The market for
salt and dried fish in these States used to be enormous
in time of peace, this being a staple article of
food among the slaves. I have been told, also, that
an amusing privilege conferred on our colonists was
the free access to Yankee harbours for the purpose of
procuring shell-fish. This act of grace was hardly
required by colonies whose own shfyres swarm, as in
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and New
Bruns-sNdck, with oysters, Icbste/s, &c. &c. ijlnce,
however, the Northern States have enforced a
blockade of the Southern ports, the chief privilege
allowed our colonists by this treaty has been done
away with, while they are still subject to the rivalry
of the Yankees on their own coasts. The sufferings
of our fishermen in America can hardly be reaJised ;
and certainly it s^ems but fair that a treaty violated
— it matters not for what reason — in so important a
particular, and exclusively to the benefit of one of the
parties, should be proclaimed nuE and void. We
have no 7dea in England how unpopular this Reci-
procity Treaty has always been among our maritime

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

283

colonies across the Atlantic. Anj protest they could
have made at the time the bargain was concluded
would have been drowned by the stronger voices of
Imperial and Canadiaxi policy, Canada proper having
little to lose in the way of fisheries, and much to gain
in the matter of a market for raw material. But,
along tlie shores of the Lower Provinces Yankee
smugglers, under the guise of coasting fishermen,
have done much to injure the provincial revenue,
already too small to meet the expenditure. As much
trouble seems likely to arise from this Reciprocity
Treaty with unscrupulous Jonathan, as has already
been caused by that similar arrangement with regard
to the Newfoundland fisheries, into which we entered
with our more pohte, but equally tenacious, neigh-
bours the French.

Speaking m a general way, the three tiling, which
more immediately promise to swell the trade of Ritish
America to gigantic proportions, are, first, increase of
population ; second, rr ilway extension ; and, third, the
opening up of the west and north-west districts. The
first of these three is apparent to the most superficial
tliinker ; the second has been already alluded to. But
the third demands a word of explanation.

The mineral and agricultural wealth of the north-
ern and western districts of British America ia in-
calculable. That wealtli must be secured by settle-
ments, and the construction of roads, rail or otherwise.
These districts must be made available as a path to
those rising colonies, British Columbia and Vaur
couver's Island, instead of remaining a waste desert,
an inert but effective obstacle between us and them,
isolating them from our authority, and us from their

I '

i !

I, i

t;)

284

OUR 6ARBIS0NS IN THE WEST.

sympathy. It must be secured, opened up, settled,
and governed by ourselves, if we would save it from
falling a rich prize into the hands of the American
government, more far-seeing in these matters than
ourselves. Already in the scattered settlements in
the Far West, even in the Ked River settlement,
there is a feeling growing up, occasioned by our
neglect, that they would be better off under an active
and enterprising government, such as that of the
States is in all matters of territorial extension, or
colonization of new districts. Feeling how important
it is that the Imperial Government should take grand
questions like this out of the hands of feeble and dis-
tracted cc'or 'al Houses of Assembly, and knowing that
in such schemes, under proper management, high and
certain returns are to be got for the superfluous
capital which is scattering itself in heedless streams
over Egypt and the continent, into bubble banks and
hopeless railway legislation ; feeling and knowing this,
I say, it is impossible to avoid regretting that in our
days new and contracted theories of our colonial
duties and privileges are prevailing, theories of which
Goldwin Smith is the prophet. The more our intf
rests and those of our colonies are rendered identical
by mutual investments, and joint trade, the less
chance is there of quarrel and separation between
them and the parent country, and the more likelihood
of the gradual approach of the time when our colonial
empire shall display itself in the eyes of the world in
the wealth and power which nature has intended it to
possess, while at the same time the strong bonds of
affection and interest shall be tightened between us

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

285

and them, instead of falling away, as some imagine,
altogether.

At present, the passenger-traffic between our British
American colonies and England is divided among the
Cunard line, plying between Halifax and Liverpool —
the Montreal line between that city and the same
English port, with a smaller class running to Glasgow
— and the Gal way line between St. John's, New-
foundland, and Galway and Liverpool. The local
traffic is collected by small lines of steamers, and in
winter, when the St. Lawrence is frozen, the Mon-
treal steamers sail from Portland, in the State of
Maine.

It seems strange that none of these lines of steamers
should have selected Pembroke, instead of Liverpool,
as their English port of call, as one of the most un-
pleasant parts of the voyage would thus be saved, and
the annoyance of waiting outside the bar in the Mer-
sey would be avoided The magnificent harlour and
docks of Pembroke, with its direct railway communi-
cation with the metropolis, render it quite equal to
Liverpool in one respect, while its geographical posi-
tion renders it infinitely superior. How happy it
would have been for the unfortunate Royal Charter,
had Pembroke instead of Liverpool, been its destina-
tion.

I wish I were better able to do justice to the ex-
tended, and daily extending trade of British America.
The impulse given to the shipping, especially in the
carrying trade, by the civil war in the States, and the
increased demand for coal in New York and the
New England States from our provincial coal mines.

286

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

; i

'% .

have given a renewed vigour to a commerce, already
far from despicable. It is to be hoped that this may
not prove injmious ultimately', by leading the mer-
chants into speculation and shipbuilding in too great
a degree for legitimate purposes in ordinary times,
and so making a collapse certain, with all its ruinous
concomitants. It would be a noble task for the
various Coloaiial Governments to undertake the re-
gulation of this increasing trade, witliout hampering
it, to equalise dues, and to encourage the more legiti-
mate and beneficial branches in preference to the
feverish and speculative.

Let us, however, in despair of doing the subject of
our colonial trade justice, proceed to say a few wards
on the education of British America.

It would be easier to write on the educational waists
of our North American Colonies, than to enumerate
their many undoubted advantages. For, viewing the
system at work among them, beside the more perfect
university system of England, or the admirable parish
school and collie system of Scotland, one is involun-
tarily reminded of defects instead of merits. That it
is wrong to adopt contrast instead of examination in
forming opinions of educational institutions in a
young country, we must all admit, even while we fall
into the error we condemn ; so the best manner of
treating the subject seems to be, first, to devote one-
self to tracing out the origin of the existing evils,
and, secondly, to mark the many merits which are to
-be found even in spite of the co-eadstent defects.

Pursuing this system, th^ occurs at once as the
origin of more defects in the colleges and universities erf
our transatlantic provinces than any other, that crush-

! •'■

1^'

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

2S7

ing enemy of progress — ^poverty. The universities
are too young to be adequately endowed. They are
still in all the agony of struggling for existence.
They are to a great extent dependent on their pupils,
instead of independent of them. They, at the same
time, are unable to tempt students with prizes, high
enough to make literature a profession, or even to
prolong the curriculum of study for the successful or
talented a year or two after the unsuccessful student
has left his alma mater. Nor can they offer sufficient
remuneration to ensure the serv^ices in all their pro-
fessorial chairs, of men who have a name and posi-
tion in the social world of literature and science. A
salary of 200^. or 300^. a year will not tempt from
England or Scotland men whose success at Oxford
or Cambridge, at Edinburgh or Aberdeen, will render
probable in their respective countries a career of lite-
rary or scientific good fortune among a larger com-
munity, and with more lucrative reHults. And yet
this is all the salary which can as a rule be offered by
the universities of British America. This is a way in
which poverty in a university serves to injure it. But
poverty acts also in another way with the same re-
sult. I allude to the poverty, or at all events the
absence of great wealth, among the majority of our
colonists. There is little of the biting j^enury among
them, with which we in England are too sadly fami-
liar, but on the other hand, there is not that affluence
which exists among so many of our middle and upper
classes. Comfort there is, and happy homes; but
thei?e are few parents who can afford to keep their
sons at college after the bare curriculum has been
traversed; few who can encourage a son of literary

288

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

promise to continue his studies, after the age at
wliicli other young men are entered upon employments
and professions which make [tangible returns for
labour. Literary pursuits, unless in the legitimate
course of a learned profession, would be viewed by
most colonial parents with the same disapprobation,
as would be produced by idle or dissipated habits.
The practical, hard view they take of the matter is,
that just as they themselves have had to work hard
for their living, so must their sons ; and even if dis-
posed to admit that study and hard work are often
enough convertible terms, they hold their ground im-
movably on the fact that, in the Colonies, study will
not bring in a living ; literature is a profession which
doesn^t pay.

For these reasons we will see in all British Ame-
rican universities that the students are mere boys,
taking their degrees at an age when they would be
matriculating at home; and thus not permitting a
college career to interfere with the profession or trade
by which they mean to live.

The evil done by this fact is manifest ; the univer-
sity becomes merely a species of high school, for its
professors have to bring down their lectures and in-
structions so as to be within the capacities of the
youth who fill their halls.

And although perhaps nowhere is more made of
the three or four years at college than in America,
yet there is a limit to the power of the human facul-
ties, and the whole system in the colleges is more the
accompHshment of a definite number of tasks,
crowned by a degree, than the perfect mastering of

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

389

age at
tloyments
urns for
egitimate
iewed by
•robation,
d habits.
|matter is,
ork hard
\ren if dis-
are often
round im-
study will
sion which

itish Ame-
aere boys,
r would be
irmitting a
on or trade

the univer-
ool, for its
res and in-
ties of the

re made of
1 America,
man facul-
is more the
of tasks,
lastering of

the grand principles of science, or the beauties and
intricacies of ancient and modem literature.

Another evil is the prevalence of a bitter sec-
tarianism which has a blighting influence on acade-
mical institutions. In a small community, it does not
pay to have each denomination insisting on its own
schools and colleges. The energy, and the means,
which if united would support a good and liberal
university, are frittered away among a number of
mushroom institutions, often lifeless in themselves
and incapable of imparting proper mental life to
their students. Let us take an example, and one of
the most favourable examples for those who may en-
tertain opposite views from the present writer. I
take the province of Nova Scotia so often alluded to
in this work. This colony being poor in point of re-
venues is unable to give more aid to education, I
believe, from the public exchequer, than 1,500/.
Still, as the population of the province is considerably
under half a million, this sum with aid from private
endowTKients would go far to support creditably any
single provincial university. But what do we find to
be the fact 1 Why, that owing to each denomination
demanding its own educational institutions, and its
own share of the Government grant, no one of them
receives more than a pittance of 250/. a year. Your
Presbyterian has his Normal college at Truro, your
Dissenter of another class has his college bells ringing
at Wolfville, your Roman Catholic has his institutions
in the metropolis, while away on the green slopes of
Windsor, King's College, the Church of England
University, raises its pictiiresque and (for a new

\.il\

till

290

OUR GARRISONS IN THE ^yEST.

country) its venerable halls, in a dignified uncon-
sciousness of the profanum vulgua to which we have
already alluded.

And lately, as a crowning-point to this academical
disruption, an university has been re-opened in Hali-
fax, professing no denominational tenets, and there-
fore, we presume, intended to catch any waifs and
strays of the religious world, such as Mormors, or
Plymouth Brethren, who may not be numerically
strong enough to attack separately the miserable Go-
vernment endowment.

Centralisation, in the higher walks of education, is
a sine qua non if any gi'eat success is to be expected.
If the Government and liberal individuals would de-
vote their energies to the establishment and support
in each colony of one university alone, the means of
such being more ample than in the weedy institutions
too often existing now, would enable the students to
receive better instruction, and probably much more
assistance in the way of scholarships, &c., than at
present, while, at the same time, the value of the de-
grees would be immeasurably raised in the eyes of the
literary and academical world. Besides which, as
imder such an arrangement the colleges would cease
to be rivals of the schools, these latter, freed from the
depression consequent on the present state of affairs,
would attain a much higher standard of excellence,
and would render possible a good education for those
to whom an university career is not necessary, while,
at the same time, they would send such students as
desired it to the university, much more advanced than
they are at present, and ready to enter upon those

TIL\.DE AND EDUCATION.

291

1 uncon-
wu liave

ademical
in Ilali-

11(1 tliere-
v'dih and
OK^ris, or
merically
able Go-

ation^ is
ixpected.
rauld de-
i support
ncans of
stitutions
idents to
ch more

than at
f the de-
es of the
hich; as
Id cease
From the

affairs,
3ellence,
or those
r, while,
lents as
ed than
n those

liiglier walks of education which at home we associate
with college life.

And as prizes of some sort are fully as necessary to
the students of literature and science as to the devo-
tee of any other profession or trade, one cannot help
speculating on the nature of such rewards as would
be most likely to increase emulation among the stu-
dents, than which there is no better teacher ; and at
the same time to offer some sup{)ort during two or
three years after the receipt of a degree, to encourage
the further prosecution of study. Of such rewards
there are several which strike the writer as being sin-
gularly appropriate for tlie universities of a young
country. One is the introduction of some arrange-
ments by which a distinguislied student could, on the
expiry of his provincial curriculum, procure some
s<;holarship at Oxford or Cambridge, or, failing that,
receive some assistance during a stay at any eminent
home-university, where his talents might receive fur-
ther cultivation and reap higher rewards. Let such
a reward be given only biennially, or quadrennially,
as a commencement, and there can be little doubt that
while conferring great benefits on able students, and
holding out great inducements to study, such a sys-
tem would likewise reflect honour upon our colonial
imiversities by the success, at the more ancient mstitu-
tions, of their sons.

Another reward which would excite emulation
would be a high provincial fellowship, given annually
for competition among the graduates of the different
colleges, for the year, and which would come to be re-
garded as the blue riband of literature. If the suc-

( I

liil

ilW'

li;

292

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

cessful competitor were likewise considered to merit
selection in preference to others, in the conferring of
any government situation, a still further impetus would
be given to education.

At present there are in Canada many universities
of considerable merit, the most notable of which is
the University of Toronto, and the second, M^Gill's
college, Montreal, to the latter of which a good medi-
cal school is attached. In Toronto there are, in addi-
tion to the university proper, various excellent deno-
minational colleges, the best of which is, I believe,
Queen's College. The Roman CathoUc colleges and
schools, both in Canada and the Lower Provinces, are
wealthy and well-conducted; two of the most im-
portant being St. Hilaire and St. Hyacinthe. There
are, in addition, many places of education attached to
the different convents, all of which, in Canada, are
amply supported by the revenues of the church,
arising from their valuable lands and from extensive
private charity.

The New Brunswick University is situated at Fre-
dericton, but is simply a high school, and far inferior
to King's College, the chief college of the sister pro-
vince—Nova Scotia. In this latter colony the school
system is very inefficient, and the number of people
who cannot read or write is out of all proportion to
the population.

In Newfoundland and Prince Edward's Island
there are, I believe, no colleges.

With all their disadvantages, the educational insti-
tutions of our American colonies have many merits.
The difficulties under which they have been esta-

TRADE AND EDUCATION.

293

o merit
rring of
s would

versities
vhich is
M^Gill's
d medi-
in addi-
it deno-
believe,
^es and
ces, are
ost im-
There
iched to
ada, are
church,
rtensive

blished, and amid which they exist, bring out these
merits in double lustre. The laudable efforts made
by them all to raise the tone of their pupils' minds,
and the conscientious manner in which all the duties
are conducted, hold out a promise of a more brilliant
future than their present can pretend to be ; and the
success in the world of many whose whole education
has been confined to these colonial schools and col-
le£;es, augurs well for what future pupils may do un-
der an improved system, such as must arise as these
provinces increase in wealth and population.

\\ I

atFre-
inferior
ter pro-
s school
people
tion to

Island

1 insti-

merits.

esta-

!:n

I':

294

CHAPTER XVI.

ON THE DEFENCES OF CANADA.

- ;

{■ I

Anomalous as it may seem at first sight, the ex-
tended frontier of Canada is at once its greatest
weakness and defence. The former, because no
possible army or fortification could ward off from,
everj^ point an invading force ; the latter, in that its
subjugation is not a necessary consequence of even a
tolerably successful invasion ; for on so large a sur-
face there is no one point, the loss of which is neces-
sarily fatal to the colony ; while the temptations to
an enemy's army to scatter over an extensive territorj-
are direct aids to the defending force, and give it an
opportunity of attacking the enemy's columns in
detail.

In considering the defences of Canada, we never
contemplate a ly other foe than the United States;
just as, in preparing om' Southern coast in England
to resist invasion, we have never dreamt of anv other
enemy than France. Consequently, in alluding to
the Canadian frontier we mean always the Ime of

ON THE DEFENCES OF CANADA.

295

the ex-
^eatest
use no
5f from
that its
even a
a sor-
neces-
ions to
rritor}'
3 it an
ins in

never
tates ;

igland

other

ig to

ne of

demarcation between it and the Northern States,
more particularly the States of New York, Vermont,
New Hampshire, and Maine. We mention these
States, because it is not probable that an enemy-
would waste its time and energies in an inroad on the
districts west of the Lakes. The line or frontier to
be defended commences with a point on the Bay of
Fundy, on the borders of Maine, and extends along
the west of New Brunswick, and the south of Lower
Canada, imtil it strikes the St. Lawrence about half
way between Montreal and Kingston. The river is
here the boundary, and would form the line of defence
until one reaches Ontario. The neck of land at
Niagara would require defence, as also the country
between Lakes Erie and Huron, where we find the
garrison town of London. It will be unnecessaiy to
consider the country farther west for the reason above
stated, and also because the unsettled districts offer
sufficient natural obstacles to the movements of troops
and their impedimenta.

This frontier, formidable in extent, would exhaust
an army larger than that of Xerxes, were it necessary
to defend it at every point. But the war at present
raging on the American continent, although it has
given us very few valuable lessons in military matters,
has taught us that a war of invasion, such as Canada
might suffer from, resolves itself into the attempt of,
at the most, two or three large columns of troops to
penetrate at two or three different places, while, if
practicable, a fleet supports them by blockading any
sea-coast which may exist in the invaded country.
From the latter evil, Canada with its small and un-
settled sea-board is tolerably safe ; and the blockade

;ii

R'l

296

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

of the ports of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
would be rendered impossible by the presence of a
British fleet. The only means of defence which
Canada need possess, therefore, are those against the
inroads of any enemy by land ; and there are two for-
midable ones to be found in the rivers St. Lawrence
(in Canada), and St. John (in New Brunswick).

Now, what part would these rivers play in the
defence of our American colonies? Napoleon, who
had good opportunites of judging, classed large rivers
as the third greatest obstacle to any army on the
march, a desert or mountains being alone more diffi-
cult to overcome. Wlien rivers are parallel to a
frontier, or identical with it, as is frequently the case
in British America, it has been laid down by the
authorities on such matters, that they act as covering
the frontier and the operations of the defenders on
it; that the places constructed on their banks will
aid them in their passage, either to penetrate beyond
them, or to secure a safe retreat across them; that
fortifications so situated as to draw a natural defence
from water are difficult to attack, and easy to defend ;
and have their defensive properties greatly augmented
when they can make use of the water to multiply
obstacles by cuts and ditches. But from what we
have seen in the American civil war, we would add
to other means of defending a river frontier the em-
ployment of gmi-boats ; a most important feature in
modern warfare, and one likely to have a prominent
part in any campaign, where the depth of the rivers
will admit of it. Large ocean-steamers ascend the
St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, and by means of
the Lachine Canal, good-sized gunboats could ascend

\j i-

-"•^

ON THE DEFENCES OF CANADA.

297

through the whole length of the river to the Lakes.
This could not be done on the St. John river, much
above Fredericton, although when the water is high,
steamers of a small size ascend as far as Woodstock
and even Grand Falls.

With these natiural lines of defence, it will at once
be apparent to the reader that they would be the
bases of a defending army's operations. Unfortu-
nately, however, in one f^" 9, there is, south of the
St. Lawrence, a most vaV i' e part of Lower Canada,
belonging ch lelly v,o French Canadians, which would
offer a most tempting bait to an invader, and which
would require to be in some measure protected.

Any works erected in this district would assist the
Canadians in their preparations for the defence of
such a place as Montreal : for the enemy, not daring
to leave garrisons uncaptured in his rear, would,
while besieging them, give the defending army in the
interior more time for maturing their plans ; and to
an invaded country every delay is of incalculable
value. A short stand at outposts south of the river,
while reinforcements from the interior were being
constantly pressed forward, might render a march
to Montreal as tedious a business as a march to Rich-
mond. One such fort would be required on Lake
Champlain, and the line of railway from Montreal to
this place woidd enable troops and mihtia to be moved
rapidly and with ease. One or two rude forts, to act
as rendezvous for the defenders, would be advantage-
ous, more to the east of Lake Champlain, and south
of Quebec.

And although there would not be much to tempt
the invader to make an inroad npon New Brunswick

■.
I

298

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

on its western boundary, undoubtedly the weakest
part of the frontier, yet it would be advisable to have
some accommodation for the massing of the militia
and volunteers, and some means for defending the
road, should it be necessary, as at the time of the
Trent affair, to pass regular troops up from Halifax
and St. John to Canada.

We have mentioned the two rivers, St. Lawrence
and St. John, as important agents in the defence of
Canada. Perhaps it would be more methodical to
attempt here some recapitulation of the various exist-
ing defences, whether natural, artificial, or miUtary.

There has been a great deal of nonsense talked in
the English press about the duties of Canada in her
self-defence, and much bitterness generated between
the parent country and her American colonies on this
mtitter. Some English writers thought it unnatural
that the Canadians did not turn out en masse at the
remotest chance of war, leaving their occupation and
homes before hostihties were imminent. The fact is,
that there is no lack of volunteers ready, trained, and
willing to fight ; while the militia are organised, and
could be got out without difficulty. Indeed, one
would find on inquiry that the per-centage of volun-
teei's, particularly in the greater sea-ports of the Lower
Pro\TJices, is equal to, if not greater than that in any
part of England.

There may be seen in Nova Scotia, New Bruns-
wick, or any day in the streets of Montreal, as smart
a body of volunteers as ever trod the Downs at Brigh-
ton. And wherever the Government have given the
slightest encouragement the movement has flourished,
as, for instance, under the fostering care of the Mar-

I 9 «»iiTi< m i i ■» <w^

ON THE DEFENCES OF CANADA.

299

akest
have

lilitia
the
the

alifax

(juis of Normanby, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In
this latter city, also, the militia had during the past
year to undergo a course of drill — coming out suces-
sively in battalions — and although doing everything
in a quiet unobtnisive manner, yet doing tlieir work
well and thoroughly. In Canada there have been
started colleges for the training of officers, which may
perhaps work better than our Musketry School at
Hythe — an establishment which although it turns out
good shots does not pretend to make officers. And
yet this is the only institution, I believe, which opens
its arms to officers of militia and volunteers at home.
Although, while smarting under the uncalled for
criticisms of the English press, the Canadian Parlia-
ment showed a reluctance to increase their heavy
national debt by any superfluous or extraordinary
military expenditure — ^there is now a very different
spirit animating the members of the legislature. By
a majority so great as almost to constitute unanimity,
many steps were taken some little time ago to free
Canada from every reproach connected with the per-
formance of her duties of self-defence; and now,
inspired alike by the eloquence of such men as D'Arcy
M'Gee and their own inherent patriotism and pluck,
there is little doubt that the commencement of hostili-
ties between British America and the States would
see regiment after i-egiment of native troops ranging
themselves side by side with the regular forces, and
vying with them in deeds of valour. The present
war in New Zealand seems to me to represent very
fairly all that can be expected of our colonies in any
war in which they may be interested ; and in saying so
I am desirous of being understood to mean that this

i<^

i.U

V, 1'

300

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

all is ample for young countries. In New Zealand
we find volunteers of all ranks in civil life fighting
side by side for their adopted country, and displaying
a readiness under discipline which might shame many
regular troops.

We find the Colonial Government enlisting with
liberal bounties in their own and neighbouring
colonies, voting liberal compassionate allowances for
the widows and children of the fallen, and at the same
time showing a childlike confidence in and admiration
for General Cameron, contrasting greatly with the
infidelity of the Yankees in their generals, and re-
minding one more of the Old Guard and Napoleon.
What more can we ask ? What more can even Pro-
fessor Goldwin Smith demand ?

A few sentences back we divided the defences of
Canada into natural, artificial, and military. We
have mentioned the rivers as among the first, and we
have also asserted the existence of no mean array of
the last, independent of the contingent of regular
troops scattered over the colonies and ready, each regi-
ment, to act as a nucleus for the volunteer and other
irregular forces. But we have not exhausted the first
class of defences, nor alluded to the second, so to
render our chapter complete it behoves us to attempt
in some measure to do so. ^

And in addition to the rivers and lakes which make
a natural defence for Canada, it would be a gross
omission to make no allusion to the long and severe
winters, which would effectually bar any attempt at
lengthy campaigning. Were Canada ever likely to
assume the offensive, of course this same fact would

ON THE DEFENCES OF CANADA.

301

with

act against it, but not in our time, nor our cliildi'en's,
need we ever contemplate such a possibiHty.

The Yankees seem to be a nation who in their war«j
appreciate the comfort and relaxation of winter quar-
ters. They make war duiing a season every year,
but would not see the point of a campaign such as the
Allies went through in the winter months in the
Crimea. It is not probable, therefore, that they
would find a winter campaign in Canada much to
their liking, and their aggi'ession would be confined to
summer raids. In this method of warfare our fijet,
by appearing on the shores of Maine, Massachusetts,
and New York, might possibly inflict punishment a
good deal more painful than the offence.

In addition to the rivers and the climate, we must
repeat again that the vast territory which would be
invaded, and the absence of any one point whose loss
would be fatal, constitute so many direct defences to
our American colonies. Just as the Southern States
are unconquered, although the Northern armies may
garrison New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Corinth, so
also Canada would not necessarily be subjugated,
because either Montreal, or Kingston, or Quebec, or
Toronto had fallen to hostile invaders. Certainly the
commerce of the country would suffer by the tempo-
rary loss of any of these cities, but the commerce and
liberty of a country are not even in these money-
making days synonymous terms.

But leaving these natural defences to the considera-
tion of the reader, let me look at what may be termed
the artificial means of protection. They are in one
sense many — in another sense few. If we consider

/).

';f

\< It

■If

302

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

merely the fortifications with their armaments, we
have a pitiful catalogue to run tlu-ough. But if we
add — as modern warfare seems to demand — railways,
canals, high-roads, ai>d those scattered Martello towers
which serve as mementoes of the Canadian rebellion,
we find the list increased to no despicable proportions.
One is unwilling at first to beHeve that Quebec
with its bristling tiers of guns is about as dangerous
as a skull with its grinning row of helpless teeth ; nor
is one comfortable on first examining Montreal and
finding it perfectly defenceless save in the one ma-
terial point of its insular position. But then, remem-
bering that there are no lack of field-batteries, regular
and militia in Canada, one thinks with complacency
of the many railroads, the abundance of shipping for
transports, and such institutions — as the Yankees
say — as the Rideau Canal. Could some antidote be
erected to that unpleasant northern fortress at
Rouse's Point, and a small Ute-du-pont at the Vic-
toria Bridge, one could feel tolerably easy about
Montreal, save in the matter of bombarding, for the
river is wide, rapid, and shallow at the greater part
opposite this, the miUtary and commercial capital of
Canada, and the crossing of hostile troops would be a
matter of very serious difficulty. For the defence of
the lake cities, the gunboats which would probably be
pushed up the river would in a great degree be re-
sponsible, although the small existing defences might
be enlarged also to take part in any proceedings.
Fortunately the great cities of Canada are on the
north bank of the St. Lawrence, and rude defences
might easily be hurriedly constructed in the event of an

ON THE DEFENCES OF CANADA.

303

attack hcmfr Imminent. To such simple fortifications
the river would be a valuable assistance.

The other fortifications in Ccinad.*^ such as those of
Quebec, contain ample stores of munitions of war,
which could be distributed over the country at the
first rumour of invasion. The old towers and block-
houses could be repaired, and might act as efficient
supports to defending columns.

But there are fortifications in an invaded country
other than bastioned fronts, and there is an arma-
ment oftentimes more powerful than guns. It is no
clap-trap to say, after studying the histories of inva-
sions in either hemisphere, that the mere unanned
force of an united people is as strong as a rampart,
and the unanimity of an invaded nation more deadly
than shot or steel. Was it before the armed hosts of
Eussia, or the strength of the people's hatred and
self-denial, that Napoleon led back, in inglorious re-
treat, the army that had started .«c proudly on its
march to Moscow ? And how else could the South
in its weakness, have so long defied the North, with
its teeming columns and its brimming treasury ? Or,
coming to our own side of the Atlantic, and glancing at
the war begun so foully tne other day, must we not feel
certain that, had the civilian inhabitants of Schleswig
and Holstein been sincere in their allegiance to Den-
mark, the advance o ^ the Austro- Prussian army would
have been greatly hindered, the Dannewerk might
not have been yielded vvithout a blow, and a few days
would not have seen the gallant Danes cooped up in
Duppel and Alsen.

With such examples, and knowing the unanimity

■ •:

304

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

of our American colonists in their detestation of the
Yankees, it requires no great power of divination to
foretel that the invaders would have to encounter not
merely the few scattered forts and hurried levies, but
all the bitterness of a sensitive people's anger, and all
the obstacles which arise before an army traversing
a totally unsympathising country. The conduct and
language of British North America since the com-
mencement of the civil war in the States, have amazed
the Yankees, who, with ineffable conceit before their
troubles began, believed that Canada was disaffected
under the light yoke of Britain, and was pining to
add another star to their own preposterous banner.
But it has been their faie to see all the ties of affec-
tion and interest whi^h should bind us to our colonies,
strengthening and consolidating day by day ; to see
democracy shown up in all its essential deformity;
and in their own distress and disruption to pay, by
the contrast, the highest compliment to the form of
government under which England and her colonies
live.

As we are not writing about the defences of a city,
or a position, but of a large country, it is impossible
to enter into minute details, nor would it be advisable.
The necessity of strengthening such places as Quebec^
Kingston, Niagara, and London, will be apparent to
the most superficial student of the map ; and one has
only to be informed of the exertions being made by
the American Government at Rouse's Point and
Buffalo, to feel that our own military and colonial
authorities should make some proportionate efforts to
discomfit these in event of war.

But the great point after all in a country which,

|i :H

ON THE DEFENCES OF CANADA.

305

like Canada, is scaled u{) half the year, is the keeping
up some means of communication between the main
colony and the sea, through the liarbours of the lower
provinces, which are never closed for navigation. The
expenditure on places like Halifax and St. John,
would, in a long campaign, prove more useful to the
cities of Canada than many a powerful fortress. For
it is by these harbours that assistance would come in
winter from England ; by these that the troops would
arrive which should attack the enemy in the rear, and
raise the sieges of the Canadian cities. And still
more important, perhaps, it is in these harbours that
the fleets would muster which should act on the coast
of New England, and distract the government of the
invaders.

For the reasons here stated, and many more besides ^
should the Canadian Government show no jealousy
of the advantages which might more immediately
accrue to the Lower Provinces by the realisation of
the intercolonial railroad project, but support it earn-
estly and liberally ; for, truly, the day may come when
it might be cheap to Canada, even if its rails were
made of gold.

To these very general sentiments upon Canadian
defences, the author thinks it advisable here to allude
to a subject of indirectly military importance in* our
colonies across the Atlantic. The great defect on
service of all irregular and hurriedly-levied troops, is
their want of discipline. Many things, as we all
know, enter into the system of training, which results
in this necessary qualification of the soldier ; but
there is one of great and primary importance, as im-
portant as obedience itself, and that is organisation.

306

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

M I

The habit of acting under leaders, and in concert, in
whatever duty of life, is a good lesson for those who
may have to act some day as soldiers. It is this fact
which invests with value certain organised bodies in
our American colonies, whose original object never
was military service. We allude to the numerous
fire companies and brigades which exist in great per-
fection in all transatlantic cities.

Fostered by the enjoyment of certain political immu-
niti ^;, and also by a wholesome and keen rivalry, these
fire companies have attained a pitch of high order,
discipline, and importance, which amazes us on first
becoming acquainted with them. In cities mostly
built of wood, it is unnecessary to say that fires are
frequent, and rapid in the way they spread; but
whatever hour of the night, or however low the ther-
KM meters may stand, the echo of the fire-bell is al-
most Instantly followed by the rumble of the engines,
the m^istf^nng of axe and fire companies, all like so
many reteran egiments, preparing to encounter a
dangerous, but familiar foe. The habits engendered
by this mode of life aie the very ones most valuable
to the soldier ; promptitude in action, coolness under
difiiculties, and readiness under command. In event
of an invasion of British America, the numerous fire
brigades, whether united in large masses, or carrying
into the ranks of the militia and volunteers, as indi-
viduals, their sense and habits of discipline, would
play no unimportant part in the defences of Canada.

307

CHAPTER XVn.

HOMEWAED BOUND, WITH A LOOK AT OUK LAST
GARRISON IN THE WEST.

Forgive them what they have committed here,
And let them be recalled from their exile.

Shakspeare.

We came down from Montreal to Quebec on the
last day of September, 1862, in a river steamboat, and
a torrent of rain. We left about 6 p.m., and our
passage occupied about twelve hours. There was
little novel or interesting, no startling improvement
in the feeding, no additional comfort in the beds.
There were a good many other passengers on board,
the majority of whom, especially of the female part,
seemed to consider the British soldier a very awful
and uncertain being. This "onhappy and calumniated
individual, as represented in some hundred and twenty
gimnera, spent the night in a confused manner, doing
a good deal more in the way of tobacco than of con-
versation. In fact, our residence in our miserable
little island had taken all the cheerfulness out of us,
and as there was a difficulty about getting artificial
spirits on board, the men remained more pensive and

308

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

■1 :.l

thoughtful than they usually do on an occasion of
arrival or departure. I could not avoid a little reflec-
tion myself, however, although I hope not so confused
as that of the gunners, when my memory carried me
back some six years to the time we left the old
country, to whose shores we were now returning.
There was a great change in the ranks of the old
battery: during these six years death, disease, and
intemperance had done their fell work, and the vacant
places had been filled by new and younger faces.
And the old, familiar lot, remembered since the long-
ago days in quiet stations and bustling garrisons in
England, through weary days at sea, and long winters
on shore, through all the changes of station, climate,
and season, in our garrisons in the west, even they
were not the same I once knew. For soldiers age
very rapidly, the long exposure in inclement weather,
and the monotony of their daily duties, seem to tell on
them quite as much as more active and perceptible
hardships. Young faces had got fixed and lined in
these years, and older faces had got wrinkled and
careworn, and most of all had this change come in the
long, dreary days spent in that our saddest garrison,
our miserable little island. Hearts were not so young,
nor voices so clear and ready now, as in the day six
years ago, \\hen we made the dull wharves by the
muddy Thames echo :with our parting cheers; our
emotions, although now fully as keen as of old, lay
deeper in our breasts, and found not so easy expres-
sion. And yet each in his o\vn rough way was
thinking much the same thought, dreaming of that
home country in the east which, with all its draw-
backs, is good enough for us yet awhile.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

309

We were early astir on the morning succeeding our
departure from Montreal, and as we rounded the man-
of-war, which was to convey us home at last, many
anxious and criticising eyes viewed it eagerly. "We
were tumbled out on the wharf at Quebec, with the
heartlessness which generally characterises steamers
disgorging their passengers, as if they were glad to be
rid of them, which there is no earthly reason to doubt
thai iiey are. Having been judiciously left in the
rain some hour or two until we were thoroughly wet,
with the pleasure of seeing our baggage thrown about
by the amphibious wharf attendants as if there could
by no possibility be any danger of breakages, w^e were
at length put on board a tender for conveyance on
board H.M.S. Megcera, our intended home for some
three weeks or so. We had not been many minutes
on board ere we recognised in the prepai-ation for our
reception the decided superiority of a man-of-war
over a merchant transport ; neatness and discipline
going in the former hand-in-hand, while in the latter
discipline is an accident, and neatness an afterthought.
Although it was barely half-past eight, we all felt as
if we had been up for weeks. Breakfast was soon
ready, and no sooner ready than it disappeared, and
then commenced the interesting operation of making
the most of the few feet of accommodation which are
granted to the British officer of the sister service by
the Lords of the Admiralty, for privacy and repose
during a voyage. As we were not crowded on board
the Megcera on this occasion, we had not much cause
for complaint, but, generally speaking, the naval
authorities ignore the possibility of a passenger being
more than 5 ft. 9 in. in height. I heard a good story

310

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

of an officer of Marines being sent on a cruise, whose
height was about 6ft. 4 in.

A special report had to be made of the case, and
the result was that, an opening having been made
Into the next cabin, a small box or recess was con-
structed under the berth of its occupant, in which
Goliath might dispose of his ex ^ssive proportions.
Unfortunately, the proprietor of the cabin thus in-
vaded was of a litigious disposition, and protested that
his privacy was disturbed by the presence of another^s
feet, demanding at the same time to be put in posses-
sion of his regidation allowance of space and air.
How the difference ended I cannot say, but as the
standard of the Marines is not lowered, it is to be
hoped that they put the long gentleman on shore
again, rather than perform amputation of his super-
fluous inches.

Our start was good, but deceptive ; for just as we
had commenced to talk hopefully of our passage, and
make wonderful predictions df fair winds and clear
weather, the wind chopped round, and, while still in
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, we found ourselves steam-
ing against wind and a nasty sea.

As the Megcera cannot carry coal for the transit of
the Atlantic, it was intended at first to call at Sydney,
Cape Breton, for a fresh supply, to carry us on our
homeward voyage. Contrary winds, however, induced
our captain to make for St. John's, Newfoundland,
instead, and thus I was enabled to add another to my
list of our garrisons in the west. The fogs on the
coast of Newfoundland are well known, and on this
occasion we had a severe experience of their density
and continuance. As the shore near St. John's is

HOMEWARD BOUND.

311

whose

3, and
made

very rugged and dangerous, our position when feeling
for the harbour was naturally anxious; however,
having a good captain, and an experienced master, we
made St. John's on the afternoon of the Sunday fol-
lowing our departure from Quebec.

I had been prepared to find the entrance to the har-
bour very picturesque ; partly from hearsay, and
partly from a sketch of it which appeared in the
Illustrated London News at the time of the Prince of
Wales's i-isit to America. This sketch seemed to me
at the time as rather ^^ sensationj^ and probably
somewhat exaggerated, but since I have seen it, I am
prepared wholly to endorse it. It is indeed bold,
wild, and rugged ; and capable of being made almost
impregnable as a harbour. There are already bat-
teries at its mouth, and were these a little stronger,
the narrow entrance of the harbour wouid be rather a
warm and dangerous, indeed a wholly impracticable
passage. The harbour extends inland a considerable
distance, and, as you steam up, you find the town of
St. John's Oil your right, well sheltered from the sea, '
and sloping upwards, rather steeply, from the water's
edge.

We fired two or three guns, announcing our ar-
rival, while the public were engaged with afternoon
service, and, I am afraid, by awakening curiosity in
the congregational bosom, we spoiled the perorations
of a good many sermons. As soon as church was out,
the people came pouring down, each Paterfamilias at
the head of the quiver, whose barbed arrows act as a
certain antidote to any soporific ideas of which the
parson may be guilty. We were soon occupied in an
engagement of cross questioning, such as is familiar to

•I)

312

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

any one whose fortune has led hun into any out of
the way harbour.

Sunday though it was, we were obliged to keep all
hands at work taking coal on board; for the wind
had now become fair, and every day on board the
Megcera that we could dispense with the screw, and
trust to our canvas, was of importance. We had,
however, the whole of Monday to do the city, and
the result of my experience is as follows. That,
firstly, no town of my experience more perfectly
comes up to the Shakspearian idea of " an ancient and
fish-like smell!" secondly, that it is advisable not to
change any money in the town, unless you have a
fancy for carrying about on the contents of your purse
an incrustation of the scales of fish in various stages
of decomposition ; thirdly, that it is a very good pre-
caution to land in a cheerful humour, and rather exu-
berant spirits, as the depression consequent on a visit
to St. John's is so fearful, as to make one think of
Kingston as a jovial place in comparison, and its in-
habitants a set of giddy Merry Andrews ; and lastly,
that having once got into St. John's, the earliest pos-
sible opportunity of leaving it should be eagerly
snatched at.

St. John's is a place of mild and unimpressive ap-
pearance, built chiefly of wooden houses on the side of
a hill which is siuTnounted by a swaggering Koman
Catholic church. The chief employment of the in-
habitants is fish hauling, varied with fish curing, and
a noisome way of extracting seal oil by putrefaction ;
their general appearance and smell is hearty, but un-
mistakably fishy. Such of the inhabitants as are not
engaged directly in this trade, are so indirectly, by

HOMEWARD BOUND.

313

supplying the fishermen with the necessaries, and, in
a good season, with the luxuries of life. I do not
know whether there is any sympathy between politics
and fish ; but in Newfoundland, the people are as bitter
in the pursuit of the former, as they are energetic in
the capture of the latter. There are a great many
Irish in the province, which may account for the
strong resemblance there between an election and
Donnybrook Fair in the olden times. Religion, I am
sorry to say, figures prominently in the political riots,
the first question put to a candidate being — ^not " Are
you Tory or Radical 1 " but " Are you Protestant or
Catholic ? " In St. John's, and Harbour Grace, the
contest is always very keen, and the interference of
the troops has often been required to check bloodshed.
Fortunately, the present Governor, Sir Alexander
Bannerman, is not a man to stand any nonsense ; and,
if the inhabitants persisted in showing themselves
incapable of self-government, would not hesitate to
place them under martial law. His great rival is the
Roman Catholic bishop, who, having both spiritual
and temporal power over his subjects, is, it must be
owned, rather formidable. As yet, however, he has
been playing a losing game ; and were our government
to act in our colonies with the same firmness that they
have displayed in certain burghs at home, which
have shown themselves unworthy of representation,
either the bishop would be suspended from his func-
tions, or the boon (?) of self-government would be
recalled from Newfoundland.

The garrison of St. John's has consisted chiefly as
yet of a local corps, on the same principle as the Ca-
nadian Rifles, and known as the Newfoundland Com-

314

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

■H

panics. In addition, there has, until within the last
few years, always heen a battery of Garrison Artil-
lery ; and, since the Trent affair, this useful adjunct
has been again added to the defensive force of the
island. Under a recent arrangement, the Newfound-
land Companies have been amalgamated with the
Canadian Rifles, and will be periodically relieved.
The advantages of this are manifold ; and among the
most important is the one affecting the discipline and
esprit de corps of the troops concerned. For it is an
undoubted fact, that familiarity and close relation-
ship should not exist between the regular troops of
a town and the inhabitants; long residence among,
and intermarriage with, the civilians having a ten-
dency to unfit the troops for the stem and unpleasant
duties which they are very often called on to per-
form.

Further than that St. John's is a cheap station,
and that the inhabitants are extremely hospitable,
there is little to say in favour of it as a garrison.
There is, however, in the province an abmidance of
sport, which, to most military men, more than com-
pensates for all other drawbacks; and there is, in
addition, all the temptation to travel which exists in
a country not wholly explored, and not deficient in
natural beauty. The deer in Newfoundland are very
abundant, and the most delicious grouse are to be
found in abundance, even within a few miles of St
John's. I need hardly say that there was no chari-
ness displayed in the way we added these charming
birds to the contents of our larder, on board the good
ship MegcBra.

There was, and I believe still is, a very consider-

HOMEWARD BOUND.

315

able trade between Newfoundland and Portugal. In
return for the dried fish sent from the former country,
the Portuguese, who have an objection to parting with
specie, sent large quantities of pure port wine. The
fame of this wine soon became general, and many a
pipe of it found its way to our other gamsons in the
west. But of late years the quality of the wine has
become very inferior, and although in the merchants'
private cellars in St. John's, you will find port of a
quality to make your hair curl, yet any you purchase
in the market, although better than Cape, is not fit
for much else than " mulling."

On the Tuesday we sailed from St. John's, our
last bit of land in America, and the last we were to
see until we made Land's End. In keeping with our
regimental motto, " Ubique," the last we saw of our
kind were some gunners in a dreary battery at the
entrance of the harbour, who cheered us as heartily
as some of the same dear old corps who welcomed us
six years before in Halifax.

The day was dull and threatening; the wind was
fresh, and the sea running pretty high. About a
mile after leaving the harbour, while we were all
standing on the quarter-deck as well as the rolling of
the vessel would permit, we suddenly saw a dark body
fall from the main-top, and, striking the bulwarks of
the ship with a dull, cruel noise, glance off them into
the sea. In a moment the cry of " a man overboard,"
revealed to us what it was, and the noise on board was
deafening. The master, running to the stem, touched
the small handle by which the patent life-buoy is
loosened, and down it fell instantly into the water. At
the same time the ship was put aback ; and the crew of

31G

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

volunteers under the gunnc toaped into the starboard
life-boat, and were lowered away. So quickly were
we moving, however, that by this time we were a good
half mile from the buoy, on which to our delight and
amazement we saw the man clinging. We thought
the fall would have stunned him ; and when we looked
on the indentation made on the bulwarks by the
weight of his body falling, it seemed next to a miracle
that he was not killed before touching the water.
Although the crew in the life-boat pulled heartily,
yet it seemed to us, who were watching, a cruel time
ere they reached the unhappy figure, clinging cold and
shiveiing to the buoy, for the thermometer was very
low, and the very look of the water made one shudder.
At last he was picked off, and ere long he was handed
on board. He was a mere boy, and the tears were
pouring down his blue, pinched face, as his wet figure
was carried below. Poor fellow ! on examining him
the surgeon found two ribs, and his ami broken, and
several other severe contusions. It was wonderful
that he succeeded in swimming the distance he did, to
reach the buoy : the instinct of self-presein'ation must
have deadened all feeling of pain.

We had miserably cheerless weather the whole way
across ; head-winds generally, and frequently rain
and actual storms. Our employments and amuse-
ments even were tinged by the dulness of the sky
and sea ; and there was rarely any of the merriment
which is found in a long voyage after the public has
succeeded in finding its sea-legs. The nights on this
voyage were our roughest season, and almost inva-
riably were all hands turned up to assist on deck ; for
on board men-of-war transports the crew is never

HOBIEWARD BOUND.

317

large enough to do all the work of tlic sliip, as the
troops are supposed to bear a hand when required.

One dark, stormy night death boarded us silently,
and, avoiding the old and tlie ripe among us, con-
tented himself with reminding us of his earthly omni-
presence by touching with his bony hand a young
infant of a few months' age. Death is more melan-
choly and suggestive at sea than on shore, and our
little community all felt the sad loss of this poor
mother's pet as if it had been their own.

Next morning, at an early hour, while the wind
was buffeting us, and the hungry waves were leaping
up to the deck, as if grudging us a few moments*
prayer over their dainty morsel, we were all standing
bare-headed round a solemn group ; the captain read-
ing the impressive service for the dead who die at
sea, the mother crying her heart out, and the quiet
little coffin containing the remains of the child of so
many hopes and cares — this was a picture not to be
forgotten, even when far away from the tossing ship
and the eager, gluttonous sea. And in a minute more
the helpless little burden is dropped over the side, and
for a few moments yet we can see the shell of " our
dear little sister departed " floating on the waves, ere
they bury it out of sight, until the day when no storm
nor hurricane shall dro^vn the sound of the dead-
awakening trump !

With the exception of these incidents, our three
weeks between St. John's and Portsmouth were mo-
notonous in the extreme. At last we were warned of
our near approach to England, and the chief excite-
ment for a day or two was the noon observation- of
our position. A storm in the Channel threw us out

318

OUR GARRISONS IN THE WEST.

of our course a little, and wo came to Portsmouth
round the south of the Isle of Wight, after being a
good deal nearer the Channel Islands than we had
intended. Never could I have believed that there
could liave been in landscape all the sweet expression
and suggestive beauty which we read in the green
fields and clean-looking dwellings on the Isle of
Wight. Anchoring at Spithead, we awaited instruc-
tions as to our landing-place. Orders arrived at last
to proceed round to Woolwich, but as our crew were
worn out by the unusual exertions of the preceding
two or three days, we remained all night at our
anchorage, and the lately bustling deck was left to
the solitary quartermaster on duty. Our stewai'd,
however, brought off fresh provisions and news-
papers to us ; and, really, a weary voyage is almost
atoned for by the pleasure of getting to shore again —
just as convalescence almost compensates for sickness.
Early next morning we started for Woolwich, and
came in for the full force of the celebrated gale in
the end of October, 1862. We were compelled to
anchor in the Downs, and as we lay there, with two
anchors out and steam up, we landsmen had an oppor-
tunity of judging of the force with which wind can
blow. Little did we dream then that for miles around
us that wild night vessels were going down at their
anchors, and many a strong m^n finding a choking
death ; while on shore, from pale faces and breaking
hearts, were agonised prayers rising for the dear ones
" that go down to the sea in ships, and do their busi-
ness on the great waters."

HOMEWARD BOUND.

319

At last, we are a^ijain steaming past the dull wharves
in the muddy Thames, and once more rises the many-
roofed Arsenal before us. As we land on the dear
shores of our birth again, the past six years seem to vs
like a dream, and can hardly be realised. But life itself
is but a dream, and we but idle dreamers. Truly, this
is not our abiding place for ever, and in the coming
days of an endless life we shall look back on this era
in our existence as a tale that is told. Heaven grant
that it shall not be a tale bringing remorse alone to
our souls, and that all its bitterness may bo taken
away by the joy which dwells in those who harp upon
their harps in the presence of God and the Lamb,
who live for ever and ever I

THE END.

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WHITING, BEAUFOSX HOUSE, STEASD.