Ai ,%. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A :a f/j r/. 1.0 I.I - ilM M 132 Ml t ' At 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► .•^. ^

VI e ^el % '^ :^^ *^, / % ^% / o 7 /A PhotogTdpliic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. MS30 (716) 872-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiquds ci-dessous. D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur n Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur D Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagee n Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es D Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pellicul6e □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur^es et/ou pelliculees n Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque v/ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d^coior^es, tachet^es ou piqu^es D □ Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) □ Pages detached/ Pages detachees Showthrough/ Transparence D Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur D Quality of print varies/ Qualite inegale de I'impression D Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents D Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire D D Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas et6 film^es. □ Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6te film6es d nouveau de facon A obtenir la meilleure image possible. D Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires; This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X s/ 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: National Library of Canada L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce & la g6n6rosit6 de: Bibliothdque nationale du Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol -♦► (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le p'lis grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la netteti de Texemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim6e sont film^s en commenqant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ♦• signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ■•■H A u At (^ u ».\ HIM' IN' Ti'i-; m>ii. 'Ik I;' "*■ *■ *f i»H, '■"'■l^' '•'• Tin; ^ViyOl,s. Ki>vi ) r, i, f •'^'^'^ ' ^^CfKri;. ^/ii!3a.itr?-.# j^ «» -*■ tf / * ;r ^'^'^T-A DEr, f. ^fiA ^\^>^iy^^n ^ %o^Tii^ -» f . Al * ••-*- ^ .*■ *«■ ^(b.' ^ li-'V ^^ ■J'' ^ ■k; r »'>»?'•■< ■ ^^ :*4t- "-^, vv*.«^ I I li'l V ♦.; ADYENTURESm CANADA- OR, LIFE LV THE WOODS. E. •I lilnstrnfcir. m* PniLADKLPHi^ ^ORTEJi & C O A T E S. t r '--7 B 1 \^ (*-'i e \ K > 271608 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAU Boy-dreams about travelling. — Our family determines to go to Canada. — The first day on board. — Cure for sea-sickness. — Our passenjjcrs. — Henry's adventure. — We encounter a Btonn. — Height of the waves. — The bottom of the ocean. — A fossil sliip. — The (ishing-grounds. — See whales and icebergs. — I'orpoises. — Sea-birds. — Lights in the sea. — The great Gulf of St. Lawrence. — Thick ice-fogs. — See land at last. — Sailing up the river. — Land at Quebec CHAPTER II. ijuebec. — Wolfe. — Montcalm's skull. — Toronto. — We set off for the bush. — Mud-roads. — A rough ride. — Our Log- house. — IIow it was built. — Our barn. — We get oxen and cows. — Elephant and Buckeye. — Unpacking our stores. — What some of our neighbors brought when they came. — Hot days. — Bush costumes. — Sun-strokes. — My sisters have to turn salamanders. — Our part of the house-work . 18 CHAPTER III. Clearing the land. — David's bragging, and the end of it. — Burning the log-heaps. — Our logging bee. — What preju- dice can do. — Our fences and crops nearly burned. — The woods on fire. — Building a snake fence. — "Shingle" pigs give us sore trouble. — " Breachy " horses and cattle . (iii) 40 f»,^ IV Contodii, CI I APT F.U IV. We lio;;in our ]in'iiarafiriiis for sowii);;. — riat " sport." — Wood- peckers. — " Chifininiks." — Tlie blue jay. — The blue bird. — The (li;:ht of birds 57 CIIAl'TKK V. Some family elianjres. — Amusements. — ('ow-liuntinj;. — Our ".side-line." — llie Ixish. — Adventures with rattlestuikes. — Garter-.snakes. — A frog's fliglU for life. — Black scpiirrels 74 CIIAPTFJl VI. Spearinj; fish. — .\ncient British canoes. — Indian ones. — A bar;^ain with an Indian. — Henry's cold bath. — Canadian thnnderslornis. — Poor Yorick's death. — Our },'lorions au- tumns. — Tlie clian^^e of the leaf. — Sunsets. — Indian .sum- nior. — The fall rains and the roads, — The lirst snow. — Canadian enld. — A winter landscape — "Ice-storms." — Snow crystals. — Tlie niiiiiite perfection of CJod's wfjrks. — Deer-shoolinj^'. — David's niisfortune. — Useless cruelty. — Shedding of the stag's horns 89 CIIAPTEU VIT. Wolves. — My adventure with a bear. — Courtenay's cow and the wolves. — A fright in the woods by night. — The river freezes. — Our winter tires. — Cold, cold, cold ! — A winter's journey. — Sleighing. — Winter inufTlings. — Accidents through intense cold 127 CIIAPTEU VIII. The aurora borcalis. — " Jumpers." — Squaring timber. — Rafls. — Camping out. — A public meeting. — Winter fashions. — My toe frozen. — A long winter's walk. — Hospitality. — Nearly lost in the woods 142 Contents. CHAl'TKK IX. Involuntary rarinp. — A Itackwoods' parsoiiapc. — (Inivos in tlif wililcriii'ss. — Ndtiorm of fijiialify. — Arctic wiiilors. — Kiirtcd jiiiinsc. — Indian fisliinj; in winter. — A niarriago. — Our winter's pork 158 ("HAl'TKU X. Our ncifxlibors. — IriM-ct pla^'iics. — Military nnicfrs' families in tlic l)ii^-li. — Anaukwani nii.>-take. — l>r. I) nearly sluit for a liear. — Major .M . — Our eandles. — Fortunate escape from a fatal accident 170 CHAI'TER XI. '* Xow SprliiLT returns.'' — Sti;^ar-makinp. — Hi:stj psalmody. — Hush j)reachinj;. — Worsiiip under dillicultics. — A clerical Mrs. Partin^^toii. — Hiolo^y. — A ghost. — " It slips good." — Squatters . 181 CHAPTER XII. Btish magi.strates. — Indian forest guides. — Senses quickened by necessity. — breaking up of the ice. — Dejith of the frost. — A grave in winter. — A ball. — A holiday coat . . 196 CHAPTER XIII. Wild leeks. — Spring birds. — Wilson's poem on the blue bird. — Downy woodpeckers. — Passenger pigeons. — Their num- bers. — Koosting places. — The frogs. — IJull frogs. — Tree frogs. — Flying squirrels 207 CHAPTER XIV. Our spring crops. — Indian corn. — Pumpkins. Fruits. — Wild flowers Melons. 220 fi Contaits, CIIAPTKR XV. ' The Indian^. — Wigwams. — Dress. — Can tho Iiidiann be civi- lized? — Their past doray a» a race. — Alleged innocence of ravage lite. — Narrative of Katlier Jogiies, tiic Jesuit nii.s{? ..V ■ i: ^ '4' wind right, to see how we glided through the (Truen naileries of the sea, wliich rose, crested with white, at each side. One day and night we had, wliat we thought, a great storm. The sails were nearly all stiaick, and I heard the mate say that the two that were left did more hann than good, because tliey only drove the ship deeper into the water. When it grew nearly dark, I crept up the cabin- stairs to look along the deck at the waves ahead. I could see them risino; like great black mountains seamed with snow, and coming with an awful mo- tion towards us, making the ship climb a huge hill, as it were, the one moment, and go down so steeply the next, that you could not help being afraid that it was sinking bodily into the depths of the sea. The wind, meanwhile, roared through the ropes and yards, and eveiy little while there was a hollow thump of some wave against the bows, followed by the rush of water over the bulwarks. I had read the account of the storm in Virgil, and am sure he must have seen something like what I saw that night to have written it. There is an ode in Hor- ace to him, when he was on the point of setting out on a voyage. Perhaps he saw it then. The de- scription in the Bible is, however, the grandest pic- ture of a storm at sea : " The Lord commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves of the deep. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths : their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro Ilrl ■ i 24 Our Log-lwusc. I u ; I m f woods ocautiful, and tlie birds had ben-un to flit about, so tliat the cheerf'uhicss of nature kept us fronri tliinkin^ mucli of our troubles. Jt took us three days to go a hundred and fifty miles, and we stopped on the way besides for my brother's busi- ness, so that the rest of our party had reached our new home, by their route, before us. The look of the house which was to be our dwelling was novel enough to me, with my old ideas about houses still in my head. It was built a little back from the river, far enough to give room for a garden when we had time to make one ; and the trees had been cut down from the water's edcje to some distance behind the house, to make things a little more cheery, and also to prevent the risk of any of them falling on our establishment in a high wind. The house itself had, in fact, been built of the logs procured by felling these patriarchs of the forest, every one of which had, as usual on Cana- dian farms, been cut dow\i. My brother had left special instructions to spaie some of the smaller ones, but the " chopper " had understood him ex- actly the wrong way, and had cut down those pointed out with especial zeal as the objects of his greatest dislike. Building the house must have been very heavy work, for it was made of great logs, the whole thickness of the trees, piled one on another, a story and a half high. The neighbors had made what they call a " bee " to help to " raise" it — that is, they had come without expecting k «k^,' How it was Built. 25 I to flit ko})t us took us and we 's busi- lied our be our my old s built a ve room le ; and !r's edfre tilings a e risk of 1 a high built of s of the n Cana- had left smaller lim ex- n those s of his st have Df great one on iighbors " raise" :pecting wa^-es, but witli tho understaiidini!;; that each would ^ot l>ack from us, wljcn he waiiti'*! it, as many days' labor as he had ^iveii. They nianaixc a dirticult business like that of *2;ettiuvn, and fixed by wooden pins to sleepers made of thin young trees, cut the right lengths. Overhead, a number of similar round poles, about the tliickness of a man's leg, supported the floor of the upper story, which was to be my sisters' bedroom. They had planks, however, in- stead of boards, in honor of their sex, perhaps. They had to climb to this jjaradise by an extraor- i ;.4 w^i llow it wats Built. 27 fliiiarv ladder, inado with the never-l'ailinii; axe and aiioiT, out ot'irrcc'M, round wood. I used always to tliink of lvol)inson Crusoe m'ttinlov';i:hinor or drawin "■"S-ay. 'l:j^ i, '■if » .1- . Ki m 4 m ■n m ';} 84 What some of our Neighbors brought. get Ohio coal now, in the larger towns ; but there was none then anywhere. The only fuel burned all through the country parts, in fireplaces, is, still, great thick pieces of split logs, four feet long. One settler from Ireland had heard that there were a grejit many rattlesnakes in Canada ; and as he had been a cavalry volunteer, and had the accoutre- ments, he brought a brass helmet, a regulation sabre, buckskin breeches, and jack-boots with him, t]i '. he might march safely through the jungle wiiich he suj)})Osed he should find on his route. 7'he J V ng clergyman who afterwards came out had a different fear. He thouoht there 'miixht be no houses for him to sleep in at nights, and brought out a hammock to swing up under the trees. What he thought the people to whom he was to preach lived in, I don't know ; perhaps he fancied we cooked our dinners under the trees, and lived without houses, like the Indians. In some coun- tries, hannnocks are used in travelling through uninhabited places, on account of the poisonous insects on the ground and the thickness of the vege- tation ; but in Canada such a thing is never heard of, houses being always within reach in the parts at all settled ; and travellers sleep on the ground when beyond the limits of civilization. But to sleep in the open air at all makes one such a figure before morning with mosquito-bites, that nobody would try it a second time, if he could help it. I was once on a journey up Lake Huron, of which I shall V i '>^ Hot days. 86 it tliere burned is, still, One were a he had coutre- uhition h him, jungle route, ne out ght be rouo-lit trees, was to fancied I lived coun- irouo-li sonous 5 vege- heard arts at . when eep in before Id try once shaU .« speak by and by, where we had to sleep a night on the ground, and, what with ants running over us, and with the mosquitoes, we had a most ^vretched time of it. A friend who was with me had his nose so bitten that it was thicker above than below, and looked exactly as if it had been turned upside * down in the dark. It took us some time to get every tiling fairly in order, but it was all done after a while. We were all in good health ; every thing before us was new ; and the weather, though very warm, was often delightful in the evening. Through the day it was sometimes very oppressive, and we had hot nights now and then that were still worse. A sheet seemed as heavy as if it had been a pair of blankets, and when we were sure the door was fast, we were glad to throw even it aside. We always took a long rest at noon till the sun got somewhat cooler, but the heat was bad enough even in the shade. I have known it pretty nearly, if not quite, 100° some days in the house. I remember hearing some old gentlemen once talking about it, and telhng each other how they did to escape it: the one declared that the coolest part of the house was below the bed, and the other, a very stout clergy- man, said he found the only spot for study was in the cellar. Captain W used to assert that it was often as hot in Canada as in the West Indies. My sisters never went with so little clothing before ; and, indeed, it was astonishing how their 36 Bmh Costumes. ^m ii-ii 1 ■r circumference collapsed under the influence of the sun. As to us, we thought only of coolness. Coarse straw hats, with broad brims, costing about eightpence apiece, with a liandkerchief in the crown to keep the heat off the head ; a shirt of blue cot- ton, wide trovvsers of dark printed calico, or, indeed, of any thing thin, and boots, composed our dress. But this was elaborate, compared with that adopted by a gentleman who was leading a batchelor life back in the bush some distance from us. A friend went to see him one day, and found him frying some bacon on a fire below a tree before his door ; — a potato-pot hanging by a chain over part of it, from a bough — his only dress being a shirt, boots, a hat, and a belt round his waist, with a knife in it. He had not tliought of any one penetrating to his wilderness habitation, and laughed as heartily at being caught in such a plight as my friend did at catching him. For my part, I tliought I should be cooler still if I turned up my shirt-sleeves ; but my arms got forthwith so tanned and freckled, that even yet they are more useful than beautiful. One day there chanced to be a torn place on my shoulder, which I did not notice on going out. I thought, after a time, that it was very hot, but took it for granted it could not be helped. When I came in at dinner, however, I was by no means agreeably surprised when my sister Margaret called out to jne, *' George, there's a great blister on your shoul- der," which sure enougli there was. I took care to have always a whole shirt after that. 4 V i T 5 f '"^ Siinrstrokes. 37 i care We had hardly been a month on the river when we heard that a man, fresh from Enghmd, who liad been at work for a neighbor, came into the liouse one afternoon, saying he had a headache, and died, poor fellow, in less than an hour. He had a sun- stroke. Sometimes those who are thus seized fall down at once in a fit of apoplexy, as was the case with Sir Charles Napier in Scinde. I knew a sin- o-ular instance of Avhat the sun sometimes does, in tiic case of a young man, a plumber b}"" trade, who had been working on a roof in one of the towns on a hot day. He was struck down in an instant, and was only saved from death by a fellow-workman. For a time he lost his reason, but that gradually caine back. He lo.>t the power of every part of his body, however, except his head, nothing remaining alive, you may say, but that. He could move or control his eyes, mouth, and neck, but that was all. He had been a strong man, but he wasted away till his legs and arms were not thicker than a child's. Yet he got much better eventually, after being bedridden for several years, and when I last was at his house, could creep about on two crutches. I used to pity my sisters, who had to work over the fire, cooking for us. It was bad enough for girls who had just left a fashionable . nool in Eng- land, and were quite young yet, to do work which hitherto they had always had done for them, but to have to stoop over a fire in scorching hot weather must have been very exhausting. They had to 4 1 (.' |m 1 J . 1 [jr : 1 1 pi .^'1 r r r i! ■:!f '>■ :■ t i ! ,:! 38 G-oing to Mill. bake in a large iron pot, set upon embers, and cov- ered with them over tlie lid ; and the dinner had to be cooked on the logs in the kitchen fireplace, until we thought of setting up a contrivance made by lay- ing a stout stick on two upright forked ones, driven into the ground at each end of a fire kindled out- side, and hanging the pots from it. While I think of it, what a source of annoyance the cooking on the logs in the fireplace was before we got a crane \/- I remember we once had a large brass panful of rasnberry jam, nicely poised, as we thought, on the burning logs, and just ready to be lifted off, when, lo I some of the firewood below gave way and down it went into the ashes ! Baking was a hard art to learn. What bread we had to eat at first ! We used to quote Hood's lines — " Who has not heard of home-made bread — That heavy compound of putty and lead 1 " But practice, and a few lessons from a neighbor's wife, made my sisters quite expert at it. We had some trouble in getting flour, however, after our first stock ran out. The mill was five miles off, and, as we had only oxen, it was a tedious job get- ting to it and back again. One of my brothers used to set off at five in the morning, with his breakfast over, and was not back again till nine or ten at night — that is, after we had wheat of our own. It had to be ground while he waited. But it was not all lost time, for the shoemaker's was ■<-■;« Our part of the houseivork. 39 crane W near tlie mill, and we always made the same jour- ney do for both. In winter we were sometimes badly off when our flour ran short. On fjjetting to the mill, we, at times, found the wheel frozen hard, and that the miller had no flour of his own to sell. I have known us for a fortnight having to use po- tatoes instead of bread, when our neighbors hap- pened to be as ill provided as we, and could not lend us a " baking." But bakincT was not all that had to be done in a house like ours, with so many men in it. No ser- vants could be had ; the girls round, even when their fathers had been laborers in England, were quite above going out to service, so that my sisters had their hands full. We tried to help them as much as we could, brinofinj; in the wood for tho fire, and carrying all the^ water from the river. Indeed, I used to think it almost a pleasure to fetch the water, the river was so beautifullv clear. Never was crystal more transparent. I was wont to idle as well as work while thus employed, looking at the beautiful stones and pebbles that lay at the bottom, ftir beyond the end of the plank that served for our " wharf." I i- i 4|B -1 ., 1 : ' •;.r ! ^e ' ^ I! ■\] lii li 11 40 Clearing the Land CHAPTER III. Clearin;^ the land. — David's brafr;,nng, and the end of it. — Burning the l()f,^-lu'aps. — Our lo^-^^inj^ bee. — What pri'jndico can do. — Our fences an' i , I' ii' ¥ i> 60 Mosquitoes. sides. But, tliougli he is done you are not, for some jioisouous secretion is instilled into the })unc- ture, which causes pain, inflannnation, and swelling, lono; after he is <>one. We had a little smooth- haired terrier which seemed to ])lease their taste almost as much as we ourselves did. When it 2;ot into the woods, they would settle on the ])oor brute, in sj)ite of all its efforts, till it was almost black with them. Horses and oxen m^t no rest from their at- tacks, and between them and the horse-Hies 1 have seen the sides of the j)oor thinos runm'no; with blood. ** Dey say ebery ting has some use," said a negro to me one day ; " 1 wonder what de mosqueeter's good for?" So do I. A clei-gyman who once visited us declared that he thought they and all such pests were part of what is meant in the Bible by the power of the devil ; lut whether he was right or not is beyond me to settle. Perhaps they keep off fevers from ar.imals by bleeding them as they do. But you know what Socrates said, tliat it was the liiiihest attainment of wisdom to feel that we kno\v nothing, so that, even if we can't tell why they are there, we may be sure, that, it' we knew as much as we mio;ht, we should find that thev served some wise pur])ose. At the same time 1 have often been right glad to think that the little nuisances must surely have short commons in the unsettled dis- tricts, where there are no p<^ople nor cattle to tor- ment. The liarrowing was also my first special intro- A Huge Fli). 61 Mo;lit y do. s the vllovV V are luu'h some been must I dis- -) tor- intro- duction to the horse-flies — jT;reat liorrid creatures tliat they are. They fastened on tlie oxen at every ])ai't, and stuck tlie five knives witli whicli their ])rol)()scis is armed, deep into the flesli. Tliey are as lariie as honey-hees, so that you may jud^'e how nuu'h thev torment tlieir victims, i have seen tliem make a horse's flard^s red with the l)h)od from tlieir bites. They were too numerous to be driven oft' by the h)Mij; tails of eitlier oxen or horses, and, to tell the truth, I was half afraid to come near them lest they should take a fancy to myself. It is conuuon in travc'lhuij; to ])ut leafy branches of maple or some other tree over the horses' ears and head, to protect tlu'in as far as possible. The larfjest fly I ever saw, lio;hted on the fence, close to me, about this time. \N''e had been frio;ht- cned by stories of things as biji; as your thumb, that soused down on you before you knew it, but I never, before or since, saw such a jj;iant of a fly as this fellow. It was just like the house-fly majj;- iiitied a great many times, how many I should not like to say. I took to mv heels in a moment, for fear of instant death, and saw no more of it. Whether it would have bitten me or not I cannot tell, but I was not at all inclined to try the experi- ment. All this time we have left the oxen pullinij; away at the harrow, but we must leave them a minute or two lono-er, till we i';et done with all the Hies at once. There is a little black speck called the sand-fly, fll * ifi' 1 \W^ ■aasaa JK 62 Sand-flies. 'AM i. J tr which many think even worse than the mosquito. It comes in clouds, and is too small to ward off, and its hite causes acute pain for hours after. But, notwithstanding gadflies, mosquitoes, horse-flies, and this last pest, the sand-fly, we were better off than the South American Indians of whom Hum- boldt speaks, who have to hide all night three or four inches deep in the sand to keep themselves from mosquitoes as large as bluebottles ; and our cattle had nothing to contend with like such a fly as the tzetse, which Dr. Livingstone tells us, is fovmd in swarms on the South African rivers, a bite of which is certain death to any horse or ox. How curious it is, by the way, that any poison should be so powerful that the quantity left by the bite of a fly should be able to kill a great strong horse or an ox ; and how very wonderful it is, moreover, that the fly's body should secrete such a frightful poison, and that it should carry it about in it without itself suffering any harm ! Dr. Buckland, of the Life Guards, was once poisoned by some of the venom of a cobra di capello, a kind of serpent, getting below his nail, into a scratch he had given himself with a knife he had used in skinnino; a rat, which the serpent had killed. And yet the serpent itself could have whole glands full of it, without getting any Imrt. But if the cobra were to bite its own body it would die at once. The scorpion can and does sting itself to death. When we had got our field harrowed over twice ■0 Winter Wheat. 63 twice or thrice, till every part of it had been well scratched up, and the ashes well mixed with the soil, our next step was to sow it, after which camo another harrowing, and then we had only to wait till the harvest next July, hoping we might be favored with a good crop. That a blade so slight as that of young wheat should be able to stand the cold of the Canadian winter has always seemed to me a great wonder. It grows up the first year just like crass, and mi^ht be mistaken for it even in the beginning of the following spring. The snow which generally covers it during the long cold sea- son is a great protection to it, but it survives even when it has been bare for lono; intervals too;ether, though never, I believe, so strong, after such hard- ships suffered in its infancy. The show not only protects, but, in its melting, nourishes, the young plant, so that not to have a good depth of it is a double evil. But, snow or not snow, the soil is almost always frozen like a rock, and yet the tender green blades live through it all, unless some thaw during winter expose the roots, and a suljsecpient frost seize them, in which case the plant dies. Large patches in many fields are thus destroyed in years when the snow is not deep enough. What survives must have suspended its life while the earth in which it grows is frozen. Yet, after being thus asleep for months — indeed, more than asleep, for every process of life must be stopped, the first breath of spring brings back its vigor, and it wakes '! 'I'T I } 9B aa 64 TJie Wonders of Plant-life. I •■ W *■■ as If it had been growing all the time. How won- derful are even the common facts of nature ! The life of plants I have always thought very much so. Our life perishes if it be stopped for a very sliort time, but tlie beautiful robe of flowers and verdure with which the world is adorned is well-nio;h inde- structible. Most of you know the story of Pope's weeping willow : the poet had received a present of a basket of figs from the levant, and when open- ing it, discovered that part of the twigs of which it was made were already budding, from some mois- ture that had reached thorn, and this led him to plant one, which, when it had grown, became the stock whence all the Babylonian willows in Eng- land have come. Then we are told that seeds gathered from beneath the ashes at Pompeii, after being buried for eighteen hundred years, have grown on being brought once more to the light, and it has often been found, that others brought up from the bottom of wells, when they were being dug, or from beneath accumulations of sand, of unknown age, have only to be sown near the sur- face to commence instantly to grow. It is said that wheat, found in the coffins of mummies in Egypt, has sjirung up freely when sown, but the proof of any having done so Is thought by others insufficient. Yet there is nothing to make such a thing impossible, and perhaps some future explorer like Dr. Layard or Mr. Loftus, may come on grains older still, In Babylon or Nineveh, and give us \hi.\ k 4 ^ 4 *v Woodpeckers. 65 of ur- aid in the ers 1 a >rer '^' I bread from tiie wlieat that Nebuchadnezzar or Sein- iramis used to eat. Indeed, M. Michelet tells us, that some seeds found in the inconceivably ancient Diluvial drift readilv i '1 i f ■*■ -m-t ing a wiiidiii;!^ passage down to it, and then making two or three })antries, as 1 may call them, at the sides of their nest, or sitting and slevping-room, for their cxtru HukI. They do not often go np the trees, bnt if they be frigJitenetl, and cannot get to their hole>, they rnn iijj the trunks, and get from branch to branch with wonderful quick uess. Some- times we tried to cat(di one when it would thus go up some small, low tree, of which there were num- bers on the edi::e of a »itream two Heids back on our farm ; but it was always too (juick for us, and after making sure 1 had it, and climbing the tree to get hold of it, it would be otf in some magical way, before our eyes, let us do our best. Then, at other times, we would try to catch one in an old log, but with no better success. Henry would get to the one ercl and 1 to the other, and make sure it could n' I get out. It always did get out, however, and all we could do was to admire its beautiful shape, with the squirrel head, and a soft brown coat which was striped with black, lengthwise, and its arch little tail, which was never still a moment. Some of the birds were the greatest beauties you could imagine. We would see one fly into the woods, all crimson, or seemingly so, and perhaps, soon after, another, which was like a living emerald. They were small birds — not larger than a thrush — and not very numerous ; but I cannot trust myself to give their true names. The blue jay was one of the prettiest of all the feathered folk Hi r The Blue Jay. tn but the it !ver, it'ul own and lent, you the laps, aid. ush trust folk n tliat used to come and look at us. Wijat a briglit, quick eye it lias ! wliat a beautiful bhie crest to raise or let down, as its pride or curiosity moves it or passes away ! iiow exquisitely its win.i --H — r r -ti ""'I'liiiftiin 41 72 The Fliyht of Birds. they must lia^'o to see clearl}' over such a landscape as must open at so great an elevation ! and how little, after all, can that help them on a journey of thousand of miles ! Moore's beautiful verse speaks of the intentness with which the pigeon speeds to ts goal, and how it keeps so high up in the air : " The dove let loose in eastern skies, Ketuniiiig fondly home, Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies Where idle warblers roam." I have noticed that all birds, when on long flights, seek the upper regions of the air : the ducks ar^d swans, that used to pass over us in the spring, va their way to their breeding-places in the Arctic re- gions, were always so high that they looked like strings of moving specks in the sky. They always fly in certain order, the geese in single file, arranged like a great V, the two sides of it stretching far away from each other, but the birds which form the figure never losing their respective places. Some of the ducks, on the other hand, kept in wedge- shaped phalanxes, like the order in which Hannibal disposed his troops at the Battle of Cannae. Whether they fly so high to see better, or because the air is thinner and gives them less resistance, or to be out of the reach of danger, or to keep from any temp- tation to alight and loiter on their way, it would be hard to tell, but with all the help which their height can give them, is has always been a great wonder liiiibal lether air is je out temp- uld be height ondel The Fliyht of Birds. :^. to me how they knew the road to take. There m\is\, surely be --ome senses in sucli creatures of which wt do not know, or those they have must be very mu('\» more acute than ours. How does a bee find its way home for miles ? And how does the little hum- ming-bird — of which I shall speak more hereaftei — thread its way, in its swift arrowy fliiinpany, straight up the bbized line ai the *ide of our lot. I mean, up a line aVung whkib. the trees had been notarked by slices ( at out of their sides, to show the way to the K Cow-hmiting. 77 lots at the back of ours. It Avas all op^n for a little way back, for the post road })assed up from the bank of the river along the side of our farm, for five or six acres, and then turned at a right angle par- allel with the river again, and there was a piece of the side line cleared for some distance bevond the turn. After this })iece of civilization had been ])assed, however, nature had it all to herself. The first twelve or fifteen acres lay tine and high, and could almost always be got over easily, but the ground dropped down at that distance to the edge of a little stream, and rose on the other side, to stretch away in a dead level, for I know not how many miles. The streamlet, which was sometim.es much swollen after thaws or rains, was crossed by a rough sort of bridge formed of the cuts of young trees, which rested on stouter supports of the same kind, stretching from bank to bank. One of the freshets, however, for a time destroyed this easy communication, and left us no way of crossinix till it was repaired, but either by fording, or by ventur- ing over the trunk of a tree, which was felled so as to reach across the gap and make an apology for a bridge. It used at first to be a dreadful job to get over this primitive pathway, but I got so expert that I could run over it easily and safely enough. The dogs, however, generally preferred the water, unless when it was deep. Then there were pieces of swampy land, further back, over which a string of felled trees, one beyond the other, ofltered, again, 7* H I fj p^rp!s| lAn I ,!!';;(l 111;' :*' • 78 Cow-hmiting. the only passage. These were the worst to cross, for the wet had generally taken ott' the bark, and they often bent almost into the water with your weight. One day, when I was making my best attempt at getting over one of these safely, an old settler on a lot two miles back made his appearance at the further side. " Bad roads, Mr. Brown," said I, accosting him, for every one speaks to every one else in such a place as that. "Yes, Mr. Stanley — bad roads, indeed; but it's nothing to have only to walk out and in. What do you think it must have been when I had to bring my furniture back on a sleigh in summer- time ? We used wagons on the dry places, and then got sleighs for the swamps ; and, Mr. Stan- ley, do you know, I'm sure two or three times you hardly saw more of the oxen for a minute tlian just the horns. We had all to go through the water ourselves to get them to pull, and even then they stuck fast with our load, and we had to take it off and carry it on our backs the best way we could. You don't know any thing about it, Mr. Stanley. I had to carry a chest of drawers on my shoulders through all this water, and every bit that we ate for a whole year, till we got a crop, had to be brought from the front, the same way, over these logs." No doubt he spoke the truth, but, notwithstand- ing his gloomy recollections, it used to be grand Cow-hunting. 79 fun to go back, except when I could not find the cows, or when they would not let themselves be driven home. The dogs would be oft' after a squir- rel every little while, though they never could catch one, or they would splash into the water with a thousand gambols to refresh themselves from the heat, and get quit of the mosquitoes. Then tliere can be nothing more beautiful than the woods themselves, when the leaves are in all their bravery, and the ground is varied by a thou- sand forms of verdure, wherever an opening lets in the sun. The trees are not broad and umbrageous like those in the parks of England. Their being crowded together makes them grow far higher before the branches begin, so that you have great high trunks on every side, like innumerable pillars in some vast cathedral, and a high open roof of green, far over head, the white and blue of the sky filling up the openings in the fretwork of the leaves. There is always more or less undergrowth to heighten the beauty of the scene, but not enough, except in swampy places, to obscure the view, which is only closed in the distance by the closer and closer gathering of the trees as tli y re- cede. The thickness of some of these monarchs of the forest, the fine shape of others, and the vast height of nearly all ; the exhaustless charms of the great canopy of mingled leaves and branches, and sky and cloud above ; the picturesque vistas in the openings here and there around ; the endless Iff 'UM •>\. f U 80 The Bush. ■> 'li! i^ ''.i:. I variety of shade and form in the yonng trees springing uj) at intervals ; the flowers in one spot, the rough fretting of tiillen and mouldering trees, bright with every tint of fungus, or red with decay, or decked with mosses and lichens, in others, and the graceful outline of hroad beds of fern, contrast- ing with the many-colored carpet of leaves — made it deliiihtful to stroll alt)no;. The silence that reigns heightens the })leasure and adds a calm so- lenniity. The stroke of an axe can be heard for miles, and so may the sound of a cow-bell, as 1 have sometimes found to my sorrow. But it was only when the cows or oxen could be easily got that I was disposed to think of the poetry of the journey. They always kept together, and 1 knew the sound of our bell at anv distance ; but some- times I could not, by any listening, catch it, the wearer having perhaps lain down to chew the cud, and then, what a holloairg and getting up on fallen trees to look for them, and wandering; till I was fairly tired. One of the oxen had for a time the honor of bearing the bell, but I found, after a while, that he added to my trouble in finding him and his friends, bv his cunninfj;, and we trairsferred it to one of the cows. The brute had a fixed dis- like to going home, and had learned that the tinkle of the bell was a sure })relude to his being led off, to prevent which, he actually got shrewd enough to hold his head, while resting, in so still a way that he hardly made a sound. I have seen him, ■4 Adventures with Rattlesnakes. 81 Icrh wlien I had at last hunted him up, lookiut]^ side- wavs at me with his great eyes, afraid for his hfe to stir his head lest the horrid claj>})er should pro- claim his presence. When I did get them they were not always willing to be driven, and would set otf with their heads and tails up, the oxen ac- companying them, the bell making a hideous cltui- gor, careering away over every im})ediment, straight into the woods, in, perhaps, the very oppo- site direction to that in which I wished to lead them. Then for a race to head tliem, round logs, over logs, through brush and below it, the dogs dashing on ahead, where they thought I was going, and looking back every minute, as if to wonder what 1 was about. It was sometimes the work of hours to get them home, and sometimes for days too-ether we could not find them at all. There is little to fear from wild animals in the bush in Canada. The deer were too frightened to trouble us, and, though I have some stories to tell about bears and wolves, they were so seldom seen that they did not give us much alarm. But I was always afraid of the rattlesnakes especially in the long grass that grew in some wet places. I never saw but one, however, and that was once, years after, when I was riding up a narrow road that had been cut through the woods. My horse was at a walk, when, suddenly, it made a great spring to one side, very nearly unseating me, and then stood looking at a low bush aiid trembling in every limb. i ' *' 'v\ : \ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) (./ /q M?^ ^ /. ^^. ^. *, 0% O / /^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 A\ iV N? :\ \ 4^ ''b > ^. \ '«> vV .#-i-.' m '» 1 i '" 'i' 1 If^l ;}. ;:■- • \ i ■ . ;|j j; 1 -^ 8- 1 1, ■■'ft 82 Adventures with Rattlesnakes. The next moment I Iieard tlie liorrible rattle, and my liorse commenced a set of leaps from one side to the otlier, backhig all the while, and snort- in*^ wildly. 1 could not ^et oil', and as little could I (];et my horse turned away, so great was his fear. Two men luckily came n}> just at this time, and at once saw the cause of the j)oor brute's alarm, which was soon ended by one of them making a dash at the snake with a thick stick, and breakino; its neck at a blow, liemy told us once that lie was chased by one which he had disturbed, and 1 can easily credit it, for I have seen smaller snakes get very infuriated, and if one was alarmed, as in Henry's case, it miii;ht readily iilide after him for some dis- tance. However, it i'ared badly in the end, for a stick ended its days abru})tly. I was told one story that I believe is true, though ridiculous enough. A good man, busy mowing in his field, in the summer costume of hat, shirt, and boots, found himself, to his horror, face to face with a rattlesnake, which, on his instantly throwing down his scythe and turning to Hee, sprang at his tails and fixed its fano;s in them inextricablv. The next s})ring — the cold body of the snake struck against his legs, making him certain he had been bitten. He was a full mile from his house, but despair added strength and s])eed. Away he Hew — over logs, fences, every tiling — the snake dash- ing against him with every jump, till he reached his home, into which he rushed, shouting, " The j. V' Adventures with Rattlesnakes. 88 snake, the snake ! I'm bitten, I'm bitten I " Of course they were all alarmed enough, but when they came to examine, the terror proved to be the whole of the injuiy suifered, the snake's body hav- ing been knocked to pieces on the way, the head, only, remaining fixed in the spot at which it had originally sprung. David and Henry were one day at work in our field, where there were some bu.shes close to a stump near the fence. The two were near each other when the former saw a num- ber of young rattlesnakes at Heniy's side, and, as a good joke, for we laughed at the danger, it seemed so slight, cried out — "Henry! Henry I look at the rattlesnakes ! " at the same time mounting the fence to the highest rail to enjoy Henry's panic. But the young ones were not dis- posed to trouble any one, so that he instantly saw that he had nothing to fear ; whereas, on looking toward David, there was quite enough to turn the laugh the other way. *' Look at your feet, Da- vid ! " followed in an instant, and you may easily imagine how quickly the latter was down the outer side of the fence, and away to a safe distance, when, on doing as he was told, he saw the mother of the brood poised below him for a spring, which, but for Henry, she would have made the next mo- ment. Pigs have 8 wonderful power of killing snakes, their hungry stomachs tempting them to the attack for the sake of eating their bodies. I don't know I 1 ■ ■'^ vyi .^!| ii ' 1^ 84 Garter Snakes. tliat tliey ever set on rattlesnakes, but a fiiend of mine saw one with tiie body of a great black snake, the thickness of his wrist, and tour or five feet long, lying over its back. Monsieur Pig converting the whole into pork as fast as he could, by vigorously swallowing joint Jifter joint. The garter snake is the only creature of lis kind whicli is very common in Canada, and very beauti- ful and harmless it is. But it is never seen with- out getting killed, unless it beat a very speedy re- treat into some log or j)ile of stones, or other shelter. The influence of the story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden is fatal to the whole tribe of snakes, against every individual of which a merciless crusade is ■waejed the moment one is seen. The garter snake feeds on frogs and other small creatures, as I chanced to see one day when walking up the road. In a broad bed of what they call tobacco-weed, a chase for life or deatl. was beinij made between a poor frog and one of these snakes. The frog evi- dently knew it was in danger, for you never saw such lea])s as it would take to get away from its enemy, falling into the weeds, after each, so as to be hidden for a time, if it had only been able to keej) so. But the snnke would raise itself up on a slight coil of its tail, and from that height search every place with its bright wicked eyes for its l)rey, , and presently glide oti' toward where the poor frog lay j)anting. Tlien for another leap, and anoiier poising, to scan tlie field. I don't know how it Black Squirrels, 8ft ended, for I liad watched tlicMii till they were a |T()o{l way off. How tlie snake would ever swallow it, it' it cauick stick held in a man's hand. We had very pleasant recreation now and then, hunting black squirrels, which were cajtital eating. Thev are much larwr than either the gray or the red ones, and taste very much like j'abbitii, from 86 Black Squirrels. ■■ ' ■*■ ffi ^ 'it m- '.■! S> ii'IIm. !■ I ]W' i %: 'h 1 . ■ ■ 'p '1* i ' s ' '1* . ! - ■ ' 1 ' : r ^ ii !. , fii It ! whicli, indeed, it would be liard to distino;nisli tlicm when they are on tlie tal)le. IJotli they and tlie gray squirrel are very rommon, and are sometimes great ])csts to the farmer, making sad havoc with In's Indian corn while green, and with the young wheat. In Pennsylvania this at one time came to such a [)itch that a law was passed, ollering three- pence a-head for every one destroyed, which re- sulted, in 1741>, in 8,000/. being paid in one year an head-money for those killed. Their great nundjers sometimes develop strange instincts, very dilferent from those we might exj)ect. From scarcity of food, or some other unknown cause, all the scpnrrels in a larjie district will at times take it into their heads to make a regular nnVration to some other region. Scattered bodies are said to gather from distant points, and mai'shal themselves into one great host, which then sets out on its chosen march, [dlowing nothing whatever — be it mountain or river — to stop them. We ourselves had proof enough that nothing in the shape of water, short of a lake, could do it. Our neighbors agreed in telling us that, a few years before we came, it had been a bad sum- mer for nuts, and that the squirrels of all shades had evidently seen the perils of the approaching winter, and made up their minds to emigrate to more favored lands. Whether they held meetings on the subject, and discussed the policy to be pur- sued, was not known ; but it is certain that squir- reldom at large decided on a united course of action. ^^ i\ Black Sauirreh. 87 Havinjnr ronie to this (loterniination, tlicy gathered, it ai)j)eiir.s, in iininense numbers, in the trees at the water's e(l«j:e% where tlie river was at least a mile hroad, and had a "urrent of ahont two miles an hour, and, witiiout hesitation, lauiu'hed oft' in thou- sands on the stream, straiglit for the other side. Whether they all eould swim so far, no one, of course, eould tell ; hut vast numhers reached the southern shore, and made for the woods, to seek there the winter supplii's which liad heen deficii'ut in the district they had left. How stran«re lor little creatures like them to contrive and carrv out an organized movement, whicli looked as complete and deliherate as the mifrration of as manv human beinirs ! What led them to cro to the south rather than to the north ? There were no woods in siiiht on the southern side, though there were forests enough in th(; interior. I think we can only come to the conclusion, which cannot be easily confuted, that the lower creatures hiive some faculties of which we have no idea whatever. The black S(juirrels are very luirdy. You may sec them in the woods, even in the middle of win- ter, when their red or gray brethren, and the little ground scjuirrels, are not to be seen. On bright days, however, even these more delicate creatures venture out, to see what the world is like, after their long seclusion in their holes in the trees. They must gather a large amount of food in the summer and autumn to be sufHcient to keep them through !|:i w 88 Black Squirrels. the long montlis of cold and frost, and their diligence in getting reaJy in time for the season when their food is buried out of their reach, is a capi.tal exam- ple to us. They carry things from great distances to their nests, if food be rather vscarce, or if they find any delicacy worth laying up for a treat in the winter. When the wheat is ripe they come out in great numbers to get a share of the ears, and run off with as many as they can manage to steal. :l li^ ,1 : j .'J i: fu sli p on a io bur and an aJly a slif lonrr hidk Spmring Fish, 89 CHAPTER VI. Spearing fish. -■ AnciiMit RritisJi rnnoos. — Indian nnps. — A bargain witli an Indian. — Henry's cold hath. — Canadian thundtTstonns. — I'oor Voritk's death. — Our gh)ri()iis autumns. — Tho clianga of tlie leaf. — Sun.H'ts. — Indian summer. — Tlie fall rain.s and the roads. — The first snow. — Canadian cold. — A winter land- scape — " Ice-st(»rms." — Snow crystals. — The minute perfcc- tion of God's works. — Deer-shooting. — [)avid'8 ini&fortune.— Useless cruelty. — Shedding of the stag's horns. SPEARING fisli by moonli ^ If' 'mM Ml..... after frencration, wliile tlic GrctMilander f^ocs to sea ill his li^xht kaiack of'soal-skin, as the pohshed inhal>- itaiit of Hahyhm, .as Herodotus tells us, used to Hoat liis ve came to think so; but we knew no better at first than to like it for its mas- siveness, never thinking of the weiglit we should have to push through the water. The price, how- ever, was not very great, though more than would have got us a right one, had we known enough. The Indian who sold it to us paddled up with it, with his wife in it with him, one morning, his dress being a dirty printed calico shirt, and a pair of cloth leggings ; her's, the never-failing blanket, and leg- gings, like those of her husband. They were both rather elderly, and by no means attractive in ap- atc addi sell nilrrl tion, like to J( Bargain with an Indian. 98 poanince. Robert and tlic rest of us happened to be near tlie fenee at tlie river side at tlie time ; and as the In(Han cwinr up, he sahited him, .as is usual, with tlie words, '* Ho' jour," a corruption of the phrase, " Bon jour," indieatino; curiously the extent of the old French dominion in America — every Indian, in any part, understanding, or, at least, acknowled;i;in<:r it. A f^ruut ''!i Hie ])art of our visitor conveyed his return o; the courtesy, and was presently followed b^ '* C"noo, ,11, irood — you buy?" Robert, thus a Idicssed, willingly enoun;h entered into temptation, havirif; deter- mined, sometime before, to buy one. Like ev'.ry one else in Canada, he seemed naturally to tliink that bad English makes good Indian, and pursued the dialogue somewhat as follows: — Robert — "Good c'noo?" Indian, w'itl\ a grunt, " Good," making sundry signs with his hands, to show liow it skimmed the water, and how easily it could be steered, both qualities being most sadly deficient, as he must have known. Robert — "What for you ask?" Indian, holding up eight fingers, and nodding toward tliem, " dollar," making, immedi- ately after, an imitation of smoking, to stand for an additional value in tobacco. Robert — " Why you sell ? " Indian — No answer, but a grunt, which might either hide a wish to decline a difficult ques- tion, by pretending ignorance, or any thing else we like to suppose. Then followed more dumb-show, to let us know what a treasure he was parting 94 Spearing Fish. ijiiti with. IVIy brotlier found it hopeless to get any in- formation from him, notliing but grunts and an old word or two of Euiilisli following; a number ot inquiries. After a time the bargain was struck, and having received the money and the tobacco, he and his spouse departed, laugliing in their sleeves, I dare say, at their success in getting a canoe well sold which needed two or three men to propel it at a reasonable rate. It was with this affair we used to go out on our spearing expeditions. A cresset, like those used in old times to hold watchmen's lights, and a spear with three prongs and a long handle, were all the apparatus required. The cresset was fixed in the bows of the canoe, and a knot of pitch-pine kindled in it, threw a briijht lioht over and throu";h the water. Only very still nights would do, for if there was any ripple the fish could not be seen. When it was perfectly calm we filled our cresset, and setting it a fire, one of us would take his place near the light, spear in hand, standing ready to use it ; and another seated himself at the stern with a paddle, and, with the least possible noise, pushed off alono; the shallow edsie of the river. The fish could be seen a number of feet down, restino; on the bottom ; but in very deep water the spear could not get down quickly enough, while the position of the fish itself was changed so much by the refrac- tion of the light, that it was very hard to hit it even if we were not too slow. The stillness of the Spear in cj Fish. 95 night — the beauty of the sliiniiii:^ skies — the deh- cious mihhicss of the autumnal evenings — tlie slee})ing smoothness of the great river — the l)lay of h{' darting at them every few yards, made the whole delightful. At first we always missed, by miscalculating the position of our intended booty ; but, after going out a few times with John Courte- nay, a neighbor, and noticing how much he allowed for the difference between the real and the appar- ent spot for which to aim, we got the secret of the art, and gradually managed to become pretty good marksmen. There was an island in the river, at the upper end of which a long tongue of shallow bottom reached up the stream, and on this we found the best sport : black bass, pike, herrings, white-fish, cat-fish, sun-fish, and I don't know what else, used to fall victims on this our best preserve. I liked almost as well to paddle as to stand in the bows to spear the fish, for watching the spearsman and looking down at the fish kept you in a flash of pleasant excitement all the time. Not a word was spoken in the canoe, but I used to think words cnouo-h. " There's a ereat sun-fish at the rio;ht hand, let me steer for it;" and silently the paddle would move us toward it, my brother motioning mo with his hand either to hold back or turn more this way, or that, as seemed necessary. *' I i; I *i 96 Ilenry^s Cold Bath. 4 wondor if lie'll get iiim ! " would rise in my mind, as the spear was slowly poised. " Will lie dart off?" "He moves a little — all! -there's a great pike ; make a dart at him — whew, he's gone ! " and, sure enough, only the bare ground was visi jle. Perhaps the next was a white-fish, and in a mo- ment a successful throw would transfix it, and then, the next, it would be in the bottom of the canoe. But it was not always plain sailing with us, for Henry was so fierce in his thrusts at first, that, one night, when he made sure of getting a fine bass he saw, he overbalanced himself with a jerk, and went in along with the spear, head over heels. The water was not deep enough to do him any harm, but you may be sure we did not fish any more that night. Picking himself up, the unfortunate wight vented his indignation on the poor fish, which, by most extraodinary logic, he blamed for his calamity. I couldn't for the world help laughing ; nor could Henry himself, when he had got a little over liis first feelings of astonishment and mortification. The quantity offish that some can get in a night's spearing is often wonderful. I have watched Cour- tenay, on a night when fish were plenty, liftiiiii them from the water almost every minute, thouoh very few were larger than herrings, and he had only their backs at which to aim. In some parts of Canada there was higher game than in our waters — the salmon-trout, which is often as largo as our salmon, and the " maskeloiige," a corruption e. o- oe. for one he /cnt TV \e arm, that ;ht mity. nil cou Id liis hs: ht' ICouv- liftin^ lioin had parts oiu' largo In kptio § fi 'ih n «' *•' 1 liil m 1 EHiKfl':!: n^i , !>■: 1 • ! m 1 1 '1 Is 1 li-i'i.H 1 1 t''' , ; i 1 ■'>).' i 'i-" 'i i * r 4 '; i u 1 ii II :' i'^^ ■ - f f '• i ^ ' ■"' ol ki bo of is 1 IlK the 1 and hott quel comi from Were ever had aim violer temp so wee calve-s Tiler both i in tiie til ere 'uive St the w( Wealth murmu OS •e ii Canadian Tlimider storms. 97 of tlie French words " masque " and " longue," a kind of pike with a projecting snout, wlience its name — offering a prize of which we could not boast. It must be hard work to get such prey out of the water, but the harder it is the more exciting is the sport for those Avho are strong enough. The Indians in some districts live to a great extent on the fish they get in this way. I had almost forgotten to speak of the thunder and lightning which broke on the sultriness of our hottest summer weather. Rain is much less fre- quent in Canada than in Britain, but when it does come, it often comes in earnest. It used to rebound from the ground for inclies, and a very few minutes were sufficient to make small torrents run down every slope in the ground. When we afterwards had a garden in front of the house, we found it was almost impossible to keep the soil on it from the violence of the rains. Indeed, we gave up the at- tempt, on finding every thing we tried fail, and sowed it all with grass, to the great delight of the calves, to whom it was made over as a nursery. There is music, no doubt, in the sound of rain, both in the light patter of a summer shower, and in the big drops that dance on the ground ; but there are differences in this as in other kinds. I have stood sometimes below the green branches in the woods, when a thin cloud was dropping its wealth on them, and have been charmed by the mm'mur. But the heavy rain that came most ■;" I- "il III. ; if; i; ^: Canadian- TImnder storms. frequently in the liot weather, falh'ng as if tlirouf^li some vast cullender, was more solemn, and lilled you with something like awe. It was often ac- companied by thunder and lightning, such as those who live in cooler climates seldom hear or see. The amount of the electricity in the atmosphere of any country depends very much on the lieat of the weather. Captain Grayhame, who had command- ed a frigate on the East India station, told me once, when on a short visit, that, in the Straits of Ma- lacca, he had to order the sails to be furled every day at one o'clock, a thunderstorm coming on regu- larly at that hour, accompanied with wind so terri- ble, that the canvas of the ship would often have been torn into ribbons, and knotted into hard lumps, if he had not done so. Thunderstorms are not so exact nor so frequent in Canada, but they came too often in some years for my taste. I was startled out of my sleep one night by a peal that must have burst within a few yards of the house, the noise exceeding any thing I ever heard before or since. You don't know what thunder is till a cloud is fired that way at your ear. Our poor dog Yorick, which we liad brought from England with us, was so terrified at the violence of the storms that broke over us once and again, that he used to jump in through any open window, if the door were shut, and hide himself under the bed till all was quiet. He lost his life at last, poor brute, through his ter- ror at thunder, for one day when it had come on, 'I Canadian Thunder storms. 99 the windows and doors happening to bo closed, lie nislu'il into tlie woods in his mortal i'ear, and com- ing on the shanty of a settler, flew in and secreted hiniselt' below his accustomed shelter, the bed. The owner of the house, not knowing the facts of the case, naturally enough took it for granted that the dog was mad, and forthwith put an end to his troubles by shooting him. It was a great grief to us all to lose so kind and intelligent a creature, but we could hardly blame his destroyer. There is a wonderful sublimity sometimes in the darkness and solemn hush of nature that jioes before one of these storms. It seems as if the pulse of all things were stopped. The leaves tremble, though tlicre is not a breath of wind ; the birds either hide in the forest, or fly low in terror ; the waters look black, and are ruffled over all their surface. It seems as if all things around knew of the impend- ing terrors. I never was more awed in my life, I think, than at the sight of the heavens and the accoini)anying suspense of nature one afternoon, in the first summer we were on the river. The tempest had not burst, but it lay in the bosom of portentous clouds, of a strange, unearthly look and color, that came down to within a very short dis- tance of the earth. Not a sound broke the awful silence ; the wind, as well as all tilings else, was still, and yet the storm-clouds moved steadily to the south, apparently only a very few yards higher than the trees. The darkness was like that of an eclipse, ■■■ t H m iOO Canadian Thunderstorms. • ih hi I and no one could have said at what instant the j)rison of tlic H^htnings and thunders would rend above him and envelope him in its liorrors. I jould not, dared not stir, but stood wliere I was till die great gray masses, through which it seemed Jis if I could see the shinnner of the aerial fires, liad mailed slowly over to the other side of tlie river, and the light, in part, returned. The liiihtnino; used to leave curious traces of its visits in its effects on isolated trees all round. There was a huge pine in a field at the back of the house that had been its sport more than once. The great top had b(*en torn off, and the tinink was split into ribbons, which hunjx far down the sides. Many others, which I have seen in different parts, had been ploughed into deep furrows almost from top to bottom. The telegraph-posts, since they have been erected, have been an especial attraction. I have seen fully a dozen of them in one long stretch split uj>, and torn spirally, through their w^holc length, by a flasli which had struck the wire and run along it. That more people are not killed by it seems wonderful ; yet there are many accidents of this kind, after all. In the first or second year of our settlement, a widow lady, living a few miles up the river, was found dead in her bed, killed in a storm, and we afterwards heard of sevei'al others perishing in the same way. Hail often accompanies thunder and lightning in Canada, and the pieces are sometimes of a size that I Our Gloriouf Avtumns. 101 «V ?»^<'.'' lets one sympatliize witli tlie Egyptians when Mo- ses sent down a similar visitation on tbem. I re- member reading of a hailstorm on the llJnck Sea in the midst of hot weatlier, the j^ieces in wlii.'h were, some of them, a pound weiglit, threatening de.^th to any one they might strike. I n'jver saw tliem such a size in Canathi, hut used to think tliat it was bad enough to have tliem an incli and a half long. They must be formed by a cloud being whirled up, by some current in the air, to such a height as freezes its contents, even in the heat of summer. The weather in the fall was dehVhtful — better, I think, than in any other season of the y^ar. Get- ting its name from the bemnnino; of the f.\ll of tb« leaves, this season lasts on till winter pushes it asidcs Day after day was bright and almost cloudlws, an^^ the heat had passed into a balmy mildness, whici made the very feeling of being alive a plcasur* Every thing combined to make the landscape bear tiful. The great resplendent river, flowing so soft ly it seemed scarce to move — its bosom a broac sheet of molten silver, on which clouds, and sky, and white sails, and even the further banks, with die houses, and fields, and woods, far back from the water, were painted as in a magic mirror — was i^ beautiful sight, of which w^e never tired ; like the swans in St. Mary's Loch, which, Wordsworth says, " float double, swan and shadow," we had ships in as well as on the waters ; and not a branch, nor twig, nor leaf of the great trees, nor of the bushes, ci^ it , to* 9m ill, i f i- I u ft 102 Our Glorious Autumns, : \ nor a touch in the open landscape, was wanting, as we jKitldlc'd alon