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Meps, pistes, cherts, etc., mey be filmed et different reduction retios. Those too ierge to be entirely included in one exposure ere fllmsd beginning In the upper left hand comer, left to (Tight end top to bottom, ea many framea aa required. The following diegrems iiiustrete the method: Les certes. plsnches, tabieeux, etc.. peuvent Atre fiimAa A dee taux da rAductlon diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grend pour Atre reprodult en un seul cilchA, 11 est f ilmA A partir da I'engle supArleur geuche, de geuche A droite, et de heut en bes, en prenent le nombre d'imeges nAcesseire. Les diegremmes suivsnts illustrent le mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 /S,,,.^--' LETTERS AND - 'I EXTRACTS OF LETTERS ««• <••»•« FROM Sbf*tltr% «•• tf*t»» • ■• • • • ♦ • "• • » IN UPPER CANADA. LONDON : MAKGHANT, FR3NTBE, INORAH-eOURT, FENCHURCH-8TBEBT. 18M. CONTENTS. Page • • • • t 3 Thomas Driiry • William Green, Jun. ® Half-pay Officer ••••* ^ James Paylon • Settler in Fullarton '****" ^^ John Stinson • '** Naval Officer •*•••••••*" *' ■*'■ " ,...■■' ''"■"^ ■ . i '" , --'--^ ' ^ ■ • A < *f . i ''\' \,- LETTERS, ETC. ETC. (Copr.) No. 6, Market-Lane, York, Upper Canada, June 27, 1833. Dear Sir, — It was with much pleasure that I received a few lines from you in my father's letter, and I desire to congratu- late you on the increase of your trade and familyr^an increase of trade is a good thing, but it may possibly decline again ; An increase in family is better, for if you should ome to America with so many sous to assist you, your fortune is se- cured. I should suppose you would do much better with the addition of L.^s trade, which was considerable. The new retail which you refer to I hope will answer your expectations, but I think it unlikely to equal H.'s. If it should prove that you are at length doing well^ I should say let well alone ( that has always been my maxim. But though I thus write, it is not bi.iause I think less favourably of this country than I did — on the contrary, a year's residence in it has confirmed the good opinion I bad formed when in London. It is my decided opinion, that if you are not doing really well, you are (to use a rather vulgs)r expression) oqly hum- bugging your time away by remaining in England any longer. Yuu say if you come you will take my advice, and make yourself master of the maltingrtrade, or bring with you a man well acquainted with it-^say nothing about the or — my advice is, make yourself master of malting, but not for a moment to think of bringing over any one under the idea of working for you. If you want a maltster you can get one here. There is no advantage in bringing a man over, excepting that yuu may be acquainted with him ; but there are many disadvantages — you would have to pay the man's passage, and keep him when •^ . A :> .^ V'-^f H:ti\ tj:li\li{ ^ yon get over, and you could not expect to get settled under a /«. is sufficient to clear and fence an acre of land — but it is true. His idea of drawing the timber off makes me smile — it is burnt on the land. With respect to seeds and vegetables, yon need not trouble yourself about bringing them out, we have quite enough here. This is a flourishing country, and not in wanf of so many things as people are led to believe, it is laughable to hear some of the new comers from the old country talk of enlightening the na- tives ; they think of setting the Thames on fire, and seem somewhat surprised that people don't come and drag them out iii the steam-boats ; they think themselves such an acquisition to the country. Many emigrants come out with very extravagant notions, and are consequently disappointed. You wished to knew what account I give of the winter ; you feared a chilly one. I can only say the winter is to me extremely pleasant. — The snow covers the face of the earth, and the roads are ex- cellent at that season ; it is a very busy time, and sleighs are travelling in all directions. The cold was not so intense as I expected ; the thermometer was very seldom below Zero, and I always felt quite warm enough in my great coat when walking; I had a fur cap as it kept one's ears warm ; I wore cotton stockings all the winter. What do you think of that 7 The houses in town are warmed by stoves, and can be made very 'fnUi ) comfortable; in the country they keep fires fit to roast an ox. ^ , I thought I should find the summer teo hot to be pleasant, but )// />>>v/ though the glass was up to ninety-two at timer, it was generally accompanied with a pleasant breeze. I like the climate better than that of England — we have no fog, I may say, for I only recollect a slight mist on two or three mornings in September, and the rain falls principally in spring and autumn, yet we have a few showers in the summer. The more snow we have in winter the better ; people like it— it makes good sleighing. The timber on the land is not generally more than eighteen ^ inches or two feet in diameter, excepting pines, which are three or four feet diameter, and very lofty. Pine-land is of bad quality generally. The best land is covered with beech, maple, oak, elm, bass, white-ash, &c. To give you some idea of the quantity of timber on an acre, 1 counted the number of trees as well as 1 could, reckoning all (hose above three inches diameter; of that number eighty of them were not nine inches thick, and the largest not more than about thirty inches ; there were very few that size. In clearing land the first thing is to cut down the underbrush— the tree*) are then cut down three or four feet from the ground, the branches are lopped ofi^, and the trunk cut up into lengths of about twelve feet ; a yoke of oxen draw the logk together into heaps, the brush is piled on the top and the whole is burnt. A good hand will chop an acre a week. Some logs thai are suitable are split into rails for fencing; they are about twelve feet long and five inches square, and are placed one on atiotlier in a zigzag direction : after the land is fenced, all you have |o do is to sow the seed and harrow it in ; it does not require the plough at first : in the township that 1 am in you will get thirty or thirty-five bushels of wheat per acre, but in many townships not more than twenty-five bushels. The hops we get are not near so good as the Kentish hops, but they answer very well : 1 have had some very good beer of my own brewing, although I say it, better than my Green-street delicious, which you used to laugh about, and the beer is not to be complained of. 1 am not able to give you a particular account of the quality of the water, as I have not sufiicient skill to analyze it— it appears to me to be much the same as in England— there is no scarcity of it. I gave up brewing in W ^ ' I1 December, because I euuld not get rniy more malt, it wilt «o scarce. The brewers made use of wh«at» Bre#ii1g paid tnti so well that I intend to tackle it again when I can make it «on>- venient to malt my own barley \ however, I do not brew nowi I immediately got employment at a merchant's VvarehoUse, n Mr. Russell's ( when I had been with them about two months he sent me with goods to a place called Wpst Owillimbury^ near Lake Simcoe, to trade with the Indians and other queer geniuses. I am out here by myself, (for I write this letter at West Owillimhury,) but you will write to m6 according to my address at York ; my sister Hannah > and Robert carry on tny grocery concern while 1 am away. If my fathe# and mother should not have sailed before you rfceive this (but I hojie they will be here by then), be pleased to tell them to hasten their departure that we may have time to get settled before winter^ and by all means to write us a letter, if they have not recently written, to put us out of our misery, for we are anxiously looking for their arrival* and when (he time draWs nigh for their arrival, we shall be in a sort of purgatory till we se^ them. I forgot to tell them to bring out as much flannel as they may require for a year or two. It will be a saving. In the next place I should like, when my father comes, to take land, for that is a safe and profitable speculation, and put up a small brewery on the farm — we should make a noble living that Way( '^^.'CV V4t "'' ^^ might establish a store on the farnt : A brewery will answer any where, and so will a store. .4kf. ■> « The people of this country are mostly from Great Britain and Ireland; they are by no means stk rough and uncouth in their manners as I was led to expect ; fur my part I have uni-> fornily met with civility, and during the time I h?«ve been here) 1 have acquired a somewhat numerous acquaintance, and 1 hope a few friends. One friend oflvred me a share in his busi- ness as a storekeeper — this 1 declined, fori wish to keep myself at liberty till the arrival of my father, as he will ue«d uiy as- s>istance. Another talked of starting a brewery— he find money and I judgement — but I intend to keep on as I am for the present. I am not doing badly, for I think 1 have saved more ' wcMey in the la^t six months than I ever did in any six months before ; my expenses it is true are but small. I live very cObi* furtably in n log house^ (mind 1 am not writing «t York*) tend want for nothing but beer. We have tea and meat for break- fast, the aame for dinner and supper : it is the custom of the country to make but three meals a day. Whiskey is very cheap, it is about 7f . 8 •rr •^a^' ' ». ' ^t -' » '.: (COi'Y.) r' 'I Hamilton, Oore-DUtrict, • -*' < Upper Canada, 26th July, 1833. Dear Sir, — My father desires me to write you respecting the true condition of this country ; he is at this time engaged in taking a farm, and having an opportunity of sending a letter by a gentleman, we have embraced it. If I were to enter into a detail of the different blessings we are here favoured with, the difference there is between the old country and us, and the happy release we appear to experience in coming to this coun- try ; my pen would fail, and my paper fill, long ere the sub- ject could possibly have its due; I shall, therefore, be very brief, as I have many letters to write. We are here placed in a land of libert}, which is far from the state of England: we have no taxes, no tithes, no rates ; farmers have no rent to pay, because they all farm their own land, and here W(^ can borrow or lend a neighbour a horse, or any thing that we have, without being afraid ; here we have fruit of all kinds, growing wild, and the country is very delightful, far preferable to the old ; fur my own part, 1 should be sorry to come back again. I intend myself going to farming us soon as 1 possibly can, for farming is the best trade here ; but, in short, all trade is good here ; every person is well off here; I have only seen two poor people since we have been in Hamilton. Land in the bush is from two to three dollars per acre. Here is no distress ; the longer we live here the belter things gel. 1 would advise no one to come out here ; but I should say that if he stopped in the old country, he denied himself of that relief and comfort which he feels (hat he wants at home and cannot get it. There are great difficulties in coming across the great Atlantic : we were eleven weeks in cuming over ; had a very bad passage. Nowt f you or any of your friends think of coming out next Spring you will apply to Mr. Rider, Steeple-Bumpstead, he ives at Halston-Hall, and he will read you a letter I sent to liim. If any of you should come over bring all kinds of the best seeds, and good slips of the gooseberry-bush, for vegeta- tion is here in an infant state. -^ I remain, your sincere friend and well-wisher, (Signed) Wm. Grbbn, Jun. To Mr. Gtrnpaofif San. Gardener^ Linioyt, CambHdgeshire. ' 9 Extraeti of a Letter from a Half-pay Officer 9ettled in the NewcattU District, Upper Canada, to hit Friend in Lon- don, dated 24th November, IQ'M. , , ■ . . If you could take a trip out here next Summer, via New York by all meant, you would learn more of the actual state of this part of the colony in a few weeks' time than from all the books that have been written about it for the last ten years, and, 1 may add, from any one who has resided in it. For- merly, your informant't statements, however true they may have been, to a certain extent, several years ago, are now totally inapplicable to Upper Canada, or at least to this part of it, at the present day. I have had much conversation re- garding the former slate of the colony with the older settlers, and they all agree in stating that, until within the last four or five years, they were obliged to take goods in exchange for their wheat, &c. from the merchant ; now, however, the case is totally altered, aud money cnn be readily obtained for most articles of farm produce. When the farmer happens to be in their debt, however, as at home, they frequently compel him to take goods in part paymeut, and allow a smaller price for their grain. Even making allowance for the difference of times, your informant't statement that not even value in any thape could be obtained for produce, I cannot help regarding as a great ex'^ggekition. If this was the case, I would ask him how the inhabitants of the colony roauaged to clothe ihemaelvet. As to your informant't other opinions, which only show his ignorance, I shall merely answer them by facts, which I engage myself to establish by the sound :st of all proofs, viz. L. S. D. Your own doubts, I own, are only natural, but, fiom the ar- rangements 1 have made in your favour, you will not have MB to blame if you do not discard them. There is one thing I should state, which I believe I formerly mentioned, viz. that, notwithstanding the rapidly increasing vahie of land in most parts of the province, it will nevor do to force a tudden tale, as in such cases property is often sold at 1&. 3d. below its mar- ket-price. Yesterday I completed a purchase for you of 227 acres of land, viz. 127 acres in Hamilton, about four miles to the eastward of Cobourg, and 100 acres in Haldimand, about nine miles east from Cobourg and two miles anc! a half from the >*,yk^ V 10 if h-^ fi m village of Graftun, near the shore of the Lake. The fir»t mentioned place is to cost £000 currency, and the last men- tioned £800, in all £900 currency, or, at the present rate of exchange, about £760 sterling. Each of these places contains about 70 acres of cleared land, free from stumps, and has small orchards of apple-trees, log-houses, barns, &c. My bargain with Mr. C, the seller, is that, if you are not pleased with your purchase, he will take back the land, and will re- turn the price in two years, with 10 per cent, per annum for the use of the money. 1 have also had a lease drawn, subject to your approval, which will not be binding till the 1st of April next, in favour of Mr. , an experienced and sub- stantial English farmer, who will take all the land for seven, fourteen, or twenty-one years, for the yearly rent of £80 currency, or nearly 9 per cent, on the purchase-money. Mr. will at any time give up the lease on being paid at a fair valuation for his improvements. If you do not wish to take possession of the property for some years, I would strongly recommend you to grant a lease fur seven years at least, as you must be well aware that justice will never be done to the land on shorter leases ; and, on his own account, the tenant, in this case, will find it his interest to make improvements, which will cost you nothing, and the land be, consequently, increased in value, independently of the progressive increase^ in value in the lands in this part of the province, which I have formerly slated at 25 per cent, per annum, and which I stil! think 1 have not overrated. The country around these estates is beautiful, well cleared and fully settled, and the soil is generally excellent, particularly for grain crops. There is little expense und no uncertainty in titles in Upper Canada, if properly attended to. In the Lower Province it is otherwise. < I have had the transfer duly effected, and shall forward you the- title-deeds, if you d<*sire it; in the meantime I send you a cer-' tificate from the Register-Office at Cobourg, where the transfer ^ !s recorded, which ahne assures your title. By paying Is. 6d. | at this office any person can ascertain whether any mortgages • affect any property within the district, and at this office all^ transactions regarding land must by law be duly registered. < The whole expense of transfer and recording is only £1:5:0 and lease IDs. You will perceive that I am most anxious to give you every satisfaction and security in the purchases I have 11 effected for you, and I regret much that I could not Tenture to make any further purchases, at a time when there is a little temporary embarrassment in business, from a foolish panic, arising from a report that the British Government had refused to confirm the charter of the York Bank. Both of the places command a view of the Lake, and th^ scenery around is very beautiful. Lake Ontario has every appearance of a great ocean, with the exception of beikig less troubled, and the scenery on the shores of a softer character. The country through which the water communication will pass, between Lake Huron and Kingston, is generally very fine, and the difference of c!imate between it and the neighbourhood of Cobourg is hardly perceptible. -^ I shall now give yon some account of my own proceedings since I wrote last, and detail my future prospects, in which I feel assured you will lend me your assistance, which I am de- termined to merit by the manner in which 1 shall conduct any , commissions I may receive. Some time ago, by the death of a relation, I came in for a legacy, which enabled me to make some most desirable purchases of land at a sale of Government lands ; I bought 200 acres of wild land in Douro, adjoining part of my grant which I had taken up in that township. As none of the neighbours who knew the land would oppose me, I got it at 20». per acre, and immediately after the sale I was offered £2 per acre by a land speculator. I have contracted for clearing twenty acres and building a log*house there, where I intend to fix my future residence. I have sold my far ^. here for £200 and 800 acres of wild land, which is worth at least £400 more, in all £600, being better than double what^my farm here cost a year ago. You will say this is pretty well; but I have been favoured by the circumstance alluded to. I now come to my future plans, in which I think you can mate- rially assist me without incurring any kind of responsibility. I . propose, in conjunction with my brother-in-law, to undertake an agency business for investing money in improved lands for capitalists in England who may honour us with commissions for that purpose. My plan is shortly as follows ; to make no pur- chases until a good tenant is found, who will pay a rent of from 6 to 8 per cent, on the price of the land for any term of years not exceeding twenty-one years. The price of the lands would V !^ 12 ■t^' >nH. '■ t. A> u '\ not bepayqbl^ until the purchase was effected, and cleur titles made out and duly registered. We propose charging three per cent* on all transactions, with travelling expenses,. which last would not be great. It would obviously be our interest, and we should make a point of managing the business in the most economical manner for the parties employing us. My brother- in-law has been several years employed by the Canada Com* pany in locating settlers, &c. &c. and from his experience as a fimner is well qualified to form a correct judgement of the soil and situation of the lands, &c. As 1 have formerly stated, wild Umd» rise much more rapidly in value than improved lands, when judiciously chosen; but their ultimate rise in value, though certain, proceeds at a different rate, according to circumstances in different situations. Of course if employed to make purchases of wild lands, which is not a part of our im- mediate plaL, we would require to examine the lands particu- larly, which would be attended with considerable difficulty from want of roads, &c. and greater expense than in the first case. I should feel particularly obliged by your mentioning our proposal to any of your friends who might wish to purchase land in Canada (that is to say, in the neighbouring districts as regards Cobourg). I should state that, in the first instance, I would undertake to invest £5000 in land paying from 6 to 8 per cent, in rent in the immediate neighbourhood of Cobourg, Port Hope, &c. &c. ; our future proceedings must be deter- mined by circumstances. The society in the neighbourhood of your farms is much belter than where I am. By-the-bye I should mention, that though one of the far<:js is called 127 acres in the deed, it is supposed actually to contain about 160 acres. I trust my arrangements will give you satisfaction, and I am, &c» &c, N.6. During last winter one house in Cobourg paid £4000 in cadi for the article of wheat alone. Huron Tract, South-east Hope, ^-ii Upper Canada, July 20th, 1833. Mt DEAR Brothbr-in-i.aw,—I hope this will find you and my dear sister in good health, as we are all here at present; we find ourselves tolerably v^v*ll settled, though so short a time 13 in the counlry. We have all got an hundred acres of land /), each, at beven shillings and sixpence per acre, and that the '^^' best land possible, and have got about four or five acres a-piece clear, with crops that look tolerably well ; the money for the land required to be paid in five annual instalments, with inte- rest. We expect to have thirty or forty acres cleared by next spring, most of which we will sow with wheat, potatoes, and vegetables. Those who have time can make abundance of sugar from the maple-tree, which is very plentiful ; likewise salts from the ashes of the burnt timber, which sells well ; in fact, any one that is but moderately sober and industrious need not fear to do well here, but whiskey is so plentiful and cheap, it ruins many. Wo have got a great many Irishmen on the tract, who are good neighbours and settlers. We had a good passage here of four weeks, yet was near being lost in a squall of wind; the cholera raged very much when we arrived, taking numbers off in every quarter, yet we all escaped, thank Go/d, nor have we had any cases of it since last fall. Our friend Daniel Hanly parted with us at York, and am sorry we have not heard from him since ; I would wish, if he writes home, you would let me know where he is, and how his father, and mother, and brothers are. We met with John M'Guire and his wife in York, whom we were very glad to see ; they treated us well ; they told us Cumunham was working here as a labouring man ; can do as well as any man here ; he can get from twelve to sixteen dollars per month, besides his board ; provisions are very dear here in the summer, but if he saves a little money he can provide for himself and family by laying in r store in the winter, which is the most reasonable time, as provisions are not above one-third ^ y of the price then. Girls can get from four to six dollars per /^^-^ month, with every thing else they require. If you should think of coming here at any time, of which notion 1 should be glad, don't attempt to set out in the beginning of the season, as it is then if not all the most of the danger is ; the latter end of May or June is the beat time, the latter to be preferred. Give my love I ' all our friends and neighbours, and with love to you and my dear sistter, I remain your affectionate brother, James Payton. To John Costello, ..^ Lakefieldt County Roscommon, Ireland. i i\ ;1 H A. m 14 // '7r ■,'rn I 1 ht'^ J Sf'. Extract of a Letter from a Person who emigrated to Upper ^'^ Canada, Township of Fullarton. Our crop of turnips Is vtty fine, as is also our wheat. The last of our spring wheat was sown on the 29th May, and ap- peared to be better than what was sown on the ISth. Our potatoes were planted in the beginning of June, moulded in July, and ready for us6 by the second week in August. They are as good as any that I have eaten in Ireland. Our erops are put into the ground much later, and our harvest is earlier than in Ireland ; and I may here tell you that all the garden seeds which I took with me grew very well. In our garden we have fiv« kinds of eabbages, carrots, parsnips, telery, parsley, leeks, onions, olives, and almost «very kind of ^alad ; about a quarter of an acre in melons and cucumbers, also peas, French beans, beet<>root, and mustard ; but what will surprise you most of all is that I intend sowing half an acre in sunflowers from the seed of my own which I brought with me; but to unriddle this seeming folly, be it known to you that half a pint of this seed in the day Is sufficient to fatten a sheep in six weeks, and make it fit for use. Ws also feed our fowls on this seed ; in short, any man who can and is willing to work should not hesitate to com« here if he ran, being sure, in a few years, to be inde- pendent. Female servants gbt four dollars by the month, be- side excellent diet. ;r»*'* •V,' No. 44, First Concession of North East Hope, Huron tract. Upper Canada, North America, Avon. \1\\k January, 1834. My ever dear Father,— I received your letter of the 2Bth of A— il on the dOth of July last. I wrote two letters to you on the 17th of July, one by post, and the other by the Canada Company's Agent. I hope you received cither of them. Since then I was wiiiting for an answer, but I feel the time so tedious without often hearing from you, I resolved not to let this opportunity pass without writing. One of the conii?>?S' sioners has come up to visit the settlers, and he is kind enough to send this letter, with others, to London. My dear father, ill my laitl letter I endeavoured to give you an accoiuit of tli(> climate of this country. I hope it was saiisfectory to you. I cannot either add to or diminish any thing 1 have satd about 15 it, And from all that I can learn from the older settlers and the natives it was correcl. IVty dear father, the demand for lands in this settlement was so great that the lots 1 thonght to hav« kept for you were pHrohased last summer at an advance of 2«. Od. on the acre, but I have now an opportunity of getting theiti again, as the owner wishes to go further up the country to live near some friends ; it is just the same kind of land that I haVit, and joins it ; he has made several improvements on it, which, with the advance, comes to about £60, and the pur- chase-money for the 200 acres is £87 : l0«. to be paid to the Canada Company in six years, by instalments; this latter sum he has nothing to do with ; the £60 is just for his interest ; he has about four or five acres clear, and about ten more partly done, the (irst crop of which wilt pay back more than he requires ; I have engaged it conditionally for you, and perhaps in ten years I could n'^'; uit you better in a farm ; he promises to hold it for me ui.^ti May. tf you could have his part placed to my credit in the Canada Company's Office, London, the commissioners here would hand it to me for him ; by doing so you would have no trouble on your arrival but to get up a hou^e, which is a tri^e, and I will have every thiug necessary for it before you arrive. The Company are now about to rise tiieir land again, and the difference next spring may be more on 200 acres of wild land than the improvement on the farm I speak of is now, together, perhaps, Mrith going a mile or two into thd Woods to live, as all the lands on this road arc taken up. My dear father, do not lose this opportunity ; 1 know you would rstther the whole of it be On the next farm to me, along with the advantage of a public road, and a good river running through it. If t had the money myself you should know no- thiuj^ nf it Until yoU came here ; ail my capital went in the purchaiie of stock, provisions, hire, &c. since 1 came here; but, pleafiie God, my farm will soon repay me the fruits of my labour ; I could sit this moment sell It for four times what it cost me. My dear father, it will be so laic in the season be- fore you receive this letter, you can scarcely have another before it would be time for you to embark. Some people prefer coming by New York, as being the safest aUd most expeditious v(»yage ; others Quebec, as it is something cheaper. 1 have just got an account from a Mr. Linton, a Scotch advocate, who Itinded at New York, and from that port came here: — ..,'^ 1 I 16 >i I ) // A It t 2 I, t . MtlM From New York to Albainy, by tow boets in lest than twenty-four hours ....• 145 From Albany to Syracuse, by Erie canal 171 From Syracuse to Oswego, by canal* • t : - , . . . 38 . .364 From Oswego in about thirty hours passengers and luggage conveyed by a schooner to Hamilton. He says, '* I paid in the summer of 1833, £1:6:3 for passage from New York to Hamilton, for each grown person, and lOOlbs. and for every other lOOlbs. over and above, 3«. 4d." My dear father, you can calculate your expenses as far as Hamilton, within sixty miles of me ; from thence it is by waggons one dollar for every cwt. By Quebec it is very near the same, but a great deal more tedious ; but wherever it is you land write to me. My dear father, before you agree with any captain or owner of a vessel, enquire well into the character of both, as of the crew, and see that the latter are smart active men ; examine the vessel also ; there may be some bad characters on board that will try to raise disturbances. Do not le^ have any thing to say to them : it cannot hurt you if you have to board your- selves ; come well prepared as I mentioned to you in my first letter, and every article I mentioned in my other letters you will have occasion for, particularly strong boots and shoes, warm and fine clothes, strong linen and flannel, and a few pair of strong furze cutting gloves ; all sorts of clothes here are very dear, and hard to be got ; tailors' wages are by far higher than the price of the cloth. Desire the girls to bring plenty of good clothes for themselves, as well as tapes, threads, pins, needles, ribbons, trimmings, checks, &c. ; these may appear trifling, but when you come to want them you would be glad to have brought them. Since I wrote the above I have made some more enquiries as to whether Quebec or New York would be the best route, and every person says New York. My dear father, I mu!>t conclude this scrawl with most af- fectionate love to my dear sisters and brother. May the Almighty be your pilot through the briny deep, and may I shortly be able to receive you all in this new world. I remaiii, my ever dear father, your afteclionatc son, John Stinson. ■ 17 Extracts of Letters written to various Friends by a Naval Officer settled in the London District. Beacliville, Oxford, West, London District, Upper Canada, 30lh November, 1*^33. You will have heard from my brothers of our safe arrival across the Atlantic, and my having settled in this part of Ca- nada, with which I am greatly pleased ; on the whole, indeed, I am delighted with the Upper Province, which, instead of disappointing, has much exceeded my expectations, and my only regret is that I did not take the important step of coming here a few years earlier, when I should have got land, parti- cularly my Government grant, on much better terms than it is to be had now ; still it is utmost absurdly cheap yet, when the luxuriance and exhaustless fertility of the soil are considered : I paid five dollars an acre (or about one guinea sterling) for my first purchase of 200 acres, but then there arc twenty cleared, with an excellent new log*house upon the farm, where I, with my nephew and servant live, about a mile from the farm house which 1 have taken part of fur my family till I build my own proper mansion next year : the adjoining 200 acres of wild land I bought for 135. an acre, so that I have now 400 in one lot, which h a very snug compact property : my Government allow- ance will add about 300 acres more to this ; but I intend taking some time to look well round me that I may make as judicious a selection as 1 can of land for my grant. I am happy to say that I am already fairly installed as a farmer, for 1 have got my little crop of wheat and rye into the ground ; I am owner of a capital waggon and team of oxen, and I have bought and sold both live and dead stock in a ismall way. I certainly have accom- plished as much as I expected to do, and am very well satisfied with my labours, hard enough as they are from morning to night : how delightful, indeed, is my life of vigorous exertion now to the drudgery and harassing cares I left behind me in England. This it not yet a country where much money is to be made except by those who can afford to speculate largely in land, and wait for some years for a large return upon the outlay ; but then the finest land is so cheap yet, (though it is rapidly rising), and the necessaries of life are to be procured so easily, that after the bustle and discomfort of getting set- tled are over, a man with a family, who has a little capital to begin with, feels a perfect load shaken ofl' his mind and spirits, and he breathes in an atmosphere of ease and cheerfulness, to ^i^y ■><%^- IB m i W H 4/7W ill whtcli, ill England, he wsi nii utier $tranger: tlieie, at least, have been my lenaationi, and I do not think I am of an over sanguine dispoaition. It is, to be sure, not all sunshine here, for we have very consideaable disadvantages to contend with, sueh as the want of gopd servants and the general scarcity of labourers } but these evils ar^ decreasing yearly asemigratien goes on, and really in this country a person is thrown so much upon his own ingenuity and resources, that he soon learns to be much less dependent upon the help of others than at home. On the score of respectable neighbours we are very fortunate, for I can count eight or ten naval or army officers, with their fami- lies within a few miles of us : we are to have a large importa- tion, too, next year, for Admiral Vansittart is coming here with all his establishment, and will bring a clergyman' with him, who is to have the new church which my friend Captain Drew, R.N. is building, about a mile from where we live, which I look upon as a great comfort and blessing to us. In the way of provisions we are much better oft' than I expected ; we have excellent beef at 3d. and the finest venison at 2d, per lb. ; our bread, butter, and milk, are not as cheap in proportion ; but next year I shall have my own dairy estublishmeni, and send my own grain to the mill* which will remedy that. On the whole, 1 consider i have greatly bettered my circumstances by coming to this part of the world, and though I should hardly like the res|)onsibility of advising others to follow my example, I give my candid opinion on my own case, and I should further say that if the advantages of Upper Canada were understood and appreciated in England as much as 1 value them, thousands instead of lens would come out here. To C. I, I. G. 6tli Dec. 188», I am npw master pf 400 acres of beautiful land ; it is for- tunately all in Qiie pi«ce> thPUgh I purchased it at diiferent times ; the whole cost me about £320 sterling, and I am well plea{>¥d with Uiy bargain, which is considered » very good one, for land situptdl only a mile frpm Dundas Street, (or the Go- y^rnor's I((iad| as it i^i called here), having twenty acres cleared, and a good log^hQuse upon it- I have not yet availed myself of my Governmenl grant, as I intend taking plenty of time to look round for the chpice of some vfry eligible locatioq, which 1 may think likely to rise into importanee soon. I continue to 10 be greatly pleased willi this beautiful country, and nm fully satisfied with my progress a9 yet, which has been quite equal to my hopes and expectations when I left England ; at that time I was very desirous that I might succeed in making u purchase of land, settling myself upon it, and doing a Utile before the winter set in, and ull this I have managed to do, for I put some acres under crop last month, and I already number among ny live stock an excellent yoke of oxen, a cow, and about a doxen pigs ; 1 have, too, a first rate waggon, and I am now thrashini; out two stacks of wheat and oats, which I purchased : all this looks well for a first start, and X iutend clearing thirty or forty acres this fal), so that I shall have, I ho|»e, in the course of next year, a clear farm of fifty to sixty acres under crop, which will supply my household with much of the needful, besides something over for the market. The life I lead is really delightful and exhilarating, and so completely am I occupied and engrossed with my labours^ that of my three guns which J brought out with me I have not put a charge into one of them since I landed ; there is no lack of game either, as we have deer, squirrels, racoons, and wolves, in abundance ; the first three are excellent eating. **•♦*•♦• Money goes much further than in England, ****** l lij^e my farming and clearing operations very much, and 1 look for- ward with delight to the life of constant vigorous activity I am entering upon : much do 1 lament the shortness of the days at present, for I feel, if they were ten times as long, I should have work enough to crowd iuto them. I intend to buy ano- ther yoke of oxen if I can get them cheap, so much have I to do with clearing land and other jobs. To f.M.i. I. G. 7th January, 1834. When 1 came down to breakfast this morning 1 found the bread, meat, mustard, cream, and moist sugar all frozen : this certainly was practically convincing as to the degree of cold, and much more so than my own feelings apprised me of, for, though I am very little more warmly clothed than I should be in England, 1 have not by any means experienced what I should call extreme cold, and was greatly surprised to hear some of the people say this was one of the sharpest days we might expect during the winter : the particular bitterness of it arose, I observed, from the cutting westerly wind, and, had ''■ii: Tnr I J'' IH I'^l 2D the day been calm, wa ihould hate scarcely felt it, for the ran has coniiderable power at mid*day.— * * * You request de- tails which may assist your friends in their way hither, and I shall be glad to l>e of any use in that way. As a general cau- tion, let me advise all who intend coming here to call Into re- quisition a little of their common sense, and not expect in this New Country all the comforts, natural and artificial, of a highly polished society, for such anticipations can only termi- nate in diitappointuient, and more probably in disgust. Greatly indeed do I wish that I could inoculate nil Emigrants with a spice of my own liking to Canada ; a liking, perhaps, much strengthened by finding that the rational plain sense hopes with which 1 started, have been in no way disappointed, but rather exceeded, i certainly think that most writers upon Canada have understated the sum which is necessary for a gentleman with a family to set out with comfortably, and there is a vague sort of impression amongst the public that if a per- son lands with a few hundreds in his pocket he is at once com- fortably provided for : this is a gross mistake, and must lead "some into intolerable difiiculties, for a time at least, when they may at last struggle through and succeed : but I should say with less than £1000 or £1200 much hardship and privation may be expected by those who have brought up their families genteelly in England : to be sure some people can bear these things better than others, and there roust be different degrees of suffering according to\ habit and disposition in the parties; l>ut in this country, even in the smallest way, with a few acres of your own, there is a feeling of independence a tfaouiaad per cent, better than the exterior ihow of comfort at hoilie, while one is really pressed to the very earth with positive want and embarrassment. Those people who have grown up boys have a great adviiltage ; they are so much wealth or money saved in tb^ shape of labour, that is if they are under fttod discipline and made to be useful in the various ways tliiejf iciui 'be here.—* * * In the way of equipment, a very lai^ Wi^rtf- iohti is not necessary. My strong fiiloUghmiin'i boots, 'ine Very .useftii^ and a pair of fisherman's boots iip to the knees have tiera ftiwtfiiiiile to me. Grown up persons should bring a moderate stock of good eobsfmitiiil tlothing for summer and wintef ; and for growing children stuff sbdUld be brought, tb make up in this cttuMry. Pmm hO.toR. H, I.