IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 
 
 i.l 
 
 ^ 1^ 12.0 
 
 IX 
 
 I' 
 
 !.8 
 
 L25 inu 11.6 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Coipocalion 
 
 23 WiST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) •72-4503 
 
 
' 
 
 ^ 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 Microfiche 
 
 .'*^ ■ 
 
 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 exempiaire 
 qu'il lui a 6tA possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exempiaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la m6thode normale de filmage 
 sent indiquis ci-dessous. 
 
 □ 
 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 Covers damaged/ 
 Couverture endommagde 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicul6e 
 
 Covar title missing/ 
 
 Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 □ Coloured maps/ 
 Cartes gdographiques en couleur 
 
 □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 □ Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Reli6 avec d'autres documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La reliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge intirieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ ■ 
 I! se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mais, lorsque cela ^tait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas 6t6 filmdes. 
 
 □ Coloured pages/ 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 □ Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommag^es 
 
 Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 Pages restaur6us et/ou pelliculdes 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages d6color6es, tachet6es ou piqudes 
 
 □ Pages detached/ 
 Pages ddtach^es 
 
 0Showthrough/ 
 Transparence 
 
 □ Quality of print varies/ 
 Quality indgale de I'impression 
 
 □ Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du materiel suppl6mentaire 
 
 □ Only edition available/ 
 Seuie Edition dssponible 
 
 D 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages tota*ement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de fapon d 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 D 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires suppldmentaires; 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 
 
 10X 14X 18X 22X 
 
 / 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 26X 
 
 30X 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 32X 
 
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity of: 
 
 IMetropolitan Toronto Library 
 Canadian History Dapartment 
 
 The images appearing hera are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in Iceeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 L'exemplairo film* fut reproduit grAce A la 
 gAnirositA de: 
 
 IMetropolitan Toronto Library 
 Canadian History Dapartmant 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 4t6 reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at 
 de la nettet6 de I'exemplaire film*, et en 
 conformit6 avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 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 ccver 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. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 pupier est imprimte sont filmte en commenpant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant eoit par la 
 dernlAre 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 
 premiere page qui comport-9 une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'Hiustrntion et en terminant par 
 la dernidre page qui comporte une telle 
 empre-nte. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol — ► (meaning "CON- 
 TINUED "). or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 IVIaps. 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: 
 
 Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la 
 dernidra image de cheque microfiche, selon le 
 cas: le symbols -^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le 
 symbols V signifie "FIN". 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre 
 filmte d des taux de reduction diffArents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre 
 reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir 
 de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite. 
 et de haut en has, en prenant le nombre 
 d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrent la mAthode. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 32X 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
p 
 
 o 
 
 ■n 
 
 O 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 HI 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 H 
 
 ■/) 
 
 .u. 
 
«!■ ■"^^^^ 
 
 A 
 
 - "^ '5/ it3> 
 
 ^\ 
 
 WHAT 
 
 EMIGRATION 
 
 REALLY IS. 
 
 BY A 
 
 RESIDENT IN CANADA AND AUSTRALIA. 
 
 1(777/ ILLUSTHATIONS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 •I 
 
 ■*■ ., 
 
 LONDON: 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY 
 
 THE GEAPHOTYPING COMPANY/ LIMITED, 
 7, GARRICK STREET, W.C. 
 AND ALL BOOKSELLERS, '. ' ' 
 
TW 
 
 ■"tf' 
 
 " "■ ?r~»"' 
 
 -^ ^-^^^^ 
 
 
 JUu 7 1940 
 
 77//* P<7)^r ;r^,? rw^/ /;/;/?>;'e /he Brplfanl Fiiiiqra/ion Sorit-///, 
 Frhviuiri/ ^Ih, 1S7(). 
 
 i- 
 

 ■•^"WiF>!r!»i>i5,II|pp»r'"™''^«i^"»»W":'^^ 
 
 -^ 
 
 WHAT EMIGRATION REALLY IS. 
 
 n 
 
 The subject of eniigration ia one tliat at the present time occupies 
 very largely the attention of nearly every person. I suppose there 
 are few in tliis country who have not some near relative or frieml, 
 who has emigrated, or who are not themselves thinking of doing so. 
 Unhappily the state of trade is so very bad here, that many who a 
 few years, perhaps months, ago did not even dream of leaving their 
 native land, are now anxious to do so, longing to quit its shores for 
 one of those countries, which they are continually told are the abodes 
 of prosperity and plenty. I need not occupy space by saying any- 
 thing at all about the ways and means adopted for the purpose of 
 raising funds for those to emigrate with who have no means at all of 
 their owu ; I leave it in wiser hands than mine to devise plans by 
 which help can be conveyed to tho^se who cannot help themselves. 
 The organizing of emigration clubs, appeals to Government, or what 
 not, I shall not touch upon, but shall confine my wordu to matters 
 that must interest those who, having by some means either already 
 obtained, or seen their way to obtainirg wherewith to go, are now 
 anxious to get information on emigrntion. I am not in the habit 
 of addressing the public, and I should not think even now of doing 
 so, did I not feel that I should be wrong to refrain from conveying 
 to others as much as lies in my power of the knowledge I ha^e ob- 
 tained in a rather lengthened residence in two of our colonies, 
 Canada and Australia. For I find that there is great ignorance dis- 
 played on this subject, and even those who essay to inform others, 
 not having themselves actually gone through the experience, lead 
 them astray to a great extent. All that I shall tell you is based 
 upon my own actual experience, and I cannot but think that a little 
 of such knowledge must be valuable, I have myself done nearly every- 
 thing that a new settler in a new country has to do, and I should be 
 perfectly at home to-day if I were landed in either Australia or Canada, 
 and had to find out my way of living there. As Canada is so very 
 much nearer to us than any of our other colonies, — is therefore the 
 cheapest to get to, and consequently, I am sure, the place to which 
 most of you are turning, — I shall tell most about that country ; but, 
 before I go any further, 1 must say a few words, which, I fear, will 
 upset many of your already-formed ideas about emigrating, although, 
 if you bear with me to the end of what I hope to say to you, I think 
 I shall be able to show you there is hope for you in other lands ; 
 and as I am sure that it is far better for you to know the truth of the 
 matter, than to be flattering yourselves, that once out of England, all 
 your troubles end, I shall begin by telling you that neither Canada, 
 nor the United States, nor Australia, nor anywhere that may be 
 selected, holds out any positive release from the troubles of hard 
 
 ,^,■ ''i 
 
•!N.^ ' 
 
 
 work and hard fare, which human boinga arc subject to wherever 
 they may go. It is all aonsense to suppose that tliere arc no poor 
 people, that there are no beggars iu the countries we are speaking 
 of; I assure you they are plentiful there, and that it is not an easy 
 matter to get work even there. True, we hear accounts, and wo 
 read letters from those who have gone, giving the most glowing ac- 
 counts of the places, where Ihet/ are doing well ; but do we hear any- 
 thing of numbers of others that are there and not doing well ? It is 
 because I have lived there, and seen, and felt for, those of my country- 
 men and countrywomen who have arrived there friendless and penni- 
 less, that I speak to you as I do. 
 
 And it really is because I have so often thought how much I 
 would like to direct and help these unfortunate people when I have 
 seen them there, that I now think it a privilege to be able to give 
 my word of advice to you before you go there. Do not go with the 
 idea that you are not going to see trouble there, nine out of ten of 
 you will see plenty of it; but I think if you will pay attention to 
 what I am gomg to say, that it will help you out of a good bit of it. 
 You have been often told that the moment you land on the other side 
 of the Atlantic, there will be friendly hands held out to help you, — 
 this is a contwon statement in the newspapers; it is said, too, that 
 you will ^Hid flju have stepped into a country where work and food are 
 plentiful, and inhere everything is happy and prosperous. Now, this 
 is a great mistake, if understood literally. There are plenty of people 
 there who will take you by the hand, lohen, but not before, you have 
 proved yourself worthy of help ; there is plenty of work to be had in 
 the country, but rarely when you first land ; and there is plenty of 
 food there, and very cheap too, and when you are in a way of earn- 
 ing it you are all right. 
 
 My own established belief is, that the great advantage of emigra- 
 tion to a man is, that it cuts him adrift from the old associations, 
 throws him so very much more on his own resources, and forces 
 him to do something desperate for himself; and, in some of the 
 colonies, where there is undoubtedly a larger field for enterprise 
 than there can ba here, a man in shesr desperation wittido things 
 which he would not dream of doing here, and succeeds in them. 
 A man goes to Canada, — a blacksmith, — he cannot get employment, 
 he has no friends, he must work or he must starve, some one offers 
 him a job to work at road-making, he does it, and gets from that to 
 bo a contractor for road-making and makes money ; another man 
 goes to Australia, — a bricklayer, — he can't get work, is very liard-up, 
 a sheep-farmer comes across him and offers him a shepherd's berth, 
 ho takes it, goes into the bush, tends a flock of sheep, gets on by 
 degrees at that. Now who that is here, a blacksmith, would not think 
 it beneath him, however hard-up he may be, to go and work as a 
 stonebreaker on the roads or as a navvy even ? or where is the brick- 
 layer here, who would dream of going into the country and taking 
 work as a shepherd or drover ? There are, I know, great difficulties 
 in the way of a man doing that here, so there are there ; here, 
 though I think it is very often a man's own fault, as well as it is 
 there. In one of our colonies if a man could not get employment at 
 his own particular trade, and would not take any other, he would be 
 considered a fool, and would be allowed to starve if he pleased. I 
 know of my own experience here, men who have lost good employ- 
 
^ '^^^ 
 
 '"'T "■ ,-V'''^'J* .-rV^ 
 
 r" 
 
 mcnt because tlicy would not do some little thing that is not their 
 own buwiness, — printers, prcssnicii, who rather than set a ty{)e, 
 ihou^'h they knew well how to do it, left their places. Men who tend 
 l)rintii)<,'-ni!iel\ineH, wlien work f^ets alack, rather than condescend to- 
 work a hund-press, will throw away a good berth. Such men I consider ' 
 worse than fools ; and it ia because in the colonies uien cnnnot, dare 
 not net thus, that 1 believe much of their success may be accounted 
 I'or ; for there arc very few, I should say no such charitable organi- 
 /iitions there for helping poor people who are able to work, but can- 
 not obtain it, as we have hero. Every man must look out for himself. 
 
 It must be explained, however, that I am not saying a word agamst 
 the Canadians, who are simply just the same as we are, — indeed, our 
 own people, — and when oceasioi'<a really iirise, are just as kind and 
 generous as we are here. 1 heard, tiie other day, of a man who went 
 to Canada ; ho was a watchmaker, but could not make his way at that, 
 and so seeing an opportunity, lie turned his attention to making 
 isausages and succeeded; ho only acted sensibly. I know a man 
 myself who was a shipwright ; now in Canada that trade is not of 
 much account, so, although he was well onv^jjij^fe, he thought he would 
 be a watchmaker, and now ho is, I believe, ^'rich man. It seems to 
 me if wo had move of this kind of thing here, it would be better for 
 all of us. Perhaps it is impossible to alter an old settled state of 
 things in this country ; but if 1 were thrown on my own resources, I 
 think I. should try in this way, and if 1 could not get anythiny to 
 do here, then, and not till then, should 1 talk about emigrating. 
 
 Since the year IS J:7, when i ilrst wei.t to Canada, which has been 
 my homo nearly ever since, 1 have had excellent opportunities of 
 judging of it as a place to emigrate to ; and, under certain conditions, 
 1 must tell you that I co)i8ider it the best place in the whole world. 
 These conditions are, first, that ah emigrant shall be suitable for the 
 country; next, that he bo determined to settle down there perma- 
 nently, and to take at first any kind of work that he can possibly 
 find to do ; and last, but by no means least, that he be a strictly 
 temperate man. 
 
 The first (juestion, and the most difficult to answer is, who is a 
 suitable person to emigrate to Canada ? Perhaps I shall help the 
 matter by telling you who is not fit to go, who is not wanted there. 
 A sickly, weakly person should not go. A clerk, or shopman, or any 
 one who is not able to work hard at manual labour is decidedly not 
 wanted there. A person who wants to shun hard work is most de- 
 cidedly not wanted there, and people who think that they can go 
 there and get on without much struggling and pushing, had far better 
 not go there. But on the other hand, any able-bodied, hard-working, 
 sober, steady man who can't get on here, should go; any such man who 
 with his wife and large family finds it impossible to make a living 
 here, should go ; any hard-working man or woman who has tried 
 everything here fairly and thoroughly, and finds there is no hope, 
 should go ; but any one who has any reasonably good way of doing 
 here, who has anij prospect before him, is very foolish if he goes. 
 Good female servants are really much needed there, and are the 
 only people sure to get on at once. 
 
 With regard to Canada, I must tell you that I cannot conscien- 
 tiously advise any one to go there with the view of settling in a 
 town. . The different cities there — and I know all of them pretty 
 
8 
 
 well — aro about as thickly populated with mechanics, artisana of all 
 kiiula, aud j)eoplo looking for employment, as Huch towns aro here. 
 Tj'ue, these Canadian towns arc growing rapidly, most of them, and 
 th'cro aro chances of employment, but I really don't think they will 
 bo found to hold out very much advantage over this country. 
 
 The great beauty of Canada, and of nil new countries, is the vast 
 extent of unoccupied land lying ready to repay the settler for all 
 the labour ho can expend on it ; and it is towards these unsettled, 
 or but partially settled parts that I adviso every ono to go. There 
 are, of coureo,*village8 and towns growing up in those parts whicli 
 offer a better chance for a mechanic to get employment, but on the 
 whole I must strongly, distinctly advise you to go to tho newest 
 part of tho country you can possibly reach, and then strain every 
 nerve, and lay all your plans with the view of obtaining a lot of ^and 
 of your own ; and then every man, no matter what his former trade or 
 experience may be, who has strong hands and a willing heart, will 
 not fail in a very few years to make a good home for himself and his 
 family, will never be any more in want of the necessaries of existence, 
 will be able to obtain, indeed, all the comforts of life, and stand a 
 very good chance of attaining a wealthy position. 
 
 i am well aware that in speaking to those who have hardly the 
 means of crossing the sea, it will appear a great difficulty to get still 
 further, for most of the unsettled or new parts of Canada aro many 
 hundreds of miles from the seacoast. I realize the difficulty well, 
 yet I cannot but tell you that unless you have some clearly defined 
 plan arranged by which you can reasonably hope to reach those 
 parts, you will find very little advantage in emigrating. This is the 
 great mistake that is made, as I am very anxious to impress upon 
 you. To those of you who are subscribing to a club, or are in other 
 ways endeavouring to raise sufficient to go upon, I would say, have 
 patience, wait longer, until you are able to get together sufficient 
 to get realty into the backwoods; then, and not till then, can I 
 advise you to go, and then can I promise you success, and from 
 the beginning of your life in Canada a great hope of freedom from 
 the grave cares and difficulties of making a comfortable, or any 
 kind of a living, which you experience here. But you must not hope 
 to escape tliese cares, if you are merely calculating upon reaching 
 the siiores of America, and at once finding success. It is quite true, 
 that even in the backwoods you must expect hardships and trials, 
 such you will get everywhere, and more there than in many places ; 
 but there will be this great sweetener of your toiling and struggling, 
 every difficulty you surmount, every blow you strike, will, with God's 
 blessing, be a step towards the independence you seek ; and I assure 
 you you will be well repaid by striving here your very hardest to 
 obtain sufficient • to carry you at once to the end of your journey, 
 rather than be obliged to stop short halfway, and there strive and 
 struggle very much as you do here for means to carry you to the end. 
 
 The young single man who arrives in Canada, it may be penniless, 
 has a field before him which he never can have here, but for it he 
 must go as far into the country as he possibly can, not resting con- 
 tent until he has got as far away back into the most distant settle- 
 ments as is practicable. There he Avill find that he possesses a largo 
 capital in his simple ability to work ; and although his pay in actual 
 coin will be nothing much for a year or two, yet the knowledge he 
 
 £ 
 
^ 
 
 
 
 will bo gftinin^, tlio cliancca for permanently settling liimself that 
 will nriae for him, will miiko the fature sure. 
 
 To the married mnn, and the man with a family who gota to that 
 country without money, there aro ntjirsf. greater ililliculties ; but in 
 the end. when the chance turns up for him to Hettle down in hia 
 own home, lu; has the making of it. Ilia wife and children, ready to 
 hand, are, let me tell you, no small advantages in a homo in the 
 backwooda of Canada. 
 
 But some of you may be anxiously asking, what is a married man 
 to do when he fuMt gets into the Hush ? Well, there are ways for him 
 to proceed, and I will mention one, the surest. liahour is valuable 
 there, and all those who are already settled are glad of help, male 
 and female, and although the man will be, as they say, a " greenhorn," 
 yet if he has any sense ho will soon learn to be worth his and his 
 wife's keep at least ; a place to live in costs a mere nothing, and almost 
 every one will do his best to assist a new-comer. Therefore let him 
 hire himself out at any price until he has learned the ways of the 
 country. Let him care very little, nothing, at first about the money 
 begets, what he wants at first is knowledge; so long as there is 
 enough to eat and drink obtained — and that is not hard to get in the 
 bush — let him be satisfied ; and then, when he has got into the 
 ways of things there, and has his eyes opened to the chances that 
 will be sure to be continually occurring around him, ho will see his 
 opportunity of making his own home in Canada, by either taking up 
 a lot of land to be paid for in small, easy instalments, or by settling 
 on a piece of land which can be obtained from Government as a free 
 gift. Let me advise all, whether they have money or not, to give 
 up the idea of rushing at once into the back settlements and taking 
 possession of land. I speak from experience when I recommend 
 you under any circumstances to pass at any rate a few months in 
 the part you propose to settle down in, in working for some one who 
 is already there, and I thirds there are very few localities where that 
 is impossible ; the advantage of passing the first few months in 
 gaining experience with only the cost of time, is immense. 
 
 A man having once become possessed of his lot of land has his career 
 open before him, and if he be but industrious, steady, and sober, — above 
 all, sober, — he is bound to get on, adding every year to hia clearance 
 and ';o his comforts, until in a very few years he is possessed of a good 
 substantial home, — is surrounded by plenty of everything to eat, drink, 
 and wear, and to make himself and his as comfortable as they can rea- 
 sonably desire. But, from the very beginning he must expect very 
 hard work, and hard knocks ; and if any one expects to get on in 
 Canada, or anywhere else, without them, he is sadly mistaken. But 
 all this applies more particularly to those of you who have no know- 
 ledge at all of agricultural work ; he who has had some experience 
 here of farm labour, will have very little difliculty in obtaining em- 
 ployment in the eountry in Canada, but when it comes to the actual 
 settling on a lot of bush land, — a piece of untouched forest, — then 
 all proceedings are the same, and one has very little advantage over 
 the other. 
 
 Well I think, I hope, I have made it quite plain to you what 
 my opinion ie ; it is in a few words this, — that if by hook or by 
 crook you cannot manage to get along here, although able and willing 
 to work hard and sufi'er much, and can manage to get to the Back- 
 
 I 
 
10 
 
 woo(h of Cnnndii, and will make up your luindH to Bottling on your 
 own Ifuul, luul tlioro cnrvinj,' out for yourself a homo, by slow but. 
 Hiirc (b'grci'H, — I can riMsuro you it will bo ("Mtain, — the i I tliink you 
 will do wisoly to onii^'rato; but if you think of f;oin^ iiu'nfly 1'' 
 oiu-ry on tlio wanio trados you hav<! btou doiiif,' horo, willi tho idi'a of 
 proHporiufi; bettor in a town thoro than hero, and do not think at all 
 of beiiifj; an aotual .settlor on land, then I must give you my opinion 
 that thoro is but litth; elianc; of ynnr doiiiij; better thoro than here. 
 
 So now, assuminp; that you are all fi;oinji; to tnko my advioo and 
 becomo IJaekwoodsmon, and supposing you arc fortunate enough to 
 have got yonrsolvos into tho jjosition of being able to settle on your 
 own lai'.d, 1 \s\\\ prooeed to tell you how to get it, and then what 
 you aro to do with it, ami what will be tho result to you. 
 
 First of all, about getting land in Canada. In that part of it 
 now oalled '"v'ntario," formerly "Tapper Canadii," I lind that lust 
 your thoro was wild land for disposal amounting to two millions and 
 a half of acres. Tho price of this land is seventy cents cash per 
 acre, or about 5J«. of our nirfiiey, so that a lot, which is usually 100 
 acres, can bo bought out and out, yours for ever, for some £15 ; just 
 fiincy for that small sum you can be a boiid-Jido landowner. And if 
 ymi have not got £15 to spare, you can still obtain laiul, for tho 
 (jrovcrnmcnt sells on credit, charging then ono dollar, or Lv. 2d. per 
 r.cro for it, on condition that you ])ay ono-liftb down, /. e. £11, aiul tho 
 balance in four equal yearly instalments, charging also low interest 
 on tho unpaid sums. Nothing can bo asked for easier than this, 
 ono \v ould think ; and the duties a settler is called u])on to perform 
 in regard to this land, and to make his title sure, aro tho following. 
 Under any ciroumslances, he must take possession of his land ivilliiii 
 six months of tho time of sale, and must continue to bo an actual 
 settlor for at least two years before ho can get his title-deed for his 
 land ; besides this, he must have cleared during tiie llrst four years 
 
 14 
 
 
 i)[\h,^v*. 
 
 
 W^'- 
 
 I 
 
 .t;J- 
 
 -^^S^T'^VlStKJOBi 
 
 AX AMEmcAN hailroad train. 
 
 one-tenth (t^ acres) of his land, and cultivated it of course, and 
 he must also lave built upon it a house to live in, at least 10 by 20 
 feet in size. This, you will observe, is to prevent people with mofiey 
 speculating in land, for it vrvi/ quickly becomes valuable after the 
 country gets a little cleared and settled. 
 
 The wise Government of Canada, not content with this liberal 
 disposition of land, actually goes so far as to make free grants to 
 every person of eighteen years of age or upwards, of not more than 
 
11 
 
 200 ncrc8 of land, and they nre subject to very little more duty than 
 those who purchuae ; ol* coun^o thin ia not the hent land in Canada, 
 nor in it in the be«t part, and yet there is but HJif^ht ditlerence, as 
 the (lovernnient is nnxious to j;ct the wilder partn of the country 
 inhabited. There is i)lenty of hmd in Canada, you hcc, to bo f;ot 
 free, or for very little; the hiyhcst price is 70 cents, or :)«. per 
 acre, the lowest *J0 cents, or about 10,) J. per acre. As to the locality 
 best to fj;o to, I should advise Ontario, thou;j[h many other |)art8 are 
 doubtless os j^ood, but I think that province is the one which will 
 become first fully occupied, and therefore sooner the most valuable; 
 this inunense tract of country lies between the great lakes, Ontario, 
 Huron, and Erie, running some distance down the St. liawrence to 
 the capital of Canada, called Ottawa. The distance from IVLontreHl 
 to those parts of Ontario where land is to be got as f have describe', 
 is two days' journey, or moi'c, |)erformed by railway and ordinary 
 road, or partly by steamboat, as the case may be. I'Vom Now York 
 the distance is about the same. 
 
 i^ 
 
 A c.vnawa:, stkamhoat. 
 
 Well, assuming that you have been working for some little time, aa 
 near as you can to the ])art you hope to live in, and have gained 
 some experience in the ways of doing things there, and let ii.s hope, 
 also, have gained some means, perhaps not money, but what is of 
 more value to you than money, some tools, a little furniture, some 
 poultry, some pigs, or what not, and have chosen, taken up your 
 one hundred acres of bush land ; now begins the tug of war. You 
 are going to be an actual settlor ; going to live on your own land, 
 in your own house ; now, how is all this to be done ? 
 
 in the first place you must have a house to live in, and so you 
 proceed to choose some spot that pleases you, some rising ground, 
 we'll say, that promises good drainage and a view, — when all this 
 glorious forest, thongli now your deadliest enemy, is cleared away. 
 The chosen spot, like every bit of your land, is covered with trees, 
 which must all bo cut dovvn to make room for your house. You have 
 very little idea of what the bush in Canada is ; I have seen no 
 wood in this country that gives any idea of it; words fail me or 
 any one to describe it. Fancy yourselves surrounded on all aides 
 with gigantic trees covering the land thickly, — tall bare stems, reach- 
 ing high up, spreading out only towards the top, where their branches 
 meet, forming a leafy canopy, which, in summer, makes deep shadow, 
 and prevents grass from growing, causing the leaves to decay each 
 season as they fall and to add to those that have fallen before for 
 
fj 
 
 m 
 
 12 
 
 centuries, until there is a t^Ck layer of splendid leaf-manure that 
 M'ill grov/ you the finest vegetables you can desire, when once the 
 trees are cleared away and the ,3un and air are let in. The finest 
 land is covered with hard wood, that is, beech and maple and oak, 
 this will be a good guide to you as to the quality of the land you 
 choose ; there is, of course, land very valuable for many purposes, 
 which is covered with other trees, — pines, ash, cedars, birch, and a 
 variety of others, — but for wheat growing, for making money on, the 
 land that grows the beech and maple is the best. But now your 
 work is to get a place to live in ; you begin by felling the trees, 
 not by any means an easy task, but you will soon get used to it 
 and like it. The American axe is the most useful tool in the back- 
 woods, as you'll soon learn ; and as the first years of your life there 
 will be principally occupied in using it, you will very soon get to 
 be most expert with it. 
 
 The trees are cut down by making a notch first on the side 
 towards which you wish the tree to fall ; when you have got about 
 halfway through, you go to the other side and begin there, and when 
 nearly meeting your first notch, your tree will topple '"er ; by skilful 
 management you can throw a tree in almost any position you please. 
 The stump of the felled tree will be some three or four feet high. 
 The fallen tree has to be cut across into lengths suitable for rolling 
 
 I 
 
 m. 
 
 rXLIINO A IBEE. 
 
 "iSrt*a 
 
.;:# 
 
 •-<'.■»-• 
 
 
 
 71 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 # 
 
 
 I 
 
^ 
 
 ^f 
 
15 
 
 together and burning. When you have got enough opening made to 
 protect your proposed building from all the trees which liave yet to 
 fall, you may begin yoMr house. After choosing all the straight 
 timber necessary, and cutting it into proper lengths, you call a 
 raising be, that is, you ask every one around you to come and help 
 to build your house, and you will find all will come. He would be con- 
 sidered a mean man wlio would refuse, indeed, you would offend all 
 you did not ask. And so, on a given day, your neighbours as- 
 semble, — neiglibours who, like you, are now settlers, and those who 
 have been longer there, some from the next lot a quarter of a mile off, 
 some for miles away, for a raising bee is considered a sort of holiday. 
 And. then to work, and it is just surj)rising how, with simply axes, in 
 a day twelve or fifteen men will have the four walls of a good-sized 
 shanty put up. By means of skids to roll the logs up on, they are 
 ))ih,'d one above the other, tlie corners, where they cross, notched 
 together, and as strong, though perhaps not as handsome a building 
 !■< got together as you can wish. Tlie next day the roof is to be put 
 on, — split slabs of wood or troughs dug out of logs is what bush 
 shanties are generally roofed with ;but v.hatever is chosen, you soon 
 find out how to (h) it. Then there is a doorwrt^ to be cut out of the 
 
 
 A SUANTV : TUK UACKWOOJJbJlAN S IIUST JIOMJ;. 
 
 front wall, and, if you wish to be very stylish, a window too ; tlien^ 
 all the spaces between tlie logs are to be filled up with pieces of 
 wood and moss, nnd neatly plastered with well-tempered clay, the 
 inside to be trimmed and smoothed with the axe, plastered properly 
 with the clay, and, when dry, whitewashed, your door to be made 
 anil luiiig most likelv on wooden hinges, for they use wood there for 
 
 AN AMKBICAN AXE : THE MOST USEFUL TOOL IN THE BACKW00D8. 
 
 ': ■' 
 
'' P'.: "m 
 
 4 ■ 
 
 i 
 
 1 I 
 
 I T 
 
 16 
 
 everything tliey possibly can, your floor of split and trimmed wood, 
 nnd then all you require is« chimney and fireplace ; and this is soon 
 done with some stones adfflT^lay and a little ingenuity. Thus, in 
 a very lew days and with Itttrdly a shilling's expenditure, you have a 
 warm, dry, substantial house, not pretty certainly, — for beauty is 
 the very last thing thought of in the woods, — but very comfortable. 
 What little furniture you require is moved in, and you take posses- 
 sion of your wooden cantie, and your real business begins. You pro- 
 ceed to "clear your land and to get your first field rescued from the 
 forest ; if it is in the fall, as the autumn is called there, a very good 
 time to begin, you have the whole winter before you, when very little 
 else can be done besides chopping and clearing. Having cut away all 
 the under branches or small buslies and saplings, and piled them up 
 in convenient heaps to dry and burn, you begin with the big trees, 
 felling them right and left into heaps, and then cutting off the limbs 
 and cutting the trunks into lengths ready for operation in the 
 spring. 
 
 The operation of chopping down trees iu the most scientific and 
 cheapest manner, is one which must necessarily occupy your atten- 
 tion, and you will very soon become clever at it, though at first you 
 will find it most hard and diflicult work ; but the pleasure you will 
 experience aa each tree falls, as each enemy is conquered, leaving 
 you more and more land at your service, will be great, and fully re- 
 pay your toil. Sometimes when you find a row of large trees conve- 
 nient for your purpose, you will notch thm all but slightly, and 
 throw the end one of the row down up^|pfbhe next one to it, the 
 extra weight will break it down, and the two falling on the next will 
 serve it the same, and so on to the end ; I have sometimes spent 
 three or four days preparing for a great fall like this, and when the 
 lot, sometimes ten or twelve trees, come down, I assure you it does 
 you good to see the gap you have made. 
 
 All this being done during the winter, directly the snow is gone 
 in spriiig, you call another bee — a logging bee ; that is, you get aa 
 many of your neighbours to come as you can, and if two or three yokes 
 of oxen are brought, so much the better, it is hard to do without 
 tluMu ; and with their help you roll all the logs you have been cutting 
 up during the winter into heaps, pile amongst them the tree tops, 
 and, after a few days of fine dry weather, set fire to them, and you 
 liave a series of as beautiful bonfires as can be desired. These log- 
 heaps take days to consume, and it is your task to attend to them and 
 keep them burning, to pile them together and put on them all tlie 
 loose wood and chips that are lying about the land, so that when 
 your log-heaps are consumed nothing is left on your ground but the 
 stumps ; well, as soon as your heaps are disposed of, if it be in 
 spring, put in your seed, if it be potatoes, planting them with a hoe 
 A\1ierever you find a soft bit of earth betwv^en the roots; your oats 
 you simply sow broadcast on the ground, and drag them in witli 
 a brush-harrow, that is, a bundle of branches dragged over and 
 over the ground. As soon as this is done, you begin to fence ; 
 it would not do to lose time by doing it before. The fences in 
 Canada are almost universally the same, — the zigzag or snake-fences, 
 that is, good splitting trees are cut into twelve feet lengths, and 
 with wedges and mallets are split up into handy sizes ; these rails 
 are then placed one upon the other, in a zigzag manner, till about 
 
 jmi 
 
 i 
 
 %^-, 
 
 k 
 
 M 
 
 r^ 
 
 %. 
 
•ails 
 out 
 
 
 .v ■ 
 
 -. '•'■ 
 
 
 . ^.. \.ij. '' 
 
 
 . ^ *tF^- 
 
 
 _i':«.^i*; . 
 
 ■■:A 
 
 ■:h: ■" 
 

 If 
 
 m 
 
W1 
 
 » i 
 
 (ll, ■,W.i,.lfi<|«iPI".W-')»! 
 
 10 
 
 live feet high ; although, like most things there, not beautiful, they 
 ore serviceable. 
 
 In this manner the settler has managed to get five or six acres 
 cleared, sown, and fenced ; he has now the opportunity, we'll say, 
 of doing some work for a neighbour, who is better off than he is, 
 earning some money perhaps, or at any rate getting some pigs 
 around him, and so.ne poultry; perhaps he sees a good chance for 
 getting a cow, and to work her price out by splitting rails, or 
 something valuable of that sort, until his harvest time comes, 
 but a small one this first year ; although he is pretty sure to have 
 got a good supply of potatoes, and his oats may return him enough 
 to give him plenty of oatmeal for the winter, with scruo Jeff for 
 seed in the spring; then he will, no doubt, have got seme .' rap- 
 kins, which make delicious pies ; Indian corn, buck-wheat, nd 
 such things. Altogether he will have made a collection of eatables 
 which, with what he is able to earn by working for others, will 
 keep him through the coming winter, which, like the previous one, 
 he will spend in knocking down more trees, so that the next sea- 
 son he will have more land to sow with potatoes and oats, and the 
 piece he had cleared the year before will have a great many of the 
 roots decayed, and he will be able to get more seed into it and 
 more out of it, and so on from year to year adding to his clear- 
 
 A SNAKE TENCE. 
 
 ajice and to his farm. His first aim will be to get a yoke of oxen, 
 then to plough a little, and to get in a little wheat; in a couple 
 of years the stumps will begin to rot, and they will gradually be 
 got rid of, and thus perfectly clear fields will be his, — fields that he 
 can plough and harrow and gather his crops from, as they do in 
 this country. He will have built himself a really good log house, 
 a log barn, and cattle sheds and stables; and all will be his own, 
 and earned through his own exertions, which, although they have 
 been great, very great, are amply repaid thus. (See Frontispiece.) 
 
 I must not forget to tell you that in the backwoods of Canada it 
 is wonderful the way every one produces almost everything he re- 
 quires by his own exertions simply, and without money. 
 
 I have told you how a man with an axe, and perhaps an auger, 
 will get together nearly all the furniture he requires, after he has 
 got his house built with those tools ; from the maple-trees he pro- 
 cures in the spring his sugar and molasses for the year. I dare say 
 you have heard of this wonderful matter, and desire to know how it 
 18 done ; as it is, perhaps, one of the most interesting incidents of 
 bush life in America, 1 will tell you n little about it. In the spring, 
 mst when the weather is getting a little warmer and the sqow is 
 
 ■ b2 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \' 
 
 *i 
 
 ^^ 
 
 1 
 
 ■ I 
 
 
 MHi:' 
 
 A YiiL'j.-it.i^i^j'K.&.v. 
 
i 
 
 V 
 
 ii 
 
 20 
 
 beginning to melt, the sap of all the trees begins to rise upwards 
 from the roots to the branches, ready to form the leaves ; the maples, 
 which produce the sucar, are then tapped, that is, a slanting notch 
 is cut in thropgh the nark and about an inch into the solid wood ; 
 at the lowest corner of this notch a little piece of wood, with a 
 groove in it, is stuck, and at once the sap of the tree begins to run 
 out ; this fluid you catch in a trough, dug out of wood, of course ; iu 
 a dav you will catch, perhaps, two pailfuls of sap from one good- 
 sized tree. To the taste the fluid is just a little sweet. In a central 
 pait of what is called the sugar-bush, — for of course you have a 
 nunber of the trees tapped thus, forty or fifty or more,— you erect 
 a boiling-place, just a pole slung between two trees, on which all the 
 iron pots and kettles you can muster are hung; underneath you 
 light your fires, and begin boiling away at the sap ; as it boils down 
 you add more sap, and the contents of your kettles get sweeter and 
 sweeter ; after two or three days' boiling down you will have a lot of 
 it quite thick, as thick as treacle. Collecting all this into one kettle, 
 you verj carefully boil away at it, stirring it and skimming it until 
 it gets q\ute thick ; you pour a few drops of it out from time to time 
 on a cold plate, and when it sets quite hard, you stop the boiling 
 and pour it into basins and pans, and when cold it will turn out 
 solid lumps of pure sugar which ia very pleasant to the taste, an 
 excellent 3Ugar in fact. By this means, in ordinary years, enough 
 can be obtained to last all the year ; the sap flows thus for several 
 weeks, but towards the end it will not make sugar, although it will 
 make most excellent, delicious molasses, one of the most delightful 
 production,! of Canada, to my taste. 
 
 You ma} be sure that the sugar-making season is one of the most 
 active and interesting to all members of the family, old and young 
 betaking themselves to the sugar-bush, and lending a willing hand to 
 the production of that very useful and necessary article ; and even 
 after the sap is too poor to make either sugar or molasses, it will 
 make excell 3nt vinegar, as good as you can get anywhere. So, you 
 see, from these maple-trees you make sugar, molasses, and vinegar. 
 Now there is; more or less plentiful all through the woods there, 
 a species oi' fir-tree, called the hemlock; the bark of this tree is 
 ^used for tanning leather almost exclusively in Canada. Well, in 
 pring, whe 1 this bark strips off" very easily, you peel a lot of it, and 
 av/ your leisure, with your ox sleigh in winter, you convey it to the 
 nftarest tamer's, and he will exchange boots and shoes with you for 
 it.\ If ypu are fortunate to possess some pine-trees on your land, 
 tba^e you can cut down and haul to market in the winter on your 
 ox weigh, and sell, or have converted into boards which will sell; at 
 any Vate they are valuable, and you can turn them to valuable 
 accoimt. You will not be long before you have plenty of poultry 
 about Won , the eggs you can exchange at the nearest store or shop 
 for whbt g roceries you require ; and if you have got on to own a 
 , the wool can be worked up in your own house into yam, 
 is sure to be a weaver near who will convert it into 
 cloth, a most durable article, on shares for you, that is, 
 ive all your wool into cloth, and give you, say two-thirds, 
 " e rest for his trouble. All your dyes for your cloth are 
 orae of the woods or barks growing on your own land, 
 ur own soap and candles there. All these things you 
 
 the! 
 
 few sh 
 and 
 
 homespi 
 he will W( 
 and keep 1 
 made froDi 
 Tou makc; 
 
;,* ^ #-r v-^ r 
 
 i^ 
 
 « 
 
 s 
 
 to 
 
 d 
 
 I 
 
 u 
 d 
 
 CO 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 * 
 
 JtV' 
 
•i 
 
 
 i:r 
 
n^^ywf'fr^fr^-'^r'r'^Vimw-trr^WT^T^'^' 
 
 S8 
 
 will , very quickly learn how to do, thouf' i you may not think it now. 
 JfTild fruit ia no very plentiful and good in Canadn, that with tho 
 ^nplo sugar, no one need be without plenty of good jams and pro- 
 
 BcrvcB. Jiaspberries, as good as any you get here, ar^wonderfuily plen- 
 
 PIGEON SHOOTIKG 
 
 tiful; I have .frequently 
 picked a paiU'ul in a couple 
 of hours. Wild plums, 
 strawberries, gooseberries, 
 black currants, are met 
 with everywhere ; and 
 cranberries in some loca- 
 lities are very numerous. 
 Then usually there are any 
 quantities of nuts in the 
 woods, — beech-nuts, wal- 
 nuts, butternuts, hickory- 
 nuts, — all extremely nice. 
 Game is plentiful, too, 
 especially in the unsettled 
 parts, jf course, the set- 
 tler will find it generalljl^^ 
 to his advantage to mil^^\ 
 his work rather thaij kfok- ^ 
 
 ing after sportinipftatters, 
 still there are tiilies whq^n 
 he can spare a day, or an . 
 hour or two of an evening 
 or morning, and it is rare 
 if he does not procure 
 something which will add 
 a change to the ordinary 
 fare of the family. In 
 spring there are immense 
 flocks of pigeons passing 
 
 I 
 
.^^. 
 
 5' 
 
 24 
 
 over the ommtrj, flocks miles long, iouumorablo quantities ; for day» 
 together the skr is uever clear of them ; I have freciuently seen the 
 earth darkened by the shoals of them passiuf/ over. They don'fa 
 often alight, except in certain localities, but it they do see a field 
 of peas newly sown, and they settle on it, you will have to sow 
 that field again Mftf, for if every pigeon took but one nea, it would 
 make but a poor crop ; this is tne worst of them, otnorwiso they 
 are a capital thing, for you are sure to got a lot of them if vou 
 lave any sort of a gun. I remember once I killed twenty'four 
 tine birds with two dischargoB of !ny gun. 
 
 In tho woods there are plenty of squirrels, black, grey, and red ; 
 they are all most delicious to eat ; I know of nothing nicer. Tliere 
 are also racoons — animals about twice tho size of a haro — wood- 
 chucks, rabbits, and porcupines, and several other kinds, all ^ood to 
 eat, and very good too ; then there are varieties of deer, which you 
 may be fortunate enough to kill sometimes ; but they arc very shy, 
 and require a good rifle skilfully used. I must not forget that tliere 
 are jnany kinds of wild ducks, geese, swans, etc., wherever there is 
 water : and that there are quails and partridges, or grouse. Fish too i» 
 plentiful. Of wild animals, savage ones, there are a few in Canada ; 
 wild cats and lynxes, these are very rarely seen ; there are wolves 
 too ; but although I have lived for years in tho wildest parts of 
 Canada, I have only seen one or two, and I expect they were for 
 more frightened at me than I was at them. I have often, in very hard 
 winters, heard them howling at night, but nothing more. Much 
 more frequently seen are bears, and you will wish they were still 
 more frequent ; for although undoubtedly they are ferocious if yo\x 
 make tbem angry by wounding them or otherwise, yet my experi- 
 ence is that they will run away from a man much as any other wild 
 beast will. I have seen as many as eight bears in one party, rolling 
 themselves in shallow water on a hot day ; they are not good for 
 much then, but in the autumn, just btA)re the cold weather comes, 
 they are very valuable ; I don't know a more welcome addition to 
 one's winter store of meat than a good fat bear, every inch of him is 
 valuable. Pure bear's-grease for the hair is plentiful for long enough 
 after you have slain Bruin ; bear hams, bear steaks, bear's-paw soup, 
 salt bear, fresh bear, all is good ; and though it may seem a queer sort 
 of dish to you now, I can tell you, if you once get a chance to taste 
 it, you will tell a difterent story. The last bear I shot in Canada 
 "Weighed 4801b. as he fell, and I was offered a fat ox for him on the 
 spot. We ate every part of him ; I have his jaw-bone left now as u 
 trophy. They are of course mischievous animals if they get into a 
 field of Indian com, and they have been known to carry off a pig, 
 but on the whole they don't do much harm. A bear's principal 
 weakness seems to me to be maple molasses and whisky ; I believe 
 one would follow you for miles with that about you, so please 
 remember and leave whisky alone in Canada, for fear of the bears, 
 and for fear of other things too. 
 
 Of fur animals, there are large numbers in Canada, and during 
 your first few years in the woods, before the place gets thickly in- 
 nabited and cleared, you will be sure to come across them ; they are 
 all valuable, a skilful trapper can make a good bit of money out of 
 them. Minks, martens, Deavers, otters, sables, ermines, grey squir- 
 rels, and musk-rats, especially the latter, are quite numerous; I 
 
 5? 
 
 I 
 
or day» 
 en tiie 
 ' don'b 
 a add 
 
 to 8<)SV 
 
 woulil 
 
 they 
 
 if vou 
 
 ty-four 
 
 25 
 
 know of one man who paid for his fmin by the muik-rats he caught ; 
 but that was an exceptional cose, and you must not depend upon 
 any of these things to got on, but simply on the work you are able 
 to do with your own hands ; then little bits of game and a little fish 
 Boraotimos, ond a skin or two come in very nicely, and help things 
 on, but they are valuable for no more than that as a general rule. 
 
 \ 
 
 BIXIOHINa IN TOWD. 
 
 The subject of climate will interest you. Is Canada a healthy 
 place ? Well, my experience of it in, that it is just as healthy as this 
 country, more so, of course, than the towns are here ; there is a littlo 
 fever f.nd ague in some parts where it is swampy, but that disap- 
 pears as the country is cleared. 
 
 Canada is very hot in summer, very cold in winter. There is very 
 little spring, but a very beautiful autumn. Some days in summer 
 are as hot as they are in India, but it is only some of the days ; there 
 
 SLKIOHIira IK IHB OOUNXBT. 
 
 is cool weather in summer there as well as here. The autumn is veiy 
 delightful, from the end of August till the middle of November is 
 the time, called there the fall. During the autumn, or fall, there are 
 usually weeks of lovely weather, frosty nights and sunny days ; this 
 is called the Indian summer. Then all the trees change colour, 
 — the maples change to the most brilliant crimson and scarlet, the 
 beeches to bright yellow and orange, the oaks and elms to a sombre 
 
 i 
 
26 
 
 brown ; but, if any painter were to make a picture of the trees in 
 Canada in autnum, in their real colours, no one would believe it 
 could be true. I assure you that to go into the woods in autumn 
 and gaze up at the tree tops where the sun is shining through 
 them, is perfectly dazzling, so brilliant are the colours. 
 
 About the end of November or beginning of December come in 
 the frost and snow ; this lasts till March or April. I suppose people 
 who go to North America have more dread of the winter there than 
 anything, aul yet it is far from the worst season ; indeed, many, espe- 
 cially people from the old country, like it best. It is cold, of course, 
 fearfully cold, but you don't feel it there as here ; the air is dryer 
 an^ clearer. I have frequently known it to be so cold there that if you 
 attempted to open your street-door with a wet handj you would be 
 frozen fast to the door-handle, cr if you threw a glass of water up 
 into the air, it would come down ice ; at such a time your breath 
 would freeze in your nostrils and round your mouth, and yet all the 
 time the sun would be shining in all his splendor, and you would not 
 care a bit for the cold. Meat killed in the beginning of winter will 
 keep fresh till spring, milk, butter, cvery^Aiwy can be kept then; true, 
 you have to chop everything up with an axe, it is frozen so hard, but 
 ice is a capital preserver for all that. The snow falls there to a depth 
 of several feet ; sometimes it th'.ivs a little, and then freezes again, 
 making a crust on the snow, upon which you can walk comfort- 
 ably. As soon as the snow is down, wheels are quite given up all 
 over Canada, — nothing but sledges or sleighs, — everything is lively 
 then ; all roads are good ; it is the tinie for every one to do all his 
 travelling and all his marketing for the year, the most backward part 
 of the country wakes up then ; the merry sleigh bells are heard every- 
 where, for business and for pleasure. In the tov^ns sleighing parties 
 are made up, and some very beautiful vehicles turn out ; in the country 
 as much pleasure, though perhaps not so much show, is enjoyed. It 
 is considered a very bad thing if there be not plenty of snow and ice ; 
 indeed there are generally very bad complaints of business on all sides 
 if there be but poor sleighing. Now is the time when you feel the 
 blessing of having plenty of firewood free, only for the labour of cut- 
 ting it ; in your log-house you hive got a fireplace that will take in 
 large logs that will burn for days, and you will want it and enjoy it. 
 
 There are, of course, many other things which I coulo tell you 
 i'bout a settler's experience in Canada and about the country, but 
 time fails me. I dare say what I have told you, seems, on the whole, 
 rather a pleasing sort of life to lead, and so it is for many things, 
 but there are somo terrible hardships, — you will suffer a great deal 
 from loneliness at first, especially you who have always lived in 
 towns ; there will be some terrible deprivations there, which you will 
 not miss till you get there. There is no work here anything like the 
 work you will have to do there, and you will suffer no little from 
 your ignorance of the way to do things, but, for all this, I must re- 
 peat what I said before, — go to the bush and get land of your own 
 as soon as you can ; no matter what your trade is here, give it up there 
 and settle on land ; that all this is to be done successfully and without 
 too much hard work, I am myself a witness. Until fifteen years of 
 age I had led a town-life, was unused to work in the slightest degree ; 
 circumstances arose which caused my father, wL'/ had lived without 
 working till then, to go to Canada. No one could bs more unfit. 
 
f'J"-'»'/»."*l«»|!r»,WfB«"*--«V.i';*''JmiPI|'<UI(|^^ '^ 
 
 \ 
 
 -%• 
 
 *;.<. 
 
 "»**. 
 
 'I 
 
 i' 
 
T 
 
 I' 
 
 S I 
 
 !; 
 
 ■f^i? 
 
 y. '._ .• I 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 
 M 
 
 <S 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 » 
 
 
29 
 
 3 
 
 ta 
 
 
 ft 
 o 
 
 n 
 
 cii 
 
 O 
 
 n 
 i-i 
 o 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 one would Bay, than we were, and yet we went rieht into the back- 
 woodB and settled on land, and my first knowledge of earning my 
 living was there. I have done everything myself that I have told 
 you about, and more ; and I am quite sure any man, able and will- 
 ing, need not suffer very long there, and I should, for my own part, 
 think very many worse things might happen to me than to be obliged 
 to go into the bush in Canada, and there carve out for myself and 
 mine such a home as I helped to carve out before. If you are able, 
 and have made up your minds to work hard, very hard, to suffer 
 for the first year or two great privations, have fully determined to 
 lead sober, steady, industrious lives, — then I say go by all means to 
 the backwoods of Canada, you are su^ , sooner or later, to prosper. 
 
 I have said nothing about the United States, which is a glorious 
 country, — but it is not British, it is not our country, — there are 
 plenty of chances to get on there, but no better than you will find 
 in Canada, where, at least, you have a right to be, and where I'm sure 
 you'll feel more at home than in the States ; at any rate that is my 
 experience of it. 
 
 I have promised to say something to you about Australia ; it must 
 be very little, as I have occupied so much time about that magnifi- 
 cent country, Canada. 
 
 I think Australia is a better country for a mechanic to go to with 
 a view of following his trade, than either the United States or Canada 
 is. You see there are the gold-fields which employ large num- 
 bers of people, and a great deal of manufacturing is going on 
 there. To my mind Australia is the most wonderful country that 
 ever was, and I believe ever can be again ; the way it has progressed 
 during the last fifteen years is something tremendous. Thirty years 
 ago I believe there was one bark-hut where Melbourne now stands, 
 at the present day you will find as much f nish and stability and 
 splendour in Melbourne as in London, and the people just as crowded 
 and as busy as here. The gold-fields have had a great deal to do with 
 this, in that they have attracted so many people to the country; 
 and as it is such an expensive journey there, owing to the dis- 
 tance, most people who go, settle. That is of course the great con- 
 sideration for you, expense; and really I think Canada is just as 
 good a country to go to ; indeed, if you were to hear Canadians who 
 are in Australia talk, you would be sure it was. The climate of 
 Australia is very different from that of Canada ; it is very hot and 
 dry there in summer, and no winter ; merely a wet season, which I 
 very much prefer to the dry ; I have known six months to pass in 
 Australia without rain, water gets terribly scarce then. The country 
 itself is very peculiar, not at all like any other place I know ; it is 
 very pleasant in some parts, but land is very dear, owing to the 
 
 nd-laws — not less than £1 per acre, I believe. 
 
 The gold-fields are not paying very well now for individual labour ; 
 indeed there is not much chance for a man to make anything at 
 gold-digging nowadays, working alone, or without machinery, as it 
 used to be in tbe early days of the gold discovery, — it requires plenty 
 of capital. 
 
 A large number of people are employed by the different compa- 
 nies who are now wovking the mines, and they pay very good wages, 
 but that is for skilled labour, for men who understand what gold- 
 
 ■. 'i 
 
 niAii* 
 
« » 
 
 'FW'"»'M:».l|-WJl||f. 
 
 30 
 
 mining ia. A collier, or a Cornish miner, or indeed any one who 
 understands that work, would do well there of course. 
 
 The sheep-farmers employ a good many people, as shepherds, hut- 
 keepers, stockmen, and such-like, but there, as in Canada, the land, 
 farming, is the great thing to depend upon ; and so, all I can say to 
 you is, that if you have made up your mind to go to Australia, go to 
 either Queensland or Swan Eiver, where land is to be had : and if 
 you are determined to work at some trade, go to Victoria. 
 
 I might spend a long time in details about this country, telling 
 you about the peculiar trees there, of the cherries that grow with 
 their stones outside, of the wooden pears, of the very peculiar ani- 
 mals thn,t are found there, the kangaroos, wombats, flying opos- 
 sums, and a host of others, but my time will not admit of it. I must 
 come to a conclusion. I have said nothing to you about the voyage 
 either to Canada or Australia, and there is really very little to he 
 said more than I am sure you know already. To Canada it is any- 
 
 A shkphebd's hut in austbalia. 
 
 I 
 
 tv 
 
 thing but a pleasant passage for an emigrant, but by steam it is 
 very short, ten or twelve days at most. To Australia, which by sail- 
 ing-ship takes some eighty to one hundred and twenty days, it is very 
 much pleasanter, for you have time then to get settled down to as much 
 comfort as cow be got on board an emigrant ship. I have crossed 
 the Atlantic to America and back some ten times, four times in emi- 
 grant ships, so I know pretty well what it is, and it certainly is not the 
 most pleasant twelve days one can spend, still it is got over some- 
 how. Take as little with you as possible, except clothing, which is" 
 cheaper there than here, and bedding of course. For tlie passage 
 you have to provide yourself with certain articles, which the people 
 you engage your passage from will tell you all about. 
 
 One word before I close. I have alluded once or twice to sobriety 
 as being sn essential for an emigrant. There is a very great deal too 
 
 s 
 
 H I'sJ .- 
 
fwnim'fW »|P i.HII^IppPIM'' 
 
 \ 
 
 31 
 
 much drinking done here, 1 know, for the good of all. People seem 
 to think it is quite impossible to do without beer a number of times 
 a day ; there is not so much downright drunkenness here, as there 
 is a continual drinking of beer, which coats a great deal of money 
 and does not a bit of good. I am not a teetotaller, and yet I have 
 worked as hard as any man has done, under the burning sun of 
 Australia, and in the freezing cold of Canada, sometimes for days 
 together up to my middle in water, night and day, and I have never 
 thought of taking anything stronger than tea and coflfee on that ac- 
 count ; it is not the custom in those countries to drink as people do 
 here, and I have proved it is not necessary ; but for all that there 
 is plenty of drinking done, plenty of drunkenness. Whisky in 
 America is very cheap ; it used to be only 25 cents (Is.) a gallon, 
 and there was a lot of it drunk ; it is now dearer, and there is more 
 of it drunk, but it is only at taverns and such places ; a man need not 
 drink there unless he likes, so there is no excuse; therefore I do 
 beg of you io be careful, and keep from drinking. Give it up here 
 entirely, and you will find the benefit of it ; use the money instead in 
 helping you on your way to Canada ; and from the moment you 
 quit these shores, at any rate, give it up altogether; you'll never 
 regret it, but rejoice for ever afterwards. A drunkard is a failure 
 everywhere ; a man who drinks only moderately is sure to be re- 
 garded with suspicion in Canada ; a teetotaller is almost bound to 
 succeed. 
 
 I have done. I trust I have been able to give you an idea of what 
 emigrating means, what you may expect of good and bad ; and if 
 what I have said helps you to overcome the difficulties before you, 
 and to succeed in the new land to which you are thinking of going, 
 I shall have my reward. Keep a brave heart, let no hardships beat 
 you ; don't be disheartened at first, and, with God's blessing, you 
 will surely ultimately do well. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 AUSTRALIAN CHJJEEIES, WHICH GEOW WITH THEIE STONES OtJTSIDE- 
 
 .it 
 
 I 
 
 L^llL.' 
 
^MHWWM^HWPWif WgB ^^^P 
 
 i,SX,..;