SKETCHES IN CANADA, (continued 8)

From this sum of mischief and misery you may subtract a few instances where the men have done better; one of these I had occasion to mention. I have heard of two others, and there may be more, but the general case is as I have stated it.

These were the men who fought our battles in Egypt, Spain, and France! and here is a new page for Alfred de Vigny's "Servitude et Grandeur Militaire!" But do you not think it includes another lesson? That this amount of suffering, and injury, and injustice can be inflicted, from the errors, ignorance, and remoteness of the home government, and that the responsibility apparently rests nowhere—and that nowhere lies redress—seems to me a very strange, a very lamentable state of things, and what ought not to be.

DRIVE OVER THE NARROWS.

Our voyageurs had spent the day in various excesses, and next morning were still half tipsy, lazy, and out of spirits, except Le Duc; he was the only one I could persuade to sing, as we crossed Gloucester Bay from Penetanguishene to Coldwater. This bay abounds in sturgeon, which are caught and cured in large quantities by the neighbouring settlers; some weigh ninety and one hundred pounds.

At Matchadash (which signifies "bad and swampy place") we had nearly lost our way among the reeds.

There is a portage here of sixteen miles across the forest to the Narrows, at the head of Lake Simcoe. The canoe and baggage were laid on a cart, and drawn by oxen; the gentlemen walked, as I must also have done, if a Methodist preacher of the neighbourhood had not kindly brought his little waggon and driven me over the portage. We stopped about half-way at his log-hut in the wilderness, where I found his wife, a pretty, refined looking woman, and five or six lovely children, of all ages and sizes. They entertained me with their best, and particularly with delicious preserves, made of the wood-strawberries and raspberries, boiled with the maple sugar.

The country here (after leaving the low swamps) is very rich, and the settlers fast increasing. During the last winter the bears had the audacity to carry off some heifers to the great consternation of the new settlers, and the wolves did much mischief. I inquired about the Indian settlements at Coldwater and the Narrows; but the accounts were not encouraging. I had been told, as a proof of the advancement of the Indians, that they had here saw-mills and grist-mills. I now learned that they had a saw-mill and a grist-mill built for them, which they never used themselves, but let out to the white settlers at a certain rate. The road through the forest was bordered in many places by wild raspberry bushes, bearing fruit as fine, and large, and abundant as any I have seen in our gardens.

In spite of the mosquitoes, my drive was very pleasant; for my companion was good-natured, intelligent, and communicative, and gave me a most interesting, but rather sad, account of his missionary adventures. The road was, as usual, most detestable. We passed a lovely little lake called Bass Lake, from the numbers of these fish found in it; and arrived late at the inn at the Narrows. Though much fatigued, I was kept awake nearly the whole night by the sounds of drunken revelry in the room below. Many of the settlers in the neighbourhood are discharged soldiers and half-pay officers, who have received grants of land; and, removed from all social intercourse and all influence of opinion, many have become reckless and habitual drunkards. The only salvation of a man here is to have a wife and children; the poor wife must make up her mind to lead a hard life; but the children are almost sure to do well—that is, if they have intelligent parents: it is the very land for the young, and the enterprising. I used to hear parents regret that they could not give what is called a good education to their children: but where there are affection and common sense, and a boundless nature round them, and the means of health and subsistence, which (with common industry) all can command here, it seems that education—i. e. the development of all the faculties in a direction suited to the country in which they are to exist—comes of course. I saw an example of this in the excellent family at Erindale; but those persons are unfortunate and miserable, and truly pitiable, who come here with habits previously formed, and unable to adapt themselves to an entirely new existence—of such I saw too many. My landlady gave me no agreeable picture of the prevalent habits of the settlers round this place; the riot of which I complained was of nightly occurrence.

LAKE CUCHUCHING.

Next day we went on a fishing and shooting excursion to Lake Cuchuching, and to see the beautiful rapids of the river Severn, the outlet from these lakes into Lake Huron. If I had not exhausted all my superlatives of delight, I could be eloquent on the charms of this exquisite little lake, and the wild beauty of the rapids. Of our sport, I only recollect the massacre of a dozen snakes, which were holding a kind of conversazione in the hollow of a rocky islet where we landed to dine. The islands in Lake Cuchuching belong to the Indian chief, the Yellow-head; and I understand that he and others of his tribe have lately petitioned for legal titles to their reserved lands. They represent to their Father the governor that their prosperity is retarded from the circumstance of their not having titles to their lands, like their white brethren. They say, "Many of our young men, and some of our chiefs, fear that the time will arrive when our white brethren will possess themselves of our farms; whereas, if our Father the governor would be pleased to grant us titles, we should work with more confidence,"—and they humbly entreat (these original lords of the soil!) as a particular boon, that their "little bits of land" may be secured to their children and posterity for ever.

Next morning we embarked on board the Peter Robinson steamer, and proceeded down Lake Simcoe. This most beautiful piece of water is above forty miles in length, and about twenty in breadth, and is in winter so firmly frozen over, that it is crossed in sledges in every direction. The shores are flat and fertile; and we passed a number of clearings, some very extensive. On a point projecting into the lake, and surrounded by cleared land, a village has been laid out, and some houses built. I went into one of them to rest while they were taking in wood, and found there the works of Shakspeare and Walter Scott, and a good guitar; but the family were absent.

REACH THE HOLLAND LANDING.

We reached the Holland Landing, at the southern extremity of the lake, about three o'clock; and the rest of our way lay through the Home District, and through some of the finest land and most prosperous estates in Upper Canada. It was a perpetual succession, not of clearings, such as I had seen of late, but of well-cultivated farms. The vicinity of the capital, and an excellent road leading to it (called Yonge Street), have raised the value of landed property here, and some of the farmers are reputed rich men.

Mr. Jarvis gave me an account of an Irish emigrant, a labouring man, who had entered his service some years ago as teamster (or carter); he was then houseless and penniless. Seven years afterwards the same man was the proprietor of a farm of two hundred acres of cleared and cropped land, on which he could proudly set his foot, and say, "It is mine, and my children's after me!"

ARRIVE HOME AT TORONTO.

At three o'clock in the morning, just as the moon was setting in Lake Ontario, I arrived at the door of my own house in Toronto, having been absent on this wild expedition just two months.

THE END.

London: Spottiswoodes and Shaw, New-street-Square.

FOOTNOTES:

.

Transcriber's Notes:

original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in the original

various pages, "Mac Murray" changed to "MacMurray"

Page 10, "bnt" changed to "but"

Page 23, "where the houses a" changed to "where the houses are"

Page 32, "and our innocnece" changed to "and our innocence"

Page 34, "Gesprache mit Goethe" changed to "Gespräche mit Goethe"

Page 44, "ten years ago," changed to "ten years ago."

Page 49, "Felix Mendelsohn" changed to "Felix Mendelssohn"

Page 50, "terapin" changed to "terrapin"

Page 58, "the last war," changed to "the last war"

Page 65, "so many others;" changed to "so many others,"

Page 72, "ix Nations." changed to "Six Nations."

Page 84, "I proceeded" changed to "I proceeded."

Page 98, "have yet seen" changed to "have yet seen."

Page 99, "farther to night" changed to "farther to-night"

Page 121, "n couple of oxen" changed to "a couple of oxen"

Page 121, "keep of the mosquitoes" changed to "keep off the mosquitoes"

Page 124, "The war of 1813" changed to "The war of 1812"

Page 145, "Detroit, June" changed to "Detroit, July"

Page 149, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for consistency]

Page 151, "Ottowas" changed to "Ottawas" [Ed. for consistency]

Page 152, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for consistency]

Page 161, "music and sing ing" changed to "music and singing"

Page 170, "June 20" changed to "July 20"

Page 171, "On the oppsoite side" changed to "On the opposite side"

Page 182, "had been instructed,," changed to "had been instructed,"

Page 189, 'left him in peace.' changed to 'left him in peace."'

Page 200, "brother!—'Never!" changed to "brother!"—'Never!"

Page 201, "he left the wigwan" changed to "he left the wigwam"

Page 203, "Wawatam" changed to "Wa,wa,tam"

Page 234, "Ottagamis" changed to "Ottagamies" [Ed. for consistency]

Page 236, "Manitooling" changed to "Manitoolin"

Page 264, "wortle-berries" changed to "whortleberries"

Page 273 footnote, "Penetanguishnie" changed to "Penetanguishine"

Page 277, "Pottowottomi" changed to "Pottowottomie" [Ed. for consistency]

Page 282, "Shinguacose" changed to "Shinguaconse" [Ed. for consistency]

Page 296, "andfishing tackle" changed to "and fishing tackle"