A tour through North America

Journey from Galt to Goderich—Farmer from Roxburghshire—Female Worth—Improved health of Scotch Farmers—Visit Captain A * * *—Humming-birds—London Family in the Bush—Guides—Avon Accommodation—German Settler—Notices of Nature.

Having letters from some friends in Scotland to a relation of theirs near Galt, who had formerly farmed in Roxburghshire, I was anxious to deliver the letters personally, and set out at six o’clock in the morning in search of his residence, which was difficult to find, from not being named. On enquiring the way at an old man on the road, we got certain information in broad Scotch; and in the course of conversation, he told us he thought Canada a rough bit at first, but he now liked it. Calling at a house to ask the way, a man said it was one thing to put a question, and another to answer it. Seeing the individual was in a state of brutal intoxication, I walked to the waggon, followed by the poor wretch, vociferating disgusting oaths, who seemed exasperated by the silence and contempt with which he was treated. I afterwards learned he had a short time before beat his wife out of the house, and was considered on the high road to ruin.

We at length found the object of our search, Mr T——, walking in his fields with Mr R——, whom I had seen at Kingston. Mr T—— had only reached Canada the year before, and was not perhaps fairly set down. The farm he had purchased was mostly cleared, and he was summer fallowing a considerable extent of land, which was well ploughed, and laid off into regular ridges. He had bought all the manure in the neighbourhood at about sixpence per load, and was laughed at for having done so. The house was built of wood, and two beds were standing in recesses in the apartment where we breakfasted. Mrs T—— apologized for the mean appearance of her house, which I assured her was unnecessary, as I found few in the country so good, and its shining cleanness imparted more interest to me than the highest glitter of British fashion. She was in excellent spirits, and entertained us with many particulars of her journey from Scotland. Arriving at Montreal when cholera was raging in a dreadful manner, and her husband being in a delicate state of health, no time was lost in pursuing their route. In passing up the St Lawrence with her family and luggage, the boat admitted water so freely, that she was forced to walk by the river side with an infant on her back. The population being panic-struck at the havoc cholera was making, shut their doors on emigrants, who, they imagined, had introduced the disease into the country, and she was under the necessity of baking bread for her family with her own hands, and firing it under a tree. After relating many particulars of their first settlement, she concluded by stating, that in Scotland she had three maid-servants constantly at her own command, here she had no servants, and was happier without them. On remarking it delighted me to find her in such excellent spirits and pleased with her situation, as the change from the old country to Canada appeared more trying for ladies than gentlemen, she replied with animation, “O no, sir, ladies can manage their own department here, but gentlemen require assistance in theirs.” Mrs T—— spoke with so much good-humour and feeling, that it would have been rudeness to have maintained an opposite opinion; and without investigating which of the sexes in the middle ranks of life undergo the greatest privations at first settlement, observation convinced me females get sooner reconciled to their duties, and discharge them with better effect than males. Much as I have ever esteemed my countrywomen, they never appeared to so much advantage as in Canada, where their energies had been fully called forth and developed by the new circumstances in which they were placed, and their exertions induced me to regard many of them as heroines. Emigrants are desired to bring out wives to Canada, and I add my testimony to the justness of the recommendation. In almost every case that came under notice, my countrywomen appeared calculated to stimulate their husbands to industrious exertion, and some, under divine Providence, Seemed to owe almost all they possessed to their fair partners.

One great source of rejoicing to Mrs T—— was her husband’s improved state of health since his arrival in Canada, which she attributed to climate. But were I to judge of the matter, I would assign his change of circumstances as the more likely cause of his better health. Land in Scotland is almost always occupied on lease of 19 years’ endurance, and perhaps there is no situation more trying than a tenant with an over-rented farm. In nine cases out of ten he cannot get quit of his lease, or a modification of rent; if he rise early or toil late, the fruits of his labour go to the proprietor of the land, and year after year he finds his funds diminishing, with ultimate ruin in prospective. Under such circumstances I have known individuals become drunkards, others gamblers; some have sunk into a premature grave, and but few minds remain in full tone, and still fewer constitutions. To escape from such a situation, and reach Canada, where the present may be said to be without care, and futurity so brilliant, must be a perfect Elysium and restorer of health. It is but justice for me to say, that I am altogether unacquainted with the circumstances in which Mr T—— was situated in Scotland, but if like many of his profession, his improved health may be regarded as an effect of his improved prospects.

We reached Captain A——’s, in the township of Blenheim, in time for dinner, having passed through miles of forests, in which a track could scarcely be recognised. The general appearance of the place had an air of neatness, although it was only fifteen months since the first tree was felled. He had already cleared about 30 acres, and reaped a luxuriant, though mildewed, wheat crop. Oats, potatoes, and Indian corn, were advancing towards maturity. Here, for the first time in Canada, I saw crops injured from luxuriance, and only two or three instances of such afterwards came under my notice.

The residence of Captain A—— was within 50 yards of a rivulet which joined the Nith, the space between the house and the stream being occupied as a garden, in which the taste of the family had begun to be displayed in cultivating flowers. The house was a log cottage of considerable dimensions, one longitudinal half of which was occupied by a kitchen and sitting room; the other half consisted of sleeping apartments, which I did not number. The door opened into the kitchen, in which every thing was clean and neat, and which communicated with the rest of the house. The interior walls consisted of unbarked trees, against which an extensive library was placed, occupying one end of the sitting room. When retiring for the night, we were conducted up a stair into a kind of garret, where we were told we must sleep. At this time I had not seen much Backwood life, and my looks, perhaps, betraying astonishment, Captain A—— laughed heartily, and reconducted us to an apartment below, where I reposed for the night, on a more comfortable bed than any I afterwards met with in America.

Next morning, I arose before any of the family, and while walking up the banks of the stream, ere the sun had peeped over the forest, enjoyed an excellent opportunity of observing the humming-bird of the country. Upwards of a dozen of these lovely creatures were feeding on the blossoms of a plant growing near the river, the celerity of their movements in examining and passing from flower to flower excited admiration, and when moving to a distance, the eye could not follow their rapidity of flight. A copious formation of dew had taken place in course of the night, which draggled their beautiful plumage in fluttering amongst the leaves, and they frequently retired to a fallen tree to trim their feathers. They seemed regardless of my presence, and plied their task within a few yards of me. They do not, like the bee, rest on a plant when examining a flower, but thrust their long bill into the heart of the blossom when suspended in air, and in this position excite the noise from which they take their name.

Captain A——’s family consisted of eleven children, the eldest of whom seemed about seventeen years. He had moved in the best society of London, and in consequence of a sudden reverse of fortune, came to his present situation, and at once placed his family in the bush, without a servant or any one to assist them, and they bake, cook, wash, and do every thing for themselves. Mrs A—— is a sensible woman, reconciled to her situation; and her household and family matters testify to her excellent management. Two sons, handsome, genteel-looking youths, about fifteen or sixteen years of age, chop trees, and perform all sort of farm work. The young ladies seem equally active in their department. I was anxious to see the cows milked, but unfortunately they had strayed in the woods, and could not be found while I was there. It requires a considerable degree of heroism in people like Captain and Mrs A——, accustomed to the gaieties and luxuries of London life, retiring to the woods of Canada without a servant or any thing like their former notions of comfort, and whatever may have been the impelling motive for the step they took, their perseverance merits applause. It was an interesting sight to see a young and genteel family so situated and happy in their new position, and the pleasure experienced during my visit at Lamotte, was an ample recompense for crossing the Atlantic.

In my progress through Canada I had witnessed female devotion of the most exalted character, which circumstances prevent me noticing, but the same reasons do not apply to the youths of this family, and I trust they will pardon the liberty I take with them. Two slender and accomplished boys, in a part of the world blighting to their first budding hopes and enjoyments, inuring themselves to the hardest manual labour in support of their parents, and infant brothers and sisters, is a picture of disinterested virtue worthy of being delineated by an abler pen. I trust their exertions will be crowned with success, and that a portion of time, which can be spared from furnishing food, will be devoted to the moral improvement of the younger branches of the family. What a source of comfort these youths must be to their parents, whose precepts must have had no small share in forming their character, and their conduct may be instanced as illustrative of the advantages of parental care, in a selfish point of view, where nobler motives do not exist. Their mode of life may be different from that of their schoolfellows in England, but in mature age they will look back with delight on their past labours, and in all probability, great will be their reward in this life, and greater in that which is to come.

After partaking of breakfast, we bade adieu to Lamotte, when the little members of the family clustering around, reminded me of the humming-birds seen in the morning, and I could not refrain from stealing a kiss from a curly-headed child, whose soft blue eyes were innocently fixed on the departing strangers. On our way to the Goderich road, we were accompanied by Mr T. A——, mounted on horseback, with an axe over his shoulder, to act as guide, and cut a way for the waggon. As he rode before us, with his slender figure dressed in a clean neat jacket and trowsers, snow-white shirt, with exposed collar and broad-brimmed straw hat, I would at one period have thought him ill-adapted for a Backwoodsman, but having, in course of my wanderings in the wilds of Canada, witnessed the advantages of cultivated minds and habits, his appearance was a source of pleasure, while I meditated on his probable career in life. We fortunately did not require much of his axe services, and parted with him at the end of five or six miles, where the road was good. About two miles farther, the road seemed to terminate at a log-hut, the inmate of which told us a waggon had never penetrated beyond his dwelling, and would have difficulty in reaching the Goderich road, distant four miles. He offered to be our guide, and provided himself with an axe to clear the way. We had before this time commenced walking, from the badness of the roads, and found considerable difficulty in getting the waggon through the bush, when at length its progress was arrested. In this dilemma a person approached, and said it was impossible to proceed in our present route, and offered to show us through the only passage. We were conducted many miles of footpath, till we at last reached the wished-for road. I felt pleased with our bush guides, one of whom was from Yorkshire, the other from Ireland; they did not take advantage of our situation by stipulating for reward, but seemed to act alone from friendship, and I bestowed on each a trifling gratuity.

We dined at a tavern on Smith’s Creek, newly erected, good of its kind, and a little after nightfall reached one on Avon Creek kept by an intelligent Irishman. On retiring for the night, we were conducted to a shanty thirty or forty yards from the tavern, consisting of one apartment, containing three beds, one of which was already occupied, another was destined for our waggoner, and the third for my friend and self. This hovel did not even contain a seat, or any kind of furniture, except the fore-mentioned beds, and the door was without a fastening; the roof was of bark, and the rays of the moon shone through it and the sides of the building, which bore a stronger resemblance to a bird-cage than a human habitation. The beds were boughs of trees, put together in the manner of a camp stool, with a netting of bark connecting the frame-work. The feeble glimmer of a small candle fixed near the door, prevented me seeing the bed-clothes, but the bed felt as rough and hard as the corduroy roads over which we had travelled in course of the day. On lying down for the night, the farmer’s saying to Mr T. A——, this is a rough country for a gentleman, recurred to my memory; and in a few minutes the chirping of a thousand crickets lulled me to repose.

Next morning I called our waggoner at daybreak, and, while the horses were attaching, examined a grist and saw mill which were erecting by the river side. We breakfasted on very poor fare at a tavern kept by a German, who was one of the first settlers on the road, having been five years in his present situation. He expressed himself satisfied with his lot, having 1000 acres of land, and had only sixteen in his own country. I remarked that he perhaps held too much land; when he told me he had nine sons, to each of whom he meant to give 100 acres, and retain the same extent for himself. His wheat crop this year consisted of sixteen acres, and was almost entirely destroyed by mildew. We dined at Van Egmont’s tavern, which is a wealthy-looking place for the country, containing a store of miscellaneous goods, large barns, and a tolerably good garden. We travelled five or six miles after nightfall to Goderich.

From Smith’s Creek to Goderich, a distance of about sixty miles, nearly two-thirds of the road is corduroy or crossway. Occasionally a tree has been left standing in the centre of the road, as if for the purpose of attracting notice. These trees are generally rock-elm of the finest description, but as others equally good could be found a few yards from the road, those on its centre ought to be removed as interruptions.

The soil of Captain A——’s farm in Blenheim is a rich soft loam of easy cultivation. The land of this township, and the adjoining one, Wilmot, which we passed through, is loam of excellent quality. The wood is chiefly maple, interspersed with elm, oak, cherry, and beach. On our way from Lamotte to the Goderich road, we saw what is called a wind-fall in the forest, or havoc of a whirlwind, where the decaying trunks of trees were scattered in wild and mutilated confusion. Many single trees were lying up and down, with large masses of earth raised by, and adhering to, the roots, termed cradle-knolls, which, in some places, were so numerous as to resemble graves in a churchyard. The soil in the township of East and North Hope seems considerably inferior to that of the two mentioned, and a great deal of bad land is afterwards met with, consisting of swamp and wet clay, covered with stunted wood of various kinds, and partially settled by poor looking people, lodged in miserable hovels. I was grieved to see human beings had set themselves down on bad soil, while so much of good quality remained unoccupied, and which would have better rewarded them for the labour of clearing. It is perhaps the policy of some to fix settlers on bad soil, in the first instance, as the good will be sure to attract others. One person told me, with seeming self-satisfaction, that his consisted of an inch or two of black mould on top and fine white clay below.

Chess was plentiful in all situations on the Goderich road; timothy the prevailing grass, a few plants of cocksfoot, with narrow leaves, and white clover, were occasionally seen.

A deer was observed standing on the road for some time, at no great distance from the waggon, and suddenly bounded off into the forest.

Goderich Hotels—Eagle’s Nest—Doctor Dunlop—Cheap Dinner—Search for an East Lothian Farmer—Goderich—Poverty of Settlers—Canada Company—State of Goderich Settlement—Journey to London—Mr T***—Aux Sable Creek—Ship-builder from Essex—Negro Settlement—Notices of Nature—Robinson Hotel—Mode of Travelling—Huron Track Roads—London—St Thomas—Port Stanley—Emigrants from Argyleshire—Dirty Beds—Agricultural Notices.

On arriving at Goderich, we could not get admittance to Reid’s hotel, unless my friend and I would occupy half a bed, which induced us to drive to that of Mr Fisher, where we slept uncomfortably on the floor, the landlady telling us, while preparing the pallet, that Goderich was a poor place. While partaking of tea, served up after the fashion of the States, I imagined the sugar had been put into the pot, as there was none visible in the apartment, but next morning I discovered it was mixed with the cream. Fisher’s hotel was crowded with workmen of all descriptions, and by way of kindness, I suppose, we were invited to breakfast with the family. My shoes had long remained uncleaned, and I got them blackened here by paying 3d. sterling, which was unprofitably spent money, as a few minutes’ walking in dewy grass rendered them as brown as before.

After breakfast, we walked in the direction of Dr Dunlop’s new cottage, on the north side of the river Maitland, and named the Eagle’s Nest. The situation seems happily chosen, and the name is characteristic of the owner. We spent a considerable time in examining the vegetable productions of the large islands formed by the river, which, at the time we saw it, was a mere brook, until overtaken by a shower, which compelled us to return to Goderich without reaching the Nest. I understood the islands at the mouth of the Maitland and the adjoining banks, had been granted as a common to the inhabitants of Goderich. The grass was very limited in quantity as well as variety of species, but tall growing weeds of great beauty covered the surface. I do not know whether these plants flavoured dairy produce; but the butter we got at Goderich was so nauseous, that neither my friend nor I could eat this substance for some days afterwards. The butter of Upper Canada was generally of the worst quality.

On returning from our walk we called on Dr Dunlop, at the office of the Canada Company, who introduced us to his brother the captain, recently arrived in the country. I had been furnished with an introductory letter to the Doctor, from a well-known character, both in Scotland and Canada, and which I left with Mr Jones at York. The Doctor seemed busy, and our conversation was limited, which I did not much regret, as I visited America with a determination to judge of matters more from what I saw than what might be told me, and there appeared nothing in the circumstances of the Goderich settlement requiring much explanation.

As Mr Fisher’s establishment did not appear of the first order, we determined on dining at the principal hotel, where we were admitted to what Mr Reid termed a family dinner. The table seemed surrounded by all the inmates of the houses twelve or fourteen in number, including boarders and travellers of all descriptions. Mr Reid presided, and amused me by distributing a tureen full of Scotch broth, with a tea-cup for a divider, and from the shortness of the handle, his fingers were immersed in stirring up the liquid. The entertainment was poor enough, and cost the moderate sum of sixpence sterling.

Having promised, on parting at Montreal with Mr D——, to endeavour to visit, if possible, a friend of his in the neighbourhood of Goderich, who once farmed in one of the finest situations in East Lothian, I felt anxious to witness the proceedings of an East Lothian farmer in so new a settlement as this; and immediately after dinner set out in search of Mr K——, who, we were told, lived about four miles from Goderich, on the shores of Lake Huron. We at first attempted to walk along the margin of the lake; but the quantity of drift and fallen timber which lined the shore, joined to the surge which was rushing from the west with the violence of a tempestuous ocean, rendered this route impracticable. On regaining the banks above the lake, I approached a cottage, and enquired the way. A young gentleman asked me to walk into his house, and he would furnish a hand-sketch of the road. He was employed in mapping for the Canada Company, and his productions did him credit. He told me he was from Edinburgh, and brother to ——, a well-known engraver there, and whose name was quite familiar to me. On enquiring the way a second time, a mile or two farther on, I was astonished at a gentleman mentioning my name, when he said he had seen me in Edinburgh, where he was a brassfounder in the Grassmarket, and had only been a few weeks is the country. Notwithstanding the assistance of a sketch of the road, and minute directions received regarding it, we could not find the object of our search, and must have passed the night in the woods, had not the light of the moon, which was fortunately within a night of being full, enabled us to reach Goderich. The road on which we travelled is termed a concession line, and was marked by a blaze or axe-chip on the bark of trees. From this concession line, the different lots of property diverged, and were distinguished by marks which old countrymen could not readily notice; and I have no doubt we passed over the property of Mr K——, without discovering the tract leading to his abode. The concession line, a mile from Goderich, was almost an undistinguishable path, on which a horse or sleigh seemed never to have travelled. The cleared spaces on the different lots seldom exceed a few acres; and while conversing with my friend, I compared our route through the forest to a hare-path in an East Lothian wheat field, and the openings around the dwelling places to the forms of that animal.

Goderich is situated on the margin of Lake Huron, at the mouth of the river Maitland, and consists of about forty mean wooden houses, scattered irregularly over a considerable space. With exception of half-a-dozen of houses, near what is termed the pier, the rest of the village is about 200 feet above the level of the lake, partly on a cedar swamp, through which there is a street of corduroy. The Maitland river, when seen by me, on 28th August, was incapable of floating a canoe, and a vessel, a few tons burden, could not enter the mouth of the harbour.

I found the Canada Company very unpopular at Goderich, although Dr Dunlop is a favourite amongst the settlers, who are of the poorest class, and seemingly without industry or energy of any kind. Indeed, when men despair of overcoming their pecuniary difficulties, which must have been the case with most of the first settlers, they are apt to become both indolent and dissipated. The Canada Company charge 7s. 6d. per acre for land, payable, with interest, by instalments; and when a specified extent is taken, part of the settler’s travelling expenses are allowed him out of the second instalment. This is a most disadvantageous regulation for emigrants, being a premium to purchase beyond their means of paying, and an unprofitable locking up, or perhaps rather transfer of capital, which cannot by possibility fail of ending in ruin, as it hath been proved by the whole history of American wood settlers, that they find it difficult, for the first three years, with the utmost industry, to do more than maintain their families. In this case, the interest on the unpaid instalments is more than the cleared part of the farm will yield of profit at the end of five or six years, where a person trusts alone to his personal labour for improving. When all the instalments are duly paid, the price of the forest land, which seldom yields a blade of grass, and is totally unproductive, remains an overwhelming burden on what is cleared. Dr Dunlop told me, that only one of the original settlers continued to hold his land at the time of my visit to Goderich, and alluded to a cause for their removal, which I did not think likely to have produced the effect. The first settlers at Goderich were people of limited means, the majority of them paupers, and they soon became so involved to the Company, as to induce them to leave the district. Many of the recent purchasers, perhaps forty or fifty of them, were working on the Company’s roads while I was present, which the Doctor told me was the only means by which they could render payment.

It seem bad policy in a nation overflowing with population to sell a large though distant tract of land to speculators, like the Canada Company, who must seek immediate gain, without regard to the ultimate welfare of settlers, and only pursue revenue without aiming to develope the permanent resources of the district. Such an extent of territory as the Canada company possess, gives a monopoly of land, and a power of enhancing price, operating on the emigrant as a tax, which is transferred to the shareholders in England, instead of being employed on the spot. The affairs of the Company are not likely to be soon wound up, as the lands of insolvent purchasers will, from time to time, return to its management, and the price of land will be raised beyond the demands of the population, as well as let on lease. The political power of the Company will soon be felt, and its minions thrust into the legislature of the country, to the retarding of every local improvement affecting the finances of the Company. The shareholders will ultimately occupy the position of absentee landlords, and become the most avaricious of taskmasters.

The first settlement in the Huron tract having been made in 1829, it would be unreasonable to expect any thing like luxury or old-country comfort in the neighbourhood of Goderich. The habitations of the farmer are generally of the meanest description, and often quite equal in wretchedness to the worst hovels of Ireland and Scotland, and perhaps the notions of many of the settlers lead them to desire no better accommodation. It has already been noticed, that only one of the original farmers retains his possessions, and their successors are an improved race. A change proceeding in this manner may have benefited society, but at present there is a coarse rawness about men and things at Goderich which I felt far from being agreeable.

We left Goderich at seven in the morning of the 28th of August, and about seventeen miles distant, met Mr T—— and his friends journeying to Goderich, and resting on the wayside till their horse had fed, and I enjoyed highly a piece of bread which he presented to me. This gentleman had one of his horses stolen by an Indian the night preceding, and which was seen by us grazing with a halter on its head a few miles distant. I had become acquainted with Mr T—— in travelling from Montreal to York, and we regretted missing him at Goderich, where his local knowledge, joined to his sound sense, would have rendered him a most desirable companion.

It had rained pretty heavily in the afternoon, and we reached an inn at Aux Sable creek, hungry and wet. In a miserable log-house of two apartments, ten travellers passed the night, partly in beds and partly on the floor. The door was a collection of open boards, and the walls and roof admitted air and light in all directions. The bed which I occupied, in common with my friend, was hard and uneven, and I arose from it unrefreshed. The morning was so cold that I could hardly warm myself by walking, and the rays of a cloudless sun were courted for warmth at midday. After travelling nearly seven hours we made seventeen miles, at the end of which I enjoyed the company of an old Irishwoman, cooking pork, potatoes, apples, and tea to breakfast, for a party which had travelled together from Aux Sable creek. This old lady and her husband had been thirteen years on a farm of 150 acres, eighty of which were cleared, and every thing around them looked comfortable. I joined two reapers, and cut a few sheaves in a very fine field of oats, which I was told had been cropped for twelve successive years without an application of manure. After resting the horses, we proceeded on our journey to London.

About noon of the preceding day, I had some conversation with a ship-builder from Essex, in England, settled on the London road in the Huron tract, and at whose dwelling I made an unsuccessful application for something to eat. Like most settlers, he was full of hope, and extolled the fertility of his soil. On remarking to him that his wheat crop, which had been sown in spring, was destroyed by mildew, he reluctantly admitted the fact, and added that he was assured mildew did not visit the district above once in twenty years; not perhaps being aware that I knew the district had only been inhabited three or four years, and not even visited by a white person more than six years previous to the time of our conversation. Some of this person’s family had a sickly appearance, and on questioning him if any of them ever had ague, he told me several caught the complaint while residing at Hamilton, on Lake Ontario, but it was quite unknown in his present situation. I record these anecdotes as two of the thousand instances which occurred, of settlers lessening the evils, or rather magnifying the advantages, of their situation, and how necessary it is to sift, by reflection, the grain from the chaff of common conversation.

On the boundary of the Huron tract, next to the London district, we passed a negro settlement. The houses of the coloured people appeared of a particular construction, having the chimney-stack on the outside of the log-house, and which stack is composed of thin sawn timber, placed horizontally, and mixed with clay. Their chief crop was Indian corn, well cultivated. Before my departure from Britain, I had heard this settlement instanced as a complete failure, and used as an argument against the emancipation of slaves, then a general topic of conversation. The houses, barns, fences, and general appearances of this settlement are certainly mean enough, but I considered it in most respects equal, and in some superior, to settlements of whites in the Huron tract of the same standing of three years. But admitting, for argument’s sake, that this negro settlement had been a failure, the circumstance could not form a good reason of expediency against emancipation generally. When individuals attain maturity in a state of slavery, they will become so demoralized as to be incapable of acting with the feelings and aspirations of freemen and moral agents, and it is the rising and not the risen generation that much improvement is to be expected from. Perhaps the neglected and depressed state in which the poor Irish are reared in their native country is the chief cause of their making improvident settlers in Canada, and continuing hewers of wood and carriers of water over so great a portion of the globe.

The land in the Huron tract is truly excellent, with exception of a few miles around Goderich, which is sandy or gravelly, and some small cedar, ash, and larch swamps, being fine clay with a covering of black vegetable mould. The soil on the road leading from Van Egmont’s tavern to London, is particularly fine clay, especially near the Bayfield river, and the whole surface is perfectly level, with exception of the margins of the creeks. The London district is gently undulating, the soil greatly inferior to the Huron tract, and near the village becomes barren sand.

The wood on the road from Goderich to London is chiefly maple, interspersed with beech and elm, the latter being of considerable size. White clover is seldom seen on the waysides, red never, timothy plentiful, and a few plants of cocksfoot. Alder was growing in every place where the forest had been cut down, and put forth shoots of uncommon luxuriance, which seemed to die yearly, as I never observed a trunk or branch of a former year’s growth. The species appeared the same as that common in Britain, and perhaps the young shoots cannot withstand the rigours of a Canadian winter.

I observed a wasp-nest in the ground on the Goderich road, where swarms of the insects were passing out and in. They appeared similar to the wasp of Britain; but my friend was not philosopher enough to be prevailed on to try their stinging powers.

On reaching London we stopped at the Robinson hotel, christened a few days previous to our arrival, in compliment to the chief justice of the province, who had honoured the house by his presence while on the circuit. The landlord told us the dinner was over, but that he would prepare something for us immediately. In the meantime we retired to wash, and at the end of an hour and a half discovered it was intended to put off our eating till the arrival of tea hour. We had been treated in the same manner at Brantford; and after remonstrating with the landlord on the impropriety of promising dinner without furnishing it, we removed to the Mansion House hotel, where we experienced civility and attention.

This evening we parted with our waggoner, Francis Packet, who had brought us from Brantford. Unlike his countrymen, he possessed little wit or humour, but he was very good-natured, strictly sober, accommodating, and an excellent driver. He seemed disposed to accompany us throughout the remainder of our tour, and I confidently recommend him and his chestnut horses, John and Charlie, to all who may require their services. Francis was seldom disposed to talk much, but he invariably accosted every person on the road, by saying, in broken English, “How far tavern?”

At Brantford we engaged a waggon in preference to horses, under an idea of its being an easier mode of conveyance, but I am now satisfied our opinion was erroneous, as horseback would have been more expeditious, and less fatiguing than our waggon, over such roads as we travelled. The roads formed by the Canada Company in the Huron tract have been styled good by the Backwoodsmen, and so puffed off in every British newspaper, that Englishmen may be apt to imagine they are Macadamized. They are simply straight lines, formed by felling trees, the branches and trunks of which have been burnt, or formed into corduroy, and the stumps, from two to three feet in height, left standing. I have already alluded to the extent of corduroy, a description of roads which most travellers speak of with horror, and, without meaning to praise it, I must say it was by far the best and smoothest portions of the Goderich roads. The roots projecting from the stumps in a slanting direction kept the wheels and axles of our waggon moving up and down with the regularity of the beam of a steam-engine, and were alike annoying to us, and fatiguing to the horses, and more especially when travelling between Van Egmont’s tavern and London. In the neighbourhood of Goderich people were engaged in burning out the stumps, and throwing the earth from the sides into the middle of the road, giving it a convex form, which, in American phraseology, is called turnpiking, and this operation will be extended in time, if settlers have not cash to discharge their engagements to the Company.

London is situated at what is termed the Forks of the Thames, and when the forest is a little more cleared away than at present, few situations will be accounted more beautiful. At present a number of houses are being erected, and the village is rising rapidly into importance. It contains three or four large hotels, many well-filled stores, and a court house, of which the inhabitants feel proud.

On the 30th August we left London for St Thomas and Port Stanley, in a waggon belonging to St Thomas, and enjoyed our drive after the jolting snail pace we had experienced on the horrid roads of the Huron tract. Dining at St Thomas, we walked to Port Stanley, where we remained for the night. Next morning we returned to St Thomas, in the midst of a heavy ran, which confined us to the house for the greater part of the day.

St Thomas seems healthily situated on a bend of Kettle creek, about 200 feet above its waters. Three years ago it consisted of thirteen houses, now there are about fifty. Mr Gregory, at whose hotel we stopt, then had four beds, now he has twenty-five, and is engaged in enlarging his house to twice its present size. There are other two good hotels in the village.

Port Stanley is situated at the mouth of Kettle creek, and has a tolerably good harbour, formed by wooden piers jutting into the lake. This is almost the only port at present on the north side of Lake Erie, and from its proximity to London and St Thomas, its trade will greatly increase. A steam-boat commenced this season to ply regularly from Buffalo, by which a number of British emigrants reach the London district by way of New York and the Erie Canal. Steam-boats also touch in passing from Chippaway to Sandwich and Chatham.

Kettle creek is a small stream running in a deep channel, the banks being clay, and nearly 200 feet high at its mouth on the shores of the lake, from the bosom of which we saw the moon rise majestically, while examining the banks. On Kettle creek there is a carding, grist, and saw-mill, a distillery and brewery, situated between St Thomas and Port Stanley.

At Port Stanley I conversed with a party of emigrants encamped on the wharf, from Argyleshire, Scotland, who had come by way of New York, and seemed in comfortable circumstances. The males of the party had gone into the country in search of relations, who had settled some years before, and the females were anxiously looking for their return. Several women, apparently on the verge of seventy years of age, and infant children, were amongst the number. A middle-aged woman complained to me of the dirtiness of the beds at Port Stanley, and the extravagance of the charges. On the preceding night she had been charged 1s. for a bed. Water to wash her children’s faces could not be obtained, and the party preferred lying in the open air to the nasty beds. This was a sensible and well-informed woman, although she had not got quit of her home prejudices in some little matters. The difficulty of obtaining water to wash her children might soon have been got over, by going for it herself to the lake or creek, neither of which were seventy yards distant; and if a vessel for holding water had been denied her, she might have taken the children to the water. People brought up in an artificial state of society must often wonder at their own helplessness on first arriving in Canada. I quite agree with my countrywoman in the dirtiness of the beds in some parts of western Canada. My friend C—— much oftener slept on the floor than in the beds; but long before this time my notions of delicacy in this respect had been overcome by reflection, if not blunted by habit, and I reposed as soundly while in Canada, as ever I did in the most luxurious night of my life.

The surface between the village of London and Lake Erie is undulating, varying from clay to sand, and a very small portion can be termed rich. Three miles from Port Stanley the soil is oak openings of the poorest sand. There is a scarcity of running water, Kettle Creek being the only instance seen in a distance of thirty miles. Many orchards are to be met with, and soil and climate seem highly congenial to the apple-tree.

The settlers on what is known by Talbot road, running through St Thomas, and at no great distance from Lake Erie, live in mean log-houses, with miserable barns and fences. The clearances extend from thirty to sixty acres, and improvement of every description seems at a stand amongst them. Labourers’ wages were stated at $120 a-year, with bed and board. Wheat, crop 1832, was 2s. 9d. cash, and 3s. sterling, store-pay, per bushel. Mr Gregory told me he had purchased good wheat at St Thomas at 1s. 9d. per bushel, and it has been known as low as 1s. sterling.

Colonel Talbot’s residence—Camp-meeting—Barn—Mrs Aldgeo—Moravian Indian village—Cheap fruit—Runaway slaves—Excursion to Bear Creek—Mr Goose—Soil—Agricultural Notices—River Thames—Unhealthy appearance of inhabitants—Chatham—Plains—John Macdonald—Colborne Furnace—Neighbourhood of Amherstburgh—French inn.

In travelling from London to St Thomas, we were told of a Methodist camp-meeting in the neighbourhood; and as I had long been anxious to see one, we agreed to attend on the Sunday, when the meeting would be fullest. Early in the morning, people, in waggons and on horseback, were streaming in crowds through St Thomas towards the meeting, and as I was afraid of losing patience before evening, when the richest scene is said to take place, we embraced an offer of going to Colonel Talbot’s in the forenoon, distant about twelve miles west from St Thomas. The colonel’s residence may be described as a cluster of mean wooden buildings, consisting of dwelling-houses, stables, barns, pigstyes, and cattle-shades, constructed and placed seemingly without regard either to convenience or effect, commanding a view of Lake Erie, from which it is distant about 200 yards, and at the mouth of Ottar creek, a small brook, with clay banks of considerable height. The clay banks behind the colonel’s house have a barren and naked appearance, while the lake in front is too near. The situation, nevertheless, has capabilities to make a fine place, when taste shall build a habitation. The garden, which was badly kept, contained some fine apple and pear trees, which we viewed from the outside of the fence. There were a few weeping willows, the first I saw in Canada, and which raised the colonel considerably in my estimation, as they are not, I believe, indigenous to the country.

The cleared ground may extend to about 200 acres, and is partly clay and partly sand. The fences and general appearance of the place seem to mark the Colonel as an indifferent manager, both with regard to neatness and profit.

On the creek there is a site of a mill, which was burnt down by the Yankees during the war, and which remains unrepaired. The colonel is said to have narrowly escaped being captured at this time, by a party of Americans, who came intentionally to take him prisoner. The colonel, at the time of their arrival, happened, it is said, to be occupied in milking cows in the fields, and thereby escaped detection till he reached the woods.

It was my intention at one time to have introduced myself to the colonel, who was observed standing at his door, when we were only a few hundred yards distant; but the accounts received in the neighbourhood induced me to think there was very little chance of our interview being attended with pleasure, and I withdrew without making his acquaintance.

We returned to St Thomas, which we left at half-past four, in a waggon, for the camp-meeting, and on our way met multitudes of people on their return home. It now became evident we had been too late in visiting the meeting, to see the greatest assemblage, but consoled ourselves that the most fervent worshippers would be more readily distinguished. Our waggon was left within a mile of the meeting, and we proceeded on foot through the forest. The ground in the midst of the forest had been prepared for the occasion, having had the brush or underwood removed, and trees laid in parallel rows, by way of seats, for five or six hundred people. On entering a square, formed by tents, in which the people reside for four or five days together, I was disappointed at the smallness of the assemblage, which did not exceed three hundred souls. Many people were walking up and down, engaged in mirthful conversation, and five or six small groups were standing in different parts, singing hymns in a low tone. At this moment I observed a comely young woman in front of a tent, laughing and nodding familiarly to a numerous acquaintance, which induced me to think she might be engaged in attending a tent for entertaining the company. She bore a striking likeness to a valued friend in Scotland; and while engaged in tracing the resemblance, feature by feature, she and a younger companion jumped into a waggon, and seated themselves in a conspicuous situation, as if wishing to attract attention. On walking round the square, I was riveted to the spot by the sweetness of a young lady’s voice, dressed in white, with a very broad gipsy straw-bonnet, and black veil hanging over her shoulder. Her figure was above the middle size, slender and graceful, her features expressive and handsome. She was accompanied by another lady, wearing a bonnet and veil of the same description, and a gentleman, seemingly her sister and brother, and all were engaged in singing. From the appearance of things, I concluded the people had a short time before been engaged in taking tea.

A little while after entering the square, five or six old men placed themselves in front of a rude platform erected for the preachers, and commenced singing in a loud strain, on hearing which the different small parties came and joined the old men. The singing lasted about ten minutes, when praying succeeded, and each individual pronounced a different prayer aloud. At this time a minister placed himself on the platform or pulpit, and in a stentorian voice, ejaculated an impassioned prayer, which, by degrees, excited the feelings of the people below him, and when they reached what he, perhaps, considered the proper key, he descended and joined them on his knees.

I was standing close beside the worshippers, on a trough used for collecting the juice of the maple in spring, leaning my back against a tree, and gazing on the extraordinary scene. Many individuals of both sexes were bellowing at the utmost pitch of their voice, and clapping their hands in seeming transport; others were whining supplicatory strains, and wringing their hands in despair. The comely young woman and her companion, formerly noticed, joined the group in a standing position in the first instance; they soon became bathed in tears, and ultimately joined in prayer in a state of high excitement. A very emaciated old woman, with dishevelled locks of silvery whiteness, shrieked so loud and piteously, that the minister’s voice became unheard, and something like a thrill of uneasiness vibrated on my nerves. Such was the confusion and discord, that I was unable to collect two connecting sentences from the prayer of any individual. When the devotees had seemingly reached the highest pitch to which their feelings would strain, the lady with the gipsy bonnet stepped forward near to where I was standing, and commenced singing in the most soothing and melodious tone. She was joined by her sister and brother, and soon afterwards by all the sect. In this manner prayer and praise succeeded each other, during which the feelings of the worshippers were alternately excited and lulled by minister and nymph, like ocean by tempest and calm.

Many bystanders were laughing at the exclamations and postures of the worshippers; others were reading newspapers, or carelessly engaged in conversation. One individual, more prominent in his ridicule than the rest, was rebuked for his conduct by one of the sect, when a controversy ensued between the parties, who were listened to by a crowd collected around them. On approaching the disputants, one was openly avowing his unbelief in the Bible, and the other, without meekness, condemning his sentiments and conduct; but neither possessing the power of arranging an argument, I left them engaged in the hopeless task of trying to convince each other.

There was something so different in the impassioned supplications of the minister, whose aim seemed to be to rouse the feelings, without impressing the minds, of his audience—in the time, place, and manner of addressing the Supreme Being, so different to what I had been accustomed to in the Presbyterian worship of Scotland, that at first I could not believe the sect was addressing the same Deity. The earnest, excited, I may say hysterical, devotions of one party, the indifference and unrestrained scoffing of the other, gave rise to such conflicting emotions, that I arranged to meet my friend in half an hour, and retired from the multitude.

In the meantime, fires had been lighted up on the ground in different parts of the square, one six feet high near the platform, and a few candles were glimmering in the tents. The foliage of the maple and oak, so remarkable for richness and variety of autumnal tints, formed a beautiful canopy over the heads of the people, and, when gilded by the flames of blazing fagots, and intermingled by rising sparks, had a supernatural and solemn effect. Could I have alone contemplated nature unconnected with the part humanity was acting, my enjoyment might have been great, but the wailings of fellow-beings, and the shouts of boys on reaching the ground, disturbed returning repose.

On again approaching my friend, a preacher was thanking the Almighty for the manifestations of his goodness since they had met together, and concluded by requesting all who desired to be released from their sins, to accompany him to another place, and a procession to the place ensued. This consisted of a small enclosure, formed by a single rail of saplings, nailed to the standing trees, in the centre of which were two branchless trunks lying parallel to each other, and is perhaps what is termed the pen. Here the preacher again requested all who earnestly desired to be relieved from their sins, to come within the lines which had been prepared for them.

The whole devotees then prayed promiscuously aloud, and when at the height of excitement, the nymph of the gipsy bonnet commenced singing, standing on the outside of the enclosure, and was joined by the people within.

When the singing ceased, it was announced that Brother Fraiser was to preach, and the people assembled around the shade on the seats prepared for them, after being repeatedly requested to do so. At the conclusion of praise and prayer, a text was given out, and sermon commenced. Mr Fraiser now discovered that he was hoarse, perhaps from previous exertion, and in the midst of his apology to the audience, I took my leave at half-past eight o’clock.

The devotees were few in number, perhaps not more than sixty, and almost either old men or young women, the Irish brogue being conspicuous amongst the former. They seemed of the lowest class, not more than half-a-dozen of well-dressed people being amongst them. There were four ministers.

I could not divine why the pretty creature with the gipsy bonnet did not join in prayer, and commenced singing at the proper time. Could her bonnet and clothes be too fine for kneeling and tossing on the ground like others, or had she a part to act?

At the time of my departure, there might be nearly three hundred people on the ground, including all descriptions, amongst whom were fifteen or twenty females, unconnected with the sect, and a great many boys. On walking from the meeting, many youths were met on their way to it.

It is but justice for me to say, that I did not witness any act of impropriety or indecency by the attenders of the camp-meeting; but whether this arose from the character of the people, the time of night, or my want of discernment, others may determine. The meeting was, however, a small one, and in a part of the country not likely to have furnished many examples of disregardless profligacy. Whether camp-meetings are favourable to the cause of genuine religion, is matter of dispute, and the greater part of those whom I heard speak on the subject, supported the negative side of the question. Perhaps the matter is oftener determined by feeling than reason. It would be presumption to give a decided opinion on so serious a subject, with such limited opportunity of judging; but something extraordinary will occur to induce me again to visit a camp-meeting. This may be prejudice.

On leaving the camp-meeting, we proceeded to a tavern five miles distant, on reaching which we learned that the beds and floors were so occupied, that we could not gain admittance. We, however, obtained permission to lodge ourselves in the barn, which, on scrambling over several rail fences, we found open, and occupied by human beings snoring in full chorus. The mows of grain being of different heights, we ascended to the attics, where we passed the night. The grain seemed to have been lately carried in, its upper surface being moist from sweating, which, joined to currents of air passing through the openings in the roof, rendered me so cold, that I had recourse to my flannel shirt for the first and last time between leaving Montreal and New York. Next morning I awoke from a sound sleep, and, like a dog, put myself to rights by a shake, shouldered my knapsack, and took the road at half-past four o’clock, in as good walking trim as at any former period of my life.

The day proved hot—we dined at Delaware, a village of seven or eight houses, situated on the Thames, over which there is a bridge, and the road passes to the north side of the river. I was anxious to be present at a sale of Crown lands, which was to take place at Chatham next day, but we could not obtain the means of transport, and no alternative remained but jogging along on foot. We called at the land-office at Caradoc, and reached Mrs Aldgeo’s tavern an hour after nightfall, where we found two gentlemen who had passed us on the road in the afternoon, and one of whom I had seen at York. They were going to the sale of Crown lands at Chatham, which one of them did not reach in time, and the other remained at Mrs Aldgeo’s, having been slightly injured by a fall from a waggon.

Mrs Aldgeo’s tavern is a log-house of mean appearance, having two apartments—a kitchen, and room for all purposes. It is, however, the most comfortable house of entertainment in this part of the country, owing to the excellent management and good-humour of the hostess. Four individuals slept in the same appartment, in two clean beds, in which we were told, by way of recommendation, the Chief-Justice and Attorney-General had slept a few nights before.

The next morning proved wet, which enabled me to see a little of the economy of the establishment; and I particularly remarked a poor fowl very unceremoniously knocked off a rail fence with a stick, and in the space of twenty minutes presented at table in the shape of an excellent stew. Mrs Aldgeo is a genuine Irish lady, from the old country, and her kindness and loquacity during breakfast, which she served out, were unbounded. She did not always wait for an answer to her questions; and with a few pauses, held forth in the following manner:—

“I was married at the age of twenty-four to Aldgeo, then eighteen and a-half, and the finest-looking man in the world. I lost him six years ago, God rest his soul! it was a sad loss to me as—but of this no more. Yes, my poor dead husband left four horses, fifteen sheep, twenty cows, forty hogs, ox chains, auger, gimlet, and other farm utensils. Will you take something more, Mr ——? I will help you to a little more of the fowl; you must eat while under my charge, and not become thin—there, take an egg. Here is an elegant potato from the garden, where they are planted for the old woman, as she has not time to go to the fields. My boy will sometimes say, ah, mother, leave the gentlemen to themselves; but I like to press old-country gentlemen, when not proud. I never press Yankees; them boys help themselves. Yankee women are lazy good-for-nothings, eating cake and sucking sugar all day long. I attend to man and beast. Yes, there is no one to assist me in the house, and I look to the fowls, hogs, and cows; in the evenings, my feet are like to drop out of my shoes. Do you see that field on the opposite side of the road?—my hands burnt all the brush on that field. Do take some of the bread baked by the old woman; I bake some every afternoon—that is handsome bread. The Scotch lawyer below, with the wooden leg, and angel children, brought his pretty little wife here to learn to make bread. I use no barm, but mix two parts of milk and one of water together, add a spoonful of salt, a little flour, and let them stand ten or twelve hours by the fire. Then make the bread with milk, as water gives it a black colour. I make my own soap—oh, darling soap—and never boil it. My boys have not taken wives, but my two eldest daughters are married. Did you observe an elegant store at the corner of —— in London? that belongs to my daughter’s husband. My youngest girl is at a boarding-school in London, where two ladies from England have lately commenced, and I pay for my girl $39 a-year.”

The rain ceasing about noon, we left Mrs Aldgeo’s, and reached Howardbridge to tea, where the road passes to the south side of the Thames. The roads were fatiguing in consequence of their wetness, and we gladly accepted of an offer, made by two gentleman in a waggon, to carry our knapsacks, and in whose company we next day travelled to Chatham, where we spent the night. Some time before reaching Chatham, I obtained a draught of water from a young girl on the banks of the Thames, to whom I proffered a piece of money, which she declined, saying, she never accepted money for such things. At this time my British habits were not altogether laid aside.

The soil on the banks of the Thames, from the point where the St Thomas road joins that from London to Sandwich, is oak openings, seemingly of inferior quality, all the way to Delaware, and from thence, to six miles below Mrs Aldgeo’s tavern, poor clay, with small stunted wood. From this, passing through the site of the old Moravian Indian village, the soil is poor sand, and a little farther on, becomes loam of the best quality.

The Moravian Indian village is situated on a bend of the Thames, and the surrounding lands were bearing luxuriant crops of Indian corn. The old village was burnt by the Americans during the last war, and on its site, a mile to the Math of the present one, some fine apple-trees are standing, the fruit of which we found agreeable as quenching thirst. Here I observed, for the first time, a species of hawthorn with glossy leaves, of a smaller size, more numerous prickles, branching, and of taller growth than the common hawthorn of the country, and apparently a better hedge-plant. On the banks of the Thames, above Chatham, (Celestina Scandens,) a climbing plant, with beautiful orange-coloured berries, was first observed growing luxuriantly on many trees, entwined with the vine. Apple-trees are numerous near the river, and the crop so abundant, that they were breaking under their load. I was offered any quantity of fruit at 1½d. sterling per bushel, gathering it myself. The peaches were also a great crop. A pear-tree was seldom seen.

In the evening, we walked down the banks of the Thames, for the purpose of procuring horses for an excursion, and succeeded in our mission. In returning, we observed two men of colour crossing the river in a canoe, and leading a horse, which was swimming. On entering into conversation with them, I learned they were brothers from Kentucky, and both farmed on lease, one of them renting 190 acres on the banks of the river, fifty of which were cleared, for $20 per annum. On asking if they had run away from Kentucky, one of them answered in the affirmative, and replied, laughingly, I suppose you have also run away. A great many people of colour are settled in the Western parts of Upper Canada, almost all of whom are runaway slaves from the United States.

On the morning of the 5th September we left Chatham for Bear creek, under the guidance of Mr John Goose, who owned a property on the banks of the Thames, four miles below Chatham, inherited from his father, who was one of the original settlers. Mr Goose was a sensible, well-informed man, of a weakly constitution, and had let his farm on shares to a Yankee, by which he obtained half the produce for his labour. Mr Goose rode a brown mare, with a filly foal running at her feet, in the language of the country styled a colt, a term applied to the young of the mares, without regard to sex. My friend C—— and I rode chestnuts, or sorrels, without shoes, the reins were stout ropes, and the saddles without panels or girths. On, however, we jogged up the Thames, and crossed over to Bear creek, which we reached about four o’clock, and got some refreshment at the house of Mr Goose’s brother-in-law, whom we found sowing wheat. The ostensible object of our journey was to examine some lots of land which had been offered us by letter in the township of Dawne, and regarding the situation of which we could not obtain information till arriving on the creek, when we learned it was in the opposite direction where we were, and so swampy that no person could live on it. We then commenced descending the stream, and passed the night with Mr B——, friend to Mr Goose, sleeping soundly on the floor. Next morning, we descended the creek four or five miles below, where its waters are on a level with those of Lake St Clair, and crossed over to the Thames, which we passed below Chatham in a canoe, swimming the horses by its side. Here we parted with Mr Goose, much pleased with his conduct, paying him $4, or 16s. 8d. sterling, for the services of three horses and himself two days.

The soil, on the banks of the Thames, varies from soft sand to strong clay, and may generally be termed heavy loam. Our first and most easterly line from the Thames to Bear creek was poor sand, gradually improving to fine loam on approaching the creek. The banks of the creek showed the richest description of sandy loam; and much of what is termed bottom land, more especially above Mr B——’s property, is perhaps too rich for first crops. This richest of land, extending to both sides of the creek, and containing a thousand acres, was unoccupied, for sale, and could have been bought at about $3 per acre. Our lower line, from Bear creek to the Thames, was invariably fine loam.

I consider the soil on the banks of the Thames, around Chatham, superior to what I saw on Bear creek, from containing a greater portion of clay; both are, however, excellent, and objectionable only on account of their lowness, and proximity to the marshy plains around Lake St Clair, though only ten or twelve feet above its waters, yet twenty miles distant from its shore. The forest exhibited few cradle knolls, which proves the soil of stronger texture than that of Blenheim, Wilmot, or the neighbourhood of Goderich, cradle knolls being a sure indication of sand, except where trees are prostrated by a whirlwind or hurricane.

The agriculture of the Thames and Bear creek do not merit much notice. Bear creek, and the country between it and the Thames, is very thinly settled, and the clearances of small extent. The habitations are mean, and the inhabitants seemingly poor, and without enterprise or industry. The chief market has hitherto been Detroit, and the population have, in a great measure, been shut out from the rest of the world. Mr B—— told me thirty bushels of wheat have been given for a bushel of salt—now five is the price. I did not see a clearance of any extent going on, while some portion of rich cleared soil had been abandoned or neglected; and when overgrown with weeds, and destitute of grass, exhibited complete sterility. Natural clover of any kind was not visible, nor had the seeds of any been sown. The settlers had never applied any manure, and seemed to lead easy lives. The wheat harvest was gathered previous to my visit. Buck wheat was uniformly a poor crop, being injured by drought, and in many cases also by frost. Indian corn was by no means good. A field of barley on Bear creek, as the first crop on bottom land, was destroyed by mildew. A portion of millet on the same field was uninjured, and the only instance in which I have seen such a crop.

Bear creek is a small stream, about half the size of the Thames, and propels two grist mills, and a third at Mr B——’s is being erected. We examined the lowest mill; the water-power was not economically applied; the house without a door; the machinery entirely of wood; and the whole erection a bauble of the worst construction. There were perhaps fifty small parcels of wheat for grinding in the mill, and six or seven people were waiting to carry away their flour. This mill cannot make marketable flour at present, and its undurable construction may be considered fortunate for settlers. Grist mills are much wanted in the country, none being effective on the Thames, and I was told wheat has actually come from Michigan to be ground at this wretched mill.

The river Thames, the letters of which are invariably pronounced soft by the inhabitants of the country, is of small size, incapable of moving machinery for want of fall, and when seen by me, perhaps not more than equal to the power of a grist mill with one good pair of stones, if fall could be obtained. The banks are low and uninteresting. The water is on a level with Lake St Clair, and is navigable five miles above Chatham.

Having entered the houses of many of the settlers on Bear creek and the Thames, and observed the countenances of hundreds of people seen on roads and in fields, I was particularly struck with the sallow, dried, and sickly appearance of the inhabitants. Perhaps, in the course of three days’ travelling, I did not meet half-a-dozen of healthy-looking individuals;—a recently-imported old-countryman could always be distinguished by his complexion, and often, also, by his portliness of figure. While speaking on this subject, Mr Goose did not like the chuncky (stout) appearance of Britons, and could not comprehend why the skin of their faces seemed to creep like Muscovado sugar. Ague was evidently not a stranger to the country; and a lodger in the tavern at Chatham was suffering under the complaint.

Chatham is on the south bank of the Thames. Twelve months ago it was said to contain only five or six houses; now there are nearly twenty. It is visited by steam-boats; and from being situated at what may be termed the head of the Thames navigation, it is certain of rising at no distant day. There is a rumour of making Chatham, instead of Sandwich, the seat of the district courts, which would be a more convenient situation; but the growth of Chatham seems to be independent of this alteration.

After parting with Mr Goose, and dining at Chatham hotel, kept by Mr Cartier, a French Canadian, and who was enlarging his house from an increase of business, we engaged Israel Williams, a man of colour, who owned an excellent farm in the vicinity of Chatham, to carry us with a waggon and pair of horses south to Lake Erie, and round the lake and Detroit river to Sandwich.

Two roads led to Lake Erie, one by what was called the town line, and another across the plains. Having heard much of the plains from Mr Goose, who said all the farmers in the neighbourhood cut hay from them, and that a squatter had been successful in growing crops, although considered barren, I was anxious to see the plains; and accordingly took them on our way to the lake, although Israel Williams had never travelled the road.

We left Chatham about half-past nine, and soon reached the plains, two miles north of Chatham. At the east end, where we passed through, they consist of an area between two and three miles wide, and as far as the eye could reach to the westward, destitute of trees, except small spots here and there, bearing shrubs and stunted trees of various sizes, and which resembled islands in a lake. A number of dwarfish willows were growing in most places, and the grass consisted chiefly of two species, which occasionally reached the horses’ ears. A number of beautiful flowering plants adorned the plains, but being thoroughly wet, and rain falling heavily at the time, my botanizing zeal abated, and I contented myself with adding the seeds of four or five to my collection, gathered without descending from the waggon. Williams missed the tract leading into the forest on the south side of the plains, which we perambulated for upwards of an hour, till reaching a house, containing a ragged, dirty, and miserable looking family, a boy of which acted as our guide till entering the forest. We reached what the people of the country call Frogmore-street, a newly opened road leading from Sandwich; from which we were directed to Lake Erie, but missing our way a second time, it was about sunset before we came in sight of the lake, having been nine hours in travelling a distance of twelve miles.

When emerging from the woods on Lake Erie, we passed a camp-meeting of the Jacksonite Methodists, which I felt no inclination to visit. On enquiring to be directed to the nearest tavern, I was told there was not a tavern on the road for thirty miles, but that almost any farmer would receive us for the night.

Our first three or four applications for accommodation were unsuccessful, the houses being filled with the attendants of the camp-meeting; but we at last gained admittance to the house of John Macdonald, from Appin, Argyleshire, Scotland. Application had in this solitary instance been made by Williams, and John reluctantly consented to receive us, under the impression we were people of colour like Williams. John was surprised to find us of the same complexion as himself, and still more so when I said he must be a countryman of mine, from his dialect as a Scotchman. He put a thousand questions about my visit to the country and the state of Scotland, and when satisfied that I was not an impostor, his joy seemed unbounded. John was a true Scotch Highlander in every respect, and spoke the English language in the comic purity, if I may use the expression, of his countrymen,—his phrases of “her nainsell,” and “gosh, man,” being as fresh as if from Appin the day before. I enjoyed his originality, and admired his warmth of heart, amply displayed in anecdotes of his past life, which he continued to relate long after we went to bed.

Next morning I walked over John’s farm, consisting of 200 acres of most excellent land, forty of which had been cleared in fourteen years, during which he had not applied any manure, and which I testify had not accumulated to an inconvenient degree. His Indian corn was about the best crop I saw in Canada, with exception of some belonging to the Indians on the Grand River. The quality of his wheat was excellent, and part of his farm carried this crop and peas alternately; the extent of wheat being limited to the assistance he could obtain during harvest. John had two sons on adjoining farms, in the same state as their father’s, and a third who had lately married, lived with him. John had twelve acres of good land, which had been gradually cleared in obtaining timber for different purposes, and which a week’s work of his son would render fit for cultivation; yet it had remained for years in a state of comparative unproductiveness. He wondered at me not having tasted unripe Indian corn, on which every creature, he said, lived in this country, as they did on herrings in the west of Scotland during the season; and he roasted two ears for me, which I did not highly relish. John’s house was very mean-looking, and he accounted for it by the want of saw-mills in this part of the country, which rendered boards dear.

We left John Macdonald after breakfast, and travelled to Colborne Iron-works, in the township of Gossfield, and had a late and uncomfortable dinner where the workmen board. A bed was obtained for us at the house of Messrs Calhoum and Field, proprietors of the works,—which was a log-house of recent erection, plain and rough, externally and internally.

The furnace had been burnt down a few weeks before our arrival, and all hands were engaged in reconstructing it. The whole erection, with exception of the fireplace and chimneystalk, was composed of wood, and one of the most temporary buildings it is possible to conceive. The bed of ore lies in a marsh a mile and a half distant, and is what is called bog-ore, one or two feet thick, with six inches of peat-earth on the surface; and I was assured by Mr Field that the earth thrown aside two years ago was now fruitful of ore. The iron-work is expected to consume the coke of nearly 200 acres of forest yearly; and the company would clear any farmer’s woodland for the coke it produced. This may be worth the notice of settlers, and is given from Mr Field’s statement.