CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF THE DEPT. OF HISTORY F 606 04""'" ""'"•"'•y Library o,in 3 ^924 028 912 842 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028912842 MINNESOTA THE FAR WEST MINNESOTA THE FAR WEST LAUEENCE OLIPHANT, ESQ. LA.TE CIVIIj 8E0BBTAKY AND aDPETHNTENDENT-OENERAL OP INDIAN AFFAIRS IN CANADA Author of " Ttie Russian Shores of the Black Sea," Sec. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLV ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN BLACKWOOD S MAGAZINE. TO THE EAEL OF ELGIN AM) KINCAKDINE, K.T. TO WHOSE ADMINISTRATIVB TALENT IS DUE THE PRESENT PEOSPEEIIY 01" CANADA, AND BY WHOSE ABLE DIPLOMACY THE COMMEECIAL RELATIONS Of GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES HAVE BEEN PLACED UPON A BASIS ALIKE HONOURABLE AND ADVANTAGEOUS TO BOTH NATIONS, THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. At a time when the greatest Powers of Europe have combined to resist barbarian aggression, and public interest is concentrated upon the East, the rapid advance of civilisation in the West possesses claims upon our notice which are in danger of being overlooked. I have therefore ventured to direct attention to the revolution which is now being effected in the physical and moral eondition of a great country, and which is likely to be attended with results scarcely less important to the interests of humanity, than those that are expected to follow from the war in which we are now engaged — where the ploughshare, and not the sword, is used as the precursor of civilisation. In the course of the narrative of an expedition Vlll PREFACE. which I made last year through a portion of North America hitherto but little visited by travellers, I have accordingly endeavoured to give some account of the present condition and prospects of the country, and to convey some idea of those resources whose rapid development will before long exercise a mate- rial influence upon the wealth and importance of the United States. For the very brief and imperfect manner in which I have done this, I have only to plead the more pressing interests which have since attracted me to another part of the world, and which have so occupied my time as to compel me to bring these observations to a close before I was enabled to devote to the subject that careful con- sideration which it deserved. Constantinople, August 1855. CONTENTS. PART I. — CANADA. CHAPTER I. ACROSS THE FRONTIBK — EEOIPROCITT. PAGE Go-ahead notions — Portland— Trade of Portland: its various attractions — Railway througli the White Mountains — Across the horder — The Recipro- city Treaty : its benefit to Canada : its general effects — Railway through Lower Canada — ArriTe at Quebec, ..... 1-12 CHAPTER II. CAU-ADIAN POLITICS. The Commons of Canada — Political parties — Loyalty of sentiment general — Lord Elgin's policy — The two last questions — The ministerial crisis — Constitutional government, ...... 13-20 CHAPTER III. CANADIAN SOCIETY. The gay season — The attractions of Quebec — The philosophy of pio-nics : the way to go to them — The use of a companion — Sleighing by moon- light — Traboggining — ^Winter traject of the St Lawrence : its duration, 21-30 CHAPTER IV. CANADIAN STATISTICS. The Grand Trunk Railway — The Victoria Bridge — Belleville: Bay of Quintfe — The Lake of the Mountain — BelleviUe: Trenton: Coburg— Growing prosperity of Upper Canada — Great attractions presented by Canada to the emigrant — Upper and Lower Canada contrasted, . 31-40 CHAPTER V. CANADIAN BACKWOODS. From Toronto to Lake Simcoe — The Northern Railroad — Grasspoint — Orillia: Polling-day — A Canadian "Vet." at the poU — PoUtical apathy of constituents — A vixen of a hostess — Indian village of Rama — Social condition of the Indians, . . . . . .41-49 X CONTENTS. CHAPTEK VI. A BAEK-OANOE VOYAGE DOWN THE SBVEBN. PAGK Scenery about Lake Simcoe — A first experiment at shooting the i-apids Camping for the night — Dressed for dinner— A poetical efRision — Disen- chantment: John Storm— An Indian warrior's story — The Falls of the Severn— A dismal night — Unsuccessful trolling— Sturgeon Bay — Loafers —A difficulty— A well-timed spring— Penetanqujshene— CoUingwood— Sydenham, . 50-67 CHAPTER VII. A RIDE 10 THE INDIAN VILLAGE OF SAUGEBN. ^ Prom Sydenham to Saugeen — A logging "bee" — A brilliant sunset — Scotch entertainers — Saugeen — Rivalry of towns — A grand council of Indians — Indian trail — A short cut — Lost in the wood — Feeling for the "blaze" — Sydenham again — Land-hunters — Inventing names for cities, 68-80 CHAPTER VIII. THE ANNUAL DISTEIBUTION OF INDIAN PEESBNTS AT MANITOULIN — GEORGIAN BAT. Physical aspect of Indians — A process of civilisation — Petit Courant — Interesting Sabbath service — Chebonaning — La Cloche — The Bruce cop- per mines — Indian settlement on Garden Eiver — Yankee pre-eminence — The Chippeway House, . . . . . . . 81-90 PAET II. — LAKE SUPEEIOE. CHAPTER IX. THE SATJLT STB. MAEIE. A delusion dispelled — A group of Americans — ^The ^o-litest man at the Soo — A characteristic view — A public dinner — Fort Brady — ^A family of half- breeds — Shooting the Sault rapids — A valuable life — The Hudson's Bay Company's fort — Departure from the Sault — Near "busting up" — The Sault canal: probable traffic along it — The "Sam Ward" — Lake ■ Superior, ........ 91-107 CHAPTER X. THE PICTURED ROCKS — FATHER MARQUETTE. The Pictured Rooks— The Chapel— Le Grand PortaU— The Grand Sable— Marquette— The iron region — ^Explorations of Father Marquette— His discovery of the Mississippi — His devotional exercises— His death, 108-118 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XI. THE MINERAL REGION OF LAKE SUPEMOR. Northern peninsula of Michigan— Keewenaw Poinl^Copper Harbour— The Cliff Minos —Traces of former excavations- Father Een« Mesnard— The Minnesota Mine — Process of "stamping," .... 119-127 CHAPTER XII. ONTONAGON — THE "SAM WARD." A speculative colonel— The art of whittling— Ontonagon— Par West fixings — Le Vin ; le Jeu ; les Belles — A "Superior" cotillon — Our vis-A-vis — La Pointc — A war party of Chippeways— Fond du Lao— Land in Minne- sota — An Indian wigwam, ...... 128-142 CHAPTER XIII. THE OITY OF SUPERIOR- LAND SPEOnLATION. An invisible city — First settlers— A Par West greeting — First sensations — A cool inhabitant — Superior quarters — The Far West as a field for invest- ment — Land speculation — Eligibility of Superior : its future prospects — Bright visions, ....... 143-155 CHAPTER XIV. WISCONSIN — BED AND BOARD IN THE FAR WEST. Wisconsin as a field for emigration ; its capabilities — An imaginary city — The table d'hflte — A "prospecting" judge — Novelty of our night's quar- ters — Routes from Superior to St Paul — Preparations for the journey — A multitude of counsellors — Yankee promptitude, . . 156-166 PAET III. — MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XV. CAMPING OUT ON THE ST LOUIS. Fond du Lac^An Indian tomahawked — A striking view — Immense burdens borne by Indians — Culinary operations — The "knife portage" — Our ser- vants instructed, and a good understanding established ; their boat- chants — A feast on "tender bar" — Dexterity of voyageurs ; their charac- ter and temperament, ...... 167-179 CHAPTER XVI. THE SAVANNAHS. A sacred rock — The Great Savannah — A wild man of the lakes — Trying circumstances — Effect of sleeping on poisonous ivy — An awakening screech — The North-west Trail — The Savannah Lake— Prairie River — A cheering anticipation, . . . . . .180-190 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XVII. SANDT LAKE. p^„„ Soothing influences — A Chippeway village — Novel style of paddling— War between the Chippeways and Sioux— Treaty of Traverse des Sioux- Numbers and condition of CJhippeways— Voyageurs relate our proceed- ings : they dispute our an-angements — Island camp at Sandy Lake Home thoughts : the 12th of Augusts— Source of the Mississippi : expe- ditions for its discovery— Two classes of lakes, . . ■ 191-204 CHAPTER XVIII. EAELY TEABEES- OOURBUBS DES BOIS— CHIPPEWATS. Michael Ako, and Pioard du Gay— Le Sueur.— The North-west Company— The American Fur Company — The Mississippi itself : characteristics of its banks — Indian pictographs — Indian mode of catching fish — A highly- fevoured country, ....... 205-213 CHAPTER XIX. THE HEAD WATERS OP THE MISSISSIPPI — SHOOTING THE LITTLE PALLS IN A BAEK CANOE. Crow Wing — Luxmious fare — Safe pay — Indian traders' profits — The chief of the Chippeways — An impressive scene — Port Ripley — Abstinence ad- vantageous to travellers — A deserter's histoiy — The Painted Kock — Shooting the Little Falls — Art of shooting rapids — The "Chenei" — ^A softer couch than usual, ...... 214-227 CHAPTER XX. WINNEBAGOES — INDIAN AFPAIKS — THE SAUK RAPIDS. Winnebagoe rites — Winnebagoe characteristics — Diminution of their num- bers — Deportation system retards the progress of Indian civilisation — System pursued in Canada — ^The Osakis or Sao River — The village of Sauk — Shooting the Sauk rapids — A predicament — The Elk River — Signs of civilisation — Our last portage — Om- past and om- prospective voyage, . ...... 228-242 CHAPTER XXI. THE FALLS OP ST ANTHONY. Town of St Anthony ; its rapid growth — Magnificent scenery surrounding the Falls of the Mississippi — Fort SneUing — The capital of Minnesota Highly esteemed citizens — Low water, .... 243-251 CONTENTS, Xll] CHAPTER XXII. ST PAUL— LOCOMOTIVE DOINS IN MINNESOTA. i.ji,i,t Origin of the town of St Paul — Pi'ogrosa and prosperity of St Paul— Capa- bilities of Minnosota— Indian trade at Bt Paul — Scenery around St Paul — Valley of tlio St Peter's Edvei- — Projected railways ; St Paul and Now Orleans sohome ; St Paul and Superior luilway — A new channel of com - uioroo — The North Pacific scheme — Rapidity of railway extension in the United States, ....... 2B2-2C5 CHAPTER XXIII. MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND POLITICAL OPINIONS 01? THE ST PAUL PUBLIC. Oui' canoe, &o., sold by auction — Sabbath observance — Post-prandial enjoy- ments — The Minnesota constitution — Probable origin of whittling — Feeling in favour of slavery : its extension unjustifiable — Annexation ; Canada and Cuba — Public opinion in roforcnoo to the present European war — American liberty of speech — Sympathisers with the Western Powers — Slavery : tlie Cuba question — A Babel of languages — Ponibiua and Red River settlera, ...... 266-282 CHAPTER XXIV. STEAMBOAT LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI— THE BLUEFS. The " Pig's Eye" shallow -The settlement of Wild Land— Lake St Croix — Liike Pepin — The story of Winona — Bm-ying-placos of Indians — Scenery below Lalce Pepin — Prauie La Crosse — Minnesota versus tho World, 283-292 CHAPTER XXV. AOBOSS THE PBAIMES- CHIOAQO— NIAOABA. An imperturbable pm-ser — Village of Winona — Town of Dubuque : its progress and prosperity — Ox wagg-ons ; " making ti'aoks "— An interest- ing iamily : " Crowded out ; " No elbow-room — A nm upon tlie jirauios— An interesting traveller— Warren — Chicago — Tho oldest inhabitants of Chicago- Once more upon Britisli ground — Listening to the Palls of Niagara, 298-30G LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Falls of St Anthony, — Frontispiece. ^ PAGE Arms op Minnesota, . vi Kabeshquum, Bonaquum, and Babehwum, 67 Chebonanikg, . . . .86 A Papoose, .... 90 Fond du Lac, . . 168 The Portage, , . , . 179 Our Bark Canoe, . . . 190 Sandt Lake, . 202 Little Falls op Mississippi, . 224 Camping out on the Mississippi, . 227 WiNNEBAGOE Lodges, . . 242 St Anthony, . . , . . 244 Fort Snelling, . , 251 St Paul, . . , 284 Steamer Snagged, . . _ 292 Map op the North-west Province op America, including Minnesota. MINNESOTA AND THE FAR WEST. PAET I.-CANADA. CHAPTER I. ACROSS THE PKONTIEE — EBCIPEOCITY. The impressions of a traveller visiting the United States of America for the first time are so totally unlike those which he has experienced in the course of his rambles in the Old World, that he at once perceives that, in order to the due appreciation of the coimtry he is about to explore, an entire revolution must be efiected in those habits of thought and observation in which he has hitherto indulged. He finds that, instead of moralising over magnificence in a process of decay, he must here watch resources in a process of development — he must substitute the pleasures of anticipation for those of retrospection — must be more familiar with pecuniary speculations than with historical associations — delight himself rather in statistics than in poetry — visit docks instead of ruins — converse of dollars, and not antique A GO-AHEAD NOTIONS. coins— prefer printed calico to oU-paintingSj and admire the model of a steam-engine more than the statue of a Venus. He looks on scenery with an eye for the practical, as well as the picturesque ; when gazing on a lovely valley or extensive plain, he dis- cerns at a glance the best line for a railway ; and never sees a waterfall without remembering that it is a mill-site. But if it is necessary for a stranger to become im- bued with go-ahead notions, in order to travel pro- fitably in America, a corresponding frame of mind is only to be expected from those who read the results, of his experience and observation ; it is indeed always some consolation to him to feel that, however imperfectly he lays these before the public, the rapid progress of the country affords him the advantage of giving new facts and new figures, which may form premises for new inferences, and sources of interest- ing speculation. It is perhaps fortunate that the change to the "smart" mode of thinking, to which I have alluded, is not made so suddenly as it might be ; since, by watching the more gradual advancement of the Eastern States, we may be in some degree prepared, for the almost incredible increase in wealth and population of those farther west — and be better able to appreciate a mushroom city on the Mississippi after visiting a seaport on the Atlantic. It is only natural that Americans should imagine that foreigners visiting their country should be as PORTLAND. 3 interested in its development as they are themselves. I had not been an hour ia Portland, the principal commercial city in the State of Maine, and perhaps one of the best specimens upon the coast of a go- ahead seaport, before I observed a paragraph in one of the three newspapers daily published there, to the effect that " the fleet of magnificent ships now lying in our bay or at our wharves, is the most attractive object to a stranger which our city affords." As a stranger, then, with a taste for shipping, I may be permitted to observe that there were forty ships built at Portland last year, registering 22,873 tons, or more than one-third of the total amount registered in the whole Union during the same period. Its exports consist at present chiefly of lumber, ice, fish, &c. ; but the future mercantile prosperity of Portland depends not on the produce of the State in which it is situated, but upon the transit trade which must pass through it, now that it is connected with Canada and the Far West by railways, and with Liverpool by steamers. It is situated upon a narrow but hilly promontory about three miles long, which juts into a deep and capacious bay studded with green islets ; — ^these, while they are a most charming feature of the scenery, form an admirable breakwater, and are so numerous as entirely to shut out a view of the sea from the town. From the highest point of the pro- montory, however, a most enchanting prospect is obtained. On the one side a richly-diversified coun- try,, watered by fine rivers, and where countless lakes TRADE OP PORTLAND. glisten amid dark pine-woods, extends to the base oi the White Mountains, which rise to a height of six thousand feet and form a noble background ; on the other lies the bay set with its green gems, and with the broad Atlantic beyond. This trade has assumed a most important character since permission to pass goods in bond through to Canada has been granted. Some idea of its increased extent during the last five years, at Boston, may be formed from the following figures, which show its value, in 1850, to have amounted to £27,240, and in 1855, to £1,326,055. If, as is anticipated, the prox- imity of Portland to Canada, and the excellence of its harbour, which never freezes, attracts the larger share of this traffic, it is evident that in this respect alone it will prove a formidable rival to Boston, from which it is distant about a hundred miles. In addi- tion to the Canadian trade, it is quite possible that the rapidly developing provinces of Wisconsia, lUi- nois, Michigan, Indiana, and Minnesota, may choose it as the outlet for their products ; but it is impos- sible now to form any estimate of the probable value of these. A considerable coasting trade is also developing itself between Portland and St John's, New Bruns- wick, and powerful steam- vessels now run four times a-week between these ports. But while Portland offers so many advantages in a commercial point of view to the merchant, it is by no means devoid of attractions to the tourist. The ITS VARIOUS ATTRACTIONS. 5 town is remarkably clean and well laid out ; there are avenues of trees in most of the streets : these are composed of handsome and comfortable houses, which, if the place continues to increase as it has hitherto done, wiU soon cover the entire peninsula. Portland has nearly doubled its population within the last fifteen years, and now contains about twenty- five thousand inhabitants. After "the stranger" has followed the advice of the newspaper, and been to inspect the shipping, and the instincts of his own nature by going to look at the view, there still remains an inducement for him to linger a while in the city ; and this, if he is a man of taste, would be the most powerful — for Portland is celebrated for the beauty of the fairer portion of its inhabitants. If, however, Quebec be his destination, it may be consolatory to him to know that the ship- ping there is just as numerous, the views just as enchanting, and fascinations of another sort just as irresistible ; and the traveller must be a novice indeed if he has not discovered that, in order really to enjoy his vocation, he must depend more upon the variety and intensity of the sensations in which he indulges than upon the length of their duration. It takes about fourteen hours to get to Quebec by the railway, which has just been opened ; and during this time, if our " stranger" takes advantage of the liberty which is allowed him, by the peculiar con- struction of American cars, of walking about in them, until he comes across an intelligent Yankee, he will 6 RAILWAY THROUGH THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. be able to discuss with him the merits of the line, and pick up some information about the country- through which it passes. At first it runs through a well-populated district, past fields of Indian corn, oats, potatoes, hay, &c. ; then it follows the course of the Androscoggin into the White Mountains, wind- ing up romantic glens, along the shores of secluded lakes, through dense pendulous forests, as though a mountain six thousand feet were not the slightest obstacle to a locomotive in search of the picturesque, and which consequently disdains to bury itself in a tunnel. Of course the traveller does not at first fully appreciate the beauties of mountain scenery which he traverses like lightning, and sees through a dirty pane of glass ; but in America he learns to be as smart at this as at other things, and before he leaves the country he can enjoy a landscape which he glides past at the rate of thirty miles an hour, as easily as digest a dinner which he eats in seven minutes and a half. The woods consist chiefly of pine, oak, beech, and birch, and it is evident that the vast forest opened up by means of this railway must prove a source of great wealth to the inhabitants ; while the line itself must benefit extensively, by afibrding so ready a mode of conveyance to the sea, of timber from the interior. Indeed these results are no longer matter of specu- lation. Already the magic influence of steam com- munication has made itself felt. The population ACROSS THE BORDER. 7 inhabiting a hundred and fifty miles of the country through which this railway now passes, did not, in July 1853, exceed three hundred persons. It has increased tenfold within eighteen months, and it is now upwards of three thousand. These are chiefly settlers of an active and energetic class, engaged almost exclusively in the lumber trade. No less than twenty-eight saw-mills have sprung up, and many more are in process of erection, — the reciprocity treaty lately concluded by Lord Elgin having ope- rated as a powerful inducement to timber specula- tors to commence operations upon such advantageous termvS, and under circumstances which cannot fail to secure a handsome return upon their capital and labours. As we are in the act of crossing the border which divides the two most progressive countries in the world, it may not be uninteresting to notice the efiect, in a commercial and political point of view, of a treaty which permits of a free interchange of the raw produce of each. Some notion may be formed of the magnitude of the trade between Canada and the United States, and of the importance of the reciprocity clauses of the treaty as bearing upon that trade, from the following figures, extracted from Lord Elgin's Report upon the subject, and from which it appears that, of a grand total of exports of Canadian produce and manufacture, amounting in 1853 to £4,890,678, 14s. 3d., the exports to the United States are given at £2,205,706, 17s. 4d. 8 THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. The staple products of the colonies, and those which wlU no doubt enter the American markets most largely under this treaty, are mainly wheat, coal, fish, and timber. For some of these, as of coal and fisli_of which the home supply is very limited indeed — there is a constant demand in the States ; the removal of high duties on their importation will, therefore, obviously be a great benefit to the Canadian exporter ; and although, on the other hand, the amount of wheat raised in the States exceeds the internal consumption, still it has been found that the free admission of colonial wheat into the American market is the greatest possible boon to the Canadian farmer. The price of Canadian wheat has always been lower than that of American ; and although the difiierence has not invariably been so great as to enable the producer to send it to the American mar- ket when burdened with a duty, still, even prior to the treaty, it has often happened that it was more profitable for the Canadian farmer to sell his wheat in the New York market than to export it in bond to England. Besides these articles, there can be no doubt that one effect of the treaty will be to introduce into the American market many colonial products which under the previous tariff" were not regarded as pro- fitable articles of commerce. In return for the advan- tages which the colonists have thus gained, they con- cede to the United States the unrestricted right of fishing in British waters. Although this concession ITS BENEFIT TO CANADA. 9 has been mucli coveted by the United States, there is no doubt that the value and importance of the fish- eries, to a legal participation of which Americans are now admitted, has been considerably over-estimated, while there is every reason to hope that the intro- duction of American enterprise into our fisheries wiU be attended with benefit rather than loss to the colonists themselves, and that the operation of the treaty will be far more advantageous to these pro- viaces than the retention of their old monopoly. While the reciprocal treaty has thus removed any further cause for apprehension of disputes arising between ourselves and the United States, it confers, at the same time, great and lasting benefits upon the colonies, and, by uniting their interests with those of so powerful a neighbour, wiU render still more remote the possibility of a rupture between the two nations. In addition to this, the river St Lawrence, and the canals pertaining thereto, have been opened up to vessels of the United States, and it is needless to go into any argument to show that such a conces- sion must be advantageous to both countries. In- , deed, the best proof of the favour with, which this treaty has been regarded by those whose interests it most materially concerned, lies in the fact that it passed through the Congress of the United States, and through the colonial legislatures of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and Newfoundland, with a total of only twenty-one dissentient votes. In the Report of the late Gover- 10 ITS GENERAL EFFECTS. nor-general of Canada, to which I have already- alluded, Lord Elgin thus sums up his opinion of the effects of the treaty : " On the whole, I am inclined to think that, while a certain change in the import and export trade of Canada is likely to take place under the operation of the reciprocity treaty, the admission of the natural products of the province into the same markets as those of the United States, and on similar terms, will very sensibly affect the value of property within the colony, and tend to attract to it capital and emigrants of a superior class. A powerful effect ia the same direction will no. doubt be produced by the completion of the great lines of railway now in course of execution, which will render distant markets more accessible, and cause the province to become the channel of a great transit trade, whUe they stimulate the pro- ductive capabilities of the districts through which they pass. Similar results may be expected to follow in the adjoining colonies, when, under the operation of these combined causes, all commercial reasons for inferiority in the value of land on the British side of the boundary line disappear. There is, therefore, every reason to hope that, if the great powers now wielded by the local legislatures be exercised with judgment, the prosperity of these provinces, which has been so noticeable of late, will continue to advance with even accelerated speed for years to come, subject, of course, to such occasional fluctua- tions as affect the commercial world generally." RAILWAY THROUGH LOWER CANADA. 11 Of the railway lines here adverted to, the one upon which we were now travelling seems to be the most important ; and it is highly probable that, as it offers greater facilities for the conveyance of Cana- dian produce generally to Boston, than do those which connect Montreal with that city vid Lake Champlain (since it is not exposed to the incon- veniences arising from opposing interests), a large portion of this increasing trade will be diverted along it ; while the completion of the Victoria Bridge over the St Lawrence at Montreal wUl enable the produce of the North-western States to reach the sea by a route which is infinitely the shortest, and which wUl only involve one transhipment. The journey from Montreal to Boston will be made this summer in fourteen hours. The distance from Portland to the Canadian frontier is about a hundred and fifty miles. This portion of the line has been leased by the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada. At Kichmond, fifty-four miles on the Canadian side of the frontier, the line divides — one branch going to Montreal, the other to Quebec. The charac- ter of the country, after leaving the White Moun- tains, until we approach the banks of the St Law- rence, is somewhat monotonous ; it is one boundless forest. Sometimes an acre or two of stumps marks the industry of some enterprising settler ; but stiff uninteresting pine-trees are everywhere, either form- ing interminable avenues or log cabins. But if the process of passing from the United 12 ARRIVE AT QUEBEC. States into Canada be somewhat dreary, it only enables the traveller to appreciate more highly the scenery amid which the present seat of the govern- ment of that province is placed. As, however, its merits have received justice at the hands of innu- merable travellers, I shall present Quebec rather under its political and social than its picturesque aspect, and describe the manner in which the sur- rounding scenery should be enjoyed, instead of the character of the scenery itself. CHAPTEE II. CANADIAN POLITICS. The aversion with wHch the British public regards all questions of colonial policy, no doubt arises, in a great measure, from the extraordinary ignorance which prevails among the educated classes of this country of what may be termed political geography generally, and which extends even to those parts of the world in which their own interests are more directly at stake. It is a pity that this should be so, for the indifference of the pubHc, not unnaturally, sometimes extends to those charged with the administration of colonial affairs, while it is an inevitable consequence of our system that colonial ministers should be infinitely more engrossed with those political combinations at home which affect their tenure of office, than with those political combinations abroad which affect the allegiance of the colonies to the mother country. Now and then the public become sudderdy interested in some one department, discover abuses, and raise a cry of administrative reform ; but they are too ill in- 14 THE COMMONS OF CANADA. formed generally to be competent to form an opinion of what needs reform, and what does not, in colomes ; at all events, it is well known that the ignorance and apathy of people in England may be presumed upon to any extent with the most perfect impunity by those who manage their affairs. Under these cir- cumstances, it would be quite unjustiEable in me to inflict upon an unfortunate Englishman, desiring only to be amused, a history of Canadian politics even for the last ten years ; I shall therefore confine myself to describing, in as few words as possible, the present state of parties in that colony. Her Majesty's faithful Commons of Canada are com- posed of a hundred and thirty members ; the upper and lower provinces are equally represented. The French and English languages are used indiscrimi- nately in debate, the majority of the Lower Canadian members being French. The present Speaker is a Frenchman. The ministry are composed, as nearly as may be, of Upper and Lower Canadians in equal pro- portions. Sir Allan M'Nab, a name celebrated in the history of Canada, is the premier, — he is the leader of the old Conservative party of Upper Canada ; his col- league. Colonel Tachfe, is the leader of the French re- form party of Lower Canada : from which it is evident that it is a coalition ministry. In addition to the re- formers and moderate conservatives, a large propor- tion of the ultra-reformers of Upper Canada support the ministry. It would be somewhat tedious to describe the various POLITICAL PARTIES. 15 shades of political opinion represented in the Assembly, or to discuss the merits of the different " tickets," upon which . members have " run" at divers periods, and which, to a stranger, are sometimes a little in- comprehensible. I looked with some curiosity upon a gentleman of whom I had read in the newspapers during the last general election, that he had " swal- lowed the whole Clear Grit platform, and a plank or two over." Mr Hincks, the late premier, is perhaps the most remarkable man in the house : with a strong will, capacious lungs, and a mode of expression more pointed than polished, he possesses great qualifications for influencing a somewhat democratic assembly, and giving due effect to his undoubted talents, while their value is considerably enhanced by a large personal following. But here everybody aspires to lead a party, however insignificant : and there are all sorts of " ites " and " ists." It is wonderful to hear how many members indulge themselves in the belief that they have tails, which are found wanting on the day of trial. There is no mistake, however, about that flour- ished by the member for Montreal ; it is indeed the only one worthy of notice, rather on account of its colour than its dimensions : it is called the Rouge party, and is composed of enthusiastic young French- men of that species of ardent temperament which, in young ladies at the same period of life, manifests itself in a desire to enter nunneries, but which, with the other sex, takes an opposite development, and finds expression in socialist opinions and black beards. 16 LOYALTY OF SENTIMENT GENERAL. They are the representatives here of that class which was called into existence upon the continent of Eiirope by the tyranny of despots, whose yoke in 1848 they so nearly succeeded in breaking, and their principles are manifestly utterly inapplicable and nonsensical in a country enjoying the freest form of government extant. There is always some respect due to views, however extreme, which are entertained at great per- sonal risk ; but here ultra opinions may be ventilated with impunity ; and if they are combined with the rationalism of Germany and the flippant scepticism of France, the mixture of smaU beer and vin ordin- aire thus produced is certainly not an agreeable compound. With this unimportant exception, however, the sen- timents of the Canadian House of Assembly are those of the great mass of the community, both in the Upper and Lower province, and are thoroughly loyal. In- deed, no better proof of this can be found than in the vote of £20,000 recently subscribed to the Patriotic Fund, to be applied in equal proportions to the relief of the sufferers in the allied armies. Mr W. Lyon Mackenzie, of rebel notoriety, with- ' ' out a vestige of a taU, sits opposite his quondam enemy, Sir A. M'Nab, perfectly reconciled to his lot and the mother country ; and, both unwilling and unable to disturb the existing order of things, he playfully alludes to those foibles of his youth, which so nearly cost him his head ; and exercises the powers of endurance he still enjoys by making inter- LORD Elgin's policy. 17 minable midniglit orations of the most innocuous description. The Upper House, or Legislative Council, consists of about forty members, appointed by the Queen for life, upon the advice of the colonial government. Their functions are intended to be entirely those of the House of Lords in our own constitution. It would be impossible, without entering at too great length into the subject, to do fuU justice to Lord Elgin's administration of Canadian affairs dur- ing his eight years' tenure of the office of Governor- general. I have, however, appended to this volume an extract from his lordship's report, which sets forth clearly the principles upon which the govern- ment of the colony was conducted. From this it will appear that the distinguishing feature of Lord Elgin's policy was a faithful development of the principles of constitutional government. His rigid adherence to these created some exasperation, during the earher period of his administration, with that section of the political community who had previously enjoyed a monopoly of office. The beneficial effects of the measures which have been passed by the Colo- nial Legislature, and the extraordinary progress of the country, have, however, amply justified this policy in the eyes of those interested in Canada, or ac- quainted with her affairs. Towards the close of his lordship's administra- tion, the questions of greatest importance with which he had to deal, were the Seigniorial Tenure B 18 THE TWO LAST QUESTIONS. of Lower Canada, wMch was an inheritance from the old French regime, and the Clergy Keserves, chiefly in Upper Canada, which had their origin in a well-meant attempt to create a Church Establishment at the time when this province first became a colony of Great Britain. These questions were still vmsettled, when circum- stances arose which, in the judgment of Lord Elgin, rendered it imperative upon him to dissolve the local Parliament. The effect of this proceeding, and of the general election consequent upon it, was to show more conclusively tha,n ever that, so far as the Clergy Eeserves were concerned, the conviction was uni- versal among the people of Upper Canada, that ia a country so divided in religious opinion, any attempt to maintain the semblance of a connec- tion between Church and State was totally imprac- ticable, while the people of Lower Canada declared themselves opposed to any perpetuation of the in- con veniencies of the Seigniorial Tenure. It would be as unprofitable to the English reader to attempt to discuss the secret motives which actu- ate the difierent political sections of the Canadian House of Parliament on the occasion of a Ministerial crisis, or to describe the various intrigues which accompany the formation of a new Cabinet there, as it would be to try to enlighten a Canadian upon the same matters at a similar juncture in our own country. THE MINISTERIAL, CRISIS. 19 The standard of political morality is certainly not lower in the colony than in the mother country, and it is much to be regretted that the latter does not set a brighter example to a young country just arriving at maturity, and exercising for the first time the pri- vileges of free institutions. The result, then, of certain Ministerial changes which followed upon the re-assembling of Parlia- ment, was to bring in Sir Allan M'Nab at the head of a Coalition government, comprising some of the Upper Canada Liberals, and those members of the French party who had been in power with the late government. The administration thus formed has, under the wise guidance of Lord Elgin, settled both these ques- tions in a manner which has given very general satis- faction ; and it must have been a source of some gra- tification to the late Governor-general, that he has thus been enabled, before leaving the colony, both to dispose of the only difficult questions which agitated it, and also to bring into ofl&ce, at a most critical junc- ture, the very men who have been at former periods his most violent opponents, and thus to give, before leaving the colony, a signal proof of the impartiality of his administration. The fact that he acted with a Conservative government for upwards of a year after his first assumption of the office of Governor-general — that the Liberal party then came into office, and held it for upwards of six years — and that he again called the Conservative leaders to his councils, has in itself 20 CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. furnished an admirable lesson to the Canadians in the practical working of constitutional government, and will doubtless tend to abate, in the case of future Governors, the propensity in the colonists to con- centrate aU the virulence of faction upon their Governors. CHAPTER III. CANADIAN SOCIETY. We are so much accustomed in England to associate the idea of an active pushing Anglo-Saxon popula- tion with the North American continent, that it is somewhat startling to find oneself transported in a few hours from the broad regular streets of a New England city, into the narrow lanes of an old-fash- ioned French town, composed of lofty steep-roofed houses, and to exchange for the precise and somewhat formal manners of the Pilgrim Fathers the grace and vivacity of our Gallic neighbours. A large proportion of the inhabitants of Quebec, of course, are English ; but the blending of the two races, which has resulted from this mixed population, has only served to bring out more strongly the favourable points in each, and to create a society of a most agreeable description. The lower town is chiefly devoted to business and the lumber trade, the upper to pleasure and politics. Both sections are remark- ably well adapted to their different purposes. In the 22 THE GAY SEASON. lower, the river near the wharves is deep, and during summer the broad bosom of the St Lawrence affords accommodation to a forest of masts and a desert of rafts. In the upper, people live so close together that the most distant party is round the corner ; and it does not take ten minutes to hunt up a recusant member of the House of Commons, on the occasion of a near division. During the gay season, between these pursuits, the excitement may be very well sus- tained. A Canadian M.P. may turn out the govern- ment in the morning, to go to their constituents, and his tandem in the afternoon, to go to a pic-nic. Nor need he ever be at a loss for evening entertainment with which to relieve the tedium of a late sitting. But the house itself is a fashionable resort. The galleries of the present Legislative Assembly Chamber hold more than the body ; on the nights of interest- ing debates they are generally filled with the fair sex. Thus an opportunity is afforded of moving the house and the galleries at the same time — an achievement in which younger members much delight. The period of four years during which Quebec, upon the system of an itinerating legislature, has been the seat of government, is just about to expire ; and the next parliament will, it is said, meet in Toronto. From this change Quebec must suffer, in a social point of view, to some extent. The permanent resi- dence there of the Governor-general has always THE ATTEACTIONS OF QUEBEC. 23 insured to the inhabitants a certain amount of gaiety ; and they have ever shown themselves ready to follow a lead so much in accordance with their own inclina- tions. It is, however, to be observed that, from the comparatively remote position of Quebec, and its hitherto great difficulty of access, society there has been thrown very much upon its own resources, and is consequently very independent on the score of amusement. As it is, moreover, composed of families which have been long resident in the place, there is an absence of that restraint and conventionality which is necessary in towns more exposed to the in- roads of new-comers. And certainly there are in Quebec the strongest possible temptations to be sociable. In addition to the facilities of intercourse affijrded by the intimate relations in which people live, and which render evening parties more particu- larly agreeable, there are all sorts of romantic spots in the immediate neighbourhood, only waiting to be visited under romantic circumstances ; and nothing can be more delightful than the reimion of the senti- mental and the picturesque which these expeditions involve. It is, indeed, vulgarly supposed that, in order to appreciate nature in a correct and orthodox way, one ought to be alone with it, perched on some dizzy cliff, like Napoleon at St Helena, wrapt in meditation and a military cloak. But as for enjoying the works of creation at a pic-nic, the idea is scouted as preposterous and Cockney, particularly by those 24 THE PHILOSOPHY OF PIC-NICS. who have never seen really fine scenery at all. For my own part, I have been as much overwhehned with the wonders of Niagara, sitting on the grass at the edge of the Falls with a large and merry party, eating turkey and drinking champagne, as impressed with the majesty of the highest mountain in the world, as viewed from the summit of a snow-clad peak in the Himalayas, and with a ragged peasant, with whom communication was impossible, for my only com- panion. If the scenery be of the highest order, it will assert its influence under any circumstances ; and those who require solitude in order to render them sensible of the emotions it is calculated to in- spire, cannot really possess a keen susceptibility. If the scenery be second-rate, a great deal depends, no doubt, upon the temper of one's mind as affected by external circumstances. A thorough good-humour is an essential requisite to the enjoyment of a pretty view ; and I pity those, therefore, who think that a fine day, a well-stored hamper, and pleasant company, spoil it. The Quebec world would not intrude upon their solitude. Let him, then, that is not influenced by any such prejudices, adopt, in the true spirit of a traveller, the custom of the country he is in, and he must have been fortunate if, in the course of his wander- ings, he ever met with one to which it was more easy at once to conform, than to the method of going to pic-nics in Quebec. If it be summer or THE WAY TO GO TO THEM. 25 autumn, lie must provide himself with a light waggon, the seat of which will accommodate two persons com- fortably, and is placed upon a body shaped like an oblong tea-tray, which in its turn is supported by four very high wheels, so constructed as to insure an upset to those who are not experienced in the art of turning a vehicle the front wheels of which will not pass under the body. Under these circumstances, it is only prudent for the stranger to have somebody with him to give advice in cases of emergency, and he is, therefore, doubtless out of compassion for his ignorance, provided with a fair companion capable of giving the necessary instruction, as well as of directing his attention to objects of interest on the way. It will be his own fault, of course, if he profits so much by his lessons as ever to be able to drive to a pic-nic by himself, and has not to the last day some point of view still to be made acquainted with. Thus provided, his will form one of a train of wag- gons containing couples similarly engaged ; and in their company he wiU. drive through a charming country, past long straggling villages composed of neat white cottages, and boasting substantial churches, with tin- covered spires, and containing a population of simple French hahitans, whose whole appearance and costume will transport him in imagination to a rural district in that country from which their ancestors sprung ; for the descendants of the Norman Smigr4s have 26 THE USE OF A COMPANION. retained their primitive manners and feelings to an extent whicli in this unnaturally progressive country- is refreshiag to the stranger to behold, however un- profitable it may be to themselves. They look happy and contented enough, however, as they gaze on the cortege of waggons which foUows the banks of the mighty St Lawrence until it reaches the lofty falls of Montmorency or the Chandiere; or, turning into the interior, through the Indian village of Lorette, and over its romantic bridge, winds up glens and through variegated maple-woods, until the contents are safely deposited upon the grassy shores of Lake St Charles. But a winter pic-nic is a far more interesting proceeding than a summer one. If it is difficult to turn a waggon, it is infinitely more so to turn a sleigh, and there is therefore proportionately greater need of the same sort of assistance. There are some novices, iudeed, so ambitious as to begin at once with a tandem ; but this is a sign of the greatest inexperience, as, perched upon a high tandem-box, it is impossible to reap benefit from advice, when all you can see of the person who gives it is the top of her bonnet, and all you can hear of her voice is a gentle murmuring stifled under a mountain of furs. Such imprudence will probably meet with the conse- quences it deserves ; but a low single-horse sleigh is a safe and delightful conveyance. And I have been assured that to return from a pic-nic in one of SLEIGHING BY MOONLIGHT. 27 these upon a clear frosty night, protected from the sharp still air by soft luxurious furs, -with a moon so mischievous and brilliant, and innumerable stars, "pinnacled dim in the intense inane," to light up the sparkling snow ; to glide over the glassy roads, ■waking up the sleeping echoes with harmonious sleigh- bells ; to accompany their music with still softer tones to one who can sympathise in the emotions evoked by such gentle influences, is to experience, in a novel and irresistible form, sensations which are always delightful. But the act of going to or coming from a pic-nic does not constitute its only enjoyment. There is a great deal to be done in the interval. Eomantic people tramp off through the snow to see how their favourite summer -haunts look, clothed in the icy garb of winter ; unromantic people fly down preci- pices in traboggins ; hungry people adjourn to the house of a habitant, where they find a large scru- pulously clean room, with a warm stove, and a table covered with the luxuries they have brought with them. Finally, everybody dances quadriUes to the tunes of Canadian boat-songs, played with great fervour by the village fiddler. For the benefit of the uninitiated, I must endea- vour to explain the accomplishment of traboggining, which can scarcely be acquired in less than two pic- nics. It is simply the descent of a Montague Cana- dienne instead of a Montague Kusse. A traboggin 28 TRABOaGINING. is an Indian traineau of birch bark, turned up at the end, and in its proper capacity pulled over the snow- by a squaw, loaded with her husband's chattels, while he walks in front. With us civilised easterns the order of things is reversed : the lady, instead of pull- ing the traboggin (which is quite flat and level with the snow), sits upon it ; the gentleman gets as much of his body as he can upon the space that remains behind her, which is not above two feet square. He then tucks one leg under him, and leaves the other trailing upon the snow behind, to act as a rudder. This arrangement takes place on the brow of a steep hiU, and is no sooner completed than the gentleman puts the whole in motion by a vigorous kick from his disengaged leg, which sends the tra- boggin on its downward course with rapidly increas- ing velocity, untU it is either upset by bad steering, or buries itself and its occupants in a drift, or speeds far over the smooth surface of the snow after it has reached the valley. But there are other Canadian winter experiences, which, if they are less amusing, are at least quite as exciting as traboggining. The most novel of these is perhaps the mode adopted for crossing the St Lawrence at this season of the year. The last time I ever had occasion to cross the St Lawrence, the thermometer stood at 26° below zero. A dense fog shrouded the river, which, as we stood upon the bank, became condensed, and fell in a thick shower of hoar-frost. We got into the canoe upon WINTER TRAJECT OP THE ST LAWRENCE. 29 the wharf, stretched ourselves at the bottom thereof, were muffled up to the eyes in furs, and as our friends crowded round the long narrow receptacle, and I, looked up at their melancholy countenances, I felt excessively as if I was abeady in my coffin, and was only waiting to be let down. Presently we are let down with a vengeance ; there is a rush down the steep bank, followed by a grating over the rough ice, then a plunge into the river, and we are so wrapt in fog that we can see nothing a yard from the canoe. The boatmen are fine muscular men, in shaggy beards and coats, who sing the old songs of the Canadian voyageurs, except when they are too much occupied in groping their way through the mist. At last it partially clears, and we find our- selves surrounded by floes of ice. Huge masses are jammed and squeezed up into fantastic shapes, to a height of ten or fifteen feet. We edge our way through the narrow lanes of water between the ice- fields, following a devious course, sometimes break- ing through a thin crust of ice, until our onward progress is altogether arrested ; then the voyageurs jump out, and pull the canoe upon the ice, — while we remain resigned at the bottom of the boat, — and rattle us over the jagged surface of the floe until we reach open water, when we are again launched, and at last, to our great gratification, find ourselves pulled up under the steep bank at Point Levi. If the tide be running down, it often happens that 30 ITS DURATION. canoes are carried many miles below ,Quebec, and the unfortunate passengers not unfrequently spend the whole night struggling amid floating ice. Under favourable circumstances the traject does not take above half an hour. CHAPTER IV. CANADIAN STATISTICS. In the close of 1849, a document, signed by several intelligent merchants, appeared, advocating the an- nexation of Canada to the United States, in which the following paragraph occurred : " While the ad- joining States are covered with a network of thriving railways, Canada possesses but three lines, which to- gether scarcely exceed fifty miles in length, and the stock in two of which is held at a depreciation of from sixty to eighty per cent — a fatal s5rmptom of the torpor overspreading the land." The province is now intersected in all directions by about 800 miles of railways already completed, upon which upwards of ten millions sterling have been expended. The railway which connects Montreal with Quebec is part of the Grand Trunk, destined before long to be the great central highway of Canada. It is to be ultimately extended to Halifax, and at an early date to Trois Pistoles, a town 150 miles below Quebec. A 32 THE GEAND TKUNK RAILWAY. great portion of the traffic wHch has hitherto been carried to Montreal by the river, will now find con- veyance by this line. But it is beyond that city that its influence will be chiefly felt. The journey into Upper Canada by steamboat is tedious in the extreme. The beauty of the Lake of the Thousand Islands, and the occasionally picturesque scenery upon the banks of the St Lawrence, scarcely compensate for the delays at the canals, except to a stranger ; and even he would do well so to arrange his tour as to descend the river, and thereby not only avoid this inconvenience, but substitute for it the excitement of shooting the rapids in a steamer, when he wiU experience, upon a large scale, sensations with which he is familiar, if he has ever threaded the western rivers in a bark canoe. By the present mode of conveyance, it takes, under the most favourable circumstances, twenty-one hours to reach the town of Brockville from Montreal. When the railway is completed, the time occupied in this journey will not exceed four hours and a half. Branch lines are proposed, which wiU coimect the most im- portant places on the St Lawrence with the districb now being rapidly developed upon the Ottawa. In- deed, a line is already open between Bytown, or, as it is in future to be called, the city of Ottawa, and Prescott. But the most wonderful work now in process of construction, upon the Grand Trunk Eailway, is the Victoria Bridge at Montreal. THE VICTOEIA BRIDGE. 33 I shall borrow the description of it given by Mr Eoss, the chief engineer of the Grand Trunk Railway. " It will consist," says that gentleman, " of a wrought- iron box 20 feet deep, 16 feet wide, and about 7000 feet in length ; supported at intervals of about 260 feet by towers of stone, and open at both ends to ad- mit of trains passing through it, and made of suffi- cient strength to carry six times the heaviest load hitherto known to travel on railways in this or any other country." I was in attendance when the late Governor-gene- ral of Canada, Lord Elgin, laid the foundation-stone of the second pier in this wonderful series. It was a ceremony which derived its interest no less from the magnitude of the undertaking, of which it was almost the commencement, than from the siugular circum- stances under which it took place. Upon the stony bed of the mighty St Lawrence, 16 feet below the surface of the river, a large group of persons stood dry-shod, protected from the rushing torrent, which swept round them, by the massive sides of a gigantic coffer-dam, to the joists and beams of which clung workmen and spectators, waving their hats, and voci- ferously celebrating an occasion fraught with such important consequences. Thei design of this unri- valled structure is the production of Mr Eobert Stephenson, whose shrewd perceptions at once recog- nised the incalculable advantages to be derived from such a work, and whose scientific mind devised the means for its execution. It is only necessary for a c 34. BELLEVILLE— BAY OF QXflNTfi. moment to consider the extent of those ^^^^^^'^^ relations wMcli are at present maintained be ween Canada and the United States, and wHch must in- crease tenfold under the benign influence of recipro- city, and to remember that this line must be the highway from the North-western States of America to the seaboard of that continent, to enable us to per- ceive how vast must be the traflB.c across a bridge at which several of the most important railways ia Canada meet. Fears were entertained that the Victoria Bridge would be unable to sustain the weight of the ice in spring, but the experience acquired during this winter sets that question com- pletely at rest. Instead of taking the steamer from Kingston direct to Toronto, the tourist would do well to spend a day in visiting Belleville. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the singularly-formed Bay of Quinte. For eighty miles he follows the windings of this magnificent sheet of water, at every turn disclosing some new charm : now past well-cultivated shores swelling gently back from the water's edge, where settlers, long since attracted by the beauty of the situation, the fertility of the soil, and the convenience of water- carriage, have planted themselves, and where comfort- able farms, well-stocked orchards, and waving fields of grain, attest the existence of a large and thriving population, and add to the attractions of nature the agreeable accompaniments of civilised life; now a deep bay runs far into the interior, and the numerous THE LAKE OP THE MOUNTAIN. 35 ■white sails -with. wHcli it is dotted are certain indica- tions that at its head there is a prosperous town ; while occasionally lofty wooded banks rise abruptly, and give a bolder character to the scenery. I ascended one of these, to visit a singular tarn about two hundred feet above the level of the bay, called the Lake of the Mountain, It has no known outlet, and is only separated from the brow of the hill upon which it is situated by a ridge a few yards across. From this narrow ledge a singular view is obtained. Upon the one hand, and on a level with the spectator, the little lake lies embosomed in wood ; upon the other, he looks down upon a labyrinth of devious channels, forming part of the eccentric Bay of Quinte, and in- tersecting in every direction a richly-diversified coun- try, sometimes gleaming behind maple woods bright with autumnal tints, sometimes encircling extensive clearings. Certainly Prince Edward's county, on which this lovely spot is situated, is highly endowed by nature ; and the U. E. Loyalists, who have made it their home, have displayed unexceptional taste. Upon the opposite shore is situated a thriving settle- ment of Mohawk Indians. The neat church stands amid green fields, and the cottages are surrounded by plots of cultivation, showing that the habits of this tribe are more industrious and enterprising than those which characterise " red men" generally. The town of Belleville is pleasantly situated at the mouth of the Moira, near the head of the bay, and 36 BELLEVILLE — TKENTON — COBURG. owes its prosperity in a great measure to the lum."ber trade. It has increased very rapidly within the last few years, and now contains a population of nearly eight thousand inhabitants. Its rival, Trenton, is also becoming an important place. Great quantities of timber are floated down the Moira and Trent, and con- veyed to Oswego and the American towns upon the south shore of Lake Ontario. A canal is proj ected across the narrow isthmus which divides the Bay of Quints from the Bay of Presqu'ile on Lake Ontario. Its for- mation would involve but a trifling expense, being only two miles in length, while an immense saving of dis- tance would be effected in water communication be- tween the towns on the Bay of Quints and those on the north shore of Lake Ontario. A good road, traversed daily by a stage, connects Belleville with the town of Coburg, the country on both sides being well cultivated. The clearings, however, do not extend to any very great distance into the interior, where the land is said to be of very fine quality ; and to this district, doubtless, now that nearly all the land in the more western counties of Upper Canada has been taken up, the tide of emigration will soon be turned. .The price of land has already risen thirty per cent in the town- ships along this road ; and when the Grand Trunk Eailway is opened next year, a more rapid develop- ment of their resources must speedily follow. Coburg is the most important port on the north shore of Lake Ontario, before arriving at Toronto; GEOWING PROSPERITY OF UPPER CANADA. 37 and a railway is now completed from it to Peter- borough, a town thirty miles inland, situated, how- ever, upon a river which is navigable for steamers, and down which countless lumber-rafts are annually floated. A railway has been chartered to connect Peterborough with Gloucester Bay on Lake Huron, a distance of ninety miles through an uncleared country. It is impossible to say what the effect wiU be of the facilities for exploration which these lines will afford. Nothing can demonstrate more certainly the growing prosperity of the province than the fact that the inhabitants are improving and extending with the utmost vigour their means of in- ternal communication, and that in many instances the railroad surveyor is the first man who blazes a tree in forests hitherto almost unexplored. The voyage from Coburg to Toronto occupies between eight and nine hours. The country between these places is thickly inhabited, while the popula- tion of Toronto itself has increased with wonderful rapidity within the last few years. In 1830 it scarcely contained 3000 inhabitants : the population now exceeds 45,000. The progress which Toronto has made during this short period, is only significant of the advancement of the province of which it is the capital. The population of Upper Canada has increased within the last six years from 800,000 to 1,400,000 j and it is not too much to predict, that within ten years the whole of that vast tract of country lying west of a line drawn due north from 38 GREAT ATTBACTIONS PEESENTED Toronto to Lake Huron wiU be cleared. I traveUed, during my residence in Canada, over a great part of this district, and everywhere found the most striking evidences of the advance of civilisation. A glance at the statistical tables will confirm this. In 1847 there were only 62,881 acres of crown land sold in Canada; in the year 1853 the returns amount to 256,059 acres. The imports of the former year scarcely attain £3,000,000 ; they now amount to upwards of £7,000,000. The exports have also in like manner been more than doubled. The revenue of the province in 1848 was given at about £300,000 ; and in 1854 it was upwards of £1,200,000 sterling, or more than fourfold its former amount. Were any- thing more than ordinary observation necessary, such results as these cannot fail to establish the fact of its extraordinary progress in wealth and material prosperity. It would indeed be difficult to point to any country which ofiers greater attractions to the in- tending emigrant than does Canada at the present moment. With a vast extent of territory, clothed with magnificent forest, and watered by noble rivers, possessing a fertile soil, contiguous to one of the largest markets in the world, which is ever increas- ing, and to which it has a free and unrestricted access, the capitalist here finds a profitable field for investment ; while the prospects of the labouring classes are still brighter, if we may believe the report of Mr Hawke, the chief emigration agent at BY CANADA TO THE BMIGEANT. 39 Toronto, from whicli tlie following paragraph is an extract : " Blessed with so good a soil and climate as Upper Canada possesses, and favoured by Provi- dence with, a long and uninterrupted succession of good harvests, there is no country where the labour- ing man can find more constant employment and remunerative wages, in proportion to the expense of living." It is an interesting fact, that, of the emigrants who arrive ia Canada, not more than one- half make it their permanent abode : the remainder pass on to the tempting provinces in the north-west. It has been calculated that, during the last twelve years, about £500,000 have been expended by these transitory emigrants. There is stiU, however, plenty of land available for settlement in Canada. There are now about 160 acres to each individual, and it will require twenty-five years, assisted by an annual immigration of 25,000 persons, to settle the province in the proportion of twenty persons to a square mile, or thirty-two acres to each individual. To those, however, who are about to emigrate, either to Canada or the north-west states of America, I would re- commend the admirable tracts of Mr Vere Foster, who has condensed in a penny publication aU the information requisite for the intending emigrant.''^ The two principal sources of employment for un- skilled labourers are upon railways, or in the lumbet trade. * Work and Wages. By Veee Fosteb. W. & F. G. Cash, Bishops- gate- without. 40 UPPER AND LOWER CANADA CONTRASTED. But in addition to the inherent resources of the country, it must derive great benefit, and be mate- rially assisted in its progress, by the proximity of the North-western States of America, whose vast mineral, as well as agricultural productions, are likely before long to render them eminently powerful and wealthy ; and they wiU then exert an infliience which cannot but contribute to the prosperity of a neigh- bouring province. It is scarcely necessary here to contrast the condition of Upper and Lower Canada, or to enter upon the various reasons which render the former section of the province the most ehgible field for emigration. The traveller seems in a few hours to have passed from an old country into a new one, from a comparatively stagnant into a rapidly progressive state of things ; and there is as great a difference between a town in Normandy and one in Yorkshire, as between Quebec and Toronto. As during my stay in Canada the seat of Government was in the former city, I never resided long enough in Toronto to be able to judge whether the social habits of the two places presented as striking a dis- similarity, but the life of its bustling, active popula- tion seemed rather that of business than of pleasure. I can answer, at aU events, for the excellence of the shops, as I was chiefly occupied, during one of my visits here, in making preparations for a tour to some of the more distant Indian stations, and in laying in a stock of comforts which were not likely to be obtained in the Far West. CHAPTER Y. CANADIAN BACKWOODS. There are few sensations in the experience of a tra- veller more enjoyable than that of preparing for his journey. There is so much of anticipation ia it, so many speculations as to what is likely to be wanted, such a delightful uncertainty attending every pur- chase, such delicate discrimination required in choos- ing the most available articles, and packing them in the smallest possible compass, that one feels com- mitted, by the very importance and deliberation of one's proceedings, to carry out, in defiance of every obstacle, a tour which has involved a certain amount of trouble and expense, so that the ignominy may not be incurred of possessing an unused outfit, which should ever after remain the record of a failure. It is the feeling that every additional article pro- cured is, as it were, an earnest of adventure in the wild life to which it is adapted, which produces pleasure ; and it almost seems as if the first step on the journey had already been made when the pre- parations for it are completed. As my Indian duties. 42 FROM TORONTO TO LAKE SIMOOE. at any rate, involved a visit to Lake Superior, I con- templated proceeding, if possible, still further west, in company with my friend Lord Bury, the prospect of whose companionship served as a strong induce- ment for a more extended tour. It was about the middle of July, last year, that we left Toronto by the northern railroad, on our way to the North- West. I have seldom seen a more smiling, prosperous-look- ing district than that through which we passed on our way to Lake Simcoe. Substantial farm-houses, with neat, weH-built ofiS.ces, were planted in the midst of orchards and gardens, and afforded presumptive evidence that their thriving occupants had reaped many rich harvests from the acres of waving corn- fields through which we sped, and upon which not even a stump was left to remind the railway tra- veller how short a time had elapsed since the solitary Indian was the only wayfarer through the silent and almost impenetrable forests that then clothed the country. Now, there is httle to dis- tinguish it from many parts of England. Snake fences are certainly not so agreeable a feature in a landscape as hedgerows, and there is an unfinished look about the cultivation, and a want of economy of land, which would probably scandalise an Enghsh agriculturist. However, although land has become very valuable in most of the counties of Upper Canada, it is not yet so precious as to call for an increase of the same ingenuity for rendering it elastic THE NORTHERN RAILROAD — GRASSPOINT. 43 wMch is practised in our own country. Canadian farms seldom exceed three hundred acres in extent. The Northern Eailroad has been recently finished as far as CoUingwood, a harbour upon the south shore of Georgian Bay, sixty-six miles from Toronto, and which it is expected will become a considerable port. The prospects of the railway depend to a great extent upon the success of a scheme for the formation of a town at this point, as the through trafiic from the northern lakes, now that the canal at the Sault Ste. Marie, and which connects Lake Superior with Lake Huron, is completed, is estimated at £80,000. This, in addition to the local traffic, will make a total of £136,000, and, if we are to believe a late report upon the subject, give a dividend of 14 per cent. The present earnings are said to be £15 per mile a- week ; and this larger amount, if we remember that it is the great outlet for the fertile counties of York, Simcoe, and Grrey, is quite possible. While, therefore, it is an important line in opening up a very largely producing district, it can scarcely, imder any circumstances, fail to be a profitable one to the shareholders. The average railroad fare in Canada, for first-class pas- sengers, is about two cents per mile, where the dis- tance is over one hundred and fifty miles ; for shorter distances, it is about three cents per mile. In two hours and a half we reached Grasspoint, a village upon the shores of Lake Simcoe, where a small steamer was waiting to convey us to OriUia. The lake is studded with islands, and its shores are prettily 44 ORILLIA POLLING-BAY. wooded and well settled, though the scenery is no- where striking. A channel, so narrow that it is spanned by a bridge, connects Lake Simcoe with Lake Couchiching. Passing through it, we wind among wooded islands until we reach the beautifully situated settlement of Orillia, containing a church and a number of neat white houses and stores, altogether a perfect specimen of a backwood village in rather an advanced stage. We found the little place in a state of considerable excitement. The general election was going on throughout the country, and we happened to arrive at Orillia upon polling-day. Anxious to see how the suffrages of backwoodsmen are taken, I visited the poUiug-booth— a mere log cabin — and there saw two gentlemen, leaning listlessly back upon their tilted chairs, behind a rickety table, picking their teeth, and listening to the process of cross-examination, to which a voter was being subjected. To judge by his appear- ance, his qualifications were certainly doubtful. He was utterly unlike the sturdy yeomen who surrounded him, and some of whom were making jocose com- ments upon the somewhat evasive nature of his replies ; while others were applauding the dexterity with which he met the questions of his examiner, and the tone of lofty contempt with which he treated his msinuations. He was dressed in a remarkably seedy black tail-coat, buttoned tightly over the chest, with trousers of the same colour, and of even greater antiquity, tucked into a pair of dilapidated Wellington A CANADIAN " VET. AT THE POLL. 45 boots. He had a red bandana handkerchief tied loosely round his neck, and a dirty shirt-collar feU negligently over it, exposing a short thick throat. His eyes were small, and full of mischief; his nose short — ^the part that was turned up was scarlet. He twitched a straw spitefully between his thin lips, and gave his hat a more knowing cock when about to make an ironical observation at the expense of the candidate, who was sitting opposite to him, and dis- puting his qualifications. He looked like a cross between a needy curate and an unsuccessful blackleg. His sausage- hke arms and thighs were clerical, but he had sporting extremities ; and I was still specu- lating upon his probable calling in life, when he pro- claimed himself a veterinary surgeon. Those who know the genus wiU admit that a Canadian " Vet." is scarcely to be outwitted even by a member of that peculiar breed, said to be the sharpest in the creation, " an American Jew of Scotch extraction ; " and, therefore, it was not to be wondered at that this free and independent elector triumphantly recorded his vote, having utterly routed his accusers : and being thus satisfied myself as to his respectabihty, I retired with him and his clear-grit companions, to celebrate his success at the bar of the village tavern. On our way we discussed the chances of the rival candidates, and I was surprised at the want of interest manifested by my companions in the progress of the elections ; they seemed to be actuated in their votes rather by feelings of personal regard than by any 46 POLITICAL APATHY OF CONSTITUENTS. political principle, because, as they averred, there was no such thing in existence. They did not believe m "tickets;" laid it down as a general rule that no man went into Parliament who had not some private interest to serve ; and therefore supported him, not for the sake of certaia views, but because they wished success to a popular man in the line of life he had chosen, and were not so unreasonable as to expect consistency when it stood in his way. It is not difficult to account for this apathy among Canadian constituents. The material prosperity of the country is too great to be checked by any policy pursued by Government, and thriving settlers in the backwoods are perfectly indifferent as to the proceedings of the legislative bodies, and excessively bored by general elections. When, however, they do occur, in the exercise of their privilege and good-nature they vote for their friends, not having more respect for their principles than these gentlemen ordinarily have them- selves. The day, however, is not far distant, when a crowded population will render greater circumspec- tion necessary. It was only natural that, holding such liberal pohtical sentiments, all parties should fraternise very cordially in the gin and tobacco atmosphere which pervaded the bar-room of the little inn, and we joined the group in self-defence, for their con- viviality towards evening rendered sleep an im- possibility. Those influences, however, which are powerful to excite in the first instance, not unfre- A VIXEN OF A HOSTESS. 47 quently in the end produce a sedative effect ; and after they had developed themselves here by the ordinary amount of maudlin embraces, or quarrel- some encounters, people were sinking insensibly to slumber under and upon tables, or in convenient corners, when there was an alarm given that our hostess had been seized with cholera, that being at this period a prevailiag epidemic throughout the country. It would be uncharitable to say that, upon heariQg this news, a gleam of satisfaction lighted up those countenances that were not previously rendered entirely unexpressive by whisky ; but certainly I never again wish to be placed at the tender mercies of a more incarnate vixen than this dame had proved herself to be. We had all in turn suffered from her villanous temper ; and it was now suggested that it had turned sour on her stomach, and thus produced the disease under which she laboured. Such, in fact, proved to be the case. Having tormented her custo- mers in various ways during the day, she now finished by pretending an attack of cholera in the kitchen; a fact which I no sooner discovered than I slipped into the only unoccupied bed in the house, the very one in which she was accustomed to repose her own weary limbs, as a judgment upon her for refusing me accom- modation when I first demanded it. Bury shared the landing of the stairs with a puppy of a sleepless disposition, and which he was obliged periodically to kick to the bottom for taking unwarrantable liberties with his feet. 48 INDIAN VILLAGE OF RAMA. I crossed over from OriUia to hold a council at the Indian village of Rama. It was about five miles distant, and is composed of neat wooden houses and a church, and contains a population of Chippeway Indians. The tribe here owns a considerable block of land, a comparatively small portion of which, however, is cultivated, as the pri- vate sources of revenue of which the tribe is pos- sessed enable the members to indulge their indolent propensities ; and, utterly devoid of enterprise, they are content to live upon their annuities, or to add to them only in cases where their more limited amount renders individual exertion for this purpose neces- sary. The Eed Indians in Canada derive the prin- cipal portion of their revenue from the sale of those lands which they own as reserves. These they are very reluctant to part with ; and although they are valueless now for the purpose of the chase, they stiU love to wander through those forests which, in days of yore, formed the hunting-grounds of their fore- fathers, and to paddle in their bark canoes along the weU-settled margui of lakes formerly visited by them in the exercise of their right of savage proprietorship. Now, however, as this part of the country becomes more thickly populated, the aborigines will be com- pelled to cede to the insatiable settler acre after acre, until, congregated in villages, and dependent for support upon their pecuniary means alone, they will gradually lose their savage tastes and roving propen- sities, and, in spite of their natural indolence, may, it SOCIAL CONDITION OP THE INDIANS. 49 is to be hoped, by being subjected to a proper educa- tional system, and a judicious superintendence on tbe part of the Government, become qualified to assume tbe functions and responsibilities of civilised members of society. In tbe mean time, so long as they remain in a semi-civilised condition, a gradual decrease must continue ; and as their entire number throughout the province does not exceed 15,000, they wiU form but a fraction of the entire community. We engaged two bark canoes and some Indians at Eama, for the purpose of descending the river Severn, to Sturgeon Bay, a settlement upon the south shore of Lake Huron ; thence we hoped to pursue our voyage in a more civilised manner to Owen Sound, where I wished to visit the Indian village of Nawash, and then to proceed, amid the wooded islands of Georgian Bay, to Lake Superior. D CHA.PTER VI. A BAEK-CANOE VOYAGE DOWN THE SBVEEN. The Severn is a fine river, which flows through a district in Upper Canada entirely uncleared as yet. It falls, after a course of fifty or sixty mUes, into Georgian Bay, connecting Lakes Couchichiag and Simcoe with that arm of Lake Huron. On account, however, of its numerous falls and rapids, it is only navigable for bark canoes ; and,, except upon expedi- tions, such as ours, it is rarely traversed even by them. In our eyes, its solitary character and the romantic scenery on its banks were its principal attractions. Having reduced our luggage to the smallest possible dimensions, and put our fishing- tackle into good order, it only remained for us to make ourselves comfortable by spreading a quantity of plucked fern and juniper branches at the bottom of our canoes. Bury and I reclined sumptuously in one, with about as much accommodation as a ship's hammock would afibrd to two moderately stout mdividuals. However, as we were less likely to upset by being so closely jammed together that we SCENERY ABOUT LAKE SIMCOE. 51 could scarcely move, we became reconciled to our position between Bonaquum (" Thunderbolt "), who knelt at the bows and paddled, and his brother Kabeshquum (" Triumphant "), who steered. The other canoe contained Captain Anderson, an assist- ant-superintendent of Indians, whose experience in such expeditions, and knowledge of the Indian character and language, were most valuable — and Babehwum (" Snow-storm "), whose son, as an exem- plification of the effect of civilisation over the ele- ments, called himself simply John Storm. As the wind was fair, we rigged our blankets upon sticks cut for the purpose ; and, with aU saU set, we glided rapidly on, sometimes threading our way through narrow channels, past low wooded islands, until in about two hours we found ourselves upon the green waters of the Severn. Lake Simcoe is the highest of the Canadian lakes, having an elevation of seven hundred feet above the level of the sea. The scenery at the point of debouchure was very beautiful. Masses of richly variegated foliage clothed the banks, and bent over until the river rippled among the leaves. Often dark shadows reached across it, or were chequered by sunbeams glancing through the branches upon the clear and singularly light-coloured water. As we proceeded, we exchanged for the calm surface of the lake, and the islands which seemed to rest on its bosom, rock and rapid, until at last the torrent became too tumultuous for our frail canoes. Mean- 52 A FIRST EXPERIMENT AT time we had not been engaged only in enjoying the beauties of nature, we had adopted the usual mode of troUing in this part of the world with copper spoons, which, twisting rapidly through the water, formed a bright and attractive bait ; so that, upon arriving at the first portage, we congratulated our- selves upon the prospect of lunching off half-a-dozen black bass, weighing from two to five pounds each. While the Indians were engaged, under the able superintendence of Captain Anderson, in culinary operations. Bury and I appropriated one of the empty canoes, and explored a deep bend in the river, in which we discovered a tempting rapid, and we took advantage of its seclusion to make the experi- ment of shooting the canoe down the foaming waters; the excitement which in all cases attends this prO' ceeding being materially enhanced by the circum- stance that we were novices in the art, and, having been expressly warned of its difficulty, felt our honour involved in the success of the enterprise. There are few occasions where coolness and pre- sence of mind are more necessary than ia steering a canoe amid hidden rocks, whUe it is whirled towards them with inconceivable velocity by the impetuous current. There is no hope left of regain- ing the bank, no possibiUty of turning the canoe, no alternative remaining but to keep her head straight at it and trust to Providence, a strong arm, and a steady eye, to float you at last safely upon the calm waters beyond. We placed ourselves, one at SHOOTIKG THE RAPIDS. 53 the bows and the other at the stern ; and as the canoe rocked violently about, and the white waves dashed into her, we found it so difficult to maintain our equilibrium that it was impossible to keep our attention fixed upon the important duty of steering ; and, indeed, as we were hurried and tossed along, the disagreeable conviction soon forced itself upon us, that we exercised very little influence over our own fate. However, it seemed inclined to favour us upon this occasion, in spite of our having so rashly tempted it ; and we were just beginning to breathe again when we struck upon a projecting ledge of rock, with a crash that nearly jerked us out of the canoe. Swinging round stern foremost, she dropped into the deep water, and began to fill rapidly through a gaping rent iu her bows. Fortunately we were close to the bank, and a few vigorous strokes of the paddle brought us to shore without further damage to ourselves than being wet through ; and, leaving our shattered bark high and dry, we returned with doleful and penitent countenances to our Indians to inform them of the results of our rashness, and to grumble over the delay it was likely to occasion. However, it was some satisfaction to hear that the rapid was one which the Indians them- selves never attempted; and if any further consolation was needed, we found it in some excellent fried bass. When we had dried our clothes and chosen a grassy sward, under the shade of a wide-spreading beech, upon which Ave could luxuriously recline, and. 54 CAMPING FOR THE NIGHT. iahaling fragrant tobacco, gaze listlessly upon tlie lovely scene, we sank into the fall enjoyment of that sensation which those who have lived much in the East are more thoroughly able to appreciate, and which is so weU expressed there by the single word " Kief" Meantime the Indians were actively employed patching up the canoe with strips of birch bark, which they ripped for that purpose off the trees, sewing them firmly across the rent, and then gum- ming all tight in a most scientific and waterproof manner. When the process was finished, they car- ried the empty canoes across the rocky portage — fortunately a short one of about three hundred yards — whUe we followed with the luggage and comestibles. The sun was sinking behind the tops of the highest trees when we were again afloat, and, as evening closed in, the effects were often very beauti- ful. Our good-humour was, moreover, thoroughly restored by great success with our copper spoons ; and it was with some regret that, after making about ten miles more, we found it was time to think of camping for the night. There is always plenty of employment for every- body on these occasions. Some make the fire and collect wood ; others clear away the underwood, and spread fern and leafy branches to serve as a bed ; others cut tent-poles, and the rest bring up the con- tents of the canoes. Bury and I used to consider it DRESSED FOR DINNER. 55 a duty to plunge into the river morning and even- ing, besides indulging in an occasional swim through- out the day, when a hot sun and a clear deep pool formed an irresistible combination. In less than an hour the bath is over, and we are dressed for dinner in the flannel costume in which we pass the night. The various components of that meal are hissing and bubbling, and manifesting other signs of impatience to be taken ofi" the fire ; the tent is pitched in the leveUest place, which is abundantly strewed with leaves ; and all that we possess with us is scattered about in grotesque confusion. Wet clothes are hung on branches above the fire to dry ; and with our legs tucked under us, and our plates in our laps, we look complacently round, and consider ourselves the most enviable of mortals. The Indians had drawn up the canoes and tilted them on their sides, and, spreading a tarpaulin over aU, they managed thus to hut themselves very com- fortably. Dinner finished, we became excessively social over large tin pannikins full of strong green tea. The Captain and Bonaquum were evidently the wits of the party, and I have no doubt made excel- lent puns in Chippeway, as their conversation created great merriment, in which, of course, we both joined, upon the principle recognised in civilised society, of seeming to enjoy a joke whether you take it or not. Meantime I amused myself sketching the group. Bury became sentimental under the influence of the potent beverage he was imbibing, and lapsed gra- 56 A POETICAL EFFUSION. dually into a dreamy semi-conscious state, from which, to the astonishment of everybody, he suddenly awoke, and expressed his sentiments upon the proceedings of the day in the following glowing stanza : — Now the light bark o'er pool and rapid shoots, Now glances where the angry waters boil, 'Neath tall old trees, whose giant gnarled roots Eat deep into the soft alluvial soil. Now over rocky portage paths we toil. Our freight in some still lake to launch again ; And as we go, the sombre forest aisle Re-echoes back a plaintive Indian strain — Some wild old legend of this lovely land. Ere yet 'twas wrested from the red man's hand. The only part of this ejffusion which was altogether a poetical license was about the wild old legend, which we had certainly not been favoured with. However, it suggested the idea ; and Kabeshquum, who was reputed the musical genius of the party, was forth- with called upon for " a plaintive Indian strain." After a little modest coyness, and having secured a second from Bonaquum, and a chorus from the rest of the party, he lifted up his clear sweet voice, and, with a comical accent, he informed the amazed company that he was about " To hang his harp on a willow tree, And off to the wars again." It would have been impossible for Kabeshquum to have given a more sudden and violent shock to one's DISENCHANTMENT JOHN STOKM. 57 whole sentimental system, tlian when he expressed his regret in the words of that tender ditty — " That he had not loved with a boyish love." The whole effect was exquisitely ludicrous, and, at the same time, highly significant of the change which had passed over the land and its original inhabitants since it " had been wrested from the red man's hand." It was indeed enough to look at our companions, to be disenchanted of all those associations which in moments of romantic credulity we had attached to Eed Indians, from the novels of Washington Irving or Cooper. It was difficult to recognise an " Uncas" in the mild besotted features and homely Saxon cos- tume of John Storm, who, having been very well educated, and having lived in the immediate neigh- bourhood of a large town, spoke English perfectly, and embellished it with sundry genuine Yankee expres- sions, which he delivered with a strong nasal twang. He wore an old shooting-coat, a red flannel shirt, canvass trousers, and a straw hat. He had a light copper complexion ; a flat, ugly face, and powerful limbs. He was extremely talkative, and utterly destitute of that grace and dignity which, as a war- rior of the " Bear Band," it was to be expected that he should possess. As is the custom with Indian warriors, however, he narrated his deeds of valour in fight ; which, out of respect for the ashes of his great ancestor, Nainegeshkung, I shaU retail in the hyper- 58 AN INDIAN WARRIORS STORY. bolical language which would have been used by that celebrated chief himself, side by side with the actual expressions of his descendant, so that the white men may perceive the effect of civilisation upon the young men of his once powerful tribe : — An Indian Waeeioe's Stoet as it ought to have bebn told. The Chippeway met the Mohawk in the lodge of the Palefaces, and the young warrior Bonaquum, standing proudly erect with conscious dignity, pointed to the sky and said, " Many suns have passed, and many warriors have lived and died, since my fathers led their people to the battle. Then the red men brightened their toma- hawks, and sharpened their scalping knives against each other; but the hearts of the Mohawks were like water; their men were squaws, and their women owls ; and now, though the Palefaces are thicker than swal- lows in summer, the race of the Chip- peway upholds the earth : it is the grandfather of nations." The Mo- hawk uttered an expressive ugh. " The Chippeway is a dog. His tongue is loud in the village, but in battle it is still. His enemy knows the shape of his back, but not the colour of his eyes. The Mohawk will show that he has spoken the truth ; let the Chippeway prove that he lies." And the warrior fixing his arm wildly over his head, as his bosom heaved and his eyes flashed fire. But the Chippeway remained unmoved. Silently puf&ng forth a cloud of fragrant kinnick-kinnick, he cast a contemptuous and withering An Indian Waeeioe's Stoet as he told it. Me and Bonaquum was a-loafing about the bar of a tavern to Kingston one day, when in comes one of them Mohawk critturs, and we got to liquoring up one another, and come pretty friendly (pointing to his grog with his short pipe). Bonaquum said to the Mohawk if he minded of the old fights of our forefathers, and took to scaling him about it, and said in those days we could fight consider- able some, and was aUers more than a match for them varmin ; and he stood up for it that we was the most gwine a-head roudy set of chaps yet ; and one way and another got to rilin of him so smart, that he squared up, and asked Bonaquum if he was a man, and he said yes ; so he told him to come on, and began to rip and snort so tremenjus, that Bonaquum thought, tarnation ! and said he didn't believe in fighting, and wasn't a-gwine to. But I looked pretty ugly, and said I would give him a turn with fists if he would come on, and we went at it regular rough and tumble, you never seen the like. He gin me the first lick; it made me feel sorter mad, and after that we got peggin away face to face and no dodgin, and I s'pose I didn't jest pile on the agony about his ears and smeller ; the way AN INDIAN WARRIORS STORY. 59 I pitched it into him was a caution to mules, I tell ye. At last I takes him fair between the eyes, and blinded him amost; and afore he knew where he was, I punches him in the wind, and that settles him, and we went home pretty spry, I guess. The boys took the change out of Bonaquum, though ; he was afraid to show his nose in the village for » week and more. glance at the Mohawk. " The Chip- peway is a trader. He lives with the Palefaces. He drinks fire-water, and enjoys his squaws. He wears no longer the scalp-lock of the savage. Let the sanguinary Mohawk sharpen his tomahawk for barbarians, and retire to the prairies of the buffalo." Then the son of Babehwum, whom the Palefaces called John Storm, stepped loftily forward, and, lifting his voice to a pitch of terrific energy, exclaimed — " A warrior of the band of the Bear cannot listen longer to the yelp of a Mohawk hound. The blood of the bear has been in many chiefs, and what shall be said to the old men of the tribe if we bear this ? The women will point their fingers at us. There is a dark spot on the names of the Chippeways, and it must be hid in blood." His voice was no longer audible in the burst of rage ; and rushing furiously upon the Mohawk, he hurled him to the ground, which was deluged in blood. There was rejoicing that night in the lodge of Babehwum, and his squaws sang songs of triumph ; but as for the caitiff Bonaquum, his name is never mentioned by the young men — it is already forgotten. "We were up before daylight on the following morning, and, after a good fish breakfast, were again on our way. I had scarcely thrown in my trolling- line when it was nearly jerked out of my hand by a most unexpected and violent tug. A bark canoe is not the most convenient place from which to play a large fish ; and in my inexperienced eagerness I hauled away pretty steadily, bringing to the surface 60 THE FALLS OF THE SEVERN. with some difficulty a fine maskelonge, weighing at least twenty-five pounds. He came splashing and plunging up to the side of the canoe, and I had lifted him out of the water when the hook gave way, and I lost as fine a fish as I ever had at the end of a line. However, I was consoled soon after by taking some fine pickerel, weighing from five to eight pounds each ; and before luncheon hooked another maske- longe, when Bury, profiting by experience, was ready •with his gafi'-hook, and jerked him most scientifically into the canoe, much to the delight of the Indians. Though not nearly so large as the first, he was a respectable fish, weighing about eighteen pounds. The scenery in the place was bold and rocky, the banks often lofty and precipitous, and the current always strong, with an occasional rapid. "We lunched at a portage, which we were obliged to make in order to avoid the falls of the Severn, which are about twenty-five feet in height, and surrounded by fine scenery. There are rapids above and below the falls, so that the difference of level between the upper and lower banks of the portage is not less than fifty feet. While the produce of our morning's industry were impaled upon sticks in various attitudes, or being otherwise scientifically treated in methods known to the Indians, I amused myself fishing for bass with a light trout-rod and a bait, having in vain thrown a fly in many tempting pools. I found pork most efficacious, if it was not very sportsmanlike, and in half an hour I had caught between thirty aiid forty A DISMAL NIGHT. 61 pounds of bass, some of them so large as to give me some trouble witb such light tackle. In the afternoon we landed on a rocky island famous for rattlesnakes, by way of varying the ex- citement. Though we beat about the bushes for some time, we were destined not to be gratified by hearing the warning rattle ; and having killed five other snakes of various descriptions, we glided quietly on our way, without further incident beyond killing two more fine maskelonge and getting a shot at a wild duck. I was much disappointed with the great scarcity of all kinds of game upon the banks of the river, which, from their solitary character and the excellent cover they afford, in any other country would have been abundant. A thick mist, followed by a steady rain, induced us to think of camping early, and under the most dismal circumstances. The musquitoes literally hived upon us ; and being wet through at any rate, we took to the river in despair, and sat up to our noses in water, thus exposing as little of our persons as possible to their depredations. Two or three large fires drew them off" from the camp to some extent ; and by eating our dinners in the midst of the smoke, we gained a little peace at the expense of a tempo- rary loss of eyesight. To add to our miseries, the rain was incessant, and the ground, upon which we were obliged to stretch our already damp limbs, soaking. Even tobacco failed to reconcile one alto- g;ether to one's lot. The Indians cowered wretchedly 62 UNSUCCESSFUL TROLLING. under the miserable shelter of the canoe, and we lay upon our backs and watched the rain trickle through the canvass of our tent, and tried in vain not to lie in the puddles it formed. However, a considerable training to discomfort has rendered my powers of sleep proof against everything but absolute pain, and I was soon unconscious of existence; — more fortu- nate than my companion, who had remained awake to his miseries almost until morning, and then was disturbed by finding that an enormous toad had taken up a permanent lodgment upon his forehead. I was not tempted by la douce chaleur de mon lit to linger in it a moment longer than was necessary next morning, and daylight found us stimulating the circulation by vigorous strokes of the paddle as we rapidly pursued our voyage. We preferred break- fasting at a fashionable hour, instead of making that meal before starting, as upon the previous morning. We were somewhat disappointed in our sport. The tug of the maskelonge did not send its exciting thrill through one's veins. We caught quantities of vora- cious pike instead, which we threw back into the river, contenting ourselves with occasional bass and pickerel. Even these we were obliged to leave at the portages, taking over only sufficient for our next meal, and trusting to our good luck to catch enough for all succeeding ones. We passed some more falls, and through scenery of much the same character as on the preceding day. To judge from the appearance of the timber, STURGEON BAY. LOAFERS. 63 the land did not seem to be of a fine quality. On account, however, of the magnificent water -power which the river affords, and the quantity of pine upon its banks, there is every probability that mills will be erected before long at every eligible site. There is a very thriving one already built near the mouth ; and the construction of a railway to Penetanquishene, a town upon Georgian Bay, will help to open up this almost unexplored tract of country. . The wood sawn at these mUls is at pre- sent chiefiy sent to places upon the American shore of Lake Huron. The towns, which are rapidly springing up both on the Canadian and American sides of this lake, are increasing the demand for lumber to a great extent. It is about six mUes from the mouth of the Severn to Sturgeon Bay, a wretched place, consisting of a cabin, dignified with the name of an inn, which was •kept by a slovenly Irish couple, who allowed us a few square feet of room in which to place our effects, with a considerable risk of their being stolen unless we mounted guard over them alternately. A number of those rough " loafers " who prowl about the outskirts of civilisation, for the purpose of preying upon inexpe- rienced settlers, filled the bar, and were anything but agreeable companions. Fortunately we had not long to wait before we were enabled to place our luggage in safety on board the steamboat, and then taxed our invention to discover some mode of amusing our- selves until the stages should arrive from OriUia, 64 A DIPFICULTY. whicli place, whUe it is sixty miles distant by the route we had traversed, may be reached in twenty by a cross country road. The steamer only touches here for the sake of passengers arriving by this road, as the country in the immediate neighbourhood wears a most desolate aspect, and is entirely uncleared. The shores are low and marshy, the water shallow and muddy, so that, in order to get a comfortable bath, Bury and I took the canoe some distance from shore, and jumped out of her ; but then, to our dis- may, arose a difficulty which, from our inexperience of this sort of craft; we had never calculated upon. It is a very easy matter to jump out of a birch bark canoe, but it is a very different thing getting into her again. The slightest pressure from without tUts her right over ; and, apart from the inconvenience which such a catastrophe must have entailed of depriviag us of our clothes, we were so far from shore that the prospect of a voyage thither in an undressed condi- tion, astride upon the bottom of a canoe, was any- thing but agreeable. In vain did we endeavour, one after the other, to sHp nimbly in, first over the bows, then at the side, then at the stern ; we only suc- ceeded in letting enough water over the side to wet our clothes at the bottom, and we were beginning to swim round and round in despair, when we thought that a united effort might possibly be successful. Swimming to opposite sides of the canoe, we each carefully seized it at the same moment, and bringing first an arm, then a leg over, made the final spring. A WELL-TIMED SPRING. 65 Alas ! it was not simultaneous, and we fell sprawling back, just in time to save the canoe from upsetting altogether. It was evident, in order to get the other leg in, the utmost precision in our movements, was requisite, and it was therefore arranged that I should give the time — one, two, three; accordingly, having arrived without difficulty at the same stage of affairs as before, we brought our chins over the gunwale, and I had got as far as two, when the intensely grave and anxious expression of my companion's countenance appearing above his naked leg and arm, the absurdity of his whole attitude, and the consciousness that my own corresponded exactly to it, presented to my ima- gination a tableau so exquisitely ludicrous, that, instead of uttering three, I roUed off the canoe in such a fit of laughter, that I was almost incapacitated from ever trying to get into it again, from the quantity of water I swallowed. By this time we had both be- come so exhausted, that it was no laughing matter, and I never felt more disposed to be serious in my life than when, once more in similar graceful attitude, I gave the word three. It was followed by a well- timed spring ; and although the canoe was half full of water, we put on our dripping clothes with the greatest possible satisfaction. Towards evening the stages arrived with a large and nondescript cargo of passengers — emigrants from Europe, speculators from the States, tourists from all parts of the world, rough backwoodsmen, and myste- rious characters, journeying towards the limits of 66 PENETANQUISHENE. civilisation, for reasons best known to themselves. All joined in the scramble for the berths which lined the saloon of the steamer. Our early appearance had obtained for us the first choice; and having paid our late host his charge — or rather having charged ourselves a sum which seemed reasonable, as he was too drunk to be able to make a demand — we turned in. To a person who has never made a voyage upon the American lakes in the steamboats which traverse them, the first efi'ect is very singular. The whole pas- senger accommodation is upon deck. Sometimes there are cabins opening off the saloons ; but in the boat we were in, the berths were screened off simply by curtains suspended to bars, which projected a little beyond the berth, so that there was just room enough allowed for the process of dressing. Few persons, however, thought it necessary to make use of these, and the great ma- jority of toilets, therefore, took place in the saloon. Morning found us entering a large bay, with undu- lating, well-wooded shores. At the further end lay the prettily situated town of Penetanquishene, which, being interpreted into English, means " moving sand." It is now chiefly inhabited by pensioners, French Canadians, and haK-breeds. The fort, about three miles distant, was formerly garrisoned, as its position is such as to cause it to be considered the key to Upper Canada. There is no country in the neighbourhood to render it a place of any mercantile importance ; and although one of the oldest settlements in this part of Canada, other towns upon the same coast are destined soon to surpass it both in wealth and popu- COLLINCaVoOIl. — SYDENHAM. 67 lation. We did not stay long at Penetanquisliene ; tliouo-li I should have been o-lad to liuo-er awhile amid the lovely scenery "ndiich surronnds the town. Threading our way through narrow channels, we passed Cluistian Island, now uninhalnted, but so called, because two hundred years ago the first mis- sionaries established themselves there. Then crossing the extensive bay of Nottawasaga, at the head of which is situated the newly -formed town of Colling wood, we reached Owen Sound in the afternoon — a deep in- let, the natural advantages of which have given birth to Sydenham, a thriving place, containing 1500 in- habitants, and adjoining the Indian village of Nawash. Eabt'shquum, BciiaquurD, aad Bab'-bvrm CHAPTER VII. A RIDE TO THE INDIAN VILLAGE OF SAtJGEEN. The peninsula at the base of wMcIi Nawash. is situ- ated, belonged to the tribe resident there jointly with those Indians settled at the mouth of the Sau- geen river, upon the "western shore of Lake Huron. A few months later in the year I had occasion to visit Nawash a second time, when I was sent to make a treaty with the Indians for the surrender to the Crown of this peninsula. As I was then obliged to cross through the woods to the Saugeen river, I may take this opportunity of describing the journey, as it was through a country hkely before long to attract considerable attention, as affording the most profitable field for emigration in Upper Canada. Even then nothing could exceed the avidity with which the land in the immediate neighbourhood was being taken up by settlers. In crossing over the narrow peninsula which divides Georgian Bay from Lake Huron, I on every side met with evidences of an enterprising and rapidly augmenting population. FROM SYDENHAM TO SAUGEEN. 69 It was interesting to pass tkrougli this district in the very first stage of its development. The road had quite recently been opened. It was nothing more than a trace through the wood, of regulation width. Many of the fallen trees still lay rotting in the mud ; or, in the form of huge charred logs, blocked up the way. Not a stump had been eradicated. There they stood, obstinate and firm, with spreading roots impeding the passage of the wayfarer, as if indignant at the sacrilege which had laid so many forest giants low, and determined in consequence to cause as much inconvenience to the public as possible. The road from Balaklava to the camp was a joke compared with that which connects Sydenham with Saugeen. It was with the greatest difficulty that we managed on horseback to pick our way through the mud and stumps ; and every now and then we came upon a waggon hopelessly imbedded, which a team of bullocks were struggling in vain to extricate, and around which strong sturdy backwoodsmen, with flannel shirts, and boots reaching up to their thighs, were congregated, imploring, imprecating, belaboring, and pushing by turns. A woman and some children were tramping it through the mud ahead, and a few more children were thrown carelessly on the top of the chattels in the waggon, looking helpless, and strad- dling like puppies in a hay-loft. The road is very straight, as there are no hills of any consequence. Sometimes there are long 70 A LOGGING " BEE." cypress swamps, and over them felled trees are placed, making a corduroy causeway, most danger- ous to the horses' legs. However, it is a com- fort to get a swamp that is so bad as to require artificial means to keep one from disappearing alto- gether, and slippery logs are an agreeable change from deep mud ; and occasionally, but very rarely, a bit of snake-fencing indicates a settler, and a little log cabin is seen, surrounded by an acre of stumps and a few square yards of potatoes — the popu- lation of the clearing being half-a-dozen chickens, a dog, a man, and a cow. They aU look drooping and melancholy, and watch the -waggon toiling through the mud, in a dejected, compassionate way, as if they thought that the proprietor was taking a great deal of trouble to discover a spot in which to be thoroughly miserable for the rest of his life. Occasionally the scene is more cheerful. There is a logging bee, and the neighbours have come to assist a new settler to roU up the fallen trees into heaps and burn them. Oxen and men are noisily and busily engaged, and huge fires make a jovial crackling, as though they rejoiced to do their share of the work of civilisation. Gradually these sounds die upon the ear; the forest is more silent than ever. As we pass between rows of tall, stately trees, it is difficult to believe that in a few years the eye will range over smiling fields of waving corn, and the locomotive will dart over ground where we are now so wearily picking our steps. A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 71 It was towards evening that I found myself gloom- ily making invidious contrasts between my present progress and that of future travellers, when, reaching the brow of a hill, I was reproved for indulging in such a discontented frame of mind, and such utilita- rian ideas, by one of the most brDliant sunsets I ever beheld, and the full effect of which I never could have appreciated in a railway. The sky was like burnished copper. The sinking sun seemed to illumine the long vista before us. It cast its fiery light upon the already glowing leaves of the maple ; made the stumpy, muddy road look bright and cheerful ; pol- ished up the old waggon and its occupants ; and the avenue itself looked so endless, and. led so straight into the blaze, that these seemed jolting away to the celestial regions by a route known only to themselves. When that delusion was dispelled, and the night grew so dark as to render onward progress impossible, they pulled up by the wayside, and, lighting a fire under the trees, grouped picturesquely round it, and made their evening meal, preparatory to a common couch inside the waggon. We pushed on. In spite of the promising sunset, the sky became overcast. Large drops of raiu began to fall. I could not see my horse's head, and trusted to his instinct entirely to find, or rather make, his way. There was no danger of losing it, for it was impossible to go in any direction but the right, and difiicult enough to do that. At last we gave it up, and were preparing to follow 72 SCOTCH ENTERTAINERS. the example of our friends in the waggon, when the bark of a dog invited us to persevere a little longer, and we rapped, with feelings of gratitude, at the door of a log cabin, which was opened by a hearty-looking young fellow, whose pretty wife sat rocking a cradle near the fire, and whose cantankerous dog snarled at the unusual visitors. However, an old traveller makes himself at home anywhere, and never allows an ene- my to remain one long. These rules are easy to foUow in the backwoods, how difficult soever may be their application in more civUised life ; and we all sat down to tea round a table of our host's own manufacture, in an easy social way, and listened to the pelting rain as if there had never been a possibility of our being exposed to it during the whole night. When our kind entertainers found that I had but recently come from Scotland, and actually knew their former laird, their hospitality knew no bounds. Buttered toast immediately suggested itself to the fertile imagination of the good lady, as a worthy delicacy to so distin- guished a personage. Her husband was positively cruel to the child if it dared to cry ; the dog was sum- marily ejected, much to his astonishment ; the cow was equally taken aback at being called upon for an unexpected supply of milk ; all sorts of hidden dain- ties were produced from a large chest, which princi- pally contained wearing apparel, — in fact, nothing was omitted to do us honour ; and so confidential and comfortable did we become over our pipes, that it was late when we thought of going to bed. There was a SAUGEEN. 73 little difficulty here, as the log-hut consisted of only one room, and boasted only one bed. It was useless our insisting upon being allowed to stretch ourselves upon the floor, — neither the gudeman nor the gude- wife would hear of a gentleman that knew their laird sleeping on the floor, and they in the bed. Fortunately, there was a sort of half loft filled with potatoes, &c., and approached by a ladder, and up this the worthy couple clambered, hauling up baby, cradle, and all, in spite of our remonstrances ; though, perhaps, as the baby was of very tender years, or rather months, we were undertaking a responsibility for which we were scarcely qualified, in begging that it might be left below. We were on horseback again soon after daylight, and, in spite of the remonstrances of our kuid hosts, bade adieu to them during a pitiless storm, which drenched us through long before we arrived at the remote settlement of Saugeen, which was for the pre- sent our destination. The town only contains a few hundred inhabitants, and is quite in its infancy. Situated at the mouth of a river of the same name, it derives its advantage of position from the harbour which is thus afi"orded upon a coast where harbours of any sort are scarce. Its value in this respect is materially reduced, from the difficulty of running into the river, and the shallowness of the water over the bar. It is, however, susceptible of improvement, and the rapid increase of population in the neighbourhood will insure this. 7-4 RIVALRY OF TOWNS. There is scarcely an acre of government laud left throughout the counties of Grey and Bruce, in which the towns of Sydenham and Saugeen are situated ; and we found the bars at the road-side taverns filled with squatters or speculators, inveighing loudly against the alleged dishonesty of the government land-agents, organised into gangs, bound upon the charitable mission of forcibly ejecting peaceable un- protected settlers, and appropriating their premises. AU sorts of "chiselling" goes forward upon these occa- sions ; and there is plenty of scope for it, according to the present system pursued by government. The most satisfactory way to aU parties is to allow them to buy their land by auction, and not to acquire it by establishing pre-emptive claims to it by previous squatting. Considerable rivalry exists between the towns of Saugeen, Sydenham, and CoUingwood, since the pro- sperity of each is in some degree contingent upon its becoming the principal emporium of the traffic to and from Lake Superior and the North-Avest. A railway is already finished from Toronto to CoUing- wood ; but the soil of the adjoining country is not nearly equal to that of the neighbourhood of the other towns, while it is questionable whether, in spite of the efforts that are being made, the harbour will ever be a very safe one. The passage down Georgian Bay is long and intricate, and frozen up at an earlier period of the year than Lake Huron itself. Sydenham is also exposed to this disadvantage, but its harbour is A GRAND COUNCIL OF INDIANS. 76 good and the country fertile. Saugeen is perhaps more favourably situated than either of the two, as the passage thither from the Sault Ste. Marie is the longest open, and most direct ; and a railway from thence to Toronto will pass through 150 miles of the finest land in Upper Canada. The town stands upon a promontory of considerable elevation, formed by the river and the lake. The American shore opposite is of course not visible. The Indian village is two miles up the river, and a number of their wigwams were pitched upon the opposite bank. I crossed over to them in a bark canoe, but there was nothing tempting in the aspect either of the interiors or their occupants. When the chiefs and young men of the different tribes had assembled at the village, a grand council was held in the church, to consider the proposals of government, which involved an immense consumption of tobacco, smoked in solid pipes of red clay, with long ornamented stems. The palaver was protracted until the smaU hours of the morning, and resulted in an interesting exhibition of artistic skill on the part of the chiefs, each one of whom affixed to the treaty his totem, or the representation of the animal which dis- tinguished his family or clan. The use of the totem is more particularly confined to the Chippeways. Although the members of a band bearing the same totem often number some hundreds, they are not allowed to intermarry. These distinctions are, how- ever, gradually becoming obsolete among the more civilised Indians in Canada. 76 INDIAN TRAIL. A SHORT CUT. The efFect of this treaty was to open up to settle- ment almost the whole of the Saugpen peninsula, comprising about 500,000 acres of land, of such a quality as to insure the speedy occupation of the whole tract. The annuities which the Indians them- selves will derive from the sale of these lands will amount to a very considerable sum. We determined to return to Sydenham by the Indian trail ; and, turning our backs one fine morning upon the rough backwood tavern at which we had been lodging, we swam our horses across the river, and dived into the woods. Our party was a large one, consisting of five whites, and six or seven In- dians. These latter picked their way over fallen trees and through cypress swamps, with such rapidity, that it was often difficult to keep up with them upon horseback. At last we got tired of following the de- vious course of the trail, and one of our party pro- posed a short cut, of which he avowed himself cognis- ant. In a moment of credulity we allowed ourselves to be persuaded to take his advice, and parted from our Indian guides. As the forest was clear of underwood, we had no difficulty in making our way without a path, follow- ing simply the notches — or blaze, as it is called — which backwoodsmen make upon the trees to guide them through these trackless forests. It required a sharp eye to detect these scars in the bark, often so nearly healed over as to be scarcely discernible ; and we were often thrown out and obliged to hark back LOST IN THE WOOD. 77 some hundreds of yards to the last blaze, and make a fresh start. The difficulty of finding our way was always increased at the cypress swamps, which in- volved detours of great extent ; and upon these occa- sions the blaze always ceased, and required to be picked up again when we got into our direction upon the other side. There was only one river to cross ; and on searching for a ford, our party got separated. Three of us waded the river at a shallow place higher up, and lost the blaze on the other side. We then pursued our way by instinct, breaking twigs as we went along, to enable us, if necessary, to retrace our steps, and keeping as far as possible, apart, so as to insure, to some extent at least, a straight course. To add to our miseries, it began to rain heavily. We had been for some hours wandering discon- solately through the wood, and I was beginning to wish myself back again upon the Indian trail, when we unexpectedly came upon two rough-look- ing characters, with hatchets in their hands, prowling about through the wood, and blazing the trees as they went along. We found, upon speaking to them, that aU the government land having, been taken up, they were coming to squat surrepti- tiously upon Indian territory, trusting to the remote situation' in which they intended to commence operations to save them from discovery, and deter- mined to defend their own against all comers, should it be necessary. We told them that, by waiting for 78 PEELING FOR THE " BLAZE." a few months, they would have an opportunity of purchasing the land instead of appropriating it ille- gally, and thus avoid the liabilities to which, by their present conduct, they were exposing themselves. In return for our information they offered us the only shelter they possessed themselves, which was nothing more than a slanting screen made of branches, and protected from the weather by its snug situation under the bank of a small river. Getting as far back as the limited space allowed, we rested our weary limbs upon dry leaves and bushes — refreshed our sinking interiors with hot green-tea and biscuits — dried our damp clothes, and warmed our damp bodies by the fire — unsaddled our steeds, and otherwise availed ourselves of every accommodation for man or beast which the place afforded. The lateness of the hour, however, did not admit of any very length- ened stay with our good-natured entertainers. They directed us to foUow the blaze until we reached the trail, and we started again with some hopes of reach- ing our journey's end. Nobody who has had much experience of back-woods ever thinks of hallooing until he is out of them ; and as the night drew on, there did not seem any immediate prospect of our having thus to exert our lungs. It soon got so dark that we were obliged to feel for the blaze, and there is a hopelessness attending this operation which induces one very soon to give it up. We were just beginning to feel anxiously in our pockets for matches in anticipation of camping it out, when one SYDENHAM AGAIN. — LAND-HUNTERS. 79 of our party joyfully announced that lie had struck the trail, and we soon after came upon all the Indians resting themselves at a log bridge. It was now pitch dark. For hours we plodded on. After this, our horses were so done up that we were obliged to lead them. Sometimes the mud and water reached to our waists, and we narrowly escaped being bogged. It was with intense delight that, at about ten o'clock at night, we saw the lights of Sydenham, having scarcely tasted anything since the morning. We were thoroughly exhausted by our day's work. For a week past I had undergone considerable fatigue ; and it was but a melancholy satisfaction to find that I stood it better than my horse ; — the poor beast could scarcely stagger into his stable, and died there from his exertions a day or two afterwards. A great proportion of the population of Syden- ham seemed composed of land-hunters. Parties were continually exploring the neighbourhood ; some re- tarniag after an unsuccessful search ; some, having hit upon a location, and made a beginning, came into town for supphes, leaving it again immediately for their shanties in the woods, fearing lest they should find them appropriated on their return if they re- mained too long absent ; others there were who had long since passed through this stage of squatting, and, secure in their possession of a well-stocked thriving farm, or prosperous saw-miUs, had come to spend their hard-gotten earnings sociably, by lounging for a week at tavern-bars, where they discoursed upon 80 INVENTING NAMES FOR CITIES. their prospects, congratulated one another upon towns which were springing up upon their respective farm- lots, and searched old novels, or taxed their powers of invention, for " neat and appropriate " names to bestow upon these embryo cities. CHAPTEE VIII. THE ANNUAL DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN PEESENTS AT MANITOULIN — GEORGIAN BAY. Steaming out of Owen Sound, we found ourselves once more in Georgian Bay, and the following day entered a deep harbour, at the further end of which was situated the Indian village of Manitowaning. All the islands in Georgian Bay, which Captain Bay- field, who surveyed them, numbers at twenty-seven hundred, belong to the Indians. Of these the most important is Manitoulin, which is more than one hundred miles in length, and is said to be the largest fresh-water island in the world. It contains a population of about two thousand inhabitants ; the principal settlement in it is Manitowaning. At the period of our visit, it was also the resort of some thousands of Indians from all parts of Canada, and even some from the Hudson's Bay territory, who flock hither to receive the supply of presents annually granted to them by Government. An admirable opportunity was thus afforded of seeing these people 82 PHYSICAL ASPECT OP INDIANS. in a somewhat more unsopMsticated condition than was our friend John Storm and his companions. In their wildest and most savage, and therefore, in some respects, in their most interesting state, however, those who visit the island are for the most part miserable, poverty-stricken creatures, wretchedly clad in rags and skins ; as they crawl in and out of their birch -bark wigwams, looking as lean and mangy as the curs that shared with them their grilled fish-heads, which seemed to form the staple of their food. Both men and women had that peculiar besotted look, which is an invariable characteristic of the Mongolian type of countenance. I put my head into some of their dwellings, but was nearly choked with smoke and stench. Sometimes these wigwams are very close together, the intermediate space being filled up with stinking fish, snarhng curs, and papooses — Anglicd infants — lashed to flat boards, and strewn about promiscuously with the other rubbish. The poor little wretches looked contented enough. Probably the first lesson they learn in hfe is, that there is not the least use in squalling, and they thus early put a restraint upon their natural instincts, which may account for the taciturnity of the race. However that may be, as they were prop- ped up in a slanting position against a canoe, or any- thing else that was convenient, and rolled their almost invisible eyes, they looked very much as if they were in training for mummies. A PROCESS OF CIVILISATION. 83 Some of the tribes that visit Manitowaning have, however, very good tents, and are comparatively well off, while the Indian residents at that station itself have been long subject to a civilising process. There are only a few acres of the island under cultivation. The schools are well attended, and the Church of England and Eoman Catholic missionaries are active and energetic in their respective stations. The origi- nal intention of Sir Francis Head in collecting a number of Indians upon Manitoulin, was to carry out the view that he had formed with respect to the best mode of civilising them. It was thought that this isolation, combined with proper treatment, would produce beneficial results, inasmuch as they would thus be removed from the evil influences which the white population has always exerted upon them, while they would have the advantage of education. The experiment has, however, not proved successful. The Indians, always apathetic, find themselves here without that stimulus to exertion which the prox- imity of an enterprising white population must create to a greater or less extent ; and, completely shut out from the world, they acquire few new ideas, and vegetate, if not in a state of positive barbarism, at least of negative civilisation. The great proportion, however, of those Indians who come annually to Manitoulin live entirely by hunting or fishing, and receive, in the shape of pre- sents, blankets and other luxuries, which we are accustomed to think necessaries in civilised life. 84 PETIT COURANT. Government has recently determined upon discon- tinuing these yearly distributions ; and it is possible that, having for so long felt the comfort of possessing them, some of the Indians may be stimulated into habits of industry by the desire to purchase them for themselves. There can be little doubt that one great cause of the rapid diminution of the race is to be found in their present mode of life, as compared to that which they led formerly. "While they retain their old love for the chase, those who are well enough off indulge in aU the comforts of civilised life. For a great part of the year they live in warm, comfortable houses — take little exercise, and are well clothed. During the hunting season, they lead the life and follow the habits of their fore- fathers ; and having been enervated by ease and idleness, the hardships and exposure they are thus obhged to undergo, give rise to pulmonary and other complaints. We touched at a spot called Petit Courant, on the same island, where it is divided from some other islands by a narrow channel. Here there is a small village inhabited by Indians, who gain their livelihood by supplying the steamers with wood. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon, and we landed with the missionary to attend a service which he held in one of their log-houses. The congregation consisted almost entirely of women, as the men were engaged loading the steamer. Some of these were nice-looking, but none really pretty. They nearly all had babies. INTERESTING SABBATH SERVICE. 85 whose incessant squalling spoiled the effect of their singing. The squaws almost invariably possess clear, melodious voices, and sing with great feeling. Indeed their demeanour throughout was most devout, and I have seldom been present at a more touching service than I witnessed in that log-hut. It was perched upon a bank at least one hundred feet above the level of the lake, and I sat near the little window, which commanded an extensive and lovely prospect. The view was bounded by a range of blue hills, up- wards of a thousand feet high, running along the shore of the mainland. The intervening channel was studded with numerous islands, some thickly wooded ; in others the scenery was park-like, and green meadows stretched to the water's edge. Some- times clumps of trees tufted a long narrow promon- tory, or lined the shores of a deep bay, where the blue smoke curling above them, and the row of up- turned canoes, are evidence that they conceal the conical bark wigwam of the Indian, on his way, per- haps, from some still more distant lake, to claim his share at the issue of presents ; probably a wild untutored savage, who had never heard the sounds to which I was even then listening, who would wonder at the kneeling attitudes and earnest countenances of these few women of his own nation, and to whom the singularly musical words of his own language, so interesting to them, would be strange and un- meaning. On the following morning we coasted along the 86 CHEBONANINO. — LA OLOOHK. shore of the mainland, and reached the Indian village of Chebonaning, composed of wigwams, and contain- ing about four hundred inhabitants. It is situated upon a narrow channel, about ii mile long, and scarcely two hundred yards in width, which divides a group of rocky and picturesque islands from the mainland, here rising to a height of about twelve hundred feet above the lake. As we entered this channel, with the Indian village in the foreground, the effect was very striking ; and as we steamed away from it, it became a matter of much curiosity to me how we were ever to find our way out of these intricate waters. Perhaps the most beautiful part of the whole voyage is among the islands of La Cloche ; Imt the views are so varied and ever-changing, as we wind our way among them, that any attempt to describe them would be alike tedious and unsuccossfid. If people in England had any idea of the lovely scenery and delightful climate of the American lakes, they would not confine their yachting to European waters. There are two thousand miles of lake navi- gation, affording fisliing, and scenery unsurpassed by any in the world; while the numerous settlements on the shores would serve as pleasant resting-places, from which excursions might be made into the interior in bark-canoes, or shooting expeditioiiH organised . Now that the canal at the Sault Ste. Miivie is finished, Avhich connects Lake Suj)erior with Lakes Michigan THE BRUCE COPPER-MINES. 87 and Huron, there is notMng to prevent a yacht, not drawing more than eight and a half feet of water, sailing from Liverpool to Fond du Lac, the last two thousand miles from the mouth of .the St Lawrence being entirely inland navigation. Lake Huron is so abundantly studded with islands that one might cruise in it for months and always find fresh points of iaterest, and sail through new channels, each more beautiful than the last ; while the immense advan- tage of always being able to land in rough weather, is one which yachtsmen are for the most part not slow to avail themselves of. The Bruce copper-mines are situated upon the northern shore of Lake Huron, about fifty miles from the Sault Ste. Marie. They were begun about six years ago, and the population, which consists entirely of miners, now amounts to about three hundred. We descended one of the shafts, which was about sixteen fathoms deep. The vein which was then being worked was rich, and the ore of good quahty. The quartz is hauled up by horse-power ; it is then broken, and submitted to the jiggers to be crushed. When it is reduced to sand and washed, it is packed in casks and sent to England to be smelted. Since this method was adopted, the mines have been worked more profitably than when the smelting took place on the spot. The shares are now at par, and are likely to rise. Opposite to the Bruce mines is the large island 88 INDIAN SETTLEMENT ON GARDEN EIVER. of St Joseph. It contains about 90,000 acres, and is timbered with maple and beech. It has been recently surveyed, and is the only island now open for settlers. The land is good, and is available at a very low rate per acre. On the north-east there is a good harbour, where the town of Hilton is to be situated. The islands after this begin to change their character, and, from being low and woody, become rocky and barren. We steamed a little way up Garden river to a thriving Indian settlement, prettily situated at a little distance from a range of well-wooded hills, in which the stream takes its rise. It is only navigable for a few miles, and beyond this is celebrated for its trout-fishing, which I was strongly tempted to ex- perimentahse upon, more particularly when I per- ceived, from the mountainous character of the country, that its merits would be enhanced by fine scenery. However, we were too anxious to go still farther west to linger on our journey, and after holding a council and paying a visit to a celebrated Indian chief, who occupied a neat house in the village, we pursued our interesting voyage, in the course of which, for four hundred miles, we had been threading our way between islands, in a manner more agreeable, perhaps, to the pas- sengers than to the captain, who, in spite of a long experience, was obliged to use the utmost caution amid such intricate navigation. Indeed, the strongest , YANKEE PRE-EMINENCE. 89 objection to the position of the ports of Collingwood and Sydenham arises from the difficulty of approach- ing them from Lake Superior, a difficulty which is considerably increased by the absence of light-houses at the entrances of the various channels. The Ameri- cans are far before us in this respect. As we ap- proached the Sault, we at once perceived, from the numerous light-houses on the more prominent poiats, that we were in Yankee waters. The sun was shiniag brightly upon the broad bosom of the Ste. Marie, as, with spy-glass in hand, I looked anxiously upon the emporium of commerce in these regions. The American town presents quite an imposing aspect. Substantial -looking houses line the water's edge ; and as the site upon which the city is built is almost perfectly level, it has the appearance of indefinite extent. There were flags flying to point out hotels, and upon the only rising ground in the neighbourhood the stars and stripes were floating also to denote Yankee supremacy, for it was crowned by a neat white-washed stockaded fort. Upon our side there was little to boast of. One of the Hudson's Bay Company forts stands vis-d-vis to the opposition establishments, and a large hotel and some straggling houses near it are the habitations of Her Majesty's subjects in these remote regions. They looked so cheerless that we determined to sacrifice our patriotism to our comfort ; and though the steamer landed us on British ground, in half an hour afterwards we had 90 THE CHIPPEWAY HOUSE. crossed the river, and were craving admission at the door of the Chippeway House, a rambling wooden hotel, in which we hoped to find accommodation watil an opportunity ofi'ered of enabling us to pur- sue our voyage to the western extremity of Lake Superior. A Fapoose. PAKT II.— LAKE SUPERIOR. CHAPTER IX. THE SAULT STB. MAEIE. One of the most certain indications that a country is in an early stage of development, is to be found in the importance which attaches in the eyes of the inhabitants to those localities in which a few of them have congregated together, and which, contain- ing a population that would be deemed unworthy of notice elsewhere, here form the nuclei of future towns, and furnish, to a greater or less extent, sup- plies for present wants. The traveller whose wan- derings have hitherto been confined to more civilised regions, will not improbably experience a feeling of disappointment, when, after an arduous journey, he reaches at last the goal upon which all his hopes have been set for many weeks past — which has formed the staple topic of conversation — and which he has invested with charms whose absence have 92 A DELUSION DISPELLED. only served to render his imagination more particu- larly susceptible to their merits ; for it is certain that, if hope deferred makes the heart sick, it also has a strong tendency to enhance the value of the thing hoped for. It requires a heart not easily turned, to travel in the remoter provinces of Ame- rica ; and an imagination not prone to indulge too freely in the pleasures of anticipation. For some weeks past my destination had been the Sault Ste. Marie. When I left Quebec I determined to visit this " dim Ultima Thule." For the last few- days we had been passengers on board a steamer fuU of people, all bound for the Sault Ste. Marie ; and, as is always the case under such circumstances, everybody was discussing the probable hour of arrival at the desired haven. Those who had never been there were speculating upon its appearance, and those who had were describing it to them. In some form or other the Sault Ste. Marie was always on the tapis ; and when I first saw it looking bright and gay as we steamed by it, I thought that for once I was not to be doomed to disappointment. Landing, however, at a little rickety wooden pier, passing between two high wooden houses, the whole extent of the city suddenly burst upon my view, composed, as it is, of a single street. If it was painful that the delusion in which I had indulged should be thus rudely dispelled, it was at least consolatory to know that there was no chance of losing one's way. An hotel stared A GROUP OP AMERIOAKS. 93 US in the face, and, transporting thither our effects, we were soon comfortably installed in a little double-bedded room, and entered upon a course of ablutions involving a consumption of water to an extent that rather astonished the household ; then, making a judicious selection from our scanty ward- robe of those articles which were most likely to create an impression, we sallied forth and joined a group of very tall Americans, who were chewing, smoking, and tiltiDg themselves in their chairs upon the verandah, and to whom we immediately became objects of great interest. The costumes and manners of these gentlemen were not at all in accordance with the rough and uncouth aspect of the town in which they seemed to have taken up their abode. They might have been lounging at the Bar of the St Nicholas in Broadway, instead of the Chippeway House at the Sault Ste. Marie. Some of them wore evening coats and patent-leather boots ; others were dressed in velveteen shooting-coats, with their trou- sers tucked inside neat Wellington boots, after the manner of American sportsmen. There was not a particle of backwoodishness about them. When we approached, one gentleman, in a black velvet shoot- ing-coat, with a gun, was descanting to another gentleman in a black velvet shooting-coat, with a fishing-road, upon his success in wood-pigeon shoot- ing; whUe the latter produced a basket containing three very small trout as the result of his day's sport. Their companions were making approving comments, 94! THE PO-LITEST MAN AT THE SOO. and we were delighted to join such a sociable-looking party, where it was so little to be expected. Our appearance diverted the current of conversation. " Strangers, gentlemen, I guess — and Britishers at that," said the individual with the gan, politely spitting away from us over his friend's shoulder. " Shall be delighted to render you any service in my power during your stay in this city." We thanked him for his kindness, and asked him what there was to be done here 1 "WeU, there's considerable pigeons, if you've a mind to go gunning ; and there air days when you may catch trout in the river, out of a bark canoe : it's quite a pleasurable Zo-cality is the Soo (Sault) — that's a fact." Indeed we found it full of Americans from all parts of the Northern States, who make summer excursions to Lake Superior, and who patronise the Sault largely as a sort of watering-place, with the advantage of sport in the shape of pigeons and trout in the neighbourhood. As, however, our new friend was only a visitor himself, he offered to introduce us to a resident as being more likely to be of service to us ; and having told him our names in reply to his interrogatory, he turned sharply round to a friend, who, with the assistance of his foot placed against the wall, was dexterously poising himself upon one leg of his chair, and gracefully pointing towards him said, " Allow me to make you acquainted with Mr , accounted the ^o-litest man at the Soo." A CHARACTERISTIC VIEW. 95 The gentleman thus designated, stretched out his hand without ever losing his balance, and was in the act, I have no doubt, of giving us a cordial welcome, when the words which were upon his lips were sud- denly checked by the contents of his mouth appear- ing at the same place ; a catastrophe which upset his equilibrium, and seriously imperilled his neck. Mean- while, if the group on the verandah of the Chippeway House was eminently characteristic, the view from the same spot was no less so. Most of the houses were wooden, with their gables to the street. There was a large dry-goods store nearly opposite, then a newspaper-office, then the metropolitan saloon, next to that Hopkins' saloon, then a bowhng saloon, and the Paris store ; in fact, to judge from the great number of houses of entertainment in proportion to those of any other character, the town seemed to be nothing more or less than a large tavern with a shop at the back. The shops were aU stores, and you could get almost anything, from a bag of potatoes to a yard of lace, at any one of them. As we made a good many pur- chases here in anticipation of our western journey, we had plenty of experience of them before we left. The bowling saloons we used also to frequent, but not till after dinner ; and the sudden rush which our companions are making into the hotel reminds us that, if we wish to get the advantage of that meal, we have not a moment to lose. As it is, all the centre tables are taken- — the ladies, and the gentle- 96 A PUBLIC DINNER. men with ladies, having the privilege of private entry before the bell rings. By a little jobbing and back- stairs influence with mine host, it is quite possible for a single man to be allowed this privilege. How- ever, we were novices as yet in the art of dining in the backwoods, and with some difficulty secured seats at a table which was perfectly destitute of food ; nor did it seem likely that we should get any, for every- body else was too busily engaged even to talk, while any attempt at conversation would have been drowned in the clatter of knives and forks. The whole popu- lation of the Sault only amounts to about 1200, and at least 150 of them were dining that day at the Chippeway House ; and to judge from the scarcity of the food and its want of variety, the resources of the town were being drained to an extent which was likely soon to exhaust them altogether. It was with the greatest difficulty that we made a meal ; but we were reconciled to its scantiness when we remembered that it had been swallowed with a rapidity which might have rendered any increase in quantity pro- ductive of serious results. Mr Chambers has recently recorded it as his expe- rience, that the Americans are somewhat maUgned in the reputation they have acquired for the despatch of their meals ; but he had only to visit the Western Provinces to become undeceived on this point. In the more highly civilised cities of the East, the public dinner is of just the proper duration, and a vast improvement upon the interminable table d'hdte of FORT BBADY. 97 the continent of Europe ; while the banquets at private houses often even exceed in length these latter repasts. But the ceremony of dining upon the outskirts of civilisation is a very different affair ; and upon one occasion at St Paul, the capital of the Min- nesota territory, I found it so difficult to keep "pace with my neighbours that I determined to time them ; and recorded, as the result of my observations, that from the moment when the first rush into the dining- room took place, to the moment the first man left it, was exactly seven minutes and a half. In ten minutes I remained the solitary spectator of a melancholy array of empty dishes, the contents of which had been sufl&cient, in that short period, to satisfy nearly a hundred voracious denizens of the Far West. We were obliged to remain a few days at the Sault until the arrival of the steamer " Sam Ward" from a tour of the lake, as we intended to proceed in her to Fond du Lac, the extreme western point of Lake Superior. Although so small a place, there was too much novelty about the Sault to admit of any thing- like ennui. Moreover we were indebted to Captain Clarke, commanding the detachment of the U. S. army stationed at Fort Brady, for attentions which helped us to pass our time pleasantly. The fort overlooks the river. It is composed of a neat white stockade, in the form of a square, round three sides of which are built the barracks and officers' quarters. The town is situated immediately beneath the fort : indeed, the houses are built on land belonging to the 98 A FAMILY OF HALF-BREEDS. United States Government, which allows the popula- tion, by settling upon it, to acquire a prescriptive right to the ^ound. One day we took a bark canoe for the purpose of shootiQg the rapids, and also in the hope of producing, for the benefit of our American friends, a basket containing a few more trout than those which had been exhibited as a sample of a good day's fishing. Crossing to the English side, we reached a voyageur's cottage at the foot of the rapids, just in time to escape a heavy thunder-shower, and spent a pleasant half-hour over our pipes with him, his Indian wife, and half-breed family, who were engaged in making miniature bark canoes, and embroidering moose-skin for the American market. He was proud of beiag an English subject, but at the same time congratu- lated himself upon his proximity to the Yankees, as affording better sources of profit to him in every way than Canadians. We were more than an hour forcing our canoe up the rapids, which are nearly a mile in length ; and it was only by dint of great exertion, and taking advan- tage of every backwater, that we managed to creep along the banks of the little islands with which the river is dotted. It was my first experience of the sort, and unless I had actually witnessed it, I cer- tainly should not have considered feasible the ascent, in a boat, of a torrent which was so rapid that it would have been impossible for a man to stem it on foot. Indeed, nothing but the most dexterous punt- SHOOTING THE SAULT KAPIDS. 99 ing on the part of our experienced boatmen would have enabled us to succeed. When we reached the head of the rapid we tried a few casts, and caught two or three diminutive trout, with which the boatmen were so delighted, and complimented us so highly on our skiU, that, judging by its unsatisfactory results, we determined that, as it was more exciting to shoot the rapids of the Sault Ste. Marie than to fish them, we would no longer delay that novel pastime. Accordingly, seating our- selves steadily at the bottom of our frail bark, we allowed it to be sucked into the foaming waters, a voyageur at each end of the canoe, with quick eye and strong arm, prepared to steer us safely upon a voyage which certainly, to the uninitiated, did not seem altogether devoid of peril. The surface of the river, over an extent of at least a mile square, presents at this point one unbroken sheet of foam. The waves are so high that they dash into the canoe, which would inevitably be upset if, by bad steering, it were allowed (in nautical language) to get into the trough of the sea. We were just beginning to acquire a fearful velocity, when, as if to harmonise with the tumult of waters amid which we were being so wildly tossed, vivid flashes of lightning burst forth from the black clouds, followed by loud peals of thunder, and rendered the descent of these rapids, which is always exciting, grand, and almost appalling. In about four minutes we were in smooth water again, having in that period accomplished a distance which it had 100 A VALUABLE LIFE. taken us an hour to traverse on our upward course. It requires great coolntess and experience to steer a canoe down these rapids ; and a short time before our arrival, two Americans had ventured to descend them without boatmen, and were consequently upset. As the story was reported to us, one of them owed his salvation to a singular coincidence. As the accident took place immediately opposite the town, many of the inhabitants were attracted to the bank of the river to watch the straggles of the unfortunate men, thinking any attempt at a rescue would be hopeless. Suddenly, however, a person appeared rushing towards the group, frantic with excitement. " Save the man with the red hair ! " he vehemently shouted ; and the exertions which were made in consequence of his earnest appeals proved successful, and the red-haired individual, in an exhausted con- dition, was safely landed. "He owes me eighteen dollars," said his rescuer, drawing a long breath and looking approvingly on his assistants. The red-haired man's friend had not a creditor at the Saidt, and, in default of a competing claim, was allowed to pay his debt to nature. "And I'll teU you what it is, stranger," said the narrator of the foregoing iaci- dent, complacently drawing a moral therefrom, — " a man 'Ul never know how necessary he is to society if he don't make his life valuable to his friends as well as to his-sel£" We were actively employed during our stay at the THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY S FORT. 101 Sault in lajdng in provisions, &c. for our western journey, as it was the last civilised place we were likely to see for some time. The store at which we purchased our outfit belonged to a most obliging person, and contained a very miscellaneous assort- ment of articles. The most interesting were those which were in requisition during the winter. On account of its remote position, large supplies of every kind are always laid in here during the summer months, although the more adventurous inhabitants do keep up a communication with Detroit, across Lake Huron, upon the ice, by means of dog-sleighs. We examined with some curiosity those used by our friend. He also showed us some of his dogs, whose drooping hind-quarters and languid gait betokened the hard work they had undergone. Their master himself had performed marvellous feats upon snow- shoes, and thought nothing of walking eight hundred miles in three weeks, being at the rate of forty miles a- day. Of course he carried nothing : his food and clothing were dragged in the dog-sleigh by his side. We crossed over to the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort, and there, too, were interested in looking over the stores which are kept for trading with the Indians. Beads, blankets, rifles, moccasins, and all the appur- tenances of wUd Indian life, were here piled in shelves, and transported us in imagination to the councU-fires of distant tribes. The Red River settle- ment is principally supplied from these stores. At present, the difficulty of transport is the great draw- 102 DEPARTURE PROM THE SAULT. back to the prosperity of this colony, the inhabitants of which also complain of being prohibited from trading with the Indians upon their own account. The population amounts to about nine thousand, and is not likely to increase rapidly until greater facilities are provided for conveying their agricultural produce to the Canadian or American markets. We provided ourselves, at the recommendation of the hospitable agent of the Company, with some stout ox-hide moccasins, and a piece of tarpaulin to serve as a tent or screen, and were thankful for the hints he gave us on a canoe life in the western rivers. The most characteristic feature of the Sault Ste. Marie, as suggestive of the vast resources of the shores of Lake Superior, to which its future prospe- rity must be mainly due, is the tram-road which runs down the centre of the main street, and along which trucks, loaded with huge blocks of copper, are perpetually rumbling. The weight of each was gene- rally marked upon it, and I observed that some of the masses exceeded 6000 lb. I was somewhat startled, upon the morning of our departure, to find, on coming to the door of the hotel, that our luggage had taken the place of the usual more valuable freight, and that, seated in picturesque attitudes upon piles of boxes and carpet-bags, about two hundred persons were waiting to be trundled away to the steamer, more than a mile distant. They were so thickly hived upon the long line of trucks, that I could scarcely find a spare corner in which to NEAR " BUSTING UP. 103 take up a position. At last, however, a thin man, ■with high cheek-bones and a red beard, invited me to share the top of a barrel with him, which I accord- ingly did ; and having ht a cigar, I was in the act of acknowledging his civility by offering my new friend one, when some little black suspicious-looking grains, joltiQg up through a crack in the lid, revealed to me the horrifying fact that we were seated upon a barrel of gunpowder. Springing hastily off, I seized my companion's hand just in time to prevent his lighting a fresh fusee, and pointed to his danger. He only remarked, as he swung himself leisurely from his perch, " that he had come darned near busting up the crowd," and recommended me to " slope along with him ; " a suggestion I was by no means backward in complying with. There was a most miscellaneous cluster of per- sons sticking upon their no less miscellaneous effects. Fragile, delicate-looking ladies, with pink and white complexions, black ringlets, bright dresses, and thin satin shoes, reclined gracefully upon carpet- bags, and presided over pyramids of band-boxes. Square-built German fraus sat astride huge rolls of bedding, displaying stout legs, blue worsted stockings, and hob-nailed shoes. SaUow Yankees, with straw-hats, swaUow-tailed coats, and pumps, carried their httle aU in their pockets ; and having nothing to lose and everything to gain in the western world to which they were bound, whittled, smoked, or chewed cheerfully. Hard-featured, bronzed miners. 104 THE SAULT CANAL. having spent their earnings in the bowling saloons at the Sault, were returning to the bowels of the earth gloomily. There were tourists in various costumes, doing the agreeable to the ladies ; and hardy pioneers of the woods, in flannel shirts, and trousers supported by leathern belts, and well supplied with bowies, were telling tough yarns, and astonishing the weak minds of the emigrants, who represented half the countries of Europe. "We left the town, waving salu- tations to our numerous friends who came to the verandahs to see the living freight pass by— for a departure to the other end of the lake was rather an event — and, receiving their hearty farewells in return, were soon following the bank of the canal, which was then in process of construction, and is ere this com- pleted. As it connects the two largest lakes in the world, the dimensions of this work are fully equal to its importance, and it therefore deserves some notice; whUe, at the same time, it may not be uninteresting to glance at the trade which now passes along it. Two years had scarcely elapsed since Congress passed the act for the construction of a ship canal round the falls of the Ste. Marie. The entire length of the river, which connects Lake Superior with Lakes Huron and Michigan, is about twenty-five miles; but the portion which is not navigable extends over a distance of barely a mile. The rapid development of the mineral resources on the south shore of Lake Superior rendered this a work of paramount import- ance, and it has accordingly been undertaken and PROBABLE TRAFFIC ALONG IT. 105 accomplish.ed with a skill and energy worthy the most enterprising nation in the world. As all the lands in the United States belong originally to the Federal Government, whenever any great work is to be constructed of a similar character, an Act of Con- gress is necessary to allow the particular State inte- rested the right of locating the canal or railway through the public lands ; while, at the same time, a certain quantity of land is usually placed at the dis- posal of the State, as a means of raising the neces- sary funds. Agreeably to this arrangement, the State of Michigan was granted 750,000 acres of public land, to be selected in subdivisions by agents appointed by the governor. The canal is nearly a mile in length. It is 100 feet wide, 12 feet deep, and contains two locks, each 300 feet long. It wiU thus be capable of receiving the largest lake craft afloat. The soil is partly gravelly, and partly solid clay ; but the sides of the canal are faced with stone, brought at great expense from the neighbourhood of Detroit. I did not ascer- tain the precise amount expended at the period of my visit, but it was calculated that the entire cost would exceed a million of dollars. It is difficult to estimate the extent of the traffic which must pass through this canal, partly because no regular reports of the trade of Lake Superior have ever yet been made. But even if they had, the impetus which it would receive upon the completion of this canal would render it scarcely appreciable. 106 THE " SAM WARD." It is quite clear, from the natm-e of the products of this country, that they must seek a distant market ; and that for some time, at auy rate, the miners must obtain the great bulk of their supplies from the Eastern States. But the time must come when the agricultural resources of Minnesota, and a great part of Wisconsin, will be developed, and find their outlet in this direction. In 1851 the vdue of the imports which crossed the Sault was estimated at a million of doUai-s. They consisted principally of grain, dry goods, provisions, groceries, &c. The exports were valued at about 700,000 dollars, and consisted almost entirely of copper and iron. The population upon the southern shore of Lake Superior has, however, nearly trebled since then ; and so, no doubt, has the traffic. The great majority of the passengers on board the " Sam Ward " were going to take up their permanent abodes in these distant regions. This respectable craft had been built upon the lake, aU the materials for her construction having been carried round the Sault rapids. She was large and roomy, but con- sidered by a gentleman accustomed to the magui- fioent boats on the more oi^-ilised lakes, to be " tar- nation old, and shaky some." However, we had very comfortable accommodation, and prosperous weather ; and I cherish the most livelv and aoree- able recollections of my voyage in the " Sam." Towards evening the low wooded shores of the river Ste. Marie sank beneath the horizon, and we LAKE SUPEEIOR. 107 found ourselves at last upon the broad bosom of Lake Superior. It was a calm moonlight night. The only airs that fanned my cheek, the only ripples that danced in the moonbeam, were caused by our rapid motion, as we ploughed our way through the clear still water. Land was nowhere visible ; and as I leant over the sharp bows, and watched the silver spray as it sprang from beneath them, it was difi&cult to realise the fact that this monster boat, with her living freight of near three hundred souls, was already fifteen hundred miles from the ocean, and was bound upon a voyage of four hundred more. CHAPTER X. THE PICTURED EOCKS. — PATHEE MAEQXJETTE. Op the wonderful series of lakes wHcli extends half- way across the North American Continent, Lake Superior is by far the most interesting, not only to the scientific man on account of the singular geologi- cal formation of its shores, but to the traveller in search of magnificent scenery, and who, if he is unable to perceive in its rock-bound coasts the traces of great natural convulsions at a former period of the world's history, can at least appreciate the scenic grandeur of which they have been the origin. Lake Superior differs entirely from all the other American lakes. Instead of the low or gently rounded shores, clothed with the heavy timber of a more temperate climate, the scenery here is completely alpine. The coast is bold and lofty, formed of primi- tive rocks, and covered with pine. With an area of 32,000 square miles. Lake Superior is more than 600 feet above the sea-level, while its bottom at some places is about 300 feet below the surface of the THE PICTUEKD EOCKS. 109 ocean. One consequence of its great extent and depth has been, that the action of its sweeping waves, upon a coast peculiarly susceptible to their influence, has been exhibited in a most striking manner, varying in effect with the nature of the formation in different localities. The most celebrated instance of this occurs at the Pictured Eocks, a spot we reached a little after daybreak on the morning following our departure from the Sault. We had heard so much of the interesting character of the coast, that we much regretted that our time did not admit of our exploring it at our leisure. Unfortunately we passed too rapidly, and at too great a distance, to be able to appreciate the wonders of this great natural curiosity. A range of sandstone bluffs, perfectly precipitous, rise abruptly from the water to a height of upwards of two hundred feet. These extend for a distance of more than five miles, and present the most remarkable aspect. The lake surf, which has been dashing for centuries upon their base, has in some places exca- vated deep caverns, where it now thunders and reverberates as if triumphing in its mighty agency; in others, fantastically shaped grottoes project above the lake, supported by lofty sandstone columns, and surmounted with grotesque turrets. But the pheno- menon to which the Pictured Eocks owe their name, is the singular distribution of colours over the face of the cliff, more particularly at the part called the Amphitheatre. Though we could distinguish some- 110 THE CHAPEL. thing of the painted appearance of the rock, we were too far off to perceive the full effect of the variety of tint, which, to judge from the accounts we received of it, must be singularly beautiful. They are thus described by Messrs Foster and Whitney, in their late report to the United States government : — " The prevailing tints consist of deep brown yellow and grey burnt sienna, and French grey predominat- ing. There are also bright blues and greens, though less frequent. All of the tints are fresh, brilliant, and distinct, and harmonise admirably with one another, which, taken in connection with the grandeur of the arched and caverned surfaces on which they are laid, and the deep and pure green of the water which heaves and swells at the base, and the rich foliage which waves above, produce an effect truly wonderful." In coming from the Sault, the first excavation is called the chapel ; which, unlike the others in these cliffs, has been made in the rock at the height of about thirty or forty feet above the water. An arched roof of sandstone, from ten to twenty feet in thickness, rests upon four gigantic columns of rock, so as to leave a vaulted apartment of irregular shape, about forty feet in diameter, and about the same ia height. The columns consist of finely stratified rock, and have been worn into curious shapes. At the base of one of them an arched cavity or niche has been cut, to which access is had by a flight of steps formed by the projecting strata. The disposition of LE GEAND PORTAIL. Ill the wtole is such as to resemble very much the pulpit of a church, since there is overhead an arched canopy, and in front an opening out towards the vaulted interior of the chapel, with a flat tabular mass in front, rising to a convenient height for a desk, while on the right is an isolated block, which not inaptly represents an altar ; so that, if the whole had been adapted expressly for a place of worship, and fash- ioned by the hand of man, it could hardly have been arranged more appropriately. The next object of interest is Le Grand Portail, which leads into a cavern of vast dimensions, formed in a huge projection from the cliff, and into which canoes pass and thread its vaulted passages. Here the varied effects of the light, as it streams through the great arch, and falls upon the different objects, and the deep emerald green of the water, the unvarying swell of the lake, keeping up a succession of musical echoes, the reverberations of one's own voice, coming back to one with startling effect, combine at once to impress and charm the visitor. The Grand Portal, or principal archway into the caverns, is about a hundred feet in height, and a hundred and sixty-eight feet broad at the water-level. The cliff itself is about two hundred feet high, from which this huge quadrila- teral mass thus singularly projects about six hundred feet. The Miner's Castle is another advanced mass of sandstone, somewhat similar in character to that just described : it has not only been excavated by the 114. THE IROX REGION. torn ■ and quaaitities of fish go about in shoals ex- ploring nooks and crannies, or unexpectedly dodg- ing in and out of hidden cavities. The whole forms an enchanting picture, the background to which is composed of a range of wooded hills about a thousand feet in height. Down the steep sides of this range mountain -torrents dash in numerous cascades. Among the most striking of these is the one formed by the Presqu'ile river, which leaps, from a rock about fifty feet in height, into a vast " pot hole."' a hundred feet wide, and perhaps twice that depth ; it is described as terrible to look into. It is not, however, owing to the romantic character of the scenery amid which it is situated that Mar- quette has become a place of considerable importance : at a distance of about twelve miles into the interior runs the range of mountains from which great quan- tities of iron ore have recently been extracted. It is found in trap associated with azoic, and is shipped here in its raw state, and conveyed to Cleveland, on the southern shore of Lake Erie, to be smelted. It has been found necessary to adopt this course as invohdng less expense than that which is incurred by smelting it on the spot with wood ; and unless coal be found in the neighbourhood, the less sanguine doubt whether, in spite of the quantity in which it exists, and its superior quality, it will ever be able to compete ■«'itli that of Lake Champlain or New Jersey. I cannot but think that the completion of the ship canal at the Saidt will set this question at rest when EXPLORATIONS OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 115 the iron resources of this district become more fully developed. Already the results of geological examin- ations show that it is unprecedentedly rich in the specular and magnetic oxides of iron, and that, so far as relates to the masses and purity of the ores, it stands unrivalled. Marquette derives its name from the most cele- brated of that devoted band of Jesuit missionaries who first sought, about the middle of the seventeenth century, to introduce Christianity amongst the red men of the Far West. A disciple of St Fran9ois Xavier, he is second only to him in the zeal and enterprise which characterised his labours. In the course ^of these noble endeavours to enlighten bar- barous nations, he was enabled to achieve geographi- cal discoveries fraught with results of the highest importance to civilisation. The first to reach the Mississippi from the north-east, he continued his explorations until he was satisfied that it was identical with the river abeady visited by the first Spanish adventurers from the Gulf of Mexico. His early labours were amongst the remnant of the Hurons, who, persecuted by the Iroquois, and other neigh- bouring Indian tribes, left the shores of Georgian Bay, which they had originally occupied, and found a refuge at La Pointe, a settlement on the southern coast of Lake Superior, near its western extremity. At this, the most distant point of missionary explora- tion, he succeeded Father AUoiiez, who had planted the cross there three years before ; and meeting here, 116 HIS DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. for the first time, the Sioux and Illinois, he prepared himself, by studying their language and customs, for that journey through their territory which he after- wards accomplished with so much success. Renewed persecution soon after drove the Hurons to Mackinaw, upon the northern shore of Lake Michigan ; and, following his little flock to this spot. Father Mar- quette chose it as the starting-point for his expedition. Accompanied by only one other Frenchman, the Sieur Jolhet, he left Mackinaw, with two canoes, in the spring of 1673, and ascended the Fox Eiver for 175 miles, until they reached the portage to the Wisconsin. Thence they sailed down the latter river for an equal distance, until, to their inexpressible joy, they found themselves carried down the rapid current of the mighty stream, the existence of which had so long been doubtful. Father Marquette's journal of his voyage is full of interest. An enthusiastic adorer of the Virgin Immaculate, he at once named his dis- covery, after the object of his devotion, the " Concep- tion," and subsequently founded a mission on its banks. It is in the very first page of his journal that he announces his intention of doing so, in the following terms : " Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Immacu- late, promising her that, if she did us the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the name of Conception ; and that I would also give that name to the first mission which I should establish among HIS DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES. 117 these new nations, as I have actually done among the Illinois." Elsewhere is recorded the form of the daily devotions of the little band. After the creed, they said one "Hail, Father!" and "Hail, Mary!"— then four times these words, " Hail, daughter of God the Father! Hail, mother of God the Son! Hail, spouse of the Holy Ghost ! Hail, temple of the Holy Trinity ! By thy holy virginity and immaculate conception, most pure Virgin, cleanse my flesh and my heart, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ;" and, last of all, " Glory be to the Father !"- — the whole being thrice repeated. At this particular epoch, it is not without its signifi- cance that this form of prayer should have been in the mouth of a missionary exploring an unknown American river nearly two hundred years ago. It is singular moreover, that, upon descending the " Con- ception " for upwards of a thousand miles, Marquette should have reached that portion of it which had been first visited by De Soto, and named the " Espiritu Santo." After remaining some time at the mouth of the Arkansas, these voyageurs (in the true sense of the word) retraced their steps, and Marquette found a grave at the mouth of an obscure river on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. The event is thus recorded by his pious chronicler : " So tender a devotion to the Mother of God deserved some singular grace ; and she accordingly granted him the favour he had always asked — to die on a Saturday ; and his two 118 HIS DEATH. companions had no doubt that she appeared to him at the hour of his death, when, after pronouncing the name of Jesus and Mary, he suddenly raised his eyes above the crucifix, fixing them on an object which he regarded with such pleasure, and a joy that lit up his countenance ; and they from that moment believed that he had surrendered his soul into the hands of his good Mother." CHAPTER XL THE MINEEAl EEGION OP LAKE SUPEEIOE. In coasting along tlie southern shore of Lake Superior, one cannot but be struck with the singular shape of that State of which it is the northern boundary. Michigan is composed of two peninsulas : one runs in a due north and south direction, between Lakes Huron and Michigan ; the other due east and west, between Lakes Michigan and Superior, of which the Porcupiae Mountaius form the dividing ridge. The highest peaks of this range, which abound in mineral deposits, have been estimated at from 1800 to 2000 feet in height. The scenery is wild, but not attractive. Dense pine-forests clothe the hills, while occasional plains of sand give a desolate aspect to the country. There is, nevertheless, good water-power, and the numerous large streams which flow upon either side of the dividing range will facilitate the transport of lumber, and enhance the value of this portion of the State. The extent of its lake coast has been estimated at from seven to eight hundred miles, so that five-sevenths of the entire peninsula 120 NORTHERN PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. may be reached by water. There is good grazing in parts, and potatoes and garden vegetables flourish ; but for corn, both country and cHmate are uncon- genial. Nevertheless, the timber and mineral re- sources of the northern part of the State are very great, and have attracted to its shores a rapidly increasing population, which already amounts to about twelve thousand inhabitants. The northern peninsula was given to the State in compensation for Toledo, a district upon its southern frontier, which now forms part of Ohio. Michigan, with the remainder of the original north-west territory, was held by France until 1763, and then by England until ceded to the United States in 1783. It was not, however, taken pos- session of for some years after, and only constituted a territory in 1805. In 1837 it was admitted as a State into the Union. After much vehement controversy, the capital has quite recently been fixed at Lansing, an uninhabited spot in the centre of the country, approached only by a miserable corduroy road. The rival claims of the principal towns already existing in the State were so diffi- cult to satisfy, that the most inefigible site in the province was chosen, it being deemed more desirable that the entire State should suffer from its inconve- nient position, rather than that its general prosperity should be advanced at the expense of certain parti- cular interests. The sun was setting as, passing between the ex- KEEWENAW POINT. 121 treme point of the Keewenaw Peninsula and Manito Island, we turned sharply into Copper Harbour, with its pretty village, containing five or six hundred in- habitants, situated at the head of a deep landlocked bay, where the neat white houses contrasted strongly with the sombre pine-woods that overshadowed them ; and Mount Houghton, an isolated and dome-shaped mountain, towered above, rising abruptly, from the lake upon the opposite side of the peninsula, to a height of 900 feet. Keewenaw Point is the most remarkable and prominent feature of the southern shore of Lake Superior, and, at the same time, one of the most valuable tracts of country in the world. It has been conjectured that originally a colossal dyke of trap extended right across the lake, of which Isle Royal, Beaver Island, Ship Island, and the elevated range of Keewenaw Point, are the only existing monuments. Here, too, as in other parts of this singular coast, the waves have acted on crevices or breaks in the stratification, where deep coves, inlets, and caverns have been formed. The copper deposit extends throughout the entire length of the Point, and for a distance of 135 miles, with a width varying from one to six miles. The productive veins of copper are confined exclusively to the range of trap rock which intersects the peninsula. Upon the northern or upper side there is a narrow belt of con- glomerate, which lines the whole coast for nearly 150 mUes. There are numerous conglomerate hills sur- rounding Copper Harbour. This belt is also traversed 122 COPPER HARBOUK. by veins of copper, several of which have been mined, but in no instance successfully. The southern or lower slope of Keewenaw Point is composed entirely of sandstone, which is here a purely sedimentary rock. We did not visit the British island of Isle Royal, where almost precisely the same formation occurs, and in the trappean rocks of which, an English com- pany has commenced mining operations, though, so far as I could ascertain, without the success which has attended the efforts of American speculators upon the southern coast. We only remained at Copper Harbour long enough to enable some miners to land, and then followed the wooded coast, everywhere indented with excellent havens, to Eagle Harbour, in the neighbourhood of which some valuable mines are situated. All the landlocked harbours upon this coast have been formed by the water breaking through the thick belt of conglomerate, and excavating spacious and singu- larly shaped retreats, convenient, not only from the security to vessels which they afford, but from their immediate contiguity to the trap range. This maintains an elevation generally of from 600 to 800 feet. In the neighbourhood of Eagle Harbour, black oxide of copper appears to have been diffused in the conglomerate, so that the rock requires to be crushed in order to recover these grains. Upon being reduced, it has been found to yield as much as 83 per cent, — proving that the value and quantity THE CLIFF MINES. 123 of the ore probably exceeds all others of this class of metal known in Europe or America. But by far the most interesting and productive mines are situated at Eagle Eiver, the place at which we next stopped, and from which the Cliff Mines, which are the most celebrated, are only three miles distant. They are 600 feet deep, and at the period of our visit, a block of solid copper, 160 tons weight, was being cut through in the mine with the cold chisel, at an expense of nine dollars a foot. The enormous size of the mass renders a far heavier expenditure necessary than when the copper is found in smaller quantities. It is conveyed to market at a cost of about two and a half cents a pound, and its value there is thirty-five cents. This mine derives its name from the wall of rock at the base of which it is situated, at an eleva- tion of about 400 feet above the lake. The rock is described by the geological surveyors as amygdaloidal trap, capped with hard crystalline greenstone — the vein traversing both diagonally. It expands and becomes highly metalliferous in the amygdaloid, but barren and pinched in the greenstone. It is scarcely necessary here, perhaps, to enter into particulars with regard to the phenomena of the lode. in this mine, or the others in the neighbourhood; those interested in the subject will find it well treated in various documents printed by order of the United States Government. The North American Mine is situated a little 124i TRACES OF FORMER EXCAVATIONS. further on in the same range, and is very produc- tive. Indeed, throughout the mineral region of Lake Superior the position of the mines is generally exceedingly favourable for exploration, as the cMs upon which they are situated afford great facihties for raising the ore and draining the water. The Cliff Mine was discovered by some German miners in the winter of 1845-6, and its richness may be regarded as affording the first great stimulus to mining exer- tions upon Lake Superior. It is interesting, in look- ing back scarcely ten years to the first attempts of mining by the white man upon the shores of Lake Superior, to find that traces of similar operations exist, to carry our retrospection over many centuries to the time when an unknown race searched the bowels of the earth for the same treasure. In the copper-bearing trap-rock of Keewenaw Point, such pits, trenches, and traces of extensive excavations have been found, as leave no doubt that a former generation had explored for this ore ; while further discoveries have recently been made, showing the skill and industry of a race, of whom, or of the opera- tions in which they had been engaged, the Indians have no tradition. In one of the trenches, at a depth of 18 feet, a huge block, weighing upwards of 11,500 lb., or more than six tons, was discovered, supported on a cobwork of timber, but which the miners had evidently not been able to raise out of the pit. The antiquity is proved by the gigantic trees growing in the trenches, some of them five FATHER EENig MESNARD. 12.5 hundred years old. The ground in the neighbour- hood is strewn with stone-hammers, mauls, and other mining implements. The block has since been cut up and conveyed eastward. The ancients evidently made great use of fire and water in their operations, which are characterised by great ingenuity. Shortly after leaving Eagle River, we passed the spot at which Indians are accustomed to make a portage when coasting in their canoes along the southern margin of the lake, and thus save the enor- mous detour of Keewenaw Point. This peninsula is almost cut ofi" from the mainland by a deep inlet at its base, called Portage Lake ; at the head of which is a small stream, from which a portage of only half a mile is necessary to cross to the opposite shore. It is celebrated as the spot where the discoverer of Lake Superior, the Jesuit father Rend Mesnard, lost his life in 1660. With a solitary Indian in a bark canoe, this iatrepid missionary set out upon a voyage along the south shore of that great lake, the Machigummie of the Indians, which had never yet been seen by Europeans; and having reached Keewenaw Bay, de- termined to press onwards to the head of the lake, when, in crossing the Keewenaw Portage, he wan- dered into the woods whilst the Indian was carry- ing across the canoe, and no trace of him was ever afterwards obtained. The coast, after leaving the portage, is picturesque and precipitous. A broad belt of sandstone, terminat- ing in abrupt bluffs, intervenes for a distance vary- 126 THE MINNESOTA MINE. ing from ten to fifteen miles between the lake and the copper-bearing trap. Occasional mines occur throughout; and Ontonagon, our next stopping-place, is rapidly rising into importance as the port for the prolific mines in the neighbourhood. Of these the most productive is the Minnesota Mine, situated about fifteen miles from the town. It is the most formidable rival to the Cliff Mine ; and the pure ore is found in masses scarcely inferior in size to those which have rendered the other so celebrated. A dif- ferent system of veins prevails from that of Keewe- naw Point : instead of cutting the formation at right- angles, they here run with it. The lode is from eight inches to eight feet wide. I observed, upon the pier at Ontonagon, a quantity of barrels containing masses of copper too small to be shipped separately. After having been dressed by the hammer, so as to free them from the adhering rock or vein-stone, they are packed in casks and sent east- ward to be smelted. This is called barrel-work; at the Cliff Mine its value is estimated at 50 per cent of pure copper. The method of detaching masses of pure copper from the vein with the cold chisel was described to me, and appeared cumbersome and inconvenient. It has, at least, the merit of being simple. One man holds the chisel, and another hammers away at it until the block is cut through. The tedious part of the process is the necessity of taking out chips or wedges of copper in order to keep the opening large enough. Where there is PROCESS OF "STAMPING. 127 a sufficient quantity of metallic copper in the vein- stone to stamp it, that process is resorted to; the rock being first roasted so as to render it friable, and then subjected to the batteries of the stamping-mill, after which the metal is washed from the pulverised rock, and packed in strong casks for smelting. But the subject of mining on Lake Superior is as exhaustless as are its mineral resources, and it was impossible, in so hurried a visit, to gain more than a general idea of the value of the mines and the method employed in working them. Perhaps the indepen- dent way in which Yankees speculate, operates rather against mining undertakings where large capital is required ; and it is only natural that, in a country where so much may be done by private ventures, joint -stock companies should be somewhat at a discount. CHAPTEK XII. ONTONAGON. — THE " SAM WABD." If in the last chapter I have expatiated somewhat too fully upon the mineral region of Lake Superior and its development, I must trust to the good sense of my readers to skip it if they find it dull, and can only plead as my excuse the prominence of the sub- ject on board the "Sam Ward," and the mineral atmo- sphere in which for a few days I was living. Indeed, among our numerous " prospecting " passengers, little else was talked of but shares, copper, dollars, and cents. One little colonel in particular was always full of minute statistical information, which he used to deliver himself of with great volubility at all times, and was positively eloquent if he found any- thing to whittle. I never saw the art of whitthng carried to a higher pitch of perfection than by him at Ontonagon, the next port at which we touched. We were to embark lumber here for Fond du Lac, and I was sitting talking to my whittling friend, when we made fast to the pier opposite a stack of timber. He proposed going ashore, with a view of A SPECULATIVE COLONEL. 12.9 " liquoring up " at the bar of the Ho-tei ; but no sooner had we crossed the landing-plank than he drew from his pocket an enormous clasp-knife, with the aspect of which I was already familiar, and mak- ing straight for the lumber, sat himself astride upon a projecting beam, and, with the greatest gravity and earnestness, sliced off a large splinter, from which he immediately commenced paring long thin shavings. He at once became so absorbed in his occupation as to relinquish his intention of " taking a drink ; " and I was afraid that he had got such an interest- ing whittle that it would stop further conversation. However, by way of experiment, I remarked, " This Minnesota Mining Company is a losing concern, I fancy r' " No, siree ! and any gentleman that told you so lied and he knew it why I'm in it and I guess I'm used to sleep with one eye skinned it ain't above fifteen mile from here you'd better stop over this boat and satisfy yourself we've a capital of a million and a half of doUars original shares twenty-two dol- lars they're at one hundred and eighty now there was eight hundred tons of copper exported last year there will be twelve hundred exported next we bought three square miles of land down here from Govern- ment at two dollars and a half the acre and sell it in lots two hundred feet by twenty-five at two hundred dollars a-lot now and cheap at that and if you've a mind to buy a couple of lots and prospect a bit say half-a-dozen shares there's nobody knows better than J 30 THE ART OF WHITTLING. myself how to help a stranger," &c. &c.; and so on, without drawing breath or making a stop until he had reduced the splinter to the size of a toothpick, when his statistics, his breath, and his wood having all come to an end together, he turned sharp round and made another lounge at a plank. There are a great many diflferent ways of whittling ; some, like my friend the colonel, cut slashingly away from them, others cut carefully up towards them ; a few cut shces across, cucumber fashion. I know a man who devotes himself principally to notches ; but this is very rare, if not altogether exceptional. The timber, by the way, which the colonel was so recklessly de- stroying with his clasp-knife, was destined for Fond du Lac, and belonged to him. His " skinned eye " had enabled him to perceive the advisibHity of sending a supply of planks to a town in the earliest stage of its formation, and where no mills had yet been erected. Meantime, having congratulated him upon the prospect of a good spec, my friend and I strolled into the town, whither the greater part of the pas- sengers had already repaired, and were now to be found congregated round the bar of the hotel,— a most capacious structure, not quite completed, but it looked worthy of a great nation, as it towered above the log shanties which surrounded it. It was cer- tainly more comfortable, and upon a grander scale, than the Adelphi at Liverpool. Ontonagon contains about a thousand inhabitants; it is a rapidly increas- ing place, situated upon a river navigable for a short ONTONAGON. 131 distance into the interior. There is a bar at the mouth, with not more than five or six feet water upon it. The river, however, is one of the largest flowing into Lake Superior, and drains an area of not less than thirteen hundred miles. A good plank-road leads to the mines. We con- tented ourselves with exploring the place. It was a perfect specimen of a backwood town in an embryo state. Stumps still stood in the principal streets, and the old forest stiU seemed to dispute the soil with the settlers. There had been no time to cut down trees or underwood which did not positively impede commu- nication. Occasionally a living tree formed the up- right at the corner of a house, whUe its companions had been feUed and piled upon one another for the walls. Sometimes a house was built upon half-a- dozen stumps five or six feet above the ground. The object of the builder seemed not to be permanency, but shelter at any price ; and to obtain it, he availed himself of every natural assistance. Then, almost before he had a roof over his head, he entered upon a miscellaneous business. There are Yankee notions of every description in the front window, and a bowling alley at the back. He carries on his profession as a lawyer in his bed-room, sells cutlery and dry goods across his counter, and occupies his leisure moments with medicine. There is a bar connected with the alley, where he dispenses slings, juleps, and cobblers, behind which there are stores of all sorts, — pork, flour, tobacco, &c. Upon the other side of the street 132 FAR WEST FIXINGS. he is erecting a solid mansion with the proceeds of his present lucrative business, and, having landed only- two months ago from the " Sam Ward " without a « darned cent " in his pocket, is already deeply in- volved in mining transactions, and expects to make and lose five fortunes in the course of as many years, when his present location will have become too crowded, and he'll " clar out," to go through a similar experience elsewhere. Such is the mode of life of many of these pion- eers of civilisation, the secret of whose success consists in buying property upon the outskirts of the inhabited world, when it is to be had for a mere trifle, preparing themselves betimes for the inevitable influx of emigrants, to whom they sell the necessaries of life at enormous profits, and whose wants are supphed at almost fabulous prices, until they become so numerous that the multiphcity of speculators reduces the cost of living to its proper amount, and drives the original settlers farther west. Thus they learn to live on the exigencies of others. When Government is glad to sell land cheap, they buy it ; when new-comers are glad to buy it dear, they sell it. They are a race remorseless in their bargains, generous in their hospitahty, always "doing," never "to be done,"— who consider that their fore- sight in choosing locations, and the hardships they undergo in appropriating them, entitle them to im- pose upon a less enterprising class their own terms, to which the latter are compelled to submit ; and if. UE VIN. 133 in the course of such traffic, their nioral perceptions, perhaps never very keen, become somewhat blunted, civilisation at least owes these hardy explorers no ia- considerable debt of gratitude for the important services they render in preparing the way for its benign influence. We received a large addition to our forces at Ontonagon ; and, considering how long we have been on board, and the number of passengers there were, I am hardly to be excused for not having before this given the reader some account of our mode of hfe on board the " Sam." I am afraid it was a dissipated, careless sort of existence — one to which the words of the old French song might very fairly be applied, "Le vin, le jeu, les beUes, voil^ nos seuls plaisirs." As for the first, it was in the captain's cabin. He was the most hospitable and jovial of inland naviga- tors ; and as a mark of particular favour, we occupied the state room (as it is called) adjoining his. They both opened on a sort of balcony, and here at aU hours was collected a noisy group, taking what they called " nips," smoking mahogany-tinted meerschaums or fragrant havannahs, with a standard rule that each member of the party should furnish a story, a song, or a bottle of wine. The merit of these stories con- sisted not so much in their point as in the racy manner in which they were told, and the pecuhar idioms with which they abounded. Fashionable men from the east described trotting matches between 2.40* mares, * Mares capable of perfonning a imle in two luinutes and forty seconds. 134 LE JBU. " how they went at it nip and chuck, you never seen a tighter race, and how they came out a dead heat, espe- cially theBay," and how her ownerwon his bet by means of what we should call sharp practice. The captain excited the company with narratives of races between high-pressure steamboats and ultimate " bustings-up." Far-west men told of artful speculations, or wild ad- venture ; while miscellaneous contributors recounted " 'cute " proceedings of various sorts, as escapes from creditors, clever impositions, practical jokes, &c. — each receiving a meed of praise proportionate to the utter absence of principle which his story displayed. The songs were generally of a sentimental character, containing insipid allusions to Columbia ; and I was surprised at the want of humour which all these poetical effusions manifested. As for lejeu, it was pretty well sustained all through the day. There was the game of Seven-up, accom- panied by its incomprehensible exclamation of " hoss and hoss," and involving the mysteries of the " Sun- flower-shuffle" and the " big greasy cut ;" there was the Far West game of Old Sledge, and the fashionable down-east game of Euchre, and the universally popular game of Poker, and sundry others, with unrecollectable names, which were the means of causing consider- able sums to change hands. Last, but not least, les belles were very well represented ; but it required some little time to become acquainted with them, as they occupied the upper table at every meal, upon the sanctity of which we unprivileged bachelors were LBS BELLES. 135 not allowed to intrade. There is probably no country where matrimony is invested with, higher privileges than in America, and I would recommend any one contemplating a long tour in. the States, by no means to undertake it unprovided with a better-half ; or, in default of that, at least accompanied by his mother. But the most propitious time for ingratiating oneself with our fair passengers was at the evening dance, the band being composed of niggers, who officiated during the day as barbers. There was one lovely girl, with a noble, thoughtful brow, black hair and eyes, perfect features, and a most irresistible smile, with that clear, transparent complexion, which is never to be met with out of America, to whom I had from the first ardently desired an opportunity of being introduced ; and I shall never forget the thrill of pleasure which I felt when, upon the two guitars and a fiddle ranging themselves along the bottom of the saloon, and striking up a lively tune, this fair creature, near whom I happened to be standing, artlessly remarked, " that she had a mind to take the knots out of her legs;" — a piece of information on her part which I interpreted to mean that I was at liberty to offer my services to assist her in this proceeding, and I accordingly solicited the honour of being her partner, and " annexed to her right away." Alas! I little knew what I had undertaken, or how completely I had over-estimated my own saltatory powers. Our vis-d-vis were a very tall, thin, flat lady, with a figure like a plank, and a short 136 A " superior" cotillon. wizened old man, wlio readied to her elbow, with grey bushy eyebrows, which almost concealed his small piercing eyes, and a huge grizzly beard, so thick and matted, that when he compressed his lips, in the energy of the dance, it was impossible to tell within a quarter of an inch where his mouth was. During the moments of rest, however, he twitched it with a short jerking motion, as if he was knitting with his jaws. He was buttoned up to the chin in a straight military-looking coat, but he had short baggy trousers, dirty stockings, and his large splay feet were thrust into a pair of very old pumps. The band played nigger melodies, and accompanied themselves vocally. The dance was a sort of cotillon ; but we were entirely dependent for our figures upon the caprice of the band-leader, who periodically shouted his orders. My partner and the httle old man opposite commenced operations. With clenched teeth and contracted brow did he give him- self up to the pleasures of the dance. Now he plunged violently forward, then retreated with a double shuffle, then seized my partner by the waist, and whirling her rapidly iato the middle, danced round her demoniacally, performing the "pigeon wing on de floor and de same in de ar,"' he pirouetted first on one leg, then on the other, then jumped into the air with both, finished up with "Pete Johnson's knock," and the "under elects," and retired breathless to scowl at me and work his jaws defiantly. As my turn had come I now made a dash at his partner, and attempted a series of similar gymnastic exercises, in a solemn OUE VIS-A-VIS. 137 and violent way, conscious all the "while of the glance of profound contempt with which my fair companion eyed my performances, as I energetically hopped round her tall vis-d-vis, whom I might have imagined a Maypole. But not untU the dance be- came more complicated, and the orders followed each other with rapidity, and distracted my attention, did I feel the full effect of my rashness. The band sang, " Heigh Nelly, Ho NeUy, listen lub to me;" and then the leader shouted, " Gents to the right ! " and away we all shot in the required direction. Then came, " I sing for you — I play for you a dulcem melody." " Balance in line ! " There was a puzzle. I got into everybody's line but my own ; and my partner, with her sweet smile, said that " I had come near rUing her, but that she was amost too tired to locomote much longer ; " so that we were both much relieved when the last order came of " promena^/de all to your seats ; " and in a state of extreme exhaustion we threw ourselves on a couch, satisfied that the great end had been gained, and that no knot could have been obstinate enough to resist such violent treat- ment. We considered ourselves fortunate in finding among our fellow-passengers Messrs Petre and Clifford, who had just arrived from England, and who were bound upon a western tour : it was difficult to resist this temptation to extend our own, so we determined to unite our resources, and make our way together to the head waters of the Mississippi. 138 LA POINTE. The village of La Pointe was the first place we touched at in the State of Wisconsin. It is prettily situated upon one of the Apostles' Islands, a wooded group, which are an attractive feature in the scenery. It is one of the oldest trading stations on Lake Superior, and Claude Allouez was the first white man who landed here, on the 1st of October 1666. He describes it as a beautiful bay, upon whose margin dwelt numerous savages, their warriors amounting to eight hundred ; and here at Chaquamegon, for that was the name given to it by the Chippeways, the Jesuit Father paused in his wanderings, and com- menced winning the savages to the standard of the cross. Invested with associations such as these, the scene which met our eyes as we landed at La Pointe possessed a double interest ; we were surrounded by a crowd of Indians in all the pomp of savage finery — a very difierent race from our companions upon the Severn. They were Chippeways, who had assembled here to receive the payments which are annually made to them by the United States Govern- ment, and were about to set oflf upon a warlike expedition against the Sioux. It was therefore a most favourable opportunity for seeing them, and it was evident, from the interest we excited, that some of their number were not in the habit of coming in contact with whites. They were a motley picturesque throng : the blue blankets and red leggings of the squaws contrasted well, while their small delicate feet were encased in embroidered moccasins. The A WAR PARTY OP CHTPPEWAYS. 139 men had red paint on their faces and feathers in their hair, while their tomahawks and scalping-knives transported us in imagination to more stirring scenes, and half tempted us to give up our plan of proceeding, and foUow these warriors on their war-path. There were some splendid men among them — ^tall, well- made fellows, with a quiet cat-like walk, and imper- turbable countenances. We asked some of them to show us their weapons, which they did with great nonchalance, pvifiSng kinnick-kinnick in our faces out of thick pipes made of red clay, or sometimes formed ia the head of a tomahawk, of which the handle served as a pipe-stem. They could not speak English, but showed some interest in us ; and some of the chiefs came on board to look at the dancing, and manifested their contempt for it in grunts, or what Cooper would have called " expressive Ughs," which, considering the nature of the performance, was perhaps not altogether to be wondered at. They certainly formed a singular addition to a scene which in itself was extremely novel. It was blowing half a gale of wind, when I was aroused early on the following moriung by an unusual scuffling on deck, and found that we had arrived at Fond du Lac, and were crossing the bar of the river St Louis, which enters Lake Superior at its most western extremity. The scene was wild and excit- ing ; the violence and direction of the wind, and the intricacy of the navigation, rendered the work one of considerable danger and difficulty, and the captain 14.0 FOND DU LAC. had at j5rst determined to remaia outside until the gale moderated. However, time is valuable to the Yankee, and as the " Sam" was bound upon a voyage round the lake, and expected back at the Sault on an early day, our skipper determined to risk it ; and I was not sorry to arrive at the end of our voyage under more exciting circumstances than had attended it hitherto. The scenery, too, was bolder. On the right was a deep bay, backed by a high wooded range. A sandy promontory more than a nule long, and in places only a few yards across, upon which grew a grove of tail limbless pine-trees, separated the St Louis from Lake Superior. Near its point were pitched a number of Lidian wigwams, with upturned canoes arranged before them. Upon the left the land was low, and covered with a dense forest. Opposite to us, and upon the further shore of a broad lagoon formed by the St Louis, stood the city of Superior, perfectly invisible, however, from the point at which we crossed the bar. We just touched the ground once, then swung round in the deeper waters of the St Louis, and anchored in front of the Indian village, as it was too shallow to admit of a nearer approach to the opposite shore. Our arrival caused the greatest excitement every- where. Blanketed figures emerged out of the smoky wigwams and stood motionless on the shore, with their arms folded like Roman senators, betraying as much animation as Indians ordinarily do. Innumer- able curs testified their astonishment by shrill yelps. LAND IN MINNESOTA. 141 Two or three crazy-looking boats put off (as wo wore informed) from the city ; but wo had not yet boon able to discover any signs of a city beyond a single wooden shed. Mcanwhilo, at least half tlio passengers, ourselves among the number, had determined to land here, and there was an immense deal of preparation in consequence, though, from the absence of anything like a town, doubts seemed to have arisen as to where we were to go when we landed. However, nobody had courage to give these doubts nay distinct oxpros- sion, but contented themselves with piling their luggage upon the sandy shore, and sitting upon it, waiting for the solution of tlio problem with a resigned air, wliicrh may have been because they had often undergone similar experiences before, and were in the habit of being left with tlioir little all on desolate and remote shoroH, — or because, having arrived at said dcvsolate and remote shores with their little all in search of fortune, they had only p;()t themselves to tluiuk foi' their present predicament, and were too wise to quarrcil with fate when they most needed to conciliate it. However this may have boon, we voted it an unprofitable way of spending our time, and ]ilu('.iii<>; our luggage under the care of a good-natxired Gorman, who was too profoundly absorbed in his moersclianm to care whether Superior existed or no, we strolled off with our sketch-books to a wigwam, where we soon established ourselves upon terms of the most friendly iutimaf.y with the inmates — exchanged a pipe of Turkish tobacco with the father of the 142 AN INDIAN "WIGWAM. family for one of kinnick-kinnick — won the affections of the mamma by caressing her baby, which was strapped to a board, and very dirty — delighted the young ladies by presenting them with portraits of themselves — ^got with some difl&culty upon speaking terms with the dog, and ultimately stretched our- selves by the fire, and chronicled in our note-books our first day's experiences in Minnesota territory. CHAPTER XIII. THE CITY OP SUPEEIOE — LAND SPECULATION. "When that inestimable character, Mr Mark Tapley, arrived at the city of " Eden," the first conviction which forced itself upon his mind was, that he had never in the course of his previous experience felt called upon to be "joUy" under more "creditable circumstances" than when locating himseK in that dismal swamp. Without being quite so discouraging as Eden, there was nothing inviting in the first aspect of the extreme western point of Lake Superior, as a spot upon which to take up one's permanent abode. It was a raw, bleak morning ; black clouds gathered behind the range to the north, and swept eastward across the broad lake, as if they meant mischief. The wind whistled over the narrow sandy spit of land on which we stood, curling up the corners of the bark upon the Indian wigwams, ominously flapping the curtain at the doorway, and sending the smoke eddy- ing back into the eyes of the occupants, with a force which rendered them anything but agreeable habita- 144< AN INVISIBLE CITY. tions. A little schooner came dancing over the white waves of the lake, close hauled, and gunwale under ; but there was a sea on the bar which frightened her away ; and, standing off agaia on the other tack, she shortened sail, and prepared herseK for the coming storm. There was another craft riding uneasUy at her anchors in the lagoon, and we heard afterwards that in the course of the night she had a narrow escape, and dragged almost ashore. Even the " Sam" seemed anxious to get away, and avoid the possi- bility of leaving her old timbers upon the shores of the St Louis, as materials for the first houses of the city of Superior. Meantime, we were becoming not a little desirous to reach the said city ; and I could not help feeling grateful that fate had not destined me to be one of the original settlers. Indeed, I had no cause for complaint, as one of a party of four, determined to make the best of everything, and before many months were over, to wind up our travels with a white -bait dinner at Greenwich ; so that good fellowship and the prospects of home en- abled us to regard discomforts and inconveniences in the light of adventures. It is when they become matters of everyday routine that they lose their cha- racter of romance ; and it would require a good deal of faith in the future prosperity of an embryo town in the Far West, to induce one to live in it through the first stages of its existence. I therefore felt some commiseration for our feUow-passengers in the little boat which at last came to ferry us across to the FIRST SETTLEES. 145 " City." One was a German, with the usual roll of bedding, on the outside of which were strapped an axe, a gridiron, and a kettle ; his companion was an Irishman, with nothing but never- flagging spirits and gigantic muscle to trust to in the western world before him ; and the third was a Yankee, in a swal- low-taUed coat, with a revolver, a bundle in a yellow silk pocket-handkerchief, and unfathomable " 'cute- ness" as his stock-in-trade. Our boatman was a well-educated and intelligent young Englishman, who had forced his way to this distant region early in the day, and had been the first to ply regularly upon the river : he charged high fares accordingly, but we did not grudge him the due reward of his enterprise. He told us that he was already worth more than his most sanguine expectations led him to anticipate, considering the short period of his stay ; and, as a small clearing in the woods opened up to view, he showed us the timber walls of a bowhng-saloon in the process of erection, the first of which Superior could boast. Indeed, that celebrated city now burst upon us in aU its magnificence, and one lofty barn- like shed, surrounded by an acre of stumps, repre- sented the futiu'e emporium of the resom-ces of the fertile and prolific country of which it is destined to be the metropolis. The river St Louis is for a few mUes from its mouth the boundary of Minnesota and Wisconsin, iu which latter state Superior is situated. The arrival of the ste;\mer had evidently created a sensation. 146 A FAB WEST GREETING. There was a large group collected at the door of the barn which was called the Hotel, and little heaps of luggage were piled up in the mud ; and here and there the more energetic among the late arrivals were cutting down branches and constructiuir sheds, or pitching tents among the bushes, or hurrying to and fro in all the excitement of preparing for a sojourn in the woods until permanent shelter could be erected, A tall, raw-boned American, with very short, wide trousers, and moccasins, was standing on a rough pier, constructed with a few logs, as we approached, and watched the process of our debarkation wath languid interest. His aspect was as little encourag- ing to a stranger as the place of his abode. He had only one eye ; and a deep scar at the left corner of the empty socket suggested the idea of a " difl&culty " which had resulted in the violent abstraction of the other, A short stubbly mus- tache was united to a beard of a like character by a dried-up rivulet of tobacco juice ; and one of his yellow, parchment-like cheeks was largely distended by a plug of the fragrant herb. " Gwine to locate in our city, gentlemen 1 " he drawled out as wo col- lected round the tarpaulin package that contained our united effects, as if he thought we had come unusually well provided for such an experiment. We shook our heads, " Wal, j:)r()-specting for copper, maybe C We assured him we had no such intention. He looked a little puzzled, and favoured us with a FIRST SENSATIONS. 147 lengthened stare of more than ordinary curiosity. " Ah/' he said with a sort of doubtful grunt, " Injun traders;" but our appearance belied that, and he evidently expected the answer he received in the negative. He could gain no information from our costumes ; they consisted simply of flannel shirts, and trousers of the same material, with the usual belts and knives. At last a bright thought struck him. " You're government surveyors," he said in a decided tone ; but we scorned the idea : so he gave an incredulous spirt of tobacco juice, and turned his back upon us, — evidently in doubt whether, as Mr Chuckster would say, we were " precious deep," and would not reveal our intentions — or "precious flat," and had not got any. We then dragged our luggage some fifty yards up a steep muddy bank to the door of the hotel, and, not being taken the slightest notice of by any one, sat upon it in a helpless way. Just then I saw the "Sam" steam slowly out of the river: the last link which connected us with civilisation seemed broken, and I thought that to have been a friend- less emigrant upon that distant shore — without a roof to cover one, or a bed to lie upon, sur- rounded by a gang of selfish unfeeling adventurers — would have been perhaps the most unenviable expe- rience in one's life. It was impossible to get an answer to a question, or to attract any interest what- ever. Each person manifested the most profound indifference to everybody's concerns but his own ; so 148 A COOL INHABITANT. we determined to watch the luggage and explore the city by turns. Striking along a swamp, and balanc- ing myself upon the pine logs that served as a path- way, I observed a white sheet fluttering among the bushes, and, upon approaching, found that it was a tent formed of some sheets fastened ingeni- ously together with bark, and to which there was no visible entry. At last I discovered a part where it was not pegged down, and poking my head under, perceived lying in the centre, upon the hard damp ground, Uke a chrysalis iu its cocoon, a huge mum- mied figure, wrapped in a blanket, above which gleamed a pair of spectacles : the only other article in the tent was a carpet-bag, which served as a pillow to the prostrate occupant ; the keen wind was whistling under and through the thin cotton sheeting ; the moisture oozed up through the damp soil ; and as it was the middle of the day, I thought some serious malady was the occasion of so uncomfortable a pro- ceeding. A pair of round eyes goggling at me through the spectacles relieved me from any appre- hension of waking the sufferer, so I asked him if he was iU. " No, siree ; guess I'm only lazy." " But it will be very cold to-night." " Wal, don't reckon on its being colder than it was last night." " Then, do you mean always to live here V " Ah, shouldn't wonder. I have got a house build- ing on hill 'ull be the finest in the city for a spell. I'll SUPERIOR QUARTERS. 149 make it a saloon, and there will be a room 18 by 25. The rent is only two hundred dollars a-year ; if yonVe a mind to it, go up by swamp half a mile and see it, and come back and tell me what you think of it. I ain't one of your darned picayunish coons, and 'ill hold on to this hyar fixing to oblige a stranger ; but if you're nosing about to no good, wal, put !" This latter hint was given with such emphasis, and the eyes looked so threatening, that, as I had no design upon the saloon, I "put" forthwith, or, in less concise terms, took myself off, carefully avoiding my friend's fixing during the remainder of my stay at Superior. On my return to the hotel, I doubted whether the solitary and cheerless habitation I had just visited was not a preferable abode to the public lodging- house. As yet it was quite unfinished. The greater part of the interior was devoted to the purposes of a carpenter's shop. Sawing, planing, and hammering went on without intermission. There were piles of planks and bales of cotton, baskets of tools and casks of pork, all mingled indiscriminately ; rough logs with rough people sitting on' them, and shavings a foot deep everywhere. There was a lath partition which had not yet been plastered, and by looking through the interstices of which it was easy to dis- cover that it was the bedroom of mine host, his wife, and family. A similar partition, in which a door had not yet been put, separated the eating-room from the dirt and shavings. A ladder led up through a trap- door to a spacious loft, which at first sight presented ^5Q THE FAB WEST ^n^ All round the sides were a most singular aspect. Ail ro^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^ arranged bee Tdl nZTo ttaVtW looked liko a collection o( a^anged bSls of »ta™gs -P<-. ^^f °''Ii'^,i*:r each, suspen( aed from the roof, were musqmto-nets variegated meat-safes imbedded in shavings. Above them, again, were a series of stages, supported by rickety wooden posts. Each stage was capable of containing two or three occupants, and the only means of access these latter possessed was by " swarming " up the posts, to use a schoolboy's term. In one corner of the loft there was a small room screened off: this was the land-office ; and as we have hitherto devoted ourselves to describing first impressions of Superior in its external aspect, a visit to the land- office will affijrd us a good opportunity of leamiag something more of its present condition and future prospects. It can rarely happen that a settlement in its inci- pient state, however brilliant its future prospects may be, is inviting ; and if I have painted Supe- rior in somewhat dingy colours, and taken a gloomy view of the emigrant's first experience, it is not to discourage him from adventuring in the wilds of America, but simply to warn him, that in order to realise those large sums which are gambled with there as if they were lottery tickets, he must expect hard- ships and trials of no ordinary nature. If he have a bold spirit, common prudence, and some fertiUty of resource, there is no part of the world in which those qualities can be turned to more profit and advantage AS A FIELD FOR INVESTMENT. 151 than in Canada and the north-west states of America. Investments made with ordinary prudence are attended with scarcely any risk ; for as civilisation advances, property everywhere increases in value, and in the course of time the most injudicious selection of land will realise a handsome profit. The value of land is frequently doubled in these regions in one year, or even in a few months ; the difficulty is not to make money, but to keep it. The same incentives to the permanent accumulation of wealth do not exist in America which operate in England. No man cares to be the founder of a family in a country where all diflference of birth is ignored, and it is impossible to entail his wealth upon a single representative of his famUy. The amusements of Americans are not so expensive as ours, and there are fewer of them ; nor is there any rank or society which necessarily involves a heavy expenditure to the man whose home is in the Far West. Money is still less valuable for its own sake, or as an ingredient in his happiness. The amenities of civilisation have no charms for him. He longs to exchange his insipid existence in an eastern city for the freedom of the woods, where his occupa- tion has ever been reckless speculation, the excitement of which still forms his chief source of pleasure ; so he plays away his fortune as soon as he has made it. His habits of life remain unchanged, whatever be his pecuniary circumstances ; and whether the last card was a trump, matters very little to him, for he means to gamble all his life. 152 LAND SPECULATION. To an Englishman intending to return to his native land with a comfortable independence, the country in which the Yankee speculates is the one for him to invest in ; and if he is contented with a tithe of the winnings, without the risk, of the more dashing game, he will not repent the day when he crossed the Atlantic to seek his fortune on the shores of the American lakes. In looking out for eligible land-investments hi an unsettled country, the attention of the explorer should ever be directed to the discovery of those localities which seem to combine the necessary re- quisites for a future town. If he wish to buy upon the shores of a lake, the two great considerations are, the excellence of the harbour, and the character of the back country, with the facilities which exist for transport into the interior ; and he should com- pare its merits with those of other spots upon the coast, so as to avoid the risk of competition. If he be desirous of settling in the interior, he should do so upon the banks of a river. The head of the naviga- tion is a certain site for a town. Good water-power is almost indispensable, and a fertile back country, the nature of which may be judged of by the size and character of the timber : hardwood, including maple, birch, oak, &c., is an indication of the best land ; soft- wood betokens a poorer soil ; but upon the banks of a river the most A'^aluable locations for lumber pur- poses are amid pine forests. If the land-speculator be fortunate enough to establish a pre-emptive claim ELIGIBILITY OF SUPERIOR. 153 upon a tract of land combining such qualifications upon the confines of civilisation, he may within a few years, or even before the last instalment of his pur- chase-money has been paid down, charge more for his land hy the foot than he is at the same moment paying to government for it by the acre, and, before ten years are past, may see a large bustling town covering the land which was clothed, when he bought it, with virgin forests ; and find himself a millionaire, Avith just enough (if he be a Yankee) to meet the liabilities he has incurred in taking out a patent for diving-bells at New York, in laying down a gutta- percha pavement at New Orleans, and contracting to rebuild San Francisco after a fire ; together with a few other experiments in various parts of his almighty continent, too trifling to mention. But this mode of land -speculating is not alone confined to individuals. Companies are formed, who purchase large tracts of land in eligible localities ; and the position of Fond du Lac appeared such a promis- ing site, that two separate companies obtained grants of land at the mouth of the St Loiiis. It is not difficult to perceive the advantages which the western extremity of Lake Superior holds out as a point for such speculation. It is situated at the head of the lake navigation of North America. Since the passing of the reciprocity treaty, by which the internal navigation of America is made available to the vessels both of England and the United States, there is uninterrupted fresh-water communication for large 154 ITS FXTTURE PROSPECTS. steamers, from thence to the sea by way of the St Lawrence, a distance of 2000 miles. There is no harbour nearer than La Pointe, ninety miles dis- tant upon the southern shore of the lake ; and upon the northern the country is sterile and uninhabited, and affords no good harbour between Fond du Lac and the frontier of the British Possessions and the United States. When the bar at the mouth of the St Louis, on which there is now nine feet of water, is dredged, the lagoon, which is about six miles long and two broad, will be easy of access, as well as safe and commodious. Not only are the hills in the neigh- bourhood of Fond du Lac prolific in mineral re- sources, but the whole country lying to the west and south, and extending to the Mississippi, is rich, well watered, and susceptible in a high degree of cultivation. When it is settled, the whole cereal and mineral produce of Minnesota, and a great part of that of Wisconsin, must find an outlet at this point, which wH] also be the port for the import trade of the east. A railway has akeady been projected from Superior to St Paul, the head of the navigation of the Mississippi, 130 miles distant, when a large share of the traffic which has contributed to the rapid growth of Chicago will find its way by this route. As soon, therefore, as the advancing tide of civilisation made it apparent that the time had arrived to turn these capabilities to account, rival companies bought land, and hung up the plans of their prospective cities in BRIGHT VISIONS. 155 all the hotels of the northern towns. These plans are magnificent in appearance. Handsome squares, avenues and streets, with pictures of the noble edifices with which, in the imagination of the artist, they are ornamented, dazzle with their splendour our unsus- pecting emigrant, who labels his luggage for the per- fect specimen of architecture which he sees marked in the corner as the National Hotel, situated upon the principal square ; and on his arrival finds, to his dismay, a wooden shed in the midst of stumps, with an unfeeling landlord and beds of shavings. It is, however, fair to say that the chances are strongly in favour of the bright visions in the plans being realised in an incredibly short space of time. CHAPTER XIY. WISCONSIN. — BED AND BOAED IN THE FAB WEST. It is only necessary to glance at the progress of Wisconsin, at the north-western corner of which Superior is situated, and at the character and capabi- lities of the State generally, to justify the prediction that, in the course of a few years, Superior will be as large and as thriving as its other cities. "Wisconsin was only admitted into the Union as a State in May 1848. The rapid increase of its popu- lation has been unprecedented even in the annals of American progression. In 1838 the population, according to the State enumerations, was only 18,130; in 1850, the census returned the popula- tion as 305,391. I saw the Governor of the State in Washington, in 1854, and he assured me that there were upwards of 500,000 inhabitants in Wisconsin, Avho had aU emigrated there within the last fifteen years. It is needless to observe that the value of property must have risen commensurately with the increase of population, in order to support my asser- tion as to the ehgibility of Wisconsin as a field for investment ; but it possesses many other attractions WISCONSIN AS A FIELD FOE EMIGRATION. 157 to the emigrant beyond that of mere progression. " The salubrity of the climate," says Mr Lapham, " the piu'ity of the atmosphere, and of the water, which is usually obtained from copious living springs, the coolness and short duration of summer, and the dryness of the air during winter, all conspire to render Wisconsin one of the most healthy por- tions of the United States." It is one of the most fertile as weU as healthy. The general surface of the State is gently undulating ; the higher elevations are upon the shores of Lake Superior, where the hiUs are covered with dense forests of evergreen ; and the streams are rapid, aflfording good water-power. It is therefore a good timber district, and exports about 200,000,000 feet per year, while many of the ranges ax'e rich in iron and copper ore. The soil is even here very rich ; and, unlike mineral regions gene- rally, this promises a rich reward to the farmer as well as the miner. But it is to the south-eastern part of the State that the attention of the farmer should be more particularly directed. I afterwards travelled along the southern boundary of Wisconsin — over its roll- ing prairies, where the long luxuriant grass was in- terspersed with flowers — past oak openings where belts and clumps of oaks vary the monotony of the prairie ; for these forest giants alone can stand the action of the vast annual conflagrations which sweep over the western prairies, and which, while they enrich the grass, add doubtless to the productive 158 ITS CAPABILITIES. power of the soil, and prepare it for the plough- share. The soU is described as a dark brown vegetable mould, from one to two feet deep, very mellow, without stone or gravel, and very fertile. This charming country is intersected by five or six navigable rivers, and dotted with numerous extensive and beautiful lakes. It possesses the greatest facili- ties for exporting its produce. Bounded on the north by Lake Superior, on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the west for 275 miles by the Mississippi, it has outlets in every direction, while railroads already connect its principal towns with New York. The lake commerce of Wisconsin in 1851 exceeded 27,000,000 of dollars. Amongst the most important and valuable of the exports of Wisconsin, however, is lead, which is found in great abundance and richness upon the upper Mississippi. Such is a brief descrip- tion of the attractions which this State offers to intending emigrants, which are more fuHy set forth in some thousands of pamphlets issued by the State immigration agents at New York, and which, having been printed in German, Dutch, and Norwegian, have been in a great degree the means of populating the State with settlers of different nationalities from the continent of Europe. I was glad to have the opportunity of witnessing the process by which a vast and heretofore almost uninhabited country was becoming thickly and rapidly populated, as a process which involved so much that was interesting and anomalous. AN IMAGINARY CITY. 159 The blind confidence which induces crowds of utterly destitute people to emigrate to comparatively- unknown and altogether uncivilised regions, with the intention of living there permanently, — the cool pre- sumption with which crowded steamers start for cities which do not exist, and disgorge their living freights upon lonesome and desolate shores, to shift for themselves, — and the very remarkable manner in which they do shift for themselves — first, by building a hotel, then a newspaper office, then probably a masonic lodge, or something equally unnecessary, then saloons and places of public entertainment — and, finally, shops and ordinary dwelling-houses, — are amongst the most novel and characteristic expe- riences of a traveller in the Far West. Having inspected the plan of the city in the land- office before described, we sallied forth to choose some lots for our own benefit ; and having been par- ticularly fascinated by the eligible position of some, situated within two doors of the bank, just round the corner of the grand hotel, opposite the wharf, fronting the principal square, and running back to Thompson Street — in fact, in the very thick of the business part of the town — and preceded by a very communicative and civilised young man, evidently imported from New York or Boston for puffing pur- poses, — ^we commenced cutting our way with bill- hooks through the dense forest, which he called Third Avenue, or the fashionable quarter, until we got to the bed of a rivulet, down which we turned through 160 THE TABLE d'hoTE. tangled underwood (by name West Street), luatil it lost itself in a bog, which was the principal square, upon the other side of which, covered with almost impenetrable bush, was the site of our lots. We did not think it worth our while cutting our way through them to the business quarter, and therefore returned somewhat sceptical, despite the glo^ving eulogy which our cicerone passed upon our selection, of its wisdom ; and almost disposed to quarrel with one of our quon- dam fellow-passengers whom we met, and who asked us if " we had got to housekeeping yet." The taMe d'hdte was quite in keeping with the hotel iu which it was given. Twenty or thirty rough fellows, in red flannel shirts, with knives and pistols stuck into their girdles, sat round the massive table to wash down a great quantity of hard salt pork with brandy, and garnish their conversation, of which they were very chary, with a singular variety and quantity of oaths. Indeed, so frequently and inappropriately are they lugged into the common parlance of back- woodsmen, that it is at first very difficult to under- stand anything that is said ; and as, even when used as an embellishment in civUised conversation, they do not give one a very high estimate of the sense of the speaker, when they also interfere with the sense of the sentence, familiar iatercourse with the denizens of the West is neither profitable nor attractive. There was a judge at dinner, who was a singular instance of this ; and if his decisions were framed in such blasphemous terms as his talk, it would have been A "PEOSPECTING JUDGE. 161 morally impossible for his suitors to understand him. unless they had undergone a special education for the purpose. He was seeking rest from his judicial labours by a little " prospecting ; " and had deter- mined to employ his holidays by doing a stroke of business in the copper line. To judge by his appear- ance, he had been a good deal in the bowels of the earth, and had not washed himself since he had started on his explorations. However, it was difi&- cult to account for the filth and shabbiuess of his attire, for he had with him an unusually large port- manteau — in which he was always burrowing — com- petent to contain a sufficient supply of clothes for the most fastidious. Upon one occasion, however, when a group was collected near this mysterious receptacle, he suddenly opened it and displayed an enormous bundle, on the top of which were sprinkled a few dirty socks and collars, and which, on being untied, was found to contain huge specimens of copper, with which he was returning to his native State to iuduce his friends to advance the funds necessary for his purposes. In olden time people u^sed to say that poverty made one acquainted with strange bed-fellows. This is an experience which nowadays the traveller shares with the pauper, and it is involved by a tour in the Far West to an unusual extent. When the shades of evening closed upon Superior, and we had smoked a pipe or two in the twilight, we asked our host whether he could give us sleeping accommodation, to which he L 162 NOVELTY OF OUR NIGHTS QUARTBBS. considerately replied : " Wal, I guess, if you can find a corner that's not pre-empted, you may spread your shavings there." And having received this permission to litter ourselves down amongst the prostrate figures ia the loft, and luckily hit upon a corner that was not pre-empted, we formed our blankets into sacks, which we filled with shavings from the shed below, and piilled up the ladder after us. Fortunately there were very few musquitoes, as we were unprovided with nets ; but we had no sooner stretched ourselves upon our beds than we discovered the reason of our sup- posed good fortune in finding a vacant comer to con- sist in its being exposed to the full force of the wind, which whistled through the interstices of the logs of which the walls were composed, and one of which, just at my ear, was big enough for me to fiU up with my coat. I could scarcely regret any cause, however dis- agreeable, which kept me awake to contemplate for a short time the novelty of our night's quarters. We were surrounded by thirty or forty snoring men in every variety of costume ; for the process of tum- ing-in in the "West consists simply of kicking off shoes or moccasins; while here and there previous "claims" were being somewhat querulously discussed ; and at the further end of the loft an eager party were leaning over a table, on which stood a bottle, with a tallow candle placed in it, playing " faro," a game they had imported with them from California ; for some of our bedfellows had taken a turn at the diggings, and. ROUTES FROM SUPEEIOE TO ST PAUL. 163 with their lank hair, unkempt beards, and rugged features, lit up with an unusual excitement by the interest of the game, they formed a group whose aspect was by no means reassuring to four quiet Cockneys. Moreover, men were continually "swarming up" posts to roost upon fragile platforms over our heads, and shppiug rapidly and unexpectedly down them again. The creaking of these became ominous, as stout " parties " rolled uneasily in their sleep upon very thin planks, placed so far apart that, by looking up, we could see their forms between them, and lay in no small terror of being deluged with a cataract of tobacco juice ; and there was a wrangling kept up in the land -office, for a long time. At least I listened to it until snores, and oaths, and creaking became aU blended into a soft murmur, and gra- dually worked themselves into a series of pleasant dreams of home. Before sunrise, we were roused to the stern realities of backwood hfe. And as we had no intention of " getting to housekeeping " in Superior, it became us to think of proceediag on our journey westward. This, however, was no easy matter ; and the various descriptions we received of the relative merits of the different routes to St Paul, whither we were bound, were by no means encouraging. These were three in number ; but no two accounts agreed, either with regard to the time the journey would occupy, or the difficulties to be encountered. There was one route which involved walking sixty miles through swamps, 164 PEEPARATIONS FOE THE JOURNEY. with the chance of finding a canoe at the St Croix Eiver ; and in default of that, walking sixty more, carrying onr provisions with us for the whole distance, and sleeping out every night. And there was another by the Brule Eiver, which would probably occupy three weeks in a bark canoe, but might take much more if the water was low, and we could get no information upon that point : so we decided upon the first, and had engaged some voyageurs to accompany us ; but, as we were on the point of starting, their courage failed them, and they refused point-blank to move a foot ; at which crisis a man who had just arrived from St Paul — indeed the only person who had made the journey duruig the season — ^proposed a third route, by the St Louis and Mississippi, which, after much discussion, was finally adopted, and which involved a great many preparations. We began by buying a bark canoe for twenty dollars ; then we tried to engage two Indians, as well as two voyageurs. The former were painted warriors of the Chippeway tribe, encamped on the opposite shore of the river, who had just returned from the war- path, and had scarcely ever seen " pale-faces " in then- lives before. They seemed willing enough to come at first, but when they found that our proposed route lay through the country of the Sioux, with whom they are at war, they backed out, and we were reduced at starting to our two half-breeds. Batiste Cadot and Jean Le Feve, whose services we had so much trouble A MULTITUDE OF COUNSELLORS. 165 in securing. At their instigation we laid in, at tlie only store in the place, a hundred pounds of flour, three hams, some bacon, tea, sugar, biscuits, and brandy. The purchase of these articles involved an immense amount of liquoring up, for our trip had now become matter of notoriety, and ourselves of no Kttle curiosity. Conflicting advice was tendered in every direction by people who knew nothing whatever of the matter, but who all expected a drink for their trouble. As the brandy was villanous and expensive, it was no less a tax upon one's stomach than one's pocket. However, it is one of the most ancient and sacred institutions of the country, whenever you are introduced to a man at the bar of a hotel, to " liquor him right away ; " a compliment which, according to the strict rules of American etiquette, he ought to return before parting with you. In the fulness of their affection for us, some of these gentry, who wanted to make the journey at any rate, but lacked the necessary funds, offered to accompany us to St Paul ; and it was not without running some risk of giving offence that we declined their proposal. Indeed, I somewhat fear that, notwithstanding the best intentions on our part, we rather damaged our popularity with the worthy citizens of Superior by this apparent want of sociability. It is only natural that a single individual should esteem himself entitled to attach himself to a party travelling in the same direction, instead of making a long solitary journey ; 166 YANKEE PEOMPTITUDE. and I must say, for the credit of our Yankee friends, that in no part of the world are the inconveniences of a wild country more promptly remedied, by the establishment of speedy and commodious means of locomotion than in America. PART III.— MINNESOTA. CHAPTEE XV. CAMPING OUT OK THE ST LOUIS. It was upon a lovely morning, about the middle of August 1854, that we bade adieu to our Superior friends, and, with a voyageur at each end of the canoe, stowed away our four selves at the bottom of it, having made a convenient disposition of the luggage and stores for that purpose. The St Louis, the river we were about to ascend ia our bark canoe, is here about two miles wide. Soon after leaving Superior, we paddled past a few log huts, the resi- dences of our own voyageurs and others of the same fraternity, who originally settled here many years ago as British subjects, and servants of the North- West Company. They pointed out to us the remains of the Old Fort, and a little beyond it we saw the debris of the rival establishment which had belonged to 168 FOND DU LAC. the Hudson's Bay Company. Voyageurs and Yankee speculators have all the Indian trade to the south of the boundary-line to themselves now. At the head of the bay, where the river takes a sharp turn to the south-west, it is full of fields and islands of wild rice, intersected with so many channels that an inex- perienced voyageur might easUy lose himself. Although we were so far north, as the banks of the river approached one another we might have imagined ourselves in the tropics. The massive foliage on either side dipped into the water ; the stream was dark and sluggish ; and a burning mid-day sun rendered the labour of paddling a heavily laden canoe somewhat irksome. We were, therefore, seven hours in reaching the Indian village of Fond du Lac, twenty- one miles from Superior. Here we determined to lighten our work, by taking two Indians with us as far as they would go, with another canoe for some of the baggage. This consisted principally of provisions, as we carried no tent, and our spare wardrobe was limited to a flannel-shirt a-piece. There will no doubt be a town built shortly at Fond du Lac, as it is navigable for steamers drawing six feet of water, and there are good mill-sites at the falls of the St Louis, the head of the navigation. The Manhattan is the only steamer which navigated the river to this point in 1 850. The trading-house of the American Fur Company is situated on the north shore of the river, and immediately opposite is the comer of the state of Wisconsin ; it is also the comer AN INDIAN TOMAHAWKED. 169 of the boundary liiiea running south and east between the ceded lands of the Chippeway, and those still held by that tribe east of the Mississippi. Dr Owen says, that the waters of the Lake Basin had their western terminus formerly above this place. There was a good deal of excitement in the village, in consequence of a murder which had been committed a day or two before our arrival. The father-in-law of the chief had been tomahawked in his hut, and a serious division in the tribe was likely to be the result. The village contains about 400 inhabitants. We lunched in a neat cottage belonging to a half-breed, while the " sauvages," as the voyageurs call the In- dians, were preparing their canoe ; and afterwards made the unpleasant discovery that Messieurs Batiste Cadet and Jean Le F^ve were somewhat " sauvage" in temper themselves. The art of managing strange servants in a strange country is one of the traveller's most valuable accom- plishments, and his personal comfort, if not the actual success of his expedition, very often depends upon his tact and patience. Both these qualities were des- tined to be severely tried by our two voyageurs at Fond du Lac, and from their dogged insolence and refusal to obey orders, we augured badly for the future, though we could not discover the cause for such a manifestation of discontent, unless it arose from our having intimated at starting that we in- tended to lose no time on the way, — a determination which did not accord with their interests, since they 170 A STECONG VIEW. had stipulated, as an indispensable condition, that they were to be paid by the day, doubtless with the view of taking advantage of our ignorance of the route, as we were evidently such " gr iffin s " at bark- canoe voyaging. However, we mustered a good deal of general travelling experience among us. Bury had spent two years of his life among the Arabs of Bar- bary and the Kurds of Upper Mesopotamia ; Petre had undergone a settler's experience in New Zealand, and made the tour of the world, besides a little desul- tory travelling to Mexico and South America ; Clif- ford's wanderings, as well as my own, had been pretty extensive ; so that this display on the part of our voyageurs did not give us much uneasiness. The view from our resting-place was striking. Below us the river wound between islands, and on the opposite shore the Indian village dotted the cleared country ; behind it a high range clothed with forest rose abruptly, one peak attaining an elevation of about seven hundred feet, of so precipitous a character that it can only be ascended from one side. The summit is a level bare rock, exposing to the south a perpendicular face, several hundred feet high. Send- ing our canoes round by the river, we took a short cut over some low land covered with cedar, basswood, and other swampy bush, and then crossing a ridge, descended a steep bank to the river-side, where we found it a tumultuous torrent, compressed between banks about a hundred feet high, so boiling and bub- bling that it did not seem to have recovered the IMMENSE BURDENS BORNE BY INDIANS. iTl excitement of going over tlio falls. These commenced here, and to avoid them we were compelled to nuiko a long portage of eight miles. We thus lost a part of the magnificent scenery which characterises the passage of this river through the Cabotian mountains. The lower falls are described as a series of cascades, ten or eleven in number, and from six to seven feet in height, running obliquely across the stream, and extending for half a mile. The water falls in this distance 103 feet, gliding rather than falling over inclined layers of slate. The second falls arc more imposing : enormous walls of rock, thirty to forty feet in height, project from either bank, and run nearly across the river like huge dams. At one point the river forces itself through a passage forty feet wide, the width of the river above and below being from 150 to 200 yards. The third and fourth falls arc made up of a series of cascades. The entire fall of the river in these few miles is 389 feet, and the scenery throughout grand in the extreme. Crossing the river, we commenced a long portage, and found ourselves at last fairly in Minnesota terri- tory. We only carried one canoe across the portage, as tlie Indians said they had another in cache on the other side. The burdens which these men carry are scarcely credible. One of our stout fellows clambered up the almost perpendicular bank with 60 lb. of flour on his head, with no more apparent inconvenience than if it was his ordinary head-dress, and with a good load on his back besides ; another packed up 172 CULINARY OPERATIONS. the cooking utensils and remaining provisions, and trudged merrily away ; the two voyageurs shouldered the canoe ; we did the same with our personal kits and our guns, having first kUled a kingfisher, the only living creature we had as yet seen, — and tramped through the woods along the narrow trail, until the growing darkness and the murmurs of the voyageurs compelled a halt. We dined on damper and bacon, washed down with the concentrated es- sence of green tea, strong enough, in woodsman's parlance, " to fioat an axe ; " and then, with our feet to the fire, and wrapped up in our blankets, we lay watching the stars twinkling through the dense fohage overhead, until the soothing iaflu- ence of coarse Cavendish exerted its soporific effects, and we followed the example of our servants, who had long since been snoring roundly on the opposite side of the fire. We were preparing breakfast before dayhght on the foUowiag morning. Petre's culinary acquirements were most valuable, and he produced quite a variety of dishes, with flour and bacon as the only ingredi- ents. Neither the Australian damper nor the Indian jupatty are, however, to be compared with the bread which our voyageurs made, and which was leavened with yeast, carried in convenient portable packages. Shortly after starting, we overtook an Indian and his squaw tramping it through the bush. The man was a fine specimen of his race, as he stalked along, carry- ing nothing but his gun and pipe, while his wife THE "KNIFE POETAGE. 173 trudged wearily behind, staggering under an immense load of domestic effects, upon the top of which was strapped a wretched little papoose. We had camped half-way across the portage, so we had four miles to walk to the river, where we found a canoe in cotjche, and paddled against a current so impetuous that the waves often dashed into the canoe ; and we were half-an-hour accomplishing fifty yards. At last, after having forced our canoe, by dint of immense yelling and punting, up rapids that would have given a salmon pleasant exercise, we reached a rocky island about eighty feet high, dividing the stream into tor- rents that were qiiite impracticable. We therefore were compelled to make a portage of three mUes, called the " knife portage," because the surface of the ground is covered with masses of slate, which cut through moccasins. At the other side of the portage the scenery is very fine : the river makes a perpendicular fall of fourteen feet ; and though the altitude is inconsi- derable, the body of water which rushes over the ledge of rock has a most imposing effect. The men were obliged to make two trips across the portage, as, with the second canoe, it was impossible to con- vey over everything in a single journey. Delays of this sort are unavoidable upon these rivers, but their duration depends very much upon the good-will and activity of the voyageurs and Indians. We were stiQ playing at cross purposes, and being annoyed by our men in every possible way. Our occupations upon 174 OUR SERVANTS INSTRUCTED, AND these occasions usually were fishing, without catching anything — shooting, almost without shooting any- thing — cooking, sketching, and bathing. After dining on a jay, a woodpecker, and a kingfisher, we started again. The current was so rapid that we were fre- quently obliged to leave the men to pull the canoes up the river, and to follow them along the banks. This was a trying process to feet covered only with moccasins, and I soon found that, however comfort- able they are upon swampy trails, a good shooting- boot would have been infinitely preferable upon the sharp rocks. We found a good camping-ground in the evening upon the right bank of the river, and were completely exhausted with our day's work when we arrived. We received not the slightest assistance from our men in making a fire or preparing the camp ; and when they found that we made our arrangements inde- pendently of them, they informed us that they intended to leave us and return. This we assured them they were at perfect liberty to do, but that as we meant to keep both the canoes, all the provisions, and should certainly not give them any of their pay, they would find the return journey very laborious and somewhat unprofitable. As they were not in a position forcibly to dispute this arrangement, they stated, iu a more humble tone, that they considered themselves overworked, and we efiected an amicable compromise at last, by which it was agreed that they were to work twelve hours a-day, and be their own A GOOD UNDEESTANDING ESTABLISHED. 175 masters in all other respects, choosing the camping- grounds, hours for starting, having meals, &c. After this "we got friendly and confidential, and discussed the merits of a voyageur's life, and the prospects of Indian trade, in bad French, with much profit. Le Feve informed us that he had once made a bark- canoe voyage with a French philosopher — ^probably Nicollet — who took observations everywhere, and who determined the spot at which we were then camped as having an altitude of 900 feet above the sea. Our palaver was most disagreeably terminated by a heavy shower of rain, in the midst of which we turned in for the night. Tilting the canoe on its side, we put our heads under it, and made a sort of screen of tarpaulin, which prevented the rain from beating upon our faces ; but when we woke next morning, we found that it was still raining hard, and that we were lying in a puddle wet through. Under these circum- stances, tobacco is the invariable resource of the voyageur. "We were now far beyond the utmost limits of White Settlement, in a part of the country very little traversed even by Indians. In the whole course of our voyage up the St Louis, we only saw one wigwam after leaving Fond du Lac. There was not much variety in our life. Sometimes it rained hard all day, but we' pressed pertinaciously on, forcing our canoes against the swoUen current. Our aspect upon these occasions would have astonished a quiet party of Indians not a little, as, with pipes in our mouths 176 THEIR BOAT -CHANTS. and paddles in our hands, we struggled furiously with the stream, sometimes carried back against the rocks, at others hanging for a moment or two in the middle of the rapid, unable to advance a yard, and then, with a vigorous spurt, shoving our light bark iato the smooth water beyond ; then paddling with measured stroke to the melodious chants of the voyageurs, and joining lustily in the chorus of them all, but more especially of the one which begins — Deux canards blancs S'en vont baignants, En rovJant ma bould ; Le fils du roi s'en va chassant, Eoulez, roulons, ma bould roulons. Chorus. En roulant ma boul^, roulons, En roulant ma boul^. And which goes on, throughout an interminable number of verses, to recount the history and adven- tures of the ducks and the prince, with its cheery chorus ever recurring. Then we would wake up the slumbering echoes of these old woods with Enghsh college songs they had never heard before, and which the Indians, who have excellent ears, always picked up and sang in perfect time, with a very good imita- tion of the words, amid shouts and laughter. A good understanding having been once established, we became the best friends imaginable, and a more noisy, merry party never stemmed the waters of the St Louis. As we passed the solitary wigwam before men- 177 tioned, our shouts brought an old -woman, its only occupant, tottering to the bank. She informed us that her husband was out upon the war-path against the Sioux ; that he was a great warrior from Rainy Lake, and had a splendid collection of scalps in his hut ; that he had killed a bear a few days before he left, and she proposed to " trade" a hind quarter with us for some biscuits. We were delighted to make the exchange, as we had not tasted fresh meat for some days, and were getting excessively tired of nothing but rusty ham and flour ; indeed, we had scarcely any of the former left. So we regaled ourselves that night with a royal feast on " tender bar," the cooking of which caused the greatest possible excitement, and the effect of which was to make us aU sleep so soundly that we missed some sport in the night. A large animal crossed our camp and woke two of us, who seized their rifles, and jumped up just in time to hear the plunge in the water, and see indistinctly an object swimming across the river, but they could not tell whether it was a bear or a carriboo. At all events, it was the only animal ex- cept a skunk that we saw upon the St Louis. The principal drawback to travelling in this part of America is the almost utter absence of aU game ; so that not only is sport out of the question, but there is an actual difficulty in procuring means of subsis- tence with the rifle in case of the supply of flour running out. "We tried the St Louis with fly, bait, and troll lines, but without the slightest success ; M 178 DEXTERITY OF VOYAGEURS. indeed, the appearance of the water is anything but promising ; it was the colour of coffee — so dark as to make navigation very dangerous. The utmost vigilance often failed to discover a jagged rock not three inches below the surface, upon which a severe blow might possibly have sunk us on the spot. As it was, we were often obliged to jump out into the water, and every evening there was a great deal of patching up, with gum, of wounds received on the bottoms and sides of the canoes. The dexterity of the voyageurs in everything connected with the inci- dents of our mode of travel was marvellous. Whether it was displayed in punting the canoe up a foaming torrent with long poles, or discovering with quick glance hidden rocks, quite imperceptible to the inexperienced eye, and avoiding them with inimitable presence of mind, or in carrying heavy loads over rocky portages, or cooking excellent dishes with inadequate materials, or making a cosy camp with a bit of tarpaulin and a few branches, or mending the canoe with strips of bark and gum, they were never without resources ; and if not interfered with, were good, active servants ; but they resented in the highest degree any dictation upon matters in which they were proficient, and we had no inclination to disturb arrangements which were the result of long experience, and always proved advantageous. The voyageurs are half-breeds, but pique them- selves very much on their French origin ; look upon the " sauvages" with immense contempt, and talk an old Norman patois, which is very intelligible. They THEIR CHARACTER AND TEiirERAMENT. 179 are most valuable servants to the Hudson's Bay Company ; possessed of great powers of endurance and knowledge of the country, their Indian blood renders them convenient channels for intercoiu'se with the different tribes for trading purposes. They are hardy and independent, not more dishonest than their neighbours, and easUy managed by those who understand their peculiar temperament. Those in the neighbourhood of Superior have profited from the rise in the value of property, and have not been improved by their intercourse with the Yankees, and increase of wealth. The PoilaJe, CHAPTER XVI. THE SAVAUNAHS. Our voyage up the St Louis had been slow on account of the great rapidity of the current, and therefore somewhat tedious, notwithstanding the occasional beauty of the scenery, where broad reaches were dotted with green islands, or high rocks compressed the river within a narrow channel ; and we were glad, after having ascended it for about eighty miles, to turn off into a small tributary, called the Savannah Eiver, which was not more than ten yards wide. Although there was comparatively little current, our progress here was even slower than in the St Louis. In places the channel was almost choked up with fallen trees, drift-wood, weeds, and debris of all sorts — a prominent feature in which was frequently the wreck of a canoe. The banks being composed of soft clay, slides often occur, carrying with them their growth of trees, and which, collecting in the beds and narrow parts, form what are called " rafts." Sometimes, where a tree had fallen right across the river, we were obliged to lift the canoes over it, and, more often still, to press them under the logs, A SACRED ROCK. 181 and jump over them ourselves. Some of these trees, we observed, from their pointed ends, had been cut down by the industrious beaver ; and the voyageurs showed us the remains of a former dam. The danger of sharp rocks was here exchanged for that of snags ; and it set our teeth on edge to hear the grating of a pointed stick along the bottom of the thin bark canoe. The effects of this were soon apparent, and we found our canoes leaking heavily before the close of the first day in the Savannah. The stream wound slug- gishly between low banks covered with long grass, from which shot lofty trees, aspen, maple, ash, elm, birch, hemlock, pine, and fir, that met overhead, and formed an agreeable shade from the noonday sun. It was just such a jungle as would have been considered good tiger-cover in India ; and yet here not even the chirp of a bird broke the perfect stillness, which is one of the most striking peculiarities of American forests, and which often exercises a painfully depress- ing influence upon the spirits. Nevertheless, as the sun glanced through the thick fohage, the effects were certainly pretty, and there was a novelty in the style of navigation which rendered it full of interest. We passed the smouldering embers of a camp-fire of a party of Indians, and shortly afterwards the voyageurs pointed out to us a rock which is worshipped by them, and on which every person that passes puts an offering of tobacco for the benefit of Manito. After we had followed the tortuous river for some miles, we suddenly found ourselves in a labyrinth of channels winding among long rushes, and we were 182 THE GREAT SAVANNAH. informed that we had entered the Great Savannah itself. As, however, the rushes almost met overhead, it was impossible to form any impression of it, so we contented ourselves with poking on, trusting to the instinct of our voyageurs not to lose themselves in the singular and intricate navigation in which we were now engaged. At last we saw a clump of taU birch-trees, for which we steered, and found ourselves upon a small circular island, which afforded a com- fortable resting-place, and from which we could take an inspection of the Savannah, which was nothing more than a boundless swamp, covered with wild rice (the stalks of which were sometimes ten or twelve feet high), and dotted over with islands similar to the one upon which we stood, and from which sprung tall birch -trees, their white stems forming an agreeable variety in the endless expanse of pale- green rushes. The exertion of forcing our canoes along the devious channels which intersected this swamp in every direction, was very great. The voyageurs said they had never seen the wild rice so rank and abun- dant. The seed was quite ripe, and very sweet, so we amused ourselves plucking the ears and eating their contents as we pushed slowly along. Some- times we grounded on floating islands of vegetable matter, at others were deluded into the idea that it was practicable to punt, and were only undeceived by sticking the pole so deeply into the mud that it re- quired all hands to pull it out. Very often the channel was altogether choked, and the rice was so thick that A WILD MAN OF THE LAKES. 183 paddling was impossible ; and we only extricated ourselves by the most violent and united efforts. It was upon one occasion while thus engaged, and unable to see three yards in any direction, that we suddenly found ourselves face to face with a naked savage, alone iu a bark canoe, who, glowering at us through the rushes, looked as if he was some amphi- bious animal indigenous to the swamp, and whose matted hair, hanging over his shoulders, was no im- provement to a hideous face daubed over with ashes, and which displayed some terror at so unexpected a rencontre. His first impulse evidently was to escape, but that was impossible, and as we looked amiable, and addressed him through one of our Indians, he seemed reassured, and told us he had returned from an expedition against the Sioux ; that he was the husband of the woman from whom we had got the bear, and was now on his way to Fond du Lac, to revenge the death of his relative, who had been murdered there, and for whom, he said, pointing to the ashes upon his face and head, he was then mourn- ing. As our dough diet was beginning to tell upon some of the party, we were glad to exchange some powder with him for a partridge and a pigeon ; and so we parted with mutual good wishes, and left this wild man of the lakes and forests to proceed on his solitary mission of blood and vengeance. The only other incident, in the course of our pas- sage through the Great Savannah, was the appearance of a flock of wild ducks, one of which Clifford shot ; but as it dropped among dense rushes, we were 184 TKYING OIECUMSTANCES. obliged, after a long search, to give up all hope of finding it. Our night-quarters, in this delectable region, were the most disagreeable we had as yet ex- perienced. We had reached a shallower part of the swamp, and were obliged to get out of the canoes, and walk for about a mile up to our waists in mud and water. At last we found a dry spot, on which we made our fire, and strewed long grass, as usual, for our beds, and looked over the cheerless marsh in a somewhat desponding frame of mind. We had already been nearly a week en route, and had not succeeded in procuring an ounce of fresh meat by our guns ; our salt meat was exhausted, which we scarcely regretted, as it had been rancid from the first ; and a considerable quantity of our flour had got wet at the bottom of the canoe, and was spoiled in consequence. We had a portage of sixteen miles before us for the following day, and, according to the accoimt of the Indian from whom we had just parted, there was scarcely any water in the Little Savannah, where we hoped again to launch our canoe. The Indians, more- over, determined to return, as they were approach- ing so near the country of the Sioux that they began to feel a little nervous about the safety of their "hair;" and had therefore come to the conclusion that, after seeing us safely across the portage, they would not be justified in exposing their scalps to further risk. Thevoyageurs took a rather gloomy view of matters generally, and would venture upon no opinion as to the probable date of our arrival at St Paul. We had EFFECT OP SLEEPING ON POISONOUS IVY. 185 already occupied twice the number of days in reach- ing our present point that they had specified at start- ing; and SO they sulkily said, as they had been wrong before, they would give us no information upon the subject, beyond that of assuring us that the distance to St Paul was considerably over 500 miles; and as I had but a very limited time at my disposal, this was by no means comforting. To add to our miseries, a dense mist settled heavily down upon the swamp, and we could feel the chill damp air eating into our very bones ; myriads of musquitoes, against which we had no protection, literally hived upon us, and Bury complained of feeliug ill. Indeed, we were all more or less affected from contact with the poisonous ivy, from which he seemed to suffer most severely. His face and head were so muck swollen that his eyes were scarcely visible, and his hands and arms were double their natural size. This, we were assured by the voyageurs, resulted from our having slept on a description of plant which they called poisonous ivy ; and certaiuly, although neither Petre nor myself were so much disfigured, our fingers looked very much like Bologna sausages. Altogether, I did not fall asleep in a happy state of mind, more especially as, when in the act of doing so, I made the discovery that my blanket was already completely saturated with mois- ture. We generally lay pretty close together, but that night an ordinary blanket would have covered us all four very easily. It was our usual habit for the first who should awake to give such a yell as not only to rouse the 186 AN AWAKENING SCREECH. rest of the party, but to startle them so effectually as to render it impossible that they should again relapse into a state of somnolency. Sometimes, but very rarely, it was the live, lece of the voyageur that first fell upon the unwilling ear ; we were more often frightened into our senses by an unearthly screech from Petre, who used to think he had done his duty, and not being in the least startled himself, drop con- tentedly off to sleep again, with the pipe hanging gracefully from his lips, which he had inserted the last thing the night before. When day dawned upon the Savannah, however, it found us aU wonderfully lively, for everybody had been lying awake on the look-out for it for some time. At last the morning sim dispelled the mist. We pulled on our still soaking moccasins, wrung the water out of our blankets, swallowed a jorum of pure green tea, eat a pound of dough, and were only too glad to make a start. Having cached the small canoe for the Indians to return with, we commenced dragging the other after us, and wading for two miles through a tamarack swamp, often so deep that we were obliged to balance ourselves upon poles, where a false step would have buried us in mire. Altogether it is con- sidered the worst " carrying place" iu the north-west — a character which the wrecks of canoes, smashed in the attempt to carry them over, fully justifies. At last we reached the edge of the Savannah, where we made a distribution of effects, and with our separate loads started off on our walk across the water-shed, having finally left the streams which run into the THE NOETH-WEST TRAIL. 187 Grulf of St Lawrence, with the intention of launching our canoe upon the head waters of those which flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The Indians, who carried the canoe, and Cadot, took a different route from that which we followed imder Le Five's guidance, upon which alone we were dependent, for there was not a vestige of a path to an ordinary eye. Le F^ve, however, as- sured us that we were on the north-west traU, and that if we went on long enough we should reach the Eed Eiver settlement, and ultimately the shores of the Pacific, by the most approved route. We were, in fact, foUowing the Une of the projected rail- road to the Pacific by the northern route, an enter- prise the importance and magnitude of which may render it an interesting subject for consideration on a future occasion. The dividing range is composed of ridges of drift hills, covered principally with young birch, maple, and pine, on the tops of which are many enormous boulders, derived principally from granitic, gneissoid, and schistose rocks. The aspect of the country generally was tempting to the settler, and the view we obtained from the highest point of our route, and which had an altitude of about 1500 feet above the sea-level, was charming in the extreme. Well- wooded hUls, and valleys, and meadows with long rich grass, bore testimony to the fertUity of the soU, whUe lakes sparkled in the sunshine, and formed a most attracting picture ; and I could not but believe that this country, which looked so bright and smifing even in a state of savage nature, was only waiting 188 THE SAVANKAH LAKE. for the hand of man still more to gladden and to beautify it. At our feet lay the Savannah Lake, -with grassy plains extending to the water's edge, dotted with clumps of wood, and watered by tiny meandering streams, the course of which was marked by fringes of long rank grass. We could just discern in the distance our Indians towing the canoe down one of these, until they reached the lake, which they crossed, and found their way out of it by another equally insignificant rivulet, called the Little Savannah Eiver. Meantime we dived into the woods again, sometimes to come out upon grass country, sometimes to push our way through scrub and bush, and sometimes to wander through a forest of red pine, where no imder- wood impedes one's progress, or spoils the effect of those straight lofty columns which shoot upwards to a height of forty or fifty feet, and then, spreading out their evergreen capitals, completely roof in one of nature's grandest temples. At last we reached a small stream, where we waited for the canoe. This portage is always necessary ; but at other times of the year, when there is more water, the distance is considerably reduced. The method of floating a heavily-laden canoe down a shallow stream is very simple, though somewhat tedious. The voyageurs hurriedly construct a series of little dams, and when enough water is collected to float the canoe over the shallows, they open them successively. It is, however, less trouble to lift an unloaded canoe out of the water altogether. Our PEAIRIE RIVER. 189 voyageurs used to trade chiefly with the Indian tribes on Vermilion Lake, taking up cotton goods, blankets, tobacco, rum, &c., and receiving ia return peltry, horns, &c. They go in the autumn, live with the Indians all the winter, and return in the spring, very much dissatisfied if they do not clear 100 per cent profit upon their outlay. The rivulet they were now engaged in damming up in the manner described, was the first we had reached flowing into the Missis- sippi; and although it was not above a yard broad, stni its direction alone exercised a most cheering influence upon our spirits. A few mUes lower down it feU into the Prairie Eiver, a stream twenty yards broad, and deep enough to admit of the embarkation of the whole party. The reason that travelling in wild countries is congenial to certain temperaments, does not consist, as it appears to me, in the variety of scene or adven- ture which it involves, so much as in the vividness and diversity of the emotions which are experienced. For, as all pleasure derives its intensity in a great degree from the existence of pain, so the many draw- backs and discomforts of a rough life only serve to render its amenities more thoroughly enjoyable to those keenly susceptible of external influences. Thus our voyage down the Little Savannah River would have been robbed of half its attractions, had we not undergone a miserable experience upon the Great Savannah Swamp. As it was, a few hours changed entirely the aspect of afiairs. Instead of punting laboriously against an overpowering current, or fore- 190 A CHEEEINO ANTICIPATION. ing our gloomy wav amid sedge and rush, or tramp- ing -n"earilv, with loaded baeks. thi'ough mud aud water, we were now gliding easily and rapidly down the stream. We had shot some wood-pigeons in the course of om- walk through the wood, so we looked forward to a good dinner and a hospitable reception at the Imlian village on the shores of Sandy Lake, which we hoped to reach before nightfall ; aud in the cheering anticipation thereof, we bent our backs to our work vrith. a -^tII — our eight paddles dashed merrily into the water, sending showers of sparkling spray far and wide, and frightening the musk-rats out of their senses. The wooded banks echoed back our lusty French choruses, which we wound up with a British cheer, aud shot out upon the broad bosom of the lake as it olittered in the rays of the dechn- ino- sun. (MIAl'TKIl XVII. HANUY LAKIS. Ah Moiirly as poHHiblo in tlus coritro of iho ccjntinoMb of N(jiili Ain(ii'i{;ii, and at an olovaLion of about 1 800 foot above tho lovol of tlio hhh, cxLctkIh a tract of piiic-covcirod iablo-laud about 100 iniJoH R()uai'(j, and wliich probably contains a greater num- ber of small lakcH than aay other diHirict of the Hatno wi/o in tho world. It \h called hee Hauteurs des T(;rruH, and in, in i';uit, the transverse watershed l)otwec!n the Hudson's Bay and tho St Lawrence waters, and tlnjHO which run into the (