A Trip to Manitoba | Page 2

Fire"--Crookstown--Fisher's
Landing--Strange Quarters--"The Express-man's Bed"--Herding like
Sheep--On board the Minnesota.

CHAPTER IV.
Red Lake River--Grand Forks--The Ferry--Custom-house Officers at
Pembina--Mud and Misery--Winnipeg at last--A Walk through the
Town--A Hospitable Welcome--Macadam wanted--Holy Trinity
Church--A Picturesque Population--Indians shopping--An "All-sorts"
Store--St. Boniface and its Bells--An Evening Scene.

CHAPTER V.
Summer Days--The English Cathedral--Icelandic

Emigrants--_Tableaux_--In chase of our Dinner--The Indian
Summer--Blocked up--Gigantic Vegetables--Fruitfulness of the
Country--Iceland Maidens--Rates of Wages--Society at
Winnipeg--Half-castes--Magic of the Red River Water--A Happy
Hunting-ground--Where is Manitoba?

CHAPTER VI.
Winter Amusements--A Winnipeg Ball--Forty Degrees below
Zero--New Year's Day--"Saskatchewan Taylor"--Indian
Compliments--A Dog-train--Lost in the Snow--Amateur
Theatricals--Sir Walter Raleigh's Hat--A Race with the Freshets--The
Ice moves!--The First Steamer of the Season--Good-bye to Winnipeg.

CHAPTER VII.
A Manitoban Travelling-carriage--The Perils of Short Cuts--The
Slough of Despond--Paddy to the Rescue!--"Stick-in-the-Mud" and his
Troubles--McQuade's--An Irish Welcome--Wretched Wanderers.

CHAPTER VIII.
Faithless Jehu--The "Blarney Stone"--Mennonites in search of
News--"Water, Water everywhere"--A Herd of Buffaloes--A Mud
Village--Pointe du Chêne and Old Nile--At Dawson Route--A Cheerful
Party--_Toujours perdrix_--The "Best Room"--A Government
Shanty--Cats and Dogs--Birch River--Mushroom-picking--The
Mosquito Plague--A Corduroy Road--The Cariboo Muskeg.

CHAPTER IX.

The "Nor'-west Angle"--The Company's House--Triumph of
"Stick-in-the-Mud"--On the Lake of the Woods--A Gallant Cook--Buns
_à l'imprevu_--A Man overboard!--Camping out--Clear Water
Bay--Our First Portage--A Noble Savage--How Lake Rice and Lake
Deception won their Names--At our Journey's End.

CHAPTER X.
Making a New Home--Carrière's Kitchen--The Navvies'
_Salle-à-Manger_--A Curious Milking Custom--Insect
Plagues--Peterboro' Canoes--Fishing Trips--Mail-day--Indian dread of
drowning--The Indian Mail-carrier and his Partner--Talking by
Telegraph--Prairie Fires.

CHAPTER XI.
Irish Wit--Bears?--Death on the Red Pine Lake--A Grave in the
Catholic Cemetery--The First Dog train--A Christmas
Fête--Compulsory Temperance--Contraband Goods--The Prisoner wins
the Day--Whisky on the Island--The Smuggler turned Detective--A
Fatal Frolic--"Mr. K----'s Legs".

CHAPTER XII.
Birds of Passage--An Independent Swede--By Sleigh to Ostersund--A
Son of the Forest--Burnt out--A Brave Canadian Girl--Roughing it in
the Shanty--The Kitchen-tent--Blasting the Rock--The Perils of
Nitro-glycerine--Bitter Jests.

CHAPTER XIII.

We lose our Cows--Cahill promoted--Gardening on a New
Principle--Onions in Hot-houses--Cahill is hoaxed--Martin the
Builder--How the Navvies lived--Sunday in Camp--The Cook's
Leap--That "Beautiful Skunk!"--Wild Fruits--Parting.

CHAPTER XIV.
For Ostersund--Lake Lulu--Giant Rocks and Pigmy Mortals--The
Island Garden--Heaven's Artillery--Strange Casualty at the Ravine--My
Luggage nearly blown up--The Driver's Presence of Mind--How to
carry a Canoe--Darlington Bay--An Invisible Lake--Lord and Lady
Dufferin--A Paddle to the Lakes--The Captain's Tug--Monopoly of
Water-carriage--Indian Legends--The Abode of Snakes.

CHAPTER XV.
Clear Water Bay transformed--Cahill's Farewell--Ptarmigan Bay--A
Night under Canvas--"No more Collars or Neckties!"--Companions in
Misfortune--Cedar Lake--"Lop-sticks"--An Indian
Village--Shashegheesh's Two Wives--Buying Potatoes--_Seniores
Priores_--Excellent Carrots!--Frank's Flirtations with the Squaws--The
Dogs eat Carrière's Toboggan.

CHAPTER XVI.
Falcon River--An Unlucky Supper--The Fate of our Fried Pork--A
Weary Paddle--A Sundial in the Wilderness--A Gipsy Picnic--"Floating
away"--The Dried Musk-rats--Falcon Lake--How can we land?--Mr.
M---- "in again"--Surprised by Indians--How we dried our
Clothes--The Last Night in Camp.

CHAPTER XVII.
Indian Loyalty--A Nap on Falcon Lake--A False Alarm--The Power of
Whisky--"Magnificent Water Stretches"--A Striking Contrast--Picnic
Lake--How we crossed Hawk Lake--Long Pine Lake--Bachelors'
Quarters at Ingolf--We dress for Dinner--Our Last Portage--A Rash
Choice--"Grasp your Nettle"--Mr. F----'s Gallantry--Cross
Lake--Denmark's Ranche--A Tramp through the Mire.

CHAPTER XVIII.
Tilford--Pedestrians under Difficulties--The Railway at last--Not
exactly a First-class Carriage--The Jules Muskeg--Whitemouth and
Broken-Head Rivers--Vagaries of the Engine-Driver--The Hotel at St.
Boniface--Red River Ferry--Winnipeg--"A Vagabond Heroine"--The
Terrier at fault.

CHAPTER XIX.
The Minnesota again--Souvenirs of Lord and Lady Dufferin--From
Winnipeg by Red River--_Compagnons du Voyage_--A Model
Farm--"Bees"--Manitoba a good Field for Emigrants--Changes at
Fisher's Landing--A Mild Excitement for Sundays--Racing with Prairie
Fires--Glyndon--Humours of a Pullman Sleeping Car--Lichfield.

CHAPTER XX.
Lakes Smith and Howard--Lovely Lake Scenery--Long Lake--The
Little American--"Wait till you see our
Minnetaunka!"--Minneanopolis--Villa Hotels--A Holiday Town--The
Great Flour-mills--St. Paul's--Our American Cousins--The French

Canadian's Story--Kind-hearted Fellow-passengers--A New Way of
Travelling together--The Mississippi--Milwaukee, the Prettiest Town in
Michigan--School-houses--A Peep at Chicago--Market
Prices--Pigs!--The Fairy Tales of Progress--Scotch Incredulity--Detroit
Ferry--Hamilton--Good-bye to my Readers.

CHAPTER I.
The Grand Trunk Railway--Sarnia--"Confusion worse confounded"--A
Churlish Hostess--Fellow-Passengers on the _Manitoba_--"Off at
last!"--Musical Honours--Sunrise on Lake Huron--A Scramble for
Breakfast--An Impromptu Dance--The General Foe.
After a long day's journey on the Grand Trunk Railway, without even
the eccentricities of fellow-passengers in our Pullman car to amuse us,
we were all glad to reach Sarnia. The monotony of the scenery through
which we passed had been unbroken, except by a prettily situated
cemetery, and the tasteful architecture of a hillside church, surrounded
by trees just putting on their spring foliage.
It was eight o'clock when we got to the wharf, and the steamer
Manitoba only waited for our arrival to cast loose her moorings and
enter the dark blue waters of Lake Huron. "Haste" will not express the
excitement of the scene. Men, rushing hither and thither in search of
friends, traps, and luggage, were goaded to fury by the calmness of the
officials and their determination not to be hurried. Hearing there was no
chance of having tea on board that night, and discovering near the
wharf