Canada and the Canadians, Vol. 2 | Page 4

America rather than the
king of birds. Why did Franklin,[1] or whoever else did the deed, make
him the national emblem of power? He is decidedly a mauvais sujet.
[Footnote 1: I think, however, I have read that the philosophic printer
gave him a very bad character.]
The Canal of Burlington Bay is an arduous and very expensive
undertaking. The opening from Lake Ontario was formerly liable to
great changes and fluctuations, and the provincial work, originally
undertaken to fix the entrance more permanently, was soon found
inadequate to the rapid commercial undertakings of the country.
Accordingly, a very large sum was granted by the Parliament for
rendering it stable and increasing the width, which is now 180 feet,
between substantial parallel piers.
There is a lighthouse at each end on the left side going in, but the work
still requires a good deal of dredging, and the steamboat, although
passing slowly and steadily, made a very great surge. In fact, it requires
good steerage-way and a careful hand at the helm in rough weather.
The contractors made a railroad for five miles to the mountain, to fetch
the stone for filling-in the piers.
The voyage across Burlington Bay is very pleasant and picturesque, the

land being more broken, elevated, and diversified than in the lower
portions of Canada West; and the Burlington Heights, so important a
position in the war of 1812, show to great advantage. Here is one of the
few attempts at castle-building in Canada called Dundurn Castle, the
residence of Sir Allan Macnab. It is beautifully situated, and, although
not perhaps very suitable to a new country, it is a great ornament to the
vicinity of Hamilton, embowered as it is in the natural forest. Near it,
however, is a vast swamp, in which is Coot's Paradise, so named, it is
said, from a gentleman, who was fond of duck-shooting, or perhaps
from the coot or water-hen being there in bliss.
Hamilton is a thriving town, exhibiting the rapid progress which a good
location, as the Americans call it, ensures. The other day it was in the
forest, to-day it is advancing to a city. It has, however, one
disadvantage, and that is the very great distance from its port, which
puts both the traveller and the merchant to inconvenience, causing
expense and delay. How they manage, of a dark night, on the wharf to
thread the narrow passage lined with fuel-wood for the steamboat I
cannot tell; but, in the open daylight of summer, I saw a vehicle
overturned and sent into the mud below. There is barely room for the
stage or omnibus; and thus you must wait your turn amidst all the
jostling, swearing, and contention, of cads, runners, agents, drivers, and
porters; a very pleasant situation for a female or an invalid, and
expecting every moment to have the pole of some lumber-waggon
driven through your body.
Private interest here, as well as in so many other new places and
projects in Canada, has evidently been at work, and a city a mile or two
from its harbour, without sufficient reason, has been the result. But that
will change, and the city will come to the port, for it is extending
rapidly. The distance now is one mile and a quarter.
After great delay and a sharp look-out for carpet-bags and leather
trunks, we arrived at Young's Hotel, a very substantial stone building,
on a large scale, where civility and comfort made up for delay. It was
English.
As it was night before we got settled, although a very fine night, and

knowing that I should start before "Charles's Wain was over the new
chimney," I sallied forth, with a very obliging guide, who acted as
representative of the commissariat department, to examine the town.
The streets are at present straggling, but, as in most Canadian new
towns, laid out wide and at right angles. The main street is so wide that
it would be quite impracticable to do as they do in Holland, namely, sit
at the door and converse, not sotto voce, with your opposite neighbour.
It is in fact more like a Mall than a street, and should be planted with a
double row of trees, for it requires a telescope to discover the numbers
and signs from one row of houses and shops to the other.
Here the American custom of selling after dark by lamplight was
everywhere visible, and everywhere new stone houses were building. I
went into Peest's Hotel, now Weeks's, the American Tavern, and there
saw indubitable signs that the men of yore had a pretty sprinkling of
Yankees among them.
Hamilton has 4500 inhabitants, and is a surprising place, which will
reach 10,000 people before two or three years more pass. It has already
broad plank-walks,