Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West | Page 2

contend. The land is,
generally speaking, of a rich quality, and the colonist has fire-wood for
the labour of cutting, fish for the catching, game for the pleasant
exercise of hunting and shooting in Nature's own preserves, without the
expense of a licence, or the annoyance of being warned off by a surly
gamekeeper.
The climate of Canada West is healthier and really pleasanter than that
of England or Ireland. The cold is bracing, and easily mitigated by
good fires and warm clothing; but it is not so really chilling as the
damp atmosphere of the mother-country. Those who have not visited
the Canadas are apt to endow the Upper Province with the severe

climate of the Lower one, whereas that of Western Canada is neither so
extremely hot nor so cold as many districts of the United States.
Emigration to Canada is no longer attended with the difficulties and
disadvantages experienced by the early settlers, of which such
lamentable, and perhaps exaggerated accounts have frequently issued
from the press. The civilizing efforts of the Canada Company have
covered much of the wild forest-land with smiling corn-fields and
populous villages. Indeed, the liberal manner in which the Company
have offered their lands on sale or lease, have greatly conduced to the
prosperity of the Western Province.
If the facts and suggestions contained in the following pages should
prove useful and beneficial to the emigrant, by smoothing his rough
path to comfort and independence, my object will be attained, and my
first literary effort will not have been made in vain.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I
. Embarkation for Canada. -- Voyage out. -- Sea-life. -- Icebergs. --
Passage up the St. Lawrence. -- Quebec. -- Memorials of General
Wolfe. -- Cathedral. -- Hospitality. -- Earthquakes. -- Nuns. -- Montreal.
-- Progress up the Country. -- My Roman Catholic Fellow-traveller. --
Attempt at Conversion. -- The Township of Whitby.

CHAPTER II
. Arrival at Darlington. -- Kind Reception. -- My Friend's Location. --
His Inexperience. -- Damage to his Land by Fire. -- Great
Conflagration at Miramichi. -- Forest Fires. -- Mighty Conflagration of
the 6th of October. -- Affecting Story of a Lumber-foreman. -- His
Presence of Mind, and wonderful Preservation. -- The sad Fate of his
Companions.

CHAPTER III

. Inexperience of my Friend. -- Bad State of his Land -- Fall Wheat. --
Fencing. -- Grasses. -- Invitation to a "Bee." -- United Labour. --
Canadian Sports. -- Degeneracy of Bees.

CHAPTER IV
. My Marriage. -- I become a Settler on my own Account -- I purchase
Land in Otonabee. -- Return to Darlington. -- My first Attempt at
driving a Span. -- Active Measures to remedy a Disaster. -- Patience of
my Father-in-law. -- My first Bear-hunt. -- Beaver-meadows. --
Canadian Thunder-storms. -- Fright of a Settler's Family

CHAPTER V
. Canadian Harvest. -- Preparing Timber for Frame-buildings. --
Raising "Bee." -- Beauty of the Canadian Autumn. -- Visit to Otonabee.
-- Rough Conveyance. -- Disaccommodation. -- Learned Landlord. --
Cobourg. -- Otonabee River. -- Church of Gore's Landing. -- Effects of
persevering industry

CHAPTER VI
. Wood-duck Shooting. -- Adventure on Rice Lake. -- Irish Howl. --
Arrival at Gore's Landing. -- General Howling for the Defunct. --
Dangers of our Journey. -- Safe Arrival at Cobourg. -- Salmon-fishing.
-- Canoe-building after a bad Fashion. -- Salmon-spearing. -- Canadian
Fish and Fisheries. -- Indian Summer. -- Sleighs and Sleighing. --
Domestic Love

CHAPTER VII
. Employments of a Man of Education in the Colony. -- Yankee
Wedding. -- My Commission. -- Winter in Canada. -- Healthiness of
the Canadian Climate. -- Search for Land. -- Purchase Wild Land at
Douro. -- My Flitting. -- Put up a Shanty. -- Inexperience in Clearing. --
Plan- heaps

CHAPTER VIII
. A Logging-Bee. -- Lime-burning. -- Shingling. -- Arrival of my
Brother- in-law. -- Birth of my Son. -- Sad Journey to Darlington. --
Lose my Way. -- Am refused a Lift. -- My boyish Anger. -- My Wife's
Death. -- The Funeral. -- I leave Darlington

CHAPTER IX
. Return to Otonabee. -- Benevolence of my Neighbour. -- Serious
Accident to a Settler. -- His singular Misfortunes. -- Particulars of his
Life

CHAPTER X
. Preparations for my second Marriage. -- Dangerous Adventure. -- My
Wife's nocturnal Visitor. -- We prepare for the Reception of our
uninvited Guest. -- Bruin's unwelcome Visit to an Irish Shanty. -- Our
Bear-hunt. -- Major Elliott's Duel with Bruin. -- His Wounds and
Victory

CHAPTER XI
. Canada the Poor Man's Country. -- Disadvantages of Inexperience. --
Township of Harvey Settlement. -- Pauper Emigration. -- Superior
Advantages of the Labourer Colonist. -- Temperance and Temperance
Societies. -- A dry Answer to