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WHAT
EMIGRATION
REALLY IS.
BY A
RESIDENT IN CANADA AND AUSTRALIA.
1(777/ ILLUSTHATIONS BY THE AUTHOR.
•I
■*■ .,
LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY
THE GEAPHOTYPING COMPANY/ LIMITED,
7, GARRICK STREET, W.C.
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS, '. ' '
TW
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JUu 7 1940
77//* P<7)^r ;r^,? rw^/ /;/;/?>;'e /he Brplfanl Fiiiiqra/ion Sorit-///,
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WHAT EMIGRATION REALLY IS.
n
The subject of eniigration ia one tliat at the present time occupies
very largely the attention of nearly every person. I suppose there
are few in tliis country who have not some near relative or frieml,
who has emigrated, or who are not themselves thinking of doing so.
Unhappily the state of trade is so very bad here, that many who a
few years, perhaps months, ago did not even dream of leaving their
native land, are now anxious to do so, longing to quit its shores for
one of those countries, which they are continually told are the abodes
of prosperity and plenty. I need not occupy space by saying any-
thing at all about the ways and means adopted for the purpose of
raising funds for those to emigrate with who have no means at all of
their owu ; I leave it in wiser hands than mine to devise plans by
which help can be conveyed to tho^se who cannot help themselves.
The organizing of emigration clubs, appeals to Government, or what
not, I shall not touch upon, but shall confine my wordu to matters
that must interest those who, having by some means either already
obtained, or seen their way to obtainirg wherewith to go, are now
anxious to get information on emigrntion. I am not in the habit
of addressing the public, and I should not think even now of doing
so, did I not feel that I should be wrong to refrain from conveying
to others as much as lies in my power of the knowledge I ha^e ob-
tained in a rather lengthened residence in two of our colonies,
Canada and Australia. For I find that there is great ignorance dis-
played on this subject, and even those who essay to inform others,
not having themselves actually gone through the experience, lead
them astray to a great extent. All that I shall tell you is based
upon my own actual experience, and I cannot but think that a little
of such knowledge must be valuable, I have myself done nearly every-
thing that a new settler in a new country has to do, and I should be
perfectly at home to-day if I were landed in either Australia or Canada,
and had to find out my way of living there. As Canada is so very
much nearer to us than any of our other colonies, — is therefore the
cheapest to get to, and consequently, I am sure, the place to which
most of you are turning, — I shall tell most about that country ; but,
before I go any further, 1 must say a few words, which, I fear, will
upset many of your already-formed ideas about emigrating, although,
if you bear with me to the end of what I hope to say to you, I think
I shall be able to show you there is hope for you in other lands ;
and as I am sure that it is far better for you to know the truth of the
matter, than to be flattering yourselves, that once out of England, all
your troubles end, I shall begin by telling you that neither Canada,
nor the United States, nor Australia, nor anywhere that may be
selected, holds out any positive release from the troubles of hard
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work and hard fare, which human boinga arc subject to wherever
they may go. It is all aonsense to suppose that tliere arc no poor
people, that there are no beggars iu the countries we are speaking
of; I assure you they are plentiful there, and that it is not an easy
matter to get work even there. True, we hear accounts, and wo
read letters from those who have gone, giving the most glowing ac-
counts of the places, where Ihet/ are doing well ; but do we hear any-
thing of numbers of others that are there and not doing well ? It is
because I have lived there, and seen, and felt for, those of my country-
men and countrywomen who have arrived there friendless and penni-
less, that I speak to you as I do.
And it really is because I have so often thought how much I
would like to direct and help these unfortunate people when I have
seen them there, that I now think it a privilege to be able to give
my word of advice to you before you go there. Do not go with the
idea that you are not going to see trouble there, nine out of ten of
you will see plenty of it; but I think if you will pay attention to
what I am gomg to say, that it will help you out of a good bit of it.
You have been often told that the moment you land on the other side
of the Atlantic, there will be friendly hands held out to help you, —
this is a contwon statement in the newspapers; it is said, too, that
you will ^Hid flju have stepped into a country where work and food are
plentiful, and inhere everything is happy and prosperous. Now, this
is a great mistake, if understood literally. There are plenty of people
there who will take you by the hand, lohen, but not before, you have
proved yourself worthy of help ; there is plenty of work to be had in
the country, but rarely when you first land ; and there is plenty of
food there, and very cheap too, and when you are in a way of earn-
ing it you are all right.
My own established belief is, that the great advantage of emigra-
tion to a man is, that it cuts him adrift from the old associations,
throws him so very much more on his own resources, and forces
him to do something desperate for himself; and, in some of the
colonies, where there is undoubtedly a larger field for enterprise
than there can ba here, a man in shesr desperation wittido things
which he would not dream of doing here, and succeeds in them.
A man goes to Canada, — a blacksmith, — he cannot get employment,
he has no friends, he must work or he must starve, some one offers
him a job to work at road-making, he does it, and gets from that to
bo a contractor for road-making and makes money ; another man
goes to Australia, — a bricklayer, — he can't get work, is very liard-up,
a sheep-farmer comes across him and offers him a shepherd's berth,
ho takes it, goes into the bush, tends a flock of sheep, gets on by
degrees at that. Now who that is here, a blacksmith, would not think
it beneath him, however hard-up he may be, to go and work as a
stonebreaker on the roads or as a navvy even ? or where is the brick-
layer here, who would dream of going into the country and taking
work as a shepherd or drover ? There are, I know, great difficulties
in the way of a man doing that here, so there are there ; here,
though I think it is very often a man's own fault, as well as it is
there. In one of our colonies if a man could not get employment at
his own particular trade, and would not take any other, he would be
considered a fool, and would be allowed to starve if he pleased. I
know of my own experience here, men who have lost good employ-
^ '^^^
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mcnt because tlicy would not do some little thing that is not their
own buwiness, — printers, prcssnicii, who rather than set a ty{)e,
ihou^'h they knew well how to do it, left their places. Men who tend
l)rintii)<,'-ni!iel\ineH, wlien work f^ets alack, rather than condescend to-
work a hund-press, will throw away a good berth. Such men I consider '
worse than fools ; and it ia because in the colonies uien cnnnot, dare
not net thus, that 1 believe much of their success may be accounted
I'or ; for there arc very few, I should say no such charitable organi-
/iitions there for helping poor people who are able to work, but can-
not obtain it, as we have hero. Every man must look out for himself.
It must be explained, however, that I am not saying a word agamst
the Canadians, who are simply just the same as we are, — indeed, our
own people, — and when oceasioi'<a really iirise, are just as kind and
generous as we are here. 1 heard, tiie other day, of a man who went
to Canada ; ho was a watchmaker, but could not make his way at that,
and so seeing an opportunity, lie turned his attention to making
isausages and succeeded; ho only acted sensibly. I know a man
myself who was a shipwright ; now in Canada that trade is not of
much account, so, although he was well onv^jjij^fe, he thought he would
be a watchmaker, and now ho is, I believe, ^'rich man. It seems to
me if wo had move of this kind of thing here, it would be better for
all of us. Perhaps it is impossible to alter an old settled state of
things in this country ; but if 1 were thrown on my own resources, I
think I. should try in this way, and if 1 could not get anythiny to
do here, then, and not till then, should 1 talk about emigrating.
Since the year IS J:7, when i ilrst wei.t to Canada, which has been
my homo nearly ever since, 1 have had excellent opportunities of
judging of it as a place to emigrate to ; and, under certain conditions,
1 must tell you that I co)i8ider it the best place in the whole world.
These conditions are, first, that ah emigrant shall be suitable for the
country; next, that he bo determined to settle down there perma-
nently, and to take at first any kind of work that he can possibly
find to do ; and last, but by no means least, that he be a strictly
temperate man.
The first (juestion, and the most difficult to answer is, who is a
suitable person to emigrate to Canada ? Perhaps I shall help the
matter by telling you who is not fit to go, who is not wanted there.
A sickly, weakly person should not go. A clerk, or shopman, or any
one who is not able to work hard at manual labour is decidedly not
wanted there. A person who wants to shun hard work is most de-
cidedly not wanted there, and people who think that they can go
there and get on without much struggling and pushing, had far better
not go there. But on the other hand, any able-bodied, hard-working,
sober, steady man who can't get on here, should go; any such man who
with his wife and large family finds it impossible to make a living
here, should go ; any hard-working man or woman who has tried
everything here fairly and thoroughly, and finds there is no hope,
should go ; but any one who has any reasonably good way of doing
here, who has anij prospect before him, is very foolish if he goes.
Good female servants are really much needed there, and are the
only people sure to get on at once.
With regard to Canada, I must tell you that I cannot conscien-
tiously advise any one to go there with the view of settling in a
town. . The different cities there — and I know all of them pretty
8
well — aro about as thickly populated with mechanics, artisana of all
kiiula, aud j)eoplo looking for employment, as Huch towns aro here.
Tj'ue, these Canadian towns arc growing rapidly, most of them, and
th'cro aro chances of employment, but I really don't think they will
bo found to hold out very much advantage over this country.
The great beauty of Canada, and of nil new countries, is the vast
extent of unoccupied land lying ready to repay the settler for all
the labour ho can expend on it ; and it is towards these unsettled,
or but partially settled parts that I adviso every ono to go. There
are, of coureo,*village8 and towns growing up in those parts whicli
offer a better chance for a mechanic to get employment, but on the
whole I must strongly, distinctly advise you to go to tho newest
part of tho country you can possibly reach, and then strain every
nerve, and lay all your plans with the view of obtaining a lot of ^and
of your own ; and then every man, no matter what his former trade or
experience may be, who has strong hands and a willing heart, will
not fail in a very few years to make a good home for himself and his
family, will never be any more in want of the necessaries of existence,
will be able to obtain, indeed, all the comforts of life, and stand a
very good chance of attaining a wealthy position.
i am well aware that in speaking to those who have hardly the
means of crossing the sea, it will appear a great difficulty to get still
further, for most of the unsettled or new parts of Canada aro many
hundreds of miles from the seacoast. I realize the difficulty well,
yet I cannot but tell you that unless you have some clearly defined
plan arranged by which you can reasonably hope to reach those
parts, you will find very little advantage in emigrating. This is the
great mistake that is made, as I am very anxious to impress upon
you. To those of you who are subscribing to a club, or are in other
ways endeavouring to raise sufficient to go upon, I would say, have
patience, wait longer, until you are able to get together sufficient
to get realty into the backwoods; then, and not till then, can I
advise you to go, and then can I promise you success, and from
the beginning of your life in Canada a great hope of freedom from
the grave cares and difficulties of making a comfortable, or any
kind of a living, which you experience here. But you must not hope
to escape tliese cares, if you are merely calculating upon reaching
the siiores of America, and at once finding success. It is quite true,
that even in the backwoods you must expect hardships and trials,
such you will get everywhere, and more there than in many places ;
but there will be this great sweetener of your toiling and struggling,
every difficulty you surmount, every blow you strike, will, with God's
blessing, be a step towards the independence you seek ; and I assure
you you will be well repaid by striving here your very hardest to
obtain sufficient • to carry you at once to the end of your journey,
rather than be obliged to stop short halfway, and there strive and
struggle very much as you do here for means to carry you to the end.
The young single man who arrives in Canada, it may be penniless,
has a field before him which he never can have here, but for it he
must go as far into the country as he possibly can, not resting con-
tent until he has got as far away back into the most distant settle-
ments as is practicable. There he Avill find that he possesses a largo
capital in his simple ability to work ; and although his pay in actual
coin will be nothing much for a year or two, yet the knowledge he
£
^
will bo gftinin^, tlio cliancca for permanently settling liimself that
will nriae for him, will miiko the fature sure.
To the married mnn, and the man with a family who gota to that
country without money, there aro ntjirsf. greater ililliculties ; but in
the end. when the chance turns up for him to Hettle down in hia
own home, lu; has the making of it. Ilia wife and children, ready to
hand, are, let me tell you, no small advantages in a homo in the
backwooda of Canada.
But some of you may be anxiously asking, what is a married man
to do when he fuMt gets into the Hush ? Well, there are ways for him
to proceed, and I will mention one, the surest. liahour is valuable
there, and all those who are already settled are glad of help, male
and female, and although the man will be, as they say, a " greenhorn,"
yet if he has any sense ho will soon learn to be worth his and his
wife's keep at least ; a place to live in costs a mere nothing, and almost
every one will do his best to assist a new-comer. Therefore let him
hire himself out at any price until he has learned the ways of the
country. Let him care very little, nothing, at first about the money
begets, what he wants at first is knowledge; so long as there is
enough to eat and drink obtained — and that is not hard to get in the
bush — let him be satisfied ; and then, when he has got into the
ways of things there, and has his eyes opened to the chances that
will be sure to be continually occurring around him, ho will see his
opportunity of making his own home in Canada, by either taking up
a lot of land to be paid for in small, easy instalments, or by settling
on a piece of land which can be obtained from Government as a free
gift. Let me advise all, whether they have money or not, to give
up the idea of rushing at once into the back settlements and taking
possession of land. I speak from experience when I recommend
you under any circumstances to pass at any rate a few months in
the part you propose to settle down in, in working for some one who
is already there, and I thirds there are very few localities where that
is impossible ; the advantage of passing the first few months in
gaining experience with only the cost of time, is immense.
A man having once become possessed of his lot of land has his career
open before him, and if he be but industrious, steady, and sober, — above
all, sober, — he is bound to get on, adding every year to hia clearance
and ';o his comforts, until in a very few years he is possessed of a good
substantial home, — is surrounded by plenty of everything to eat, drink,
and wear, and to make himself and his as comfortable as they can rea-
sonably desire. But, from the very beginning he must expect very
hard work, and hard knocks ; and if any one expects to get on in
Canada, or anywhere else, without them, he is sadly mistaken. But
all this applies more particularly to those of you who have no know-
ledge at all of agricultural work ; he who has had some experience
here of farm labour, will have very little difliculty in obtaining em-
ployment in the eountry in Canada, but when it comes to the actual
settling on a lot of bush land, — a piece of untouched forest, — then
all proceedings are the same, and one has very little advantage over
the other.
Well I think, I hope, I have made it quite plain to you what
my opinion ie ; it is in a few words this, — that if by hook or by
crook you cannot manage to get along here, although able and willing
to work hard and sufi'er much, and can manage to get to the Back-
I
10
woo(h of Cnnndii, and will make up your luindH to Bottling on your
own Ifuul, luul tlioro cnrvinj,' out for yourself a homo, by slow but.
Hiirc (b'grci'H, — I can riMsuro you it will bo ("Mtain, — the i I tliink you
will do wisoly to onii^'rato; but if you think of f;oin^ iiu'nfly 1''
oiu-ry on tlio wanio trados you hav<! btou doiiif,' horo, willi tho idi'a of
proHporiufi; bettor in a town thoro than hero, and do not think at all
of beiiifj; an aotual .settlor on land, then I must give you my opinion
that thoro is but litth; elianc; of ynnr doiiiij; better thoro than here.
So now, assuminp; that you are all fi;oinji; to tnko my advioo and
becomo IJaekwoodsmon, and supposing you arc fortunate enough to
have got yonrsolvos into tho jjosition of being able to settle on your
own lai'.d, 1 \s\\\ prooeed to tell you how to get it, and then what
you aro to do with it, ami what will be tho result to you.
First of all, about getting land in Canada. In that part of it
now oalled '"v'ntario," formerly "Tapper Canadii," I lind that lust
your thoro was wild land for disposal amounting to two millions and
a half of acres. Tho price of this land is seventy cents cash per
acre, or about 5J«. of our nirfiiey, so that a lot, which is usually 100
acres, can bo bought out and out, yours for ever, for some £15 ; just
fiincy for that small sum you can be a boiid-Jido landowner. And if
ymi have not got £15 to spare, you can still obtain laiul, for tho
(jrovcrnmcnt sells on credit, charging then ono dollar, or Lv. 2d. per
r.cro for it, on condition that you ])ay ono-liftb down, /. e. £11, aiul tho
balance in four equal yearly instalments, charging also low interest
on tho unpaid sums. Nothing can bo asked for easier than this,
ono \v ould think ; and the duties a settler is called u])on to perform
in regard to this land, and to make his title sure, aro tho following.
Under any ciroumslances, he must take possession of his land ivilliiii
six months of tho time of sale, and must continue to bo an actual
settlor for at least two years before ho can get his title-deed for his
land ; besides this, he must have cleared during tiie llrst four years
14
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one-tenth (t^ acres) of his land, and cultivated it of course, and
he must also lave built upon it a house to live in, at least 10 by 20
feet in size. This, you will observe, is to prevent people with mofiey
speculating in land, for it vrvi/ quickly becomes valuable after the
country gets a little cleared and settled.
The wise Government of Canada, not content with this liberal
disposition of land, actually goes so far as to make free grants to
every person of eighteen years of age or upwards, of not more than
11
200 ncrc8 of land, and they nre subject to very little more duty than
those who purchuae ; ol* coun^o thin ia not the hent land in Canada,
nor in it in the be«t part, and yet there is but HJif^ht ditlerence, as
the (lovernnient is nnxious to j;ct the wilder partn of the country
inhabited. There is i)lenty of hmd in Canada, you hcc, to bo f;ot
free, or for very little; the hiyhcst price is 70 cents, or :)«. per
acre, the lowest *J0 cents, or about 10,) J. per acre. As to the locality
best to fj;o to, I should advise Ontario, thou;j[h many other |)art8 are
doubtless os j^ood, but I think that province is the one which will
become first fully occupied, and therefore sooner the most valuable;
this inunense tract of country lies between the great lakes, Ontario,
Huron, and Erie, running some distance down the St. liawrence to
the capital of Canada, called Ottawa. The distance from IVLontreHl
to those parts of Ontario where land is to be got as f have describe',
is two days' journey, or moi'c, |)erformed by railway and ordinary
road, or partly by steamboat, as the case may be. I'Vom Now York
the distance is about the same.
i^
A c.vnawa:, stkamhoat.
Well, assuming that you have been working for some little time, aa
near as you can to the ])art you hope to live in, and have gained
some experience in the ways of doing things there, and let ii.s hope,
also, have gained some means, perhaps not money, but what is of
more value to you than money, some tools, a little furniture, some
poultry, some pigs, or what not, and have chosen, taken up your
one hundred acres of bush land ; now begins the tug of war. You
are going to be an actual settlor ; going to live on your own land,
in your own house ; now, how is all this to be done ?
in the first place you must have a house to live in, and so you
proceed to choose some spot that pleases you, some rising ground,
we'll say, that promises good drainage and a view, — when all this
glorious forest, thongli now your deadliest enemy, is cleared away.
The chosen spot, like every bit of your land, is covered with trees,
which must all bo cut dovvn to make room for your house. You have
very little idea of what the bush in Canada is ; I have seen no
wood in this country that gives any idea of it; words fail me or
any one to describe it. Fancy yourselves surrounded on all aides
with gigantic trees covering the land thickly, — tall bare stems, reach-
ing high up, spreading out only towards the top, where their branches
meet, forming a leafy canopy, which, in summer, makes deep shadow,
and prevents grass from growing, causing the leaves to decay each
season as they fall and to add to those that have fallen before for
fj
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12
centuries, until there is a t^Ck layer of splendid leaf-manure that
M'ill grov/ you the finest vegetables you can desire, when once the
trees are cleared away and the ,3un and air are let in. The finest
land is covered with hard wood, that is, beech and maple and oak,
this will be a good guide to you as to the quality of the land you
choose ; there is, of course, land very valuable for many purposes,
which is covered with other trees, — pines, ash, cedars, birch, and a
variety of others, — but for wheat growing, for making money on, the
land that grows the beech and maple is the best. But now your
work is to get a place to live in ; you begin by felling the trees,
not by any means an easy task, but you will soon get used to it
and like it. The American axe is the most useful tool in the back-
woods, as you'll soon learn ; and as the first years of your life there
will be principally occupied in using it, you will very soon get to
be most expert with it.
The trees are cut down by making a notch first on the side
towards which you wish the tree to fall ; when you have got about
halfway through, you go to the other side and begin there, and when
nearly meeting your first notch, your tree will topple '"er ; by skilful
management you can throw a tree in almost any position you please.
The stump of the felled tree will be some three or four feet high.
The fallen tree has to be cut across into lengths suitable for rolling
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rXLIINO A IBEE.
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15
together and burning. When you have got enough opening made to
protect your proposed building from all the trees which liave yet to
fall, you may begin yoMr house. After choosing all the straight
timber necessary, and cutting it into proper lengths, you call a
raising be, that is, you ask every one around you to come and help
to build your house, and you will find all will come. He would be con-
sidered a mean man wlio would refuse, indeed, you would offend all
you did not ask. And so, on a given day, your neighbours as-
semble, — neiglibours who, like you, are now settlers, and those who
have been longer there, some from the next lot a quarter of a mile off,
some for miles away, for a raising bee is considered a sort of holiday.
And. then to work, and it is just surj)rising how, with simply axes, in
a day twelve or fifteen men will have the four walls of a good-sized
shanty put up. By means of skids to roll the logs up on, they are
))ih,'d one above the other, tlie corners, where they cross, notched
together, and as strong, though perhaps not as handsome a building
!■< got together as you can wish. Tlie next day the roof is to be put
on, — split slabs of wood or troughs dug out of logs is what bush
shanties are generally roofed with ;but v.hatever is chosen, you soon
find out how to (h) it. Then there is a doorwrt^ to be cut out of the
A SUANTV : TUK UACKWOOJJbJlAN S IIUST JIOMJ;.
front wall, and, if you wish to be very stylish, a window too ; tlien^
all the spaces between tlie logs are to be filled up with pieces of
wood and moss, nnd neatly plastered with well-tempered clay, the
inside to be trimmed and smoothed with the axe, plastered properly
with the clay, and, when dry, whitewashed, your door to be made
anil luiiig most likelv on wooden hinges, for they use wood there for
AN AMKBICAN AXE : THE MOST USEFUL TOOL IN THE BACKW00D8.
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16
everything tliey possibly can, your floor of split and trimmed wood,
nnd then all you require is« chimney and fireplace ; and this is soon
done with some stones adfflT^lay and a little ingenuity. Thus, in
a very lew days and with Itttrdly a shilling's expenditure, you have a
warm, dry, substantial house, not pretty certainly, — for beauty is
the very last thing thought of in the woods, — but very comfortable.
What little furniture you require is moved in, and you take posses-
sion of your wooden cantie, and your real business begins. You pro-
ceed to "clear your land and to get your first field rescued from the
forest ; if it is in the fall, as the autumn is called there, a very good
time to begin, you have the whole winter before you, when very little
else can be done besides chopping and clearing. Having cut away all
the under branches or small buslies and saplings, and piled them up
in convenient heaps to dry and burn, you begin with the big trees,
felling them right and left into heaps, and then cutting off the limbs
and cutting the trunks into lengths ready for operation in the
spring.
The operation of chopping down trees iu the most scientific and
cheapest manner, is one which must necessarily occupy your atten-
tion, and you will very soon become clever at it, though at first you
will find it most hard and diflicult work ; but the pleasure you will
experience aa each tree falls, as each enemy is conquered, leaving
you more and more land at your service, will be great, and fully re-
pay your toil. Sometimes when you find a row of large trees conve-
nient for your purpose, you will notch thm all but slightly, and
throw the end one of the row down up^|pfbhe next one to it, the
extra weight will break it down, and the two falling on the next will
serve it the same, and so on to the end ; I have sometimes spent
three or four days preparing for a great fall like this, and when the
lot, sometimes ten or twelve trees, come down, I assure you it does
you good to see the gap you have made.
All this being done during the winter, directly the snow is gone
in spriiig, you call another bee — a logging bee ; that is, you get aa
many of your neighbours to come as you can, and if two or three yokes
of oxen are brought, so much the better, it is hard to do without
tluMu ; and with their help you roll all the logs you have been cutting
up during the winter into heaps, pile amongst them the tree tops,
and, after a few days of fine dry weather, set fire to them, and you
liave a series of as beautiful bonfires as can be desired. These log-
heaps take days to consume, and it is your task to attend to them and
keep them burning, to pile them together and put on them all tlie
loose wood and chips that are lying about the land, so that when
your log-heaps are consumed nothing is left on your ground but the
stumps ; well, as soon as your heaps are disposed of, if it be in
spring, put in your seed, if it be potatoes, planting them with a hoe
A\1ierever you find a soft bit of earth betwv^en the roots; your oats
you simply sow broadcast on the ground, and drag them in witli
a brush-harrow, that is, a bundle of branches dragged over and
over the ground. As soon as this is done, you begin to fence ;
it would not do to lose time by doing it before. The fences in
Canada are almost universally the same, — the zigzag or snake-fences,
that is, good splitting trees are cut into twelve feet lengths, and
with wedges and mallets are split up into handy sizes ; these rails
are then placed one upon the other, in a zigzag manner, till about
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live feet high ; although, like most things there, not beautiful, they
ore serviceable.
In this manner the settler has managed to get five or six acres
cleared, sown, and fenced ; he has now the opportunity, we'll say,
of doing some work for a neighbour, who is better off than he is,
earning some money perhaps, or at any rate getting some pigs
around him, and so.ne poultry; perhaps he sees a good chance for
getting a cow, and to work her price out by splitting rails, or
something valuable of that sort, until his harvest time comes,
but a small one this first year ; although he is pretty sure to have
got a good supply of potatoes, and his oats may return him enough
to give him plenty of oatmeal for the winter, with scruo Jeff for
seed in the spring; then he will, no doubt, have got seme .' rap-
kins, which make delicious pies ; Indian corn, buck-wheat, nd
such things. Altogether he will have made a collection of eatables
which, with what he is able to earn by working for others, will
keep him through the coming winter, which, like the previous one,
he will spend in knocking down more trees, so that the next sea-
son he will have more land to sow with potatoes and oats, and the
piece he had cleared the year before will have a great many of the
roots decayed, and he will be able to get more seed into it and
more out of it, and so on from year to year adding to his clear-
A SNAKE TENCE.
ajice and to his farm. His first aim will be to get a yoke of oxen,
then to plough a little, and to get in a little wheat; in a couple
of years the stumps will begin to rot, and they will gradually be
got rid of, and thus perfectly clear fields will be his, — fields that he
can plough and harrow and gather his crops from, as they do in
this country. He will have built himself a really good log house,
a log barn, and cattle sheds and stables; and all will be his own,
and earned through his own exertions, which, although they have
been great, very great, are amply repaid thus. (See Frontispiece.)
I must not forget to tell you that in the backwoods of Canada it
is wonderful the way every one produces almost everything he re-
quires by his own exertions simply, and without money.
I have told you how a man with an axe, and perhaps an auger,
will get together nearly all the furniture he requires, after he has
got his house built with those tools ; from the maple-trees he pro-
cures in the spring his sugar and molasses for the year. I dare say
you have heard of this wonderful matter, and desire to know how it
18 done ; as it is, perhaps, one of the most interesting incidents of
bush life in America, 1 will tell you n little about it. In the spring,
mst when the weather is getting a little warmer and the sqow is
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beginning to melt, the sap of all the trees begins to rise upwards
from the roots to the branches, ready to form the leaves ; the maples,
which produce the sucar, are then tapped, that is, a slanting notch
is cut in thropgh the nark and about an inch into the solid wood ;
at the lowest corner of this notch a little piece of wood, with a
groove in it, is stuck, and at once the sap of the tree begins to run
out ; this fluid you catch in a trough, dug out of wood, of course ; iu
a dav you will catch, perhaps, two pailfuls of sap from one good-
sized tree. To the taste the fluid is just a little sweet. In a central
pait of what is called the sugar-bush, — for of course you have a
nunber of the trees tapped thus, forty or fifty or more,— you erect
a boiling-place, just a pole slung between two trees, on which all the
iron pots and kettles you can muster are hung; underneath you
light your fires, and begin boiling away at the sap ; as it boils down
you add more sap, and the contents of your kettles get sweeter and
sweeter ; after two or three days' boiling down you will have a lot of
it quite thick, as thick as treacle. Collecting all this into one kettle,
you verj carefully boil away at it, stirring it and skimming it until
it gets q\ute thick ; you pour a few drops of it out from time to time
on a cold plate, and when it sets quite hard, you stop the boiling
and pour it into basins and pans, and when cold it will turn out
solid lumps of pure sugar which ia very pleasant to the taste, an
excellent 3Ugar in fact. By this means, in ordinary years, enough
can be obtained to last all the year ; the sap flows thus for several
weeks, but towards the end it will not make sugar, although it will
make most excellent, delicious molasses, one of the most delightful
production,! of Canada, to my taste.
You ma} be sure that the sugar-making season is one of the most
active and interesting to all members of the family, old and young
betaking themselves to the sugar-bush, and lending a willing hand to
the production of that very useful and necessary article ; and even
after the sap is too poor to make either sugar or molasses, it will
make excell 3nt vinegar, as good as you can get anywhere. So, you
see, from these maple-trees you make sugar, molasses, and vinegar.
Now there is; more or less plentiful all through the woods there,
a species oi' fir-tree, called the hemlock; the bark of this tree is
^used for tanning leather almost exclusively in Canada. Well, in
pring, whe 1 this bark strips off" very easily, you peel a lot of it, and
av/ your leisure, with your ox sleigh in winter, you convey it to the
nftarest tamer's, and he will exchange boots and shoes with you for
it.\ If ypu are fortunate to possess some pine-trees on your land,
tba^e you can cut down and haul to market in the winter on your
ox weigh, and sell, or have converted into boards which will sell; at
any Vate they are valuable, and you can turn them to valuable
accoimt. You will not be long before you have plenty of poultry
about Won , the eggs you can exchange at the nearest store or shop
for whbt g roceries you require ; and if you have got on to own a
, the wool can be worked up in your own house into yam,
is sure to be a weaver near who will convert it into
cloth, a most durable article, on shares for you, that is,
ive all your wool into cloth, and give you, say two-thirds,
" e rest for his trouble. All your dyes for your cloth are
orae of the woods or barks growing on your own land,
ur own soap and candles there. All these things you
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will , very quickly learn how to do, thouf' i you may not think it now.
JfTild fruit ia no very plentiful and good in Canadn, that with tho
^nplo sugar, no one need be without plenty of good jams and pro-
BcrvcB. Jiaspberries, as good as any you get here, ar^wonderfuily plen-
PIGEON SHOOTIKG
tiful; I have .frequently
picked a paiU'ul in a couple
of hours. Wild plums,
strawberries, gooseberries,
black currants, are met
with everywhere ; and
cranberries in some loca-
lities are very numerous.
Then usually there are any
quantities of nuts in the
woods, — beech-nuts, wal-
nuts, butternuts, hickory-
nuts, — all extremely nice.
Game is plentiful, too,
especially in the unsettled
parts, jf course, the set-
tler will find it generalljl^^
to his advantage to mil^^\
his work rather thaij kfok- ^
ing after sportinipftatters,
still there are tiilies whq^n
he can spare a day, or an .
hour or two of an evening
or morning, and it is rare
if he does not procure
something which will add
a change to the ordinary
fare of the family. In
spring there are immense
flocks of pigeons passing
I
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24
over the ommtrj, flocks miles long, iouumorablo quantities ; for day»
together the skr is uever clear of them ; I have freciuently seen the
earth darkened by the shoals of them passiuf/ over. They don'fa
often alight, except in certain localities, but it they do see a field
of peas newly sown, and they settle on it, you will have to sow
that field again Mftf, for if every pigeon took but one nea, it would
make but a poor crop ; this is tne worst of them, otnorwiso they
are a capital thing, for you are sure to got a lot of them if vou
lave any sort of a gun. I remember once I killed twenty'four
tine birds with two dischargoB of !ny gun.
In tho woods there are plenty of squirrels, black, grey, and red ;
they are all most delicious to eat ; I know of nothing nicer. Tliere
are also racoons — animals about twice tho size of a haro — wood-
chucks, rabbits, and porcupines, and several other kinds, all ^ood to
eat, and very good too ; then there are varieties of deer, which you
may be fortunate enough to kill sometimes ; but they arc very shy,
and require a good rifle skilfully used. I must not forget that tliere
are jnany kinds of wild ducks, geese, swans, etc., wherever there is
water : and that there are quails and partridges, or grouse. Fish too i»
plentiful. Of wild animals, savage ones, there are a few in Canada ;
wild cats and lynxes, these are very rarely seen ; there are wolves
too ; but although I have lived for years in tho wildest parts of
Canada, I have only seen one or two, and I expect they were for
more frightened at me than I was at them. I have often, in very hard
winters, heard them howling at night, but nothing more. Much
more frequently seen are bears, and you will wish they were still
more frequent ; for although undoubtedly they are ferocious if yo\x
make tbem angry by wounding them or otherwise, yet my experi-
ence is that they will run away from a man much as any other wild
beast will. I have seen as many as eight bears in one party, rolling
themselves in shallow water on a hot day ; they are not good for
much then, but in the autumn, just btA)re the cold weather comes,
they are very valuable ; I don't know a more welcome addition to
one's winter store of meat than a good fat bear, every inch of him is
valuable. Pure bear's-grease for the hair is plentiful for long enough
after you have slain Bruin ; bear hams, bear steaks, bear's-paw soup,
salt bear, fresh bear, all is good ; and though it may seem a queer sort
of dish to you now, I can tell you, if you once get a chance to taste
it, you will tell a difterent story. The last bear I shot in Canada
"Weighed 4801b. as he fell, and I was offered a fat ox for him on the
spot. We ate every part of him ; I have his jaw-bone left now as u
trophy. They are of course mischievous animals if they get into a
field of Indian com, and they have been known to carry off a pig,
but on the whole they don't do much harm. A bear's principal
weakness seems to me to be maple molasses and whisky ; I believe
one would follow you for miles with that about you, so please
remember and leave whisky alone in Canada, for fear of the bears,
and for fear of other things too.
Of fur animals, there are large numbers in Canada, and during
your first few years in the woods, before the place gets thickly in-
nabited and cleared, you will be sure to come across them ; they are
all valuable, a skilful trapper can make a good bit of money out of
them. Minks, martens, Deavers, otters, sables, ermines, grey squir-
rels, and musk-rats, especially the latter, are quite numerous; I
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woulil
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if vou
ty-four
25
know of one man who paid for his fmin by the muik-rats he caught ;
but that was an exceptional cose, and you must not depend upon
any of these things to got on, but simply on the work you are able
to do with your own hands ; then little bits of game and a little fish
Boraotimos, ond a skin or two come in very nicely, and help things
on, but they are valuable for no more than that as a general rule.
\
BIXIOHINa IN TOWD.
The subject of climate will interest you. Is Canada a healthy
place ? Well, my experience of it in, that it is just as healthy as this
country, more so, of course, than the towns are here ; there is a littlo
fever f.nd ague in some parts where it is swampy, but that disap-
pears as the country is cleared.
Canada is very hot in summer, very cold in winter. There is very
little spring, but a very beautiful autumn. Some days in summer
are as hot as they are in India, but it is only some of the days ; there
SLKIOHIira IK IHB OOUNXBT.
is cool weather in summer there as well as here. The autumn is veiy
delightful, from the end of August till the middle of November is
the time, called there the fall. During the autumn, or fall, there are
usually weeks of lovely weather, frosty nights and sunny days ; this
is called the Indian summer. Then all the trees change colour,
— the maples change to the most brilliant crimson and scarlet, the
beeches to bright yellow and orange, the oaks and elms to a sombre
i
26
brown ; but, if any painter were to make a picture of the trees in
Canada in autnum, in their real colours, no one would believe it
could be true. I assure you that to go into the woods in autumn
and gaze up at the tree tops where the sun is shining through
them, is perfectly dazzling, so brilliant are the colours.
About the end of November or beginning of December come in
the frost and snow ; this lasts till March or April. I suppose people
who go to North America have more dread of the winter there than
anything, aul yet it is far from the worst season ; indeed, many, espe-
cially people from the old country, like it best. It is cold, of course,
fearfully cold, but you don't feel it there as here ; the air is dryer
an^ clearer. I have frequently known it to be so cold there that if you
attempted to open your street-door with a wet handj you would be
frozen fast to the door-handle, cr if you threw a glass of water up
into the air, it would come down ice ; at such a time your breath
would freeze in your nostrils and round your mouth, and yet all the
time the sun would be shining in all his splendor, and you would not
care a bit for the cold. Meat killed in the beginning of winter will
keep fresh till spring, milk, butter, cvery^Aiwy can be kept then; true,
you have to chop everything up with an axe, it is frozen so hard, but
ice is a capital preserver for all that. The snow falls there to a depth
of several feet ; sometimes it th'.ivs a little, and then freezes again,
making a crust on the snow, upon which you can walk comfort-
ably. As soon as the snow is down, wheels are quite given up all
over Canada, — nothing but sledges or sleighs, — everything is lively
then ; all roads are good ; it is the tinie for every one to do all his
travelling and all his marketing for the year, the most backward part
of the country wakes up then ; the merry sleigh bells are heard every-
where, for business and for pleasure. In the tov^ns sleighing parties
are made up, and some very beautiful vehicles turn out ; in the country
as much pleasure, though perhaps not so much show, is enjoyed. It
is considered a very bad thing if there be not plenty of snow and ice ;
indeed there are generally very bad complaints of business on all sides
if there be but poor sleighing. Now is the time when you feel the
blessing of having plenty of firewood free, only for the labour of cut-
ting it ; in your log-house you hive got a fireplace that will take in
large logs that will burn for days, and you will want it and enjoy it.
There are, of course, many other things which I coulo tell you
i'bout a settler's experience in Canada and about the country, but
time fails me. I dare say what I have told you, seems, on the whole,
rather a pleasing sort of life to lead, and so it is for many things,
but there are somo terrible hardships, — you will suffer a great deal
from loneliness at first, especially you who have always lived in
towns ; there will be some terrible deprivations there, which you will
not miss till you get there. There is no work here anything like the
work you will have to do there, and you will suffer no little from
your ignorance of the way to do things, but, for all this, I must re-
peat what I said before, — go to the bush and get land of your own
as soon as you can ; no matter what your trade is here, give it up there
and settle on land ; that all this is to be done successfully and without
too much hard work, I am myself a witness. Until fifteen years of
age I had led a town-life, was unused to work in the slightest degree ;
circumstances arose which caused my father, wL'/ had lived without
working till then, to go to Canada. No one could bs more unfit.
f'J"-'»'/»."*l«»|!r»,WfB«"*--«V.i';*''JmiPI|'<UI(|^^ '^
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one would Bay, than we were, and yet we went rieht into the back-
woodB and settled on land, and my first knowledge of earning my
living was there. I have done everything myself that I have told
you about, and more ; and I am quite sure any man, able and will-
ing, need not suffer very long there, and I should, for my own part,
think very many worse things might happen to me than to be obliged
to go into the bush in Canada, and there carve out for myself and
mine such a home as I helped to carve out before. If you are able,
and have made up your minds to work hard, very hard, to suffer
for the first year or two great privations, have fully determined to
lead sober, steady, industrious lives, — then I say go by all means to
the backwoods of Canada, you are su^ , sooner or later, to prosper.
I have said nothing about the United States, which is a glorious
country, — but it is not British, it is not our country, — there are
plenty of chances to get on there, but no better than you will find
in Canada, where, at least, you have a right to be, and where I'm sure
you'll feel more at home than in the States ; at any rate that is my
experience of it.
I have promised to say something to you about Australia ; it must
be very little, as I have occupied so much time about that magnifi-
cent country, Canada.
I think Australia is a better country for a mechanic to go to with
a view of following his trade, than either the United States or Canada
is. You see there are the gold-fields which employ large num-
bers of people, and a great deal of manufacturing is going on
there. To my mind Australia is the most wonderful country that
ever was, and I believe ever can be again ; the way it has progressed
during the last fifteen years is something tremendous. Thirty years
ago I believe there was one bark-hut where Melbourne now stands,
at the present day you will find as much f nish and stability and
splendour in Melbourne as in London, and the people just as crowded
and as busy as here. The gold-fields have had a great deal to do with
this, in that they have attracted so many people to the country;
and as it is such an expensive journey there, owing to the dis-
tance, most people who go, settle. That is of course the great con-
sideration for you, expense; and really I think Canada is just as
good a country to go to ; indeed, if you were to hear Canadians who
are in Australia talk, you would be sure it was. The climate of
Australia is very different from that of Canada ; it is very hot and
dry there in summer, and no winter ; merely a wet season, which I
very much prefer to the dry ; I have known six months to pass in
Australia without rain, water gets terribly scarce then. The country
itself is very peculiar, not at all like any other place I know ; it is
very pleasant in some parts, but land is very dear, owing to the
nd-laws — not less than £1 per acre, I believe.
The gold-fields are not paying very well now for individual labour ;
indeed there is not much chance for a man to make anything at
gold-digging nowadays, working alone, or without machinery, as it
used to be in tbe early days of the gold discovery, — it requires plenty
of capital.
A large number of people are employed by the different compa-
nies who are now wovking the mines, and they pay very good wages,
but that is for skilled labour, for men who understand what gold-
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30
mining ia. A collier, or a Cornish miner, or indeed any one who
understands that work, would do well there of course.
The sheep-farmers employ a good many people, as shepherds, hut-
keepers, stockmen, and such-like, but there, as in Canada, the land,
farming, is the great thing to depend upon ; and so, all I can say to
you is, that if you have made up your mind to go to Australia, go to
either Queensland or Swan Eiver, where land is to be had : and if
you are determined to work at some trade, go to Victoria.
I might spend a long time in details about this country, telling
you about the peculiar trees there, of the cherries that grow with
their stones outside, of the wooden pears, of the very peculiar ani-
mals thn,t are found there, the kangaroos, wombats, flying opos-
sums, and a host of others, but my time will not admit of it. I must
come to a conclusion. I have said nothing to you about the voyage
either to Canada or Australia, and there is really very little to he
said more than I am sure you know already. To Canada it is any-
A shkphebd's hut in austbalia.
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thing but a pleasant passage for an emigrant, but by steam it is
very short, ten or twelve days at most. To Australia, which by sail-
ing-ship takes some eighty to one hundred and twenty days, it is very
much pleasanter, for you have time then to get settled down to as much
comfort as cow be got on board an emigrant ship. I have crossed
the Atlantic to America and back some ten times, four times in emi-
grant ships, so I know pretty well what it is, and it certainly is not the
most pleasant twelve days one can spend, still it is got over some-
how. Take as little with you as possible, except clothing, which is"
cheaper there than here, and bedding of course. For tlie passage
you have to provide yourself with certain articles, which the people
you engage your passage from will tell you all about.
One word before I close. I have alluded once or twice to sobriety
as being sn essential for an emigrant. There is a very great deal too
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31
much drinking done here, 1 know, for the good of all. People seem
to think it is quite impossible to do without beer a number of times
a day ; there is not so much downright drunkenness here, as there
is a continual drinking of beer, which coats a great deal of money
and does not a bit of good. I am not a teetotaller, and yet I have
worked as hard as any man has done, under the burning sun of
Australia, and in the freezing cold of Canada, sometimes for days
together up to my middle in water, night and day, and I have never
thought of taking anything stronger than tea and coflfee on that ac-
count ; it is not the custom in those countries to drink as people do
here, and I have proved it is not necessary ; but for all that there
is plenty of drinking done, plenty of drunkenness. Whisky in
America is very cheap ; it used to be only 25 cents (Is.) a gallon,
and there was a lot of it drunk ; it is now dearer, and there is more
of it drunk, but it is only at taverns and such places ; a man need not
drink there unless he likes, so there is no excuse; therefore I do
beg of you io be careful, and keep from drinking. Give it up here
entirely, and you will find the benefit of it ; use the money instead in
helping you on your way to Canada ; and from the moment you
quit these shores, at any rate, give it up altogether; you'll never
regret it, but rejoice for ever afterwards. A drunkard is a failure
everywhere ; a man who drinks only moderately is sure to be re-
garded with suspicion in Canada ; a teetotaller is almost bound to
succeed.
I have done. I trust I have been able to give you an idea of what
emigrating means, what you may expect of good and bad ; and if
what I have said helps you to overcome the difficulties before you,
and to succeed in the new land to which you are thinking of going,
I shall have my reward. Keep a brave heart, let no hardships beat
you ; don't be disheartened at first, and, with God's blessing, you
will surely ultimately do well.
m
AUSTRALIAN CHJJEEIES, WHICH GEOW WITH THEIE STONES OtJTSIDE-
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