ae UNSEL FOR EMIGRANTS, 
 ehroins INNORMATION, : 
 
 AND 
 
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 FROM 
 
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 Canada and the United States... 
 
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COUNSEL FOR EMIGRANTS, 
 
 J 4 
 INTERESTING INFORMATION ©; (/ 
 FROM NUMEROUS SOURCES ; 
 
 WiTH 
 
 ORIGINAL LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ In the multitude of Councillors there is safety.” 
 SOLOMON. 
 
 ABERDEEN: 
 JOHN MATHISON, BROAD STREET. 
 
 1834. 
 
ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL. 
 
 ABERDEEN? 
 Printed by D. CoaumerRs & Co. 
 Adelphi Court. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 “” 
 + Those Articles marked with a Star are now first Published. 
 —= i 
 7 
 ¥ 
 & Page 
 “i. * Introductory - - “ ” - - : 
 ‘ Leaving Home - 17 
 Opinion on the Propr iety of Emigrating, by Mr. Fergusson - 19 
 On the same, by Mr. Chambers - - ib. 
 Opinion as to the best place for 7 hg thae by the same - 20 
 Do. by Martin Doyle - ~ - - 21 
 Emigration, from the Scotsman Newspaper . - - 22 
 J Letter from the British Consul at New York - 24 
 “(> ® Extract from a Letter to the Publisher, from Upper Canada - 25 
 S= Do. from a Settler in Upper Canada - - - 26 
 —. ™ Extract of a Letter from New York - ~ - 29 
 
 * Extracts from the Letters of a Land Surveyor, in the Unive States 30 
 >>, Extract of a Letter from Zorra, Oxford District, PERS Canada 33 
 
 * Do. from the same place - - - - 35 
 
 & * Do. ofa Letter from one of the Government Agents in Upper 
 Sm Canada, to the Publisher £ - 36 
 
 e 4, * Extracts from the Letters of an intelligent Far fae now in 
 Upper Canada - - - - 38 
 
 af Extract of a Letter of one of the Colonial Society’s “Ministers i in 
 ao Upper Canada . - - - - 42 
 },. * Extract of a Letter from a Clergyman in Upper Canada - 43 
 r * Do. of a Letter from a Mason*in York, Upper Canada - 45 
 {2 Do. of a Letter from a Farm Servant in the United States 46 
 ™ * Do. of a Letter from a Settler at Zorra ~ - - 52 
 * Do. of a Letter from the same place - - - - 59 
 So Do. of a Letter from a Mason in the States - - ib. 
 + Hints to Emigrants, by Mr. Fergusson - - - _ 61 
 & Miscellaneous Notes on Canada = 2 BE ib. 
 => Choosing a Location, and the Titles to Property - - 63 
 SQ Extract of a Letter froma Cler gyman > - - 66 
 * Do. from a Cabinet Maker - - - - - 67 
 Extract of a Letter from New York - - - “ 69 
 Outfit - - - - > - - - ib. 
 Passage out - - - - 70 
 Climate of Canada, from M ‘Grigor’ s British America - - 71 
 - Do. from Fergusson’ s Notes - . - 73 
 Do. from Strachan’s Visit - - - 74 
 Do. from Doyle’s Hints - . - 75 
 Vicissitudes of the Weather at Halifax - - “ - 76 
 * Extract of a Letter from Zorra - - - = 78 
 
 897523 
 
 EE ea at a a ta a= - PS —— peel 
 
iv 
 
 * The Water of the St. Lawrence 
 
 * Extract of a Letter from a Flaxdresser, ‘rynited States 
 “ Do. from the same, containing Answers to Queries 
 Official Report, relative to Canada in 1833 = = 
 Comparison between Cleared Land, and the Bush 
 “ Extract of a Letter from a Settler in Montreal . 
 
 Do. from Eramora, Upper Canada : 
 Do. from Amherstburgh, Upper pened 
 Game in Canada, from M‘Grigor - 
 Do. the Deer, from Statistical Sketches - - 
 Do. the Canvas-back Duck, from Vigne “ “ 
 Do. the Turkey, from Statistical Sketches - - 
 White Fish, from Fergusson - - - - 
 Preparations for Emigration - - - 
 Money and Goods - - - - - 
 Temperance - ” - ” - - 
 The Voyage, from Chambers - - - . 
 Do. from Cattermole “ - 
 Extract of a Letter from Leeds, Lower Canada - - 
 Do. from the same Person - - 
 “Do. from the same place, of a later date - - 
 * Do. from Whitby, Upper Canales written by an Emigrant from 
 Buchan “ - 
 * Do. from the Banks of the Trent, Upper Canada - 
 * Do. from do. - - - - 
 * Do. from Montreal - - ~ = - 
 “ Do. from Whitby District - - - 
 “ Do. from a young Farmer, on the rfl: of the Trent 
 “ Do. from a Settler in the Newcastle District - 
 A Bee - - - - - 
 * Routes to Upper Canada - - 
 
 * Extract of a Letter from the Banks ‘of the Ott wa 
 * Do. from Zorra « 2 i be Ps 
 
 “ Do. from Michigan - . « 5 
 * Concluding remarks on Emigration - : 
 APPENDIX - be & se 
 * No. I. Money Matters - - - ms 
 
 No. Il. Explanation of American Terms 
 
 No. III. List of Works relative to Canada and the United States 
 
 * No. IV. Drawback of Duties 4 2 
 * No. V. Extract of a Letter from New Vouk. fm 
 
 oo 
 
 = 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 THE question of the propriety of emigration to some dis- 
 tant settlement, in any individual instance, will probably 
 be resolved on, like many other weighty matters, be- 
 fore any advice is asked on the subject ; for every one 
 knows his own affairs best. None think of taking such an 
 adventurous step without believing themselves come to years 
 of discretion, and consequently more capable than any other 
 person of deciding in their own cases on this important and 
 transporting plan for the future. When friends are con- 
 sulted, some advise it as a most prudent scheme, and others 
 dissuade from it as the worst possible; these on both sides 
 sometimes knowing little about the propriety or impropriety 
 of the consulter’s resolution, which may depend on divers 
 cogent reasons wisely reserved for his own particular consi-~ 
 deration, that he may have some advantage over his privy 
 council in coming to a right judgment. 
 
 As I would leave every one to manage their own concerns, 
 in so far, I shall offer no advice on the question of to go, or 
 not to go, but when any intending emigrant has finally made 
 up his mind, and “ no mistake,” then I am sure he will 
 listen to reason if it is allin his own way of thinking. If he will 
 in this state apply to the present little work for information, 
 it will most likely be able to answer at least one anxious in- 
 quiry, on which he may still very probably be open to con~ 
 viction—whitherto shall I emigrate ? 
 
 a 
 
I 
 
 I shall suppose, therefore, that my readers have passed the 
 great preliminary resolution of removing for life from the land 
 which has hitherto been their home, to another beyond the 
 confines of the old world. Their easy chairs must be left 
 behind, as they will be well aware, and also many domestic 
 comforts, particularly if they have any thoughts of the Bush ; 
 but man must yield to circumstances, and it has been a 
 custom of ancient date to be obliged to seek one’s fortune 
 elsewhere, and to take the road where Hope stands _ bolt- 
 uptight as a finger post, pointing to some country in the dis- 
 tance-—a perspective in the mind’s eye, where all that is de- 
 sirable may be found, if the search is diligently made. 
 
 But flights of imagination are migratory excursions which 
 we ought to indulge in as little as possible, and we shall 
 now, in sober seriousness, sit down to the consultation, with 
 a determination that after having discovered and satisfactorily 
 determined on the best place for removing our tents to, that 
 then we shall call witnesses, examine documents, and ask 
 advice from every one whom we may think capable of giv- 
 ing it, and of proving that we are right. 
 
 The countries usually chosen with this view are Canada, 
 the United States, Australia, or New South Wales, Van 
 Dieman’s Land, Nova Scotia, the Cape of Good Hope, and 
 the Colony at Swan River. 
 
 It was perhaps hardly necessary to mention the two last, 
 as they are rather out of date, though they have had their day. 
 The Swan River territory was highly praised some years 
 ago ; a most flattering Botanical report was made to Go- 
 vernment of its capability for raising, if not corn and live 
 stock, yet very fine trees and shrubs and many curious and 
 beautiful flowers, with numerous flocks of splendid Parro- 
 quets, and a few strange animals called Kangaroos. Some 
 hundreds of emigrants accordingly settled their affairs in 
 this country, for good, and after some squabbling at home 
 about who should secure the greatest quantity of the best 
 land, in the distribution of which much partiality was shewn, 
 and rather disproportionate grants made, (the Colonial Office, 
 exemplifying the old adage of hight come, light go,)—the 
 expedition set sail for the land of promise, and of still greater 
 expectation. Ship after ship was announced for Swan River, 
 and fortunate were they deemed who had waited till then. 
 
lil 
 
 The bubble of Poyais had burst, and its last, sparkles had 
 been blown away through the thick tangled woods and 
 marshes of that fatal climate, where its wretched dupes had 
 found nought but misery, suffering, or death. “The Swan 
 emigrants have not been so completely deceived, but this is 
 not saying much in their favour. They carried with them 
 a Governor, civil and military establishment, and every thing 
 was done to ensure success, with the exception of procuring 
 a true knowledge of the country to which they were going. 
 Besides the long and expensive voyage, occupying generally 
 nearly five months, it was found that the river could not be 
 even entered by shipping, and scarcely by loaded boats, from 
 the rocky shallows at its mouth ; and shipping were obliged 
 to anchor in an open readstead off Garden Island, some leagues 
 distant from the Swan. This seems a bar to any permanent 
 importance being attached to the Colony ; for without an easy 
 access to the sea it obviously can never rise to any emi- 
 nence as a commercial place, nor can its inhabitants thrive. 
 The soil is sandy and poor within many miles of the coast, 
 but after ascending the river a considerable way, the country 
 improves greatly, and is blest with an excellent and salubrious 
 climate—the last no slight advantage to be taken into ac- 
 count. By persevering industry a capital has been built, 
 and farms are beginning to rise under its protection, yet most 
 of the settlers have been nearly ruined, and all have too 
 much reason to be disappointed. The natives have proved 
 very troublesome and dangerous neighbours : in almost every 
 number of “ the Perth Gazette,’ there is an article headed 
 * The natives again,” and details are given of their attacks 
 and depredations. The white ants are found extremely de- 
 structive—every kind of European commodity is enormously 
 dear, and the Colonists have little money to purchase ; — good 
 servants or workmen are nearly impossible to be procured, 
 few in that capacity being able to go so far, so there is little 
 choice ;—all articles of even common necessity, except what 
 the settler can raise or manufacture for himself, are high ; 
 and, in short, the Colony seems now only to be kept up by 
 those who have committed themselves to it so far that they 
 cannot well separate their interests from it. 
 
 There is now little heard of the Colony for emigrants at 
 the Cape of Good Hope, though begun also under the ex- 
 
 ‘6 
 
 a2 
 
iV 
 
 press sanction of Government, and with their assistance, in 
 the back settlements there. It has proved even a greater 
 failure than the Swan Utopia. The climate has been found 
 too hot for European constitutions to thrive in ; the Colonists 
 are exposed to hostile attacks from the natives ; wild beasts 
 and noxious reptiles; at a distance from Cape Town, and 
 their harvests have frequently failed from various causes. Of 
 late, so few communications relative to this secluded establish- 
 ment have been made public, that the general interest in its 
 welfare has almost died away. 
 
 Our Colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape 
 Breton, Prince Edward’s Island, and Newfoundland, are ge- 
 nerally viewed as better adapted for fishing settlements than 
 for agricultural purposes. They are admirably situated and 
 formed for the first of these, and fish swarm in their nume- 
 rous bays, and in their rivers. They are becoming also much 
 more cultivated than they were, and many emigrants have 
 found comfortable homes in their interiors. Their climates 
 may be said to be very conducive to health, although their 
 winters are long, and in the season when the great islands 
 and bergs of ice come floating past from the northern seas, 
 the humidity and general fogginess of the atmosphere is very 
 unpleasant. * 
 
 Southern Australia, or New South Wales, is now a great 
 and thriving colony, but its much greater distance than any 
 of our other settlements is against its being chosen by an intend- 
 ing emigrant who has no particular reasons, such as rejoining 
 friends, for directing his course to so remote a place. Its 
 climate, like that of Swan River, is in general delightful and 
 healthy, but subject at times to droughts and heavy rains, 
 rendering the harvests uncertain, and the rivers swollen to a 
 destructive degree. Winter, such as we see it, is unknown 
 there. The country being in the directly opposite part of 
 the globe to Great Britain, its seasons, its summer and win- 
 ter, are consequently reversed, or at opposite times to ours. 
 
 There are so many of the very worst characters sent to 
 
 * “ These countries are not so warm or genial as Upper Canada; they 
 are what Scotland is to England, more rugged and mountainous, and 
 more unpromising in their outlines. but they are not less healthful and 
 pleasant, and they are the nearest colonial possessions of Great Britain.” 
 —Chalmers’ Information for the People, No. 4. 
 
Vv 
 
 New South Wales by Government, as a penal colony, that 
 the Society, of course, little deserves to be gone so far to 
 enjoy, and the servants are nearly all convicted felons, not 
 much to be depended on, crimes being very frequent although 
 followed by summary justice.* Many emigrants have, how- 
 ever, thriven there, and even convicts have become rich, 
 prosperous, and respected. ‘Their possessions or farms are 
 commonly extensive, and sheep seem to be their chief or 
 most profitable object. Great quantities of their fine wools 
 are now imported into Britain. They are much annoyed in 
 these occupations, both by wild animals destroying their flocks, 
 and by losses from straying and stealing. A gentleman writes 
 from thence that his farm overseer was a highwayman, and 
 his housekeeper a thief, but that he has perfect confidence in 
 them, partly from the absence of temptation, and partly be- 
 cause there is not a gin shop, or a pawnbroker’s, within 100 
 miles of them! Indeed, it is the general custom there, how- 
 ever strange it may appear to us, to trust more to the honor 
 of your servants than to locks and keys. They would other- 
 wise be affronted, being particularly sensitive of allusions to 
 old stories, and the last mode of security is found to be the 
 least safe from some of these accomplished locksmiths. 
 
 Country gentlemen are generally obliged to get themselves 
 made Justices of the Peace, that they may take the law into 
 their own hands with their dependants, like our old Scottish 
 Chieftains who exercised the power of “ pot and gallows,” 
 when their poor vassals were either drowned or hanged now 
 and then to please the laird; but the Australian Bin may 
 not carry the law so far. 
 
 We are accustomed in our own country, to consider large 
 possessions in land as valuable in proportion (generally speak- 
 ing) to their extent, and to fancy that, if we had an estate 
 in such a place as New South Wales, containing a great 
 number of acres, we must be rich according to its size. 
 It may be useful to give some who entertain such notions, 
 new ideas on this point, more conformable to reality ; and 
 
 * ** A pestilential and impure moral atmosphere hangs over these co- 
 lonies, which will require a very long time to dispel; and although this 
 can be certainly best effected by a wholesome infusion of character from 
 home, it must prove a heavy sacrifice to these individuals who undertake 
 the task.”’—Jerguson’s Notes on Canada, p. 309. 
 
 a3 
 
Vi 
 
 although the possession of a certain quantity of land no doubt 
 may enable its owner to support his family from its produce, 
 if he bestir himself, yet the following letter will illustrate 
 what in many situations will be discovered too late by the 
 possessors of great estates in a country where internal im- 
 provements, such as roads, &c. have not yet rendered the 
 lands of the value which they are at home. 
 
 The letter referred to was written by a gentleman at Syd- 
 ney, New South Wales, in 1829; and it will enable us to 
 appreciate the worth of an Australian unimproved estate :— 
 
 “ The facts on which my opinions were formed have turn- 
 ed out to be true ; but my conclusions were miserably erro- 
 neous. Tor example, I was told that an estate of 10,000 
 acres might be obtained for a mere trifle. This wastrue. I 
 have got 20,000 acres, and they did not cost me more than 
 2s. per acre. But I imagined that a domain of that extent 
 would be very valuable. In this I was wholly mistaken. As 
 my estate cost me next to nothing, so it was worth next to 
 nothing. For reasons which I shall mention presently, I tried 
 to sell it ; but I could not find a purchaser, without submit- 
 ting to lose a great part of what I had expended in improve- 
 ments. Yet there are persons continually reaching the co- 
 lony on purpose to invest money in the purchase of land ; 
 but when I have made overtures to them, they have grumbled 
 at my price, saying, that they could obtain a grant from the 
 crown for less than sixpence per acre ; and when I have talk- 
 ed of my ‘ improvements,” they have answered, that they 
 preferred improving themselves to buying my improvements. 
 In short, my domain has no market value. It is a noble 
 property to look at; and “ 20,000 acres in a ring fence” 
 sounds very well in England ; but here such a property pos- 
 sesses no exchangeable value.. The reason is plain ; there are 
 millions upon millions of acres, as fertile as mine, to be had 
 for nothing ; and, what is more, there are not people to take 
 them. Of my 20,000 acres I reckon about 5,000 to be 
 woodland, though, indeed, there are trees scattered over 
 the whole property, as in an English park. For my amuse- 
 ment, I had a rough estimate made of the money that 1 could 
 obtain for all this timber, were it growing in any part of 
 England. The valuation amounts to above £150,000. Now, 
 for my pecuniary advantage, the best thing that could happen 
 
Vil 
 
 to me would be the annihilation of all this natural produce, 
 provided, I mean, that it could be destroyed without: cost. 
 The cost of destroying it, out of hand, would be at least 
 £15,000. Thus, in point of fact, my timber injures my 
 estate to that amount, instead of being worth ten times that 
 sum. It seems droll, does it not, that an English hundred- 
 and-fifty-thousand-pounds worth of any thing should, any 
 where, be a dead loss of fifteen thousand pounds? It is 
 true, however, as you may fully convince yourself by read- 
 ing, in any of the accounts of these settlements, a chapter 
 upon “ Grubbing.” Fortunately some other things that I 
 possess, and which, if I had them in England, would make 
 me a peer, are not, like the timber, a positive injury. These 
 are mines of coal and iron, in which my estate is supposed 
 to abound. Being under the surface they can do no harm ; 
 and I shall take good care that they are not disturbed. For 
 if any one, out of enmity to me, should bring an army of 
 miners from Staffordshire, and raise to the surface a large 
 quantity of my coal and iron ore, the cost of throwing it 
 down the shafts again would quite ruin me, if, indeed, I 
 could at any cost find labourers for the purpose. As for dis- 
 posing of it in any other way, that would be impossible, for 
 want of roads. Besides, neither the crown nor individuals 
 would let me injure their land by casting my rubbish on it. 
 As regards the coal though, Iam mistaken; I might con- 
 sume it by fire without much trouble. But what could I 
 do with the iron ore, when, even though there should be 
 _ Means to convey it into Sydney, nobody would give me one 
 Birmingham frying-pan for the whole of it. An estate of 
 20,000 acres, containing rich mines of coal and iron, and 
 covered with magnificent timber, is, no doubt, a very good 
 thing in some countries ; but here you will lose money by 
 such a possession, that is, if you have any money to lose, 
 and unless you take particular care of it.” 
 
 Van Dieman’s Land is a very large island in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of New South Wales, although it appears 
 small on the map when compared with its great neighbour, 
 which is in extent more of the character of a continent than 
 an island. ‘The climate is fine, even superior to that of our 
 possessions in Australia, and the soil is also better. Several 
 of the objections, however, which apply to these others in a 
 
Vill 
 
 general view, must also be held as rendering Van Dieman’s 
 Land: less adviseable for an emigrant to select than a country 
 nearer home, for he would not only be much longer in reach- 
 ing it himself, and at a greater loss of time and money, but 
 all his future communications with the mother country— 
 with the land of his connections and friends,, must be made 
 at the same expence of time and pecuniary outlay. 
 
 The great stream of emigration is at present divided be- 
 tween the United States and British Canada ; both most 
 extensive countries, presenting varied and eligible situations 
 for settlements. For those emigrants who intend to become 
 farmers, cultivating their own lands, the neighbourhood of 
 the great lakes would now appear to be: the best localities 
 in the United States. The territory of Michigan, (pro- 
 nounced Mikigan) lying at the head of lake Erie, seems to 
 be the most promising. It is highly spoken of by Mr. Fer- 
 guson of Woodhill, who has published a small velume which 
 ought to be in the hands of every one who intends to settle 
 in the States or in Canada. He has not, however, chosen 
 Michigan as the scene of his own location. * 
 
 It is a question of great importance to consider the rela- 
 tive advantages of settling in the States, or in British Ca- 
 nada. As far as we can discover, the first has the superiority 
 in what is connected with land, the other in having the so- 
 ciety more agreeable and in a great measure more like what 
 we have been accustomed to. Every foreign country has its 
 peculiar customs and manners, and we must not expect to 
 find them exactly suited to those we have been brought up 
 amidst, and have been familiarized with at home. Emigrants 
 must make up their minds to conform themselves to many 
 things different from what they have formerly known. If 
 the balance between the good and the bad is in their favour, 
 
 * Intelligence has been received of the success so far of the expedition 
 of Mr. Fergusson of Woodhill, with a number of emigrants, to Upper 
 Canada. Mr. Fergusson has made a purchase of 7,000 acres, being the 
 north-west half of the township of Nichol, situated about ten miles from 
 the city of Guelph, and forty-five fiom Lake Ontario. It is intersected 
 in one part by the Grand River, one of the finest in Canada ; and in ano. 
 ther by the water of Irvine, on which there are abundant falls for ma- 
 chinery. ‘The situation is healthy, and the trees of those kinds which 
 denote soil of the highest fertility. ‘The party are in the highest state of 
 health, activity, and spirits, and have already been joined by some of 
 their countrymen, who went out before, and unconnected with them. 
 
1X 
 
 they ought to be contented, and to do their best to get on 
 in their newly adopted country. There is no place on earth 
 to which some objections might not be found, so our only 
 expectation ought to be when we have the world before us, 
 ‘© where to choose,” to take up our residence in the one best 
 adapted to supply our necessities, and suit us in other ways. 
 In no country can a man, with little or nothing to begin with 
 beyond his own personal exertions, become suddenly rich— 
 possessed of an estate without toil, trouble, and privations ; 
 so a relation of these, in like cases, need not deter us from 
 pushing our fortunes in Canada. 
 
 To those who have been here used to be servants, the 
 American equality between masters and servants will no 
 doubt be vastly agreeable; while those who have been ac- 
 customed to deference, and to command servants in this 
 country, will feel the American mode of treating their 
 “helps” not so pleasant, nor the style in which these assist- 
 ants (servants they will not suffer their employers to call 
 them) behave to their masters. Even children are encourag- 
 ed in America to consider themselves very soon independent 
 of parental control ; and the religious morals of the people in 
 general are far from what we would wish to expose our 
 young families to imitate. 
 
 The Americans are a people proud of their country, being 
 commonly, at the same time, ignorant of the manners and 
 customs of those others whom they delight to calumniate. 
 An Englishman or Scotchman settling amongst them must 
 learn to gulp down in silence, or at least with little obser- 
 vation or dispute, many severe reflections on his country and 
 its institutions, if he wishes to avoid engaging in continual 
 quarrels. This alone often makes a residence in the States 
 exceedingly unpleasant, for whether or not we may feel our 
 patriotism very strong while in our native land, we are sure 
 to have it greatly increased in a foreign country, and to burn 
 with indignation at hearing our own decried or abused in 
 the least degree. An American thinks no country so good 
 as his own ; none so wise, so brave, or so powerful ; and he 
 is not content with believing all this himself, without endea- 
 vouring to make others acknowledge it also.* 
 
 * «The natives (of America) have an idea that they are superior to 
 the old country people, and, so far as I have seen, I cannot say that I 
 
x 
 
 Upon the whole, the British emigrants now prefer Ca- 
 nada, and with the most substantial reason. It is divided 
 into Upper and Lower Canada, each division being a country 
 of immense extent. ‘There is now no doubt remaining but that 
 that which is called the upper part is by far the most eligible 
 for settlers, and the farther West the better. The cli- 
 mate, soil, and productions, are greatly before those of the 
 lower parts ; and it is regarding Upper Canada that this Work 
 is principally intended to give information. It is presumed 
 that its pages will be found to leave few, if any, essential ques- 
 tions unanswered, as those which will naturally occur to an in- 
 tending emigrant, and proper to be known before setting out. 
 
 So rapidly is Canada progressing in its internal improve- 
 ments, from the immense numbers annually taking up their 
 residence there, stimulating the formation of roads, canals, 
 and modes of conveyance, transforming little villages in the 
 wilderness into great and populous towns, busy as the hives 
 of the wild bees so common in the forest, and clearing the 
 Bush away to give place to fields of wheat, Indian corn, and 
 potatoes—that the emigrant might be much misled in trust- 
 ing to accounts given a few years back. The price of land 
 is rapidly rising, the value of labour and expense of living 
 yearly altering ; so it is to the most recent accounts that we 
 ought to look, for information in many particulars, on which 
 the emigrant can rely as to the present state of things. Others 
 which continue more stationary as the characteristics of the 
 country, may be studied in the descriptions of an older date. 
 
 A very great number of recent works relating to Canada 
 may be perused with advantage. A list of some of the most 
 popular and useful will be found in the Appendix. Many 
 of these, however, are too expensive for thousands who would 
 nevertheless wish to become acquainted with the practical 
 details which they contain; and much requires to be con- 
 sidered here before settling on the plan to be pursued, or 
 the direction to be taken, for arriving at a new home in “ the. 
 
 Sar West.” 
 
 think the boast altogether a mistaken one in some respects. A Scotch 
 clergyman remarked to me ‘the Yankies are too clever for us, we cannot 
 get along.’ They are remarkably vain and conceited about every thing 
 pertaining to their own country, and consider Washington as the greatest 
 
 General the world ever saw, and that Alexander, Cesar, or Bonaparte, 
 were nothing to him.”~—Letler from a Scottish genileman in America, 
 
Xl 
 
 In the extracts and documents which follow, much will be 
 found that must prove useful and necessary to the emigrant. 
 He will discover more clearly what preparations he ought to 
 make previous to crossing the Atlantic, and what he may 
 expect to find upon landing on the shores of America. The 
 difficulties on the route to his intended location will be les- 
 sened by their being foreseen, and he will be better able to 
 know where to direct his steps for the purchase of land, or 
 to the places where he can, most probably, find employment 
 for his labour. 
 
 A number of original letters are here first published, and 
 the observations which they contain being of the most recent 
 dates, cannot fail to supply a desideratum of considerable 
 importance to all those whose views are now directed to the 
 discussion of emigration, either on their own accounts, or for 
 those in whom they are interested. 
 
 In examining these different communications, we should 
 remember that those people who have never been from home 
 are too apt to form general estimates of the expense of liv- 
 ing in other places, by noting the prices of various articles, 
 which may be dearer or cheaper than with them in “ the Old 
 Country ;” but it sometimes may signify little if a few things 
 be cheaper when others are dearer, as is not unfrequently 
 the case. ‘The lists of prices given in books, relative to Ca- 
 nada, are commonly those in towns, and always high, so 
 that an emigrant who does not mean to settle in a town, but 
 to raise his own necessaries, has not much to do with them, 
 as far as requiring to purchase them goes. One main object 
 with an agricultural settler should be, as soon as possible, to 
 live on the produce of his farm, which, except in the article 
 of clothes, may soon render the butcher and the baker’s shops 
 unnecessary, and barter is often the great means of traffic in 
 Canada. He will be surprised, indeed, how soon he will 
 be able to accomplish this independence, and the higher the 
 necessaries of life sell for in the towns and villages, the 
 better for the farmer; while mechanics, on the other hand, 
 have wages proportionate to the cost of living there, and 
 sooner or later most of these turn their views to land. 
 
 One great advantage to the working classes will be expe- 
 rienced by them both in Canada and in the States, namely, 
 that labour there is honored; and it is not considered so 
 
X11 
 
 great a favour, as here, to be allowed to toil for others. There, 
 the labourer generally finds that he is conferring a favour in- 
 stead of receiving one, and besides living well, with good 
 wages, obliges the person for whom he works, while civility 
 and assiduity are duly estimated on both sides. 
 
 We should not implicitly trust, in every instance, to the 
 accounts of any one writer on emigration, as far as he re- 
 commends a particular country or district, or holds out one 
 district as the best and most eligible. These authors have 
 often private and interested reasons for the advice which 
 they give in this respect. If persons settled on a certain 
 spot can induce many others to congregate around them, then 
 the value of their own land must rise, and if they wish to 
 sell it, representations of its advantages may induce pur- 
 chasers to buy it.* But these observations do not apply to 
 any of the letters now published, which, with very few ex- 
 ceptions, were written to the nearest connections and friends 
 of the parties, and for their benefit. 
 
 On reaching America or Canada, ready and even impor- 
 tunate givers of advice are on the outlook for those emi- 
 grants who appear to be worth paying attention to, being 
 frequently employed by those who have lands to sell, if 
 they have none of their own in the market. These gentry 
 ought to be cautiously listened to, and it will require a con- 
 siderable deal of coolness and prudence to make a fix, as 
 the Americans say. 
 
 Those who can afford to delay this important matter a 
 while, will find it much to their advantage to do so, proceed- 
 ing deliberately, and examining well, in the first place, into 
 titles offered by private individuals, and comparative locali- 
 ties of all kinds. 
 
 Situations in low lying swampy lands ought to be avoided, 
 however cheap the price or good the soil may be; for agues 
 and fevers are as well avoided, if possible, and healthy si- 
 
 * “ Again I caution you not to be too hasty in purchasing property. 
 You will find yourself amongst a keen, sharp-sighted people, willing and 
 able enough to give you information upon subjects unconnected with their 
 calling ; yet ever ready to take advantage of your confidence, by prais- 
 ing up some particular farm of their own, or one that they have a mort- 
 gage on, &c. &c. or probably to go and buy a property which they know 
 you to have set your heart upon, and which they can get at a less price 
 than what, they know, you are disposed to give.”—Emigrant’s Friend. 
 
Xu 
 
 tuations may be at first just as easily discovered. Good and 
 soft water for domestic purposes, and near at hand, should 
 be a primary look out, as well as the qualities of the soil, 
 and the services it may have been previously required to per- 
 form ; for, renewing by means of manure, is not yet much in use 
 in America. On the convenience which a property may have of 
 communicating with the nearest town or shipping port, de- 
 pends much of its value: those roads which are only meant 
 to be made, the intended proprietors of the neighbourhood 
 should recollect that, before they enjoy them, it is they them- 
 selves who will have to make or pay for them, so that this ex- 
 pense must be added to the contemplated price of their pur- 
 chases of land, and may very soon be called for. 
 
 Those emigrants who can afford to purchase farms with 
 houses, and the land partly cleared, will be in very superior 
 situations to those who must be content with wild land in 
 the bush. Many of the early difficulties described, will not 
 affect the first, but one advantage of a settlement on the lat- 
 ter, however, is, that much more of it may be purchased for 
 the same money, and although a greater quantity than can 
 be brought under cultivation for a long time, may be of little 
 use, for a number of years, yet it forms a portion laid past for 
 children, and is always becoming more valuable. In Ca- 
 nada, it should also be considered that ready money can be 
 employed inso many profitable ways that it may,in some cases, 
 be best to buy no more land than is likely to be required, or 
 made useful for farming purposes, within a few years. 
 
 A new feature has, within a short period, given to emi- 
 gration a better character than it before possessed. Formerly, 
 emigrants consisted only of those who were in desperate cir- 
 cumstances, and those who had little to carry with them in 
 the shape of property ; but the times are changed in this de- 
 partment, as in most others, by Peace and Reform. These 
 were once imagined to be sovereign specifics for all ills to 
 which mankind are heirs to, but we are now beginning to 
 doubt the efficacy both of one and the other. Our home po- 
 litics, though they are all for the best, are driving thousands 
 after thousands abroad, who, in former times, used to drink 
 to “ peace and plenty,” till the one came without the second 
 in its train, and heaven but granted half our prayer, that man 
 might learn how little he could of himself foresee conse- 
 
 b 
 
X1V 
 
 quences from certain events. Though swords and spears 
 have been beat into ploughshares and reaping hooks, yet we 
 did not advert to the possibility of there being but bad crops 
 to cut down. It is, indeed, almost amusing, if we could 
 smile through our tears, to look back to the days of our va- 
 nity, and to mark, though we do so with a sigh, the fallacy 
 of human inferences from expected events—to read the con- 
 fident predictions of our Oracles of wisdom in former years. 
 Let us turn, for instance, to the pages of a celebrated lead- 
 ing Periodical, dated July, 1812,* and then compare the 
 prophecies with their expected fulfilment, with the change 
 which has come over the spirit of these dreams—the conse- 
 quences of a transition from a state of vigorous excitement 
 when the British war and merchant flags were almost the only 
 ones upon the sea ;—when farmers could afford to pay high 
 rents, yet live nearly like their landlords,—when our mer- 
 chants—but alas! it is melancholy to remember these times. 
 Now, the rich have become poor—the agricultnrist has sunk 
 from his high estate, and the rest of the nation cry—let us 
 depend on foreign corn! How have our Kast and West In- 
 dian merchants fallen! Our merchant shipping are no longer 
 the carriers of the world, and the wished for free trade is 
 scarcely admitting of their profitable use even by ourselves. 
 Our East Indian possessions are on the point of undergoing a 
 hazardous change of management—our great China trade is 
 
 * To save my readers the trouble, I shall quote afew passages :— 
 ‘¢ The imagination is lost in contemplating the immense increase of our 
 exports which must instantaneously follow the cessation of hostilities be- 
 tween France and this country. In what unheard of—what unimagined 
 abundance must our goods not burst into the markets of the world! It 
 is hard to say whether the land, or the manufactures, or the population 
 of the empire would gain most by this happy change. Every man in 
 trade, or possessed of any income connected with trade—every landed 
 proprietor, and all those depending on land—every manufacturer and his 
 dependants—in short all the industrious and proprietary classes of the 
 community, including a great proportion of the professions trading on 
 skill and not on capital, would be greatly richer than they now are; 
 while, at the same time, every consumer, that is, every person in the 
 country, would find that the same money went a great deal further in the 
 purchase of every article of use. A man who now has £500 a year would 
 have £600, and would live the same way as formerly for £300, instead 
 of £400. He would save by the year £300 instead of £100, to provide 
 for his family, and increase his income at compound interest ; or he might 
 indulge himself and family in this proportion. This is as undeniable 
 an effect of peace, as any consequence deduced by Mathematical de- 
 monstration.’ £1! 
 
XV 
 
 paralized, and whether a reformed one will do better remains 
 to be seen—our West Indian Colonies look aghast at the 
 probable result of the emancipation of their slaves, with too 
 great reason for dreading the fate of St. Domingo, whose 
 mass of population have only exchanged their white masters 
 for black ones, well known to be much harder task-masters, 
 and they now no more raise sugar in quantities worth men- 
 tioning, so we must turn to encouraging foreign slavery by 
 buying their coffee and sugars; for these luxuries have now 
 come to be considered as necessaries of life. Our planters 
 are, many of them, preparing for the States and Canada, 
 and numbers in this country are on the move for the same 
 destination, to swell the living tide which is flowing into 
 those favoured countries, where industry never fails to meet 
 with its reward. * 
 
 * © What has been said of the ease with which a labouring man can 
 earn bread for himself, and his family, will apply generally over the Ca- 
 nadas, and particularly to the Upper Province.”—Capt. Hall. 
 
 The same author, when speaking of Upper Canada, says—it is ‘Sa 
 country favoured by many sources of wealth—a good climate, a good 
 government, and a tertile soil.”— Travels in N. America, Vol. I. 237. 
 
 b2 
 
COUNSEL FOR EMIGRANTS, 
 GC. 
 
 LEAVING HOME. 
 
 From Chambers’ Information for the People, No. 5. 
 
 Many persons shrink from the idea of emigrating, because 
 it seems like a confession that they have been baffled at 
 home, and that, where others have been successful, they have 
 failed. From this weak feeling, they continue to linger on, 
 struggling with discouragements, and wishing rather to gain 
 the credit of patient well-doing and resignation to unavoid- 
 able troubles, than to encounter what they think the re- 
 proach of leaving the country. Such persons (who are often 
 the worthiest of society) should recollect that the same per- 
 severance and steadiness which in this country is only suffi- 
 cient to keep their families out of distress, will, in a more 
 favourable field of industry, place them in comfort and in- 
 dependence. In this country every man’s exertions are met 
 and thwarted by the competition of his neighbours ; where- 
 as, in the new lands, the increasing density of population 
 and neighbourhood, as yet only adds to a man’s wealth, and 
 to the profits of his industry. It used to be thought (and 
 many still foolishly think so,) that, to leave the country, was 
 a man’s last resource, and was only adopted by those who 
 could not do better; but it is now discovered that America, 
 instead of being only an asylum for the baffled and despair- 
 ing, is, like an immense harvest field, calling for reapers, 
 who have skill and ability to labour, from all quarters. The 
 abundance of unoccupied land in that country only requires 
 BS 
 
18 
 
 the hand of man to convert it into the means of human sub- 
 sistence, and every one who goes creates work for another to 
 follow him. 
 
 The competition of one man against another in this country 
 is sO great, that young people, bred to laborious occupa- 
 tions, often seriously hurt their constitutions by working be- 
 yond their strength, merely to keep their places, or gain 
 employment. There is hardly a man who has wrought as a 
 farm-servant, a mason, a blacksmith, or such crafts as re- 
 quire the exertion of much strength, but can tell of some 
 of his early acquaintances who wrought themselves done, in 
 order to keep up with their neighbours, and this, because they 
 were apprehensive of losing their situations. In America, 
 the competition of one man against another is by no means 
 so keen ; good wages may be made by moderate exertion at 
 all the ordinary and useful trades ; and men who have been 
 accustomed to farm work will find a ready demand for their 
 labour, with fair and even high wages, without the fear of 
 losing employment when their youth and strength is exhaust- 
 ed. It requires a little firmness to determine on leaving 
 one’s own country, and that is all. The resolution once 
 taken, the chief difficulty is surmounted. The success and 
 comfort of the numbers who have taken the step already, 
 leave little room for perplexity or uneasiness with regard 
 to others. 
 
 The difficulty which farmers have for this considerable 
 time had in finding farms for their sons, and the very large 
 capital which is required to stock a young man beginning 
 life in that way, render it worthy of consideration whether 
 parents would not do better to buy land for them in Canada 
 or the United States, where one hundred pounds would make 
 them proprietors of their farm, and stock them sufficiently 
 with all that is necessary for thriving and becoming wealthy. 
 A number of half-pay officers, who had served with credit 
 in the late war, had the good sense and gallantry to begin 
 establishments of this kind, in the woods at Lake Simcoe, 
 and, by so doing, conferred a service on their country, much 
 greater than if they had fallen in battle. The example of 
 these brave men will doubtless have influence with many of 
 their own rank in society, and may point out to thousands 
 of anxious parents a way in which they may provide for 
 
19 
 
 their children, greatly superior to that of sending them inte 
 the army, or even to waste their constitutions in the ener- 
 vating and destructive climate of India. They would have 
 here healthy and thriving occupations; the labours of ‘the 
 farm, and the amusement of the rifle; the prospect of long 
 life ; and of becoming, as they advanced in years, the pro- 
 prietor of a well-improved estate, and the patriarch of a re- 
 spected family. In going into the army, or to India, it is 
 needless to say that all these prospects are much more un- 
 certain. We make these observations principally, however, 
 with reference to our own colonies in Canada, among whom 
 the step we have mentioned would be the means of intro- 
 ducing a number of men of education, attached from prin- 
 ciple to Britain, and exercising a powerful influence in se- 
 curing the future attachment of the country of their adop- 
 tion to that of their birth. 
 
 OPINION ON THE PROPRIETY OF EMIGRATING. 
 
 From Practical Notes made during a Tour in Canada, by 
 Adam Fergusson, Esq. of Woodhill, Advocate. 
 
 AND now comes the important question for individual con- 
 sideration, ‘‘ Is emigration expedient or not?” This must 
 be decided by circumstances, and every man must judge for 
 himself. Of this, however, I think there can be no doubt, 
 that either the moderate capitalist, or the frugal, sober, and 
 industrious labourer or artisan cannot fail cof success. For- 
 tunes will not be rapidly or even readily acquired ; but it 
 must be the settler’s own fault if he does not enjoy, in large 
 abundance, every solid comfort and enjoyment of life, and 
 rear around his table even a forest of “ Olive plants,” with- 
 out one anxious thought regarding their future destination or 
 provision.—P. 313. 
 
 ON THE SAME. 
 From Chambers’ Information for the People, No. 4. 
 
 EMIGRATION, in recent times, has very much changed its 
 character.. The poor artizan, and the humble and hardy 
 
20 
 
 peasant, are not now the only class of persons who betake 
 themselves to the countries beyond the Atlantic. Every 
 ‘day these extensive and fertile regions are coming more and 
 more under the notice of capitalists, regularly bred farmers, 
 active master tradesmen, in short, our middle class of so- 
 ciety ; and the wealth from this source alone, which will be 
 speedily poured into North America, is incalculable, both as 
 to its amount and its results on the surface of the country. 
 It may be anticipated, that, in a few years, large tracts of 
 country in these valuable colonial possessions will be as well 
 settled, as well cultivated, as well regulated in their affairs, 
 public and private, and, therefore, as civilized and refined, 
 as many of the rural districts in Great Britain. Even as it 
 is, many portions of North America have outstripped Great 
 Britain in the career of general intelligence. Such being 
 the capabilities and flattering prospects of these territories, 
 it appears a species of infatuation for farmers to continue 
 to peril thousands of pounds on land in this country, with 
 the barest chance of success, enduring innumerable vexa- 
 tions, and at the mercy of landowners and law-agents, while 
 they can obtain, for the matter of a few hundreds of pounds, 
 lands, in the British colonies or the United States, of the 
 most fertile description, and which, in a short time, by ac- 
 tive exertion, will repay all that is expended upon them, and 
 remain a permanent and valuable freehold for their family. 
 Luckily, both for the benefit of the mother country and in- 
 dividuals, this kind of delusion is wearing off. A know- 
 ledge of the vast resources and general character of North 
 America, cannot but dispel the ignorance prevailing on the 
 subject, and be useful in directing the views of a large pro- 
 portion of the people towards a process of emigration highly 
 beneficial to themselves and their descendants. 
 
 OPINION AS TO THE BEST PLACE FOR EMIGRATION. 
 From the Companion to the Newspaper, No. 10. 
 
 Two incidental advantages which Canada holds out as a 
 receptacle for the surplus population of Great Britain, are 
 
Q] 
 
 the identity of the language generally spoken there with 
 our own, and the comparative shortness of the voyage which 
 takes an emigrant to its shores from ours. It is the latter 
 of these circumstances which must, for a long time to come, 
 make it the most attractive of all our colonial dependencies 
 for the great mass of emigrants. If it be compared, for in- 
 stance, with New Holland or Van Diemen’s Land, the de- 
 mand for labourers may be as great in the two latter settle- 
 ments ; but, being so much more distant than,the Canadas, 
 they must, on that account alone, fail to draw anything like 
 an equal share of the general emigration from the mother 
 country. If the Canadas did not exist, the Australian co- 
 lonies would be much sooner peopled. The former may be 
 regarded as a station placed half way on the road to the 
 latter, which intercepts nearly all that might otherwise have 
 passed on. 
 
 For this reason, in fact, until the Canadas shall have re- 
 ceived nearly all of our surplus population which they can 
 absorb, there can be no voluntary and unaided emigration to 
 Australia on an extensive scale. Our colonies in that quar- 
 ter can only be supplied with labourers by the employment 
 of some extraordinary stimulus to force emigration ; such as 
 the banishment thither of certain descriptions of criminals, 
 or the bribing of persons to go out, by the colony or the go- 
 vernment undertaking to defray the expenses of the voyage, 
 or to make them grants of land, or to secure them some 
 other similar advantage. 
 
 From Martin Doyle's Hints on Emigration 
 to Upper Canada. 
 
 In comparing together the relative advantages and disadvan- 
 tages which attend a settlement in North America, I am 
 disposed, after a very grave consideration, to yield a decided 
 preference to Upper Canada, and I shall give you my rea- 
 sons. First, as to the United States: 
 
 So long a period has elapsed since these were colonized 
 from the British Isles, that we have, in a great degree, lost 
 the feeling that they are of a common stock with ourselves ; 
 
22 
 
 but in the Canadas we meet thousands of our countrymen 
 located there, (comparatively within a few years) with all the 
 feelings, habits, tastes, &c. of British subjects, living under 
 the protection of British laws, and having all the privi- 
 leges of commerce which are possessed by us. In short, 
 there is a strong and intimate bond of union between the 
 Parent Country and the Colonies; but if ever again we 
 should be so unfortunate as to be driven into wars with the 
 States, the new settlers there, from the British dominions, 
 would be placed in a most painful situation—obliged either 
 to take arms against their relatives from these countries, or 
 remaining neuter (an unlikely matter in time of war) to risk 
 the ruin of their properties—by the Americans, whom they 
 would not assist, on the one side, and the British, who would 
 confound them with the Americans, on the other. And he 
 who is not a sworn subject of the States, cannot inherit pro- 
 perty, and would be looked upon, if he did not take the oath 
 of allegiance, with avery jealous eye—he would be con- 
 sidered, ‘neither good fish nor good flesh.” Besides, I 
 really believe that the Canadas are more healthy than any of 
 the States. Even that of Ohio, on the north western boun- 
 dary, is not so temperate and healthy as the parts of Ca- 
 nada adjoining. Then with respect to the British Settle- 
 ments at Nova Scotia and New Brunswick—being near the 
 Atlantic they are frequently enveloped in fogs, and are raw, 
 damp settlements in consequence, during a great part of the 
 year ; these fogs are prejudicial to health and oppressive to 
 the animal spirits. | . 
 
 EMIGRATION. 
 (From the Scotsman.) 
 
 THE subject of emigration is rising in importance from year 
 to year, and cannot lose its interest as long as much misery 
 or much discontent exists among our working classes. Upper 
 Canada, the great recipient of our surplus population, is 
 4,000 miles from Britain, a distance which looks extremely 
 formidable ; but such is the amazing economy of water car- 
 riage, when seconded by good arrangements, that the voyage 
 
23 
 
 by sea to Montreal can be made at as small expense as 
 the journey by land to Manchester, 
 
 In an article in May, 1832, we pointed out the rapid strides 
 with which emigration was advancing ; and some Parliamen- 
 tary papers we have received since, exhibit new proofs of 
 its extraordinary progress. It has, in fact, outstripped the 
 expectations of the most sanguine. 
 
 The following table shews the number of persons who 
 have emigrated within the last eight years to North Ame- 
 rica, the Cape, and Australia :— 
 
 British United Cape of 
 America. Staies. G. Hope. Australia. Total. 
 
 1825 8,741 9,051. 114 485 14,891 
 
 1826 12,818 7,063 116 903 20,900 
 
 1827. 12,648 14,526 114 715 28,003 
 
 1828 12,083 12,817. 1385 1,056 26,092 
 
 1829 |.13;807) .ih5,678,\)., 197) .2,916 31,198 
 
 1830 30,574 24,887 204 1,242 56,907 
 
 1831 58,067 23,418 114 1,561 83,160 
 
 1832 66,339 32,872 196 3,783 103,140 
 
 It will be seen from this table how steady the increase 
 of emigration has been, especially to Canada. It must be 
 observed, that a great proportion, probably more than a half 
 of those who sailed for the United States, were destined 
 for the British colonies, and only chose that route as the 
 most eligible, on account of the facilities which the Hudson 
 and its associated canals present for travelling to the upper 
 province. Canada and Nova Scotia must have drawn at 
 least 80,000 settlers from Britain last year; and yet such 
 are the capacities of these colonies for absorbing popula- 
 tion, that the price of labour was not lowered in the least 
 degree. 
 
 The general result is, that Britain sent off 103,000 souls 
 from her population last year, of whom a number sailed 
 7,000 miles, a number 14,000, and those who made the 
 shortest voyage, 4,000 miles. The annals of emigration af- 
 ford nothing approaching to this in any part of the world; 
 and yet we may reasonably expect to see still greater things 
 achieved. 
 
24, 
 
 Tt appears from the various census since 1801, that the 
 annual increase in Britain, if no persons left it, would be 
 about 350,000; or we may place the fact in a more striking 
 light by stating, that there are about a thousand persons 
 more in the three kingdoms every day than there were on 
 the day before. If, by raising the habits and ideas of the 
 labouring classes, we could get this daily increase reduced 
 one-half, and the other half could be carried off by emi- 
 gration—if we could by this means keep the supply of la- 
 bour stationary while capital was increasing, a great improve- 
 ment would be effected in the state of the population. Now, 
 from what has been stated, it appears that the emigrants 
 who leave our shores annually amount to nearly one-third of 
 the annual excess already; and ina year or two there is 
 every probability that it will amount to one-half. 
 
 Of 51,200 emigrants who landed at Quebec and Montreal 
 last year, 17,500 went from England, 28,200 from Ireland, 
 and 5,500 from Scotland. In the year 1831, the numbers 
 were, from England, 10,300, Ireland, 34,100, Scotland, 
 5,300. 
 
 Of the emigrants to the United States last year, 15,754 
 sailed from Liverpool, 5,546 from London, 2,742 from Bris- 
 tol, 2,613 from Londonderry, and 1,711 from Greenock. 
 
 The number of emigrants to Canada, in the last three years, 
 amounts to 133,970, and the markets for British manufac- 
 tures have increased in a greater ratio than the population. 
 During the last year, 1,035 British vessels, amounting to 
 279,704 tons, navigated by 12,248 seamen, have entered 
 the port of Quebec alone. This astonishing trade has in- 
 creased from 69 vessels, navigated by 731 seamen, in the 
 year 1805. A million anda half of value in British ma- 
 nufactures has paid duties of import. 
 
 IMPORTANT TO EMIGRANTS. | 
 
 New York, 7th September, 1833. 
 
 “ DEAR Sir—I think it would be well if it were better 
 understood on your side, respecting persons coming out to 
 
t2 
 
 9) 
 
 this country, say destined for Upper Canada, or elsewhere 
 westward, that they have to pay duties on little articles 
 which they commonly have—say articles of goods beyond 
 their wearing apparel, such as linen* not made up, tools, 
 when the individuals are not mechanics, and the tools not 
 in use, books, &c. &c. There is no drawback, you know, 
 on goods going out of this country, when the duties are over 
 fifty dollars, or in any case when they go out by inland 
 navigation, so that our Upper Canada friends (and they 
 are not a few) complain that this is not sufficiently known 
 in Great Britain, in which case they would have sent these 
 matters out by way of Quebec, save in the winter season. [. 
 wish very much our people could have this done for them, 
 as this is certainly the best route, both for expedition, safety, 
 and comfort ; besides, this is a port which is open all the 
 year round; but, as it is at present, it would be well, I 
 respectfully suggest, to inform the emigrating public that 
 there is a custom-house in New York, and a tariff of duties, 
 and that, however kindly disposed the officers in this. de- 
 partment of the Government are in dealing with such cases, 
 the duties must be collected. You must show this to the 
 Government Agent for settlers in your town, and I have the 
 honour to remain, dear Sir, your obedient Servant, 
 «J. C. BUCHANAN, 
 *« British Vice-Consul, and Agent 
 of the Canada Land Company: 
 
 * Daniel Buchanan, Esq. Liverpool.” 
 
 Extract from a Letter, to the Publisher, 
 dated Peterborough, \st Feb. 1831. 
 
 I HAVE purchased a property about three quarters of a mile 
 from this beautiful and thriving village, (Peterborough) on 
 which I intend to build in summer. It is situated in the 
 township of Monaghan, county of Durham, district of New- — 
 castle, and borders on the banks of a small lake, on the 
 
 * Now free. 
 C 
 
26 
 
 river Ottonabee. I have also received my grant of land, 
 eight hundred acres, in a block not far hence, and most eli- 
 gibly situated in the township of Ops. This is a splendid 
 country, all that it requires to make it wealthy, and power- 
 ful, is population, which, now that its advantages are more 
 generally known, is pouring into it with great rapidity. But 
 I would say to those in Britain, who are getting on tolerably 
 well, remain where you are ; and encounter not the inconve- 
 niences, privations, and expense that must attend on a new 
 settlement. But to those who feel an urgent necessity for a 
 change, I would recommend their getting to this province 
 without the least delay. To the emigrant from the United 
 Kingdom, I think this district by far better suited than any 
 other. The climate is more congenial to his constitution and 
 habits ; and the settlers in this most delightful part of it are 
 chiefly composed of Scotch, English, and Irish. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from a Settler in Upper Canada, 
 dated C———., district of Newcastle, Dec. 31, 1831. 
 
 I consider you would do well as a settler on Brown’s farm. 
 For instance, you purchase the farm, furnish your house, and 
 supply every comfort and necessary for your table, and have 
 every real enjoyment of life, and an independence of feeling 
 not comeatable in England. I say, with this outlay, and the 
 expense of one man’s wages, and oné woman’s, you live at 
 an equal rate to £800 a year in England. After the first 
 year the surplus produce of course will more than pay for 
 expense of working it. There is always a ready market. 
 Although we live at a mile or two distance from our friends, 
 it is not felt as an inconvenience or drawback to our cheer- 
 fulness, for a pair or two of horses are ever in readiness to 
 carry us to each other ; and this time of year more particu- 
 larly is cur own, and we spend it a great deal together. Our 
 four families sit down to dinner twenty-seven, and I am very 
 much deceived if even M would not forget she was 
 away from England in enjoying the scene of twenty children 
 besides her own, all relatives, and displaying as much beauty 
 and accomplishfnents as the first rate society can boast of 
 
27 
 
 possessing. We have just received tickets for a ball at Co- 
 bourg, where the first and rather a numerous society as- 
 semble ; and we make nothing of the trouble of going the 
 twenty miles in our sleighs, and enjoy the drive and jingling 
 of the horses’ bells, and pleasure of our children. 
 
 We have had an early frost this year, and the elder boys 
 and girls have taken their promised drive in the sleighs, ac- 
 companied by a young lady Mrs. W———— brought out to 
 educate her girls. They rather exceeded orders, and crossed 
 the head of the bay, which is frozen over, to a village on the 
 other side, four miles across the ice, without a tract upon it, 
 and covered a few inches with snow; of course it produced 
 some excitement, and there was some danger. They came 
 home in high glee with their excursion, and ready to set off 
 again after driving about seventy miles, without any apparent 
 fatigue to the horses ; it is a most pleasurable mode of tra- 
 velling. 
 
 I cannot advise you in any thing relative to trade, but I 
 know it is the best way of getting money now. A fortune 
 cannot be made by farming. I only advise you to do that at 
 first, being no risk here as in England. I do not recommend 
 a hasty purchase of any farm, and would not write so parti- 
 cularly of the one I have, but to shew you we have other 
 houses besides leg-houses. 
 
 With respect to artizans and labourers, if they come out 
 as your followers, there will be something to do at the Cus- 
 tom-house, which you had better make yourself acquainted 
 with. You cannot command any man’s services here. He 
 may leave you, and if he is in your debt he will be likely to 
 leave you the sooner. Perhaps the way would be, before ; 
 you land at-Quebec, to take his note of hand for the money, 
 and give him fair Canada wages. I give an Englishman who 
 came out in May last eight dollars a month in summer, and 
 seven in winter. If you know the disposition of the person 
 you think of bringing to be good, of course you will make 
 a difference, and there is employment here for every one. 
 
 If you should resolve on coming, I do not know that there 
 is any great advantage in early arrival here for agricultural pur- 
 poses. In Brown’s farm there would be crops in the ground, 
 which you might take at a valuation. I should say in the event 
 of your deciding to come out, do not hurry off except for the 
 
 c2 
 
28 
 
 purpose of sailing in a good conyenient vessel, commanded by 
 a sober experienced man. Our voyage was a party of plea- 
 sure. William R.’s voyage was made uncomfortable by the 
 smallness and fullness of the vessel. On arrival at Quebec, 
 the steamboat is ordered alongside, and takes passengers and 
 luggage who are going up the country. This is a good re- 
 gulation, and saves much trouble, confusion, and loss. 
 
 Robert continues much delighted with the country, and 
 and so does his wife; she grumbled at first. Mrs. W. is 
 perfectly satisfied. Mr. W. more so than at first, but not 
 quite satisfied, that is, he, Englishman-like, feels a pleasure 
 in grumbling, and at the same time allows he could not live 
 in England as he does here. I would not advise working 
 people to come out who have any organic disease, because 
 they cannot be of much use to themselves or others. 
 
 The most useful book you can bring with you, and the 
 only one I would care about, is the latest Encyclopedia. 
 Books of amusement can be got from the States as cheap ; 
 White's Veterinary Works, your large work on Gardening, 
 and School Books for the children. 
 
 Although labour is high, you can build here from 50 to 
 70 ® cent. cheaper than in England, at least the external 
 parts ; the internal parts come higher. You board the work- 
 men, or pay them Is. 3d. a day extra. A mason’s wages, 
 7s. 6d.; carpenter, 5s. You may bring out some shoes and 
 boots, but we get the better sort at Kingston, equal to 
 English. 
 
 Mark all your luggage. Glass is cheap here; but bring 
 your best cut glass, if so inclined. Bring delf and china, 
 beds and bedding, roll the bed close with pillows inside, then 
 carpets ; lastly, good canvass corded and sewed.at the ends. 
 If possible let all packages be as small as two men can lift, 
 particularly china, &c. Bring no wooden furniture, except 
 four-post mahogany bedstead. A few common carpenter's 
 tools are wanted. It will be absolutely necessary that C 
 should tune her piano herself, and strings will be wanted. 
 Bring grass seeds of all sorts, except whzfe clover, and any 
 garden seeds you fancy. Summer clothing is cheap here, 
 but flannel, moreens, merinos, stuffs, and broad cloth are 
 high, and inferior in quality. Hats, eight dollars ; seal caps, 
 with ear-flaps, from twelve to seventeen dollars; furs very 
 
29 
 
 dear. Bring saddlery. Plate is not very good here; the 
 spoons from the States are vile things; will they take off 
 the duty?* They do for the East Indies. Fire irons may be 
 brought, and perhaps wide fenders, and brass milk pans. 
 
 The price of the farm I have spoken of to you we con- 
 sider high, but it is so different since I have been here, and 
 has gradually been advancing for several years. If I had had 
 the money, I would have purchased the land next mine, 
 which eventually will become necessary to it, for a complete 
 farm for my boys, for 30 or 40 ® cent. less than I could get 
 it for now. 
 
 Am I right when I say James wishes to know how far the 
 estate is from the lake, because he is thinking of fishing ? 
 There is good fishing, but it is night work by torch light, 
 made of fat pine. They catch sturgeon, pike, white fish, 
 and many other sorts. ‘The deer pay us frequent visits, and 
 we have plenty of foxes, racoons, bears, and wolves; the 
 two latter we do not see often. My John was frightened by 
 a bear and cub about two months since. I can hardly say 
 he was frightened either, because he called the man and re- 
 turned with him to shew him they were there. He saw the 
 young one get upatree. They made off before we could 
 get dogs. They had destroyed nearly an acre of Indian corn 
 for me, they and the racoons together. I cannot learn of 
 one instance of their hurting a human being. ‘They some- 
 times like a bit of pork, when grain and berries are scarce. 
 
 Lixtract of a Letter from New York, written by a gentle- 
 man from Scotland, dated September, 18382. 
 
 Every body thrives here who deserves to thrive. With re- 
 gard to the expense of living,—the first month I boarded at 
 13s. and now have a good room and bed, with cooking, for 
 2s. 2d. # week—I have no trouble and am very well served 
 —lI have lived well, and the first month has only cost me 
 12s. or 3s. ® week, for which I had tea, coffee, apple tarts, 
 
 * See Appendix, No. 4. 
 c3 
 
30 
 
 rice pudding, sweet milk, and good bread, &c. Best tea 
 costs only 2s. 6d. to 3s. ® fb.; sugar 4d. to 5d.; coffee, 
 10d.; rice, 2d.; beef, 24d. and 3d. # do. and so of the rest. 
 Any man who has his health, and is not a drunkard, may 
 live respectably and independently here. The climate I like 
 very well, and although the heat in the middle of the day is 
 rather oppressive, the mornings and evenings are delightful. 
 
 The disadvantages here are these ; a good many get home- 
 sick from every thing being new to them, and especially 
 those who have never left home before—then they may reckon 
 on 15 or 20 % cent. of less life, as here they sooner attain 
 maturity and sooner decay—and, in the next place, there is 
 some jealousy and suspicion shewn by the natives to strangers 
 until they are known, and no wonder, as every scoundrel 
 who has done a dirty action comes here to get himself white- 
 washed. Some people are sadly puzzled to know what li- 
 berty means: an Irishman who came out with us gave a 
 custom-house officer across the shins because he would not 
 stand out of his way, Paddy got two months in the peni- 
 tentiary, and swore they had damn’d hard laws, and he had 
 more liberty at home, where they could knock one another 
 down and no more about it. A good many young English- 
 men have returned home who came out this spring, and the 
 reason they gave was, they could get no fun, no wakes nor 
 fairs—now the Yankees are a sedate reflecting people, and 
 will not join in their uproarious jollity. In short, man, al- 
 though a reasoning animal, is still a most unreasonable one. 
 
 I have not repented of coming here for one moment, and 
 indeed regret that 1 was so long in coming. I am glad 
 that I did not settle in Scotland, for one’s prospects of suc- 
 cess there are greatly limited. This is a country of hope, 
 and the other of fear for the future. 
 
 The following Extracts are from the Correspondence of 
 the same person, who has now been over a considerable 
 
 part of the Union, in the capacity of Land Surveyor. 
 
 Michigan Territory, Gull Prairie, 10th June, 1833. 
 Since I last wrote you from New York, I have travelled 
 West into the country nearly 1,000 miles. When I left 
 
31 
 
 New York I had no intention of coming here, but having 
 heard so much about it, I came to see the country, and find 
 it the finest, richest, and most beautiful I have ever seen ; 
 composed of a fine, rich, and easily cultivated soil, with a 
 fine, mild, healthy climate. These words are a high recom- 
 mendation, but I do not think they are exaggerated, as all 
 who have come here are unanimous in these sentiments. 
 
 There is at present a strong current of emigration setting 
 in from all the Eastern States towards this, and the very first 
 settlers came here only three years ago, and purchased their 
 land at 5s. 3d. ¥ acre, or 100 dollars for 80 acres ; they can 
 now get 800 dollars, as they have cleared at the rate of 
 200 ® cent. There is still beautiful Jand with mill sites, &e. 
 which can be had at government prices, and a part of the 
 territory only comes into the market next fall. Now you 
 know that I am not a speculator, but the temptation is so 
 great that I wish you to send me all the money I can spare, 
 as I hope, at least, to double it soon, and I do not think 
 there is any risk in purchasing good land at 5s. 3d. ¥ acre, 
 which can raise from 25 to 40 bushels of wheat to an acre, 
 and which would sell in Scotland for £60: or £80. I am 
 sorry that I stopt so long in New York ; but always thinking 
 of coming home, I did not like to go so far into the country, 
 as I had an idea that it was a wild and savage place,—now 
 it is in every respect finer than the Eastern States ; and the 
 nearest idea I can remember is its resemblance to a garden 
 run wild—there are fine running streams of clear water, ex- 
 tensive meadows, open plains, lakes, declivities and gentle 
 slopes—it appears to have been the bed of a great lake, 
 as it is now surrounded by Lakes Michigan on the West, 
 Lake Huron on the North, Lake Erie on the East, and 
 the States of Ohio and Indiana on the South. 
 
 From 40 to 50 ¥ cent. is here only considered an ordi- 
 nary return on your money, and the first comers have the 
 best chance, as they pick out all the finest, and what is call- 
 ed the Prairie Lots—which are exceedingly fertile. 
 
 July 8th, 1833. 
 
 I have now bought a very beautiful farm of 160 acres, 
 at three dollars an acre, being at second hand, and some- 
 what dearer on that account. ‘There is a little river runs 
 
32 
 
 through one corner of it, and the Kalamazoo river runs 
 within one mile of it; it is covered with scattered trees, 
 like a Gentleman’s park, and there is an encampment of 
 Indians upon it, but they will leave it this fall. The In- 
 dians always picked out the finest part of the country for 
 their encampments—they are very harmless, and you can buy 
 as much venison from them as you want, for about one half- 
 penny or a penny ® pound. 
 
 I am just returned from a journey of 17 days through this 
 country, and into the Illinois State, to Chicago, across Lake 
 Michigan, which is a most beautiful lake, and good for na- 
 vigation. 
 
 You can tell Mr. M that he could have 100 square 
 miles of excellent pasture land for his stock without paying 
 one cent. But I would not advise anybody to come here 
 unless they are discontented, or unfortunate, or unhappy at 
 home, then they have some chance of happiness here; but 
 the change of manners and circumstances are so great that 
 very few idle people, or in easy circumstances, come to Ame- 
 rica but they regret having left their own country—remember 
 that a stout labouring man is a greater and a more useful 
 person here than a Sir Isaac Newton, and that a Lady or 
 Gentleman cannot subsist as such, nor are they tolerated— 
 all have to do something useful for their living, yet all here 
 are as civilized, as “ smart,” and as intelligent as you will find 
 in any part of Scotland or England, and it is a very incor- 
 rect idea to suppose that because the country is new, the 
 inhabitants are barbarous. Many a poor man in Scotland 
 would be glad to be here—he could make himself indepen- 
 dent in two or three years, by no more labour than he uses 
 to gain his daily bread. 
 
 Tell Mr. M‘I that his ideas, upon the cultivation of 
 the fine arts here, is all a delusion—the only arts cultivated. 
 here are these, to make money, and to people the earth as 
 fast as possible—if you possess the craft of making a bargain, 
 and handling an axe with address, you may get along. 
 
33 
 
 Extract of a Letter from a person who left Aberdeen in 
 1832, dated Zorra, U. C. 2\st January, 1833. 
 
 Dear Broruer,—I have delayed so long in writing you 
 that I might be better able to say whether or not it would 
 be advisable for you to follow me to this distant land, and 
 this, I assure you, is a question which is by no means so 
 easy to be answered as some may be ready to suppose. It 
 cannot, indeed, be judiciously answered in a very short time. 
 Moreover, I feel as a bird liberated from its cage, having 
 been pent up by myself in a dark cell all the yearround. It 
 is true, I enjoyed in perhaps a few hours in a week the pri- 
 vilege of more refined and select society than I can have in 
 Zorra, but notwithstanding of this, so much do I prefer liberty 
 to confinement, that I would on almost no account exchange 
 my present for my former situation ; and I assure you every 
 thing in it is not smooth, easy, and agreeable as yet, but I 
 hold fast the hope that it will be increasingly so. This is a 
 salubrious climate, nothing beyond some boils and sores of 
 that nature has, ever since we came here, been the matter 
 with any of us. This is a mercy for which we ought to feel 
 thankful, for many of the first settlers were deeply afflicted 
 with fever and ague for nine, ten, or twelve months, during 
 which time they were unable to do any thing for themselves. 
 I have purchased a farm of about 100 acres, and have got 
 some little stock upon it ; we have got two cows, a yoke of 
 oxen, and a year-old steer, three sheep and a hog. Our cows 
 have been very useful, the one gives us milk in summer, the 
 other supplies us pretty well in winter; our oxen with a 
 waggon we got the other day. With such astock on a farm 
 of 100 acres, with about 30 acres cleared, we get on very 
 comfortably. Inanew settlement as this is, far removed from 
 market, it is no easy matter to raise money; but, in this re- 
 spect, there is a prospect of improvement. Now, as to the 
 important question, shall I advise you to follow us? Were 
 I to consult merely my own feelings and comfort, I should 
 say without hesitation—come, come, every one of you—come 
 as soon as possible. Here, with hard labour and industry, 
 after three or four years, you might find yourself in posses- 
 sion of a piece of land, at least 50 acres, which you could 
 
34 
 
 call your own. Also a yoke of oxen and cows, &c. upon it, 
 besides other property. Judge, if such can be the case 
 where you are. But it cannot be concealed there are diffi- 
 culties to encounter, and privations to be endured, which 
 every one has not resolution to face or patience to bear, these 
 especially occur to those who have little or nothing to com- 
 mence with. Our winter has as yet beenjust such as yours, 
 very moderate. For some time we had the frost perhaps ra- 
 ther more intense than you ever have it, but it has had no 
 durability ; it has been, however, easier than usual, and the 
 former was as much severer. ‘The heat of the last summer 
 was fully more and of longer continuance than usual ; and I 
 may say that I have felt neither the heat of summer nor the 
 cold of winter at all insufferable; nay, though both have 
 been stronger than in Scotland, I have felt both more dis- 
 agreeable there ; however it may be accounted for. We have 
 had several slight storms, but none of them have lasted above 
 a week or two. Our cattle here live in summer by ranging 
 the woods; in winter, if scarce of fodder, we can bring 
 them through by chopping down the maple, on the tops of 
 which they seem to fare sumptuously. Making sugar from 
 the maple tree is here a principal source of gain to the settler. 
 The sugar season begins generally about the middle of March, 
 and lasts about amonth. Some will make from ten to twelve 
 cwt. in a season, which can be sold for about £2 ¥ cwt.; a 
 good deal of which however must generally be taken in 
 goods. ‘Iwo months hence we expect to be able to tell you 
 more about it, as we intend to make the most we can of it. 
 It would be desirable if you could send or bring some seeds ; 
 an English pint of good potatoe oats, barley, a few seeds of 
 the best kinds of potatoe, some yellow turnip seeds, early 
 carrots, onions, carraway seed, some greens and cabbage 
 seeds, a few roots of strawberries. We have wild goose- 
 berries in the woods, but no garden gooseberries ; some of 
 them you could bring if you come yourself, the other could 
 be packed in a small box. We indeed want a Blacksmith in 
 this settlement, but, unless he were able to furnish himself 
 with a set of tools, and capable of executing such work as 
 is required, he would not do. We pay Is. 8d. currency for 
 every Letter we send to Scotland. My trade (Millwright) 
 I find to be very useful here, and there is a prospect that it 
 
35 
 
 will be increasingly so ; but much property is not often ac- 
 cumulated here by handicrafts ; chopping and farming are the 
 best trades for a man with a family; chopping is pretty hard 
 work, and there is more art in it than one would suppose. 
 
 Extract of another Letter, from the same person, 
 dated 5th May, 1838. 
 
 I HAVE about eight acres in wheat, two in rye, and am just 
 now preparing a piece of new ground, about three acres, for 
 Indian corn and potatoes. We have a good garden, and a 
 good many seeds already sown in it. Our wheat and rye has 
 already a very promising appearance. How rapidly it grows ! 
 I mentioned in my last that we had a pretty easy winter ; 
 but it had not then commenced. We had not however very 
 much snow, but the frost was for some weeks far more in- 
 tense than ever I saw it in Scotland. It was not however 
 so bad but that I chopped several trees every day for browse 
 to our cattle. The thaw commenced about the 20th of 
 March, and in a few days frost and snow entirely disappear- 
 ed. On the breaking up of the storm commences our sugar 
 season, which was this year very short. We have never- 
 theless made upwards of 3 cwt. of sugar. Making sugar is a 
 very slavish work, as it must be driven night and day, when 
 the sap runs, which is only in a warm sunny day, after a 
 frosty night. The weather is now, and has been for several 
 weeks, truly delightful, warmer and more pleasant than I 
 ever witnessed it in Scotland, at the same or any other sea- 
 son of the year. I am of the same mind regarding your 
 coming here as when I wrote last ; I must however cut short. 
 We desire you to send this to —-——— to let them know 
 that this is just the place for them, were it possible for them 
 to get transported hither. A stout man, with a family of 
 stout sons and daughters, is just the man, above all others, 
 that should come to Canada. An English sea captain is 
 just settled about two miles from us this spring, who pro- 
 mises to make some figure; he is getting 20 or 30 acres 
 chopped down. 
 
36 
 
 Hutract of a Letter from one of the Government Agents in 
 Upper Canada, to the Publisher, dated 12th July, 1833. 
 
 I have found the expenses attending a first settlement in a 
 country like this far beyond the calculations I was led to 
 make, but now I begin to feel the benefit of my exertions 
 and outlay.—So widely different are the views and feelings of 
 humanity that I should feel very cautious in giving advice 
 that may lead to the pursuit of objects unknown to others ; 
 but when it is called forth by those in whom I feel an inte- 
 rest, J will cheerfully give it to the best of my information 
 and experience, but with the hope that my motives will be 
 duly appreciated. The difficulties attending emigration to 
 this country are very great, and the expenses seriously 
 heavy ; the first are felt, and the other increased in the ratio, 
 if I may so express myself, of previous comforts and habits ; 
 and grievous, vexatious, and merciless are the impositions 
 which attend the stranger at every step he takes, until he 
 finally settles himself. These impediments got over, as they 
 assuredly can be by prudenee and perseverance, I do not 
 think there is just now a finer field for the exertions of a man 
 with a small income, a labouring man, or a mechanic, than 
 this country Jays open ; but it must be entered upon with a 
 mind fully prepared to meet serious hardships, and to over- 
 come them. ‘The success of a mechanic is not doubtful, un- 
 less he makes it so by misconduct, idleness, or intemperance. 
 He should not be too impatient, neither should he suffer him- 
 self to be tied down for a high rate of wages by any combi- 
 nation, formed by those who are in a great measure inde- 
 pendent of their trades, but be satisfied with a fair remune- 
 rating price for his labour ; he will then be sure of work, and 
 will soon find that he will be able to make his trade assist his 
 agricultural pursuits—but all his exertions will be in vain if 
 he is not a strictly sober man. Whisky, the poisonous liquor 
 of the country, is sold very cheap, and has been the down- 
 fall of very many who would have succeeded could they have 
 refrained from it. Flourishing settlements, grist and saw 
 mills, growing towns and villages almost in every direction, 
 with a rapidly increasing population, have considerably di- 
 minished the amount of difficulty felt by the emigrants some 
 
37 
 seven or eight years ago; but still there is a very serious ba- 
 lance, which, if lost sight of, would be productive of much 
 disappointment and probable misery. The old price for ma- 
 son’s labour is 7s. 6d. per diem, finding their own food; it 
 is now down; I have engaged one to re-build my kitchen 
 chimney at 6s. per diem. If your friend should make up his 
 mind to emigrate, and to bend his course this way, I will 
 feel pleasure in rendering him all the assistance that my ex- 
 perience and advice can afford—should the pursuit be mer- 
 cantile, he would have to proceed with extreme caution, and 
 ought not to come to any precise determination until he have 
 been here, and gained the information which can only be ob- 
 tained by personal observation. He must know the wants 
 of the people he would supply, have some knowledge of 
 their character, and a correct idea of the mode in which bu-. 
 siness of that kind is conducted here. A store-keeper, (the 
 general term used here,) makes a great deal of money, but 
 failure frequently attends him. He who has capital of his 
 own to commence with will of course stand a better chance 
 than he who has to speculate upon goods sent by others. A 
 person in whom I was interested arrived here a year or two 
 back with capital, and has entered upon store-keeping, I 
 think successfully. When I knew what his intentions were, 
 I was indnced to make inquiry of persons residing at Mon- 
 treal, in whose knowledge, judgment, and integrity I could 
 place the firmest reliance. I found that to establish a store 
 in this province, it would require at least one thousand 
 pounds currency, great caution in making suitable selec- 
 tions, and a previous residence of six or twelve months at 
 the point where it is intended to start. If the object be agri- 
 cultural, it only requires correct information as to locality, 
 and the exercise of judgment in making use of it, and no 
 great capital to begin with. The vast tide of emigration that 
 for the last two or three years has flowed to this province has 
 made a wonderful and most cheering improvement, and has 
 occasioned a great rise in the value of land in the neighbour- 
 hood of flourishing towns and villages. The Government 
 upset price is raised from 5s. to 10s. the acre; they have 
 monthly sales. 
 D 
 
38 
 
 Extracts from four Letters written by an intelligent Scottish 
 Farmer who went out last year to examine for himself into 
 the probability of success attending Emigration to the 
 United States, or to Canada, particularly the prospects 
 which these countries hold out to agriculturists. 
 
 Dated 10th August, 1853, from Albany, U.S. 
 
 I find that a man, with a very little, that does not do well in 
 this country has himself to blame. Farming is the surest 
 trade here, but by no means the most profitable. The far- 
 mers in New Jersey seem to know very little about farming, 
 and only cultivate about as much land as will give them a 
 bare livelihood. An active Scotchman, with a capital of 
 £150, set down amongst them would do not a little with his 
 mode of farming, and if in the vicinity of New York, or Pa- 
 terson, he could not fail soon making himself independent. 
 Storekeepers have immense profits upon some of their goods, 
 say from 15 to 150 per cent. Tavern-keepers retail their 
 spirits at 200 per cent. and some at 400 per cent. Millers 
 in the vicinity of water communication have all made for- 
 tunes. Mechanics earn from £2 to £2 10s. ® week. Board 
 very low ; 9d. for dinner at the ordinary. Six per cent. 1s 
 the current interest, and seven may be got, and upwards. 
 
 From what I have already seen and heard, I have fairly 
 made up my mind to let my farm at home, and take up my 
 abode in this country, whatever may be the sacrifice. 
 
 FROM THE SAME. 
 Dated at Chippawa, 4th Oct. 1833. 
 
 I wrote you last from Albany, and have since travelled 
 through part of the States, and part of Upper Canada. I 
 am quite delighted with the country. The farmers live most 
 sumptuously, putting down their wine as well as any of the 
 Buchan Lairds, and those that farm well make money fast, but 
 there are few of that stamp to be met with. Some of the best 
 farms near this, I am told, only produce about 16 bushels 
 per acre, owing to bad management, while some of the others 
 adjoining produce 40. If the Aberdeenshire farmers knew 
 
39 
 how comfortably they could live in this country, few of them, 
 I think, would hesitate long about moving. Carpets, sofas, 
 hair-bottomed chairs, and some other luxuries which we think 
 necessaries, become very expensive here, but the Canadians 
 seem to have no turn for them, and they are seldom or never 
 to be seen in a farmer's house. 
 
 In the London district, the current price of land is three 
 dollars, payable in four instalments, but it must soon start, 
 as mostly all the emigrants of capital from Britain are going 
 there. | 
 
 The climate here is not reckoned so healthy as in Scotland, 
 but with the exception of the first week after I arrived, that 
 i had aslight bowel complaint, I have enjoyed excellent 
 health. Ihave seen a good many ill with the ague, but it 
 is easily cured when attended to, and thought little about. 
 
 Some men, I believe, come to this country thinking to 
 make a fortune, and to return home and spend it, but very 
 few will succeed in that. I have seen a good many old 
 country folks, and most of them say that they intend to re- 
 turn to see their friends, but would not remain upon any 
 account. 
 
 I find this country far more thickly settled than I expect- 
 ed ; along the roads, in this district, there are as many houses 
 to be seen as in travelling through Aberdeenshire, but the 
 villages are much smaller. Fish and game are in great 
 abundance here; I am a bad shot, but would find no diffi- 
 eulty in bagging twenty or thirty wild ducks daily. 
 
 FROM THE SAME. 
 
 Dated at Buffalo, 4th Dec. 1833. 
 
 I regret much that I should-have been so sceptical about the 
 advantages that this country possesses. If I had come her, 
 when I went to ————— I might have been driving my car- 
 riage by this time.* Land that was bought five years ago for 
 four dollars, is now selling for six dollars. The legal inte- 
 
 _ * Allusion is here made to what might have been the result of employ- 
 ing several thousand pounds, judiciously, in Canada, some five or six 
 years ago. 
 
 D2 
 
4.0 
 
 rest in Canada is 6 per cent. ; here I find it is 7, but I sus- 
 pect there is little borrowed under 10, some 15, and the 
 exchange-brokers seldom lend under from 30 to 50 per cent. 
 I saw a cattle-dealer pay some money a few days ago, which 
 he had borrowed at 14 per cent. and, by his own account, 
 had made profit. . 
 
 This is the most rising place in the States. Fourteen years 
 ago it only contained a few houses, which were all burnt by 
 the British, now it contains upwards of 14,000 inhabitants. 
 Some weeks ago there were 64 schooners, and 12 steamers, 
 in the harbour, all laden with goods for the west, which had 
 come up the Erie canal, 363 miles in length. ‘This canal, 
 which was only opened seven or eight years ago, is now ina- 
 dequate for the transportation of the great increase of pro- 
 duce, and they are now making a railroad the same route. 
 
 Ships can now sail from Quebec to New Orleans upon 
 fresh water, without breaking bulk, and to Chicago Bpos Lake 
 Michigan, about 800 miles from this. 
 
 The Black Hawk, an Indian Chief, so called, who at- 
 tempted last year to invade the western States, and did such 
 havoc with the scalping knife, passed through here a few days 
 ago. The American Government has sent him on a tour 
 through the States, that he may see the folly of ever again 
 making such an attempt. 
 
 I like this country very much, but am by no means part- 
 tial to some of the Yankie habits. Mechanics are here nearly 
 as busy on Sunday as any other day, and many of those who 
 are not employed go to the woods with the rifle. Few of 
 them have any religion whatever, and many of them are never 
 baptized. If a man contrive to cheat his neighbour, he is 
 said to be “ quite a smart man,’ and instead of being de- 
 spised, is by many more respected for so doing. 
 
 FROM THE SAME. 
 Written at Fort Erie, of date the 2\st September, 1838, 
 
 addressed to a Brother Farmer at home. 
 
 1 HAVE now seen part of the States, and part of the 
 Canadas, and think that a man can live most comfortably 
 
4:1 
 
 in the latter. There is little doubt but that most money 
 is to be made among the Yankies, but then an emigrant 
 must keep his mouth shut when he hears his country 
 despised. Improvements of every description get on in the 
 States with double rapidity. The American machinery is 
 much better planned for saving labour than ours, but in farm- 
 ing they are very far behind us. © There is a farmer of the 
 name of Dobins, from Scotland, who settled near this upon 
 a farm a few years ago, without any original capital, and is 
 doing remarkably well. He has only about eighty acres 
 cleared, but raises more wheat than his neighbours do who 
 have double the quantity. He is spoken of for twenty miles 
 round as being the best farmer in the district. His average 
 is never less than forty bushels of wheat an acre. Many of 
 the farms do not produce more than sixteen bushels an acre, 
 and if you saw their plan of farming, you would scarcely 
 think it would give the seed. When they thresh their wheat, 
 they cart the straw direct to the same field. There isa farm 
 of 161 acres which I saw near the Falls for sale, at 10 dollars 
 per acre, and reckoned very cheap, considering the situation. 
 Wheat is selling here for 5s. per bushel; oats, Is. 3d. per 
 bushel; butter, 6d. per lb.; eggs, 6d. per doz.; whisky, 
 Is. 6d. per gallon ; beef, 24d. to 3d. per lb. Servants wages, 
 £2 to £2 10s. per month, with board. Tea, 3s. per \b.; 
 green tea, 4s. 6d. ; potatoes are selling at 1s. per bushel ; 350 
 bushels is an average crop per acre. 
 
 These prices will give you some idea how a farmer may 
 get on in this country. The price of beef will seem low to 
 you, but as a farmer may keep as many cattle in summer in 
 the woods as he inclines, at no expense whatever, I think 
 the price pretty fair. In winter they must be els upon hay 
 and the tops of Indian corn. Two men can work a farm of 
 100 acres with no assistance in harvest, or at any other time, 
 from boy or woman. ‘They are now busy cutting their In- 
 dian corn and buckwheat ; most of their white wheat was cut 
 in July. 
 
 The taverns in the Canadas are very inferior to those in 
 the States. In their bedrooms there is seldom a basin, or 
 even some other things we reckon fully as necessary. 
 
 Game is most abundant here of all sorts, but the Ame- 
 ricans, whom I have seen, are very bad shots. I have not 
 
 Dd 
 
42 
 
 observed one of them attempt to shoot upon wing, although 
 the gun is seldom out of their hands. 
 
 A farmer can settle here in stile with £500, and keep as 
 good a table as any of our lairds, but of course must at- 
 tend to his business and keep at home, as servants here are 
 much less to be depended on than they are in Scotland. I 
 have seen a few persons in the ague, but they seem to think 
 little about it ; those near Jake Erie are more liable to it than 
 those on the lower lake. Since I have arrived I have enjoy- 
 ed excellent health, with the exception of one week after 
 landing at New York, and all the other cabin passengers 
 were a little trowbled in the same way. 
 
 Doctors charge here most extravagantly, say from ten 
 shillings to three pounds a visit, but there are few that I 
 would be inclined:to trust my life with. If Mr. 
 turns his attention to making and selling quack medicines, 
 he is sure of making a fortune. They sell here very high, 
 and are used by almost every body. If Mr. ———— think 
 of coming out, he ought to become a complete chemist. 
 There are a great many doctors, but few of them of good 
 education. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from one of the Colonial Society's Ih- 
 nisters in Upper Canada, dated August 12, 1833. 
 
 Our Synod is making an effort to have all engagements ren- 
 dered permanent ; and apparently this very desirable object 
 will be accomplished. The system which had prevailed in 
 the United States, and had begun to get a footing here, of 
 hiring and dismissing ministers at their pleasure, is a practical 
 result of the Voluntary Association principle, which would 
 be very little admired in Scotland. Indeed, I cannot 
 help stepping out of .iny way to remark, that as it has 
 become a proverb here, that the best cure for a radical is 
 to send him to the United States, so it may as truly be said 
 that more insight would be got into the working of the Vo- 
 luntary principle by half-a-year’s residence here, or in the 
 States, than by the study of all the theories upon the sub- 
 ject which have emanated of late from the Scottish press. 
 
43 
 
 Though Canada is not exactly an integral portion of the 
 neighbouring States, the people have adopted many of their 
 ways, and, among the rest, hiring and dismissing, as the 
 transaction is familiarly and very appropriately called, with 
 all-its unpleasant and ruinous accompaniments. But in our 
 congregation, at least, the practice is in a fair way of being 
 abolished. 
 
 Copy of a Letter from a Clergyman in Upper Canada, to 
 his brother in ——, Scotland, dated E- 
 Guelph, May 30th, 1882. 
 
 > near 
 
 Dear Broruer,—The longer I live here, and the more I 
 know of the country, the more I am persuaded that this 
 will soon be the first country in the world. Settlers are 
 prospering so well every where, that the most favourable ac- 
 counts are sent to the Old Country, and the consequence is, 
 as you yourself know, that the ratio of emigration is increas- 
 ing ten-fold ; not merely the poor are now coming out, but 
 men of capital, which will conduce much to the prosperity 
 of this.country. The only thing wanted is a ready-money 
 market, for money is scarce. Settlers generally get about 
 one-half in cash for their produce, the other they are ob- 
 liged to traffic for goods, &c. Yet, with this difficulty in 
 the way, settlers are becoming every year more independ- 
 ent, and see the comforts and many of the luxuries of life 
 surrounding them. I often think of the assertion of Mr. 
 E———,, that ‘a man would have to labour all his life for 
 a living, and it would be his sons only who would reap any 
 advantage from his labours.’ This may be true enough of 
 the place in which he resides, and perhaps of a large portion 
 of Lower Canada; but how injurious to the interests of 
 emigration, is this, to be affirmed or supposed of the whole 
 country in general. I could, with little difficulty, find you 
 hundreds, who, in the space of eight years, (most of them 
 without means at the beginning) having paid for their land 
 from a dollar and a half to two dollars per acre—now living 
 as well as folks do with you at £200 a year. For a tract 
 of nearly 100 square miles there is the richest land that can 
 
44 ; 
 
 be, capable of producing every thing that is produced in 
 England, as good, and much more besides. 
 
 The labour of clearing the land at first, it must be grant- 
 ed, is very great, but then the worst is over, and folk are — 
 cheered through their labours by the pleasing consideration 
 that they are working for themselves, and will soon enjoy 
 the reward of their work. Those who wish, can have every 
 thing within themselves ; those who buy, can have every thing 
 except clothing for about one half what it would cost at home. 
 As to climate, and I have now seen the most part of the 
 year, I think it fully as agreeable as in England. The winter 
 lasted four months, and it was reckoned the severest for 
 many years: it was far pleasanter, though much colder, than 
 the winter with you. It was regular; no sudden changing 
 from wet to dry, and from heat to cold. Business goes on 
 then with as much activity as in any part of the year,—the 
 roads are filled with sleighs containing produce for the mar- 
 ket, and it is then that money is got in and land paid for- 
 At this season (May) nature is clothed with the most luxu- 
 riant verdure, and every thing seems to welcome the approach 
 of summer. 
 
 Bears are scarce, but wolves are pretty numerous ; how- 
 ever, they are very timid, and never attack a human being. 
 They feed on the deer with which the woods abound, and 
 also sheep, if not put up at night. The only snakes about 
 these parts are garter snakes, which are perfectly harmless, 
 and feed on vermin: Mosquitoes, gnats, and black flies, 
 occasion much annoyance to new comers, but I have been 
 annoyed as much by midges in Ireland; and they are now 
 in their strength: old settlers scarce mind them. The birds 
 here are as beautiful and varied as those of India. We have 
 the humming bird, squirrels, and all sorts of natural bonny 
 things meeting our eyes wherever we turn. 
 
 Emigration is increasing so rapidly, that land is rising in 
 value. ‘Three dollars an acre is now the average price of 
 land, and in less than five years it will be ten. If a man 
 could bring here as much money as would buy a lot of 200 
 acres, and have a little to set him a-going, he would be as 
 well off as those who have £500 a year in England, and be- 
 sides, be far away from the wretchedness which is so painful 
 to those who have the feelings of men and Christians. No- 
 
45 
 
 thing can be more pleasing than to see peace and plenty 
 among a people with whom religion is the all-important con- 
 sideration, and nothing is wanted here to make this place a 
 paradise, but religion. This want, however, I trust, will, 
 in course of time, be supplied ; and the means of grace are 
 increasing. 
 
 I have removed my residence from Guelph to E , to 
 be near Christian friends ; and every thing seems now as I 
 could wish. 
 
 I have taken up 100 acres of land, with 10 chopped down, 
 part of which I am now planting with potatoes and Indian 
 corn, and the.whole I hope to put into fall-crop. I have 
 now a cow and two pigs. 
 
 I hope you will make up your mind to come out. If I 
 had the command. of about £200 or £3800, I could secure 
 you a cleared farm, which would make your life comfortable, 
 and I would advise you to lose no time, as land is taking up 
 very rapidly, so, in a short time, there will be no cheap land 
 to be procured about these parts. 
 
 I taught a school last winter, and received £10 besides 
 my board, and intend to do the same next winter. I preach 
 every Lord’s day, and am also paid for my ministry. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from a Mason in York, U. C. to his 
 friend in Edinburgh, dated Oct. 11, 1833. 
 
 On our arriving here, I found employment at my business. 
 I thought it wise to accept it, till I should see something of 
 the manners and customs of the people, and learn how things 
 were going on. It was my intention when I came away from 
 home to have a piece of land, so I endeavoured to inform my- 
 self a little about that also. I heard what people in general 
 had to say about this, and being idle for want of stone for 
 four or five days, I thought it best to take a turn out to the 
 country, and see for myself how things were in reality ; and 
 I am glad that I did so, for it is the great cry of the land- 
 holders (or speculators in land) here, as well as the Govern- 
 ment—‘ G'o back, and you will get every thing. But I 
 could see the difference very plainly ; as you go back into 
 the wilds, hardships, inconveniences, and difficulties in- 
 
46 
 
 crease ; want of market, want of roads, want of mills—in 
 short, they have many ills to struggle with which keeps them 
 far behind. I was back as far as 50 miles, where it had been 
 settled as long as some of the front townships, yet they have 
 not got even roads made, only sleigh roads through the woods. 
 They cannot come to market but in winter on the snow, and 
 then they must sell at what they can get, for they cannot 
 take their produce back with them: they must also sell im- 
 mediately for the purpose of purchasing necessaries for the 
 ensuing year. From all that I saw, I am persuaded that it 
 is better. to have land in a front township near a market, 
 paying in proportion for it, than get it in a back town as a 
 free gift. I have made up my mind therefore to buy in a 
 township as near to York as possible. 
 
 I have now looked at land at different places and prices, 
 and have bought 100 acres in the township of Pickering, 20 
 miles from York, and only a mile anda half from the post 
 road from York to Kingston. I pay five dollars an acre: it 
 is considered good land, and scarcely any in the township is 
 to be got at this price. I went to another gentleman who 
 owns the greater part of the land now to dispose of in the 
 township, but, after going over some of it, I thought it no 
 better than what I have bought, and he told me his price 
 was eight dollars, under which he would not sell any of it, 
 good or bad. Iam to pay by five instalments, one down, 
 and the rest with interest at different periods. 
 
 [ As the manner of living, and of getting on, in Canada, 
 is much the same, in many respects, as in the States, the 
 following letter from the latter will be found interesting even 
 to those who intend settling in Canada. ] 
 
 Extract of a Letter from a Farm Servant in America, to 
 the Editor of the Glasgow Chronicle, dated Lyon’s 
 Town, U. &. 17th January, 1830. 
 
 I sailed from Greenock on the 24th May, 1826, on board 
 of the ship Curler, in company of many other steerage pas- 
 
47 
 
 sengers. As soon as we had cast anchor in quarantine 
 ground at New York, and had got our Pilot on board, a me- 
 dical gentleman came also on board, to inquire if there was 
 any sickness or disease prevailing amongst our passengers and 
 sailors. Happy to find all in good health, we were permit- 
 ted to weigh anchor next day, and in the course of about 
 two hours after, moored in the harbour of New York. Hav- 
 ing but little business to transact in the city, my stay was 
 but short. I sailed up the Hudson river on board of a steam 
 boat for Albany ; and from thence on board of a line-boat on 
 the Erie Canal, for the west. I was much delighted in this, 
 my water excursion, to hear the woods of America echo 
 with the sweet sounds of the key bugles from on board of 
 the respective boats ; and what rendered it more pleasant to 
 me was, that Scottish tunes appeared to be their favourite 
 airs, that is, ‘ Scots wha hae,” “ Auld lang syne,” “ Roy’s 
 wife,” « Wha’'ll be King but Charlie,” &c. &c. But calling 
 to my recollection the words of our Scottish Bard, ‘ plea- 
 sures are like poppies spread,” I considered this gay life would 
 not last long with me, so I turned myself to what I was bred 
 to-—the spade and the plough. 1 began to work in Maddison 
 County, State of New York, at eleven dollars per month, 
 and found, in the employ of Mr. Zablan Douglas, who com- 
 manded a Regiment of the Commonwealth Militia last war be- 
 tween England and this country. I found Col. Douglas to be 
 a good Republican, and a staunch friend to the American in- 
 dependency. The Colonel owns a farm of upwards of 300 
 acres of land, in a very pleasant and fertile part of the 
 country ; and as is common here, has a large orchard on 
 his farm, containing many different kinds of fruit, but espe- 
 cially apples, as these are chiefly used for family use, and for 
 making Cyder, which is the common drink here. I shall 
 give some account of the mode of living in this country; I 
 shall only state how we fared at Colonel Douglas’s table, and 
 as I have found it to be no ways superior to that of any other 
 farmer that I have had an opportunity of seeing, I lool on 
 it as the common way of living. Breakfast—tea or coffee, 
 with loaf bread and butter, short cakes, and beef ham, with 
 many different pickles and sauces—but apple sauce was most 
 common, and on the table at every meal. Dinner—roast or 
 boiled beef or pork, with well-cooked potatoes, pies, cus- 
 
48 
 
 tards, cakes, &c. &c. Supper—cold meat with bread, In- 
 dian corn pudding, with new milk, &c. Whisky three times 
 a day, and Cyder to drink as often as nature required it. A 
 feather bed to sleep on; and clean sheets every week. The 
 Colonel wished to hire me for a year, and offered me 120 
 dollars, = at 4s. 2d. per dollar, to £25, for that time; but 
 wishing to see a little more of the country, and hearing of 
 good wages on the Pennsylvanian canals, I bent my way to 
 that country, and began working on the Susquehanna canal, 
 in the employ of Messrs. Plues and Phillips, who had a large 
 contract on that line of canal. As I go along I will state 
 the wages. In March 12 dollars per month; in April 13 ; 
 in May and June 14; July, August, and September 15; 
 October 14; and in November down again to 12 dollars ; but 
 I was appointed in the month of May to superintend the 
 work, and my wages then were 16 dollars per month, till 
 the 4th of November, when I left the canal and returned to 
 the State of New York, where I intend to commence farm- 
 ing, being offered a good farm from Mr. Plues, by the halves. 
 This farm lies on the Erie Canal, Orleans County, about 
 thirty miles west of Rochester, where there are good mar- 
 kets for all kinds of grain. Finding I lay under some dis- 
 advantages in engaging with it, being a single man, I de- 
 clined the offer, and hired with a farmer, for one year, at 
 110 dollars. I believe for a man witha family, the farm 
 would have been much more lucrative, as there are 250 acres 
 of cleared land upon it; and | would recommend farming 
 before any other line of business in this country. The reason 
 is, farmers live so very independent of any other class of 
 people. I have travelled through a very great part of the 
 States of New York and Pennsylvania—have called at pretty 
 wealthy farmer’s houses, and have seen the old Dame card- 
 ing the wool shorn off their own sheep—the young girls 
 spinning it—one, more in years than the rest, weaving it, 
 and all the family wearing it. And if they have a few yards 
 to spare, they sell it, which defrays the expenses of dyeing 
 and fulling what they themselves wear. Besides, they grow 
 their own grain ; fatten their own beef and pork ; make their 
 own sugar; likewise, their own cyder; and if they have a 
 mind, distil their own whisky,—“ there is no Exciseman in 
 a bustle seizing a still.” Neither have they any Factor they 
 
 . 
 
49 
 
 need to humble themselves before, for they have no rents to 
 pay, and their taxes are but small, and some years none at 
 all. As I have recommended farming to those who have but 
 a small capital, so I would recommend to those who have 
 none, and who have been bred to farming, to enter into the 
 employ of a farmer when they emigrate to America. It is 
 true, there are higher wages got upon the canals; but as the 
 Irish emigrants claim that work wholly as their own, and 
 beat off some, and kill others, as the Dutchmen last summer 
 found to their sad experience, I would advise all my country- 
 men not to deprive the Sons of Hibernia of their rights, and 
 they will find it no disadvantage to them. <A farmer in 
 _ America needs not to serve a long apprenticeship to be a 
 good farmer. Since I came to this country, I have known 
 a Paisley weaver, possessing or owning a hundred acres of 
 land, and a beautiful framed house on it, with a good barn 
 and stable, who is reputed a good American farmer. The 
 grain raised in this country is chiefly wheat, rye, and Indian 
 corn. Oats and barley are also sown, but not to great ex- 
 tent. Thirty bushels of wheat is an average crop per acre; 
 rye 25; Indian corn 40 ; oats from 30 to 40 ; potatoes 250. 
 These are the average crops per acre in this part of the 
 country, and the markets at present rate as fellows, viz. :— 
 wheat, 56 cents per bushel, (a cent is exactly a half-penny) ; 
 rye 37; Indian corn 34; oats 20; potatoes 18; and hay is 
 sold at 5 dollars per ton; beef 5 cents per lb. ; pork and 
 mutton 4 cents per lb. ; and a ready cash market for all these 
 productions. A great part of farming work is done by oxen ; 
 horses are of a small breed, but very hardy ; the sheep are 
 said to be of the Merino breed. ‘To horses, sheep and cattle, 
 is given a small quantity of salt once or twice a week, of 
 which they appear to be very fond. Sleighs or slaes are 
 much used in time of deep snow, both for pleasure and con- 
 veyance of goods; the former are drawn by horses, and the 
 Jatter by oxen. Fences are split rails about 12 or 14 feet 
 long, placed one above another in a zig-zag direction, in the 
 form of the letter W, except where the settlement has been 
 of pretty long standing ; in that case the fences are formed 
 of posts and bars, in the form of a gate. I have seen sorne 
 stone fences in different parts of the country ; but they were 
 built in a very unworkmanlike manner. I have experienc- 
 E 
 
50 
 
 ed much hospitality from the inhabitants ; but when one 
 enters into commerce with them, he must be very careful, 
 else he is sure to be taken in. Land can be had at many 
 different prices. I know a tract of land in the State of 
 Pennsylvania, and southwest of the great bend of the Sus- 
 quehanna river, that may be had for one dollar and a half per 
 acre, and five years credit without interest. This land is 
 covered with valuable timber, and may be navigated down 
 the Susquehanna to the Baltimore market. Emigrants begin to 
 settle there in great numbers, and are making great progress in 
 chopping the wood, and clearing the land ; but the old country- 
 man comes far short of the Yankee in this kind of work. I 
 understand many settlers from the New England States, have 
 removed, and are still removing to the State of Ohio, and 
 to the territory of Michigan. There the land is at the 
 low price of one dollar and 25 cents per acre, ready money. 
 Now it is not moorland, neither is it barren, for it will bear 
 good crops in the open field, and in the garden, cucumbers, 
 water melons, musk melons, and many other garden produc- 
 tions in great abundance. ‘The land in this part of the 
 country is much higher; woodland from 4 to 10 dollars per 
 acre, and land pretty well improved, with a dwelling-house, 
 a barn, a stable, and an orchard upon it, from 15 to 25 dol- 
 Jars per acre. Here, the workman is paid for his labour, 
 and the husbandman is rewarded for his industry ; but I en- 
 courage none but the steady, the sober, and the industrious, 
 to come to this country, for by industry, there is a comfort- 
 able living to be obtained; and I pity my poor and indus- 
 trious countrymen, who, from want of means, are prevented 
 from coming to a country, where they and their families might 
 enjoy freedom, and a comfortable way of living, as the fruits 
 of their frugality and industry. 
 
 I know of thousands of acres of land that are situated be- 
 tween the Clyde and the Carron, that six acres will not keep 
 a cow and her calf, and a ewe and her lamb, the year round ; 
 yet, for that, some person or other will promise, and must 
 pay from 15s. to 20s. sterling per acre of annual rent ; and 
 should he fail to implement his engagement, his landlord 
 will not fail to use means to have his rent by seizing on the 
 poor tenant’s stock, and perhaps not leave him worth a penny. 
 Now, a year’s rent of one acre would make a free purchase 
 
o1 
 
 of three acres of woodland in many different places in the 
 United States of America, that, when cleared and sown, 
 will produce from 25 to 30 bushels of wheat peracre. Some 
 will probably ask, what would it cost to clear such land? I 
 answer, from eight to ten dollars per acre will cut down, log, 
 and burn up the wood that grows upon it—put up a fence of 
 rails round it five feet high, which would be a good fence. 
 Now, if the unimproved land in Scotland could be rendered 
 fit to produce such crops, as the land referred to will, it 
 would save Sir John Sinclair much of his writing on agricul- 
 ture. But lest I should offend any of my countrymen by 
 pretending superior knowledge, I shall say no more; and 
 remain, 
 Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 (Signed) JoHn Morrison. 
 Mr. D. D. 
 
 I have so far stated to you, and the Editor of the Glas- 
 gow Chronicle and Journal, a few simple facts respecting 
 America, which IJ intend for the good of my poor countrymen 
 at large—but am sorry that my shallow learning prevents 
 me from expressing myself in a more elegant style; for all 
 I have said comes far short of what I have experienced my- 
 self—and still farther of what I have seen in others. I will 
 state a few more things, which I find I have omitted ;— 
 First, I will let you know how apple sauce is made—the 
 apples are pared and quartered, the hearts taken out, then 
 boiled in new cyder, that has been boiled down 3-4ths, then 
 preserved as you do your jam. In working a farm in shares, 
 if the proprietor finds horses, oxen, farming utensils, stocks 
 the farm with cows and sheep, according to the pasture, 
 and also finds seed to sow it, he has 2-3ds of the produce. 
 These were the terms on which Mr. Plues offered me his 
 farm; and if the farmer finds the half of all, he takes the 
 half of all, and the owner has the other half. I committed 
 a mistake, when I said in my letter there were no rents to 
 pay, for I was informed by Mr. Paton that there are several 
 farms in this neighbourhood let at one dollar per acre— 
 cleared land only paid for. He is my employer, and owns 
 nearly 400 acres of land, for which he has been offered 25 
 dollars each acre, free purchase. It is situated about a mile 
 
 E2 
 
D2 
 
 and a half west of the beautiful village of .Lyons, and the 
 Erie canal goes through it. He arrived in this country 
 about 30 years ago, and had no great capital when he came. 
 Where I spoke of travelling in sleighs for pleasure, I forgot 
 to say that I look upon this season, viz. winter, to be the 
 most pleasant throughout all the year. It is the season in 
 which the inhabitants visit their friends—they reckon very 
 little on travelling 100 miles in a sleigh to pay a visit—there 
 are bells hung round each horse’s neck, which make a con- 
 stant tinkling—they go with great speed. ‘The land south- 
 west of the great bend of the Susquehanna river, abounds 
 with wild deer, and many a one makes a good deal of money 
 by killing them, as the venison can be readily sold for 6 
 or 8 cents per lb. As to the farm produce, butter sells at 
 122 cents. per lb.—apples about 20 cents. per bushel, [9d. 
 per sleek |—peaches 25—cheese 8 cents. per lb.—cyder 
 about one dollar per barrel, [3d. per English pint, ] much 
 cheaper than your sour-milk—boarding, in genteel taverns, 
 from a dollar and a half, to two dollars per week—one meal 
 25 cents.—passage between New York and Albany one dol- 
 lar, and found—passage on the Erie canal, one cent. per 
 mile, or two cents. and found. Six per cent. interest is 
 readily got for money, and good security. Cloths of all 
 kinds are higher priced than in Britain, and of inferior 
 quality—yet they are making rapid improvements in manu- 
 factures, and there is good encouragement for mechanics of 
 every class. A man may smoke his pipe at very little ex- 
 pense, tobacco being from 124 to 20 cents. per Ib. ; and 
 whisky 25 cents. per gallon [24d. per common bottle.] A 
 dollar is about 4s. 2d. sterling—a cent. is one halfpenny 
 sterling. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from an Emigrant who left Scotland, 
 for Canada, in 1833—dated Zorra, London District, 
 September 19, 1833. 
 
 Dear BrotHEeR,—When we arrived at Quebec, a steamer 
 came alongside and took us and our luggage, in 30 hours 
 sailing, to Montreal. Each adult 7s. luggage free. Captain 
 
53 
 
 A- got our custom-house business transacted at 
 Quebec by his man of business. When we arrived at Mon- 
 treal, several men came to us wishing to engage to take us 
 to Presect. If you come, make the best bargain you can 
 with them. We employed M‘Pherson & Co. who keep a 
 store three quarters of a mile above the place where the 
 steamer stops on the side of the canal. Our luggage cost 
 2s. 6d. per cwt. All sorts of provisions free. Each adult 
 10s. 2d. They were at the expense of carting us all up 
 from the steamer to their store, where we lodged, till the 
 boat sailed, which was next morning. We paid nothing for 
 lodging, there being great opposition among the boat owners. 
 We sailed in what is called a Durham boat, which was partly 
 covered. We arrived at Prescot, and were landed on the 
 wharf; paid 3d. per cwt. for wharfage, and had Jiberty to 
 lodge in the store free, until the schooner in which we were 
 to embark should sail, which was in three days. Our pas- 
 sage to Hamilton (at the westernmost end of Lake Ontario) 
 was 2s. 6d. each, luggage 7d. per cwt. ; four days sailing 300 
 miles. We were put on shore at Land’s wharf, and lived in 
 a school-house close by, which belonged to Mr. Land. Our 
 luggage was put into the store, lodging and wharfage cost 
 7s. 6d. for nine days. We then left the women and travel- 
 led 50 miles up to Zorra, through woods and very bad roads. 
 We looked about two or three days for land to suit us, 
 which is all very good in this township. We saw. many 
 fine lots for sale, and at last fixed on one of 100 acres, at 
 12s, sterling per acre, or 3 dollars currency, but it was long 
 before we knew whether we could get it or not. We had 
 to go to York, 110 miles distant, about the land. It is a 
 fine lot on the banks of the Thames. We are now well 
 settled, all in good health, and have built a good log-house, 
 and fogged it well. We have a good cow, which cost 22 
 dollars, with a calf three months old. A yoke of oxen cost 
 65 dollars, the best in all the settlement. We expect to 
 have another cow this fall. We have chopped, logged, and 
 cleared 44 acres, and sown it in wheat. ‘There are plenty 
 of ducks, partridges, pigeons, and deer in the woods, some of 
 which we have almost every day, and thousands of fruit trees, 
 _ of many kinds. We keep our health remarkably well, and 
 ES 
 
54 
 
 like the country as well, but we think long for your coming 
 out. Mr. M. has bought ninety acres from a man here, five 
 of which were cleared. I would sooner give 34 dollars for 
 ours, than 23 for his purchase. 
 
 To Mr. G. or others who wish to know what we think of 
 Canada, I would say that many trifling things we find dif- 
 ferent from what we expected, but on the whole better. We 
 like it remarkably well, and if we keep our health, as we 
 seem to do, we have no fear of making a comfortable inde- 
 pendent living. This is one of the most healthy townships 
 in Upper Canada. ‘The land is of the very best quality, and 
 well watered, which in some townships and districts is 
 scarce. ‘Those who are willing to follow after land ought 
 to come out immediately, as it has risen in price consider- 
 ably since we came here. ‘There are still great numbers of 
 emigrants arriving daily, A person can commence on land 
 very well with £50, but better with more. 
 
 Our wheat is looking beautiful, and four inches high; we 
 have pitted our potatoes, and are going to the mill next 
 week with a grist. We have got another cow, which cost 
 seventeen dollars, so we shall have plenty of milk, and honey 
 also, by the time you come out. Labouring men can get 
 plenty of work here, and thanks besides payment. Several 
 who came with us got employment the first day at 5s. and 
 6s. (Halifax currency) per day. 
 
 Directions for the Voyage, and after arrival in the Country. 
 FROM THE SAME. 
 
 Go in good time, and secure a berth in the ship to your 
 liking. 
 
 Do not take one, on either side, opposite the hatchway, 
 because, when at sea, the water often rushes in, and be sure 
 to close in your berth with boards, or get the captain to do 
 it; the beds should not be‘narrower than three feet, on no 
 account. 
 
 The following is a list of the provisions, &c. proper to be 
 taken to sea for four persons, as steerage passengers. 
 
 16 or 18 pecks of Potatoes, in a barrel with a lock upon it. 
 
 40 Ib. of good beef, well salted in brine, — do. — 
 
35 
 
 16 |b. of butter. 
 3 lb. of coffee. 
 3 or 4 doz. old bottled beer, which has less chance of 
 flying than if new. 
 
 Some dozens of eggs, packed in salt. 
 
 4 doz. cod fish, cut in pieces for boiling. 
 
 Some dozens of Buckie haddocks, well dried for keeping. 
 
 Milk does not keep well. 
 
 No sweetmeats are relished at sea. 
 
 A few oranges, which at times taste very pleasant to the 
 parched palate. 
 
 Some cheese. 
 
 8 Ib. of treacle, in a flaggon. 
 
 1 stone of barley—a good deal of pepper and mustard. 
 
 Plenty of carrots, turnips, and onions, for broth; they 
 will keep all the voyage. 
 
 28 lb. of fine ship bread. 
 
 8 or 10 quartern loaves, baked hard, from Matthews. 
 
 I boll of oatmeal, 6 pecks baked into bannocks and cakes, 
 very well fired, and flat for packing. 
 
 Some white puddings. 
 
 Do. suet for dumplings. 
 
 A few candles, and a white-iron lanthern with horn. 
 
 1 bottle of vinegar, to use in water on shipboard. 
 
 1 do. of castor oil, and some oz. of colocynth, and rbu- 
 barb pills. 
 
 6 lb. of Epsom salts, and 1 lb. senna. 
 
 These medicines are very dear here. 
 
 Tin pan to fit the stove in the ship, and it is convenient to 
 have one for hooking on the ribs of the grate, when the top 
 of the fire is occupied. 
 
 Kettle for making coffee, &c. 
 
 N.B.—Use no crockery, but, in its stead, jugs and bowls 
 of tin. 
 
 Broth pot, frying-pan, tin kettle. 
 
 You must have all your things packed up in boxes or 
 barrels, so that you can replace them in safety. When you 
 have to ship and unship them, have locks on all of them; 
 have nothing in bags. I would warn you to look sharp, for 
 sailors and passengers will sometimes make mistakes as to 
 what is their own and what is not. Have all your tin dishes 
 
56 
 
 marked, as they are apt to disappear without leave. Put 
 your beef and your potatoes into the hold of the ship ; 
 your beer and cakes where you can have access ; and those 
 things most commonly applied to should be stowed away near 
 your bed. Nota bene~Always lock your boxes when you 
 leave them. 
 
 The following are some necessary articles which you should 
 bring along with you :— 
 
 A pair or two of stout shoes each; no iron but on the 
 heels. Cooking utensils, crockery, clothes, and no furni- 
 ture—two gridirons. Bring a bellows, shovel, and kitchen 
 tongs, candlesticks, no lamps ; pack some things into a tub 
 or two. ‘Tin water pails will be found useful, baskets, two 
 tea-pots, coffee-pot, clock. No axes, for what we brought 
 were of little use, so we bought others here, but a small 
 one might be taken. Clothes of all kinds can .be bought 
 at Hamilton (U. C.) very cheap; blankets are not so. 
 Wool is much cheaper than with you. Bring a large tin 
 plate oven, with feet. B wants 4 doz. stout cotton pirns, 
 a few balls of cotton thread, white and stout. Bring some 
 flat and deep plates, two or three pudding dishes, with 
 white-iron ones of the same size. A brass-pan. Soap and 
 soda. Large oil flask—a tin candle-mould for three or four 
 candles ; twenty yards or so of narrow sacking ; nine harrow 
 teeth, 12 inches Jong, by 14 square, of good Swedish iron ; 
 one scythe, and mounting for three, the rings 2 inches dia- 
 meter ; a mason’s small hammer; an auger 13 or 13; a light 
 grape for the byre ; two pitch-forks, one a size less than the 
 other, with ferrils for them ; cramp vice, glue pot, and glue ; 
 a wright’s bench screw, and nut ; two logging chains of Swe- 
 dish iron, (for the oxen drawing away the trees after being 
 cut) of the following dimensions—11 feet long, links 2 inch. 
 made of 14 inch rod, or stouter, a strong hook at each end, 
 o inches ‘long, and flat, get a link into the chain 4 feet 
 
 5 inches from the one end; the use of which is to put one 
 of the hooks into.* 
 
 Bring plenty of farthings, which go as far as halfpennies 
 or penny pieces, each of these passing for a copper. You 
 
 * In Canada, such chains cost about from 15 to 25 dollars per 100 Ibs. 
 
o7 
 
 will find them very useful in purchasing milk, or other re- 
 freshments, in coming up the river. 
 
 At Montreal you may lay in the following stores ;—some 
 soap ; 2 Ib. of tea (young hyson) ; 1 Ib. black tea; (we shall 
 soon have plenty of sugar from our own trees.) Some fresh 
 provisions, which are cheaper there than at Quebec. 
 
 As soon as you can ascertain how many packages you 
 have to go with you, call at the Custom-house, although 
 it were some days before the ship is to sail, and give in 
 the number of them, mentioning also their contents, whether 
 clothing, books, utensils, tools, provisions, &c. with the 
 average value of each, at a low estimate. Then you get a 
 permit, which you present to the searching officer at the ship, 
 where one always attends. No duty, exept shore-dues, on 
 luggage. At Qnebec none at all, only on goods for sale, 
 which are 23 per cent. The searching officers there are not 
 very strict. Do not have your boxes too large, as we had ; 
 they will be easier managed. 
 
 On leaving the ship, remember that you come into imme- 
 diate contact with many people who will take every advan- 
 tage over you which they can, so look sharp in your bargains, 
 and after your luggage. Keep a strict watch over these 
 ptcaroons wherever the boats stop in your voyage up the 
 river, or on the lakes; for, on these occasions, crowds of 
 people assemble, and come on board ostensibly to assist you, 
 but often to carry off any handy article. Even on leaving 
 the ship at Quebec be on your guard, and call a muster of 
 
 your various articles, in-case the sailors should take a fancy 
 to any of them. 
 
 You may go all the way from Montreal to Prescot (150 
 miles,) by water, and though you have to pass the rapids, 
 these are not so terrible as they are sometimes described. 
 You should take your passage in a Durham boat, which 
 is partly covered. Provisions are very dear all along the 
 river, so if you bring as much as will do to Hamilton, the 
 better. Remember these always go free of freight. On ar- 
 riving at Prescot it is then all plain sailing, and you may 
 embark in a steamer or schooner, the first being the quickest 
 and most comfortable conveyance, the second is the cheapest 
 by half, but the time of passage uncertain. Enquire in- 
 stantly for the next vessel which is to sail. The schooner 
 
58 
 
 we sailed in was four days in going about 300 miles ; which- 
 ever you choose, get on board the one or the other as soon as 
 possible with your baggage. If you store your things for a 
 single night, you pay 3d. per cwt. Lodgings can be easily 
 got at Prescot, at 3d. each person per night. They will put 
 you on shore at Land’s wharf, which is within a mile of Ha- 
 milton ; I mean the steamer or schooner people, if you ask 
 them. When we hear of your arrival there, we will come 
 with our oxen and bring up your luggage. 
 
 Although we have described the passage by Quebec, the 
 one by New York is safer on account of the ice, which is 
 often fatal to vessels in steering for the St. Laurence. We 
 heard of several being lost this year by getting entangled in 
 it, especially early in the spring. In either way, you are 
 equally in the hands of the Almighty, who can save on land, 
 or on water, or on ice. 
 
 Recollect to have rope-handles on all your boxes, well se- 
 cured to bear the weight of the box by one end, as they are 
 all hoisted out of, the vessels by the handles. Have locks 
 on them, and a few screws; no ropes round them, as they 
 are troublesome to rope and unrope. Get them all placed in 
 the hold, as near the stern of the ship as possible. 
 
 You will tell Mr. ————— that at Quebec and Montreal I 
 could not sell any of the goods, but at far under their price, so 
 I resolved to take them farther up the country, which I did, 
 but I found even then that money could not be got for 
 them, only produce of the country, so ‘we sold some of 
 them for that, and are selling now and then. We will nse 
 the produce, and remit the money when we have the most 
 of them sold. There are some of them we can hardly sell 
 at any rate, such as locks and hinges. Knives, saws, spades, 
 and spoons, we have almost sold. 
 
 We are very ill off here for clover to the cattle ; it is not 
 to be bought; I mean ved clover, which is best. Will you 
 therefore bring as much as sow two acres ; the quantity will 
 be about 16 lb. Could you also bring some rye grass seed, 
 a little will do as we can raise more from it. We have 
 - Timothy grass here in its place, but we want to try it. Wiill 
 you pay particular attention to getting it packed close up in 
 a box, 
 
59 
 
 Get all your Sovereigns exchanged at Montreal, where 
 you will receive 23s. 9d. or 24s. for them; some will give 
 you more than others. 
 
 Extract of a Letter, from Mrs. ——— to Mrs. 
 from the same place, and of the same date. 
 
 SrtnceE I recovered the fatigue of the voyage, I have been 
 better in health than in Aberdeen. This is a healthy place, 
 and we have neighbours near us. All things are comfortable 
 enough, and | am content, but I often think about near friends 
 and acquaintances whom J shall never see again. 
 
 If it be that you come out, a few hints will be of ser- 
 vice to you, as we saw many things destroyed by improper 
 packing. You should have a sufficient box to hold your 
 bonnets, with nothing besides to crush them. Get three 
 large flannel shirts. Have as few things open in your berth 
 as possible; a bag to hold the clean, and another for the 
 dirty. A ‘cloth cap for yourself, and others for the chil- 
 dren, as bonnets are not convenient at sea, and your dress 
 should be of a warm description. 
 
 Do not distress yourself preparing great store of thangs 
 as if you could get nothing here. We can buy cotton prints, 
 and cotton of all kinds, as cheap as at home. You may 
 bring a few cuts of worsted for stockings, but we have far 
 finer wool, and cheaper, than with yous We can have plenty 
 of feathers as every one has dozens of geese, and they are 
 plucked every month. You will have to supply your own 
 bedding on board of ship. 
 
 Bring some blankets, as they are scarce here ; 2 tea kettles, 
 brander, and crook. Be sure to pack your dishes well. Keep 
 your mind easy on the voyage, and be always eating something. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from a Mason, now in the United States, 
 late from Scotland ; dated Dec. 31, 1883, Pennsylvania. 
 
 We landed safely at Quebec on the 17th of May, and found 
 trade very brisk. Mason’s wages 5s. per day. I was pro-~ 
 
60 
 
 mised more, if I inclined to stop in the place, but fearing 
 the long winter in Lower Canada, I proceeded to Montreal, 
 where I staid two months, and worked at a dollar per day. 
 While there, I received a letter from a friend in the United 
 States, in which he informed me that the best place for a 
 tradesman was there. I accordingly left Montreal and pro- 
 ceeded as far as New York, where I entered into the em- 
 ployment of Mr. —_—— and earned the above wages, but 
 had I been acquainted with the tools and manner of work- 
 ing, I could have got much more. Some masons about this 
 make three dollars per day. ‘There were about sixty stone 
 cutters employed by Mr. ———— at the time I was with 
 him; and he would willingly have engaged more if it had 
 been possible to procure them. At the end of two weeks 
 1 left the employment of Mr. ——-—, and engaged with a 
 Dutchman who has promised me work for a season. My 
 wages now are 1+ dollars, and paid in cash every Saturday 
 night.* Masons can do little here during the months of Ja- 
 nuary and February. As yet we have had no snow this 
 season, but heavy falls of rain, and hard frosts. This place 
 is much better for tradesmen and labourers to come to than 
 Canada is ; but the land in Canada is better and cheaper. 
 Here, the wood is almost cleared off the ground. Land is 
 getting higher every year. In winter, the day light is much 
 longer than in Scotland. At present (a quarter past five 
 oclock, p.m.) I can see to write without candlelight, and 
 we have good day light'at seven in the morning. I do not 
 say that a fortune can be made here in the course of a year 
 or two, but this is the country for work and wages. A sober 
 and industrious tradesman, or labourer, can save a great deal 
 more money than he can do at home. ‘The price of shoes 
 and clothing is about the same here as in Scotland. You 
 can have board, lodging, and washing here, for two dollars 
 per week, and the board is equal to that of any gentleman 
 in Aberdeen. 
 
 _* In Canada, tradesmen are not generally paid every week or fort- 
 night, as at home; but at very irregular periods—one, two, and some- 
 times three months. 
 
61 
 
 Hints to Canadian Emigrants, by Mr. Fergusson. 
 
 Frew things will puzzle an emigrant more than the choice of 
 a situation; and the contradictory statements which selfish 
 motives will present to him, require his utmost prudence and 
 caution to sift. In general, he ought to be in no hurry. If 
 he can afford to board with a respectable family for some 
 months, I am confident that his time and money will be 
 well repaid, by the knowledge and experience which may be 
 thus acquired. Besides the parts of the country I have 
 touched upon, there are many others at least equally suitable. 
 The Sandwich, Amherst, and Malden districts are very de- 
 sirable, and being far west, few comparatively think of vi- 
 siting them. The climate is equal to any part of the pro- 
 vince. There is a daily line of steamers from Buffalo to 
 Detroit River, on which they lie; and a steamer this season 
 is to run from Chippeway to Sandwich. The style of farm- 
 ing is bad, the settlers being mostly descended from French 
 Canadians, and retaining all their unprofitable habits. The 
 price asked for uncleared land is about 15s. or 20s. per 
 acre; and some of the old farms may be had reasonable 
 enough. 
 
 Miscellaneous Notes on Canada. From Chambers Journal. 
 
 WE have just had put into our hands the following statements 
 regarding prices of land, transport from place to place, &c., 
 in Upper Canada, by a gentleman who left the colony in the 
 month of November 1833, and who took pains to ensure ac- 
 curacy in ‘his very useful details. 
 
 * The writer, after nearly two years’ residence, and, on a 
 former occasion, upwards of twelve months’ experience, 
 would advise none to proceed to Upper Canada, under the 
 erroneous idea of eating the bread of idleness; but those 
 who possess a small capital-—families, particularly those with 
 grown-up sons—young men, or women of sober and indus- 
 trious habits—could not do better than proceed to that 
 country, where they would receive a full remuneration for 
 their labour. 
 
 FE 
 
62 
 
 The legal interest for money in the province is six per 
 cent.; but matters are generally transacted at eight, and, 
 within the knowledge of the writer, at ten per cent. 
 
 The emigrant, on his arrival in York, Upper Canada, or 
 other parts of the province, can make choice of his location 
 wherever there are crown lands, or clergy reserves, for dis- 
 posal. The conditions of the sales for crown lands are as 
 follows :—One-fourth of the purchase-money to be paid 
 down, and the remainder at three annual instalments, with 
 interest at six per cent. on each instalment, payable with the 
 instalment : and for clergy reserves, ten per cent., to be paid 
 at the time of sale, and the remainder in nine annual instal- 
 ments of ten per cent. each, with interest on each instalment, 
 to be paid with the instalment. 
 
 The writer, feeling most anxious to put all on their guard 
 who proceed to Canada for the purpose of taking land, trusts 
 they will be careful in avoiding the many low adventurers 
 who will throw themselves in their way, in order to deceive 
 them, it being their general practice, with regard to stran- 
 gers, to endeavour to take advantage, as they are for the 
 most part engaged in the traffic of lands; so that the emi- 
 grant may be induced to travel about the country from place 
 to place, and spend more money than would pay the whole 
 purchase of a farm. But let every emigrant repair to the 
 government offices in York, where he will receive the most 
 polite attention, and every information he requires. The 
 writer is most happy in thus having it in his power to lay be- 
 fore the public, from his own personal experience, the anxiety 
 and unremitting attention on the part of his excellency, Sir 
 John Colborne, lieutenant-governor of the province, in for- 
 warding the views of every new settler, not only with his 
 most kind advice, but also in going round with the stranger 
 to the different public offices, in order to the attainment of 
 their wishes ; also every individual employed in and about 
 the government offices. Lands can also be obtained from the 
 Canada Company, at their office in York, or of their agents 
 throughout the country ; and abundance of cleared and partly 
 cleared land is always attainable. The first crop from newly 
 cleared land pays the expense of clearing and feneing. All 
 lands are rising annually in value.” 
 
63 
 
 Choosing a Location, and the Titles to Property. 
 FROM THE EMIGRANT’S FRIEND. 
 
 Tue following considerations are offered merely to facilitate 
 you in observing and enquiring for yourself. In choosing a 
 property, location is generally the first thing looked to. Ist, 
 Its vicinity to a good market town, or a principal road or 
 canal, on both of which latter there are generally stores where 
 you can dispose of your produce. 2d, The state of the bye- 
 roads in its vicinity. Proprietors are assessed, to work upon 
 these a certain number of days every year, proportioned to 
 the value of their property, and the better these are, or the 
 more of them completed, (for according to the district plans 
 they are generally very numerous, although only one at a 
 time is opened) the less are proprietors assessed, and the 
 more valuable are their properties. I was amused, although 
 sorrowfully so, some years ago, by a letter which was shewn 
 to me, from an emigrant to his friend here. He had been 
 lured into the Canadian woods, by having land given to him 
 for nothing. Along with his family, he had gone through 
 six years of privations and hardships which ne earthly reward 
 would induce them to go through again. One year they 
 were well nigh starved, owing to the deers having ate up the 
 little crop of grain which they had sown in their partially 
 cleared field, and to the bears paying a similar compliment 
 to their Indian corns for except during three months in the 
 winter, they were cut off from all intercourse with their 
 kind ; a swamp “ like the Greenock harbour at low water,” 
 lying between them and the nearest settlement. Yet he 
 thanked God that their difficulties were fewer now, for they 
 were getting used to the fever and ague, and expected soon 
 to have a wooden causeway completed through the swamp ; 
 and they were also able (after six years of toil) to get enough 
 of produce off their farm to feed themselves, and to procure 
 a few of the luxuries (knives and forks and spoons, I sup-- 
 pose) which they had been used to in Britain. Mind they 
 were very poor people whilst bere ; from this you will per- 
 ceive the importance of the word luwuries. ‘The roads, how- 
 ever, he considered a great hardship : his son and he had to 
 work two or three weeks in the year upon them ; and he saw 
 FR 
 
64 
 
 no end to this, for though the causeway through the swamp 
 was nearly ready for going upon, “ yet there were twelve 
 roads in the township, and all these roads to be made.” Here 
 then is the price, or rather rent, paid by this poor man for 
 his property—six weeks labour annually, which, considering 
 that he kept himself, was equal to £8 or 52 dollars. The 
 generous bestower for nothing, be it observed, having his ad 
 jacent lands increased in value, to the amount of the roads 
 made through them, independent of the advantage of having 
 a neighbourhood commenced in them; and having probably 
 purchased them himself at the rate of one or two shillings 
 for each acre. 3d, The state and vicinity of schools to the 
 intended purchase ; as also of places of worship. The ex- 
 pense of schools in the United States is defrayed in part by 
 an allowance from government. : 
 
 Look well to the rights of a property before paying away 
 your money for it. These are of three kinds :—Ist, Those 
 which you may get from the government, which will only be 
 in the case of your being the first purchaser. You only re- 
 quire to'see that these be accurately drawn out. The lots 
 are marked by the public surveyors, by blazoning some prin- 
 cipal tree, near, or at the corners of it; seek these out be- 
 fore you take possession, and then get your purchase inserted 
 in the Register office, which I will speak of presently. 2d, 
 Those which you may get in the shape of a Sheriff’s warrant. 
 Farms are very often sold by Sherifi-sale, to pay the debts 
 held upon them by individuals, but more frequently for debts 
 of the government, which sells at a very long credit; and, 
 by the way, you may sometimes get excellent bargains at 
 these sales. A Sheriff’s warrant is just another form for a 
 government right; so you have nothing to do but to register 
 from it. 8d, Those which you may get from public com- 
 panies, or from individuals. Public companies are generally 
 able to make good their engagements ; but they sometimes 
 undergo such changes that you are apt to lose recourse upon 
 them ; and with individuals you are very much exposed, as 
 properties in America are so easily transferred from one 
 to another. Itis the rights of those from whom you are 
 about to purchase, that you are to scrutmize. They may 
 never have had just titles ; or they may have sold secretly, or 
 have mortgaged their land for loans, or some unadjusted line 
 
65 
 
 of division may mar the quietness of their possession. Take 
 the number of the lot, and the name of the township ;_ which 
 are the marks affixed by the government, when they divided 
 the county into townships and lots ; and remember that your 
 proposed purchase may be only a subdivision of that lot ; and 
 go to the Register Office, of which there is one in every 
 county; and on giving your marks, and paying a small trifle, 
 a list of all the valid rights relating to the property, will be 
 opened up before you ; as any titles not registered, are not 
 held binding by the law. When you complete your pur- 
 chase, get the transaction registered. 
 
 The following Extract of a Letter, from a Clergyman, ap- 
 peared in the Aberdeen Journal, in November 1831. 
 
 THE immediate neighbourhood of Montreal affords a very 
 advantageous field for a farmer, but land is proportionally 
 dear, and it would require a considerable capital to purchase 
 a farm. Inthe more remote parts of the Lower Province, 
 where a commencement might be made with much less 
 money, there are several circumstances unfavourable and dis- 
 agreeable toa settler from home. In most situations he 
 would find himself surrounded by foreigners, and out of the 
 reach of schools and the ordinances of religion. Besides, the 
 climate is very severe, the winter usually lasting for seven 
 months, during which the ground is constantly covered with 
 deep snow, anda most intense degree of cold prevails. In 
 Upper Canada, especially in this part of it, there is quite a 
 different state of things. I have now been here for more 
 than a year and a half, and have had sufficient opportunity 
 of obtaining information regarding the country. Upper Ca- 
 nada is a wide word, the province so called, extending much 
 more than 1,000 miles in length along the shores of the rivers 
 and lakes which bound it on the south, or rather the south 
 east, and divide it from the United States. Now, you will 
 easily see that in such an extensive country there must be a 
 great diversity of soil and climate. Where it meets the 
 Lower Province, the length of the winter and the degree of 
 F3 
 
66 
 
 cold are great, but both these gradually decrease as you pro- 
 ceed. If I may judge from the experience of a year and a 
 half, this cannot be called an unhealthy country. Ague and 
 fever are the most common diseases, as in all new countries, 
 but I have no doubt, that by avoiding the night air, and by 
 other precautions, the risk of sickness would be much lessen- 
 ed. Strangers are said to be more liable to these distempers 
 than natives of the country. I know, however, several in- 
 dividuals from home, (Scotland) who have not, in the course 
 of a dozen of years, been attacked by them. Ague indeed 
 is thought nothing of, being rather troublesome than dan- 
 gerous. As to the soil in these parts, it is generally of the 
 richest kind, varying from a strong clay, well adapted for 
 raising wheat, to a rich black mould, and a fine sandy loam, 
 It is covered with wood, of almost all kinds excepting pine, 
 of which there is none in this neighbourhood. There is 
 abundance of oak, ash, maple, beech, hickery, walnut, ches- 
 nut, &c. These sorts of trees are those found on the first 
 soils, and they grow to a great size here. You will, how- 
 
 ever, form a better idea of both soil and climate from a know- 
 ledge of the crops produced. Those most extensively raised 
 are wheat, Indian corn, oats, and barley. Much attention 
 is also paid to the cultivation of tobacco, for which the soil 
 and climate here are excellently adapted. Great crops of 
 hay are procured, as also of potatoes; but no turnips are 
 ever sown in the field, for no good reason that I can learn. 
 It may also give you some more light on the subject to men- 
 tion, that an English acre is usually sown with a bushel, or 
 a bushel and a peck (Winchester measure) of wheat, and 
 gives a return of from 30 to 40 for one. Two bushels of 
 oats are generally sown on an acre ; but I cannot tell you the 
 precise return, but I believe it to be higher than in the case 
 of wheat. All sorts of fruit trees grow in great perfection 
 —peaches, plums, pears, and apples. Every farmer of any 
 standing makes a point of having a large orchard of apple 
 trees—and cider is made in great quantities. As to the prices 
 of farm produce in Canada, they vary considerably, accord- 
 ing to the distance from market. An average crop of Indian 
 corn per acre is 40 bushels. About 800 lbs. of tobacco 
 may, at least, be looked for from an acre, and _ it sells for 
 25s. per 100 lbs. You must not think that a farmer here 
 
07 
 
 can make a fortune, or live without labour; these things 
 are not to be expected. But he will have hardly any taxes 
 to pay, and no rentat all. All his labour will be for his own 
 profit; every year will render his situation more comfortable 
 and independent, and if he have a family, he has the pleas- 
 ing prospect of being able to provide for them. In short, 
 in my opinion, it is an excellent country for a poor man, and 
 still better for one who has a little means. 
 
 From a Cabinetinaker who left Aberdeen last Summer, to 
 his Father, dated Montreal, 20th December, 1838. 
 
 DrEAR FATHER,—Every thing I could think of in Scotland 
 seemed to turn against me, but here it is not the case. I 
 cannot tell what may be alloted me in future, but, in the 
 meantime, I have very flattering prospects, and may reason- 
 ably hope for all that is necessary for a pilgrim, till it shall 
 please God to remove me from this earthly scene. 
 
 I beg that you, my Mother, and other friends may have 
 no anxiety concerning us—it is true we have not all we could 
 wish for, but we are much better off than I expected. To- 
 day my wife has bought 16 lb. of middling beef for 2s. and 
 we can buy an ox’s head at from 6d. to 10d. ; we have just 
 got ina half bushel of peas, for soup, at 2s. 3d.; also a 
 barrel of flour, containing 196 lbs., for 28s. 9d., and we have 
 the old meal-cask nearly full of good oatmeal, so we may 
 have porridge and bread fora long time. My wife bakes ex- 
 cellent loaves, so that if you were here, you would not re- 
 quire to hurt your gums with hard cakes. I have already 
 saved a few pounds from my wages, which are at 3s. 4d. a 
 day, since the short day came in. We have had frost and 
 snow for some time, but the weather is excellent yet—but I 
 am told that January and February are severe months—the 
 river is not yet frozen. 
 
 I have been very fortunate in getting into the employment 
 of the best master in town—in the shop we feel quite com- 
 fortable, as we have a stove 3 feet by 2 and 24 feet high, al- 
 ways kept blazing—every dwelling house is furnished with a 
 stove. 
 
68 
 
 A. B. has just returned from the Upper Province, and 
 says that several buildings are lying unfinished for want of 
 workmen, and masons’ wages 6s. 3d. per day, summer and 
 winter, and that it is by far the best place in every respect, 
 so I intend going up as soon as I can. , 
 
 Now, as to your coming out, we would be glad to have 
 you with us, and I do think you should come—believe me, 
 I wish all my friends in this country. Tell C. D. that I think 
 he should come out if he can get the means—were [ in his 
 place, with the knowledge I now have of this country, I 
 would not hesitate a moment. Mason’s wages here in sum- 
 mer are 5s. per day, and stone cutters, that is, men who work 
 the pick, mallet, and chissel, can work almost the whole of 
 the winter ; he would not, I think, be at any loss for work. 
 If he comes, it should be in the spring, as it would not be 
 advisable for a mason, not possessed of money, to come here 
 in the fall, as he might not get employment until the spring, 
 by coming out at that time he would be able to save as much 
 money in the summer as would keep him in winter, or carry 
 him up the country where work may be had the greater _part 
 of the winter. 
 
 If you come, observe the following directions—get good 
 chaff for your beds ; half blankets are better than double ones, 
 and you would require a rough sheet, with plenty of small 
 cord for roping them and other parcels on leaving the ship. 
 When you arrive at Quebec do not loiter about, but keep 
 your mind bent on your object —the sooner you leave the 
 ship the better, but endeavour to select good company, and 
 go together by the first steamer—you will thus be able to 
 help each other. You will require to keep a strict watch on 
 your luggage—the proprietors of the steam vessels are not 
 accountable for luggage, it is therefore wholly at your own 
 risk. Let those who go on shore at Quebec carefully avoid 
 drinking ardent spirits. 
 
 I have given you my advice, but I trust you will think for 
 yourselves, and do what you consider best. I can only say 
 that what I have written I believe to be truth. 
 
69 
 Exiract of a Letter from New York, 29th July, 1833. 
 
 Ler emigrants bring with them plenty of woollen clothing, 
 for themselves and families; that article is very dear here. 
 The woollen clothes, if not made up, must be cut.* Cotton 
 goods are cheap. Emigrants should not bring out any heavy 
 or standing furniture, this being an excellent land for beds 
 and mattresses; yet we brought out some, which saved us 
 advancing cash. The expence of travelling by water to the 
 Western country is exceedingly moderate. 
 
 OUTFIT. 
 From Magrath’s authentic Letters from Upper Canada. 
 
 I will suppose a young man to have the usual clothes, &e. 
 of a gentleman ; in addition to these, let him bring— 
 
 A moleskin jacket, price - - -£110 0 
 One doz. striped cotton shirts — - - - 2 ee) 
 One doz. of thick, country-knit, worsted stockings I O 0 
 Four very warm night caps - - - 0 4 0 
 Four Guernsey shirts - - - - 012 0 
 Four pair flannel drawers - - - - 014 O 
 Four blankets - - - - ~ - Pou a 
 Sailor’s jacket, waistcoat and trowsers - we LOE 
 Two pair of very strong shoes, high enough to 
 protect the ankle, = - - - 1M ere 
 Four pillow cases - - - - ina) eh uri 
 One curled hair mattress - - - 1 4 0 
 Six towels - - > - - we Oh ted) 
 Canteen, with all necessary cooking apparatus 3 10 0 
 One of Butler’s medicine chests, with his medi- 
 cine directory - - - - - ae Or a) 
 One fur cap and gloves - ~ - - O15 0 
 Four pair of thick Russia duck trowsers Loe eu 
 One pocket compass - - - - = Ossteumae 
 Total, sad tere 
 _ With implements and tools amounting to - 5 12° 0 
 
 Total, £26 9 Q 
 
 * Supposed to allude to saving the duty on cloth. 
 
70 
 Boots and shoes are bad and dear in Canada, and tailors’ 
 work is higher than in London ; but the less money that an 
 emigrant expends on any article which he may not want for 
 
 several months, the better for his purse and other comforts 
 here. 
 
 PASSAGE OUT—FROM THE SAME. 
 
 No single man should think of supplying his own provisions 
 for the voyage; he cannot inspect the dressing of them ; 
 should he club with a family of strangers providing theirs, he 
 will find, when about to land, a much greater diminution of 
 his stock than he had anticipated, and experience in the end 
 that he has been humbugged. What is called, and consider- 
 ed a cheap passage, should be avoided by those who are not 
 greatly straightened in means, as it usually proves the dear- 
 est in the end. It is bad management to make one’s self 
 miserable for the sake of a few pounds, during perhaps a 
 long and boisterous voyage ; shut up, it may be, during six 
 or eight weeks, with all the inconveniences of breakfasting, 
 dining, sleeping, and getting sick in the same wretched 
 apartment of a crazy merchant vessel. 
 
 My father had made a written contract with the Captain at 
 Liverpool, by which the latter was bound to land us at Mon- 
 treal, and also, to allow us the privilege of remaining on 
 board there, while arranging for our passage to York ; and 
 this prudent arrangement obviated the incurring any serious 
 expenses until our arrival at the last-mentioned place. 
 
 The Captains frequently land their passengers at Quebec, 
 although they have been paid for their passage to Montreal. 
 I am informed, however, that an act exists, by which they 
 may be fined £20, if convicted before a Magistrate, of com- 
 pelling passengers to land any where but at the place agreed 
 on. 
 
 The contract ought to be entered into in writing, to pre- 
 vent misunderstanding. 
 
 My father compelled our captain to defray the charges of 
 our passage to Montreal from Quebec, as he did not proceed 
 with his vessel farther than that port. 
 
71 
 CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 | As the great degree of cold of a Canadian winter is so 
 much more intense than what we are accustomed to in Bri- 
 tain, this is held by many to be a decisive objection to a per- 
 manent residence there. The opinions, therefore, of those 
 emigrants who have experienced it, and a knowledge of how 
 it is borne by them, is of consequence to be inquired into 
 most particularly. Besides the information on this point 
 which will be. found occurring incidentally in the letters of 
 emigrants as here given, the following extracts on the sub- 
 ject we can have no doubt may be depended on. ] 
 
 FROM M‘GREGOR’S BRITISH AMERICA. 
 
 THE temperature of the climate of Canada is much colder 
 at Quebec, and along the river St. Lawrence to the east~ 
 ward, than at Montreal or Upper Canada. The duration of 
 winter is frequently two months longer. Severe frosts com- 
 mence.in November, and ice seldom disappears until the last 
 week of April. In summer the heat is as intensely oppres- 
 sive as in the southern States ; but when the wind shifts to 
 the north, the temperature, particularly below Quebec, 
 changes sometimes from 120° Fahr. to 60° or under. The 
 average summer heat in the shade is about 82° ; it is some- 
 times 120°. Snow falls in great quantities at one time, but 
 long periods of clear frosty weather intervene between snow 
 storms. ‘The temperature of the region south and west of 
 the bend of the Ottawa at Bytown, lying between Lakes 
 Ontario, Huron, and Erie, are milder in winter, but in some 
 parts less salubrious in summer. Fogs are unknown. A 
 light mist, occasioned by the condensation at night and eva- 
 poration in the morning, appears occasionally about sunrise, 
 but soon dissipates. 
 
 Canada is eminently blessed with a remarkably clear at- 
 mosphere. The sky at Montreal, both in summer and win- 
 ter, is beautifully bright. Ihave often heard it compared 
 to that of the Mediterranean. Rains in summer and autumn 
 are far from being frequent, but they fall in great quantities 
 at one time. Waterspouts are sometimes formed on the great 
 
"2 
 
 Jakes. Thunder storms, although of short duration, are re- 
 markably violent, particularly at and near Quebec. Squalls 
 of wind are frequent on the lakes and rivers, in the vicinity 
 of high lands. ‘Strong gales of wind occur in Canada about 
 the 20th of October. They sometimes, particularly on the 
 great lakes, resemble perfect hurricanes. 
 
 In summer, Fahrenheit ranges from 72° to 100°, while 
 it blows in the prevailing directions from south to west; but 
 on shifting to the north, the mercury soon after sinks to 50°, 
 and sometimes lower. ‘The climate is remarkably dry. 
 
 In winter a day scarcely occurs, except it rains, and that 
 seldom, in which people do not work in the woods. A very 
 mild winter is always considered a disadvantage in Upper 
 Canada. 
 
 The climate is milder in summer, and its severity of much 
 shorter duration in winter, than that of Lower Canada, which 
 is also considered, in some respects, less salubrious. 
 
 The climate, however, generally speaking, is healthy ; and 
 the exceptions are, like the fens of Lincolnshire, in England, 
 low wet tracts, and still water, in which vegetable ‘sub- 
 stances in progress of decomposition are deposited. These are 
 found in low lands and marshes, where agues and lake fevers 
 are Common in summer and autumn. As tthe country is 
 opened, and these places drained, periodical diseases will 
 likely disappear, as they seldom prevail on the dry lands. 
 The author of avery useful little book, lately published, 
 who has long resided in Upper Canada, says, “ the noto- 
 riously unhealthy parts chiefly occur between the Rideau 
 Lake and Lake Ontario; between the Bay of Quinte and 
 the lake, and at some marshy tracts at each end of Lake 
 Erie.” 
 
 Fevers and agues are also prevalent aronnd Lake St. Clair. 
 Occasionally, like the influenza this year in England, and 
 other epidemics, aguish fevers break out generally in the 
 province. In the remarkably hot summer of 1828, the lakes 
 appeared, like fresh water kept long on shipbcard, in a state 
 of putrefaction ; and in course of the disengagement which 
 restores their usual limpid purity, threw up a noxious slime. 
 Fever and ague, in almost every part of Upper Canada, fol- 
 - lowed. 
 
 Intemperance and careless exposure of the person while in 
 
73 
 
 a state of perspiration, or in, and after over-exertion, cer- 
 tainly dispose the constitution to agues. This was manifest 
 among the workmen along the Rideau Canal. Drinking cold 
 water, when the weather is very hot, is also dangerous. <A 
 little brandy or other spirit should be moderately mixed with 
 water, when taken on being thirsty. 
 
 Quinine is the general specific. A little sulphur, mixed 
 with a glass of spirits, wholesome diet, proper attention to 
 clothing and cleanliness, will also effect a cure. 
 
 Opinion of the Climate, by Mr. Fergusson. 
 
 The salubrity or unwholesome nature of a climate is a 
 matter of high importance to the inhabitants, and still more 
 so to those who encounter it as strangers. Upper Canada 
 may safely be pronounced a healthy climate. It is certainly 
 subjected to greater extremes of heat and of cold than the 
 maritime country of Britain, but, with ordinary attention, an 
 equal portion of health and of longevity may be enjoyed in 
 Canada as in any part of the globe. Winter in the Lower 
 Province is always longer, and frequently more severe, than 
 in the Upper, and in this consists any difference between 
 them. But have we not heard of fever and ague in every 
 part of them both? True—aguish attacks prevail here and 
 in the States, even as they have done in our own boasted 
 climate, within the recollection of thousands still alive. In 
 anew country, while it is yet ina raw state, such things 
 must for a time be expected ; but even the poor and hard 
 worked emigrant has too often his own folly and imprudence 
 to thank for his sufferings. Reckless and foolhardy, he ex- 
 poses his person to noxious vapours from the swampy bor- 
 ders of a lake, or to some sudden chill, when predisposed 
 to fever from fatigue, or in a state of profuse perspiration. 
 Others, again, fall victims to intemperance, and the blame 
 rests, most unjustly, with the climate. ‘There are two, or 
 perhaps three, table-lands in Canada, which increase in salu- 
 brity as you rise above the level of the lakes, and, of course, 
 these are points to be kept in view when choosing a location. 
 That a certain degree of miasma exists is nevertheless cer- 
 
 G 
 
74: 
 
 tain, because even infants carefully attended to, are occasion- 
 ally subject to aguish attacks; but, in general, a reasonable 
 attention to sobriety, cleanliness, and personal comfort, all 
 prove preventives, and the disease is generally admitted to be 
 on the decrease. In some seasons it breaks forth wholesale, 
 like epidemics in other parts of the world. Three years ago 
 this. occurred in the Upper Province. The season had been 
 extremely hot and moist. The waters of Ontario, generally 
 clear as crystal, cast up a slime in the month of July ; and 
 towards autumn, fever and ague raged throughout the land. 
 Quinine is, of course, known to be a sovereign specific ; and 
 for more ordinary practice, a tea-spoonful of sulphur in a 
 wine-glass of brandy or other spirit, taken two or three times 
 a-day, accompanied by cathartics and moderate nourishing 
 diet, with suitable clothing, generally effect a cure. 
 
 CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 From Strachan’s Visit to the Province of Upper Canada. 
 
 THE winters of Canada have long been an object of terror to 
 Englishmen; and yet a Quebec winter, cold as it is, will 
 be found much more agreeable than an English one; and 
 fewer, in proportion, suffer from its severity. The people 
 of Canada are more careful to protect themselves from cold : 
 they do not expose themselves to the external air, without 
 being warmly clothed ; and they are particularly attentive to 
 the keeping of the head, hands, and feet warm. These pre- 
 cautions the Indians likewise take, and never seem to be af- 
 fected by the coldest winter. 
 
 In winter the air is very dry, and entirely deprived of its 
 moisture by congelation ; and, from this dryness, it has less 
 effect on the human body than moist air, many degrees 
 warmer. 
 
 The climate of Upper is milder than that of Lower Ca- 
 nada, the change being very perceptible as you proceed up 
 the river St. Lawrence. At Kingston, the season is ten or 
 twelve days earlier than at Montreal ; and at Niagara they 
 are as much earlier than at Kingston. Indeed the difference 
 of the seasons at Niagara and York, though distant only 
 thirty miles, is very considerable. 
 
vhs) 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 From Doyle's Hints. 
 Tue summer in Upper Canada is hotter than ours, but brisk 
 and pleasant from refreshing breezes; the winter sharp but 
 dry, bracing, and invigorating, and on the whole you would 
 suppose it much more agreeable than our winter, in which 
 we have so much cold dampness, which is more unpleasant 
 and trying to the constitution than a greater degree of cold 
 prevailing in a dry frosty air. From the end of August to 
 November the weather is delicious; October is there the 
 most delightful month in the year, after which commences 
 what is termed the Jndian summer, of most agreeable tem- 
 perature. 
 
 There are, however, in the other months sudden and de- 
 cisive changes from heat to cold, and thunder showers in 
 spring are not unfrequent ; but a defective corn crop, from 
 deficiency of heat, or the prevalence of rain, is never heard 
 of. In winter the cold is scarcely ever such as to prevent 
 out of door labour.—Rain seldom falls in that season, and 
 as there are not then the variations of weather experienced 
 in England, colds, and the other disorders which arise from 
 those changes, and especially from wefness, do not prevail 
 there. A clear frosty air and bright sun continue during the 
 winter, which sets in about Christmas. 
 
 Spring, (or rather summer, for the one treads quickly upon 
 the heels of the other) puts forth her freshness and her beauty 
 often at an early part of April, yet sometimes exhibits a frosty 
 tint even in May, or for an occasional night in the opening 
 of June—just as with us in these temperate regions—but, 
 on the whole, the climate of Upper Canada is much less 
 variable than ours, and has fewer unpleasant days in those 
 seasons, when bad weather is peculiarly unwelcome and un- 
 guarded against. 
 
 The farther you go westward the better the climate be- 
 comes. In the neighbourhood of Lake Ontario the winter 
 is quite mild, for that Great Lake, from its extreme depth, 
 never freezes, and in summer the air is cooled by the re- 
 freshing breezes which blow over its surface; from the same 
 causes a similar mildness of the seasons takes place in the 
 
 vicinity of the other great lakes. 
 G2 
 
76 
 
 [It may be useful for the Emigrant to compare the fore- 
 going accounts of the weather in Upper Canada with the fol- 
 lowing, given by Mr. Head, as the vicissitudes experienced 
 at Halifax in Nova Scotia. ] 
 
 January may be called the coldest month; the average 
 temperature being from 10° to 14°. It drops sometimes 10° 
 or 15° below zero, and remains so for three or four days 
 together. 
 
 February usually commences with extreme cold, the tem- 
 perature seldom ranging above 12°. Snow-storms are violent 
 and frequent. ‘The sun, however, before the end of the 
 month, shews gradually his increasing power, and icicles are 
 seen hanging from the roofs of houses in sheltered situations. 
 
 In March, clouds of hail and sleet sweep along the streets 
 with a force hard to be withstood by man or beast. Cold 
 must be endured in all its variety. On one day the ground 
 presents to the eye a surface of deep fresh snow, to wade 
 through which nothing but sheer necessity would drive a man 
 abroad. Before night perhaps a fog sets in, with a rapid 
 thaw. Heavy rain succeeds, and torrents of water and 
 melted snow rush down the steep streets towards the sea. 
 The compact mass or cake of ice with which the whole sur- 
 face of the ground in the town is covered now begins to 
 make its appearance, and walking becomes even more dis- 
 agreeable and dangerous than ever. This mass of ice is full 
 two feet thick, and it cracks into fissures, which form, as it 
 were, the beds of little rivers, which discharge the melted 
 snow into the sea. 
 
 In April the weather is severe and variable. Large quan- 
 tities of snow fall during the month, but the heat of the sun, 
 in the middle of the day, is too great to allow it to lie long 
 on the ground. Hardly two days are alike. Sometimes the 
 snow is deep and fresh, at others soft and sloppy ; and again 
 covered with a crackling coat of ice. Then the north-west 
 wind rages, and calls forth the powers of the young and ac- 
 tive to tale way against its force. 
 
 In the month of May, the weather has but little improved. 
 The snow falls heavily at intervals, and, melted by the in- 
 
V7 
 
 wreased power of the sun, mixes with mud till the} streets 
 are like a bog, and would be considered in any other part of 
 the world impassable. The variations of temperature are ex- 
 cessive. Keen frosty winds and a warm sun acting together 
 try the weaker censtitutions. Nevertheless, rheumatic people 
 do net complain. Those subject to pulmonary attacks suffer 
 considerably. 
 
 In the month of June the sun begins to be really power- 
 ful, and in the early part is now and then as hot as at any 
 time of the year. Yet, the summer has not arrived, and the 
 trees are only begin ining to shew the first tinge of green. 
 Floating islands of ice, which infest the coast at this season 
 of the year, influence the climate most considerably. Till 
 these gradually recede, and, becoming porous, sink to the 
 water's edge, the weather is never settled and warm. For, 
 in the hottest day, whenever the wind happens to blow from 
 the sea, it drives before it a dense chilling fog, like a mov- 
 ing pillar, over the town. ‘There, while it rests, the change 
 of atmosphere is violent in the extreme. The very eyes feel 
 wet and cold! And the’sea-breeze, which in England in- 
 vites the invalid to the coast to inhale its Table ss, drives 
 the Nova Scotian within the walls of his house. This evil, 
 however, is of short continuance, for the ice-islands, on whose 
 gelid surfaces these damp fogs have been engendered, melt 
 by degrees, and, dispersing themselves over the ocean, cease 
 for the remainder of the year to interfere with the sun’s 
 dominion. 
 
 July and August are the hottest of all, the sun being 
 usually powerful and oppressive. The uniform heat is greater 
 than ours, although a single day in England is now and then 
 nearly as hot as any of theirs. 
 
 In September, the everiings become cold, with frosts, in- 
 creasing in severity to the fh of the month. 
 
 In anh ed the temperature falls perhaps to 25° of Fahr. 
 with rough gales from the north-west, sweeping the frozen 
 continent, and answering to our easterly winds. The wea- 
 ther, however, is variable, some days still being very warm. 
 
 In November, a succession of bright sunshiny days gene- 
 rally prevails, and that month is to the Nova Scotian the best 
 in all the year. The fresh frosty air and bright sun have 
 acquired that season the appellation of the Indian summer. 
 
 G3 
 
78 
 
 The variation of temperature towards the end of the month 
 is very great ; sometimes as much as 40° in the twenty-four 
 hours. Some days are close and foggy ; others clear and in- 
 tensely cold. 
 
 In December, the snow before the middle of the month 
 begins to lie on the ground, the average temperature being 
 about 20°. 
 
 Extract from a Letter, written at Zorra, in Upper 
 Canada, dated 3d July, 1882. 
 
 THE passage from Montreal to Prescot, if the weather be 
 bad, is. very disagreeable. We had one bad might during 
 which many of us had to be im the open boat; with sharp 
 looking out we got into the fore-peak, a convenience which 
 a Durham boat has over Batteaux. As we had our passage 
 from the Canada Company, we were allowed | cwt. of lug- 
 gage each, and + ewt. for the children ; for every cwt. more 
 we paid 3s. 6d. to Prescot; from thence to Hamilton, 10d. 
 Our passage tickets from Quebec to Hamilton were 7s. 3d. 
 each. When we arrived at Prescot, the steam-boat was full, 
 but we found a schooner going to Hamilton, and having a 
 fair wind, we embraced the opportunity. On arriving at 
 Hamilton, with difficulty we obtained lodgings for ene month, 
 for which we paid 17s. Gd. for Mrs. and four children, 
 while we ourselves set out to survey the country. We intended 
 to see Dumfries, but we meta person who took us on to 
 Zorra, where there were several lots of good land for sale, 
 some of which would have pleased us very well, and might 
 be bought at from 5s. to 12s. per acre. We purchased 100 
 acres, for which we paid £112 currency. It isa lot of ex- 
 cellent land, but has been badly managed. There were 30 
 acres clear, and 20 under crop. The trees are generally 
 large, but not very close—I should think about 14 feet dis- 
 tant at an average ; principally hard wood and maple, from 
 which we can make sugar. ‘The person we purchased from 
 made 10 cwt. this spring, at the expense of 35 or 40 cents per 
 ewt. All kinds of wild fruits are to be found in the wood— 
 grapes, gooseberries, geans, &c. The weather at present is 
 
79 
 
 very hot, but I can endure it. It makes me sweat to excess ; 
 although warmer, I think the atmosphere is more light and 
 animating than in Scotland. The ague prevails to a con- 
 siderable degree, but it is thought nothing of, being some- 
 thing like the toothache, no one was ever known to die of it. 
 Since we came here, we have had good health. I hope 
 this fall to sow 4 or 5 acres of wheat, which, with the In- 
 dian corn and vegetables, will be more than we shall need. 
 The advantages of Zorra are, good and cheap land, well 
 watered, and a healthy climate. To you or any other person 
 sailing from Aberdeen, I would say do not come in a crowd- 
 ed ship. I would not be anxious to sail until April, as the 
 gulf is often impassable till the middle of May. Get strong 
 chests made, to keep out rain, and that will stand all kinds of 
 abuse, all secured by locks. Bring plenty of oatmeal, but- 
 ter, cheese, carrots, turnips, and onions, beef-ham, and dried 
 fish. But, above all, be sure to bring, for each person, three 
 or four dozen of porter or beer, igelt nated up. I can as- 
 sure you, you fill find either preferable to spirits, on a sea 
 voyage. If you bring goods instead of money, you need 
 not expect to be paid in cash, and to make a profit; but for 
 grain and cattle, sheep and hogs, I could sell such articles 
 as fine cloth coats, trowsers, blue, black, drill, tartan, or 
 cheque, &c. &c. ; braces, watches, and strong augers, fine 
 cotton shirts, long drawers and short stockings ; women’s ap- 
 parel, calico, prints, shawls, silk and cotton; school books. 
 Farm-servant girls would be sure to meet with encourage- 
 ment—wages about £1 per month. I am determined not to 
 flatter, but must say that I am of opinion this is the best 
 country for any person to live in, who wishes to live quietly. 
 
 . THE WATER OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 
 
 EMIGRANTS, after confinement on shipboard for five or six 
 weeks, living on salted provisions, and latterly, with bad 
 water, are naturally eager to take advantage again of the first 
 fresh water which they have an opportunity of drinking. 
 That of the St. Lawrence is therefore often taken in copious 
 draughts by the thirsty voyager, but this ought to be very 
 
80 
 
 cautiously indulged in, from a peculiar quality in it whicli 
 produces looseness. This was one great cause of the dread- 
 ful cholera spreading so generally and fatally in 1832, at 
 Quebec and Montreal, among the newly arrived emigrants, 
 for strangers are more apt to be affected by this water than 
 the natives of these places. The bad effects mentioned, are 
 not so liable to be experienced when the water is mixed with 
 a little spirits or wine, and even if it is boiled before being 
 used, it may be drunk with more safety, as is the case with 
 most waters which are impregnated with any noxious ingre- 
 dients, arising from natural admixture. The waters of the 
 river Ness in Scotland have a similar power on strangers. 
 
 Rain water is commonly used for washing by the inhabi- 
 tants on the banks of the St. Lawrence, owing to the river 
 water being too hard for this purpose, but a little common soda 
 mixed with it, will obviate its hardness in this respect, and 
 a pinch or two of the same substance purified (called, in this 
 state, carbonate, or rather super-carbonate of soda,) will 
 enable it to draw tea tolerably well, which of itself it will 
 not do.* 
 
 Good soft water is not generally to be met with in Canada, 
 although there are streams and springs in abundance. Soda 
 is therefore a cheap but valuable article to have at hand. In 
 summer the water has commonly an unpleasant degree of 
 warmth when used for drinking, and ice is had recoursé to 
 for cooling it: indeed, with all the boasted luxuries of warm 
 climates, salubrious cold water is admitted to be one of the 
 greatest which their inhabitants know ; while those who have 
 it in abundance are too often insensible of the blessing which 
 they possess. 
 
 Water is sold at Quebec and Montreal, by people who 
 
 * “ When you arrive in the St. Lawrence, having been on shortish al- 
 lowance of water, you will be for swallowing the river water by the bucket 
 full. Now, if you have any bowels of compassion for your intestinal 
 canal, you will abstain from so doing; for to people not accustomed to 
 it, the lime that forms a considerable constituent part of the water of this 
 country, acts pretty much in the same manner as would a solution of 
 Glauber salts, and often generates dysentery and diarrhea; and though 
 1 have an unbounded veneration for the principles of the Temperance 
 Societies, I would, with all deference, recommend that the pure fluid be 
 drank in very small quantities at first, and even these tempered with the 
 most impalpable infusion possible of Jamaica or Cognac.”—A Back- 
 woodsman. 
 
81 
 
 make the carrying of it from the river a trade by which they 
 live. How thankful ought others to be who are supplied 
 with such a precious and necessary fluid for nothing! On 
 land, we generally think little of the blessing of good 
 water, but at sea, when glad to get a measured allowance of 
 a muddy fluid which retains but slight title to be called fresh 
 water, and perhaps endeavouring, by way of refinement, to 
 keep the teeth close to act as strainers in order to exclude 
 the little swimmers, if possible, we then are taught the 
 value of the springs and rivers which we once drank of with- 
 out thanks to Him who causes them to flow. In like man- 
 ner, the sailor long at sea, when knocking the weevils out of 
 every bit of mouldy biscuit which he eats, envies the lands- 
 man his hot rolls and buttered toast, (who considers these as 
 matters of course) and even what we on shore would call 
 rather stale bread. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from a Flaxdresser, in Brooklyn, U.S. 
 to his Friend in Aberdeen, 4th July, 1838. 
 
 Tue difficulties you refer to, in which we were placed, have 
 now disappeared, and are nearly forgotten. We are, indeed, 
 comfortably settled in a good land. Our employers are 
 gentlemen, in the noblest sense of the word. I and my 
 three eldest sons are paid in cash for our work, regularly, 
 every Saturday. We commence working always at sun- 
 rising, and in summer leave off about 2 or 3 o'clock, p.m. 
 Thus we have a third of the day to ourselves for amusement, 
 &c. In this meridian (New York) we enjoy a great advan- 
 tage in winter over the people of Scotland—daylight being 
 two hours longer, we manage our work without the aid of 
 candlelight. Though the seasons are more intense, in heat 
 and cold, here than in Scotland, I do not feel any inconve- 
 nience from either extreme; there is more sunshine than in 
 Scotland, which renders the atmosphere purer and lighter ; 
 and, since I came here, the cold or heat has not been above 
 two or three days at one time very intense. 
 
 Tradesmens’ wages are from six to nine dollars—the me- 
 
82 
 
 dium may be about £1 10s. sterling ® week ; and I believe 
 the average of labourers’ wages is 100 dollars ¥ year, with 
 board and lodging. The farmers are wealthy and industrious, 
 and universally the employer and employed eat at the same 
 table, which would vie with the board of the Lord Provost 
 of Aberdeen. Every thing for a family can be purchased 
 here about a third or a fourth cheaper than in the Old 
 Country ; say the weekly expenditure of a family in Britain, 
 is £1 16s.; here they could enjoy the same necessaries for 
 £1 4s. As to getting employment, every one who desires 
 may have it at more or less wages ; and to the man who lives 
 by his own energies, the advantages are all on the side of 
 America. Respecting myself, my only regret is that I did 
 not come here sooner. In looking at the relative positions 
 of the two countries, I have the most happy feelings in find- 
 ing myself here ; and it only requires a continuance of that 
 justice which exalts a nation, to increase and perpetuate the 
 comforts and happiness of this great Empire. 
 
 Extract of a Letter, dated 28th November, 1833, from the 
 
 same person, in answer to the following Queries. 
 
 First—“ How do emigrants, from different countries, 
 amalgamate ?” 
 
 Answer.—I have worked at the same place with English, 
 Scotch, Irish, Dutch, and Americans, and though they gibe one 
 another occasionally, with respect to their several countries, 
 it is nothing but joke. In some parts of the country, emi- 
 grants from Scotland have attempted to settle by themselves. 
 This, in my, opinion, does not answer. Emigrants ought to 
 associate freely with the people among whom they settle ; re- 
 tain all the good they bring along with themselves ; and adopt 
 all that is good in their new acquaintances. , 
 
 Second.—< What nations do the Americans most esteem ?” 
 
 Answer.—None more highly than the Scotch. 
 
 Third.—“ How do the Americans receive emigrantsr > 
 with an evel eye, or with kindness ?” 
 
 Answer.—The sensible Americans look with no evil eye 
 
83 
 
 on emigrants; I can scarcely say they look on them with 
 kindness ; but the reason is, so many worthless characters 
 come out, especially from Ireland; yet if the emigrant shews 
 himself quiet and industrious, they bid him welccme. 
 
 Fourth.—*“ Do you intend to turn farmer, and where 
 would you like to settle ?” 
 
 Answer.—I have not made up my mind yet as to what 
 place I would incline to settle in. Were I to turn farmer, I 
 would go West,—perhaps to Illinois; but I feel, at present, 
 no wish nor necessity to change my present mode of life. 
 
 When you come to this great and good country, I will 
 tell you what I think of going to fell trees of six feet dia- 
 meter, especially without a bag of sovereigns or dollars.* 
 
 As to emigration in general, those persons who do best at 
 home, do best here. As for all sober, persevering, and in- 
 dustrious people—men and women, send them hither. ‘There 
 is no danger of overstocking this great country. We have 
 little more than twelve millions of inhabitants; and before it 
 be as thickly peopled as England we shall have 145 millions. 
 
 Oficial Report in 1833, regarding Canada. 
 
 Mr. BucHANnaANn’s official report to Government, and the do- 
 cuments by which it is accompanied, are extremely interest- 
 ing and valuable on account of the authentic information they 
 supply respecting the rate of wages in Canada, and other 
 particulars intimately affecting the prospects of the settlers. 
 In Upper Canada, particularly, the labourers who went out 
 last year are stated to have received, from all classes, a 
 hearty welcome. All the information, Mr. Buchanan says, 
 that he has received from the several districts to which they 
 principally proceeded, speaks loudly in favour of their pros- 
 perous condition. He adds, “ The demand for all classes of 
 working people has never been exceeded in the Canadas, par- 
 ticularly since the abatement of the cholera, and I can assure 
 
 * It may be noted here, that this writer can know nothing on the sub- 
 ject from experience, and so his thoughts or anticipations may not be 
 very correct as to the reality.x—Ep. 
 
84 
 
 your Lordship, that during my late tour through the districts 
 and settlements in Upper Canada, I did not meet an indus- 
 trious emigrant-who could not meet with employment ; the 
 number of that class arrived this year is not adequate to 
 supply the demand created by the more wealthy emigrants. 
 This was particularly felt in the western and London districts 
 of the upper province ; where the want of labourers was so 
 great, that it was found necessary to encourage a number to 
 come over from Ohio and Pennsylvania.’ The settlement of 
 almost every portion of Upper Canada, indeed, is stated to 
 be going on with great rapidity ; villages rising, and build- 
 ings extending, in all directions. It is the simultaneous in- 
 flux of labour and capital that is thus turning the wilderness 
 into the home of civilization and busy industry. Either alone 
 would be equally inefficient to produce the change. 
 
 It appears that the number of the emigrants who arrived 
 in Canada from all parts (except the United States) in the 
 course of the last year, was 51,746. The arrivals take place 
 during the seven months from about the beginning of May 
 to the end of November, being the season during which the 
 navigation of the St. Lawrence is open; but they are very 
 few in number after the middle of October. Last year, in 
 the week ending the 19th of May, there were 6,072 arrivals, 
 and in that ending the 9th of June there were 10,599. Of 
 the whole number, 46,246, or more than eight-ninths, had 
 taken place by the 11th of August, or in the first fourteen 
 of the twenty-eight weeks of which the season consists. 
 The advantage to the emigrant of arriving in the country 
 with a considerable part of the summer before him, instead 
 of at the commencement of the inclement winter of that eli- 
 mate, is sufficiently obvious. Mr. Buchanan remarks, in 
 one of the weekly notices appended to his general report, 
 that the emigrants who come out even so late as towards the 
 end of July and August, generally belong to a poorer class 
 than those who make their appearance earlier. All who 
 have sufficient command of resources to enable them to make 
 the voyage when they please, instead of being obliged to 
 wait till they can, will of course time their movements so as 
 to secure the greatest advantages. 
 
 In Quebec, Mr. Buchanan states, at no time throughout 
 the year, was the slightest inconvenience felt from the in- 
 
85 
 
 crease of numbers, or the accumulation of emigrant labour- 
 ers and artificers; but, on the contrary, a very general diffi- 
 culty was experienced by master tradesmen and contractors, 
 in getting hands to carry on their work, at an advanced rate 
 of wages. He mentions several buildings, the progress of 
 which was interrupted by the want of artificers and other la- 
 bourers. Another fact which is noticed is very gratifying. 
 «* A very considerable number of labourers, servants, and 
 mechanics,” says Mr. Buchanan, “ found profitable employ- 
 ment in Quebec and Montreal, and the accumulation of 
 wealth by them, in general, is a certain proof that their in- 
 dustry has met a.fair reward ; and I have latterly witnessed 
 a very great disposition among the working emigrants, of last 
 and the preceding seasons, to find oppor tunities to get trans- 
 mitted their little earnings to the United Kingdom, to aid 
 their friends coming out to join them.” There cannot be de- 
 sired any better proof than this of the improved circum- 
 stances in which these persons find themselves in their new 
 country. Comparing their previous with their present con- 
 dition, they are so completely convinced of the superiority of 
 the latter, that they not only wish their friends to join them, 
 but are even willing to advance the funds necessary to enable 
 them to make the adventure. It is a proof that the earnings 
 of the settlers are more than sufficient for their support, that 
 they are able to spare a portion of them for this purpose. 
 
 Extracted from the “ Companion to the Newspaper,” for 
 
 October, 1833. 
 
 Comparison between Cleared Land and the Bush. 
 FROM MAGRATH’S LETTERS, 
 
 THE comparison should extend to circumstances as well 
 as to cost. 
 
 Those of the Bush which are favourable, are these— 
 
 Cheaper land—a choice of district—a clear title—and the 
 power of forming a neighbourhood of select friends. 
 
 Those of the cleared land which are favourable, are 
 these— 
 
 The immediate accommodation of house and offices. 
 
 The prepared state of the cleared portion for the reception 
 of different crops. 
 
 H 
 
86 
 
 The presumed facility of intercourse with mill and market, 
 with readier access to the physician, and place of worship. 
 
 The unfavourable circumstances of the Bush are these— 
 
 Difficulty of access—the various privations to be encoun- 
 tered in the solitude of the wilderness—the possible want of 
 society—the absolute want of roads——the great difficulty of 
 intercourse with mill, market, physician, or clergyman. 
 
 The unfavourable circumstances of the cleared land are 
 these— 
 
 A dangerous title—liability to the debts of a predecessor 
 ~-an undesirable neighbourhood, fully settled, to the exclu- 
 sion of relatives and friends. © 
 
 Extract of a Letter, from a Settler at Montreal, to a 
 Gentleman in Aberdeen, dated 10th January, 1834. 
 
 I feel it a difficult task to explain the state of the country to 
 you according to my promise. At home you have but one 
 opinion as to the excellence of the Canadas, but on the spot 
 you will find many who grumble excessively, and others who 
 praise highly. I never will advise any one to emigrate, but 
 if they find they can’t live at home, of course they must go 
 where they can live—those who are pretty well at home 
 must judge themselves whether they may be better here—but 
 those who have nothing at home must determine for some of 
 the Colonies, and the Canadas, in my opinion, offer advan- 
 tages preferable to any of the rest. or one reason, the dis- 
 tance is scarcely any object, for, by the time one is here a 
 month, distance becomes a very relative idea. A tradesman 
 for instance, falls out of employment in Quebec, he comes to 
 Montreal, 180 miles, for 7s. 6d. and has a great chance of 
 employment there—when there, he hears of stirring times in 
 York, and gets there (upwards of 400 miles) for perhaps £3 
 or less, certainly not more, and never thinks that he has 
 gone but from one door to another—at home, if one goes even 
 to Glasgow seeking employment, he thinks the distance so. 
 great that he almost resigns the idea of ever returning; but 
 here, going a couple of hundred miles is like taking breals- 
 fast and walking a mile or two to dinner. Every thing to 
 
37 
 
 the emigrant is strange at first, and he makes silly compa- 
 risons between home and Canada, in every thing he sees—I 
 call them silly, because they dispirit him, The emigrant 
 should throw all home-notions overboard on his passage 
 across the water, and prepare himself to learn, at every step 
 he takes, what he must sooner or latter do ; above all, to look 
 after his money, change none of his sovereigns but at some 
 respectable stores, and enquire at every one of them what 
 they will give for them, and go to that store which offers him 
 most; if he requires any goods, he must make that an in- 
 ducement to raise the price—merchants will give more for 
 sovereigns than tlie regular buyers of gold who sell it again 
 to the merchants, at a profit of course. I have got 24s. 2d. 
 for a sovereign from a storekeeper, if I purchased something, 
 when, had I gone to a regular buyer of sovereigns, I would 
 not have got more than 23s. 6d. or 23s. 9d. One will al- 
 ways get sterling changed into currency, with great readiness, 
 without making any purchase, but one wont get a dollar bill 
 changed into small silver unless he makes a purchase—the 
 reason is, in the one case, the storekeeper will have a profit 
 on the sterling specie, but in the other, he has none without 
 a purchase. Nothing is done here for nothing, for you will 
 perceive that you wont get even a sixpence changed into cop- 
 pers, unless you buy something. The different silver coins 
 in the Canada are a great bother to strangers. There are 
 3d. pieces, 34d. pieces, 5d., 6d., 73d., 10d., 1s., 1/4d., 1/3d., 
 1/8d., 2/6d., 2/9d., 3s., 5s., and 5/6d., all of silver, and 
 some of them pieces of Spain, some of France, and some of 
 the United States—no gold is to be seen im our currency. 
 The emigrant is open to all kinds of imposition, by every one 
 _ who thinks he can cheat him—he must make his bargain be- 
 fore he gets any the smallest piece of work done, else he will 
 be imposed on—offer a carter, (if he requires one, ) but one- 
 half of what he may ask, and keep the rogue within eyesight, 
 else he may steal from the articles on his cart. If you chal- 
 lenge him on missing any thing, he will jabber French to 
 you, and sacré that he never saw the article. If you buy a 
 pound of tea, bargain as to the price, and notice that the 
 seller does not change from the quality, for he will give you 
 bad for good if you are not sharp. In the public markets 
 the farmers will ask 2/6d. for a bag of potatoes, (they are 
 H 2 
 
88 
 
 sold by bags containing about a bushel and a half) and will 
 take 1/2d. I myself have priced a young turkey, and was 
 asked 2/6d. for it, I offered 1/3d. and got it at last for 1/8d. 
 This is only one instance, but every thing is after the same 
 fashion ; to-day you will get + lb. of tea for 8d., and to- 
 morrow, for the same tea, you may be asked 103d. There 
 is no tacit regulation of prices, as there is at home, every 
 one sells his goods at what price he can get. Every thing 
 is bought and sold. I purchase the spirits and the water 
 that makes it into grog—at home the poor get water for no- 
 thing, but here the poor must carry it from the river them- 
 selves, or pay 2 coppers for 3 buckets full, or want. Many 
 of the Canadians live by selling water—in fact it is a trade, 
 they have a cart and large cask in it, out of which they 
 dispense to their customers, just as your sand cadgers do 
 sand. The more trades an emigrant has the better—it is 
 not disgraceful to change to any thing that you can make a 
 copper at, and if he takes a farm, he is able to do most 
 things himself. The best trade here is farming, there is al- 
 ways a ready market, and high prices, and land at a very mo- 
 derate price. Wages for tradesmen are fair ; house-carpenters 
 from 4/6d. to 6s.; blacksmiths, from 5s. to 7/6d. ; engineers, 
 5s. to 7/6d.; masons, 4/6d. to 6s. (no employment at their 
 own trade during winter unless they can cut stones as well 
 as build) shoemakers, 4/6d. to 5/6d. ; tailors, (when they get 
 employment) 7s. to 10s.,if good workmen ; bakers not a good 
 business for journeymen, but a handsome one for masters ; 
 millwrights, not a good trade, (there not being much work,) 
 but when in employment, 5s. to 7/6d.; saddlers, not good 
 trade unless in business for themselves; tinsmiths, do.; la- 
 bourers, 2/6d. to 3/6d., all these per day ; farm servants, £18 
 to £25 a year, and found ; good servant girls, 3 to 6 dollars 
 per month, cooks from 6 to 10 dollars per month; sawyers 
 not a good trade, there are too many saw mills in this coun- 
 try, and what is done by the hand is by the whip-saw. 
 Marketing, beef 4 to 7 coppers, = 2d. to 32d. per Ib.; 
 mutton, do.; pork, or in French, cushat, 4d. to 51d. per 
 lb. ; potatoes, 1/4d. to 2s. per bushel ; flour, 15s. to 17s. per 
 cwt.; bread, fine, of 4 lb. weight, 8d.; brown, of 6 Ib. 
 weight, 9d.; butter, 1s. to 1/ld. per lb.; eggs, 8d. to 6d. 
 in summer, and in the fall, 9d. to 10d.; vegetables, very 
 
89 
 
 dear, out of all reason; candles, 8d. to 9d. per |b. and. not 
 so good as at home ;—Poultry, turkeys, 2/6d. to 3/6d. ; geese, 
 2s. to 2/6d. each; hens, 2/6d. to 3s. per pair, all poultry 
 ‘ plucked except wings and tails, very few brought to market 
 alive, except insummer. Firewood, 11s. to 17/6d. per cord, 
 a stove will burn nearly a cord in a month, you may boil one 
 pot and heat one room with this, or you may boil a dozen 
 of pots and heat half a dozen of rooms with the same.— 
 Groceries, tea, 2/6d. to 3/6d. according to quality ; sugar, 
 lump, 8d. to 10d. per lb.; raw, 6d. to 7d.; tobacco, 10d. 
 and good stuff. This country is much better for farmers than 
 for any other business whatever ; and if I took a farm I think 
 I would take it in Lower Canada, although the stream of 
 emigration is chiefly to the Upper Province. The reasons 
 why I should prefer Lower Canada are, because there is as 
 good land within forty miles of Montreal as there is in Upper 
 Canada, hence the farmer gets as much for his produce on 
 the spot, as the Upper Canada farmer gets after paying ex- 
 pense of carriage for several hundreds of miles, and because 
 articles for the family, clothes, &c. &c. can be purchased at 
 least 25 per cent. cheaper at the seaport. than 400 or even 
 200 miles inland—hence the Upper Canada farmer gets 
 half-price for his produce, and pays one-fourth more for 
 what he consumes than the Lower Canada farmer. In Upper 
 Canada, however, they say that farmers grow nearly twice 
 as much off the same quantity of land as they do in Lower 
 Canada. I have my doubts that the Upper Canada farmers 
 can grow twice as much, but I believe they must grow a 
 good deal’ more than Lower Canada farmers, on account of 
 the system of farming in the Upper Prevince.* The Upper 
 
 * « Farmers residing 200 miles or more, from Quebec and Montreal, 
 if on good land, can live well and improve in their circumstances if not 
 better, at least as well as those who have taken up their residence within 
 a few miles of the cities. This being the fact, J feel desirous to impress 
 it on the minds of those for whose information I am writing these pages, 
 that the colonist who makes choice of a more distant settlement is not 
 liable to the expenses incurred near towns, and farms are had on much 
 cheaper terms. For many years he finds, for the surplus of his produce, 
 @ consumption on the spot among those who are daily arriving, and who 
 must for sometime, before they can enjoy the fruits of their own labour, 
 supply themselves with the articles necessary for present use from the 
 stock of those who have already settled themselves ; fat cattle, hogs, and 
 
 H 3 
 
90 
 
 Province is peopled by farmers, chiefly from the Old Country, 
 who of course adopt, as nearly as may be, the Old Country 
 method, while Lower Canada, on the other hand, is mhabit- 
 ed by a set of French Canadians who do nothing except their 
 fathers, like Baillie Nicol Jarvie’s, had done it before them. 
 Agriculture consequently is the same among the French Ca- 
 nadians that it was ]00 years ago ; but in the townships, as 
 they are called, where there are a few British, good crops 
 are obtained. The farms held by the French Canadians 
 never get any manure—they will sell a couple of cart loads 
 of manure to any one for a bushel of potatoes—their farms 
 never have been drained, and even the stones never cleared 
 ofi—they plough, or rather scratch through the land without 
 being able to accomplish more than merely turning over the 
 stones; then they sow, and in spite of such treatment, good 
 crops follow. Emigrants think they could not stand the 
 winter; they receive, as I did, such dreadful accounts of it. 
 The winter here is certainly cold, but what of that; from 
 the absence of wind a person can’t feel it, and lest he should, 
 he goes so well defended that it is a pleasure to walk about. 
 We walk with fur caps, very few hats to be seen, greatcoats 
 or cloaks, two pairs of stockings, and two pairs of shoes, and 
 as warm gloves as we can afford. The soldiers here have 
 immense fur caps, greatcoats, gloves, and two pairs of shoes 
 which would astonish the natives of Aberdeen, a little ac- 
 customed as they are to seeing the kilt almost all weathers. 
 Our beef: comes to market, like our milk, frozen—no eat- 
 ables require salt here in winter—every thing is frozen ex- 
 cept what is near the stove: already, and the severest of the 
 winter is not yet come, | have been walking about and my 
 whiskers covered with snow, from the breath out of my 
 mouth, and yet I did not feel uncomfortable—the horses had 
 ‘icicles several inches long from their noses. This is what 
 you would think you never could suffer, but it is a complete 
 enjoyment—no farm work of course can go on, and the far- 
 mers, who have been sometime settled, drive about in sleighs 
 
 horses, are easily conveyed to distant markets, or they are bought up by 
 the drovers before it is found necessary to remove them.”—The Emi- 
 grant’s Guide to Canada, by F. A. Evans, Esq. late agent for the 
 Eastern Townships. 
 
gi 
 
 through the whole country—it is the season ef enjoyment ; 
 sleighs and carioles are driving past my window every mi- 
 nute, and as every horse carries at least two bells, by~Act 
 of Parliament, it is a source of amusement to Jook out at 
 them—the sleighs, carioles, &c. are all open, andthe tra- 
 vellers, of whom a great number are ladies, sit rolled up m 
 furs and buffalo robes, some of them of a most splendid de- 
 scription. Then again in the winter time, the farmer newly 
 located chops down the trees, as he can do nothing else, for 
 clearing his farm, and by the spring it is ready for crop.— 
 New settlers, however, should come early in summer, and 
 then they get a crop before winter. If a man can make up 
 his mind at once to take a farm, he should not tarry one 
 moment about the towns—many think they may stop a few 
 days and see Quebec—a few days to see Montreal, &c. but 
 this is the most absurd conduct—they are throwing away 
 days which are as valuable as months may be afterwards— 
 they should look out to make a few dollars while they can, 
 and in the winter season go to see the towns if they can 
 afford the time. I would not go to see any town on the 
 face of the earth if I could make a dollar by keeping away, 
 unless 1 had money to sport, and that is what few emigrants 
 have. Let the emigrant determine to what part of the 
 country he is to go, and proceed instantly, don’t let him 
 loiter a moment, nor spend a copper if he can help it—all 
 are on the alert to cheat the emigrants—trust no man from 
 the fineness of his dress, or the gentility of his appearance. 
 On the steam-boats, if he has not his trunks locked, and 
 roped too, they will be broken up, aye, and he perhaps stand- 
 ing beside them—there are clever thieves in Canada—the 
 passengers I came out with had to relieve each other two 
 and two every hour from watching the luggage—the two 
 on watch bad loaded guns, and yet some articles were stolen. 
 You may think it strange, but I assure you so it was.—- 
 As to provisions to serve for the passage across: Meal, (if 
 they bring a girdle, there is good convenience for baking 
 cakes)—a few biscuits, (of this article they will soon tire) 
 —tea, coffee, sugar,—sowens are most excellent at sea, 
 perhaps better than all the rest, they should be evaporated 
 to the consistence of a hard cake, and water poured on when 
 used. Beef, pork, fish, (a cask of * Finnan haddies’ would 
 
92 
 
 sell handsomely here, or in Quebec, if they could be carried 
 across)—beer for porridge ; some whisky ; barley, suet, &c. 
 no furniture, and money in gold; all clothes, cutlery, &c. 
 well packed from damp. On arriving at Quebec, emigrants 
 should not be in a hurry to get ashore—they are entitled to 
 forty-eight hours on board after arrival—above all, let them 
 beware of crowded boats and drunken sailors—falling over- 
 board in a tideway at Aberdeen is nothing, a person would 
 have a chance of being saved—at Quebec it is 1,000 chances 
 to one if ever they are seen—you have no idea of the tide at 
 Quebec, five and six miles an hour is its common run, but 
 with wind—why, to say no more, you are safest on land. 
 
 It is surprising how soon a person gets careless about home ; 
 when I came to the country, oh! how I wished to be on the 
 Plainstones of Aberdeen again, and wished thus for a month 
 or six weeks; but now I would not go back to earn a live- 
 lihood, for £50 in a present, yearly. I like the country well, 
 and wo'nt be in Scotland for some years at least. I will go 
 back to see through the old places, but I would not stay 
 three months with you, were you to pay me for it. 
 
 The subjoined letter is from Mr. Cattermole’s Book, on 
 Canada, and was written to Mr. J. Corbett, who has been 
 employed by the Canada Company for two seasons as the 
 agent at Quebec, and who is a settler on their lands :-— 
 
 Eramora, Upper Canada, lith Aug. 1830. 
 
 Dear S1x,—I promised to give you a short history of my 
 own experience in America, for the last twelve years. I 
 Janded on the 18th of July, 1818, at Philadelphia, thinking 
 then to go to the westward, but meeting so many old country- 
 men, who had been to the western parts of the United States, 
 and hearing from them of so much sickness, fevers, agues, 
 bilious complaints, &c. we turned to Pennsylvania, to settle. 
 I bought a farm of 121 acres, at four dollars per acre, the 
 land proved poor, and after toiling myself and family for 
 near three years, I sold it again for what it cost me, giving 
 up all my time and improvements. I then moved into New 
 
98 
 
 York State ; there I took up the trade of peddling, in order 
 to see new parts of the country ; the anxiety for the future, 
 for the success of my large family, was the cause of my emi- 
 gration; I wanted to find a good place where Iconld settle 
 myself down for life, where I could get land for myself and 
 family, as my means were then but small; Ihad to try te 
 find a place where land was good and cheap; at last, after 
 searching in three or four of the States, and getting disap- 
 pointed, I turned round, and went to see Upper Canada, and 
 I do bless that Providence that directed me here to this part 
 of the world. When I would be travelling through the 
 western part of New York State, I could see plenty of fine 
 farms, but they had good owners for them, and the price was 
 from 20 to 25 dollars per acre. I got so sick of their demo- 
 cracy, that I was properly glad to get under the British go- 
 vernment once more, and truly in Upper Canada we have it 
 in all its mildest forms ; democracy will never long go down 
 an old countryman’s stomach, though it sounds well at first 
 to the ear; but when we see it in full practice, and more 
 especially in our own family, when we hear our sons at the 
 age of fifteen tell us, they guess they will do as they have a 
 mind to, then the father feels not at home, when subordina- 
 tion is trampled upon in his own house, and which is really 
 so often the case; for my part, I feel thankful I got my fa- 
 mily from amongst them, before they were all ruined and 
 contaminated. Letan old countryman go to the United States, 
 who is ever so great a jacobinical radical, and they will soon 
 get cured when they begin to feel its effects in their own fa- 
 milies, and servants, if they should happen to have any, for 
 they will not bear the name of servants, only helps ; besides, 
 they quiz us so much, and if an old countryman settles 
 among them, and has any money, his house will never be 
 clear of sharpers to borrow so long as any remains, but you 
 know all about this better than Ido. This is my sixth year 
 on my new farm, being five miles from the town of Guelph. 
 I have been a disinterested witness of, the progress of that 
 settlement, and I do think the town and township round 
 Guelph, for industrious persons with families, can do as well 
 as in any part of North America that I have seen. Our 
 crops look remarkably well, we have 94 bushels of seed- 
 grain sown of all sorts, 20 acres of good meadow land to 
 
94: 
 
 cut, 24 acres of potatoes, 2 acres of turnips, and half an 
 acre of flax. » Our stock consists of 30 head of horned cattle, 
 62 sheep and lambs, 30 hogs, a pair of young horses; you 
 wished me to give you a statement of last year’s crop, as we 
 had not done thrashing when you went away ; it was our fifth 
 year's produce, we had 1,329 bushels of all kinds of grain, 
 mostly wheat and barley ; we killed 2,400]bs. weight of pork, 
 a good fat beeve for Christmas; sold 2 yoke of fat oxen, 
 some fat sheep, &c. cut 35 tons of hay, at £3 per ton, for 
 all we could spare, besides our potatoes, turnips, &c.; our 
 soil is excellent in quality, it is from two to three feet deep, 
 on a good hard blue bottom ; our timber, maple, bass-wood, 
 elm, beach, which always indicate a good soil. In addition 
 to all these advantages in settling in Upper Canada in prefer- 
 ence to the United States, our markets are from 1 to 2 dol- 
 lars higher on pork and flour at Montreal than at New York, 
 our lands better, our taxes two-thirds less than in New York 
 State, more healthy, and under our own government; my 
 taxes for all the above-described property, and 900 acres of 
 land, was only £1. 7s. 6d. Halifax currency. If this should 
 be of any use in keeping even one good honest British sub- 
 ject from splitting on the rocks and shoals of the United 
 States, I shall be happy. 
 
 P.S.—As some men of property have come up this year to 
 the neighbourhood of Guelph to buy land, and rather objected 
 because it was all wild wood land, preferring to buy improv- 
 ed farms, for the instruction of such settlers, I will give you 
 an instance in the person of Mr. W. Armstrong, who has 
 got 5 acres of heavy timbered Jand in our township, cleared 
 for only 9 dollars per acre ; he has a crop of barley growing 
 thereon that will average 40 bushels per acre at least ; last 
 year it fetched 3s. 13d. per bushel; the ashes either sold or 
 made in black salts, would in most cases fence in the land: 
 thus those who clear their own land reap the first benefit of 
 fresh land not exhausted by bad husbandry ; 40 bushels make 
 about 25 dollars, clearing and fencing will cost about 124 
 dollars, leaves 124 dollars profit to the acre. I could have 
 many more things to say in favour of a new farm, but the 
 chief thing is a man with a family, and a few hundred pounds 
 lays it all out in an old farm, his family in that case may 
 have to go to a new settlement where land is cheap ; now if 
 
95 
 
 he were to buy several hundred acres in its present state, he 
 would have the pleasure and profit of seeing his property 
 grow in value every year, and what a grand stimulant to his 
 children, to know there will be farms for them adjoining 
 their relatives. I could bring many more proofs in favour of 
 new farms, but my paper is done. Farewell. 
 
 Mr. Cattermole says of the above; ‘“ This letter was not 
 addressed to me, but I am well acquainted with the party 
 who handed it to me, a gentleman of the first respectabi- 
 lity. Iam told the writer is a plain, honest character, and 
 I have no hesitation in saying there are hundreds of persons 
 in Upper Canada, who cherish similar sentiments.” 
 
 Extract of a Letter, dated Amherstburgh, Upper Canada, 
 Western District, rear Detroit, July 14, 1831. 
 
 Montreat has a direct communication with the ocean. 
 For about 150 miles above Montreal the navigation of the 
 St. Lawrence is much interrupted by rapids, but steam-boats 
 at intervals are able to ply upon it about half that distance, 
 and always do so, the intermediate journies being performed 
 in stages, equivalent to your coaches. From the upper end 
 of this 150 miles, i. e. from the town of Prescot, there is | 
 an uninterrupted navigation to this place—first, to Kensing- — 
 ton, by the river St. Lawrence—then from Kensington to 
 Niagara, on Lake Ontario—then through the Welland canal, 
 which has been cut to avoid the falls of Niagara, and is now 
 in full operation, leading from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, 
 or at least into the Niagara river above the falls, and navi- 
 gable by schooners of 70 or 100 tons. We had a vessel here 
 yesterday from Lake Ontario, and she is proceeding onward 
 to the head of Lake Huron, so that a family may take a 
 passage from Prescot to this place. I ought to have men- 
 tioned, that the 150 miles from Montreal I have spoken of 
 is navigated by a large sort of boats, called batteaux, as also 
 by vessels of from 10 to 20 or 30 tons burden, called Dur- 
 ham boats. By means of one or other, all goods are brought 
 up and provisions sent down, and by which emigrants are 
 - conveyed to this country, i. e. over the distance from Mon- 
 treal to Prescot. As to the Indians, we are annually visit- 
 
96 
 
 ed by about 7,000 of them, this being a post where they 
 receive presents from Government, or from their great fa- 
 ther, as they call the King. They are a miserable degraded 
 race, excessively addicted to the use of ardent spirits, to a 
 man; but besides the nuisance of having companies of them 
 rolling about in the streets drunk, they give little trouble. 
 Within a mile of town there is a settlement of a half-civi- 
 lized tribe, called Hurons; they are quite harmless. 
 
 I should think Upper Canada far preferable. The popu- 
 lation and laws are English; and a more secure title to 
 property can be obtained. The soil and climate are much 
 better generally. 
 
 I believe that every species of furniture can be had here 
 at a great deal less than it could be transported. Sheets, 
 blankets, and all species of wearing apparel, and shoes, 
 might be brought with propriety, all of which are very high 
 here. 
 
 «« By landing in June or July, which they could do by 
 starting with the first vessels, they would be able to’ pro- 
 cure unimproved land immediately, and might prepare a 
 house, or at least sow some autumn wheat, since there would 
 be time to prepare some portion of the land for it by hav- 
 ing men to clear it, as I have already stated. We have 
 generally fine weather throughout October, and even Novem- 
 ber. By leaving home by the second voyage, ships in July 
 or August would arrive here in the beginning of October, 
 and would escape all the warm weather of the season. 
 There would be no difficulty in procuring lodgings in this 
 place. It is somewhat difficult to say which would be the 
 preferable plan: I should almost think, for those intending 
 to farm, the earlier the better. 
 
 I would make one general remark, that they must not 
 allow themselves to dream of finding gold growing on trees, 
 or that, by farming, a fortune or much money may be made 
 here ; all that sort of thing must be guarded against, other- 
 wise disappointment will follow. Assuredly the advantage 
 of coming to Canada is simply this, that a little capital 
 will go a great way, and conjoined with regular industry, 
 will make a man comfortable, and, in a certain way, quite 
 independent in a few years, and above all, enable him to 
 provide in a similar way for bis family. He has no taxes 
 
St 
 
 to pay, and every improvement he makes on his property 
 goes exclusively for his own advantage and that of his family, 
 unimpaired. by tithes, or rents, or any thing else; and be- 
 sides the-intrinsic value added to property by improvement 
 in the extent of cultivation, it is every day becoming more 
 valuable as the country advances. Ina word, a person’s in- 
 dustry tells here, which it does not at home, where a mere 
 provision for the day that is passing is all that can be ob- 
 tained ; no provision for old age, and nothing in prospect for 
 the succeeding generation, but the same weary round of hope- 
 less unproductive toil. There are doubtless some considera- 
 tions—some trouble—perhaps some hardships—in removing, 
 some privations—and but very few where there is any capital 
 to be met with—and, in every new country, there is perhaps 
 somewhat more risk of bad health of a certain kind than at ° 
 home—but these are soon overcome. As to the last, take 
 my own case for an example. Iam far from being strong, 
 and yet have not, in the course of two years, had a day’s 
 dishealth that I could attribute to the climate. There is no 
 people so much wanted here as good steady servants, either 
 for the farm or house. 
 
 From “Important Information to persons intending to 
 
 Emigrate to America.” 
 
 GAME IN CANADA. 
 From M‘Gregor’s British America. 
 
 THE most common wild animals are, wolves, bears, and 
 loup-cerviers, which annoy the inhabitants of new settle- 
 ments, by destroying sheep and pigs. Common deer abound ; 
 they are gentle, and easily domesticated. Otters are, in many 
 parts, numerous. Beavers ave scarce. Foxes, martens, por- 
 cupines, racoons, weasels, wood-chucks, are also met with. 
 Hares are plentiful. Wild beasts must, however, diminish 
 rapidly in a country which will soon be intersected in every 
 direction by roads. 
 
 Wild turkeys, which do not differ in appearance from do- 
 mestic turkeys, except being larger, frequent the western 
 
 I 
 
98 
 
 parts ; and wild geese, ducks, pigeons, and most of the other 
 birds already mentioned as common to America, are plenti- 
 ful in the course of their migrations. Snipes, wood-larks, 
 and partridges are also abundant. 
 
 Among the lake fishes, the sturgeon is good eating, weighs 
 from 70 to 100 lbs., affords isinglass, and differs from the 
 sturgeon of the sea by wanting the shelly scales on the back. 
 The masquenongé is delicious, and sometimes weighs 50 Ibs. 
 The white fish, caught in abundance, resembling the shad 
 of the Atlantic coast, or very large alewives. It is excellent 
 eating, but inferior to the masquenonge. ‘The lake herrings 
 are plentiful, but flabby and indifferent. 
 
 Trout are of all sizes, weighing from half a pound to 
 sometimes 50 to 70 lbs. The large kind, called lake sal- 
 mon, resembles those of the sea, but the flesh much paler, 
 and not so richly flavoured. 
 
 Pike and pickerel are much the same in flavour as in 
 England. 
 
 There are two or three varieties of bass ; the black is the 
 best. The other fishes which are found in the lakes and 
 rivers of Upper Canada, are principally perch, eel pout, cat- 
 
 Jish, mullet, dace, chub, carp, sncker, dog-fish (small,) bill- 
 fish (the tyrant of the lakes, with a bill about a foot long,) 
 lamprey, silver eel, sun-fish. 
 
 Fish are caught with seines, hooks, and by spearing. Fo- 
 rest sports are much neglected: even men who were poach- 
 ers in the United Kingdom will scarcely move off their farms 
 to shoot deer, or other wild animals. There is excellent 
 shooting, and some people indulge in deer-stalking, or watch- 
 ing for deer, waiting for the return of bears to shoot them, 
 and occasionally killing water-fowl and forest birds. 
 
 The forest trees are of great magnitude and variety, and 
 afford excellent timber for all purposes, and abundant fuel ; 
 great advantages to the inhabitants. Wild fruits are very 
 plentiful. Medicinal plants abound ; and gay and _ beautiful 
 indigenous flowers adorn those places which are not densely 
 covered with large trees. 
 
99 
 
 GAME.—THE DEER. 
 
 From a Backwoodsman’s Statistical Sketches. 
 
 AT the head of our quadruped game is the Deer. He is lar- 
 ger than the fallow deer of England ; and his horns, we 
 would say, are twined the wrong way, and are differently 
 shaped from those of the deer of Europe. They are found 
 in great abundance in every part of the province. Deer 
 stalking is much practised ; but to practise it with success, 
 you must be acquainted with the topography of the neigh- 
 bourhood, and know the salt licks and other haunts. Another 
 way is, to let a canoe or raft float down a stream during the 
 midsummer night with a bright light upon it. This seems 
 to dazzle or fascinate the animal, who is fond of standing 
 in the water when the mosquitoes are troublesome in the 
 woods ; and if the maneuvre be skilfully managed without 
 noise, he will allow you to come within a few yards of 
 him ;—so near indeed will he allow you thus to approach, 
 that there have been instances known of his having been kill- 
 ed with a fish spear. The most certain and deadly mode of 
 proceeding, however, is to. send your dogs into the woods 
 some miles from the banks of a lake or great river, and 
 ‘hark down’ on the scent, when he will be sure to run for 
 the water, where you can knock him on the head from a boat 
 or canoe. Lut even in this defenceless position you must 
 not approach him rashly, for he gives an ugly wound with his 
 horns ; and with the sharp hoofs of his fore feet, he has been 
 known to deal such a blow, as has separated the muscle from 
 the bone of a man’s lee. You must, therefore, either shoot 
 him, knock him on the head, drown him by holding down 
 his head with an oar, or seize hold of him by the seat, and 
 make him tow the boat until he is exhausted, and can be 
 mastered. 
 
 In deer stalking, and, indeed, all kinds of sporting in this 
 country, it is often necessary to camp out,—that is, bivouae 
 in the woods. This would appear to a man who is curious 
 in well-aired sheets, as the next way to the other world; 
 but, in reality, there is nothing either dangerous or unplea- 
 sant in the proceeding. Every man carries with him in the 
 
 12 
 
100 
 
 woods, punk, that is, German tinder, a fungous excrescence - 
 of the maple, and a flint. With this and the back of his 
 knife, a light is struck, and the ignited piece cut off from the 
 mass. This is put into dry moss, and blown or swung round 
 the head until it blazes, and thus a large fire of logs is 
 kindled. Spruce and hemlock are stripped, and moss gather- 
 ed to make a bed; and if it be dry overbead, nothing fur- 
 ther is necessary, the party all sleeping with their feet turn- 
 ed towards the fire. If, however, it threatens rain, a tent 
 or wigwam of bark can soon be erected, perfectly weather 
 tight. And in winter this may be rendered more comfortable 
 by shovelling the snow up on the walls, so as to exclude the 
 wind. 
 
 GAME—TuE CAnvas-BAcK DUCK. 
 From Vigne's Six Months in America. 
 
 THE waters of the Chesapeake and the Patapsco are the fa- 
 vourite resort of the canvas-back duck, which I had always 
 been told was the greatest delicacy imaginable ; and, ‘ like 
 nothing else, sir! I assure ye!” The sporting commences 
 early in November, and affords most excellent sport. An 
 experienced shot will sometimes kill three dozen in a morn- 
 ing with a single gun; and occasionally they are shot on the 
 wing with a single rifle. The canvas-back duck very much 
 resembles the red-headed wigeon, or common dun-bird. They 
 breed on the borders of the great lakes, or about Hudson’s 
 Bay; but, in the winter months, they are found in prodi- 
 gious quantities on the Chesapeake, the Patapsco, and the 
 Potomac. Its flavour is owing to the root of the Vallisneria 
 Americana, or wild celery, on which it feeds, and for which 
 it will dive to a depth of eight or ten feet. The red-headed 
 wigeon, when in company with the canvas-back, will often 
 wait till it has risen from the bottom, and then snatch from 
 it the hard-earned morsel. The bons vivants of America, 
 talk of the canvas-back with an interest that borders on af- 
 fection, and is sometimes very amusing. “ Sir,” said an old 
 fellow to me, “ I wished to give a duck feast, and accord- 
 ingly I bought nine couple of them, all fresh killed, and all 
 of the right weight. I stuffed them into every corner of my. 
 
101 
 
 gig; and would not suffer the cook to touch them, except in 
 my presence. I dressed them all myself, in different ways, 
 in my parlour, so as to have them all done according to fi- 
 gure, sir! Well, sir! all my company had arrived, except 
 an old German ; we could not wait, and sat down without him. 
 When he came, he exclaimed, ‘ What ! noshing but duckhs !’ 
 I started up ina rage, sir! a violent rage, sir! ‘ Noshing 
 but duckhs!’ I repeated after him :,Why, you d d old 
 scoundrel, said I, your own Emperor of Austria never had 
 such a dinner: he could not, sir, though he gave the best 
 jewel in his crown for it.’ I tasted these birds several times 
 before I quitted America, and they certainly are extremely 
 good. The meat is dark, and should be sent to table under- 
 done, or what in America is called “rare.” I think the fla- 
 vour might be imitated by a piece of common wild duck, and 
 a piece of fine juicy venison, tasted at the same time. The 
 word “rare” used in that sense, and which is given by John- 
 son, on the authority of Dryden, is no doubt one of many 
 which have-retained, in America, a meaning in which they 
 are not now used in England, but which was doubtless car- 
 ried over the Atlantic by the settlers of a hundred years ago. 
 I confess that I was for some time in error. I heard every 
 one around me giving orders that his meat should be * rare,” 
 and I thought it a mispronunciation of the word raw. 
 
 GAME.—THE TuRKEY. 
 From Statistical Sketches, by a Backwoodsman. 
 
 Tue wild turkey takes the lead of our Upper Canadian 
 feathered game. He is found in the London and western 
 districts exclusively ; though I have heard, that in New Eng- 
 land, he is domiciliated much farther to the north. He is 
 large, weighing from 25 to 35lbs., of a dark colour, which 
 in some individuals is lighter, and in others approaches to 
 a leaden gray; and is very like the domestic turkey of the 
 country. Youcan only distinguish him from his civilized 
 cousin .by a quick, firm, light-infantry step in his gait, and 
 his independent, watchful look. At certain periods of the 
 year, he is anything but shy. I have walked along the high- 
 way for half a mile at least, with a flock of fourteen of them 
 13 
 
102 
 
 marching ‘in front of me all the time within easy shot ; some 
 of them marching in the middle of the road, some hopping 
 up on the rail fences and running along them, some jump- 
 ing over into the neighbouring field, but none’ showing any 
 unreasonable fear of me. 
 
 WHITE FISH. 
 From Fergusson's Tour in Upper Canada. 
 
 Amonce other good things upon our dinner-table, we were: 
 regaled with the celebrated white fish, a delicacy which, as 
 Charlevoix has long since remarked, “nothing of the fish kind 
 can excel.” It is peculiar, I believe, to the North American 
 lakes and rivers, and, so far as I know, has not been describ- 
 ed. Some naturalists consider it to be a nondescript species 
 of Salmo. The flesh is white, and resembles the most ge- 
 latinous part of the turbot, but considerably richer. The 
 fish is taken with hook and line, frequently at a hole in the 
 ice, being then in highest perfection, and runs from three to 
 eight pounds weight. There is a coating of fat along the 
 back, little inferior in flavour to the richest butter. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR EMIGRATION. 
 From the Backwoodsman’s Sketches. 
 
 Ir cannot be too strongly impressed upon emigrants the inex~ 
 pediency of carrying to the woods of Upper Canada heavy 
 lumbering articles of wooden furniture. All these can be 
 procured here for far less than the cost of transport from 
 Quebec and Montreal. The only exception to this rule is, 
 when a person has valuable furniture for which he cannot get 
 any thing like a reasonable price at home ; and, in that case, 
 it may be cheaper to carry it to Canada than to sacrifice it in 
 England. But, as a general rule, mahogany furniture is not 
 in keeping with the rest of a Canadian establishment ; and 
 our own black walnut makes, in my opinion, more handsome 
 furniture than mahogany, and possesses this great advantage 
 over its more costly and exotic neighbour, that it does not so 
 easily stain,—a property which saves much scrubbing and 
 not a little scolding in families. Clothes, more particularly 
 coarse clothing, such as slops and shooting jackets, bedding, 
 
103 
 
 shirts, (made, for making is expensive here,) cooking uten- 
 sils, a clock or time-piece, books packed in barrels, hosiery, 
 and, above all, boots and shoes, (for what they call leather 
 in this continent is much more closely allied to Azde than lea- 
 ther, and one pair of English shoes will easily outlast three 
 such as we have here,) are among the articles that will be 
 found most useful. As a general rule also, every thing that 
 is made of metal, (for ironmongery is very dear,) as well as 
 gardening and the zron parts of farming tools, and a few of 
 the most common carpenters’ tools, can never come amiss ; 
 for, though a man may not be artist enough to make money 
 as acarpenter for other people, he may save a great deal 
 himself by having the means within his reach of driving a 
 nail or putting in a pane of glass. A few medicines ought 
 to be taken for the voyage, and those chiefly of the purga- 
 tive kind, as ships are very frequently but indifferently fur- 
 nished with a medicine chest. Among these I would recom- 
 mend Anderson’s, or any other of the aloetic and colocynth 
 pills, Epsom salts, magnesia, and emetics, made up in doses. 
 If you take Seidlitz powders, or soda powders, or any of 
 that tribe of acids and alkalies, let them be made up in phials, 
 well stopped, not, as usual, in papers, for in that case they 
 will get melted, or (as the learned express it) deliquate, be~ 
 fore the passage is half over. With these phials will of 
 course be required measures, to take out the proper propor- 
 tions of each powder. Fishing and shooting tackle ought 
 also to be taken. 
 
 MONEY. 
 From the same. 
 
 It is a question often asked, how should money be taken 
 to Canada? I reply, in any way except in goods. Not that 
 I have not often known that mode of bringing it prove highly 
 profitable ; but it is a risk ; few who come out being good 
 judges of the price of goods at home, and none of them 
 knowing what kind of goods will suit the Canada markets. 
 British silver or gold make a very good investment; as the 
 former is bought up by merchants and tradesmen, and used 
 to purchase bills on the Treasury through the Commissariat, 
 and the latter is remitted by the same classes to meet their 
 engagements in England. A Sovereign generally fetches 
 23s. or 24s. currency, that is 5s. to the dollar ;—ls. sterling 
 
104 
 
 passes for Is. 2d. currency ;—so that either description of 
 bullion gives a good remittance, One great objection, how- 
 ever, to bringing out money, is the liability there is of losing 
 or being robbed of it; so that, upon, the whole, the better 
 way perhaps may be, to lodge it with T. Wilson & Co. of 
 Austin Friars, Agents for the Bank of Upper Canada, or at 
 the Canada Company’s Office in St. Helen’s Place,* taking an 
 acknowledgment ; and then you can draw upon the fund from 
 Canada, receiving the premium of the day on the exchange. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 From Vigne’s Six Months in America. 
 
 THE most fearful enemy of health is ardent spirits, which, 
 by these who drink them at all, are taken at all hours, from 
 four in the morning till twelve at night, and swallowed under 
 the various and subdued appellations of bitters, egg-nogg, 
 mint-julep, and many others ; all sounding watery enough to 
 have captivated Sangrado himself, ‘The Temperance Socie- 
 ties are an honour to the country. There are about 1,000 
 of them in the United States, composed of 1,200,000 mem- 
 bers, and affecting about 2,000, 000 anaiedeats directly or 
 indirectly. They have caused the suppression of 1,000 dis- 
 tilleries, and 8,000 retail stores. .The members solemnly 
 promise that they will not touch a drop of any kind of spirits : 
 of course, the rules of the society are sonietimes broke, par- 
 ticularly as they allow wine and brandy when ordered by the 
 doctor. I have heard it observed by those who are unfriendly 
 to these associations, that an individual who cannot abstain 
 from spirits without belonging to a temperance society, will 
 not refrain when he becomes a member ; but there is a vast 
 difference between the strength of a resolution made to one- 
 self, and known only to oneself, and a promise solemnly and 
 publicly given, where fulfilment 1s demanded by honour, the 
 fear of shame, and the duty of example. It is always ob- 
 served, that when a member of the society has once relapsed 
 into his old habits, his course is one of recklessness and des- 
 peration. That the societies have done good is undeniable, by 
 their influence on the wholesale trade in spirits at New York. 
 
 * These directions have reference to London. 
 
105 
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 From Chambers’s Information for the People, No. V. 
 
 WuEN the determination is once taken to emigrate, the next 
 step is to make arrangements with a shipowner, or captain, 
 for the voyage. Take no furniture whatever, but plenty of 
 good warm clothing, and bed-clothes. The steerage passen- 
 gers generally lay in provisions for themselves, which consist 
 of oatmeal, potatoes, some eggs, milk boiled with lump 
 sugar, and some salt beef, or ham; these provisions should 
 be calculated for fifty days ; whatever remains after the pas- 
 sage, will be useful afterwards on the way to a settlement. 
 A tin pot, or kettle, with a flat side and a hook, for hang- 
 ing upon the ribs of the fire, will be very useful, because it 
 is often impossible to put every thing on the fire together at 
 cooking times ; and this pot can be boiled without occupying 
 the room of others. It is particularly recommended to those 
 who make the voyage, never to feel alarmed at appearances 
 of stormy weather, and what they may think danger ; be- 
 cause there is really no danger; there are as few examples 
 of ships sinking in the open sea, as of houses being burned 
 on land. It is only when, by some mischance, they are 
 driven upon lands and rocks, that danger occurs; and then 
 it will be sufhciently evident to every body. 
 
 Men on board should pay the greatest attention to females, ' 
 who are apt to be fluttered when they hear the noise of the 
 waves, or of high winds, or the sailors trampling about in a 
 bustle on the deck above. In such cases, passengers have 
 only to keep themselves tranquil, and to recollect that the 
 squall may cause hard work to the sailors, but no danger to 
 any body, except there be land within sight, and the wind 
 blowing them on it against their will. On coming into har- 
 bour, be in no hurry, or rather let your hurry put you in no 
 confusion ; get all your things ready, and have some lodgings 
 fixed on to take your baggage to before moving. 
 
106 
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 From Cattermole’s Advantages of Emigration. 
 
 Tue Act of Parliament requires the master of the vessel to 
 see that all his passengers have the following quantities of 
 stores—bread, 2-3d lb. ; beer, 2-3d gallon ; fresh meat, 2-3d 
 lb. ; vegetables, 3-4th lb. Cocoa, 2-3d. oz. ; sugar, 3-4th 
 oz.; tea, 1-4th oz. per diem. When fresh meat cannot be 
 had, salt beef, 4 lb.; flour, $ lb.; peas, 3-4th pint. On 
 those days that flour is used, raisins and suet may also be 
 substituted for a portion of the flour. My own advice to 
 persons is, to take 3-4th Ib. of meat, and 1 |b. of bread, in- 
 cluding flour, per diem, with plenty of vegetables, and such 
 extra comforts as their circumstances enable them. In lay- 
 ing in stores, a few pounds of portable soup is an excellent 
 thing on the voyage, and persons going in parties, may al- 
 ways atrange to take a pig or two, and if they will look after 
 it, a sheep: many take fowls, but they are much trouble, 
 and are often very sickly. Ducks will do well, some her 
 rings, salt fish, eggs, suet, butter, rice, onions and carrots, 
 with a few apples for puddings, &c. form the principal 
 wants ; portable soup, unless you take fowls, is good in case 
 of sea sickness. 
 
 Parties going together in the steerage, or half-deck, would 
 do right in closely examining into the exact accommodations 
 they are to receive, such as water-closets; if they are to be 
 allowed the use of the quarter-deck at sea; at what time 
 the lights are expected to be put out; these cautions may 
 prevent bad feelings on the passage; and cabin passengers, 
 particularly these with families, should do the same, ascer- 
 taining what wine, spirits, and porter is allowed, to prevent 
 misunderstanding when out. Many vessels offered to take 
 steerage passengers, at £7 10s. and find them with respect- 
 able accommodations ; this, for single persons, with a few 
 extras, they might provide Denieeieess would answer their 
 purpose better than having the trouble of laying in, and 
 cooking, their own provisions. 
 
 Parties going by way either of Quebec or New York, fre- 
 quently arrange with the captain to have a portion of the 
 
107 
 
 steerage partitioned off, 8 or 10 feet square, which is both 
 economical and pleasant, particularly with families, as they 
 are independent of the many. Three or four going thus, 
 will possess all the comforts of the cabin, and at one-fourth 
 the expense. When you get to sea, much of the distinction 
 of cabin and steerage, if respectable, cease, and once land- 
 ed, no enquiries are made what part of the ship you came 
 in. ' The cabin is all very well for single ladies and gentlemen, 
 but with families, it is an expensive place, and the money 
 so spent would be useful on getting into a new country. 
 In the steerage, the lights are put out at nine o'clock, and 
 no smoking is allowed between decks in any part of the 
 vessel. 
 
 No heavy or cumbrous baggage ought to be taken ; house- 
 hold furniture, iron utensils, implements of husbandry, in 
 short all articles of considerable bulk or weight will cost, in 
 freight and carriage, more than the expense of replacing them 
 in Upper Canada, besides the trouble of their conveyance, the 
 risk of damage, and the danger of articles carried from Eng- 
 Jand or Ireland being found unsuited for use in America. 
 The baggage of emigrants should consist only of their wear- 
 ing apparel, with such bedding and utensils for cooking as 
 may be required on the voyage; and any articles of clothing 
 not intended to be used at sea, ought to be packed in water- 
 tight case, or trunks, not exceeding 80 or 90 pounds in 
 weight. | 
 
 Such persons as can afford it, will do well to take out a 
 two or three years’ stock of clothes, shoes, and a stout fur 
 cap; the summer articles most required are strong drill and 
 duck trowsers, light round jackets; for winter, fearnought 
 trowsers and stout coatings ; leather gaiters during frosty wea- 
 ther are excellent, and not to be bought in Canada; beds 
 and ali kinds of bedding, mattresses, a mangle ; an eight-day 
 clock without case or dials, for the mere movement would 
 cost £10 in any part of Canada, the whole country being 
 over-run with wooden clocks, which sell as high as £5. 
 
108 
 
 Extract of a Letter from an Aberdonian, who emigrated in 
 the Spring of 1828, to a friend in Aberdeen. 
 
 Township of Leeds, L. C. June 29, 1830. 
 
 Dear Sir,—I shall here detail to you my intended method 
 of procedure, with respect to my establishing a settlement 
 on my own land, which will give you an idea how settle- 
 ments here are generally effected. In the first place, we 
 commence with what is called under-brushing. This part of 
 our work is best done in the course of next month, when 
 the leaves are fully expanded, as then we are not annoyed 
 next season by a rush of young suckers growing up among 
 our crops. What we call brush-wood, consists chiefly of dog- 
 wood, maple-shrub, mouse-wood, ground-hemlock, besides 
 numberless other shrubs and small trees from 2 to 12 feet in 
 height; these we cut close to the ground with a bill-hook, 
 and pile close in small piles as we go on. In this manner we 
 can easily go over an acre ina day. ‘After brushing, our next 
 business is to fell the cumberers of the ground ; these, on an 
 average, stand so thick as 8 feet apart, and, if hard-wood, 
 average 60 feet in height, and from 6 inches to 4 feet in dia- 
 meter. To make arable land of such a scene as our forests 
 present, would stagger a stranger unacquainted with our 
 doings here; but we can surmount such seeming difficulties, 
 and laugh at what before appeared so impossible. In felling 
 the large trees, we make a cut on each side of the tree, tak- 
 ing care to commence cutting on that side to which the tree 
 has an inclination, as then the tree, after you have finished 
 the cut on the opposite side, will fall from you, and leave 
 you at liberty to step out of the reach of danger; we then 
 cut off the branches close to the trunk, and pile them on 
 the nearest brush-pile, and commence cutting up the trunk 
 into short logs of from 10 to 12 feet in length, which finishes 
 this part. of the work, called chopping. I have chopped up 
 in this manner an acre in a week without working very hard. 
 The next part of clearing is the piling of the logs; this is 
 usually done with the help of oxen, but 3 men will hand 
 pile very well if the timber be not very heavy. The oxen 
 draw the logs, with a strong chain hooked round the end of 
 the log, and attached to a ring in the yoke between them, 
 
109 
 
 opposite the place where the pile is to be, where 2 or 3 men 
 are placed with hand-spikes ready to hoist the logs on the 
 pile as fast as the oxen can fetch them in, A yoke of oxen 
 and 3 men, including the teamster, will pile an acre ina day, 
 if the timber be chopped as it ought to be, and laid in the 
 felling as much one wayvas possible, which is as easily done 
 as to throw the trees in a confused heap across each other. 
 The log-piles are laid as close as possible, to burn all up 
 when the period for firing arrives. There will be from 8 to 
 12 piles in the space of anacre. The burning off of the piles 
 is the last part of this simple business, and to effect this pur- 
 pose, we select a dry period in the fall of the year, when 
 we need but put fire to one pile, and in a short time the 
 whole of the timber, brush and all, will have been consum- 
 ed. You will readily conceive that a fit season for burning 
 off is a desideratum here, since without a complete burn, to 
 consume the fallen leaves, which generally lie very thick on 
 the soil, and the rotten and decayed timber and other trash, 
 we are not safe to sow or plant, and expecta crop. We now 
 set to work and collect the ashes of the piles, and secure 
 them from wet, to be afterwards and at our leisure convert- 
 ed into potash, for which we have a sure market at Quebec, 
 at the rate of 34s. per cwt.; 100 bushels will make a barrel, 
 containing from between 5 to 6 cwt. It is from this trade 
 ouly that the settlers can realize cash, properly so called. 
 Presuming now that you have made your clearance on a 
 proper and fit part of your land whereon to erect a house 
 and other necessary buildings, this business must now merit 
 your attention. Your house must be placed near a running 
 brook or strong spring, either of which, I believe, can be had 
 in almost every lot in the province. The building logs, 
 spruce, having been collected to the spot, you call on half-a- 
 dozen of your neighbours to assist you, and your house, at 
 least the four walls thereof, will be completed in a day. Very 
 little assistance will be necessary to finish the roof; twelve 
 feet boards placed longitudinally from the apex to the plates, 
 and covered at the joinings with thin battens, will do pretty 
 well till you can afford to get shingles. It makes as snug a 
 bield either to eat, drink, sit, or sleep in, as you could well 
 wish, either inasummer or winter’s day. Furniture will 
 soon follow ; we have as fine cherry-wood and curled maple 
 K 
 
110 
 
 growing here as we could wish to see wrought into the shape 
 of drawers, tables, chairs, &c. &c., but a sufficiency of belly- 
 furniture must be our first look-out, and thanks to heaven 
 that is a sure prospect here with us in the bush. The land 
 which we get cleared in the fall, we sow with wheat in the 
 spring. A bushel will sow an aere, and if well harrowed, 
 it returns on an average 15 fold. We also brush, in the 
 season, as much land as we ean chop during the winter, which 
 we clear in the spring for potatoes, barley, Indian corn, tur- 
 nips, &c., &c., all of which, with the exception perhaps of 
 Indian corn, yield as abundant returns. Potatoes here are a 
 good crop, and the best eating I ever tasted. We can easily 
 plant a bushel of seeds in a day, which will not fail, if the 
 season be at all any thing like favourable, to yield 20 bushels 
 in return; 10 bushels will be sufficient te plant an acre. 
 They are planted with the hoe; we put 3 seeds ina hole, 
 and collect a hillock of the loose and rich vegetable mould 
 round them, and leave them so, till they are fit for lifting. 
 It is no uncommon thing to get, in digging, half-a-bushel in 
 a hillock. ' Barley is also a good crop, and generally yields 
 20 fold. All the finer or more tender sorts of garden escu- 
 lents thrive well without any attention; I could last year 
 have spared you a waggon-load of very superior cucumbers, 
 melons, and gourds, which grew at the gable of my house 
 and about the door. The seeds were just planted, and 
 suffered to remain and come to maturity without further 
 trouble ; this fact may give you some idea of the superiority 
 of the climate, as well as of the soil,—but of this more anon. 
 With respect to the general appearance of the country 
 here, and the quality of the soil, you may collect some idea 
 from. what I have already said ; little variety of prospect can 
 be looked for in a scene which presents nothing to the eye on 
 every side but an interminable forest, bounded only by the 
 horizon, with here and there a green spot which marks the 
 innovations of the axe. The road-side, where I am at pre- 
 sent, presents a different spectacle. It is nearly all cleared 
 from the river St. Lawrence to 20 miles above me. The’ 
 summer season here is very warm, the thermometer ranging 
 from 80 to 90 degrees; the winter season again is very se- 
 vere; I have known the mercury sink 30 degrees. below 
 zero; but this does not last long, perhaps 3 days or so at a 
 
lil 
 
 spell, and that not more than twice or thrice in a season. 
 Notwithstanding the intensity of these extremes, the climate 
 is most salubrious ; we don’t know what it is to be sick 
 here ; and give us fair play, here we have none of your ae 
 and agues, “those pests of the Upper Province. 
 
 The prospects of the first class, or persons iesiead of 
 - from 100 to 500 pounds, cannot fail being of the most cheer- 
 ing description. With judicious management, a sum of 
 money, which would soon be annihilated, or at best unpro- 
 ductive, if sunk in business on your side of the water, would 
 here soon establish a handsome competency for you, and your 
 family after you. Provisions you would require for a year, 
 but they are cheap. All your clothes of whatever descrip- 
 tion you should bring with you, as well as every article of 
 household and kitchen furniture which you can get conve- 
 niently stowed, a small stock of the most common medi- 
 cines, all the books you can scrape together, music, musical 
 instruments, carpenters’ tools, &c. &c. 
 
 The second class consists of those who, without cash, 
 bring plenty of bones and sinews, in the shape of grown 
 sons and daughters, to bear upon the question; such never 
 fail to do well if they be at all industrious. 
 
 The third and last class is that to which your humble ser- 
 
 vant belongs, pennyless and fusionless, and encumbered 
 with a small family that can yield him as yet no assistance ; 
 yet, in spite of difficulties, I am fast emerging from air 
 pressure, and I hope ultimately to be able to put my foot 
 upon the neck of my trials. I have certainly been most 
 kindly treated by the better sort of settlers in this township, 
 none of whom but would do any reasonable thing to serve 
 me, whether solicited or not ; but the generality of settlers, in 
 my circumstances, must not expect to be similarly treated. 
 Your’s, most sincerely, 
 W. S. 
 
 The above individual, after arriving at Quebec with his 
 wife and family of three children, was only possessed of £1 
 16s. . For three years he had the loan of a farm without 
 rent, on condition of clearing part of it, which he stated in 
 a letter to his father could have been easily accomplished 
 the first year. 
 
 K2 
 
112 
 
 Second Letier from the same person. 
 Township of Leeds, L. C. August 4, 1831. 
 
 My Dear Sir,—I received your kind letter of Ist April, 
 and I am happy to learn that you are all in good health ; we 
 also are in the enjoyment of the same blessing. You wish 
 to know how we like the cold winter; I can assure you 
 that I consider winter here the most agreeable season of the 
 year. Labour then is, with the exception of barn work and 
 the procuring of fire-wood, nearly locked up. It is true we 
 ean chop if we think proper, but I prefer the autumn for 
 that work, if possibly we can get time then for its accom- 
 plishment. Indeed, it is at any period quite easy to chop 
 down more than we can get well cleared. In winter too, 
 travelling is particularly pleasant, whether on foot or in a 
 sleigh, for then the roads are excellent for at least 5 months. 
 Intercourse then is frequent ; paying and receiving visits con- 
 stitute much of our business. With regard to in-door com- 
 forts, it is presumed that we have got our crops well saved, 
 and a pig or two killed, part of which will no doubt go to 
 the grocer for what he can supply ; you will then have some 
 idea how our tables are supplied ; and, with the help of good 
 stoves, we can regulate the temperature of our rooms to 
 any degree of heat we find convenient. I have not been able 
 as yet to buy a stove, so have been obliged to put up with 
 a chimney, which has its advantages nevertheless. It burns 
 more wood than a stove ; but then the great fires we must 
 put on in winter render any other light at night unnecessary 
 than what proceeds therefrom ; moreover, the sight of a lively 
 fire in the chimney is, in my opinion, much more cheerful 
 than that of any dull, black, iron box, however warm—but 
 if the chimney be well constructed, it will warm a room 
 equally well with a stove. Indeed, although I had a stove, 
 I would not want a chimney on any account. You very pro- 
 perly ask me how we dispose of the stumps and roots of 
 trees. With regard to these impediments, if indeed I can 
 call them such, they present scarcely any obstacle to our 
 operations ; we just let them remain till time do their busi- 
 ness. Hard-wood stumps will rot in about six years ; soft- 
 wood, such as spruce, pine, &c., will take less time to rot 
 
113 
 
 them. When the roots are rotten, a yoke of oxen will pull 
 out your stumps fast enough, but till that time come they 
 are no trouble at all, and we plough, sow, harrow, and reap 
 among them, with as much facility as if we were performing 
 these operations on Grandholm Haugh. 
 
 [ Both these Letters are taken from “ Important Informa- 
 tion,’ &c. which work is now out of print. | 
 
 Exiract of a Letier, from a person residing at Leeds, in 
 Lower Canada, dated 24th May, 1833, to a friend 
 near Aberdeen. 
 
 Most people from previous lack of information regarding our 
 situation and prospects here, and what is worse, from false- 
 hoods circulated in interested quarters, feel a considerable 
 degree of disappointment on their first arrival here, so that 
 I shall state a few leading facts for your own serious consi- 
 deration, and leave you to make up your mind accordingly. 
 Both soil and climate at this place are good, and the land, 
 when cleared, yields good crops of all sorts of grain, pota- 
 toes, and vegetables. Should an emigrant come out in the 
 autumn, which I would rather recommend, he must bring 
 as much with him as would support him till the autumn fol- 
 lowing ; and I think, in ordinary years, £40 would sufiice, 
 at this distance from the market, (say 50 miles,) for such 
 a family as you describe, (father and mother, with ten chil- 
 dren.) Iam not sure but £10 less would do, were our 
 crops, as in general they are, very good: £10 more would, 
 with the assistance of his neighbours, put up a snug log- 
 house, and stable. He would require a stove, too, for win- 
 ter, which would cost from £3 to £5. He must pay his 
 land by instalments, of £5 or £6 annually, for four years; 
 then it is scot-free for ever. Mind this is the price of 100 
 acres only, but a family like yours would better have 200 
 acres to make a good farm; and I see every body thrive well 
 here who has a good family of boys; they are, if they do 
 as they should do, really the making of a man here. There 
 is no securing land now, on any terms, but by paying money 
 K3 
 
114 
 
 down. A man who can work the axe, (and he will learn to 
 do so in a few days,) will chop down the trees on an acre 
 and log them up in eight days: this work is worth 30s. per 
 acre, and is done chiefly in winter. When the snow is gone, 
 we set to work and burn off the logs which we have chopped 
 during the winter. This is generally accomplished in three 
 days for an acre. This work also is valued at 30s. ¥ acre ; 
 then sow and plant away from May till the end of June. If 
 a man is not to go farther into the country than where I am, 
 I would advise him to take every thing with him which he 
 can, such as kitchen furniture, tea things, bedding in parti- 
 cular, clothes, (the worst rag included,) and carpenters’ 
 tools. Carriage of luggage from Quebec to this is 5s. ® cwt. 
 
 I could not presume to advise what goods were best to 
 bring out on speculation, indeed I would be shy in recom- 
 mending any. 
 
 Wheat yields on an average here the first year, 15 bushels 
 per acre; 22 of which yield 112 ib. of good flour ; 1 bushel 
 of wheat sows an acre, and it is now 7s. 6d. An acre re- 
 quires 10 bushels of potatoes for planting, and yields 150 
 bushels. They cost at present Is. ® bushel. These are 
 country prices. Good milk cows are from £3 to £5, and 
 the keep of one, for the winter, would cost £2; but she 
 would be worth this, in a beginner’s family, even the first 
 year. 
 
 The following Seven Extracts of Letters are from Com- 
 munications made to their friends, by several young men 
 of intelligence, respectability, and industry, who emigrated 
 to Upper Canada, from Buchan, Aberdeenshire, in 1831 — 
 and 1882. 
 
 I. 
 Whitby, Upper Canada, 18th July, 1833. 
 
 WHEN you think of the toil required to clear a fir forest in 
 
 Scotland, you form a very exaggerated notion of the difh- 
 
 culty of clearmg American land. A first rate axe-man, who 
 
 makes clearing his trade, will cut down every tree on an 
 acre of such land as I have now purchased, in four days; 
 and I find that Sandy and I can now clear it in nine days. 
 
115 
 
 The stumps which are left a few years do not lessen much, if 
 at all, the return of wheat from the land, although I dislike 
 to see them, and by the fourth year, when the land. has been 
 kept under crop, they can be turned out without any trouble, 
 as by that time they are rotten. 
 
 II. 
 Banks of the Trent, Upper Canada. 
 
 THERE is no such thing as rye-grass here. I would give a 
 large sum for a bushel of seed. They commonly cultivate 
 here a large grass called Timothy ; it makes a strong hay, 
 but I think of very inferior quality to good rye-grass. Clover 
 grows luxuriantly, and generally the white naturally on 
 cleared lands. The horses have been reported better than 
 they are: they are a light shabby blood kind of animal, 
 neither sufficiently heavy to be powerful in draught, nor so 
 firmly knit as to give them the strength of our fine little 
 punch-made horses that we had at home; I mean with you, 
 for this is now my home, and, as far as a prospect of inde- 
 pendence in this world is concerned, I every hour wish that 
 you were all with me, and then we could go on together, 
 and never feel the painful thought of home and friends far 
 away, which alone can disturb us here. Oh man! come 
 out—if you would only come, Peggy would come with you, 
 and if I had her here I would laugh at care. 
 
 Atte 4 ic BB 
 Lixtract of a Letter from Mr. M- » now settled about 
 thirty miles from the mouth of the Trent, and three miles 
 
 back from the river: twenty-two miles from York— 
 dated 5th June, 18383. 
 
 I can clear my land, and sow my wheat, at less money per 
 acre than you can raise a crop of turnips with bone dust. 
 The produce for three years, without any additional expense, 
 will vary in value from £4 to £6 per acre; and when im- 
 proved, cleared of the stumps, and manured, it will be 
 double. ‘Two men are equal to manage 100 acres of land, 
 
116 
 
 and although you pay them high wages, about £24 a year, 
 (if very fine experienced men,) yet the price of managing the 
 farm is not one half so much as in your precarious climate, 
 where we are afraid to leave the stooks an hour in the field, 
 if fit to be stacked, and the money return will, at least, be 
 equal to any thing that can be got with you—and much more, 
 and then the land is your own, and may be extended as far 
 as you desire, and no rent. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Extract of a Letter, from a Buchan man who had recently 
 been in the service of a Farmer, in the American State 
 of Vermont, written at Montreal, 15th May, 1883. 
 
 Wuewn Yankies work, they do so very hard ; they rise at four 
 in the morning—milk the cows—(this the men do here, 
 which you will think queer,) and in summer they do not 
 end their labour till darkness compels them. The quantity 
 of wheat they cut down in a day is astonishing, and we re- 
 quire considerable practice with their scythe, (which is a 
 grand tool,) before we can match them ; but on the dunghill, 
 (which they pay too little attention to,) at the flail, or the 
 plough, we can beat the best of them. ‘They are not bad- 
 hearted, nor disobliging, unless offended ; but they are very 
 ignorant, and have an early aversion to people from the Old 
 Country ; believing themselves by far the greatest and bravest 
 people in the world, and if any man dispute the matter with 
 them, or sneer at them, he will scon be in bad breed. The 
 mode of revenge which appears most satisfactory to them 
 seems to be to cheat and deceive you, at which they are 
 very expert, and the little sense of religion which prevails 
 among them, leaves no feeling of moral restraint where interest 
 is concerned. ‘They have a natural feeling of independence 
 about them, which makes them always attentive to mine and 
 thine, but any man who leaves his own country should come 
 to Canada, and avoid the States. He will find in the first, 
 as valuable land as in the world—have a surer supply of spi- 
 ritual instruction, and not hear his own country abused, and 
 be free of many taxes which the Yankies pay, and grumble 
 much at, although they pretend to be free of them. 
 
117 
 
 V. 
 
 Extract of a Letier from a person formerly Overseer of a 
 large Farm in Buchan, now in Whitby District, Upper 
 Canada, of date 2d June, 1833. 
 
 Tue land is here fine deep rich looking black mould, and 
 plenty of spring water, which, in many places is scarce; I 
 have seen too little to be able to boast of my purchase, but 
 assuredly the land here is worth more than double, as to 
 quality, the light thin land about Stanstead, and through 
 much of the State of Vermont, in the United States. Finer 
 looking crops could not grow than those which I every where 
 see, and being within five miles of a port, is a great matter 
 in an ill-roaded country, but the population here is thick, and 
 filling daily—land in great demand, and produce quickly 
 sought after, and well paid for. Milk cows kept in the 
 neighbourhood of a town, and well managed, would soon 
 reward the frugal with a fortune, but the women are very idle 
 and thriftless. I have one who comes and milks my cow, 
 and I give her the half of the milk for payment of her trouble. 
 If we had our own country-women here, we would soon 
 make a grand country of it, but there is no notion of doing 
 things neatly, or looking beyond the present profit, and that 
 is, in truth, I think, more than it should be, which helps to 
 keep them careless. 
 
 Vis 
 
 Lxtract of a Letter from a young Farmer who left Buchan, 
 with very little capital, in 1832—vwrittten at » Trent 
 River, thirty miles from Kingston, lower end of Lake 
 Ontario, of date 5th March, 1833. 
 
 Roaps are making every where. The Government is doing 
 much to open this fine country. A number of settlers of re- 
 spectable appearance, and evidently possessed of capital 
 have settled round us, so that although we were at first 
 
118 
 
 ten miles into the forest, in less than three years we shall 
 be in an open well-peopled country. If we had our’ own 
 country women, we would have, I believe, every comfort 
 that this world can give—abundance of every necessary and 
 comfort as the sure reward of frugal industry. There are 
 nae auld maids in this country. 
 
 We have ducks, pigeons in myriads, and deer, and no man 
 dare d—noneas a poacher, as at home sometimes happens. 
 The silence of the forest I like, and most country folks would 
 do so likewise, but some of the lads who have been in the 
 way of carousing with their friends in the alehouse seem to 
 tine heart, and soon shrink back to the towns to enjoy whisky 
 and poverty, when a few years perseverance would have 
 given them the whisky without the poverty. 
 
 Vil. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Mr. W. now settled in the New- 
 castle District, but written upon Lake Erie, while on a 
 trip to inspect the Huron tract, 2d July, 1838. 
 
 You have an idea that the winters are colder here than: they 
 really prove, for although the frost is very hard, and we re- 
 quire to have our hands well mittened, it is never disagree- 
 ably cold to walk in the open air, except when windy, which 
 is very seldom the case. The moonlight is almost as bright 
 as day, and the dry frosty air invigorating. Last winter we 
 had just three weeks of snow, and about a fortnight of bad 
 weather, when it began to thaw ; then summer burst with a 
 rapidity quite indescribable. The autumns here are most mild, 
 serene, and beautiful ; the showers are heavier, and the that! 
 der storms more awfully loud, I think, than ever I heard in 
 Scotland, but there is a brightness of sun-light from the purity 
 of the air, and cloudless state of the sky, which you seldom 
 have at home. I hope John will not be so unwise as to in- 
 volve himself with a lease in your country, when independ- 
 ence lies here before him if he chooses to exert himself to 
 deserve it. 
 
 If a few hundreds would join and come out together, they 
 
119 
 
 could do much to relieve the inconveniences which single 
 people find at first, and there is no lack of room, nor fear of 
 rivalry. Your Lairds would not be very fond to see all the 
 industrious folks leaving them, but if any man wishes to at- 
 tain good wages for his’ labour, or to enjoy independence in 
 a healthy country, with a far finer climate than you ever saw, 
 they have only to submit to a few days of sea-sickness, and 
 a journey of a few weeks duration. 
 
 A BEE. 
 From Doyle. 
 
 Tue older colonists about you, if solicited, will come and 
 help at what (from the bustle and activity of the work,) is 
 termed a Bee; they first draw the timber together with 
 oxen, (provided that you have it previously felled, cut into 
 the proper lengths and squared,) and raise up your house ; 
 this kind of work is called a raising Bee, and, in the same 
 way, assistance is mutually given in beating out the Indian 
 corn from its husks, in what is called a husking Bee—the 
 nature of the work always determining the denomination of 
 the Bee. 
 
 Such is the friendliness of the more established settlers, 
 that they will dispense with your giving them breakfast and 
 dinner, if your circumstances render you really unable to 
 provide them ; some whisky, and the evening frolic are suf- 
 ficient inducements for the attendance of your neighbours, 
 whose accommodating mode of assisting each other, and 
 of doing as they would be done unto, is highly creditable to 
 their feelings. It will, however, be expected, and very fairly, 
 that you will repay these acts of kindness by giving labour in 
 return, on similar occasions. 
 
 ROUTES TO UPPER CANADA, 
 
 THE usual routes to Upper Canada are by the river St. Law- 
 rence and New York; both of which may be considered as 
 
120 
 
 frozen up during the winter months, although the latter port 
 itself is always open. Each has its advantages and disadvan- 
 tages, and the intending emigrant should deliberately weigh 
 these, and choose which he thinks will suit his own particular 
 circumstances best. 
 
 The route by Quebec and Montreal on the St. Lawrence 
 is the least expensive upon the whole, and as emigrants can 
 reach Upper Canada in this way, entirely on British terri- 
 tory, they avoid the high duty at New York on any goeds, 
 or articles liable to duty, which they may be taking with 
 them, as explained in Mr. Buchanan’s letter, page 24. The 
 duty on such at Quebec or Montreal is trifling in comparison. 
 The expense of the passage to Quebec too, is lower, from 
 the number of large ships going out for cargoes of timber, 
 and having extensive accommodatiens, when they are outward 
 bound, for passengers. Emigrants can either go up in their 
 vessel all the way to Montreal, or, if it stops at Quebec, a 
 steamer takes them to Montreal, as detailed in the preceding 
 letters. From this place to Prescot, the river is rendered in 
 some parts unpleasant, and sometimes even dangerous for 
 navigation, owing to what are called Rapids, which are falls 
 of considerable length, but nog of a height in any one part 
 to prevent large boats from being dragged up them. Great 
 quantities of goods and luggage are sent in this way to the 
 upper country. 
 
 From Prescot, steamers ply to Kingston, which is situated 
 at the lower end of lake Ontario, and from this place, water 
 conveyance may readily be had to any part on this great lake, 
 or through the Welland canal into Lake Erie ; from Prescot 
 there are ships also which sail direct to many places on the 
 borders of lake Ontario, and even by the Welland into Lake 
 Erie. | 
 
 Passengers may go by land from Montreal to Prescot, but 
 the less land travelling which they undertake in Canada, the 
 better, except in sleighs or sledges over the snow in winter. 
 The roads not being yet Macadamized, or rendered turn- 
 pike as at home, passengers will soon learn to their cost, 
 with many a hard jolt, how corduroy ways are constructed 
 and kept in repair.. A preferable route, however, from Mon- 
 treal, is now opened up by water into Lake Ontario. Emi- 
 
121 
 
 grants can go up the Ottawa or great river to Bytown, 
 where they enter the Rideau canal, which carries them to 
 Kingston. 
 
 The port of New York is open in summer and winter, and 
 the voyage is much safer than to the St. Lawrence : it is ge- 
 nerally also reached in less time than the passage to Quebec, 
 as the gulf of St. Lawrence, and the river, are often very 
 tedious sailing. ‘The Hudson river is ascended from New 
 York, by steamers, to Albany, and its banks present some 
 of the most beautiful river scenery in the world. Near Al- 
 bany, the great Erie canal commences, which conveys pas- 
 sengers to Lake Ontario at Buffalo, by a navigation of 363 
 miles. From the harbour of Buffalo, steamers and _ sailing 
 craft ply as far as Lakes Huron and Michigan. 
 
 Although ships can enter the port of New York at all 
 times, yet in winter the waters of the Erie canal are let off 
 or locked by ice, but it is opened some weeks earlier than 
 the St. Lawrence, from the ice melting sooner. The canal 
 is commonly open till near Christmas ; and after its winter 
 repose, it is refilled about the first week in April, when the 
 great bustle commences towards the western country, and 
 Canada. 
 
 The sea voyage is both safest and pleasantest by New York, 
 and to those unencumbered with much luggage, or can afford 
 it, is no doubt the preferable one.t 
 
 The voyage is not commonly beyond five or six weeks, and 
 within a month, from the west coast, in a Liner, as the beau- 
 tiful regular packets are called, on board of which deserip- 
 tion of vessels, every luxury may be enjoyed in their magni- 
 ficent cabins, which ean be enjoyed at sea, but to many, the 
 difference between £25 and £12 may be worth keeping in 
 the pocket; the more mederate of the two being the expense 
 of a cabin passage with very comfortable accommodation from 
 Aberdeen—provisions included. When anemigrant furnishes. 
 his own provisions, it is safest to calculate, for either voyage, . 
 that he may have to maintain himself for sixty days. If any 
 
 +- To those who can conveniently arrange it, Liverpool presents by far 
 the best selection of safe and commodious vessels ; and New York will be 
 found to be decidedly the most comfortable route for reaching the province 
 of Upper Canada.—Fergusson’s Second Visit to Canada, just Published. 
 
 L 
 
122 
 
 part is left of these providings, at the end of the voyage, it 
 will be found useful in the journey up the country. 
 
 Inland water-carriage, both in the States and in Canada, 
 is low, but as there is a considerable extent of it to be gone 
 over, before reaching Upper Canada, the expense comes in 
 whole to be heavy, especially with a family, and much 
 luggage. 
 
 Extract of a Letier from a person who went out to Canada, 
 last year, now at Anderson's Point, Clarence, Ottawa 
 River, Petite Nation, dated 22d October, 1833. 
 
 My pear Moruer,—lI left Montreal the day after I wrote 
 my last letter to you, and landed in the house where I now 
 am, Mr. ’s. He and all his neighbours have shewn 
 me great kindness, and if it please God to continue with me 
 the biessing of health, I have the prospect of spending a 
 very agreeable winter here. 
 
 Iam now as much gratified with the appearance of the 
 country, as I was before disappointed with that of the towns 
 on this continent. 
 
 I have just purchased 200 acres of fine land, the length of 
 a/lot from the Banks of the Ottawa or Grand River in 
 the township of Clarence, and had not this been a rainy day, 
 would have commenced building my house. 
 
 - The lands on the banks of the river are preferable for si- 
 tuation, but in general inferior in quality, and double the 
 price of that a little back. 
 
 The people inhabiting this township are pious, sober, po- 
 lite, and intelligent. ‘The lands are not of the richest de- 
 scription, but they bring forth plenty of wheat, Indian corn, 
 bear, oats, hops, hay, pumpkins, rye, kail, cabbage, pota- 
 toes, fruits of almost all sorts; and strawberries, which are 
 very good, grow wild in great abundance ; with many other 
 things too numerous to mention. Water is plenty and good. 
 
 The climate is particularly favourable to health, being very 
 like that of Scotland. The summers indeed are warmer, and 
 the winters colder, but the winters are every year becoming 
 milder as the land is cleared. We are not subject to fever 
 
123 
 
 and ague here, as they are up the country, where the richest 
 land lies. 
 
 And now my dear Mother, H—-—, I——, G——., and 
 J—-—, I seriously and earnestly entreat you will come out 
 here, and live in comfort and happiness. This I can al- 
 most promise you. You can have ‘no idea of the comfort 
 and independence which characterise the circumstances of 
 Upper Canada squires. There is none of that palaver to 
 be observed here to servants which is in the States. We are 
 all content with the British Government, and are loyal sub- 
 jects thereof; indeed little attention is paid to politics, it 
 being more profitable to cultivate the ground. The passage 
 across the ocean may be tedious, and attended with danger, 
 but if it should please Providence to grant that you arrive 
 here safe, you will never regret having undergone the little 
 inconvenience attending emigration. And because I confi- 
 dently expect you here, I will give you what directions I 
 think will tend to your comfortable arrival. 
 
 Sell all your furniture, chairs, tables, pots, pans, fire- 
 irons, lumber, &c. Bring your knives and forks, spoons, 
 bowls, china and stoneware ; no crystal, for it can be bought 
 here much cheaper than with you. Tell G—— to bring his 
 books, albums, newspapers, &c. Bring a Britannia-metal 
 tea-pot; plenty of different kinds of threads, (we will raise 
 our own wool soon,) needles, and my wine-rubbers. They 
 wont allow me to drink sperits here, so my toddy jugs are 
 useless. You may bring some milk dishes for the dairy, for 
 they will soon be required: you might get them made of 
 sizes, so that the one will fit the other, and all go into each 
 other; they should be made of tin.* 
 
 Tell J—— and G—— to bring no tools with them, as 
 what I brought with me were of no use, not being the sort 
 used in this country at all, at all. Let them not get more 
 clothes made than what they already have, for if they thrive 
 as well as I have done, they willsoon grow too big for them. 
 Let them bring guns like mine, and 500 percussion caps to 
 fit, with all other accoutrements; but nothing else of that 
 sort that I mind on. Bring nothing you intend for sale. 
 
 * The best dishes for milk are now made of zinc, which has the advan- 
 tage of not rusting, and bears scouring better than tin.—ED. 
 
 Lg 
 
124 
 
 The guns should not be taken out from where you pack 
 them during the passage. They and all things not required 
 during the voyage should be well packed in chests, locked 
 and roped. 
 
 Bring forty or fifty yards of serge, such as is used for 
 coarse sheets, to make into smock frocks for wearing over 
 our clothes while at work ; some towelling, plenty of blan- 
 kets ; bring your feather beds; a piece of good strong stuff 
 for bags to hold potatoes, meal, and grain. I would require 
 as much'as would make 2 dozen, large enough to hold a boll of 
 meal ; bring fur caps for winter, get them very warm, (much 
 warmer than those usually worn by boys,) and one for me. 
 Bring your candlesticks, snuffers, and tin moulds for making 
 candles. You would find it very useful to take some coarse 
 strong drugget with you for wrappers, &c. and some strong 
 moleskin. 
 
 You should only have one trunk each in the cabin, the rest 
 of the things in the hold of the ship. Provide a strong sack 
 to hold your bedding, &c. Have very coarse clothes for the 
 sea, but dress yourselves when you come to Quebec. You 
 have no occasion to go on shore there, for you will be no- 
 wise gratified with a near inspection of the town, but one of 
 you will require to go and take your passage in the cabin of 
 a steamer for Montreal; this will cost 25s. each, and per- 
 haps the steamer’s people will send a boat for you to the 
 ship. You pay nothing for your luggage from Quebec to 
 Montreal. 
 
 The best way for my brothers to lay out their money here 
 is in buying land, which is every year rising invalue. Bring 
 your money out in gold, and dispose of none of it till you 
 see me. Bring certificates of your having been Communi- 
 eants with Mr. 
 
 Let none dissuade you from coming on account of your 
 infirm state of health. Older and frailer people have come 
 across the ocean, and are now rejoicing in having done so. 
 
125 
 
 Bxiract of a Letter from a Settler at Zorra, Upper Ca- 
 nada, dated 20th Jan., 1884, to a Friend in Aberdeen. 
 
 My land lies within a quarter of a mile of the Thames, which 
 is here quite an insignificant stream ; almost dry in the hot 
 season. It is thought by some that it will one day be turned 
 into a canal, whereon boats may ply in the spring and fall. 
 It is at present navigable some distance from its mouth, but 
 how far I am not aware. ‘There is talk, however, of a rail- 
 road going through our part of the Province, which will 
 render it unnecessary. Our house is just about the centre 
 of the settlement, there are four families within less than a 
 mile of us, and other four little more than a mile, and seven 
 about two miles. Though surrounded on all sides by so 
 many families, and at so smal} a distance, yet we see none 
 of their houses till we go some way through the woods. For 
 the most part, each is in a hole by himself. Our neighbours 
 are often passing and repassing, so that we are not so lonely 
 as one might suppose. There is land for sale just by the 
 side of mine; but the difficulty is to buy it. You could do 
 without land for a time ; but you could not do well with- 
 out a cow. There are ways of working so that a man can 
 go on supporting his family until he be in circumstances to 
 get land of his own. I require to hire a good deal; my 
 family being as yet unable to help me much ; and of course 
 I would prefer giving you the chance. The common wages 
 here is half a dollar per day, and board. A man who is a 
 good hand in hay and harvest time will get 3-4th dollar for 
 mowing grass, and a dollar for harvesting grain. (No money 
 can be had here for work unless in some cases in harvest,— 
 grain or produce, of any kind, is the common pay.) One 
 difficulty with new settlers is their having to learn the differ- 
 ent kinds of work; but in course of a short time those who 
 are willing get up to them. Another plan resorted to, by 
 those who are not able to get land at first, is putting in grain 
 on shares with farmers who have more land than they can 
 work. This being the case with me this year, one of my 
 neighbours puts in two fields with me, one of rye, of which 
 he does all the work except half the harvesting—affords half 
 the seed, and gets half the crop ; another of peas, of which 
 L3 
 
126 
 
 he does all the work, affords all the seed, and gets 2-3ds the 
 crop. I know not but I shall have to work so with seme 
 one next year. I think there is no doubt of situations being 
 found for my sister’s boys; but we are not sure what they 
 might get beyond food and clothing. It has been a common 
 practice to indent boys here for nine years, at the age of ten. 
 They are fed, clothed, and educated during the time ; and 
 at the end get some suits of clothes, a yoke of oxen and a 
 cow ; but my sister’s boys being further advanced, they would 
 of course be engaged on other terms. They will soon learn 
 the work, and soon be able for it; and a young man capable 
 of doing the work here will obtain wages from 130 to 140 
 dollars a year. As to my sister herself, I think she might 
 do well. There is no taught Midwife here, nor in any of 
 the settlements. round, as far as 1 know; and one is very 
 much wished for, almost all the women in our settlement 
 have been expressing a wish that such a one were here. The 
 women here are very prolific. She would sometimes have 
 a chance to be employed in such cases as sick-nurse, as a 
 woman in that line can scarcely be had here. Grandmother's 
 trade (knitting stockings)does well here; da dollar for knitting 
 a pair of socks that reach a little way above one’s ancle. 
 We suppose she could earn it ina day. She need bring no 
 worsted here, every one affords their own, some marled and 
 white cotton might be a good thing to bring, if she could do 
 it. It is difficult to get knitting done here. As to the 
 samples you sent, the duck and drill I think would sell well 
 here ; if you had money to lay out farther, you might double 
 it in any kind of produce, but not in cash. Striped shirting 
 would more than double itself. Here, a dollar's worth of 
 produce would be got for a shirt that A. B. says would cost 
 only 2 shillings in Aberdeen. We should be very happy te 
 have some gooseberry plants, as we have none here but those 
 - growing wild in the woods. We have abundance of excel- 
 lent currants. Mrs. — directs me to tell you that she 
 has been a great deal healthier here than when in Aberdeen; 
 and she has had no nervous complaints. I have been extremely 
 healthy myself. My clothes that were sufficiently roomy 
 for me in Aberdeen will scarcely go on, and yet I have 
 sweated a great deal more since I came here than during 
 the last years that I was there. Sometimes when chopping 
 
127 
 
 in summer, I have taken off my shirt and wrung it, and put 
 it on again and chopped away. The boys also have been 
 very healthy. They have not had so much as a bad celd. 
 If you come, bring all the pots, pans, kettles, crooks, and 
 bellowses you have got. We regretted parting with such 
 things for the trifle which we got for them. A pound weight 
 of whited brown ravelings, or some such sewing threads, will 
 be very useful. 
 
 oe 
 
 Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in Michigan, to 
 his Brother in Aberdeen. [Two other Letters, from the 
 same person, will be found at pages 30 § 31.] 
 
 State of Michigan, Gull Prairie, 28th Jan. 1834. 
 
 I have this day received your letter of the 16th October, and 
 have this moment finished reading it. I felt as if I could 
 answer all your questions satisfactorily—as to wild Indians, 
 bears, tigers, horrid flies, eagles, &c., your notions are utterly 
 and truly visionary. For all that T have. travelled im. this 
 country, I have never seen any thing more frightful than a 
 deer skipping and bounding through the forest, and turning 
 again to take a look of you. The Indians are a harmless 
 and gentle race of beings, with as much natural politeness, 
 civility, and honour, as your highlanders; and I have: not 
 heard of one single crime they have committed, although. they 
 have received great injuries; however, they are to leave this 
 country this present year, they having sold all their lands, 
 for which 1 am more sorry than otherwise. ‘There is no more 
 real cause of fear in this country than in the one you are in. 
 As to the character and manners of the people, in this neigh- 
 bourhood, I shall describe them as truly and impartially as 
 I can. First then, to begin with the females—their condi- 
 tion is decidedly preferable to that of the same class in your 
 country—their constitutions in general more delicate—they 
 are not allowed to do any drudgery work—their wood is 
 chopped, their water drawn, their cows milked—by the 
 men! They are polite, without affectation; homely, with- 
 out coarseness ; friendly, and fond of visiting, without being 
 intrusive, and all tolerably well educated. As for female ser- 
 
128 
 
 wants, there are none. Every one expects and can command 
 the treatment of an equal, but there are always young girls 
 who will hire out, for a few months, in case of sickness, &c. 
 and the neighbours are very friendly in such cases. The 
 wives of farmers in America are decidedly more cleanly, 
 possess more of the conveniences and luxuries of life, have 
 fewer anxieties; and a Mother can see her children receive 
 a good useful education, learning to be active and useful to 
 their parents, without the least anxiety for their future wel- 
 fare and independence, and may ultimately see them com- 
 fortably settled around them. 
 
 Here you throw aside a load of pride, (which you have no 
 idea of the burden of until you get quit of it,) and that eager 
 desire to rise in the world, and to associate with higher com- 
 pany, to get clear of which I say is a world of heart’s-ease ; 
 and that fear for the future, unfortunately so common in your 
 country, is never felt. 
 
 Another subject of no less importance is, this is decidedly 
 a temperance neighbourhood—where the use of all stimulat- 
 ing and intoxicating liquors are excluded. Temperance So- 
 cieties, and Temperance Newspapers, are spreading like 
 wildfire. 
 
 This settlement is farthest advanced of any towards Lake 
 Michigan, (which lies 30 miles West.) Last year, about 
 this time, there was only one house upon the plain, there 
 are now fifteen, and other fifteen four miles farther down the 
 river. Of these thirty families, five are doctors, one of 
 which gets his living by teaching a school; one by making 
 shingles, or slates of wood; one by carpentering, and one 
 by farming. After this do not say that educated men are 
 scarce in America.* 
 
 From the description you give of Stewart’s Book, it seems 
 to me to be candid and just—but no words can convey 
 perfectly new ideas to the mind, unless there is something 
 similar to compare them with—hence you must be subject 
 to many delusions which experience itself can only drive 
 away- 
 
 I here enjoy better health than ever I did in Scotland. I 
 
 * ‘© Medical gentlemen generally secure a decent livelihood, but, with 
 few exceptions, seldom make money. The climate of British America 
 ts too salubrious for Doctors to realize fortunes.” —Macgrigor. 
 
129 
 
 can eat twice as much food, with an excellent appetite, and 
 can have abundance of every thing that is excellent and whole- 
 some, and much that you cannot afford or procure in your 
 country, and all it costs is a little labour, which is necessary 
 for your health, and makes you enjoy it. I have 10 acres of 
 strawberries growing wild upon my farm, and five acres of 
 hazel nuts; we have also blackberries, cranberries, plums, 
 &e., all growing wild, and will have apples, peaches, &c. &c. 
 aS soon as we have time to rear them. We have pumpkins 
 to make pies, and water melons, musk melons, cucumbers, 
 and squashes, all delightful and agreeable food, and all grow- 
 ing in abundance ; in fact we want for nothing that the heart 
 of man can desire, excepting that the pigs and turkies do 
 not run about ready cooked, crying ‘ who'll eat!’ In all my 
 travels, however, I have not seen any gold growing upon trees, 
 but very little indeed any where, and that difficult to be got 
 at. To all lovers of gold and silver, of fine clothes, and 
 high pretensions, who expect to make fortunes, and drive 
 their carriage, have servants in waiting, and their neighbours 
 take off their hats to them, I say, once for all, keep away, 
 far away, from Americaand Americans. If you wish to en- 
 joy equality, social and intelligent neighbours, with inde- 
 pendence from all supercilious and brow-beating superiors, 
 independence from cares and poverty, I would say come here. 
 
 I will here enumerate all the evils you will have to en- 
 counter. There is first your sea-voyage, then the expense 
 of travelling, and the occupations you will perhaps think 
 mean for six months or so; then there are mosquitoes or 
 midges, for some time in summer and during very fine wea- 
 ther; then there is fever, ague, and boils caused by change 
 of climate. I did not feel the heat at all oppressive last 
 summer, and the winter is not severe; upon the whole I 
 prefer the climate to yours. 
 
 Mrs. Trollop’s book gives merely a caricatured Wiceaias 
 of the qualities most opposed to the feelings of the writer. 
 They are about as true as those the English used to enter- 
 tain of the Scotch, i. e. that they were all starved, had the 
 the itch, and were all sycophants, &c. 
 
 You are afraid of this country being swampy—now it is 
 as dry and clean as a garden, and literally without dubs. You 
 wish me to draw a comparison betwixt the Aberdonians and 
 
130 
 
 Americans. Ask a Hotentot, an Esquimaux, or a Prussian, 
 which manners he prefers—he will say, that of his own 
 country, until he gets accustomed to another. There are not 
 ten men in America but will cheat you if they can—that is 
 to say, they will endeavour to have the best side of the bar- 
 gain—and where their interest is concerned, I would not be- 
 lieve one word they say, nor trust one particle to their 
 honour. 
 
 You think the manners of the people coarse, rude, always 
 spitting and chewing tobacco, &c., now I pronounce them 
 much more refined, cleanly and comfortable in their ways 
 and habits of life than either the Scotch, English, or Irish, 
 taken asabody. I say you will find them such, possessing 
 abundance of good land, a good climate, good laws, good 
 government, no public debt, no nobility nor titled paupers— 
 universal education, and an aptitude to improve by every new 
 invention, unfettered by ancient prejudices, active and indus- 
 trious, and having a high regard for the female sex. I grant 
 that Mrs. Trollop could not see this. The Americans are 
 jealous of, stubborn and sulky to such people, because they 
 think that they expect a deference which they are not entitled 
 to, and which they do not give—if you want to ride, or be 
 rode upon, stop in Europe—if you wish equality and inde- 
 pendence you will find them here, but recollect that all others 
 are independent as well as you. 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS ON EMIGRATION. 
 
 THE readers of these pages must now be well acquainted 
 with the nature ‘of the Canadas, and of those parts of the 
 United States generally chosen for residence by emigrants 
 from Britain. A country in every respect suited to the 
 ideas and wishes of each individual who may intend to 
 remove from the land of his birth, can be found nowhere, 
 nor is there one where disappointments may not. be expe- 
 rienced. It will be seen, however, that in the opinion of 
 many now settled in the Canadas, and worthy of reliance 
 being placed upon the opinions and details which they give, 
 that they have proved these parts, from which they write, to 
 
131 
 
 be exceedingly well suited for raising the industrious, sober 
 settler to independence, and even, in many cases, to afflu- 
 ence, which such individuals had no chance of attaining at 
 home. 
 
 It will easily be perceived that the letters here first print- 
 ed, as well as many of the others, were not written with 
 the most remote idea of their being published, and bear, 
 from their concurring testimonies, evident proofs of the truth 
 of their representations. They may, indeed, be as much 
 depended on as if they had been written by the intimate 
 friends of those who peruse them from a wish to learn the 
 prospects which Canada and the States present. The work 
 will amuse and interest even the general reader, and the 
 minuteness of detail must be invaluable to the intending 
 emigrant, both while here and when in the new country of 
 his adoption, looking out for a location. When actually | 
 settled, he will be directed in his operations by its pages, 
 nearly the same as if an experienced and friendly neighbour 
 were at his side. 
 
 As the letters are from so many different places, an 
 emigrant will, most probably, find one or more from that 
 district to which he himself intends to go, and the advantage 
 of studying the unbiassed descriptions of those already 
 settled there, as communicated to their own nearest relations 
 or friends, need not be pointed out. 
 
 Every country or situation is good or bad in its charac- 
 teristics, in a great measure, according as we compare it 
 with others. There are few places which we cannot dis- 
 cover to have at least some advantages over others, although 
 they may also, at the same time, have some disadvantages ; 
 and the same reflection may be of use to us in supporting, 
 with fortitude, many inconveniences and unpleasant occur- 
 rences.* ‘The sea voyage, for instance, with its attendant 
 sickness and want of the room which land-folks have been 
 accustomed to, is often very distressing, but how much 
 
 * «The young and enthusiastic often form romantic and extravagant no- 
 tions of distant countries; this ought to be particularly guarded against, 
 or it will assuredly end in disappointment and vexation. There is no 
 perfect Paradise to be seen on eatth—there is no country, however fine 
 and prosperous, without a drawback, nor will there be discovered any 
 country, oatye! forbidding, entirely destitute of attraction.”--Picker- 
 ing’s Guide. 
 
132 
 
 worse off would they be if shipwrecked—if obliged to take 
 to the boat when far from land. The provisions and water 
 may not be so good or fresh as they have been used to, but 
 how greatly more serious would it be if they were put on 
 short allowance, as is sometimes obliged to be done at sea, 
 or starving in an open boat, with the prospect of death— 
 straining their eyes for a sail, and fancying every dark cloud 
 on the horizon to be land, but discovering it at last to be 
 only Cape Fly-away ! 
 
 The following is an extract of a letter from Sydney in 
 New South Wales, written by an artizan who lately emigrat- 
 ed from Leeds; the reading of which ought to make the 
 settler in Canada glad that neither himself nor his family are 
 ever likely to be exposed to what must render even the most 
 delightful country an abomination to live in. Many a one 
 is discontented, partly because he does not know how far 
 better he is situated than thousands, who, perhaps, submit 
 to their privations and disadvantages with more resignation, 
 and even cheerfulness, than himself :— 
 
 “ Rents are uncommonly high; a house such as I could 
 get at Leeds for £5 a year, would here let for £20. The 
 place I now occupy with my family has two rooms, six yards 
 by three, is so low that you can only stand upright in the 
 part where the door is, and for this I pay 6s. per week. 
 Wood for fuel is 4s. a cart load, one of which I burn weekly. 
 Water is carried about the streets in puncheons, and sold for 
 one penny a bucket, so that the water costs you as much as 
 your firing. I can assure you that both I and my wife have 
 wished a thousand times that we were only once back again. 
 The abominable wickedness of this country is so great that — 
 we dread for the morals of our children. . The women, taken 
 generally, are drunken debauched characters. Such is the 
 state of religion here that the most horrid curses and most 
 debauched speeches are the only prayers offered up morning, 
 noon, or evening. Daily 30 or 40 wretches, chained or 
 handcuffed in a gang, are tried in the Criminal Court, for 
 the most desperate offences ; and not a Criminal Court, which 
 is held quarterly, but a dozen or twenty are sentenced to 
 death, and others sent to the penal settlements.” 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 MONEY MATTERS. 
 
 In arranging for carrying money abroad, the intending Emigrant 
 will have to consider what is the safest and most profitable 
 way of doing this. 
 
 With the most numerous class, their money will be easily taken 
 with them without much trouble beyond keeping it safe under 
 lock and key, and the poor man’s little store is as important and 
 as deserving of care, in his own estimation, as the thousands of 
 the rich man are to him. With those who have only small sums, 
 gold seems to be the most profitable manner of transference, 
 but then it is particularly tempting to fellow-passengers and others 
 who may have an opportunity of cultivating an acquaintance 
 with it, and when once out of its owner’s strong box, without 
 permission, it may not be possible to recognise one’s own Sove- 
 reigns, however often they may have been gazed upon. Steer- 
 age passengers are particularly exposed to depredations, and the 
 same have happened even in the cabin. 
 
 Bank Bills on London, or orders on some Bank of the country 
 in prospect, lie in less room ; are more portable even than gold ; 
 and can be known again at a glance, or traced, and payment of 
 them may be stopped at their final destination, and a second 
 set may be procured, if neeessary, on application to the Bank 
 from which the first was got. Gold may be lost by shipwreck, 
 in which way, although its owner may certainly be lost too, yet 
 his heirs at home may be able to recover the value which he 
 has paid for his bills. It would be running too great a risk to 
 take any large sum in gold or silver, and when this precious 
 metal has been exchanged for paper, the full value may be 
 transferred to the latter. 
 
 Bills should be taken at ten days after sight ; that is, after 
 the day on which they are presented, in order to fit them for 
 the market, as it preserves the recourse, and renders them ne- 
 gotiable. ‘These the emigrant will procure at any of the Banks. 
 
 Although the Bank Notes in America, or Bank Bills as they 
 ate called there, are all in dollars, (in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 
 100 * dollar bills”) the accounts are kept in pounds, shillings, 
 and pence, Halifax currency, differing from the pounds, shill- 
 ings, and pence sterling, in the proportion of 10 to 9—: thus 
 £10 Halifax currency, is only equal to £9 sterling ; so that for 
 £100 sterling, £111 1-9th Halifax currency may be procured, 
 besides the current premium given for Bills on London at the 
 
 M 
 
134 
 
 time, according to the rate of exchange, which varies from 5 to 
 10, and sometimes 15 per cent. If orders are taken on Quebec 
 or Montreal, care must be had to secure both these advantages. 
 
 Letters of Credit on the Bank at Montreal, and on New York, 
 are issued by the British Linen Company, at their Head Office 
 in Edinburgh, and at their Branches in the provincial towns. 
 If desired, every facility will be given, and without expense, 
 by the Bank of Montreal, to the transmission of the sums spe- 
 cified in the credits og Montreal, into the interior of Canada, 
 where the Bank of Montreal have numerous agencies, at any 
 of which the credits may be rendered available, particularly at 
 Kingston, York, Cobourg, Niagara, Belleville, Perth, Ha- 
 milton, Dundas, Prescot, and Brockville. These credits will 
 also be paid at Quebec. 
 
 It appears from M‘Grigor’s account of the Banking system 
 in the United States of America® and in Canada, that the 
 Banks there are not so firmly founded as in this country, and 
 bankruptcy is more frequent. “ A new Banking Company,” 
 he says, ‘* has been incorporated at Kingston, with a nominal 
 capital of £100,000, and allowed to commence when £10,000, 
 are paid in; and to lend money on landed property ; the latter 
 measure may induce many an independent farmer to borrow 
 money to invest in speculations, which generally end in the 
 ejectment of families from their houses, and from the lands 
 which hard labour and economy enabled them to render produc- 
 tive.” Speculations on borrowed money are always hazardous, 
 and ought never to be attempted by any who are not thoroughly 
 acquainted with the country, and what they are about. Slow 
 and sure, ought to be the motto of every new settler, even al- 
 though he may have an old head on his shoulders which he 
 has brought from the mother country, full of wisdom in his 
 own opinion. Brother Jonathan is a sharp hand to have any 
 dealings with, and he has been always used to consider every 
 thing in its relative importance to a dollar ; which word comes 
 the readiest to him in all his vocabulary, and is always upper- 
 most in his thoughts. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 Various Names applied to local appearances, or peculiarities, are 
 current in the common language of the Americans, and intro- 
 duced sometimes into books, without explanation :—the fol- 
 lowing are given as explained by Mr. M‘Grigor. 
 
 Vaults are deep glens, or valleys in the forests. 
 Caraboo plains, are lands formerly laid waste by fire, or that, 
 
 * See No. V. of this Appendix. 
 
135 
 
 from some natural cause, produce little wood. They are also 
 called barrens, and are frequented by the Moose and Caraboo. 
 
 Cedar Swamps, are deep mossy bogs, soft and spungy below, 
 with a coating sufficiently firm to uphold small cedar, or fir trees, 
 or shrubs. Such lands are difficult, almost incapable of culture. 
 
 Buffalo or Deer Licks, are marshes on low level grounds, over 
 which salt springs flow, and to which Buffalo and Deer resort, 
 to lick the salt which adheres to shrubs or small trees. 
 
 . Prairies are lands on which, from being overflowed during 
 spring and fall, the growth of trees is prevented. 
 
 Intervales or Bottoms, are alluvial lands, along the rivers or 
 lakes. 
 
 Mammoth Caves, are Dens in which skeletons of the Mam- 
 moth have been found. (These must have been prodigious ani- 
 mals of the world before the Flood.) 
 
 Rattlesnake Dens are caverns in the basins of the Ohio and 
 Missisippi, in which myriads of living rattlesnakes are: said to 
 abound, tangled among each other. Of this circumstance I 
 know nothing, but the common report; although I have heard 
 the Backwoodsmen swear it was true. 
 
 Blazes are marks on the sides of trees, by chipping a mall 
 slice off with an axe, and continued in a line through a forest, 
 for the guidance of travellers where there are no roads. 
 
 Sugarie, is a plot of forest lands in which maple trees abound, 
 and where sugar is made from the sap. 
 
 «<The word Autumn, in this country, is the Fall—a term hap- 
 pily expressive of the fate of the leaves, and worthy, perhaps of 
 poetical, if not of vulgar adoption. Why, if the Spring be the 
 rise of the year, should we not apply an equally descriptive 
 expression to the period when the law of nature, that all things 
 on earth must droop and perish, is urged in such impressive 
 language upon our thoughts.”—( Capt. Hall’s North America. ) 
 
 A span of horses. Two horses harnessed abreast are called 
 a& span. 
 
 Concession-lines are those on which posts are fixed, to num- 
 ber the Lots of the Townships. 
 
 Bitters, any kind of liquor taken in a morning, ostensibly 
 for procuring an appetite. 
 
 Egg nog, or, as Jonathan terms it, flip, consists of eggs and 
 sugar beat up together, to which is added a little water or milk, 
 and as much spirits as will be equal to a quarter of the whole. 
 This is a common treat among the Canadians.—(_M ‘Grigor. ) 
 
 ** Tree-to’—an American verb, active, signifying to make 
 any animal take to a tree. 
 
 Rare, is applied by the Americans to meat which is what we 
 would call rather underdone, and is not intended as a corrup- 
 tion of raw, as we might suppose it to be. It is a word also 
 which is beginning to be adopted in this country. 
 
136 
 
 No. III. 
 
 A List of Works, relative to the United States, and to the Ca- 
 nadas. Those marked with a Star* are particularly recom- 
 mended to Emigrants. 
 
 Travels in America, in the years 1827-8, by Captain Hall, 
 R. N. 3 vols. The statements in this Work are many of them of 
 a very important nature, but some parts relative to Canada are 
 now rather out of date, and many of the Author's observations 
 have occasioned much controversy ; being denied by the Americans, 
 and the accuracy of a few of them questioned even by later Bri- 
 tish travellers of credit. 
 
 British America, by John M‘Grigor, Esq. 2 vols. 8yo. 1833. 
 Including an account of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, 
 New Brunswick, the adjacent Islands and Coasts, with their re- 
 spective Histories, entering very minutely into Statistical details. 
 
 Forest Scenes and Incidents, in the wilds of North America, 
 by George Head, Esq. A very amusing volume of the Author's 
 adventures there, principally in winter. 1829. 
 
 * Statistical Sketches of Upper Canada, for the use of Emi- 
 grants, by a Backwoodsman—1833. An extremely clever and 
 useful performance on a small scale. 
 
 * Practical Notes made during a Tour in Canada, by Adam 
 Fergusson of Woodhill—1832. Originally published in the 
 Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. A highly valuable book for 
 Emigrants. A continuation, or notes made during a residence in 
 Canada, in 1833, is now added, with a large Map of Canada, 
 being by far the best yet published. 
 
 Hints to Emigrants, by the Rev. Wm. Bell, 12mo. 
 
 The British Dominions in North America, by Joseph Bou- 
 chette, Esq. 2 vols. 4to. with plates. Comprising a great body 
 of Information, but in an expensive form. 
 
 * The Emigrant’s Directory and Guide to obtain lands, and 
 effect a settlement in the Canadas, by F. Evans, late agent for 
 the Eastern Township. Generally useful, and especially so to 
 Farmers. 
 
 Six Months in America, by G. T. Vigne, Barrister at Law, 2 
 vols. 8vo.—1832. An extensive Tour in the States and in the 
 Canadas. . 
 
 * Hints on Emigration to Upper Canada, by Martin Doyle, 
 with a Map. A cheap and comprehensive guide to the Emigrant. 
 
 * The Emigrant’s Friend ; a complete Manual of plain prac- 
 tical directions, drawn up for the benefit of persons Emigrating 
 to North America, by Ellick Rosier, 1833. Much in a smali 
 compass, still cheaper than the last. 
 
 Wiltshire Letters. 
 
137 
 
 * Authentic Letters from Upper Canada, with an account of 
 Canadian Field Sports, by T. W. Magrath, Esq. 1833. An ex- 
 cellent and practically useful manual for settlers. 
 
 * Chambers’s Information for the People, No. I. treats of Emi- 
 gration to Canada. 
 
 * No. IV. of the same, treats of Nova Scotia, New Bruns~ 
 wick, Prince Edward’s Island, and the Canadas. 
 
 * No. V. treats of Emigration to the United States. 
 
 * No. X. treats of Emigration to New South Wales. 
 
 * No. XII. is a general account of the United States. 
 
 * No. XIV. treats of Emigration to Van Dieman’s Land. 
 These six Treatises, which may be all purchased for less than a 
 shilling, afford both information and amusement to the Emigrant, 
 and are wonderfail instances of the perfection to which cheap Lite- 
 rature is brought. 
 
 * Pickering’s Emigrant’s Guide to Canada—1832. . Contains 
 much that is amusing and useful. 
 
 * A Guide to the Canadas, by Andrew Picken. ‘ The object 
 of this Work ;” itis said, ‘is to present, in a condensed form, 
 for the use of Settlers, Emigrants, and Tourists, the most cor- 
 rect, varied, and complete information, which has yet been pub- 
 lished on these two interesting countries.” 
 
 The Emigrant’s Pocket Companion, by R. Mudie. This is a 
 very desirable Book for the Library of an Emigrant, but although 
 a new edition has heen published, in 1834, the Work does not give 
 the latest information on the state of the country. 
 
 No. IV.—DRAWBACKS. 
 
 On many articles manufactured in Britain, on which a duty 
 to Government has been paid, and on others which have paid a 
 duty on importation, there is a drawback allowed (or a return 
 of the duty in whole or in part) on their being exported. Some 
 people who hear of this, but who are not much acquainted with 
 Custom-House business, are apt, as in the case of the writer of 
 the letter to which this note refers, to imagine that on silver 
 plate, &c. taken abroad by an emigrant, that a return of duty 
 will be paid, worth looking after, but it will be found, on in- 
 quiry, that there is more trouble than profit in emigrants at- 
 tempting. to make money in this way. The drawback, on silver 
 plate, varies from 6d. to 1s. 6d. per oz., according to the period 
 at which it has been made, and zt must not have been in use, but 
 be exported as merchandize ; and on all plate exported there is 
 a duty of 10s. per £100 value, which would have to be deduct- 
 ed from the drawback. 
 
 i, Plate, to have any duty returned, must be proved to have had 
 duty paid on it by passing through Goldsmith’s Hall in London, 
 which the plate made in the provinces seldom does. The time 
 
138 
 
 also must be established when the duty was paid. Next, if duty 
 is returned on it, a Bond must be entered into, that it shall not 
 be relanded, and this costs ds. ; 
 
 When new Books are exported, a drawback will be given of 
 the duty which has been paid on the paper, but except in the 
 
 ease of large exports these things are not worth an Emigrant’s 
 trouble. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from New York, of date the 16th Feb. 
 1834, exemplifying the danger in Emigrants at present 
 trusting to the Paper Money of the United States. 
 
 THE purpose of my writing you is to say that we are all in 
 a dreadful panic here, ruin and bankruptey being the order 
 of the day. I have been induced to write you in case you 
 might have changed your mind, and come out during this 
 spring. ‘This sudden change, from a state of great apparent 
 prosperity to one of ruin, is solely owing to the unalterable 
 determination of General Jackson to wind up the United 
 States Bank. The Senate and House of Representatives 
 have been debating about the removal of the Revenue depo- 
 sits from the Bank of the United States almost daily ever 
 since they assembled three months ago, and have not yet 
 come to any decision. ‘The failures here are very heavy, 
 particularly those of S. & M. Allen, for 8 millions of dol- 
 lars ; Nivens & Co. for 4 millions ; Bucknor about the same ; 
 Shipman & Corning more than 1 million—all these gentle- 
 men are Brokers and private Bankers. The failures likewise 
 among the merchants are numerous and heavy, generally not 
 less than 2, and many of them from 6 to 800,000 dollars. 
 The affairs of the Allen’s have been investigated by Mr. Lee, 
 the Mayor, and several other gentlemen, who have signed a 
 certificate declaring that after making every allowance for 
 bad and doubtful debts, they will have a surplus of at least 
 half a million of dollars, after paying all claims in full. IT 
 believe almost the whole of the other houses which have - 
 failed, and those which are daily expected to fail, are nearly 
 in the same condition. ‘The Messrs. Delaplaine who have 
 come down for 7 or 800,000 dollars have shewn a great sur- 
 plus of real property. The failures in Philadelphia, Boston, 
 Baltimore, and other towns on the sea-board are immense ; 
 
139 
 
 nor have the inland towns escaped the general panic. Mr. 
 Knower, president of one of the Albany Banks has failed 
 for a large amount ; also the Governor of this State, and it 
 is reported here that Mr. , the has indorsed 
 £0,000 dollars of his paper which he is unable to pay. Se- 
 veral of the Banks have failed, and a few more are doubted. 
 Amongst those who have come down are, the Washington 
 Bank at Hackensack, New Jersey, and the Bank of West 
 Chester in this neighbourhood. About fourteen days ago a 
 deputation of twelve gentlemen went from this city to Wash- 
 ington, having been deputed by a General Meeting, with 
 memorials to both Houses, and to represent to the President 
 the state of affairs here. They were introduced to him, ac- 
 companied by three of the City Members; after hearing the 
 object of their mission, he declared that ten thousand Spa- 
 . nish inquisitors should not compel him to sign a Bill incor- 
 porating the Bank of the United States. ‘“ Never,” said he‘ 
 “‘ will I sign such an act, while my name is Andrew Jack- 
 son ; it is a contest between the Bank and the liberty of the 
 world.” The deputation from Philadelphia was not so well 
 received as that of New York. The president of the Girard 
 Bank told the General that if the run for specie continued, 
 it would be impossible for them to meet it. The General 
 said ; ‘‘ What will youdothen?” The Banker replied, they 
 must stop. Then said the General, “ go home as quickly 
 as possible—stop and be d ¥, 
 
 This ruinous and disdgresable state of things has arisen 
 from three causes ; first, from the evils of Banking and Paper 
 Money. Here we have little or nothing but worthless paper ; 
 the gold and silver coinage of the States, in addition to the 
 silver dollars, would afford an abundant supply of metallic 
 currency, but the truth is, it is seldom or ever seen, but in 
 sums not exceeding half a dollar and under. 
 
 The whole of the Banks in this State, and in almost all 
 the other States, issue paper in abundance, beginning at one 
 dollar, and ending at 1,000 dollars. The second cause is 
 the Bank winding up, and drawing in its notes, heavy dis- 
 counts, &c. These generally amounted from 60 to 80 mil- 
 lions of dollars, which is as much money taken away from 
 the merchants and mechanics. ‘The third cause is the pay- 
 ment of all duties in cash. In the Bill for the adjustment 
 of the Tariff last year, Mr, Clay inserted a clause, com- 
 
140 
 
 pelling the merchants to pay the duties in cash. Formerly 
 they granted bond, and received 12 months’ credit, which 
 was, in fact, the creating of a handsome capital to all those 
 who could muster a few friends, and find security to the 
 Collector of Customs. Thus, the duty bonds of last year 
 are falling due, in addition to the prompt payment of duties 
 on all goods presently wanted. ‘This necessarily makes the 
 pressure much more severe. , 
 
 I would therefore strongly recommend to all those who 
 may intend coming here—(farmers and mechanics who may 
 purpose to go Westward, excepted) to give up the idea for 
 the present, and stay at home until things come round. 
 There are several thousand mechanics thrown out of em- 
 ployment during the last six weeks, and many of the emi- 
 grants who have come out lately, can find nothing to do. 
 
 Emigrants will see from the above, that the States are not eligible for 
 them at present, and the letter proves decidedly the advantages which 
 Canada possesses over Yankee-land. The credit of the Bank of Mon- 
 treal, and of the Canada Company, not being operated on by the same 
 causes which now so distress the credit of the States, cannot be any 
 wise affected. Capitalists, great and small, will find their funds more 
 valuable than before this state of things tock place.-—ED. 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 Page 56, line 7th from the bottom, for 14 inch rod, read 3 inch rod. 
 The extra link to be 33 inches long. 
 Page 180, first line, for Prussian, read Russian. 
 
 ~ D. Chalmers & Co. Frinters, 
 ABERDEEN. 
 
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