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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35224-8.txt b/35224-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71de449 --- /dev/null +++ b/35224-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12210 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches in Canada, and rambles among the +red men, by Anna Brownell Jameson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sketches in Canada, and rambles among the red men + +Author: Anna Brownell Jameson + +Release Date: February 9, 2011 [EBook #35224] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES IN CANADA *** + + + + +Produced by Iona Vaughan, Ross Cooling, Mark Akrigg and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + SKETCHES IN CANADA, + + AND + + RAMBLES AMONG THE RED MEN. + + + + + London: + Spottiswoodes and Shaw, + New-street-Square. + + + + + SKETCHES IN CANADA, + + AND + + RAMBLES AMONG THE RED MEN. + + BY MRS. JAMESON. + + + NEW EDITION. + + + LONDON: + LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. + 1852. + + + + + PREFACE. + + +Nobody reads prefaces on a Railway journey. The leaves are turned over +for something to arrest attention, or to dissipate weariness, or to +"fleet the time," which even at railway speed moves slowly compared to +the "march of ideas." It is, however, necessary to state in few words +that these pages are a reprint of the most amusing and interesting +chapters of the "Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada,"--first +published in 1838, in three octavo volumes, favourably received at the +time and now out of print. The Authoress in the original preface to the +work represents herself as "thrown into scenes and regions hitherto +undescribed by any traveller (for the northern shores of Lake Huron are +almost new ground), and into relations with the Indian tribes such as +few European women of refined and civilised habits have ever risked, and +none have recorded;" and the adventures and sketches of character and +scenery among the Red-skins, still retain that freshness which belongs +only to what is genuine. All that was of a merely transient or merely +personal nature, or obsolete in politics or criticism, has been omitted. + +The rest, the book must say for itself. + + + + + SKETCHES IN CANADA, + + &c. + + + TORONTO IN 1837. + + December 20. + +Toronto--such is now the sonorous name of this our sublime capital--was, +thirty years ago, a wilderness, the haunt of the bear and deer, with a +little, ugly, inefficient fort, which, however, could not be more ugly +or inefficient than the present one. Ten years ago Toronto was a +village, with one brick house and four or five hundred inhabitants; five +years ago it became a city, containing about five thousand inhabitants, +and then bore the name of Little York: now it is Toronto, with an +increasing trade, and a population of ten thousand people. So far I +write as _per_ book. + +What Toronto may be in summer, I cannot tell; they say it is a pretty +place. At present its appearance to me, a stranger, is most strangely +mean and melancholy. A little ill-built town, on low land, at the bottom +of a frozen bay, with one very ugly church, without tower or steeple; +some government offices, built of staring red brick, in the most +tasteless, vulgar style imaginable; three feet of snow all around; and +the grey, sullen, wintry lake, and the dark gloom of the pine forest +bounding the prospect: such seems Toronto to me now. I did not expect +much; but for this I was not prepared. + +I know no better way of coming at the truth than by observing and +recording faithfully the impressions made by objects and characters on +my own mind--or, rather, the impress they _receive_ from my own +mind--shadowed by the clouds which pass over its horizon, taking each +tincture of its varying mood--until they emerge into light, to be +corrected, or at least modified, by observation and comparison. Neither +do I know any better way than this of conveying to the mind of another +the truth, and nothing but the truth, if not the whole truth. So I shall +write on. + +There is much in first impressions, and as yet I have not recovered from +the pain and annoyance of my outset here. My friends at New York +expended much eloquence--eloquence wasted in vain!--in endeavouring to +dissuade me from a winter journey to Canada. I listened, and was +grateful for their solicitude, but must own I did not credit the picture +they drew of the difficulties and _désagrémens_ I was destined to meet +by the way. I had chosen, they said, the very worst season for a journey +through the state of New York; the usual facilities for travelling were +now suspended; a few weeks sooner the rivers and canals had been open; a +few weeks later the roads, smoothed up with snow, had been in sleighing +order;--now, the navigation was frozen, and the roads so broken up as to +be nearly impassable. Then there was only a night boat on the Hudson, +"to proceed," as the printed paper set forth, "to Albany, _or as far as +the ice permitted_." All this, and more, were represented to me--and +with so much apparent reason and real feeling, and in words and tones so +difficult to resist! But though I could appreciate the kindness of those +persuasive words, they brought no definite idea to my mind; I could form +no notion of difficulties which by fair words, presence of mind, and +money in my pocket, could not be obviated. I had travelled half over the +continent of Europe, often alone, and had never yet been in +circumstances where these availed not. In my ignorance I could conceive +none; but, with the experience I have gained, I would not lightly +counsel a similar journey to any one, certainly not to a woman. + +As we ascended the Hudson in the night, I lost, of course, the view of +that superb scenery which I was assured even winter could not divest of +all its beauty--rather clothed it in a different kind of beauty. At the +very first blush of morning I escaped from the heated cabin, crowded +with listless women and clamorous children, and found my way to the +deck. I was surprised by a spectacle as beautiful as it was new to me. +The Catskill mountains, which we had left behind us in the night, were +still visible, but just melting from the view, robed in a misty purple +light, while our magnificent steamer--the prow armed with a sharp iron +sheath for the purpose--was _crashing_ its way through solid ice four +inches thick, which seemed to close behind us into an adhesive mass, so +that the wake of the vessel was not distinguished a few yards from the +stern: yet in the path thus opened, and only seemingly closed, followed +at some little distance a beautiful schooner and two smaller +steam-vessels. I walked up and down, from the prow to the stern, +refreshed by the keen frosty air, and the excitement caused by various +picturesque effects, on the ice-bound river and the frozen shores, till +we reached Hudson. Beyond this town it was not safe for the boat to +advance, and we were still thirty miles below Albany. After leaving +Hudson (with the exception of the railroad between Albany and Utica), it +was all heavy, weary work; the most painfully fatiguing journey I ever +remember. Such were the roads, that we were once six hours going eleven +miles. What was usually a day's journey from one town, or one good inn, +to another, occupied sometimes a day and a night, or even two days.[1] + +After six days and three nights of this travelling, unrelieved by +companionship, or interest of any kind, I began to sink with fatigue. +The first thing that roused me was our arrival at the ferry of the +Niagara river at Queenston, about seven miles below the Falls. It was a +dark night, and while our little boat was tossed in the eddying waters +and guided by a light to the opposite shore, we could distinctly hear +the deep roar of the cataract, filling, and, as it seemed to me, shaking +the atmosphere around us. That mighty cataract, the dream and vision of +my childhood and youth, so near--yet unseen,--making itself thus heard +and felt,--like Job's vision, consciously present, yet unrevealed and +undiscerned! You may believe that I woke up very decidedly from my +lethargy of weariness to listen to that mysterious voice, which made my +blood pause and thrill. At Queenston we slept, and proceeded next +morning to the town of Niagara on the shore of Lake Ontario. Now, as we +had heard, the navigation on the lake had ceased, and we looked for +nothing better than a further journey of one hundred miles round the +head of the lake, and by the most execrable roads, instead of an easy +passage of thirty miles across from shore to shore. But Fortune, seized +with one of those freaks which, when we met them in books, we pronounce +improbable and unnatural, (and she has played me many such, some good, +some bad,) had ordered matters otherwise. A steam-vessel, making a last +trip, had called accidentally at the port, and was just going off; the +paddles were actually in motion as I and my baggage together were +hurried--almost _flung_--on board. No sooner there, than I threw myself +down in the cabin utterly overwhelmed with fatigue, and sank at once +into a profound and dreamless sleep. + +How long I slept I knew not: they roused me suddenly to tell me we were +at Toronto, and, not very well able to stand, I hurried on deck. The +wharf was utterly deserted, the arrival of the steam-boat being +accidental and unexpected; and as I stepped out of the boat I sank +ankle-deep into mud and ice. The day was intensely cold and damp; the +sky lowered sulkily, laden with snow, which was just beginning to fall. +Half-blinded by the sleet driven into my face and the tears which filled +my eyes, I walked about a mile through a quarter of the town mean in +appearance, not thickly inhabited, and to me, as yet, an unknown +wilderness; and through dreary, miry ways, never much thronged, and now, +by reason of the impending snow-storm, nearly solitary. I heard no +voices, no quick footsteps of men or children; I met no familiar face, +no look of welcome!--Up to the present hour all objects wear one hue. +Land is not distinguishable from water. I see nothing but snow heaped +up against my windows, not only without but within; I hear no sound but +the tinkling of sleigh-bells and the occasional lowing of a poor +half-starved cow, that, standing up to the knees in a snowdrift, +presents herself at the door of a wretched little shanty opposite, and +supplicates for her small modicum of hay. + + * * * * * + +The choice of this site for the capital of the Upper Province was +decided by the fine harbour, the only one between Burlington Bay and +Cobourg, a distance of about a hundred and fifty miles. General Simcoe, +the first governor after the division of the two provinces, and a man of +great activity and energy of character, entertained the idea of founding +a metropolis. At that time the head quarters of the government were at +Niagara, then called Newark, on the opposite shore; but this was too +near the frontiers to be a safe position. Nor is Toronto much safer: +from its low situation, and the want of any commanding height in the +neighbourhood, it is nearly defenceless. In case of a war with America, +a few boats sent from the opposite coast of New York could easily lay +the fort and town in ashes; and, in fact, during the last war, in 1813, +such was the fate of both. But the same reasons which rendered the place +indefensible to us, rendered it untenable for the enemy, and it was +immediately evacuated. Another objection was, and _is_, the +unhealthiness of its situation,--in a low swamp not yet wholly drained, +and with large portions of uncleared land immediately round it: still +the beauty and safety of the spacious harbour, and its central position +about half-way between Lake Huron and the frontier line of Lower Canada, +have fixed its rank as capital of the province and the seat of the +legislature.[2] + +When the engineer, Bouchette, was sent by General Simcoe to survey the +site (in 1793), it was a mere swamp, a tangled wilderness; the birch, +the hemlock, and the tamarac-trees were growing down to the water's +edge, and even into the lake. I have been told that Toronto, the Indian +appellation of the whole district, signifies _trees growing out of +water_. Colonel Bouchette says, that at this time the only vestige of +humanity for a hundred miles on every side was one solitary wigwam on +the shore, the dwelling of a few Missassagua Indians. Three years +afterwards, when the Duc de Rochefoucauld was here, the infant +metropolis consisted of a fort and twelve miserable log huts, the +inhabitants of which, as the duke tells us, bore no good reputation. The +town was, however, already marked out in streets running parallel with +the shore of the bay for about two miles, and crossed by others at right +angles. It is a pity that while they were about it they did not follow +the example of the Americans in such cases, and make the principal +streets of ample width; some hundred feet, or even furlongs, more or +less, would have made little difference where the wild unowned forest +extended, for all they knew, from the lake to the north pole,--_now_, it +would not be so easy to amend the error. King Street, the principal +street, looks narrow, and will look narrower when the houses are higher, +better, and more regularly built. I perceive that in laying out the +_fashionable_, or west-end of the city, they have avoided the same +mistake. A wide space between the building lots and Lake Ontario has +been reserved very properly as a road or esplanade, but I doubt whether +even this be wide enough. One of the most curious and inexplicable +phenomena connected with these immense inland seas is the gradual rise +of the waters; and even within these few years, as I am informed, great +part of the high bank has been washed away, and a carriage-road at the +foot of it along the shore has been wholly covered. If this process goes +on, and at the same rate, there must be a solid embankment, or quay, +raised as a barrier against the encroaching waters, or the esplanade +itself will in time disappear. + + * * * * * + + January 14. + +It should seem that this wintry season, which appears to me so dismal, +is for the Canadians the season of festivity. Now is the time for +visiting, for sleighing excursions, for all intercourse of business and +friendship, for balls in town, and dances in farm-houses, and courtships +and marriages, and prayer-meetings and assignations of all sorts. In +summer, the heat and the mosquitos render travelling disagreeable at +best; in spring the roads are absolutely impassable; in autumn there is +too much agricultural occupation: but in winter the forests are +pervious; the roads present a smooth surface of dazzling snow; the +settlers in the woods drive into the towns, supply themselves with +stores and clothing, and fresh meat,--the latter a luxury which they can +seldom obtain in the summer. I stood at my window to-day watching the +sleighs as they glided past. They are of all shapes and sizes. A few of +the carriage-sleighs are well appointed and handsome. The market-sleighs +are often two or three boards nailed together in form of a wooden box +upon runners; some straw and a buffalo skin or blanket serve for the +seat; barrels of flour and baskets of eggs fill up the empty space. +Others are like cars, and others, called _cutters_, are mounted on high +runners, like sleigh phaetons; these are sported by the young men and +officers of the garrison, and require no inconsiderable skill in +driving: however, as I am assured, they are overturned in the snow not +above once in a quarter of an hour, and no harm and much mirth ensues: +but the wood sleighs are my delight; a large platform of boards is +raised upon runners, with a few upright poles held together at top by a +rope, the logs of oak, pine, and maple, are then heaped up to the height +of six or seven feet. On the summit lie a couple of deer frozen stiff +their huge antlers projecting in a most picturesque fashion, and on +these, again, a man is seated with a blanket round him, his furred cap +drawn down upon his ears, and his scarlet woollen comforter forming a +fine bit of colour. He guides with a pole his two patient oxen, the +clouds of vapour curling from their nostrils into the keen frosty +air--the whole machine, in short, as wildly picturesque as the grape +waggons in Italy, though to be sure, the associations are somewhat +different. + + * * * * * + + January 16. + +This morning, before I was quite dressed, a singular visit was +announced. I had expressed to my friend Mr. H * * * a wish to see some +of the aborigines of the country: he had the kindness to remember my +request; and Colonel Givins, the principal Indian agent, had accordingly +brought some Indians to visit us. + +The party consisted of three--a chief named the White Deer, and two of +his friends. The chief wore a blanket coat and leggings, and a blanket +hood with a peak, from which depended a long black eagle plume; stout +mocazins (shoes of undressed deer-skin) completed his attire: he had +about fifty strings of blue wampum round his neck. The other two were +similarly dressed, with the exception of the wampum and the feathers. +Before I went down I had thrown a chain of wampum round my neck, which +seemed to please them. Chairs being presented, they sat down at once +(though, as Colonel Givins said, they would certainly have preferred the +floor), and answered with a grave and quiet dignity the compliments and +questions addressed to them. Their deportment was taciturn and +self-possessed, and their countenances melancholy; that of the chief was +by far the most intelligent. They informed me that they were Chippewas +from the neighbourhood of Lake Huron, that the hunting season had been +unsuccessful, that their tribe was suffering the extremity of hunger and +cold, and that they had come to beg from their Great Father the Governor +rations of food, and a supply of blankets for their women and children. +They had walked over the snow, in their snow-shoes, from the Lake, one +hundred and eighty miles; and for the last forty-eight hours none of +them had tasted food. A breakfast of cold meat, bread, and beer, was +immediately ordered for them; and though they had certainly never beheld +in their lives the arrangement of an European table, and were besides +half famished, they sat down with unembarrassed tranquillity, and helped +themselves to what they wished with the utmost propriety--only, after +one or two trials, using their own knives and fingers in preference to +the table knife and fork. After they had eaten and drunk sufficiently, +they were conducted to the government-house to receive from the governor +presents of blankets, rifles, and provisions; and each, on parting, held +out his hand to me, and the chief, with a grave earnestness, prayed for +the blessing of the Great Spirit on me and my house. On the whole, the +impression they left, though amusing and exciting from its mere novelty, +was melancholy. The sort of desperate resignation in their swarthy +countenances, their squalid, dingy habiliments, and their forlorn story, +filled me with pity, and, I may add, disappointment; and all my previous +impressions of the independent children of the forest are for the +present disturbed. + +These are the first specimens I have seen of that fated race, with which +I hope to become better acquainted before I leave the country. +Notwithstanding all I have heard and read, I have yet but a vague idea +of the Indian character; and the very different aspect under which it +has been represented by various travellers as well as writers of +fiction, adds to the difficulty of forming a correct estimate of the +people, and more particularly of the true position of their women. +Colonel Givins, who has passed thirty year of his life among the north +west tribes, till he has become in habits and language almost identified +with them, is hardly an impartial judge. He was their interpreter on +this occasion; and he says that there is as much difference between the +customs and language of different nations--the Chippewas and Mohawks, +for instance--as there is between any two nations of Europe. + +The cold is at this time so intense that the ink freezes while I write, +and my fingers stiffen round the pen. A glass of water by the bed-side, +within a few feet of the hearth (heaped with logs of oak and maple kept +burning all night long), is a solid mass of ice in the morning. God help +the poor emigrants who are yet unprepared against the rigour of the +season!--yet this is nothing to the climate of the Lower Province, +where, as we hear, the thermometer has been thirty degrees below zero. +I lose all heart to write home, or to register a reflection or a +feeling--thought stagnates in my head as the ink in my pen--and this +will never do!--I _must_ arouse myself to occupation; and if I cannot +find it without, I must create it from within. There are yet four months +of winter and leisure to be disposed of. How?--I know not; but they +_must_ be employed, not wholly lost. + +[Footnote 1: Through all these districts there are now railroads, and +every facility for comfortable travelling.] + +[Footnote 2: Now removed to Kingston, though some of the courts of law +still remain at Toronto.] + + * * * * * + + + WINTER EXCURSION TO NIAGARA. + + January 23. + +At half-past eight my escort was at the door in a very pretty commodious +sleigh, in form like a barouche with the head up. I was absolutely +buried in furs; a blanket netted for me by the kindest hands, of the +finest lamb's wool, rich in colour, and as light and elastic as it was +deliciously warm, was folded round my limbs; buffalo and bear skins were +heaped over all, and every breath of the external air excluded by every +possible device. Mr. C. drove his own grey horses; and thus fortified +and accoutred, off we flew, literally "urged by storms along the +slippery way," for the weather was terrific. + +I think that but for this journey I never could have imagined the +sublime desolation of a northern winter; and it has impressed me +strongly. In the first place, the whole atmosphere appeared as if +converted into snow, which fell in thick, tiny, starry flakes, till the +buffalo robes and furs about us appeared like swansdown, and the harness +on the horses of the same delicate material. The whole earth was a white +waste. The road, on which the sleigh-track was only just perceptible, +ran for miles in a straight line; on each side rose the dark, melancholy +pine-forest, slumbering drearily in the hazy air. Between us and the +edge of the forest were frequent spaces of cleared or half-cleared land, +spotted over with the black charred stumps and blasted trunks of once +magnificent trees, projecting from the snow-drift. These, which are +perpetually recurring objects in a Canadian landscape, have a most +melancholy appearance. Sometimes wide openings occurred to the left, +bringing us in sight of Lake Ontario, and even in some places down upon +the edge of it: in this part of the lake the enormous body of the water +and its incessant movement prevents it from freezing, and the dark waves +rolled in, heavily plunging on the icy shore with a sullen booming +sound. A few roods from the land, the cold grey waters, and the cold, +grey, snow-encumbered atmosphere, were mingled with each other, and each +seemed either. The only living thing I saw in a space of about twenty +miles was a magnificent bald-headed eagle, which, after sailing a few +turns in advance of us, alighted on the topmost bough of a blasted pine, +and slowly folding his great wide wings, looked down upon us as we +glided beneath him. + +The first village we passed through was Springfield, on the river +Credit, a river of some importance in summer, but now converted into +ice, heaped up with snow, and undistinguishable. Twenty miles further, +we stopped at Oakville to refresh ourselves and the horses. + +Oakville stands close upon the lake, at the mouth of a little river +called Sixteen-mile Creek; it owes its existence to a gentleman of the +name of Chisholm, and, from its situation and other local circumstances, +bids fair to become a place of importance. In the summer it is a +frequented harbour, and carries on a considerable trade in _lumber_, for +so they characteristically call timber in this country. From its +dock-yards I am told that a fine steam-boat and a dozen schooners have +been already launched. + +In summer, the country round is rich and beautiful, with a number of +farms all in a high state of cultivation; but Canada in winter and in +summer must be like two different regions. At present the mouth of the +creek is frozen up; all trade, all ship-building suspended. Oakville +presents the appearance of a straggling hamlet, containing a few frame +and log-houses; one brick-house (the grocery store, or general shop, +which in a new Canadian village is always the best house in the place), +a little Methodist church, painted green and white, but as yet no +resident preacher; and an inn dignified by the name of the "Oakville +House Hotel." Where there is a store, a tavern, and a church, +habitations soon rise around them. Oakville contains at present more +than three hundred inhabitants, who are now subscribing among themselves +for a schoolmaster and a resident clergyman. + +I stood conversing in the porch, and looking about me, till I found it +necessary to seek shelter in the house, before my nose was absolutely +taken off by the ice-blast. The little parlour was solitary, and heated +like an oven. Against the wall were stuck a few vile prints, taken out +of old American magazines; there was the Duchess de Berri in her +wedding-dress, and, as a pendant, the Modes de Paris--"Robe de tulle +garnie de fleurs--coiffure nouvelle, inventée par Mons. Plaisir." The +incongruity was but too laughable! I looked round for some amusement or +occupation, and at last spied a book open, and turned down upon its +face. I pounced upon it as a prize; and what do you think it was? +"Dévinez, madame! je vous le donne en trois, je vous le donne en +quatre!" it was--Don Juan! And so, while looking from the window on a +scene which realised all you can imagine of the desolation of savage +life, mixed up with just so much of the common-place vulgarity of +civilised life as sufficed to spoil it, I amused myself reading of the +Lady Adeline Amundeville and her precious coterie, and there anent. + + Society is smoothed to that excess, + That manners hardly differ more than dress. + Our ridicules are kept in the background, + Ridiculous enough, but also dull; + Professions, too, are no more to be found + Professional, and there is nought to cull + Of Folly's fruit; for tho' your fools abound, + They're barren, and not worth the pains to pull. + Society is now one polished horde, + Form'd of two mighty tribes--the _bores_ and _bored_. + +A delineation, by the way, which might almost reconcile one to a more +savage locality than that around me. + +While I was reading, the mail-coach between Hamilton and Toronto drove +up to the door; and because you shall understand what sort of a thing a +Canadian mail is, and thereupon sympathise in my irrepressible wonder +and amusement, I must sketch it for you. It was a heavy wooden edifice, +about the size and form of an old-fashioned lord mayor's coach, placed +on runners raised about a foot from the ground: the whole was painted of +a bright red, and long icicles hung from the roof. This monstrous +machine disgorged from its portal eight men-creatures, all enveloped in +bear-skins and shaggy dreadnoughts, and pea-jackets, and fur-caps down +upon their noses, looking like a procession of bears on their hind-legs, +tumbling out of a showman's caravan. They proved, however, when +undisguised, to be gentlemen, most of them going up to Toronto to attend +their duties in the House of Assembly. One of these, a personage of +remarkable height and size, and a peculiar cast of features, was +introduced to me as Mr. Kerr, the possessor of large estates in the +neighbourhood, partly acquired, and partly inherited from his +father-in-law Brandt, the famous chief of the Six Nations. Kerr himself +has Indian blood in his veins. His son, young Kerr, a fine boy about ten +years old, is the present acknowledged chief of the Six Nations, in his +mother's right, the hereditary chieftainship being always transmitted +_through_ the female, though passing _over_ her. Mrs. Kerr, the eldest +daughter of Brandt, is a squaw of unmixed Indian blood, and has been +described to me as a very superior creature. She has the good sense to +wear habitually her Indian costume, slightly modified, in which she +looks and moves a princess, graceful and unrestrained, while in a +fashionable European dress the effect would be exactly the reverse. + +Much mischief has been done in this neighbourhood by beasts of prey, and +the deer, driven by hunger, and the wolves from their forest haunts, +have been killed, near the settlements, in unusual numbers. One of the +Indians whom I saw at Toronto, on returning by this road, shot with his +new rifle eight deer in one day, and sold them at Hamilton for three +dollars each--no bad day's hunting. The venison in Canada is good and +abundant, but very lean, very unlike English venison; the price is +generally four or six cents (twopence or threepence) a pound. + +After taking some refreshment, we set forth again. The next village we +passed was called, oddly enough, Wellington Square; it has been recently +laid out, and contains about twenty wooden houses;--then came Port +Nelson, Mr. Kerr's place. Instead of going round the head of the lake by +Hamilton, we crossed that very remarkable tongue or slip of land which +divides Burlington Bay from Lake Ontario: these were, in fact, two +separate lakes till a channel was cut through the narrow isthmus. +Burlington Bay, containing about forty square miles, is now one sheet of +ice, and on the slip of land, which is near seven miles in length, and +about two hundred yards in width, we found the snow lying so deep, and +in such irregular drifts, that we proceeded with difficulty. At length +we reached Stony Creek, a village celebrated in these parts as the scene +of the bloodiest battle fought between the English and Americans during +the last war. We had intended to sleep here, but the inn was so +uncomfortable and unpromising, that, after a short rest, we determined +on proceeding ten miles further to Beamsville. + +It was now dark, and the snow falling thick, it soon became impossible +to distinguish the sleigh-track. Mr. Campbell loosened the reins and +left the horses to their own instinct, assuring me it was the safest way +of proceeding. After this I remember no more distinctly, except that I +ceased to hear the ever-jingling sleigh-bells. I awoke, as if from the +influence of nightmare, to find the sleigh overturned, myself lying in +the bottom of it half-smothered, and my companions nowhere to be +seen;--they were floundering in the snow behind. + +Luckily, when we had stretched ourselves and shaken off the snow, we +were found unhurt in life and limb. We had fallen down a bank into the +bed of a rivulet, or a mill-race, I believe, which, being filled up with +snow, was quite as soft, only a little colder, than a down-bed. +Frightened I was, bewildered rather, but "effective" in a moment. It was +impossible for the gentlemen to leave the horses, which were plunging +furiously up to the shoulders in the snow, and had already broken the +sleigh; so I set off to seek assistance, having received proper +directions. Fortunately we were not far from Beamsville. My beacon-light +was to be the chimney of a forge, from which the bright sparks were +streaming up into the dark wintry air, visible from a great distance. +After scrambling through many a snow-drift, up hill and down hill, I at +last reached the forge, where a man was hammering amain at a +ploughshare; such was the din, that I called for some time unheard; at +last, as I advanced into the red light of the fire, the man's eyes fell +upon me, and I shall never forget his look as he stood poising his +hammer, with the most comical expression of bewildered amazement. I +could not get an answer from him; he opened his mouth and repeated _aw!_ +staring at me, but without speaking or moving. I turned away in despair, +yet half laughing, and after some more scrambling up and down, I found +myself in the village, and was directed to the inn. Assistance was +immediately sent off to my friends, and in a few minutes the +supper-table was spread, a pile of logs higher than myself blazing away +in the chimney; venison-steaks, and fried fish, coffee, hot cakes, +cheese, and whisky punch (the traveller's fare in Canada), were soon +smoking on the table: our landlady presided, and the evening passed +merrily away. + +The old landlady of this inn amused me exceedingly; she had passed all +her life among her equals in station and education, and had no idea of +any distinction between guests and customers; and while caressing and +attending on me, like an old mother or an old nurse, gave me her +history, and that of all her kith and kin. Forty years before, her +husband had emigrated, and built a hovel, and made a little clearing on +the edge of the lake. At that time there was no other habitation within +many miles of them, and they passed several years in almost absolute +solitude. They have now three farms, some hundred acres of land, and +have brought up nine sons and daughters, most of whom are married, and +settled on lands of their own. She gave me a horrid picture of the +prevalence of drunkenness, the vice and the curse of this country. + +I can give you no idea of the intense cold of this night. Next morning +we proceeded eighteen miles farther, to St. Catherine's, the situation +of which appeared very pretty even in winter, and must be beautiful in +summer. I am told it is a place of importance, owing to the vicinity of +the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario with Lake Erie: it +contains more than seven hundred inhabitants. The school here is +reckoned the best in the district. We passed this morning several +streams, which in summer flow into the lake, now all frozen up and +undistinguishable, except by the wooden bridges which cross them, and +the mills, now still and useless, erected along their banks. The streams +have the names of Thirty Mile Creek, Forty Mile Creek, Twenty Mile +Creek, and so on; but wherefore I could not discover. + +From St. Catherine's we proceeded twelve miles farther, to Niagara. +There I found some old English or rather Irish friends ready to welcome +me with joyous affection; and surely there is not a more blessed sight +than the face of an old friend in a new land! + + * * * * * + + + NIAGARA IN WINTER. + + January 26. + +The town of Niagara presents the same torpid appearance which seems to +prevail everywhere at this season; it is situated at the mouth of the +river Niagara, and is a place of much business and resort when the +navigation is open. The lake does not freeze here, owing to the depth of +its majestic waters; neither does the river, from the velocity of its +current; yet both are blocked up by the huge fragments of ice which are +brought down from Lake Erie, and which, uniting and accumulating at the +mouth of the river, form a field of ice extending far into the lake. How +beautiful it looked to-day, broken into vast longitudinal flakes of +alternate white and azure, and sparkling in the sunshine! + +The land all round Niagara is particularly fine and fertile: it has been +longer cleared and cultivated than in other parts of the province, and +the country, they say, is most beautiful in summer. The opposite shore, +about a quarter of a mile off, is the State of New York. The Americans +have a fort on their side, and we also have a fort on ours. What the +amount of _their_ garrison may be I know not, but our force consists of +three privates and a corporal, with adequate arms and ammunition, i. e. +rusty firelocks and damaged guns. The fortress itself I mistook for a +dilapidated brewery. This is charming--it _looks_ like peace and +security, at all events. + + * * * * * + + + WINTER STUDIES IN CANADA. + + January 29. + +Well! I have seen these Cataracts of Niagara, which have thundered in my +mind's ear ever since I can remember--which have been my "childhood's +thought, my youth's desire," since first my imagination was awakened to +wonder and to wish. I have beheld them, and shall I whisper it to +you?--but, O tell it not among the Philistines!--I wish I had not! I +wish they were still a thing unbeheld--a thing to be imagined, hoped, +and anticipated--something to live for:--the reality has displaced from +my mind an illusion far more magnificent than itself--I have no words +for my utter disappointment: yet I have not the presumption to suppose +that all I have heard and read of Niagara is false or exaggerated--that +every expression of astonishment, enthusiasm, rapture, is affectation or +hyperbole. No! it must be my own fault. Terni, and some of the Swiss +cataracts leaping from their mountains, have affected me a thousand +times more than all the immensity of Niagara. O I could beat myself! and +now there is no help!--the first moment, the first impression is +over--is lost; though I should live a thousand years, long as Niagara +itself shall roll, I can never see it again for the _first_ time. +Something is gone that cannot be restored. + +But, to take things in order: we set off for the Falls yesterday +morning, with the intention of spending the day there, sleeping, and +returning the next day to Niagara. The distance is fourteen miles, by a +road winding along the banks of the Niagara river, and over the +Queenston heights;--and beautiful must this land be in summer, since +even now it is beautiful. The flower garden, the trim shrubbery, the +lawn, the meadow with its hedgerows, when frozen up and wrapt in snow, +always give me the idea of something not only desolate but dead: Nature +is the ghost of herself, and trails a spectral pall; I always feel a +kind of pity--a touch of melancholy--when at this season I have wandered +among withered shrubs and buried flower-beds; but here, in the +wilderness, where Nature is wholly independent of Art, she does not die, +nor yet mourn; she lies down to rest on the bosom of Winter, and the +aged one folds her in his robe of ermine and jewels, and rocks her with +his hurricanes, and hushes her to sleep. How still it was! how calm, how +vast the glittering white waste and the dark purple forests! The sun +shone out, and the sky was without a cloud; yet we saw few people, and +for many miles the hissing of our sleigh, as we flew along upon our +dazzling path, and the tinkling of the sleigh-bells, were the only +sounds we heard. When we were within four or five miles of the Falls, I +stopped the sleigh from time to time to listen to the roar of the +cataracts; but the state of the atmosphere was not favourable for the +transmission of sound, and the silence was unbroken. + +Such was the deep, monotonous tranquillity which prevailed on every +side--so exquisitely pure and vestal-like the robe in which all Nature +lay slumbering around us, I could scarce believe that this whole +frontier district is not only remarkable for the prevalence of vice--but +of dark and desperate crime. + +Mr. A., who is a magistrate, pointed out to me a lonely house by the +way-side, where, on a dark stormy night in the preceding winter, he had +surprised and arrested a gang of forgers and coiners; it was a fearful +description. For some time my impatience had been thus +beguiled--impatience and suspense much like those of a child at a +theatre before the curtain rises. My imagination had been so impressed +by the vast height of the Falls, that I was constantly looking in an +upward direction, when, as we came to the brow of a hill, my companion +suddenly checked the horses, and exclaimed, "The Falls!" + +I was not, for an instant, aware of their presence; we were yet at a +distance, looking _down_ upon them; and I saw at one glance a flat +extensive plain; the sun having withdrawn its beams for the moment, +there was neither light, nor shade, nor colour. In the midst were seen +the two great cataracts, but merely as a feature in the wide landscape. +The sound was by no means overpowering, and the clouds of spray, which +Fanny Kemble called so beautifully the "everlasting incense of the +waters," now condensed ere they rose by the excessive cold, fell round +the base of the cataracts in fleecy folds, just concealing that furious +embrace of the waters above and the waters below. All the associations +which in imagination I had gathered round the scene, its appalling +terrors, its soul-subduing beauty, its power and height, and velocity +and immensity, were diminished in effect, or wholly lost. + + * * * * * + +I was quite silent--my very soul sank within me. On seeing my +disappointment (written, I suppose, most legibly in my countenance) my +companion began to comfort me, by telling me of all those who had been +disappointed on the first view of Niagara, and had confessed it. I _did_ +confess; but I was not to be comforted. We held on our way to the +Clifton hotel, at the foot of the hill; most desolate it looked with its +summer verandahs and open balconies cumbered up with snow, and hung +round with icicles--its forlorn, empty rooms, broken windows, and dusty +dinner tables. The poor people who kept the house in winter had gathered +themselves for warmth and comfort into a little kitchen, and, when we +made our appearance, stared at us with a blank amazement, which showed +what a rare thing was the sight of a visitor at this season. + +While the horses were cared for, I went up into the highest balcony to +command a better view of the cataracts; a little Yankee boy, with a +shrewd, sharp face, and twinkling black eyes, acting as my gentleman +usher. As I stood gazing on the scene which seemed to enlarge upon my +vision, the little fellow stuck his hands into his pockets, and, looking +up in my face, said-- + +"You be from the old country, I reckon?" + +"Yes." + +"Out over there, beyond the sea?" + +"Yes." + +"And did you come all that way across the sea for these here falls?" + +"Yes." + +"My!!" Then after a long pause, and eyeing me with a most comical +expression of impudence and fun, he added, "Now, do _you_ know what them +'ere birds are, out yonder?" pointing to a number of gulls which were +hovering and sporting amid the spray, rising and sinking and wheeling +around, appearing to delight in playing on the verge of this "hell of +waters," and almost dipping their wings into the foam. My eyes were, in +truth, fixed on these fair, fearless creatures, and they had suggested +already twenty fanciful similitudes, when I was roused by his question. + +"Those birds?" said I. "Why, _what_ are they?" + +"Why, them's EAGLES!" + +"Eagles?" it was impossible to help laughing. + +"Yes," said the urchin sturdily; "and I guess you have none of them in +the old country?" + +"Not many eagles, my boy; but plenty of _gulls_!" and I gave him a +"pretty considerable" pinch by the ear. + +"Ay!" said he, laughing; "well now you be dreadful smart--smarter than +many folks that come here!" + +We now prepared to walk to the Crescent fall, and I bound some crampons +to my feet, like those they use among the Alps, without which I could +not for a moment have kept my footing on the frozen surface of the snow. +As we approached the Table Rock, the whole scene assumed a wild and +wonderful magnificence; down came the dark-green waters, hurrying with +them over the edge of the precipice enormous blocks of ice brought down +from Lake Erie. On each side of the Falls, from the ledges and +overhanging cliffs, were suspended huge icicles, some twenty, some +thirty feet in length, thicker than the body of a man, and in colour of +a paly green, like the glaciers of the Alps; and all the crags below, +which projected from the boiling eddying waters, were encrusted, and in +a manner built round with ice, which had formed into immense crystals, +like basaltic columns, such as I have seen in the pictures of Staffa and +the Giant's Causeway; and every tree, and leaf, and branch, fringing the +rocks and ravines, was wrought in ice. On them, and on the wooden +buildings erected near the Table Rock, the spray from the cataract had +accumulated and formed into the most beautiful crystals and tracery +work; they looked like houses of glass, welted and moulded into regular +and ornamental shapes, and hung round with a rich fringe of icy points. +Wherever we stood we were on unsafe ground, for the snow, when heaped up +as now to the height of three or four feet, frequently slipped in masses +from the bare rock, and on its surface the spray, for ever falling, was +converted into a sheet of ice, smooth, compact, and glassy, on which I +could not have stood a moment without my _crampons_. It was very +fearful, and yet I could not tear myself away, but remained on the Table +Rock, even on the very edge of it, till a kind of dreamy fascination +came over me; the continuous thunder, and might and movement of the +lapsing waters, held all my vital spirits bound up as by a spell. Then +as at last I turned away, the descending sun broke out, and an Iris +appeared below the American Fall, one extremity resting on a snow mound; +and motionless there it hung in the midst of restless terrors, its +beautiful but rather pale hues contrasting with the death-like +colourless objects around; it reminded me of the faint ethereal smile of +a dying martyr. + +It was near midnight when we mounted our sleigh to return to the town of +Niagara, and, as I remember, I did not utter a word during the whole +fourteen miles. The air was still, though keen, the snow lay around, the +whole earth seemed to slumber in a ghastly, calm repose; but the heavens +were wide awake. There the Aurora Borealis was holding her revels, and +dancing and flashing, and varying through all shapes and all hues--pale +amber, rose tint, blood red--and the stars shone out with a fitful, +restless brilliance; and every now and then a meteor would shoot +athwart the skies, or fall to earth, and all around me was wild, and +strange, and exciting--more like a fever dream than a reality. + + * * * * * + + + TORONTO. + + Toronto, February 7. + +Mr. B. gave me a seat in his sleigh, and after a rapid and very pleasant +journey, during which I gained a good deal of information, we reached +Toronto yesterday morning. + +The road was the same as before, with one deviation however--it was +found expedient to cross Burlington Bay on the ice, about seven miles +over, the lake beneath being twenty, and five-and-twenty fathoms in +depth. It was ten o'clock at night, and the only light was that +reflected from the snow. The beaten track, from which it is not safe to +deviate, was very narrow, and a man, in the worst, if not the last stage +of intoxication, noisy and brutally reckless, was driving before us in a +sleigh. All this, with the novelty of the situation, the tremendous +cracking of the ice at every instant, gave me a sense of apprehension +just sufficient to be exciting, rather than very unpleasant, though I +will confess to a feeling of relief when we were once more on the solid +earth. + +It is a remarkable fact, with which you are probably acquainted, that +when one growth of timber is cleared from the land, another of quite a +different species springs up spontaneously in its place. Thus, the oak +or the beech succeeds to the pine, and the pine to the oak or maple. +This is not accounted for, at least I have found no one yet who can give +me a reason for it. We passed by a forest lately consumed by fire, and I +asked why, in clearing the woods, they did not leave groups of the +finest trees, or even single trees, here and there, to embellish the +country? But it seems that this is impossible--for the trees thus left +standing, when deprived of the shelter and society to which they have +been accustomed, uniformly perish--which, for mine own poor part, I +thought very natural. + +A Canadian settler _hates_ a tree, regards it as his natural enemy, as +something to be destroyed, eradicated, annihilated by all and any means. +The idea of useful or ornamental is seldom associated here even with +the most magnificent timber trees, such as among the Druids had been +consecrated, and among the Greeks would have sheltered oracles and +votive temples. The beautiful faith which assigned to every tree of the +forest its guardian nymph, to every leafy grove its tutelary divinity, +would find no votaries here. Alas! for the Dryads and Hamadryads of +Canada! + +There are two principal methods of killing trees in this country, +besides the quick, unfailing destruction of the axe; the first by +setting fire to them, which sometimes leaves the root uninjured to rot +gradually and unseen, or be grubbed up at leisure, or, more generally, +there remains a visible fragment of a charred and blackened stump, +deformed and painful to look upon: the other method is slower, but even +more effectual; a deep gash is cut through the bark into the stem, quite +round the bole of the tree. This prevents the circulation of the vital +juices, and by degrees the tree droops and dies. This is technically +called _ringing_ timber. Is not this like the two ways in which a +woman's heart may be killed in this world of ours--by passion and by +sorrow? But better far the swift fiery death than this "ringing," as +they call it! + + * * * * * + + February 21. + +The monotony of this my most monotonous existence was fearfully broken +last night. I had gone early to my room, and had just rung for my maid, +when I was aware of a strange light flashing through the atmosphere,--a +fire was raging in the lower parts of the city. I looked out; there was +the full moon, brighter than ever she shows her fair face in our dear +cloudy England, looking down upon the snowy landscape, and the icy bay +glittered like a sheet of silver; while on the other side of the heavens +all was terror and tumult--clouds of smoke mingled with spires of flame +rose into the sky. Far off the garrison was beating to arms--the bells +tolling; yet all around there was not a living being to be seen, and the +snow-waste was still as death. + +Fires are not uncommon in Toronto, where the houses are mostly wood; +they have generally an alarum once or twice a week, and six or eight +houses burned in the course of the winter; but it was evident this was +of more fearful extent than usual. Finding, on inquiry, that all the +household had gone off to the scene of action, my own maid excepted, I +prepared to follow, for it was impossible to remain here idly gazing on +the flames, and listening to the distant shouts in ignorance and +suspense. The fire was in the principal street (King Street), and five +houses were burning together. I made my way through the snow-heaped, +deserted streets, and into a kind of court or garden at the back of the +blazing houses. There was a vast and motley pile of household stuff in +the midst, and a poor woman keeping guard over it, nearly up to her +knees in the snow. I stood on the top of a bedstead, leaning on her +shoulder, and thus we remained till the whole row of buildings had +fallen in. The Irishmen (God bless my countrymen! for in all good--all +mischief--all frolic--all danger--they are sure to be the first) risked +their lives most bravely; their dark figures moving to and fro amid the +blazing rafters, their fine attitudes, and the recklessness with which +they flung themselves into the most horrible situations, became at last +too fearfully exciting. I was myself so near, and the flames were so +tremendous, that one side of my face was scorched and blistered. + +All this time the poor woman on whose shoulder I was leaning stood +silent and motionless, gazing with apparent tranquillity on her burning +house. I remember saying to her with a shudder--"But this is dreadful! +to stand by and look on while one's home and property are destroyed!" +And she replied quietly, "Yes, ma'am; but I dare say some good will come +of it. All is for the best, if one knew it; and now Jemmy's safe, I +don't care for the rest." Now Jemmy was not her son, as I found, but a +poor little orphan, of whom she took charge. + +There had been at first a scarcity of water, but a hole being hewed +through the ice on the lake, the supply was soon quick and plentiful. +All would have been well over, if the sudden fall of a stack of chimneys +had not caused some horrible injuries. One poor boy was killed, and some +others maimed--poor Mr. B. among the number. After this I returned home +rather heart-sick; and nigh to the house a sleigh glanced by at full +gallop, on which I could just perceive, in the moonlight, the extended +form of a man with his hands clenched over his head--as in agony, or +lifeless. + + * * * * * + + + MUSIC. + + March 1. + +In the different branches of art, each artist thinks his own the +highest, and is filled with the idea of all its value and all its +capabilities which he understands best and has most largely studied and +developed. "But," says Dr. Chalmers, "we must take the testimony of each +man to the worth of that which he does know, and reject the testimony of +each to the comparative worthlessness of that which he does not know." +For it is not, generally speaking, that he overrates his own particular +walk of art from over enthusiasm, (no art, when considered separately, +as a means of human delight and improvement, _can_ be over-rated,) but +such a _one-sided_ artist, whose mind and powers have flowed in only one +direction, underrates from ignorance the walks of others which diverge +from his own. + +Of all artists, musicians are most exclusive in devotion to their own +art, and in the want of sympathy, if not absolute contempt, for other +arts. A painter has more sympathies with a musician, than a musician +with a painter. Vernet used to bring his easel into Pergolesi's room, to +paint beside his harpsichord, and used to say that he owed some of his +finest skies to the inspired harmonies of his friend. Pergolesi never +felt, perhaps, any harmonies but those of his own delicious art. + +"Aspasia, he who loves not music is a beast of one species, and he who +overloves it is a beast of another, whose brain is smaller than a +nightingale's, and his heart than that of a lizard!" I refer you for the +rest to a striking passage in Landor's "Pericles and Aspasia," +containing a most severe philippic, not only against the professors, but +the _profession_, of music, and which concludes very aptly, "Panenus +said this: let us never believe a word of it!" It is too true that some +excellent musicians have been ignorant, and sensual, and dissipated; but +there are sufficient exceptions to the sweeping censure of Panenus to +show that "imprudence, intemperance, and gluttony" do not always, or +necessarily, "open their channels into the sacred stream of music." +Musicians are not selfish, careless, sensual, ignorant, because they are +musicians, but because, from a defective education, they are nothing +else. The German musicians are generally more moral and more +intellectual men than English or Italian musicians, and hence their +music has taken a higher flight, is more intellectual than the music of +other countries. Music as an art has not degraded them, but they have +elevated music. + +The most accomplished and intellectual musician I ever met with is Felix +Mendelssohn. I do not recollect if it were himself or some one else who +told me of a letter which Carl von Weber had addressed to him, warning +him that he never could attain the highest honours in his profession +without cultivating the virtues and the decencies of life. "A great +artist," said Weber, "ought to be a good man." + +While I am "i' the vein," I must give you a few more musical +reminiscences before my fingers are quite frozen. + +I had once some conversation with Thalberg and Felix Mendelssohn, on the +unmeaning names which musicians often give to their works, as "Concerto +in F," "Concerto in B flat," "First Symphony," "Second Symphony," &c. +Mendelssohn said, that though in almost every case the composer might +have a leading idea, it would be often difficult, or even impossible, to +give any title sufficiently comprehensive to convey the same idea or +feeling to the mind of the hearer. + +But music, except to musicians, can only give ideas, or rather raise +images, by association; it can give the pleasure which the just +accordance of musical sounds must give to sensitive ears, but the +associated ideas or images, if any, must be quite accidental. Haydn, we +are told, when he sat down to compose, used first to invent a story in +his own fancy--a regular succession of imaginary incidents and +feelings--to which he framed or suited the successive movements (motivi) +of his concerto. Would it not have been an advantage if Haydn could have +given to his composition such a title as would have pitched the +imagination of the listener at once upon the same key? Mendelssohn +himself has done this in the pieces which he has entitled "Overture to +Melusina," "Overture to the Hebrides," "Meeres Stille und Glückliche +Fahrt," "The Brook," and others,--which is better surely than Sonata No. +1, Sonata No. 2. Take the Melusina, for example; is there not in the +sentiment of the music all the sentiment of the beautiful old fairy +tale?--first, in the flowing, intermingling harmony, we have the soft +elemental delicacy of the water nymph; then, the gushing of fountains, +the undulating waves; then the martial prowess of the knightly lover, +and the splendour of chivalry prevailing over the softer and more +ethereal nature; and then, at last, the dissolution of the charm; the +ebbing, fainting, and failing away into silence of the beautiful water +spirit. You will say it might answer just as well for Ondine; but this +signifies little, provided we have our fancy pitched to certain poetical +associations pre-existing in the composer's mind. Thus not only poems, +but pictures and statues, might be set to music. I suggested to Thalberg +as a subject the Aurora of Guido. It should begin with a slow, subdued, +and solemn movement, to express the slumbrous softness of that dewy hour +which precedes the coming of the day, and which in the picture broods +over the distant landscape, still wrapt in darkness and sleep; then the +stealing upwards of the gradual dawn; the brightening, the quickening of +all life; the awakening of the birds, the burst of the sun-light, the +rushing of the steeds of Hyperion through the sky, the aerial dance of +the Hours, and the whole concluding with a magnificent choral song of +triumph and rejoicing sent up from universal nature. + +And then in the same spirit--no, in his own grander spirit--I would have +Mendelssohn improviser the Laocoon. There would be the pomp and +procession of the sacrifice on the seashore; the flowing in of the +waves; the two serpents which come gliding on their foamy crests, +wreathing, and rearing, and undulating; the horror, the lamentation, the +clash of confusion, the death struggle, and, after a deep pause, the +wail of lamentation, the funereal march;--the whole closing with a hymn +to Apollo. Can you not just imagine such a piece of music, and composed +by Mendelssohn? and can you not fancy the possibility of setting to +music in the same manner Raffaelle's Cupid and Psyche, or his Galatea, +or the group of the Niobe? Niobe would be a magnificent subject either +for a concerto, or for a kind of mythological oratorio. + + * * * * * + + March 2. + +Turning over Boswell to-day, I came upon this passage: Johnson says, "I +do not commend a society where there is an agreement that what would not +otherwise be fair shall be fair; but I maintain that an individual of +any society who practises what is allowed is not dishonest." + +What say you to this reasoning of our great moralist? does it not reduce +the whole moral law to something merely conventional? + +In another place, Dr. Johnson asks, "What proportion does climate bear +to the complex system of human life." I shiver while I answer, "A good +deal, my dear Doctor, to some individuals, and yet more to whole races +of men." + +He says afterwards, "I deal more in _notions_ than in facts." And so do +I, it seems. + +He talks of "men being _held down_ in conversation by the presence of +women"--_held up_ rather, where moral feeling is concerned; and if held +down where intellect and social interests are concerned, then so much +the worse for such a state of society. + +Johnson knew absolutely nothing about women. Witness that one assertion, +among others more insulting, that it is matter of indifference to a +woman whether her husband be faithful or not. He says, in another place, +"If we men require more perfection from women than from ourselves, it +is doing them honour." + +Indeed! If, in exacting from us more perfection, you do not allow us the +higher and nobler nature, you do us not honour but gross injustice; and +if you do allow us the higher nature, and yet regard us as subject and +inferior, then the injustice is the greater. There, Doctor, is a dilemma +for you. + + * * * * * + + March 8. + +This relentless winter seems to stiffen and contract every nerve, and +the frost is of that fierceness and intensity, that it penetrates even +to the marrow of one's bones. One of the workmen told me yesterday, that +on taking hold of an iron bar it had taken the skin off his hand, as if +he had grasped it red hot: it is a favourite trick with the children to +persuade each other to touch with the tongue a piece of metal which has +been exposed to the open air; adhesion takes place immediately: even the +metal knobs on the doors of the room I carefully avoid touching--the +contact is worse than unpleasant. + +Let but the spring come again, and I will take to myself wings and fly +off to the west!--But will spring _ever_ come? When I look out upon the +bleak, shrouded, changeless scene, there is something so awfully silent, +fixed, and immutable in its aspect, that it is enough to disturb one's +faith in the everlasting revolutions of the seasons. Green leaves and +flowers, and streams that murmur as they flow, soft summer airs, to +which we open the panting bosom--panting with too much life--shades +grateful for their coolness,--can such things be, or do they exist only +in poetry and Paradise? + + * * * * * + + + GOETHE. + +"When I look back," said Goethe, "on my early and middle life, and now +in my old age reflect how few of those remain who were young with me, +life seems to me like a summer residence in a watering-place. When we +first arrive, we form friendships with those who have already spent some +time there, and must be gone the next week. The loss is painful, but we +connect ourselves with the second generation of visitors, with whom we +spend some time and become dearly intimate; but these also depart, and +we are left alone with a third set, who arrive just as we are preparing +for our departure, in whom we feel little or no interest." + +Goethe thought that a knowledge of the universe must be _innate_ with +some poets. (It seems to have been so with Shakspeare.) He says he wrote +"Götz von Berlichingen" when he was a young inexperienced man of +two-and-twenty. "Ten years later," he adds, "I stood astonished at the +truth of my own delineation; I had never beheld or experienced the like, +therefore the knowledge of these multifarious aspects of human nature I +must have possessed through a kind of anticipation." + +Yes; the "kind of anticipation" through which Joanna Baillie conceived +and wrote her noble tragedies. Where did she, whose life was pure and +"retired as noontide dew," find the dark, stern, terrible elements, out +of which she framed the delineations of character and passion in De +Montfort, Ethwald, Basil, Constantine?--where but in her own prophetic +heart and genius?--in that intuitive, almost unconscious revelation of +the universal nature, which makes the poet, and not experience or +knowledge. Joanna Baillie, whose most tender and refined, and womanly +and christian spirit never, I believe, admitted an ungentle thought of +any living being, created De Montfort, and gave us the physiology of +Hatred; and might well, like Goethe, stand astonished at the truth of +her own delineation. + + * * * * * + + + LITERARY WOMEN. + +Rehbein once observed to Goethe "that the women who had distinguished +themselves in literature, poetry especially, were almost universally +women who had been disappointed in their best affections, and sought in +this direction of the intellect a sort of compensation. When women are +married, and have children to take care of, they do not often think of +writing poetry." + +This is not very politely or delicately expressed; but we must not +therefore shrink from it, for it involves some important considerations. +It is most certain that among the women who have been distinguished in +literature, three-fourths have been either by nature, or fate, or the +law of society, placed in a painful or a false position; it is also most +certain that in these days when society is becoming every day more +artificial and more complex, and marriage, as the gentlemen assure us, +more and more expensive, hazardous, and inexpedient, women _must_ find +means to fill up the void of existence. Men, our natural protectors, our +lawgivers, our masters, throw us upon our own resources; the qualities +which they pretend to admire in us,--the overflowing, the clinging +affections of a warm heart--the household devotion,--the submissive wish +to please, that feels "every vanity in fondness lost,"--the tender +shrinking sensitiveness which Adam thought so charming in his Eve,--to +cultivate these, to make them, by artificial means, the staple of the +womanly character, is it not to cultivate a taste for sunshine and +roses, in those we send to pass their lives in the arctic zone? We have +gone away from nature, and we must--if we can--substitute another +nature. Art, literature, and science remain to us. Religion, which +formerly opened the doors of nunneries and convents to forlorn women, +now mingling her beautiful and soothing influence with resources which +the prejudices of the world have yet left open to us, teaches us another +lesson, that only in utility, such as is left to us,--only in the +assiduous employment of such faculties as we are permitted to exercise, +can we find health and peace, and compensation for the wasted or +repressed impulses and energies more proper to our sex--more +natural--perhaps more pleasing to God; but trusting in His mercy, and +using the means He has given, we must do the best we can for ourselves +and for our sisterhood. The cruel prejudices which would have shut us +out from nobler consolation and occupations have ceased in great part, +and will soon be remembered only as the rude, coarse barbarism of a +by-gone age. Let us then have no more caricatures of methodistical, +card-playing, and acrimonious old maids. Let us hear no more of scandal, +parrots, cats, and lap-dogs--or worse!--these never-failing subjects of +derision with the vulgar and the frivolous, but the source of a thousand +compassionate and melancholy feelings in those who can reflect! In the +name of humanity and womanhood, let us have no more of them! Coleridge, +who has said and written the most beautiful, the most tender, the most +reverential things of women--who understands better than any man, any +poet, what I will call the metaphysics of love--Coleridge has asserted +that the perfection of a woman's character is to be _characterless_. +"Every man," said he, "would like to have an Ophelia or a Desdemona for +his wife." No doubt; the sentiment is truly a masculine one: and what +was _their_ fate? What would now be the fate of such unresisting and +confiding angels? Is this the age of Arcadia? Do we live among Paladins +and Sir Charles Grandisons, and are our weakness, and our innocence, and +our ignorance, safe-guards--or snares? Do we indeed find our account in +being + + "Fine by defect, and beautifully weak?" + +No; women need in these times _character_ beyond everything else; the +qualities which will enable us to endure and to resist evil; the +self-governed, the cultivated, active mind, to protect and to maintain +ourselves. How many wretched women marry for a maintenance! How many +wretched women sell themselves to dishonour for bread!--and there is +small difference, if any, in the infamy and the misery! How many +unmarried women live in heart-wearing dependence;--if poor, in solitary +penury, loveless, joyless, unendeared;--if rich, in aimless, pitiful +trifling! How many, strange to say, marry for the independence they dare +not otherwise claim! But the more paths opened to us, the less fear that +we should go astray. + +Surely, it is dangerous, it is wicked, in these days, to follow the old +saw, to bring up women to be "happy wives and mothers;" that is to say, +to let all their accomplishments, their sentiments, their views of life, +take one direction, as if for women there existed only one destiny--one +hope, one blessing, one object, one passion in existence. Some people +say it ought to be so, but we know that it is _not_ so; we know that +hundreds, that thousands of women are not happy wives and mothers--are +never either wives or mothers at all. The cultivation of the moral +strength and the active energies of a woman's mind, together with the +intellectual faculties and tastes, will not make a woman a less good, +less happy wife and mother, and will enable her to find content and +independence when denied love and happiness. + + * * * * * + + + QUESTIONINGS. + + March 15. + +This last paragraph, which I wrote last evening, sent me to bed with my +head full of all manner of thoughts, and memories, and fancies. + +Whence and what are we, "that things whose sense we see not, frey us +with things that be not?" If I had the heart of that wondrous bird in +the Persian tales, which being pressed upon a human heart, obliged that +heart to utter truth through the lips, sleeping or waking, then I think +I would inquire how far in each bosom exists the belief in the +supernatural? In many minds which I know, and otherwise strong minds, it +certainly exists a hidden source of torment; in others, not stronger, it +exists a source of absolute pleasure and excitement. I have known people +most wittily ridicule, or gravely discountenance, a belief in spectral +appearances, and all the time I could see in their faces that once in +their lives at least they had been frightened at their own shadow. The +conventional cowardice, the fear of ridicule, even the self-respect +which prevents intelligent persons from revealing the exact truth of +what passes through their own minds on this point, deprives us of a +means to trace to its sources and develop an interesting branch of +Psychology. Between vulgar credulity and exaggeration on the one hand, +and the absolute scepticism and materialism of some would-be +philosophers on the other, lies a vast space of debatable ground, a sort +of twilight region or _limbo_, through which I do not see my way +distinctly. + +How far are our perceptions confined to our outward senses? Can any one +tell?--for that our perceptions are not wholly confined to impressions +taken in by the outward senses, seems the only one thing proved; and +are such sensible impressions the only real ones? When any one asks me +gaily the so common and common-place question--common even in these our +rational times--"Do you now really believe in ghosts?" I generally +answer as gaily--"I really don't know!" In the common, vulgar meaning of +the words, I certainly do _not_; but in the reality of many things +termed imaginary I certainly do. + + * * * * * + +The following beautiful and original interpretation of Goethe's ballad +of the "Erl-King" is not in Ekermann's book (the "Gespräche mit Goethe," +which I am now studying), but I give it to you in the words in which it +was given to me. + +"Goethe's 'Erl-König' is a moral allegory of deep meaning, though I am +not sure he meant it as such, or intended all that it signifies. There +are beings in the world who see, who feel, with a finer sense than that +granted to other mortals. They see the spiritual, the imaginative +sorrow, or danger, or terror which threatens them; and those who see not +with the same eyes, talk reason and philosophy to them. The poor +frightened child cries out for aid, for mercy; and Papa Wisdom--worldly +wisdom--answers,-- + + "'Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstrief!' + +"Or,-- + + "'Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau!' + +"It is only the vapour-wreath, or the grey willows waving, and tells him +to be quiet! At last the poor child of feeling is found dead in the arms +of Wisdom, from causes which no one else perceived--or believed! Is it +not often so?" + + * * * * * + +On the subject of religion I find this beautiful comparison, but am not +sure whether it be Ekermann's or Goethe's. "A connoisseur standing +before the picture of a great master will regard it as a whole. He knows +how to combine instantly the scattered parts into the general effect; +the universal, as well as the individual, is to him animated. He has no +preference for certain portions: he does not ask why this or that face +is beautiful or otherwise; why _this_ part is light, _that_ dark; only +he requires that all shall be in the right place, and according to the +just rules of art; but place an ignorant person before such a picture, +and you will see that the great design of the whole will either be +overlooked by him, or confuse him utterly. Some small portion will +attract him, another will offend him, and in the end he will dwell upon +some trifling object which is familiar to him, and praise this helmet, +or that feather, as being well executed. + +"We men, before the great picture of the destinies of the universe, play +the part of such dunces, such novices in art. Here we are attracted by a +bright spot, a graceful configuration; _there_ we are repelled by a deep +shadow, a painful object; the immense WHOLE bewilders and perplexes us; +we seek in vain to penetrate the leading idea of that great Being, who +designed the whole upon a plan which our limited human intellect cannot +comprehend." + + * * * * * + + + SOUTHEY'S DOCTOR. + + March 29. + +To those who see only with their eyes, the distant is always indistinct +and little, becoming less and less as it recedes, till utterly lost; but +to the imagination, which thus reverses the perspective of the senses, +the far off is great and imposing, the magnitude increasing with the +distance. + + * * * * * + +I amused myself this morning with that most charming book "The +Doctor;"--it is not the second nor the third time of reading. How +delicious it is wherever it opens!--how brimful of erudition and wit, +and how rich in thought, and sentiment, and humour! but containing +assumptions, and opinions, and prognostications, in which I would not +believe;--no, not for the world! + + * * * * * + +How true what Southey says! (the Doctor I mean--I beg his pardon)--"We +make the greater part of the evil circumstances in which we are placed, +and then we fit ourselves for those circumstances by a process of +degradation, the effect of which most people see in the classes below +them, though they may not be conscious that it is operating in a +different manner, but with equal force, upon themselves." + +The effect of those pre-ordained evils--if they are such--which we +inherit with our mortal state, inevitable death--the separation from +those we love--old age with its wants, its feebleness, its +helplessness--those sufferings which are in the course of nature, are +quite sufficient in the infliction, or in the fear of them, to keep the +spirit chastened, and the reflecting mind humble before God. But what I +_do_ deprecate, is to hear people preaching resignation to social, +self-created evils; fitting, or trying to fit, their own natures by "a +process of degradation" to circumstances which they ought to resist, and +which they do _inwardly_ resist, keeping up a constant, wearing, +impotent strife between the life that is _within_ and the life that is +_without_. How constantly do I read this in the countenances of those I +meet in the world!--They do not know themselves why there should be this +perpetual uneasiness, this jarring and discord within; but it is the +vain struggle of the soul, which God created in his own image, to fit +its strong, immortal nature for the society which men have framed after +their own devices. A _vain_ struggle it is! succeeding only in +appearance, never in reality,--so we walk about the world the masks of +ourselves, pitying each other. When we meet truth we are as much +astonished as I used to be at the carnival, when, in the midst of a +crowd of fantastic, lifeless, painted faces, I met with some one who had +plucked away his mask and stuck it in his hat, and looked out upon me +with the real human smile. + + * * * * * + +The Aurora Borealis is of almost nightly occurrence, but this evening it +has been more than usually resplendent; radiating up from the north, +and spreading to the east and west in form like a fan, the lower point +of a pale white, then yellow, amber, orange, successively, and the +extremities of a glowing crimson, intense, yet most delicate, like the +heart of an unblown rose. It shifted its form and hue at every moment, +flashing and waving like a banner in the breeze; and through this +portentous veil, transparent as light itself, the stars shone out with a +calm and steady brightness; and I thought, as I looked upon them, of a +character we both know, where, like those fair stars, the intellectual +powers shine serenely bright through a veil of passions, fancies, and +caprices. It is most awfully beautiful! I have been standing at my +window watching its evolutions, till it is no longer night, but morning. + + * * * * * + + + LAKE ONTARIO. + + April 15. + +The ice in the Bay of Toronto has been, during the winter months, from +four to five feet in thickness: within the last few days it has been +cracking in every direction with strange noises, and last night, during +a tremendous gale from the east, it was rent, and loosened, and driven +at once out of the bay. "It moveth altogether, if it move at all." The +last time I drove across the bay, the ice beneath me appeared as fixed +and firm as the foundations of the earth, and within twelve hours it has +disappeared, and to-day the first steam-boat of the season entered our +harbour. They called me to the window to see it, as, with flags and +streamers flying, and amid the cheers of the people, it swept +majestically into the bay. I sympathised with the general rejoicing, for +I can fully understand all the animation and bustle which the opening of +the navigation will bring to our torpid capital. + + * * * * * + + May 19. + +This beautiful Lake Ontario!--my lake--for I begin to be in love with +it, and look on it as mine!--it changed its hues every moment, the +shades of purple and green fleeting over it, now dark, now lustrous, +now pale--like a dolphin dying; or, to use a more exact though less +poetical comparison, dappled, and varying like the back of a mackerel, +with every now and then a streak of silver light dividing the shades of +green: magnificent, tumultuous clouds came rolling round the horizon; +and the little graceful schooners, falling into every beautiful +attitude, and catching every variety of light and shade, came curtseying +into the bay: and flights of wild geese, and great black loons, were +skimming, diving, sporting over the bosom of the lake; and beautiful +little unknown birds, in gorgeous plumage of crimson and black, were +fluttering about the garden: all life, and light, and beauty were +abroad--the resurrection of Nature! How beautiful it was! how dearly +welcome to my senses--to my heart--this spring which comes at last--so +long wished for, so long waited for! + + * * * * * + + + ERINDALE. + +--A very pretty place, with a very pretty name. A kind invitation led me +hither, to seek change of air, change of scene, and every other change I +most needed. + +The Britannia steam-boat, which plies daily between Toronto and +Hamilton, brought us to the mouth of the Credit River in an hour and a +half. By the orders of Mr. M * * *, a spring cart or wagon, the usual +vehicle of the country, was waiting by the inn, on the shore of the +lake, to convey me through the Woods to his house; and the master of the +inn, a decent, respectable man, drove the wagon. He had left England a +mere child, thirty years ago, with his father, mother, and seven +brothers and sisters, and eighteen years ago had come to Canada from the +United States, at the suggestion of a relation, to "settle in the bush," +the common term for uncleared land; at that time they had nothing, as he +said, but "health and hands." The family, now reduced to five, are all +doing well. He has himself a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, his +own property; his brother has much more; his sisters are well settled. +"Any man," said he, "with health and a pair of hands, could get on well +in this country, if it were not for _the drink; that_ ruins hundreds." + +They are forming a harbour at the mouth of the river--widening and +deepening the channel; but, owing to the want of means and money during +the present perplexities, the works are not going on. There is a clean, +tidy inn, and some log and frame houses; the situation is low, swampy, +and I should suppose unhealthy; but they assured me, that though still +subject to ague and fever in the spring, every year diminished this +inconvenience, as the draining and clearing of the lands around was +proceeding rapidly. + +The River Credit is so called, because in _ancient_ times (_i. e._ forty +or fifty years ago) the fur traders met the Indians on its banks, and +delivered to them on _credit_ the goods for which, the following year, +they received the value, or rather ten times the value, in skins. In a +country where there is no law of debtor or creditor, no bonds, stamps, +bills, or bailiffs, no possibility of punishing, or even catching a +refractory or fraudulent debtor, but, on the contrary, every possibility +of being tomahawked by said debtor, this might seem a hazardous +arrangement; yet I have been assured by those long engaged in the trade, +both in the upper and lower province, that for an Indian to break his +engagements is a thing unheard of: and if, by any personal accident, he +should be prevented from bringing in the stipulated number of beaver +skins, his relatives and friends consider their honour implicated, and +make up the quantity for him. + +The fur trade has long ceased upon these shores, once the scene of +bloody conflicts between the Hurons and the Missassaguas. The latter +were at length nearly extirpated; a wretched, degenerate remnant of the +tribe still continued to skulk about their old haunts and the +burial-place of their fathers, which is a high mound on the west bank of +the river, and close upon the lake. These were collected by the +Methodist missionaries into a village or settlement, about two miles +farther on, where an attempt has been made to civilise and convert them. +The government has expended a large sum in aid of this charitable +purpose, and about fifty log-huts have been constructed for the Indians, +each hut being divided by a partition, and capable of lodging two or +more families. There is also a chapel and a school-house. Peter Jones, +otherwise Kahkewaquonaby, a half-caste Indian, is the second chief and +religious teacher; he was in England a few years ago to raise +contributions for his people, and married a young enthusiastic +Englishwoman with a small property. She has recently quitted the village +to return to Europe. There is, besides, a regular Methodist preacher +established here, who cannot speak one word of the language of the +natives, nor hold any communion with them, except through an +interpreter. He complained of the mortality among the children, and the +yearly diminution of numbers in the settlement. The greater number of +those who remain are half-breeds, and of these, some of the young women +and children are really splendid creatures; but the general appearance +of the place and people struck me as gloomy. The Indians, whom I saw +wandering and lounging about, and the squaws wrapped in dirty blankets, +with their long black hair falling over their faces and eyes, filled me +with compassion. When the tribe were first gathered together, they +amounted to seven hundred men, women, and children; there are now about +two hundred and twenty. The missionary and his wife looked dejected; he +told me that the conference never allowed them (the missionaries) to +remain with any congregation long enough to know the people, or take a +personal interest in their welfare. In general the term of their +residence in any settlement or district was from two to three years, and +they were then exchanged for another. Among the inhabitants a few have +cultivated the portion of land allotted to them, and live in comparative +comfort; three or four women (half-caste) are favourably distinguished +by the cleanliness of their houses, and general good conduct; and some +of the children are remarkably intelligent, and can read both their own +language and English; but these are exceptions, and dirt, indolence, +and drunkenness, are but too general. Consumption is the prevalent +disease, and carries off numbers[3] of these wretched people. + +After passing the Indian village, we plunged again into the depth of the +green forests, through a road or path which presented every now and then +ruts and abysses of mud, into which we sank nearly up to the axletree, +and I began to appreciate feelingly the fitness of a Canadian wagon. On +each side of this forest path the eye sought in vain to penetrate the +labyrinth of foliage, and intermingled flowers of every dye, where life +in myriad forms was creeping, humming, rustling in the air or on the +earth, on which the morning dew still glittered under the thick shades. + +From these woods we emerged, after five or six miles of travelling, and +arrived at Springfield, a little village we had passed through in the +depth of winter--how different its appearance now!--and diverging from +the road, a beautiful path along the high banks above the river Credit, +brought us to Erindale, for so Mr. M * * *, in fond recollection of his +native country, has named his romantic residence. + +Mr. M * * * is the clergyman and magistrate of the district, beside +being the principal farmer and land proprietor. His wife, sprung from a +noble and historical race, blended much sweetness and frankheartedness, +with more of courtesy and manner than I expected to find. My reception +was most cordial, though the whole house was in unusual bustle, for it +was the 4th of June, parade day, when the district militia were to be +turned out; and two of the young men of the family were buckling on +swords and accoutrements, and furbishing up helmets, while the sister +was officiating with a sister's pride at this military toilette, tying +on sashes and arranging epaulettes; and certainly when they +appeared--one in the pretty green costume of a rifleman, the other all +covered with embroidery as a captain of lancers--I thought I had seldom +seen two finer-looking men. After taking coffee and refreshments, we +drove down to the scene of action. + +On a rising ground above the river which ran gurgling and sparkling +through the green ravine beneath, the motley troops, about three or four +hundred men, were marshalled--no, not marshalled, but scattered in a far +more picturesque fashion hither and thither: a few log-houses and a +saw-mill on the river-bank, and a little wooden church crowning the +opposite height, formed the chief features of the scene. The boundless +forest spread all around us. A few men, well mounted, and dressed as +lancers, in uniforms which were, however, anything but uniform, +flourished backwards on the green sward, to the manifest peril of the +spectators; themselves and their horses, equally wild, disorderly, +spirited, undisciplined: but this was perfection compared with the +infantry. Here there was no uniformity attempted of dress, of +appearance, of movement; a few had coats, others jackets; a greater +number had neither coats nor jackets, but appeared in their +shirt-sleeves, white or checked, or clean or dirty, in edifying variety! +Some wore hats, others caps, others their own shaggy heads of hair. Some +had firelocks; some had old swords suspended in belts, or stuck in their +waistbands; but the greater number shouldered sticks or umbrellas. Mrs. +M * * * told us that on a former parade day she had heard the word of +command given thus--"Gentlemen with the umbrellas, take ground to the +right! Gentlemen with the walking sticks, take ground to the left!" Now +they ran after each other, elbowed and kicked each other, straddled, +stooped, chattered; and if the commanding officer turned his back for a +moment, very coolly sat down on the bank to rest. Not to laugh was +impossible, and defied all power of face. Charles M. made himself hoarse +with shouting out orders which no one obeyed, except, perhaps, two or +three men in the front; and James, with his horsemen, flourished their +lances, and galloped, and capered, and curveted to admiration. James is +the popular storekeeper and postmaster of the village, and when, after +the show, we went into his warehouse to rest, I was not a little amused +to see our captain of lancers come in, and, taking off his plumed +helmet, jump over the counter to serve one customer to a "pennyworth of +tobacco," and another to a "yard of check." Willy, the younger brother, +a fine young man, who had been our cavalier on the field, assisted; and +half in jest, half in earnest, I gravely presented myself as the +purchaser of something or other, which Willy served out with a laughing +gaiety and unembarrassed simplicity quite delightful. We returned to sit +down to a plain, plenteous, and excellent dinner; everything on the +table, the wine excepted, was the produce of their own farm. Our wine, +water, and butter were iced, and everything was the best of its kind. + +The parade day ended in a drunken bout and a riot, in which, as I was +afterwards informed, the colonel had been knocked down, and one or two +serious, and even fatal accidents had occurred; but it was all taken so +very lightly, so very much as a thing of course, in this half-civilised +community, that I soon ceased to think about the matter. + +The next morning I looked out from my window upon a scene of wild yet +tranquil loveliness. The house is built on the edge of a steep bank +(what in Scotland they term a _scaur_), perhaps a hundred feet high, and +descending precipitously to the rapid river.[4] The banks on either side +were clothed with overhanging woods, of the sumach, maple, tamarisk, +birch, in all the rich yet delicate array of the fresh opening year. +Beyond, as usual, lay the dark pine-forest: and near to the house there +were several groups of lofty pines, the original giant-brood of the +soil; beyond these again lay the "clearing." The sky was without a +cloud, and the heat intense. I found breakfast laid in the verandah: +excellent tea and coffee, rich cream, delicious hot cakes, new laid +eggs--a banquet for a king! The young men and their labourers had been +out since sunrise, and the younger ladies of the house were busied in +domestic affairs; the rest of us sat lounging all the morning in the +verandah; and in the intervals of sketching and reading, my kind host +and hostess gave me an account of their emigration to this country ten +years ago. + +Mr. M. was a Protestant clergyman of good family, and had held a +considerable living in Ireland; but such was the disturbed state of the +county in which he resided, that he was not only unable to collect his +tithes, but for several years neither his own life nor that of any of +his family was safe. They never went out unarmed, and never went to rest +at night without having barricadoed their house like a fortress. The +health of his wife began to fail under this anxiety, and at length, +after a severe struggle with old feelings and old habits, he came to the +determination to convert his Irish property into ready money, and +emigrate to Canada, with four fine sons, from seven to seventeen years +old, and one little daughter. Thus Canada has become an asylum, not only +for those who cannot pay tithes, but for those who cannot get them. + +Soon after his arrival, he purchased eight hundred acres of land along +the banks of the Credit. With the assistance of his sons and a few +labourers, he soon cleared a space of ground for a house, in a situation +of great natural beauty, but then a perfect wilderness; and with no +other aid, designed and built it in very pretty taste. Being thus secure +of lodging and shelter, they proceeded in their toilsome work--toilsome, +most laborious, he allowed it to be, but not unrewarded; and they have +now one hundred and fifty acres of land cleared and in cultivation; a +noble barn, entirely constructed by his sons, measuring sixty feet long +by forty in width; a carpenter's shop, a turning-lathe, in the use of +which the old gentleman and one of his sons are very ingenious and +effective; a forge; extensive outhouses; a farmyard well stocked; and a +house comfortably furnished, much of the ornamental furniture being +contrived, carved, turned, by the father and his sons. These young men, +who had received in Ireland the rudiments of a classical education, had +all a mechanical genius, and here, with all their energies awakened, and +all their physical and mental powers in full occupation, they are a +striking example of what may be done by activity and perseverance; they +are their own architects, masons, smiths, carpenters, farmers, +gardeners; they are, moreover, bold and keen hunters, quick in resource, +intelligent, cheerful, united by strong affection, and doating on their +gentle sister, who has grown up among these four tall, manly brothers, +like a beautiful azalia under the towering and sheltering pines. Then I +should add, that one of the young men knows something of surgery, can +bleed or set a broken limb in case of necessity; while another knows as +much of law as enables him to draw up an agreement, and settle the +quarrels and arrange the little difficulties of their poorer neighbours, +without having recourse to the "attorney." + +The whole family appear to have a lively feeling for natural beauty, and +a taste for natural history; they know the habits and the haunts of the +wild animals which people their forest domain; they have made +collections of minerals and insects; and have "traced each herb and +flower that sips the silvery dew." Not only the stout servant girl, +(whom I met running about with a sucking-pig in her arms, looking for +its mother,) and the little black boy Alick,--but the animals in the +farmyard, the old favourite mare, the fowls which come trooping round +the benignant old gentleman, or are the peculiar pets of the ladies of +the family,--the very dogs and cats appear to me, each and all, the most +enviable of their species. There is an atmosphere of benevolence and +cheerfulness breathing round, which penetrates to my very heart. I know +not when I have felt so quietly--so entirely happy--so full of +sympathy--so light-hearted--so inclined to shut out the world, and its +cares and vanities, and "fleet the time as they did i' the golden age." + +Mr. M. told me, that for the first seven or eight years they had all +lived and worked together on his farm; but latterly he had reflected +that though the proceeds of the farm afforded a subsistence, it did not +furnish the means of independence for his sons, so as to enable them to +marry and settle in the world. He has therefore established two of his +sons as storekeepers, the one in Springfield, the other at Streetsville, +both within a short distance of his own residence, and they have +already, by their intelligence, activity, and popular manners, succeeded +beyond his hopes. + +I could perceive that in taking this step there had been certain +prejudices and feelings to be overcome on his own part and that of his +wife: the family pride of the well-born Irish gentleman, and the +antipathy to anything like trade, once cherished by a certain class in +the old country--these were to be conquered, before he could reconcile +himself to the idea of his boys serving out groceries in a Canadian +village; but they _were_ overcome. Some lingering of the "old Adam" made +him think it necessary to excuse--to account for this state of things. +He did not know with what entire and approving sympathy I regarded, not +the foolish national prejudices of my country, but the honest, generous +spirit and good sense through which he had conquered them, and provided +for the future independence of his children. + +I inquired concerning the extent of his parish, and the morals and +condition of his parishioners. + +He said that on two sides the district under his charge might be +considered as without bounds, for, in fact, there was no parish boundary +line between him and the North Pole. He has frequently ridden from +sixteen to thirty miles to officiate at a marriage or a funeral, or +baptize a child, or preach a sermon, wherever a small congregation could +be collected together; but latterly his increasing age rendered such +exertion difficult. His parish church is in Springfield. When he first +took the living, to which he was appointed on his arrival in the +country, the salary--for here there are no tithes--was two hundred a +year: some late measure, fathered by Mr. Hume, had reduced it to one +hundred. He spoke of this without bitterness as regarded himself, +observing that he was old, and had other means of subsistence; but he +considered it as a great injustice both to himself and to his +successors--"For," said he, "it is clear that no man could take charge +of this extensive district without keeping a good horse, and a boy to +rub him down. Now, in this country, where wages are high, he could not +keep a horse and a servant, and wear a whole coat, for less than one +hundred a year. No man, therefore, who had not other resources, could +live upon this sum; and no man who _had_ other resources, and had +received a fitting education, would be likely to come here. I say +nothing of the toil, the fatigue, the deep responsibility--these belong +to his vocation, in which, though a man must labour, he need not surely +starve:--yet starve he must, unless he takes a farm or a store in +addition to his clerical duties. A clergyman in such circumstances could +hardly command the respect of his parishioners: what do _you_ think, +madam?" + +When the question was thus put, I could only think the same: it seems to +me that there must be something wrong in the whole of this Canadian +church system, from beginning to end. + +With regard to the morals of the population around him, he spoke of two +things as especially lamentable, the prevalence of drunkenness, and the +early severing of parental and family ties; the first, partly owing to +the low price of whisky, the latter to the high price of labour, which +rendered it the interest of the young of both sexes to leave their home, +and look out and provide for themselves as soon as possible. This fact, +and its consequences, struck him the more painfully, from the contrast +it exhibited to the strong family affections, and respect for parental +authority, which even in the midst of squalid, reckless misery and ruin, +he had been accustomed to in poor Ireland. The general morals of the +women he considered infinitely superior to those of the men; and in the +midst of the horrid example and temptation, and one may add, +provocation, round them, their habits were generally sober. He knew +himself but two females abandoned to habits of intoxication, and in both +instances the cause had been the same--an unhappy home and a brutal +husband. + +He told me many other interesting circumstances and anecdotes, but being +of a personal nature, and his permission not expressly given, I do not +note them down here. + +On the whole, I shall never forget the few days spent with this +excellent family. We bade farewell, after many a cordial entreaty on +their part, many a promise on mine, to visit them again. Charles M. +drove me over to the Credit, where we met the steam-boat, and I returned +to Toronto with my heart full of kindly feelings, my fancy full of +delightful images, and my lap full of flowers, which Charles had +gathered for me along the margin of the forest: flowers such as we +transplant and nurture with care in our gardens and green-houses, most +dazzling and lovely in colour, strange and new to me in their forms, and +names, and uses: unluckily I am no botanist, so will not venture to +particularize farther; but one plant struck me particularly, growing +everywhere in thousands: the stalk is about two feet in height, and at +the top are two large fan-like leaves, one being always larger than the +other; from between the two springs a single flower, in size and shape +somewhat resembling a large wild rose, the petal white, just tinted with +a pale blush. The flower is succeeded by an oval-shaped fruit, which is +eaten, and makes an excellent preserve. They call it here the May-apple. + +[Footnote 3: The notes thrown together here are the result of three +different visits to the Credit, and information otherwise obtained.] + +[Footnote 4: In this river the young sportsmen of the family had speared +two hundred salmon in a single night. The salmon-hunts in Canada are +exactly like that described so vividly in Guy Mannering. The fish thus +caught is rather a large species of trout than genuine salmon. The sport +is most exciting.] + + * * * * * + + + LAKE ONTARIO. + + June 8. + +We have already exchanged "the bloom and ravishment of spring" for all +the glowing maturity of summer; we gasp with heat, we long for ices, and +are planning venetian blinds; and three weeks ago there was snow lying +beneath our garden fences, and not a leaf on the trees! In England, when +Nature wakes up from her long winter, it is like a sluggard in the +morning,--she opens one eye and then another, and shivers and draws her +snow coverlet over her face again, and turns round to slumber more than +once, before she emerges at last lazily and slowly, from her winter +chamber; but here, no sooner has the sun peeped through her curtains, +than up she springs, like a huntress for the chase, and dons her kirtle +of green, and walks abroad in full-blown life and beauty. I am basking +in her smile like an insect or a bird!--Apropos to birds, we have, alas! +no singing birds in Canada. There is, indeed, a little creature of the +ouzel kind, which haunts my garden, and has a low, sweet warble, to +which I listen with pleasure; but we have nothing like the rich, +continuous song of the nightingale or lark, or even the linnet. We have +no music in our groves but that of the frogs, which set up such a shrill +and perpetual chorus every evening, that we can scarce hear each other +speak. The regular manner in which the bass and treble voices respond to +each other is perfectly ludicrous, so that in the midst of my impatience +I have caught myself laughing. Then we have every possible variety of +note, from the piping squeak of the tree-frog, to the deep, guttural +croak, almost roar, of the bull-frog. + +The other day, while walking near a piece of water, I was startled by a +very loud deep croak, as like the croak of an ordinary frog, as the +bellow of a bull is like the bleat of a calf; and looking round, +perceived one of those enormous bull-frogs of the country seated with +great dignity on the end of a plank, and staring at me. The monster was +at least a foot in length, with a pair of eyes like spectacles; on +shaking my parasol at him, he plunged to the bottom in a moment. They +are quite harmless, I believe, though slander accuses them of attacking +the young ducks and chickens. + +There is considerable beauty around me--not that I am going to give you +descriptions of scenery, which are always, however eloquent, in some +respect failures. Words can no more give you a definite idea of the +combination of forms and colours in scenery, than so many musical notes: +music were, indeed, the better vehicle of the two. Felix Mendelssohn, +when a child, used to say, "I cannot tell you how such or such a thing +was--I cannot speak it--I will play it to you!"--and run to his piano: +sound was then to him a more perfect vehicle than words;--so, if I were +a musician, I would _play_ you Lake Ontario, rather than describe it. +Ontario means _the beautiful_, and the word is worthy of its +signification, and the lake is worthy of its beautiful name; yet I can +hardly tell you in what this fascination consists: there is no scenery +around it, no high lands, no bold shores, no picture to be taken in at +once by the eye; the swamp and the forest enclose it, and it is so wide +and so vast that it presents all the monotony without the majesty of the +ocean. Yet, like that great ocean, when I lived beside it, the expanse +of this lake has become to me like the face of a friend. I have all its +various _expressions_ by heart. I go down upon the green bank, or along +the King's Pier, which projects about two hundred yards into the bay. I +sit there with my book, reading sometimes, but oftener watching untired +the changeful colours as they flit over the bosom of the lake. Sometimes +a thunder-squall from the west sends the little sloops and schooners +sweeping and scudding into the harbour for shelter. Sometimes the sunset +converts its surface into a sea of molten gold, and sometimes the young +moon walks trembling in a path of silver; sometimes a purple haze floats +over its bosom like a veil; sometimes the wind blows strong, and the +wild turbid waves come rolling in like breakers, flinging themselves +over the pier in wrath and foam, or dancing like spirits in their glee. +Nor is the land without some charm. About four miles from Toronto the +river Humber comes down between high wood-covered banks, and rushes into +the lake: a more charming situation for villas and garden-houses could +hardly be desired than the vicinity of this beautiful little river, and +such no doubt we shall see in time. + +The opposite shore of the bay of Toronto is formed by a long sand-bank, +called "the Island," though, in fact, no island, but a very narrow +promontory, about three miles in length, and forming a rampart against +the main waters of the lake. At the extremity is a light-house, and a +few stunted trees and underwood. This marsh, intersected by islets and +covered with reeds, is the haunt of thousands of wild-fowl, and of the +terrapin, or small turtle of the lake; and as evening comes on, we see +long rows of red lights from the fishing-boats gleaming along the +surface of the water, for thus they spear the lake salmon, the bass, and +the pickereen. + +The only road on which it is possible to take a drive with comfort is +Yonge Street, which is macadamised for the first twelve miles. This road +leads from Toronto northwards to Lake Simcoe, through a well-settled and +fertile country. There are some commodious, and even elegant houses in +this neighbourhood. Dundas Street, leading west to the London district +and Lake Huron, is a very rough road for a carriage, but a most +delightful ride. On this side of Toronto you are immediately in the pine +forest, which extends with little interruption (except a new settlement +rising here and there) for about fifty miles to Hamilton, which is the +next important town. The wooded shores of the lake are very beautiful, +and abounding in game. In short, a reasonable person might make himself +very happy here, if it were not for some few things, among which, those +Egyptian plagues, the flies and frogs in summer, and the relentless iron +winter, are not the most intolerable; add, perhaps, the prevalence of +sickness at certain seasons. At present many families are flying off to +Niagara, for two or three days together, for change of air; and I am +meditating a flight myself, of such serious extent, that some of my +friends here laugh outright; others look kindly alarmed, and others +civilly incredulous. Bad roads, bad inns--or rather _no_ roads, no +inns;--wild Indians, and white men more savage far than they;--dangers +and difficulties of every kind are threatened and prognosticated, enough +to make one's hair stand on end. To undertake such a journey _alone_ is +rash perhaps--yet alone it must be achieved, I find, or not at all; I +shall have neither companion nor man-servant, nor _femme de chambre_, +nor even a "little foot-page" to give notice of my fate, should I be +swamped in a bog, or eaten up by a bear, or scalped, or disposed of in +some strange way; but shall I leave this fine country without seeing +anything of its great characteristic features?--and, above all, of its +aboriginal inhabitants? The French have a proverb which does honour to +their gallantry, and to which, from experience, I am inclined to give +full credence--"_Ce que femme veut, Dieu veut_." We shall see. + + * * * * * + + + MADAME DE MAINTENON. + +How admirable what Sir James Mackintosh says of Madame de +Maintenon!--that "she was as virtuous as the fear of hell and the fear +of shame could make her." The same might be said of the virtue of many +women I know, and of these, I believe, that more are virtuous from the +fear of shame than the fear of hell.--Shame is the woman's hell. + +Who that has lived in the world, in society, and looked on both with +observing eye, but has often been astonished at the fearlessness of +women, and the cowardice of men, with regard to public opinion? The +reverse would seem to be the natural, the necessary result of the +existing order of things, but it is not always so. Exceptions occur so +often, and so immediately within my own province of observation, that +they have made me reflect a good deal. Perhaps this seeming discrepancy +might be thus explained. + +Women are brought up in the fear of opinion, but, from their ignorance +of the world, they are in fact ignorant of that which they fear. They +fear opinion as a child fears a spectre, as something shadowy and +horrible, not defined or palpable. It is a fear based on habit, on +feeling, not on principle or reason. When their passions are strongly +excited, or when reason becomes matured, this exaggerated fear vanishes, +and the probability is, that they are immediately thrown into the +opposite extreme of incredulity, defiance, and rashness: but a man, even +while courage is preached to him, learns from habitual intercourse with +the world the immense, the terrible power of opinion. It wraps him round +like despotism; it is a reality to him; to a woman a shadow, and if she +can overcome the fear in her own person, all is overcome. A man fears +opinion for himself, his wife, his daughter; and if the fear of opinion +be brought into conflict with primary sentiments and principles, it is +ten to one but the habit of fear prevails, and opinion triumphs over +reason and feeling too. + + * * * * * + + + MRS. MACMURRAY. + + June 13. + +In these latter days I have lived in friendly communion with so many +excellent people, that my departure from Toronto was not what I +anticipated--an escape on one side, or a riddance on the other. My +projected tour to the west has excited not only some interest, but much +kind solicitude; and aid and counsel have been tendered with a feeling +which touched me deeply. + +The first bell of the steam-boat had not yet rung, when one of my +friends came running up to tell me that the missionary from the +Sault-Saint-Marie, and his Indian wife, had arrived at Toronto, and were +then at the inn, and that there was just time to introduce me to them. +No sooner thought than done: in another moment we were in the hotel, and +I was introduced to Mrs. MacMurray, otherwise O-ge-ne-bu-go-quay, (i. e. +_the wild rose_). + +I must confess that the specimens of Indian squaws and half-caste women +I had met with, had in no wise prepared me for what I found in Mrs. +MacMurray. The first glance, the first sound of her voice, struck me +with a pleased surprise. Her figure is tall--at least it is rather above +than below the middle size, with that indescribable grace and undulation +of movement which speaks the perfection of form. Her features are +distinctly Indian, but softened and refined, and their expression at +once bright and kindly. Her dark eyes have a sort of fawn-like shyness +in their glance, but her manner, though timid, was quite free from +embarrassment or restraint. She speaks English well, with a slightly +foreign intonation, not the less pleasing to my ear that it reminded me +of the voice and accent of some of my German friends. In two minutes I +was seated by her--my hand kindly folded in hers--and we were talking +over the possibility of my plans. It seems that there is some chance of +my reaching the Island of Michilimackinac, but of the Sault-Saint-Marie +I dare hardly think as yet--it looms in my imagination dimly described +in far space, a kind of Ultima Thule; yet the sight of Mrs. MacMurray +seemed to give something definite to the vague hope which had been +floating in my mind. Her sister, she said, was married to the American +Indian agent at Michilimackinac, and from both she promised me a +welcome, should I reach their island. To her own far off home at the +Sault-Saint-Marie, between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, she warmly +invited me--without, however, being able to point out any conveyance or +mode of travelling thither that could be depended on--only a possible +chance of such. Meantime there was _some_ hope of our meeting +_some_where on the road, but it was of the faintest. She thanked me +feelingly for the interest I took in her own fated race, and gave me +excellent hints as to my manner of proceeding. We were in the full tide +of conversation when the bell of the steam-boat rang for the last time, +and I was hurried off. On the deck of the vessel I found her husband, +Mr. MacMurray, who had only time to say, in fewest words, all that was +proper, polite, and hospitable. This rencontre, which some would call +accidental, and some providential, pleased and encouraged me. Then came +blessings, good wishes, kind pressures of the hand, and last adieus, and +waving of handkerchiefs from the shore, as the paddles were set in +motion, and we glided swiftly over the mirror-like bay. + +The day was sultry, the air heavy and still, and a strange fog, or +rather a series of dark clouds, hung resting on the bosom of the lake, +which in some places was smooth and transparent as glass--in others, +little eddies of wind had ruffled it into tiny waves, or welts +rather--so that it presented the appearance of patchwork. The boatmen +looked up, and foretold a storm; but when we came within three or four +miles from the mouth of the river Niagara, the fog drew off like a +curtain, and the interminable line of the dark forest came into view, +stretching right and left along the whole horizon; then the white +buildings of the American fort, and the spires of the town of Niagara, +became visible against the rich purple-green back-ground, and we landed +after a four hours' voyage. The threatened storm came on that night. The +summer storms of Canada are like those of the tropics: not in Italy, not +among the Apennines, where I have in my time heard the "live thunder +leaping from crag to crag," did I ever hear such terrific explosions of +sound as burst over our heads this night. The silence and the darkness +lent an added horror to the elemental tumult--and for the first time in +my life I felt sickened and unpleasantly affected in the intervals +between the thunder-claps, though I cannot say I felt fear. Meantime the +rain fell as in a deluge, threatening to wash us into the lake, which +reared itself up, and roared--like a monster for its prey. + +Yet, the next morning, when I went down upon the shore, how beautiful +it looked--the hypocrite!--there it lay rocking and sleeping in the +sunshine, quiet as a cradled infant. Niagara, in its girdle of verdure +and foliage, glowing with fresh life, and breathing perfume, appeared to +me a far different place from what I had seen in winter. As I stood on +the shore, quietly thinking, I was startled by the sound of the +death-bell, pealing along the sunny blue waters. They said it was tolled +for a young man of respectable family, who, at the age of three or four +and twenty, had died from habitual drinking; his elder brother having a +year or two before fallen from his horse in a state of intoxication, and +perished in consequence. Yes, everything I see and hear on this subject +convinces me that it should be one of the first objects of the +government to put down, by all and every means, a vice which is rotting +at the core of this colony--poisoning the very sources of existence; but +all their taxes, and prohibitions, and excise laws, will do little good, +unless they facilitate the means of education. In society, the same +evening, the appearance of a very young, very pretty, sad-looking +creature, with her first baby at her bosom, whose husband was staggering +and talking drunken gibberish at her side, completed the impression of +disgust and affright with which the continual spectacle of this vile +habit strikes me since I have been in this country. + +Before quitting the subject of Niagara, I may as well mention an +incident which occurred shortly afterwards, on my last visit to the +town, which interested me much at the time, and threw the whole of this +little community into a wonderful ferment. + + + THE SLAVE. + +A black man, a slave somewhere in Kentucky, having been sent on a +message, mounted on a very valuable horse, seized the opportunity of +escaping. He reached Buffalo after many days of hard riding, sold the +horse, and escaped beyond the lines into Canada. Here, as in all the +British dominions, God be praised! the slave is slave no more, but free, +and protected in his freedom.[5] This man acknowledged that he had not +been ill treated; he had received some education, and had been a +favourite with his master. He gave as a reason for his flight, that he +had long wished to marry, but was resolved that his children should not +be born slaves. In Canada, a runaway slave is assured of legal +protection; but, by an international compact between the United States +and our provinces, all felons are mutually surrendered. Against this +young man the jury in Kentucky had found a true bill for horse-stealing; +as a felon, therefore, he was pursued, and, on the proper legal +requisition, arrested; and then lodged in the jail of Niagara, to be +given up to his master, who, with an American constable, was in +readiness to take him into custody, as soon as the government order +should arrive. His case excited a strong interest among the whites, +while the coloured population, consisting of many hundreds in the +districts of Gore and Niagara, chiefly refugees from the States, were +half frantic with excitement. They loudly and openly declared that they +would peril their lives to prevent his being carried again across the +frontiers, and surrendered to the vengeance of his angry master. +Meantime there was some delay about legal forms, and the mayor and +several of the inhabitants of the town united in a petition to the +governor in his favour. In this petition it was expressly mentioned, +that the master of the slave had been heard to avow that his intention +was not to give the culprit up to justice, but to make what he called an +_example_ of him. Now there had been lately some frightful instances of +what the slave proprietors of the south called "making an example;" and +the petitioners entreated the governor to interpose, and save the man +from a torturing death "under the lash or at the stake." Probably the +governor's own humane feelings pleaded even more strongly in behalf of +the poor fellow. But it was a case in which he could not act from +feeling, or, "to do a great right, do a little wrong." The law was too +expressly and distinctly laid down, and his duty as governor was clear +and imperative--to give up the felon, although, to have protected the +slave, he would, if necessary, have armed the province. + +In the mean time the coloured people assembled from the adjacent +villages, and among them a great number of their women. The conduct of +this black mob, animated and even directed by the females, was really +admirable for its good sense, forbearance, and resolution. They were +quite unarmed, and declared their intention not to commit any violence +against the English law. The culprit, they said, might lie in the jail, +till they could raise among them the price of the horse; but if any +attempt were made to take him from the prison, and send him across to +Lewiston, they would resist it at the hazard of their lives. + +The fatal order _did_ at length come; the sheriff with a party of +constables prepared to enforce it. The blacks, still unarmed, assembled +round the jail, and waited till their comrade, or their brother as they +called him, was brought out and placed handcuffed in a cart. They then +threw themselves simultaneously on the sheriff's party, and a dreadful +scuffle ensued; the artillery men from the little fort, our only +military, were called in aid of the civil authorities, and ordered to +fire on the assailants. Two blacks were killed, and two or three +wounded. In the _melée_ the poor slave escaped, and has not since been +retaken, neither was he, I believe, pursued. + +But it was the conduct of the women which, on this occasion, excited the +strongest surprise and interest. By all those passionate and persuasive +arguments that a woman knows so well how to use, whatever be her colour, +country, or class, they had prevailed on their husbands, brothers, and +lovers to use no arms, to do no illegal violence, but to lose their +lives rather than see their comrade taken by force across the lines. +They had been most active in the fray, throwing themselves fearlessly +between the black men and the whites, who, of course, shrank from +injuring them. One woman had seized the sheriff, and held him pinioned +in her arms; another, on one of the artillery-men presenting his piece, +and swearing that he would shoot her if she did not get out of his way, +gave him only one glance of unutterable contempt, and with one hand +knocking up his piece, and collaring him with the other, held him in +such a manner as to prevent his firing. I was curious to see a mulatto +woman who had been foremost in the fray, and whose intelligence and +influence had mainly contributed to the success of her people; M----, +under pretence of inquiring after a sick child, drove me round to the +hovel in which she lived, outside the town. She came out to speak to us. +She was a fine creature, apparently about five-and-twenty, with a kindly +animated countenance; but the feelings of exasperation and indignation +had evidently not yet subsided. She told us, in answer to my close +questioning, that she had formerly been a slave in Virginia; that, so +far from being ill treated, she had been regarded with especial kindness +by the family on whose estate she was born. When she was about sixteen +her master died, and it was said that all the slaves on the estate would +be sold, and therefore she ran away. "Were you not attached to your +mistress?" I asked. "Yes," said she, "I liked my mistress, but I did not +like to be sold." I asked her if she was happy here in Canada? She +hesitated a moment, and then replied, on my repeating the question, +"Yes--that is, I _was_ happy here--but now--I don't know--I thought we +were safe _here_--I thought nothing could touch us _here_, on your +British ground, but it seems I was mistaken, and if so, I won't stay +here--I won't--I won't! I'll go and find some country where they cannot +reach us! I'll go to the end of the world, I will!" And as she spoke, +her black eyes flashing, she extended her arms, and folded them across +her bosom, with an attitude and expression of resolute dignity, which a +painter might have studied; and truly the fairest white face I ever +looked on never beamed with more of soul and high resolve than hers at +that moment. + +[Footnote 5: Among the addresses presented to Sir Francis Head in 1836, +was one from the coloured inhabitants of this part of the province, +signed by four hundred and thirty-one individuals, most of them refugees +from the United States, or their descendants.] + + * * * * * + + + NIAGARA IN SUMMER. + +Between the town of Queenston and the cataract of Niagara lies the +pretty little village of Stamford (close to Lundy Lane, the site of a +famous battle in the last war), and celebrated for its fine air. Near it +is a beautiful house with its domain, called Stamford Park, built and +laid out by a former governor (Sir Peregrine Maitland). It is the only +place I saw in Upper Canada combining our ideas of an elegant, +well-furnished English villa and ornamented grounds, with some of the +grandest and wildest features of the forest scene. It enchanted me +altogether. From the lawn before the house, an open glade, commanding a +park-like range of broken and undulating ground and wooded valleys, +displayed beyond them the wide expanse of Lake Ontario, even the Toronto +light-house, at a distance of thirty miles, being frequently visible to +the naked eye. By the hostess of this charming seat I was conveyed in a +light pony carriage to the hotel at the Falls, and left, with real +kindness, to follow my own devices. The moment I was alone, I hurried +down to the Table-rock. The body of water was more full and tremendous +than in the winter. The spray rose, densely falling again in thick +showers, and behind those rolling volumes of vapour the last gleams of +the evening light shone in lurid brightness, amid amber and crimson +clouds; on the other side, night was rapidly coming on, and all was +black, impenetrable gloom, and "boundless contiguity of shade." It was +very, very beautiful, and strangely awful too! For now it was late, and +as I stood there, lost in a thousand reveries, there was no human being +near, no light but that reflected from the leaping, whirling foam; and +in spite of the deep-voiced continuous thunder of the cataract, there +was such a stillness that I could hear my own heart's pulse throb--or +did I mistake feeling for hearing?--so I strayed homewards, or +housewards I should say, through the leafy, gloomy, pathways,--wet with +the spray, and fairly tired out. + + * * * * * + +The good people, travellers, describers, poets, and others, who seem to +have hunted through the dictionary for words in which to depict these +cataracts under every aspect, have never said enough of the rapids +above--even for which reason, perhaps, they have struck me the more; not +that any words in any language would have prepared me for what I now +feel in this wondrous scene. Standing to-day on the banks above the +Crescent Fall, near Mr. Street's mill, gazing on the rapids, they left +in my fancy two impressions which seldom meet together,--that of the +sublime and terrible, and that of the elegant and graceful--like a tiger +at play. I could not withdraw my eyes; it was like a fascination. + +The verge of the rapids is considerably above the eye; the whole mighty +river comes rushing over the brow of a hill, and as you look up, it +seems coming down to overwhelm you. Then meeting with the rocks, as it +pours down the declivity, it boils and frets like the breakers of the +ocean. Huge mounds of water, smooth, transparent, and gleaming like the +emerald, or rather like the more delicate hue of the chrysopaz, rise up +and bound over some unseen impediment, then break into silver foam, +which leaps into the air in the most graceful fantastic forms; and so it +rushes on, whirling, boiling, dancing, sparkling along, with a playful +impatience, rather than overwhelming fury, rejoicing as if escaped from +bondage, rather than raging in angry might,--wildly, magnificently +beautiful! The idea, too, of the immediate danger, the consciousness +that anything caught within its verge is inevitably hurried to a swift +destination, swallowed up, annihilated, thrills the blood; the immensity +of the picture, spreading a mile at least each way, and framed in by the +interminable forests, adds to the feeling of grandeur; while the giddy, +infinite motion of the headlong waters, dancing and leaping, and +revelling and roaring, in their mad glee, gave me a sensation of +rapturous terror, and at last caused a tension of the nerves in my head, +which obliged me to turn away. + +The great ocean, when thus agitated by conflicting winds or opposing +rocks, is a more tremendous thing, but it is merely tremendous,--it +makes us think of our prayers; whereas, while I was looking on these +rapids, beauty and terror, and power and joy, were blended, and so +thoroughly, that even while I trembled and admired, I could have burst +into a wild laugh, and joined the dancing billows in their glorious, +fearful mirth,-- + + Leaping like Bacchanals from rock to rock, + Flinging the frantic Thyrsus wild and high! + +I shall never see again, or feel again, aught like it--never! I did not +think there was an object in nature, animate or inanimate, that could +thus overset me! + + * * * * * + +To-day I accompanied the family of Colonel Delatre to the American side, +and dined on Goat Island. Though the various views of the two cataracts +be here wonderfully grand and beautiful, and the bridge across the +rapids a sort of miracle, as they say, still it is not altogether to be +compared to the Canadian shore for picturesque scenery. The Americans +have disfigured their share of the rapids with mills and manufactories, +and horrid red brick houses, and other unacceptable, unseasonable sights +and signs of sordid industry. Worse than all is the round tower, which +some profane wretch has erected on the Crescent Fall; it stands there so +detestably impudent and _mal-à-propos_,--it is such a signal, yet puny +monument of bad taste,--so miserably _mesquin_, and so presumptuous, +that I do hope the violated majesty of nature will take the matter in +hand, and overwhelm or cast it down the precipice one of these fine +days, though indeed a barrel of gunpowder were a shorter if not a surer +method. Can you not send us out some Guy Faux, heroically ready to be +victimised in the great cause of insulted nature, and no less insulted +art? But not to tire you with descriptions of precipices, caves, rocks, +woods, and rushing waters, which I can buy here ready made for sixpence, +I will only tell you that our party was very pleasant. + +The people who have spoken or written of these Falls of Niagara, have +surely never done justice to their loveliness, their inexpressible, +inconceivable beauty. The feeling of their beauty has become with me a +deeper feeling than that of their sublimity. What a scene this evening! +What splendour of colour! The emerald and chrysopaz of the transparent +waters, the dazzling gleam of the foam, and the snow-white vapour, on +which was displayed the most perfect and gigantic iris I ever +beheld,--forming not a half, but at least two thirds of an entire +circle, one extremity resting on the lesser (or American) Fall, the +other in the very lap of the Crescent Fall, spanning perhaps half a +mile, perfectly resplendent in hue--so gorgeous, so vivid, and yet so +ethereally delicate, and apparently within a few feet of the eye; the +vapours rising into the blue heavens at least four hundred feet, three +times the height of the Falls, and tinted rose and amber with the +evening sun; and over the woods around every possible variety of the +richest foliage,--no, nothing was ever so transcendently lovely! The +effect, too, was so grandly uniform in its eternal sound and movement: +it was quite different from that of those wild, impatient, tumultuous +rapids. It soothed, it melted, it composed, rather than excited. + +There are no water-fowl now as in the winter--when driven from the +ice-bound shores and shallows of the lake, they came up here to seek +their food, and sported and wheeled amid the showers of spray. They have +returned to their old quiet haunts; sometimes I miss them: they were a +beautiful variety in the picture. + + * * * * * + + + BUFFALO. + +After an absence of a few days, during which there had raged a perpetual +storm, I came back to the Clifton Hotel, to find my beautiful Falls +quite spoiled and discoloured. Instead of the soft aquamarine hue, +relieved with purest white, a dull dirty brown now imbued the waters. +This is owing to the shallowness of Lake Erie, where every storm turns +up the muddy bed from the bottom, and discolours the whole river. The +spray, instead of hovering in light clouds round and above the +cataracts, was beaten down, and rolled in volumes round their base; then +by the gusty winds driven along the surface of the river hither and +thither, covering everything in the neighbourhood with a small rain. I +sat down to draw, and in a moment the paper was wet through. It is as if +all had been metamorphosed during my absence--and I feel very +disconsolate. + +The whole of this district between the two great lakes is superlatively +beautiful, and was the first settled district in Upper Canada; it is now +the best cultivated. The population is larger in proportion to its +extent than that of any other district. In Niagara, and in the +neighbouring district of Gore, many fruits come to perfection, which are +not found to thrive in other parts of the province, and cargoes of +fruit are sent yearly to the cities of Lower Canada, where the climate +is much more severe and the winter longer than with us. + +On the other side the country is far less beautiful, and they say less +fertile, but rich in activity and in population; and there are within +the same space at least half a dozen flourishing towns. Our speculating +energetic Yankee neighbours, not satisfied with their Manchester, their +manufactories, and their furnaces, and their mill "privileges," have +opened a railroad from Lewiston to Buffalo, thus connecting Lake Erie +with the Erie Canal. On our side, we have the Welland Canal, a +magnificent work, of which the province is justly proud; it unites Lake +Erie with Lake Ontario. + +Yet from the Falls all along the shores of the Lake Erie to the Grand +River and far beyond it, the only place we have approaching to a town is +Chippewa, just above the rapids, as yet a small village, but lying +immediately in the road from the Western States to the Falls. From +Buffalo to this place the Americans run a steam-boat daily; they have +also planned a suspension bridge across the Niagara river, between +Lewiston and Queenston. Another village, Dunnville, on the Grand River, +is likely to be the commercial depôt of that part of the province; it is +situated where the Welland Canal joins Lake Erie. + +As the weather continued damp and gloomy, without hope of change, a +sudden whim seized me to go to Buffalo for a day or two; so I crossed +the turbulent ferry to Manchester, and thence an engine, snorting, +shrieking like fifty tortured animals, conveyed us to Tonawando[6], once +a little village of Seneca Indians, now rising into a town of some size +and importance; and there to my great delight I encountered once more my +new friends, Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, who were on their return from +Toronto to the Sault-Sainte-Marie. We proceeded on to Buffalo together, +and during the rest of the day had some pleasant opportunities of +improving our acquaintance. + +Buffalo, as all travel-books will tell you, is a very fine young city, +about ten years old, and containing already about twenty thousand +inhabitants. There is here the largest and most splendid hotel I have +ever seen, except at Frankfort. Long rows of magnificent houses--not of +painted wood, but of brick and stone--are rising on every side. + +The season is unusually dull and dead, and I hear nothing but complaints +around me; but compared to our Canadian shore, all here is bustle, +animation, activity. In the port I counted about fifty vessels, sloops, +schooners and steam-boats; the crowds of people buying, selling, +talking, bawling; the Indians lounging by in their blankets, the men +looking so dark, and indifferent, and lazy; the women so busy, +care-worn, and eager; and the numbers of sturdy children, squalling, +frisking among the feet of busy sailors,--formed altogether a strange +and amusing scene. + +On board the Michigan steamer, then lying ready for her voyage up the +lakes to Chicago, I found all the arrangements magnificent to a degree I +could not have anticipated. This is one of three great steam-boats +navigating the Upper Lakes, which are from five to seven hundred tons +burthen, and there are nearly forty smaller ones coasting Lake Erie, +between Buffalo and Detroit, besides schooners. + +[Footnote 6: Near this place lived and died the chief Red-jacket, one of +the last and greatest specimens of the Indian patriot and warrior.] + + * * * * * + + + THE ENGLISH EMIGRANT. + + June 27. + +In a strange country much is to be learned by travelling in the public +carriages: in Germany and elsewhere I have preferred this mode of +conveyance, even when the alternative lay within my choice, and I never +had reason to regret it. + +The Canadian stage-coaches[7] are like those of the United States, heavy +lumbering vehicles, well calculated to live in roads where any decent +carriage must needs founder. In one of these I embarked to return to the +town of Niagara, thence to pursue my journey westward: a much easier and +shorter course had been by the lake steamers; but my object was not +haste, nor to see merely sky and water, but to see the country. + +In the stage-coach two persons were already seated--an English emigrant +and his wife, with whom I quickly made acquaintance after my usual +fashion. The circumstances and the story of this man I thought worth +noting--not because there was anything uncommon or peculiarly +interesting in his case, but simply because his case is that of so many +others, while the direct good sense, honesty, and intelligence of the +man pleased me exceedingly. + +He told me that he had come to America in his own behalf and that of +several others of his own class--men who had each a large family and a +small capital, who found it difficult to _get on_ and settle their +children in England. In his own case, he had been some years ago the +only one of his trade in a flourishing country town where he had now +fourteen competitors. Six families, in a similar position, had delegated +him on a voyage of discovery: it was left to him to decide whether they +should settle in the United States or in the Canadas; so leaving his +children at school in Long Island, "he was just," to use his own phrase, +"taking a turn through the two countries, to look about him and gather +information before he decided, and had brought his little wife to see +the grand Falls of Niagara, of which he had heard so much in the old +country." + +As we proceeded, my companion mingled with his acute questions, and his +learned calculations on crops and prices of land, certain observations +on the beauty of the scenery, and talked of lights and shades and +foregrounds, and effects, in very homely, plebeian English, but with so +much of real taste and feeling that I was rather astonished, till I +found he had been a printseller and frame-maker, which last branch of +trade had brought him into contact with artists and amateurs; and he +told me, with no little exultation, that among his stock of moveables, +he had brought out with him several fine drawings of Prout, Hunt, and +even Turner, acquired in his business. He said he had no wish at present +to part with these, for it was his intention, wherever he settled, to +hang them up in his house, though that house were a log-hut, that his +children might have the pleasure of looking at them, and learn to +distinguish what is excellent in its kind. + +The next day, on going on from Niagara to Hamilton in a storm of rain, I +found, to my no small gratification, the English emigrant and his quiet, +silent little wife, already seated in the stage, and my only _compagnons +de voyage_. In the deportment of this man there was that deferential +courtesy which you see in the manners of respectable tradesmen, who are +brought much into intercourse with their superiors in rank, without, +however, a tinge of servility; and his conversation amused and +interested me more and more. He told me he had been born on a farm, and +had first worked as a farmer's boy, then as a house-carpenter, lastly, +as a decorative carver and gilder, so that there was no kind of business +to which he could not readily turn his hand. His wife was a good +sempstress, and he had brought up all his six children to be useful, +giving them such opportunities of acquiring knowledge as he could. He +regretted his own ignorance, but, as he said, he had been all his life +too busy to find time for reading much. He was, however, resolved that +his boys and girls should read, because, as he well observed, "every +sort of knowledge, be it much or little, was sure to turn to account, +some time or other." His notions on education, his objections to the +common routine of common schools, and his views for his children, were +all marked by the same originality and good sense. Altogether he +appeared to be, in every respect, just the kind of settler we want in +Upper Canada. I was therefore pleased to hear that hitherto he was +better satisfied with the little he had seen of this province than with +those States of the Union through which he had journeyed; he said truly, +it was more "home-like, more English-like." I did my best to encourage +him in this favourable opinion, promising myself that the little I might +be able to do to promote his views, that I _would_ do. + +[Footnote 7: That is, the better class of them. In some parts of Upper +Canada, the stage-coaches conveying the mail were large oblong wooden +boxes, formed of a few planks nailed together and placed on wheels, into +which you entered by the windows, there being no doors to open and shut, +and no springs. Two or three seats were suspended inside on leather +straps. The travellers provided their own buffalo-skins or cushions to +sit on.] + + + THE DRUNKARD. + +While the conversation was thus kept up with wonderful pertinacity, +considering that our vehicle was reeling and tumbling along the +detestable road, pitching like a scow among the breakers in a +lake-storm, our driver stopped before a vile little log-hut, over the +door of which hung, crooked-wise, a board, setting forth that "wiskey +and tabacky" were to be had there. The windows were broken, and the loud +voice of some intoxicated wretch was heard from within, in one +uninterrupted, torrent of oaths and blasphemies, so shocking in their +variety, and so new to my ears, that I was really horror-struck. + +After leaving the hut, the coach stopped again. I called to the driver +in some terror, "You are not surely going to admit that drunken man into +the coach?" He replied coolly, "O no, I an't; don't you be afeard!" In +the next moment he opened the door, and the very wretch I stood in fear +of was tumbled in head foremost, smelling of spirits, and looking--O +most horrible! Expostulation was in vain. Without even listening, the +driver shut the door, and drove on at a gallop. The rain was at this +time falling in torrents, the road knee-deep in mud, the wild forest on +either side of us dark, grim, impenetrable. Help there was none, nor +remedy, nor redress, nor hope, but in patience. Here then was one of +those inflictions to which speculative travellers are exposed now and +then, appearing, _for the time_, to outweigh all the possible advantages +of experience or knowledge bought at such a price. + +I had never before in my whole life been obliged to endure the presence +or proximity of such an object for two minutes together, and the +astonishment, horror, disgust, even to sickness and loathing, which it +now inspired, are really unspeakable. The Englishman placing himself in +the middle seat, in front of his wife and myself, did his best to +protect us from all possibility of contact with the object of our +abomination; while the wretched being, aware of our adverse feeling, put +on at one moment an air of chuckling self-complacency, and the next +glared on us with ferocious defiance. When I had recovered myself +sufficiently to observe, I could see that the man was not more than +five-and-twenty, probably much younger, with a face and figure which +must have been by nature not only fine, but uncommonly fine, though now +deformed, degraded, haggard with filth and inflamed with inebriety--a +dreadful and humiliating spectacle. Some glimmering remains of sense and +decency prevented him from swearing and blaspheming when once in the +coach; but he abused us horribly: his nasal accent, and his drunken +objurgations against the old country, and all who came from it, betrayed +his own birth and breeding to have been on the other side of the +Niagara, or "down east." Once he addressed some words to me, and, +offended by my resolute silence, he exclaimed with a scowl, and a hiccup +of abomination at every word, "I should like--to know--madam--how--I +came under your diabolical influence?" Here my friend the emigrant, +seeing my alarm, interposed, and a scene ensued, which, in spite of the +horrors of this horrible propinquity, was irresistibly comic, and not +without its pathetic significance too, now I think of it. The +Englishman, forgetting that the condition of the man placed him for the +time beyond the influence of reasoning or sympathy, began with grave and +benevolent earnestness to lecture him on his profligate habits, +expressing his amazement and his pity at seeing such a fine young man +fallen into such evil ways, and exhorting him to amend,--the fellow, +meanwhile, rolling himself from side to side with laughter. But suddenly +his countenance changed, and he said, with a wistful expression, and the +tears in his eyes, "Friend, do you believe in the devil?" + +"Yes, I do," replied the Englishman with solemnity. + +"Then it's your opinion, I guess, that a man may be tempted by the +devil?" + +"Yes, and I should suppose as how that has been your case, friend; +though," added he, looking at him from head to foot with no equivocal +expression, "I think the devil himself might have more charity than to +put a man in such a pickle." + +"What do you mean by that?" exclaimed the wretch fiercely, and for the +first time uttering a horrid oath. The emigrant only replied by shaking +his head significantly; and the other, after pouring forth a volley of +abuse against the insolence of the "old country folk," stretched himself +on his back, and kicking up his legs on high, and setting his feet +against the roof of the Coach, fell asleep in this attitude, and snored, +till, at the end of a long hour, he was tumbled out at the door of +another drinking hovel as he had tumbled in, and we saw him no more. + + + HAMILTON. + +The distance from the town of Niagara to Hamilton is about forty miles. +We had left the former place at ten in the morning, yet it was nearly +midnight before we arrived, having had no refreshment during the whole +day. It was market-day, and the time of the assizes, and not a bed to be +had at the only tolerable hotel, which, I should add, is large and +commodious. The people were civil beyond measure, and a bed was made up +for me in a back parlour, into which I sank half starved, and very +completely tired. + +The next day rose bright and beautiful, and I amused myself walking up +and down the pretty town for two or three hours. + +Hamilton is the capital of the Gore district, and one of the most +flourishing places in Upper Canada. It is situated at the extreme point +of Burlington Bay, at the head of Lake Ontario, with a population, +annually increasing, of about three thousand. The town is about a mile +from the lake shore, a space which, in the course of time, will probably +be covered with buildings. I understand that seventeen thousand bushels +of wheat were shipped here in one month. There is a bank here; a +court-house and jail looking unfinished, and the commencement of a +public reading-room and literary society, of which I cannot speak from +my own knowledge, and which appears as yet in embryo. Some of the +linendrapers' shops, called here clothing stores, and the grocery +stores, or shops for all descriptions of imported merchandise, made a +very good appearance; and there was an air of business, and bustle, and +animation about the place, which pleased me. I saw no bookseller's shop, +but a few books on the shelves of a grocery store, of the most common +and coarse description. + +I should not forget to mention, that in the Niagara and Gore districts +there is a vast number of Dutch and German settlers, favourably +distinguished by their industrious, sober, and thriving habits. They are +always to be distinguished in person and dress from the British +settlers; and their houses and churches, and, above all, their +burial-places, have a distinct and characteristic look. At Berlin, the +Germans have a printing-press, and publish a newspaper in their own +language, which is circulated among their countrymen through the whole +province. + +At Hamilton I hired a light _wagon_, as they call it, a sort of gig +perched in the middle of a wooden tray, wherein my baggage was stowed; +and a man to drive me over to Brandtford, the distance being about +five-and-twenty miles, and the charge five dollars. The country all the +way was rich, and beautiful, and fertile beyond description--the roads +abominable as could be imagined to exist. So I then thought, but have +learned since that there are degrees of badness in this respect, to +which the human imagination has not yet descended. I remember a space of +about three miles on this road, bordered entirely on each side by dead +trees, which had been artificially blasted by fire, or by girdling. It +was a ghastly forest of tall white spectres, strangely contrasting with +the glowing luxurious foliage all around. + +The pity I have for the trees in Canada, shows how far I am yet from +being a true Canadian. How do we know that trees do not feel their +downfall? We know nothing about it. The line which divides animal from +vegetable sensibility is as undefined as the line which divides animal +from human intelligence. And if it be true "that nothing dies on earth +but nature mourns," how must she mourn for these the mighty children of +her bosom--her pride, her glory, her garment? Without exactly believing +the assertion of the old philosopher, quoted by Evelyn, that a tree +_feels_ the first stroke of the axe, I know I never witness nor hear the +first stroke without a shudder; and as yet I cannot look on with +indifference, far less share the Canadian's exultation, when these huge +oaks, these umbrageous elms and stately pines, are lying prostrate, +lopped of all their honours, and piled in heaps with the brushwood, to +be fired,--or burned down to a charred and blackened fragment,--or +standing, leafless, sapless, seared, ghastly, having been "girdled," and +left to perish. The "Fool i' the Forest" moralised not more quaintly +over the wounded deer, than I could sometimes over those prostrate and +mangled trees. I remember, in one of the clearings to-day, one +particular tree which had been burned and blasted; only a blackened +stump of mouldering bark--a mere shell remained; and from the centre of +this, as from some hidden source of vitality, sprang up a young green +shoot, tall and flourishing, and fresh and leafy. I looked and thought +of hope! Why, indeed, should we ever despair? Can Heaven do for the +blasted tree what it cannot do for the human heart? + +The largest place we passed was Ancaster, very prettily situated among +pastures and rich woods, and rapidly improving. + +Before sunset I arrived at Brandtford, and took a walk about the town +and its environs. The situation of this place is most beautiful--on a +hill above the left bank of the Grand River. And as I stood and traced +this noble stream, winding through richly-wooded flats, with green +meadows and cultivated fields, I was involuntarily reminded of the +Thames near Richmond; the scenery has the same character of tranquil and +luxuriant beauty. + +In Canada the traveller can enjoy little of the interest derived from +association, either historical or poetical. Yet the memory of General +Brock, and some anecdotes of the last war, lend something of this kind +of interest to the Niagara frontier; and this place, or rather the name +of this place, has certain recollections connected with it, which might +well make an idle contemplative wayfarer a little pensive. + + + THE CHIEF BRANDT. + +Brandt was the chief of that band of Mohawk warriors which served on the +British side during the American War of Independence. After the +termination of the contest, the "Six Nations" left their ancient seats +to the south of Lake Ontario, and having received from the English +Government a grant of land along the banks of the Grand River, and the +adjacent shore of Lake Erie, they settled here under their chief, +Brandt, in 1783. Great part of this land, some of the finest in the +province, has lately been purchased back from them by the Government +and settled by thriving English farmers. + +Brandt, who had intelligence enough to perceive and acknowledge the +superiority of the whites in all the arts of life, was at first anxious +for the conversion and civilisation of his nation; but I was told by a +gentleman who had known him, that after a visit he paid to England, this +wish no longer existed. He returned to his own people with no very +sublime idea either of our morals or manners, and died in 1807. + +He is the Brandt whom Campbell has handed down to most undeserved +execration as the leader in the massacre at Wyoming. The poet indeed +tells us, in the notes to Gertrude of Wyoming, that all he has said +against Brandt must be considered as pure fiction, "for that he was +remarkable for his humanity, and not even present at the massacre;" but +the name stands in the text as heretofore, apostrophised as the +"accursed Brandt," the "monster Brandt;" and is not this most unfair, to +be hitched into elegant and popular rhyme as an assassin by wholesale, +and justice done in a little fag-end of prose? + +His son, John Brandt, received a good education, and was member of the +house of assembly for his district. He too died in a short time before +my arrival in this country; and the son of his sister, Mrs. Kerr, is at +present the hereditary chief of the Six Nations. + +They consist at present of two thousand five hundred, out of the seven +or eight thousand who first settled here. Here, as everywhere else, the +decrease of the Indian population settled on the reserved lands is +uniform. The white population throughout America is supposed to double +itself on an average in twenty-three years; in about the same proportion +do the Indians perish before them. + +The interests and property of these Indians are at present managed by +the Government. The revenue arising from the sale of their lands is in +the hands of commissioners, and much is done for their conversion and +civilisation. It will, however, be the affair of two, or three, or more +generations; and by that time not many, I am afraid, will be left. +Consumption makes dreadful havoc among them. At present they have +churches, schools, and an able missionary who has studied their +language, besides several resident Methodist preachers. Of the two +thousand five hundred already mentioned, the far greater part retain +their old faith and customs, having borrowed from the whites only those +habits which certainly "were more honoured in the breach than in the +observance." I saw many of these people, and spoke to some, who replied +with a quiet, self-possessed courtesy, and in very intelligible English. +One group which I met outside the town, consisting of two young men in +blanket coats and leggings, one haggard old woman, with a man's hat on +her head, a blue blanket and deer-skin moccasins, and a very beautiful +girl, apparently not more than fifteen, similarly dressed, with long +black hair hanging loose over her face and shoulders, and a little baby, +many shades fairer than herself, peeping from the folds of her blanket +behind,--altogether reminded me of a group of gipsies, such as I have +seen on the borders of Sherwood Forest many years ago. + + + BRANDTFORD. + +The Grand River is navigable for steam-boats from Lake Erie up to the +landing-place, about two miles below Brandtford, and from thence a canal +is to be cut, some time or other, to the town. The present site of +Brandtford was chosen on account of those very rapids which do indeed +obstruct the navigation, but turn a number of mills, here of the first +importance. The usual progress of a Canadian village is this: first, on +some running stream, the erection of a saw-mill and grist-mill for the +convenience of the neighbouring scattered settlers; then a few shanties +or log-houses for the work-people; then a grocery-store; then a +tavern--a chapel--perchance a school-house. + +Not having been properly forewarned, I unfortunately allowed the driver +to take me to a wrong inn. I ought to have put up at the Mansion-house, +well kept by a retired half-pay British officer; instead of which I was +brought to the Commercial Hotel, newly undertaken by an American. I sent +to the landlord to say I wished to speak to him about proceeding on my +journey next day. The next moment the man walked into my bed-room +without hesitation or apology. I was too much accustomed to foreign +manners to be greatly discomfited; but when he proceeded to fling his +hat down on my bed, and throw himself into the only arm-chair in the +room, while I was standing, I must own I did look at him with some +surprise. To those who have been accustomed to the almost servile +courtesy of English innkeepers, the manners of the innkeepers in the +United States are not pleasant. I cannot say they ever discomposed me: I +always met with civility and attention; but the manners of the country +innkeepers in Canada are worse than anything you can meet with in the +United States, being generally kept by refugee Americans of the lowest +class, or by Canadians who, in affecting American manners and +phraseology, grossly exaggerate both. + +In the present case I saw at once that no incivility was intended; my +landlord was ready at a fair price to drive me over himself, in his own +"wagon," to Woodstock; and after this was settled, finding, after a few +questions, that the man was really a most stupid, ignorant fellow, I +turned to the window, and took up a book, as a hint for him to be gone. +He continued, however, to lounge in the chair, rocking himself in +silence to and fro, till at last he _did_ condescend to take my hint, +and to take his departure. + + * * * * * + +At ten o'clock next morning, a little vehicle, like that which brought +me from Hamilton, was at the door; and I set off for Woodstock, driven +by my American landlord, who showed himself as good-natured and civil as +he was impenetrably stupid. + +No one who has a single atom of imagination, can travel through these +forest roads of Canada without being strongly impressed and excited. The +seemingly interminable line of trees before you; the boundless +wilderness around; the mysterious depths amid the multitudinous foliage, +where foot of man hath never penetrated,--and which partial gleams of +the noontide sun, now seen, now lost, lit up with a changeful magical +beauty,--the wondrous splendour and novelty of the flowers,--the +silence, unbroken but by the low cry of a bird, or hum of insect, or the +splash and croak of some huge bull-frog,--the solitude in which we +proceeded mile after mile, no human being, no human dwelling within +sight,--are all either exciting to the fancy, or oppressive to the +spirits, according to the mood one may be in. + + * * * * * + + + DRIVE TO WOODSTOCK. + +I observed some birds of a species new to me; there was the lovely +blue-bird, with its brilliant violet plumage; and a most gorgeous +species of woodpecker, with a black head, white breast, and back and +wings of the brightest scarlet; hence it is called by some the +field-officer, and more generally the cock of the woods. I should have +called it the coxcomb of the woods, for it came flitting across our +road, clinging to the trees before us, and remaining pertinaciously in +sight, as if conscious of its own splendid array, and pleased to be +admired. + +There was also the Canadian robin, a bird as large as a thrush, but in +plumage and shape resembling the sweet bird at home "that wears the +scarlet stomacher." There were great numbers of small birds of a bright +yellow, like canaries, and I believe of the same genus. Sometimes, when +I looked up from the depth of foliage to the blue firmament above, I saw +an eagle sailing through the air on apparently motionless wings. Nor let +me forget the splendour of the flowers which carpeted the woods on +either side. I might have exclaimed with Eichendorff, + + "O Welt! Du schöne welt, Du! + Mann sieht Dich vor Blümen kaum!" + +for thus in some places did a rich embroidered pall of flowers literally +_hide_ the earth. There those beautiful plants, which we cultivate with +such care in our gardens, azalias, rhododendrons, all the gorgeous +family of the lobelia, were flourishing in wild luxuriance. Festoons of +creeping and parasitical plants hung from branch to branch. The purple +and scarlet iris, blue larkspur, and the elegant Canadian columbine with +its bright pink flowers; the scarlet lychnis, a species of orchis of the +most dazzling geranium-colour, and the white, and yellow, and purple +cyprepedium[8], bordered the path, and a thousand others of most +resplendent hues, for which I knew no names. I could not pass them with +forbearance, and my Yankee driver, alighting, gathered for me a superb +bouquet from the swampy margin of the forest. I contrived to fasten my +flowers in a wreath along the front of the wagon, that I might enjoy at +leisure their novelty and beauty. How lavish, how carelessly profuse, is +Nature in her handiwork! In the interior of the cyprepedium, which I +tore open, there was variety of configuration and colour, and gem-like +richness of ornament, enough to fashion twenty different flowers; and +for the little fly, in jewelled cuirass, which I found couched within +its recesses--what a palace! that of Aladdin could not have been more +splendid! + +From Brandtford we came to Paris, a new settlement, beautifully +situated, and thence to Woodstock, a distance of eighteen miles. There +is no village, only isolated inns, far removed from each other. In one +of these, kept by a Frenchman, I dined on milk and eggs and excellent +bread. Here I found every appearance of prosperity and plenty. The +landlady, an American woman, told me they had come into this wilderness +twenty years ago, when there was not another farmhouse within fifty +miles. She had brought up and settled in comfort several sons and +daughters. An Irish farmer came in, who had refreshments spread for him +in the porch, and with whom I had some amusing conversation. He, too, +was prospering with a large farm and a large family--here a blessing and +a means of wealth, too often in the old country a curse and a burden. +The good-natured fellow was extremely scandalised by my homely and +temperate fare, which he besought me to mend by accepting a glass of +whisky out of his own travelling-store, genuine potheen, which he swore +deeply, and not unpoetically, "had never seen God's beautiful world, nor +the blessed light of day, since it had been bottled in ould Ireland." He +told me, boastingly, that at Hamilton he had made eight hundred dollars +by the present extraordinary rise in the price of wheat. In the early +part of the year wheat had been selling for three or four dollars a +bushel, and rose this summer to twelve and fourteen dollars a bushel, +owing to the immense quantities exported during the winter to the back +settlements of Michigan and the Illinois. + +[Footnote 8: From its resemblance in form to a shoe, this splendid +flower bears every where the same name. The English call it +lady's-slipper; the Indians know it as the moccasin flower.] + + + ROADS IN CANADA. + +The whole drive would have been productive of unmixed enjoyment, but for +one almost intolerable drawback. The roads were throughout so execrably +bad, that no words can give you an idea of them. We often sank into +mud-holes above the axletree; then, over trunks of trees laid across +swamps, called here corduroy roads, were my poor bones dislocated. A +wheel here and there, or broken shaft lying by the way-side, told of +former wrecks and disasters. In some places they had, in desperation, +flung huge boughs of oak into the mud abyss, and covered them with clay +and sod, the rich green foliage projecting on either side. This sort of +illusive contrivance would sometimes give way, and we were nearly +precipitated into the midst. By the time we arrived at Blandford, my +hands were swelled and blistered by continually grasping with all my +strength an iron bar in front of my vehicle, to prevent myself from +being flung out, and my limbs ached wofully. I never beheld or imagined +such roads. It is clear that the people do not apply any, even the +commonest, principles of roadmaking; no drains are cut, no attempt is +made at levelling or preparing a foundation. The settlers around are too +much engrossed by the necessary toil for a daily subsistence to give a +moment of their time to road-making, without compulsion or good payment. +The statute labour does not appear to be duly enforced by the +commissioners and magistrates, and there are no labourers, and no spare +money: specie, never very plentiful in these parts, is not to be had at +present, and the 500,000_l_. voted during the last session of the +provincial parliament for the repair of the roads is not yet even +raised, I believe. + +Nor is this all: the vile state of the roads, the very little +communication between places not far distant from each other, leave it +in the power of ill-disposed persons to sow mischief among the ignorant, +isolated people. + +On emerging from a forest road seven miles in length, we stopped at a +little inn to refresh the poor jaded horses. Several labourers were +lounging about the door, and I spoke to them of the horrible state of +the roads. They agreed, one and all, that it was entirely the fault of +the Government; that their welfare was not cared for; that it was true +that money had been voted for the roads, but that before anything could +be done, or a shilling of it expended, it was always necessary to write +to the old country to ask the king's permission--which might be sent or +not--who could tell? And meantime they were ruined for want of roads, +which it was nobody's business to reclaim. + +It was in vain that I attempted to point out to the orator of the party +the falsehood and absurdity of this notion. He only shook his head, and +said he knew better. + +One man observed, that as the team of Admiral Vansittart (one of the +largest proprietors in the district) had lately broken down in a +mud-hole, there was some hope that the roads about here might be looked +to. + +About sunset I arrived at Blandford, dreadfully weary, and fevered, and +bruised, having been more than nine hours travelling twenty-five miles; +and I must needs own that not all my _savoir faire_ could prevent me +from feeling rather dejected and shy, as I drove up to the residence of +a gentleman, to whom, indeed, I had not a letter, but whose family, as I +had been assured, were prepared to receive me. It was rather formidable +to arrive thus, at fall of night, a wayfaring lonely woman, spiritless, +half-dead with fatigue, among entire strangers; but my reception set me +at ease in a moment. The words "We have been long expecting you!" +uttered in a kind, cordial voice, sounded "like sweetest music to +attending ears." A handsome, elegant-looking woman, blending French ease +and politeness with English cordiality, and a whole brood of lively +children of all sizes and ages, stood beneath the porch to welcome me +with smiles and outstretched hands. Can you imagine my bliss, my +gratitude?--no!--impossible, unless you had travelled for three days +through the wilds of Canada. In a few hours I felt quite at home, and my +day of rest was insensibly prolonged to a week, spent with this amiable +and interesting family--a week, ever while I live, to be remembered +with pleasurable and grateful feelings. + + + WOODSTOCK. + +The region of Canada in which I now find myself, is called the London +District; you will see its situation at once by a glance on the map. It +lies between the Gore District and the Western District, having to the +south a large extent of the coast of Lake Erie; and on the north the +Indian territories, and part of the southern shore of Lake Huron. It is +watered by rivers flowing into both lakes, but chiefly by the river +Thames, which is here (about one hundred miles from its mouth) a small +but most beautiful stream, winding like the Isis at Oxford. Woodstock, +the nearest _village_, as I suppose I must in modesty call it, is fast +rising into an important town, and the whole district is, for its +scenery, fertility, and advantages of every kind, perhaps the finest in +Upper Canada.[9] + +The society in this immediate neighbourhood is particularly good; +several gentlemen of family, superior education, and large capital, +(among whom is the brother of an English and the son of an Irish peer, a +colonel and a major in the army,) have made very extensive purchases of +land, and their estates are in flourishing progress. + +One day we drove over to the settlement of one of these magnificos, +Admiral Vansittart, who has already expended upwards of twenty thousand +pounds in purchases and improvements. His house is really a curiosity, +and at the first glance reminded me of an African village--a sort of +Timbuctoo set down in the woods; it is two or three miles from the high +road, in the midst of the forest, and looked as if a number of log-huts +had jostled against each other by accident, and there stuck fast. + +The admiral had begun, I imagine, by erecting, as is usual, a log-house, +while the woods were clearing; then, being in want of space, he added +another, then another and another, and so on, all of different shapes +and sizes, and full of a seaman's contrivances--odd galleries, passages, +porticos, corridors, saloons, cabins and cupboards; so that if the +outside reminded me of an African village, the interior was no less like +that of a man-of-war. + +The drawing-room, which occupies an entire building, is really a noble +room, with a chimney in which they pile twenty oak logs at once. Around +this room runs a gallery, well lighted with windows from without, +through which there is a constant circulation of air, keeping the room +warm in winter and cool in summer. The admiral has, besides, so many +ingenious and inexplicable contrivances for warming and airing his +house, that no insurance office will insure him upon any terms. +Altogether it was the most strangely picturesque sort of dwelling I ever +beheld. The admiral's sister, an accomplished woman of independent +fortune, has lately arrived from Europe, to take up her residence in the +wilds. Having recently spent some years in Italy, she has brought out +with her all those pretty objects of _virtù_, with which English +travellers load themselves in that country. Here, ranged round the room, +I found views of Rome and Naples; tazzi, and marbles, and sculpture in +lava, or alabaster; miniature copies of the eternal Sibyl and Cenci, +Raphael's Vatican, &c.--things not wonderful nor rare in themselves--the +wonder was to see them here. + +The woods are yet close up to the house; but there is a fine +well-cultivated garden, and the process of clearing and log-burning +proceeds all around with great animation. + +On Sunday we attended the pretty little church at Woodstock, which was +filled by the neighbouring settlers of all classes: the service was well +read, and the hymns were sung by the ladies of the congregation. The +sermon, which treated of some abstract and speculative point of +theology, seemed to me not well adapted to the sort of congregation +assembled. The situation of those who had here met together to seek a +new existence in a new world, might have afforded topics of instruction, +praise, and gratitude, far more practical, more congenial, more +intelligible, than a mere controversial essay on a disputed text, which +elicited no remark nor sympathy that I could perceive. After the +service, the congregation remained some time assembled before the +church-door, in various and interesting groups--the well-dressed +families of settlers who had come from many miles' distance in vehicles +well suited to the roads--that is to say, carts, or as they call them +here teams or wagons; the belles and the beaux of "the Bush," in Sunday +trim--and innumerable children. Many were the greetings and inquiries; +the news and gossip of all the neighbourhood had to be exchanged. The +conversation among the ladies was of marriages and births--lamentations +on the want of servants, and the state of the roads--the last arrival of +letters from England--and speculations upon the character of a new +neighbour come to settle in the Bush: Among the gentlemen, it was of +crops and clearings, lumber, price of wheat, road-mending, +deer-shooting, log-burning, and so forth--subjects in which I felt a +lively interest and curiosity; and if I could not take a very brilliant +and prominent part in the discourse, I could at least listen, like the +Irish corn-field, "with all my ears." + +I think it was this day at dinner that a gentleman described to me a +family of Mohawk Indians, consisting of seven individuals, who had +encamped upon some of his uncleared land in two wigwams. They had made +their first appearance in the early spring, and had since subsisted by +hunting, selling their venison for whisky or tobacco; their appearance +and situation were, he said, most wretched, and their indolence extreme. +Within three months, five out of the seven were dead of consumption; two +only were left--languid, squalid, helpless, hopeless, heartless. + +[Footnote 9: The average produce of an acre of land is greater +throughout Canada than in England. In these western districts greater +than in the rest of Canada.] + + * * * * * + + + BLANDFORD. + +After several pleasant and interesting visits to the neighbouring +settlers, I took leave of my hospitable friends at Blandford with deep +and real regret; and, in the best and only vehicle which could be +procured--videlicet, a baker's cart--set out for London, the chief town +of the district; the distance being about thirty miles--a long day's +journey; the cost seven dollars. + +The man who drove me proved a very intelligent and civilised person. He +had come out to Canada in the capacity of a gentleman's servant; he now +owned some land--I forget how many acres--and was besides baker-general +for a large neighbourhood, rarely receiving money in pay, but wheat, and +other farm produce. He had served as constable of the district for two +years, and gave me some interesting accounts of his thief-taking +expeditions through the wild forests in the deep winter nights. He +considered himself, on the whole, a prosperous man. He said he should be +quite happy here, were it not for his wife, who fretted and pined +continually after her "home." + +The case of this poor fellow with his discontented wife is of no +unfrequent occurrence in Canada; and among the better class of settlers +the matter is worse still, the suffering more acute, and of graver +consequences. + +I have not often in my life met with contented and cheerful-minded +women, but I never met with so many repining and discontented women as +in Canada. I never met with _one_ woman recently settled here, who +considered herself happy in her new home and country: I _heard_ of one, +and doubtless there are others, but they are exceptions to the general +rule. Those born here, or brought here early by their parents and +relations, seemed to me very happy, and many of them had adopted a sort +of pride in their new country, which I liked much. There was always a +great desire to visit England, and some little airs of self-complacency +and superiority in those who had been there, though for a few months +only; but all, without a single exception, returned with pleasure, +unable to forego the early habitual influences of their native land. + +I like patriotism and nationality in women. Among the German women both +these feelings give a strong tincture to the character; and, seldom +disunited, they blend with peculiar grace in our sex: but with a great +statesman they should stand well distinguished. Nationality is not +always patriotism, and patriotism is not, necessarily, nationality. The +English are more patriotic than national; the Americans generally more +national than patriotic; the Germans both national and patriotic. + +I have observed that really accomplished women, accustomed to what is +called the best society, have more resources here, and manage better, +than some women who have no pretensions of any kind, and whose claims +to social distinction could not have been great anywhere, but whom I +found lamenting over themselves as if they had been so many exiled +princesses. + +Imagine the position of a fretful, frivolous woman, strong neither in +mind nor frame, abandoned to her own resources in the wilds of Upper +Canada! No--nothing can be imagined so pitiable, so ridiculous, and, to +borrow the Canadian word, "so shiftless." + +My new friend and kind hostess was a being of quite a different stamp; +and though I believe she was far from thinking that she had found in +Canada a terrestrial paradise, and the want of servants and the +difficulty of educating her family as she wished, were subjects of great +annoyance to her; yet these and other evils she had met with a cheerful +spirit. Here, amid these forest wilds, she had recently given birth to a +lovely baby, the tenth, or indeed I believe the twelfth, of a flock of +manly boys and blooming girls. Her eldest daughter mean time, a fair and +elegant girl, was acquiring, at the age of fifteen, qualities and habits +which might well make ample amends for the possession of mere +accomplishments. She acted as manager in chief, and glided about in her +household avocations with a serene and quiet grace which was quite +charming. + + + OXFORD. + +The road, after leaving Woodstock, pursued the course of the winding +Thames. We passed by the house of Colonel Light, in a situation of +superlative natural beauty on a rising ground above the river. A lawn, +tolerably cleared, sloped down to the margin, while the opposite shore +rose clothed in varied woods, which had been managed with great taste, +and a feeling for the picturesque not common here; but the Colonel being +himself an accomplished artist accounts for this. We also passed +Beechville, a small but beautiful village, round which the soil is +reckoned very fine and fertile; a number of most respectable settlers +have recently bought land and erected houses here. The next place we +came to was Oxford, or rather Ingersol, where we stopped to dine and +rest previous to plunging into an extensive forest called the Pine +Woods. + +Oxford is a little village, presenting the usual saw-mill, +grocery-store and tavern, with a dozen shanties congregated on the bank +of the stream, which is here rapid and confined by high banks. Two +back-woodsmen were in deep consultation over a wagon which had broken +down in the midst of that very forest road we were about to traverse, +and which they described as most execrable--in some parts even +dangerous. As it was necessary to gird up my strength for the +undertaking, I laid in a good dinner, consisting of slices of dried +venison, broiled, hot cakes of Indian corn, eggs, butter, and a bowl of +milk. Of this good fare I partook in company with the two back-woodsmen, +who appeared to me perfect specimens of their class--tall and strong, +and bronzed and brawny, and shaggy and unshaven--very much like two +bears set on their hind legs; rude, but not uncivil, and spare of +speech, as men who had lived long at a distance from their kind. They +were too busy, however, and so was I, to feel or express any mutual +curiosity. Time was valuable, appetite urgent; so we discussed our +venison steaks in silence, and after dinner I proceeded. + +The forest land through which I had lately passed was principally +covered with _hard timber_, as oak, walnut, elm, basswood. We were now +in a forest of pines, rising tall and dark, and monotonous on either +side. The road, worse certainly "than fancy ever feigned or fear +conceived," put my neck in perpetual jeopardy. The driver had often to +dismount and partly fill up some tremendous hole with boughs before we +could pass, or drag or lift the wagon over trunks of trees; or we +sometimes sank into abysses from which it is a wonder to me that we +_ever_ emerged. A natural question were--why did you not get out and +walk?--Yes indeed! I only wish it had been possible. Immediately on the +border of the road, so called, was the wild, tangled, untrodden thicket, +as impervious to the foot as the road was impassable, rich with +vegetation, variegated verdure, and flowers of loveliest dye, but the +haunt of the rattlesnake, and all manner of living and creeping things +not pleasant to encounter, or even to think of. + +The mosquitos, too, began to be troublesome; but not being yet in full +force, I contrived to defend myself pretty well, by waving a green +branch before me whenever my two hands were not employed in forcible +endeavours to keep my seat. These seven miles of pine forest we +traversed in three hours and a half; and then succeeded some miles of +open flat country called the Oak Plains, and so called because covered +with thickets and groups of oak dispersed with a park-like and beautiful +effect; and still flowers, flowers everywhere. The soil appeared sandy, +and not so rich as in other parts. The road was comparatively good; and +as we approached London, clearings and new settlements appeared on every +side. + +The sun had set amid a tumultuous mass of lurid threatening clouds, and +a tempest was brooding in the air, when I reached the town, and found +very tolerable accommodations in the principal inn. I was so terribly +bruised and beaten with fatigue, that to move was impossible, and even +to speak too great an effort. I cast my weary aching limbs upon the bed, +and requested of the very civil and obliging young lady who attended to +bring me some books and newspapers. She brought me thereupon an old +compendium of geography, published at Philadelphia forty years ago, and +three old newspapers. + + * * * * * + + + LONDON. + + July 5. + +The next morning the weather continued very lowering and stormy. I +received several visitors, who, hearing of my arrival, had come with +kind offers of hospitality and attention, such as are most grateful to a +solitary stranger. I had also much conversation relative to the place +and people, and the settlements around; and then I took a long walk +about the town, of which I here give you the results. + +When Governor Simcoe was planning the foundation of a capital for the +whole province, he fixed at first upon the present site of London, +struck by its many and obvious advantages. Its central position in the +midst of these great lakes, being at an equal distance from Huron, Erie, +and Ontario, in the finest and most fertile district of the whole +province, on the bank of a beautiful stream, and at a safe distance from +the frontier, all pointed it out as the most eligible site for a +metropolis; but there was the want of land and water communication--a +want which still remains the only drawback to its rising prosperity. A +canal or railroad, running from Toronto and Hamilton to London, then +branching off on the right to the harbour of Goderich on Lake Huron, and +on the left to Sandwich on Lake Erie, were a glorious thing!--the one +thing needful to make this fine country the granary and storehouse of +the west; for here all grain, all fruits which flourish in the south of +Europe, might be cultivated with success--the finest wheat and rice, and +hemp and flax, and tobacco. Yet, in spite of this want, soon, I trust, +to be supplied, the town of London has sprung up and become within ten +years a place of great importance. In size and population it exceeds +every town I have yet visited, except Toronto and Hamilton. The first +house was erected in 1827; now, that is in 1837, it contains more than +two hundred frame or brick houses; and there are many more building. The +population may be about thirteen hundred people. The jail and +court-house, comprised in one large stately edifice, seemed the glory of +the townspeople. As for the style of architecture, I may not attempt to +name or describe it; but a gentleman informed me, in rather equivocal +phrase, that it was "_somewhat Gothic_." There are five places of +worship, for the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman +Catholics, and Baptists. The church is handsome. There are also three or +four schools, and seven taverns. The Thames is very beautiful here, and +navigable for boats and barges. I saw to-day a large timber raft +floating down the stream, containing many thousand feet of timber. On +the whole, I have nowhere seen such evident signs of progress and +prosperity. + +The population consists principally of artisans--as blacksmiths, +carpenters, builders, all flourishing. There is, I fear, a good deal of +drunkenness and profligacy; for though the people have work and wealth, +they have neither education nor amusements. Besides the seven taverns, +there is a number of little grocery stores, which are, in fact, drinking +houses. And though a law exists, which forbids the sale of spirituous +liquors in small quantities by any but licensed publicans, they easily +contrive to elude the law; as thus:--a customer enters the shop, and +asks for two or three pennyworth of nuts, or cakes, and he receives a +few nuts, and a large glass of whisky. The whisky, you observe, is +given, not sold, and no one can swear to the contrary. In the same +manner, the severe law against selling intoxicating liquors to the poor +Indians is continually eluded or violated, and there is no redress for +the injured, no punishment to reach the guilty. It appears to me that +the Government should be more careful in the choice of the +district-magistrates. While I was in London, a person who acted in this +capacity was carried from the pavement dead drunk. + + + WOMEN IN CANADA. + +Here, as everywhere else, I find the women of the better class lamenting +over the want of all society, except of the lowest grade in manners and +morals. For those who have recently emigrated, and are settled more in +the interior, there is absolutely no social intercourse whatever; it is +quite out of the question. They seem to me perishing of _ennui_, or from +the want of sympathy which they cannot obtain, and, what is worse, which +they cannot feel: for being in general unfitted for out-door +occupations, unable to comprehend or enter into the interests around +them, and all their earliest prejudices and ideas of the fitness of +things continually outraged in a manner exceedingly unpleasant, they may +be said to live in a perpetual state of inward passive discord and +fretful endurance-- + + "All too timid and reserved + For onset, for resistance too inert-- + Too weak for suffering, and for hope too tame." + +In women, as now educated, there is a strength of local habits and +attachments, a want of cheerful self-dependence, a cherished physical +delicacy, a weakness of temperament,--deemed, and falsely deemed, in +deference to the pride of man, essential to feminine grace and +refinement,--altogether unfitting them for a life which were otherwise +delightful:--the active out-of-door life in which she must share and +sympathise, and the inn-door occupations which in England are considered +servile; for a woman who cannot perform for herself and others all +household offices, has no business here. But when I hear some men +declare that they cannot endure to see women eat, and others speak of +brilliant health and strength in young girls as being rude and vulgar, +with various notions of the same kind too grossly absurd and perverted +even for ridicule, I cannot wonder at any nonsensical affectations I +meet with in my own sex; nor can I do otherwise than pity the mistakes +and deficiencies of those who are sagely brought up with the one end and +aim--to get married. + +A woman, blessed with good health, a cheerful spirit, larger sympathies, +larger capabilities of reflection and action, some knowledge of herself, +her own nature, and the common lot of humanity, with a plain +understanding, which has been allowed to throw itself out unwarped by +sickly fancies and prejudices,--such a woman would be as happy in Canada +as anywhere in the world. A weak, frivolous, half-educated, or +ill-educated woman may be as miserable in the heart of London as in the +heart of the forest. But there her deficiencies are not so injurious, +and are supplied to herself and others by the circumstances and +advantages around her. + +I have heard it laid down as a principle, that the purpose of education +is to fit us for the circumstances in which we are likely to be placed. +I deny it absolutely. Even if it could be exactly known (which it +cannot) what those circumstances may be, I should still deny it. +Education has a far higher object. I remember to have read of some +Russian prince (was it not Potemkin?), who, when he travelled, was +preceded by a gardener, who around his marquee scattered an artificial +soil, and stuck into it shrubs and bouquets of flowers, which, while +assiduously watered, looked pretty for twenty-four hours perhaps, then +withered or were plucked up. What shallow barbarism to take pleasure in +such a mockery of a garden! better the wilderness--better the waste! +that forest, that rock yonder, with creeping weeds around it! An +education that is to fit us for circumstances, seems to me like that +Russian garden. No; the true purpose of education is to cherish and +unfold the seed of immortality already sown within us; to develope, to +their fullest extent, the capacities of every kind with which God who +made us has endowed us. Then we shall be fitted for all circumstances, +or know how to fit circumstances to ourselves. Fit us for circumstances! +Base and mechanical! Why not set up at once a "_fabrique d'education_," +and educate us by steam? The human soul, be it man's or woman's, is not, +I suppose, an empty bottle, into which you shall pour and cram just what +you like, and as you like; nor a plot of waste soil, in which you shall +sow what you like; but a divine, a living germ planted by an almighty +hand, which you may indeed render more or less productive, or train to +this or that form--no more. And when you have taken the oak sapling, and +dwarfed it, and pruned it, and twisted it, into an ornament for the +jardinière in your drawing-room, much have you gained truly; and a +pretty figure your specimen is like to make in the broad plain and under +the free air of heaven! + + * * * * * + + + THE TALBOT COUNTRY. + +The plan of travel I had laid down for myself did not permit of my +making any long stay in this new London. I was anxious to push on to the +Talbot Settlement, or, as it is called here, the Talbot _Country_, a +name not ill-applied to a vast tract of land stretching from east to +west along the shore of Lake Erie, and of which Colonel Talbot is the +sovereign _de facto_, if not _de jure_--be it spoken without any +derogation to the rights of our lord the king. This immense settlement, +the circumstances to which it owed its existence, and the character of +the eccentric man who founded it on such principles as have insured its +success and prosperity, altogether inspired me with the strongest +interest and curiosity. + +To the residence of this "big chief," as an Indian styled him--a +solitary mansion on a cliff above Lake Erie, where he lived alone in his +glory--was I now bound, without exactly knowing what reception I was to +meet there, for that was a point which the despotic habits and +eccentricities of this hermit-lord of the forest rendered a little +doubtful. The reports I had heard of his singular manners, of his being +a sort of woman-hater, who had not for thirty years allowed a female to +appear in his sight, I had partly discredited, yet enough remained to +make me feel a little nervous. However, my resolution was taken, and the +colonel had been apprised of my intended visit, though of his gracious +acquiescence I was yet to learn; so, putting my trust in Providence, as +heretofore, I prepared to encounter the old buffalo in his lair. + +From the master of the inn at London I hired a vehicle and a driver for +eight dollars. The distance was about thirty miles; the road, as my +Irish informant assured me, was quite "iligant!" but hilly, and so +broken by the recent storms, that it was thought I could not reach my +destination before nightfall, and I was advised to sleep at the little +town of St. Thomas, about twelve or fifteen miles on this side of Port +Talbot. However, I was resolute to try, and, with a pair of stout horses +and a willing driver, did not despair. My conveyance from Blandford had +been a baker's cart, on springs; but springs were a luxury I was in +future to dispense with. My present vehicle, the best to be procured, +was a common cart, with straw at the bottom; in the midst a seat was +suspended on straps, and furnished with a cushion, not of the softest. A +board nailed across the front served for the driver, a quiet, +demure-looking boy of fifteen or sixteen, with a round straw hat and a +fustian jacket. Such was the elegant and appropriate equipage in which +the "chancellor's lady," as they call me here, paid her first visit of +state to the "great Colonel Talbot." + +On leaving the town, we crossed the Thames on a wooden bridge, and +turned to the south through a very beautiful valley, with cultivated +farms and extensive clearings on every side. I was now in the Talbot +country, and had the advantage of travelling on part of the road +constructed under the colonel's direction, which, compared with those I +had recently travelled, was better than tolerable. While we were slowly +ascending an eminence, I took the opportunity of entering into some +discourse with my driver, whose very demure and thoughtful, though +boyish face, and very brief, but pithy and intelligent replies to some +of my questions on the road, had excited my attention. Though perfectly +civil, and remarkably self-possessed, he was not communicative nor +talkative; I had to pluck out the information blade by blade, as it +were. And here you have my catechism, with question and response, word +for word, as nearly as possible. + + + THE EMIGRANT BOY. + +"Were you born in this country?" + +"No; I'm from the old country." + +"From what part of it?" + +"From about Glasgow." + +"What is your name?" + +"Sholto ----." + +"Sholto!--that is rather an uncommon name, is it not?" + +"I was called Sholto after a son of Lord Douglas. My father was Lord +Douglas's gardener." + +"How long have you been here?" + +"I came over with my father about five years, ago." (In 1832.) + +"How came your father to emigrate?" + +"My father was one of the commuted pensioners, as they call them.[10] He +was an old soldier in the veteran battalion, and he sold his pension of +fivepence a day for four years and a grant of land, and came out here. +Many did the like." + +"But if he was gardener to Lord Douglas, he could not have suffered from +want." + +"Why, he was not a gardener _then_; he was a weaver; he worked hard +enough for us. I remember often waking in the middle of the night, and +seeing my father working still at his loom, as if he would never give +over, while my mother and all of us were asleep." + +"All of us!--how many of you?" + +"There were six of us: but my eldest brother and myself could do +something." + +"And you all emigrated with your father?" + +"Why, you see, at last he couldn't get no work, and trade was dull, and +we were nigh starving. I remember I was always hungry then--always." + +"And you all came out?" + +"All but my eldest brother. When we were on the way to the ship, he got +frightened and turned back, and wouldn't come. My poor mother cried very +much, and begged him hard. Now the last we heard of him is, that he is +very badly off, and can't get no work at all." + +"Is your father yet alive?" + +"Yes, he has land up in Adelaide." + +"Is your mother alive?" + +"No; she died of the cholera, coming over. You see the cholera broke out +in the ship, and fifty-three people died, one after t'other, and were +thrown into the sea. My mother died, and they threw her into the sea. +And then my little sister, only nine months old, died, because there was +nobody to take care of her, and they threw _her_ into the sea--poor +little thing!" + +"Was it not dreadful to see the people dying around you? Did you not +feel frightened for yourself?" + +"Well--I don't know--one got used to it--it was nothing but splash, +splash, all day long--first one, then another. There was one Martin on +board, I remember, with a wife and nine children--one of those as sold +his pension: he had fought in Spain with the Duke of Wellington. Well, +first his wife died, and they threw her into the sea; and then _he_ +died, and they threw _him_ into the sea; and then the children, one +after t'other, till only two were left alive; the eldest, a girl about +thirteen, who had nursed them all, one after another, and seen them +die--well, _she_ died, and then there was only the little fellow left." + +"And what became of him?" + +"He went back, as I heard, in the same ship with the captain." + +"And did you not think sometimes it might be your turn next." + +"No--I didn't; and then I was down with the fever." + +"What do you mean by _the fever?_" + +"Why, you see, I was looking at some fish that was going by the ship in +shoals, as they call it. It was very pretty, and I never saw anything +like it, and I stood watching over the ship's side all day long. It +poured rain, and I was wet through and through, and felt very cold, and +I went into my berth and pulled the blanket round me, and fell asleep. +After that I had the fever very bad. I didn't know when we landed at +Quebec, and after that I didn't know where we were for five weeks, nor +nothing." + +I assured him that this was only a natural and necessary consequence of +his own conduct, and took the opportunity to explain to him some of +those simple laws by which he held both health and existence, to all +which he listened with an intelligent look, and thanked me cordially, +adding,-- + +"Then I wonder I didn't die! and it was a great mercy I didn't." + +"I hope you will live to think so, and be thankful to Heaven. And so you +were detained at Quebec?" + +"Yes; my father had some money to receive of his pension, but what with +my illness and the expense of living, it soon went; and then he sold his +silver watch, and that brought us on to York--that's Toronto now. And +then there was a schooner provided by Government to take us on board, +and we had rations provided, and that brought us on to Port Stanley, far +below Port Talbot; and then they put us ashore, and we had to find our +way, and pay our way, to Delaware, where our lot of land was: that cost +eight dollars; and then we had nothing left--nothing at all. There were +nine hundred emigrants encamped about Delaware, no better off then +ourselves." + +"What did you do then? Had you not to build a house?" + +"No; the Government built each family a house, that is to say, a +log-hut, eighteen feet long, with a hole for the chimney; no glass in +the windows, and empty of course; not a bit of furniture, not even a +table or a chair." + +"And how did you live?" + +"Why, the first year, my father and us, we cleared a couple of acres, +and sowed wheat enough for next year." + +"But meantime you must have existed--and without food or money--?" + +"O, why we worked meantime on the roads, and got half a dollar a day and +rations." + +"It must have been rather a hard life?" + +"_Hard!_ yes, I believe it was; why, many of them couldn't stand it, no +ways. Some died; and then there were the poor children and the women--it +was very bad for them. Some wouldn't sit down on their land at all; they +lost all heart to see everywhere trees, and trees, and nothing besides. +And then they didn't know nothing of farming--how should they? being +soldiers by trade. There was one Jim Grey, of father's regiment--he +didn't know how to handle his axe, but he could handle his gun well; so +he went and shot deer, and sold them to the others; but one day we +missed him, and he never came back; and we thought the bears had got +him, or may be he cleared off to Michigan--there's no knowing." + +"And your father?" + +"O, _he_ stuck to his land, and he has now five acres cleared: and he's +planted a bit of a garden, and he has two cows and a calf, and two pigs; +and he's got his house comfortable--and stopped up the holes, and built +himself a chimney." + +"That's well; but why are you not with him?" + +"O, he married again, and he's got two children, and I didn't like my +stepmother, because she didn't use my sisters well, and so I came away." + +"Where are your sisters now?" + +"Both out at service, and they get good wages; one gets four, and the +other gets five dollars a month. Then I've a brother younger than +myself, and he's gone to work with a shoe-maker at London. But the man +drinks hard--like a great many here--and I'm afeard my brother will +learn to drink, and that frets me; and he won't come away, though I +could get him a good place any day--no want of places here and good +wages too." + +"What wages do you receive?" + +"Seven dollars a month and my board. Next month I shall have eight." + +"I hope you put by some of your wages?" + +"Why, I bought a yoke of steers for my father last fall, as cost me +thirty dollars, but they wont be fit for ploughing these two years." + +(I should inform you, perhaps, that a yoke of oxen fit for ploughing +costs about eighty dollars.) + +I pointed out to him the advantages of his present situation, compared +with what might have been his fate in the old country, and urged him to +avoid all temptations to drink, which he promised. + +"You can read, I suppose?" + +He hesitated and looked down. "I can read in the Testament a little. I +never had no other book. But this winter," looking up brightly,--"I +intend to give myself some schooling. A man who has reading and writing, +and a pair of hands, and keeps sober, may make a fortune here--and so +will I, with God's blessing!" + +Here he gave his whip a very expressive flourish. We were now near the +summit of a hill, which he called Bear Hill; the people, he said, gave +it that name because of the number of bears which used to be found here. +Nothing could exceed the beauty and variety of the timber trees, +intermingled with most luxuriant underwood, and festooned with the wild +grape and flowering creepers. It was some time, he said, since a bear +had been shot in these woods; but only last spring one of his comrades +had found a bear's cub, which he had fed and taken care of, and had sold +within the last few weeks to a travelling menagerie of wild beasts for +five dollars. + +[Footnote 10: Of the commuted pensioners, and their fate in Canada, more +will be said hereafter.] + + + THE FUTURE OF CANADA. + +On reaching the summit of this hill, I found myself on the highest land +I had yet stood upon in Canada, with the exception of Queenston heights. +I stopped the horses and looked around, and on every side, far and near, +east, west, north, and south, it was all forest--a boundless sea of +forest, within whose leafy recesses lay hidden as infinite variety of +life and movement as within the depths of the ocean; and it reposed in +the noontide so still and so vast! _Here_ the bright sunshine rested on +it in floods of golden light; _there_ cloud-shadows sped over its +bosom, just like the effects I remember to have seen on the Atlantic; +and here and there rose wreaths of white smoke from the new clearings +which, collected into little silver clouds, and hung suspended in the +quiet air. + +I gazed and meditated till, by a process like that of the Arabian +sorcerer of old, the present fell like a film from my eyes: the future +was before me, with its towns and cities, fields of waving grain, green +lawns and villas, and churches, and temples--turret-crowned: and meadows +tracked by the frequent foot-path; and railroads, with trains of rich +merchandise steaming along:--for all this _will_ be! Will be? _It is_ +already in the sight of Him who hath ordained it, and for whom there is +no past nor future: though I cannot behold it with my bodily vision, +even _now_ it is. + +But is _that_ NOW better than _this_ present NOW? When these forests, +with all their solemn depth of shade and multitudinous life have fallen +beneath the axe--when the wolf, and bear, and deer are driven from their +native coverts, and all this infinitude of animal and vegetable being +has made way for restless, erring, suffering humanity, will it then be +better? _Better_--I know not; but surely it will be _well_, and right in +His eyes who has ordained that thus the course of things shall run. +Those who see nothing in civilised life but its complicated cares, +mistakes, vanities, and miseries, may doubt this--or despair. For +myself, I am of those who believe and hope; who behold in progressive +civilisation, progressive happiness, progressive approximation to nature +and to nature's God; for are we not in His hands?--and all that He does +is good. + +Contemplations such as these were in my mind as we descended the Hill of +Bears, and proceeded through a beautiful plain, sometimes richly wooded, +sometimes opening into clearings and cultivated farms, on which were +usually compact farm-houses, each flanked by a barn three times as large +as the house, till we came on to a place called Five Stakes, where I +found two or three tidy cottages, and procured some bread and milk. The +road here was no longer so good, and we travelled slowly and with +difficulty for some miles. About five o'clock we reached St. Thomas, +one of the prettiest places I had yet seen. Here I found two or three +inns, and at one of them, styled the "Mansion House Hotel," I ordered +tea for myself and good entertainment for my young driver and his +horses, and then walked out. + + + ST. THOMAS. + +St. Thomas is situated on a high eminence, to which the ascent is rather +abrupt. The view from it, over a fertile, well settled country, is very +beautiful and cheering. The place bears the christian name of Colonel +Talbot, who styles it his capital, and, from a combination of +advantages, it is rising fast into importance. The climate, from its +high position, is delicious and healthful; and the winters in this part +of the province are milder by several degrees than elsewhere. At the +foot of the cliff, or eminence, runs a deep rapid stream, called the +Kettle Creek[11] (I wish they had given it a prettier name), which, +after a course of eight miles, and turning a variety of saw-mills, +grist-mills, &c., flows into Lake Erie, at Port Stanley, one of the best +harbours on this side of the lake. Here steam-boats and schooners land +their passengers and merchandise, or load with grain, flour, and lumber. +The roads are good all round; and the Talbot road, carried directly +through the town, is the finest in the province. This road runs nearly +parallel with Lake Erie, from thirty miles below Port Stanley, westward +as far as Delaware. The population of St. Thomas is at present rated at +seven hundred, and it has doubled within two years. There are three +churches, one of which is very neat; and three taverns. Two newspapers +are published here, one violently tory, the other as violently radical. +I found several houses building, and, in those I entered, a general air +of cheerfulness and well-being very pleasing to contemplate. There is +here an excellent manufacture of cabinet ware and furniture: some +articles of the black walnut, a tree abounding here, appeared to me more +beautiful in colour and grain than the finest mahogany; and the elegant +veining of the maplewood cannot be surpassed. I wish they were +sufficiently the fashion in England to make the transport worth while. +Here I have seen whole piles, nay, whole forests of such trees, burning +together. + +I was very much struck with this beautiful and cheerful little town, +more, I think, than with any place I have yet seen. + +By the time my horses were refreshed, it was near seven o clock. The +distance from Port Talbot is about twelve miles, but hearing the road +was good, I resolved to venture. The sky looked turbulent and stormy, +but luckily the storm was moving one way while I was moving another; +and, except a little sprinkling from the tail of a cloud, we escaped +very well. + +The road presented on either side a succession of farm-houses and +well-cultivated farms. Near the houses there was generally a patch of +ground planted with Indian corn and pumpkins, and sometimes a few +cabbages and potatoes. I do not recollect to have seen one garden, or +the least attempt to cultivate flowers. + +The goodness of the road is owing to the systematic regulations of +Colonel Talbot. Throughout the whole "country" none can obtain land +without first applying to him, and the price and conditions are uniform +and absolute. The lands are divided into lots of two hundred acres, and +to each settler fifty acres are given gratis, and one hundred and fifty +at three dollars an acre. Each settler must clear and sow ten acres of +land, build a house (a log-hut of eighteen feet in length), and +construct one chain of road in front of his house, within three years; +failing in this, he forfeits his deed. + +Colonel Talbot does not like gentlemen settlers, nor will he have any +settlements within a certain distance of his own domain. He never +associates with the people except on one grand occasion, the anniversary +of the foundation of his settlement. This is celebrated at St. Thomas by +a festive meeting of the most respectable settlers, and the colonel +himself opens the ball with one of the ladies, generally showing his +taste by selecting the youngest and prettiest. + +The evening now began to close in, night came on, with the stars and the +fair young moon in her train. I felt much fatigued, and my driver +appeared to be out in his reckoning--that is, with regard to +distance--for luckily he could not miss the _way_, there being but one. +I stopped a man who was trudging along with an axe on his shoulder, "How +far to Colonel Talbot's?" "About three miles and a half." This was +encouraging; but a quarter of an hour afterwards, on asking the same +question of another, he replied, "About seven miles." A third informed +me that it was about three miles beyond Major Burwell's. The next person +I met advised me to put up at "Waters's," and not think of going any +farther to-night; however, on arriving at Mr. Waters's hotel, I was not +particularly charmed with the prospect of a night's rest within its +precincts. It was a long-shaped wooden house, comfortless in appearance; +a number of men were drinking at the bar, and sounds of revelry issued +from the open door. I requested my driver to proceed, which he did with +all willingness. + +We had travelled nearly the whole day through open, well-cleared land, +more densely peopled than any part of the province I had seen since I +left the Niagara district. Suddenly we came upon a thick wood, through +which the road ran due west, in a straight line. The shadows fell deeper +and deeper from the depth of foliage on either side, and I could not see +a yard around, but exactly before me the last gleam of twilight lingered +where the moon was setting. Once or twice I was startled by seeing a +deer bound across the path, his large antlers being for one instant +defined, _pencilled_, as it were, against the sky, then lost. The +darkness fell deeper every moment, the silence more solemn. The +whip-poor-will began his melancholy cry, and an owl sent forth a +prolonged shriek, which, if I had not heard it before, would have +frightened me. After a while my driver stopped and listened, and I could +plainly hear the tinkling of cow-bells, I thought this a good sign, till +the boy reminded me that it was the custom of the settlers to turn their +cattle loose in the summer to seek their own food, and that they often +strayed miles from the clearing. + +[Footnote 11: When I remonstrated against this name for so beautiful a +stream, Colonel Talbot told me that his first settlers had found a +kettle on the bank, left by some Indians, and had given the river, from +this slight circumstance, a name which he had not thought it worth while +to alter.] + + + THE TALBOT COUNTRY. + +We were proceeding along our dark path very slowly, for fear of +accidents, when I heard the approaching tread of a horse, and the +welcome sound of a man whistling. The boy hailed him with some +impatience in his voice, "I say!--mister! whereabouts _is_ Colonel +Talbot's?" + +"The Colonel's? why, straight afore you;--follow your nose, you +buzzard!" + +Here I interposed. "Be so good, friend, as to inform me how far we are +yet from Colonel Talbot's house?" + +"Who have you got here?" cried the man in surprise. + +"A lady, comed over the sea to visit the Colonel." + +"Then," said the man, approaching my carriage--my cart, I should +say--with much respect, "I guess you're the lady that the Colonel has +been looking out for this week past. Why, I've been three times to St. +Thomas's with the team after you!" + +"I'm very sorry you've had the trouble!" + +"O, no trouble at all--shall I ride back and tell him you're coming?" + +This I declined, for the poor man was evidently going home to his +supper. + +To hear that the formidable Colonel was anxiously expecting me was very +encouraging, and, from the man's description, I supposed that we were +close to the house. Not so; the road, mocking my impatience, took so +many bends, and sweeps, and windings, up hill and down hill, that it was +an eternity before we arrived. The Colonel piques himself exceedingly on +this graceful and picturesque approach to his residence, and not without +reason; but on the present occasion I could have preferred a line more +direct to the line of beauty. The darkness, which concealed its charms, +left me sensible only to its length. + +On ascending some high ground, a group of buildings was dimly descried. +And after oversetting part of a snake-fence before we found an entrance, +we drove up to the door. Lights were gleaming in the windows, and the +Colonel sallied forth with prompt gallantry to receive me. + +My welcome was not only cordial, but courtly. The Colonel, taking me +under his arm, and ordering the boy and his horses to be well taken +care of, handed me into the hall or vestibule, where sacks of wheat and +piles of sheepskins lay heaped in primitive fashion; thence into a room, +the walls of which were formed of naked logs. Here no fauteuil, +spring-cushioned, extended its comfortable arms--no sofa here +"insidiously stretched out its lazy length;" Colonel Talbot held all +such luxuries in sovereign contempt. In front of a capacious chimney +stood a long wooden table, flanked with two wooden chairs, cut from the +forest in the midst of which they now stood. To one of these the Colonel +handed me, with the air of a courtier, and took the other himself. Like +all men who live out of the world, he retained a lively curiosity as to +what was passing in it, and I was pressed with a profusion of questions +as well as hospitable attentions; but wearied, exhausted, aching in +every nerve, the spirit with which I had at first met him in his own +style, was fast ebbing. I could neither speak nor eat, and was soon +dismissed to repose. + +With courteous solicitude, he ushered me himself to the door of a +comfortable, well furnished bed room, where a fire blazed cheerfully, +where female hands had evidently presided to arrange my toilet, and +where female aid awaited me;--so much had the good Colonel been +calumniated! + + * * * * * + + + COLONEL TALBOT. + + ---- You shall + Go forth upon your arduous task alone, + None shall assist you, none partake your toil, + None share your triumph! still you must retain + Some one to trust your glory to--to share + Your rapture with. Browning's Paracelsus. + + Port Talbot, July 10. + +"Man is, properly speaking, based upon hope. He has no other possession +but hope. This world of his is emphatically the place of hope:"[12] and +more emphatically than of any other spot on the face of the globe, it is +true of this new world of ours, in which I am now a traveller and a +sojourner. This is the land of hope, of faith, aye, and of charity, for +a man who hath not all three had better not come here:--with them he +may, by strength of his own right hand and trusting heart, achieve +miracles: witness Colonel Talbot. + +Of the four days in which I have gone wandering and wondering up and +down, let me now tell you something--_all_ I cannot tell you; for the +information I have gained, and the reflections and feelings which have +passed through my mind would fill a volume--and I have little time for +scribbling. + +And first of Colonel Talbot himself. This remarkable man is now about +sixty-five, perhaps more, but he does not look so much. In spite of his +rustic dress, his good-humoured, jovial, weather-beaten face, and the +primitive simplicity, not to say rudeness, of his dwelling, he has in +his features, air, and deportment, that _something_ which stamps him +gentleman. And that _something_ which thirty-four years of solitude has +not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth, things of more +consequence, when philosophically and philanthropically considered, than +we are apt to allow. + +He came out to Upper Canada as aide-de-camp to Governor Simcoe in 1793, +and accompanied the governor on the first expedition he made to survey +the western district, in search (as it was said) of an eligible site for +the new capital he was then projecting. At this time the whole of the +beautiful and fertile region situated between the lakes was a vast +wilderness. It contained not one white settler, except along the +borders, and on the coast opposite to Detroit: a few wandering tribes of +Hurons and Chippewas, and the Six Nations settled on Grand River, were +its only inhabitants. + +It was then that the idea of founding a colony took possession of +Colonel Talbot's mind, and became the ruling passion and sole interest +of his future life. I had always heard and read of him, as the +"eccentric" Colonel Talbot. Of his eccentricity I heard much more than +of his benevolence, his invincible courage, his enthusiasm, his +perseverance; but, perhaps, according to the wordly nomenclature, these +qualities come under the general head of "eccentricity," when devotion +to a favourite object cannot possibly be referred to self-interest. + +On his return to England, he asked and obtained a grant of 100,000 acres +of land along the shores of Lake Erie, on condition of placing a settler +on every two hundred acres. He came out again in 1802, and took +possession of his domain, in the heart of the wilderness. Of the life he +led for the first sixteen years, and the difficulties and obstacles he +encountered, he drew, in his discourse with me, a strong, I might say a +_terrible_ picture: and observe that it was not a life of wild, +wandering freedom--the life of an Indian hunter, which is said to be so +fascinating that "no man who has ever followed it for any length of +time, _ever_ voluntarily returns to civilised society!"[13] Colonel +Talbot's life has been one of persevering, heroic self-devotion to the +completion of a magnificent plan, laid down in the first instance, and +followed up with unflinching tenacity of purpose. For sixteen years he +saw scarce a human being, except the few boors and blacks employed in +clearing and logging his land: he himself assumed the blanket-coat and +axe, slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty +woodsmen, cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows, +churned the butter, and made and baked the bread. In this latter branch +of household economy he became very expert, and still piques himself on +it. + +To all these heterogeneous functions of sowing and reaping, felling and +planting, frying, boiling, washing and wringing, brewing and baking, he +added another, even more extraordinary;--for many years he solemnised +all the marriages in his district! + +While Europe was converted into a vast battle-field, an arena + + "Where distract ambition compassed + And was encompass'd," + +and his brothers in arms, the young men who had begun the career of life +with him, were reaping bloody laurels, to be gazetted in the list of +killed and wounded, as heroes--then forgotten;--Colonel Talbot, a true +hero after another fashion, was encountering, amid the forest solitude, +uncheered by sympathy, unbribed by fame, enemies far more formidable, +and earning a far purer, as well as a more real and lasting immortality. + +Besides natural obstacles, he met with others far more trying to his +temper and patience. His continual quarrels with the successive +governors, who were jealous of the independent power he exercised in his +own territory, are humorously alluded to by Dr. Dunlop. + +"After fifteen years of unremitting labour and privation," says the +Doctor, "it became so notorious in the province, that even the executive +government at Toronto became aware that there was such a place as the +Talbot Settlement, where roads were cut and farms in progress; and +hereupon they rejoiced--for it held out to them just what they had long +felt the want of, a well-settled, opened, and cultivated country, +wherein to obtain estates for themselves, their children, born and +unborn, and their whole kith, kin, and allies. When this idea, so +creditable to the paternal feelings of these worthy gentlemen, was +intimated to the Colonel, he could not be brought to see the fitness of +things in an arrangement which would confer on the next generation, or +the next again, the fruits of the labour of the present; and +accordingly, though his answer to the proposal was not couched in terms +quite so diplomatic as might have been wished, it was brief, +soldier-like, and not easily capable of misconstruction; it was in these +words--'I'll be d--d if you get one foot of land here;' and thereupon +the parties joined issue. + +"On this, war was declared against him by his Excellency in council, and +every means were used to annoy him here, and misrepresent his +proceedings at home; but he stood firm, and by an occasional visit to +the Colonial Office in England, he opened the eyes of ministers to the +proceedings of both parties, and for a while averted the danger. At +length, some five years ago, finding the enemy was getting too strong +for him, he repaired once more to England, and returned in triumph with +an order from the Colonial Office, that nobody was in any way to +interfere with his proceedings; and he has now the pleasure of +contemplating some hundreds of miles of the best roads in the province, +closely settled on each side by the most prosperous farmers within its +bounds, who owe all they possess to his judgment, enthusiasm, and +perseverance, and who are grateful to him in proportion to the benefits +he has bestowed upon them, though in many instances, sorely against +their will at the time." + +The original grant must have been much extended; for the territory now +under Colonel Talbot's management, and bearing the general name of the +Talbot Country, contains, according to the list I have in his own +handwriting, twenty-eight townships, and about 650,000 acres of land, of +which 98,700 are cleared and cultivated. The inhabitants, including the +population of the towns, amount to about 50,000. "You see," said he +gaily, "I may boast, like the Irishman in the farce, of having peopled a +whole country with my own hands." + +He has built his house, like the eagle his eyry, on a bold high cliff +overhanging the lake. On the east there is a precipitous descent into a +wild, woody ravine, along the bottom of which winds a gentle stream, +till it steals into the lake: this stream is in winter a raging torrent. +The storms and the gradual action of the waves have detached large +portions of the cliff in front of the house, and with them huge trees. +Along the lake-shore I found trunks and roots of trees half buried in +the sand, or half overflowed with water, which I often mistook for +rocks. I remember one large tree which, in falling headlong, still +remained suspended by its long and strong fibres to the cliff above. Its +position was now reversed: the top hung downwards, shivered and denuded; +the large spread root, upturned, formed a platform, on which new earth +had accumulated, and a new vegetation sprung forth, of flowers, and +bushes, and sucklings. Altogether it was a most picturesque and curious +object. + +Lake Erie, as the geography book says, is two hundred and eighty miles +long, and here, at Port Talbot, which is near the centre, about seventy +miles across. The Colonel tells me that it has been more than once +frozen over from side to side; but I do not see how this fact could be +ascertained, as no one has been known to cross to the opposite shore on +the ice. It is true that more ice accumulates in this lake than in any +other of the great lakes, by reason of its shallowness: it can be +sounded through its whole extent, while the other lakes are found in +some parts unfathomable. + +But to return to the château. It is a long wooden building, chiefly of +rough logs, with a covered porch running along the south side. Here I +found suspended, among sundry implements of husbandry, one of those +ferocious animals of the feline kind, called here the cat-a-mountain, +and by some the American tiger, or panther, which it more resembles. +This one, which had been killed in its attack on the fold or +poultry-yard, was at least four feet in length, and glared on me from +the rafters above ghastly and horrible. The interior of the house +contains several comfortable lodging-rooms, and one really handsome one, +the dining-room. There is a large kitchen with a tremendously hospitable +chimney; and underground are cellars for storing wine, milk, and +provisions. Around the house stands a vast variety of outbuildings of +all imaginable shapes and sizes, and disposed without the slightest +regard to order or symmetry. One of these is the very log hut which the +Colonel erected for shelter when he first "sat down in the bush," +four-and-thirty years ago, and which he is naturally unwilling to +remove. Many of these outbuildings are to shelter the geese and poultry, +of which he rears an innumerable quantity. Beyond these is the cliff, +looking over the wide blue lake, on which I have counted six schooners +at a time with their white sails. On the left is Port Stanley. Behind +the house lies an open tract of land, prettily broken and varied, where +large flocks of sheep and cattle are feeding, the whole enclosed by +beautiful and luxuriant woods, through which runs the little creek or +river above mentioned. + +The farm consists of six hundred acres; but as the Colonel is not quite +so active as he used to be, and does not employ a bailiff or overseer, +the management is said to be slovenly, and not so productive as it might +be. + +He has sixteen acres of orchard-ground, in which he has planted and +reared with success all the common European fruits, as apples, pears, +plums, cherries, in abundance; but what delighted me beyond everything +else, was a garden of more than two acres, very neatly laid out and +enclosed, and in which he evidently took exceeding pride and pleasure; +it was the first thing he showed me after my arrival. It abounds in +roses of different kinds, the cuttings of which he had brought himself +from England in the few visits he had made there. Of these he gathered +the most beautiful buds, and presented them to me with such an air as +might have become Dick Talbot presenting a bouquet to Miss Jennings.[14] +We then sat down on a pretty seat under a tree, where he told me he +often came to meditate. He described the appearance of the spot when he +first came here as contrasted with its present appearance, or we +discussed the exploits of some of his celebrated and gallant ancestors, +with whom my acquaintance was (luckily) almost as intimate as his own. +Family and aristocratic pride I found a prominent feature in the +character of this remarkable man. A Talbot of Malahide, of a family +representing the same barony from father to son for six hundred years, +he set, not unreasonably, a high value on his noble and unstained +lineage; and, in his lonely position, the simplicity of his life and +manners lent to these lofty and not unreal pretensions a kind of +poetical dignity. + +I told him of the surmises of the people relative to his early life and +his motives for emigrating, at which he laughed. + +"Charlevoix," said he, "was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to +this place. You know he calls this the 'Paradise of the Hurons.' Now I +was resolved to get to paradise by hook or by crook, and so I came +here." + +He added, more seriously, "I have accomplished what I resolved to do--it +is done; but I would not, if any one was to offer me the universe, go +through again the _horrors_ I have undergone in forming this +settlement. But do not imagine I repent it; I like my retirement." + +He then broke out against the follies, and falsehoods, and restrictions +of artificial life, in bitter and scornful terms; no ascetic monk or +_radical_ philosopher could have been more eloquently indignant. + +I said it was granted to few to live a life of such complete retirement, +and at the same time such general utility; in flying from the world, he +had benefited it: and I added, that I was glad to see him so happy. + +"Why, yes, I'm very happy here." And then the old man sighed. + +I understood that sigh, and in my heart echoed it. No, "it is not good +for man to be alone;" and this law, which the Father of all life +pronounced himself at man's creation, was never yet violated with +impunity. Never yet was the human being withdrawn from, or elevated +above, the social wants and sympathies of his human nature, without +paying a tremendous price for such isolated independence. + +With all my admiration for what this extraordinary man has achieved, and +the means, the powers, through which he has achieved it, there mingles a +feeling of commiseration which has more than once brought the tears to +my eyes while listening to him. He has passed his life in worse than +solitude. He will admit no equal in his vicinity. His only intercourse +has been with inferiors and dependents, whose servility he despised, and +whose resistance enraged him--men whose interests rested on his +favour--on his will, from which there was no appeal. Hence despotic +habits, and contempt even for those whom he benefited; hence, with much +natural benevolence and generosity, a total disregard, or rather total +ignorance, of the feelings of others--all the disadvantages, in short, +of royalty, only on a smaller scale. Now, in his old age, where is to +him the solace of age? He has honour, power, obedience; but where are +the love, the troops of friends, which also should accompany old age? He +is alone--a lonely man. His constitution has suffered by the dreadful +toils and privations of his earlier life. His sympathies have had no +natural outlet; his affections have wanted their natural food. He +suffers, I think; and not being given to general or philosophical +reasoning, causes and effects are felt, not known. But he is a great man +who has done great things; and the good which he has done will live +after him. He has planted, at a terrible sacrifice, an enduring name and +fame, and will be commemorated in this "brave new world," this land of +hope, as Triptolemus among the Greeks. + +For his indifference or dislike to female society, and his determination +to have no settler within a certain distance of his own residence, I +could easily account when I knew the man; both seemed to me the natural +result of certain habits of life acting upon a certain organisation. He +has a favourite servant, Jeffrey by name, who has served him faithfully +for more than five-and-twenty years, ever since he left off cleaning his +own shoes and mending his own coat. This honest fellow, not having +forsworn female companionship, began to sigh after a wife-- + + "A wife! ah! Saint Marie Benedicité, + How might a man have any adversité + That hath a wife?" + +And, like the good knight in Chaucer, he did + + "Upon his bare knees pray God him to send + A wife to last unto his life's end." + +So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at +hand--one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her +virtues, for most certainly it was not for her attractions. The Colonel +swore at him for a fool; but, after a while, Jeffrey, who is a +favourite, smuggled his wife into the house; and the Colonel, whose +increasing age renders him rather more dependent on household help, +seems to endure very patiently this addition to his family, and even the +presence of a white-headed chubby little thing, which I found running +about without let or hindrance. + +The room into which I first introduced you, with its rough log-walls, is +Colonel Talbot's library and hall of audience. On leaving my apartment +in the morning, I used to find groups of strange figures lounging round +the door, ragged, black-bearded, gaunt, travel-worn and toil-worn +emigrants, Irish, Scotch, and American, come to offer themselves as +settlers. These he used to call his land-pirates; and curious, and +characteristic, and dramatic beyond description, were the scenes which +used to take place between this grand bashaw of the wilderness and his +hungry, importunate clients and petitioners. + +Another thing which gave a singular interest to my conversations with +Colonel Talbot was, the sort of indifference with which he regarded all +the stirring events of the last thirty years. Dynasties rose and +disappeared; kingdoms were passed from hand to hand like wine decanters; +battles were lost and won;--he neither knew, nor heard, nor cared. No +post, no newspaper brought to his forest-hut the tidings of victory and +defeat, of revolutions of empires, "or rumours of unsuccessful and +successful war." + +When he first took to the bush, Napoleon was consul; when he emerged +from his solitude, the tremendous game of ambition had been played out, +and Napoleon and his deeds and his dynasty were numbered with the things +o'erpast. With the stream of events had flowed by equally unmarked the +stream of mind, thought, literature--the progress of social +improvement--the changes in public opinion. Conceive what a gulf between +us! but though I could go to him, he could not come to me--my sympathies +had the wider range of the two. + +The principal foreign and domestic events of his _reign_ are the last +American war, in which he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by a +detachment of the enemy, who ransacked his house, and drove off his +horses and cattle; and a visit which he received some years ago from +three young Englishmen of rank and fortune, Lord Stanley, Mr. Stuart +Wortley, and Mr. Labouchere, who spent some weeks with him. These +events, and his voyages to England, seemed to be the epochs from which +he dated. From these occasional flights he returns like an old eagle to +his perch on the cliff, whence he looks down upon the world he has +quitted with supreme contempt and indifference, and around that on which +he has created, with much self-applause and self-gratulation. + +[Footnote 12: Vide Sartor Resartus.] + +[Footnote 13: Dr. Dunlop.] + +[Footnote 14: Dick Talbot married Frances Jennings--la belle Jennings of +De Grammont's Memoirs, and elder sister of the celebrated Duchess of +Marlborough.] + + * * * * * + + + PORT TALBOT. + +It was not till the sixth day of my sojourn at Port Talbot that the good +Colonel could be persuaded to allow of my departure. + +He told me, with good-humoured peremptoriness, that he was the grand +autocrat of the forest, and that to presume to order horses, or take any +step towards departing, without his express permission, was against "his +laws." At last he was so good as to issue his commands--with flattering +reluctance, however--that a vehicle should be prepared, and a trusty +guide provided; and I bade farewell to this extraordinary man with a +mixture of delighted, and grateful, and melancholy feelings not easily +to be described, nor ever forgotten. + +My next journey was from Port Talbot to Chatham on the river Thames, +whence it was my intention to cross Lake St. Clair to Detroit, and there +take my chance of a vessel going up Lake Huron to Machinaw. I should, +however, advise any future traveller, not limited to any particular time +or plan of observation, to take the road along the shore of the Lake to +Amherstberg and Sandwich, instead of turning off to Chatham. During the +first day's journey I was promised a good road, as it lay through the +Talbot settlements; what was to become of me the second day seemed a +very doubtful matter. + +The best vehicle which the hospitality and influence of Colonel Talbot +could provide was a farmer's cart or team, with two stout horses. The +bottom of the cart was well filled with clean soft straw, on which my +luggage was deposited. A seat was slung for me on straps, and another in +front for the driver, who had been selected from among the most +respectable settlers in the neighbourhood as a fit guide and protector +for a lone woman. The charge for the two days' journey was to be twelve +dollars. + +As soon as I had a little recovered from the many thoughts and feelings +which came over me as we drove down the path from Colonel Talbot's +house, I turned to take a survey of my driver, and from his physiognomy, +his deportment, and the tone of his voice, to divine, if I could, what +chance I had of comfort during the next two days. The survey was, on +the whole, encouraging, though presenting some inconsistencies I could +by no means reconcile. His dress and figure were remarkably neat, though +plain and homely; his broad-brimmed straw hat, encircled with a green +ribbon, was pulled over his brow, and from beneath it peered two +sparkling, intelligent eyes. His accent was decidedly Irish. It was +indeed a brogue as "nate and complate" as ever was sent forth from Cork +or Kerry; but then his face was not an Irish face; its expression had +nothing of the Irish character; the cut of his features, and his manner +and figure altogether in no respect harmonised with his voice and +accent. + + + JOURNEY TO CHATHAM. + +After proceeding about three miles, we stopped in front of a neat +farmhouse, surrounded with a garden and spacious outbuildings, and forth +came a very pretty and modest-looking young woman, with a lovely child +in her arms, and leading another by the hand. It was the wife of my +driver; and I must confess she did not seem well pleased to have him +taken away from her. They evidently parted with reluctance. She gave him +many special charges to take care of himself, and commissions to execute +by the way. The children were then held up to be kissed heartily by +their father, and we drove off. This little family scene interested me, +and augured well, I thought, for my own chances of comfort and +protection. + +When we had jogged and jolted on at a reasonable pace for some time, and +I had felt my way sufficiently, I began to make some inquiries into the +position and circumstances of my companion. The first few words +explained those discrepancies in his features, voice, and appearance, +which had struck me. + +His grandfather was a Frenchman. His father had married an Irishwoman, +and settled in consequence in the south of Ireland. He became, after +some changes of fortune, a grazier and cattle-dealer; and having +realised a small capital which could not be safely or easily invested in +the old country, he had brought out his whole family, and settled his +sons on farms in this neighbourhood. Many of the first settlers about +this place, generally emigrants of the poorest and lowest description, +after clearing a certain portion of the land, gladly disposed of their +farms at an advanced price; and thus it is that a considerable +improvement has taken place within these few years by the introduction +of settlers of a higher grade, who have purchased half-cleared farms, +rather than waste toil and time on the wild land. + +My new friend, John B----, had a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, +for which, with a log-house and barn upon it, he had paid 800 dollars +(about 200_l._); he has now one hundred acres of land cleared and laid +down in pasture. This is the first instance I have met with in these +parts of a grazing farm, the land being almost uniformly arable, and the +staple produce of the country, wheat. He told me that he and his brother +had applied most advantageously their knowledge of the management and +rearing of live stock; he had now thirty cows and eighty sheep. His wife +being clever in the dairy, he was enabled to sell a good deal of butter +and cheese off his farm, which the neighbourhood of Port Stanley enabled +him to ship with advantage. The wolves, he said, were his greatest +annoyance; during the last winter they had carried off eight of his +sheep and thirteen of his brother's flock, in spite of all their +precautions. + +The Canadian wolf is about the size of a mastiff, in colour of a dirty +yellowish brown, with a black stripe along his back, and a bushy tail of +about a foot in length. His habits are those of the European wolf; they +are equally bold, "hungry, and gaunt, and grim,"--equally destructive, +ferocious, and troublesome to the farmer. The Canadian wolves hunt in +packs, and their perpetual howling during the winter nights has often +been described to me as frightful. The reward given by the magistracy +for their destruction (six dollars for each wolf's head) is not enough. +In the United States the reward is fifteen and twenty dollars a head, +and from their new settlements the wolves are quickly extirpated. +_Here_, if they would extend the reward to the Indians, it would be of +some advantage; for at present they never think it worth while to expend +their powder and shot on an animal whose flesh is uneatable, and the +skin of little value; and there can be no doubt that it is the interest +of the settlers to get rid of the wolves by all and any means. I have +never heard of their destroying a man, but they are the terror of the +sheepfold--as the wild cats are of the poultry yard. Bears become +scarcer in proportion as the country is cleared, but there are still a +great number in the vast tracts of forest land which afford them +shelter. These, in the severe winters, advance to the borders of the +settlements, and carry off the pigs and young cattle. Deer still abound, +and venison is common food in the cottages and farmhouses. + +My guide concluded his accounts of himself by an eloquent and heartfelt +eulogium on his wife, to whom, as he assured me, "he owed all his _peace +of mind_ from the hour he was married!" Few men, I thought, could say +the same. _She_, at least, is not to be numbered among the drooping and +repining women of Upper Canada; but then she has left no family--no home +on the other side of the Atlantic--all her near relations are settled +here in the neighbourhood. + + + SETTLERS IN THE BUSH. + +The road continued very tolerable during the greater part of this day, +running due west, at a distance of about six or ten miles from the shore +of Lake Erie. On either side I met a constant succession of farms +partially cleared, and in cultivation, but no village, town, or hamlet. +One part of the country through which I passed to-day is settled chiefly +by Highlanders, who bring hither all their clannish attachments, and +their thrifty, dirty habits--add also their pride and their honesty. We +stopped about noon at one of these Highland settlements, to rest the +horses and procure refreshments. The house was called Campbell's Inn, +and consisted of a log-hut and a cattle-shed. A long pole, stuck into +the decayed stump of a tree in front of the hut, served for a sign. The +family spoke nothing but Gaelic; a brood of children, ragged, dirty, and +without shoes or stockings (which latter I found hanging against the +wall of the best room, as if for a show), were running about--and all +stared upon me with a sort of half-scared, uncouth curiosity, which was +quite savage. With some difficulty I made my wants understood, and +procured some milk and Indian corn cakes. This family, notwithstanding +their wretched appearance, might be considered prosperous. They have a +property of two hundred acres of excellent land, of which sixty acres +are cleared, and in cultivation: five cows and forty sheep. They have +been settled here sixteen years,--had come out destitute, and obtained +their land gratis. For them, what a change from abject poverty and want +to independence and plenty! But the advantages are all outward; if there +be any inward change, it is apparently retrogradation, not advancement. + +I know it has been laid down as a principle, that the more and the +closer men are congregated together, the more prevalent is vice of every +kind; and that an isolated or scattered population is favourable to +virtue and simplicity. It may be so, if you are satisfied with negative +virtues and the simplicity of ignorance. But here, where a small +population is scattered over a wide extent of fruitful country, where +there is not a village or a hamlet for twenty, or thirty, or forty miles +together--where there are no manufactories--where there is almost entire +equality of condition--where the means of subsistence are +abundant--where there is no landed aristocracy--no poor laws, nor poor +rates, to grind the souls and the substance of the people between them, +till nothing remains but chaff,--to what shall we attribute the gross +vices, the profligacy, the stupidity, and basely vulgar habits of a +great part of the people, who know not even how to enjoy or turn to +profit the inestimable advantages around them?--And, alas for them! +there seems to be no one as yet to take an interest about them, or at +least infuse a new spirit into the next generation. In one log-hut in +the very heart of the wilderness, where I might well have expected +primitive manners and simplicity, I found vulgar finery, vanity, +affectation, under the most absurd and disgusting forms, combined with a +want of the commonest physical comforts of life, and the total absence +of even elementary knowledge. In another, I have seen drunkenness, +profligacy, stolid indifference to all religion; and in another, the +most senseless fanaticism. There are people, I know, who think--who +fear, that the advancement of knowledge and civilisation must be the +increase of vice and insubordination; who deem that a scattered +agricultural population, where there is a sufficiency of daily food for +the body; where no schoolmaster interferes to infuse ambition and +discontent into the abject, self-satisfied mind; where the labourer +reads not, writes not, thinks not--only loves, hates, prays, and +toils--that such a state must be a sort of Arcadia. Let them come +here!--there is no march of intellect here!--there is no "schoolmaster +abroad" here! And what are the consequences? Not the most agreeable to +contemplate, believe me. + +I passed in these journeys some school-houses built by the way side: of +these, several were shut up for want of schoolmasters; and who that +could earn a subsistence in any other way, would be a schoolmaster in +the wilds of Upper Canada? Ill fed, ill clothed, ill paid, or not paid +at all--boarded at the houses of the different farmers in turn, I found, +indeed, some few men, poor creatures! always either Scotch or Americans, +and totally unfit for the office they had undertaken. Of female teachers +I found none whatever, except in the towns. Among all the excellent +societies in London for the advancement of religion and education, are +there none to send missionaries here?--such missionaries as we want, be +it understood--not sectarian fanatics. Here, without means of +instruction, of social amusement, of healthy and innocent +excitements--can we wonder that whisky and camp-meetings assume their +place, and "season toil" which is unseasoned by anything better? + +Nothing, believe me, that you may have heard or read of the frantic +disorders of these Methodist love-feasts and camp-meetings in Upper +Canada can exceed the truth; and yet it is no less a truth that the +Methodists are in most parts the only religious teachers, and that +without them the people were utterly abandoned. What then are our church +and our government about? Here, as in the old country, they are +quarrelling about the tenets to be inculcated, the means to be used: and +so, while the shepherds are disputing whether the sheep are to be fed +on old hay or fresh grass--out of the fold or in the fold--the poor +sheep starve, or go astray. + +I supped here on eggs and radishes, and milk and bread. On going to my +room, I found that the door, which had merely a latch, opened into the +road. I expressed a wish to fasten it, on which the good lady of the +house brought a long nail, and thrust it lengthways over the latch, +saying, "That's the way we lock doors in Canada!" The want of a more +secure defence did not trouble my rest, for I slept well till morning. +After breakfast, my guide, who had found what he called a "shake-down" +at a neighbouring farm, made his appearance, and we proceeded. + +For the first five or six miles the road continued good, but at length +we reached a point where we had to diverge from the Talbot road, and +turn into what they call a "town line," a road dividing the Howard from +the Harwich township. My companion stopped the team to speak to a young +man who was mixing lime, and as he stood talking to us, I thought I had +never seen a better figure and countenance: his accent was Irish; his +language and manner infinitely superior to his dress, which was that of +a common workman. I soon understood that he was a member of one of the +richest and most respectable families in the whole district, connected +by marriage with my driver, who had been boasting to me of their +station, education, and various attainments. There were many and kind +greetings and inquiries after wives, sisters, brothers, and children. +Towards the conclusion of this family conference, the following dialogue +ensued. + +"I say, how are the roads before us?" + +"Pretty bad!" (with an ominous shake of the head.) + +"Would we get on at all, do you think?" + +"Well, I don't know, but you may." + +"If only we a'n't _mired down_ in that big hole up by Harris's, plaze +God, we'll do finely! Have they done anything up there?" + +"No, I don't know that they have; but (with a glance and a +good-humoured smile at me) don't be frightened! you have a good stout +team there. I dare say you'll get along--first or last!" + +"How are the mosquitoes?" + +"Pretty bad too; it is cloudy, and then they are always worse; but there +is some wind, and that's in your favour again. However, you've a long +and hard day's work, and I wish you well through it; if you cannot +manage, come back to _us_--that's all! Good-bye!" And lifting the gay +handkerchief knotted round his head, he bowed us off with the air of a +nobleman. + +Thus encouraged, we proceeded; and though I was not _mired down_, nor +yet absolutely eaten up, I suffered from both the threatened plagues, +and that most severely. The road was scarcely passable; there were no +longer cheerful farms and clearings, but the dark pine forest, and the +rank swamp, crossed by those terrific corduroy paths (my bones ache at +the mere recollection!) and deep holes and pools of rotted vegetable +matter, mixed with water, black, bottomless sloughs of despond! The very +horses paused on the brink of some of these mud-gulfs, and trembled ere +they made the plunge downwards. I set my teeth, screwed myself to my +seat, and commended myself to Heaven--but I was well nigh dislocated! At +length I abandoned my seat altogether, and made an attempt to recline on +the straw at the bottom of the cart, disposing my cloaks, carpet-bags, +and pillow, so as to afford some support--but all in vain; myself and +all my well-contrived edifice of comfort were pitched hither and +thither, and I expected at every moment to be thrown over headlong; +while to walk, or to escape by any means from my disagreeable situation, +was as impossible as if I had been in a ship's cabin in the midst of a +rolling sea. + +But the worst was yet to come. At the entrance of a road through the +woods, + + If road that might be called where road was none + Distinguishable, + +we stopped a short time to gain breath and courage, and refresh the poor +horses before plunging into a forest of about twenty miles in extent. + +The inn--the only one within a circuit of more than five-and-thirty +miles, presented the usual aspect of these forest inns; that is, a rude +log-hut, with one window and one room, answering all purposes, a lodging +or sleeping place being divided off at one end by a few planks; outside, +a shed of bark and boughs for the horses, and a hollow trunk of a tree +disposed as a trough. Some of the trees around it were in full and +luxuriant foliage; others, which had been girdled, stood bare and +ghastly in the sunshine. To understand the full force of the scripture +phrase, "desolate as a lodge in a wilderness," you should come here! The +inmates, from whom I could not obtain a direct or intelligible answer to +any question, continued during the whole time to stare upon me with +stupid wonder. I took out a card to make a sketch of the place. A man +stood near me, looking on, whose appearance was revolting beyond +description--hideous, haggard and worn, sinewy and fierce and squalid. +He led in one hand a wild-looking urchin of three or four years old; in +the other he was crushing a beautiful young pigeon, which panted and +struggled within his bony grasp in agony and terror. I looked on it, +pitying. + +"Don't hurt it!" + +He replied with a grin, and giving the wretched bird another squeeze, +"No, no, I won't hurt it." + +"Do you live here?" + +"Yes, I have a farm hard by--in the bush here." + +"How large is it?" + +"One hundred and forty acres." + +"How much cleared?" + +"Five or six acres--thereabout." + +"How long have you been on it?" + +"Five years." + +"And only five acres cleared? That is very little in five years. I have +seen people who had cleared twice that quantity of land in half the +time." + +He replied, almost with fierceness, "Then they had money, or friends, or +hands to help them: I have neither. I have in this wide world only +myself! and set a man with only a pair of hands at one of them big trees +there!--see what he'll make of it! You may swing the axe here from +morning to night for a week before you let the daylight in upon you." + +"You are right!" I said, in compassion and self-reproach, "and I was +wrong! pray excuse me!" + +"No offence." + +"Are you from the old country?" + +"No, I was _raised_ here." + +"What will you do with your pigeon there?" + +"O, it will do for the boy's supper, or may be he may like it best to +play with." + +I offered to redeem its life at the price of a shilling, which I held +out. He stretched forth immediately one of his huge hands and eagerly +clutched the shilling, at the same moment opening the other, and +releasing his captive; it fluttered for a moment helplessly, but soon +recovering its wings, wheeled round our heads, and then settled in the +topmost boughs of a sugar-maple. The man turned away with an exulting +laugh, thinking, no doubt, that he had the best of the bargain--but upon +this point we differed. + + * * * * * + +Turning the horses' heads again westward, we plunged at once into the +deep forest, where there was absolutely no road, no path, except that +which is called a _blazed_ path, where the trees marked on either side +are the only direction to the traveller. How savagely, how solemnly wild +it was! So thick was the overhanging foliage, that it not only shut out +the sunshine, but almost the daylight; and we travelled on through a +perpetual gloom of vaulted boughs and intermingled shade. There were no +flowers here--no herbage. The earth beneath us was a black, rich +vegetable mould, into which the cart-wheels sank a foot deep; a rank, +reedy grass grew round the roots of the trees, and sheltered +rattlesnakes and reptiles. The timber was all hard timber, walnut, +beech, and bass-wood, and oak and maple of most luxuriant growth; here +and there the lightning had struck and shivered one of the loftiest of +these trees, riving the great trunk in two, and flinging it horizontally +upon its companions. There it lay, in strangely picturesque fashion, +clasping with its huge boughs their outstretched arms as if for support. +Those which had been hewn to open a path lay where they fell, and over +their stumps and roots the cart had to be lifted or dragged. Sometimes a +swamp or morass lay in our road, partly filled up or laid over with +trunks of fallen trees, by way of bridge. + +As we neared the limits of the forest, some new clearings broke in upon +the solemn twilight monotony of our path: the aspect of these was almost +uniform, presenting an opening of felled trees of about an acre or two; +the commencement of a log-house; a patch of ground surrounded by a +snake-fence, enclosing the first crop of wheat, and perhaps a little +Indian corn; great heaps of timber-trees and brushwood laid together and +burning; a couple of oxen, dragging along another enormous trunk to add +to the pile. These were the general features of the picture, framed in, +as it were, by the dark mysterious woods. Here and there I saw a few +cows, but no sheep. I remember particularly one of these clearings, +which looked more desolate than the rest; there was an unfinished +log-house, only one half of it roofed in and habitable, and this +presented some attempt at taste, having a small rustic porch or portico, +and the windows on either side framed. No ground was fenced in, and the +newly-felled timber lay piled in heaps ready to burn; around lay the +forest, its shadows darkening, deepening as the day declined. But what +rivetted my attention was the light figure of a female, arrayed in a +silk gown and a handsome shawl, who was pacing up and down in front of +the house, with a slow and pensive air. She had an infant lying on her +arm, and in the other hand she waved a green bough, to keep off the +mosquitoes. I wished to stop--to speak, though at the hazard of +appearing impertinent; but my driver represented so strongly the danger +of being benighted within the verge of the forest, that I reluctantly +suffered him to proceed, + + "And oft look'd back upon that vision fair, + And wondering ask'd, whence and how came it there?" + +At length we emerged from the forest-path into a plain, through which +ran a beautiful river (my old acquaintance the Thames), "winding at its +own sweet will," and farmhouses with white walls and green shutters were +scattered along its banks, and cheerful voices were heard, shouts of +boys at play, sounds of labour and of life; and over all lay the last +glow of the sinking sun. How I blessed the whole scene in my heart! Yes, +I can well conceive what the exulting and joyous life of the hunter may +be, roaming at large and independent through these boundless forests; +but, believe me, that to be dragged along in a heavy cart through their +impervious shades, tormented by mosquitoes, shut in on every side from +the light and from the free air of heaven, is quite another thing; and +its effect upon me, at least, was to bring down the tone of the mind and +reflections to a gloomy, inert, vague resignation, or rather dejection, +which made it difficult at last to speak. The first view of the +beautiful little town of Chatham made my sinking spirits bound like the +sight of a friend. There was, besides, the hope of a good inn; for my +driver had cheered me on during the last few miles by a description of +"Freeman's Hotel," which he said was one of the best in the whole +district. Judge then of my disappointment to learn that Mr. Freeman, in +consequence of the "high price of wheat," could no longer afford to take +in hungry travellers, and had "no accommodation." I was driven to take +refuge in a miserable little place, where I fared as ill as possible. I +was shown to a bedroom without chair or table; but I was too utterly +beaten down by fatigue and dejection, too sore in body and spirit, to +remonstrate, or even to stir hand or foot. Wrapping my cloak round me, I +flung myself on the bed, and was soon in a state of forgetfulness of all +discomforts and miseries. Next morning I rose refreshed and able to +bestir myself; and by dint of bribing, and bawling, and scolding, and +cajoling, I at length procured plenty of hot and cold water, and then a +good breakfast of eggs, tea, and corn-cakes;--and then I set forth to +reconnoitre. + + * * * * * + + + CHATHAM. + + At Chatham, in the Western District, and on board the + steam-boat, between Chatham and Detroit. July 12, 13. + +I can hardly imagine a more beautiful or more fortunate position for a +new city than this of Chatham (you will find it on the map just upon +that neck of land between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie). It is +sufficiently inland to be safe, or easily secured against the sudden +attacks of a foreign enemy; the river Thames is navigable from the mouth +up to the town, a distance of sixteen miles, for all kinds of lake +craft, including steamers and schooners of the largest class. Lake St. +Clair, into which the Thames discharges itself, is between Lake Erie and +Lake Huron; the banks are formed of extensive prairies of exhaustless +fertility, where thousands of cattle might roam and feed at will. As a +port and depôt for commerce, its position and capabilities can hardly be +surpassed, while as an agricultural country it may be said literally to +flow with milk and honey. A rich soil, abundant pasture, no rent, no +taxes--what is wanting here but more intelligence and a better +employment of capital to prevent the people from sinking into brutified +laziness, and stimulate to something like mental activity and +improvement? The profuse gifts of nature are here running to waste, +while hundreds and thousands in the old country are trampling over each +other in the eager, hungry conflict for daily food. + +This land of Upper Canada is in truth the very paradise of hope. In +spite of all I see and hear, which might well move to censure, to +regret, to pity,--how much there is in which the trustful spirit may +reasonably rejoice! It would be possible, looking at things under one +aspect, to draw such a picture of the mistakes of the government, the +corruption of its petty agents, the social backwardness and moral +destitution of the people, as would shock you, and tempt you to regard +Canada as a place of exile for convicts. On the other hand, I could, +without deviating from the sober and literal truth, give you such vivid +pictures of the beauty and fertility of this land of the west, of its +glorious capabilities for agriculture and commerce, of the goodness and +kindliness and resources of poor, much-abused human nature, as +developed amid all the crushing influences of oppression, ignorance, and +prejudice; and of the gratitude and self-complacency of those who have +exchanged want, servitude, and hopeless toil at home, for plenty and +independence and liberty here,--as would transport you in fancy into an +earthly elysium. Thus, as I travel on, I am disgusted, or I am +enchanted; I despair or I exult by turns; and these inconsistent and +apparently contradictory emotions and impressions I set down as they +arise, leaving you to reconcile them as well as you can, and make out +the result for yourself. + + + TECUMSEH. + +It is seldom that in this country the mind is ever carried backward by +associations or recollections of any kind. Horace Walpole said of Italy, +that it was "a land in which the memory saw more than the eye," and in +Canada hope must play the part of memory. It is all the difference +between seed-time and harvest. We are rich in anticipation, but poor in +possession--more poor in memorials. Some vague and general traditions, +of no interest whatever to the ignorant settlers, do indeed exist, of +horrid conflicts between the Hurons and the Iroquois, all along these +shores, in the time and before the time of the French dominion; of the +enterprise and daring of the early fur traders; above all, of the +unrequited labours and sacrifices of the missionaries, whether Jesuits, +or Moravians, or Methodists, some of whom perished in tortures; others +devoted themselves to the most horrible privations--each for what he +believed to be the cause of truth, and for the diffusion of the light of +salvation; none near to applaud the fortitude with which they died, or +to gain hope and courage from their example. During the last war between +Great Britain and the United States[15]--that war, in its commencement +dishonourable to the Americans, in its conclusion shameful to the +British, and in its progress disgraceful and demoralising to both;--that +war, which began and was continued in the worst passions of our nature, +cupidity and vengeance;--which brought no advantage to any one human +being--not even the foolish noise and empty glory which wait oftentimes +on human conflicts; a war scarce heard of in Europe, even by the mother +country, who paid its cost in millions, and in the blood of some of her +best subjects; a war obscure, fratricidal, and barbarous, which has left +behind no effect but a mutual exasperation and distress along the +frontiers of both nations, and a hatred which, like hatred between near +kinsmen, is more bitter and irreconcilable than any hostility between +the mercenary armies of rival nations; for here, not only the two +governments quarrelled, but the people, their institutions, feelings, +opinions, prejudices, local and personal interests, were brought into +collision;--during this vile, profitless, and unnatural war, a battle +was fought near Chatham, called by some the battle of the Thames, and by +others the battle of the Moravian towns, in which the Americans, under +General Harrison, beat General Proctor with considerable loss. But it is +chiefly worthy of notice, as the last scene of the life of Técumseh, a +Shawanee chief, of whom it is possible you may not have heard, but who +is the historical hero of these wild regions. Some American writers call +him the "Indian Napoleon;" both began their plans of policy and conquest +about the same time, and both about the same time terminated their +career, the one by captivity, the other by death. But the genius of the +Indian warrior and his exploits were limited to a narrow field along the +confines of civilisation, and their record is necessarily imperfect. It +is clear that he had entertained the daring and really magnificent plan +formerly embraced by Pontiac--that of uniting all the Indian tribes and +nations in a league against the whites. That he became the ally of the +British was not from friendship to us, but hatred to the Americans, whom +it was his first object to repel from any further encroachments on the +rights and territories of the Red men--in vain! These attempts of a +noble and a fated race, to oppose, or even to delay for a time, the +rolling westward of the great tide of civilisation, are like efforts to +dam up the rapids of Niagara. The moral world has its laws, fixed as +those of physical nature. The hunter must make way before the +agriculturist, and the Indian must learn to take the bit between his +teeth, and set his hand to the ploughshare, or _perish_. As yet I am +inclined to think that the idea of the Indians becoming what _we_ call +a civilised people seems quite hopeless; those who entertain such +benevolent anticipations should come here, and behold the effect which +three centuries of contact with the whites have produced on the nature +and habits of the Indian. The benevolent theorists in England should +come and see with their own eyes that there is a bar to the civilisation +of the Indians, and the increase or even preservation of their numbers, +which no power can overleap. Their own principle, that "the Great Spirit +did indeed create both the red man and the white man, but created them +essentially different in nature and manners," is not, perhaps, far from +the truth. + +[Footnote 15: The war of 1812.] + + + MISSIONARIES AMONG THE INDIANS. + +Take, for instance, the following scene, as described with great naïveté +by one of the Moravian missionaries. After a conference with some of the +Delaware chief men, in which they were informed that these missionaries +had come to teach them a better and purer religion, of which the one +fundamental principle, leading to eternal salvation, was belief in the +Redeemer, and atonement through his blood for the sins of all +mankind--all which was contained in the book which he held in his +hand,--"Wangoman, a great chief and medicine-man among them, rose to +reply. He began by tracing two lines on the ground, and endeavoured to +explain that there were two ways which led alike to God and to +happiness, the way of the Red man, and the way of the White man, but the +way of the Red man, he said, was the straighter and the shorter of the +two." + +The missionary here interposed, and represented that God himself had +descended on earth to teach men the _true_ way. Wangoman declared that +"he had been intimately acquainted with God for many years, and had +never heard that God became a man and shed his blood, and therefore the +God of whom Brother Zeisberger preached could not be the true God, or +he, Wangoman, would have been made acquainted with the circumstance." + +The missionary then declared, "in the power of the spirit, that the God +in whom Wangoman and his Indians believed was no other than the devil, +the father of lies." Wangoman replied in a very moderate tone, "I +cannot understand your doctrine; it is quite new and strange to me. If +it be true," he added, "that the Great Spirit came down into the world, +became a man and suffered so much, I assure you the Indians are not in +fault, but the white men alone. God has given us the beasts of the +forest for food, and our employment is to hunt them. We know nothing of +your book--we cannot learn it; it is much too difficult for an Indian to +comprehend." + +Brother Zeisberger replied, "I will tell you the reason of it. Satan is +the prince of darkness: where he reigns all is dark, and he dwells in +you--therefore you can comprehend nothing of God and his word; but when +you return from the evil of your ways, and come as a wretched lost +sinner to Jesus Christ, it may be that he will have mercy upon you. Do +not delay therefore; make haste and save your poor souls!" &c. + +I forbear to repeat the rest, because it would seem as if I intended to +turn it into ridicule, which Heaven knows I do not; for it is of far too +serious import. But if it be in this style that the simple and sublime +precepts of Christianity are first presented to the understanding of the +Indians, can we wonder at the little progress hitherto made in +converting them to the truth? And with regard to all attempts to +civilise them, what should the red man see in the civilisation of the +white man which should move him to envy or emulation, or raise in his +mind a wish to exchange his "own unshackled life, and his innate +capacities of soul," for our artificial social habits, our morals, which +are contradicted by our opinions, and our religion, which is violated +both in our laws and our lives? When the good missionary said, with +emphasis, that there was no hope for the conversion of the Indians but +in removing them as far as possible from all intercourse with Europeans, +he spoke a terrible truth, confirmed by all I see and hear--by the +opinion of every one I have spoken to, who has ever had any intercourse +with these people. It will be said, as it has often been said, that +_here_ it is the selfishness of the white man which speaks; that it is +for his interest, and for his wordly advantage, that the red man should +be removed out of his way, and be thrust back from the extending limits +of civilisation--even like these forests, which fall before us, and +vanish from the earth, leaving for a while some decaying stumps and +roots over which the plough goes in time, and no vestige remains to say +that here they _have been_. True; it is for the advantage of the +European agriculturist or artisan, that the hunter of the woods, who +requires the range of many hundred square miles of land for the adequate +support of a single family, should make way for populous towns, and +fields teeming with the means of subsistence for thousands. There is no +denying this; and if there be those who think that in the present state +of things the interests of the red man and the white man can ever be +blended, and their natures and habits brought to harmonise, then I +repeat, let them come here, and behold and see the heathen and the +so-called Christian placed in near neighbourhood and comparison, and +judge what are the chances for both! Wherever the Christian comes, he +brings the Bible in one hand, disease, corruption, and the accursed +fire-water, in the other; or flinging down the book of peace, he boldly +and openly proclaims that might gives right, and substitutes the sabre +and the rifle for the slower desolation of starvation and whisky. + +Every means hitherto provided by the Canadian government for the +protection of the Indians against the whites has failed. Every +prohibition of the use or sale of ardent spirits among them has proved a +mere mockery. The refuse of the white population along the back +settlements have no perception of the genuine virtues of the Indian +character. They see only their inferiority in the commonest arts of +life; their subjection to our power. They contemn them, oppress them, +cheat them, corrupt their women, and deprave them by the means and +example of drunkenness. The missionaries alone have occasionally +succeeded in averting or alleviating these evils, at least in some +degree; but their influence is very, very limited. The chiefs and +warriors of the different tribes are perfectly aware of the monstrous +evils introduced by the use of ardent spirits. They have held councils, +and made resolutions for themselves and their people to abstain from +their use; but the very first temptation generally oversets all these +good resolves. My Moravian friend described this intense passion for +intoxicating liquors with a sort of awe and affright, and attributed it +to the direct agency of the devil. Another missionary relates that soon +after the Delaware Indians had agreed among themselves to reject every +temptation of the kind, and punish those who yielded to it, a white +dealer in rum came among them, and placing himself in the midst of one +of their villages, with a barrel of spirits beside him, he introduced a +straw into it, and with many professions of civility and friendship to +his Indian friends, he invited every one to come and take a suck through +the straw _gratis_. A young Indian approached with a grave and pensive +air and slow step, but suddenly turning round, he ran off precipitately +as one terrified. Soon after he returned, he approached yet nearer, but +again ran off in the same manner as before. The third time he suffered +himself to be persuaded by the white man to put his lips to the straw. +No sooner had he tasted of the fiery drink, than he offered all his +wampum for a dram; and subsequently parted with everything he possessed, +even his rifle and his blanket, for more. + + + THE FIREWATER. + +I have another illustrative anecdote for you, which I found among a +number of documents, submitted to the society established at Toronto, +for converting and civilising the Indians. There can be no doubt of its +truth, and it is very graphically told. The narrator is a travelling +schoolmaster, who has since been taken into the service of the society, +but whose name I have forgotten. + +"In the winter of 1832, I was led, partly by business and partly by the +novelty of the enterprise, to walk from the Indian Establishment of +Coldwater, to the Sault-Saint-Marie, a distance of nearly four hundred +miles. + +"The lake was well frozen, and the ice moderately covered with snow; +with the assistance of snow-shoes, we were enabled to travel a distance +of fifty miles in a day; but my business not requiring any expedition, I +was tempted to linger among the thousand isles of Lake Huron. I hoped to +ascertain some facts with regard to the real mode of life of the +Indians frequenting the north side of the lake. With this view, I made +a point of visiting every wigwam that we approached, and could, if it +were my present purpose, detail many interesting pictures of extreme +misery and destitution. Hunger, filth, and ignorance, with an entire +absence of all knowledge of a Supreme Being, here reign triumphant.[16] + +"Near the close of a long and fatiguing day, my Indian guide came on the +recent track of a single Indian, and, anxious to please me, pursued it +to the head of a very deep bay. We passed two of those holes in the ice +which the Indians use for fishing, and at one of them noticed, from the +quantity of blood on the snow, that the spear had lately done +considerable execution. At a very short distance from the shore, the +track led us past the remains of a wigwam, adjoining to which we +observed a large canoe and a small hunting canoe, both carefully laid up +for the winter. After a considerable ascent, a narrow winding path +brought us into a deep hollow, about four hundred yards from the bay. +Here, surrounded on every side by hills, on the margin of one of the +smallest inland lakes, we came to a wigwam, the smoke from which showed +us that it was occupied. The path for a considerable distance was lined +on both sides by billets of firewood, and a blanket cleaner than usual, +suspended before the entrance, gave me at the very first a favourable +opinion of the inmates. I noticed on the right hand a dog-train, and on +the left, two pair of snow-shoes, and two barrels of salt-fish. The +wigwam was of the square form, and so large, that I was surprised to +find it occupied by two Indians only--a young man and his wife. + +"We were soon made welcome, and I had leisure to look round me in +admiration of the comfort displayed in the arrangement of the interior. +A covering of fresh branches of the young hemlock-pine was neatly spread +all round. In the centre of the right hand side, as we entered, the +master of the lodge was seated on a large mat; his wife occupied the +station at his left hand; good and clean mats were spread for myself and +my guide--my own being opposite the entrance, and my guide occupying the +remaining side of the wigwam. Three dogs, well conditioned, and of a +large breed, lay before the fire.--So much for the live stock. At the +back of the wife, I saw, suspended near the door, a tin can full of +water, with a small tin cup; next to it, a mat bag filled with tin +dishes, and wooden spoons of Indian manufacture; above that were several +portions of female dress--ornamented leggings, two showy shawls, &c. A +small chest and bag were behind her on the ground. At the back of the +Indian were suspended two spear heads, of three prongs each; an American +rifle, an English fowling-piece, and an Indian chief piece, with shot +and bullet pouches, and two powder horns; there were also a highly +ornamented capuchin, and a pair of new blanket leggings. The corner was +occupied by a small red-painted chest; a mokkuk of sugar was placed in +the corner on my right hand, and a barrel of flour, half empty, on the +right hand of my Indian; and between that and the door were hanging +three large salmon trout, and several pieces of dried deer flesh. In the +centre, as usual, we had a bright blazing fire, over which three kettles +gave promise of one of the comforts of weary travellers. Our host had +arrived but a few minutes before us, and was busied in pulling off his +moccasins and blankets when we entered. We had scarcely time to remove +our leggings and change our moccasins, preparatory to a full enjoyment +of the fire, when the Indian's wife was prepared to set before us a +plentiful mess of boiled fish; this was followed in a short space by +soup made of deer flesh and Indian corn, and our repast terminated with +hot cakes baked in the ashes, in addition to the tea supplied from our +own stores. + +"Before daylight on the following morning we were about to set out, but +could not be allowed to depart without again partaking of refreshment. +Boiled and broiled fish were set before us, and to my surprise, the +young Indian, before partaking of it, knelt to pray aloud. His prayer +was short and fervent, and without that whining tone in which I had been +accustomed to hear the Indians address the Deity. It appeared to +combine the manliness and humility which one would naturally expect to +find in an address spoken from the heart, and not got up for theatrical +effect. + +"On taking our departure, I tried to scan the countenance of our host, +and I flatter myself I could not mistake the marks of unfeigned pleasure +at having exercised the feelings of hospitality, mixed with a little +pride in the display of the riches of his wigwam. + +"You may be sure I did not omit the opportunity of diving into the +secret of all his comfort and prosperity. It could not escape +observation that here was real civilisation, and I anxiously sought for +some explanation of the difference between the habits of this Indian and +his neighbours. The story was soon told:--He had been brought up at the +British settlement on Drummond Island, where, when a child, he had, in +frequent conversations, but in no studied form, heard the principles of +religion explained, and he had been told to observe the sabbath, and to +pray to the Almighty. Industry and prudence had been frequently +enjoined, and, above all things, an abhorrence of ardent spirits. Under +the influence of this wholesome advice, his hunting, fishing, and +sugar-making had succeeded to such an extent, as to provide him with +every necessary and many luxuries. He already had abundance, and still +retained some few skins, which he hoped, during the winter, to increase +to an amount sufficient to purchase him the indulgence of a barrel of +pork, and additional clothing for himself and his wife. + +"Further explanation was unnecessary, and the wearisomeness of this +day's journey was pleasingly beguiled by reflections on the simple means +by which a mind, yet in a state of nature, may be saved from +degradation, and elevated to the best feelings of humanity. + +"Shall I lift the same blanket after the lapse of eighteen months?--The +second summer has arrived since my last visit; the wigwam on the Lake +shore, the fit residence of summer, is unoccupied--the fire is still +burning in the wigwam of winter; but the situation, which has warmth and +quiet to recommend it at that season when cold is our greatest enemy, +is now gloomy and dark. Wondering what could have induced my friends to +put up with the melancholy of the deep forest, instead of the sparkling +of the sun-lit wave, I hastened to enter. How dreadful the change! There +was, indeed, the same Indian girl that I had left healthy, cheerful, +contented, and happy; but whisky, hunger, and distress of mind had +marked her countenance with the furrows of premature old age. An infant, +whose aspect was little better than its mother's, was hanging at her +breast, half dressed and filthy. Every part of the wigwam was ruinous +and dirty, and, with the exception of one kettle, entirely empty. Not +one single article of furniture, clothing, or provision remained. Her +husband had left in the morning to go out to fish, and she had not moved +from the spot; this I thought strange, as his canoe and spear were on +the beach. In a short time he returned, but without any food. He had, +indeed, set out to fish, but had lain down to sleep in the bush, and had +been awakened by his dog barking on our arrival. He appeared worn down +and helpless both in body and mind, and seated himself in listless +silence in his place in the wigwam. + +"Producing pork and flour from my travelling stores, I requested his +wife to cook them. They were prepared, and I looked anxiously at the +Indian, expecting to hear his accustomed prayer. He did not move. I +therefore commenced asking a blessing, and was astonished to observe him +immediately rise and walk out of the wigwam. + +"However, his wife and child joined us in partaking of the food, which +they ate voraciously. In a little time the Indian returned and lay down. +My curiosity was excited, and although anxious not to distress his +feelings, I could not avoid seeking some explanation of the change I +observed. It was with difficulty I ascertained the following facts:-- + +"On the opening of the spring of 1833, the Indian having got a +sufficiency of furs for his purpose, set off to a distant trading post +to make his purchase. The trader presented him with a plug of tobacco +and a pipe on his entrance, and offered him a glass of whisky, which he +declined; the trader was then occupied with other customers, but soon +noticed the respectable collection of furs in the pack of the poor +Indian. He was marked as his victim, and not expecting to be able to +impose upon him unless he made him drunk, he determined to accomplish +this by indirect means. + +"As soon as the store was clear of other customers, he entered into +conversation with the Indian, and invited him to join him in drinking a +glass of cider, which he unhesitatingly accepted; the cider was mixed +with brandy, and soon began to affect the mind of the Indian; a second +and a third glass were taken, and he became completely intoxicated. In +this state the trader dealt with him; but it was not at first that even +the draught he had taken could overcome his lessons of prudence. He +parted with only one skin; the trader was, therefore, obliged to +continue his contrivances, which he did with such effect, that for three +weeks the Indian remained eating, drinking, and sleeping in his store. +At length all the fur was sold; and the Indian returned home, with only +a few ribbons and beads, and a bottle of whisky. The evil example of the +husband, added to vexation of mind, broke the resolution of the wife, +and she, too, partook of the accursed liquor. From this time there was +no change. The resolution of the Indian once broken, his pride of +spirit, and consequently his firmness were gone; he became a confirmed +drinker,--his wife's and his own ornamented dresses, and at length all +the furniture of his wigwam, even the guns and traps on which his +hunting depended, were all sold to the store for whisky. When I arrived, +they had been two days without food, and the Indian had not energy to +save himself and his family from starvation. + +"All the arguments that occurred to me I made use of to convince the +Indian of his folly, and to induce him even now to begin life again, and +redeem his character. He heard me in silence. I felt that I should be +distressing them by remaining all night, and prepared to set out again, +first giving to the Indian a dollar, desiring him to purchase food with +it at the nearest store, and promising shortly to see him again. + +"I had not proceeded far on my journey, when it appeared to me, that by +remaining with them for the night, and in the morning renewing my +solicitations to them, I might assist still more to effect a change. I +therefore turned back, and in about two hours arrived again at the +wigwam. The Indian had set off for the store, but had not returned. His +wife still remained seated where I left her, and during the whole night +(the Indian never coming back) neither moved nor raised her head. +Morning came; I quickly despatched breakfast, and leaving my baggage, +with the assistance of my guide set out for the trader's store. It was +distant about two miles. I inquired for the Indian. He came there the +evening before with a dollar: he purchased a pint of whisky, for which +he paid half a dollar, and with the remainder bought six pounds of +flour. He remained until he had drunk the whisky, and then requested to +have the flour exchanged for another pint of whisky. This was done, and +having consumed that also, he was so "stupidly drunk," (to use the words +of the trader,) that it was necessary to shut him out of the store on +closing it for the night. Search was immediately made for him, and at +the distance of a few yards he was found lying on his face dead." + +[Footnote 16: We should perhaps read, "An entire absence of all +knowledge of a Supreme Being, as revealed to us in the gospel of +Christ;" for I never heard of any tribe of north-west Indians, however +barbarous, who had not the notion of a God (the Great Spirit), and of a +future life.] + + * * * * * + + + THE INDIAN CHARACTER. + +That the poor Indians to whom reserved lands have been granted, and who, +on the faith of treaties, have made their homes and gathered themselves +into villages on such lands, should, whenever it is deemed expedient, be +driven out of their possessions, either by purchase, or by persuasion, +or by force, or by measures which include all three, and sent to seek a +livelihood in distant and strange regions--as in the case of these +Delawares--is horrible, and bears cruelty and injustice on the face of +it. To say that they cannot exist in amicable relation with the whites, +without deprivation of their morals, is a fearful imputation on us as +Christians;--but thus it is. And I do wish that those excellent and +benevolent people who have taken the cause of the aborigines to heart, +and are making appeals in their behalf to the justice of the government +and the compassion of the public, would, instead of theorising in +England, come out here and behold the actual state of things with their +own eyes--and having seen all, let them say _what_ is to be done, and +what chances exist, for the independence, and happiness, and morality of +a small remnant of Indians residing on a block of land, six miles +square, surrounded on every side by a white population. To insure the +accomplishment of those benevolent and earnest aspirations, in which so +many good people indulge, what is required? what is expected? Of the +white men such a pitch of lofty and self-sacrificing virtue, of humane +philosophy and christian benevolence, that the future welfare of the +wronged people they have supplanted shall be preferred above their own +immediate interest--nay, their own immediate existence: of the red man, +that he shall forget the wild hunter blood flowing through his veins, +and take the plough in hand, and wield the axe and the spade instead of +the rifle and the fishspear! Truly they know not what they ask, who ask +this; and among all those with whom I have conversed--persons familiar +from thirty to forty years together with the Indians and their mode of +life--I never heard but one opinion on the subject. Without casting the +slightest imputation on the general honesty of intention of the +missionaries and others delegated and well paid by various societies to +teach and protect the Indians, still I will say that the enthusiasm of +some, the self-interest of others, and an unconscious mixture of pious +enthusiasm and self-interest in many more, render it necessary to take +their testimony with some reservation; for often with them "the wish is +father to the thought" set down; and feeling no lack of faith in their +cause or in themselves, they look for miracles, such as waited on the +missions of the apostles of old. But in the mean time, and by human +agency, what is to be done? Nothing so easy as to point out evils and +injuries, resulting from foregone events, or deep-seated in natural and +necessary causes, and lament over them with resistless eloquence in +verse and prose, or hold them up to the sympathy and indignation of the +universe; but let the real friends of religion, humanity, and the poor +Indians, set down a probable and feasible remedy for their wrongs and +miseries; and follow it up, as the advocates for the abolition of the +slave-trade followed up their just and glorious purpose. With a definite +object and plan, much might be done; but mere declamation against the +evil does little good. The people who propose remedies, forget that +there are two parties concerned. I remember to have read in some of the +early missionary histories, that one of the Jesuit fathers, (Father le +Jeune), full of sympathy and admiration for the noble qualities and +lofty independence of the converted Indians, who could not and would not +work, suggested the propriety of sending out some of the French +peasantry to work and till the ground for them, as the only means of +keeping them from running off to the woods. A doubtful sort of +philanthropy, methinks! but it shows how _one-sided_ a life's devotion +to one particular object will make even a benevolent and a just man. + + + THE CHIPPEWAS. + +Higher up, on the river Thames, and above the Moravian settlements, a +small tribe of the Chippewa nation has been for some time located. They +have apparently attained a certain degree of civilisation, live in +log-huts instead of bark wigwams, and have, from necessity, turned their +attention to agriculture. I have now in my pocket-book an original +document sent up from these Indians to the Indian agency at Toronto. It +runs thus: + +"We, the undersigned chiefs of the Chippewa Indians of Colborne on the +Thames, hereby request Mr. Superintendent Clench to procure for us-- + +"One yoke of working oxen. + +"Six ploughs. + +"Thirty-three tons of hay. + +"One hundred bushels of oats. + +"The price of the above to be deducted from our land-payments." + +Signed by ten chiefs, or, more properly, chief men, of the tribe, of +whom one, the Beaver, signs his name in legible characters: the others, +as is usual with the Indians, affix each their _totem_, (crest or +sign-manual,) being a rude scratch of a bird, fish, deer, &c. Another of +these papers, similarly signed, contains a requisition for working tools +and mechanical instruments of various kinds. This looks well, and it +_is_ well; but what are the present state and probable progress of this +Chippewa settlement? Why, one half the number at least are half-caste, +and as the white population closes and thickens around them, we shall +see in another generation or two none of entire Indian blood; they will +become, at length, almost wholly amalgamated with the white people. Is +this _civilising the Indians_?[17] I should observe, that when an Indian +woman gives herself to a white man, she considers herself as his wife to +all intents and purposes. If forsaken by him, she considers herself as +injured, not disgraced. There are great numbers of white settlers and +traders along the borders living thus with Indian women. Some of these +have been persuaded by the missionaries or magistrates to go through the +ceremony of marriage; but the number is few in proportion. + +You must not imagine, after all I have said, that I consider the Indians +as an inferior race, merely because they have no literature, no +luxuries, no steam-engines; nor yet, because they regard our superiority +in the arts with a sort of lofty indifference, which is neither contempt +nor stupidity, look upon them as being beyond the pale of our +sympathies. It is possible I may, on a nearer acquaintance, change my +opinion, but they do strike me as an _untamable_ race. I can no more +conceive a city filled with industrious Mohawks and Chippewas, than I +can imagine a flock of panthers browsing in a penfold. + +The dirty, careless habits of the Indians, while sheltered only by the +bark-covered wigwam, matter very little. Living almost constantly in the +open air, and moving their dwellings perpetually from place to place, +the worst effects of dirt and negligence are neither perceived nor +experienced. But I have never heard of any attempt to make them +stationary and congregate in houses, that has not been followed by +disease and mortality, particularly among the children; a natural result +of close air, confinement, heat, and filth. In our endeavours to +civilise the Indians, we have not only to convince the mind and change +the habits, but to overcome a certain physical organisation to which +labour and constraint and confinement appear to be fatal. This cannot be +done in less than three generations, if at all, in the unmixed race; and +meantime--they perish! + +[Footnote 17: The Indian village of Lorette, near Quebec, which I +visited subsequently, is a case in point. Seven hundred Indians, a +wretched remnant of the Huron tribe, had once been congregated there +under the protection of the Jesuits, and had always been cited as +examples of what might be accomplished in the task of conversion and +civilisation. When I was there, the number was under two hundred; many +of the huts deserted, the inhabitants having fled to the woods and taken +up the hunter's life again; in those who remained, there was scarce a +trace of native Indian blood.] + + * * * * * + + + LAKE ST. CLAIR. + +It is time, however, that I should introduce you to our party on board +the little steam-boat, which is now puffing, and snorting, and gliding +at no rapid rate over the blue tranquil waters of Lake St. Clair.[18] +First, then, there are the captain, and his mate or steersman, two young +men of good manners and appearance; one English--the other Irish; one a +military, the other a naval officer: both have land, and are near +neighbours up somewhere by Lake Simcoe; but both being wearied out by +three years' solitary life in the bush, they have taken the steam-boat +for this season on speculation, and it seems likely to answer. The boat +was built to navigate the ports of Lake Huron from Penetanguishine, to +Goderich and St. Joseph's Island, but there it utterly failed. It is a +wretched little boat, dirty and ill contrived. The upper deck, to which +I have fled from the close hot cabin, is an open platform, with no +defence or railing around it, and I have here my establishment--a chair, +a little table, with pencil and paper, and a great umbrella; a gust of +wind or a pitch of the vessel would inevitably send me sliding +overboard. The passengers consist of my acquaintance, the Moravian +missionary, with a family of women and children (his own wife and the +relatives of his assistant Vogler), who are about to emigrate with the +Indians beyond the Missouri. These people speak a dialect of German +among themselves, being descended from the early German Moravians. I +find them civil, but neither prepossessing nor intelligent; in short, I +can make nothing of them; I cannot extract an idea beyond eating, +drinking, dressing, and praying; nor can I make out with what feelings, +whether of regret, or hope, or indifference, they contemplate their +intended exile to the far, far west. Meantime the children squeal, and +the women chatter incessantly. + +We took in at Chatham a large cargo of the usual articles of exportation +from Canada to the United States, viz. barrels of flour, sacks of grain, +and emigrants proceeding to Michigan and the Illinois. There are on +board, in the steerage, a great number of poor Scotch and Irish of the +lowest grade, and also one large family of American emigrants, who have +taken up their station on the deck, and whose operations amuse me +exceedingly. I wish I could place before you this very original ménage, +even as it is before me now while I write. Such a group could be +encountered nowhere on earth, methinks, but here in the west, or among +the migratory Tartar hordes of the east. + +They are from Vermont, and on their way to the Illinois, having been +already eleven weeks travelling through New York and Upper Canada. They +have two waggons covered in with canvass, a yoke of oxen, and a pair of +horses. The chief or patriarch of the set is an old Vermont farmer, +upwards of sixty at least, whose thin shrewd face has been burnt to a +deep brick-dust colour by the sun and travel, and wrinkled by age or +care into a texture like that of tanned sail-canvass--(the simile +nearest to me at this moment). The sinews of his neck and hands are like +knotted whipcord; his turned-up nose, with large nostrils, snuffs the +wind, and his small light blue eyes have a most keen, cunning +expression. He wears a smockfrock over a flannel shirt, blue woollen +stockings, and a broken pipe stuck in his straw hat, and all day long he +smokes or chews tobacco. He has with him fifteen children of different +ages by three wives. The present wife, a delicate, intelligent, +care-worn woman, seems about thirty years younger than her helpmate. She +sits on the shaft of one of the waggons I have mentioned, a baby in her +lap, and two of the three younger children crawling about her feet. Her +time and attention are completely taken up in dispensing to the whole +brood, young and old, rations of food, consisting of lard, bread of +Indian corn, and pieces of sassafras root. The appearance of all (except +the poor anxious mother) is equally robust and cheerful, half-civilised, +coarse, and by no means clean: all are barefooted except the two eldest +girls, who are uncommonly handsome, with fine dark eyes. The eldest son, +a very young man, has been recently married to a very young wife, and +these two recline together all day, hand in hand, under the shade of a +sail, neither noticing the rest nor conversing with each other, but, as +it seems to me, in silent contentment with their lot. I found these +people, most unlike others of their class I have met with before, +neither curious nor communicative, answering to all my questions and +advances with cautious monosyllables, and the old man with even laconic +rudeness. The contrast which the gentle anxious wife and her baby +presented to all the others, interested me; but she looked so +overpowered by fatigue, and so disinclined to converse, that I found no +opportunity to satisfy my curiosity without being impertinently +intrusive; so, after one or two ineffectual advances to the shy, wild +children, I withdrew, and contented myself with observing the group at a +distance. + +The banks of the Thames are studded with a succession of farms, +cultivated by the descendants of the early French settlers--precisely +the same class of people as the _Habitans_ in Lower Canada. They go on +exactly as their ancestors did a century ago, raising on their rich +fertile lands just sufficient for a subsistence, wholly uneducated, +speaking only a French patois, without an idea of advance or improvement +of any kind; submissive to their priests, gay, contented, courteous, and +apparently retaining their ancestral tastes for dancing, singing, and +flowers. + +In the midst of half-dilapidated, old-fashioned farm-houses, you could +always distinguish the priest's dwelling, with a flower-garden in front, +and the little chapel or church surmounted by a cross,--both being +generally neat, clean, fresh-painted, and forming a strange contrast +with the neglect and slovenliness around. + +Ague prevails very much at certain seasons along the banks of the river, +and I could see by the manner in which the houses are built, that it +overflows its banks annually; it abounds in the small fresh-water turtle +(the Terrapin): every log floated on the water, or muddy islet, was +covered with them. + +We stopped half-way down the river to take in wood. Opposite to the +landing-place stood an extensive farmhouse, in better condition than any +I had yet seen: and under the boughs of an enormous tree, which threw an +ample and grateful shade around, our boat was moored. Two Indian boys, +about seven or eight years old, were shooting with bow and arrows at a +mark stuck up against the huge trunk of the tree. They wore cotton +shirts, with a crimson belt round the waist ornamented with beads, such +as is commonly worn by the Canadian Indians; one had a gay handkerchief +knotted round his head, from beneath which his long black hair hung in +matted elf locks on his shoulders. The elegant forms, free movements, +and haughty indifference of these Indian boys, were contrasted with the +figures of some little dirty, ragged Canadians, who stood staring upon +us with their hands in their pockets, or importunately begging for +cents. An Indian hunter and his wife, the father and mother of the boys, +were standing by, and at the feet of the man a dead deer lay on the +grass. The steward of the boat was bargaining with the squaw for some +venison, while the hunter stood leaning on his rifle, haughty and +silent. At the window of the farmhouse sat a well-dressed female, +engaged in needlework. After looking up at me once or twice as I stood +upon the deck gazing on this picture--just such a one as Edwin Landseer +would have delighted to paint--the lady invited me into her house; an +invitation I most gladly accepted. Everything within it and around it +spoke riches and substantial plenty; she showed me her garden, abounding +in roses, and an extensive orchard, in which stood two Indian wigwams. +She told me that every year families of Chippewa hunters came down from +the shore of Lake Huron, and encamped in her orchard, and those of her +neighbours, without asking permission. They were perfectly inoffensive, +and had never been known to meddle with her poultry, or injure her +trees. "They are," said she, "an honest, excellent people; but I must +shut the gates of my orchard upon them to-night--for this bargain with +your steward will not conclude without whisky, and I shall have them all +_ivres mort_ before to-morrow morning." + +[Footnote 18: Most of the small steam-boats on the American lakes have +high-pressure engines, which make a horrible and perpetual snorting like +the engine on a railroad.] + + * * * * * + + + DETROIT. + + Detroit, at night. + +I passed half an hour in pleasant conversation with this lady, who had +been born, educated, and married in the very house in which she now +resided. She spoke English well and fluently, but with a foreign accent, +and her deportment was frank and easy, with that sort of graceful +courtesy which seems inherent in the French manner, or used to be so. On +parting, she presented me with a large bouquet of roses, which has +proved a great delight, and served all the purposes of a fan. Nor should +I forget that in her garden I saw the only humming-birds I have yet seen +in Canada: there were two lovely little gem-like creatures disporting +among the blossoms of the scarlet-bean. They have been this year less +numerous than usual, owing to the lateness and severity of the spring. + +The day has been most intolerably hot; even on the lake there was not a +breath of air. But as the sun went down in his glory, the breeze +freshened, and the spires and towers of the city of Detroit were seen +against the western sky. The schooners at anchor, or dropping into the +river--the little canoes flitting across from side to side--the lofty +buildings,--the enormous steamers--the noisy port, and busy streets, all +bathed in the light of a sunset such as I had never seen, not even in +Italy--almost turned me giddy with excitement. I have emerged from the +solitary forests of Canada to be thrown suddenly into the midst of +crowded civilised life; and the effect for the present is a nervous +flutter of the spirits which banishes sleep and rest; though I have got +into a good hotel, (the American,) and have at last, after some +trouble, obtained good accommodation. + + + Detroit, June ----. + +The roads by which I have at length reached this beautiful little city +were not, certainly, the smoothest and the easiest in the world; nor can +it be said of Upper Canada, as of wisdom, "that all her ways are ways of +pleasantness, and her paths are paths of peace." On the contrary, one +might have fancied oneself in the road to paradise for that matter. It +was difficult, and narrow; and foul, and steep enough to have led to the +seventh heaven; but in heaven I am not yet-- + + * * * * * + +Since my arrival at Detroit, some malignant planet reigns in place of +that favourable and guiding star which has hitherto led me so deftly on +my way, + + "Through brake, through brier, + Through mud, through mire." + +Here, where I expected all would go so well, every thing goes wrong, and +cross, and contrary. + +A severe attack of illness, the combined effect of heat, fatigue, and +some deleterious properties in the water at Detroit, against which +travellers should be warned, has confined me to my room for the last +three days. This _mal-à-propos_ indisposition has prevented me from +taking my passage in the great steamer which has just gone up Lake +Huron; and I must now wait here six days longer, till the next boat, +bound for Mackinaw and Chicago, comes up Lake Erie from Buffalo. What is +far worse, I have lost, for the time being, the advantage of seeing and +knowing Daniel Webster, and of hearing a display of that wonderful +eloquence which they say takes captive all ears, and hearts, and souls. +He has been making public speeches here, appealing to the people against +the money transactions of the government; and the whole city has been in +a ferment. He left Detroit two days after my arrival, to my no small +mortification. I had letters for him; and it so happens that several +others to whom I had also letters have fled from the city on summer +tours, or to escape the heat. Some have gone east, some west; some up +the lakes, some down the lakes. So I am abandoned to my own resources, +in a miserable state of languor, lassitude, and weakness. + +It is not, however, the first time I have had to endure sickness and +solitude together in a strange land; and, the worst being over, we must +needs make the best of it, and send the time away as well as we can. + +Of all the places I have yet seen in these far western regions, Detroit +is the most interesting. It is, moreover, a most ancient and venerable +place, dating back to the dark, immemorial ages, i.e. almost a century +and a quarter ago! and having its history and antiquities, and +traditions and heroes, and epochs of peace and war. No place in the +United States presents such a series of events interesting in +themselves, and permanently affecting, as they occurred, both its +progress and prosperity. Five times its flag has changed; three +different sovereignties have claimed its allegiance; and, since it has +been held by the United States, its government has been thrice +transferred: twice it has been besieged by the Indians, once captured in +war, and once burned to the ground: truly a long list of events for a +young city of a century old! Detroit may almost rival her old grandam +Quebec, who sits bristling defiance on the summit of her rocky height, +in warlike and tragic experience. + +Can you tell me why we gave up this fine and important place to the +Americans, without leaving ourselves even a fort on the opposite shore? +Dolts and blockheads as we have been in all that concerns the partition +and management of these magnificent regions, now that we have ignorantly +and blindly ceded whole countries, and millions and millions of square +miles of land and water to our neighbours, I am told that we are likely +to quarrel and go to war about a partition line through the barren +tracts of the east! Well, let our legislators look to it! Colonel Talbot +told me that when he took a map, and pointed out to one of the English +commissioners the foolish bargain they had made, the real extent, value, +and resources of the countries ceded to the United States, the man +covered his eyes with his clenched hands, and burst into tears. + +The position of Detroit is one of the finest imaginable. It is on a +strait between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, commanding the whole +internal commerce of these great "successive seas." Michigan, of which +it is the capital, being now received into the Union, its importance, +both as a frontier town and a place of trade, increases every day. + +The origin of the city was a little palisadoed fort, erected here, in +1702, by the French under La Motte Cadillac, to defend their fur trade. +It was then called Fort Portchartrain. From this time till 1760 it +remained in possession of the French, and continued to increase slowly. +So late as 1721, Charlevoix speaks of the vast herds of buffaloes +ranging the plains west of the city. Meantime, under the protection of +the fort, the settlement and cultivation of the neighbouring districts +went on, in spite of the attacks of some of the neighbouring tribes of +Indians, particularly the Ottagamies, who, with the Iroquois, seem to +have been the only decided and irreconcilable enemies whom the French +found in this province. The capture of Quebec, and the death of Wolfe, +being followed by the cession of the whole of the French territory in +North America to the power of Great Britain, Detroit, with all the other +trading posts in the west, was given up to the English. It is curious +that the French submitted to this change of masters more easily than the +Indians, who were by no means inclined to exchange the French for the +English alliance. "Whatever may have been the cause," says Governor +Cass, "the fact is certain, that there is in the French character a +peculiar adaptation to the habits and feelings of the Indians; and to +this day the period of French domination is the era of all that is happy +in Indian reminiscences." + +The conciliating manners of the French towards the Indians, and the +judgment with which they managed all their intercourse with them, has +had a permanent effect on the minds of those tribes who were in +friendship with them. At this day, if the British are generally +preferred to the Americans, the French are always preferred to either. A +Chippewa chief, addressing the American agent at the Sault S^{te.} +Marie, so late as 1826, thus fondly referred to the period of the French +dominion:--"When the Frenchmen arrived at these Falls, they came and +kissed us. They called us children; and we found them fathers. We lived +like brethren in the same lodge; and we had always wherewithal to clothe +us. They never mocked at our ceremonies, and they never molested the +places of our dead. Seven generations of men have passed away, but we +have not forgotten it. Just, very just, were they towards us!"[19] + +The discontent of the Indian tribes upon the transfer of the forts and +trading posts into the possession of the British, showed itself early, +and at length gave rise to one of the most prolonged and savage of all +the Indian wars, that of Pontiac, in 1763. + +[Footnote 19: Vide Historical Sketches of Michigan.] + + + PONTIAC. + +Of this Pontiac you have read, no doubt, in various books of travels and +anecdotes of Indian chiefs. But it is one thing to read of these events +by an English fireside, where the features of the scene--the forest +wilds echoing to the war-whoop--the painted warriors--the very words +scalping, tomahawking, bring no definite meaning to the mind, only a +vague horror;--and quite _another_ thing to recall them here on the +spot, arrayed in all their dread yet picturesque reality. Pontiac is the +hero _par excellence_ of all these regions; and in all the histories of +Detroit, when Detroit becomes a great capital of the west, he will +figure like Caractacus or Arminius in the Roman history. The English +contemporaries call him king and emperor of the Indians; but there is +absolutely no sovereignty among these people. Pontiac was merely a war +chief, chosen in the usual way, but exercising a more than usual +influence, not by mere bravery--the universal savage virtue--but by +talents of a rarer kind; a power of reflection and combination rarely +met with in the character of the red warrior. Pontiac was a man of +genius, and would have ruled his fellow-men under any circumstances, and +in any country. He formed a project similar to that which Tecumseh +entertained fifty years later. He united all the north-western tribes of +Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pottowottomies, in one great confederacy against +the British, "the dogs in red coats;" and had very nearly caused the +overthrow, at least the temporary overthrow of our power. He had planned +a simultaneous attack on all the trading posts in the possession of the +English, and so far succeeded that ten of these forts were surprised +about the same time, and all the English soldiers and traders massacred, +while the French were spared. Before any tidings of these horrors and +outrages could reach Detroit, Pontiac was here in friendly guise, and +all his measures admirably arranged for taking this fort also by +stratagem, and murdering every Englishman within it. All had been lost, +if a poor Indian woman, who had received much kindness from the family +of the commandant (Major Gladwyn), had not revealed the danger. I do not +yet quite understand why Major Gladwyn, on the discovery of Pontiac's +treachery, and having him in his power, did not make him and his whole +band prisoners; such a stroke would have ended, or rather it would have +prevented, the war. But it must be remembered that Major Gladwyn was +ignorant of the systematic plan of extermination adopted by Pontiac; the +news of the massacres at the upper forts had not reached him; he knew of +nothing but the attempt on himself, and from motives of humanity or +magnanimity he suffered them to leave the fort and go free. No sooner +were they on the outside of the palisades, than they set up the war-yell +"like so many devils," as a bystander expressed it, and turned and +discharged their rifles on the garrison. The war, thus savagely +declared, was accompanied by all those atrocious barbarities, and turns +of fate, and traits of heroism, and hair-breadth escapes, which render +these Indian conflicts so exciting, so terrific, so picturesque. + +Detroit was in a state of siege by the Indians for twelve months, and +gallantly and successfully defended by Major Gladwyn, till relieved by +General Bradstreet. + +The first time I was able to go out, my good-natured landlord drove me +himself in his waggon (_Anglicè_, gig), with as much attention and care +for my comfort, as if I had been his near relation. The evening was +glorious; the sky perfectly Italian--a genuine Claude Lorraine sky, that +beautiful intense amber light reaching to the very zenith, while the +purity and transparent loveliness of the atmospheric effects carried me +back to Italy and times long past. I felt it all, as people feel things +after a sharp fit of indisposition, when the nervous system, languid at +once and sensitive, thrills and trembles to every breath of air. As we +drove slowly and silently along, we came to a sluggish, melancholy +looking rivulet, to which the man pointed with his whip. "I expect," +said he, "you know all about the battle of Bloody Run?" + +I was obliged to confess my ignorance, not without a slight shudder at +the hateful, ominous name which sounded in my ear like an epitome of all +imaginable horrors. + +This was the scene of a night attack made by three hundred British upon +the camp of the Indians, who were then besieging Detroit. The Indians +had notice of their intention, and prepared an ambush to receive them. +They had just reached the bank of this rivulet, when the Indian foe fell +upon them suddenly. They fought hand to hand, bayonet and tomahawk, in +the darkness of the night. Before the English could extricate +themselves, seventy men and most of the officers fell and were scalped +on the spot. "Them Indians," said my informant, "fought like brutes and +devils" (as most men do, I thought, who fight for revenge and +existence), "and they say the creek here, when morning came, ran red +with blood; and so they call it the Bloody Run." + +There certainly is much in a name, whatever Juliet may say, and how much +in fame! There is the brook Sanguinetto, which flows into Lake +Thrasymene,--the meaning and the derivation are the same, but what a +difference in sound! The Sanguinetto! 'tis a word one might set to +music.--_The Bloody Run!_ pah! the very utterance pollutes one's fancy! + +And in associations, too, how different, though the circumstances were +not unlike! This Indian Fabius, this Pontiac, wary and brave, and +unbroken by defeat, fighting for his own land against a swarm of +invaders, has had no poet, no historian to immortalise him, else all +this ground over which I now tread had been as _classical_ as the shores +of Thrasymene. + +As they have called Tecumseh the Indian Napoleon, they might style +Pontiac the Indian Alexander--I do not mean him of Russia, but the +Greek. Here, for instance, is a touch of magnanimity quite in the +_Alexander-the-great_ style. Pontiac, before the commencement of the +war, had provided for the safety of a British officer, Major Rogers by +name, who was afterwards employed to relieve Detroit, when besieged by +the Indians. On this occasion he sent Pontiac a present of a bottle of +brandy, to show he had not forgotten his former obligations to him. +Those who were around the Indian warrior when the present arrived, +particularly some Frenchmen, warned him not to taste it, as it might be +poisoned. Pontiac instantly took a draught from it, saying, as he put +the bottle to his lips, that "it was not _in the power_ of Major Rogers +to hurt him who had so lately saved his life." I think this story is no +unworthy pendant to that of Alexander and his physician. + +But what avails it all! who knows or cares about Pontiac and his +Ottawas? + + "Vain was the chief's, the warrior's pride! + He had no poet--and he died!" + +If I dwell on these horrid and obscure conflicts, it is partly to amuse +the languid idle hours of convalescence, partly to inspire you with some +interest for the localities around me:--and I may as well, while the pen +is in my hand, give you the conclusion of the story. + +Pontiac carried on the war with so much talent, courage, and resources, +that the British government found it necessary to send a considerable +force against him. General Bradstreet came up here with three thousand +men, wasting the lands of the Miami and Wyandot Indians, "burning their +villages, and destroying their corn-fields;" and I pray you to observe +that in all the accounts of our expeditions against the Indians, as well +as those of the Americans under General Wayne and General Harrison, +mention is made of the destruction of corn-fields (plantations of Indian +corn) to a great extent, which show that _some_ attention must have been +paid to agriculture, even by these wild hunting tribes. I find mention +also of a very interesting and beautiful tradition connected with these +regions. To the east of the Detroit territory, there was settled from +ancient times a band of Wyandots or Hurons, who were called the neutral +nation; they never took part in the wars and conflicts of the other +tribes. They had two principal villages, which were like the cities of +refuge among the Israelites; whoever fled there from an enemy found a +secure and inviolable sanctuary. If two enemies from tribes long at +deadly variance met there, they were friends while standing on that +consecrated ground. To what circumstances this extraordinary institution +owed its existence is not known. It was destroyed after the arrival of +the French in the country--not by them, but by some national and +internal feud. + +But to return to Pontiac. With all his talents, he could not maintain a +standing or permanent army, such a thing being contrary to all the +Indian usages, and quite incompatible with their mode of life. His +warriors fell away from him every season, and departed to their hunting +grounds to provide food for their families. The British pressed forward, +took possession of their whole country, and the tribes were obliged to +beg for peace. Pontiac disdained to take any part in these negotiations, +and retired to the Illinois, where he was murdered, from some motive of +private animosity, by a Peoria Indian. The Ottawas, Chippewas, and +Pottowottomies, who had been allied under his command, thought it +incumbent on them to avenge his death, and nearly exterminated the whole +nation of the Peorias--and this was the life and the fall of Pontiac. + +The name of this great chief is commemorated in that of a flourishing +village, or rising town, about twenty miles west of Detroit, which is +called _Pontiac_, as one of the townships in Upper Canada is styled +_Tecumseh_: thus literally illustrating those beautiful lines in Mrs. +Sigourney's poem on Indian names:-- + + "Their memory liveth on your hills, + _Their baptism on your shore_; + Your everlasting rivers speak + Their dialect of yore!" + +For rivers, bearing their old Indian names, we have here the Miami, the +Huron, the Sandusky: but most of the points of land, rivers, islands, +&c., bear the French appellations, as Point Pelée, River au Glaize, +River des Canards, Gros-Isle, &c. + +The _mélange_ of proper names in this immediate neighbourhood is +sufficiently curious. Here we have Pontiac, Romeo, Ypsilanti, and Byron, +all within no great distance of each other. + + * * * * * + +Long after the time of Pontiac, Detroit and all the country round it +became the scene of even more horrid and unnatural conflicts between the +Americans and British, during the war of the revolution, in which the +Indians were engaged against the Americans. When peace was proclaimed, +and the independence of the United States recognised by Great Britain, +this savage war on the frontiers still continued, and mutual aggressions +and injuries have left bitter feelings rankling on both sides. Let us +hope that in another generation they may be effaced. For myself, I +cannot contemplate the possibility of another war between the English +and Americans without a mingled disgust and terror, as something cruel, +unnatural, fratricidal. Have we not the same ancestry, the same +father-land, the same language? "Though to drain our blood from out +their being were an aim," they cannot do it! The ruffian refuse of the +two nations--the most ignorant, common-minded, and vulgar among them, +may hate each other, and give each other nicknames--but every year +diminishes the number of such; and while the two governments are shaking +hands across the Atlantic, it were indeed supremely ridiculous if they +were to go to cuffs across the Detroit and Niagara! + + * * * * * + + + DETROIT. + +When the intolerable heat of the day has subsided, I sometimes take a +languid stroll through the streets of the city, not unamused, not +altogether unobserving, though unable to profit much by what I see and +hear. There are many new houses building, and many new streets laid out. +In the principal street, called the Jefferson Avenue, there are rows of +large and handsome brick houses; the others are generally of wood, +painted white, with bright green doors and windows. The footway in many +of the streets is, like that of Toronto, of planks, which for my own +part I like better than the burning brick or stone _pavé_. The crowd of +emigrants constantly pouring through this little city on their way to +the back settlements of the west, and the number of steamers, brigs, and +schooners always passing up and down the lakes, occasion a perpetual +bustle, variety, and animation on the shores and in the streets. +Forty-two steamers touch at the port. In one of the Detroit papers +(there are five or six published here either daily or weekly) I found a +long column, headed Marine Intelligence, giving an account of the +arrival and departure of the shipping. Last year the profits of the +steam-boats averaged seventy or eighty per cent., one with another: this +year it is supposed that many will lose. There are several boats which +ply regularly between Detroit and some of the new-born cities on the +south shore of Lake Erie--Sandusky, Cleveland, Port Clinton, Monroe, &c. +The navigation of the Detroit river is generally open from the beginning +of April to the end of November. In the depth of winter they pass and +repass from the British to the American shore on the ice. + +There are some excellent shops in the town, a theatre, and a great +number of taverns and gaming-houses:--also a great number of +booksellers' shops; and I read in the papers long lists of books, newly +arrived and unpacked, which the public are invited to inspect. + +Wishing to borrow some books, to while away the long solitary hours in +which I am _obliged_ to rest, I asked for a circulating library, and +was directed to the only one in the place. I had to ascend a steep +staircase--so disgustingly dirty, that it was necessary to draw my +drapery carefully around me to escape pollution. On entering a large +room, unfurnished except with book shelves, I found several men sitting +or rather sprawling upon chairs, and reading the newspapers. The +collection of books was small; but they were not of a common or vulgar +description. I found some of the best modern publications in French and +English. The man--gentleman I should say, for all are gentlemen +here--who stood behind the counter, neither moved his hat from his head, +nor bowed on my entrance, nor showed any officious anxiety to serve or +oblige; but, with this want of what _we_ English consider due courtesy, +there was no deficiency of real civility--far from it. When I inquired +on what terms I might have some books to read, this gentleman desired I +would take any books I pleased, and not think about payment or deposit. +I remonstrated, and represented that I was a stranger at an inn--that my +stay was uncertain, &c.; and the reply was, that from a lady and a +stranger he could not think of receiving remuneration: and then gave +himself some trouble to look out the books I wished for, which I took +away with me. He did not even ask the name of the hotel at which I was +staying; and when I returned the books, persisted in declining all +payment from "a lady and a stranger." + +Whatever attention and politeness may be tendered to me, in either +character, as a lady or as a stranger, I am always glad to receive from +any one, in any shape. In the present instance, I could indeed have +dispensed with the _form_: a pecuniary obligation, small or large, not +being much to my taste; but what was meant for courtesy, I accepted +courteously--and so the matter ended. + +Nations differ in their idea of good manners, as they do on the subject +of beauty--a far less conventional thing. But there exists luckily a +standard for each, in reference to which we cannot err, and to which the +progress of civilisation will, it is to be hoped, bring us all nearer +and nearer still. For the type of perfection in physical beauty we go to +Greece, and for that of politeness we go to the gospel. As it is +written in a charming little book I have just bought here,--"He who +should embody and manifest the virtues taught in Christ's sermon on the +Mount, would, though he had never seen a drawing-room, nor ever heard of +the artificial usages of society, commend himself to all nations, the +most refined as well as the most simple."[20] + +If you look upon the map, you will find that the Detroit River, so +called, is rather a strait or channel about thirty miles in length, and +in breadth from one to two or three miles, dividing the British from the +American shore. Through this channel all the waters of the upper lakes, +Michigan, Superior, and Huron, come pouring down on their way to the +ocean. Here, at Detroit, the breadth of the river does not exceed a +mile. A pretty little steamer, gaily painted, with streamers flying, and +shaded by an awning, is continually passing and repassing from shore to +shore. I have sometimes sat in this ferry-boat for a couple of hours +together, pleased to remain still, and enjoy, without exertion, the cool +air, the sparkling redundant waters, and green islands:--amused, +meantime, by the variety and conversation of the passengers, English +emigrants, and French Canadians; brisk Americans; dark, sad-looking +Indians folded in their blankets; farmers, storekeepers, speculators in +wheat; artisans; trim girls with black eyes and short petticoats, +speaking a Norman _patois_, and bringing baskets of fruit to the Detroit +market; over-dressed, long-waisted, damsels of the city, attended by +their beaux, going to make merry on the opposite shore. The passage is +not of more than ten minutes duration, yet there is a tavern bar on the +lower deck, and a constant demand for cigars, liquors, and mint +julep--by the _men_ only, I pray you to observe, and the Americans +chiefly; I never saw the French peasants ask for drink. + +[Footnote 20: "Home," by Miss Sedgwick.] + + * * * * * + + + THE CONTRAST. + +Yesterday and to-day I have passed some hours straying or driving about +on the British shore. + +I hardly know how to convey to you an idea of the difference between the +two shores; it will appear to you as incredible as it is to me +incomprehensible. Our shore is said to be the most fertile, and has been +the longest settled; but to float between them (as I did to-day in a +little canoe made of a hollow tree, and paddled by a half-breed imp of a +boy)--to behold on one side a city, with its towers and spires and +animated population, with villas and handsome houses stretching along +the shore, and a hundred vessels or more, gigantic steamers, brigs, +schooners, crowding the port, loading and unloading; all the bustle, in +short, of prosperity and commerce;--and, on the other side, a little +straggling hamlet, one schooner, one little wretched steam-boat, some +windmills, a catholic chapel or two, a supine ignorant peasantry, all +the symptoms of apathy, indolence, mistrust, hopelessness!--can I, can +anyone, help wondering at the difference, and asking whence it arises? +There must be a cause for it surely--but what is it? Does it lie in past +or in present--in natural or accidental circumstances?--in the +institutions of the government, or the character of the people? Is it +remediable? is it a necessity? is it a mystery? what and whence is +it?--Can you tell? or can you send some of our colonial officials across +the Atlantic to behold and solve the difficulty? + +The little hamlet opposite to Detroit is called Richmond. I, was sitting +there to-day on the grassy bank above the river resting in the shade of +a tree, and speculating on all these things, when an old French Canadian +stopped near me to arrange something about his cart. We entered +forthwith into conversation; and though I had some difficulty in making +out his _patois_, he understood my French, and we got on very well. If +you would see the two extremes of manner brought into near comparison, +you should turn from a Yankee storekeeper to a French Canadian! It was +quite curious to find in this remote region such a perfect specimen of +an old-fashioned Norman peasant--all bows, courtesy, and good-humour. He +was carrying a cart-load of cherries to Sandwich, and when I begged for +a ride, the little old man bowed and smiled, and poured forth a voluble +speech, in which the words _enchanté! honneur!_ and _madame!_ were all I +could understand; but these were enough. I mounted the cart, seated +myself in an old chair surrounded with baskets heaped with ripe +cherries, lovely as those of Shenstone-- + + "Scattering like blooming maid their glances round, + And must be bought, though penury betide!" + +No occasion, however, to risk penury here; for after permission asked, +and granted with a pleasant smile and a hundredth removal of the ragged +hat, I failed not to profit by my situation, and dipped my hand pretty +frequently into these tempting baskets. When the French penetrated into +these regions a century ago, they brought with them not only their +national courtesy, but some of their finest national fruits,--plums, +cherries, apples, pears, of the best quality--excellent grapes, too, I +am told--and all these are now grown in such abundance as to be almost +valueless. For his cart-load of cherries my old man expected a sum not +exceeding two shillings. + +Sandwich is about two miles below Detroit. It is the chief place in the +Western District, the county town; yet the population does not much +exceed four hundred. + +I had to regret much the absence of Mr. Prince, the great proprietor of +the place, and a distinguished member of our house of assembly, both for +ability and eloquence; but I saw sufficient to convince me that Sandwich +makes no progress. The appearance of the place and people, so different +from all I had left on the opposite side of the river, made me +melancholy, or rather thoughtful. What can be the reason that all +flourishes _there_, and all languishes _here_? + +Amherstberg, another village about ten miles farther, contains about six +hundred inhabitants, has a good harbour, and all natural capabilities; +but here also no progress is making. There is a wretched little useless +fort, commanding, or rather _not_ commanding, the entrance to the +Detroit river on our side, and memorable in the history of the last +American war as Fort Malden. There are here a few idle soldiers, +detached from the garrison at Toronto; and it is said that even these +will be removed. In case of an attack or sudden outbreak, all this +exposed and important line of shore is absolutely without defence.[21] + +I am hardly competent to give an opinion either way, but it seemeth to +me, in my simple wit, that this is a case in which the government of the +Crown, always supposing it to be wisely and paternally administered, +must be preferable to the interposition of the colonial legislature, +seeing that the interests of the colonists and settlers, and those of +the Indians, are brought into perpetual collision, and that the +colonists can scarcely be trusted to decide in their own case. As it is, +the poor Indian seems hardly destined to meet with _justice_ either from +the legislative or executive power. + +[Footnote 21: This was written on the spot. Since the troubles in Upper +Canada, it is understood to be the intention of the governor to fortify +this coast.] + + + THE INDIANS. + +I believe that Sir Francis Head entertained an enthusiastic admiration +for the Indian character, and was sincerely interested in the welfare of +this fated people. It was his deliberate conviction that there was no +salvation for them but in their removal as far as possible from the +influence and dominion of the white settlers; and in this I agree with +his Excellency; but seeing that the Indians are not virtually British +subjects, no measure should be adopted, even for their supposed benefit, +without their acquiescence. They are quite capable of judging for +themselves in every case in which their interests are concerned. The +fault of our executive is, that we acknowledge the Indians our _allies_, +yet treat them, as well as call them, our _children_. They acknowledged +in our government a _father_; they never acknowledged any master but the +"Great Master of Life," and the rooted idea, or rather instinct of +personal and political independence in which every Indian is born or +reared, no earthly power can obliterate from his soul. One of the early +missionaries expresses himself on this point with great _naïveté_. "The +Indians," he says, "are convinced that every man is born free; that no +one has a right to make any attempt upon his personal liberty, and that +nothing can make him amends for its loss." He proceeds--"We have even +had much pains to undeceive those converted to Christianity on this +head, and to make them understand that in consequence of the corruption +of our nature, which is the effect of sin, an unrestrained liberty of +doing evil differs little from the necessity of doing it, considering +the strength of the inclination which carries us to it; and that the law +which restrains us brings us nearer to our first liberty in seeming to +deprive us of it." + +That a man, because he has the free use of his will and his limbs, must +therefore necessarily do evil, is a doctrine which the Indian can never +be brought to understand. He is too polite to contradict us, but he +insists that it was made for the pale-faces, who, it may be, are +naturally inclined to all evil; but has nothing to do with the red +skins, whom the Great Spirit created free. "Where the spirit of the Lord +is, there is liberty;"--but about liberty there may be as many differing +notions as about charity. + +Of the number here I can form no exact idea; they say there are about +two hundred. At present they are busied in preparations for their voyage +up Lake Huron to the Great Manitoolin Island to receive their annual +presents, and one fleet of canoes has already departed. + + * * * * * + + + PLACES OF WORSHIP. + +My business here being not to dream, but to observe, and this morning +being Sunday morning, I crept forth to attend the different church +services merely as a spectator. I went first to the Roman Catholic +church, called the Cathedral, and the largest and oldest in the place. +The Catholic congregation is by far the most numerous here, and is +composed chiefly of the lower classes and the descendants of the French +settlers. On entering the porch, I found a board suspended with written +regulations, to the effect that all Christians, of whatever +denomination, were welcome to enter; but it was requested that all would +observe the outward ceremonial, and that all gentlemen (_tous les +messieurs_) would lay aside their pipes and cigars, take off their hats, +and wipe their shoes. The interior of the church was similar to that of +many other provincial Roman Catholic churches, exhibiting the usual +assortment of wax tapers, gilding, artificial flowers, and daubed +Madonnas. The music and singing were not good. In the course of the +service, the officiating priest walked up and down the aisles, flinging +about the holy water on either side, with a silver-handled brush. I had +my share, though unworthy of this sprinkling, and then left the church, +where the heat and the smell of incense, _et cetera_, were too +overpowering. On the steps, and in the open space before the door, there +was a crowd of peasants, all talking French--laughing, smoking, tobacco +chewing, _et cetera, et cetera_. One or two were kneeling in the porch. +Thence I went to the Methodist chapel, where I found a small +congregation of the lower classes. A very ill-looking man, in comparison +to whom Liston's Mawworm were no caricature, was holding forth in a most +whining and lugubrious tone; the poor people around joined in sobs and +ejaculations, which soon became howling, raving, and crying. In the +midst of this woful assembly I observed a little boy who was grinning +furtively, kicking his heels, and sliding bits of apple from his pocket +into his mouth. Not being able to endure this with proper seriousness, I +left the place. + +I then went into the Baptist church, on the opposite side of the road. +It is one of the largest in the town, plain in appearance, but the +interior handsome, and in good taste. The congregation was not crowded, +but composed of most respectable, serious, well-dressed people. As I +entered, the preacher was holding forth on the unpardonable sin, very +incoherently and unintelligibly, but, on closing his sermon, he +commenced a prayer; and I have seldom listened to one more eloquently +fervent. Both the sermon and prayer were extemporaneous. He prayed for +all people, nations, orders and conditions of men throughout the world, +including the king of Great Britain: but the prayer for the president of +the United States seemed to me a little original, and admirably +calculated to suit the two parties who are at present divided on the +merits of that gentleman. The suppliant besought the Almighty, that "if +Mr. Van Buren were a good man, he might be made better; and if a bad +man, he might be speedily regenerated." + +I was still in time for the Episcopal church, a very spacious and +handsome building, though "somewhat Gothic." On entering, I perceived at +one glance that the Episcopal church is here, as at New York, the +_fashionable_ church of the place. It was crowded in every part: the +women well dressed--but, as at New York, too much dressed, too fine for +good taste and real fashion. I was handed immediately to the "strangers' +pew," a book put into my hand, and it was whispered to me that the +bishop would preach. Our English idea of the exterior of a bishop is an +old gentleman in a wig and lawn sleeves, both equally _de rigueur_; I +was therefore childishly surprised to find in the Bishop of Michigan a +young man of very elegant appearance, wearing his own fine hair, and in +a plain black silk gown. The sermon was on the well-worn subject of +charity as it consists in _giving_--the least and lowest it may be of +all the branches of charity, though indeed that depends on what we give, +and how we give it. We may give our heart, our soul, our time, our +health, our life, as well as our money; and the greatest of these, as +well as the least, is still but charity. At home I have often thought +that when people gave money they gave counters; here, when people give +money they are really charitable--they give a portion of their time and +their existence, both of which are devoted to money-making. + +On closing his sermon, which was short and unexceptionable, the bishop +leaned forward over the pulpit, and commenced an extemporaneous address +to his congregation. I have often had occasion in the United States to +admire the ready, graceful fluency of their extemporaneous speakers and +preachers, and I have never heard anything more eloquent and more +elegant than this address; it was in perfect good taste, besides being +very much to the purpose. He spoke in behalf of the domestic missions of +his diocese. I understood that the missions hitherto supported in the +back settlements are, in consequence of the extreme pressure of the +times, likely to be withdrawn, and the new, thinly-peopled districts +thus left without any ministry whatever. He called on the people to give +their aid towards sustaining these domestic missionaries, at least for a +time, and said, among other things, that if each individual of the +Episcopal church in the United States subscribed one cent. per week for +a year, it would amount to more than 300,000 dollars. This address was +responded to by a subscription on the spot of above 400 dollars--a large +sum for a small town, suffering, like all other places, from the present +commercial difficulties. + + * * * * * + + + LEAVE DETROIT. + + July 18. + +This evening the Thomas Jefferson arrived in the river from Buffalo, and +starts early to-morrow morning for Chicago. I hastened to secure a +passage as far as the island of Mackinaw: when once there, I must trust +to Providence for some opportunity of going up Lake Huron to the Sault +Ste. Marie to visits my friends the MacMurrays; or down the lake to the +Great Manitoolin Island, where the annual distribution of presents to +the Indians is to take place under the auspices of the governor. If both +these plans--wild plans they are, I am told--should fail, I have only to +retrace my way and come down the lake, as I went up, in a steamer; but +this were horridly tedious and prosaic, and I _hope_ better things. So +_evviva la speranza!_ and Westward Ho! + + * * * * * + + On board the Jefferson, River St. Clair, July 19. + +This morning I came down early to the steam-boat, attended by a +_cortège_ of amiable people, who had heard of my sojourn at Detroit too +late to be of any solace or service to me, but had seized this last and +only opportunity of showing politeness and good-will. The sister of the +governor, two other ladies, and a gentleman, came on board with me at +that early hour, and remained on deck till the paddles were in motion. +The talk was so pleasant, I could not but regret that I had not seen +some of these kind people earlier, or might hope to see more of them; +but it was too late. Time and steam wait neither for man nor woman: all +expressions of hope and regret on both sides were cut short by the +parting signal, which the great bell swung out from on high; all +compliments and questions "fumbled up into a loose adieu;" and these +new friendly faces--seen but for a moment, then to be lost, yet not +quite forgotten--were soon left far behind. + +The morning was most lovely and auspicious; blazing hot though, and +scarce a breath of air; and the magnificent machine, admirably appointed +in all respects, gaily painted and gilt, with flags waving, glided over +the dazzling waters with an easy, stately motion. + +I had suffered so much at Detroit, that as it disappeared and melted +away in the bright southern haze like a vision, I turned from it with a +sense of relief, put the past out of my mind, and resigned myself to the +present--like a wise woman--or wiser child. + +The captain told me that last season he had never gone up the lakes with +less than four or five hundred passengers. This year, fortunately for my +individual comfort, the case is greatly altered: we have not more than +one hundred and eighty passengers, consequently an abundance of +accommodation, and air, and space--inestimable blessings in this sultry +weather, and in the enjoyment of which I did not sympathise in the +lamentations of the good-natured captain as much as I ought to have +done. + + + PASS SNAKE ISLAND. + +We passed a large and beautifully green island, formerly called Snake +Island, from the immense number of rattlesnakes which infested it. These +were destroyed by turning large herds of swine upon it, and it is now, +in compliment to its last conquerors and possessors, the swinish +multitude, called Hog Island. This was the scene of some most horrid +Indian atrocities during the Pontiac war. A large party of British +prisoners, surprised while they were coming up to relieve Detroit, were +brought over here, and, almost within sight of their friends in the +fort, put to death with all the unutterable accompaniments of savage +ferocity. + +I have been told that since this war the custom of torturing persons to +death has fallen gradually into disuse among the Indian tribes of these +regions, and even along the whole frontier of the States an instance +has not been known within these forty years. + + + ASCEND THE ST. CLAIR. + +Leaving the channel of the river and the cluster of islands at its +entrance, we stretched northward across Lake St. Clair. This beautiful +lake, though three times the size of the Lake of Geneva, is a mere pond +compared with the enormous seas in its neighbourhood. About one o'clock +we entered the river St. Clair, (which, like the Detroit, is rather a +strait or channel than a river,) forming the communication between Lake +St. Clair and Lake Huron. Ascending this beautiful river, we had, on the +right, part of the western district of Upper Canada, and on the left the +Michigan territory. The shores on either side, though low and bounded +always by the line of forest, were broken into bays and little +promontories, or diversified by islands, richly wooded, and of every +variety of form. The bateaux of the Canadians, or the canoes of the +Indians, were perpetually seen gliding among these winding channels, or +shooting across the river from side to side, as if playing at +hide-and-seek among the leafy recesses. Now and then a beautiful +schooner, with white sails, relieved against the green masses of +foliage, passed us, gracefully curtseying and sidling along. Innumerable +flocks of wild fowl were disporting among the reedy islets, and here and +there the great black loon was seen diving and dipping, or skimming over +the waters. As usual, the British coast is here the most beautiful and +fertile, and the American coast the best settled and cleared. Along the +former I see a few isolated log-shanties, and groups of Indian lodges; +along the latter, several extensive clearings, and some hamlets and +rising villages. The facility afforded by the American steam-boats for +the transport of goods and sale of produce, &c., is one reason of this. +There is a boat, for instance, which leaves Detroit every morning for +Fort Gratiot, stopping at the intermediate "landings." We are now moored +at a place called "Palmer's Landing," for the purpose of taking in wood +for the Lake voyage. This process has already occupied two hours, and is +to detain us two more, though there are fourteen men employed in +flinging logs into the wood-hold. Meantime I have been sketching and +lounging about the little hamlet, where there is a good grocery-store, a +sawing-mill worked by steam, and about twenty houses. + +I was amused at Detroit to find the phraseology of the people imbued +with metaphors taken from the most familiar mode of locomotion. "Will +you take in wood?" signifies, will you take refreshment? "Is your steam +up?" means, are you ready? The common phrase, "go ahead," has I suppose, +the same derivation. A witty friend of mine once wrote to me not to be +lightly alarmed at the political and social ferments in America, nor +mistake the _whizzing of the safety-valves for the bursting of the +boilers_! + + + MY FELLOW PASSENGERS. + +But all this time I have not yet introduced you to my companions on +board; and one of these great American steamers is really a little +world, a little social system in itself, where a near observer of faces +and manners may find endless subjects of observation, amusement, and +interest. At the other end of the vessel we have about one hundred +emigrants on their way to the Illinois and the settlements to the west +of Lake Michigan. Among them I find a large party of Germans and +Norwegians, with their wives and families, a very respectable, orderly +community, consisting of some farmers and some artisans, having with +them a large quantity of stock and utensils--just the sort of people +best calculated to improve and enrich their adopted country, wherever +that may be. Then we have twenty or thirty poor ragged Irish emigrants, +with good-natured faces, and strong arms and willing hearts. Men are +smoking, women nursing, washing, sewing; children squalling and rolling +about. + +The ladies' saloon and upper deck exhibit a very different scene; there +are about twenty ladies and children in the cabin and state-rooms, which +are beautifully furnished and carpeted with draperies of blue silk, &c. +On the upper deck, shaded by an awning, we have sofas, rocking-chairs, +and people lounging up and down; some reading, some chattering, some +sleeping: there are missionaries and missionaries' wives, and officers +on their way to the garrisons on the Indian frontier; and settlers, and +traders, and some few nondescripts--like myself. + + + THE BISHOP OF MICHIGAN. + +Also among the passengers I find the Bishop of Michigan. The governor's +sister, Miss Mason, introduced us at starting, and bespoke his good +offices for me. His conversation has been a great resource and interest +for me during the long day. He is still a young man, who began life as a +lawyer, and afterwards from a real vocation adopted his present +profession: his talents and popularity have placed him in the rank he +now holds. He is on his way to visit the missions and churches in the +back settlements, and at Green Bay. His diocese, he tells me, extends +about eight hundred miles in length and four hundred in breadth. And +then if you think of the scattered population, the _sort_ of population, +the immensity of this spiritual charge, and the amount of labour and +responsibility it necessarily brings with it, are enough to astound one. +The amount of power is great in proportion; and the extensive moral +influence exercised by such a man as this Bishop of Michigan struck me +very much. In conversing with him and the missionaries on the spiritual +and moral condition of his diocese, and these newly settled regions in +general, I learned many things which interested me; and there was one +thing discussed which especially surprised me. It was said that two +thirds of the misery which came under the immediate notice of a popular +clergyman, and to which he was called to minister, arose from the +infelicity of the conjugal relations; there was no question here of open +immorality and discord, but simply of infelicity and unfitness. The same +thing has been brought before me in every country, every society in +which I have been a sojourner and an observer; but I did not look to +find it so broadly placed before me here in America, where the state of +morals, as regards the two sexes, is comparatively pure; where the +marriages are early, where conditions are equal, where the means of +subsistence are abundant, where the women are much petted and considered +by the men--too much so. + +For a result then so universal, there must be a cause or causes as +universal, not depending on any particular customs, manners, or +religion, or political institutions. And what are these causes? I +cannot understand why an evil everywhere acknowledged and felt is not +remedied somewhere, or discussed by some one, with a view to a +remedy;--but no, it is like putting one's hand into the fire, only to +touch upon it; it is the universal bruise, the putrefying sore, on which +you must not lay a finger, or your patient (that is, society) cries out +and resists, and, like a sick baby, scratches and kicks its physician. + +Strange, and passing strange, that the relation between the two sexes, +the passion of love in short, should not be taken into deeper +consideration by our teachers and our legislators. People educate and +legislate as if there was no such thing in the world; but ask the +priest, ask the physician--let _them_ reveal the amount of moral and +physical results from this one cause. Must love be always discussed in +blank verse, as if it were a thing to be played in tragedies or sung in +songs--a subject for pretty poems and wicked novels, and had nothing to +do with the prosaic current of our every-day existence, our moral +welfare and eternal salvation? Must love be ever treated with +profaneness, as a mere illusion? or with coarseness, as a mere impulse? +or with fear, as a mere disease? or with shame, as a mere weakness? or +with levity, as a mere accident? Whereas, it is a great mystery and a +great necessity, lying at the foundation of human existence, morality, +and happiness; mysterious, universal, inevitable as death. Why then +should love be treated less seriously than death? It is as serious a +thing. Love and Death, the alpha and omega of human life, the author and +finisher of existence, the two points on which God's universe turns; +which He, our Father and Creator, has placed beyond our +arbitration--beyond the reach of that election and free will which He +has left us in all other things! + + + LOVE AND DEATH. + +Death must come, and love must come; but the state in which they find +us?--whether blinded, astonished, and frightened, and ignorant, or, like +reasonable creatures, guarded, prepared, and fit to manage our own +feelings?--_this_, I suppose, depends on ourselves; and for want of such +self-management and self-knowledge, look at the evils that +ensue!--hasty, improvident, unsuitable marriages; repining, diseased, +or vicious celibacy; irretrievable infamy; cureless insanity:--the +death that comes early, and the love that comes late, reversing the +primal laws of our nature. + +It is of little consequence how unequal the conventional difference of +rank, as in Germany--how equal the condition, station, and means, as in +America,--if there be inequality between the sexes; and if the sentiment +which attracts and unites them to each other, and the contracts and +relations springing out of this sentiment, be not equally well +understood by both, equally sacred with both, equally binding on both. + + * * * * * + + + MISS SEDGWICK.--MRS. LEE.--MR. HENRY. + +At Detroit I had purchased Miss Sedgwick's tale of "The Rich Poor Man +and the Poor Rich Man," and this sent away two hours delightfully, as we +were gliding over the expanse of Lake St. Clair. Those who glanced on my +book while I was reading always smiled--a significant sympathising +smile, very expressive of that unenvious, affectionate homage and +admiration which this genuine American writer inspires among her +countrymen. I do not think I ever mentioned her name to any of them, +that the countenance did not light up with pleasure and gratified pride. +I have also a sensible little book, called "Three Experiments in +Living," written by Mrs. Lee, of Boston: it must be popular, and _true_ +to life and nature, for the edition I bought is the tenth. I have also +another book to which I must introduce you more particularly--"The +Travels and Adventures of Alexander Henry." Did you ever hear of such a +man? No. Listen then, and perpend. + +This Mr. Henry was a fur-trader who journeyed over these lake regions +about seventy years ago, and is quoted as first-rate authority in more +recent books of travels. His book, which was lent to me at Toronto, +struck me so much as to have had some influence in directing the course +of my present tour. Plain, unaffected, telling what he has to tell in +few and simple words, and without comment--the internal evidence of +truth--the natural sensibility and power of fancy, betrayed rather than +displayed--render not only the narrative, but the man himself, his +personal character, unspeakably interesting. Wild as are the tales of +his hairbreadth escapes, I never heard the slightest impeachment of his +veracity. He was living at Montreal so late as 1810 or 1811, when a +friend of mine saw him, and described him to me as a very old man past +eighty, with white hair, and still hale-looking and cheerful, so that +his hard and adventurous life, and the horrors he had witnessed and +suffered, had in no respect impaired his spirits or his constitution. +His book has been long out of print. I had the greatest difficulty in +procuring the loan of a copy, after sending to Montreal, Quebec, and New +York, in vain. Mr. Henry is to be my travelling companion. I do not know +how he might have figured as a squire of dames when living, but I assure +you that being dead he makes a very respectable hero of epic or romance. +He is the Ulysses of these parts; and to cruise among the shores, rocks, +and islands of Lake Huron without Henry's travels, were like coasting +Calabria and Sicily without the Odyssey in your head or hand,--only here +you have the island of Mackinaw instead of the island of Circe; the land +of the Ottawas instead of the shores of the Lotophagi; cannibal +Chippewas, instead of man-eating Læstrigons. Pontiac figures as +Polypheme; and Wa,wa,tam plays the part of good king Alcinous. I can +find no type for the women, as Henry does not tell us his adventures +among the squaws; but no doubt he might have found both Calypsos and +Nausicaas, and even a Penelope, among them. + + * * * * * + + July 20. + +Before I went down to my rest yesterday evening, I beheld a strange and +beautiful scene. The night was coming on; the moon had risen round and +full, like an enormous globe of fire; we were still in the channel of +the river, when, to the right, I saw a crowd of Indians on a projecting +point of land. They were encamping for the night, some hauling up their +canoes, some building up their wigwams: there were numerous fires +blazing amid the thick foliage, and the dusky figures of the Indians +were seen glancing to and fro; and I heard loud laughs and shouts as our +huge steamer swept past them. In another moment we turned a point, and +all was dark: the whole had vanished like a scene in a melodrama. I +rubbed my eyes, and began to think I was already dreaming. + +At the entrance of the river St. Clair, the Americans have a fort and +garrison (Fort Gratiot), and a lighthouse, which we passed in the night. +On the opposite side we have no station; so that, in case of any +misunderstanding between the two nations, it would be in the power of +the Americans to shut the entrance of Lake Huron upon us. + + + LAKE HURON. + +At seven this morning, when I went on deck, we had advanced about one +hundred miles into Lake Huron. We were coasting along the south shore, +about four miles from the land, while, on the other side, we had about +two hundred miles of open _sea_, and the same expanse before us. Soon +after, we had to pass the entrance of Sagginaw Bay. Here we lost sight +of land for the first time. Sagginaw Bay, I should suppose, is as large +as the Gulf of Genoa; it runs seventy or eighty miles up into the land, +and is as famous for storms as the Bay of Biscay. Here, if there be a +capful of wind, or a cupful of sea, one is sure to have the benefit of +it; for even in the finest weather there is a considerable swell. We +were about three hours crossing from the Pointe Aux Barques to Cape +Thunder; and during this time a number of my companions were put _hors +de combat_. + +All this part of Michigan is unsettled, and is said to be sandy and +barren. Along the whole horizon was nothing visible but the dark +omnipresent pine-forest. The Sagginaw Indians, whose hunting-grounds +extend along the shore, are, I believe, a tribe of Ottawas. I should +add, that the Americans have built a lighthouse on a little island near +Thunder Bay. A situation more terrific in its solitude you cannot +imagine than that of the keeper of this lonely tower, among rocks, +tempests, and savages. All their provisions come from a distance of at +least one hundred miles, and a long course of stormy weather, which +sometimes occurs, would place them in danger of starvation. + + + THE ISLAND OF MACKINAW + + Doth the bright sun from the high arch of heaven, + In all his beauteous robes of flecker'd clouds, + And ruddy vapours, and deep glowing flames, + And softly varied shades, look gloriously? + Do the green woods dance to the wind? the lakes + Cast up their sparkling waters to the light? + + Joanna Baillie. + +The next morning, at earliest dawn, I was wakened by an unusual noise +and movement on board, and putting out my head to inquire the cause, was +informed that we were arrived at the island of Mackinaw, and that the +captain being most anxious to proceed on his voyage, only half an hour +was allowed to make all my arrangements, take out my luggage, and so +forth. I dressed in all haste and ran up to the deck, and there a scene +burst at once on my enchanted gaze, such as I never had imagined, such +as I wish I could place before you in words,--but I despair, unless +words were of light, and lustrous hues, and breathing music. However, +here is the picture as well as I can paint it. We were lying in a tiny +bay, crescent-shaped, of which the two horns or extremities were formed +by long narrow promontories projecting into the lake. On the east the +whole sky was flushed with a deep amber glow, fleckered with softest +shades of rose-colour--the same intense splendour being reflected in the +lake; and upon the extremity of the point, between the glory above and +the glory below, stood the little Missionary church, its light spire and +belfry defined against the sky. On the opposite side of the heavens hung +the moon, waxing paler and paler, and melting away, as it seemed, before +the splendour of the rising day. Immediately in front rose the abrupt +and picturesque heights of the island, robed in richest foliage, and +crowned by the lines of the little fortress, snow-white, and gleaming in +the morning light. At the base of these cliffs, all along the shore, +immediately on the edge of the lake, which, transparent and unruffled, +reflected every form as in a mirror, an encampment of Indian lodges +extended as far as my eye could reach on either side. Even while I +looked, the inmates were beginning to bestir themselves, and dusky +figures were seen emerging into sight from their picturesque +dormitories, and stood gazing on us with folded arms, or were busied +about their canoes, of which some hundreds lay along the beach. + + + BEAUTY OF SCENERY. + +There was not a breath of air; and while heaven and earth were glowing +with light, and colour, and life, an elysian stillness, a delicious +balmy serenity wrapt and interfused the whole. O how passing lovely it +was! how wondrously beautiful and strange! I cannot tell how long I may +have stood, lost--absolutely lost, and fearing even to wink my eyes, +lest the spell should dissolve, and all should vanish away like some +air-wrought phantasy, some dream out of fairy land,--when the good +Bishop of Michigan came up to me, and with a smiling benevolence waked +me out of my ecstatic trance; and reminding me that I had but two +minutes left, seized upon some of my packages himself, and hurried me on +to the little wooden pier just in time. We were then conducted to a +little inn, or boarding-house, kept by a very fat half-caste Indian +woman, who spoke Indian, bad French, and worse English, and who was +addressed as _Madame_. Here I was able to arrange my hasty toilette, and +we sat down to an excellent breakfast of white-fish, eggs, tea and +coffee, for which the charge was twice what I should have given at the +first hotel in the United States, and yet not unreasonable, considering +that European luxuries were placed before us in this remote spot. By the +time breakfast was discussed it was past six o'clock, and taking my +sketch-book in my hand, I sauntered forth alone to the beach till it +should be a fitting hour to present myself at the door of the American +agent, Mr. Schoolcraft, whose wife was the sister of Mrs. MacMurray. + +The first object which caught my eye was the immense steamer gliding +swiftly away towards the straits of Michilimackinac, already far, far to +the west. Suddenly the thought of my extreme loneliness came over me--a +momentary wonder and alarm to find myself so far from any human being +who took the least interest about my fate. I had no letter to Mr. +Schoolcraft; and if Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray had not passed this way, or +had forgotten to mention me, what would be my reception? what should I +do? Here I must stay for some days at least. All the accommodation that +could be afforded by the half-French, half-Indian "Madame," had been +already secured, and, without turning out the bishop, there was not even +a room for me. These thoughts and many others, some natural doubts, and +fears, came across my mind, but I cannot say that they remained there +long, or that they had the effect of rendering me uneasy and anxious for +more than half a minute. With a sense of enjoyment keen and +unanticipative as that of a child--looking neither before nor after--I +soon abandoned myself to the present, and all its delicious exciting +novelty, leaving the future to take care of itself,--which I am more and +more convinced is the truest wisdom, the most real philosophy, after +all. + + + GROUPS OF INDIANS. + +The sun had now risen in cloudless glory--all was life and movement. I +strayed and loitered for full three hours along the shore, I hardly knew +whither, sitting down occasionally under the shadow of a cliff or cedar +fence to rest, and watching the operations of the Indian families. It +were endless to tell you of each individual group or picture as +successively presented before me. But there were some general features +of the scene which struck me at once. There were more than one hundred +lodges, and round each of these lurked several ill-looking, +half-starved, yelping dogs. The women were busied about their children, +or making fires and cooking, or pounding Indian corn, in a primitive +sort of mortar, formed of part of a tree hollowed out, with a heavy rude +pestle which they moved up and down, as if churning. The dress of the +men was very various--the cotton shirt, blue or scarlet leggings, and +deer-skin mocassins and blanket coat, were most general; but many had no +shirt nor vest, merely the cloth leggings, and a blanket thrown round +them as drapery; the faces of several being most grotesquely painted. +The dress of the women was more uniform,--a cotton shirt, and cloth +leggings and mocassins, and a dark blue blanket. Necklaces, silver +armlets, silver earrings, and circular plates of silver fastened on the +breast, were the usual ornaments of both sexes. There may be a general +equality of rank among the Indians; but there is evidently all that +inequality of condition which difference of character and intellect +might naturally produce; there were rich wigwams and poor wigwams; whole +families ragged, meagre, and squalid, and others gay with dress and +ornaments, fat and well-favoured: on the whole, these were beings quite +distinct from any Indians I had yet seen, and realised all my ideas of +the wild and lordly savage. I remember I came upon a family group, +consisting of a fine tall young man and two squaws; one had a child +swaddled in one of their curious bark cradles, which she composedly hung +up against the side of the wigwam. They were then busied launching a +canoe, and in a moment it was dancing upon the rippling waves: one woman +guided the canoe, the other paddled; the young man stood in the prow in +a striking and graceful attitude, poising his fish-spear in his hand. +When they were about a hundred yards from the shore, suddenly I saw the +fish-spear darted into the water, and disappear beneath it; as it sprang +up again to the surface, it was rapidly seized, and a large fish was +sticking to the prongs; the same process was repeated with unerring +success, and then the canoe was paddled back to the land. The young man +flung his spear into the bottom of the canoe, and, drawing his blanket +round him, leapt on shore, and lounged away without troubling himself +farther; the women drew up the canoe, kindled a fire, and suspended the +fish over it, to be cooked _à la mode Indienne_. + +There was another group which amused me exceedingly: it was a large +family, and, compared with some others, they were certainly people of +distinction and substance, rich in beads, blankets, and brass kettles, +with "all things handsome about them;" they had two lodges and two +canoes. But I must begin by making you understand the construction of an +Indian lodge,--such, at least, as those which now crowded the shore. + +Eight or twelve long poles are stuck in the ground in a circle, meeting +at a point at the top, where they are all fastened together. The +skeleton thus erected is covered over, thatched in some sort with mats, +or large pieces of birch bark, beginning at the bottom, and leaving an +opening at top for the emission of smoke: there is a door about four +feet high, before which a skin or blanket is suspended; and as it is +summer time, they do not seem particular about closing the chinks and +apertures.[22] As to the canoes, they are uniformly of birch bark, +exceedingly light, flat-bottomed, and most elegant in shape, varying in +size from eighteen to thirty-six feet in length, and from a foot and a +half to four feet in width. The family I have mentioned were preparing +to embark, and were dismantling their wigwams and packing up their +goods, not at all discomposed by my vicinity, as I sat on a bank +watching the whole process with no little interest. The most striking +personage in this group was a very old man, seated on a log of wood, +close upon the edge of the water; his head was quite bald, excepting a +few gray hairs which were gathered in a tuft at the top, and decorated +with a single feather--I think an eagle's feather; his blanket of +scarlet cloth was so arranged as to fall round his limbs in graceful +folds, leaving his chest and shoulders exposed; he held a green umbrella +over his head, (a gift or purchase from some white trader,) and in the +other hand a long pipe--and he smoked away, never stirring, nor taking +the slightest interest in anything which was going on. Then there were +two fine young men, and three women, one old and hideous, with matted +grizzled hair, the youngest really a beautiful girl about fifteen. There +were also three children; the eldest had on a cotton shirt, the breast +of which was covered with silver ornaments. The men were examining the +canoes, and preparing to launch them; the women were taking down their +wigwams, and as they uncovered them, I had an opportunity of observing +the whole interior economy of their dwellings. + +The ground within was spread over with mats, two or three deep, and +skins and blankets, so as to form a general couch: then all around the +internal circle of the wigwam were ranged their goods and chattels in +very tidy order; I observed wooden chests, of European make, bags of +woven grass, baskets and cases of birch bark (called _mokkuks_,) also +brass kettles, pans, and, to my surprise, a large coffee-pot of queen's +metal. + +When all was arranged, and the canoes afloat, the poles of the wigwams +were first placed at the bottom, then the mats and bundles, which served +apparently to sit on, and the kettles and chests were stowed in the +middle; the old man was assisted by the others into the largest canoe; +women, children, and dogs followed; the young men stood in the stern +with their paddles as steersmen; the women and boys squatted down; each +with a paddle;--with all this weight, the elegant buoyant little canoes +scarcely sank an inch deeper in the water--and in this guise away they +glided with surprising swiftness over the sparkling waves, directing +their course eastwards for the Manitoolin Islands, where I hope to see +them again. The whole process of preparation and embarkation did not +occupy an hour. + +[Footnote 22: I learned subsequently, that the cone-like form of the +wigwam is proper to the Ottawas and Pottowottomies, and that the oblong +form, in which the branches or poles are bent over at top in an arch, is +proper to the Chippewa tribe. But as this latter is more troublesome to +erect, the former construction is usually adopted by the Chippewas also +in their temporary encampments.] + + * * * * * + + + MR. SCHOOLCRAFT. + +About ten o'clock I ventured to call on Mr. Schoolcraft, and was +received by him with grave and quiet politeness. They were prepared, he +said, for my arrival, and then he apologised for whatever might be +deficient in my reception, and for the absence of his wife, by informing +me that she was ill, and had not left her room for some days. + +Much was I discomposed and shocked to find myself an intruder under such +circumstances! I said so, and begged that they would not think of +me--that I could easily provide for myself--and so I could and would. I +would have laid myself down in one of the Indian lodges rather than have +been _de trop_. But Mr. Schoolcraft said, with much kindness, that they +knew already of my arrival by one of my fellow-passengers--that a room +was prepared for me, a servant already sent down for my goods, and Mrs. +Schoolcraft, who was a little better that morning, hoped to see me. +Here, then, I am installed for the next few days--and I know not how +many more--so completely am I at the mercy of "fates, destinies, and +such branches of learning!" + + * * * * * + +I am charmed with Mrs. Schoolcraft. When able to appear, she received me +with true ladylike simplicity. The damp, tremulous hand, the soft, +plaintive voice, the touching expression of her countenance, told too +painfully of resigned and habitual suffering. Mrs. Schoolcraft's +features are more decidedly Indian than those of her sister Mrs. +MacMurray. Her accent is slightly foreign--her choice of language pure +and remarkably elegant. In the course of an hour's talk, all my +sympathies were enlisted in her behalf, and I thought that she, on her +part, was inclined to return these benignant feelings. I promised myself +to repay her hospitality by all the attention and gratitude in my power. +I am here a lonely stranger, thrown upon her sufferance; but she is +good, gentle, and in most delicate health, and there are a thousand +quiet ways in which woman may be kind and useful to her sister woman. +Then she has two sweet children about eight or nine years old--no fear, +you see, but that we shall soon be the best friends in the world! + +This day, however, I took care not to be _à charge_, so I ran about +along the lovely shore, and among the Indians, inexpressibly amused, and +occupied, and excited by all I saw and heard. At last I returned--O so +wearied out--so spent in body and mind! I was fain to go to rest soon +after sunset. A nice little room had been prepared for me, and a _wide_ +comfortable bed, into which I sank with such a feeling of peace, +security, and thankfulness, as could only be conceived by one who had +been living in comfortless inns and close steam-boats for the last +fortnight. + + * * * * * + + + THE RED MEN. + +On a little platform, not quite half way up the wooded height which +overlooks the bay, embowered in foliage, and sheltered from the +tyrannous breathing of the north by the precipitous cliff, rising almost +perpendicularly behind, stands the house in which I find myself at +present a grateful and contented inmate. The ground in front sloping +down to the shore, is laid out in a garden, with an avenue of fruit +trees, the gate at the end opening on the very edge of the lake. From +the porch I look down upon the scene I have endeavoured--how +inadequately!--to describe to you: the little crescent bay; the village +of Mackinaw; the beach thickly studded with Indian lodges; canoes +fishing, or darting hither and thither, light and buoyant as sea-birds; +a tall graceful schooner swinging at anchor. Opposite rises the Island +of Bois-blanc, with its tufted and most luxuriant foliage. To the east +we see the open lake, and in the far western distance the promontory of +Michilimackinac, and the strait of that name, the portal of Lake +Michigan. The exceeding beauty of this little paradise of an island, the +attention which has been excited by its enchanting scenery, and the +salubrity of its summer climate, the facility of communication lately +afforded by the lake steamers, and its situation half-way between +Detroit and the newly-settled regions of the west, are likely to render +Mackinaw a sort of watering-place for the Michigan and Wisconsin +fashionables, or, as the bishop expressed it, the "Rockaway of the +west;" so at least it is anticipated. How far such an accession of +fashion and reputation may be desirable, I know not; I am only glad it +has not yet taken place, and that I have beheld this lovely island in +all its wild beauty. + +When I left my room this morning, I remained for some time in the +parlour, looking over the Wisconsin Gazette, a good sized, well printed +newspaper, published on the west shore of Lake Michigan. I was reading a +most pathetic and serious address from the new settlers in Wisconsin to +_the down-east girls_, (_i. e._ the women of the eastern states,) who +are invited to the relief of these hapless hard-working bachelors in the +backwoods. They are promised affluence and love,--the "picking and +choosing among a set of the finest young fellows in the world," who are +ready to fall at their feet, and make the most adoring and the most +obedient of husbands! Can you fancy what a pretty thing a Wisconsin +pastoral might be? Only imagine one of these despairing backwoodsmen +inditing an Ovidian epistle to his unknown mistress--"_down +east_,"--wooing her to come and be wooed! Well, I was enjoying this +comical effusion, and thinking that women must certainly be at a premium +in these parts, when suddenly the windows were darkened, and looking up, +I beheld a crowd of faces, dusky, painted, wild, grotesque--with +flashing eyes and white teeth, staring in upon me. I quickly threw down +the paper and hastened out. The porch, the little lawn, the garden +walks, were crowded with Indians, the elder chiefs and warriors sitting +on the ground, or leaning silently against the pillars; the young men, +women, and boys lounging and peeping about, with eager and animated +looks, but all perfectly well conducted, and their voices low and +pleasing to the ear. They were chiefly Ottawas and Pottowottomies, two +tribes which "call brother," that is, claim relationship, and are +usually in alliance, but widely different. The Ottawas are the most +civilised, the Pottowottomies the least so of all the lake tribes. The +Ottawa I soon distinguished by the decency of his dress, and the +handkerchief knotted round the head--a custom borrowed from the early +French settlers, with whom they have had much intercourse: the +Pottowottomie by the more savage finery of his costume, his tall figure, +and a sort of swagger in his gait. The dandyism of some of these +Pottowottomie warriors is inexpressibly amusing and grotesque: I defy +all Regent Street and Bond Street to go beyond them in the exhibition of +self-decoration and self-complacency. One of these exquisites, whom I +called Beau Brummel, was not indeed much indebted to a tailor, seeing he +had neither a coat nor any thing else that gentlemen are accustomed to +wear; but then his face was most artistically painted, the upper half +of it being vermillion, with a black circle round one eye, and a white +circle round the other; the lower half of a bright green, except the tip +of his nose, which was also vermillion. His leggings of scarlet cloth +were embroidered down the sides, and decorated with tufts of hair. The +band, or garter, which confines the leggings, is always an especial bit +of finery; and his were gorgeous, all embroidered with gay beads, and +strings and tassels of the liveliest colours hanging down to his ankle. +His moccasins were also beautifully worked with porcupine quills; he had +armlets and bracelets of silver; and round his head a silver band stuck +with tufts of moosehair died blue and red; and, conspicuous above all, +the eagle feather in his hair, showing he was a warrior, and had taken a +scalp--_i. e._ killed his man. Over his shoulders hung a blanket of +scarlet cloth, very long and ample, which he had thrown back a little, +so as to display his chest, on which a large outspread hand was painted +in white. It is impossible to describe the air of perfect +self-complacency with which this youth strutted about. Seeing my +attention fixed upon him, he came up and shook hands with me, repeating +"Bojou! bojou!"[23] Others immediately pressed forward also to shake +hands, or rather take my hand, for they do not _shake_ it; and I was +soon in the midst of a crowd of perhaps thirty or forty Indians, all +holding out their hands to me, or snatching mine, and repeating "bojou" +with every expression of delight and good-humour. + +This must suffice in the way of description, for I cannot further +particularise dresses; they were very various, and few so fine as that +of my young Pottowottomie. I remember another young man, who had a +common black beaver hat, all round which, in several silver bands, he +had stuck a profusion of feathers, and long tufts of dyed hair, so that +it formed a most gorgeous helmet. Some wore their hair hanging loose and +wild in elf-locks, but others again had combed and arranged it with much +care and pains. + +The men seemed to engross the finery; none of the women that I saw were +painted. Their blankets were mostly dark blue; some had strings of beads +round their necks, and silver armlets. The hair of some of the young +women was very prettily arranged, being parted smooth upon the forehead +and twisted in a knot behind, very much _à la Grecque_. There is, I +imagine, a very general and hearty aversion to cold water. + + * * * * * + +This morning there was a "talk" held in the commissioner's office, and +he kindly invited me to witness the proceedings. About twenty of their +principal men, including a venerable old chief, were present; the rest +stood outside, crowding the doors and windows, but never attempting to +enter, nor causing the slightest interruption. The old chief wore a +quantity of wampum, but was otherwise undistinguished, except by his +fine head and acute features. His gray hair was drawn back, and tied on +the top of his head with a single feather. All, as they entered, took me +by the hand with a quiet smile and a "bojou," to which I replied, as I +had been instructed, "Bojou, neeje!" (good-day, friend). They then sat +down upon the floor, all round the room. Mr. Johnston, Mrs. +Schoolcraft's brother, acted as interpreter, and the business proceeded +with the utmost gravity. + +After some whispering among themselves, an orator of the party addressed +the commissioner with great emphasis. Extending his hand and raising his +voice, he began: "Father, I am come to tell you a piece of my mind." But +when he had uttered a few sentences, Mr. Schoolcraft desired the +interpreter to tell him that it was useless to speak farther on _that_ +subject, (I understood it to relate to some land-payments). The orator +stopped immediately, and then, after a pause, he went up and took Mr. +Schoolcraft's hand with a friendly air, as if to show he was not +offended. Another orator then arose, and proceeded to the object of the +visit, which was to ask an allowance of corn, salt, and tobacco, while +they remained on the island, a request which I presume was granted, as +they departed with much apparent satisfaction. + +There was not a figure among them that was not a study for a painter; +and how I wished that my hand had been readier with the pencil to snatch +some of those picturesque heads and attitudes. But it was all so new. I +was so lost in gazing, listening, observing, and trying to comprehend, +that I could not make a single sketch, except the above, in most poor +and inadequate words. + + * * * * * + +The Indians here--and fresh parties are constantly arriving--are chiefly +Ottawas, from Arbre Croche, on the east of Lake Michigan; +Pottowottomies; and Winnebagos from the west of the lake; a few +Menomonies and Chippewas from the shores north-west of us; the occasion +of this assemblage being the same with all. They are on the way to the +Manitoolin Islands, to receive the presents annually distributed by the +British government to all those Indian tribes who were friendly to us +during the wars with America, and call themselves our allies and our +children, though living within the bounds of another state. Some of them +make a voyage of five hundred miles to receive a few blankets and +kettles; coasting along the shores, encamping at night, and paddling all +day from sunrise to sunset, living on the fish or game they may meet, +and the little provision they can carry with them, which consists +chiefly of parched Indian corn and bear's fat. Some are out on this +excursion during six weeks, or more, every year; returning to their +hunting grounds by the end of September, when the great hunting season +begins, which continues through October and November; they then return +to their villages and wintering grounds. This applies generally to the +tribes I find here, except the Ottawas of Arbre Croche, who have a good +deal of land in cultivation, and are more stationary and civilised than +the other Lake Indians. They have been for nearly a century under the +care of the French Jesuit missions, but do not seem to have made much +advance since Henry's time, and the days when they were organised under +Pontiac; they were even then considered superior in humanity and +intelligence to the Chippewas and Pottowottomies, and more inclined to +agriculture. After some most sultry weather, we have had a grand storm. +The wind shifted to the north-east, and rose to a hurricane. I was then +sitting with my Irish friend in the mission-house; and while the little +bay lay almost tranquil, gleam and shadow floating over its bosom, the +expanse of the main lake was like the ocean lashed to fury. On the east +side of the island the billows came "rolling with might," flinging +themselves in wrath and foam far up the land. It was a magnificent +spectacle. Returning home, I was anxious to see how the Indian +establishment had stood out the storm, and was surprised to find that +little or no damage had been done. I peeped into several, with a nod and +a _bojou_, and found the inmates very snug. Here and there a mat was +blown away, but none of the poles were displaced or blown down, which I +had firmly expected. + +Though all these lodges seem nearly alike to a casual observer, I was +soon aware of differences and gradations in the particular arrangements, +which are amusingly characteristic of the various inhabitants. There is +one lodge, a little to the east of us, which I call the Château. It is +rather larger and loftier than the others: the mats which cover it are +whiter and of a neater texture than usual. The blanket which hangs +before the opening is new and clean. The inmates, ten in number, are +well and handsomely dressed; even the women and children have abundance +of ornaments; and as for the gay cradle of the baby, I quite covet +it--it is so gorgeously elegant. I supposed at first that this must be +the lodge of a chief; but I have since understood that the chief is +seldom either so well lodged or so well dressed as the others, it being +a part of his policy to avoid everything like ostentation, or rather to +be ostentatiously poor and plain in his apparel and possessions. This +wigwam belongs to an Ottawa, remarkable for his skill in hunting, and +for his habitual abstinence from the "fire-water." He is a baptized +Roman Catholic, belonging to the mission at Arbre Croche, and is reputed +a rich man. + +Not far from this, and almost immediately in front of our house, stands +another wigwam, a most wretched concern. The owners have not mats enough +to screen them from the weather; and the bare poles are exposed on every +side. The woman, with her long neglected hair, is always seen cowering +despondingly over the embers of her fire, as if lost in sad reveries. +Two naked children are scrambling among the pebbles on the shore. The +man wrapt in a dirty ragged blanket, without a single ornament, looks +the image of savage inebriety and ferocity. Observe that these are the +two extremes, and that between them are many gradations of comfort, +order, and respectability. An Indian is _respectable_ in his own +community, in proportion as his wife and children look fat and well fed; +this being a proof of his prowess and success as a hunter, and his +consequent riches. + +I was loitering by the garden gate this evening, about sunset, looking +at the beautiful effects which the storm of the morning had left in the +sky and on the lake. I heard the sound of the Indian drum, mingled with +the shouts and yells and shrieks of the intoxicated savages, who were +drinking in front of the village whisky store;--when at this moment a +man came slowly up, whom I recognised as one of the Ottawa chiefs, who +had often attracted my attention. His name is Kim,e,wun, which signifies +the Rain, or rather "it rains." He now stood before me, one of the +noblest figures I ever beheld, above six feet high, erect as a forest +pine. A red and green handkerchief was twined round his head with much +elegance, and knotted in front, with the two ends projecting; his black +hair fell from beneath it, and his small black piercing eyes glittered +from among its masses, like stars glancing through the thunder clouds. +His ample blanket was thrown over his left shoulder, and brought under +his right arm, so as to leave it free and exposed; and a sculptor might +have envied the disposition of the whole drapery--it was so felicitous, +so richly graceful. He stood in a contemplative attitude, evidently +undecided whether he should join his drunken companions in their night +revel, or return, like a wise man, to his lodge and his mat. He advanced +a few steps, then turned, then paused and listened--then turned back +again. I retired a little within the gate, to watch, unseen, the issue +of the conflict. Alas! it was soon decided--the fatal temptation +prevailed over better thoughts. He suddenly drew his blanket round him, +and strided onwards in the direction of the village, treading the earth +with an air of defiance, and a step which would have become a prince. + +On returning home, I mentioned this scene to Mr. and Mrs. Schoolcraft, +as I do everything which strikes me, that I may profit by their remarks +and explanations. Mr. S. told me a laughable anecdote. + +A distinguished Pottowottomie warrior presented himself to the Indian +agent at Chicago, and observing that he was a very good man, very good +indeed--and a good friend to the Long-knives, (the Americans,) requested +a dram of whisky. The agent replied, that he never gave whisky to _good_ +men,--_good_ men never asked for whisky; and never drank it. It was only +_bad_ Indians who asked for whisky, or liked to drink it. "Then," +replied the Indian quickly in his broken English, "me damn rascal!" + + * * * * * + +The revel continued far through the night, for I heard the wild yelling +and whooping of the savages long after I had gone to rest. I can now +conceive what it must be to hear that shrill prolonged cry (unlike any +sound I ever heard in my life before) in the solitude of the forest, and +when it is the certain harbinger of death. + +It is surprising to me, considering the number of savages congregated +together, and the excess of drunkenness, that no mischief is done; that +there has been no fighting, no robberies committed, and that there is a +feeling of perfect security around me. The women, they tell me, have +taken away their husbands' knives and tomahawks, and hidden them--wisely +enough. At this time there are about twelve hundred Indians here. The +fort is empty--the garrison having been withdrawn as useless; and +perhaps there are not a hundred white men in the island,--rather +unequal odds! And then that fearful Michilimackinac in full view, with +all its horrid, murderous associations![24] But do not for a moment +imagine that I feel _fear_, or the slightest doubt of security; only a +sort of thrill which enhances the enjoyment I have in these wild +scenes--a thrill such as one feels in the presence of danger when most +safe from it--such as I felt when bending over the rapids of Niagara. + +The Indians, apparently, have no idea of correcting or restraining their +children; personal chastisement is unheard of. They say that before a +child has any understanding there is no use in correcting it; and when +old enough to understand, no one has a right to correct it. Thus the +fixed, inherent sentiment of personal independence grows up with the +Indians from earliest infancy. The will of an Indian child is not +forced; he has nothing to learn but what he sees done around him, and he +learns by imitation. I hear no scolding, no tones of command or reproof; +but I see no evil results from this mild system, for the general +reverence and affection of children for parents is delightful; where +there is no obedience exacted, there can be no rebellion; they dream not +of either, and all live in peace in the same lodge. + +I observe, while loitering among them, that they seldom raise their +voices, and they pronounce several words much more softly than we write +them. Wigwam, a house, they pronounce _wee-ga-waum_; moccasin, a shoe, +_muck-a-zeen_; manito, spirit, _mo-nee-do_,--lengthening the vowels, and +softening the aspirates. _Chippewa_ is properly _O,jîb-wày_; +_ab,bin,no,jee_ is a little child. The accent of the women is +particularly soft, with a sort of plaintive modulation, reminding me of +recitative. Their low laugh is quite musical, and has something +infantine in it. I sometimes hear them sing, and the strain is generally +in a minor key; but I cannot succeed in detecting or retaining an entire +or distinct tune. + + * * * * * + +There was a mission established on this island in 1823, for the +conversion of the Indians, and the education of the Indian and +half-breed children.[25] A large mission and school-house was erected, +and a neat little church. Those who were interested about the Indians +entertained the most sanguine expectations of the success of the +undertaking. But at present the extensive buildings of the mission-house +are used merely as Storehouses, or as lodgings; and if Mackinaw should +become a place of resort, they will probably be converted into a +fashionable hotel. The mission itself is established farther west, +somewhere near Green Bay, on Lake Michigan; and when overtaken by the +advancing stream of white civilisation, and the contagion which it +carries with it, no doubt it must retire yet farther. + +As for the little missionary church, it has been for some time disused, +the French Canadians and half-breed on the island being mostly Roman +Catholics. To-day, however, divine service was performed in it by the +Bishop of Michigan, to a congregation of about twenty persons. Around +the open doors of the church, a crowd of Indians, principally women, had +assembled, and a few came in, and stood leaning against the pews, with +their blankets folded round them, mute and still, and respectfully +attentive. + +Immediately before me sat a man who at once attracted my attention. He +was an Indian, evidently of unmixed blood, though wearing a long blanket +coat and a decent but worn hat. His eyes, during the whole service, were +fixed on those of the Bishop with a passionate, eager gaze; not for a +moment were they withdrawn: he seemed to devour every word both of the +office and the sermon, and, by the working of his features, I supposed +him to be strongly impressed--it was the very enthusiasm of devotion: +and yet, strange to say, not one word did he understand. When I inquired +how it was that his attention was so fixed, and that he seemed thus +moved by what he could not possibly comprehend, I was told, "it was by +the power of faith." I have the story of this man (whom I see +frequently) from Mr. Schoolcraft. His name is Chusco. He was formerly a +distinguished man in his tribe as professor of the _Meta_ and the +_Wabeno_,--that is, physician and conjuror; and no less as a professor +of whisky-drinking. His wife, who had been converted by one of the +missionaries, converted her husband. He had long resisted her preaching +and persuasion, but at last one day, as they were making maple sugar +together on an island, "he was suddenly thrown into an agony as if an +evil spirit haunted him, and from that moment had no peace till he had +been baptized and received into the Christian church. From this time he +avoided drunkenness, and surrendered his medicine-bag, manitos, and +implements of sorcery into the hands of Mr. Schoolcraft. Subsequently he +showed no indisposition to speak of the power and arts he had exercised. +He would not allow that it was all mere trick and deception, but +insisted that he had been enabled to perform certain cures, or +extraordinary magical operations, by the direct agency of the evil +spirit, _i. e._ the devil, who, now that he was become a Christian, had +forsaken him, and left him in peace." I was a little surprised to find, +in the course of this explanation, that there were educated and +intelligent people who had no more doubt of this direct satanic agency +than the poor Indian himself. + +Chusco has not touched ardent spirits for the last seven years, and, +ever since his conversion in the sugar-camp, he has firmly adhered to +his Christian profession. He is now between sixty and seventy years old, +with a countenance indicating more of mildness and simplicity than +intellect. Generally speaking, the men who practise medicine among the +Indians make a great mystery of their art, and of the herbs and nostrums +they are in the habit of using; and it were to be wished that one of +these converted medicine-men could be prevailed on to disclose some of +their medical arcana; for of the efficacy of some of their +prescriptions, apart from the mummery with which they are accompanied, +there can be no doubt. + + * * * * * + +We have taken several delicious drives over this lovely little island, +and traversed it in different directions. It is not more than three +miles in length, and wonderfully beautiful. There is no large or lofty +timber upon it, but a perpetual succession of low, rich groves, "alleys +green, dingles, and bosky dells." There is on the eastern coast a +natural arch or bridge, where the waters of the Lake have undermined the +rock, and left a fragment thrown across a chasm two hundred feet high. +Strawberries, raspberries, whortleberries, and cherries, were growing +everywhere wild, and in abundance. The whole island, when seen from a +distance, has the form of a turtle sleeping on the water: hence its +Indian appellation, Michilimackinac, which signifies the great turtle. +The same name is given to a spirit of great power and might, "a spirit +who never lies," whom the Indians invoke and consult before undertaking +any important or dangerous enterprise[26]; and this island, as I +apprehend, has been peculiarly dedicated to him; at all events, it has +been from time immemorial a place of note and sanctity among the +Indians. Its history, as far as the Europeans are connected with it, may +be told in a few words. + +After the destruction of the fort at Michilimackinac, and the massacre +of the garrison in 1763, the English removed the fort and the trading +post to this island, and it continued for a long time a station of great +importance. In 1796 it was ceded, with the whole of the Michigan +territory, to the United States. The fort was then strengthened, and +garrisoned by a detachment of General Wayne's army. + +In the war of 1813 it was taken and garrisoned by the British, who added +to the strength of the fortifications. The Americans were so sensible of +its importance, that they fitted out an expensive expedition in 1814 for +the purpose of retaking it, but were repulsed with the loss of one of +their bravest commanders and a great number of men, and forced to +retreat to their vessels. After this, Michilimackinac remained in +possession of the British, till at the peace it was again quietly +ceded, one hardly knows why, to the Americans, and in their possession +it now remains. The garrison, not being required in time of profound +peace, has been withdrawn. The pretty little fort remains. + +[Footnote 23: This universal Indian salutation is merely a corruption of +_bon jour_.] + +[Footnote 24: Michilimackinac was one of the forts surprised by the +Indians at the breaking out of the Pontiac war, when seventy British +soldiers with their officers were murdered and scalped. Henry gives a +most vivid description of this scene of horror in few words. He was +present, and escaped, through the friendship of an Indian (Wa,wa,tam) +who, in consequence of a dream in early youth, had adopted him as his +brother.] + +[Footnote 25: In 1828, Major Anderson, our Indian agent, computed the +number of Canadians and mixed breed married to Indian women, and +residing on the north shores of Lake Huron, and in the neighbourhood of +Michilimackinac, at nine hundred. This he called the _lowest_ estimate.] + +[Footnote 26: See Henry's Travels, p. 117.] + + * * * * * + + + MRS. SCHOOLCRAFT. + +The most delightful as well as most profitable hours I spent here, are +those passed in the society of Mrs. Schoolcraft. Her genuine refinement +and simplicity, and native taste for literature, are charming; and the +exceeding delicacy of her health, and the trials to which it is exposed, +interest all my womanly sympathies. While in conversation with her, new +ideas of the Indian character suggest themselves; new sources of +information are opened to me, such as are granted to few, and such as I +gratefully appreciate. She is proud of her Indian origin; she takes an +enthusiastic and enlightened interest in the welfare of her people, and +in their conversion to Christianity, being herself most unaffectedly +pious. But there is a melancholy and pity in her voice, when speaking of +them, as if she did indeed consider them a doomed race. We were +conversing to-day of her grandfather, Waub-Ojeeg, (the White-fisher), a +distinguished Chippewa chief and warrior, of whose life and exploits she +has promised to give me some connected particulars. Of her mother, +O,shah,gush,ko,da,wa,qua, she speaks with fond and even longing +affection, as if the very sight of this beloved mother would be +sufficient to restore her to health and strength. "I should be well if I +could see my mother," seems the predominant feeling. Nowhere is the +instinctive affection between parent and child so strong, so deep, so +sacred, as among these people. + +Celibacy in either sex is almost unknown among the Indians; equally rare +is all profligate excess. One instance I heard of a woman who had +remained unmarried from choice, not from accident or necessity. In +consequence of a dream in early youth (the Indians are great dreamers), +she not only regarded the sun as her manito or tutelary spirit (this had +been a common case), but considered herself especially dedicated, or in +fact married, to the luminary. She lived alone; she had built a wigwam +for herself, which was remarkably neat and commodious; she could use a +rifle, hunt, and provide herself with food and clothing. She had carved +a rude image of the sun, and set it up in her lodge; the husband's +place, the best mat, and a portion of food, were always appropriated to +this image. She lived to a great age, and no one ever interfered with +her mode of life, for that would have been contrary to all their ideas +of individual freedom. Suppose that, according to our most approved +European notions, the poor woman had been burnt at the stake, +corporeally or metaphorically, or hunted beyond the pale of the village, +for deviating from the law of custom, no doubt there would have been +directly a new female sect in the nation of the Chippewas, an order of +_wives of the sun_, and Chippewa vestal virgins; but these wise people +trusted to nature and common sense. The vocation apparently was not +generally admired, and found no imitators. + +Their laws, or rather their customs, command certain virtues and +practices, as truth, abstinence, courage, hospitality; but, they have no +prohibitory laws whatever that I could hear of. In this respect their +moral code has something of the spirit of Christianity, as contrasted +with the Hebrew dispensation. Polygamy is allowed, but it is not common; +the second wife is considered as subject to the first, who remains +mistress of the household, even though the younger wife should be the +favourite. Jealousy, however, is a strong passion among them: not only +has a man been known to murder a woman whose fidelity he suspected, but +Mr. Schoolcraft mentioned to me an instance of a woman, who, in a +transport of jealousy, had stabbed her husband. But these extremes are +very rare. + + + JEALOUSY. + +Some time ago, a young Chippewa girl conceived a violent passion for a +hunter of a different tribe, and followed him from his winter +hunting-ground to his own village. He was already married, and the wife, +not being inclined to admit the rival, drove this love-sick damsel away, +and treated her with the utmost indignity. The girl, in desperation, +offered herself as a slave to the wife, to carry wood and water, and lie +at her feet--anything to be admitted within the same lodge and only +look upon the object of her affection. She prevailed at length. Now, the +mere circumstance of her residing within the same lodge made her also +the wife of the man, according to the Indian custom; but apparently she +was content to forego all the privileges and honours of a wife. She +endured, for several months, with uncomplaining resignation, every +species of ill usage and cruelty on the part of the first wife, till at +length this woman, unable any longer to suffer even the presence of a +rival, watched an opportunity as the other entered the wigwam with a +load of fire-wood, and cleft her skull with the husband's tomahawk. + +"And did the man permit all this?" was the natural question. + +The answer was remarkable. "What could _he_ do? he could not help it: a +woman is always absolute mistress in her own wigwam!" + +In the end, the murder was not punished. The poor victim having fled +from a distant tribe, there were no relatives to take vengeance, or do +justice, and it concerned no one else. She lies buried at a short +distance from the Sault-Ste-Marie, where the murderess and her husband +yet live. + +Women sometimes perish of grief for the loss of a husband or a child, +and men have been known to starve themselves on the grave of a beloved +wife. Men have also been known to give up their wives to the traders for +goods and whisky; but this, though forbidden by no law, is considered +disreputable, or, as my informant expressed it, "only bad Indians do +so." + +I should doubt, from all I see and hear, that the Indian squaw is that +absolute slave, drudge, and nonentity in the community, which she has +been described. She is despotic in her lodge, and every thing it +contains is hers; even of the game her husband kills, she has the +uncontrolled disposal. If her husband does not please her, she scolds +and even cuffs him; and it is in the highest degree unmanly to answer or +strike her. I have seen here a woman scolding and quarrelling with her +husband, seize him by the hair, in a style that might have become +civilised Billingsgate, or christian St. Giles's, and the next day I +have beheld the same couple sit lovingly together on the sunny side of +the wigwam, she kneeling behind him, and combing and arranging the hair +she had been pulling from his head the day before; just such a group as +I remember to have seen about Naples, or the Campagna di Roma, with very +little obvious difference either in costume or complexion. + +There is no law against marrying near relations, but it is always +avoided; it is contrary to their customs: even first cousins do not +marry. The tie of blood seems considered as stronger than that of +marriage. A woman considers that she belongs more to her own relatives +than to her husband or his relatives; yet, notwithstanding this and the +facility of divorce, separations between husband and wife are very rare. +A couple will go on "squabbling and making it up" all their lives, +without having recourse to this expedient. If from displeasure, satiety, +or any other cause, a man sends his wife away, she goes back to her +relations, and invariably takes her children with her. The indefeasible +right of the mother to her offspring is Indian law, or rather, the +contrary notion does not seem to have entered their minds. A widow +remains subject to her husband's relations for two years after his +death; this is the decent period of mourning. At the end of two years, +she returns some of the presents made to her by her late husband, goes +back to her own relatives, and may marry again. + +These particulars, and others which may follow, apply to the Chippewas +and the Ottawas around me; other tribes have other customs. I speak +merely of those things which are brought under my own immediate +observation and attention. + + + INDIAN AMAZON. + +During the last American war of 1813, the young widow of a chief who had +been killed in battle, assumed his arms, ornaments, wampum, medal, and +went out with several war parties, in which she distinguished herself by +her exploits. Mrs. Schoolcraft, when a girl of eleven or twelve years +old, saw this woman, who was brought into the Fort at Mackinaw and +introduced to the commanding officer; and retains a lively recollection +of her appearance, and the interest and curiosity she excited. She was +rather below the middle size, slight and delicate in figure, like most +of the squaws;--covered with rich ornaments, silver armlets, with the +scalping-knife, pouch, medals, tomahawk--all the insignia, in short, of +an Indian warrior, except the war-paint and feathers. In the room hung a +large mirror, in which she surveyed herself with evident admiration and +delight, turning round and round before it, and laughing triumphantly. +She was invited to dine at the officers' mess, perhaps as a joke, but +conducted herself with so much intuitive propriety and decorum, that she +was dismissed with all honour and respect, and with handsome presents. I +could not learn what became of her afterwards. + +Heroic women are not rare among the Indians, women who can bravely +suffer--bravely die; but Amazonian women, female amateur warriors, are +very extraordinary; I never heard but of this one instance. Generally, +the squaws around me give me the impression of exceeding feminine +delicacy and modesty, and of the most submissive gentleness. Female +chiefs, however, are not unknown in Indian history. There was a famous +_Squaw Sachem_, or chief, in the time of the early settlers. The present +head chief of the Ottawas, a very fine old man, succeeded a female, who, +it is further said, abdicated in his favour. + +Even the standing rule or custom that women are never admitted to +councils has been evaded. At the treaty of Butte des Morts, in 1827, an +old Chippewa woman, the wife of a superannuated chief, appeared in place +of her husband, wearing his medal, and to all intents and purposes +representing him. The American commissioners treated her with studied +respect and distinction, and made her rich presents in cloth, ornaments, +tobacco, &c. On her return to her own village, she was waylaid and +murdered by a party of Menomonies. The next year two Menomonie women +were taken and put to death by the Chippewas: such is the Indian law of +retaliation. + + * * * * * + + + CHIPPEWA LANGUAGE. + +The language spoken around me is the Chippewa tongue, which, with little +variation, is spoken also by the Ottawas, Pottowottomies and +Missasaguas, and diffused all over the country of the lakes, and through +a population of about seventy thousand. It is in these countries what +the French is in Europe, the language of trade and diplomacy, understood +and spoken by those tribes, with whom it is not vernacular. In this +language Mrs. Schoolcraft generally speaks to her children and Indian +domestics. It is not only very sweet and musical to the ear, with its +soft inflections and lengthened vowels, but very complex and artificial +in its construction, and subject to strict grammatical rules; this, for +an unwritten language--for they have no alphabet--appears to me very +curious. The particulars which follow I have from Mr. Schoolcraft, who +has deeply studied the Chippewa language, and what he terms, not without +reason, the philosophy of its syntax. + +The great division of all words, and the pervading principle of the +language, is the distinction into animate and inanimate objects: not +only nouns, but adjectives, verbs, pronouns, are inflected in accordance +with this principle. The distinction, however, seems as arbitrary as +that between masculine and feminine nouns in some European languages. +Trees, for instance, are of the animate gender. The sun, moon, thunder +and lightning, a canoe, a pipe, a water-fall, are all animate. The verb +is not only modified to agree with the subject, it must be farther +modified to agree with the object spoken of, whether animate or +inanimate: an Indian cannot say simply, I love, I eat; the word must +express by its inflection what he loves or eats, whether it belong to +the animate or inanimate gender. + +What is curious enough is, that the noun or name can be conjugated like +a verb: the word _man_, for instance, can be inflected to express, I +_am_ a man, thou _art_ a man, he _is_ a man, I _was_ a man, I _will be_ +a man, and so forth; and the word husband can be so inflected as to +signify by a change of syllables, _I have a_ husband, and _I have not_ a +husband. + +They have three numbers, like the Greek, but of different signification: +they have the singular, and two plurals, one indefinite and general like +ours, and one including the persons or things present, and excluding +those which are absent; and distinct inflections are required for these +two plurals. + +There are distinct words to express certain distinctions of sex, as with +us; for instance, man, woman, father, mother, sister, brother, are +distinct words, but more commonly sex is distinguished by a masculine or +feminine syllable or termination. The word _equay_, a woman, is thus +used as a feminine termination where persons are concerned. Ogima, is a +chief, and Ogimquay, a female chief. + +There are certain words and expressions which are in a manner masculine +and feminine by some prescriptive right, and cannot be used +indifferently by the two sexes. Thus, one man addressing another says +"nichi," or "neejee," my friend. One woman addressing another woman +says, "Nin,dong,quay" (as nearly as I can imitate the sound), my friend, +or rather, I believe, female relation; and it would be indelicacy in one +sex, and arrogance in the other, to exchange these terms between man and +woman. When a woman is surprised at anything she sees or hears, she +exclaims, "N'ya!" When a man is surprised he exclaims, "T'ya!" and it +would be contrary to all Indian notions of propriety and decorum, if a +man condescended to say "N'ya!" or if a woman presumed to use the +masculine interjection "T'ya!" I could give you other curious instances +of the same kind. They have different words for eldest brother, eldest +sister, and for brother and sister in general. _Brother_ is a common +expression of kindness, _father_, of respect, and grandfather is a title +of very great respect. + +They have no form of imprecation or swearing. Closing the hand, then +throwing it forth and opening it suddenly with a jerk, is the strongest +gesture of contempt, and the words "bad dog," the strongest expression +of abuse and vituperation: both are unpardonable insults, and used +sparingly. + +A mother's term of endearment to her child is "My bird--my young one," +and sometimes playfully "My old man." When I asked what words were used +of reproach or menace, I was told that Indian children were _never_ +scolded--_never_ menaced. + +The form of salutation in common use between the Indians and the whites +is the _bo-jou_, borrowed from the early French settlers, the first +Europeans with whom the North-west Indians were brought in contact. +Among themselves there is no set form of salutation; when two friends +meet after a long absence, they take hands, and exclaim, "We see each +other!" + + * * * * * + + + STORY-TELLERS. + +I have been "working like beaver," to borrow an Indian phrase. This has +been a rich and busy day. What with listening, learning, scribbling, +transcribing, my wits as well as my pen are well nigh worn to a stump. +But I am not going to tell here of well-known Indian customs, and repeat +anecdotes to be found in all the popular books of travel. With the +general characteristics of Indian life and manners I suppose the reader +already familiar, from the works of Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles +Hoffman, and others. I can add nothing to these sources of information; +only bear testimony to the vigour, and liveliness and truth of the +pictures they have drawn. I am amused at every moment by the coincidence +between what I see and what I have read; but I must confess I never read +anything like the Indian fictions I have just been transcribing from the +first and highest authority. + +We can easily understand that among a people whose objects in life are +few and simple, society cannot be very brilliant, nor conversation very +amusing. The taciturnity of the Indians does not arise from any ideas of +gravity, decorum, or personal dignity, but rather from the dearth of +ideas and of subjects of interest. Henry mentions the dulness of the +long winters, when he was residing in the wigwam of his brother +Wa,wa,tam, whose family were yet benevolent and intelligent. He had +nothing to do but to smoke. Among the Indians, he says, the topics of +conversation are few, and are limited to the transactions of the day and +the incidents of the chase. The want of all variety in their lives, of +all intellectual amusement, is one cause of their passion for gambling +and for ardent spirits. The chase is to them a severe toil, not a +recreation--the means of existence, not the means of excitement, They +have, however an amusement which I do not remember to have seen noticed +anywhere. Like the Arabians, they have among them story-tellers by +profession, persons who go about from lodge to lodge amusing the inmates +with traditional tales, histories of the wars and exploits of their +ancestors, or inventions of their own, which are sometimes in the form +of allegories or parables, and are either intended to teach some moral +lesson, or are extravagant inventions, having no other aim or purpose +but to excite wonder or amusement. The story-tellers are estimated +according to their eloquence and powers of invention, and are always +welcome, sure of the best place in the lodge, and the choicest mess of +food wherever they go. Some individuals, not story-tellers by +profession, possess and exercise these gifts of memory and invention. +Mrs. Schoolcraft mentioned an Indian living at the Sault-Ste-Marie, who +in this manner amuses and instructs his family almost every night before +they go to rest. Her own mother is also celebrated for her stock of +traditional lore, and her poetical and inventive faculties, which she +inherited from her father Waub-Ojeeg, who was the greatest poet and +story-teller, as well as the greatest warrior, of his tribe. + +The stories I give you from Mrs. Schoolcraft's translation have at least +the merit of being genuine. Their very wildness and childishness, and +dissimilarity to all other fictions, will recommend them. The first +story was evidently intended to inculcate domestic union and brotherly +love. + + * * * * * + + + THE FORSAKEN BROTHER. + +It was a fine summer evening; the sun was scarcely an hour high, its +departing rays shone through the leaves of the tall elms that skirted a +little green knoll, whereon stood a solitary Indian lodge. The deep, +deep silence that reigned around seemed to the dwellers in that lonely +hut like the long sleep of death which was now about to close the eyes +of the chief of this poor family; his low breathing was answered by the +sighs and sobs of his wife and three children: two of the children were +almost grown up, one was yet a mere child. These were the only human +beings near the dying man: the door of the lodge[27] was thrown aside +to admit the refreshing breeze of the lake on the banks of which it +stood, and when the cool air visited the brow of the poor man, he felt a +momentary return of strength. Raising himself a little, he thus +addressed his weeping family:-- + +"I leave ye--I leave ye! thou who hast been my partner in life, thou +wilt not stay long behind me, thou wilt soon join me in the pleasant +land of spirits; therefore thou hast not long to suffer in this world. +But O my children, my poor children, you have just commenced life, and +unkindness, and ingratitude, and all wickedness, is in the scene before +you. I have contented myself with the company of your mother and +yourselves for many years, and you will find that my motive for +separating myself from other men has been to preserve you from evil +example. But I die content, if you, my children, promise me to love each +other, and on no account to forsake your youngest brother. Of him I give +you both particular charge--love him and cherish him." + +The father then became exhausted, and taking a hand of each of his elder +children, he continued--"My daughter, never forsake your little brother! +my son, never forsake your little brother!"--'Never! never!' they both +exclaimed:--"Never! never!" repeated the father, and expired. + +The poor man died happy, because he thought that his commands would be +obeyed: the sun sank down behind the trees and left a golden sky, which +the family were wont to behold with pleasure; but now no one heeded it. +The lodge, so still an hour before, was now filled with loud cries and +lamentations. + +Time wore heavily away. Five long moons had passed, and the sixth was +nearly full, when the mother also died. In her last moments, she pressed +upon her children the fulfilment of their promise to their departed +father. They readily renewed this promise, because they were as yet free +from any selfish motives to break it. The winter passed away and spring +came. The girl being the eldest, directed her brothers, and seemed to +feel a more tender and sisterly affection for the youngest, who was +sickly and delicate. The other boy soon showed signs of selfishness, +and thus addressed his sister:-- + +"My sister, are we always to live as if there were no other human beings +in the world? Must I be deprived of the pleasure of associating with +men? I go to seek the villages of my brothers and my tribe. I have +resolved, and you prevent me." + +The girl replied, "My brother, I do not say no to what you desire. We +were not forbidden to associate with men, but we were commanded to +cherish and never forsake each other--if we separate to follow our own +selfish desires, will it not oblige us to forsake him, our brother, whom +we are both bound to support?" + +The young man made no answer to this remonstrance, but taking up his bow +and arrows, he left the wigwam and returned no more. + +Many moons had come and gone after the young man's departure, and still +the girl ministered kindly and constantly to the wants of her little +brother. At length, however, she too began to weary of solitude and her +charge. Years added to her strength and her power of providing for the +household wants, but also brought the desire of society, and made her +solitude more and more irksome. At last she became quite impatient; she +thought only of herself, and cruelly resolved to abandon her little +brother, as her elder brother had done before. + +One day, after having collected all the provisions she had set apart for +emergencies, and brought a quantity of wood to the door, she said to her +little brother, "My brother, you must not stray far from the lodge. I am +going to seek our brother, I shall soon be back." Then taking her +bundle, she set off in search of the habitations of men. She soon found +them, and became so much occupied with the pleasures of her new life, +that all affection and remembrance of her brother were by degrees +effaced from her heart. At last she was married, and after _that_ she +never more thought of her poor helpless little brother, whom she had +abandoned in the woods. + +In the mean time the eldest brother had also settled on the shores of +the same lake, near which reposed the bones of his parents, and the +abode of his forsaken brother. + +Now, as soon as the little boy had eaten all the provisions left by his +sister, he was obliged to pick berries and dig up roots for food. Winter +came on, and the poor child was exposed to all its rigour; the snow +covered the earth; he was forced to quit the lodge in search of food, +and strayed about without shelter or home: sometimes he passed the night +in the clefts of old trees, and ate the fragments left by the wolves. +Soon he had no other resource; and in seeking for food he became so +fearless of these animals, that he would sit close to them while they +devoured their prey, and the fierce hungry wolves themselves seemed to +pity his condition, and would always leave something for him. Thus he +lived on the bounty of the wolves till the spring. As soon as the lake +was free from ice, he followed his new friends and companions to the +shore. Now it happened that his brother was fishing in his canoe, out +far on the lake, when he thought he heard a cry as of a child, and +wondered how any one could exist on the bleak shore. He listened again +more attentively, and heard the cry repeated, and he paddled towards the +shore as quickly as possible, and there he beheld and recognised his +little brother, whom he heard singing in a plaintive voice:-- + + "Neesya, neesya, shyegwich gushuh! + Ween, ne myeeguniwh!" + +That is, "my brother, my brother, I am now turning into a wolf, I am +turning into a wolf." At the end of his song he howled like a wolf, and +his brother approaching, was dismayed to find him half a wolf and half a +human being. He however leaped to the shore, strove to catch him in his +arms, and said, soothingly, "My brother, my brother, come to me!" But +the boy eluded his grasp and fled, still singing as he fled, "I am +turning into a wolf! I am turning into a wolf!" and howling frightfully +at the end of his song. + +His elder brother, conscious-struck, and feeling all his love return, +exclaimed in anguish, "My brother, O my brother, come to me!" but the +nearer he approached the child the more rapidly the transformation +proceeded. Still he sung, and howling called upon his brother and sister +alternately in his song, till the change was complete, and he fled +towards the wood a perfect wolf. At last he cried, "I am a wolf!" and +bounded out of sight. + +The young man felt the bitterness of remorse all his days; and the +sister, when she heard the fate of her little brother whom she had +promised to protect and cherish, wept many tears, and never ceased to +mourn him till she died. + +The next story seems intended to admonish parental ambition, and +inculcate filial obedience. The bird here called the robin is three +times as large as the English robin redbreast, but in its form and +habits very similar. + +[Footnote 27: The skin or blanket suspended before the opening.] + + * * * * * + + + THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN. + +An old man had an only son, a fine promising lad, who had arrived at +that age when the Chippewas thought it proper to make the long and final +fast which is to secure through life a guardian spirit, on whom future +prosperity or adversity are to depend, and who forms the character to +great and noble deeds.[28] + +This old man was ambitious that his son should surpass all others in +whatever was deemed most wise and great among his tribe; and to this +effect he thought it necessary that his son should fast a much longer +time than any of those persons celebrated for their uncommon power or +wisdom, and whose fame he envied. + +He therefore directed his son to prepare with great ceremony for the +important event: after he had been in the bath several times, he ordered +him to lie down on a clean mat in a little lodge, expressly prepared for +him, telling him at the same time to bear himself like a man, and that +at the expiration of twelve days he should receive food and his +father's blessing. + +The youth carefully observed these injunctions, lying with his face +covered, with perfect composure, awaiting those spiritual visitations +which were to seal his good or evil fortune. His father visited him +every morning regularly to encourage him to perseverance--expatiating on +the renown and honour which would attend him through life, if he +accomplished the full term prescribed. To these exhortations the boy +never replied, but lay still without a murmur till the ninth day, when +he thus addressed his father--"My father, my dreams are ominous of evil. +May I break my fast now, and at a more propitious time make a new fast?" + +The father answered--"My son, you know not what you ask; if you rise +now, all your glory will depart. Wait patiently a little longer, you +have but three days yet to accomplish what I desire: you know it is for +your own good." + +The son assented, and covering himself up close, he lay till the +eleventh day, when he repeated his request to his father. But the same +answer was given by the old man, who, however, added that the next day +he would himself prepare his first meal, and bring it to him. The boy +remained silent, and lay like death. No one could have known he was +living, but by the gentle heaving of his breast. + +The next morning, the father, elate at having gained his object, +prepared a repast for his son, and hastened to set it before him. On +coming to the door, he was surprised to hear his son talking to himself; +he stooped to listen, and looking through a small aperture, he was more +astonished when he saw his son painted with vermillion on his breast, +and in the act of finishing his work by laying on the paint as far as +his hand could reach on his shoulders, saying at the same time, "My +father has destroyed me as a man--he would not listen to my request--he +will now be the loser, while I shall be for ever happy in my new state, +since I have been obedient to my parent. He alone will be a sufferer, +for the Spirit is a just one, though not propitious to me. He has shown +me pity, and now I must go!" + +At that moment the father, in despair, burst into the lodge, exclaiming, +"My son, my son, do not leave me." But his son, with the quickness of a +bird, had flown up to the top of the lodge, and perched upon the highest +pole, a beautiful Robin Redbreast. He looked down on his father with +pity beaming in his eyes, and told him he should always love to be near +man's dwellings--that he should always be seen happy and contented by +the constant sprightliness and joy he would display--and that he would +ever strive to cheer his father by his songs, which would be some +consolation to him for the loss of the glory he had expected--and that +although no longer a man, he would ever be the harbinger of peace and +joy to the human race. + +[Footnote 28: This custom is universal among the Chippewas and their +kindred tribes. At a certain age, about twelve or fourteen, the youth or +girl is shut up in a separate lodge to fast and dream. The usual term is +from three to five or six days, or even longer. The object which during +this time is most frequently presented in sleep--the disturbed feverish +sleep of an exhausted frame and excited imagination--is the tutelary +spirit or manito of the future life: it is the sun or moon or evening +star; an eagle, a moose deer, a crane, a bat, &c. Wa,wa,tam, the Indian +friend of Henry the traveller, had dreamed of a white man, whom the +Great Spirit brought to him in his hand and presented as his brother. +This dream saved Henry's life.] + + * * * * * + + + RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. + +It is a mistake to suppose that these Indians are idolaters; heathens +and pagans you may call them if you will; but the belief in one Great +Spirit, who created all things, and is paramount to all things, and the +belief in the distinction between body and soul, and the immortality of +the latter--these two sublime principles pervade their wildest +superstitions; but though none doubt of a future state, they have no +distinct or universal tenets with regard to the condition of the soul +after death. Each individual seems to have his own thoughts on the +subject, and some doubtless never think about it at all. In general, +however, their idea of a paradise (the land of spirits) is some far off +country towards the south-west, abounding in sunshine, and placid lakes, +and rivers full of fish, and forests full of game, whither they are +transported by the Great Spirit, and where those who are separated on +earth meet again in happiness, and part no more. + +Not only man, but everything animate, is spirit, and destined to +immortality. According to the Indians, (and Sir Humphry Davy,) nothing +dies, nothing is destroyed; what we look upon as death and destruction +is only transition and change. The ancients, it is said--for I cannot +speak from my own knowledge--without telescopes or logarithms, divined +the grandest principles of astronomy, and calculated the revolutions of +the planets; and so these Indians, who never heard of philosophy or +chemistry, have contrived to hit upon some of the profoundest truths in +physics and metaphysics; but they seem content, like Jaques, "to praise +God, and make no boast of it." + +In some things, it is true, they are as far as possible from orthodox. +Their idea of a hell seems altogether vague and negative. It consists in +a temporary rejection from the land of good spirits, in a separation +from lost relatives and friends, in being doomed to wander up and down +desolately, having no fixed abode, weary, restless, and melancholy. To +how many is the Indian hell already realised on this earth? Physical +pain, or any pain which calls for the exercise of courage, and which it +is manliness to meet and endure, does not apparently enter into their +notions of _punishment_. They believe in evil spirits, but the idea of +_the_ Evil _Spirit_, a permitted agency of evil and mischief, who +divides with the Great Spirit the empire of the universe--who +contradicts or renders nugatory His will, and takes especially in hand +the province of tormenting sinners--of the devil, in short, they +certainly had not an idea, till it was introduced by Europeans.[29] +Those Indians whose politeness will not allow them to contradict this +article of the white man's faith, still insist that the place of eternal +torment was never intended for the Red-skins, the especial favourites of +the Great Spirit, but for white men _only_. + +[Footnote 29: History of the Moravian Missions. Mr. Schoolcraft]. + + + INDIAN CUSTOMS. + +Formerly it was customary with Chippewas to bury many articles with the +dead, such as would be useful on their journey to the land of spirits. + +Henry describes in a touching manner the interment of a young girl, with +an axe, snow-shoes, a small kettle, several pairs of moccasins, her own +ornaments, and strings of beads; and, because it was a female--destined, +it seems, to toil and carry burthens in the other world as well as +this--the _carrying-belt_ and the paddle. The last act before the +burial, performed by the poor mother, crying over the dead body of the +child, was that of taking from it a lock of hair for a memorial. "While +she did this," says Henry, "I endeavoured to console her by offering the +usual arguments, that the child was happy in being released from the +miseries of this life, and that she should forbear to grieve, because it +would be restored to her in another world, happy and everlasting. She +answered, that she knew it well, and that by the lock of hair she should +know her daughter in the other world, for she would _take it with +her_--alluding to the time when this relic, with the carrying-belt and +axe, would be placed in her own grave." + +This custom of burying property with the dead was formerly carried to +excess from the piety and generosity of surviving friends, until a +chief, greatly respected and admired among them for his bravery and +talents, took an ingenious method of giving his people a lesson. He was +seized with a fit of illness, and after a few days expired, or seemed to +expire. But after lying in this death-trance for some hours, he came to +life again, and recovering his voice and senses, he informed his friends +that he had been half-way to the land of spirits; that he found the road +thither crowded with the souls of the dead, all so heavily laden with +the guns, kettles, axes, blankets, and other articles buried with them, +that their journey was retarded, and they complained grievously of the +burthens which the love of their friends had laid on them. "I will tell +you," said Gitchee Gauzinee, for that was his name, "our fathers have +been wrong; they have buried too many things with the dead. It is too +burthensome to them, and they have complained to me bitterly. There are +many who, by reason of the heavy loads they bear, have not yet reached +the land of spirits. Clothing will be very acceptable to the dead, also +his moccasins to travel in, and his pipe to refresh him on the way; but +let his other possessions be divided among his relatives and friends." + +This sensible hint was taken in good part. The custom of kindling a fire +on the grave, to light the departed spirit on its road to the land of +the dead, is very general, and will remind you of the oriental customs. + + AN INDIAN LEGEND. + +A Chippewa chief, heading his war party against the Sioux, received an +arrow in his breast, and fell. No warrior thus slain is ever buried. +According to ancient custom, he was placed in a sitting posture, with +his back against a tree, his face towards his flying enemies; his +head-dress, ornaments, and all his war-equipments, were arranged, with +care, and thus he was left. But the chief was not dead; though he could +neither move nor speak, he was sensible to all that passed. When he +found himself abandoned by his friends as one dead, he was seized with a +paroxysm of rage and anguish. When they took leave of him, lamenting, he +rose up and followed them, but they saw him not. He pursued their track, +and wheresoever they went, he went; when they ran, he ran; when they +encamped and slept, he did the like; but he could not eat with them, and +when he spoke they heard him not. "Is it possible," he cried, exalting +his voice, "that my brothers do not see me--do not hear me? Will you +suffer me to bleed to death without stanching my wounds? will you let me +starve in the midst of food? have my fellow-warriors already forgotten +me? is there none who will recollect my face, or offer me a morsel of +flesh?" Thus he lamented and upbraided, but the sound of his voice +reached them not. If they heard it at all they mistook it for that of +the summer wind rustling among the leaves. + +The war party returned to the village: the women and children came out +to welcome them. The chief heard the inquiries for himself, and the +lamentations of his friends and relatives over his death. "It is not +true!" he shrieked with a loud voice, "I am not dead,--I was not left on +the field; I am here! I live! I move! see me! touch me! I shall again +raise my spear in the battle, and sound my drum at the feast!" But no +one heeded him; they mistook his voice for the wind rising and whistling +among the boughs. He walked to his wigwam, and found his wife tearing +her hair, and weeping for his death. He tried to comfort her, but she +seemed insensible of his presence. He besought her to bind up his +wounds--she moved not. He put his mouth close to her ear, and shouted, +"I am hungry, give me food!" She thought she heard a mosquito buzzing in +her ear. The chief, enraged past endurance, now summoned all his +strength, and struck her a violent blow on the temple; on which she +raised her hand to her head, and remarked, "I feel a slight aching +here!" + +When the chief beheld these things, he began to reflect that possibly +his body might have remained on the field of battle, while only his +spirit was among his friends; so he determined to go back and seek his +body. It was four days' journey thither, and on the last day, just as he +was approaching the spot, he saw a flame in the path before him; he +endeavoured to step aside and pass it, but was still opposed; whichever +way he turned, still it was before him. "Thou spirit," he exclaimed in +anger, "why dost thou oppose me? knowest thou not that I too am a +spirit, and seek only to re-enter my body? thinkest thou to make me turn +back? Know that I was never conquered by the enemies of my nation, and +will not be conquered by thee!" So saying, he made an effort, and leapt +through the opposing flame. He found himself seated under a tree on the +field of battle, in all his warlike array, his bow and arrows at his +side, just as he had been left by his friends, and looking up beheld a +great war-eagle seated on the boughs; it was the manito of whom he had +dreamed in his youth, his tutelary spirit who had kept watch over his +body for eight days, and prevented the ravenous beasts and carrion birds +from devouring it. In the end, he bound up his wounds and sustained +himself by his bow and arrows, until he reached his village; there he +was received with transport by his wife and friends, and concluded his +account of his adventures by telling them that it is four days' journey +to the land of spirits, and that the spirit stood in need of a fire +every night; therefore the friends and relatives should build the +funeral fire for four nights upon the grave, otherwise the spirit would +be obliged to build and tend the fire itself,--a task which is always +considered slavish and irksome. + +Such is the tradition by which the Chippewas account for the custom of +lighting the funeral fire. + + + INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS. + +The Indians have a very fanciful mythology, which would make exquisite +machinery for poetry. It is quite distinct from the polytheism of the +Greeks. The Greek mythology personified all nature, and materialised all +abstractions: the Indians spiritualise all nature. They do not indeed +place dryads and fauns in their woods, nor naiads in their streams; but +every tree has a spirit; every rock, every river, every star that +glistens, every wind that breathes, has a spirit; every thing they +cannot comprehend is a spirit: this is the ready solution of every +mystery, or rather makes every thing around them a mystery as great as +the blending of soul and body in humanity. A watch, a compass, a gun, +have each their spirit. The thunder is an angry spirit; the aurora +borealis, dancing and rejoicing spirits; the milky way is the path of +spirits. Birds, perhaps from their aerial movements, they consider as in +some way particularly connected with the invisible world of spirits. Not +only all animals have souls, but it is the settled belief of the +Chippewa Indians that their souls will fare the better in another world, +in the precise ratio that their lives and enjoyments are curtailed in +this: hence, they have no remorse in hunting; but when they have killed +a bear or rattle-snake, they solemnly beg his pardon, and excuse +themselves on the plea of necessity. + +Besides this general _spiritualisation_ of the whole universe, which to +an Indian is all spirit in diversity of forms (how delighted Bishop +Berkeley would have been with them!), they have certain mythologic +existences. Manabozho is a being very analogous to the Seeva of the +Hindoo mythology. The four cardinal points are spirits, the west being +the oldest and the father of the others, by a beautiful girl, who, one +day while bathing, suffered the west wind to blow upon her. Weeng is the +spirit of sleep, with numerous little subordinate spirits, his +emissaries, whose employment is to close the eyes of mortals, and by +tapping on their foreheads _knock_ them to sleep. Then they have +Weendigos--great giants and cannibals, like the Ascaparts and Morgantes +of the old romances; and little tiny spirits or fairies, which haunt +the woods and cataracts. The Nibanàba, half human half fish, dwell in +the waters of Lake Superior. Ghosts are plentiful, and so are +transformations, as you have seen. The racoon was once a shell lying on +the lake shore, and vivified by the sun-beams: the Indian name of the +racoon, _aisebun_, is literally, _he was a shell_. The brains of a +wicked adulteress, whose skull was beaten to pieces against the rocks, +as it tumbled down a cataract, became the white fish.[30] + +As to the belief in sorcery, spells, talismans, incantations, all which +go by the general name of _medicine_, it is unbounded. Henry mentions, +that among the goods which some traders took up the country to exchange +for furs, they had a large collection of the little rude prints, +published for children, at a halfpenny a piece--I recollect such when I +was a child. They sold these at a high price, for _medicines_ (_i. e._ +talismans), and found them a very profitable and popular article of +commerce. One of these, a little print of a sailor kissing his +sweetheart, was an esteemed _medicine_ among the young, and eagerly +purchased for a love-spell. A soldier presenting his gun, or brandishing +his sabre, was a medicine to promote warlike courage--and so on. + +The medicines and manitos of the Indians will remind you of the fetishes +of the negroes. + +[Footnote 30: I have heard the particulars of this wild story of the +origin of the white-fish, but cannot remember them. I think the woman +was put to death by her sons. Most of the above particulars I learned +from oral communication, and from some of the papers published by Mr. +Schoolcraft. This gentleman and others instituted a society at Detroit +(1832), called the _Algic Society_, for "evangelising the north-western +tribes, inquiring into their history and superstitions, and promoting +education, agriculture, industry, peace, and temperance among them."] + +With regard to the belief in omens and incantations, I should like to +see it ascertained how far we civilised Christians, with all our +schools, our pastors, and our masters, are in advance of these +(so-called) savages?[31] + + Who would believe that with a smile, whose blessing + Would, like the patriarch's, soothe a dying hour; + With voice as low, as gentle, as caressing, + As e'er won maiden's lip in moonlit bower; + With look, like patient Job's, eschewing evil; + With motions graceful as a bird's in air; + Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil, + That e'er clench'd fingers in a captive's hair!--Halleck. + +Mr. Johnson tells me, what pleases me much, that the Indians like me, +and are gratified by my presence, and the interest I express for them, +and that I am the subject of much conversation and speculation. Being in +manners and complexion unlike the European women they have been +accustomed to see, they have given me, he says, a name among themselves +expressive of the most obvious characteristic in my appearance, and call +me the _white_ or _fair English chieftainess_ (Ogima-quay). I go among +them quite familiarly, and am always received with smiling good-humour. +With the assistance of a few words, as ninni, a man; minno, good; +mudjee, bad; mee gwedge, thank you; maja, good-bye; with nods, smiles, +signs, and friendly hand-taking,--we hold most eloquent conversations. +Even the little babies smile at me out of their comical cradles, slung +at their mothers' backs, and with the help of beads and lolly-pops from +the village store, I get on amazingly well; only when asked for some +"English milk" (rum or whisky), I frown as much as I can, and cry +Mudjee! Mudjee! bad! bad! then they laugh, and we are friends again. + +The scenes I at first described are of constant reiteration. Every +morning when I leave my room and come out into the porch, I have to +exchange _bo-jou!_ and shake hands with some twenty or thirty of my +dingy, dusky, greasy, painted, blanketed smiling friends: but to-day we +have had some new scenes. + +First, however, I forgot to tell you that yesterday afternoon there came +in a numerous fleet of canoes, thirty or forty at least; and the wind +blowing fresh from the west, each with its square blanket sail came +scudding over the waters with astonishing velocity; it was a beautiful +sight. Then there was the usual bustle, and wigwam building, +fire-lighting and cooking, all along the shore, which is now excessively +crowded: and yelling, shouting, drinking and dancing at the whisky +store. But all this I have formerly described to you. + +[Footnote 31: "One of the most distinguished men of the age, who has +left a reputation which will be as lasting as it is great, was, when a +boy, in constant fear of a very able but unmerciful schoolmaster, and in +the state of mind which that constant fear produced, he fixed upon a +great spider for his fetish (or manito), and used every day to pray to +it that he might not be flogged."--_The Doctor_, vol. v. + +When a child, I was myself taken to a witch (or medicine woman) to be +cured of an accidental burn by charms and incantations. I was then about +six years old, and have a very distinct recollection of the whole +scene, which left a strong and frightful impression on my childish +fancy.] + + + AN INDIAN TALK. + +I presume it was in consequence of these new arrivals that we had a +grand _talk_ or council after breakfast this morning, at which I was +permitted to be present, or, as the French say, to _assist_. + +There were fifty-four of their chiefs, or rather chief men, present, and +not less that two hundred Indians round the house, their dark eager +faces filling up the windows and doorways; but they were silent, quiet, +and none but those first admitted attempted to enter. All as they came +up took my hand: some I had seen before, and some were entire strangers, +but there was no look of surprise, and all was ease and grave +self-possession: a set of more perfect gentlemen, in _manner_, I never +met with. + +The council was convened to ask them if they would consent to receive +goods instead of dollars in payment of the pensions due to them on the +sale of their lands, and which, by the conditions of sale, were to be +paid in money. So completely do the white men reckon on having +everything their own way with the poor Indians, that a trader had +contracted with the government to supply the goods which the Indians had +not yet consented to receive, and was actually now on the island, having +come with me in the steamer. + +As the chiefs entered, they sat down on the floor. The principal person +was a venerable old man with a bald head, who did not speak. The orator +of the party wore a long gray blanket-coat, crimson sash, and black +neckcloth, with leggings and moccasins. There was also a well-looking +young man dressed in the European fashion, and in black; he was of +mixed blood, French and Indian; he had been carried early to Europe by +the Catholic priests, had been educated in the Propaganda College at +Rome, and was lately come out to settle as a teacher and interpreter +among his people. He was the only person besides Mr. Schoolcraft who was +seated on a chair, and he watched the proceedings with great attention. +On examining one by one the assembled chiefs, I remarked five or six who +had good heads--well developed, intellectual, and benevolent. The old +chief, and my friend the Rain, were conspicuous among them, and also an +old man with a fine square head and lofty brow, like the picture of +Red-jacket[32], and a young man with a pleasing countenance, and two +scalps hung as ornaments to his belt. Some faces were mild and vacant, +some were stupid and coarse, but in none was there a trace of insolence +or ferocity, or of that vile expression I have seen in a depraved +European of the lowest class. The worst physiognomy was that of a famous +medicine-man--it was mean and cunning. Not only the countenances but the +features differed; even the distinct characteristics of the Indian, the +small deep-set eye, breadth of face and high cheek-bones, were not +universal: there were among them regular features, oval faces, aquiline +noses. One chief had a head and face which reminded me strongly of the +Marquis Wellesley. All looked dirty, grave, and picturesque, and most of +them, on taking their seats on the ground, pulled out their +tobacco-pouches and lighted their wooden pipes. + +The proposition made to them was evidently displeasing. The orator, +after whispering with the chief, made a long and vehement speech in a +loud emphatic voice, and at every pause the auditors exclaimed, "Hah!" +in sign of approbation. I remarked that he sometimes made a jest which +called forth a general smile, even from the interpreter and Mr. +Schoolcraft. Only a few sentences were translated: from which I +understood that they all considered this offer as a violation of the +treaty which their great father at Washington, the president, had made +with them. They did not want goods,--they wanted the stipulated dollars. +Many of their young men had procured goods from the traders on credit, +and depended on the money due to them to discharge their debts; and, in +short, the refusal was distinct and decided. I am afraid, however, it +will not avail them much.[33] The mean, petty-trader style in which the +American officials make (and _break_) their treaties with the Indians is +shameful. I met with none who attempted to deny it or excuse it. Mr. +Schoolcraft told me that during the time he had been Indian agent +(five-and-twenty years) he had never known the Indians to violate a +treaty or break a promise. He could not say the same of his government, +and the present business appeared most distasteful to him; but he was +obliged to obey the order from the head of his department. + +The Indians themselves make witty jests on the bad faith of the "Big +Knives."[34] "My father!" said a distinguished Pottowottomie chief at +the treaty of Chicago--"my father, you have made several promises to +your red children, and you have put the money down upon the table: but +as fast as you put it upon the top, it has slipped away to the bottom, +in a manner that is incomprehensible to us. We do not know what becomes +of it. When we get together, and divide it among ourselves, it is +nothing! and we remain as poor as ever. My father, I only explain to you +the words of my brethren. We can only see what is before our eyes, and +are unable to comprehend all things." Then pointing to a newspaper which +lay on the table--"You see that paper on the table before you--it is +double. You can see what is upon the upper sheet, but you cannot see +what is below. We cannot tell how our money goes!" + +On the present occasion, two orators spoke, and the council lasted above +two hours: but I left the room long before the proceedings were over. I +must needs confess it to you--I cannot overcome one disagreeable +obstacle to a near communion with these people. The genuine Indian has a +very peculiar odour, unlike anything of the kind that ever annoyed my +fastidious senses. One ought to get over these things; and after all it +is not so offensive as it is peculiar. You have probably heard that +horses brought up in the white settlements can smell an Indian at a +great distance, and show evident signs of perturbation and terror +whenever they snuff an Indian in the air. For myself, in passing over +the place on which a lodge has stood, and whence it has been removed +several hours, though it was the hard pebbly beach on the water edge, I +could scent the Indian in the atmosphere. You can imagine, therefore, +that fifty of them in one room, added to the smell of their tobacco, +which is detestable, and the smoking and all its unmentionable +consequences, drove me from the spot. The truth is, that a woman of very +delicate and fastidious habits must learn to endure some very +disagreeable things, or she had best stay at home. + +[Footnote 32: The picture by Weir, in the possession of Samuel Ward, +Esq., of New York, which see--or rather see the beautiful lines of +Halleck:-- + + "If he were with me, King of Tuscarora! + Gazing as I upon thy portrait now, + In all its medalled, fring'd, and beaded glory, + Its eyes' dark beauty and its tranquil brow-- + Its brow, half martial, and half diplomatic, + Its eye, upsoaring like an eagle's wings-- + Well might he boast that we, the democratic, + Outrival Europe, even in our kings!"] + +[Footnote 33: Since my return to England I found the following passage +in the Morning Chronicle, extracted from the American papers:----"The +Indians of Michigan have committed several shocking murders, in +consequence of the payments due to them on land-treaties being made in +goods instead of money. Serious alarm on that subject prevails in the +State." + +The wretched individuals murdered were probably settlers, quite innocent +in this business, probably women and children; but such is the +_well-known_ Indian law of retaliation.] + +[Footnote 34: The Indians gave the name of Cheemokomaun (Long Knives, or +_Big Knives_) to the Americans at the time they were defeated by General +Wayne, near the Miami river, in 1795, and suffered so severely from the +_sabres_ of the cavalry.] + + + THE INDIAN DANCE. + +In the afternoon Mr. Johnson informed me that the Indians were preparing +to dance, for my particular amusement. I was, of course, most thankful +and delighted. Almost in the same moment, I heard their yells and +shrieks resounding along the shore, mingled with the measured monotonous +drum. We had taken our place on an elevated platform behind the house--a +kind of little lawn on the hill-side;--the precipitous rocks, clothed +with trees and bushes, rose high like a wall above us: the glorious +sunshine of a cloudless summer's day was over our heads--the dazzling +blue lake and its islands at our feet. Soft and elysian in its beauty +was all around. And when these wild and more than half-naked figures +came up, leaping, whooping, drumming, shrieking, hideously painted, and +flourishing clubs, tomahawks, javelins, it was like a masque of fiends +breaking into paradise! The rabble of Comus might have boasted +themselves comely in comparison, even though no self-deluding potion had +bleared their eyes and intellect. It was a grotesque and horrible +phantasmagoria. Of their style of clothing, I say nothing--for, as it is +wisely said, nothing can come of _nothing:_--only if "all symbols be +clothes," according to a great modern philosopher--my Indian friends +were as little symbolical as you can dare to imagine:--_passons par là_. +If the blankets and leggings were thrown aside, all the resources of the +Indian toilette, all their store of feathers, and bears' claws, hawks' +bells, vermilion, soot, and verdigris, were brought into requisition as +decoration: and no two were alike. One man wore three or four heads of +hair, composed of the manes and tails of animals; another wore a pair of +deers' horns; another was _coiffé_ with the skins and feathers of a +crane or some such bird--its long bill projecting from his forehead; +another had the shell of a small turtle suspended from his back, and +dangling behind; another used the skin of a polecat for the same +purpose. One had painted his right leg with red bars, and his left leg +with green lines: parti-coloured eyes and faces, green noses, and blue +chins, or _vice versâ_, were general. I observed that in this grotesque +deformity, in the care with which every thing like symmetry or harmony +in form or colours was avoided, there was something evidently studied +and artistical. The orchestra was composed of two drums and two rattles, +and a chorus of voices. The song was without melody--a perpetual +repetition of three or four notes, melancholy, harsh, and monotonous. A +flag was stuck in the ground, and round this they began their dance--if +dance it could be called,--the movements consisting of the alternate +raising of one foot, then the other, and swinging the body to and fro. +Every now and then they paused, and sent forth that dreadful, prolonged, +tremulous yell, which re-echoed from the cliffs, and pierced my ears and +thrilled along my nerves. The whole exhibition was of that finished +barbarism, that it was at least _complete_ in its way, and for a time I +looked on with curiosity and interest. But that innate loathing which +dwells within me for all that is discordant and deformed, rendered it +anything but pleasant to witness. It grated horribly upon all my +perceptions. In the midst, one of those odd and unaccountable +transitions of thought caused, by some mental or physical re-action--the +law which brings extremes in contrast together--came across me. I was +reminded that even on this very day last year I was seated in a box at +the opera, looking at Carlotta Grisi and Perrot dancing, or rather +flying through the galoppe in "Benyowsky." The oddity of this sudden +association made me laugh, which being interpreted into the expression +of my highest approbation, they became every moment more horribly +ferocious and animated; redoubled the vigour of their detestably awkward +movements and the shrillness of their savage yells, till I began +involuntarily to look about for some means of escape--but this would +have been absolutely rude, and I restrained myself. + +I should not forget to mention that the figures of most of the men were +superb; more agile and elegant, however, than muscular, more fitted for +the chase than for labour, with small and well-formed hands and feet. +When the dance was ended, a young warrior, leaving the group, sat +himself down on a little knoll to rest. His spear lay across his knees, +and he reposed his head upon his hand. He was not painted, except with a +little vermilion on his chest, and on his head he wore only the wing of +the osprey. He sat there, a model for a sculptor. The perfection of his +form, the graceful abandonment of his attitude, reminded me of a young +Mercury, or of Thorwaldsen's "Shepherd Boy." I went up to speak to him, +and thanked him for his exertions in the dance, which indeed had been +conspicuous; and then, for want of something else to say, I asked him if +he had a wife and children? The whole expression of his face suddenly +changed, and with an air as tenderly coy as that of a young girl +listening to the first whisper of a lover, he looked down and answered +softly, "Kah-ween!"--No, indeed! Feeling that I had for the first time +embarrassed an Indian, I withdrew, really as much out of countenance as +the youth himself. I did not ask him his name, for that were a violation +of the Indian form of good breeding, but I learn that he is called _the +Pouncing Hawk_. West's comparison of the Apollo Belvedere to a young +Mohawk warrior has more of likelihood and reasonableness than I ever +believed or acknowledged before. + +A keg of tobacco and a barrel of flour were given to them, and they +dispersed as they came, drumming, and yelling and leaping, and +flourishing their clubs and war hatchets. + + * * * * * + +In the evening we paddled in a canoe over to the opposite island, with +the intention of landing and looking at the site of an intended +missionary settlement for the Indians. But no sooner did the keel of our +canoe touch the woody shore than we were enveloped in a cloud of +mosquitoes. It was in vain to think of dislodging the enemy, and after +one or two attempts we were fairly beaten back. Mackinaw, as seen from +hence, has exactly the form its name implies, that of a large turtle +sleeping on the water. I believe Mackinaw is merely the abbreviation of +Michilimackinac, _the great turtle_. It was a mass of purple shadow; and +just at one extremity the sun plunged into the lake, leaving its +reflection on the water, like the skirts of a robe of fire, floating. +This too vanished, and we returned in the soft calm twilight, singing as +we went. + + * * * * * + + July 29. + +Where was I? Where did I leave off four days ago? O--at Mackinaw! that +fairy island, which I shall never see again, and which I should have +dearly liked to filch from the Americans, and carry home to you in my +dressing-box, or, perdie, in my toothpick case; but, good lack, to see +the ups and downs of this (new) world. I take up my tale a hundred +miles from it; but before I tell you where I am now, I must take you +over the ground, or rather over the water, in a proper and journal-like +style. + + + PROCEED TO SAULT-SAINTE-MARIE. + +I was sitting last Friday, at sultry noon-tide, under the shadow of a +schooner which had just anchored alongside the little pier--sketching +and dreaming--when up came a messenger, breathless, to say that a boat +was going off for the Sault-Sainte-Marie, in which I could be +accommodated with a passage. Now this was precisely what I had been +wishing and waiting for, and yet I heard the information with an emotion +of regret. I had become every day more attached to the society of Mrs. +Schoolcraft, more interested about her; and the idea of parting, and +parting suddenly, took me by surprise, and was anything but agreeable. +On reaching the house, I found all in movement, and learned, to my +inexpressible delight, that my friend would take the opportunity of +paying a visit to her mother and family, and, with her children, was to +accompany me on my voyage. + +We had but one hour to prepare packages, provisions, everything--and in +one hour all was ready. + +This voyage of two days was to be made in a little Canadian bateau, +rowed by five _voyageurs_ from the Sault. The boat might have carried +fifteen persons, hardly more, and was rather clumsy in form. The two +ends were appropriated to the rowers, baggage, and provisions; in the +centre there was a clear space, with a locker on each side, on which we +sat or reclined, having stowed away in them our smaller and more +valuable packages. This was the internal arrangement. + +The distance to the Sault, or, as the Americans call it, the _Sou_, is +not more than thirty miles over land, as the bird flies; but the whole +region being one mass of tangled forest and swamp, infested with bears +and mosquitoes, it is seldom crossed but in winter, and in snow-shoes. +The usual route by water is ninety-four miles. + +At three o'clock in the afternoon, with a favourable breeze, we launched +forth on the lake, and having rowed about a mile from the shore, the +little square sail was hoisted, and away we went merrily over the blue +waves. + + + THE VOYAGEURS. + +For a detailed account of the _voyageurs_, or Canadian boatmen, their +peculiar condition and mode of life, I refer you to Washington Irving's +"Astoria." What he describes them to _have been_, and what Henry +represents them in his time, they are even now, in these regions of the +upper lakes.[35] But the voyageurs in our boat were not favourable +specimens of their very amusing and peculiar class. They were fatigued +with rowing for three days previous, and had only two helpless women to +deal with. As soon, therefore, as the sail was hoisted, two began to +play cards on the top of a keg, the other two went to sleep. The +youngest and most intelligent of the set, a lively half-breed boy of +eighteen, took the helm. He told us with great self-complacency that he +was _captain_, and that it was already the third time that he had been +elected by his comrades to this dignity; but I cannot say he had a very +obedient crew. + +[Footnote 35: As I shall have much to say hereafter of this peculiar +class of people, to save both reader and author time and trouble, the +passage is here given:-- + +"The voyageurs form a kind of confraternity in the Canadas, like the +arrieros or carriers of Spain. The dress of these people is generally +half civilised, half savage. They wear a capote or surcoat, made of a +blanket, a striped cotton shirt, cloth trowsers or leathern leggings, +moccasins of deer-skin, and a belt of variegated worsted, from which are +suspended the knife, tobacco-pouch, and other articles. Their language +is of the same piebald character, being a French patois embroidered with +English and Italian words and phrases. They are generally of French +descent, and inherit much of the gaiety and lightness of heart of their +ancestors; they inherit, too, a fund of civility and complaisance, and +instead of that hardness and grossness, which men in laborious life are +apt to indulge towards each other, they are mutually obliging and +accommodating, interchanging kind offices, yielding each other +assistance and comfort in every emergency, and using the familiar +appellations of _cousin_ and _brother_, when there is in fact no +relationship. No men are more submissive to their leaders and employers, +more capable of enduring hardships, or more good-humoured under +privations. Never are they so happy as when on long and rough +expeditions, towing up rivers or coasting lakes. They are dexterous +boatmen, vigorous and adroit with the oar or paddle, and will row from +morning till night without a murmur. The steersman often sings an old +French song with some regular burthen in which they all join, keeping +time with their oars. If at any time they flag in spirits or relax in +exertion, it is but necessary to strike up a song of this kind to put +them all in fresh spirits and activity."--Astoria, vol. i. chap. 4.] + + + LAND ON GOOSE ISLAND. + +About seven o'clock we landed to cook our supper on an island which is +commemorated by Henry as the Isle des Outardes, and is now Goose +Island. Mrs. Schoolcraft undertook the general management with all the +alertness of one accustomed to these impromptu arrangements, and I did +my best in my new vocation--dragged one or two blasted boughs to the +fire, the least of them twice as big as myself, and laid the cloth upon +the pebbly beach. The enormous fire was to keep off the mosquitoes, in +which we succeeded pretty well, swallowing, however, as much smoke as +would have dried us externally into hams or red herrings. We then +returned to the boat, spread a bed for the children (who were my +delight) in the bottom of it with mats and blankets, and disposed our +own, on the lockers on each side, with buffalo skins, blankets, shawls, +cloaks, and whatever was available, with my writing-case for a pillow. + +After sunset, the breeze fell: the men were urged to row, but pleaded +fatigue, and that they were hired for the day, and not for the night +(which is the custom). One by one they sulkily abandoned their oars, and +sunk to sleep under their blankets, all but our young captain: like +Ulysses when steering away from Calypso-- + + "Placed at the helm he sat, and watched the skies, + Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes." + +He kept himself awake by singing hymns, in which Mrs. Schoolcraft joined +him. I lay still, looking up at the stars and listening: when there was +a pause in the singing, we kept up the conversation, fearing lest sleep +should overcome our only pilot and guardian. Thus we floated on beneath +that divine canopy--"which love had spread to curtain the sleeping +world:" it was a most lovely and blessed night, bright and calm and +warm, and we made some little way, for both wind and current were in our +favour. + +As we were coasting a little shadowy island, our captain mentioned a +strange circumstance, very illustrative of Indian life and character. A +short time ago a young Chippewa hunter, whom he knew, was shooting +squirrels on this spot, when by some chance a large blighted pine fell +upon him, knocking him down and crushing his leg, which was fractured in +two places. He could not rise, he could not remove the tree which was +lying across his broken leg. He was in a little uninhabited island, +without the slightest probability of passing aid; and to lie there and +starve to death in agonies, seemed all that was left to him. In this +dilemma, with all the fortitude and promptitude of resource of a +thorough-bred Indian, he took out his knife, cut off his own leg, bound +it up, dragged himself along the ground to his hunting canoe, and +paddled himself home to his wigwam on a distant island, where the cure +of his wound was completed. The man is still alive. + +Perhaps this story appears incredible. I believe it firmly. At the time, +and since then, I heard other instances of Indian fortitude, and of +their courage and skill in performing some of the boldest and most +critical operations in surgery, which I really cannot venture to set +down. But I will mention one or two of the least marvellous. There was a +young chief, and famous hunter, whose arm was shattered by the bursting +of his rifle. No one would venture the amputation, and it was bound up +with certain herbs and dressings, accompanied with many magical +ceremonies. The young man, who seemed aware of the inefficacy of such +expedients, waited till the moment when he should be left alone. He had +meantime, with pain and difficulty, hatched one of his knives into a +saw; with this he completed the amputation of his own arm; and when his +relations appeared they found the arm lying at one end of the wigwam, +and the patient sitting at the other, with his wound bound up, and +smoking with great tranquillity. + + * * * * * + + + VOYAGE ON LAKE HURON. + +We remained in conversation till long after midnight; then the boat was +moored to a tree, but kept off shore, for fear of the mosquitoes, and we +addressed ourselves to sleep. I remember lying awake for some minutes, +looking up at the quiet stars, and around upon the dark weltering +waters, and at the faint waning moon, just suspended on the very edge of +the horizon. I saw it sink--sink into the bosom of the lake as if to +rest, and then with a thought of far-off friends, and a most fervent +thanksgiving, I dropped asleep. It is odd that I did not think of +praying for protection, and that no sense of fear came over me; it +seemed as if the eye of God himself looked down upon me; that I _was_ +protected. I do not say I _thought_ this any more than the unweaned +child in its cradle; but I had some such feeling of unconscious trust +and love, now I recall those moments. + +I slept, however, uneasily, not being yet accustomed to a board and a +blanket; _ça viendra avec le temps_. About dawn I awoke in a sort of +stupor, but after bathing my face and hands over the boat side, I felt +refreshed. The voyageurs, after a good night's rest, were in better +humour, and took manfully to their oars. Soon after sunrise, we passed +round that very conspicuous cape, famous in the history of north-west +adventure, called the "Grand Détour," half-way between Mackinaw and the +Sault. Now, if you look at the map, you will see that our course was +henceforth quite altered; we had been running down the coast of the +mainland towards the east; we had now to turn short round the point, and +steer almost due west; hence its most fitting name, the Grand Détour. +The wind, hitherto favourable, was now dead against us. This part of +Lake Huron is studded with little islands, which, as well as the +neighbouring mainland, are all uninhabited, yet clothed with the +richest, loveliest, most fantastic vegetation, and no doubt swarming +with animal life. + +I cannot, I dare not, attempt to describe to you the strange sensation +one has, thus thrown for a time beyond the bounds of civilised humanity, +or, indeed, any humanity; nor the wild yet solemn reveries which come +over one in the midst of this wilderness of woods and waters. All was so +solitary, so grand in its solitude, as if nature unviolated sufficed to +herself. Two days and nights the solitude was unbroken; not a trace of +social life, not a human being, not a canoe, not even a deserted wigwam, +met our view. Our little boat held on its way over the placid lake, and +among green tufted islands; and we its inmates, two women, differing in +clime, nation, complexion, strangers to each other but a few days ago, +might have fancied ourselves alone in a new-born world. + + + THE ENCAMPMENT. + +We landed to boil our kettle, and breakfast on a point of the island of +St. Joseph's. This most beautiful island is between thirty and forty +miles in length, and nearly a hundred miles in circumference, and +towards the centre the land is high and picturesque. They tell me that +on the other side of the island there is a settlement of whites and +Indians. Another large island, Drummond's Isle, was for a short time in +view. We had also a settlement here, but it was unaccountably +surrendered to the Americans. If now you look at the map, you will +wonder, as I did, that in retaining St. Joseph's and the Manitoolin +islands, we gave up Drummond's Island. Both these islands had forts and +garrisons during the war. + +By the time breakfast was over, the children had gathered some fine +strawberries; the heat had now become almost intolerable, and unluckily +we had no awning. The men rowed languidly, and we made but little way; +we coasted along the south shore of St. Joseph's, through fields of +rushes, miles in extent, across Lake George, and Muddy Lake (the name, I +thought, must be a libel, for it was as clear as crystal and as blue as +heaven; but they say that, like a sulky temper, the least ruffle of wind +turns it as black as ditchwater, and it does not subside again in a +hurry), and then came a succession of openings spotted with lovely +islands, all solitary. The sky was without a cloud, a speck--except when +the great fish-eagle was descried sailing over its blue depths--the +water without a wave. We were too hot and too languid to converse. +Nothing disturbed the deep noon-tide stillness, but the dip of the oars, +or the spring and splash of a sturgeon as he leapt from the surface of +the lake, leaving a circle of little wavelets spreading around. All the +islands we passed were so woody, and so infested with mosquitoes, that +we could not land and light our fire, till we reached the entrance of +St. Mary's River, between Nebish island and the mainland. + + + MOSQUITOES. + +Here was a well-known spot, a sort of little opening on a flat shore, +called the _Encampment_, because a party of boatmen coming down from +Lake Superior, and camping here for the night, were surprised by the +frost, and obliged to remain the whole winter till the opening of the +ice, in the spring. After rowing all this hot day till seven o'clock +against the wind (what there was of it), and against the current coming +rapidly and strongly down from Lake Superior, we did at length reach +this promised harbour of rest and refreshment. Alas! there was neither +for us; the moment our boat touched the shore, we were enveloped in a +cloud of mosquitoes. Fires were lighted instantly, six were burning in a +circle at once; we were well nigh suffocated and smoke-dried--all in +vain. At last we left the voyageurs to boil the kettle, and retreated to +our boat, desiring them to make us fast to a tree by a long rope; then +each of us taking an oar--I only wish you could have seen us--we pushed +off from the land, while the children were sweeping away the enemy with +green boughs. This being done, we commenced supper, really half +famished, and were too much engrossed to look about us. Suddenly we were +again surrounded by our adversaries; they came upon us in swarms, in +clouds, in myriads, entering our eyes, our noses, our mouths, stinging +till the blood followed. We had, unawares, and while absorbed in our +culinary operations, drifted into the shore, got entangled among the +roots of trees, and were with difficulty extricated, presenting all the +time a fair mark and a rich banquet for our detested tormentors. The +dear children cried with agony and impatience, and but for shame I could +almost have cried too. + +I had suffered from these plagues in Italy; you too, by this time, may +probably know what they are in the southern countries of the old world; +but 'tis a jest, believe me, to encountering a forest full of them in +these wild regions. I had heard much, and much was I forewarned, but +never could have conceived the torture they can inflict, nor the +impossibility of escape, defence, or endurance. Some amiable person who +took an especial interest in our future welfare, in enumerating the +torments prepared for hardened sinners, assures us that they will be +stung by mosquitoes, all made of brass, and as large as black +beetles--he was an ignoramus and a bungler; you may credit me, that the +brass is quite an unnecessary improvement, and the increase of size +equally superfluous. Mosquitoes, as they exist in this upper world, are +as pretty and perfect a plague as the most ingenious amateur +sinner-tormentor ever devised. Observe, that a mosquito does not sting +like a wasp, or a gad-fly; he has a long proboscis like an awl, with +which he bores your veins and pumps the life-blood out of you, leaving +venom and fever behind. Enough of mosquitoes--I will never again do more +than allude to them; only they are enough to make Philosophy go hang +herself, and Patience swear like a Turk or a trooper. + +Well, we left this most detestable and inhospitable shore as soon as +possible, but the enemy followed us, and we did not soon get rid of +them; night came on, and we were still twenty miles below the Sault. + + + THE SAULT-SAINTE-MARIE. + +I offered an extra gratuity to the men, if they would keep to their oars +without interruption; and then, fairly exhausted, lay down on my locker +and blanket. But whenever I woke from uneasy, restless slumbers, _there_ +was Mrs. Schoolcraft, bending over her sleeping children, and waving off +the mosquitoes, singing all the time a low, melancholy Indian song; +while the northern lights were streaming and dancing in the sky, and the +fitful moaning of the wind, the gathering clouds, and chilly atmosphere +foretold a change of weather. This would have been the _comble de +malheur_. When daylight came, we passed Sugar Island, where immense +quantities of maple sugar are made every spring, and just as the rain +began to fall in earnest we arrived at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. On one +side of the river, Mrs. Schoolcraft was welcomed by her mother; and on +the other, my friends, the MacMurrays, received me with delighted and +delightful hospitality. I went to bed--oh! the luxury!--and slept for +six hours. + + * * * * * + +Enough of solemn reveries on starlit lakes--enough--too much--of self +and self-communings; I turn over a new leaf, and this shall be a chapter +of geography, and topography, natural philosophy, and such wise-like +things. Draw the curtain first, for if I look out any longer on those +surging rapids, I shall certainly turn giddy--forget all the memoranda +I have been collecting for you, lose my reckoning, and become +unintelligible to you and myself too. + +This river of St. Mary is, like the Detroit and the St. Clair, already +described, properly a strait, the channel of communication between Lake +Superior and Lake Huron. About ten miles higher up, the great ocean-lake +narrows to a point; then, forcing a channel through the high lands, +comes rushing along till it meets with a downward ledge, or cliff, over +which it throws itself in foam and fury, tearing a path for its billows +through the rocks. The descent is about twenty-seven feet in three +quarters of a mile, but the rush begins above, and the tumult continues +below the fall, so that, on the whole, the eye embraces an expanse of +white foam measuring about a mile each way, the effect being exactly +that of the ocean breaking on a rocky shore: not so terrific, nor on so +large a scale, as the rapids of Niagara, but quite as beautiful--quite +as animated. + +What the French call a _saut_ (leap), we term a _fall_; the +Sault-Sainte-Marie is translated into the falls of St. Mary. By this +name the rapids are often mentioned, but the village on their shore +still retains its old name, and is called the Sault. I do not know why +the beautiful river and its glorious cataracts should have been placed +under the peculiar patronage of the blessed Virgin; perhaps from the +union of exceeding loveliness with irresistible power; or, more +probably, because the first adventurers reached the spot on some day +hallowed in the calendar. + +The French, ever active and enterprising, were the first who penetrated +to this wild region. They had an important trading post here early in +the last century, and also a small fort. They were ceded, with the rest +of the country, to Great Britain, in 1762.[36] I wonder whether, at that +time, the young king or any of his ministers had the least conception of +the value and immensity of the magnificent country thrown into our +possession, or gave a thought to the responsibilities it brought with +it!--to be sure they made good haste, both king and ministers, to get +rid of most of the responsibility. The American war began, and at its +conclusion the south shore of St. Mary's, and the fort, were surrendered +to the Americans. + +The rapids of Niagara, as I once told you, reminded me of a monstrous +tiger at play, and threw me into a sort of ecstatic terror; but these +rapids of St. Mary suggest quite another idea: as they come fretting and +fuming down, curling up their light foam, and wreathing their glancing +billows round the opposing rocks, with a sort of passionate self-will, +they remind me of an exquisitely beautiful woman in a fit of rage, or of +Walter Scott's simile--"one of the Graces possessed by a Fury;"--there +is no terror in their anger, only the sense of excitement and +loveliness; when it has spent this sudden, transient fit of impatience, +the beautiful river resumes all its placid dignity, and holds on its +course, deep and wide enough to float a squadron of seventy-fours, and +rapid and pellucid as a mountain trout-stream. + + + FORT AND SETTLEMENTS. + +Here, as everywhere else, I am struck by the difference between the two +shores. On the American side there is a settlement of whites, as well as +a large village of Chippewas; there is also a mission (I believe of the +Methodists), for the conversion of the Indians. The fort, which has been +lately strengthened, is merely a strong and high enclosure, surrounded +with pickets of cedar-wood; within the stockade are the barracks, and +the principal trading store. This fortress is called Fort Brady, after +that gallant officer whom I have already mentioned to you. The garrison +may be very effective for aught I know, but I never beheld such an +unmilitary-looking set. When I was there to-day, the sentinels were +lounging up and down in their flannel jackets and shirt sleeves, with +muskets thrown over their shoulders--just for all the world like +ploughboys going to shoot sparrows; however, they are in keeping with +the fortress of cedar-posts, and no doubt both answer their purpose very +well. The village is increasing into a town, and the commercial +advantages of its situation must raise it ere long to a place of +importance. + +On the Canada side we have not even these demonstrations of power or +prosperity. Nearly opposite to the American fort there is a small +factory belonging to the North-west Fur Company; below this, a few +miserable log-huts, occupied by some French Canadians and voyageurs in +the service of the company, a set of lawless _mauvais sujets_, from all +I can learn. Lower down stands the house of Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, with +the Chippewa village under their care and tuition; but most of the +wigwams and their inhabitants are now on their way down the lake, to +join the congress at the Manitoolin Islands. A lofty eminence, partly +cleared and partly clothed with forest, rises behind the house, on which +stand the little missionary church and school-house for the use of the +Indian converts. From the summit of this hill you look over the traverse +into Lake Superior, and the two giant capes which guard its entrance. +One of these capes is called Gros-Cap, from its bold and lofty cliffs, +the yet unviolated haunt of the eagle. The opposite cape is more +accessible, and bears an Indian name, which I cannot pretend to spell, +but which signifies "the place of the Iroquois' bones:" it was the scene +of a wild and terrific tradition. At the time that the Iroquois (or Six +Nations) were driven before the French and Hurons up to the western +lakes, they endeavoured to possess themselves of the hunting-grounds of +the Chippewas, and hence a bitter and lasting feud between the two +nations. The Iroquois, after defeating the Chippewas, encamped, a +thousand strong, upon this point, where, thinking themselves secure, +they made a war feast to torture and devour their prisoners. The +Chippewas, from the opposite shore, beheld the sufferings and +humiliation of their friends, and, roused to sudden fury by the sight, +collected their warriors, only three hundred in all, crossed the +channel, and at break of day fell upon the Iroquois, now sleeping after +their horrible excesses, and massacred every one of them, men, women, +and children. Of their own party they lost but one warrior, who was +stabbed with an awl by an old woman who was sitting at the entrance of +her wigwam, stitching moccasins: thus runs the tale. The bodies were +left to bleach on the shore, and they say that bones and skulls are +still found there. + + + THE WHITE-FISH. + +Here, at the foot of the rapids, the celebrated white-fish of the lakes +is caught in its highest perfection. The people down below[37], who +boast of the excellence of the white-fish, really know nothing of the +matter. There is no more comparison between the white-fish of the lower +lakes and the white-fish of St. Mary's than between plaice and turbot, +or between a clam and a Sandwich oyster. I ought to be a judge, who have +eaten them fresh out of the river four times a day, and I declare to you +that I never tasted anything of the fish kind half so exquisite. If the +Roman Apicius had lived in these latter days, he would certainly have +made a voyage up Lake Huron to breakfast on the white-fish of St. Mary's +river, and would _not_ have returned in dudgeon, as he did, from the +coast of Africa. But the epicures of our degenerate times have nothing +of that gastronomical enthusiasm which inspired their ancient models, +else we should have them all coming here to eat white-fish at the Sault, +and scorning cockney white-bait. Henry declares that the flavour of the +white-fish is "beyond any comparison whatever," and I add my testimony +thereto--_probatum est!_ + +I have eaten tunny in the gulf of Genoa, anchovies fresh out of the bay +of Naples, and trout of the Salz-kammergut, and divers other fishy +dainties rich and rare,--but the exquisite, the refined white-fish +exceeds them all; concerning those cannibal fish (mullets were they, or +lampreys?) which Lucullus fed in his fish-ponds, I cannot speak, never +having tasted them; but even if _they_ could be resuscitated, I would +not degrade the refined, the delicate white-fish by a comparison with +any such barbarian luxury. + +But seriously, and badinage apart, it is really the most luxurious +delicacy that swims the waters. It is said that people never tire of +them. Mr. MacMurray tells me that he has eaten them every day of his +life for seven years, and that his relish for them is undiminished. The +enormous quantities caught here, and in the bays and creeks round Lake +Superior, remind me of herrings in the lochs of Scotland; besides +subsisting the inhabitants, whites and Indians, during great part of the +year, vast quantities are cured and barrelled every fall, and sent down +to the eastern states. Not less than eight thousand barrels were shipped +last year. + +[Footnote 36: The first British commandant of the fort was that +miserable Lieutenant Jemette, who was scalped at the massacre at +Michilimackinac.] + +[Footnote 37: That is, in the neighbourhood of Lake Ontario and Lake +Erie.] + + + THE SKEVÁT. + +These enterprising Yankees have seized upon another profitable +speculation here: there is a fish found in great quantities in the upper +part of Lake Superior, called the skevát[38], so exceedingly rich, +luscious, and oily, when fresh, as to be quite uneatable. A gentleman +here told me that he had tried it, and though not very squeamish at any +time, and then very hungry, he could not get beyond the first two or +three mouthfuls; but it has been lately discovered that this fish makes +a most luxurious pickle. It is very excellent, but so rich even in this +state, that, like the tunny _marinée_, it is necessary either to taste +abstemiously, or die heroically of indigestion. This fish is becoming a +fashionable luxury, and in one of the stores here I saw three hundred +barrels ready for embarkation. The Americans have several schooners on +the lakes employed in these fisheries: we have not one. They have +besides planned a ship canal through the portage here, which will open a +communication for large vessels between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, as +our Welland Canal has united Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. The ground has +already been surveyed for this purpose. When this canal is completed, a +vessel may load in the Thames, and discharge her burthen at the upper +end of Lake Superior. I hope you have a map before you, that you may +take in at a glance this wonderful extent of inland navigation. Ought a +country possessing it, and all the means of life beside, to remain poor, +oppressed, uncultivated, unknown? + + + THE RAPIDS. + +But to return to my beautiful river and glorious rapids, which are to be +treated, you see, as a man treats a passionate beauty--he does not +oppose her, for that were madness--but he gets _round her_. Well, on +the American side, further down the river, is the house of Tanner, the +Indian interpreter, of whose story you may have heard--for, as I +remember, it excited some attention in England. He is a European of +unmixed blood, with the language, manners, habits of a Red-skin. He had +been kidnapped somewhere on the American frontiers when a mere boy, and +brought up among the Chippewas. He afterwards returned to civilised +life, and having relearned his own language, drew up a very entertaining +and valuable account of his adopted tribe. He is now in the American +service here, having an Indian wife, and is still attached to his Indian +mode of life. + +Just above the fort is the ancient burial-place of the Chippewas. I need +not tell you of the profound veneration with which all the Indian tribes +regard the places of their dead. In all their treaties for the cession +of their lands, they stipulate with the white man for the inviolability +of their sepulchres. They did the same with regard to this place, but I +am sorry to say that it has not been attended to, for in enlarging one +side of the fort, they have considerably encroached on the cemetery. The +outrage excited both the sorrow and indignation of some of my friends +here, but there is no redress. Perhaps it was this circumstance that +gave rise to the allusion of the Indian chief here, when in speaking of +the French he said, "_They_ never molested the places of our dead!" + +The view of the rapids from this spot is inexpressibly beautiful, and it +has besides another attraction, which makes it to me a frequent lounge +whenever I cross the river;--but of this by-and-bye. To complete my +sketch of the localities, I will only add, that the whole country around +is in its primitive state, covered with the interminable swamp and +forest, where the bear and the moose-deer roam--and lakes and living +streams where the beaver builds his hut.[39] The cariboo, or rein-deer, +is still found on the northern shores. + +The hunting-grounds of the Chippewas are in the immediate neighbourhood, +and extend all round Lake Superior. Beyond these, on the north, are the +Chippewyans; and on the south, the Sioux, Ottagamies, and +Pottowottomies. + +I might here multiply facts and details, but I have been obliged to +throw these particulars together in haste, just to give you an idea of +my present situation. Time presses, and my sojourn in this remote and +interesting spot is like to be of short duration. + +[Footnote 38: I spell the word as pronounced, never having seen it +written.] + +[Footnote 39: The beaver is, however, becoming rare in these regions. It +is a curious fact connected with the physiology and psychology of +instinct, that the beaver is found to change its instincts and modes of +life, as it has been more and more persecuted, and, instead of being a +gregarious, it is now a solitary animal. The beavers, which are found +living in solitary holes instead of communities and villages, the +Indians call by a name which signifies _Old Bachelor_.] + + * * * * * + + + MRS. JOHNSTON. + +One of the gratifications I had anticipated in coming hither--my +strongest inducement perhaps--was an introduction to the mother of my +two friends, of whom her children so delighted to speak, and of whom I +had heard much from other sources. A woman of pure Indian blood, of a +race celebrated in these regions as warriors and chiefs from generation +to generation, who had never resided within the pale of what we call +civilised life, whose habits and manners were those of a genuine Indian +squaw, and whose talents and domestic virtues commanded the highest +respect, was, as you may suppose, an object of the deepest interest to +me. I observed that not only her own children, but her two sons-in-law, +Mr. MacMurray and Mr. Schoolcraft, both educated in good society, the +one a clergyman and the other a man of science and literature, looked up +to this remarkable woman with sentiments of affection and veneration. + +As soon, then, as I was a little refreshed after my two nights on the +lake, and my battles with the mosquitoes, we paddled over the river to +dine with Mrs. Johnston: she resides in a large log-house close upon the +shore; there is a little portico in front with seats, and the interior +is most comfortable. The old lady herself is rather large in person, +with the strongest marked Indian features, a countenance open, +benevolent, and intelligent, and a manner perfectly easy--simple, yet +with something of motherly dignity, becoming the head of her large +family. She received me most affectionately, and we entered into +conversation--Mrs. Schoolcraft, who looked all animation and happiness, +acting as interpreter. Mrs. Johnston speaks no English, but can +understand it a little, and the Canadian French still better; but in her +own language she is eloquent, and her voice, like that of her people, +low and musical; many kind words were exchanged, and when I said +anything that pleased her, she laughed softly like a child. I was not +well and much fevered, and I remember she took me in her arms, laid me +down on a couch, and began to rub my feet, soothing and caressing me. +She called me Nindannis, daughter, and I called her Neengai, mother +(though how different from my own fair mother, I thought, as I looked up +gratefully in her dark Indian face!). She set before us the best dressed +and best served dinner I had seen since I left Toronto, and presided at +her table, and did the honours of her house with unembarrassed, +unaffected propriety. My attempts to speak Indian caused, of course, +considerable amusement; if I do not make progress, it will not be for +want of teaching and teachers. + + + AN INDIAN LODGE. + +After dinner we took a walk to visit Mrs. Johnston's brother, Wayish,ky, +whose wigwam is at a little distance, on the verge of the burial-ground. +The lodge is of the genuine Chippewa form, like an egg cut in half +lengthways. It is formed of poles stuck in the ground, and bent over at +top, strengthened with a few wattles and boards; the whole is covered +over with mats, birch-bark, and skins; a large blanket formed the door +or curtain, which was not ungracefully looped aside. Wayish,ky, being a +great man, has also a smaller lodge hard by, which serves as a +storehouse and kitchen. + + + AN INDIAN FAMILY. + +Rude as was the exterior of Wayish,ky's hut, the interior presented +every appearance of comfort, and even _elegance_, according to the +Indian notions of both. It formed a good-sized room: a raised couch ran +all round like a Turkish divan, serving both for seats and beds, and +covered with very soft and beautiful matting of various colours and +patterns. The chests and baskets of birch-bark, containing the family +wardrobe and property; the rifles, the hunting and fishing tackle, were +stowed away all round very tidily; I observed a coffee-mill nailed up to +one of the posts or stakes; the floor was trodden down hard and +perfectly clean, and there was a place for a fire in the middle: there +was no window, but quite sufficient light and air were admitted through +the door, and through an aperture in the roof. There was no disagreeable +smell, and everything looked neat and clean. We found Wayish,ky and his +wife and three of their children seated in the lodge, and as it was +Sunday, and they are all Christians, no work was going forward. They +received me with genuine and simple politeness, each taking my hand with +a gentle inclination of the head, and some words of welcome murmured in +their own soft language. We then sat down. + +The conversation became very lively; and, if I might judge from looks +and tones, very affectionate. I _sported_ my last new words and phrases +with great effect, and when I had exhausted my vocabulary--which was +very soon--I amused myself with looking and listening. + +Mrs. Wayish,ky (I forget her proper name) must have been a very +beautiful woman. Though now no longer young, and the mother of twelve +children, she is one of the handsomest Indian women I have yet seen. The +number of her children is remarkable, for in general there are few large +families among the Indians. Her daughter, Zah,gah,see,ga,quay (_the +sunbeams breaking through a cloud_), is a very beautiful girl, with eyes +that are a warrant for her poetical name--she is about sixteen. +Wayish,ky himself is a grave, dignified man about fifty. He told me that +his eldest son had gone down to the Manitoolin Island to represent his +family, and receive his quota of presents. His youngest son he had sent +to a college in the United States, to be educated in the learning of the +white men. Mrs. Schoolcraft whispered me that this poor boy is now dying +of consumption, owing to the confinement and change of living, and that +the parents knew it. Wayish,ky seemed aware that we were alluding to +his son, for his eye at that moment rested on me, and such an expression +of keen pain came suddenly over his fine countenance, it was as if a +knife had struck him, and I really felt it in my heart, and see it still +before me--that look of misery. + +After about an hour we left this good and interesting family. I lingered +for a while on the burial-ground, looking over the rapids, and watching +with a mixture of admiration and terror several little canoes which were +fishing in the midst of the boiling surge, dancing and popping about +like corks. The canoe used for fishing is very small and light; one man +(or woman more commonly) sits in the stern, and steers with a paddle; +the fisher places himself upright on the prow, balancing a long pole +with both hands, at the end of which is a scoop-net. This he every +minute dips into the water, bringing up at each dip a fish, and +sometimes two. I used to admire the fishermen on the Arno, and those on +the Lagune, and above all the Neapolitan fishermen, hauling in their +nets, or diving like ducks, but I never saw anything like these Indians. +The manner in which they keep their position upon a footing of a few +inches, is to me as incomprehensible as the beauty of their forms and +attitudes, swayed by every movement and turn of their dancing, fragile +barks, is admirable. + +George Johnston, on whose arm I was leaning (and I had much ado to +_reach_ it), gave me such a vivid idea of the delight of coming down the +cataract in a canoe, that I am half resolved to attempt it. Terrific as +it appears, yet in a good canoe, and with experienced guides, there is +no absolute danger, and it must be a glorious sensation. + + + INDIAN WARFARE. + +Mr. Johnston had spent the last fall and winter in the regions beyond +Lake Superior, towards the forks of the Mississippi, where he had been +employed as American agent to arrange the boundary line between the +country of the Chippewas and that of their neighbours and implacable +enemies, the Sioux. His mediation appeared successful for the time, and +he smoked the pipe of peace with both tribes; but during the spring this +ferocious war has again broken out, and he seems to think that nothing +but the annihilation of either one nation or the other will entirely put +an end to their conflicts; "for there is no point at which the Indian +law of retaliation stops, short of the extermination of one of the +parties." + +I asked him how it is that in their wars the Indians make no distinction +between the warriors opposed to them and helpless women and +children?--how it could be with a brave and manly people, that the +scalps taken from the weak, the helpless, the unresisting, were as +honourable as those torn from the warrior's skull? And I described to +him the horror which this custom inspired--this, which of all their +customs, most justifies the name of _savage_! + +He said it was inseparable from their principles of war and their mode +of warfare; the first consists in inflicting the greatest possible +insult and injury on their foe with the least possible risk to +themselves. This truly savage law of honour we might call cowardly, but +that, being associated with the bravest contempt of danger and pain, it +seems nearer to the natural law. With regard to the mode of warfare, +they have rarely pitched battles, but skirmishes, surprises, ambuscades, +and sudden forays into each other's hunting-grounds and villages. The +usual practice is to creep stealthily on the enemy's village or +hunting-encampment, and wait till just after the dawn; then, at the +moment the sleepers in the lodges are rising, the ambushed warriors +stoop and level their pieces about two feet from the ground, which thus +slaughter indiscriminately. If they find one of the enemy's lodges +undefended they murder its inmates, that when the owner returns he may +find his hearth desolate; for this is exquisite vengeance! But outrage +against the chastity of women is absolutely unknown under any degree +whatever of furious excitement.[40] + +This respect for female honour will remind you of the ancient Germans, +as described by Julius Cæsar: he contrasts in some surprise their +forbearance with the very opposite conduct of the Romans; and even down +to this present day, if I recollect rightly, the history of our European +wars and sieges will bear out this early and characteristic distinction +between the Latin and the Teutonic nations. Am I right, or am I not? + +[Footnote 40: "The whole history of Indian warfare," says Mr. +Schoolcraft, "might be challenged in vain for a solitary instance of +this kind. The Indians believe that to take a dishonourable advantage of +their female prisoners would destroy their luck in hunting; it would be +considered as effeminate and degrading in a warrior, and render him +unfit for, and unworthy of, all manly achievement."] + + + THE SAVAGE AND THE CHRISTIAN. + +To return to the Indians. After telling me some other particulars, which +gave me a clearer view of their notions and feelings on these points +than I ever had before, my informant mildly added,--"It is a constant +and favourite subject of reproach against the Indians--this barbarism of +their desultory warfare; but I should think more women and children have +perished in _one_ of your civilised sieges, and that in late times, than +during the whole war between the Chippewas and Sioux, and _that_ has +lasted a century." + +I was silent, for there is a sensible proverb about taking care of our +own glass windows: and I wonder if any of the recorded atrocities of +Indian warfare or Indian vengeance, or all of them together, ever +exceeded Massena's retreat from Portugal,--and the French call +themselves civilised. A war party of Indians, perhaps two or three +hundred (and that is a very large number), dance their war dance, go out +and burn a village, and bring back twenty or thirty scalps. _They_ are +savages and heathens. We Europeans fight a battle, leave fifty thousand +dead or dying by inches on the field, and a hundred thousand to mourn +them, desolate; but _we_ are civilised and Christians. Then only look +into the motives and causes of our bloodiest European wars as revealed +in the private history of courts:--the miserable, puerile, degrading +intrigues which set man against man--so horridly disproportioned to the +horrid result! and then see the Indian take up his war-hatchet in +vengeance for some personal injury, or from motives that rouse all the +natural feelings of the natural man within him! Really I do not see that +an Indian warrior, flourishing his tomahawk, and smeared with his +enemy's blood, is so very much a greater savage than the pipe-clayed, +padded, embroidered personage, who, without cause or motive, has sold +himself to slay or be slain: one scalps his enemy, the other rips him +open with a sabre; one smashes his brains with a tomahawk, and the other +blows him to atoms with a cannon-ball: and to me, femininely speaking, +there is not a needle's point difference between the one and the other. +If war be unchristian and barbarous, then war as a _science_ is more +absurd, unnatural, unchristian than war as a _passion_. + +This, perhaps, is putting it all too strongly, and a little +exaggerated-- + +God forbid that I should think to disparage the blessings of +civilisation! I am a woman, and to the progress of civilisation alone +can we women look for release from many pains and penalties and +liabilities, which now lie heavily upon us. Neither am I greatly in love +with savage life, with all its picturesque accompaniments and lofty +virtues. I see no reason why these virtues should be necessarily +connected with dirt, ignorance, and barbarism. I am thankful to live in +a land of literature and steam-engines. Chatsworth is better than a +wigwam, and a seventy-four is a finer thing than a bark canoe. I do not +_positively_ assert that Taglioni dances more gracefully than the +Little-Pure tobacco-smoker, nor that soap and water are preferable as +cosmetics to tallow and charcoal; for these are matters of taste, and +mine may be disputed. But I do say, that if our advantages of intellect +and refinement are not to lead on to farther moral superiority, I prefer +the Indians on the score of consistency; they are what they profess to +be, and we are _not_ what we profess to be. They profess to be warriors +and hunters, and are so; we profess to be Christians and civilised--are +we so? + +Then as to the mere point of cruelty;--there is something to be said on +this point too. Ferocity, when the hot blood is up, and all the demon in +man is roused by every conceivable excitement, I can understand better +than the Indian can comprehend the tender mercies of our law. Owyawatta, +better known by his English name, Red-Jacket, was once seen hurrying +from the town of Buffalo, with rapid strides, and every mark of disgust +and consternation in his face. Three malefactors were to be hung that +morning, and the Indian warrior had not nerve to face the horrid +spectacle, although-- + + "In sober truth the veriest devil + That ere clenched fingers in a captive's hair." + + * * * * * + + + THE DESCENT OF THE RAPIDS. + +The more I looked upon those glancing, dancing rapids, the more resolute +I grew to venture myself in the midst of them. George Johnston went to +seek a fit canoe and a dextrous steersman, and meantime I strolled away +to pay a visit to Wayish,ky's family, and made a sketch of their lodge, +while pretty Zah,gah,see,gah,qua, held the umbrella to shade me. + +The canoe being ready, I went up to the top of the portage, and we +launched into the river. It was a small fishing canoe about ten feet +long, quite new, and light and elegant and buoyant as a bird on the +waters. I reclined on a mat at the bottom, Indian fashion (there are no +seats in a genuine Indian canoe); in a minute we were within the verge +of the rapids, and down we went, with a whirl and a splash!--the white +surge leaping around me--over me. The Indian with astonishing dexterity +kept the head of the canoe to the breakers, and somehow or other we +danced through them. I could see, as I looked over the edge of the +canoe, that the passage between the rocks was sometimes not more than +two feet in width, and we had to turn sharp angles--a touch of which +would have sent us to destruction--all this I could see through the +transparent eddying waters, but I can truly say, I had not even a +momentary sensation of fear, but rather of giddy, breathless, delicious +excitement. I could even admire the beautiful attitude of a fisher, past +whom we swept as we came to the bottom. The whole affair, from the +moment I entered the canoe till I reached the landing place, occupied +seven minutes, and the distance is about three quarters of a mile.[41] + +[Footnote 41: "The total descent of the Fall of St. Mary's has been +ascertained to be twenty-two and a half perpendicular feet. It has been +found impracticable to ascend the rapid; but canoes have ventured down, +though the experiment is extremely nervous and hazardous, and avoided by +a portage, two miles long, which connects the navigable parts of the +strait."--_Bouchette's Canada._] + + + THE CHIPPEWAS. + +My Indians were enchanted, and when I reached _home_, my good friends +were not less delighted at my exploit: they told me I was the first +European female who had ever performed it, and assuredly I shall not be +the last. I recommend it as an exercise before breakfast. As for my +Neengai, she laughed, clapped her hands, and embraced me several times. +I was declared duly initiated, and adopted into the family by the name +of Wah,sàh,ge,wah,nó,quà. They had already called me among themselves, +in reference to my complexion and my travelling propensities, +O,daw,yaun,gee, _the fair changing moon_, or rather, _the fair moon +which changes her place_: but now, in compliment to my successful +achievement, Mrs. Johnston bestowed this new appellation, which I much +prefer. It signifies _the bright foam_, or more properly, with the +feminine adjunct, _qua_, _the woman of the bright foam_; and by this +name I am henceforth to be known among the Chippewas. + + * * * * * + +Now that I have been a Chippewa born, any time these four hours[42], I +must introduce you to some of my new relations "of the totem of the +rein-deer;" and first to my illustrious grandpapa, Waub-Ojeeg[43] (the +White-fisher). + +The Chippewas, as you perhaps know, have long been reckoned among the +most warlike and numerous, but also among the wildest and more +untameable nations of the north-west. In progressing with the other +Algonquin tribes from south to north, they seem to have crossed the St. +Lawrence and dispersed themselves along the shores of Lake Ontario, and +Lake Huron and its islands. Driven westward before the Iroquois, as +_they_ retired before the French and Hurons, the Chippewas appear to +have crossed the St. Mary's River, and then spread along the south +shores of Lake Superior. Their council fire, and the chief seat of the +nation, was upon a promontory at the farthest end of Lake Superior, +called by the French La Pointe, and by the Indians Che,goi,me,gon: by +one name or the other you will find it on most maps, as it has long been +a place of importance in the fur trade. Here was the grand national +council fire (the extinction of which foretold, if it did not occasion, +some dread national calamity), and the residence of the presiding chief. +The Indians know neither sovereignty nor nobility, but when one family +has produced several distinguished war-chiefs, the dignity becomes by +courtesy or custom hereditary; and from whatever reason, the family of +Wayish,ki or the Mudgi,kiwis, exercised, even from a remote period, a +sort of influence over the rest of the tribe. One traveller says that +the present descendants of these chiefs evince such a pride of ancestry +as could only be looked for in feudal or despotic monarchies. The +present representative, Piz,hi,kee (the Buffalo), my illustrious cousin, +still resides at La Pointe. When presented with a silver medal of +authority from the American government, he said haughtily, "What need of +this? it is known to all whence I am descended!" Family pride, you see, +lies somewhere very deep in human nature. + +When the Chippewas first penetrated to these regions, they came in +contact with the Ottagamies or Foxes, who, being descended from the same +stock, received them as brothers, and at first ceded to them a part of +their boundless hunting-grounds; and as these Ottagamies were friends +and allies of the Sioux, these three nations continued for some time +friends, and inter-marriages and family alliances took place. But the +increasing power of the Chippewas soon excited the jealousy and +apprehension of the other two tribes. The Ottagamies committed inroads +on their hunting-grounds (this is the primary cause of almost all the +Indian wars), the Chippewas sent an embassy to complain of the injury, +and desired the Ottagamies to restrain their young men within the +stipulated bounds. The latter returned an insulting answer. The +war-hatchet was raised, and the Sioux and the Ottagamies united against +the Chippewas: this was about 1726 or 1730. From this time there has +been no peace between the Chippewas and Sioux. + +[Footnote 42: _Ant._ I know you now, Sir, a gentleman born. + +_Clo._ Aye, that I have been any time these four hours.--_Winter's +Tale._] + +[Footnote 43: The name is thus pronounced, but I have seen it spelt +Wabbajik.] + + + WAUB-OJEEG. + +It happened just before the declaration of war, that a young Chippewa +girl was married to a Sioux chief of great distinction, and bore him two +sons. When hostilities commenced the Sioux chief retired to his own +tribe, and his wife remained with her relations, according to Indian +custom. The two children, belonging to both tribes, were hardly safe +with either; but as the father was best able to protect them, it was at +last decided that they should accompany him. The Sioux chief and his +boys departed to join his warriors, accompanied by his Chippewa wife and +her relations, till they were in safety: then the young wife returned +home weeping and inconsolable for the loss of her husband and children. +Some years afterwards she consented to become the wife of the great +chief at Chegoimegon. Her son by this marriage was Mamongazida, or +Mongazida (the Loon's-foot), a chief of great celebrity, who led a +strong party of his nation in the Canadian wars between the French and +English, fighting on the side of the French. He was present at the +battle of Quebec, when Wolfe was killed, and according to the Indian +tradition, the Marquis Montcalm died in Mongazida's arms. After the war +was over, he "shook hands" with the English. He was at the grand +assemblage of chiefs, convened by Sir William Johnstone, at Niagara, and +from him received a rich gorget, and broad belt of wampum, as pledges of +peace and alliance with the English. These relics were preserved in the +family with great veneration, and inherited by Waub-Ojeeg, and +afterwards by his younger brother, Camudwa; but it happened that when +Camudwa was out on a winter-hunt near the river Broulé, he and all his +family were overtaken by famine and starved to death, and these insignia +were then lost and never recovered. This last incident is a specimen of +the common vicissitudes of Indian life; and when listening to their +domestic histories, I observe that the events of paramount interest are +the want or the abundance of food--hunger or plenty. "We killed a moose, +or a bear, and had meat for so many days:" or, "we followed on the track +of a bear, and he escaped us; we had _no_ meat for so many days." These +are the ever-recurring topics which in their conversation stand instead +of the last brilliant essay in the Edinburgh or Quarterly, or the last +news from Russia or Spain. Starvation from famine is not uncommon; and I +am afraid, from all I hear, that cannibalism under such circumstances is +not unknown. Remembering some recent instances nearer home, when extreme +hunger produced the same horrid result, I could not be much astonished. + +To return. Waub-Ojeeg was the second son of this famous Mongazida. Once +when the latter went out on his "fall hunts," on the grounds near the +Sioux territory, taking all his relatives with him (upwards of twenty in +number), they were attacked by the Sioux at early dawn, in the usual +manner. The first volley had gone through the lodges; before the second +could be fired, Mongazida rushed out, and proclaiming his own name with +a loud voice, demanded if Wabash, his mother's son, were among the +assailants. There was a pause, and then a tall figure in his war-dress, +and a profusion of feathers in his head, stepped forward and gave his +hand to his half-brother. They all repaired to the lodge in peace +together; but at the moment the Sioux chief stooped to enter, +Waub-Ojeeg, then a boy of eight years old, who had planted himself at +the entrance to defend it, struck him a blow on the forehead with his +little war-club. Wabash, enchanted, took him up in his arms and +prophesied that he would become a great war chief, and an implacable +enemy of the Sioux. Subsequently the prophecy was accomplished, and +Waub-Ojeeg commanded his nation in all the war-parties against the Sioux +and Ottagamies. He was generally victorious, and so entirely defeated +the Ottagamies, that they never afterwards ventured to oppose him, but +retired down the Wisconsin river, where they are now settled. + +But Waub-Ojeeg was something more and better than merely a successful +warrior: he was remarkable for his eloquence, and composed a number of +war-songs, which were sung through the Chippewa villages, and some of +which his daughter can repeat. He was no less skilful in hunting than in +war. His hunting-grounds extended to the river Broulé, at Fon du Lac; +and he killed any one who dared to intrude on his district. The skins he +took annually were worth three hundred and fifty dollars, a sum amply +sufficient to make him rich in clothing, arms, powder, vermilion, and +trinkets. Like Tecumseh, he would not marry early lest it should turn +his attention from war, but at the age of thirty he married a widow, by +whom he had two sons. Becoming tired of this elderly helpmate, he took a +young wife, a beautiful girl of fourteen, by whom he had six children; +of these my Neengai is the eldest. She described her father as +affectionate and domestic. "There was always plenty of bear's meat and +deer's flesh in the lodge." He had a splendid lodge, sixty feet in +length, which he was fond of ornamenting. In the centre there was a +strong post, which rose several feet above the roof, and on the top +there was the carved figure of an owl, which veered with the wind. This +owl seems to have answered the same purpose as the flag on the tower of +Windsor Castle: it was the insignia of his power and of his presence. +When absent on his long winter hunts the lodge was shut up, and the owl +taken down. + +The skill of Waub-Ojeeg as a hunter and trapper, brought him into +friendly communication with a fur-trader named Johnston, who had +succeeded the enterprising Henry in exploring Lake Superior. This young +man, of good Irish family, came out to Canada with such strong letters +of recommendation to Lord Dorchester, that he was invited to reside in +the government house till a vacancy occurred in his favour in one of the +official departments; meantime, being of an active and adventurous turn, +he joined a party of traders going up the lakes, merely as an excursion, +but became so enamoured of that wild life, as to adopt it in earnest. On +one of his expeditions, when encamped at Che,goi,me,gon, and trafficking +with Waub-Ojeeg, he saw the eldest daughter of the chief, and "no sooner +looked than he sighed, no sooner sighed than he asked himself the +reason," and ended by asking his friend to give him his beautiful +daughter. "White man!" said the chief with dignity, "your customs are +not our customs! you white men desire our women, you marry them, and +when they cease to please your eye, you say they are _not_ your wives, +and you forsake them. Return, young friend, with your load of skins, to +Montreal; and if there, the women of the pale faces do not put my child +out of your mind, return hither in the spring and we will talk farther; +she is young, and can wait." The young Irishman, ardently in love, and +impatient and impetuous, after the manner of his countrymen, tried +arguments, entreaties, presents, in vain--he was obliged to submit. He +went down to Montreal, and the following spring returned and claimed his +bride. The chief, after making him swear that he would take her as his +_wife_ according to the law of the white man, _till death_, gave him his +daughter, with a long speech of advice to both. + + + AN INDIAN WIFE. + +Mrs. Johnston relates, that previous to her marriage, she _fasted_, +according to the universal Indian custom, _for a guardian spirit_: to +perform this ceremony, she went away to the summit of an eminence, and +built herself a little lodge of cedar boughs, painted herself black, and +began her fast in solitude. She dreamed continually of a white man, who +approached her with a cup in his hand, saying, "Poor thing! why are you +punishing yourself? why do you fast? here is food for you!" He was +always accompanied by a dog, which looked up in her face as though he +knew her. Also she dreamed of being on a high hill, which was surrounded +by water, and from which she beheld many canoes full of Indians, coming +to her and paying her homage; after this, she felt as if she were +carried up into the heavens, and as she looked down upon the earth, she +perceived it was on fire, and said to herself, "All my relations will be +burned!" but a voice answered and said, "No, they will not be destroyed, +they will be saved;" and she _knew it was a spirit_, because the voice +was not human. She fasted for ten days, during which time her +grandmother brought her at intervals some water. When satisfied that she +had obtained a guardian spirit in the white stranger who haunted her +dreams, she returned to her father's lodge, carrying green cedar boughs, +which she threw on the ground, stepping on them as she went. When she +entered the lodge, she threw some more down upon her usual place (next +her mother), and took her seat. During the ten succeeding days she was +not permitted to eat any meat, nor anything but a little corn boiled +with a bitter herb. For ten days more she eat meat smoked in a +particular manner, and she then partook of the usual food of her family. + +Notwithstanding that her future husband and future greatness were so +clearly prefigured in this dream, the pretty O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua +having always regarded a white man with awe, and as a being of quite +another species (perhaps the more so in consequence of her dream), seems +to have felt nothing throughout the whole negotiation for her hand but +reluctance, terror, and aversion. On being carried with the usual +ceremonies to her husband's lodge, she fled into a dark corner, rolled +herself up in her blanket, and would not be comforted nor even looked +upon. It is to the honour of Johnston, that he took no cruel advantage +of their mutual position, and that she remained in his lodge ten days, +during which he treated her with the utmost tenderness and respect, and +sought by every gentle means to overcome her fear and gain her +affection;--and it was touching to see how tenderly and gratefully this +was remembered by his wife after a lapse of thirty-six years. On the +tenth day, however, she ran away from him in a paroxysm of terror, and +after fasting in the woods for four days, reached her grandfather's +wigwam. Meantime, her father, Waub-Ojeeg, who was far off in his hunting +camp, _dreamed_ that his daughter had not conducted herself according to +his advice, with proper wife-like docility, and he returned in haste two +days' journey to see after her; and finding all things _according to his +dream_, he gave her a good beating with a stick, and threatened to cut +off both her ears. He then took her back to her husband, with a +propitiatory present of furs and Indian corn, and many apologies and +exculpations of his own honour. Johnston succeeded at length in taming +this shy wild fawn, and took her to his house at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. +When she had been there some time, she was seized with a longing once +more to behold her mother's face, and revisit her people. Her husband +had lately purchased a small schooner to trade upon the lake; this he +fitted out, and sent her, with a retinue of his clerks and retainers, +and in such state as became the wife of the "great Englishman," to her +home at La Pointe, loaded with magnificent presents for all her family. +He did not go with her himself, apparently from motives of delicacy, and +that he might be no constraint upon her feelings or movements. A few +months' residence amid comparative splendour and luxury, with a man who +treated her with respect and tenderness, enabled the fair +O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua, to contrast her former with her present home. +She soon returned to her husband, and we do not hear of any more +languishing after her father's wigwam. She lived most happily with +Johnston for thirty-six years, till his death, which occurred in 1828, +and is the mother of eight children, four boys and four girls. + +She showed me her husband's picture, which he brought to her from +Montreal; the features are very gentleman-like. He has been described to +me by some of my Canadian friends, who knew him well, as a very clever, +lively, and eccentric man, and a little of the _bon vivant_. Owing to +his independent fortune, his talents, his long acquaintance with the +country, and his connexion by marriage with the native blood, he had +much influence in the country. + +During the last American war, he of course adhered to the English, on an +understanding that he should be protected; in return for which the +Americans _of course_ burnt his house, and destroyed his property. He +never could obtain either redress or compensation from our government. +The very spot on which his house stood was at the peace made over to the +United States;--himself and all his family became, per force, Americans. +His sons are in the service of the States. In a late treaty, when the +Chippewas ceded an immense tract in this neighbourhood to the American +government, a reserve was made in favour of O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua, of +a considerable section of land, which will render her posterity rich +territorial proprietors--although at present it is all unreclaimed +forest. A large tract of Sugar Island is her property; and this year +she manufactured herself three thousand five hundred weight of sugar of +excellent quality. In the fall, she goes up with her people in canoes to +the entrance of Lake Superior, to fish in the bays and creeks for a +fortnight, and comes back with a load of fish cured for the winter's +consumption. In her youth she hunted, and was accounted the surest eye +and fleetest foot among the women of her tribe. Her talents, energy, +activity, and strength of mind, and her skill in all the domestic +avocations of the Indian women, have maintained comfort and plenty +within her dwelling in spite of the losses sustained by her husband, +while her descent from the blood of their ancient chiefs renders her an +object of great veneration among the Indians around, who, in all their +miseries, maladies, and difficulties, apply to her for aid or for +counsel. + +She has inherited the poetical talent of her father Waub-Ojeeg; and here +is a little fable or allegory which was written down from her +recitation, and translated by her daughter. + + * * * * * + + + THE ALLEGORY OF WINTER AND SUMMER. + +A man from the north, gray-haired, leaning on his staff, went roving +over all countries. Looking around him one day, after having travelled +without any intermission for four moons, he sought out a spot on which +to recline and rest himself. He had not been long seated before he saw +before him a young man, very beautiful in his appearance, with red +cheeks, sparkling eyes, and his hair covered with flowers; and from +between his lips he blew a breath that was as sweet as the wild rose. + +Said the old man to him, as he leaned upon his staff, his white beard +reaching down upon his breast, "Let us repose here awhile, and converse +a little. But first we will build up a fire, and we will bring together +much wood, for it will be needed to keep us warm." + +The fire was made, and they took their seats by it, and began to +converse, each telling the other where he came from, and what had +befallen him by the way. Presently the young man felt cold. He looked +round him to see what had produced this change, and pressed his hands +against his cheeks to keep them warm. + +The old man spoke and said, "When I wish to cross a river, I breathe +upon it and make it hard, and walk over upon its surface. I have only to +speak, and bid the waters be still, and touch them with my finger, and +they become hard as stone. The tread of my foot makes soft things +hard--and my power is boundless." + +The young man, feeling ever moment still colder, and growing tired of +the old man's boasting, and morning being nigh, as he perceived by the +reddening east, thus began-- + +"Now, my father, I wish to speak." + +"Speak," said the old man; "my ear, though it be old, is open--it can +hear." + +"Then," said the young man, "I also go over all the earth. I have seen +it covered with snow, and the waters I have seen hard as stone; but I +have only passed over them, and the snow has melted; the mountain +streams have begun to flow, the rivers to move, the ice to melt: the +earth has become green under my tread, the flowers blossomed, the birds +were joyful, and all the power of which you boast vanished away!" + +The old man drew a deep sigh, and shaking his head, he said, "I know +thee, thou art Summer!" + +"True," said the young man, "and here behold my head--see it crowned +with flowers! and my cheeks how they bloom--come near and touch me. Thou +art Winter! I know thy power is great; but, father, thou darest not come +to my country,--thy beard would fall off, and all thy strength would +fail, and thou wouldst die!" + +The old man felt this truth; for before the morning was come, he was +seen vanishing away: but each, before they parted, expressed a hope that +they might meet again before many moons. + + * * * * * + + + INDIAN SONGS. + +The language of the Chippewas, however figurative and significant, is +not copious. In their speeches and songs they are emphatic and +impressive by the continual repetition of the same phrase or idea; and +it seems to affect them like the perpetual recurrence of a few simple +notes in music, by which I have been myself wound up to painful +excitement, or melted to tears. + +A cousin of mine (I have now a large Chippewa cousinship) went on a +hunting excursion, leaving his wife and child in his lodge. During his +absence, a party of Sioux carried them off, and on his return he found +his fire extinguished, and his lodge empty. He immediately blackened his +face (Indian mourning), and repaired to the lodge of his wife's brother, +to whom he sang, in a kind of mournful recitative, the following song; +the purport of which seems to be partly a request for aid against his +enemies, and partly an excuse for the seeming fault of leaving his +family unprotected in his wigwam. + + My brother-in-law, do not wrongfully accuse me for this seeming + neglect in exposing my family, for I have come to request aid + from my brother-in-law! + + The cry of my little son was heard as they carried him across + the prairie, and therefore I have come to supplicate aid from my + brother-in-law. + + And the voice also of my wife was heard as they carried her + across the prairie; do not then accuse your brother-in-law, for + he has come to seek aid from his brother-in-law! + +This song is, in measure, ten and eight syllables alternately; and the +perpetual recurrence of the word brother-in-law seems intended to +impress the idea of their relationship on the mind of the hearer. + +The next is the address of a war party to their women, on leaving the +village.[44] + + Do not weep, do not weep for me, + Loved women, should I die; + For yourselves alone should you weep! + Poor are ye all and to be pitied: + Ye women, ye are to be pitied! + + I seek, I seek our fallen relations, + I go to revenge, revenge the slain, + Our relations fallen and slain, + And our foes, our foes shall lie + Like them, like them shall they lie, + I go to lay them low, to lay them low! + +And then _da capo_, over and over again. +The next is a love song, in the same style of iteration. + + 'Tis now two days, two long days, + Since last I tasted food; + 'Tis for you, for you, my love, + That I grieve, that I grieve, + 'Tis for you, for you that I grieve! + + The waters flow deep and wide, + On which, love, you have sailed; + Dividing you far from me. + 'Tis for you, for you, my love, + 'Tis for you, for you that I grieve! + +If you look at some half thousand of our most fashionable and admired +Italian songs--the Notturni of Blangini, for instance--you will find +them very like this Chippewa canzonetta, in the no meaning and perpetual +repetition of certain words and phrases; at the same time, I doubt if it +be _always_ necessary for a song to have a meaning--it is enough if it +have a sentiment. + +Here are some verses of a war song, in the same style as to composition, +but breathing very different sentiments. + + I sing, I sing, under the centre of the sky, + Under the centre of the sky + Under the centre of the sky I sing, I sing, + Under the centre of the sky! + + Every day I look at you, you morning star, + You morning star; + Every day I look at you, you morning star, + You morning star. + + The birds of the brave take a flight round the sky, + A flight round the sky; + The birds of the brave take a flight, take a flight, + A flight round the sky. + + They cross the enemies' line, the birds! + They cross the enemies' line; + The birds, the birds, the ravenous birds, + They cross the enemies' line. + + The spirits on high repeat my name, + Repeat my name; + The spirits on high, the spirits on high, + Repeat my name. + + Full happy am I to be slain and to lie, + On the enemy's side of the line to lie; + Full happy am I, full happy am I, + On the enemies' side of the line to lie. + +I give you these as curiosities, and as being at least genuine; they +have this merit, if they have no other. + +Of the next song, I subjoin the music. It seems to have been composed on +a young American (_a Long-knife_), who made love to a Chippewa girl +(_Ojibway quaince_). + +[Illustration: OJIBWAY QUAINCE.] + + _Slow._ + + Aun dush ween do we nain, + Git-chee mo-ko-maum aince + Kah zah wah da mood + We yá yá hah há we yá yá hah há. + + We ah, bem, ah dè, + We mah jah need dè, + We ne moo, sha yun + We yà, yà hah hà! we yà yà hah hà! + + O mow we mah ne + We mah jah need dè, + O jib way quaince un nè, + We yà, yà hah hà! we yà yà hah hà! + + Kah ween, goo shah, ween nè, + Keesh wan zhe e we ye + O gah, mah we mah zeen. + We yà, yà hah yà! we yà yà hah hà! + + Mee goo shah ween e goo + Ke bish quah bem ah de + Che wah nain ne mah de. + We yà, yà hah hà! we yà yà hah hà! + +The literal meaning of the song, without the perpetual repetitions and +transpositions, is just this: + + Hah! what is the matter with the young Long-knife? he crosses + the river with tears in his eyes. He sees the young Chippewa + girl preparing to leave the place; he sobs for his sweetheart + because she is going away, but he will not sigh for her long: as + soon as she is out of sight he will forget her! + +[Footnote 44: From Mr. Schoolcraft, translated literally by Mrs. +Schoolcraft.] + + * * * * * + + + INDIAN MISSIONS. + +I have been too long on the other side of the river; I must return to +our Canadian shore, where indeed, I now reside, under the hospitable +roof of our missionary. Mrs. MacMurray's overflowing good-nature, +cleverness, and liveliness, are as delightful in their way as the more +pensive intelligence of her sister. + +I have had some interesting talk with Mr. MacMurray on the subject of +his mission and the character of the people consigned to his care and +spiritual guidance. He arrived here in 1832, and married Charlotte +Johnston (O,ge,bu,no,qua) the following year. During the five years +which have elapsed since the establishment of the mission, there have +been one hundred and forty-five baptisms, seven burials, and thirteen +marriages; and the present number of communicants is sixty-six. + +He is satisfied with his success, and seems to have gained the good-will +and attachment of the Indians around; he owes much, he says, to his +sweet wife, whose perfect knowledge of the language and habits of her +people have aided him in his task. She is a warm enthusiast in the cause +of conversion, and the labour and fatigue of interpreting the prayers +and sermons, and teaching the Indians to sing, at one time seriously +affected her health. She has a good voice and correct ear, and has +succeeded in teaching several of the women and children to sing some of +our church hymns very pleasingly. She says all the Indians are +passionately fond of music, and that it is a very effective means of +interesting and fixing their attention. Mr. MacMurray says, they take +the most eager delight in the parables, and his explanations of +them--frequently melting into tears. When he collected them together and +addressed them, on his first arrival, several of those present were +intoxicated, he therefore took the opportunity of declaiming against +their besetting vice in strong terms. After waiting till he had +finished, one of their chief men arose and replied gravely: "My father, +before the white men came, we could hunt and fish, and raise corn enough +for our families; we knew nothing of your fire-water. If it is so very +bad, why did the white men bring it here? _we_ did not desire it!" + +They were in a degraded state of poverty, recklessness, and misery: +there is now at least _some_ improvement; about thirty children attend +Mrs. MacMurray's school; many of them are decently clothed, and they +have gardens in which they have raised crops of potatoes and Indian +corn. The difficulty is to keep them together for any time sufficient to +make a permanent impression: their wild, restless habits prevail: and +even their necessities interfere against the efforts of their teachers; +they go off to their winter hunting-grounds for weeks together, and when +they return, the task of instruction has to begin again. + +One of their chiefs from the north came to Mr. MacMurray, and expressed +a wish to become a Christian; unfortunately, he had three wives, and, as +a necessary preliminary, he was informed that he must confine himself to +one. He had no objection to keep the youngest, to whom he was lately +married, and put away the two others, but this was not admissible. The +one he had first taken to wife was to be the permitted wife, and no +other. He expostulated; Mr. MacMurray insisted; in the end, the old man +went off in high dudgeon. Next morning there was no sign of his wigwam, +and he never applied again to be "made a Christian," the terms +apparently being too hard to digest. "The Roman Catholic priests," said +Mr. MacMurray, "are not so strict on this point as we are; they insist +on the convert retaining only one wife, but they leave him the choice +among those who bear that title." + +They have a story among themselves of a converted Indian, who, after +death, applied for admittance to the paradise of the white men, and was +refused; he then went to the paradise of the Red-skins, but _there_ too +he was rejected: and after wandering about for some time disconsolate, +he returned to life (like Gitchee Gausinee), to warn his companions by +his experience in the other world. + +Mr. MacMurray reckons among his most zealous converts several great +medicine-men and conjurors. I was surprised at first at the comparative +number of these, and the readiness with which they become Christians; +but it may be accounted for in two ways: they are in general the most +intelligent men in the tribe, and they are more sensible than any others +of the false and delusive nature of their own tricks and superstitious +observances. When a sorcerer is converted, he, in the first place, +surrenders his _meta,wa,aun_, or medicine-sack, containing his manitos. +Mr. MacMurray showed me several; an owl-skin, a wild cat-skin, an +otter-skin; and he gave me two, with the implements of sorcery; one of +birch-bark, containing the skin of a black adder; the other, an +embroidered mink-skin, contains the skin of an enormous rattle-snake +(four feet long), a feather died crimson, a cowrie shell, and some +magical pebbles, wrapped up in bark--the spells and charms of this +Indian Archimago, whose name was, I think, Matabash. He also gave me a +drum, formed of a skin stretched over a hoop, and filled with pebbles, +and a most portentous looking rattle formed of about a hundred bears' +claws, strung together by a thong, and suspended to a carved stick, both +being used in their medicine dances. + +The chief of this Chippewa village is a very extraordinary character. +His name is Shinguaconse, _the Little Pine_, but he chooses to drop the +adjunct, and calls himself the Pine. He is not an hereditary chief, but +an elective or war-chief, and owes his dignity to his bravery and to his +eloquence; among these people, a man who unites both is sure to obtain +power. Without letters, without laws, without any arbitrary distinctions +of rank or wealth, and with a code of morality so simple, that upon +_that_ point they are pretty much on a par, it is superior natural +gifts, strength, and intelligence, that raise an Indian to distinction +and influence. He has not the less to fish for his own dinner, and build +his own canoe. + +Shinguaconse led a band of warriors in the war of 1812, was at Fort +Malden, and in the battle of the Moravian towns. Besides being eloquent +and brave he was a famous conjuror. He is now a Christian, with all his +family; and Mr. MacMurray finds him a most efficient auxiliary in +ameliorating the condition of his people. When the traders on the +opposite side endeavoured to seduce him back to his old habit of +drinking, he told them, "When I wanted it you would not give it to me; +now I do not want it you try to force it upon me; drink it yourselves!" +and turned his back. + +The ease with which liquor is procured from the opposite shore, and the +bad example of many of the soldiers and traders are, however, a serious +obstacle to the missionary's success. Nor is the love of whisky confined +to the men. Mrs. MacMurray imitated with great humour the deportment of +a tipsy squaw, dragging her blanket after her, with one corner over her +shoulder, and singing, in most blissful independence and defiance of her +lordly husband, a song, of which the burden is,-- + + "The Englishman will give me some of his milk! + I will drink the Englishman's milk!" + +Her own personal efforts have reclaimed many of these wretched +creatures. + +Next to the passion for ardent spirits is the passion for gambling. +Their common game of chance is played with beans, or with small bones, +painted of different colours; and these beans have been as fatal as ever +were the dice in Christendom. They will gamble away even their blankets +and moccasins; and while the game lasts not only the players but the +lookers-on, are in a perfect ecstacy of suspense and agitation. + +Mr. MacMurray says, that when the Indians are here during the fishing +season from the upper waters of the lake his rooms are crowded with +them. Wherever there is an open door they come in. "It is _impossible_ +to escape from an Indian who chooses to inflict his society on you, or +wishes for yours. He comes at all hours, not having the remotest idea of +convenience or inconvenience, or of the possibility of intrusion. There +is absolutely no remedy but to sit still and endure. I have them in my +room sometimes without intermission, from sunrise to sunset." He added, +that they never took anything, nor did the least injury, except that +which necessarily resulted from their vile, dirty habits, and the smell +of their _kinnikinic_, which together, I should think, are quite +_enough_. Those few which are now here, and the women especially, are +always lounging in and out, coming to Mrs. MacMurray about every little +trifle, and very frequently about nothing at all. + +Sir John Colborne took a strong interest in the conversion and +civilisation of the Indians, and though often discouraged did not +despair. He promised to found a village, and build log-houses for the +converts here as at Coldwater (on Lake Simcoe); but this promise has not +been fulfilled, nor is it likely to be so. I asked, very naturally, +"Why, if the Indians wish for log-huts, do they not build them? They are +on the verge of the forest, and the task is not difficult." I was told +it was impossible; that they neither _could_ nor _would_!--that this +sort of labour is absolutely inimical to their habits. It requires more +strength than the women possess; and for the men to fell wood and carry +logs were an unheard-of degradation. Mrs. MacMurray is very anxious that +these houses should be built because she thinks it will keep her +converts stationary. Whether their morality, cleanliness, health and +happiness, will be thereby improved, I doubt; and the present governor +seems to have very decidedly made up his mind on the matter. I should +like to see an Indian brought to prefer a house to a wigwam, and live in +a house of his own building; but what is gained by building houses for +them? The promise was made however, and the Indians have no +comprehension of a change of governors being a change of principles. +They consider themselves deceived and ill-treated. Shinguaconse has +lately (last January) addressed a letter or speech to Sir Francis Head +on the subject, which is a curious specimen of expostulation. "My +father," he says; "you have made promises to me and to my children. You +promised me houses, but as yet nothing has been performed, although five +years are past. I am now growing very old, and to judge by the way you +have used me, I am afraid I shall be laid in my grave before I see any +of your promises fulfilled. Many of your children address you, and tell +you they are poor, and they are much better off than I am in everything. +I can say, in sincerity, that I am poor. I am like the beast of the +forest that has no shelter. I lie down on the snow, and cover myself +with the boughs of the trees. If the promises had been made by a person +of no standing, I should not be astonished to see his promises fail. But +_you_, who are so great in riches and in power, I am astonished that I +do not see your promises fulfilled! I would have been better pleased if +you had never made such promises to me, than that you should have made +them and not performed them." + +Then follows a stroke of Indian irony. + +"But, my father, perhaps I do not see clearly; I am old, and perhaps I +have lost my eye-sight; and if you should come to visit us, you might +discover these promises already performed! I have heard that you have +visited all parts of the country around. This is the only place you have +not yet seen; if you will promise to come I will have my little fish +(_i. e._ the white-fish) ready drawn from the water, that you may taste +of the food which sustains me." + +Shinguaconse then complains, that certain of the French Canadians had +cut down their timber to sell it to the Americans, by permission of a +British magistrate, residing at St. Joseph's. He says, "Is this right? I +have never heard that the British had purchased our land and timber from +us. But whenever I say a word, they say, 'Pay no attention to him, he +knows nothing.' This will not do!" + +He concludes with infinite politeness; + +"And now, my father, I shall take my seat, and look towards your place, +that I may hear the answer you will send me between this time and +spring. + +"And now, my father, I have done! I have told you some things that were +on my mind. I take you by the hand, and wish you a happy new year, +trusting that we may be allowed to see one another again." + + * * * * * + + + AN INDIAN LOVER. + +Mrs. Johnston told me that when her children are absent from her, and +she looks for their return, she has a sensation, a merely physical +sensation, like that she experienced when she first laid them to her +bosom; this yearning amounts at times to absolute pain, almost as +intolerable as the pang of child-birth, and is so common that the +Indians have a word to express it. The maternal instinct, like all the +other natural instincts, is strong in these people to a degree we can no +more conceive than we can their quick senses. As a cat deprived of its +kittens will suckle an animal of a different species, so an Indian woman +who has lost her child _must_ have another. "Bring me my son! or see me +die!" exclaimed a bereaved mother to her husband, and she lay down on +her mat, covered her head with her blanket, and refused to eat. The man +went and kidnapped one of the enemy's children, and brought it to her. +She laid it in her bosom, and was consoled. Here is the animal woman. + +The mortality among the children is great among the unreclaimed Indians, +from want of knowing how to treat infantine maladies, and from want of +cleanliness. When dysentery is brought on from this cause, the children +almost invariably perish. When kept clean, the bark-cradles are +excellent things for their mode of life, and effectually preserve the +head and limbs of the infant from external injury. + +When a young Chippewa of St. Mary's sees a young girl who pleases him, +and whom he wishes to marry, he goes and catches a loach, boils it, and +cuts off the tail, of which he takes the flat bone, and sticks it in his +hair. He paints himself bewitchingly, takes a sort of rude flute or +pipe, with two or three stops, which seems to be only used on these +amatory occasions, and walks up and down his village, blowing on his +flute, and looking, I presume, as sentimental as an Indian _can_ look. +This is regarded as an indication of his intentions, and throws all the +lodges in which there are young marriageable girls into a flutter, +though probably the fair one who is his secret choice is pretty well +aware of it. The next step is to make presents to the parents and +relatives of the young woman; if these are accepted, and his suit +prospers, he makes presents to his intended; and all that now remains is +to bring her home to his lodge. He neither swears before God to love her +till death--an oath which it depends not on his own will to keep, even +if it be not perjury in the moment it is pronounced--nor to endow her +with _all_ his worldly goods and chattels, when even by the act of union +she loses all right of property; but apparently the arrangements answer +all purposes, to their mutual satisfaction. + +The names of the women are almost always derived from some objects or +appearances in nature, generally of a pleasing kind; the usual +termination _qua_ or _quay_, immediately blending with their +signification the idea of womanhood. Thus, my Indian mother is "the +green prairie," (woman). Mrs. Schoolcraft's name, +Obah,bahm,wa,wa,ge,zhe,go,quà, signifies literally the "sound which the +stars make rushing through the sky," and which I translate into _the +music of the spheres_. Mrs. MacMurray is "the wild rose:" one of her +youngest sisters is Wah,bu,nung,o,quà, the morning star (woman): another +is Omis,ka,bu,go,quà, (the woman of) "the red leaf." + + * * * * * + +I went to-day to take leave of my uncle Wayish,ky, and found him +ill--poor fellow! he is fretting about his younger son. I learn with +pleasure that his daughter Zah,gah,see,ga,quà is likely to accompany me +to the Manitoolin Islands. + + * * * * * + + July 31. + +This last evening of my sojourn at the Sault-Sainte-Marie, is very +melancholy--we have been all very sad. Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray are to +accompany me in my voyage down the lake to the Manitoolin Islands, +having some business to transact with the governor:--so you see +Providence _does_ take care of me! how I could have got there alone, I +cannot tell, but I must have tried. At first we had arranged to go in a +bark canoe; the very canoe which belonged to Captain Back, and which is +now lying in Mr. MacMurray's court-yard: but our party will be large, +and we shall be encumbered with much baggage and provisions--not having +yet learned to live on the portable maize and fat: our voyage is likely +to take three days and a half, even if the weather continues favourable, +and if it do not, why we shall be obliged to put into some creek or +harbour, and pitch our tent, gipsy fashion, for a day or two. There is +not a settlement nor a habitation on our route, nothing but lake and +forest. The distance is about one hundred and seventy miles, rather more +than less; Mr. MacMurray therefore advises a bateau, in which, if we do +not get on so quickly, we shall have more space and comfort,--and thus +it is to be. + +I am sorry to leave these kind, excellent people, but most I regret Mrs. +Schoolcraft.[45] + +[Footnote 45: This amiable and interesting creature died a few years +ago.] + + * * * * * + + + WE EMBARK ON LAKE HURON. + + August 1. + +The morning of our departure rose bright and beautiful, and the loading +and arranging our little boat was a scene of great animation. I thought +I had said all my adieus the night before, but at early dawn my good +Neengai came paddling across the river with various kind offerings for +her daughter Wa,sàh,ge,wo,nò,quá, which she thought might be pleasant or +useful, and more _last_ affectionate words from Mrs. Schoolcraft. We +then exchanged a long farewell embrace, and she turned away with tears, +got into her little canoe, which could scarcely contain two persons, and +handling her paddle with singular grace and dexterity, shot over the +blue water, without venturing once to look back! I leaned over the side +of our boat, and strained my eyes to catch a last glimpse of the white +spray of the rapids, and her little canoe skimming over the expanse +between, like a black dot: and this was the last I saw of my dear good +Chippewa mamma! + +Meantime we were proceeding rapidly down the beautiful river, and +through its winding channels. Our party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. +MacMurray and their lovely boy; myself; and the two Indian girls--my +cousin Zah,gah,see,ga,quà, and Angelique, the child's attendant. + +These two girls were, for Indians, singularly beautiful; they would have +been beautiful anywhere. Angelique, though of unmixed Indian blood, has +a face of the most perfect oval, a clear brown complexion, the long, +half-shaded eye, which the French call _coupé en amande_; the nose +slightly aquiline, with the proud nostril open and well defined; +dazzling teeth;--in short, her features had been faultless, but that her +mouth is a little too large--but then, to amend that, her lips are like +coral: and a more perfect figure I never beheld. Zah,gàh,see,ga,quà is +on a less scale, and her features more decidedly Indian. + +We had a small, but compact and well-built boat, the seats of which we +covered with mats, blankets, buffalo skins, cloaks, shawls, &c.: we had +four voyageurs, Masta, Content, Le Blanc, and Pierrot; a very different +set from those who brought me from Mackinaw: they were all Canadian +voyageurs of the true breed, that is, half-breed, showing the Indian +blood as strongly as the French. Pierrot, worthy his name, was a most +comical fellow; Masta, a great talker, amused me exceedingly; Content +was our steersman and captain; and Le Blanc, who was the best singer, +generally led the song, to which the others responded in chorus. + +They had a fixed daily allowance of fat pork, Indian meal, and tobacco: +finding that the latter was not agreeable to me, though I took care not +to complain, they always contrived with genuine politeness to smoke out +of my way, and to leeward. + + + VOYAGE DOWN LAKE HURON. + +After passing Sugar Island, we took the channel to the left, and entered +the narrow part of the lake between St. Joseph's Island and the +mainland. We dined upon a small picturesque islet, consisting of ledges +of rock, covered with shrubs and abounding with whortleberries; on the +upper platform we arranged an awning or shade, by throwing a sail over +some bushes, and made a luxuriant dinner, succeeded by a basin of good +tea; meantime, on the rocky ledge below, Pierrot was making a +_galette_, and Masta frying pork. + +Dinner being over, we proceeded, coasting along the north shore of St. +Joseph's Island. There is, in the interior, an English settlement, and a +village of Indians. The principal proprietor, who is a magistrate and +justice of the peace; has two Indian women living with him--two sisters, +and a family by each!--such are the examples sometimes set to the +Indians on our frontiers. + +In the evening we came to an island consisting of a flat ledge of rock, +on which were the remains of a former camp-fire, surrounded by tall +trees and bushes: here we pitched our little marquee, and boiled our +kettle. The sun-set was most glorious, with some floating ominous +clouds. The stars and the fire-flies came out together: the latter +swarmed around us, darting in and out among the trees, and gliding and +sparkling over the surface of the water. Unfortunately the mosquitoes +swarmed too, notwithstanding the antipathy which is said to exist +between the mosquito and the fire-fly. We made our beds by spreading +mats and blankets under us; and then, closing the curtain of the tent, +Mr. MacMurray began a very effective slaughter and expulsion of the +mosquitoes. We laid ourselves down, Mrs. MacMurray in the middle, with +her child in her bosom; Mr. MacMurray on one side, myself at the other, +and the two Indian girls at our feet: the voyageurs, rolled in their +blankets, lay down on the naked rock round the fire we had built--and +thus we all slept. I must needs confess that I found my rocky bed rather +uneasy, and my bones ached as I turned from side to side, but this was +only a beginning. The night was close and sultry, and just before dawn I +was wakened by a tremendous clap of thunder; down came the storm in its +fury, the lake swelling and roaring, the lightning gambolling over the +rocks and waves, the rain falling in a torrent; but we were well +sheltered, for the men had had the precaution, before they slept, to +throw a large oil cloth over the top of our little marquee. The storm +ceased suddenly: daylight came, and soon afterwards we again embarked. +We had made forty-five miles. + + * * * * * + + + BREAKFAST AT RATTLESNAKE ISLAND. + +The next morning was beautiful: the sun shone brightly, though the lake +was yet heaving and swelling from the recent storm,--altogether it was +like the laughing eyes and pouting lips of a half-appeased beauty. About +nine o'clock we ran down into a lovely bay, and landed to breakfast on a +little lawn surrounded by high trees and a thick wood, abounding in +rattlesnakes and squirrels. Luckily for us, the storm had dispersed the +mosquitoes. + +Keeping clear of the covert to avoid these fearful snakes, I strayed +down by the edge of the lake, and found a tiny creek, which answered all +purposes, both of bath and mirror, and there I arranged my toilette in +peace and security. Returning to our breakfast-fire, I stood some +moments to admire the group around it--it was a perfect picture: there +lay the little boat rocking on the shining waves, and near it Content +was washing plates and dishes; Pierrot and Masta were cooking; the two +Indian girls were spreading the tablecloth on the turf. Mrs. MacMurray +and her baby--looking like the Madonna and child in the "Repose in +Egypt,"--were seated under a tree; while Mr. MacMurray, having suspended +his shaving-glass against the trunk of a pine, was shaving himself with +infinite gravity and _sang froid_. Never, I think, were the graceful, +the wild, the comic, so strangely combined!--add the rich background of +mingled foliage, the murmur of leaves and waters, and all the glory of a +summer morning!--it was very beautiful! + +We breakfasted in much mirth, and then we set off again. The channel +widened, the sky became overcast, the wind freshened, and at length blew +hard. Though this part of the lake is protected by St. Joseph's and the +chain of islands from the swell of the main lake, still the waves rose +high, the wind increased, we were obliged to take in a reef or two of +our sail, and scudded with an almost fearful rapidity before the wind. +In crossing a wide, open expanse of about twenty miles, we became all at +once very silent, then very grave, then very pathetic, and at last +extremely sick. + +On arriving among the channels of the Rattlesnake Islands, the swell of +course subsided; we landed on a most beautiful mass of rock, and lighted +our fire under a group of pines and sycamores; but we were too sick to +eat. Mr. MacMurray heated some port wine and water, into which we broke +biscuit, and drank it most picturesquely out of a slop basin--too +thankful to get it! Thus recruited, we proceeded. The wind continued +fresh and fair, the day kept up fine, and our sail was most delightful +and rapid. We passed successive groups of islands, countless in number, +various in form, little fairy Edens--populous with life and love, and +glowing with light and colour under a meridian sun. I remember we came +into a circular basin, of about three miles in diameter, so surrounded +with islands, that when once within the circle, I could perceive neither +ingress nor egress; it was as if a spell of enchantment had been wrought +to keep us there for ever; and I really thought we were going with our +bows upon the rocks, when suddenly we darted through a narrow portal, +not above two or three yards in width, and found ourselves in another +wide expanse, studded with larger islands. At evening we entered the +Missasagua river, having come sixty miles, right before the wind, since +morning. + + + BEAUTY OF AIRD'S BAY. + +The Missasagua (_i. e._ the river with two mouths) gives its name to a +tribe of the Chippewa nation, once numerous and powerful, now scattered +and degraded. This is the river called by Henry the _Missasaki_, where +he found a horde of Indians who had never seen a white man before, and +who, in the excess of their hospitality, crammed him with "a porridge of +sturgeons' roe," which I apprehend, from his description, would be +likely to prove "caviare to the general." There is a remnant of these +Indians here still. We found a log-hut with a half-breed family, in the +service of the fur company; and two or three bark wigwams. The rest of +the village (dwellings and inhabitants together) had gone down to the +Manitoolin. A number of little Red-skins were running about, half, or +rather indeed wholly, naked--happy, healthy, active, dirty little +urchins, resembling, except in colour, those you may see swarming in an +Irish cabin. Poor Ireland! The worst Indian wigwam is not worse than +some of her dwellings; and the most miserable of these Indians would +spurn the destiny of an Irish _poor-slave_--for he is at least Lord o'er +himself. As the river is still famous for sturgeon, we endeavoured to +procure some for supper, and had just prepared a large piece to roast, +(suspended by a cord to three sticks,) when one of those horrid curs so +rife about the Indian dwellings ran off with it. We were asked to take +up our night's lodging in the log-hut, but it was so abominably dirty +and close, we all preferred the shore. While they pitched the marquee, I +stood for some time looking at a little Indian boy, who, in a canoe +about eight feet in length, was playing the most extraordinary gambols +in the water; the buoyant thing seemed alive beneath him, and to obey +every movement of his paddle. He shot backwards and forwards, described +circles, whirled himself round and round, made pirouettes, exhibited, in +short, as many tricks as I have seen played by a spirited English boy on +a thorough-bred pony. + + + BEACH LA CLOCHE. + +The mosquitoes were in great force, but we began by sweeping them out of +the tent with boughs, and then, closing the curtain, we executed +judgment on the remainder by wholesale. We then lay down in the same +order as last night; and Mrs. MacMurray sang her little boy to sleep +with a beautiful hymn. I felt all the luxury of having the turf under me +instead of the rock, and slept well till wakened before dawn by some +animal sniffing and snuffing close to my ear. I commanded my alarm, and +did not disturb those who were enjoying a sound sleep near me, and the +intruder turned out to be a cow belonging to the hut, who had got her +nose under the edge of the tent. We set off early, and by sunrise had +passed down the eastern channel of the river, and swept into the lake. +It was a lovely morning, soft and calm; there was no breath of wind; no +cloud in the sky, no vapour in the air; and the little islands lay +around "under the opening eyelids of the morn," dewy, and green, and +silent. We made eighteen miles before breakfast; and then pursued our +way through Aird's bay, and among countless islands of all shapes and +sizes; I cannot describe their beauty, nor their harmonious variety: at +last we perceived in the east the high ridge called the mountains of La +Cloche. They are really respectable hills in this level country, but +hardly mountains: they are all of limestone, and partially clothed in +wood. All this coast is very rocky and barren; but it is said to be rich +in mineral productions. About five in the evening we landed at La +Cloche. + +Here we found the first and only signs of civilised society during our +voyage. The north-west company have an important station here; and two +of their principal clerks, Mr. MacBean and Mr. Buthune were on the spot. +We were received with much kindness, and pressed to spend the night, but +there was yet so much day-light, and time was so valuable, that we +declined. The factory consists of a large log-house, an extensive store +to contain the goods bartered with the Indians, and huts inhabited by +work people, hunters, voyageurs, and others; a small village, in short, +and a number of boats and canoes of all sizes were lying in the bay. It +is not merely the love of gain that induces well-educated +men--gentlemen--to pass twenty years of their lives in such a place as +this; you must add to the prospective acquirement of a large fortune, +two possessions which men are most wont to covet--power and freedom. The +table was laid in their hall for supper, and we carried off, with their +good will, a large mess of broiled fish, dish and all, and a can of +milk, which delicious viands we discussed in our boat with great +satisfaction. + + + THE BURNING PINE. + +The place derives its name from a large rock which they say, being +struck, vibrates like a bell. But I had no opportunity of trying the +experiment, therefore cannot tell how this may be: Henry, however, +mentions this phenomenon; and the Indians regard the spot as sacred and +enchanted. Just after sunset, we reached one of the most enchanting of +these enchanting or enchanted isles. It rose sloping from the shore, in +successive ledges of picturesque rocks, all fringed with trees and +bushes, and clothed in many places with a species of grey lichen, nearly +a foot deep. With a sort of anticipative wisdom (like that of a pig +before a storm) I gathered a quantity of this lichen for our bed, and +spread it under the mats; for in fear of the rattlesnakes and other +creeping things, we had pitched our resting place on the naked rock. The +men had built up the fire in a sheltered place below, and did not +perceive that a stem of a blasted pine, about twenty feet in length, had +fallen across the recess; it caught the flame. This at first delighted +us and the men too; but soon it communicated to another tree against +which it was leaning, and they blazed away together in a column of +flame. We began to fear that it might communicate to the dried moss and +the bushes, and cause a general conflagration; the men prevented this, +however, by clearing a space around them. The waves, the trees and +bushes and fantastic rocks, and the figures and faces of the men, caught +the brilliant light as it flashed upon them with a fitful glare--the +rest being lost in deepest shadow. Wildly magnificent it was! beyond all +expression beautiful, and awful to!--the night, the solitude, the dark +weltering waters, the blaze which put out the mild stars which just +before had looked down upon us in their tender radiance!--I never beheld +such a scene. By the light of this gigantic torch we supped and prepared +our beds. As I lay down to rest, and closed my eyes on the flame which +shone through our tent curtain, I thought that perhaps the wind might +change in the night, and the flakes and sparks be carried over to us, +and to the beds of lichen, dry and inflammable as tinder; but fatigue +had subdued me so utterly, that even this apprehension could not keep me +awake. + +The burning trees were still smouldering; daylight was just creeping up +the sky, and some few stars yet out, when we bestirred ourselves, and in +a very few minutes we were again afloat: we were now steering towards +the south-east, where the Great Manitoolin Island was dimly discerned. +There was a deep slumbrous calm all around, as if nature had not yet +awoke from her night's rest: then the atmosphere began to kindle with +gradual light; it grew brighter and brighter: towards the east, the lake +and sky were intermingling in radiance; and _then_, just there, where +they seemed flowing and glowing together like a bath of fire, we saw +what seemed to us the huge black hull of a vessel, with masts and spars +rising against the sky--but we knew not what to think or to believe! As +we kept on rowing in that direction, it grew more distinct, but lessened +in size: it proved to be a great heavy-built schooner, painted black, +which was going up the lake against wind and current. One man was +standing in her bows, with an immense oar, which he slowly pulled, +walking backwards and forwards; but vain seemed all his toil, for still +the vessel lay like a black log, and moved not: we rowed up to the side, +and hailed him--"What news?" + + + QUEEN VICTORIA. + +And the answer was that William the Fourth was dead, and that Queen +Victoria reigned in his place! We sat silent looking at each other, and +even in that very moment the orb of the sun rose out of the lake, and +poured its beams full in our dazzled eyes. + +We asked if the governor were at the Manitoolin Island? No; he was not +there; but the chief officer of the Indian department had come to +represent him, and the presents were to be given out to the assembled +Indians this morning. We urged the men to take to their oars with +spirit, and held our course due east down by the woody shores of this +immense island; among fields of reeds and rushes, and almost under the +shadow of the towering forests. + +Meantime, many thoughts came into my mind, some tears too into my +eyes--not certainly for that dead king, who in ripe age and in all +honour was gathered to the tomb--but for that living queen so young and +fair:-- + + "As many hopes hang on that noble head + As there hang blossoms on the boughs in May!" + +And what will become of _them_--of _her_! The idea that even here, in +this new world of woods and waters, amid these remote wilds, to her so +utterly unknown, her power reaches and her sovereignty is acknowledged, +filled me with compassionate awe. I say _compassionate_, for if she feel +in their whole extent the liabilities of her position, alas for her! And +if she feel them not!--O worse and worse! + +I tried to recall her childish figure and features. I thought over all I +had heard concerning her. I thought she was not such a thing as they +could make a mere pageant of; for _that_ there is too much within--too +little without. And what _will_ they make of her? For at eighteen she +will hardly make anything of them--I mean of the men and women round +her. It is of the woman I think, more than of the queen; for as a part +of the state machinery she will do quite as well as another--better, +perhaps: so far her youth and sex are absolutely in her favour, or +rather in _our_ favour. If she be but simple-minded, and true-hearted, +and straightforward, with the common portion of intellect--if a royal +education have not blunted in her the quick perceptions and pure kind +instincts of the woman--if she has only had fair play, and carries into +business plain distinct notions of right and wrong--and the fine moral +sense that is not to be confounded by diplomatic verbiage and +expediency--she will do better for us than a whole cabinet full of cut +and dried officials, with Talleyrand at the head of them. And what a +fair heritage is this which has fallen to her! A land young like +herself--a land of hopes--and fair, most fair! Does she know--does she +care any thing about it?--while hearts are beating warm for her, and +voices bless her--and hands are stretched out towards her--even from +these wild lake shores?[46] + +These thoughts were in my mind, or something like to these, as with aid +of sail and oar we were gliding across the bay of Manitoolin. This bay +is about three miles wide at the entrance, and runs about twelve miles +in depth, in a southern direction. As we approached the further end, we +discerned the whole line of shore, rising in bold and beautiful relief +from the water, to be covered with wigwams, and crowded with Indians. +Suddenly we entered a little opening or channel, which was not visible +till we were just upon it, and rounding a promontory, to my infinite +delight and surprise, we came upon an unexpected scene,--a little bay +within the bay. It was a beautiful basin, nearly an exact circle, of +about three miles in circumference; in the centre lay a little wooded +island, and all around, the shores rose sloping from the margin of the +lake, like an amphitheatre, covered with wigwams and lodges, thick as +they could stand amid intermingled trees; and beyond these arose the +tall pine forest crowning and enclosing the whole. Some hundred canoes +were darting hither and thither on the waters, or gliding along the +shore, and a beautiful schooner lay against the green bank--its tall +masts almost mingling with the forest trees, and its white sails half +furled, and half gracefully drooping. + +We landed, and were received with much politeness by Mr. Jarvis, the +chief superintendent of Indian affairs, and by Major Anderson, the +Indian agent; and a space was cleared to pitch our tent, until room +could be made for our accommodation in one of the government log-houses. + +[Footnote 46: The reader will have the goodness to remark that all this +passage relating to the Queen stands verbatim in the original printed in +1838.] + + * * * * * + + + THE GREAT MANITOOLIN. + +The word Manitoolin is a corruption or frenchification of the Indian +_Manitoawahning_, which signifies the "dwelling of spirits." They have +given this name to a range of islands in Lake Huron, which extends from +the channel of St. Mary's river nearly to Cape Hurd, a distance of about +two hundred miles. Between this range of islands and the shore of the +mainland, there is an archipelago, consisting of many thousand islands +or islets.[47] + +The Great Manitoolin, on which I now am, is, according to the last +survey, ninety-three miles in length, but very narrow, and so deeply and +fantastically indented with gulfs and bays, that it was supposed to +consist of many distinct islands. This is the second year that the +presents to the Indians have been issued on this spot. The idea of +forming on the Great Manitoolin, a settlement of the Indians, and +inviting those tribes scattered round the lakes to adopt it as a +residence, has been for the last few years entertained by the Indian +department; I say for the last few years, because it did not originate +with the present governor; though I believe it has his entire +approbation, as a means of removing them more effectually from all +contact with the white settlers. It is objected to this measure that by +cutting off the Indians from agricultural pursuits, and throwing them +back upon their habits of hunting and fishing, it will retard their +civilisation; that removing them from the reserved land among the +whites, their religious instruction will be rendered a matter of +difficulty; that the islands, being masses of barren rock, are almost +incapable of cultivation; and that they are so far north-west, that it +would be difficult to raise even a little Indian corn[48]: and hence the +plan of settling the Indians here has been termed _unjustifiable_. + +[Footnote 47: The islands which fringe the north shores of Lake Huron +from Lake George to Penetanguishine have been estimated by Lieut. +Bayfield (in his official survey) at upwards of thirty-three thousand.] + +[Footnote 48: It appears, however, from the notes of the missionary +Elliott, that a great number of Ottawas and Portoganasees had been +residing on the Great Manitoolin two or three years previous to 1834, +and had cultivated a portion of land.] + + + DISTRIBUTION OF PRESENTS. + +It is true that the smaller islands are rocky and barren; but the Great +Manitoolin, Drummond's, and St. Joseph's, are fertile. The soil on which +I now tread is rich and good; and all the experiments in cultivation +already tried here have proved successful. As far as I can judge, the +intentions of the government are benevolent and _justifiable_. There are +a great number of Indians, Ottawas, and Pottowottomies, who receive +annual presents from the British government, and are residing on the +frontiers of the American settlements, near Lake Michigan. These people, +having disposed of their lands, know not where to go, and it is the wish +of our government to assemble all those Indians who are our allies, and +receive our annual presents within the limits of the British +territory--and this for reasons which certainly do appear very +_reasonable_ and politic. + +There are three thousand seven hundred Indians, Ottawas, Chippewas, +Pottowottomies, Winnebagos, and Menomonies, encamped around us. The +issue of the presents has just concluded, and appears to have given +universal satisfaction; yet, were you to see their trifling nature, you +would wonder that they think it worth while to travel from one to five +hundred miles or more to receive them; and by an ordinance of the Indian +department, every individual must present himself _in person_ to receive +the allotted portion. The common equipment of each chief or warrior +(that is, each man) consists of three quarters of a yard of blue cloth, +three yards of linen, one blanket, half an ounce of thread, four strong +needles, one comb, one awl, one butcher's knife, three pounds of +tobacco, three pounds of ball, nine pounds of shot, four pounds of +powder, and six flints. The equipment of a woman consists of one yard +and three quarters of coarse woollen, two yards and a half of printed +calico, one blanket, one ounce of thread, four needles, one comb, one +awl, one knife. For each child there was a portion of woollen cloth and +calico. Those chiefs who had been wounded in battle, or had +extraordinary claims, had some little articles in extra quantity, and a +gay shawl or handkerchief. To each principal chief of a tribe, the +allotted portion of goods for his tribe was given, and he made the +distribution to his people individually; and such a thing as injustice +or partiality on one hand, or a murmur of dissatisfaction on the other, +seemed equally unknown. There were, besides, extra presents of flags, +medals, chiefs' guns, rifles, trinkets, brass kettles, the choice and +distribution of which were left to the superintendent, with this +proviso, that the expense on the whole was never to exceed nine pounds +sterling for every one hundred chiefs or warriors. + +While the Indians remain on the island, which is generally about five +days, they receive rations of Indian corn and tallow (fat melted down); +with this they make a sort of soup, boiling the Indian corn till it is +of the consistence of porridge,--then adding a handful of tallow and +some salt, and stirring it well. Many a kettleful of this delectable +mess did I see made, without feeling any temptation to taste it; but +Major Anderson says it is not so _very_ bad, when a man is _very_ +hungry, which I am content to believe on his testimony. On this and on +the fish of the bay they live while here. + + * * * * * + +As soon as the distribution of the presents was over, a grand council of +all the principal chiefs was convened, that they might be informed of +the will of their great father. + +You must understand, that on the promontory I have mentioned as shutting +in the little bay on the north side, there are some government +edifices; one large house, consisting of one room, as accommodation for +the superintendent and officers; also a carpenter's house and a magazine +for the stores and presents, all of logs. A deal plank, raised on +tressels, served as a table; there were a few stools and benches of +deal-board, and two raised wooden platforms for beds: such were the +furniture and decorations of the grand council-hall in which the +_representative_ of the representative of their Great Mother had now +assembled her red children; a flag was displayed in front upon a lofty +pole--a new flag, with a new device, on which I saw troops of Indians +gazing with much curiosity and interest, and the meaning of which was +now to be explained to them. + +The council met about noon. At the upper end of the log-house I have +mentioned, stood the chief superintendent, with his secretary or grand +vizier, Major Anderson; the two interpreters, and some other officials. +At some little distance I sat with Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, and a young +son of the lieutenant-governor; near me I perceived three Methodist +missionaries and two Catholic priests. The chiefs came in, one after +another, without any order of precedence. All those whom I had seen at +Mackinaw recognised me immediately, and their dusky faces brightened as +they held out their hands with the customary _bojou!_ There was my old +acquaintance the Rain, looking magnificent, and the venerable old Ottawa +chief, Kish,ke,nick (the Cut-hand). The other remarkable chiefs of the +Ottawas were Gitchee, Mokomaun (the Great or Long-knife); So,wan,quet +(the Forked-tree); Kim,e,ne,chau,zun (the Bustard); Mocomaun,ish (the +Bad-knife); Pai,mau,se,gai (the Sun's course in a cloudless sky); and +As,si,ke,nack (the Blackbird); the latter a very remarkable man, of whom +I shall have to say more presently. Of the Chippewas, the most +distinguished chiefs were, Aisence (the Little Clam); Wai,sow,win,de,bay +(the Yellow-head), and Shin,gua,cose (the Pine); these three are +Christians. There were besides Ken,ne,bec,áno (the Snake's-tail); +Muc,konce,e,wa,yun (the Cub's-skin): and two others, whose style was +quite grandiloquent,--Tai,bau,se,gai (Bursts of Thunder at a distance), +and Me,twai,crush,kau (the sound of waves breaking on the rocks). + +Nearly opposite to me was a famous Pottowottomie chief and conjuror, +called the Two Ears. He was most fantastically dressed, and hideously +painted, and had two large clusters of swan's down depending from each +ear--I suppose in illustration of his name. There were three men with +their faces blacked with grease and soot, their hair dishevelled, and +their whole appearance studiously squalid and miserable: I was told they +were in mourning for near relations. With these exceptions the dresses +were much what I have already described; but the chief whom I +immediately distinguished from the rest, even before I knew his name, +was my cousin, young Waub-Ojeeg, the son of Wayish,ky; in height he +towered above them all, being about six feet three or four. His dress +was equally splendid and tasteful; he wore a surtout of fine blue cloth, +under which was seen a shirt of gay colours, and his father's medal hung +on his breast. He had a magnificent embroidered belt of wampum, from +which hung his scalping-knife and pouch. His leggings (metasses) were of +scarlet cloth beautifully embroidered, with rich bands or garters +depending to his ankle. Round his head was an embroidered band or +handkerchief, in which were stuck four wing-feathers of the war-eagle, +two on each side--the testimonies of his prowess as a warrior. He held a +tomahawk in his hand. His features were fine, and his countenance not +only mild, but almost femininely soft. Altogether he was in dress and +personal appearance the finest specimen of his race I had yet seen; I +was quite proud of my adopted kinsman. + +He was seated at some distance; but in far too near propinquity, for in +truth they almost touched me, sat a group of creatures--human beings I +must suppose them--such as had never been seen before within the lines +of civilisation. I had remarked them in the morning surrounded by a +group of Ottawas, among whom they seemed to excite as much wonder and +curiosity as among ourselves: and when I inquired who and what they +were, I was told they were _cannibals_ from the Red River, the title +being, I suspect, quite gratuitous, and merely expressive of the +disgust they excited. One man had his hair cut short on the top of his +head, and it looked like a circular blacking-brush, while it grew long +in a fringe all round, hanging on his shoulders. The skins thrown round +them seemed on the point of rotting off; and their attitude, when +squatted on the ground, was precisely that of the larger ape I have seen +in a menagerie. More hideous, more pitiable specimens of humanity in its +lowest, most degraded state, can hardly be conceived; melancholy, +squalid, stupid--and yet not fierce. They had each received a kettle and +a gun by way of encouragement. + +The whole number of chiefs assembled was seventy-five; and take notice +that the half of them were smoking, that it was blazing noontide, and +that every door and window was filled up with the eager faces of the +crowd without, and then you may imagine that even a scene like this was +not to be enjoyed without some drawbacks; in fact, it was a sort of +purgatory to more senses than one, but I made up my mind to endure, and +did so. I observed that although there were many hundreds around the +house, not one woman, outside or inside, was visible during the whole +time the council lasted. + +When all were assembled, and had seated themselves on the floor without +hurry, noise, or confusion, there was a pause of solemn preparation, and +then Mr. Jarvis rose and addressed them. At the end of every sentence, +As,si,ke,nack (the Blackbird), our chief interpreter here, translated +the meaning to the assembly, raising his voice to a high pitch, and +speaking with much oratorical emphasis, the others responding at +intervals, "Ha!" but listening generally in solemn silence. This man, +the Blackbird, who understands English well, is the most celebrated +orator of his nation. They relate with pride that on one occasion he +began a speech at sunrise, and that it lasted without intermission till +sunset: the longest breathed of our parliament orators must yield, I +think, to the Blackbird. + +The address of the superintendent was in these words:-- + +"Children,--When your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, parted with +his Red children last year at this place, he promised again to meet +them here at the council-fire, and witness in person the grand delivery +of presents now just finished. + +"To fulfil this engagement, your Great Father left his residence at +Toronto, and proceeded on his way to the Great Manitoolin Island, as far +as Lake Simcoe. At this place, a messenger, who had been dispatched from +Toronto, overtook him, and informed him of the death of our Great +Father, on the other side of the Great Salt Lake, and the accession of +the Queen Victoria. It consequently became necessary for your Great +Father, the lieutenant-governor, to return to the seat of his +government, and hold a council with his chief men. + +"Children!--Your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, has deputed me +to express to you his regret and disappointment at being thus +unexpectedly deprived of the pleasure which he had promised to himself, +in again seeing all his Red children, and in taking by the hand the +chiefs and warriors of the numerous tribes now here assembled. + +"Children!--I am now to communicate to you a matter in which many of you +are deeply interested. Listen with attention, and bear well in mind what +I say to you. + +"Children!--Your Great Father the King had determined that presents +should be continued to be given to all Indians resident in the Canadas. + +"But presents will be given to Indians residing in the United States +only for three years, including the present delivery. + +"Children!--The reasons why presents will not be continued to the +Indians residing in the United States I will explain to you. + +"First: All our countrymen who resided in the United States forfeited +their claim to protection from the British government, from the moment +their Great Father the King lost possession of that country. +Consequently the Indians have no right to expect that their Great Father +will continue to them what he does not continue to his own white +children. + +"Secondly: The Indians of the United States, who served in the late +war, have already received from the British government more than has +been received by the soldiers of their Great Father, who have fought for +him for twenty years. + +"Thirdly: Among the rules which civilised nations are bound to attend +to, there is one which forbids your Great Father to give arms and +ammunition to Indians of the United States, who are fighting against the +government under which they live. + +"Fourthly: The people of England have, through their representatives in +the great council of the nation, uttered great complaints at the expense +attendant upon a continuation of the expenditure of so large a sum of +money upon Indian presents. + +"But, Children! let it be distinctly understood, that the British +government has not come to a determination to cease to give presents to +the Indians of the United States. On the contrary, the government of +your Great Father will be most happy to do so, provided they live in the +British empire. Therefore, although your Great Father is willing that +his Red children should all become permanent settlers in the island, it +matters not in what part of the British empire they reside. They may go +across the Great Salt Lake to the country of their Great Father the +King, and there reside, and there receive their presents; or they may +remove to any part of the provinces of Upper or Lower Canada, New +Brunswick, Nova Scotia, or any other British colony, and yet receive +them. But they cannot and must not expect to receive them after the end +of three years, if they continue to reside within the limits of the +United States. + +"Children!--The Long Knives have complained (and with justice too) that +your Great Father, whilst he is at peace with them, has supplied his Red +children residing in their country, with whom the Long Knives are at +war, with guns and powder and ball. + +"Children!--This, I repeat to you, is against the rules of civilised +nations, and if continued, will bring on war between your Great Father +and the Long Knives. + +"Children!--You must therefore come and live under the protection of +your Great Father, or renounce the advantage which you have so long +enjoyed, of annually receiving valuable presents from him. + +"Children!--I have one thing more to observe to you. There are many +clergymen constantly visiting you for the avowed purpose of instructing +you in religious principles. Listen to them with attention when they +talk to you on that subject; but at the same time keep always in view, +and bear it well in your minds, that they have nothing whatever to do +with your temporal affairs. Your Great Father who lives across the Great +Salt Lake is your guardian and protector, and he only. He has +relinquished his claim to this large and beautiful island, on which we +are assembled, in order that you may have a home of your own quite +separate from his white children. The soil is good, and the waters which +surround the shores of this island are abundantly supplied with the +finest fish. If you cultivate the soil with only moderate industry, and +exert yourselves to obtain fish, you can never want, and your Great +Father will continue to bestow annually on all those who permanently +reside here, or in any part of his dominions, valuable presents, and +will from time to time visit you at this island, to behold your +improvements. + +"Children!--Your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, as a token of +the above declaration, transmits to the Indians a silk British flag, +which represents the British empire. Within this flag, and immediately +under the symbol of the British crown, are delineated a British lion and +a beaver; by which is designated that the British people and the +Indians, the former being represented by the lion and the latter by the +beaver, are and will be alike regarded by their sovereign, so long as +their figures are imprinted on the British flag, or, in other words, so +long as they continue to inhabit the British empire! + +"Children!--This flag is now yours. But it is necessary that some one +tribe should take charge of it, in order that it may be exhibited in +this island on all occasions, when your Great Father either visits or +bestows presents on his Red children. Choose, therefore, from among +you, the tribe to which you are willing to entrust it for safe keeping, +and remember to have it with you when we next meet again at this place. + +"Children!--I bid you farewell. But before we part, let me express to +you the high satisfaction I feel at witnessing the quiet, sober, and +orderly conduct which has prevailed in the camp since my arrival. There +are assembled here upwards of three thousand persons, composed of +different tribes. I have not seen nor heard of any wrangling or +quarrelling among you; I have not seen even one man, woman, or child, in +a state of intoxication. + +"Children!--Let me entreat you to abstain from indulging in the use of +fire-water. Let me entreat you to return immediately to your respective +homes, with the presents now in your possession. Let me warn you against +attempts that may be made by traders or other persons to induce you to +part with your presents, in exchange for articles of little +value.--Farewell." + +When Mr. Jarvis ceased speaking there was a pause, and then a fine +Ottawa chief (I think Mokomaun,ish) arose, and spoke at some length. He +said, that with regard to the condition on which the presents would be +issued in future, they would deliberate on the affair, and bring their +answer next year. + +Shinguaconse then came forward and made a long and emphatic speech, from +which I gathered that he and his tribe requested that the principal +council-fire might be transferred to St. Mary's River, and objected to a +residence on the Manitoolin Island. After him spoke two other chiefs, +who signified their entire acquiescence in what their Great Father had +advised, and declared themselves satisfied to reside on the Manitoolin +Islands. + +After some deliberation among themselves, the custody of the flag was +consigned to the Ottawa tribe then residing on the island, and to their +principal chief, who came forward and received it with great ceremony. + +There was then a distribution of extra presents, medals, silver gorgets, +and amulets, to some of the chiefs and relatives of chiefs whose conduct +was particularly approved, or whom it was thought expedient to gratify. + +The council then broke up, and I made my way into the open air as +quickly as I could. + + * * * * * + + + SCENES ON THE GREAT MANITOOLIN. + +In walking about among the wigwams to-day, I found some women on the +shore, making a canoe. The frame had been put together by the men. The +women were then joining the pieces of birch-bark, with the split +ligaments of the pine-root, which they called _wattup_. Other women were +employed in melting and applying the resinous gum, with which they smear +the seams, and render them impervious to the water. There was much +chattering and laughing meanwhile, and I never saw a merrier set of +gossips. + +This canoe, which was about eighteen feet in length, was finished before +night; and the next morning I saw it afloat. + +A man was pointed out to me (a Chippewa from Lake Superior), who, about +three years ago, when threatened by starvation during his winter hunt, +had devoured his wife and one or two of his children. You shudder--so +did I; but since famine can prevail over every human feeling or +instinct, till the "pitiful mother hath sodden her own children," and a +woman devoured part of her lover[49], I do not think this wretched +creature must necessarily be a born monster of ferocity. His features +were very mild and sad--he is avoided by the other Chippewas here, and +not considered _respectable_; and this from an opinion they entertain, +that when a man has once tasted human flesh, he can relish no other: but +I must quit this abominable subject. + +At sunset this evening, just as the air was beginning to grow cool, +Major Anderson proclaimed a canoe race, the canoes to be paddled by the +women only. The prize consisted of twenty-five pair of silver earrings +and other trinkets. I can give you no idea of the state of commotion +into which the whole camp, men and women and children, were thrown by +this announcement. Thirty canoes started, each containing twelve women, +and a man to steer. They were to go round the little island in the +centre of the bay, and return to the starting point,--the first canoe +which touched the shore to be the winner. They darted off together with +a sudden velocity, like that of an arrow from the bow. The Indians on +the shore ran backwards and forwards on the beach, exciting them to +exertion by loud cries, leaping into the air, whooping and clapping +their hands; and when at length the first canoe dashed up to the landing +place, it was as if all had gone at once distracted and stark mad. The +men, throwing themselves into the water, carried the winners out in +their arms, who were laughing and panting for breath; and then the women +cried "Ny'a! Ny'a!" and the men shouted "Ty'a!" till the pine woods rang +again. + +But all was good humour, and even good order, in the midst of this +confusion. There was no ill blood, not a dispute, not an outrage, not +even a _sound_ of unkindness or anger; these are certainly the most +good-natured, orderly savages imaginable! We are twenty white people, +with 3,700 of these wild creatures around us, and I never in my life +felt more security. I find it necessary, indeed, to suspend a blanket +before each of the windows when I am dressing in the morning; for they +have no idea of the possibility of being intrusive; they think "men's +eyes were made to look," and windows to be looked through; but, with +this exception, I never met with people more genuinely polite. + +[Footnote 49: See the Voyage of the Blonde.] + + * * * * * + + + THE INDIAN WAR DANCE. + +After a very tiring day, I was standing to-night at the door of our +log-house, looking out upon the tranquil stars, and admiring the peace +and tranquillity which reigned all around. Within the house Mrs. +MacMurray was hearing a young Chippewa read the Gospel, and the light of +a lamp above fell upon her beautiful face--very beautiful it was at +that moment--and on the dusky features of the Indian boy, akin to her +own, and yet how different! and on his silver armlets and feathered +head-dress. It was about nine o'clock, and though a few of the camp +fires were yet burning, it seemed that almost all had gone to rest. At +this moment old Solomon, the interpreter, came up, and told me that the +warriors had arranged to give me an exhibition of their war-dance, and +were then painting and preparing. In a few minutes more, the drum, and +the shriek, and the long tremulous whoop, were heard. A large crowd had +gathered silently in front of the house, leaving an open space in the +midst; many of them carried great blazing torches, made of the bark of +the pine rolled up into a cylinder. The innermost circle of the +spectators sat down, and the rest stood around; some on the stumps of +the felled trees, which were still at hand. I remember that a large +piece of a flaming torch fell on the naked shoulder of a savage, and he +jumped up with a yell which made me start; but they all laughed, and so +did he, and sat himself down again quietly. + +Meantime the drumming and yelling drew nearer, and all at once a man +leaped like a panther into the very middle of the circle, and, flinging +off his blanket, began to caper and to flourish his war-club; then +another, and another, till there were about forty; then they stamped +round and round, and gesticulated a sort of fiercely grotesque +pantomime, and sent forth their hideous yells, while the glare of the +torches fell on their painted and naked figures, producing an effect +altogether quite indescribable. Then a man suddenly stopped before me, +and began a speech at the very top of his voice, so that it sounded like +a reiteration of loud cries; it was, in fact, a string of exclamations, +which a gentleman standing behind me translated as he went on. They were +to this purport:--"I am a Red-skin! I am a warrior! look on me! I am a +warrior! I am brave! I have fought! I have killed! I have killed my +enemies! I have eaten the tops of the hearts of my enemies! I have drunk +their blood! I have struck down seven Long-knives! I have taken their +scalps!" + +This last vaunt he repeated several times with exultation, thinking, +perhaps, it must be particularly agreeable to a daughter of the +Red-coats; nothing was ever less so! and the human being who was thus +boasting stood within half a yard of me, his grim painted face and +gleaming eyes looking into mine! + +A-propos to scalps; I have seen many of the warriors here, who had one +or more of these suspended as decorations to their dress; and they +seemed to me so much a part and parcel of the _sauvagerie_ around me, +that I looked on them generally without emotion or pain. But there was +one thing I never _could_ see without a start, and a thrill of +horror,--the scalp of _long fair hair_. + + * * * * * + + + THE MISSIONARIES. + +Walking about early next morning, I saw that preparations for departure +had already commenced; all was movement, and bustle, and hurry; taking +down wigwams, launching canoes, tying up bundles and babies, cooking, +and "sacrificing" wretched dogs to propitiate the spirits, and procure a +favourable voyage. I came upon such a sacrifice just at the opposite +side of the point, and took to flight forthwith. No interest, no +curiosity, can overcome the sickness and abhorrence with which I shrink +from certain things; so I can tell you nothing of this grand ceremony, +which you will find described circumstantially by many less fastidious +or less sensitive travellers. + +All the Christian Indians now on the island (about nine hundred in +number) are, with the exception of Mr. MacMurray's congregation from the +Sault, either Roman Catholics or Methodists. + +I had some conversation with Father Crue, the Roman Catholic missionary, +a very clever and very zealous man, still in the prime of life. He has +been here two years, is indefatigable in his calling, or, as Major +Anderson said, "always on the go--up the lake and down--in every spot +where he had the hope of being useful." I heard the Methodists and +Churchmen complain greatly of his interference; but if he be a true +believer in his religion, his active zeal does him honour, I think. + +One thing is most visible, certain, and undeniable, that the Roman +Catholic converts are in appearance, dress, intelligence, industry, and +general civilisation, superior to all the others. + +A band of Ottawas, under the particular care of Father Crue, have +settled on the Manitoolin, about six miles to the south. They have large +plantations of corn and potatoes, and they have built log-huts, a chapel +for their religious services, and a house for their priest. I asked him +distinctly whether they had erected these buildings themselves: he said +they had. + +Here, in the encampment, the Roman Catholic Ottawas have erected a large +temporary chapel of posts covered in with bark, the floor strewed over +with green boughs and mats, and an altar and crucifix at the end. In +front a bell is suspended between the forked branches of a pine. I have +heard them sing mass here, with every demonstration of decency and +piety. + +The Methodists have two congregations; the Indians of the Credit, under +the direction of Peter Jones; and the Indians from Coldwater and the +Narrows, under a preacher whose name I forget,--both zealous men; but +the howling and weeping of these Methodist Indians, as they lie +grovelling on the ground in their religious services, struck me +painfully. + +Mr. MacMurray is the only missionary of the Church of England, and, with +all his zeal, and his peculiar means of influence and success, it cannot +be said that he is adequately aided and supported. "The English Church," +said one of our most intelligent Indian agents, "either cannot or will +not, certainly _does not_, sow; therefore cannot expect to reap." The +zeal, activity, and benevolence of the travelling missionary Elliott are +beyond all praise; but his ministry is devoted to the back settlers more +than to the Indians. The Roman Catholic missions have been, of all, the +most active and persevering; next to these the Methodists. The +Presbyterian and the English Churches have been hitherto comparatively +indifferent and negligent. + + * * * * * + +Information was brought to the superintendent, that a trader from +Detroit, with a boat laden with whisky and rum, was lying concealed in a +little cove near the entrance of the great bay, for the purpose of +waylaying the Indians, and bartering the whisky for their new blankets, +guns, and trinkets. I exclaimed with indignation!--but Mr. Jarvis did +better than exclaim; he sent off the Blackbird, with a canoe full of +stout men, to board the trader, and throw all the whisky into the lake, +and then desire the owner to bring any complaint or claim for +restitution down to Toronto; and this was done accordingly. The +Blackbird is a Christian, and extremely noted for his general good +conduct, and his declared enmity to the "dealers in fire-water." + + * * * * * + + + INDIAN CIVILISATION. + +Yet a word more before I leave my Indians. + +There is one subject on which all travellers in these regions--all who +have treated of the manners and modes of life of the north-west tribes, +are accustomed to expatiate with great eloquence and indignation, which +they think it incumbent on the gallantry and chivalry of Christendom to +denounce, as constituting the true badge and distinction of barbarism +and heathenism, opposed to civilisation and Christianity:--I mean the +treatment and condition of their women. The women, they say, are +"drudges," "slaves," "beasts of burthen," victims, martyrs, degraded, +abject, oppressed; that not only the cares of the household and +maternity, but the cares and labours proper to the men, fall upon them; +and they seem to consider no expression of disapprobation, and even +abhorrence, too strong for the occasion; and if there be any who should +feel inclined to modify such objurgations, or speak in excuse or +mitigation of the fact, he might well fear that the publication of such +opinions would expose him, in every review, to the death of Orpheus or +Pentheus. + +Luckily I have no such risk to run. Let but my woman's wit bestead me +here as much as my womanhood, and I will, as the Indians say, "tell you +a piece of my mind," and place the matter before you in another point of +view. + +Under one aspect of the question, all these gentlemen travellers are +right; they are right in their estimate of the condition of the Indian +squaws--they _are_ drudges, slaves: and they are right in the opinion, +that the condition of the women in any community is a test of the +advance of moral and intellectual cultivation in that community; but it +is not a test of the virtue or civilisation of the man; in these Indian +tribes, where the men are the noblest and bravest of their kind, the +women are held of no account, are despised and oppressed. But it does +appear to me that the woman among these Indians holds her true natural +position relatively to the state of the man and the state of society; +and this cannot be said of all societies. + +Take into consideration, in the first place, that in these Indian +communities the task of providing subsistence falls solely and entirely +on the men. When it is said, in general terms, that the men do nothing +but _hunt_ all day, while the women are engaged in perpetual _toil_, I +suppose this suggests to civilised readers the idea of a party of +gentlemen at Melton, or a turn-out of Mr. Meynell's hounds; or at most a +deer-stalking excursion to the Highlands--a holiday affair; while the +women, poor souls! must sit at home and sew, and spin, and cook +victuals. But what is really the life of an Indian hunter?--one of +incessant, almost killing toil, and often danger.[50] A hunter goes out +at dawn, knowing that, if he returns empty, his wife and his little ones +must _starve_--no uncommon predicament! He comes home at sunset, spent +with fatigue, and unable even to speak. His wife takes off his +moccasins, places before him what food she has, or, if latterly the +chase has failed, probably no food at all, or only a little parched wild +rice. She then examines his hunting-pouch, and in it finds the claws, +or beak, or tongue of the game, or other indications by which she knows +what it is, and where to find it. She then goes for it, and drags it +home. When he is refreshed, the hunter caresses his wife and children, +relates the events of his chase, smokes his pipe, and goes to sleep--to +begin the same life on the following day. + +Where, then, the whole duty and labour of providing the means of +subsistence, ennobled by danger and courage, fall upon the man, the +woman naturally sinks in importance, and is a dependent drudge. But she +is not therefore, I suppose, so _very_ miserable, nor, relatively, so +very abject; she is sure of protection; sure of maintenance, at least +while the man has it; sure of kind treatment; sure that she will never +have her children taken from her but by death; sees none better off than +herself, and has no conception of a superior destiny; and it is evident +that in such a state the appointed and necessary share of the woman is +the household work, and all other domestic labour. As to the necessity +of carrying burthens, when moving the camp from place to place, and +felling and carrying wood, this is the most dreadful part of her lot; +and however accustomed from youth to the axe, the paddle, and the +carrying-belt, it brings on internal injuries and severe suffering--and +yet it _must_ be done. For a man to carry burthens would absolutely +incapacitate him for a hunter, and consequently from procuring +sufficient meat for his family. Hence, perhaps, the contempt with which +they regard it. And an Indian woman is unhappy, and her pride is hurt, +if her husband should be seen with a load on his back; this was strongly +expressed by one among them who said it was "unmanly;" and that "she +could not bear to see it!" + +Hence, however hard the lot of the woman, she is in no _false_ position. +The two sexes are in their natural and true position relatively to the +state of society, and the means of subsistence. + +The first step from the hunting to the agricultural state is the first +step in the emancipation of the female. I know there are some writers +who lament that the introduction of agriculture has not benefited the +Indian women, but rather added to their toils, as a great proportion of +the hoeing and planting has devolved on them; but among the Ottawas, +where this is the case, the women are decidedly in a better state than +among the hunting Chippewas; they can sell or dispose of the produce +raised by themselves, if there be more than is necessary for the family, +and they take some share in the bargains and business of the tribe: and +add, that among all these tribes, in the division of the money payments +for the ceded land, every woman receives her individual share. + +Lewis and Clarke, in exploring the Missouri, came upon a tribe of +Indians who, from local circumstances, kill little game, and live +principally on fish and roots; and as the women are equally expert with +the men in procuring subsistence, they have a rank and influence very +rarely found among Indians. The females are permitted to speak freely +before the men, to whom indeed they sometimes address themselves in a +tone of authority. On many subjects their judgment and opinion are +respected, and in matters of trade their advice is generally asked and +pursued; the labours of the family too are shared equally.[51] This +seems to be a case in point. + +Then, when we speak of the _drudgery_ of the women, we must note the +equal division of labour; there is no class of women privileged to sit +still while others work. Every squaw makes the clothing, mats, +moccasins, and boils the kettle for her own family. Compare her life +with the refined leisure of an elegant woman in the higher classes of +our society, and it is wretched and abject; but compare her life with +that of a servant-maid of all work, or a factory-girl,--I do say that +the condition of the squaw is gracious in comparison, dignified by +domestic feelings, and by equality with all around her. If women are to +be exempted from toil in reverence to the sex, and as _women_, I can +understand this, though I think it unreasonable; but if it be merely a +privilege of station, and confined to a certain set, while the great +primeval penalty is doubled on the rest, then I do not see where is the +great gallantry and consistency of this our Christendom, nor what right +we have to look down upon the barbarism of the Indian savages who make +_drudges_ of their women. + +I will just mention here the extreme delicacy and personal modesty of +the women of these tribes, which may seem strange when we see them +brought up and living in crowded wigwams, where a whole family is herded +within a space of a few yards: but the lower classes of the Irish, +brought up in their cabins, are remarkable for the same feminine +characteristic: it is as if true modesty were from within, and could +hardly be outwardly defiled. + +But to return. Another boast over the Indian savages in this respect is, +that we set a much higher value on the chastity of women. We are told +(with horror) that among some of the north-west tribes the man offers +his wife or sister, nothing loth, to his guest, as a part of the duty of +hospitality; and this is, in truth, _barbarism_!--the heartless +brutality on one side, and the shameless indifference on the other, may +well make a woman's heart shrink within her. But what right have +civilised _men_ to exclaim, and look sublime and self-complacent about +the matter? If they do not exactly imitate this fashion of the Indians, +their exceeding and jealous reverence for the virtue of women is really +indulged at a very cheap rate to themselves. If the chastity of women be +a virtue, and respectable in the eyes of the community for its own sake, +well and good; if it be a mere matter of expediency, and valuable only +as it affects property, guarded by men just as far as it concerns their +honour--as far as regards ours, a jest,--if this be the masculine creed +of right and wrong--the fiat promulgated by our lords and masters, then +I should reply that there is no woman, worthy the name, whose cheek does +not burn in shame and indignation at the thought. + +With regard to female right of property, there is no such thing as real +property among them, except the hunting-grounds or territory which are +the possession of the tribe. The personal property, as the clothing, +mats, cooking and hunting apparatus, all the interior of the wigwam, in +short, seems to be under the control of the woman; and on the death of +her husband the woman remains in possession of the lodge, and all it +contains, except the medal, flag, or other insignia of dignity, which go +to his son or male relatives. The corn she raises, and the maple sugar +she makes, she can always dispose of as she thinks fit--they are _hers_. + +[Footnote 50: I had once a description of an encounter between my +illustrious grandpapa Waub-Ojeeg and an enormous elk, in which he had to +contend with the infuriated animal, for his very life, for a space of +three hours, and the snows were stained with his blood and that of his +adversary for a hundred yards round. At last, while dodging the elk +round and round a tree, he contrived to tear off the thong from his +moccasin, and with it, to fasten his knife to the end of a stick, and +with this he literally hacked at the creature till it fell from loss of +blood.] + +[Footnote 51: Travels up the Missouri.] + + + INFLUENCE OF EUROPEANS. + +It seems to me a question whether the Europeans, who, Heaven knows, have +much to answer for in their intercourse with these people, have not, in +some degree, injured the cause of the Indian women:--first, by +corrupting them; secondly, by checking the improvement of all their own +peculiar manufactures. They prepared deer-skins with extraordinary +skill; I have seen dresses of the mountain sheep and young buffalo +skins, richly embroidered and almost equal in beauty and softness to a +Cashmere shawl; and I could mention other things. It is reasonable to +presume that as these manufactures must have been progressively +improved, there might have been farther progression, had we not +substituted for articles they could themselves procure or fabricate, +those which we fabricate; we have taken the work out of their hands, and +all motive to work, while we have created wants which they cannot +supply. We have clothed them in blankets--we have not taught them to +weave blankets. We have substituted guns for the bows and arrows--but +they cannot make guns: for the natural progress of arts and civilisation +springing from within, and from their own intelligence and resources, we +have substituted a sort of civilisation from without, foreign to their +habits, manners, organisation: we are making paupers of them; and this +by a kind of terrible necessity. Some very economical members of our +British parliament have remonstrated against the system of Indian +presents, as too _expensive_; one would almost suppose, to hear their +arguments, that pounds, shillings, and pence were the stuff of which +life is made--the three primal elements of all human existence--all +human morals. Surely they can know nothing of the real state of things +here. If the issue of the presents from our government were now to +cease, I cannot think without horror of what must ensue: trifling as +they are, they are an Indian's existence; without the rifle he must die +of hunger; without his blanket, perish of cold. Before he is reduced to +this, we should have nightly plunder and massacre all along our +frontiers and back settlements; a horrid brutalising contest like that +carried on in Florida, in which the White man would be demoralised, and +the Red man exterminated. + +The sole article of traffic with the Indians, their furs, is bartered +for the necessaries of life; and these furs can _only_ be procured by +the men. Thus their only trade, so far from tending to the general +civilisation of the people, keeps up the wild hunting habits, and tells +fearfully against the power and utility of the women, if it be not +altogether fatal to any amelioration of their condition. Yet it should +seem that we are ourselves just emerging from a similar state, only in +another form. Until of late years there was no occupation for women by +which a subsistence could be gained, except servitude in some shape or +other. The change which has taken place in this respect is one of the +most striking and interesting signs of the times in which we live. + + + TRUE IMPORTANCE OF WOMAN. + +I must stop here: but may we not assume, as a general principle, that +the true importance and real dignity of woman is every where, in savage +and civilised communities, regulated by her capacity of being useful; +or, in other words, that her condition is decided by the share she takes +in providing for her own subsistence and the well being of society as a +productive labourer? Where she is idle and useless by privilege of sex, +a divinity and an idol, a victim or a toy, is not her position quite as +lamentable, as false, as injurious to herself and all social progress, +as where she is the drudge, slave, and possession of the man? + + * * * * * + + + OUR ARRANGEMENTS. + + The ways through which my weary steps I guide, + In this delightful land of faëry, + Are so exceeding spacious and wide, + And sprinkled with such sweet variety + Of all that pleasant is to ear or eye, + That I nigh ravish'd with rare thought's delight, + My tedious travel doe forget thereby, + And when I gin to feel decay of might, + It strength to me supplies, and clears my dulled spright. + + Spenser. + +On the 6th of August I bade adieu to my good friends Mr. and Mrs. +MacMurray. I had owed too much to their kindness to part from them +without regret. They returned up the lake, with their beautiful child +and Indian retinue, to St. Mary's, while I prepared to embark in a canoe +with the superintendent, to go down the lake to Penetanguishene, a +voyage of four days at least, supposing wind and weather to continue +favourable. Thence to Toronto, across Lake Simcoe, was a journey of +three days more. Always I have found efficient protection when I most +needed and least expected it; and nothing could exceed the politeness of +Mr. Jarvis and his people;--it _began_ with politeness,--but it ended +with something more and better,--real and zealous kindness. + + + VOYAGE DOWN LAKE HURON. + +Now to take things in order, and that you may accompany us in our canoe +voyage, I must describe in the first place our arrangements. You shall +confess ere long that the Roman emperor, who proclaimed a reward for the +discovery of a new pleasure, ought to have made a voyage down Lake Huron +in a birch-bark canoe. + +There were two canoes, each five-and-twenty feet in length, and four +feet in width, tapering to the two extremities, and light, elegant, and +buoyant as the sea-mew, when it skims the summer waves: in the first +canoe were Mr. Jarvis and myself; the governor's son, a lively boy of +fourteen or fifteen, old Solomon the interpreter, and seven voyageurs. +My blankets and night-gear being rolled up in a bundle, served for a +seat, and I had a pillow at my back; and thus I reclined in the bottom +of the canoe, as in a litter, very much at my ease: my companions were +almost equally comfortable. I had near me my cloak, umbrella, and +parasol, note-books and sketch-books, and a little compact basket always +by my side, containing eau de Cologne, and all those necessary luxuries +which might be wanted in a moment, for I was well resolved that I would +occasion no trouble but what was inevitable. The voyageurs were disposed +on low wooden seats, suspended to the ribs of the canoe, except our +Indian steersman, Martin, who, in a cotton shirt, arms bared to the +shoulder, loose trowsers, a scarlet sash round his waist, richly +embroidered with beads, and his long black hair waving, took his place +in the stern, with a paddle twice as long as the others.[52] + +The manner in which he stood, turning and twisting himself with the +lithe agility of a snake, and striking first on one side then on the +other, was very graceful and picturesque. So much depends on the skill, +and dexterity, and intelligence of these steersmen, that they have +always double pay. The other men were all picked men, Canadian +half-breeds, young, well-looking, full of glee and good-nature, with +untiring arms and more untiring lungs and spirits; a handkerchief +twisted round the head, a shirt and pair of trowsers, with a gay sash, +formed the prevalent costume. We had on board a canteen, and other light +baggage, two or three guns, and fishing tackle. + +The other canoe carried part of Mr. Jarvis's retinue, the heavy baggage, +provisions, marquees, guns, &c., and was equipped with eight paddles. +The party consisted altogether of twenty-two persons, twenty-one men, +and myself, the only woman. + +We started off in swift and gallant style, looking grand and official, +with the British flag floating at our stern. Major Anderson and his +people, and the schooner's crew, gave us three cheers. The Indians +uttered their wild cries, and discharged their rifles all along the +shore. As we left the bay, I counted seventy-two canoes before us, +already on their homeward voyage--some to the upper waters of the +lake--some to the northern shores; as we passed them, they saluted us +by discharging their rifles: the day was without a cloud, and it was +altogether a most animated and beautiful scene. + +I forgot to tell you that the Indians are very fond of having pet +animals in their wigwams, not only dogs, but tame foxes and hawks. Mr. +Jarvis purchased a pair of young hawks, male and female, from an Indian, +intending them for his children. Just as we left the island, one of +these birds escaped from the basket, and flew directly to the shore of +the bay, where it was lost in the thick forest. We proceeded, and after +leaving the bay about twelve miles onwards, we landed on a little rocky +island: some one heard the cry of a hawk over our heads; it was the poor +bird we had lost; he had kept his companion in sight all the way, +following us unseen along the shore, and now suffered himself to be +taken and caged with the other. + +[Footnote 52: The common paddle (called by the Canadians _aviron_, and +by the Indians _abwee_) is about two feet and a half long.] + + + PURITY OF THE WATER. + +We bought some black-bass from an Indian who was spearing fish: and, _à +propos_, I never yet have mentioned what is one of the greatest +pleasures in the navigation of these magnificent upper lakes--the +purity, the coldness, the transparency of the water. I have been told +that if in the deeper parts of the lake a white handkerchief be sunk +with the lead it is distinctly visible at a depth of thirty fathoms--we +did not try the experiment, not being in deep water; but here, among +shoals and islands, I could almost always see the rocky bottom, with +glittering pebbles, and the fish gliding beneath us with their waving +fins and staring eyes--and if I took a glass of water, it came up +sparkling as from the well at Harrowgate, and the flavour was delicious. +You can hardly imagine how much this added to the charm and animation of +the voyage. + +About sunset, we came to the hut of a fur trader, whose name, I think, +was Lemorondière; it was on the shore of a beautiful channel running +between the mainland and a large island. On a neighbouring point, +Wai-sow-win-de-bay (the Yellow-head) and his people were building their +wigwams for the night. The appearance was most picturesque, particularly +when the camp fires were lighted and the night came on. I cannot forget +the figure of a squaw, as she stood, dark and tall, against the red +flames, bending over a great black kettle, her blanket trailing behind +her, her hair streaming on the night breeze;--most like to one of the +witches in Macbeth. + +We supped here on excellent trout and white-fish, but the sand-flies and +mosquitoes were horridly tormenting; the former, which are so diminutive +as to be scarcely visible, were by far the worst. We were off next +morning by daylight, the Yellow-head's people cracking their rifles by +way of salute. + +The voyageurs measure the distance by _pipes_. At the end of a certain +time there is a pause, and they light their pipes and smoke for about +five minutes, then the paddles go off merrily again, at the rate of +about fifty strokes in a minute, and we absolutely seem to fly over the +water. "Trois pipes" are about twelve miles. We breakfasted this morning +on a little island of exceeding beauty, rising precipitately from the +water. In front we had the open lake, lying blue, and bright, and +serene, under the morning sky, and the eastern extremity of the +Manitoolin Island; and islands all around as far as we could see. The +feeling of remoteness, of the profound solitude, added to the sentiment +of beauty: it was nature in her first freshness and innocence, as she +came from the hand of her Maker, and before she had been sighed upon by +humanity--defiled at once, and sanctified by the contact. Our little +island abounded with beautiful shrubs, flowers, green mosses, and +scarlet lichens. I found a tiny recess, where I made my bath and +toilette very comfortably. On returning, I found breakfast laid on a +piece of rock; my seat, with my pillow and cloak all nicely arranged, +and a bouquet of flowers lying on it. This was a never-failing +_galanterie_, sometimes from one, sometimes from another of my numerous +_cavaliers_. + + + GROUP OF ISLANDS. + +This day we had a most delightful run among hundreds of islands; +sometimes darting through narrow rocky channels, so narrow that I could +not see the water on either side of the canoe; and then emerging, we +glided through vast fields of white water-lilies; it was perpetual +variety, perpetual beauty, perpetual delight and enchantment, from hour +to hour. The men sang their gay French songs, the other canoe joining +in the chorus. + +This peculiar singing has often been described; it is very animated on +the water and in the open air, but not very harmonious. They all sing in +unison, raising their voices and marking the time with their paddles. +One always led, but in these there was a diversity of taste and skill. +If I wished to hear "En roulant ma boule, roulette," I applied to Le +Duc. Jacques excelled in "La belle rose blanche," and Lewis was great in +"Trois canards s'en vont baignant." + +They often amused me by a specimen of dexterity, something like that of +an accomplished whip in London. They would paddle up towards the rocky +shore with such extreme velocity, that I expected to be dashed on the +rock, and then in a moment, by a simultaneous back-stroke of the paddle, +stop with a jerk, which made me breathless. + +My only discomposure arose from the destructive propensities of the +gentlemen, all keen and eager sportsmen; the utmost I could gain from +their mercy was, that the fish should gasp to death out of my sight, and +the pigeons and the wild ducks be put out of pain instantly. I will, +however, acknowledge, that when the bass-fish and pigeons were produced, +broiled and fried, they looked so _appétissants_, smelt so savoury, and +I was _so_ hungry, that I soon forgot all my sentimental pity for the +victims. + +We found to-day, on a rock, the remains of an Indian lodge, over which +we threw a sail-cloth, and dined luxuriously on our fish and pigeons, +and a glass of good madeira. After dinner, the men dashed off with great +animation, singing my favourite ditty, + + "Si mon moine voulait danser, + Un beau cheval lui donnerai!" + +through groups of lovely islands, sometimes scattered wide, and +sometimes clustered so close, that I often mistook twenty or thirty +together for one large island; but on approaching nearer, they opened +before us and appeared intersected by winding labyrinthine channels, +where, amid flags and water-lilies, beneath the shade of rich +embowering foliage, we glided on our way; and then we came upon a wide +open space, where we could feel the heave of the waters under us, and +across which the men--still singing with untiring vivacity--paddled with +all their might to reach the opposite islands before sunset. The moment +it becomes too dark for our steersman to see _through_ the surface of +the water, it becomes in the highest degree dangerous to proceed; such +is the frail texture of these canoes, that a pin's point might scratch a +hole in the bottom; a sunk rock, or a _snag_ or projecting bough--and +often we glided within an inch of them--had certainly swamped us. + +We passed this day two Indian sepulchres, on a point of rock, with the +sparkling waters murmuring round it, and over-shadowed by birch and +pine. I landed to examine them. The Indians cannot here _bury_ their +dead, there not being a sufficiency of earth to cover them from sight, +but they lay the body, wrapped up carefully in bark, on the flat rock, +and then cover it over with rocks and stones. This was the tomb of a +woman and her child, and fragments of the ornaments and other things +buried with them were still perceptible. + +We landed at sunset on a flat ledge of rock, free from bushes, which we +avoided as much as possible, from fear of mosquitoes and rattle-snakes; +and while the men pitched the marquees and cooked supper, I walked and +mused. + +I wish I could give you the least idea of the beauty of this evening; +but while I try to put in words what was before me, the sense of its +ineffable loveliness overpowers me _now_ even as it did then. The sun +had set in that cloudless splendour, and that peculiar blending of rose +and amber light that belongs only to these climes and Italy; the lake +lay weltering under the western sky like a bath of molten gold; the +rocky islands which studded its surface were of a dense purple, except +where their edges seemed fringed with fire. They assumed, to the +visionary eye, strange forms; some were like great horned beetles, and +some like turtles, and some like crocodiles, and some like sleeping +whales, and winged fishes. The foliage upon them resembled dorsal fins, +and sometimes tufts of feathers: then, as the purple shadows came +darkening from the east, the young crescent moon showed herself, +flinging a paly splendour over the water. I remember standing on the +shore, "my spirits as in a dream were all bound up," and overcome by +such an intense feeling of _the beautiful_, such a deep adoration for +the power that had created it, I must have suffocated if---- + +But why tell _you_ this? + +They pitched my tent at a _respectful_ distance from the rest, and made +me a delicious elastic bed of some boughs, over which was spread a +bear-skin, and over that blankets: but the night was hot and feverish. +The voyageurs, after rowing since daylight, were dancing and singing on +the shore till near midnight. + +Next morning we were off again at early dawn, paddled "trois pipes" +before breakfast, over an open space which they call a "traverse," +caught eleven bass-fish, and shot two pigeons. The island on which we +breakfasted was in great part white marble; and in the clefts and +hollows grew quantities of gooseberries and raspberries, wild roses, the +crimson columbine, a large species of harebell, a sort of willow, +juniper, birch, and stunted pine, and such was the usual vegetation. + +It is beautiful to see in these islands the whole process of preparatory +vegetation unfolded and exemplified before one's eyes, each successive +growth preparing a soil for that which is to follow. + +There was first the naked rock washed by the spray, where the white +gulls were sitting: then you saw the rock covered with some moss or +lichens; then in the clefts and seams, some long grass, a few wild +flowers and strawberries; then a few juniper and rose bushes; then the +dwarf pine, hardly rising two or three feet, and lastly trees and shrubs +of large growth; and the nearer to the mainland, the richer of course +the vegetation, for the seeds are wafted thence by the winds, or carried +by the birds, and so dispersed from island to island. + + + ISLAND OF SKULLS. + +We landed to-day on the "Island of Skulls," an ancient sepulchre of the +Hurons. Some skulls and bones were scattered about, with the rough +stones which had once been heaped over them. The spot was most wild and +desolate, rising from the water edge in successive ledges of rock to a +considerable height, with a few blasted gray pines here and there, +round which several pair of hawks were wheeling and uttering their +shrill cry. We all declared we would not dine on this ominous island, +and proceeded. We doubled a remarkable cape mentioned by Henry as the +_Pointe aux Grondines_. There is always a heavy swell here, and a +perpetual sound of breakers on the rocks, whence its name. Only a few +years ago a trader in his canoe, with sixteen people, were wrecked and +lost on this spot. + +We also passed within some miles of the mouth of the Rivière des +Français, the most important of all the rivers which flow into Lake +Huron.[53] It forms the line of communication for the north-west traders +from Montreal; the common route is up the Ottawa River, across Lake +Nippissing, and down the River Français into Lake Huron, and by the +Sault-Sainte-Marie into Lake Superior. Pray have a map before you during +this voyage. + +Leaving behind this cape and river, we came again upon lovely groups of +Elysian islands, channels winding among rocks and foliage, and more +fields of water-lilies. In passing through a beautiful channel, I had an +opportunity of seeing the manner in which an Indian communicates with +his friends when _en route_. A branch was so arranged as to project far +across the water and catch the eye: in a cleft at the extremity a piece +of birch bark was stuck with some hieroglyphic marks scratched with red +ochre, of which we could make nothing--one figure, I thought, +represented a fish. + +To-day we caught eleven bass, shot four pigeons, also a large +water-snake--which last I thought a gratuitous piece of cruelty. We +dined upon a large and picturesque island--large in comparison with +those we usually selected, being perhaps two or three miles round; it +was very woody and wild, intersected by deep ravines, and rising in +bold, abrupt precipices. We dined luxuriously under a group of trees: +the heat was overpowering, and the mosquitoes very troublesome. + +After dinner we pursued our course through an archipelago of islets, +rising out of the blue waves, and fringed with white water-lilies. +Little fairy Edens, of such endless variety in form and colour, and of +such wondrous and fantastic beauty, I know not how to describe them. + +We landed on one, where there was a rock so exactly resembling the head +and part of a turtle, that I could have taken it for sculpture. The +Indians look upon it as sacred, and it is customary for all who pass to +leave an offering in money, tobacco, corn, &c., to the spirit. I duly +left mine, but I could see by the laughing eyes of Jacques and Louis, +that "the spirit" was not likely to be the better for my devotion. + +Mr. Jarvis asked me to sing a French song for the voyageurs, and Louis +looked back with his bright arch face, as much as to say, "Pray do," +when a shout was heard from the other canoe "A mink! A mink!"[54] and +all the paddles were now in animated motion. We dashed up among the +reeds, we chased the creature up and down, and at last to a hole under a +rock; the voyageurs beat the reeds with their paddles, the gentlemen +seized their guns; there were twenty-one men half frantic in pursuit of +a wretched little creature, whose death could serve no purpose. It +dived, but rose a few yards farther, and was seen making for the land: a +shot was fired, it sprang from the water; another, and it floated +dead;--thus we repaid the beauty, and enjoyment, and lavish loveliness +spread around us with pain and with destruction. + +I recollect that as we passed a lovely bit of an island, all bordered +with flags and white lilies, we saw a beautiful wild-duck emerge from a +green covert, and lead into the lake a numerous brood of ducklings. It +was a sight to touch the heart with a tender pleasure, and I pleaded +hard, very hard, for mercy; but what thorough sportsman ever listened to +such a word? The deadly guns were already levelled, and even while I +spoke, the poor mother-bird was shot, and the little ones, which could +not fly, went fluttering and scudding away into the open lake, to +perish miserably. + +But what was really very touching was to see the poor gulls: sometimes +we would startle a whole bevy of them as they were floating gracefully +on the waves, and they would rise soaring away beyond our reach; but the +voyageurs suspending their paddles, imitated exactly their own soft low +whistle; and then the wretched, foolish birds, just as if they had been +so many women, actually wheeled round in the air, and came flying back +to meet the "fiery wound." + +The voyageurs eat these gulls, in spite of their fishy taste, with great +satisfaction. + +I wonder how it is that some of those gentry whom I used to see in +London, looking as though they would give an empire for a new pleasure +or a new sensation, do not come here? If epicures, they should come to +eat white-fish and beavers' tails; if sportsmen, here is a very paradise +for bear-hunting, deer-hunting, otter-hunting;--and wild-fowl in +thousands, and fish in shoals; and if they be contemplative lovers of +the picturesque, _blasés_ with Italy and elbowed out of Switzerland, let +them come here and find the true philosopher's stone--or rather the true +elixir of life--_novelty!_ + +[Footnote 53: This part of Lake Huron, and indeed all its upper shores, +are very incorrectly laid down in Wyld's map of Upper Canada. +Bouchette's large map, and also a beautiful small one published by +Blackwood in 1833, are much more accurate.] + +[Footnote 54: A species of otter.] + + + THE BEAR ISLANDS. + +At sunset we encamped on a rocky island of most fantastic form, like a +Z. They pitched my tent on a height, and close to the door was a +precipitous descent into a hollow, where they lighted vast fires, and +thus kept off the mosquitoes, which were in great force. I slept well, +but towards morning some creature crept into my tent and over my bed--a +snake, as I supposed; after this I slept no more. + +We started at half-past four. Hitherto the weather had been glorious; +but this morning the sun rose among red and black clouds, fearfully +ominous. As we were turning a point under some lofty rocks, we heard the +crack of a rifle, and saw an Indian leaping along the rocks, and down +towards the shore. We rowed in, not knowing what it meant, and came upon +a night-camp of Indians, part of the tribe of Aisence (the Clam). They +had only hailed us to make some trifling inquiries; and I heard Louis, +sotto voce, send them _au diable_!--for now the weather lowered darker +and darker, and every moment was precious. + +We breakfasted on an island almost covered with flowers, some gorgeous, +and strange, and unknown, and others sweet and familiar; plenty of the +wild pea, for instance, and wild-roses, of which I had many offerings. I +made my toilette in a recess among some rocks; but just as I was +emerging from my primitive dressing-room, I felt a few drops of rain, +and saw too clearly that our good fortune was at an end. We swallowed a +hasty breakfast, and had just time to arrange ourselves in the canoe +with all the available defences of cloaks and umbrellas, when the rain +came down heavily and hopelessly. But notwithstanding the rain and the +dark gray sky, the scenery was even more beautiful than ever. The +islands were larger, and assumed a richer appearance; the trees were of +more luxuriant growth, no longer the dwarfed pine, but lofty oak and +maple. These are called the Bear Islands, from the number of those +animals found upon them; old Solomon told me that an Indian whom he knew +had shot nine bears in the course of a single day. We found three bears' +heads stuck upon the boughs of a dead pine--probably as offerings to the +souls of the slaughtered animals, or to the "Great Spirit," both being +usual. + +We dined on a wet rock, almost covered with that species of lichen which +the Indians call wa,ac, and the Canadians _tripe de roche_, because, +when boiled till soft, and then fried in grease, it makes a dish not +unpalatable--when one has nothing else.[55] The Clam and some of his +people landed and dined at the same time. After dinner the rain came on +worse and worse. Old Solomon asked me once or twice how I felt; and I +thought his anxiety for my health was caused by the rain; but no; he +told me that on the island where we had dined he had observed a great +quantity of a certain plant, which, if only touched, causes a dreadful +eruption and ulcer all over the body. I asked why he had not shown it to +me, and warned me against it? he replied, that such warning would only +have increased the danger, for when there is any knowledge or +apprehension of it existing in the mind, the very air blowing from it +sometimes infects the frame. Here I appealed to Mr. Jarvis, who replied, +"All I know is, that I once unconsciously touched a leaf of it, and +became one ulcer from head to foot; I could not stir for a +fortnight."[56] + +This was a dreadful day, for the rain came on more violently, +accompanied by a storm of wind. It was necessary to land early, and make +our fires for the night. The good-natured men were full of anxiety and +compassion for me, poor, lonely, shivering woman that I was in the midst +of them! The first thought with every one was to place me under shelter, +and my tent was pitched instantly with such zeal, and such activity, +that the sense of inconvenience and suffering was forgotten in the +thankful sense of kindness, and all things became endurable. + +The tent was pitched on a height, so that the water ran off on all +sides: I contrived for myself a dry bed, and Mr. Jarvis brought me some +hot madeira. I rolled myself up in my German blanket, and fell into a +deep, sound sleep. The voyageurs, who apparently need nothing but their +own good spirits to feed and clothe them, lighted a great fire, turned +the canoes upside down, and, sheltered under them, were heard singing +and laughing during great part of this tempestuous night. + +Next morning we were off by five o'clock. My beautiful lake looked +horribly sulky, and all the little islands were lost in a cold gray +vapour: we were now in the Georgian Bay. Through the misty atmosphere +loomed a distant shore of considerable height. Dupré told me that what I +saw was the Isle des Chrétiens, and that formerly there was a large +settlement of the Jesuits there, and that still there were to be seen +the remains of "une grande cathédrale." About nine o'clock we entered +the bay of Penetanguishene, so called from a high sand-bank at the +entrance, which is continually crumbling away. The expressive Indian +name signifies "Look! it is falling sand!" + +[Footnote 55: It is often mentioned in the Travels of Back and +Franklin.] + +[Footnote 56: I do not know the botanical name of this plant, which +resembles a dwarf sumach: it was subsequently pointed out to me in the +woods by a Methodist preacher, who told me that his daughter, merely by +standing to windward of the plant while looking at it, suffered +dreadfully. It is said that formerly the Indians used it to poison their +arrows.] + + * * * * * + + + PENETANGUISHENE. + +We spent the greater part of two days at Penetanguishene, which is truly +a most lovely spot. The bay runs up into the land like some of the +Scottish lochs, and the shores are bolder and higher than usual, and as +yet all clothed with the primeval forest. During the war there were +dockyards and a military and naval depôt here, maintained at an immense +expense to government; and it is likely, from its position, to rise into +a station of great importance; at present, the only remains of all the +warlike demonstrations of former times are a sloop sunk and rotting in +the bay, and a large stone-building at the entrance, called the "Fort," +but merely serving as barracks for a few soldiers from the garrison at +Toronto. There are several pretty houses on the beautiful declivity, +rising on the north side of the bay, and the families settled here have +contrived to assemble round them many of the comforts and elegancies of +life. I have reason to remember with pleasure a Russian lady, the wife +of an English officer, who made my short sojourn here very agreeable. + +There was an inn here, not the worst of Canadian inns; and the _wee_ +closet called a bed-room, and the little bed with its white cotton +curtains appeared to me the _ne plus ultra_ of luxury. I recollect +walking in and out of the room ten times a day for the mere pleasure of +contemplating it, and anticipated with impatience the moment when I +should throw myself down into it, and sleep once more on a christian +bed. But nine nights passed in the open air, or on rocks, and on boards, +had spoiled me for the comforts of civilisation, and to sleep _on a bed_ +was impossible; I was smothered, I was suffocated, and altogether +wretched and fevered;--I sighed for my rock on Lake Huron. + + + THE COMMUTED PENSIONERS. + +At Penetanguishene there is a hamlet, consisting of twenty or thirty +log-houses, where a small remnant of the poor commuted pensioners (in +all a hundred and twenty-six persons) now reside, receiving daily +rations of food, and some little clothing, just sufficient to sustain +life. + +From some particular circumstances the case of these commuted pensioners +was frequently brought under my observation while I was in Canada, and +excited my strongest interest and compassion. I shall give you a brief +sketch of this tragedy, for such it truly is; not by way of exciting +sympathy, which can now avail nothing, but because it is in many points +of view fraught with instruction. + +The commuted pensioners were veteran soldiers, entitled to a small +yearly pension for wounds or length of service, and who accepted the +offer made to them by our government in 1832, to commute their pensions +for four years' purchase, and a grant of one hundred acres of land in +Canada. + +The _intention_ of the government seems to have been to send out +able-bodied men, who would thus cease, after a few years, to be a +burthen on the country. A part of the money due to them was to be +deducted for their voyage and expenses out; of the remaining sum a part +was to be paid in London, part at Quebec, and the rest when settled on +the land awarded to them. These _intentions_ sound well; unluckily they +were not properly acted upon. Some received the whole of the money due +to them in England, and drank themselves to death, or squandered it, and +then refused to leave the country. Some drank themselves to death, or +died of the cholera, at Quebec; and of those who came out, one half were +described to me[57] as presenting a list of all the miseries and +diseases incident to humanity--some with one arm, some with one leg, +bent with old age or rheumatism, lame, halt, and even, will it be +believed, blind![58] And such were the men to be set down in the midst +of the swamp and forest, there to live as they could. When some few, +who had been more provident, presented themselves to the commissary at +Toronto for payment of the rest of the money due to them, it was found +that the proper papers had not been forwarded; they were written for to +the Chelsea Board, which had to apply to the War-office, which had to +apply to the Treasury: the papers, after being bandied about from office +to office, from clerk to secretary, from secretary to clerk, were sent, +at length, after a lapse of eight or ten months, during which time the +poor men, worn out with suspense, had taken to begging, or to drinking, +in utter despondency; and when the order for their money _did_ at last +arrive, they had become useless, abandoned creatures. + +Those who were located were sent far up into the bush (there being no +disposable government lands nearer), where there were no roads, no +markets for their produce if they _did_ raise it; and in this new +position, if their hearts did not sink, and their limbs fail at once, +their ignorance of farming, their improvidence and helplessness, arising +from the want of self-dependence, and the mechanical docility of +military service, were moral obstacles stronger than any physical ones. +The forest-trees they had to contend with were not more deeply rooted +than the adverse habits and prejudices and infirmities they had brought +with them. + +According to the commissary, the number of those who commuted their +pensions was about twelve hundred. Of these it is calculated that eight +hundred reached Upper Canada; of these eight hundred, not more than four +hundred and fifty are now living; and of these, some are begging through +the townships, living on public charity: some are at Penetanguishene: +and the greater part of those located on their land, have received from +time to time rations of food, in order to avert "impending starvation." +To bring them up from Quebec during the dreadful cholera season in 1832, +was a heavy expense to the colony, and now they are likely to become a +permanent burthen upon the colonial funds, there being no military funds +to which they can be charged. + +I make no reflection on the commuting the pensions of these poor men at +four instead of seven years' purchase: many of the men I saw did not +know what was meant by _commuting their pension:_ they thought they +merely gave up their pension for four years, and were then to receive it +again; they knew nothing of Canada--had never heard of it--had a vague +idea that a very fine offer was made, which it would be foolish to +refuse. They were like children--which, indeed, disbanded soldiers and +sailors usually are. + +All that benevolence and prudence _could_ suggest, was done for them by +Sir John Colborne[59]: he aided them largely from his own purse--himself +a soldier and a brave one, as well as a good man--the wrongs and +miseries of these poor soldiers wrung his very heart. The strongest +remonstrances and solicitations to the heads of the government at home +were sent over in their behalf; but there came a change of ministry; the +thing once done, could not be undone--redress was nobody's business--the +mother country had got rid of a burthen, and it had fallen on Canada; +and so the matter ended;--that is, as far as it concerned the Treasury +and the War-office; but the tragedy has not yet ended _here_. Sir +Francis Head, who never can allude to the subject without emotion and +indignation, told me, that when he was at Penetanguishene last year, the +poor veterans attempted to get up a feeble cheer in his honour, but, in +doing so, the half of them fell down. "It was too much for me--too +much," added he, with the tears actually in his eyes. As for Sir John +Colborne, the least allusion to the subject seemed to give him a twinge +of pain. + +From this sum of mischief and misery you may subtract a few instances +where the men have done better; one of these I had occasion to mention. +I have heard of two others, and there may be more, but the general case +is as I have stated it. + +These were the men who fought our battles in Egypt, Spain, and France! +and here is a new page for Alfred de Vigny's "Servitude et Grandeur +Militaire!" But do you not think it includes another lesson? That this +amount of suffering, and injury, and injustice can be inflicted, from +the errors, ignorance, and remoteness of the home government, and that +the responsibility apparently rests nowhere--and that nowhere lies +redress--seems to me a very strange, a very lamentable state of things, +and what _ought_ not to be. + +[Footnote 57: I have these particulars from the chief of the +commissariat in Upper Canada, and the emigrant agent.] + +[Footnote 58: One of these men, stone-blind, was begging in the streets +of Toronto.] + +[Footnote 59: Now Lord Seaton.] + + * * * * * + + + DRIVE OVER THE NARROWS. + +Our voyageurs had spent the day in various excesses, and next morning +were still half tipsy, lazy, and out of spirits, except Le Duc; he was +the only one I could persuade to sing, as we crossed Gloucester Bay from +Penetanguishene to Coldwater. This bay abounds in sturgeon, which are +caught and cured in large quantities by the neighbouring settlers; some +weigh ninety and one hundred pounds. + +At Matchadash (which signifies "bad and swampy place") we had nearly +lost our way among the reeds. + +There is a portage here of sixteen miles across the forest to the +Narrows, at the head of Lake Simcoe. The canoe and baggage were laid on +a cart, and drawn by oxen; the gentlemen walked, as I must also have +done, if a Methodist preacher of the neighbourhood had not kindly +brought his little waggon and driven me over the portage. We stopped +about half-way at his log-hut in the wilderness, where I found his wife, +a pretty, refined looking woman, and five or six lovely children, of all +ages and sizes. They entertained me with their best, and particularly +with delicious preserves, made of the wood-strawberries and raspberries, +boiled with the maple sugar. + +The country here (after leaving the low swamps) is very rich, and the +settlers fast increasing. During the last winter the bears had the +audacity to carry off some heifers to the great consternation of the new +settlers, and the wolves did much mischief. I inquired about the Indian +settlements at Coldwater and the Narrows; but the accounts were not +encouraging. I had been told, as a proof of the advancement of the +Indians, that they had here saw-mills and grist-mills. I now learned +that they had a saw-mill and a grist-mill built for them, which they +never used themselves, but _let out_ to the white settlers at a certain +rate. The road through the forest was bordered in many places by wild +raspberry bushes, bearing fruit as fine, and large, and abundant as any +I have seen in our gardens. + +In spite of the mosquitoes, my drive was very pleasant; for my companion +was good-natured, intelligent, and communicative, and gave me a most +interesting, but rather sad, account of his missionary adventures. The +road was, _as usual_, most detestable. We passed a lovely little lake +called Bass Lake, from the numbers of these fish found in it; and +arrived late at the inn at the Narrows. Though much fatigued, I was kept +awake nearly the whole night by the sounds of drunken revelry in the +room below. Many of the settlers in the neighbourhood are discharged +soldiers and half-pay officers, who have received grants of land; and, +removed from all social intercourse and all influence of opinion, many +have become reckless and habitual drunkards. The only salvation of a man +here is to have a wife and children; the poor wife must make up her mind +to lead a hard life; but the children are almost _sure_ to do well--that +is, if they have intelligent parents: it is the very land for the young, +and the enterprising. I used to hear parents regret that they could not +give what is called a _good_ education to their children: but where +there are affection and common sense, and a boundless nature round them, +and the means of health and subsistence, which (with common industry) +all can command here, it seems that education--_i. e._ the development +of all the faculties in a direction suited to the country in which they +are to exist--comes of course. I saw an example of this in the excellent +family at Erindale; but those persons are unfortunate and miserable, and +truly pitiable, who come here with habits previously formed, and unable +to adapt themselves to an entirely new existence--of such I saw too +many. My landlady gave me no agreeable picture of the prevalent habits +of the settlers round this place; the riot of which I complained was of +nightly occurrence. + + + LAKE CUCHUCHING. + +Next day we went on a fishing and shooting excursion to Lake Cuchuching, +and to see the beautiful rapids of the river Severn, the outlet from +these lakes into Lake Huron. If I had not exhausted all my superlatives +of delight, I could be eloquent on the charms of this exquisite little +lake, and the wild beauty of the rapids. Of our _sport_, I only +recollect the massacre of a dozen snakes, which were holding a kind of +conversazione in the hollow of a rocky islet where we landed to dine. +The islands in Lake Cuchuching belong to the Indian chief, the +Yellow-head; and I understand that he and others of his tribe have +lately petitioned for _legal titles_ to their reserved lands. They +represent to their Father the governor that their prosperity is retarded +from the circumstance of their not having titles to their lands, like +their white brethren. They say, "Many of our young men, and some of our +chiefs, fear that the time will arrive when our white brethren will +possess themselves of our farms; whereas, if our Father the governor +would be pleased to grant us titles, we should work with more +confidence,"--and they _humbly_ entreat (these original lords of the +soil!) as a particular boon, that their "little bits of land" may be +secured to their children and posterity for ever. + +Next morning we embarked on board the Peter Robinson steamer, and +proceeded down Lake Simcoe. This most beautiful piece of water is above +forty miles in length, and about twenty in breadth, and is in winter so +firmly frozen over, that it is crossed in sledges in every direction. +The shores are flat and fertile; and we passed a number of clearings, +some very extensive. On a point projecting into the lake, and surrounded +by cleared land, a village has been laid out, and some houses built. I +went into one of them to rest while they were taking in wood, and found +there the works of Shakspeare and Walter Scott, and a good guitar; but +the family were absent. + + + REACH THE HOLLAND LANDING. + +We reached the Holland Landing, at the southern extremity of the lake, +about three o'clock; and the rest of our way lay through the Home +District, and through some of the finest land and most prosperous +estates in Upper Canada. It was a perpetual succession, not of +clearings, such as I had seen of late, but of well-cultivated farms. The +vicinity of the capital, and an excellent road leading to it (called +Yonge Street), have raised the value of landed property here, and some +of the farmers are reputed rich men. + +Mr. Jarvis gave me an account of an Irish emigrant, a labouring man, who +had entered his service some years ago as teamster (or carter); he was +then houseless and penniless. Seven years afterwards the same man was +the proprietor of a farm of two hundred acres of cleared and cropped +land, on which he could proudly set his foot, and say, "It is mine, and +my children's after me!" + + + ARRIVE HOME AT TORONTO. + +At three o'clock in the morning, just as the moon was setting in Lake +Ontario, I arrived at the door of my own house in Toronto, having been +absent on this wild expedition just two months. + + + THE END. + + + London: + + Spottiswoodes and Shaw, + New-street-Square. + + + =Transcriber's Notes:= + original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in + the original + various pages, "Mac Murray" changed to "MacMurray" + Page 10, "bnt" changed to "but" + Page 23, "where the houses a" changed to "where the houses are" + Page 32, "and our innocnece" changed to "and our innocence" + Page 34, "Gesprache mit Goethe" changed to "Gespräche mit Goethe" + Page 44, "ten years ago," changed to "ten years ago." + Page 49, "Felix Mendelsohn" changed to "Felix Mendelssohn" + Page 50, "terapin" changed to "terrapin" + Page 58, "the last war," changed to "the last war" + Page 65, "so many others;" changed to "so many others," + Page 72, "ix Nations." changed to "Six Nations." + Page 84, "I proceeded" changed to "I proceeded." + Page 98, "have yet seen" changed to "have yet seen." + Page 99, "farther to night" changed to "farther to-night" + Page 121, "n couple of oxen" changed to "a couple of oxen" + Page 121, "keep of the mosquitoes" changed to "keep off the mosquitoes" + Page 124, "The war of 1813" changed to "The war of 1812" + Page 149, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for + consistency] + Page 151, "Ottowas" changed to "Ottawas" [Ed. for consistency] + Page 152, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for + consistency] + Page 161, "music and sing ing" changed to "music and singing" + Page 170, "June 20" changed to "July 20" + Page 171, "On the oppsoite side" changed to "On the opposite side" + Page 182, "had been instructed,," changed to "had been instructed," + Page 189, 'left him in peace.' changed to 'left him in peace."' + Page 200, "brother!--'Never!" changed to "brother!"--'Never!" + Page 201, "he left the wigwan" changed to "he left the wigwam" + Page 203, "Wawatam" changed to "Wa,wa,tam" + Page 234, "Ottagamis" changed to "Ottagamies" [Ed. for consistency] + Page 236, "Manitooling" changed to "Manitoolin" + Page 264, "wortle-berries" changed to "whortleberries" + Page 273 footnote, "Penetanguishnie" changed to "Penetanguishine" + Page 277, "Pottowottomi" changed to "Pottowottomie" [Ed. for + consistency] + Page 282, "Shinguacose" changed to "Shinguaconse" [Ed. for consistency] + Page 296, "andfishing tackle" changed to "and fishing tackle" + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches in Canada, and rambles among +the red men, by Anna Brownell Jameson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES IN CANADA *** + +***** This file should be named 35224-8.txt or 35224-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/2/35224/ + +Produced by Iona Vaughan, Ross Cooling, Mark Akrigg and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sketches in Canada, and rambles among the red men + +Author: Anna Brownell Jameson + +Release Date: February 9, 2011 [EBook #35224] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES IN CANADA *** + + + + +Produced by Iona Vaughan, Ross Cooling, Mark Akrigg and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /><br /> +<h1>SKETCHES IN CANADA,</h1> + +<h4>AND</h4> + +<h2>RAMBLES AMONG THE RED MEN.</h2> + + +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +<h5><span class="smcap">London:<br /> +Spottiswoodes</span> and <span class="smcap">Shaw</span>,<br /> +New-street-Square.</h5> + + +<br /><br /> +<h1>SKETCHES IN CANADA,</h1> +<br /> +<h4>AND</h4> +<br /> +<h2>RAMBLES AMONG THE RED MEN.</h2> +<br /> +<h2>BY MRS. JAMESON.</h2> +<br /> +<h3>NEW EDITION.</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>LONDON:<br /> +LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.<br /> +1852.</h2> + + +<br /><br /> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + + +<p>Nobody reads prefaces on a Railway journey. The leaves are turned over +for something to arrest attention, or to dissipate weariness, or to +"fleet the time," which even at railway speed moves slowly compared to +the "march of ideas." It is, however, necessary to state in few words +that these pages are a reprint of the most amusing and interesting +chapters of the "<span class="smcap">Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada</span>,"—first +published in 1838, in three octavo volumes, favourably received at the +time and now out of print. The Authoress in the original preface to the +work represents herself as "thrown into scenes and regions hitherto +undescribed by any traveller (for the northern shores of Lake Huron are +almost new ground), and into relations with the Indian tribes such as +few European women of refined and civilised habits have ever risked, and +none have recorded;" and the adventures and sketches of character and +scenery among the Red-skins, still retain that freshness which belongs +only to what is genuine. All that was of a merely transient or merely +personal nature, or obsolete in politics or criticism, has been omitted.</p> + +<p>The rest, the book must say for itself.</p> + + +<br /><br /> +<h2>SKETCHES IN CANADA,</h2> +<h4>&c.</h4> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + + +<h3>TORONTO IN 1837.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">December 20.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Toronto</span>—such is now the sonorous name of this our sublime capital—was, +thirty years ago, a wilderness, the haunt of the bear and deer, with a +little, ugly, inefficient fort, which, however, could not be more ugly +or inefficient than the present one. Ten years ago Toronto was a +village, with one brick house and four or five hundred inhabitants; five +years ago it became a city, containing about five thousand inhabitants, +and then bore the name of Little York: now it is Toronto, with an +increasing trade, and a population of ten thousand people. So far I +write as <i>per</i> book.</p> + +<p>What Toronto may be in summer, I cannot tell; they say it is a pretty +place. At present its appearance to me, a stranger, is most strangely +mean and melancholy. A little ill-built town, on low land, at the bottom +of a frozen bay, with one very ugly church, without tower or steeple; +some government offices, built of staring red brick, in the most +tasteless, vulgar style imaginable; three feet of snow all around; and +the grey, sullen, wintry lake, and the dark gloom of the pine forest +bounding the prospect: such seems Toronto to me now. I did not expect +much; but for this I was not prepared.</p> + +<p>I know no better way of coming at the truth than by observing and +recording faithfully the impressions made by objects and characters on +my own mind—or, rather, the impress they <i>receive</i> from my own +mind—shadowed by the clouds which pass over its horizon, taking each +tincture of its varying mood—until they emerge into light, to be +corrected, or at least modified, by observation and comparison. Neither +do I know any better way than this of conveying to the mind of another +the truth, and nothing but the truth, if not the whole truth. So I shall +write on.</p> + +<p>There is much in first impressions, and as yet I have not recovered from +the pain and annoyance of my outset here. My friends at New York +expended much eloquence—eloquence wasted in vain!—in endeavouring to +dissuade me from a winter journey to Canada. I listened, and was +grateful for their solicitude, but must own I did not credit the picture +they drew of the difficulties and <i>désagrémens</i> I was destined to meet +by the way. I had chosen, they said, the very worst season for a journey +through the state of New York; the usual facilities for travelling were +now suspended; a few weeks sooner the rivers and canals had been open; a +few weeks later the roads, smoothed up with snow, had been in sleighing +order;—now, the navigation was frozen, and the roads so broken up as to +be nearly impassable. Then there was only a night boat on the Hudson, +"to proceed," as the printed paper set forth, "to Albany, <i>or as far as +the ice permitted</i>." All this, and more, were represented to me—and +with so much apparent reason and real feeling, and in words and tones so +difficult to resist! But though I could appreciate the kindness of those +persuasive words, they brought no definite idea to my mind; I could form +no notion of difficulties which by fair words, presence of mind, and +money in my pocket, could not be obviated. I had travelled half over the +continent of Europe, often alone, and had never yet been in +circumstances where these availed not. In my ignorance I could conceive +none; but, with the experience I have gained, I would not lightly +counsel a similar journey to any one, certainly not to a woman.</p> + +<p>As we ascended the Hudson in the night, I lost, of course, the view of +that superb scenery which I was assured even winter could not divest of +all its beauty—rather clothed it in a different kind of beauty. At the +very first blush of morning I escaped from the heated cabin, crowded +with listless women and clamorous children, and found my way to the +deck. I was surprised by a spectacle as beautiful as it was new to me. +The Catskill mountains, which we had left behind us in the night, were +still visible, but just melting from the view, robed in a misty purple +light, while our magnificent steamer—the prow armed with a sharp iron +sheath for the purpose—was <i>crashing</i> its way through solid ice four +inches thick, which seemed to close behind us into an adhesive mass, so +that the wake of the vessel was not distinguished a few yards from the +stern: yet in the path thus opened, and only seemingly closed, followed +at some little distance a beautiful schooner and two smaller +steam-vessels. I walked up and down, from the prow to the stern, +refreshed by the keen frosty air, and the excitement caused by various +picturesque effects, on the ice-bound river and the frozen shores, till +we reached Hudson. Beyond this town it was not safe for the boat to +advance, and we were still thirty miles below Albany. After leaving +Hudson (with the exception of the railroad between Albany and Utica), it +was all heavy, weary work; the most painfully fatiguing journey I ever +remember. Such were the roads, that we were once six hours going eleven +miles. What was usually a day's journey from one town, or one good inn, +to another, occupied sometimes a day and a night, or even two days.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>After six days and three nights of this travelling, unrelieved by +companionship, or interest of any kind, I began to sink with fatigue. +The first thing that roused me was our arrival at the ferry of the +Niagara river at Queenston, about seven miles below the Falls. It was a +dark night, and while our little boat was tossed in the eddying waters +and guided by a light to the opposite shore, we could distinctly hear +the deep roar of the cataract, filling, and, as it seemed to me, shaking +the atmosphere around us. That mighty cataract, the dream and vision of +my childhood and youth, so near—yet unseen,—making itself thus heard +and felt,—like Job's vision, consciously present, yet unrevealed and +undiscerned! You may believe that I woke up very decidedly from my +lethargy of weariness to listen to that mysterious voice, which made my +blood pause and thrill. At Queenston we slept, and proceeded next +morning to the town of Niagara on the shore of Lake Ontario. Now, as we +had heard, the navigation on the lake had ceased, and we looked for +nothing better than a further journey of one hundred miles round the +head of the lake, and by the most execrable roads, instead of an easy +passage of thirty miles across from shore to shore. But Fortune, seized +with one of those freaks which, when we met them in books, we pronounce +improbable and unnatural, (and she has played me many such, some good, +some bad,) had ordered matters otherwise. A steam-vessel, making a last +trip, had called accidentally at the port, and was just going off; the +paddles were actually in motion as I and my baggage together were +hurried—almost <i>flung</i>—on board. No sooner there, than I threw myself +down in the cabin utterly overwhelmed with fatigue, and sank at once +into a profound and dreamless sleep.</p> + +<p>How long I slept I knew not: they roused me suddenly to tell me we were +at Toronto, and, not very well able to stand, I hurried on deck. The +wharf was utterly deserted, the arrival of the steam-boat being +accidental and unexpected; and as I stepped out of the boat I sank +ankle-deep into mud and ice. The day was intensely cold and damp; the +sky lowered sulkily, laden with snow, which was just beginning to fall. +Half-blinded by the sleet driven into my face and the tears which filled +my eyes, I walked about a mile through a quarter of the town mean in +appearance, not thickly inhabited, and to me, as yet, an unknown +wilderness; and through dreary, miry ways, never much thronged, and now, +by reason of the impending snow-storm, nearly solitary. I heard no +voices, no quick footsteps of men or children; I met no familiar face, +no look of welcome!—Up to the present hour all objects wear one hue. +Land is not distinguishable from water. I see nothing but snow heaped +up against my windows, not only without but within; I hear no sound but +the tinkling of sleigh-bells and the occasional lowing of a poor +half-starved cow, that, standing up to the knees in a snowdrift, +presents herself at the door of a wretched little shanty opposite, and +supplicates for her small modicum of hay.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The choice of this site for the capital of the Upper Province was +decided by the fine harbour, the only one between Burlington Bay and +Cobourg, a distance of about a hundred and fifty miles. General Simcoe, +the first governor after the division of the two provinces, and a man of +great activity and energy of character, entertained the idea of founding +a metropolis. At that time the head quarters of the government were at +Niagara, then called Newark, on the opposite shore; but this was too +near the frontiers to be a safe position. Nor is Toronto much safer: +from its low situation, and the want of any commanding height in the +neighbourhood, it is nearly defenceless. In case of a war with America, +a few boats sent from the opposite coast of New York could easily lay +the fort and town in ashes; and, in fact, during the last war, in 1813, +such was the fate of both. But the same reasons which rendered the place +indefensible to us, rendered it untenable for the enemy, and it was +immediately evacuated. Another objection was, and <i>is</i>, the +unhealthiness of its situation,—in a low swamp not yet wholly drained, +and with large portions of uncleared land immediately round it: still +the beauty and safety of the spacious harbour, and its central position +about half-way between Lake Huron and the frontier line of Lower Canada, +have fixed its rank as capital of the province and the seat of the +legislature.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>When the engineer, Bouchette, was sent by General Simcoe to survey the +site (in 1793), it was a mere swamp, a tangled wilderness; the birch, +the hemlock, and the tamarac-trees were growing down to the water's +edge, and even into the lake. I have been told that Toronto, the Indian +appellation of the whole district, signifies <i>trees growing out of +water</i>. Colonel Bouchette says, that at this time the only vestige of +humanity for a hundred miles on every side was one solitary wigwam on +the shore, the dwelling of a few Missassagua Indians. Three years +afterwards, when the Duc de Rochefoucauld was here, the infant +metropolis consisted of a fort and twelve miserable log huts, the +inhabitants of which, as the duke tells us, bore no good reputation. The +town was, however, already marked out in streets running parallel with +the shore of the bay for about two miles, and crossed by others at right +angles. It is a pity that while they were about it they did not follow +the example of the Americans in such cases, and make the principal +streets of ample width; some hundred feet, or even furlongs, more or +less, would have made little difference where the wild unowned forest +extended, for all they knew, from the lake to the north pole,—<i>now</i>, it +would not be so easy to amend the error. King Street, the principal +street, looks narrow, and will look narrower when the houses are higher, +better, and more regularly built. I perceive that in laying out the +<i>fashionable</i>, or west-end of the city, they have avoided the same +mistake. A wide space between the building lots and Lake Ontario has +been reserved very properly as a road or esplanade, but I doubt whether +even this be wide enough. One of the most curious and inexplicable +phenomena connected with these immense inland seas is the gradual rise +of the waters; and even within these few years, as I am informed, great +part of the high bank has been washed away, and a carriage-road at the +foot of it along the shore has been wholly covered. If this process goes +on, and at the same rate, there must be a solid embankment, or quay, +raised as a barrier against the encroaching waters, or the esplanade +itself will in time disappear.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">January 14.</p> + +<p>It should seem that this wintry season, which appears to me so dismal, +is for the Canadians the season of festivity. Now is the time for +visiting, for sleighing excursions, for all intercourse of business and +friendship, for balls in town, and dances in farm-houses, and courtships +and marriages, and prayer-meetings and assignations of all sorts. In +summer, the heat and the mosquitos render travelling disagreeable at +best; in spring the roads are absolutely impassable; in autumn there is +too much agricultural occupation: but in winter the forests are +pervious; the roads present a smooth surface of dazzling snow; the +settlers in the woods drive into the towns, supply themselves with +stores and clothing, and fresh meat,—the latter a luxury which they can +seldom obtain in the summer. I stood at my window to-day watching the +sleighs as they glided past. They are of all shapes and sizes. A few of +the carriage-sleighs are well appointed and handsome. The market-sleighs +are often two or three boards nailed together in form of a wooden box +upon runners; some straw and a buffalo skin or blanket serve for the +seat; barrels of flour and baskets of eggs fill up the empty space. +Others are like cars, and others, called <i>cutters</i>, are mounted on high +runners, like sleigh phaetons; these are sported by the young men and +officers of the garrison, and require no inconsiderable skill in +driving: however, as I am assured, they are overturned in the snow not +above once in a quarter of an hour, and no harm and much mirth ensues: +but the wood sleighs are my delight; a large platform of boards is +raised upon runners, with a few upright poles held together at top by a +rope, the logs of oak, pine, and maple, are then heaped up to the height +of six or seven feet. On the summit lie a couple of deer frozen stiff +their huge antlers projecting in a most picturesque fashion, and on +these, again, a man is seated with a blanket round him, his furred cap +drawn down upon his ears, and his scarlet woollen comforter forming a +fine bit of colour. He guides with a pole his two patient oxen, the +clouds of vapour curling from their nostrils into the keen frosty +air—the whole machine, in short, as wildly picturesque as the grape +waggons in Italy, though to be sure, the associations are somewhat +different.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">January 16.</p> + +<p>This morning, before I was quite dressed, a singular visit was +announced. I had expressed to my friend Mr. H * * * a wish to see some +of the aborigines of the country: he had the kindness to remember my +request; and Colonel Givins, the principal Indian agent, had accordingly +brought some Indians to visit us.</p> + +<p>The party consisted of three—a chief named the White Deer, and two of +his friends. The chief wore a blanket coat and leggings, and a blanket +hood with a peak, from which depended a long black eagle plume; stout +mocazins (shoes of undressed deer-skin) completed his attire: he had +about fifty strings of blue wampum round his neck. The other two were +similarly dressed, with the exception of the wampum and the feathers. +Before I went down I had thrown a chain of wampum round my neck, which +seemed to please them. Chairs being presented, they sat down at once +(though, as Colonel Givins said, they would certainly have preferred the +floor), and answered with a grave and quiet dignity the compliments and +questions addressed to them. Their deportment was taciturn and +self-possessed, and their countenances melancholy; that of the chief was +by far the most intelligent. They informed me that they were Chippewas +from the neighbourhood of Lake Huron, that the hunting season had been +unsuccessful, that their tribe was suffering the extremity of hunger and +cold, and that they had come to beg from their Great Father the Governor +rations of food, and a supply of blankets for their women and children. +They had walked over the snow, in their snow-shoes, from the Lake, one +hundred and eighty miles; and for the last forty-eight hours none of +them had tasted food. A breakfast of cold meat, bread, and beer, was +immediately ordered for them; and though they had certainly never beheld +in their lives the arrangement of an European table, and were besides +half famished, they sat down with unembarrassed tranquillity, and helped +themselves to what they wished with the utmost propriety—only, after +one or two trials, using their own knives and fingers in preference to +the table knife and fork. After they had eaten and drunk sufficiently, +they were conducted to the government-house to receive from the governor +presents of blankets, rifles, and provisions; and each, on parting, held +out his hand to me, and the chief, with a grave earnestness, prayed for +the blessing of the Great Spirit on me and my house. On the whole, the +impression they left, though amusing and exciting from its mere novelty, +was melancholy. The sort of desperate resignation in their swarthy +countenances, their squalid, dingy habiliments, and their forlorn story, +filled me with pity, and, I may add, disappointment; and all my previous +impressions of the independent children of the forest are for the +present disturbed.</p> + +<p>These are the first specimens I have seen of that fated race, with which +I hope to become better acquainted before I leave the country. +Notwithstanding all I have heard and read, I have yet but a vague idea +of the Indian character; and the very different aspect under which it +has been represented by various travellers as well as writers of +fiction, adds to the difficulty of forming a correct estimate of the +people, and more particularly of the true position of their women. +Colonel Givins, who has passed thirty year of his life among the north +west tribes, till he has become in habits and language almost identified +with them, is hardly an impartial judge. He was their interpreter on +this occasion; and he says that there is as much difference between the +customs and language of different nations—the Chippewas and Mohawks, +for instance—as there is between any two nations of Europe.</p> + +<p>The cold is at this time so intense that the ink freezes while I write, +and my fingers stiffen round the pen. A glass of water by the bed-side, +within a few feet of the hearth (heaped with logs of oak and maple kept +burning all night long), is a solid mass of ice in the morning. God help +the poor emigrants who are yet unprepared against the rigour of the +season!—yet this is nothing to the climate of the Lower Province, +where, as we hear, the thermometer has been thirty degrees below zero. +I lose all heart to write home, or to register a reflection or a +feeling—thought stagnates in my head as the ink in my pen—and this +will never do!—I <i>must</i> arouse myself to occupation; and if I cannot +find it without, I must create it from within. There are yet four months +of winter and leisure to be disposed of. How?—I know not; but they +<i>must</i> be employed, not wholly lost.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>WINTER EXCURSION TO NIAGARA.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">January 23.</p> + +<p>At half-past eight my escort was at the door in a very pretty commodious +sleigh, in form like a barouche with the head up. I was absolutely +buried in furs; a blanket netted for me by the kindest hands, of the +finest lamb's wool, rich in colour, and as light and elastic as it was +deliciously warm, was folded round my limbs; buffalo and bear skins were +heaped over all, and every breath of the external air excluded by every +possible device. Mr. C. drove his own grey horses; and thus fortified +and accoutred, off we flew, literally "urged by storms along the +slippery way," for the weather was terrific.</p> + +<p>I think that but for this journey I never could have imagined the +sublime desolation of a northern winter; and it has impressed me +strongly. In the first place, the whole atmosphere appeared as if +converted into snow, which fell in thick, tiny, starry flakes, till the +buffalo robes and furs about us appeared like swansdown, and the harness +on the horses of the same delicate material. The whole earth was a white +waste. The road, on which the sleigh-track was only just perceptible, +ran for miles in a straight line; on each side rose the dark, melancholy +pine-forest, slumbering drearily in the hazy air. Between us and the +edge of the forest were frequent spaces of cleared or half-cleared land, +spotted over with the black charred stumps and blasted trunks of once +magnificent trees, projecting from the snow-drift. These, which are +perpetually recurring objects in a Canadian landscape, have a most +melancholy appearance. Sometimes wide openings occurred to the left, +bringing us in sight of Lake Ontario, and even in some places down upon +the edge of it: in this part of the lake the enormous body of the water +and its incessant movement prevents it from freezing, and the dark waves +rolled in, heavily plunging on the icy shore with a sullen booming +sound. A few roods from the land, the cold grey waters, and the cold, +grey, snow-encumbered atmosphere, were mingled with each other, and each +seemed either. The only living thing I saw in a space of about twenty +miles was a magnificent bald-headed eagle, which, after sailing a few +turns in advance of us, alighted on the topmost bough of a blasted pine, +and slowly folding his great wide wings, looked down upon us as we +glided beneath him.</p> + +<p>The first village we passed through was Springfield, on the river +Credit, a river of some importance in summer, but now converted into +ice, heaped up with snow, and undistinguishable. Twenty miles further, +we stopped at Oakville to refresh ourselves and the horses.</p> + +<p>Oakville stands close upon the lake, at the mouth of a little river +called Sixteen-mile Creek; it owes its existence to a gentleman of the +name of Chisholm, and, from its situation and other local circumstances, +bids fair to become a place of importance. In the summer it is a +frequented harbour, and carries on a considerable trade in <i>lumber</i>, for +so they characteristically call timber in this country. From its +dock-yards I am told that a fine steam-boat and a dozen schooners have +been already launched.</p> + +<p>In summer, the country round is rich and beautiful, with a number of +farms all in a high state of cultivation; but Canada in winter and in +summer must be like two different regions. At present the mouth of the +creek is frozen up; all trade, all ship-building suspended. Oakville +presents the appearance of a straggling hamlet, containing a few frame +and log-houses; one brick-house (the grocery store, or general shop, +which in a new Canadian village is always the best house in the place), +a little Methodist church, painted green and white, but as yet no +resident preacher; and an inn dignified by the name of the "Oakville +House Hotel." Where there is a store, a tavern, and a church, +habitations soon rise around them. Oakville contains at present more +than three hundred inhabitants, who are now subscribing among themselves +for a schoolmaster and a resident clergyman.</p> + +<p>I stood conversing in the porch, and looking about me, till I found it +necessary to seek shelter in the house, before my nose was absolutely +taken off by the ice-blast. The little parlour was solitary, and heated +like an oven. Against the wall were stuck a few vile prints, taken out +of old American magazines; there was the Duchess de Berri in her +wedding-dress, and, as a pendant, the Modes de Paris—"Robe de tulle +garnie de fleurs—coiffure nouvelle, inventée par Mons. Plaisir." The +incongruity was but too laughable! I looked round for some amusement or +occupation, and at last spied a book open, and turned down upon its +face. I pounced upon it as a prize; and what do you think it was? +"Dévinez, madame! je vous le donne en trois, je vous le donne en +quatre!" it was—Don Juan! And so, while looking from the window on a +scene which realised all you can imagine of the desolation of savage +life, mixed up with just so much of the common-place vulgarity of +civilised life as sufficed to spoil it, I amused myself reading of the +Lady Adeline Amundeville and her precious coterie, and there anent.</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Society is smoothed to that excess,</span> +<span class="i2">That manners hardly differ more than dress.</span> +<span class="i2">Our ridicules are kept in the background,</span> +<span class="i2">Ridiculous enough, but also dull;</span> +<span class="i2">Professions, too, are no more to be found</span> +<span class="i2">Professional, and there is nought to cull</span> +<span class="i2">Of Folly's fruit; for tho' your fools abound,</span> +<span class="i2">They're barren, and not worth the pains to pull.</span> +<span class="i2">Society is now one polished horde,</span> +<span class="i0">Form'd of two mighty tribes—the <i>bores</i> and <i>bored</i>.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>A delineation, by the way, which might almost reconcile one to a more +savage locality than that around me.</p> + +<p>While I was reading, the mail-coach between Hamilton and Toronto drove +up to the door; and because you shall understand what sort of a thing a +Canadian mail is, and thereupon sympathise in my irrepressible wonder +and amusement, I must sketch it for you. It was a heavy wooden edifice, +about the size and form of an old-fashioned lord mayor's coach, placed +on runners raised about a foot from the ground: the whole was painted of +a bright red, and long icicles hung from the roof. This monstrous +machine disgorged from its portal eight men-creatures, all enveloped in +bear-skins and shaggy dreadnoughts, and pea-jackets, and fur-caps down +upon their noses, looking like a procession of bears on their hind-legs, +tumbling out of a showman's caravan. They proved, however, when +undisguised, to be gentlemen, most of them going up to Toronto to attend +their duties in the House of Assembly. One of these, a personage of +remarkable height and size, and a peculiar cast of features, was +introduced to me as Mr. Kerr, the possessor of large estates in the +neighbourhood, partly acquired, and partly inherited from his +father-in-law Brandt, the famous chief of the Six Nations. Kerr himself +has Indian blood in his veins. His son, young Kerr, a fine boy about ten +years old, is the present acknowledged chief of the Six Nations, in his +mother's right, the hereditary chieftainship being always transmitted +<i>through</i> the female, though passing <i>over</i> her. Mrs. Kerr, the eldest +daughter of Brandt, is a squaw of unmixed Indian blood, and has been +described to me as a very superior creature. She has the good sense to +wear habitually her Indian costume, slightly modified, in which she +looks and moves a princess, graceful and unrestrained, while in a +fashionable European dress the effect would be exactly the reverse.</p> + +<p>Much mischief has been done in this neighbourhood by beasts of prey, and +the deer, driven by hunger, and the wolves from their forest haunts, +have been killed, near the settlements, in unusual numbers. One of the +Indians whom I saw at Toronto, on returning by this road, shot with his +new rifle eight deer in one day, and sold them at Hamilton for three +dollars each—no bad day's hunting. The venison in Canada is good and +abundant, but very lean, very unlike English venison; the price is +generally four or six cents (twopence or threepence) a pound.</p> + +<p>After taking some refreshment, we set forth again. The next village we +passed was called, oddly enough, Wellington Square; it has been recently +laid out, and contains about twenty wooden houses;—then came Port +Nelson, Mr. Kerr's place. Instead of going round the head of the lake by +Hamilton, we crossed that very remarkable tongue or slip of land which +divides Burlington Bay from Lake Ontario: these were, in fact, two +separate lakes till a channel was cut through the narrow isthmus. +Burlington Bay, containing about forty square miles, is now one sheet of +ice, and on the slip of land, which is near seven miles in length, and +about two hundred yards in width, we found the snow lying so deep, and +in such irregular drifts, that we proceeded with difficulty. At length +we reached Stony Creek, a village celebrated in these parts as the scene +of the bloodiest battle fought between the English and Americans during +the last war. We had intended to sleep here, but the inn was so +uncomfortable and unpromising, that, after a short rest, we determined +on proceeding ten miles further to Beamsville.</p> + +<p>It was now dark, and the snow falling thick, it soon became impossible +to distinguish the sleigh-track. Mr. Campbell loosened the reins and +left the horses to their own instinct, assuring me it was the safest way +of proceeding. After this I remember no more distinctly, except that I +ceased to hear the ever-jingling sleigh-bells. I awoke, as if from the +influence of nightmare, to find the sleigh overturned, myself lying in +the bottom of it half-smothered, and my companions nowhere to be +seen;—they were floundering in the snow behind.</p> + +<p>Luckily, when we had stretched ourselves and shaken off the snow, we +were found unhurt in life and limb. We had fallen down a bank into the +bed of a rivulet, or a mill-race, I believe, which, being filled up with +snow, was quite as soft, only a little colder, than a down-bed. +Frightened I was, bewildered rather, but "effective" in a moment. It was +impossible for the gentlemen to leave the horses, which were plunging +furiously up to the shoulders in the snow, and had already broken the +sleigh; so I set off to seek assistance, having received proper +directions. Fortunately we were not far from Beamsville. My beacon-light +was to be the chimney of a forge, from which the bright sparks were +streaming up into the dark wintry air, visible from a great distance. +After scrambling through many a snow-drift, up hill and down hill, I at +last reached the forge, where a man was hammering amain at a +ploughshare; such was the din, that I called for some time unheard; at +last, as I advanced into the red light of the fire, the man's eyes fell +upon me, and I shall never forget his look as he stood poising his +hammer, with the most comical expression of bewildered amazement. I +could not get an answer from him; he opened his mouth and repeated <i>aw!</i> +staring at me, but without speaking or moving. I turned away in despair, +yet half laughing, and after some more scrambling up and down, I found +myself in the village, and was directed to the inn. Assistance was +immediately sent off to my friends, and in a few minutes the +supper-table was spread, a pile of logs higher than myself blazing away +in the chimney; venison-steaks, and fried fish, coffee, hot cakes, +cheese, and whisky punch (the traveller's fare in Canada), were soon +smoking on the table: our landlady presided, and the evening passed +merrily away.</p> + +<p>The old landlady of this inn amused me exceedingly; she had passed all +her life among her equals in station and education, and had no idea of +any distinction between guests and customers; and while caressing and +attending on me, like an old mother or an old nurse, gave me her +history, and that of all her kith and kin. Forty years before, her +husband had emigrated, and built a hovel, and made a little clearing on +the edge of the lake. At that time there was no other habitation within +many miles of them, and they passed several years in almost absolute +solitude. They have now three farms, some hundred acres of land, and +have brought up nine sons and daughters, most of whom are married, and +settled on lands of their own. She gave me a horrid picture of the +prevalence of drunkenness, the vice and the curse of this country.</p> + +<p>I can give you no idea of the intense cold of this night. Next morning +we proceeded eighteen miles farther, to St. Catherine's, the situation +of which appeared very pretty even in winter, and must be beautiful in +summer. I am told it is a place of importance, owing to the vicinity of +the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario with Lake Erie: it +contains more than seven hundred inhabitants. The school here is +reckoned the best in the district. We passed this morning several +streams, which in summer flow into the lake, now all frozen up and +undistinguishable, except by the wooden bridges which cross them, and +the mills, now still and useless, erected along their banks. The streams +have the names of Thirty Mile Creek, Forty Mile Creek, Twenty Mile +Creek, and so on; but wherefore I could not discover.</p> + +<p>From St. Catherine's we proceeded twelve miles farther, to Niagara. +There I found some old English or rather Irish friends ready to welcome +me with joyous affection; and surely there is not a more blessed sight +than the face of an old friend in a new land!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>NIAGARA IN WINTER.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">January 26.</p> + +<p>The town of Niagara presents the same torpid appearance which seems to +prevail everywhere at this season; it is situated at the mouth of the +river Niagara, and is a place of much business and resort when the +navigation is open. The lake does not freeze here, owing to the depth of +its majestic waters; neither does the river, from the velocity of its +current; yet both are blocked up by the huge fragments of ice which are +brought down from Lake Erie, and which, uniting and accumulating at the +mouth of the river, form a field of ice extending far into the lake. How +beautiful it looked to-day, broken into vast longitudinal flakes of +alternate white and azure, and sparkling in the sunshine!</p> + +<p>The land all round Niagara is particularly fine and fertile: it has been +longer cleared and cultivated than in other parts of the province, and +the country, they say, is most beautiful in summer. The opposite shore, +about a quarter of a mile off, is the State of New York. The Americans +have a fort on their side, and we also have a fort on ours. What the +amount of <i>their</i> garrison may be I know not, but our force consists of +three privates and a corporal, with adequate arms and ammunition, i. e. +rusty firelocks and damaged guns. The fortress itself I mistook for a +dilapidated brewery. This is charming—it <i>looks</i> like peace and +security, at all events.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>WINTER STUDIES IN CANADA.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">January 29.</p> + +<p>Well! I have seen these Cataracts of Niagara, which have thundered in my +mind's ear ever since I can remember—which have been my "childhood's +thought, my youth's desire," since first my imagination was awakened to +wonder and to wish. I have beheld them, and shall I whisper it to +you?—but, O tell it not among the Philistines!—I wish I had not! I +wish they were still a thing unbeheld—a thing to be imagined, hoped, +and anticipated—something to live for:—the reality has displaced from +my mind an illusion far more magnificent than itself—I have no words +for my utter disappointment: yet I have not the presumption to suppose +that all I have heard and read of Niagara is false or exaggerated—that +every expression of astonishment, enthusiasm, rapture, is affectation or +hyperbole. No! it must be my own fault. Terni, and some of the Swiss +cataracts leaping from their mountains, have affected me a thousand +times more than all the immensity of Niagara. O I could beat myself! and +now there is no help!—the first moment, the first impression is +over—is lost; though I should live a thousand years, long as Niagara +itself shall roll, I can never see it again for the <i>first</i> time. +Something is gone that cannot be restored.</p> + +<p>But, to take things in order: we set off for the Falls yesterday +morning, with the intention of spending the day there, sleeping, and +returning the next day to Niagara. The distance is fourteen miles, by a +road winding along the banks of the Niagara river, and over the +Queenston heights;—and beautiful must this land be in summer, since +even now it is beautiful. The flower garden, the trim shrubbery, the +lawn, the meadow with its hedgerows, when frozen up and wrapt in snow, +always give me the idea of something not only desolate but dead: Nature +is the ghost of herself, and trails a spectral pall; I always feel a +kind of pity—a touch of melancholy—when at this season I have wandered +among withered shrubs and buried flower-beds; but here, in the +wilderness, where Nature is wholly independent of Art, she does not die, +nor yet mourn; she lies down to rest on the bosom of Winter, and the +aged one folds her in his robe of ermine and jewels, and rocks her with +his hurricanes, and hushes her to sleep. How still it was! how calm, how +vast the glittering white waste and the dark purple forests! The sun +shone out, and the sky was without a cloud; yet we saw few people, and +for many miles the hissing of our sleigh, as we flew along upon our +dazzling path, and the tinkling of the sleigh-bells, were the only +sounds we heard. When we were within four or five miles of the Falls, I +stopped the sleigh from time to time to listen to the roar of the +cataracts; but the state of the atmosphere was not favourable for the +transmission of sound, and the silence was unbroken.</p> + +<p>Such was the deep, monotonous tranquillity which prevailed on every +side—so exquisitely pure and vestal-like the robe in which all Nature +lay slumbering around us, I could scarce believe that this whole +frontier district is not only remarkable for the prevalence of vice—but +of dark and desperate crime.</p> + +<p>Mr. A., who is a magistrate, pointed out to me a lonely house by the +way-side, where, on a dark stormy night in the preceding winter, he had +surprised and arrested a gang of forgers and coiners; it was a fearful +description. For some time my impatience had been thus +beguiled—impatience and suspense much like those of a child at a +theatre before the curtain rises. My imagination had been so impressed +by the vast height of the Falls, that I was constantly looking in an +upward direction, when, as we came to the brow of a hill, my companion +suddenly checked the horses, and exclaimed, "The Falls!"</p> + +<p>I was not, for an instant, aware of their presence; we were yet at a +distance, looking <i>down</i> upon them; and I saw at one glance a flat +extensive plain; the sun having withdrawn its beams for the moment, +there was neither light, nor shade, nor colour. In the midst were seen +the two great cataracts, but merely as a feature in the wide landscape. +The sound was by no means overpowering, and the clouds of spray, which +Fanny Kemble called so beautifully the "everlasting incense of the +waters," now condensed ere they rose by the excessive cold, fell round +the base of the cataracts in fleecy folds, just concealing that furious +embrace of the waters above and the waters below. All the associations +which in imagination I had gathered round the scene, its appalling +terrors, its soul-subduing beauty, its power and height, and velocity +and immensity, were diminished in effect, or wholly lost.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I was quite silent—my very soul sank within me. On seeing my +disappointment (written, I suppose, most legibly in my countenance) my +companion began to comfort me, by telling me of all those who had been +disappointed on the first view of Niagara, and had confessed it. I <i>did</i> +confess; but I was not to be comforted. We held on our way to the +Clifton hotel, at the foot of the hill; most desolate it looked with its +summer verandahs and open balconies cumbered up with snow, and hung +round with icicles—its forlorn, empty rooms, broken windows, and dusty +dinner tables. The poor people who kept the house in winter had gathered +themselves for warmth and comfort into a little kitchen, and, when we +made our appearance, stared at us with a blank amazement, which showed +what a rare thing was the sight of a visitor at this season.</p> + +<p>While the horses were cared for, I went up into the highest balcony to +command a better view of the cataracts; a little Yankee boy, with a +shrewd, sharp face, and twinkling black eyes, acting as my gentleman +usher. As I stood gazing on the scene which seemed to enlarge upon my +vision, the little fellow stuck his hands into his pockets, and, looking +up in my face, said—</p> + +<p>"You be from the old country, I reckon?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Out over there, beyond the sea?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And did you come all that way across the sea for these here falls?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"My!!" Then after a long pause, and eyeing me with a most comical +expression of impudence and fun, he added, "Now, do <i>you</i> know what them +'ere birds are, out yonder?" pointing to a number of gulls which were +hovering and sporting amid the spray, rising and sinking and wheeling +around, appearing to delight in playing on the verge of this "hell of +waters," and almost dipping their wings into the foam. My eyes were, in +truth, fixed on these fair, fearless creatures, and they had suggested +already twenty fanciful similitudes, when I was roused by his question.</p> + +<p>"Those birds?" said I. "Why, <i>what</i> are they?"</p> + +<p>"Why, them's <span class="smcap">EAGLES</span>!"</p> + +<p>"Eagles?" it was impossible to help laughing.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the urchin sturdily; "and I guess you have none of them in +the old country?"</p> + +<p>"Not many eagles, my boy; but plenty of <i>gulls</i>!" and I gave him a +"pretty considerable" pinch by the ear.</p> + +<p>"Ay!" said he, laughing; "well now you be dreadful smart—smarter than +many folks that come here!"</p> + +<p>We now prepared to walk to the Crescent fall, and I bound some crampons +to my feet, like those they use among the Alps, without which I could +not for a moment have kept my footing on the frozen surface of the snow. +As we approached the Table Rock, the whole scene assumed a wild and +wonderful magnificence; down came the dark-green waters, hurrying with +them over the edge of the precipice enormous blocks of ice brought down +from Lake Erie. On each side of the Falls, from the ledges and +overhanging cliffs, were suspended huge icicles, some twenty, some +thirty feet in length, thicker than the body of a man, and in colour of +a paly green, like the glaciers of the Alps; and all the crags below, +which projected from the boiling eddying waters, were encrusted, and in +a manner built round with ice, which had formed into immense crystals, +like basaltic columns, such as I have seen in the pictures of Staffa and +the Giant's Causeway; and every tree, and leaf, and branch, fringing the +rocks and ravines, was wrought in ice. On them, and on the wooden +buildings erected near the Table Rock, the spray from the cataract had +accumulated and formed into the most beautiful crystals and tracery +work; they looked like houses of glass, welted and moulded into regular +and ornamental shapes, and hung round with a rich fringe of icy points. +Wherever we stood we were on unsafe ground, for the snow, when heaped up +as now to the height of three or four feet, frequently slipped in masses +from the bare rock, and on its surface the spray, for ever falling, was +converted into a sheet of ice, smooth, compact, and glassy, on which I +could not have stood a moment without my <i>crampons</i>. It was very +fearful, and yet I could not tear myself away, but remained on the Table +Rock, even on the very edge of it, till a kind of dreamy fascination +came over me; the continuous thunder, and might and movement of the +lapsing waters, held all my vital spirits bound up as by a spell. Then +as at last I turned away, the descending sun broke out, and an Iris +appeared below the American Fall, one extremity resting on a snow mound; +and motionless there it hung in the midst of restless terrors, its +beautiful but rather pale hues contrasting with the death-like +colourless objects around; it reminded me of the faint ethereal smile of +a dying martyr.</p> + +<p>It was near midnight when we mounted our sleigh to return to the town of +Niagara, and, as I remember, I did not utter a word during the whole +fourteen miles. The air was still, though keen, the snow lay around, the +whole earth seemed to slumber in a ghastly, calm repose; but the heavens +were wide awake. There the Aurora Borealis was holding her revels, and +dancing and flashing, and varying through all shapes and all hues—pale +amber, rose tint, blood red—and the stars shone out with a fitful, +restless brilliance; and every now and then a meteor would shoot +athwart the skies, or fall to earth, and all around me was wild, and +strange, and exciting—more like a fever dream than a reality.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>TORONTO.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">Toronto, February 7.</p> + +<p>Mr. B. gave me a seat in his sleigh, and after a rapid and very pleasant +journey, during which I gained a good deal of information, we reached +Toronto yesterday morning.</p> + +<p>The road was the same as before, with one deviation however—it was +found expedient to cross Burlington Bay on the ice, about seven miles +over, the lake beneath being twenty, and five-and-twenty fathoms in +depth. It was ten o'clock at night, and the only light was that +reflected from the snow. The beaten track, from which it is not safe to +deviate, was very narrow, and a man, in the worst, if not the last stage +of intoxication, noisy and brutally reckless, was driving before us in a +sleigh. All this, with the novelty of the situation, the tremendous +cracking of the ice at every instant, gave me a sense of apprehension +just sufficient to be exciting, rather than very unpleasant, though I +will confess to a feeling of relief when we were once more on the solid +earth.</p> + +<p>It is a remarkable fact, with which you are probably acquainted, that +when one growth of timber is cleared from the land, another of quite a +different species springs up spontaneously in its place. Thus, the oak +or the beech succeeds to the pine, and the pine to the oak or maple. +This is not accounted for, at least I have found no one yet who can give +me a reason for it. We passed by a forest lately consumed by fire, and I +asked why, in clearing the woods, they did not leave groups of the +finest trees, or even single trees, here and there, to embellish the +country? But it seems that this is impossible—for the trees thus left +standing, when deprived of the shelter and society to which they have +been accustomed, uniformly perish—which, for mine own poor part, I +thought very natural.</p> + +<p>A Canadian settler <i>hates</i> a tree, regards it as his natural enemy, as +something to be destroyed, eradicated, annihilated by all and any means. +The idea of useful or ornamental is seldom associated here even with +the most magnificent timber trees, such as among the Druids had been +consecrated, and among the Greeks would have sheltered oracles and +votive temples. The beautiful faith which assigned to every tree of the +forest its guardian nymph, to every leafy grove its tutelary divinity, +would find no votaries here. Alas! for the Dryads and Hamadryads of +Canada!</p> + +<p>There are two principal methods of killing trees in this country, +besides the quick, unfailing destruction of the axe; the first by +setting fire to them, which sometimes leaves the root uninjured to rot +gradually and unseen, or be grubbed up at leisure, or, more generally, +there remains a visible fragment of a charred and blackened stump, +deformed and painful to look upon: the other method is slower, but even +more effectual; a deep gash is cut through the bark into the stem, quite +round the bole of the tree. This prevents the circulation of the vital +juices, and by degrees the tree droops and dies. This is technically +called <i>ringing</i> timber. Is not this like the two ways in which a +woman's heart may be killed in this world of ours—by passion and by +sorrow? But better far the swift fiery death than this "ringing," as +they call it!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">February 21.</p> + +<p>The monotony of this my most monotonous existence was fearfully broken +last night. I had gone early to my room, and had just rung for my maid, +when I was aware of a strange light flashing through the atmosphere,—a +fire was raging in the lower parts of the city. I looked out; there was +the full moon, brighter than ever she shows her fair face in our dear +cloudy England, looking down upon the snowy landscape, and the icy bay +glittered like a sheet of silver; while on the other side of the heavens +all was terror and tumult—clouds of smoke mingled with spires of flame +rose into the sky. Far off the garrison was beating to arms—the bells +tolling; yet all around there was not a living being to be seen, and the +snow-waste was still as death.</p> + +<p>Fires are not uncommon in Toronto, where the houses are mostly wood; +they have generally an alarum once or twice a week, and six or eight +houses burned in the course of the winter; but it was evident this was +of more fearful extent than usual. Finding, on inquiry, that all the +household had gone off to the scene of action, my own maid excepted, I +prepared to follow, for it was impossible to remain here idly gazing on +the flames, and listening to the distant shouts in ignorance and +suspense. The fire was in the principal street (King Street), and five +houses were burning together. I made my way through the snow-heaped, +deserted streets, and into a kind of court or garden at the back of the +blazing houses. There was a vast and motley pile of household stuff in +the midst, and a poor woman keeping guard over it, nearly up to her +knees in the snow. I stood on the top of a bedstead, leaning on her +shoulder, and thus we remained till the whole row of buildings had +fallen in. The Irishmen (God bless my countrymen! for in all good—all +mischief—all frolic—all danger—they are sure to be the first) risked +their lives most bravely; their dark figures moving to and fro amid the +blazing rafters, their fine attitudes, and the recklessness with which +they flung themselves into the most horrible situations, became at last +too fearfully exciting. I was myself so near, and the flames were so +tremendous, that one side of my face was scorched and blistered.</p> + +<p>All this time the poor woman on whose shoulder I was leaning stood +silent and motionless, gazing with apparent tranquillity on her burning +house. I remember saying to her with a shudder—"But this is dreadful! +to stand by and look on while one's home and property are destroyed!" +And she replied quietly, "Yes, ma'am; but I dare say some good will come +of it. All is for the best, if one knew it; and now Jemmy's safe, I +don't care for the rest." Now Jemmy was not her son, as I found, but a +poor little orphan, of whom she took charge.</p> + +<p>There had been at first a scarcity of water, but a hole being hewed +through the ice on the lake, the supply was soon quick and plentiful. +All would have been well over, if the sudden fall of a stack of chimneys +had not caused some horrible injuries. One poor boy was killed, and some +others maimed—poor Mr. B. among the number. After this I returned home +rather heart-sick; and nigh to the house a sleigh glanced by at full +gallop, on which I could just perceive, in the moonlight, the extended +form of a man with his hands clenched over his head—as in agony, or +lifeless.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MUSIC.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">March 1.</p> + +<p>In the different branches of art, each artist thinks his own the +highest, and is filled with the idea of all its value and all its +capabilities which he understands best and has most largely studied and +developed. "But," says Dr. Chalmers, "we must take the testimony of each +man to the worth of that which he does know, and reject the testimony of +each to the comparative worthlessness of that which he does not know." +For it is not, generally speaking, that he overrates his own particular +walk of art from over enthusiasm, (no art, when considered separately, +as a means of human delight and improvement, <i>can</i> be over-rated,) but +such a <i>one-sided</i> artist, whose mind and powers have flowed in only one +direction, underrates from ignorance the walks of others which diverge +from his own.</p> + +<p>Of all artists, musicians are most exclusive in devotion to their own +art, and in the want of sympathy, if not absolute contempt, for other +arts. A painter has more sympathies with a musician, than a musician +with a painter. Vernet used to bring his easel into Pergolesi's room, to +paint beside his harpsichord, and used to say that he owed some of his +finest skies to the inspired harmonies of his friend. Pergolesi never +felt, perhaps, any harmonies but those of his own delicious art.</p> + +<p>"Aspasia, he who loves not music is a beast of one species, and he who +overloves it is a beast of another, whose brain is smaller than a +nightingale's, and his heart than that of a lizard!" I refer you for the +rest to a striking passage in Landor's "Pericles and Aspasia," +containing a most severe philippic, not only against the professors, but +the <i>profession</i>, of music, and which concludes very aptly, "Panenus +said this: let us never believe a word of it!" It is too true that some +excellent musicians have been ignorant, and sensual, and dissipated; but +there are sufficient exceptions to the sweeping censure of Panenus to +show that "imprudence, intemperance, and gluttony" do not always, or +necessarily, "open their channels into the sacred stream of music." +Musicians are not selfish, careless, sensual, ignorant, because they are +musicians, but because, from a defective education, they are nothing +else. The German musicians are generally more moral and more +intellectual men than English or Italian musicians, and hence their +music has taken a higher flight, is more intellectual than the music of +other countries. Music as an art has not degraded them, but they have +elevated music.</p> + +<p>The most accomplished and intellectual musician I ever met with is Felix +Mendelssohn. I do not recollect if it were himself or some one else who +told me of a letter which Carl von Weber had addressed to him, warning +him that he never could attain the highest honours in his profession +without cultivating the virtues and the decencies of life. "A great +artist," said Weber, "ought to be a good man."</p> + +<p>While I am "i' the vein," I must give you a few more musical +reminiscences before my fingers are quite frozen.</p> + +<p>I had once some conversation with Thalberg and Felix Mendelssohn, on the +unmeaning names which musicians often give to their works, as "Concerto +in F," "Concerto in B flat," "First Symphony," "Second Symphony," &c. +Mendelssohn said, that though in almost every case the composer might +have a leading idea, it would be often difficult, or even impossible, to +give any title sufficiently comprehensive to convey the same idea or +feeling to the mind of the hearer.</p> + +<p>But music, except to musicians, can only give ideas, or rather raise +images, by association; it can give the pleasure which the just +accordance of musical sounds must give to sensitive ears, but the +associated ideas or images, if any, must be quite accidental. Haydn, we +are told, when he sat down to compose, used first to invent a story in +his own fancy—a regular succession of imaginary incidents and +feelings—to which he framed or suited the successive movements (motivi) +of his concerto. Would it not have been an advantage if Haydn could have +given to his composition such a title as would have pitched the +imagination of the listener at once upon the same key? Mendelssohn +himself has done this in the pieces which he has entitled "Overture to +Melusina," "Overture to the Hebrides," "Meeres Stille und Glückliche +Fahrt," "The Brook," and others,—which is better surely than Sonata No. +1, Sonata No. 2. Take the Melusina, for example; is there not in the +sentiment of the music all the sentiment of the beautiful old fairy +tale?—first, in the flowing, intermingling harmony, we have the soft +elemental delicacy of the water nymph; then, the gushing of fountains, +the undulating waves; then the martial prowess of the knightly lover, +and the splendour of chivalry prevailing over the softer and more +ethereal nature; and then, at last, the dissolution of the charm; the +ebbing, fainting, and failing away into silence of the beautiful water +spirit. You will say it might answer just as well for Ondine; but this +signifies little, provided we have our fancy pitched to certain poetical +associations pre-existing in the composer's mind. Thus not only poems, +but pictures and statues, might be set to music. I suggested to Thalberg +as a subject the Aurora of Guido. It should begin with a slow, subdued, +and solemn movement, to express the slumbrous softness of that dewy hour +which precedes the coming of the day, and which in the picture broods +over the distant landscape, still wrapt in darkness and sleep; then the +stealing upwards of the gradual dawn; the brightening, the quickening of +all life; the awakening of the birds, the burst of the sun-light, the +rushing of the steeds of Hyperion through the sky, the aerial dance of +the Hours, and the whole concluding with a magnificent choral song of +triumph and rejoicing sent up from universal nature.</p> + +<p>And then in the same spirit—no, in his own grander spirit—I would have +Mendelssohn improviser the Laocoon. There would be the pomp and +procession of the sacrifice on the seashore; the flowing in of the +waves; the two serpents which come gliding on their foamy crests, +wreathing, and rearing, and undulating; the horror, the lamentation, the +clash of confusion, the death struggle, and, after a deep pause, the +wail of lamentation, the funereal march;—the whole closing with a hymn +to Apollo. Can you not just imagine such a piece of music, and composed +by Mendelssohn? and can you not fancy the possibility of setting to +music in the same manner Raffaelle's Cupid and Psyche, or his Galatea, +or the group of the Niobe? Niobe would be a magnificent subject either +for a concerto, or for a kind of mythological oratorio.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">March 2.</p> + +<p>Turning over Boswell to-day, I came upon this passage: Johnson says, "I +do not commend a society where there is an agreement that what would not +otherwise be fair shall be fair; but I maintain that an individual of +any society who practises what is allowed is not dishonest."</p> + +<p>What say you to this reasoning of our great moralist? does it not reduce +the whole moral law to something merely conventional?</p> + +<p>In another place, Dr. Johnson asks, "What proportion does climate bear +to the complex system of human life." I shiver while I answer, "A good +deal, my dear Doctor, to some individuals, and yet more to whole races +of men."</p> + +<p>He says afterwards, "I deal more in <i>notions</i> than in facts." And so do +I, it seems.</p> + +<p>He talks of "men being <i>held down</i> in conversation by the presence of +women"—<i>held up</i> rather, where moral feeling is concerned; and if held +down where intellect and social interests are concerned, then so much +the worse for such a state of society.</p> + +<p>Johnson knew absolutely nothing about women. Witness that one assertion, +among others more insulting, that it is matter of indifference to a +woman whether her husband be faithful or not. He says, in another place, +"If we men require more perfection from women than from ourselves, it +is doing them honour."</p> + +<p>Indeed! If, in exacting from us more perfection, you do not allow us the +higher and nobler nature, you do us not honour but gross injustice; and +if you do allow us the higher nature, and yet regard us as subject and +inferior, then the injustice is the greater. There, Doctor, is a dilemma +for you.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">March 8.</p> + +<p>This relentless winter seems to stiffen and contract every nerve, and +the frost is of that fierceness and intensity, that it penetrates even +to the marrow of one's bones. One of the workmen told me yesterday, that +on taking hold of an iron bar it had taken the skin off his hand, as if +he had grasped it red hot: it is a favourite trick with the children to +persuade each other to touch with the tongue a piece of metal which has +been exposed to the open air; adhesion takes place immediately: even the +metal knobs on the doors of the room I carefully avoid touching—the +contact is worse than unpleasant.</p> + +<p>Let but the spring come again, and I will take to myself wings and fly +off to the west!—But will spring <i>ever</i> come? When I look out upon the +bleak, shrouded, changeless scene, there is something so awfully silent, +fixed, and immutable in its aspect, that it is enough to disturb one's +faith in the everlasting revolutions of the seasons. Green leaves and +flowers, and streams that murmur as they flow, soft summer airs, to +which we open the panting bosom—panting with too much life—shades +grateful for their coolness,—can such things be, or do they exist only +in poetry and Paradise?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>GOETHE.</h3> + +<p>"When I look back," said Goethe, "on my early and middle life, and now +in my old age reflect how few of those remain who were young with me, +life seems to me like a summer residence in a watering-place. When we +first arrive, we form friendships with those who have already spent some +time there, and must be gone the next week. The loss is painful, but we +connect ourselves with the second generation of visitors, with whom we +spend some time and become dearly intimate; but these also depart, and +we are left alone with a third set, who arrive just as we are preparing +for our departure, in whom we feel little or no interest."</p> + +<p>Goethe thought that a knowledge of the universe must be <i>innate</i> with +some poets. (It seems to have been so with Shakspeare.) He says he wrote +"Götz von Berlichingen" when he was a young inexperienced man of +two-and-twenty. "Ten years later," he adds, "I stood astonished at the +truth of my own delineation; I had never beheld or experienced the like, +therefore the knowledge of these multifarious aspects of human nature I +must have possessed through a kind of anticipation."</p> + +<p>Yes; the "kind of anticipation" through which Joanna Baillie conceived +and wrote her noble tragedies. Where did she, whose life was pure and +"retired as noontide dew," find the dark, stern, terrible elements, out +of which she framed the delineations of character and passion in De +Montfort, Ethwald, Basil, Constantine?—where but in her own prophetic +heart and genius?—in that intuitive, almost unconscious revelation of +the universal nature, which makes the poet, and not experience or +knowledge. Joanna Baillie, whose most tender and refined, and womanly +and christian spirit never, I believe, admitted an ungentle thought of +any living being, created De Montfort, and gave us the physiology of +Hatred; and might well, like Goethe, stand astonished at the truth of +her own delineation.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>LITERARY WOMEN.</h3> + +<p>Rehbein once observed to Goethe "that the women who had distinguished +themselves in literature, poetry especially, were almost universally +women who had been disappointed in their best affections, and sought in +this direction of the intellect a sort of compensation. When women are +married, and have children to take care of, they do not often think of +writing poetry."</p> + +<p>This is not very politely or delicately expressed; but we must not +therefore shrink from it, for it involves some important considerations. +It is most certain that among the women who have been distinguished in +literature, three-fourths have been either by nature, or fate, or the +law of society, placed in a painful or a false position; it is also most +certain that in these days when society is becoming every day more +artificial and more complex, and marriage, as the gentlemen assure us, +more and more expensive, hazardous, and inexpedient, women <i>must</i> find +means to fill up the void of existence. Men, our natural protectors, our +lawgivers, our masters, throw us upon our own resources; the qualities +which they pretend to admire in us,—the overflowing, the clinging +affections of a warm heart—the household devotion,—the submissive wish +to please, that feels "every vanity in fondness lost,"—the tender +shrinking sensitiveness which Adam thought so charming in his Eve,—to +cultivate these, to make them, by artificial means, the staple of the +womanly character, is it not to cultivate a taste for sunshine and +roses, in those we send to pass their lives in the arctic zone? We have +gone away from nature, and we must—if we can—substitute another +nature. Art, literature, and science remain to us. Religion, which +formerly opened the doors of nunneries and convents to forlorn women, +now mingling her beautiful and soothing influence with resources which +the prejudices of the world have yet left open to us, teaches us another +lesson, that only in utility, such as is left to us,—only in the +assiduous employment of such faculties as we are permitted to exercise, +can we find health and peace, and compensation for the wasted or +repressed impulses and energies more proper to our sex—more +natural—perhaps more pleasing to God; but trusting in His mercy, and +using the means He has given, we must do the best we can for ourselves +and for our sisterhood. The cruel prejudices which would have shut us +out from nobler consolation and occupations have ceased in great part, +and will soon be remembered only as the rude, coarse barbarism of a +by-gone age. Let us then have no more caricatures of methodistical, +card-playing, and acrimonious old maids. Let us hear no more of scandal, +parrots, cats, and lap-dogs—or worse!—these never-failing subjects of +derision with the vulgar and the frivolous, but the source of a thousand +compassionate and melancholy feelings in those who can reflect! In the +name of humanity and womanhood, let us have no more of them! Coleridge, +who has said and written the most beautiful, the most tender, the most +reverential things of women—who understands better than any man, any +poet, what I will call the metaphysics of love—Coleridge has asserted +that the perfection of a woman's character is to be <i>characterless</i>. +"Every man," said he, "would like to have an Ophelia or a Desdemona for +his wife." No doubt; the sentiment is truly a masculine one: and what +was <i>their</i> fate? What would now be the fate of such unresisting and +confiding angels? Is this the age of Arcadia? Do we live among Paladins +and Sir Charles Grandisons, and are our weakness, and our innocence, and +our ignorance, safe-guards—or snares? Do we indeed find our account in +being</p> + +<h4>"Fine by defect, and beautifully weak?"</h4> + +<p>No; women need in these times <i>character</i> beyond everything else; the +qualities which will enable us to endure and to resist evil; the +self-governed, the cultivated, active mind, to protect and to maintain +ourselves. How many wretched women marry for a maintenance! How many +wretched women sell themselves to dishonour for bread!—and there is +small difference, if any, in the infamy and the misery! How many +unmarried women live in heart-wearing dependence;—if poor, in solitary +penury, loveless, joyless, unendeared;—if rich, in aimless, pitiful +trifling! How many, strange to say, marry for the independence they dare +not otherwise claim! But the more paths opened to us, the less fear that +we should go astray.</p> + +<p>Surely, it is dangerous, it is wicked, in these days, to follow the old +saw, to bring up women to be "happy wives and mothers;" that is to say, +to let all their accomplishments, their sentiments, their views of life, +take one direction, as if for women there existed only one destiny—one +hope, one blessing, one object, one passion in existence. Some people +say it ought to be so, but we know that it is <i>not</i> so; we know that +hundreds, that thousands of women are not happy wives and mothers—are +never either wives or mothers at all. The cultivation of the moral +strength and the active energies of a woman's mind, together with the +intellectual faculties and tastes, will not make a woman a less good, +less happy wife and mother, and will enable her to find content and +independence when denied love and happiness.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>QUESTIONINGS.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">March 15.</p> + +<p>This last paragraph, which I wrote last evening, sent me to bed with my +head full of all manner of thoughts, and memories, and fancies.</p> + +<p>Whence and what are we, "that things whose sense we see not, frey us +with things that be not?" If I had the heart of that wondrous bird in +the Persian tales, which being pressed upon a human heart, obliged that +heart to utter truth through the lips, sleeping or waking, then I think +I would inquire how far in each bosom exists the belief in the +supernatural? In many minds which I know, and otherwise strong minds, it +certainly exists a hidden source of torment; in others, not stronger, it +exists a source of absolute pleasure and excitement. I have known people +most wittily ridicule, or gravely discountenance, a belief in spectral +appearances, and all the time I could see in their faces that once in +their lives at least they had been frightened at their own shadow. The +conventional cowardice, the fear of ridicule, even the self-respect +which prevents intelligent persons from revealing the exact truth of +what passes through their own minds on this point, deprives us of a +means to trace to its sources and develop an interesting branch of +Psychology. Between vulgar credulity and exaggeration on the one hand, +and the absolute scepticism and materialism of some would-be +philosophers on the other, lies a vast space of debatable ground, a sort +of twilight region or <i>limbo</i>, through which I do not see my way +distinctly.</p> + +<p>How far are our perceptions confined to our outward senses? Can any one +tell?—for that our perceptions are not wholly confined to impressions +taken in by the outward senses, seems the only one thing proved; and +are such sensible impressions the only real ones? When any one asks me +gaily the so common and common-place question—common even in these our +rational times—"Do you now really believe in ghosts?" I generally +answer as gaily—"I really don't know!" In the common, vulgar meaning of +the words, I certainly do <i>not</i>; but in the reality of many things +termed imaginary I certainly do.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The following beautiful and original interpretation of Goethe's ballad +of the "Erl-King" is not in Ekermann's book (the "Gespräche mit Goethe," +which I am now studying), but I give it to you in the words in which it +was given to me.</p> + +<p>"Goethe's 'Erl-König' is a moral allegory of deep meaning, though I am +not sure he meant it as such, or intended all that it signifies. There +are beings in the world who see, who feel, with a finer sense than that +granted to other mortals. They see the spiritual, the imaginative +sorrow, or danger, or terror which threatens them; and those who see not +with the same eyes, talk reason and philosophy to them. The poor +frightened child cries out for aid, for mercy; and Papa Wisdom—worldly +wisdom—answers,—</p> + +<h4>"'Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstrief!'</h4> + +<p>"Or,—</p> + +<h4>"'Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau!'</h4> + +<p>"It is only the vapour-wreath, or the grey willows waving, and tells him +to be quiet! At last the poor child of feeling is found dead in the arms +of Wisdom, from causes which no one else perceived—or believed! Is it +not often so?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On the subject of religion I find this beautiful comparison, but am not +sure whether it be Ekermann's or Goethe's. "A connoisseur standing +before the picture of a great master will regard it as a whole. He knows +how to combine instantly the scattered parts into the general effect; +the universal, as well as the individual, is to him animated. He has no +preference for certain portions: he does not ask why this or that face +is beautiful or otherwise; why <i>this</i> part is light, <i>that</i> dark; only +he requires that all shall be in the right place, and according to the +just rules of art; but place an ignorant person before such a picture, +and you will see that the great design of the whole will either be +overlooked by him, or confuse him utterly. Some small portion will +attract him, another will offend him, and in the end he will dwell upon +some trifling object which is familiar to him, and praise this helmet, +or that feather, as being well executed.</p> + +<p>"We men, before the great picture of the destinies of the universe, play +the part of such dunces, such novices in art. Here we are attracted by a +bright spot, a graceful configuration; <i>there</i> we are repelled by a deep +shadow, a painful object; the immense <span class="smcap">WHOLE</span> bewilders and perplexes us; +we seek in vain to penetrate the leading idea of that great Being, who +designed the whole upon a plan which our limited human intellect cannot +comprehend."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>SOUTHEY'S DOCTOR.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">March 29.</p> + +<p>To those who see only with their eyes, the distant is always indistinct +and little, becoming less and less as it recedes, till utterly lost; but +to the imagination, which thus reverses the perspective of the senses, +the far off is great and imposing, the magnitude increasing with the +distance.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I amused myself this morning with that most charming book "The +Doctor;"—it is not the second nor the third time of reading. How +delicious it is wherever it opens!—how brimful of erudition and wit, +and how rich in thought, and sentiment, and humour! but containing +assumptions, and opinions, and prognostications, in which I would not +believe;—no, not for the world!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>How true what Southey says! (the Doctor I mean—I beg his pardon)—"We +make the greater part of the evil circumstances in which we are placed, +and then we fit ourselves for those circumstances by a process of +degradation, the effect of which most people see in the classes below +them, though they may not be conscious that it is operating in a +different manner, but with equal force, upon themselves."</p> + +<p>The effect of those pre-ordained evils—if they are such—which we +inherit with our mortal state, inevitable death—the separation from +those we love—old age with its wants, its feebleness, its +helplessness—those sufferings which are in the course of nature, are +quite sufficient in the infliction, or in the fear of them, to keep the +spirit chastened, and the reflecting mind humble before God. But what I +<i>do</i> deprecate, is to hear people preaching resignation to social, +self-created evils; fitting, or trying to fit, their own natures by "a +process of degradation" to circumstances which they ought to resist, and +which they do <i>inwardly</i> resist, keeping up a constant, wearing, +impotent strife between the life that is <i>within</i> and the life that is +<i>without</i>. How constantly do I read this in the countenances of those I +meet in the world!—They do not know themselves why there should be this +perpetual uneasiness, this jarring and discord within; but it is the +vain struggle of the soul, which God created in his own image, to fit +its strong, immortal nature for the society which men have framed after +their own devices. A <i>vain</i> struggle it is! succeeding only in +appearance, never in reality,—so we walk about the world the masks of +ourselves, pitying each other. When we meet truth we are as much +astonished as I used to be at the carnival, when, in the midst of a +crowd of fantastic, lifeless, painted faces, I met with some one who had +plucked away his mask and stuck it in his hat, and looked out upon me +with the real human smile.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Aurora Borealis is of almost nightly occurrence, but this evening it +has been more than usually resplendent; radiating up from the north, +and spreading to the east and west in form like a fan, the lower point +of a pale white, then yellow, amber, orange, successively, and the +extremities of a glowing crimson, intense, yet most delicate, like the +heart of an unblown rose. It shifted its form and hue at every moment, +flashing and waving like a banner in the breeze; and through this +portentous veil, transparent as light itself, the stars shone out with a +calm and steady brightness; and I thought, as I looked upon them, of a +character we both know, where, like those fair stars, the intellectual +powers shine serenely bright through a veil of passions, fancies, and +caprices. It is most awfully beautiful! I have been standing at my +window watching its evolutions, till it is no longer night, but morning.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>LAKE ONTARIO.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">April 15.</p> + +<p>The ice in the Bay of Toronto has been, during the winter months, from +four to five feet in thickness: within the last few days it has been +cracking in every direction with strange noises, and last night, during +a tremendous gale from the east, it was rent, and loosened, and driven +at once out of the bay. "It moveth altogether, if it move at all." The +last time I drove across the bay, the ice beneath me appeared as fixed +and firm as the foundations of the earth, and within twelve hours it has +disappeared, and to-day the first steam-boat of the season entered our +harbour. They called me to the window to see it, as, with flags and +streamers flying, and amid the cheers of the people, it swept +majestically into the bay. I sympathised with the general rejoicing, for +I can fully understand all the animation and bustle which the opening of +the navigation will bring to our torpid capital.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">May 19.</p> + +<p>This beautiful Lake Ontario!—my lake—for I begin to be in love with +it, and look on it as mine!—it changed its hues every moment, the +shades of purple and green fleeting over it, now dark, now lustrous, +now pale—like a dolphin dying; or, to use a more exact though less +poetical comparison, dappled, and varying like the back of a mackerel, +with every now and then a streak of silver light dividing the shades of +green: magnificent, tumultuous clouds came rolling round the horizon; +and the little graceful schooners, falling into every beautiful +attitude, and catching every variety of light and shade, came curtseying +into the bay: and flights of wild geese, and great black loons, were +skimming, diving, sporting over the bosom of the lake; and beautiful +little unknown birds, in gorgeous plumage of crimson and black, were +fluttering about the garden: all life, and light, and beauty were +abroad—the resurrection of Nature! How beautiful it was! how dearly +welcome to my senses—to my heart—this spring which comes at last—so +long wished for, so long waited for!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>ERINDALE.</h3> + +<p>—A very pretty place, with a very pretty name. A kind invitation led me +hither, to seek change of air, change of scene, and every other change I +most needed.</p> + +<p>The Britannia steam-boat, which plies daily between Toronto and +Hamilton, brought us to the mouth of the Credit River in an hour and a +half. By the orders of Mr. M * * *, a spring cart or wagon, the usual +vehicle of the country, was waiting by the inn, on the shore of the +lake, to convey me through the Woods to his house; and the master of the +inn, a decent, respectable man, drove the wagon. He had left England a +mere child, thirty years ago, with his father, mother, and seven +brothers and sisters, and eighteen years ago had come to Canada from the +United States, at the suggestion of a relation, to "settle in the bush," +the common term for uncleared land; at that time they had nothing, as he +said, but "health and hands." The family, now reduced to five, are all +doing well. He has himself a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, his +own property; his brother has much more; his sisters are well settled. +"Any man," said he, "with health and a pair of hands, could get on well +in this country, if it were not for <i>the drink; that</i> ruins hundreds."</p> + +<p>They are forming a harbour at the mouth of the river—widening and +deepening the channel; but, owing to the want of means and money during +the present perplexities, the works are not going on. There is a clean, +tidy inn, and some log and frame houses; the situation is low, swampy, +and I should suppose unhealthy; but they assured me, that though still +subject to ague and fever in the spring, every year diminished this +inconvenience, as the draining and clearing of the lands around was +proceeding rapidly.</p> + +<p>The River Credit is so called, because in <i>ancient</i> times (<i>i. e.</i> forty +or fifty years ago) the fur traders met the Indians on its banks, and +delivered to them on <i>credit</i> the goods for which, the following year, +they received the value, or rather ten times the value, in skins. In a +country where there is no law of debtor or creditor, no bonds, stamps, +bills, or bailiffs, no possibility of punishing, or even catching a +refractory or fraudulent debtor, but, on the contrary, every possibility +of being tomahawked by said debtor, this might seem a hazardous +arrangement; yet I have been assured by those long engaged in the trade, +both in the upper and lower province, that for an Indian to break his +engagements is a thing unheard of: and if, by any personal accident, he +should be prevented from bringing in the stipulated number of beaver +skins, his relatives and friends consider their honour implicated, and +make up the quantity for him.</p> + +<p>The fur trade has long ceased upon these shores, once the scene of +bloody conflicts between the Hurons and the Missassaguas. The latter +were at length nearly extirpated; a wretched, degenerate remnant of the +tribe still continued to skulk about their old haunts and the +burial-place of their fathers, which is a high mound on the west bank of +the river, and close upon the lake. These were collected by the +Methodist missionaries into a village or settlement, about two miles +farther on, where an attempt has been made to civilise and convert them. +The government has expended a large sum in aid of this charitable +purpose, and about fifty log-huts have been constructed for the Indians, +each hut being divided by a partition, and capable of lodging two or +more families. There is also a chapel and a school-house. Peter Jones, +otherwise Kahkewaquonaby, a half-caste Indian, is the second chief and +religious teacher; he was in England a few years ago to raise +contributions for his people, and married a young enthusiastic +Englishwoman with a small property. She has recently quitted the village +to return to Europe. There is, besides, a regular Methodist preacher +established here, who cannot speak one word of the language of the +natives, nor hold any communion with them, except through an +interpreter. He complained of the mortality among the children, and the +yearly diminution of numbers in the settlement. The greater number of +those who remain are half-breeds, and of these, some of the young women +and children are really splendid creatures; but the general appearance +of the place and people struck me as gloomy. The Indians, whom I saw +wandering and lounging about, and the squaws wrapped in dirty blankets, +with their long black hair falling over their faces and eyes, filled me +with compassion. When the tribe were first gathered together, they +amounted to seven hundred men, women, and children; there are now about +two hundred and twenty. The missionary and his wife looked dejected; he +told me that the conference never allowed them (the missionaries) to +remain with any congregation long enough to know the people, or take a +personal interest in their welfare. In general the term of their +residence in any settlement or district was from two to three years, and +they were then exchanged for another. Among the inhabitants a few have +cultivated the portion of land allotted to them, and live in comparative +comfort; three or four women (half-caste) are favourably distinguished +by the cleanliness of their houses, and general good conduct; and some +of the children are remarkably intelligent, and can read both their own +language and English; but these are exceptions, and dirt, indolence, +and drunkenness, are but too general. Consumption is the prevalent +disease, and carries off numbers<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> of these wretched people.</p> + +<p>After passing the Indian village, we plunged again into the depth of the +green forests, through a road or path which presented every now and then +ruts and abysses of mud, into which we sank nearly up to the axletree, +and I began to appreciate feelingly the fitness of a Canadian wagon. On +each side of this forest path the eye sought in vain to penetrate the +labyrinth of foliage, and intermingled flowers of every dye, where life +in myriad forms was creeping, humming, rustling in the air or on the +earth, on which the morning dew still glittered under the thick shades.</p> + +<p>From these woods we emerged, after five or six miles of travelling, and +arrived at Springfield, a little village we had passed through in the +depth of winter—how different its appearance now!—and diverging from +the road, a beautiful path along the high banks above the river Credit, +brought us to Erindale, for so Mr. M * * *, in fond recollection of his +native country, has named his romantic residence.</p> + +<p>Mr. M * * * is the clergyman and magistrate of the district, beside +being the principal farmer and land proprietor. His wife, sprung from a +noble and historical race, blended much sweetness and frankheartedness, +with more of courtesy and manner than I expected to find. My reception +was most cordial, though the whole house was in unusual bustle, for it +was the 4th of June, parade day, when the district militia were to be +turned out; and two of the young men of the family were buckling on +swords and accoutrements, and furbishing up helmets, while the sister +was officiating with a sister's pride at this military toilette, tying +on sashes and arranging epaulettes; and certainly when they +appeared—one in the pretty green costume of a rifleman, the other all +covered with embroidery as a captain of lancers—I thought I had seldom +seen two finer-looking men. After taking coffee and refreshments, we +drove down to the scene of action.</p> + +<p>On a rising ground above the river which ran gurgling and sparkling +through the green ravine beneath, the motley troops, about three or four +hundred men, were marshalled—no, not marshalled, but scattered in a far +more picturesque fashion hither and thither: a few log-houses and a +saw-mill on the river-bank, and a little wooden church crowning the +opposite height, formed the chief features of the scene. The boundless +forest spread all around us. A few men, well mounted, and dressed as +lancers, in uniforms which were, however, anything but uniform, +flourished backwards on the green sward, to the manifest peril of the +spectators; themselves and their horses, equally wild, disorderly, +spirited, undisciplined: but this was perfection compared with the +infantry. Here there was no uniformity attempted of dress, of +appearance, of movement; a few had coats, others jackets; a greater +number had neither coats nor jackets, but appeared in their +shirt-sleeves, white or checked, or clean or dirty, in edifying variety! +Some wore hats, others caps, others their own shaggy heads of hair. Some +had firelocks; some had old swords suspended in belts, or stuck in their +waistbands; but the greater number shouldered sticks or umbrellas. Mrs. +M * * * told us that on a former parade day she had heard the word of +command given thus—"Gentlemen with the umbrellas, take ground to the +right! Gentlemen with the walking sticks, take ground to the left!" Now +they ran after each other, elbowed and kicked each other, straddled, +stooped, chattered; and if the commanding officer turned his back for a +moment, very coolly sat down on the bank to rest. Not to laugh was +impossible, and defied all power of face. Charles M. made himself hoarse +with shouting out orders which no one obeyed, except, perhaps, two or +three men in the front; and James, with his horsemen, flourished their +lances, and galloped, and capered, and curveted to admiration. James is +the popular storekeeper and postmaster of the village, and when, after +the show, we went into his warehouse to rest, I was not a little amused +to see our captain of lancers come in, and, taking off his plumed +helmet, jump over the counter to serve one customer to a "pennyworth of +tobacco," and another to a "yard of check." Willy, the younger brother, +a fine young man, who had been our cavalier on the field, assisted; and +half in jest, half in earnest, I gravely presented myself as the +purchaser of something or other, which Willy served out with a laughing +gaiety and unembarrassed simplicity quite delightful. We returned to sit +down to a plain, plenteous, and excellent dinner; everything on the +table, the wine excepted, was the produce of their own farm. Our wine, +water, and butter were iced, and everything was the best of its kind.</p> + +<p>The parade day ended in a drunken bout and a riot, in which, as I was +afterwards informed, the colonel had been knocked down, and one or two +serious, and even fatal accidents had occurred; but it was all taken so +very lightly, so very much as a thing of course, in this half-civilised +community, that I soon ceased to think about the matter.</p> + +<p>The next morning I looked out from my window upon a scene of wild yet +tranquil loveliness. The house is built on the edge of a steep bank +(what in Scotland they term a <i>scaur</i>), perhaps a hundred feet high, and +descending precipitously to the rapid river.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The banks on either side +were clothed with overhanging woods, of the sumach, maple, tamarisk, +birch, in all the rich yet delicate array of the fresh opening year. +Beyond, as usual, lay the dark pine-forest: and near to the house there +were several groups of lofty pines, the original giant-brood of the +soil; beyond these again lay the "clearing." The sky was without a +cloud, and the heat intense. I found breakfast laid in the verandah: +excellent tea and coffee, rich cream, delicious hot cakes, new laid +eggs—a banquet for a king! The young men and their labourers had been +out since sunrise, and the younger ladies of the house were busied in +domestic affairs; the rest of us sat lounging all the morning in the +verandah; and in the intervals of sketching and reading, my kind host +and hostess gave me an account of their emigration to this country ten +years ago.</p> + +<p>Mr. M. was a Protestant clergyman of good family, and had held a +considerable living in Ireland; but such was the disturbed state of the +county in which he resided, that he was not only unable to collect his +tithes, but for several years neither his own life nor that of any of +his family was safe. They never went out unarmed, and never went to rest +at night without having barricadoed their house like a fortress. The +health of his wife began to fail under this anxiety, and at length, +after a severe struggle with old feelings and old habits, he came to the +determination to convert his Irish property into ready money, and +emigrate to Canada, with four fine sons, from seven to seventeen years +old, and one little daughter. Thus Canada has become an asylum, not only +for those who cannot pay tithes, but for those who cannot get them.</p> + +<p>Soon after his arrival, he purchased eight hundred acres of land along +the banks of the Credit. With the assistance of his sons and a few +labourers, he soon cleared a space of ground for a house, in a situation +of great natural beauty, but then a perfect wilderness; and with no +other aid, designed and built it in very pretty taste. Being thus secure +of lodging and shelter, they proceeded in their toilsome work—toilsome, +most laborious, he allowed it to be, but not unrewarded; and they have +now one hundred and fifty acres of land cleared and in cultivation; a +noble barn, entirely constructed by his sons, measuring sixty feet long +by forty in width; a carpenter's shop, a turning-lathe, in the use of +which the old gentleman and one of his sons are very ingenious and +effective; a forge; extensive outhouses; a farmyard well stocked; and a +house comfortably furnished, much of the ornamental furniture being +contrived, carved, turned, by the father and his sons. These young men, +who had received in Ireland the rudiments of a classical education, had +all a mechanical genius, and here, with all their energies awakened, and +all their physical and mental powers in full occupation, they are a +striking example of what may be done by activity and perseverance; they +are their own architects, masons, smiths, carpenters, farmers, +gardeners; they are, moreover, bold and keen hunters, quick in resource, +intelligent, cheerful, united by strong affection, and doating on their +gentle sister, who has grown up among these four tall, manly brothers, +like a beautiful azalia under the towering and sheltering pines. Then I +should add, that one of the young men knows something of surgery, can +bleed or set a broken limb in case of necessity; while another knows as +much of law as enables him to draw up an agreement, and settle the +quarrels and arrange the little difficulties of their poorer neighbours, +without having recourse to the "attorney."</p> + +<p>The whole family appear to have a lively feeling for natural beauty, and +a taste for natural history; they know the habits and the haunts of the +wild animals which people their forest domain; they have made +collections of minerals and insects; and have "traced each herb and +flower that sips the silvery dew." Not only the stout servant girl, +(whom I met running about with a sucking-pig in her arms, looking for +its mother,) and the little black boy Alick,—but the animals in the +farmyard, the old favourite mare, the fowls which come trooping round +the benignant old gentleman, or are the peculiar pets of the ladies of +the family,—the very dogs and cats appear to me, each and all, the most +enviable of their species. There is an atmosphere of benevolence and +cheerfulness breathing round, which penetrates to my very heart. I know +not when I have felt so quietly—so entirely happy—so full of +sympathy—so light-hearted—so inclined to shut out the world, and its +cares and vanities, and "fleet the time as they did i' the golden age."</p> + +<p>Mr. M. told me, that for the first seven or eight years they had all +lived and worked together on his farm; but latterly he had reflected +that though the proceeds of the farm afforded a subsistence, it did not +furnish the means of independence for his sons, so as to enable them to +marry and settle in the world. He has therefore established two of his +sons as storekeepers, the one in Springfield, the other at Streetsville, +both within a short distance of his own residence, and they have +already, by their intelligence, activity, and popular manners, succeeded +beyond his hopes.</p> + +<p>I could perceive that in taking this step there had been certain +prejudices and feelings to be overcome on his own part and that of his +wife: the family pride of the well-born Irish gentleman, and the +antipathy to anything like trade, once cherished by a certain class in +the old country—these were to be conquered, before he could reconcile +himself to the idea of his boys serving out groceries in a Canadian +village; but they <i>were</i> overcome. Some lingering of the "old Adam" made +him think it necessary to excuse—to account for this state of things. +He did not know with what entire and approving sympathy I regarded, not +the foolish national prejudices of my country, but the honest, generous +spirit and good sense through which he had conquered them, and provided +for the future independence of his children.</p> + +<p>I inquired concerning the extent of his parish, and the morals and +condition of his parishioners.</p> + +<p>He said that on two sides the district under his charge might be +considered as without bounds, for, in fact, there was no parish boundary +line between him and the North Pole. He has frequently ridden from +sixteen to thirty miles to officiate at a marriage or a funeral, or +baptize a child, or preach a sermon, wherever a small congregation could +be collected together; but latterly his increasing age rendered such +exertion difficult. His parish church is in Springfield. When he first +took the living, to which he was appointed on his arrival in the +country, the salary—for here there are no tithes—was two hundred a +year: some late measure, fathered by Mr. Hume, had reduced it to one +hundred. He spoke of this without bitterness as regarded himself, +observing that he was old, and had other means of subsistence; but he +considered it as a great injustice both to himself and to his +successors—"For," said he, "it is clear that no man could take charge +of this extensive district without keeping a good horse, and a boy to +rub him down. Now, in this country, where wages are high, he could not +keep a horse and a servant, and wear a whole coat, for less than one +hundred a year. No man, therefore, who had not other resources, could +live upon this sum; and no man who <i>had</i> other resources, and had +received a fitting education, would be likely to come here. I say +nothing of the toil, the fatigue, the deep responsibility—these belong +to his vocation, in which, though a man must labour, he need not surely +starve:—yet starve he must, unless he takes a farm or a store in +addition to his clerical duties. A clergyman in such circumstances could +hardly command the respect of his parishioners: what do <i>you</i> think, +madam?"</p> + +<p>When the question was thus put, I could only think the same: it seems to +me that there must be something wrong in the whole of this Canadian +church system, from beginning to end.</p> + +<p>With regard to the morals of the population around him, he spoke of two +things as especially lamentable, the prevalence of drunkenness, and the +early severing of parental and family ties; the first, partly owing to +the low price of whisky, the latter to the high price of labour, which +rendered it the interest of the young of both sexes to leave their home, +and look out and provide for themselves as soon as possible. This fact, +and its consequences, struck him the more painfully, from the contrast +it exhibited to the strong family affections, and respect for parental +authority, which even in the midst of squalid, reckless misery and ruin, +he had been accustomed to in poor Ireland. The general morals of the +women he considered infinitely superior to those of the men; and in the +midst of the horrid example and temptation, and one may add, +provocation, round them, their habits were generally sober. He knew +himself but two females abandoned to habits of intoxication, and in both +instances the cause had been the same—an unhappy home and a brutal +husband.</p> + +<p>He told me many other interesting circumstances and anecdotes, but being +of a personal nature, and his permission not expressly given, I do not +note them down here.</p> + +<p>On the whole, I shall never forget the few days spent with this +excellent family. We bade farewell, after many a cordial entreaty on +their part, many a promise on mine, to visit them again. Charles M. +drove me over to the Credit, where we met the steam-boat, and I returned +to Toronto with my heart full of kindly feelings, my fancy full of +delightful images, and my lap full of flowers, which Charles had +gathered for me along the margin of the forest: flowers such as we +transplant and nurture with care in our gardens and green-houses, most +dazzling and lovely in colour, strange and new to me in their forms, and +names, and uses: unluckily I am no botanist, so will not venture to +particularize farther; but one plant struck me particularly, growing +everywhere in thousands: the stalk is about two feet in height, and at +the top are two large fan-like leaves, one being always larger than the +other; from between the two springs a single flower, in size and shape +somewhat resembling a large wild rose, the petal white, just tinted with +a pale blush. The flower is succeeded by an oval-shaped fruit, which is +eaten, and makes an excellent preserve. They call it here the May-apple.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>LAKE ONTARIO.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">June 8.</p> + +<p>We have already exchanged "the bloom and ravishment of spring" for all +the glowing maturity of summer; we gasp with heat, we long for ices, and +are planning venetian blinds; and three weeks ago there was snow lying +beneath our garden fences, and not a leaf on the trees! In England, when +Nature wakes up from her long winter, it is like a sluggard in the +morning,—she opens one eye and then another, and shivers and draws her +snow coverlet over her face again, and turns round to slumber more than +once, before she emerges at last lazily and slowly, from her winter +chamber; but here, no sooner has the sun peeped through her curtains, +than up she springs, like a huntress for the chase, and dons her kirtle +of green, and walks abroad in full-blown life and beauty. I am basking +in her smile like an insect or a bird!—Apropos to birds, we have, alas! +no singing birds in Canada. There is, indeed, a little creature of the +ouzel kind, which haunts my garden, and has a low, sweet warble, to +which I listen with pleasure; but we have nothing like the rich, +continuous song of the nightingale or lark, or even the linnet. We have +no music in our groves but that of the frogs, which set up such a shrill +and perpetual chorus every evening, that we can scarce hear each other +speak. The regular manner in which the bass and treble voices respond to +each other is perfectly ludicrous, so that in the midst of my impatience +I have caught myself laughing. Then we have every possible variety of +note, from the piping squeak of the tree-frog, to the deep, guttural +croak, almost roar, of the bull-frog.</p> + +<p>The other day, while walking near a piece of water, I was startled by a +very loud deep croak, as like the croak of an ordinary frog, as the +bellow of a bull is like the bleat of a calf; and looking round, +perceived one of those enormous bull-frogs of the country seated with +great dignity on the end of a plank, and staring at me. The monster was +at least a foot in length, with a pair of eyes like spectacles; on +shaking my parasol at him, he plunged to the bottom in a moment. They +are quite harmless, I believe, though slander accuses them of attacking +the young ducks and chickens.</p> + +<p>There is considerable beauty around me—not that I am going to give you +descriptions of scenery, which are always, however eloquent, in some +respect failures. Words can no more give you a definite idea of the +combination of forms and colours in scenery, than so many musical notes: +music were, indeed, the better vehicle of the two. Felix Mendelssohn, +when a child, used to say, "I cannot tell you how such or such a thing +was—I cannot speak it—I will play it to you!"—and run to his piano: +sound was then to him a more perfect vehicle than words;—so, if I were +a musician, I would <i>play</i> you Lake Ontario, rather than describe it. +Ontario means <i>the beautiful</i>, and the word is worthy of its +signification, and the lake is worthy of its beautiful name; yet I can +hardly tell you in what this fascination consists: there is no scenery +around it, no high lands, no bold shores, no picture to be taken in at +once by the eye; the swamp and the forest enclose it, and it is so wide +and so vast that it presents all the monotony without the majesty of the +ocean. Yet, like that great ocean, when I lived beside it, the expanse +of this lake has become to me like the face of a friend. I have all its +various <i>expressions</i> by heart. I go down upon the green bank, or along +the King's Pier, which projects about two hundred yards into the bay. I +sit there with my book, reading sometimes, but oftener watching untired +the changeful colours as they flit over the bosom of the lake. Sometimes +a thunder-squall from the west sends the little sloops and schooners +sweeping and scudding into the harbour for shelter. Sometimes the sunset +converts its surface into a sea of molten gold, and sometimes the young +moon walks trembling in a path of silver; sometimes a purple haze floats +over its bosom like a veil; sometimes the wind blows strong, and the +wild turbid waves come rolling in like breakers, flinging themselves +over the pier in wrath and foam, or dancing like spirits in their glee. +Nor is the land without some charm. About four miles from Toronto the +river Humber comes down between high wood-covered banks, and rushes into +the lake: a more charming situation for villas and garden-houses could +hardly be desired than the vicinity of this beautiful little river, and +such no doubt we shall see in time.</p> + +<p>The opposite shore of the bay of Toronto is formed by a long sand-bank, +called "the Island," though, in fact, no island, but a very narrow +promontory, about three miles in length, and forming a rampart against +the main waters of the lake. At the extremity is a light-house, and a +few stunted trees and underwood. This marsh, intersected by islets and +covered with reeds, is the haunt of thousands of wild-fowl, and of the +terrapin, or small turtle of the lake; and as evening comes on, we see +long rows of red lights from the fishing-boats gleaming along the +surface of the water, for thus they spear the lake salmon, the bass, and +the pickereen.</p> + +<p>The only road on which it is possible to take a drive with comfort is +Yonge Street, which is macadamised for the first twelve miles. This road +leads from Toronto northwards to Lake Simcoe, through a well-settled and +fertile country. There are some commodious, and even elegant houses in +this neighbourhood. Dundas Street, leading west to the London district +and Lake Huron, is a very rough road for a carriage, but a most +delightful ride. On this side of Toronto you are immediately in the pine +forest, which extends with little interruption (except a new settlement +rising here and there) for about fifty miles to Hamilton, which is the +next important town. The wooded shores of the lake are very beautiful, +and abounding in game. In short, a reasonable person might make himself +very happy here, if it were not for some few things, among which, those +Egyptian plagues, the flies and frogs in summer, and the relentless iron +winter, are not the most intolerable; add, perhaps, the prevalence of +sickness at certain seasons. At present many families are flying off to +Niagara, for two or three days together, for change of air; and I am +meditating a flight myself, of such serious extent, that some of my +friends here laugh outright; others look kindly alarmed, and others +civilly incredulous. Bad roads, bad inns—or rather <i>no</i> roads, no +inns;—wild Indians, and white men more savage far than they;—dangers +and difficulties of every kind are threatened and prognosticated, enough +to make one's hair stand on end. To undertake such a journey <i>alone</i> is +rash perhaps—yet alone it must be achieved, I find, or not at all; I +shall have neither companion nor man-servant, nor <i>femme de chambre</i>, +nor even a "little foot-page" to give notice of my fate, should I be +swamped in a bog, or eaten up by a bear, or scalped, or disposed of in +some strange way; but shall I leave this fine country without seeing +anything of its great characteristic features?—and, above all, of its +aboriginal inhabitants? The French have a proverb which does honour to +their gallantry, and to which, from experience, I am inclined to give +full credence—"<i>Ce que femme veut, Dieu veut</i>." We shall see.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MADAME DE MAINTENON.</h3> + +<p>How admirable what Sir James Mackintosh says of Madame de +Maintenon!—that "she was as virtuous as the fear of hell and the fear +of shame could make her." The same might be said of the virtue of many +women I know, and of these, I believe, that more are virtuous from the +fear of shame than the fear of hell.—Shame is the woman's hell.</p> + +<p>Who that has lived in the world, in society, and looked on both with +observing eye, but has often been astonished at the fearlessness of +women, and the cowardice of men, with regard to public opinion? The +reverse would seem to be the natural, the necessary result of the +existing order of things, but it is not always so. Exceptions occur so +often, and so immediately within my own province of observation, that +they have made me reflect a good deal. Perhaps this seeming discrepancy +might be thus explained.</p> + +<p>Women are brought up in the fear of opinion, but, from their ignorance +of the world, they are in fact ignorant of that which they fear. They +fear opinion as a child fears a spectre, as something shadowy and +horrible, not defined or palpable. It is a fear based on habit, on +feeling, not on principle or reason. When their passions are strongly +excited, or when reason becomes matured, this exaggerated fear vanishes, +and the probability is, that they are immediately thrown into the +opposite extreme of incredulity, defiance, and rashness: but a man, even +while courage is preached to him, learns from habitual intercourse with +the world the immense, the terrible power of opinion. It wraps him round +like despotism; it is a reality to him; to a woman a shadow, and if she +can overcome the fear in her own person, all is overcome. A man fears +opinion for himself, his wife, his daughter; and if the fear of opinion +be brought into conflict with primary sentiments and principles, it is +ten to one but the habit of fear prevails, and opinion triumphs over +reason and feeling too.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MRS. MACMURRAY.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">June 13.</p> + +<p>In these latter days I have lived in friendly communion with so many +excellent people, that my departure from Toronto was not what I +anticipated—an escape on one side, or a riddance on the other. My +projected tour to the west has excited not only some interest, but much +kind solicitude; and aid and counsel have been tendered with a feeling +which touched me deeply.</p> + +<p>The first bell of the steam-boat had not yet rung, when one of my +friends came running up to tell me that the missionary from the +Sault-Saint-Marie, and his Indian wife, had arrived at Toronto, and were +then at the inn, and that there was just time to introduce me to them. +No sooner thought than done: in another moment we were in the hotel, and +I was introduced to Mrs. MacMurray, otherwise O-ge-ne-bu-go-quay, (i. e. +<i>the wild rose</i>).</p> + +<p>I must confess that the specimens of Indian squaws and half-caste women +I had met with, had in no wise prepared me for what I found in Mrs. +MacMurray. The first glance, the first sound of her voice, struck me +with a pleased surprise. Her figure is tall—at least it is rather above +than below the middle size, with that indescribable grace and undulation +of movement which speaks the perfection of form. Her features are +distinctly Indian, but softened and refined, and their expression at +once bright and kindly. Her dark eyes have a sort of fawn-like shyness +in their glance, but her manner, though timid, was quite free from +embarrassment or restraint. She speaks English well, with a slightly +foreign intonation, not the less pleasing to my ear that it reminded me +of the voice and accent of some of my German friends. In two minutes I +was seated by her—my hand kindly folded in hers—and we were talking +over the possibility of my plans. It seems that there is some chance of +my reaching the Island of Michilimackinac, but of the Sault-Saint-Marie +I dare hardly think as yet—it looms in my imagination dimly described +in far space, a kind of Ultima Thule; yet the sight of Mrs. MacMurray +seemed to give something definite to the vague hope which had been +floating in my mind. Her sister, she said, was married to the American +Indian agent at Michilimackinac, and from both she promised me a +welcome, should I reach their island. To her own far off home at the +Sault-Saint-Marie, between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, she warmly +invited me—without, however, being able to point out any conveyance or +mode of travelling thither that could be depended on—only a possible +chance of such. Meantime there was <i>some</i> hope of our meeting +<i>some</i>where on the road, but it was of the faintest. She thanked me +feelingly for the interest I took in her own fated race, and gave me +excellent hints as to my manner of proceeding. We were in the full tide +of conversation when the bell of the steam-boat rang for the last time, +and I was hurried off. On the deck of the vessel I found her husband, +Mr. MacMurray, who had only time to say, in fewest words, all that was +proper, polite, and hospitable. This rencontre, which some would call +accidental, and some providential, pleased and encouraged me. Then came +blessings, good wishes, kind pressures of the hand, and last adieus, and +waving of handkerchiefs from the shore, as the paddles were set in +motion, and we glided swiftly over the mirror-like bay.</p> + +<p>The day was sultry, the air heavy and still, and a strange fog, or +rather a series of dark clouds, hung resting on the bosom of the lake, +which in some places was smooth and transparent as glass—in others, +little eddies of wind had ruffled it into tiny waves, or welts +rather—so that it presented the appearance of patchwork. The boatmen +looked up, and foretold a storm; but when we came within three or four +miles from the mouth of the river Niagara, the fog drew off like a +curtain, and the interminable line of the dark forest came into view, +stretching right and left along the whole horizon; then the white +buildings of the American fort, and the spires of the town of Niagara, +became visible against the rich purple-green back-ground, and we landed +after a four hours' voyage. The threatened storm came on that night. The +summer storms of Canada are like those of the tropics: not in Italy, not +among the Apennines, where I have in my time heard the "live thunder +leaping from crag to crag," did I ever hear such terrific explosions of +sound as burst over our heads this night. The silence and the darkness +lent an added horror to the elemental tumult—and for the first time in +my life I felt sickened and unpleasantly affected in the intervals +between the thunder-claps, though I cannot say I felt fear. Meantime the +rain fell as in a deluge, threatening to wash us into the lake, which +reared itself up, and roared—like a monster for its prey.</p> + +<p>Yet, the next morning, when I went down upon the shore, how beautiful +it looked—the hypocrite!—there it lay rocking and sleeping in the +sunshine, quiet as a cradled infant. Niagara, in its girdle of verdure +and foliage, glowing with fresh life, and breathing perfume, appeared to +me a far different place from what I had seen in winter. As I stood on +the shore, quietly thinking, I was startled by the sound of the +death-bell, pealing along the sunny blue waters. They said it was tolled +for a young man of respectable family, who, at the age of three or four +and twenty, had died from habitual drinking; his elder brother having a +year or two before fallen from his horse in a state of intoxication, and +perished in consequence. Yes, everything I see and hear on this subject +convinces me that it should be one of the first objects of the +government to put down, by all and every means, a vice which is rotting +at the core of this colony—poisoning the very sources of existence; but +all their taxes, and prohibitions, and excise laws, will do little good, +unless they facilitate the means of education. In society, the same +evening, the appearance of a very young, very pretty, sad-looking +creature, with her first baby at her bosom, whose husband was staggering +and talking drunken gibberish at her side, completed the impression of +disgust and affright with which the continual spectacle of this vile +habit strikes me since I have been in this country.</p> + +<p>Before quitting the subject of Niagara, I may as well mention an +incident which occurred shortly afterwards, on my last visit to the +town, which interested me much at the time, and threw the whole of this +little community into a wonderful ferment.</p> + +<h3>THE SLAVE.</h3> + +<p>A black man, a slave somewhere in Kentucky, having been sent on a +message, mounted on a very valuable horse, seized the opportunity of +escaping. He reached Buffalo after many days of hard riding, sold the +horse, and escaped beyond the lines into Canada. Here, as in all the +British dominions, God be praised! the slave is slave no more, but free, +and protected in his freedom.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> This man acknowledged that he had not +been ill treated; he had received some education, and had been a +favourite with his master. He gave as a reason for his flight, that he +had long wished to marry, but was resolved that his children should not +be born slaves. In Canada, a runaway slave is assured of legal +protection; but, by an international compact between the United States +and our provinces, all felons are mutually surrendered. Against this +young man the jury in Kentucky had found a true bill for horse-stealing; +as a felon, therefore, he was pursued, and, on the proper legal +requisition, arrested; and then lodged in the jail of Niagara, to be +given up to his master, who, with an American constable, was in +readiness to take him into custody, as soon as the government order +should arrive. His case excited a strong interest among the whites, +while the coloured population, consisting of many hundreds in the +districts of Gore and Niagara, chiefly refugees from the States, were +half frantic with excitement. They loudly and openly declared that they +would peril their lives to prevent his being carried again across the +frontiers, and surrendered to the vengeance of his angry master. +Meantime there was some delay about legal forms, and the mayor and +several of the inhabitants of the town united in a petition to the +governor in his favour. In this petition it was expressly mentioned, +that the master of the slave had been heard to avow that his intention +was not to give the culprit up to justice, but to make what he called an +<i>example</i> of him. Now there had been lately some frightful instances of +what the slave proprietors of the south called "making an example;" and +the petitioners entreated the governor to interpose, and save the man +from a torturing death "under the lash or at the stake." Probably the +governor's own humane feelings pleaded even more strongly in behalf of +the poor fellow. But it was a case in which he could not act from +feeling, or, "to do a great right, do a little wrong." The law was too +expressly and distinctly laid down, and his duty as governor was clear +and imperative—to give up the felon, although, to have protected the +slave, he would, if necessary, have armed the province.</p> + +<p>In the mean time the coloured people assembled from the adjacent +villages, and among them a great number of their women. The conduct of +this black mob, animated and even directed by the females, was really +admirable for its good sense, forbearance, and resolution. They were +quite unarmed, and declared their intention not to commit any violence +against the English law. The culprit, they said, might lie in the jail, +till they could raise among them the price of the horse; but if any +attempt were made to take him from the prison, and send him across to +Lewiston, they would resist it at the hazard of their lives.</p> + +<p>The fatal order <i>did</i> at length come; the sheriff with a party of +constables prepared to enforce it. The blacks, still unarmed, assembled +round the jail, and waited till their comrade, or their brother as they +called him, was brought out and placed handcuffed in a cart. They then +threw themselves simultaneously on the sheriff's party, and a dreadful +scuffle ensued; the artillery men from the little fort, our only +military, were called in aid of the civil authorities, and ordered to +fire on the assailants. Two blacks were killed, and two or three +wounded. In the <i>melée</i> the poor slave escaped, and has not since been +retaken, neither was he, I believe, pursued.</p> + +<p>But it was the conduct of the women which, on this occasion, excited the +strongest surprise and interest. By all those passionate and persuasive +arguments that a woman knows so well how to use, whatever be her colour, +country, or class, they had prevailed on their husbands, brothers, and +lovers to use no arms, to do no illegal violence, but to lose their +lives rather than see their comrade taken by force across the lines. +They had been most active in the fray, throwing themselves fearlessly +between the black men and the whites, who, of course, shrank from +injuring them. One woman had seized the sheriff, and held him pinioned +in her arms; another, on one of the artillery-men presenting his piece, +and swearing that he would shoot her if she did not get out of his way, +gave him only one glance of unutterable contempt, and with one hand +knocking up his piece, and collaring him with the other, held him in +such a manner as to prevent his firing. I was curious to see a mulatto +woman who had been foremost in the fray, and whose intelligence and +influence had mainly contributed to the success of her people; M——, +under pretence of inquiring after a sick child, drove me round to the +hovel in which she lived, outside the town. She came out to speak to us. +She was a fine creature, apparently about five-and-twenty, with a kindly +animated countenance; but the feelings of exasperation and indignation +had evidently not yet subsided. She told us, in answer to my close +questioning, that she had formerly been a slave in Virginia; that, so +far from being ill treated, she had been regarded with especial kindness +by the family on whose estate she was born. When she was about sixteen +her master died, and it was said that all the slaves on the estate would +be sold, and therefore she ran away. "Were you not attached to your +mistress?" I asked. "Yes," said she, "I liked my mistress, but I did not +like to be sold." I asked her if she was happy here in Canada? She +hesitated a moment, and then replied, on my repeating the question, +"Yes—that is, I <i>was</i> happy here—but now—I don't know—I thought we +were safe <i>here</i>—I thought nothing could touch us <i>here</i>, on your +British ground, but it seems I was mistaken, and if so, I won't stay +here—I won't—I won't! I'll go and find some country where they cannot +reach us! I'll go to the end of the world, I will!" And as she spoke, +her black eyes flashing, she extended her arms, and folded them across +her bosom, with an attitude and expression of resolute dignity, which a +painter might have studied; and truly the fairest white face I ever +looked on never beamed with more of soul and high resolve than hers at +that moment.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>NIAGARA IN SUMMER.</h3> + +<p>Between the town of Queenston and the cataract of Niagara lies the +pretty little village of Stamford (close to Lundy Lane, the site of a +famous battle in the last war), and celebrated for its fine air. Near it +is a beautiful house with its domain, called Stamford Park, built and +laid out by a former governor (Sir Peregrine Maitland). It is the only +place I saw in Upper Canada combining our ideas of an elegant, +well-furnished English villa and ornamented grounds, with some of the +grandest and wildest features of the forest scene. It enchanted me +altogether. From the lawn before the house, an open glade, commanding a +park-like range of broken and undulating ground and wooded valleys, +displayed beyond them the wide expanse of Lake Ontario, even the Toronto +light-house, at a distance of thirty miles, being frequently visible to +the naked eye. By the hostess of this charming seat I was conveyed in a +light pony carriage to the hotel at the Falls, and left, with real +kindness, to follow my own devices. The moment I was alone, I hurried +down to the Table-rock. The body of water was more full and tremendous +than in the winter. The spray rose, densely falling again in thick +showers, and behind those rolling volumes of vapour the last gleams of +the evening light shone in lurid brightness, amid amber and crimson +clouds; on the other side, night was rapidly coming on, and all was +black, impenetrable gloom, and "boundless contiguity of shade." It was +very, very beautiful, and strangely awful too! For now it was late, and +as I stood there, lost in a thousand reveries, there was no human being +near, no light but that reflected from the leaping, whirling foam; and +in spite of the deep-voiced continuous thunder of the cataract, there +was such a stillness that I could hear my own heart's pulse throb—or +did I mistake feeling for hearing?—so I strayed homewards, or +housewards I should say, through the leafy, gloomy, pathways,—wet with +the spray, and fairly tired out.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The good people, travellers, describers, poets, and others, who seem to +have hunted through the dictionary for words in which to depict these +cataracts under every aspect, have never said enough of the rapids +above—even for which reason, perhaps, they have struck me the more; not +that any words in any language would have prepared me for what I now +feel in this wondrous scene. Standing to-day on the banks above the +Crescent Fall, near Mr. Street's mill, gazing on the rapids, they left +in my fancy two impressions which seldom meet together,—that of the +sublime and terrible, and that of the elegant and graceful—like a tiger +at play. I could not withdraw my eyes; it was like a fascination.</p> + +<p>The verge of the rapids is considerably above the eye; the whole mighty +river comes rushing over the brow of a hill, and as you look up, it +seems coming down to overwhelm you. Then meeting with the rocks, as it +pours down the declivity, it boils and frets like the breakers of the +ocean. Huge mounds of water, smooth, transparent, and gleaming like the +emerald, or rather like the more delicate hue of the chrysopaz, rise up +and bound over some unseen impediment, then break into silver foam, +which leaps into the air in the most graceful fantastic forms; and so it +rushes on, whirling, boiling, dancing, sparkling along, with a playful +impatience, rather than overwhelming fury, rejoicing as if escaped from +bondage, rather than raging in angry might,—wildly, magnificently +beautiful! The idea, too, of the immediate danger, the consciousness +that anything caught within its verge is inevitably hurried to a swift +destination, swallowed up, annihilated, thrills the blood; the immensity +of the picture, spreading a mile at least each way, and framed in by the +interminable forests, adds to the feeling of grandeur; while the giddy, +infinite motion of the headlong waters, dancing and leaping, and +revelling and roaring, in their mad glee, gave me a sensation of +rapturous terror, and at last caused a tension of the nerves in my head, +which obliged me to turn away.</p> + +<p>The great ocean, when thus agitated by conflicting winds or opposing +rocks, is a more tremendous thing, but it is merely tremendous,—it +makes us think of our prayers; whereas, while I was looking on these +rapids, beauty and terror, and power and joy, were blended, and so +thoroughly, that even while I trembled and admired, I could have burst +into a wild laugh, and joined the dancing billows in their glorious, +fearful mirth,—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Leaping like Bacchanals from rock to rock,</span> +<span class="i0">Flinging the frantic Thyrsus wild and high!</span> +</div></div> + +<p>I shall never see again, or feel again, aught like it—never! I did not +think there was an object in nature, animate or inanimate, that could +thus overset me!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>To-day I accompanied the family of Colonel Delatre to the American side, +and dined on Goat Island. Though the various views of the two cataracts +be here wonderfully grand and beautiful, and the bridge across the +rapids a sort of miracle, as they say, still it is not altogether to be +compared to the Canadian shore for picturesque scenery. The Americans +have disfigured their share of the rapids with mills and manufactories, +and horrid red brick houses, and other unacceptable, unseasonable sights +and signs of sordid industry. Worse than all is the round tower, which +some profane wretch has erected on the Crescent Fall; it stands there so +detestably impudent and <i>mal-à-propos</i>,—it is such a signal, yet puny +monument of bad taste,—so miserably <i>mesquin</i>, and so presumptuous, +that I do hope the violated majesty of nature will take the matter in +hand, and overwhelm or cast it down the precipice one of these fine +days, though indeed a barrel of gunpowder were a shorter if not a surer +method. Can you not send us out some Guy Faux, heroically ready to be +victimised in the great cause of insulted nature, and no less insulted +art? But not to tire you with descriptions of precipices, caves, rocks, +woods, and rushing waters, which I can buy here ready made for sixpence, +I will only tell you that our party was very pleasant.</p> + +<p>The people who have spoken or written of these Falls of Niagara, have +surely never done justice to their loveliness, their inexpressible, +inconceivable beauty. The feeling of their beauty has become with me a +deeper feeling than that of their sublimity. What a scene this evening! +What splendour of colour! The emerald and chrysopaz of the transparent +waters, the dazzling gleam of the foam, and the snow-white vapour, on +which was displayed the most perfect and gigantic iris I ever +beheld,—forming not a half, but at least two thirds of an entire +circle, one extremity resting on the lesser (or American) Fall, the +other in the very lap of the Crescent Fall, spanning perhaps half a +mile, perfectly resplendent in hue—so gorgeous, so vivid, and yet so +ethereally delicate, and apparently within a few feet of the eye; the +vapours rising into the blue heavens at least four hundred feet, three +times the height of the Falls, and tinted rose and amber with the +evening sun; and over the woods around every possible variety of the +richest foliage,—no, nothing was ever so transcendently lovely! The +effect, too, was so grandly uniform in its eternal sound and movement: +it was quite different from that of those wild, impatient, tumultuous +rapids. It soothed, it melted, it composed, rather than excited.</p> + +<p>There are no water-fowl now as in the winter—when driven from the +ice-bound shores and shallows of the lake, they came up here to seek +their food, and sported and wheeled amid the showers of spray. They have +returned to their old quiet haunts; sometimes I miss them: they were a +beautiful variety in the picture.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>BUFFALO.</h3> + +<p>After an absence of a few days, during which there had raged a perpetual +storm, I came back to the Clifton Hotel, to find my beautiful Falls +quite spoiled and discoloured. Instead of the soft aquamarine hue, +relieved with purest white, a dull dirty brown now imbued the waters. +This is owing to the shallowness of Lake Erie, where every storm turns +up the muddy bed from the bottom, and discolours the whole river. The +spray, instead of hovering in light clouds round and above the +cataracts, was beaten down, and rolled in volumes round their base; then +by the gusty winds driven along the surface of the river hither and +thither, covering everything in the neighbourhood with a small rain. I +sat down to draw, and in a moment the paper was wet through. It is as if +all had been metamorphosed during my absence—and I feel very +disconsolate.</p> + +<p>The whole of this district between the two great lakes is superlatively +beautiful, and was the first settled district in Upper Canada; it is now +the best cultivated. The population is larger in proportion to its +extent than that of any other district. In Niagara, and in the +neighbouring district of Gore, many fruits come to perfection, which are +not found to thrive in other parts of the province, and cargoes of +fruit are sent yearly to the cities of Lower Canada, where the climate +is much more severe and the winter longer than with us.</p> + +<p>On the other side the country is far less beautiful, and they say less +fertile, but rich in activity and in population; and there are within +the same space at least half a dozen flourishing towns. Our speculating +energetic Yankee neighbours, not satisfied with their Manchester, their +manufactories, and their furnaces, and their mill "privileges," have +opened a railroad from Lewiston to Buffalo, thus connecting Lake Erie +with the Erie Canal. On our side, we have the Welland Canal, a +magnificent work, of which the province is justly proud; it unites Lake +Erie with Lake Ontario.</p> + +<p>Yet from the Falls all along the shores of the Lake Erie to the Grand +River and far beyond it, the only place we have approaching to a town is +Chippewa, just above the rapids, as yet a small village, but lying +immediately in the road from the Western States to the Falls. From +Buffalo to this place the Americans run a steam-boat daily; they have +also planned a suspension bridge across the Niagara river, between +Lewiston and Queenston. Another village, Dunnville, on the Grand River, +is likely to be the commercial depôt of that part of the province; it is +situated where the Welland Canal joins Lake Erie.</p> + +<p>As the weather continued damp and gloomy, without hope of change, a +sudden whim seized me to go to Buffalo for a day or two; so I crossed +the turbulent ferry to Manchester, and thence an engine, snorting, +shrieking like fifty tortured animals, conveyed us to Tonawando<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>, once +a little village of Seneca Indians, now rising into a town of some size +and importance; and there to my great delight I encountered once more my +new friends, Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, who were on their return from +Toronto to the Sault-Sainte-Marie. We proceeded on to Buffalo together, +and during the rest of the day had some pleasant opportunities of +improving our acquaintance.</p> + +<p>Buffalo, as all travel-books will tell you, is a very fine young +city, about ten years old, and containing already about twenty thousand +inhabitants. There is here the largest and most splendid hotel I have +ever seen, except at Frankfort. Long rows of magnificent +houses—not of painted wood, but of brick and stone—are +rising on every side.</p> + +<p>The season is unusually dull and dead, and I hear nothing but complaints +around me; but compared to our Canadian shore, all here is bustle, +animation, activity. In the port I counted about fifty vessels, sloops, +schooners and steam-boats; the crowds of people buying, selling, +talking, bawling; the Indians lounging by in their blankets, the men +looking so dark, and indifferent, and lazy; the women so busy, +care-worn, and eager; and the numbers of sturdy children, squalling, +frisking among the feet of busy sailors,—formed altogether a strange +and amusing scene.</p> + +<p>On board the Michigan steamer, then lying ready for her voyage up the +lakes to Chicago, I found all the arrangements magnificent to a degree I +could not have anticipated. This is one of three great steam-boats +navigating the Upper Lakes, which are from five to seven hundred tons +burthen, and there are nearly forty smaller ones coasting Lake Erie, +between Buffalo and Detroit, besides schooners.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE ENGLISH EMIGRANT.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">June 27.</p> + +<p>In a strange country much is to be learned by travelling in the public +carriages: in Germany and elsewhere I have preferred this mode of +conveyance, even when the alternative lay within my choice, and I never +had reason to regret it.</p> + +<p>The Canadian stage-coaches<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> are like those of the United States, heavy +lumbering vehicles, well calculated to live in roads where any decent +carriage must needs founder. In one of these I embarked to return to the +town of Niagara, thence to pursue my journey westward: a much easier and +shorter course had been by the lake steamers; but my object was not +haste, nor to see merely sky and water, but to see the country.</p> + +<p>In the stage-coach two persons were already seated—an English emigrant +and his wife, with whom I quickly made acquaintance after my usual +fashion. The circumstances and the story of this man I thought worth +noting—not because there was anything uncommon or peculiarly +interesting in his case, but simply because his case is that of so many +others, while the direct good sense, honesty, and intelligence of the +man pleased me exceedingly.</p> + +<p>He told me that he had come to America in his own behalf and that of +several others of his own class—men who had each a large family and a +small capital, who found it difficult to <i>get on</i> and settle their +children in England. In his own case, he had been some years ago the +only one of his trade in a flourishing country town where he had now +fourteen competitors. Six families, in a similar position, had delegated +him on a voyage of discovery: it was left to him to decide whether they +should settle in the United States or in the Canadas; so leaving his +children at school in Long Island, "he was just," to use his own phrase, +"taking a turn through the two countries, to look about him and gather +information before he decided, and had brought his little wife to see +the grand Falls of Niagara, of which he had heard so much in the old +country."</p> + +<p>As we proceeded, my companion mingled with his acute questions, and his +learned calculations on crops and prices of land, certain observations +on the beauty of the scenery, and talked of lights and shades and +foregrounds, and effects, in very homely, plebeian English, but with so +much of real taste and feeling that I was rather astonished, till I +found he had been a printseller and frame-maker, which last branch of +trade had brought him into contact with artists and amateurs; and he +told me, with no little exultation, that among his stock of moveables, +he had brought out with him several fine drawings of Prout, Hunt, and +even Turner, acquired in his business. He said he had no wish at present +to part with these, for it was his intention, wherever he settled, to +hang them up in his house, though that house were a log-hut, that his +children might have the pleasure of looking at them, and learn to +distinguish what is excellent in its kind.</p> + +<p>The next day, on going on from Niagara to Hamilton in a storm of rain, I +found, to my no small gratification, the English emigrant and his quiet, +silent little wife, already seated in the stage, and my only <i>compagnons +de voyage</i>. In the deportment of this man there was that deferential +courtesy which you see in the manners of respectable tradesmen, who are +brought much into intercourse with their superiors in rank, without, +however, a tinge of servility; and his conversation amused and +interested me more and more. He told me he had been born on a farm, and +had first worked as a farmer's boy, then as a house-carpenter, lastly, +as a decorative carver and gilder, so that there was no kind of business +to which he could not readily turn his hand. His wife was a good +sempstress, and he had brought up all his six children to be useful, +giving them such opportunities of acquiring knowledge as he could. He +regretted his own ignorance, but, as he said, he had been all his life +too busy to find time for reading much. He was, however, resolved that +his boys and girls should read, because, as he well observed, "every +sort of knowledge, be it much or little, was sure to turn to account, +some time or other." His notions on education, his objections to the +common routine of common schools, and his views for his children, were +all marked by the same originality and good sense. Altogether he +appeared to be, in every respect, just the kind of settler we want in +Upper Canada. I was therefore pleased to hear that hitherto he was +better satisfied with the little he had seen of this province than with +those States of the Union through which he had journeyed; he said truly, +it was more "home-like, more English-like." I did my best to encourage +him in this favourable opinion, promising myself that the little I might +be able to do to promote his views, that I <i>would</i> do.</p> + +<h3>THE DRUNKARD.</h3> + +<p>While the conversation was thus kept up with wonderful pertinacity, +considering that our vehicle was reeling and tumbling along the +detestable road, pitching like a scow among the breakers in a +lake-storm, our driver stopped before a vile little log-hut, over the +door of which hung, crooked-wise, a board, setting forth that "wiskey +and tabacky" were to be had there. The windows were broken, and the loud +voice of some intoxicated wretch was heard from within, in one +uninterrupted, torrent of oaths and blasphemies, so shocking in their +variety, and so new to my ears, that I was really horror-struck.</p> + +<p>After leaving the hut, the coach stopped again. I called to the driver +in some terror, "You are not surely going to admit that drunken man into +the coach?" He replied coolly, "O no, I an't; don't you be afeard!" In +the next moment he opened the door, and the very wretch I stood in fear +of was tumbled in head foremost, smelling of spirits, and looking—O +most horrible! Expostulation was in vain. Without even listening, the +driver shut the door, and drove on at a gallop. The rain was at this +time falling in torrents, the road knee-deep in mud, the wild forest on +either side of us dark, grim, impenetrable. Help there was none, nor +remedy, nor redress, nor hope, but in patience. Here then was one of +those inflictions to which speculative travellers are exposed now and +then, appearing, <i>for the time</i>, to outweigh all the possible advantages +of experience or knowledge bought at such a price.</p> + +<p>I had never before in my whole life been obliged to endure the presence +or proximity of such an object for two minutes together, and the +astonishment, horror, disgust, even to sickness and loathing, which it +now inspired, are really unspeakable. The Englishman placing himself in +the middle seat, in front of his wife and myself, did his best to +protect us from all possibility of contact with the object of our +abomination; while the wretched being, aware of our adverse feeling, put +on at one moment an air of chuckling self-complacency, and the next +glared on us with ferocious defiance. When I had recovered myself +sufficiently to observe, I could see that the man was not more than +five-and-twenty, probably much younger, with a face and figure which +must have been by nature not only fine, but uncommonly fine, though now +deformed, degraded, haggard with filth and inflamed with inebriety—a +dreadful and humiliating spectacle. Some glimmering remains of sense and +decency prevented him from swearing and blaspheming when once in the +coach; but he abused us horribly: his nasal accent, and his drunken +objurgations against the old country, and all who came from it, betrayed +his own birth and breeding to have been on the other side of the +Niagara, or "down east." Once he addressed some words to me, and, +offended by my resolute silence, he exclaimed with a scowl, and a hiccup +of abomination at every word, "I should like—to know—madam—how—I +came under your diabolical influence?" Here my friend the emigrant, +seeing my alarm, interposed, and a scene ensued, which, in spite of the +horrors of this horrible propinquity, was irresistibly comic, and not +without its pathetic significance too, now I think of it. The +Englishman, forgetting that the condition of the man placed him for the +time beyond the influence of reasoning or sympathy, began with grave and +benevolent earnestness to lecture him on his profligate habits, +expressing his amazement and his pity at seeing such a fine young man +fallen into such evil ways, and exhorting him to amend,—the fellow, +meanwhile, rolling himself from side to side with laughter. But suddenly +his countenance changed, and he said, with a wistful expression, and the +tears in his eyes, "Friend, do you believe in the devil?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do," replied the Englishman with solemnity.</p> + +<p>"Then it's your opinion, I guess, that a man may be tempted by the +devil?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I should suppose as how that has been your case, friend; +though," added he, looking at him from head to foot with no equivocal +expression, "I think the devil himself might have more charity than to +put a man in such a pickle."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?" exclaimed the wretch fiercely, and for the +first time uttering a horrid oath. The emigrant only replied by shaking +his head significantly; and the other, after pouring forth a volley of +abuse against the insolence of the "old country folk," stretched himself +on his back, and kicking up his legs on high, and setting his feet +against the roof of the Coach, fell asleep in this attitude, and snored, +till, at the end of a long hour, he was tumbled out at the door of +another drinking hovel as he had tumbled in, and we saw him no more.</p> + +<h3>HAMILTON.</h3> + +<p>The distance from the town of Niagara to Hamilton is about forty miles. +We had left the former place at ten in the morning, yet it was nearly +midnight before we arrived, having had no refreshment during the whole +day. It was market-day, and the time of the assizes, and not a bed to be +had at the only tolerable hotel, which, I should add, is large and +commodious. The people were civil beyond measure, and a bed was made up +for me in a back parlour, into which I sank half starved, and very +completely tired.</p> + +<p>The next day rose bright and beautiful, and I amused myself walking up +and down the pretty town for two or three hours.</p> + +<p>Hamilton is the capital of the Gore district, and one of the most +flourishing places in Upper Canada. It is situated at the extreme point +of Burlington Bay, at the head of Lake Ontario, with a population, +annually increasing, of about three thousand. The town is about a mile +from the lake shore, a space which, in the course of time, will probably +be covered with buildings. I understand that seventeen thousand bushels +of wheat were shipped here in one month. There is a bank here; a +court-house and jail looking unfinished, and the commencement of a +public reading-room and literary society, of which I cannot speak from +my own knowledge, and which appears as yet in embryo. Some of the +linendrapers' shops, called here clothing stores, and the grocery +stores, or shops for all descriptions of imported merchandise, made a +very good appearance; and there was an air of business, and bustle, and +animation about the place, which pleased me. I saw no bookseller's shop, +but a few books on the shelves of a grocery store, of the most common +and coarse description.</p> + +<p>I should not forget to mention, that in the Niagara and Gore districts +there is a vast number of Dutch and German settlers, favourably +distinguished by their industrious, sober, and thriving habits. They are +always to be distinguished in person and dress from the British +settlers; and their houses and churches, and, above all, their +burial-places, have a distinct and characteristic look. At Berlin, the +Germans have a printing-press, and publish a newspaper in their own +language, which is circulated among their countrymen through the whole +province.</p> + +<p>At Hamilton I hired a light <i>wagon</i>, as they call it, a sort of gig +perched in the middle of a wooden tray, wherein my baggage was stowed; +and a man to drive me over to Brandtford, the distance being about +five-and-twenty miles, and the charge five dollars. The country all the +way was rich, and beautiful, and fertile beyond description—the roads +abominable as could be imagined to exist. So I then thought, but have +learned since that there are degrees of badness in this respect, to +which the human imagination has not yet descended. I remember a space of +about three miles on this road, bordered entirely on each side by dead +trees, which had been artificially blasted by fire, or by girdling. It +was a ghastly forest of tall white spectres, strangely contrasting with +the glowing luxurious foliage all around.</p> + +<p>The pity I have for the trees in Canada, shows how far I am yet from +being a true Canadian. How do we know that trees do not feel their +downfall? We know nothing about it. The line which divides animal from +vegetable sensibility is as undefined as the line which divides animal +from human intelligence. And if it be true "that nothing dies on earth +but nature mourns," how must she mourn for these the mighty children of +her bosom—her pride, her glory, her garment? Without exactly believing +the assertion of the old philosopher, quoted by Evelyn, that a tree +<i>feels</i> the first stroke of the axe, I know I never witness nor hear the +first stroke without a shudder; and as yet I cannot look on with +indifference, far less share the Canadian's exultation, when these huge +oaks, these umbrageous elms and stately pines, are lying prostrate, +lopped of all their honours, and piled in heaps with the brushwood, to +be fired,—or burned down to a charred and blackened fragment,—or +standing, leafless, sapless, seared, ghastly, having been "girdled," and +left to perish. The "Fool i' the Forest" moralised not more quaintly +over the wounded deer, than I could sometimes over those prostrate and +mangled trees. I remember, in one of the clearings to-day, one +particular tree which had been burned and blasted; only a blackened +stump of mouldering bark—a mere shell remained; and from the centre of +this, as from some hidden source of vitality, sprang up a young green +shoot, tall and flourishing, and fresh and leafy. I looked and thought +of hope! Why, indeed, should we ever despair? Can Heaven do for the +blasted tree what it cannot do for the human heart?</p> + +<p>The largest place we passed was Ancaster, very prettily situated among +pastures and rich woods, and rapidly improving.</p> + +<p>Before sunset I arrived at Brandtford, and took a walk about the town +and its environs. The situation of this place is most beautiful—on a +hill above the left bank of the Grand River. And as I stood and traced +this noble stream, winding through richly-wooded flats, with green +meadows and cultivated fields, I was involuntarily reminded of the +Thames near Richmond; the scenery has the same character of tranquil and +luxuriant beauty.</p> + +<p>In Canada the traveller can enjoy little of the interest derived from +association, either historical or poetical. Yet the memory of General +Brock, and some anecdotes of the last war, lend something of this kind +of interest to the Niagara frontier; and this place, or rather the name +of this place, has certain recollections connected with it, which might +well make an idle contemplative wayfarer a little pensive.</p> + +<h3>THE CHIEF BRANDT.</h3> + +<p>Brandt was the chief of that band of Mohawk warriors which served on the +British side during the American War of Independence. After the +termination of the contest, the "Six Nations" left their ancient seats +to the south of Lake Ontario, and having received from the English +Government a grant of land along the banks of the Grand River, and the +adjacent shore of Lake Erie, they settled here under their chief, +Brandt, in 1783. Great part of this land, some of the finest in the +province, has lately been purchased back from them by the Government +and settled by thriving English farmers.</p> + +<p>Brandt, who had intelligence enough to perceive and acknowledge the +superiority of the whites in all the arts of life, was at first anxious +for the conversion and civilisation of his nation; but I was told by a +gentleman who had known him, that after a visit he paid to England, this +wish no longer existed. He returned to his own people with no very +sublime idea either of our morals or manners, and died in 1807.</p> + +<p>He is the Brandt whom Campbell has handed down to most undeserved +execration as the leader in the massacre at Wyoming. The poet indeed +tells us, in the notes to Gertrude of Wyoming, that all he has said +against Brandt must be considered as pure fiction, "for that he was +remarkable for his humanity, and not even present at the massacre;" but +the name stands in the text as heretofore, apostrophised as the +"accursed Brandt," the "monster Brandt;" and is not this most unfair, to +be hitched into elegant and popular rhyme as an assassin by wholesale, +and justice done in a little fag-end of prose?</p> + +<p>His son, John Brandt, received a good education, and was member of the +house of assembly for his district. He too died in a short time before +my arrival in this country; and the son of his sister, Mrs. Kerr, is at +present the hereditary chief of the Six Nations.</p> + +<p>They consist at present of two thousand five hundred, out of the seven +or eight thousand who first settled here. Here, as everywhere else, the +decrease of the Indian population settled on the reserved lands is +uniform. The white population throughout America is supposed to double +itself on an average in twenty-three years; in about the same proportion +do the Indians perish before them.</p> + +<p>The interests and property of these Indians are at present managed by +the Government. The revenue arising from the sale of their lands is in +the hands of commissioners, and much is done for their conversion and +civilisation. It will, however, be the affair of two, or three, or more +generations; and by that time not many, I am afraid, will be left. +Consumption makes dreadful havoc among them. At present they have +churches, schools, and an able missionary who has studied their +language, besides several resident Methodist preachers. Of the two +thousand five hundred already mentioned, the far greater part retain +their old faith and customs, having borrowed from the whites only those +habits which certainly "were more honoured in the breach than in the +observance." I saw many of these people, and spoke to some, who replied +with a quiet, self-possessed courtesy, and in very intelligible English. +One group which I met outside the town, consisting of two young men in +blanket coats and leggings, one haggard old woman, with a man's hat on +her head, a blue blanket and deer-skin moccasins, and a very beautiful +girl, apparently not more than fifteen, similarly dressed, with long +black hair hanging loose over her face and shoulders, and a little baby, +many shades fairer than herself, peeping from the folds of her blanket +behind,—altogether reminded me of a group of gipsies, such as I have +seen on the borders of Sherwood Forest many years ago.</p> + +<h3>BRANDTFORD.</h3> + +<p>The Grand River is navigable for steam-boats from Lake Erie up to the +landing-place, about two miles below Brandtford, and from thence a canal +is to be cut, some time or other, to the town. The present site of +Brandtford was chosen on account of those very rapids which do indeed +obstruct the navigation, but turn a number of mills, here of the first +importance. The usual progress of a Canadian village is this: first, on +some running stream, the erection of a saw-mill and grist-mill for the +convenience of the neighbouring scattered settlers; then a few shanties +or log-houses for the work-people; then a grocery-store; then a +tavern—a chapel—perchance a school-house.</p> + +<p>Not having been properly forewarned, I unfortunately allowed the driver +to take me to a wrong inn. I ought to have put up at the Mansion-house, +well kept by a retired half-pay British officer; instead of which I was +brought to the Commercial Hotel, newly undertaken by an American. I sent +to the landlord to say I wished to speak to him about proceeding on my +journey next day. The next moment the man walked into my bed-room +without hesitation or apology. I was too much accustomed to foreign +manners to be greatly discomfited; but when he proceeded to fling his +hat down on my bed, and throw himself into the only arm-chair in the +room, while I was standing, I must own I did look at him with some +surprise. To those who have been accustomed to the almost servile +courtesy of English innkeepers, the manners of the innkeepers in the +United States are not pleasant. I cannot say they ever discomposed me: I +always met with civility and attention; but the manners of the country +innkeepers in Canada are worse than anything you can meet with in the +United States, being generally kept by refugee Americans of the lowest +class, or by Canadians who, in affecting American manners and +phraseology, grossly exaggerate both.</p> + +<p>In the present case I saw at once that no incivility was intended; my +landlord was ready at a fair price to drive me over himself, in his own +"wagon," to Woodstock; and after this was settled, finding, after a few +questions, that the man was really a most stupid, ignorant fellow, I +turned to the window, and took up a book, as a hint for him to be gone. +He continued, however, to lounge in the chair, rocking himself in +silence to and fro, till at last he <i>did</i> condescend to take my hint, +and to take his departure.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At ten o'clock next morning, a little vehicle, like that which brought +me from Hamilton, was at the door; and I set off for Woodstock, driven +by my American landlord, who showed himself as good-natured and civil as +he was impenetrably stupid.</p> + +<p>No one who has a single atom of imagination, can travel through these +forest roads of Canada without being strongly impressed and excited. The +seemingly interminable line of trees before you; the boundless +wilderness around; the mysterious depths amid the multitudinous foliage, +where foot of man hath never penetrated,—and which partial gleams of +the noontide sun, now seen, now lost, lit up with a changeful magical +beauty,—the wondrous splendour and novelty of the flowers,—the +silence, unbroken but by the low cry of a bird, or hum of insect, or the +splash and croak of some huge bull-frog,—the solitude in which we +proceeded mile after mile, no human being, no human dwelling within +sight,—are all either exciting to the fancy, or oppressive to the +spirits, according to the mood one may be in.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>DRIVE TO WOODSTOCK.</h3> + +<p>I observed some birds of a species new to me; there was the lovely +blue-bird, with its brilliant violet plumage; and a most gorgeous +species of woodpecker, with a black head, white breast, and back and +wings of the brightest scarlet; hence it is called by some the +field-officer, and more generally the cock of the woods. I should have +called it the coxcomb of the woods, for it came flitting across our +road, clinging to the trees before us, and remaining pertinaciously in +sight, as if conscious of its own splendid array, and pleased to be +admired.</p> + +<p>There was also the Canadian robin, a bird as large as a thrush, but in +plumage and shape resembling the sweet bird at home "that wears the +scarlet stomacher." There were great numbers of small birds of a bright +yellow, like canaries, and I believe of the same genus. Sometimes, when +I looked up from the depth of foliage to the blue firmament above, I saw +an eagle sailing through the air on apparently motionless wings. Nor let +me forget the splendour of the flowers which carpeted the woods on +either side. I might have exclaimed with Eichendorff,</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O Welt! Du schöne welt, Du!</span> +<span class="i0"> Mann sieht Dich vor Blümen kaum!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>for thus in some places did a rich embroidered pall of flowers literally +<i>hide</i> the earth. There those beautiful plants, which we cultivate with +such care in our gardens, azalias, rhododendrons, all the gorgeous +family of the lobelia, were flourishing in wild luxuriance. Festoons of +creeping and parasitical plants hung from branch to branch. The purple +and scarlet iris, blue larkspur, and the elegant Canadian columbine with +its bright pink flowers; the scarlet lychnis, a species of orchis of the +most dazzling geranium-colour, and the white, and yellow, and purple +cyprepedium<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>, bordered the path, and a thousand others of most +resplendent hues, for which I knew no names. I could not pass them with +forbearance, and my Yankee driver, alighting, gathered for me a superb +bouquet from the swampy margin of the forest. I contrived to fasten my +flowers in a wreath along the front of the wagon, that I might enjoy at +leisure their novelty and beauty. How lavish, how carelessly profuse, is +Nature in her handiwork! In the interior of the cyprepedium, which I +tore open, there was variety of configuration and colour, and gem-like +richness of ornament, enough to fashion twenty different flowers; and +for the little fly, in jewelled cuirass, which I found couched within +its recesses—what a palace! that of Aladdin could not have been more +splendid!</p> + +<p>From Brandtford we came to Paris, a new settlement, beautifully +situated, and thence to Woodstock, a distance of eighteen miles. There +is no village, only isolated inns, far removed from each other. In one +of these, kept by a Frenchman, I dined on milk and eggs and excellent +bread. Here I found every appearance of prosperity and plenty. The +landlady, an American woman, told me they had come into this wilderness +twenty years ago, when there was not another farmhouse within fifty +miles. She had brought up and settled in comfort several sons and +daughters. An Irish farmer came in, who had refreshments spread for him +in the porch, and with whom I had some amusing conversation. He, too, +was prospering with a large farm and a large family—here a blessing and +a means of wealth, too often in the old country a curse and a burden. +The good-natured fellow was extremely scandalised by my homely and +temperate fare, which he besought me to mend by accepting a glass of +whisky out of his own travelling-store, genuine potheen, which he swore +deeply, and not unpoetically, "had never seen God's beautiful world, nor +the blessed light of day, since it had been bottled in ould Ireland." He +told me, boastingly, that at Hamilton he had made eight hundred dollars +by the present extraordinary rise in the price of wheat. In the early +part of the year wheat had been selling for three or four dollars a +bushel, and rose this summer to twelve and fourteen dollars a bushel, +owing to the immense quantities exported during the winter to the back +settlements of Michigan and the Illinois.</p> + +<h3>ROADS IN CANADA.</h3> + +<p>The whole drive would have been productive of unmixed enjoyment, but for +one almost intolerable drawback. The roads were throughout so execrably +bad, that no words can give you an idea of them. We often sank into +mud-holes above the axletree; then, over trunks of trees laid across +swamps, called here corduroy roads, were my poor bones dislocated. A +wheel here and there, or broken shaft lying by the way-side, told of +former wrecks and disasters. In some places they had, in desperation, +flung huge boughs of oak into the mud abyss, and covered them with clay +and sod, the rich green foliage projecting on either side. This sort of +illusive contrivance would sometimes give way, and we were nearly +precipitated into the midst. By the time we arrived at Blandford, my +hands were swelled and blistered by continually grasping with all my +strength an iron bar in front of my vehicle, to prevent myself from +being flung out, and my limbs ached wofully. I never beheld or imagined +such roads. It is clear that the people do not apply any, even the +commonest, principles of roadmaking; no drains are cut, no attempt is +made at levelling or preparing a foundation. The settlers around are too +much engrossed by the necessary toil for a daily subsistence to give a +moment of their time to road-making, without compulsion or good payment. +The statute labour does not appear to be duly enforced by the +commissioners and magistrates, and there are no labourers, and no spare +money: specie, never very plentiful in these parts, is not to be had at +present, and the 500,000<i>l</i>. voted during the last session of the +provincial parliament for the repair of the roads is not yet even +raised, I believe.</p> + +<p>Nor is this all: the vile state of the roads, the very little +communication between places not far distant from each other, leave it +in the power of ill-disposed persons to sow mischief among the ignorant, +isolated people.</p> + +<p>On emerging from a forest road seven miles in length, we stopped at a +little inn to refresh the poor jaded horses. Several labourers were +lounging about the door, and I spoke to them of the horrible state of +the roads. They agreed, one and all, that it was entirely the fault of +the Government; that their welfare was not cared for; that it was true +that money had been voted for the roads, but that before anything could +be done, or a shilling of it expended, it was always necessary to write +to the old country to ask the king's permission—which might be sent or +not—who could tell? And meantime they were ruined for want of roads, +which it was nobody's business to reclaim.</p> + +<p>It was in vain that I attempted to point out to the orator of the party +the falsehood and absurdity of this notion. He only shook his head, and +said he knew better.</p> + +<p>One man observed, that as the team of Admiral Vansittart (one of the +largest proprietors in the district) had lately broken down in a +mud-hole, there was some hope that the roads about here might be looked +to.</p> + +<p>About sunset I arrived at Blandford, dreadfully weary, and fevered, and +bruised, having been more than nine hours travelling twenty-five miles; +and I must needs own that not all my <i>savoir faire</i> could prevent me +from feeling rather dejected and shy, as I drove up to the residence of +a gentleman, to whom, indeed, I had not a letter, but whose family, as I +had been assured, were prepared to receive me. It was rather formidable +to arrive thus, at fall of night, a wayfaring lonely woman, spiritless, +half-dead with fatigue, among entire strangers; but my reception set me +at ease in a moment. The words "We have been long expecting you!" +uttered in a kind, cordial voice, sounded "like sweetest music to +attending ears." A handsome, elegant-looking woman, blending French ease +and politeness with English cordiality, and a whole brood of lively +children of all sizes and ages, stood beneath the porch to welcome me +with smiles and outstretched hands. Can you imagine my bliss, my +gratitude?—no!—impossible, unless you had travelled for three days +through the wilds of Canada. In a few hours I felt quite at home, and my +day of rest was insensibly prolonged to a week, spent with this amiable +and interesting family—a week, ever while I live, to be remembered +with pleasurable and grateful feelings.</p> + +<h3>WOODSTOCK.</h3> + +<p>The region of Canada in which I now find myself, is called the London +District; you will see its situation at once by a glance on the map. It +lies between the Gore District and the Western District, having to the +south a large extent of the coast of Lake Erie; and on the north the +Indian territories, and part of the southern shore of Lake Huron. It is +watered by rivers flowing into both lakes, but chiefly by the river +Thames, which is here (about one hundred miles from its mouth) a small +but most beautiful stream, winding like the Isis at Oxford. Woodstock, +the nearest <i>village</i>, as I suppose I must in modesty call it, is fast +rising into an important town, and the whole district is, for its +scenery, fertility, and advantages of every kind, perhaps the finest in +Upper Canada.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The society in this immediate neighbourhood is particularly good; +several gentlemen of family, superior education, and large capital, +(among whom is the brother of an English and the son of an Irish peer, a +colonel and a major in the army,) have made very extensive purchases of +land, and their estates are in flourishing progress.</p> + +<p>One day we drove over to the settlement of one of these magnificos, +Admiral Vansittart, who has already expended upwards of twenty thousand +pounds in purchases and improvements. His house is really a curiosity, +and at the first glance reminded me of an African village—a sort of +Timbuctoo set down in the woods; it is two or three miles from the high +road, in the midst of the forest, and looked as if a number of log-huts +had jostled against each other by accident, and there stuck fast.</p> + +<p>The admiral had begun, I imagine, by erecting, as is usual, a log-house, +while the woods were clearing; then, being in want of space, he added +another, then another and another, and so on, all of different shapes +and sizes, and full of a seaman's contrivances—odd galleries, passages, +porticos, corridors, saloons, cabins and cupboards; so that if the +outside reminded me of an African village, the interior was no less like +that of a man-of-war.</p> + +<p>The drawing-room, which occupies an entire building, is really a noble +room, with a chimney in which they pile twenty oak logs at once. Around +this room runs a gallery, well lighted with windows from without, +through which there is a constant circulation of air, keeping the room +warm in winter and cool in summer. The admiral has, besides, so many +ingenious and inexplicable contrivances for warming and airing his +house, that no insurance office will insure him upon any terms. +Altogether it was the most strangely picturesque sort of dwelling I ever +beheld. The admiral's sister, an accomplished woman of independent +fortune, has lately arrived from Europe, to take up her residence in the +wilds. Having recently spent some years in Italy, she has brought out +with her all those pretty objects of <i>virtù</i>, with which English +travellers load themselves in that country. Here, ranged round the room, +I found views of Rome and Naples; tazzi, and marbles, and sculpture in +lava, or alabaster; miniature copies of the eternal Sibyl and Cenci, +Raphael's Vatican, &c.—things not wonderful nor rare in themselves—the +wonder was to see them here.</p> + +<p>The woods are yet close up to the house; but there is a fine +well-cultivated garden, and the process of clearing and log-burning +proceeds all around with great animation.</p> + +<p>On Sunday we attended the pretty little church at Woodstock, which was +filled by the neighbouring settlers of all classes: the service was well +read, and the hymns were sung by the ladies of the congregation. The +sermon, which treated of some abstract and speculative point of +theology, seemed to me not well adapted to the sort of congregation +assembled. The situation of those who had here met together to seek a +new existence in a new world, might have afforded topics of instruction, +praise, and gratitude, far more practical, more congenial, more +intelligible, than a mere controversial essay on a disputed text, which +elicited no remark nor sympathy that I could perceive. After the +service, the congregation remained some time assembled before the +church-door, in various and interesting groups—the well-dressed +families of settlers who had come from many miles' distance in vehicles +well suited to the roads—that is to say, carts, or as they call them +here teams or wagons; the belles and the beaux of "the Bush," in Sunday +trim—and innumerable children. Many were the greetings and inquiries; +the news and gossip of all the neighbourhood had to be exchanged. The +conversation among the ladies was of marriages and births—lamentations +on the want of servants, and the state of the roads—the last arrival of +letters from England—and speculations upon the character of a new +neighbour come to settle in the Bush: Among the gentlemen, it was of +crops and clearings, lumber, price of wheat, road-mending, +deer-shooting, log-burning, and so forth—subjects in which I felt a +lively interest and curiosity; and if I could not take a very brilliant +and prominent part in the discourse, I could at least listen, like the +Irish corn-field, "with all my ears."</p> + +<p>I think it was this day at dinner that a gentleman described to me a +family of Mohawk Indians, consisting of seven individuals, who had +encamped upon some of his uncleared land in two wigwams. They had made +their first appearance in the early spring, and had since subsisted by +hunting, selling their venison for whisky or tobacco; their appearance +and situation were, he said, most wretched, and their indolence extreme. +Within three months, five out of the seven were dead of consumption; two +only were left—languid, squalid, helpless, hopeless, heartless.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>BLANDFORD.</h3> + +<p>After several pleasant and interesting visits to the neighbouring +settlers, I took leave of my hospitable friends at Blandford with deep +and real regret; and, in the best and only vehicle which could be +procured—videlicet, a baker's cart—set out for London, the chief town +of the district; the distance being about thirty miles—a long day's +journey; the cost seven dollars.</p> + +<p>The man who drove me proved a very intelligent and civilised person. He +had come out to Canada in the capacity of a gentleman's servant; he now +owned some land—I forget how many acres—and was besides baker-general +for a large neighbourhood, rarely receiving money in pay, but wheat, and +other farm produce. He had served as constable of the district for two +years, and gave me some interesting accounts of his thief-taking +expeditions through the wild forests in the deep winter nights. He +considered himself, on the whole, a prosperous man. He said he should be +quite happy here, were it not for his wife, who fretted and pined +continually after her "home."</p> + +<p>The case of this poor fellow with his discontented wife is of no +unfrequent occurrence in Canada; and among the better class of settlers +the matter is worse still, the suffering more acute, and of graver +consequences.</p> + +<p>I have not often in my life met with contented and cheerful-minded +women, but I never met with so many repining and discontented women as +in Canada. I never met with <i>one</i> woman recently settled here, who +considered herself happy in her new home and country: I <i>heard</i> of one, +and doubtless there are others, but they are exceptions to the general +rule. Those born here, or brought here early by their parents and +relations, seemed to me very happy, and many of them had adopted a sort +of pride in their new country, which I liked much. There was always a +great desire to visit England, and some little airs of self-complacency +and superiority in those who had been there, though for a few months +only; but all, without a single exception, returned with pleasure, +unable to forego the early habitual influences of their native land.</p> + +<p>I like patriotism and nationality in women. Among the German women both +these feelings give a strong tincture to the character; and, seldom +disunited, they blend with peculiar grace in our sex: but with a great +statesman they should stand well distinguished. Nationality is not +always patriotism, and patriotism is not, necessarily, nationality. The +English are more patriotic than national; the Americans generally more +national than patriotic; the Germans both national and patriotic.</p> + +<p>I have observed that really accomplished women, accustomed to what is +called the best society, have more resources here, and manage better, +than some women who have no pretensions of any kind, and whose claims +to social distinction could not have been great anywhere, but whom I +found lamenting over themselves as if they had been so many exiled +princesses.</p> + +<p>Imagine the position of a fretful, frivolous woman, strong neither in +mind nor frame, abandoned to her own resources in the wilds of Upper +Canada! No—nothing can be imagined so pitiable, so ridiculous, and, to +borrow the Canadian word, "so shiftless."</p> + +<p>My new friend and kind hostess was a being of quite a different stamp; +and though I believe she was far from thinking that she had found in +Canada a terrestrial paradise, and the want of servants and the +difficulty of educating her family as she wished, were subjects of great +annoyance to her; yet these and other evils she had met with a cheerful +spirit. Here, amid these forest wilds, she had recently given birth to a +lovely baby, the tenth, or indeed I believe the twelfth, of a flock of +manly boys and blooming girls. Her eldest daughter mean time, a fair and +elegant girl, was acquiring, at the age of fifteen, qualities and habits +which might well make ample amends for the possession of mere +accomplishments. She acted as manager in chief, and glided about in her +household avocations with a serene and quiet grace which was quite +charming.</p> + +<h3>OXFORD.</h3> + +<p>The road, after leaving Woodstock, pursued the course of the winding +Thames. We passed by the house of Colonel Light, in a situation of +superlative natural beauty on a rising ground above the river. A lawn, +tolerably cleared, sloped down to the margin, while the opposite shore +rose clothed in varied woods, which had been managed with great taste, +and a feeling for the picturesque not common here; but the Colonel being +himself an accomplished artist accounts for this. We also passed +Beechville, a small but beautiful village, round which the soil is +reckoned very fine and fertile; a number of most respectable settlers +have recently bought land and erected houses here. The next place we +came to was Oxford, or rather Ingersol, where we stopped to dine and +rest previous to plunging into an extensive forest called the Pine +Woods.</p> + +<p>Oxford is a little village, presenting the usual saw-mill, +grocery-store and tavern, with a dozen shanties congregated on the bank +of the stream, which is here rapid and confined by high banks. Two +back-woodsmen were in deep consultation over a wagon which had broken +down in the midst of that very forest road we were about to traverse, +and which they described as most execrable—in some parts even +dangerous. As it was necessary to gird up my strength for the +undertaking, I laid in a good dinner, consisting of slices of dried +venison, broiled, hot cakes of Indian corn, eggs, butter, and a bowl of +milk. Of this good fare I partook in company with the two back-woodsmen, +who appeared to me perfect specimens of their class—tall and strong, +and bronzed and brawny, and shaggy and unshaven—very much like two +bears set on their hind legs; rude, but not uncivil, and spare of +speech, as men who had lived long at a distance from their kind. They +were too busy, however, and so was I, to feel or express any mutual +curiosity. Time was valuable, appetite urgent; so we discussed our +venison steaks in silence, and after dinner I proceeded.</p> + +<p>The forest land through which I had lately passed was principally +covered with <i>hard timber</i>, as oak, walnut, elm, basswood. We were now +in a forest of pines, rising tall and dark, and monotonous on either +side. The road, worse certainly "than fancy ever feigned or fear +conceived," put my neck in perpetual jeopardy. The driver had often to +dismount and partly fill up some tremendous hole with boughs before we +could pass, or drag or lift the wagon over trunks of trees; or we +sometimes sank into abysses from which it is a wonder to me that we +<i>ever</i> emerged. A natural question were—why did you not get out and +walk?—Yes indeed! I only wish it had been possible. Immediately on the +border of the road, so called, was the wild, tangled, untrodden thicket, +as impervious to the foot as the road was impassable, rich with +vegetation, variegated verdure, and flowers of loveliest dye, but the +haunt of the rattlesnake, and all manner of living and creeping things +not pleasant to encounter, or even to think of.</p> + +<p>The mosquitos, too, began to be troublesome; but not being yet in full +force, I contrived to defend myself pretty well, by waving a green +branch before me whenever my two hands were not employed in forcible +endeavours to keep my seat. These seven miles of pine forest we +traversed in three hours and a half; and then succeeded some miles of +open flat country called the Oak Plains, and so called because covered +with thickets and groups of oak dispersed with a park-like and beautiful +effect; and still flowers, flowers everywhere. The soil appeared sandy, +and not so rich as in other parts. The road was comparatively good; and +as we approached London, clearings and new settlements appeared on every +side.</p> + +<p>The sun had set amid a tumultuous mass of lurid threatening clouds, and +a tempest was brooding in the air, when I reached the town, and found +very tolerable accommodations in the principal inn. I was so terribly +bruised and beaten with fatigue, that to move was impossible, and even +to speak too great an effort. I cast my weary aching limbs upon the bed, +and requested of the very civil and obliging young lady who attended to +bring me some books and newspapers. She brought me thereupon an old +compendium of geography, published at Philadelphia forty years ago, and +three old newspapers.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>LONDON.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">July 5.</p> + +<p>The next morning the weather continued very lowering and stormy. I +received several visitors, who, hearing of my arrival, had come with +kind offers of hospitality and attention, such as are most grateful to a +solitary stranger. I had also much conversation relative to the place +and people, and the settlements around; and then I took a long walk +about the town, of which I here give you the results.</p> + +<p>When Governor Simcoe was planning the foundation of a capital for the +whole province, he fixed at first upon the present site of London, +struck by its many and obvious advantages. Its central position in the +midst of these great lakes, being at an equal distance from Huron, Erie, +and Ontario, in the finest and most fertile district of the whole +province, on the bank of a beautiful stream, and at a safe distance from +the frontier, all pointed it out as the most eligible site for a +metropolis; but there was the want of land and water communication—a +want which still remains the only drawback to its rising prosperity. A +canal or railroad, running from Toronto and Hamilton to London, then +branching off on the right to the harbour of Goderich on Lake Huron, and +on the left to Sandwich on Lake Erie, were a glorious thing!—the one +thing needful to make this fine country the granary and storehouse of +the west; for here all grain, all fruits which flourish in the south of +Europe, might be cultivated with success—the finest wheat and rice, and +hemp and flax, and tobacco. Yet, in spite of this want, soon, I trust, +to be supplied, the town of London has sprung up and become within ten +years a place of great importance. In size and population it exceeds +every town I have yet visited, except Toronto and Hamilton. The first +house was erected in 1827; now, that is in 1837, it contains more than +two hundred frame or brick houses; and there are many more building. The +population may be about thirteen hundred people. The jail and +court-house, comprised in one large stately edifice, seemed the glory of +the townspeople. As for the style of architecture, I may not attempt to +name or describe it; but a gentleman informed me, in rather equivocal +phrase, that it was "<i>somewhat Gothic</i>." There are five places of +worship, for the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman +Catholics, and Baptists. The church is handsome. There are also three or +four schools, and seven taverns. The Thames is very beautiful here, and +navigable for boats and barges. I saw to-day a large timber raft +floating down the stream, containing many thousand feet of timber. On +the whole, I have nowhere seen such evident signs of progress and +prosperity.</p> + +<p>The population consists principally of artisans—as blacksmiths, +carpenters, builders, all flourishing. There is, I fear, a good deal of +drunkenness and profligacy; for though the people have work and wealth, +they have neither education nor amusements. Besides the seven taverns, +there is a number of little grocery stores, which are, in fact, drinking +houses. And though a law exists, which forbids the sale of spirituous +liquors in small quantities by any but licensed publicans, they easily +contrive to elude the law; as thus:—a customer enters the shop, and +asks for two or three pennyworth of nuts, or cakes, and he receives a +few nuts, and a large glass of whisky. The whisky, you observe, is +given, not sold, and no one can swear to the contrary. In the same +manner, the severe law against selling intoxicating liquors to the poor +Indians is continually eluded or violated, and there is no redress for +the injured, no punishment to reach the guilty. It appears to me that +the Government should be more careful in the choice of the +district-magistrates. While I was in London, a person who acted in this +capacity was carried from the pavement dead drunk.</p> + +<h3>WOMEN IN CANADA.</h3> + +<p>Here, as everywhere else, I find the women of the better class lamenting +over the want of all society, except of the lowest grade in manners and +morals. For those who have recently emigrated, and are settled more in +the interior, there is absolutely no social intercourse whatever; it is +quite out of the question. They seem to me perishing of <i>ennui</i>, or from +the want of sympathy which they cannot obtain, and, what is worse, which +they cannot feel: for being in general unfitted for out-door +occupations, unable to comprehend or enter into the interests around +them, and all their earliest prejudices and ideas of the fitness of +things continually outraged in a manner exceedingly unpleasant, they may +be said to live in a perpetual state of inward passive discord and +fretful endurance—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"All too timid and reserved</span> +<span class="i0"> For onset, for resistance too inert—</span> +<span class="i0"> Too weak for suffering, and for hope too tame."</span> +</div></div> + +<p>In women, as now educated, there is a strength of local habits and +attachments, a want of cheerful self-dependence, a cherished physical +delicacy, a weakness of temperament,—deemed, and falsely deemed, in +deference to the pride of man, essential to feminine grace and +refinement,—altogether unfitting them for a life which were otherwise +delightful:—the active out-of-door life in which she must share and +sympathise, and the inn-door occupations which in England are considered +servile; for a woman who cannot perform for herself and others all +household offices, has no business here. But when I hear some men +declare that they cannot endure to see women eat, and others speak of +brilliant health and strength in young girls as being rude and vulgar, +with various notions of the same kind too grossly absurd and perverted +even for ridicule, I cannot wonder at any nonsensical affectations I +meet with in my own sex; nor can I do otherwise than pity the mistakes +and deficiencies of those who are sagely brought up with the one end and +aim—to get married.</p> + +<p>A woman, blessed with good health, a cheerful spirit, larger sympathies, +larger capabilities of reflection and action, some knowledge of herself, +her own nature, and the common lot of humanity, with a plain +understanding, which has been allowed to throw itself out unwarped by +sickly fancies and prejudices,—such a woman would be as happy in Canada +as anywhere in the world. A weak, frivolous, half-educated, or +ill-educated woman may be as miserable in the heart of London as in the +heart of the forest. But there her deficiencies are not so injurious, +and are supplied to herself and others by the circumstances and +advantages around her.</p> + +<p>I have heard it laid down as a principle, that the purpose of education +is to fit us for the circumstances in which we are likely to be placed. +I deny it absolutely. Even if it could be exactly known (which it +cannot) what those circumstances may be, I should still deny it. +Education has a far higher object. I remember to have read of some +Russian prince (was it not Potemkin?), who, when he travelled, was +preceded by a gardener, who around his marquee scattered an artificial +soil, and stuck into it shrubs and bouquets of flowers, which, while +assiduously watered, looked pretty for twenty-four hours perhaps, then +withered or were plucked up. What shallow barbarism to take pleasure in +such a mockery of a garden! better the wilderness—better the waste! +that forest, that rock yonder, with creeping weeds around it! An +education that is to fit us for circumstances, seems to me like that +Russian garden. No; the true purpose of education is to cherish and +unfold the seed of immortality already sown within us; to develope, to +their fullest extent, the capacities of every kind with which God who +made us has endowed us. Then we shall be fitted for all circumstances, +or know how to fit circumstances to ourselves. Fit us for circumstances! +Base and mechanical! Why not set up at once a "<i>fabrique d'education</i>," +and educate us by steam? The human soul, be it man's or woman's, is not, +I suppose, an empty bottle, into which you shall pour and cram just what +you like, and as you like; nor a plot of waste soil, in which you shall +sow what you like; but a divine, a living germ planted by an almighty +hand, which you may indeed render more or less productive, or train to +this or that form—no more. And when you have taken the oak sapling, and +dwarfed it, and pruned it, and twisted it, into an ornament for the +jardinière in your drawing-room, much have you gained truly; and a +pretty figure your specimen is like to make in the broad plain and under +the free air of heaven!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE TALBOT COUNTRY.</h3> + +<p>The plan of travel I had laid down for myself did not permit of my +making any long stay in this new London. I was anxious to push on to the +Talbot Settlement, or, as it is called here, the Talbot <i>Country</i>, a +name not ill-applied to a vast tract of land stretching from east to +west along the shore of Lake Erie, and of which Colonel Talbot is the +sovereign <i>de facto</i>, if not <i>de jure</i>—be it spoken without any +derogation to the rights of our lord the king. This immense settlement, +the circumstances to which it owed its existence, and the character of +the eccentric man who founded it on such principles as have insured its +success and prosperity, altogether inspired me with the strongest +interest and curiosity.</p> + +<p>To the residence of this "big chief," as an Indian styled him—a +solitary mansion on a cliff above Lake Erie, where he lived alone in his +glory—was I now bound, without exactly knowing what reception I was to +meet there, for that was a point which the despotic habits and +eccentricities of this hermit-lord of the forest rendered a little +doubtful. The reports I had heard of his singular manners, of his being +a sort of woman-hater, who had not for thirty years allowed a female to +appear in his sight, I had partly discredited, yet enough remained to +make me feel a little nervous. However, my resolution was taken, and the +colonel had been apprised of my intended visit, though of his gracious +acquiescence I was yet to learn; so, putting my trust in Providence, as +heretofore, I prepared to encounter the old buffalo in his lair.</p> + +<p>From the master of the inn at London I hired a vehicle and a driver for +eight dollars. The distance was about thirty miles; the road, as my +Irish informant assured me, was quite "iligant!" but hilly, and so +broken by the recent storms, that it was thought I could not reach my +destination before nightfall, and I was advised to sleep at the little +town of St. Thomas, about twelve or fifteen miles on this side of Port +Talbot. However, I was resolute to try, and, with a pair of stout horses +and a willing driver, did not despair. My conveyance from Blandford had +been a baker's cart, on springs; but springs were a luxury I was in +future to dispense with. My present vehicle, the best to be procured, +was a common cart, with straw at the bottom; in the midst a seat was +suspended on straps, and furnished with a cushion, not of the softest. A +board nailed across the front served for the driver, a quiet, +demure-looking boy of fifteen or sixteen, with a round straw hat and a +fustian jacket. Such was the elegant and appropriate equipage in which +the "chancellor's lady," as they call me here, paid her first visit of +state to the "great Colonel Talbot."</p> + +<p>On leaving the town, we crossed the Thames on a wooden bridge, and +turned to the south through a very beautiful valley, with cultivated +farms and extensive clearings on every side. I was now in the Talbot +country, and had the advantage of travelling on part of the road +constructed under the colonel's direction, which, compared with those I +had recently travelled, was better than tolerable. While we were slowly +ascending an eminence, I took the opportunity of entering into some +discourse with my driver, whose very demure and thoughtful, though +boyish face, and very brief, but pithy and intelligent replies to some +of my questions on the road, had excited my attention. Though perfectly +civil, and remarkably self-possessed, he was not communicative nor +talkative; I had to pluck out the information blade by blade, as it +were. And here you have my catechism, with question and response, word +for word, as nearly as possible.</p> + +<h3>THE EMIGRANT BOY.</h3> + +<p>"Were you born in this country?"</p> + +<p>"No; I'm from the old country."</p> + +<p>"From what part of it?"</p> + +<p>"From about Glasgow."</p> + +<p>"What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Sholto ——."</p> + +<p>"Sholto!—that is rather an uncommon name, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"I was called Sholto after a son of Lord Douglas. My father was Lord +Douglas's gardener."</p> + +<p>"How long have you been here?"</p> + +<p>"I came over with my father about five years, ago." (In 1832.)</p> + +<p>"How came your father to emigrate?"</p> + +<p>"My father was one of the commuted pensioners, as they call them.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> He +was an old soldier in the veteran battalion, and he sold his pension of +fivepence a day for four years and a grant of land, and came out here. +Many did the like."</p> + +<p>"But if he was gardener to Lord Douglas, he could not have suffered from +want."</p> + +<p>"Why, he was not a gardener <i>then</i>; he was a weaver; he worked hard +enough for us. I remember often waking in the middle of the night, and +seeing my father working still at his loom, as if he would never give +over, while my mother and all of us were asleep."</p> + +<p>"All of us!—how many of you?"</p> + +<p>"There were six of us: but my eldest brother and myself could do +something."</p> + +<p>"And you all emigrated with your father?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you see, at last he couldn't get no work, and trade was dull, and +we were nigh starving. I remember I was always hungry then—always."</p> + +<p>"And you all came out?"</p> + +<p>"All but my eldest brother. When we were on the way to the ship, he got +frightened and turned back, and wouldn't come. My poor mother cried very +much, and begged him hard. Now the last we heard of him is, that he is +very badly off, and can't get no work at all."</p> + +<p>"Is your father yet alive?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he has land up in Adelaide."</p> + +<p>"Is your mother alive?"</p> + +<p>"No; she died of the cholera, coming over. You see the cholera broke out +in the ship, and fifty-three people died, one after t'other, and were +thrown into the sea. My mother died, and they threw her into the sea. +And then my little sister, only nine months old, died, because there was +nobody to take care of her, and they threw <i>her</i> into the sea—poor +little thing!"</p> + +<p>"Was it not dreadful to see the people dying around you? Did you not +feel frightened for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Well—I don't know—one got used to it—it was nothing but splash, +splash, all day long—first one, then another. There was one Martin on +board, I remember, with a wife and nine children—one of those as sold +his pension: he had fought in Spain with the Duke of Wellington. Well, +first his wife died, and they threw her into the sea; and then <i>he</i> +died, and they threw <i>him</i> into the sea; and then the children, one +after t'other, till only two were left alive; the eldest, a girl about +thirteen, who had nursed them all, one after another, and seen them +die—well, <i>she</i> died, and then there was only the little fellow left."</p> + +<p>"And what became of him?"</p> + +<p>"He went back, as I heard, in the same ship with the captain."</p> + +<p>"And did you not think sometimes it might be your turn next."</p> + +<p>"No—I didn't; and then I was down with the fever."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by <i>the fever?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Why, you see, I was looking at some fish that was going by the ship in +shoals, as they call it. It was very pretty, and I never saw anything +like it, and I stood watching over the ship's side all day long. It +poured rain, and I was wet through and through, and felt very cold, and +I went into my berth and pulled the blanket round me, and fell asleep. +After that I had the fever very bad. I didn't know when we landed at +Quebec, and after that I didn't know where we were for five weeks, nor +nothing."</p> + +<p>I assured him that this was only a natural and necessary consequence of +his own conduct, and took the opportunity to explain to him some of +those simple laws by which he held both health and existence, to all +which he listened with an intelligent look, and thanked me cordially, +adding,—</p> + +<p>"Then I wonder I didn't die! and it was a great mercy I didn't."</p> + +<p>"I hope you will live to think so, and be thankful to Heaven. And so you +were detained at Quebec?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; my father had some money to receive of his pension, but what with +my illness and the expense of living, it soon went; and then he sold his +silver watch, and that brought us on to York—that's Toronto now. And +then there was a schooner provided by Government to take us on board, +and we had rations provided, and that brought us on to Port Stanley, far +below Port Talbot; and then they put us ashore, and we had to find our +way, and pay our way, to Delaware, where our lot of land was: that cost +eight dollars; and then we had nothing left—nothing at all. There were +nine hundred emigrants encamped about Delaware, no better off then +ourselves."</p> + +<p>"What did you do then? Had you not to build a house?"</p> + +<p>"No; the Government built each family a house, that is to say, a +log-hut, eighteen feet long, with a hole for the chimney; no glass in +the windows, and empty of course; not a bit of furniture, not even a +table or a chair."</p> + +<p>"And how did you live?"</p> + +<p>"Why, the first year, my father and us, we cleared a couple of acres, +and sowed wheat enough for next year."</p> + +<p>"But meantime you must have existed—and without food or money—?"</p> + +<p>"O, why we worked meantime on the roads, and got half a dollar a day and +rations."</p> + +<p>"It must have been rather a hard life?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Hard!</i> yes, I believe it was; why, many of them couldn't stand it, no +ways. Some died; and then there were the poor children and the women—it +was very bad for them. Some wouldn't sit down on their land at all; they +lost all heart to see everywhere trees, and trees, and nothing besides. +And then they didn't know nothing of farming—how should they? being +soldiers by trade. There was one Jim Grey, of father's regiment—he +didn't know how to handle his axe, but he could handle his gun well; so +he went and shot deer, and sold them to the others; but one day we +missed him, and he never came back; and we thought the bears had got +him, or may be he cleared off to Michigan—there's no knowing."</p> + +<p>"And your father?"</p> + +<p>"O, <i>he</i> stuck to his land, and he has now five acres cleared: and he's +planted a bit of a garden, and he has two cows and a calf, and two pigs; +and he's got his house comfortable—and stopped up the holes, and built +himself a chimney."</p> + +<p>"That's well; but why are you not with him?"</p> + +<p>"O, he married again, and he's got two children, and I didn't like my +stepmother, because she didn't use my sisters well, and so I came away."</p> + +<p>"Where are your sisters now?"</p> + +<p>"Both out at service, and they get good wages; one gets four, and the +other gets five dollars a month. Then I've a brother younger than +myself, and he's gone to work with a shoe-maker at London. But the man +drinks hard—like a great many here—and I'm afeard my brother will +learn to drink, and that frets me; and he won't come away, though I +could get him a good place any day—no want of places here and good +wages too."</p> + +<p>"What wages do you receive?"</p> + +<p>"Seven dollars a month and my board. Next month I shall have eight."</p> + +<p>"I hope you put by some of your wages?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I bought a yoke of steers for my father last fall, as cost me +thirty dollars, but they wont be fit for ploughing these two years."</p> + +<p>(I should inform you, perhaps, that a yoke of oxen fit for ploughing +costs about eighty dollars.)</p> + +<p>I pointed out to him the advantages of his present situation, compared +with what might have been his fate in the old country, and urged him to +avoid all temptations to drink, which he promised.</p> + +<p>"You can read, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>He hesitated and looked down. "I can read in the Testament a little. I +never had no other book. But this winter," looking up brightly,—"I +intend to give myself some schooling. A man who has reading and writing, +and a pair of hands, and keeps sober, may make a fortune here—and so +will I, with God's blessing!"</p> + +<p>Here he gave his whip a very expressive flourish. We were now near the +summit of a hill, which he called Bear Hill; the people, he said, gave +it that name because of the number of bears which used to be found here. +Nothing could exceed the beauty and variety of the timber trees, +intermingled with most luxuriant underwood, and festooned with the wild +grape and flowering creepers. It was some time, he said, since a bear +had been shot in these woods; but only last spring one of his comrades +had found a bear's cub, which he had fed and taken care of, and had sold +within the last few weeks to a travelling menagerie of wild beasts for +five dollars.</p> + +<h3>THE FUTURE OF CANADA.</h3> + +<p>On reaching the summit of this hill, I found myself on the highest land +I had yet stood upon in Canada, with the exception of Queenston heights. +I stopped the horses and looked around, and on every side, far and near, +east, west, north, and south, it was all forest—a boundless sea of +forest, within whose leafy recesses lay hidden as infinite variety of +life and movement as within the depths of the ocean; and it reposed in +the noontide so still and so vast! <i>Here</i> the bright sunshine rested on +it in floods of golden light; <i>there</i> cloud-shadows sped over its +bosom, just like the effects I remember to have seen on the Atlantic; +and here and there rose wreaths of white smoke from the new clearings +which, collected into little silver clouds, and hung suspended in the +quiet air.</p> + +<p>I gazed and meditated till, by a process like that of the Arabian +sorcerer of old, the present fell like a film from my eyes: the future +was before me, with its towns and cities, fields of waving grain, green +lawns and villas, and churches, and temples—turret-crowned: and meadows +tracked by the frequent foot-path; and railroads, with trains of rich +merchandise steaming along:—for all this <i>will</i> be! Will be? <i>It is</i> +already in the sight of Him who hath ordained it, and for whom there is +no past nor future: though I cannot behold it with my bodily vision, +even <i>now</i> it is.</p> + +<p>But is <i>that</i> <span class="smcap">NOW</span> better than <i>this</i> present <span class="smcap">NOW</span>? When these forests, +with all their solemn depth of shade and multitudinous life have fallen +beneath the axe—when the wolf, and bear, and deer are driven from their +native coverts, and all this infinitude of animal and vegetable being +has made way for restless, erring, suffering humanity, will it then be +better? <i>Better</i>—I know not; but surely it will be <i>well</i>, and right in +His eyes who has ordained that thus the course of things shall run. +Those who see nothing in civilised life but its complicated cares, +mistakes, vanities, and miseries, may doubt this—or despair. For +myself, I am of those who believe and hope; who behold in progressive +civilisation, progressive happiness, progressive approximation to nature +and to nature's God; for are we not in His hands?—and all that He does +is good.</p> + +<p>Contemplations such as these were in my mind as we descended the Hill of +Bears, and proceeded through a beautiful plain, sometimes richly wooded, +sometimes opening into clearings and cultivated farms, on which were +usually compact farm-houses, each flanked by a barn three times as large +as the house, till we came on to a place called Five Stakes, where I +found two or three tidy cottages, and procured some bread and milk. The +road here was no longer so good, and we travelled slowly and with +difficulty for some miles. About five o'clock we reached St. Thomas, +one of the prettiest places I had yet seen. Here I found two or three +inns, and at one of them, styled the "Mansion House Hotel," I ordered +tea for myself and good entertainment for my young driver and his +horses, and then walked out.</p> + +<h3>ST. THOMAS.</h3> + +<p>St. Thomas is situated on a high eminence, to which the ascent is rather +abrupt. The view from it, over a fertile, well settled country, is very +beautiful and cheering. The place bears the christian name of Colonel +Talbot, who styles it his capital, and, from a combination of +advantages, it is rising fast into importance. The climate, from its +high position, is delicious and healthful; and the winters in this part +of the province are milder by several degrees than elsewhere. At the +foot of the cliff, or eminence, runs a deep rapid stream, called the +Kettle Creek<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> (I wish they had given it a prettier name), which, +after a course of eight miles, and turning a variety of saw-mills, +grist-mills, &c., flows into Lake Erie, at Port Stanley, one of the best +harbours on this side of the lake. Here steam-boats and schooners land +their passengers and merchandise, or load with grain, flour, and lumber. +The roads are good all round; and the Talbot road, carried directly +through the town, is the finest in the province. This road runs nearly +parallel with Lake Erie, from thirty miles below Port Stanley, westward +as far as Delaware. The population of St. Thomas is at present rated at +seven hundred, and it has doubled within two years. There are three +churches, one of which is very neat; and three taverns. Two newspapers +are published here, one violently tory, the other as violently radical. +I found several houses building, and, in those I entered, a general air +of cheerfulness and well-being very pleasing to contemplate. There is +here an excellent manufacture of cabinet ware and furniture: some +articles of the black walnut, a tree abounding here, appeared to me more +beautiful in colour and grain than the finest mahogany; and the elegant +veining of the maplewood cannot be surpassed. I wish they were +sufficiently the fashion in England to make the transport worth while. +Here I have seen whole piles, nay, whole forests of such trees, burning +together.</p> + +<p>I was very much struck with this beautiful and cheerful little town, +more, I think, than with any place I have yet seen.</p> + +<p>By the time my horses were refreshed, it was near seven o clock. The +distance from Port Talbot is about twelve miles, but hearing the road +was good, I resolved to venture. The sky looked turbulent and stormy, +but luckily the storm was moving one way while I was moving another; +and, except a little sprinkling from the tail of a cloud, we escaped +very well.</p> + +<p>The road presented on either side a succession of farm-houses and +well-cultivated farms. Near the houses there was generally a patch of +ground planted with Indian corn and pumpkins, and sometimes a few +cabbages and potatoes. I do not recollect to have seen one garden, or +the least attempt to cultivate flowers.</p> + +<p>The goodness of the road is owing to the systematic regulations of +Colonel Talbot. Throughout the whole "country" none can obtain land +without first applying to him, and the price and conditions are uniform +and absolute. The lands are divided into lots of two hundred acres, and +to each settler fifty acres are given gratis, and one hundred and fifty +at three dollars an acre. Each settler must clear and sow ten acres of +land, build a house (a log-hut of eighteen feet in length), and +construct one chain of road in front of his house, within three years; +failing in this, he forfeits his deed.</p> + +<p>Colonel Talbot does not like gentlemen settlers, nor will he have any +settlements within a certain distance of his own domain. He never +associates with the people except on one grand occasion, the anniversary +of the foundation of his settlement. This is celebrated at St. Thomas by +a festive meeting of the most respectable settlers, and the colonel +himself opens the ball with one of the ladies, generally showing his +taste by selecting the youngest and prettiest.</p> + +<p>The evening now began to close in, night came on, with the stars and the +fair young moon in her train. I felt much fatigued, and my driver +appeared to be out in his reckoning—that is, with regard to +distance—for luckily he could not miss the <i>way</i>, there being but one. +I stopped a man who was trudging along with an axe on his shoulder, "How +far to Colonel Talbot's?" "About three miles and a half." This was +encouraging; but a quarter of an hour afterwards, on asking the same +question of another, he replied, "About seven miles." A third informed +me that it was about three miles beyond Major Burwell's. The next person +I met advised me to put up at "Waters's," and not think of going any +farther to-night; however, on arriving at Mr. Waters's hotel, I was not +particularly charmed with the prospect of a night's rest within its +precincts. It was a long-shaped wooden house, comfortless in appearance; +a number of men were drinking at the bar, and sounds of revelry issued +from the open door. I requested my driver to proceed, which he did with +all willingness.</p> + +<p>We had travelled nearly the whole day through open, well-cleared land, +more densely peopled than any part of the province I had seen since I +left the Niagara district. Suddenly we came upon a thick wood, through +which the road ran due west, in a straight line. The shadows fell deeper +and deeper from the depth of foliage on either side, and I could not see +a yard around, but exactly before me the last gleam of twilight lingered +where the moon was setting. Once or twice I was startled by seeing a +deer bound across the path, his large antlers being for one instant +defined, <i>pencilled</i>, as it were, against the sky, then lost. The +darkness fell deeper every moment, the silence more solemn. The +whip-poor-will began his melancholy cry, and an owl sent forth a +prolonged shriek, which, if I had not heard it before, would have +frightened me. After a while my driver stopped and listened, and I could +plainly hear the tinkling of cow-bells, I thought this a good sign, till +the boy reminded me that it was the custom of the settlers to turn their +cattle loose in the summer to seek their own food, and that they often +strayed miles from the clearing.</p> + +<h3>THE TALBOT COUNTRY.</h3> + +<p>We were proceeding along our dark path very slowly, for fear of +accidents, when I heard the approaching tread of a horse, and the +welcome sound of a man whistling. The boy hailed him with some +impatience in his voice, "I say!—mister! whereabouts <i>is</i> Colonel +Talbot's?"</p> + +<p>"The Colonel's? why, straight afore you;—follow your nose, you +buzzard!"</p> + +<p>Here I interposed. "Be so good, friend, as to inform me how far we are +yet from Colonel Talbot's house?"</p> + +<p>"Who have you got here?" cried the man in surprise.</p> + +<p>"A lady, comed over the sea to visit the Colonel."</p> + +<p>"Then," said the man, approaching my carriage—my cart, I should +say—with much respect, "I guess you're the lady that the Colonel has +been looking out for this week past. Why, I've been three times to St. +Thomas's with the team after you!"</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry you've had the trouble!"</p> + +<p>"O, no trouble at all—shall I ride back and tell him you're coming?"</p> + +<p>This I declined, for the poor man was evidently going home to his +supper.</p> + +<p>To hear that the formidable Colonel was anxiously expecting me was very +encouraging, and, from the man's description, I supposed that we were +close to the house. Not so; the road, mocking my impatience, took so +many bends, and sweeps, and windings, up hill and down hill, that it was +an eternity before we arrived. The Colonel piques himself exceedingly on +this graceful and picturesque approach to his residence, and not without +reason; but on the present occasion I could have preferred a line more +direct to the line of beauty. The darkness, which concealed its charms, +left me sensible only to its length.</p> + +<p>On ascending some high ground, a group of buildings was dimly descried. +And after oversetting part of a snake-fence before we found an entrance, +we drove up to the door. Lights were gleaming in the windows, and the +Colonel sallied forth with prompt gallantry to receive me.</p> + +<p>My welcome was not only cordial, but courtly. The Colonel, taking me +under his arm, and ordering the boy and his horses to be well taken +care of, handed me into the hall or vestibule, where sacks of wheat and +piles of sheepskins lay heaped in primitive fashion; thence into a room, +the walls of which were formed of naked logs. Here no fauteuil, +spring-cushioned, extended its comfortable arms—no sofa here +"insidiously stretched out its lazy length;" Colonel Talbot held all +such luxuries in sovereign contempt. In front of a capacious chimney +stood a long wooden table, flanked with two wooden chairs, cut from the +forest in the midst of which they now stood. To one of these the Colonel +handed me, with the air of a courtier, and took the other himself. Like +all men who live out of the world, he retained a lively curiosity as to +what was passing in it, and I was pressed with a profusion of questions +as well as hospitable attentions; but wearied, exhausted, aching in +every nerve, the spirit with which I had at first met him in his own +style, was fast ebbing. I could neither speak nor eat, and was soon +dismissed to repose.</p> + +<p>With courteous solicitude, he ushered me himself to the door of a +comfortable, well furnished bed room, where a fire blazed cheerfully, +where female hands had evidently presided to arrange my toilet, and +where female aid awaited me;—so much had the good Colonel been +calumniated!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>COLONEL TALBOT.</h3> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">---- You shall</span> +<span class="i0">Go forth upon your arduous task alone,</span> +<span class="i0">None shall assist you, none partake your toil,</span> +<span class="i0">None share your triumph! still you must retain</span> +<span class="i0">Some one to trust your glory to—to share</span> +<span class="i0">Your rapture with. <span class="smcap">Browning's Paracelsus.</span></span> +</div></div> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">Port Talbot, July 10.</p> + +<p>"Man is, properly speaking, based upon hope. He has no other possession +but hope. This world of his is emphatically the place of hope:"<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and +more emphatically than of any other spot on the face of the globe, it is +true of this new world of ours, in which I am now a traveller and a +sojourner. This is the land of hope, of faith, aye, and of charity, for +a man who hath not all three had better not come here:—with them he +may, by strength of his own right hand and trusting heart, achieve +miracles: witness Colonel Talbot.</p> + +<p>Of the four days in which I have gone wandering and wondering up and +down, let me now tell you something—<i>all</i> I cannot tell you; for the +information I have gained, and the reflections and feelings which have +passed through my mind would fill a volume—and I have little time for +scribbling.</p> + +<p>And first of Colonel Talbot himself. This remarkable man is now about +sixty-five, perhaps more, but he does not look so much. In spite of his +rustic dress, his good-humoured, jovial, weather-beaten face, and the +primitive simplicity, not to say rudeness, of his dwelling, he has in +his features, air, and deportment, that <i>something</i> which stamps him +gentleman. And that <i>something</i> which thirty-four years of solitude has +not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth, things of more +consequence, when philosophically and philanthropically considered, than +we are apt to allow.</p> + +<p>He came out to Upper Canada as aide-de-camp to Governor Simcoe in 1793, +and accompanied the governor on the first expedition he made to survey +the western district, in search (as it was said) of an eligible site for +the new capital he was then projecting. At this time the whole of the +beautiful and fertile region situated between the lakes was a vast +wilderness. It contained not one white settler, except along the +borders, and on the coast opposite to Detroit: a few wandering tribes of +Hurons and Chippewas, and the Six Nations settled on Grand River, were +its only inhabitants.</p> + +<p>It was then that the idea of founding a colony took possession of +Colonel Talbot's mind, and became the ruling passion and sole interest +of his future life. I had always heard and read of him, as the +"eccentric" Colonel Talbot. Of his eccentricity I heard much more than +of his benevolence, his invincible courage, his enthusiasm, his +perseverance; but, perhaps, according to the wordly nomenclature, these +qualities come under the general head of "eccentricity," when devotion +to a favourite object cannot possibly be referred to self-interest.</p> + +<p>On his return to England, he asked and obtained a grant of 100,000 acres +of land along the shores of Lake Erie, on condition of placing a settler +on every two hundred acres. He came out again in 1802, and took +possession of his domain, in the heart of the wilderness. Of the life he +led for the first sixteen years, and the difficulties and obstacles he +encountered, he drew, in his discourse with me, a strong, I might say a +<i>terrible</i> picture: and observe that it was not a life of wild, +wandering freedom—the life of an Indian hunter, which is said to be so +fascinating that "no man who has ever followed it for any length of +time, <i>ever</i> voluntarily returns to civilised society!"<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Colonel +Talbot's life has been one of persevering, heroic self-devotion to the +completion of a magnificent plan, laid down in the first instance, and +followed up with unflinching tenacity of purpose. For sixteen years he +saw scarce a human being, except the few boors and blacks employed in +clearing and logging his land: he himself assumed the blanket-coat and +axe, slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty +woodsmen, cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows, +churned the butter, and made and baked the bread. In this latter branch +of household economy he became very expert, and still piques himself on +it.</p> + +<p>To all these heterogeneous functions of sowing and reaping, felling and +planting, frying, boiling, washing and wringing, brewing and baking, he +added another, even more extraordinary;—for many years he solemnised +all the marriages in his district!</p> + +<p>While Europe was converted into a vast battle-field, an arena</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Where distract ambition compassed</span> +<span class="i0"> And was encompass'd,"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>and his brothers in arms, the young men who had begun the career of life +with him, were reaping bloody laurels, to be gazetted in the list of +killed and wounded, as heroes—then forgotten;—Colonel Talbot, a true +hero after another fashion, was encountering, amid the forest solitude, +uncheered by sympathy, unbribed by fame, enemies far more formidable, +and earning a far purer, as well as a more real and lasting immortality.</p> + +<p>Besides natural obstacles, he met with others far more trying to his +temper and patience. His continual quarrels with the successive +governors, who were jealous of the independent power he exercised in his +own territory, are humorously alluded to by Dr. Dunlop.</p> + +<p>"After fifteen years of unremitting labour and privation," says the +Doctor, "it became so notorious in the province, that even the executive +government at Toronto became aware that there was such a place as the +Talbot Settlement, where roads were cut and farms in progress; and +hereupon they rejoiced—for it held out to them just what they had long +felt the want of, a well-settled, opened, and cultivated country, +wherein to obtain estates for themselves, their children, born and +unborn, and their whole kith, kin, and allies. When this idea, so +creditable to the paternal feelings of these worthy gentlemen, was +intimated to the Colonel, he could not be brought to see the fitness of +things in an arrangement which would confer on the next generation, or +the next again, the fruits of the labour of the present; and +accordingly, though his answer to the proposal was not couched in terms +quite so diplomatic as might have been wished, it was brief, +soldier-like, and not easily capable of misconstruction; it was in these +words—'I'll be d—d if you get one foot of land here;' and thereupon +the parties joined issue.</p> + +<p>"On this, war was declared against him by his Excellency in council, and +every means were used to annoy him here, and misrepresent his +proceedings at home; but he stood firm, and by an occasional visit to +the Colonial Office in England, he opened the eyes of ministers to the +proceedings of both parties, and for a while averted the danger. At +length, some five years ago, finding the enemy was getting too strong +for him, he repaired once more to England, and returned in triumph with +an order from the Colonial Office, that nobody was in any way to +interfere with his proceedings; and he has now the pleasure of +contemplating some hundreds of miles of the best roads in the province, +closely settled on each side by the most prosperous farmers within its +bounds, who owe all they possess to his judgment, enthusiasm, and +perseverance, and who are grateful to him in proportion to the benefits +he has bestowed upon them, though in many instances, sorely against +their will at the time."</p> + +<p>The original grant must have been much extended; for the territory now +under Colonel Talbot's management, and bearing the general name of the +Talbot Country, contains, according to the list I have in his own +handwriting, twenty-eight townships, and about 650,000 acres of land, of +which 98,700 are cleared and cultivated. The inhabitants, including the +population of the towns, amount to about 50,000. "You see," said he +gaily, "I may boast, like the Irishman in the farce, of having peopled a +whole country with my own hands."</p> + +<p>He has built his house, like the eagle his eyry, on a bold high cliff +overhanging the lake. On the east there is a precipitous descent into a +wild, woody ravine, along the bottom of which winds a gentle stream, +till it steals into the lake: this stream is in winter a raging torrent. +The storms and the gradual action of the waves have detached large +portions of the cliff in front of the house, and with them huge trees. +Along the lake-shore I found trunks and roots of trees half buried in +the sand, or half overflowed with water, which I often mistook for +rocks. I remember one large tree which, in falling headlong, still +remained suspended by its long and strong fibres to the cliff above. Its +position was now reversed: the top hung downwards, shivered and denuded; +the large spread root, upturned, formed a platform, on which new earth +had accumulated, and a new vegetation sprung forth, of flowers, and +bushes, and sucklings. Altogether it was a most picturesque and curious +object.</p> + +<p>Lake Erie, as the geography book says, is two hundred and eighty miles +long, and here, at Port Talbot, which is near the centre, about seventy +miles across. The Colonel tells me that it has been more than once +frozen over from side to side; but I do not see how this fact could be +ascertained, as no one has been known to cross to the opposite shore on +the ice. It is true that more ice accumulates in this lake than in any +other of the great lakes, by reason of its shallowness: it can be +sounded through its whole extent, while the other lakes are found in +some parts unfathomable.</p> + +<p>But to return to the château. It is a long wooden building, chiefly of +rough logs, with a covered porch running along the south side. Here I +found suspended, among sundry implements of husbandry, one of those +ferocious animals of the feline kind, called here the cat-a-mountain, +and by some the American tiger, or panther, which it more resembles. +This one, which had been killed in its attack on the fold or +poultry-yard, was at least four feet in length, and glared on me from +the rafters above ghastly and horrible. The interior of the house +contains several comfortable lodging-rooms, and one really handsome one, +the dining-room. There is a large kitchen with a tremendously hospitable +chimney; and underground are cellars for storing wine, milk, and +provisions. Around the house stands a vast variety of outbuildings of +all imaginable shapes and sizes, and disposed without the slightest +regard to order or symmetry. One of these is the very log hut which the +Colonel erected for shelter when he first "sat down in the bush," +four-and-thirty years ago, and which he is naturally unwilling to +remove. Many of these outbuildings are to shelter the geese and poultry, +of which he rears an innumerable quantity. Beyond these is the cliff, +looking over the wide blue lake, on which I have counted six schooners +at a time with their white sails. On the left is Port Stanley. Behind +the house lies an open tract of land, prettily broken and varied, where +large flocks of sheep and cattle are feeding, the whole enclosed by +beautiful and luxuriant woods, through which runs the little creek or +river above mentioned.</p> + +<p>The farm consists of six hundred acres; but as the Colonel is not quite +so active as he used to be, and does not employ a bailiff or overseer, +the management is said to be slovenly, and not so productive as it might +be.</p> + +<p>He has sixteen acres of orchard-ground, in which he has planted and +reared with success all the common European fruits, as apples, pears, +plums, cherries, in abundance; but what delighted me beyond everything +else, was a garden of more than two acres, very neatly laid out and +enclosed, and in which he evidently took exceeding pride and pleasure; +it was the first thing he showed me after my arrival. It abounds in +roses of different kinds, the cuttings of which he had brought himself +from England in the few visits he had made there. Of these he gathered +the most beautiful buds, and presented them to me with such an air as +might have become Dick Talbot presenting a bouquet to Miss Jennings.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> +We then sat down on a pretty seat under a tree, where he told me he +often came to meditate. He described the appearance of the spot when he +first came here as contrasted with its present appearance, or we +discussed the exploits of some of his celebrated and gallant ancestors, +with whom my acquaintance was (luckily) almost as intimate as his own. +Family and aristocratic pride I found a prominent feature in the +character of this remarkable man. A Talbot of Malahide, of a family +representing the same barony from father to son for six hundred years, +he set, not unreasonably, a high value on his noble and unstained +lineage; and, in his lonely position, the simplicity of his life and +manners lent to these lofty and not unreal pretensions a kind of +poetical dignity.</p> + +<p>I told him of the surmises of the people relative to his early life and +his motives for emigrating, at which he laughed.</p> + +<p>"Charlevoix," said he, "was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to +this place. You know he calls this the 'Paradise of the Hurons.' Now I +was resolved to get to paradise by hook or by crook, and so I came +here."</p> + +<p>He added, more seriously, "I have accomplished what I resolved to do—it +is done; but I would not, if any one was to offer me the universe, go +through again the <i>horrors</i> I have undergone in forming this +settlement. But do not imagine I repent it; I like my retirement."</p> + +<p>He then broke out against the follies, and falsehoods, and restrictions +of artificial life, in bitter and scornful terms; no ascetic monk or +<i>radical</i> philosopher could have been more eloquently indignant.</p> + +<p>I said it was granted to few to live a life of such complete retirement, +and at the same time such general utility; in flying from the world, he +had benefited it: and I added, that I was glad to see him so happy.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, I'm very happy here." And then the old man sighed.</p> + +<p>I understood that sigh, and in my heart echoed it. No, "it is not good +for man to be alone;" and this law, which the Father of all life +pronounced himself at man's creation, was never yet violated with +impunity. Never yet was the human being withdrawn from, or elevated +above, the social wants and sympathies of his human nature, without +paying a tremendous price for such isolated independence.</p> + +<p>With all my admiration for what this extraordinary man has achieved, and +the means, the powers, through which he has achieved it, there mingles a +feeling of commiseration which has more than once brought the tears to +my eyes while listening to him. He has passed his life in worse than +solitude. He will admit no equal in his vicinity. His only intercourse +has been with inferiors and dependents, whose servility he despised, and +whose resistance enraged him—men whose interests rested on his +favour—on his will, from which there was no appeal. Hence despotic +habits, and contempt even for those whom he benefited; hence, with much +natural benevolence and generosity, a total disregard, or rather total +ignorance, of the feelings of others—all the disadvantages, in short, +of royalty, only on a smaller scale. Now, in his old age, where is to +him the solace of age? He has honour, power, obedience; but where are +the love, the troops of friends, which also should accompany old age? He +is alone—a lonely man. His constitution has suffered by the dreadful +toils and privations of his earlier life. His sympathies have had no +natural outlet; his affections have wanted their natural food. He +suffers, I think; and not being given to general or philosophical +reasoning, causes and effects are felt, not known. But he is a great man +who has done great things; and the good which he has done will live +after him. He has planted, at a terrible sacrifice, an enduring name and +fame, and will be commemorated in this "brave new world," this land of +hope, as Triptolemus among the Greeks.</p> + +<p>For his indifference or dislike to female society, and his determination +to have no settler within a certain distance of his own residence, I +could easily account when I knew the man; both seemed to me the natural +result of certain habits of life acting upon a certain organisation. He +has a favourite servant, Jeffrey by name, who has served him faithfully +for more than five-and-twenty years, ever since he left off cleaning his +own shoes and mending his own coat. This honest fellow, not having +forsworn female companionship, began to sigh after a wife—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A wife! ah! Saint Marie Benedicité,</span> +<span class="i0"> How might a man have any adversité</span> +<span class="i0"> That hath a wife?"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>And, like the good knight in Chaucer, he did</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Upon his bare knees pray God him to send</span> +<span class="i0"> A wife to last unto his life's end."</span> +</div></div> + +<p>So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at +hand—one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her +virtues, for most certainly it was not for her attractions. The Colonel +swore at him for a fool; but, after a while, Jeffrey, who is a +favourite, smuggled his wife into the house; and the Colonel, whose +increasing age renders him rather more dependent on household help, +seems to endure very patiently this addition to his family, and even the +presence of a white-headed chubby little thing, which I found running +about without let or hindrance.</p> + +<p>The room into which I first introduced you, with its rough log-walls, is +Colonel Talbot's library and hall of audience. On leaving my apartment +in the morning, I used to find groups of strange figures lounging round +the door, ragged, black-bearded, gaunt, travel-worn and toil-worn +emigrants, Irish, Scotch, and American, come to offer themselves as +settlers. These he used to call his land-pirates; and curious, and +characteristic, and dramatic beyond description, were the scenes which +used to take place between this grand bashaw of the wilderness and his +hungry, importunate clients and petitioners.</p> + +<p>Another thing which gave a singular interest to my conversations with +Colonel Talbot was, the sort of indifference with which he regarded all +the stirring events of the last thirty years. Dynasties rose and +disappeared; kingdoms were passed from hand to hand like wine decanters; +battles were lost and won;—he neither knew, nor heard, nor cared. No +post, no newspaper brought to his forest-hut the tidings of victory and +defeat, of revolutions of empires, "or rumours of unsuccessful and +successful war."</p> + +<p>When he first took to the bush, Napoleon was consul; when he emerged +from his solitude, the tremendous game of ambition had been played out, +and Napoleon and his deeds and his dynasty were numbered with the things +o'erpast. With the stream of events had flowed by equally unmarked the +stream of mind, thought, literature—the progress of social +improvement—the changes in public opinion. Conceive what a gulf between +us! but though I could go to him, he could not come to me—my sympathies +had the wider range of the two.</p> + +<p>The principal foreign and domestic events of his <i>reign</i> are the last +American war, in which he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by a +detachment of the enemy, who ransacked his house, and drove off his +horses and cattle; and a visit which he received some years ago from +three young Englishmen of rank and fortune, Lord Stanley, Mr. Stuart +Wortley, and Mr. Labouchere, who spent some weeks with him. These +events, and his voyages to England, seemed to be the epochs from which +he dated. From these occasional flights he returns like an old eagle to +his perch on the cliff, whence he looks down upon the world he has +quitted with supreme contempt and indifference, and around that on which +he has created, with much self-applause and self-gratulation.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>PORT TALBOT.</h3> + +<p>It was not till the sixth day of my sojourn at Port Talbot that the good +Colonel could be persuaded to allow of my departure.</p> + +<p>He told me, with good-humoured peremptoriness, that he was the grand +autocrat of the forest, and that to presume to order horses, or take any +step towards departing, without his express permission, was against "his +laws." At last he was so good as to issue his commands—with flattering +reluctance, however—that a vehicle should be prepared, and a trusty +guide provided; and I bade farewell to this extraordinary man with a +mixture of delighted, and grateful, and melancholy feelings not easily +to be described, nor ever forgotten.</p> + +<p>My next journey was from Port Talbot to Chatham on the river Thames, +whence it was my intention to cross Lake St. Clair to Detroit, and there +take my chance of a vessel going up Lake Huron to Machinaw. I should, +however, advise any future traveller, not limited to any particular time +or plan of observation, to take the road along the shore of the Lake to +Amherstberg and Sandwich, instead of turning off to Chatham. During the +first day's journey I was promised a good road, as it lay through the +Talbot settlements; what was to become of me the second day seemed a +very doubtful matter.</p> + +<p>The best vehicle which the hospitality and influence of Colonel Talbot +could provide was a farmer's cart or team, with two stout horses. The +bottom of the cart was well filled with clean soft straw, on which my +luggage was deposited. A seat was slung for me on straps, and another in +front for the driver, who had been selected from among the most +respectable settlers in the neighbourhood as a fit guide and protector +for a lone woman. The charge for the two days' journey was to be twelve +dollars.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had a little recovered from the many thoughts and feelings +which came over me as we drove down the path from Colonel Talbot's +house, I turned to take a survey of my driver, and from his physiognomy, +his deportment, and the tone of his voice, to divine, if I could, what +chance I had of comfort during the next two days. The survey was, on +the whole, encouraging, though presenting some inconsistencies I could +by no means reconcile. His dress and figure were remarkably neat, though +plain and homely; his broad-brimmed straw hat, encircled with a green +ribbon, was pulled over his brow, and from beneath it peered two +sparkling, intelligent eyes. His accent was decidedly Irish. It was +indeed a brogue as "nate and complate" as ever was sent forth from Cork +or Kerry; but then his face was not an Irish face; its expression had +nothing of the Irish character; the cut of his features, and his manner +and figure altogether in no respect harmonised with his voice and +accent.</p> + +<h3>JOURNEY TO CHATHAM.</h3> + +<p>After proceeding about three miles, we stopped in front of a neat +farmhouse, surrounded with a garden and spacious outbuildings, and forth +came a very pretty and modest-looking young woman, with a lovely child +in her arms, and leading another by the hand. It was the wife of my +driver; and I must confess she did not seem well pleased to have him +taken away from her. They evidently parted with reluctance. She gave him +many special charges to take care of himself, and commissions to execute +by the way. The children were then held up to be kissed heartily by +their father, and we drove off. This little family scene interested me, +and augured well, I thought, for my own chances of comfort and +protection.</p> + +<p>When we had jogged and jolted on at a reasonable pace for some time, and +I had felt my way sufficiently, I began to make some inquiries into the +position and circumstances of my companion. The first few words +explained those discrepancies in his features, voice, and appearance, +which had struck me.</p> + +<p>His grandfather was a Frenchman. His father had married an Irishwoman, +and settled in consequence in the south of Ireland. He became, after +some changes of fortune, a grazier and cattle-dealer; and having +realised a small capital which could not be safely or easily invested in +the old country, he had brought out his whole family, and settled his +sons on farms in this neighbourhood. Many of the first settlers about +this place, generally emigrants of the poorest and lowest description, +after clearing a certain portion of the land, gladly disposed of their +farms at an advanced price; and thus it is that a considerable +improvement has taken place within these few years by the introduction +of settlers of a higher grade, who have purchased half-cleared farms, +rather than waste toil and time on the wild land.</p> + +<p>My new friend, John B——, had a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, +for which, with a log-house and barn upon it, he had paid 800 dollars +(about 200<i>l.</i>); he has now one hundred acres of land cleared and laid +down in pasture. This is the first instance I have met with in these +parts of a grazing farm, the land being almost uniformly arable, and the +staple produce of the country, wheat. He told me that he and his brother +had applied most advantageously their knowledge of the management and +rearing of live stock; he had now thirty cows and eighty sheep. His wife +being clever in the dairy, he was enabled to sell a good deal of butter +and cheese off his farm, which the neighbourhood of Port Stanley enabled +him to ship with advantage. The wolves, he said, were his greatest +annoyance; during the last winter they had carried off eight of his +sheep and thirteen of his brother's flock, in spite of all their +precautions.</p> + +<p>The Canadian wolf is about the size of a mastiff, in colour of a dirty +yellowish brown, with a black stripe along his back, and a bushy tail of +about a foot in length. His habits are those of the European wolf; they +are equally bold, "hungry, and gaunt, and grim,"—equally destructive, +ferocious, and troublesome to the farmer. The Canadian wolves hunt in +packs, and their perpetual howling during the winter nights has often +been described to me as frightful. The reward given by the magistracy +for their destruction (six dollars for each wolf's head) is not enough. +In the United States the reward is fifteen and twenty dollars a head, +and from their new settlements the wolves are quickly extirpated. +<i>Here</i>, if they would extend the reward to the Indians, it would be of +some advantage; for at present they never think it worth while to expend +their powder and shot on an animal whose flesh is uneatable, and the +skin of little value; and there can be no doubt that it is the interest +of the settlers to get rid of the wolves by all and any means. I have +never heard of their destroying a man, but they are the terror of the +sheepfold—as the wild cats are of the poultry yard. Bears become +scarcer in proportion as the country is cleared, but there are still a +great number in the vast tracts of forest land which afford them +shelter. These, in the severe winters, advance to the borders of the +settlements, and carry off the pigs and young cattle. Deer still abound, +and venison is common food in the cottages and farmhouses.</p> + +<p>My guide concluded his accounts of himself by an eloquent and heartfelt +eulogium on his wife, to whom, as he assured me, "he owed all his <i>peace +of mind</i> from the hour he was married!" Few men, I thought, could say +the same. <i>She</i>, at least, is not to be numbered among the drooping and +repining women of Upper Canada; but then she has left no family—no home +on the other side of the Atlantic—all her near relations are settled +here in the neighbourhood.</p> + +<h3>SETTLERS IN THE BUSH.</h3> + +<p>The road continued very tolerable during the greater part of this day, +running due west, at a distance of about six or ten miles from the shore +of Lake Erie. On either side I met a constant succession of farms +partially cleared, and in cultivation, but no village, town, or hamlet. +One part of the country through which I passed to-day is settled chiefly +by Highlanders, who bring hither all their clannish attachments, and +their thrifty, dirty habits—add also their pride and their honesty. We +stopped about noon at one of these Highland settlements, to rest the +horses and procure refreshments. The house was called Campbell's Inn, +and consisted of a log-hut and a cattle-shed. A long pole, stuck into +the decayed stump of a tree in front of the hut, served for a sign. The +family spoke nothing but Gaelic; a brood of children, ragged, dirty, and +without shoes or stockings (which latter I found hanging against the +wall of the best room, as if for a show), were running about—and all +stared upon me with a sort of half-scared, uncouth curiosity, which was +quite savage. With some difficulty I made my wants understood, and +procured some milk and Indian corn cakes. This family, notwithstanding +their wretched appearance, might be considered prosperous. They have a +property of two hundred acres of excellent land, of which sixty acres +are cleared, and in cultivation: five cows and forty sheep. They have +been settled here sixteen years,—had come out destitute, and obtained +their land gratis. For them, what a change from abject poverty and want +to independence and plenty! But the advantages are all outward; if there +be any inward change, it is apparently retrogradation, not advancement.</p> + +<p>I know it has been laid down as a principle, that the more and the +closer men are congregated together, the more prevalent is vice of every +kind; and that an isolated or scattered population is favourable to +virtue and simplicity. It may be so, if you are satisfied with negative +virtues and the simplicity of ignorance. But here, where a small +population is scattered over a wide extent of fruitful country, where +there is not a village or a hamlet for twenty, or thirty, or forty miles +together—where there are no manufactories—where there is almost entire +equality of condition—where the means of subsistence are +abundant—where there is no landed aristocracy—no poor laws, nor poor +rates, to grind the souls and the substance of the people between them, +till nothing remains but chaff,—to what shall we attribute the gross +vices, the profligacy, the stupidity, and basely vulgar habits of a +great part of the people, who know not even how to enjoy or turn to +profit the inestimable advantages around them?—And, alas for them! +there seems to be no one as yet to take an interest about them, or at +least infuse a new spirit into the next generation. In one log-hut in +the very heart of the wilderness, where I might well have expected +primitive manners and simplicity, I found vulgar finery, vanity, +affectation, under the most absurd and disgusting forms, combined with a +want of the commonest physical comforts of life, and the total absence +of even elementary knowledge. In another, I have seen drunkenness, +profligacy, stolid indifference to all religion; and in another, the +most senseless fanaticism. There are people, I know, who think—who +fear, that the advancement of knowledge and civilisation must be the +increase of vice and insubordination; who deem that a scattered +agricultural population, where there is a sufficiency of daily food for +the body; where no schoolmaster interferes to infuse ambition and +discontent into the abject, self-satisfied mind; where the labourer +reads not, writes not, thinks not—only loves, hates, prays, and +toils—that such a state must be a sort of Arcadia. Let them come +here!—there is no march of intellect here!—there is no "schoolmaster +abroad" here! And what are the consequences? Not the most agreeable to +contemplate, believe me.</p> + +<p>I passed in these journeys some school-houses built by the way side: of +these, several were shut up for want of schoolmasters; and who that +could earn a subsistence in any other way, would be a schoolmaster in +the wilds of Upper Canada? Ill fed, ill clothed, ill paid, or not paid +at all—boarded at the houses of the different farmers in turn, I found, +indeed, some few men, poor creatures! always either Scotch or Americans, +and totally unfit for the office they had undertaken. Of female teachers +I found none whatever, except in the towns. Among all the excellent +societies in London for the advancement of religion and education, are +there none to send missionaries here?—such missionaries as we want, be +it understood—not sectarian fanatics. Here, without means of +instruction, of social amusement, of healthy and innocent +excitements—can we wonder that whisky and camp-meetings assume their +place, and "season toil" which is unseasoned by anything better?</p> + +<p>Nothing, believe me, that you may have heard or read of the frantic +disorders of these Methodist love-feasts and camp-meetings in Upper +Canada can exceed the truth; and yet it is no less a truth that the +Methodists are in most parts the only religious teachers, and that +without them the people were utterly abandoned. What then are our church +and our government about? Here, as in the old country, they are +quarrelling about the tenets to be inculcated, the means to be used: and +so, while the shepherds are disputing whether the sheep are to be fed +on old hay or fresh grass—out of the fold or in the fold—the poor +sheep starve, or go astray.</p> + +<p>I supped here on eggs and radishes, and milk and bread. On going to my +room, I found that the door, which had merely a latch, opened into the +road. I expressed a wish to fasten it, on which the good lady of the +house brought a long nail, and thrust it lengthways over the latch, +saying, "That's the way we lock doors in Canada!" The want of a more +secure defence did not trouble my rest, for I slept well till morning. +After breakfast, my guide, who had found what he called a "shake-down" +at a neighbouring farm, made his appearance, and we proceeded.</p> + +<p>For the first five or six miles the road continued good, but at length +we reached a point where we had to diverge from the Talbot road, and +turn into what they call a "town line," a road dividing the Howard from +the Harwich township. My companion stopped the team to speak to a young +man who was mixing lime, and as he stood talking to us, I thought I had +never seen a better figure and countenance: his accent was Irish; his +language and manner infinitely superior to his dress, which was that of +a common workman. I soon understood that he was a member of one of the +richest and most respectable families in the whole district, connected +by marriage with my driver, who had been boasting to me of their +station, education, and various attainments. There were many and kind +greetings and inquiries after wives, sisters, brothers, and children. +Towards the conclusion of this family conference, the following dialogue +ensued.</p> + +<p>"I say, how are the roads before us?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty bad!" (with an ominous shake of the head.)</p> + +<p>"Would we get on at all, do you think?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know, but you may."</p> + +<p>"If only we a'n't <i>mired down</i> in that big hole up by Harris's, plaze +God, we'll do finely! Have they done anything up there?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't know that they have; but (with a glance and a +good-humoured smile at me) don't be frightened! you have a good stout +team there. I dare say you'll get along—first or last!"</p> + +<p>"How are the mosquitoes?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty bad too; it is cloudy, and then they are always worse; but there +is some wind, and that's in your favour again. However, you've a long +and hard day's work, and I wish you well through it; if you cannot +manage, come back to <i>us</i>—that's all! Good-bye!" And lifting the gay +handkerchief knotted round his head, he bowed us off with the air of a +nobleman.</p> + +<p>Thus encouraged, we proceeded; and though I was not <i>mired down</i>, nor +yet absolutely eaten up, I suffered from both the threatened plagues, +and that most severely. The road was scarcely passable; there were no +longer cheerful farms and clearings, but the dark pine forest, and the +rank swamp, crossed by those terrific corduroy paths (my bones ache at +the mere recollection!) and deep holes and pools of rotted vegetable +matter, mixed with water, black, bottomless sloughs of despond! The very +horses paused on the brink of some of these mud-gulfs, and trembled ere +they made the plunge downwards. I set my teeth, screwed myself to my +seat, and commended myself to Heaven—but I was well nigh dislocated! At +length I abandoned my seat altogether, and made an attempt to recline on +the straw at the bottom of the cart, disposing my cloaks, carpet-bags, +and pillow, so as to afford some support—but all in vain; myself and +all my well-contrived edifice of comfort were pitched hither and +thither, and I expected at every moment to be thrown over headlong; +while to walk, or to escape by any means from my disagreeable situation, +was as impossible as if I had been in a ship's cabin in the midst of a +rolling sea.</p> + +<p>But the worst was yet to come. At the entrance of a road through the +woods,</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If road that might be called where road was none</span> +<span class="i0">Distinguishable,</span> +</div></div> + +<p>we stopped a short time to gain breath and courage, and refresh the poor +horses before plunging into a forest of about twenty miles in extent.</p> + +<p>The inn—the only one within a circuit of more than five-and-thirty +miles, presented the usual aspect of these forest inns; that is, a rude +log-hut, with one window and one room, answering all purposes, a lodging +or sleeping place being divided off at one end by a few planks; outside, +a shed of bark and boughs for the horses, and a hollow trunk of a tree +disposed as a trough. Some of the trees around it were in full and +luxuriant foliage; others, which had been girdled, stood bare and +ghastly in the sunshine. To understand the full force of the scripture +phrase, "desolate as a lodge in a wilderness," you should come here! The +inmates, from whom I could not obtain a direct or intelligible answer to +any question, continued during the whole time to stare upon me with +stupid wonder. I took out a card to make a sketch of the place. A man +stood near me, looking on, whose appearance was revolting beyond +description—hideous, haggard and worn, sinewy and fierce and squalid. +He led in one hand a wild-looking urchin of three or four years old; in +the other he was crushing a beautiful young pigeon, which panted and +struggled within his bony grasp in agony and terror. I looked on it, +pitying.</p> + +<p>"Don't hurt it!"</p> + +<p>He replied with a grin, and giving the wretched bird another squeeze, +"No, no, I won't hurt it."</p> + +<p>"Do you live here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have a farm hard by—in the bush here."</p> + +<p>"How large is it?"</p> + +<p>"One hundred and forty acres."</p> + +<p>"How much cleared?"</p> + +<p>"Five or six acres—thereabout."</p> + +<p>"How long have you been on it?"</p> + +<p>"Five years."</p> + +<p>"And only five acres cleared? That is very little in five years. I have +seen people who had cleared twice that quantity of land in half the +time."</p> + +<p>He replied, almost with fierceness, "Then they had money, or friends, or +hands to help them: I have neither. I have in this wide world only +myself! and set a man with only a pair of hands at one of them big trees +there!—see what he'll make of it! You may swing the axe here from +morning to night for a week before you let the daylight in upon you."</p> + +<p>"You are right!" I said, in compassion and self-reproach, "and I was +wrong! pray excuse me!"</p> + +<p>"No offence."</p> + +<p>"Are you from the old country?"</p> + +<p>"No, I was <i>raised</i> here."</p> + +<p>"What will you do with your pigeon there?"</p> + +<p>"O, it will do for the boy's supper, or may be he may like it best to +play with."</p> + +<p>I offered to redeem its life at the price of a shilling, which I held +out. He stretched forth immediately one of his huge hands and eagerly +clutched the shilling, at the same moment opening the other, and +releasing his captive; it fluttered for a moment helplessly, but soon +recovering its wings, wheeled round our heads, and then settled in the +topmost boughs of a sugar-maple. The man turned away with an exulting +laugh, thinking, no doubt, that he had the best of the bargain—but upon +this point we differed.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Turning the horses' heads again westward, we plunged at once into the +deep forest, where there was absolutely no road, no path, except that +which is called a <i>blazed</i> path, where the trees marked on either side +are the only direction to the traveller. How savagely, how solemnly wild +it was! So thick was the overhanging foliage, that it not only shut out +the sunshine, but almost the daylight; and we travelled on through a +perpetual gloom of vaulted boughs and intermingled shade. There were no +flowers here—no herbage. The earth beneath us was a black, rich +vegetable mould, into which the cart-wheels sank a foot deep; a rank, +reedy grass grew round the roots of the trees, and sheltered +rattlesnakes and reptiles. The timber was all hard timber, walnut, +beech, and bass-wood, and oak and maple of most luxuriant growth; here +and there the lightning had struck and shivered one of the loftiest of +these trees, riving the great trunk in two, and flinging it horizontally +upon its companions. There it lay, in strangely picturesque fashion, +clasping with its huge boughs their outstretched arms as if for support. +Those which had been hewn to open a path lay where they fell, and over +their stumps and roots the cart had to be lifted or dragged. Sometimes a +swamp or morass lay in our road, partly filled up or laid over with +trunks of fallen trees, by way of bridge.</p> + +<p>As we neared the limits of the forest, some new clearings broke in upon +the solemn twilight monotony of our path: the aspect of these was almost +uniform, presenting an opening of felled trees of about an acre or two; +the commencement of a log-house; a patch of ground surrounded by a +snake-fence, enclosing the first crop of wheat, and perhaps a little +Indian corn; great heaps of timber-trees and brushwood laid together and +burning; a couple of oxen, dragging along another enormous trunk to add +to the pile. These were the general features of the picture, framed in, +as it were, by the dark mysterious woods. Here and there I saw a few +cows, but no sheep. I remember particularly one of these clearings, +which looked more desolate than the rest; there was an unfinished +log-house, only one half of it roofed in and habitable, and this +presented some attempt at taste, having a small rustic porch or portico, +and the windows on either side framed. No ground was fenced in, and the +newly-felled timber lay piled in heaps ready to burn; around lay the +forest, its shadows darkening, deepening as the day declined. But what +rivetted my attention was the light figure of a female, arrayed in a +silk gown and a handsome shawl, who was pacing up and down in front of +the house, with a slow and pensive air. She had an infant lying on her +arm, and in the other hand she waved a green bough, to keep off the +mosquitoes. I wished to stop—to speak, though at the hazard of +appearing impertinent; but my driver represented so strongly the danger +of being benighted within the verge of the forest, that I reluctantly +suffered him to proceed,</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And oft look'd back upon that vision fair,</span> +<span class="i0"> And wondering ask'd, whence and how came it there?"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>At length we emerged from the forest-path into a plain, through which +ran a beautiful river (my old acquaintance the Thames), "winding at its +own sweet will," and farmhouses with white walls and green shutters were +scattered along its banks, and cheerful voices were heard, shouts of +boys at play, sounds of labour and of life; and over all lay the last +glow of the sinking sun. How I blessed the whole scene in my heart! Yes, +I can well conceive what the exulting and joyous life of the hunter may +be, roaming at large and independent through these boundless forests; +but, believe me, that to be dragged along in a heavy cart through their +impervious shades, tormented by mosquitoes, shut in on every side from +the light and from the free air of heaven, is quite another thing; and +its effect upon me, at least, was to bring down the tone of the mind and +reflections to a gloomy, inert, vague resignation, or rather dejection, +which made it difficult at last to speak. The first view of the +beautiful little town of Chatham made my sinking spirits bound like the +sight of a friend. There was, besides, the hope of a good inn; for my +driver had cheered me on during the last few miles by a description of +"Freeman's Hotel," which he said was one of the best in the whole +district. Judge then of my disappointment to learn that Mr. Freeman, in +consequence of the "high price of wheat," could no longer afford to take +in hungry travellers, and had "no accommodation." I was driven to take +refuge in a miserable little place, where I fared as ill as possible. I +was shown to a bedroom without chair or table; but I was too utterly +beaten down by fatigue and dejection, too sore in body and spirit, to +remonstrate, or even to stir hand or foot. Wrapping my cloak round me, I +flung myself on the bed, and was soon in a state of forgetfulness of all +discomforts and miseries. Next morning I rose refreshed and able to +bestir myself; and by dint of bribing, and bawling, and scolding, and +cajoling, I at length procured plenty of hot and cold water, and then a +good breakfast of eggs, tea, and corn-cakes;—and then I set forth to +reconnoitre.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>CHATHAM.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 20%;">At Chatham, in the Western District, and on board the +steam-boat, between Chatham and Detroit. July 12, 13.</p> + +<p>I can hardly imagine a more beautiful or more fortunate position for a +new city than this of Chatham (you will find it on the map just upon +that neck of land between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie). It is +sufficiently inland to be safe, or easily secured against the sudden +attacks of a foreign enemy; the river Thames is navigable from the mouth +up to the town, a distance of sixteen miles, for all kinds of lake +craft, including steamers and schooners of the largest class. Lake St. +Clair, into which the Thames discharges itself, is between Lake Erie and +Lake Huron; the banks are formed of extensive prairies of exhaustless +fertility, where thousands of cattle might roam and feed at will. As a +port and depôt for commerce, its position and capabilities can hardly be +surpassed, while as an agricultural country it may be said literally to +flow with milk and honey. A rich soil, abundant pasture, no rent, no +taxes—what is wanting here but more intelligence and a better +employment of capital to prevent the people from sinking into brutified +laziness, and stimulate to something like mental activity and +improvement? The profuse gifts of nature are here running to waste, +while hundreds and thousands in the old country are trampling over each +other in the eager, hungry conflict for daily food.</p> + +<p>This land of Upper Canada is in truth the very paradise of hope. In +spite of all I see and hear, which might well move to censure, to +regret, to pity,—how much there is in which the trustful spirit may +reasonably rejoice! It would be possible, looking at things under one +aspect, to draw such a picture of the mistakes of the government, the +corruption of its petty agents, the social backwardness and moral +destitution of the people, as would shock you, and tempt you to regard +Canada as a place of exile for convicts. On the other hand, I could, +without deviating from the sober and literal truth, give you such vivid +pictures of the beauty and fertility of this land of the west, of its +glorious capabilities for agriculture and commerce, of the goodness and +kindliness and resources of poor, much-abused human nature, as +developed amid all the crushing influences of oppression, ignorance, and +prejudice; and of the gratitude and self-complacency of those who have +exchanged want, servitude, and hopeless toil at home, for plenty and +independence and liberty here,—as would transport you in fancy into an +earthly elysium. Thus, as I travel on, I am disgusted, or I am +enchanted; I despair or I exult by turns; and these inconsistent and +apparently contradictory emotions and impressions I set down as they +arise, leaving you to reconcile them as well as you can, and make out +the result for yourself.</p> + +<h3>TECUMSEH.</h3> + +<p>It is seldom that in this country the mind is ever carried backward by +associations or recollections of any kind. Horace Walpole said of Italy, +that it was "a land in which the memory saw more than the eye," and in +Canada hope must play the part of memory. It is all the difference +between seed-time and harvest. We are rich in anticipation, but poor in +possession—more poor in memorials. Some vague and general traditions, +of no interest whatever to the ignorant settlers, do indeed exist, of +horrid conflicts between the Hurons and the Iroquois, all along these +shores, in the time and before the time of the French dominion; of the +enterprise and daring of the early fur traders; above all, of the +unrequited labours and sacrifices of the missionaries, whether Jesuits, +or Moravians, or Methodists, some of whom perished in tortures; others +devoted themselves to the most horrible privations—each for what he +believed to be the cause of truth, and for the diffusion of the light of +salvation; none near to applaud the fortitude with which they died, or +to gain hope and courage from their example. During the last war between +Great Britain and the United States<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>—that war, in its commencement +dishonourable to the Americans, in its conclusion shameful to the +British, and in its progress disgraceful and demoralising to both;—that +war, which began and was continued in the worst passions of our nature, +cupidity and vengeance;—which brought no advantage to any one human +being—not even the foolish noise and empty glory which wait oftentimes +on human conflicts; a war scarce heard of in Europe, even by the mother +country, who paid its cost in millions, and in the blood of some of her +best subjects; a war obscure, fratricidal, and barbarous, which has left +behind no effect but a mutual exasperation and distress along the +frontiers of both nations, and a hatred which, like hatred between near +kinsmen, is more bitter and irreconcilable than any hostility between +the mercenary armies of rival nations; for here, not only the two +governments quarrelled, but the people, their institutions, feelings, +opinions, prejudices, local and personal interests, were brought into +collision;—during this vile, profitless, and unnatural war, a battle +was fought near Chatham, called by some the battle of the Thames, and by +others the battle of the Moravian towns, in which the Americans, under +General Harrison, beat General Proctor with considerable loss. But it is +chiefly worthy of notice, as the last scene of the life of Técumseh, a +Shawanee chief, of whom it is possible you may not have heard, but who +is the historical hero of these wild regions. Some American writers call +him the "Indian Napoleon;" both began their plans of policy and conquest +about the same time, and both about the same time terminated their +career, the one by captivity, the other by death. But the genius of the +Indian warrior and his exploits were limited to a narrow field along the +confines of civilisation, and their record is necessarily imperfect. It +is clear that he had entertained the daring and really magnificent plan +formerly embraced by Pontiac—that of uniting all the Indian tribes and +nations in a league against the whites. That he became the ally of the +British was not from friendship to us, but hatred to the Americans, whom +it was his first object to repel from any further encroachments on the +rights and territories of the Red men—in vain! These attempts of a +noble and a fated race, to oppose, or even to delay for a time, the +rolling westward of the great tide of civilisation, are like efforts to +dam up the rapids of Niagara. The moral world has its laws, fixed as +those of physical nature. The hunter must make way before the +agriculturist, and the Indian must learn to take the bit between his +teeth, and set his hand to the ploughshare, or <i>perish</i>. As yet I am +inclined to think that the idea of the Indians becoming what <i>we</i> call +a civilised people seems quite hopeless; those who entertain such +benevolent anticipations should come here, and behold the effect which +three centuries of contact with the whites have produced on the nature +and habits of the Indian. The benevolent theorists in England should +come and see with their own eyes that there is a bar to the civilisation +of the Indians, and the increase or even preservation of their numbers, +which no power can overleap. Their own principle, that "the Great Spirit +did indeed create both the red man and the white man, but created them +essentially different in nature and manners," is not, perhaps, far from +the truth.</p> + +<h3>MISSIONARIES AMONG THE INDIANS.</h3> + +<p>Take, for instance, the following scene, as described with great naïveté +by one of the Moravian missionaries. After a conference with some of the +Delaware chief men, in which they were informed that these missionaries +had come to teach them a better and purer religion, of which the one +fundamental principle, leading to eternal salvation, was belief in the +Redeemer, and atonement through his blood for the sins of all +mankind—all which was contained in the book which he held in his +hand,—"Wangoman, a great chief and medicine-man among them, rose to +reply. He began by tracing two lines on the ground, and endeavoured to +explain that there were two ways which led alike to God and to +happiness, the way of the Red man, and the way of the White man, but the +way of the Red man, he said, was the straighter and the shorter of the +two."</p> + +<p>The missionary here interposed, and represented that God himself had +descended on earth to teach men the <i>true</i> way. Wangoman declared that +"he had been intimately acquainted with God for many years, and had +never heard that God became a man and shed his blood, and therefore the +God of whom Brother Zeisberger preached could not be the true God, or +he, Wangoman, would have been made acquainted with the circumstance."</p> + +<p>The missionary then declared, "in the power of the spirit, that the God +in whom Wangoman and his Indians believed was no other than the devil, +the father of lies." Wangoman replied in a very moderate tone, "I +cannot understand your doctrine; it is quite new and strange to me. If +it be true," he added, "that the Great Spirit came down into the world, +became a man and suffered so much, I assure you the Indians are not in +fault, but the white men alone. God has given us the beasts of the +forest for food, and our employment is to hunt them. We know nothing of +your book—we cannot learn it; it is much too difficult for an Indian to +comprehend."</p> + +<p>Brother Zeisberger replied, "I will tell you the reason of it. Satan is +the prince of darkness: where he reigns all is dark, and he dwells in +you—therefore you can comprehend nothing of God and his word; but when +you return from the evil of your ways, and come as a wretched lost +sinner to Jesus Christ, it may be that he will have mercy upon you. Do +not delay therefore; make haste and save your poor souls!" &c.</p> + +<p>I forbear to repeat the rest, because it would seem as if I intended to +turn it into ridicule, which Heaven knows I do not; for it is of far too +serious import. But if it be in this style that the simple and sublime +precepts of Christianity are first presented to the understanding of the +Indians, can we wonder at the little progress hitherto made in +converting them to the truth? And with regard to all attempts to +civilise them, what should the red man see in the civilisation of the +white man which should move him to envy or emulation, or raise in his +mind a wish to exchange his "own unshackled life, and his innate +capacities of soul," for our artificial social habits, our morals, which +are contradicted by our opinions, and our religion, which is violated +both in our laws and our lives? When the good missionary said, with +emphasis, that there was no hope for the conversion of the Indians but +in removing them as far as possible from all intercourse with Europeans, +he spoke a terrible truth, confirmed by all I see and hear—by the +opinion of every one I have spoken to, who has ever had any intercourse +with these people. It will be said, as it has often been said, that +<i>here</i> it is the selfishness of the white man which speaks; that it is +for his interest, and for his wordly advantage, that the red man should +be removed out of his way, and be thrust back from the extending limits +of civilisation—even like these forests, which fall before us, and +vanish from the earth, leaving for a while some decaying stumps and +roots over which the plough goes in time, and no vestige remains to say +that here they <i>have been</i>. True; it is for the advantage of the +European agriculturist or artisan, that the hunter of the woods, who +requires the range of many hundred square miles of land for the adequate +support of a single family, should make way for populous towns, and +fields teeming with the means of subsistence for thousands. There is no +denying this; and if there be those who think that in the present state +of things the interests of the red man and the white man can ever be +blended, and their natures and habits brought to harmonise, then I +repeat, let them come here, and behold and see the heathen and the +so-called Christian placed in near neighbourhood and comparison, and +judge what are the chances for both! Wherever the Christian comes, he +brings the Bible in one hand, disease, corruption, and the accursed +fire-water, in the other; or flinging down the book of peace, he boldly +and openly proclaims that might gives right, and substitutes the sabre +and the rifle for the slower desolation of starvation and whisky.</p> + +<p>Every means hitherto provided by the Canadian government for the +protection of the Indians against the whites has failed. Every +prohibition of the use or sale of ardent spirits among them has proved a +mere mockery. The refuse of the white population along the back +settlements have no perception of the genuine virtues of the Indian +character. They see only their inferiority in the commonest arts of +life; their subjection to our power. They contemn them, oppress them, +cheat them, corrupt their women, and deprave them by the means and +example of drunkenness. The missionaries alone have occasionally +succeeded in averting or alleviating these evils, at least in some +degree; but their influence is very, very limited. The chiefs and +warriors of the different tribes are perfectly aware of the monstrous +evils introduced by the use of ardent spirits. They have held councils, +and made resolutions for themselves and their people to abstain from +their use; but the very first temptation generally oversets all these +good resolves. My Moravian friend described this intense passion for +intoxicating liquors with a sort of awe and affright, and attributed it +to the direct agency of the devil. Another missionary relates that soon +after the Delaware Indians had agreed among themselves to reject every +temptation of the kind, and punish those who yielded to it, a white +dealer in rum came among them, and placing himself in the midst of one +of their villages, with a barrel of spirits beside him, he introduced a +straw into it, and with many professions of civility and friendship to +his Indian friends, he invited every one to come and take a suck through +the straw <i>gratis</i>. A young Indian approached with a grave and pensive +air and slow step, but suddenly turning round, he ran off precipitately +as one terrified. Soon after he returned, he approached yet nearer, but +again ran off in the same manner as before. The third time he suffered +himself to be persuaded by the white man to put his lips to the straw. +No sooner had he tasted of the fiery drink, than he offered all his +wampum for a dram; and subsequently parted with everything he possessed, +even his rifle and his blanket, for more.</p> + +<h3>THE FIREWATER.</h3> + +<p>I have another illustrative anecdote for you, which I found among a +number of documents, submitted to the society established at Toronto, +for converting and civilising the Indians. There can be no doubt of its +truth, and it is very graphically told. The narrator is a travelling +schoolmaster, who has since been taken into the service of the society, +but whose name I have forgotten.</p> + +<p>"In the winter of 1832, I was led, partly by business and partly by the +novelty of the enterprise, to walk from the Indian Establishment of +Coldwater, to the Sault-Saint-Marie, a distance of nearly four hundred +miles.</p> + +<p>"The lake was well frozen, and the ice moderately covered with snow; +with the assistance of snow-shoes, we were enabled to travel a distance +of fifty miles in a day; but my business not requiring any expedition, I +was tempted to linger among the thousand isles of Lake Huron. I hoped to +ascertain some facts with regard to the real mode of life of the +Indians frequenting the north side of the lake. With this view, I made +a point of visiting every wigwam that we approached, and could, if it +were my present purpose, detail many interesting pictures of extreme +misery and destitution. Hunger, filth, and ignorance, with an entire +absence of all knowledge of a Supreme Being, here reign triumphant.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>"Near the close of a long and fatiguing day, my Indian guide came on the +recent track of a single Indian, and, anxious to please me, pursued it +to the head of a very deep bay. We passed two of those holes in the ice +which the Indians use for fishing, and at one of them noticed, from the +quantity of blood on the snow, that the spear had lately done +considerable execution. At a very short distance from the shore, the +track led us past the remains of a wigwam, adjoining to which we +observed a large canoe and a small hunting canoe, both carefully laid up +for the winter. After a considerable ascent, a narrow winding path +brought us into a deep hollow, about four hundred yards from the bay. +Here, surrounded on every side by hills, on the margin of one of the +smallest inland lakes, we came to a wigwam, the smoke from which showed +us that it was occupied. The path for a considerable distance was lined +on both sides by billets of firewood, and a blanket cleaner than usual, +suspended before the entrance, gave me at the very first a favourable +opinion of the inmates. I noticed on the right hand a dog-train, and on +the left, two pair of snow-shoes, and two barrels of salt-fish. The +wigwam was of the square form, and so large, that I was surprised to +find it occupied by two Indians only—a young man and his wife.</p> + +<p>"We were soon made welcome, and I had leisure to look round me in +admiration of the comfort displayed in the arrangement of the interior. +A covering of fresh branches of the young hemlock-pine was neatly spread +all round. In the centre of the right hand side, as we entered, the +master of the lodge was seated on a large mat; his wife occupied the +station at his left hand; good and clean mats were spread for myself and +my guide—my own being opposite the entrance, and my guide occupying the +remaining side of the wigwam. Three dogs, well conditioned, and of a +large breed, lay before the fire.—So much for the live stock. At the +back of the wife, I saw, suspended near the door, a tin can full of +water, with a small tin cup; next to it, a mat bag filled with tin +dishes, and wooden spoons of Indian manufacture; above that were several +portions of female dress—ornamented leggings, two showy shawls, &c. A +small chest and bag were behind her on the ground. At the back of the +Indian were suspended two spear heads, of three prongs each; an American +rifle, an English fowling-piece, and an Indian chief piece, with shot +and bullet pouches, and two powder horns; there were also a highly +ornamented capuchin, and a pair of new blanket leggings. The corner was +occupied by a small red-painted chest; a mokkuk of sugar was placed in +the corner on my right hand, and a barrel of flour, half empty, on the +right hand of my Indian; and between that and the door were hanging +three large salmon trout, and several pieces of dried deer flesh. In the +centre, as usual, we had a bright blazing fire, over which three kettles +gave promise of one of the comforts of weary travellers. Our host had +arrived but a few minutes before us, and was busied in pulling off his +moccasins and blankets when we entered. We had scarcely time to remove +our leggings and change our moccasins, preparatory to a full enjoyment +of the fire, when the Indian's wife was prepared to set before us a +plentiful mess of boiled fish; this was followed in a short space by +soup made of deer flesh and Indian corn, and our repast terminated with +hot cakes baked in the ashes, in addition to the tea supplied from our +own stores.</p> + +<p>"Before daylight on the following morning we were about to set out, but +could not be allowed to depart without again partaking of refreshment. +Boiled and broiled fish were set before us, and to my surprise, the +young Indian, before partaking of it, knelt to pray aloud. His prayer +was short and fervent, and without that whining tone in which I had been +accustomed to hear the Indians address the Deity. It appeared to +combine the manliness and humility which one would naturally expect to +find in an address spoken from the heart, and not got up for theatrical +effect.</p> + +<p>"On taking our departure, I tried to scan the countenance of our host, +and I flatter myself I could not mistake the marks of unfeigned pleasure +at having exercised the feelings of hospitality, mixed with a little +pride in the display of the riches of his wigwam.</p> + +<p>"You may be sure I did not omit the opportunity of diving into the +secret of all his comfort and prosperity. It could not escape +observation that here was real civilisation, and I anxiously sought for +some explanation of the difference between the habits of this Indian and +his neighbours. The story was soon told:—He had been brought up at the +British settlement on Drummond Island, where, when a child, he had, in +frequent conversations, but in no studied form, heard the principles of +religion explained, and he had been told to observe the sabbath, and to +pray to the Almighty. Industry and prudence had been frequently +enjoined, and, above all things, an abhorrence of ardent spirits. Under +the influence of this wholesome advice, his hunting, fishing, and +sugar-making had succeeded to such an extent, as to provide him with +every necessary and many luxuries. He already had abundance, and still +retained some few skins, which he hoped, during the winter, to increase +to an amount sufficient to purchase him the indulgence of a barrel of +pork, and additional clothing for himself and his wife.</p> + +<p>"Further explanation was unnecessary, and the wearisomeness of this +day's journey was pleasingly beguiled by reflections on the simple means +by which a mind, yet in a state of nature, may be saved from +degradation, and elevated to the best feelings of humanity.</p> + +<p>"Shall I lift the same blanket after the lapse of eighteen months?—The +second summer has arrived since my last visit; the wigwam on the Lake +shore, the fit residence of summer, is unoccupied—the fire is still +burning in the wigwam of winter; but the situation, which has warmth and +quiet to recommend it at that season when cold is our greatest enemy, +is now gloomy and dark. Wondering what could have induced my friends to +put up with the melancholy of the deep forest, instead of the sparkling +of the sun-lit wave, I hastened to enter. How dreadful the change! There +was, indeed, the same Indian girl that I had left healthy, cheerful, +contented, and happy; but whisky, hunger, and distress of mind had +marked her countenance with the furrows of premature old age. An infant, +whose aspect was little better than its mother's, was hanging at her +breast, half dressed and filthy. Every part of the wigwam was ruinous +and dirty, and, with the exception of one kettle, entirely empty. Not +one single article of furniture, clothing, or provision remained. Her +husband had left in the morning to go out to fish, and she had not moved +from the spot; this I thought strange, as his canoe and spear were on +the beach. In a short time he returned, but without any food. He had, +indeed, set out to fish, but had lain down to sleep in the bush, and had +been awakened by his dog barking on our arrival. He appeared worn down +and helpless both in body and mind, and seated himself in listless +silence in his place in the wigwam.</p> + +<p>"Producing pork and flour from my travelling stores, I requested his +wife to cook them. They were prepared, and I looked anxiously at the +Indian, expecting to hear his accustomed prayer. He did not move. I +therefore commenced asking a blessing, and was astonished to observe him +immediately rise and walk out of the wigwam.</p> + +<p>"However, his wife and child joined us in partaking of the food, which +they ate voraciously. In a little time the Indian returned and lay down. +My curiosity was excited, and although anxious not to distress his +feelings, I could not avoid seeking some explanation of the change I +observed. It was with difficulty I ascertained the following facts:—</p> + +<p>"On the opening of the spring of 1833, the Indian having got a +sufficiency of furs for his purpose, set off to a distant trading post +to make his purchase. The trader presented him with a plug of tobacco +and a pipe on his entrance, and offered him a glass of whisky, which he +declined; the trader was then occupied with other customers, but soon +noticed the respectable collection of furs in the pack of the poor +Indian. He was marked as his victim, and not expecting to be able to +impose upon him unless he made him drunk, he determined to accomplish +this by indirect means.</p> + +<p>"As soon as the store was clear of other customers, he entered into +conversation with the Indian, and invited him to join him in drinking a +glass of cider, which he unhesitatingly accepted; the cider was mixed +with brandy, and soon began to affect the mind of the Indian; a second +and a third glass were taken, and he became completely intoxicated. In +this state the trader dealt with him; but it was not at first that even +the draught he had taken could overcome his lessons of prudence. He +parted with only one skin; the trader was, therefore, obliged to +continue his contrivances, which he did with such effect, that for three +weeks the Indian remained eating, drinking, and sleeping in his store. +At length all the fur was sold; and the Indian returned home, with only +a few ribbons and beads, and a bottle of whisky. The evil example of the +husband, added to vexation of mind, broke the resolution of the wife, +and she, too, partook of the accursed liquor. From this time there was +no change. The resolution of the Indian once broken, his pride of +spirit, and consequently his firmness were gone; he became a confirmed +drinker,—his wife's and his own ornamented dresses, and at length all +the furniture of his wigwam, even the guns and traps on which his +hunting depended, were all sold to the store for whisky. When I arrived, +they had been two days without food, and the Indian had not energy to +save himself and his family from starvation.</p> + +<p>"All the arguments that occurred to me I made use of to convince the +Indian of his folly, and to induce him even now to begin life again, and +redeem his character. He heard me in silence. I felt that I should be +distressing them by remaining all night, and prepared to set out again, +first giving to the Indian a dollar, desiring him to purchase food with +it at the nearest store, and promising shortly to see him again.</p> + +<p>"I had not proceeded far on my journey, when it appeared to me, that by +remaining with them for the night, and in the morning renewing my +solicitations to them, I might assist still more to effect a change. I +therefore turned back, and in about two hours arrived again at the +wigwam. The Indian had set off for the store, but had not returned. His +wife still remained seated where I left her, and during the whole night +(the Indian never coming back) neither moved nor raised her head. +Morning came; I quickly despatched breakfast, and leaving my baggage, +with the assistance of my guide set out for the trader's store. It was +distant about two miles. I inquired for the Indian. He came there the +evening before with a dollar: he purchased a pint of whisky, for which +he paid half a dollar, and with the remainder bought six pounds of +flour. He remained until he had drunk the whisky, and then requested to +have the flour exchanged for another pint of whisky. This was done, and +having consumed that also, he was so "stupidly drunk," (to use the words +of the trader,) that it was necessary to shut him out of the store on +closing it for the night. Search was immediately made for him, and at +the distance of a few yards he was found lying on his face dead."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE INDIAN CHARACTER.</h3> + +<p>That the poor Indians to whom reserved lands have been granted, and who, +on the faith of treaties, have made their homes and gathered themselves +into villages on such lands, should, whenever it is deemed expedient, be +driven out of their possessions, either by purchase, or by persuasion, +or by force, or by measures which include all three, and sent to seek a +livelihood in distant and strange regions—as in the case of these +Delawares—is horrible, and bears cruelty and injustice on the face of +it. To say that they cannot exist in amicable relation with the whites, +without deprivation of their morals, is a fearful imputation on us as +Christians;—but thus it is. And I do wish that those excellent and +benevolent people who have taken the cause of the aborigines to heart, +and are making appeals in their behalf to the justice of the government +and the compassion of the public, would, instead of theorising in +England, come out here and behold the actual state of things with their +own eyes—and having seen all, let them say <i>what</i> is to be done, and +what chances exist, for the independence, and happiness, and morality of +a small remnant of Indians residing on a block of land, six miles +square, surrounded on every side by a white population. To insure the +accomplishment of those benevolent and earnest aspirations, in which so +many good people indulge, what is required? what is expected? Of the +white men such a pitch of lofty and self-sacrificing virtue, of humane +philosophy and christian benevolence, that the future welfare of the +wronged people they have supplanted shall be preferred above their own +immediate interest—nay, their own immediate existence: of the red man, +that he shall forget the wild hunter blood flowing through his veins, +and take the plough in hand, and wield the axe and the spade instead of +the rifle and the fishspear! Truly they know not what they ask, who ask +this; and among all those with whom I have conversed—persons familiar +from thirty to forty years together with the Indians and their mode of +life—I never heard but one opinion on the subject. Without casting the +slightest imputation on the general honesty of intention of the +missionaries and others delegated and well paid by various societies to +teach and protect the Indians, still I will say that the enthusiasm of +some, the self-interest of others, and an unconscious mixture of pious +enthusiasm and self-interest in many more, render it necessary to take +their testimony with some reservation; for often with them "the wish is +father to the thought" set down; and feeling no lack of faith in their +cause or in themselves, they look for miracles, such as waited on the +missions of the apostles of old. But in the mean time, and by human +agency, what is to be done? Nothing so easy as to point out evils and +injuries, resulting from foregone events, or deep-seated in natural and +necessary causes, and lament over them with resistless eloquence in +verse and prose, or hold them up to the sympathy and indignation of the +universe; but let the real friends of religion, humanity, and the poor +Indians, set down a probable and feasible remedy for their wrongs and +miseries; and follow it up, as the advocates for the abolition of the +slave-trade followed up their just and glorious purpose. With a definite +object and plan, much might be done; but mere declamation against the +evil does little good. The people who propose remedies, forget that +there are two parties concerned. I remember to have read in some of the +early missionary histories, that one of the Jesuit fathers, (Father le +Jeune), full of sympathy and admiration for the noble qualities and +lofty independence of the converted Indians, who could not and would not +work, suggested the propriety of sending out some of the French +peasantry to work and till the ground for them, as the only means of +keeping them from running off to the woods. A doubtful sort of +philanthropy, methinks! but it shows how <i>one-sided</i> a life's devotion +to one particular object will make even a benevolent and a just man.</p> + +<h3>THE CHIPPEWAS.</h3> + +<p>Higher up, on the river Thames, and above the Moravian settlements, a +small tribe of the Chippewa nation has been for some time located. They +have apparently attained a certain degree of civilisation, live in +log-huts instead of bark wigwams, and have, from necessity, turned their +attention to agriculture. I have now in my pocket-book an original +document sent up from these Indians to the Indian agency at Toronto. It +runs thus:</p> + +<p>"We, the undersigned chiefs of the Chippewa Indians of Colborne on the +Thames, hereby request Mr. Superintendent Clench to procure for us—</p> + +<p>"One yoke of working oxen.</p> + +<p>"Six ploughs.</p> + +<p>"Thirty-three tons of hay.</p> + +<p>"One hundred bushels of oats.</p> + +<p>"The price of the above to be deducted from our land-payments."</p> + +<p>Signed by ten chiefs, or, more properly, chief men, of the tribe, of +whom one, the Beaver, signs his name in legible characters: the others, +as is usual with the Indians, affix each their <i>totem</i>, (crest or +sign-manual,) being a rude scratch of a bird, fish, deer, &c. Another of +these papers, similarly signed, contains a requisition for working tools +and mechanical instruments of various kinds. This looks well, and it +<i>is</i> well; but what are the present state and probable progress of this +Chippewa settlement? Why, one half the number at least are half-caste, +and as the white population closes and thickens around them, we shall +see in another generation or two none of entire Indian blood; they will +become, at length, almost wholly amalgamated with the white people. Is +this <i>civilising the Indians</i>?<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> I should observe, that when an Indian +woman gives herself to a white man, she considers herself as his wife to +all intents and purposes. If forsaken by him, she considers herself as +injured, not disgraced. There are great numbers of white settlers and +traders along the borders living thus with Indian women. Some of these +have been persuaded by the missionaries or magistrates to go through the +ceremony of marriage; but the number is few in proportion.</p> + +<p>You must not imagine, after all I have said, that I consider the Indians +as an inferior race, merely because they have no literature, no +luxuries, no steam-engines; nor yet, because they regard our superiority +in the arts with a sort of lofty indifference, which is neither contempt +nor stupidity, look upon them as being beyond the pale of our +sympathies. It is possible I may, on a nearer acquaintance, change my +opinion, but they do strike me as an <i>untamable</i> race. I can no more +conceive a city filled with industrious Mohawks and Chippewas, than I +can imagine a flock of panthers browsing in a penfold.</p> + +<p>The dirty, careless habits of the Indians, while sheltered only by the +bark-covered wigwam, matter very little. Living almost constantly in the +open air, and moving their dwellings perpetually from place to place, +the worst effects of dirt and negligence are neither perceived nor +experienced. But I have never heard of any attempt to make them +stationary and congregate in houses, that has not been followed by +disease and mortality, particularly among the children; a natural result +of close air, confinement, heat, and filth. In our endeavours to +civilise the Indians, we have not only to convince the mind and change +the habits, but to overcome a certain physical organisation to which +labour and constraint and confinement appear to be fatal. This cannot be +done in less than three generations, if at all, in the unmixed race; and +meantime—they perish!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>LAKE ST. CLAIR.</h3> + +<p>It is time, however, that I should introduce you to our party on board +the little steam-boat, which is now puffing, and snorting, and gliding +at no rapid rate over the blue tranquil waters of Lake St. Clair.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +First, then, there are the captain, and his mate or steersman, two young +men of good manners and appearance; one English—the other Irish; one a +military, the other a naval officer: both have land, and are near +neighbours up somewhere by Lake Simcoe; but both being wearied out by +three years' solitary life in the bush, they have taken the steam-boat +for this season on speculation, and it seems likely to answer. The boat +was built to navigate the ports of Lake Huron from Penetanguishine, to +Goderich and St. Joseph's Island, but there it utterly failed. It is a +wretched little boat, dirty and ill contrived. The upper deck, to which +I have fled from the close hot cabin, is an open platform, with no +defence or railing around it, and I have here my establishment—a chair, +a little table, with pencil and paper, and a great umbrella; a gust of +wind or a pitch of the vessel would inevitably send me sliding +overboard. The passengers consist of my acquaintance, the Moravian +missionary, with a family of women and children (his own wife and the +relatives of his assistant Vogler), who are about to emigrate with the +Indians beyond the Missouri. These people speak a dialect of German +among themselves, being descended from the early German Moravians. I +find them civil, but neither prepossessing nor intelligent; in short, I +can make nothing of them; I cannot extract an idea beyond eating, +drinking, dressing, and praying; nor can I make out with what feelings, +whether of regret, or hope, or indifference, they contemplate their +intended exile to the far, far west. Meantime the children squeal, and +the women chatter incessantly.</p> + +<p>We took in at Chatham a large cargo of the usual articles of exportation +from Canada to the United States, viz. barrels of flour, sacks of grain, +and emigrants proceeding to Michigan and the Illinois. There are on +board, in the steerage, a great number of poor Scotch and Irish of the +lowest grade, and also one large family of American emigrants, who have +taken up their station on the deck, and whose operations amuse me +exceedingly. I wish I could place before you this very original ménage, +even as it is before me now while I write. Such a group could be +encountered nowhere on earth, methinks, but here in the west, or among +the migratory Tartar hordes of the east.</p> + +<p>They are from Vermont, and on their way to the Illinois, having been +already eleven weeks travelling through New York and Upper Canada. They +have two waggons covered in with canvass, a yoke of oxen, and a pair of +horses. The chief or patriarch of the set is an old Vermont farmer, +upwards of sixty at least, whose thin shrewd face has been burnt to a +deep brick-dust colour by the sun and travel, and wrinkled by age or +care into a texture like that of tanned sail-canvass—(the simile +nearest to me at this moment). The sinews of his neck and hands are like +knotted whipcord; his turned-up nose, with large nostrils, snuffs the +wind, and his small light blue eyes have a most keen, cunning +expression. He wears a smockfrock over a flannel shirt, blue woollen +stockings, and a broken pipe stuck in his straw hat, and all day long he +smokes or chews tobacco. He has with him fifteen children of different +ages by three wives. The present wife, a delicate, intelligent, +care-worn woman, seems about thirty years younger than her helpmate. She +sits on the shaft of one of the waggons I have mentioned, a baby in her +lap, and two of the three younger children crawling about her feet. Her +time and attention are completely taken up in dispensing to the whole +brood, young and old, rations of food, consisting of lard, bread of +Indian corn, and pieces of sassafras root. The appearance of all (except +the poor anxious mother) is equally robust and cheerful, half-civilised, +coarse, and by no means clean: all are barefooted except the two eldest +girls, who are uncommonly handsome, with fine dark eyes. The eldest son, +a very young man, has been recently married to a very young wife, and +these two recline together all day, hand in hand, under the shade of a +sail, neither noticing the rest nor conversing with each other, but, as +it seems to me, in silent contentment with their lot. I found these +people, most unlike others of their class I have met with before, +neither curious nor communicative, answering to all my questions and +advances with cautious monosyllables, and the old man with even laconic +rudeness. The contrast which the gentle anxious wife and her baby +presented to all the others, interested me; but she looked so +overpowered by fatigue, and so disinclined to converse, that I found no +opportunity to satisfy my curiosity without being impertinently +intrusive; so, after one or two ineffectual advances to the shy, wild +children, I withdrew, and contented myself with observing the group at a +distance.</p> + +<p>The banks of the Thames are studded with a succession of farms, +cultivated by the descendants of the early French settlers—precisely +the same class of people as the <i>Habitans</i> in Lower Canada. They go on +exactly as their ancestors did a century ago, raising on their rich +fertile lands just sufficient for a subsistence, wholly uneducated, +speaking only a French patois, without an idea of advance or improvement +of any kind; submissive to their priests, gay, contented, courteous, and +apparently retaining their ancestral tastes for dancing, singing, and +flowers.</p> + +<p>In the midst of half-dilapidated, old-fashioned farm-houses, you could +always distinguish the priest's dwelling, with a flower-garden in front, +and the little chapel or church surmounted by a cross,—both being +generally neat, clean, fresh-painted, and forming a strange contrast +with the neglect and slovenliness around.</p> + +<p>Ague prevails very much at certain seasons along the banks of the river, +and I could see by the manner in which the houses are built, that it +overflows its banks annually; it abounds in the small fresh-water turtle +(the Terrapin): every log floated on the water, or muddy islet, was +covered with them.</p> + +<p>We stopped half-way down the river to take in wood. Opposite to the +landing-place stood an extensive farmhouse, in better condition than any +I had yet seen: and under the boughs of an enormous tree, which threw an +ample and grateful shade around, our boat was moored. Two Indian boys, +about seven or eight years old, were shooting with bow and arrows at a +mark stuck up against the huge trunk of the tree. They wore cotton +shirts, with a crimson belt round the waist ornamented with beads, such +as is commonly worn by the Canadian Indians; one had a gay handkerchief +knotted round his head, from beneath which his long black hair hung in +matted elf locks on his shoulders. The elegant forms, free movements, +and haughty indifference of these Indian boys, were contrasted with the +figures of some little dirty, ragged Canadians, who stood staring upon +us with their hands in their pockets, or importunately begging for +cents. An Indian hunter and his wife, the father and mother of the boys, +were standing by, and at the feet of the man a dead deer lay on the +grass. The steward of the boat was bargaining with the squaw for some +venison, while the hunter stood leaning on his rifle, haughty and +silent. At the window of the farmhouse sat a well-dressed female, +engaged in needlework. After looking up at me once or twice as I stood +upon the deck gazing on this picture—just such a one as Edwin Landseer +would have delighted to paint—the lady invited me into her house; an +invitation I most gladly accepted. Everything within it and around it +spoke riches and substantial plenty; she showed me her garden, abounding +in roses, and an extensive orchard, in which stood two Indian wigwams. +She told me that every year families of Chippewa hunters came down from +the shore of Lake Huron, and encamped in her orchard, and those of her +neighbours, without asking permission. They were perfectly inoffensive, +and had never been known to meddle with her poultry, or injure her +trees. "They are," said she, "an honest, excellent people; but I must +shut the gates of my orchard upon them to-night—for this bargain with +your steward will not conclude without whisky, and I shall have them all +<i>ivres mort</i> before to-morrow morning."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>DETROIT.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">Detroit, at night.</p> + +<p>I passed half an hour in pleasant conversation with this lady, who had +been born, educated, and married in the very house in which she now +resided. She spoke English well and fluently, but with a foreign accent, +and her deportment was frank and easy, with that sort of graceful +courtesy which seems inherent in the French manner, or used to be so. On +parting, she presented me with a large bouquet of roses, which has +proved a great delight, and served all the purposes of a fan. Nor should +I forget that in her garden I saw the only humming-birds I have yet seen +in Canada: there were two lovely little gem-like creatures disporting +among the blossoms of the scarlet-bean. They have been this year less +numerous than usual, owing to the lateness and severity of the spring.</p> + +<p>The day has been most intolerably hot; even on the lake there was not a +breath of air. But as the sun went down in his glory, the breeze +freshened, and the spires and towers of the city of Detroit were seen +against the western sky. The schooners at anchor, or dropping into the +river—the little canoes flitting across from side to side—the lofty +buildings,—the enormous steamers—the noisy port, and busy streets, all +bathed in the light of a sunset such as I had never seen, not even in +Italy—almost turned me giddy with excitement. I have emerged from the +solitary forests of Canada to be thrown suddenly into the midst of +crowded civilised life; and the effect for the present is a nervous +flutter of the spirits which banishes sleep and rest; though I have got +into a good hotel, (the American,) and have at last, after some +trouble, obtained good accommodation.</p> + +<br /><br /> +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">Detroit, June ——.</p> + +<p>The roads by which I have at length reached this beautiful little city +were not, certainly, the smoothest and the easiest in the world; nor can +it be said of Upper Canada, as of wisdom, "that all her ways are ways of +pleasantness, and her paths are paths of peace." On the contrary, one +might have fancied oneself in the road to paradise for that matter. It +was difficult, and narrow; and foul, and steep enough to have led to the +seventh heaven; but in heaven I am not yet—</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Since my arrival at Detroit, some malignant planet reigns in place of +that favourable and guiding star which has hitherto led me so deftly on +my way,</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Through brake, through brier,</span> +<span class="i0"> Through mud, through mire."</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Here, where I expected all would go so well, every thing goes wrong, and +cross, and contrary.</p> + +<p>A severe attack of illness, the combined effect of heat, fatigue, and +some deleterious properties in the water at Detroit, against which +travellers should be warned, has confined me to my room for the last +three days. This <i>mal-à-propos</i> indisposition has prevented me from +taking my passage in the great steamer which has just gone up Lake +Huron; and I must now wait here six days longer, till the next boat, +bound for Mackinaw and Chicago, comes up Lake Erie from Buffalo. What is +far worse, I have lost, for the time being, the advantage of seeing and +knowing Daniel Webster, and of hearing a display of that wonderful +eloquence which they say takes captive all ears, and hearts, and souls. +He has been making public speeches here, appealing to the people against +the money transactions of the government; and the whole city has been in +a ferment. He left Detroit two days after my arrival, to my no small +mortification. I had letters for him; and it so happens that several +others to whom I had also letters have fled from the city on summer +tours, or to escape the heat. Some have gone east, some west; some up +the lakes, some down the lakes. So I am abandoned to my own resources, +in a miserable state of languor, lassitude, and weakness.</p> + +<p>It is not, however, the first time I have had to endure sickness and +solitude together in a strange land; and, the worst being over, we must +needs make the best of it, and send the time away as well as we can.</p> + +<p>Of all the places I have yet seen in these far western regions, Detroit +is the most interesting. It is, moreover, a most ancient and venerable +place, dating back to the dark, immemorial ages, i.e. almost a century +and a quarter ago! and having its history and antiquities, and +traditions and heroes, and epochs of peace and war. No place in the +United States presents such a series of events interesting in +themselves, and permanently affecting, as they occurred, both its +progress and prosperity. Five times its flag has changed; three +different sovereignties have claimed its allegiance; and, since it has +been held by the United States, its government has been thrice +transferred: twice it has been besieged by the Indians, once captured in +war, and once burned to the ground: truly a long list of events for a +young city of a century old! Detroit may almost rival her old grandam +Quebec, who sits bristling defiance on the summit of her rocky height, +in warlike and tragic experience.</p> + +<p>Can you tell me why we gave up this fine and important place to the +Americans, without leaving ourselves even a fort on the opposite shore? +Dolts and blockheads as we have been in all that concerns the partition +and management of these magnificent regions, now that we have ignorantly +and blindly ceded whole countries, and millions and millions of square +miles of land and water to our neighbours, I am told that we are likely +to quarrel and go to war about a partition line through the barren +tracts of the east! Well, let our legislators look to it! Colonel Talbot +told me that when he took a map, and pointed out to one of the English +commissioners the foolish bargain they had made, the real extent, value, +and resources of the countries ceded to the United States, the man +covered his eyes with his clenched hands, and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>The position of Detroit is one of the finest imaginable. It is on a +strait between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, commanding the whole +internal commerce of these great "successive seas." Michigan, of which +it is the capital, being now received into the Union, its importance, +both as a frontier town and a place of trade, increases every day.</p> + +<p>The origin of the city was a little palisadoed fort, erected here, in +1702, by the French under La Motte Cadillac, to defend their fur trade. +It was then called Fort Portchartrain. From this time till 1760 it +remained in possession of the French, and continued to increase slowly. +So late as 1721, Charlevoix speaks of the vast herds of buffaloes +ranging the plains west of the city. Meantime, under the protection of +the fort, the settlement and cultivation of the neighbouring districts +went on, in spite of the attacks of some of the neighbouring tribes of +Indians, particularly the Ottagamies, who, with the Iroquois, seem to +have been the only decided and irreconcilable enemies whom the French +found in this province. The capture of Quebec, and the death of Wolfe, +being followed by the cession of the whole of the French territory in +North America to the power of Great Britain, Detroit, with all the other +trading posts in the west, was given up to the English. It is curious +that the French submitted to this change of masters more easily than the +Indians, who were by no means inclined to exchange the French for the +English alliance. "Whatever may have been the cause," says Governor +Cass, "the fact is certain, that there is in the French character a +peculiar adaptation to the habits and feelings of the Indians; and to +this day the period of French domination is the era of all that is happy +in Indian reminiscences."</p> + +<p>The conciliating manners of the French towards the Indians, and the +judgment with which they managed all their intercourse with them, has +had a permanent effect on the minds of those tribes who were in +friendship with them. At this day, if the British are generally +preferred to the Americans, the French are always preferred to either. A +Chippewa chief, addressing the American agent at the Sault S<sup>te.</sup> +Marie, so late as 1826, thus fondly referred to the period of the French +dominion:—"When the Frenchmen arrived at these Falls, they came and +kissed us. They called us children; and we found them fathers. We lived +like brethren in the same lodge; and we had always wherewithal to clothe +us. They never mocked at our ceremonies, and they never molested the +places of our dead. Seven generations of men have passed away, but we +have not forgotten it. Just, very just, were they towards us!"<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>The discontent of the Indian tribes upon the transfer of the forts and +trading posts into the possession of the British, showed itself early, +and at length gave rise to one of the most prolonged and savage of all +the Indian wars, that of Pontiac, in 1763.</p> + +<h3>PONTIAC.</h3> + +<p>Of this Pontiac you have read, no doubt, in various books of travels and +anecdotes of Indian chiefs. But it is one thing to read of these events +by an English fireside, where the features of the scene—the forest +wilds echoing to the war-whoop—the painted warriors—the very words +scalping, tomahawking, bring no definite meaning to the mind, only a +vague horror;—and quite <i>another</i> thing to recall them here on the +spot, arrayed in all their dread yet picturesque reality. Pontiac is the +hero <i>par excellence</i> of all these regions; and in all the histories of +Detroit, when Detroit becomes a great capital of the west, he will +figure like Caractacus or Arminius in the Roman history. The English +contemporaries call him king and emperor of the Indians; but there is +absolutely no sovereignty among these people. Pontiac was merely a war +chief, chosen in the usual way, but exercising a more than usual +influence, not by mere bravery—the universal savage virtue—but by +talents of a rarer kind; a power of reflection and combination rarely +met with in the character of the red warrior. Pontiac was a man of +genius, and would have ruled his fellow-men under any circumstances, and +in any country. He formed a project similar to that which Tecumseh +entertained fifty years later. He united all the north-western tribes of +Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pottowottomies, in one great confederacy against +the British, "the dogs in red coats;" and had very nearly caused the +overthrow, at least the temporary overthrow of our power. He had planned +a simultaneous attack on all the trading posts in the possession of the +English, and so far succeeded that ten of these forts were surprised +about the same time, and all the English soldiers and traders massacred, +while the French were spared. Before any tidings of these horrors and +outrages could reach Detroit, Pontiac was here in friendly guise, and +all his measures admirably arranged for taking this fort also by +stratagem, and murdering every Englishman within it. All had been lost, +if a poor Indian woman, who had received much kindness from the family +of the commandant (Major Gladwyn), had not revealed the danger. I do not +yet quite understand why Major Gladwyn, on the discovery of Pontiac's +treachery, and having him in his power, did not make him and his whole +band prisoners; such a stroke would have ended, or rather it would have +prevented, the war. But it must be remembered that Major Gladwyn was +ignorant of the systematic plan of extermination adopted by Pontiac; the +news of the massacres at the upper forts had not reached him; he knew of +nothing but the attempt on himself, and from motives of humanity or +magnanimity he suffered them to leave the fort and go free. No sooner +were they on the outside of the palisades, than they set up the war-yell +"like so many devils," as a bystander expressed it, and turned and +discharged their rifles on the garrison. The war, thus savagely +declared, was accompanied by all those atrocious barbarities, and turns +of fate, and traits of heroism, and hair-breadth escapes, which render +these Indian conflicts so exciting, so terrific, so picturesque.</p> + +<p>Detroit was in a state of siege by the Indians for twelve months, and +gallantly and successfully defended by Major Gladwyn, till relieved by +General Bradstreet.</p> + +<p>The first time I was able to go out, my good-natured landlord drove me +himself in his waggon (<i>Anglicè</i>, gig), with as much attention and care +for my comfort, as if I had been his near relation. The evening was +glorious; the sky perfectly Italian—a genuine Claude Lorraine sky, that +beautiful intense amber light reaching to the very zenith, while the +purity and transparent loveliness of the atmospheric effects carried me +back to Italy and times long past. I felt it all, as people feel things +after a sharp fit of indisposition, when the nervous system, languid at +once and sensitive, thrills and trembles to every breath of air. As we +drove slowly and silently along, we came to a sluggish, melancholy +looking rivulet, to which the man pointed with his whip. "I expect," +said he, "you know all about the battle of Bloody Run?"</p> + +<p>I was obliged to confess my ignorance, not without a slight shudder at +the hateful, ominous name which sounded in my ear like an epitome of all +imaginable horrors.</p> + +<p>This was the scene of a night attack made by three hundred British upon +the camp of the Indians, who were then besieging Detroit. The Indians +had notice of their intention, and prepared an ambush to receive them. +They had just reached the bank of this rivulet, when the Indian foe fell +upon them suddenly. They fought hand to hand, bayonet and tomahawk, in +the darkness of the night. Before the English could extricate +themselves, seventy men and most of the officers fell and were scalped +on the spot. "Them Indians," said my informant, "fought like brutes and +devils" (as most men do, I thought, who fight for revenge and +existence), "and they say the creek here, when morning came, ran red +with blood; and so they call it the Bloody Run."</p> + +<p>There certainly is much in a name, whatever Juliet may say, and how much +in fame! There is the brook Sanguinetto, which flows into Lake +Thrasymene,—the meaning and the derivation are the same, but what a +difference in sound! The Sanguinetto! 'tis a word one might set to +music.—<i>The Bloody Run!</i> pah! the very utterance pollutes one's fancy!</p> + +<p>And in associations, too, how different, though the circumstances were +not unlike! This Indian Fabius, this Pontiac, wary and brave, and +unbroken by defeat, fighting for his own land against a swarm of +invaders, has had no poet, no historian to immortalise him, else all +this ground over which I now tread had been as <i>classical</i> as the shores +of Thrasymene.</p> + +<p>As they have called Tecumseh the Indian Napoleon, they might style +Pontiac the Indian Alexander—I do not mean him of Russia, but the +Greek. Here, for instance, is a touch of magnanimity quite in the +<i>Alexander-the-great</i> style. Pontiac, before the commencement of the +war, had provided for the safety of a British officer, Major Rogers by +name, who was afterwards employed to relieve Detroit, when besieged by +the Indians. On this occasion he sent Pontiac a present of a bottle of +brandy, to show he had not forgotten his former obligations to him. +Those who were around the Indian warrior when the present arrived, +particularly some Frenchmen, warned him not to taste it, as it might be +poisoned. Pontiac instantly took a draught from it, saying, as he put +the bottle to his lips, that "it was not <i>in the power</i> of Major Rogers +to hurt him who had so lately saved his life." I think this story is no +unworthy pendant to that of Alexander and his physician.</p> + +<p>But what avails it all! who knows or cares about Pontiac and his +Ottawas?</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Vain was the chief's, the warrior's pride!</span> +<span class="i0"> He had no poet—and he died!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>If I dwell on these horrid and obscure conflicts, it is partly to amuse +the languid idle hours of convalescence, partly to inspire you with some +interest for the localities around me:—and I may as well, while the pen +is in my hand, give you the conclusion of the story.</p> + +<p>Pontiac carried on the war with so much talent, courage, and resources, +that the British government found it necessary to send a considerable +force against him. General Bradstreet came up here with three thousand +men, wasting the lands of the Miami and Wyandot Indians, "burning their +villages, and destroying their corn-fields;" and I pray you to observe +that in all the accounts of our expeditions against the Indians, as well +as those of the Americans under General Wayne and General Harrison, +mention is made of the destruction of corn-fields (plantations of Indian +corn) to a great extent, which show that <i>some</i> attention must have been +paid to agriculture, even by these wild hunting tribes. I find mention +also of a very interesting and beautiful tradition connected with these +regions. To the east of the Detroit territory, there was settled from +ancient times a band of Wyandots or Hurons, who were called the neutral +nation; they never took part in the wars and conflicts of the other +tribes. They had two principal villages, which were like the cities of +refuge among the Israelites; whoever fled there from an enemy found a +secure and inviolable sanctuary. If two enemies from tribes long at +deadly variance met there, they were friends while standing on that +consecrated ground. To what circumstances this extraordinary institution +owed its existence is not known. It was destroyed after the arrival of +the French in the country—not by them, but by some national and +internal feud.</p> + +<p>But to return to Pontiac. With all his talents, he could not maintain a +standing or permanent army, such a thing being contrary to all the +Indian usages, and quite incompatible with their mode of life. His +warriors fell away from him every season, and departed to their hunting +grounds to provide food for their families. The British pressed forward, +took possession of their whole country, and the tribes were obliged to +beg for peace. Pontiac disdained to take any part in these negotiations, +and retired to the Illinois, where he was murdered, from some motive of +private animosity, by a Peoria Indian. The Ottawas, Chippewas, and +Pottowottomies, who had been allied under his command, thought it +incumbent on them to avenge his death, and nearly exterminated the whole +nation of the Peorias—and this was the life and the fall of Pontiac.</p> + +<p>The name of this great chief is commemorated in that of a flourishing +village, or rising town, about twenty miles west of Detroit, which is +called <i>Pontiac</i>, as one of the townships in Upper Canada is styled +<i>Tecumseh</i>: thus literally illustrating those beautiful lines in Mrs. +Sigourney's poem on Indian names:—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Their memory liveth on your hills,</span> +<span class="i2"><i>Their baptism on your shore</i>;</span> +<span class="i0"> Your everlasting rivers speak</span> +<span class="i2">Their dialect of yore!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>For rivers, bearing their old Indian names, we have here the Miami, the +Huron, the Sandusky: but most of the points of land, rivers, islands, +&c., bear the French appellations, as Point Pelée, River au Glaize, +River des Canards, Gros-Isle, &c.</p> + +<p>The <i>mélange</i> of proper names in this immediate neighbourhood is +sufficiently curious. Here we have Pontiac, Romeo, Ypsilanti, and Byron, +all within no great distance of each other.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Long after the time of Pontiac, Detroit and all the country round it +became the scene of even more horrid and unnatural conflicts between the +Americans and British, during the war of the revolution, in which the +Indians were engaged against the Americans. When peace was proclaimed, +and the independence of the United States recognised by Great Britain, +this savage war on the frontiers still continued, and mutual aggressions +and injuries have left bitter feelings rankling on both sides. Let us +hope that in another generation they may be effaced. For myself, I +cannot contemplate the possibility of another war between the English +and Americans without a mingled disgust and terror, as something cruel, +unnatural, fratricidal. Have we not the same ancestry, the same +father-land, the same language? "Though to drain our blood from out +their being were an aim," they cannot do it! The ruffian refuse of the +two nations—the most ignorant, common-minded, and vulgar among them, +may hate each other, and give each other nicknames—but every year +diminishes the number of such; and while the two governments are shaking +hands across the Atlantic, it were indeed supremely ridiculous if they +were to go to cuffs across the Detroit and Niagara!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>DETROIT.</h3> + +<p>When the intolerable heat of the day has subsided, I sometimes take a +languid stroll through the streets of the city, not unamused, not +altogether unobserving, though unable to profit much by what I see and +hear. There are many new houses building, and many new streets laid out. +In the principal street, called the Jefferson Avenue, there are rows of +large and handsome brick houses; the others are generally of wood, +painted white, with bright green doors and windows. The footway in many +of the streets is, like that of Toronto, of planks, which for my own +part I like better than the burning brick or stone <i>pavé</i>. The crowd of +emigrants constantly pouring through this little city on their way to +the back settlements of the west, and the number of steamers, brigs, and +schooners always passing up and down the lakes, occasion a perpetual +bustle, variety, and animation on the shores and in the streets. +Forty-two steamers touch at the port. In one of the Detroit papers +(there are five or six published here either daily or weekly) I found a +long column, headed <span class="smcap">Marine Intelligence</span>, giving an account of the +arrival and departure of the shipping. Last year the profits of the +steam-boats averaged seventy or eighty per cent., one with another: this +year it is supposed that many will lose. There are several boats which +ply regularly between Detroit and some of the new-born cities on the +south shore of Lake Erie—Sandusky, Cleveland, Port Clinton, Monroe, &c. +The navigation of the Detroit river is generally open from the beginning +of April to the end of November. In the depth of winter they pass and +repass from the British to the American shore on the ice.</p> + +<p>There are some excellent shops in the town, a theatre, and a great +number of taverns and gaming-houses:—also a great number of +booksellers' shops; and I read in the papers long lists of books, newly +arrived and unpacked, which the public are invited to inspect.</p> + +<p>Wishing to borrow some books, to while away the long solitary hours in +which I am <i>obliged</i> to rest, I asked for a circulating library, and +was directed to the only one in the place. I had to ascend a steep +staircase—so disgustingly dirty, that it was necessary to draw my +drapery carefully around me to escape pollution. On entering a large +room, unfurnished except with book shelves, I found several men sitting +or rather sprawling upon chairs, and reading the newspapers. The +collection of books was small; but they were not of a common or vulgar +description. I found some of the best modern publications in French and +English. The man—gentleman I should say, for all are gentlemen +here—who stood behind the counter, neither moved his hat from his head, +nor bowed on my entrance, nor showed any officious anxiety to serve or +oblige; but, with this want of what <i>we</i> English consider due courtesy, +there was no deficiency of real civility—far from it. When I inquired +on what terms I might have some books to read, this gentleman desired I +would take any books I pleased, and not think about payment or deposit. +I remonstrated, and represented that I was a stranger at an inn—that my +stay was uncertain, &c.; and the reply was, that from a lady and a +stranger he could not think of receiving remuneration: and then gave +himself some trouble to look out the books I wished for, which I took +away with me. He did not even ask the name of the hotel at which I was +staying; and when I returned the books, persisted in declining all +payment from "a lady and a stranger."</p> + +<p>Whatever attention and politeness may be tendered to me, in either +character, as a lady or as a stranger, I am always glad to receive from +any one, in any shape. In the present instance, I could indeed have +dispensed with the <i>form</i>: a pecuniary obligation, small or large, not +being much to my taste; but what was meant for courtesy, I accepted +courteously—and so the matter ended.</p> + +<p>Nations differ in their idea of good manners, as they do on the subject +of beauty—a far less conventional thing. But there exists luckily a +standard for each, in reference to which we cannot err, and to which the +progress of civilisation will, it is to be hoped, bring us all nearer +and nearer still. For the type of perfection in physical beauty we go to +Greece, and for that of politeness we go to the gospel. As it is +written in a charming little book I have just bought here,—"He who +should embody and manifest the virtues taught in Christ's sermon on the +Mount, would, though he had never seen a drawing-room, nor ever heard of +the artificial usages of society, commend himself to all nations, the +most refined as well as the most simple."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>If you look upon the map, you will find that the Detroit River, so +called, is rather a strait or channel about thirty miles in length, and +in breadth from one to two or three miles, dividing the British from the +American shore. Through this channel all the waters of the upper lakes, +Michigan, Superior, and Huron, come pouring down on their way to the +ocean. Here, at Detroit, the breadth of the river does not exceed a +mile. A pretty little steamer, gaily painted, with streamers flying, and +shaded by an awning, is continually passing and repassing from shore to +shore. I have sometimes sat in this ferry-boat for a couple of hours +together, pleased to remain still, and enjoy, without exertion, the cool +air, the sparkling redundant waters, and green islands:—amused, +meantime, by the variety and conversation of the passengers, English +emigrants, and French Canadians; brisk Americans; dark, sad-looking +Indians folded in their blankets; farmers, storekeepers, speculators in +wheat; artisans; trim girls with black eyes and short petticoats, +speaking a Norman <i>patois</i>, and bringing baskets of fruit to the Detroit +market; over-dressed, long-waisted, damsels of the city, attended by +their beaux, going to make merry on the opposite shore. The passage is +not of more than ten minutes duration, yet there is a tavern bar on the +lower deck, and a constant demand for cigars, liquors, and mint +julep—by the <i>men</i> only, I pray you to observe, and the Americans +chiefly; I never saw the French peasants ask for drink.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE CONTRAST.</h3> + +<p>Yesterday and to-day I have passed some hours straying or driving about +on the British shore.</p> + +<p>I hardly know how to convey to you an idea of the difference between the +two shores; it will appear to you as incredible as it is to me +incomprehensible. Our shore is said to be the most fertile, and has been +the longest settled; but to float between them (as I did to-day in a +little canoe made of a hollow tree, and paddled by a half-breed imp of a +boy)—to behold on one side a city, with its towers and spires and +animated population, with villas and handsome houses stretching along +the shore, and a hundred vessels or more, gigantic steamers, brigs, +schooners, crowding the port, loading and unloading; all the bustle, in +short, of prosperity and commerce;—and, on the other side, a little +straggling hamlet, one schooner, one little wretched steam-boat, some +windmills, a catholic chapel or two, a supine ignorant peasantry, all +the symptoms of apathy, indolence, mistrust, hopelessness!—can I, can +anyone, help wondering at the difference, and asking whence it arises? +There must be a cause for it surely—but what is it? Does it lie in past +or in present—in natural or accidental circumstances?—in the +institutions of the government, or the character of the people? Is it +remediable? is it a necessity? is it a mystery? what and whence is +it?—Can you tell? or can you send some of our colonial officials across +the Atlantic to behold and solve the difficulty?</p> + +<p>The little hamlet opposite to Detroit is called Richmond. I, was sitting +there to-day on the grassy bank above the river resting in the shade of +a tree, and speculating on all these things, when an old French Canadian +stopped near me to arrange something about his cart. We entered +forthwith into conversation; and though I had some difficulty in making +out his <i>patois</i>, he understood my French, and we got on very well. If +you would see the two extremes of manner brought into near comparison, +you should turn from a Yankee storekeeper to a French Canadian! It was +quite curious to find in this remote region such a perfect specimen of +an old-fashioned Norman peasant—all bows, courtesy, and good-humour. He +was carrying a cart-load of cherries to Sandwich, and when I begged for +a ride, the little old man bowed and smiled, and poured forth a voluble +speech, in which the words <i>enchanté! honneur!</i> and <i>madame!</i> were all I +could understand; but these were enough. I mounted the cart, seated +myself in an old chair surrounded with baskets heaped with ripe +cherries, lovely as those of Shenstone—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Scattering like blooming maid their glances round,</span> +<span class="i0"> And must be bought, though penury betide!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>No occasion, however, to risk penury here; for after permission asked, +and granted with a pleasant smile and a hundredth removal of the ragged +hat, I failed not to profit by my situation, and dipped my hand pretty +frequently into these tempting baskets. When the French penetrated into +these regions a century ago, they brought with them not only their +national courtesy, but some of their finest national fruits,—plums, +cherries, apples, pears, of the best quality—excellent grapes, too, I +am told—and all these are now grown in such abundance as to be almost +valueless. For his cart-load of cherries my old man expected a sum not +exceeding two shillings.</p> + +<p>Sandwich is about two miles below Detroit. It is the chief place in the +Western District, the county town; yet the population does not much +exceed four hundred.</p> + +<p>I had to regret much the absence of Mr. Prince, the great proprietor of +the place, and a distinguished member of our house of assembly, both for +ability and eloquence; but I saw sufficient to convince me that Sandwich +makes no progress. The appearance of the place and people, so different +from all I had left on the opposite side of the river, made me +melancholy, or rather thoughtful. What can be the reason that all +flourishes <i>there</i>, and all languishes <i>here</i>?</p> + +<p>Amherstberg, another village about ten miles farther, contains about six +hundred inhabitants, has a good harbour, and all natural capabilities; +but here also no progress is making. There is a wretched little useless +fort, commanding, or rather <i>not</i> commanding, the entrance to the +Detroit river on our side, and memorable in the history of the last +American war as Fort Malden. There are here a few idle soldiers, +detached from the garrison at Toronto; and it is said that even these +will be removed. In case of an attack or sudden outbreak, all this +exposed and important line of shore is absolutely without defence.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>I am hardly competent to give an opinion either way, but it seemeth to +me, in my simple wit, that this is a case in which the government of the +Crown, always supposing it to be wisely and paternally administered, +must be preferable to the interposition of the colonial legislature, +seeing that the interests of the colonists and settlers, and those of +the Indians, are brought into perpetual collision, and that the +colonists can scarcely be trusted to decide in their own case. As it is, +the poor Indian seems hardly destined to meet with <i>justice</i> either from +the legislative or executive power.</p> + +<h3>THE INDIANS.</h3> + +<p>I believe that Sir Francis Head entertained an enthusiastic admiration +for the Indian character, and was sincerely interested in the welfare of +this fated people. It was his deliberate conviction that there was no +salvation for them but in their removal as far as possible from the +influence and dominion of the white settlers; and in this I agree with +his Excellency; but seeing that the Indians are not virtually British +subjects, no measure should be adopted, even for their supposed benefit, +without their acquiescence. They are quite capable of judging for +themselves in every case in which their interests are concerned. The +fault of our executive is, that we acknowledge the Indians our <i>allies</i>, +yet treat them, as well as call them, our <i>children</i>. They acknowledged +in our government a <i>father</i>; they never acknowledged any master but the +"Great Master of Life," and the rooted idea, or rather instinct of +personal and political independence in which every Indian is born or +reared, no earthly power can obliterate from his soul. One of the early +missionaries expresses himself on this point with great <i>naïveté</i>. "The +Indians," he says, "are convinced that every man is born free; that no +one has a right to make any attempt upon his personal liberty, and that +nothing can make him amends for its loss." He proceeds—"We have even +had much pains to undeceive those converted to Christianity on this +head, and to make them understand that in consequence of the corruption +of our nature, which is the effect of sin, an unrestrained liberty of +doing evil differs little from the necessity of doing it, considering +the strength of the inclination which carries us to it; and that the law +which restrains us brings us nearer to our first liberty in seeming to +deprive us of it."</p> + +<p>That a man, because he has the free use of his will and his limbs, must +therefore necessarily do evil, is a doctrine which the Indian can never +be brought to understand. He is too polite to contradict us, but he +insists that it was made for the pale-faces, who, it may be, are +naturally inclined to all evil; but has nothing to do with the red +skins, whom the Great Spirit created free. "Where the spirit of the Lord +is, there is liberty;"—but about liberty there may be as many differing +notions as about charity.</p> + +<p>Of the number here I can form no exact idea; they say there are about +two hundred. At present they are busied in preparations for their voyage +up Lake Huron to the Great Manitoolin Island to receive their annual +presents, and one fleet of canoes has already departed.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>PLACES OF WORSHIP.</h3> + +<p>My business here being not to dream, but to observe, and this morning +being Sunday morning, I crept forth to attend the different church +services merely as a spectator. I went first to the Roman Catholic +church, called the Cathedral, and the largest and oldest in the place. +The Catholic congregation is by far the most numerous here, and is +composed chiefly of the lower classes and the descendants of the French +settlers. On entering the porch, I found a board suspended with written +regulations, to the effect that all Christians, of whatever +denomination, were welcome to enter; but it was requested that all would +observe the outward ceremonial, and that all gentlemen (<i>tous les +messieurs</i>) would lay aside their pipes and cigars, take off their hats, +and wipe their shoes. The interior of the church was similar to that of +many other provincial Roman Catholic churches, exhibiting the usual +assortment of wax tapers, gilding, artificial flowers, and daubed +Madonnas. The music and singing were not good. In the course of the +service, the officiating priest walked up and down the aisles, flinging +about the holy water on either side, with a silver-handled brush. I had +my share, though unworthy of this sprinkling, and then left the church, +where the heat and the smell of incense, <i>et cetera</i>, were too +overpowering. On the steps, and in the open space before the door, there +was a crowd of peasants, all talking French—laughing, smoking, tobacco +chewing, <i>et cetera, et cetera</i>. One or two were kneeling in the porch. +Thence I went to the Methodist chapel, where I found a small +congregation of the lower classes. A very ill-looking man, in comparison +to whom Liston's Mawworm were no caricature, was holding forth in a most +whining and lugubrious tone; the poor people around joined in sobs and +ejaculations, which soon became howling, raving, and crying. In the +midst of this woful assembly I observed a little boy who was grinning +furtively, kicking his heels, and sliding bits of apple from his pocket +into his mouth. Not being able to endure this with proper seriousness, I +left the place.</p> + +<p>I then went into the Baptist church, on the opposite side of the road. +It is one of the largest in the town, plain in appearance, but the +interior handsome, and in good taste. The congregation was not crowded, +but composed of most respectable, serious, well-dressed people. As I +entered, the preacher was holding forth on the unpardonable sin, very +incoherently and unintelligibly, but, on closing his sermon, he +commenced a prayer; and I have seldom listened to one more eloquently +fervent. Both the sermon and prayer were extemporaneous. He prayed for +all people, nations, orders and conditions of men throughout the world, +including the king of Great Britain: but the prayer for the president of +the United States seemed to me a little original, and admirably +calculated to suit the two parties who are at present divided on the +merits of that gentleman. The suppliant besought the Almighty, that "if +Mr. Van Buren were a good man, he might be made better; and if a bad +man, he might be speedily regenerated."</p> + +<p>I was still in time for the Episcopal church, a very spacious and +handsome building, though "somewhat Gothic." On entering, I perceived at +one glance that the Episcopal church is here, as at New York, the +<i>fashionable</i> church of the place. It was crowded in every part: the +women well dressed—but, as at New York, too much dressed, too fine for +good taste and real fashion. I was handed immediately to the "strangers' +pew," a book put into my hand, and it was whispered to me that the +bishop would preach. Our English idea of the exterior of a bishop is an +old gentleman in a wig and lawn sleeves, both equally <i>de rigueur</i>; I +was therefore childishly surprised to find in the Bishop of Michigan a +young man of very elegant appearance, wearing his own fine hair, and in +a plain black silk gown. The sermon was on the well-worn subject of +charity as it consists in <i>giving</i>—the least and lowest it may be of +all the branches of charity, though indeed that depends on what we give, +and how we give it. We may give our heart, our soul, our time, our +health, our life, as well as our money; and the greatest of these, as +well as the least, is still but charity. At home I have often thought +that when people gave money they gave counters; here, when people give +money they are really charitable—they give a portion of their time and +their existence, both of which are devoted to money-making.</p> + +<p>On closing his sermon, which was short and unexceptionable, the bishop +leaned forward over the pulpit, and commenced an extemporaneous address +to his congregation. I have often had occasion in the United States to +admire the ready, graceful fluency of their extemporaneous speakers and +preachers, and I have never heard anything more eloquent and more +elegant than this address; it was in perfect good taste, besides being +very much to the purpose. He spoke in behalf of the domestic missions of +his diocese. I understood that the missions hitherto supported in the +back settlements are, in consequence of the extreme pressure of the +times, likely to be withdrawn, and the new, thinly-peopled districts +thus left without any ministry whatever. He called on the people to give +their aid towards sustaining these domestic missionaries, at least for a +time, and said, among other things, that if each individual of the +Episcopal church in the United States subscribed one cent. per week for +a year, it would amount to more than 300,000 dollars. This address was +responded to by a subscription on the spot of above 400 dollars—a large +sum for a small town, suffering, like all other places, from the present +commercial difficulties.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>LEAVE DETROIT.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">July 18.</p> + +<p>This evening the Thomas Jefferson arrived in the river from Buffalo, and +starts early to-morrow morning for Chicago. I hastened to secure a +passage as far as the island of Mackinaw: when once there, I must trust +to Providence for some opportunity of going up Lake Huron to the Sault +Ste. Marie to visits my friends the MacMurrays; or down the lake to the +Great Manitoolin Island, where the annual distribution of presents to +the Indians is to take place under the auspices of the governor. If both +these plans—wild plans they are, I am told—should fail, I have only to +retrace my way and come down the lake, as I went up, in a steamer; but +this were horridly tedious and prosaic, and I <i>hope</i> better things. So +<i>evviva la speranza!</i> and Westward Ho!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 50%;">On board the Jefferson, River St. Clair, July 19.</p> + +<p>This morning I came down early to the steam-boat, attended by a +<i>cortège</i> of amiable people, who had heard of my sojourn at Detroit too +late to be of any solace or service to me, but had seized this last and +only opportunity of showing politeness and good-will. The sister of the +governor, two other ladies, and a gentleman, came on board with me at +that early hour, and remained on deck till the paddles were in motion. +The talk was so pleasant, I could not but regret that I had not seen +some of these kind people earlier, or might hope to see more of them; +but it was too late. Time and steam wait neither for man nor woman: all +expressions of hope and regret on both sides were cut short by the +parting signal, which the great bell swung out from on high; all +compliments and questions "fumbled up into a loose adieu;" and these +new friendly faces—seen but for a moment, then to be lost, yet not +quite forgotten—were soon left far behind.</p> + +<p>The morning was most lovely and auspicious; blazing hot though, and +scarce a breath of air; and the magnificent machine, admirably appointed +in all respects, gaily painted and gilt, with flags waving, glided over +the dazzling waters with an easy, stately motion.</p> + +<p>I had suffered so much at Detroit, that as it disappeared and melted +away in the bright southern haze like a vision, I turned from it with a +sense of relief, put the past out of my mind, and resigned myself to the +present—like a wise woman—or wiser child.</p> + +<p>The captain told me that last season he had never gone up the lakes with +less than four or five hundred passengers. This year, fortunately for my +individual comfort, the case is greatly altered: we have not more than +one hundred and eighty passengers, consequently an abundance of +accommodation, and air, and space—inestimable blessings in this sultry +weather, and in the enjoyment of which I did not sympathise in the +lamentations of the good-natured captain as much as I ought to have +done.</p> + +<h3>PASS SNAKE ISLAND.</h3> + +<p>We passed a large and beautifully green island, formerly called Snake +Island, from the immense number of rattlesnakes which infested it. These +were destroyed by turning large herds of swine upon it, and it is now, +in compliment to its last conquerors and possessors, the swinish +multitude, called Hog Island. This was the scene of some most horrid +Indian atrocities during the Pontiac war. A large party of British +prisoners, surprised while they were coming up to relieve Detroit, were +brought over here, and, almost within sight of their friends in the +fort, put to death with all the unutterable accompaniments of savage +ferocity.</p> + +<p>I have been told that since this war the custom of torturing persons to +death has fallen gradually into disuse among the Indian tribes of these +regions, and even along the whole frontier of the States an instance +has not been known within these forty years.</p> + +<h3>ASCEND THE ST. CLAIR.</h3> + +<p>Leaving the channel of the river and the cluster of islands at its +entrance, we stretched northward across Lake St. Clair. This beautiful +lake, though three times the size of the Lake of Geneva, is a mere pond +compared with the enormous seas in its neighbourhood. About one o'clock +we entered the river St. Clair, (which, like the Detroit, is rather a +strait or channel than a river,) forming the communication between Lake +St. Clair and Lake Huron. Ascending this beautiful river, we had, on the +right, part of the western district of Upper Canada, and on the left the +Michigan territory. The shores on either side, though low and bounded +always by the line of forest, were broken into bays and little +promontories, or diversified by islands, richly wooded, and of every +variety of form. The bateaux of the Canadians, or the canoes of the +Indians, were perpetually seen gliding among these winding channels, or +shooting across the river from side to side, as if playing at +hide-and-seek among the leafy recesses. Now and then a beautiful +schooner, with white sails, relieved against the green masses of +foliage, passed us, gracefully curtseying and sidling along. Innumerable +flocks of wild fowl were disporting among the reedy islets, and here and +there the great black loon was seen diving and dipping, or skimming over +the waters. As usual, the British coast is here the most beautiful and +fertile, and the American coast the best settled and cleared. Along the +former I see a few isolated log-shanties, and groups of Indian lodges; +along the latter, several extensive clearings, and some hamlets and +rising villages. The facility afforded by the American steam-boats for +the transport of goods and sale of produce, &c., is one reason of this. +There is a boat, for instance, which leaves Detroit every morning for +Fort Gratiot, stopping at the intermediate "landings." We are now moored +at a place called "Palmer's Landing," for the purpose of taking in wood +for the Lake voyage. This process has already occupied two hours, and is +to detain us two more, though there are fourteen men employed in +flinging logs into the wood-hold. Meantime I have been sketching and +lounging about the little hamlet, where there is a good grocery-store, a +sawing-mill worked by steam, and about twenty houses.</p> + +<p>I was amused at Detroit to find the phraseology of the people imbued +with metaphors taken from the most familiar mode of locomotion. "Will +you take in wood?" signifies, will you take refreshment? "Is your steam +up?" means, are you ready? The common phrase, "go ahead," has I suppose, +the same derivation. A witty friend of mine once wrote to me not to be +lightly alarmed at the political and social ferments in America, nor +mistake the <i>whizzing of the safety-valves for the bursting of the +boilers</i>!</p> + +<h3>MY FELLOW PASSENGERS.</h3> + +<p>But all this time I have not yet introduced you to my companions on +board; and one of these great American steamers is really a little +world, a little social system in itself, where a near observer of faces +and manners may find endless subjects of observation, amusement, and +interest. At the other end of the vessel we have about one hundred +emigrants on their way to the Illinois and the settlements to the west +of Lake Michigan. Among them I find a large party of Germans and +Norwegians, with their wives and families, a very respectable, orderly +community, consisting of some farmers and some artisans, having with +them a large quantity of stock and utensils—just the sort of people +best calculated to improve and enrich their adopted country, wherever +that may be. Then we have twenty or thirty poor ragged Irish emigrants, +with good-natured faces, and strong arms and willing hearts. Men are +smoking, women nursing, washing, sewing; children squalling and rolling +about.</p> + +<p>The ladies' saloon and upper deck exhibit a very different scene; there +are about twenty ladies and children in the cabin and state-rooms, which +are beautifully furnished and carpeted with draperies of blue silk, &c. +On the upper deck, shaded by an awning, we have sofas, rocking-chairs, +and people lounging up and down; some reading, some chattering, some +sleeping: there are missionaries and missionaries' wives, and officers +on their way to the garrisons on the Indian frontier; and settlers, and +traders, and some few nondescripts—like myself.</p> + +<h3>THE BISHOP OF MICHIGAN.</h3> + +<p>Also among the passengers I find the Bishop of Michigan. The governor's +sister, Miss Mason, introduced us at starting, and bespoke his good +offices for me. His conversation has been a great resource and interest +for me during the long day. He is still a young man, who began life as a +lawyer, and afterwards from a real vocation adopted his present +profession: his talents and popularity have placed him in the rank he +now holds. He is on his way to visit the missions and churches in the +back settlements, and at Green Bay. His diocese, he tells me, extends +about eight hundred miles in length and four hundred in breadth. And +then if you think of the scattered population, the <i>sort</i> of population, +the immensity of this spiritual charge, and the amount of labour and +responsibility it necessarily brings with it, are enough to astound one. +The amount of power is great in proportion; and the extensive moral +influence exercised by such a man as this Bishop of Michigan struck me +very much. In conversing with him and the missionaries on the spiritual +and moral condition of his diocese, and these newly settled regions in +general, I learned many things which interested me; and there was one +thing discussed which especially surprised me. It was said that two +thirds of the misery which came under the immediate notice of a popular +clergyman, and to which he was called to minister, arose from the +infelicity of the conjugal relations; there was no question here of open +immorality and discord, but simply of infelicity and unfitness. The same +thing has been brought before me in every country, every society in +which I have been a sojourner and an observer; but I did not look to +find it so broadly placed before me here in America, where the state of +morals, as regards the two sexes, is comparatively pure; where the +marriages are early, where conditions are equal, where the means of +subsistence are abundant, where the women are much petted and considered +by the men—too much so.</p> + +<p>For a result then so universal, there must be a cause or causes as +universal, not depending on any particular customs, manners, or +religion, or political institutions. And what are these causes? I +cannot understand why an evil everywhere acknowledged and felt is not +remedied somewhere, or discussed by some one, with a view to a +remedy;—but no, it is like putting one's hand into the fire, only to +touch upon it; it is the universal bruise, the putrefying sore, on which +you must not lay a finger, or your patient (that is, society) cries out +and resists, and, like a sick baby, scratches and kicks its physician.</p> + +<p>Strange, and passing strange, that the relation between the two sexes, +the passion of love in short, should not be taken into deeper +consideration by our teachers and our legislators. People educate and +legislate as if there was no such thing in the world; but ask the +priest, ask the physician—let <i>them</i> reveal the amount of moral and +physical results from this one cause. Must love be always discussed in +blank verse, as if it were a thing to be played in tragedies or sung in +songs—a subject for pretty poems and wicked novels, and had nothing to +do with the prosaic current of our every-day existence, our moral +welfare and eternal salvation? Must love be ever treated with +profaneness, as a mere illusion? or with coarseness, as a mere impulse? +or with fear, as a mere disease? or with shame, as a mere weakness? or +with levity, as a mere accident? Whereas, it is a great mystery and a +great necessity, lying at the foundation of human existence, morality, +and happiness; mysterious, universal, inevitable as death. Why then +should love be treated less seriously than death? It is as serious a +thing. Love and Death, the alpha and omega of human life, the author and +finisher of existence, the two points on which God's universe turns; +which He, our Father and Creator, has placed beyond our +arbitration—beyond the reach of that election and free will which He +has left us in all other things!</p> + +<h3>LOVE AND DEATH.</h3> + +<p>Death must come, and love must come; but the state in which they find +us?—whether blinded, astonished, and frightened, and ignorant, or, like +reasonable creatures, guarded, prepared, and fit to manage our own +feelings?—<i>this</i>, I suppose, depends on ourselves; and for want of such +self-management and self-knowledge, look at the evils that +ensue!—hasty, improvident, unsuitable marriages; repining, diseased, +or vicious celibacy; irretrievable infamy; cureless insanity:—the +death that comes early, and the love that comes late, reversing the +primal laws of our nature.</p> + +<p>It is of little consequence how unequal the conventional difference of +rank, as in Germany—how equal the condition, station, and means, as in +America,—if there be inequality between the sexes; and if the sentiment +which attracts and unites them to each other, and the contracts and +relations springing out of this sentiment, be not equally well +understood by both, equally sacred with both, equally binding on both.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MISS SEDGWICK.—MRS. LEE.—MR. HENRY.</h3> + +<p>At Detroit I had purchased Miss Sedgwick's tale of "The Rich Poor Man +and the Poor Rich Man," and this sent away two hours delightfully, as we +were gliding over the expanse of Lake St. Clair. Those who glanced on my +book while I was reading always smiled—a significant sympathising +smile, very expressive of that unenvious, affectionate homage and +admiration which this genuine American writer inspires among her +countrymen. I do not think I ever mentioned her name to any of them, +that the countenance did not light up with pleasure and gratified pride. +I have also a sensible little book, called "Three Experiments in +Living," written by Mrs. Lee, of Boston: it must be popular, and <i>true</i> +to life and nature, for the edition I bought is the tenth. I have also +another book to which I must introduce you more particularly—"The +Travels and Adventures of Alexander Henry." Did you ever hear of such a +man? No. Listen then, and perpend.</p> + +<p>This Mr. Henry was a fur-trader who journeyed over these lake regions +about seventy years ago, and is quoted as first-rate authority in more +recent books of travels. His book, which was lent to me at Toronto, +struck me so much as to have had some influence in directing the course +of my present tour. Plain, unaffected, telling what he has to tell in +few and simple words, and without comment—the internal evidence of +truth—the natural sensibility and power of fancy, betrayed rather than +displayed—render not only the narrative, but the man himself, his +personal character, unspeakably interesting. Wild as are the tales of +his hairbreadth escapes, I never heard the slightest impeachment of his +veracity. He was living at Montreal so late as 1810 or 1811, when a +friend of mine saw him, and described him to me as a very old man past +eighty, with white hair, and still hale-looking and cheerful, so that +his hard and adventurous life, and the horrors he had witnessed and +suffered, had in no respect impaired his spirits or his constitution. +His book has been long out of print. I had the greatest difficulty in +procuring the loan of a copy, after sending to Montreal, Quebec, and New +York, in vain. Mr. Henry is to be my travelling companion. I do not know +how he might have figured as a squire of dames when living, but I assure +you that being dead he makes a very respectable hero of epic or romance. +He is the Ulysses of these parts; and to cruise among the shores, rocks, +and islands of Lake Huron without Henry's travels, were like coasting +Calabria and Sicily without the Odyssey in your head or hand,—only here +you have the island of Mackinaw instead of the island of Circe; the land +of the Ottawas instead of the shores of the Lotophagi; cannibal +Chippewas, instead of man-eating Læstrigons. Pontiac figures as +Polypheme; and Wa,wa,tam plays the part of good king Alcinous. I can +find no type for the women, as Henry does not tell us his adventures +among the squaws; but no doubt he might have found both Calypsos and +Nausicaas, and even a Penelope, among them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">July 20.</p> + +<p>Before I went down to my rest yesterday evening, I beheld a strange and +beautiful scene. The night was coming on; the moon had risen round and +full, like an enormous globe of fire; we were still in the channel of +the river, when, to the right, I saw a crowd of Indians on a projecting +point of land. They were encamping for the night, some hauling up their +canoes, some building up their wigwams: there were numerous fires +blazing amid the thick foliage, and the dusky figures of the Indians +were seen glancing to and fro; and I heard loud laughs and shouts as our +huge steamer swept past them. In another moment we turned a point, and +all was dark: the whole had vanished like a scene in a melodrama. I +rubbed my eyes, and began to think I was already dreaming.</p> + +<p>At the entrance of the river St. Clair, the Americans have a fort and +garrison (Fort Gratiot), and a lighthouse, which we passed in the night. +On the opposite side we have no station; so that, in case of any +misunderstanding between the two nations, it would be in the power of +the Americans to shut the entrance of Lake Huron upon us.</p> + +<h3>LAKE HURON.</h3> + +<p>At seven this morning, when I went on deck, we had advanced about one +hundred miles into Lake Huron. We were coasting along the south shore, +about four miles from the land, while, on the other side, we had about +two hundred miles of open <i>sea</i>, and the same expanse before us. Soon +after, we had to pass the entrance of Sagginaw Bay. Here we lost sight +of land for the first time. Sagginaw Bay, I should suppose, is as large +as the Gulf of Genoa; it runs seventy or eighty miles up into the land, +and is as famous for storms as the Bay of Biscay. Here, if there be a +capful of wind, or a cupful of sea, one is sure to have the benefit of +it; for even in the finest weather there is a considerable swell. We +were about three hours crossing from the Pointe Aux Barques to Cape +Thunder; and during this time a number of my companions were put <i>hors +de combat</i>.</p> + +<p>All this part of Michigan is unsettled, and is said to be sandy and +barren. Along the whole horizon was nothing visible but the dark +omnipresent pine-forest. The Sagginaw Indians, whose hunting-grounds +extend along the shore, are, I believe, a tribe of Ottawas. I should +add, that the Americans have built a lighthouse on a little island near +Thunder Bay. A situation more terrific in its solitude you cannot +imagine than that of the keeper of this lonely tower, among rocks, +tempests, and savages. All their provisions come from a distance of at +least one hundred miles, and a long course of stormy weather, which +sometimes occurs, would place them in danger of starvation.</p> + +<h3>THE ISLAND OF MACKINAW</h3> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Doth the bright sun from the high arch of heaven,</span> +<span class="i0">In all his beauteous robes of flecker'd clouds,</span> +<span class="i0">And ruddy vapours, and deep glowing flames,</span> +<span class="i0">And softly varied shades, look gloriously?</span> +<span class="i0">Do the green woods dance to the wind? the lakes</span> +<span class="i0">Cast up their sparkling waters to the light?</span> +</div></div> +<p style="margin-left: 70%;"><span class="smcap">Joanna Baillie.</span></p> + +<p>The next morning, at earliest dawn, I was wakened by an unusual noise +and movement on board, and putting out my head to inquire the cause, was +informed that we were arrived at the island of Mackinaw, and that the +captain being most anxious to proceed on his voyage, only half an hour +was allowed to make all my arrangements, take out my luggage, and so +forth. I dressed in all haste and ran up to the deck, and there a scene +burst at once on my enchanted gaze, such as I never had imagined, such +as I wish I could place before you in words,—but I despair, unless +words were of light, and lustrous hues, and breathing music. However, +here is the picture as well as I can paint it. We were lying in a tiny +bay, crescent-shaped, of which the two horns or extremities were formed +by long narrow promontories projecting into the lake. On the east the +whole sky was flushed with a deep amber glow, fleckered with softest +shades of rose-colour—the same intense splendour being reflected in the +lake; and upon the extremity of the point, between the glory above and +the glory below, stood the little Missionary church, its light spire and +belfry defined against the sky. On the opposite side of the heavens hung +the moon, waxing paler and paler, and melting away, as it seemed, before +the splendour of the rising day. Immediately in front rose the abrupt +and picturesque heights of the island, robed in richest foliage, and +crowned by the lines of the little fortress, snow-white, and gleaming in +the morning light. At the base of these cliffs, all along the shore, +immediately on the edge of the lake, which, transparent and unruffled, +reflected every form as in a mirror, an encampment of Indian lodges +extended as far as my eye could reach on either side. Even while I +looked, the inmates were beginning to bestir themselves, and dusky +figures were seen emerging into sight from their picturesque +dormitories, and stood gazing on us with folded arms, or were busied +about their canoes, of which some hundreds lay along the beach.</p> + +<h3>BEAUTY OF SCENERY.</h3> + +<p>There was not a breath of air; and while heaven and earth were glowing +with light, and colour, and life, an elysian stillness, a delicious +balmy serenity wrapt and interfused the whole. O how passing lovely it +was! how wondrously beautiful and strange! I cannot tell how long I may +have stood, lost—absolutely lost, and fearing even to wink my eyes, +lest the spell should dissolve, and all should vanish away like some +air-wrought phantasy, some dream out of fairy land,—when the good +Bishop of Michigan came up to me, and with a smiling benevolence waked +me out of my ecstatic trance; and reminding me that I had but two +minutes left, seized upon some of my packages himself, and hurried me on +to the little wooden pier just in time. We were then conducted to a +little inn, or boarding-house, kept by a very fat half-caste Indian +woman, who spoke Indian, bad French, and worse English, and who was +addressed as <i>Madame</i>. Here I was able to arrange my hasty toilette, and +we sat down to an excellent breakfast of white-fish, eggs, tea and +coffee, for which the charge was twice what I should have given at the +first hotel in the United States, and yet not unreasonable, considering +that European luxuries were placed before us in this remote spot. By the +time breakfast was discussed it was past six o'clock, and taking my +sketch-book in my hand, I sauntered forth alone to the beach till it +should be a fitting hour to present myself at the door of the American +agent, Mr. Schoolcraft, whose wife was the sister of Mrs. MacMurray.</p> + +<p>The first object which caught my eye was the immense steamer gliding +swiftly away towards the straits of Michilimackinac, already far, far to +the west. Suddenly the thought of my extreme loneliness came over me—a +momentary wonder and alarm to find myself so far from any human being +who took the least interest about my fate. I had no letter to Mr. +Schoolcraft; and if Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray had not passed this way, or +had forgotten to mention me, what would be my reception? what should I +do? Here I must stay for some days at least. All the accommodation that +could be afforded by the half-French, half-Indian "Madame," had been +already secured, and, without turning out the bishop, there was not even +a room for me. These thoughts and many others, some natural doubts, and +fears, came across my mind, but I cannot say that they remained there +long, or that they had the effect of rendering me uneasy and anxious for +more than half a minute. With a sense of enjoyment keen and +unanticipative as that of a child—looking neither before nor after—I +soon abandoned myself to the present, and all its delicious exciting +novelty, leaving the future to take care of itself,—which I am more and +more convinced is the truest wisdom, the most real philosophy, after +all.</p> + +<h3>GROUPS OF INDIANS.</h3> + +<p>The sun had now risen in cloudless glory—all was life and movement. I +strayed and loitered for full three hours along the shore, I hardly knew +whither, sitting down occasionally under the shadow of a cliff or cedar +fence to rest, and watching the operations of the Indian families. It +were endless to tell you of each individual group or picture as +successively presented before me. But there were some general features +of the scene which struck me at once. There were more than one hundred +lodges, and round each of these lurked several ill-looking, +half-starved, yelping dogs. The women were busied about their children, +or making fires and cooking, or pounding Indian corn, in a primitive +sort of mortar, formed of part of a tree hollowed out, with a heavy rude +pestle which they moved up and down, as if churning. The dress of the +men was very various—the cotton shirt, blue or scarlet leggings, and +deer-skin mocassins and blanket coat, were most general; but many had no +shirt nor vest, merely the cloth leggings, and a blanket thrown round +them as drapery; the faces of several being most grotesquely painted. +The dress of the women was more uniform,—a cotton shirt, and cloth +leggings and mocassins, and a dark blue blanket. Necklaces, silver +armlets, silver earrings, and circular plates of silver fastened on the +breast, were the usual ornaments of both sexes. There may be a general +equality of rank among the Indians; but there is evidently all that +inequality of condition which difference of character and intellect +might naturally produce; there were rich wigwams and poor wigwams; whole +families ragged, meagre, and squalid, and others gay with dress and +ornaments, fat and well-favoured: on the whole, these were beings quite +distinct from any Indians I had yet seen, and realised all my ideas of +the wild and lordly savage. I remember I came upon a family group, +consisting of a fine tall young man and two squaws; one had a child +swaddled in one of their curious bark cradles, which she composedly hung +up against the side of the wigwam. They were then busied launching a +canoe, and in a moment it was dancing upon the rippling waves: one woman +guided the canoe, the other paddled; the young man stood in the prow in +a striking and graceful attitude, poising his fish-spear in his hand. +When they were about a hundred yards from the shore, suddenly I saw the +fish-spear darted into the water, and disappear beneath it; as it sprang +up again to the surface, it was rapidly seized, and a large fish was +sticking to the prongs; the same process was repeated with unerring +success, and then the canoe was paddled back to the land. The young man +flung his spear into the bottom of the canoe, and, drawing his blanket +round him, leapt on shore, and lounged away without troubling himself +farther; the women drew up the canoe, kindled a fire, and suspended the +fish over it, to be cooked <i>à la mode Indienne</i>.</p> + +<p>There was another group which amused me exceedingly: it was a large +family, and, compared with some others, they were certainly people of +distinction and substance, rich in beads, blankets, and brass kettles, +with "all things handsome about them;" they had two lodges and two +canoes. But I must begin by making you understand the construction of an +Indian lodge,—such, at least, as those which now crowded the shore.</p> + +<p>Eight or twelve long poles are stuck in the ground in a circle, meeting +at a point at the top, where they are all fastened together. The +skeleton thus erected is covered over, thatched in some sort with mats, +or large pieces of birch bark, beginning at the bottom, and leaving an +opening at top for the emission of smoke: there is a door about four +feet high, before which a skin or blanket is suspended; and as it is +summer time, they do not seem particular about closing the chinks and +apertures.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> As to the canoes, they are uniformly of birch bark, +exceedingly light, flat-bottomed, and most elegant in shape, varying in +size from eighteen to thirty-six feet in length, and from a foot and a +half to four feet in width. The family I have mentioned were preparing +to embark, and were dismantling their wigwams and packing up their +goods, not at all discomposed by my vicinity, as I sat on a bank +watching the whole process with no little interest. The most striking +personage in this group was a very old man, seated on a log of wood, +close upon the edge of the water; his head was quite bald, excepting a +few gray hairs which were gathered in a tuft at the top, and decorated +with a single feather—I think an eagle's feather; his blanket of +scarlet cloth was so arranged as to fall round his limbs in graceful +folds, leaving his chest and shoulders exposed; he held a green umbrella +over his head, (a gift or purchase from some white trader,) and in the +other hand a long pipe—and he smoked away, never stirring, nor taking +the slightest interest in anything which was going on. Then there were +two fine young men, and three women, one old and hideous, with matted +grizzled hair, the youngest really a beautiful girl about fifteen. There +were also three children; the eldest had on a cotton shirt, the breast +of which was covered with silver ornaments. The men were examining the +canoes, and preparing to launch them; the women were taking down their +wigwams, and as they uncovered them, I had an opportunity of observing +the whole interior economy of their dwellings.</p> + +<p>The ground within was spread over with mats, two or three deep, and +skins and blankets, so as to form a general couch: then all around the +internal circle of the wigwam were ranged their goods and chattels in +very tidy order; I observed wooden chests, of European make, bags of +woven grass, baskets and cases of birch bark (called <i>mokkuks</i>,) also +brass kettles, pans, and, to my surprise, a large coffee-pot of queen's +metal.</p> + +<p>When all was arranged, and the canoes afloat, the poles of the wigwams +were first placed at the bottom, then the mats and bundles, which served +apparently to sit on, and the kettles and chests were stowed in the +middle; the old man was assisted by the others into the largest canoe; +women, children, and dogs followed; the young men stood in the stern +with their paddles as steersmen; the women and boys squatted down; each +with a paddle;—with all this weight, the elegant buoyant little canoes +scarcely sank an inch deeper in the water—and in this guise away they +glided with surprising swiftness over the sparkling waves, directing +their course eastwards for the Manitoolin Islands, where I hope to see +them again. The whole process of preparation and embarkation did not +occupy an hour.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MR. SCHOOLCRAFT.</h3> + +<p>About ten o'clock I ventured to call on Mr. Schoolcraft, and was +received by him with grave and quiet politeness. They were prepared, he +said, for my arrival, and then he apologised for whatever might be +deficient in my reception, and for the absence of his wife, by informing +me that she was ill, and had not left her room for some days.</p> + +<p>Much was I discomposed and shocked to find myself an intruder under such +circumstances! I said so, and begged that they would not think of +me—that I could easily provide for myself—and so I could and would. I +would have laid myself down in one of the Indian lodges rather than have +been <i>de trop</i>. But Mr. Schoolcraft said, with much kindness, that they +knew already of my arrival by one of my fellow-passengers—that a room +was prepared for me, a servant already sent down for my goods, and Mrs. +Schoolcraft, who was a little better that morning, hoped to see me. +Here, then, I am installed for the next few days—and I know not how +many more—so completely am I at the mercy of "fates, destinies, and +such branches of learning!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I am charmed with Mrs. Schoolcraft. When able to appear, she received me +with true ladylike simplicity. The damp, tremulous hand, the soft, +plaintive voice, the touching expression of her countenance, told too +painfully of resigned and habitual suffering. Mrs. Schoolcraft's +features are more decidedly Indian than those of her sister Mrs. +MacMurray. Her accent is slightly foreign—her choice of language pure +and remarkably elegant. In the course of an hour's talk, all my +sympathies were enlisted in her behalf, and I thought that she, on her +part, was inclined to return these benignant feelings. I promised myself +to repay her hospitality by all the attention and gratitude in my power. +I am here a lonely stranger, thrown upon her sufferance; but she is +good, gentle, and in most delicate health, and there are a thousand +quiet ways in which woman may be kind and useful to her sister woman. +Then she has two sweet children about eight or nine years old—no fear, +you see, but that we shall soon be the best friends in the world!</p> + +<p>This day, however, I took care not to be <i>à charge</i>, so I ran about +along the lovely shore, and among the Indians, inexpressibly amused, and +occupied, and excited by all I saw and heard. At last I returned—O so +wearied out—so spent in body and mind! I was fain to go to rest soon +after sunset. A nice little room had been prepared for me, and a <i>wide</i> +comfortable bed, into which I sank with such a feeling of peace, +security, and thankfulness, as could only be conceived by one who had +been living in comfortless inns and close steam-boats for the last +fortnight.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>THE RED MEN.</h3> + +<p>On a little platform, not quite half way up the wooded height which +overlooks the bay, embowered in foliage, and sheltered from the +tyrannous breathing of the north by the precipitous cliff, rising almost +perpendicularly behind, stands the house in which I find myself at +present a grateful and contented inmate. The ground in front sloping +down to the shore, is laid out in a garden, with an avenue of fruit +trees, the gate at the end opening on the very edge of the lake. From +the porch I look down upon the scene I have endeavoured—how +inadequately!—to describe to you: the little crescent bay; the village +of Mackinaw; the beach thickly studded with Indian lodges; canoes +fishing, or darting hither and thither, light and buoyant as sea-birds; +a tall graceful schooner swinging at anchor. Opposite rises the Island +of Bois-blanc, with its tufted and most luxuriant foliage. To the east +we see the open lake, and in the far western distance the promontory of +Michilimackinac, and the strait of that name, the portal of Lake +Michigan. The exceeding beauty of this little paradise of an island, the +attention which has been excited by its enchanting scenery, and the +salubrity of its summer climate, the facility of communication lately +afforded by the lake steamers, and its situation half-way between +Detroit and the newly-settled regions of the west, are likely to render +Mackinaw a sort of watering-place for the Michigan and Wisconsin +fashionables, or, as the bishop expressed it, the "Rockaway of the +west;" so at least it is anticipated. How far such an accession of +fashion and reputation may be desirable, I know not; I am only glad it +has not yet taken place, and that I have beheld this lovely island in +all its wild beauty.</p> + +<p>When I left my room this morning, I remained for some time in the +parlour, looking over the Wisconsin Gazette, a good sized, well printed +newspaper, published on the west shore of Lake Michigan. I was reading a +most pathetic and serious address from the new settlers in Wisconsin to +<i>the down-east girls</i>, (<i>i. e.</i> the women of the eastern states,) who +are invited to the relief of these hapless hard-working bachelors in the +backwoods. They are promised affluence and love,—the "picking and +choosing among a set of the finest young fellows in the world," who are +ready to fall at their feet, and make the most adoring and the most +obedient of husbands! Can you fancy what a pretty thing a Wisconsin +pastoral might be? Only imagine one of these despairing backwoodsmen +inditing an Ovidian epistle to his unknown mistress—"<i>down +east</i>,"—wooing her to come and be wooed! Well, I was enjoying this +comical effusion, and thinking that women must certainly be at a premium +in these parts, when suddenly the windows were darkened, and looking up, +I beheld a crowd of faces, dusky, painted, wild, grotesque—with +flashing eyes and white teeth, staring in upon me. I quickly threw down +the paper and hastened out. The porch, the little lawn, the garden +walks, were crowded with Indians, the elder chiefs and warriors sitting +on the ground, or leaning silently against the pillars; the young men, +women, and boys lounging and peeping about, with eager and animated +looks, but all perfectly well conducted, and their voices low and +pleasing to the ear. They were chiefly Ottawas and Pottowottomies, two +tribes which "call brother," that is, claim relationship, and are +usually in alliance, but widely different. The Ottawas are the most +civilised, the Pottowottomies the least so of all the lake tribes. The +Ottawa I soon distinguished by the decency of his dress, and the +handkerchief knotted round the head—a custom borrowed from the early +French settlers, with whom they have had much intercourse: the +Pottowottomie by the more savage finery of his costume, his tall figure, +and a sort of swagger in his gait. The dandyism of some of these +Pottowottomie warriors is inexpressibly amusing and grotesque: I defy +all Regent Street and Bond Street to go beyond them in the exhibition of +self-decoration and self-complacency. One of these exquisites, whom I +called Beau Brummel, was not indeed much indebted to a tailor, seeing he +had neither a coat nor any thing else that gentlemen are accustomed to +wear; but then his face was most artistically painted, the upper half +of it being vermillion, with a black circle round one eye, and a white +circle round the other; the lower half of a bright green, except the tip +of his nose, which was also vermillion. His leggings of scarlet cloth +were embroidered down the sides, and decorated with tufts of hair. The +band, or garter, which confines the leggings, is always an especial bit +of finery; and his were gorgeous, all embroidered with gay beads, and +strings and tassels of the liveliest colours hanging down to his ankle. +His moccasins were also beautifully worked with porcupine quills; he had +armlets and bracelets of silver; and round his head a silver band stuck +with tufts of moosehair died blue and red; and, conspicuous above all, +the eagle feather in his hair, showing he was a warrior, and had taken a +scalp—<i>i. e.</i> killed his man. Over his shoulders hung a blanket of +scarlet cloth, very long and ample, which he had thrown back a little, +so as to display his chest, on which a large outspread hand was painted +in white. It is impossible to describe the air of perfect +self-complacency with which this youth strutted about. Seeing my +attention fixed upon him, he came up and shook hands with me, repeating +"Bojou! bojou!"<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Others immediately pressed forward also to shake +hands, or rather take my hand, for they do not <i>shake</i> it; and I was +soon in the midst of a crowd of perhaps thirty or forty Indians, all +holding out their hands to me, or snatching mine, and repeating "bojou" +with every expression of delight and good-humour.</p> + +<p>This must suffice in the way of description, for I cannot further +particularise dresses; they were very various, and few so fine as that +of my young Pottowottomie. I remember another young man, who had a +common black beaver hat, all round which, in several silver bands, he +had stuck a profusion of feathers, and long tufts of dyed hair, so that +it formed a most gorgeous helmet. Some wore their hair hanging loose and +wild in elf-locks, but others again had combed and arranged it with much +care and pains.</p> + +<p>The men seemed to engross the finery; none of the women that I saw were +painted. Their blankets were mostly dark blue; some had strings of beads +round their necks, and silver armlets. The hair of some of the young +women was very prettily arranged, being parted smooth upon the forehead +and twisted in a knot behind, very much <i>à la Grecque</i>. There is, I +imagine, a very general and hearty aversion to cold water.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>This morning there was a "talk" held in the commissioner's office, and +he kindly invited me to witness the proceedings. About twenty of their +principal men, including a venerable old chief, were present; the rest +stood outside, crowding the doors and windows, but never attempting to +enter, nor causing the slightest interruption. The old chief wore a +quantity of wampum, but was otherwise undistinguished, except by his +fine head and acute features. His gray hair was drawn back, and tied on +the top of his head with a single feather. All, as they entered, took me +by the hand with a quiet smile and a "bojou," to which I replied, as I +had been instructed, "Bojou, neeje!" (good-day, friend). They then sat +down upon the floor, all round the room. Mr. Johnston, Mrs. +Schoolcraft's brother, acted as interpreter, and the business proceeded +with the utmost gravity.</p> + +<p>After some whispering among themselves, an orator of the party addressed +the commissioner with great emphasis. Extending his hand and raising his +voice, he began: "Father, I am come to tell you a piece of my mind." But +when he had uttered a few sentences, Mr. Schoolcraft desired the +interpreter to tell him that it was useless to speak farther on <i>that</i> +subject, (I understood it to relate to some land-payments). The orator +stopped immediately, and then, after a pause, he went up and took Mr. +Schoolcraft's hand with a friendly air, as if to show he was not +offended. Another orator then arose, and proceeded to the object of the +visit, which was to ask an allowance of corn, salt, and tobacco, while +they remained on the island, a request which I presume was granted, as +they departed with much apparent satisfaction.</p> + +<p>There was not a figure among them that was not a study for a painter; +and how I wished that my hand had been readier with the pencil to snatch +some of those picturesque heads and attitudes. But it was all so new. I +was so lost in gazing, listening, observing, and trying to comprehend, +that I could not make a single sketch, except the above, in most poor +and inadequate words.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Indians here—and fresh parties are constantly arriving—are chiefly +Ottawas, from Arbre Croche, on the east of Lake Michigan; +Pottowottomies; and Winnebagos from the west of the lake; a few +Menomonies and Chippewas from the shores north-west of us; the occasion +of this assemblage being the same with all. They are on the way to the +Manitoolin Islands, to receive the presents annually distributed by the +British government to all those Indian tribes who were friendly to us +during the wars with America, and call themselves our allies and our +children, though living within the bounds of another state. Some of them +make a voyage of five hundred miles to receive a few blankets and +kettles; coasting along the shores, encamping at night, and paddling all +day from sunrise to sunset, living on the fish or game they may meet, +and the little provision they can carry with them, which consists +chiefly of parched Indian corn and bear's fat. Some are out on this +excursion during six weeks, or more, every year; returning to their +hunting grounds by the end of September, when the great hunting season +begins, which continues through October and November; they then return +to their villages and wintering grounds. This applies generally to the +tribes I find here, except the Ottawas of Arbre Croche, who have a good +deal of land in cultivation, and are more stationary and civilised than +the other Lake Indians. They have been for nearly a century under the +care of the French Jesuit missions, but do not seem to have made much +advance since Henry's time, and the days when they were organised under +Pontiac; they were even then considered superior in humanity and +intelligence to the Chippewas and Pottowottomies, and more inclined to +agriculture. After some most sultry weather, we have had a grand storm. +The wind shifted to the north-east, and rose to a hurricane. I was then +sitting with my Irish friend in the mission-house; and while the little +bay lay almost tranquil, gleam and shadow floating over its bosom, the +expanse of the main lake was like the ocean lashed to fury. On the east +side of the island the billows came "rolling with might," flinging +themselves in wrath and foam far up the land. It was a magnificent +spectacle. Returning home, I was anxious to see how the Indian +establishment had stood out the storm, and was surprised to find that +little or no damage had been done. I peeped into several, with a nod and +a <i>bojou</i>, and found the inmates very snug. Here and there a mat was +blown away, but none of the poles were displaced or blown down, which I +had firmly expected.</p> + +<p>Though all these lodges seem nearly alike to a casual observer, I was +soon aware of differences and gradations in the particular arrangements, +which are amusingly characteristic of the various inhabitants. There is +one lodge, a little to the east of us, which I call the Château. It is +rather larger and loftier than the others: the mats which cover it are +whiter and of a neater texture than usual. The blanket which hangs +before the opening is new and clean. The inmates, ten in number, are +well and handsomely dressed; even the women and children have abundance +of ornaments; and as for the gay cradle of the baby, I quite covet +it—it is so gorgeously elegant. I supposed at first that this must be +the lodge of a chief; but I have since understood that the chief is +seldom either so well lodged or so well dressed as the others, it being +a part of his policy to avoid everything like ostentation, or rather to +be ostentatiously poor and plain in his apparel and possessions. This +wigwam belongs to an Ottawa, remarkable for his skill in hunting, and +for his habitual abstinence from the "fire-water." He is a baptized +Roman Catholic, belonging to the mission at Arbre Croche, and is reputed +a rich man.</p> + +<p>Not far from this, and almost immediately in front of our house, stands +another wigwam, a most wretched concern. The owners have not mats enough +to screen them from the weather; and the bare poles are exposed on every +side. The woman, with her long neglected hair, is always seen cowering +despondingly over the embers of her fire, as if lost in sad reveries. +Two naked children are scrambling among the pebbles on the shore. The +man wrapt in a dirty ragged blanket, without a single ornament, looks +the image of savage inebriety and ferocity. Observe that these are the +two extremes, and that between them are many gradations of comfort, +order, and respectability. An Indian is <i>respectable</i> in his own +community, in proportion as his wife and children look fat and well fed; +this being a proof of his prowess and success as a hunter, and his +consequent riches.</p> + +<p>I was loitering by the garden gate this evening, about sunset, looking +at the beautiful effects which the storm of the morning had left in the +sky and on the lake. I heard the sound of the Indian drum, mingled with +the shouts and yells and shrieks of the intoxicated savages, who were +drinking in front of the village whisky store;—when at this moment a +man came slowly up, whom I recognised as one of the Ottawa chiefs, who +had often attracted my attention. His name is Kim,e,wun, which signifies +the Rain, or rather "it rains." He now stood before me, one of the +noblest figures I ever beheld, above six feet high, erect as a forest +pine. A red and green handkerchief was twined round his head with much +elegance, and knotted in front, with the two ends projecting; his black +hair fell from beneath it, and his small black piercing eyes glittered +from among its masses, like stars glancing through the thunder clouds. +His ample blanket was thrown over his left shoulder, and brought under +his right arm, so as to leave it free and exposed; and a sculptor might +have envied the disposition of the whole drapery—it was so felicitous, +so richly graceful. He stood in a contemplative attitude, evidently +undecided whether he should join his drunken companions in their night +revel, or return, like a wise man, to his lodge and his mat. He advanced +a few steps, then turned, then paused and listened—then turned back +again. I retired a little within the gate, to watch, unseen, the issue +of the conflict. Alas! it was soon decided—the fatal temptation +prevailed over better thoughts. He suddenly drew his blanket round him, +and strided onwards in the direction of the village, treading the earth +with an air of defiance, and a step which would have become a prince.</p> + +<p>On returning home, I mentioned this scene to Mr. and Mrs. Schoolcraft, +as I do everything which strikes me, that I may profit by their remarks +and explanations. Mr. S. told me a laughable anecdote.</p> + +<p>A distinguished Pottowottomie warrior presented himself to the Indian +agent at Chicago, and observing that he was a very good man, very good +indeed—and a good friend to the Long-knives, (the Americans,) requested +a dram of whisky. The agent replied, that he never gave whisky to <i>good</i> +men,—<i>good</i> men never asked for whisky; and never drank it. It was only +<i>bad</i> Indians who asked for whisky, or liked to drink it. "Then," +replied the Indian quickly in his broken English, "me damn rascal!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The revel continued far through the night, for I heard the wild yelling +and whooping of the savages long after I had gone to rest. I can now +conceive what it must be to hear that shrill prolonged cry (unlike any +sound I ever heard in my life before) in the solitude of the forest, and +when it is the certain harbinger of death.</p> + +<p>It is surprising to me, considering the number of savages congregated +together, and the excess of drunkenness, that no mischief is done; that +there has been no fighting, no robberies committed, and that there is a +feeling of perfect security around me. The women, they tell me, have +taken away their husbands' knives and tomahawks, and hidden them—wisely +enough. At this time there are about twelve hundred Indians here. The +fort is empty—the garrison having been withdrawn as useless; and +perhaps there are not a hundred white men in the island,—rather +unequal odds! And then that fearful Michilimackinac in full view, with +all its horrid, murderous associations!<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> But do not for a moment +imagine that I feel <i>fear</i>, or the slightest doubt of security; only a +sort of thrill which enhances the enjoyment I have in these wild +scenes—a thrill such as one feels in the presence of danger when most +safe from it—such as I felt when bending over the rapids of Niagara.</p> + +<p>The Indians, apparently, have no idea of correcting or restraining their +children; personal chastisement is unheard of. They say that before a +child has any understanding there is no use in correcting it; and when +old enough to understand, no one has a right to correct it. Thus the +fixed, inherent sentiment of personal independence grows up with the +Indians from earliest infancy. The will of an Indian child is not +forced; he has nothing to learn but what he sees done around him, and he +learns by imitation. I hear no scolding, no tones of command or reproof; +but I see no evil results from this mild system, for the general +reverence and affection of children for parents is delightful; where +there is no obedience exacted, there can be no rebellion; they dream not +of either, and all live in peace in the same lodge.</p> + +<p>I observe, while loitering among them, that they seldom raise their +voices, and they pronounce several words much more softly than we write +them. Wigwam, a house, they pronounce <i>wee-ga-waum</i>; moccasin, a shoe, +<i>muck-a-zeen</i>; manito, spirit, <i>mo-nee-do</i>,—lengthening the vowels, and +softening the aspirates. <i>Chippewa</i> is properly <i>O,jîb-wày</i>; +<i>ab,bin,no,jee</i> is a little child. The accent of the women is +particularly soft, with a sort of plaintive modulation, reminding me of +recitative. Their low laugh is quite musical, and has something +infantine in it. I sometimes hear them sing, and the strain is generally +in a minor key; but I cannot succeed in detecting or retaining an entire +or distinct tune.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There was a mission established on this island in 1823, for the +conversion of the Indians, and the education of the Indian and +half-breed children.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> A large mission and school-house was erected, +and a neat little church. Those who were interested about the Indians +entertained the most sanguine expectations of the success of the +undertaking. But at present the extensive buildings of the mission-house +are used merely as Storehouses, or as lodgings; and if Mackinaw should +become a place of resort, they will probably be converted into a +fashionable hotel. The mission itself is established farther west, +somewhere near Green Bay, on Lake Michigan; and when overtaken by the +advancing stream of white civilisation, and the contagion which it +carries with it, no doubt it must retire yet farther.</p> + +<p>As for the little missionary church, it has been for some time disused, +the French Canadians and half-breed on the island being mostly Roman +Catholics. To-day, however, divine service was performed in it by the +Bishop of Michigan, to a congregation of about twenty persons. Around +the open doors of the church, a crowd of Indians, principally women, had +assembled, and a few came in, and stood leaning against the pews, with +their blankets folded round them, mute and still, and respectfully +attentive.</p> + +<p>Immediately before me sat a man who at once attracted my attention. He +was an Indian, evidently of unmixed blood, though wearing a long blanket +coat and a decent but worn hat. His eyes, during the whole service, were +fixed on those of the Bishop with a passionate, eager gaze; not for a +moment were they withdrawn: he seemed to devour every word both of the +office and the sermon, and, by the working of his features, I supposed +him to be strongly impressed—it was the very enthusiasm of devotion: +and yet, strange to say, not one word did he understand. When I inquired +how it was that his attention was so fixed, and that he seemed thus +moved by what he could not possibly comprehend, I was told, "it was by +the power of faith." I have the story of this man (whom I see +frequently) from Mr. Schoolcraft. His name is Chusco. He was formerly a +distinguished man in his tribe as professor of the <i>Meta</i> and the +<i>Wabeno</i>,—that is, physician and conjuror; and no less as a professor +of whisky-drinking. His wife, who had been converted by one of the +missionaries, converted her husband. He had long resisted her preaching +and persuasion, but at last one day, as they were making maple sugar +together on an island, "he was suddenly thrown into an agony as if an +evil spirit haunted him, and from that moment had no peace till he had +been baptized and received into the Christian church. From this time he +avoided drunkenness, and surrendered his medicine-bag, manitos, and +implements of sorcery into the hands of Mr. Schoolcraft. Subsequently he +showed no indisposition to speak of the power and arts he had exercised. +He would not allow that it was all mere trick and deception, but +insisted that he had been enabled to perform certain cures, or +extraordinary magical operations, by the direct agency of the evil +spirit, <i>i. e.</i> the devil, who, now that he was become a Christian, had +forsaken him, and left him in peace." I was a little surprised to find, +in the course of this explanation, that there were educated and +intelligent people who had no more doubt of this direct satanic agency +than the poor Indian himself.</p> + +<p>Chusco has not touched ardent spirits for the last seven years, and, +ever since his conversion in the sugar-camp, he has firmly adhered to +his Christian profession. He is now between sixty and seventy years old, +with a countenance indicating more of mildness and simplicity than +intellect. Generally speaking, the men who practise medicine among the +Indians make a great mystery of their art, and of the herbs and nostrums +they are in the habit of using; and it were to be wished that one of +these converted medicine-men could be prevailed on to disclose some of +their medical arcana; for of the efficacy of some of their +prescriptions, apart from the mummery with which they are accompanied, +there can be no doubt.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>We have taken several delicious drives over this lovely little island, +and traversed it in different directions. It is not more than three +miles in length, and wonderfully beautiful. There is no large or lofty +timber upon it, but a perpetual succession of low, rich groves, "alleys +green, dingles, and bosky dells." There is on the eastern coast a +natural arch or bridge, where the waters of the Lake have undermined the +rock, and left a fragment thrown across a chasm two hundred feet high. +Strawberries, raspberries, whortleberries, and cherries, were growing +everywhere wild, and in abundance. The whole island, when seen from a +distance, has the form of a turtle sleeping on the water: hence its +Indian appellation, Michilimackinac, which signifies the great turtle. +The same name is given to a spirit of great power and might, "a spirit +who never lies," whom the Indians invoke and consult before undertaking +any important or dangerous enterprise<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>; and this island, as I +apprehend, has been peculiarly dedicated to him; at all events, it has +been from time immemorial a place of note and sanctity among the +Indians. Its history, as far as the Europeans are connected with it, may +be told in a few words.</p> + +<p>After the destruction of the fort at Michilimackinac, and the massacre +of the garrison in 1763, the English removed the fort and the trading +post to this island, and it continued for a long time a station of great +importance. In 1796 it was ceded, with the whole of the Michigan +territory, to the United States. The fort was then strengthened, and +garrisoned by a detachment of General Wayne's army.</p> + +<p>In the war of 1813 it was taken and garrisoned by the British, who added +to the strength of the fortifications. The Americans were so sensible of +its importance, that they fitted out an expensive expedition in 1814 for +the purpose of retaking it, but were repulsed with the loss of one of +their bravest commanders and a great number of men, and forced to +retreat to their vessels. After this, Michilimackinac remained in +possession of the British, till at the peace it was again quietly +ceded, one hardly knows why, to the Americans, and in their possession +it now remains. The garrison, not being required in time of profound +peace, has been withdrawn. The pretty little fort remains.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MRS. SCHOOLCRAFT.</h3> + +<p>The most delightful as well as most profitable hours I spent here, are +those passed in the society of Mrs. Schoolcraft. Her genuine refinement +and simplicity, and native taste for literature, are charming; and the +exceeding delicacy of her health, and the trials to which it is exposed, +interest all my womanly sympathies. While in conversation with her, new +ideas of the Indian character suggest themselves; new sources of +information are opened to me, such as are granted to few, and such as I +gratefully appreciate. She is proud of her Indian origin; she takes an +enthusiastic and enlightened interest in the welfare of her people, and +in their conversion to Christianity, being herself most unaffectedly +pious. But there is a melancholy and pity in her voice, when speaking of +them, as if she did indeed consider them a doomed race. We were +conversing to-day of her grandfather, Waub-Ojeeg, (the White-fisher), a +distinguished Chippewa chief and warrior, of whose life and exploits she +has promised to give me some connected particulars. Of her mother, +O,shah,gush,ko,da,wa,qua, she speaks with fond and even longing +affection, as if the very sight of this beloved mother would be +sufficient to restore her to health and strength. "I should be well if I +could see my mother," seems the predominant feeling. Nowhere is the +instinctive affection between parent and child so strong, so deep, so +sacred, as among these people.</p> + +<p>Celibacy in either sex is almost unknown among the Indians; equally rare +is all profligate excess. One instance I heard of a woman who had +remained unmarried from choice, not from accident or necessity. In +consequence of a dream in early youth (the Indians are great dreamers), +she not only regarded the sun as her manito or tutelary spirit (this had +been a common case), but considered herself especially dedicated, or in +fact married, to the luminary. She lived alone; she had built a wigwam +for herself, which was remarkably neat and commodious; she could use a +rifle, hunt, and provide herself with food and clothing. She had carved +a rude image of the sun, and set it up in her lodge; the husband's +place, the best mat, and a portion of food, were always appropriated to +this image. She lived to a great age, and no one ever interfered with +her mode of life, for that would have been contrary to all their ideas +of individual freedom. Suppose that, according to our most approved +European notions, the poor woman had been burnt at the stake, +corporeally or metaphorically, or hunted beyond the pale of the village, +for deviating from the law of custom, no doubt there would have been +directly a new female sect in the nation of the Chippewas, an order of +<i>wives of the sun</i>, and Chippewa vestal virgins; but these wise people +trusted to nature and common sense. The vocation apparently was not +generally admired, and found no imitators.</p> + +<p>Their laws, or rather their customs, command certain virtues and +practices, as truth, abstinence, courage, hospitality; but, they have no +prohibitory laws whatever that I could hear of. In this respect their +moral code has something of the spirit of Christianity, as contrasted +with the Hebrew dispensation. Polygamy is allowed, but it is not common; +the second wife is considered as subject to the first, who remains +mistress of the household, even though the younger wife should be the +favourite. Jealousy, however, is a strong passion among them: not only +has a man been known to murder a woman whose fidelity he suspected, but +Mr. Schoolcraft mentioned to me an instance of a woman, who, in a +transport of jealousy, had stabbed her husband. But these extremes are +very rare.</p> + +<h3>JEALOUSY.</h3> + +<p>Some time ago, a young Chippewa girl conceived a violent passion for a +hunter of a different tribe, and followed him from his winter +hunting-ground to his own village. He was already married, and the wife, +not being inclined to admit the rival, drove this love-sick damsel away, +and treated her with the utmost indignity. The girl, in desperation, +offered herself as a slave to the wife, to carry wood and water, and lie +at her feet—anything to be admitted within the same lodge and only +look upon the object of her affection. She prevailed at length. Now, the +mere circumstance of her residing within the same lodge made her also +the wife of the man, according to the Indian custom; but apparently she +was content to forego all the privileges and honours of a wife. She +endured, for several months, with uncomplaining resignation, every +species of ill usage and cruelty on the part of the first wife, till at +length this woman, unable any longer to suffer even the presence of a +rival, watched an opportunity as the other entered the wigwam with a +load of fire-wood, and cleft her skull with the husband's tomahawk.</p> + +<p>"And did the man permit all this?" was the natural question.</p> + +<p>The answer was remarkable. "What could <i>he</i> do? he could not help it: a +woman is always absolute mistress in her own wigwam!"</p> + +<p>In the end, the murder was not punished. The poor victim having fled +from a distant tribe, there were no relatives to take vengeance, or do +justice, and it concerned no one else. She lies buried at a short +distance from the Sault-Ste-Marie, where the murderess and her husband +yet live.</p> + +<p>Women sometimes perish of grief for the loss of a husband or a child, +and men have been known to starve themselves on the grave of a beloved +wife. Men have also been known to give up their wives to the traders for +goods and whisky; but this, though forbidden by no law, is considered +disreputable, or, as my informant expressed it, "only bad Indians do +so."</p> + +<p>I should doubt, from all I see and hear, that the Indian squaw is that +absolute slave, drudge, and nonentity in the community, which she has +been described. She is despotic in her lodge, and every thing it +contains is hers; even of the game her husband kills, she has the +uncontrolled disposal. If her husband does not please her, she scolds +and even cuffs him; and it is in the highest degree unmanly to answer or +strike her. I have seen here a woman scolding and quarrelling with her +husband, seize him by the hair, in a style that might have become +civilised Billingsgate, or christian St. Giles's, and the next day I +have beheld the same couple sit lovingly together on the sunny side of +the wigwam, she kneeling behind him, and combing and arranging the hair +she had been pulling from his head the day before; just such a group as +I remember to have seen about Naples, or the Campagna di Roma, with very +little obvious difference either in costume or complexion.</p> + +<p>There is no law against marrying near relations, but it is always +avoided; it is contrary to their customs: even first cousins do not +marry. The tie of blood seems considered as stronger than that of +marriage. A woman considers that she belongs more to her own relatives +than to her husband or his relatives; yet, notwithstanding this and the +facility of divorce, separations between husband and wife are very rare. +A couple will go on "squabbling and making it up" all their lives, +without having recourse to this expedient. If from displeasure, satiety, +or any other cause, a man sends his wife away, she goes back to her +relations, and invariably takes her children with her. The indefeasible +right of the mother to her offspring is Indian law, or rather, the +contrary notion does not seem to have entered their minds. A widow +remains subject to her husband's relations for two years after his +death; this is the decent period of mourning. At the end of two years, +she returns some of the presents made to her by her late husband, goes +back to her own relatives, and may marry again.</p> + +<p>These particulars, and others which may follow, apply to the Chippewas +and the Ottawas around me; other tribes have other customs. I speak +merely of those things which are brought under my own immediate +observation and attention.</p> + +<h3>INDIAN AMAZON.</h3> + +<p>During the last American war of 1813, the young widow of a chief who had +been killed in battle, assumed his arms, ornaments, wampum, medal, and +went out with several war parties, in which she distinguished herself by +her exploits. Mrs. Schoolcraft, when a girl of eleven or twelve years +old, saw this woman, who was brought into the Fort at Mackinaw and +introduced to the commanding officer; and retains a lively recollection +of her appearance, and the interest and curiosity she excited. She was +rather below the middle size, slight and delicate in figure, like most +of the squaws;—covered with rich ornaments, silver armlets, with the +scalping-knife, pouch, medals, tomahawk—all the insignia, in short, of +an Indian warrior, except the war-paint and feathers. In the room hung a +large mirror, in which she surveyed herself with evident admiration and +delight, turning round and round before it, and laughing triumphantly. +She was invited to dine at the officers' mess, perhaps as a joke, but +conducted herself with so much intuitive propriety and decorum, that she +was dismissed with all honour and respect, and with handsome presents. I +could not learn what became of her afterwards.</p> + +<p>Heroic women are not rare among the Indians, women who can bravely +suffer—bravely die; but Amazonian women, female amateur warriors, are +very extraordinary; I never heard but of this one instance. Generally, +the squaws around me give me the impression of exceeding feminine +delicacy and modesty, and of the most submissive gentleness. Female +chiefs, however, are not unknown in Indian history. There was a famous +<i>Squaw Sachem</i>, or chief, in the time of the early settlers. The present +head chief of the Ottawas, a very fine old man, succeeded a female, who, +it is further said, abdicated in his favour.</p> + +<p>Even the standing rule or custom that women are never admitted to +councils has been evaded. At the treaty of Butte des Morts, in 1827, an +old Chippewa woman, the wife of a superannuated chief, appeared in place +of her husband, wearing his medal, and to all intents and purposes +representing him. The American commissioners treated her with studied +respect and distinction, and made her rich presents in cloth, ornaments, +tobacco, &c. On her return to her own village, she was waylaid and +murdered by a party of Menomonies. The next year two Menomonie women +were taken and put to death by the Chippewas: such is the Indian law of +retaliation.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>CHIPPEWA LANGUAGE.</h3> + +<p>The language spoken around me is the Chippewa tongue, which, with little +variation, is spoken also by the Ottawas, Pottowottomies and +Missasaguas, and diffused all over the country of the lakes, and through +a population of about seventy thousand. It is in these countries what +the French is in Europe, the language of trade and diplomacy, understood +and spoken by those tribes, with whom it is not vernacular. In this +language Mrs. Schoolcraft generally speaks to her children and Indian +domestics. It is not only very sweet and musical to the ear, with its +soft inflections and lengthened vowels, but very complex and artificial +in its construction, and subject to strict grammatical rules; this, for +an unwritten language—for they have no alphabet—appears to me very +curious. The particulars which follow I have from Mr. Schoolcraft, who +has deeply studied the Chippewa language, and what he terms, not without +reason, the philosophy of its syntax.</p> + +<p>The great division of all words, and the pervading principle of the +language, is the distinction into animate and inanimate objects: not +only nouns, but adjectives, verbs, pronouns, are inflected in accordance +with this principle. The distinction, however, seems as arbitrary as +that between masculine and feminine nouns in some European languages. +Trees, for instance, are of the animate gender. The sun, moon, thunder +and lightning, a canoe, a pipe, a water-fall, are all animate. The verb +is not only modified to agree with the subject, it must be farther +modified to agree with the object spoken of, whether animate or +inanimate: an Indian cannot say simply, I love, I eat; the word must +express by its inflection what he loves or eats, whether it belong to +the animate or inanimate gender.</p> + +<p>What is curious enough is, that the noun or name can be conjugated like +a verb: the word <i>man</i>, for instance, can be inflected to express, I +<i>am</i> a man, thou <i>art</i> a man, he <i>is</i> a man, I <i>was</i> a man, I <i>will be</i> +a man, and so forth; and the word husband can be so inflected as to +signify by a change of syllables, <i>I have a</i> husband, and <i>I have not</i> a +husband.</p> + +<p>They have three numbers, like the Greek, but of different signification: +they have the singular, and two plurals, one indefinite and general like +ours, and one including the persons or things present, and excluding +those which are absent; and distinct inflections are required for these +two plurals.</p> + +<p>There are distinct words to express certain distinctions of sex, as with +us; for instance, man, woman, father, mother, sister, brother, are +distinct words, but more commonly sex is distinguished by a masculine or +feminine syllable or termination. The word <i>equay</i>, a woman, is thus +used as a feminine termination where persons are concerned. Ogima, is a +chief, and Ogimquay, a female chief.</p> + +<p>There are certain words and expressions which are in a manner masculine +and feminine by some prescriptive right, and cannot be used +indifferently by the two sexes. Thus, one man addressing another says +"nichi," or "neejee," my friend. One woman addressing another woman +says, "Nin,dong,quay" (as nearly as I can imitate the sound), my friend, +or rather, I believe, female relation; and it would be indelicacy in one +sex, and arrogance in the other, to exchange these terms between man and +woman. When a woman is surprised at anything she sees or hears, she +exclaims, "N'ya!" When a man is surprised he exclaims, "T'ya!" and it +would be contrary to all Indian notions of propriety and decorum, if a +man condescended to say "N'ya!" or if a woman presumed to use the +masculine interjection "T'ya!" I could give you other curious instances +of the same kind. They have different words for eldest brother, eldest +sister, and for brother and sister in general. <i>Brother</i> is a common +expression of kindness, <i>father</i>, of respect, and grandfather is a title +of very great respect.</p> + +<p>They have no form of imprecation or swearing. Closing the hand, then +throwing it forth and opening it suddenly with a jerk, is the strongest +gesture of contempt, and the words "bad dog," the strongest expression +of abuse and vituperation: both are unpardonable insults, and used +sparingly.</p> + +<p>A mother's term of endearment to her child is "My bird—my young one," +and sometimes playfully "My old man." When I asked what words were used +of reproach or menace, I was told that Indian children were <i>never</i> +scolded—<i>never</i> menaced.</p> + +<p>The form of salutation in common use between the Indians and the whites +is the <i>bo-jou</i>, borrowed from the early French settlers, the first +Europeans with whom the North-west Indians were brought in contact. +Among themselves there is no set form of salutation; when two friends +meet after a long absence, they take hands, and exclaim, "We see each +other!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>STORY-TELLERS.</h3> + +<p>I have been "working like beaver," to borrow an Indian phrase. This has +been a rich and busy day. What with listening, learning, scribbling, +transcribing, my wits as well as my pen are well nigh worn to a stump. +But I am not going to tell here of well-known Indian customs, and repeat +anecdotes to be found in all the popular books of travel. With the +general characteristics of Indian life and manners I suppose the reader +already familiar, from the works of Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles +Hoffman, and others. I can add nothing to these sources of information; +only bear testimony to the vigour, and liveliness and truth of the +pictures they have drawn. I am amused at every moment by the coincidence +between what I see and what I have read; but I must confess I never read +anything like the Indian fictions I have just been transcribing from the +first and highest authority.</p> + +<p>We can easily understand that among a people whose objects in life are +few and simple, society cannot be very brilliant, nor conversation very +amusing. The taciturnity of the Indians does not arise from any ideas of +gravity, decorum, or personal dignity, but rather from the dearth of +ideas and of subjects of interest. Henry mentions the dulness of the +long winters, when he was residing in the wigwam of his brother +Wa,wa,tam, whose family were yet benevolent and intelligent. He had +nothing to do but to smoke. Among the Indians, he says, the topics of +conversation are few, and are limited to the transactions of the day and +the incidents of the chase. The want of all variety in their lives, of +all intellectual amusement, is one cause of their passion for gambling +and for ardent spirits. The chase is to them a severe toil, not a +recreation—the means of existence, not the means of excitement, They +have, however an amusement which I do not remember to have seen noticed +anywhere. Like the Arabians, they have among them story-tellers by +profession, persons who go about from lodge to lodge amusing the inmates +with traditional tales, histories of the wars and exploits of their +ancestors, or inventions of their own, which are sometimes in the form +of allegories or parables, and are either intended to teach some moral +lesson, or are extravagant inventions, having no other aim or purpose +but to excite wonder or amusement. The story-tellers are estimated +according to their eloquence and powers of invention, and are always +welcome, sure of the best place in the lodge, and the choicest mess of +food wherever they go. Some individuals, not story-tellers by +profession, possess and exercise these gifts of memory and invention. +Mrs. Schoolcraft mentioned an Indian living at the Sault-Ste-Marie, who +in this manner amuses and instructs his family almost every night before +they go to rest. Her own mother is also celebrated for her stock of +traditional lore, and her poetical and inventive faculties, which she +inherited from her father Waub-Ojeeg, who was the greatest poet and +story-teller, as well as the greatest warrior, of his tribe.</p> + +<p>The stories I give you from Mrs. Schoolcraft's translation have at least +the merit of being genuine. Their very wildness and childishness, and +dissimilarity to all other fictions, will recommend them. The first +story was evidently intended to inculcate domestic union and brotherly +love.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>THE FORSAKEN BROTHER.</h3> + +<p>It was a fine summer evening; the sun was scarcely an hour high, its +departing rays shone through the leaves of the tall elms that skirted a +little green knoll, whereon stood a solitary Indian lodge. The deep, +deep silence that reigned around seemed to the dwellers in that lonely +hut like the long sleep of death which was now about to close the eyes +of the chief of this poor family; his low breathing was answered by the +sighs and sobs of his wife and three children: two of the children were +almost grown up, one was yet a mere child. These were the only human +beings near the dying man: the door of the lodge<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> was thrown aside +to admit the refreshing breeze of the lake on the banks of which it +stood, and when the cool air visited the brow of the poor man, he felt a +momentary return of strength. Raising himself a little, he thus +addressed his weeping family:—</p> + +<p>"I leave ye—I leave ye! thou who hast been my partner in life, thou +wilt not stay long behind me, thou wilt soon join me in the pleasant +land of spirits; therefore thou hast not long to suffer in this world. +But O my children, my poor children, you have just commenced life, and +unkindness, and ingratitude, and all wickedness, is in the scene before +you. I have contented myself with the company of your mother and +yourselves for many years, and you will find that my motive for +separating myself from other men has been to preserve you from evil +example. But I die content, if you, my children, promise me to love each +other, and on no account to forsake your youngest brother. Of him I give +you both particular charge—love him and cherish him."</p> + +<p>The father then became exhausted, and taking a hand of each of his elder +children, he continued—"My daughter, never forsake your little brother! +my son, never forsake your little brother!"—'Never! never!' they both +exclaimed:—"Never! never!" repeated the father, and expired.</p> + +<p>The poor man died happy, because he thought that his commands would be +obeyed: the sun sank down behind the trees and left a golden sky, which +the family were wont to behold with pleasure; but now no one heeded it. +The lodge, so still an hour before, was now filled with loud cries and +lamentations.</p> + +<p>Time wore heavily away. Five long moons had passed, and the sixth was +nearly full, when the mother also died. In her last moments, she pressed +upon her children the fulfilment of their promise to their departed +father. They readily renewed this promise, because they were as yet free +from any selfish motives to break it. The winter passed away and spring +came. The girl being the eldest, directed her brothers, and seemed to +feel a more tender and sisterly affection for the youngest, who was +sickly and delicate. The other boy soon showed signs of selfishness, +and thus addressed his sister:—</p> + +<p>"My sister, are we always to live as if there were no other human beings +in the world? Must I be deprived of the pleasure of associating with +men? I go to seek the villages of my brothers and my tribe. I have +resolved, and you prevent me."</p> + +<p>The girl replied, "My brother, I do not say no to what you desire. We +were not forbidden to associate with men, but we were commanded to +cherish and never forsake each other—if we separate to follow our own +selfish desires, will it not oblige us to forsake him, our brother, whom +we are both bound to support?"</p> + +<p>The young man made no answer to this remonstrance, but taking up his bow +and arrows, he left the wigwam and returned no more.</p> + +<p>Many moons had come and gone after the young man's departure, and still +the girl ministered kindly and constantly to the wants of her little +brother. At length, however, she too began to weary of solitude and her +charge. Years added to her strength and her power of providing for the +household wants, but also brought the desire of society, and made her +solitude more and more irksome. At last she became quite impatient; she +thought only of herself, and cruelly resolved to abandon her little +brother, as her elder brother had done before.</p> + +<p>One day, after having collected all the provisions she had set apart for +emergencies, and brought a quantity of wood to the door, she said to her +little brother, "My brother, you must not stray far from the lodge. I am +going to seek our brother, I shall soon be back." Then taking her +bundle, she set off in search of the habitations of men. She soon found +them, and became so much occupied with the pleasures of her new life, +that all affection and remembrance of her brother were by degrees +effaced from her heart. At last she was married, and after <i>that</i> she +never more thought of her poor helpless little brother, whom she had +abandoned in the woods.</p> + +<p>In the mean time the eldest brother had also settled on the shores of +the same lake, near which reposed the bones of his parents, and the +abode of his forsaken brother.</p> + +<p>Now, as soon as the little boy had eaten all the provisions left by his +sister, he was obliged to pick berries and dig up roots for food. Winter +came on, and the poor child was exposed to all its rigour; the snow +covered the earth; he was forced to quit the lodge in search of food, +and strayed about without shelter or home: sometimes he passed the night +in the clefts of old trees, and ate the fragments left by the wolves. +Soon he had no other resource; and in seeking for food he became so +fearless of these animals, that he would sit close to them while they +devoured their prey, and the fierce hungry wolves themselves seemed to +pity his condition, and would always leave something for him. Thus he +lived on the bounty of the wolves till the spring. As soon as the lake +was free from ice, he followed his new friends and companions to the +shore. Now it happened that his brother was fishing in his canoe, out +far on the lake, when he thought he heard a cry as of a child, and +wondered how any one could exist on the bleak shore. He listened again +more attentively, and heard the cry repeated, and he paddled towards the +shore as quickly as possible, and there he beheld and recognised his +little brother, whom he heard singing in a plaintive voice:—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Neesya, neesya, shyegwich gushuh!</span> +<span class="i0"> Ween, ne myeeguniwh!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>That is, "my brother, my brother, I am now turning into a wolf, I am +turning into a wolf." At the end of his song he howled like a wolf, and +his brother approaching, was dismayed to find him half a wolf and half a +human being. He however leaped to the shore, strove to catch him in his +arms, and said, soothingly, "My brother, my brother, come to me!" But +the boy eluded his grasp and fled, still singing as he fled, "I am +turning into a wolf! I am turning into a wolf!" and howling frightfully +at the end of his song.</p> + +<p>His elder brother, conscious-struck, and feeling all his love return, +exclaimed in anguish, "My brother, O my brother, come to me!" but the +nearer he approached the child the more rapidly the transformation +proceeded. Still he sung, and howling called upon his brother and sister +alternately in his song, till the change was complete, and he fled +towards the wood a perfect wolf. At last he cried, "I am a wolf!" and +bounded out of sight.</p> + +<p>The young man felt the bitterness of remorse all his days; and the +sister, when she heard the fate of her little brother whom she had +promised to protect and cherish, wept many tears, and never ceased to +mourn him till she died.</p> + +<p>The next story seems intended to admonish parental ambition, and +inculcate filial obedience. The bird here called the robin is three +times as large as the English robin redbreast, but in its form and +habits very similar.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN.</h3> + +<p>An old man had an only son, a fine promising lad, who had arrived at +that age when the Chippewas thought it proper to make the long and final +fast which is to secure through life a guardian spirit, on whom future +prosperity or adversity are to depend, and who forms the character to +great and noble deeds.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>This old man was ambitious that his son should surpass all others in +whatever was deemed most wise and great among his tribe; and to this +effect he thought it necessary that his son should fast a much longer +time than any of those persons celebrated for their uncommon power or +wisdom, and whose fame he envied.</p> + +<p>He therefore directed his son to prepare with great ceremony for the +important event: after he had been in the bath several times, he ordered +him to lie down on a clean mat in a little lodge, expressly prepared for +him, telling him at the same time to bear himself like a man, and that +at the expiration of twelve days he should receive food and his +father's blessing.</p> + +<p>The youth carefully observed these injunctions, lying with his face +covered, with perfect composure, awaiting those spiritual visitations +which were to seal his good or evil fortune. His father visited him +every morning regularly to encourage him to perseverance—expatiating on +the renown and honour which would attend him through life, if he +accomplished the full term prescribed. To these exhortations the boy +never replied, but lay still without a murmur till the ninth day, when +he thus addressed his father—"My father, my dreams are ominous of evil. +May I break my fast now, and at a more propitious time make a new fast?"</p> + +<p>The father answered—"My son, you know not what you ask; if you rise +now, all your glory will depart. Wait patiently a little longer, you +have but three days yet to accomplish what I desire: you know it is for +your own good."</p> + +<p>The son assented, and covering himself up close, he lay till the +eleventh day, when he repeated his request to his father. But the same +answer was given by the old man, who, however, added that the next day +he would himself prepare his first meal, and bring it to him. The boy +remained silent, and lay like death. No one could have known he was +living, but by the gentle heaving of his breast.</p> + +<p>The next morning, the father, elate at having gained his object, +prepared a repast for his son, and hastened to set it before him. On +coming to the door, he was surprised to hear his son talking to himself; +he stooped to listen, and looking through a small aperture, he was more +astonished when he saw his son painted with vermillion on his breast, +and in the act of finishing his work by laying on the paint as far as +his hand could reach on his shoulders, saying at the same time, "My +father has destroyed me as a man—he would not listen to my request—he +will now be the loser, while I shall be for ever happy in my new state, +since I have been obedient to my parent. He alone will be a sufferer, +for the Spirit is a just one, though not propitious to me. He has shown +me pity, and now I must go!"</p> + +<p>At that moment the father, in despair, burst into the lodge, exclaiming, +"My son, my son, do not leave me." But his son, with the quickness of a +bird, had flown up to the top of the lodge, and perched upon the highest +pole, a beautiful Robin Redbreast. He looked down on his father with +pity beaming in his eyes, and told him he should always love to be near +man's dwellings—that he should always be seen happy and contented by +the constant sprightliness and joy he would display—and that he would +ever strive to cheer his father by his songs, which would be some +consolation to him for the loss of the glory he had expected—and that +although no longer a man, he would ever be the harbinger of peace and +joy to the human race.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.</h3> + +<p>It is a mistake to suppose that these Indians are idolaters; heathens +and pagans you may call them if you will; but the belief in one Great +Spirit, who created all things, and is paramount to all things, and the +belief in the distinction between body and soul, and the immortality of +the latter—these two sublime principles pervade their wildest +superstitions; but though none doubt of a future state, they have no +distinct or universal tenets with regard to the condition of the soul +after death. Each individual seems to have his own thoughts on the +subject, and some doubtless never think about it at all. In general, +however, their idea of a paradise (the land of spirits) is some far off +country towards the south-west, abounding in sunshine, and placid lakes, +and rivers full of fish, and forests full of game, whither they are +transported by the Great Spirit, and where those who are separated on +earth meet again in happiness, and part no more.</p> + +<p>Not only man, but everything animate, is spirit, and destined to +immortality. According to the Indians, (and Sir Humphry Davy,) nothing +dies, nothing is destroyed; what we look upon as death and destruction +is only transition and change. The ancients, it is said—for I cannot +speak from my own knowledge—without telescopes or logarithms, divined +the grandest principles of astronomy, and calculated the revolutions of +the planets; and so these Indians, who never heard of philosophy or +chemistry, have contrived to hit upon some of the profoundest truths in +physics and metaphysics; but they seem content, like Jaques, "to praise +God, and make no boast of it."</p> + +<p>In some things, it is true, they are as far as possible from orthodox. +Their idea of a hell seems altogether vague and negative. It consists in +a temporary rejection from the land of good spirits, in a separation +from lost relatives and friends, in being doomed to wander up and down +desolately, having no fixed abode, weary, restless, and melancholy. To +how many is the Indian hell already realised on this earth? Physical +pain, or any pain which calls for the exercise of courage, and which it +is manliness to meet and endure, does not apparently enter into their +notions of <i>punishment</i>. They believe in evil spirits, but the idea of +<i>the</i> <span class="smcap">Evil</span> <i>Spirit</i>, a permitted agency of evil and mischief, who +divides with the Great Spirit the empire of the universe—who +contradicts or renders nugatory His will, and takes especially in hand +the province of tormenting sinners—of the devil, in short, they +certainly had not an idea, till it was introduced by Europeans.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +Those Indians whose politeness will not allow them to contradict this +article of the white man's faith, still insist that the place of eternal +torment was never intended for the Red-skins, the especial favourites of +the Great Spirit, but for white men <i>only</i>.</p> + +<h3>INDIAN CUSTOMS.</h3> + +<p>Formerly it was customary with Chippewas to bury many articles with the +dead, such as would be useful on their journey to the land of spirits.</p> + +<p>Henry describes in a touching manner the interment of a young girl, with +an axe, snow-shoes, a small kettle, several pairs of moccasins, her own +ornaments, and strings of beads; and, because it was a female—destined, +it seems, to toil and carry burthens in the other world as well as +this—the <i>carrying-belt</i> and the paddle. The last act before the +burial, performed by the poor mother, crying over the dead body of the +child, was that of taking from it a lock of hair for a memorial. "While +she did this," says Henry, "I endeavoured to console her by offering the +usual arguments, that the child was happy in being released from the +miseries of this life, and that she should forbear to grieve, because it +would be restored to her in another world, happy and everlasting. She +answered, that she knew it well, and that by the lock of hair she should +know her daughter in the other world, for she would <i>take it with +her</i>—alluding to the time when this relic, with the carrying-belt and +axe, would be placed in her own grave."</p> + +<p>This custom of burying property with the dead was formerly carried to +excess from the piety and generosity of surviving friends, until a +chief, greatly respected and admired among them for his bravery and +talents, took an ingenious method of giving his people a lesson. He was +seized with a fit of illness, and after a few days expired, or seemed to +expire. But after lying in this death-trance for some hours, he came to +life again, and recovering his voice and senses, he informed his friends +that he had been half-way to the land of spirits; that he found the road +thither crowded with the souls of the dead, all so heavily laden with +the guns, kettles, axes, blankets, and other articles buried with them, +that their journey was retarded, and they complained grievously of the +burthens which the love of their friends had laid on them. "I will tell +you," said Gitchee Gauzinee, for that was his name, "our fathers have +been wrong; they have buried too many things with the dead. It is too +burthensome to them, and they have complained to me bitterly. There are +many who, by reason of the heavy loads they bear, have not yet reached +the land of spirits. Clothing will be very acceptable to the dead, also +his moccasins to travel in, and his pipe to refresh him on the way; but +let his other possessions be divided among his relatives and friends."</p> + +<p>This sensible hint was taken in good part. The custom of kindling a fire +on the grave, to light the departed spirit on its road to the land of +the dead, is very general, and will remind you of the oriental customs.</p> + +<h3>AN INDIAN LEGEND.</h3> + +<p>A Chippewa chief, heading his war party against the Sioux, received an +arrow in his breast, and fell. No warrior thus slain is ever buried. +According to ancient custom, he was placed in a sitting posture, with +his back against a tree, his face towards his flying enemies; his +head-dress, ornaments, and all his war-equipments, were arranged, with +care, and thus he was left. But the chief was not dead; though he could +neither move nor speak, he was sensible to all that passed. When he +found himself abandoned by his friends as one dead, he was seized with a +paroxysm of rage and anguish. When they took leave of him, lamenting, he +rose up and followed them, but they saw him not. He pursued their track, +and wheresoever they went, he went; when they ran, he ran; when they +encamped and slept, he did the like; but he could not eat with them, and +when he spoke they heard him not. "Is it possible," he cried, exalting +his voice, "that my brothers do not see me—do not hear me? Will you +suffer me to bleed to death without stanching my wounds? will you let me +starve in the midst of food? have my fellow-warriors already forgotten +me? is there none who will recollect my face, or offer me a morsel of +flesh?" Thus he lamented and upbraided, but the sound of his voice +reached them not. If they heard it at all they mistook it for that of +the summer wind rustling among the leaves.</p> + +<p>The war party returned to the village: the women and children came out +to welcome them. The chief heard the inquiries for himself, and the +lamentations of his friends and relatives over his death. "It is not +true!" he shrieked with a loud voice, "I am not dead,—I was not left on +the field; I am here! I live! I move! see me! touch me! I shall again +raise my spear in the battle, and sound my drum at the feast!" But no +one heeded him; they mistook his voice for the wind rising and whistling +among the boughs. He walked to his wigwam, and found his wife tearing +her hair, and weeping for his death. He tried to comfort her, but she +seemed insensible of his presence. He besought her to bind up his +wounds—she moved not. He put his mouth close to her ear, and shouted, +"I am hungry, give me food!" She thought she heard a mosquito buzzing in +her ear. The chief, enraged past endurance, now summoned all his +strength, and struck her a violent blow on the temple; on which she +raised her hand to her head, and remarked, "I feel a slight aching +here!"</p> + +<p>When the chief beheld these things, he began to reflect that possibly +his body might have remained on the field of battle, while only his +spirit was among his friends; so he determined to go back and seek his +body. It was four days' journey thither, and on the last day, just as he +was approaching the spot, he saw a flame in the path before him; he +endeavoured to step aside and pass it, but was still opposed; whichever +way he turned, still it was before him. "Thou spirit," he exclaimed in +anger, "why dost thou oppose me? knowest thou not that I too am a +spirit, and seek only to re-enter my body? thinkest thou to make me turn +back? Know that I was never conquered by the enemies of my nation, and +will not be conquered by thee!" So saying, he made an effort, and leapt +through the opposing flame. He found himself seated under a tree on the +field of battle, in all his warlike array, his bow and arrows at his +side, just as he had been left by his friends, and looking up beheld a +great war-eagle seated on the boughs; it was the manito of whom he had +dreamed in his youth, his tutelary spirit who had kept watch over his +body for eight days, and prevented the ravenous beasts and carrion birds +from devouring it. In the end, he bound up his wounds and sustained +himself by his bow and arrows, until he reached his village; there he +was received with transport by his wife and friends, and concluded his +account of his adventures by telling them that it is four days' journey +to the land of spirits, and that the spirit stood in need of a fire +every night; therefore the friends and relatives should build the +funeral fire for four nights upon the grave, otherwise the spirit would +be obliged to build and tend the fire itself,—a task which is always +considered slavish and irksome.</p> + +<p>Such is the tradition by which the Chippewas account for the custom of +lighting the funeral fire.</p> + +<h3>INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS.</h3> + +<p>The Indians have a very fanciful mythology, which would make exquisite +machinery for poetry. It is quite distinct from the polytheism of the +Greeks. The Greek mythology personified all nature, and materialised all +abstractions: the Indians spiritualise all nature. They do not indeed +place dryads and fauns in their woods, nor naiads in their streams; but +every tree has a spirit; every rock, every river, every star that +glistens, every wind that breathes, has a spirit; every thing they +cannot comprehend is a spirit: this is the ready solution of every +mystery, or rather makes every thing around them a mystery as great as +the blending of soul and body in humanity. A watch, a compass, a gun, +have each their spirit. The thunder is an angry spirit; the aurora +borealis, dancing and rejoicing spirits; the milky way is the path of +spirits. Birds, perhaps from their aerial movements, they consider as in +some way particularly connected with the invisible world of spirits. Not +only all animals have souls, but it is the settled belief of the +Chippewa Indians that their souls will fare the better in another world, +in the precise ratio that their lives and enjoyments are curtailed in +this: hence, they have no remorse in hunting; but when they have killed +a bear or rattle-snake, they solemnly beg his pardon, and excuse +themselves on the plea of necessity.</p> + +<p>Besides this general <i>spiritualisation</i> of the whole universe, which to +an Indian is all spirit in diversity of forms (how delighted Bishop +Berkeley would have been with them!), they have certain mythologic +existences. Manabozho is a being very analogous to the Seeva of the +Hindoo mythology. The four cardinal points are spirits, the west being +the oldest and the father of the others, by a beautiful girl, who, one +day while bathing, suffered the west wind to blow upon her. Weeng is the +spirit of sleep, with numerous little subordinate spirits, his +emissaries, whose employment is to close the eyes of mortals, and by +tapping on their foreheads <i>knock</i> them to sleep. Then they have +Weendigos—great giants and cannibals, like the Ascaparts and Morgantes +of the old romances; and little tiny spirits or fairies, which haunt +the woods and cataracts. The Nibanàba, half human half fish, dwell in +the waters of Lake Superior. Ghosts are plentiful, and so are +transformations, as you have seen. The racoon was once a shell lying on +the lake shore, and vivified by the sun-beams: the Indian name of the +racoon, <i>aisebun</i>, is literally, <i>he was a shell</i>. The brains of a +wicked adulteress, whose skull was beaten to pieces against the rocks, +as it tumbled down a cataract, became the white fish.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>As to the belief in sorcery, spells, talismans, incantations, all which +go by the general name of <i>medicine</i>, it is unbounded. Henry mentions, +that among the goods which some traders took up the country to exchange +for furs, they had a large collection of the little rude prints, +published for children, at a halfpenny a piece—I recollect such when I +was a child. They sold these at a high price, for <i>medicines</i> (<i>i. e.</i> +talismans), and found them a very profitable and popular article of +commerce. One of these, a little print of a sailor kissing his +sweetheart, was an esteemed <i>medicine</i> among the young, and eagerly +purchased for a love-spell. A soldier presenting his gun, or brandishing +his sabre, was a medicine to promote warlike courage—and so on.</p> + +<p>The medicines and manitos of the Indians will remind you of the fetishes +of the negroes.</p> + +<p>With regard to the belief in omens and incantations, I should like to +see it ascertained how far we civilised Christians, with all our +schools, our pastors, and our masters, are in advance of these +(so-called) savages?<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who would believe that with a smile, whose blessing</span> +<span class="i2">Would, like the patriarch's, soothe a dying hour;</span> +<span class="i0">With voice as low, as gentle, as caressing,</span> +<span class="i2">As e'er won maiden's lip in moonlit bower;</span> +<span class="i0">With look, like patient Job's, eschewing evil;</span> +<span class="i2">With motions graceful as a bird's in air;</span> +<span class="i0">Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil,</span> +<span class="i2">That e'er clench'd fingers in a captive's hair!—<span class="smcap">Halleck.</span></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Johnson tells me, what pleases me much, that the Indians like me, +and are gratified by my presence, and the interest I express for them, +and that I am the subject of much conversation and speculation. Being in +manners and complexion unlike the European women they have been +accustomed to see, they have given me, he says, a name among themselves +expressive of the most obvious characteristic in my appearance, and call +me the <i>white</i> or <i>fair English chieftainess</i> (Ogima-quay). I go among +them quite familiarly, and am always received with smiling good-humour. +With the assistance of a few words, as ninni, a man; minno, good; +mudjee, bad; mee gwedge, thank you; maja, good-bye; with nods, smiles, +signs, and friendly hand-taking,—we hold most eloquent conversations. +Even the little babies smile at me out of their comical cradles, slung +at their mothers' backs, and with the help of beads and lolly-pops from +the village store, I get on amazingly well; only when asked for some +"English milk" (rum or whisky), I frown as much as I can, and cry +Mudjee! Mudjee! bad! bad! then they laugh, and we are friends again.</p> + +<p>The scenes I at first described are of constant reiteration. Every +morning when I leave my room and come out into the porch, I have to +exchange <i>bo-jou!</i> and shake hands with some twenty or thirty of my +dingy, dusky, greasy, painted, blanketed smiling friends: but to-day we +have had some new scenes.</p> + +<p>First, however, I forgot to tell you that yesterday afternoon there came +in a numerous fleet of canoes, thirty or forty at least; and the wind +blowing fresh from the west, each with its square blanket sail came +scudding over the waters with astonishing velocity; it was a beautiful +sight. Then there was the usual bustle, and wigwam building, +fire-lighting and cooking, all along the shore, which is now excessively +crowded: and yelling, shouting, drinking and dancing at the whisky +store. But all this I have formerly described to you.</p> + +<h3>AN INDIAN TALK.</h3> + +<p>I presume it was in consequence of these new arrivals that we had a +grand <i>talk</i> or council after breakfast this morning, at which I was +permitted to be present, or, as the French say, to <i>assist</i>.</p> + +<p>There were fifty-four of their chiefs, or rather chief men, present, and +not less that two hundred Indians round the house, their dark eager +faces filling up the windows and doorways; but they were silent, quiet, +and none but those first admitted attempted to enter. All as they came +up took my hand: some I had seen before, and some were entire strangers, +but there was no look of surprise, and all was ease and grave +self-possession: a set of more perfect gentlemen, in <i>manner</i>, I never +met with.</p> + +<p>The council was convened to ask them if they would consent to receive +goods instead of dollars in payment of the pensions due to them on the +sale of their lands, and which, by the conditions of sale, were to be +paid in money. So completely do the white men reckon on having +everything their own way with the poor Indians, that a trader had +contracted with the government to supply the goods which the Indians had +not yet consented to receive, and was actually now on the island, having +come with me in the steamer.</p> + +<p>As the chiefs entered, they sat down on the floor. The principal person +was a venerable old man with a bald head, who did not speak. The orator +of the party wore a long gray blanket-coat, crimson sash, and black +neckcloth, with leggings and moccasins. There was also a well-looking +young man dressed in the European fashion, and in black; he was of +mixed blood, French and Indian; he had been carried early to Europe by +the Catholic priests, had been educated in the Propaganda College at +Rome, and was lately come out to settle as a teacher and interpreter +among his people. He was the only person besides Mr. Schoolcraft who was +seated on a chair, and he watched the proceedings with great attention. +On examining one by one the assembled chiefs, I remarked five or six who +had good heads—well developed, intellectual, and benevolent. The old +chief, and my friend the Rain, were conspicuous among them, and also an +old man with a fine square head and lofty brow, like the picture of +Red-jacket<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>, and a young man with a pleasing countenance, and two +scalps hung as ornaments to his belt. Some faces were mild and vacant, +some were stupid and coarse, but in none was there a trace of insolence +or ferocity, or of that vile expression I have seen in a depraved +European of the lowest class. The worst physiognomy was that of a famous +medicine-man—it was mean and cunning. Not only the countenances but the +features differed; even the distinct characteristics of the Indian, the +small deep-set eye, breadth of face and high cheek-bones, were not +universal: there were among them regular features, oval faces, aquiline +noses. One chief had a head and face which reminded me strongly of the +Marquis Wellesley. All looked dirty, grave, and picturesque, and most of +them, on taking their seats on the ground, pulled out their +tobacco-pouches and lighted their wooden pipes.</p> + +<p>The proposition made to them was evidently displeasing. The orator, +after whispering with the chief, made a long and vehement speech in a +loud emphatic voice, and at every pause the auditors exclaimed, "Hah!" +in sign of approbation. I remarked that he sometimes made a jest which +called forth a general smile, even from the interpreter and Mr. +Schoolcraft. Only a few sentences were translated: from which I +understood that they all considered this offer as a violation of the +treaty which their great father at Washington, the president, had made +with them. They did not want goods,—they wanted the stipulated dollars. +Many of their young men had procured goods from the traders on credit, +and depended on the money due to them to discharge their debts; and, in +short, the refusal was distinct and decided. I am afraid, however, it +will not avail them much.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> The mean, petty-trader style in which the +American officials make (and <i>break</i>) their treaties with the Indians is +shameful. I met with none who attempted to deny it or excuse it. Mr. +Schoolcraft told me that during the time he had been Indian agent +(five-and-twenty years) he had never known the Indians to violate a +treaty or break a promise. He could not say the same of his government, +and the present business appeared most distasteful to him; but he was +obliged to obey the order from the head of his department.</p> + +<p>The Indians themselves make witty jests on the bad faith of the "Big +Knives."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> "My father!" said a distinguished Pottowottomie chief at +the treaty of Chicago—"my father, you have made several promises to +your red children, and you have put the money down upon the table: but +as fast as you put it upon the top, it has slipped away to the bottom, +in a manner that is incomprehensible to us. We do not know what becomes +of it. When we get together, and divide it among ourselves, it is +nothing! and we remain as poor as ever. My father, I only explain to you +the words of my brethren. We can only see what is before our eyes, and +are unable to comprehend all things." Then pointing to a newspaper which +lay on the table—"You see that paper on the table before you—it is +double. You can see what is upon the upper sheet, but you cannot see +what is below. We cannot tell how our money goes!"</p> + +<p>On the present occasion, two orators spoke, and the council lasted above +two hours: but I left the room long before the proceedings were over. I +must needs confess it to you—I cannot overcome one disagreeable +obstacle to a near communion with these people. The genuine Indian has a +very peculiar odour, unlike anything of the kind that ever annoyed my +fastidious senses. One ought to get over these things; and after all it +is not so offensive as it is peculiar. You have probably heard that +horses brought up in the white settlements can smell an Indian at a +great distance, and show evident signs of perturbation and terror +whenever they snuff an Indian in the air. For myself, in passing over +the place on which a lodge has stood, and whence it has been removed +several hours, though it was the hard pebbly beach on the water edge, I +could scent the Indian in the atmosphere. You can imagine, therefore, +that fifty of them in one room, added to the smell of their tobacco, +which is detestable, and the smoking and all its unmentionable +consequences, drove me from the spot. The truth is, that a woman of very +delicate and fastidious habits must learn to endure some very +disagreeable things, or she had best stay at home.</p> + +<h3>THE INDIAN DANCE.</h3> + +<p>In the afternoon Mr. Johnson informed me that the Indians were preparing +to dance, for my particular amusement. I was, of course, most thankful +and delighted. Almost in the same moment, I heard their yells and +shrieks resounding along the shore, mingled with the measured monotonous +drum. We had taken our place on an elevated platform behind the house—a +kind of little lawn on the hill-side;—the precipitous rocks, clothed +with trees and bushes, rose high like a wall above us: the glorious +sunshine of a cloudless summer's day was over our heads—the dazzling +blue lake and its islands at our feet. Soft and elysian in its beauty +was all around. And when these wild and more than half-naked figures +came up, leaping, whooping, drumming, shrieking, hideously painted, and +flourishing clubs, tomahawks, javelins, it was like a masque of fiends +breaking into paradise! The rabble of Comus might have boasted +themselves comely in comparison, even though no self-deluding potion had +bleared their eyes and intellect. It was a grotesque and horrible +phantasmagoria. Of their style of clothing, I say nothing—for, as it is +wisely said, nothing can come of <i>nothing:</i>—only if "all symbols be +clothes," according to a great modern philosopher—my Indian friends +were as little symbolical as you can dare to imagine:—<i>passons par là</i>. +If the blankets and leggings were thrown aside, all the resources of the +Indian toilette, all their store of feathers, and bears' claws, hawks' +bells, vermilion, soot, and verdigris, were brought into requisition as +decoration: and no two were alike. One man wore three or four heads of +hair, composed of the manes and tails of animals; another wore a pair of +deers' horns; another was <i>coiffé</i> with the skins and feathers of a +crane or some such bird—its long bill projecting from his forehead; +another had the shell of a small turtle suspended from his back, and +dangling behind; another used the skin of a polecat for the same +purpose. One had painted his right leg with red bars, and his left leg +with green lines: parti-coloured eyes and faces, green noses, and blue +chins, or <i>vice versâ</i>, were general. I observed that in this grotesque +deformity, in the care with which every thing like symmetry or harmony +in form or colours was avoided, there was something evidently studied +and artistical. The orchestra was composed of two drums and two rattles, +and a chorus of voices. The song was without melody—a perpetual +repetition of three or four notes, melancholy, harsh, and monotonous. A +flag was stuck in the ground, and round this they began their dance—if +dance it could be called,—the movements consisting of the alternate +raising of one foot, then the other, and swinging the body to and fro. +Every now and then they paused, and sent forth that dreadful, prolonged, +tremulous yell, which re-echoed from the cliffs, and pierced my ears and +thrilled along my nerves. The whole exhibition was of that finished +barbarism, that it was at least <i>complete</i> in its way, and for a time I +looked on with curiosity and interest. But that innate loathing which +dwells within me for all that is discordant and deformed, rendered it +anything but pleasant to witness. It grated horribly upon all my +perceptions. In the midst, one of those odd and unaccountable +transitions of thought caused, by some mental or physical re-action—the +law which brings extremes in contrast together—came across me. I was +reminded that even on this very day last year I was seated in a box at +the opera, looking at Carlotta Grisi and Perrot dancing, or rather +flying through the galoppe in "Benyowsky." The oddity of this sudden +association made me laugh, which being interpreted into the expression +of my highest approbation, they became every moment more horribly +ferocious and animated; redoubled the vigour of their detestably awkward +movements and the shrillness of their savage yells, till I began +involuntarily to look about for some means of escape—but this would +have been absolutely rude, and I restrained myself.</p> + +<p>I should not forget to mention that the figures of most of the men were +superb; more agile and elegant, however, than muscular, more fitted for +the chase than for labour, with small and well-formed hands and feet. +When the dance was ended, a young warrior, leaving the group, sat +himself down on a little knoll to rest. His spear lay across his knees, +and he reposed his head upon his hand. He was not painted, except with a +little vermilion on his chest, and on his head he wore only the wing of +the osprey. He sat there, a model for a sculptor. The perfection of his +form, the graceful abandonment of his attitude, reminded me of a young +Mercury, or of Thorwaldsen's "Shepherd Boy." I went up to speak to him, +and thanked him for his exertions in the dance, which indeed had been +conspicuous; and then, for want of something else to say, I asked him if +he had a wife and children? The whole expression of his face suddenly +changed, and with an air as tenderly coy as that of a young girl +listening to the first whisper of a lover, he looked down and answered +softly, "Kah-ween!"—No, indeed! Feeling that I had for the first time +embarrassed an Indian, I withdrew, really as much out of countenance as +the youth himself. I did not ask him his name, for that were a violation +of the Indian form of good breeding, but I learn that he is called <i>the +Pouncing Hawk</i>. West's comparison of the Apollo Belvedere to a young +Mohawk warrior has more of likelihood and reasonableness than I ever +believed or acknowledged before.</p> + +<p>A keg of tobacco and a barrel of flour were given to them, and they +dispersed as they came, drumming, and yelling and leaping, and +flourishing their clubs and war hatchets.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the evening we paddled in a canoe over to the opposite island, with +the intention of landing and looking at the site of an intended +missionary settlement for the Indians. But no sooner did the keel of our +canoe touch the woody shore than we were enveloped in a cloud of +mosquitoes. It was in vain to think of dislodging the enemy, and after +one or two attempts we were fairly beaten back. Mackinaw, as seen from +hence, has exactly the form its name implies, that of a large turtle +sleeping on the water. I believe Mackinaw is merely the abbreviation of +Michilimackinac, <i>the great turtle</i>. It was a mass of purple shadow; and +just at one extremity the sun plunged into the lake, leaving its +reflection on the water, like the skirts of a robe of fire, floating. +This too vanished, and we returned in the soft calm twilight, singing as +we went.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">July 29.</p> + +<p>Where was I? Where did I leave off four days ago? O—at Mackinaw! that +fairy island, which I shall never see again, and which I should have +dearly liked to filch from the Americans, and carry home to you in my +dressing-box, or, perdie, in my toothpick case; but, good lack, to see +the ups and downs of this (new) world. I take up my tale a hundred +miles from it; but before I tell you where I am now, I must take you +over the ground, or rather over the water, in a proper and journal-like +style.</p> + +<h3>PROCEED TO SAULT-SAINTE-MARIE.</h3> + +<p>I was sitting last Friday, at sultry noon-tide, under the shadow of a +schooner which had just anchored alongside the little pier—sketching +and dreaming—when up came a messenger, breathless, to say that a boat +was going off for the Sault-Sainte-Marie, in which I could be +accommodated with a passage. Now this was precisely what I had been +wishing and waiting for, and yet I heard the information with an emotion +of regret. I had become every day more attached to the society of Mrs. +Schoolcraft, more interested about her; and the idea of parting, and +parting suddenly, took me by surprise, and was anything but agreeable. +On reaching the house, I found all in movement, and learned, to my +inexpressible delight, that my friend would take the opportunity of +paying a visit to her mother and family, and, with her children, was to +accompany me on my voyage.</p> + +<p>We had but one hour to prepare packages, provisions, everything—and in +one hour all was ready.</p> + +<p>This voyage of two days was to be made in a little Canadian bateau, +rowed by five <i>voyageurs</i> from the Sault. The boat might have carried +fifteen persons, hardly more, and was rather clumsy in form. The two +ends were appropriated to the rowers, baggage, and provisions; in the +centre there was a clear space, with a locker on each side, on which we +sat or reclined, having stowed away in them our smaller and more +valuable packages. This was the internal arrangement.</p> + +<p>The distance to the Sault, or, as the Americans call it, the <i>Sou</i>, is +not more than thirty miles over land, as the bird flies; but the whole +region being one mass of tangled forest and swamp, infested with bears +and mosquitoes, it is seldom crossed but in winter, and in snow-shoes. +The usual route by water is ninety-four miles.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock in the afternoon, with a favourable breeze, we launched +forth on the lake, and having rowed about a mile from the shore, the +little square sail was hoisted, and away we went merrily over the blue +waves.</p> + +<h3>THE VOYAGEURS.</h3> + +<p>For a detailed account of the <i>voyageurs</i>, or Canadian boatmen, their +peculiar condition and mode of life, I refer you to Washington Irving's +"Astoria." What he describes them to <i>have been</i>, and what Henry +represents them in his time, they are even now, in these regions of the +upper lakes.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> But the voyageurs in our boat were not favourable +specimens of their very amusing and peculiar class. They were fatigued +with rowing for three days previous, and had only two helpless women to +deal with. As soon, therefore, as the sail was hoisted, two began to +play cards on the top of a keg, the other two went to sleep. The +youngest and most intelligent of the set, a lively half-breed boy of +eighteen, took the helm. He told us with great self-complacency that he +was <i>captain</i>, and that it was already the third time that he had been +elected by his comrades to this dignity; but I cannot say he had a very +obedient crew.</p> + +<h3>LAND ON GOOSE ISLAND.</h3> + +<p>About seven o'clock we landed to cook our supper on an island which is +commemorated by Henry as the Isle des Outardes, and is now Goose +Island. Mrs. Schoolcraft undertook the general management with all the +alertness of one accustomed to these impromptu arrangements, and I did +my best in my new vocation—dragged one or two blasted boughs to the +fire, the least of them twice as big as myself, and laid the cloth upon +the pebbly beach. The enormous fire was to keep off the mosquitoes, in +which we succeeded pretty well, swallowing, however, as much smoke as +would have dried us externally into hams or red herrings. We then +returned to the boat, spread a bed for the children (who were my +delight) in the bottom of it with mats and blankets, and disposed our +own, on the lockers on each side, with buffalo skins, blankets, shawls, +cloaks, and whatever was available, with my writing-case for a pillow.</p> + +<p>After sunset, the breeze fell: the men were urged to row, but pleaded +fatigue, and that they were hired for the day, and not for the night +(which is the custom). One by one they sulkily abandoned their oars, and +sunk to sleep under their blankets, all but our young captain: like +Ulysses when steering away from Calypso—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Placed at the helm he sat, and watched the skies,</span> +<span class="i0"> Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes."</span> +</div></div> + +<p>He kept himself awake by singing hymns, in which Mrs. Schoolcraft joined +him. I lay still, looking up at the stars and listening: when there was +a pause in the singing, we kept up the conversation, fearing lest sleep +should overcome our only pilot and guardian. Thus we floated on beneath +that divine canopy—"which love had spread to curtain the sleeping +world:" it was a most lovely and blessed night, bright and calm and +warm, and we made some little way, for both wind and current were in our +favour.</p> + +<p>As we were coasting a little shadowy island, our captain mentioned a +strange circumstance, very illustrative of Indian life and character. A +short time ago a young Chippewa hunter, whom he knew, was shooting +squirrels on this spot, when by some chance a large blighted pine fell +upon him, knocking him down and crushing his leg, which was fractured in +two places. He could not rise, he could not remove the tree which was +lying across his broken leg. He was in a little uninhabited island, +without the slightest probability of passing aid; and to lie there and +starve to death in agonies, seemed all that was left to him. In this +dilemma, with all the fortitude and promptitude of resource of a +thorough-bred Indian, he took out his knife, cut off his own leg, bound +it up, dragged himself along the ground to his hunting canoe, and +paddled himself home to his wigwam on a distant island, where the cure +of his wound was completed. The man is still alive.</p> + +<p>Perhaps this story appears incredible. I believe it firmly. At the time, +and since then, I heard other instances of Indian fortitude, and of +their courage and skill in performing some of the boldest and most +critical operations in surgery, which I really cannot venture to set +down. But I will mention one or two of the least marvellous. There was a +young chief, and famous hunter, whose arm was shattered by the bursting +of his rifle. No one would venture the amputation, and it was bound up +with certain herbs and dressings, accompanied with many magical +ceremonies. The young man, who seemed aware of the inefficacy of such +expedients, waited till the moment when he should be left alone. He had +meantime, with pain and difficulty, hatched one of his knives into a +saw; with this he completed the amputation of his own arm; and when his +relations appeared they found the arm lying at one end of the wigwam, +and the patient sitting at the other, with his wound bound up, and +smoking with great tranquillity.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>VOYAGE ON LAKE HURON.</h3> + +<p>We remained in conversation till long after midnight; then the boat was +moored to a tree, but kept off shore, for fear of the mosquitoes, and we +addressed ourselves to sleep. I remember lying awake for some minutes, +looking up at the quiet stars, and around upon the dark weltering +waters, and at the faint waning moon, just suspended on the very edge of +the horizon. I saw it sink—sink into the bosom of the lake as if to +rest, and then with a thought of far-off friends, and a most fervent +thanksgiving, I dropped asleep. It is odd that I did not think of +praying for protection, and that no sense of fear came over me; it +seemed as if the eye of God himself looked down upon me; that I <i>was</i> +protected. I do not say I <i>thought</i> this any more than the unweaned +child in its cradle; but I had some such feeling of unconscious trust +and love, now I recall those moments.</p> + +<p>I slept, however, uneasily, not being yet accustomed to a board and a +blanket; <i>ça viendra avec le temps</i>. About dawn I awoke in a sort of +stupor, but after bathing my face and hands over the boat side, I felt +refreshed. The voyageurs, after a good night's rest, were in better +humour, and took manfully to their oars. Soon after sunrise, we passed +round that very conspicuous cape, famous in the history of north-west +adventure, called the "Grand Détour," half-way between Mackinaw and the +Sault. Now, if you look at the map, you will see that our course was +henceforth quite altered; we had been running down the coast of the +mainland towards the east; we had now to turn short round the point, and +steer almost due west; hence its most fitting name, the Grand Détour. +The wind, hitherto favourable, was now dead against us. This part of +Lake Huron is studded with little islands, which, as well as the +neighbouring mainland, are all uninhabited, yet clothed with the +richest, loveliest, most fantastic vegetation, and no doubt swarming +with animal life.</p> + +<p>I cannot, I dare not, attempt to describe to you the strange sensation +one has, thus thrown for a time beyond the bounds of civilised humanity, +or, indeed, any humanity; nor the wild yet solemn reveries which come +over one in the midst of this wilderness of woods and waters. All was so +solitary, so grand in its solitude, as if nature unviolated sufficed to +herself. Two days and nights the solitude was unbroken; not a trace of +social life, not a human being, not a canoe, not even a deserted wigwam, +met our view. Our little boat held on its way over the placid lake, and +among green tufted islands; and we its inmates, two women, differing in +clime, nation, complexion, strangers to each other but a few days ago, +might have fancied ourselves alone in a new-born world.</p> + +<h3>THE ENCAMPMENT.</h3> + +<p>We landed to boil our kettle, and breakfast on a point of the island of +St. Joseph's. This most beautiful island is between thirty and forty +miles in length, and nearly a hundred miles in circumference, and +towards the centre the land is high and picturesque. They tell me that +on the other side of the island there is a settlement of whites and +Indians. Another large island, Drummond's Isle, was for a short time in +view. We had also a settlement here, but it was unaccountably +surrendered to the Americans. If now you look at the map, you will +wonder, as I did, that in retaining St. Joseph's and the Manitoolin +islands, we gave up Drummond's Island. Both these islands had forts and +garrisons during the war.</p> + +<p>By the time breakfast was over, the children had gathered some fine +strawberries; the heat had now become almost intolerable, and unluckily +we had no awning. The men rowed languidly, and we made but little way; +we coasted along the south shore of St. Joseph's, through fields of +rushes, miles in extent, across Lake George, and Muddy Lake (the name, I +thought, must be a libel, for it was as clear as crystal and as blue as +heaven; but they say that, like a sulky temper, the least ruffle of wind +turns it as black as ditchwater, and it does not subside again in a +hurry), and then came a succession of openings spotted with lovely +islands, all solitary. The sky was without a cloud, a speck—except when +the great fish-eagle was descried sailing over its blue depths—the +water without a wave. We were too hot and too languid to converse. +Nothing disturbed the deep noon-tide stillness, but the dip of the oars, +or the spring and splash of a sturgeon as he leapt from the surface of +the lake, leaving a circle of little wavelets spreading around. All the +islands we passed were so woody, and so infested with mosquitoes, that +we could not land and light our fire, till we reached the entrance of +St. Mary's River, between Nebish island and the mainland.</p> + +<h3>MOSQUITOES.</h3> + +<p>Here was a well-known spot, a sort of little opening on a flat shore, +called the <i>Encampment</i>, because a party of boatmen coming down from +Lake Superior, and camping here for the night, were surprised by the +frost, and obliged to remain the whole winter till the opening of the +ice, in the spring. After rowing all this hot day till seven o'clock +against the wind (what there was of it), and against the current coming +rapidly and strongly down from Lake Superior, we did at length reach +this promised harbour of rest and refreshment. Alas! there was neither +for us; the moment our boat touched the shore, we were enveloped in a +cloud of mosquitoes. Fires were lighted instantly, six were burning in a +circle at once; we were well nigh suffocated and smoke-dried—all in +vain. At last we left the voyageurs to boil the kettle, and retreated to +our boat, desiring them to make us fast to a tree by a long rope; then +each of us taking an oar—I only wish you could have seen us—we pushed +off from the land, while the children were sweeping away the enemy with +green boughs. This being done, we commenced supper, really half +famished, and were too much engrossed to look about us. Suddenly we were +again surrounded by our adversaries; they came upon us in swarms, in +clouds, in myriads, entering our eyes, our noses, our mouths, stinging +till the blood followed. We had, unawares, and while absorbed in our +culinary operations, drifted into the shore, got entangled among the +roots of trees, and were with difficulty extricated, presenting all the +time a fair mark and a rich banquet for our detested tormentors. The +dear children cried with agony and impatience, and but for shame I could +almost have cried too.</p> + +<p>I had suffered from these plagues in Italy; you too, by this time, may +probably know what they are in the southern countries of the old world; +but 'tis a jest, believe me, to encountering a forest full of them in +these wild regions. I had heard much, and much was I forewarned, but +never could have conceived the torture they can inflict, nor the +impossibility of escape, defence, or endurance. Some amiable person who +took an especial interest in our future welfare, in enumerating the +torments prepared for hardened sinners, assures us that they will be +stung by mosquitoes, all made of brass, and as large as black +beetles—he was an ignoramus and a bungler; you may credit me, that the +brass is quite an unnecessary improvement, and the increase of size +equally superfluous. Mosquitoes, as they exist in this upper world, are +as pretty and perfect a plague as the most ingenious amateur +sinner-tormentor ever devised. Observe, that a mosquito does not sting +like a wasp, or a gad-fly; he has a long proboscis like an awl, with +which he bores your veins and pumps the life-blood out of you, leaving +venom and fever behind. Enough of mosquitoes—I will never again do more +than allude to them; only they are enough to make Philosophy go hang +herself, and Patience swear like a Turk or a trooper.</p> + +<p>Well, we left this most detestable and inhospitable shore as soon as +possible, but the enemy followed us, and we did not soon get rid of +them; night came on, and we were still twenty miles below the Sault.</p> + +<h3>THE SAULT-SAINTE-MARIE.</h3> + + +<p>I offered an extra gratuity to the men, if they would keep to their oars +without interruption; and then, fairly exhausted, lay down on my locker +and blanket. But whenever I woke from uneasy, restless slumbers, <i>there</i> +was Mrs. Schoolcraft, bending over her sleeping children, and waving off +the mosquitoes, singing all the time a low, melancholy Indian song; +while the northern lights were streaming and dancing in the sky, and the +fitful moaning of the wind, the gathering clouds, and chilly atmosphere +foretold a change of weather. This would have been the <i>comble de +malheur</i>. When daylight came, we passed Sugar Island, where immense +quantities of maple sugar are made every spring, and just as the rain +began to fall in earnest we arrived at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. On one +side of the river, Mrs. Schoolcraft was welcomed by her mother; and on +the other, my friends, the MacMurrays, received me with delighted and +delightful hospitality. I went to bed—oh! the luxury!—and slept for +six hours.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Enough of solemn reveries on starlit lakes—enough—too much—of self +and self-communings; I turn over a new leaf, and this shall be a chapter +of geography, and topography, natural philosophy, and such wise-like +things. Draw the curtain first, for if I look out any longer on those +surging rapids, I shall certainly turn giddy—forget all the memoranda +I have been collecting for you, lose my reckoning, and become +unintelligible to you and myself too.</p> + +<p>This river of St. Mary is, like the Detroit and the St. Clair, already +described, properly a strait, the channel of communication between Lake +Superior and Lake Huron. About ten miles higher up, the great ocean-lake +narrows to a point; then, forcing a channel through the high lands, +comes rushing along till it meets with a downward ledge, or cliff, over +which it throws itself in foam and fury, tearing a path for its billows +through the rocks. The descent is about twenty-seven feet in three +quarters of a mile, but the rush begins above, and the tumult continues +below the fall, so that, on the whole, the eye embraces an expanse of +white foam measuring about a mile each way, the effect being exactly +that of the ocean breaking on a rocky shore: not so terrific, nor on so +large a scale, as the rapids of Niagara, but quite as beautiful—quite +as animated.</p> + +<p>What the French call a <i>saut</i> (leap), we term a <i>fall</i>; the +Sault-Sainte-Marie is translated into the falls of St. Mary. By this +name the rapids are often mentioned, but the village on their shore +still retains its old name, and is called the Sault. I do not know why +the beautiful river and its glorious cataracts should have been placed +under the peculiar patronage of the blessed Virgin; perhaps from the +union of exceeding loveliness with irresistible power; or, more +probably, because the first adventurers reached the spot on some day +hallowed in the calendar.</p> + +<p>The French, ever active and enterprising, were the first who penetrated +to this wild region. They had an important trading post here early in +the last century, and also a small fort. They were ceded, with the rest +of the country, to Great Britain, in 1762.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> I wonder whether, at that +time, the young king or any of his ministers had the least conception of +the value and immensity of the magnificent country thrown into our +possession, or gave a thought to the responsibilities it brought with +it!—to be sure they made good haste, both king and ministers, to get +rid of most of the responsibility. The American war began, and at its +conclusion the south shore of St. Mary's, and the fort, were surrendered +to the Americans.</p> + +<p>The rapids of Niagara, as I once told you, reminded me of a monstrous +tiger at play, and threw me into a sort of ecstatic terror; but these +rapids of St. Mary suggest quite another idea: as they come fretting and +fuming down, curling up their light foam, and wreathing their glancing +billows round the opposing rocks, with a sort of passionate self-will, +they remind me of an exquisitely beautiful woman in a fit of rage, or of +Walter Scott's simile—"one of the Graces possessed by a Fury;"—there +is no terror in their anger, only the sense of excitement and +loveliness; when it has spent this sudden, transient fit of impatience, +the beautiful river resumes all its placid dignity, and holds on its +course, deep and wide enough to float a squadron of seventy-fours, and +rapid and pellucid as a mountain trout-stream.</p> + +<h3>FORT AND SETTLEMENTS.</h3> + +<p>Here, as everywhere else, I am struck by the difference between the two +shores. On the American side there is a settlement of whites, as well as +a large village of Chippewas; there is also a mission (I believe of the +Methodists), for the conversion of the Indians. The fort, which has been +lately strengthened, is merely a strong and high enclosure, surrounded +with pickets of cedar-wood; within the stockade are the barracks, and +the principal trading store. This fortress is called Fort Brady, after +that gallant officer whom I have already mentioned to you. The garrison +may be very effective for aught I know, but I never beheld such an +unmilitary-looking set. When I was there to-day, the sentinels were +lounging up and down in their flannel jackets and shirt sleeves, with +muskets thrown over their shoulders—just for all the world like +ploughboys going to shoot sparrows; however, they are in keeping with +the fortress of cedar-posts, and no doubt both answer their purpose very +well. The village is increasing into a town, and the commercial +advantages of its situation must raise it ere long to a place of +importance.</p> + +<p>On the Canada side we have not even these demonstrations of power or +prosperity. Nearly opposite to the American fort there is a small +factory belonging to the North-west Fur Company; below this, a few +miserable log-huts, occupied by some French Canadians and voyageurs in +the service of the company, a set of lawless <i>mauvais sujets</i>, from all +I can learn. Lower down stands the house of Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, with +the Chippewa village under their care and tuition; but most of the +wigwams and their inhabitants are now on their way down the lake, to +join the congress at the Manitoolin Islands. A lofty eminence, partly +cleared and partly clothed with forest, rises behind the house, on which +stand the little missionary church and school-house for the use of the +Indian converts. From the summit of this hill you look over the traverse +into Lake Superior, and the two giant capes which guard its entrance. +One of these capes is called Gros-Cap, from its bold and lofty cliffs, +the yet unviolated haunt of the eagle. The opposite cape is more +accessible, and bears an Indian name, which I cannot pretend to spell, +but which signifies "the place of the Iroquois' bones:" it was the scene +of a wild and terrific tradition. At the time that the Iroquois (or Six +Nations) were driven before the French and Hurons up to the western +lakes, they endeavoured to possess themselves of the hunting-grounds of +the Chippewas, and hence a bitter and lasting feud between the two +nations. The Iroquois, after defeating the Chippewas, encamped, a +thousand strong, upon this point, where, thinking themselves secure, +they made a war feast to torture and devour their prisoners. The +Chippewas, from the opposite shore, beheld the sufferings and +humiliation of their friends, and, roused to sudden fury by the sight, +collected their warriors, only three hundred in all, crossed the +channel, and at break of day fell upon the Iroquois, now sleeping after +their horrible excesses, and massacred every one of them, men, women, +and children. Of their own party they lost but one warrior, who was +stabbed with an awl by an old woman who was sitting at the entrance of +her wigwam, stitching moccasins: thus runs the tale. The bodies were +left to bleach on the shore, and they say that bones and skulls are +still found there.</p> + +<h3>THE WHITE-FISH.</h3> + +<p>Here, at the foot of the rapids, the celebrated white-fish of the lakes +is caught in its highest perfection. The people down below<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a>, who +boast of the excellence of the white-fish, really know nothing of the +matter. There is no more comparison between the white-fish of the lower +lakes and the white-fish of St. Mary's than between plaice and turbot, +or between a clam and a Sandwich oyster. I ought to be a judge, who have +eaten them fresh out of the river four times a day, and I declare to you +that I never tasted anything of the fish kind half so exquisite. If the +Roman Apicius had lived in these latter days, he would certainly have +made a voyage up Lake Huron to breakfast on the white-fish of St. Mary's +river, and would <i>not</i> have returned in dudgeon, as he did, from the +coast of Africa. But the epicures of our degenerate times have nothing +of that gastronomical enthusiasm which inspired their ancient models, +else we should have them all coming here to eat white-fish at the Sault, +and scorning cockney white-bait. Henry declares that the flavour of the +white-fish is "beyond any comparison whatever," and I add my testimony +thereto—<i>probatum est!</i></p> + +<p>I have eaten tunny in the gulf of Genoa, anchovies fresh out of the bay +of Naples, and trout of the Salz-kammergut, and divers other fishy +dainties rich and rare,—but the exquisite, the refined white-fish +exceeds them all; concerning those cannibal fish (mullets were they, or +lampreys?) which Lucullus fed in his fish-ponds, I cannot speak, never +having tasted them; but even if <i>they</i> could be resuscitated, I would +not degrade the refined, the delicate white-fish by a comparison with +any such barbarian luxury.</p> + +<p>But seriously, and badinage apart, it is really the most luxurious +delicacy that swims the waters. It is said that people never tire of +them. Mr. MacMurray tells me that he has eaten them every day of his +life for seven years, and that his relish for them is undiminished. The +enormous quantities caught here, and in the bays and creeks round Lake +Superior, remind me of herrings in the lochs of Scotland; besides +subsisting the inhabitants, whites and Indians, during great part of the +year, vast quantities are cured and barrelled every fall, and sent down +to the eastern states. Not less than eight thousand barrels were shipped +last year.</p> + +<h3>THE SKEVÁT.</h3> + +<p>These enterprising Yankees have seized upon another profitable +speculation here: there is a fish found in great quantities in the upper +part of Lake Superior, called the skevát<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>, so exceedingly rich, +luscious, and oily, when fresh, as to be quite uneatable. A gentleman +here told me that he had tried it, and though not very squeamish at any +time, and then very hungry, he could not get beyond the first two or +three mouthfuls; but it has been lately discovered that this fish makes +a most luxurious pickle. It is very excellent, but so rich even in this +state, that, like the tunny <i>marinée</i>, it is necessary either to taste +abstemiously, or die heroically of indigestion. This fish is becoming a +fashionable luxury, and in one of the stores here I saw three hundred +barrels ready for embarkation. The Americans have several schooners on +the lakes employed in these fisheries: we have not one. They have +besides planned a ship canal through the portage here, which will open a +communication for large vessels between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, as +our Welland Canal has united Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. The ground has +already been surveyed for this purpose. When this canal is completed, a +vessel may load in the Thames, and discharge her burthen at the upper +end of Lake Superior. I hope you have a map before you, that you may +take in at a glance this wonderful extent of inland navigation. Ought a +country possessing it, and all the means of life beside, to remain poor, +oppressed, uncultivated, unknown?</p> + +<h3>THE RAPIDS.</h3> + +<p>But to return to my beautiful river and glorious rapids, which are to be +treated, you see, as a man treats a passionate beauty—he does not +oppose her, for that were madness—but he gets <i>round her</i>. Well, on +the American side, further down the river, is the house of Tanner, the +Indian interpreter, of whose story you may have heard—for, as I +remember, it excited some attention in England. He is a European of +unmixed blood, with the language, manners, habits of a Red-skin. He had +been kidnapped somewhere on the American frontiers when a mere boy, and +brought up among the Chippewas. He afterwards returned to civilised +life, and having relearned his own language, drew up a very entertaining +and valuable account of his adopted tribe. He is now in the American +service here, having an Indian wife, and is still attached to his Indian +mode of life.</p> + +<p>Just above the fort is the ancient burial-place of the Chippewas. I need +not tell you of the profound veneration with which all the Indian tribes +regard the places of their dead. In all their treaties for the cession +of their lands, they stipulate with the white man for the inviolability +of their sepulchres. They did the same with regard to this place, but I +am sorry to say that it has not been attended to, for in enlarging one +side of the fort, they have considerably encroached on the cemetery. The +outrage excited both the sorrow and indignation of some of my friends +here, but there is no redress. Perhaps it was this circumstance that +gave rise to the allusion of the Indian chief here, when in speaking of +the French he said, "<i>They</i> never molested the places of our dead!"</p> + +<p>The view of the rapids from this spot is inexpressibly beautiful, and it +has besides another attraction, which makes it to me a frequent lounge +whenever I cross the river;—but of this by-and-bye. To complete my +sketch of the localities, I will only add, that the whole country around +is in its primitive state, covered with the interminable swamp and +forest, where the bear and the moose-deer roam—and lakes and living +streams where the beaver builds his hut.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> The cariboo, or rein-deer, +is still found on the northern shores.</p> + +<p>The hunting-grounds of the Chippewas are in the immediate neighbourhood, +and extend all round Lake Superior. Beyond these, on the north, are the +Chippewyans; and on the south, the Sioux, Ottagamies, and +Pottowottomies.</p> + +<p>I might here multiply facts and details, but I have been obliged to +throw these particulars together in haste, just to give you an idea of +my present situation. Time presses, and my sojourn in this remote and +interesting spot is like to be of short duration.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MRS. JOHNSTON.</h3> + +<p>One of the gratifications I had anticipated in coming hither—my +strongest inducement perhaps—was an introduction to the mother of my +two friends, of whom her children so delighted to speak, and of whom I +had heard much from other sources. A woman of pure Indian blood, of a +race celebrated in these regions as warriors and chiefs from generation +to generation, who had never resided within the pale of what we call +civilised life, whose habits and manners were those of a genuine Indian +squaw, and whose talents and domestic virtues commanded the highest +respect, was, as you may suppose, an object of the deepest interest to +me. I observed that not only her own children, but her two sons-in-law, +Mr. MacMurray and Mr. Schoolcraft, both educated in good society, the +one a clergyman and the other a man of science and literature, looked up +to this remarkable woman with sentiments of affection and veneration.</p> + +<p>As soon, then, as I was a little refreshed after my two nights on the +lake, and my battles with the mosquitoes, we paddled over the river to +dine with Mrs. Johnston: she resides in a large log-house close upon the +shore; there is a little portico in front with seats, and the interior +is most comfortable. The old lady herself is rather large in person, +with the strongest marked Indian features, a countenance open, +benevolent, and intelligent, and a manner perfectly easy—simple, yet +with something of motherly dignity, becoming the head of her large +family. She received me most affectionately, and we entered into +conversation—Mrs. Schoolcraft, who looked all animation and happiness, +acting as interpreter. Mrs. Johnston speaks no English, but can +understand it a little, and the Canadian French still better; but in her +own language she is eloquent, and her voice, like that of her people, +low and musical; many kind words were exchanged, and when I said +anything that pleased her, she laughed softly like a child. I was not +well and much fevered, and I remember she took me in her arms, laid me +down on a couch, and began to rub my feet, soothing and caressing me. +She called me Nindannis, daughter, and I called her Neengai, mother +(though how different from my own fair mother, I thought, as I looked up +gratefully in her dark Indian face!). She set before us the best dressed +and best served dinner I had seen since I left Toronto, and presided at +her table, and did the honours of her house with unembarrassed, +unaffected propriety. My attempts to speak Indian caused, of course, +considerable amusement; if I do not make progress, it will not be for +want of teaching and teachers.</p> + +<h3>AN INDIAN LODGE.</h3> + +<p>After dinner we took a walk to visit Mrs. Johnston's brother, Wayish,ky, +whose wigwam is at a little distance, on the verge of the burial-ground. +The lodge is of the genuine Chippewa form, like an egg cut in half +lengthways. It is formed of poles stuck in the ground, and bent over at +top, strengthened with a few wattles and boards; the whole is covered +over with mats, birch-bark, and skins; a large blanket formed the door +or curtain, which was not ungracefully looped aside. Wayish,ky, being a +great man, has also a smaller lodge hard by, which serves as a +storehouse and kitchen.</p> + +<h3>AN INDIAN FAMILY.</h3> + +<p>Rude as was the exterior of Wayish,ky's hut, the interior presented +every appearance of comfort, and even <i>elegance</i>, according to the +Indian notions of both. It formed a good-sized room: a raised couch ran +all round like a Turkish divan, serving both for seats and beds, and +covered with very soft and beautiful matting of various colours and +patterns. The chests and baskets of birch-bark, containing the family +wardrobe and property; the rifles, the hunting and fishing tackle, were +stowed away all round very tidily; I observed a coffee-mill nailed up to +one of the posts or stakes; the floor was trodden down hard and +perfectly clean, and there was a place for a fire in the middle: there +was no window, but quite sufficient light and air were admitted through +the door, and through an aperture in the roof. There was no disagreeable +smell, and everything looked neat and clean. We found Wayish,ky and his +wife and three of their children seated in the lodge, and as it was +Sunday, and they are all Christians, no work was going forward. They +received me with genuine and simple politeness, each taking my hand with +a gentle inclination of the head, and some words of welcome murmured in +their own soft language. We then sat down.</p> + +<p>The conversation became very lively; and, if I might judge from looks +and tones, very affectionate. I <i>sported</i> my last new words and phrases +with great effect, and when I had exhausted my vocabulary—which was +very soon—I amused myself with looking and listening.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wayish,ky (I forget her proper name) must have been a very +beautiful woman. Though now no longer young, and the mother of twelve +children, she is one of the handsomest Indian women I have yet seen. The +number of her children is remarkable, for in general there are few large +families among the Indians. Her daughter, Zah,gah,see,ga,quay (<i>the +sunbeams breaking through a cloud</i>), is a very beautiful girl, with eyes +that are a warrant for her poetical name—she is about sixteen. +Wayish,ky himself is a grave, dignified man about fifty. He told me that +his eldest son had gone down to the Manitoolin Island to represent his +family, and receive his quota of presents. His youngest son he had sent +to a college in the United States, to be educated in the learning of the +white men. Mrs. Schoolcraft whispered me that this poor boy is now dying +of consumption, owing to the confinement and change of living, and that +the parents knew it. Wayish,ky seemed aware that we were alluding to +his son, for his eye at that moment rested on me, and such an expression +of keen pain came suddenly over his fine countenance, it was as if a +knife had struck him, and I really felt it in my heart, and see it still +before me—that look of misery.</p> + +<p>After about an hour we left this good and interesting family. I lingered +for a while on the burial-ground, looking over the rapids, and watching +with a mixture of admiration and terror several little canoes which were +fishing in the midst of the boiling surge, dancing and popping about +like corks. The canoe used for fishing is very small and light; one man +(or woman more commonly) sits in the stern, and steers with a paddle; +the fisher places himself upright on the prow, balancing a long pole +with both hands, at the end of which is a scoop-net. This he every +minute dips into the water, bringing up at each dip a fish, and +sometimes two. I used to admire the fishermen on the Arno, and those on +the Lagune, and above all the Neapolitan fishermen, hauling in their +nets, or diving like ducks, but I never saw anything like these Indians. +The manner in which they keep their position upon a footing of a few +inches, is to me as incomprehensible as the beauty of their forms and +attitudes, swayed by every movement and turn of their dancing, fragile +barks, is admirable.</p> + +<p>George Johnston, on whose arm I was leaning (and I had much ado to +<i>reach</i> it), gave me such a vivid idea of the delight of coming down the +cataract in a canoe, that I am half resolved to attempt it. Terrific as +it appears, yet in a good canoe, and with experienced guides, there is +no absolute danger, and it must be a glorious sensation.</p> + +<h3>INDIAN WARFARE.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Johnston had spent the last fall and winter in the regions beyond +Lake Superior, towards the forks of the Mississippi, where he had been +employed as American agent to arrange the boundary line between the +country of the Chippewas and that of their neighbours and implacable +enemies, the Sioux. His mediation appeared successful for the time, and +he smoked the pipe of peace with both tribes; but during the spring this +ferocious war has again broken out, and he seems to think that nothing +but the annihilation of either one nation or the other will entirely put +an end to their conflicts; "for there is no point at which the Indian +law of retaliation stops, short of the extermination of one of the +parties."</p> + +<p>I asked him how it is that in their wars the Indians make no distinction +between the warriors opposed to them and helpless women and +children?—how it could be with a brave and manly people, that the +scalps taken from the weak, the helpless, the unresisting, were as +honourable as those torn from the warrior's skull? And I described to +him the horror which this custom inspired—this, which of all their +customs, most justifies the name of <i>savage</i>!</p> + +<p>He said it was inseparable from their principles of war and their mode +of warfare; the first consists in inflicting the greatest possible +insult and injury on their foe with the least possible risk to +themselves. This truly savage law of honour we might call cowardly, but +that, being associated with the bravest contempt of danger and pain, it +seems nearer to the natural law. With regard to the mode of warfare, +they have rarely pitched battles, but skirmishes, surprises, ambuscades, +and sudden forays into each other's hunting-grounds and villages. The +usual practice is to creep stealthily on the enemy's village or +hunting-encampment, and wait till just after the dawn; then, at the +moment the sleepers in the lodges are rising, the ambushed warriors +stoop and level their pieces about two feet from the ground, which thus +slaughter indiscriminately. If they find one of the enemy's lodges +undefended they murder its inmates, that when the owner returns he may +find his hearth desolate; for this is exquisite vengeance! But outrage +against the chastity of women is absolutely unknown under any degree +whatever of furious excitement.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>This respect for female honour will remind you of the ancient Germans, +as described by Julius Cæsar: he contrasts in some surprise their +forbearance with the very opposite conduct of the Romans; and even down +to this present day, if I recollect rightly, the history of our European +wars and sieges will bear out this early and characteristic distinction +between the Latin and the Teutonic nations. Am I right, or am I not?</p> + +<h3>THE SAVAGE AND THE CHRISTIAN.</h3> + +<p>To return to the Indians. After telling me some other particulars, which +gave me a clearer view of their notions and feelings on these points +than I ever had before, my informant mildly added,—"It is a constant +and favourite subject of reproach against the Indians—this barbarism of +their desultory warfare; but I should think more women and children have +perished in <i>one</i> of your civilised sieges, and that in late times, than +during the whole war between the Chippewas and Sioux, and <i>that</i> has +lasted a century."</p> + +<p>I was silent, for there is a sensible proverb about taking care of our +own glass windows: and I wonder if any of the recorded atrocities of +Indian warfare or Indian vengeance, or all of them together, ever +exceeded Massena's retreat from Portugal,—and the French call +themselves civilised. A war party of Indians, perhaps two or three +hundred (and that is a very large number), dance their war dance, go out +and burn a village, and bring back twenty or thirty scalps. <i>They</i> are +savages and heathens. We Europeans fight a battle, leave fifty thousand +dead or dying by inches on the field, and a hundred thousand to mourn +them, desolate; but <i>we</i> are civilised and Christians. Then only look +into the motives and causes of our bloodiest European wars as revealed +in the private history of courts:—the miserable, puerile, degrading +intrigues which set man against man—so horridly disproportioned to the +horrid result! and then see the Indian take up his war-hatchet in +vengeance for some personal injury, or from motives that rouse all the +natural feelings of the natural man within him! Really I do not see that +an Indian warrior, flourishing his tomahawk, and smeared with his +enemy's blood, is so very much a greater savage than the pipe-clayed, +padded, embroidered personage, who, without cause or motive, has sold +himself to slay or be slain: one scalps his enemy, the other rips him +open with a sabre; one smashes his brains with a tomahawk, and the other +blows him to atoms with a cannon-ball: and to me, femininely speaking, +there is not a needle's point difference between the one and the other. +If war be unchristian and barbarous, then war as a <i>science</i> is more +absurd, unnatural, unchristian than war as a <i>passion</i>.</p> + +<p>This, perhaps, is putting it all too strongly, and a little +exaggerated—</p> + +<p>God forbid that I should think to disparage the blessings of +civilisation! I am a woman, and to the progress of civilisation alone +can we women look for release from many pains and penalties and +liabilities, which now lie heavily upon us. Neither am I greatly in love +with savage life, with all its picturesque accompaniments and lofty +virtues. I see no reason why these virtues should be necessarily +connected with dirt, ignorance, and barbarism. I am thankful to live in +a land of literature and steam-engines. Chatsworth is better than a +wigwam, and a seventy-four is a finer thing than a bark canoe. I do not +<i>positively</i> assert that Taglioni dances more gracefully than the +Little-Pure tobacco-smoker, nor that soap and water are preferable as +cosmetics to tallow and charcoal; for these are matters of taste, and +mine may be disputed. But I do say, that if our advantages of intellect +and refinement are not to lead on to farther moral superiority, I prefer +the Indians on the score of consistency; they are what they profess to +be, and we are <i>not</i> what we profess to be. They profess to be warriors +and hunters, and are so; we profess to be Christians and civilised—are +we so?</p> + +<p>Then as to the mere point of cruelty;—there is something to be said on +this point too. Ferocity, when the hot blood is up, and all the demon in +man is roused by every conceivable excitement, I can understand better +than the Indian can comprehend the tender mercies of our law. Owyawatta, +better known by his English name, Red-Jacket, was once seen hurrying +from the town of Buffalo, with rapid strides, and every mark of disgust +and consternation in his face. Three malefactors were to be hung that +morning, and the Indian warrior had not nerve to face the horrid +spectacle, although—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In sober truth the veriest devil</span> +<span class="i0"> That ere clenched fingers in a captive's hair."</span> +</div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE DESCENT OF THE RAPIDS.</h3> + +<p>The more I looked upon those glancing, dancing rapids, the more resolute +I grew to venture myself in the midst of them. George Johnston went to +seek a fit canoe and a dextrous steersman, and meantime I strolled away +to pay a visit to Wayish,ky's family, and made a sketch of their lodge, +while pretty Zah,gah,see,gah,qua, held the umbrella to shade me.</p> + +<p>The canoe being ready, I went up to the top of the portage, and we +launched into the river. It was a small fishing canoe about ten feet +long, quite new, and light and elegant and buoyant as a bird on the +waters. I reclined on a mat at the bottom, Indian fashion (there are no +seats in a genuine Indian canoe); in a minute we were within the verge +of the rapids, and down we went, with a whirl and a splash!—the white +surge leaping around me—over me. The Indian with astonishing dexterity +kept the head of the canoe to the breakers, and somehow or other we +danced through them. I could see, as I looked over the edge of the +canoe, that the passage between the rocks was sometimes not more than +two feet in width, and we had to turn sharp angles—a touch of which +would have sent us to destruction—all this I could see through the +transparent eddying waters, but I can truly say, I had not even a +momentary sensation of fear, but rather of giddy, breathless, delicious +excitement. I could even admire the beautiful attitude of a fisher, past +whom we swept as we came to the bottom. The whole affair, from the +moment I entered the canoe till I reached the landing place, occupied +seven minutes, and the distance is about three quarters of a mile.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<h3>THE CHIPPEWAS.</h3> + +<p>My Indians were enchanted, and when I reached <i>home</i>, my good friends +were not less delighted at my exploit: they told me I was the first +European female who had ever performed it, and assuredly I shall not be +the last. I recommend it as an exercise before breakfast. As for my +Neengai, she laughed, clapped her hands, and embraced me several times. +I was declared duly initiated, and adopted into the family by the name +of Wah,sàh,ge,wah,nó,quà. They had already called me among themselves, +in reference to my complexion and my travelling propensities, +O,daw,yaun,gee, <i>the fair changing moon</i>, or rather, <i>the fair moon +which changes her place</i>: but now, in compliment to my successful +achievement, Mrs. Johnston bestowed this new appellation, which I much +prefer. It signifies <i>the bright foam</i>, or more properly, with the +feminine adjunct, <i>qua</i>, <i>the woman of the bright foam</i>; and by this +name I am henceforth to be known among the Chippewas.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Now that I have been a Chippewa born, any time these four hours<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>, I +must introduce you to some of my new relations "of the totem of the +rein-deer;" and first to my illustrious grandpapa, Waub-Ojeeg<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> (the +White-fisher).</p> + +<p>The Chippewas, as you perhaps know, have long been reckoned among the +most warlike and numerous, but also among the wildest and more +untameable nations of the north-west. In progressing with the other +Algonquin tribes from south to north, they seem to have crossed the St. +Lawrence and dispersed themselves along the shores of Lake Ontario, and +Lake Huron and its islands. Driven westward before the Iroquois, as +<i>they</i> retired before the French and Hurons, the Chippewas appear to +have crossed the St. Mary's River, and then spread along the south +shores of Lake Superior. Their council fire, and the chief seat of the +nation, was upon a promontory at the farthest end of Lake Superior, +called by the French La Pointe, and by the Indians Che,goi,me,gon: by +one name or the other you will find it on most maps, as it has long been +a place of importance in the fur trade. Here was the grand national +council fire (the extinction of which foretold, if it did not occasion, +some dread national calamity), and the residence of the presiding chief. +The Indians know neither sovereignty nor nobility, but when one family +has produced several distinguished war-chiefs, the dignity becomes by +courtesy or custom hereditary; and from whatever reason, the family of +Wayish,ki or the Mudgi,kiwis, exercised, even from a remote period, a +sort of influence over the rest of the tribe. One traveller says that +the present descendants of these chiefs evince such a pride of ancestry +as could only be looked for in feudal or despotic monarchies. The +present representative, Piz,hi,kee (the Buffalo), my illustrious cousin, +still resides at La Pointe. When presented with a silver medal of +authority from the American government, he said haughtily, "What need of +this? it is known to all whence I am descended!" Family pride, you see, +lies somewhere very deep in human nature.</p> + +<p>When the Chippewas first penetrated to these regions, they came in +contact with the Ottagamies or Foxes, who, being descended from the same +stock, received them as brothers, and at first ceded to them a part of +their boundless hunting-grounds; and as these Ottagamies were friends +and allies of the Sioux, these three nations continued for some time +friends, and inter-marriages and family alliances took place. But the +increasing power of the Chippewas soon excited the jealousy and +apprehension of the other two tribes. The Ottagamies committed inroads +on their hunting-grounds (this is the primary cause of almost all the +Indian wars), the Chippewas sent an embassy to complain of the injury, +and desired the Ottagamies to restrain their young men within the +stipulated bounds. The latter returned an insulting answer. The +war-hatchet was raised, and the Sioux and the Ottagamies united against +the Chippewas: this was about 1726 or 1730. From this time there has +been no peace between the Chippewas and Sioux.</p> + +<h3>WAUB-OJEEG.</h3> + +<p>It happened just before the declaration of war, that a young Chippewa +girl was married to a Sioux chief of great distinction, and bore him two +sons. When hostilities commenced the Sioux chief retired to his own +tribe, and his wife remained with her relations, according to Indian +custom. The two children, belonging to both tribes, were hardly safe +with either; but as the father was best able to protect them, it was at +last decided that they should accompany him. The Sioux chief and his +boys departed to join his warriors, accompanied by his Chippewa wife and +her relations, till they were in safety: then the young wife returned +home weeping and inconsolable for the loss of her husband and children. +Some years afterwards she consented to become the wife of the great +chief at Chegoimegon. Her son by this marriage was Mamongazida, or +Mongazida (the Loon's-foot), a chief of great celebrity, who led a +strong party of his nation in the Canadian wars between the French and +English, fighting on the side of the French. He was present at the +battle of Quebec, when Wolfe was killed, and according to the Indian +tradition, the Marquis Montcalm died in Mongazida's arms. After the war +was over, he "shook hands" with the English. He was at the grand +assemblage of chiefs, convened by Sir William Johnstone, at Niagara, and +from him received a rich gorget, and broad belt of wampum, as pledges of +peace and alliance with the English. These relics were preserved in the +family with great veneration, and inherited by Waub-Ojeeg, and +afterwards by his younger brother, Camudwa; but it happened that when +Camudwa was out on a winter-hunt near the river Broulé, he and all his +family were overtaken by famine and starved to death, and these insignia +were then lost and never recovered. This last incident is a specimen of +the common vicissitudes of Indian life; and when listening to their +domestic histories, I observe that the events of paramount interest are +the want or the abundance of food—hunger or plenty. "We killed a moose, +or a bear, and had meat for so many days:" or, "we followed on the track +of a bear, and he escaped us; we had <i>no</i> meat for so many days." These +are the ever-recurring topics which in their conversation stand instead +of the last brilliant essay in the Edinburgh or Quarterly, or the last +news from Russia or Spain. Starvation from famine is not uncommon; and I +am afraid, from all I hear, that cannibalism under such circumstances is +not unknown. Remembering some recent instances nearer home, when extreme +hunger produced the same horrid result, I could not be much astonished.</p> + +<p>To return. Waub-Ojeeg was the second son of this famous Mongazida. Once +when the latter went out on his "fall hunts," on the grounds near the +Sioux territory, taking all his relatives with him (upwards of twenty in +number), they were attacked by the Sioux at early dawn, in the usual +manner. The first volley had gone through the lodges; before the second +could be fired, Mongazida rushed out, and proclaiming his own name with +a loud voice, demanded if Wabash, his mother's son, were among the +assailants. There was a pause, and then a tall figure in his war-dress, +and a profusion of feathers in his head, stepped forward and gave his +hand to his half-brother. They all repaired to the lodge in peace +together; but at the moment the Sioux chief stooped to enter, +Waub-Ojeeg, then a boy of eight years old, who had planted himself at +the entrance to defend it, struck him a blow on the forehead with his +little war-club. Wabash, enchanted, took him up in his arms and +prophesied that he would become a great war chief, and an implacable +enemy of the Sioux. Subsequently the prophecy was accomplished, and +Waub-Ojeeg commanded his nation in all the war-parties against the Sioux +and Ottagamies. He was generally victorious, and so entirely defeated +the Ottagamies, that they never afterwards ventured to oppose him, but +retired down the Wisconsin river, where they are now settled.</p> + +<p>But Waub-Ojeeg was something more and better than merely a successful +warrior: he was remarkable for his eloquence, and composed a number of +war-songs, which were sung through the Chippewa villages, and some of +which his daughter can repeat. He was no less skilful in hunting than in +war. His hunting-grounds extended to the river Broulé, at Fon du Lac; +and he killed any one who dared to intrude on his district. The skins he +took annually were worth three hundred and fifty dollars, a sum amply +sufficient to make him rich in clothing, arms, powder, vermilion, and +trinkets. Like Tecumseh, he would not marry early lest it should turn +his attention from war, but at the age of thirty he married a widow, by +whom he had two sons. Becoming tired of this elderly helpmate, he took a +young wife, a beautiful girl of fourteen, by whom he had six children; +of these my Neengai is the eldest. She described her father as +affectionate and domestic. "There was always plenty of bear's meat and +deer's flesh in the lodge." He had a splendid lodge, sixty feet in +length, which he was fond of ornamenting. In the centre there was a +strong post, which rose several feet above the roof, and on the top +there was the carved figure of an owl, which veered with the wind. This +owl seems to have answered the same purpose as the flag on the tower of +Windsor Castle: it was the insignia of his power and of his presence. +When absent on his long winter hunts the lodge was shut up, and the owl +taken down.</p> + +<p>The skill of Waub-Ojeeg as a hunter and trapper, brought him into +friendly communication with a fur-trader named Johnston, who had +succeeded the enterprising Henry in exploring Lake Superior. This young +man, of good Irish family, came out to Canada with such strong letters +of recommendation to Lord Dorchester, that he was invited to reside in +the government house till a vacancy occurred in his favour in one of the +official departments; meantime, being of an active and adventurous turn, +he joined a party of traders going up the lakes, merely as an excursion, +but became so enamoured of that wild life, as to adopt it in earnest. On +one of his expeditions, when encamped at Che,goi,me,gon, and trafficking +with Waub-Ojeeg, he saw the eldest daughter of the chief, and "no sooner +looked than he sighed, no sooner sighed than he asked himself the +reason," and ended by asking his friend to give him his beautiful +daughter. "White man!" said the chief with dignity, "your customs are +not our customs! you white men desire our women, you marry them, and +when they cease to please your eye, you say they are <i>not</i> your wives, +and you forsake them. Return, young friend, with your load of skins, to +Montreal; and if there, the women of the pale faces do not put my child +out of your mind, return hither in the spring and we will talk farther; +she is young, and can wait." The young Irishman, ardently in love, and +impatient and impetuous, after the manner of his countrymen, tried +arguments, entreaties, presents, in vain—he was obliged to submit. He +went down to Montreal, and the following spring returned and claimed his +bride. The chief, after making him swear that he would take her as his +<i>wife</i> according to the law of the white man, <i>till death</i>, gave him his +daughter, with a long speech of advice to both.</p> + +<h3>AN INDIAN WIFE.</h3> + +<p>Mrs. Johnston relates, that previous to her marriage, she <i>fasted</i>, +according to the universal Indian custom, <i>for a guardian spirit</i>: to +perform this ceremony, she went away to the summit of an eminence, and +built herself a little lodge of cedar boughs, painted herself black, and +began her fast in solitude. She dreamed continually of a white man, who +approached her with a cup in his hand, saying, "Poor thing! why are you +punishing yourself? why do you fast? here is food for you!" He was +always accompanied by a dog, which looked up in her face as though he +knew her. Also she dreamed of being on a high hill, which was surrounded +by water, and from which she beheld many canoes full of Indians, coming +to her and paying her homage; after this, she felt as if she were +carried up into the heavens, and as she looked down upon the earth, she +perceived it was on fire, and said to herself, "All my relations will be +burned!" but a voice answered and said, "No, they will not be destroyed, +they will be saved;" and she <i>knew it was a spirit</i>, because the voice +was not human. She fasted for ten days, during which time her +grandmother brought her at intervals some water. When satisfied that she +had obtained a guardian spirit in the white stranger who haunted her +dreams, she returned to her father's lodge, carrying green cedar boughs, +which she threw on the ground, stepping on them as she went. When she +entered the lodge, she threw some more down upon her usual place (next +her mother), and took her seat. During the ten succeeding days she was +not permitted to eat any meat, nor anything but a little corn boiled +with a bitter herb. For ten days more she eat meat smoked in a +particular manner, and she then partook of the usual food of her family.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding that her future husband and future greatness were so +clearly prefigured in this dream, the pretty O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua +having always regarded a white man with awe, and as a being of quite +another species (perhaps the more so in consequence of her dream), seems +to have felt nothing throughout the whole negotiation for her hand but +reluctance, terror, and aversion. On being carried with the usual +ceremonies to her husband's lodge, she fled into a dark corner, rolled +herself up in her blanket, and would not be comforted nor even looked +upon. It is to the honour of Johnston, that he took no cruel advantage +of their mutual position, and that she remained in his lodge ten days, +during which he treated her with the utmost tenderness and respect, and +sought by every gentle means to overcome her fear and gain her +affection;—and it was touching to see how tenderly and gratefully this +was remembered by his wife after a lapse of thirty-six years. On the +tenth day, however, she ran away from him in a paroxysm of terror, and +after fasting in the woods for four days, reached her grandfather's +wigwam. Meantime, her father, Waub-Ojeeg, who was far off in his hunting +camp, <i>dreamed</i> that his daughter had not conducted herself according to +his advice, with proper wife-like docility, and he returned in haste two +days' journey to see after her; and finding all things <i>according to his +dream</i>, he gave her a good beating with a stick, and threatened to cut +off both her ears. He then took her back to her husband, with a +propitiatory present of furs and Indian corn, and many apologies and +exculpations of his own honour. Johnston succeeded at length in taming +this shy wild fawn, and took her to his house at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. +When she had been there some time, she was seized with a longing once +more to behold her mother's face, and revisit her people. Her husband +had lately purchased a small schooner to trade upon the lake; this he +fitted out, and sent her, with a retinue of his clerks and retainers, +and in such state as became the wife of the "great Englishman," to her +home at La Pointe, loaded with magnificent presents for all her family. +He did not go with her himself, apparently from motives of delicacy, and +that he might be no constraint upon her feelings or movements. A few +months' residence amid comparative splendour and luxury, with a man who +treated her with respect and tenderness, enabled the fair +O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua, to contrast her former with her present home. +She soon returned to her husband, and we do not hear of any more +languishing after her father's wigwam. She lived most happily with +Johnston for thirty-six years, till his death, which occurred in 1828, +and is the mother of eight children, four boys and four girls.</p> + +<p>She showed me her husband's picture, which he brought to her from +Montreal; the features are very gentleman-like. He has been described to +me by some of my Canadian friends, who knew him well, as a very clever, +lively, and eccentric man, and a little of the <i>bon vivant</i>. Owing to +his independent fortune, his talents, his long acquaintance with the +country, and his connexion by marriage with the native blood, he had +much influence in the country.</p> + +<p>During the last American war, he of course adhered to the English, on an +understanding that he should be protected; in return for which the +Americans <i>of course</i> burnt his house, and destroyed his property. He +never could obtain either redress or compensation from our government. +The very spot on which his house stood was at the peace made over to the +United States;—himself and all his family became, per force, Americans. +His sons are in the service of the States. In a late treaty, when the +Chippewas ceded an immense tract in this neighbourhood to the American +government, a reserve was made in favour of O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua, of +a considerable section of land, which will render her posterity rich +territorial proprietors—although at present it is all unreclaimed +forest. A large tract of Sugar Island is her property; and this year +she manufactured herself three thousand five hundred weight of sugar of +excellent quality. In the fall, she goes up with her people in canoes to +the entrance of Lake Superior, to fish in the bays and creeks for a +fortnight, and comes back with a load of fish cured for the winter's +consumption. In her youth she hunted, and was accounted the surest eye +and fleetest foot among the women of her tribe. Her talents, energy, +activity, and strength of mind, and her skill in all the domestic +avocations of the Indian women, have maintained comfort and plenty +within her dwelling in spite of the losses sustained by her husband, +while her descent from the blood of their ancient chiefs renders her an +object of great veneration among the Indians around, who, in all their +miseries, maladies, and difficulties, apply to her for aid or for +counsel.</p> + +<p>She has inherited the poetical talent of her father Waub-Ojeeg; and here +is a little fable or allegory which was written down from her +recitation, and translated by her daughter.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>THE ALLEGORY OF WINTER AND SUMMER.</h3> + +<p>A man from the north, gray-haired, leaning on his staff, went roving +over all countries. Looking around him one day, after having travelled +without any intermission for four moons, he sought out a spot on which +to recline and rest himself. He had not been long seated before he saw +before him a young man, very beautiful in his appearance, with red +cheeks, sparkling eyes, and his hair covered with flowers; and from +between his lips he blew a breath that was as sweet as the wild rose.</p> + +<p>Said the old man to him, as he leaned upon his staff, his white beard +reaching down upon his breast, "Let us repose here awhile, and converse +a little. But first we will build up a fire, and we will bring together +much wood, for it will be needed to keep us warm."</p> + +<p>The fire was made, and they took their seats by it, and began to +converse, each telling the other where he came from, and what had +befallen him by the way. Presently the young man felt cold. He looked +round him to see what had produced this change, and pressed his hands +against his cheeks to keep them warm.</p> + +<p>The old man spoke and said, "When I wish to cross a river, I breathe +upon it and make it hard, and walk over upon its surface. I have only to +speak, and bid the waters be still, and touch them with my finger, and +they become hard as stone. The tread of my foot makes soft things +hard—and my power is boundless."</p> + +<p>The young man, feeling ever moment still colder, and growing tired of +the old man's boasting, and morning being nigh, as he perceived by the +reddening east, thus began—</p> + +<p>"Now, my father, I wish to speak."</p> + +<p>"Speak," said the old man; "my ear, though it be old, is open—it can +hear."</p> + +<p>"Then," said the young man, "I also go over all the earth. I have seen +it covered with snow, and the waters I have seen hard as stone; but I +have only passed over them, and the snow has melted; the mountain +streams have begun to flow, the rivers to move, the ice to melt: the +earth has become green under my tread, the flowers blossomed, the birds +were joyful, and all the power of which you boast vanished away!"</p> + +<p>The old man drew a deep sigh, and shaking his head, he said, "I know +thee, thou art Summer!"</p> + +<p>"True," said the young man, "and here behold my head—see it crowned +with flowers! and my cheeks how they bloom—come near and touch me. Thou +art Winter! I know thy power is great; but, father, thou darest not come +to my country,—thy beard would fall off, and all thy strength would +fail, and thou wouldst die!"</p> + +<p>The old man felt this truth; for before the morning was come, he was +seen vanishing away: but each, before they parted, expressed a hope that +they might meet again before many moons.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>INDIAN SONGS.</h3> + +<p>The language of the Chippewas, however figurative and significant, is +not copious. In their speeches and songs they are emphatic and +impressive by the continual repetition of the same phrase or idea; and +it seems to affect them like the perpetual recurrence of a few simple +notes in music, by which I have been myself wound up to painful +excitement, or melted to tears.</p> + +<p>A cousin of mine (I have now a large Chippewa cousinship) went on a +hunting excursion, leaving his wife and child in his lodge. During his +absence, a party of Sioux carried them off, and on his return he found +his fire extinguished, and his lodge empty. He immediately blackened his +face (Indian mourning), and repaired to the lodge of his wife's brother, +to whom he sang, in a kind of mournful recitative, the following song; +the purport of which seems to be partly a request for aid against his +enemies, and partly an excuse for the seeming fault of leaving his +family unprotected in his wigwam.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>My brother-in-law, do not wrongfully accuse me for this seeming +neglect in exposing my family, for I have come to request aid +from my brother-in-law!</p> + +<p>The cry of my little son was heard as they carried him across +the prairie, and therefore I have come to supplicate aid from my +brother-in-law.</p> + +<p>And the voice also of my wife was heard as they carried her +across the prairie; do not then accuse your brother-in-law, for +he has come to seek aid from his brother-in-law!</p></div> + +<p>This song is, in measure, ten and eight syllables alternately; and the +perpetual recurrence of the word brother-in-law seems intended to +impress the idea of their relationship on the mind of the hearer.</p> + +<p>The next is the address of a war party to their women, on leaving the +village.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Do not weep, do not weep for me,</span> +<span class="i0">Loved women, should I die;</span> +<span class="i0">For yourselves alone should you weep!</span> +<span class="i0">Poor are ye all and to be pitied:</span> +<span class="i0">Ye women, ye are to be pitied!</span> + +<span class="i0">I seek, I seek our fallen relations,</span> +<span class="i0">I go to revenge, revenge the slain,</span> +<span class="i0">Our relations fallen and slain,</span> +<span class="i0">And our foes, our foes shall lie</span> +<span class="i0">Like them, like them shall they lie,</span> +<span class="i0">I go to lay them low, to lay them low!</span> +</div></div> + +<p>And then <i>da capo</i>, over and over again.</p> +<p>The next is a love song, in the same style of iteration.</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis now two days, two long days,</span> +<span class="i0">Since last I tasted food;</span> +<span class="i0">'Tis for you, for you, my love,</span> +<span class="i0">That I grieve, that I grieve,</span> +<span class="i0">'Tis for you, for you that I grieve!</span> + +<span class="i0">The waters flow deep and wide,</span> +<span class="i0">On which, love, you have sailed;</span> +<span class="i0">Dividing you far from me.</span> +<span class="i0">'Tis for you, for you, my love,</span> +<span class="i0">'Tis for you, for you that I grieve!</span> +</div></div> + +<p>If you look at some half thousand of our most fashionable and admired +Italian songs—the Notturni of Blangini, for instance—you will find +them very like this Chippewa canzonetta, in the no meaning and perpetual +repetition of certain words and phrases; at the same time, I doubt if it +be <i>always</i> necessary for a song to have a meaning—it is enough if it +have a sentiment.</p> + +<p>Here are some verses of a war song, in the same style as to composition, +but breathing very different sentiments.</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I sing, I sing, under the centre of the sky,</span> +<span class="i2">Under the centre of the sky</span> +<span class="i0">Under the centre of the sky I sing, I sing,</span> +<span class="i2">Under the centre of the sky!</span> + +<span class="i0">Every day I look at you, you morning star,</span> +<span class="i2">You morning star;</span> +<span class="i0">Every day I look at you, you morning star,</span> +<span class="i2">You morning star.</span> + +<span class="i0">The birds of the brave take a flight round the sky,</span> +<span class="i2">A flight round the sky;</span> +<span class="i0">The birds of the brave take a flight, take a flight,</span> +<span class="i2">A flight round the sky.</span> + +<span class="i0">They cross the enemies' line, the birds!</span> +<span class="i2">They cross the enemies' line;</span> +<span class="i0">The birds, the birds, the ravenous birds,</span> +<span class="i2">They cross the enemies' line.</span> + +<span class="i0">The spirits on high repeat my name,</span> +<span class="i2">Repeat my name;</span> +<span class="i0">The spirits on high, the spirits on high,</span> +<span class="i2">Repeat my name.</span> + +<span class="i0">Full happy am I to be slain and to lie,</span> +<span class="i2">On the enemy's side of the line to lie;</span> +<span class="i0">Full happy am I, full happy am I,</span> +<span class="i2">On the enemies' side of the line to lie.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>I give you these as curiosities, and as being at least genuine; they +have this merit, if they have no other.</p> + +<p>Of the next song, I subjoin the music. It seems to have been composed on +a young American (<i>a Long-knife</i>), who made love to a Chippewa girl +(<i>Ojibway quaince</i>).</p> + +<h4>OJIBWAY QUAINCE.</h4> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;"> +<img src="images/254_plate.jpg" width="573" height="355" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Aun dush ween do we nain,</span> +<span class="i0">Git-chee mo-ko-maum aince</span> +<span class="i0">Kah zah wah da mood</span> +<span class="i2">We yá yá hah há we yá yá hah há.</span> + +<span class="i0">We ah, bem, ah dè,</span> +<span class="i0">We mah jah need dè,</span> +<span class="i0">We ne moo, sha yun</span> +<span class="i2">We yà, yà hah hà! we yà yà hah hà!</span> + +<span class="i0">O mow we mah ne</span> +<span class="i0">We mah jah need dè,</span> +<span class="i0">O jib way quaince un nè,</span> +<span class="i2">We yà, yà hah hà! we yà yà hah hà!</span> + +<span class="i0">Kah ween, goo shah, ween nè,</span> +<span class="i0">Keesh wan zhe e we ye</span> +<span class="i0">O gah, mah we mah zeen.</span> +<span class="i2">We yà, yà hah yà! we yà yà hah hà!</span> + +<span class="i0">Mee goo shah ween e goo</span> +<span class="i0">Ke bish quah bem ah de</span> +<span class="i0">Che wah nain ne mah de.</span> +<span class="i2">We yà, yà hah hà! we yà yà hah hà!</span> +</div></div> + +<p>The literal meaning of the song, without the perpetual repetitions and +transpositions, is just this:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Hah! what is the matter with the young Long-knife? he crosses +the river with tears in his eyes. He sees the young Chippewa +girl preparing to leave the place; he sobs for his sweetheart +because she is going away, but he will not sigh for her long: as +soon as she is out of sight he will forget her!</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>INDIAN MISSIONS.</h3> + +<p>I have been too long on the other side of the river; I must return to +our Canadian shore, where indeed, I now reside, under the hospitable +roof of our missionary. Mrs. MacMurray's overflowing good-nature, +cleverness, and liveliness, are as delightful in their way as the more +pensive intelligence of her sister.</p> + +<p>I have had some interesting talk with Mr. MacMurray on the subject of +his mission and the character of the people consigned to his care and +spiritual guidance. He arrived here in 1832, and married Charlotte +Johnston (O,ge,bu,no,qua) the following year. During the five years +which have elapsed since the establishment of the mission, there have +been one hundred and forty-five baptisms, seven burials, and thirteen +marriages; and the present number of communicants is sixty-six.</p> + +<p>He is satisfied with his success, and seems to have gained the good-will +and attachment of the Indians around; he owes much, he says, to his +sweet wife, whose perfect knowledge of the language and habits of her +people have aided him in his task. She is a warm enthusiast in the cause +of conversion, and the labour and fatigue of interpreting the prayers +and sermons, and teaching the Indians to sing, at one time seriously +affected her health. She has a good voice and correct ear, and has +succeeded in teaching several of the women and children to sing some of +our church hymns very pleasingly. She says all the Indians are +passionately fond of music, and that it is a very effective means of +interesting and fixing their attention. Mr. MacMurray says, they take +the most eager delight in the parables, and his explanations of +them—frequently melting into tears. When he collected them together and +addressed them, on his first arrival, several of those present were +intoxicated, he therefore took the opportunity of declaiming against +their besetting vice in strong terms. After waiting till he had +finished, one of their chief men arose and replied gravely: "My father, +before the white men came, we could hunt and fish, and raise corn enough +for our families; we knew nothing of your fire-water. If it is so very +bad, why did the white men bring it here? <i>we</i> did not desire it!"</p> + +<p>They were in a degraded state of poverty, recklessness, and misery: +there is now at least <i>some</i> improvement; about thirty children attend +Mrs. MacMurray's school; many of them are decently clothed, and they +have gardens in which they have raised crops of potatoes and Indian +corn. The difficulty is to keep them together for any time sufficient to +make a permanent impression: their wild, restless habits prevail: and +even their necessities interfere against the efforts of their teachers; +they go off to their winter hunting-grounds for weeks together, and when +they return, the task of instruction has to begin again.</p> + +<p>One of their chiefs from the north came to Mr. MacMurray, and expressed +a wish to become a Christian; unfortunately, he had three wives, and, as +a necessary preliminary, he was informed that he must confine himself to +one. He had no objection to keep the youngest, to whom he was lately +married, and put away the two others, but this was not admissible. The +one he had first taken to wife was to be the permitted wife, and no +other. He expostulated; Mr. MacMurray insisted; in the end, the old man +went off in high dudgeon. Next morning there was no sign of his wigwam, +and he never applied again to be "made a Christian," the terms +apparently being too hard to digest. "The Roman Catholic priests," said +Mr. MacMurray, "are not so strict on this point as we are; they insist +on the convert retaining only one wife, but they leave him the choice +among those who bear that title."</p> + +<p>They have a story among themselves of a converted Indian, who, after +death, applied for admittance to the paradise of the white men, and was +refused; he then went to the paradise of the Red-skins, but <i>there</i> too +he was rejected: and after wandering about for some time disconsolate, +he returned to life (like Gitchee Gausinee), to warn his companions by +his experience in the other world.</p> + +<p>Mr. MacMurray reckons among his most zealous converts several great +medicine-men and conjurors. I was surprised at first at the comparative +number of these, and the readiness with which they become Christians; +but it may be accounted for in two ways: they are in general the most +intelligent men in the tribe, and they are more sensible than any others +of the false and delusive nature of their own tricks and superstitious +observances. When a sorcerer is converted, he, in the first place, +surrenders his <i>meta,wa,aun</i>, or medicine-sack, containing his manitos. +Mr. MacMurray showed me several; an owl-skin, a wild cat-skin, an +otter-skin; and he gave me two, with the implements of sorcery; one of +birch-bark, containing the skin of a black adder; the other, an +embroidered mink-skin, contains the skin of an enormous rattle-snake +(four feet long), a feather died crimson, a cowrie shell, and some +magical pebbles, wrapped up in bark—the spells and charms of this +Indian Archimago, whose name was, I think, Matabash. He also gave me a +drum, formed of a skin stretched over a hoop, and filled with pebbles, +and a most portentous looking rattle formed of about a hundred bears' +claws, strung together by a thong, and suspended to a carved stick, both +being used in their medicine dances.</p> + +<p>The chief of this Chippewa village is a very extraordinary character. +His name is Shinguaconse, <i>the Little Pine</i>, but he chooses to drop the +adjunct, and calls himself the Pine. He is not an hereditary chief, but +an elective or war-chief, and owes his dignity to his bravery and to his +eloquence; among these people, a man who unites both is sure to obtain +power. Without letters, without laws, without any arbitrary distinctions +of rank or wealth, and with a code of morality so simple, that upon +<i>that</i> point they are pretty much on a par, it is superior natural +gifts, strength, and intelligence, that raise an Indian to distinction +and influence. He has not the less to fish for his own dinner, and build +his own canoe.</p> + +<p>Shinguaconse led a band of warriors in the war of 1812, was at Fort +Malden, and in the battle of the Moravian towns. Besides being eloquent +and brave he was a famous conjuror. He is now a Christian, with all his +family; and Mr. MacMurray finds him a most efficient auxiliary in +ameliorating the condition of his people. When the traders on the +opposite side endeavoured to seduce him back to his old habit of +drinking, he told them, "When I wanted it you would not give it to me; +now I do not want it you try to force it upon me; drink it yourselves!" +and turned his back.</p> + +<p>The ease with which liquor is procured from the opposite shore, and the +bad example of many of the soldiers and traders are, however, a serious +obstacle to the missionary's success. Nor is the love of whisky confined +to the men. Mrs. MacMurray imitated with great humour the deportment of +a tipsy squaw, dragging her blanket after her, with one corner over her +shoulder, and singing, in most blissful independence and defiance of her +lordly husband, a song, of which the burden is,—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The Englishman will give me some of his milk!</span> +<span class="i0"> I will drink the Englishman's milk!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Her own personal efforts have reclaimed many of these wretched +creatures.</p> + +<p>Next to the passion for ardent spirits is the passion for gambling. +Their common game of chance is played with beans, or with small bones, +painted of different colours; and these beans have been as fatal as ever +were the dice in Christendom. They will gamble away even their blankets +and moccasins; and while the game lasts not only the players but the +lookers-on, are in a perfect ecstacy of suspense and agitation.</p> + +<p>Mr. MacMurray says, that when the Indians are here during the fishing +season from the upper waters of the lake his rooms are crowded with +them. Wherever there is an open door they come in. "It is <i>impossible</i> +to escape from an Indian who chooses to inflict his society on you, or +wishes for yours. He comes at all hours, not having the remotest idea of +convenience or inconvenience, or of the possibility of intrusion. There +is absolutely no remedy but to sit still and endure. I have them in my +room sometimes without intermission, from sunrise to sunset." He added, +that they never took anything, nor did the least injury, except that +which necessarily resulted from their vile, dirty habits, and the smell +of their <i>kinnikinic</i>, which together, I should think, are quite +<i>enough</i>. Those few which are now here, and the women especially, are +always lounging in and out, coming to Mrs. MacMurray about every little +trifle, and very frequently about nothing at all.</p> + +<p>Sir John Colborne took a strong interest in the conversion and +civilisation of the Indians, and though often discouraged did not +despair. He promised to found a village, and build log-houses for the +converts here as at Coldwater (on Lake Simcoe); but this promise has not +been fulfilled, nor is it likely to be so. I asked, very naturally, +"Why, if the Indians wish for log-huts, do they not build them? They are +on the verge of the forest, and the task is not difficult." I was told +it was impossible; that they neither <i>could</i> nor <i>would</i>!—that this +sort of labour is absolutely inimical to their habits. It requires more +strength than the women possess; and for the men to fell wood and carry +logs were an unheard-of degradation. Mrs. MacMurray is very anxious that +these houses should be built because she thinks it will keep her +converts stationary. Whether their morality, cleanliness, health and +happiness, will be thereby improved, I doubt; and the present governor +seems to have very decidedly made up his mind on the matter. I should +like to see an Indian brought to prefer a house to a wigwam, and live in +a house of his own building; but what is gained by building houses for +them? The promise was made however, and the Indians have no +comprehension of a change of governors being a change of principles. +They consider themselves deceived and ill-treated. Shinguaconse has +lately (last January) addressed a letter or speech to Sir Francis Head +on the subject, which is a curious specimen of expostulation. "My +father," he says; "you have made promises to me and to my children. You +promised me houses, but as yet nothing has been performed, although five +years are past. I am now growing very old, and to judge by the way you +have used me, I am afraid I shall be laid in my grave before I see any +of your promises fulfilled. Many of your children address you, and tell +you they are poor, and they are much better off than I am in everything. +I can say, in sincerity, that I am poor. I am like the beast of the +forest that has no shelter. I lie down on the snow, and cover myself +with the boughs of the trees. If the promises had been made by a person +of no standing, I should not be astonished to see his promises fail. But +<i>you</i>, who are so great in riches and in power, I am astonished that I +do not see your promises fulfilled! I would have been better pleased if +you had never made such promises to me, than that you should have made +them and not performed them."</p> + +<p>Then follows a stroke of Indian irony.</p> + +<p>"But, my father, perhaps I do not see clearly; I am old, and perhaps I +have lost my eye-sight; and if you should come to visit us, you might +discover these promises already performed! I have heard that you have +visited all parts of the country around. This is the only place you have +not yet seen; if you will promise to come I will have my little fish +(<i>i. e.</i> the white-fish) ready drawn from the water, that you may taste +of the food which sustains me."</p> + +<p>Shinguaconse then complains, that certain of the French Canadians had +cut down their timber to sell it to the Americans, by permission of a +British magistrate, residing at St. Joseph's. He says, "Is this right? I +have never heard that the British had purchased our land and timber from +us. But whenever I say a word, they say, 'Pay no attention to him, he +knows nothing.' This will not do!"</p> + +<p>He concludes with infinite politeness;</p> + +<p>"And now, my father, I shall take my seat, and look towards your place, +that I may hear the answer you will send me between this time and +spring.</p> + +<p>"And now, my father, I have done! I have told you some things that were +on my mind. I take you by the hand, and wish you a happy new year, +trusting that we may be allowed to see one another again."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>AN INDIAN LOVER.</h3> + +<p>Mrs. Johnston told me that when her children are absent from her, and +she looks for their return, she has a sensation, a merely physical +sensation, like that she experienced when she first laid them to her +bosom; this yearning amounts at times to absolute pain, almost as +intolerable as the pang of child-birth, and is so common that the +Indians have a word to express it. The maternal instinct, like all the +other natural instincts, is strong in these people to a degree we can no +more conceive than we can their quick senses. As a cat deprived of its +kittens will suckle an animal of a different species, so an Indian woman +who has lost her child <i>must</i> have another. "Bring me my son! or see me +die!" exclaimed a bereaved mother to her husband, and she lay down on +her mat, covered her head with her blanket, and refused to eat. The man +went and kidnapped one of the enemy's children, and brought it to her. +She laid it in her bosom, and was consoled. Here is the animal woman.</p> + +<p>The mortality among the children is great among the unreclaimed Indians, +from want of knowing how to treat infantine maladies, and from want of +cleanliness. When dysentery is brought on from this cause, the children +almost invariably perish. When kept clean, the bark-cradles are +excellent things for their mode of life, and effectually preserve the +head and limbs of the infant from external injury.</p> + +<p>When a young Chippewa of St. Mary's sees a young girl who pleases him, +and whom he wishes to marry, he goes and catches a loach, boils it, and +cuts off the tail, of which he takes the flat bone, and sticks it in his +hair. He paints himself bewitchingly, takes a sort of rude flute or +pipe, with two or three stops, which seems to be only used on these +amatory occasions, and walks up and down his village, blowing on his +flute, and looking, I presume, as sentimental as an Indian <i>can</i> look. +This is regarded as an indication of his intentions, and throws all the +lodges in which there are young marriageable girls into a flutter, +though probably the fair one who is his secret choice is pretty well +aware of it. The next step is to make presents to the parents and +relatives of the young woman; if these are accepted, and his suit +prospers, he makes presents to his intended; and all that now remains is +to bring her home to his lodge. He neither swears before God to love her +till death—an oath which it depends not on his own will to keep, even +if it be not perjury in the moment it is pronounced—nor to endow her +with <i>all</i> his worldly goods and chattels, when even by the act of union +she loses all right of property; but apparently the arrangements answer +all purposes, to their mutual satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The names of the women are almost always derived from some objects or +appearances in nature, generally of a pleasing kind; the usual +termination <i>qua</i> or <i>quay</i>, immediately blending with their +signification the idea of womanhood. Thus, my Indian mother is "the +green prairie," (woman). Mrs. Schoolcraft's name, +Obah,bahm,wa,wa,ge,zhe,go,quà, signifies literally the "sound which the +stars make rushing through the sky," and which I translate into <i>the +music of the spheres</i>. Mrs. MacMurray is "the wild rose:" one of her +youngest sisters is Wah,bu,nung,o,quà, the morning star (woman): another +is Omis,ka,bu,go,quà, (the woman of) "the red leaf."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I went to-day to take leave of my uncle Wayish,ky, and found him +ill—poor fellow! he is fretting about his younger son. I learn with +pleasure that his daughter Zah,gah,see,ga,quà is likely to accompany me +to the Manitoolin Islands.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">July 31.</p> + +<p>This last evening of my sojourn at the Sault-Sainte-Marie, is very +melancholy—we have been all very sad. Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray are to +accompany me in my voyage down the lake to the Manitoolin Islands, +having some business to transact with the governor:—so you see +Providence <i>does</i> take care of me! how I could have got there alone, I +cannot tell, but I must have tried. At first we had arranged to go in a +bark canoe; the very canoe which belonged to Captain Back, and which is +now lying in Mr. MacMurray's court-yard: but our party will be large, +and we shall be encumbered with much baggage and provisions—not having +yet learned to live on the portable maize and fat: our voyage is likely +to take three days and a half, even if the weather continues favourable, +and if it do not, why we shall be obliged to put into some creek or +harbour, and pitch our tent, gipsy fashion, for a day or two. There is +not a settlement nor a habitation on our route, nothing but lake and +forest. The distance is about one hundred and seventy miles, rather more +than less; Mr. MacMurray therefore advises a bateau, in which, if we do +not get on so quickly, we shall have more space and comfort,—and thus +it is to be.</p> + +<p>I am sorry to leave these kind, excellent people, but most I regret Mrs. +Schoolcraft.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>WE EMBARK ON LAKE HURON.</h3> + +<p style="margin-left: 80%;">August 1.</p> + +<p>The morning of our departure rose bright and beautiful, and the loading +and arranging our little boat was a scene of great animation. I thought +I had said all my adieus the night before, but at early dawn my good +Neengai came paddling across the river with various kind offerings for +her daughter Wa,sàh,ge,wo,nò,quá, which she thought might be pleasant or +useful, and more <i>last</i> affectionate words from Mrs. Schoolcraft. We +then exchanged a long farewell embrace, and she turned away with tears, +got into her little canoe, which could scarcely contain two persons, and +handling her paddle with singular grace and dexterity, shot over the +blue water, without venturing once to look back! I leaned over the side +of our boat, and strained my eyes to catch a last glimpse of the white +spray of the rapids, and her little canoe skimming over the expanse +between, like a black dot: and this was the last I saw of my dear good +Chippewa mamma!</p> + +<p>Meantime we were proceeding rapidly down the beautiful river, and +through its winding channels. Our party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. +MacMurray and their lovely boy; myself; and the two Indian girls—my +cousin Zah,gah,see,ga,quà, and Angelique, the child's attendant.</p> + +<p>These two girls were, for Indians, singularly beautiful; they would have +been beautiful anywhere. Angelique, though of unmixed Indian blood, has +a face of the most perfect oval, a clear brown complexion, the long, +half-shaded eye, which the French call <i>coupé en amande</i>; the nose +slightly aquiline, with the proud nostril open and well defined; +dazzling teeth;—in short, her features had been faultless, but that her +mouth is a little too large—but then, to amend that, her lips are like +coral: and a more perfect figure I never beheld. Zah,gàh,see,ga,quà is +on a less scale, and her features more decidedly Indian.</p> + +<p>We had a small, but compact and well-built boat, the seats of which we +covered with mats, blankets, buffalo skins, cloaks, shawls, &c.: we had +four voyageurs, Masta, Content, Le Blanc, and Pierrot; a very different +set from those who brought me from Mackinaw: they were all Canadian +voyageurs of the true breed, that is, half-breed, showing the Indian +blood as strongly as the French. Pierrot, worthy his name, was a most +comical fellow; Masta, a great talker, amused me exceedingly; Content +was our steersman and captain; and Le Blanc, who was the best singer, +generally led the song, to which the others responded in chorus.</p> + +<p>They had a fixed daily allowance of fat pork, Indian meal, and tobacco: +finding that the latter was not agreeable to me, though I took care not +to complain, they always contrived with genuine politeness to smoke out +of my way, and to leeward.</p> + +<h3>VOYAGE DOWN LAKE HURON.</h3> + +<p>After passing Sugar Island, we took the channel to the left, and entered +the narrow part of the lake between St. Joseph's Island and the +mainland. We dined upon a small picturesque islet, consisting of ledges +of rock, covered with shrubs and abounding with whortleberries; on the +upper platform we arranged an awning or shade, by throwing a sail over +some bushes, and made a luxuriant dinner, succeeded by a basin of good +tea; meantime, on the rocky ledge below, Pierrot was making a +<i>galette</i>, and Masta frying pork.</p> + +<p>Dinner being over, we proceeded, coasting along the north shore of St. +Joseph's Island. There is, in the interior, an English settlement, and a +village of Indians. The principal proprietor, who is a magistrate and +justice of the peace; has two Indian women living with him—two sisters, +and a family by each!—such are the examples sometimes set to the +Indians on our frontiers.</p> + +<p>In the evening we came to an island consisting of a flat ledge of rock, +on which were the remains of a former camp-fire, surrounded by tall +trees and bushes: here we pitched our little marquee, and boiled our +kettle. The sun-set was most glorious, with some floating ominous +clouds. The stars and the fire-flies came out together: the latter +swarmed around us, darting in and out among the trees, and gliding and +sparkling over the surface of the water. Unfortunately the mosquitoes +swarmed too, notwithstanding the antipathy which is said to exist +between the mosquito and the fire-fly. We made our beds by spreading +mats and blankets under us; and then, closing the curtain of the tent, +Mr. MacMurray began a very effective slaughter and expulsion of the +mosquitoes. We laid ourselves down, Mrs. MacMurray in the middle, with +her child in her bosom; Mr. MacMurray on one side, myself at the other, +and the two Indian girls at our feet: the voyageurs, rolled in their +blankets, lay down on the naked rock round the fire we had built—and +thus we all slept. I must needs confess that I found my rocky bed rather +uneasy, and my bones ached as I turned from side to side, but this was +only a beginning. The night was close and sultry, and just before dawn I +was wakened by a tremendous clap of thunder; down came the storm in its +fury, the lake swelling and roaring, the lightning gambolling over the +rocks and waves, the rain falling in a torrent; but we were well +sheltered, for the men had had the precaution, before they slept, to +throw a large oil cloth over the top of our little marquee. The storm +ceased suddenly: daylight came, and soon afterwards we again embarked. +We had made forty-five miles.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>BREAKFAST AT RATTLESNAKE ISLAND.</h3> + +<p>The next morning was beautiful: the sun shone brightly, though the lake +was yet heaving and swelling from the recent storm,—altogether it was +like the laughing eyes and pouting lips of a half-appeased beauty. About +nine o'clock we ran down into a lovely bay, and landed to breakfast on a +little lawn surrounded by high trees and a thick wood, abounding in +rattlesnakes and squirrels. Luckily for us, the storm had dispersed the +mosquitoes.</p> + +<p>Keeping clear of the covert to avoid these fearful snakes, I strayed +down by the edge of the lake, and found a tiny creek, which answered all +purposes, both of bath and mirror, and there I arranged my toilette in +peace and security. Returning to our breakfast-fire, I stood some +moments to admire the group around it—it was a perfect picture: there +lay the little boat rocking on the shining waves, and near it Content +was washing plates and dishes; Pierrot and Masta were cooking; the two +Indian girls were spreading the tablecloth on the turf. Mrs. MacMurray +and her baby—looking like the Madonna and child in the "Repose in +Egypt,"—were seated under a tree; while Mr. MacMurray, having suspended +his shaving-glass against the trunk of a pine, was shaving himself with +infinite gravity and <i>sang froid</i>. Never, I think, were the graceful, +the wild, the comic, so strangely combined!—add the rich background of +mingled foliage, the murmur of leaves and waters, and all the glory of a +summer morning!—it was very beautiful!</p> + +<p>We breakfasted in much mirth, and then we set off again. The channel +widened, the sky became overcast, the wind freshened, and at length blew +hard. Though this part of the lake is protected by St. Joseph's and the +chain of islands from the swell of the main lake, still the waves rose +high, the wind increased, we were obliged to take in a reef or two of +our sail, and scudded with an almost fearful rapidity before the wind. +In crossing a wide, open expanse of about twenty miles, we became all at +once very silent, then very grave, then very pathetic, and at last +extremely sick.</p> + +<p>On arriving among the channels of the Rattlesnake Islands, the swell of +course subsided; we landed on a most beautiful mass of rock, and lighted +our fire under a group of pines and sycamores; but we were too sick to +eat. Mr. MacMurray heated some port wine and water, into which we broke +biscuit, and drank it most picturesquely out of a slop basin—too +thankful to get it! Thus recruited, we proceeded. The wind continued +fresh and fair, the day kept up fine, and our sail was most delightful +and rapid. We passed successive groups of islands, countless in number, +various in form, little fairy Edens—populous with life and love, and +glowing with light and colour under a meridian sun. I remember we came +into a circular basin, of about three miles in diameter, so surrounded +with islands, that when once within the circle, I could perceive neither +ingress nor egress; it was as if a spell of enchantment had been wrought +to keep us there for ever; and I really thought we were going with our +bows upon the rocks, when suddenly we darted through a narrow portal, +not above two or three yards in width, and found ourselves in another +wide expanse, studded with larger islands. At evening we entered the +Missasagua river, having come sixty miles, right before the wind, since +morning.</p> + +<h3>BEAUTY OF AIRD'S BAY.</h3> + +<p>The Missasagua (<i>i. e.</i> the river with two mouths) gives its name to a +tribe of the Chippewa nation, once numerous and powerful, now scattered +and degraded. This is the river called by Henry the <i>Missasaki</i>, where +he found a horde of Indians who had never seen a white man before, and +who, in the excess of their hospitality, crammed him with "a porridge of +sturgeons' roe," which I apprehend, from his description, would be +likely to prove "caviare to the general." There is a remnant of these +Indians here still. We found a log-hut with a half-breed family, in the +service of the fur company; and two or three bark wigwams. The rest of +the village (dwellings and inhabitants together) had gone down to the +Manitoolin. A number of little Red-skins were running about, half, or +rather indeed wholly, naked—happy, healthy, active, dirty little +urchins, resembling, except in colour, those you may see swarming in an +Irish cabin. Poor Ireland! The worst Indian wigwam is not worse than +some of her dwellings; and the most miserable of these Indians would +spurn the destiny of an Irish <i>poor-slave</i>—for he is at least Lord o'er +himself. As the river is still famous for sturgeon, we endeavoured to +procure some for supper, and had just prepared a large piece to roast, +(suspended by a cord to three sticks,) when one of those horrid curs so +rife about the Indian dwellings ran off with it. We were asked to take +up our night's lodging in the log-hut, but it was so abominably dirty +and close, we all preferred the shore. While they pitched the marquee, I +stood for some time looking at a little Indian boy, who, in a canoe +about eight feet in length, was playing the most extraordinary gambols +in the water; the buoyant thing seemed alive beneath him, and to obey +every movement of his paddle. He shot backwards and forwards, described +circles, whirled himself round and round, made pirouettes, exhibited, in +short, as many tricks as I have seen played by a spirited English boy on +a thorough-bred pony.</p> + +<h3>BEACH LA CLOCHE.</h3> + +<p>The mosquitoes were in great force, but we began by sweeping them out of +the tent with boughs, and then, closing the curtain, we executed +judgment on the remainder by wholesale. We then lay down in the same +order as last night; and Mrs. MacMurray sang her little boy to sleep +with a beautiful hymn. I felt all the luxury of having the turf under me +instead of the rock, and slept well till wakened before dawn by some +animal sniffing and snuffing close to my ear. I commanded my alarm, and +did not disturb those who were enjoying a sound sleep near me, and the +intruder turned out to be a cow belonging to the hut, who had got her +nose under the edge of the tent. We set off early, and by sunrise had +passed down the eastern channel of the river, and swept into the lake. +It was a lovely morning, soft and calm; there was no breath of wind; no +cloud in the sky, no vapour in the air; and the little islands lay +around "under the opening eyelids of the morn," dewy, and green, and +silent. We made eighteen miles before breakfast; and then pursued our +way through Aird's bay, and among countless islands of all shapes and +sizes; I cannot describe their beauty, nor their harmonious variety: at +last we perceived in the east the high ridge called the mountains of La +Cloche. They are really respectable hills in this level country, but +hardly mountains: they are all of limestone, and partially clothed in +wood. All this coast is very rocky and barren; but it is said to be rich +in mineral productions. About five in the evening we landed at La +Cloche.</p> + +<p>Here we found the first and only signs of civilised society during our +voyage. The north-west company have an important station here; and two +of their principal clerks, Mr. MacBean and Mr. Buthune were on the spot. +We were received with much kindness, and pressed to spend the night, but +there was yet so much day-light, and time was so valuable, that we +declined. The factory consists of a large log-house, an extensive store +to contain the goods bartered with the Indians, and huts inhabited by +work people, hunters, voyageurs, and others; a small village, in short, +and a number of boats and canoes of all sizes were lying in the bay. It +is not merely the love of gain that induces well-educated +men—gentlemen—to pass twenty years of their lives in such a place as +this; you must add to the prospective acquirement of a large fortune, +two possessions which men are most wont to covet—power and freedom. The +table was laid in their hall for supper, and we carried off, with their +good will, a large mess of broiled fish, dish and all, and a can of +milk, which delicious viands we discussed in our boat with great +satisfaction.</p> + +<h3>THE BURNING PINE.</h3> + +<p>The place derives its name from a large rock which they say, being +struck, vibrates like a bell. But I had no opportunity of trying the +experiment, therefore cannot tell how this may be: Henry, however, +mentions this phenomenon; and the Indians regard the spot as sacred and +enchanted. Just after sunset, we reached one of the most enchanting of +these enchanting or enchanted isles. It rose sloping from the shore, in +successive ledges of picturesque rocks, all fringed with trees and +bushes, and clothed in many places with a species of grey lichen, nearly +a foot deep. With a sort of anticipative wisdom (like that of a pig +before a storm) I gathered a quantity of this lichen for our bed, and +spread it under the mats; for in fear of the rattlesnakes and other +creeping things, we had pitched our resting place on the naked rock. The +men had built up the fire in a sheltered place below, and did not +perceive that a stem of a blasted pine, about twenty feet in length, had +fallen across the recess; it caught the flame. This at first delighted +us and the men too; but soon it communicated to another tree against +which it was leaning, and they blazed away together in a column of +flame. We began to fear that it might communicate to the dried moss and +the bushes, and cause a general conflagration; the men prevented this, +however, by clearing a space around them. The waves, the trees and +bushes and fantastic rocks, and the figures and faces of the men, caught +the brilliant light as it flashed upon them with a fitful glare—the +rest being lost in deepest shadow. Wildly magnificent it was! beyond all +expression beautiful, and awful to!—the night, the solitude, the dark +weltering waters, the blaze which put out the mild stars which just +before had looked down upon us in their tender radiance!—I never beheld +such a scene. By the light of this gigantic torch we supped and prepared +our beds. As I lay down to rest, and closed my eyes on the flame which +shone through our tent curtain, I thought that perhaps the wind might +change in the night, and the flakes and sparks be carried over to us, +and to the beds of lichen, dry and inflammable as tinder; but fatigue +had subdued me so utterly, that even this apprehension could not keep me +awake.</p> + +<p>The burning trees were still smouldering; daylight was just creeping up +the sky, and some few stars yet out, when we bestirred ourselves, and in +a very few minutes we were again afloat: we were now steering towards +the south-east, where the Great Manitoolin Island was dimly discerned. +There was a deep slumbrous calm all around, as if nature had not yet +awoke from her night's rest: then the atmosphere began to kindle with +gradual light; it grew brighter and brighter: towards the east, the lake +and sky were intermingling in radiance; and <i>then</i>, just there, where +they seemed flowing and glowing together like a bath of fire, we saw +what seemed to us the huge black hull of a vessel, with masts and spars +rising against the sky—but we knew not what to think or to believe! As +we kept on rowing in that direction, it grew more distinct, but lessened +in size: it proved to be a great heavy-built schooner, painted black, +which was going up the lake against wind and current. One man was +standing in her bows, with an immense oar, which he slowly pulled, +walking backwards and forwards; but vain seemed all his toil, for still +the vessel lay like a black log, and moved not: we rowed up to the side, +and hailed him—"What news?"</p> + +<h3>QUEEN VICTORIA.</h3> + +<p>And the answer was that William the Fourth was dead, and that Queen +Victoria reigned in his place! We sat silent looking at each other, and +even in that very moment the orb of the sun rose out of the lake, and +poured its beams full in our dazzled eyes.</p> + +<p>We asked if the governor were at the Manitoolin Island? No; he was not +there; but the chief officer of the Indian department had come to +represent him, and the presents were to be given out to the assembled +Indians this morning. We urged the men to take to their oars with +spirit, and held our course due east down by the woody shores of this +immense island; among fields of reeds and rushes, and almost under the +shadow of the towering forests.</p> + +<p>Meantime, many thoughts came into my mind, some tears too into my +eyes—not certainly for that dead king, who in ripe age and in all +honour was gathered to the tomb—but for that living queen so young and +fair:—</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"As many hopes hang on that noble head</span> +<span class="i0"> As there hang blossoms on the boughs in May!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>And what will become of <i>them</i>—of <i>her</i>! The idea that even here, in +this new world of woods and waters, amid these remote wilds, to her so +utterly unknown, her power reaches and her sovereignty is acknowledged, +filled me with compassionate awe. I say <i>compassionate</i>, for if she feel +in their whole extent the liabilities of her position, alas for her! And +if she feel them not!—O worse and worse!</p> + +<p>I tried to recall her childish figure and features. I thought over all I +had heard concerning her. I thought she was not such a thing as they +could make a mere pageant of; for <i>that</i> there is too much within—too +little without. And what <i>will</i> they make of her? For at eighteen she +will hardly make anything of them—I mean of the men and women round +her. It is of the woman I think, more than of the queen; for as a part +of the state machinery she will do quite as well as another—better, +perhaps: so far her youth and sex are absolutely in her favour, or +rather in <i>our</i> favour. If she be but simple-minded, and true-hearted, +and straightforward, with the common portion of intellect—if a royal +education have not blunted in her the quick perceptions and pure kind +instincts of the woman—if she has only had fair play, and carries into +business plain distinct notions of right and wrong—and the fine moral +sense that is not to be confounded by diplomatic verbiage and +expediency—she will do better for us than a whole cabinet full of cut +and dried officials, with Talleyrand at the head of them. And what a +fair heritage is this which has fallen to her! A land young like +herself—a land of hopes—and fair, most fair! Does she know—does she +care any thing about it?—while hearts are beating warm for her, and +voices bless her—and hands are stretched out towards her—even from +these wild lake shores?<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>These thoughts were in my mind, or something like to these, as with aid +of sail and oar we were gliding across the bay of Manitoolin. This bay +is about three miles wide at the entrance, and runs about twelve miles +in depth, in a southern direction. As we approached the further end, we +discerned the whole line of shore, rising in bold and beautiful relief +from the water, to be covered with wigwams, and crowded with Indians. +Suddenly we entered a little opening or channel, which was not visible +till we were just upon it, and rounding a promontory, to my infinite +delight and surprise, we came upon an unexpected scene,—a little bay +within the bay. It was a beautiful basin, nearly an exact circle, of +about three miles in circumference; in the centre lay a little wooded +island, and all around, the shores rose sloping from the margin of the +lake, like an amphitheatre, covered with wigwams and lodges, thick as +they could stand amid intermingled trees; and beyond these arose the +tall pine forest crowning and enclosing the whole. Some hundred canoes +were darting hither and thither on the waters, or gliding along the +shore, and a beautiful schooner lay against the green bank—its tall +masts almost mingling with the forest trees, and its white sails half +furled, and half gracefully drooping.</p> + +<p>We landed, and were received with much politeness by Mr. Jarvis, the +chief superintendent of Indian affairs, and by Major Anderson, the +Indian agent; and a space was cleared to pitch our tent, until room +could be made for our accommodation in one of the government log-houses.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>THE GREAT MANITOOLIN.</h3> + +<p>The word Manitoolin is a corruption or frenchification of the Indian +<i>Manitoawahning</i>, which signifies the "dwelling of spirits." They have +given this name to a range of islands in Lake Huron, which extends from +the channel of St. Mary's river nearly to Cape Hurd, a distance of about +two hundred miles. Between this range of islands and the shore of the +mainland, there is an archipelago, consisting of many thousand islands +or islets.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>The Great Manitoolin, on which I now am, is, according to the last +survey, ninety-three miles in length, but very narrow, and so deeply and +fantastically indented with gulfs and bays, that it was supposed to +consist of many distinct islands. This is the second year that the +presents to the Indians have been issued on this spot. The idea of +forming on the Great Manitoolin, a settlement of the Indians, and +inviting those tribes scattered round the lakes to adopt it as a +residence, has been for the last few years entertained by the Indian +department; I say for the last few years, because it did not originate +with the present governor; though I believe it has his entire +approbation, as a means of removing them more effectually from all +contact with the white settlers. It is objected to this measure that by +cutting off the Indians from agricultural pursuits, and throwing them +back upon their habits of hunting and fishing, it will retard their +civilisation; that removing them from the reserved land among the +whites, their religious instruction will be rendered a matter of +difficulty; that the islands, being masses of barren rock, are almost +incapable of cultivation; and that they are so far north-west, that it +would be difficult to raise even a little Indian corn<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>: and hence the +plan of settling the Indians here has been termed <i>unjustifiable</i>.</p> + +<h3>DISTRIBUTION OF PRESENTS.</h3> + +<p>It is true that the smaller islands are rocky and barren; but the Great +Manitoolin, Drummond's, and St. Joseph's, are fertile. The soil on which +I now tread is rich and good; and all the experiments in cultivation +already tried here have proved successful. As far as I can judge, the +intentions of the government are benevolent and <i>justifiable</i>. There are +a great number of Indians, Ottawas, and Pottowottomies, who receive +annual presents from the British government, and are residing on the +frontiers of the American settlements, near Lake Michigan. These people, +having disposed of their lands, know not where to go, and it is the wish +of our government to assemble all those Indians who are our allies, and +receive our annual presents within the limits of the British +territory—and this for reasons which certainly do appear very +<i>reasonable</i> and politic.</p> + +<p>There are three thousand seven hundred Indians, Ottawas, Chippewas, +Pottowottomies, Winnebagos, and Menomonies, encamped around us. The +issue of the presents has just concluded, and appears to have given +universal satisfaction; yet, were you to see their trifling nature, you +would wonder that they think it worth while to travel from one to five +hundred miles or more to receive them; and by an ordinance of the Indian +department, every individual must present himself <i>in person</i> to receive +the allotted portion. The common equipment of each chief or warrior +(that is, each man) consists of three quarters of a yard of blue cloth, +three yards of linen, one blanket, half an ounce of thread, four strong +needles, one comb, one awl, one butcher's knife, three pounds of +tobacco, three pounds of ball, nine pounds of shot, four pounds of +powder, and six flints. The equipment of a woman consists of one yard +and three quarters of coarse woollen, two yards and a half of printed +calico, one blanket, one ounce of thread, four needles, one comb, one +awl, one knife. For each child there was a portion of woollen cloth and +calico. Those chiefs who had been wounded in battle, or had +extraordinary claims, had some little articles in extra quantity, and a +gay shawl or handkerchief. To each principal chief of a tribe, the +allotted portion of goods for his tribe was given, and he made the +distribution to his people individually; and such a thing as injustice +or partiality on one hand, or a murmur of dissatisfaction on the other, +seemed equally unknown. There were, besides, extra presents of flags, +medals, chiefs' guns, rifles, trinkets, brass kettles, the choice and +distribution of which were left to the superintendent, with this +proviso, that the expense on the whole was never to exceed nine pounds +sterling for every one hundred chiefs or warriors.</p> + +<p>While the Indians remain on the island, which is generally about five +days, they receive rations of Indian corn and tallow (fat melted down); +with this they make a sort of soup, boiling the Indian corn till it is +of the consistence of porridge,—then adding a handful of tallow and +some salt, and stirring it well. Many a kettleful of this delectable +mess did I see made, without feeling any temptation to taste it; but +Major Anderson says it is not so <i>very</i> bad, when a man is <i>very</i> +hungry, which I am content to believe on his testimony. On this and on +the fish of the bay they live while here.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>As soon as the distribution of the presents was over, a grand council of +all the principal chiefs was convened, that they might be informed of +the will of their great father.</p> + +<p>You must understand, that on the promontory I have mentioned as shutting +in the little bay on the north side, there are some government +edifices; one large house, consisting of one room, as accommodation for +the superintendent and officers; also a carpenter's house and a magazine +for the stores and presents, all of logs. A deal plank, raised on +tressels, served as a table; there were a few stools and benches of +deal-board, and two raised wooden platforms for beds: such were the +furniture and decorations of the grand council-hall in which the +<i>representative</i> of the representative of their Great Mother had now +assembled her red children; a flag was displayed in front upon a lofty +pole—a new flag, with a new device, on which I saw troops of Indians +gazing with much curiosity and interest, and the meaning of which was +now to be explained to them.</p> + +<p>The council met about noon. At the upper end of the log-house I have +mentioned, stood the chief superintendent, with his secretary or grand +vizier, Major Anderson; the two interpreters, and some other officials. +At some little distance I sat with Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, and a young +son of the lieutenant-governor; near me I perceived three Methodist +missionaries and two Catholic priests. The chiefs came in, one after +another, without any order of precedence. All those whom I had seen at +Mackinaw recognised me immediately, and their dusky faces brightened as +they held out their hands with the customary <i>bojou!</i> There was my old +acquaintance the Rain, looking magnificent, and the venerable old Ottawa +chief, Kish,ke,nick (the Cut-hand). The other remarkable chiefs of the +Ottawas were Gitchee, Mokomaun (the Great or Long-knife); So,wan,quet +(the Forked-tree); Kim,e,ne,chau,zun (the Bustard); Mocomaun,ish (the +Bad-knife); Pai,mau,se,gai (the Sun's course in a cloudless sky); and +As,si,ke,nack (the Blackbird); the latter a very remarkable man, of whom +I shall have to say more presently. Of the Chippewas, the most +distinguished chiefs were, Aisence (the Little Clam); Wai,sow,win,de,bay +(the Yellow-head), and Shin,gua,cose (the Pine); these three are +Christians. There were besides Ken,ne,bec,áno (the Snake's-tail); +Muc,konce,e,wa,yun (the Cub's-skin): and two others, whose style was +quite grandiloquent,—Tai,bau,se,gai (Bursts of Thunder at a distance), +and Me,twai,crush,kau (the sound of waves breaking on the rocks).</p> + +<p>Nearly opposite to me was a famous Pottowottomie chief and conjuror, +called the Two Ears. He was most fantastically dressed, and hideously +painted, and had two large clusters of swan's down depending from each +ear—I suppose in illustration of his name. There were three men with +their faces blacked with grease and soot, their hair dishevelled, and +their whole appearance studiously squalid and miserable: I was told they +were in mourning for near relations. With these exceptions the dresses +were much what I have already described; but the chief whom I +immediately distinguished from the rest, even before I knew his name, +was my cousin, young Waub-Ojeeg, the son of Wayish,ky; in height he +towered above them all, being about six feet three or four. His dress +was equally splendid and tasteful; he wore a surtout of fine blue cloth, +under which was seen a shirt of gay colours, and his father's medal hung +on his breast. He had a magnificent embroidered belt of wampum, from +which hung his scalping-knife and pouch. His leggings (metasses) were of +scarlet cloth beautifully embroidered, with rich bands or garters +depending to his ankle. Round his head was an embroidered band or +handkerchief, in which were stuck four wing-feathers of the war-eagle, +two on each side—the testimonies of his prowess as a warrior. He held a +tomahawk in his hand. His features were fine, and his countenance not +only mild, but almost femininely soft. Altogether he was in dress and +personal appearance the finest specimen of his race I had yet seen; I +was quite proud of my adopted kinsman.</p> + +<p>He was seated at some distance; but in far too near propinquity, for in +truth they almost touched me, sat a group of creatures—human beings I +must suppose them—such as had never been seen before within the lines +of civilisation. I had remarked them in the morning surrounded by a +group of Ottawas, among whom they seemed to excite as much wonder and +curiosity as among ourselves: and when I inquired who and what they +were, I was told they were <i>cannibals</i> from the Red River, the title +being, I suspect, quite gratuitous, and merely expressive of the +disgust they excited. One man had his hair cut short on the top of his +head, and it looked like a circular blacking-brush, while it grew long +in a fringe all round, hanging on his shoulders. The skins thrown round +them seemed on the point of rotting off; and their attitude, when +squatted on the ground, was precisely that of the larger ape I have seen +in a menagerie. More hideous, more pitiable specimens of humanity in its +lowest, most degraded state, can hardly be conceived; melancholy, +squalid, stupid—and yet not fierce. They had each received a kettle and +a gun by way of encouragement.</p> + +<p>The whole number of chiefs assembled was seventy-five; and take notice +that the half of them were smoking, that it was blazing noontide, and +that every door and window was filled up with the eager faces of the +crowd without, and then you may imagine that even a scene like this was +not to be enjoyed without some drawbacks; in fact, it was a sort of +purgatory to more senses than one, but I made up my mind to endure, and +did so. I observed that although there were many hundreds around the +house, not one woman, outside or inside, was visible during the whole +time the council lasted.</p> + +<p>When all were assembled, and had seated themselves on the floor without +hurry, noise, or confusion, there was a pause of solemn preparation, and +then Mr. Jarvis rose and addressed them. At the end of every sentence, +As,si,ke,nack (the Blackbird), our chief interpreter here, translated +the meaning to the assembly, raising his voice to a high pitch, and +speaking with much oratorical emphasis, the others responding at +intervals, "Ha!" but listening generally in solemn silence. This man, +the Blackbird, who understands English well, is the most celebrated +orator of his nation. They relate with pride that on one occasion he +began a speech at sunrise, and that it lasted without intermission till +sunset: the longest breathed of our parliament orators must yield, I +think, to the Blackbird.</p> + +<p>The address of the superintendent was in these words:—</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children</span>,—When your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, parted with +his Red children last year at this place, he promised again to meet +them here at the council-fire, and witness in person the grand delivery +of presents now just finished.</p> + +<p>"To fulfil this engagement, your Great Father left his residence at +Toronto, and proceeded on his way to the Great Manitoolin Island, as far +as Lake Simcoe. At this place, a messenger, who had been dispatched from +Toronto, overtook him, and informed him of the death of our Great +Father, on the other side of the Great Salt Lake, and the accession of +the Queen Victoria. It consequently became necessary for your Great +Father, the lieutenant-governor, to return to the seat of his +government, and hold a council with his chief men.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—Your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, has deputed me +to express to you his regret and disappointment at being thus +unexpectedly deprived of the pleasure which he had promised to himself, +in again seeing all his Red children, and in taking by the hand the +chiefs and warriors of the numerous tribes now here assembled.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—I am now to communicate to you a matter in which many of you +are deeply interested. Listen with attention, and bear well in mind what +I say to you.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—Your Great Father the King had determined that presents +should be continued to be given to all Indians resident in the Canadas.</p> + +<p>"But presents will be given to Indians residing in the United States +only for three years, including the present delivery.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—The reasons why presents will not be continued to the +Indians residing in the United States I will explain to you.</p> + +<p>"First: All our countrymen who resided in the United States forfeited +their claim to protection from the British government, from the moment +their Great Father the King lost possession of that country. +Consequently the Indians have no right to expect that their Great Father +will continue to them what he does not continue to his own white +children.</p> + +<p>"Secondly: The Indians of the United States, who served in the late +war, have already received from the British government more than has +been received by the soldiers of their Great Father, who have fought for +him for twenty years.</p> + +<p>"Thirdly: Among the rules which civilised nations are bound to attend +to, there is one which forbids your Great Father to give arms and +ammunition to Indians of the United States, who are fighting against the +government under which they live.</p> + +<p>"Fourthly: The people of England have, through their representatives in +the great council of the nation, uttered great complaints at the expense +attendant upon a continuation of the expenditure of so large a sum of +money upon Indian presents.</p> + +<p>"But, <span class="smcap">Children!</span> let it be distinctly understood, that the British +government has not come to a determination to cease to give presents to +the Indians of the United States. On the contrary, the government of +your Great Father will be most happy to do so, provided they live in the +British empire. Therefore, although your Great Father is willing that +his Red children should all become permanent settlers in the island, it +matters not in what part of the British empire they reside. They may go +across the Great Salt Lake to the country of their Great Father the +King, and there reside, and there receive their presents; or they may +remove to any part of the provinces of Upper or Lower Canada, New +Brunswick, Nova Scotia, or any other British colony, and yet receive +them. But they cannot and must not expect to receive them after the end +of three years, if they continue to reside within the limits of the +United States.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—The Long Knives have complained (and with justice too) that +your Great Father, whilst he is at peace with them, has supplied his Red +children residing in their country, with whom the Long Knives are at +war, with guns and powder and ball.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—This, I repeat to you, is against the rules of civilised +nations, and if continued, will bring on war between your Great Father +and the Long Knives.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—You must therefore come and live under the protection of +your Great Father, or renounce the advantage which you have so long +enjoyed, of annually receiving valuable presents from him.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—I have one thing more to observe to you. There are many +clergymen constantly visiting you for the avowed purpose of instructing +you in religious principles. Listen to them with attention when they +talk to you on that subject; but at the same time keep always in view, +and bear it well in your minds, that they have nothing whatever to do +with your temporal affairs. Your Great Father who lives across the Great +Salt Lake is your guardian and protector, and he only. He has +relinquished his claim to this large and beautiful island, on which we +are assembled, in order that you may have a home of your own quite +separate from his white children. The soil is good, and the waters which +surround the shores of this island are abundantly supplied with the +finest fish. If you cultivate the soil with only moderate industry, and +exert yourselves to obtain fish, you can never want, and your Great +Father will continue to bestow annually on all those who permanently +reside here, or in any part of his dominions, valuable presents, and +will from time to time visit you at this island, to behold your +improvements.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—Your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, as a token of +the above declaration, transmits to the Indians a silk British flag, +which represents the British empire. Within this flag, and immediately +under the symbol of the British crown, are delineated a British lion and +a beaver; by which is designated that the British people and the +Indians, the former being represented by the lion and the latter by the +beaver, are and will be alike regarded by their sovereign, so long as +their figures are imprinted on the British flag, or, in other words, so +long as they continue to inhabit the British empire!</p> + +<p>"C<span class="smcap">hildren!</span>—This flag is now yours. But it is necessary that some one +tribe should take charge of it, in order that it may be exhibited in +this island on all occasions, when your Great Father either visits or +bestows presents on his Red children. Choose, therefore, from among +you, the tribe to which you are willing to entrust it for safe keeping, +and remember to have it with you when we next meet again at this place.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—I bid you farewell. But before we part, let me express to +you the high satisfaction I feel at witnessing the quiet, sober, and +orderly conduct which has prevailed in the camp since my arrival. There +are assembled here upwards of three thousand persons, composed of +different tribes. I have not seen nor heard of any wrangling or +quarrelling among you; I have not seen even one man, woman, or child, in +a state of intoxication.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Children!</span>—Let me entreat you to abstain from indulging in the use of +fire-water. Let me entreat you to return immediately to your respective +homes, with the presents now in your possession. Let me warn you against +attempts that may be made by traders or other persons to induce you to +part with your presents, in exchange for articles of little +value.—Farewell."</p> + +<p>When Mr. Jarvis ceased speaking there was a pause, and then a fine +Ottawa chief (I think Mokomaun,ish) arose, and spoke at some length. He +said, that with regard to the condition on which the presents would be +issued in future, they would deliberate on the affair, and bring their +answer next year.</p> + +<p>Shinguaconse then came forward and made a long and emphatic speech, from +which I gathered that he and his tribe requested that the principal +council-fire might be transferred to St. Mary's River, and objected to a +residence on the Manitoolin Island. After him spoke two other chiefs, +who signified their entire acquiescence in what their Great Father had +advised, and declared themselves satisfied to reside on the Manitoolin +Islands.</p> + +<p>After some deliberation among themselves, the custody of the flag was +consigned to the Ottawa tribe then residing on the island, and to their +principal chief, who came forward and received it with great ceremony.</p> + +<p>There was then a distribution of extra presents, medals, silver gorgets, +and amulets, to some of the chiefs and relatives of chiefs whose conduct +was particularly approved, or whom it was thought expedient to gratify.</p> + +<p>The council then broke up, and I made my way into the open air as +quickly as I could.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>SCENES ON THE GREAT MANITOOLIN.</h3> + +<p>In walking about among the wigwams to-day, I found some women on the +shore, making a canoe. The frame had been put together by the men. The +women were then joining the pieces of birch-bark, with the split +ligaments of the pine-root, which they called <i>wattup</i>. Other women were +employed in melting and applying the resinous gum, with which they smear +the seams, and render them impervious to the water. There was much +chattering and laughing meanwhile, and I never saw a merrier set of +gossips.</p> + +<p>This canoe, which was about eighteen feet in length, was finished before +night; and the next morning I saw it afloat.</p> + +<p>A man was pointed out to me (a Chippewa from Lake Superior), who, about +three years ago, when threatened by starvation during his winter hunt, +had devoured his wife and one or two of his children. You shudder—so +did I; but since famine can prevail over every human feeling or +instinct, till the "pitiful mother hath sodden her own children," and a +woman devoured part of her lover<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>, I do not think this wretched +creature must necessarily be a born monster of ferocity. His features +were very mild and sad—he is avoided by the other Chippewas here, and +not considered <i>respectable</i>; and this from an opinion they entertain, +that when a man has once tasted human flesh, he can relish no other: but +I must quit this abominable subject.</p> + +<p>At sunset this evening, just as the air was beginning to grow cool, +Major Anderson proclaimed a canoe race, the canoes to be paddled by the +women only. The prize consisted of twenty-five pair of silver earrings +and other trinkets. I can give you no idea of the state of commotion +into which the whole camp, men and women and children, were thrown by +this announcement. Thirty canoes started, each containing twelve women, +and a man to steer. They were to go round the little island in the +centre of the bay, and return to the starting point,—the first canoe +which touched the shore to be the winner. They darted off together with +a sudden velocity, like that of an arrow from the bow. The Indians on +the shore ran backwards and forwards on the beach, exciting them to +exertion by loud cries, leaping into the air, whooping and clapping +their hands; and when at length the first canoe dashed up to the landing +place, it was as if all had gone at once distracted and stark mad. The +men, throwing themselves into the water, carried the winners out in +their arms, who were laughing and panting for breath; and then the women +cried "Ny'a! Ny'a!" and the men shouted "Ty'a!" till the pine woods rang +again.</p> + +<p>But all was good humour, and even good order, in the midst of this +confusion. There was no ill blood, not a dispute, not an outrage, not +even a <i>sound</i> of unkindness or anger; these are certainly the most +good-natured, orderly savages imaginable! We are twenty white people, +with 3,700 of these wild creatures around us, and I never in my life +felt more security. I find it necessary, indeed, to suspend a blanket +before each of the windows when I am dressing in the morning; for they +have no idea of the possibility of being intrusive; they think "men's +eyes were made to look," and windows to be looked through; but, with +this exception, I never met with people more genuinely polite.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE INDIAN WAR DANCE.</h3> + +<p>After a very tiring day, I was standing to-night at the door of our +log-house, looking out upon the tranquil stars, and admiring the peace +and tranquillity which reigned all around. Within the house Mrs. +MacMurray was hearing a young Chippewa read the Gospel, and the light of +a lamp above fell upon her beautiful face—very beautiful it was at +that moment—and on the dusky features of the Indian boy, akin to her +own, and yet how different! and on his silver armlets and feathered +head-dress. It was about nine o'clock, and though a few of the camp +fires were yet burning, it seemed that almost all had gone to rest. At +this moment old Solomon, the interpreter, came up, and told me that the +warriors had arranged to give me an exhibition of their war-dance, and +were then painting and preparing. In a few minutes more, the drum, and +the shriek, and the long tremulous whoop, were heard. A large crowd had +gathered silently in front of the house, leaving an open space in the +midst; many of them carried great blazing torches, made of the bark of +the pine rolled up into a cylinder. The innermost circle of the +spectators sat down, and the rest stood around; some on the stumps of +the felled trees, which were still at hand. I remember that a large +piece of a flaming torch fell on the naked shoulder of a savage, and he +jumped up with a yell which made me start; but they all laughed, and so +did he, and sat himself down again quietly.</p> + +<p>Meantime the drumming and yelling drew nearer, and all at once a man +leaped like a panther into the very middle of the circle, and, flinging +off his blanket, began to caper and to flourish his war-club; then +another, and another, till there were about forty; then they stamped +round and round, and gesticulated a sort of fiercely grotesque +pantomime, and sent forth their hideous yells, while the glare of the +torches fell on their painted and naked figures, producing an effect +altogether quite indescribable. Then a man suddenly stopped before me, +and began a speech at the very top of his voice, so that it sounded like +a reiteration of loud cries; it was, in fact, a string of exclamations, +which a gentleman standing behind me translated as he went on. They were +to this purport:—"I am a Red-skin! I am a warrior! look on me! I am a +warrior! I am brave! I have fought! I have killed! I have killed my +enemies! I have eaten the tops of the hearts of my enemies! I have drunk +their blood! I have struck down seven Long-knives! I have taken their +scalps!"</p> + +<p>This last vaunt he repeated several times with exultation, thinking, +perhaps, it must be particularly agreeable to a daughter of the +Red-coats; nothing was ever less so! and the human being who was thus +boasting stood within half a yard of me, his grim painted face and +gleaming eyes looking into mine!</p> + +<p>A-propos to scalps; I have seen many of the warriors here, who had one +or more of these suspended as decorations to their dress; and they +seemed to me so much a part and parcel of the <i>sauvagerie</i> around me, +that I looked on them generally without emotion or pain. But there was +one thing I never <i>could</i> see without a start, and a thrill of +horror,—the scalp of <i>long fair hair</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE MISSIONARIES.</h3> + +<p>Walking about early next morning, I saw that preparations for departure +had already commenced; all was movement, and bustle, and hurry; taking +down wigwams, launching canoes, tying up bundles and babies, cooking, +and "sacrificing" wretched dogs to propitiate the spirits, and procure a +favourable voyage. I came upon such a sacrifice just at the opposite +side of the point, and took to flight forthwith. No interest, no +curiosity, can overcome the sickness and abhorrence with which I shrink +from certain things; so I can tell you nothing of this grand ceremony, +which you will find described circumstantially by many less fastidious +or less sensitive travellers.</p> + +<p>All the Christian Indians now on the island (about nine hundred in +number) are, with the exception of Mr. MacMurray's congregation from the +Sault, either Roman Catholics or Methodists.</p> + +<p>I had some conversation with Father Crue, the Roman Catholic missionary, +a very clever and very zealous man, still in the prime of life. He has +been here two years, is indefatigable in his calling, or, as Major +Anderson said, "always on the go—up the lake and down—in every spot +where he had the hope of being useful." I heard the Methodists and +Churchmen complain greatly of his interference; but if he be a true +believer in his religion, his active zeal does him honour, I think.</p> + +<p>One thing is most visible, certain, and undeniable, that the Roman +Catholic converts are in appearance, dress, intelligence, industry, and +general civilisation, superior to all the others.</p> + +<p>A band of Ottawas, under the particular care of Father Crue, have +settled on the Manitoolin, about six miles to the south. They have large +plantations of corn and potatoes, and they have built log-huts, a chapel +for their religious services, and a house for their priest. I asked him +distinctly whether they had erected these buildings themselves: he said +they had.</p> + +<p>Here, in the encampment, the Roman Catholic Ottawas have erected a large +temporary chapel of posts covered in with bark, the floor strewed over +with green boughs and mats, and an altar and crucifix at the end. In +front a bell is suspended between the forked branches of a pine. I have +heard them sing mass here, with every demonstration of decency and +piety.</p> + +<p>The Methodists have two congregations; the Indians of the Credit, under +the direction of Peter Jones; and the Indians from Coldwater and the +Narrows, under a preacher whose name I forget,—both zealous men; but +the howling and weeping of these Methodist Indians, as they lie +grovelling on the ground in their religious services, struck me +painfully.</p> + +<p>Mr. MacMurray is the only missionary of the Church of England, and, with +all his zeal, and his peculiar means of influence and success, it cannot +be said that he is adequately aided and supported. "The English Church," +said one of our most intelligent Indian agents, "either cannot or will +not, certainly <i>does not</i>, sow; therefore cannot expect to reap." The +zeal, activity, and benevolence of the travelling missionary Elliott are +beyond all praise; but his ministry is devoted to the back settlers more +than to the Indians. The Roman Catholic missions have been, of all, the +most active and persevering; next to these the Methodists. The +Presbyterian and the English Churches have been hitherto comparatively +indifferent and negligent.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Information was brought to the superintendent, that a trader from +Detroit, with a boat laden with whisky and rum, was lying concealed in a +little cove near the entrance of the great bay, for the purpose of +waylaying the Indians, and bartering the whisky for their new blankets, +guns, and trinkets. I exclaimed with indignation!—but Mr. Jarvis did +better than exclaim; he sent off the Blackbird, with a canoe full of +stout men, to board the trader, and throw all the whisky into the lake, +and then desire the owner to bring any complaint or claim for +restitution down to Toronto; and this was done accordingly. The +Blackbird is a Christian, and extremely noted for his general good +conduct, and his declared enmity to the "dealers in fire-water."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>INDIAN CIVILISATION.</h3> + +<p>Yet a word more before I leave my Indians.</p> + +<p>There is one subject on which all travellers in these regions—all who +have treated of the manners and modes of life of the north-west tribes, +are accustomed to expatiate with great eloquence and indignation, which +they think it incumbent on the gallantry and chivalry of Christendom to +denounce, as constituting the true badge and distinction of barbarism +and heathenism, opposed to civilisation and Christianity:—I mean the +treatment and condition of their women. The women, they say, are +"drudges," "slaves," "beasts of burthen," victims, martyrs, degraded, +abject, oppressed; that not only the cares of the household and +maternity, but the cares and labours proper to the men, fall upon them; +and they seem to consider no expression of disapprobation, and even +abhorrence, too strong for the occasion; and if there be any who should +feel inclined to modify such objurgations, or speak in excuse or +mitigation of the fact, he might well fear that the publication of such +opinions would expose him, in every review, to the death of Orpheus or +Pentheus.</p> + +<p>Luckily I have no such risk to run. Let but my woman's wit bestead me +here as much as my womanhood, and I will, as the Indians say, "tell you +a piece of my mind," and place the matter before you in another point of +view.</p> + +<p>Under one aspect of the question, all these gentlemen travellers are +right; they are right in their estimate of the condition of the Indian +squaws—they <i>are</i> drudges, slaves: and they are right in the opinion, +that the condition of the women in any community is a test of the +advance of moral and intellectual cultivation in that community; but it +is not a test of the virtue or civilisation of the man; in these Indian +tribes, where the men are the noblest and bravest of their kind, the +women are held of no account, are despised and oppressed. But it does +appear to me that the woman among these Indians holds her true natural +position relatively to the state of the man and the state of society; +and this cannot be said of all societies.</p> + +<p>Take into consideration, in the first place, that in these Indian +communities the task of providing subsistence falls solely and entirely +on the men. When it is said, in general terms, that the men do nothing +but <i>hunt</i> all day, while the women are engaged in perpetual <i>toil</i>, I +suppose this suggests to civilised readers the idea of a party of +gentlemen at Melton, or a turn-out of Mr. Meynell's hounds; or at most a +deer-stalking excursion to the Highlands—a holiday affair; while the +women, poor souls! must sit at home and sew, and spin, and cook +victuals. But what is really the life of an Indian hunter?—one of +incessant, almost killing toil, and often danger.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> A hunter goes out +at dawn, knowing that, if he returns empty, his wife and his little ones +must <i>starve</i>—no uncommon predicament! He comes home at sunset, spent +with fatigue, and unable even to speak. His wife takes off his +moccasins, places before him what food she has, or, if latterly the +chase has failed, probably no food at all, or only a little parched wild +rice. She then examines his hunting-pouch, and in it finds the claws, +or beak, or tongue of the game, or other indications by which she knows +what it is, and where to find it. She then goes for it, and drags it +home. When he is refreshed, the hunter caresses his wife and children, +relates the events of his chase, smokes his pipe, and goes to sleep—to +begin the same life on the following day.</p> + +<p>Where, then, the whole duty and labour of providing the means of +subsistence, ennobled by danger and courage, fall upon the man, the +woman naturally sinks in importance, and is a dependent drudge. But she +is not therefore, I suppose, so <i>very</i> miserable, nor, relatively, so +very abject; she is sure of protection; sure of maintenance, at least +while the man has it; sure of kind treatment; sure that she will never +have her children taken from her but by death; sees none better off than +herself, and has no conception of a superior destiny; and it is evident +that in such a state the appointed and necessary share of the woman is +the household work, and all other domestic labour. As to the necessity +of carrying burthens, when moving the camp from place to place, and +felling and carrying wood, this is the most dreadful part of her lot; +and however accustomed from youth to the axe, the paddle, and the +carrying-belt, it brings on internal injuries and severe suffering—and +yet it <i>must</i> be done. For a man to carry burthens would absolutely +incapacitate him for a hunter, and consequently from procuring +sufficient meat for his family. Hence, perhaps, the contempt with which +they regard it. And an Indian woman is unhappy, and her pride is hurt, +if her husband should be seen with a load on his back; this was strongly +expressed by one among them who said it was "unmanly;" and that "she +could not bear to see it!"</p> + +<p>Hence, however hard the lot of the woman, she is in no <i>false</i> position. +The two sexes are in their natural and true position relatively to the +state of society, and the means of subsistence.</p> + +<p>The first step from the hunting to the agricultural state is the first +step in the emancipation of the female. I know there are some writers +who lament that the introduction of agriculture has not benefited the +Indian women, but rather added to their toils, as a great proportion of +the hoeing and planting has devolved on them; but among the Ottawas, +where this is the case, the women are decidedly in a better state than +among the hunting Chippewas; they can sell or dispose of the produce +raised by themselves, if there be more than is necessary for the family, +and they take some share in the bargains and business of the tribe: and +add, that among all these tribes, in the division of the money payments +for the ceded land, every woman receives her individual share.</p> + +<p>Lewis and Clarke, in exploring the Missouri, came upon a tribe of +Indians who, from local circumstances, kill little game, and live +principally on fish and roots; and as the women are equally expert with +the men in procuring subsistence, they have a rank and influence very +rarely found among Indians. The females are permitted to speak freely +before the men, to whom indeed they sometimes address themselves in a +tone of authority. On many subjects their judgment and opinion are +respected, and in matters of trade their advice is generally asked and +pursued; the labours of the family too are shared equally.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> This +seems to be a case in point.</p> + +<p>Then, when we speak of the <i>drudgery</i> of the women, we must note the +equal division of labour; there is no class of women privileged to sit +still while others work. Every squaw makes the clothing, mats, +moccasins, and boils the kettle for her own family. Compare her life +with the refined leisure of an elegant woman in the higher classes of +our society, and it is wretched and abject; but compare her life with +that of a servant-maid of all work, or a factory-girl,—I do say that +the condition of the squaw is gracious in comparison, dignified by +domestic feelings, and by equality with all around her. If women are to +be exempted from toil in reverence to the sex, and as <i>women</i>, I can +understand this, though I think it unreasonable; but if it be merely a +privilege of station, and confined to a certain set, while the great +primeval penalty is doubled on the rest, then I do not see where is the +great gallantry and consistency of this our Christendom, nor what right +we have to look down upon the barbarism of the Indian savages who make +<i>drudges</i> of their women.</p> + +<p>I will just mention here the extreme delicacy and personal modesty of +the women of these tribes, which may seem strange when we see them +brought up and living in crowded wigwams, where a whole family is herded +within a space of a few yards: but the lower classes of the Irish, +brought up in their cabins, are remarkable for the same feminine +characteristic: it is as if true modesty were from within, and could +hardly be outwardly defiled.</p> + +<p>But to return. Another boast over the Indian savages in this respect is, +that we set a much higher value on the chastity of women. We are told +(with horror) that among some of the north-west tribes the man offers +his wife or sister, nothing loth, to his guest, as a part of the duty of +hospitality; and this is, in truth, <i>barbarism</i>!—the heartless +brutality on one side, and the shameless indifference on the other, may +well make a woman's heart shrink within her. But what right have +civilised <i>men</i> to exclaim, and look sublime and self-complacent about +the matter? If they do not exactly imitate this fashion of the Indians, +their exceeding and jealous reverence for the virtue of women is really +indulged at a very cheap rate to themselves. If the chastity of women be +a virtue, and respectable in the eyes of the community for its own sake, +well and good; if it be a mere matter of expediency, and valuable only +as it affects property, guarded by men just as far as it concerns their +honour—as far as regards ours, a jest,—if this be the masculine creed +of right and wrong—the fiat promulgated by our lords and masters, then +I should reply that there is no woman, worthy the name, whose cheek does +not burn in shame and indignation at the thought.</p> + +<p>With regard to female right of property, there is no such thing as real +property among them, except the hunting-grounds or territory which are +the possession of the tribe. The personal property, as the clothing, +mats, cooking and hunting apparatus, all the interior of the wigwam, in +short, seems to be under the control of the woman; and on the death of +her husband the woman remains in possession of the lodge, and all it +contains, except the medal, flag, or other insignia of dignity, which go +to his son or male relatives. The corn she raises, and the maple sugar +she makes, she can always dispose of as she thinks fit—they are <i>hers</i>.</p> + +<h3>INFLUENCE OF EUROPEANS.</h3> + +<p>It seems to me a question whether the Europeans, who, Heaven knows, have +much to answer for in their intercourse with these people, have not, in +some degree, injured the cause of the Indian women:—first, by +corrupting them; secondly, by checking the improvement of all their own +peculiar manufactures. They prepared deer-skins with extraordinary +skill; I have seen dresses of the mountain sheep and young buffalo +skins, richly embroidered and almost equal in beauty and softness to a +Cashmere shawl; and I could mention other things. It is reasonable to +presume that as these manufactures must have been progressively +improved, there might have been farther progression, had we not +substituted for articles they could themselves procure or fabricate, +those which we fabricate; we have taken the work out of their hands, and +all motive to work, while we have created wants which they cannot +supply. We have clothed them in blankets—we have not taught them to +weave blankets. We have substituted guns for the bows and arrows—but +they cannot make guns: for the natural progress of arts and civilisation +springing from within, and from their own intelligence and resources, we +have substituted a sort of civilisation from without, foreign to their +habits, manners, organisation: we are making paupers of them; and this +by a kind of terrible necessity. Some very economical members of our +British parliament have remonstrated against the system of Indian +presents, as too <i>expensive</i>; one would almost suppose, to hear their +arguments, that pounds, shillings, and pence were the stuff of which +life is made—the three primal elements of all human existence—all +human morals. Surely they can know nothing of the real state of things +here. If the issue of the presents from our government were now to +cease, I cannot think without horror of what must ensue: trifling as +they are, they are an Indian's existence; without the rifle he must die +of hunger; without his blanket, perish of cold. Before he is reduced to +this, we should have nightly plunder and massacre all along our +frontiers and back settlements; a horrid brutalising contest like that +carried on in Florida, in which the White man would be demoralised, and +the Red man exterminated.</p> + +<p>The sole article of traffic with the Indians, their furs, is bartered +for the necessaries of life; and these furs can <i>only</i> be procured by +the men. Thus their only trade, so far from tending to the general +civilisation of the people, keeps up the wild hunting habits, and tells +fearfully against the power and utility of the women, if it be not +altogether fatal to any amelioration of their condition. Yet it should +seem that we are ourselves just emerging from a similar state, only in +another form. Until of late years there was no occupation for women by +which a subsistence could be gained, except servitude in some shape or +other. The change which has taken place in this respect is one of the +most striking and interesting signs of the times in which we live.</p> + +<h3>TRUE IMPORTANCE OF WOMAN.</h3> + +<p>I must stop here: but may we not assume, as a general principle, that +the true importance and real dignity of woman is every where, in savage +and civilised communities, regulated by her capacity of being useful; +or, in other words, that her condition is decided by the share she takes +in providing for her own subsistence and the well being of society as a +productive labourer? Where she is idle and useless by privilege of sex, +a divinity and an idol, a victim or a toy, is not her position quite as +lamentable, as false, as injurious to herself and all social progress, +as where she is the drudge, slave, and possession of the man?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>OUR ARRANGEMENTS.</h3> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The ways through which my weary steps I guide,</span> +<span class="i0">In this delightful land of faëry,</span> +<span class="i0">Are so exceeding spacious and wide,</span> +<span class="i0">And sprinkled with such sweet variety</span> +<span class="i0">Of all that pleasant is to ear or eye,</span> +<span class="i0">That I nigh ravish'd with rare thought's delight,</span> +<span class="i0">My tedious travel doe forget thereby,</span> +<span class="i0">And when I gin to feel decay of might,</span> +<span class="i0">It strength to me supplies, and clears my dulled spright.</span> +</div></div> +<p style="margin-left: 70%;"><span class="smcap">Spenser.</span></p> + +<p>On the 6th of August I bade adieu to my good friends Mr. and Mrs. +MacMurray. I had owed too much to their kindness to part from them +without regret. They returned up the lake, with their beautiful child +and Indian retinue, to St. Mary's, while I prepared to embark in a canoe +with the superintendent, to go down the lake to Penetanguishene, a +voyage of four days at least, supposing wind and weather to continue +favourable. Thence to Toronto, across Lake Simcoe, was a journey of +three days more. Always I have found efficient protection when I most +needed and least expected it; and nothing could exceed the politeness of +Mr. Jarvis and his people;—it <i>began</i> with politeness,—but it ended +with something more and better,—real and zealous kindness.</p> + +<h3>VOYAGE DOWN LAKE HURON.</h3> + +<p>Now to take things in order, and that you may accompany us in our canoe +voyage, I must describe in the first place our arrangements. You shall +confess ere long that the Roman emperor, who proclaimed a reward for the +discovery of a new pleasure, ought to have made a voyage down Lake Huron +in a birch-bark canoe.</p> + +<p>There were two canoes, each five-and-twenty feet in length, and four +feet in width, tapering to the two extremities, and light, elegant, and +buoyant as the sea-mew, when it skims the summer waves: in the first +canoe were Mr. Jarvis and myself; the governor's son, a lively boy of +fourteen or fifteen, old Solomon the interpreter, and seven voyageurs. +My blankets and night-gear being rolled up in a bundle, served for a +seat, and I had a pillow at my back; and thus I reclined in the bottom +of the canoe, as in a litter, very much at my ease: my companions were +almost equally comfortable. I had near me my cloak, umbrella, and +parasol, note-books and sketch-books, and a little compact basket always +by my side, containing eau de Cologne, and all those necessary luxuries +which might be wanted in a moment, for I was well resolved that I would +occasion no trouble but what was inevitable. The voyageurs were disposed +on low wooden seats, suspended to the ribs of the canoe, except our +Indian steersman, Martin, who, in a cotton shirt, arms bared to the +shoulder, loose trowsers, a scarlet sash round his waist, richly +embroidered with beads, and his long black hair waving, took his place +in the stern, with a paddle twice as long as the others.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>The manner in which he stood, turning and twisting himself with the +lithe agility of a snake, and striking first on one side then on the +other, was very graceful and picturesque. So much depends on the skill, +and dexterity, and intelligence of these steersmen, that they have +always double pay. The other men were all picked men, Canadian +half-breeds, young, well-looking, full of glee and good-nature, with +untiring arms and more untiring lungs and spirits; a handkerchief +twisted round the head, a shirt and pair of trowsers, with a gay sash, +formed the prevalent costume. We had on board a canteen, and other light +baggage, two or three guns, and fishing tackle.</p> + +<p>The other canoe carried part of Mr. Jarvis's retinue, the heavy baggage, +provisions, marquees, guns, &c., and was equipped with eight paddles. +The party consisted altogether of twenty-two persons, twenty-one men, +and myself, the only woman.</p> + +<p>We started off in swift and gallant style, looking grand and official, +with the British flag floating at our stern. Major Anderson and his +people, and the schooner's crew, gave us three cheers. The Indians +uttered their wild cries, and discharged their rifles all along the +shore. As we left the bay, I counted seventy-two canoes before us, +already on their homeward voyage—some to the upper waters of the +lake—some to the northern shores; as we passed them, they saluted us +by discharging their rifles: the day was without a cloud, and it was +altogether a most animated and beautiful scene.</p> + +<p>I forgot to tell you that the Indians are very fond of having pet +animals in their wigwams, not only dogs, but tame foxes and hawks. Mr. +Jarvis purchased a pair of young hawks, male and female, from an Indian, +intending them for his children. Just as we left the island, one of +these birds escaped from the basket, and flew directly to the shore of +the bay, where it was lost in the thick forest. We proceeded, and after +leaving the bay about twelve miles onwards, we landed on a little rocky +island: some one heard the cry of a hawk over our heads; it was the poor +bird we had lost; he had kept his companion in sight all the way, +following us unseen along the shore, and now suffered himself to be +taken and caged with the other.</p> + +<h3>PURITY OF THE WATER.</h3> + +<p>We bought some black-bass from an Indian who was spearing fish: and, <i>à +propos</i>, I never yet have mentioned what is one of the greatest +pleasures in the navigation of these magnificent upper lakes—the +purity, the coldness, the transparency of the water. I have been told +that if in the deeper parts of the lake a white handkerchief be sunk +with the lead it is distinctly visible at a depth of thirty fathoms—we +did not try the experiment, not being in deep water; but here, among +shoals and islands, I could almost always see the rocky bottom, with +glittering pebbles, and the fish gliding beneath us with their waving +fins and staring eyes—and if I took a glass of water, it came up +sparkling as from the well at Harrowgate, and the flavour was delicious. +You can hardly imagine how much this added to the charm and animation of +the voyage.</p> + +<p>About sunset, we came to the hut of a fur trader, whose name, I think, +was Lemorondière; it was on the shore of a beautiful channel running +between the mainland and a large island. On a neighbouring point, +Wai-sow-win-de-bay (the Yellow-head) and his people were building their +wigwams for the night. The appearance was most picturesque, particularly +when the camp fires were lighted and the night came on. I cannot forget +the figure of a squaw, as she stood, dark and tall, against the red +flames, bending over a great black kettle, her blanket trailing behind +her, her hair streaming on the night breeze;—most like to one of the +witches in Macbeth.</p> + +<p>We supped here on excellent trout and white-fish, but the sand-flies and +mosquitoes were horridly tormenting; the former, which are so diminutive +as to be scarcely visible, were by far the worst. We were off next +morning by daylight, the Yellow-head's people cracking their rifles by +way of salute.</p> + +<p>The voyageurs measure the distance by <i>pipes</i>. At the end of a certain +time there is a pause, and they light their pipes and smoke for about +five minutes, then the paddles go off merrily again, at the rate of +about fifty strokes in a minute, and we absolutely seem to fly over the +water. "Trois pipes" are about twelve miles. We breakfasted this morning +on a little island of exceeding beauty, rising precipitately from the +water. In front we had the open lake, lying blue, and bright, and +serene, under the morning sky, and the eastern extremity of the +Manitoolin Island; and islands all around as far as we could see. The +feeling of remoteness, of the profound solitude, added to the sentiment +of beauty: it was nature in her first freshness and innocence, as she +came from the hand of her Maker, and before she had been sighed upon by +humanity—defiled at once, and sanctified by the contact. Our little +island abounded with beautiful shrubs, flowers, green mosses, and +scarlet lichens. I found a tiny recess, where I made my bath and +toilette very comfortably. On returning, I found breakfast laid on a +piece of rock; my seat, with my pillow and cloak all nicely arranged, +and a bouquet of flowers lying on it. This was a never-failing +<i>galanterie</i>, sometimes from one, sometimes from another of my numerous +<i>cavaliers</i>.</p> + +<h3>GROUP OF ISLANDS.</h3> + +<p>This day we had a most delightful run among hundreds of islands; +sometimes darting through narrow rocky channels, so narrow that I could +not see the water on either side of the canoe; and then emerging, we +glided through vast fields of white water-lilies; it was perpetual +variety, perpetual beauty, perpetual delight and enchantment, from hour +to hour. The men sang their gay French songs, the other canoe joining +in the chorus.</p> + +<p>This peculiar singing has often been described; it is very animated on +the water and in the open air, but not very harmonious. They all sing in +unison, raising their voices and marking the time with their paddles. +One always led, but in these there was a diversity of taste and skill. +If I wished to hear "En roulant ma boule, roulette," I applied to Le +Duc. Jacques excelled in "La belle rose blanche," and Lewis was great in +"Trois canards s'en vont baignant."</p> + +<p>They often amused me by a specimen of dexterity, something like that of +an accomplished whip in London. They would paddle up towards the rocky +shore with such extreme velocity, that I expected to be dashed on the +rock, and then in a moment, by a simultaneous back-stroke of the paddle, +stop with a jerk, which made me breathless.</p> + +<p>My only discomposure arose from the destructive propensities of the +gentlemen, all keen and eager sportsmen; the utmost I could gain from +their mercy was, that the fish should gasp to death out of my sight, and +the pigeons and the wild ducks be put out of pain instantly. I will, +however, acknowledge, that when the bass-fish and pigeons were produced, +broiled and fried, they looked so <i>appétissants</i>, smelt so savoury, and +I was <i>so</i> hungry, that I soon forgot all my sentimental pity for the +victims.</p> + +<p>We found to-day, on a rock, the remains of an Indian lodge, over which +we threw a sail-cloth, and dined luxuriously on our fish and pigeons, +and a glass of good madeira. After dinner, the men dashed off with great +animation, singing my favourite ditty,</p> + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Si mon moine voulait danser,</span> +<span class="i0"> Un beau cheval lui donnerai!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>through groups of lovely islands, sometimes scattered wide, and +sometimes clustered so close, that I often mistook twenty or thirty +together for one large island; but on approaching nearer, they opened +before us and appeared intersected by winding labyrinthine channels, +where, amid flags and water-lilies, beneath the shade of rich +embowering foliage, we glided on our way; and then we came upon a wide +open space, where we could feel the heave of the waters under us, and +across which the men—still singing with untiring vivacity—paddled with +all their might to reach the opposite islands before sunset. The moment +it becomes too dark for our steersman to see <i>through</i> the surface of +the water, it becomes in the highest degree dangerous to proceed; such +is the frail texture of these canoes, that a pin's point might scratch a +hole in the bottom; a sunk rock, or a <i>snag</i> or projecting bough—and +often we glided within an inch of them—had certainly swamped us.</p> + +<p>We passed this day two Indian sepulchres, on a point of rock, with the +sparkling waters murmuring round it, and over-shadowed by birch and +pine. I landed to examine them. The Indians cannot here <i>bury</i> their +dead, there not being a sufficiency of earth to cover them from sight, +but they lay the body, wrapped up carefully in bark, on the flat rock, +and then cover it over with rocks and stones. This was the tomb of a +woman and her child, and fragments of the ornaments and other things +buried with them were still perceptible.</p> + +<p>We landed at sunset on a flat ledge of rock, free from bushes, which we +avoided as much as possible, from fear of mosquitoes and rattle-snakes; +and while the men pitched the marquees and cooked supper, I walked and +mused.</p> + +<p>I wish I could give you the least idea of the beauty of this evening; +but while I try to put in words what was before me, the sense of its +ineffable loveliness overpowers me <i>now</i> even as it did then. The sun +had set in that cloudless splendour, and that peculiar blending of rose +and amber light that belongs only to these climes and Italy; the lake +lay weltering under the western sky like a bath of molten gold; the +rocky islands which studded its surface were of a dense purple, except +where their edges seemed fringed with fire. They assumed, to the +visionary eye, strange forms; some were like great horned beetles, and +some like turtles, and some like crocodiles, and some like sleeping +whales, and winged fishes. The foliage upon them resembled dorsal fins, +and sometimes tufts of feathers: then, as the purple shadows came +darkening from the east, the young crescent moon showed herself, +flinging a paly splendour over the water. I remember standing on the +shore, "my spirits as in a dream were all bound up," and overcome by +such an intense feeling of <i>the beautiful</i>, such a deep adoration for +the power that had created it, I must have suffocated if——</p> + +<p>But why tell <i>you</i> this?</p> + +<p>They pitched my tent at a <i>respectful</i> distance from the rest, and made +me a delicious elastic bed of some boughs, over which was spread a +bear-skin, and over that blankets: but the night was hot and feverish. +The voyageurs, after rowing since daylight, were dancing and singing on +the shore till near midnight.</p> + +<p>Next morning we were off again at early dawn, paddled "trois pipes" +before breakfast, over an open space which they call a "traverse," +caught eleven bass-fish, and shot two pigeons. The island on which we +breakfasted was in great part white marble; and in the clefts and +hollows grew quantities of gooseberries and raspberries, wild roses, the +crimson columbine, a large species of harebell, a sort of willow, +juniper, birch, and stunted pine, and such was the usual vegetation.</p> + +<p>It is beautiful to see in these islands the whole process of preparatory +vegetation unfolded and exemplified before one's eyes, each successive +growth preparing a soil for that which is to follow.</p> + +<p>There was first the naked rock washed by the spray, where the white +gulls were sitting: then you saw the rock covered with some moss or +lichens; then in the clefts and seams, some long grass, a few wild +flowers and strawberries; then a few juniper and rose bushes; then the +dwarf pine, hardly rising two or three feet, and lastly trees and shrubs +of large growth; and the nearer to the mainland, the richer of course +the vegetation, for the seeds are wafted thence by the winds, or carried +by the birds, and so dispersed from island to island.</p> + +<h3>ISLAND OF SKULLS.</h3> + +<p>We landed to-day on the "Island of Skulls," an ancient sepulchre of the +Hurons. Some skulls and bones were scattered about, with the rough +stones which had once been heaped over them. The spot was most wild and +desolate, rising from the water edge in successive ledges of rock to a +considerable height, with a few blasted gray pines here and there, +round which several pair of hawks were wheeling and uttering their +shrill cry. We all declared we would not dine on this ominous island, +and proceeded. We doubled a remarkable cape mentioned by Henry as the +<i>Pointe aux Grondines</i>. There is always a heavy swell here, and a +perpetual sound of breakers on the rocks, whence its name. Only a few +years ago a trader in his canoe, with sixteen people, were wrecked and +lost on this spot.</p> + +<p>We also passed within some miles of the mouth of the Rivière des +Français, the most important of all the rivers which flow into Lake +Huron.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> It forms the line of communication for the north-west traders +from Montreal; the common route is up the Ottawa River, across Lake +Nippissing, and down the River Français into Lake Huron, and by the +Sault-Sainte-Marie into Lake Superior. Pray have a map before you during +this voyage.</p> + +<p>Leaving behind this cape and river, we came again upon lovely groups of +Elysian islands, channels winding among rocks and foliage, and more +fields of water-lilies. In passing through a beautiful channel, I had an +opportunity of seeing the manner in which an Indian communicates with +his friends when <i>en route</i>. A branch was so arranged as to project far +across the water and catch the eye: in a cleft at the extremity a piece +of birch bark was stuck with some hieroglyphic marks scratched with red +ochre, of which we could make nothing—one figure, I thought, +represented a fish.</p> + +<p>To-day we caught eleven bass, shot four pigeons, also a large +water-snake—which last I thought a gratuitous piece of cruelty. We +dined upon a large and picturesque island—large in comparison with +those we usually selected, being perhaps two or three miles round; it +was very woody and wild, intersected by deep ravines, and rising in +bold, abrupt precipices. We dined luxuriously under a group of trees: +the heat was overpowering, and the mosquitoes very troublesome.</p> + +<p>After dinner we pursued our course through an archipelago of islets, +rising out of the blue waves, and fringed with white water-lilies. +Little fairy Edens, of such endless variety in form and colour, and of +such wondrous and fantastic beauty, I know not how to describe them.</p> + +<p>We landed on one, where there was a rock so exactly resembling the head +and part of a turtle, that I could have taken it for sculpture. The +Indians look upon it as sacred, and it is customary for all who pass to +leave an offering in money, tobacco, corn, &c., to the spirit. I duly +left mine, but I could see by the laughing eyes of Jacques and Louis, +that "the spirit" was not likely to be the better for my devotion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jarvis asked me to sing a French song for the voyageurs, and Louis +looked back with his bright arch face, as much as to say, "Pray do," +when a shout was heard from the other canoe "A mink! A mink!"<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> and +all the paddles were now in animated motion. We dashed up among the +reeds, we chased the creature up and down, and at last to a hole under a +rock; the voyageurs beat the reeds with their paddles, the gentlemen +seized their guns; there were twenty-one men half frantic in pursuit of +a wretched little creature, whose death could serve no purpose. It +dived, but rose a few yards farther, and was seen making for the land: a +shot was fired, it sprang from the water; another, and it floated +dead;—thus we repaid the beauty, and enjoyment, and lavish loveliness +spread around us with pain and with destruction.</p> + +<p>I recollect that as we passed a lovely bit of an island, all bordered +with flags and white lilies, we saw a beautiful wild-duck emerge from a +green covert, and lead into the lake a numerous brood of ducklings. It +was a sight to touch the heart with a tender pleasure, and I pleaded +hard, very hard, for mercy; but what thorough sportsman ever listened to +such a word? The deadly guns were already levelled, and even while I +spoke, the poor mother-bird was shot, and the little ones, which could +not fly, went fluttering and scudding away into the open lake, to +perish miserably.</p> + +<p>But what was really very touching was to see the poor gulls: sometimes +we would startle a whole bevy of them as they were floating gracefully +on the waves, and they would rise soaring away beyond our reach; but the +voyageurs suspending their paddles, imitated exactly their own soft low +whistle; and then the wretched, foolish birds, just as if they had been +so many women, actually wheeled round in the air, and came flying back +to meet the "fiery wound."</p> + +<p>The voyageurs eat these gulls, in spite of their fishy taste, with great +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>I wonder how it is that some of those gentry whom I used to see in +London, looking as though they would give an empire for a new pleasure +or a new sensation, do not come here? If epicures, they should come to +eat white-fish and beavers' tails; if sportsmen, here is a very paradise +for bear-hunting, deer-hunting, otter-hunting;—and wild-fowl in +thousands, and fish in shoals; and if they be contemplative lovers of +the picturesque, <i>blasés</i> with Italy and elbowed out of Switzerland, let +them come here and find the true philosopher's stone—or rather the true +elixir of life—<i>novelty!</i></p> + +<h3>THE BEAR ISLANDS.</h3> + +<p>At sunset we encamped on a rocky island of most fantastic form, like a +Z. They pitched my tent on a height, and close to the door was a +precipitous descent into a hollow, where they lighted vast fires, and +thus kept off the mosquitoes, which were in great force. I slept well, +but towards morning some creature crept into my tent and over my bed—a +snake, as I supposed; after this I slept no more.</p> + +<p>We started at half-past four. Hitherto the weather had been glorious; +but this morning the sun rose among red and black clouds, fearfully +ominous. As we were turning a point under some lofty rocks, we heard the +crack of a rifle, and saw an Indian leaping along the rocks, and down +towards the shore. We rowed in, not knowing what it meant, and came upon +a night-camp of Indians, part of the tribe of Aisence (the Clam). They +had only hailed us to make some trifling inquiries; and I heard Louis, +sotto voce, send them <i>au diable</i>!—for now the weather lowered darker +and darker, and every moment was precious.</p> + +<p>We breakfasted on an island almost covered with flowers, some gorgeous, +and strange, and unknown, and others sweet and familiar; plenty of the +wild pea, for instance, and wild-roses, of which I had many offerings. I +made my toilette in a recess among some rocks; but just as I was +emerging from my primitive dressing-room, I felt a few drops of rain, +and saw too clearly that our good fortune was at an end. We swallowed a +hasty breakfast, and had just time to arrange ourselves in the canoe +with all the available defences of cloaks and umbrellas, when the rain +came down heavily and hopelessly. But notwithstanding the rain and the +dark gray sky, the scenery was even more beautiful than ever. The +islands were larger, and assumed a richer appearance; the trees were of +more luxuriant growth, no longer the dwarfed pine, but lofty oak and +maple. These are called the Bear Islands, from the number of those +animals found upon them; old Solomon told me that an Indian whom he knew +had shot nine bears in the course of a single day. We found three bears' +heads stuck upon the boughs of a dead pine—probably as offerings to the +souls of the slaughtered animals, or to the "Great Spirit," both being +usual.</p> + +<p>We dined on a wet rock, almost covered with that species of lichen which +the Indians call wa,ac, and the Canadians <i>tripe de roche</i>, because, +when boiled till soft, and then fried in grease, it makes a dish not +unpalatable—when one has nothing else.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> The Clam and some of his +people landed and dined at the same time. After dinner the rain came on +worse and worse. Old Solomon asked me once or twice how I felt; and I +thought his anxiety for my health was caused by the rain; but no; he +told me that on the island where we had dined he had observed a great +quantity of a certain plant, which, if only touched, causes a dreadful +eruption and ulcer all over the body. I asked why he had not shown it to +me, and warned me against it? he replied, that such warning would only +have increased the danger, for when there is any knowledge or +apprehension of it existing in the mind, the very air blowing from it +sometimes infects the frame. Here I appealed to Mr. Jarvis, who replied, +"All I know is, that I once unconsciously touched a leaf of it, and +became one ulcer from head to foot; I could not stir for a +fortnight."<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>This was a dreadful day, for the rain came on more violently, +accompanied by a storm of wind. It was necessary to land early, and make +our fires for the night. The good-natured men were full of anxiety and +compassion for me, poor, lonely, shivering woman that I was in the midst +of them! The first thought with every one was to place me under shelter, +and my tent was pitched instantly with such zeal, and such activity, +that the sense of inconvenience and suffering was forgotten in the +thankful sense of kindness, and all things became endurable.</p> + +<p>The tent was pitched on a height, so that the water ran off on all +sides: I contrived for myself a dry bed, and Mr. Jarvis brought me some +hot madeira. I rolled myself up in my German blanket, and fell into a +deep, sound sleep. The voyageurs, who apparently need nothing but their +own good spirits to feed and clothe them, lighted a great fire, turned +the canoes upside down, and, sheltered under them, were heard singing +and laughing during great part of this tempestuous night.</p> + +<p>Next morning we were off by five o'clock. My beautiful lake looked +horribly sulky, and all the little islands were lost in a cold gray +vapour: we were now in the Georgian Bay. Through the misty atmosphere +loomed a distant shore of considerable height. Dupré told me that what I +saw was the Isle des Chrétiens, and that formerly there was a large +settlement of the Jesuits there, and that still there were to be seen +the remains of "une grande cathédrale." About nine o'clock we entered +the bay of Penetanguishene, so called from a high sand-bank at the +entrance, which is continually crumbling away. The expressive Indian +name signifies "Look! it is falling sand!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>PENETANGUISHENE.</h3> + +<p>We spent the greater part of two days at Penetanguishene, which is truly +a most lovely spot. The bay runs up into the land like some of the +Scottish lochs, and the shores are bolder and higher than usual, and as +yet all clothed with the primeval forest. During the war there were +dockyards and a military and naval depôt here, maintained at an immense +expense to government; and it is likely, from its position, to rise into +a station of great importance; at present, the only remains of all the +warlike demonstrations of former times are a sloop sunk and rotting in +the bay, and a large stone-building at the entrance, called the "Fort," +but merely serving as barracks for a few soldiers from the garrison at +Toronto. There are several pretty houses on the beautiful declivity, +rising on the north side of the bay, and the families settled here have +contrived to assemble round them many of the comforts and elegancies of +life. I have reason to remember with pleasure a Russian lady, the wife +of an English officer, who made my short sojourn here very agreeable.</p> + +<p>There was an inn here, not the worst of Canadian inns; and the <i>wee</i> +closet called a bed-room, and the little bed with its white cotton +curtains appeared to me the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of luxury. I recollect +walking in and out of the room ten times a day for the mere pleasure of +contemplating it, and anticipated with impatience the moment when I +should throw myself down into it, and sleep once more on a christian +bed. But nine nights passed in the open air, or on rocks, and on boards, +had spoiled me for the comforts of civilisation, and to sleep <i>on a bed</i> +was impossible; I was smothered, I was suffocated, and altogether +wretched and fevered;—I sighed for my rock on Lake Huron.</p> + +<h3>THE COMMUTED PENSIONERS.</h3> + +<p>At Penetanguishene there is a hamlet, consisting of twenty or thirty +log-houses, where a small remnant of the poor commuted pensioners (in +all a hundred and twenty-six persons) now reside, receiving daily +rations of food, and some little clothing, just sufficient to sustain +life.</p> + +<p>From some particular circumstances the case of these commuted pensioners +was frequently brought under my observation while I was in Canada, and +excited my strongest interest and compassion. I shall give you a brief +sketch of this tragedy, for such it truly is; not by way of exciting +sympathy, which can now avail nothing, but because it is in many points +of view fraught with instruction.</p> + +<p>The commuted pensioners were veteran soldiers, entitled to a small +yearly pension for wounds or length of service, and who accepted the +offer made to them by our government in 1832, to commute their pensions +for four years' purchase, and a grant of one hundred acres of land in +Canada.</p> + +<p>The <i>intention</i> of the government seems to have been to send out +able-bodied men, who would thus cease, after a few years, to be a +burthen on the country. A part of the money due to them was to be +deducted for their voyage and expenses out; of the remaining sum a part +was to be paid in London, part at Quebec, and the rest when settled on +the land awarded to them. These <i>intentions</i> sound well; unluckily they +were not properly acted upon. Some received the whole of the money due +to them in England, and drank themselves to death, or squandered it, and +then refused to leave the country. Some drank themselves to death, or +died of the cholera, at Quebec; and of those who came out, one half were +described to me<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> as presenting a list of all the miseries and +diseases incident to humanity—some with one arm, some with one leg, +bent with old age or rheumatism, lame, halt, and even, will it be +believed, blind!<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> And such were the men to be set down in the midst +of the swamp and forest, there to live as they could. When some few, +who had been more provident, presented themselves to the commissary at +Toronto for payment of the rest of the money due to them, it was found +that the proper papers had not been forwarded; they were written for to +the Chelsea Board, which had to apply to the War-office, which had to +apply to the Treasury: the papers, after being bandied about from office +to office, from clerk to secretary, from secretary to clerk, were sent, +at length, after a lapse of eight or ten months, during which time the +poor men, worn out with suspense, had taken to begging, or to drinking, +in utter despondency; and when the order for their money <i>did</i> at last +arrive, they had become useless, abandoned creatures.</p> + +<p>Those who were located were sent far up into the bush (there being no +disposable government lands nearer), where there were no roads, no +markets for their produce if they <i>did</i> raise it; and in this new +position, if their hearts did not sink, and their limbs fail at once, +their ignorance of farming, their improvidence and helplessness, arising +from the want of self-dependence, and the mechanical docility of +military service, were moral obstacles stronger than any physical ones. +The forest-trees they had to contend with were not more deeply rooted +than the adverse habits and prejudices and infirmities they had brought +with them.</p> + +<p>According to the commissary, the number of those who commuted their +pensions was about twelve hundred. Of these it is calculated that eight +hundred reached Upper Canada; of these eight hundred, not more than four +hundred and fifty are now living; and of these, some are begging through +the townships, living on public charity: some are at Penetanguishene: +and the greater part of those located on their land, have received from +time to time rations of food, in order to avert "impending starvation." +To bring them up from Quebec during the dreadful cholera season in 1832, +was a heavy expense to the colony, and now they are likely to become a +permanent burthen upon the colonial funds, there being no military funds +to which they can be charged.</p> + +<p>I make no reflection on the commuting the pensions of these poor men at +four instead of seven years' purchase: many of the men I saw did not +know what was meant by <i>commuting their pension:</i> they thought they +merely gave up their pension for four years, and were then to receive it +again; they knew nothing of Canada—had never heard of it—had a vague +idea that a very fine offer was made, which it would be foolish to +refuse. They were like children—which, indeed, disbanded soldiers and +sailors usually are.</p> + +<p>All that benevolence and prudence <i>could</i> suggest, was done for them by +Sir John Colborne<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a>: he aided them largely from his own purse—himself +a soldier and a brave one, as well as a good man—the wrongs and +miseries of these poor soldiers wrung his very heart. The strongest +remonstrances and solicitations to the heads of the government at home +were sent over in their behalf; but there came a change of ministry; the +thing once done, could not be undone—redress was nobody's business—the +mother country had got rid of a burthen, and it had fallen on Canada; +and so the matter ended;—that is, as far as it concerned the Treasury +and the War-office; but the tragedy has not yet ended <i>here</i>. Sir +Francis Head, who never can allude to the subject without emotion and +indignation, told me, that when he was at Penetanguishene last year, the +poor veterans attempted to get up a feeble cheer in his honour, but, in +doing so, the half of them fell down. "It was too much for me—too +much," added he, with the tears actually in his eyes. As for Sir John +Colborne, the least allusion to the subject seemed to give him a twinge +of pain.</p> + +<p>From this sum of mischief and misery you may subtract a few instances +where the men have done better; one of these I had occasion to mention. +I have heard of two others, and there may be more, but the general case +is as I have stated it.</p> + +<p>These were the men who fought our battles in Egypt, Spain, and France! +and here is a new page for Alfred de Vigny's "Servitude et Grandeur +Militaire!" But do you not think it includes another lesson? That this +amount of suffering, and injury, and injustice can be inflicted, from +the errors, ignorance, and remoteness of the home government, and that +the responsibility apparently rests nowhere—and that nowhere lies +redress—seems to me a very strange, a very lamentable state of things, +and what <i>ought</i> not to be.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>DRIVE OVER THE NARROWS.</h3> + +<p>Our voyageurs had spent the day in various excesses, and next morning +were still half tipsy, lazy, and out of spirits, except Le Duc; he was +the only one I could persuade to sing, as we crossed Gloucester Bay from +Penetanguishene to Coldwater. This bay abounds in sturgeon, which are +caught and cured in large quantities by the neighbouring settlers; some +weigh ninety and one hundred pounds.</p> + +<p>At Matchadash (which signifies "bad and swampy place") we had nearly +lost our way among the reeds.</p> + +<p>There is a portage here of sixteen miles across the forest to the +Narrows, at the head of Lake Simcoe. The canoe and baggage were laid on +a cart, and drawn by oxen; the gentlemen walked, as I must also have +done, if a Methodist preacher of the neighbourhood had not kindly +brought his little waggon and driven me over the portage. We stopped +about half-way at his log-hut in the wilderness, where I found his wife, +a pretty, refined looking woman, and five or six lovely children, of all +ages and sizes. They entertained me with their best, and particularly +with delicious preserves, made of the wood-strawberries and raspberries, +boiled with the maple sugar.</p> + +<p>The country here (after leaving the low swamps) is very rich, and the +settlers fast increasing. During the last winter the bears had the +audacity to carry off some heifers to the great consternation of the new +settlers, and the wolves did much mischief. I inquired about the Indian +settlements at Coldwater and the Narrows; but the accounts were not +encouraging. I had been told, as a proof of the advancement of the +Indians, that they had here saw-mills and grist-mills. I now learned +that they had a saw-mill and a grist-mill built for them, which they +never used themselves, but <i>let out</i> to the white settlers at a certain +rate. The road through the forest was bordered in many places by wild +raspberry bushes, bearing fruit as fine, and large, and abundant as any +I have seen in our gardens.</p> + +<p>In spite of the mosquitoes, my drive was very pleasant; for my companion +was good-natured, intelligent, and communicative, and gave me a most +interesting, but rather sad, account of his missionary adventures. The +road was, <i>as usual</i>, most detestable. We passed a lovely little lake +called Bass Lake, from the numbers of these fish found in it; and +arrived late at the inn at the Narrows. Though much fatigued, I was kept +awake nearly the whole night by the sounds of drunken revelry in the +room below. Many of the settlers in the neighbourhood are discharged +soldiers and half-pay officers, who have received grants of land; and, +removed from all social intercourse and all influence of opinion, many +have become reckless and habitual drunkards. The only salvation of a man +here is to have a wife and children; the poor wife must make up her mind +to lead a hard life; but the children are almost <i>sure</i> to do well—that +is, if they have intelligent parents: it is the very land for the young, +and the enterprising. I used to hear parents regret that they could not +give what is called a <i>good</i> education to their children: but where +there are affection and common sense, and a boundless nature round them, +and the means of health and subsistence, which (with common industry) +all can command here, it seems that education—<i>i. e.</i> the development +of all the faculties in a direction suited to the country in which they +are to exist—comes of course. I saw an example of this in the excellent +family at Erindale; but those persons are unfortunate and miserable, and +truly pitiable, who come here with habits previously formed, and unable +to adapt themselves to an entirely new existence—of such I saw too +many. My landlady gave me no agreeable picture of the prevalent habits +of the settlers round this place; the riot of which I complained was of +nightly occurrence.</p> + +<h3>LAKE CUCHUCHING.</h3> + +<p>Next day we went on a fishing and shooting excursion to Lake Cuchuching, +and to see the beautiful rapids of the river Severn, the outlet from +these lakes into Lake Huron. If I had not exhausted all my superlatives +of delight, I could be eloquent on the charms of this exquisite little +lake, and the wild beauty of the rapids. Of our <i>sport</i>, I only +recollect the massacre of a dozen snakes, which were holding a kind of +conversazione in the hollow of a rocky islet where we landed to dine. +The islands in Lake Cuchuching belong to the Indian chief, the +Yellow-head; and I understand that he and others of his tribe have +lately petitioned for <i>legal titles</i> to their reserved lands. They +represent to their Father the governor that their prosperity is retarded +from the circumstance of their not having titles to their lands, like +their white brethren. They say, "Many of our young men, and some of our +chiefs, fear that the time will arrive when our white brethren will +possess themselves of our farms; whereas, if our Father the governor +would be pleased to grant us titles, we should work with more +confidence,"—and they <i>humbly</i> entreat (these original lords of the +soil!) as a particular boon, that their "little bits of land" may be +secured to their children and posterity for ever.</p> + +<p>Next morning we embarked on board the Peter Robinson steamer, and +proceeded down Lake Simcoe. This most beautiful piece of water is above +forty miles in length, and about twenty in breadth, and is in winter so +firmly frozen over, that it is crossed in sledges in every direction. +The shores are flat and fertile; and we passed a number of clearings, +some very extensive. On a point projecting into the lake, and surrounded +by cleared land, a village has been laid out, and some houses built. I +went into one of them to rest while they were taking in wood, and found +there the works of Shakspeare and Walter Scott, and a good guitar; but +the family were absent.</p> + +<h3>REACH THE HOLLAND LANDING.</h3> + +<p>We reached the Holland Landing, at the southern extremity of the lake, +about three o'clock; and the rest of our way lay through the Home +District, and through some of the finest land and most prosperous +estates in Upper Canada. It was a perpetual succession, not of +clearings, such as I had seen of late, but of well-cultivated farms. The +vicinity of the capital, and an excellent road leading to it (called +Yonge Street), have raised the value of landed property here, and some +of the farmers are reputed rich men.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jarvis gave me an account of an Irish emigrant, a labouring man, who +had entered his service some years ago as teamster (or carter); he was +then houseless and penniless. Seven years afterwards the same man was +the proprietor of a farm of two hundred acres of cleared and cropped +land, on which he could proudly set his foot, and say, "It is mine, and +my children's after me!"</p> + +<h3>ARRIVE HOME AT TORONTO.</h3> + +<p>At three o'clock in the morning, just as the moon was setting in Lake +Ontario, I arrived at the door of my own house in Toronto, having been +absent on this wild expedition just two months.</p> + + +<br /><br /> +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + +<br /><br /> +<h5><span class="smcap">London:<br /> +Spottiswoodes</span> and <span class="smcap">Shaw</span>,<br /> +New-street-Square.</h5> + + +<br /><br /> +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Through all these districts there are now railroads, and +every facility for comfortable travelling.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Now removed to Kingston, though some of the courts of law +still remain at Toronto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The notes thrown together here are the result of three +different visits to the Credit, and information otherwise obtained.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> In this river the young sportsmen of the family had speared +two hundred salmon in a single night. The salmon-hunts in Canada are +exactly like that described so vividly in Guy Mannering. The fish thus +caught is rather a large species of trout than genuine salmon. The sport +is most exciting.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Among the addresses presented to Sir Francis Head in 1836, +was one from the coloured inhabitants of this part of the province, +signed by four hundred and thirty-one individuals, most of them refugees +from the United States, or their descendants.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Near this place lived and died the chief Red-jacket, one of +the last and greatest specimens of the Indian patriot and warrior.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> That is, the better class of them. In some parts of Upper +Canada, the stage-coaches conveying the mail were large oblong wooden +boxes, formed of a few planks nailed together and placed on wheels, into +which you entered by the windows, there being no doors to open and shut, +and no springs. Two or three seats were suspended inside on leather +straps. The travellers provided their own buffalo-skins or cushions to +sit on.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> From its resemblance in form to a shoe, this splendid +flower bears every where the same name. The English call it +lady's-slipper; the Indians know it as the moccasin flower.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The average produce of an acre of land is greater +throughout Canada than in England. In these western districts greater +than in the rest of Canada.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Of the commuted pensioners, and their fate in Canada, more +will be said hereafter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> When I remonstrated against this name for so beautiful a +stream, Colonel Talbot told me that his first settlers had found a +kettle on the bank, left by some Indians, and had given the river, from +this slight circumstance, a name which he had not thought it worth while +to alter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Vide Sartor Resartus.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Dr. Dunlop.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Dick Talbot married Frances Jennings—la belle Jennings of +De Grammont's Memoirs, and elder sister of the celebrated Duchess of +Marlborough.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The war of 1812.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> We should perhaps read, "An entire absence of all +knowledge of a Supreme Being, as revealed to us in the gospel of +Christ;" for I never heard of any tribe of north-west Indians, however +barbarous, who had not the notion of a God (the Great Spirit), and of a +future life.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The Indian village of Lorette, near Quebec, which I +visited subsequently, is a case in point. Seven hundred Indians, a +wretched remnant of the Huron tribe, had once been congregated there +under the protection of the Jesuits, and had always been cited as +examples of what might be accomplished in the task of conversion and +civilisation. When I was there, the number was under two hundred; many +of the huts deserted, the inhabitants having fled to the woods and taken +up the hunter's life again; in those who remained, there was scarce a +trace of native Indian blood.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Most of the small steam-boats on the American lakes have +high-pressure engines, which make a horrible and perpetual snorting like +the engine on a railroad.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Vide Historical Sketches of Michigan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> "<span class="smcap">Home</span>," by Miss Sedgwick.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> This was written on the spot. Since the troubles in Upper +Canada, it is understood to be the intention of the governor to fortify +this coast.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> I learned subsequently, that the cone-like form of the +wigwam is proper to the Ottawas and Pottowottomies, and that the oblong +form, in which the branches or poles are bent over at top in an arch, is +proper to the Chippewa tribe. But as this latter is more troublesome to +erect, the former construction is usually adopted by the Chippewas also +in their temporary encampments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> This universal Indian salutation is merely a corruption of +<i>bon jour</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Michilimackinac was one of the forts surprised by the +Indians at the breaking out of the Pontiac war, when seventy British +soldiers with their officers were murdered and scalped. Henry gives a +most vivid description of this scene of horror in few words. He was +present, and escaped, through the friendship of an Indian (Wa,wa,tam) +who, in consequence of a dream in early youth, had adopted him as his +brother.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> In 1828, Major Anderson, our Indian agent, computed the +number of Canadians and mixed breed married to Indian women, and +residing on the north shores of Lake Huron, and in the neighbourhood of +Michilimackinac, at nine hundred. This he called the <i>lowest</i> estimate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See Henry's Travels, p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> The skin or blanket suspended before the opening.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> This custom is universal among the Chippewas and their +kindred tribes. At a certain age, about twelve or fourteen, the youth or +girl is shut up in a separate lodge to fast and dream. The usual term is +from three to five or six days, or even longer. The object which during +this time is most frequently presented in sleep—the disturbed feverish +sleep of an exhausted frame and excited imagination—is the tutelary +spirit or manito of the future life: it is the sun or moon or evening +star; an eagle, a moose deer, a crane, a bat, &c. Wa,wa,tam, the Indian +friend of Henry the traveller, had dreamed of a white man, whom the +Great Spirit brought to him in his hand and presented as his brother. +This dream saved Henry's life.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> History of the Moravian Missions. Mr. Schoolcraft</p></div>. + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> I have heard the particulars of this wild story of the +origin of the white-fish, but cannot remember them. I think the woman +was put to death by her sons. Most of the above particulars I learned +from oral communication, and from some of the papers published by Mr. +Schoolcraft. This gentleman and others instituted a society at Detroit +(1832), called the <i>Algic Society</i>, for "evangelising the north-western +tribes, inquiring into their history and superstitions, and promoting +education, agriculture, industry, peace, and temperance among them."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> "One of the most distinguished men of the age, who has +left a reputation which will be as lasting as it is great, was, when a +boy, in constant fear of a very able but unmerciful schoolmaster, and in +the state of mind which that constant fear produced, he fixed upon a +great spider for his fetish (or manito), and used every day to pray to +it that he might not be flogged."—<i>The Doctor</i>, vol. v. +</p><p> +When a child, I was myself taken to a witch (or medicine woman) to be +cured of an accidental burn by charms and incantations. I was then about +six years old, and have a very distinct recollection of the whole +scene, which left a strong and frightful impression on my childish +fancy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> The picture by Weir, in the possession of Samuel Ward, +Esq., of New York, which see—or rather see the beautiful lines of +Halleck:—</p> +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"If he were with me, King of Tuscarora!</span> +<span class="i2">Gazing as I upon thy portrait now,</span> +<span class="i0"> In all its medalled, fring'd, and beaded glory,</span> +<span class="i2">Its eyes' dark beauty and its tranquil brow—</span> +<span class="i0"> Its brow, half martial, and half diplomatic,</span> +<span class="i2">Its eye, upsoaring like an eagle's wings—</span> +<span class="i0"> Well might he boast that we, the democratic,</span> +<span class="i2">Outrival Europe, even in our kings!"</span> +</div></div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Since my return to England I found the following passage +in the Morning Chronicle, extracted from the American papers:——"The +Indians of Michigan have committed several shocking murders, in +consequence of the payments due to them on land-treaties being made in +goods instead of money. Serious alarm on that subject prevails in the +State." +</p><p> +The wretched individuals murdered were probably settlers, quite innocent +in this business, probably women and children; but such is the +<i>well-known</i> Indian law of retaliation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The Indians gave the name of Cheemokomaun (Long Knives, or +<i>Big Knives</i>) to the Americans at the time they were defeated by General +Wayne, near the Miami river, in 1795, and suffered so severely from the +<i>sabres</i> of the cavalry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> As I shall have much to say hereafter of this peculiar +class of people, to save both reader and author time and trouble, the +passage is here given:— +</p><p> +"The voyageurs form a kind of confraternity in the Canadas, like the +arrieros or carriers of Spain. The dress of these people is generally +half civilised, half savage. They wear a capote or surcoat, made of a +blanket, a striped cotton shirt, cloth trowsers or leathern leggings, +moccasins of deer-skin, and a belt of variegated worsted, from which are +suspended the knife, tobacco-pouch, and other articles. Their language +is of the same piebald character, being a French patois embroidered with +English and Italian words and phrases. They are generally of French +descent, and inherit much of the gaiety and lightness of heart of their +ancestors; they inherit, too, a fund of civility and complaisance, and +instead of that hardness and grossness, which men in laborious life are +apt to indulge towards each other, they are mutually obliging and +accommodating, interchanging kind offices, yielding each other +assistance and comfort in every emergency, and using the familiar +appellations of <i>cousin</i> and <i>brother</i>, when there is in fact no +relationship. No men are more submissive to their leaders and employers, +more capable of enduring hardships, or more good-humoured under +privations. Never are they so happy as when on long and rough +expeditions, towing up rivers or coasting lakes. They are dexterous +boatmen, vigorous and adroit with the oar or paddle, and will row from +morning till night without a murmur. The steersman often sings an old +French song with some regular burthen in which they all join, keeping +time with their oars. If at any time they flag in spirits or relax in +exertion, it is but necessary to strike up a song of this kind to put +them all in fresh spirits and activity."—<span class="smcap">Astoria</span>, vol. i. chap. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> The first British commandant of the fort was that +miserable Lieutenant Jemette, who was scalped at the massacre at +Michilimackinac.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> That is, in the neighbourhood of Lake Ontario and Lake +Erie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> I spell the word as pronounced, never having seen it +written.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> The beaver is, however, becoming rare in these regions. It +is a curious fact connected with the physiology and psychology of +instinct, that the beaver is found to change its instincts and modes of +life, as it has been more and more persecuted, and, instead of being a +gregarious, it is now a solitary animal. The beavers, which are found +living in solitary holes instead of communities and villages, the +Indians call by a name which signifies <i>Old Bachelor</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> "The whole history of Indian warfare," says Mr. +Schoolcraft, "might be challenged in vain for a solitary instance of +this kind. The Indians believe that to take a dishonourable advantage of +their female prisoners would destroy their luck in hunting; it would be +considered as effeminate and degrading in a warrior, and render him +unfit for, and unworthy of, all manly achievement."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> "The total descent of the Fall of St. Mary's has been +ascertained to be twenty-two and a half perpendicular feet. It has been +found impracticable to ascend the rapid; but canoes have ventured down, +though the experiment is extremely nervous and hazardous, and avoided by +a portage, two miles long, which connects the navigable parts of the +strait."—<i>Bouchette's Canada.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Ant.</i> I know you now, Sir, a gentleman born. +</p><p> +<i>Clo.</i> Aye, that I have been any time these four hours.—<i>Winter's +Tale.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> The name is thus pronounced, but I have seen it spelt +Wabbajik.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> From Mr. Schoolcraft, translated literally by Mrs. +Schoolcraft.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> This amiable and interesting creature died a few years +ago.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> The reader will have the goodness to remark that all this +passage relating to the Queen stands verbatim in the original printed in +1838.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The islands which fringe the north shores of Lake Huron +from Lake George to Penetanguishine have been estimated by Lieut. +Bayfield (in his official survey) at upwards of thirty-three thousand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> It appears, however, from the notes of the missionary +Elliott, that a great number of Ottawas and Portoganasees had been +residing on the Great Manitoolin two or three years previous to 1834, +and had cultivated a portion of land.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> See the Voyage of the Blonde.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> I had once a description of an encounter between my +illustrious grandpapa Waub-Ojeeg and an enormous elk, in which he had to +contend with the infuriated animal, for his very life, for a space of +three hours, and the snows were stained with his blood and that of his +adversary for a hundred yards round. At last, while dodging the elk +round and round a tree, he contrived to tear off the thong from his +moccasin, and with it, to fasten his knife to the end of a stick, and +with this he literally hacked at the creature till it fell from loss of +blood.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Travels up the Missouri.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> The common paddle (called by the Canadians <i>aviron</i>, and +by the Indians <i>abwee</i>) is about two feet and a half long.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> This part of Lake Huron, and indeed all its upper shores, +are very incorrectly laid down in Wyld's map of Upper Canada. +Bouchette's large map, and also a beautiful small one published by +Blackwood in 1833, are much more accurate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> A species of otter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> It is often mentioned in the Travels of Back and +Franklin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> I do not know the botanical name of this plant, which +resembles a dwarf sumach: it was subsequently pointed out to me in the +woods by a Methodist preacher, who told me that his daughter, merely by +standing to windward of the plant while looking at it, suffered +dreadfully. It is said that formerly the Indians used it to poison their +arrows.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> I have these particulars from the chief of the +commissariat in Upper Canada, and the emigrant agent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> One of these men, stone-blind, was begging in the streets +of Toronto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Now Lord Seaton.</p></div> + +</div> + + +<br /><br /> +<b>Transcriber's Notes:</b><br /> +original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in the original<br /> +various pages, "Mac Murray" changed to "MacMurray"<br /> +Page 10, "bnt" changed to "but"<br /> +Page 23, "where the houses a" changed to "where the houses are"<br /> +Page 32, "and our innocnece" changed to "and our innocence"<br /> +Page 34, "Gesprache mit Goethe" changed to "Gespräche mit Goethe"<br /> +Page 44, "ten years ago," changed to "ten years ago."<br /> +Page 49, "Felix Mendelsohn" changed to "Felix Mendelssohn"<br /> +Page 50, "terapin" changed to "terrapin"<br /> +Page 58, "the last war," changed to "the last war"<br /> +Page 65, "so many others;" changed to "so many others,"<br /> +Page 72, "ix Nations." changed to "Six Nations."<br /> +Page 84, "I proceeded" changed to "I proceeded."<br /> +Page 98, "have yet seen" changed to "have yet seen."<br /> +Page 99, "farther to night" changed to "farther to-night"<br /> +Page 121, "n couple of oxen" changed to "a couple of oxen"<br /> +Page 121, "keep of the mosquitoes" changed to "keep off the mosquitoes"<br /> +Page 124, "The war of 1813" changed to "The war of 1812"<br /> +Page 145, "Detroit, June" changed to "Detroit, July"<br /> +Page 149, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for consistency]<br /> +Page 151, "Ottowas" changed to "Ottawas" [Ed. for consistency]<br /> +Page 152, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for consistency]<br /> +Page 161, "music and sing ing" changed to "music and singing"<br /> +Page 170, "June 20" changed to "July 20"<br /> +Page 171, "On the oppsoite side" changed to "On the opposite side"<br /> +Page 182, "had been instructed,," changed to "had been instructed,"<br /> +Page 189, 'left him in peace.' changed to 'left him in peace."'<br /> +Page 200, "brother!—'Never!" changed to "brother!"—'Never!"<br /> +Page 201, "he left the wigwan" changed to "he left the wigwam"<br /> +Page 203, "Wawatam" changed to "Wa,wa,tam"<br /> +Page 234, "Ottagamis" changed to "Ottagamies" [Ed. for consistency]<br /> +Page 236, "Manitooling" changed to "Manitoolin"<br /> +Page 264, "wortle-berries" changed to "whortleberries"<br /> +Page 273 footnote, "Penetanguishnie" changed to "Penetanguishine"<br /> +Page 277, "Pottowottomi" changed to "Pottowottomie" [Ed. for consistency]<br /> +Page 282, "Shinguacose" changed to "Shinguaconse" [Ed. for consistency]<br /> +Page 296, "andfishing tackle" changed to "and fishing tackle"<br /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches in Canada, and rambles among +the red men, by Anna Brownell Jameson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES IN CANADA *** + +***** This file should be named 35224-h.htm or 35224-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/2/35224/ + +Produced by Iona Vaughan, Ross Cooling, Mark Akrigg and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sketches in Canada, and rambles among the red men + +Author: Anna Brownell Jameson + +Release Date: February 9, 2011 [EBook #35224] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES IN CANADA *** + + + + +Produced by Iona Vaughan, Ross Cooling, Mark Akrigg and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + SKETCHES IN CANADA, + + AND + + RAMBLES AMONG THE RED MEN. + + + + + London: + Spottiswoodes and Shaw, + New-street-Square. + + + + + SKETCHES IN CANADA, + + AND + + RAMBLES AMONG THE RED MEN. + + BY MRS. JAMESON. + + + NEW EDITION. + + + LONDON: + LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. + 1852. + + + + + PREFACE. + + +Nobody reads prefaces on a Railway journey. The leaves are turned over +for something to arrest attention, or to dissipate weariness, or to +"fleet the time," which even at railway speed moves slowly compared to +the "march of ideas." It is, however, necessary to state in few words +that these pages are a reprint of the most amusing and interesting +chapters of the "Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada,"--first +published in 1838, in three octavo volumes, favourably received at the +time and now out of print. The Authoress in the original preface to the +work represents herself as "thrown into scenes and regions hitherto +undescribed by any traveller (for the northern shores of Lake Huron are +almost new ground), and into relations with the Indian tribes such as +few European women of refined and civilised habits have ever risked, and +none have recorded;" and the adventures and sketches of character and +scenery among the Red-skins, still retain that freshness which belongs +only to what is genuine. All that was of a merely transient or merely +personal nature, or obsolete in politics or criticism, has been omitted. + +The rest, the book must say for itself. + + + + + SKETCHES IN CANADA, + + &c. + + + TORONTO IN 1837. + + December 20. + +Toronto--such is now the sonorous name of this our sublime capital--was, +thirty years ago, a wilderness, the haunt of the bear and deer, with a +little, ugly, inefficient fort, which, however, could not be more ugly +or inefficient than the present one. Ten years ago Toronto was a +village, with one brick house and four or five hundred inhabitants; five +years ago it became a city, containing about five thousand inhabitants, +and then bore the name of Little York: now it is Toronto, with an +increasing trade, and a population of ten thousand people. So far I +write as _per_ book. + +What Toronto may be in summer, I cannot tell; they say it is a pretty +place. At present its appearance to me, a stranger, is most strangely +mean and melancholy. A little ill-built town, on low land, at the bottom +of a frozen bay, with one very ugly church, without tower or steeple; +some government offices, built of staring red brick, in the most +tasteless, vulgar style imaginable; three feet of snow all around; and +the grey, sullen, wintry lake, and the dark gloom of the pine forest +bounding the prospect: such seems Toronto to me now. I did not expect +much; but for this I was not prepared. + +I know no better way of coming at the truth than by observing and +recording faithfully the impressions made by objects and characters on +my own mind--or, rather, the impress they _receive_ from my own +mind--shadowed by the clouds which pass over its horizon, taking each +tincture of its varying mood--until they emerge into light, to be +corrected, or at least modified, by observation and comparison. Neither +do I know any better way than this of conveying to the mind of another +the truth, and nothing but the truth, if not the whole truth. So I shall +write on. + +There is much in first impressions, and as yet I have not recovered from +the pain and annoyance of my outset here. My friends at New York +expended much eloquence--eloquence wasted in vain!--in endeavouring to +dissuade me from a winter journey to Canada. I listened, and was +grateful for their solicitude, but must own I did not credit the picture +they drew of the difficulties and _desagremens_ I was destined to meet +by the way. I had chosen, they said, the very worst season for a journey +through the state of New York; the usual facilities for travelling were +now suspended; a few weeks sooner the rivers and canals had been open; a +few weeks later the roads, smoothed up with snow, had been in sleighing +order;--now, the navigation was frozen, and the roads so broken up as to +be nearly impassable. Then there was only a night boat on the Hudson, +"to proceed," as the printed paper set forth, "to Albany, _or as far as +the ice permitted_." All this, and more, were represented to me--and +with so much apparent reason and real feeling, and in words and tones so +difficult to resist! But though I could appreciate the kindness of those +persuasive words, they brought no definite idea to my mind; I could form +no notion of difficulties which by fair words, presence of mind, and +money in my pocket, could not be obviated. I had travelled half over the +continent of Europe, often alone, and had never yet been in +circumstances where these availed not. In my ignorance I could conceive +none; but, with the experience I have gained, I would not lightly +counsel a similar journey to any one, certainly not to a woman. + +As we ascended the Hudson in the night, I lost, of course, the view of +that superb scenery which I was assured even winter could not divest of +all its beauty--rather clothed it in a different kind of beauty. At the +very first blush of morning I escaped from the heated cabin, crowded +with listless women and clamorous children, and found my way to the +deck. I was surprised by a spectacle as beautiful as it was new to me. +The Catskill mountains, which we had left behind us in the night, were +still visible, but just melting from the view, robed in a misty purple +light, while our magnificent steamer--the prow armed with a sharp iron +sheath for the purpose--was _crashing_ its way through solid ice four +inches thick, which seemed to close behind us into an adhesive mass, so +that the wake of the vessel was not distinguished a few yards from the +stern: yet in the path thus opened, and only seemingly closed, followed +at some little distance a beautiful schooner and two smaller +steam-vessels. I walked up and down, from the prow to the stern, +refreshed by the keen frosty air, and the excitement caused by various +picturesque effects, on the ice-bound river and the frozen shores, till +we reached Hudson. Beyond this town it was not safe for the boat to +advance, and we were still thirty miles below Albany. After leaving +Hudson (with the exception of the railroad between Albany and Utica), it +was all heavy, weary work; the most painfully fatiguing journey I ever +remember. Such were the roads, that we were once six hours going eleven +miles. What was usually a day's journey from one town, or one good inn, +to another, occupied sometimes a day and a night, or even two days.[1] + +After six days and three nights of this travelling, unrelieved by +companionship, or interest of any kind, I began to sink with fatigue. +The first thing that roused me was our arrival at the ferry of the +Niagara river at Queenston, about seven miles below the Falls. It was a +dark night, and while our little boat was tossed in the eddying waters +and guided by a light to the opposite shore, we could distinctly hear +the deep roar of the cataract, filling, and, as it seemed to me, shaking +the atmosphere around us. That mighty cataract, the dream and vision of +my childhood and youth, so near--yet unseen,--making itself thus heard +and felt,--like Job's vision, consciously present, yet unrevealed and +undiscerned! You may believe that I woke up very decidedly from my +lethargy of weariness to listen to that mysterious voice, which made my +blood pause and thrill. At Queenston we slept, and proceeded next +morning to the town of Niagara on the shore of Lake Ontario. Now, as we +had heard, the navigation on the lake had ceased, and we looked for +nothing better than a further journey of one hundred miles round the +head of the lake, and by the most execrable roads, instead of an easy +passage of thirty miles across from shore to shore. But Fortune, seized +with one of those freaks which, when we met them in books, we pronounce +improbable and unnatural, (and she has played me many such, some good, +some bad,) had ordered matters otherwise. A steam-vessel, making a last +trip, had called accidentally at the port, and was just going off; the +paddles were actually in motion as I and my baggage together were +hurried--almost _flung_--on board. No sooner there, than I threw myself +down in the cabin utterly overwhelmed with fatigue, and sank at once +into a profound and dreamless sleep. + +How long I slept I knew not: they roused me suddenly to tell me we were +at Toronto, and, not very well able to stand, I hurried on deck. The +wharf was utterly deserted, the arrival of the steam-boat being +accidental and unexpected; and as I stepped out of the boat I sank +ankle-deep into mud and ice. The day was intensely cold and damp; the +sky lowered sulkily, laden with snow, which was just beginning to fall. +Half-blinded by the sleet driven into my face and the tears which filled +my eyes, I walked about a mile through a quarter of the town mean in +appearance, not thickly inhabited, and to me, as yet, an unknown +wilderness; and through dreary, miry ways, never much thronged, and now, +by reason of the impending snow-storm, nearly solitary. I heard no +voices, no quick footsteps of men or children; I met no familiar face, +no look of welcome!--Up to the present hour all objects wear one hue. +Land is not distinguishable from water. I see nothing but snow heaped +up against my windows, not only without but within; I hear no sound but +the tinkling of sleigh-bells and the occasional lowing of a poor +half-starved cow, that, standing up to the knees in a snowdrift, +presents herself at the door of a wretched little shanty opposite, and +supplicates for her small modicum of hay. + + * * * * * + +The choice of this site for the capital of the Upper Province was +decided by the fine harbour, the only one between Burlington Bay and +Cobourg, a distance of about a hundred and fifty miles. General Simcoe, +the first governor after the division of the two provinces, and a man of +great activity and energy of character, entertained the idea of founding +a metropolis. At that time the head quarters of the government were at +Niagara, then called Newark, on the opposite shore; but this was too +near the frontiers to be a safe position. Nor is Toronto much safer: +from its low situation, and the want of any commanding height in the +neighbourhood, it is nearly defenceless. In case of a war with America, +a few boats sent from the opposite coast of New York could easily lay +the fort and town in ashes; and, in fact, during the last war, in 1813, +such was the fate of both. But the same reasons which rendered the place +indefensible to us, rendered it untenable for the enemy, and it was +immediately evacuated. Another objection was, and _is_, the +unhealthiness of its situation,--in a low swamp not yet wholly drained, +and with large portions of uncleared land immediately round it: still +the beauty and safety of the spacious harbour, and its central position +about half-way between Lake Huron and the frontier line of Lower Canada, +have fixed its rank as capital of the province and the seat of the +legislature.[2] + +When the engineer, Bouchette, was sent by General Simcoe to survey the +site (in 1793), it was a mere swamp, a tangled wilderness; the birch, +the hemlock, and the tamarac-trees were growing down to the water's +edge, and even into the lake. I have been told that Toronto, the Indian +appellation of the whole district, signifies _trees growing out of +water_. Colonel Bouchette says, that at this time the only vestige of +humanity for a hundred miles on every side was one solitary wigwam on +the shore, the dwelling of a few Missassagua Indians. Three years +afterwards, when the Duc de Rochefoucauld was here, the infant +metropolis consisted of a fort and twelve miserable log huts, the +inhabitants of which, as the duke tells us, bore no good reputation. The +town was, however, already marked out in streets running parallel with +the shore of the bay for about two miles, and crossed by others at right +angles. It is a pity that while they were about it they did not follow +the example of the Americans in such cases, and make the principal +streets of ample width; some hundred feet, or even furlongs, more or +less, would have made little difference where the wild unowned forest +extended, for all they knew, from the lake to the north pole,--_now_, it +would not be so easy to amend the error. King Street, the principal +street, looks narrow, and will look narrower when the houses are higher, +better, and more regularly built. I perceive that in laying out the +_fashionable_, or west-end of the city, they have avoided the same +mistake. A wide space between the building lots and Lake Ontario has +been reserved very properly as a road or esplanade, but I doubt whether +even this be wide enough. One of the most curious and inexplicable +phenomena connected with these immense inland seas is the gradual rise +of the waters; and even within these few years, as I am informed, great +part of the high bank has been washed away, and a carriage-road at the +foot of it along the shore has been wholly covered. If this process goes +on, and at the same rate, there must be a solid embankment, or quay, +raised as a barrier against the encroaching waters, or the esplanade +itself will in time disappear. + + * * * * * + + January 14. + +It should seem that this wintry season, which appears to me so dismal, +is for the Canadians the season of festivity. Now is the time for +visiting, for sleighing excursions, for all intercourse of business and +friendship, for balls in town, and dances in farm-houses, and courtships +and marriages, and prayer-meetings and assignations of all sorts. In +summer, the heat and the mosquitos render travelling disagreeable at +best; in spring the roads are absolutely impassable; in autumn there is +too much agricultural occupation: but in winter the forests are +pervious; the roads present a smooth surface of dazzling snow; the +settlers in the woods drive into the towns, supply themselves with +stores and clothing, and fresh meat,--the latter a luxury which they can +seldom obtain in the summer. I stood at my window to-day watching the +sleighs as they glided past. They are of all shapes and sizes. A few of +the carriage-sleighs are well appointed and handsome. The market-sleighs +are often two or three boards nailed together in form of a wooden box +upon runners; some straw and a buffalo skin or blanket serve for the +seat; barrels of flour and baskets of eggs fill up the empty space. +Others are like cars, and others, called _cutters_, are mounted on high +runners, like sleigh phaetons; these are sported by the young men and +officers of the garrison, and require no inconsiderable skill in +driving: however, as I am assured, they are overturned in the snow not +above once in a quarter of an hour, and no harm and much mirth ensues: +but the wood sleighs are my delight; a large platform of boards is +raised upon runners, with a few upright poles held together at top by a +rope, the logs of oak, pine, and maple, are then heaped up to the height +of six or seven feet. On the summit lie a couple of deer frozen stiff +their huge antlers projecting in a most picturesque fashion, and on +these, again, a man is seated with a blanket round him, his furred cap +drawn down upon his ears, and his scarlet woollen comforter forming a +fine bit of colour. He guides with a pole his two patient oxen, the +clouds of vapour curling from their nostrils into the keen frosty +air--the whole machine, in short, as wildly picturesque as the grape +waggons in Italy, though to be sure, the associations are somewhat +different. + + * * * * * + + January 16. + +This morning, before I was quite dressed, a singular visit was +announced. I had expressed to my friend Mr. H * * * a wish to see some +of the aborigines of the country: he had the kindness to remember my +request; and Colonel Givins, the principal Indian agent, had accordingly +brought some Indians to visit us. + +The party consisted of three--a chief named the White Deer, and two of +his friends. The chief wore a blanket coat and leggings, and a blanket +hood with a peak, from which depended a long black eagle plume; stout +mocazins (shoes of undressed deer-skin) completed his attire: he had +about fifty strings of blue wampum round his neck. The other two were +similarly dressed, with the exception of the wampum and the feathers. +Before I went down I had thrown a chain of wampum round my neck, which +seemed to please them. Chairs being presented, they sat down at once +(though, as Colonel Givins said, they would certainly have preferred the +floor), and answered with a grave and quiet dignity the compliments and +questions addressed to them. Their deportment was taciturn and +self-possessed, and their countenances melancholy; that of the chief was +by far the most intelligent. They informed me that they were Chippewas +from the neighbourhood of Lake Huron, that the hunting season had been +unsuccessful, that their tribe was suffering the extremity of hunger and +cold, and that they had come to beg from their Great Father the Governor +rations of food, and a supply of blankets for their women and children. +They had walked over the snow, in their snow-shoes, from the Lake, one +hundred and eighty miles; and for the last forty-eight hours none of +them had tasted food. A breakfast of cold meat, bread, and beer, was +immediately ordered for them; and though they had certainly never beheld +in their lives the arrangement of an European table, and were besides +half famished, they sat down with unembarrassed tranquillity, and helped +themselves to what they wished with the utmost propriety--only, after +one or two trials, using their own knives and fingers in preference to +the table knife and fork. After they had eaten and drunk sufficiently, +they were conducted to the government-house to receive from the governor +presents of blankets, rifles, and provisions; and each, on parting, held +out his hand to me, and the chief, with a grave earnestness, prayed for +the blessing of the Great Spirit on me and my house. On the whole, the +impression they left, though amusing and exciting from its mere novelty, +was melancholy. The sort of desperate resignation in their swarthy +countenances, their squalid, dingy habiliments, and their forlorn story, +filled me with pity, and, I may add, disappointment; and all my previous +impressions of the independent children of the forest are for the +present disturbed. + +These are the first specimens I have seen of that fated race, with which +I hope to become better acquainted before I leave the country. +Notwithstanding all I have heard and read, I have yet but a vague idea +of the Indian character; and the very different aspect under which it +has been represented by various travellers as well as writers of +fiction, adds to the difficulty of forming a correct estimate of the +people, and more particularly of the true position of their women. +Colonel Givins, who has passed thirty year of his life among the north +west tribes, till he has become in habits and language almost identified +with them, is hardly an impartial judge. He was their interpreter on +this occasion; and he says that there is as much difference between the +customs and language of different nations--the Chippewas and Mohawks, +for instance--as there is between any two nations of Europe. + +The cold is at this time so intense that the ink freezes while I write, +and my fingers stiffen round the pen. A glass of water by the bed-side, +within a few feet of the hearth (heaped with logs of oak and maple kept +burning all night long), is a solid mass of ice in the morning. God help +the poor emigrants who are yet unprepared against the rigour of the +season!--yet this is nothing to the climate of the Lower Province, +where, as we hear, the thermometer has been thirty degrees below zero. +I lose all heart to write home, or to register a reflection or a +feeling--thought stagnates in my head as the ink in my pen--and this +will never do!--I _must_ arouse myself to occupation; and if I cannot +find it without, I must create it from within. There are yet four months +of winter and leisure to be disposed of. How?--I know not; but they +_must_ be employed, not wholly lost. + +[Footnote 1: Through all these districts there are now railroads, and +every facility for comfortable travelling.] + +[Footnote 2: Now removed to Kingston, though some of the courts of law +still remain at Toronto.] + + * * * * * + + + WINTER EXCURSION TO NIAGARA. + + January 23. + +At half-past eight my escort was at the door in a very pretty commodious +sleigh, in form like a barouche with the head up. I was absolutely +buried in furs; a blanket netted for me by the kindest hands, of the +finest lamb's wool, rich in colour, and as light and elastic as it was +deliciously warm, was folded round my limbs; buffalo and bear skins were +heaped over all, and every breath of the external air excluded by every +possible device. Mr. C. drove his own grey horses; and thus fortified +and accoutred, off we flew, literally "urged by storms along the +slippery way," for the weather was terrific. + +I think that but for this journey I never could have imagined the +sublime desolation of a northern winter; and it has impressed me +strongly. In the first place, the whole atmosphere appeared as if +converted into snow, which fell in thick, tiny, starry flakes, till the +buffalo robes and furs about us appeared like swansdown, and the harness +on the horses of the same delicate material. The whole earth was a white +waste. The road, on which the sleigh-track was only just perceptible, +ran for miles in a straight line; on each side rose the dark, melancholy +pine-forest, slumbering drearily in the hazy air. Between us and the +edge of the forest were frequent spaces of cleared or half-cleared land, +spotted over with the black charred stumps and blasted trunks of once +magnificent trees, projecting from the snow-drift. These, which are +perpetually recurring objects in a Canadian landscape, have a most +melancholy appearance. Sometimes wide openings occurred to the left, +bringing us in sight of Lake Ontario, and even in some places down upon +the edge of it: in this part of the lake the enormous body of the water +and its incessant movement prevents it from freezing, and the dark waves +rolled in, heavily plunging on the icy shore with a sullen booming +sound. A few roods from the land, the cold grey waters, and the cold, +grey, snow-encumbered atmosphere, were mingled with each other, and each +seemed either. The only living thing I saw in a space of about twenty +miles was a magnificent bald-headed eagle, which, after sailing a few +turns in advance of us, alighted on the topmost bough of a blasted pine, +and slowly folding his great wide wings, looked down upon us as we +glided beneath him. + +The first village we passed through was Springfield, on the river +Credit, a river of some importance in summer, but now converted into +ice, heaped up with snow, and undistinguishable. Twenty miles further, +we stopped at Oakville to refresh ourselves and the horses. + +Oakville stands close upon the lake, at the mouth of a little river +called Sixteen-mile Creek; it owes its existence to a gentleman of the +name of Chisholm, and, from its situation and other local circumstances, +bids fair to become a place of importance. In the summer it is a +frequented harbour, and carries on a considerable trade in _lumber_, for +so they characteristically call timber in this country. From its +dock-yards I am told that a fine steam-boat and a dozen schooners have +been already launched. + +In summer, the country round is rich and beautiful, with a number of +farms all in a high state of cultivation; but Canada in winter and in +summer must be like two different regions. At present the mouth of the +creek is frozen up; all trade, all ship-building suspended. Oakville +presents the appearance of a straggling hamlet, containing a few frame +and log-houses; one brick-house (the grocery store, or general shop, +which in a new Canadian village is always the best house in the place), +a little Methodist church, painted green and white, but as yet no +resident preacher; and an inn dignified by the name of the "Oakville +House Hotel." Where there is a store, a tavern, and a church, +habitations soon rise around them. Oakville contains at present more +than three hundred inhabitants, who are now subscribing among themselves +for a schoolmaster and a resident clergyman. + +I stood conversing in the porch, and looking about me, till I found it +necessary to seek shelter in the house, before my nose was absolutely +taken off by the ice-blast. The little parlour was solitary, and heated +like an oven. Against the wall were stuck a few vile prints, taken out +of old American magazines; there was the Duchess de Berri in her +wedding-dress, and, as a pendant, the Modes de Paris--"Robe de tulle +garnie de fleurs--coiffure nouvelle, inventee par Mons. Plaisir." The +incongruity was but too laughable! I looked round for some amusement or +occupation, and at last spied a book open, and turned down upon its +face. I pounced upon it as a prize; and what do you think it was? +"Devinez, madame! je vous le donne en trois, je vous le donne en +quatre!" it was--Don Juan! And so, while looking from the window on a +scene which realised all you can imagine of the desolation of savage +life, mixed up with just so much of the common-place vulgarity of +civilised life as sufficed to spoil it, I amused myself reading of the +Lady Adeline Amundeville and her precious coterie, and there anent. + + Society is smoothed to that excess, + That manners hardly differ more than dress. + Our ridicules are kept in the background, + Ridiculous enough, but also dull; + Professions, too, are no more to be found + Professional, and there is nought to cull + Of Folly's fruit; for tho' your fools abound, + They're barren, and not worth the pains to pull. + Society is now one polished horde, + Form'd of two mighty tribes--the _bores_ and _bored_. + +A delineation, by the way, which might almost reconcile one to a more +savage locality than that around me. + +While I was reading, the mail-coach between Hamilton and Toronto drove +up to the door; and because you shall understand what sort of a thing a +Canadian mail is, and thereupon sympathise in my irrepressible wonder +and amusement, I must sketch it for you. It was a heavy wooden edifice, +about the size and form of an old-fashioned lord mayor's coach, placed +on runners raised about a foot from the ground: the whole was painted of +a bright red, and long icicles hung from the roof. This monstrous +machine disgorged from its portal eight men-creatures, all enveloped in +bear-skins and shaggy dreadnoughts, and pea-jackets, and fur-caps down +upon their noses, looking like a procession of bears on their hind-legs, +tumbling out of a showman's caravan. They proved, however, when +undisguised, to be gentlemen, most of them going up to Toronto to attend +their duties in the House of Assembly. One of these, a personage of +remarkable height and size, and a peculiar cast of features, was +introduced to me as Mr. Kerr, the possessor of large estates in the +neighbourhood, partly acquired, and partly inherited from his +father-in-law Brandt, the famous chief of the Six Nations. Kerr himself +has Indian blood in his veins. His son, young Kerr, a fine boy about ten +years old, is the present acknowledged chief of the Six Nations, in his +mother's right, the hereditary chieftainship being always transmitted +_through_ the female, though passing _over_ her. Mrs. Kerr, the eldest +daughter of Brandt, is a squaw of unmixed Indian blood, and has been +described to me as a very superior creature. She has the good sense to +wear habitually her Indian costume, slightly modified, in which she +looks and moves a princess, graceful and unrestrained, while in a +fashionable European dress the effect would be exactly the reverse. + +Much mischief has been done in this neighbourhood by beasts of prey, and +the deer, driven by hunger, and the wolves from their forest haunts, +have been killed, near the settlements, in unusual numbers. One of the +Indians whom I saw at Toronto, on returning by this road, shot with his +new rifle eight deer in one day, and sold them at Hamilton for three +dollars each--no bad day's hunting. The venison in Canada is good and +abundant, but very lean, very unlike English venison; the price is +generally four or six cents (twopence or threepence) a pound. + +After taking some refreshment, we set forth again. The next village we +passed was called, oddly enough, Wellington Square; it has been recently +laid out, and contains about twenty wooden houses;--then came Port +Nelson, Mr. Kerr's place. Instead of going round the head of the lake by +Hamilton, we crossed that very remarkable tongue or slip of land which +divides Burlington Bay from Lake Ontario: these were, in fact, two +separate lakes till a channel was cut through the narrow isthmus. +Burlington Bay, containing about forty square miles, is now one sheet of +ice, and on the slip of land, which is near seven miles in length, and +about two hundred yards in width, we found the snow lying so deep, and +in such irregular drifts, that we proceeded with difficulty. At length +we reached Stony Creek, a village celebrated in these parts as the scene +of the bloodiest battle fought between the English and Americans during +the last war. We had intended to sleep here, but the inn was so +uncomfortable and unpromising, that, after a short rest, we determined +on proceeding ten miles further to Beamsville. + +It was now dark, and the snow falling thick, it soon became impossible +to distinguish the sleigh-track. Mr. Campbell loosened the reins and +left the horses to their own instinct, assuring me it was the safest way +of proceeding. After this I remember no more distinctly, except that I +ceased to hear the ever-jingling sleigh-bells. I awoke, as if from the +influence of nightmare, to find the sleigh overturned, myself lying in +the bottom of it half-smothered, and my companions nowhere to be +seen;--they were floundering in the snow behind. + +Luckily, when we had stretched ourselves and shaken off the snow, we +were found unhurt in life and limb. We had fallen down a bank into the +bed of a rivulet, or a mill-race, I believe, which, being filled up with +snow, was quite as soft, only a little colder, than a down-bed. +Frightened I was, bewildered rather, but "effective" in a moment. It was +impossible for the gentlemen to leave the horses, which were plunging +furiously up to the shoulders in the snow, and had already broken the +sleigh; so I set off to seek assistance, having received proper +directions. Fortunately we were not far from Beamsville. My beacon-light +was to be the chimney of a forge, from which the bright sparks were +streaming up into the dark wintry air, visible from a great distance. +After scrambling through many a snow-drift, up hill and down hill, I at +last reached the forge, where a man was hammering amain at a +ploughshare; such was the din, that I called for some time unheard; at +last, as I advanced into the red light of the fire, the man's eyes fell +upon me, and I shall never forget his look as he stood poising his +hammer, with the most comical expression of bewildered amazement. I +could not get an answer from him; he opened his mouth and repeated _aw!_ +staring at me, but without speaking or moving. I turned away in despair, +yet half laughing, and after some more scrambling up and down, I found +myself in the village, and was directed to the inn. Assistance was +immediately sent off to my friends, and in a few minutes the +supper-table was spread, a pile of logs higher than myself blazing away +in the chimney; venison-steaks, and fried fish, coffee, hot cakes, +cheese, and whisky punch (the traveller's fare in Canada), were soon +smoking on the table: our landlady presided, and the evening passed +merrily away. + +The old landlady of this inn amused me exceedingly; she had passed all +her life among her equals in station and education, and had no idea of +any distinction between guests and customers; and while caressing and +attending on me, like an old mother or an old nurse, gave me her +history, and that of all her kith and kin. Forty years before, her +husband had emigrated, and built a hovel, and made a little clearing on +the edge of the lake. At that time there was no other habitation within +many miles of them, and they passed several years in almost absolute +solitude. They have now three farms, some hundred acres of land, and +have brought up nine sons and daughters, most of whom are married, and +settled on lands of their own. She gave me a horrid picture of the +prevalence of drunkenness, the vice and the curse of this country. + +I can give you no idea of the intense cold of this night. Next morning +we proceeded eighteen miles farther, to St. Catherine's, the situation +of which appeared very pretty even in winter, and must be beautiful in +summer. I am told it is a place of importance, owing to the vicinity of +the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario with Lake Erie: it +contains more than seven hundred inhabitants. The school here is +reckoned the best in the district. We passed this morning several +streams, which in summer flow into the lake, now all frozen up and +undistinguishable, except by the wooden bridges which cross them, and +the mills, now still and useless, erected along their banks. The streams +have the names of Thirty Mile Creek, Forty Mile Creek, Twenty Mile +Creek, and so on; but wherefore I could not discover. + +From St. Catherine's we proceeded twelve miles farther, to Niagara. +There I found some old English or rather Irish friends ready to welcome +me with joyous affection; and surely there is not a more blessed sight +than the face of an old friend in a new land! + + * * * * * + + + NIAGARA IN WINTER. + + January 26. + +The town of Niagara presents the same torpid appearance which seems to +prevail everywhere at this season; it is situated at the mouth of the +river Niagara, and is a place of much business and resort when the +navigation is open. The lake does not freeze here, owing to the depth of +its majestic waters; neither does the river, from the velocity of its +current; yet both are blocked up by the huge fragments of ice which are +brought down from Lake Erie, and which, uniting and accumulating at the +mouth of the river, form a field of ice extending far into the lake. How +beautiful it looked to-day, broken into vast longitudinal flakes of +alternate white and azure, and sparkling in the sunshine! + +The land all round Niagara is particularly fine and fertile: it has been +longer cleared and cultivated than in other parts of the province, and +the country, they say, is most beautiful in summer. The opposite shore, +about a quarter of a mile off, is the State of New York. The Americans +have a fort on their side, and we also have a fort on ours. What the +amount of _their_ garrison may be I know not, but our force consists of +three privates and a corporal, with adequate arms and ammunition, i. e. +rusty firelocks and damaged guns. The fortress itself I mistook for a +dilapidated brewery. This is charming--it _looks_ like peace and +security, at all events. + + * * * * * + + + WINTER STUDIES IN CANADA. + + January 29. + +Well! I have seen these Cataracts of Niagara, which have thundered in my +mind's ear ever since I can remember--which have been my "childhood's +thought, my youth's desire," since first my imagination was awakened to +wonder and to wish. I have beheld them, and shall I whisper it to +you?--but, O tell it not among the Philistines!--I wish I had not! I +wish they were still a thing unbeheld--a thing to be imagined, hoped, +and anticipated--something to live for:--the reality has displaced from +my mind an illusion far more magnificent than itself--I have no words +for my utter disappointment: yet I have not the presumption to suppose +that all I have heard and read of Niagara is false or exaggerated--that +every expression of astonishment, enthusiasm, rapture, is affectation or +hyperbole. No! it must be my own fault. Terni, and some of the Swiss +cataracts leaping from their mountains, have affected me a thousand +times more than all the immensity of Niagara. O I could beat myself! and +now there is no help!--the first moment, the first impression is +over--is lost; though I should live a thousand years, long as Niagara +itself shall roll, I can never see it again for the _first_ time. +Something is gone that cannot be restored. + +But, to take things in order: we set off for the Falls yesterday +morning, with the intention of spending the day there, sleeping, and +returning the next day to Niagara. The distance is fourteen miles, by a +road winding along the banks of the Niagara river, and over the +Queenston heights;--and beautiful must this land be in summer, since +even now it is beautiful. The flower garden, the trim shrubbery, the +lawn, the meadow with its hedgerows, when frozen up and wrapt in snow, +always give me the idea of something not only desolate but dead: Nature +is the ghost of herself, and trails a spectral pall; I always feel a +kind of pity--a touch of melancholy--when at this season I have wandered +among withered shrubs and buried flower-beds; but here, in the +wilderness, where Nature is wholly independent of Art, she does not die, +nor yet mourn; she lies down to rest on the bosom of Winter, and the +aged one folds her in his robe of ermine and jewels, and rocks her with +his hurricanes, and hushes her to sleep. How still it was! how calm, how +vast the glittering white waste and the dark purple forests! The sun +shone out, and the sky was without a cloud; yet we saw few people, and +for many miles the hissing of our sleigh, as we flew along upon our +dazzling path, and the tinkling of the sleigh-bells, were the only +sounds we heard. When we were within four or five miles of the Falls, I +stopped the sleigh from time to time to listen to the roar of the +cataracts; but the state of the atmosphere was not favourable for the +transmission of sound, and the silence was unbroken. + +Such was the deep, monotonous tranquillity which prevailed on every +side--so exquisitely pure and vestal-like the robe in which all Nature +lay slumbering around us, I could scarce believe that this whole +frontier district is not only remarkable for the prevalence of vice--but +of dark and desperate crime. + +Mr. A., who is a magistrate, pointed out to me a lonely house by the +way-side, where, on a dark stormy night in the preceding winter, he had +surprised and arrested a gang of forgers and coiners; it was a fearful +description. For some time my impatience had been thus +beguiled--impatience and suspense much like those of a child at a +theatre before the curtain rises. My imagination had been so impressed +by the vast height of the Falls, that I was constantly looking in an +upward direction, when, as we came to the brow of a hill, my companion +suddenly checked the horses, and exclaimed, "The Falls!" + +I was not, for an instant, aware of their presence; we were yet at a +distance, looking _down_ upon them; and I saw at one glance a flat +extensive plain; the sun having withdrawn its beams for the moment, +there was neither light, nor shade, nor colour. In the midst were seen +the two great cataracts, but merely as a feature in the wide landscape. +The sound was by no means overpowering, and the clouds of spray, which +Fanny Kemble called so beautifully the "everlasting incense of the +waters," now condensed ere they rose by the excessive cold, fell round +the base of the cataracts in fleecy folds, just concealing that furious +embrace of the waters above and the waters below. All the associations +which in imagination I had gathered round the scene, its appalling +terrors, its soul-subduing beauty, its power and height, and velocity +and immensity, were diminished in effect, or wholly lost. + + * * * * * + +I was quite silent--my very soul sank within me. On seeing my +disappointment (written, I suppose, most legibly in my countenance) my +companion began to comfort me, by telling me of all those who had been +disappointed on the first view of Niagara, and had confessed it. I _did_ +confess; but I was not to be comforted. We held on our way to the +Clifton hotel, at the foot of the hill; most desolate it looked with its +summer verandahs and open balconies cumbered up with snow, and hung +round with icicles--its forlorn, empty rooms, broken windows, and dusty +dinner tables. The poor people who kept the house in winter had gathered +themselves for warmth and comfort into a little kitchen, and, when we +made our appearance, stared at us with a blank amazement, which showed +what a rare thing was the sight of a visitor at this season. + +While the horses were cared for, I went up into the highest balcony to +command a better view of the cataracts; a little Yankee boy, with a +shrewd, sharp face, and twinkling black eyes, acting as my gentleman +usher. As I stood gazing on the scene which seemed to enlarge upon my +vision, the little fellow stuck his hands into his pockets, and, looking +up in my face, said-- + +"You be from the old country, I reckon?" + +"Yes." + +"Out over there, beyond the sea?" + +"Yes." + +"And did you come all that way across the sea for these here falls?" + +"Yes." + +"My!!" Then after a long pause, and eyeing me with a most comical +expression of impudence and fun, he added, "Now, do _you_ know what them +'ere birds are, out yonder?" pointing to a number of gulls which were +hovering and sporting amid the spray, rising and sinking and wheeling +around, appearing to delight in playing on the verge of this "hell of +waters," and almost dipping their wings into the foam. My eyes were, in +truth, fixed on these fair, fearless creatures, and they had suggested +already twenty fanciful similitudes, when I was roused by his question. + +"Those birds?" said I. "Why, _what_ are they?" + +"Why, them's EAGLES!" + +"Eagles?" it was impossible to help laughing. + +"Yes," said the urchin sturdily; "and I guess you have none of them in +the old country?" + +"Not many eagles, my boy; but plenty of _gulls_!" and I gave him a +"pretty considerable" pinch by the ear. + +"Ay!" said he, laughing; "well now you be dreadful smart--smarter than +many folks that come here!" + +We now prepared to walk to the Crescent fall, and I bound some crampons +to my feet, like those they use among the Alps, without which I could +not for a moment have kept my footing on the frozen surface of the snow. +As we approached the Table Rock, the whole scene assumed a wild and +wonderful magnificence; down came the dark-green waters, hurrying with +them over the edge of the precipice enormous blocks of ice brought down +from Lake Erie. On each side of the Falls, from the ledges and +overhanging cliffs, were suspended huge icicles, some twenty, some +thirty feet in length, thicker than the body of a man, and in colour of +a paly green, like the glaciers of the Alps; and all the crags below, +which projected from the boiling eddying waters, were encrusted, and in +a manner built round with ice, which had formed into immense crystals, +like basaltic columns, such as I have seen in the pictures of Staffa and +the Giant's Causeway; and every tree, and leaf, and branch, fringing the +rocks and ravines, was wrought in ice. On them, and on the wooden +buildings erected near the Table Rock, the spray from the cataract had +accumulated and formed into the most beautiful crystals and tracery +work; they looked like houses of glass, welted and moulded into regular +and ornamental shapes, and hung round with a rich fringe of icy points. +Wherever we stood we were on unsafe ground, for the snow, when heaped up +as now to the height of three or four feet, frequently slipped in masses +from the bare rock, and on its surface the spray, for ever falling, was +converted into a sheet of ice, smooth, compact, and glassy, on which I +could not have stood a moment without my _crampons_. It was very +fearful, and yet I could not tear myself away, but remained on the Table +Rock, even on the very edge of it, till a kind of dreamy fascination +came over me; the continuous thunder, and might and movement of the +lapsing waters, held all my vital spirits bound up as by a spell. Then +as at last I turned away, the descending sun broke out, and an Iris +appeared below the American Fall, one extremity resting on a snow mound; +and motionless there it hung in the midst of restless terrors, its +beautiful but rather pale hues contrasting with the death-like +colourless objects around; it reminded me of the faint ethereal smile of +a dying martyr. + +It was near midnight when we mounted our sleigh to return to the town of +Niagara, and, as I remember, I did not utter a word during the whole +fourteen miles. The air was still, though keen, the snow lay around, the +whole earth seemed to slumber in a ghastly, calm repose; but the heavens +were wide awake. There the Aurora Borealis was holding her revels, and +dancing and flashing, and varying through all shapes and all hues--pale +amber, rose tint, blood red--and the stars shone out with a fitful, +restless brilliance; and every now and then a meteor would shoot +athwart the skies, or fall to earth, and all around me was wild, and +strange, and exciting--more like a fever dream than a reality. + + * * * * * + + + TORONTO. + + Toronto, February 7. + +Mr. B. gave me a seat in his sleigh, and after a rapid and very pleasant +journey, during which I gained a good deal of information, we reached +Toronto yesterday morning. + +The road was the same as before, with one deviation however--it was +found expedient to cross Burlington Bay on the ice, about seven miles +over, the lake beneath being twenty, and five-and-twenty fathoms in +depth. It was ten o'clock at night, and the only light was that +reflected from the snow. The beaten track, from which it is not safe to +deviate, was very narrow, and a man, in the worst, if not the last stage +of intoxication, noisy and brutally reckless, was driving before us in a +sleigh. All this, with the novelty of the situation, the tremendous +cracking of the ice at every instant, gave me a sense of apprehension +just sufficient to be exciting, rather than very unpleasant, though I +will confess to a feeling of relief when we were once more on the solid +earth. + +It is a remarkable fact, with which you are probably acquainted, that +when one growth of timber is cleared from the land, another of quite a +different species springs up spontaneously in its place. Thus, the oak +or the beech succeeds to the pine, and the pine to the oak or maple. +This is not accounted for, at least I have found no one yet who can give +me a reason for it. We passed by a forest lately consumed by fire, and I +asked why, in clearing the woods, they did not leave groups of the +finest trees, or even single trees, here and there, to embellish the +country? But it seems that this is impossible--for the trees thus left +standing, when deprived of the shelter and society to which they have +been accustomed, uniformly perish--which, for mine own poor part, I +thought very natural. + +A Canadian settler _hates_ a tree, regards it as his natural enemy, as +something to be destroyed, eradicated, annihilated by all and any means. +The idea of useful or ornamental is seldom associated here even with +the most magnificent timber trees, such as among the Druids had been +consecrated, and among the Greeks would have sheltered oracles and +votive temples. The beautiful faith which assigned to every tree of the +forest its guardian nymph, to every leafy grove its tutelary divinity, +would find no votaries here. Alas! for the Dryads and Hamadryads of +Canada! + +There are two principal methods of killing trees in this country, +besides the quick, unfailing destruction of the axe; the first by +setting fire to them, which sometimes leaves the root uninjured to rot +gradually and unseen, or be grubbed up at leisure, or, more generally, +there remains a visible fragment of a charred and blackened stump, +deformed and painful to look upon: the other method is slower, but even +more effectual; a deep gash is cut through the bark into the stem, quite +round the bole of the tree. This prevents the circulation of the vital +juices, and by degrees the tree droops and dies. This is technically +called _ringing_ timber. Is not this like the two ways in which a +woman's heart may be killed in this world of ours--by passion and by +sorrow? But better far the swift fiery death than this "ringing," as +they call it! + + * * * * * + + February 21. + +The monotony of this my most monotonous existence was fearfully broken +last night. I had gone early to my room, and had just rung for my maid, +when I was aware of a strange light flashing through the atmosphere,--a +fire was raging in the lower parts of the city. I looked out; there was +the full moon, brighter than ever she shows her fair face in our dear +cloudy England, looking down upon the snowy landscape, and the icy bay +glittered like a sheet of silver; while on the other side of the heavens +all was terror and tumult--clouds of smoke mingled with spires of flame +rose into the sky. Far off the garrison was beating to arms--the bells +tolling; yet all around there was not a living being to be seen, and the +snow-waste was still as death. + +Fires are not uncommon in Toronto, where the houses are mostly wood; +they have generally an alarum once or twice a week, and six or eight +houses burned in the course of the winter; but it was evident this was +of more fearful extent than usual. Finding, on inquiry, that all the +household had gone off to the scene of action, my own maid excepted, I +prepared to follow, for it was impossible to remain here idly gazing on +the flames, and listening to the distant shouts in ignorance and +suspense. The fire was in the principal street (King Street), and five +houses were burning together. I made my way through the snow-heaped, +deserted streets, and into a kind of court or garden at the back of the +blazing houses. There was a vast and motley pile of household stuff in +the midst, and a poor woman keeping guard over it, nearly up to her +knees in the snow. I stood on the top of a bedstead, leaning on her +shoulder, and thus we remained till the whole row of buildings had +fallen in. The Irishmen (God bless my countrymen! for in all good--all +mischief--all frolic--all danger--they are sure to be the first) risked +their lives most bravely; their dark figures moving to and fro amid the +blazing rafters, their fine attitudes, and the recklessness with which +they flung themselves into the most horrible situations, became at last +too fearfully exciting. I was myself so near, and the flames were so +tremendous, that one side of my face was scorched and blistered. + +All this time the poor woman on whose shoulder I was leaning stood +silent and motionless, gazing with apparent tranquillity on her burning +house. I remember saying to her with a shudder--"But this is dreadful! +to stand by and look on while one's home and property are destroyed!" +And she replied quietly, "Yes, ma'am; but I dare say some good will come +of it. All is for the best, if one knew it; and now Jemmy's safe, I +don't care for the rest." Now Jemmy was not her son, as I found, but a +poor little orphan, of whom she took charge. + +There had been at first a scarcity of water, but a hole being hewed +through the ice on the lake, the supply was soon quick and plentiful. +All would have been well over, if the sudden fall of a stack of chimneys +had not caused some horrible injuries. One poor boy was killed, and some +others maimed--poor Mr. B. among the number. After this I returned home +rather heart-sick; and nigh to the house a sleigh glanced by at full +gallop, on which I could just perceive, in the moonlight, the extended +form of a man with his hands clenched over his head--as in agony, or +lifeless. + + * * * * * + + + MUSIC. + + March 1. + +In the different branches of art, each artist thinks his own the +highest, and is filled with the idea of all its value and all its +capabilities which he understands best and has most largely studied and +developed. "But," says Dr. Chalmers, "we must take the testimony of each +man to the worth of that which he does know, and reject the testimony of +each to the comparative worthlessness of that which he does not know." +For it is not, generally speaking, that he overrates his own particular +walk of art from over enthusiasm, (no art, when considered separately, +as a means of human delight and improvement, _can_ be over-rated,) but +such a _one-sided_ artist, whose mind and powers have flowed in only one +direction, underrates from ignorance the walks of others which diverge +from his own. + +Of all artists, musicians are most exclusive in devotion to their own +art, and in the want of sympathy, if not absolute contempt, for other +arts. A painter has more sympathies with a musician, than a musician +with a painter. Vernet used to bring his easel into Pergolesi's room, to +paint beside his harpsichord, and used to say that he owed some of his +finest skies to the inspired harmonies of his friend. Pergolesi never +felt, perhaps, any harmonies but those of his own delicious art. + +"Aspasia, he who loves not music is a beast of one species, and he who +overloves it is a beast of another, whose brain is smaller than a +nightingale's, and his heart than that of a lizard!" I refer you for the +rest to a striking passage in Landor's "Pericles and Aspasia," +containing a most severe philippic, not only against the professors, but +the _profession_, of music, and which concludes very aptly, "Panenus +said this: let us never believe a word of it!" It is too true that some +excellent musicians have been ignorant, and sensual, and dissipated; but +there are sufficient exceptions to the sweeping censure of Panenus to +show that "imprudence, intemperance, and gluttony" do not always, or +necessarily, "open their channels into the sacred stream of music." +Musicians are not selfish, careless, sensual, ignorant, because they are +musicians, but because, from a defective education, they are nothing +else. The German musicians are generally more moral and more +intellectual men than English or Italian musicians, and hence their +music has taken a higher flight, is more intellectual than the music of +other countries. Music as an art has not degraded them, but they have +elevated music. + +The most accomplished and intellectual musician I ever met with is Felix +Mendelssohn. I do not recollect if it were himself or some one else who +told me of a letter which Carl von Weber had addressed to him, warning +him that he never could attain the highest honours in his profession +without cultivating the virtues and the decencies of life. "A great +artist," said Weber, "ought to be a good man." + +While I am "i' the vein," I must give you a few more musical +reminiscences before my fingers are quite frozen. + +I had once some conversation with Thalberg and Felix Mendelssohn, on the +unmeaning names which musicians often give to their works, as "Concerto +in F," "Concerto in B flat," "First Symphony," "Second Symphony," &c. +Mendelssohn said, that though in almost every case the composer might +have a leading idea, it would be often difficult, or even impossible, to +give any title sufficiently comprehensive to convey the same idea or +feeling to the mind of the hearer. + +But music, except to musicians, can only give ideas, or rather raise +images, by association; it can give the pleasure which the just +accordance of musical sounds must give to sensitive ears, but the +associated ideas or images, if any, must be quite accidental. Haydn, we +are told, when he sat down to compose, used first to invent a story in +his own fancy--a regular succession of imaginary incidents and +feelings--to which he framed or suited the successive movements (motivi) +of his concerto. Would it not have been an advantage if Haydn could have +given to his composition such a title as would have pitched the +imagination of the listener at once upon the same key? Mendelssohn +himself has done this in the pieces which he has entitled "Overture to +Melusina," "Overture to the Hebrides," "Meeres Stille und Glueckliche +Fahrt," "The Brook," and others,--which is better surely than Sonata No. +1, Sonata No. 2. Take the Melusina, for example; is there not in the +sentiment of the music all the sentiment of the beautiful old fairy +tale?--first, in the flowing, intermingling harmony, we have the soft +elemental delicacy of the water nymph; then, the gushing of fountains, +the undulating waves; then the martial prowess of the knightly lover, +and the splendour of chivalry prevailing over the softer and more +ethereal nature; and then, at last, the dissolution of the charm; the +ebbing, fainting, and failing away into silence of the beautiful water +spirit. You will say it might answer just as well for Ondine; but this +signifies little, provided we have our fancy pitched to certain poetical +associations pre-existing in the composer's mind. Thus not only poems, +but pictures and statues, might be set to music. I suggested to Thalberg +as a subject the Aurora of Guido. It should begin with a slow, subdued, +and solemn movement, to express the slumbrous softness of that dewy hour +which precedes the coming of the day, and which in the picture broods +over the distant landscape, still wrapt in darkness and sleep; then the +stealing upwards of the gradual dawn; the brightening, the quickening of +all life; the awakening of the birds, the burst of the sun-light, the +rushing of the steeds of Hyperion through the sky, the aerial dance of +the Hours, and the whole concluding with a magnificent choral song of +triumph and rejoicing sent up from universal nature. + +And then in the same spirit--no, in his own grander spirit--I would have +Mendelssohn improviser the Laocoon. There would be the pomp and +procession of the sacrifice on the seashore; the flowing in of the +waves; the two serpents which come gliding on their foamy crests, +wreathing, and rearing, and undulating; the horror, the lamentation, the +clash of confusion, the death struggle, and, after a deep pause, the +wail of lamentation, the funereal march;--the whole closing with a hymn +to Apollo. Can you not just imagine such a piece of music, and composed +by Mendelssohn? and can you not fancy the possibility of setting to +music in the same manner Raffaelle's Cupid and Psyche, or his Galatea, +or the group of the Niobe? Niobe would be a magnificent subject either +for a concerto, or for a kind of mythological oratorio. + + * * * * * + + March 2. + +Turning over Boswell to-day, I came upon this passage: Johnson says, "I +do not commend a society where there is an agreement that what would not +otherwise be fair shall be fair; but I maintain that an individual of +any society who practises what is allowed is not dishonest." + +What say you to this reasoning of our great moralist? does it not reduce +the whole moral law to something merely conventional? + +In another place, Dr. Johnson asks, "What proportion does climate bear +to the complex system of human life." I shiver while I answer, "A good +deal, my dear Doctor, to some individuals, and yet more to whole races +of men." + +He says afterwards, "I deal more in _notions_ than in facts." And so do +I, it seems. + +He talks of "men being _held down_ in conversation by the presence of +women"--_held up_ rather, where moral feeling is concerned; and if held +down where intellect and social interests are concerned, then so much +the worse for such a state of society. + +Johnson knew absolutely nothing about women. Witness that one assertion, +among others more insulting, that it is matter of indifference to a +woman whether her husband be faithful or not. He says, in another place, +"If we men require more perfection from women than from ourselves, it +is doing them honour." + +Indeed! If, in exacting from us more perfection, you do not allow us the +higher and nobler nature, you do us not honour but gross injustice; and +if you do allow us the higher nature, and yet regard us as subject and +inferior, then the injustice is the greater. There, Doctor, is a dilemma +for you. + + * * * * * + + March 8. + +This relentless winter seems to stiffen and contract every nerve, and +the frost is of that fierceness and intensity, that it penetrates even +to the marrow of one's bones. One of the workmen told me yesterday, that +on taking hold of an iron bar it had taken the skin off his hand, as if +he had grasped it red hot: it is a favourite trick with the children to +persuade each other to touch with the tongue a piece of metal which has +been exposed to the open air; adhesion takes place immediately: even the +metal knobs on the doors of the room I carefully avoid touching--the +contact is worse than unpleasant. + +Let but the spring come again, and I will take to myself wings and fly +off to the west!--But will spring _ever_ come? When I look out upon the +bleak, shrouded, changeless scene, there is something so awfully silent, +fixed, and immutable in its aspect, that it is enough to disturb one's +faith in the everlasting revolutions of the seasons. Green leaves and +flowers, and streams that murmur as they flow, soft summer airs, to +which we open the panting bosom--panting with too much life--shades +grateful for their coolness,--can such things be, or do they exist only +in poetry and Paradise? + + * * * * * + + + GOETHE. + +"When I look back," said Goethe, "on my early and middle life, and now +in my old age reflect how few of those remain who were young with me, +life seems to me like a summer residence in a watering-place. When we +first arrive, we form friendships with those who have already spent some +time there, and must be gone the next week. The loss is painful, but we +connect ourselves with the second generation of visitors, with whom we +spend some time and become dearly intimate; but these also depart, and +we are left alone with a third set, who arrive just as we are preparing +for our departure, in whom we feel little or no interest." + +Goethe thought that a knowledge of the universe must be _innate_ with +some poets. (It seems to have been so with Shakspeare.) He says he wrote +"Goetz von Berlichingen" when he was a young inexperienced man of +two-and-twenty. "Ten years later," he adds, "I stood astonished at the +truth of my own delineation; I had never beheld or experienced the like, +therefore the knowledge of these multifarious aspects of human nature I +must have possessed through a kind of anticipation." + +Yes; the "kind of anticipation" through which Joanna Baillie conceived +and wrote her noble tragedies. Where did she, whose life was pure and +"retired as noontide dew," find the dark, stern, terrible elements, out +of which she framed the delineations of character and passion in De +Montfort, Ethwald, Basil, Constantine?--where but in her own prophetic +heart and genius?--in that intuitive, almost unconscious revelation of +the universal nature, which makes the poet, and not experience or +knowledge. Joanna Baillie, whose most tender and refined, and womanly +and christian spirit never, I believe, admitted an ungentle thought of +any living being, created De Montfort, and gave us the physiology of +Hatred; and might well, like Goethe, stand astonished at the truth of +her own delineation. + + * * * * * + + + LITERARY WOMEN. + +Rehbein once observed to Goethe "that the women who had distinguished +themselves in literature, poetry especially, were almost universally +women who had been disappointed in their best affections, and sought in +this direction of the intellect a sort of compensation. When women are +married, and have children to take care of, they do not often think of +writing poetry." + +This is not very politely or delicately expressed; but we must not +therefore shrink from it, for it involves some important considerations. +It is most certain that among the women who have been distinguished in +literature, three-fourths have been either by nature, or fate, or the +law of society, placed in a painful or a false position; it is also most +certain that in these days when society is becoming every day more +artificial and more complex, and marriage, as the gentlemen assure us, +more and more expensive, hazardous, and inexpedient, women _must_ find +means to fill up the void of existence. Men, our natural protectors, our +lawgivers, our masters, throw us upon our own resources; the qualities +which they pretend to admire in us,--the overflowing, the clinging +affections of a warm heart--the household devotion,--the submissive wish +to please, that feels "every vanity in fondness lost,"--the tender +shrinking sensitiveness which Adam thought so charming in his Eve,--to +cultivate these, to make them, by artificial means, the staple of the +womanly character, is it not to cultivate a taste for sunshine and +roses, in those we send to pass their lives in the arctic zone? We have +gone away from nature, and we must--if we can--substitute another +nature. Art, literature, and science remain to us. Religion, which +formerly opened the doors of nunneries and convents to forlorn women, +now mingling her beautiful and soothing influence with resources which +the prejudices of the world have yet left open to us, teaches us another +lesson, that only in utility, such as is left to us,--only in the +assiduous employment of such faculties as we are permitted to exercise, +can we find health and peace, and compensation for the wasted or +repressed impulses and energies more proper to our sex--more +natural--perhaps more pleasing to God; but trusting in His mercy, and +using the means He has given, we must do the best we can for ourselves +and for our sisterhood. The cruel prejudices which would have shut us +out from nobler consolation and occupations have ceased in great part, +and will soon be remembered only as the rude, coarse barbarism of a +by-gone age. Let us then have no more caricatures of methodistical, +card-playing, and acrimonious old maids. Let us hear no more of scandal, +parrots, cats, and lap-dogs--or worse!--these never-failing subjects of +derision with the vulgar and the frivolous, but the source of a thousand +compassionate and melancholy feelings in those who can reflect! In the +name of humanity and womanhood, let us have no more of them! Coleridge, +who has said and written the most beautiful, the most tender, the most +reverential things of women--who understands better than any man, any +poet, what I will call the metaphysics of love--Coleridge has asserted +that the perfection of a woman's character is to be _characterless_. +"Every man," said he, "would like to have an Ophelia or a Desdemona for +his wife." No doubt; the sentiment is truly a masculine one: and what +was _their_ fate? What would now be the fate of such unresisting and +confiding angels? Is this the age of Arcadia? Do we live among Paladins +and Sir Charles Grandisons, and are our weakness, and our innocence, and +our ignorance, safe-guards--or snares? Do we indeed find our account in +being + + "Fine by defect, and beautifully weak?" + +No; women need in these times _character_ beyond everything else; the +qualities which will enable us to endure and to resist evil; the +self-governed, the cultivated, active mind, to protect and to maintain +ourselves. How many wretched women marry for a maintenance! How many +wretched women sell themselves to dishonour for bread!--and there is +small difference, if any, in the infamy and the misery! How many +unmarried women live in heart-wearing dependence;--if poor, in solitary +penury, loveless, joyless, unendeared;--if rich, in aimless, pitiful +trifling! How many, strange to say, marry for the independence they dare +not otherwise claim! But the more paths opened to us, the less fear that +we should go astray. + +Surely, it is dangerous, it is wicked, in these days, to follow the old +saw, to bring up women to be "happy wives and mothers;" that is to say, +to let all their accomplishments, their sentiments, their views of life, +take one direction, as if for women there existed only one destiny--one +hope, one blessing, one object, one passion in existence. Some people +say it ought to be so, but we know that it is _not_ so; we know that +hundreds, that thousands of women are not happy wives and mothers--are +never either wives or mothers at all. The cultivation of the moral +strength and the active energies of a woman's mind, together with the +intellectual faculties and tastes, will not make a woman a less good, +less happy wife and mother, and will enable her to find content and +independence when denied love and happiness. + + * * * * * + + + QUESTIONINGS. + + March 15. + +This last paragraph, which I wrote last evening, sent me to bed with my +head full of all manner of thoughts, and memories, and fancies. + +Whence and what are we, "that things whose sense we see not, frey us +with things that be not?" If I had the heart of that wondrous bird in +the Persian tales, which being pressed upon a human heart, obliged that +heart to utter truth through the lips, sleeping or waking, then I think +I would inquire how far in each bosom exists the belief in the +supernatural? In many minds which I know, and otherwise strong minds, it +certainly exists a hidden source of torment; in others, not stronger, it +exists a source of absolute pleasure and excitement. I have known people +most wittily ridicule, or gravely discountenance, a belief in spectral +appearances, and all the time I could see in their faces that once in +their lives at least they had been frightened at their own shadow. The +conventional cowardice, the fear of ridicule, even the self-respect +which prevents intelligent persons from revealing the exact truth of +what passes through their own minds on this point, deprives us of a +means to trace to its sources and develop an interesting branch of +Psychology. Between vulgar credulity and exaggeration on the one hand, +and the absolute scepticism and materialism of some would-be +philosophers on the other, lies a vast space of debatable ground, a sort +of twilight region or _limbo_, through which I do not see my way +distinctly. + +How far are our perceptions confined to our outward senses? Can any one +tell?--for that our perceptions are not wholly confined to impressions +taken in by the outward senses, seems the only one thing proved; and +are such sensible impressions the only real ones? When any one asks me +gaily the so common and common-place question--common even in these our +rational times--"Do you now really believe in ghosts?" I generally +answer as gaily--"I really don't know!" In the common, vulgar meaning of +the words, I certainly do _not_; but in the reality of many things +termed imaginary I certainly do. + + * * * * * + +The following beautiful and original interpretation of Goethe's ballad +of the "Erl-King" is not in Ekermann's book (the "Gespraeche mit Goethe," +which I am now studying), but I give it to you in the words in which it +was given to me. + +"Goethe's 'Erl-Koenig' is a moral allegory of deep meaning, though I am +not sure he meant it as such, or intended all that it signifies. There +are beings in the world who see, who feel, with a finer sense than that +granted to other mortals. They see the spiritual, the imaginative +sorrow, or danger, or terror which threatens them; and those who see not +with the same eyes, talk reason and philosophy to them. The poor +frightened child cries out for aid, for mercy; and Papa Wisdom--worldly +wisdom--answers,-- + + "'Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstrief!' + +"Or,-- + + "'Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau!' + +"It is only the vapour-wreath, or the grey willows waving, and tells him +to be quiet! At last the poor child of feeling is found dead in the arms +of Wisdom, from causes which no one else perceived--or believed! Is it +not often so?" + + * * * * * + +On the subject of religion I find this beautiful comparison, but am not +sure whether it be Ekermann's or Goethe's. "A connoisseur standing +before the picture of a great master will regard it as a whole. He knows +how to combine instantly the scattered parts into the general effect; +the universal, as well as the individual, is to him animated. He has no +preference for certain portions: he does not ask why this or that face +is beautiful or otherwise; why _this_ part is light, _that_ dark; only +he requires that all shall be in the right place, and according to the +just rules of art; but place an ignorant person before such a picture, +and you will see that the great design of the whole will either be +overlooked by him, or confuse him utterly. Some small portion will +attract him, another will offend him, and in the end he will dwell upon +some trifling object which is familiar to him, and praise this helmet, +or that feather, as being well executed. + +"We men, before the great picture of the destinies of the universe, play +the part of such dunces, such novices in art. Here we are attracted by a +bright spot, a graceful configuration; _there_ we are repelled by a deep +shadow, a painful object; the immense WHOLE bewilders and perplexes us; +we seek in vain to penetrate the leading idea of that great Being, who +designed the whole upon a plan which our limited human intellect cannot +comprehend." + + * * * * * + + + SOUTHEY'S DOCTOR. + + March 29. + +To those who see only with their eyes, the distant is always indistinct +and little, becoming less and less as it recedes, till utterly lost; but +to the imagination, which thus reverses the perspective of the senses, +the far off is great and imposing, the magnitude increasing with the +distance. + + * * * * * + +I amused myself this morning with that most charming book "The +Doctor;"--it is not the second nor the third time of reading. How +delicious it is wherever it opens!--how brimful of erudition and wit, +and how rich in thought, and sentiment, and humour! but containing +assumptions, and opinions, and prognostications, in which I would not +believe;--no, not for the world! + + * * * * * + +How true what Southey says! (the Doctor I mean--I beg his pardon)--"We +make the greater part of the evil circumstances in which we are placed, +and then we fit ourselves for those circumstances by a process of +degradation, the effect of which most people see in the classes below +them, though they may not be conscious that it is operating in a +different manner, but with equal force, upon themselves." + +The effect of those pre-ordained evils--if they are such--which we +inherit with our mortal state, inevitable death--the separation from +those we love--old age with its wants, its feebleness, its +helplessness--those sufferings which are in the course of nature, are +quite sufficient in the infliction, or in the fear of them, to keep the +spirit chastened, and the reflecting mind humble before God. But what I +_do_ deprecate, is to hear people preaching resignation to social, +self-created evils; fitting, or trying to fit, their own natures by "a +process of degradation" to circumstances which they ought to resist, and +which they do _inwardly_ resist, keeping up a constant, wearing, +impotent strife between the life that is _within_ and the life that is +_without_. How constantly do I read this in the countenances of those I +meet in the world!--They do not know themselves why there should be this +perpetual uneasiness, this jarring and discord within; but it is the +vain struggle of the soul, which God created in his own image, to fit +its strong, immortal nature for the society which men have framed after +their own devices. A _vain_ struggle it is! succeeding only in +appearance, never in reality,--so we walk about the world the masks of +ourselves, pitying each other. When we meet truth we are as much +astonished as I used to be at the carnival, when, in the midst of a +crowd of fantastic, lifeless, painted faces, I met with some one who had +plucked away his mask and stuck it in his hat, and looked out upon me +with the real human smile. + + * * * * * + +The Aurora Borealis is of almost nightly occurrence, but this evening it +has been more than usually resplendent; radiating up from the north, +and spreading to the east and west in form like a fan, the lower point +of a pale white, then yellow, amber, orange, successively, and the +extremities of a glowing crimson, intense, yet most delicate, like the +heart of an unblown rose. It shifted its form and hue at every moment, +flashing and waving like a banner in the breeze; and through this +portentous veil, transparent as light itself, the stars shone out with a +calm and steady brightness; and I thought, as I looked upon them, of a +character we both know, where, like those fair stars, the intellectual +powers shine serenely bright through a veil of passions, fancies, and +caprices. It is most awfully beautiful! I have been standing at my +window watching its evolutions, till it is no longer night, but morning. + + * * * * * + + + LAKE ONTARIO. + + April 15. + +The ice in the Bay of Toronto has been, during the winter months, from +four to five feet in thickness: within the last few days it has been +cracking in every direction with strange noises, and last night, during +a tremendous gale from the east, it was rent, and loosened, and driven +at once out of the bay. "It moveth altogether, if it move at all." The +last time I drove across the bay, the ice beneath me appeared as fixed +and firm as the foundations of the earth, and within twelve hours it has +disappeared, and to-day the first steam-boat of the season entered our +harbour. They called me to the window to see it, as, with flags and +streamers flying, and amid the cheers of the people, it swept +majestically into the bay. I sympathised with the general rejoicing, for +I can fully understand all the animation and bustle which the opening of +the navigation will bring to our torpid capital. + + * * * * * + + May 19. + +This beautiful Lake Ontario!--my lake--for I begin to be in love with +it, and look on it as mine!--it changed its hues every moment, the +shades of purple and green fleeting over it, now dark, now lustrous, +now pale--like a dolphin dying; or, to use a more exact though less +poetical comparison, dappled, and varying like the back of a mackerel, +with every now and then a streak of silver light dividing the shades of +green: magnificent, tumultuous clouds came rolling round the horizon; +and the little graceful schooners, falling into every beautiful +attitude, and catching every variety of light and shade, came curtseying +into the bay: and flights of wild geese, and great black loons, were +skimming, diving, sporting over the bosom of the lake; and beautiful +little unknown birds, in gorgeous plumage of crimson and black, were +fluttering about the garden: all life, and light, and beauty were +abroad--the resurrection of Nature! How beautiful it was! how dearly +welcome to my senses--to my heart--this spring which comes at last--so +long wished for, so long waited for! + + * * * * * + + + ERINDALE. + +--A very pretty place, with a very pretty name. A kind invitation led me +hither, to seek change of air, change of scene, and every other change I +most needed. + +The Britannia steam-boat, which plies daily between Toronto and +Hamilton, brought us to the mouth of the Credit River in an hour and a +half. By the orders of Mr. M * * *, a spring cart or wagon, the usual +vehicle of the country, was waiting by the inn, on the shore of the +lake, to convey me through the Woods to his house; and the master of the +inn, a decent, respectable man, drove the wagon. He had left England a +mere child, thirty years ago, with his father, mother, and seven +brothers and sisters, and eighteen years ago had come to Canada from the +United States, at the suggestion of a relation, to "settle in the bush," +the common term for uncleared land; at that time they had nothing, as he +said, but "health and hands." The family, now reduced to five, are all +doing well. He has himself a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, his +own property; his brother has much more; his sisters are well settled. +"Any man," said he, "with health and a pair of hands, could get on well +in this country, if it were not for _the drink; that_ ruins hundreds." + +They are forming a harbour at the mouth of the river--widening and +deepening the channel; but, owing to the want of means and money during +the present perplexities, the works are not going on. There is a clean, +tidy inn, and some log and frame houses; the situation is low, swampy, +and I should suppose unhealthy; but they assured me, that though still +subject to ague and fever in the spring, every year diminished this +inconvenience, as the draining and clearing of the lands around was +proceeding rapidly. + +The River Credit is so called, because in _ancient_ times (_i. e._ forty +or fifty years ago) the fur traders met the Indians on its banks, and +delivered to them on _credit_ the goods for which, the following year, +they received the value, or rather ten times the value, in skins. In a +country where there is no law of debtor or creditor, no bonds, stamps, +bills, or bailiffs, no possibility of punishing, or even catching a +refractory or fraudulent debtor, but, on the contrary, every possibility +of being tomahawked by said debtor, this might seem a hazardous +arrangement; yet I have been assured by those long engaged in the trade, +both in the upper and lower province, that for an Indian to break his +engagements is a thing unheard of: and if, by any personal accident, he +should be prevented from bringing in the stipulated number of beaver +skins, his relatives and friends consider their honour implicated, and +make up the quantity for him. + +The fur trade has long ceased upon these shores, once the scene of +bloody conflicts between the Hurons and the Missassaguas. The latter +were at length nearly extirpated; a wretched, degenerate remnant of the +tribe still continued to skulk about their old haunts and the +burial-place of their fathers, which is a high mound on the west bank of +the river, and close upon the lake. These were collected by the +Methodist missionaries into a village or settlement, about two miles +farther on, where an attempt has been made to civilise and convert them. +The government has expended a large sum in aid of this charitable +purpose, and about fifty log-huts have been constructed for the Indians, +each hut being divided by a partition, and capable of lodging two or +more families. There is also a chapel and a school-house. Peter Jones, +otherwise Kahkewaquonaby, a half-caste Indian, is the second chief and +religious teacher; he was in England a few years ago to raise +contributions for his people, and married a young enthusiastic +Englishwoman with a small property. She has recently quitted the village +to return to Europe. There is, besides, a regular Methodist preacher +established here, who cannot speak one word of the language of the +natives, nor hold any communion with them, except through an +interpreter. He complained of the mortality among the children, and the +yearly diminution of numbers in the settlement. The greater number of +those who remain are half-breeds, and of these, some of the young women +and children are really splendid creatures; but the general appearance +of the place and people struck me as gloomy. The Indians, whom I saw +wandering and lounging about, and the squaws wrapped in dirty blankets, +with their long black hair falling over their faces and eyes, filled me +with compassion. When the tribe were first gathered together, they +amounted to seven hundred men, women, and children; there are now about +two hundred and twenty. The missionary and his wife looked dejected; he +told me that the conference never allowed them (the missionaries) to +remain with any congregation long enough to know the people, or take a +personal interest in their welfare. In general the term of their +residence in any settlement or district was from two to three years, and +they were then exchanged for another. Among the inhabitants a few have +cultivated the portion of land allotted to them, and live in comparative +comfort; three or four women (half-caste) are favourably distinguished +by the cleanliness of their houses, and general good conduct; and some +of the children are remarkably intelligent, and can read both their own +language and English; but these are exceptions, and dirt, indolence, +and drunkenness, are but too general. Consumption is the prevalent +disease, and carries off numbers[3] of these wretched people. + +After passing the Indian village, we plunged again into the depth of the +green forests, through a road or path which presented every now and then +ruts and abysses of mud, into which we sank nearly up to the axletree, +and I began to appreciate feelingly the fitness of a Canadian wagon. On +each side of this forest path the eye sought in vain to penetrate the +labyrinth of foliage, and intermingled flowers of every dye, where life +in myriad forms was creeping, humming, rustling in the air or on the +earth, on which the morning dew still glittered under the thick shades. + +From these woods we emerged, after five or six miles of travelling, and +arrived at Springfield, a little village we had passed through in the +depth of winter--how different its appearance now!--and diverging from +the road, a beautiful path along the high banks above the river Credit, +brought us to Erindale, for so Mr. M * * *, in fond recollection of his +native country, has named his romantic residence. + +Mr. M * * * is the clergyman and magistrate of the district, beside +being the principal farmer and land proprietor. His wife, sprung from a +noble and historical race, blended much sweetness and frankheartedness, +with more of courtesy and manner than I expected to find. My reception +was most cordial, though the whole house was in unusual bustle, for it +was the 4th of June, parade day, when the district militia were to be +turned out; and two of the young men of the family were buckling on +swords and accoutrements, and furbishing up helmets, while the sister +was officiating with a sister's pride at this military toilette, tying +on sashes and arranging epaulettes; and certainly when they +appeared--one in the pretty green costume of a rifleman, the other all +covered with embroidery as a captain of lancers--I thought I had seldom +seen two finer-looking men. After taking coffee and refreshments, we +drove down to the scene of action. + +On a rising ground above the river which ran gurgling and sparkling +through the green ravine beneath, the motley troops, about three or four +hundred men, were marshalled--no, not marshalled, but scattered in a far +more picturesque fashion hither and thither: a few log-houses and a +saw-mill on the river-bank, and a little wooden church crowning the +opposite height, formed the chief features of the scene. The boundless +forest spread all around us. A few men, well mounted, and dressed as +lancers, in uniforms which were, however, anything but uniform, +flourished backwards on the green sward, to the manifest peril of the +spectators; themselves and their horses, equally wild, disorderly, +spirited, undisciplined: but this was perfection compared with the +infantry. Here there was no uniformity attempted of dress, of +appearance, of movement; a few had coats, others jackets; a greater +number had neither coats nor jackets, but appeared in their +shirt-sleeves, white or checked, or clean or dirty, in edifying variety! +Some wore hats, others caps, others their own shaggy heads of hair. Some +had firelocks; some had old swords suspended in belts, or stuck in their +waistbands; but the greater number shouldered sticks or umbrellas. Mrs. +M * * * told us that on a former parade day she had heard the word of +command given thus--"Gentlemen with the umbrellas, take ground to the +right! Gentlemen with the walking sticks, take ground to the left!" Now +they ran after each other, elbowed and kicked each other, straddled, +stooped, chattered; and if the commanding officer turned his back for a +moment, very coolly sat down on the bank to rest. Not to laugh was +impossible, and defied all power of face. Charles M. made himself hoarse +with shouting out orders which no one obeyed, except, perhaps, two or +three men in the front; and James, with his horsemen, flourished their +lances, and galloped, and capered, and curveted to admiration. James is +the popular storekeeper and postmaster of the village, and when, after +the show, we went into his warehouse to rest, I was not a little amused +to see our captain of lancers come in, and, taking off his plumed +helmet, jump over the counter to serve one customer to a "pennyworth of +tobacco," and another to a "yard of check." Willy, the younger brother, +a fine young man, who had been our cavalier on the field, assisted; and +half in jest, half in earnest, I gravely presented myself as the +purchaser of something or other, which Willy served out with a laughing +gaiety and unembarrassed simplicity quite delightful. We returned to sit +down to a plain, plenteous, and excellent dinner; everything on the +table, the wine excepted, was the produce of their own farm. Our wine, +water, and butter were iced, and everything was the best of its kind. + +The parade day ended in a drunken bout and a riot, in which, as I was +afterwards informed, the colonel had been knocked down, and one or two +serious, and even fatal accidents had occurred; but it was all taken so +very lightly, so very much as a thing of course, in this half-civilised +community, that I soon ceased to think about the matter. + +The next morning I looked out from my window upon a scene of wild yet +tranquil loveliness. The house is built on the edge of a steep bank +(what in Scotland they term a _scaur_), perhaps a hundred feet high, and +descending precipitously to the rapid river.[4] The banks on either side +were clothed with overhanging woods, of the sumach, maple, tamarisk, +birch, in all the rich yet delicate array of the fresh opening year. +Beyond, as usual, lay the dark pine-forest: and near to the house there +were several groups of lofty pines, the original giant-brood of the +soil; beyond these again lay the "clearing." The sky was without a +cloud, and the heat intense. I found breakfast laid in the verandah: +excellent tea and coffee, rich cream, delicious hot cakes, new laid +eggs--a banquet for a king! The young men and their labourers had been +out since sunrise, and the younger ladies of the house were busied in +domestic affairs; the rest of us sat lounging all the morning in the +verandah; and in the intervals of sketching and reading, my kind host +and hostess gave me an account of their emigration to this country ten +years ago. + +Mr. M. was a Protestant clergyman of good family, and had held a +considerable living in Ireland; but such was the disturbed state of the +county in which he resided, that he was not only unable to collect his +tithes, but for several years neither his own life nor that of any of +his family was safe. They never went out unarmed, and never went to rest +at night without having barricadoed their house like a fortress. The +health of his wife began to fail under this anxiety, and at length, +after a severe struggle with old feelings and old habits, he came to the +determination to convert his Irish property into ready money, and +emigrate to Canada, with four fine sons, from seven to seventeen years +old, and one little daughter. Thus Canada has become an asylum, not only +for those who cannot pay tithes, but for those who cannot get them. + +Soon after his arrival, he purchased eight hundred acres of land along +the banks of the Credit. With the assistance of his sons and a few +labourers, he soon cleared a space of ground for a house, in a situation +of great natural beauty, but then a perfect wilderness; and with no +other aid, designed and built it in very pretty taste. Being thus secure +of lodging and shelter, they proceeded in their toilsome work--toilsome, +most laborious, he allowed it to be, but not unrewarded; and they have +now one hundred and fifty acres of land cleared and in cultivation; a +noble barn, entirely constructed by his sons, measuring sixty feet long +by forty in width; a carpenter's shop, a turning-lathe, in the use of +which the old gentleman and one of his sons are very ingenious and +effective; a forge; extensive outhouses; a farmyard well stocked; and a +house comfortably furnished, much of the ornamental furniture being +contrived, carved, turned, by the father and his sons. These young men, +who had received in Ireland the rudiments of a classical education, had +all a mechanical genius, and here, with all their energies awakened, and +all their physical and mental powers in full occupation, they are a +striking example of what may be done by activity and perseverance; they +are their own architects, masons, smiths, carpenters, farmers, +gardeners; they are, moreover, bold and keen hunters, quick in resource, +intelligent, cheerful, united by strong affection, and doating on their +gentle sister, who has grown up among these four tall, manly brothers, +like a beautiful azalia under the towering and sheltering pines. Then I +should add, that one of the young men knows something of surgery, can +bleed or set a broken limb in case of necessity; while another knows as +much of law as enables him to draw up an agreement, and settle the +quarrels and arrange the little difficulties of their poorer neighbours, +without having recourse to the "attorney." + +The whole family appear to have a lively feeling for natural beauty, and +a taste for natural history; they know the habits and the haunts of the +wild animals which people their forest domain; they have made +collections of minerals and insects; and have "traced each herb and +flower that sips the silvery dew." Not only the stout servant girl, +(whom I met running about with a sucking-pig in her arms, looking for +its mother,) and the little black boy Alick,--but the animals in the +farmyard, the old favourite mare, the fowls which come trooping round +the benignant old gentleman, or are the peculiar pets of the ladies of +the family,--the very dogs and cats appear to me, each and all, the most +enviable of their species. There is an atmosphere of benevolence and +cheerfulness breathing round, which penetrates to my very heart. I know +not when I have felt so quietly--so entirely happy--so full of +sympathy--so light-hearted--so inclined to shut out the world, and its +cares and vanities, and "fleet the time as they did i' the golden age." + +Mr. M. told me, that for the first seven or eight years they had all +lived and worked together on his farm; but latterly he had reflected +that though the proceeds of the farm afforded a subsistence, it did not +furnish the means of independence for his sons, so as to enable them to +marry and settle in the world. He has therefore established two of his +sons as storekeepers, the one in Springfield, the other at Streetsville, +both within a short distance of his own residence, and they have +already, by their intelligence, activity, and popular manners, succeeded +beyond his hopes. + +I could perceive that in taking this step there had been certain +prejudices and feelings to be overcome on his own part and that of his +wife: the family pride of the well-born Irish gentleman, and the +antipathy to anything like trade, once cherished by a certain class in +the old country--these were to be conquered, before he could reconcile +himself to the idea of his boys serving out groceries in a Canadian +village; but they _were_ overcome. Some lingering of the "old Adam" made +him think it necessary to excuse--to account for this state of things. +He did not know with what entire and approving sympathy I regarded, not +the foolish national prejudices of my country, but the honest, generous +spirit and good sense through which he had conquered them, and provided +for the future independence of his children. + +I inquired concerning the extent of his parish, and the morals and +condition of his parishioners. + +He said that on two sides the district under his charge might be +considered as without bounds, for, in fact, there was no parish boundary +line between him and the North Pole. He has frequently ridden from +sixteen to thirty miles to officiate at a marriage or a funeral, or +baptize a child, or preach a sermon, wherever a small congregation could +be collected together; but latterly his increasing age rendered such +exertion difficult. His parish church is in Springfield. When he first +took the living, to which he was appointed on his arrival in the +country, the salary--for here there are no tithes--was two hundred a +year: some late measure, fathered by Mr. Hume, had reduced it to one +hundred. He spoke of this without bitterness as regarded himself, +observing that he was old, and had other means of subsistence; but he +considered it as a great injustice both to himself and to his +successors--"For," said he, "it is clear that no man could take charge +of this extensive district without keeping a good horse, and a boy to +rub him down. Now, in this country, where wages are high, he could not +keep a horse and a servant, and wear a whole coat, for less than one +hundred a year. No man, therefore, who had not other resources, could +live upon this sum; and no man who _had_ other resources, and had +received a fitting education, would be likely to come here. I say +nothing of the toil, the fatigue, the deep responsibility--these belong +to his vocation, in which, though a man must labour, he need not surely +starve:--yet starve he must, unless he takes a farm or a store in +addition to his clerical duties. A clergyman in such circumstances could +hardly command the respect of his parishioners: what do _you_ think, +madam?" + +When the question was thus put, I could only think the same: it seems to +me that there must be something wrong in the whole of this Canadian +church system, from beginning to end. + +With regard to the morals of the population around him, he spoke of two +things as especially lamentable, the prevalence of drunkenness, and the +early severing of parental and family ties; the first, partly owing to +the low price of whisky, the latter to the high price of labour, which +rendered it the interest of the young of both sexes to leave their home, +and look out and provide for themselves as soon as possible. This fact, +and its consequences, struck him the more painfully, from the contrast +it exhibited to the strong family affections, and respect for parental +authority, which even in the midst of squalid, reckless misery and ruin, +he had been accustomed to in poor Ireland. The general morals of the +women he considered infinitely superior to those of the men; and in the +midst of the horrid example and temptation, and one may add, +provocation, round them, their habits were generally sober. He knew +himself but two females abandoned to habits of intoxication, and in both +instances the cause had been the same--an unhappy home and a brutal +husband. + +He told me many other interesting circumstances and anecdotes, but being +of a personal nature, and his permission not expressly given, I do not +note them down here. + +On the whole, I shall never forget the few days spent with this +excellent family. We bade farewell, after many a cordial entreaty on +their part, many a promise on mine, to visit them again. Charles M. +drove me over to the Credit, where we met the steam-boat, and I returned +to Toronto with my heart full of kindly feelings, my fancy full of +delightful images, and my lap full of flowers, which Charles had +gathered for me along the margin of the forest: flowers such as we +transplant and nurture with care in our gardens and green-houses, most +dazzling and lovely in colour, strange and new to me in their forms, and +names, and uses: unluckily I am no botanist, so will not venture to +particularize farther; but one plant struck me particularly, growing +everywhere in thousands: the stalk is about two feet in height, and at +the top are two large fan-like leaves, one being always larger than the +other; from between the two springs a single flower, in size and shape +somewhat resembling a large wild rose, the petal white, just tinted with +a pale blush. The flower is succeeded by an oval-shaped fruit, which is +eaten, and makes an excellent preserve. They call it here the May-apple. + +[Footnote 3: The notes thrown together here are the result of three +different visits to the Credit, and information otherwise obtained.] + +[Footnote 4: In this river the young sportsmen of the family had speared +two hundred salmon in a single night. The salmon-hunts in Canada are +exactly like that described so vividly in Guy Mannering. The fish thus +caught is rather a large species of trout than genuine salmon. The sport +is most exciting.] + + * * * * * + + + LAKE ONTARIO. + + June 8. + +We have already exchanged "the bloom and ravishment of spring" for all +the glowing maturity of summer; we gasp with heat, we long for ices, and +are planning venetian blinds; and three weeks ago there was snow lying +beneath our garden fences, and not a leaf on the trees! In England, when +Nature wakes up from her long winter, it is like a sluggard in the +morning,--she opens one eye and then another, and shivers and draws her +snow coverlet over her face again, and turns round to slumber more than +once, before she emerges at last lazily and slowly, from her winter +chamber; but here, no sooner has the sun peeped through her curtains, +than up she springs, like a huntress for the chase, and dons her kirtle +of green, and walks abroad in full-blown life and beauty. I am basking +in her smile like an insect or a bird!--Apropos to birds, we have, alas! +no singing birds in Canada. There is, indeed, a little creature of the +ouzel kind, which haunts my garden, and has a low, sweet warble, to +which I listen with pleasure; but we have nothing like the rich, +continuous song of the nightingale or lark, or even the linnet. We have +no music in our groves but that of the frogs, which set up such a shrill +and perpetual chorus every evening, that we can scarce hear each other +speak. The regular manner in which the bass and treble voices respond to +each other is perfectly ludicrous, so that in the midst of my impatience +I have caught myself laughing. Then we have every possible variety of +note, from the piping squeak of the tree-frog, to the deep, guttural +croak, almost roar, of the bull-frog. + +The other day, while walking near a piece of water, I was startled by a +very loud deep croak, as like the croak of an ordinary frog, as the +bellow of a bull is like the bleat of a calf; and looking round, +perceived one of those enormous bull-frogs of the country seated with +great dignity on the end of a plank, and staring at me. The monster was +at least a foot in length, with a pair of eyes like spectacles; on +shaking my parasol at him, he plunged to the bottom in a moment. They +are quite harmless, I believe, though slander accuses them of attacking +the young ducks and chickens. + +There is considerable beauty around me--not that I am going to give you +descriptions of scenery, which are always, however eloquent, in some +respect failures. Words can no more give you a definite idea of the +combination of forms and colours in scenery, than so many musical notes: +music were, indeed, the better vehicle of the two. Felix Mendelssohn, +when a child, used to say, "I cannot tell you how such or such a thing +was--I cannot speak it--I will play it to you!"--and run to his piano: +sound was then to him a more perfect vehicle than words;--so, if I were +a musician, I would _play_ you Lake Ontario, rather than describe it. +Ontario means _the beautiful_, and the word is worthy of its +signification, and the lake is worthy of its beautiful name; yet I can +hardly tell you in what this fascination consists: there is no scenery +around it, no high lands, no bold shores, no picture to be taken in at +once by the eye; the swamp and the forest enclose it, and it is so wide +and so vast that it presents all the monotony without the majesty of the +ocean. Yet, like that great ocean, when I lived beside it, the expanse +of this lake has become to me like the face of a friend. I have all its +various _expressions_ by heart. I go down upon the green bank, or along +the King's Pier, which projects about two hundred yards into the bay. I +sit there with my book, reading sometimes, but oftener watching untired +the changeful colours as they flit over the bosom of the lake. Sometimes +a thunder-squall from the west sends the little sloops and schooners +sweeping and scudding into the harbour for shelter. Sometimes the sunset +converts its surface into a sea of molten gold, and sometimes the young +moon walks trembling in a path of silver; sometimes a purple haze floats +over its bosom like a veil; sometimes the wind blows strong, and the +wild turbid waves come rolling in like breakers, flinging themselves +over the pier in wrath and foam, or dancing like spirits in their glee. +Nor is the land without some charm. About four miles from Toronto the +river Humber comes down between high wood-covered banks, and rushes into +the lake: a more charming situation for villas and garden-houses could +hardly be desired than the vicinity of this beautiful little river, and +such no doubt we shall see in time. + +The opposite shore of the bay of Toronto is formed by a long sand-bank, +called "the Island," though, in fact, no island, but a very narrow +promontory, about three miles in length, and forming a rampart against +the main waters of the lake. At the extremity is a light-house, and a +few stunted trees and underwood. This marsh, intersected by islets and +covered with reeds, is the haunt of thousands of wild-fowl, and of the +terrapin, or small turtle of the lake; and as evening comes on, we see +long rows of red lights from the fishing-boats gleaming along the +surface of the water, for thus they spear the lake salmon, the bass, and +the pickereen. + +The only road on which it is possible to take a drive with comfort is +Yonge Street, which is macadamised for the first twelve miles. This road +leads from Toronto northwards to Lake Simcoe, through a well-settled and +fertile country. There are some commodious, and even elegant houses in +this neighbourhood. Dundas Street, leading west to the London district +and Lake Huron, is a very rough road for a carriage, but a most +delightful ride. On this side of Toronto you are immediately in the pine +forest, which extends with little interruption (except a new settlement +rising here and there) for about fifty miles to Hamilton, which is the +next important town. The wooded shores of the lake are very beautiful, +and abounding in game. In short, a reasonable person might make himself +very happy here, if it were not for some few things, among which, those +Egyptian plagues, the flies and frogs in summer, and the relentless iron +winter, are not the most intolerable; add, perhaps, the prevalence of +sickness at certain seasons. At present many families are flying off to +Niagara, for two or three days together, for change of air; and I am +meditating a flight myself, of such serious extent, that some of my +friends here laugh outright; others look kindly alarmed, and others +civilly incredulous. Bad roads, bad inns--or rather _no_ roads, no +inns;--wild Indians, and white men more savage far than they;--dangers +and difficulties of every kind are threatened and prognosticated, enough +to make one's hair stand on end. To undertake such a journey _alone_ is +rash perhaps--yet alone it must be achieved, I find, or not at all; I +shall have neither companion nor man-servant, nor _femme de chambre_, +nor even a "little foot-page" to give notice of my fate, should I be +swamped in a bog, or eaten up by a bear, or scalped, or disposed of in +some strange way; but shall I leave this fine country without seeing +anything of its great characteristic features?--and, above all, of its +aboriginal inhabitants? The French have a proverb which does honour to +their gallantry, and to which, from experience, I am inclined to give +full credence--"_Ce que femme veut, Dieu veut_." We shall see. + + * * * * * + + + MADAME DE MAINTENON. + +How admirable what Sir James Mackintosh says of Madame de +Maintenon!--that "she was as virtuous as the fear of hell and the fear +of shame could make her." The same might be said of the virtue of many +women I know, and of these, I believe, that more are virtuous from the +fear of shame than the fear of hell.--Shame is the woman's hell. + +Who that has lived in the world, in society, and looked on both with +observing eye, but has often been astonished at the fearlessness of +women, and the cowardice of men, with regard to public opinion? The +reverse would seem to be the natural, the necessary result of the +existing order of things, but it is not always so. Exceptions occur so +often, and so immediately within my own province of observation, that +they have made me reflect a good deal. Perhaps this seeming discrepancy +might be thus explained. + +Women are brought up in the fear of opinion, but, from their ignorance +of the world, they are in fact ignorant of that which they fear. They +fear opinion as a child fears a spectre, as something shadowy and +horrible, not defined or palpable. It is a fear based on habit, on +feeling, not on principle or reason. When their passions are strongly +excited, or when reason becomes matured, this exaggerated fear vanishes, +and the probability is, that they are immediately thrown into the +opposite extreme of incredulity, defiance, and rashness: but a man, even +while courage is preached to him, learns from habitual intercourse with +the world the immense, the terrible power of opinion. It wraps him round +like despotism; it is a reality to him; to a woman a shadow, and if she +can overcome the fear in her own person, all is overcome. A man fears +opinion for himself, his wife, his daughter; and if the fear of opinion +be brought into conflict with primary sentiments and principles, it is +ten to one but the habit of fear prevails, and opinion triumphs over +reason and feeling too. + + * * * * * + + + MRS. MACMURRAY. + + June 13. + +In these latter days I have lived in friendly communion with so many +excellent people, that my departure from Toronto was not what I +anticipated--an escape on one side, or a riddance on the other. My +projected tour to the west has excited not only some interest, but much +kind solicitude; and aid and counsel have been tendered with a feeling +which touched me deeply. + +The first bell of the steam-boat had not yet rung, when one of my +friends came running up to tell me that the missionary from the +Sault-Saint-Marie, and his Indian wife, had arrived at Toronto, and were +then at the inn, and that there was just time to introduce me to them. +No sooner thought than done: in another moment we were in the hotel, and +I was introduced to Mrs. MacMurray, otherwise O-ge-ne-bu-go-quay, (i. e. +_the wild rose_). + +I must confess that the specimens of Indian squaws and half-caste women +I had met with, had in no wise prepared me for what I found in Mrs. +MacMurray. The first glance, the first sound of her voice, struck me +with a pleased surprise. Her figure is tall--at least it is rather above +than below the middle size, with that indescribable grace and undulation +of movement which speaks the perfection of form. Her features are +distinctly Indian, but softened and refined, and their expression at +once bright and kindly. Her dark eyes have a sort of fawn-like shyness +in their glance, but her manner, though timid, was quite free from +embarrassment or restraint. She speaks English well, with a slightly +foreign intonation, not the less pleasing to my ear that it reminded me +of the voice and accent of some of my German friends. In two minutes I +was seated by her--my hand kindly folded in hers--and we were talking +over the possibility of my plans. It seems that there is some chance of +my reaching the Island of Michilimackinac, but of the Sault-Saint-Marie +I dare hardly think as yet--it looms in my imagination dimly described +in far space, a kind of Ultima Thule; yet the sight of Mrs. MacMurray +seemed to give something definite to the vague hope which had been +floating in my mind. Her sister, she said, was married to the American +Indian agent at Michilimackinac, and from both she promised me a +welcome, should I reach their island. To her own far off home at the +Sault-Saint-Marie, between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, she warmly +invited me--without, however, being able to point out any conveyance or +mode of travelling thither that could be depended on--only a possible +chance of such. Meantime there was _some_ hope of our meeting +_some_where on the road, but it was of the faintest. She thanked me +feelingly for the interest I took in her own fated race, and gave me +excellent hints as to my manner of proceeding. We were in the full tide +of conversation when the bell of the steam-boat rang for the last time, +and I was hurried off. On the deck of the vessel I found her husband, +Mr. MacMurray, who had only time to say, in fewest words, all that was +proper, polite, and hospitable. This rencontre, which some would call +accidental, and some providential, pleased and encouraged me. Then came +blessings, good wishes, kind pressures of the hand, and last adieus, and +waving of handkerchiefs from the shore, as the paddles were set in +motion, and we glided swiftly over the mirror-like bay. + +The day was sultry, the air heavy and still, and a strange fog, or +rather a series of dark clouds, hung resting on the bosom of the lake, +which in some places was smooth and transparent as glass--in others, +little eddies of wind had ruffled it into tiny waves, or welts +rather--so that it presented the appearance of patchwork. The boatmen +looked up, and foretold a storm; but when we came within three or four +miles from the mouth of the river Niagara, the fog drew off like a +curtain, and the interminable line of the dark forest came into view, +stretching right and left along the whole horizon; then the white +buildings of the American fort, and the spires of the town of Niagara, +became visible against the rich purple-green back-ground, and we landed +after a four hours' voyage. The threatened storm came on that night. The +summer storms of Canada are like those of the tropics: not in Italy, not +among the Apennines, where I have in my time heard the "live thunder +leaping from crag to crag," did I ever hear such terrific explosions of +sound as burst over our heads this night. The silence and the darkness +lent an added horror to the elemental tumult--and for the first time in +my life I felt sickened and unpleasantly affected in the intervals +between the thunder-claps, though I cannot say I felt fear. Meantime the +rain fell as in a deluge, threatening to wash us into the lake, which +reared itself up, and roared--like a monster for its prey. + +Yet, the next morning, when I went down upon the shore, how beautiful +it looked--the hypocrite!--there it lay rocking and sleeping in the +sunshine, quiet as a cradled infant. Niagara, in its girdle of verdure +and foliage, glowing with fresh life, and breathing perfume, appeared to +me a far different place from what I had seen in winter. As I stood on +the shore, quietly thinking, I was startled by the sound of the +death-bell, pealing along the sunny blue waters. They said it was tolled +for a young man of respectable family, who, at the age of three or four +and twenty, had died from habitual drinking; his elder brother having a +year or two before fallen from his horse in a state of intoxication, and +perished in consequence. Yes, everything I see and hear on this subject +convinces me that it should be one of the first objects of the +government to put down, by all and every means, a vice which is rotting +at the core of this colony--poisoning the very sources of existence; but +all their taxes, and prohibitions, and excise laws, will do little good, +unless they facilitate the means of education. In society, the same +evening, the appearance of a very young, very pretty, sad-looking +creature, with her first baby at her bosom, whose husband was staggering +and talking drunken gibberish at her side, completed the impression of +disgust and affright with which the continual spectacle of this vile +habit strikes me since I have been in this country. + +Before quitting the subject of Niagara, I may as well mention an +incident which occurred shortly afterwards, on my last visit to the +town, which interested me much at the time, and threw the whole of this +little community into a wonderful ferment. + + + THE SLAVE. + +A black man, a slave somewhere in Kentucky, having been sent on a +message, mounted on a very valuable horse, seized the opportunity of +escaping. He reached Buffalo after many days of hard riding, sold the +horse, and escaped beyond the lines into Canada. Here, as in all the +British dominions, God be praised! the slave is slave no more, but free, +and protected in his freedom.[5] This man acknowledged that he had not +been ill treated; he had received some education, and had been a +favourite with his master. He gave as a reason for his flight, that he +had long wished to marry, but was resolved that his children should not +be born slaves. In Canada, a runaway slave is assured of legal +protection; but, by an international compact between the United States +and our provinces, all felons are mutually surrendered. Against this +young man the jury in Kentucky had found a true bill for horse-stealing; +as a felon, therefore, he was pursued, and, on the proper legal +requisition, arrested; and then lodged in the jail of Niagara, to be +given up to his master, who, with an American constable, was in +readiness to take him into custody, as soon as the government order +should arrive. His case excited a strong interest among the whites, +while the coloured population, consisting of many hundreds in the +districts of Gore and Niagara, chiefly refugees from the States, were +half frantic with excitement. They loudly and openly declared that they +would peril their lives to prevent his being carried again across the +frontiers, and surrendered to the vengeance of his angry master. +Meantime there was some delay about legal forms, and the mayor and +several of the inhabitants of the town united in a petition to the +governor in his favour. In this petition it was expressly mentioned, +that the master of the slave had been heard to avow that his intention +was not to give the culprit up to justice, but to make what he called an +_example_ of him. Now there had been lately some frightful instances of +what the slave proprietors of the south called "making an example;" and +the petitioners entreated the governor to interpose, and save the man +from a torturing death "under the lash or at the stake." Probably the +governor's own humane feelings pleaded even more strongly in behalf of +the poor fellow. But it was a case in which he could not act from +feeling, or, "to do a great right, do a little wrong." The law was too +expressly and distinctly laid down, and his duty as governor was clear +and imperative--to give up the felon, although, to have protected the +slave, he would, if necessary, have armed the province. + +In the mean time the coloured people assembled from the adjacent +villages, and among them a great number of their women. The conduct of +this black mob, animated and even directed by the females, was really +admirable for its good sense, forbearance, and resolution. They were +quite unarmed, and declared their intention not to commit any violence +against the English law. The culprit, they said, might lie in the jail, +till they could raise among them the price of the horse; but if any +attempt were made to take him from the prison, and send him across to +Lewiston, they would resist it at the hazard of their lives. + +The fatal order _did_ at length come; the sheriff with a party of +constables prepared to enforce it. The blacks, still unarmed, assembled +round the jail, and waited till their comrade, or their brother as they +called him, was brought out and placed handcuffed in a cart. They then +threw themselves simultaneously on the sheriff's party, and a dreadful +scuffle ensued; the artillery men from the little fort, our only +military, were called in aid of the civil authorities, and ordered to +fire on the assailants. Two blacks were killed, and two or three +wounded. In the _melee_ the poor slave escaped, and has not since been +retaken, neither was he, I believe, pursued. + +But it was the conduct of the women which, on this occasion, excited the +strongest surprise and interest. By all those passionate and persuasive +arguments that a woman knows so well how to use, whatever be her colour, +country, or class, they had prevailed on their husbands, brothers, and +lovers to use no arms, to do no illegal violence, but to lose their +lives rather than see their comrade taken by force across the lines. +They had been most active in the fray, throwing themselves fearlessly +between the black men and the whites, who, of course, shrank from +injuring them. One woman had seized the sheriff, and held him pinioned +in her arms; another, on one of the artillery-men presenting his piece, +and swearing that he would shoot her if she did not get out of his way, +gave him only one glance of unutterable contempt, and with one hand +knocking up his piece, and collaring him with the other, held him in +such a manner as to prevent his firing. I was curious to see a mulatto +woman who had been foremost in the fray, and whose intelligence and +influence had mainly contributed to the success of her people; M----, +under pretence of inquiring after a sick child, drove me round to the +hovel in which she lived, outside the town. She came out to speak to us. +She was a fine creature, apparently about five-and-twenty, with a kindly +animated countenance; but the feelings of exasperation and indignation +had evidently not yet subsided. She told us, in answer to my close +questioning, that she had formerly been a slave in Virginia; that, so +far from being ill treated, she had been regarded with especial kindness +by the family on whose estate she was born. When she was about sixteen +her master died, and it was said that all the slaves on the estate would +be sold, and therefore she ran away. "Were you not attached to your +mistress?" I asked. "Yes," said she, "I liked my mistress, but I did not +like to be sold." I asked her if she was happy here in Canada? She +hesitated a moment, and then replied, on my repeating the question, +"Yes--that is, I _was_ happy here--but now--I don't know--I thought we +were safe _here_--I thought nothing could touch us _here_, on your +British ground, but it seems I was mistaken, and if so, I won't stay +here--I won't--I won't! I'll go and find some country where they cannot +reach us! I'll go to the end of the world, I will!" And as she spoke, +her black eyes flashing, she extended her arms, and folded them across +her bosom, with an attitude and expression of resolute dignity, which a +painter might have studied; and truly the fairest white face I ever +looked on never beamed with more of soul and high resolve than hers at +that moment. + +[Footnote 5: Among the addresses presented to Sir Francis Head in 1836, +was one from the coloured inhabitants of this part of the province, +signed by four hundred and thirty-one individuals, most of them refugees +from the United States, or their descendants.] + + * * * * * + + + NIAGARA IN SUMMER. + +Between the town of Queenston and the cataract of Niagara lies the +pretty little village of Stamford (close to Lundy Lane, the site of a +famous battle in the last war), and celebrated for its fine air. Near it +is a beautiful house with its domain, called Stamford Park, built and +laid out by a former governor (Sir Peregrine Maitland). It is the only +place I saw in Upper Canada combining our ideas of an elegant, +well-furnished English villa and ornamented grounds, with some of the +grandest and wildest features of the forest scene. It enchanted me +altogether. From the lawn before the house, an open glade, commanding a +park-like range of broken and undulating ground and wooded valleys, +displayed beyond them the wide expanse of Lake Ontario, even the Toronto +light-house, at a distance of thirty miles, being frequently visible to +the naked eye. By the hostess of this charming seat I was conveyed in a +light pony carriage to the hotel at the Falls, and left, with real +kindness, to follow my own devices. The moment I was alone, I hurried +down to the Table-rock. The body of water was more full and tremendous +than in the winter. The spray rose, densely falling again in thick +showers, and behind those rolling volumes of vapour the last gleams of +the evening light shone in lurid brightness, amid amber and crimson +clouds; on the other side, night was rapidly coming on, and all was +black, impenetrable gloom, and "boundless contiguity of shade." It was +very, very beautiful, and strangely awful too! For now it was late, and +as I stood there, lost in a thousand reveries, there was no human being +near, no light but that reflected from the leaping, whirling foam; and +in spite of the deep-voiced continuous thunder of the cataract, there +was such a stillness that I could hear my own heart's pulse throb--or +did I mistake feeling for hearing?--so I strayed homewards, or +housewards I should say, through the leafy, gloomy, pathways,--wet with +the spray, and fairly tired out. + + * * * * * + +The good people, travellers, describers, poets, and others, who seem to +have hunted through the dictionary for words in which to depict these +cataracts under every aspect, have never said enough of the rapids +above--even for which reason, perhaps, they have struck me the more; not +that any words in any language would have prepared me for what I now +feel in this wondrous scene. Standing to-day on the banks above the +Crescent Fall, near Mr. Street's mill, gazing on the rapids, they left +in my fancy two impressions which seldom meet together,--that of the +sublime and terrible, and that of the elegant and graceful--like a tiger +at play. I could not withdraw my eyes; it was like a fascination. + +The verge of the rapids is considerably above the eye; the whole mighty +river comes rushing over the brow of a hill, and as you look up, it +seems coming down to overwhelm you. Then meeting with the rocks, as it +pours down the declivity, it boils and frets like the breakers of the +ocean. Huge mounds of water, smooth, transparent, and gleaming like the +emerald, or rather like the more delicate hue of the chrysopaz, rise up +and bound over some unseen impediment, then break into silver foam, +which leaps into the air in the most graceful fantastic forms; and so it +rushes on, whirling, boiling, dancing, sparkling along, with a playful +impatience, rather than overwhelming fury, rejoicing as if escaped from +bondage, rather than raging in angry might,--wildly, magnificently +beautiful! The idea, too, of the immediate danger, the consciousness +that anything caught within its verge is inevitably hurried to a swift +destination, swallowed up, annihilated, thrills the blood; the immensity +of the picture, spreading a mile at least each way, and framed in by the +interminable forests, adds to the feeling of grandeur; while the giddy, +infinite motion of the headlong waters, dancing and leaping, and +revelling and roaring, in their mad glee, gave me a sensation of +rapturous terror, and at last caused a tension of the nerves in my head, +which obliged me to turn away. + +The great ocean, when thus agitated by conflicting winds or opposing +rocks, is a more tremendous thing, but it is merely tremendous,--it +makes us think of our prayers; whereas, while I was looking on these +rapids, beauty and terror, and power and joy, were blended, and so +thoroughly, that even while I trembled and admired, I could have burst +into a wild laugh, and joined the dancing billows in their glorious, +fearful mirth,-- + + Leaping like Bacchanals from rock to rock, + Flinging the frantic Thyrsus wild and high! + +I shall never see again, or feel again, aught like it--never! I did not +think there was an object in nature, animate or inanimate, that could +thus overset me! + + * * * * * + +To-day I accompanied the family of Colonel Delatre to the American side, +and dined on Goat Island. Though the various views of the two cataracts +be here wonderfully grand and beautiful, and the bridge across the +rapids a sort of miracle, as they say, still it is not altogether to be +compared to the Canadian shore for picturesque scenery. The Americans +have disfigured their share of the rapids with mills and manufactories, +and horrid red brick houses, and other unacceptable, unseasonable sights +and signs of sordid industry. Worse than all is the round tower, which +some profane wretch has erected on the Crescent Fall; it stands there so +detestably impudent and _mal-a-propos_,--it is such a signal, yet puny +monument of bad taste,--so miserably _mesquin_, and so presumptuous, +that I do hope the violated majesty of nature will take the matter in +hand, and overwhelm or cast it down the precipice one of these fine +days, though indeed a barrel of gunpowder were a shorter if not a surer +method. Can you not send us out some Guy Faux, heroically ready to be +victimised in the great cause of insulted nature, and no less insulted +art? But not to tire you with descriptions of precipices, caves, rocks, +woods, and rushing waters, which I can buy here ready made for sixpence, +I will only tell you that our party was very pleasant. + +The people who have spoken or written of these Falls of Niagara, have +surely never done justice to their loveliness, their inexpressible, +inconceivable beauty. The feeling of their beauty has become with me a +deeper feeling than that of their sublimity. What a scene this evening! +What splendour of colour! The emerald and chrysopaz of the transparent +waters, the dazzling gleam of the foam, and the snow-white vapour, on +which was displayed the most perfect and gigantic iris I ever +beheld,--forming not a half, but at least two thirds of an entire +circle, one extremity resting on the lesser (or American) Fall, the +other in the very lap of the Crescent Fall, spanning perhaps half a +mile, perfectly resplendent in hue--so gorgeous, so vivid, and yet so +ethereally delicate, and apparently within a few feet of the eye; the +vapours rising into the blue heavens at least four hundred feet, three +times the height of the Falls, and tinted rose and amber with the +evening sun; and over the woods around every possible variety of the +richest foliage,--no, nothing was ever so transcendently lovely! The +effect, too, was so grandly uniform in its eternal sound and movement: +it was quite different from that of those wild, impatient, tumultuous +rapids. It soothed, it melted, it composed, rather than excited. + +There are no water-fowl now as in the winter--when driven from the +ice-bound shores and shallows of the lake, they came up here to seek +their food, and sported and wheeled amid the showers of spray. They have +returned to their old quiet haunts; sometimes I miss them: they were a +beautiful variety in the picture. + + * * * * * + + + BUFFALO. + +After an absence of a few days, during which there had raged a perpetual +storm, I came back to the Clifton Hotel, to find my beautiful Falls +quite spoiled and discoloured. Instead of the soft aquamarine hue, +relieved with purest white, a dull dirty brown now imbued the waters. +This is owing to the shallowness of Lake Erie, where every storm turns +up the muddy bed from the bottom, and discolours the whole river. The +spray, instead of hovering in light clouds round and above the +cataracts, was beaten down, and rolled in volumes round their base; then +by the gusty winds driven along the surface of the river hither and +thither, covering everything in the neighbourhood with a small rain. I +sat down to draw, and in a moment the paper was wet through. It is as if +all had been metamorphosed during my absence--and I feel very +disconsolate. + +The whole of this district between the two great lakes is superlatively +beautiful, and was the first settled district in Upper Canada; it is now +the best cultivated. The population is larger in proportion to its +extent than that of any other district. In Niagara, and in the +neighbouring district of Gore, many fruits come to perfection, which are +not found to thrive in other parts of the province, and cargoes of +fruit are sent yearly to the cities of Lower Canada, where the climate +is much more severe and the winter longer than with us. + +On the other side the country is far less beautiful, and they say less +fertile, but rich in activity and in population; and there are within +the same space at least half a dozen flourishing towns. Our speculating +energetic Yankee neighbours, not satisfied with their Manchester, their +manufactories, and their furnaces, and their mill "privileges," have +opened a railroad from Lewiston to Buffalo, thus connecting Lake Erie +with the Erie Canal. On our side, we have the Welland Canal, a +magnificent work, of which the province is justly proud; it unites Lake +Erie with Lake Ontario. + +Yet from the Falls all along the shores of the Lake Erie to the Grand +River and far beyond it, the only place we have approaching to a town is +Chippewa, just above the rapids, as yet a small village, but lying +immediately in the road from the Western States to the Falls. From +Buffalo to this place the Americans run a steam-boat daily; they have +also planned a suspension bridge across the Niagara river, between +Lewiston and Queenston. Another village, Dunnville, on the Grand River, +is likely to be the commercial depot of that part of the province; it is +situated where the Welland Canal joins Lake Erie. + +As the weather continued damp and gloomy, without hope of change, a +sudden whim seized me to go to Buffalo for a day or two; so I crossed +the turbulent ferry to Manchester, and thence an engine, snorting, +shrieking like fifty tortured animals, conveyed us to Tonawando[6], once +a little village of Seneca Indians, now rising into a town of some size +and importance; and there to my great delight I encountered once more my +new friends, Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, who were on their return from +Toronto to the Sault-Sainte-Marie. We proceeded on to Buffalo together, +and during the rest of the day had some pleasant opportunities of +improving our acquaintance. + +Buffalo, as all travel-books will tell you, is a very fine young city, +about ten years old, and containing already about twenty thousand +inhabitants. There is here the largest and most splendid hotel I have +ever seen, except at Frankfort. Long rows of magnificent houses--not of +painted wood, but of brick and stone--are rising on every side. + +The season is unusually dull and dead, and I hear nothing but complaints +around me; but compared to our Canadian shore, all here is bustle, +animation, activity. In the port I counted about fifty vessels, sloops, +schooners and steam-boats; the crowds of people buying, selling, +talking, bawling; the Indians lounging by in their blankets, the men +looking so dark, and indifferent, and lazy; the women so busy, +care-worn, and eager; and the numbers of sturdy children, squalling, +frisking among the feet of busy sailors,--formed altogether a strange +and amusing scene. + +On board the Michigan steamer, then lying ready for her voyage up the +lakes to Chicago, I found all the arrangements magnificent to a degree I +could not have anticipated. This is one of three great steam-boats +navigating the Upper Lakes, which are from five to seven hundred tons +burthen, and there are nearly forty smaller ones coasting Lake Erie, +between Buffalo and Detroit, besides schooners. + +[Footnote 6: Near this place lived and died the chief Red-jacket, one of +the last and greatest specimens of the Indian patriot and warrior.] + + * * * * * + + + THE ENGLISH EMIGRANT. + + June 27. + +In a strange country much is to be learned by travelling in the public +carriages: in Germany and elsewhere I have preferred this mode of +conveyance, even when the alternative lay within my choice, and I never +had reason to regret it. + +The Canadian stage-coaches[7] are like those of the United States, heavy +lumbering vehicles, well calculated to live in roads where any decent +carriage must needs founder. In one of these I embarked to return to the +town of Niagara, thence to pursue my journey westward: a much easier and +shorter course had been by the lake steamers; but my object was not +haste, nor to see merely sky and water, but to see the country. + +In the stage-coach two persons were already seated--an English emigrant +and his wife, with whom I quickly made acquaintance after my usual +fashion. The circumstances and the story of this man I thought worth +noting--not because there was anything uncommon or peculiarly +interesting in his case, but simply because his case is that of so many +others, while the direct good sense, honesty, and intelligence of the +man pleased me exceedingly. + +He told me that he had come to America in his own behalf and that of +several others of his own class--men who had each a large family and a +small capital, who found it difficult to _get on_ and settle their +children in England. In his own case, he had been some years ago the +only one of his trade in a flourishing country town where he had now +fourteen competitors. Six families, in a similar position, had delegated +him on a voyage of discovery: it was left to him to decide whether they +should settle in the United States or in the Canadas; so leaving his +children at school in Long Island, "he was just," to use his own phrase, +"taking a turn through the two countries, to look about him and gather +information before he decided, and had brought his little wife to see +the grand Falls of Niagara, of which he had heard so much in the old +country." + +As we proceeded, my companion mingled with his acute questions, and his +learned calculations on crops and prices of land, certain observations +on the beauty of the scenery, and talked of lights and shades and +foregrounds, and effects, in very homely, plebeian English, but with so +much of real taste and feeling that I was rather astonished, till I +found he had been a printseller and frame-maker, which last branch of +trade had brought him into contact with artists and amateurs; and he +told me, with no little exultation, that among his stock of moveables, +he had brought out with him several fine drawings of Prout, Hunt, and +even Turner, acquired in his business. He said he had no wish at present +to part with these, for it was his intention, wherever he settled, to +hang them up in his house, though that house were a log-hut, that his +children might have the pleasure of looking at them, and learn to +distinguish what is excellent in its kind. + +The next day, on going on from Niagara to Hamilton in a storm of rain, I +found, to my no small gratification, the English emigrant and his quiet, +silent little wife, already seated in the stage, and my only _compagnons +de voyage_. In the deportment of this man there was that deferential +courtesy which you see in the manners of respectable tradesmen, who are +brought much into intercourse with their superiors in rank, without, +however, a tinge of servility; and his conversation amused and +interested me more and more. He told me he had been born on a farm, and +had first worked as a farmer's boy, then as a house-carpenter, lastly, +as a decorative carver and gilder, so that there was no kind of business +to which he could not readily turn his hand. His wife was a good +sempstress, and he had brought up all his six children to be useful, +giving them such opportunities of acquiring knowledge as he could. He +regretted his own ignorance, but, as he said, he had been all his life +too busy to find time for reading much. He was, however, resolved that +his boys and girls should read, because, as he well observed, "every +sort of knowledge, be it much or little, was sure to turn to account, +some time or other." His notions on education, his objections to the +common routine of common schools, and his views for his children, were +all marked by the same originality and good sense. Altogether he +appeared to be, in every respect, just the kind of settler we want in +Upper Canada. I was therefore pleased to hear that hitherto he was +better satisfied with the little he had seen of this province than with +those States of the Union through which he had journeyed; he said truly, +it was more "home-like, more English-like." I did my best to encourage +him in this favourable opinion, promising myself that the little I might +be able to do to promote his views, that I _would_ do. + +[Footnote 7: That is, the better class of them. In some parts of Upper +Canada, the stage-coaches conveying the mail were large oblong wooden +boxes, formed of a few planks nailed together and placed on wheels, into +which you entered by the windows, there being no doors to open and shut, +and no springs. Two or three seats were suspended inside on leather +straps. The travellers provided their own buffalo-skins or cushions to +sit on.] + + + THE DRUNKARD. + +While the conversation was thus kept up with wonderful pertinacity, +considering that our vehicle was reeling and tumbling along the +detestable road, pitching like a scow among the breakers in a +lake-storm, our driver stopped before a vile little log-hut, over the +door of which hung, crooked-wise, a board, setting forth that "wiskey +and tabacky" were to be had there. The windows were broken, and the loud +voice of some intoxicated wretch was heard from within, in one +uninterrupted, torrent of oaths and blasphemies, so shocking in their +variety, and so new to my ears, that I was really horror-struck. + +After leaving the hut, the coach stopped again. I called to the driver +in some terror, "You are not surely going to admit that drunken man into +the coach?" He replied coolly, "O no, I an't; don't you be afeard!" In +the next moment he opened the door, and the very wretch I stood in fear +of was tumbled in head foremost, smelling of spirits, and looking--O +most horrible! Expostulation was in vain. Without even listening, the +driver shut the door, and drove on at a gallop. The rain was at this +time falling in torrents, the road knee-deep in mud, the wild forest on +either side of us dark, grim, impenetrable. Help there was none, nor +remedy, nor redress, nor hope, but in patience. Here then was one of +those inflictions to which speculative travellers are exposed now and +then, appearing, _for the time_, to outweigh all the possible advantages +of experience or knowledge bought at such a price. + +I had never before in my whole life been obliged to endure the presence +or proximity of such an object for two minutes together, and the +astonishment, horror, disgust, even to sickness and loathing, which it +now inspired, are really unspeakable. The Englishman placing himself in +the middle seat, in front of his wife and myself, did his best to +protect us from all possibility of contact with the object of our +abomination; while the wretched being, aware of our adverse feeling, put +on at one moment an air of chuckling self-complacency, and the next +glared on us with ferocious defiance. When I had recovered myself +sufficiently to observe, I could see that the man was not more than +five-and-twenty, probably much younger, with a face and figure which +must have been by nature not only fine, but uncommonly fine, though now +deformed, degraded, haggard with filth and inflamed with inebriety--a +dreadful and humiliating spectacle. Some glimmering remains of sense and +decency prevented him from swearing and blaspheming when once in the +coach; but he abused us horribly: his nasal accent, and his drunken +objurgations against the old country, and all who came from it, betrayed +his own birth and breeding to have been on the other side of the +Niagara, or "down east." Once he addressed some words to me, and, +offended by my resolute silence, he exclaimed with a scowl, and a hiccup +of abomination at every word, "I should like--to know--madam--how--I +came under your diabolical influence?" Here my friend the emigrant, +seeing my alarm, interposed, and a scene ensued, which, in spite of the +horrors of this horrible propinquity, was irresistibly comic, and not +without its pathetic significance too, now I think of it. The +Englishman, forgetting that the condition of the man placed him for the +time beyond the influence of reasoning or sympathy, began with grave and +benevolent earnestness to lecture him on his profligate habits, +expressing his amazement and his pity at seeing such a fine young man +fallen into such evil ways, and exhorting him to amend,--the fellow, +meanwhile, rolling himself from side to side with laughter. But suddenly +his countenance changed, and he said, with a wistful expression, and the +tears in his eyes, "Friend, do you believe in the devil?" + +"Yes, I do," replied the Englishman with solemnity. + +"Then it's your opinion, I guess, that a man may be tempted by the +devil?" + +"Yes, and I should suppose as how that has been your case, friend; +though," added he, looking at him from head to foot with no equivocal +expression, "I think the devil himself might have more charity than to +put a man in such a pickle." + +"What do you mean by that?" exclaimed the wretch fiercely, and for the +first time uttering a horrid oath. The emigrant only replied by shaking +his head significantly; and the other, after pouring forth a volley of +abuse against the insolence of the "old country folk," stretched himself +on his back, and kicking up his legs on high, and setting his feet +against the roof of the Coach, fell asleep in this attitude, and snored, +till, at the end of a long hour, he was tumbled out at the door of +another drinking hovel as he had tumbled in, and we saw him no more. + + + HAMILTON. + +The distance from the town of Niagara to Hamilton is about forty miles. +We had left the former place at ten in the morning, yet it was nearly +midnight before we arrived, having had no refreshment during the whole +day. It was market-day, and the time of the assizes, and not a bed to be +had at the only tolerable hotel, which, I should add, is large and +commodious. The people were civil beyond measure, and a bed was made up +for me in a back parlour, into which I sank half starved, and very +completely tired. + +The next day rose bright and beautiful, and I amused myself walking up +and down the pretty town for two or three hours. + +Hamilton is the capital of the Gore district, and one of the most +flourishing places in Upper Canada. It is situated at the extreme point +of Burlington Bay, at the head of Lake Ontario, with a population, +annually increasing, of about three thousand. The town is about a mile +from the lake shore, a space which, in the course of time, will probably +be covered with buildings. I understand that seventeen thousand bushels +of wheat were shipped here in one month. There is a bank here; a +court-house and jail looking unfinished, and the commencement of a +public reading-room and literary society, of which I cannot speak from +my own knowledge, and which appears as yet in embryo. Some of the +linendrapers' shops, called here clothing stores, and the grocery +stores, or shops for all descriptions of imported merchandise, made a +very good appearance; and there was an air of business, and bustle, and +animation about the place, which pleased me. I saw no bookseller's shop, +but a few books on the shelves of a grocery store, of the most common +and coarse description. + +I should not forget to mention, that in the Niagara and Gore districts +there is a vast number of Dutch and German settlers, favourably +distinguished by their industrious, sober, and thriving habits. They are +always to be distinguished in person and dress from the British +settlers; and their houses and churches, and, above all, their +burial-places, have a distinct and characteristic look. At Berlin, the +Germans have a printing-press, and publish a newspaper in their own +language, which is circulated among their countrymen through the whole +province. + +At Hamilton I hired a light _wagon_, as they call it, a sort of gig +perched in the middle of a wooden tray, wherein my baggage was stowed; +and a man to drive me over to Brandtford, the distance being about +five-and-twenty miles, and the charge five dollars. The country all the +way was rich, and beautiful, and fertile beyond description--the roads +abominable as could be imagined to exist. So I then thought, but have +learned since that there are degrees of badness in this respect, to +which the human imagination has not yet descended. I remember a space of +about three miles on this road, bordered entirely on each side by dead +trees, which had been artificially blasted by fire, or by girdling. It +was a ghastly forest of tall white spectres, strangely contrasting with +the glowing luxurious foliage all around. + +The pity I have for the trees in Canada, shows how far I am yet from +being a true Canadian. How do we know that trees do not feel their +downfall? We know nothing about it. The line which divides animal from +vegetable sensibility is as undefined as the line which divides animal +from human intelligence. And if it be true "that nothing dies on earth +but nature mourns," how must she mourn for these the mighty children of +her bosom--her pride, her glory, her garment? Without exactly believing +the assertion of the old philosopher, quoted by Evelyn, that a tree +_feels_ the first stroke of the axe, I know I never witness nor hear the +first stroke without a shudder; and as yet I cannot look on with +indifference, far less share the Canadian's exultation, when these huge +oaks, these umbrageous elms and stately pines, are lying prostrate, +lopped of all their honours, and piled in heaps with the brushwood, to +be fired,--or burned down to a charred and blackened fragment,--or +standing, leafless, sapless, seared, ghastly, having been "girdled," and +left to perish. The "Fool i' the Forest" moralised not more quaintly +over the wounded deer, than I could sometimes over those prostrate and +mangled trees. I remember, in one of the clearings to-day, one +particular tree which had been burned and blasted; only a blackened +stump of mouldering bark--a mere shell remained; and from the centre of +this, as from some hidden source of vitality, sprang up a young green +shoot, tall and flourishing, and fresh and leafy. I looked and thought +of hope! Why, indeed, should we ever despair? Can Heaven do for the +blasted tree what it cannot do for the human heart? + +The largest place we passed was Ancaster, very prettily situated among +pastures and rich woods, and rapidly improving. + +Before sunset I arrived at Brandtford, and took a walk about the town +and its environs. The situation of this place is most beautiful--on a +hill above the left bank of the Grand River. And as I stood and traced +this noble stream, winding through richly-wooded flats, with green +meadows and cultivated fields, I was involuntarily reminded of the +Thames near Richmond; the scenery has the same character of tranquil and +luxuriant beauty. + +In Canada the traveller can enjoy little of the interest derived from +association, either historical or poetical. Yet the memory of General +Brock, and some anecdotes of the last war, lend something of this kind +of interest to the Niagara frontier; and this place, or rather the name +of this place, has certain recollections connected with it, which might +well make an idle contemplative wayfarer a little pensive. + + + THE CHIEF BRANDT. + +Brandt was the chief of that band of Mohawk warriors which served on the +British side during the American War of Independence. After the +termination of the contest, the "Six Nations" left their ancient seats +to the south of Lake Ontario, and having received from the English +Government a grant of land along the banks of the Grand River, and the +adjacent shore of Lake Erie, they settled here under their chief, +Brandt, in 1783. Great part of this land, some of the finest in the +province, has lately been purchased back from them by the Government +and settled by thriving English farmers. + +Brandt, who had intelligence enough to perceive and acknowledge the +superiority of the whites in all the arts of life, was at first anxious +for the conversion and civilisation of his nation; but I was told by a +gentleman who had known him, that after a visit he paid to England, this +wish no longer existed. He returned to his own people with no very +sublime idea either of our morals or manners, and died in 1807. + +He is the Brandt whom Campbell has handed down to most undeserved +execration as the leader in the massacre at Wyoming. The poet indeed +tells us, in the notes to Gertrude of Wyoming, that all he has said +against Brandt must be considered as pure fiction, "for that he was +remarkable for his humanity, and not even present at the massacre;" but +the name stands in the text as heretofore, apostrophised as the +"accursed Brandt," the "monster Brandt;" and is not this most unfair, to +be hitched into elegant and popular rhyme as an assassin by wholesale, +and justice done in a little fag-end of prose? + +His son, John Brandt, received a good education, and was member of the +house of assembly for his district. He too died in a short time before +my arrival in this country; and the son of his sister, Mrs. Kerr, is at +present the hereditary chief of the Six Nations. + +They consist at present of two thousand five hundred, out of the seven +or eight thousand who first settled here. Here, as everywhere else, the +decrease of the Indian population settled on the reserved lands is +uniform. The white population throughout America is supposed to double +itself on an average in twenty-three years; in about the same proportion +do the Indians perish before them. + +The interests and property of these Indians are at present managed by +the Government. The revenue arising from the sale of their lands is in +the hands of commissioners, and much is done for their conversion and +civilisation. It will, however, be the affair of two, or three, or more +generations; and by that time not many, I am afraid, will be left. +Consumption makes dreadful havoc among them. At present they have +churches, schools, and an able missionary who has studied their +language, besides several resident Methodist preachers. Of the two +thousand five hundred already mentioned, the far greater part retain +their old faith and customs, having borrowed from the whites only those +habits which certainly "were more honoured in the breach than in the +observance." I saw many of these people, and spoke to some, who replied +with a quiet, self-possessed courtesy, and in very intelligible English. +One group which I met outside the town, consisting of two young men in +blanket coats and leggings, one haggard old woman, with a man's hat on +her head, a blue blanket and deer-skin moccasins, and a very beautiful +girl, apparently not more than fifteen, similarly dressed, with long +black hair hanging loose over her face and shoulders, and a little baby, +many shades fairer than herself, peeping from the folds of her blanket +behind,--altogether reminded me of a group of gipsies, such as I have +seen on the borders of Sherwood Forest many years ago. + + + BRANDTFORD. + +The Grand River is navigable for steam-boats from Lake Erie up to the +landing-place, about two miles below Brandtford, and from thence a canal +is to be cut, some time or other, to the town. The present site of +Brandtford was chosen on account of those very rapids which do indeed +obstruct the navigation, but turn a number of mills, here of the first +importance. The usual progress of a Canadian village is this: first, on +some running stream, the erection of a saw-mill and grist-mill for the +convenience of the neighbouring scattered settlers; then a few shanties +or log-houses for the work-people; then a grocery-store; then a +tavern--a chapel--perchance a school-house. + +Not having been properly forewarned, I unfortunately allowed the driver +to take me to a wrong inn. I ought to have put up at the Mansion-house, +well kept by a retired half-pay British officer; instead of which I was +brought to the Commercial Hotel, newly undertaken by an American. I sent +to the landlord to say I wished to speak to him about proceeding on my +journey next day. The next moment the man walked into my bed-room +without hesitation or apology. I was too much accustomed to foreign +manners to be greatly discomfited; but when he proceeded to fling his +hat down on my bed, and throw himself into the only arm-chair in the +room, while I was standing, I must own I did look at him with some +surprise. To those who have been accustomed to the almost servile +courtesy of English innkeepers, the manners of the innkeepers in the +United States are not pleasant. I cannot say they ever discomposed me: I +always met with civility and attention; but the manners of the country +innkeepers in Canada are worse than anything you can meet with in the +United States, being generally kept by refugee Americans of the lowest +class, or by Canadians who, in affecting American manners and +phraseology, grossly exaggerate both. + +In the present case I saw at once that no incivility was intended; my +landlord was ready at a fair price to drive me over himself, in his own +"wagon," to Woodstock; and after this was settled, finding, after a few +questions, that the man was really a most stupid, ignorant fellow, I +turned to the window, and took up a book, as a hint for him to be gone. +He continued, however, to lounge in the chair, rocking himself in +silence to and fro, till at last he _did_ condescend to take my hint, +and to take his departure. + + * * * * * + +At ten o'clock next morning, a little vehicle, like that which brought +me from Hamilton, was at the door; and I set off for Woodstock, driven +by my American landlord, who showed himself as good-natured and civil as +he was impenetrably stupid. + +No one who has a single atom of imagination, can travel through these +forest roads of Canada without being strongly impressed and excited. The +seemingly interminable line of trees before you; the boundless +wilderness around; the mysterious depths amid the multitudinous foliage, +where foot of man hath never penetrated,--and which partial gleams of +the noontide sun, now seen, now lost, lit up with a changeful magical +beauty,--the wondrous splendour and novelty of the flowers,--the +silence, unbroken but by the low cry of a bird, or hum of insect, or the +splash and croak of some huge bull-frog,--the solitude in which we +proceeded mile after mile, no human being, no human dwelling within +sight,--are all either exciting to the fancy, or oppressive to the +spirits, according to the mood one may be in. + + * * * * * + + + DRIVE TO WOODSTOCK. + +I observed some birds of a species new to me; there was the lovely +blue-bird, with its brilliant violet plumage; and a most gorgeous +species of woodpecker, with a black head, white breast, and back and +wings of the brightest scarlet; hence it is called by some the +field-officer, and more generally the cock of the woods. I should have +called it the coxcomb of the woods, for it came flitting across our +road, clinging to the trees before us, and remaining pertinaciously in +sight, as if conscious of its own splendid array, and pleased to be +admired. + +There was also the Canadian robin, a bird as large as a thrush, but in +plumage and shape resembling the sweet bird at home "that wears the +scarlet stomacher." There were great numbers of small birds of a bright +yellow, like canaries, and I believe of the same genus. Sometimes, when +I looked up from the depth of foliage to the blue firmament above, I saw +an eagle sailing through the air on apparently motionless wings. Nor let +me forget the splendour of the flowers which carpeted the woods on +either side. I might have exclaimed with Eichendorff, + + "O Welt! Du schoene welt, Du! + Mann sieht Dich vor Bluemen kaum!" + +for thus in some places did a rich embroidered pall of flowers literally +_hide_ the earth. There those beautiful plants, which we cultivate with +such care in our gardens, azalias, rhododendrons, all the gorgeous +family of the lobelia, were flourishing in wild luxuriance. Festoons of +creeping and parasitical plants hung from branch to branch. The purple +and scarlet iris, blue larkspur, and the elegant Canadian columbine with +its bright pink flowers; the scarlet lychnis, a species of orchis of the +most dazzling geranium-colour, and the white, and yellow, and purple +cyprepedium[8], bordered the path, and a thousand others of most +resplendent hues, for which I knew no names. I could not pass them with +forbearance, and my Yankee driver, alighting, gathered for me a superb +bouquet from the swampy margin of the forest. I contrived to fasten my +flowers in a wreath along the front of the wagon, that I might enjoy at +leisure their novelty and beauty. How lavish, how carelessly profuse, is +Nature in her handiwork! In the interior of the cyprepedium, which I +tore open, there was variety of configuration and colour, and gem-like +richness of ornament, enough to fashion twenty different flowers; and +for the little fly, in jewelled cuirass, which I found couched within +its recesses--what a palace! that of Aladdin could not have been more +splendid! + +From Brandtford we came to Paris, a new settlement, beautifully +situated, and thence to Woodstock, a distance of eighteen miles. There +is no village, only isolated inns, far removed from each other. In one +of these, kept by a Frenchman, I dined on milk and eggs and excellent +bread. Here I found every appearance of prosperity and plenty. The +landlady, an American woman, told me they had come into this wilderness +twenty years ago, when there was not another farmhouse within fifty +miles. She had brought up and settled in comfort several sons and +daughters. An Irish farmer came in, who had refreshments spread for him +in the porch, and with whom I had some amusing conversation. He, too, +was prospering with a large farm and a large family--here a blessing and +a means of wealth, too often in the old country a curse and a burden. +The good-natured fellow was extremely scandalised by my homely and +temperate fare, which he besought me to mend by accepting a glass of +whisky out of his own travelling-store, genuine potheen, which he swore +deeply, and not unpoetically, "had never seen God's beautiful world, nor +the blessed light of day, since it had been bottled in ould Ireland." He +told me, boastingly, that at Hamilton he had made eight hundred dollars +by the present extraordinary rise in the price of wheat. In the early +part of the year wheat had been selling for three or four dollars a +bushel, and rose this summer to twelve and fourteen dollars a bushel, +owing to the immense quantities exported during the winter to the back +settlements of Michigan and the Illinois. + +[Footnote 8: From its resemblance in form to a shoe, this splendid +flower bears every where the same name. The English call it +lady's-slipper; the Indians know it as the moccasin flower.] + + + ROADS IN CANADA. + +The whole drive would have been productive of unmixed enjoyment, but for +one almost intolerable drawback. The roads were throughout so execrably +bad, that no words can give you an idea of them. We often sank into +mud-holes above the axletree; then, over trunks of trees laid across +swamps, called here corduroy roads, were my poor bones dislocated. A +wheel here and there, or broken shaft lying by the way-side, told of +former wrecks and disasters. In some places they had, in desperation, +flung huge boughs of oak into the mud abyss, and covered them with clay +and sod, the rich green foliage projecting on either side. This sort of +illusive contrivance would sometimes give way, and we were nearly +precipitated into the midst. By the time we arrived at Blandford, my +hands were swelled and blistered by continually grasping with all my +strength an iron bar in front of my vehicle, to prevent myself from +being flung out, and my limbs ached wofully. I never beheld or imagined +such roads. It is clear that the people do not apply any, even the +commonest, principles of roadmaking; no drains are cut, no attempt is +made at levelling or preparing a foundation. The settlers around are too +much engrossed by the necessary toil for a daily subsistence to give a +moment of their time to road-making, without compulsion or good payment. +The statute labour does not appear to be duly enforced by the +commissioners and magistrates, and there are no labourers, and no spare +money: specie, never very plentiful in these parts, is not to be had at +present, and the 500,000_l_. voted during the last session of the +provincial parliament for the repair of the roads is not yet even +raised, I believe. + +Nor is this all: the vile state of the roads, the very little +communication between places not far distant from each other, leave it +in the power of ill-disposed persons to sow mischief among the ignorant, +isolated people. + +On emerging from a forest road seven miles in length, we stopped at a +little inn to refresh the poor jaded horses. Several labourers were +lounging about the door, and I spoke to them of the horrible state of +the roads. They agreed, one and all, that it was entirely the fault of +the Government; that their welfare was not cared for; that it was true +that money had been voted for the roads, but that before anything could +be done, or a shilling of it expended, it was always necessary to write +to the old country to ask the king's permission--which might be sent or +not--who could tell? And meantime they were ruined for want of roads, +which it was nobody's business to reclaim. + +It was in vain that I attempted to point out to the orator of the party +the falsehood and absurdity of this notion. He only shook his head, and +said he knew better. + +One man observed, that as the team of Admiral Vansittart (one of the +largest proprietors in the district) had lately broken down in a +mud-hole, there was some hope that the roads about here might be looked +to. + +About sunset I arrived at Blandford, dreadfully weary, and fevered, and +bruised, having been more than nine hours travelling twenty-five miles; +and I must needs own that not all my _savoir faire_ could prevent me +from feeling rather dejected and shy, as I drove up to the residence of +a gentleman, to whom, indeed, I had not a letter, but whose family, as I +had been assured, were prepared to receive me. It was rather formidable +to arrive thus, at fall of night, a wayfaring lonely woman, spiritless, +half-dead with fatigue, among entire strangers; but my reception set me +at ease in a moment. The words "We have been long expecting you!" +uttered in a kind, cordial voice, sounded "like sweetest music to +attending ears." A handsome, elegant-looking woman, blending French ease +and politeness with English cordiality, and a whole brood of lively +children of all sizes and ages, stood beneath the porch to welcome me +with smiles and outstretched hands. Can you imagine my bliss, my +gratitude?--no!--impossible, unless you had travelled for three days +through the wilds of Canada. In a few hours I felt quite at home, and my +day of rest was insensibly prolonged to a week, spent with this amiable +and interesting family--a week, ever while I live, to be remembered +with pleasurable and grateful feelings. + + + WOODSTOCK. + +The region of Canada in which I now find myself, is called the London +District; you will see its situation at once by a glance on the map. It +lies between the Gore District and the Western District, having to the +south a large extent of the coast of Lake Erie; and on the north the +Indian territories, and part of the southern shore of Lake Huron. It is +watered by rivers flowing into both lakes, but chiefly by the river +Thames, which is here (about one hundred miles from its mouth) a small +but most beautiful stream, winding like the Isis at Oxford. Woodstock, +the nearest _village_, as I suppose I must in modesty call it, is fast +rising into an important town, and the whole district is, for its +scenery, fertility, and advantages of every kind, perhaps the finest in +Upper Canada.[9] + +The society in this immediate neighbourhood is particularly good; +several gentlemen of family, superior education, and large capital, +(among whom is the brother of an English and the son of an Irish peer, a +colonel and a major in the army,) have made very extensive purchases of +land, and their estates are in flourishing progress. + +One day we drove over to the settlement of one of these magnificos, +Admiral Vansittart, who has already expended upwards of twenty thousand +pounds in purchases and improvements. His house is really a curiosity, +and at the first glance reminded me of an African village--a sort of +Timbuctoo set down in the woods; it is two or three miles from the high +road, in the midst of the forest, and looked as if a number of log-huts +had jostled against each other by accident, and there stuck fast. + +The admiral had begun, I imagine, by erecting, as is usual, a log-house, +while the woods were clearing; then, being in want of space, he added +another, then another and another, and so on, all of different shapes +and sizes, and full of a seaman's contrivances--odd galleries, passages, +porticos, corridors, saloons, cabins and cupboards; so that if the +outside reminded me of an African village, the interior was no less like +that of a man-of-war. + +The drawing-room, which occupies an entire building, is really a noble +room, with a chimney in which they pile twenty oak logs at once. Around +this room runs a gallery, well lighted with windows from without, +through which there is a constant circulation of air, keeping the room +warm in winter and cool in summer. The admiral has, besides, so many +ingenious and inexplicable contrivances for warming and airing his +house, that no insurance office will insure him upon any terms. +Altogether it was the most strangely picturesque sort of dwelling I ever +beheld. The admiral's sister, an accomplished woman of independent +fortune, has lately arrived from Europe, to take up her residence in the +wilds. Having recently spent some years in Italy, she has brought out +with her all those pretty objects of _virtu_, with which English +travellers load themselves in that country. Here, ranged round the room, +I found views of Rome and Naples; tazzi, and marbles, and sculpture in +lava, or alabaster; miniature copies of the eternal Sibyl and Cenci, +Raphael's Vatican, &c.--things not wonderful nor rare in themselves--the +wonder was to see them here. + +The woods are yet close up to the house; but there is a fine +well-cultivated garden, and the process of clearing and log-burning +proceeds all around with great animation. + +On Sunday we attended the pretty little church at Woodstock, which was +filled by the neighbouring settlers of all classes: the service was well +read, and the hymns were sung by the ladies of the congregation. The +sermon, which treated of some abstract and speculative point of +theology, seemed to me not well adapted to the sort of congregation +assembled. The situation of those who had here met together to seek a +new existence in a new world, might have afforded topics of instruction, +praise, and gratitude, far more practical, more congenial, more +intelligible, than a mere controversial essay on a disputed text, which +elicited no remark nor sympathy that I could perceive. After the +service, the congregation remained some time assembled before the +church-door, in various and interesting groups--the well-dressed +families of settlers who had come from many miles' distance in vehicles +well suited to the roads--that is to say, carts, or as they call them +here teams or wagons; the belles and the beaux of "the Bush," in Sunday +trim--and innumerable children. Many were the greetings and inquiries; +the news and gossip of all the neighbourhood had to be exchanged. The +conversation among the ladies was of marriages and births--lamentations +on the want of servants, and the state of the roads--the last arrival of +letters from England--and speculations upon the character of a new +neighbour come to settle in the Bush: Among the gentlemen, it was of +crops and clearings, lumber, price of wheat, road-mending, +deer-shooting, log-burning, and so forth--subjects in which I felt a +lively interest and curiosity; and if I could not take a very brilliant +and prominent part in the discourse, I could at least listen, like the +Irish corn-field, "with all my ears." + +I think it was this day at dinner that a gentleman described to me a +family of Mohawk Indians, consisting of seven individuals, who had +encamped upon some of his uncleared land in two wigwams. They had made +their first appearance in the early spring, and had since subsisted by +hunting, selling their venison for whisky or tobacco; their appearance +and situation were, he said, most wretched, and their indolence extreme. +Within three months, five out of the seven were dead of consumption; two +only were left--languid, squalid, helpless, hopeless, heartless. + +[Footnote 9: The average produce of an acre of land is greater +throughout Canada than in England. In these western districts greater +than in the rest of Canada.] + + * * * * * + + + BLANDFORD. + +After several pleasant and interesting visits to the neighbouring +settlers, I took leave of my hospitable friends at Blandford with deep +and real regret; and, in the best and only vehicle which could be +procured--videlicet, a baker's cart--set out for London, the chief town +of the district; the distance being about thirty miles--a long day's +journey; the cost seven dollars. + +The man who drove me proved a very intelligent and civilised person. He +had come out to Canada in the capacity of a gentleman's servant; he now +owned some land--I forget how many acres--and was besides baker-general +for a large neighbourhood, rarely receiving money in pay, but wheat, and +other farm produce. He had served as constable of the district for two +years, and gave me some interesting accounts of his thief-taking +expeditions through the wild forests in the deep winter nights. He +considered himself, on the whole, a prosperous man. He said he should be +quite happy here, were it not for his wife, who fretted and pined +continually after her "home." + +The case of this poor fellow with his discontented wife is of no +unfrequent occurrence in Canada; and among the better class of settlers +the matter is worse still, the suffering more acute, and of graver +consequences. + +I have not often in my life met with contented and cheerful-minded +women, but I never met with so many repining and discontented women as +in Canada. I never met with _one_ woman recently settled here, who +considered herself happy in her new home and country: I _heard_ of one, +and doubtless there are others, but they are exceptions to the general +rule. Those born here, or brought here early by their parents and +relations, seemed to me very happy, and many of them had adopted a sort +of pride in their new country, which I liked much. There was always a +great desire to visit England, and some little airs of self-complacency +and superiority in those who had been there, though for a few months +only; but all, without a single exception, returned with pleasure, +unable to forego the early habitual influences of their native land. + +I like patriotism and nationality in women. Among the German women both +these feelings give a strong tincture to the character; and, seldom +disunited, they blend with peculiar grace in our sex: but with a great +statesman they should stand well distinguished. Nationality is not +always patriotism, and patriotism is not, necessarily, nationality. The +English are more patriotic than national; the Americans generally more +national than patriotic; the Germans both national and patriotic. + +I have observed that really accomplished women, accustomed to what is +called the best society, have more resources here, and manage better, +than some women who have no pretensions of any kind, and whose claims +to social distinction could not have been great anywhere, but whom I +found lamenting over themselves as if they had been so many exiled +princesses. + +Imagine the position of a fretful, frivolous woman, strong neither in +mind nor frame, abandoned to her own resources in the wilds of Upper +Canada! No--nothing can be imagined so pitiable, so ridiculous, and, to +borrow the Canadian word, "so shiftless." + +My new friend and kind hostess was a being of quite a different stamp; +and though I believe she was far from thinking that she had found in +Canada a terrestrial paradise, and the want of servants and the +difficulty of educating her family as she wished, were subjects of great +annoyance to her; yet these and other evils she had met with a cheerful +spirit. Here, amid these forest wilds, she had recently given birth to a +lovely baby, the tenth, or indeed I believe the twelfth, of a flock of +manly boys and blooming girls. Her eldest daughter mean time, a fair and +elegant girl, was acquiring, at the age of fifteen, qualities and habits +which might well make ample amends for the possession of mere +accomplishments. She acted as manager in chief, and glided about in her +household avocations with a serene and quiet grace which was quite +charming. + + + OXFORD. + +The road, after leaving Woodstock, pursued the course of the winding +Thames. We passed by the house of Colonel Light, in a situation of +superlative natural beauty on a rising ground above the river. A lawn, +tolerably cleared, sloped down to the margin, while the opposite shore +rose clothed in varied woods, which had been managed with great taste, +and a feeling for the picturesque not common here; but the Colonel being +himself an accomplished artist accounts for this. We also passed +Beechville, a small but beautiful village, round which the soil is +reckoned very fine and fertile; a number of most respectable settlers +have recently bought land and erected houses here. The next place we +came to was Oxford, or rather Ingersol, where we stopped to dine and +rest previous to plunging into an extensive forest called the Pine +Woods. + +Oxford is a little village, presenting the usual saw-mill, +grocery-store and tavern, with a dozen shanties congregated on the bank +of the stream, which is here rapid and confined by high banks. Two +back-woodsmen were in deep consultation over a wagon which had broken +down in the midst of that very forest road we were about to traverse, +and which they described as most execrable--in some parts even +dangerous. As it was necessary to gird up my strength for the +undertaking, I laid in a good dinner, consisting of slices of dried +venison, broiled, hot cakes of Indian corn, eggs, butter, and a bowl of +milk. Of this good fare I partook in company with the two back-woodsmen, +who appeared to me perfect specimens of their class--tall and strong, +and bronzed and brawny, and shaggy and unshaven--very much like two +bears set on their hind legs; rude, but not uncivil, and spare of +speech, as men who had lived long at a distance from their kind. They +were too busy, however, and so was I, to feel or express any mutual +curiosity. Time was valuable, appetite urgent; so we discussed our +venison steaks in silence, and after dinner I proceeded. + +The forest land through which I had lately passed was principally +covered with _hard timber_, as oak, walnut, elm, basswood. We were now +in a forest of pines, rising tall and dark, and monotonous on either +side. The road, worse certainly "than fancy ever feigned or fear +conceived," put my neck in perpetual jeopardy. The driver had often to +dismount and partly fill up some tremendous hole with boughs before we +could pass, or drag or lift the wagon over trunks of trees; or we +sometimes sank into abysses from which it is a wonder to me that we +_ever_ emerged. A natural question were--why did you not get out and +walk?--Yes indeed! I only wish it had been possible. Immediately on the +border of the road, so called, was the wild, tangled, untrodden thicket, +as impervious to the foot as the road was impassable, rich with +vegetation, variegated verdure, and flowers of loveliest dye, but the +haunt of the rattlesnake, and all manner of living and creeping things +not pleasant to encounter, or even to think of. + +The mosquitos, too, began to be troublesome; but not being yet in full +force, I contrived to defend myself pretty well, by waving a green +branch before me whenever my two hands were not employed in forcible +endeavours to keep my seat. These seven miles of pine forest we +traversed in three hours and a half; and then succeeded some miles of +open flat country called the Oak Plains, and so called because covered +with thickets and groups of oak dispersed with a park-like and beautiful +effect; and still flowers, flowers everywhere. The soil appeared sandy, +and not so rich as in other parts. The road was comparatively good; and +as we approached London, clearings and new settlements appeared on every +side. + +The sun had set amid a tumultuous mass of lurid threatening clouds, and +a tempest was brooding in the air, when I reached the town, and found +very tolerable accommodations in the principal inn. I was so terribly +bruised and beaten with fatigue, that to move was impossible, and even +to speak too great an effort. I cast my weary aching limbs upon the bed, +and requested of the very civil and obliging young lady who attended to +bring me some books and newspapers. She brought me thereupon an old +compendium of geography, published at Philadelphia forty years ago, and +three old newspapers. + + * * * * * + + + LONDON. + + July 5. + +The next morning the weather continued very lowering and stormy. I +received several visitors, who, hearing of my arrival, had come with +kind offers of hospitality and attention, such as are most grateful to a +solitary stranger. I had also much conversation relative to the place +and people, and the settlements around; and then I took a long walk +about the town, of which I here give you the results. + +When Governor Simcoe was planning the foundation of a capital for the +whole province, he fixed at first upon the present site of London, +struck by its many and obvious advantages. Its central position in the +midst of these great lakes, being at an equal distance from Huron, Erie, +and Ontario, in the finest and most fertile district of the whole +province, on the bank of a beautiful stream, and at a safe distance from +the frontier, all pointed it out as the most eligible site for a +metropolis; but there was the want of land and water communication--a +want which still remains the only drawback to its rising prosperity. A +canal or railroad, running from Toronto and Hamilton to London, then +branching off on the right to the harbour of Goderich on Lake Huron, and +on the left to Sandwich on Lake Erie, were a glorious thing!--the one +thing needful to make this fine country the granary and storehouse of +the west; for here all grain, all fruits which flourish in the south of +Europe, might be cultivated with success--the finest wheat and rice, and +hemp and flax, and tobacco. Yet, in spite of this want, soon, I trust, +to be supplied, the town of London has sprung up and become within ten +years a place of great importance. In size and population it exceeds +every town I have yet visited, except Toronto and Hamilton. The first +house was erected in 1827; now, that is in 1837, it contains more than +two hundred frame or brick houses; and there are many more building. The +population may be about thirteen hundred people. The jail and +court-house, comprised in one large stately edifice, seemed the glory of +the townspeople. As for the style of architecture, I may not attempt to +name or describe it; but a gentleman informed me, in rather equivocal +phrase, that it was "_somewhat Gothic_." There are five places of +worship, for the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman +Catholics, and Baptists. The church is handsome. There are also three or +four schools, and seven taverns. The Thames is very beautiful here, and +navigable for boats and barges. I saw to-day a large timber raft +floating down the stream, containing many thousand feet of timber. On +the whole, I have nowhere seen such evident signs of progress and +prosperity. + +The population consists principally of artisans--as blacksmiths, +carpenters, builders, all flourishing. There is, I fear, a good deal of +drunkenness and profligacy; for though the people have work and wealth, +they have neither education nor amusements. Besides the seven taverns, +there is a number of little grocery stores, which are, in fact, drinking +houses. And though a law exists, which forbids the sale of spirituous +liquors in small quantities by any but licensed publicans, they easily +contrive to elude the law; as thus:--a customer enters the shop, and +asks for two or three pennyworth of nuts, or cakes, and he receives a +few nuts, and a large glass of whisky. The whisky, you observe, is +given, not sold, and no one can swear to the contrary. In the same +manner, the severe law against selling intoxicating liquors to the poor +Indians is continually eluded or violated, and there is no redress for +the injured, no punishment to reach the guilty. It appears to me that +the Government should be more careful in the choice of the +district-magistrates. While I was in London, a person who acted in this +capacity was carried from the pavement dead drunk. + + + WOMEN IN CANADA. + +Here, as everywhere else, I find the women of the better class lamenting +over the want of all society, except of the lowest grade in manners and +morals. For those who have recently emigrated, and are settled more in +the interior, there is absolutely no social intercourse whatever; it is +quite out of the question. They seem to me perishing of _ennui_, or from +the want of sympathy which they cannot obtain, and, what is worse, which +they cannot feel: for being in general unfitted for out-door +occupations, unable to comprehend or enter into the interests around +them, and all their earliest prejudices and ideas of the fitness of +things continually outraged in a manner exceedingly unpleasant, they may +be said to live in a perpetual state of inward passive discord and +fretful endurance-- + + "All too timid and reserved + For onset, for resistance too inert-- + Too weak for suffering, and for hope too tame." + +In women, as now educated, there is a strength of local habits and +attachments, a want of cheerful self-dependence, a cherished physical +delicacy, a weakness of temperament,--deemed, and falsely deemed, in +deference to the pride of man, essential to feminine grace and +refinement,--altogether unfitting them for a life which were otherwise +delightful:--the active out-of-door life in which she must share and +sympathise, and the inn-door occupations which in England are considered +servile; for a woman who cannot perform for herself and others all +household offices, has no business here. But when I hear some men +declare that they cannot endure to see women eat, and others speak of +brilliant health and strength in young girls as being rude and vulgar, +with various notions of the same kind too grossly absurd and perverted +even for ridicule, I cannot wonder at any nonsensical affectations I +meet with in my own sex; nor can I do otherwise than pity the mistakes +and deficiencies of those who are sagely brought up with the one end and +aim--to get married. + +A woman, blessed with good health, a cheerful spirit, larger sympathies, +larger capabilities of reflection and action, some knowledge of herself, +her own nature, and the common lot of humanity, with a plain +understanding, which has been allowed to throw itself out unwarped by +sickly fancies and prejudices,--such a woman would be as happy in Canada +as anywhere in the world. A weak, frivolous, half-educated, or +ill-educated woman may be as miserable in the heart of London as in the +heart of the forest. But there her deficiencies are not so injurious, +and are supplied to herself and others by the circumstances and +advantages around her. + +I have heard it laid down as a principle, that the purpose of education +is to fit us for the circumstances in which we are likely to be placed. +I deny it absolutely. Even if it could be exactly known (which it +cannot) what those circumstances may be, I should still deny it. +Education has a far higher object. I remember to have read of some +Russian prince (was it not Potemkin?), who, when he travelled, was +preceded by a gardener, who around his marquee scattered an artificial +soil, and stuck into it shrubs and bouquets of flowers, which, while +assiduously watered, looked pretty for twenty-four hours perhaps, then +withered or were plucked up. What shallow barbarism to take pleasure in +such a mockery of a garden! better the wilderness--better the waste! +that forest, that rock yonder, with creeping weeds around it! An +education that is to fit us for circumstances, seems to me like that +Russian garden. No; the true purpose of education is to cherish and +unfold the seed of immortality already sown within us; to develope, to +their fullest extent, the capacities of every kind with which God who +made us has endowed us. Then we shall be fitted for all circumstances, +or know how to fit circumstances to ourselves. Fit us for circumstances! +Base and mechanical! Why not set up at once a "_fabrique d'education_," +and educate us by steam? The human soul, be it man's or woman's, is not, +I suppose, an empty bottle, into which you shall pour and cram just what +you like, and as you like; nor a plot of waste soil, in which you shall +sow what you like; but a divine, a living germ planted by an almighty +hand, which you may indeed render more or less productive, or train to +this or that form--no more. And when you have taken the oak sapling, and +dwarfed it, and pruned it, and twisted it, into an ornament for the +jardiniere in your drawing-room, much have you gained truly; and a +pretty figure your specimen is like to make in the broad plain and under +the free air of heaven! + + * * * * * + + + THE TALBOT COUNTRY. + +The plan of travel I had laid down for myself did not permit of my +making any long stay in this new London. I was anxious to push on to the +Talbot Settlement, or, as it is called here, the Talbot _Country_, a +name not ill-applied to a vast tract of land stretching from east to +west along the shore of Lake Erie, and of which Colonel Talbot is the +sovereign _de facto_, if not _de jure_--be it spoken without any +derogation to the rights of our lord the king. This immense settlement, +the circumstances to which it owed its existence, and the character of +the eccentric man who founded it on such principles as have insured its +success and prosperity, altogether inspired me with the strongest +interest and curiosity. + +To the residence of this "big chief," as an Indian styled him--a +solitary mansion on a cliff above Lake Erie, where he lived alone in his +glory--was I now bound, without exactly knowing what reception I was to +meet there, for that was a point which the despotic habits and +eccentricities of this hermit-lord of the forest rendered a little +doubtful. The reports I had heard of his singular manners, of his being +a sort of woman-hater, who had not for thirty years allowed a female to +appear in his sight, I had partly discredited, yet enough remained to +make me feel a little nervous. However, my resolution was taken, and the +colonel had been apprised of my intended visit, though of his gracious +acquiescence I was yet to learn; so, putting my trust in Providence, as +heretofore, I prepared to encounter the old buffalo in his lair. + +From the master of the inn at London I hired a vehicle and a driver for +eight dollars. The distance was about thirty miles; the road, as my +Irish informant assured me, was quite "iligant!" but hilly, and so +broken by the recent storms, that it was thought I could not reach my +destination before nightfall, and I was advised to sleep at the little +town of St. Thomas, about twelve or fifteen miles on this side of Port +Talbot. However, I was resolute to try, and, with a pair of stout horses +and a willing driver, did not despair. My conveyance from Blandford had +been a baker's cart, on springs; but springs were a luxury I was in +future to dispense with. My present vehicle, the best to be procured, +was a common cart, with straw at the bottom; in the midst a seat was +suspended on straps, and furnished with a cushion, not of the softest. A +board nailed across the front served for the driver, a quiet, +demure-looking boy of fifteen or sixteen, with a round straw hat and a +fustian jacket. Such was the elegant and appropriate equipage in which +the "chancellor's lady," as they call me here, paid her first visit of +state to the "great Colonel Talbot." + +On leaving the town, we crossed the Thames on a wooden bridge, and +turned to the south through a very beautiful valley, with cultivated +farms and extensive clearings on every side. I was now in the Talbot +country, and had the advantage of travelling on part of the road +constructed under the colonel's direction, which, compared with those I +had recently travelled, was better than tolerable. While we were slowly +ascending an eminence, I took the opportunity of entering into some +discourse with my driver, whose very demure and thoughtful, though +boyish face, and very brief, but pithy and intelligent replies to some +of my questions on the road, had excited my attention. Though perfectly +civil, and remarkably self-possessed, he was not communicative nor +talkative; I had to pluck out the information blade by blade, as it +were. And here you have my catechism, with question and response, word +for word, as nearly as possible. + + + THE EMIGRANT BOY. + +"Were you born in this country?" + +"No; I'm from the old country." + +"From what part of it?" + +"From about Glasgow." + +"What is your name?" + +"Sholto ----." + +"Sholto!--that is rather an uncommon name, is it not?" + +"I was called Sholto after a son of Lord Douglas. My father was Lord +Douglas's gardener." + +"How long have you been here?" + +"I came over with my father about five years, ago." (In 1832.) + +"How came your father to emigrate?" + +"My father was one of the commuted pensioners, as they call them.[10] He +was an old soldier in the veteran battalion, and he sold his pension of +fivepence a day for four years and a grant of land, and came out here. +Many did the like." + +"But if he was gardener to Lord Douglas, he could not have suffered from +want." + +"Why, he was not a gardener _then_; he was a weaver; he worked hard +enough for us. I remember often waking in the middle of the night, and +seeing my father working still at his loom, as if he would never give +over, while my mother and all of us were asleep." + +"All of us!--how many of you?" + +"There were six of us: but my eldest brother and myself could do +something." + +"And you all emigrated with your father?" + +"Why, you see, at last he couldn't get no work, and trade was dull, and +we were nigh starving. I remember I was always hungry then--always." + +"And you all came out?" + +"All but my eldest brother. When we were on the way to the ship, he got +frightened and turned back, and wouldn't come. My poor mother cried very +much, and begged him hard. Now the last we heard of him is, that he is +very badly off, and can't get no work at all." + +"Is your father yet alive?" + +"Yes, he has land up in Adelaide." + +"Is your mother alive?" + +"No; she died of the cholera, coming over. You see the cholera broke out +in the ship, and fifty-three people died, one after t'other, and were +thrown into the sea. My mother died, and they threw her into the sea. +And then my little sister, only nine months old, died, because there was +nobody to take care of her, and they threw _her_ into the sea--poor +little thing!" + +"Was it not dreadful to see the people dying around you? Did you not +feel frightened for yourself?" + +"Well--I don't know--one got used to it--it was nothing but splash, +splash, all day long--first one, then another. There was one Martin on +board, I remember, with a wife and nine children--one of those as sold +his pension: he had fought in Spain with the Duke of Wellington. Well, +first his wife died, and they threw her into the sea; and then _he_ +died, and they threw _him_ into the sea; and then the children, one +after t'other, till only two were left alive; the eldest, a girl about +thirteen, who had nursed them all, one after another, and seen them +die--well, _she_ died, and then there was only the little fellow left." + +"And what became of him?" + +"He went back, as I heard, in the same ship with the captain." + +"And did you not think sometimes it might be your turn next." + +"No--I didn't; and then I was down with the fever." + +"What do you mean by _the fever?_" + +"Why, you see, I was looking at some fish that was going by the ship in +shoals, as they call it. It was very pretty, and I never saw anything +like it, and I stood watching over the ship's side all day long. It +poured rain, and I was wet through and through, and felt very cold, and +I went into my berth and pulled the blanket round me, and fell asleep. +After that I had the fever very bad. I didn't know when we landed at +Quebec, and after that I didn't know where we were for five weeks, nor +nothing." + +I assured him that this was only a natural and necessary consequence of +his own conduct, and took the opportunity to explain to him some of +those simple laws by which he held both health and existence, to all +which he listened with an intelligent look, and thanked me cordially, +adding,-- + +"Then I wonder I didn't die! and it was a great mercy I didn't." + +"I hope you will live to think so, and be thankful to Heaven. And so you +were detained at Quebec?" + +"Yes; my father had some money to receive of his pension, but what with +my illness and the expense of living, it soon went; and then he sold his +silver watch, and that brought us on to York--that's Toronto now. And +then there was a schooner provided by Government to take us on board, +and we had rations provided, and that brought us on to Port Stanley, far +below Port Talbot; and then they put us ashore, and we had to find our +way, and pay our way, to Delaware, where our lot of land was: that cost +eight dollars; and then we had nothing left--nothing at all. There were +nine hundred emigrants encamped about Delaware, no better off then +ourselves." + +"What did you do then? Had you not to build a house?" + +"No; the Government built each family a house, that is to say, a +log-hut, eighteen feet long, with a hole for the chimney; no glass in +the windows, and empty of course; not a bit of furniture, not even a +table or a chair." + +"And how did you live?" + +"Why, the first year, my father and us, we cleared a couple of acres, +and sowed wheat enough for next year." + +"But meantime you must have existed--and without food or money--?" + +"O, why we worked meantime on the roads, and got half a dollar a day and +rations." + +"It must have been rather a hard life?" + +"_Hard!_ yes, I believe it was; why, many of them couldn't stand it, no +ways. Some died; and then there were the poor children and the women--it +was very bad for them. Some wouldn't sit down on their land at all; they +lost all heart to see everywhere trees, and trees, and nothing besides. +And then they didn't know nothing of farming--how should they? being +soldiers by trade. There was one Jim Grey, of father's regiment--he +didn't know how to handle his axe, but he could handle his gun well; so +he went and shot deer, and sold them to the others; but one day we +missed him, and he never came back; and we thought the bears had got +him, or may be he cleared off to Michigan--there's no knowing." + +"And your father?" + +"O, _he_ stuck to his land, and he has now five acres cleared: and he's +planted a bit of a garden, and he has two cows and a calf, and two pigs; +and he's got his house comfortable--and stopped up the holes, and built +himself a chimney." + +"That's well; but why are you not with him?" + +"O, he married again, and he's got two children, and I didn't like my +stepmother, because she didn't use my sisters well, and so I came away." + +"Where are your sisters now?" + +"Both out at service, and they get good wages; one gets four, and the +other gets five dollars a month. Then I've a brother younger than +myself, and he's gone to work with a shoe-maker at London. But the man +drinks hard--like a great many here--and I'm afeard my brother will +learn to drink, and that frets me; and he won't come away, though I +could get him a good place any day--no want of places here and good +wages too." + +"What wages do you receive?" + +"Seven dollars a month and my board. Next month I shall have eight." + +"I hope you put by some of your wages?" + +"Why, I bought a yoke of steers for my father last fall, as cost me +thirty dollars, but they wont be fit for ploughing these two years." + +(I should inform you, perhaps, that a yoke of oxen fit for ploughing +costs about eighty dollars.) + +I pointed out to him the advantages of his present situation, compared +with what might have been his fate in the old country, and urged him to +avoid all temptations to drink, which he promised. + +"You can read, I suppose?" + +He hesitated and looked down. "I can read in the Testament a little. I +never had no other book. But this winter," looking up brightly,--"I +intend to give myself some schooling. A man who has reading and writing, +and a pair of hands, and keeps sober, may make a fortune here--and so +will I, with God's blessing!" + +Here he gave his whip a very expressive flourish. We were now near the +summit of a hill, which he called Bear Hill; the people, he said, gave +it that name because of the number of bears which used to be found here. +Nothing could exceed the beauty and variety of the timber trees, +intermingled with most luxuriant underwood, and festooned with the wild +grape and flowering creepers. It was some time, he said, since a bear +had been shot in these woods; but only last spring one of his comrades +had found a bear's cub, which he had fed and taken care of, and had sold +within the last few weeks to a travelling menagerie of wild beasts for +five dollars. + +[Footnote 10: Of the commuted pensioners, and their fate in Canada, more +will be said hereafter.] + + + THE FUTURE OF CANADA. + +On reaching the summit of this hill, I found myself on the highest land +I had yet stood upon in Canada, with the exception of Queenston heights. +I stopped the horses and looked around, and on every side, far and near, +east, west, north, and south, it was all forest--a boundless sea of +forest, within whose leafy recesses lay hidden as infinite variety of +life and movement as within the depths of the ocean; and it reposed in +the noontide so still and so vast! _Here_ the bright sunshine rested on +it in floods of golden light; _there_ cloud-shadows sped over its +bosom, just like the effects I remember to have seen on the Atlantic; +and here and there rose wreaths of white smoke from the new clearings +which, collected into little silver clouds, and hung suspended in the +quiet air. + +I gazed and meditated till, by a process like that of the Arabian +sorcerer of old, the present fell like a film from my eyes: the future +was before me, with its towns and cities, fields of waving grain, green +lawns and villas, and churches, and temples--turret-crowned: and meadows +tracked by the frequent foot-path; and railroads, with trains of rich +merchandise steaming along:--for all this _will_ be! Will be? _It is_ +already in the sight of Him who hath ordained it, and for whom there is +no past nor future: though I cannot behold it with my bodily vision, +even _now_ it is. + +But is _that_ NOW better than _this_ present NOW? When these forests, +with all their solemn depth of shade and multitudinous life have fallen +beneath the axe--when the wolf, and bear, and deer are driven from their +native coverts, and all this infinitude of animal and vegetable being +has made way for restless, erring, suffering humanity, will it then be +better? _Better_--I know not; but surely it will be _well_, and right in +His eyes who has ordained that thus the course of things shall run. +Those who see nothing in civilised life but its complicated cares, +mistakes, vanities, and miseries, may doubt this--or despair. For +myself, I am of those who believe and hope; who behold in progressive +civilisation, progressive happiness, progressive approximation to nature +and to nature's God; for are we not in His hands?--and all that He does +is good. + +Contemplations such as these were in my mind as we descended the Hill of +Bears, and proceeded through a beautiful plain, sometimes richly wooded, +sometimes opening into clearings and cultivated farms, on which were +usually compact farm-houses, each flanked by a barn three times as large +as the house, till we came on to a place called Five Stakes, where I +found two or three tidy cottages, and procured some bread and milk. The +road here was no longer so good, and we travelled slowly and with +difficulty for some miles. About five o'clock we reached St. Thomas, +one of the prettiest places I had yet seen. Here I found two or three +inns, and at one of them, styled the "Mansion House Hotel," I ordered +tea for myself and good entertainment for my young driver and his +horses, and then walked out. + + + ST. THOMAS. + +St. Thomas is situated on a high eminence, to which the ascent is rather +abrupt. The view from it, over a fertile, well settled country, is very +beautiful and cheering. The place bears the christian name of Colonel +Talbot, who styles it his capital, and, from a combination of +advantages, it is rising fast into importance. The climate, from its +high position, is delicious and healthful; and the winters in this part +of the province are milder by several degrees than elsewhere. At the +foot of the cliff, or eminence, runs a deep rapid stream, called the +Kettle Creek[11] (I wish they had given it a prettier name), which, +after a course of eight miles, and turning a variety of saw-mills, +grist-mills, &c., flows into Lake Erie, at Port Stanley, one of the best +harbours on this side of the lake. Here steam-boats and schooners land +their passengers and merchandise, or load with grain, flour, and lumber. +The roads are good all round; and the Talbot road, carried directly +through the town, is the finest in the province. This road runs nearly +parallel with Lake Erie, from thirty miles below Port Stanley, westward +as far as Delaware. The population of St. Thomas is at present rated at +seven hundred, and it has doubled within two years. There are three +churches, one of which is very neat; and three taverns. Two newspapers +are published here, one violently tory, the other as violently radical. +I found several houses building, and, in those I entered, a general air +of cheerfulness and well-being very pleasing to contemplate. There is +here an excellent manufacture of cabinet ware and furniture: some +articles of the black walnut, a tree abounding here, appeared to me more +beautiful in colour and grain than the finest mahogany; and the elegant +veining of the maplewood cannot be surpassed. I wish they were +sufficiently the fashion in England to make the transport worth while. +Here I have seen whole piles, nay, whole forests of such trees, burning +together. + +I was very much struck with this beautiful and cheerful little town, +more, I think, than with any place I have yet seen. + +By the time my horses were refreshed, it was near seven o clock. The +distance from Port Talbot is about twelve miles, but hearing the road +was good, I resolved to venture. The sky looked turbulent and stormy, +but luckily the storm was moving one way while I was moving another; +and, except a little sprinkling from the tail of a cloud, we escaped +very well. + +The road presented on either side a succession of farm-houses and +well-cultivated farms. Near the houses there was generally a patch of +ground planted with Indian corn and pumpkins, and sometimes a few +cabbages and potatoes. I do not recollect to have seen one garden, or +the least attempt to cultivate flowers. + +The goodness of the road is owing to the systematic regulations of +Colonel Talbot. Throughout the whole "country" none can obtain land +without first applying to him, and the price and conditions are uniform +and absolute. The lands are divided into lots of two hundred acres, and +to each settler fifty acres are given gratis, and one hundred and fifty +at three dollars an acre. Each settler must clear and sow ten acres of +land, build a house (a log-hut of eighteen feet in length), and +construct one chain of road in front of his house, within three years; +failing in this, he forfeits his deed. + +Colonel Talbot does not like gentlemen settlers, nor will he have any +settlements within a certain distance of his own domain. He never +associates with the people except on one grand occasion, the anniversary +of the foundation of his settlement. This is celebrated at St. Thomas by +a festive meeting of the most respectable settlers, and the colonel +himself opens the ball with one of the ladies, generally showing his +taste by selecting the youngest and prettiest. + +The evening now began to close in, night came on, with the stars and the +fair young moon in her train. I felt much fatigued, and my driver +appeared to be out in his reckoning--that is, with regard to +distance--for luckily he could not miss the _way_, there being but one. +I stopped a man who was trudging along with an axe on his shoulder, "How +far to Colonel Talbot's?" "About three miles and a half." This was +encouraging; but a quarter of an hour afterwards, on asking the same +question of another, he replied, "About seven miles." A third informed +me that it was about three miles beyond Major Burwell's. The next person +I met advised me to put up at "Waters's," and not think of going any +farther to-night; however, on arriving at Mr. Waters's hotel, I was not +particularly charmed with the prospect of a night's rest within its +precincts. It was a long-shaped wooden house, comfortless in appearance; +a number of men were drinking at the bar, and sounds of revelry issued +from the open door. I requested my driver to proceed, which he did with +all willingness. + +We had travelled nearly the whole day through open, well-cleared land, +more densely peopled than any part of the province I had seen since I +left the Niagara district. Suddenly we came upon a thick wood, through +which the road ran due west, in a straight line. The shadows fell deeper +and deeper from the depth of foliage on either side, and I could not see +a yard around, but exactly before me the last gleam of twilight lingered +where the moon was setting. Once or twice I was startled by seeing a +deer bound across the path, his large antlers being for one instant +defined, _pencilled_, as it were, against the sky, then lost. The +darkness fell deeper every moment, the silence more solemn. The +whip-poor-will began his melancholy cry, and an owl sent forth a +prolonged shriek, which, if I had not heard it before, would have +frightened me. After a while my driver stopped and listened, and I could +plainly hear the tinkling of cow-bells, I thought this a good sign, till +the boy reminded me that it was the custom of the settlers to turn their +cattle loose in the summer to seek their own food, and that they often +strayed miles from the clearing. + +[Footnote 11: When I remonstrated against this name for so beautiful a +stream, Colonel Talbot told me that his first settlers had found a +kettle on the bank, left by some Indians, and had given the river, from +this slight circumstance, a name which he had not thought it worth while +to alter.] + + + THE TALBOT COUNTRY. + +We were proceeding along our dark path very slowly, for fear of +accidents, when I heard the approaching tread of a horse, and the +welcome sound of a man whistling. The boy hailed him with some +impatience in his voice, "I say!--mister! whereabouts _is_ Colonel +Talbot's?" + +"The Colonel's? why, straight afore you;--follow your nose, you +buzzard!" + +Here I interposed. "Be so good, friend, as to inform me how far we are +yet from Colonel Talbot's house?" + +"Who have you got here?" cried the man in surprise. + +"A lady, comed over the sea to visit the Colonel." + +"Then," said the man, approaching my carriage--my cart, I should +say--with much respect, "I guess you're the lady that the Colonel has +been looking out for this week past. Why, I've been three times to St. +Thomas's with the team after you!" + +"I'm very sorry you've had the trouble!" + +"O, no trouble at all--shall I ride back and tell him you're coming?" + +This I declined, for the poor man was evidently going home to his +supper. + +To hear that the formidable Colonel was anxiously expecting me was very +encouraging, and, from the man's description, I supposed that we were +close to the house. Not so; the road, mocking my impatience, took so +many bends, and sweeps, and windings, up hill and down hill, that it was +an eternity before we arrived. The Colonel piques himself exceedingly on +this graceful and picturesque approach to his residence, and not without +reason; but on the present occasion I could have preferred a line more +direct to the line of beauty. The darkness, which concealed its charms, +left me sensible only to its length. + +On ascending some high ground, a group of buildings was dimly descried. +And after oversetting part of a snake-fence before we found an entrance, +we drove up to the door. Lights were gleaming in the windows, and the +Colonel sallied forth with prompt gallantry to receive me. + +My welcome was not only cordial, but courtly. The Colonel, taking me +under his arm, and ordering the boy and his horses to be well taken +care of, handed me into the hall or vestibule, where sacks of wheat and +piles of sheepskins lay heaped in primitive fashion; thence into a room, +the walls of which were formed of naked logs. Here no fauteuil, +spring-cushioned, extended its comfortable arms--no sofa here +"insidiously stretched out its lazy length;" Colonel Talbot held all +such luxuries in sovereign contempt. In front of a capacious chimney +stood a long wooden table, flanked with two wooden chairs, cut from the +forest in the midst of which they now stood. To one of these the Colonel +handed me, with the air of a courtier, and took the other himself. Like +all men who live out of the world, he retained a lively curiosity as to +what was passing in it, and I was pressed with a profusion of questions +as well as hospitable attentions; but wearied, exhausted, aching in +every nerve, the spirit with which I had at first met him in his own +style, was fast ebbing. I could neither speak nor eat, and was soon +dismissed to repose. + +With courteous solicitude, he ushered me himself to the door of a +comfortable, well furnished bed room, where a fire blazed cheerfully, +where female hands had evidently presided to arrange my toilet, and +where female aid awaited me;--so much had the good Colonel been +calumniated! + + * * * * * + + + COLONEL TALBOT. + + ---- You shall + Go forth upon your arduous task alone, + None shall assist you, none partake your toil, + None share your triumph! still you must retain + Some one to trust your glory to--to share + Your rapture with. Browning's Paracelsus. + + Port Talbot, July 10. + +"Man is, properly speaking, based upon hope. He has no other possession +but hope. This world of his is emphatically the place of hope:"[12] and +more emphatically than of any other spot on the face of the globe, it is +true of this new world of ours, in which I am now a traveller and a +sojourner. This is the land of hope, of faith, aye, and of charity, for +a man who hath not all three had better not come here:--with them he +may, by strength of his own right hand and trusting heart, achieve +miracles: witness Colonel Talbot. + +Of the four days in which I have gone wandering and wondering up and +down, let me now tell you something--_all_ I cannot tell you; for the +information I have gained, and the reflections and feelings which have +passed through my mind would fill a volume--and I have little time for +scribbling. + +And first of Colonel Talbot himself. This remarkable man is now about +sixty-five, perhaps more, but he does not look so much. In spite of his +rustic dress, his good-humoured, jovial, weather-beaten face, and the +primitive simplicity, not to say rudeness, of his dwelling, he has in +his features, air, and deportment, that _something_ which stamps him +gentleman. And that _something_ which thirty-four years of solitude has +not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth, things of more +consequence, when philosophically and philanthropically considered, than +we are apt to allow. + +He came out to Upper Canada as aide-de-camp to Governor Simcoe in 1793, +and accompanied the governor on the first expedition he made to survey +the western district, in search (as it was said) of an eligible site for +the new capital he was then projecting. At this time the whole of the +beautiful and fertile region situated between the lakes was a vast +wilderness. It contained not one white settler, except along the +borders, and on the coast opposite to Detroit: a few wandering tribes of +Hurons and Chippewas, and the Six Nations settled on Grand River, were +its only inhabitants. + +It was then that the idea of founding a colony took possession of +Colonel Talbot's mind, and became the ruling passion and sole interest +of his future life. I had always heard and read of him, as the +"eccentric" Colonel Talbot. Of his eccentricity I heard much more than +of his benevolence, his invincible courage, his enthusiasm, his +perseverance; but, perhaps, according to the wordly nomenclature, these +qualities come under the general head of "eccentricity," when devotion +to a favourite object cannot possibly be referred to self-interest. + +On his return to England, he asked and obtained a grant of 100,000 acres +of land along the shores of Lake Erie, on condition of placing a settler +on every two hundred acres. He came out again in 1802, and took +possession of his domain, in the heart of the wilderness. Of the life he +led for the first sixteen years, and the difficulties and obstacles he +encountered, he drew, in his discourse with me, a strong, I might say a +_terrible_ picture: and observe that it was not a life of wild, +wandering freedom--the life of an Indian hunter, which is said to be so +fascinating that "no man who has ever followed it for any length of +time, _ever_ voluntarily returns to civilised society!"[13] Colonel +Talbot's life has been one of persevering, heroic self-devotion to the +completion of a magnificent plan, laid down in the first instance, and +followed up with unflinching tenacity of purpose. For sixteen years he +saw scarce a human being, except the few boors and blacks employed in +clearing and logging his land: he himself assumed the blanket-coat and +axe, slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty +woodsmen, cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows, +churned the butter, and made and baked the bread. In this latter branch +of household economy he became very expert, and still piques himself on +it. + +To all these heterogeneous functions of sowing and reaping, felling and +planting, frying, boiling, washing and wringing, brewing and baking, he +added another, even more extraordinary;--for many years he solemnised +all the marriages in his district! + +While Europe was converted into a vast battle-field, an arena + + "Where distract ambition compassed + And was encompass'd," + +and his brothers in arms, the young men who had begun the career of life +with him, were reaping bloody laurels, to be gazetted in the list of +killed and wounded, as heroes--then forgotten;--Colonel Talbot, a true +hero after another fashion, was encountering, amid the forest solitude, +uncheered by sympathy, unbribed by fame, enemies far more formidable, +and earning a far purer, as well as a more real and lasting immortality. + +Besides natural obstacles, he met with others far more trying to his +temper and patience. His continual quarrels with the successive +governors, who were jealous of the independent power he exercised in his +own territory, are humorously alluded to by Dr. Dunlop. + +"After fifteen years of unremitting labour and privation," says the +Doctor, "it became so notorious in the province, that even the executive +government at Toronto became aware that there was such a place as the +Talbot Settlement, where roads were cut and farms in progress; and +hereupon they rejoiced--for it held out to them just what they had long +felt the want of, a well-settled, opened, and cultivated country, +wherein to obtain estates for themselves, their children, born and +unborn, and their whole kith, kin, and allies. When this idea, so +creditable to the paternal feelings of these worthy gentlemen, was +intimated to the Colonel, he could not be brought to see the fitness of +things in an arrangement which would confer on the next generation, or +the next again, the fruits of the labour of the present; and +accordingly, though his answer to the proposal was not couched in terms +quite so diplomatic as might have been wished, it was brief, +soldier-like, and not easily capable of misconstruction; it was in these +words--'I'll be d--d if you get one foot of land here;' and thereupon +the parties joined issue. + +"On this, war was declared against him by his Excellency in council, and +every means were used to annoy him here, and misrepresent his +proceedings at home; but he stood firm, and by an occasional visit to +the Colonial Office in England, he opened the eyes of ministers to the +proceedings of both parties, and for a while averted the danger. At +length, some five years ago, finding the enemy was getting too strong +for him, he repaired once more to England, and returned in triumph with +an order from the Colonial Office, that nobody was in any way to +interfere with his proceedings; and he has now the pleasure of +contemplating some hundreds of miles of the best roads in the province, +closely settled on each side by the most prosperous farmers within its +bounds, who owe all they possess to his judgment, enthusiasm, and +perseverance, and who are grateful to him in proportion to the benefits +he has bestowed upon them, though in many instances, sorely against +their will at the time." + +The original grant must have been much extended; for the territory now +under Colonel Talbot's management, and bearing the general name of the +Talbot Country, contains, according to the list I have in his own +handwriting, twenty-eight townships, and about 650,000 acres of land, of +which 98,700 are cleared and cultivated. The inhabitants, including the +population of the towns, amount to about 50,000. "You see," said he +gaily, "I may boast, like the Irishman in the farce, of having peopled a +whole country with my own hands." + +He has built his house, like the eagle his eyry, on a bold high cliff +overhanging the lake. On the east there is a precipitous descent into a +wild, woody ravine, along the bottom of which winds a gentle stream, +till it steals into the lake: this stream is in winter a raging torrent. +The storms and the gradual action of the waves have detached large +portions of the cliff in front of the house, and with them huge trees. +Along the lake-shore I found trunks and roots of trees half buried in +the sand, or half overflowed with water, which I often mistook for +rocks. I remember one large tree which, in falling headlong, still +remained suspended by its long and strong fibres to the cliff above. Its +position was now reversed: the top hung downwards, shivered and denuded; +the large spread root, upturned, formed a platform, on which new earth +had accumulated, and a new vegetation sprung forth, of flowers, and +bushes, and sucklings. Altogether it was a most picturesque and curious +object. + +Lake Erie, as the geography book says, is two hundred and eighty miles +long, and here, at Port Talbot, which is near the centre, about seventy +miles across. The Colonel tells me that it has been more than once +frozen over from side to side; but I do not see how this fact could be +ascertained, as no one has been known to cross to the opposite shore on +the ice. It is true that more ice accumulates in this lake than in any +other of the great lakes, by reason of its shallowness: it can be +sounded through its whole extent, while the other lakes are found in +some parts unfathomable. + +But to return to the chateau. It is a long wooden building, chiefly of +rough logs, with a covered porch running along the south side. Here I +found suspended, among sundry implements of husbandry, one of those +ferocious animals of the feline kind, called here the cat-a-mountain, +and by some the American tiger, or panther, which it more resembles. +This one, which had been killed in its attack on the fold or +poultry-yard, was at least four feet in length, and glared on me from +the rafters above ghastly and horrible. The interior of the house +contains several comfortable lodging-rooms, and one really handsome one, +the dining-room. There is a large kitchen with a tremendously hospitable +chimney; and underground are cellars for storing wine, milk, and +provisions. Around the house stands a vast variety of outbuildings of +all imaginable shapes and sizes, and disposed without the slightest +regard to order or symmetry. One of these is the very log hut which the +Colonel erected for shelter when he first "sat down in the bush," +four-and-thirty years ago, and which he is naturally unwilling to +remove. Many of these outbuildings are to shelter the geese and poultry, +of which he rears an innumerable quantity. Beyond these is the cliff, +looking over the wide blue lake, on which I have counted six schooners +at a time with their white sails. On the left is Port Stanley. Behind +the house lies an open tract of land, prettily broken and varied, where +large flocks of sheep and cattle are feeding, the whole enclosed by +beautiful and luxuriant woods, through which runs the little creek or +river above mentioned. + +The farm consists of six hundred acres; but as the Colonel is not quite +so active as he used to be, and does not employ a bailiff or overseer, +the management is said to be slovenly, and not so productive as it might +be. + +He has sixteen acres of orchard-ground, in which he has planted and +reared with success all the common European fruits, as apples, pears, +plums, cherries, in abundance; but what delighted me beyond everything +else, was a garden of more than two acres, very neatly laid out and +enclosed, and in which he evidently took exceeding pride and pleasure; +it was the first thing he showed me after my arrival. It abounds in +roses of different kinds, the cuttings of which he had brought himself +from England in the few visits he had made there. Of these he gathered +the most beautiful buds, and presented them to me with such an air as +might have become Dick Talbot presenting a bouquet to Miss Jennings.[14] +We then sat down on a pretty seat under a tree, where he told me he +often came to meditate. He described the appearance of the spot when he +first came here as contrasted with its present appearance, or we +discussed the exploits of some of his celebrated and gallant ancestors, +with whom my acquaintance was (luckily) almost as intimate as his own. +Family and aristocratic pride I found a prominent feature in the +character of this remarkable man. A Talbot of Malahide, of a family +representing the same barony from father to son for six hundred years, +he set, not unreasonably, a high value on his noble and unstained +lineage; and, in his lonely position, the simplicity of his life and +manners lent to these lofty and not unreal pretensions a kind of +poetical dignity. + +I told him of the surmises of the people relative to his early life and +his motives for emigrating, at which he laughed. + +"Charlevoix," said he, "was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to +this place. You know he calls this the 'Paradise of the Hurons.' Now I +was resolved to get to paradise by hook or by crook, and so I came +here." + +He added, more seriously, "I have accomplished what I resolved to do--it +is done; but I would not, if any one was to offer me the universe, go +through again the _horrors_ I have undergone in forming this +settlement. But do not imagine I repent it; I like my retirement." + +He then broke out against the follies, and falsehoods, and restrictions +of artificial life, in bitter and scornful terms; no ascetic monk or +_radical_ philosopher could have been more eloquently indignant. + +I said it was granted to few to live a life of such complete retirement, +and at the same time such general utility; in flying from the world, he +had benefited it: and I added, that I was glad to see him so happy. + +"Why, yes, I'm very happy here." And then the old man sighed. + +I understood that sigh, and in my heart echoed it. No, "it is not good +for man to be alone;" and this law, which the Father of all life +pronounced himself at man's creation, was never yet violated with +impunity. Never yet was the human being withdrawn from, or elevated +above, the social wants and sympathies of his human nature, without +paying a tremendous price for such isolated independence. + +With all my admiration for what this extraordinary man has achieved, and +the means, the powers, through which he has achieved it, there mingles a +feeling of commiseration which has more than once brought the tears to +my eyes while listening to him. He has passed his life in worse than +solitude. He will admit no equal in his vicinity. His only intercourse +has been with inferiors and dependents, whose servility he despised, and +whose resistance enraged him--men whose interests rested on his +favour--on his will, from which there was no appeal. Hence despotic +habits, and contempt even for those whom he benefited; hence, with much +natural benevolence and generosity, a total disregard, or rather total +ignorance, of the feelings of others--all the disadvantages, in short, +of royalty, only on a smaller scale. Now, in his old age, where is to +him the solace of age? He has honour, power, obedience; but where are +the love, the troops of friends, which also should accompany old age? He +is alone--a lonely man. His constitution has suffered by the dreadful +toils and privations of his earlier life. His sympathies have had no +natural outlet; his affections have wanted their natural food. He +suffers, I think; and not being given to general or philosophical +reasoning, causes and effects are felt, not known. But he is a great man +who has done great things; and the good which he has done will live +after him. He has planted, at a terrible sacrifice, an enduring name and +fame, and will be commemorated in this "brave new world," this land of +hope, as Triptolemus among the Greeks. + +For his indifference or dislike to female society, and his determination +to have no settler within a certain distance of his own residence, I +could easily account when I knew the man; both seemed to me the natural +result of certain habits of life acting upon a certain organisation. He +has a favourite servant, Jeffrey by name, who has served him faithfully +for more than five-and-twenty years, ever since he left off cleaning his +own shoes and mending his own coat. This honest fellow, not having +forsworn female companionship, began to sigh after a wife-- + + "A wife! ah! Saint Marie Benedicite, + How might a man have any adversite + That hath a wife?" + +And, like the good knight in Chaucer, he did + + "Upon his bare knees pray God him to send + A wife to last unto his life's end." + +So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at +hand--one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her +virtues, for most certainly it was not for her attractions. The Colonel +swore at him for a fool; but, after a while, Jeffrey, who is a +favourite, smuggled his wife into the house; and the Colonel, whose +increasing age renders him rather more dependent on household help, +seems to endure very patiently this addition to his family, and even the +presence of a white-headed chubby little thing, which I found running +about without let or hindrance. + +The room into which I first introduced you, with its rough log-walls, is +Colonel Talbot's library and hall of audience. On leaving my apartment +in the morning, I used to find groups of strange figures lounging round +the door, ragged, black-bearded, gaunt, travel-worn and toil-worn +emigrants, Irish, Scotch, and American, come to offer themselves as +settlers. These he used to call his land-pirates; and curious, and +characteristic, and dramatic beyond description, were the scenes which +used to take place between this grand bashaw of the wilderness and his +hungry, importunate clients and petitioners. + +Another thing which gave a singular interest to my conversations with +Colonel Talbot was, the sort of indifference with which he regarded all +the stirring events of the last thirty years. Dynasties rose and +disappeared; kingdoms were passed from hand to hand like wine decanters; +battles were lost and won;--he neither knew, nor heard, nor cared. No +post, no newspaper brought to his forest-hut the tidings of victory and +defeat, of revolutions of empires, "or rumours of unsuccessful and +successful war." + +When he first took to the bush, Napoleon was consul; when he emerged +from his solitude, the tremendous game of ambition had been played out, +and Napoleon and his deeds and his dynasty were numbered with the things +o'erpast. With the stream of events had flowed by equally unmarked the +stream of mind, thought, literature--the progress of social +improvement--the changes in public opinion. Conceive what a gulf between +us! but though I could go to him, he could not come to me--my sympathies +had the wider range of the two. + +The principal foreign and domestic events of his _reign_ are the last +American war, in which he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by a +detachment of the enemy, who ransacked his house, and drove off his +horses and cattle; and a visit which he received some years ago from +three young Englishmen of rank and fortune, Lord Stanley, Mr. Stuart +Wortley, and Mr. Labouchere, who spent some weeks with him. These +events, and his voyages to England, seemed to be the epochs from which +he dated. From these occasional flights he returns like an old eagle to +his perch on the cliff, whence he looks down upon the world he has +quitted with supreme contempt and indifference, and around that on which +he has created, with much self-applause and self-gratulation. + +[Footnote 12: Vide Sartor Resartus.] + +[Footnote 13: Dr. Dunlop.] + +[Footnote 14: Dick Talbot married Frances Jennings--la belle Jennings of +De Grammont's Memoirs, and elder sister of the celebrated Duchess of +Marlborough.] + + * * * * * + + + PORT TALBOT. + +It was not till the sixth day of my sojourn at Port Talbot that the good +Colonel could be persuaded to allow of my departure. + +He told me, with good-humoured peremptoriness, that he was the grand +autocrat of the forest, and that to presume to order horses, or take any +step towards departing, without his express permission, was against "his +laws." At last he was so good as to issue his commands--with flattering +reluctance, however--that a vehicle should be prepared, and a trusty +guide provided; and I bade farewell to this extraordinary man with a +mixture of delighted, and grateful, and melancholy feelings not easily +to be described, nor ever forgotten. + +My next journey was from Port Talbot to Chatham on the river Thames, +whence it was my intention to cross Lake St. Clair to Detroit, and there +take my chance of a vessel going up Lake Huron to Machinaw. I should, +however, advise any future traveller, not limited to any particular time +or plan of observation, to take the road along the shore of the Lake to +Amherstberg and Sandwich, instead of turning off to Chatham. During the +first day's journey I was promised a good road, as it lay through the +Talbot settlements; what was to become of me the second day seemed a +very doubtful matter. + +The best vehicle which the hospitality and influence of Colonel Talbot +could provide was a farmer's cart or team, with two stout horses. The +bottom of the cart was well filled with clean soft straw, on which my +luggage was deposited. A seat was slung for me on straps, and another in +front for the driver, who had been selected from among the most +respectable settlers in the neighbourhood as a fit guide and protector +for a lone woman. The charge for the two days' journey was to be twelve +dollars. + +As soon as I had a little recovered from the many thoughts and feelings +which came over me as we drove down the path from Colonel Talbot's +house, I turned to take a survey of my driver, and from his physiognomy, +his deportment, and the tone of his voice, to divine, if I could, what +chance I had of comfort during the next two days. The survey was, on +the whole, encouraging, though presenting some inconsistencies I could +by no means reconcile. His dress and figure were remarkably neat, though +plain and homely; his broad-brimmed straw hat, encircled with a green +ribbon, was pulled over his brow, and from beneath it peered two +sparkling, intelligent eyes. His accent was decidedly Irish. It was +indeed a brogue as "nate and complate" as ever was sent forth from Cork +or Kerry; but then his face was not an Irish face; its expression had +nothing of the Irish character; the cut of his features, and his manner +and figure altogether in no respect harmonised with his voice and +accent. + + + JOURNEY TO CHATHAM. + +After proceeding about three miles, we stopped in front of a neat +farmhouse, surrounded with a garden and spacious outbuildings, and forth +came a very pretty and modest-looking young woman, with a lovely child +in her arms, and leading another by the hand. It was the wife of my +driver; and I must confess she did not seem well pleased to have him +taken away from her. They evidently parted with reluctance. She gave him +many special charges to take care of himself, and commissions to execute +by the way. The children were then held up to be kissed heartily by +their father, and we drove off. This little family scene interested me, +and augured well, I thought, for my own chances of comfort and +protection. + +When we had jogged and jolted on at a reasonable pace for some time, and +I had felt my way sufficiently, I began to make some inquiries into the +position and circumstances of my companion. The first few words +explained those discrepancies in his features, voice, and appearance, +which had struck me. + +His grandfather was a Frenchman. His father had married an Irishwoman, +and settled in consequence in the south of Ireland. He became, after +some changes of fortune, a grazier and cattle-dealer; and having +realised a small capital which could not be safely or easily invested in +the old country, he had brought out his whole family, and settled his +sons on farms in this neighbourhood. Many of the first settlers about +this place, generally emigrants of the poorest and lowest description, +after clearing a certain portion of the land, gladly disposed of their +farms at an advanced price; and thus it is that a considerable +improvement has taken place within these few years by the introduction +of settlers of a higher grade, who have purchased half-cleared farms, +rather than waste toil and time on the wild land. + +My new friend, John B----, had a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, +for which, with a log-house and barn upon it, he had paid 800 dollars +(about 200_l._); he has now one hundred acres of land cleared and laid +down in pasture. This is the first instance I have met with in these +parts of a grazing farm, the land being almost uniformly arable, and the +staple produce of the country, wheat. He told me that he and his brother +had applied most advantageously their knowledge of the management and +rearing of live stock; he had now thirty cows and eighty sheep. His wife +being clever in the dairy, he was enabled to sell a good deal of butter +and cheese off his farm, which the neighbourhood of Port Stanley enabled +him to ship with advantage. The wolves, he said, were his greatest +annoyance; during the last winter they had carried off eight of his +sheep and thirteen of his brother's flock, in spite of all their +precautions. + +The Canadian wolf is about the size of a mastiff, in colour of a dirty +yellowish brown, with a black stripe along his back, and a bushy tail of +about a foot in length. His habits are those of the European wolf; they +are equally bold, "hungry, and gaunt, and grim,"--equally destructive, +ferocious, and troublesome to the farmer. The Canadian wolves hunt in +packs, and their perpetual howling during the winter nights has often +been described to me as frightful. The reward given by the magistracy +for their destruction (six dollars for each wolf's head) is not enough. +In the United States the reward is fifteen and twenty dollars a head, +and from their new settlements the wolves are quickly extirpated. +_Here_, if they would extend the reward to the Indians, it would be of +some advantage; for at present they never think it worth while to expend +their powder and shot on an animal whose flesh is uneatable, and the +skin of little value; and there can be no doubt that it is the interest +of the settlers to get rid of the wolves by all and any means. I have +never heard of their destroying a man, but they are the terror of the +sheepfold--as the wild cats are of the poultry yard. Bears become +scarcer in proportion as the country is cleared, but there are still a +great number in the vast tracts of forest land which afford them +shelter. These, in the severe winters, advance to the borders of the +settlements, and carry off the pigs and young cattle. Deer still abound, +and venison is common food in the cottages and farmhouses. + +My guide concluded his accounts of himself by an eloquent and heartfelt +eulogium on his wife, to whom, as he assured me, "he owed all his _peace +of mind_ from the hour he was married!" Few men, I thought, could say +the same. _She_, at least, is not to be numbered among the drooping and +repining women of Upper Canada; but then she has left no family--no home +on the other side of the Atlantic--all her near relations are settled +here in the neighbourhood. + + + SETTLERS IN THE BUSH. + +The road continued very tolerable during the greater part of this day, +running due west, at a distance of about six or ten miles from the shore +of Lake Erie. On either side I met a constant succession of farms +partially cleared, and in cultivation, but no village, town, or hamlet. +One part of the country through which I passed to-day is settled chiefly +by Highlanders, who bring hither all their clannish attachments, and +their thrifty, dirty habits--add also their pride and their honesty. We +stopped about noon at one of these Highland settlements, to rest the +horses and procure refreshments. The house was called Campbell's Inn, +and consisted of a log-hut and a cattle-shed. A long pole, stuck into +the decayed stump of a tree in front of the hut, served for a sign. The +family spoke nothing but Gaelic; a brood of children, ragged, dirty, and +without shoes or stockings (which latter I found hanging against the +wall of the best room, as if for a show), were running about--and all +stared upon me with a sort of half-scared, uncouth curiosity, which was +quite savage. With some difficulty I made my wants understood, and +procured some milk and Indian corn cakes. This family, notwithstanding +their wretched appearance, might be considered prosperous. They have a +property of two hundred acres of excellent land, of which sixty acres +are cleared, and in cultivation: five cows and forty sheep. They have +been settled here sixteen years,--had come out destitute, and obtained +their land gratis. For them, what a change from abject poverty and want +to independence and plenty! But the advantages are all outward; if there +be any inward change, it is apparently retrogradation, not advancement. + +I know it has been laid down as a principle, that the more and the +closer men are congregated together, the more prevalent is vice of every +kind; and that an isolated or scattered population is favourable to +virtue and simplicity. It may be so, if you are satisfied with negative +virtues and the simplicity of ignorance. But here, where a small +population is scattered over a wide extent of fruitful country, where +there is not a village or a hamlet for twenty, or thirty, or forty miles +together--where there are no manufactories--where there is almost entire +equality of condition--where the means of subsistence are +abundant--where there is no landed aristocracy--no poor laws, nor poor +rates, to grind the souls and the substance of the people between them, +till nothing remains but chaff,--to what shall we attribute the gross +vices, the profligacy, the stupidity, and basely vulgar habits of a +great part of the people, who know not even how to enjoy or turn to +profit the inestimable advantages around them?--And, alas for them! +there seems to be no one as yet to take an interest about them, or at +least infuse a new spirit into the next generation. In one log-hut in +the very heart of the wilderness, where I might well have expected +primitive manners and simplicity, I found vulgar finery, vanity, +affectation, under the most absurd and disgusting forms, combined with a +want of the commonest physical comforts of life, and the total absence +of even elementary knowledge. In another, I have seen drunkenness, +profligacy, stolid indifference to all religion; and in another, the +most senseless fanaticism. There are people, I know, who think--who +fear, that the advancement of knowledge and civilisation must be the +increase of vice and insubordination; who deem that a scattered +agricultural population, where there is a sufficiency of daily food for +the body; where no schoolmaster interferes to infuse ambition and +discontent into the abject, self-satisfied mind; where the labourer +reads not, writes not, thinks not--only loves, hates, prays, and +toils--that such a state must be a sort of Arcadia. Let them come +here!--there is no march of intellect here!--there is no "schoolmaster +abroad" here! And what are the consequences? Not the most agreeable to +contemplate, believe me. + +I passed in these journeys some school-houses built by the way side: of +these, several were shut up for want of schoolmasters; and who that +could earn a subsistence in any other way, would be a schoolmaster in +the wilds of Upper Canada? Ill fed, ill clothed, ill paid, or not paid +at all--boarded at the houses of the different farmers in turn, I found, +indeed, some few men, poor creatures! always either Scotch or Americans, +and totally unfit for the office they had undertaken. Of female teachers +I found none whatever, except in the towns. Among all the excellent +societies in London for the advancement of religion and education, are +there none to send missionaries here?--such missionaries as we want, be +it understood--not sectarian fanatics. Here, without means of +instruction, of social amusement, of healthy and innocent +excitements--can we wonder that whisky and camp-meetings assume their +place, and "season toil" which is unseasoned by anything better? + +Nothing, believe me, that you may have heard or read of the frantic +disorders of these Methodist love-feasts and camp-meetings in Upper +Canada can exceed the truth; and yet it is no less a truth that the +Methodists are in most parts the only religious teachers, and that +without them the people were utterly abandoned. What then are our church +and our government about? Here, as in the old country, they are +quarrelling about the tenets to be inculcated, the means to be used: and +so, while the shepherds are disputing whether the sheep are to be fed +on old hay or fresh grass--out of the fold or in the fold--the poor +sheep starve, or go astray. + +I supped here on eggs and radishes, and milk and bread. On going to my +room, I found that the door, which had merely a latch, opened into the +road. I expressed a wish to fasten it, on which the good lady of the +house brought a long nail, and thrust it lengthways over the latch, +saying, "That's the way we lock doors in Canada!" The want of a more +secure defence did not trouble my rest, for I slept well till morning. +After breakfast, my guide, who had found what he called a "shake-down" +at a neighbouring farm, made his appearance, and we proceeded. + +For the first five or six miles the road continued good, but at length +we reached a point where we had to diverge from the Talbot road, and +turn into what they call a "town line," a road dividing the Howard from +the Harwich township. My companion stopped the team to speak to a young +man who was mixing lime, and as he stood talking to us, I thought I had +never seen a better figure and countenance: his accent was Irish; his +language and manner infinitely superior to his dress, which was that of +a common workman. I soon understood that he was a member of one of the +richest and most respectable families in the whole district, connected +by marriage with my driver, who had been boasting to me of their +station, education, and various attainments. There were many and kind +greetings and inquiries after wives, sisters, brothers, and children. +Towards the conclusion of this family conference, the following dialogue +ensued. + +"I say, how are the roads before us?" + +"Pretty bad!" (with an ominous shake of the head.) + +"Would we get on at all, do you think?" + +"Well, I don't know, but you may." + +"If only we a'n't _mired down_ in that big hole up by Harris's, plaze +God, we'll do finely! Have they done anything up there?" + +"No, I don't know that they have; but (with a glance and a +good-humoured smile at me) don't be frightened! you have a good stout +team there. I dare say you'll get along--first or last!" + +"How are the mosquitoes?" + +"Pretty bad too; it is cloudy, and then they are always worse; but there +is some wind, and that's in your favour again. However, you've a long +and hard day's work, and I wish you well through it; if you cannot +manage, come back to _us_--that's all! Good-bye!" And lifting the gay +handkerchief knotted round his head, he bowed us off with the air of a +nobleman. + +Thus encouraged, we proceeded; and though I was not _mired down_, nor +yet absolutely eaten up, I suffered from both the threatened plagues, +and that most severely. The road was scarcely passable; there were no +longer cheerful farms and clearings, but the dark pine forest, and the +rank swamp, crossed by those terrific corduroy paths (my bones ache at +the mere recollection!) and deep holes and pools of rotted vegetable +matter, mixed with water, black, bottomless sloughs of despond! The very +horses paused on the brink of some of these mud-gulfs, and trembled ere +they made the plunge downwards. I set my teeth, screwed myself to my +seat, and commended myself to Heaven--but I was well nigh dislocated! At +length I abandoned my seat altogether, and made an attempt to recline on +the straw at the bottom of the cart, disposing my cloaks, carpet-bags, +and pillow, so as to afford some support--but all in vain; myself and +all my well-contrived edifice of comfort were pitched hither and +thither, and I expected at every moment to be thrown over headlong; +while to walk, or to escape by any means from my disagreeable situation, +was as impossible as if I had been in a ship's cabin in the midst of a +rolling sea. + +But the worst was yet to come. At the entrance of a road through the +woods, + + If road that might be called where road was none + Distinguishable, + +we stopped a short time to gain breath and courage, and refresh the poor +horses before plunging into a forest of about twenty miles in extent. + +The inn--the only one within a circuit of more than five-and-thirty +miles, presented the usual aspect of these forest inns; that is, a rude +log-hut, with one window and one room, answering all purposes, a lodging +or sleeping place being divided off at one end by a few planks; outside, +a shed of bark and boughs for the horses, and a hollow trunk of a tree +disposed as a trough. Some of the trees around it were in full and +luxuriant foliage; others, which had been girdled, stood bare and +ghastly in the sunshine. To understand the full force of the scripture +phrase, "desolate as a lodge in a wilderness," you should come here! The +inmates, from whom I could not obtain a direct or intelligible answer to +any question, continued during the whole time to stare upon me with +stupid wonder. I took out a card to make a sketch of the place. A man +stood near me, looking on, whose appearance was revolting beyond +description--hideous, haggard and worn, sinewy and fierce and squalid. +He led in one hand a wild-looking urchin of three or four years old; in +the other he was crushing a beautiful young pigeon, which panted and +struggled within his bony grasp in agony and terror. I looked on it, +pitying. + +"Don't hurt it!" + +He replied with a grin, and giving the wretched bird another squeeze, +"No, no, I won't hurt it." + +"Do you live here?" + +"Yes, I have a farm hard by--in the bush here." + +"How large is it?" + +"One hundred and forty acres." + +"How much cleared?" + +"Five or six acres--thereabout." + +"How long have you been on it?" + +"Five years." + +"And only five acres cleared? That is very little in five years. I have +seen people who had cleared twice that quantity of land in half the +time." + +He replied, almost with fierceness, "Then they had money, or friends, or +hands to help them: I have neither. I have in this wide world only +myself! and set a man with only a pair of hands at one of them big trees +there!--see what he'll make of it! You may swing the axe here from +morning to night for a week before you let the daylight in upon you." + +"You are right!" I said, in compassion and self-reproach, "and I was +wrong! pray excuse me!" + +"No offence." + +"Are you from the old country?" + +"No, I was _raised_ here." + +"What will you do with your pigeon there?" + +"O, it will do for the boy's supper, or may be he may like it best to +play with." + +I offered to redeem its life at the price of a shilling, which I held +out. He stretched forth immediately one of his huge hands and eagerly +clutched the shilling, at the same moment opening the other, and +releasing his captive; it fluttered for a moment helplessly, but soon +recovering its wings, wheeled round our heads, and then settled in the +topmost boughs of a sugar-maple. The man turned away with an exulting +laugh, thinking, no doubt, that he had the best of the bargain--but upon +this point we differed. + + * * * * * + +Turning the horses' heads again westward, we plunged at once into the +deep forest, where there was absolutely no road, no path, except that +which is called a _blazed_ path, where the trees marked on either side +are the only direction to the traveller. How savagely, how solemnly wild +it was! So thick was the overhanging foliage, that it not only shut out +the sunshine, but almost the daylight; and we travelled on through a +perpetual gloom of vaulted boughs and intermingled shade. There were no +flowers here--no herbage. The earth beneath us was a black, rich +vegetable mould, into which the cart-wheels sank a foot deep; a rank, +reedy grass grew round the roots of the trees, and sheltered +rattlesnakes and reptiles. The timber was all hard timber, walnut, +beech, and bass-wood, and oak and maple of most luxuriant growth; here +and there the lightning had struck and shivered one of the loftiest of +these trees, riving the great trunk in two, and flinging it horizontally +upon its companions. There it lay, in strangely picturesque fashion, +clasping with its huge boughs their outstretched arms as if for support. +Those which had been hewn to open a path lay where they fell, and over +their stumps and roots the cart had to be lifted or dragged. Sometimes a +swamp or morass lay in our road, partly filled up or laid over with +trunks of fallen trees, by way of bridge. + +As we neared the limits of the forest, some new clearings broke in upon +the solemn twilight monotony of our path: the aspect of these was almost +uniform, presenting an opening of felled trees of about an acre or two; +the commencement of a log-house; a patch of ground surrounded by a +snake-fence, enclosing the first crop of wheat, and perhaps a little +Indian corn; great heaps of timber-trees and brushwood laid together and +burning; a couple of oxen, dragging along another enormous trunk to add +to the pile. These were the general features of the picture, framed in, +as it were, by the dark mysterious woods. Here and there I saw a few +cows, but no sheep. I remember particularly one of these clearings, +which looked more desolate than the rest; there was an unfinished +log-house, only one half of it roofed in and habitable, and this +presented some attempt at taste, having a small rustic porch or portico, +and the windows on either side framed. No ground was fenced in, and the +newly-felled timber lay piled in heaps ready to burn; around lay the +forest, its shadows darkening, deepening as the day declined. But what +rivetted my attention was the light figure of a female, arrayed in a +silk gown and a handsome shawl, who was pacing up and down in front of +the house, with a slow and pensive air. She had an infant lying on her +arm, and in the other hand she waved a green bough, to keep off the +mosquitoes. I wished to stop--to speak, though at the hazard of +appearing impertinent; but my driver represented so strongly the danger +of being benighted within the verge of the forest, that I reluctantly +suffered him to proceed, + + "And oft look'd back upon that vision fair, + And wondering ask'd, whence and how came it there?" + +At length we emerged from the forest-path into a plain, through which +ran a beautiful river (my old acquaintance the Thames), "winding at its +own sweet will," and farmhouses with white walls and green shutters were +scattered along its banks, and cheerful voices were heard, shouts of +boys at play, sounds of labour and of life; and over all lay the last +glow of the sinking sun. How I blessed the whole scene in my heart! Yes, +I can well conceive what the exulting and joyous life of the hunter may +be, roaming at large and independent through these boundless forests; +but, believe me, that to be dragged along in a heavy cart through their +impervious shades, tormented by mosquitoes, shut in on every side from +the light and from the free air of heaven, is quite another thing; and +its effect upon me, at least, was to bring down the tone of the mind and +reflections to a gloomy, inert, vague resignation, or rather dejection, +which made it difficult at last to speak. The first view of the +beautiful little town of Chatham made my sinking spirits bound like the +sight of a friend. There was, besides, the hope of a good inn; for my +driver had cheered me on during the last few miles by a description of +"Freeman's Hotel," which he said was one of the best in the whole +district. Judge then of my disappointment to learn that Mr. Freeman, in +consequence of the "high price of wheat," could no longer afford to take +in hungry travellers, and had "no accommodation." I was driven to take +refuge in a miserable little place, where I fared as ill as possible. I +was shown to a bedroom without chair or table; but I was too utterly +beaten down by fatigue and dejection, too sore in body and spirit, to +remonstrate, or even to stir hand or foot. Wrapping my cloak round me, I +flung myself on the bed, and was soon in a state of forgetfulness of all +discomforts and miseries. Next morning I rose refreshed and able to +bestir myself; and by dint of bribing, and bawling, and scolding, and +cajoling, I at length procured plenty of hot and cold water, and then a +good breakfast of eggs, tea, and corn-cakes;--and then I set forth to +reconnoitre. + + * * * * * + + + CHATHAM. + + At Chatham, in the Western District, and on board the + steam-boat, between Chatham and Detroit. July 12, 13. + +I can hardly imagine a more beautiful or more fortunate position for a +new city than this of Chatham (you will find it on the map just upon +that neck of land between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie). It is +sufficiently inland to be safe, or easily secured against the sudden +attacks of a foreign enemy; the river Thames is navigable from the mouth +up to the town, a distance of sixteen miles, for all kinds of lake +craft, including steamers and schooners of the largest class. Lake St. +Clair, into which the Thames discharges itself, is between Lake Erie and +Lake Huron; the banks are formed of extensive prairies of exhaustless +fertility, where thousands of cattle might roam and feed at will. As a +port and depot for commerce, its position and capabilities can hardly be +surpassed, while as an agricultural country it may be said literally to +flow with milk and honey. A rich soil, abundant pasture, no rent, no +taxes--what is wanting here but more intelligence and a better +employment of capital to prevent the people from sinking into brutified +laziness, and stimulate to something like mental activity and +improvement? The profuse gifts of nature are here running to waste, +while hundreds and thousands in the old country are trampling over each +other in the eager, hungry conflict for daily food. + +This land of Upper Canada is in truth the very paradise of hope. In +spite of all I see and hear, which might well move to censure, to +regret, to pity,--how much there is in which the trustful spirit may +reasonably rejoice! It would be possible, looking at things under one +aspect, to draw such a picture of the mistakes of the government, the +corruption of its petty agents, the social backwardness and moral +destitution of the people, as would shock you, and tempt you to regard +Canada as a place of exile for convicts. On the other hand, I could, +without deviating from the sober and literal truth, give you such vivid +pictures of the beauty and fertility of this land of the west, of its +glorious capabilities for agriculture and commerce, of the goodness and +kindliness and resources of poor, much-abused human nature, as +developed amid all the crushing influences of oppression, ignorance, and +prejudice; and of the gratitude and self-complacency of those who have +exchanged want, servitude, and hopeless toil at home, for plenty and +independence and liberty here,--as would transport you in fancy into an +earthly elysium. Thus, as I travel on, I am disgusted, or I am +enchanted; I despair or I exult by turns; and these inconsistent and +apparently contradictory emotions and impressions I set down as they +arise, leaving you to reconcile them as well as you can, and make out +the result for yourself. + + + TECUMSEH. + +It is seldom that in this country the mind is ever carried backward by +associations or recollections of any kind. Horace Walpole said of Italy, +that it was "a land in which the memory saw more than the eye," and in +Canada hope must play the part of memory. It is all the difference +between seed-time and harvest. We are rich in anticipation, but poor in +possession--more poor in memorials. Some vague and general traditions, +of no interest whatever to the ignorant settlers, do indeed exist, of +horrid conflicts between the Hurons and the Iroquois, all along these +shores, in the time and before the time of the French dominion; of the +enterprise and daring of the early fur traders; above all, of the +unrequited labours and sacrifices of the missionaries, whether Jesuits, +or Moravians, or Methodists, some of whom perished in tortures; others +devoted themselves to the most horrible privations--each for what he +believed to be the cause of truth, and for the diffusion of the light of +salvation; none near to applaud the fortitude with which they died, or +to gain hope and courage from their example. During the last war between +Great Britain and the United States[15]--that war, in its commencement +dishonourable to the Americans, in its conclusion shameful to the +British, and in its progress disgraceful and demoralising to both;--that +war, which began and was continued in the worst passions of our nature, +cupidity and vengeance;--which brought no advantage to any one human +being--not even the foolish noise and empty glory which wait oftentimes +on human conflicts; a war scarce heard of in Europe, even by the mother +country, who paid its cost in millions, and in the blood of some of her +best subjects; a war obscure, fratricidal, and barbarous, which has left +behind no effect but a mutual exasperation and distress along the +frontiers of both nations, and a hatred which, like hatred between near +kinsmen, is more bitter and irreconcilable than any hostility between +the mercenary armies of rival nations; for here, not only the two +governments quarrelled, but the people, their institutions, feelings, +opinions, prejudices, local and personal interests, were brought into +collision;--during this vile, profitless, and unnatural war, a battle +was fought near Chatham, called by some the battle of the Thames, and by +others the battle of the Moravian towns, in which the Americans, under +General Harrison, beat General Proctor with considerable loss. But it is +chiefly worthy of notice, as the last scene of the life of Tecumseh, a +Shawanee chief, of whom it is possible you may not have heard, but who +is the historical hero of these wild regions. Some American writers call +him the "Indian Napoleon;" both began their plans of policy and conquest +about the same time, and both about the same time terminated their +career, the one by captivity, the other by death. But the genius of the +Indian warrior and his exploits were limited to a narrow field along the +confines of civilisation, and their record is necessarily imperfect. It +is clear that he had entertained the daring and really magnificent plan +formerly embraced by Pontiac--that of uniting all the Indian tribes and +nations in a league against the whites. That he became the ally of the +British was not from friendship to us, but hatred to the Americans, whom +it was his first object to repel from any further encroachments on the +rights and territories of the Red men--in vain! These attempts of a +noble and a fated race, to oppose, or even to delay for a time, the +rolling westward of the great tide of civilisation, are like efforts to +dam up the rapids of Niagara. The moral world has its laws, fixed as +those of physical nature. The hunter must make way before the +agriculturist, and the Indian must learn to take the bit between his +teeth, and set his hand to the ploughshare, or _perish_. As yet I am +inclined to think that the idea of the Indians becoming what _we_ call +a civilised people seems quite hopeless; those who entertain such +benevolent anticipations should come here, and behold the effect which +three centuries of contact with the whites have produced on the nature +and habits of the Indian. The benevolent theorists in England should +come and see with their own eyes that there is a bar to the civilisation +of the Indians, and the increase or even preservation of their numbers, +which no power can overleap. Their own principle, that "the Great Spirit +did indeed create both the red man and the white man, but created them +essentially different in nature and manners," is not, perhaps, far from +the truth. + +[Footnote 15: The war of 1812.] + + + MISSIONARIES AMONG THE INDIANS. + +Take, for instance, the following scene, as described with great naivete +by one of the Moravian missionaries. After a conference with some of the +Delaware chief men, in which they were informed that these missionaries +had come to teach them a better and purer religion, of which the one +fundamental principle, leading to eternal salvation, was belief in the +Redeemer, and atonement through his blood for the sins of all +mankind--all which was contained in the book which he held in his +hand,--"Wangoman, a great chief and medicine-man among them, rose to +reply. He began by tracing two lines on the ground, and endeavoured to +explain that there were two ways which led alike to God and to +happiness, the way of the Red man, and the way of the White man, but the +way of the Red man, he said, was the straighter and the shorter of the +two." + +The missionary here interposed, and represented that God himself had +descended on earth to teach men the _true_ way. Wangoman declared that +"he had been intimately acquainted with God for many years, and had +never heard that God became a man and shed his blood, and therefore the +God of whom Brother Zeisberger preached could not be the true God, or +he, Wangoman, would have been made acquainted with the circumstance." + +The missionary then declared, "in the power of the spirit, that the God +in whom Wangoman and his Indians believed was no other than the devil, +the father of lies." Wangoman replied in a very moderate tone, "I +cannot understand your doctrine; it is quite new and strange to me. If +it be true," he added, "that the Great Spirit came down into the world, +became a man and suffered so much, I assure you the Indians are not in +fault, but the white men alone. God has given us the beasts of the +forest for food, and our employment is to hunt them. We know nothing of +your book--we cannot learn it; it is much too difficult for an Indian to +comprehend." + +Brother Zeisberger replied, "I will tell you the reason of it. Satan is +the prince of darkness: where he reigns all is dark, and he dwells in +you--therefore you can comprehend nothing of God and his word; but when +you return from the evil of your ways, and come as a wretched lost +sinner to Jesus Christ, it may be that he will have mercy upon you. Do +not delay therefore; make haste and save your poor souls!" &c. + +I forbear to repeat the rest, because it would seem as if I intended to +turn it into ridicule, which Heaven knows I do not; for it is of far too +serious import. But if it be in this style that the simple and sublime +precepts of Christianity are first presented to the understanding of the +Indians, can we wonder at the little progress hitherto made in +converting them to the truth? And with regard to all attempts to +civilise them, what should the red man see in the civilisation of the +white man which should move him to envy or emulation, or raise in his +mind a wish to exchange his "own unshackled life, and his innate +capacities of soul," for our artificial social habits, our morals, which +are contradicted by our opinions, and our religion, which is violated +both in our laws and our lives? When the good missionary said, with +emphasis, that there was no hope for the conversion of the Indians but +in removing them as far as possible from all intercourse with Europeans, +he spoke a terrible truth, confirmed by all I see and hear--by the +opinion of every one I have spoken to, who has ever had any intercourse +with these people. It will be said, as it has often been said, that +_here_ it is the selfishness of the white man which speaks; that it is +for his interest, and for his wordly advantage, that the red man should +be removed out of his way, and be thrust back from the extending limits +of civilisation--even like these forests, which fall before us, and +vanish from the earth, leaving for a while some decaying stumps and +roots over which the plough goes in time, and no vestige remains to say +that here they _have been_. True; it is for the advantage of the +European agriculturist or artisan, that the hunter of the woods, who +requires the range of many hundred square miles of land for the adequate +support of a single family, should make way for populous towns, and +fields teeming with the means of subsistence for thousands. There is no +denying this; and if there be those who think that in the present state +of things the interests of the red man and the white man can ever be +blended, and their natures and habits brought to harmonise, then I +repeat, let them come here, and behold and see the heathen and the +so-called Christian placed in near neighbourhood and comparison, and +judge what are the chances for both! Wherever the Christian comes, he +brings the Bible in one hand, disease, corruption, and the accursed +fire-water, in the other; or flinging down the book of peace, he boldly +and openly proclaims that might gives right, and substitutes the sabre +and the rifle for the slower desolation of starvation and whisky. + +Every means hitherto provided by the Canadian government for the +protection of the Indians against the whites has failed. Every +prohibition of the use or sale of ardent spirits among them has proved a +mere mockery. The refuse of the white population along the back +settlements have no perception of the genuine virtues of the Indian +character. They see only their inferiority in the commonest arts of +life; their subjection to our power. They contemn them, oppress them, +cheat them, corrupt their women, and deprave them by the means and +example of drunkenness. The missionaries alone have occasionally +succeeded in averting or alleviating these evils, at least in some +degree; but their influence is very, very limited. The chiefs and +warriors of the different tribes are perfectly aware of the monstrous +evils introduced by the use of ardent spirits. They have held councils, +and made resolutions for themselves and their people to abstain from +their use; but the very first temptation generally oversets all these +good resolves. My Moravian friend described this intense passion for +intoxicating liquors with a sort of awe and affright, and attributed it +to the direct agency of the devil. Another missionary relates that soon +after the Delaware Indians had agreed among themselves to reject every +temptation of the kind, and punish those who yielded to it, a white +dealer in rum came among them, and placing himself in the midst of one +of their villages, with a barrel of spirits beside him, he introduced a +straw into it, and with many professions of civility and friendship to +his Indian friends, he invited every one to come and take a suck through +the straw _gratis_. A young Indian approached with a grave and pensive +air and slow step, but suddenly turning round, he ran off precipitately +as one terrified. Soon after he returned, he approached yet nearer, but +again ran off in the same manner as before. The third time he suffered +himself to be persuaded by the white man to put his lips to the straw. +No sooner had he tasted of the fiery drink, than he offered all his +wampum for a dram; and subsequently parted with everything he possessed, +even his rifle and his blanket, for more. + + + THE FIREWATER. + +I have another illustrative anecdote for you, which I found among a +number of documents, submitted to the society established at Toronto, +for converting and civilising the Indians. There can be no doubt of its +truth, and it is very graphically told. The narrator is a travelling +schoolmaster, who has since been taken into the service of the society, +but whose name I have forgotten. + +"In the winter of 1832, I was led, partly by business and partly by the +novelty of the enterprise, to walk from the Indian Establishment of +Coldwater, to the Sault-Saint-Marie, a distance of nearly four hundred +miles. + +"The lake was well frozen, and the ice moderately covered with snow; +with the assistance of snow-shoes, we were enabled to travel a distance +of fifty miles in a day; but my business not requiring any expedition, I +was tempted to linger among the thousand isles of Lake Huron. I hoped to +ascertain some facts with regard to the real mode of life of the +Indians frequenting the north side of the lake. With this view, I made +a point of visiting every wigwam that we approached, and could, if it +were my present purpose, detail many interesting pictures of extreme +misery and destitution. Hunger, filth, and ignorance, with an entire +absence of all knowledge of a Supreme Being, here reign triumphant.[16] + +"Near the close of a long and fatiguing day, my Indian guide came on the +recent track of a single Indian, and, anxious to please me, pursued it +to the head of a very deep bay. We passed two of those holes in the ice +which the Indians use for fishing, and at one of them noticed, from the +quantity of blood on the snow, that the spear had lately done +considerable execution. At a very short distance from the shore, the +track led us past the remains of a wigwam, adjoining to which we +observed a large canoe and a small hunting canoe, both carefully laid up +for the winter. After a considerable ascent, a narrow winding path +brought us into a deep hollow, about four hundred yards from the bay. +Here, surrounded on every side by hills, on the margin of one of the +smallest inland lakes, we came to a wigwam, the smoke from which showed +us that it was occupied. The path for a considerable distance was lined +on both sides by billets of firewood, and a blanket cleaner than usual, +suspended before the entrance, gave me at the very first a favourable +opinion of the inmates. I noticed on the right hand a dog-train, and on +the left, two pair of snow-shoes, and two barrels of salt-fish. The +wigwam was of the square form, and so large, that I was surprised to +find it occupied by two Indians only--a young man and his wife. + +"We were soon made welcome, and I had leisure to look round me in +admiration of the comfort displayed in the arrangement of the interior. +A covering of fresh branches of the young hemlock-pine was neatly spread +all round. In the centre of the right hand side, as we entered, the +master of the lodge was seated on a large mat; his wife occupied the +station at his left hand; good and clean mats were spread for myself and +my guide--my own being opposite the entrance, and my guide occupying the +remaining side of the wigwam. Three dogs, well conditioned, and of a +large breed, lay before the fire.--So much for the live stock. At the +back of the wife, I saw, suspended near the door, a tin can full of +water, with a small tin cup; next to it, a mat bag filled with tin +dishes, and wooden spoons of Indian manufacture; above that were several +portions of female dress--ornamented leggings, two showy shawls, &c. A +small chest and bag were behind her on the ground. At the back of the +Indian were suspended two spear heads, of three prongs each; an American +rifle, an English fowling-piece, and an Indian chief piece, with shot +and bullet pouches, and two powder horns; there were also a highly +ornamented capuchin, and a pair of new blanket leggings. The corner was +occupied by a small red-painted chest; a mokkuk of sugar was placed in +the corner on my right hand, and a barrel of flour, half empty, on the +right hand of my Indian; and between that and the door were hanging +three large salmon trout, and several pieces of dried deer flesh. In the +centre, as usual, we had a bright blazing fire, over which three kettles +gave promise of one of the comforts of weary travellers. Our host had +arrived but a few minutes before us, and was busied in pulling off his +moccasins and blankets when we entered. We had scarcely time to remove +our leggings and change our moccasins, preparatory to a full enjoyment +of the fire, when the Indian's wife was prepared to set before us a +plentiful mess of boiled fish; this was followed in a short space by +soup made of deer flesh and Indian corn, and our repast terminated with +hot cakes baked in the ashes, in addition to the tea supplied from our +own stores. + +"Before daylight on the following morning we were about to set out, but +could not be allowed to depart without again partaking of refreshment. +Boiled and broiled fish were set before us, and to my surprise, the +young Indian, before partaking of it, knelt to pray aloud. His prayer +was short and fervent, and without that whining tone in which I had been +accustomed to hear the Indians address the Deity. It appeared to +combine the manliness and humility which one would naturally expect to +find in an address spoken from the heart, and not got up for theatrical +effect. + +"On taking our departure, I tried to scan the countenance of our host, +and I flatter myself I could not mistake the marks of unfeigned pleasure +at having exercised the feelings of hospitality, mixed with a little +pride in the display of the riches of his wigwam. + +"You may be sure I did not omit the opportunity of diving into the +secret of all his comfort and prosperity. It could not escape +observation that here was real civilisation, and I anxiously sought for +some explanation of the difference between the habits of this Indian and +his neighbours. The story was soon told:--He had been brought up at the +British settlement on Drummond Island, where, when a child, he had, in +frequent conversations, but in no studied form, heard the principles of +religion explained, and he had been told to observe the sabbath, and to +pray to the Almighty. Industry and prudence had been frequently +enjoined, and, above all things, an abhorrence of ardent spirits. Under +the influence of this wholesome advice, his hunting, fishing, and +sugar-making had succeeded to such an extent, as to provide him with +every necessary and many luxuries. He already had abundance, and still +retained some few skins, which he hoped, during the winter, to increase +to an amount sufficient to purchase him the indulgence of a barrel of +pork, and additional clothing for himself and his wife. + +"Further explanation was unnecessary, and the wearisomeness of this +day's journey was pleasingly beguiled by reflections on the simple means +by which a mind, yet in a state of nature, may be saved from +degradation, and elevated to the best feelings of humanity. + +"Shall I lift the same blanket after the lapse of eighteen months?--The +second summer has arrived since my last visit; the wigwam on the Lake +shore, the fit residence of summer, is unoccupied--the fire is still +burning in the wigwam of winter; but the situation, which has warmth and +quiet to recommend it at that season when cold is our greatest enemy, +is now gloomy and dark. Wondering what could have induced my friends to +put up with the melancholy of the deep forest, instead of the sparkling +of the sun-lit wave, I hastened to enter. How dreadful the change! There +was, indeed, the same Indian girl that I had left healthy, cheerful, +contented, and happy; but whisky, hunger, and distress of mind had +marked her countenance with the furrows of premature old age. An infant, +whose aspect was little better than its mother's, was hanging at her +breast, half dressed and filthy. Every part of the wigwam was ruinous +and dirty, and, with the exception of one kettle, entirely empty. Not +one single article of furniture, clothing, or provision remained. Her +husband had left in the morning to go out to fish, and she had not moved +from the spot; this I thought strange, as his canoe and spear were on +the beach. In a short time he returned, but without any food. He had, +indeed, set out to fish, but had lain down to sleep in the bush, and had +been awakened by his dog barking on our arrival. He appeared worn down +and helpless both in body and mind, and seated himself in listless +silence in his place in the wigwam. + +"Producing pork and flour from my travelling stores, I requested his +wife to cook them. They were prepared, and I looked anxiously at the +Indian, expecting to hear his accustomed prayer. He did not move. I +therefore commenced asking a blessing, and was astonished to observe him +immediately rise and walk out of the wigwam. + +"However, his wife and child joined us in partaking of the food, which +they ate voraciously. In a little time the Indian returned and lay down. +My curiosity was excited, and although anxious not to distress his +feelings, I could not avoid seeking some explanation of the change I +observed. It was with difficulty I ascertained the following facts:-- + +"On the opening of the spring of 1833, the Indian having got a +sufficiency of furs for his purpose, set off to a distant trading post +to make his purchase. The trader presented him with a plug of tobacco +and a pipe on his entrance, and offered him a glass of whisky, which he +declined; the trader was then occupied with other customers, but soon +noticed the respectable collection of furs in the pack of the poor +Indian. He was marked as his victim, and not expecting to be able to +impose upon him unless he made him drunk, he determined to accomplish +this by indirect means. + +"As soon as the store was clear of other customers, he entered into +conversation with the Indian, and invited him to join him in drinking a +glass of cider, which he unhesitatingly accepted; the cider was mixed +with brandy, and soon began to affect the mind of the Indian; a second +and a third glass were taken, and he became completely intoxicated. In +this state the trader dealt with him; but it was not at first that even +the draught he had taken could overcome his lessons of prudence. He +parted with only one skin; the trader was, therefore, obliged to +continue his contrivances, which he did with such effect, that for three +weeks the Indian remained eating, drinking, and sleeping in his store. +At length all the fur was sold; and the Indian returned home, with only +a few ribbons and beads, and a bottle of whisky. The evil example of the +husband, added to vexation of mind, broke the resolution of the wife, +and she, too, partook of the accursed liquor. From this time there was +no change. The resolution of the Indian once broken, his pride of +spirit, and consequently his firmness were gone; he became a confirmed +drinker,--his wife's and his own ornamented dresses, and at length all +the furniture of his wigwam, even the guns and traps on which his +hunting depended, were all sold to the store for whisky. When I arrived, +they had been two days without food, and the Indian had not energy to +save himself and his family from starvation. + +"All the arguments that occurred to me I made use of to convince the +Indian of his folly, and to induce him even now to begin life again, and +redeem his character. He heard me in silence. I felt that I should be +distressing them by remaining all night, and prepared to set out again, +first giving to the Indian a dollar, desiring him to purchase food with +it at the nearest store, and promising shortly to see him again. + +"I had not proceeded far on my journey, when it appeared to me, that by +remaining with them for the night, and in the morning renewing my +solicitations to them, I might assist still more to effect a change. I +therefore turned back, and in about two hours arrived again at the +wigwam. The Indian had set off for the store, but had not returned. His +wife still remained seated where I left her, and during the whole night +(the Indian never coming back) neither moved nor raised her head. +Morning came; I quickly despatched breakfast, and leaving my baggage, +with the assistance of my guide set out for the trader's store. It was +distant about two miles. I inquired for the Indian. He came there the +evening before with a dollar: he purchased a pint of whisky, for which +he paid half a dollar, and with the remainder bought six pounds of +flour. He remained until he had drunk the whisky, and then requested to +have the flour exchanged for another pint of whisky. This was done, and +having consumed that also, he was so "stupidly drunk," (to use the words +of the trader,) that it was necessary to shut him out of the store on +closing it for the night. Search was immediately made for him, and at +the distance of a few yards he was found lying on his face dead." + +[Footnote 16: We should perhaps read, "An entire absence of all +knowledge of a Supreme Being, as revealed to us in the gospel of +Christ;" for I never heard of any tribe of north-west Indians, however +barbarous, who had not the notion of a God (the Great Spirit), and of a +future life.] + + * * * * * + + + THE INDIAN CHARACTER. + +That the poor Indians to whom reserved lands have been granted, and who, +on the faith of treaties, have made their homes and gathered themselves +into villages on such lands, should, whenever it is deemed expedient, be +driven out of their possessions, either by purchase, or by persuasion, +or by force, or by measures which include all three, and sent to seek a +livelihood in distant and strange regions--as in the case of these +Delawares--is horrible, and bears cruelty and injustice on the face of +it. To say that they cannot exist in amicable relation with the whites, +without deprivation of their morals, is a fearful imputation on us as +Christians;--but thus it is. And I do wish that those excellent and +benevolent people who have taken the cause of the aborigines to heart, +and are making appeals in their behalf to the justice of the government +and the compassion of the public, would, instead of theorising in +England, come out here and behold the actual state of things with their +own eyes--and having seen all, let them say _what_ is to be done, and +what chances exist, for the independence, and happiness, and morality of +a small remnant of Indians residing on a block of land, six miles +square, surrounded on every side by a white population. To insure the +accomplishment of those benevolent and earnest aspirations, in which so +many good people indulge, what is required? what is expected? Of the +white men such a pitch of lofty and self-sacrificing virtue, of humane +philosophy and christian benevolence, that the future welfare of the +wronged people they have supplanted shall be preferred above their own +immediate interest--nay, their own immediate existence: of the red man, +that he shall forget the wild hunter blood flowing through his veins, +and take the plough in hand, and wield the axe and the spade instead of +the rifle and the fishspear! Truly they know not what they ask, who ask +this; and among all those with whom I have conversed--persons familiar +from thirty to forty years together with the Indians and their mode of +life--I never heard but one opinion on the subject. Without casting the +slightest imputation on the general honesty of intention of the +missionaries and others delegated and well paid by various societies to +teach and protect the Indians, still I will say that the enthusiasm of +some, the self-interest of others, and an unconscious mixture of pious +enthusiasm and self-interest in many more, render it necessary to take +their testimony with some reservation; for often with them "the wish is +father to the thought" set down; and feeling no lack of faith in their +cause or in themselves, they look for miracles, such as waited on the +missions of the apostles of old. But in the mean time, and by human +agency, what is to be done? Nothing so easy as to point out evils and +injuries, resulting from foregone events, or deep-seated in natural and +necessary causes, and lament over them with resistless eloquence in +verse and prose, or hold them up to the sympathy and indignation of the +universe; but let the real friends of religion, humanity, and the poor +Indians, set down a probable and feasible remedy for their wrongs and +miseries; and follow it up, as the advocates for the abolition of the +slave-trade followed up their just and glorious purpose. With a definite +object and plan, much might be done; but mere declamation against the +evil does little good. The people who propose remedies, forget that +there are two parties concerned. I remember to have read in some of the +early missionary histories, that one of the Jesuit fathers, (Father le +Jeune), full of sympathy and admiration for the noble qualities and +lofty independence of the converted Indians, who could not and would not +work, suggested the propriety of sending out some of the French +peasantry to work and till the ground for them, as the only means of +keeping them from running off to the woods. A doubtful sort of +philanthropy, methinks! but it shows how _one-sided_ a life's devotion +to one particular object will make even a benevolent and a just man. + + + THE CHIPPEWAS. + +Higher up, on the river Thames, and above the Moravian settlements, a +small tribe of the Chippewa nation has been for some time located. They +have apparently attained a certain degree of civilisation, live in +log-huts instead of bark wigwams, and have, from necessity, turned their +attention to agriculture. I have now in my pocket-book an original +document sent up from these Indians to the Indian agency at Toronto. It +runs thus: + +"We, the undersigned chiefs of the Chippewa Indians of Colborne on the +Thames, hereby request Mr. Superintendent Clench to procure for us-- + +"One yoke of working oxen. + +"Six ploughs. + +"Thirty-three tons of hay. + +"One hundred bushels of oats. + +"The price of the above to be deducted from our land-payments." + +Signed by ten chiefs, or, more properly, chief men, of the tribe, of +whom one, the Beaver, signs his name in legible characters: the others, +as is usual with the Indians, affix each their _totem_, (crest or +sign-manual,) being a rude scratch of a bird, fish, deer, &c. Another of +these papers, similarly signed, contains a requisition for working tools +and mechanical instruments of various kinds. This looks well, and it +_is_ well; but what are the present state and probable progress of this +Chippewa settlement? Why, one half the number at least are half-caste, +and as the white population closes and thickens around them, we shall +see in another generation or two none of entire Indian blood; they will +become, at length, almost wholly amalgamated with the white people. Is +this _civilising the Indians_?[17] I should observe, that when an Indian +woman gives herself to a white man, she considers herself as his wife to +all intents and purposes. If forsaken by him, she considers herself as +injured, not disgraced. There are great numbers of white settlers and +traders along the borders living thus with Indian women. Some of these +have been persuaded by the missionaries or magistrates to go through the +ceremony of marriage; but the number is few in proportion. + +You must not imagine, after all I have said, that I consider the Indians +as an inferior race, merely because they have no literature, no +luxuries, no steam-engines; nor yet, because they regard our superiority +in the arts with a sort of lofty indifference, which is neither contempt +nor stupidity, look upon them as being beyond the pale of our +sympathies. It is possible I may, on a nearer acquaintance, change my +opinion, but they do strike me as an _untamable_ race. I can no more +conceive a city filled with industrious Mohawks and Chippewas, than I +can imagine a flock of panthers browsing in a penfold. + +The dirty, careless habits of the Indians, while sheltered only by the +bark-covered wigwam, matter very little. Living almost constantly in the +open air, and moving their dwellings perpetually from place to place, +the worst effects of dirt and negligence are neither perceived nor +experienced. But I have never heard of any attempt to make them +stationary and congregate in houses, that has not been followed by +disease and mortality, particularly among the children; a natural result +of close air, confinement, heat, and filth. In our endeavours to +civilise the Indians, we have not only to convince the mind and change +the habits, but to overcome a certain physical organisation to which +labour and constraint and confinement appear to be fatal. This cannot be +done in less than three generations, if at all, in the unmixed race; and +meantime--they perish! + +[Footnote 17: The Indian village of Lorette, near Quebec, which I +visited subsequently, is a case in point. Seven hundred Indians, a +wretched remnant of the Huron tribe, had once been congregated there +under the protection of the Jesuits, and had always been cited as +examples of what might be accomplished in the task of conversion and +civilisation. When I was there, the number was under two hundred; many +of the huts deserted, the inhabitants having fled to the woods and taken +up the hunter's life again; in those who remained, there was scarce a +trace of native Indian blood.] + + * * * * * + + + LAKE ST. CLAIR. + +It is time, however, that I should introduce you to our party on board +the little steam-boat, which is now puffing, and snorting, and gliding +at no rapid rate over the blue tranquil waters of Lake St. Clair.[18] +First, then, there are the captain, and his mate or steersman, two young +men of good manners and appearance; one English--the other Irish; one a +military, the other a naval officer: both have land, and are near +neighbours up somewhere by Lake Simcoe; but both being wearied out by +three years' solitary life in the bush, they have taken the steam-boat +for this season on speculation, and it seems likely to answer. The boat +was built to navigate the ports of Lake Huron from Penetanguishine, to +Goderich and St. Joseph's Island, but there it utterly failed. It is a +wretched little boat, dirty and ill contrived. The upper deck, to which +I have fled from the close hot cabin, is an open platform, with no +defence or railing around it, and I have here my establishment--a chair, +a little table, with pencil and paper, and a great umbrella; a gust of +wind or a pitch of the vessel would inevitably send me sliding +overboard. The passengers consist of my acquaintance, the Moravian +missionary, with a family of women and children (his own wife and the +relatives of his assistant Vogler), who are about to emigrate with the +Indians beyond the Missouri. These people speak a dialect of German +among themselves, being descended from the early German Moravians. I +find them civil, but neither prepossessing nor intelligent; in short, I +can make nothing of them; I cannot extract an idea beyond eating, +drinking, dressing, and praying; nor can I make out with what feelings, +whether of regret, or hope, or indifference, they contemplate their +intended exile to the far, far west. Meantime the children squeal, and +the women chatter incessantly. + +We took in at Chatham a large cargo of the usual articles of exportation +from Canada to the United States, viz. barrels of flour, sacks of grain, +and emigrants proceeding to Michigan and the Illinois. There are on +board, in the steerage, a great number of poor Scotch and Irish of the +lowest grade, and also one large family of American emigrants, who have +taken up their station on the deck, and whose operations amuse me +exceedingly. I wish I could place before you this very original menage, +even as it is before me now while I write. Such a group could be +encountered nowhere on earth, methinks, but here in the west, or among +the migratory Tartar hordes of the east. + +They are from Vermont, and on their way to the Illinois, having been +already eleven weeks travelling through New York and Upper Canada. They +have two waggons covered in with canvass, a yoke of oxen, and a pair of +horses. The chief or patriarch of the set is an old Vermont farmer, +upwards of sixty at least, whose thin shrewd face has been burnt to a +deep brick-dust colour by the sun and travel, and wrinkled by age or +care into a texture like that of tanned sail-canvass--(the simile +nearest to me at this moment). The sinews of his neck and hands are like +knotted whipcord; his turned-up nose, with large nostrils, snuffs the +wind, and his small light blue eyes have a most keen, cunning +expression. He wears a smockfrock over a flannel shirt, blue woollen +stockings, and a broken pipe stuck in his straw hat, and all day long he +smokes or chews tobacco. He has with him fifteen children of different +ages by three wives. The present wife, a delicate, intelligent, +care-worn woman, seems about thirty years younger than her helpmate. She +sits on the shaft of one of the waggons I have mentioned, a baby in her +lap, and two of the three younger children crawling about her feet. Her +time and attention are completely taken up in dispensing to the whole +brood, young and old, rations of food, consisting of lard, bread of +Indian corn, and pieces of sassafras root. The appearance of all (except +the poor anxious mother) is equally robust and cheerful, half-civilised, +coarse, and by no means clean: all are barefooted except the two eldest +girls, who are uncommonly handsome, with fine dark eyes. The eldest son, +a very young man, has been recently married to a very young wife, and +these two recline together all day, hand in hand, under the shade of a +sail, neither noticing the rest nor conversing with each other, but, as +it seems to me, in silent contentment with their lot. I found these +people, most unlike others of their class I have met with before, +neither curious nor communicative, answering to all my questions and +advances with cautious monosyllables, and the old man with even laconic +rudeness. The contrast which the gentle anxious wife and her baby +presented to all the others, interested me; but she looked so +overpowered by fatigue, and so disinclined to converse, that I found no +opportunity to satisfy my curiosity without being impertinently +intrusive; so, after one or two ineffectual advances to the shy, wild +children, I withdrew, and contented myself with observing the group at a +distance. + +The banks of the Thames are studded with a succession of farms, +cultivated by the descendants of the early French settlers--precisely +the same class of people as the _Habitans_ in Lower Canada. They go on +exactly as their ancestors did a century ago, raising on their rich +fertile lands just sufficient for a subsistence, wholly uneducated, +speaking only a French patois, without an idea of advance or improvement +of any kind; submissive to their priests, gay, contented, courteous, and +apparently retaining their ancestral tastes for dancing, singing, and +flowers. + +In the midst of half-dilapidated, old-fashioned farm-houses, you could +always distinguish the priest's dwelling, with a flower-garden in front, +and the little chapel or church surmounted by a cross,--both being +generally neat, clean, fresh-painted, and forming a strange contrast +with the neglect and slovenliness around. + +Ague prevails very much at certain seasons along the banks of the river, +and I could see by the manner in which the houses are built, that it +overflows its banks annually; it abounds in the small fresh-water turtle +(the Terrapin): every log floated on the water, or muddy islet, was +covered with them. + +We stopped half-way down the river to take in wood. Opposite to the +landing-place stood an extensive farmhouse, in better condition than any +I had yet seen: and under the boughs of an enormous tree, which threw an +ample and grateful shade around, our boat was moored. Two Indian boys, +about seven or eight years old, were shooting with bow and arrows at a +mark stuck up against the huge trunk of the tree. They wore cotton +shirts, with a crimson belt round the waist ornamented with beads, such +as is commonly worn by the Canadian Indians; one had a gay handkerchief +knotted round his head, from beneath which his long black hair hung in +matted elf locks on his shoulders. The elegant forms, free movements, +and haughty indifference of these Indian boys, were contrasted with the +figures of some little dirty, ragged Canadians, who stood staring upon +us with their hands in their pockets, or importunately begging for +cents. An Indian hunter and his wife, the father and mother of the boys, +were standing by, and at the feet of the man a dead deer lay on the +grass. The steward of the boat was bargaining with the squaw for some +venison, while the hunter stood leaning on his rifle, haughty and +silent. At the window of the farmhouse sat a well-dressed female, +engaged in needlework. After looking up at me once or twice as I stood +upon the deck gazing on this picture--just such a one as Edwin Landseer +would have delighted to paint--the lady invited me into her house; an +invitation I most gladly accepted. Everything within it and around it +spoke riches and substantial plenty; she showed me her garden, abounding +in roses, and an extensive orchard, in which stood two Indian wigwams. +She told me that every year families of Chippewa hunters came down from +the shore of Lake Huron, and encamped in her orchard, and those of her +neighbours, without asking permission. They were perfectly inoffensive, +and had never been known to meddle with her poultry, or injure her +trees. "They are," said she, "an honest, excellent people; but I must +shut the gates of my orchard upon them to-night--for this bargain with +your steward will not conclude without whisky, and I shall have them all +_ivres mort_ before to-morrow morning." + +[Footnote 18: Most of the small steam-boats on the American lakes have +high-pressure engines, which make a horrible and perpetual snorting like +the engine on a railroad.] + + * * * * * + + + DETROIT. + + Detroit, at night. + +I passed half an hour in pleasant conversation with this lady, who had +been born, educated, and married in the very house in which she now +resided. She spoke English well and fluently, but with a foreign accent, +and her deportment was frank and easy, with that sort of graceful +courtesy which seems inherent in the French manner, or used to be so. On +parting, she presented me with a large bouquet of roses, which has +proved a great delight, and served all the purposes of a fan. Nor should +I forget that in her garden I saw the only humming-birds I have yet seen +in Canada: there were two lovely little gem-like creatures disporting +among the blossoms of the scarlet-bean. They have been this year less +numerous than usual, owing to the lateness and severity of the spring. + +The day has been most intolerably hot; even on the lake there was not a +breath of air. But as the sun went down in his glory, the breeze +freshened, and the spires and towers of the city of Detroit were seen +against the western sky. The schooners at anchor, or dropping into the +river--the little canoes flitting across from side to side--the lofty +buildings,--the enormous steamers--the noisy port, and busy streets, all +bathed in the light of a sunset such as I had never seen, not even in +Italy--almost turned me giddy with excitement. I have emerged from the +solitary forests of Canada to be thrown suddenly into the midst of +crowded civilised life; and the effect for the present is a nervous +flutter of the spirits which banishes sleep and rest; though I have got +into a good hotel, (the American,) and have at last, after some +trouble, obtained good accommodation. + + + Detroit, June ----. + +The roads by which I have at length reached this beautiful little city +were not, certainly, the smoothest and the easiest in the world; nor can +it be said of Upper Canada, as of wisdom, "that all her ways are ways of +pleasantness, and her paths are paths of peace." On the contrary, one +might have fancied oneself in the road to paradise for that matter. It +was difficult, and narrow; and foul, and steep enough to have led to the +seventh heaven; but in heaven I am not yet-- + + * * * * * + +Since my arrival at Detroit, some malignant planet reigns in place of +that favourable and guiding star which has hitherto led me so deftly on +my way, + + "Through brake, through brier, + Through mud, through mire." + +Here, where I expected all would go so well, every thing goes wrong, and +cross, and contrary. + +A severe attack of illness, the combined effect of heat, fatigue, and +some deleterious properties in the water at Detroit, against which +travellers should be warned, has confined me to my room for the last +three days. This _mal-a-propos_ indisposition has prevented me from +taking my passage in the great steamer which has just gone up Lake +Huron; and I must now wait here six days longer, till the next boat, +bound for Mackinaw and Chicago, comes up Lake Erie from Buffalo. What is +far worse, I have lost, for the time being, the advantage of seeing and +knowing Daniel Webster, and of hearing a display of that wonderful +eloquence which they say takes captive all ears, and hearts, and souls. +He has been making public speeches here, appealing to the people against +the money transactions of the government; and the whole city has been in +a ferment. He left Detroit two days after my arrival, to my no small +mortification. I had letters for him; and it so happens that several +others to whom I had also letters have fled from the city on summer +tours, or to escape the heat. Some have gone east, some west; some up +the lakes, some down the lakes. So I am abandoned to my own resources, +in a miserable state of languor, lassitude, and weakness. + +It is not, however, the first time I have had to endure sickness and +solitude together in a strange land; and, the worst being over, we must +needs make the best of it, and send the time away as well as we can. + +Of all the places I have yet seen in these far western regions, Detroit +is the most interesting. It is, moreover, a most ancient and venerable +place, dating back to the dark, immemorial ages, i.e. almost a century +and a quarter ago! and having its history and antiquities, and +traditions and heroes, and epochs of peace and war. No place in the +United States presents such a series of events interesting in +themselves, and permanently affecting, as they occurred, both its +progress and prosperity. Five times its flag has changed; three +different sovereignties have claimed its allegiance; and, since it has +been held by the United States, its government has been thrice +transferred: twice it has been besieged by the Indians, once captured in +war, and once burned to the ground: truly a long list of events for a +young city of a century old! Detroit may almost rival her old grandam +Quebec, who sits bristling defiance on the summit of her rocky height, +in warlike and tragic experience. + +Can you tell me why we gave up this fine and important place to the +Americans, without leaving ourselves even a fort on the opposite shore? +Dolts and blockheads as we have been in all that concerns the partition +and management of these magnificent regions, now that we have ignorantly +and blindly ceded whole countries, and millions and millions of square +miles of land and water to our neighbours, I am told that we are likely +to quarrel and go to war about a partition line through the barren +tracts of the east! Well, let our legislators look to it! Colonel Talbot +told me that when he took a map, and pointed out to one of the English +commissioners the foolish bargain they had made, the real extent, value, +and resources of the countries ceded to the United States, the man +covered his eyes with his clenched hands, and burst into tears. + +The position of Detroit is one of the finest imaginable. It is on a +strait between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, commanding the whole +internal commerce of these great "successive seas." Michigan, of which +it is the capital, being now received into the Union, its importance, +both as a frontier town and a place of trade, increases every day. + +The origin of the city was a little palisadoed fort, erected here, in +1702, by the French under La Motte Cadillac, to defend their fur trade. +It was then called Fort Portchartrain. From this time till 1760 it +remained in possession of the French, and continued to increase slowly. +So late as 1721, Charlevoix speaks of the vast herds of buffaloes +ranging the plains west of the city. Meantime, under the protection of +the fort, the settlement and cultivation of the neighbouring districts +went on, in spite of the attacks of some of the neighbouring tribes of +Indians, particularly the Ottagamies, who, with the Iroquois, seem to +have been the only decided and irreconcilable enemies whom the French +found in this province. The capture of Quebec, and the death of Wolfe, +being followed by the cession of the whole of the French territory in +North America to the power of Great Britain, Detroit, with all the other +trading posts in the west, was given up to the English. It is curious +that the French submitted to this change of masters more easily than the +Indians, who were by no means inclined to exchange the French for the +English alliance. "Whatever may have been the cause," says Governor +Cass, "the fact is certain, that there is in the French character a +peculiar adaptation to the habits and feelings of the Indians; and to +this day the period of French domination is the era of all that is happy +in Indian reminiscences." + +The conciliating manners of the French towards the Indians, and the +judgment with which they managed all their intercourse with them, has +had a permanent effect on the minds of those tribes who were in +friendship with them. At this day, if the British are generally +preferred to the Americans, the French are always preferred to either. A +Chippewa chief, addressing the American agent at the Sault S^{te.} +Marie, so late as 1826, thus fondly referred to the period of the French +dominion:--"When the Frenchmen arrived at these Falls, they came and +kissed us. They called us children; and we found them fathers. We lived +like brethren in the same lodge; and we had always wherewithal to clothe +us. They never mocked at our ceremonies, and they never molested the +places of our dead. Seven generations of men have passed away, but we +have not forgotten it. Just, very just, were they towards us!"[19] + +The discontent of the Indian tribes upon the transfer of the forts and +trading posts into the possession of the British, showed itself early, +and at length gave rise to one of the most prolonged and savage of all +the Indian wars, that of Pontiac, in 1763. + +[Footnote 19: Vide Historical Sketches of Michigan.] + + + PONTIAC. + +Of this Pontiac you have read, no doubt, in various books of travels and +anecdotes of Indian chiefs. But it is one thing to read of these events +by an English fireside, where the features of the scene--the forest +wilds echoing to the war-whoop--the painted warriors--the very words +scalping, tomahawking, bring no definite meaning to the mind, only a +vague horror;--and quite _another_ thing to recall them here on the +spot, arrayed in all their dread yet picturesque reality. Pontiac is the +hero _par excellence_ of all these regions; and in all the histories of +Detroit, when Detroit becomes a great capital of the west, he will +figure like Caractacus or Arminius in the Roman history. The English +contemporaries call him king and emperor of the Indians; but there is +absolutely no sovereignty among these people. Pontiac was merely a war +chief, chosen in the usual way, but exercising a more than usual +influence, not by mere bravery--the universal savage virtue--but by +talents of a rarer kind; a power of reflection and combination rarely +met with in the character of the red warrior. Pontiac was a man of +genius, and would have ruled his fellow-men under any circumstances, and +in any country. He formed a project similar to that which Tecumseh +entertained fifty years later. He united all the north-western tribes of +Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pottowottomies, in one great confederacy against +the British, "the dogs in red coats;" and had very nearly caused the +overthrow, at least the temporary overthrow of our power. He had planned +a simultaneous attack on all the trading posts in the possession of the +English, and so far succeeded that ten of these forts were surprised +about the same time, and all the English soldiers and traders massacred, +while the French were spared. Before any tidings of these horrors and +outrages could reach Detroit, Pontiac was here in friendly guise, and +all his measures admirably arranged for taking this fort also by +stratagem, and murdering every Englishman within it. All had been lost, +if a poor Indian woman, who had received much kindness from the family +of the commandant (Major Gladwyn), had not revealed the danger. I do not +yet quite understand why Major Gladwyn, on the discovery of Pontiac's +treachery, and having him in his power, did not make him and his whole +band prisoners; such a stroke would have ended, or rather it would have +prevented, the war. But it must be remembered that Major Gladwyn was +ignorant of the systematic plan of extermination adopted by Pontiac; the +news of the massacres at the upper forts had not reached him; he knew of +nothing but the attempt on himself, and from motives of humanity or +magnanimity he suffered them to leave the fort and go free. No sooner +were they on the outside of the palisades, than they set up the war-yell +"like so many devils," as a bystander expressed it, and turned and +discharged their rifles on the garrison. The war, thus savagely +declared, was accompanied by all those atrocious barbarities, and turns +of fate, and traits of heroism, and hair-breadth escapes, which render +these Indian conflicts so exciting, so terrific, so picturesque. + +Detroit was in a state of siege by the Indians for twelve months, and +gallantly and successfully defended by Major Gladwyn, till relieved by +General Bradstreet. + +The first time I was able to go out, my good-natured landlord drove me +himself in his waggon (_Anglice_, gig), with as much attention and care +for my comfort, as if I had been his near relation. The evening was +glorious; the sky perfectly Italian--a genuine Claude Lorraine sky, that +beautiful intense amber light reaching to the very zenith, while the +purity and transparent loveliness of the atmospheric effects carried me +back to Italy and times long past. I felt it all, as people feel things +after a sharp fit of indisposition, when the nervous system, languid at +once and sensitive, thrills and trembles to every breath of air. As we +drove slowly and silently along, we came to a sluggish, melancholy +looking rivulet, to which the man pointed with his whip. "I expect," +said he, "you know all about the battle of Bloody Run?" + +I was obliged to confess my ignorance, not without a slight shudder at +the hateful, ominous name which sounded in my ear like an epitome of all +imaginable horrors. + +This was the scene of a night attack made by three hundred British upon +the camp of the Indians, who were then besieging Detroit. The Indians +had notice of their intention, and prepared an ambush to receive them. +They had just reached the bank of this rivulet, when the Indian foe fell +upon them suddenly. They fought hand to hand, bayonet and tomahawk, in +the darkness of the night. Before the English could extricate +themselves, seventy men and most of the officers fell and were scalped +on the spot. "Them Indians," said my informant, "fought like brutes and +devils" (as most men do, I thought, who fight for revenge and +existence), "and they say the creek here, when morning came, ran red +with blood; and so they call it the Bloody Run." + +There certainly is much in a name, whatever Juliet may say, and how much +in fame! There is the brook Sanguinetto, which flows into Lake +Thrasymene,--the meaning and the derivation are the same, but what a +difference in sound! The Sanguinetto! 'tis a word one might set to +music.--_The Bloody Run!_ pah! the very utterance pollutes one's fancy! + +And in associations, too, how different, though the circumstances were +not unlike! This Indian Fabius, this Pontiac, wary and brave, and +unbroken by defeat, fighting for his own land against a swarm of +invaders, has had no poet, no historian to immortalise him, else all +this ground over which I now tread had been as _classical_ as the shores +of Thrasymene. + +As they have called Tecumseh the Indian Napoleon, they might style +Pontiac the Indian Alexander--I do not mean him of Russia, but the +Greek. Here, for instance, is a touch of magnanimity quite in the +_Alexander-the-great_ style. Pontiac, before the commencement of the +war, had provided for the safety of a British officer, Major Rogers by +name, who was afterwards employed to relieve Detroit, when besieged by +the Indians. On this occasion he sent Pontiac a present of a bottle of +brandy, to show he had not forgotten his former obligations to him. +Those who were around the Indian warrior when the present arrived, +particularly some Frenchmen, warned him not to taste it, as it might be +poisoned. Pontiac instantly took a draught from it, saying, as he put +the bottle to his lips, that "it was not _in the power_ of Major Rogers +to hurt him who had so lately saved his life." I think this story is no +unworthy pendant to that of Alexander and his physician. + +But what avails it all! who knows or cares about Pontiac and his +Ottawas? + + "Vain was the chief's, the warrior's pride! + He had no poet--and he died!" + +If I dwell on these horrid and obscure conflicts, it is partly to amuse +the languid idle hours of convalescence, partly to inspire you with some +interest for the localities around me:--and I may as well, while the pen +is in my hand, give you the conclusion of the story. + +Pontiac carried on the war with so much talent, courage, and resources, +that the British government found it necessary to send a considerable +force against him. General Bradstreet came up here with three thousand +men, wasting the lands of the Miami and Wyandot Indians, "burning their +villages, and destroying their corn-fields;" and I pray you to observe +that in all the accounts of our expeditions against the Indians, as well +as those of the Americans under General Wayne and General Harrison, +mention is made of the destruction of corn-fields (plantations of Indian +corn) to a great extent, which show that _some_ attention must have been +paid to agriculture, even by these wild hunting tribes. I find mention +also of a very interesting and beautiful tradition connected with these +regions. To the east of the Detroit territory, there was settled from +ancient times a band of Wyandots or Hurons, who were called the neutral +nation; they never took part in the wars and conflicts of the other +tribes. They had two principal villages, which were like the cities of +refuge among the Israelites; whoever fled there from an enemy found a +secure and inviolable sanctuary. If two enemies from tribes long at +deadly variance met there, they were friends while standing on that +consecrated ground. To what circumstances this extraordinary institution +owed its existence is not known. It was destroyed after the arrival of +the French in the country--not by them, but by some national and +internal feud. + +But to return to Pontiac. With all his talents, he could not maintain a +standing or permanent army, such a thing being contrary to all the +Indian usages, and quite incompatible with their mode of life. His +warriors fell away from him every season, and departed to their hunting +grounds to provide food for their families. The British pressed forward, +took possession of their whole country, and the tribes were obliged to +beg for peace. Pontiac disdained to take any part in these negotiations, +and retired to the Illinois, where he was murdered, from some motive of +private animosity, by a Peoria Indian. The Ottawas, Chippewas, and +Pottowottomies, who had been allied under his command, thought it +incumbent on them to avenge his death, and nearly exterminated the whole +nation of the Peorias--and this was the life and the fall of Pontiac. + +The name of this great chief is commemorated in that of a flourishing +village, or rising town, about twenty miles west of Detroit, which is +called _Pontiac_, as one of the townships in Upper Canada is styled +_Tecumseh_: thus literally illustrating those beautiful lines in Mrs. +Sigourney's poem on Indian names:-- + + "Their memory liveth on your hills, + _Their baptism on your shore_; + Your everlasting rivers speak + Their dialect of yore!" + +For rivers, bearing their old Indian names, we have here the Miami, the +Huron, the Sandusky: but most of the points of land, rivers, islands, +&c., bear the French appellations, as Point Pelee, River au Glaize, +River des Canards, Gros-Isle, &c. + +The _melange_ of proper names in this immediate neighbourhood is +sufficiently curious. Here we have Pontiac, Romeo, Ypsilanti, and Byron, +all within no great distance of each other. + + * * * * * + +Long after the time of Pontiac, Detroit and all the country round it +became the scene of even more horrid and unnatural conflicts between the +Americans and British, during the war of the revolution, in which the +Indians were engaged against the Americans. When peace was proclaimed, +and the independence of the United States recognised by Great Britain, +this savage war on the frontiers still continued, and mutual aggressions +and injuries have left bitter feelings rankling on both sides. Let us +hope that in another generation they may be effaced. For myself, I +cannot contemplate the possibility of another war between the English +and Americans without a mingled disgust and terror, as something cruel, +unnatural, fratricidal. Have we not the same ancestry, the same +father-land, the same language? "Though to drain our blood from out +their being were an aim," they cannot do it! The ruffian refuse of the +two nations--the most ignorant, common-minded, and vulgar among them, +may hate each other, and give each other nicknames--but every year +diminishes the number of such; and while the two governments are shaking +hands across the Atlantic, it were indeed supremely ridiculous if they +were to go to cuffs across the Detroit and Niagara! + + * * * * * + + + DETROIT. + +When the intolerable heat of the day has subsided, I sometimes take a +languid stroll through the streets of the city, not unamused, not +altogether unobserving, though unable to profit much by what I see and +hear. There are many new houses building, and many new streets laid out. +In the principal street, called the Jefferson Avenue, there are rows of +large and handsome brick houses; the others are generally of wood, +painted white, with bright green doors and windows. The footway in many +of the streets is, like that of Toronto, of planks, which for my own +part I like better than the burning brick or stone _pave_. The crowd of +emigrants constantly pouring through this little city on their way to +the back settlements of the west, and the number of steamers, brigs, and +schooners always passing up and down the lakes, occasion a perpetual +bustle, variety, and animation on the shores and in the streets. +Forty-two steamers touch at the port. In one of the Detroit papers +(there are five or six published here either daily or weekly) I found a +long column, headed Marine Intelligence, giving an account of the +arrival and departure of the shipping. Last year the profits of the +steam-boats averaged seventy or eighty per cent., one with another: this +year it is supposed that many will lose. There are several boats which +ply regularly between Detroit and some of the new-born cities on the +south shore of Lake Erie--Sandusky, Cleveland, Port Clinton, Monroe, &c. +The navigation of the Detroit river is generally open from the beginning +of April to the end of November. In the depth of winter they pass and +repass from the British to the American shore on the ice. + +There are some excellent shops in the town, a theatre, and a great +number of taverns and gaming-houses:--also a great number of +booksellers' shops; and I read in the papers long lists of books, newly +arrived and unpacked, which the public are invited to inspect. + +Wishing to borrow some books, to while away the long solitary hours in +which I am _obliged_ to rest, I asked for a circulating library, and +was directed to the only one in the place. I had to ascend a steep +staircase--so disgustingly dirty, that it was necessary to draw my +drapery carefully around me to escape pollution. On entering a large +room, unfurnished except with book shelves, I found several men sitting +or rather sprawling upon chairs, and reading the newspapers. The +collection of books was small; but they were not of a common or vulgar +description. I found some of the best modern publications in French and +English. The man--gentleman I should say, for all are gentlemen +here--who stood behind the counter, neither moved his hat from his head, +nor bowed on my entrance, nor showed any officious anxiety to serve or +oblige; but, with this want of what _we_ English consider due courtesy, +there was no deficiency of real civility--far from it. When I inquired +on what terms I might have some books to read, this gentleman desired I +would take any books I pleased, and not think about payment or deposit. +I remonstrated, and represented that I was a stranger at an inn--that my +stay was uncertain, &c.; and the reply was, that from a lady and a +stranger he could not think of receiving remuneration: and then gave +himself some trouble to look out the books I wished for, which I took +away with me. He did not even ask the name of the hotel at which I was +staying; and when I returned the books, persisted in declining all +payment from "a lady and a stranger." + +Whatever attention and politeness may be tendered to me, in either +character, as a lady or as a stranger, I am always glad to receive from +any one, in any shape. In the present instance, I could indeed have +dispensed with the _form_: a pecuniary obligation, small or large, not +being much to my taste; but what was meant for courtesy, I accepted +courteously--and so the matter ended. + +Nations differ in their idea of good manners, as they do on the subject +of beauty--a far less conventional thing. But there exists luckily a +standard for each, in reference to which we cannot err, and to which the +progress of civilisation will, it is to be hoped, bring us all nearer +and nearer still. For the type of perfection in physical beauty we go to +Greece, and for that of politeness we go to the gospel. As it is +written in a charming little book I have just bought here,--"He who +should embody and manifest the virtues taught in Christ's sermon on the +Mount, would, though he had never seen a drawing-room, nor ever heard of +the artificial usages of society, commend himself to all nations, the +most refined as well as the most simple."[20] + +If you look upon the map, you will find that the Detroit River, so +called, is rather a strait or channel about thirty miles in length, and +in breadth from one to two or three miles, dividing the British from the +American shore. Through this channel all the waters of the upper lakes, +Michigan, Superior, and Huron, come pouring down on their way to the +ocean. Here, at Detroit, the breadth of the river does not exceed a +mile. A pretty little steamer, gaily painted, with streamers flying, and +shaded by an awning, is continually passing and repassing from shore to +shore. I have sometimes sat in this ferry-boat for a couple of hours +together, pleased to remain still, and enjoy, without exertion, the cool +air, the sparkling redundant waters, and green islands:--amused, +meantime, by the variety and conversation of the passengers, English +emigrants, and French Canadians; brisk Americans; dark, sad-looking +Indians folded in their blankets; farmers, storekeepers, speculators in +wheat; artisans; trim girls with black eyes and short petticoats, +speaking a Norman _patois_, and bringing baskets of fruit to the Detroit +market; over-dressed, long-waisted, damsels of the city, attended by +their beaux, going to make merry on the opposite shore. The passage is +not of more than ten minutes duration, yet there is a tavern bar on the +lower deck, and a constant demand for cigars, liquors, and mint +julep--by the _men_ only, I pray you to observe, and the Americans +chiefly; I never saw the French peasants ask for drink. + +[Footnote 20: "Home," by Miss Sedgwick.] + + * * * * * + + + THE CONTRAST. + +Yesterday and to-day I have passed some hours straying or driving about +on the British shore. + +I hardly know how to convey to you an idea of the difference between the +two shores; it will appear to you as incredible as it is to me +incomprehensible. Our shore is said to be the most fertile, and has been +the longest settled; but to float between them (as I did to-day in a +little canoe made of a hollow tree, and paddled by a half-breed imp of a +boy)--to behold on one side a city, with its towers and spires and +animated population, with villas and handsome houses stretching along +the shore, and a hundred vessels or more, gigantic steamers, brigs, +schooners, crowding the port, loading and unloading; all the bustle, in +short, of prosperity and commerce;--and, on the other side, a little +straggling hamlet, one schooner, one little wretched steam-boat, some +windmills, a catholic chapel or two, a supine ignorant peasantry, all +the symptoms of apathy, indolence, mistrust, hopelessness!--can I, can +anyone, help wondering at the difference, and asking whence it arises? +There must be a cause for it surely--but what is it? Does it lie in past +or in present--in natural or accidental circumstances?--in the +institutions of the government, or the character of the people? Is it +remediable? is it a necessity? is it a mystery? what and whence is +it?--Can you tell? or can you send some of our colonial officials across +the Atlantic to behold and solve the difficulty? + +The little hamlet opposite to Detroit is called Richmond. I, was sitting +there to-day on the grassy bank above the river resting in the shade of +a tree, and speculating on all these things, when an old French Canadian +stopped near me to arrange something about his cart. We entered +forthwith into conversation; and though I had some difficulty in making +out his _patois_, he understood my French, and we got on very well. If +you would see the two extremes of manner brought into near comparison, +you should turn from a Yankee storekeeper to a French Canadian! It was +quite curious to find in this remote region such a perfect specimen of +an old-fashioned Norman peasant--all bows, courtesy, and good-humour. He +was carrying a cart-load of cherries to Sandwich, and when I begged for +a ride, the little old man bowed and smiled, and poured forth a voluble +speech, in which the words _enchante! honneur!_ and _madame!_ were all I +could understand; but these were enough. I mounted the cart, seated +myself in an old chair surrounded with baskets heaped with ripe +cherries, lovely as those of Shenstone-- + + "Scattering like blooming maid their glances round, + And must be bought, though penury betide!" + +No occasion, however, to risk penury here; for after permission asked, +and granted with a pleasant smile and a hundredth removal of the ragged +hat, I failed not to profit by my situation, and dipped my hand pretty +frequently into these tempting baskets. When the French penetrated into +these regions a century ago, they brought with them not only their +national courtesy, but some of their finest national fruits,--plums, +cherries, apples, pears, of the best quality--excellent grapes, too, I +am told--and all these are now grown in such abundance as to be almost +valueless. For his cart-load of cherries my old man expected a sum not +exceeding two shillings. + +Sandwich is about two miles below Detroit. It is the chief place in the +Western District, the county town; yet the population does not much +exceed four hundred. + +I had to regret much the absence of Mr. Prince, the great proprietor of +the place, and a distinguished member of our house of assembly, both for +ability and eloquence; but I saw sufficient to convince me that Sandwich +makes no progress. The appearance of the place and people, so different +from all I had left on the opposite side of the river, made me +melancholy, or rather thoughtful. What can be the reason that all +flourishes _there_, and all languishes _here_? + +Amherstberg, another village about ten miles farther, contains about six +hundred inhabitants, has a good harbour, and all natural capabilities; +but here also no progress is making. There is a wretched little useless +fort, commanding, or rather _not_ commanding, the entrance to the +Detroit river on our side, and memorable in the history of the last +American war as Fort Malden. There are here a few idle soldiers, +detached from the garrison at Toronto; and it is said that even these +will be removed. In case of an attack or sudden outbreak, all this +exposed and important line of shore is absolutely without defence.[21] + +I am hardly competent to give an opinion either way, but it seemeth to +me, in my simple wit, that this is a case in which the government of the +Crown, always supposing it to be wisely and paternally administered, +must be preferable to the interposition of the colonial legislature, +seeing that the interests of the colonists and settlers, and those of +the Indians, are brought into perpetual collision, and that the +colonists can scarcely be trusted to decide in their own case. As it is, +the poor Indian seems hardly destined to meet with _justice_ either from +the legislative or executive power. + +[Footnote 21: This was written on the spot. Since the troubles in Upper +Canada, it is understood to be the intention of the governor to fortify +this coast.] + + + THE INDIANS. + +I believe that Sir Francis Head entertained an enthusiastic admiration +for the Indian character, and was sincerely interested in the welfare of +this fated people. It was his deliberate conviction that there was no +salvation for them but in their removal as far as possible from the +influence and dominion of the white settlers; and in this I agree with +his Excellency; but seeing that the Indians are not virtually British +subjects, no measure should be adopted, even for their supposed benefit, +without their acquiescence. They are quite capable of judging for +themselves in every case in which their interests are concerned. The +fault of our executive is, that we acknowledge the Indians our _allies_, +yet treat them, as well as call them, our _children_. They acknowledged +in our government a _father_; they never acknowledged any master but the +"Great Master of Life," and the rooted idea, or rather instinct of +personal and political independence in which every Indian is born or +reared, no earthly power can obliterate from his soul. One of the early +missionaries expresses himself on this point with great _naivete_. "The +Indians," he says, "are convinced that every man is born free; that no +one has a right to make any attempt upon his personal liberty, and that +nothing can make him amends for its loss." He proceeds--"We have even +had much pains to undeceive those converted to Christianity on this +head, and to make them understand that in consequence of the corruption +of our nature, which is the effect of sin, an unrestrained liberty of +doing evil differs little from the necessity of doing it, considering +the strength of the inclination which carries us to it; and that the law +which restrains us brings us nearer to our first liberty in seeming to +deprive us of it." + +That a man, because he has the free use of his will and his limbs, must +therefore necessarily do evil, is a doctrine which the Indian can never +be brought to understand. He is too polite to contradict us, but he +insists that it was made for the pale-faces, who, it may be, are +naturally inclined to all evil; but has nothing to do with the red +skins, whom the Great Spirit created free. "Where the spirit of the Lord +is, there is liberty;"--but about liberty there may be as many differing +notions as about charity. + +Of the number here I can form no exact idea; they say there are about +two hundred. At present they are busied in preparations for their voyage +up Lake Huron to the Great Manitoolin Island to receive their annual +presents, and one fleet of canoes has already departed. + + * * * * * + + + PLACES OF WORSHIP. + +My business here being not to dream, but to observe, and this morning +being Sunday morning, I crept forth to attend the different church +services merely as a spectator. I went first to the Roman Catholic +church, called the Cathedral, and the largest and oldest in the place. +The Catholic congregation is by far the most numerous here, and is +composed chiefly of the lower classes and the descendants of the French +settlers. On entering the porch, I found a board suspended with written +regulations, to the effect that all Christians, of whatever +denomination, were welcome to enter; but it was requested that all would +observe the outward ceremonial, and that all gentlemen (_tous les +messieurs_) would lay aside their pipes and cigars, take off their hats, +and wipe their shoes. The interior of the church was similar to that of +many other provincial Roman Catholic churches, exhibiting the usual +assortment of wax tapers, gilding, artificial flowers, and daubed +Madonnas. The music and singing were not good. In the course of the +service, the officiating priest walked up and down the aisles, flinging +about the holy water on either side, with a silver-handled brush. I had +my share, though unworthy of this sprinkling, and then left the church, +where the heat and the smell of incense, _et cetera_, were too +overpowering. On the steps, and in the open space before the door, there +was a crowd of peasants, all talking French--laughing, smoking, tobacco +chewing, _et cetera, et cetera_. One or two were kneeling in the porch. +Thence I went to the Methodist chapel, where I found a small +congregation of the lower classes. A very ill-looking man, in comparison +to whom Liston's Mawworm were no caricature, was holding forth in a most +whining and lugubrious tone; the poor people around joined in sobs and +ejaculations, which soon became howling, raving, and crying. In the +midst of this woful assembly I observed a little boy who was grinning +furtively, kicking his heels, and sliding bits of apple from his pocket +into his mouth. Not being able to endure this with proper seriousness, I +left the place. + +I then went into the Baptist church, on the opposite side of the road. +It is one of the largest in the town, plain in appearance, but the +interior handsome, and in good taste. The congregation was not crowded, +but composed of most respectable, serious, well-dressed people. As I +entered, the preacher was holding forth on the unpardonable sin, very +incoherently and unintelligibly, but, on closing his sermon, he +commenced a prayer; and I have seldom listened to one more eloquently +fervent. Both the sermon and prayer were extemporaneous. He prayed for +all people, nations, orders and conditions of men throughout the world, +including the king of Great Britain: but the prayer for the president of +the United States seemed to me a little original, and admirably +calculated to suit the two parties who are at present divided on the +merits of that gentleman. The suppliant besought the Almighty, that "if +Mr. Van Buren were a good man, he might be made better; and if a bad +man, he might be speedily regenerated." + +I was still in time for the Episcopal church, a very spacious and +handsome building, though "somewhat Gothic." On entering, I perceived at +one glance that the Episcopal church is here, as at New York, the +_fashionable_ church of the place. It was crowded in every part: the +women well dressed--but, as at New York, too much dressed, too fine for +good taste and real fashion. I was handed immediately to the "strangers' +pew," a book put into my hand, and it was whispered to me that the +bishop would preach. Our English idea of the exterior of a bishop is an +old gentleman in a wig and lawn sleeves, both equally _de rigueur_; I +was therefore childishly surprised to find in the Bishop of Michigan a +young man of very elegant appearance, wearing his own fine hair, and in +a plain black silk gown. The sermon was on the well-worn subject of +charity as it consists in _giving_--the least and lowest it may be of +all the branches of charity, though indeed that depends on what we give, +and how we give it. We may give our heart, our soul, our time, our +health, our life, as well as our money; and the greatest of these, as +well as the least, is still but charity. At home I have often thought +that when people gave money they gave counters; here, when people give +money they are really charitable--they give a portion of their time and +their existence, both of which are devoted to money-making. + +On closing his sermon, which was short and unexceptionable, the bishop +leaned forward over the pulpit, and commenced an extemporaneous address +to his congregation. I have often had occasion in the United States to +admire the ready, graceful fluency of their extemporaneous speakers and +preachers, and I have never heard anything more eloquent and more +elegant than this address; it was in perfect good taste, besides being +very much to the purpose. He spoke in behalf of the domestic missions of +his diocese. I understood that the missions hitherto supported in the +back settlements are, in consequence of the extreme pressure of the +times, likely to be withdrawn, and the new, thinly-peopled districts +thus left without any ministry whatever. He called on the people to give +their aid towards sustaining these domestic missionaries, at least for a +time, and said, among other things, that if each individual of the +Episcopal church in the United States subscribed one cent. per week for +a year, it would amount to more than 300,000 dollars. This address was +responded to by a subscription on the spot of above 400 dollars--a large +sum for a small town, suffering, like all other places, from the present +commercial difficulties. + + * * * * * + + + LEAVE DETROIT. + + July 18. + +This evening the Thomas Jefferson arrived in the river from Buffalo, and +starts early to-morrow morning for Chicago. I hastened to secure a +passage as far as the island of Mackinaw: when once there, I must trust +to Providence for some opportunity of going up Lake Huron to the Sault +Ste. Marie to visits my friends the MacMurrays; or down the lake to the +Great Manitoolin Island, where the annual distribution of presents to +the Indians is to take place under the auspices of the governor. If both +these plans--wild plans they are, I am told--should fail, I have only to +retrace my way and come down the lake, as I went up, in a steamer; but +this were horridly tedious and prosaic, and I _hope_ better things. So +_evviva la speranza!_ and Westward Ho! + + * * * * * + + On board the Jefferson, River St. Clair, July 19. + +This morning I came down early to the steam-boat, attended by a +_cortege_ of amiable people, who had heard of my sojourn at Detroit too +late to be of any solace or service to me, but had seized this last and +only opportunity of showing politeness and good-will. The sister of the +governor, two other ladies, and a gentleman, came on board with me at +that early hour, and remained on deck till the paddles were in motion. +The talk was so pleasant, I could not but regret that I had not seen +some of these kind people earlier, or might hope to see more of them; +but it was too late. Time and steam wait neither for man nor woman: all +expressions of hope and regret on both sides were cut short by the +parting signal, which the great bell swung out from on high; all +compliments and questions "fumbled up into a loose adieu;" and these +new friendly faces--seen but for a moment, then to be lost, yet not +quite forgotten--were soon left far behind. + +The morning was most lovely and auspicious; blazing hot though, and +scarce a breath of air; and the magnificent machine, admirably appointed +in all respects, gaily painted and gilt, with flags waving, glided over +the dazzling waters with an easy, stately motion. + +I had suffered so much at Detroit, that as it disappeared and melted +away in the bright southern haze like a vision, I turned from it with a +sense of relief, put the past out of my mind, and resigned myself to the +present--like a wise woman--or wiser child. + +The captain told me that last season he had never gone up the lakes with +less than four or five hundred passengers. This year, fortunately for my +individual comfort, the case is greatly altered: we have not more than +one hundred and eighty passengers, consequently an abundance of +accommodation, and air, and space--inestimable blessings in this sultry +weather, and in the enjoyment of which I did not sympathise in the +lamentations of the good-natured captain as much as I ought to have +done. + + + PASS SNAKE ISLAND. + +We passed a large and beautifully green island, formerly called Snake +Island, from the immense number of rattlesnakes which infested it. These +were destroyed by turning large herds of swine upon it, and it is now, +in compliment to its last conquerors and possessors, the swinish +multitude, called Hog Island. This was the scene of some most horrid +Indian atrocities during the Pontiac war. A large party of British +prisoners, surprised while they were coming up to relieve Detroit, were +brought over here, and, almost within sight of their friends in the +fort, put to death with all the unutterable accompaniments of savage +ferocity. + +I have been told that since this war the custom of torturing persons to +death has fallen gradually into disuse among the Indian tribes of these +regions, and even along the whole frontier of the States an instance +has not been known within these forty years. + + + ASCEND THE ST. CLAIR. + +Leaving the channel of the river and the cluster of islands at its +entrance, we stretched northward across Lake St. Clair. This beautiful +lake, though three times the size of the Lake of Geneva, is a mere pond +compared with the enormous seas in its neighbourhood. About one o'clock +we entered the river St. Clair, (which, like the Detroit, is rather a +strait or channel than a river,) forming the communication between Lake +St. Clair and Lake Huron. Ascending this beautiful river, we had, on the +right, part of the western district of Upper Canada, and on the left the +Michigan territory. The shores on either side, though low and bounded +always by the line of forest, were broken into bays and little +promontories, or diversified by islands, richly wooded, and of every +variety of form. The bateaux of the Canadians, or the canoes of the +Indians, were perpetually seen gliding among these winding channels, or +shooting across the river from side to side, as if playing at +hide-and-seek among the leafy recesses. Now and then a beautiful +schooner, with white sails, relieved against the green masses of +foliage, passed us, gracefully curtseying and sidling along. Innumerable +flocks of wild fowl were disporting among the reedy islets, and here and +there the great black loon was seen diving and dipping, or skimming over +the waters. As usual, the British coast is here the most beautiful and +fertile, and the American coast the best settled and cleared. Along the +former I see a few isolated log-shanties, and groups of Indian lodges; +along the latter, several extensive clearings, and some hamlets and +rising villages. The facility afforded by the American steam-boats for +the transport of goods and sale of produce, &c., is one reason of this. +There is a boat, for instance, which leaves Detroit every morning for +Fort Gratiot, stopping at the intermediate "landings." We are now moored +at a place called "Palmer's Landing," for the purpose of taking in wood +for the Lake voyage. This process has already occupied two hours, and is +to detain us two more, though there are fourteen men employed in +flinging logs into the wood-hold. Meantime I have been sketching and +lounging about the little hamlet, where there is a good grocery-store, a +sawing-mill worked by steam, and about twenty houses. + +I was amused at Detroit to find the phraseology of the people imbued +with metaphors taken from the most familiar mode of locomotion. "Will +you take in wood?" signifies, will you take refreshment? "Is your steam +up?" means, are you ready? The common phrase, "go ahead," has I suppose, +the same derivation. A witty friend of mine once wrote to me not to be +lightly alarmed at the political and social ferments in America, nor +mistake the _whizzing of the safety-valves for the bursting of the +boilers_! + + + MY FELLOW PASSENGERS. + +But all this time I have not yet introduced you to my companions on +board; and one of these great American steamers is really a little +world, a little social system in itself, where a near observer of faces +and manners may find endless subjects of observation, amusement, and +interest. At the other end of the vessel we have about one hundred +emigrants on their way to the Illinois and the settlements to the west +of Lake Michigan. Among them I find a large party of Germans and +Norwegians, with their wives and families, a very respectable, orderly +community, consisting of some farmers and some artisans, having with +them a large quantity of stock and utensils--just the sort of people +best calculated to improve and enrich their adopted country, wherever +that may be. Then we have twenty or thirty poor ragged Irish emigrants, +with good-natured faces, and strong arms and willing hearts. Men are +smoking, women nursing, washing, sewing; children squalling and rolling +about. + +The ladies' saloon and upper deck exhibit a very different scene; there +are about twenty ladies and children in the cabin and state-rooms, which +are beautifully furnished and carpeted with draperies of blue silk, &c. +On the upper deck, shaded by an awning, we have sofas, rocking-chairs, +and people lounging up and down; some reading, some chattering, some +sleeping: there are missionaries and missionaries' wives, and officers +on their way to the garrisons on the Indian frontier; and settlers, and +traders, and some few nondescripts--like myself. + + + THE BISHOP OF MICHIGAN. + +Also among the passengers I find the Bishop of Michigan. The governor's +sister, Miss Mason, introduced us at starting, and bespoke his good +offices for me. His conversation has been a great resource and interest +for me during the long day. He is still a young man, who began life as a +lawyer, and afterwards from a real vocation adopted his present +profession: his talents and popularity have placed him in the rank he +now holds. He is on his way to visit the missions and churches in the +back settlements, and at Green Bay. His diocese, he tells me, extends +about eight hundred miles in length and four hundred in breadth. And +then if you think of the scattered population, the _sort_ of population, +the immensity of this spiritual charge, and the amount of labour and +responsibility it necessarily brings with it, are enough to astound one. +The amount of power is great in proportion; and the extensive moral +influence exercised by such a man as this Bishop of Michigan struck me +very much. In conversing with him and the missionaries on the spiritual +and moral condition of his diocese, and these newly settled regions in +general, I learned many things which interested me; and there was one +thing discussed which especially surprised me. It was said that two +thirds of the misery which came under the immediate notice of a popular +clergyman, and to which he was called to minister, arose from the +infelicity of the conjugal relations; there was no question here of open +immorality and discord, but simply of infelicity and unfitness. The same +thing has been brought before me in every country, every society in +which I have been a sojourner and an observer; but I did not look to +find it so broadly placed before me here in America, where the state of +morals, as regards the two sexes, is comparatively pure; where the +marriages are early, where conditions are equal, where the means of +subsistence are abundant, where the women are much petted and considered +by the men--too much so. + +For a result then so universal, there must be a cause or causes as +universal, not depending on any particular customs, manners, or +religion, or political institutions. And what are these causes? I +cannot understand why an evil everywhere acknowledged and felt is not +remedied somewhere, or discussed by some one, with a view to a +remedy;--but no, it is like putting one's hand into the fire, only to +touch upon it; it is the universal bruise, the putrefying sore, on which +you must not lay a finger, or your patient (that is, society) cries out +and resists, and, like a sick baby, scratches and kicks its physician. + +Strange, and passing strange, that the relation between the two sexes, +the passion of love in short, should not be taken into deeper +consideration by our teachers and our legislators. People educate and +legislate as if there was no such thing in the world; but ask the +priest, ask the physician--let _them_ reveal the amount of moral and +physical results from this one cause. Must love be always discussed in +blank verse, as if it were a thing to be played in tragedies or sung in +songs--a subject for pretty poems and wicked novels, and had nothing to +do with the prosaic current of our every-day existence, our moral +welfare and eternal salvation? Must love be ever treated with +profaneness, as a mere illusion? or with coarseness, as a mere impulse? +or with fear, as a mere disease? or with shame, as a mere weakness? or +with levity, as a mere accident? Whereas, it is a great mystery and a +great necessity, lying at the foundation of human existence, morality, +and happiness; mysterious, universal, inevitable as death. Why then +should love be treated less seriously than death? It is as serious a +thing. Love and Death, the alpha and omega of human life, the author and +finisher of existence, the two points on which God's universe turns; +which He, our Father and Creator, has placed beyond our +arbitration--beyond the reach of that election and free will which He +has left us in all other things! + + + LOVE AND DEATH. + +Death must come, and love must come; but the state in which they find +us?--whether blinded, astonished, and frightened, and ignorant, or, like +reasonable creatures, guarded, prepared, and fit to manage our own +feelings?--_this_, I suppose, depends on ourselves; and for want of such +self-management and self-knowledge, look at the evils that +ensue!--hasty, improvident, unsuitable marriages; repining, diseased, +or vicious celibacy; irretrievable infamy; cureless insanity:--the +death that comes early, and the love that comes late, reversing the +primal laws of our nature. + +It is of little consequence how unequal the conventional difference of +rank, as in Germany--how equal the condition, station, and means, as in +America,--if there be inequality between the sexes; and if the sentiment +which attracts and unites them to each other, and the contracts and +relations springing out of this sentiment, be not equally well +understood by both, equally sacred with both, equally binding on both. + + * * * * * + + + MISS SEDGWICK.--MRS. LEE.--MR. HENRY. + +At Detroit I had purchased Miss Sedgwick's tale of "The Rich Poor Man +and the Poor Rich Man," and this sent away two hours delightfully, as we +were gliding over the expanse of Lake St. Clair. Those who glanced on my +book while I was reading always smiled--a significant sympathising +smile, very expressive of that unenvious, affectionate homage and +admiration which this genuine American writer inspires among her +countrymen. I do not think I ever mentioned her name to any of them, +that the countenance did not light up with pleasure and gratified pride. +I have also a sensible little book, called "Three Experiments in +Living," written by Mrs. Lee, of Boston: it must be popular, and _true_ +to life and nature, for the edition I bought is the tenth. I have also +another book to which I must introduce you more particularly--"The +Travels and Adventures of Alexander Henry." Did you ever hear of such a +man? No. Listen then, and perpend. + +This Mr. Henry was a fur-trader who journeyed over these lake regions +about seventy years ago, and is quoted as first-rate authority in more +recent books of travels. His book, which was lent to me at Toronto, +struck me so much as to have had some influence in directing the course +of my present tour. Plain, unaffected, telling what he has to tell in +few and simple words, and without comment--the internal evidence of +truth--the natural sensibility and power of fancy, betrayed rather than +displayed--render not only the narrative, but the man himself, his +personal character, unspeakably interesting. Wild as are the tales of +his hairbreadth escapes, I never heard the slightest impeachment of his +veracity. He was living at Montreal so late as 1810 or 1811, when a +friend of mine saw him, and described him to me as a very old man past +eighty, with white hair, and still hale-looking and cheerful, so that +his hard and adventurous life, and the horrors he had witnessed and +suffered, had in no respect impaired his spirits or his constitution. +His book has been long out of print. I had the greatest difficulty in +procuring the loan of a copy, after sending to Montreal, Quebec, and New +York, in vain. Mr. Henry is to be my travelling companion. I do not know +how he might have figured as a squire of dames when living, but I assure +you that being dead he makes a very respectable hero of epic or romance. +He is the Ulysses of these parts; and to cruise among the shores, rocks, +and islands of Lake Huron without Henry's travels, were like coasting +Calabria and Sicily without the Odyssey in your head or hand,--only here +you have the island of Mackinaw instead of the island of Circe; the land +of the Ottawas instead of the shores of the Lotophagi; cannibal +Chippewas, instead of man-eating Laestrigons. Pontiac figures as +Polypheme; and Wa,wa,tam plays the part of good king Alcinous. I can +find no type for the women, as Henry does not tell us his adventures +among the squaws; but no doubt he might have found both Calypsos and +Nausicaas, and even a Penelope, among them. + + * * * * * + + July 20. + +Before I went down to my rest yesterday evening, I beheld a strange and +beautiful scene. The night was coming on; the moon had risen round and +full, like an enormous globe of fire; we were still in the channel of +the river, when, to the right, I saw a crowd of Indians on a projecting +point of land. They were encamping for the night, some hauling up their +canoes, some building up their wigwams: there were numerous fires +blazing amid the thick foliage, and the dusky figures of the Indians +were seen glancing to and fro; and I heard loud laughs and shouts as our +huge steamer swept past them. In another moment we turned a point, and +all was dark: the whole had vanished like a scene in a melodrama. I +rubbed my eyes, and began to think I was already dreaming. + +At the entrance of the river St. Clair, the Americans have a fort and +garrison (Fort Gratiot), and a lighthouse, which we passed in the night. +On the opposite side we have no station; so that, in case of any +misunderstanding between the two nations, it would be in the power of +the Americans to shut the entrance of Lake Huron upon us. + + + LAKE HURON. + +At seven this morning, when I went on deck, we had advanced about one +hundred miles into Lake Huron. We were coasting along the south shore, +about four miles from the land, while, on the other side, we had about +two hundred miles of open _sea_, and the same expanse before us. Soon +after, we had to pass the entrance of Sagginaw Bay. Here we lost sight +of land for the first time. Sagginaw Bay, I should suppose, is as large +as the Gulf of Genoa; it runs seventy or eighty miles up into the land, +and is as famous for storms as the Bay of Biscay. Here, if there be a +capful of wind, or a cupful of sea, one is sure to have the benefit of +it; for even in the finest weather there is a considerable swell. We +were about three hours crossing from the Pointe Aux Barques to Cape +Thunder; and during this time a number of my companions were put _hors +de combat_. + +All this part of Michigan is unsettled, and is said to be sandy and +barren. Along the whole horizon was nothing visible but the dark +omnipresent pine-forest. The Sagginaw Indians, whose hunting-grounds +extend along the shore, are, I believe, a tribe of Ottawas. I should +add, that the Americans have built a lighthouse on a little island near +Thunder Bay. A situation more terrific in its solitude you cannot +imagine than that of the keeper of this lonely tower, among rocks, +tempests, and savages. All their provisions come from a distance of at +least one hundred miles, and a long course of stormy weather, which +sometimes occurs, would place them in danger of starvation. + + + THE ISLAND OF MACKINAW + + Doth the bright sun from the high arch of heaven, + In all his beauteous robes of flecker'd clouds, + And ruddy vapours, and deep glowing flames, + And softly varied shades, look gloriously? + Do the green woods dance to the wind? the lakes + Cast up their sparkling waters to the light? + + Joanna Baillie. + +The next morning, at earliest dawn, I was wakened by an unusual noise +and movement on board, and putting out my head to inquire the cause, was +informed that we were arrived at the island of Mackinaw, and that the +captain being most anxious to proceed on his voyage, only half an hour +was allowed to make all my arrangements, take out my luggage, and so +forth. I dressed in all haste and ran up to the deck, and there a scene +burst at once on my enchanted gaze, such as I never had imagined, such +as I wish I could place before you in words,--but I despair, unless +words were of light, and lustrous hues, and breathing music. However, +here is the picture as well as I can paint it. We were lying in a tiny +bay, crescent-shaped, of which the two horns or extremities were formed +by long narrow promontories projecting into the lake. On the east the +whole sky was flushed with a deep amber glow, fleckered with softest +shades of rose-colour--the same intense splendour being reflected in the +lake; and upon the extremity of the point, between the glory above and +the glory below, stood the little Missionary church, its light spire and +belfry defined against the sky. On the opposite side of the heavens hung +the moon, waxing paler and paler, and melting away, as it seemed, before +the splendour of the rising day. Immediately in front rose the abrupt +and picturesque heights of the island, robed in richest foliage, and +crowned by the lines of the little fortress, snow-white, and gleaming in +the morning light. At the base of these cliffs, all along the shore, +immediately on the edge of the lake, which, transparent and unruffled, +reflected every form as in a mirror, an encampment of Indian lodges +extended as far as my eye could reach on either side. Even while I +looked, the inmates were beginning to bestir themselves, and dusky +figures were seen emerging into sight from their picturesque +dormitories, and stood gazing on us with folded arms, or were busied +about their canoes, of which some hundreds lay along the beach. + + + BEAUTY OF SCENERY. + +There was not a breath of air; and while heaven and earth were glowing +with light, and colour, and life, an elysian stillness, a delicious +balmy serenity wrapt and interfused the whole. O how passing lovely it +was! how wondrously beautiful and strange! I cannot tell how long I may +have stood, lost--absolutely lost, and fearing even to wink my eyes, +lest the spell should dissolve, and all should vanish away like some +air-wrought phantasy, some dream out of fairy land,--when the good +Bishop of Michigan came up to me, and with a smiling benevolence waked +me out of my ecstatic trance; and reminding me that I had but two +minutes left, seized upon some of my packages himself, and hurried me on +to the little wooden pier just in time. We were then conducted to a +little inn, or boarding-house, kept by a very fat half-caste Indian +woman, who spoke Indian, bad French, and worse English, and who was +addressed as _Madame_. Here I was able to arrange my hasty toilette, and +we sat down to an excellent breakfast of white-fish, eggs, tea and +coffee, for which the charge was twice what I should have given at the +first hotel in the United States, and yet not unreasonable, considering +that European luxuries were placed before us in this remote spot. By the +time breakfast was discussed it was past six o'clock, and taking my +sketch-book in my hand, I sauntered forth alone to the beach till it +should be a fitting hour to present myself at the door of the American +agent, Mr. Schoolcraft, whose wife was the sister of Mrs. MacMurray. + +The first object which caught my eye was the immense steamer gliding +swiftly away towards the straits of Michilimackinac, already far, far to +the west. Suddenly the thought of my extreme loneliness came over me--a +momentary wonder and alarm to find myself so far from any human being +who took the least interest about my fate. I had no letter to Mr. +Schoolcraft; and if Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray had not passed this way, or +had forgotten to mention me, what would be my reception? what should I +do? Here I must stay for some days at least. All the accommodation that +could be afforded by the half-French, half-Indian "Madame," had been +already secured, and, without turning out the bishop, there was not even +a room for me. These thoughts and many others, some natural doubts, and +fears, came across my mind, but I cannot say that they remained there +long, or that they had the effect of rendering me uneasy and anxious for +more than half a minute. With a sense of enjoyment keen and +unanticipative as that of a child--looking neither before nor after--I +soon abandoned myself to the present, and all its delicious exciting +novelty, leaving the future to take care of itself,--which I am more and +more convinced is the truest wisdom, the most real philosophy, after +all. + + + GROUPS OF INDIANS. + +The sun had now risen in cloudless glory--all was life and movement. I +strayed and loitered for full three hours along the shore, I hardly knew +whither, sitting down occasionally under the shadow of a cliff or cedar +fence to rest, and watching the operations of the Indian families. It +were endless to tell you of each individual group or picture as +successively presented before me. But there were some general features +of the scene which struck me at once. There were more than one hundred +lodges, and round each of these lurked several ill-looking, +half-starved, yelping dogs. The women were busied about their children, +or making fires and cooking, or pounding Indian corn, in a primitive +sort of mortar, formed of part of a tree hollowed out, with a heavy rude +pestle which they moved up and down, as if churning. The dress of the +men was very various--the cotton shirt, blue or scarlet leggings, and +deer-skin mocassins and blanket coat, were most general; but many had no +shirt nor vest, merely the cloth leggings, and a blanket thrown round +them as drapery; the faces of several being most grotesquely painted. +The dress of the women was more uniform,--a cotton shirt, and cloth +leggings and mocassins, and a dark blue blanket. Necklaces, silver +armlets, silver earrings, and circular plates of silver fastened on the +breast, were the usual ornaments of both sexes. There may be a general +equality of rank among the Indians; but there is evidently all that +inequality of condition which difference of character and intellect +might naturally produce; there were rich wigwams and poor wigwams; whole +families ragged, meagre, and squalid, and others gay with dress and +ornaments, fat and well-favoured: on the whole, these were beings quite +distinct from any Indians I had yet seen, and realised all my ideas of +the wild and lordly savage. I remember I came upon a family group, +consisting of a fine tall young man and two squaws; one had a child +swaddled in one of their curious bark cradles, which she composedly hung +up against the side of the wigwam. They were then busied launching a +canoe, and in a moment it was dancing upon the rippling waves: one woman +guided the canoe, the other paddled; the young man stood in the prow in +a striking and graceful attitude, poising his fish-spear in his hand. +When they were about a hundred yards from the shore, suddenly I saw the +fish-spear darted into the water, and disappear beneath it; as it sprang +up again to the surface, it was rapidly seized, and a large fish was +sticking to the prongs; the same process was repeated with unerring +success, and then the canoe was paddled back to the land. The young man +flung his spear into the bottom of the canoe, and, drawing his blanket +round him, leapt on shore, and lounged away without troubling himself +farther; the women drew up the canoe, kindled a fire, and suspended the +fish over it, to be cooked _a la mode Indienne_. + +There was another group which amused me exceedingly: it was a large +family, and, compared with some others, they were certainly people of +distinction and substance, rich in beads, blankets, and brass kettles, +with "all things handsome about them;" they had two lodges and two +canoes. But I must begin by making you understand the construction of an +Indian lodge,--such, at least, as those which now crowded the shore. + +Eight or twelve long poles are stuck in the ground in a circle, meeting +at a point at the top, where they are all fastened together. The +skeleton thus erected is covered over, thatched in some sort with mats, +or large pieces of birch bark, beginning at the bottom, and leaving an +opening at top for the emission of smoke: there is a door about four +feet high, before which a skin or blanket is suspended; and as it is +summer time, they do not seem particular about closing the chinks and +apertures.[22] As to the canoes, they are uniformly of birch bark, +exceedingly light, flat-bottomed, and most elegant in shape, varying in +size from eighteen to thirty-six feet in length, and from a foot and a +half to four feet in width. The family I have mentioned were preparing +to embark, and were dismantling their wigwams and packing up their +goods, not at all discomposed by my vicinity, as I sat on a bank +watching the whole process with no little interest. The most striking +personage in this group was a very old man, seated on a log of wood, +close upon the edge of the water; his head was quite bald, excepting a +few gray hairs which were gathered in a tuft at the top, and decorated +with a single feather--I think an eagle's feather; his blanket of +scarlet cloth was so arranged as to fall round his limbs in graceful +folds, leaving his chest and shoulders exposed; he held a green umbrella +over his head, (a gift or purchase from some white trader,) and in the +other hand a long pipe--and he smoked away, never stirring, nor taking +the slightest interest in anything which was going on. Then there were +two fine young men, and three women, one old and hideous, with matted +grizzled hair, the youngest really a beautiful girl about fifteen. There +were also three children; the eldest had on a cotton shirt, the breast +of which was covered with silver ornaments. The men were examining the +canoes, and preparing to launch them; the women were taking down their +wigwams, and as they uncovered them, I had an opportunity of observing +the whole interior economy of their dwellings. + +The ground within was spread over with mats, two or three deep, and +skins and blankets, so as to form a general couch: then all around the +internal circle of the wigwam were ranged their goods and chattels in +very tidy order; I observed wooden chests, of European make, bags of +woven grass, baskets and cases of birch bark (called _mokkuks_,) also +brass kettles, pans, and, to my surprise, a large coffee-pot of queen's +metal. + +When all was arranged, and the canoes afloat, the poles of the wigwams +were first placed at the bottom, then the mats and bundles, which served +apparently to sit on, and the kettles and chests were stowed in the +middle; the old man was assisted by the others into the largest canoe; +women, children, and dogs followed; the young men stood in the stern +with their paddles as steersmen; the women and boys squatted down; each +with a paddle;--with all this weight, the elegant buoyant little canoes +scarcely sank an inch deeper in the water--and in this guise away they +glided with surprising swiftness over the sparkling waves, directing +their course eastwards for the Manitoolin Islands, where I hope to see +them again. The whole process of preparation and embarkation did not +occupy an hour. + +[Footnote 22: I learned subsequently, that the cone-like form of the +wigwam is proper to the Ottawas and Pottowottomies, and that the oblong +form, in which the branches or poles are bent over at top in an arch, is +proper to the Chippewa tribe. But as this latter is more troublesome to +erect, the former construction is usually adopted by the Chippewas also +in their temporary encampments.] + + * * * * * + + + MR. SCHOOLCRAFT. + +About ten o'clock I ventured to call on Mr. Schoolcraft, and was +received by him with grave and quiet politeness. They were prepared, he +said, for my arrival, and then he apologised for whatever might be +deficient in my reception, and for the absence of his wife, by informing +me that she was ill, and had not left her room for some days. + +Much was I discomposed and shocked to find myself an intruder under such +circumstances! I said so, and begged that they would not think of +me--that I could easily provide for myself--and so I could and would. I +would have laid myself down in one of the Indian lodges rather than have +been _de trop_. But Mr. Schoolcraft said, with much kindness, that they +knew already of my arrival by one of my fellow-passengers--that a room +was prepared for me, a servant already sent down for my goods, and Mrs. +Schoolcraft, who was a little better that morning, hoped to see me. +Here, then, I am installed for the next few days--and I know not how +many more--so completely am I at the mercy of "fates, destinies, and +such branches of learning!" + + * * * * * + +I am charmed with Mrs. Schoolcraft. When able to appear, she received me +with true ladylike simplicity. The damp, tremulous hand, the soft, +plaintive voice, the touching expression of her countenance, told too +painfully of resigned and habitual suffering. Mrs. Schoolcraft's +features are more decidedly Indian than those of her sister Mrs. +MacMurray. Her accent is slightly foreign--her choice of language pure +and remarkably elegant. In the course of an hour's talk, all my +sympathies were enlisted in her behalf, and I thought that she, on her +part, was inclined to return these benignant feelings. I promised myself +to repay her hospitality by all the attention and gratitude in my power. +I am here a lonely stranger, thrown upon her sufferance; but she is +good, gentle, and in most delicate health, and there are a thousand +quiet ways in which woman may be kind and useful to her sister woman. +Then she has two sweet children about eight or nine years old--no fear, +you see, but that we shall soon be the best friends in the world! + +This day, however, I took care not to be _a charge_, so I ran about +along the lovely shore, and among the Indians, inexpressibly amused, and +occupied, and excited by all I saw and heard. At last I returned--O so +wearied out--so spent in body and mind! I was fain to go to rest soon +after sunset. A nice little room had been prepared for me, and a _wide_ +comfortable bed, into which I sank with such a feeling of peace, +security, and thankfulness, as could only be conceived by one who had +been living in comfortless inns and close steam-boats for the last +fortnight. + + * * * * * + + + THE RED MEN. + +On a little platform, not quite half way up the wooded height which +overlooks the bay, embowered in foliage, and sheltered from the +tyrannous breathing of the north by the precipitous cliff, rising almost +perpendicularly behind, stands the house in which I find myself at +present a grateful and contented inmate. The ground in front sloping +down to the shore, is laid out in a garden, with an avenue of fruit +trees, the gate at the end opening on the very edge of the lake. From +the porch I look down upon the scene I have endeavoured--how +inadequately!--to describe to you: the little crescent bay; the village +of Mackinaw; the beach thickly studded with Indian lodges; canoes +fishing, or darting hither and thither, light and buoyant as sea-birds; +a tall graceful schooner swinging at anchor. Opposite rises the Island +of Bois-blanc, with its tufted and most luxuriant foliage. To the east +we see the open lake, and in the far western distance the promontory of +Michilimackinac, and the strait of that name, the portal of Lake +Michigan. The exceeding beauty of this little paradise of an island, the +attention which has been excited by its enchanting scenery, and the +salubrity of its summer climate, the facility of communication lately +afforded by the lake steamers, and its situation half-way between +Detroit and the newly-settled regions of the west, are likely to render +Mackinaw a sort of watering-place for the Michigan and Wisconsin +fashionables, or, as the bishop expressed it, the "Rockaway of the +west;" so at least it is anticipated. How far such an accession of +fashion and reputation may be desirable, I know not; I am only glad it +has not yet taken place, and that I have beheld this lovely island in +all its wild beauty. + +When I left my room this morning, I remained for some time in the +parlour, looking over the Wisconsin Gazette, a good sized, well printed +newspaper, published on the west shore of Lake Michigan. I was reading a +most pathetic and serious address from the new settlers in Wisconsin to +_the down-east girls_, (_i. e._ the women of the eastern states,) who +are invited to the relief of these hapless hard-working bachelors in the +backwoods. They are promised affluence and love,--the "picking and +choosing among a set of the finest young fellows in the world," who are +ready to fall at their feet, and make the most adoring and the most +obedient of husbands! Can you fancy what a pretty thing a Wisconsin +pastoral might be? Only imagine one of these despairing backwoodsmen +inditing an Ovidian epistle to his unknown mistress--"_down +east_,"--wooing her to come and be wooed! Well, I was enjoying this +comical effusion, and thinking that women must certainly be at a premium +in these parts, when suddenly the windows were darkened, and looking up, +I beheld a crowd of faces, dusky, painted, wild, grotesque--with +flashing eyes and white teeth, staring in upon me. I quickly threw down +the paper and hastened out. The porch, the little lawn, the garden +walks, were crowded with Indians, the elder chiefs and warriors sitting +on the ground, or leaning silently against the pillars; the young men, +women, and boys lounging and peeping about, with eager and animated +looks, but all perfectly well conducted, and their voices low and +pleasing to the ear. They were chiefly Ottawas and Pottowottomies, two +tribes which "call brother," that is, claim relationship, and are +usually in alliance, but widely different. The Ottawas are the most +civilised, the Pottowottomies the least so of all the lake tribes. The +Ottawa I soon distinguished by the decency of his dress, and the +handkerchief knotted round the head--a custom borrowed from the early +French settlers, with whom they have had much intercourse: the +Pottowottomie by the more savage finery of his costume, his tall figure, +and a sort of swagger in his gait. The dandyism of some of these +Pottowottomie warriors is inexpressibly amusing and grotesque: I defy +all Regent Street and Bond Street to go beyond them in the exhibition of +self-decoration and self-complacency. One of these exquisites, whom I +called Beau Brummel, was not indeed much indebted to a tailor, seeing he +had neither a coat nor any thing else that gentlemen are accustomed to +wear; but then his face was most artistically painted, the upper half +of it being vermillion, with a black circle round one eye, and a white +circle round the other; the lower half of a bright green, except the tip +of his nose, which was also vermillion. His leggings of scarlet cloth +were embroidered down the sides, and decorated with tufts of hair. The +band, or garter, which confines the leggings, is always an especial bit +of finery; and his were gorgeous, all embroidered with gay beads, and +strings and tassels of the liveliest colours hanging down to his ankle. +His moccasins were also beautifully worked with porcupine quills; he had +armlets and bracelets of silver; and round his head a silver band stuck +with tufts of moosehair died blue and red; and, conspicuous above all, +the eagle feather in his hair, showing he was a warrior, and had taken a +scalp--_i. e._ killed his man. Over his shoulders hung a blanket of +scarlet cloth, very long and ample, which he had thrown back a little, +so as to display his chest, on which a large outspread hand was painted +in white. It is impossible to describe the air of perfect +self-complacency with which this youth strutted about. Seeing my +attention fixed upon him, he came up and shook hands with me, repeating +"Bojou! bojou!"[23] Others immediately pressed forward also to shake +hands, or rather take my hand, for they do not _shake_ it; and I was +soon in the midst of a crowd of perhaps thirty or forty Indians, all +holding out their hands to me, or snatching mine, and repeating "bojou" +with every expression of delight and good-humour. + +This must suffice in the way of description, for I cannot further +particularise dresses; they were very various, and few so fine as that +of my young Pottowottomie. I remember another young man, who had a +common black beaver hat, all round which, in several silver bands, he +had stuck a profusion of feathers, and long tufts of dyed hair, so that +it formed a most gorgeous helmet. Some wore their hair hanging loose and +wild in elf-locks, but others again had combed and arranged it with much +care and pains. + +The men seemed to engross the finery; none of the women that I saw were +painted. Their blankets were mostly dark blue; some had strings of beads +round their necks, and silver armlets. The hair of some of the young +women was very prettily arranged, being parted smooth upon the forehead +and twisted in a knot behind, very much _a la Grecque_. There is, I +imagine, a very general and hearty aversion to cold water. + + * * * * * + +This morning there was a "talk" held in the commissioner's office, and +he kindly invited me to witness the proceedings. About twenty of their +principal men, including a venerable old chief, were present; the rest +stood outside, crowding the doors and windows, but never attempting to +enter, nor causing the slightest interruption. The old chief wore a +quantity of wampum, but was otherwise undistinguished, except by his +fine head and acute features. His gray hair was drawn back, and tied on +the top of his head with a single feather. All, as they entered, took me +by the hand with a quiet smile and a "bojou," to which I replied, as I +had been instructed, "Bojou, neeje!" (good-day, friend). They then sat +down upon the floor, all round the room. Mr. Johnston, Mrs. +Schoolcraft's brother, acted as interpreter, and the business proceeded +with the utmost gravity. + +After some whispering among themselves, an orator of the party addressed +the commissioner with great emphasis. Extending his hand and raising his +voice, he began: "Father, I am come to tell you a piece of my mind." But +when he had uttered a few sentences, Mr. Schoolcraft desired the +interpreter to tell him that it was useless to speak farther on _that_ +subject, (I understood it to relate to some land-payments). The orator +stopped immediately, and then, after a pause, he went up and took Mr. +Schoolcraft's hand with a friendly air, as if to show he was not +offended. Another orator then arose, and proceeded to the object of the +visit, which was to ask an allowance of corn, salt, and tobacco, while +they remained on the island, a request which I presume was granted, as +they departed with much apparent satisfaction. + +There was not a figure among them that was not a study for a painter; +and how I wished that my hand had been readier with the pencil to snatch +some of those picturesque heads and attitudes. But it was all so new. I +was so lost in gazing, listening, observing, and trying to comprehend, +that I could not make a single sketch, except the above, in most poor +and inadequate words. + + * * * * * + +The Indians here--and fresh parties are constantly arriving--are chiefly +Ottawas, from Arbre Croche, on the east of Lake Michigan; +Pottowottomies; and Winnebagos from the west of the lake; a few +Menomonies and Chippewas from the shores north-west of us; the occasion +of this assemblage being the same with all. They are on the way to the +Manitoolin Islands, to receive the presents annually distributed by the +British government to all those Indian tribes who were friendly to us +during the wars with America, and call themselves our allies and our +children, though living within the bounds of another state. Some of them +make a voyage of five hundred miles to receive a few blankets and +kettles; coasting along the shores, encamping at night, and paddling all +day from sunrise to sunset, living on the fish or game they may meet, +and the little provision they can carry with them, which consists +chiefly of parched Indian corn and bear's fat. Some are out on this +excursion during six weeks, or more, every year; returning to their +hunting grounds by the end of September, when the great hunting season +begins, which continues through October and November; they then return +to their villages and wintering grounds. This applies generally to the +tribes I find here, except the Ottawas of Arbre Croche, who have a good +deal of land in cultivation, and are more stationary and civilised than +the other Lake Indians. They have been for nearly a century under the +care of the French Jesuit missions, but do not seem to have made much +advance since Henry's time, and the days when they were organised under +Pontiac; they were even then considered superior in humanity and +intelligence to the Chippewas and Pottowottomies, and more inclined to +agriculture. After some most sultry weather, we have had a grand storm. +The wind shifted to the north-east, and rose to a hurricane. I was then +sitting with my Irish friend in the mission-house; and while the little +bay lay almost tranquil, gleam and shadow floating over its bosom, the +expanse of the main lake was like the ocean lashed to fury. On the east +side of the island the billows came "rolling with might," flinging +themselves in wrath and foam far up the land. It was a magnificent +spectacle. Returning home, I was anxious to see how the Indian +establishment had stood out the storm, and was surprised to find that +little or no damage had been done. I peeped into several, with a nod and +a _bojou_, and found the inmates very snug. Here and there a mat was +blown away, but none of the poles were displaced or blown down, which I +had firmly expected. + +Though all these lodges seem nearly alike to a casual observer, I was +soon aware of differences and gradations in the particular arrangements, +which are amusingly characteristic of the various inhabitants. There is +one lodge, a little to the east of us, which I call the Chateau. It is +rather larger and loftier than the others: the mats which cover it are +whiter and of a neater texture than usual. The blanket which hangs +before the opening is new and clean. The inmates, ten in number, are +well and handsomely dressed; even the women and children have abundance +of ornaments; and as for the gay cradle of the baby, I quite covet +it--it is so gorgeously elegant. I supposed at first that this must be +the lodge of a chief; but I have since understood that the chief is +seldom either so well lodged or so well dressed as the others, it being +a part of his policy to avoid everything like ostentation, or rather to +be ostentatiously poor and plain in his apparel and possessions. This +wigwam belongs to an Ottawa, remarkable for his skill in hunting, and +for his habitual abstinence from the "fire-water." He is a baptized +Roman Catholic, belonging to the mission at Arbre Croche, and is reputed +a rich man. + +Not far from this, and almost immediately in front of our house, stands +another wigwam, a most wretched concern. The owners have not mats enough +to screen them from the weather; and the bare poles are exposed on every +side. The woman, with her long neglected hair, is always seen cowering +despondingly over the embers of her fire, as if lost in sad reveries. +Two naked children are scrambling among the pebbles on the shore. The +man wrapt in a dirty ragged blanket, without a single ornament, looks +the image of savage inebriety and ferocity. Observe that these are the +two extremes, and that between them are many gradations of comfort, +order, and respectability. An Indian is _respectable_ in his own +community, in proportion as his wife and children look fat and well fed; +this being a proof of his prowess and success as a hunter, and his +consequent riches. + +I was loitering by the garden gate this evening, about sunset, looking +at the beautiful effects which the storm of the morning had left in the +sky and on the lake. I heard the sound of the Indian drum, mingled with +the shouts and yells and shrieks of the intoxicated savages, who were +drinking in front of the village whisky store;--when at this moment a +man came slowly up, whom I recognised as one of the Ottawa chiefs, who +had often attracted my attention. His name is Kim,e,wun, which signifies +the Rain, or rather "it rains." He now stood before me, one of the +noblest figures I ever beheld, above six feet high, erect as a forest +pine. A red and green handkerchief was twined round his head with much +elegance, and knotted in front, with the two ends projecting; his black +hair fell from beneath it, and his small black piercing eyes glittered +from among its masses, like stars glancing through the thunder clouds. +His ample blanket was thrown over his left shoulder, and brought under +his right arm, so as to leave it free and exposed; and a sculptor might +have envied the disposition of the whole drapery--it was so felicitous, +so richly graceful. He stood in a contemplative attitude, evidently +undecided whether he should join his drunken companions in their night +revel, or return, like a wise man, to his lodge and his mat. He advanced +a few steps, then turned, then paused and listened--then turned back +again. I retired a little within the gate, to watch, unseen, the issue +of the conflict. Alas! it was soon decided--the fatal temptation +prevailed over better thoughts. He suddenly drew his blanket round him, +and strided onwards in the direction of the village, treading the earth +with an air of defiance, and a step which would have become a prince. + +On returning home, I mentioned this scene to Mr. and Mrs. Schoolcraft, +as I do everything which strikes me, that I may profit by their remarks +and explanations. Mr. S. told me a laughable anecdote. + +A distinguished Pottowottomie warrior presented himself to the Indian +agent at Chicago, and observing that he was a very good man, very good +indeed--and a good friend to the Long-knives, (the Americans,) requested +a dram of whisky. The agent replied, that he never gave whisky to _good_ +men,--_good_ men never asked for whisky; and never drank it. It was only +_bad_ Indians who asked for whisky, or liked to drink it. "Then," +replied the Indian quickly in his broken English, "me damn rascal!" + + * * * * * + +The revel continued far through the night, for I heard the wild yelling +and whooping of the savages long after I had gone to rest. I can now +conceive what it must be to hear that shrill prolonged cry (unlike any +sound I ever heard in my life before) in the solitude of the forest, and +when it is the certain harbinger of death. + +It is surprising to me, considering the number of savages congregated +together, and the excess of drunkenness, that no mischief is done; that +there has been no fighting, no robberies committed, and that there is a +feeling of perfect security around me. The women, they tell me, have +taken away their husbands' knives and tomahawks, and hidden them--wisely +enough. At this time there are about twelve hundred Indians here. The +fort is empty--the garrison having been withdrawn as useless; and +perhaps there are not a hundred white men in the island,--rather +unequal odds! And then that fearful Michilimackinac in full view, with +all its horrid, murderous associations![24] But do not for a moment +imagine that I feel _fear_, or the slightest doubt of security; only a +sort of thrill which enhances the enjoyment I have in these wild +scenes--a thrill such as one feels in the presence of danger when most +safe from it--such as I felt when bending over the rapids of Niagara. + +The Indians, apparently, have no idea of correcting or restraining their +children; personal chastisement is unheard of. They say that before a +child has any understanding there is no use in correcting it; and when +old enough to understand, no one has a right to correct it. Thus the +fixed, inherent sentiment of personal independence grows up with the +Indians from earliest infancy. The will of an Indian child is not +forced; he has nothing to learn but what he sees done around him, and he +learns by imitation. I hear no scolding, no tones of command or reproof; +but I see no evil results from this mild system, for the general +reverence and affection of children for parents is delightful; where +there is no obedience exacted, there can be no rebellion; they dream not +of either, and all live in peace in the same lodge. + +I observe, while loitering among them, that they seldom raise their +voices, and they pronounce several words much more softly than we write +them. Wigwam, a house, they pronounce _wee-ga-waum_; moccasin, a shoe, +_muck-a-zeen_; manito, spirit, _mo-nee-do_,--lengthening the vowels, and +softening the aspirates. _Chippewa_ is properly _O,jib-way_; +_ab,bin,no,jee_ is a little child. The accent of the women is +particularly soft, with a sort of plaintive modulation, reminding me of +recitative. Their low laugh is quite musical, and has something +infantine in it. I sometimes hear them sing, and the strain is generally +in a minor key; but I cannot succeed in detecting or retaining an entire +or distinct tune. + + * * * * * + +There was a mission established on this island in 1823, for the +conversion of the Indians, and the education of the Indian and +half-breed children.[25] A large mission and school-house was erected, +and a neat little church. Those who were interested about the Indians +entertained the most sanguine expectations of the success of the +undertaking. But at present the extensive buildings of the mission-house +are used merely as Storehouses, or as lodgings; and if Mackinaw should +become a place of resort, they will probably be converted into a +fashionable hotel. The mission itself is established farther west, +somewhere near Green Bay, on Lake Michigan; and when overtaken by the +advancing stream of white civilisation, and the contagion which it +carries with it, no doubt it must retire yet farther. + +As for the little missionary church, it has been for some time disused, +the French Canadians and half-breed on the island being mostly Roman +Catholics. To-day, however, divine service was performed in it by the +Bishop of Michigan, to a congregation of about twenty persons. Around +the open doors of the church, a crowd of Indians, principally women, had +assembled, and a few came in, and stood leaning against the pews, with +their blankets folded round them, mute and still, and respectfully +attentive. + +Immediately before me sat a man who at once attracted my attention. He +was an Indian, evidently of unmixed blood, though wearing a long blanket +coat and a decent but worn hat. His eyes, during the whole service, were +fixed on those of the Bishop with a passionate, eager gaze; not for a +moment were they withdrawn: he seemed to devour every word both of the +office and the sermon, and, by the working of his features, I supposed +him to be strongly impressed--it was the very enthusiasm of devotion: +and yet, strange to say, not one word did he understand. When I inquired +how it was that his attention was so fixed, and that he seemed thus +moved by what he could not possibly comprehend, I was told, "it was by +the power of faith." I have the story of this man (whom I see +frequently) from Mr. Schoolcraft. His name is Chusco. He was formerly a +distinguished man in his tribe as professor of the _Meta_ and the +_Wabeno_,--that is, physician and conjuror; and no less as a professor +of whisky-drinking. His wife, who had been converted by one of the +missionaries, converted her husband. He had long resisted her preaching +and persuasion, but at last one day, as they were making maple sugar +together on an island, "he was suddenly thrown into an agony as if an +evil spirit haunted him, and from that moment had no peace till he had +been baptized and received into the Christian church. From this time he +avoided drunkenness, and surrendered his medicine-bag, manitos, and +implements of sorcery into the hands of Mr. Schoolcraft. Subsequently he +showed no indisposition to speak of the power and arts he had exercised. +He would not allow that it was all mere trick and deception, but +insisted that he had been enabled to perform certain cures, or +extraordinary magical operations, by the direct agency of the evil +spirit, _i. e._ the devil, who, now that he was become a Christian, had +forsaken him, and left him in peace." I was a little surprised to find, +in the course of this explanation, that there were educated and +intelligent people who had no more doubt of this direct satanic agency +than the poor Indian himself. + +Chusco has not touched ardent spirits for the last seven years, and, +ever since his conversion in the sugar-camp, he has firmly adhered to +his Christian profession. He is now between sixty and seventy years old, +with a countenance indicating more of mildness and simplicity than +intellect. Generally speaking, the men who practise medicine among the +Indians make a great mystery of their art, and of the herbs and nostrums +they are in the habit of using; and it were to be wished that one of +these converted medicine-men could be prevailed on to disclose some of +their medical arcana; for of the efficacy of some of their +prescriptions, apart from the mummery with which they are accompanied, +there can be no doubt. + + * * * * * + +We have taken several delicious drives over this lovely little island, +and traversed it in different directions. It is not more than three +miles in length, and wonderfully beautiful. There is no large or lofty +timber upon it, but a perpetual succession of low, rich groves, "alleys +green, dingles, and bosky dells." There is on the eastern coast a +natural arch or bridge, where the waters of the Lake have undermined the +rock, and left a fragment thrown across a chasm two hundred feet high. +Strawberries, raspberries, whortleberries, and cherries, were growing +everywhere wild, and in abundance. The whole island, when seen from a +distance, has the form of a turtle sleeping on the water: hence its +Indian appellation, Michilimackinac, which signifies the great turtle. +The same name is given to a spirit of great power and might, "a spirit +who never lies," whom the Indians invoke and consult before undertaking +any important or dangerous enterprise[26]; and this island, as I +apprehend, has been peculiarly dedicated to him; at all events, it has +been from time immemorial a place of note and sanctity among the +Indians. Its history, as far as the Europeans are connected with it, may +be told in a few words. + +After the destruction of the fort at Michilimackinac, and the massacre +of the garrison in 1763, the English removed the fort and the trading +post to this island, and it continued for a long time a station of great +importance. In 1796 it was ceded, with the whole of the Michigan +territory, to the United States. The fort was then strengthened, and +garrisoned by a detachment of General Wayne's army. + +In the war of 1813 it was taken and garrisoned by the British, who added +to the strength of the fortifications. The Americans were so sensible of +its importance, that they fitted out an expensive expedition in 1814 for +the purpose of retaking it, but were repulsed with the loss of one of +their bravest commanders and a great number of men, and forced to +retreat to their vessels. After this, Michilimackinac remained in +possession of the British, till at the peace it was again quietly +ceded, one hardly knows why, to the Americans, and in their possession +it now remains. The garrison, not being required in time of profound +peace, has been withdrawn. The pretty little fort remains. + +[Footnote 23: This universal Indian salutation is merely a corruption of +_bon jour_.] + +[Footnote 24: Michilimackinac was one of the forts surprised by the +Indians at the breaking out of the Pontiac war, when seventy British +soldiers with their officers were murdered and scalped. Henry gives a +most vivid description of this scene of horror in few words. He was +present, and escaped, through the friendship of an Indian (Wa,wa,tam) +who, in consequence of a dream in early youth, had adopted him as his +brother.] + +[Footnote 25: In 1828, Major Anderson, our Indian agent, computed the +number of Canadians and mixed breed married to Indian women, and +residing on the north shores of Lake Huron, and in the neighbourhood of +Michilimackinac, at nine hundred. This he called the _lowest_ estimate.] + +[Footnote 26: See Henry's Travels, p. 117.] + + * * * * * + + + MRS. SCHOOLCRAFT. + +The most delightful as well as most profitable hours I spent here, are +those passed in the society of Mrs. Schoolcraft. Her genuine refinement +and simplicity, and native taste for literature, are charming; and the +exceeding delicacy of her health, and the trials to which it is exposed, +interest all my womanly sympathies. While in conversation with her, new +ideas of the Indian character suggest themselves; new sources of +information are opened to me, such as are granted to few, and such as I +gratefully appreciate. She is proud of her Indian origin; she takes an +enthusiastic and enlightened interest in the welfare of her people, and +in their conversion to Christianity, being herself most unaffectedly +pious. But there is a melancholy and pity in her voice, when speaking of +them, as if she did indeed consider them a doomed race. We were +conversing to-day of her grandfather, Waub-Ojeeg, (the White-fisher), a +distinguished Chippewa chief and warrior, of whose life and exploits she +has promised to give me some connected particulars. Of her mother, +O,shah,gush,ko,da,wa,qua, she speaks with fond and even longing +affection, as if the very sight of this beloved mother would be +sufficient to restore her to health and strength. "I should be well if I +could see my mother," seems the predominant feeling. Nowhere is the +instinctive affection between parent and child so strong, so deep, so +sacred, as among these people. + +Celibacy in either sex is almost unknown among the Indians; equally rare +is all profligate excess. One instance I heard of a woman who had +remained unmarried from choice, not from accident or necessity. In +consequence of a dream in early youth (the Indians are great dreamers), +she not only regarded the sun as her manito or tutelary spirit (this had +been a common case), but considered herself especially dedicated, or in +fact married, to the luminary. She lived alone; she had built a wigwam +for herself, which was remarkably neat and commodious; she could use a +rifle, hunt, and provide herself with food and clothing. She had carved +a rude image of the sun, and set it up in her lodge; the husband's +place, the best mat, and a portion of food, were always appropriated to +this image. She lived to a great age, and no one ever interfered with +her mode of life, for that would have been contrary to all their ideas +of individual freedom. Suppose that, according to our most approved +European notions, the poor woman had been burnt at the stake, +corporeally or metaphorically, or hunted beyond the pale of the village, +for deviating from the law of custom, no doubt there would have been +directly a new female sect in the nation of the Chippewas, an order of +_wives of the sun_, and Chippewa vestal virgins; but these wise people +trusted to nature and common sense. The vocation apparently was not +generally admired, and found no imitators. + +Their laws, or rather their customs, command certain virtues and +practices, as truth, abstinence, courage, hospitality; but, they have no +prohibitory laws whatever that I could hear of. In this respect their +moral code has something of the spirit of Christianity, as contrasted +with the Hebrew dispensation. Polygamy is allowed, but it is not common; +the second wife is considered as subject to the first, who remains +mistress of the household, even though the younger wife should be the +favourite. Jealousy, however, is a strong passion among them: not only +has a man been known to murder a woman whose fidelity he suspected, but +Mr. Schoolcraft mentioned to me an instance of a woman, who, in a +transport of jealousy, had stabbed her husband. But these extremes are +very rare. + + + JEALOUSY. + +Some time ago, a young Chippewa girl conceived a violent passion for a +hunter of a different tribe, and followed him from his winter +hunting-ground to his own village. He was already married, and the wife, +not being inclined to admit the rival, drove this love-sick damsel away, +and treated her with the utmost indignity. The girl, in desperation, +offered herself as a slave to the wife, to carry wood and water, and lie +at her feet--anything to be admitted within the same lodge and only +look upon the object of her affection. She prevailed at length. Now, the +mere circumstance of her residing within the same lodge made her also +the wife of the man, according to the Indian custom; but apparently she +was content to forego all the privileges and honours of a wife. She +endured, for several months, with uncomplaining resignation, every +species of ill usage and cruelty on the part of the first wife, till at +length this woman, unable any longer to suffer even the presence of a +rival, watched an opportunity as the other entered the wigwam with a +load of fire-wood, and cleft her skull with the husband's tomahawk. + +"And did the man permit all this?" was the natural question. + +The answer was remarkable. "What could _he_ do? he could not help it: a +woman is always absolute mistress in her own wigwam!" + +In the end, the murder was not punished. The poor victim having fled +from a distant tribe, there were no relatives to take vengeance, or do +justice, and it concerned no one else. She lies buried at a short +distance from the Sault-Ste-Marie, where the murderess and her husband +yet live. + +Women sometimes perish of grief for the loss of a husband or a child, +and men have been known to starve themselves on the grave of a beloved +wife. Men have also been known to give up their wives to the traders for +goods and whisky; but this, though forbidden by no law, is considered +disreputable, or, as my informant expressed it, "only bad Indians do +so." + +I should doubt, from all I see and hear, that the Indian squaw is that +absolute slave, drudge, and nonentity in the community, which she has +been described. She is despotic in her lodge, and every thing it +contains is hers; even of the game her husband kills, she has the +uncontrolled disposal. If her husband does not please her, she scolds +and even cuffs him; and it is in the highest degree unmanly to answer or +strike her. I have seen here a woman scolding and quarrelling with her +husband, seize him by the hair, in a style that might have become +civilised Billingsgate, or christian St. Giles's, and the next day I +have beheld the same couple sit lovingly together on the sunny side of +the wigwam, she kneeling behind him, and combing and arranging the hair +she had been pulling from his head the day before; just such a group as +I remember to have seen about Naples, or the Campagna di Roma, with very +little obvious difference either in costume or complexion. + +There is no law against marrying near relations, but it is always +avoided; it is contrary to their customs: even first cousins do not +marry. The tie of blood seems considered as stronger than that of +marriage. A woman considers that she belongs more to her own relatives +than to her husband or his relatives; yet, notwithstanding this and the +facility of divorce, separations between husband and wife are very rare. +A couple will go on "squabbling and making it up" all their lives, +without having recourse to this expedient. If from displeasure, satiety, +or any other cause, a man sends his wife away, she goes back to her +relations, and invariably takes her children with her. The indefeasible +right of the mother to her offspring is Indian law, or rather, the +contrary notion does not seem to have entered their minds. A widow +remains subject to her husband's relations for two years after his +death; this is the decent period of mourning. At the end of two years, +she returns some of the presents made to her by her late husband, goes +back to her own relatives, and may marry again. + +These particulars, and others which may follow, apply to the Chippewas +and the Ottawas around me; other tribes have other customs. I speak +merely of those things which are brought under my own immediate +observation and attention. + + + INDIAN AMAZON. + +During the last American war of 1813, the young widow of a chief who had +been killed in battle, assumed his arms, ornaments, wampum, medal, and +went out with several war parties, in which she distinguished herself by +her exploits. Mrs. Schoolcraft, when a girl of eleven or twelve years +old, saw this woman, who was brought into the Fort at Mackinaw and +introduced to the commanding officer; and retains a lively recollection +of her appearance, and the interest and curiosity she excited. She was +rather below the middle size, slight and delicate in figure, like most +of the squaws;--covered with rich ornaments, silver armlets, with the +scalping-knife, pouch, medals, tomahawk--all the insignia, in short, of +an Indian warrior, except the war-paint and feathers. In the room hung a +large mirror, in which she surveyed herself with evident admiration and +delight, turning round and round before it, and laughing triumphantly. +She was invited to dine at the officers' mess, perhaps as a joke, but +conducted herself with so much intuitive propriety and decorum, that she +was dismissed with all honour and respect, and with handsome presents. I +could not learn what became of her afterwards. + +Heroic women are not rare among the Indians, women who can bravely +suffer--bravely die; but Amazonian women, female amateur warriors, are +very extraordinary; I never heard but of this one instance. Generally, +the squaws around me give me the impression of exceeding feminine +delicacy and modesty, and of the most submissive gentleness. Female +chiefs, however, are not unknown in Indian history. There was a famous +_Squaw Sachem_, or chief, in the time of the early settlers. The present +head chief of the Ottawas, a very fine old man, succeeded a female, who, +it is further said, abdicated in his favour. + +Even the standing rule or custom that women are never admitted to +councils has been evaded. At the treaty of Butte des Morts, in 1827, an +old Chippewa woman, the wife of a superannuated chief, appeared in place +of her husband, wearing his medal, and to all intents and purposes +representing him. The American commissioners treated her with studied +respect and distinction, and made her rich presents in cloth, ornaments, +tobacco, &c. On her return to her own village, she was waylaid and +murdered by a party of Menomonies. The next year two Menomonie women +were taken and put to death by the Chippewas: such is the Indian law of +retaliation. + + * * * * * + + + CHIPPEWA LANGUAGE. + +The language spoken around me is the Chippewa tongue, which, with little +variation, is spoken also by the Ottawas, Pottowottomies and +Missasaguas, and diffused all over the country of the lakes, and through +a population of about seventy thousand. It is in these countries what +the French is in Europe, the language of trade and diplomacy, understood +and spoken by those tribes, with whom it is not vernacular. In this +language Mrs. Schoolcraft generally speaks to her children and Indian +domestics. It is not only very sweet and musical to the ear, with its +soft inflections and lengthened vowels, but very complex and artificial +in its construction, and subject to strict grammatical rules; this, for +an unwritten language--for they have no alphabet--appears to me very +curious. The particulars which follow I have from Mr. Schoolcraft, who +has deeply studied the Chippewa language, and what he terms, not without +reason, the philosophy of its syntax. + +The great division of all words, and the pervading principle of the +language, is the distinction into animate and inanimate objects: not +only nouns, but adjectives, verbs, pronouns, are inflected in accordance +with this principle. The distinction, however, seems as arbitrary as +that between masculine and feminine nouns in some European languages. +Trees, for instance, are of the animate gender. The sun, moon, thunder +and lightning, a canoe, a pipe, a water-fall, are all animate. The verb +is not only modified to agree with the subject, it must be farther +modified to agree with the object spoken of, whether animate or +inanimate: an Indian cannot say simply, I love, I eat; the word must +express by its inflection what he loves or eats, whether it belong to +the animate or inanimate gender. + +What is curious enough is, that the noun or name can be conjugated like +a verb: the word _man_, for instance, can be inflected to express, I +_am_ a man, thou _art_ a man, he _is_ a man, I _was_ a man, I _will be_ +a man, and so forth; and the word husband can be so inflected as to +signify by a change of syllables, _I have a_ husband, and _I have not_ a +husband. + +They have three numbers, like the Greek, but of different signification: +they have the singular, and two plurals, one indefinite and general like +ours, and one including the persons or things present, and excluding +those which are absent; and distinct inflections are required for these +two plurals. + +There are distinct words to express certain distinctions of sex, as with +us; for instance, man, woman, father, mother, sister, brother, are +distinct words, but more commonly sex is distinguished by a masculine or +feminine syllable or termination. The word _equay_, a woman, is thus +used as a feminine termination where persons are concerned. Ogima, is a +chief, and Ogimquay, a female chief. + +There are certain words and expressions which are in a manner masculine +and feminine by some prescriptive right, and cannot be used +indifferently by the two sexes. Thus, one man addressing another says +"nichi," or "neejee," my friend. One woman addressing another woman +says, "Nin,dong,quay" (as nearly as I can imitate the sound), my friend, +or rather, I believe, female relation; and it would be indelicacy in one +sex, and arrogance in the other, to exchange these terms between man and +woman. When a woman is surprised at anything she sees or hears, she +exclaims, "N'ya!" When a man is surprised he exclaims, "T'ya!" and it +would be contrary to all Indian notions of propriety and decorum, if a +man condescended to say "N'ya!" or if a woman presumed to use the +masculine interjection "T'ya!" I could give you other curious instances +of the same kind. They have different words for eldest brother, eldest +sister, and for brother and sister in general. _Brother_ is a common +expression of kindness, _father_, of respect, and grandfather is a title +of very great respect. + +They have no form of imprecation or swearing. Closing the hand, then +throwing it forth and opening it suddenly with a jerk, is the strongest +gesture of contempt, and the words "bad dog," the strongest expression +of abuse and vituperation: both are unpardonable insults, and used +sparingly. + +A mother's term of endearment to her child is "My bird--my young one," +and sometimes playfully "My old man." When I asked what words were used +of reproach or menace, I was told that Indian children were _never_ +scolded--_never_ menaced. + +The form of salutation in common use between the Indians and the whites +is the _bo-jou_, borrowed from the early French settlers, the first +Europeans with whom the North-west Indians were brought in contact. +Among themselves there is no set form of salutation; when two friends +meet after a long absence, they take hands, and exclaim, "We see each +other!" + + * * * * * + + + STORY-TELLERS. + +I have been "working like beaver," to borrow an Indian phrase. This has +been a rich and busy day. What with listening, learning, scribbling, +transcribing, my wits as well as my pen are well nigh worn to a stump. +But I am not going to tell here of well-known Indian customs, and repeat +anecdotes to be found in all the popular books of travel. With the +general characteristics of Indian life and manners I suppose the reader +already familiar, from the works of Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles +Hoffman, and others. I can add nothing to these sources of information; +only bear testimony to the vigour, and liveliness and truth of the +pictures they have drawn. I am amused at every moment by the coincidence +between what I see and what I have read; but I must confess I never read +anything like the Indian fictions I have just been transcribing from the +first and highest authority. + +We can easily understand that among a people whose objects in life are +few and simple, society cannot be very brilliant, nor conversation very +amusing. The taciturnity of the Indians does not arise from any ideas of +gravity, decorum, or personal dignity, but rather from the dearth of +ideas and of subjects of interest. Henry mentions the dulness of the +long winters, when he was residing in the wigwam of his brother +Wa,wa,tam, whose family were yet benevolent and intelligent. He had +nothing to do but to smoke. Among the Indians, he says, the topics of +conversation are few, and are limited to the transactions of the day and +the incidents of the chase. The want of all variety in their lives, of +all intellectual amusement, is one cause of their passion for gambling +and for ardent spirits. The chase is to them a severe toil, not a +recreation--the means of existence, not the means of excitement, They +have, however an amusement which I do not remember to have seen noticed +anywhere. Like the Arabians, they have among them story-tellers by +profession, persons who go about from lodge to lodge amusing the inmates +with traditional tales, histories of the wars and exploits of their +ancestors, or inventions of their own, which are sometimes in the form +of allegories or parables, and are either intended to teach some moral +lesson, or are extravagant inventions, having no other aim or purpose +but to excite wonder or amusement. The story-tellers are estimated +according to their eloquence and powers of invention, and are always +welcome, sure of the best place in the lodge, and the choicest mess of +food wherever they go. Some individuals, not story-tellers by +profession, possess and exercise these gifts of memory and invention. +Mrs. Schoolcraft mentioned an Indian living at the Sault-Ste-Marie, who +in this manner amuses and instructs his family almost every night before +they go to rest. Her own mother is also celebrated for her stock of +traditional lore, and her poetical and inventive faculties, which she +inherited from her father Waub-Ojeeg, who was the greatest poet and +story-teller, as well as the greatest warrior, of his tribe. + +The stories I give you from Mrs. Schoolcraft's translation have at least +the merit of being genuine. Their very wildness and childishness, and +dissimilarity to all other fictions, will recommend them. The first +story was evidently intended to inculcate domestic union and brotherly +love. + + * * * * * + + + THE FORSAKEN BROTHER. + +It was a fine summer evening; the sun was scarcely an hour high, its +departing rays shone through the leaves of the tall elms that skirted a +little green knoll, whereon stood a solitary Indian lodge. The deep, +deep silence that reigned around seemed to the dwellers in that lonely +hut like the long sleep of death which was now about to close the eyes +of the chief of this poor family; his low breathing was answered by the +sighs and sobs of his wife and three children: two of the children were +almost grown up, one was yet a mere child. These were the only human +beings near the dying man: the door of the lodge[27] was thrown aside +to admit the refreshing breeze of the lake on the banks of which it +stood, and when the cool air visited the brow of the poor man, he felt a +momentary return of strength. Raising himself a little, he thus +addressed his weeping family:-- + +"I leave ye--I leave ye! thou who hast been my partner in life, thou +wilt not stay long behind me, thou wilt soon join me in the pleasant +land of spirits; therefore thou hast not long to suffer in this world. +But O my children, my poor children, you have just commenced life, and +unkindness, and ingratitude, and all wickedness, is in the scene before +you. I have contented myself with the company of your mother and +yourselves for many years, and you will find that my motive for +separating myself from other men has been to preserve you from evil +example. But I die content, if you, my children, promise me to love each +other, and on no account to forsake your youngest brother. Of him I give +you both particular charge--love him and cherish him." + +The father then became exhausted, and taking a hand of each of his elder +children, he continued--"My daughter, never forsake your little brother! +my son, never forsake your little brother!"--'Never! never!' they both +exclaimed:--"Never! never!" repeated the father, and expired. + +The poor man died happy, because he thought that his commands would be +obeyed: the sun sank down behind the trees and left a golden sky, which +the family were wont to behold with pleasure; but now no one heeded it. +The lodge, so still an hour before, was now filled with loud cries and +lamentations. + +Time wore heavily away. Five long moons had passed, and the sixth was +nearly full, when the mother also died. In her last moments, she pressed +upon her children the fulfilment of their promise to their departed +father. They readily renewed this promise, because they were as yet free +from any selfish motives to break it. The winter passed away and spring +came. The girl being the eldest, directed her brothers, and seemed to +feel a more tender and sisterly affection for the youngest, who was +sickly and delicate. The other boy soon showed signs of selfishness, +and thus addressed his sister:-- + +"My sister, are we always to live as if there were no other human beings +in the world? Must I be deprived of the pleasure of associating with +men? I go to seek the villages of my brothers and my tribe. I have +resolved, and you prevent me." + +The girl replied, "My brother, I do not say no to what you desire. We +were not forbidden to associate with men, but we were commanded to +cherish and never forsake each other--if we separate to follow our own +selfish desires, will it not oblige us to forsake him, our brother, whom +we are both bound to support?" + +The young man made no answer to this remonstrance, but taking up his bow +and arrows, he left the wigwam and returned no more. + +Many moons had come and gone after the young man's departure, and still +the girl ministered kindly and constantly to the wants of her little +brother. At length, however, she too began to weary of solitude and her +charge. Years added to her strength and her power of providing for the +household wants, but also brought the desire of society, and made her +solitude more and more irksome. At last she became quite impatient; she +thought only of herself, and cruelly resolved to abandon her little +brother, as her elder brother had done before. + +One day, after having collected all the provisions she had set apart for +emergencies, and brought a quantity of wood to the door, she said to her +little brother, "My brother, you must not stray far from the lodge. I am +going to seek our brother, I shall soon be back." Then taking her +bundle, she set off in search of the habitations of men. She soon found +them, and became so much occupied with the pleasures of her new life, +that all affection and remembrance of her brother were by degrees +effaced from her heart. At last she was married, and after _that_ she +never more thought of her poor helpless little brother, whom she had +abandoned in the woods. + +In the mean time the eldest brother had also settled on the shores of +the same lake, near which reposed the bones of his parents, and the +abode of his forsaken brother. + +Now, as soon as the little boy had eaten all the provisions left by his +sister, he was obliged to pick berries and dig up roots for food. Winter +came on, and the poor child was exposed to all its rigour; the snow +covered the earth; he was forced to quit the lodge in search of food, +and strayed about without shelter or home: sometimes he passed the night +in the clefts of old trees, and ate the fragments left by the wolves. +Soon he had no other resource; and in seeking for food he became so +fearless of these animals, that he would sit close to them while they +devoured their prey, and the fierce hungry wolves themselves seemed to +pity his condition, and would always leave something for him. Thus he +lived on the bounty of the wolves till the spring. As soon as the lake +was free from ice, he followed his new friends and companions to the +shore. Now it happened that his brother was fishing in his canoe, out +far on the lake, when he thought he heard a cry as of a child, and +wondered how any one could exist on the bleak shore. He listened again +more attentively, and heard the cry repeated, and he paddled towards the +shore as quickly as possible, and there he beheld and recognised his +little brother, whom he heard singing in a plaintive voice:-- + + "Neesya, neesya, shyegwich gushuh! + Ween, ne myeeguniwh!" + +That is, "my brother, my brother, I am now turning into a wolf, I am +turning into a wolf." At the end of his song he howled like a wolf, and +his brother approaching, was dismayed to find him half a wolf and half a +human being. He however leaped to the shore, strove to catch him in his +arms, and said, soothingly, "My brother, my brother, come to me!" But +the boy eluded his grasp and fled, still singing as he fled, "I am +turning into a wolf! I am turning into a wolf!" and howling frightfully +at the end of his song. + +His elder brother, conscious-struck, and feeling all his love return, +exclaimed in anguish, "My brother, O my brother, come to me!" but the +nearer he approached the child the more rapidly the transformation +proceeded. Still he sung, and howling called upon his brother and sister +alternately in his song, till the change was complete, and he fled +towards the wood a perfect wolf. At last he cried, "I am a wolf!" and +bounded out of sight. + +The young man felt the bitterness of remorse all his days; and the +sister, when she heard the fate of her little brother whom she had +promised to protect and cherish, wept many tears, and never ceased to +mourn him till she died. + +The next story seems intended to admonish parental ambition, and +inculcate filial obedience. The bird here called the robin is three +times as large as the English robin redbreast, but in its form and +habits very similar. + +[Footnote 27: The skin or blanket suspended before the opening.] + + * * * * * + + + THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN. + +An old man had an only son, a fine promising lad, who had arrived at +that age when the Chippewas thought it proper to make the long and final +fast which is to secure through life a guardian spirit, on whom future +prosperity or adversity are to depend, and who forms the character to +great and noble deeds.[28] + +This old man was ambitious that his son should surpass all others in +whatever was deemed most wise and great among his tribe; and to this +effect he thought it necessary that his son should fast a much longer +time than any of those persons celebrated for their uncommon power or +wisdom, and whose fame he envied. + +He therefore directed his son to prepare with great ceremony for the +important event: after he had been in the bath several times, he ordered +him to lie down on a clean mat in a little lodge, expressly prepared for +him, telling him at the same time to bear himself like a man, and that +at the expiration of twelve days he should receive food and his +father's blessing. + +The youth carefully observed these injunctions, lying with his face +covered, with perfect composure, awaiting those spiritual visitations +which were to seal his good or evil fortune. His father visited him +every morning regularly to encourage him to perseverance--expatiating on +the renown and honour which would attend him through life, if he +accomplished the full term prescribed. To these exhortations the boy +never replied, but lay still without a murmur till the ninth day, when +he thus addressed his father--"My father, my dreams are ominous of evil. +May I break my fast now, and at a more propitious time make a new fast?" + +The father answered--"My son, you know not what you ask; if you rise +now, all your glory will depart. Wait patiently a little longer, you +have but three days yet to accomplish what I desire: you know it is for +your own good." + +The son assented, and covering himself up close, he lay till the +eleventh day, when he repeated his request to his father. But the same +answer was given by the old man, who, however, added that the next day +he would himself prepare his first meal, and bring it to him. The boy +remained silent, and lay like death. No one could have known he was +living, but by the gentle heaving of his breast. + +The next morning, the father, elate at having gained his object, +prepared a repast for his son, and hastened to set it before him. On +coming to the door, he was surprised to hear his son talking to himself; +he stooped to listen, and looking through a small aperture, he was more +astonished when he saw his son painted with vermillion on his breast, +and in the act of finishing his work by laying on the paint as far as +his hand could reach on his shoulders, saying at the same time, "My +father has destroyed me as a man--he would not listen to my request--he +will now be the loser, while I shall be for ever happy in my new state, +since I have been obedient to my parent. He alone will be a sufferer, +for the Spirit is a just one, though not propitious to me. He has shown +me pity, and now I must go!" + +At that moment the father, in despair, burst into the lodge, exclaiming, +"My son, my son, do not leave me." But his son, with the quickness of a +bird, had flown up to the top of the lodge, and perched upon the highest +pole, a beautiful Robin Redbreast. He looked down on his father with +pity beaming in his eyes, and told him he should always love to be near +man's dwellings--that he should always be seen happy and contented by +the constant sprightliness and joy he would display--and that he would +ever strive to cheer his father by his songs, which would be some +consolation to him for the loss of the glory he had expected--and that +although no longer a man, he would ever be the harbinger of peace and +joy to the human race. + +[Footnote 28: This custom is universal among the Chippewas and their +kindred tribes. At a certain age, about twelve or fourteen, the youth or +girl is shut up in a separate lodge to fast and dream. The usual term is +from three to five or six days, or even longer. The object which during +this time is most frequently presented in sleep--the disturbed feverish +sleep of an exhausted frame and excited imagination--is the tutelary +spirit or manito of the future life: it is the sun or moon or evening +star; an eagle, a moose deer, a crane, a bat, &c. Wa,wa,tam, the Indian +friend of Henry the traveller, had dreamed of a white man, whom the +Great Spirit brought to him in his hand and presented as his brother. +This dream saved Henry's life.] + + * * * * * + + + RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. + +It is a mistake to suppose that these Indians are idolaters; heathens +and pagans you may call them if you will; but the belief in one Great +Spirit, who created all things, and is paramount to all things, and the +belief in the distinction between body and soul, and the immortality of +the latter--these two sublime principles pervade their wildest +superstitions; but though none doubt of a future state, they have no +distinct or universal tenets with regard to the condition of the soul +after death. Each individual seems to have his own thoughts on the +subject, and some doubtless never think about it at all. In general, +however, their idea of a paradise (the land of spirits) is some far off +country towards the south-west, abounding in sunshine, and placid lakes, +and rivers full of fish, and forests full of game, whither they are +transported by the Great Spirit, and where those who are separated on +earth meet again in happiness, and part no more. + +Not only man, but everything animate, is spirit, and destined to +immortality. According to the Indians, (and Sir Humphry Davy,) nothing +dies, nothing is destroyed; what we look upon as death and destruction +is only transition and change. The ancients, it is said--for I cannot +speak from my own knowledge--without telescopes or logarithms, divined +the grandest principles of astronomy, and calculated the revolutions of +the planets; and so these Indians, who never heard of philosophy or +chemistry, have contrived to hit upon some of the profoundest truths in +physics and metaphysics; but they seem content, like Jaques, "to praise +God, and make no boast of it." + +In some things, it is true, they are as far as possible from orthodox. +Their idea of a hell seems altogether vague and negative. It consists in +a temporary rejection from the land of good spirits, in a separation +from lost relatives and friends, in being doomed to wander up and down +desolately, having no fixed abode, weary, restless, and melancholy. To +how many is the Indian hell already realised on this earth? Physical +pain, or any pain which calls for the exercise of courage, and which it +is manliness to meet and endure, does not apparently enter into their +notions of _punishment_. They believe in evil spirits, but the idea of +_the_ Evil _Spirit_, a permitted agency of evil and mischief, who +divides with the Great Spirit the empire of the universe--who +contradicts or renders nugatory His will, and takes especially in hand +the province of tormenting sinners--of the devil, in short, they +certainly had not an idea, till it was introduced by Europeans.[29] +Those Indians whose politeness will not allow them to contradict this +article of the white man's faith, still insist that the place of eternal +torment was never intended for the Red-skins, the especial favourites of +the Great Spirit, but for white men _only_. + +[Footnote 29: History of the Moravian Missions. Mr. Schoolcraft]. + + + INDIAN CUSTOMS. + +Formerly it was customary with Chippewas to bury many articles with the +dead, such as would be useful on their journey to the land of spirits. + +Henry describes in a touching manner the interment of a young girl, with +an axe, snow-shoes, a small kettle, several pairs of moccasins, her own +ornaments, and strings of beads; and, because it was a female--destined, +it seems, to toil and carry burthens in the other world as well as +this--the _carrying-belt_ and the paddle. The last act before the +burial, performed by the poor mother, crying over the dead body of the +child, was that of taking from it a lock of hair for a memorial. "While +she did this," says Henry, "I endeavoured to console her by offering the +usual arguments, that the child was happy in being released from the +miseries of this life, and that she should forbear to grieve, because it +would be restored to her in another world, happy and everlasting. She +answered, that she knew it well, and that by the lock of hair she should +know her daughter in the other world, for she would _take it with +her_--alluding to the time when this relic, with the carrying-belt and +axe, would be placed in her own grave." + +This custom of burying property with the dead was formerly carried to +excess from the piety and generosity of surviving friends, until a +chief, greatly respected and admired among them for his bravery and +talents, took an ingenious method of giving his people a lesson. He was +seized with a fit of illness, and after a few days expired, or seemed to +expire. But after lying in this death-trance for some hours, he came to +life again, and recovering his voice and senses, he informed his friends +that he had been half-way to the land of spirits; that he found the road +thither crowded with the souls of the dead, all so heavily laden with +the guns, kettles, axes, blankets, and other articles buried with them, +that their journey was retarded, and they complained grievously of the +burthens which the love of their friends had laid on them. "I will tell +you," said Gitchee Gauzinee, for that was his name, "our fathers have +been wrong; they have buried too many things with the dead. It is too +burthensome to them, and they have complained to me bitterly. There are +many who, by reason of the heavy loads they bear, have not yet reached +the land of spirits. Clothing will be very acceptable to the dead, also +his moccasins to travel in, and his pipe to refresh him on the way; but +let his other possessions be divided among his relatives and friends." + +This sensible hint was taken in good part. The custom of kindling a fire +on the grave, to light the departed spirit on its road to the land of +the dead, is very general, and will remind you of the oriental customs. + + AN INDIAN LEGEND. + +A Chippewa chief, heading his war party against the Sioux, received an +arrow in his breast, and fell. No warrior thus slain is ever buried. +According to ancient custom, he was placed in a sitting posture, with +his back against a tree, his face towards his flying enemies; his +head-dress, ornaments, and all his war-equipments, were arranged, with +care, and thus he was left. But the chief was not dead; though he could +neither move nor speak, he was sensible to all that passed. When he +found himself abandoned by his friends as one dead, he was seized with a +paroxysm of rage and anguish. When they took leave of him, lamenting, he +rose up and followed them, but they saw him not. He pursued their track, +and wheresoever they went, he went; when they ran, he ran; when they +encamped and slept, he did the like; but he could not eat with them, and +when he spoke they heard him not. "Is it possible," he cried, exalting +his voice, "that my brothers do not see me--do not hear me? Will you +suffer me to bleed to death without stanching my wounds? will you let me +starve in the midst of food? have my fellow-warriors already forgotten +me? is there none who will recollect my face, or offer me a morsel of +flesh?" Thus he lamented and upbraided, but the sound of his voice +reached them not. If they heard it at all they mistook it for that of +the summer wind rustling among the leaves. + +The war party returned to the village: the women and children came out +to welcome them. The chief heard the inquiries for himself, and the +lamentations of his friends and relatives over his death. "It is not +true!" he shrieked with a loud voice, "I am not dead,--I was not left on +the field; I am here! I live! I move! see me! touch me! I shall again +raise my spear in the battle, and sound my drum at the feast!" But no +one heeded him; they mistook his voice for the wind rising and whistling +among the boughs. He walked to his wigwam, and found his wife tearing +her hair, and weeping for his death. He tried to comfort her, but she +seemed insensible of his presence. He besought her to bind up his +wounds--she moved not. He put his mouth close to her ear, and shouted, +"I am hungry, give me food!" She thought she heard a mosquito buzzing in +her ear. The chief, enraged past endurance, now summoned all his +strength, and struck her a violent blow on the temple; on which she +raised her hand to her head, and remarked, "I feel a slight aching +here!" + +When the chief beheld these things, he began to reflect that possibly +his body might have remained on the field of battle, while only his +spirit was among his friends; so he determined to go back and seek his +body. It was four days' journey thither, and on the last day, just as he +was approaching the spot, he saw a flame in the path before him; he +endeavoured to step aside and pass it, but was still opposed; whichever +way he turned, still it was before him. "Thou spirit," he exclaimed in +anger, "why dost thou oppose me? knowest thou not that I too am a +spirit, and seek only to re-enter my body? thinkest thou to make me turn +back? Know that I was never conquered by the enemies of my nation, and +will not be conquered by thee!" So saying, he made an effort, and leapt +through the opposing flame. He found himself seated under a tree on the +field of battle, in all his warlike array, his bow and arrows at his +side, just as he had been left by his friends, and looking up beheld a +great war-eagle seated on the boughs; it was the manito of whom he had +dreamed in his youth, his tutelary spirit who had kept watch over his +body for eight days, and prevented the ravenous beasts and carrion birds +from devouring it. In the end, he bound up his wounds and sustained +himself by his bow and arrows, until he reached his village; there he +was received with transport by his wife and friends, and concluded his +account of his adventures by telling them that it is four days' journey +to the land of spirits, and that the spirit stood in need of a fire +every night; therefore the friends and relatives should build the +funeral fire for four nights upon the grave, otherwise the spirit would +be obliged to build and tend the fire itself,--a task which is always +considered slavish and irksome. + +Such is the tradition by which the Chippewas account for the custom of +lighting the funeral fire. + + + INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS. + +The Indians have a very fanciful mythology, which would make exquisite +machinery for poetry. It is quite distinct from the polytheism of the +Greeks. The Greek mythology personified all nature, and materialised all +abstractions: the Indians spiritualise all nature. They do not indeed +place dryads and fauns in their woods, nor naiads in their streams; but +every tree has a spirit; every rock, every river, every star that +glistens, every wind that breathes, has a spirit; every thing they +cannot comprehend is a spirit: this is the ready solution of every +mystery, or rather makes every thing around them a mystery as great as +the blending of soul and body in humanity. A watch, a compass, a gun, +have each their spirit. The thunder is an angry spirit; the aurora +borealis, dancing and rejoicing spirits; the milky way is the path of +spirits. Birds, perhaps from their aerial movements, they consider as in +some way particularly connected with the invisible world of spirits. Not +only all animals have souls, but it is the settled belief of the +Chippewa Indians that their souls will fare the better in another world, +in the precise ratio that their lives and enjoyments are curtailed in +this: hence, they have no remorse in hunting; but when they have killed +a bear or rattle-snake, they solemnly beg his pardon, and excuse +themselves on the plea of necessity. + +Besides this general _spiritualisation_ of the whole universe, which to +an Indian is all spirit in diversity of forms (how delighted Bishop +Berkeley would have been with them!), they have certain mythologic +existences. Manabozho is a being very analogous to the Seeva of the +Hindoo mythology. The four cardinal points are spirits, the west being +the oldest and the father of the others, by a beautiful girl, who, one +day while bathing, suffered the west wind to blow upon her. Weeng is the +spirit of sleep, with numerous little subordinate spirits, his +emissaries, whose employment is to close the eyes of mortals, and by +tapping on their foreheads _knock_ them to sleep. Then they have +Weendigos--great giants and cannibals, like the Ascaparts and Morgantes +of the old romances; and little tiny spirits or fairies, which haunt +the woods and cataracts. The Nibanaba, half human half fish, dwell in +the waters of Lake Superior. Ghosts are plentiful, and so are +transformations, as you have seen. The racoon was once a shell lying on +the lake shore, and vivified by the sun-beams: the Indian name of the +racoon, _aisebun_, is literally, _he was a shell_. The brains of a +wicked adulteress, whose skull was beaten to pieces against the rocks, +as it tumbled down a cataract, became the white fish.[30] + +As to the belief in sorcery, spells, talismans, incantations, all which +go by the general name of _medicine_, it is unbounded. Henry mentions, +that among the goods which some traders took up the country to exchange +for furs, they had a large collection of the little rude prints, +published for children, at a halfpenny a piece--I recollect such when I +was a child. They sold these at a high price, for _medicines_ (_i. e._ +talismans), and found them a very profitable and popular article of +commerce. One of these, a little print of a sailor kissing his +sweetheart, was an esteemed _medicine_ among the young, and eagerly +purchased for a love-spell. A soldier presenting his gun, or brandishing +his sabre, was a medicine to promote warlike courage--and so on. + +The medicines and manitos of the Indians will remind you of the fetishes +of the negroes. + +[Footnote 30: I have heard the particulars of this wild story of the +origin of the white-fish, but cannot remember them. I think the woman +was put to death by her sons. Most of the above particulars I learned +from oral communication, and from some of the papers published by Mr. +Schoolcraft. This gentleman and others instituted a society at Detroit +(1832), called the _Algic Society_, for "evangelising the north-western +tribes, inquiring into their history and superstitions, and promoting +education, agriculture, industry, peace, and temperance among them."] + +With regard to the belief in omens and incantations, I should like to +see it ascertained how far we civilised Christians, with all our +schools, our pastors, and our masters, are in advance of these +(so-called) savages?[31] + + Who would believe that with a smile, whose blessing + Would, like the patriarch's, soothe a dying hour; + With voice as low, as gentle, as caressing, + As e'er won maiden's lip in moonlit bower; + With look, like patient Job's, eschewing evil; + With motions graceful as a bird's in air; + Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil, + That e'er clench'd fingers in a captive's hair!--Halleck. + +Mr. Johnson tells me, what pleases me much, that the Indians like me, +and are gratified by my presence, and the interest I express for them, +and that I am the subject of much conversation and speculation. Being in +manners and complexion unlike the European women they have been +accustomed to see, they have given me, he says, a name among themselves +expressive of the most obvious characteristic in my appearance, and call +me the _white_ or _fair English chieftainess_ (Ogima-quay). I go among +them quite familiarly, and am always received with smiling good-humour. +With the assistance of a few words, as ninni, a man; minno, good; +mudjee, bad; mee gwedge, thank you; maja, good-bye; with nods, smiles, +signs, and friendly hand-taking,--we hold most eloquent conversations. +Even the little babies smile at me out of their comical cradles, slung +at their mothers' backs, and with the help of beads and lolly-pops from +the village store, I get on amazingly well; only when asked for some +"English milk" (rum or whisky), I frown as much as I can, and cry +Mudjee! Mudjee! bad! bad! then they laugh, and we are friends again. + +The scenes I at first described are of constant reiteration. Every +morning when I leave my room and come out into the porch, I have to +exchange _bo-jou!_ and shake hands with some twenty or thirty of my +dingy, dusky, greasy, painted, blanketed smiling friends: but to-day we +have had some new scenes. + +First, however, I forgot to tell you that yesterday afternoon there came +in a numerous fleet of canoes, thirty or forty at least; and the wind +blowing fresh from the west, each with its square blanket sail came +scudding over the waters with astonishing velocity; it was a beautiful +sight. Then there was the usual bustle, and wigwam building, +fire-lighting and cooking, all along the shore, which is now excessively +crowded: and yelling, shouting, drinking and dancing at the whisky +store. But all this I have formerly described to you. + +[Footnote 31: "One of the most distinguished men of the age, who has +left a reputation which will be as lasting as it is great, was, when a +boy, in constant fear of a very able but unmerciful schoolmaster, and in +the state of mind which that constant fear produced, he fixed upon a +great spider for his fetish (or manito), and used every day to pray to +it that he might not be flogged."--_The Doctor_, vol. v. + +When a child, I was myself taken to a witch (or medicine woman) to be +cured of an accidental burn by charms and incantations. I was then about +six years old, and have a very distinct recollection of the whole +scene, which left a strong and frightful impression on my childish +fancy.] + + + AN INDIAN TALK. + +I presume it was in consequence of these new arrivals that we had a +grand _talk_ or council after breakfast this morning, at which I was +permitted to be present, or, as the French say, to _assist_. + +There were fifty-four of their chiefs, or rather chief men, present, and +not less that two hundred Indians round the house, their dark eager +faces filling up the windows and doorways; but they were silent, quiet, +and none but those first admitted attempted to enter. All as they came +up took my hand: some I had seen before, and some were entire strangers, +but there was no look of surprise, and all was ease and grave +self-possession: a set of more perfect gentlemen, in _manner_, I never +met with. + +The council was convened to ask them if they would consent to receive +goods instead of dollars in payment of the pensions due to them on the +sale of their lands, and which, by the conditions of sale, were to be +paid in money. So completely do the white men reckon on having +everything their own way with the poor Indians, that a trader had +contracted with the government to supply the goods which the Indians had +not yet consented to receive, and was actually now on the island, having +come with me in the steamer. + +As the chiefs entered, they sat down on the floor. The principal person +was a venerable old man with a bald head, who did not speak. The orator +of the party wore a long gray blanket-coat, crimson sash, and black +neckcloth, with leggings and moccasins. There was also a well-looking +young man dressed in the European fashion, and in black; he was of +mixed blood, French and Indian; he had been carried early to Europe by +the Catholic priests, had been educated in the Propaganda College at +Rome, and was lately come out to settle as a teacher and interpreter +among his people. He was the only person besides Mr. Schoolcraft who was +seated on a chair, and he watched the proceedings with great attention. +On examining one by one the assembled chiefs, I remarked five or six who +had good heads--well developed, intellectual, and benevolent. The old +chief, and my friend the Rain, were conspicuous among them, and also an +old man with a fine square head and lofty brow, like the picture of +Red-jacket[32], and a young man with a pleasing countenance, and two +scalps hung as ornaments to his belt. Some faces were mild and vacant, +some were stupid and coarse, but in none was there a trace of insolence +or ferocity, or of that vile expression I have seen in a depraved +European of the lowest class. The worst physiognomy was that of a famous +medicine-man--it was mean and cunning. Not only the countenances but the +features differed; even the distinct characteristics of the Indian, the +small deep-set eye, breadth of face and high cheek-bones, were not +universal: there were among them regular features, oval faces, aquiline +noses. One chief had a head and face which reminded me strongly of the +Marquis Wellesley. All looked dirty, grave, and picturesque, and most of +them, on taking their seats on the ground, pulled out their +tobacco-pouches and lighted their wooden pipes. + +The proposition made to them was evidently displeasing. The orator, +after whispering with the chief, made a long and vehement speech in a +loud emphatic voice, and at every pause the auditors exclaimed, "Hah!" +in sign of approbation. I remarked that he sometimes made a jest which +called forth a general smile, even from the interpreter and Mr. +Schoolcraft. Only a few sentences were translated: from which I +understood that they all considered this offer as a violation of the +treaty which their great father at Washington, the president, had made +with them. They did not want goods,--they wanted the stipulated dollars. +Many of their young men had procured goods from the traders on credit, +and depended on the money due to them to discharge their debts; and, in +short, the refusal was distinct and decided. I am afraid, however, it +will not avail them much.[33] The mean, petty-trader style in which the +American officials make (and _break_) their treaties with the Indians is +shameful. I met with none who attempted to deny it or excuse it. Mr. +Schoolcraft told me that during the time he had been Indian agent +(five-and-twenty years) he had never known the Indians to violate a +treaty or break a promise. He could not say the same of his government, +and the present business appeared most distasteful to him; but he was +obliged to obey the order from the head of his department. + +The Indians themselves make witty jests on the bad faith of the "Big +Knives."[34] "My father!" said a distinguished Pottowottomie chief at +the treaty of Chicago--"my father, you have made several promises to +your red children, and you have put the money down upon the table: but +as fast as you put it upon the top, it has slipped away to the bottom, +in a manner that is incomprehensible to us. We do not know what becomes +of it. When we get together, and divide it among ourselves, it is +nothing! and we remain as poor as ever. My father, I only explain to you +the words of my brethren. We can only see what is before our eyes, and +are unable to comprehend all things." Then pointing to a newspaper which +lay on the table--"You see that paper on the table before you--it is +double. You can see what is upon the upper sheet, but you cannot see +what is below. We cannot tell how our money goes!" + +On the present occasion, two orators spoke, and the council lasted above +two hours: but I left the room long before the proceedings were over. I +must needs confess it to you--I cannot overcome one disagreeable +obstacle to a near communion with these people. The genuine Indian has a +very peculiar odour, unlike anything of the kind that ever annoyed my +fastidious senses. One ought to get over these things; and after all it +is not so offensive as it is peculiar. You have probably heard that +horses brought up in the white settlements can smell an Indian at a +great distance, and show evident signs of perturbation and terror +whenever they snuff an Indian in the air. For myself, in passing over +the place on which a lodge has stood, and whence it has been removed +several hours, though it was the hard pebbly beach on the water edge, I +could scent the Indian in the atmosphere. You can imagine, therefore, +that fifty of them in one room, added to the smell of their tobacco, +which is detestable, and the smoking and all its unmentionable +consequences, drove me from the spot. The truth is, that a woman of very +delicate and fastidious habits must learn to endure some very +disagreeable things, or she had best stay at home. + +[Footnote 32: The picture by Weir, in the possession of Samuel Ward, +Esq., of New York, which see--or rather see the beautiful lines of +Halleck:-- + + "If he were with me, King of Tuscarora! + Gazing as I upon thy portrait now, + In all its medalled, fring'd, and beaded glory, + Its eyes' dark beauty and its tranquil brow-- + Its brow, half martial, and half diplomatic, + Its eye, upsoaring like an eagle's wings-- + Well might he boast that we, the democratic, + Outrival Europe, even in our kings!"] + +[Footnote 33: Since my return to England I found the following passage +in the Morning Chronicle, extracted from the American papers:----"The +Indians of Michigan have committed several shocking murders, in +consequence of the payments due to them on land-treaties being made in +goods instead of money. Serious alarm on that subject prevails in the +State." + +The wretched individuals murdered were probably settlers, quite innocent +in this business, probably women and children; but such is the +_well-known_ Indian law of retaliation.] + +[Footnote 34: The Indians gave the name of Cheemokomaun (Long Knives, or +_Big Knives_) to the Americans at the time they were defeated by General +Wayne, near the Miami river, in 1795, and suffered so severely from the +_sabres_ of the cavalry.] + + + THE INDIAN DANCE. + +In the afternoon Mr. Johnson informed me that the Indians were preparing +to dance, for my particular amusement. I was, of course, most thankful +and delighted. Almost in the same moment, I heard their yells and +shrieks resounding along the shore, mingled with the measured monotonous +drum. We had taken our place on an elevated platform behind the house--a +kind of little lawn on the hill-side;--the precipitous rocks, clothed +with trees and bushes, rose high like a wall above us: the glorious +sunshine of a cloudless summer's day was over our heads--the dazzling +blue lake and its islands at our feet. Soft and elysian in its beauty +was all around. And when these wild and more than half-naked figures +came up, leaping, whooping, drumming, shrieking, hideously painted, and +flourishing clubs, tomahawks, javelins, it was like a masque of fiends +breaking into paradise! The rabble of Comus might have boasted +themselves comely in comparison, even though no self-deluding potion had +bleared their eyes and intellect. It was a grotesque and horrible +phantasmagoria. Of their style of clothing, I say nothing--for, as it is +wisely said, nothing can come of _nothing:_--only if "all symbols be +clothes," according to a great modern philosopher--my Indian friends +were as little symbolical as you can dare to imagine:--_passons par la_. +If the blankets and leggings were thrown aside, all the resources of the +Indian toilette, all their store of feathers, and bears' claws, hawks' +bells, vermilion, soot, and verdigris, were brought into requisition as +decoration: and no two were alike. One man wore three or four heads of +hair, composed of the manes and tails of animals; another wore a pair of +deers' horns; another was _coiffe_ with the skins and feathers of a +crane or some such bird--its long bill projecting from his forehead; +another had the shell of a small turtle suspended from his back, and +dangling behind; another used the skin of a polecat for the same +purpose. One had painted his right leg with red bars, and his left leg +with green lines: parti-coloured eyes and faces, green noses, and blue +chins, or _vice versa_, were general. I observed that in this grotesque +deformity, in the care with which every thing like symmetry or harmony +in form or colours was avoided, there was something evidently studied +and artistical. The orchestra was composed of two drums and two rattles, +and a chorus of voices. The song was without melody--a perpetual +repetition of three or four notes, melancholy, harsh, and monotonous. A +flag was stuck in the ground, and round this they began their dance--if +dance it could be called,--the movements consisting of the alternate +raising of one foot, then the other, and swinging the body to and fro. +Every now and then they paused, and sent forth that dreadful, prolonged, +tremulous yell, which re-echoed from the cliffs, and pierced my ears and +thrilled along my nerves. The whole exhibition was of that finished +barbarism, that it was at least _complete_ in its way, and for a time I +looked on with curiosity and interest. But that innate loathing which +dwells within me for all that is discordant and deformed, rendered it +anything but pleasant to witness. It grated horribly upon all my +perceptions. In the midst, one of those odd and unaccountable +transitions of thought caused, by some mental or physical re-action--the +law which brings extremes in contrast together--came across me. I was +reminded that even on this very day last year I was seated in a box at +the opera, looking at Carlotta Grisi and Perrot dancing, or rather +flying through the galoppe in "Benyowsky." The oddity of this sudden +association made me laugh, which being interpreted into the expression +of my highest approbation, they became every moment more horribly +ferocious and animated; redoubled the vigour of their detestably awkward +movements and the shrillness of their savage yells, till I began +involuntarily to look about for some means of escape--but this would +have been absolutely rude, and I restrained myself. + +I should not forget to mention that the figures of most of the men were +superb; more agile and elegant, however, than muscular, more fitted for +the chase than for labour, with small and well-formed hands and feet. +When the dance was ended, a young warrior, leaving the group, sat +himself down on a little knoll to rest. His spear lay across his knees, +and he reposed his head upon his hand. He was not painted, except with a +little vermilion on his chest, and on his head he wore only the wing of +the osprey. He sat there, a model for a sculptor. The perfection of his +form, the graceful abandonment of his attitude, reminded me of a young +Mercury, or of Thorwaldsen's "Shepherd Boy." I went up to speak to him, +and thanked him for his exertions in the dance, which indeed had been +conspicuous; and then, for want of something else to say, I asked him if +he had a wife and children? The whole expression of his face suddenly +changed, and with an air as tenderly coy as that of a young girl +listening to the first whisper of a lover, he looked down and answered +softly, "Kah-ween!"--No, indeed! Feeling that I had for the first time +embarrassed an Indian, I withdrew, really as much out of countenance as +the youth himself. I did not ask him his name, for that were a violation +of the Indian form of good breeding, but I learn that he is called _the +Pouncing Hawk_. West's comparison of the Apollo Belvedere to a young +Mohawk warrior has more of likelihood and reasonableness than I ever +believed or acknowledged before. + +A keg of tobacco and a barrel of flour were given to them, and they +dispersed as they came, drumming, and yelling and leaping, and +flourishing their clubs and war hatchets. + + * * * * * + +In the evening we paddled in a canoe over to the opposite island, with +the intention of landing and looking at the site of an intended +missionary settlement for the Indians. But no sooner did the keel of our +canoe touch the woody shore than we were enveloped in a cloud of +mosquitoes. It was in vain to think of dislodging the enemy, and after +one or two attempts we were fairly beaten back. Mackinaw, as seen from +hence, has exactly the form its name implies, that of a large turtle +sleeping on the water. I believe Mackinaw is merely the abbreviation of +Michilimackinac, _the great turtle_. It was a mass of purple shadow; and +just at one extremity the sun plunged into the lake, leaving its +reflection on the water, like the skirts of a robe of fire, floating. +This too vanished, and we returned in the soft calm twilight, singing as +we went. + + * * * * * + + July 29. + +Where was I? Where did I leave off four days ago? O--at Mackinaw! that +fairy island, which I shall never see again, and which I should have +dearly liked to filch from the Americans, and carry home to you in my +dressing-box, or, perdie, in my toothpick case; but, good lack, to see +the ups and downs of this (new) world. I take up my tale a hundred +miles from it; but before I tell you where I am now, I must take you +over the ground, or rather over the water, in a proper and journal-like +style. + + + PROCEED TO SAULT-SAINTE-MARIE. + +I was sitting last Friday, at sultry noon-tide, under the shadow of a +schooner which had just anchored alongside the little pier--sketching +and dreaming--when up came a messenger, breathless, to say that a boat +was going off for the Sault-Sainte-Marie, in which I could be +accommodated with a passage. Now this was precisely what I had been +wishing and waiting for, and yet I heard the information with an emotion +of regret. I had become every day more attached to the society of Mrs. +Schoolcraft, more interested about her; and the idea of parting, and +parting suddenly, took me by surprise, and was anything but agreeable. +On reaching the house, I found all in movement, and learned, to my +inexpressible delight, that my friend would take the opportunity of +paying a visit to her mother and family, and, with her children, was to +accompany me on my voyage. + +We had but one hour to prepare packages, provisions, everything--and in +one hour all was ready. + +This voyage of two days was to be made in a little Canadian bateau, +rowed by five _voyageurs_ from the Sault. The boat might have carried +fifteen persons, hardly more, and was rather clumsy in form. The two +ends were appropriated to the rowers, baggage, and provisions; in the +centre there was a clear space, with a locker on each side, on which we +sat or reclined, having stowed away in them our smaller and more +valuable packages. This was the internal arrangement. + +The distance to the Sault, or, as the Americans call it, the _Sou_, is +not more than thirty miles over land, as the bird flies; but the whole +region being one mass of tangled forest and swamp, infested with bears +and mosquitoes, it is seldom crossed but in winter, and in snow-shoes. +The usual route by water is ninety-four miles. + +At three o'clock in the afternoon, with a favourable breeze, we launched +forth on the lake, and having rowed about a mile from the shore, the +little square sail was hoisted, and away we went merrily over the blue +waves. + + + THE VOYAGEURS. + +For a detailed account of the _voyageurs_, or Canadian boatmen, their +peculiar condition and mode of life, I refer you to Washington Irving's +"Astoria." What he describes them to _have been_, and what Henry +represents them in his time, they are even now, in these regions of the +upper lakes.[35] But the voyageurs in our boat were not favourable +specimens of their very amusing and peculiar class. They were fatigued +with rowing for three days previous, and had only two helpless women to +deal with. As soon, therefore, as the sail was hoisted, two began to +play cards on the top of a keg, the other two went to sleep. The +youngest and most intelligent of the set, a lively half-breed boy of +eighteen, took the helm. He told us with great self-complacency that he +was _captain_, and that it was already the third time that he had been +elected by his comrades to this dignity; but I cannot say he had a very +obedient crew. + +[Footnote 35: As I shall have much to say hereafter of this peculiar +class of people, to save both reader and author time and trouble, the +passage is here given:-- + +"The voyageurs form a kind of confraternity in the Canadas, like the +arrieros or carriers of Spain. The dress of these people is generally +half civilised, half savage. They wear a capote or surcoat, made of a +blanket, a striped cotton shirt, cloth trowsers or leathern leggings, +moccasins of deer-skin, and a belt of variegated worsted, from which are +suspended the knife, tobacco-pouch, and other articles. Their language +is of the same piebald character, being a French patois embroidered with +English and Italian words and phrases. They are generally of French +descent, and inherit much of the gaiety and lightness of heart of their +ancestors; they inherit, too, a fund of civility and complaisance, and +instead of that hardness and grossness, which men in laborious life are +apt to indulge towards each other, they are mutually obliging and +accommodating, interchanging kind offices, yielding each other +assistance and comfort in every emergency, and using the familiar +appellations of _cousin_ and _brother_, when there is in fact no +relationship. No men are more submissive to their leaders and employers, +more capable of enduring hardships, or more good-humoured under +privations. Never are they so happy as when on long and rough +expeditions, towing up rivers or coasting lakes. They are dexterous +boatmen, vigorous and adroit with the oar or paddle, and will row from +morning till night without a murmur. The steersman often sings an old +French song with some regular burthen in which they all join, keeping +time with their oars. If at any time they flag in spirits or relax in +exertion, it is but necessary to strike up a song of this kind to put +them all in fresh spirits and activity."--Astoria, vol. i. chap. 4.] + + + LAND ON GOOSE ISLAND. + +About seven o'clock we landed to cook our supper on an island which is +commemorated by Henry as the Isle des Outardes, and is now Goose +Island. Mrs. Schoolcraft undertook the general management with all the +alertness of one accustomed to these impromptu arrangements, and I did +my best in my new vocation--dragged one or two blasted boughs to the +fire, the least of them twice as big as myself, and laid the cloth upon +the pebbly beach. The enormous fire was to keep off the mosquitoes, in +which we succeeded pretty well, swallowing, however, as much smoke as +would have dried us externally into hams or red herrings. We then +returned to the boat, spread a bed for the children (who were my +delight) in the bottom of it with mats and blankets, and disposed our +own, on the lockers on each side, with buffalo skins, blankets, shawls, +cloaks, and whatever was available, with my writing-case for a pillow. + +After sunset, the breeze fell: the men were urged to row, but pleaded +fatigue, and that they were hired for the day, and not for the night +(which is the custom). One by one they sulkily abandoned their oars, and +sunk to sleep under their blankets, all but our young captain: like +Ulysses when steering away from Calypso-- + + "Placed at the helm he sat, and watched the skies, + Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes." + +He kept himself awake by singing hymns, in which Mrs. Schoolcraft joined +him. I lay still, looking up at the stars and listening: when there was +a pause in the singing, we kept up the conversation, fearing lest sleep +should overcome our only pilot and guardian. Thus we floated on beneath +that divine canopy--"which love had spread to curtain the sleeping +world:" it was a most lovely and blessed night, bright and calm and +warm, and we made some little way, for both wind and current were in our +favour. + +As we were coasting a little shadowy island, our captain mentioned a +strange circumstance, very illustrative of Indian life and character. A +short time ago a young Chippewa hunter, whom he knew, was shooting +squirrels on this spot, when by some chance a large blighted pine fell +upon him, knocking him down and crushing his leg, which was fractured in +two places. He could not rise, he could not remove the tree which was +lying across his broken leg. He was in a little uninhabited island, +without the slightest probability of passing aid; and to lie there and +starve to death in agonies, seemed all that was left to him. In this +dilemma, with all the fortitude and promptitude of resource of a +thorough-bred Indian, he took out his knife, cut off his own leg, bound +it up, dragged himself along the ground to his hunting canoe, and +paddled himself home to his wigwam on a distant island, where the cure +of his wound was completed. The man is still alive. + +Perhaps this story appears incredible. I believe it firmly. At the time, +and since then, I heard other instances of Indian fortitude, and of +their courage and skill in performing some of the boldest and most +critical operations in surgery, which I really cannot venture to set +down. But I will mention one or two of the least marvellous. There was a +young chief, and famous hunter, whose arm was shattered by the bursting +of his rifle. No one would venture the amputation, and it was bound up +with certain herbs and dressings, accompanied with many magical +ceremonies. The young man, who seemed aware of the inefficacy of such +expedients, waited till the moment when he should be left alone. He had +meantime, with pain and difficulty, hatched one of his knives into a +saw; with this he completed the amputation of his own arm; and when his +relations appeared they found the arm lying at one end of the wigwam, +and the patient sitting at the other, with his wound bound up, and +smoking with great tranquillity. + + * * * * * + + + VOYAGE ON LAKE HURON. + +We remained in conversation till long after midnight; then the boat was +moored to a tree, but kept off shore, for fear of the mosquitoes, and we +addressed ourselves to sleep. I remember lying awake for some minutes, +looking up at the quiet stars, and around upon the dark weltering +waters, and at the faint waning moon, just suspended on the very edge of +the horizon. I saw it sink--sink into the bosom of the lake as if to +rest, and then with a thought of far-off friends, and a most fervent +thanksgiving, I dropped asleep. It is odd that I did not think of +praying for protection, and that no sense of fear came over me; it +seemed as if the eye of God himself looked down upon me; that I _was_ +protected. I do not say I _thought_ this any more than the unweaned +child in its cradle; but I had some such feeling of unconscious trust +and love, now I recall those moments. + +I slept, however, uneasily, not being yet accustomed to a board and a +blanket; _ca viendra avec le temps_. About dawn I awoke in a sort of +stupor, but after bathing my face and hands over the boat side, I felt +refreshed. The voyageurs, after a good night's rest, were in better +humour, and took manfully to their oars. Soon after sunrise, we passed +round that very conspicuous cape, famous in the history of north-west +adventure, called the "Grand Detour," half-way between Mackinaw and the +Sault. Now, if you look at the map, you will see that our course was +henceforth quite altered; we had been running down the coast of the +mainland towards the east; we had now to turn short round the point, and +steer almost due west; hence its most fitting name, the Grand Detour. +The wind, hitherto favourable, was now dead against us. This part of +Lake Huron is studded with little islands, which, as well as the +neighbouring mainland, are all uninhabited, yet clothed with the +richest, loveliest, most fantastic vegetation, and no doubt swarming +with animal life. + +I cannot, I dare not, attempt to describe to you the strange sensation +one has, thus thrown for a time beyond the bounds of civilised humanity, +or, indeed, any humanity; nor the wild yet solemn reveries which come +over one in the midst of this wilderness of woods and waters. All was so +solitary, so grand in its solitude, as if nature unviolated sufficed to +herself. Two days and nights the solitude was unbroken; not a trace of +social life, not a human being, not a canoe, not even a deserted wigwam, +met our view. Our little boat held on its way over the placid lake, and +among green tufted islands; and we its inmates, two women, differing in +clime, nation, complexion, strangers to each other but a few days ago, +might have fancied ourselves alone in a new-born world. + + + THE ENCAMPMENT. + +We landed to boil our kettle, and breakfast on a point of the island of +St. Joseph's. This most beautiful island is between thirty and forty +miles in length, and nearly a hundred miles in circumference, and +towards the centre the land is high and picturesque. They tell me that +on the other side of the island there is a settlement of whites and +Indians. Another large island, Drummond's Isle, was for a short time in +view. We had also a settlement here, but it was unaccountably +surrendered to the Americans. If now you look at the map, you will +wonder, as I did, that in retaining St. Joseph's and the Manitoolin +islands, we gave up Drummond's Island. Both these islands had forts and +garrisons during the war. + +By the time breakfast was over, the children had gathered some fine +strawberries; the heat had now become almost intolerable, and unluckily +we had no awning. The men rowed languidly, and we made but little way; +we coasted along the south shore of St. Joseph's, through fields of +rushes, miles in extent, across Lake George, and Muddy Lake (the name, I +thought, must be a libel, for it was as clear as crystal and as blue as +heaven; but they say that, like a sulky temper, the least ruffle of wind +turns it as black as ditchwater, and it does not subside again in a +hurry), and then came a succession of openings spotted with lovely +islands, all solitary. The sky was without a cloud, a speck--except when +the great fish-eagle was descried sailing over its blue depths--the +water without a wave. We were too hot and too languid to converse. +Nothing disturbed the deep noon-tide stillness, but the dip of the oars, +or the spring and splash of a sturgeon as he leapt from the surface of +the lake, leaving a circle of little wavelets spreading around. All the +islands we passed were so woody, and so infested with mosquitoes, that +we could not land and light our fire, till we reached the entrance of +St. Mary's River, between Nebish island and the mainland. + + + MOSQUITOES. + +Here was a well-known spot, a sort of little opening on a flat shore, +called the _Encampment_, because a party of boatmen coming down from +Lake Superior, and camping here for the night, were surprised by the +frost, and obliged to remain the whole winter till the opening of the +ice, in the spring. After rowing all this hot day till seven o'clock +against the wind (what there was of it), and against the current coming +rapidly and strongly down from Lake Superior, we did at length reach +this promised harbour of rest and refreshment. Alas! there was neither +for us; the moment our boat touched the shore, we were enveloped in a +cloud of mosquitoes. Fires were lighted instantly, six were burning in a +circle at once; we were well nigh suffocated and smoke-dried--all in +vain. At last we left the voyageurs to boil the kettle, and retreated to +our boat, desiring them to make us fast to a tree by a long rope; then +each of us taking an oar--I only wish you could have seen us--we pushed +off from the land, while the children were sweeping away the enemy with +green boughs. This being done, we commenced supper, really half +famished, and were too much engrossed to look about us. Suddenly we were +again surrounded by our adversaries; they came upon us in swarms, in +clouds, in myriads, entering our eyes, our noses, our mouths, stinging +till the blood followed. We had, unawares, and while absorbed in our +culinary operations, drifted into the shore, got entangled among the +roots of trees, and were with difficulty extricated, presenting all the +time a fair mark and a rich banquet for our detested tormentors. The +dear children cried with agony and impatience, and but for shame I could +almost have cried too. + +I had suffered from these plagues in Italy; you too, by this time, may +probably know what they are in the southern countries of the old world; +but 'tis a jest, believe me, to encountering a forest full of them in +these wild regions. I had heard much, and much was I forewarned, but +never could have conceived the torture they can inflict, nor the +impossibility of escape, defence, or endurance. Some amiable person who +took an especial interest in our future welfare, in enumerating the +torments prepared for hardened sinners, assures us that they will be +stung by mosquitoes, all made of brass, and as large as black +beetles--he was an ignoramus and a bungler; you may credit me, that the +brass is quite an unnecessary improvement, and the increase of size +equally superfluous. Mosquitoes, as they exist in this upper world, are +as pretty and perfect a plague as the most ingenious amateur +sinner-tormentor ever devised. Observe, that a mosquito does not sting +like a wasp, or a gad-fly; he has a long proboscis like an awl, with +which he bores your veins and pumps the life-blood out of you, leaving +venom and fever behind. Enough of mosquitoes--I will never again do more +than allude to them; only they are enough to make Philosophy go hang +herself, and Patience swear like a Turk or a trooper. + +Well, we left this most detestable and inhospitable shore as soon as +possible, but the enemy followed us, and we did not soon get rid of +them; night came on, and we were still twenty miles below the Sault. + + + THE SAULT-SAINTE-MARIE. + +I offered an extra gratuity to the men, if they would keep to their oars +without interruption; and then, fairly exhausted, lay down on my locker +and blanket. But whenever I woke from uneasy, restless slumbers, _there_ +was Mrs. Schoolcraft, bending over her sleeping children, and waving off +the mosquitoes, singing all the time a low, melancholy Indian song; +while the northern lights were streaming and dancing in the sky, and the +fitful moaning of the wind, the gathering clouds, and chilly atmosphere +foretold a change of weather. This would have been the _comble de +malheur_. When daylight came, we passed Sugar Island, where immense +quantities of maple sugar are made every spring, and just as the rain +began to fall in earnest we arrived at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. On one +side of the river, Mrs. Schoolcraft was welcomed by her mother; and on +the other, my friends, the MacMurrays, received me with delighted and +delightful hospitality. I went to bed--oh! the luxury!--and slept for +six hours. + + * * * * * + +Enough of solemn reveries on starlit lakes--enough--too much--of self +and self-communings; I turn over a new leaf, and this shall be a chapter +of geography, and topography, natural philosophy, and such wise-like +things. Draw the curtain first, for if I look out any longer on those +surging rapids, I shall certainly turn giddy--forget all the memoranda +I have been collecting for you, lose my reckoning, and become +unintelligible to you and myself too. + +This river of St. Mary is, like the Detroit and the St. Clair, already +described, properly a strait, the channel of communication between Lake +Superior and Lake Huron. About ten miles higher up, the great ocean-lake +narrows to a point; then, forcing a channel through the high lands, +comes rushing along till it meets with a downward ledge, or cliff, over +which it throws itself in foam and fury, tearing a path for its billows +through the rocks. The descent is about twenty-seven feet in three +quarters of a mile, but the rush begins above, and the tumult continues +below the fall, so that, on the whole, the eye embraces an expanse of +white foam measuring about a mile each way, the effect being exactly +that of the ocean breaking on a rocky shore: not so terrific, nor on so +large a scale, as the rapids of Niagara, but quite as beautiful--quite +as animated. + +What the French call a _saut_ (leap), we term a _fall_; the +Sault-Sainte-Marie is translated into the falls of St. Mary. By this +name the rapids are often mentioned, but the village on their shore +still retains its old name, and is called the Sault. I do not know why +the beautiful river and its glorious cataracts should have been placed +under the peculiar patronage of the blessed Virgin; perhaps from the +union of exceeding loveliness with irresistible power; or, more +probably, because the first adventurers reached the spot on some day +hallowed in the calendar. + +The French, ever active and enterprising, were the first who penetrated +to this wild region. They had an important trading post here early in +the last century, and also a small fort. They were ceded, with the rest +of the country, to Great Britain, in 1762.[36] I wonder whether, at that +time, the young king or any of his ministers had the least conception of +the value and immensity of the magnificent country thrown into our +possession, or gave a thought to the responsibilities it brought with +it!--to be sure they made good haste, both king and ministers, to get +rid of most of the responsibility. The American war began, and at its +conclusion the south shore of St. Mary's, and the fort, were surrendered +to the Americans. + +The rapids of Niagara, as I once told you, reminded me of a monstrous +tiger at play, and threw me into a sort of ecstatic terror; but these +rapids of St. Mary suggest quite another idea: as they come fretting and +fuming down, curling up their light foam, and wreathing their glancing +billows round the opposing rocks, with a sort of passionate self-will, +they remind me of an exquisitely beautiful woman in a fit of rage, or of +Walter Scott's simile--"one of the Graces possessed by a Fury;"--there +is no terror in their anger, only the sense of excitement and +loveliness; when it has spent this sudden, transient fit of impatience, +the beautiful river resumes all its placid dignity, and holds on its +course, deep and wide enough to float a squadron of seventy-fours, and +rapid and pellucid as a mountain trout-stream. + + + FORT AND SETTLEMENTS. + +Here, as everywhere else, I am struck by the difference between the two +shores. On the American side there is a settlement of whites, as well as +a large village of Chippewas; there is also a mission (I believe of the +Methodists), for the conversion of the Indians. The fort, which has been +lately strengthened, is merely a strong and high enclosure, surrounded +with pickets of cedar-wood; within the stockade are the barracks, and +the principal trading store. This fortress is called Fort Brady, after +that gallant officer whom I have already mentioned to you. The garrison +may be very effective for aught I know, but I never beheld such an +unmilitary-looking set. When I was there to-day, the sentinels were +lounging up and down in their flannel jackets and shirt sleeves, with +muskets thrown over their shoulders--just for all the world like +ploughboys going to shoot sparrows; however, they are in keeping with +the fortress of cedar-posts, and no doubt both answer their purpose very +well. The village is increasing into a town, and the commercial +advantages of its situation must raise it ere long to a place of +importance. + +On the Canada side we have not even these demonstrations of power or +prosperity. Nearly opposite to the American fort there is a small +factory belonging to the North-west Fur Company; below this, a few +miserable log-huts, occupied by some French Canadians and voyageurs in +the service of the company, a set of lawless _mauvais sujets_, from all +I can learn. Lower down stands the house of Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, with +the Chippewa village under their care and tuition; but most of the +wigwams and their inhabitants are now on their way down the lake, to +join the congress at the Manitoolin Islands. A lofty eminence, partly +cleared and partly clothed with forest, rises behind the house, on which +stand the little missionary church and school-house for the use of the +Indian converts. From the summit of this hill you look over the traverse +into Lake Superior, and the two giant capes which guard its entrance. +One of these capes is called Gros-Cap, from its bold and lofty cliffs, +the yet unviolated haunt of the eagle. The opposite cape is more +accessible, and bears an Indian name, which I cannot pretend to spell, +but which signifies "the place of the Iroquois' bones:" it was the scene +of a wild and terrific tradition. At the time that the Iroquois (or Six +Nations) were driven before the French and Hurons up to the western +lakes, they endeavoured to possess themselves of the hunting-grounds of +the Chippewas, and hence a bitter and lasting feud between the two +nations. The Iroquois, after defeating the Chippewas, encamped, a +thousand strong, upon this point, where, thinking themselves secure, +they made a war feast to torture and devour their prisoners. The +Chippewas, from the opposite shore, beheld the sufferings and +humiliation of their friends, and, roused to sudden fury by the sight, +collected their warriors, only three hundred in all, crossed the +channel, and at break of day fell upon the Iroquois, now sleeping after +their horrible excesses, and massacred every one of them, men, women, +and children. Of their own party they lost but one warrior, who was +stabbed with an awl by an old woman who was sitting at the entrance of +her wigwam, stitching moccasins: thus runs the tale. The bodies were +left to bleach on the shore, and they say that bones and skulls are +still found there. + + + THE WHITE-FISH. + +Here, at the foot of the rapids, the celebrated white-fish of the lakes +is caught in its highest perfection. The people down below[37], who +boast of the excellence of the white-fish, really know nothing of the +matter. There is no more comparison between the white-fish of the lower +lakes and the white-fish of St. Mary's than between plaice and turbot, +or between a clam and a Sandwich oyster. I ought to be a judge, who have +eaten them fresh out of the river four times a day, and I declare to you +that I never tasted anything of the fish kind half so exquisite. If the +Roman Apicius had lived in these latter days, he would certainly have +made a voyage up Lake Huron to breakfast on the white-fish of St. Mary's +river, and would _not_ have returned in dudgeon, as he did, from the +coast of Africa. But the epicures of our degenerate times have nothing +of that gastronomical enthusiasm which inspired their ancient models, +else we should have them all coming here to eat white-fish at the Sault, +and scorning cockney white-bait. Henry declares that the flavour of the +white-fish is "beyond any comparison whatever," and I add my testimony +thereto--_probatum est!_ + +I have eaten tunny in the gulf of Genoa, anchovies fresh out of the bay +of Naples, and trout of the Salz-kammergut, and divers other fishy +dainties rich and rare,--but the exquisite, the refined white-fish +exceeds them all; concerning those cannibal fish (mullets were they, or +lampreys?) which Lucullus fed in his fish-ponds, I cannot speak, never +having tasted them; but even if _they_ could be resuscitated, I would +not degrade the refined, the delicate white-fish by a comparison with +any such barbarian luxury. + +But seriously, and badinage apart, it is really the most luxurious +delicacy that swims the waters. It is said that people never tire of +them. Mr. MacMurray tells me that he has eaten them every day of his +life for seven years, and that his relish for them is undiminished. The +enormous quantities caught here, and in the bays and creeks round Lake +Superior, remind me of herrings in the lochs of Scotland; besides +subsisting the inhabitants, whites and Indians, during great part of the +year, vast quantities are cured and barrelled every fall, and sent down +to the eastern states. Not less than eight thousand barrels were shipped +last year. + +[Footnote 36: The first British commandant of the fort was that +miserable Lieutenant Jemette, who was scalped at the massacre at +Michilimackinac.] + +[Footnote 37: That is, in the neighbourhood of Lake Ontario and Lake +Erie.] + + + THE SKEVAT. + +These enterprising Yankees have seized upon another profitable +speculation here: there is a fish found in great quantities in the upper +part of Lake Superior, called the skevat[38], so exceedingly rich, +luscious, and oily, when fresh, as to be quite uneatable. A gentleman +here told me that he had tried it, and though not very squeamish at any +time, and then very hungry, he could not get beyond the first two or +three mouthfuls; but it has been lately discovered that this fish makes +a most luxurious pickle. It is very excellent, but so rich even in this +state, that, like the tunny _marinee_, it is necessary either to taste +abstemiously, or die heroically of indigestion. This fish is becoming a +fashionable luxury, and in one of the stores here I saw three hundred +barrels ready for embarkation. The Americans have several schooners on +the lakes employed in these fisheries: we have not one. They have +besides planned a ship canal through the portage here, which will open a +communication for large vessels between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, as +our Welland Canal has united Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. The ground has +already been surveyed for this purpose. When this canal is completed, a +vessel may load in the Thames, and discharge her burthen at the upper +end of Lake Superior. I hope you have a map before you, that you may +take in at a glance this wonderful extent of inland navigation. Ought a +country possessing it, and all the means of life beside, to remain poor, +oppressed, uncultivated, unknown? + + + THE RAPIDS. + +But to return to my beautiful river and glorious rapids, which are to be +treated, you see, as a man treats a passionate beauty--he does not +oppose her, for that were madness--but he gets _round her_. Well, on +the American side, further down the river, is the house of Tanner, the +Indian interpreter, of whose story you may have heard--for, as I +remember, it excited some attention in England. He is a European of +unmixed blood, with the language, manners, habits of a Red-skin. He had +been kidnapped somewhere on the American frontiers when a mere boy, and +brought up among the Chippewas. He afterwards returned to civilised +life, and having relearned his own language, drew up a very entertaining +and valuable account of his adopted tribe. He is now in the American +service here, having an Indian wife, and is still attached to his Indian +mode of life. + +Just above the fort is the ancient burial-place of the Chippewas. I need +not tell you of the profound veneration with which all the Indian tribes +regard the places of their dead. In all their treaties for the cession +of their lands, they stipulate with the white man for the inviolability +of their sepulchres. They did the same with regard to this place, but I +am sorry to say that it has not been attended to, for in enlarging one +side of the fort, they have considerably encroached on the cemetery. The +outrage excited both the sorrow and indignation of some of my friends +here, but there is no redress. Perhaps it was this circumstance that +gave rise to the allusion of the Indian chief here, when in speaking of +the French he said, "_They_ never molested the places of our dead!" + +The view of the rapids from this spot is inexpressibly beautiful, and it +has besides another attraction, which makes it to me a frequent lounge +whenever I cross the river;--but of this by-and-bye. To complete my +sketch of the localities, I will only add, that the whole country around +is in its primitive state, covered with the interminable swamp and +forest, where the bear and the moose-deer roam--and lakes and living +streams where the beaver builds his hut.[39] The cariboo, or rein-deer, +is still found on the northern shores. + +The hunting-grounds of the Chippewas are in the immediate neighbourhood, +and extend all round Lake Superior. Beyond these, on the north, are the +Chippewyans; and on the south, the Sioux, Ottagamies, and +Pottowottomies. + +I might here multiply facts and details, but I have been obliged to +throw these particulars together in haste, just to give you an idea of +my present situation. Time presses, and my sojourn in this remote and +interesting spot is like to be of short duration. + +[Footnote 38: I spell the word as pronounced, never having seen it +written.] + +[Footnote 39: The beaver is, however, becoming rare in these regions. It +is a curious fact connected with the physiology and psychology of +instinct, that the beaver is found to change its instincts and modes of +life, as it has been more and more persecuted, and, instead of being a +gregarious, it is now a solitary animal. The beavers, which are found +living in solitary holes instead of communities and villages, the +Indians call by a name which signifies _Old Bachelor_.] + + * * * * * + + + MRS. JOHNSTON. + +One of the gratifications I had anticipated in coming hither--my +strongest inducement perhaps--was an introduction to the mother of my +two friends, of whom her children so delighted to speak, and of whom I +had heard much from other sources. A woman of pure Indian blood, of a +race celebrated in these regions as warriors and chiefs from generation +to generation, who had never resided within the pale of what we call +civilised life, whose habits and manners were those of a genuine Indian +squaw, and whose talents and domestic virtues commanded the highest +respect, was, as you may suppose, an object of the deepest interest to +me. I observed that not only her own children, but her two sons-in-law, +Mr. MacMurray and Mr. Schoolcraft, both educated in good society, the +one a clergyman and the other a man of science and literature, looked up +to this remarkable woman with sentiments of affection and veneration. + +As soon, then, as I was a little refreshed after my two nights on the +lake, and my battles with the mosquitoes, we paddled over the river to +dine with Mrs. Johnston: she resides in a large log-house close upon the +shore; there is a little portico in front with seats, and the interior +is most comfortable. The old lady herself is rather large in person, +with the strongest marked Indian features, a countenance open, +benevolent, and intelligent, and a manner perfectly easy--simple, yet +with something of motherly dignity, becoming the head of her large +family. She received me most affectionately, and we entered into +conversation--Mrs. Schoolcraft, who looked all animation and happiness, +acting as interpreter. Mrs. Johnston speaks no English, but can +understand it a little, and the Canadian French still better; but in her +own language she is eloquent, and her voice, like that of her people, +low and musical; many kind words were exchanged, and when I said +anything that pleased her, she laughed softly like a child. I was not +well and much fevered, and I remember she took me in her arms, laid me +down on a couch, and began to rub my feet, soothing and caressing me. +She called me Nindannis, daughter, and I called her Neengai, mother +(though how different from my own fair mother, I thought, as I looked up +gratefully in her dark Indian face!). She set before us the best dressed +and best served dinner I had seen since I left Toronto, and presided at +her table, and did the honours of her house with unembarrassed, +unaffected propriety. My attempts to speak Indian caused, of course, +considerable amusement; if I do not make progress, it will not be for +want of teaching and teachers. + + + AN INDIAN LODGE. + +After dinner we took a walk to visit Mrs. Johnston's brother, Wayish,ky, +whose wigwam is at a little distance, on the verge of the burial-ground. +The lodge is of the genuine Chippewa form, like an egg cut in half +lengthways. It is formed of poles stuck in the ground, and bent over at +top, strengthened with a few wattles and boards; the whole is covered +over with mats, birch-bark, and skins; a large blanket formed the door +or curtain, which was not ungracefully looped aside. Wayish,ky, being a +great man, has also a smaller lodge hard by, which serves as a +storehouse and kitchen. + + + AN INDIAN FAMILY. + +Rude as was the exterior of Wayish,ky's hut, the interior presented +every appearance of comfort, and even _elegance_, according to the +Indian notions of both. It formed a good-sized room: a raised couch ran +all round like a Turkish divan, serving both for seats and beds, and +covered with very soft and beautiful matting of various colours and +patterns. The chests and baskets of birch-bark, containing the family +wardrobe and property; the rifles, the hunting and fishing tackle, were +stowed away all round very tidily; I observed a coffee-mill nailed up to +one of the posts or stakes; the floor was trodden down hard and +perfectly clean, and there was a place for a fire in the middle: there +was no window, but quite sufficient light and air were admitted through +the door, and through an aperture in the roof. There was no disagreeable +smell, and everything looked neat and clean. We found Wayish,ky and his +wife and three of their children seated in the lodge, and as it was +Sunday, and they are all Christians, no work was going forward. They +received me with genuine and simple politeness, each taking my hand with +a gentle inclination of the head, and some words of welcome murmured in +their own soft language. We then sat down. + +The conversation became very lively; and, if I might judge from looks +and tones, very affectionate. I _sported_ my last new words and phrases +with great effect, and when I had exhausted my vocabulary--which was +very soon--I amused myself with looking and listening. + +Mrs. Wayish,ky (I forget her proper name) must have been a very +beautiful woman. Though now no longer young, and the mother of twelve +children, she is one of the handsomest Indian women I have yet seen. The +number of her children is remarkable, for in general there are few large +families among the Indians. Her daughter, Zah,gah,see,ga,quay (_the +sunbeams breaking through a cloud_), is a very beautiful girl, with eyes +that are a warrant for her poetical name--she is about sixteen. +Wayish,ky himself is a grave, dignified man about fifty. He told me that +his eldest son had gone down to the Manitoolin Island to represent his +family, and receive his quota of presents. His youngest son he had sent +to a college in the United States, to be educated in the learning of the +white men. Mrs. Schoolcraft whispered me that this poor boy is now dying +of consumption, owing to the confinement and change of living, and that +the parents knew it. Wayish,ky seemed aware that we were alluding to +his son, for his eye at that moment rested on me, and such an expression +of keen pain came suddenly over his fine countenance, it was as if a +knife had struck him, and I really felt it in my heart, and see it still +before me--that look of misery. + +After about an hour we left this good and interesting family. I lingered +for a while on the burial-ground, looking over the rapids, and watching +with a mixture of admiration and terror several little canoes which were +fishing in the midst of the boiling surge, dancing and popping about +like corks. The canoe used for fishing is very small and light; one man +(or woman more commonly) sits in the stern, and steers with a paddle; +the fisher places himself upright on the prow, balancing a long pole +with both hands, at the end of which is a scoop-net. This he every +minute dips into the water, bringing up at each dip a fish, and +sometimes two. I used to admire the fishermen on the Arno, and those on +the Lagune, and above all the Neapolitan fishermen, hauling in their +nets, or diving like ducks, but I never saw anything like these Indians. +The manner in which they keep their position upon a footing of a few +inches, is to me as incomprehensible as the beauty of their forms and +attitudes, swayed by every movement and turn of their dancing, fragile +barks, is admirable. + +George Johnston, on whose arm I was leaning (and I had much ado to +_reach_ it), gave me such a vivid idea of the delight of coming down the +cataract in a canoe, that I am half resolved to attempt it. Terrific as +it appears, yet in a good canoe, and with experienced guides, there is +no absolute danger, and it must be a glorious sensation. + + + INDIAN WARFARE. + +Mr. Johnston had spent the last fall and winter in the regions beyond +Lake Superior, towards the forks of the Mississippi, where he had been +employed as American agent to arrange the boundary line between the +country of the Chippewas and that of their neighbours and implacable +enemies, the Sioux. His mediation appeared successful for the time, and +he smoked the pipe of peace with both tribes; but during the spring this +ferocious war has again broken out, and he seems to think that nothing +but the annihilation of either one nation or the other will entirely put +an end to their conflicts; "for there is no point at which the Indian +law of retaliation stops, short of the extermination of one of the +parties." + +I asked him how it is that in their wars the Indians make no distinction +between the warriors opposed to them and helpless women and +children?--how it could be with a brave and manly people, that the +scalps taken from the weak, the helpless, the unresisting, were as +honourable as those torn from the warrior's skull? And I described to +him the horror which this custom inspired--this, which of all their +customs, most justifies the name of _savage_! + +He said it was inseparable from their principles of war and their mode +of warfare; the first consists in inflicting the greatest possible +insult and injury on their foe with the least possible risk to +themselves. This truly savage law of honour we might call cowardly, but +that, being associated with the bravest contempt of danger and pain, it +seems nearer to the natural law. With regard to the mode of warfare, +they have rarely pitched battles, but skirmishes, surprises, ambuscades, +and sudden forays into each other's hunting-grounds and villages. The +usual practice is to creep stealthily on the enemy's village or +hunting-encampment, and wait till just after the dawn; then, at the +moment the sleepers in the lodges are rising, the ambushed warriors +stoop and level their pieces about two feet from the ground, which thus +slaughter indiscriminately. If they find one of the enemy's lodges +undefended they murder its inmates, that when the owner returns he may +find his hearth desolate; for this is exquisite vengeance! But outrage +against the chastity of women is absolutely unknown under any degree +whatever of furious excitement.[40] + +This respect for female honour will remind you of the ancient Germans, +as described by Julius Caesar: he contrasts in some surprise their +forbearance with the very opposite conduct of the Romans; and even down +to this present day, if I recollect rightly, the history of our European +wars and sieges will bear out this early and characteristic distinction +between the Latin and the Teutonic nations. Am I right, or am I not? + +[Footnote 40: "The whole history of Indian warfare," says Mr. +Schoolcraft, "might be challenged in vain for a solitary instance of +this kind. The Indians believe that to take a dishonourable advantage of +their female prisoners would destroy their luck in hunting; it would be +considered as effeminate and degrading in a warrior, and render him +unfit for, and unworthy of, all manly achievement."] + + + THE SAVAGE AND THE CHRISTIAN. + +To return to the Indians. After telling me some other particulars, which +gave me a clearer view of their notions and feelings on these points +than I ever had before, my informant mildly added,--"It is a constant +and favourite subject of reproach against the Indians--this barbarism of +their desultory warfare; but I should think more women and children have +perished in _one_ of your civilised sieges, and that in late times, than +during the whole war between the Chippewas and Sioux, and _that_ has +lasted a century." + +I was silent, for there is a sensible proverb about taking care of our +own glass windows: and I wonder if any of the recorded atrocities of +Indian warfare or Indian vengeance, or all of them together, ever +exceeded Massena's retreat from Portugal,--and the French call +themselves civilised. A war party of Indians, perhaps two or three +hundred (and that is a very large number), dance their war dance, go out +and burn a village, and bring back twenty or thirty scalps. _They_ are +savages and heathens. We Europeans fight a battle, leave fifty thousand +dead or dying by inches on the field, and a hundred thousand to mourn +them, desolate; but _we_ are civilised and Christians. Then only look +into the motives and causes of our bloodiest European wars as revealed +in the private history of courts:--the miserable, puerile, degrading +intrigues which set man against man--so horridly disproportioned to the +horrid result! and then see the Indian take up his war-hatchet in +vengeance for some personal injury, or from motives that rouse all the +natural feelings of the natural man within him! Really I do not see that +an Indian warrior, flourishing his tomahawk, and smeared with his +enemy's blood, is so very much a greater savage than the pipe-clayed, +padded, embroidered personage, who, without cause or motive, has sold +himself to slay or be slain: one scalps his enemy, the other rips him +open with a sabre; one smashes his brains with a tomahawk, and the other +blows him to atoms with a cannon-ball: and to me, femininely speaking, +there is not a needle's point difference between the one and the other. +If war be unchristian and barbarous, then war as a _science_ is more +absurd, unnatural, unchristian than war as a _passion_. + +This, perhaps, is putting it all too strongly, and a little +exaggerated-- + +God forbid that I should think to disparage the blessings of +civilisation! I am a woman, and to the progress of civilisation alone +can we women look for release from many pains and penalties and +liabilities, which now lie heavily upon us. Neither am I greatly in love +with savage life, with all its picturesque accompaniments and lofty +virtues. I see no reason why these virtues should be necessarily +connected with dirt, ignorance, and barbarism. I am thankful to live in +a land of literature and steam-engines. Chatsworth is better than a +wigwam, and a seventy-four is a finer thing than a bark canoe. I do not +_positively_ assert that Taglioni dances more gracefully than the +Little-Pure tobacco-smoker, nor that soap and water are preferable as +cosmetics to tallow and charcoal; for these are matters of taste, and +mine may be disputed. But I do say, that if our advantages of intellect +and refinement are not to lead on to farther moral superiority, I prefer +the Indians on the score of consistency; they are what they profess to +be, and we are _not_ what we profess to be. They profess to be warriors +and hunters, and are so; we profess to be Christians and civilised--are +we so? + +Then as to the mere point of cruelty;--there is something to be said on +this point too. Ferocity, when the hot blood is up, and all the demon in +man is roused by every conceivable excitement, I can understand better +than the Indian can comprehend the tender mercies of our law. Owyawatta, +better known by his English name, Red-Jacket, was once seen hurrying +from the town of Buffalo, with rapid strides, and every mark of disgust +and consternation in his face. Three malefactors were to be hung that +morning, and the Indian warrior had not nerve to face the horrid +spectacle, although-- + + "In sober truth the veriest devil + That ere clenched fingers in a captive's hair." + + * * * * * + + + THE DESCENT OF THE RAPIDS. + +The more I looked upon those glancing, dancing rapids, the more resolute +I grew to venture myself in the midst of them. George Johnston went to +seek a fit canoe and a dextrous steersman, and meantime I strolled away +to pay a visit to Wayish,ky's family, and made a sketch of their lodge, +while pretty Zah,gah,see,gah,qua, held the umbrella to shade me. + +The canoe being ready, I went up to the top of the portage, and we +launched into the river. It was a small fishing canoe about ten feet +long, quite new, and light and elegant and buoyant as a bird on the +waters. I reclined on a mat at the bottom, Indian fashion (there are no +seats in a genuine Indian canoe); in a minute we were within the verge +of the rapids, and down we went, with a whirl and a splash!--the white +surge leaping around me--over me. The Indian with astonishing dexterity +kept the head of the canoe to the breakers, and somehow or other we +danced through them. I could see, as I looked over the edge of the +canoe, that the passage between the rocks was sometimes not more than +two feet in width, and we had to turn sharp angles--a touch of which +would have sent us to destruction--all this I could see through the +transparent eddying waters, but I can truly say, I had not even a +momentary sensation of fear, but rather of giddy, breathless, delicious +excitement. I could even admire the beautiful attitude of a fisher, past +whom we swept as we came to the bottom. The whole affair, from the +moment I entered the canoe till I reached the landing place, occupied +seven minutes, and the distance is about three quarters of a mile.[41] + +[Footnote 41: "The total descent of the Fall of St. Mary's has been +ascertained to be twenty-two and a half perpendicular feet. It has been +found impracticable to ascend the rapid; but canoes have ventured down, +though the experiment is extremely nervous and hazardous, and avoided by +a portage, two miles long, which connects the navigable parts of the +strait."--_Bouchette's Canada._] + + + THE CHIPPEWAS. + +My Indians were enchanted, and when I reached _home_, my good friends +were not less delighted at my exploit: they told me I was the first +European female who had ever performed it, and assuredly I shall not be +the last. I recommend it as an exercise before breakfast. As for my +Neengai, she laughed, clapped her hands, and embraced me several times. +I was declared duly initiated, and adopted into the family by the name +of Wah,sah,ge,wah,no,qua. They had already called me among themselves, +in reference to my complexion and my travelling propensities, +O,daw,yaun,gee, _the fair changing moon_, or rather, _the fair moon +which changes her place_: but now, in compliment to my successful +achievement, Mrs. Johnston bestowed this new appellation, which I much +prefer. It signifies _the bright foam_, or more properly, with the +feminine adjunct, _qua_, _the woman of the bright foam_; and by this +name I am henceforth to be known among the Chippewas. + + * * * * * + +Now that I have been a Chippewa born, any time these four hours[42], I +must introduce you to some of my new relations "of the totem of the +rein-deer;" and first to my illustrious grandpapa, Waub-Ojeeg[43] (the +White-fisher). + +The Chippewas, as you perhaps know, have long been reckoned among the +most warlike and numerous, but also among the wildest and more +untameable nations of the north-west. In progressing with the other +Algonquin tribes from south to north, they seem to have crossed the St. +Lawrence and dispersed themselves along the shores of Lake Ontario, and +Lake Huron and its islands. Driven westward before the Iroquois, as +_they_ retired before the French and Hurons, the Chippewas appear to +have crossed the St. Mary's River, and then spread along the south +shores of Lake Superior. Their council fire, and the chief seat of the +nation, was upon a promontory at the farthest end of Lake Superior, +called by the French La Pointe, and by the Indians Che,goi,me,gon: by +one name or the other you will find it on most maps, as it has long been +a place of importance in the fur trade. Here was the grand national +council fire (the extinction of which foretold, if it did not occasion, +some dread national calamity), and the residence of the presiding chief. +The Indians know neither sovereignty nor nobility, but when one family +has produced several distinguished war-chiefs, the dignity becomes by +courtesy or custom hereditary; and from whatever reason, the family of +Wayish,ki or the Mudgi,kiwis, exercised, even from a remote period, a +sort of influence over the rest of the tribe. One traveller says that +the present descendants of these chiefs evince such a pride of ancestry +as could only be looked for in feudal or despotic monarchies. The +present representative, Piz,hi,kee (the Buffalo), my illustrious cousin, +still resides at La Pointe. When presented with a silver medal of +authority from the American government, he said haughtily, "What need of +this? it is known to all whence I am descended!" Family pride, you see, +lies somewhere very deep in human nature. + +When the Chippewas first penetrated to these regions, they came in +contact with the Ottagamies or Foxes, who, being descended from the same +stock, received them as brothers, and at first ceded to them a part of +their boundless hunting-grounds; and as these Ottagamies were friends +and allies of the Sioux, these three nations continued for some time +friends, and inter-marriages and family alliances took place. But the +increasing power of the Chippewas soon excited the jealousy and +apprehension of the other two tribes. The Ottagamies committed inroads +on their hunting-grounds (this is the primary cause of almost all the +Indian wars), the Chippewas sent an embassy to complain of the injury, +and desired the Ottagamies to restrain their young men within the +stipulated bounds. The latter returned an insulting answer. The +war-hatchet was raised, and the Sioux and the Ottagamies united against +the Chippewas: this was about 1726 or 1730. From this time there has +been no peace between the Chippewas and Sioux. + +[Footnote 42: _Ant._ I know you now, Sir, a gentleman born. + +_Clo._ Aye, that I have been any time these four hours.--_Winter's +Tale._] + +[Footnote 43: The name is thus pronounced, but I have seen it spelt +Wabbajik.] + + + WAUB-OJEEG. + +It happened just before the declaration of war, that a young Chippewa +girl was married to a Sioux chief of great distinction, and bore him two +sons. When hostilities commenced the Sioux chief retired to his own +tribe, and his wife remained with her relations, according to Indian +custom. The two children, belonging to both tribes, were hardly safe +with either; but as the father was best able to protect them, it was at +last decided that they should accompany him. The Sioux chief and his +boys departed to join his warriors, accompanied by his Chippewa wife and +her relations, till they were in safety: then the young wife returned +home weeping and inconsolable for the loss of her husband and children. +Some years afterwards she consented to become the wife of the great +chief at Chegoimegon. Her son by this marriage was Mamongazida, or +Mongazida (the Loon's-foot), a chief of great celebrity, who led a +strong party of his nation in the Canadian wars between the French and +English, fighting on the side of the French. He was present at the +battle of Quebec, when Wolfe was killed, and according to the Indian +tradition, the Marquis Montcalm died in Mongazida's arms. After the war +was over, he "shook hands" with the English. He was at the grand +assemblage of chiefs, convened by Sir William Johnstone, at Niagara, and +from him received a rich gorget, and broad belt of wampum, as pledges of +peace and alliance with the English. These relics were preserved in the +family with great veneration, and inherited by Waub-Ojeeg, and +afterwards by his younger brother, Camudwa; but it happened that when +Camudwa was out on a winter-hunt near the river Broule, he and all his +family were overtaken by famine and starved to death, and these insignia +were then lost and never recovered. This last incident is a specimen of +the common vicissitudes of Indian life; and when listening to their +domestic histories, I observe that the events of paramount interest are +the want or the abundance of food--hunger or plenty. "We killed a moose, +or a bear, and had meat for so many days:" or, "we followed on the track +of a bear, and he escaped us; we had _no_ meat for so many days." These +are the ever-recurring topics which in their conversation stand instead +of the last brilliant essay in the Edinburgh or Quarterly, or the last +news from Russia or Spain. Starvation from famine is not uncommon; and I +am afraid, from all I hear, that cannibalism under such circumstances is +not unknown. Remembering some recent instances nearer home, when extreme +hunger produced the same horrid result, I could not be much astonished. + +To return. Waub-Ojeeg was the second son of this famous Mongazida. Once +when the latter went out on his "fall hunts," on the grounds near the +Sioux territory, taking all his relatives with him (upwards of twenty in +number), they were attacked by the Sioux at early dawn, in the usual +manner. The first volley had gone through the lodges; before the second +could be fired, Mongazida rushed out, and proclaiming his own name with +a loud voice, demanded if Wabash, his mother's son, were among the +assailants. There was a pause, and then a tall figure in his war-dress, +and a profusion of feathers in his head, stepped forward and gave his +hand to his half-brother. They all repaired to the lodge in peace +together; but at the moment the Sioux chief stooped to enter, +Waub-Ojeeg, then a boy of eight years old, who had planted himself at +the entrance to defend it, struck him a blow on the forehead with his +little war-club. Wabash, enchanted, took him up in his arms and +prophesied that he would become a great war chief, and an implacable +enemy of the Sioux. Subsequently the prophecy was accomplished, and +Waub-Ojeeg commanded his nation in all the war-parties against the Sioux +and Ottagamies. He was generally victorious, and so entirely defeated +the Ottagamies, that they never afterwards ventured to oppose him, but +retired down the Wisconsin river, where they are now settled. + +But Waub-Ojeeg was something more and better than merely a successful +warrior: he was remarkable for his eloquence, and composed a number of +war-songs, which were sung through the Chippewa villages, and some of +which his daughter can repeat. He was no less skilful in hunting than in +war. His hunting-grounds extended to the river Broule, at Fon du Lac; +and he killed any one who dared to intrude on his district. The skins he +took annually were worth three hundred and fifty dollars, a sum amply +sufficient to make him rich in clothing, arms, powder, vermilion, and +trinkets. Like Tecumseh, he would not marry early lest it should turn +his attention from war, but at the age of thirty he married a widow, by +whom he had two sons. Becoming tired of this elderly helpmate, he took a +young wife, a beautiful girl of fourteen, by whom he had six children; +of these my Neengai is the eldest. She described her father as +affectionate and domestic. "There was always plenty of bear's meat and +deer's flesh in the lodge." He had a splendid lodge, sixty feet in +length, which he was fond of ornamenting. In the centre there was a +strong post, which rose several feet above the roof, and on the top +there was the carved figure of an owl, which veered with the wind. This +owl seems to have answered the same purpose as the flag on the tower of +Windsor Castle: it was the insignia of his power and of his presence. +When absent on his long winter hunts the lodge was shut up, and the owl +taken down. + +The skill of Waub-Ojeeg as a hunter and trapper, brought him into +friendly communication with a fur-trader named Johnston, who had +succeeded the enterprising Henry in exploring Lake Superior. This young +man, of good Irish family, came out to Canada with such strong letters +of recommendation to Lord Dorchester, that he was invited to reside in +the government house till a vacancy occurred in his favour in one of the +official departments; meantime, being of an active and adventurous turn, +he joined a party of traders going up the lakes, merely as an excursion, +but became so enamoured of that wild life, as to adopt it in earnest. On +one of his expeditions, when encamped at Che,goi,me,gon, and trafficking +with Waub-Ojeeg, he saw the eldest daughter of the chief, and "no sooner +looked than he sighed, no sooner sighed than he asked himself the +reason," and ended by asking his friend to give him his beautiful +daughter. "White man!" said the chief with dignity, "your customs are +not our customs! you white men desire our women, you marry them, and +when they cease to please your eye, you say they are _not_ your wives, +and you forsake them. Return, young friend, with your load of skins, to +Montreal; and if there, the women of the pale faces do not put my child +out of your mind, return hither in the spring and we will talk farther; +she is young, and can wait." The young Irishman, ardently in love, and +impatient and impetuous, after the manner of his countrymen, tried +arguments, entreaties, presents, in vain--he was obliged to submit. He +went down to Montreal, and the following spring returned and claimed his +bride. The chief, after making him swear that he would take her as his +_wife_ according to the law of the white man, _till death_, gave him his +daughter, with a long speech of advice to both. + + + AN INDIAN WIFE. + +Mrs. Johnston relates, that previous to her marriage, she _fasted_, +according to the universal Indian custom, _for a guardian spirit_: to +perform this ceremony, she went away to the summit of an eminence, and +built herself a little lodge of cedar boughs, painted herself black, and +began her fast in solitude. She dreamed continually of a white man, who +approached her with a cup in his hand, saying, "Poor thing! why are you +punishing yourself? why do you fast? here is food for you!" He was +always accompanied by a dog, which looked up in her face as though he +knew her. Also she dreamed of being on a high hill, which was surrounded +by water, and from which she beheld many canoes full of Indians, coming +to her and paying her homage; after this, she felt as if she were +carried up into the heavens, and as she looked down upon the earth, she +perceived it was on fire, and said to herself, "All my relations will be +burned!" but a voice answered and said, "No, they will not be destroyed, +they will be saved;" and she _knew it was a spirit_, because the voice +was not human. She fasted for ten days, during which time her +grandmother brought her at intervals some water. When satisfied that she +had obtained a guardian spirit in the white stranger who haunted her +dreams, she returned to her father's lodge, carrying green cedar boughs, +which she threw on the ground, stepping on them as she went. When she +entered the lodge, she threw some more down upon her usual place (next +her mother), and took her seat. During the ten succeeding days she was +not permitted to eat any meat, nor anything but a little corn boiled +with a bitter herb. For ten days more she eat meat smoked in a +particular manner, and she then partook of the usual food of her family. + +Notwithstanding that her future husband and future greatness were so +clearly prefigured in this dream, the pretty O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua +having always regarded a white man with awe, and as a being of quite +another species (perhaps the more so in consequence of her dream), seems +to have felt nothing throughout the whole negotiation for her hand but +reluctance, terror, and aversion. On being carried with the usual +ceremonies to her husband's lodge, she fled into a dark corner, rolled +herself up in her blanket, and would not be comforted nor even looked +upon. It is to the honour of Johnston, that he took no cruel advantage +of their mutual position, and that she remained in his lodge ten days, +during which he treated her with the utmost tenderness and respect, and +sought by every gentle means to overcome her fear and gain her +affection;--and it was touching to see how tenderly and gratefully this +was remembered by his wife after a lapse of thirty-six years. On the +tenth day, however, she ran away from him in a paroxysm of terror, and +after fasting in the woods for four days, reached her grandfather's +wigwam. Meantime, her father, Waub-Ojeeg, who was far off in his hunting +camp, _dreamed_ that his daughter had not conducted herself according to +his advice, with proper wife-like docility, and he returned in haste two +days' journey to see after her; and finding all things _according to his +dream_, he gave her a good beating with a stick, and threatened to cut +off both her ears. He then took her back to her husband, with a +propitiatory present of furs and Indian corn, and many apologies and +exculpations of his own honour. Johnston succeeded at length in taming +this shy wild fawn, and took her to his house at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. +When she had been there some time, she was seized with a longing once +more to behold her mother's face, and revisit her people. Her husband +had lately purchased a small schooner to trade upon the lake; this he +fitted out, and sent her, with a retinue of his clerks and retainers, +and in such state as became the wife of the "great Englishman," to her +home at La Pointe, loaded with magnificent presents for all her family. +He did not go with her himself, apparently from motives of delicacy, and +that he might be no constraint upon her feelings or movements. A few +months' residence amid comparative splendour and luxury, with a man who +treated her with respect and tenderness, enabled the fair +O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua, to contrast her former with her present home. +She soon returned to her husband, and we do not hear of any more +languishing after her father's wigwam. She lived most happily with +Johnston for thirty-six years, till his death, which occurred in 1828, +and is the mother of eight children, four boys and four girls. + +She showed me her husband's picture, which he brought to her from +Montreal; the features are very gentleman-like. He has been described to +me by some of my Canadian friends, who knew him well, as a very clever, +lively, and eccentric man, and a little of the _bon vivant_. Owing to +his independent fortune, his talents, his long acquaintance with the +country, and his connexion by marriage with the native blood, he had +much influence in the country. + +During the last American war, he of course adhered to the English, on an +understanding that he should be protected; in return for which the +Americans _of course_ burnt his house, and destroyed his property. He +never could obtain either redress or compensation from our government. +The very spot on which his house stood was at the peace made over to the +United States;--himself and all his family became, per force, Americans. +His sons are in the service of the States. In a late treaty, when the +Chippewas ceded an immense tract in this neighbourhood to the American +government, a reserve was made in favour of O,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua, of +a considerable section of land, which will render her posterity rich +territorial proprietors--although at present it is all unreclaimed +forest. A large tract of Sugar Island is her property; and this year +she manufactured herself three thousand five hundred weight of sugar of +excellent quality. In the fall, she goes up with her people in canoes to +the entrance of Lake Superior, to fish in the bays and creeks for a +fortnight, and comes back with a load of fish cured for the winter's +consumption. In her youth she hunted, and was accounted the surest eye +and fleetest foot among the women of her tribe. Her talents, energy, +activity, and strength of mind, and her skill in all the domestic +avocations of the Indian women, have maintained comfort and plenty +within her dwelling in spite of the losses sustained by her husband, +while her descent from the blood of their ancient chiefs renders her an +object of great veneration among the Indians around, who, in all their +miseries, maladies, and difficulties, apply to her for aid or for +counsel. + +She has inherited the poetical talent of her father Waub-Ojeeg; and here +is a little fable or allegory which was written down from her +recitation, and translated by her daughter. + + * * * * * + + + THE ALLEGORY OF WINTER AND SUMMER. + +A man from the north, gray-haired, leaning on his staff, went roving +over all countries. Looking around him one day, after having travelled +without any intermission for four moons, he sought out a spot on which +to recline and rest himself. He had not been long seated before he saw +before him a young man, very beautiful in his appearance, with red +cheeks, sparkling eyes, and his hair covered with flowers; and from +between his lips he blew a breath that was as sweet as the wild rose. + +Said the old man to him, as he leaned upon his staff, his white beard +reaching down upon his breast, "Let us repose here awhile, and converse +a little. But first we will build up a fire, and we will bring together +much wood, for it will be needed to keep us warm." + +The fire was made, and they took their seats by it, and began to +converse, each telling the other where he came from, and what had +befallen him by the way. Presently the young man felt cold. He looked +round him to see what had produced this change, and pressed his hands +against his cheeks to keep them warm. + +The old man spoke and said, "When I wish to cross a river, I breathe +upon it and make it hard, and walk over upon its surface. I have only to +speak, and bid the waters be still, and touch them with my finger, and +they become hard as stone. The tread of my foot makes soft things +hard--and my power is boundless." + +The young man, feeling ever moment still colder, and growing tired of +the old man's boasting, and morning being nigh, as he perceived by the +reddening east, thus began-- + +"Now, my father, I wish to speak." + +"Speak," said the old man; "my ear, though it be old, is open--it can +hear." + +"Then," said the young man, "I also go over all the earth. I have seen +it covered with snow, and the waters I have seen hard as stone; but I +have only passed over them, and the snow has melted; the mountain +streams have begun to flow, the rivers to move, the ice to melt: the +earth has become green under my tread, the flowers blossomed, the birds +were joyful, and all the power of which you boast vanished away!" + +The old man drew a deep sigh, and shaking his head, he said, "I know +thee, thou art Summer!" + +"True," said the young man, "and here behold my head--see it crowned +with flowers! and my cheeks how they bloom--come near and touch me. Thou +art Winter! I know thy power is great; but, father, thou darest not come +to my country,--thy beard would fall off, and all thy strength would +fail, and thou wouldst die!" + +The old man felt this truth; for before the morning was come, he was +seen vanishing away: but each, before they parted, expressed a hope that +they might meet again before many moons. + + * * * * * + + + INDIAN SONGS. + +The language of the Chippewas, however figurative and significant, is +not copious. In their speeches and songs they are emphatic and +impressive by the continual repetition of the same phrase or idea; and +it seems to affect them like the perpetual recurrence of a few simple +notes in music, by which I have been myself wound up to painful +excitement, or melted to tears. + +A cousin of mine (I have now a large Chippewa cousinship) went on a +hunting excursion, leaving his wife and child in his lodge. During his +absence, a party of Sioux carried them off, and on his return he found +his fire extinguished, and his lodge empty. He immediately blackened his +face (Indian mourning), and repaired to the lodge of his wife's brother, +to whom he sang, in a kind of mournful recitative, the following song; +the purport of which seems to be partly a request for aid against his +enemies, and partly an excuse for the seeming fault of leaving his +family unprotected in his wigwam. + + My brother-in-law, do not wrongfully accuse me for this seeming + neglect in exposing my family, for I have come to request aid + from my brother-in-law! + + The cry of my little son was heard as they carried him across + the prairie, and therefore I have come to supplicate aid from my + brother-in-law. + + And the voice also of my wife was heard as they carried her + across the prairie; do not then accuse your brother-in-law, for + he has come to seek aid from his brother-in-law! + +This song is, in measure, ten and eight syllables alternately; and the +perpetual recurrence of the word brother-in-law seems intended to +impress the idea of their relationship on the mind of the hearer. + +The next is the address of a war party to their women, on leaving the +village.[44] + + Do not weep, do not weep for me, + Loved women, should I die; + For yourselves alone should you weep! + Poor are ye all and to be pitied: + Ye women, ye are to be pitied! + + I seek, I seek our fallen relations, + I go to revenge, revenge the slain, + Our relations fallen and slain, + And our foes, our foes shall lie + Like them, like them shall they lie, + I go to lay them low, to lay them low! + +And then _da capo_, over and over again. +The next is a love song, in the same style of iteration. + + 'Tis now two days, two long days, + Since last I tasted food; + 'Tis for you, for you, my love, + That I grieve, that I grieve, + 'Tis for you, for you that I grieve! + + The waters flow deep and wide, + On which, love, you have sailed; + Dividing you far from me. + 'Tis for you, for you, my love, + 'Tis for you, for you that I grieve! + +If you look at some half thousand of our most fashionable and admired +Italian songs--the Notturni of Blangini, for instance--you will find +them very like this Chippewa canzonetta, in the no meaning and perpetual +repetition of certain words and phrases; at the same time, I doubt if it +be _always_ necessary for a song to have a meaning--it is enough if it +have a sentiment. + +Here are some verses of a war song, in the same style as to composition, +but breathing very different sentiments. + + I sing, I sing, under the centre of the sky, + Under the centre of the sky + Under the centre of the sky I sing, I sing, + Under the centre of the sky! + + Every day I look at you, you morning star, + You morning star; + Every day I look at you, you morning star, + You morning star. + + The birds of the brave take a flight round the sky, + A flight round the sky; + The birds of the brave take a flight, take a flight, + A flight round the sky. + + They cross the enemies' line, the birds! + They cross the enemies' line; + The birds, the birds, the ravenous birds, + They cross the enemies' line. + + The spirits on high repeat my name, + Repeat my name; + The spirits on high, the spirits on high, + Repeat my name. + + Full happy am I to be slain and to lie, + On the enemy's side of the line to lie; + Full happy am I, full happy am I, + On the enemies' side of the line to lie. + +I give you these as curiosities, and as being at least genuine; they +have this merit, if they have no other. + +Of the next song, I subjoin the music. It seems to have been composed on +a young American (_a Long-knife_), who made love to a Chippewa girl +(_Ojibway quaince_). + +[Illustration: OJIBWAY QUAINCE.] + + _Slow._ + + Aun dush ween do we nain, + Git-chee mo-ko-maum aince + Kah zah wah da mood + We ya ya hah ha we ya ya hah ha. + + We ah, bem, ah de, + We mah jah need de, + We ne moo, sha yun + We ya, ya hah ha! we ya ya hah ha! + + O mow we mah ne + We mah jah need de, + O jib way quaince un ne, + We ya, ya hah ha! we ya ya hah ha! + + Kah ween, goo shah, ween ne, + Keesh wan zhe e we ye + O gah, mah we mah zeen. + We ya, ya hah ya! we ya ya hah ha! + + Mee goo shah ween e goo + Ke bish quah bem ah de + Che wah nain ne mah de. + We ya, ya hah ha! we ya ya hah ha! + +The literal meaning of the song, without the perpetual repetitions and +transpositions, is just this: + + Hah! what is the matter with the young Long-knife? he crosses + the river with tears in his eyes. He sees the young Chippewa + girl preparing to leave the place; he sobs for his sweetheart + because she is going away, but he will not sigh for her long: as + soon as she is out of sight he will forget her! + +[Footnote 44: From Mr. Schoolcraft, translated literally by Mrs. +Schoolcraft.] + + * * * * * + + + INDIAN MISSIONS. + +I have been too long on the other side of the river; I must return to +our Canadian shore, where indeed, I now reside, under the hospitable +roof of our missionary. Mrs. MacMurray's overflowing good-nature, +cleverness, and liveliness, are as delightful in their way as the more +pensive intelligence of her sister. + +I have had some interesting talk with Mr. MacMurray on the subject of +his mission and the character of the people consigned to his care and +spiritual guidance. He arrived here in 1832, and married Charlotte +Johnston (O,ge,bu,no,qua) the following year. During the five years +which have elapsed since the establishment of the mission, there have +been one hundred and forty-five baptisms, seven burials, and thirteen +marriages; and the present number of communicants is sixty-six. + +He is satisfied with his success, and seems to have gained the good-will +and attachment of the Indians around; he owes much, he says, to his +sweet wife, whose perfect knowledge of the language and habits of her +people have aided him in his task. She is a warm enthusiast in the cause +of conversion, and the labour and fatigue of interpreting the prayers +and sermons, and teaching the Indians to sing, at one time seriously +affected her health. She has a good voice and correct ear, and has +succeeded in teaching several of the women and children to sing some of +our church hymns very pleasingly. She says all the Indians are +passionately fond of music, and that it is a very effective means of +interesting and fixing their attention. Mr. MacMurray says, they take +the most eager delight in the parables, and his explanations of +them--frequently melting into tears. When he collected them together and +addressed them, on his first arrival, several of those present were +intoxicated, he therefore took the opportunity of declaiming against +their besetting vice in strong terms. After waiting till he had +finished, one of their chief men arose and replied gravely: "My father, +before the white men came, we could hunt and fish, and raise corn enough +for our families; we knew nothing of your fire-water. If it is so very +bad, why did the white men bring it here? _we_ did not desire it!" + +They were in a degraded state of poverty, recklessness, and misery: +there is now at least _some_ improvement; about thirty children attend +Mrs. MacMurray's school; many of them are decently clothed, and they +have gardens in which they have raised crops of potatoes and Indian +corn. The difficulty is to keep them together for any time sufficient to +make a permanent impression: their wild, restless habits prevail: and +even their necessities interfere against the efforts of their teachers; +they go off to their winter hunting-grounds for weeks together, and when +they return, the task of instruction has to begin again. + +One of their chiefs from the north came to Mr. MacMurray, and expressed +a wish to become a Christian; unfortunately, he had three wives, and, as +a necessary preliminary, he was informed that he must confine himself to +one. He had no objection to keep the youngest, to whom he was lately +married, and put away the two others, but this was not admissible. The +one he had first taken to wife was to be the permitted wife, and no +other. He expostulated; Mr. MacMurray insisted; in the end, the old man +went off in high dudgeon. Next morning there was no sign of his wigwam, +and he never applied again to be "made a Christian," the terms +apparently being too hard to digest. "The Roman Catholic priests," said +Mr. MacMurray, "are not so strict on this point as we are; they insist +on the convert retaining only one wife, but they leave him the choice +among those who bear that title." + +They have a story among themselves of a converted Indian, who, after +death, applied for admittance to the paradise of the white men, and was +refused; he then went to the paradise of the Red-skins, but _there_ too +he was rejected: and after wandering about for some time disconsolate, +he returned to life (like Gitchee Gausinee), to warn his companions by +his experience in the other world. + +Mr. MacMurray reckons among his most zealous converts several great +medicine-men and conjurors. I was surprised at first at the comparative +number of these, and the readiness with which they become Christians; +but it may be accounted for in two ways: they are in general the most +intelligent men in the tribe, and they are more sensible than any others +of the false and delusive nature of their own tricks and superstitious +observances. When a sorcerer is converted, he, in the first place, +surrenders his _meta,wa,aun_, or medicine-sack, containing his manitos. +Mr. MacMurray showed me several; an owl-skin, a wild cat-skin, an +otter-skin; and he gave me two, with the implements of sorcery; one of +birch-bark, containing the skin of a black adder; the other, an +embroidered mink-skin, contains the skin of an enormous rattle-snake +(four feet long), a feather died crimson, a cowrie shell, and some +magical pebbles, wrapped up in bark--the spells and charms of this +Indian Archimago, whose name was, I think, Matabash. He also gave me a +drum, formed of a skin stretched over a hoop, and filled with pebbles, +and a most portentous looking rattle formed of about a hundred bears' +claws, strung together by a thong, and suspended to a carved stick, both +being used in their medicine dances. + +The chief of this Chippewa village is a very extraordinary character. +His name is Shinguaconse, _the Little Pine_, but he chooses to drop the +adjunct, and calls himself the Pine. He is not an hereditary chief, but +an elective or war-chief, and owes his dignity to his bravery and to his +eloquence; among these people, a man who unites both is sure to obtain +power. Without letters, without laws, without any arbitrary distinctions +of rank or wealth, and with a code of morality so simple, that upon +_that_ point they are pretty much on a par, it is superior natural +gifts, strength, and intelligence, that raise an Indian to distinction +and influence. He has not the less to fish for his own dinner, and build +his own canoe. + +Shinguaconse led a band of warriors in the war of 1812, was at Fort +Malden, and in the battle of the Moravian towns. Besides being eloquent +and brave he was a famous conjuror. He is now a Christian, with all his +family; and Mr. MacMurray finds him a most efficient auxiliary in +ameliorating the condition of his people. When the traders on the +opposite side endeavoured to seduce him back to his old habit of +drinking, he told them, "When I wanted it you would not give it to me; +now I do not want it you try to force it upon me; drink it yourselves!" +and turned his back. + +The ease with which liquor is procured from the opposite shore, and the +bad example of many of the soldiers and traders are, however, a serious +obstacle to the missionary's success. Nor is the love of whisky confined +to the men. Mrs. MacMurray imitated with great humour the deportment of +a tipsy squaw, dragging her blanket after her, with one corner over her +shoulder, and singing, in most blissful independence and defiance of her +lordly husband, a song, of which the burden is,-- + + "The Englishman will give me some of his milk! + I will drink the Englishman's milk!" + +Her own personal efforts have reclaimed many of these wretched +creatures. + +Next to the passion for ardent spirits is the passion for gambling. +Their common game of chance is played with beans, or with small bones, +painted of different colours; and these beans have been as fatal as ever +were the dice in Christendom. They will gamble away even their blankets +and moccasins; and while the game lasts not only the players but the +lookers-on, are in a perfect ecstacy of suspense and agitation. + +Mr. MacMurray says, that when the Indians are here during the fishing +season from the upper waters of the lake his rooms are crowded with +them. Wherever there is an open door they come in. "It is _impossible_ +to escape from an Indian who chooses to inflict his society on you, or +wishes for yours. He comes at all hours, not having the remotest idea of +convenience or inconvenience, or of the possibility of intrusion. There +is absolutely no remedy but to sit still and endure. I have them in my +room sometimes without intermission, from sunrise to sunset." He added, +that they never took anything, nor did the least injury, except that +which necessarily resulted from their vile, dirty habits, and the smell +of their _kinnikinic_, which together, I should think, are quite +_enough_. Those few which are now here, and the women especially, are +always lounging in and out, coming to Mrs. MacMurray about every little +trifle, and very frequently about nothing at all. + +Sir John Colborne took a strong interest in the conversion and +civilisation of the Indians, and though often discouraged did not +despair. He promised to found a village, and build log-houses for the +converts here as at Coldwater (on Lake Simcoe); but this promise has not +been fulfilled, nor is it likely to be so. I asked, very naturally, +"Why, if the Indians wish for log-huts, do they not build them? They are +on the verge of the forest, and the task is not difficult." I was told +it was impossible; that they neither _could_ nor _would_!--that this +sort of labour is absolutely inimical to their habits. It requires more +strength than the women possess; and for the men to fell wood and carry +logs were an unheard-of degradation. Mrs. MacMurray is very anxious that +these houses should be built because she thinks it will keep her +converts stationary. Whether their morality, cleanliness, health and +happiness, will be thereby improved, I doubt; and the present governor +seems to have very decidedly made up his mind on the matter. I should +like to see an Indian brought to prefer a house to a wigwam, and live in +a house of his own building; but what is gained by building houses for +them? The promise was made however, and the Indians have no +comprehension of a change of governors being a change of principles. +They consider themselves deceived and ill-treated. Shinguaconse has +lately (last January) addressed a letter or speech to Sir Francis Head +on the subject, which is a curious specimen of expostulation. "My +father," he says; "you have made promises to me and to my children. You +promised me houses, but as yet nothing has been performed, although five +years are past. I am now growing very old, and to judge by the way you +have used me, I am afraid I shall be laid in my grave before I see any +of your promises fulfilled. Many of your children address you, and tell +you they are poor, and they are much better off than I am in everything. +I can say, in sincerity, that I am poor. I am like the beast of the +forest that has no shelter. I lie down on the snow, and cover myself +with the boughs of the trees. If the promises had been made by a person +of no standing, I should not be astonished to see his promises fail. But +_you_, who are so great in riches and in power, I am astonished that I +do not see your promises fulfilled! I would have been better pleased if +you had never made such promises to me, than that you should have made +them and not performed them." + +Then follows a stroke of Indian irony. + +"But, my father, perhaps I do not see clearly; I am old, and perhaps I +have lost my eye-sight; and if you should come to visit us, you might +discover these promises already performed! I have heard that you have +visited all parts of the country around. This is the only place you have +not yet seen; if you will promise to come I will have my little fish +(_i. e._ the white-fish) ready drawn from the water, that you may taste +of the food which sustains me." + +Shinguaconse then complains, that certain of the French Canadians had +cut down their timber to sell it to the Americans, by permission of a +British magistrate, residing at St. Joseph's. He says, "Is this right? I +have never heard that the British had purchased our land and timber from +us. But whenever I say a word, they say, 'Pay no attention to him, he +knows nothing.' This will not do!" + +He concludes with infinite politeness; + +"And now, my father, I shall take my seat, and look towards your place, +that I may hear the answer you will send me between this time and +spring. + +"And now, my father, I have done! I have told you some things that were +on my mind. I take you by the hand, and wish you a happy new year, +trusting that we may be allowed to see one another again." + + * * * * * + + + AN INDIAN LOVER. + +Mrs. Johnston told me that when her children are absent from her, and +she looks for their return, she has a sensation, a merely physical +sensation, like that she experienced when she first laid them to her +bosom; this yearning amounts at times to absolute pain, almost as +intolerable as the pang of child-birth, and is so common that the +Indians have a word to express it. The maternal instinct, like all the +other natural instincts, is strong in these people to a degree we can no +more conceive than we can their quick senses. As a cat deprived of its +kittens will suckle an animal of a different species, so an Indian woman +who has lost her child _must_ have another. "Bring me my son! or see me +die!" exclaimed a bereaved mother to her husband, and she lay down on +her mat, covered her head with her blanket, and refused to eat. The man +went and kidnapped one of the enemy's children, and brought it to her. +She laid it in her bosom, and was consoled. Here is the animal woman. + +The mortality among the children is great among the unreclaimed Indians, +from want of knowing how to treat infantine maladies, and from want of +cleanliness. When dysentery is brought on from this cause, the children +almost invariably perish. When kept clean, the bark-cradles are +excellent things for their mode of life, and effectually preserve the +head and limbs of the infant from external injury. + +When a young Chippewa of St. Mary's sees a young girl who pleases him, +and whom he wishes to marry, he goes and catches a loach, boils it, and +cuts off the tail, of which he takes the flat bone, and sticks it in his +hair. He paints himself bewitchingly, takes a sort of rude flute or +pipe, with two or three stops, which seems to be only used on these +amatory occasions, and walks up and down his village, blowing on his +flute, and looking, I presume, as sentimental as an Indian _can_ look. +This is regarded as an indication of his intentions, and throws all the +lodges in which there are young marriageable girls into a flutter, +though probably the fair one who is his secret choice is pretty well +aware of it. The next step is to make presents to the parents and +relatives of the young woman; if these are accepted, and his suit +prospers, he makes presents to his intended; and all that now remains is +to bring her home to his lodge. He neither swears before God to love her +till death--an oath which it depends not on his own will to keep, even +if it be not perjury in the moment it is pronounced--nor to endow her +with _all_ his worldly goods and chattels, when even by the act of union +she loses all right of property; but apparently the arrangements answer +all purposes, to their mutual satisfaction. + +The names of the women are almost always derived from some objects or +appearances in nature, generally of a pleasing kind; the usual +termination _qua_ or _quay_, immediately blending with their +signification the idea of womanhood. Thus, my Indian mother is "the +green prairie," (woman). Mrs. Schoolcraft's name, +Obah,bahm,wa,wa,ge,zhe,go,qua, signifies literally the "sound which the +stars make rushing through the sky," and which I translate into _the +music of the spheres_. Mrs. MacMurray is "the wild rose:" one of her +youngest sisters is Wah,bu,nung,o,qua, the morning star (woman): another +is Omis,ka,bu,go,qua, (the woman of) "the red leaf." + + * * * * * + +I went to-day to take leave of my uncle Wayish,ky, and found him +ill--poor fellow! he is fretting about his younger son. I learn with +pleasure that his daughter Zah,gah,see,ga,qua is likely to accompany me +to the Manitoolin Islands. + + * * * * * + + July 31. + +This last evening of my sojourn at the Sault-Sainte-Marie, is very +melancholy--we have been all very sad. Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray are to +accompany me in my voyage down the lake to the Manitoolin Islands, +having some business to transact with the governor:--so you see +Providence _does_ take care of me! how I could have got there alone, I +cannot tell, but I must have tried. At first we had arranged to go in a +bark canoe; the very canoe which belonged to Captain Back, and which is +now lying in Mr. MacMurray's court-yard: but our party will be large, +and we shall be encumbered with much baggage and provisions--not having +yet learned to live on the portable maize and fat: our voyage is likely +to take three days and a half, even if the weather continues favourable, +and if it do not, why we shall be obliged to put into some creek or +harbour, and pitch our tent, gipsy fashion, for a day or two. There is +not a settlement nor a habitation on our route, nothing but lake and +forest. The distance is about one hundred and seventy miles, rather more +than less; Mr. MacMurray therefore advises a bateau, in which, if we do +not get on so quickly, we shall have more space and comfort,--and thus +it is to be. + +I am sorry to leave these kind, excellent people, but most I regret Mrs. +Schoolcraft.[45] + +[Footnote 45: This amiable and interesting creature died a few years +ago.] + + * * * * * + + + WE EMBARK ON LAKE HURON. + + August 1. + +The morning of our departure rose bright and beautiful, and the loading +and arranging our little boat was a scene of great animation. I thought +I had said all my adieus the night before, but at early dawn my good +Neengai came paddling across the river with various kind offerings for +her daughter Wa,sah,ge,wo,no,qua, which she thought might be pleasant or +useful, and more _last_ affectionate words from Mrs. Schoolcraft. We +then exchanged a long farewell embrace, and she turned away with tears, +got into her little canoe, which could scarcely contain two persons, and +handling her paddle with singular grace and dexterity, shot over the +blue water, without venturing once to look back! I leaned over the side +of our boat, and strained my eyes to catch a last glimpse of the white +spray of the rapids, and her little canoe skimming over the expanse +between, like a black dot: and this was the last I saw of my dear good +Chippewa mamma! + +Meantime we were proceeding rapidly down the beautiful river, and +through its winding channels. Our party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. +MacMurray and their lovely boy; myself; and the two Indian girls--my +cousin Zah,gah,see,ga,qua, and Angelique, the child's attendant. + +These two girls were, for Indians, singularly beautiful; they would have +been beautiful anywhere. Angelique, though of unmixed Indian blood, has +a face of the most perfect oval, a clear brown complexion, the long, +half-shaded eye, which the French call _coupe en amande_; the nose +slightly aquiline, with the proud nostril open and well defined; +dazzling teeth;--in short, her features had been faultless, but that her +mouth is a little too large--but then, to amend that, her lips are like +coral: and a more perfect figure I never beheld. Zah,gah,see,ga,qua is +on a less scale, and her features more decidedly Indian. + +We had a small, but compact and well-built boat, the seats of which we +covered with mats, blankets, buffalo skins, cloaks, shawls, &c.: we had +four voyageurs, Masta, Content, Le Blanc, and Pierrot; a very different +set from those who brought me from Mackinaw: they were all Canadian +voyageurs of the true breed, that is, half-breed, showing the Indian +blood as strongly as the French. Pierrot, worthy his name, was a most +comical fellow; Masta, a great talker, amused me exceedingly; Content +was our steersman and captain; and Le Blanc, who was the best singer, +generally led the song, to which the others responded in chorus. + +They had a fixed daily allowance of fat pork, Indian meal, and tobacco: +finding that the latter was not agreeable to me, though I took care not +to complain, they always contrived with genuine politeness to smoke out +of my way, and to leeward. + + + VOYAGE DOWN LAKE HURON. + +After passing Sugar Island, we took the channel to the left, and entered +the narrow part of the lake between St. Joseph's Island and the +mainland. We dined upon a small picturesque islet, consisting of ledges +of rock, covered with shrubs and abounding with whortleberries; on the +upper platform we arranged an awning or shade, by throwing a sail over +some bushes, and made a luxuriant dinner, succeeded by a basin of good +tea; meantime, on the rocky ledge below, Pierrot was making a +_galette_, and Masta frying pork. + +Dinner being over, we proceeded, coasting along the north shore of St. +Joseph's Island. There is, in the interior, an English settlement, and a +village of Indians. The principal proprietor, who is a magistrate and +justice of the peace; has two Indian women living with him--two sisters, +and a family by each!--such are the examples sometimes set to the +Indians on our frontiers. + +In the evening we came to an island consisting of a flat ledge of rock, +on which were the remains of a former camp-fire, surrounded by tall +trees and bushes: here we pitched our little marquee, and boiled our +kettle. The sun-set was most glorious, with some floating ominous +clouds. The stars and the fire-flies came out together: the latter +swarmed around us, darting in and out among the trees, and gliding and +sparkling over the surface of the water. Unfortunately the mosquitoes +swarmed too, notwithstanding the antipathy which is said to exist +between the mosquito and the fire-fly. We made our beds by spreading +mats and blankets under us; and then, closing the curtain of the tent, +Mr. MacMurray began a very effective slaughter and expulsion of the +mosquitoes. We laid ourselves down, Mrs. MacMurray in the middle, with +her child in her bosom; Mr. MacMurray on one side, myself at the other, +and the two Indian girls at our feet: the voyageurs, rolled in their +blankets, lay down on the naked rock round the fire we had built--and +thus we all slept. I must needs confess that I found my rocky bed rather +uneasy, and my bones ached as I turned from side to side, but this was +only a beginning. The night was close and sultry, and just before dawn I +was wakened by a tremendous clap of thunder; down came the storm in its +fury, the lake swelling and roaring, the lightning gambolling over the +rocks and waves, the rain falling in a torrent; but we were well +sheltered, for the men had had the precaution, before they slept, to +throw a large oil cloth over the top of our little marquee. The storm +ceased suddenly: daylight came, and soon afterwards we again embarked. +We had made forty-five miles. + + * * * * * + + + BREAKFAST AT RATTLESNAKE ISLAND. + +The next morning was beautiful: the sun shone brightly, though the lake +was yet heaving and swelling from the recent storm,--altogether it was +like the laughing eyes and pouting lips of a half-appeased beauty. About +nine o'clock we ran down into a lovely bay, and landed to breakfast on a +little lawn surrounded by high trees and a thick wood, abounding in +rattlesnakes and squirrels. Luckily for us, the storm had dispersed the +mosquitoes. + +Keeping clear of the covert to avoid these fearful snakes, I strayed +down by the edge of the lake, and found a tiny creek, which answered all +purposes, both of bath and mirror, and there I arranged my toilette in +peace and security. Returning to our breakfast-fire, I stood some +moments to admire the group around it--it was a perfect picture: there +lay the little boat rocking on the shining waves, and near it Content +was washing plates and dishes; Pierrot and Masta were cooking; the two +Indian girls were spreading the tablecloth on the turf. Mrs. MacMurray +and her baby--looking like the Madonna and child in the "Repose in +Egypt,"--were seated under a tree; while Mr. MacMurray, having suspended +his shaving-glass against the trunk of a pine, was shaving himself with +infinite gravity and _sang froid_. Never, I think, were the graceful, +the wild, the comic, so strangely combined!--add the rich background of +mingled foliage, the murmur of leaves and waters, and all the glory of a +summer morning!--it was very beautiful! + +We breakfasted in much mirth, and then we set off again. The channel +widened, the sky became overcast, the wind freshened, and at length blew +hard. Though this part of the lake is protected by St. Joseph's and the +chain of islands from the swell of the main lake, still the waves rose +high, the wind increased, we were obliged to take in a reef or two of +our sail, and scudded with an almost fearful rapidity before the wind. +In crossing a wide, open expanse of about twenty miles, we became all at +once very silent, then very grave, then very pathetic, and at last +extremely sick. + +On arriving among the channels of the Rattlesnake Islands, the swell of +course subsided; we landed on a most beautiful mass of rock, and lighted +our fire under a group of pines and sycamores; but we were too sick to +eat. Mr. MacMurray heated some port wine and water, into which we broke +biscuit, and drank it most picturesquely out of a slop basin--too +thankful to get it! Thus recruited, we proceeded. The wind continued +fresh and fair, the day kept up fine, and our sail was most delightful +and rapid. We passed successive groups of islands, countless in number, +various in form, little fairy Edens--populous with life and love, and +glowing with light and colour under a meridian sun. I remember we came +into a circular basin, of about three miles in diameter, so surrounded +with islands, that when once within the circle, I could perceive neither +ingress nor egress; it was as if a spell of enchantment had been wrought +to keep us there for ever; and I really thought we were going with our +bows upon the rocks, when suddenly we darted through a narrow portal, +not above two or three yards in width, and found ourselves in another +wide expanse, studded with larger islands. At evening we entered the +Missasagua river, having come sixty miles, right before the wind, since +morning. + + + BEAUTY OF AIRD'S BAY. + +The Missasagua (_i. e._ the river with two mouths) gives its name to a +tribe of the Chippewa nation, once numerous and powerful, now scattered +and degraded. This is the river called by Henry the _Missasaki_, where +he found a horde of Indians who had never seen a white man before, and +who, in the excess of their hospitality, crammed him with "a porridge of +sturgeons' roe," which I apprehend, from his description, would be +likely to prove "caviare to the general." There is a remnant of these +Indians here still. We found a log-hut with a half-breed family, in the +service of the fur company; and two or three bark wigwams. The rest of +the village (dwellings and inhabitants together) had gone down to the +Manitoolin. A number of little Red-skins were running about, half, or +rather indeed wholly, naked--happy, healthy, active, dirty little +urchins, resembling, except in colour, those you may see swarming in an +Irish cabin. Poor Ireland! The worst Indian wigwam is not worse than +some of her dwellings; and the most miserable of these Indians would +spurn the destiny of an Irish _poor-slave_--for he is at least Lord o'er +himself. As the river is still famous for sturgeon, we endeavoured to +procure some for supper, and had just prepared a large piece to roast, +(suspended by a cord to three sticks,) when one of those horrid curs so +rife about the Indian dwellings ran off with it. We were asked to take +up our night's lodging in the log-hut, but it was so abominably dirty +and close, we all preferred the shore. While they pitched the marquee, I +stood for some time looking at a little Indian boy, who, in a canoe +about eight feet in length, was playing the most extraordinary gambols +in the water; the buoyant thing seemed alive beneath him, and to obey +every movement of his paddle. He shot backwards and forwards, described +circles, whirled himself round and round, made pirouettes, exhibited, in +short, as many tricks as I have seen played by a spirited English boy on +a thorough-bred pony. + + + BEACH LA CLOCHE. + +The mosquitoes were in great force, but we began by sweeping them out of +the tent with boughs, and then, closing the curtain, we executed +judgment on the remainder by wholesale. We then lay down in the same +order as last night; and Mrs. MacMurray sang her little boy to sleep +with a beautiful hymn. I felt all the luxury of having the turf under me +instead of the rock, and slept well till wakened before dawn by some +animal sniffing and snuffing close to my ear. I commanded my alarm, and +did not disturb those who were enjoying a sound sleep near me, and the +intruder turned out to be a cow belonging to the hut, who had got her +nose under the edge of the tent. We set off early, and by sunrise had +passed down the eastern channel of the river, and swept into the lake. +It was a lovely morning, soft and calm; there was no breath of wind; no +cloud in the sky, no vapour in the air; and the little islands lay +around "under the opening eyelids of the morn," dewy, and green, and +silent. We made eighteen miles before breakfast; and then pursued our +way through Aird's bay, and among countless islands of all shapes and +sizes; I cannot describe their beauty, nor their harmonious variety: at +last we perceived in the east the high ridge called the mountains of La +Cloche. They are really respectable hills in this level country, but +hardly mountains: they are all of limestone, and partially clothed in +wood. All this coast is very rocky and barren; but it is said to be rich +in mineral productions. About five in the evening we landed at La +Cloche. + +Here we found the first and only signs of civilised society during our +voyage. The north-west company have an important station here; and two +of their principal clerks, Mr. MacBean and Mr. Buthune were on the spot. +We were received with much kindness, and pressed to spend the night, but +there was yet so much day-light, and time was so valuable, that we +declined. The factory consists of a large log-house, an extensive store +to contain the goods bartered with the Indians, and huts inhabited by +work people, hunters, voyageurs, and others; a small village, in short, +and a number of boats and canoes of all sizes were lying in the bay. It +is not merely the love of gain that induces well-educated +men--gentlemen--to pass twenty years of their lives in such a place as +this; you must add to the prospective acquirement of a large fortune, +two possessions which men are most wont to covet--power and freedom. The +table was laid in their hall for supper, and we carried off, with their +good will, a large mess of broiled fish, dish and all, and a can of +milk, which delicious viands we discussed in our boat with great +satisfaction. + + + THE BURNING PINE. + +The place derives its name from a large rock which they say, being +struck, vibrates like a bell. But I had no opportunity of trying the +experiment, therefore cannot tell how this may be: Henry, however, +mentions this phenomenon; and the Indians regard the spot as sacred and +enchanted. Just after sunset, we reached one of the most enchanting of +these enchanting or enchanted isles. It rose sloping from the shore, in +successive ledges of picturesque rocks, all fringed with trees and +bushes, and clothed in many places with a species of grey lichen, nearly +a foot deep. With a sort of anticipative wisdom (like that of a pig +before a storm) I gathered a quantity of this lichen for our bed, and +spread it under the mats; for in fear of the rattlesnakes and other +creeping things, we had pitched our resting place on the naked rock. The +men had built up the fire in a sheltered place below, and did not +perceive that a stem of a blasted pine, about twenty feet in length, had +fallen across the recess; it caught the flame. This at first delighted +us and the men too; but soon it communicated to another tree against +which it was leaning, and they blazed away together in a column of +flame. We began to fear that it might communicate to the dried moss and +the bushes, and cause a general conflagration; the men prevented this, +however, by clearing a space around them. The waves, the trees and +bushes and fantastic rocks, and the figures and faces of the men, caught +the brilliant light as it flashed upon them with a fitful glare--the +rest being lost in deepest shadow. Wildly magnificent it was! beyond all +expression beautiful, and awful to!--the night, the solitude, the dark +weltering waters, the blaze which put out the mild stars which just +before had looked down upon us in their tender radiance!--I never beheld +such a scene. By the light of this gigantic torch we supped and prepared +our beds. As I lay down to rest, and closed my eyes on the flame which +shone through our tent curtain, I thought that perhaps the wind might +change in the night, and the flakes and sparks be carried over to us, +and to the beds of lichen, dry and inflammable as tinder; but fatigue +had subdued me so utterly, that even this apprehension could not keep me +awake. + +The burning trees were still smouldering; daylight was just creeping up +the sky, and some few stars yet out, when we bestirred ourselves, and in +a very few minutes we were again afloat: we were now steering towards +the south-east, where the Great Manitoolin Island was dimly discerned. +There was a deep slumbrous calm all around, as if nature had not yet +awoke from her night's rest: then the atmosphere began to kindle with +gradual light; it grew brighter and brighter: towards the east, the lake +and sky were intermingling in radiance; and _then_, just there, where +they seemed flowing and glowing together like a bath of fire, we saw +what seemed to us the huge black hull of a vessel, with masts and spars +rising against the sky--but we knew not what to think or to believe! As +we kept on rowing in that direction, it grew more distinct, but lessened +in size: it proved to be a great heavy-built schooner, painted black, +which was going up the lake against wind and current. One man was +standing in her bows, with an immense oar, which he slowly pulled, +walking backwards and forwards; but vain seemed all his toil, for still +the vessel lay like a black log, and moved not: we rowed up to the side, +and hailed him--"What news?" + + + QUEEN VICTORIA. + +And the answer was that William the Fourth was dead, and that Queen +Victoria reigned in his place! We sat silent looking at each other, and +even in that very moment the orb of the sun rose out of the lake, and +poured its beams full in our dazzled eyes. + +We asked if the governor were at the Manitoolin Island? No; he was not +there; but the chief officer of the Indian department had come to +represent him, and the presents were to be given out to the assembled +Indians this morning. We urged the men to take to their oars with +spirit, and held our course due east down by the woody shores of this +immense island; among fields of reeds and rushes, and almost under the +shadow of the towering forests. + +Meantime, many thoughts came into my mind, some tears too into my +eyes--not certainly for that dead king, who in ripe age and in all +honour was gathered to the tomb--but for that living queen so young and +fair:-- + + "As many hopes hang on that noble head + As there hang blossoms on the boughs in May!" + +And what will become of _them_--of _her_! The idea that even here, in +this new world of woods and waters, amid these remote wilds, to her so +utterly unknown, her power reaches and her sovereignty is acknowledged, +filled me with compassionate awe. I say _compassionate_, for if she feel +in their whole extent the liabilities of her position, alas for her! And +if she feel them not!--O worse and worse! + +I tried to recall her childish figure and features. I thought over all I +had heard concerning her. I thought she was not such a thing as they +could make a mere pageant of; for _that_ there is too much within--too +little without. And what _will_ they make of her? For at eighteen she +will hardly make anything of them--I mean of the men and women round +her. It is of the woman I think, more than of the queen; for as a part +of the state machinery she will do quite as well as another--better, +perhaps: so far her youth and sex are absolutely in her favour, or +rather in _our_ favour. If she be but simple-minded, and true-hearted, +and straightforward, with the common portion of intellect--if a royal +education have not blunted in her the quick perceptions and pure kind +instincts of the woman--if she has only had fair play, and carries into +business plain distinct notions of right and wrong--and the fine moral +sense that is not to be confounded by diplomatic verbiage and +expediency--she will do better for us than a whole cabinet full of cut +and dried officials, with Talleyrand at the head of them. And what a +fair heritage is this which has fallen to her! A land young like +herself--a land of hopes--and fair, most fair! Does she know--does she +care any thing about it?--while hearts are beating warm for her, and +voices bless her--and hands are stretched out towards her--even from +these wild lake shores?[46] + +These thoughts were in my mind, or something like to these, as with aid +of sail and oar we were gliding across the bay of Manitoolin. This bay +is about three miles wide at the entrance, and runs about twelve miles +in depth, in a southern direction. As we approached the further end, we +discerned the whole line of shore, rising in bold and beautiful relief +from the water, to be covered with wigwams, and crowded with Indians. +Suddenly we entered a little opening or channel, which was not visible +till we were just upon it, and rounding a promontory, to my infinite +delight and surprise, we came upon an unexpected scene,--a little bay +within the bay. It was a beautiful basin, nearly an exact circle, of +about three miles in circumference; in the centre lay a little wooded +island, and all around, the shores rose sloping from the margin of the +lake, like an amphitheatre, covered with wigwams and lodges, thick as +they could stand amid intermingled trees; and beyond these arose the +tall pine forest crowning and enclosing the whole. Some hundred canoes +were darting hither and thither on the waters, or gliding along the +shore, and a beautiful schooner lay against the green bank--its tall +masts almost mingling with the forest trees, and its white sails half +furled, and half gracefully drooping. + +We landed, and were received with much politeness by Mr. Jarvis, the +chief superintendent of Indian affairs, and by Major Anderson, the +Indian agent; and a space was cleared to pitch our tent, until room +could be made for our accommodation in one of the government log-houses. + +[Footnote 46: The reader will have the goodness to remark that all this +passage relating to the Queen stands verbatim in the original printed in +1838.] + + * * * * * + + + THE GREAT MANITOOLIN. + +The word Manitoolin is a corruption or frenchification of the Indian +_Manitoawahning_, which signifies the "dwelling of spirits." They have +given this name to a range of islands in Lake Huron, which extends from +the channel of St. Mary's river nearly to Cape Hurd, a distance of about +two hundred miles. Between this range of islands and the shore of the +mainland, there is an archipelago, consisting of many thousand islands +or islets.[47] + +The Great Manitoolin, on which I now am, is, according to the last +survey, ninety-three miles in length, but very narrow, and so deeply and +fantastically indented with gulfs and bays, that it was supposed to +consist of many distinct islands. This is the second year that the +presents to the Indians have been issued on this spot. The idea of +forming on the Great Manitoolin, a settlement of the Indians, and +inviting those tribes scattered round the lakes to adopt it as a +residence, has been for the last few years entertained by the Indian +department; I say for the last few years, because it did not originate +with the present governor; though I believe it has his entire +approbation, as a means of removing them more effectually from all +contact with the white settlers. It is objected to this measure that by +cutting off the Indians from agricultural pursuits, and throwing them +back upon their habits of hunting and fishing, it will retard their +civilisation; that removing them from the reserved land among the +whites, their religious instruction will be rendered a matter of +difficulty; that the islands, being masses of barren rock, are almost +incapable of cultivation; and that they are so far north-west, that it +would be difficult to raise even a little Indian corn[48]: and hence the +plan of settling the Indians here has been termed _unjustifiable_. + +[Footnote 47: The islands which fringe the north shores of Lake Huron +from Lake George to Penetanguishine have been estimated by Lieut. +Bayfield (in his official survey) at upwards of thirty-three thousand.] + +[Footnote 48: It appears, however, from the notes of the missionary +Elliott, that a great number of Ottawas and Portoganasees had been +residing on the Great Manitoolin two or three years previous to 1834, +and had cultivated a portion of land.] + + + DISTRIBUTION OF PRESENTS. + +It is true that the smaller islands are rocky and barren; but the Great +Manitoolin, Drummond's, and St. Joseph's, are fertile. The soil on which +I now tread is rich and good; and all the experiments in cultivation +already tried here have proved successful. As far as I can judge, the +intentions of the government are benevolent and _justifiable_. There are +a great number of Indians, Ottawas, and Pottowottomies, who receive +annual presents from the British government, and are residing on the +frontiers of the American settlements, near Lake Michigan. These people, +having disposed of their lands, know not where to go, and it is the wish +of our government to assemble all those Indians who are our allies, and +receive our annual presents within the limits of the British +territory--and this for reasons which certainly do appear very +_reasonable_ and politic. + +There are three thousand seven hundred Indians, Ottawas, Chippewas, +Pottowottomies, Winnebagos, and Menomonies, encamped around us. The +issue of the presents has just concluded, and appears to have given +universal satisfaction; yet, were you to see their trifling nature, you +would wonder that they think it worth while to travel from one to five +hundred miles or more to receive them; and by an ordinance of the Indian +department, every individual must present himself _in person_ to receive +the allotted portion. The common equipment of each chief or warrior +(that is, each man) consists of three quarters of a yard of blue cloth, +three yards of linen, one blanket, half an ounce of thread, four strong +needles, one comb, one awl, one butcher's knife, three pounds of +tobacco, three pounds of ball, nine pounds of shot, four pounds of +powder, and six flints. The equipment of a woman consists of one yard +and three quarters of coarse woollen, two yards and a half of printed +calico, one blanket, one ounce of thread, four needles, one comb, one +awl, one knife. For each child there was a portion of woollen cloth and +calico. Those chiefs who had been wounded in battle, or had +extraordinary claims, had some little articles in extra quantity, and a +gay shawl or handkerchief. To each principal chief of a tribe, the +allotted portion of goods for his tribe was given, and he made the +distribution to his people individually; and such a thing as injustice +or partiality on one hand, or a murmur of dissatisfaction on the other, +seemed equally unknown. There were, besides, extra presents of flags, +medals, chiefs' guns, rifles, trinkets, brass kettles, the choice and +distribution of which were left to the superintendent, with this +proviso, that the expense on the whole was never to exceed nine pounds +sterling for every one hundred chiefs or warriors. + +While the Indians remain on the island, which is generally about five +days, they receive rations of Indian corn and tallow (fat melted down); +with this they make a sort of soup, boiling the Indian corn till it is +of the consistence of porridge,--then adding a handful of tallow and +some salt, and stirring it well. Many a kettleful of this delectable +mess did I see made, without feeling any temptation to taste it; but +Major Anderson says it is not so _very_ bad, when a man is _very_ +hungry, which I am content to believe on his testimony. On this and on +the fish of the bay they live while here. + + * * * * * + +As soon as the distribution of the presents was over, a grand council of +all the principal chiefs was convened, that they might be informed of +the will of their great father. + +You must understand, that on the promontory I have mentioned as shutting +in the little bay on the north side, there are some government +edifices; one large house, consisting of one room, as accommodation for +the superintendent and officers; also a carpenter's house and a magazine +for the stores and presents, all of logs. A deal plank, raised on +tressels, served as a table; there were a few stools and benches of +deal-board, and two raised wooden platforms for beds: such were the +furniture and decorations of the grand council-hall in which the +_representative_ of the representative of their Great Mother had now +assembled her red children; a flag was displayed in front upon a lofty +pole--a new flag, with a new device, on which I saw troops of Indians +gazing with much curiosity and interest, and the meaning of which was +now to be explained to them. + +The council met about noon. At the upper end of the log-house I have +mentioned, stood the chief superintendent, with his secretary or grand +vizier, Major Anderson; the two interpreters, and some other officials. +At some little distance I sat with Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, and a young +son of the lieutenant-governor; near me I perceived three Methodist +missionaries and two Catholic priests. The chiefs came in, one after +another, without any order of precedence. All those whom I had seen at +Mackinaw recognised me immediately, and their dusky faces brightened as +they held out their hands with the customary _bojou!_ There was my old +acquaintance the Rain, looking magnificent, and the venerable old Ottawa +chief, Kish,ke,nick (the Cut-hand). The other remarkable chiefs of the +Ottawas were Gitchee, Mokomaun (the Great or Long-knife); So,wan,quet +(the Forked-tree); Kim,e,ne,chau,zun (the Bustard); Mocomaun,ish (the +Bad-knife); Pai,mau,se,gai (the Sun's course in a cloudless sky); and +As,si,ke,nack (the Blackbird); the latter a very remarkable man, of whom +I shall have to say more presently. Of the Chippewas, the most +distinguished chiefs were, Aisence (the Little Clam); Wai,sow,win,de,bay +(the Yellow-head), and Shin,gua,cose (the Pine); these three are +Christians. There were besides Ken,ne,bec,ano (the Snake's-tail); +Muc,konce,e,wa,yun (the Cub's-skin): and two others, whose style was +quite grandiloquent,--Tai,bau,se,gai (Bursts of Thunder at a distance), +and Me,twai,crush,kau (the sound of waves breaking on the rocks). + +Nearly opposite to me was a famous Pottowottomie chief and conjuror, +called the Two Ears. He was most fantastically dressed, and hideously +painted, and had two large clusters of swan's down depending from each +ear--I suppose in illustration of his name. There were three men with +their faces blacked with grease and soot, their hair dishevelled, and +their whole appearance studiously squalid and miserable: I was told they +were in mourning for near relations. With these exceptions the dresses +were much what I have already described; but the chief whom I +immediately distinguished from the rest, even before I knew his name, +was my cousin, young Waub-Ojeeg, the son of Wayish,ky; in height he +towered above them all, being about six feet three or four. His dress +was equally splendid and tasteful; he wore a surtout of fine blue cloth, +under which was seen a shirt of gay colours, and his father's medal hung +on his breast. He had a magnificent embroidered belt of wampum, from +which hung his scalping-knife and pouch. His leggings (metasses) were of +scarlet cloth beautifully embroidered, with rich bands or garters +depending to his ankle. Round his head was an embroidered band or +handkerchief, in which were stuck four wing-feathers of the war-eagle, +two on each side--the testimonies of his prowess as a warrior. He held a +tomahawk in his hand. His features were fine, and his countenance not +only mild, but almost femininely soft. Altogether he was in dress and +personal appearance the finest specimen of his race I had yet seen; I +was quite proud of my adopted kinsman. + +He was seated at some distance; but in far too near propinquity, for in +truth they almost touched me, sat a group of creatures--human beings I +must suppose them--such as had never been seen before within the lines +of civilisation. I had remarked them in the morning surrounded by a +group of Ottawas, among whom they seemed to excite as much wonder and +curiosity as among ourselves: and when I inquired who and what they +were, I was told they were _cannibals_ from the Red River, the title +being, I suspect, quite gratuitous, and merely expressive of the +disgust they excited. One man had his hair cut short on the top of his +head, and it looked like a circular blacking-brush, while it grew long +in a fringe all round, hanging on his shoulders. The skins thrown round +them seemed on the point of rotting off; and their attitude, when +squatted on the ground, was precisely that of the larger ape I have seen +in a menagerie. More hideous, more pitiable specimens of humanity in its +lowest, most degraded state, can hardly be conceived; melancholy, +squalid, stupid--and yet not fierce. They had each received a kettle and +a gun by way of encouragement. + +The whole number of chiefs assembled was seventy-five; and take notice +that the half of them were smoking, that it was blazing noontide, and +that every door and window was filled up with the eager faces of the +crowd without, and then you may imagine that even a scene like this was +not to be enjoyed without some drawbacks; in fact, it was a sort of +purgatory to more senses than one, but I made up my mind to endure, and +did so. I observed that although there were many hundreds around the +house, not one woman, outside or inside, was visible during the whole +time the council lasted. + +When all were assembled, and had seated themselves on the floor without +hurry, noise, or confusion, there was a pause of solemn preparation, and +then Mr. Jarvis rose and addressed them. At the end of every sentence, +As,si,ke,nack (the Blackbird), our chief interpreter here, translated +the meaning to the assembly, raising his voice to a high pitch, and +speaking with much oratorical emphasis, the others responding at +intervals, "Ha!" but listening generally in solemn silence. This man, +the Blackbird, who understands English well, is the most celebrated +orator of his nation. They relate with pride that on one occasion he +began a speech at sunrise, and that it lasted without intermission till +sunset: the longest breathed of our parliament orators must yield, I +think, to the Blackbird. + +The address of the superintendent was in these words:-- + +"Children,--When your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, parted with +his Red children last year at this place, he promised again to meet +them here at the council-fire, and witness in person the grand delivery +of presents now just finished. + +"To fulfil this engagement, your Great Father left his residence at +Toronto, and proceeded on his way to the Great Manitoolin Island, as far +as Lake Simcoe. At this place, a messenger, who had been dispatched from +Toronto, overtook him, and informed him of the death of our Great +Father, on the other side of the Great Salt Lake, and the accession of +the Queen Victoria. It consequently became necessary for your Great +Father, the lieutenant-governor, to return to the seat of his +government, and hold a council with his chief men. + +"Children!--Your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, has deputed me +to express to you his regret and disappointment at being thus +unexpectedly deprived of the pleasure which he had promised to himself, +in again seeing all his Red children, and in taking by the hand the +chiefs and warriors of the numerous tribes now here assembled. + +"Children!--I am now to communicate to you a matter in which many of you +are deeply interested. Listen with attention, and bear well in mind what +I say to you. + +"Children!--Your Great Father the King had determined that presents +should be continued to be given to all Indians resident in the Canadas. + +"But presents will be given to Indians residing in the United States +only for three years, including the present delivery. + +"Children!--The reasons why presents will not be continued to the +Indians residing in the United States I will explain to you. + +"First: All our countrymen who resided in the United States forfeited +their claim to protection from the British government, from the moment +their Great Father the King lost possession of that country. +Consequently the Indians have no right to expect that their Great Father +will continue to them what he does not continue to his own white +children. + +"Secondly: The Indians of the United States, who served in the late +war, have already received from the British government more than has +been received by the soldiers of their Great Father, who have fought for +him for twenty years. + +"Thirdly: Among the rules which civilised nations are bound to attend +to, there is one which forbids your Great Father to give arms and +ammunition to Indians of the United States, who are fighting against the +government under which they live. + +"Fourthly: The people of England have, through their representatives in +the great council of the nation, uttered great complaints at the expense +attendant upon a continuation of the expenditure of so large a sum of +money upon Indian presents. + +"But, Children! let it be distinctly understood, that the British +government has not come to a determination to cease to give presents to +the Indians of the United States. On the contrary, the government of +your Great Father will be most happy to do so, provided they live in the +British empire. Therefore, although your Great Father is willing that +his Red children should all become permanent settlers in the island, it +matters not in what part of the British empire they reside. They may go +across the Great Salt Lake to the country of their Great Father the +King, and there reside, and there receive their presents; or they may +remove to any part of the provinces of Upper or Lower Canada, New +Brunswick, Nova Scotia, or any other British colony, and yet receive +them. But they cannot and must not expect to receive them after the end +of three years, if they continue to reside within the limits of the +United States. + +"Children!--The Long Knives have complained (and with justice too) that +your Great Father, whilst he is at peace with them, has supplied his Red +children residing in their country, with whom the Long Knives are at +war, with guns and powder and ball. + +"Children!--This, I repeat to you, is against the rules of civilised +nations, and if continued, will bring on war between your Great Father +and the Long Knives. + +"Children!--You must therefore come and live under the protection of +your Great Father, or renounce the advantage which you have so long +enjoyed, of annually receiving valuable presents from him. + +"Children!--I have one thing more to observe to you. There are many +clergymen constantly visiting you for the avowed purpose of instructing +you in religious principles. Listen to them with attention when they +talk to you on that subject; but at the same time keep always in view, +and bear it well in your minds, that they have nothing whatever to do +with your temporal affairs. Your Great Father who lives across the Great +Salt Lake is your guardian and protector, and he only. He has +relinquished his claim to this large and beautiful island, on which we +are assembled, in order that you may have a home of your own quite +separate from his white children. The soil is good, and the waters which +surround the shores of this island are abundantly supplied with the +finest fish. If you cultivate the soil with only moderate industry, and +exert yourselves to obtain fish, you can never want, and your Great +Father will continue to bestow annually on all those who permanently +reside here, or in any part of his dominions, valuable presents, and +will from time to time visit you at this island, to behold your +improvements. + +"Children!--Your Great Father, the lieutenant-governor, as a token of +the above declaration, transmits to the Indians a silk British flag, +which represents the British empire. Within this flag, and immediately +under the symbol of the British crown, are delineated a British lion and +a beaver; by which is designated that the British people and the +Indians, the former being represented by the lion and the latter by the +beaver, are and will be alike regarded by their sovereign, so long as +their figures are imprinted on the British flag, or, in other words, so +long as they continue to inhabit the British empire! + +"Children!--This flag is now yours. But it is necessary that some one +tribe should take charge of it, in order that it may be exhibited in +this island on all occasions, when your Great Father either visits or +bestows presents on his Red children. Choose, therefore, from among +you, the tribe to which you are willing to entrust it for safe keeping, +and remember to have it with you when we next meet again at this place. + +"Children!--I bid you farewell. But before we part, let me express to +you the high satisfaction I feel at witnessing the quiet, sober, and +orderly conduct which has prevailed in the camp since my arrival. There +are assembled here upwards of three thousand persons, composed of +different tribes. I have not seen nor heard of any wrangling or +quarrelling among you; I have not seen even one man, woman, or child, in +a state of intoxication. + +"Children!--Let me entreat you to abstain from indulging in the use of +fire-water. Let me entreat you to return immediately to your respective +homes, with the presents now in your possession. Let me warn you against +attempts that may be made by traders or other persons to induce you to +part with your presents, in exchange for articles of little +value.--Farewell." + +When Mr. Jarvis ceased speaking there was a pause, and then a fine +Ottawa chief (I think Mokomaun,ish) arose, and spoke at some length. He +said, that with regard to the condition on which the presents would be +issued in future, they would deliberate on the affair, and bring their +answer next year. + +Shinguaconse then came forward and made a long and emphatic speech, from +which I gathered that he and his tribe requested that the principal +council-fire might be transferred to St. Mary's River, and objected to a +residence on the Manitoolin Island. After him spoke two other chiefs, +who signified their entire acquiescence in what their Great Father had +advised, and declared themselves satisfied to reside on the Manitoolin +Islands. + +After some deliberation among themselves, the custody of the flag was +consigned to the Ottawa tribe then residing on the island, and to their +principal chief, who came forward and received it with great ceremony. + +There was then a distribution of extra presents, medals, silver gorgets, +and amulets, to some of the chiefs and relatives of chiefs whose conduct +was particularly approved, or whom it was thought expedient to gratify. + +The council then broke up, and I made my way into the open air as +quickly as I could. + + * * * * * + + + SCENES ON THE GREAT MANITOOLIN. + +In walking about among the wigwams to-day, I found some women on the +shore, making a canoe. The frame had been put together by the men. The +women were then joining the pieces of birch-bark, with the split +ligaments of the pine-root, which they called _wattup_. Other women were +employed in melting and applying the resinous gum, with which they smear +the seams, and render them impervious to the water. There was much +chattering and laughing meanwhile, and I never saw a merrier set of +gossips. + +This canoe, which was about eighteen feet in length, was finished before +night; and the next morning I saw it afloat. + +A man was pointed out to me (a Chippewa from Lake Superior), who, about +three years ago, when threatened by starvation during his winter hunt, +had devoured his wife and one or two of his children. You shudder--so +did I; but since famine can prevail over every human feeling or +instinct, till the "pitiful mother hath sodden her own children," and a +woman devoured part of her lover[49], I do not think this wretched +creature must necessarily be a born monster of ferocity. His features +were very mild and sad--he is avoided by the other Chippewas here, and +not considered _respectable_; and this from an opinion they entertain, +that when a man has once tasted human flesh, he can relish no other: but +I must quit this abominable subject. + +At sunset this evening, just as the air was beginning to grow cool, +Major Anderson proclaimed a canoe race, the canoes to be paddled by the +women only. The prize consisted of twenty-five pair of silver earrings +and other trinkets. I can give you no idea of the state of commotion +into which the whole camp, men and women and children, were thrown by +this announcement. Thirty canoes started, each containing twelve women, +and a man to steer. They were to go round the little island in the +centre of the bay, and return to the starting point,--the first canoe +which touched the shore to be the winner. They darted off together with +a sudden velocity, like that of an arrow from the bow. The Indians on +the shore ran backwards and forwards on the beach, exciting them to +exertion by loud cries, leaping into the air, whooping and clapping +their hands; and when at length the first canoe dashed up to the landing +place, it was as if all had gone at once distracted and stark mad. The +men, throwing themselves into the water, carried the winners out in +their arms, who were laughing and panting for breath; and then the women +cried "Ny'a! Ny'a!" and the men shouted "Ty'a!" till the pine woods rang +again. + +But all was good humour, and even good order, in the midst of this +confusion. There was no ill blood, not a dispute, not an outrage, not +even a _sound_ of unkindness or anger; these are certainly the most +good-natured, orderly savages imaginable! We are twenty white people, +with 3,700 of these wild creatures around us, and I never in my life +felt more security. I find it necessary, indeed, to suspend a blanket +before each of the windows when I am dressing in the morning; for they +have no idea of the possibility of being intrusive; they think "men's +eyes were made to look," and windows to be looked through; but, with +this exception, I never met with people more genuinely polite. + +[Footnote 49: See the Voyage of the Blonde.] + + * * * * * + + + THE INDIAN WAR DANCE. + +After a very tiring day, I was standing to-night at the door of our +log-house, looking out upon the tranquil stars, and admiring the peace +and tranquillity which reigned all around. Within the house Mrs. +MacMurray was hearing a young Chippewa read the Gospel, and the light of +a lamp above fell upon her beautiful face--very beautiful it was at +that moment--and on the dusky features of the Indian boy, akin to her +own, and yet how different! and on his silver armlets and feathered +head-dress. It was about nine o'clock, and though a few of the camp +fires were yet burning, it seemed that almost all had gone to rest. At +this moment old Solomon, the interpreter, came up, and told me that the +warriors had arranged to give me an exhibition of their war-dance, and +were then painting and preparing. In a few minutes more, the drum, and +the shriek, and the long tremulous whoop, were heard. A large crowd had +gathered silently in front of the house, leaving an open space in the +midst; many of them carried great blazing torches, made of the bark of +the pine rolled up into a cylinder. The innermost circle of the +spectators sat down, and the rest stood around; some on the stumps of +the felled trees, which were still at hand. I remember that a large +piece of a flaming torch fell on the naked shoulder of a savage, and he +jumped up with a yell which made me start; but they all laughed, and so +did he, and sat himself down again quietly. + +Meantime the drumming and yelling drew nearer, and all at once a man +leaped like a panther into the very middle of the circle, and, flinging +off his blanket, began to caper and to flourish his war-club; then +another, and another, till there were about forty; then they stamped +round and round, and gesticulated a sort of fiercely grotesque +pantomime, and sent forth their hideous yells, while the glare of the +torches fell on their painted and naked figures, producing an effect +altogether quite indescribable. Then a man suddenly stopped before me, +and began a speech at the very top of his voice, so that it sounded like +a reiteration of loud cries; it was, in fact, a string of exclamations, +which a gentleman standing behind me translated as he went on. They were +to this purport:--"I am a Red-skin! I am a warrior! look on me! I am a +warrior! I am brave! I have fought! I have killed! I have killed my +enemies! I have eaten the tops of the hearts of my enemies! I have drunk +their blood! I have struck down seven Long-knives! I have taken their +scalps!" + +This last vaunt he repeated several times with exultation, thinking, +perhaps, it must be particularly agreeable to a daughter of the +Red-coats; nothing was ever less so! and the human being who was thus +boasting stood within half a yard of me, his grim painted face and +gleaming eyes looking into mine! + +A-propos to scalps; I have seen many of the warriors here, who had one +or more of these suspended as decorations to their dress; and they +seemed to me so much a part and parcel of the _sauvagerie_ around me, +that I looked on them generally without emotion or pain. But there was +one thing I never _could_ see without a start, and a thrill of +horror,--the scalp of _long fair hair_. + + * * * * * + + + THE MISSIONARIES. + +Walking about early next morning, I saw that preparations for departure +had already commenced; all was movement, and bustle, and hurry; taking +down wigwams, launching canoes, tying up bundles and babies, cooking, +and "sacrificing" wretched dogs to propitiate the spirits, and procure a +favourable voyage. I came upon such a sacrifice just at the opposite +side of the point, and took to flight forthwith. No interest, no +curiosity, can overcome the sickness and abhorrence with which I shrink +from certain things; so I can tell you nothing of this grand ceremony, +which you will find described circumstantially by many less fastidious +or less sensitive travellers. + +All the Christian Indians now on the island (about nine hundred in +number) are, with the exception of Mr. MacMurray's congregation from the +Sault, either Roman Catholics or Methodists. + +I had some conversation with Father Crue, the Roman Catholic missionary, +a very clever and very zealous man, still in the prime of life. He has +been here two years, is indefatigable in his calling, or, as Major +Anderson said, "always on the go--up the lake and down--in every spot +where he had the hope of being useful." I heard the Methodists and +Churchmen complain greatly of his interference; but if he be a true +believer in his religion, his active zeal does him honour, I think. + +One thing is most visible, certain, and undeniable, that the Roman +Catholic converts are in appearance, dress, intelligence, industry, and +general civilisation, superior to all the others. + +A band of Ottawas, under the particular care of Father Crue, have +settled on the Manitoolin, about six miles to the south. They have large +plantations of corn and potatoes, and they have built log-huts, a chapel +for their religious services, and a house for their priest. I asked him +distinctly whether they had erected these buildings themselves: he said +they had. + +Here, in the encampment, the Roman Catholic Ottawas have erected a large +temporary chapel of posts covered in with bark, the floor strewed over +with green boughs and mats, and an altar and crucifix at the end. In +front a bell is suspended between the forked branches of a pine. I have +heard them sing mass here, with every demonstration of decency and +piety. + +The Methodists have two congregations; the Indians of the Credit, under +the direction of Peter Jones; and the Indians from Coldwater and the +Narrows, under a preacher whose name I forget,--both zealous men; but +the howling and weeping of these Methodist Indians, as they lie +grovelling on the ground in their religious services, struck me +painfully. + +Mr. MacMurray is the only missionary of the Church of England, and, with +all his zeal, and his peculiar means of influence and success, it cannot +be said that he is adequately aided and supported. "The English Church," +said one of our most intelligent Indian agents, "either cannot or will +not, certainly _does not_, sow; therefore cannot expect to reap." The +zeal, activity, and benevolence of the travelling missionary Elliott are +beyond all praise; but his ministry is devoted to the back settlers more +than to the Indians. The Roman Catholic missions have been, of all, the +most active and persevering; next to these the Methodists. The +Presbyterian and the English Churches have been hitherto comparatively +indifferent and negligent. + + * * * * * + +Information was brought to the superintendent, that a trader from +Detroit, with a boat laden with whisky and rum, was lying concealed in a +little cove near the entrance of the great bay, for the purpose of +waylaying the Indians, and bartering the whisky for their new blankets, +guns, and trinkets. I exclaimed with indignation!--but Mr. Jarvis did +better than exclaim; he sent off the Blackbird, with a canoe full of +stout men, to board the trader, and throw all the whisky into the lake, +and then desire the owner to bring any complaint or claim for +restitution down to Toronto; and this was done accordingly. The +Blackbird is a Christian, and extremely noted for his general good +conduct, and his declared enmity to the "dealers in fire-water." + + * * * * * + + + INDIAN CIVILISATION. + +Yet a word more before I leave my Indians. + +There is one subject on which all travellers in these regions--all who +have treated of the manners and modes of life of the north-west tribes, +are accustomed to expatiate with great eloquence and indignation, which +they think it incumbent on the gallantry and chivalry of Christendom to +denounce, as constituting the true badge and distinction of barbarism +and heathenism, opposed to civilisation and Christianity:--I mean the +treatment and condition of their women. The women, they say, are +"drudges," "slaves," "beasts of burthen," victims, martyrs, degraded, +abject, oppressed; that not only the cares of the household and +maternity, but the cares and labours proper to the men, fall upon them; +and they seem to consider no expression of disapprobation, and even +abhorrence, too strong for the occasion; and if there be any who should +feel inclined to modify such objurgations, or speak in excuse or +mitigation of the fact, he might well fear that the publication of such +opinions would expose him, in every review, to the death of Orpheus or +Pentheus. + +Luckily I have no such risk to run. Let but my woman's wit bestead me +here as much as my womanhood, and I will, as the Indians say, "tell you +a piece of my mind," and place the matter before you in another point of +view. + +Under one aspect of the question, all these gentlemen travellers are +right; they are right in their estimate of the condition of the Indian +squaws--they _are_ drudges, slaves: and they are right in the opinion, +that the condition of the women in any community is a test of the +advance of moral and intellectual cultivation in that community; but it +is not a test of the virtue or civilisation of the man; in these Indian +tribes, where the men are the noblest and bravest of their kind, the +women are held of no account, are despised and oppressed. But it does +appear to me that the woman among these Indians holds her true natural +position relatively to the state of the man and the state of society; +and this cannot be said of all societies. + +Take into consideration, in the first place, that in these Indian +communities the task of providing subsistence falls solely and entirely +on the men. When it is said, in general terms, that the men do nothing +but _hunt_ all day, while the women are engaged in perpetual _toil_, I +suppose this suggests to civilised readers the idea of a party of +gentlemen at Melton, or a turn-out of Mr. Meynell's hounds; or at most a +deer-stalking excursion to the Highlands--a holiday affair; while the +women, poor souls! must sit at home and sew, and spin, and cook +victuals. But what is really the life of an Indian hunter?--one of +incessant, almost killing toil, and often danger.[50] A hunter goes out +at dawn, knowing that, if he returns empty, his wife and his little ones +must _starve_--no uncommon predicament! He comes home at sunset, spent +with fatigue, and unable even to speak. His wife takes off his +moccasins, places before him what food she has, or, if latterly the +chase has failed, probably no food at all, or only a little parched wild +rice. She then examines his hunting-pouch, and in it finds the claws, +or beak, or tongue of the game, or other indications by which she knows +what it is, and where to find it. She then goes for it, and drags it +home. When he is refreshed, the hunter caresses his wife and children, +relates the events of his chase, smokes his pipe, and goes to sleep--to +begin the same life on the following day. + +Where, then, the whole duty and labour of providing the means of +subsistence, ennobled by danger and courage, fall upon the man, the +woman naturally sinks in importance, and is a dependent drudge. But she +is not therefore, I suppose, so _very_ miserable, nor, relatively, so +very abject; she is sure of protection; sure of maintenance, at least +while the man has it; sure of kind treatment; sure that she will never +have her children taken from her but by death; sees none better off than +herself, and has no conception of a superior destiny; and it is evident +that in such a state the appointed and necessary share of the woman is +the household work, and all other domestic labour. As to the necessity +of carrying burthens, when moving the camp from place to place, and +felling and carrying wood, this is the most dreadful part of her lot; +and however accustomed from youth to the axe, the paddle, and the +carrying-belt, it brings on internal injuries and severe suffering--and +yet it _must_ be done. For a man to carry burthens would absolutely +incapacitate him for a hunter, and consequently from procuring +sufficient meat for his family. Hence, perhaps, the contempt with which +they regard it. And an Indian woman is unhappy, and her pride is hurt, +if her husband should be seen with a load on his back; this was strongly +expressed by one among them who said it was "unmanly;" and that "she +could not bear to see it!" + +Hence, however hard the lot of the woman, she is in no _false_ position. +The two sexes are in their natural and true position relatively to the +state of society, and the means of subsistence. + +The first step from the hunting to the agricultural state is the first +step in the emancipation of the female. I know there are some writers +who lament that the introduction of agriculture has not benefited the +Indian women, but rather added to their toils, as a great proportion of +the hoeing and planting has devolved on them; but among the Ottawas, +where this is the case, the women are decidedly in a better state than +among the hunting Chippewas; they can sell or dispose of the produce +raised by themselves, if there be more than is necessary for the family, +and they take some share in the bargains and business of the tribe: and +add, that among all these tribes, in the division of the money payments +for the ceded land, every woman receives her individual share. + +Lewis and Clarke, in exploring the Missouri, came upon a tribe of +Indians who, from local circumstances, kill little game, and live +principally on fish and roots; and as the women are equally expert with +the men in procuring subsistence, they have a rank and influence very +rarely found among Indians. The females are permitted to speak freely +before the men, to whom indeed they sometimes address themselves in a +tone of authority. On many subjects their judgment and opinion are +respected, and in matters of trade their advice is generally asked and +pursued; the labours of the family too are shared equally.[51] This +seems to be a case in point. + +Then, when we speak of the _drudgery_ of the women, we must note the +equal division of labour; there is no class of women privileged to sit +still while others work. Every squaw makes the clothing, mats, +moccasins, and boils the kettle for her own family. Compare her life +with the refined leisure of an elegant woman in the higher classes of +our society, and it is wretched and abject; but compare her life with +that of a servant-maid of all work, or a factory-girl,--I do say that +the condition of the squaw is gracious in comparison, dignified by +domestic feelings, and by equality with all around her. If women are to +be exempted from toil in reverence to the sex, and as _women_, I can +understand this, though I think it unreasonable; but if it be merely a +privilege of station, and confined to a certain set, while the great +primeval penalty is doubled on the rest, then I do not see where is the +great gallantry and consistency of this our Christendom, nor what right +we have to look down upon the barbarism of the Indian savages who make +_drudges_ of their women. + +I will just mention here the extreme delicacy and personal modesty of +the women of these tribes, which may seem strange when we see them +brought up and living in crowded wigwams, where a whole family is herded +within a space of a few yards: but the lower classes of the Irish, +brought up in their cabins, are remarkable for the same feminine +characteristic: it is as if true modesty were from within, and could +hardly be outwardly defiled. + +But to return. Another boast over the Indian savages in this respect is, +that we set a much higher value on the chastity of women. We are told +(with horror) that among some of the north-west tribes the man offers +his wife or sister, nothing loth, to his guest, as a part of the duty of +hospitality; and this is, in truth, _barbarism_!--the heartless +brutality on one side, and the shameless indifference on the other, may +well make a woman's heart shrink within her. But what right have +civilised _men_ to exclaim, and look sublime and self-complacent about +the matter? If they do not exactly imitate this fashion of the Indians, +their exceeding and jealous reverence for the virtue of women is really +indulged at a very cheap rate to themselves. If the chastity of women be +a virtue, and respectable in the eyes of the community for its own sake, +well and good; if it be a mere matter of expediency, and valuable only +as it affects property, guarded by men just as far as it concerns their +honour--as far as regards ours, a jest,--if this be the masculine creed +of right and wrong--the fiat promulgated by our lords and masters, then +I should reply that there is no woman, worthy the name, whose cheek does +not burn in shame and indignation at the thought. + +With regard to female right of property, there is no such thing as real +property among them, except the hunting-grounds or territory which are +the possession of the tribe. The personal property, as the clothing, +mats, cooking and hunting apparatus, all the interior of the wigwam, in +short, seems to be under the control of the woman; and on the death of +her husband the woman remains in possession of the lodge, and all it +contains, except the medal, flag, or other insignia of dignity, which go +to his son or male relatives. The corn she raises, and the maple sugar +she makes, she can always dispose of as she thinks fit--they are _hers_. + +[Footnote 50: I had once a description of an encounter between my +illustrious grandpapa Waub-Ojeeg and an enormous elk, in which he had to +contend with the infuriated animal, for his very life, for a space of +three hours, and the snows were stained with his blood and that of his +adversary for a hundred yards round. At last, while dodging the elk +round and round a tree, he contrived to tear off the thong from his +moccasin, and with it, to fasten his knife to the end of a stick, and +with this he literally hacked at the creature till it fell from loss of +blood.] + +[Footnote 51: Travels up the Missouri.] + + + INFLUENCE OF EUROPEANS. + +It seems to me a question whether the Europeans, who, Heaven knows, have +much to answer for in their intercourse with these people, have not, in +some degree, injured the cause of the Indian women:--first, by +corrupting them; secondly, by checking the improvement of all their own +peculiar manufactures. They prepared deer-skins with extraordinary +skill; I have seen dresses of the mountain sheep and young buffalo +skins, richly embroidered and almost equal in beauty and softness to a +Cashmere shawl; and I could mention other things. It is reasonable to +presume that as these manufactures must have been progressively +improved, there might have been farther progression, had we not +substituted for articles they could themselves procure or fabricate, +those which we fabricate; we have taken the work out of their hands, and +all motive to work, while we have created wants which they cannot +supply. We have clothed them in blankets--we have not taught them to +weave blankets. We have substituted guns for the bows and arrows--but +they cannot make guns: for the natural progress of arts and civilisation +springing from within, and from their own intelligence and resources, we +have substituted a sort of civilisation from without, foreign to their +habits, manners, organisation: we are making paupers of them; and this +by a kind of terrible necessity. Some very economical members of our +British parliament have remonstrated against the system of Indian +presents, as too _expensive_; one would almost suppose, to hear their +arguments, that pounds, shillings, and pence were the stuff of which +life is made--the three primal elements of all human existence--all +human morals. Surely they can know nothing of the real state of things +here. If the issue of the presents from our government were now to +cease, I cannot think without horror of what must ensue: trifling as +they are, they are an Indian's existence; without the rifle he must die +of hunger; without his blanket, perish of cold. Before he is reduced to +this, we should have nightly plunder and massacre all along our +frontiers and back settlements; a horrid brutalising contest like that +carried on in Florida, in which the White man would be demoralised, and +the Red man exterminated. + +The sole article of traffic with the Indians, their furs, is bartered +for the necessaries of life; and these furs can _only_ be procured by +the men. Thus their only trade, so far from tending to the general +civilisation of the people, keeps up the wild hunting habits, and tells +fearfully against the power and utility of the women, if it be not +altogether fatal to any amelioration of their condition. Yet it should +seem that we are ourselves just emerging from a similar state, only in +another form. Until of late years there was no occupation for women by +which a subsistence could be gained, except servitude in some shape or +other. The change which has taken place in this respect is one of the +most striking and interesting signs of the times in which we live. + + + TRUE IMPORTANCE OF WOMAN. + +I must stop here: but may we not assume, as a general principle, that +the true importance and real dignity of woman is every where, in savage +and civilised communities, regulated by her capacity of being useful; +or, in other words, that her condition is decided by the share she takes +in providing for her own subsistence and the well being of society as a +productive labourer? Where she is idle and useless by privilege of sex, +a divinity and an idol, a victim or a toy, is not her position quite as +lamentable, as false, as injurious to herself and all social progress, +as where she is the drudge, slave, and possession of the man? + + * * * * * + + + OUR ARRANGEMENTS. + + The ways through which my weary steps I guide, + In this delightful land of faery, + Are so exceeding spacious and wide, + And sprinkled with such sweet variety + Of all that pleasant is to ear or eye, + That I nigh ravish'd with rare thought's delight, + My tedious travel doe forget thereby, + And when I gin to feel decay of might, + It strength to me supplies, and clears my dulled spright. + + Spenser. + +On the 6th of August I bade adieu to my good friends Mr. and Mrs. +MacMurray. I had owed too much to their kindness to part from them +without regret. They returned up the lake, with their beautiful child +and Indian retinue, to St. Mary's, while I prepared to embark in a canoe +with the superintendent, to go down the lake to Penetanguishene, a +voyage of four days at least, supposing wind and weather to continue +favourable. Thence to Toronto, across Lake Simcoe, was a journey of +three days more. Always I have found efficient protection when I most +needed and least expected it; and nothing could exceed the politeness of +Mr. Jarvis and his people;--it _began_ with politeness,--but it ended +with something more and better,--real and zealous kindness. + + + VOYAGE DOWN LAKE HURON. + +Now to take things in order, and that you may accompany us in our canoe +voyage, I must describe in the first place our arrangements. You shall +confess ere long that the Roman emperor, who proclaimed a reward for the +discovery of a new pleasure, ought to have made a voyage down Lake Huron +in a birch-bark canoe. + +There were two canoes, each five-and-twenty feet in length, and four +feet in width, tapering to the two extremities, and light, elegant, and +buoyant as the sea-mew, when it skims the summer waves: in the first +canoe were Mr. Jarvis and myself; the governor's son, a lively boy of +fourteen or fifteen, old Solomon the interpreter, and seven voyageurs. +My blankets and night-gear being rolled up in a bundle, served for a +seat, and I had a pillow at my back; and thus I reclined in the bottom +of the canoe, as in a litter, very much at my ease: my companions were +almost equally comfortable. I had near me my cloak, umbrella, and +parasol, note-books and sketch-books, and a little compact basket always +by my side, containing eau de Cologne, and all those necessary luxuries +which might be wanted in a moment, for I was well resolved that I would +occasion no trouble but what was inevitable. The voyageurs were disposed +on low wooden seats, suspended to the ribs of the canoe, except our +Indian steersman, Martin, who, in a cotton shirt, arms bared to the +shoulder, loose trowsers, a scarlet sash round his waist, richly +embroidered with beads, and his long black hair waving, took his place +in the stern, with a paddle twice as long as the others.[52] + +The manner in which he stood, turning and twisting himself with the +lithe agility of a snake, and striking first on one side then on the +other, was very graceful and picturesque. So much depends on the skill, +and dexterity, and intelligence of these steersmen, that they have +always double pay. The other men were all picked men, Canadian +half-breeds, young, well-looking, full of glee and good-nature, with +untiring arms and more untiring lungs and spirits; a handkerchief +twisted round the head, a shirt and pair of trowsers, with a gay sash, +formed the prevalent costume. We had on board a canteen, and other light +baggage, two or three guns, and fishing tackle. + +The other canoe carried part of Mr. Jarvis's retinue, the heavy baggage, +provisions, marquees, guns, &c., and was equipped with eight paddles. +The party consisted altogether of twenty-two persons, twenty-one men, +and myself, the only woman. + +We started off in swift and gallant style, looking grand and official, +with the British flag floating at our stern. Major Anderson and his +people, and the schooner's crew, gave us three cheers. The Indians +uttered their wild cries, and discharged their rifles all along the +shore. As we left the bay, I counted seventy-two canoes before us, +already on their homeward voyage--some to the upper waters of the +lake--some to the northern shores; as we passed them, they saluted us +by discharging their rifles: the day was without a cloud, and it was +altogether a most animated and beautiful scene. + +I forgot to tell you that the Indians are very fond of having pet +animals in their wigwams, not only dogs, but tame foxes and hawks. Mr. +Jarvis purchased a pair of young hawks, male and female, from an Indian, +intending them for his children. Just as we left the island, one of +these birds escaped from the basket, and flew directly to the shore of +the bay, where it was lost in the thick forest. We proceeded, and after +leaving the bay about twelve miles onwards, we landed on a little rocky +island: some one heard the cry of a hawk over our heads; it was the poor +bird we had lost; he had kept his companion in sight all the way, +following us unseen along the shore, and now suffered himself to be +taken and caged with the other. + +[Footnote 52: The common paddle (called by the Canadians _aviron_, and +by the Indians _abwee_) is about two feet and a half long.] + + + PURITY OF THE WATER. + +We bought some black-bass from an Indian who was spearing fish: and, _a +propos_, I never yet have mentioned what is one of the greatest +pleasures in the navigation of these magnificent upper lakes--the +purity, the coldness, the transparency of the water. I have been told +that if in the deeper parts of the lake a white handkerchief be sunk +with the lead it is distinctly visible at a depth of thirty fathoms--we +did not try the experiment, not being in deep water; but here, among +shoals and islands, I could almost always see the rocky bottom, with +glittering pebbles, and the fish gliding beneath us with their waving +fins and staring eyes--and if I took a glass of water, it came up +sparkling as from the well at Harrowgate, and the flavour was delicious. +You can hardly imagine how much this added to the charm and animation of +the voyage. + +About sunset, we came to the hut of a fur trader, whose name, I think, +was Lemorondiere; it was on the shore of a beautiful channel running +between the mainland and a large island. On a neighbouring point, +Wai-sow-win-de-bay (the Yellow-head) and his people were building their +wigwams for the night. The appearance was most picturesque, particularly +when the camp fires were lighted and the night came on. I cannot forget +the figure of a squaw, as she stood, dark and tall, against the red +flames, bending over a great black kettle, her blanket trailing behind +her, her hair streaming on the night breeze;--most like to one of the +witches in Macbeth. + +We supped here on excellent trout and white-fish, but the sand-flies and +mosquitoes were horridly tormenting; the former, which are so diminutive +as to be scarcely visible, were by far the worst. We were off next +morning by daylight, the Yellow-head's people cracking their rifles by +way of salute. + +The voyageurs measure the distance by _pipes_. At the end of a certain +time there is a pause, and they light their pipes and smoke for about +five minutes, then the paddles go off merrily again, at the rate of +about fifty strokes in a minute, and we absolutely seem to fly over the +water. "Trois pipes" are about twelve miles. We breakfasted this morning +on a little island of exceeding beauty, rising precipitately from the +water. In front we had the open lake, lying blue, and bright, and +serene, under the morning sky, and the eastern extremity of the +Manitoolin Island; and islands all around as far as we could see. The +feeling of remoteness, of the profound solitude, added to the sentiment +of beauty: it was nature in her first freshness and innocence, as she +came from the hand of her Maker, and before she had been sighed upon by +humanity--defiled at once, and sanctified by the contact. Our little +island abounded with beautiful shrubs, flowers, green mosses, and +scarlet lichens. I found a tiny recess, where I made my bath and +toilette very comfortably. On returning, I found breakfast laid on a +piece of rock; my seat, with my pillow and cloak all nicely arranged, +and a bouquet of flowers lying on it. This was a never-failing +_galanterie_, sometimes from one, sometimes from another of my numerous +_cavaliers_. + + + GROUP OF ISLANDS. + +This day we had a most delightful run among hundreds of islands; +sometimes darting through narrow rocky channels, so narrow that I could +not see the water on either side of the canoe; and then emerging, we +glided through vast fields of white water-lilies; it was perpetual +variety, perpetual beauty, perpetual delight and enchantment, from hour +to hour. The men sang their gay French songs, the other canoe joining +in the chorus. + +This peculiar singing has often been described; it is very animated on +the water and in the open air, but not very harmonious. They all sing in +unison, raising their voices and marking the time with their paddles. +One always led, but in these there was a diversity of taste and skill. +If I wished to hear "En roulant ma boule, roulette," I applied to Le +Duc. Jacques excelled in "La belle rose blanche," and Lewis was great in +"Trois canards s'en vont baignant." + +They often amused me by a specimen of dexterity, something like that of +an accomplished whip in London. They would paddle up towards the rocky +shore with such extreme velocity, that I expected to be dashed on the +rock, and then in a moment, by a simultaneous back-stroke of the paddle, +stop with a jerk, which made me breathless. + +My only discomposure arose from the destructive propensities of the +gentlemen, all keen and eager sportsmen; the utmost I could gain from +their mercy was, that the fish should gasp to death out of my sight, and +the pigeons and the wild ducks be put out of pain instantly. I will, +however, acknowledge, that when the bass-fish and pigeons were produced, +broiled and fried, they looked so _appetissants_, smelt so savoury, and +I was _so_ hungry, that I soon forgot all my sentimental pity for the +victims. + +We found to-day, on a rock, the remains of an Indian lodge, over which +we threw a sail-cloth, and dined luxuriously on our fish and pigeons, +and a glass of good madeira. After dinner, the men dashed off with great +animation, singing my favourite ditty, + + "Si mon moine voulait danser, + Un beau cheval lui donnerai!" + +through groups of lovely islands, sometimes scattered wide, and +sometimes clustered so close, that I often mistook twenty or thirty +together for one large island; but on approaching nearer, they opened +before us and appeared intersected by winding labyrinthine channels, +where, amid flags and water-lilies, beneath the shade of rich +embowering foliage, we glided on our way; and then we came upon a wide +open space, where we could feel the heave of the waters under us, and +across which the men--still singing with untiring vivacity--paddled with +all their might to reach the opposite islands before sunset. The moment +it becomes too dark for our steersman to see _through_ the surface of +the water, it becomes in the highest degree dangerous to proceed; such +is the frail texture of these canoes, that a pin's point might scratch a +hole in the bottom; a sunk rock, or a _snag_ or projecting bough--and +often we glided within an inch of them--had certainly swamped us. + +We passed this day two Indian sepulchres, on a point of rock, with the +sparkling waters murmuring round it, and over-shadowed by birch and +pine. I landed to examine them. The Indians cannot here _bury_ their +dead, there not being a sufficiency of earth to cover them from sight, +but they lay the body, wrapped up carefully in bark, on the flat rock, +and then cover it over with rocks and stones. This was the tomb of a +woman and her child, and fragments of the ornaments and other things +buried with them were still perceptible. + +We landed at sunset on a flat ledge of rock, free from bushes, which we +avoided as much as possible, from fear of mosquitoes and rattle-snakes; +and while the men pitched the marquees and cooked supper, I walked and +mused. + +I wish I could give you the least idea of the beauty of this evening; +but while I try to put in words what was before me, the sense of its +ineffable loveliness overpowers me _now_ even as it did then. The sun +had set in that cloudless splendour, and that peculiar blending of rose +and amber light that belongs only to these climes and Italy; the lake +lay weltering under the western sky like a bath of molten gold; the +rocky islands which studded its surface were of a dense purple, except +where their edges seemed fringed with fire. They assumed, to the +visionary eye, strange forms; some were like great horned beetles, and +some like turtles, and some like crocodiles, and some like sleeping +whales, and winged fishes. The foliage upon them resembled dorsal fins, +and sometimes tufts of feathers: then, as the purple shadows came +darkening from the east, the young crescent moon showed herself, +flinging a paly splendour over the water. I remember standing on the +shore, "my spirits as in a dream were all bound up," and overcome by +such an intense feeling of _the beautiful_, such a deep adoration for +the power that had created it, I must have suffocated if---- + +But why tell _you_ this? + +They pitched my tent at a _respectful_ distance from the rest, and made +me a delicious elastic bed of some boughs, over which was spread a +bear-skin, and over that blankets: but the night was hot and feverish. +The voyageurs, after rowing since daylight, were dancing and singing on +the shore till near midnight. + +Next morning we were off again at early dawn, paddled "trois pipes" +before breakfast, over an open space which they call a "traverse," +caught eleven bass-fish, and shot two pigeons. The island on which we +breakfasted was in great part white marble; and in the clefts and +hollows grew quantities of gooseberries and raspberries, wild roses, the +crimson columbine, a large species of harebell, a sort of willow, +juniper, birch, and stunted pine, and such was the usual vegetation. + +It is beautiful to see in these islands the whole process of preparatory +vegetation unfolded and exemplified before one's eyes, each successive +growth preparing a soil for that which is to follow. + +There was first the naked rock washed by the spray, where the white +gulls were sitting: then you saw the rock covered with some moss or +lichens; then in the clefts and seams, some long grass, a few wild +flowers and strawberries; then a few juniper and rose bushes; then the +dwarf pine, hardly rising two or three feet, and lastly trees and shrubs +of large growth; and the nearer to the mainland, the richer of course +the vegetation, for the seeds are wafted thence by the winds, or carried +by the birds, and so dispersed from island to island. + + + ISLAND OF SKULLS. + +We landed to-day on the "Island of Skulls," an ancient sepulchre of the +Hurons. Some skulls and bones were scattered about, with the rough +stones which had once been heaped over them. The spot was most wild and +desolate, rising from the water edge in successive ledges of rock to a +considerable height, with a few blasted gray pines here and there, +round which several pair of hawks were wheeling and uttering their +shrill cry. We all declared we would not dine on this ominous island, +and proceeded. We doubled a remarkable cape mentioned by Henry as the +_Pointe aux Grondines_. There is always a heavy swell here, and a +perpetual sound of breakers on the rocks, whence its name. Only a few +years ago a trader in his canoe, with sixteen people, were wrecked and +lost on this spot. + +We also passed within some miles of the mouth of the Riviere des +Francais, the most important of all the rivers which flow into Lake +Huron.[53] It forms the line of communication for the north-west traders +from Montreal; the common route is up the Ottawa River, across Lake +Nippissing, and down the River Francais into Lake Huron, and by the +Sault-Sainte-Marie into Lake Superior. Pray have a map before you during +this voyage. + +Leaving behind this cape and river, we came again upon lovely groups of +Elysian islands, channels winding among rocks and foliage, and more +fields of water-lilies. In passing through a beautiful channel, I had an +opportunity of seeing the manner in which an Indian communicates with +his friends when _en route_. A branch was so arranged as to project far +across the water and catch the eye: in a cleft at the extremity a piece +of birch bark was stuck with some hieroglyphic marks scratched with red +ochre, of which we could make nothing--one figure, I thought, +represented a fish. + +To-day we caught eleven bass, shot four pigeons, also a large +water-snake--which last I thought a gratuitous piece of cruelty. We +dined upon a large and picturesque island--large in comparison with +those we usually selected, being perhaps two or three miles round; it +was very woody and wild, intersected by deep ravines, and rising in +bold, abrupt precipices. We dined luxuriously under a group of trees: +the heat was overpowering, and the mosquitoes very troublesome. + +After dinner we pursued our course through an archipelago of islets, +rising out of the blue waves, and fringed with white water-lilies. +Little fairy Edens, of such endless variety in form and colour, and of +such wondrous and fantastic beauty, I know not how to describe them. + +We landed on one, where there was a rock so exactly resembling the head +and part of a turtle, that I could have taken it for sculpture. The +Indians look upon it as sacred, and it is customary for all who pass to +leave an offering in money, tobacco, corn, &c., to the spirit. I duly +left mine, but I could see by the laughing eyes of Jacques and Louis, +that "the spirit" was not likely to be the better for my devotion. + +Mr. Jarvis asked me to sing a French song for the voyageurs, and Louis +looked back with his bright arch face, as much as to say, "Pray do," +when a shout was heard from the other canoe "A mink! A mink!"[54] and +all the paddles were now in animated motion. We dashed up among the +reeds, we chased the creature up and down, and at last to a hole under a +rock; the voyageurs beat the reeds with their paddles, the gentlemen +seized their guns; there were twenty-one men half frantic in pursuit of +a wretched little creature, whose death could serve no purpose. It +dived, but rose a few yards farther, and was seen making for the land: a +shot was fired, it sprang from the water; another, and it floated +dead;--thus we repaid the beauty, and enjoyment, and lavish loveliness +spread around us with pain and with destruction. + +I recollect that as we passed a lovely bit of an island, all bordered +with flags and white lilies, we saw a beautiful wild-duck emerge from a +green covert, and lead into the lake a numerous brood of ducklings. It +was a sight to touch the heart with a tender pleasure, and I pleaded +hard, very hard, for mercy; but what thorough sportsman ever listened to +such a word? The deadly guns were already levelled, and even while I +spoke, the poor mother-bird was shot, and the little ones, which could +not fly, went fluttering and scudding away into the open lake, to +perish miserably. + +But what was really very touching was to see the poor gulls: sometimes +we would startle a whole bevy of them as they were floating gracefully +on the waves, and they would rise soaring away beyond our reach; but the +voyageurs suspending their paddles, imitated exactly their own soft low +whistle; and then the wretched, foolish birds, just as if they had been +so many women, actually wheeled round in the air, and came flying back +to meet the "fiery wound." + +The voyageurs eat these gulls, in spite of their fishy taste, with great +satisfaction. + +I wonder how it is that some of those gentry whom I used to see in +London, looking as though they would give an empire for a new pleasure +or a new sensation, do not come here? If epicures, they should come to +eat white-fish and beavers' tails; if sportsmen, here is a very paradise +for bear-hunting, deer-hunting, otter-hunting;--and wild-fowl in +thousands, and fish in shoals; and if they be contemplative lovers of +the picturesque, _blases_ with Italy and elbowed out of Switzerland, let +them come here and find the true philosopher's stone--or rather the true +elixir of life--_novelty!_ + +[Footnote 53: This part of Lake Huron, and indeed all its upper shores, +are very incorrectly laid down in Wyld's map of Upper Canada. +Bouchette's large map, and also a beautiful small one published by +Blackwood in 1833, are much more accurate.] + +[Footnote 54: A species of otter.] + + + THE BEAR ISLANDS. + +At sunset we encamped on a rocky island of most fantastic form, like a +Z. They pitched my tent on a height, and close to the door was a +precipitous descent into a hollow, where they lighted vast fires, and +thus kept off the mosquitoes, which were in great force. I slept well, +but towards morning some creature crept into my tent and over my bed--a +snake, as I supposed; after this I slept no more. + +We started at half-past four. Hitherto the weather had been glorious; +but this morning the sun rose among red and black clouds, fearfully +ominous. As we were turning a point under some lofty rocks, we heard the +crack of a rifle, and saw an Indian leaping along the rocks, and down +towards the shore. We rowed in, not knowing what it meant, and came upon +a night-camp of Indians, part of the tribe of Aisence (the Clam). They +had only hailed us to make some trifling inquiries; and I heard Louis, +sotto voce, send them _au diable_!--for now the weather lowered darker +and darker, and every moment was precious. + +We breakfasted on an island almost covered with flowers, some gorgeous, +and strange, and unknown, and others sweet and familiar; plenty of the +wild pea, for instance, and wild-roses, of which I had many offerings. I +made my toilette in a recess among some rocks; but just as I was +emerging from my primitive dressing-room, I felt a few drops of rain, +and saw too clearly that our good fortune was at an end. We swallowed a +hasty breakfast, and had just time to arrange ourselves in the canoe +with all the available defences of cloaks and umbrellas, when the rain +came down heavily and hopelessly. But notwithstanding the rain and the +dark gray sky, the scenery was even more beautiful than ever. The +islands were larger, and assumed a richer appearance; the trees were of +more luxuriant growth, no longer the dwarfed pine, but lofty oak and +maple. These are called the Bear Islands, from the number of those +animals found upon them; old Solomon told me that an Indian whom he knew +had shot nine bears in the course of a single day. We found three bears' +heads stuck upon the boughs of a dead pine--probably as offerings to the +souls of the slaughtered animals, or to the "Great Spirit," both being +usual. + +We dined on a wet rock, almost covered with that species of lichen which +the Indians call wa,ac, and the Canadians _tripe de roche_, because, +when boiled till soft, and then fried in grease, it makes a dish not +unpalatable--when one has nothing else.[55] The Clam and some of his +people landed and dined at the same time. After dinner the rain came on +worse and worse. Old Solomon asked me once or twice how I felt; and I +thought his anxiety for my health was caused by the rain; but no; he +told me that on the island where we had dined he had observed a great +quantity of a certain plant, which, if only touched, causes a dreadful +eruption and ulcer all over the body. I asked why he had not shown it to +me, and warned me against it? he replied, that such warning would only +have increased the danger, for when there is any knowledge or +apprehension of it existing in the mind, the very air blowing from it +sometimes infects the frame. Here I appealed to Mr. Jarvis, who replied, +"All I know is, that I once unconsciously touched a leaf of it, and +became one ulcer from head to foot; I could not stir for a +fortnight."[56] + +This was a dreadful day, for the rain came on more violently, +accompanied by a storm of wind. It was necessary to land early, and make +our fires for the night. The good-natured men were full of anxiety and +compassion for me, poor, lonely, shivering woman that I was in the midst +of them! The first thought with every one was to place me under shelter, +and my tent was pitched instantly with such zeal, and such activity, +that the sense of inconvenience and suffering was forgotten in the +thankful sense of kindness, and all things became endurable. + +The tent was pitched on a height, so that the water ran off on all +sides: I contrived for myself a dry bed, and Mr. Jarvis brought me some +hot madeira. I rolled myself up in my German blanket, and fell into a +deep, sound sleep. The voyageurs, who apparently need nothing but their +own good spirits to feed and clothe them, lighted a great fire, turned +the canoes upside down, and, sheltered under them, were heard singing +and laughing during great part of this tempestuous night. + +Next morning we were off by five o'clock. My beautiful lake looked +horribly sulky, and all the little islands were lost in a cold gray +vapour: we were now in the Georgian Bay. Through the misty atmosphere +loomed a distant shore of considerable height. Dupre told me that what I +saw was the Isle des Chretiens, and that formerly there was a large +settlement of the Jesuits there, and that still there were to be seen +the remains of "une grande cathedrale." About nine o'clock we entered +the bay of Penetanguishene, so called from a high sand-bank at the +entrance, which is continually crumbling away. The expressive Indian +name signifies "Look! it is falling sand!" + +[Footnote 55: It is often mentioned in the Travels of Back and +Franklin.] + +[Footnote 56: I do not know the botanical name of this plant, which +resembles a dwarf sumach: it was subsequently pointed out to me in the +woods by a Methodist preacher, who told me that his daughter, merely by +standing to windward of the plant while looking at it, suffered +dreadfully. It is said that formerly the Indians used it to poison their +arrows.] + + * * * * * + + + PENETANGUISHENE. + +We spent the greater part of two days at Penetanguishene, which is truly +a most lovely spot. The bay runs up into the land like some of the +Scottish lochs, and the shores are bolder and higher than usual, and as +yet all clothed with the primeval forest. During the war there were +dockyards and a military and naval depot here, maintained at an immense +expense to government; and it is likely, from its position, to rise into +a station of great importance; at present, the only remains of all the +warlike demonstrations of former times are a sloop sunk and rotting in +the bay, and a large stone-building at the entrance, called the "Fort," +but merely serving as barracks for a few soldiers from the garrison at +Toronto. There are several pretty houses on the beautiful declivity, +rising on the north side of the bay, and the families settled here have +contrived to assemble round them many of the comforts and elegancies of +life. I have reason to remember with pleasure a Russian lady, the wife +of an English officer, who made my short sojourn here very agreeable. + +There was an inn here, not the worst of Canadian inns; and the _wee_ +closet called a bed-room, and the little bed with its white cotton +curtains appeared to me the _ne plus ultra_ of luxury. I recollect +walking in and out of the room ten times a day for the mere pleasure of +contemplating it, and anticipated with impatience the moment when I +should throw myself down into it, and sleep once more on a christian +bed. But nine nights passed in the open air, or on rocks, and on boards, +had spoiled me for the comforts of civilisation, and to sleep _on a bed_ +was impossible; I was smothered, I was suffocated, and altogether +wretched and fevered;--I sighed for my rock on Lake Huron. + + + THE COMMUTED PENSIONERS. + +At Penetanguishene there is a hamlet, consisting of twenty or thirty +log-houses, where a small remnant of the poor commuted pensioners (in +all a hundred and twenty-six persons) now reside, receiving daily +rations of food, and some little clothing, just sufficient to sustain +life. + +From some particular circumstances the case of these commuted pensioners +was frequently brought under my observation while I was in Canada, and +excited my strongest interest and compassion. I shall give you a brief +sketch of this tragedy, for such it truly is; not by way of exciting +sympathy, which can now avail nothing, but because it is in many points +of view fraught with instruction. + +The commuted pensioners were veteran soldiers, entitled to a small +yearly pension for wounds or length of service, and who accepted the +offer made to them by our government in 1832, to commute their pensions +for four years' purchase, and a grant of one hundred acres of land in +Canada. + +The _intention_ of the government seems to have been to send out +able-bodied men, who would thus cease, after a few years, to be a +burthen on the country. A part of the money due to them was to be +deducted for their voyage and expenses out; of the remaining sum a part +was to be paid in London, part at Quebec, and the rest when settled on +the land awarded to them. These _intentions_ sound well; unluckily they +were not properly acted upon. Some received the whole of the money due +to them in England, and drank themselves to death, or squandered it, and +then refused to leave the country. Some drank themselves to death, or +died of the cholera, at Quebec; and of those who came out, one half were +described to me[57] as presenting a list of all the miseries and +diseases incident to humanity--some with one arm, some with one leg, +bent with old age or rheumatism, lame, halt, and even, will it be +believed, blind![58] And such were the men to be set down in the midst +of the swamp and forest, there to live as they could. When some few, +who had been more provident, presented themselves to the commissary at +Toronto for payment of the rest of the money due to them, it was found +that the proper papers had not been forwarded; they were written for to +the Chelsea Board, which had to apply to the War-office, which had to +apply to the Treasury: the papers, after being bandied about from office +to office, from clerk to secretary, from secretary to clerk, were sent, +at length, after a lapse of eight or ten months, during which time the +poor men, worn out with suspense, had taken to begging, or to drinking, +in utter despondency; and when the order for their money _did_ at last +arrive, they had become useless, abandoned creatures. + +Those who were located were sent far up into the bush (there being no +disposable government lands nearer), where there were no roads, no +markets for their produce if they _did_ raise it; and in this new +position, if their hearts did not sink, and their limbs fail at once, +their ignorance of farming, their improvidence and helplessness, arising +from the want of self-dependence, and the mechanical docility of +military service, were moral obstacles stronger than any physical ones. +The forest-trees they had to contend with were not more deeply rooted +than the adverse habits and prejudices and infirmities they had brought +with them. + +According to the commissary, the number of those who commuted their +pensions was about twelve hundred. Of these it is calculated that eight +hundred reached Upper Canada; of these eight hundred, not more than four +hundred and fifty are now living; and of these, some are begging through +the townships, living on public charity: some are at Penetanguishene: +and the greater part of those located on their land, have received from +time to time rations of food, in order to avert "impending starvation." +To bring them up from Quebec during the dreadful cholera season in 1832, +was a heavy expense to the colony, and now they are likely to become a +permanent burthen upon the colonial funds, there being no military funds +to which they can be charged. + +I make no reflection on the commuting the pensions of these poor men at +four instead of seven years' purchase: many of the men I saw did not +know what was meant by _commuting their pension:_ they thought they +merely gave up their pension for four years, and were then to receive it +again; they knew nothing of Canada--had never heard of it--had a vague +idea that a very fine offer was made, which it would be foolish to +refuse. They were like children--which, indeed, disbanded soldiers and +sailors usually are. + +All that benevolence and prudence _could_ suggest, was done for them by +Sir John Colborne[59]: he aided them largely from his own purse--himself +a soldier and a brave one, as well as a good man--the wrongs and +miseries of these poor soldiers wrung his very heart. The strongest +remonstrances and solicitations to the heads of the government at home +were sent over in their behalf; but there came a change of ministry; the +thing once done, could not be undone--redress was nobody's business--the +mother country had got rid of a burthen, and it had fallen on Canada; +and so the matter ended;--that is, as far as it concerned the Treasury +and the War-office; but the tragedy has not yet ended _here_. Sir +Francis Head, who never can allude to the subject without emotion and +indignation, told me, that when he was at Penetanguishene last year, the +poor veterans attempted to get up a feeble cheer in his honour, but, in +doing so, the half of them fell down. "It was too much for me--too +much," added he, with the tears actually in his eyes. As for Sir John +Colborne, the least allusion to the subject seemed to give him a twinge +of pain. + +From this sum of mischief and misery you may subtract a few instances +where the men have done better; one of these I had occasion to mention. +I have heard of two others, and there may be more, but the general case +is as I have stated it. + +These were the men who fought our battles in Egypt, Spain, and France! +and here is a new page for Alfred de Vigny's "Servitude et Grandeur +Militaire!" But do you not think it includes another lesson? That this +amount of suffering, and injury, and injustice can be inflicted, from +the errors, ignorance, and remoteness of the home government, and that +the responsibility apparently rests nowhere--and that nowhere lies +redress--seems to me a very strange, a very lamentable state of things, +and what _ought_ not to be. + +[Footnote 57: I have these particulars from the chief of the +commissariat in Upper Canada, and the emigrant agent.] + +[Footnote 58: One of these men, stone-blind, was begging in the streets +of Toronto.] + +[Footnote 59: Now Lord Seaton.] + + * * * * * + + + DRIVE OVER THE NARROWS. + +Our voyageurs had spent the day in various excesses, and next morning +were still half tipsy, lazy, and out of spirits, except Le Duc; he was +the only one I could persuade to sing, as we crossed Gloucester Bay from +Penetanguishene to Coldwater. This bay abounds in sturgeon, which are +caught and cured in large quantities by the neighbouring settlers; some +weigh ninety and one hundred pounds. + +At Matchadash (which signifies "bad and swampy place") we had nearly +lost our way among the reeds. + +There is a portage here of sixteen miles across the forest to the +Narrows, at the head of Lake Simcoe. The canoe and baggage were laid on +a cart, and drawn by oxen; the gentlemen walked, as I must also have +done, if a Methodist preacher of the neighbourhood had not kindly +brought his little waggon and driven me over the portage. We stopped +about half-way at his log-hut in the wilderness, where I found his wife, +a pretty, refined looking woman, and five or six lovely children, of all +ages and sizes. They entertained me with their best, and particularly +with delicious preserves, made of the wood-strawberries and raspberries, +boiled with the maple sugar. + +The country here (after leaving the low swamps) is very rich, and the +settlers fast increasing. During the last winter the bears had the +audacity to carry off some heifers to the great consternation of the new +settlers, and the wolves did much mischief. I inquired about the Indian +settlements at Coldwater and the Narrows; but the accounts were not +encouraging. I had been told, as a proof of the advancement of the +Indians, that they had here saw-mills and grist-mills. I now learned +that they had a saw-mill and a grist-mill built for them, which they +never used themselves, but _let out_ to the white settlers at a certain +rate. The road through the forest was bordered in many places by wild +raspberry bushes, bearing fruit as fine, and large, and abundant as any +I have seen in our gardens. + +In spite of the mosquitoes, my drive was very pleasant; for my companion +was good-natured, intelligent, and communicative, and gave me a most +interesting, but rather sad, account of his missionary adventures. The +road was, _as usual_, most detestable. We passed a lovely little lake +called Bass Lake, from the numbers of these fish found in it; and +arrived late at the inn at the Narrows. Though much fatigued, I was kept +awake nearly the whole night by the sounds of drunken revelry in the +room below. Many of the settlers in the neighbourhood are discharged +soldiers and half-pay officers, who have received grants of land; and, +removed from all social intercourse and all influence of opinion, many +have become reckless and habitual drunkards. The only salvation of a man +here is to have a wife and children; the poor wife must make up her mind +to lead a hard life; but the children are almost _sure_ to do well--that +is, if they have intelligent parents: it is the very land for the young, +and the enterprising. I used to hear parents regret that they could not +give what is called a _good_ education to their children: but where +there are affection and common sense, and a boundless nature round them, +and the means of health and subsistence, which (with common industry) +all can command here, it seems that education--_i. e._ the development +of all the faculties in a direction suited to the country in which they +are to exist--comes of course. I saw an example of this in the excellent +family at Erindale; but those persons are unfortunate and miserable, and +truly pitiable, who come here with habits previously formed, and unable +to adapt themselves to an entirely new existence--of such I saw too +many. My landlady gave me no agreeable picture of the prevalent habits +of the settlers round this place; the riot of which I complained was of +nightly occurrence. + + + LAKE CUCHUCHING. + +Next day we went on a fishing and shooting excursion to Lake Cuchuching, +and to see the beautiful rapids of the river Severn, the outlet from +these lakes into Lake Huron. If I had not exhausted all my superlatives +of delight, I could be eloquent on the charms of this exquisite little +lake, and the wild beauty of the rapids. Of our _sport_, I only +recollect the massacre of a dozen snakes, which were holding a kind of +conversazione in the hollow of a rocky islet where we landed to dine. +The islands in Lake Cuchuching belong to the Indian chief, the +Yellow-head; and I understand that he and others of his tribe have +lately petitioned for _legal titles_ to their reserved lands. They +represent to their Father the governor that their prosperity is retarded +from the circumstance of their not having titles to their lands, like +their white brethren. They say, "Many of our young men, and some of our +chiefs, fear that the time will arrive when our white brethren will +possess themselves of our farms; whereas, if our Father the governor +would be pleased to grant us titles, we should work with more +confidence,"--and they _humbly_ entreat (these original lords of the +soil!) as a particular boon, that their "little bits of land" may be +secured to their children and posterity for ever. + +Next morning we embarked on board the Peter Robinson steamer, and +proceeded down Lake Simcoe. This most beautiful piece of water is above +forty miles in length, and about twenty in breadth, and is in winter so +firmly frozen over, that it is crossed in sledges in every direction. +The shores are flat and fertile; and we passed a number of clearings, +some very extensive. On a point projecting into the lake, and surrounded +by cleared land, a village has been laid out, and some houses built. I +went into one of them to rest while they were taking in wood, and found +there the works of Shakspeare and Walter Scott, and a good guitar; but +the family were absent. + + + REACH THE HOLLAND LANDING. + +We reached the Holland Landing, at the southern extremity of the lake, +about three o'clock; and the rest of our way lay through the Home +District, and through some of the finest land and most prosperous +estates in Upper Canada. It was a perpetual succession, not of +clearings, such as I had seen of late, but of well-cultivated farms. The +vicinity of the capital, and an excellent road leading to it (called +Yonge Street), have raised the value of landed property here, and some +of the farmers are reputed rich men. + +Mr. Jarvis gave me an account of an Irish emigrant, a labouring man, who +had entered his service some years ago as teamster (or carter); he was +then houseless and penniless. Seven years afterwards the same man was +the proprietor of a farm of two hundred acres of cleared and cropped +land, on which he could proudly set his foot, and say, "It is mine, and +my children's after me!" + + + ARRIVE HOME AT TORONTO. + +At three o'clock in the morning, just as the moon was setting in Lake +Ontario, I arrived at the door of my own house in Toronto, having been +absent on this wild expedition just two months. + + + THE END. + + + London: + + Spottiswoodes and Shaw, + New-street-Square. + + + =Transcriber's Notes:= + original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in + the original + various pages, "Mac Murray" changed to "MacMurray" + Page 10, "bnt" changed to "but" + Page 23, "where the houses a" changed to "where the houses are" + Page 32, "and our innocnece" changed to "and our innocence" + Page 34, "Gesprache mit Goethe" changed to "Gespraeche mit Goethe" + Page 44, "ten years ago," changed to "ten years ago." + Page 49, "Felix Mendelsohn" changed to "Felix Mendelssohn" + Page 50, "terapin" changed to "terrapin" + Page 58, "the last war," changed to "the last war" + Page 65, "so many others;" changed to "so many others," + Page 72, "ix Nations." changed to "Six Nations." + Page 84, "I proceeded" changed to "I proceeded." + Page 98, "have yet seen" changed to "have yet seen." + Page 99, "farther to night" changed to "farther to-night" + Page 121, "n couple of oxen" changed to "a couple of oxen" + Page 121, "keep of the mosquitoes" changed to "keep off the mosquitoes" + Page 124, "The war of 1813" changed to "The war of 1812" + Page 149, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for + consistency] + Page 151, "Ottowas" changed to "Ottawas" [Ed. for consistency] + Page 152, "Pottowattomies" changed to "Pottowottomies" [Ed. for + consistency] + Page 161, "music and sing ing" changed to "music and singing" + Page 170, "June 20" changed to "July 20" + Page 171, "On the oppsoite side" changed to "On the opposite side" + Page 182, "had been instructed,," changed to "had been instructed," + Page 189, 'left him in peace.' changed to 'left him in peace."' + Page 200, "brother!--'Never!" changed to "brother!"--'Never!" + Page 201, "he left the wigwan" changed to "he left the wigwam" + Page 203, "Wawatam" changed to "Wa,wa,tam" + Page 234, "Ottagamis" changed to "Ottagamies" [Ed. for consistency] + Page 236, "Manitooling" changed to "Manitoolin" + Page 264, "wortle-berries" changed to "whortleberries" + Page 273 footnote, "Penetanguishnie" changed to "Penetanguishine" + Page 277, "Pottowottomi" changed to "Pottowottomie" [Ed. for + consistency] + Page 282, "Shinguacose" changed to "Shinguaconse" [Ed. for consistency] + Page 296, "andfishing tackle" changed to "and fishing tackle" + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches in Canada, and rambles among +the red men, by Anna Brownell Jameson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES IN CANADA *** + +***** This file should be named 35224.txt or 35224.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/2/35224/ + +Produced by Iona Vaughan, Ross Cooling, Mark Akrigg and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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