clearly proved that he was as much the master and commander of his frail bark as an experienced railway driver is of his locomotive engine, or as the coachman of an English mail is of his cantering

team.

Nevertheless the interest of the voyage was beyond description; and as every second created something new to look at, and as there was nothing at all to talk about, in due time, without the utterance, from the moment we had started, of a single word, we reached still water; and as soon as we disembarked found our horses on the bank ready and waiting for us.

We had arrived very nearly at the eastern extremity of Upper Canada, and had been trotting for some time through the forest, when, on reaching some cleared land, we observed in the road, at some little distance, assembled to receive us, a fine athletic body of men. The instant we reached them a bagpipe gave us a hearty welcome; and in a few moments, very much to my satisfaction, I found myself surrounded by the muscular frames and sinewy countenances of the Glengarry Highlanders.

About fifty years ago Bishop M'Donell brought one thousand eight hundred men of that name to the settlement I had now reached; and their religion, language, habits, and honour have continued there ever since, unaltered, unadulterated, and unsullied. Their loyalty has always been conspicuous; and I need hardly say with what reverence they remember

the distant land of their forefathers. In short, so far as I was competent to judge, there exists no difference whatever between these people and their clansmen in the old country; and they certainly most strongly exemplify the old remark—

"Cœlum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt."

I received from these fine fellows not only a hearty welcome but every possible attention.

During the time I remained in the settlement a Highlander guarded the door of the house at which I stopped; and the piper, with no little pride, during the whole period continued marching up and down serenading me with various tunes, the soulinspiring meaning of which he no doubt considered that I as fully understood as himself.

As the inhabitants of the township of Glengarry speak nothing but Gaelic, there exists scarcely a stranger among them; and as their names are all alike, they must, one would think, occasionally have some difficulty in designating each other; for instance, a cause was lately tried there in which not only the names of both plaintiff and defendant were M'Donell, but each had selected from the Canadian bar a counsel of that name; the jury, twelve in number, were all M'Donells or M'Donalds, and so were almost all the witnesses. The four members of

Parliament for the county and town bear the same name: their sheriff is a M'Donell, so is their vicargeneral, so are most of their priests, and so was their late bishop.

However, by whatever name they may be designated, the Glengarry Highlanders in Upper Canada may well be proud of it.

They are devotedly attached to British institutions; and when I had afterwards occasion to send them to Lower Canada to assist Sir J. Colborne, they showed the rebels in that province very clearly that Highland blood is not to be trifled with: indeed, there was so much of Rob Roy in their dispositions that it is whispered of them, that though they went down infantry they came back cavalry!

The

I at last reached the eastern extremity of the province, from whence I returned by the St. Lawrence, and from Kingston to Toronto in the steamer. next summer I started on a similar tour through the western districts to the opposite boundary of Upper Canada. But my reader is no doubt tired unto death of my long trot; and therefore, without asking him to follow me throughout another one, rougher, if possible, than the last, I will only say, that the splendid region which lies between Toronto and Lake Huron contains the richest land on the continent of North America, and must hereafter become one of the most favoured countries on the surface of the globe.

The enormous size of the trees clearly indicates the luxuriance of the earth in which they flourish; and although it is truly astonishing to observe how much has been done by the emigrant, yet, as a solitary example of what ample room there still is in

this favoured spot for the redundant population of the mother country, I will state, that between Lakes Ontario and Huron there exist six million acres of uncleared land in one block!

The Crown lands of Canada—which, in my humble opinion, ought always to have been given to the British emigrant for nothing, or, to speak more correctly, as payment by the mother country for his courage, trouble, and expense in clearing them-can even now be purchased at about five shillings an acre.

An Irish gentleman, resident in Canada, was desirous to persuade his sons to work as backwoodsmen instead of frittering away their constitutions and money in luxuries and pleasure; and as champagne costs in America something more than a dollar a bottle, whenever this old gentleman saw his sons raise the bright sparkling mixture to their lips he used humorously to exclaim to them, "Ah, my boys! there goes another acre of land, TREES AND ALL!”

CHAPTER VII.

THE BARK CANOE.

I Do not know at what rate in the eastern world the car of Juggernaut advances over its victims, but it has been roughly estimated that in the opposite hemisphere of America the population of the United States, like a great wave, is constantly rolling towards the westward, over the lands of the Indians, at the rate of about twenty miles per annum.

In our colonies the rights of the Indians have been more carefully attended to. The British Sovereign and British Parliament have faithfully respected them; and as a very friendly feeling exists between the red men of the forest and their white brethren, our Governors have never found any difficulty in maintaining the title of "Father" by which the Indians invariably address them.

Yet notwithstanding this just feeling and this general desire of our countrymen to act kindly towards the Indians, it had for some time been in contemplation in Upper Canada to prevail upon a portion of them to dispose of their lands to the Crown, and to remove to the British Manitoulin Islands in Lake Huron.

When first I heard of this project, I felt much