upon the impracticability of bringing his family so far into the bush, and to a lot perhaps badly supplied with water, and covered with pines, (an invariable indication of inferior land,) he decides upon further inspection, and at length fixes on a lot, under more favourable circumstances, upon which to found his future habitation and his home. "He retraces his steps with altered feelings; his thoughts occupied by pleasing anticipations of the future improvement of his estate, and is received at the shanty he had left, with all that hospitality which characterises the new settler, who will share his last loaf with his expected neighbour. "The emigrant returns to York, concludes the purchase of his land, and hires, or purchases horses and waggon to convey his family and baggage to the farm of another comfortable settler in his vicinity, with whom he has bargained for their accommodation, at a moderate rate, and for a supply of excellent provisions for as many weeks as he shall be employed in the formation of his own residence. "With this interesting object at heart, he hires as many men as circumstances will permit; a yoke of oxen and a sleigh, which is the only vehicle that should be brought into the woods until a road be regularly formed. The master and his men start before the oxen, to prepare what is termed a Bush-road, which is done by felling and drawing aside all trees under five inches diameter, from the line of march, and by cutting a pass through any fallen timber of larger dimensions; thus leaving the great trees standing, round which, the others being cleared away, the oxen and sleigh can ply without difficulty. "About an hour before nightfall preparation is made for sleeping, and, what is termed a camp, is formed for this purpose, in a summary way, by placing a ridge pole of ten feet upon two forked sticks six feet in length, and stuck firmly in the ground. Against this ridge pole are laid, at one side, a set of poles, obliquely; leaving the other side, which forms the front, entirely open, not only to admit the heat of a large fire, which is lighted up before it, but the smoke, also, to banish the musquetos. A thick coat of hem lock boughs, or of bark stripped quickly from the standing trees, and covering the poles, keeps off the rain or dew. "By this time the oxen have arrived with the bed-clothes, provisions, &c. and then comes on the interesting scene of cooking. The frying-pan ("contrived a double debt to pay") not only supplies successions of savoury pork, but also of bread or paste cakes, not less enticing from the oily drippings of the meat with which they are fried. After a hard day's work in the Bush, this is no unwelcome supper. Your epicures sometimes bring biscuits. “The oxen are tied to a tree, having hay, or maple branches as their provender, and each of the party having composed himself, with his feet to the blazing fire, sinks into repose, upon the floor of this temporary shelter, strewn thickly with the small boughs or tops of the hemlock tree. "Breakfast being over by dawn of day, the party move on as before for five miles farther, and having at length arrived at the selected settlement, a substantial camp or wigwam is erected, to accommodate all who are to be engaged in the building of the house. "The oxen are sent back, to return on a certain day to draw the logs together, and the "Lord of this silent domain," commences active operations; not so very silent, however, as the axe resounds through the wood, and the expert choppers speedily make a sufficient clearance, furnishing, at the same time, the necessary timber for the building. wise settler will take care not to leave any trees standing close to the site of his intended mansion; a friend of mine Lieut. A who neglected this precaution, having just completed his roof, was sitting under it with the utmost complacency, when a tremendous crash from a falling tree of great dimensions, laid the entire edifice level with the ground; he himself, by a miraculous escape, was taken out uninjured. Hav "To return to our new settler. ing determined on the plan, and proper scantlings, he has the logs cut accordingly, to the right lengths, and drawn toge ther where the formation of the house is to take place. "The walls are contrived in the same manner as a schoolboy makes a crib, except that they must be upright; but like that they have corresponding notches, cut out of the ends of the respective logs that their adjoining surfaces may close, with as little space as possible between them, and that the coins or angles may be thus strongly braced. “The elevation must depend on the room required within; where upper apartments are intended, it must rise accordingly, and proportionably higher in a log house, which is generally finished with a shed, or pent-house roof. "In the formation of this roof, however simple, much accuracy is to be observed. "Black ash and bass woods are considered best adapted to this purpose-the stems should be about fourteen inches in diameter, straight, clean, and easily split. Having cut them into lengths, corresponding with the pitch of the roof, they are then to be cleft asunder, and hollowed out by the axe like rude troughs. These are ranged in sufficient number from front to rere, in the line of the roof with the hollow side uppermost; and over them are ranged alternately, an equal number, with the round side uppermost; so that the adjoining edges of each two of the upper logs meet in the hollow of that beneath them, whilst the adjoining edges of each two of the lower logs, are covered by the hollow of that which is above them; thus forming a compact roof perfectly water tight, as the hollows of the under logs effectually carry off all rain that may fall through the joints of the upper surface; and the roof continues staunch as long as the timbers remain undecayed. "This being completed-means must be taken to admit both the family and the light. The openings for the doors and windows (which are generally procured, ready made, from the nearest settlement) are then formed in the walls by a cross cut saw or an axe. "The chimney is then built with mud, if stones be scarce. The stubbing afterwards takes place, which means, the fil ling up the vacancies between the logs with slips of wood, mud and moss; the floor is then formed of cleft planks pinned to logs sunk in the ground, and smoothed or rather levelled with an adze, the interior partitions, &c. may be got forward by degrees; but, the oven, which is an essential, must be completed before the arrival of the family. "Stones or brick must be procured for this, at any inconvenience, for security against fire; but mud will serve as mortar; it is always built outside the house, and stands alone. It is heated with pine, or very dry hard wood split into small pieces, and burnt in the oven to ashes, which being swept out, the bread is baked as in the common brick ovens at home, where dried furze are used to heat them. -Thus, at the expiration of three or four weeks, the preparations are completed. "Having now brought our settler into his own log house, with all the privation VOL. I. of former comforts that must of course attend his enterprize; I shall close this settlement in the Bush, with an estimate of the expense he must be supposed to have incurred, from the day he set off from York, to that of his first family dinner under his own roof." The whole cost of this part of the settling, including purchase of lands &c., being £178. There has long been a feud amongst writers for information, whether a new settler had better take a farm partially cleared, or at once sit down in the bush. The difference of expense, taking two farms equidistant from York, but one being cleared, with out-houses, &c. and the other wild, is very trifling, the latter than on the former; but is being only about thirty pounds less on this small abatement in the cost, not more than balanced by the having a house ready built, and a road, and such little things, which at home we are apt.. to overlook in the greater comforts, but which in a new colony are of the first importance? Let us see what Captain Magrath tells us; having mentioned the relative cost, he says This would tempt many to determine in favour of the cleared farm, which appears to be the most economical. The comparison, however, is also to extend to circumstances as well as to cost. Those of the Bush which are favourable, are these Cheaper land-a choice of district-a clear title and the power of forming a neighbourhood of select friends. Those of the cleared land which are favourable, are these: The immediate accommodation of house and offices. The prepared state of the cleared portion for the reception of different crops. The presumed facility of intercourse with mill and market, with readier access to the physician, and place of worship. The unfavourable circumstances of the Bush are these Difficulty of access-the various privations to be encountered in the solitude of the wilderness the possible want of society-the absolute want of roads the great difficulty of intercourse with mill, market, physician, or clergyman. The unfavourable circumstances of the cleared land are these::- A dangerous title-liability to the debts of a predecessor-an undesirable 4 K neighbourhood, fully settled, to the exclusion of relatives and friends." Indeed amongst the latter evils of a clear farm, we might add, the chance of the land being exhausted by frequent and merciless cropping, so as to leave to the newcomer the pleasant occupation of reclaiming his devastated purchase. For our parts we would take the chance of the Bush, and so we see have done the family, whose adventures form so very pleasant a part of this volume, and we find no serious complaints beyond the inevitable inconveniences of a new country; in short, they are settlers, and do not repent it. Letter third, we turn from the letters of persons already settled, to those written by the family of the editor.More excellent advice to all voyagers, and among the rest, the use of a filtering machine, which will be invaluable, when the water becomes rancid and abominable, we wonder this had never been thought of before; then accounts of the Newfoundland fishing, and a huge Hallibut who very good naturedly brought crab sauce in his pouch. We have heard of aldermen who, on a dinner invitation, brought their own condiments; but this Hallibut beats them hollow-such an instance of kind consideration has not been found since Mrs. Bond's "ducks in the pond," who came regularly to be killed. Letter four, contains much agricultural and mechanical information, the method of building frame houses, which are quite different things from shanties or loghouses, being much on the plan of Longwood House, built in London for the use of Napoleon in St. Helena.The writer mentions also, the plagues of pigeons, and the reader need not stare at the word "flocks" miles in length, for we have it on the authority of Wilson and Audubon, the great American Ornithologists, that a flock, we think in Ohio, continued flying over their heads for more than two hours, at the rate of a mile a minute! and the column was many yards in thickness, and some furlongs in width, and contained million of millions of pigeons. There is also a curious part concerning the growth of wheat, which we shall extract for the consideration of naturalists. We should like to see an explanation of it from some able hand. "By the way, I must ask you to account for a curious circumstance which results from sowing wheat on a swamp, or wherever wet lodges. "The purest seed wheat that can be procured in such soil, becomes a kind of grain, called chesse. Some dry land of ours produces fine wheat; but where there is a tendency to swamp, the chesse grows, and in one spot with us, there was last year half an acre of it with very little wheat among it. Some farmers maintain, that it does not proceed from wheat, but from a dormant seed; others, of whom my father is one, are of opinion, that the wheat degenerates from the constant moisture, and becomes what we term chesse; and, what tends to conform chesse did not grow in any part of the this very natural hypothesis is, that field where wheat is not sown, and the left unsown, produced only rank grass adjoining patches which were purposely and weeds. "This chesse looks exactly like wheat, whilst growing, but when beginning to shoot or spindle, the head opens." Perhaps some reader for amusement will say, "Oh! what the deuce do we care for log-houses or shantys." Yet before you condemn the book, turn over the pages, and read some of the sporting anecdotes; if they are not amusing, then are we asses. Nor must the fair sex be neglected; we must really introduce Miss Biddy Lacy to our readers; her letters are decidedly the best of the sort we have ever seen; then occasionally an anecdote well brought in and admirably told, will be found-for instance just as an example, read this and laugh: "A whimsical occurrence (for the truth of which, however, I do not absolutely vouch) is said to have taken place shortly before our arrival here: a writ against a debtor fairly liable to the law of arrest, was put into the hands of one of our sheriffs, a fat and unwieldy person, to whom the debtor was pointed out, and finding himself hard pressed by the sheriff (who was well mounted,) made off for a morass, into which he dashed, laughing heartily at his pursuer. "Now, the puzzle to the sheriff was, how to make a proper return on the writ; he could not return non est inventus,' for he had found his prey; he could not return cœpi' as he had not succeeded in the capture. So, after much deliberation, he made out the return "non est comeatibus in swampo."" But as we have become sponsors for the excellent part in store for you, gentle reader, and as we see you bursting with impatience, we will submit Miss Lacy to our extracting process and give you the proceeds; we shall only say this much, that there is more than one of these rich morceaux. going out to make their fortunes; and most of them Protestants, that found home growing too hot for them; and that they had better save their four bones, and their little earnings before it was too late, and sure enough, I believe they're right. There are mighty good people among them, and mighty pretty girls, that when they arn't sick, sing psalms in the evening very beautiful; and there's one Jenny Ferguson, from the north, that I am very thick with, and she has a voice like an angel. In troth « From Bridget Lacy, to Mary Thompson, there are none of them bad, and its "Ireland. "York, Upper Canada, Aug. 1832. «Dear fellow-servant and school-fellow, "For we were edicated together, and printiced out together; and my blessing on the Committee of fifteen, and my blessing on them that taught us to read, and write, and spell, that you may know all about me, and I about you, though there are rivers, and seas, and woods, and lakes between us; and my blessing on the mistress that taught us to work, and wash, and make ourselves useful; so that while health stands by us, we may earn (honest bread in any country. And sure enough, dear Mary, you shall hear all the good and bad that happens me, and I hope to have the same from you. "And now that I am on land, it is only good-natured that I should give you some account of my doings since I set out. "If I had you with me, I would have been easier in my mind; but still my mistress was very good, and I got on bearably, barring the shocking sickness, such as no one in the cholic, or the breeding way, or the billious fever, or after hippo, or after squills, ever felt before or since. "If you were only to have seen how smooth we floated down the river, and out of the bay, and away to Wicklow, where I was born, at the back of the Murrough, near Tinnakilly, you would have said, away you go, eating, and drinking, and laughing, and cracking jokes; but, my jewel, before the second day was over, we were all knocked of a heap; and then if you were to hear all around you as I did, groaning, and raching, and willy wombling, and calling for water, and nobody to bring them a sup, and wishing themselves at the bottom of the sea; in troth, Mary, you would have pitied a dog in the same taking. The hold was full of people, mighty snug and decent, with money in their pockets, mighty sweet upon the sea. "Well, my dear, when the singing is over, they're all very merry; and there are some gay lads, and great fun, and a little courting, but all in a civil way; and I sometimes make one; and between you and I, Mary, but don't say a word at all at all, I think there's a servant-boy of a Mr. Jackson's, one Benson, that's throwing a sheep's eye at me, but nothing certain, barring a sly pinch here and there, and other tinder tokens that may end in smoke after all. "They say a girl will soon get a husband in this country. Some will, and some will not. I'd be sorry to be usting to them. "The boy I have told you of, may be settled near us, and if he is as sweet upon me then, as he is now, he may put some of their noses out of joint. To say honest truth, I would not like to be beholden to them; though they say they're civil enough in Canada, not all as one as the states, where they have the impudence of Old Nick, in making free with their betters. "You would not believe, dear Mary, the forwardness of them Yankees. "Sure, I heard a gentleman, after coming from Philadelfy, in the Unitied States, telling my mistress of their going some journey there in a cart, and the horses tiring and stopping to sleep at a farmer's, and when he had got into bed and was falling asleep, was roused by one over him, saying, I guess I tumble in here,' when the greasy carter that drove him, stretched his ugly carcass along-side him, and began to snore in three minutes. Now think of that, Mary. If it was my case, not a pin in my pincushion but he should have the full binifit of, the impudent mohawk. "That's liberty and quality as they call it a nice bed-fellow indeed-instead of his own pretty wife, who was put to sleep with the young woman of the house, to make room for this scurvy Gee-ho-dobbin. "The only accident we had on the voyage was an old woman that died, and a child born in the hold, and a little girl choaked with a potatoe, and two doctors on board--but no blame to them-they wern't called till all was over-and the Captain, long life to him, put the old woman decent in a coffin, saying that the sherks should have a mouthful of sawdust before they got at her old bones. “Oh! but I had like to forget the chief sport. Sure we had a boxing match, Mary, which I must tell you of by and by. But what banged all was the storm. That was what was near settling us for life. Oh! Mary, Mary, it was tremenduous but I can only tell you the beginning of it. "Now, Mary, dear, how will I describe it to you? "Do you remember when we were little girls in the school, and the carpenters working in the yard, and a great long board, and we and the other girls playing weighdy bucketdy, and we going up in the air and down again to the ground. Well, then, there's the way it began, but in troth, my dear, it was only a beginning, for before you could thread a needle up went my heels as straight as a ladder, and then down again, that though I was lying on the broad of my back, I thought I was standing on my two feet in the bottom of the sea. Then came on the whillaloo from above, and the cracking of masts and ropes, and dear knows what, and off I dropped in a swoon, I suppose, for I never saw or heard any thing more till all the danger was over. I just remember calling out oh! my jewel, take the child-and when first I opened my eyes, what should I see, but my little darling, Miss Mary, tied in her own mahogany chair, and that same tied to the bed, and the little dear laughing heartily; and no wonder, Mary, for you'd have laughed yourself, as I did, and couldn't help it, when, with a toss of the ship, we saw every thing, big and little, mugs, jugs, and porringers, &c. all hunting each other about the floor. "But I promised to tell you about the boxing. Well, my dear, the next day was quite calm, and we all got up on the deck. I went forward to talk to my friend Jenny Ferguson, and there were five or six fellows beside us, tripping and boxing with big gloves; and we heard one of them saying to another, arrah, Brien, what if you were to challenge the big man there above on the quarter-deck (meaning my master,) they say he's fond of the fancy.' "Oh! bother,' says he, he's too heavy for me.' "Never a pound,' says the other; and he's flabby and wake-they say he was sick all the way.' "Sick or no sick, I'll have nothing to do wid him,' says he. "You won't then?-O! Brien, is that talk for you that's the borry of all Westmeath? There's the back of my hand to you, and I'm ashamed of you for evermore. "Well then, if I must, I must,' says he, so be going, and asking him will he take a turn. "Up they go, and I following them close; and says the same man to my master, plase your honour, we hear you're fond of the sport, and there's a boy here has got the gloves. Would your honour be so free and asy as to put them on wid him?' "I don't care if I do,' says my master, but I am not very well, and I feel weak; but a little sparring will do nobody any harm.' Upon this they took off them, and put on the gloves. Oh! Mary dear, isn't my master a fine man? Sure you saw him the day we sailed. “Well, my dear, there he stood like a rock, parlying, as they call it, while the other was striking with all his might, but never a touch was himself able to give my master, at all at all—and the upshot was, he was beat to his heart's content. "But to give him his due, he shook hands with the master, and said, ‹ he begged his honour's pardon for giving him the trouble of bating him, which he well desarved, for coming fornent so fine a man entirely; and the only satisfaction he had was, that it was the first time he was ever bate in all his life. The master gave him half a crown and a glass of whiskey, and they were mighty good friends ever after. "Well, well, well, I believe this letter will never end; so that I'll say nothing about the journey from Quebec to York, only that it was mighty pretty; and beautiful steam boats, and rumbling coaches, and bad inns, and fine rivers, and plenty of trees; and here we are at York, and here we have been for a month, living as bad as in a cholera hospital, for the whole town was nothing else; and |