Narrative of a Journey round the World, during the years 1841 and 1842

Front matter

■< NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD, DURING THE YEARS 1841 AND 1842. BY SIR GEORGE SIMPSON, GOVERNOR-IN-CHIEP OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S TERRITORIES IN NORTH AMERICA. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER. 'j GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1847. F. Shoberl, Jun., Printer to II. R. H. Trinee Albert, Rupert Street. TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY— SIR JOHN HENRY PELLY, BART., GOVERNOR, ANDREW COLVILE, ESQUIRE, DEPUTY GOVERNOR, BENJAMIN HARRISON, ESQUIRE, JOHN HALKETT, ESQUIRE, HENRY HULSE BERENS, ESQUIRE, AARON CHAPMAN, ESQUIRE, M.P., EDWARD ELLICE, ESQUIRE, M.P., THE EARL OF SELKIRK, RICHARD WEYNTON, ESQUIRE — THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, r.y THEIR OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, THE AUTHOR.

Preface

. The Author ought perhaps to account for the length of time which has elapsed since the conclusion of his Travels, in 1842, to the date of their publication. It may probably be deemed sufficient to state that the various and important occupations in which, during that long period, he had been constantly engaged under the Hudson's Bay Company, throughout their extensive territories, as well as at their remote trading-posts in other parts of North America, precluded him from bestowing an earlier and requisite attention to the subject. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I. From London To Red River Settlement

Departure from London — Voyage across the Atlantic — Halifax — Boston — Route to Montreal — Montreal — Departure from La Chine — Ottawa — Matawa — Height of land — Lake Nipissing, lee — French River — Lake Huron — Sault Sainte Marie — Lake Superior, a Week in the Ice — Chippeway Indians — Kaministaquoia, Kakaheka Fall — Height of land — Route to Lac la Pluie — Fort Frances, Chippeway Indians — Riviere la Pluie — Lake of the Woods — River Winipeg — Lake Winipeg — Red River — Lower Fort — Departure of Lords Caledon and Mulgrave for Butfalo Hunting . . . . .1

Chapter II. From Red River Settlement To Edmonton

Red River Settlement, position, origin, condition — Departure from Red River Settlement — Face of country — Salt lake — Fort Ellice — Qu'Appelle River, crank canoes — Wolverine Knoll, native legend — Native lodges — Rain and swamps — Dog Knoll — Salt lakes — Native lodge, hieroglyphics — Halt in heavy rain — Wanderings of Tom Taylor — Bow River — Indian story — War in the plains — Carlton — The Saskat chewan — Picturesque country — Crees — Scarcity of water — Red River emigrants, love of native spot — Buffalo hunt — Turtle River — Scarcity of water — Fort Pitt — Miseries of a native lodge — Alarm of Blackfeet — Effects of hail — Extreme vicissitudes — Oddity of native names — Ed monton — Native tribes — Visitors of quality . . .49

Chapter III. From Edmonton House To Fort Vancouver

Departure from Edmonton — Rev. Mr. Rundlc — Gull Lake — Native gossips — Duck hunt — Red Deer's River — Unexpected meeting — March CONTENTS. through wet bush — Altered character of vegetation — State of commis sariat — Difficulties of march — Rugged scene — Peechee's home — Per pendicular rocks — Indian skirmish, courage of a woman — The spout — Bow River Traverse — Porcupine — Natural gateway — Height of land — Reminiscence of Scotland — Improvement in climate — Kootonais River — Adventures of two of our men — Scarcity of water — Bad road — Co lumbia River — Search for horses — Gloomy ravine — Hieroglyphics — Tenacity of musquitoes — Fresh horses — Scenery now softer — Flatbow Indians — Hot springs — Burning forests — Park -like prairie — Kootonais Indians, chief's son — Grande Quete Lake, missing companion — Grande Quete River — Improvement in vegetation — Plunge of two loaded horses — Use of a horse — Starvation among natives — Female horse-dealer — Extensive and interesting view — March through wet bush — Kootonais River Traverse — Peculiar canoe — Kootonais village — Food of natives — Mr. and Mrs. Cbarlo — Natural pit — Burning woods — Kullespelm Lake — Pend' d'Oreille River — Pend'd'Oreille Indians — Card-playing — Results of education — Native dress — Fresh horses — Supper or no supper ? — Mr.McDonald from Colvile — Excellent breakfast — Ludicrous accident — Fort Colvile — Fine farm — Chaudiere Indians — Peechee — Departure from Colvile — Chaudiere Falls — Grande Coulee — Oka nagan — Murder of Mr. Black — Scarcity of wood — Isle des Pierres Rapids — Sault du Pretre — Rattlesnakes — Snake River — Wallawalla — Rev. Mr. Mungh — MrKenzie's and Ross's Heads — Prairie fowl — Snake Indians — Basaltic rocks — Cayuse chief in love — Les Chutes, past and present — Petites Dalles — Long Narrows — Hair seals — Mission of Whaspicum — Aquatic forest — Cascades — Pillar Rock — Arrival at Vancouver . . . . . . .106

Chapter IV. From Vancouver To Sitka

Departure from Vancouver — The Willamette — Wappatoo Island — The Cowlitz — Variety of races in bateau — Cowlitz Farm — Enormous trees — The Checaylis — Natural mounds — Fort Nisqually — Embark ation on Beaver Steamer — Frazer's River — Feveda, superior fuel — Wooding and watering — Comouc fleet — Quakeolth chief — Johnston's Straits — Dense fog — Quakeolth fleet — Trading — Food, &c., of Quakeolths — Native pronunciation of English — Manners of natives generally — Dishonesty and treachery of natives — Shushady harbour — Trading with Newettees — Hiaquay shells — Humming-birds — Canoeing alone with a native chief — Native blankets, canoes, &c. — Indignant harangue of a chief — Dense fog, danger of shipwreck — Shark — Cal vert's Island — Sir Alexander MTvenzie — Fort McLoughlin — Balla bolla Indians — Large canoe — Lip-piece — Power of chiefs — Fort CONTENTS.

IX Simpson — Ingenuity of natives, North-west Arrowsmith — Smallpox — Fort Stikine — The Secatquouays — Humanity of female chief — Condi tion of Slaves — Messrs. Shakes and Quatkay — Hanego Joe — Stephen's Passage — Fort Taco — Abundance of deer — Big-horn sheep and moun tain goat — Taco River — Lynn's Canal — Ancke Indians — Arrival at Sitka . . . , . . .173

Chapter V. From Sitka To Vancouver

Sitka — Trade — Fur-seals, &c. — Count Baronoff — Northern discovery — Departure from Sitka — Glaciers and floating ice — Fort Stikine — Fort Simpson — Indian fight about potatoes — Sebassamen — Fort McLoughlin — Gigantic seaweed — Newettees, names of chiefs — Quakeolth fleet — Native jealousy — Johnston's Straits — Dense fog — Catalogue of dangers and disasters — Abundance of herring spawn — Influence of white fist on savages — Nisqually — Captain Berkeley, Juan de Fuca, and Admiral Fonte — Steam, its physical and moral power — Condition of slaves — Rev. Mr. Demers — Arrival at Vancouver — A stranger — Vancouver — Willamette Settlement, position and condition — Civilization of natives ....... 219

Chapter VI. From Vancouver To San Francisco

Departure from Vancouver — Boating down the Columbia — Embark ation on board of the Cowlitz, the grand epoch of my journey — Damage from lightning — Bar of the Columbia — Discovery of Columbia ; comparative merits of Heceta, Meares, and Gray — Disputed territory, claims of United States — Christmas Day, home and abroad — AVhales — Cape Mendocino — New Albion and California — Bodega and Ross, Russian American Company, Russian Sovereignty — Russian discoveries — Russia and England — Sir Francis Drake, past and present — First glance of California — Portof San Francisco, discovered by land — Upper California, motives for colonizing it — San Francisco, entrance of harbour — Presidios — Siege of a mud kitchen — General description of harbour — Russians and English, compared with Californians — Yerba Buena . . 253

Chapter VII. San Francisco

More detailed description of harbour — Native balsa — Whalers, San Francisco and Sandwich Islands — Trade in hides — Foreigners — Indolence of people, its causes — Branding, &c, of cattle — Value of herds — Missions, their rise and fall — Express by land to Monterey — CONTENTS. X Timothy Murphy — Father Quigas— Summary justice — General Val lego—Breakfast, cookery— Valley of Sonoma — Lasso — Civilization of aborigines — General Vallego's buildings, troops, garden, &c. — Dinner, ball, and Captain Prado — " Auld Lang Syne" — Paradise of wild fowl Captain Sutter's history and prospects — Anglification of San Fran cisco — Californian justice — Mission of San Francisco, old and new times — Mission of Santa Clara — Prospects of priesthood — Revenue laws .....•• 285

Chapter VIII. Monterey

Voyage to Monterey — Landing — Town, buildings and furniture, &c. — Neighbourhood — Christening of bridge — Mr. Spence — Governor Alvarado — Unsophisticated cockney — Californian ignorance — Mr. Ermatinger's journey from Vancouver to Monterey— Californians and Indians — Murderous desecration of baptism — Selfishness and indiffer ence of public authorities — Compromise with custom-house — Schooner California, untried convicts — Revenue law, impolitic and oppressive — Spanish America ingeneral, its fiscal and political condition — Contrast between Spanish and English colonies — Fruits of Spanish American independence — Pueblo of Branciforte — Mission of Santa Cruz — Mission of San Carlos, past and present .... 341

Chapter IX. Santa Barbara

Voyage from Monterey — Mrs. Wilson — Von Resanoff and Donna Conception — Town, its situation and buildings, &c. — Inhabitants, man ners, and dress, and customs, &c. — Resemblance of Spanish colonist to old Spaniard — Californian happiness and ease — Compadres and Com madres — Californian hospitality — Bishop of Santa Barbara — Episcopal pomp — Roman see, its estimate of distant dependencies — Home-made wine and brandy — Church — Santa Guadalupe and the miraculous blanket — Organist — Candlemas-day, gunpowder — Valley of Santa Bar bara, — Aqueducts and cisterns — Grist-mill — Garden — Indian village, remarkably old woman — Ball, with Scotch reel — Embarkation — Carcase of right whale — Perfect paradise for fish — Bishop's present of wine San Pedro, pueblo of Nuestra Senora, with its bulls and its bears — Mission of San Gabriel — Valley of the Tulares, bands of horses — " Police" of California — San Diego — Concluding remarks on California — Gradual spread of English race in new world — Ultimate destiny of California — British claims, financial and territorial — Arrival in region of trade-winds ....... CONTENTS. XI

Chapter X. Voyage To Honolulu

&C Course and distance — Appropriate name of Pacific Ocean — Gradual increase of temperature — Bottle-nosed porpoise and flying fish — Alba tros and tropic bird — Amphibious voyage, its literary advantages — Volcanic mountains of Hawaii — Early discovery of Sandwich Islands by Spaniards — Cook's discovery accidental — Mutual relations of the islands of the group — Volcanic origin of group — Volcanic agency, its general direction — Lahaina, residence of king — Communication between islands in days of barbarism — Peopling of Polynesia — Brig Joseph Peabody — Ruggedness of Woahoo — First impression of torrid zone — Distant view of Honolulu — Harbour, its discovery — English pilots — Coral reefs — Every thing to remind us of England, contrast between us and early navigators — Harbour, general description — Towing through channel — Governor Kekuanaoa and others — Our residence— Honolulu, population and buildings, climate, &c. — Valley of Nuannau, scene of important battle . . . . • • -412 ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of the Author . . . Frontispiece Map of the Author's Route . . . to face page NARRATIVE OF AN OVERLAND JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD.

Chapter I. From London To Red River Settlement

Departure from London — Voyage across the Atlantic — Halifax — Boston — Route to Montreal — Montreal — Departure from La Chine — Ottawa — Matawa — Height of land — Lake Nipissing, Ice — French River — Lake Huron — Sault Sainte Marie — Lake Superior, a Week in the Ice — Chippeway Indians — Kaministaquoia, Kakabeka Fall — Height of land — Route to Lac la Pluie — Fort Frances, Chippeway Indians — Riviere la Pluie — Lake of the Woods — River Winipeg — Lake Winipeg — Red River — Lower Fort — Departure of Lords Caledon and Mulgrave for Buffalo Hunting. . On the morning of the 3rd of March, 1841, I left London for Liverpool. In addition to my secretary, Mr. Hopkins, I was accompanied by four or five gentlemen connected with the Hudson's Bay Company's service, and also by a gentleman in the service of the Russian American Company, on his route from Peters burg to Sitka, which his superiors were thus preferring for him, as shorter by thirty degrees of longitude, the breadth of all the rest of the world, to that of his native empire.

In less than ten hours we reached our port of VOL. I. b embarkation, taking up our quarters for the night at the Grecian Hotel in Dale Street. Next day, after an early dinner, we were conveyed in a small steamer from the Egremont Pier to the Cale donia, Captain M'Kellar, a vessel of 1,300 tons, and 450 horse power. At half-past five, the last of the passengers, amounting in all to forty-four, having arrived, together with the mail-bags, the melancholy signal of the farewell bell was immediately followed by a rush of " friends " for the shore ; and, in ten minutes more, at the sound of the bugle, the good ship's paddles were plashing in the waters of the Mersey. The first incident that varied the usual monotony of sickness and discomfort was the glimpse of a whale in the morning of our sixth day.

In fact, we nearly ran foul of the monster while he was lounging on the surface, within a few feet of the paddles ; but, not liking the look of us, he immediately dived, so that we saw nothing more of him. Next day furnished us with a still richer theme for discussion. While we ourselves had so little wind that all our light canvass was set, we met, at some distance, a ship under close-reefed topsails, pronounced, by the by, by some of our " blue noses " to be the An dover, bound from New Brunswick for Liverpool. Thouo-b. some of us took the responsibility of ridiculinothe timidity of the unknown skipper, yet our weatherwise friends concluded that he must have just escaped from a gale, of which we were very likely to have our turn. Within eight and forty hours, their prognostications were verified with a vengeance.

On the morning of our ninth day, Captain M°Kellar discovered that the barometer had fallen between two and three inches during the night, having descended to 26°.9, — the lowest point which, in his experience, it had ever reached. The wind gradually increased in violence, till, by three in the afternoon, it blew a perfect hurri cane, during which, so far from being able to mount the rigging, the crew could hardly show themselves on deck, unless sheltered from the fury of the blast. One of our boats was swept overboard ; part of our cutwater was carried away ; much of our canvass was torn to rags ; and seven of our men were severely injured. Tbe sea had risen into mountains, whose whitened crests, shorn off as soon as formed, were scattered through the air like drifts of snow, while the solid masses, one after another, were making a clean breach over us.

The sky, as if its murky curtain rested on the very waters, was almost as dark as night ; the rain fell heavily ; and our ship, like " a thing of life," might have been supposed to struggle and groan in the agonies of dissolution. If the scene without was awful, the scene within was still more appalling to the nerves. Passengers and crew alike appeared to give themselves up for lost ; and, in fact, the more experienced among us, as being more sensible of the extent and variety of our perils, laboured under greater terror than the rest. The storm came from all the points of the compass in succession, com mencing at N. E., travelling round to E., S., and W., and finally settling about N. This characteristic of the tempest raised such a cross sea, that, even when, about six in the morning, the wind abated, the vessel could not keep her course; and she was, therefore, laid-to for several'- hours.

On the second day thereafter, the sea still running b high, with a foul wind, the Caledonia, in a heavy pitch, carried away her jib-boom ; and, in order to clear the wreck, she was obliged to make better weather of it, by putting about a little. Within four-and-twenty hours more, a depth of fifty-three fathoms showed that we were now on the banks of Newfoundland. Had our hurri cane caught us here amid the short swell of the shallow waters, we should, in all human probability, have met the same fate as befel the unfortunate President, under somewhat similar circumstances, in this very storm. Towards the close of our next day's dinner, the cry of " land " sent the hungriest of us on deck, when the supposed terra firma proved to be only an immense field of ice, which, from the inequalities of its surface, had assumed, with a little help from refraction, the appear ance of a wooded country.

As this floating island lay in our very path, we were obliged to round it, keeping along its southern shore ; and so extensive was it, that we did not get fairly rid of it till midnight. While we were coasting along what had been mis taken for land, the cry of " light ahead " turned out to be a still more extraordinary error. As we were several hundred miles to the eastward of Isle des Sables, the announcement in question excited the greatest astonish ment. Seeing, however, was believing ; and all the knowing ones, though sorely puzzled as to the cause of the phenomenon, did yet clearly distinguish a magnificent revolver. The paddles were accordingly stopped to have a cast of the lead, while every glass on board was gazing intently in the right direction. But, in a short time, old Mother Earth was ascertained to be the principal revolver in the case, for, in rather less than half an hour, the unknown light proved to be a newly risen star.

This optical illusion was doubtless connected with the proximity of the adjacent glacier, as well as of some icebergs that we saw about the same time ; and the aurora borealis, whether it be an optical illusion or not, was peculiarly vivid for several hours during the night. About noon on the 18th, we descried the dreary shores of Nova Scotia, covered with snow and lined with ice ; and, by five in the evening, after a run of precisely fourteen days, we entered the harbour of Hali fax, amid the hearty cheers of a large concourse of " blue noses." We did not, however, come to our moorings before half-past six, fully half an hour after sunset. Almost immediately afterwards, the Britannia, belonging to the same line as the Caledonia, came into port, on her homeward voyage from Boston to England, in order to receive the mail.

The simultaneous arrival of two large steamers naturally threw the town into a state of great animation and bustle, more particularly as each of them would transact all her business with the least possible delay, or rather with the greatest possible expedition. To the establishment of this communication between the two continents, Halifax owes much, both on com mercial and on political grounds. Still, however, the work is only half done. In summer, to be sure, the mails are conveyed so rapidly to Quebec by steam, that the first news from England is received throughout Canada by that route ; but, during the winter, the bags are dragged over such wretched roads, that they every where meet, as stale news, the letters and journals which have accompanied themselves from England, and preferred the circuitous route through the United States to the straight cut through British America.

Of this flourishing city and its celebrated haven I could not presume to offer any opinion, after a nocturnal visit of only five hours. We started again for Boston soon after eleven in the evening, several of our passengers having left us, but many more having joined us. On the forenoon of the 20th we entered Boston Bay. The upper end of the inlet presented many small islands, on which were fortifications, not yet finished, of considerable strength. The navigation appeared to be intricate ; but by half-past eleven we were safely moored, having accomplished a distance of three hun dred and ninety miles from Halifax in thirty-six hours. As the officers of the customs allowed our baq-gage to GO O pass without examination, we soon found ourselves in the heart of tbe city, which was full of life and bustle.

There was here far more to remind an Englishman of home than any thing I had ever seen in New York. Even before landing, the gently undulating shores of the bay, highly cultivated, and partially covered with snow, had recalled to my memory the white cliffs and green hills of England ; and within the town, the oldest and finest in the Union, both the buildings and the inhabitants had a peculiarly English air about them. Moreover, in many respects, that do not strike the eye, Boston resembles her fatherland. She is the centre and soul of those religious establishments, which have placed the United States next to Great Britain in the divine task of shedding on the nations the light of the Gospel ; she is the nursery and home of most of those commercial adventurers, who have elevated the influence of America above that of England, in more than one of those regions which lie within the contemplated range of my wanderings.

But Boston has more of America about her, as well as more of England, than any one of her republican rivals. It was in her town-hall that the revolution was planned ; it was from her quays that the imports, which the old country taxed, were thrown into the tide ; it was by her citizens that freedom's first battle was fought on Bunker's Hill. Both of these apparently con tradictory characteristics of Boston are mainly owing to one and the same cause. The Pilgrim Fathers were republicans in feeling, while their descendants conti nued to be so under a practically republican constitution ; and the close resemblance to England in every thins** but the government of the church and the state was the natural result of the fact, that the colony, of which Boston was the capital, virtually began her career, as a portion of the old country, by receiving into her bosom all the various grades and classes of society at once.

After dining at the Tremont, an excellent hotel, we left the city at five in the afternoon, by railway, for Lowell, the Manchester of New England ; and, pro ceeding thence by a similar mode of conveyance, we reached Nashua, distant thirty-five miles from Boston, about nine o'clock. In 1819 this place was a mere village, of about nineteen houses in all ; but now it con tained, in connexion with its manufactories, nineteen thousand inhabitants, with the usual concomitants of churches, hotels, prisons, banks, &c. The country was industriously cultivated and densely peopled. As our party, by the addition of some of our fellow passengers in the Caledonia, was now increased to fourteen, we formed ourselves, on starting from Nashua in the morning, into two detachments, which pursued different roads, in order to lessen the chances of famine and detention.

One band dashed off in a sleigh with six horses ; and the other, to which I belonged, rattled along in a coach and four. We soon passed into New Hampshire, which is hilly and well settled ; but whe ther or not it were skilfully cultivated the snow pre vented us from judging. We reached Concord, the capital of the state, in time for a rather late breakfast, for which a drive of thirty five miles had thoroughly sharpened the appetite. Here, as bad luck would have it, we exchanged our coach for a sleigh. For the first few miles we congra tulated ourselves on the improvement ; but the sun, as the day advanced, kept thawing the snow, till at last, on coming to a deep drift, we were repeatedly obliged to get out, sometimes walking up to our knees, and sometimes helping to lift the vehicle with levers out of the snow.

About three o'clock, however, we fairly stuck fast, in spite of all our hoisting, and hauling, and pushing. The horses struggled and plunged to no purpose, excepting that the leaders, after breaking part of their tackle, galloped off " over the hills and far away," leaving us to kick our heels in the slush, till they were brought back, after a chase of several miles. Having extricated ourselves by placing our baggage on another sleigh, which was condescendingly driven by " Captain" Smith, we kept rolling and pitching, till, about eleven at night, we broke down with a crash in a deep drift. Assistance being procured, the body of the sleigh was mounted on a clumsy pair of runners ; and, as the night was cold, we were all glad to lend a helping hand, to save our fingers from being frost bitten.

At Lebanon, a village of Quakers, which we reached about half-past one, we exchanged our disabled vehicle for a more serviceable sleigh, consoling ourselves at the same time with a good supper. Our road was somewhat romantic, being cut on the face of a range of abrupt hills that overlooked the Connecticut River. Reaching the village of Royalton at sunrise, we again exchanged our vehicle for the equipage in which our competitors in the race to Mon treal had performed the last stage; and, while we were drawing odious comparisons to the prejudice of our new outfit, we were soon put in better humour by finding in the bottom of the sleigh a writing-desk, containing the money and papers of one of my own original compa nions, who had joined the other detachment. We were now travelling through Vermont, — the State of green mountains.

The country appeared to be well worthy of its name ; and one part of the road was peculiarly beautiful, passing through a narrow valley, known as tbe Gorge, between steep hills on either side. Montpelier, where we breakfasted, was perhaps the sweetest spot that I saw on my travels, looking rather like the residence of hereditary ease and luxury, than the capital of a young republic of thrifty graziers. It was, in fact, an assemblage of villas. The wide streets ran between rows of trees ; aud the houses, each in its own little garden, were shaded by verandahs. By eleven at night we overtook our friends at the Ame rican Hotel in Burlington, on Lake Champlain. After supper, at which each party recounted to the other its various perils by " flood and field," we retired about one o'clock to obtain a little repose, after forty-two hours of hard jolting, leaving orders to call us at five in the morning.

Four hours being very scanty allowance of sleep for two whole days, I was not surprised at being nearly as drowsy as ever when I was roused by a peal of blows at my door. In spite, however, of laziness, and a cold morning to boot, I had completed the operations of washing and dressing by candle-light, having even donned hat and gloves to join my companions, when the waiter entered my room with a grin. " I guess," said the rascal, " I've put my foot in it ; are you the man that wanted to be called at two ?" " No," was my reply. " Then," said he, " I calculate, I've fixed the wrong man, so you had better go to bed again." Having delivered himself of this friendly advice, he went to awaken my neighbour, who had all this time been quietly enjoying the sleep that properly belonged to me. Instead of following the fellow's recommendation, I sat up for the rest of the night, thinking one hour's snooze hardly worth the trouble of rubbing my eyes a second time.

In the afternoon, an hour or so after passing the town of Highgate, the outposts of one of our regiments, that were stationed in a dark forest, showed us that we had got beyond the frontier. At three in the morning, we crossed the Richelieu, which empties Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence, by a wooden bridge, a good deal the worse for the wear, and three quarters of a mile in length. Being iioav in the village of St. John's, one or two of us went ahead to the principal inn; and, as our knocking and shouting elicited no answer, we enforced our noisy salutations by adding that there were fourteen more coming, with a whole host of drivers. When at length we effected an entrance, eagerly demanding fires and suppers, the landlord was not to be found, though, on examining the premises, his lair was warm, and his clothes, down even to the indispensable garment, were all waiting their owner's appearance more patiently than we were.

The establishment was searched up stairs and down stairs, inside and outside, while the luckless man's brother wandered about, the very ghost of despair ; and we were inclined to reproach ourselves as the innocent cause of the domestic tragedy. In a few minutes, however, did " mine host" return with a face wreathed in the blandest smiles. The mystery was now quickly explained. The election had taken place the day before, accompanied by much rioting ; and the landlord, having zealously espoused the cause of the successful candidate, had been threatened with all sorts of vengeance by the losing party. The doomed inn keeper had accordingly considered us, more particularly after the announcement of our numbers, as the bearers of his death-warrant, brimful, of course, of wrath and whiskey ; and, as the fiercest fire-eater would have done in his place, he smuggled himself away for dear life into some unmentionable and inscrutable corner or other.