The emigrant

Front matter

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THE EMIGRANT.

THE EMIGRANT.

Contents

Chapter Page

I. A NEW SKY 1

II. THE BACK-WOODS 32

Chapter I. A NEW SKY

However deeply prejudiced an Englishman may be in favour of his own country, yet I think it is impossible for him to cross the Atlantic without admitting that in both the northern and southern hemispheres of the new world Nature has not only outlined her works on a larger scale, but has painted the whole picture with brighter and more costly colours than she used in delineating and in beautifying the old world.

The heavens of America appear infinitely higher — the sky is bluer — the clouds are whiter — the air is fresher — the cold is intenser — the moon looks larger — the stars are brighter — the thunder is louder — the lightning is vivider — the wind is stronger — the rain is heavier — the

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mountains are higher — the rivers larger — the forests bigger — the plains broader ; in short, the u'i^antic and beautiful features of the new world seem to correspond very wonderfully with the increased locomotive powers and other brilliant discoveries which, under the blessing of an Almighty power, have lately been developed to mankind.

The difference of climate in winter between the old and new world amounts, it has been estimated, to about thirteen degrees of latitude. Accordingly, the region of North America which basks under the same sun or latitude as Florence, is visited in winter with a cold equal to those of St. Petersburgh or of Moscow ; and thus, while the inhabitant of the Mediterranean is wearing cotton or other light clothing, the inhabitant of the very same latitude in the new world is to be found either huddled close to a stove hot enough to burn his eyes out, or muffled up in furs, with all sorts of contrivances to preserve the very nose on his face, and the ears on his head, from being frozen.

This extra allowance of cold is the effect of various causes, one of which I will endeavour shortly to describe.

Chap. I. A NEW SKY

It is well known that so far as temperature is concerned, cold is increased by altitude as it is by latitude ; accordingly, that by ascending a steep mountain — the Himalayas, for instance — one may obtain, with scarcely any alteration of latitude, and in a few hours, the same change of temperature which would require a long journey over the surface of the earth to reach ; and thus it appears that in the hottest regions of the globe there exists impending stratifications of cold proportionate in intensity to their respective altitudes.

Now, as soon as moisture or vapour enters these regions, in southern countries it is condensed into rain, and in the winter of northern ones it is frozen into snow, which, from its specific gravity, continues its feathery descent until it is deposited upon the surface of the ground, an emblem of the cold region from which it has proceeded.

But from the mere showing of the case, it is evident that this snow is as much a stranger in the land on which it is reposing, as a Laplander is who lands at Lisbon, or as in England a pauper is who enters a parish in which he is not entitled to settlement; and, therefore,

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just as the parish officers, under the authority of the law, vigorously proceed to eject the pauper, so does Nature proceed to eject the cold that has taken temporary possession of land to which it does not owe its birth ; and the process of ejectment is as follows.

The superincumbent atmosphere, warmed by the sun, melts the surface of the snow ; and as soon as the former has taken to itself a portion of the cold, the wind bringing with it a new atmosphere, repeats the operation ; and thus on, until the mass of snow is either effectually ejected, or materially diminished.

But while the combined action of sun and wind are producing this simple effect in the old world, there exists in the northern regions of the new world a physical obstruction to the operation. I allude to the interminable forest, through the boughs and branches of which the descending snow falls, until reaching the ground it remains hidden from the sun and protected from the wind ; and thus every day's snow adds to the accumulation, until the whole region is converted into an almost boundless ice-house, from which there slowly but continuously arises, like a mist from the ground, a

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

stratum of cold air, which the north-west prevailing wind wafts over the south, and which freezes every thing in its way.

The effect of air passing over ice is curiously exemplified on. the Atlantic, where, at certain periods of the year, all of a sudden, and often during the night, there suddenly comes over every passenger a cold mysterious chill, like the hand of death itself, caused by the vicinity of a floating iceberg.

In South America, I remember a trifling instance of the same effect. I was walking in the main street of San Jago in the middle of the summer, and, like every human or living being in the city, was exhausted by extreme heat, when I suddenly felt as if some one was breathing upon my face with frozen lungs. I stopped, and turning round, perceived at a little distance, a line of mules laden with snow, which they had just brought down from the Andes. And if this insignificant cargo — if the presence of a solitary little iceberg in the ocean can produce the sensation I have described, it surely need hardly be observed how great must be the freezing effects on the continent of North America, of the north-west wind blowing over

A NEW SKY.

an uncovered icehouse, composed of masses of accumulated snow several feet in thickness, and many hundreds of miles both in length and breadth.

Now, it is curious to reflect that while every backwoodsman in America is occupying himself, as he thinks, solely for his own interest, in clearing his location, every tree — which, falling under his axe, admits a patch of sunshine to the earth — in an infinitesimal degree softens and ameliorates the climate of the vast continent around him ; and yet, as the portion of cleared land in North America, compared with that which remains uncleared, has been said scarcely to exceed that which the seams of a coat bear to the whole garment, it is evident, that although the assiduity of the Anglo-Saxon race has no doubt affected the climate of North America, the axe is too weak an instrument to produce any important change.

But one of the most wonderful characteristics of Nature is the manner in which she often, unobservedly, produces great effects from causes so minute as to be almost invisible, and accordingly while the human race — so far as an alteration of climate is concerned — are

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

labouring almost in vain in the regions in question, swarms of little flies, strange as it may sound, are, and for many years have been, most materially altering the climate of the great continent of North America !

The manner in which they unconsciously perform this important duty is as follows :—

They sting, bite, and torment the wild animals to such a degree, that, especially in summer, the poor creatures, like those in Abyssinia, described by Bruce, become almost in a state of distraction, and to get rid of their assailants, wherever the forest happened to be on fire, they rushed to the smoke, instinctively knowing quite well that the flies would be unable to follow them there.

The wily Indian observing these movements, shrewdly perceived that by setting fire to the forest the flies would drive to him his game, instead of his being obliged to trail in search of it ; and the experiment having proved eminently successful, the Indians for many years have been, and still are, in the habit of burning tracts of wood so immense, that from very high and scientific authority I have been informed, that the amount of land thus burned

A NEW SKY.

Chap. I.

under the influence of the flies has exceeded many millions of acres, and that it has been, and still is, materially changing the climate of North America !

But besides the effect it is producing on the thermometer, it is simultaneously working out another great operation of Nature.

Although the game, to avoid the stings of their tiny assailants, come from distant regions to the smoke, and therein fall from the arrows and rifles of their human foes, yet this burning of the forest destroys the rabbits and small game, as well as the young of the larger game, and, therefore, just as brandy and whisky for a short time raise the spirits of the drunkard, but eventually leave him pale, melancholy, and dejected, so does this vicious improvident mode of poaching game for a short time fatten, but eventually afflict with famine all those who have engaged in it ; and thus, for instance, the Beaver Indians, who forty years ago were a powerful and numerous tribe, are now reduced to less than one hundred men, who can scarcely find wild animals enough to keep themselves alive, — in short, the red population is diminishing in the same ratio as the destruction of the

Chap, h

A NEW SKY.

moose and wood buffalo, on which their forefathers had subsisted : and as every traveller, as well as trader, in those various regions confirms these statements, how wonderful is the dispensation of the Almighty, under which, by the simple agency of little flies, not only is the American Continent gradually undergoing a process which, with other causes, will assimilate its climate to that of Europe, but that the Indians themselves are clearing * and preparing their own country for the reception of another race, who will hereafter gaze at the remains of the elk, the bear, and the beaver, with the same feelings of astonishment with which similar vestiges are discovered in Europe — the monuments of a state of existence that has passed away !

In the meanwhile, however, the climate of North America forms the most remarkable feature in its physical character.

In Europe, Asia, and Africa, just as the old proverb says, " Tell me his company and I '11 tell you the man so, if the latitude be given, the climate may with considerable accuracy be described ; in fact, the distinction between hot climates and cold ones is little else but the dif-

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Chap. I.

ference between the distances of each from the equator or from the pole.

But in the continent of North America, the climate, comparatively speaking, regardless of latitude, is both hot and cold; and thus, for instance, in Canada, while the summer is as roasting a$ the Mediterranean, and occasionally as broiling as the West Indies, the winter is that of the capitals of Norway and Sweden ; indeed, the cold of the Canada winter must be felt to be imagined, and when felt can no more be described by words than colours to a blind man or music to a deaf one.

Even under bright sunshine, and in a most exhilarating air, the biting effect of the cold upon the portion of the face that is exposed to it resembles the application of a strong acid ; and the healthy grin which the countenance assumes, requires — as I often observed on those who for many minutes had been in a warm room waiting to see me — a considerable time to relax.

In a calm almost any degree of cold is bearable, but the application of successive doses of it to the face, by wind, becomes occasionally almost unbearable ; indeed I remember seeing

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

the left cheek of nearly twenty of our soldiers simultaneously frost-bitten in marching about a hundred yards, across a bleak open space, completely exposed to a strong and bitterly cold north-west wind that was blowing upon us all.

The remedy for this intense cold to which many Canadians and others have occasionally recourse, is — at least to my feelings it always appeared — infinitely worse than the disease. On entering, for instance, the small parlour of a little inn, a number of strong able-bodied fellows are discovered holding their hands a few inches before their faces, and sitting in silence immediately in front of a stove of such excruciating power, that it really feels as if it would roast the very eyes in their sockets, and yet, as one endures this agony, the back part is as cold as if it belonged to what is called at home " Old Father Christmas !"

Of late years, English fire-places have been introduced into many houses ; and though mine at Toronto was warmed with hot air from a large oven, with fires in all our sitting-rooms, nevertheless the wood for my grate which was piled close to the fire, often remained till night

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Chai\ L covered with the snow which was on it when first deposited there in the morning ; and as a further instance of the climate, I may add that several times while my mind was very warmly occupied in writing my despatches, I found my pen full of a lump of stuff that appeared to be honey, but which proved to be frozen ink ; again, after washing in the morning, when I took up some money that had lain all night on my table, I at first fancied it had become sticky until I discovered that the sensation was caused by its freezing to my fingers, which in consequence of my ablutions were not perfectly dry.

Notwithstanding however this intensity of cold, the powerful circulation of the blood of large quadrupeds keeps the red fluid, like the movement of the waters in the great lakes, from freezing ; but the human frame not being gifted with this power, many people lose their limbs, and occasionally their lives from cold.

I one day inquired of a fine ruddy honestlooking man who called upon me, and whose toes and insteps of each foot had been truncated, how the accident happened? He told me that the first winter he came from England he lost his way in the forest, and that after

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

walking for some hours, feeling pain in his feet, he took off his boots, and from the flesh immediately swelling, he was unable to put them on again.

His stockings, which were very old ones, soon wore into holes, and as rising on his insteps he was hurriedly proceeding he knew not where, he saw with alarm, but without feeling the slightest pain, first one toe and then another break off as if they had been pieces of brittle stick, and in this mutilated state he continued to advance till he reached a path which led him to an inhabited log-house, where he remained suffering great pain till his cure was effected.

On another occasion, while an Englishman was driving one bright beautiful day in a sleigh on the ice, his horse suddenly ran away, and fancying he could stop him better without his cumbersome fur gloves than with them, he unfortunately took them off. As the infuriated animal at his utmost speed proceeded, the man, who was facing a keen north-west wind, felt himself gradually as it were turning into marble, and by the time he stopped both his hands were so completely and so irrecoverably

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frozen, that he was obliged to have them amputated.

Although the sun, from the latitude, has considerable power, it appears only to illuminate the sparkling snow, which, like the sugar on a bridal cake, conceals the whole surface. The instant however the fire of heaven sinks below the horizon, the cold descends from the upper regions of the atmosphere with a feeling as if it were poured down upon the head and shoulders from a jug.

From the above sketch it must be evident that the four seasons of the year in Canada exhibit pictures strikingly contrasted with each other.

In the summer, the excessive heat — the violent paroxysms of thunder — the parching drought — the occasional deluges of rain — the sight of bright red, bright blue, and other gaudy plumaged birds — of the brilliant humming-bird, and of innumerable fire-flies that at night appear like the reflection upon earth of the stars shining above them in the heavens, would almost persuade the emigrant that he was living within the tropics.

As autumn approaches, the various trees of

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

the forest assume hues of every shade of red, yellow, and brown, of the most vivid description. The air gradually becomes a healthy and delightful mixture of sunshine and frost, and the golden sunsets are so many glorious assemblages of clouds — some like mountains of white wool, others of the darkest hues — and of broad rays of yellow, of crimson, and of golden light, which without intermixing radiate upwards to a great height from the point of the horizon at which the deep red luminary is about to disappear.

As the winter approaches the cold daily strengthens, and before the branches of the trees and the surface of the country become white, every living being seems to be sensible of the temperature that is about to arrive.

The gaudy birds, humming-birds, and fire-flies, depart first; then follow the pigeons; the wild-fowl take refuge in the lakes, until scarcely a bird remains to be seen in the forest. Several of the animals seek refuge in warmer regions; and even the shaggy bear, whose coat seems warm enough to resist any degree of cold, instinctively looks out in time for a hollow tree into which he may leisurely climb,

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Chap. I.

to hang in it during the winter as inanimate as a flitch of bacon from the ceiling of an English farm-house ; and even many of the fishes make their deep-water arrangements for not coming to the surface of the rivers and harbours during the period they are covered with ice.

Notwithstanding the cheerful brightness of the winter's sun, I always felt that there was something indescribably awful and appalling in all these bestial, bijrdal, and piscal precautions ; and yet it is with pride that one observes that while the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, one after another, are seen retreating before the approaching winter like women and children before an advancing army, the Anglo-Saxon race stand firm ! and indeed they are quite right to do so, inasmuch as the winter, when it does arrive, turns out to be a season of hilarity and of healthy enjoyment.

Not only is the whole surface of the ground, including roads and paths of every description, beautifully macadamised with a covering of snow, over which every man's horse, with tinkling bells, can draw him and his family in a sleigh ; but every harbour becomes a national

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

play-ground to ride on, and every river an arterial road to travel on.

In all directions running water gradually congeals. The mill-wheel becomes covered with a frozen torrent, in which it remains as in a glass case ; and I have even seen small waterfalls begin to freeze on both sides, until the cataract, arrested in its fall by the power of heaven, is converted for the season into a solid mirror.

Although the temperature of the water in the great lakes is infinitely below freezing, yet the restless rise and fall of the waves prevents their congelation. As a trifling instance, however, of their disposition to do so, I may mention that during the two winters I was at Toronto, I made a rule from which I never departed, to walk every morning to the end of a long wooden pier that ran out into the unfrozen waters of the lake. In windy weather, and during extreme cold, the water, in dashing against this work, rose in the air ; but before it could reach me it often froze, and thus, without wetting my cloak, the drops of ice used to fall harmless at my feet.

But although the great lake, for want of a

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Chap. I.

moment's tranquillity, cannot congeal, yet for hundreds of miles along its shores the waves, as they break on the ground, instantly freeze, and this operation continuing by night as well as by day, the quiet shingled beach is converted throughout its whole length into high, sharp, jagged rocks of ice, over which it is occasionally difficult to climb.

I was one day riding with a snaffle-bridle on the glare ice of the great bay of Toronto, on a horse I had just purchased, without having been made aware of his vice, which I afterwards learned had been the .cause of a serious accident to his late master, when he suddenly, unasked, explained it to me by running away. On one side of me was the open water of the lake, into which, if I had ridden, I should almost instantly have been covered with a coating of ice as white as that on a candle that has just received its first dip; while on every other side I was surrounded by these jagged rocks of ice, the narrow passes through which I was going much too fast to be able to investigate.

My only course, therefore, was to force my horse round and round within the circum-

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

ference of the little troubles that environed me, and this I managed to do, every time diminishing the circle, until before I was what Sidney Smith termed " squirrel-minded," the animal became sufficiently tired to stop.

The scene on these frozen harbours and bays in winter is very interesting. Sleighs in which at least one young representative of the softer sex is generally seated are to be seen and heard driving and tinkling across in various directions, or occasionally standing still to witness a trotting-match or some other amusement on the ice.

In the midst of this scene here and there are a few dark spots on the surface which it is difficult to analyze even when approached, until from beneath the confused mass there gradually arises, with a mild " Why-disturbrne?" expression of countenance, the red face and shaggy head of an Indian, who for hours has been lying on his stomach to spear fish through a small hole which, for that purpose, he has cut through the ice.

In other parts are to be seen groups of men occupied in sawing out for sale large cubical blocks of ice of a beautiful bluish appearance,

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Chap. I.

piled upon each other like dressed Bath-stones for building.

The water of which this ice is composed is as clear as crystal, resembling that which, under the appellation of Wenham ice, has lately been imported to England as well as to India, and which has become a new luxury of general use.

I have often been amused at observing how imperfectly the theory of ice is, practically speaking, understood in England.

People talk of its being " as hot as fire/' and "as cold as ice," just as if the temperature of each were a fixed quantity, whereas there are as many temperatures of fire, and as many temperatures of ice, as there are climates on the face of the globe.

The heat of " boiling water" is a fixed quantity, and any attempt to make water hotter than " boiling" only creates steam, which flies off from the top exactly as fast as, and exactly in the proportion to, the amount of heat, be it great or small, that is applied at the bottom.

Now for want of half a moment's reflection, people in England are very prone to believe

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

that water cannot be made colder than ice ; and accordingly if a good-humoured man succeeds in filling his ice-house, he feels satisfied that his ice is as good as any other man's ice ; in short, that ice is ice, and that there is no use in any body attempting to deny it. But the truth is, that the temperature of thirty-two degrees of Fahrenheit, that at which water freezes, is only the commencement of an operation that is almost infinite; for after its congelation water is as competent to continue to receive cold as it was when it was fluid. The application of cold to a block of ice does not therefore, as in the case of heat applied beneath boiling water, cause what is added at one end to fly out at the other, but on the contrary, the extra cold is added to and retained by the mass, and thus the temperature of the ice falls with the temperature of the air, until in Lower Canada it occasionally sinks to forty degrees below zero, or to seventy-two degrees below the temperature of ice just congealed.

It is evident, therefore, that if two ice-houses were to be filled, the one with the former, say Canada ice, and the other with the latter, say English ice, the difference between the quantity of cold stored up in each would be as appre-

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Cbap, I.

ciable as the difference between a cellar full of gold and a cellar full of copper ; in short, the intrinsic value of ice, like that of metals, depends on the investigation of an assayer — that is to say, a cubic foot of Lower Canada ice is infinitely more valuable, or, in other words, it contains infinitely more cold than a cubic foot of Upper Canada ice, which again contains more cold than a cubic foot of Wenham ice, which contains infinitely more cold than a cubic foot of English ice ; and thus, although each of these four cubic feet of ice has precisely the same shape, they each, as summer approaches, diminish in value, that is to say, they each gradually lose a portion of their cold, until, long before the Lower Canada ice has melted, the English ice has been converted into luke-warm water.

The above theory is so clearly understood in North America, that the inhabitants of Boston, who annually store for exportation immense quantities of Wenham ice, and who know quite well that cold ice will meet the markets in India, while the warmer article melts on the passage, talk of their "crops of ice" just as an English farmer talks of his crop of wheat.

The various forms of sleighs which are used

Chap. I.

A NEW SKY.

in Canada, it would be impossible to describe ; some are handsomely painted bright scarlet, highly varnished, richly carved, and ornamented with valuable black bear-skin " robes," as they are termed ; others are composed of an old English packing-case placed on runners. However, whatever may be their construction, their proprietors, rich or poor, appear alike happy.

One healthy clear morning, accompanied by a friend, I was enjoying my early walk along the cliff which overhangs the bay of Toronto, when I saw a runaway horse and sleigh approaching me at full gallop, and it was not until both were within a few yards of the precipice, that the animal, suddenly seeing his danger, threw himself on his haunches, and then, turning from the death that had stared him in the face, stood as if riveted to the ground.

On going up to the sleigh, which was one of very humble fabric, I found seated in it a wild young Irishman, and, as he did not appear to be at all sensible of the danger from which he had just been providentially preserved, I said to him, — u You have had a most narrow escape, my man I "

A NEW SKY.

Chap. I.

" Och ! your honour" he replied, u it 9s nathing at arl. It 's jist this bar as titches hi? hacks!" And, to show me what he meant, he pulled at the reins with all his strength, till -the splinter-bar touched the poor creature's thigh, when instantly this son of Erin, looking as happy as if he had just demonstrated a problem, triumphantly exclaimed, — " There' t is agin!" And away he went, if possible, faster than before.

I watched him till the horse galloped with him completely out of my sight; indeed, he vanished like a meteor in the sky, and where he came from, and where he went, I am ignorant to this day.

The Canada spring commences with a brilliant, but rather an uncomfortable admixture of warm days and of freezing cold nights. By the beginning of April the sun is as hot as it is in the south of France, the roads are slushy until sunset, when in a few minutes they congeal, and become covered with ice.

As this operation continues, as the sun strengthens, and as the day lengthens, the thick stratum of snow, which has so long covered the surface of the country, gradually melts by day and freezes by night, until the heat increasing and the cold diminishing, the

Chap. I. ANEW SKY. 25

black ground begins to appear ; and no sooner does the earth, escaping from its wearisome imprisonment, once again see daylight, than, without waiting for a general clearance, there start up in each of these little oases in the desert of snow that surrounds them a variety of small lovely flowers, which seem to have burst into existence as if to hail the arrival and ornament the happy path of approaching spring.