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.