The sections are numbered as shown by the following diagram:--

N

+----+----+----+----+----+----+

| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |

+----+----+----+----+----+----+

| 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 |

+----+----+----+----+----+----+

| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |

W +----+----+----+----+----+----+ E

| 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 |

+----+----+----+----+----+----+

| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |

+----+----+----+----+----+----+

| 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |

+----+----+----+----+----+----+

S

The Townships are numbered in regular order northerly from the

International Boundary line or 49th parallel of latitude, and lie

in ranges numbered east and west from a certain meridian line,

drawn northerly from the said 49th parallel, from a point ten

miles or thereabouts westward of Pembina.

When the Government took over the territory from the Hudson Bay

Company in 1870, two entire sections in every fifth township and

one and three-quarters in every other, were assigned to the

Company as compensation. There were also two sections reserved as

endowment to public education, and are called School Lands, and

held by the minister of the Interior, and can only be sold by

public auction.

The same was done for the half-breeds; 240 acres were allotted to

them in every parish. Their farms are mostly on the rivers, along

the banks of which all the early settlers congregated; and to give

each claimant his iota the farms had to be cut up into long strips

of four miles long by four hundred yards wide.

On every section-line running north and south and to every

alternate running east and west nine feet, or one chain, is left

for roads. Our farm-buildings are not quite in the centre of the

estate, on account of having to make the drive up to the house

beyond the marsh on the eastern boundary.

I have drawn you a plan of the farm; the spaces covered with

little dots are the marshes: the one on the west extends for

miles, and has a creek or dyke dug out by Government to carry off

the water. From the drawing it looks as if there was much marsh

around us; but this bit of ground was the driest that could be

found not already taken up. As it was, A---- purchased it of a man

who has some more land nearer Winnipeg, giving him five dollars

per acre. The Nos. 30 and 31 mean the sections of the townships.

For emigrants wishing to secure a "homestead," which is a grant of

160 acres given by Government free, with the exception of an

office-fee, amounting to ten dollars on all the even-numbered

sections of a town-ship, he will now have to travel much further

west, as every acre around Winnipeg is already secured, and has in

the last two years risen most considerably in value.

The Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, which was given by Government

25,000,000 acres, besides the 25,000,000 dollars to make the line

across the country from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to the Rockies,

sell their land (which is on odd-numbered sections of every township

for twenty-four miles on each side of the track, with the exception of

the two sections, 11 and 29, reserved for school-lands) for two

dollars fifty cents, or ten shillings per acre, to be paid by

instalments, giving a rebate of one dollar twenty-five cents, or five

shillings per acre, if the land is brought into cultivation within the

three or five years after purchase.

A man occupying a "homestead" is exempt from seizure for debt,

also his ordinary furniture, tools, and farm implements in use,

one cow, two oxen, one horse, four sheep, two pigs, and food for

the same for thirty days; and his land cultivated, provided it is

not more than the 160 acres; also his house, stables, barns and

fences; so that if a man has bad luck, he has a chance of

recovering his misfortunes.

In one of your letters you ask if a poor man coming out as labourer,

and perhaps eventually taking up land as a homestead or otherwise,

would encounter many difficulties. I fancy not, as both the English

and Canadian Governments are affording every facility to emigrants,

who can get through tickets from London, Liverpool, or Ireland at even

a lower rate than the ordinary steerage passenger. They can have

themselves and their families booked all the way, the fares varying

from nine pounds five to the twenty-eight pounds paid by the saloon.

On board ship the steerage have to find their own bedding and

certain utensils for use; otherwise everything else is provided,

and, I am told, the food is both good and plenty of it. Regular

authorised officers of the Dominion Government are stationed at

all the principal places in Canada, to furnish information on

arrival. They will also receive and forward money and letters; and

everyone should be warned and put on their guard against the

fictitious agents and rogues that infest every place, who try to

persuade the new-comers into purchase of lands or higher rates of

wage.

We heard the other day of an English gentlemen being taken in by

one of these scoundrels, and giving a lot of money for land which

on examination proved to be worthless. Luckily for him, there was

some flaw in his agreement, and his purchase was cancelled. Men

who intend buying land should be in no great hurry about their

investments; the banks give a fair percentage on deposits, and it

is always so much more satisfactory to look around before

settling.

E---- has been very busy arranging the garden; a most fatiguing

process, as she has to cart all her own sods to make a foundation

and then heap soil on to them; but having brought a quantity of seeds

from England she feels bound to sow them, and hopes they will make a

grand show later on, and the place quite gay. You should have seen the

beam of delight which shone on the countenance of a stranger who had

come out from Winnipeg for the night, when on arrival he was

immediately pressed into E----'s service to carry water for these said

seeds. The temperature is now at 64 degrees, and, as things grow as if

by magic, we hope they will soon put in an appearance. Oats planted

only a week ago are now an inch above ground. We have had a nice

breeze the last two or three days, so that the mosquitoes have not

worried us so much.

The prettiest things to see here are the prairie fires at night.

The grass is burnt in spring and autumn so as to kill off the old

tufts and allow of the new shoots growing for hay. The fires look

like one long streak of quivering flame, the forked tips of which

flash and quiver in the horizon, magnified by refraction, and on a

dark night are lovely. In the day-time one only sees volumes of

smoke which break the monotony of the landscape, though I don't

know that it is picturesque. With a slight breeze the fires spread

in a marvellous way, even at the rate of eight or nine miles an

hour. The other day A---- and Mr. H----, whilst putting up their

tent, did not perceive how near a fire they themselves had lighted

at some distance was getting, until it was upon them. They then

had to seize hold of everything, pull up the tent pegs as best

they could, and make a rush through the flames, singeing their

clothes and boots a good deal.

The pastures on the burnt prairie are good the whole summer, and

animals will always select them in preference to any other. The

wild ponies, be the snow in winter ever so deep, by pawing it

away, subsist on these young shoots and leaves of grasses, which

are very nutritious and apparently suffer little by the frost,

which only kills the upper leaves but does not injure what is

below. The mirage is also very curious; the air is so clear that

one often sees reflected, some way above the horizon, objects like

the river, trees, and even the town of Winnipeg, which we could

not otherwise see; we could actually one evening, at sunset,

distinguish the gas-lights.

* * * * *

Sunday.

This is a real day of rest, and the men really do deserve it. We

all have a respite, as regards breakfast, it being at 9 o'clock

instead of 6.30; and do we not appreciate the extra forty winks!

The whole day is spent more or less in loafing, we having no regular

church nearer than Winnipeg, sixteen miles, though an occasional

service is given at Headingley, eight miles off. The men lie stretched

on the straw-heaps in the yard, basking and snoozing in the sun. We

generally have some stray man out from Winnipeg, and are much struck

with the coolness of their ways. Colonial manners, somehow, jar a good

deal on one; they take it quite as a matter of course that we ladies

should wait on them at table, and attend to their bodily comforts. On

the other hand, they never seem to object to any accommodation they

get, and are perfectly satisfied with the drawing-room sofa for a bed,

even with sheets taken out of the dirty linen bag, which has been once

or twice the case when our supply has run short. I don't object to

their coming, only that our Sunday dinners have to be in proportion,

and as all our provisions come out from Winnipeg it is rather

difficult catering. We have no outside larder or anywhere to keep our

meat and butter, so have instituted a lovely one by putting all our

things down the well, which is nearly dry and is under the kitchen

floor. In winter there is never any need of a larder, as the meat is

frozen so hard that it has to be twelve hours in the kitchen before

they can attempt to cook it.

Our food is very good and we have the best of all receipts,

ravenous appetites for every meal. Our breakfast consists of

porridge, bacon, and any cold meat, jam, and any quantity of

excellent butter and bread. Dinner, a hot joint and a pudding of

some sort, finishing up with coffee. Supper, much the same. We

have coffee for every meal, and, as the pot is always on the hob,

anybody can have a cup when they like. The men have about two cups

apiece before breakfast when they first get up. We never mind any

amount of coffee, but wage war against the cocktails, taken before

meals as appetisers. A cocktail is a horrid concoction of whisky,

bitters, sugar and water, which are all mixed together with a

"swidel" stick, which stick is always on the wander and for which

a search has to be made. Nipping is too much in vogue in this

country, but we are told that a lot of support is wanted, the air

is so rarefied and the water has so much alkali in it, and

therefore not supposed to be healthy, but it is most beautifully

clear and delightfully cold to drink.

It certainly does disagree with the horses and cattle when first

imported into the district.

* * * * *

June 3rd.

If you happen to know of anybody coming out here, and so many do, and

you would like to give A---- a present, I wish you would kindly send

him a few table-cloths, dusters, towels, and pairs of sheets; in short

any linen would be most acceptable as we are so short. How these men

managed when the linen went into Winnipeg to be washed, and was

sometimes kept a month ere it came home, is a mystery. These extra men

living in the house have none. They facetiously describe their ideas

of dirt by saying, if the table-cloth, however filthy it might look,

when flung against the wall didn't stick, it went on for another week;

if it stuck, was then and there consigned to the dirty-linen bag.

Since we have been here we have instituted a weekly wash, every

Monday and Tuesday. E---- and Mrs. G---- preside at the tub all

day, and even then our sheets and towels often run short.

Every colonist ought to provide himself with two pairs of sheets,

half a dozen towels, two table-cloths, and a few dusters; and as

those things and his wearing apparel, if in use six months

previously, are allowed into the country free of duty, they might

as well bring them over as everything of that sort in Winnipeg is

so fearfully dear I do not like buying anything there. We sent for

some unbleached calico the other day, worth twopence-halfpenny;

was charged twelve cents or sixpence a yard. Besides the four

yards of calico there were ten of bed-ticking, also ten of

American cloth; and the bill was six dollars seventy cents, nearly

seven-and-twenty shillings. Everything is equally dear, the demand

is so much greater than the supply. Beef is tenpence to

thirteenpence a pound, mutton about the same, bacon tenpence, pork

tenpence, chickens four and twopence each. We use a good deal of

tinned corned beef; and very good it is, it makes into such

excellent hashes and curries and is so good for breakfast.

A---- also wants a pair of long porpoise-hide waterproof boots

sending out; they are quite an essential, as after the heavy rains

water stands inches deep in our yards, and he has so much walking

into the marshes. In the spring, when the snow has melted, the

"sloughs" or mudholes along all the tracks and across the prairie

are so deep that horses and waggons are repeatedly stuck in them,

and the men have to go in, often up to their waist, to help the

poor animals out. The only way sometimes to get waggons out is to

unhitch the horses, getting them on to firm ground, and by means

of a long chain or ropes fastened to the poles, pull the waggons

out which as a rule have previously had to be unloaded. The

clothes these men wear are indescribable. A---- at the present

moment is in a blue flannel shirt, a waistcoat, the back of which

we are always threatening to renew. Inexpressibles somewhat

spotty, darned, and torn, and, thanks to one or two washings, have

shrunk, displaying a pair of boots which have not seen a blacking-

brush since the day they left England. Coats are put on for meals,

to do honour to the ladies, but seldom worn otherwise. The coarser

and stronger the clothes are the better. A----'s straw hat is also

very lovely, it serves periodically for a mark to shoot at with

the rifle on Sunday mornings, or when company come out from town.

We both of us feel much like our old nurse when we are doing our

mendings, cutting up one set of old rags to patch another; but

thanks to ammonia and hot irons, we flatter ourselves we make them

almost look respectable again.

There is a half-breed called L'Esperance who lives about eight

miles from here, on the banks of the Assiniboine; and one of our

neighbours telling us the other day he had several buffalo robes

to sell, we drove over to inspect them, and saw some real beauties

for ten or twelve dollars; at the Hudson Bay stores, in town, they

ask sixteen for them. L'Esperance himself wasn't at home when we

got there; but his wife, a fine, tall woman, speaking a peculiar

French patois, showed us "around," also the pemmicain, which is

buffalo-meat pounded, dried, and pressed into bags of skins, it

keeping good for years in that way. It looked nasty, but the

children were chewing it apparently with great relish. Whilst in

the shanty we heard a great noise, and, running out, found our

horse, which had either taken right or been stung by some fly,

tearing past us with the buggy through the old lady's potato-field

into the bush. E---- tore after it, and in a few hundred yards

came up to the horse standing trembling, and gazing at the shattered

remains of our poor vehicle. He had tried to turn the corner, when

the whole thing capsized topsy-turvy, and he had almost freed

himself of all the harness; luckily he was considerate enough not

to have given that "one more struggle" which would have indeed

settled the whole question, and obliged us to foot it on our ten

toes home. Curiously enough the shafts were not broken, but the

splinter-bar was. There was quite a procession back to the shanty,

the half-breed woman and one girl dragging the buggy, one child

carrying the cushion, another the whip and wraps, and E---- leading

the horse. We set to work to make good the damage as best we

could, with thin strips of buffalo-hide, and started homewards;

but without buying our robes, not daring to add to our weight. The

man at the ferry-boat gave us an extra binding up, and by going

cautiously we got home, though we feared every moment would be our

last, as regards driving, as the bound-up parts creaked most

ominously all the way, and we fully expected at every rough bit to

go in half. The horse is generally so quiet that we never mind

where we leave him standing. I luckily have just given A---- a new

carriage, which will come in very handy. It is to be a "democrat,"

double seats, and one long enough to be able to carry luggage.

These small buggies are beautifully light, but will carry next to

nothing; and we always have difficulty in accommodating all our

parcels every time we come out of Winnipeg.

* * * * *

June 6th.

A waggon is going into town to-morrow to fetch a sulky and a gang-

plough, and some potatoes for seeding; and we hope a few also of

the latter for eating, as hitherto our only vegetables have been

white beans and rice. You may be wondering what these ploughs are:

a sulky is a single-furrowed sixteen inch plough, to which are

harnessed three horses, a man riding on a small seat and driving

them instead of walking; and a "gang" is a two-furrowed twelve-

inch plough, and drawn by four to six horses, and which will break

over four acres a day; the sulky about three. A---- has had one

for some time, but as yet only the deep ploughing or backsetting

of last year's breaking has been going on, and until the seeding

and harrowing is finished, which ought to have been done before

now, but this year has been delayed by the lateness of the spring,

and the snow being so long in melting, no fresh breaking has been

begun.

There are still about two hundred and eighty acres to break, or, more

properly speaking, two hundred and forty, as forty acres are in marsh,

in which water stands so deep no cultivation would be possible,

though, later on, the marshes yield beautiful crops of hay; rather

coarse-looking stuff, but undeniably nutritious, and not distasteful

to either horses or beast. It has often been speculated as to whether

there was any means of draining the marshes, but, owing to the extreme

level character of the country, you could get no fall, and tiles would

not do on account of the severity of the frosts, which penetrate

deeper into the ground than the drains could be carried. The

Government have cut good-sized ditches at right angles to the river,

and they are found to be the only practical drainage which is

feasible, and, when once cut and the water set running, have no

tendency to fill up, but gradually wear deeper and broader, so that in

time they almost become small rivers. We have one running through our

west marsh, and on a bye-day we sometimes fish in it for pike; not

that any of our party have been successful, but some of our neighbours

catch fish, and very fair-sized ones.

The land is wonderfully rich and good. A black loam (which colour is

no doubt due, partly, to the gradual accumulation of the charred

grasses left by prairie fires), of about two feet in depth, with a

clay and sandy sub-soil, and in which, they say, they will be able to

grow cereals for the next twenty years, without manure or its

deteriorating; though if there was only time to do it before the snow

falls, it seems a pity not to put the manure on to the land instead of

burning it, as they do at the present moment. Perhaps when all the

land is broken, which they hope will be by the end of next summer,

they won't be so pushed for work as they are.

The ground here requires a great deal of cultivation. It is first

of all broken with a fourteen or sixteen inch plough, so shaped

that it turns the sod over as flat as possible, generally from the

depth of two to two-and-a-half inches deep, the shallower the

better, and then left to rot with the sun and rain for two months

and a half.

It has often been tried, and with very good results, to put in a

crop of oats on the first breaking, sowing broadcast and turning a

very thin sod over them; and the sod pulverizes and decomposes

under the influence of a growing crop quite as effectually as if

only turned over and left to itself. There are also fewer weeds,

which is of importance, as it often happens that the weeds which

grow soon after the breaking are as difficult to subdue as the

sod. If the soil is nice and soft a man and team of horses will

break an acre and a half a day, and average throughout the season

an acre. The breaking goes on until the middle of July, and the

end of August the "backsetting" begins, which is ploughing the

same ground over again about two inches deeper.

The following spring the harrows (which are "disc" of a peculiar

shape, twelve to eighteen razor-wheels on an axle, and in going

round cut through and break any sods), are run over repeatedly

both before and after the seeding; the ground is also rolled and

then left, and for the two-and-a-half bushels of oats or two

bushels of wheat-seed per acre, hopes for a grand return being

always entertained.

By some experts late autumn sowing is strongly advocated, as,

during the fall, owing to the dryness of the atmosphere, there is

scarcely any growth; so that the grain sown late cannot germinate,

nor can it absorb water or rain enough to rot it, the winters

being so dry. And when the first days of spring come the snow

melts, the starch of the seed has changed to grape-sugar, and

begins to germinate; so that the young plants will in no way be

damaged by subsequent droughts, nor by the frosts which sometimes

come after heavy rains in August and much injure the crops. At the

present moment we are craving for rain, and should the crops not

be as plentiful this year as expected, on account of the drought,

I should feel much inclined to try autumn sowing.

Before the prairie is broken, the turf is very tough, and requires

a great deal of force to break it; but when once turned the

subsequent ploughings are easy.

Our chief difficulty and trouble are the stones; they generally

lie just beneath the surface, differing very much in size. Some

are huge and have to be regularly trenched round and horses

harnessed to a chain put round them to raise them out of the

ground; when they are put on to the stone-boat and conveyed to the

boundary fence. It generally falls to E----'s and my special lot

to drive the stone-boat or the waggons, whilst the men with

crowbars and spades go before the ploughs clearing them all away,

for fear they may blunt the shares and throw them out of the

furrow.

The last two or three days, when not stone-picking, A---- and Mr.

B---- have been stretching the barb-wire with which they are

enclosing the property; and there has been great chaff about our

"Jehuship." The wooden posts along which the wire is run are put

in the ground, and they then have to be rammed down with a

fearfully heavy wooden mallet, which I can hardly lift. To get

purchase on the mallet A---- mounts into the waggon, which

accordingly has to be driven quite close up to the post without

touching it.

The two old mares we drive are more than difficult to turn or stop

to a nicety, the result being that once I went too near and broke

off a piece of the waggon. Another time, after a corner-post had

been driven in most securely with props, E---- drove up against

it, taking the whole concern away bodily.

The weather is quite delightful, no mosquitoes as yet to speak of;

but the two big marshes on either side of the farm harbour them

dreadfully.

Wild duck also abound in these marshes; there are thousands about,

and we have found many nests and been revelling in the eggs, a

delightful change to our regular _menu_. The nests are very

difficult to find; we two went one afternoon in the buggy to look

for some, and the men declare we looked in the marshes themselves

for them, which was not certainly the fact; though after driving

round all the outsides, and not having been warned that the marsh

on the eastern boundary of the farm was very deep, we came home

that way, not at all liking the water coming up to the axle-trees

and the horse floundering about at every step. To turn back was as

bad as to go on, and as we saw wheel-tracks along the fence we

stuck to them, thanking our stars when we got through safely.

* * * * *

June 12th.

We have had a real visitor lately--I mean one who has brought a

change, and a toothbrush; and for the auspicious event we rigged

him up a stretcher bed, the most comfortable of things, canvas

stretched on to a wooden frame, with a mattress on the top. You

could not wish for anything softer. He was one of our ocean

companions; his nickname of Mike still sticks to him. On getting

to Winnipeg at night he had great difficulty in finding our

whereabouts; even at the Club he was told the only W---- known

kept a store in Main Street. Luckily from the Club he went to

A----'s livery stable, which is exactly behind it, where a man

offered to drive him out forthwith, having driven another man here

only four days ago; but he preferred waiting till the morning,

getting here somewhere about 9 o'clock, when he was set down

immediately to work to stone the raisins for a plum cake, and when

tired of that had to help A---- planting potatoes. He declares he

never will come here with his best clothes and a "boiled" shirt on

again, as we have worked him so hard.

The accounts he gives, in an exaggerated Irish brogue, of his

experiences in Minnesota have kept us in fits of laughter. The

description of their first drive, when both he and his companions

were all bogged; and how that twenty-seven mules and twenty-eight

horses bought at St. Louis all arrived one night at the station

about 5 o'clock, after sixty hours' travelling with no food or

water, had to be unloaded from the cars, and they hadn't a halter

or even a rope to do it with. Eventually they got all the poor

beasts into a yard with wooden pailing round, but, something

startling them, they made a rush, the fence gave way, for which

damage the proprietor charged them ten pounds, and all galloped

straight on to the prairie, and it took the men all night getting

them together again. One pair of horses disappeared altogether;

but were brought back when a reward of thirty dollars was offered;

they had wandered nineteen miles.

Mike slept in A----'s room. They talked so much, and told so many

funny stories, that we despaired of ever getting them down to

breakfast; Mike declaring he would like to bring his bed along

with him, as he hadn't slept in one, or been between sheets since

leaving New York, six weeks previously. We drove him over one

afternoon to fish in the creek about two and a half miles off; but

as we had to go in a light waggon, and with only one spring seat,

both Mike and A---- had to hang on behind, with a plank as seat,

which was always slipping and landing them on their backs at the

bottom of the waggon. When we were about half a mile from home

E---- made a wager that she would get through the wire fence and

home across the prairie before we could get round and the horses

be in their stable. We had a most exciting race; the gates, which

are only poles run from one end of the wire to another, were a

great impediment, and I believe it was really a dead heat, through

all the labourers entering into the joke and rushing to unhitch the

horses, which were disappearing into the stable as E---- was at

the kitchen-door.

I fancy that on the whole, in spite of his hard work, Mike enjoyed

his visit, not only for the pleasure of our society, but as he had

never seen a piece of meat, nor anything but pork and beans and

bad coffee at Warren, nor had a bed to lie on, nor as much water

as could be held in a tea-cup to wash in; he must have felt he had

dropped into a land of Goshen by some happy mistake.

To give you a clearer insight into our daily life, and as I have

nothing really to write about this week, I think I cannot do

better than copy out our journals, which we try to keep regularly,

though in our monotonous every-day life it is sometimes difficult

to find incidents to chronicle.

_Monday_.--Wash and cook all the morning; E---- and A---- plant

willows in the marsh during the afternoon. I wander about the prairie

in search of a duck's nest I saw yesterday and thought I had marked;

but the tracks, stones, and ridges on the prairie are so alike, that

it is almost impossible to remember any place; anyhow, I cannot find

the nest. I could not take it yesterday, as I was riding, and the

animal will not stand still to let you mount, and had I had to

scramble up on to her I should certainly have broken all the eggs I

took. An exhausting day with a hot wind blowing; we are craving for

rain, and thankful for the slight showers that fell during last night.

It is marvellous how quickly vegetation will grow. Some sample wheat

planted in the garden, of which there was no sign yesterday, thanks to

the rain and sun has grown quite an inch by 6 o'clock this evening.

The grass is beginning to look so green and nice.

_Tuesday_.--E---- and Mrs. G---- finish their wash which they could

not get through yesterday. I go up to the tent, with Mr. H---- to

drive his waggon, and help to unlumber the wood he brought out

yesterday from Winnipeg. Riding on these waggons loaded, and

without a spring seat, is anything but pleasant over the prairie,

but Mr. H---- is so accustomed to it now that he can stretch

himself on the top and sleep soundly; and once or twice, coming

out from town, has found himself in quite the wrong direction by

allowing the horses to go their own way.

E---- and I spend our afternoon cleaning up the tent.

_Wednesday_.--A---- and I drive into Winnipeg. We have had various

commissions to do, and A---- had to attend a meeting at the Club. Mr.

W. H---- has most amiably put his house, consisting of two rooms and a

kitchen below, at our disposal whenever we want to rest; so I spent my

whole afternoon there, nominally reading the "St. James's Gazette,"

but, I fancy, indulging in "forty winks" whilst waiting for A----. We

afterward dined with the judge in his very nice pretty house called

"The Willows," driving home later. The cold was so great that A----,

who had brought no great-coat, was forced to run behind the buggy some

way to get warm and produce circulation. The prairie fires quite

lovely, on all sides, quivering high flames for miles, and the night

being dark, they looked very bright.

_Thursday_.--Was so tired after my day in town that I breakfasted in

bed; disgraceful! By the time I get down the family have all dispersed

to their various works. After dinner E---- and I drive a waggon over

to the Boyd Farm to fetch oats for Mr. H----. The students, who

haven't much to do, are enlisted into the filling and loading of the

sacks; rather glad, we fancy, of some occupation. On our return we

found a friend of Mr. B----'s, who, having heard of our proximity, he

living at Headingley, has come over to dine and sleep. Our "parlour"

sofa, as usual, is called into requisition. It will soon be worn out,

so many sleep on it. I think last week it was occupied nearly every

night.

_Friday_.--We have had very smart company to-day, as the judge, his

wife, niece, and another man came over. We hoped they would star to

dinner, and had "killed fatted calf"; but I fancy the ladies dreaded

the prairie by night, and insisted upon returning--we could hardly

persuade them to take a cup of tea--fearing that they might be

benighted.

_Saturday_.--Hard at work cleaning all the morning. Mr. B----'s friend

leaves after dinner, and I drive the mares in the waggons whilst the

men stretch the wire-fencing. E---- rides to the tent with letters. We

sustained rather a shock to our nerves to-day; about 12 o'clock a

buggy was seen coming towards the house just as we were sitting down

to dinner, and as our food was scanty we did not know how we possibly

could feed three extra men. Luckily they only came to enquire their

route to the tent, and it was a relief when they drove on; though we

felt we ought to have given them some food, as the tent could only

provide bacon and biscuits.

_Sunday_.--Mrs. G----, our factotum, has a holiday, and goes over with

some of the other labourers to spend the day at the other farm. E----

and I have to undertake the _menage_ for the whole day. Our mutton, a

leg, was very nicely done, also our vegetables, rice, and beans; but

the "evaporated" apples, which we use much, required boiling previous

to being put in a tart, which we neither of us knew. Therefore they

were not done, and the crust was all burst. The men from the tent, who

generally spend their Sundays here, were allowed some dinner, on

condition they washed up afterwards.

* * * * *

June 18.

I am afraid our letters will not be so interesting as the novelty

wears off: the monotony of our life may begin to pall upon us. We

hardly ever go two miles beyond the farm; to take our neighbours

at the tent their letters or parcels brought out from town, is

about the limit to our wanderings. We did drive one of the waggons

to our neighbour Mr. Boyle to fetch home some oats the other

night, and we also have been into town to pay our respects to the

Governor and his wife. We happily don't want much outside

attraction, for we have so much to do on the farm. The men work us

pretty hard, I can tell you; as, besides all our indoor work, we

have had three afternoons cutting potatoes for seed, until our

hands are too awful to look at, and the water is so hard that we

never shall get them a decent colour again. Some "white elephants"

potatoes, planted three weeks ago (thirty in number we cut into

420 pieces) already make a great show, and will want banking up

next week. About ten acres of ground close to the house have been

reserved and are called "the garden," in which have been planted

turnips, flax, beet-root, lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes; in

short, all the luxuries of the season. But I am afraid none will

be ready before we leave, if we carry out our idea of going to

Colorado early in August.

We have been craving for rain, and at last, luckily, had a

delightful shower a few days ago, which has freshened us up and

will make things grow. There is no grass as yet above four inches

in height, and this time last year they were hay-making. The men

are beginning to fear there will be none; but with a little warm

weather and a certain amount of rain everything grows as if by

magic, so we may still hope to have a good season.

Only very few of the garden-seeds have made their appearance,

which is disappointing after all the trouble they were; but the

wild flowers are beginning to come out on the prairie, small

bushes of wild roses are all over; there are also very pretty

sunflowers, a tree maiden-hair, several different vetches,

sisters, yellow-daisies, &c.; many we cannot name, indigenous to

this country we conclude.

* * * * *

June 26.

We quite feel as if we had been here years instead of about five

weeks; and though it was prophesied before we left England that,

after turning the house up-side down and making the men very

uncomfortable with our cleanings, we should then go on strike, it

has not been altogether fulfilled. We certainly did try to clean

up a bit, but we still help in housework, and have to do as the

servants at home. If we expect visitors, or on a Sunday, put on a

tidy gown; otherwise we generally live in the oldest of frocks

(which are more or less stained with either mud or the red paint

with which we have been painting the roofs of both the stable and

the labourers' house), very big aprons, sleeves to match, and our

sun-bonnets. E---- has concocted for herself a thin blue-and-white

shirt, and as she generally lives with her sleeves tucked up, her

arms are getting quite brown and sunburnt. Our boots are the only

things we do not much like cleaning, they get so soon dirty again;

and we have come to the happy conclusion that unblacked boots have

a "cachet" that blacked boots have not. When we first arrived the

men promised to do them for us every Sunday; which promises, like

so many, have partaken of the nature of pie-crusts.

We are both of us delighted to have come, the whole experience is

so new, and what we couldn't have realised in England; and I am

sure, in spite of the _bouleversement_ of the bachelor _regime_, it

is a great pleasure to the men we are here. Our Winnipeg acquaintances

tell us that A---- is quite a changed man, so cheery and even

bumptious, and that everything is now "What we do at the farm."

It is all very well, however, in the summer; if obliged to stay

through the winter, it would be quite another "pair of shoes." The

thermometer often registers forty degrees of frost, though the

effects of this extreme temperature in the dry exhilarating

atmosphere is not so unpleasant as might be imagined, but the

loneliness and dreariness of the prairie with two or three feet of

snow would be appalling. The cold is so great that you have to put

on a buffalo coat, cap, and gloves, before you can touch the stove

to light the fire, and notwithstanding the coal stove which is

always kept going in the hall to warm the up-stairs room (through

which the pipe is carried), the water in buckets standing

alongside gets frozen.

Then the blizzards, which are storms of sleet and snow driven with

a fierce wind, and so thick that it is quite impossible to get out

of doors, or see at all, would be too trying.

Even to get across the yard to the further stable the men have to

have a rope stretched as guide so as not to lose their way; and

these storms sometimes, as they did this last year, continue for

three weeks consecutively.

The snow on the prairie is never very deep, but it drifts a good

deal, and was to the depth of twelve feet on the west side of the

house.

No work can be done much in the winter on account of the cold and

snow, so that from the middle of April, when the snow begins to

go, until the beginning of October everything has to be rushed

through and as many hands put on as they can possibly get, who are

all discharged at the end of the summer and only two or three kept

to look after the animals. After threshing, these men have little

or nothing to do: digging out the well to water the horses,

teaming hay into the town on sleighs, and fetching timber over

from the other farm, is about their only outdoor occupation. All

the animals in the shape of horses, cows, pigs and chickens are

huddled together in the stables for warmth.

* * * * *

July 5th.

We have received our letters most unexpectedly to-day; two of our

gentlemen coming out last night from town brought sundry parcels,

newspapers, etc., but never thought of turning round to see if all

was safe in back of carriage, declaring it was such rough driving

they could only think of how to hang on and not be jolted out, so

that by the time they got home, letters, a horse-collar, spare

cushions, etc. were all gone. It was too late to send after them;

but one of the men started back at 3:30 this morning, finding most

of the lost things strewn broadcast over the prairie, even to

within a short distance of Winnipeg. He went on to feed and bait

his horses, at the same time enquiring for letters, finding ours

just come in, and which would have lain there until our next

opportunity.

Our variety to-day has been the absence of our cook, and we are

again left in charge, and we flatter ourselves the dinner was

"immense." Stewed-beef, rice, mushrooms, (of which some were

rather burnt, others not quite done enough, but that is a trifle),

yorkshire pudding (baking-powder making an excellent substitute

for eggs), and an apple tart. What more could you want? We are

quite ambitious now, and have curries, rissoles, etc. A---- used

to say he hoped, we should not expect either him or his friends

to eat our dishes, as they would have to go to bed afterwards for

at least three or four hours; but they very much appreciate any

change made in the _menu_.

We are longing to make bread, which takes up a great deal of our

factotum's time, as it has to be set over night and kneaded three

or four times the following day; but are begged to defer that

amusement until within a few days of our departure, as it would so

entirely upset our American trip if we had to attend A----'s

obsequies. The bread is perfectly delicious, so light and so white

in colour. The flour is excellent. It is not made with brewers

yeast, but with a yeast gem dissolved in warm water, to which is

added a handful of dried hops boiled beforehand for about ten

minutes, and strained. To that is added a cupful of flour a

teaspoonful of salt, and one of sugar, and the whole is put into a

warm place to ferment; when fermented, which takes about twelve

hours, into a cool place, where it will remain good and sweet some

time.

_A Receipt for Bread-Making_.

Put ten large spoonfuls of flour in a breadpan, and add enough

warm water to make it into a thin batter, add half a pint of

yeast, mix well, and, having covered the bread-pan with a cloth,

put it in a warm place near the stove over night. During the night

it should rise and settle again. In the morning add enough flour

to make it in into a thick dough, and knead it on a bread-board

for ten minutes. Put it back into pan for two hours and let it

rise again. Grease your baking-tins, knead your dough again, and

then fill the tins half full, put them close to the stove to rise,

and when they have risen thoroughly, grease the tops of your

loaves with a little butter (preventing the crust breaking and

giving it a nice brown colour) and put them into the oven and bake

for an hour to an hour and a quarter.

As E---- had not Mrs. G---- to wash up with her, she enlisted one

of the men, and it was very funny to see him in a hat three times

too big for his head, pipe in his mouth, sleeves turned up, drying

the dishes and putting a polish on them. Talking of hats, E----

has at last got one and a half, it literally covers even her

shoulders, and at midday she declares she is as much in shade as

under a Japanese umbrella; for trimming a rope is coiled round the

crown, the only way to make it stay on the head. Of her gloves

there is only the traditional one left; the other is among the

various articles we have left on the prairie, bumped out of the

buggy one day when she took them off to take care of them in a

shower of rain.

That driving on the prairie is loathsome, but if we want to get

about at all we must do it, as we don't like the riding horses. At

the present moment we have got one of the plough animals, which is

rideable. The poor beast was frightened one night three weeks ago,

during a fearful storm of thunder and lightning, and ran into the

barb wire, wounding itself horridly on the shoulders and neck. The

skin had to be sewn up, and it cannot wear a collar for the

present so we have it to ride if we like. It is not a slug like

the other two.

The thunder-storms here are frightful; they are also very grand to

watch, as we can see them generally for miles before they come up.

We, luckily, have about ten lightning conductors on the houses and

stables, so that we feel safe. A thunder-bolt fell pretty near the

other day, destroying about six posts and the wire of our north

fence. Thanks to the rain we have lately had, and the warm sun, we

find such quantities of mushrooms all over the prairie. They grow

to such a size! We measured two, one was 21 1/2 inches round, the

other 21, very sweet and good, and as pink underneath as possible.

The labourers have been so pleased with them that last Sunday they

began picking and cooking them in early morning, going on with

relays more or less all day, so that by the evening they couldn't

look another in the face, and it will be some time before they

touch them again. We have them for every meal.

Our diaries here are more or less public property, and as we have

been nowhere or seen anything at all exciting since we last wrote,

I am going to copy down from the journals the incidents, if any,

of the last week. You seemed to appreciate it the last time we

sent you home a copy, but you must forgive if it is somewhat of a

repetition to our numerous letters. The weather, for one thing, is

daily chronicled, as it takes up much of our thoughts, so much in

the future depending on its being propitious just at this time of

year, when the seeds are all sown and the hay almost ready to cut.

_Tuesday_.--Beautiful day, so warm and nice, without being

hot; everything growing, too, marvellously; even the seeds in the

garden, which we began to despair of, are coming up.

The men have been very low, on account of the scarcity of rain;

but we have had one or two thunder-storms lately which, have done

good, and in this climate I do not think one ought ever to give up

hopes. E---- has been painting wild flowers, which at this moment

are in great profusion and variety all over the prairie, most of

the day, varying her work by painting the doors of the room, which

were such an ugly colour, a pale yellow green, that they have

offended our artistic eyes ever since we have been here. I am said

to have wasted my whole morning watching my two-days-old chickens,

supposed to be the acme of intelligence and precocity. The

afternoon was spent in shingling the hen-house. It was only roofed

over with tar-paper laid on to the rafters, which answers well if

the wind doesn't blow the paper about, or that it has not any

holes; but as the hen-house is only a lean-to of the stable, the

roof of which we have been very busily painting, it has been

trodden upon a good deal in getting on and off the roof, and, in

consequence, the paper is much like a sponge, letting any rain in,

and drenching the poor sitting fowls; but with the shingles

overlapping each other on the tar-paper, the roof, will be quite

water-tight.

_Wednesday_.--Our factotum has gone into town, and we are

left in charge, E---- parlour-maid, Mr. B---- scullery-man, and I

cook. We have heaps of mushrooms at every meal, a most agreeable

change to the rice and white beans we have only hitherto had.

_Thursday_.--Hot day. A---- went into town to some meeting at

the Club. We have been dreadfully tormented with mosquitoes today,

also the big "bull-dog" fly, which, whenever the kitchen door was

left ajar, came into the house in myriads; but we find that

Keating's powder most effectually destroys them, and in a very few

seconds. We have been busy making a mattress and pillow for Mr.

H----, really one does not realise how clever one is until our

genius is put to the test in an establishment like this. E---- and

I drove up to the tent after supper with our handiwork, and had

great pleasure in seeing it filled with hay. Our drive was not of

the most enviable: we had a waggon with no spring seat, only a

board, which was always moving, to sit upon; one horse would tear

along, the other not pull an ounce, in spite of applying the whip

a good deal, and we were nearly smothered with mosquitoes, I never

saw such clouds of them, and on our return home there was a

general rush for the bottle of ammonia, which is the only thing

that allays the irritation.

_Friday_.--Excitements have been crowding in upon us to-day.

Bob, one of the labourers, who went into Winnipeg yesterday, only

arrived home at 3 A.M. this morning. He left town at 6, but the

night being dark he lost his way, and finding himself on the edge

of a marsh, having a feed of oats with him, wisely unhitched his

horses, tied them to the wheels, and waited patiently for

daylight. Just as we were sitting down to dinner, three men who

have been surveying the Government ditch near here, came and

begged to be fed. Luckily we had soup and plenty of cold meat; but

our pudding--the less said about that the better. We always have

the evaporated apples as a stand by, and they are delicious; so

with quantities of butter and milk we never need starve.

Then in the evening, when Mr. B---- was going to the stable to

serve out the oats for the horses, he came in for the finish of an

exciting race between two of the plough horses. The jockeys or

riders were told forthwith that a waggon was going into town the

following morning, and that their services would be dispensed with

in future. Just as we were going to bed we heard A---- coming in,

and with him a stranger who turned out to be our cousin, only

fifteen days out from England, _via_ Canada. He looks very

delicate.

_Saturday_.--We had made no preparation for E. P---- last night, so he

had to occupy the "parlour" sofa, and says he slept like a top;

doubtlessly did not require much rocking, as he had travelled through

almost without stopping. We were busy all this morning writing letters

for the discharged miscreants to take into town. It has been very hot

and close all day. I, rode up to the tent, and hurried home, seeing a

thunder-storm coming up, which was grand; and it was very lucky that I

got home, as it began to rain at 3 o'clock, and is still pouring in

perfect torrents at 10 o'clock P.M.

_Sunday_.--The yard is in such a fearful state of dirt, and the water

standing inches deep, that it has been nearly impossible to move

beyond the door. I put on A----'s long waterproof boots, and managed

to get as far as my hen-house, and found two of my chickens dead.

Another sitting hen has been a source of great anxiety, as she

will peck her chicks to death as they hatch, and out of a sitting

of eleven eggs we have only been able to save five birds. A wet

Sunday hangs very heavily on our hands here, as there is nothing

to be done.

_Monday_.--Big wash as usual all the morning, and just as E---- and I

were to drive a waggon over to Mr. Boyle for some oats which required

fetching, we had quite a scare. A _lady_ and gentleman were seen to be

riding up. We both of us rushed up-stairs to put on some clean aprons

to do honour to our guests, who, with another man, also out from town,

remained the whole afternoon. We have never dined as many as nine

people in our vast apartments before, but we managed very nicely.

We have had heavy showers with a high wind, and the thermometer

down to 50 all the afternoon. We tried to persuade our lady

visitor to stay the night, A---- offering to give up his room; but

she persisted in going back, and, I am afraid, will have got very

wet, in spite of E---- lending her waterproof jacket.

_Tuesday_.--The household had a long turn in bed this morning,

Mr. B---- only getting down at about 7.15, when various things

were offered him to prop open his eye-lids when he did appear.

The weather has been slightly better than yesterday, but the wind

has been high, and it was really quite cold; varied by slight

showers of rain in the morning. In the afternoon we all made hay.

I worked my rake until my horse beat me by refusing to move in any

direction excepting homewards; and I had to call A----, who was

stone getting, to my rescue. He, with judicious chastisement in

the shape of a kick or so, made the horse work. E---- and E. P----

loaded hay. Thanks to the late rains the marshes were heavy, and

they very nearly stuck once or twice in going through them. There

were no mosquitoes, which was a blessing, but one is never

troubled with them in a high wind.

* * * * *

July 9.

You should have seen A---- and his equipage start into Winnipeg

two days ago. He and the men from the tent had to go in and bring

out a waggon and the new "Cortland waggon" (my present), and they

had to take in the broken buggy to be mended. So they started with

a four-in-hand to their cart, the broken buggy tied on behind, and

another pair of horses behind that again. The buggy they say very

nearly capsized going over the bridge of the creek when near

Winnipeg, otherwise they got on beautifully; but it was a funny

arrangement altogether, and they seemed to cover a quarter of a

mile of ground as they left here. Winnipeg grows in a most

astonishing way; every time we go in, a new avenue or street seems

to have started up. Emigrants, they say, are coming in at the rate

of a hundred a day. A few years ago the population was about five

thousand, in 1878 about ten, now over forty thousand, a fourth of

whom are living under canvas.

It was estimated last winter that the building operations this

season would amount to four million dollars, but double that

amount is nearer the mark, and many are obliged to abandon the

idea of building on account of the difficulty of getting timber

and bricks. Every house or shanty is leased almost before it is

finished. Winnipeg, as you know, was formerly known as Fort Garry,

and one of the chief trading stations of the Hudson Bay Company.

Of the old fort, I am sorry to say, there is very little left, and

that is shortly to be swept away for the continuation of Main

Street. The Governor, now occupying the old house, is to have a

splendid building, which, with the Houses of Legislature, are in

the course of construction, rather farther away from the river.

The town is built at the confluence of two great rivers, the Red

and Assiniboine, the former rising in Minnesota, and flowing into

lake Winnipeg 150 miles north, navigable for 400 miles. The

Assiniboine has many steamers on it; but the navigation being more

difficult, the steamers often sticking on the rapids, it is not

much in vogue with emigrants going west, particularly now that the

railway takes them so much more rapidly.

There is a large suburb of the town the other side of the Red River

called St. Boniface face, the see of a Roman Catholic Archbishop;

possessing a beautiful cathedral and a great educational school for

young ladies; for some reason or other we never managed to get over

there to see it, though the cathedral is a grand landmark for a great

distance.

The railway traffic also is enormous. During the flood 4,000

freight waggons were delayed at St. Vincent; now they are coming

in at the rate of 4,000 per week, and still people cannot get

their implements, stores, &c. fast enough. We have asked several

times for some turpentine at one of the shops, and the answer

always given is, "It is at the depot, but not unloaded."

We have been wanting turpentine to mix with the brown paint with

which we are painting, the dining-room doors. But first of all the

paint fails, and then the turpentine, and I fully expect our

beautiful work of art will not be finished before we leave.

* * * * *

July 12th.

It is very certain that no gentleman ought to come out to this

country, or, when here, can expect to prosper, unless he has some

capital, heaps of energy, and brains, or is quite prepared to sink

the gentleman and work as a common labourer.

The latter command the most wonderful wages, there is such a

demand for them that one can hardly pick and choose. A plough-boy

gets from four to six pounds a month, an experienced man from

eight to ten pounds, besides their board and lodging; a mechanic

or artisan from fourteen to sixteen shillings a day; women

servants are very scarce, they get from four to six pounds a

month. We were so astonished at the wages in New York; the head

gardener in the Navy Yard was receiving one hundred and fifty

pounds a year, his underling, seventy-five pounds, the groom one

hundred pounds. It is surprising to me that the whole of the

poorer classes in England and Ireland, hearing of these wages, do

not emigrate, particularly when now-a-days the steerage in the

passenger ships seems to be so comfortable, and that for about six

pounds they can be landed on this side of the Atlantic. We have

nine Britishers and two Canadians on this farm, and the amount of

ground broken up does everyone great credit, considering that the

whole place is only of a year and a half's growth. Since we

arrived we can mark rapid and visible strides towards completion.

The house has been banked up and grassed, a fence put to enclose

all the yard, and we have actually had the audacity to talk about

a tennis ground, which would take an immense deal of making, from

the unevenness of the soil. The water, having no real outflow,

makes itself little gullies everywhere, which would be very

difficult to fill up level; but I don't know that, until we are

acclimatized to the mosquitoes, said to be the happy result of a

second year's residence, that we should feel inclined to play

tennis, as we could only indulge in that diversion of an evening

when work was ended, and that is just the worst time for these

pests. They spoil all enjoyment, we never can sit out under the

verandah after supper which we should so like to do these warm

evenings. They bite through everything, and the present fashion of

tight sleeves to our gowns is a trial, as no stuffs, not even thin

dogskin, are proof against them, and our faces, arms, and just

above our boots are deplorable sights. Ammonia is; the only remedy

to allay the irritation. I am not drawing a long bow when I say

that in places the air is black with them.

The poor horses and cows are nearly maddened with them if turned

out to graze, and the moment the poles across the road are

withdrawn they gallop back into their stables. The mosquitoes are

great big yellow insects, about half an inch long.

The house and country at Boyd's farm is much prettier than this,

from the lot of trees round it, and the ground not being so flat;

but we wouldn't change for all the world, it is so stuffy, and the

flies and mosquitoes are much worse there than here, where we

catch the slightest breeze of wind, which always drives them away.

We were dreading making the hay in the marshes on account of them.

I do not think we shall suffer much from the heat, as nearly

always, even in the hottest part of the day, there is a breeze;

and as yet the nights are deliciously cool, we have never found

one blanket too much covering.

We talk of going an expedition up west next week, taking the

carriage and horses, and driving as far as Fort Ellice. I don't

know that we either of us look forward to the expedition very

much, as we fear we shall have to rough it too greatly; but, on

the other hand, it seems a pity not to see something more of the

country. There are hardly any inns or resting-places; the

accommodation may be fearful. We hear that about fourteen people

are lodged in one room as an ordinary rule. A---- has gone into

Winnipeg to make arrangements; and if he finds we cannot depend on

the inns, we shall take a tent, and camp by the towns, going in

for our meals to restaurants.

* * * * *

In the Train 200 miles West of Winnipeg, July 24, 1882.

As we seem to stop every two or three miles for some trifling

cause or another, I am in hopes I may get through a long, maybe

disjointed letter to post to you on our way through Winnipeg

to-night, which we wish to reach about 6 o'clock, giving us time to

drive out to the farm before it is quite dark. I told you we were

proposing a trip up North-west, and we really have had a most

successful journey. A---- has a friend, Manager of the Birtle Land

Company, who with others has bought up land, intends breaking so

many acres on each section and then reselling it, hoping thereby to

clear all expenses and make a lot of money besides; and as he had

to go up and look after the property, it was settled we should all

go together, and very glad we are that we did do it, though we have

had some very funny experiences. We are pleased to find that all

the North-west is not like the country around Winnipeg, so awfully

flat and without a tree; on the contrary we have been through

rolling prairie, almost hilly and very well wooded in places.

We started last Monday, the 18th, having got up at 4:15, which we

did not think so terribly early as we might have done before the

days we were accustomed to breakfast at half-past 6, but had even

then a terrible run for the train. We had had some heavy thunder

storms on the Sunday; and though we allowed two hours and three-

quarters, to do our sixteen miles into Winnipeg station, the roads

were so heavy, and the mud so sticky and deep, that we really

thought we should be taken up for cruelty to animals, hustling our

poor little mare. As it was, we arrived just in time to get into

the cars, our packages and bundles being thrown in after us as the

train was on the move. Luckily we managed to get all on board, and

found plenty of friends travelling west; one a Government

inspector, a most agreeable man, who has to certify and pass the

work done on the line before Government pays its share of the

expenses. He was telling us how he and two other men spent three

hours finding names for all the new stations along the line, and

could only think of three! The stations are placed at the distance

of eight to ten miles apart, and they are bound not to have any

name already taken up in Canada, so that for a railway extending

over three thousand miles to the Rocky Mountains names are a

difficulty. We did him the favour of writing out a few, taking all

the villages one was interested in in the "Ould Countrie," for

which attention he seemed much obliged, and has promised a time

table of the line with the nomenclature of its stations when

opened. They are building the Canadian Pacific at the rate of

twenty-five miles a week, and every available man is pressed into

the service, so that it is not so surprising the poor farmers

cannot find labour. The wages, two dollars to two-and-a-half a

day, are more than we can pay. There has not been much engineering

required or shown on this line, as we went up and down with the

waves of the prairies, had only two small cuttings between

Winnipeg and Brandon, three hundred miles, and were raised a few

feet above the marshes; but considering how fast they work and how

short a time they have been, it is creditably smooth.

We disembarked at a city called Brandon, which last year was

unheard of, two or three shanties and a few tents being all there

was to mark the place; now it has over three thousand inhabitants,

large saw-mills, shops, and pretentious two-storied hotels. We

found our carriage, which had been sent on two days previously,

waiting for us at the station, as we were to have driven on that

night to Rapid City; but, owing to the Manager not being able to

get through all his business, and his not liking to leave the two

labourers he had with him on the loose, for fear they should be

tempted by higher wages to go off with someone else, we decided to

remain that night at Brandon, and were not sorry to retire to bed

directly after dinner, about 8.30. We were given not a very

spacious apartment, the two double-beds filling up the whole of

it. In all the hotels we have been into, they put such enormous

beds in the smallest of space, I conclude speculating on four

people doubling up at a pinch. We luckily had brought some sheets;

the ones supplied looked as if they had been used many a time

since they had last been through the wash-tub. I cannot say we

slept well, chiefly, I think, owing to lively imaginations and the

continual noise of a town after the extreme quiet of the farm; and

as there was only a canvas partition between us and the two men,

who snored a lively duet, we had many things to lay the blame to.

We were on the move again about 5.30, intending to breakfast at

half-past 6, and start on our travels directly after; but somehow,

what with one thing and the other, the various packing away of our

different packages and parcels into our three waggons, it was past

8 o'clock before we got off.

We were rather amused at the expression at breakfast of our

waiting-maid when asked to bring some more bread and then tea. She

wanted much to learn if we had any more "side orders."

Alcoholic spirits are quite forbidden in this territory; to bring

a small keg of whisky and some claret with us we had to get a

permit from the Governor. I am afraid the inhabitants will have

spirits. The first man we met last night was certainly much the

worse for liquor; and though in our hotel there was no visible

bar, an ominous door in the back premises was always on the swing,

and a very strong odour of spirits emanated therefrom.

Our cavalcade, A---- and the Manager in the democrat, we two in a

buggy, and the two labourers with a man to drive in another

carriage, produced quite an imposing effect. We had to cross the

Assiniboine on a ferry, and then rose nearly all the way to Rapid

City, twenty-two miles, going through pretty country much wooded

and with hundreds of small lakes, favourite resorts of wild duck.

The flowers were in great profusion; but we saw no animals

anywhere, excepting a few chipmunks and gophirs, which are sort of

half-rats, half-squirrels. The chipmunks are dear little things

about the size of a mouse, with long bushy tails and a dark stripe

running the whole length of the body.

Rapid City is a flourishing little town of some fifty houses, and

is growing quickly. It is prettily situated on the banks of the

Little Saskatchewan, and has a picturesque wooden bridge thrown

over the river. We had lunch, picnic style, and a rest of two

hours. There was a large Indian camp just outside the town, and as

we sat sketching several Indians passed us. Their style of dress

is grotesque, to say the least of it; one man passed us in a tall

beaver hat, swallow-tail coat, variegated-coloured trousers,

mocassins, and a scarlet blanket hanging from his shoulder. The

long hair, which both men and women wear, looks as if a comb never

had passed near it, and gives them a very dirty appearance. They

all seemed affable, and gave us broad grins in return for our

salutes.

The Indian tribes on Canadian territory are the Blackfeet and

Piegans. The former used to number over ten thousand, but now are

comparatively few. The small-pox, which raged among them in 1870,

decimated their numbers; also alcohol, first introduced by

Americans who established themselves on Belly River, about 1866,

and in which they drove a roaring trade, as the Indians sacrificed

everything for this "fire-water," as they called it, and hundreds

died in consequence of exposure and famine, having neither clothes

to cover them nor horses nor weapons wherewith to hunt. Luckily in

1874 the mounted police put an entire end to this abominable sale

of whisky.

The Indian is naturally idle--to eat, smoke, and sleep is the sole

end of his life; though he will travel immense distances to fish

or hunt, which is the only occupation of the men, the women doing

all the rest, their condition being but little better than beasts

of burden. The Indian of the Plain subsists in winter on buffalo

dried and smoked; but in spring, when they resort to the

neighbourhood of the small lakes and streams, where innumerable

wild fowl abound, they have grand feasting on the birds and eggs.

The tribes living near the large lakes of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and

Winnipegosis have only fish as food, which they dry and pack for

winter use, and eat it raw and without salt--which sounds very

palatable?

When the Dominion Government obtained possession of the North-west

Territories, by the extinction of the Hudson Bay Company's title

in 1869, it allotted to the tribes inhabiting the country, on

their resigning all their claims to the land, several reserves, or

parcels of ground, which were of sufficient area to allow of one

square mile to every family of five persons. On these lands the

Indians are being taught to cultivate corn and roots. Implements,

seeds for sowing, and bullocks are given them, besides cows and

rations of meat and flour, until they are self-sustaining. They

are also allowed five dollars a head per annum, so that several

wives (polygamy being allowed) and children are looked upon as an

insured income by a man.

This treatment by Government has been very successful, and many

tribes are abandoning their precarious life of hunting.

Horsestealing in former days was looked upon by the young men as

an essential part of their education; but now the settler need be

in no dread of them, as they are peaceably inclined and kept in

check by the mounted police, a corps of whose services and pluck

all who have had any dealings with them cannot speak two highly.

The officers are men of tact and experience, and the corps numbers

about 500 strong. They move their head-quarters from fort to fort,

according to the movements of the Indians and the advance of

emigration.

On leaving Rapid City, we took a shorter track than what is

generally taken, thereby saving ourselves at least forty miles to

Birtle. Our first night, distance about twenty miles after

luncheon, we spent alongside of a small store-house on the Oak

River; we had passed some very comfortable-looking settlements

that afternoon, one, where we got information about our road,

belonging to a man called Shank, who had been settled about four

years, and had quite a homely-looking shanty covered with

creepers, and garden fenced in. At Oak River we had rather

speculated on getting both food and lodging; but when we found the

fare offered no better than ours, we decided to have our own

supper, getting the woman to boil us some water for our tea. We

also refused the lodging. The house was scrupulously clean, ditto

the woman, but we couldn't quite make up our minds to share the

only bedroom with her, her husband and two other men, one ill with

inflammation of the lungs, rejoicing in an awful cough, and rather

given to expectoration; so we had our first experience of real

camping out. Our tent was an A tent, just big enough to allow of

two people sleeping side by side; the only place to stand up in,

was exactly in the middle, but we arranged it very fairly

comfortably by putting some straw under our buffalo robes, and our

clothes as pillows. The men had to make their couch under the

carriage with whatever cloaks we didn't want, to keep the dew off

them; and by lighting a large "smudge" to keep off the mosquitoes,

we all slept pretty well, though Mother Earth is very unrelenting.

If, however, we wanted to change our position we were sure to

awake. The following morning, Tuesday, the men had a bathe in the

river, which we very much envied them; though, having brought our

india-rubber bath, and there being plenty of water handy, we did

very well. We were off again at 7 o'clock. Our breakfast bill of

fare not much varied from that of last night--tea, corned beef, ox

tongue, and bread and butter. The country through which we passed

was not so pretty as on Monday, with fewer trees. Our cavalcade

was increased by another man in his buggy, who was on his way to

Edmonton, and he travelled with us most of the day. Mid-day, after

eighteen miles, we came on a small settlement of four Canadians,

who were just finishing their dinner. They were very nice,

delighted to see ladies, placed the whole of their place at our

disposal, and though, of course, they could do but little for us,

we were not allowed to wash up our plates nor to draw our own

water. They had everything so tidy and nice, rough it was bound to

be. Like thousands of Canadians, they have taken up land, 240

acres apiece, and are working them together, with two yoke of oxen

and a pair of Indian ponies. Whilst we were resting, the Manager

drove on to find his farm; but as they have bought several

sections in different townships from the railway company, it was

difficult to find out on which section his men were working. The

only thing he knew was two of the numbers of the section and that

the Arrow river ran through the property. The Canadians told us

that Ford "Mackenzie," for which we had been steering all the

morning, was six miles further on; so that when we left them about

2 o'clock (amidst many expressions of regret; they repeated to us

several times how delighted they were seeing ladies, not having

seen a petticoat since they came up last spring), we had to wander

many a mile before finding either the ford or the farm. As it was,

we mistook the ford and had to cross and recross the river three

times, which we, in our buggy, didn't at all appreciate; the banks

were so steep we felt we might easily be pitched out.

At Mackenzie's Ford we found a wretched man who, having settled

here two years ago, and was getting on well, had last month

brought his wife and children up by steamer on the Assiniboine,

where they had caught diphtheria; two children had succumbed to

the disease, and his wife, he greatly feared, couldn't live. We

luckily had some whisky with us, and were glad to be able to give

him some, as the doctor had recommended stimulants to keep up the

poor woman's strength.

From him we heard where the Manager's camp really was, and reached

it, very tired, about 7 o'clock, to find everything in the most

fearful state of disorder and mismanagement; not even a well dug

to provide water for man or beast. The men had mutinied, ten of

them gone off, and only three and a woman as cook left; she had

known much better days, and was perfectly helpless and unable to

manage the stove or the cooking in a shed made of a few poles with

a tarpaulin thrown over.

A---- is the most splendid man; whatever difficulties there are he

makes light of them; and directly the horses had been unharnessed

he set to work to put our tent up and lay out our supper, which

was improved by the addition of some fried potatoes. Our table was

the spring seat of the waggon, our seats the boxes; the stores

have come in, or our bundle of rugs; and though the ground was

harder to sleep on, as we had no straw under our buffalo-robe,

still we got a fair amount of rest at night. Two very pretty

Italian greyhounds we had brought up with us kept our feet warm,

as it was quite chilly, the dews being very heavy. The men were

horribly disturbed all night by the mosquitoes, which were in

myriads. No smoke of the smudges really keeps them off, though it

stupifies and bothers them a good deal.

On Wednesday, contrary to expectation, we got some water to wash

with, the Manager having had a hole dug. Water is so easily

procured with digging, and at no great depth, that there is no

excuse for not having it in abundance. We then spent our morning,

whilst the men were going over the various sections, in trying to

teach the woman to, cook, making biscuits, which were not a

success, mending clothes, and writing up our diaries; so that the

time flew all too quickly.

We drove on twenty-two miles in the afternoon, and, being all down

wind, were pestered with mosquitoes and most fearfully bitten.

The country much the same as the previous day, very little taken

up; but the wild flowers lovely. We counted forty-two different

specimens; those yellow orchids you are so proud of at home, also

red tiger-lilies, phloxes, and endless other varieties. Birtle,

another mushroom town, looked so pretty and picturesque as we came

down upon it, by the evening light, situated in a deep gorge much

wooded on the Birdtail-Creek.

You would have laughed to see us arrive at what we thought our

destination--a nice house on the top of the opposite hill

belonging to a friend of the Manager's, where we were to be

hospitably entertained. The house was locked up, but that was no

obstacle; we forced the windows open, and whilst A---- put the

horses up, the Manager went down the hill for water, I foraged for

eatables, E---- for wood to light the fire, and we very shortly

afterwards sat down to a very fair meal; our neighbours' bacon and

tea, but our own bread. Luckily a Winnipeg lady, hearing of our

arrival, came up to offer her services in the shape of food or

lodging; the latter we two gladly accepted, instead of pitching

our tent outside the house, which was already full, three

bachelors living there and our two men intending steeping between

the walls, _coute que coule_. The house we spent our night in

was a log one, and though unpapered, looked very comfortable, and

was prettily hung round with Japanese fans and scrolls, and

various photographs. We had a funny little canvas partition in the

roof allotted to us; but were not particular, and did great credit

to our feather bed.

And how excellent our breakfast was next morning, porridge and

eggs; we hardly knew when to stop eating. We started early to Fort

Ellice, one of the Hudson Bay forts, hoping to find the steamer on

the Assiniboine to take us back to Winnipeg; but unfortunately it

had stuck on the rapids. So after waiting twenty-four hours at the

fort, we determined to drive down to the end of the Canadian

Pacific Railway, and so home. The old fort is very little altered

from what it used to be, surrounded by its wooden pailings, and

having a store on the left side of the entrance gate, where all

the Indians come to make their purchases in cotton-goods and

groceries in exchange for their blankets, moccassins, or furs. The

Assiniboine we crossed just before getting to the fort, on a

ferry. It is a grand winding river with fearfully steep banks, 380

feet almost straight up, which was a pull for our horses, the

tracks being very, bad, and not well engineered, going perpendicularly

up the hill. Mr. Macdonald is the "boss" at the fort, and had known

two of our friends who were up here several years ago.

There is a Lincolnshire man farming on a large scale settled not

very far away from the fort; but we had neither time nor

inclination to go further north. We hoped against hope that the

steamer might get up, but on Saturday gave it up as useless, and

settled to drive towards Gophir Ferry, trying to find a friend

who, when out at C---- Farm, told us he was living on section xxvii

by 13, and near two creeks. For the first five miles our road lay

along the Beaver Creek, which was pretty; but afterwards the

scenery much resembled Winnipeg, flat and uninteresting, not a

tree, and without even the beautiful vegetation and flowers we had

had on our previous drives. We had to stop several times to look

at the section-posts, it was quite an excitement to mark every new

number we came to. Our road took us pretty straight to the Mouse

Mountain trail; but at a shanty being advised to leave the track

and go straight over the prairie, we overshot the tents we were in

search of by a short distance.

Our friend had not returned from Winnipeg, but we made ourselves

quite at home, pitching our tent alongside of his men's. He had

four Englishmen working for him, two of them were tenant-farmers

at home; one man, who had been out two years, had had a large farm

near King's Lynn, and has taken up a section close by; but as he

bought his land too late in the spring to do anything to it;

beyond hoping to build himself a shanty before the winter set in,

he is working for our friend, who has 2,000 acres. Another of the

men was a newly-arrived emigrant; he and his three children were

nearly devoured by mosquitoes, and were most grateful for some

concoction we gave them to allay the irritation. He had been quite

a "gent" in his own country, but bad times and alcohol I had been

too much for him. I don't think he at all relished the work he had

to do, ploughing with oxen all day, &c. They plough almost

entirely with oxen up in this country. The oxen are easier to

feed, and don't suffer so much from the alkali in the water. But

most of the Englishmen when they first get out here dislike using

them, they are so slow; and I should agree with them.

A great many new-comers find the ways and means difficult to

conform to, and would give a good deal to go back; but after they

have been out a year or two they drop into fresh habits and seem

to like the life.

On Sunday we started late, for two reasons. The horses which had

been very restless all night, driven mad by the mosquitoes, could

not be found, having wandered over the brow of the hill to the

river edge, to catch the slight breeze blowing; and secondly we

thought we would have a rest, and did nothing but regret it all

day, as the heat, was fearful, and as we went down wind the

mosquitoes were ditto. Also we got into camp very late at Flat

Creek, where we had hoped to find a freight train, to get on as

tax as Brandon, whereas we had to camp close to a marsh just

outside the city--the "city" comprising a cistern to provide the

engines of the train with water and half a dozen tents all stuck

on the marsh. We were rather amused by the name of one lodging

tent, "The Unique Hotel"; in other words, beds were divided off by

curtains, so that you were quite private!

We pitched our tent on the highest spot we could find; but the

mosquitoes, to accommodate us, left the marshes and came in

perfect myriads around us. We lit smudges on all sides, but as

there was hardly a breath of air the smoke went heavenwards, and

consequently we had to sit almost into them and could hardly see

to eat for the denseness of smoke. Query, which was the worst, the

evil or the cure? That last night was the most uncomfortable of

the whole lot, and I don't think any of us disliked the prospect

of a comfortable bed. But in spite of all our roughing we have

enjoyed it, and very glad we went. It is satisfactory to know that

all the prairie is not as flat as around us at C---- Farm, that it

is rolling, and covered with bluffs or brushwood. A---- is pleased,

as he has seen no ground as good as his own, and declares he

wouldn't exchange his 480 acres for thousand up west. The land is

certainly of a much lighter nature, having more sand in it, and is

easier to get into cultivation in consequence, but he doesn't

think it will stand the same amount of cropping.

The trails, which are only tracks made by the half-breeds and

Indians on the prairie, have been good throughout, but in spring

are full of mud-holes or sloughs.

The new carriage has turned out quite a success and been very

useful, as it has carried all our clothes, buffalo robes, buckets

and oats for the horses, our provisions, etc., even to our tent,

the poles of which were slung along the carriage just above the

wheels, and the whole so light that A---- pushed it easily three or

four hundred yards when we were moving our camp at Fort Ellice.

* * * * *