Roughing It in the Bush Part 61

This in addition to our daily steamers.

Our exports to the United States are ............ L52,532 17 5 And British ports below Belleville .............. 153,411 16 6 ----------------- L205,944 13 11 L s d Total imports from United States 25,067 2 6 Total acceptances from United States 17,435 0 0 Total importations from lower ports, including drafts and other resources 130,294 0 0 172,796 2 6 ------------- ---------------- Showing the balance of trade in favour of this port to be ........................ L33,148 11 5

Our exports to the lower ports are made up as follows:

3,485 barrels of Potash .................... L27,880 0 0 33,198 " Flour ..................... 33,198 0 0 357 bushels of Gra.s.s seed ................ 133 17 6 1,450 " Barley .................... 181 5 0 4,947 " Peas ...................... 594 14 0 4,349 " Rye ....................... 434 18 0 37,360 " Wheat ..................... 7,472 0 0 198 barrels of Pork ...................... 396 0 0 54 " Beef ...................... 74 5 0 1,141 Sheep-skins .......................... 114 2 0 4,395,590 feet square Timber ................... 74,903 2 6 173 kegs of b.u.t.ter ....................... 540 12 6 Furs ................................. 716 0 0 Fatted Cattle ........................ 1,840 0 0 High Wines ........................... 3,098 0 0 Whiskey .............................. 1,830 0 0 ------------------- L153,411 16 6

Our exports to the United States are made up as follows:

30,686 bushels of Wheat ..................... L6,137 4 11 3,514 " Rye ....................... 351 8 0 3,728 " Peas ...................... 466 0 0 90 " Barley .................... 9 0 0 316 " Gra.s.s seed ................ 118 10 0 18,756 barrels of Flour ..................... 18,756 0 0 338 " Potash .................... 2,366 0 0 1,000 bushels of Potatoes .................. 62 10 0 92 M. s.h.i.+ngles .................. 23 0 0 117 M. Laths ..................... 43 15 0 18,210 lbs. Rags ...................... 190 0 0 9,912 lbs. Wool ...................... 481 19 6 466 Sheep-skins .......................... 57 10 0 61 kegs of b.u.t.ter ....................... 122 0 0 19,648,000 feet sawed Lumber .................... 21,296 0 0 513 Cows ................................. 2,052 0 0 ------------------ L52,532 17 5

The River Moira pa.s.sing through Belleville, where it discharges itself into the Bay of Quinte, is one princ.i.p.al source of its prosperity. The preceding statement will show the quant.i.ty of sawed lumber exported, most of which is furnished by the saw-mills of Belleville, or its immediate vicinity. Besides saw and flour-mills, there are cloth and paper manufactories, a manufactory of edge tools; pail manufactories, where great quant.i.ties of these useful articles are made at a low price by machinery; planing machines, several iron foundries breweries, distilleries, &c., in almost all of which establishments steam-engines, or water-power from the river, are used. A remarkable feature in Belleville, in common with other towns in Canada, is the great number of tailoring and shoe-making establishments, when compared with towns of an equal population in Great Britain. This shows, more than anything I am aware of, the general prosperity of the people, who can afford to be large consumers of such articles.

There is very little difference to be observed in the costliness of the clothing of the different cla.s.ses of society in Upper Canadian towns and cities, and much less difference in the taste with which these articles are selected, than might be expected. With the exception of the lower cla.s.s of labourers, all persons are well and suitably clad, and they can afford to be so.

Twelve years ago there were not more than five or six piano-fortes in Belleville. Now there are nearly one hundred of a superior description, costing from 80 to 150 pounds.

Another remarkable circ.u.mstance in Upper Canada is the number of lawyers in all the towns. In Belleville there are about a dozen, which seems to be a large number for a town containing only 4554 inhabitants, when in an English town of the same size there is often not more than one. Of course, I do not mention this as any particular advantage, but to show the great difference in the amount of transactions, and of subjects of contention, in an old and a new country. The same may be said of the number of newspapers, as indicative of commercial activity. Two newspapers, representing the two political parties, are well-supported in Belleville, both by their subscribers, and the number of advertis.e.m.e.nts.

The mouth of the Moira River, which widens out at its junction with the Bay of Quinte, is completely covered with saw-logs and square timber of various kinds during the summer months. This river, at Belleville, is often dammed up by confused piles of timber. No sooner are these removed than its waters are covered over by vast quant.i.ties of oak staves, which are floated down separately to be rafted off like the squared lumber for the Quebec market.

The greater proportion of the saw-logs are, however, cut up for exportation to the United States by the various saw-mills on the river, or by a large steam saw-mill with twenty or thirty run of saws, erected on a little island in the mouth of the river. Several large schooners are constantly loading with sawed lumber, and there are two or three steamboats always running between Belleville and Kingston, carrying pa.s.sengers to and fro, and generally heavily laden with goods or produce. The Bay of Quinte offers more than common facilities in the summer months for rapid and safe communication with other places; and, in the winter time, being but slightly affected by the current of the river Trent, it affords excellent sleighing.

Large quant.i.ties of wheat and other farm produce are transported over the ice to Belleville from the neighbouring county of Prince Edward, which is an exceedingly prosperous agricultural settlement, yielding wheat of the finest quality, and particularly excellent cheese and b.u.t.ter. The scenery on the sh.o.r.es of Prince Edward is exceedingly picturesque, and there are numerous wharfs at short distances, from whence the farmers roll their barrels of flour and other articles on board the steamers on their way to market. I have seen no scenery in Upper Canada presenting the same variety and beauty as that of the sh.o.r.es of Prince Edward in particular.

The peninsular situation of this county is its only disadvantage--being out of the line of the land travel and of the telegraphic communication which pa.s.ses through Belleville. The county of Prince Edward having nearly exhausted its exportation lumber--the people are thus freed from the evils of a trade that is always more or less demoralising in its tendency and can now give their undivided attention to the cultivation of their farms.

Certain it is, that more quiet, industrious, and prosperous settlers, are not to be found in the Province.

A few miles below Belleville, on the south side of the bay, is a very remarkable natural curiosity, called "The Stone Mills." On the summit of a table-land, rising abruptly several hundred feet above the sh.o.r.e of the bay, there is a lake of considerable size and very great depth, and which apparently receives a very inadequate supply from the elevated land on which it is situated. The lake has no natural outlet, and the common opinion is that it is unfathomable, and that it is supplied with water by means of a subterranean communication with Lake Huron, or some other lake at the same level.

This is, of course, extremely improbable, but there can be no doubt of its great depth, and that it cannot be supplied from the Bay of Quinte, so far beneath its level. As a small rivulet runs into this lake from the flat ground in its vicinity, and as the soil of this remarkable excavation, however it may have been originally formed, is tenacious, I think we require no such improbable theory to account for its existence. Availing himself of the convenient position of this lake, a farmer in the neighbourhood erected a mill, which gives its name to the lake, on the sh.o.r.e of the Bay of Quinte, and which he supplied with water by making a deep cutting from the lake to the edge of the precipice, from whence it is conveyed in troughs to the mill.

There is a somewhat similar lake in the towns.h.i.+p of Sidney in the county of Hastings, covering some hundred acres. This lake is also of great depth, though situated on the summit of a range of high hills, from whence it gets the name of the "Oak Hill Pond."

The Bay of Quinte abounds in excellent fish of various kinds, affording excellent sport to those who are fond of fis.h.i.+ng. When the ice breaks up in the spring, immense shoals of pickerel commence running up the Moira river, at Belleville, to sp.a.w.n in the interior.

At that time a number of young men amuse themselves with spearing them, standing on the flat rocks at the end of the bridge which crosses the river They dart their spears into the rus.h.i.+ng waters at hap-hazard in the darkness, bringing up a large fish at every second or third stroke. My eldest son, a youth of fifteen, sometimes caught so many fish in this manner in two or three hours, that we had to send a large wheelbarrow to fetch them home. Formerly, before so many mills were erected, the fish swarmed in incredible numbers in all our rivers and lakes.

In the back-woods there is excellent deer-hunting, and parties are often formed for this purpose by the young men, who bring home whole waggon-loads of venison.

While speaking of Belleville, I may mention, as one of its chief advantages, the long period for which the sleighing continues in this part of the country, when compared with other places on the sh.o.r.e of Lake Ontario. Nearly the whole winter there is excellent sleighing on the Bay of Quinte; and on the land we have weeks of good sleighing for days in most other places. This is owing to the influence of a large sheet of frozen water interposed between us and Lake Ontario, which is never frozen.

The county of Prince Edward is a peninsula connected with the main land by a narrow isthmus of low swampy land about four miles wide.

Through this neck of land it has long been in contemplation to cut a ca.n.a.l to enable the lake steam-boats to take Belleville in their route between Kingston and Toronto, thus affording a safe navigation in stormy weather. The effect of such a work on the prosperity of the counties of Hastings and Prince Edward would be very great, as European emigrants would have an opportunity of seeing a country which has. .h.i.therto escaped their notice, from the causes already mentioned.

Besides the usual variety of churches, there is a grammar-school, and also four large common schools, which latter are free schools, being supported by a.s.sessments on the people of the town.

Every Sat.u.r.day, which is the great day for business from the country, the streets are crowded with farmers' waggons or sleighs, with their wives and pretty daughters, who come in to make their little purchases of silk gowns and ribbons, and to sell their b.u.t.ter and eggs, which are the peculiar perquisites for the females in this country. The counties of Hastings and Prince Edward are celebrated for female beauty, and nowhere can you see people in the same cla.s.s more becomingly attired. At the same time there is nothing rustic about them, except genuine good nature and unaffected simplicity of manners. To judge by their light elastic step and rosy smiling countenances, no people on earth seem to enjoy a greater share of health and contentment.

Since the establishment of the county munic.i.p.al councils, plank and macadamised roads have branched out in all directions from the various central county towns, stretching their ramifications like the veins of the human body, conveying nourishment and prosperity throughout the country, increasing the trade and the travel, connecting man with man and promoting intelligence and civilisation; while the magnetic telegraph, now traversing the whole length of the country, like the nervous system, still further stimulates the inhabitants to increased activity.

The people of this county have not been behind their neighbours in these improvements. The first plank-road which they constructed was from Belleville to Canniff's Mills, a distance of three miles over a road which at the time was often knee-deep in mud, with a solid foundation of flat limestone rock, which prevented the escape of the water. So infamous was this road, that, on some parts of it, it was a matter of serious doubt whether a boat or waggon would be the better mode of conveyance. Notwithstanding the badness of this road, it was the greatest thoroughfare in the county, as it was the only approach to a number of mills situated on the river, and to Belleville, from the back country. It was, however, with the utmost difficulty that the warden could induce the other members of the county-council to sanction the construction of a plank-road at the expense of the county; so little was then known in Canada of the effects of such works.

The profits yielded by this road are unusually large, amounting, it is said, to seventy or eighty per cent. This extraordinary success encouraged the people to undertake other lines, by means of joint-stock companies formed among the farmers. All these plank-roads are highly remunerative, averaging, it is stated, fourteen per cent. over and above all expenses of repair. More than thirty miles of plank-road is already constructed in the county.

In a few years plank or gravel roads will be extended through every part of the country, and they will be most available as feeders to the great line of railway which will very soon be constructed through the entire length of the province, and which has been already commenced at Toronto and Hamilton. A single track plank-road costs from 375 to 425 pounds per mile, according to the value of the land to be purchased, or other local causes. The cost of a gravel road, laid twelve feet wide and nine inches deep, and twenty-two feet from out to out, is from 250 to 325 pounds, and it is much more lasting, and more easily repaired than a plank-road. Macadamised or gravel roads will no doubt entirely supersede the others.

In the present circ.u.mstances of the colony, however, plank-roads will be preferred, because they are more quickly constructed, and with less immediate outlay of money in the payment of labourer's wages, as our numerous saw-mills enable the farmers to get their own logs sawed, and they thus pay the greater portion of their instalments on the stock taken in the roads. In fact, by making arrangements with the proprietors of saw-mills they can generally manage to get several months' credit, so that they will receive the first dividends from the road before they will be required to pay any money. The mode of making these roads is exceedingly simple.

The s.p.a.ce required for the road is first levelled, ditched, and drained, and then pieces of scantling, five or six inches square, are laid longitudinally on each side, at the proper distance for a road-way twelve feet wide, and with the ends of each piece sawn off diagonally, so as to rest on the end of the next piece, which is similarly prepared, to prevent the road from settling down unequally. The pieces of scantling thus connected are simply bedded firmly in the ground, which is levelled up to their upper edges.

Pine planks, three inches thick, are then laid across with their ends resting on the scantling. The planks are closely wedged together like the flooring of a house, and secured here and there by strong wooden pins, driven into auger-holes bored through the planks into the scantling. The common way is to lay the plank-flooring at right angles with the scantling, but a much better way has been adopted in the county of Hastings. The planks are here laid diagonally, which of course requires that they should be cut several feet longer. This ensures greater durability, as the shoes of the horses cut up the planks much more when the grain of the wood corresponds in direction with their sharp edges. When a double track is required, three longitudinal courses of scantling are used, and the ends of the planks meet on the centre one. Very few, if any, iron nails are generally used.

The great advantage of a plank-road is the large load it enables the horses to draw. Whilst on a common road a farmer can only carry twenty-five bushels of wheat in his waggon, a plank-road will enable him to carry forty or fifty bushels of the same grain with a pair of horses. The princ.i.p.al disadvantage of the plank-roads is, that they are found by experience to be injurious to horses, particularly when they are driven quickly on them. They are best adapted for a large load drawn at a slow pace. I shall not attempt to describe the country in the neighbourhood of Belleville, or the more northern parts of the county. It will suffice to observe, that the country is generally much varied in its surface, and beautiful, and the soil is generally excellent. Within the last ten or twelve years the whole country has been studded with good substantial stone or brick houses, or good white painted frame houses, even for thirty miles back, and the farms are well fenced and cultivated, showing undeniable signs of comfort and independence. Streams and water are abundant, and there are several thriving villages and hamlets scattered through the county,--the village of Canniff's Mills, three miles from Belleville, and soon destined to form a part of it, alone containing a population of about a thousand.

In describing the progress of this county, I may be understood as describing that of most other counties in the Upper Province; the progress of all of them being rapid, though varying according to the advantages of situation or from causes already alluded to.

From what has been said, the reader will perceive that the present condition of Canada generally is exceedingly prosperous, and when the resources of the country are fully developed by the railroads now in progress of construction, and by the influx of capital and population from Europe, no rational person can doubt that it will ultimately be as prosperous and opulent as any country in the world, ancient or modern.

It may be said, "should we not then be hopeful and contented with our situation and prospects." And so the people are in the main, and the shrewd capitalists of England think so, or they would not be so ready to invest their money in our public works. But some deduction from this general state of contentment and confidence must be made for those little discontents and grumblings created by the misrepresentations of certain disappointed politicians and ambitious men of all parties, who expect to gain popularity by becoming grievance-mongers. Much has been done, and a great deal still remains to be done in the way of reform, here as elsewhere. But there never was any just cause or motive in that insane cry for "annexation" to the United States, which was raised some years ago, and by the tories, too, of all people in the world! The "annexation"

mania can now only be regarded as indicative of the last expiring struggle of a domineering party--it would not be correct to call it a political party--which had so long obstructed the progress of Canada by its selfish and monopolising spirit, when it found that its reign had ceased for ever.

Great sacrifices have been, and will be made, by men of loyalty and principle in support of inst.i.tutions, which are justly dear to every Briton and to every freeman; but this feeling necessarily has its limits along the ma.s.s of mankind; and the loyalty of a people must be supported by reason and justice. They should have good reason to believe that their inst.i.tutions are more conducive to happiness and prosperity than those of all other countries. Without this conviction, loyalty in a people who have by any means been deprived of the power of correcting the abuses of their government, would be hardly rational. Canadians now have that power to its full extent.

Why, then, should we not be loyal to the const.i.tution of our country which has stood the test of ages, purifying itself and developing its native energies as a vigorous const.i.tution outgrows disease in the human frame. The government of Canada is practically more republican than that of the mother country and nearly as republican as that of the United States. Our government is also notoriously much less expensive. Our public officers are also, practically, much more responsible to the people, though indirectly, because they are appointed by a Colonial Ministry who are elected by the people, and whose popularity depends in a great degree on the selections they make and upon their watchfulness over their conduct.

The government of the United States is not a cheap government, because all officers being elective by the people, the responsibility of the selections to office is divided and weakened. Moreover, the change or prospect of the electors being the elected inclines them to put up with abuses and defalcations which would be considered intolerable under another form of government. The British Government now holds the best security for the continued loyalty of the people of Canada, in their increasing prosperity. To Great Britain they are bound by the strongest ties of duty and interest; and nothing but the basest ingrat.i.tude or absolute infatuation can ever tempt them to transfer their allegiance to another country.

I shall conclude this chapter with a few verses written two years ago, and which were suggested by an indignant feeling at the cold manner with which the National Anthem was received by some persons who used to be loud in their professions of loyalty on former public occasions. Happily, this wayward and pettish, I will not call it disloyal spirit, has pa.s.sed away, and most of the "Annexationists"

are now heartily ashamed of their conduct.

G.o.d SAVE THE QUEEN

G.o.d save the Queen. The time has been When these charmed words, or said or sung, Have through the welkin proudly rung; And, heads uncovered, every tongue Has echoed back--"G.o.d save the Queen!"

G.o.d save the Queen!

It was not like the feeble cry That slaves might raise as tyrants pa.s.s'd, With trembling knees and hearts downcast, While dungeoned victims breathed their last In mingled groans of agony!

G.o.d save the Queen!

Nor were these shouts without the will, Which servile crowds oft send on high, When gold and jewels meet the eye, When pride looks down on poverty.

And makes the poor man poorer still!

G.o.d save the Queen!

No!--it was like the thrilling shout-- The joyous sounds of price and praise That patriot hearts are wont to raise, 'Mid cannon's roar and bonfires blaze, When Britain's foes are put to rout-- G.o.d save the Queen!

For 'mid those sounds, to Britons dear, No dastard selfish thoughts intrude To mar a nation's grat.i.tude: But one soul moves that mult.i.tude-- To sing in accents loud and clear-- G.o.d save the Queen!

Such sounds as these in days of yore, On war-s.h.i.+p's deck and battle plain, Have rung o'er heaps of foemen slain-- And with G.o.d's help they'll ring again, When warriors' blood shall flow no more, G.o.d save the Queen!

G.o.d save the Queen! let patriots cry; And palsied be the impious hand Would guide the pen, or wield the brand, Against our glorious Fatherland.

Let shouts of freemen rend the sky, G.o.d save the Queen!--and Liberty!

Reader! my task is ended.