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ble that were a repeal of the Union with a witness. What remedy remains? The last to which England will be driven to have recourse; and yet, it is the best. Do justice to the people : abolish the tithe, which is a tax upon the poor, and substitute a poor's rate, which shall be a tax upon the rich, and by which means alone the proprietors of the soil can be compelled to discharge the social obligations which are inseparably involved in their legal rights.

Art. IV. The Backwoods of Canada; being Letters from the Wife of an Emigrant Officer, illustrative of the Domestic Economy of British America. (Library of Entertaining Knowledge.) 12mo, pp. 351. London, 1836.

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WE E intended, long before this, to find means of discharging our heavy arrears, by noticing the entertaining' series to which this volume belongs, and which have multiplied on our hands till they compose a formidable array. Among the latest is a very pleasing addition to the ornithological series, entitled, The Faculties of Birds.' 'The History of British Costume' is both curious and entertaining. The Hindoos', in two volumes, will demand a distinct notice. The present volume, to which we must now confine our attention, differs from most of its predecessors in its original character, being not a compilation from the works of other writers, but, as the internal evidence sufficiently indicates, a description of life in the Backwoods, from actual observation and experience, and such as only an intelligent and accomplished woman could have furnished. Among the numerous works on Canada that have been published within the last ten years, with emigration for their leading theme, there ' are few, it is remarked in the Introduction, if any, that give information regarding the domestic economy of a settler's life, 'sufficiently minute to prove a faithful guide to the person on 'whose responsibility the whole comfort of a family depends,the MISTRESS, whose department it is "to haud the house in ' order.""

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'Indeed, a woman's pen alone can describe half that is requisite to be told of the internal management of a domicile in the backwoods, in order to enable the outcoming female emigrant to form a proper judgement of the trials and arduous duties she has to encounter.

To the wives and daughters of emigrants of the higher class, who contemplate seeking a home amid the Canadian wilds, these fruits of the Writer's three years' experience' will be invaluable. Many British officers with their families have become denizens of the backwoods; and among the bands that Great

Britain is pouring forth into these colonies, there are many families which have been delicately nurtured and well educated, so as to be ill prepared for the rough life of a bush settler. Fore'warned, fore-armed,' is an axiom, however, which, the Writer remarks, will apply to the difficulties and privations that the emigrant must encounter. For some of these, female ingenuity may find a remedy; and by being properly prepared, the wives and daughters of the emigrant may encounter the rest with that high-spirited cheerfulness' of which well educated women often give extraordinary examples.

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It will be seen, in the course of this Work, that the Writer is as earnest in recommending ladies who belong to the higher class of settlers, to cultivate all the mental resources of a superior education, as she is to induce them to discard all irrational and artificial wants and mere useless pursuits. She would willingly direct their attention to the natural history and botany of this new country, in which they will find a never failing source of amusement and instruction, at once enlightening and elevating the mind, and serving to fill up the void left by the absence of those lighter feminine accomplishments, the practice of which is necessarily superseded by imperative domestic duties. To the person who is capable of looking abroad into the beauties of nature, and adoring the Creator through his glorious works, are opened stores of unmixed pleasure, which will not permit her to be dull or unhappy in the loneliest part of our Western Wilderness. The Writer of these pages speaks from experience, and would be pleased to find that the simple sources from which she has herself drawn pleasure, have cheered the solitude of future female sojourners in the backwoods of Canada.'

A cultivated mind, fortified by religious principle, will make a friend of nature, and find itself a home every where in the sphere of its duties. Of that moral alchemy which can convert baser materials into the precious ore of contentment, this Writer appears to have attained the invaluable secret. In the following specimen, it will be seen how good sense can indemnify itself for the absence of imaginative pleasures.

Though the Canadian winter has its disadvantages, it also has its charms. After a day or two of heavy snow, the sky brightens, and the air becomes exquisitely clear and free from vapour; the smoke ascends in tall spiral columns till it is lost; seen against the saffrontinted sky of an evening, or early of a clear morning, when the hoarfrost sparkles on the trees, the effect is singularly beautiful.

I enjoy a walk in the woods of a bright winter-day, when not a cloud, or the faint shadow of a cloud, obscures the soft azure of the heavens above; when, but for the silver covering of the earth, I might look upwards to the cloudless sky, and say, "It is June, sweet June." The evergreens, as the pines, cedars, hemlock, and balsam firs, are bending their pendent branches, loaded with snow, which the least motion scatters in a mimic shower around; but so light and dry is it,

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that it is shaken off without the slightest inconvenience. The tops of the stumps look quite pretty with their turbans of snow; a blackened pine-stump, with its white cap and mantle, will often startle you into the belief that some one is approaching you thus fancifully attired. As to ghosts or spirits, they appear totally banished from Canada. This is too matter-of-fact country for such supernaturals to visit. Here there are no historical associations, no legendary tales of those that came before us. Fancy would starve for lack of marvellous food to keep her alive in the backwoods. We have neither fay nor fairy, ghost nor bogle, satyr nor wood-nymph; our very forests disdain to shelter dryad or hamadryad. No naiad haunts the rushy margin of our lakes, or hallows with her presence our forest-rills. No Druid claims our oaks; and instead of poring with mysterious awe among our curious limestone rocks, that are often singularly grouped together, we refer them to the geologist to exercise his skill in accounting for their appearance: instead of investing them with the solemn characters of ancient temples or heathen altars, we look upon them with the curious eye of natural philosophy alone.

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Even the Irish and Highlanders of the humblest class seem to lay aside their ancient superstitions on becoming denizens of the woods of Canada. I heard a friend exclaim, when speaking of the want of interest this country possessed, "It is the most unpoetical of all lands; there is no scope for imagination; here all is new-the very soil seems newly formed; there is no hoary ancient grandeur in these woods; no recollections of former deeds connected with the country. The only beings in which I take any interest are the Indians, and they want the warlike character and intelligence that I had pictured to myself they would possess."

This was the lamentation of a poet. Now, the class of people to whom this country is so admirably adapted are formed of the unlettered and industrious labourers and artisans. They feel no regret that the land they labour on has not been celebrated by the pen of the historian or the lay of the poet. The earth yields her increase to them as freely as if it had been enriched by the blood of heroes. They would not spare the ancient oak from feelings of veneration, nor look upon it with regard for any thing but its use as timber. They have no time, even if they possessed the taste, to gaze abroad on the beauties of Nature; but their ignorance is bliss.

After all, these are imaginary evils, and can hardly be considered just causes for dislike to the country. They would excite little sympathy among every-day men and women, though doubtless they would have their weight with the more refined and intellectual members of society, who naturally would regret that taste, learning, and genius should be thrown out of their proper sphere.

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For myself, though I can easily enter into the feelings of the poet and the enthusiastic lover of the wild and the wonderful of historic lore, I can yet make myself very happy and contented in this country. If its volume of history is yet a blank, that of Nature is open, and eloquently marked by the finger of God; and from its pages I can extract a thousand sources of amusement and interest whenever I take my walks in the forest or by the borders of the lakes.'

'But I must now tell you of our sugar-making,' continues our lively Emigrant; and then follows a very useful account of the simple process by which, from the maple sap, may be manufactured sugar, molasses, and vinegar, three most valuable domestic ingredients. The flavour which this sugar gives to tea is not at first found very pleasant; but after a while, the Writer says, she liked it far better than muscovado, and as a sweet'meat it is delicious.'

Our next extract must be an account of a visit to an Indian winter encampment.

A merry party we were that sallied forth that evening into the glorious starlight; the snow sparkled with a thousand diamonds on its frozen surface, over which we bounded with hearts as light as hearts could be in this careful world. And truly never did I look upon a lovelier sight than the woods presented. There had been a heavy fall of snow the preceding day; owing to the extreme stillness of the air not a particle of it had been shaken from the trees. The evergreens were bending beneath their brilliant burden; every twig, every leaf and spray was covered; and some of the weak saplings actually bowed down to the earth with the weight of snow, forming the most lovely and fanciful bowers and arcades across our path. As you looked up towards the tops of the trees, the snowy branches seen against the deep blue sky formed a silvery veil, through which the bright stars were gleaming with a chastened brilliancy.

'I was always an admirer of a snowy landscape, but neither in this country nor at home did I ever see anything so surpassingly lovely as the forest appeared that night.

'Leaving the broad road, we struck into a bye-path, deep tracked by the Indians, and soon perceived the wigwam by the red smoke that issued from the open basket-work top of the little hut. This is first formed with light poles, planted round so as to enclose a circle of ten or twelve feet in diameter; between these poles are drawn large sheets of birchbark both within and without, leaving an opening of the bare poles at the top so as to form an outlet for the smoke; the outer walls were also banked up with snow, so as to exclude the air entirely from beneath. Some of our party who were younger and lighter of foot than we sober married folks, ran on before; so that when the blanket that served the purpose of a door, was unfastened, we found a motley groupe of the dark skins and the pale faces reposing on the blankets and skins that were spread round the walls of the wigwam. The swarthy complexions, shaggy black hair, and singular costume of the Indians formed a striking contrast with the fair-faced Europeans that were mingled with them, seen as they were by the red and fitful glare of the wood-fire that occupied the centre of the circle. The deer-hounds lay stretched in indolent enjoyment, close to the embers, while three or four dark-skinned little urchins were playing with each other, or angrily screaming out their indignation against the apish tricks of the hunchback, my old acquaintance Maquin, that Indian Flibberty-gibbet, whose delight appeared to be in teazing and tormenting the little papouses, casting as he did so, sidelong glances of impish

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glee at the guests, while as quick as thought his features assumed an impenetrable gravity when the eyes of his father or the squaws seemed directed towards his tricks.

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There was a slight bustle among the party when we entered one by one through the low blanket-doorway. The merry laugh ran round among our friends, which was echoed by more than one of the Indian men, and joined by the peculiar half-laugh or chuckle of the squaws. Chippewa was directed to a post of honour beside the hunter Peter; and squaw. Peter with an air of great good-humour, madé room for me on a corner of her own blanket; to effect which two papouses and a hound were sent lamenting to the neighbourhood of the hunchback Maquin.

The most attractive persons in the whigwam were two Indian girls, one about eighteen,-Jane, the hunter's eldest daughter, and her cousin Margaret. I was greatly struck with the beauty of Jane; her features were positively fine, and though of gipsey darkness, the tint of vermillion on her cheek and lip rendered it, if not beautiful, very attractive. Her hair which was of jetty blackness, was soft and shining, and was neatly folded over her forehead, not hanging loose and disorderly in shaggy masses, as is generally the case with the squaws. Jane was evidently aware of her superior charms, and may be considered as an Indian belle, by the peculiar care she displayed in the arrangement of the black cloth mantel, bound with scarlet, that was gracefully wrapped over one shoulder, and fastened at her left side with a gilt brooch. Margaret was younger, of lower stature, and though lively and rather pretty, yet wanted the quiet dignity of her cousin ; she had more of the squaw in face and figure. The two girls occupied a blanket by themselves, and were busily engaged in working some most elegant sheaths of deer-skin, richly wrought over with coloured quills and beads: they kept the beads and quills in a small tin baking-pan on their knees; but my old squaw (as I always call Mrs. Peter) held her porcupine quills in her mouth, and the fine dried sinews of the deer, which they make use of instead of thread in work of this sort, in her bosom. On my expressing a desire to have some of the porcupine-quills, she gave me a few of different colour that she was working a pair of mocassins with; but signified that she wanted "bead to work mocsin," by which I understood that I was to give some beads in exchange for the quills. Indians never give since they have learned to trade with white men. She was greatly delighted with the praises I bestowed on Jane. She told me that Jane was soon to marry the young Indian who sat on one side of her, in all the pride of a new blanket coat, red sash, embroidered powder-pouch, and great gilt clasps to the collar of his coat, which looked as warm and as white as a newly washed fleece. The old squaw evidently felt proud of the young couple as she gazed on them; and often repeated, with a good-tempered laugh," Jane's husband-marry by and by."

*One of the party. S., who happens to be a great favourite with the old hunter and his family. As a mark of distinction they have bestowed on him the title of Chippewa, the name of their tribe.'

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