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.
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