The Houses,
Usually Of Wood, Painted White, Or Of Some Showy Colour, And Having
Verandas Covered With Climbers, Looked Both Commodious And Gay.
It
might be mistake, but I fancied that improvement was more perceptible
when, passing the point where line 45 degrees 'strikes' the river, we came
into the American territory.
I was particularly struck with one farm
near Warrington, over which I had half-an-hour's walk, upon the best
fields of which were still protruding the heavy stumps of the forest
trees, cut down ten or twenty years ago. The owner told us he had 160
acres, which he bought, partly cleared, seventeen years ago, for ten
dollars an acre. He had, a year ago, refused twenty dollars an acre for
it, intending to make it worth fifty; and during his occupation he had
brought up a large family in comfort and independence upon it, and
saved money. The crop of oats he was now clearing was a poor one, he
said, - only forty-five bushels per acre.
"Arrived at Ogdensburgh, on the American side of the river, I spent
some time, while waiting the arrival of the train bearing Boston and
other eastern passengers, in going through the extensive and commodious
depot of the Northern Railway. The works are not quite completed. They
will cover an area of some forty acres, and comprise warehouses for the
stowage of corn and other produce, a fine passenger shed, and large
engine-houses and sheds for cars. The quantity of corn and flour stored
here in the fall is very large. Last year it was 80,000 barrels.
Unfortunately, however, for the railways, the rate for conveyance of
these staples is brought down by the competition of the steamers to a
very low point; the charge from Toronto to Montreal being but one
shilling per barrel of 218 lbs., or a farthing per ton per mile.
"Opposite Ogdensburgh is the village of Prescott, remarkable as the
scene of a deadly conflict during the rebellion, the traces of which it
still exhibits, in dismantled houses, and a windmill in ruins.
"On the evening of this day we entered a part of the river, called,
from the unceasing abundance of islets which gem its surface, the 'Lake
of the Thousand Isles.' These islets, above fifteen hundred in number,
vary in size from tiny things, little bigger than an upturned boat, to
areas of many hundred acres. They are a succession of rocky
excrescences, mostly covered with wood, which grows, or overhangs, down
to the water's edge. Some of them are cultivated, but the mass are just
as nature left them, when - their broken and jutting strata having
settled into bearings far down below the stream, on the morrow of some
vast convulsion and upheaving of nature - the forest era was at last
established. How long a time elapsed before the action of the weather
had produced, from the hard face of the stone itself, soil enough for
the lichen and the moss, or for these, in their turns, to become the
receptacle of the seeds of forest trees, blown from some distant
region - is a problem. In threading these islands, sometimes our vessel
passed through tortuous passages apparently blocked up at the end, and
within a few yards of land, but by a sudden turn emerged into fine
large basins, and so wound and twined its way along. As the sun
declined, every island made a full, clear reflection in the glassy
surface of the water; and the boughs and branches, the flowers by the
water's edge, the very marks upon the rocks, were repeated upside down,
as if in a perfect mirror. The whole scene bore an air of such complete
seclusion, that our noisy passage through it appeared like a rude
intrusion into some fairy realm, before time uninvaded by mortal
visits. The birds were disturbed from amongst the trees, and the wild
ducks and other water-fowl skimmed away, scared at the splashing of our
paddles and the panting of our engine.
"At sunset we stopped to take in wood at Gannanoque, a village sweetly
placed on a swelling hillock above the river. Here I entered some of
the houses, and found considerable comfort, plenty of dirt, and a good
many pigs, who seemed on the best possible terms with the children. An
Irishwoman, standing at her door, her eldest son in her arms, a fine
bright-eyed urchin, told me, in return for my compliments on the
healthy appearance of the child, that she 'had been afther bathing him;
for sure he had made himself dirty with playing with the pig.'
"The full moon had risen high when we left the last of the isles behind
us; and late at night we emerged from the St. Lawrence, and arrived at
Kingston, the tin roofs of which shone brightly in the moonlight.
"Kingston is an important town, and is the port of the Rideau Canal,
which connects Bytown and the Ottawa with Lake Ontario. A walk through
the streets by moonlight enabled us to see the market-house, a stone
building, considered to be the finest in Upper Canada.
"Keeping along the north shore of Lake Ontario, we stopped at several
thriving little ports, and arrived in Toronto early on the afternoon of
Saturday.
"Toronto is the chief city of Upper Canada, and is evidently a highly
prosperous place. It has a thoroughly Anglo-Saxon cast about it, and
looks new and bright. The streets are long and wide, the houses
generally of brick, high and regular; and everywhere is the appearance
of vigorous trade and rapid extension. The houses of the richer classes
are fully equal to those in the suburbs of Montreal; while no old
dilapidated dwellings, like those which appear in that city, are here
visible. There are many fine public buildings - St. Lawrence Hall, the
Banks, the Parliament House, and many others. The grounds of King's
College are well worth a visit.
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