A CONVERTED GUAGER.

"How's that?' inquired Sir

"Shure your honor may see in a minute, replied Paddy, touching the faded brim of an old battered hat, and advancing towards the cow. 'Cheh, Cheh, Rosy, woman,' coming still nearer, and rubbing her back with the points of his fingers. The cow was used to Paddy tickling her back, and stood as quiet as could be. Paddy's hand passed over her head, and laying hold of the cow by the nostrils, he pulled open her mouth. 'She's toothless, your honor; she's ne'er tooth in her upper jaw, and if she can't get a soft bite she must starve-aye an' will starve too,' cried Paddy in a whining tone.

"His honor looked at the cow's mouth, all the while that his steward was nearly bursting to keep in the laughing. 'Nickle,' says Sir — 'let this poor man's cow graze inside the Park. The grass is soft there, and his time won't be taken up watching her.' "I'll do so, Sir

"Long life to your honor,' said he, and thank ye too, exclaimed Pat. There its well seen your one of the ould stock and no upstart. Thank ye kindly;' and he took off his apology for a hat, and made a low bow, as the pair moved off on their tour of inspection.

The host stopped, and finished his liquor, nodding a kind good-night; but Mullan detained him.

"I won't tell a story I protest this night" he exclaimed: "and besides its high bed-time."

"You have told a story, and won't be here to-morrow night, and you must listen to my story, and you must mix yourself another tumbler of punch to keep me in countenance. I declare Terry's asleep."

"I'm nothing of the kind," I replied drily. "I'm thinking of what you were laughing about. I dont think, Sir was so much done,

after all. How many teeth has a cow got?"

I was laughed at heartily by mine host and friend, and recommended to increase my store of knowledge when I returned to my own country. Meanwhile the fire was replenished, and the landlord consenting to listen to Mullan, limited his liquid supply to half the ordinary quantity.

SKETCHES FROM CANADA,

BY JOHN LAMBERT.

NEW ZEALAND is my adopted home, yet with what pleasure do I recall my pleasant sojourn in Canada. It was in the year 1857 that I first sailed for that country. It is needless to refer to the passage out; for like every voyage it had its agreeables as well as its disagreeables. We arrived at Montreal, the capital of Lower Canada, about the end of May. Spring had but just commenced, and the heat was intense; the ice-bound St. Laurence was once more opened, and the warm coating of snow that had so long covered the country was fast disappearing, save in one or two places, where it lay very deep. The streets of the city and the country roads were knee-deep in slimy mud. You may grumble in New Zealand at the bad state of the streets in your Provincial Towns, but I can tell you they bear no comparison with the same in Canada, which for filth carries off the palm and defies competition. Dirty roads are not the only inconveniences the traveller has to submit to, for with the heat come myriads of flies of every description, the worst of which are I think mosquitoes and sand flies, which punish you severely. We will not tarry long in Montreal; the imperfect sketch that I could give of it, would never do justice to this noble city, with its glittering pinnacles and domes, and the kind reader will doubtless be acquainted with the merits of it from the pens of abler writers than myself. Before taking the cars for Upper Canada, I must first pay tribute to the excellent hotel accommodation. Unlike the generality of English hotels, their arrangements seem to be brought almost to perfection, everything being conducted in a methodical manner. There is but one charge made, which includes everything, civility into the bargain, which one does not meet with at every hotel at home, even although one pays dearly for it. As it is not my intention to confine my remarks to city life, I shall at once proceed to the object I have in view, namely, to set before the reader as lucid a description of country life, together with the sports and amusements of the same, as cannot fail to interest those who are bent upon hacking out for themselves a home in the land of their adoption-let that land be Canada or New Zealand.

Farming operations in Canada are totally different in almost every respect from what they are in New Zealand. Having myself taken an active part in the agricultural pursuits of that country, I can write from personal experience. First, my readers must know that all new land in Canada is the primeval forest; in fact there is no such thing as open country, such as may be seen here. So the young settler must first set himself vigorously to work to hew down the gigantic kings of the forest before he can commence even his rustic log cabin. The land best adapted for farming purposes, is what is termed hard-wood land, which means

land timbered for the most part with maple, beech, ash, elm and basswood. The roots of all these will entirely decay within three years from the time that they are first felled, whereas the white and red pine, hemlock, and oak will hardly disappear in a man's life time unless some mechanical agency be applied; so it is easy to see how important it is that one should be well acquainted with the nature of the forest trees before selecting your land. I may here add that it is rather considered a good sign to see a few large pines scattered over your land, as it indicates strong soil.

In most parts of the country there are white cedar swamps, and very valuable they are too, if you have not too much of them. The white cedar is of untold value for farm purposes; it grows to an enormous height, and has great girth; there is no timber that grows in the forest that will stand wet so well, and for that reason it is well adapted for posts for fencing, foundation for your house--indeed there is nothing better than this to build your log hut of, and to crown all, it is exceedingly light. Well, these swamps are composed almost entirely of white cedar, yet when the land around them has been brought into a state of cultivation, as a rule they partially dry up and are easily reclaimed.

The best time for selecting land is just before the winter commences, for you can then judge for yourself the description of timber which covers the soil, if any of it is fit for the saw-mill, or whether there is too much hemlock and pine, also if the land is very stony, a rather common fault in some parts of the country.

I am of opinion that it requires far less capital for one to engage in farming pursuits in Canada than in New Zealand, and the reader will doubtless arrive at the same conclusion; if he will bear in mind the difference in currency, the cheapness of all kinds of provisions, and the good-neighbourly feelings which exist in every part of the country, and which is brought about in a great measure by the system of bees which brings every one in a settlement into almost daily contact with his neighbour for their mutual benefit.

We will now picture to ourselves a young man about to make for himself a forest home in Canada. We will suppose our young man to be single, and that he has been at least one year in the country. The season of the year shall be October, when autumn has clothed the forest in a gorgeous raiment of every hue. Suppose one hundred acres is the extent of his farm; it is good hard-wood land, with from ten to fifteen acres of cedar swamp upon it. His first step will be to procure a suitable mate, for he cannot do without help. This done, they will at once mark out, say ten acres, after which the land must be underbrushed, that is, chop down with a strong short scythe all the small undergrowth, which is generally of considerable thickness, leaving nothing standing but the trees which are too heavy for that implement. They ought to finish this in about four or five weeks, after which they may take a spell and amuse themselves with their gun, or fishing-rod, until winter has fairly set in, and the ground is covered with snow.

In January, they commence once more in earnest, with comfortable blanket, coat, and shoe packs; with axe in hand, and stout hearts, away they slash at all before them. Care is taken to fell the trees all one way; and, when a tree of extra growth comes in the way, it is best for both hands to engage in the same work, each at different sides of the

tree. To those who are perfectly unacquainted with the science of felling trees, it may be interesting if I dwell for a minute on this subject. In felling a large tree the common practice is to make two deep incisions, one above the other, on the same side of the trunk, about a foot and a half apart, according to the size of the tree; by this means, you will be able to chip out the centre bit, which, when done, will leave a large gap. Having cut about three parts through, you do similarly on the opposite side, only nothing like so deep, and it must be above the first cut. You will very soon be rewarded by hearing a terrific crash, and seeing your gallant foe biting the dust. In clearing land, all trees are cut down breast high, and afterwards topped-that is, all the leafy top cut off, and piled in windrows. It is a common practice, and a very profitable one too, to cut up all your good hard wood into firewood as you proceed. Clearing the land of the standing timber is doubtless the hardest work, but I question if it is not, on the whole, the most agreeable: the weather is generally fine -lovely, bright mornings, with a keen, pleasant, sharp frost-the occupation is manly and healthy above all things. The work may be varied by looking after your maple sugar, and, perhaps, taking a shot now and then at partridges, wood pigeons, or hares. We will suppose the fallow to be chopped by the end of March, the next step is to cross-cut all the long logs into twelve-feet lengths. This will take some time, and I consider it the most laborious part of the whole work, as it has a nasty knack of making your back ache, unless you are accustomed to it. This done, you may dismiss your mate, and rest on your oars until the heat of summer sets in, which will be about the middle of June.

The climate of Canada goes to two extremes-extreme heat and extreme cold. The summer heat of Canada is almost tropical, so great, indeed, that the forest will burst into full leaf within the short space of a week, when, apparently, the buds bore no appearance of opening previously. So it is that when the trees are once cut down and brushed, when the summer heat comes, they will dry like a chip, and a single match will set it all in a blaze. A day is always chosen to fire the clearing, when there is a slight breeze stirring; but you must be careful that the wind is in the right direction, or else, maybe, you may do harm to your neighbour, by destroying his fences and injuring his crops, merely from not taking the proper precautions.

To

I shall conclude this chapter with the description of a logging bee, which is the last operation to be performed before the land is cleared. Our young backwoodsman, we will now suppose, has had a good burn; the devouring element has swept everything away, leaving nothing but the blackened trunks, which lie about the ground in every direction. put these logs together, so that they will burn well, entails the necessity of calling a bee, for it would be almost impossible for one man to log his own fallow. A bee in Canada means a collection of men called together for some purpose-as, for instance, it may be a raising bee, a thrashing bee, ploughing bee, quilting bee; or, in fact, any job that requires the assistance of your neighbours is dubbed a bee. The rule is, if you call a bee for any purpose, you are expected to return the same labour to any of them whenever they may require it of you.

One very great advantage in bees is that everybody knows their own work, and they do it with a hearty goodwill. There is no such thing as shirking, and even the youngest of the party can make themselves useful.

Logging is very dirty work, and it is very necessary to put on the most worthless clothes that you may have by you, as the charcoal from the burnt logs will make you most charmingly black: a chimney-sweep is nothing to it. When a person intends calling a logging bee, he warns all his friends who are fortunate enough to own bullocks to attend on a given day. Previous to this, he will have supplied himself with a good stock of stout young ironwood saplings, from eight to ten feet long, and sharpened at one end, for handspikes. There are then different gangs formed, each gang being composed of a team of four bullocks. The owner of them is appointed "boss," and he has under him from four to six men, with handspikes. The "boss" starts the logs with his bullocks, and the gang keep them rolling, until they pile them up on the heap. The several gangs do the same, only in different parts of the field. By this means, ten acres can be easily logged up in the course of the day. The shouting and yelling that goes on all the time is astonishing: but yet it does not seem to exhaust their energies much.

At one o'clock they sit down to a substantial dinner, the like of which can only be seen in Canada, or in the United States. Dinner finished, they return to their work, and, at about four o'clock, buckets of tea, and cakes, and scones, are served round in the field. One hour more, and the work is finished; the bullocks are then driven down to water, the men wash themselves, and prepare for supper. Every one is in the best of humour, and jokes go round the table; the merits of the different teams are then descanted on, and the evening winds up with athletic sports, singing, and dancing.

We have now seen our young settler clear his land. The difficulties he has had to contend against are not very great, it is true; but I hold that it is men only of indomitable pluck and courage that do succeed. I have known many instances, and the same may be seen any day even in this country, where men, having come out to the colonies without a proper appreciation of the duties they are called upon to perform, rush into extravagance at the outset, employ labour when they should work themselves, and the capital that should have been employed in improving their farm, is frittered away at hotels, or in low company. Such men, if you do chance to meet them two or three years afterwards, you will find bullock-drivers, billiard-markers, or, perhaps, seedy loafers, bragging to everybody how well off they had been some time ago. Alas! how pitiable! They were wanting in that true nobility of soul which urges the brave man on to conquer; who, careless of the present struggle, looks forward only to a bright and happy future, be that future ever so distant, when he shall see his fields waving with the yellow corn, and his young herds of cattle lowing around him. When he can look upon this bright picture, and feel that it is his strong arm which has accomplished this wonderful change, carved, as it has been, from the primeval forest—such men, I say, are Nature's true nobility, and are the bone and sinew of any country. Time and space will not permit us to moralize long. Other important matters engage our attention, amongst which we may class the log hut. We have often heard of "Every man is the architect of his own fortune;" but here it is every man is the architect of his own house. The log hut is both simple and ornamental of its kind, and although the exterior may appear somewhat rough to refined eyes, still within it may contain all the essentials to comfort, if but properly built for my part,

VOL. I.-No. 8.

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