A LADY'S LIFE ON A FARM IN MANITOBA. 

BY MRS. CECIL HALL. 

PREFACE. 

These letters were never intended for publication, and were onlythe details written to our family of an every-day life, and nowput in the same shape and composition; not as a literary work, butin hopes that the various experiences we underwent may be usefulto future colonists intending to emigrate and farm, either inManitoba or Colorado. 

M. G. C. H. 

A LADY'S LIFE ON A FARM IN MANITOBA. 

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Queenstown, April 14th. 

What joy! four hours in harbour given us to recruit our emaciatedforms and write you a few lines of our experiences and trials. Youwished us to keep a diary with every detail, which we will try ourbest to do, beginning by telling of the cheerless journey toLiverpool in rain, the elements even seeming to lament ourdeparture. The bad weather has lasted more or less ever since, just one gleam of sunshine brightening us up on leaving the wharf, but we saw nothing of the Mersey or the surroundings. The onlything that struck us most forcibly was the smallness of our ship, though it was 6, 000 tons. It has just been re-docked andoverhauled, and still smells horribly of paint and full ofworkmen, whom, however, we drop here, in exchange for 1, 200emigrants. These, with about sixty first-class passengers and ahold full of potatoes, form our cargo. We began life bravely lastnight, enjoying a very good dinner, and after playing a rubber ofwhist retired to our berths congratulating ourselves on whatexcellent sailors we were going to be; but alas!. .. Dressing thismorning was too difficult, the ship rolled fearfully, even thefriends who came with us thus far, and consider themselves first-class sailors, think that it will be more prudent to go by trainthrough Ireland home, instead of waiting for the return boat ofthe same line which calls here on Sunday and is to take them toLiverpool. We almost wish we could turn tail; the prospect of tendays more of the briny ocean is not what at this moment we mostfancy. However, in the short time we have been in harbour we havebeen recruiting to start afresh, and hope for better weather. 

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Mid Atlantic. 

Dearest M. 

I sadly fear I must have contributed more paving-stones for acertain region; for many good resolutions did I make in starting, and not one of them has been kept, not even so much as writingdaily a portion of a letter to be sent home from New York. And nowmy long story will have to be cut short, and the doings of thelast fifteen days will have to be crowded into a very limitedspace; for we are in sight of land, and our excitement can only becompared to that of school boys the last day of the term. The joyof landing will not be unmingled with regrets in parting from ourfellow-passengers, with whom we have become fast friends; and weare inclined mutually to believe in transmigration of souls, andthat we must have known each other in some prior state. Some aregoing into Minnesota, three of them having bought 13, 000 acres inthe Red River valley, which they are going to farm on a largescale, and hope in four years to have made fortunes, another ownsmines in Colorado, having been one of the first pioneers of theSan Juan district; he is in a fair way to a princely fortune. Ifear golden apples will not be strewn on our paths, even though weare bound the furthest west. Fifteen days have we been out ofsight of land; two days out from Queenstown we broke a piston-rod, which obliged us to lay to, in a fearfully rough sea, for fivehours. Next day one of our four boilers burst, and again anotherpiston-rod; which accidents, combined with contrary winds andheavy seas, reduced our speed to nearly half for the remainder ofthe journey. Our spirits have not flagged, as, thanks to varioussmall games such as pitch-and-toss, running races when the shipwas rolling, quoits, and cards, we have not found time unbearablylong. The last few days we have had big sweepstakes on the run ofthe ship; but, unfortunately, none of our party have won them. Oneevening we had a concert; but you may imagine the talent on boardwas not great when they had to call upon one of us to accompanythe _prima donna_, and the other to sing a second in a duet;another evening we danced--or rather tried to--our band consistingof a concertina and a flute, played by two of the steeragepassengers, but the vessel rolled so persistently that we oftenlost our equilibrium and reeled like drunken men and women. 

I must stop: curiosity bids me go on deck. We shall shortly be inthe quarantine harbour, the entrance of which is said to be veryfine; though I very much doubt our being able to see anything, as, in spite of being in this much boasted climate of the new world, it is raining and is dull enough to rejoice the hearts of trueJohn Bulls like your daughter's. 

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NAVY YARD, NEW YORK, April 30th. 

I hope you will have got our letters sent off by the ship's boatthe night before we were allowed to land, as, though we arrived inthe quarantine harbour at 7 o'clock, it was too late for theCustom-house and medical officers to inspect us; we therefore hadto lay to, and only moved up to the wharf about 8 o'clock the nextmorning. We were greeted by a most kind letter of welcome, and thefirst thing we saw as we got to the dock was the Navy Yard Tugwith the Commodore and daughters on board to receive us; and, thanks to them, we had no difficulties or bothers. The Custom-house men went through the form of opening two of our boxes andinquiring into the age of our saddle, which had been used butlooked terribly new, hardly as if it had been in wear six months, which is the given period for things to pass in free of duty. Wethen steamed round New York through much shipping and under a mostmarvellous new suspension bridge, which is to join New York andBrooklyn, to the dockyard; where we had another most heartyreception from our hostess. They had all been in a fidget at ourbeing so many days late, and directly the ship was telegraphed offSandy Hook the last night, in spite of the pouring rain, theCommodore had gone down in the tug to the Quarantine Harbour totry and get us off. 

Since our arrival we have been "doing" New York, and are woefullydisappointed in the size of the streets. Fifth Avenue I expectedto find a Parisian Boulevard with trees lining the "side walks, "instead of houses of all shapes and sizes, which are good inside, judging by one of the large ones we went to see, but nothing muchfrom the outside. Day-light in the streets is almost shut out inthe "City" part of the town by the endless telegraph wires andadvertisements hung across, to say nothing of the elevatedrailroads built on iron girders, which circulate round at theheight of second-floor windows. We have made a good deal of use ofthe railroad; it is pleasanter than our under-ground, theatmosphere being "rather" clearer, though at first it is startlingto see the twists and curves the trains give to get round thecorners of the streets, and to watch the moving of objects atabout forty feet below you. 

I am not at all surprised people do not care to drive much, astramways pass through every street almost, and all are so badlypaved that paint and springs would suffer. The ferry-boats whichply between the cities, starting every five minutes from differentwharves, astonished us most; waggons, carriages, &c. , all drive ontwenty at a time, and three or four hundred foot-passengers, thelatter paying two cents per passage. 

On the whole I think we have seen almost everything that is to beseen. We spent an afternoon in the Central Park, lunched at bothof Delmonico's restaurants, dined at the invitation of our bankerat "Pinards, " where the roses were lovely, the centre bouquetmeasuring two feet across, and each lady having different-colouredbunches on her serviette; a play at Walleck's, theatre both prettyand well-ventilated, and a most splendid exit, the stalls on thesame level as the street--the whole place seemed to empty itselfin about five minutes; and a day's expedition to Statten Island, from which we had a lovely view of New York, its surroundings, andthe whole harbour. To-morrow we are to go for three nights toWashington, returning here to start westwards on Monday, thougheverybody tells us we are going too early in the year. The springin Manitoba has been very late. A----, writing on the 26th ofApril, says they are just starting work, but cannot do much atpresent on account of the water from the melted snow not havingrun off. The rivers have broken up. The Red River carried away oneof the two bridges at Winnipeg. He happened to be in town at thetime, and although he didn't see the bridge go, saw it afterwardsand the jam. The ice was blocked for about a mile above, tumblingall over the place, making the river rise about ten feet an hour, washing out all the neighbouring houses. It lasted about tenhours, then crash it all went, floating quietly down the stream, the water receding at the same time. There has been so much snowthis year, which makes everything backward; but it has all gone ina week. It must be quite marvellous how quickly it disappears, as, going from one farm to the other, distance about seven miles, starting at 4 o'clock A. M. With the thermometer showing twentydegrees of frost, when the sun got up it was so hot he, A----, couldn't get back. Next morning, starting equally early, he onlytravelled two miles; the snow was so soft the horses sank at everystep above their knees. He was trying to take a sledge-load of hayover to his "Boyd" farm. The cattle there having run very shortlately, they even had to take some of the thatching, which was ofhay, off the roof of the stable to feed the animals. We may havedifficulty in getting up to Winnipeg, as the railroad is washedaway within about eighty miles of the place, and the passengersare transferred to a steamer, which takes them twenty miles toanother train. There was a fear of famine in Winnipeg, as noprovisions could be got up. Lots of emigrants, when they saw thewater, turned back. Good-night, we have packing to do to be offearly in the tug which takes us over to Jersey city to catch ourtrain to Washington at 10 o'clock on the Pennsylvanian Railway. The Commodore's son, who is home on leave, goes with us, and wehave many introductions. We are bidden to a reception at the WhiteHouse, and have been vainly endeavouring to get into some of ourhostess's smart gowns; but, alas! they are all too short, so weshall have to be content with our own black foulards. 

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RIGG'S HOUSE, WASHINGTON, May 2nd. 

We had our first experience of drawing-room cars coming down here, with very comfortable arm-chairs, and one seems to do the journeyof 200 miles easily, in about six hours, through very prettycountry. I never saw such people as Americans for advertising; allalong the line, on every available post or rail, you see, "ChewGlobe Tobacco, " "Sun Stove Polish, " &c. 

We enjoyed the reception at the White House. Our invitation wasfrom 8 to 10 o'clock P. M. : we arrived before the doors were open, and had to wait some few minutes in the entrance, which is glazedin, and where the drums of our ears were sorely tried by a noisymilitary band, which when you get into the rooms and at a distancesounded well, but not just alongside. After depositing our cloaks, we filed by two and two past the President, shaking hands with himand the wife of the Secretary of State, who receives when there isno Mrs. President, and then wandered through the six remainingrooms, being introduced to several people as Mrs. H---- ofEngland, and Miss W---- of England, which we thought would notconvey much to their minds excepting that we were two very un-smartEnglishwomen; though we were much consoled about our clotheswhich did not look so peculiar, every sort of costume being worn, even to bonnets. No refreshments are given, so that we were gladthat supper was included in the "Menu du jour" at our Hotel. 

I shall not pretend to describe Washington to you. Any guide-bookwould give a more satisfactory account, but it is much more myidea of a city of the New World; the streets are well paved, arenice and broad; then the houses are generally standing in theirown grounds, with trees and flowers; altogether it may be calledan "elegant" city. The people were most kind and civil to us. Oneafternoon we made two "cabinet" calls on ministers, but the otherafternoon we went for a drive across the Potomac to Arlington, theancestral place of the Lees, which was confiscated after the warand is now a soldier's burying-ground. It has an exquisite viewacross the river. The only thing that distressed us was thebearing-reins on the nice little pair of chesnuts in the buggy. The reins are crossed over their nose, passed between the ears, and fastened tight to the saddle, which forces the head right backand nearly saws the mouth in two. We never rested until we hadloosened them, which was supposed to be the reason why the horsesbroke in their trot afterwards, as they were supposed to require asupport. 

The weather has been quite delightful, bright sunny days but nothot; and if only the houses and hotels were not kept at such asuffocating temperature, we should be very happy both in and outof doors. The artificial heat has completely knocked us up inBrooklyn. We had a lovely big room with a large bay window besidesanother window, where we often retired for a blow of fresh air;the result has been that we both have had bad crying colds. 

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CHICAGO, May 11th. 

We are now half way to Manitoba, and have really done the journeythus far so easily that it seems nothing of a drag; and if itwasn't for the Atlantic, A---- would not seem to be at the end ofthe world, which we fancied whilst in England. 

We left Brooklyn on Wednesday morning, very sorry to part from theCommodore and his family, who have been most kind and friendly, trying their best to make us feel at home. Unfortunately, havingonly just got the appointment and lately taken up their residenceat the Navy Yard, they could do no entertaining. Anyhow, we havehad a very pleasant insight into the home life of America, whichdiffers in small ways a good deal from ours, and in character, habits, and everything there is a widish gulf between the tworaces. 

Our train here was a splendid one, stopping only about sixteentimes, and doing the nine hundred miles in thirty-six hours. Wehad a section in the Pullman, which makes a double seat facingeach other by day, and at night the two seats are converted into abed, with the second bed pulled down from the roof, on whichmattresses, blankets, and sheets are all arranged with aprojecting board at the head and foot, and a curtain in front, sothat one is quite private, and we slept like tops. We had also adining-car on, where every luxury of the season, to strawberriesand cream, were served by the blackest of niggers in the whitestof garments, for the sum of a dollar a head per meal. 

Only fancy our delight, after leaving Harrisburgh about 3 o'clockin the afternoon, to find friends in the train, people from anadjoining county in England who knew all our friends, and withwhom we had much in common. I need hardly tell you that we did"chin" it until our ways parted at this station, they going to theGrand Pacific, we to the Treemont which had been recommended to usas being a quieter hotel for ladies alone. 

Men make these hotels their club, where they smoke and lounge allday; but as there is a second door for ladies, one is not botheredin any way unless you want to go to the office for information. 

We are astonished at the enormous piles of buildings in this city;land, one would think, must be cheap. All the shops cover anequally large area, though, in many, several offices are on onefloor. It is too marvellous to think, when one looks at thisplace, that three and a half square miles in the centre of thetown, which is now in regular handsome broad streets, the fire ofeleven years ago should have so completely burnt everything to theground, though now not a vestige of the conflagration is left. Thehouses have even had time to get quite blackened with the smoke ofthe soft coal they use, which is found in great quantities allthrough Pennsylvania; the mines and furnaces we passed on our wayup. 

The country the whole way was very pretty. We crossed theSusquehana river, which is grand in width and scenery, and startedthe Juanita through a chain of mountains turning in and out withevery bend of the river, so that one felt always on the slant andcould generally see either end of the train. Unfortunately itpoured with rain the whole way, so any distant views or tops ofmountains were invisible. Some of the country is like England, undulating, rolling, well-cultivated fields, enclosed withpailings which overlap each other and would be awkwardishobstacles in a hunting country; but one misses, like abroad, thecattle--we saw one or two stray cows, but little else. AroundChicago it is a flat plain, and, as there has been a good deal ofrain lately, water is out everywhere. For the last hour of ourjourney we came through the suburbs, and, as there is noprotection whatsoever to the line, we had to come very slowly(about seven miles an hour), ringing a great bell attached to theengine to announce our arrival, as children, cows, vans, &c. Goalong the line in the most promiscuous way; it is extraordinarythat more accidents do not happen. By law, I believe, the trainought to go very slowly wherever lines cross each other; anyhowthey must ring the bell, the result being that the bells seemgoing all day when you are anywhere near the station. We weregiven introductions to one or two people here, one gentlemanputting himself at our disposal to show us "around straight away;"and we visited the principal shops, streets, park, which is landreclaimed from the lake, and the tramways, which are worked with apulley from a centre about six miles off. A Chinaman in SanFrancisco was once heard to describe the said tramways as "Nohorsey, no steamy, go helly. "

The weather has, unfortunately, been wet and much against sight-seeing, the streets in consequence are too indescribably dirty, mud inches deep, and everyone is so busy making money that theyhave not time to pull up those who are responsible and insist onthe streets being cleaned, though the money is yearly voted by themunicipality, and generally supposed to be pocketed by theauthorities. We leave this to-night for St. Paul, much impressedon the whole with Chicago. There are one or two more sights Ishould like to have seen, such as the two tunnels under the river, but I fancy one leaks and the other is unusable for some otherreason. I should also have liked to have been to one of theNiggers' revival meetings; but not to the pork manufactory, wherepigs go in alive, are killed and cured ready for exportation inless than twenty minutes. Our friends went there this morning, andthe descriptions they gave were not particularly inviting. Thelady hadn't been able to touch a mouthful of food all dayafterwards, and declared it would be years before she could eatpork. I also have been dying to see a house on the move, but hadto content myself with looking at a large brick house, which notthree years ago had been moved back 150 yards bodily. Chicago isgetting too old a city, and ground is too expensive, for people tobe able to change the sites of their houses when the fancy takesthem; in St. Paul or Winnipeg we may have the satisfaction ofmeeting one coming down the street. 

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THE MERCHANT'S HOTEL, ST. PAUL, May 16. 

We left Chicago Friday night for this place at about 9 o'clock, and, thanks to a letter of recommendation to the conductor, twolower berths were assigned to us, and we even had the privilege ofnot having the uppers pulled down. It is a curious regulation inthe Pullman cars, that should the upper not be tenanted it must beopened or else paid for by the occupant of the lower; so unlessone takes a whole section one is bound to have a great board justabove one's head, which in nine cases out of ten prevents oursitting up in bed, and one never can have much ventilation. 

We were awoke earlier on Saturday morning than we either of usquite appreciated, to be in time for breakfast at La Crosse at 7o'clock. La Crosse is a large settlement of sawmills on the banksof the Mississippi, for cutting up the wood brought down by thecuriously flat-bottomed steamers worked by a paddle in stern thesame width as the boat, and which push innumerable rafts of woodbefore them. We saw several of these steamers, and were detainedfor a long time on the bridge which crosses the Mississippi, saidto be a mile and a quarter long, whilst the farther end of it wasdrawn aside to allow of two steamers passing through. Our railroadskirted the banks of the river, and we were very excited at seeingan Indian and his squaw in a canoe going down stream. Theconductor of the car conversed with us a good deal the whole way, was most anxious to know all about our comings and goings, andtold us he would be glad to "learn the train by which we returned, as no ladies would ever be allowed to leave Manitoba. "Unfortunately we took his advice about the hotels in this place, and on arriving came to the wrong inn. This one is the mostfrequented, being close to the station, but certainly is not aspleasant, either as regards company or situation, as the other, the Metropolitan. We found one of our fellow Atlantic passengersat the last-named, and I never saw anyone so genuinely glad to seefriends. He is one of the three men we told you about, who haveinvested in thirteen thousand acres in Minnesota. He is down heretrying to hurry the contractors who are to build their houses andstables at Warren; also to buy farming implements and lumber. Hishorses and mules he intends buying at St. Louis. He gives a mostvivid account of all the roughing they have under gone. They areliving in a small way-side inn, nine men in one room with nofurniture. One of them managed one night to get hold of astretcher in lieu of a bed, and just as he was settling down tohis first beauty-sleep a carter came and told him to move on, asthe stretcher was his. He suggested that as we are to pass Warrenwe should pay them a visit on our way up; that he would take up atent and furniture, besides provisions; but I do not think itsounds inviting enough, as, though I do believe we should do thecommunity a good turn, besides the pleasure of our company, theywould have a tent and a few luxuries after our departure, insteadof feeding, as they daily do, on beans and bacon, living in afilthy hotel and having had nothing to wash in until they boughtthemselves a bucket. Last night, just after we had gone to bed, aloud knock was made at our door, and a man asked "if we intendedgetting up to-night, " at which we were furious; but he persistedin the most determined way in questioning us as to whether "itwasn't Mrs. H----'s room, " and we had time to get more than angrybefore we recognised A----'s voice and simultaneously both jumpedout of bed to receive him, _en deshabille_. It is very niceof him coming all this way, four hundred miles, to meet us. Helooks much the same as ever, only as brown as a berry from thereflection of a fortnight's sun on the snow. He is wonderfullycheery, seems glad to see us, has so many questions to ask of youall, and swears by the healthiness of the Canadian climate and thelife they lead at the farm. We are none of us ever to be sick orsorry again!

We have been a long drive to-day, starting at 11 o'clock, and onlyback just in time to do our last packing, send off this letter, and dine before we go on to Winnipeg at about 7 o'clock. We droveacross a bridge on the Missouri to Fort Snelldon, a miniatureAldershot, with huts and tents, and a beautiful stretch of grassfor manoeuvres or galloping, on to the Minhaha Falls, where, westayed some time gazing and admiring and even walking under thefalls. The volume of water falling seemed extraordinary, but wascompletely eclipsed by the falls of St. Anthony at Minneopolis, which we saw later. The latter originally fell perpendicularly;but to utilise them for the enormous saw-mills built at thewater's edge they have been under-planked, so that the water goesdown in a slant. We were most fascinated by the sight, and watchedthe torrent from various points of view. 

Minneopolis is much like other Western towns we have seen, semi-detached houses standing in their own grounds, the grass in manyinstances well kept, but utterly destitute of flowers, which onemisses so much. This place, St. Paul's, is beautifully situated, built on both sides of the river, the banks of which are verysteep. Good-night; in twenty-four hours more we hope to be at ourdestination in the far North-west. But we are not to go outimmediately to the farm, as we are arriving rather earlier thanA---- expected, and the men who have been living with him all thewinter cannot turn out before Friday to make room for us; so weare to stay in Winnipeg for a day or two. 

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WINNIPEG, May 18th. 

Here we are, and we do feel ourselves really landed in the farNorth, after a most prosperous journey the whole way. We arrived"quite on time" last night, rather an unusual thing with thesetrains, particularly since the floods, when the passengers weredependent on the steamer, we saw yesterday as we passed high anddry on the prairie, which had to convey them from one train toanother across the floods close to St. Vincent. 

O the prairie! I cannot describe to you our first impression. Itsvastness, dreariness, and loneliness is appalling. Very little isunder cultivation between this and St. Paul, so that only a househere and there breaks the line of horizon. There are a few cottonand aspen trees along the Red River Valley, but with thatexception the landscape for the last fifteen hours' travelling hasbeen like the sea on a very smooth day, without a beginning or anend. 

We were met at the station here by one of A----'s friends, whodrove us out about a mile and a half from the town across theAssiniboine over a suspension bridge built exactly opposite theold Fort Garry, and somewhere close to the spot where our firstEnglish pioneers must have landed from the river steamer sometwelve years ago to a very comfortable house belonging to anothermutual friend, a dear kind old gentleman whose wife and daughterbeing away has placed the whole house at our disposal until we canget out to the farm, which we find is sixteen miles off. 

It will be very difficult to describe everything to you. To beginwith, the depot or station presented a curious appearance, suchcrowds of men loafing about with apparently no other object but towatch the new arrivals; so different to English stations whereeveryone seems in a hurry either coming or going. And then theroads we had to drive along defy description. The inches (no otherword) of mud, and the holes which nearly capsize one at everyturn. Even down Main Street the roads are not stoned or paved inany way. We bumped a good deal in our carriage, and forconsolation at any worse bumping than usual were told, "This isnothing, wait until you get stuck in a mud-hole out west. " Thenour route, thanks to the floods which have been very bad this yearand are still out enormously--the upper floors of two-storiedhouses only being visible in many places, --was most intricate. Wehad to be pioneered over a ditch into a wood, supposed to becleared, with the stumps of trees left sticking about six inchesout of the ground for your wheels to pass over, on to a track, andthen through a potato garden to the house. 

We were quite ready for our supper, it being about 8 o'clock whenwe got here; and the food at Glyndon, where we stopped twentyminutes in the middle of the day to "put away" the contents ofsixteen dishes of some various mess or another, had not been ofthe most inviting of meals; and though the chops here were thesize of a small leg of mutton and had the longest bones I eversaw, hunger was the best of appetisers, and we did credit to ourmeal, which had been cooked by our host. 

This morning we were awoke by the same kind person depositing acan of water at our door for our baths. He gets up very early, ashe has to fetch the water, milk the cow, feed the calf, etc. , allbefore breakfast and starting off for his office. 

There is a man-servant here who gets 5 to 6 pounds a month, apparentlyto do nothing, as he is the only one on the premises who canafford to be idle and smoke his pipe of peace; but servants are sodifficult to get in this country, and our host being on the move, having got a better Government appointment at Perth, is anxiousnot to change now, so, like everybody else, puts up with anything. The last servant they had in this house was the son of a colonelin the English Army, who was described as "a nice boy but verylazy"; but this man-servant hasn't even the recommendation ofbeing nice. He was out at the farm working for his board andlodging, and no wages for some months, but A---- could not standhis idleness. 

We all had to cook our breakfasts this morning, and as everyonewas, by way of helping, either making toast, poaching the eggs, cooking hunks of bacon, or mending up the fire, the stove waspronounced much too small. The moment we had finished our meal wehad to retire upstairs and make the beds and tidy up a little; ahalf-breed woman living about half-a-mile off is supposed to comein for an hour and wash up and clean the house, but if it is badweather she is unable to get through the mud; therefore when theladies of the establishment are away the house is left a good dealto its own devices, the dust and cobwebs not often disturbed. 

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C---- FARM, May 21st. 

Our last letter to you was written with the first impression ofour colonist life whilst in Winnipeg, where we had a very goodinsight of the way English people will rough it when they comeout. It would horrify our farmers to have to do what gentlemen doout here. They are all their own servants. That lazy servant inWinnipeg, we were told, gave notice to leave, because one night hewas requested to keep the kitchen fire in so that we might have akettle of hot water when we went to bed. 

We spent as little time as we could at our suburban residence, soas to save him any extra trouble, always lunching and sometimesdining in Winnipeg; and though all the restaurants are bad, stillthe food was almost as good as what we cooked ourselves. Our chiefmistake for our first meals was that we put everything on the fireat the same time, and, funnily enough, our fish boiled quickerthan the sausages, and they again much quicker than the pudding. Once there was a bread-and-butter one, about which there has beena good deal of chaff, as it was supposed to be first cousin tobread-and-milk!

The weather was very bad, constant rain, and we had a fair specimen ofWinnipeg mud. To these buckboards (which is a buggy with a boardbehind for luggage), or to any of the carriages, there are no wings toprotect one from the mud, so that we always came in bespattered allover, a great trial to our clothes. But in spite of the rain and badweather we were determined to come out here on Friday. We hired ademocrat, a light waggon with two seats, and started during theafternoon in the rain, hoping it might clear which it eventually didwhen we were about a third of our way. It was awfully cold, and thejolting of the carriage over the prairie so fearful that our wrapswere always falling off. I had always understood the prairie was sobeautifully smooth to drive over; but found it much resembling anEnglish arable field thrown out of cultivation, with innumerablemole-hills and badger-holes, and natural cracks about an inch wide, which drain the water off into the marshes. If your carriage isheavily weighted it runs pretty easy; but woe betide you if driving byyourself--you bump up and down like a pea on a shovel. 

We nearly upset, shortly after leaving Winnipeg, as a house was onthe move, or, more properly speaking, had been, as it was stuck ina mud-hole; a load of hay, trying to get round it, had stuck as well;and the only place given us to pass was fearfully on the slant down toa deepish dyke, into which a buggy had already capsized. We caught thefirst glimpse of our future home eight miles off, the house andstables looking like three small specks on the horizon. It is verydifficult to judge distances on the prairie, and the nearer we seemedto get to our destination the further the houses were removed. Thefarm had an imposing appearance as we drove up to it. Mr. B----, whomet us at the gate, was most anxious that on arrival we should bedriven to the front door and not to the kitchen one, which, being thenearest, is the handiest. He, poor man, has given up his bed anddressing-room to us, and we find ourselves very comfortable. 

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C---- FARM, May 24. 

The two young men, Messrs. H---- and L----, who inhabit a tentabout two miles from here, and who are building themselves astable, are going into Winnipeg to-morrow for more lumber; and asI don't know when I shall have another opportunity of sendingletters in, I send you a few lines. These two men have been livingwith A---- all the winter, and only turned out for us the day wearrived. It was such bad weather they hoped and speculated on ournot coming; so that when we were seen in the distance there was ageneral stampede to clear out. I must say I should have been veryloth to turn out, during this cold weather, of a comfortable houseinto a tent, and, had I been they, should have wished us somewhere. Wehave already had a taste of the cold in these regions. Friday, when wedrove out here, was bad enough; but on Saturday, when E---- and A----went into town again to take our carriage back, they were nearlyfrozen with the biting wind and sleet they had to face the whole ofthe sixteen miles home. On Sunday the thermometer was down to 22, orten degrees of frost, with a bitter north-west wind, and we had aninch of snow on the ground; and though the sun melted most of it, thethermometer at night went down again to 24. I don't think I ever feltso cold in bed, in spite of a ton weight of clothes. Luckily thestoves are still up in the house--in summer they are generally putaway in the warehouse to give them room--so that we have been able tomake a light both night and day. We are told the weather is mostunusual; anyhow, it is mighty cold. Those poor men in the tenthave suffered a good deal; one night the pegs to the windwardgave, and the snow drifted against their beds as high as theirpillows. They luckily have got a stove, but are obliged to leavetheir door open to allow of the pipe going out; unfortunately theyhave no extra tin or iron to put on the canvas round the pipe, which is the usual way to prevent it catching fire. 

To describe our life here will take some doing, and, after thenovelty has worn off, it will not amuse us quite so much; norshall we be so keen of helping our Abigail, who is the wife of thecarpenter and maid-of-all-work, in everything, excepting that shemust always have a great deal to do for a large household likeours, consisting of four men and our two selves, and we shallalways want employment, and I don't think we shall either of uscare to ride or drive much. 

We have fallen into it (the life) wonderfully quickly; completelysunk the lady and become sort of maids-of-all-work. Our day beginssoon after 6 o'clock by laying the breakfast, skimming the cream, whilst our woman is frying bacon and making the porridge for thebreakfast at 6. 30. Mr. B---- and A---- are out by 5 o'clock, inorder to water, feed, and harness their horses all ready to go outat 7 o'clock, when we get rid of all the men. We then make thebeds, help in the washing-up, clean the knives, and this morning Iundertook the dinner, and washed out some of the clothes, as wehave not been able to find a towel, duster, or glass-cloth, whilstMrs. G---- cleaned out the dining-room. The dirt of the house is, to our minds, appalling; but as Mrs. G---- only arrived a few daysbefore we did, and all the winter the four men were what is calledin this country "baching it" (from bachelor), namely, having to doeverything for themselves, it is, perhaps, not surprising that thefloors are rather dirty and that there is a little dust. Theweather is much against our cleaning, as the mud sticks to theboots and, do what you will, it is almost impossible to get itoff; not that the men seem to have thought much about it, as, until we arrived and suggested it, there was no scraper to eitherdoor. Poor Mr. B---- was rather hurt in his feelings this morningon expressing some lament at the late sharp frosts, that all hiscabbages would be killed, when we said that it was a pity he hadsown them out of doors, as he might almost have grown them on thedining-room carpet. He also amuses us by lamenting that he did somuch cleaning and washed the floors so often; he might just aswell have left it until we arrived. Our time is well filled upuntil dinner, at 12. 30, at which we have such ravenous appetites, we are told, no profits made on the farm will pay our keep. Athalf-past 1 when the men turn out again, we generally go out withthem, and some out-door occupation is found for us; either drivingthe waggons or any other odd jobs. There is a lot of hay litteredabout, and that has to be stacked; also the waste straw or rubbishwhich is burnt, and the fires have to be made up. Three-quartersof an hour before either dinner or supper (the latter meal isabout half-past 6) a flag, the Union Jack, is hoisted at the endof the farther stable--if neither A---- nor Mr. B---- is about, weundertake to do it--to call the men in; and they declare the horsessee the flag as soon as they do and stop directly. The class of horsehere is certainly not remarkable for its good looks; but they arehard, plucky little beasts, and curiously quiet. The long winter makesthem, as well as all the other animals, feel a dependence upon man, and they become unusually tame. The cows, cats, and everything followthe men about everywhere. They used to have to keep the kitchen doorshut to prevent one of the cows walking in. A---- has got a jolly oldcat who follows him like a dog, sleeps on his bed, and sits next tohim at meals. Mr. B---- has a dear colley with whom he carries on longconversations, particularly on the subject of the coolness of themorning and the water in his bath; so you see we have plenty of animallife about. The men at the tent have a black water-spaniel, whichgreatly prefers our fare and warm house to the tent, so is nearlyalways here. 

 * * * * *

May 25th. 

We over-slept ourselves this morning, it being a dull day and nosun to wake us up, so that it was past 6 before any of us made ourappearance. The way we work here would rejoice Uncle F----'s heartand amaze some of our farmers' wives and daughters. My advice toall emigrants is to leave their pride to the care of theirfamilies at home before they start, and, like ourselves, put theirhand to everything. We have had some funny experiences; but forall our hard work we get no kudos or praise, it is all taken as amatter of course. I would not live in such a place for worlds, butwhile it lasts it is great fun; and I think we have done good bycoming out, if only to mend up all the old rags belonging to thesefour men. We were much in want of dusters, etc. , the first days, and were told that when the three months' wash which was inWinnipeg returned we should find everything we wanted, instead ofwhich there was a fine display of torn under-linen, and stockingsby the dozens, which we have been doing our best to patch up anddarn, but no house linen. We shall do as much washing as wepossibly can manage at home, I expect, as the prices are sofearful, to say nothing of the inconvenience of being ages withoutone's linen. I will just quote a few of the prices from our billof the Winnipeg Steam Laundry. Shirts 15 cents, night ditto 10cents, vests and pants 25 to 50 cents, blankets 50 cents, counterpanes 35 cents, table-cloths 15 to 35 cents, sheets 10cents, pillow-slips 5 to 15 cents, night-dresses 15 cents to 1dollar, petticoats 30 cents to 1 dollar, etc. , everything inproportion. We thought one dollar per dozen all round wasexorbitant, but when hardly anything is less than eightpence (as acent, according to the exchange, is more than a halfpenny) itseems ruinous. 

We get 4 dollars 80 cents only for the sovereign here, beingtenpence short of the five dollars. 

 * * * * *

May 28th. 

Our weather is improving, to-day has been lovely; but alas! withthe warmth have come the mosquitoes. I don't believe you will eversee us again; they (the mosquitoes) bite so fearfully, even in theday-time, that they will devour us up entirely. A---- is havingwire coverings made for the doors and windows; but, unfortunately, owing to the floods after the melting of the snow, all the storeswhich ought to have arrived in Winnipeg a month ago have beendelayed, and the shops are very short of goods of all sorts andkinds. There are said to be 4, 000 cars with provisions, etc. Between this and St. Paul. A---- and I spent an afternoon at theother farm, "Boyd, " which he rents of a Mr. Boyd, three thousandacres for 40 pounds a year. It is covered with low brushwood with afew trees here and there, and a good deal of marsh, and thereforeunfit for cultivation, so they keep it entirely for their cattleand for the cutting of hay in summer. It is a much prettier placethan this, the house being surrounded by trees, whereas here wehaven't one within seven miles, though last year they did theirbest and planted nearly five hundred round the house as avenues tothe drive; but only a few survived the drought of last autumn andsevere cold of winter, the rest are represented by dead sticks. Wetried to see the cattle at Boyd's, but they were away feeding onthe marsh and could only be looked at from a distance, as weneither of us felt inclined to run the chance of being bogged orof wetting our feet. 

In coming home we called at the tent, and I was surprised to findhow quickly Messrs. H---- and L---- were building their stable, which is to be large enough to hold two stalls and a room beyond, which, when they have a house, will make a good loose-box; but forthe time being they intend to live in, either sleeping in the loftor tent. 

To build a house or stable is not very difficult; but with nocarpenter or experienced man to help it wants a certain amount ofingenuity. You lay out your foundation by putting thick pieces ofoak called "sills" on the ground in the shape of your house. Intown these "sills" are nailed to posts which have been driveneight feet into the ground; but on the prairie are simply laid onthe flat; on to the sills come the joists, planks 2 x 6 placed onedge across, two feet apart. Then the uprights, which stand on thesills two feet apart, form the walls. To these you nail roughboards on each side, with a layer of tar-paper in between ifbuilding a stable; if a dwelling-house, on the inside you putagainst your rough board, laths, and then plaster, on the outsidethe tar-paper and siding. 

The floor is made by nailing rough boards on the joists, thentar-paper, and on the top of that tongued and grooved wood fittinginto each other, to make it air-tight. 

The roofs, which are almost always pointed on account of the snow, are composed of rafter 2 x 4, two to three feet apart, with roughboards across, then tar-paper and shingles; the latter are thin, flat pieces of wood laid on to overlap each other. 

We send you a small sketch of our buildings, which will give you abetter idea of these "frame" houses than any description. They canbe bought ready-made at Chicago, and are sent up with every piecenumbered, so that you have no difficulty in putting them togetheragain. 

Our own house is twenty-four feet square with a lean-to askitchen. The dining and drawing-rooms are each twelve feet square, separated by sliding-doors; A----'s bedroom, the entrance-hall, and stair-case dividing the remainder of the house. Our front-dooris not quite in the centre; but, thanks to the verandah, one doesnot perceive it. Above, looking due south, we have a bed-room, dressing-room, and large cupboard for our clothes. There are twoother rooms at the back for the men. 

The other house is for the labourers, of whom there are eleven, witha woman as cook, the wife of one of them; it is also for a warehouse, where all the spare implements and stores are kept. 

Besides these houses we have two good stables, one holdingfourteen horses, the other the remaining six (also the cows, pigs, and chickens during the winter); piggeries; and last, but notleast, my chicken-house. A---- has presented me with a dozen hens, for which he had to pay thirteen dollars, which with the seven oldones are my special charge, and are an immense amusement andoccupation. 

His farm here, as he has other land elsewhere besides the BoydFarm, consists of 480 acres; half of one section and a fourth ofanother. 

All the surveyed country in the North-west Territory has beendivided into townships thirty-six square miles, and they againinto sections of a mile square, which are marked out by thesurveyors with earth mounds thrown up (at the four corners) in theform of right-angled pyramids, with a post about three feet highstuck in the centre. The mounds are six feet square, with a squarehole on each side. To the marking of sections a similar mound iserected, only of smaller dimensions. 

The sections are numbered as shown by the following diagram:--

 N +----+----+----+----+----+----+ | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | +----+----+----+----+----+----+ | 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 | +----+----+----+----+----+----+ | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | W +----+----+----+----+----+----+ E | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | +----+----+----+----+----+----+ | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | +----+----+----+----+----+----+ | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | +----+----+----+----+----+----+ S

The Townships are numbered in regular order northerly from theInternational Boundary line or 49th parallel of latitude, and liein ranges numbered east and west from a certain meridian line, drawn northerly from the said 49th parallel, from a point tenmiles or thereabouts westward of Pembina. 

When the Government took over the territory from the Hudson BayCompany in 1870, two entire sections in every fifth township andone and three-quarters in every other, were assigned to theCompany as compensation. There were also two sections reserved asendowment to public education, and are called School Lands, andheld by the minister of the Interior, and can only be sold bypublic auction. 

The same was done for the half-breeds; 240 acres were allotted tothem in every parish. Their farms are mostly on the rivers, alongthe banks of which all the early settlers congregated; and to giveeach claimant his iota the farms had to be cut up into long stripsof four miles long by four hundred yards wide. 

On every section-line running north and south and to everyalternate running east and west nine feet, or one chain, is leftfor roads. Our farm-buildings are not quite in the centre of theestate, on account of having to make the drive up to the housebeyond the marsh on the eastern boundary. 

I have drawn you a plan of the farm; the spaces covered withlittle dots are the marshes: the one on the west extends formiles, and has a creek or dyke dug out by Government to carry offthe water. From the drawing it looks as if there was much marsharound us; but this bit of ground was the driest that could befound not already taken up. As it was, A---- purchased it of a manwho has some more land nearer Winnipeg, giving him five dollarsper acre. The Nos. 30 and 31 mean the sections of the townships. 

For emigrants wishing to secure a "homestead, " which is a grant of160 acres given by Government free, with the exception of anoffice-fee, amounting to ten dollars on all the even-numberedsections of a town-ship, he will now have to travel much furtherwest, as every acre around Winnipeg is already secured, and has inthe last two years risen most considerably in value. 

The Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, which was given by Government25, 000, 000 acres, besides the 25, 000, 000 dollars to make the lineacross the country from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to the Rockies, sell their land (which is on odd-numbered sections of every townshipfor twenty-four miles on each side of the track, with the exception ofthe two sections, 11 and 29, reserved for school-lands) for twodollars fifty cents, or ten shillings per acre, to be paid byinstalments, giving a rebate of one dollar twenty-five cents, or fiveshillings per acre, if the land is brought into cultivation within thethree or five years after purchase. 

A man occupying a "homestead" is exempt from seizure for debt, also his ordinary furniture, tools, and farm implements in use, one cow, two oxen, one horse, four sheep, two pigs, and food forthe same for thirty days; and his land cultivated, provided it isnot more than the 160 acres; also his house, stables, barns andfences; so that if a man has bad luck, he has a chance ofrecovering his misfortunes. 

In one of your letters you ask if a poor man coming out as labourer, and perhaps eventually taking up land as a homestead or otherwise, would encounter many difficulties. I fancy not, as both the Englishand Canadian Governments are affording every facility to emigrants, who can get through tickets from London, Liverpool, or Ireland at evena lower rate than the ordinary steerage passenger. They can havethemselves and their families booked all the way, the fares varyingfrom nine pounds five to the twenty-eight pounds paid by the saloon. 

On board ship the steerage have to find their own bedding andcertain utensils for use; otherwise everything else is provided, and, I am told, the food is both good and plenty of it. Regularauthorised officers of the Dominion Government are stationed atall the principal places in Canada, to furnish information onarrival. They will also receive and forward money and letters; andeveryone should be warned and put on their guard against thefictitious agents and rogues that infest every place, who try topersuade the new-comers into purchase of lands or higher rates ofwage. 

We heard the other day of an English gentlemen being taken in byone of these scoundrels, and giving a lot of money for land whichon examination proved to be worthless. Luckily for him, there wassome flaw in his agreement, and his purchase was cancelled. Menwho intend buying land should be in no great hurry about theirinvestments; the banks give a fair percentage on deposits, and itis always so much more satisfactory to look around beforesettling. 

E---- has been very busy arranging the garden; a most fatiguingprocess, as she has to cart all her own sods to make a foundationand then heap soil on to them; but having brought a quantity of seedsfrom England she feels bound to sow them, and hopes they will make agrand show later on, and the place quite gay. You should have seen thebeam of delight which shone on the countenance of a stranger who hadcome out from Winnipeg for the night, when on arrival he wasimmediately pressed into E----'s service to carry water for these saidseeds. The temperature is now at 64 degrees, and, as things grow as ifby magic, we hope they will soon put in an appearance. Oats plantedonly a week ago are now an inch above ground. We have had a nicebreeze the last two or three days, so that the mosquitoes have notworried 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 oldtufts and allow of the new shoots growing for hay. The fires looklike one long streak of quivering flame, the forked tips of whichflash and quiver in the horizon, magnified by refraction, and on adark night are lovely. In the day-time one only sees volumes ofsmoke which break the monotony of the landscape, though I don'tknow that it is picturesque. With a slight breeze the fires spreadin a marvellous way, even at the rate of eight or nine miles anhour. The other day A---- and Mr. H----, whilst putting up theirtent, did not perceive how near a fire they themselves had lightedat some distance was getting, until it was upon them. They thenhad to seize hold of everything, pull up the tent pegs as bestthey could, and make a rush through the flames, singeing theirclothes and boots a good deal. 

The pastures on the burnt prairie are good the whole summer, andanimals will always select them in preference to any other. Thewild ponies, be the snow in winter ever so deep, by pawing itaway, subsist on these young shoots and leaves of grasses, whichare very nutritious and apparently suffer little by the frost, which only kills the upper leaves but does not injure what isbelow. The mirage is also very curious; the air is so clear thatone often sees reflected, some way above the horizon, objects likethe river, trees, and even the town of Winnipeg, which we couldnot otherwise see; we could actually one evening, at sunset, distinguish the gas-lights. 

 * * * * *

Sunday. 

This is a real day of rest, and the men really do deserve it. Weall have a respite, as regards breakfast, it being at 9 o'clockinstead of 6. 30; and do we not appreciate the extra forty winks!The whole day is spent more or less in loafing, we having no regularchurch nearer than Winnipeg, sixteen miles, though an occasionalservice is given at Headingley, eight miles off. The men lie stretchedon the straw-heaps in the yard, basking and snoozing in the sun. Wegenerally have some stray man out from Winnipeg, and are much struckwith the coolness of their ways. Colonial manners, somehow, jar a gooddeal on one; they take it quite as a matter of course that we ladiesshould wait on them at table, and attend to their bodily comforts. Onthe other hand, they never seem to object to any accommodation theyget, and are perfectly satisfied with the drawing-room sofa for a bed, even with sheets taken out of the dirty linen bag, which has been onceor twice the case when our supply has run short. I don't object totheir coming, only that our Sunday dinners have to be in proportion, and as all our provisions come out from Winnipeg it is ratherdifficult catering. We have no outside larder or anywhere to keep ourmeat and butter, so have instituted a lovely one by putting all ourthings down the well, which is nearly dry and is under the kitchenfloor. In winter there is never any need of a larder, as the meat isfrozen so hard that it has to be twelve hours in the kitchen beforethey can attempt to cook it. 

Our food is very good and we have the best of all receipts, ravenous appetites for every meal. Our breakfast consists ofporridge, bacon, and any cold meat, jam, and any quantity ofexcellent butter and bread. Dinner, a hot joint and a pudding ofsome sort, finishing up with coffee. Supper, much the same. Wehave coffee for every meal, and, as the pot is always on the hob, anybody can have a cup when they like. The men have about two cupsapiece before breakfast when they first get up. We never mind anyamount of coffee, but wage war against the cocktails, taken beforemeals as appetisers. A cocktail is a horrid concoction of whisky, bitters, sugar and water, which are all mixed together with a"swidel" stick, which stick is always on the wander and for whicha search has to be made. Nipping is too much in vogue in thiscountry, but we are told that a lot of support is wanted, the airis so rarefied and the water has so much alkali in it, andtherefore not supposed to be healthy, but it is most beautifullyclear and delightfully cold to drink. 

It certainly does disagree with the horses and cattle when firstimported into the district. 

 * * * * *

June 3rd. 

If you happen to know of anybody coming out here, and so many do, andyou would like to give A---- a present, I wish you would kindly sendhim a few table-cloths, dusters, towels, and pairs of sheets; in shortany linen would be most acceptable as we are so short. How these menmanaged when the linen went into Winnipeg to be washed, and wassometimes kept a month ere it came home, is a mystery. These extra menliving in the house have none. They facetiously describe their ideasof dirt by saying, if the table-cloth, however filthy it might look, when flung against the wall didn't stick, it went on for another week;if it stuck, was then and there consigned to the dirty-linen bag. 

Since we have been here we have instituted a weekly wash, everyMonday and Tuesday. E---- and Mrs. G---- preside at the tub allday, and even then our sheets and towels often run short. 

Every colonist ought to provide himself with two pairs of sheets, half a dozen towels, two table-cloths, and a few dusters; and asthose things and his wearing apparel, if in use six monthspreviously, are allowed into the country free of duty, they mightas well bring them over as everything of that sort in Winnipeg isso fearfully dear I do not like buying anything there. We sent forsome unbleached calico the other day, worth twopence-halfpenny;was charged twelve cents or sixpence a yard. Besides the fouryards of calico there were ten of bed-ticking, also ten ofAmerican cloth; and the bill was six dollars seventy cents, nearlyseven-and-twenty shillings. Everything is equally dear, the demandis so much greater than the supply. Beef is tenpence tothirteenpence a pound, mutton about the same, bacon tenpence, porktenpence, chickens four and twopence each. We use a good deal oftinned corned beef; and very good it is, it makes into suchexcellent hashes and curries and is so good for breakfast. 

A---- also wants a pair of long porpoise-hide waterproof bootssending out; they are quite an essential, as after the heavy rainswater stands inches deep in our yards, and he has so much walkinginto the marshes. In the spring, when the snow has melted, the"sloughs" or mudholes along all the tracks and across the prairieare so deep that horses and waggons are repeatedly stuck in them, and the men have to go in, often up to their waist, to help thepoor animals out. The only way sometimes to get waggons out is tounhitch the horses, getting them on to firm ground, and by meansof a long chain or ropes fastened to the poles, pull the waggonsout which as a rule have previously had to be unloaded. Theclothes these men wear are indescribable. A---- at the presentmoment is in a blue flannel shirt, a waistcoat, the back of whichwe are always threatening to renew. Inexpressibles somewhatspotty, darned, and torn, and, thanks to one or two washings, haveshrunk, displaying a pair of boots which have not seen a blacking-brush since the day they left England. Coats are put on for meals, to do honour to the ladies, but seldom worn otherwise. The coarserand stronger the clothes are the better. A----'s straw hat is alsovery lovely, it serves periodically for a mark to shoot at withthe rifle on Sunday mornings, or when company come out from town. We both of us feel much like our old nurse when we are doing ourmendings, cutting up one set of old rags to patch another; butthanks to ammonia and hot irons, we flatter ourselves we make themalmost look respectable again. 

There is a half-breed called L'Esperance who lives about eightmiles from here, on the banks of the Assiniboine; and one of ourneighbours telling us the other day he had several buffalo robesto sell, we drove over to inspect them, and saw some real beautiesfor ten or twelve dollars; at the Hudson Bay stores, in town, theyask sixteen for them. L'Esperance himself wasn't at home when wegot there; but his wife, a fine, tall woman, speaking a peculiarFrench patois, showed us "around, " also the pemmicain, which isbuffalo-meat pounded, dried, and pressed into bags of skins, itkeeping good for years in that way. It looked nasty, but thechildren were chewing it apparently with great relish. Whilst inthe shanty we heard a great noise, and, running out, found ourhorse, which had either taken right or been stung by some fly, tearing past us with the buggy through the old lady's potato-fieldinto the bush. E---- tore after it, and in a few hundred yardscame up to the horse standing trembling, and gazing at the shatteredremains of our poor vehicle. He had tried to turn the corner, whenthe whole thing capsized topsy-turvy, and he had almost freedhimself of all the harness; luckily he was considerate enough notto have given that "one more struggle" which would have indeedsettled the whole question, and obliged us to foot it on our tentoes home. Curiously enough the shafts were not broken, but thesplinter-bar was. There was quite a procession back to the shanty, the half-breed woman and one girl dragging the buggy, one childcarrying the cushion, another the whip and wraps, and E---- leadingthe horse. We set to work to make good the damage as best wecould, with thin strips of buffalo-hide, and started homewards;but without buying our robes, not daring to add to our weight. Theman at the ferry-boat gave us an extra binding up, and by goingcautiously we got home, though we feared every moment would be ourlast, as regards driving, as the bound-up parts creaked mostominously all the way, and we fully expected at every rough bit togo in half. The horse is generally so quiet that we never mindwhere we leave him standing. I luckily have just given A---- a newcarriage, which will come in very handy. It is to be a "democrat, "double seats, and one long enough to be able to carry luggage. These small buggies are beautifully light, but will carry next tonothing; and we always have difficulty in accommodating all ourparcels every time we come out of Winnipeg. 

 * * * * *

June 6th. 

A waggon is going into town to-morrow to fetch a sulky and a gang-plough, and some potatoes for seeding; and we hope a few also ofthe latter for eating, as hitherto our only vegetables have beenwhite beans and rice. You may be wondering what these ploughs are:a sulky is a single-furrowed sixteen inch plough, to which areharnessed three horses, a man riding on a small seat and drivingthem instead of walking; and a "gang" is a two-furrowed twelve-inch plough, and drawn by four to six horses, and which will breakover four acres a day; the sulky about three. A---- has had onefor some time, but as yet only the deep ploughing or backsettingof last year's breaking has been going on, and until the seedingand harrowing is finished, which ought to have been done beforenow, but this year has been delayed by the lateness of the spring, and the snow being so long in melting, no fresh breaking has beenbegun. 

There are still about two hundred and eighty acres to break, or, moreproperly speaking, two hundred and forty, as forty acres are in marsh, in which water stands so deep no cultivation would be possible, though, later on, the marshes yield beautiful crops of hay; rathercoarse-looking stuff, but undeniably nutritious, and not distastefulto either horses or beast. It has often been speculated as to whetherthere was any means of draining the marshes, but, owing to the extremelevel character of the country, you could get no fall, and tiles wouldnot do on account of the severity of the frosts, which penetratedeeper into the ground than the drains could be carried. TheGovernment have cut good-sized ditches at right angles to the river, and they are found to be the only practical drainage which isfeasible, and, when once cut and the water set running, have notendency to fill up, but gradually wear deeper and broader, so that intime they almost become small rivers. We have one running through ourwest marsh, and on a bye-day we sometimes fish in it for pike; notthat any of our party have been successful, but some of our neighbourscatch fish, and very fair-sized ones. 

The land is wonderfully rich and good. A black loam (which colour isno doubt due, partly, to the gradual accumulation of the charredgrasses left by prairie fires), of about two feet in depth, with aclay and sandy sub-soil, and in which, they say, they will be able togrow cereals for the next twenty years, without manure or itsdeteriorating; though if there was only time to do it before the snowfalls, it seems a pity not to put the manure on to the land instead ofburning it, as they do at the present moment. Perhaps when all theland is broken, which they hope will be by the end of next summer, they won't be so pushed for work as they are. 

The ground here requires a great deal of cultivation. It is firstof all broken with a fourteen or sixteen inch plough, so shapedthat it turns the sod over as flat as possible, generally from thedepth of two to two-and-a-half inches deep, the shallower thebetter, and then left to rot with the sun and rain for two monthsand a half. 

It has often been tried, and with very good results, to put in acrop of oats on the first breaking, sowing broadcast and turning avery thin sod over them; and the sod pulverizes and decomposesunder the influence of a growing crop quite as effectually as ifonly turned over and left to itself. There are also fewer weeds, which is of importance, as it often happens that the weeds whichgrow soon after the breaking are as difficult to subdue as thesod. If the soil is nice and soft a man and team of horses willbreak an acre and a half a day, and average throughout the seasonan acre. The breaking goes on until the middle of July, and theend of August the "backsetting" begins, which is ploughing thesame ground over again about two inches deeper. 

The following spring the harrows (which are "disc" of a peculiarshape, twelve to eighteen razor-wheels on an axle, and in goinground cut through and break any sods), are run over repeatedlyboth before and after the seeding; the ground is also rolled andthen left, and for the two-and-a-half bushels of oats or twobushels of wheat-seed per acre, hopes for a grand return beingalways entertained. 

By some experts late autumn sowing is strongly advocated, as, during the fall, owing to the dryness of the atmosphere, there isscarcely any growth; so that the grain sown late cannot germinate, nor can it absorb water or rain enough to rot it, the wintersbeing so dry. And when the first days of spring come the snowmelts, the starch of the seed has changed to grape-sugar, andbegins to germinate; so that the young plants will in no way bedamaged by subsequent droughts, nor by the frosts which sometimescome after heavy rains in August and much injure the crops. At thepresent moment we are craving for rain, and should the crops notbe as plentiful this year as expected, on account of the drought, I should feel much inclined to try autumn sowing. 

Before the prairie is broken, the turf is very tough, and requiresa great deal of force to break it; but when once turned thesubsequent ploughings are easy. 

Our chief difficulty and trouble are the stones; they generallylie just beneath the surface, differing very much in size. Someare huge and have to be regularly trenched round and horsesharnessed to a chain put round them to raise them out of theground; when they are put on to the stone-boat and conveyed to theboundary fence. It generally falls to E----'s and my special lotto drive the stone-boat or the waggons, whilst the men withcrowbars and spades go before the ploughs clearing them all away, for fear they may blunt the shares and throw them out of thefurrow. 

The last two or three days, when not stone-picking, A---- and Mr. B---- have been stretching the barb-wire with which they areenclosing the property; and there has been great chaff about our"Jehuship. " The wooden posts along which the wire is run are putin the ground, and they then have to be rammed down with afearfully heavy wooden mallet, which I can hardly lift. To getpurchase on the mallet A---- mounts into the waggon, whichaccordingly has to be driven quite close up to the post withouttouching it. 

The two old mares we drive are more than difficult to turn or stopto a nicety, the result being that once I went too near and brokeoff a piece of the waggon. Another time, after a corner-post hadbeen driven in most securely with props, E---- drove up againstit, taking the whole concern away bodily. 

The weather is quite delightful, no mosquitoes as yet to speak of;but the two big marshes on either side of the farm harbour themdreadfully. 

Wild duck also abound in these marshes; there are thousands about, and we have found many nests and been revelling in the eggs, adelightful change to our regular _menu_. The nests are verydifficult to find; we two went one afternoon in the buggy to lookfor some, and the men declare we looked in the marshes themselvesfor them, which was not certainly the fact; though after drivinground all the outsides, and not having been warned that the marshon the eastern boundary of the farm was very deep, we came homethat way, not at all liking the water coming up to the axle-treesand the horse floundering about at every step. To turn back was asbad as to go on, and as we saw wheel-tracks along the fence westuck to them, thanking our stars when we got through safely. 

 * * * * *

June 12th. 

We have had a real visitor lately--I mean one who has brought achange, and a toothbrush; and for the auspicious event we riggedhim up a stretcher bed, the most comfortable of things, canvasstretched on to a wooden frame, with a mattress on the top. Youcould not wish for anything softer. He was one of our oceancompanions; his nickname of Mike still sticks to him. On gettingto Winnipeg at night he had great difficulty in finding ourwhereabouts; even at the Club he was told the only W---- knownkept a store in Main Street. Luckily from the Club he went toA----'s livery stable, which is exactly behind it, where a manoffered to drive him out forthwith, having driven another man hereonly four days ago; but he preferred waiting till the morning, getting here somewhere about 9 o'clock, when he was set downimmediately to work to stone the raisins for a plum cake, and whentired of that had to help A---- planting potatoes. He declares henever will come here with his best clothes and a "boiled" shirt onagain, as we have worked him so hard. 

The accounts he gives, in an exaggerated Irish brogue, of hisexperiences in Minnesota have kept us in fits of laughter. Thedescription of their first drive, when both he and his companionswere all bogged; and how that twenty-seven mules and twenty-eighthorses bought at St. Louis all arrived one night at the stationabout 5 o'clock, after sixty hours' travelling with no food orwater, had to be unloaded from the cars, and they hadn't a halteror even a rope to do it with. Eventually they got all the poorbeasts into a yard with wooden pailing round, but, somethingstartling them, they made a rush, the fence gave way, for whichdamage the proprietor charged them ten pounds, and all gallopedstraight on to the prairie, and it took the men all night gettingthem together again. One pair of horses disappeared altogether;but were brought back when a reward of thirty dollars was offered;they had wandered nineteen miles. 

Mike slept in A----'s room. They talked so much, and told so manyfunny stories, that we despaired of ever getting them down tobreakfast; Mike declaring he would like to bring his bed alongwith him, as he hadn't slept in one, or been between sheets sinceleaving New York, six weeks previously. We drove him over oneafternoon to fish in the creek about two and a half miles off; butas we had to go in a light waggon, and with only one spring seat, both Mike and A---- had to hang on behind, with a plank as seat, which was always slipping and landing them on their backs at thebottom of the waggon. When we were about half a mile from homeE---- made a wager that she would get through the wire fence andhome across the prairie before we could get round and the horsesbe in their stable. We had a most exciting race; the gates, whichare only poles run from one end of the wire to another, were agreat impediment, and I believe it was really a dead heat, throughall the labourers entering into the joke and rushing to unhitch thehorses, which were disappearing into the stable as E---- was atthe kitchen-door. 

I fancy that on the whole, in spite of his hard work, Mike enjoyedhis visit, not only for the pleasure of our society, but as he hadnever seen a piece of meat, nor anything but pork and beans andbad coffee at Warren, nor had a bed to lie on, nor as much wateras could be held in a tea-cup to wash in; he must have felt he haddropped into a land of Goshen by some happy mistake. 

To give you a clearer insight into our daily life, and as I havenothing really to write about this week, I think I cannot dobetter than copy out our journals, which we try to keep regularly, though in our monotonous every-day life it is sometimes difficultto find incidents to chronicle. 

_Monday_. --Wash and cook all the morning; E---- and A---- plantwillows in the marsh during the afternoon. I wander about the prairiein search of a duck's nest I saw yesterday and thought I had marked;but the tracks, stones, and ridges on the prairie are so alike, thatit is almost impossible to remember any place; anyhow, I cannot findthe nest. I could not take it yesterday, as I was riding, and theanimal will not stand still to let you mount, and had I had toscramble up on to her I should certainly have broken all the eggs Itook. An exhausting day with a hot wind blowing; we are craving forrain, and thankful for the slight showers that fell during last night. It is marvellous how quickly vegetation will grow. Some sample wheatplanted in the garden, of which there was no sign yesterday, thanks tothe rain and sun has grown quite an inch by 6 o'clock this evening. The grass is beginning to look so green and nice. 

_Tuesday_. --E---- and Mrs. G---- finish their wash which they couldnot get through yesterday. I go up to the tent, with Mr. H---- todrive his waggon, and help to unlumber the wood he brought outyesterday from Winnipeg. Riding on these waggons loaded, andwithout a spring seat, is anything but pleasant over the prairie, but Mr. H---- is so accustomed to it now that he can stretchhimself on the top and sleep soundly; and once or twice, comingout from town, has found himself in quite the wrong direction byallowing the horses to go their own way. 

E---- and I spend our afternoon cleaning up the tent. 

_Wednesday_. --A---- and I drive into Winnipeg. We have had variouscommissions to do, and A---- had to attend a meeting at the Club. Mr. W. H---- has most amiably put his house, consisting of two rooms and akitchen below, at our disposal whenever we want to rest; so I spent mywhole afternoon there, nominally reading the "St. James's Gazette, "but, I fancy, indulging in "forty winks" whilst waiting for A----. Weafterward dined with the judge in his very nice pretty house called"The Willows, " driving home later. The cold was so great that A----, who had brought no great-coat, was forced to run behind the buggy someway to get warm and produce circulation. The prairie fires quitelovely, on all sides, quivering high flames for miles, and the nightbeing dark, they looked very bright. 

_Thursday_. --Was so tired after my day in town that I breakfasted inbed; disgraceful! By the time I get down the family have all dispersedto their various works. After dinner E---- and I drive a waggon overto the Boyd Farm to fetch oats for Mr. H----. The students, whohaven't much to do, are enlisted into the filling and loading of thesacks; rather glad, we fancy, of some occupation. On our return wefound a friend of Mr. B----'s, who, having heard of our proximity, heliving at Headingley, has come over to dine and sleep. Our "parlour"sofa, as usual, is called into requisition. It will soon be worn out, so many sleep on it. I think last week it was occupied nearly everynight. 

_Friday_. --We have had very smart company to-day, as the judge, hiswife, niece, and another man came over. We hoped they would star todinner, and had "killed fatted calf"; but I fancy the ladies dreadedthe prairie by night, and insisted upon returning--we could hardlypersuade them to take a cup of tea--fearing that they might bebenighted. 

_Saturday_. --Hard at work cleaning all the morning. Mr. B----'s friendleaves after dinner, and I drive the mares in the waggons whilst themen stretch the wire-fencing. E---- rides to the tent with letters. Wesustained rather a shock to our nerves to-day; about 12 o'clock abuggy was seen coming towards the house just as we were sitting downto dinner, and as our food was scanty we did not know how we possiblycould feed three extra men. Luckily they only came to enquire theirroute to the tent, and it was a relief when they drove on; though wefelt we ought to have given them some food, as the tent could onlyprovide bacon and biscuits. 

_Sunday_. --Mrs. G----, our factotum, has a holiday, and goes over withsome of the other labourers to spend the day at the other farm. E----and I have to undertake the _menage_ for the whole day. Our mutton, aleg, was very nicely done, also our vegetables, rice, and beans; butthe "evaporated" apples, which we use much, required boiling previousto being put in a tart, which we neither of us knew. Therefore theywere not done, and the crust was all burst. The men from the tent, whogenerally spend their Sundays here, were allowed some dinner, oncondition they washed up afterwards. 

 * * * * *

June 18. 

I am afraid our letters will not be so interesting as the noveltywears off: the monotony of our life may begin to pall upon us. Wehardly ever go two miles beyond the farm; to take our neighboursat the tent their letters or parcels brought out from town, isabout the limit to our wanderings. We did drive one of the waggonsto our neighbour Mr. Boyle to fetch home some oats the othernight, and we also have been into town to pay our respects to theGovernor and his wife. We happily don't want much outsideattraction, for we have so much to do on the farm. The men work uspretty hard, I can tell you; as, besides all our indoor work, wehave had three afternoons cutting potatoes for seed, until ourhands are too awful to look at, and the water is so hard that wenever shall get them a decent colour again. Some "white elephants"potatoes, planted three weeks ago (thirty in number we cut into420 pieces) already make a great show, and will want banking upnext week. About ten acres of ground close to the house have beenreserved and are called "the garden, " in which have been plantedturnips, flax, beet-root, lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes; inshort, all the luxuries of the season. But I am afraid none willbe ready before we leave, if we carry out our idea of going toColorado early in August. 

We have been craving for rain, and at last, luckily, had adelightful shower a few days ago, which has freshened us up andwill make things grow. There is no grass as yet above four inchesin height, and this time last year they were hay-making. The menare beginning to fear there will be none; but with a little warmweather and a certain amount of rain everything grows as if bymagic, so we may still hope to have a good season. 

Only very few of the garden-seeds have made their appearance, which is disappointing after all the trouble they were; but thewild flowers are beginning to come out on the prairie, smallbushes of wild roses are all over; there are also very prettysunflowers, a tree maiden-hair, several different vetches, sisters, yellow-daisies, &c. ; many we cannot name, indigenous tothis country we conclude. 

 * * * * *

June 26. 

We quite feel as if we had been here years instead of about fiveweeks; and though it was prophesied before we left England that, after turning the house up-side down and making the men veryuncomfortable with our cleanings, we should then go on strike, ithas not been altogether fulfilled. We certainly did try to cleanup a bit, but we still help in housework, and have to do as theservants at home. If we expect visitors, or on a Sunday, put on atidy gown; otherwise we generally live in the oldest of frocks(which are more or less stained with either mud or the red paintwith which we have been painting the roofs of both the stable andthe labourers' house), very big aprons, sleeves to match, and oursun-bonnets. E---- has concocted for herself a thin blue-and-whiteshirt, and as she generally lives with her sleeves tucked up, herarms are getting quite brown and sunburnt. Our boots are the onlythings we do not much like cleaning, they get so soon dirty again;and we have come to the happy conclusion that unblacked boots havea "cachet" that blacked boots have not. When we first arrived themen promised to do them for us every Sunday; which promises, likeso many, have partaken of the nature of pie-crusts. 

We are both of us delighted to have come, the whole experience isso new, and what we couldn't have realised in England; and I amsure, in spite of the _bouleversement_ of the bachelor _regime_, itis a great pleasure to the men we are here. Our Winnipeg acquaintancestell us that A---- is quite a changed man, so cheery and evenbumptious, and that everything is now "What we do at the farm. "

It is all very well, however, in the summer; if obliged to staythrough the winter, it would be quite another "pair of shoes. " Thethermometer often registers forty degrees of frost, though theeffects of this extreme temperature in the dry exhilaratingatmosphere is not so unpleasant as might be imagined, but theloneliness and dreariness of the prairie with two or three feet ofsnow would be appalling. The cold is so great that you have to puton a buffalo coat, cap, and gloves, before you can touch the stoveto light the fire, and notwithstanding the coal stove which isalways kept going in the hall to warm the up-stairs room (throughwhich the pipe is carried), the water in buckets standingalongside gets frozen. 

Then the blizzards, which are storms of sleet and snow driven witha fierce wind, and so thick that it is quite impossible to get outof doors, or see at all, would be too trying. 

Even to get across the yard to the further stable the men have tohave a rope stretched as guide so as not to lose their way; andthese storms sometimes, as they did this last year, continue forthree weeks consecutively. 

The snow on the prairie is never very deep, but it drifts a gooddeal, and was to the depth of twelve feet on the west side of thehouse. 

No work can be done much in the winter on account of the cold andsnow, so that from the middle of April, when the snow begins togo, until the beginning of October everything has to be rushedthrough and as many hands put on as they can possibly get, who areall discharged at the end of the summer and only two or three keptto look after the animals. After threshing, these men have littleor nothing to do: digging out the well to water the horses, teaming hay into the town on sleighs, and fetching timber overfrom the other farm, is about their only outdoor occupation. Allthe animals in the shape of horses, cows, pigs and chickens arehuddled together in the stables for warmth. 

 * * * * *

July 5th. 

We have received our letters most unexpectedly to-day; two of ourgentlemen coming out last night from town brought sundry parcels, newspapers, etc. , but never thought of turning round to see if allwas safe in back of carriage, declaring it was such rough drivingthey could only think of how to hang on and not be jolted out, sothat by the time they got home, letters, a horse-collar, sparecushions, etc. Were all gone. It was too late to send after them;but one of the men started back at 3:30 this morning, finding mostof the lost things strewn broadcast over the prairie, even towithin a short distance of Winnipeg. He went on to feed and baithis horses, at the same time enquiring for letters, finding oursjust come in, and which would have lain there until our nextopportunity. 

Our variety to-day has been the absence of our cook, and we areagain left in charge, and we flatter ourselves the dinner was"immense. " Stewed-beef, rice, mushrooms, (of which some wererather burnt, others not quite done enough, but that is a trifle), yorkshire pudding (baking-powder making an excellent substitutefor eggs), and an apple tart. What more could you want? We arequite ambitious now, and have curries, rissoles, etc. A---- usedto say he hoped, we should not expect either him or his friendsto eat our dishes, as they would have to go to bed afterwards forat least three or four hours; but they very much appreciate anychange made in the _menu_. 

We are longing to make bread, which takes up a great deal of ourfactotum's time, as it has to be set over night and kneaded threeor four times the following day; but are begged to defer thatamusement until within a few days of our departure, as it would soentirely upset our American trip if we had to attend A----'sobsequies. The bread is perfectly delicious, so light and so whitein colour. The flour is excellent. It is not made with brewersyeast, but with a yeast gem dissolved in warm water, to which isadded a handful of dried hops boiled beforehand for about tenminutes, and strained. To that is added a cupful of flour ateaspoonful of salt, and one of sugar, and the whole is put into awarm place to ferment; when fermented, which takes about twelvehours, into a cool place, where it will remain good and sweet sometime. 

_A Receipt for Bread-Making_. 

Put ten large spoonfuls of flour in a breadpan, and add enoughwarm water to make it into a thin batter, add half a pint ofyeast, mix well, and, having covered the bread-pan with a cloth, put it in a warm place near the stove over night. During the nightit should rise and settle again. In the morning add enough flourto make it in into a thick dough, and knead it on a bread-boardfor ten minutes. Put it back into pan for two hours and let itrise again. Grease your baking-tins, knead your dough again, andthen fill the tins half full, put them close to the stove to rise, and when they have risen thoroughly, grease the tops of yourloaves with a little butter (preventing the crust breaking andgiving it a nice brown colour) and put them into the oven and bakefor an hour to an hour and a quarter. 

As E---- had not Mrs. G---- to wash up with her, she enlisted oneof the men, and it was very funny to see him in a hat three timestoo big for his head, pipe in his mouth, sleeves turned up, dryingthe dishes and putting a polish on them. Talking of hats, E----has at last got one and a half, it literally covers even hershoulders, and at midday she declares she is as much in shade asunder a Japanese umbrella; for trimming a rope is coiled round thecrown, the only way to make it stay on the head. Of her glovesthere is only the traditional one left; the other is among thevarious articles we have left on the prairie, bumped out of thebuggy one day when she took them off to take care of them in ashower of rain. 

That driving on the prairie is loathsome, but if we want to getabout at all we must do it, as we don't like the riding horses. Atthe present moment we have got one of the plough animals, which isrideable. The poor beast was frightened one night three weeks ago, during a fearful storm of thunder and lightning, and ran into thebarb wire, wounding itself horridly on the shoulders and neck. Theskin had to be sewn up, and it cannot wear a collar for thepresent so we have it to ride if we like. It is not a slug likethe other two. 

The thunder-storms here are frightful; they are also very grand towatch, as we can see them generally for miles before they come up. We, luckily, have about ten lightning conductors on the houses andstables, so that we feel safe. A thunder-bolt fell pretty near theother day, destroying about six posts and the wire of our northfence. Thanks to the rain we have lately had, and the warm sun, wefind such quantities of mushrooms all over the prairie. They growto such a size! We measured two, one was 21 1/2 inches round, theother 21, very sweet and good, and as pink underneath as possible. The labourers have been so pleased with them that last Sunday theybegan picking and cooking them in early morning, going on withrelays more or less all day, so that by the evening they couldn'tlook another in the face, and it will be some time before theytouch them again. We have them for every meal. 

Our diaries here are more or less public property, and as we havebeen nowhere or seen anything at all exciting since we last wrote, I am going to copy down from the journals the incidents, if any, of the last week. You seemed to appreciate it the last time wesent you home a copy, but you must forgive if it is somewhat of arepetition to our numerous letters. The weather, for one thing, isdaily chronicled, as it takes up much of our thoughts, so much inthe future depending on its being propitious just at this time ofyear, when the seeds are all sown and the hay almost ready to cut. 

_Tuesday_. --Beautiful day, so warm and nice, without beinghot; everything growing, too, marvellously; even the seeds in thegarden, which we began to despair of, are coming up. 

The men have been very low, on account of the scarcity of rain;but we have had one or two thunder-storms lately which, have donegood, and in this climate I do not think one ought ever to give uphopes. E---- has been painting wild flowers, which at this momentare in great profusion and variety all over the prairie, most ofthe day, varying her work by painting the doors of the room, whichwere such an ugly colour, a pale yellow green, that they haveoffended our artistic eyes ever since we have been here. I am saidto have wasted my whole morning watching my two-days-old chickens, supposed to be the acme of intelligence and precocity. Theafternoon was spent in shingling the hen-house. It was only roofedover with tar-paper laid on to the rafters, which answers well ifthe wind doesn't blow the paper about, or that it has not anyholes; but as the hen-house is only a lean-to of the stable, theroof of which we have been very busily painting, it has beentrodden upon a good deal in getting on and off the roof, and, inconsequence, the paper is much like a sponge, letting any rain in, and drenching the poor sitting fowls; but with the shinglesoverlapping each other on the tar-paper, the roof, will be quitewater-tight. 

_Wednesday_. --Our factotum has gone into town, and we areleft in charge, E---- parlour-maid, Mr. B---- scullery-man, and Icook. We have heaps of mushrooms at every meal, a most agreeablechange to the rice and white beans we have only hitherto had. 

_Thursday_. --Hot day. A---- went into town to some meeting atthe Club. We have been dreadfully tormented with mosquitoes today, also the big "bull-dog" fly, which, whenever the kitchen door wasleft ajar, came into the house in myriads; but we find thatKeating's powder most effectually destroys them, and in a very fewseconds. We have been busy making a mattress and pillow for Mr. H----, really one does not realise how clever one is until ourgenius is put to the test in an establishment like this. E---- andI drove up to the tent after supper with our handiwork, and hadgreat pleasure in seeing it filled with hay. Our drive was not ofthe most enviable: we had a waggon with no spring seat, only aboard, which was always moving, to sit upon; one horse would tearalong, the other not pull an ounce, in spite of applying the whipa good deal, and we were nearly smothered with mosquitoes, I neversaw such clouds of them, and on our return home there was ageneral rush for the bottle of ammonia, which is the only thingthat allays the irritation. 

_Friday_. --Excitements have been crowding in upon us to-day. Bob, one of the labourers, who went into Winnipeg yesterday, onlyarrived home at 3 A. M. This morning. He left town at 6, but thenight being dark he lost his way, and finding himself on the edgeof a marsh, having a feed of oats with him, wisely unhitched hishorses, tied them to the wheels, and waited patiently fordaylight. Just as we were sitting down to dinner, three men whohave been surveying the Government ditch near here, came andbegged to be fed. Luckily we had soup and plenty of cold meat; butour pudding--the less said about that the better. We always havethe evaporated apples as a stand by, and they are delicious; sowith quantities of butter and milk we never need starve. 

Then in the evening, when Mr. B---- was going to the stable toserve out the oats for the horses, he came in for the finish of anexciting race between two of the plough horses. The jockeys orriders were told forthwith that a waggon was going into town thefollowing morning, and that their services would be dispensed within future. Just as we were going to bed we heard A---- coming in, and with him a stranger who turned out to be our cousin, onlyfifteen days out from England, _via_ Canada. He looks verydelicate. 

_Saturday_. --We had made no preparation for E. P---- last night, so hehad to occupy the "parlour" sofa, and says he slept like a top;doubtlessly did not require much rocking, as he had travelled throughalmost without stopping. We were busy all this morning writing lettersfor the discharged miscreants to take into town. It has been very hotand close all day. I, rode up to the tent, and hurried home, seeing athunder-storm coming up, which was grand; and it was very lucky that Igot home, as it began to rain at 3 o'clock, and is still pouring inperfect torrents at 10 o'clock P. M. 

_Sunday_. --The yard is in such a fearful state of dirt, and the waterstanding inches deep, that it has been nearly impossible to movebeyond the door. I put on A----'s long waterproof boots, and managedto get as far as my hen-house, and found two of my chickens dead. 

Another sitting hen has been a source of great anxiety, as shewill peck her chicks to death as they hatch, and out of a sittingof eleven eggs we have only been able to save five birds. A wetSunday hangs very heavily on our hands here, as there is nothingto be done. 

_Monday_. --Big wash as usual all the morning, and just as E---- and Iwere to drive a waggon over to Mr. Boyle for some oats which requiredfetching, we had quite a scare. A _lady_ and gentleman were seen to beriding up. We both of us rushed up-stairs to put on some clean apronsto do honour to our guests, who, with another man, also out from town, remained the whole afternoon. We have never dined as many as ninepeople in our vast apartments before, but we managed very nicely. 

We have had heavy showers with a high wind, and the thermometerdown to 50 all the afternoon. We tried to persuade our ladyvisitor to stay the night, A---- offering to give up his room; butshe persisted in going back, and, I am afraid, will have got verywet, in spite of E---- lending her waterproof jacket. 

_Tuesday_. --The household had a long turn in bed this morning, Mr. B---- only getting down at about 7. 15, when various thingswere offered him to prop open his eye-lids when he did appear. 

The weather has been slightly better than yesterday, but the windhas been high, and it was really quite cold; varied by slightshowers of rain in the morning. In the afternoon we all made hay. I worked my rake until my horse beat me by refusing to move in anydirection excepting homewards; and I had to call A----, who wasstone getting, to my rescue. He, with judicious chastisement inthe shape of a kick or so, made the horse work. E---- and E. P----loaded hay. Thanks to the late rains the marshes were heavy, andthey very nearly stuck once or twice in going through them. Therewere no mosquitoes, which was a blessing, but one is nevertroubled with them in a high wind. 

 * * * * *

July 9. 

You should have seen A---- and his equipage start into Winnipegtwo days ago. He and the men from the tent had to go in and bringout a waggon and the new "Cortland waggon" (my present), and theyhad to take in the broken buggy to be mended. So they started witha four-in-hand to their cart, the broken buggy tied on behind, andanother pair of horses behind that again. The buggy they say verynearly capsized going over the bridge of the creek when nearWinnipeg, otherwise they got on beautifully; but it was a funnyarrangement altogether, and they seemed to cover a quarter of amile of ground as they left here. Winnipeg grows in a mostastonishing way; every time we go in, a new avenue or street seemsto have started up. Emigrants, they say, are coming in at the rateof a hundred a day. A few years ago the population was about fivethousand, in 1878 about ten, now over forty thousand, a fourth ofwhom are living under canvas. 

It was estimated last winter that the building operations thisseason would amount to four million dollars, but double thatamount is nearer the mark, and many are obliged to abandon theidea of building on account of the difficulty of getting timberand bricks. Every house or shanty is leased almost before it isfinished. Winnipeg, as you know, was formerly known as Fort Garry, and one of the chief trading stations of the Hudson Bay Company. Of the old fort, I am sorry to say, there is very little left, andthat is shortly to be swept away for the continuation of MainStreet. The Governor, now occupying the old house, is to have asplendid building, which, with the Houses of Legislature, are inthe course of construction, rather farther away from the river. 

The town is built at the confluence of two great rivers, the Redand Assiniboine, the former rising in Minnesota, and flowing intolake Winnipeg 150 miles north, navigable for 400 miles. TheAssiniboine has many steamers on it; but the navigation being moredifficult, the steamers often sticking on the rapids, it is notmuch in vogue with emigrants going west, particularly now that therailway takes them so much more rapidly. 

There is a large suburb of the town the other side of the Red Rivercalled St. Boniface face, the see of a Roman Catholic Archbishop;possessing a beautiful cathedral and a great educational school foryoung ladies; for some reason or other we never managed to get overthere to see it, though the cathedral is a grand landmark for a greatdistance. 

The railway traffic also is enormous. During the flood 4, 000freight waggons were delayed at St. Vincent; now they are comingin at the rate of 4, 000 per week, and still people cannot gettheir implements, stores, &c. Fast enough. We have asked severaltimes for some turpentine at one of the shops, and the answeralways given is, "It is at the depot, but not unloaded. "

We have been wanting turpentine to mix with the brown paint withwhich we are painting, the dining-room doors. But first of all thepaint fails, and then the turpentine, and I fully expect ourbeautiful work of art will not be finished before we leave. 

 * * * * *

July 12th. 

It is very certain that no gentleman ought to come out to thiscountry, or, when here, can expect to prosper, unless he has somecapital, heaps of energy, and brains, or is quite prepared to sinkthe gentleman and work as a common labourer. 

The latter command the most wonderful wages, there is such ademand for them that one can hardly pick and choose. A plough-boygets from four to six pounds a month, an experienced man fromeight to ten pounds, besides their board and lodging; a mechanicor artisan from fourteen to sixteen shillings a day; womenservants are very scarce, they get from four to six pounds amonth. We were so astonished at the wages in New York; the headgardener in the Navy Yard was receiving one hundred and fiftypounds a year, his underling, seventy-five pounds, the groom onehundred pounds. It is surprising to me that the whole of thepoorer classes in England and Ireland, hearing of these wages, donot emigrate, particularly when now-a-days the steerage in thepassenger ships seems to be so comfortable, and that for about sixpounds they can be landed on this side of the Atlantic. We havenine Britishers and two Canadians on this farm, and the amount ofground broken up does everyone great credit, considering that thewhole place is only of a year and a half's growth. Since wearrived we can mark rapid and visible strides towards completion. The house has been banked up and grassed, a fence put to encloseall the yard, and we have actually had the audacity to talk abouta tennis ground, which would take an immense deal of making, fromthe unevenness of the soil. The water, having no real outflow, makes itself little gullies everywhere, which would be verydifficult to fill up level; but I don't know that, until we areacclimatized to the mosquitoes, said to be the happy result of asecond year's residence, that we should feel inclined to playtennis, as we could only indulge in that diversion of an eveningwhen work was ended, and that is just the worst time for thesepests. They spoil all enjoyment, we never can sit out under theverandah after supper which we should so like to do these warmevenings. They bite through everything, and the present fashion oftight sleeves to our gowns is a trial, as no stuffs, not even thindogskin, are proof against them, and our faces, arms, and justabove our boots are deplorable sights. Ammonia is; the only remedyto allay the irritation. I am not drawing a long bow when I saythat in places the air is black with them. 

The poor horses and cows are nearly maddened with them if turnedout to graze, and the moment the poles across the road arewithdrawn they gallop back into their stables. The mosquitoes aregreat big yellow insects, about half an inch long. 

The house and country at Boyd's farm is much prettier than this, from the lot of trees round it, and the ground not being so flat;but we wouldn't change for all the world, it is so stuffy, and theflies and mosquitoes are much worse there than here, where wecatch the slightest breeze of wind, which always drives them away. We were dreading making the hay in the marshes on account of them. 

I do not think we shall suffer much from the heat, as nearlyalways, even in the hottest part of the day, there is a breeze;and as yet the nights are deliciously cool, we have never foundone blanket too much covering. 

We talk of going an expedition up west next week, taking thecarriage and horses, and driving as far as Fort Ellice. I don'tknow that we either of us look forward to the expedition verymuch, as we fear we shall have to rough it too greatly; but, onthe other hand, it seems a pity not to see something more of thecountry. There are hardly any inns or resting-places; theaccommodation may be fearful. We hear that about fourteen peopleare lodged in one room as an ordinary rule. A---- has gone intoWinnipeg to make arrangements; and if he finds we cannot depend onthe inns, we shall take a tent, and camp by the towns, going infor our meals to restaurants. 

 * * * * *

 In the Train 200 miles West of Winnipeg, July 24, 1882. 

As we seem to stop every two or three miles for some triflingcause or another, I am in hopes I may get through a long, maybedisjointed letter to post to you on our way through Winnipegto-night, which we wish to reach about 6 o'clock, giving us time todrive out to the farm before it is quite dark. I told you we wereproposing a trip up North-west, and we really have had a mostsuccessful journey. A---- has a friend, Manager of the Birtle LandCompany, who with others has bought up land, intends breaking somany acres on each section and then reselling it, hoping thereby toclear all expenses and make a lot of money besides; and as he hadto go up and look after the property, it was settled we should allgo together, and very glad we are that we did do it, though we havehad some very funny experiences. We are pleased to find that allthe North-west is not like the country around Winnipeg, so awfullyflat and without a tree; on the contrary we have been throughrolling prairie, almost hilly and very well wooded in places. 

We started last Monday, the 18th, having got up at 4:15, which wedid not think so terribly early as we might have done before thedays we were accustomed to breakfast at half-past 6, but had eventhen a terrible run for the train. We had had some heavy thunderstorms on the Sunday; and though we allowed two hours and three-quarters, to do our sixteen miles into Winnipeg station, the roadswere so heavy, and the mud so sticky and deep, that we reallythought we should be taken up for cruelty to animals, hustling ourpoor little mare. As it was, we arrived just in time to get intothe cars, our packages and bundles being thrown in after us as thetrain was on the move. Luckily we managed to get all on board, andfound plenty of friends travelling west; one a Governmentinspector, a most agreeable man, who has to certify and pass thework done on the line before Government pays its share of theexpenses. He was telling us how he and two other men spent threehours finding names for all the new stations along the line, andcould only think of three! The stations are placed at the distanceof eight to ten miles apart, and they are bound not to have anyname already taken up in Canada, so that for a railway extendingover three thousand miles to the Rocky Mountains names are adifficulty. We did him the favour of writing out a few, taking allthe villages one was interested in in the "Ould Countrie, " forwhich attention he seemed much obliged, and has promised a timetable of the line with the nomenclature of its stations whenopened. They are building the Canadian Pacific at the rate oftwenty-five miles a week, and every available man is pressed intothe service, so that it is not so surprising the poor farmerscannot find labour. The wages, two dollars to two-and-a-half aday, are more than we can pay. There has not been much engineeringrequired or shown on this line, as we went up and down with thewaves of the prairies, had only two small cuttings betweenWinnipeg and Brandon, three hundred miles, and were raised a fewfeet above the marshes; but considering how fast they work and howshort a time they have been, it is creditably smooth. 

We disembarked at a city called Brandon, which last year wasunheard of, two or three shanties and a few tents being all therewas to mark the place; now it has over three thousand inhabitants, large saw-mills, shops, and pretentious two-storied hotels. Wefound our carriage, which had been sent on two days previously, waiting for us at the station, as we were to have driven on thatnight to Rapid City; but, owing to the Manager not being able toget through all his business, and his not liking to leave the twolabourers he had with him on the loose, for fear they should betempted by higher wages to go off with someone else, we decided toremain that night at Brandon, and were not sorry to retire to beddirectly after dinner, about 8. 30. We were given not a veryspacious apartment, the two double-beds filling up the whole ofit. In all the hotels we have been into, they put such enormousbeds in the smallest of space, I conclude speculating on fourpeople doubling up at a pinch. We luckily had brought some sheets;the ones supplied looked as if they had been used many a timesince they had last been through the wash-tub. I cannot say weslept well, chiefly, I think, owing to lively imaginations and thecontinual noise of a town after the extreme quiet of the farm; andas there was only a canvas partition between us and the two men, who snored a lively duet, we had many things to lay the blame to. 

We were on the move again about 5. 30, intending to breakfast athalf-past 6, and start on our travels directly after; but somehow, what with one thing and the other, the various packing away of ourdifferent packages and parcels into our three waggons, it was past8 o'clock before we got off. 

We were rather amused at the expression at breakfast of ourwaiting-maid when asked to bring some more bread and then tea. Shewanted much to learn if we had any more "side orders. "

Alcoholic spirits are quite forbidden in this territory; to bringa small keg of whisky and some claret with us we had to get apermit from the Governor. I am afraid the inhabitants will havespirits. The first man we met last night was certainly much theworse for liquor; and though in our hotel there was no visiblebar, an ominous door in the back premises was always on the swing, and a very strong odour of spirits emanated therefrom. 

Our cavalcade, A---- and the Manager in the democrat, we two in abuggy, and the two labourers with a man to drive in anothercarriage, produced quite an imposing effect. We had to cross theAssiniboine on a ferry, and then rose nearly all the way to RapidCity, twenty-two miles, going through pretty country much woodedand with hundreds of small lakes, favourite resorts of wild duck. The flowers were in great profusion; but we saw no animalsanywhere, excepting a few chipmunks and gophirs, which are sort ofhalf-rats, half-squirrels. The chipmunks are dear little thingsabout the size of a mouse, with long bushy tails and a dark striperunning the whole length of the body. 

Rapid City is a flourishing little town of some fifty houses, andis growing quickly. It is prettily situated on the banks of theLittle Saskatchewan, and has a picturesque wooden bridge thrownover the river. We had lunch, picnic style, and a rest of twohours. There was a large Indian camp just outside the town, and aswe sat sketching several Indians passed us. Their style of dressis grotesque, to say the least of it; one man passed us in a tallbeaver hat, swallow-tail coat, variegated-coloured trousers, mocassins, and a scarlet blanket hanging from his shoulder. Thelong hair, which both men and women wear, looks as if a comb neverhad passed near it, and gives them a very dirty appearance. Theyall seemed affable, and gave us broad grins in return for oursalutes. 

The Indian tribes on Canadian territory are the Blackfeet andPiegans. The former used to number over ten thousand, but now arecomparatively few. The small-pox, which raged among them in 1870, decimated their numbers; also alcohol, first introduced byAmericans who established themselves on Belly River, about 1866, and in which they drove a roaring trade, as the Indians sacrificedeverything for this "fire-water, " as they called it, and hundredsdied in consequence of exposure and famine, having neither clothesto cover them nor horses nor weapons wherewith to hunt. Luckily in1874 the mounted police put an entire end to this abominable saleof whisky. 

The Indian is naturally idle--to eat, smoke, and sleep is the soleend of his life; though he will travel immense distances to fishor hunt, which is the only occupation of the men, the women doingall the rest, their condition being but little better than beastsof burden. The Indian of the Plain subsists in winter on buffalodried and smoked; but in spring, when they resort to theneighbourhood of the small lakes and streams, where innumerablewild fowl abound, they have grand feasting on the birds and eggs. 

The tribes living near the large lakes of Manitoba, Winnipeg, andWinnipegosis have only fish as food, which they dry and pack forwinter use, and eat it raw and without salt--which sounds verypalatable?

When the Dominion Government obtained possession of the North-westTerritories, by the extinction of the Hudson Bay Company's titlein 1869, it allotted to the tribes inhabiting the country, ontheir resigning all their claims to the land, several reserves, orparcels of ground, which were of sufficient area to allow of onesquare mile to every family of five persons. On these lands theIndians are being taught to cultivate corn and roots. Implements, seeds for sowing, and bullocks are given them, besides cows andrations of meat and flour, until they are self-sustaining. Theyare also allowed five dollars a head per annum, so that severalwives (polygamy being allowed) and children are looked upon as aninsured income by a man. 

This treatment by Government has been very successful, and manytribes are abandoning their precarious life of hunting. Horsestealing in former days was looked upon by the young men asan essential part of their education; but now the settler need bein no dread of them, as they are peaceably inclined and kept incheck by the mounted police, a corps of whose services and pluckall who have had any dealings with them cannot speak two highly. The officers are men of tact and experience, and the corps numbersabout 500 strong. They move their head-quarters from fort to fort, according to the movements of the Indians and the advance ofemigration. 

On leaving Rapid City, we took a shorter track than what isgenerally taken, thereby saving ourselves at least forty miles toBirtle. Our first night, distance about twenty miles afterluncheon, we spent alongside of a small store-house on the OakRiver; we had passed some very comfortable-looking settlementsthat afternoon, one, where we got information about our road, belonging to a man called Shank, who had been settled about fouryears, and had quite a homely-looking shanty covered withcreepers, and garden fenced in. At Oak River we had ratherspeculated on getting both food and lodging; but when we found thefare offered no better than ours, we decided to have our ownsupper, getting the woman to boil us some water for our tea. Wealso refused the lodging. The house was scrupulously clean, dittothe woman, but we couldn't quite make up our minds to share theonly bedroom with her, her husband and two other men, one ill withinflammation of the lungs, rejoicing in an awful cough, and rathergiven to expectoration; so we had our first experience of realcamping out. Our tent was an A tent, just big enough to allow oftwo people sleeping side by side; the only place to stand up in, was exactly in the middle, but we arranged it very fairlycomfortably by putting some straw under our buffalo robes, and ourclothes as pillows. The men had to make their couch under thecarriage with whatever cloaks we didn't want, to keep the dew offthem; and by lighting a large "smudge" to keep off the mosquitoes, we all slept pretty well, though Mother Earth is very unrelenting. If, however, we wanted to change our position we were sure toawake. The following morning, Tuesday, the men had a bathe in theriver, which we very much envied them; though, having brought ourindia-rubber bath, and there being plenty of water handy, we didvery well. We were off again at 7 o'clock. Our breakfast bill offare not much varied from that of last night--tea, corned beef, oxtongue, and bread and butter. The country through which we passedwas not so pretty as on Monday, with fewer trees. Our cavalcadewas increased by another man in his buggy, who was on his way toEdmonton, and he travelled with us most of the day. Mid-day, aftereighteen miles, we came on a small settlement of four Canadians, who were just finishing their dinner. They were very nice, delighted to see ladies, placed the whole of their place at ourdisposal, and though, of course, they could do but little for us, we were not allowed to wash up our plates nor to draw our ownwater. They had everything so tidy and nice, rough it was bound tobe. Like thousands of Canadians, they have taken up land, 240acres apiece, and are working them together, with two yoke of oxenand a pair of Indian ponies. Whilst we were resting, the Managerdrove on to find his farm; but as they have bought severalsections in different townships from the railway company, it wasdifficult to find out on which section his men were working. Theonly thing he knew was two of the numbers of the section and thatthe Arrow river ran through the property. The Canadians told usthat Ford "Mackenzie, " for which we had been steering all themorning, was six miles further on; so that when we left them about2 o'clock (amidst many expressions of regret; they repeated to usseveral times how delighted they were seeing ladies, not havingseen a petticoat since they came up last spring), we had to wandermany a mile before finding either the ford or the farm. As it was, we mistook the ford and had to cross and recross the river threetimes, which we, in our buggy, didn't at all appreciate; the bankswere so steep we felt we might easily be pitched out. 

At Mackenzie's Ford we found a wretched man who, having settledhere two years ago, and was getting on well, had last monthbrought his wife and children up by steamer on the Assiniboine, where they had caught diphtheria; two children had succumbed tothe disease, and his wife, he greatly feared, couldn't live. Weluckily had some whisky with us, and were glad to be able to givehim some, as the doctor had recommended stimulants to keep up thepoor woman's strength. 

From him we heard where the Manager's camp really was, and reachedit, very tired, about 7 o'clock, to find everything in the mostfearful state of disorder and mismanagement; not even a well dugto provide water for man or beast. The men had mutinied, ten ofthem gone off, and only three and a woman as cook left; she hadknown much better days, and was perfectly helpless and unable tomanage the stove or the cooking in a shed made of a few poles witha tarpaulin thrown over. 

A---- is the most splendid man; whatever difficulties there are hemakes light of them; and directly the horses had been unharnessedhe set to work to put our tent up and lay out our supper, whichwas improved by the addition of some fried potatoes. Our table wasthe spring seat of the waggon, our seats the boxes; the storeshave come in, or our bundle of rugs; and though the ground washarder to sleep on, as we had no straw under our buffalo-robe, still we got a fair amount of rest at night. Two very prettyItalian greyhounds we had brought up with us kept our feet warm, as it was quite chilly, the dews being very heavy. The men werehorribly disturbed all night by the mosquitoes, which were inmyriads. No smoke of the smudges really keeps them off, though itstupifies and bothers them a good deal. 

On Wednesday, contrary to expectation, we got some water to washwith, the Manager having had a hole dug. Water is so easilyprocured with digging, and at no great depth, that there is noexcuse for not having it in abundance. We then spent our morning, whilst the men were going over the various sections, in trying toteach the woman to, cook, making biscuits, which were not asuccess, mending clothes, and writing up our diaries; so that thetime flew all too quickly. 

We drove on twenty-two miles in the afternoon, and, being all downwind, were pestered with mosquitoes and most fearfully bitten. 

The country much the same as the previous day, very little takenup; but the wild flowers lovely. We counted forty-two differentspecimens; those yellow orchids you are so proud of at home, alsored tiger-lilies, phloxes, and endless other varieties. Birtle, another mushroom town, looked so pretty and picturesque as we camedown upon it, by the evening light, situated in a deep gorge muchwooded on the Birdtail-Creek. 

You would have laughed to see us arrive at what we thought ourdestination--a nice house on the top of the opposite hillbelonging to a friend of the Manager's, where we were to behospitably entertained. The house was locked up, but that was noobstacle; we forced the windows open, and whilst A---- put thehorses up, the Manager went down the hill for water, I foraged foreatables, E---- for wood to light the fire, and we very shortlyafterwards sat down to a very fair meal; our neighbours' bacon andtea, but our own bread. Luckily a Winnipeg lady, hearing of ourarrival, came up to offer her services in the shape of food orlodging; the latter we two gladly accepted, instead of pitchingour tent outside the house, which was already full, threebachelors living there and our two men intending steeping betweenthe walls, _coute que coule_. The house we spent our night inwas a log one, and though unpapered, looked very comfortable, andwas prettily hung round with Japanese fans and scrolls, andvarious photographs. We had a funny little canvas partition in theroof allotted to us; but were not particular, and did great creditto our feather bed. 

And how excellent our breakfast was next morning, porridge andeggs; we hardly knew when to stop eating. We started early to FortEllice, one of the Hudson Bay forts, hoping to find the steamer onthe Assiniboine to take us back to Winnipeg; but unfortunately ithad stuck on the rapids. So after waiting twenty-four hours at thefort, we determined to drive down to the end of the CanadianPacific Railway, and so home. The old fort is very little alteredfrom what it used to be, surrounded by its wooden pailings, andhaving a store on the left side of the entrance gate, where allthe Indians come to make their purchases in cotton-goods andgroceries in exchange for their blankets, moccassins, or furs. TheAssiniboine we crossed just before getting to the fort, on aferry. It is a grand winding river with fearfully steep banks, 380feet almost straight up, which was a pull for our horses, thetracks being very, bad, and not well engineered, going perpendicularlyup the hill. Mr. Macdonald is the "boss" at the fort, and had knowntwo of our friends who were up here several years ago. 

There is a Lincolnshire man farming on a large scale settled notvery far away from the fort; but we had neither time norinclination to go further north. We hoped against hope that thesteamer might get up, but on Saturday gave it up as useless, andsettled to drive towards Gophir Ferry, trying to find a friendwho, when out at C---- Farm, told us he was living on section xxviiby 13, and near two creeks. For the first five miles our road layalong the Beaver Creek, which was pretty; but afterwards thescenery much resembled Winnipeg, flat and uninteresting, not atree, and without even the beautiful vegetation and flowers we hadhad on our previous drives. We had to stop several times to lookat the section-posts, it was quite an excitement to mark every newnumber we came to. Our road took us pretty straight to the MouseMountain trail; but at a shanty being advised to leave the trackand go straight over the prairie, we overshot the tents we were insearch of by a short distance. 

Our friend had not returned from Winnipeg, but we made ourselvesquite at home, pitching our tent alongside of his men's. He hadfour Englishmen working for him, two of them were tenant-farmersat home; one man, who had been out two years, had had a large farmnear King's Lynn, and has taken up a section close by; but as hebought his land too late in the spring to do anything to it;beyond hoping to build himself a shanty before the winter set in, he is working for our friend, who has 2, 000 acres. Another of themen was a newly-arrived emigrant; he and his three children werenearly devoured by mosquitoes, and were most grateful for someconcoction we gave them to allay the irritation. He had been quitea "gent" in his own country, but bad times and alcohol I had beentoo much for him. I don't think he at all relished the work he hadto do, ploughing with oxen all day, &c. They plough almostentirely with oxen up in this country. The oxen are easier tofeed, and don't suffer so much from the alkali in the water. Butmost of the Englishmen when they first get out here dislike usingthem, they are so slow; and I should agree with them. 

A great many new-comers find the ways and means difficult toconform to, and would give a good deal to go back; but after theyhave been out a year or two they drop into fresh habits and seemto like the life. 

On Sunday we started late, for two reasons. The horses which hadbeen very restless all night, driven mad by the mosquitoes, couldnot be found, having wandered over the brow of the hill to theriver edge, to catch the slight breeze blowing; and secondly wethought we would have a rest, and did nothing but regret it allday, as the heat, was fearful, and as we went down wind themosquitoes were ditto. Also we got into camp very late at FlatCreek, where we had hoped to find a freight train, to get on astax as Brandon, whereas we had to camp close to a marsh justoutside the city--the "city" comprising a cistern to provide theengines of the train with water and half a dozen tents all stuckon the marsh. We were rather amused by the name of one lodgingtent, "The Unique Hotel"; in other words, beds were divided off bycurtains, so that you were quite private!

We pitched our tent on the highest spot we could find; but themosquitoes, to accommodate us, left the marshes and came inperfect myriads around us. We lit smudges on all sides, but asthere was hardly a breath of air the smoke went heavenwards, andconsequently we had to sit almost into them and could hardly seeto eat for the denseness of smoke. Query, which was the worst, theevil or the cure? That last night was the most uncomfortable ofthe whole lot, and I don't think any of us disliked the prospectof a comfortable bed. But in spite of all our roughing we haveenjoyed it, and very glad we went. It is satisfactory to know thatall the prairie is not as flat as around us at C---- Farm, that itis rolling, and covered with bluffs or brushwood. A---- is pleased, as he has seen no ground as good as his own, and declares hewouldn't exchange his 480 acres for thousand up west. The land iscertainly of a much lighter nature, having more sand in it, and iseasier to get into cultivation in consequence, but he doesn'tthink it will stand the same amount of cropping. 

The trails, which are only tracks made by the half-breeds andIndians on the prairie, have been good throughout, but in springare full of mud-holes or sloughs. 

The new carriage has turned out quite a success and been veryuseful, as it has carried all our clothes, buffalo robes, bucketsand oats for the horses, our provisions, etc. , even to our tent, the poles of which were slung along the carriage just above thewheels, and the whole so light that A---- pushed it easily three orfour hundred yards when we were moving our camp at Fort Ellice. 

 * * * * *

QUEEN'S HOTEL, WINNIPEG. 

July 25. 

We cannot fancy ourselves in this elegant brick edifice; but it'san ill wind that blows no one any good, and had we not beennervous of driving sixteen miles in a raging thunderstorm lastnight you would not have received a letter by this mail. The heatis so great that I am afraid my ideas won't flow. It is a hotthundery day, cloudy and close, the thermometer is at 109 degrees inthe shade, and everything one touches seems to be at melting point!Unfortunately we have had all our cool things for our journey, andthey are too dirty to wear in a "live" town. These three last daysare the only days we have had to grumble at the heat; and, Iexpect, if we bad been out at the farm, quietly doing our variousworks, we should not have felt it so much; but a tent on a hot dayis like a stove-house, quite fearful. 

We have had a very successful tour of seven days, sleeping fivenights on Mother Earth, which was mercilessly hard. Lived chieflyon corned beef, tea, and marmalade, three times a day. Driven 173miles, nearly the whole time in pretty, sparely inhabited, wooded, and undulating country. Had another 300 miles to and fro in thetrain, and arrived here last night hoping to get home to our ownbeds, when we distressed at finding no buggy from the farm, thoughwe sent them a telegram early in the morning before leaving FlatCreek, which we conclude they haven't received. 

Just as we were starting, and before our small packets could befetched from the station, a fearful thunder-storm, preceded by adust-storm, came on; and we had to take refuge in an hotel, which, contrary to our expectations, was not only clean, but comfortable. The climax to all our troubles has been that the man from thelivery-stable was unable to get our hand-bags, so that we actuallyhad to go to bed last night and get up this morning without asponge, comb, toothbrush, or any blessed thing. We were nearlysprinkling ashes on our heads and rending our garments when thefact was broken to us; but, considering we had no other clothes tofall back upon, we suppressed our feelings (and drowned our tears)in sleep, putting in nearly twelve hours, as it was 9. 15 when wewoke this morning, and it was not very late when we retired. Wehad neither of us slept well the night before, and it had been ahot, suffocating day for travelling, so that we were very tiredwhen we got in. What useful things hair-pins are! I have alwaysfound them excellent bodkins, button-hooks, wedges for misfittingwindows, &c. , but until to-day had never realized what a capitalcomb they would make, held tightly. 

I don't know that we have had any very amusing adventure; but thewhole expedition has been an adventure, and therefore, as itproved the business of the day, it was taken seriously--I mean, wehardly laughed when we all shared the same drop of water in abucket to wash our face in turns, and then hands, drying ourselveswith the same towel, which was not always of the cleanest, andwhen we shared the same tin cup to drink out of. Of course wemanaged to get in a very fair amount of chaff. I used often todrive, and it was said that if ever there was a hole or stone onthe trail I used to bump, bump over it, shooting the others almostout of the carriage, so that there were cries of "danger ahead, "when they declared they had to hang on to each other for safety. 

We had to leave A---- behind us yesterday at Flat Creek with thecarriages and horses, to follow us in a freight train, and he hasjust turned up, very hot and weary and out of temper with therailway authorities, as they make so many unnecessary difficultiesin unloading. Instead of following us directly yesterday, as hewas told he would do when he first put the horses on the train, they did not start until late in the afternoon, and have beentravelling all night, A---- sleeping very peaceably in thehorsebox. 

We are to go out to the farm as soon as the horses have been fedand we can reclaim our lost baggage of last night. 

I am thankful to say that we never came across any snakes duringour expedition, though they are said to abound by Brandon andfurther west. The only one we saw was when the conductor on ourtrain brought us a parcel and showed one coiled up inside. It wasa trial to our feelings, but I believe it was dead. There are nonearound Winnipeg, not even a worm. 

 * * * * *

C---- FARM, July 30th. 

We found the most lovely batch of letters, almost worth being awayfrom home for ten days, on our arrival here at 12 o'clock P. M. OnTuesday, which completely revived our drooping spirits; we werefeeling rather limp and tired after a long day in Winnipeg, andlosing our way across the prairie coming home. It was very dark, and the only guide we had was when the vivid flashes of lightningreflected the farm-buildings; as it was, we drove through the bigmarsh, the mosquitoes nearly eating us up; and A---- so worried bythem that he couldn't think of the trail, and trusted to thehorses finding their way. The joy of coming upon our own fence isbetter imagined than described. I pictured to myself that weshould be like one of our labourers, who, having gone into townjust before we started up west, lost his way coming out, unharnessed his horses and picketed them, and sat down quietly, waiting for daylight before he ventured on. It is marvellous thatanyone finds their way on the prairie. There are numberless trailsmade during the hay-harvest, which may mislead; and in a countrywhich has been surveyed, some time back, the section-posts havealmost entirely disappeared, the cattle either knocking them downor they having been struck by lightning. 

We found our bedroom very full of mosquitoes, so that our sleepwas much disturbed, in fact we never slept properly till after thesun rose; but our letters cheered us up and were far morerefreshing than ten hours' sleep. 

The netting over our windows had got torn from the tacks, so thatthe mosquitoes had come in by shoals just to show how theyappreciated the attention of having things made easy for them. Otherwise, we are not generally much bothered with them in thehouse, netting being over every door and window. 

The cat sometimes thwarts our protection by jumping through them inthe morning, and no thumpings seem to impress her with respect for thesaid net. 

We are told the mosquitoes will be gone in a fortnight; certainlythe big yellow ones have lived their time and are, not soplentiful, but they have been succeeded by a small black specieswhich is quite as venomous, and not so easy to kill. 

We went to Church yesterday at Headingley: quite a red letter day. It was only the second time we have been able to manage it in theten weeks we have been here; and though it was very hot in Churchwe were ashamed to take our gloves off, on account of the scars. 

The Church is quite a nice little building, and the servicedelightful after so many weeks of not hearing it. We had to takeour horse out, tie it to the churchyard paling, and put the dog, in the buggy to take care of our goods and chattels. 

We are getting quite low at the thoughts of leaving this in tendays' time; being rather like cats, attached to any place whereone has heaps of occupation, and where one is kindly treated andwell fed, however ugly that place may be. 

We have been very busy haymaking since we got home, and a grandstack is in the course of erection nearly opposite the dining-roomwindow. You never saw anything so astonishing as the way the oats, potatoes, etc. , have shot up in our absence. Even the puppy, whichwe left a fluffy ball, seems to have grown inches. Then, all mychickens are hatched, and are an endless pleasure and anxiety. Iam supposed to spend hours over them. 

We have received four sheets of official paper from Mr. W----, full, of directions about our journey to Colorado, describing hishome, etc. , even to the nickel-plated tap we shall find in hiskitchen, which is to supply us with an unlimited amount of water. He tells us we need bring nothing but a saddle and atoothbrush, --he will find all the rest; and that we are to make ita note that it is one of the strictest rules of mining camps thatguests are never allowed to pay for anything. As we hope he ismaking a fortune by his mines, we shall not have so muchcompunction of accepting these terms. We are to sight-see, climbI mountains, go into the mines, fish for trout, and do nothing thelive-long day but amuse ourselves. 

I am afraid A---- will miss us terribly, dear old soul! He is veryfond of having us here, and is always bemoaning our departure. Ithink it will make a great difference to him and to his humdrumhard-working life, as we are always cheery and have never had adifficulty or annoyance of any sort. 

 * * * * *

August 6th. 

We are rejoicing now that we have settled to go to the RockyMountains, as the hot weather we speculated on avoiding has comein with a rush, and for a whole week the thermometer has been at80 to 85 degrees. One morning before a thunder-storm, when it fellforty degrees in a few hours, it was up to 90 degrees. We have hadsome rain, but not the heavy if storms we have seen wandering roundwhich generally follow the course of the Assiniboine--a relief to ourminds, as our hay is still out. 

It has been cut nearly all round the property outside the fence, in spite of the risk one runs of having it subsequently claimed bythe owner of the section, who is generally a half-breed, a lossonly to be avoided by leading it home at once, which we are doing. 

This has happened to our neighbour, with whom, I am afraid, we donot sympathise very keenly, as he had taken up the marsh which ourmen cut last year, and had the full intention of doing again thisyear, so they looked upon it in the light of their specialproperty. 

We have only two waggons working here, as nearly all the men andhorses are gone over to Boyd's; and as our hay is a mile and ahalf away, we don't get much more than five loads a day, so thatthe stack does not grow very fast. 

Our excitement this week has been a cricket match with Boyle'sFarm; four of their men we challenged. It really was too amusing. They had a bat and ball, stumps, but no bales, and played on theprairie, which was so fearfully rough that it was almostdangerous, the ball shot in such various directions after hittingthe tufts of grass. Everybody fielded, but a ball going into thewheat-field behind the wickets was not counted as a lost ball. Thetotal score of the two innings was only ten, and in one ouropponents went out without a single run; so you may fancy thehowls of either applause or derision at every ball. 

 * * * * *

August 17th. 

The Farm with all its toils and pleasures is a thing of the past;we were both very low when we turned our backs upon it and itsinhabitants just a week ago. We have been in such robust healththe whole of our three months, hardly a headache or finger-ache. Our maid-of-all-work life has suited us, and we have acquired suchan immense deal of practical knowledge that for those reasonsalone, we might be gratified and pleased we came. Since then wehave been staying with Mike in Minnesota, where we were eitherriding or driving (anything to do with horses) all day long. Driving four miles, jumping the horses over a pole, taking themdown to water, having a mule race (which was truly amusing as thecourse was just in front of the house and several bolted home), and driving, a gang plough, were a few of the "diversions" foundfor us. Our host was most kind and anxious to make us comfortable;he worked heaven and earth to get his house ready, the contractorshaving taken so much more time than they said; anyhow, he turnedthe carpenters out of the house the day previous to our arrival, carried in the furniture, nailed up mosquito blinds, and did manythings himself, so that everything should be in spick and spanorder. 

As these men, Mike having two partners, are farming thirteenthousand acres, they are on a much larger scale as regardsbuildings, numbers of horses, etc. , to anything we have seenbefore. Their living-houses are about double the size of C----Farm; they have also huge stables, which A---- fancies will be coldin winter, but have a most imposing appearance, as have also theirimplement house, sheds, etc. The land seemed much the same asours, a rich black loam, but very much wetter, marshes everywhere. They have broken two thousand acres since the beginning of June, and were busy, whilst we were there, cutting hay, Mike hoping hehad already got over five hundred ton up!

We drove one day to see a neighbouring farm which is said to bethe "boss" one in all the country, belonging to a man who has beenout five years. He was just starting to cut his two square milesof wheat, and we watched the seven self-binding machines withgreat interest. They seem as light as a reaper, and the machinerycomparatively not intricate. 

We were driven through some standing corn, which was ratheragonizing to our British ideas, but he thought nothing of it. Thestraw was four and a half feet high, and he hopes to get forty-twobushels to the acre. His farm being on the Snake River, and havingmany creeks running through as drainage, is a great advantage. Hisvats were pronounced no better, if so good, as ours at C---- Farm. 

We remained at Warren a day longer than we had intended, as we gotto the station just in time to see our train move off. We accusedMike's Irish groom, who is quite a character, of bringing roundthe carriage too late on purpose. If he did, I think all the partyforgave him; we were very happy, it gave us another night ofA----'s society. Mike was low at our going. Poor man! one cannotbe much surprised at his liking to keep us, as, besides thefascinations of ladies' society, he has no neighbours whatsoever, and, excepting the two men he has in the house, there is not agentleman nearer than Winnipeg. He offered me seventy-two dollarsa month to be his housekeeper. E---- was to have two dollars aweek as parlour-maid, which she considers an insult; or she mighthave seventy-five cents a day if she would drive the ploughs. 

Servants and labourers get higher wages there than in Manitoba, all the men were averaging thirty-five to forty dollars a monthand their keep. They were all Swedes and Germans, of whom there isan enormous colony in the state. 

We are now trying to spend our day at Council Bluff, a largejunction of the Grand Pacific Railway, having come in here at 8o'clock this morning, and our train to Denver not leaving till 7o'clock this evening. The hotel is right on the station. Theweather is so hot, that as yesterday, at St. Paul's, where we alsohad to spend a whole day, we have never summoned up courage to gobeyond the door. It was suggested we might take the tram and go upinto the City; but E---- has a notion that one city is much likeanother, particularly on a hot day. 

It is curious how Americans live in hotels; there are severalfamilies in this, and if my letter is not very intelligible youmust forgive me, as I am writing in the grand corridor to try andcatch the slight draughts of air blowing through, at the same timethat half a dozen children are playing up and down. 

The scenery yesterday from St. Paul's all along the banks of theMissouri was very pretty. We both of us sat outside the Pullman aslong as daylight lasted, feasting our eyes oh the water, trees, etc. The height and luxuriance of the latter seemed quiteincomprehensible after the total absence of forest scenery for somany months. It is pretty round here; and by the time we get tothe Rocky Mountains we shall have got beyond the stage of thinkinga hillock a mountain, and fairish-sized trees not so wonderfulafter all; but at the present moment we are in that pleasingstate, ready to admire anything and everything. We hope to get toDenver on Saturday night, and rest there Sunday and part ofMonday, and we also hope to get to Church there. Mike offered todrive us into Warren last Sunday; but as the service was a SwedishPresbyterian, we didn't think we should be much edified. 

 * * * * *

DENVER, August 2lst. 

We arrived here Saturday evening, very tired and not at all sorryto exchange the Pullman for a comfortable room and bed, which wehad telegraphed for, and therefore not, like so many of ourfellow-passengers, obliged to seek shelter elsewhere. ThePullman's are most comfortable, and for a long journey like oursnothing could be so good; but I am glad that in England we don'thave either these or the ordinary American car in general use. Thepublicity is so odious, and one does get bored by the passengersconstantly wandering up and down the train, and the boys who passand repass every ten minutes selling books, newspapers, cigars, candy, and the unripest of fruit, which they are always pressingyou to buy; to say nothing of chewing, spitting Americans one hasto countenance all day long. The last four-and-twenty hours of ourjourney have been very tiring. The scenery has been so monotonous;endless long undulating plains like the waves of the sea, coveredwith grass quite dried up, a few flowers, and a bee-shaped cactus. The heat was very oppressive, a hot sirocco, wind blowing which;obliged us to keep our windows shut on account of the finealkaline dust. E---- had her window open last night, and awoke thismorning to find herself in a layer of ashes. 

We skirted the South Platte River most of the time; it was only abed of shingles, wide and shallow, with not a drop of water in it. These plains, extending for thousands of miles in all directions, are the great "ranching, " or cattle-farming districts, formerlythe favourite breeding-grounds and pastures of the buffalo, which, alas! have all disappeared. We only saw a few tame ones amongstthe herds of cattle; they have been killed in the most ruthless, indiscriminate way for their furs, and will soon be "things of thepast. "

We wondered much, with the river and every visible stream so dry, how the large herds of cattle and horses were watered; but havesince been told that water is so near the surface the herdsmenhave no great depth to dig to procure any quantity. We thought wecould have made a good pick or two amongst the horses, but wedidn't care for long-legged ugly big-horned cattle brutes. Hereand there was a herdsman mounted on a small Indian pony with ahigh Mexican saddle, enormous spurs, and a long lasso, gallopingand dexterously turning his animals. 

Our train had to pull up several times and whistle loudly to turnthe animals off the track, there being, as usual, no rail orprotection; but pulling up for them was not half as exciting as onThursday night, when we stopped repeatedly to turn a man off thetrain who, not having paid his fare, nor apparently intending todo so, had swung himself in some marvellous way under the cars, hanging on by the break. Whenever we slackened speed he jumpedoff, walking quite unconcernedly alongside; but the moment wemoved on he got on again. We never knew how far he continued hisperilous ride, I fancy that even the officials gave upremonstrating; anyhow, as long as daylight lasted and we couldwatch the men, no efforts on their part seemed to make thesmallest impression. 

Three hours before getting into Denver we had our first glimpse ofthe Rockies, and although they were then only in the blue distancewe were quite excited about them; and at Greely Station (muchimpressed on our minds by having read Miss Bird's book just beforecoming here), we came in full view of Long's Peak, --almost wishing"Mountain Jim" might still be alive to ascend it with us, --andthe whole of the gorgeous range; and quite one of the loveliestsights I ever saw was watching two thunder-storms on either sideof the Peak break and disperse, whilst the reflections from thesunset-glow lit up the rest of the heavens. The railway and DenverCity itself is about thirty miles distant from the mountains, butthe atmosphere is so clear that they look as if quite within aneasy gallop. 

It is difficult to understand why the town has been built so farfrom the mountains, situated as it is on a sandy, treeless plain. It is growing, like most of the western towns, at a tremendouspace, and we are lodging in a luxurious hotel, our room on thefourth floor numbers 454. We found the avenues of trees liningevery street an immense boon this morning in going to church atthe cathedral. 

The heat, though great, is not so oppressive as either at St. Paul's or Omaha, but then we are at the height of 5, 000 feet; andthis afternoon the air has been cleared by a thunderstorm precededby a great sand-storm, which we watched from our windowsencircling the town, so thick that mountains and all view wasobliterated for the time being. 

Denver is a great resort for invalids, chiefly those sufferingwith asthma. 

 * * * * *

August 22. 

Before leaving Denver we went to a gunsmith and invested in afishing-rod and numberless flies, with which we intend to do greatexecution. We also went to the exhibition, opened a month ago andstill unfinished; one of the leading men, to whom we had a letterof introduction, showed us everything. It is chiefly interestingto miners, as the display of minerals from Western America isunrivalled. There seemed, in the specimens, enough gold and silverto make us rich for ever; unfortunately our ignorance on thesubject of ore is too great to thoroughly appreciate it. 

 * * * * *

OURAY, August 24. 

It is not easy to sit down and write after forty-eight hourstravelling, as we have been doing since leaving Denver on Monday nightat 7 o'clock; but in such scenery and air so exhilarating we do notfeel as tired as we expected. You should have seen the omnibus, stage-coach, charridon, or any other name you please to give thelumbering vehicle in which we performed our last twelve hours' drive;it looked truly frightening when it drove up to Cimarron depot, onetent, last night, to pick us up, intended for twenty passengers andany amount of luggage, and swung on great straps. It was wonderfullywell horsed, and we changed our teams every ten miles; but only thencame at the rate of five miles an hour. We both of us started for oursixty-four miles' drive on the box-seat with the driver, who happenedto be an extremely nice man and an experienced whip; in former days hehad driven the stage-coaches across from Omaha to San Francisco, ajourney of three weeks. But he took up much room on the seat, andevery time he had to pull up his horses his left elbow ran into me, until "he guessed my ribs would be pretty-well bruised. "

About midnight, when our only other fellow-passenger turned outfrom the inside of the coach, I entered it, though I expectednearly every moment would be my last, the bumping was so fearful. I managed to get a few winks of sleep towards morning. E---- satoutside all night, finding it very difficult not to drop off thecoach from drowsiness. The early hours of the morning, after themoon went down until dawn, were truly wretched, what between theouter darkness, the flickering of our lamps, the unevenness of theroad, and the clouds of dust, and one almost began to wonder ifthe journey was worth so much trouble. 

But with daylight we quite altered our opinions; as really I donot think, if you searched the whole world over, you would findanything more beautiful than the Uncompahgre valley and parklooked in the morning light. 

Mr. W---- met us at 5 o'clock A. M. At the "Hot Springs, " so calledfrom the boiling water that gushes out of the ground, and which issaid to give the name of "Uncompahgre" to the district, that beingthe Indian word for hot water. He brought us out hot coffee andfood to refresh us, and drove us the last nine miles up thevalley. We came slowly, thoroughly enjoying the scenery. On eitherside of the road are well-cultivated farms. Within two miles ofOuray the park narrows into a magnificent gorge, bounded on eachside by precipitous cliffs of red sandstone, covered with pinesand quaking aspen, the whole crowned by arid peaks. From thisgorge you suddenly come upon the town, situated in an amphitheatreof grand gray, trachyte rocks. 

Our house is in Main Street. The ground floor is an office; ourfour rooms are on the first floor, to which we ascend by a woodenstaircase outside. 

Every nook and corner is filled with some curiosity or mineralspecimen. Our host being a great sportsman, there are varioustrophies of the chase--a mountain lion, wild sheeps' heads, bears, cranes, even to a stuffed donkey's head; there are also cabinetsof fossils, specimens of ore, etc. , and great blocks of the samepiled on the floor. 

Our family consists of our two hosts, Messrs. W---- and B----, twoIndian ponies, a mule, two setters, and two prairie dogs, whichare reddish-buff marmots. We are only to remain here one night, and, if thoroughly rested after our journey, go up to the logcabin in the Imogene Basin, 3, 000 feet higher. We are both lookingforward to it immensely. It is right in the heart of themountains, 10, 600 feet, and with no one near us, as all the minessurrounding the cabin belong to a company which had to suspend itsworks last month for want of funds, so that they are not beingworked. The air is glorious, and we feel already perfectlyrestored to our usual health, though we are warned that strangerscannot walk much at first, the air is so rarefied, that one issoon out of breath. Anyhow the atmosphere has been so clear thatit much added to our enjoyment in seeing the ever varying beautiesand distant mountain view all along our journey from Denver here. 

We unfortunately came through the "Grand Canyon" at night. Had itbeen clear the porter on the car was to awake us to see it; wecould quite picture to ourselves its beauties by the scenery inthe Black Canyon we came through yesterday by daylight. Theengineering all along the line is marvellous, the way we rosenearly 7, 000 feet by a zigzag over the Marshall Pass, or the GreatDivide, going down nearly as many feet on the other side and thenthrough these canyons, which are only narrow gorges for a ragingtorrent to rush through on its headlong career. 

Our train was a very narrow gauge with bogie wheels, and wetwisted so, in and out of the bends of the river, that the engineoften looked as if it might easily come into contact with ourcarriage which happened to be the last. It is the great advantageof the Pullmans they are always on last to the train when passingthrough any pretty country, and when there are no other carriagesof the same, so that one can sit on the rear platform and see allthe scenery. 

We entered into conversation with two Germans, and were amused byone of them surreptitiously bringing us two pink trout from hisluncheon at the wayside hotel, we having remained in the carriagefor our frugal meal; and though we had got to the "Sweets" stagefelt hound to begin again, and much enjoyed our fish. The foodprovided at these wayside inns is generally so bad and dear, adollar a head charged for sixteen to eighteen dishes, of almostuneatable messes, that we prefer the tinned meats and fruits wehave, in our luncheon basket; and for drinks we have beautifullyiced water in all the carriages, the ice being replenished atevery big station. 

The last forty miles of our railroad journey was over a line onlyopened ten days ago, by which, I am thankful to say, we avoidedtwelve hours more of the stage-coach and a night in a Coloradoinn, which, we are told, is anything but pleasant, there alwaysbeing many more bed fellows than what one bargains for; and weshould not have seen the Black Canyon and its thirteen miles ofgrandeur and sublimity. The railway track is cut out of the sidesof the over-hanging rocks, and in places is built on a bed ofstones in the creek itself. 

The rocks at times almost seemed to meet overhead, then widened, we crossing and re-crossing the torrent by wooden bridges whichshortly are to be replaced by iron ones. The colouring was sobeautiful, the chasm being generally in shade with the mountainsabove standing out in glorious sunshine, covered as they were inmany places, even as far down as the water's edge, with pines. Nature is marvellous in its productions, but the ingenuity of manis also wonderful, and we quite came to the conclusion that thescenery of that canyon was worth coming all these thousands ofmiles to see. 

 * * * * *

OURAY, August 27th. 

The name of Ouray, given to this town, is from the last chief ofthe Utes, who, with his tribe, lived to within a couple of yearson a reserve down in the Park. The first stake is said to havebeen struck by white men in 1865, but no cabin was built until1874, and from that time the town has been growing rapidly, havingnow about 1, 000 inhabitants. In the south-west portion of thebasin in which it stands, and where the waters of Canyon Creekflow into those of the Uncompaghre, there are some lovely canyonsand picturesque gorges, and here, in places where the hot springsoverflow the banks of the main stream, the rocks are covered withmaiden-hair and other ferns. These hot springs serve to keep theriver unfrozen even in the severest weather. 

 * * * * *

MOUNTAIN BAT'S NEST, IMOGENE BASIN, August 29th. 

This is a glorious region, and we send you the enclosed sketch toshow our picture of comfort and perfection. I assure you, nightlyas we sit down to our evening repast, or later round our wood firein our "parlour, " we congratulate each other, and fancy we wouldnot change places with the highest of the land, the air and lifeare so intoxicating. 

After twenty-four hours in Ouray we came up here, sending thedarkie Henry and our luggage on before us in a waggon. We havebrought nothing but the bare necessaries of life--all our heavyboxes are gone to Chicago to await our return--being warned tobring as little as possible, on account of the difficulties oftransport in the mountains, also of only being allowed 50 lbs. Weight on the coach, every extra lb. Charged ten cents. Weourselves rode up here, arriving about 6 o'clock, and found poorHenry waiting outside, not having been able to get into the cabin, the door-key being carefully in Mr. W----'s pocket; but aseverything is always left in order it didn't take us long to makeourselves comfortable; and as at sunset the cold had been piercing, a fire soon lit was very acceptable. 

This cabin is quite unique. It consists of two rooms on each sideof the front door, with a tiny passage used as larder, wood-hole, saddle-room, &c. 

Our room is our bed and drawing-room combined, which is hung allround with every imaginable skin, wolf, skunks, lynx, &c. , stuffedanimals and birds, guns and traps, to say nothing of shelvescovered with different specimens of ore taken out of the adjoiningmines. It was quite creepy, the first night, having to sleep witha bear's head at the foot of our bed, with a stuffed fox just overour head, which has the most awful squint, and is the first objectthat catches the eye on awaking, and a dried root, the fibres ofwhich so much resemble a man's beard that it looks horridly like ascalp. The hay-mattress on our bed has to be; shaped into groovesfor our poor bones to rest comfortably. In the day-time it iscovered up with skins, and then is called the "lounge. "

Our washing-stand is primitive, a box standing on end, in whichour tin bason and cans are concealed, so that we can consider our"parlour" quite correct. Our other room is the kitchen, and fittedup with four bunks against the wall, which Mr. W---- and Henryoccupy. We breakfast and dine out of doors, at a table placed justoutside the cabin, and on the only bit of flat ground we havenear, as we are situated on the slope of a mountain, and a mostbeautiful stream of water runs about forty feet below us with theclearest and coldest of water. One of our first occupations in themorning is to take the animals down to water, and afterwards topicket them in amongst the long grass, growing in great profusionand height during the short summer on all the foot hills andwherever there is an open space. The first afternoon we were uphere we went for a ride round Imogene basin, and were delightedwith the wild flowers, which are quite innumerable--columbine, phloxes, blue gentian, dandelions, harebells, vetches, and fiftyother species. E---- picked a good many, and hopes to draw themfor the benefit of you all at home. The flowers shoot up almostbefore the snow has melted, and make the most of their shortexistence which lasts about two months and a half. We tasted the"bear berry, " which grows as a bush and has a round brown berry, quite bitter, but, as its name shows, is much appreciated by thebears, who come any distance to get it. 

 * * * * *

September 4th. 

We are enjoying this mountain life; the weather is all we candesire, and we are in the most robust of health. We live almostentirely out of doors, sketching all the morning, in theafternoons making expeditions either into some of the mines, orover a mountain-pass; and for "tender-feet" the name given to allnew-comers, are pronounced to be good mountaineers; but our poniesand mules are so sure-footed and pleasant that we follow anytrail, however narrow and uneven, with the greatest confidence. 

The scenery everywhere is far beyond our sketching capacities, butwe find spoiling many sheets of drawing-paper a never-failingamusement and occupation; and we can sit out anywhere, as neithersnakes nor mosquitoes are known in these altitudes. Our darkie'scriticism might be discouraging, he saying he cannot understandour wasting so much time on "things not at all like nature, " wereit not counterbalanced by the praise given us in the "Ouray Times"which paper we sent home to you last week. The balsam pine, whichis about the only tree we have, is rather monotonous and sombre-looking, being of a blackish-green; and we have not here, as inthe valley around Ouray, the beautiful sandstone and porphyryrocks for background; only never-ending blue distances, broughtout so clearly on account of the extraordinary dryness and purityof the atmosphere. 

We have been escorting two men to-day over a pass 12, 500 feet, part of the way to San Miguel, going as far as the ridge, fromwhence we had a most glorious view and panorama, as we could seeinto the valleys and canyons some miles below; Mount Wilson, whichunfortunately was shrouded in dark, stormy clouds; a range ofmountains in Utah called Sierra la Sal, about 120 miles distant;and a long way into New Mexico. 

In returning home we got into clouds, and could hear a thunderstormraging in the valley below us, for some little time losing our trail, and not sorry when we found it again and were able to descend fromhigher regions, the cold was so intense; not so surprising, as wefound when the mist lifted that snow had fallen on all the surroundingpeaks. 

 * * * * *

IMOGENE BASIN, September 12th. 

Two days' after our expedition to San Miguel we awoke to findourselves in a "white world, " the snow being two inches deep. Itis said to be a most unusually early storm, but it was notaltogether a surprise: the glass had been falling and storms hadbeen audibly growling all round us. The snow only lasted abouttwenty-four hours, just long enough for us to realise and admireImogene in its winter garb, and enable us to try and walk in snow-shoes. We did not attempt either going up or down hill in them, sothat our performance was confined to the small space in front ofthe cabin. 

With the exception of this one storm our weather continues lovely;bright, sunshiny, warm days--we do not even require an extrajacket out of doors until after sunset--with a slight frost everynight. 

Last Monday we started early, taking provisions with us, and spenta long day in Red Mountain Park, sketching the marvellouslybrilliant scarlet peaks, whilst Mr. W---- shot grouse, of which hegot three and a half brace. The grouse are much like ours, onlylarger, and roost in trees. These parks abound in game. We havebeen wishing to see a bear; at a safe distance, perhaps, but havenever succeeded, though several have been killed since ourarrival. Whilst shooting, Mr. W---- came upon the fresh trail ofone and its unfinished meal of a gophir not very far from where welunched; only fancy what a stampede there would have been had thebear appeared. We are always looking out for thin trees roundwhich a bear's claws would overlap, and therefore they could notclimb, to take refuge up in case of danger; but they very seldomattack, unless wounded or a she-bear with cubs. In the spring andautumn these parks abound in deer; but in summer they go abovetimber line to graze on the succulent bunch grasses and to be freefrom flies. There are also mountain-sheep, coyotes, and foxes, andalong the streams several beaver; but we never have seen anyanimal bigger than a prairie-dog, or smaller than a coney. 

Chipmunks and the mountain-rats disturbed our slumbers at night, running about the cabin, and I do not at all think we should likeour dormitory were we not watched over during our slumbers by acat, the most sociable of beasts, who as a rule sleeps between us, and protests loudly if we either of us move or wake him. 

 * * * * *

September 7th. 

By degrees we are learning something of the mines and miners; alsoare beginning to know all the packers who daily go up and down thetrails, each with a train of ten donkeys carrying the ore from themines. The men's appearance is of the roughest, but they, one andall, are most civil, both of speech and manner. Women are rare inthese districts, the wife of the manager of the Wheel of FortuneMine being the only one living up here. She has been here twoyears, and is quite idolized by the miners and trappers, as shehas never been known to refuse hospitality to any. We were muchamused, whilst going through the Wheel of Fortune tunnels lastSaturday, to hear one of the miners ask who we were, and when toldwith the ready answer, natural to this country, that "we wereDuchesses, " he wished much to know if that was not something likethe Prince of Wales. 

We went into a lower shaft whilst two fuses were fired in anupper. The anticipation of the shock was worse than therealisation. Each of us carried a candle, and the concussion blewthem all out; but beyond that, the smell of gunpowder, and smoke, we experienced no harm, and as we had matches and the candles weresoon relit, we had not to grope our way back in darkness. 

We have been into several of the tunnels on the eight well-definedlodes in this basin, also into some in Sneffels; these veins maybe all traced through into Red Mountain Valley, which seems to bethe volcanic centre of this neighbourhood. The porphyry veinmatter or ore-bearing quartz, having decomposed more readily thanthe trachyte of the mountains which they intersect, in someinstances, as in the peak just above our cabin, they have cut deepnotches in the summit of the ridges, making the outline veryjagged and rugged looking. 

The mineral wealth around us is astounding, hundreds of rich mineshave been discovered in all the surrounding mountains, and arebeing discovered now. Three men, whilst at dinner a month ago inRed Mountain Valley, in picking round with a small axe where theywere sitting, knocked off a piece of rock which, when analysed, proved to be so valuable a lode, that they have since then soldtheir claim for 125, 000 dollars. 

Any man can stake a claim of 1, 500 feet on a vein if not previouslydone; but he has to expend 100 pounds on it in the first five years toenable him to obtain a patent from Government, which secures theproperty to him for ever. 

There must be a certain amount of excitement to miners as to whattreasure will be produced after every blast of gunpowder; but oh!how I should hate the life, living underground in thesesubterranean passages, which are all more or less wet from thewater percolating through the rock, and never able to see the sunor the beauties of nature. The wages of the men are enormous, ableminers getting four dollars a day; sorters, or the men who breakand turn over the stone, three and a half. 

Mr. W---- had a hard life when he first came out here in 1877; ashe and his partner worked with no other help for four yearsunderground mining, besides having to build their cabin, beingtheir own blacksmiths, assayer, cook, &c. , and he declares heenjoyed it immensely, with the exception, perhaps, of the firstwinter, when, getting in their supplies very late, they had tolive on bacon (and that rancid) and flour, but little else. 

Stores for the winter have to be brought up in October, as thetrails early become impassable, and all outer communication canonly be kept up on snow-shoes. The snow averages about seven oreight feet, though in this basin it has been known to be thirty-eight deep, but in the Uncompaghre Valley and down by Ouray itaverages only a few inches. Animals are left out to graze thereall the winter. 

 * * * * *

THE RANCH, UNCOMPAHGRE PARK, September 16. Ten miles below Ouray. 

Amidst many tears and regrets, we have torn ourselves away fromthe cabin, where we could have spent another month or six weeks inperfect contentment; but a storm being predicted, and duck-shootingand fly-fishing being part of our Colorado programme, we accepted theloan of a house on a farm down in the valley, and are installed in it. It wanted a certain amount of pluck, on first seeing ouraccommodation, to come down. Our house is one room, thirty feet longby about eighteen wide, an open roof with plenty of air-holes, and nopartition whatsoever, excepting what we have made by hanging threeblankets from a rafter, behind which is our bed (or lounge inday-time), the washing-stand, a box set up longways, and a tin bason, an arm-chair which consists of two pieces of wood, and an oldwolfskin, much worn, and a rickety table, at which I am writing now, lighted by a candle stuck into a bottle. On the other side of theblanket-partition is the kitchen stove, big table, store shelves, apile of saddles, &c. Mr. W---- sleeps in a tent outside; Henry in awaggon: he, poor man, is not at all happy, as he imagines bears andcoyotes are nightly intending making their evening meal off his portlyform. He is the greatest coward I ever saw, and came in horrorconfiding to me that he had seen a snake, yards long, which Mr. W----killed the day following, and it proved to be a small water-snake, hardly ten inches. 

Henry affords us a great deal of amusement; he does not at allpresume, but, in his quaint way, wishes to tell, and asks so manythings, queries which often are almost unanswerable. The day wespent in Ouray on our way down from the cabin here, we muchdistressed him by not "striking a show" in the street, and notwearing smart clothes which had a "tong, " if it were only to showthat we consider Mr. W---- a "big bug. "

He left his wife in the South eleven years ago, and, in spite ofall our protestations and lectures, informs us he is going tomarry again, as in the Bible he reads "that it is wrong for man tolive alone. "

It is a matter of infinite surprise to him how we can remain outof doors with no covering to our heads, he could not stand therays of the sun as we do; and why our complexions in consequenceare not as dark as his is a mystery to him. 

 * * * * *

THE RANCH, UNCOMPAGHRE PARK, September 24th. 

Although this house does consist of only one room, is situated ina stony field, with not a tree near us, and that we are not havinggood sport, either trout-fishing or duck-shooting, we should bequite happy and contented were it not for the B flats whichabound, the first we have come across, which, Henry assures us, are not from dirt, but grow in the pine-wood. Why are they not, then, in the log cabins which are entirely built of pine? We havenot disclosed the fact to Mr. W----, he is so thoroughly enjoyinghis holiday, as we know that we should be instantly ordered backto Ouray, where he would have to begin his work. Whilst he is outshooting, we make expeditions, exploring over all the foot-hills. One day, after wandering up a beautiful valley, we came upon aPark or "Mesa, " and I do not ever remember having seen such aview: miles of grass on which wild cattle and horses were feeding, with clumps of trees artistically dotted here and there, and forbackground the orange and scarlet tinted foot-hills, pines onhigher regions, and a glorious panorama of snow-capped mountainsbeyond. But for the mountains, one might almost fancy oneself insome English park, and at every turn we felt we ought to come uponan Elizabethan House. There were many tracks of deer, but nonewere visible. We overtook a man driving a team of ten oxen withlumber, and of him asked our way, as one might very easily loseoneself in these rolling park-like glades, intersected with deepcanyons, with no trails or roads, excepting here and there onemade by lumberers. In coming down the hill again, close to a largesaw-mill, we watched a man breaking in a horse of five years old. He had secured a dozen, all wild, in a corral or fenced enclosure, and had thrown a noose over this one's head. He was trying to drawit up by means of a thick rope to the fence, the rope gettingtighter and tighter as the animal backed or tried to gallop roundwith the other horses. Finally, when the poor brute was almostchoked, and perspiration was streaming down him, he allowed theman to go up to him, who very dexterously and quickly slipped ahalter over its head. The horse then was tied up to the post, theothers turned out, and the man intended keeping him there untilthe following morning without any food, when he would put a saddleon, and ride him, and hoping to sell him as broken for eightydollars. 

Many of these horses are not broken at all; we were shown agood- looking mare of thirteen years old who had never had a bitin her mouth. 

 * * * * *

THE RANCH, September 29th. 

This is the country I should like to have a farm in, were I bound toemigrate. In this valley every sort of grain and vegetable seem togrow in the most luxuriant way, and we have been feasting on tomatoes, cabbages, beets, lettuces, etc. The butcher, who is also greengrocer, sent a potato twelve inches long by nine round, "hoping the ladieswould take it in their trunks to England as an average specimen. " Thenon the "Mesa" or parks above the foot-hills, large herds of cattle canalways graze through the winter. We have had jelly made ofsquawberries and the Oregon grape, which is excellent. There are alsowild gooseberries and black currants, both of which we have found. This ranch is 160 acres; the only buildings the owner has put up arethe dwelling-house and one shed as a stable and implement-house. Haylast year was selling at 10 to 12 pounds a ton, potatoes 3d. To 6d. Alb. , oats 4d. A lb. , and everything in proportion; eggs 3s. To 4s. Adozen all the year round, milk 6d. A quart; so that any man ought tomake a very large profit, the land originally costing him nothing, and, excepting in hay or harvest time, very little labour required. Oats are cut very green and stacked for winter fodder. These fertilevalleys are very limited in number, and as the consumption must be onthe increase, mines being discovered and opened out, some time mustelapse and the railway come nearer, ere competition reduces theprices, or the farmer's profits are lessened. 

The people round are most kind and friendly, and would be more sohad they received the slightest encouragement; but Mr. W---- gaveout we wanted to know no one, that we were not to be in Ouray, andthat all our time was to be taken up seeing the country. We wentone day up Bear Creek, as Mr. W---- was asked to see a mine, anddined with the manager and his wife. They gave us a sumptuousrepast, and tried to persuade E---- and I to remain the night, though we were only about four miles from home; but even we twoare not enough un-Englishified as yet not to object to sleepingwith two other people. They had only one room for kitchen, bed, sitting-room, &c. ; and it is curious how little one now thinks ofthe bed standing in one corner, the washing-stand in another, whilst kitchen-stove, and scullery fill up a third. I suggestedthat when strangers did sleep there they gave them the adjoiningcabin; but was told that a trussel bed put alongside of the host's"took no room whatsoever. " Mr. W---- tells a funny story of apicnic party in the mountains in an old cabin of his, which onlycontained one room, and where five women and six men had to sleepthe night, the women occupying the bunks, the men (afterpromenading outside whilst the women were getting into bed)sleeping on the floor. They all laughed and talked so much thatdaylight almost appeared before any of them got to sleep, andthere was a regular stampede under the blankets among the ladieswhen a match was struck, one of the men objecting to his neighbourlying alongside of him with all his clothes on. 

 * * * * *

October 3rd. 

How the time flies! in forty-eight hours from now we shall havesaid good-bye to the most fascinating of regions, and Ouray andthe Rocky Mountains, with all the glorious scenery, will only livein our memories and be things of the past. 

I fancy one could never tire of it, and wish so much I could describethe view we had from our Ranch looking up the Uncompahgre. --the valleybright yellow with the grasses and aspen trees turning colour from thefrosts, the scarlet dwarf oak on the foot-hill, and the mountains lostin the blue distance. During our six weeks' stay we have tried all thedifferent phases of life. The cabin life in amongst the mountains andminers, the Ranch, and town, and certainly give the palm to thefirst-mentioned. As we anticipated, our Ranch life was brought to anabrupt end the moment we owned to Mr. W---- how our slumbers weredisturbed with the B flats; we had to return into Ouray, and have beenliving here some days. 

Mr. W---- found such an accumulation of work on his return, that, excepting at meals, we never see him; and have to contentourselves wandering and exploring on our ponies all the differenttrails, and we shall soon be acquainted with every one withinmiles. The only ride we do eschew is the Toll Road up the park, the only piece of flat ground anywhere about, and fit forcantering along. It is the favourite resort of the ladies of thetown, who are smartly arrayed in very long-skirted habitsornamented with brass buttons and velvet jockey-caps, and who mustnaturally look down upon us as disgracefully turned out in ourevery-day gowns and broad-brimmed hats, which, to say the least, have seen better days. 

Ladies riding alone are required to pay no toll; a custom we thinkought very much to be encouraged all over the civilized world. 

We have spent one more night at the cabin in Imogene, leavingHenry in Ouray and "doing" for ourselves; and whilst Mr. W---- andthe "expert, " for whom we went up, were inspecting mines, we twofetched the water, made bread, and had a general sweep out. Thecat was supremely delighted to see us, and could not apparentlymake enough of us when not allowed on our knees, stood up againstor walked round us. 

The heavy snow-storm of last week destroyed all the grass andflowers; they were so high when we left that a mule could hardlyhave been seen whilst grazing, and now they are laid quite flatwith not a vestige of their beauty left. The wind was very high aswe went up the canyon, so we had to hurry past the patches ofaspens growing on the rocks and having very little hold for theirroots, which were being blown over unpleasantly near us. 

This will be the last letter you will receive, as when oncestarted we shall go as fast as the stage-coach, rail, and steam-boat can take us to England, I having had a telegram which hurriesus home. 

Good-bye, we look forward immensely to seeing you all again; butwe have had such a pleasant trip throughout, without a single_contretemps_, that we can but be delighted we came, and shallalways look back with immense gratification on our six months'sojourn in the Western hemisphere. 

 * * * * *

LONDON, December, 1882. 

Since arriving in England I have received the following letterfrom my brother in Manitoba, and as I want this book to be a sortof guide to colonists I think it well to add it:--

C---- FARM, November 14th. 

I am writing now to send you a kind of statement of our farmaccounts; though it cannot be quite correct, this year's crop ofoats not having been thrashed out, so that the calculation canonly be approximate. 

1st. _The Land_. --The cost of the land is taken as the firstpurchase-money and the amount it has cost to bring 410 acres undercultivation. 

2nd. _The Buildings_. --They consist of two dwelling-houses and twostables; one of the houses, being for the men, is also used as awarehouse and granary. 

The contract price was very low, and also the price of timber; nowboth gone up, but put down at the original cost. 

3rd. _The Horses_. --Valued, I think, rather low at 250 dollars a team;500 dollars for the stallion. The 4, 326 dollars include their cost;the amount of oats and hay they have eaten. 

_The Cows_. --Include their original cost, hay and percentage of keep. The price of cattle now is high; we sold two cows this summer at anaverage price of 75 dollars. 

_Implements_ have been reduced about 35 per cent for their two years'wear. 

_Carriages_ being new, we have taken nothing off them. 

_Pigs_ have the cost of their feeding added; the young ones taken atan average of ten dollars. 

_Furniture_. --A slight deduction for wear and tear. 

_Oats_. --We are calculating 2, 500 bushels off 181 acres. 

_Hay_ is difficult to calculate; I do not think we have 400 tons. Theprice now is very low; 5 dollars a ton, and it would cost us threedollars to get it into Winnipeg. 

_Potatoes_ are uncertain. They are worth one dollar a ton now, and ifwe can manage to keep them during the winter they will be worth a gooddeal more; but they are difficult to keep, although we have a goodroot-house; If the frost happens to get to them they will all spoil;and it is difficult to keep the frost out, going as it does twelvefeet into the ground. 

_The Fence_ is quite worth the money; so you see that putting mostthings at a low price, one has a certain profit, though not in hardcash; and it is satisfactory to find that one hasn't been working fortwo seasons for nothing. No one expects a farm to pay in this countryduring the first two years. 

Original Value. Dollars. Present Value DollarsLand, 480 acres 4, 110 worth 30 dollars an acre 14, 400Building 2 houses and 2 stables 4, 814 4, 814Horses--2l horses 4, 326 3, 000 1 stallionCattle--84 cows 2, 668 80 cows and 46 calves 3, 700Carriages 229 229Harness 407 300Implements 1, 810 800Pigs 125 Pigs and 29 young 350Poultry 20 33 chickens 40Furniture 495 400Profit and Losses 10, 681Oats 2, 500 bushels at 50 cents 1, 250Hay 400 tons at 5 dollars 2, 000Potatoes 1, 000 bushels at 1 dollar 1, 000Flax 100Wire Fence 500 ______ ______ 29, 180 32, 888N. B. --The profit and loss comprises the wages to labourers and costof living of both masters and men. 

This estimate is given after two years' farming.