What must have been the feelings of the pioneer settlers when they beheld for the first time the magnificent scenery of the Chaudiere, before its wild beauty was defaced by the woodman's axe or its sparkling waters used in slides and mill-races?
Three openings loomed up before them—the most distant one, to the left, a broad half-rapid, half-cascade, sweeping down among islands of pines; the middle passage seemed very narrow and carried away in a sort of creamy foam the waters of the Chaudiere proper; while the nearer or right passage led by a winding route to a rocky cove at the beginning of the portage road. Surely never had they beheld anything so picturesque, so indescribably grand, as it appeared to them on that bright and frosty evening! The precipices and rocky gorge of the opposite shore, green with pine and cedar to the river's brink, and covered with a mantle of beautiful snow; the volume of water, tossed, broken, dashed into foam, which floated down like miniature icebergs on the mighty rushing current till the natural ice-bridge was reached, made a scene not soon to be forgotten. The turrets, domes and battlements of the Dominion House of Parliament, which in a few short years was destined to crown the opposite cliffs, were a dream beyond the wildest imagination of our Pioneer.
CHAPTER III.
NEWITCHEWAGAN.
1802.
Two years had slipped away. The ice moon had given place to the crescent whirlwind moon. The wild duck and geese had long since ceased their plash, plash in the water opposite "The Wigwam," as the children delighted to call their new home in the forest. The noble rivers, the picturesque falls, the monarchs of the forest towering heavenwards, the fragrance of pine and cedar, the lakes and rivers teeming with fish and fowl and fur-bearing animals, seemed to the children of the new Chief a paradise; nor were they alone in their views. The stern realities of pioneer life made it none the less enchanting to the man who gloried in overcoming difficulties and in braving hardships in one of the greatest conquests undertaken by man—the wresting of a wilderness from savagery to civilization.
The "Wigwam" was situated in the midst of an estate of twenty-two thousand acres, part of which had been received as a grant, but the greater portion being purchased from the Government, for the Chief had by no means suffered losses such as many U.E. Loyalists had borne, having brought with him a capital of nearly fifty thousand dollars.
The new home presented a strange contrast to the cosy, comfortable New England farmhouse. It was built of undressed tamarac logs in true rustic shanty fashion. The chinks between the logs and scoops of the roof were "caulked" with moss, driven in with a thin pointed handspike, over which a rude plaster of blue clay was daubed. The chimney was very wide and low, and was built above a huge boulder which formed the back of the fire-place. There was no upper story to the rude dwelling, which was partitioned off into bedrooms at each end, with a large living room, kitchen, dining-room all in one, in the centre.
A wild night had set in. It seemed as though all nature had gone mad. The wind struggled with doors and windows for an entrance to the humble home, but only served to intensify the warmth and light and joy within, for it made the great fire roar and crackle the merrier.
A group of happy children were popping corn before the glowing coals. Near them sat the Chief and Mrs. Wright conversing together in a low voice. Laying down her knitting, the latter looked earnestly into her husband's face.