15th.—I have made another extract from the Canada letters for my dear mamma.
“Loghouse, February 24th.
“Here we are at last; and though we must bear a good deal of inconvenience for some time, yet we feel all the enjoyment of being really at home.
“On Monday morning, Feb. 10, we left Cobourg, Mr. * * * * and I on one seat, with a little girl between us; the maid and the other two children on the seat before us, and our charioteer in front. We had blankets and cloaks to roll about our feet, and a basket of cold meat and bread. Another sleigh carried our bedding, trunks, and luggage, besides baskets of poultry and our two dogs.
“We travelled twenty miles that day very pleasantly; passing through miles and miles of forest. I was delighted with this new scene. Every now and then, we came to small clearings, with loghouses, and generally with a good stock of cattle and poultry.
“At four o’clock, we reached the inn; and we passed the night there very comfortably, sleeping on the floor in the sitting-room, where we spread our mattresses and blankets.
“Next day, our road lay through thick woods; indeed, it scarcely deserved that name, for it was merely a track through the snow where other sleighs had lately passed. We turned backwards and forwards through the crowded trees, and often had showers of snow from branches which our heads touched: the boughs of the beautiful hemlock pine were so loaded with it, and bent down so low, that we were obliged to lie down, to pass under them; and twice we were obliged to stop and cut a passage where trees had fallen across the way. We drove for nine miles through woods without seeing any habitation, except two Indian huts.
“When we arrived at the banks of the river, near the mills, we found that the ice had given way, so that the sleighs could not cross; and the miller’s boat could not ply, because there was still a broad border of ice on each side of the river. We sent a man across to beg of our friend Mr. ——, who was settled there, to send his oxen and sleigh to a part of the river called the Little Lake, two miles lower down; and we determined to walk across. This delay was very embarrassing, but our travels were nearly at an end, and that gave us spirits to proceed with vigour through the snow, which came far above our ancles. The friends who came from the opposite side to meet us, carried the two youngest children; the workmen carried our bedding, and every thing else was left at the mills. With this assistance we contrived to cross, and being soon packed into the sleigh, we proceeded in the shades of evening to our home, through nearly five miles of wood. Our loghouse was quite illuminated by the glare of the fires which had been prepared for us, and even if there had been no fire, we must have been warmed by the joy our friend shewed at seeing us here.
“The house was not quite finished, and we found it rather cold at night; but every day since we have made it more and more comfortable. Our books fill up one side of the parlour, and give it a comfortable look; and as it has two windows, one to the south, and one to the west, we have now the delightful warm sun shining in from ten till past five.
“This is really a pretty spot—even now, though the ground is covered with snow. The river is broad, and rushes by with great noise and rapidity, carrying down lumps of ice from the lake; it winds beautifully, and the banks are fringed with fine spreading cedars and lofty hemlock pines.