386 The Back Woods of Canada. 



lending of specimens, and the communicating of notices of 

 localities, are invited. 



The Back Woods of Canada; being Letters from the Wife of 

 an Emigrant Officer, illustrative of the Domestic Economy 

 of British America. 



This little volume has been published under the auspices 

 of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and 

 contains much valuable information for those who, from 

 choice or necessity, are seeking to exchange the unprofitable 

 labours of the old country for the severe but more promising 

 of those of the new. To use the words of the Introduction, 

 speaking of the authoress, u Truth has been conscientiously 

 her object in the work ; for it were cruel to write in flattering 

 terms, calculated to deceive emigrants into the belief that the 

 land to which they are transferring their families, their capital, 

 and their hopes, is a land flowing with milk and honey, where 

 comforts and affluence may be obtained with little exertion. 

 She prefers honestly representing facts in their real and true 

 light, that the female part of the emigrant's family may be 

 enabled to look them firmly in the face ; to find a remedy in 

 female ingenuity and expediency for some difficulties ; and, by 

 being properly prepared, encounter the rest with that high- 

 spirited cheerfulness of which well-educated females often 

 give extraordinary proofs." (p. 2.) And no one more so than 

 the fair writer of the work before us. Who can rise from 

 the perusal of the narrative of all the perils she encountered 

 in the forest, perils and difficulties which might have appalled 

 a stouter heart, without sentiments of admiration and respect? 

 And yet there is not a particle of boasting from first to last : 

 all is true to nature ; and you feel as certain of the correct- 

 ness of every particular as if you had seen them with your 

 own eyes. For this, indeed, our personal knowledge of the 

 authoress, of her high talents and respectability, is ample 

 guarantee ; and most sincerely do we wish her and hers that 

 success to which they have proved themselves so well en- 

 titled. 



A few extracts must complete our brief notice ; and these 

 we shall select from passages bearing more immediately on 

 the natural history of Canada. On their way thither, there 

 are many scenes described, which every lover of nature will 

 enter into with peculiar gusto. Take the following as an 

 instance : — 



" The waters of the Otanabee are so clear and free from impurity, that 

 you distinctly see every stone, pebble, or shell, at the bottom. Here and 

 there an opening in the forest reveals some tributary stream, working its 



