The Back Woods of Canada. 387 



way beneath the gigantic trees that meet above it. The silence of the stream 

 is unbroken but by the sudden rush of the wild duck, disturbed from its 

 retreat among the shrubby willows that, in some parts, fringe the left bank; 

 or the shrill cry of the kingfisher, as it darts across the water. The steam- 

 boat put in for a supply of firewood at a clearing about half way from Peter- 

 borough ; and I gladly availed myself of the opportunity of indulging my 

 inclination forgathering some of the splendid cardinal flowers [Lobelia car- 

 dinalis] that grew among the stones by the river's brink. Here, too, I plucked 

 as sweet a rose as ever graced an English garden. 1 also found, among the 

 grass of the meadow land, spearmint, and, nearer to the bank, peppermint. 

 There was a bush resembling our hawthorn ; which, on examination, proved 

 to be the cockspur hawthorn, with fruit as large as cherries, pulpy, and of a 

 pleasant tartness, not much unlike to tamarinds. The thorns of this tree 

 were of formidable length and strength. I should think it might be in- 

 troduced with great advantage to form live fences : the fruit, too, would 

 prove by no means contemptible as a preserve." (p. 71.) 



Among the plants met with around their settlement are 

 enumerated the following : — A variety of shrubby asters of 

 every tint of blue, purple, and pearly white; a lilac Monard«, 

 most delightfully aromatic ; the white gnaphalium, or ever- 

 lasting flower ; roses of several kinds ; a little plant like our 

 box, but trailing, and with leaves of a deep copper red ; 

 lichens and .Fungi in abundance; strawberries of many varie- 

 ties ; orange lily ; phlox, or purple lychnidea; the mocassin 

 flower, or lady's slipper; lilies of the valley; Lobel/a car- 

 dinalis, &c, u I am," says our authoress, " half inclined to 

 be angry when I admire the beauty of the Canadian flowers, 

 to be constantly reminded that they are scentless, and, 

 therefore, scarcely worthy of attention : as if the eye could 

 not be charmed by beauty of form, and harmony of colours, 

 independent of the sense of smelling being gratified." How- 

 ever, she enumerates many exceptions to the censure which 

 has been cast on the land of her new abode, that " the flowers 

 are without perfume, and the birds without song," and, in 

 particular, the milkweed, a plant the flowers of which are alike 

 remarkable for beauty of colour and richness of scent. 



The following may be at once novel and interesting to many 

 of our English readers : — 



" As the day was particularly fine, I often quitted the waggon, and 

 walked on with my husband for a mile or so ... . We soon lost sight 

 entirely of the river, and struck into the deep solitude of the forest, where 

 not a sound disturbed the almost awful stillness that reigned around us. 

 Scarcely a leaf or bough was in motion, excepting, at intervals, we caught 

 the sound of the breeze stirring the lofty heads of the pine trees, and 

 wakening a hoarse and mournful cadence. This, with thetapping of the 

 red-headed and grey woodpeckers on the trunks of the decaying trees, or the 

 shrill whistling cry of the little striped squirrel, called by the natives * chit- 

 munk,' was every sound that broke the stillness of the wild. Nor was I 

 less surprised at the absence of animal life. With the exception of the 

 aforesaid chitmunk, no living thing crossed our path during our long day's 

 journey in the woods . . . .In these vast solitudes, one would naturally 



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