ATTEMPTS AT A BUSH SETTLEMENT. 



ATTEMPTS AT A BUSH SETTLEMENT. 



BY AN ENGLISH OFFICER. 



CHAPTER I. 



Arriving iii Upper Canada, the promised land, where I had deemed it quite an 

 easy task to make " the desert blossom as the rose," and meeting with a few old 

 friends whose knowledge of the wants of " bush life" was about equal to my own, 

 the glowing description which Capt. H., of the army, and Capt. M., of the navy, gave 

 of the location which they had taken up in Harvey ; and the offer of the use of Capt. 

 n.'s house, not yet finished, until I could get one up for myself; induced me to visit 

 that section ; and Capt. M. volunteered to be our " compagnon de voyage and chape- 

 rone" in Capt. H.'s boat, as the greater part of the route was by water. Accompanied 

 by my wife in an open wagon, with the rest of our party, we started early in the 

 morning for Mud Lake, seven miles from Peterboro'. There we found the captain's 

 boat and crew waiting for us. Quickly got on board, and fairly embarked on Mud 

 Lake, we left the last traces of civilization behind us. Having passed the Indian 

 village, and entered Buckhorn Lake, we were delighted with the beautiful thouo-h 

 wild scenery through which for twenty-five miles we pulled on Pigeon and Great Bald 

 Lakes, until darkness overtook us in Little Bald Lake, where we were to land, and we 

 saw the bright beams of the signal fire, which guided us to the landing, at the foot of 

 a high bare hill, from which its radiance spread in ruddy Hght over a superbly wild 

 and romantic scene. Cold and tired, we reached the landing, and with no little 

 chagrin learned that we had to walk above a mile and a half through the dark bush 

 to Manitou Lake, upon which Capt. H.'s house was situated. However, the novelty 

 and excitement of the scene, and a cup of fine old mulled port, which Capt. M. pre- 

 pared at the "beacon light" while the young men were stripping dry cedar bark for 

 torches, served to reconcile us more to our position ; and the effect of our party, each 

 individual not otherwise laden carrying a flaming torch through the closely wooded 

 ravine leading from the one lake to the other, would have formed a stud)' even for a 

 Rembrant or Piosa ; while the dense wood resounded to the echoing chorus of a 

 favorite hunting song. 



Arrived at the house, over which the torches threw a warm and cheerful light, 

 reflected upon the calm surface of the glassy lake calmly reposing in front, we felt the 

 discomforts of the day surmounted, and prepared to enjoy the blazing fire which 

 illumed the uncurtained windows. After stumbling over logs, planks, &c., we gained 

 the door ; and entering the hall, we might have imagined ourselves in a vast cage 

 enclosed by transverse bars, illuminated by three blazing fires in the rooms with which 

 it communicated. The fact was, that nothing but the outer shell of the house was 

 completed, and the entire inside stood in its naked lathing, unconscious of the plas- 

 terer's coat. One of the intended sitting rooms, with a bed room off" it, had been 

 prepared in the best bush fashion for our reception, with a pine table, two benches, the 



