HARDSHIPS OF EMIGRATION, 21 



imagine that he had left man and his works behind him, 

 and that this wood road, like many another, only led to 

 the other end of nowhere. Quite the contrary ; a sudden 

 turn opens up a large and fertile tract of cultivated land, 

 studded with snug homesteads fields of wheat, of pota- 

 toes, of oats, and of buckwheat smile upon him through 

 the charred stumps. The crops are excellent, as they 

 always are in Canada on nesv land. The Intercolonial 

 Railroad, which crosses the Restigouche at this point, 

 affords lots of profitable employment to the men, and 

 an excellent market for the surplus produce of the 

 farmers. 



These Acadian emigrants, be it remembered, were 

 hardy people, inured to the climate, accustomed to no 

 food the year round but potatoes, salt herrings, and buck- 

 wheat cakes. The men were good axemen, and able to 

 turn their hands to the hundred and one little jobs indis- 

 pensable in backwoods life. 



It must be conceded that a body of Englishmen in like 

 circumstances, unused to woodcraft, would have perished. 

 I myself can remember the day when to be benighted in 

 the Canadian forest in winter time would have been 

 certain death ; now, given an axe, two or three matches, 

 and supper, I should rather enjoy it than otherwise. I do 

 not mean to say that emigrants of the present day would 

 undergo such extreme hardships as these Acadians went 

 through. Population has increased since then, railways 

 have doubled, the demand for labour is greater, and 

 wages are higher ; but still, let a crowd of poor English- 

 men with their families settle down together in any part 

 of Canada, where free or even very cheap land is attain- 



