HOUSE-BURNINGS. 65 



eating their children. If they are to be wiser than their 

 fathers, I fear their political superiors must compel them 

 to adopt the means. 



Two things I am reminded of by the passages of this 

 day s ride, which have frequently struck me as some 

 what peculiar in this northern region first, the nume 

 rous fires, or &quot; burnings out of house and home,&quot; one 

 hears of in travelling over the country. These arise, I 

 suppose, from the houses being so generally built of 

 wood, from the lavish wood-fires which are kept up 

 within them, from the dryness of hot summers like this, 

 and from the unexpected spread of fires from the burn 

 ing woods. The other is, the number of apparently 

 idle boys who are seen almost everywhere lounging 

 about, as if there was a want of work a want of method 

 on the part of those who should direct, or of willingness 

 to work among those who ought to obey. In the absence 

 of sufficient knowledge, it would be wrong to draw con 

 clusions unfavourable to the people ; but I think we may 

 at least safely infer from such appearances, as I have 

 elsewhere stated,* that a living is more easy to make here 

 when a man is once settled and that the mass of the 

 people are not obliged to work so hard as they are at home. 



And yet the large extent of ploughed land we saw 

 as we drove through this district generally light and 

 easily ploughed, it is true did not speak badly as to the 

 industry of the people. It showed at all events, that, long 

 as the winters are, there is abundant time between the 

 end of harvest and the setting in of the first lasting 

 snow-storms to allow of a great deal of farm-work being 

 done, where diligence and willing industry direct the 

 plough. 



Here, as in Nova Scotia and on the St John River, 

 the yield of upland hay had been greatly diminished 



* Vol. i. p. 119. 

 VOL. II. E 



