100 SETTLERS AT DUNVILLE. 



the wool of sheep. At dusk, we reached a few log-houses, 

 called Petersburgh, on the Welland canal, where we had one 

 bed assigned to three of us, which was occupied by two, the 

 third reposing on a chest, with a great coat below, and a 

 cloak above him. 



We rose at four o clock next morning, and walked down the 

 banks of the canal to its junction with the lake, and some 

 miles to the west, to see a property for sale belonging to Mr 



, for which $10 per acre was asked. After breakfast, we 

 expected a waggon and a pair of horses to take us to Dunville, 

 but the waggon being engaged in carrying hay, a small boat 

 was provided to carry our luggage up the canal to the junction 

 of the feeder from the grand river, in hope of getting a con 

 veyance to Dunville. On learning the passage-boat was 

 expected from, instead of going to Dunville, my companions 

 became angry, and announced their intention of returning to 

 Britain without loss of time, by way of the St Lawrence, a 

 piece of intelligence not altogether unexpected. The luggage 

 was the chief obstacle to our progress ; and if it could have 

 been dispensed with, they might have been induced to perse 

 vere. It was arranged that they should proceed down the 

 canal to St Cathrine s, and wait my arrival at Hamilton. 



I proceeded on foot to Dunville, distant eighteen miles, 

 dining on poor fare at Marshville. On passing Cranberry- 

 marsh, I was attacked by musquittoes, which clustered chiefly 

 behind my ears, and defended myself for two hours by waving 

 the branch of a tree in each hand, reaching my destination 

 after nightfall, having walked fifteen hours in course of the 

 day. My repose was disturbed by the nibbling of musquittoes ; 

 and on rising at day-break, I found vegetation most copiously 

 covered with dew. 



In the course of the day I visited settlers in the neighbour 

 hood of Dunville, resident from a few weeks to three years, 

 and found them leading lives of privation and hardship. In 

 every instance, they were cheerful and looking with confidence 

 to futurity ; but it was evident to me they, generally, had en 

 tangled themselves with an extent of possession far beyond their 

 means of paying for, and at a price so much beyond its real 

 value, that accumulation of interest on the purchase money 



