170 AVON ACCOMMODATION GERMAN SETTLER. 



night, we were conducted to a shanty thirty or forty yards from, 

 the tavern, consisting of one apartment, containing three beds, 

 one of which was already occupied, another was destined for 

 our waggoner, and the third for my friend and self. This 

 hovel did not even contain a seat, or any kind of furniture, except 

 the fore-mentioned beds, and the door was without a fastening ; 

 the roof was of bark, and the rays of the moon shone through 

 it and the sides of the building, which bore a stronger resem 

 blance to a bird-cage than a human habitation. The beds 

 were boughs of trees, put together in the manner of a camp 

 stool, with a netting of bark connecting the frame-work. The 

 feeble glimmer of a small candle fixed near the door, prevented 

 me seeing the bed-clothes, but the bed felt as rough and hard 

 as the corduroy roads over which we had travelled in course 

 of the day. On lying down for the night, the farmer s say 

 ing to Mr T. A , this is a rough country for a gentleman, 



recurred to my memory ; and in a few minutes the chirping of 

 a thousand crickets lulled me to repose. 



Next morning I called our waggoner at daybreak, and, 

 while the horses were attaching, examined a grist and saw 

 mill which were erecting by the river side. We breakfasted 

 on very poor fare at a tavern kept by a German, who was one 

 of the first settlers on the road, having been five years in his 

 present situation. He expressed himself satisfied with his lot, 

 having 1000 acres of land, and had only sixteen in his own 

 country. I remarked that he perhaps held too much land ; 

 when he told me he had nine sons, to each of whom he meant 

 to give 100 acres, and retain the same extent for himself. His 

 wheat crop this year consisted of sixteen acres, and was almost 

 entirely destroyed by mildew. We dined at Van Egmont s 

 tavern, which is a wealthy-looking place for the country, 

 containing a store of miscellaneous goods, large barns, and a 

 tolerably good garden. We travelled five or six miles after 

 nightfall to Goderich. 



From Smith s Creek to Goderich, a distance of about sixty 

 miles, nearly two-thirds of the road is corduroy or crossway. 

 Occasionally a tree has been left standing in the centre of the 

 road, as if for the purpose of attracting notice. These trees 



