180 BRANTFORD STATE OF THE ROADS. 



much, but he invariably accosted every person on the road, 

 by saying, in broken English, &quot; How far tavern?&quot; 



At Brantford we engaged a waggon in preference to horses, 

 under an idea of its being an easier mode of conveyance, but I 

 am now satisfied our opinion was erroneous, as horseback 

 would have been more expeditious, and less fatiguing than 

 our waggon, over such roads as we travelled. The roads 

 formed by the Canada Company in the Huron tract have been 

 styled good by the Backwoodsmen, and so puffed off in every 

 British newspaper, that Englishmen may be apt to imagine 

 they are Macadamized. They are simply straight lines, 

 formed by felling trees, the branches and trunks of which 

 have been burnt, or formed into corduroy, and the stumps, 

 from two to three feet in height, left standing. I have already 

 alluded to the extent of corduroy, a description of roads which 

 most travellers speak of with horror, and, without meaning 

 to praise it, I must say it was by far the best and smoothest 

 portions of the Goderich roads. The roots projecting from 

 the stumps in a slanting direction kept the wheels and axles 

 of our waggon moving up and down with the regularity of 

 the beam of a steam-engine, and were alike annoying to us, 

 and fatiguing to the horses, and more especially when travel 

 ling between Van Egmont s tavern and London. In the 

 neighbourhood of Goderich people were engaged in burning- 

 out the stumps, and throwing the earth from the sides into 

 the middle of the road, giving it a convex form, which, in 

 American phraseology, is called turnpiking, and this operation 

 will be extended in time, if settlers have not cash to discharge 

 their engagements to the Company. 



London is situated at what is termed the Forks of the 

 Thames, and when the forest is a little more cleared away 

 than at present, few situations will be accounted more beau 

 tiful. At present a number of houses are being erected, and 

 the village is rising rapidly into importance. It contains 

 three or four large hotels, many well-filled stores, and a court 

 house, of which the inhabitants feel proud. 



On the 30th August we left London for St Thomas and 

 Port Stanley, in a waggon belonging to St Thomas, and 

 enjoyed our drive after the jolting snail pace we had expe- 



