196 JOHN MACDONAT.D. 



sight of the lake, having been nine hours in travelling a distance 

 of twelve miles. 



When emerging from the woods on Lake Erie, we passed a 

 .camp-meeting of the Jacksonite Methodists, which I felt no 

 inclination to visit. On enquiring to be directed to the near 

 est tavern, I was told there was not a tavern on the road for 

 thirty miles, but that almost any farmer would receive us 

 for the night. 



Our first three or four applications for accommodation were 

 unsuccessful, the houses being filled with the attendants of 

 the camp-meeting ; but we at last gained admittance to the 

 house of John Macdonald, from Appin, Argyleshire, Scotland. 

 Application had in this solitary instance been made by Wil 

 liams, and John reluctantly consented to receive us, under the 

 impression w r e were people of colour like Williams. John 

 was surprised to find us of the same complexion as himself, 

 and still more so when I said he must be a countryman of 

 mine, from his dialect as a Scotchman. He put a thousand 

 questions about my visit to the country and the state of Scot 

 land, and when satisfied that I was not an impostor, his joy 

 seemed unbounded. John was a true Scotch Highlander in 

 every respect, and spoke the English language in the comic 

 purity, if I may use the expression, of his countrymen, his 

 phrases of &quot; her nainsell,&quot; and &quot; gosh, man,&quot; being as fresh as 

 if from Appin the day before. I enjoyed his originality, and 

 admired his warmth of heart, amply displayed in anecdotes of 

 liis past life, which he continued to relate long after we went 

 to bed. 



Next morning I walked over John s farm, consisting of 200 

 ..acres of most excellent land, forty of which had been cleared 

 in fourteen years, during which he had not applied any 

 manure, and which I testify had not accumulated to an in 

 convenient degree. His Indian corn was about the best crop 

 I saw in Canada, with exception of some belonging to the 

 Indians on the Grand River. The quality of his wheat was 

 excellent, and part of his farm carried this crop and peas 

 alternately ; the extent of wheat being limited to the assist 

 ance he could obtain during harvest. John had two sons on 

 adjoining farms, in the same state as their father s, and a third 



