WANT OF CONVEYANCE SETTLER. 205 



hour. This character was dressed in his smock-coat, with 

 tight lacing boots and leggans, as if from his native country 

 a minute before, and was telling cock-and-bull stories about 

 his shooting feats with Lord Liverpool and other great men, as 

 their companion. His language, dress, and appearance formed 

 a striking contrast to the grave, thoughtful-looking Ameri 

 cans, who did not make a remark or alter an expression of 

 countenance indicating their opinion of Yorky ; yet they 

 seemed to be eyeing him with a keenness, as if measuring the 

 strength and depth of his character. 



After partaking of dinner, I recrossed the river to the Cana 

 dian side, walked over some French settlements, and passed 

 the night at Sandwich. The hotel was a poor, dirty, ill- 

 finished place, and more especially the sleeping part of it. 

 Here I met with two gentlemen of the village, whose conver 

 sation was of considerable use to me. 



Next morning it was my intention to have visited a new 

 settlement, four miles to the east of Sandwich, but I was 

 unable to obtain a horse or conveyance of any kind in this 

 metropolis of Western Canada. The people of the hotels do 

 not in the least degree interest themselves in the proceedings 

 of travellers, and knew of no one likely to hire his horses or 

 waggon. I, however, applied to several French inhabitants 

 without effect ; and the day being wet I had no alternative but 

 to walk down the banks of the river to Amherstburgh, where, 

 with the assistance of Mrs Drake, I got the use of a pony 

 from Mr Obrion at a dollar a-day. 



Nothing could exceed the wretched equipment of the pony, 

 which was a good one if it had been in condition. But it had 

 run on the common and in the wood until caught for my use ; 

 its mane was almost a solid mass of burs, and its hairs so 

 covered with eggs of the bot-fly, that they almost changed 

 the colour of the animal. It was without shoes ; the saddle, 

 without girths, was held in its position by a belt passing over 

 it ; the stirrups and bridle harmonizing with the saddle. 



In the first instance I rode over part of the Huron Indian 

 Reserve with Mr Clark, who had married a squaw of the 

 Huron tribe, by whom he had a family, being originally an 

 American, and having lived in comfort, since the time of his 



