Among tJie Thousand Islands. 585 



hailed the vicinity of Christian help and assistance indicated by these 

 darkly colored trees. 



Behind Lower Grenadier Island, and three or four miles from 

 Alexandria Bay, upon the Canadian main-land, are a number of 

 excavations with remains of chimneys which we were puzzled for a 

 long time to account for. They were certainly under-ground dwell- 

 ings, but what was their use we could not satisfactorily explain. At 

 length, we met a fisherman who told us he recollected hearing from 

 his grandmother that in the " English war " British troops were 

 quartered there during the winter. Whether the English war was 

 that of 181 2 or the Revolution, we could not discover; probably the 

 war of older date may be referred to, as in many instances trees of 

 considerable size have grown up in the midst of the excavations. 



Of late years, perhaps, no event caused such a stir of excitement 

 in this region as the so-called Patriot war in 1838, — a revolt of 

 certain Canadians dissatisfied with the government of Sir Francis 

 Bond Head, then governor-general of Canada, — which was joined 

 by a number of American agitators ever ripe for any disturbance. 

 The first center of operations of these so-called patriots was Navy 

 Island, in the middle of the Niagara River, where they congregated, 

 employing the little steam-vessel Caroline in carrying arms and 

 munitions of war to that point. At length the steamer was captured 

 by some Canadians, fired, and run over the falls of Niagara. Con- 

 siderable indignation was excited in the United States by this 

 destruction of the property of American citizens, particularly along 

 the border, where indignation meetings were held, and secret socie- 

 ties called " Hunter's Lodges " were formed, with pass-words, secret 

 signals, and all due attendant mysteries, the express purpose of 

 which was revenge upon the Canadian Government. The agitators 

 were deceived by these signs into imagining that events were now 

 ripe for a general border war, in which they hoped to free Canada 

 from the rule of Great Britain. 



It was a wild, insane affair altogether, and after some time con- 

 sumed in petty threats of attack, finally reached a climax in the 

 burning of the Canadian steamer Sir Robert Peel, — one of the 

 finest vessels upon the St. Lawrence. The most prominent actor in 

 this affair was Bill Johnston, — a name familiar to every one around 

 this region, — whose career forms a series of romantic adventures, 



