Fuel obtained at a Distance. 337 



some difficulty has occurred in procuring funds 

 for its completion. > -1973 I 



. 



The general poverty of the inhabitants may 

 be inferred from seeing numbers of the lower 

 classes bearing turf for the distance of two or 

 three miles on their backs. In our northern 

 climate one of the most important concerns in 

 life is that of procuring fuel. The laboring 

 people are often taken up with attending to 

 this requisite when they ought to be securing 

 their harvest. On making some inquiries of a 

 poor man heavily laden with turf, he replied, 

 " We work when we can get it, and keep our- 

 selves warm when it is not to be had thank 

 God, we have no want of fuel." The bog here 

 is of some extent, and is encompassed by the 

 limestone rock ; a number of small cabins are 

 raised on. its edge, which are separated from 

 the road by a deep and wide ditch, over which 

 the inhabitants had to scramble whenever they 

 left home ; this, though practicable for adults, 

 seemed impossible to be attempted by children, 

 who must be confined to the limits of the cabins, 

 which, with their lowly inhabitants, were the 

 poorest we had yet seen. 



The inn here is clean and comfortable, and 

 VOL. i. z 



