54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



The wild canary builds her nest, 



And rears her timid young 

 Upon thj^ calm sequestered banks, 



Oh, sweet Menesetung ! 



JSTo lordly ships thy bosom bears, 



Slow-moving, one by one, 

 Unknown, obscure, thou turnest still 



Thy bright face to the sun ; 

 But while ray heart within me beats 



Till life's last change is rung, 

 I'll love thee still, and love thee well. 



Oh, dear Menesetung ! 



But if an idea that once possessed some leading men of the Canada Company 

 had taken substantial shape, the ' ' lordly ships ' ' might have become a moving fea- 

 ture on the bosom of the Menesetung. Mr. Burwell was strongly impressed with 

 the practicableness of the scheme ; and in his report to the Surveyor General he ven- 

 tured the opinion that the river might be the means of affording greater facilities for 

 making a canal to pass between its banks and communicate between lake Huron 

 a.nd lake Ontario than any other that could be selected for the purpose. This 

 river, he observed, passed thi-ough a very fertile tract of country, and discharged 

 itself at a good position into lake Huron, so that a canal in its direction could not 

 fail to produce very great advantages as well in a commercial as in a military point 

 of view. ' ' In producing the purchase line from its place of beginning, after cross- 

 ing several rills trending in Northwesterly directions, I crossed the Menesetunk in 

 the 21st Mile at which place it is 80 links wide, and 18 inches deep, coming from 

 the North East and affording I should think a sufficiency of Water for a canal. 

 Between the 21st mile and the 45th mile, the line crosses the Menesetunk, Avhich 

 constantly increases in size, seventeen times alternately, when it leaves the line 

 and trends southerly to where it disembogues itself into lake Huron. Its general 

 course is westerly, watering equally well the tract of cou.ntry not yet conceded to 

 His Majesty's G-ovei^nment with the late purchase. The rapidity of its current 

 will compare with that of the River Thames, or Grand River, excepting that for 

 several miles above the outlets of those rivers, their waters are apparently dead 

 while the current of the Menesetunk continues to within half a mile of its entrance 

 into Lake Huron. The Grand River having its source nearly upon the summit 

 level of the lands between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron, and being sufficiently 

 large to afford feeders to a canal to both right and left, I conceive that the difficulty 

 of connecting its waters with those of the Menesetunk and the 12 Mile creek 

 might be accomplished with more ease, and at less expense of excavation than 

 might be at present anticipated. I should think that a position some ten, or 

 fifteen miles above the Falls of the Grand River might be the best ; from whence a 

 connection could be made Avith the waters of the 12 Mile creek, along the side 

 of which the canal could be taken to Lake Ontario. Should such a work be 

 undertaken, and a position selected for crossing the Grand River at, or near the 

 Falls, the feeder could be brought from a sufficient distance up the Grand River to 

 avoid any increase in the expense of excavation save that of the feeder, and then 

 if it was thought expedient, the Canal might be taken past the Town of Guelph, 

 and connected with head waters of the 12 Mile creek in Flamboro' East, not far 

 from the Road which has lately been surveyed from Guelph to the rear of the 

 Flamboro' s, or if no obstacle should prevent it, pass directly to the Canal at Bur- 

 lington Bay." But nothing was attempted, and however feasible the project 

 might have been when the whole country was in forest, and the streams were full 

 and strong-flowing throughout the year, it is scarcely possible under present con- 

 ditions that it can ever be revived. 



There are a number of other interesting matters in the BurwellTetters and 

 journals that I would gladly have touched upon, but my paper is already much 



