SUNSET AND SUNRISE ON LAKE ONTARIO. 45 



golden lichens and deep green velvet mosses, or inland 

 coves half hidden by drooping ferns and native willows 

 or red with the changeful crimson of the glossy -leafed 

 American Creeper (Ampelopsis Virginica), which was 

 already wreathing in gorgeous autumnal colors the 

 silvery bark of the graceful birches and elms. 



What tufts of golden rod and pale bluebells, what 

 starry asters were mirrored in the calm waters ! What 

 glorious spikes of cardinal lobelias and azure-fringed 

 gentians were growing wild and free on many a rugged 

 spot where possibly no foot of man had ever trodden ! 



The captain said it would be midnight ere we 

 reached Kingston, the " Limestone City/' and dawn 

 before we could be at Cobourg, where our voyage was 

 to terminate. Thence our way would lie northward to 

 what was at that time the ultima thule of civilization 

 a forest wilderness beyond the infant settlement of the 

 new village of Peterborough,* then but a cluster of 

 log houses and squatters' shanties. 



Charmed by the romantic natural beauties of the 

 surrounding scene, no dread of the future rose up to 

 oppress me. Truly distance lent its enchantment to 

 cheer and animate my spirits. 



The sun set that evening in a flood of rose and amber, 

 coloring the waveless surface of the lake with a radiance 

 such as my English eyes had never yet looked upon. 



How lovely it was ! My husband smiled at my 



* Now a city of no mean importance in Ontario. 



