Harmon's journal. 75 



Monday, 6. I have taken a ride on horseback, 

 to a place where our people are making sugar. 

 My path led me over a small prairie, and through 

 a wood, where I saw a great variety of birds, that 

 were straining their tuneful throats, as if to wel- 

 come the return of another spring; small animals, 

 also, were running about, or skipping from tree to 

 tree, and at the same time, were to be seen swans, 

 bustards, ducks, &c. swimming about in the river 

 and ponds. All these things together, rendered 

 my ramble beyond expression delightful. 



Friday, 10. Fine pleasant weather. This 

 afternoon, I took a solitary, yet pleasing walk, to 

 the ruins of a fort, which was abandoned, a few 

 years since, by the Hudson Bay people, to whom 

 it belonged, but who do not now come into this 

 part of the country. While surveying these ru- 

 ins, I could not avoid reflecting on the short dura- 

 tion of every thing in this fleeting and perishing 

 world. I then went to a spot, where a number 

 of their people had been interred, far from their 

 native country, their friends and relations ! And 

 while I was lamenting their sad fate, my blood 

 chilled at the thought, that what had happened 

 to them might, very probably, befal me also. 

 But my prayer shall ever be, that a merciful God 

 will, in due time, restore me to my friends and re- 



