of a nascent city which, on being called Victuallers-Ville by a vote of the inhabitants in grateful memory of some licensed association, perished miserably in the christening, and was abandoned by its ashamed and horrified inhabitants. I am sorely tempted to invoke a similar fate on all the Pickwickvilles, Big-Jerichos, and Ulysses'Cities on this continent.

From Washago on Lake Couchiching to Gravenhurst the route passes for fourteen miles through a singularly picturesque tract of savage scenery. Precipitous broken hills, crowned with dense pine and beech, rise on every side; abrupt masses of granite block the way. The ragged road-track plunges violently down the hill slopes to a corduroy bridge over the stream at the bottom, and then toils painfully up the opposite slope. Within view we frequently pass some clear lake as yet unnamed, reflecting the true Muskoka sky. The name of the district is another example of the happy choice of Indian words: it means the Land of Clear Skies. Every bend in the road opens a fresh prospect of singular beauty; but no traveller has ever come here in search of the picturesque.

I believed the Minister of Crown Lands when he told me that an intending settler has been known to stop midway along this road with his family and goods, and return disheartened or resentful. But the man was wrong. Proverbially the entrances to all lands of promise are difficult, to test the courage of the pilgrim, and prepare him for his home of rest.

Midway on this road an odd incident occurred. At one point, named by the settler Gibraltar from the eminently rocky character of the ground he had chosen for his home, we found ourselves exposed to a direct fire from a battery of six mounted guns, made of the trunks of fallen trees. A defiant soldier, VOL. III. NO. XIII.--NEW SERIES.

cut out in profile, and rather larger than life, kept ceaseless guard. These precautions were taken to overawe a Fenian invasion, should any rebels ever be absurd enough to advance so far into the heart of the country.

As our straggling cavalcade approached the spot, a brawny Highlander, in kilt and tartan, sprang impetuously from rock to rock to the battery height, and saluted our arrival with several discharges from his gun. We dismounted, and made our way to his log shanty. The place presented every appearance of comfort. The furniture was old-fashioned, but ample. Prints decorated the boarded walls. A small side-room displayed a library of fiction, piety, and history. Mr. Cuthbert had been settled for several years on this spot, had cleared a good deal of land, and, like all the other settlers with whom we talked, was content with his rough but free life, and very hopeful of the future. We were presented to his wife and sister, and found the ladies equally satisfied with their new home.

If those robbering rascals should ever come up this way, gentlemen,' said our host, you may rely upon us up here to give a good account of them.'

My friend Mr. Carling, the Commissioner of Public Works, informed him that a small brass cannon was on its way, to strengthen his battery.

'I am obliged to you, sir,' said Mr. Cuthbert, but pray don't let it be sent yet. All the boys about here are going to turn out to welcome it. We mean to bring it home in a procession. The boys about here are much interested in my place, gentlemen.'

We said that we could not have the least doubt of that.

The Attorney-General, Mr. Sandfield Macdonald, talked with his fellow Scot in Gaelic, and then resumed in English.

E

of a nascent city which, on being called Victuallers-Ville by a vote of the inhabitants in grateful memory of some licensed association, perished miserably in the christening, and was abandoned by its ashamed and horrified inhabitants. I am sorely tempted to invoke a similar fate on all the Pickwickvilles, Big-Jerichos, and Ulysses'Cities on this continent.

From Washago on Lake Couchiching to Gravenhurst the route passes for fourteen miles through a singularly picturesque tract of savage scenery. Precipitous broken hills, crowned with dense pine and beech, rise on every side; abrupt masses of granite block the way. The ragged road-track plunges violently down the hill slopes to a corduroy bridge over the stream at the bottom, and then toils painfully up the opposite slope. Within view we frequently pass some clear lake as yet unnamed, reflecting the true Muskoka sky. The name of the district is another example of the happy choice of Indian words: it means the Land of Clear Skies. Every bend in the road opens a fresh prospect of singular beauty; but no traveller has ever come here in search of the picturesque.

I believed the Minister of Crown Lands when he told me that an intending settler has been known to stop midway along this road with his family and goods, and return disheartened or resentful. But the man was wrong. Proverbially the entrances to all lands of promise are difficult, to test the courage of the pilgrim, and prepare him for his home of rest.

Midway on this road an odd incident occurred. At one point, named by the settler Gibraltar from the eminently rocky character of the ground he had chosen for his home, we found ourselves exposed to a direct fire from a battery of six mounted guns, made of the trunks of fallen trees. A defiant soldier,

VOL. III. NO. XIII.--NEW SERIES.

cut out in profile, and rather larger than life, kept ceaseless guard. These precautions were taken to overawe a Fenian invasion, should any rebels ever be absurd enough to advance so far into the heart of the country.

As our straggling cavalcade approached the spot, a brawny Highlander, in kilt and tartan, sprang impetuously from rock to rock to the battery height, and saluted our arrival with several discharges from his gun. We dismounted, and made our way to his log shanty. The place presented every appear

ance of comfort. The furniture was old-fashioned, but ample. Prints decorated the boarded walls. A small side-room displayed a library of fiction, piety, and history. Mr. Cuthbert had been settled for several years on this spot, had cleared a good deal of land, and, like all the other settlers with whom we talked, was content with his rough but free life, and very hopeful of the future. We were presented to his wife and sister, and found the ladies equally satisfied with their new home.

If those robbering rascals should ever come up this way, gentlemen,' said our host, you may rely upon us up here to give a good account of them.'

My friend Mr. Carling, the Commissioner of Public Works, informed him that a small brass cannon was on its way, to strengthen his battery.

'I am obliged to you, sir,' said Mr. Cuthbert, but pray don't let it be sent yet. All the boys about here are going to turn out to welcome it. We mean to bring it home in a procession. The boys about here are much interested in my place, gentlemen.'

We said that we could not have the least doubt of that.

The Attorney-General, Mr. Sandfield Macdonald, talked with his fellow Scot in Gaelic, and then resumed in English.

E

'I hope you people about here do not neglect your religion, though you are in the wilds. You read the Holy Scriptures, I trust?'

'I do,' was the reply. I read the Holy Scriptures-and the Globe!' Our procession made a sufficiently characteristic appearance. We used the ordinary carrying conveyances of the route. First came a roughlymade waggonette, bearing several members of the Government, an English clergyman, and one or two guests. Then a stage with cross seats, as grand as may be seen at Epping on popular English holidays. This carried some M.P.P.'s, several railway directors, and the rest of our party. Next followed a 'buggy' that had once known the life and fashion of some large town-like the family of immigrants, probably, whom it carried. Then a roadwaggon of the simplest construction, of unpainted planks. On one On one of the cross-benches in this sat a fine-looking elderly man with a young wife and a lovely child, people of education proceeding to a piece of uncleared land on which a loghut was being put up for them. They were by no means unhopeful of their future; but rougher-made people were naturally disposed to estimate more lightly than they could the probable hardships of their new life. Other vehicles followed, of any description that would go on wheels without jolting to fragments on the rocks. Men, women, and children were laden with bundles and packages of every size, shape, and colour. A baggage-cart brought up the rear. At the time of our visit fifty or sixty people were passing by this route every day.

Another steamer took us over Lake Muskoka, a lovely sheet of water dotted with islands, with steep irregular banks dense with forest to the water's edge. The shades of night were falling as we reached Bracebridge. The moon rose above the great pine trees, and made a wide

pathway of silver across the dark waters. Near the landing-stage a mass of blazing pine logs revealed the deep shadows of the surrounding woods, and flecked the waters below with red and gold. The news of our visit had preceded our arrival. A group of thirty or forty rough men welcomed the AttorneyGeneral with ringing cheers. A second bonfire lit up the village itself. In a short time a supper, with ales and wines, was prepared for fifty or sixty persons. The reeve presided, and patriotic, humorous, explanatory, and promissory speeches were made up to two o'clock in the morning. The people wanted roads, railways, and a separated township, and were willing to tax themselves to assist in getting what they wanted. They spoke good sense, in good English, with a Scotch accent if with any; they showed some pride in recounting what they had done within the past five years, and a great confidence in the future importance of their incipient city.

In the morning we could see that a most romantic spot had been chosen as the site of the little town. The narrow, but deep, and very lovely Muskoka river winds round the place, with a set of falls in full view, and another at a short distance. Of course sawing-mills were in busy operation. At a bend in the stream floated a quantity of saw-logs. The log huts, and wood cottages, and frame houses two or three storeys high, at different elevations on the hilly ground, and with a great variety of outline, presented many a view extremely picturesque. All around were clearings in the wood, and fields still choked with stumps. There were a number of stores, and all were bustling and prosperous. Anything conceivable, apparently, was to be obtained there, and, as I discovered, at but a slight advance upon Toronto prices. The artisan here has his hundred acres in the bush. Free public schools are opened.