complete an unbroken water
communication from Quebec to the Ottawa and all its gigantic
tributaries, extending even to Lake Temiscaming; and if a canal were cut
from this latter to Lake Nipissing, the communication would then be
complete through the heart of Canada across all the inland ocean waters
of the American continent, and thence to New York _via_ Erie Canal and
Hudson, or to New Orleans _via_ Illinois Canal, River, and Mississippi.
Already 50,000l. have been, voted for this purpose, and this first
instalment is mainly due to the energy of Mr. Egan. As a mark of respect
for their representative, he was to be honoured with a public dinner, at
which my two companions of the Executive Council were to attend.
Unfortunately, my time was limited, and I was obliged to decline
participating in the compliment which Mr. Egan had so well earned; so,
bidding adieu to my friends, and casting one last and lingering glance
at that glorious panorama--the remembrance of which time can never
efface, I got into an open shay, and began prosecuting my solitary way
towards Prescott.

I left the hotel as the guests were all arriving, and the fumes of the
coming feast proclaiming in the most appetizing way the object of their
meeting. I had two hours' daylight still left, and thus was enabled to
see a little of that part of the neighbourhood, which alone was
concealed when standing on the Barrack-hill. The more I saw of it, the
more convinced was I of the peculiar adaptation of Bytown for a great
city; the ground is admirably suited for building, and possesses a
water-power which is inexhaustible. My road, as may naturally be
supposed in a new country, lay through alternations of forest and
cultivation; if it was not well macadamized, at least it was far better
than I had expected, and there is some pleasure in being agreeably
disappointed, and able to jog along without eternally bumping in some
deep rut, which shakes the ash off your cigar inside your waistcoat.
Here and there, of course, I came across a break-neck tract, but that
only made the contrast more enjoyable.

At half-past twelve at night the little horses began to feel the effects
of six hours' work, so I stopped at a tolerably miserable wayside inn
for four hours, which was distributed between washing, feeding, and
sleeping. Sharp work, but I was anxious to catch the steamer; so,
snatching what rest I could out of that brief period, and hoping the
horses had done the same