rge numbers of troops were disbanded, and for these new homes and new
occupations had to be found. Then began the first emigration from
Britain overseas to Upper Canada. All over the British Isles little
groups were forming of old soldiers reunited to their families. A few
household furnishings were packed, a supply of provisions laid in, a
sailing vessel chartered, and the trek began across the Atlantic. The
emigrants sailed from many ports of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Sometimes the trip was made in three or four weeks; but often, through
contrary winds or rough weather, three or four months passed before the
vessel sailed up the St Lawrence and landed the newcomers at Montreal.
Hardly half of their difficulties were then overcome or half of their
dangers passed. If they were to find their new locations by land, they
must walk or travel by slow ox-cart; if they journeyed by water, they
must make their way up the St Lawrence by open boat, surmounting the
many rapids in succession, poling the boats, pulling against the stream,
at times helping to carry heavy loads over the portages. Their new homes
in the backwoods were in townships in the rear of those settled by the
loyalists, or in unoccupied areas lying on the lake-fronts between the
four districts referred to as having been taken up by the loyalists.
Then began the settlements along the north shore of Lake Ontario and of
Lake Erie, and the population moved forward steadily. In 1816 the total
population of the province was approximately 100,000; by 1826, according
to returns made to the government, it had increased to 166,000; in 1836
it was 374,000, and in 1841 it was 456,000. The great majority of these
people, of course, lived upon the land, the towns being comparatively
small, and the villages were composed largely of people engaged in
agricultural work.

This peaceful British invasion contributed a new element to the
province and added still further to the variety of the people. In one
township could be found a group of English settlers, most of whom came
from a southern county of England, near by a township peopled by
Scottish Lowlanders, and not far away a colony of north of Ireland
farmers, or perhaps a settlement composed entirely of people from the
vicinity of Cork or Limerick.

These British settlers brought new lines of life, new plans for houses
and barns, new methods of cultivation, new varieties of seed, and, what
was perhaps of most influence u