e large amount of crown lands and clergy
reserves and land held by speculators throughout the
province made this act of little avail. It was not until
1798 that a road was run from the Bay of Quinte to the
head of Lake Ontario, by an American surveyor named Asa
Danforth. But even this government road was at times
impassable; and there is evidence that some travellers
preferred to follow the shore of the lake.

It will be seen from these notes on social history that
the Loyalists had no primrose path. But after the first
grumblings and discontents, poured into the ears of
Governor Haldimand and Governor Parr, they seem to have
settled down contentedly to their lot; and their life
appears to have been on the whole happy. Especially in
the winter, when they had some leisure, they seem to have
known how to enjoy themselves.

In the winter season, nothing is more ardently wished
for, by young persons of both sexes, in Upper Canada,
than the setting in of frost, accompanied by a fall
of snow. Then it is, that pleasure commences her reign.
The sleighs are drawn out. Visits are paid, and
returned, in all directions. Neither cold, distance,
or badness of roads prove any impediment. The sleighs
glide over all obstacles. It would excite surprise in
a stranger to view the open before the Governor's
House on a levee morning, filled with these carriages.
A sleigh would not probably make any great figure in
Bond street, whose silken sons and daughters would
probably mistake it for a turnip cart, but in the
Canadas, it is the means of pleasure, and glowing
healthful exercise. An overturn is nothing. It
contributes subject matter for conversation at the
next house that is visited, when a pleasant raillery
often arises on the derangement of dress, which the
ladies have sustained, and the more than usual display
of graces, which the tumble has occasioned.

This picture, drawn in 1793 by a nameless traveller, is
an evidence of the courage and buoyancy of heart with
which the United Empire Loyalists faced the toils and
privations of life in their new home.

Not drooping like poor fugitives they came
In exodus to our Canadian wilds,
But full of heart and hope, with heads erect
And fearless eyes victorious in defeat.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

It is astonishing how little documentary evidence the
Loyalists left behind them with regard to their migration.