se
things, nor does it answer their purpose to state disagreeable facts.
Few have written exclusively on the "Bush." Travellers generally make a
hasty journey through the long settled and prosperous portions of the
country; they see a tract of fertile, well-cultivated land, the result
of many years of labour; they see comfortable dwellings, abounding with
all the substantial necessaries of life; the farmer's wife makes her own
soap, candles, and sugar; the family are clothed in cloth of their own
spinning, and hose of their own knitting. The bread, the beer, butter,
cheese, meat, poultry, &c. are all the produce of the farm. He
concludes, therefore, that Canada is a land of Canaan, and writes a book
setting forth these advantages, with the addition of obtaining land for
a mere song; and advises all persons who would be independent and secure
from want to emigrate.

He forgets that these advantages are the result of long years of
unremitting and patient labour; that these things are the _crown_, not
the _first-fruits_ of the settler's toil; and that during the interval
many and great privations must be submitted to by almost every class of
emigrants.

Many persons, on first coming out, especially if they go back into any
of the unsettled townships, are dispirited by the unpromising appearance
of things about them. They find none of the advantages and comforts of
which they had heard and read, and they are unprepared for the present
difficulties; some give way to despondency, and others quit the place in
disgust.

[Illustration: Log-Village--Arrival of a Stage-coach]

A little reflection would have shown them that every rood of land must
be cleared of the thick forest of timber that encumbers it before an ear
of wheat can be grown; that, after the trees have been chopped, cut into
lengths, drawn together, or _logged_, as we call it, and burned, the
field must be fenced, the seed sown, harvested, and thrashed before any
returns can be obtained; that this requires time and much labour, and,
if hired labour, considerable outlay of ready money; and in the mean
time a family must eat. If at a distance from a store, every article
must be brought through bad roads either by hand or with a team, the
hire of which is generally costly in proportion to the distance and
difficulty to be encountered in the conveyance. Now these things are
better known beforehand, and then people are aware what they have to
encounter.

Even a la