when any are wanted, by snaring them with a noose.

These horses are small, and usually dark-coloured; and a good one is
valued at fifty dollars, or twelve pounds ten shillings currency,
about ten pounds English money. Hardy, patient, and excellent little
animals they are.

I thought of the worthy lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, Sir
Francis Bond Head, when these wild horses of Canada first met my
sight, as I saw, on a small scale, that which he has so vividly
represented on so splendid a one in South America.

It is said that this immense prairie may be drained by lowering the
St. Clair Lake, and some attempts have been ineffectually made to
cultivate small portions of it near the mouth of the river, where
there is a lighthouse. There were two huts, and people residing in
them, with small garden patches of potatoes and peas. Forty acres had
been ploughed by a settler, Mr. Thompson, of Chatham; but, although
the soil is excellent, such is the vigorous growth of the grass, and
the difficulty of getting rid of its roots, that it soon recovered its
ancient domain. In fact, the wind spreads the seed rapidly; and as the
kind is chiefly the blue-joint, it is almost impossible ever to get
rid of it, unless the water-level is lowered, which is not very
probable at present.

CHAPTER XV.

Engineer-officers have little leisure for Book-making--Caution against
iced water--Lake St. Clair in a Thunderstorm--A
Steaming-dinner--Detroit river and town--Windsor--Sandwich--Yankee
Driver--Amherstburgh--French Canadian Politeness--Courtesy not
costly--Good effects of the practice of it illustrated--Naked
Indians--Origin of the Indians derived from Asia--Piratical attempt
and Monument at Amherstburgh--Canadians not disposed to turn
Yankees--Present state of public opinion in those Provinces--Policy of
the Government--Loyalty of the People.

A person employed actively in public life is a very bad hand to engage
in book-making. I often wonder whether this trifle, now intended as an
offering to the reading people, will ever get into print. A little
memorandum-book supplies the _materiel_, and a tolerable memory the
embellishment. An engineer-officer, of all other functionaries, needs
a memory; settling at one moment the expenditure of vast sums; at
another, looking into the merits of a barrack damage worth sixpence;
then, field-officer of the day inspecting guards--next, making
experiments on the destruct