following day we arrived at Bytown.

This town is picturesquely situated on the brow of a stupendous cliff,
which descends precipitously into the Ottawa. Just above the town a
handsome bridge stretches across the river, near which the Kettle Fall
thunders over a high cliff. We only stayed a few minutes here, and then
proceeded on our way.

During the day we passed the locks of the Rideau Canal, which rise, to
the number of eight or ten, one over another like steps; and immediately
below them appeared the Curtain Falls. These falls are not very
picturesque, but their great height and curtain-like smoothness render
them an interesting object. After this, villages and detached houses
became numerous all the way down the river; and late in the evening of
the 24th we arrived at a station belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, on
the Lake of the Two Mountains, where we passed the remainder of the
night.

Here, for the first time since leaving home, I was ushered into a
civilised drawing-room; and when I found myself seated on a _cushioned_
chair, with my moccasined feet pressing a soft carpet, and several real,
_bona fide ladies_ (the wife and daughters of my entertainer) sitting
before me, and asking hundreds of questions about my long voyage, the
strange species of unbelief in the possibility of again seeing the
civilised world, which had beset me for the last three years, began
slowly to give way, and at last entirely vanished when my host showed me
into a handsomely furnished bedroom, and left me for the night.

The first thing that struck me on entering the bedroom was the
appearance of one of our _voyageurs_, dressed in a soiled blue capote,
dilapidated corduroy trousers, and moccasins; while his deeply sunburnt
face, under a mass of long straggling hair, stared at me in
astonishment! It will doubtless be supposed that I was much horrified
at this apparition. I was, indeed, much surprised; but, seeing that it
was my own image reflected in a full-length looking-glass, I cannot say
that I felt extremely horrified. This was the first time that I had
seen myself--if I may so speak--since leaving Norway House; and, truly,
I had no reason to feel proud of my appearance.

The following morning, at four o'clock, we left the Lake of the Two
Mountains; and in the afternoon of the 25th October, 1845, arrived at
Lachine, where, for the time, my travels came to a close--having been
journeying in the wilderness for sixty-si