ss of our population; and it is
impossible to see such a country as Canada, its extent, its
fertility, its fine climate, and know that it is British ground,
without feeling equal sorrow and astonishment that it is not made
the means of relief. How earnestly it is to be wished that some
part of that excellent feeling which is for ever at work in
England to help the distressed, could be directed systematically
to the object of emigration to the Canadas. Large sums are
annually raised for charitable purposes, by weekly subscriptions
of one penny; were only a part of the money so obtained to be
devoted to this object, hundreds of families might yearly be sent
to people our own land. The religious feeling, which so
naturally mixes with every charitable purpose, would there find
the best field for its exertions. Where could a missionary,
whether Protestant or Catholic, find a holier mission than that
which sent him to comfort and instruct his countrymen in the
wilderness? or where could he reap a higher reward in this world,
than seeing that wilderness growing into fertile fields under the
hands of his flock?

I never saw so many autumn flowers as grow in the woods and
sheep-walks of Maryland; a second spring seemed to clothe the
fields, but with grief and shame I confess, that of these
precious blossoms I scarcely knew a single name. I think the
Michaelmas daisy, in wonderful variety of form and colour, and
the prickly pear, were almost my only acquaintance: let no one
visit America without having first studied botany; it is an
amusement, as a clever friend of mine once told me, that helps
one wonderfully up and down hill, and must be superlatively
valuable in America, both from the plentiful lack of other
amusements, and the plentiful material for enjoyment in this;
besides, if one is dying to know the name of any of these lovely
strangers, it is a thousand to one against his finding any one
who can tell it.

The prettiest eclipse of the moon I ever saw was that of
September, of this year, (1830). We had been passing some hours
amid the solemn scenery of the Potomac falls, and just as we were
preparing to quit it, the full moon arose above the black pines,
with half our shadow thrown across her. The effect of her rising
thus eclipsed was more strange, more striking by far, than
watching the gradual obscuration; and as I turned to look at the
black chasm behind me, and saw the deadly alder, and the
poison-vi