, which now encumber that noble river, another million of
inhabitants would, in ten years more, have filled up the forests,
which are now only penetrated by the Indian or the seeker after
timber.

A private individual has, however, put a steamboat upon the centre of
the river's course; and Mr. Weller, no doubt, finds that it pays him
well, for the portion of Colborne district near Rice Lake is settling
rapidly.

The Trent Canal, or a railroad, in the same direction, would lead to
the Georgian Bay of Huron, and thus render a journey to the far West
easy of accomplishment, as it is the most direct route from Oswego and
New York.

But I must journey on, and, after resting at Brighton, start by
daylight, and penetrate into the bowels of the land by a sandy road,
which, after passing that village, stretches into the forest due
north.

Away the waggon went, not at a hand-gallop, for the sand was too deep
for that, and, passing through woods by a tolerably good road for so
new a settlement, we, every now and then, at intervals few and far
between, saw a new farm or a new log-hut.

The day was fine, and so, having carried our provision with us, we
halted in the deep woods, upon the muddy banks of the Cold Creek, to
breakfast. A Tartar camp was visited by an English traveller somewhere
in the dominions of the Grand Lama, and he was treated to London
porter. So were we in the deep forest of Central Canada, for London
porter appears to travel everywhere; and, discussing it with much
relish, we fed the horses, and gave them what they liked much better,
clear and pure water--which indeed I now think would have been quite
as good for us--and waggoned on, until we came to a surprising new
settlement in the Bush, the villages of Percy and Percy Landing,
where, there being mill "privileges," as a sharp running water-stream
is called in the United States, flour and saw-mills have been
established, and a very thriving population is rising both in numbers
and in means. Here we dined in a new inn, or rather tavern, kept by a
French Canadian, and then pursued our journey for a few miles on a
decent new road, amidst fine settlements and good farms, and, crossing
a beautiful stream, plunged into the undisturbed forest by a road in
which every rut was a canal, and every stone as big as a bomb-shell at
the very least. How the waggon stood it, and the roots and stumps of
the trees with which these boulders were diversified, I am still
una