One object of their present visit was to ascertain, from personal observation and inquiry, how far it was desirable the Government should grant money for the purpose of making any of the locks requisite to connect the Ottawa, &c., with Montreal and Quebec.  I cannot for an instant doubt their being most thoroughly convinced both of its perfect practicability and of its immense importance.  It only requires the construction of nineteen miles of canal, to complete an unbroken water communication from Quebec to the Ottawa and all its gigantic tributaries, extending even to Lake Temiscaming; and if a canal were cut from this latter to Lake Nipissing, the communication would then be complete through the heart of Canada across all the inland ocean waters of the American continent, and thence to New York via Erie Canal and Hudson, or to New Orleans via Illinois Canal, River, and Mississippi.  Already 50,000l. have been, voted for this purpose, and this first instalment is mainly due to the energy of Mr. Egan.  As a mark of respect for their representative, he was to be honoured with a public dinner, at which my two companions of the Executive Council were to attend.  Unfortunately, my time was limited, and I was obliged to decline participating in the compliment which Mr. Egan had so well earned; so, bidding adieu to my friends, and casting one last and lingering glance at that glorious panorama—­the remembrance of which time can never efface, I got into an open shay, and began prosecuting my solitary way towards Prescott.

I left the hotel as the guests were all arriving, and the fumes of the coming feast proclaiming in the most appetizing way the object of their meeting.  I had two hours’ daylight still left, and thus was enabled to see a little of that part of the neighbourhood, which alone was concealed when standing on the Barrack-hill.  The more I saw of it, the more convinced was I of the peculiar adaptation of Bytown for a great city; the ground is admirably suited for building, and possesses a water-power which is inexhaustible.  My road, as may naturally be supposed in a new country, lay through alternations of forest and cultivation; if it was not well macadamized, at least it was far better than I had expected, and there is some pleasure in being agreeably disappointed, and able to jog along without eternally bumping in some deep rut, which shakes the ash off your cigar inside your waistcoat.  Here and there, of course, I came across a break-neck tract, but that only made the contrast more enjoyable.

At half-past twelve at night the little horses began to feel the effects of six hours’ work, so I stopped at a tolerably miserable wayside inn for four hours, which was distributed between washing, feeding, and sleeping.  Sharp work, but I was anxious to catch the steamer; so, snatching what rest I could out of that brief period, and hoping the horses had done the same, I was again en route at 5 A.M.,