After dinner, we paddled through the harbour, and up the river, as far as we could go, which was only a very short distance, the navigation being interrupted by a pretty fall of water, which tumbled from ledge to ledge, like a succession of stone stairs, stretching from bank to bank across the stream, and forming, as the Americans would say, an elegant mill-privilege.

Since I left Goderich, a township, called Ashfield, has been laid out north of the Company’s township of Colborne; the principal place of which is the village of Port Albert—­the very spot we went to explore.

What a difference a few years make in a new country like Canada!  With the aid of a compass, or by following the course of some unknown stream, with much toil and difficulty we make our way back for miles, through dense forests, swamps, and creeks; scale the rocky precipice, or launch the light bark-canoe on some far distant lake.  We travel the same route twenty-five years afterwards, and the forests have bowed their lofty heads—­the swamps are drained—­the rivers bridged, and the steamer ploughs the inland wave, where shortly before glided the canoe of the hunter.  Such is no over-coloured picture.  I have seen it in my day realized many a time.  The Huron tract, and the county of Peterborough, are the proofs of my assertion; and various other settlements I could name, would equally bear me out.

But to return to our expedition—­or as I might with greater truth say—­ our pic-nic, for we did little else than paddle up and down the creek, ramble about the falls, and eat and drink whenever we felt inclined.  In this manner we spent the first day; till the coming night, and the distant growl of the thunder, warned us to prepare for our night-bivouac.

One of our party, Mr. Brewster—­the professor, as we generally called him—­from the circumstance of his being a near relation of Sir David Brewster, the talented author of “Natural Magic,” had a small tent-cloth with him, but not sufficiently large for the whole party.  It was, therefore, determined that four of us should sleep under the canoe, and the remaining five under the tent.  Quite a contention now arose between us, as to who should be the favoured possessors of the tent.

Not liking the appearance of the weather, I resigned any pretensions I might have had to the canvas, knowing the canoe was, from its length and size, capable of effectually sheltering four persons.  We, accordingly, turned the canoe bottom upwards, and raised one side of it sufficiently high to allow us to creep under.  To keep it in that position, we supported the raised edge on some forked sticks; and a quantity of hemlock brush and fern, spread evenly under it, made as good a bed as I would care to sleep on in hot weather.  Our companions pitched their tent close beside us, so that we might be more sociable.  After supper, we amused ourselves by singing songs, telling stories, and—­if the truth must be told—­drinking whiskey-punch.