The Settlers in Canada

It was in the year 1794, that an English family went out to settle in Canada. Thisprovince had been surrendered to us by the French, who first colonized it, morethan thirty years previous to the year I have mentioned. It must, however, berecollected, that to emigrate and settle in Canada was, at that time, a very differentaffair to what it is now. The difficulty of transport, and the dangers incurred, weremuch greater, for there were no steamboats to stem the currents and the rapids ofthe rivers; the Indians were still residing in Upper and many portions of LowerCanada, and the country was infested with wild animals of every description-someuseful, but many dangerous: moreover, the Europeans were fewer in number, andthe major portion of them were French, who were not pleased at the countryhaving been conquered by the English. It is true that a great many English settlershad arrived, and had settled upon different farms; but as the French settlers hadalready possession of all the best land in Lower Canada, these new settlers wereobliged to go into or toward Upper Canada, where, although the land was better, the distance from Quebec and Montreal, and other populous parts, was muchgreater, and they were left almost wholly to their own resources, and almostwithout protection. I mention all this, because things are so very different atpresent: and now I shall state the cause which induced this family to leave theirhome, and run the risk and dangers which they did