"Erie for Port Talbot, on board a large schooner; "and from the great number of passengers who "embarked, and the indifferent quality of the ves"sel, the people of Fort Erie entertained seri"ous apprehensions for the safety of the travel"lers: The weather being very boisterous, and "the captain of the schooner, an inefficient and "unexperienced man. In a few days afterwards, "news arrived at Fort Erie, that the vessel had "been wrecked in the morning of the 21st, on the "shore of the United States; and that the few young men who survived, were taken up by a "New York schooner, and landed in Canada.”

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On hearing this doleful intelligence, I immediately set off to meet my brother and his fortunate companions. Before I had proceeded more than half a dozen miles, I met the whole party; and judged from their countenances, that the information I had received was not exactly correct. I told them what I had heard, and desired to know; whether or not I had been misinformed. My brother replied, that my information was in the main correct; that they had indeed been shipwrecked, but that no lives were lost, excepting that of a Mrs. Lewis, who died in consequence of severe cold and fatigue. I was also further given to understand, that my father and his family were all well, and in the United States, waiting only for a vessel to bring them over to the shores of Canada. It is impossible to describe the sudden transition of my feelings, on hearing these joyful tidings: A few

moments before, I had the strongest grounds for believing, that my nearest relations were lodged in a cold and watery grave, where

No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear,
Pleas'd their pale ghosts, or grac'd their mournful bier.

But now I could indulge, the joyful anticipation of meeting them once more on British ground, restored, as it were, to life, and reprieved from appearing, in a manner which they did not expect and for which they might not be prepared, before Him who "is the Judge of quick and dead." In about a fortnight after this, they all arrived at Port Talbot, after having experienced much kindness from the inhabitants of the state of New York, during their continuance among them.

In the latter part of October my father removed his family from Port Talbot to Westminster, where he procured lodgings for them until a house was erected on his own lands. The township of Westminster is separated from that of London, only by the river Thames.

LONDON is situated about twenty-four miles North of Lake Erie. It is 927 miles from that part of the Atlantic Ocean which joins the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 607 miles from Quebec, 618 from the city of New York, and 125 from the seat of Government of Upper Canada. It has Oxford, a fine township, twenty-three years settled, on the East; Westminster, twelve years settled, on the South; Delaware, on the South West; Lobo,

on the West; and unknown and uncultivated regions, on the North and North West.

On the 1st of November, 1818, it was entirely: unsettled, and its surface studded with the various trees which are to be found in Canada. The Northern branch of the river Thames runs across its Eastern angle, and the Southern separates it from Westminster, while a great number of small rivulets pour their meandering streams through almost every allotment. The land is considered, if not superior to every township hitherto opened for location, at least inferior to none in the whole Province.

The township forms a square, and is divided into sixteen concessions, in each of which are 6,400 acres. These concessions are sub-divided into lots of 200 acres, of which there are thirty-two in each.. Between every two concessions, there are sixty-six feet set apart for roads, which are called concession lines. These, together with seven side-roads of equal width which intersect them at right angles, and are equi-distant from each other, comprise all the public roads in a township.

On the 26th of October, my brother and I, with six men carrying provisions and felling-axes, took our departure from Westminster, and, having hired a guide, proceeded into London, to fix upon the most desirable lot, for the erection of a house. Twelve hundred acres were assigned to my father for his own demesne, if I may so call it.. We had therefore a large tract of land to explore,

before we could decide on the most eligible site. After spending the greater part of the day in approving and disapproving of particular lots, we unanimously determined on making the second lot, in the sixth concession, the future asylum of our exiled family. When we had agreed on this point, our next consideration was, to procure shelter for the night; for we were upwards of nine miles from the abodes of civilized beings, and in the midst of desolate wilds,

Where beasts with men divided empire claim,

And the brown Indian marks with murd'rous aim.

After walking about for some time, in quest of a suitable place for making a fire, we discovered an old Indian wig-wam, deserted by its inhabitants. In this little hut we resolved to continue during the night; and, having a tinder-box, with all the other necessary materials, we speedily lighted an excellent fire. After we had taken supper on the trunk of a tree, we lay down to rest, each rolling himself up in a blanket, and each in his turn supplying fuel to the fire. Thus did we pass the first night on our American estate. In the morning, about sun-rise, we were suddenly awakened by the howling of a pack of wolves, which were in full cry after an unfortunate deer. The howl of these ferocious animals so nearly resembles the cry of fox-dogs, that, when I awoke and heard it, I fancied myself in the midst of the sporting woods of Erin. But the delusion was not of long

continuance; for I speedily discovered, that, instead

of being in my native land,

Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky,

In colour though varied, in beauty may vie,

I was in the midst of a dreary and unvaried wilderness,

Where crouching wolves await their hapless prey,
And savage men, more murd'rous still than they.

To increase our consternation, or, at least, to direct it into another channel, the horses, which we brought with us to carry our bed-clothes and provisions, had broken from their tethers during the night and consumed every ounce of our bread.

Calm is my soul, nor apt to rise in arms,

Except when fast-approaching danger warns;

and yet I was on this occasion sufficiently pro voked, to revenge our loss on the sides of the illnatured brutes. We had brought our provender, with the utmost difficulty, a distance of nearly twelve miles through woods and swamps: And then,-to be deprived of it in this way, was too much for a man of my philosophy to bear without impatience! We should have been under the disagreeable necessity of dispensing with a breakfast, if we had not had the consideration to bring some potatoes with us, which, happily for us, are not so well-suited to the appetite of an American horse, as they are to the palate of an Irishman: