A Trip to Manitoba

The Grand Trunk Railway--Sarnia--"Confusion worse confounded"--A Churlish Hostess--Fellow-Passengers on the _Manitoba_--"Off at last!"--Musical Honours--Sunrise on Lake Huron--A Scramble for Breakfast--An Impromptu Dance--The General Foe.

Saulte Ste. Marie--Indian Embroidery--Lake Superior--Preaching, Singing, and Card-playing--Silver Islet--Thunder Bay--The Dog River--Flowers at Fort William--"Forty Miles of Ice"--Icebergs and Warm Breezes--Duluth--Hotel Belles--Bump of Destructiveness in Porters.

The Mississippi--The Rapids--Aerial Railway Bridges--Breakfast at Braynor--Lynch Law--Card-sharpers--Crowding in the Cars--Woman's Rights!--The Prairie--"A Sea of Fire"--Crookstown--Fisher's Landing--Strange Quarters--"The Express-man's Bed"--Herding like Sheep--On board the Minnesota.

Red Lake River--Grand Forks--The Ferry--Custom-house Officers at Pembina--Mud and Misery--Winnipeg at last--A Walk through the Town--A Hospitable Welcome--Macadam wanted--Holy Trinity Church--A Picturesque Population--Indians shopping--An "All-sorts" Store--St. Boniface and its Bells--An Evening Scene.

Summer Days--The English Cathedral--Icelandic Emigrants--_Tableaux_--In chase of our Dinner--The Indian Summer--Blocked up--Gigantic Vegetables--Fruitfulness of the Country--Iceland Maidens--Rates of Wages--Society at Winnipeg--Half-castes--Magic of the Red River Water--A Happy Hunting-ground--Where is Manitoba?

Winter Amusements--A Winnipeg Ball--Forty Degrees below Zero--New Year's Day--"Saskatchewan Taylor"--Indian Compliments--A Dog-train--Lost in the Snow--Amateur Theatricals--Sir Walter Raleigh's Hat--A Race with the Freshets--The Ice moves!--The First Steamer of the Season--Good-bye to Winnipeg.

A Manitoban Travelling-carriage--The Perils of Short Cuts--The Slough of Despond--Paddy to the Rescue!--"Stick-in-the-Mud" and his Troubles--McQuade's--An Irish Welcome--Wretched Wanderers.

Faithless Jehu--The "Blarney Stone"--Mennonites in search of News--"Water, Water everywhere"--A Herd of Buffaloes--A Mud Village--Pointe du Chêne and Old Nile--At Dawson Route--A Cheerful Party--_Toujours perdrix_--The "Best Room"--A Government Shanty--Cats and Dogs--Birch River--Mushroom-picking--The Mosquito Plague--A Corduroy Road--The Cariboo Muskeg.

The "Nor'-west Angle"--The Company's House--Triumph of "Stick-in-the-Mud"--On the Lake of the Woods--A Gallant Cook--Buns _à l'imprevu_--A Man overboard!--Camping out--Clear Water Bay--Our First Portage--A Noble Savage--How Lake Rice and Lake Deception won their Names--At our Journey's End.

Making a New Home--Carrière's Kitchen--The Navvies' _Salle-à-Manger_--A Curious Milking Custom--Insect Plagues--Peterboro' Canoes--Fishing Trips--Mail-day--Indian dread of drowning--The Indian Mail-carrier and his Partner--Talking by Telegraph--Prairie Fires.

Irish Wit--Bears?--Death on the Red Pine Lake--A Grave in the Catholic Cemetery--The First Dog train--A Christmas Fête--Compulsory Temperance--Contraband Goods--The Prisoner wins the Day--Whisky on the Island--The Smuggler turned Detective--A Fatal Frolic--"Mr. K----'s Legs".

Birds of Passage--An Independent Swede--By Sleigh to Ostersund--A Son of the Forest--Burnt out--A Brave Canadian Girl--Roughing it in the Shanty--The Kitchen-tent--Blasting the Rock--The Perils of Nitro-glycerine--Bitter Jests.

We lose our Cows--Cahill promoted--Gardening on a New Principle--Onions in Hot-houses--Cahill is hoaxed--Martin the Builder--How the Navvies lived--Sunday in Camp--The Cook's Leap--That "Beautiful Skunk!"--Wild Fruits--Parting.

For Ostersund--Lake Lulu--Giant Rocks and Pigmy Mortals--The Island Garden--Heaven's Artillery--Strange Casualty at the Ravine--My Luggage nearly blown up--The Driver's Presence of Mind--How to carry a Canoe--Darlington Bay--An Invisible Lake--Lord and Lady Dufferin--A Paddle to the Lakes--The Captain's Tug--Monopoly of Water-carriage--Indian Legends--The Abode of Snakes.

Clear Water Bay transformed--Cahill's Farewell--Ptarmigan Bay--A Night under Canvas--"No more Collars or Neckties!"--Companions in Misfortune--Cedar Lake--"Lop-sticks"--An Indian Village--Shashegheesh's Two Wives--Buying Potatoes--_Seniores Priores_--Excellent Carrots!--Frank's Flirtations with the Squaws--The Dogs eat Carrière's Toboggan.

Falcon River--An Unlucky Supper--The Fate of our Fried Pork--A Weary Paddle--A Sundial in the Wilderness--A Gipsy Picnic--"Floating away"--The Dried Musk-rats--Falcon Lake--How can we land?--Mr. M---- "in again"--Surprised by Indians--How we dried our Clothes--The Last Night in Camp.

Indian Loyalty--A Nap on Falcon Lake--A False Alarm--The Power of Whisky--"Magnificent Water Stretches"--A Striking Contrast--Picnic Lake--How we crossed Hawk Lake--Long Pine Lake--Bachelors' Quarters at Ingolf--We dress for Dinner--Our Last Portage--A Rash Choice--"Grasp your Nettle"--Mr. F----'s Gallantry--Cross Lake--Denmark's Ranche--A Tramp through the Mire.

Tilford--Pedestrians under Difficulties--The Railway at last--Not exactly a First-class Carriage--The Jules Muskeg--Whitemouth and Broken-Head Rivers--Vagaries of the Engine-Driver--The Hotel at St. Boniface--Red River Ferry--Winnipeg--"A Vagabond Heroine"--The Terrier at fault.

The Minnesota again--Souvenirs of Lord and Lady Dufferin--From Winnipeg by Red River--_Compagnons du Voyage_--A Model Farm--"Bees"--Manitoba a good Field for Emigrants--Changes at Fisher's Landing--A Mild Excitement for Sundays--Racing with Prairie Fires--Glyndon--Humours of a Pullman Sleeping Car--Lichfield.

Lakes Smith and Howard--Lovely Lake Scenery--Long Lake--The Little American--"Wait till you see our Minnetaunka!"--Minneanopolis--Villa Hotels--A Holiday Town--The Great Flour-mills--St. Paul's--Our American Cousins--The French Canadian's Story--Kind-hearted Fellow-passengers--A New Way of Travelling together--The Mississippi--Milwaukee, the Prettiest Town in Michigan--School-houses--A Peep at Chicago--Market Prices--Pigs!--The Fairy Tales of Progress--Scotch Incredulity--Detroit Ferry--Hamilton--Good-bye to my Readers.

The Grand Trunk Railway--Sarnia--"Confusion worse confounded"--A Churlish Hostess--Fellow-Passengers on the _Manitoba_--"Off at last!"--Musical Honours--Sunrise on Lake Huron--A Scramble for Breakfast--An Impromptu Dance--The General Foe.

After a long day's journey on the Grand Trunk Railway, without even the eccentricities of fellow-passengers in our Pullman car to amuse us, we were all glad to reach Sarnia. The monotony of the scenery through which we passed had been unbroken, except by a prettily situated cemetery, and the tasteful architecture of a hillside church, surrounded by trees just putting on their spring foliage.

It was eight o'clock when we got to the wharf, and the steamer Manitoba only waited for our arrival to cast loose her moorings and enter the dark blue waters of Lake Huron. "Haste" will not express the excitement of the scene. Men, rushing hither and thither in search of friends, traps, and luggage, were goaded to fury by the calmness of the officials and their determination not to be hurried. Hearing there was no chance of having tea on board that night, and discovering near the wharf a signboard announcing that meals could be obtained at all hours (except, as we were told, that particular one), we with difficulty persuaded the proprietress to let us have something to eat. Amidst muttered grumblings that she was "slaved to death," that "her life was not worth a rap," and so on, every remark being emphasized with a plate or dish, we were at last supplied with bread, cheese, and beef-steak, for which we were kindly allowed to pay fifty cents (2s. 6d.) each.

The scene on board the boat beggars description. The other steamers being still ice-bound on Lake Superior, the Manitoba was obliged to take as much freight and as many passengers as she could carry, many of the latter having been waiting in Sarnia upwards of ten days for her departure. Surveying parties, immigrants of almost every nation on their way to make homes in the great North West, crowded the decks and gangways. The confusion of tongues, the shrill cries of the frightened and tired children, the oaths of excited men, and the trundling and thumping of the baggage, mingled with the shrieks of adjacent engines "made night hideous." Porters and cabmen jostled women laden with baskets of linen, brought on board at the last minute, when the poor tired stewardess had no time to administer the well-merited reprimand; passengers rushed about in search of the purser, anxious to secure their state-rooms before they were usurped by some one else.