Page 211 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

interesting reading matter.
Under such circumstances it
became necessary that we should devise some means to enliven
our time, and we did so accordingly; and I look back upon
those years as among the most agreeable in my life.
The country, at that early day, was destitute of roads or
places of public entertainment-nothing but the path, or "In-
dian trail," traversed the wide expanse of forest and prairie
from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, and the travel by land
was performed on foot or horseback; but there was then
another mode of locomotion, very generally adopted by those ,
who took long journeys-now become obsolete, and which
would doubtless be laughed at by the present "fast going"
generation-that of the Indian or bark canoe. I will not take
time to describe the vessel, as most of you have doubtless seen
such, and perhaps many, now present, have taken voyages in
these hail barks. The canoe was used in all cases where
comfort and expedition were desired. You may smile at the
use of the terms "comfort and expedition," where the traveler
sat cooped up all day in a space about four feet square, and at
night encamped on the bank of the stream, cooked his own
supper, and slept upon the ground, with no covering but a
tent and blanket, or, oftentimes, nothing but the wide canopy
of heaven-having, aftcr a day of toil and labor by his crew,
accomplished a journey of thirty to forty miles! But these
journeys were not destitute of interest. The voyageur was
enlivened by the merry song of his light-hearted and ever
happy Canadian crew-his eye delighted by the constant .
varying scenery of the country through which he passed-at
liberty to select a spot for his encampment, and to stop, when
fatigued with the day's travel-and above alI, free from care
and from the fearful apprehensions of all modern travelers on
rail-roads and steam-boats, that of being blown up, burned, or
drowned.
I can better illustrate this early mode of travel, by giving an
account of a "party of pleasure," undertaken and accom-
plished by myself. In May, 1830, being obliged to go on the