Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- Emigration and immigration
have blued ten dols. already in winter preparations--seven in a
collar for my monkey-jacket, with a view to protecting my gullet
against the old attacks; and three in having my ulster lined round
the back and chest with chamois leather, for I found in the late
spell of cold weather, which however was a mere nothing, that it let
the wind through pretty quick. I have asked the price of furs
generally, and the different sorts in particular. I have some
recollection of being told by one house, I think in Montreal, that
furs were dearer here than they were in England, because they had to
be sent over there to be worked up, and then brought back here
again. I should not believe too much of that, however, as it is
quite as likely as not that it was the preface to an extra five
dollars on the price, in view of my being an evident stranger to the
country. A tailor here, the man that has done my coats for me, says
he will line my ulster with minx or racoon, or the something
ratskin, for 18 dollars, and, as I told mother in my last letter, he
would make just such an ulster for 20 to 25 dols., so that you could
get a very good fur-lined coat for 40 dollars, or about eight
guineas. Of course the furs I have mentioned are not beautiful soft
affairs like beaver or sealskin, but I imagine they are almost if
not quite as warm. I tried on a coat to-day, while pricing different
things, of Australian grey bear. The fur was very thick and fairly
soft, and I felt about 10 degrees warmer the moment I got inside it.
It was made entirely out of the fur (hair outside), and lined with
some sort of black soft canvas stuff. The price was 25 dols., but it
was too thick and cumbersome to be useful for anything but driving
or travelling. I have not got to the end of my researches upon this
subject, so I will write more when I learn more. I don't know yet
what the cost of lining a long coat with one of the better furs
would be. Father asked if I had got all instruments I wanted, as he
said Pot might send them out to me. I think I can manage with what I
have got now. I had to buy them, as I could not wait to write to
England. They ran away with another ten dols., and have turned out
anything but A 1. I cannot answer all your questions yet, Mother,
but here is something. There are plenty of small 10 to 18 acre farms
about Ottawa, at a rent of from 60 to 100 dols. per annum, though
the houses on them are generally pretty bad. This is a very
difficult question to get to the bottom of, as there are no estate
agents here that I can find, consequently all enquiries have to be
made through private friends, which takes time, and also a certain
amount of caution, in this inquisitive community. But I am learning
more every day, and you shall have it all as fast as I get it.
In haste,
Your loving Son,
J. SETON COCKBURN.
Love to everybody, as usual.
End of Project Gutenberg's Canada for Gentlemen, by James Seton Cockburn
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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