Impressions of America During the Years 1833, 1834 and 1835. Volume 2 (of 2)Power, Tyrone
History
Impressions of America During the Years 1833, 1834 and 1835. Volume 2 (of 2)
Power, Tyrone
Canada -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
I this morning, at eleven, met my company at the theatre, a very neat
one; and, what with those already mustered, together with a windfall
just landed from Waterford, in the shape of a pretty woman and her
husband, in search of an engagement, I fancy my friend B----y and I may
manage to get up one night's fun for Montreal, though, for my own part,
I would rather idle than play.
Same night acted a couple of interludes to a full house, and an
exceedingly merry-humoured one; although the only really good thing was
the orchestra, composed of the excellent band of the 32nd regiment,
which had been kindly placed by the commanding officer at the disposal
of "the Lessee."
At a late hour took to the skiff for our quiet retreat, which rose, in
this time of moonlight, above the shining waters like some fairy garden
resting on a bed of mother-of-pearl. We sung Moore's Boat-song, and not
a sound except the appropriate soft plash of the oars came between us
and the echo that faintly repeated our chorus.
The echo from the island, by the way, is very distinct, and oft
repeated; and, on such a night as this, to stand beside the nine-o'clock
gun, listening to its bellow as it reverberates amongst the opposite
heights, is one of the things of these parts worth doing.
_Saturday, 6th._--Again, what sunshine! and how invigorating is the
wind, now breathing sweet music through the trees as their thick leaves
rustle above the swift river!
Two or three large rafts are in sight, their hardy crews straining on
the huge oars as they cross the rapids for the city. At measured
intervals their wild cry fills the air; whilst the notes of our island
bugles, together with the drums of the city, reply merrily and boldly,
as though flinging back the challenge of some approaching horde of
savage invaders.
And verily no beings can look more wild of aspect or attire than the
crews working the huge rafts which navigate these waters. Europeans,
Indians, and _Bois-brules_, as the half-breed is denominated, are all
found in this employ, but so much alike in equipment and complexion,
that, only for the round Saxon face, light hair, and blue eyes, here and
there distinguishable, it would be difficult to conceive them of
different lineage.
A pair of loose trousers of coloured serge or flannel, a sash of scarlet
worsted or wampum girt about the loins over a shirt of indescribable
hue, moccassins on the feet, and a red cap or bonnet of fox-skin, or not
unfrequently a shock of hair that despises any covering, and alike
defies the force of sun and storm, forms the common costume of these
sons of toil, whose lives, commonly of short duration, are wasted in
quick alternations of perilous labour and wild debauch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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