We pass along through natural meadows, bordered on both sides by fine hills, which recede by a succession of slight plateaux, the uppermost of them clothed with lofty pines and oaks: on the slope nearest to "the flats" on the east, grew, along with the choke-cherry and may-flower, numbers of the wild apple or crab, beautiful objects when in full bloom. Hereabout also was to be found the prickly ash, a rather uncommon and graceful shrub. (The long-continued precipitous bank on the west side of the Don completely covered with forest, with, at last, the roof of the rustic château appearing above, must have recalled, in some slight degree, the Sharpham woods and Sharpham to the mind of anyone who had ever chanced to sail up the Dart so far as that most beautiful spot.) Immediately beyond the Castle Frank woods, where now is the property known as Drumsnab, came the estate of Captain George Playter, and directly across on the opposite side of the river, that of his son Captain John Playter, both immigrants from Pennsylvania. When the town of York was in the occupancy of the Americans in 1813, many of the archives of the young province of Upper Canada were conveyed for safe keeping to the houses of these gentlemen. But boats, with men and officers from the invading force, found their way up the windings of the Don; and such papers and documents as could be found were carried away. Just below Drumsnab, on the west side of the stream, and set down, as it were, in the midst of the valley, was, and is, a singular isolated mound of the shape of a glass shade over a French clock, known in the neighbourhood as the "Sugar Loaf." It was completely clothed over with moderate sized trees. When the whole valley of the Don was filled with a brimming river reaching to the summit of its now secondary banks, the top of the "Sugar Loaf," which is nearly on a level with the summit of the adjacent hills, must have appeared above the face of the water as an island speck. This picturesque and curious mound is noticed by Sir James Alexander, in the account which he gives of the neighbourhood of Toronto in his "L'Acadie, or Seven Years' Explorations in British America":--"The most picturesque spot near Toronto," says Sir James, "and within four miles of it, is Drumsnab, the residence of Mr. Cayley. The mansion is roomy and of one storey, with a broad verandah. It is seated among fields and woods, on the edge of a slope; at the bottom winds a river; opposite is a most singular conical hill, like an immense Indian tumulus for the dead; in the distance, through a vista cut judiciously through the forest, are seen the dark blue waters of Lake Ontario. The walls of the principal room are covered with scenes from Faust, drawn in fresco, with a bold and masterly hand, by the proprietor."--(Vol. 1. p. 230.)