for the most part, been purchased by old country farmers and gentlemen,
the log-buildings having given place to substantial stone, brick, or
frame houses. The village of Oshawa, in this township, now contains
upwards of one thousand inhabitants, more than double the number the
whole township could boast of when I first set foot on its soil.



CHAPTER II.

ARRIVAL AT DARLINGTON. -- KIND RECEPTION. -- MY FRIEND'S LOCATION. --
HIS INEXPERIENCE. -- DAMAGE TO HIS LAND BY FIRE. -- GREAT CONFLAGRATION
AT MIRAMACHI. -- FOREST FIRES. -- MIGHTY CONFLAGRATION OF THE 6TH OF
OCTOBER. -- AFFECTING STORY OF A LUMBER-FOREMAN. -- HIS PRESENCE OF
MIND, AND WONDERFUL PRESERVATION. -- THE SAD FATE OF HIS COMPANIONS.

I WAS now very near to my ark of refuge, and the buoyant spirit of
early youth, with its joyous anticipations of a radiant future, bore me
exultingly forward. It might have been said of me in the beautiful
lines of the poet:

"He left his home with a bounding heart,
For the world was all before him;
And he scarcely felt it a pain to part,
Such sun-bright hopes came o'er him."

Alarie A. Watts.

Two hours' brisk walking brought me to the long-looked-for end of my
journey. I was received with the greatest kindness and hospitality;