be able to spend your evenings among friends instead of being obliged to
go to a dirty tavern.

'I have been on several very delightful fishing parties, and have never
returned with less than three or four dozen fine trout. This will make
the English sportsmen stare, but the fishing here is beyond everything I
could have imagined. The shooting has not come in as yet, and does not
until August, and then it will be very fine.

'The way I go fishing is this. I have got an Indian canoe, and I just
jump into it with my gear, paddle on shore, shoulder it, and carry it to
the lakes. I am become quite an Indian in the management of this canoe,
and with the expense of only one ducking. I was upset in the harbour,
but swam on shore and towed the canoe and all with me quite safe. I can
paddle this canoe much faster than any gig in the fleet.

'We are now just on the point of sailing for Shelburne with Ld. and Lady
Dalhousie, and I fancy shall be absent about ten days. The _Jane_
has not yet arrived, so I am still a mid, not a captain, but expect her
hourly. Last Monday we mids of the _Leander_ gave a grand
entertainment to the inhabitants of Halifax and officers of the fleet; a
play, ball, and supper, which went off remarkably well. _The Iron
Chest_ was the play; the _Wags of Windsor_ the farce. I did not
perform being steward of the supper, but merely spoke the prologue. Our
stage was very large and scenery very good, and on the whole, nothing
could go off with more _eclat_ than it did.

'The girls of Halifax are pretty, generally speaking, and certainly
rather ladylike in their manners, but not very accomplished, but there
is one thing very formidable in their structure, which is tremendous