for wild land, but the prospect of opening the Trent and Otonabee for the
navigation of steamboats and other small craft, was at that period a
favourite speculation, and its practicability, and the great advantages to
be derived from it, were so widely believed, as to raise the value of the
wild lands along these remote waters to an enormous price; and settlers in
the vicinity were eager to secure lots, at any sacrifice, along their
shores.

Our government grant was upon the lake shore, and Moodie had chosen for
the site of his log house a bank that sloped gradually from the edge of
the water, until it attained to the dignity of a hill. Along the top of
this ridge, the forest-road ran, and midway down the hill, our humble
home, already nearly completed, stood, surrounded by the eternal forest.
A few trees had been cleared in its immediate vicinity, just sufficient to
allow the workmen to proceed, and to prevent the fall of any tree injuring
the building, or the danger of its taking fire during the process of
burning the fallow.

A neighbour had undertaken to build this rude dwelling by contract, and
was to have it ready for us by the first week in the new year. The want of
boards to make the divisions in the apartments alone hindered him from
fulfilling his contract. These had lately been procured, and the house was
to be ready for our reception in the course of a week. Our trunks and
baggage had already been conveyed by Mr. D____ hither; and in spite of my
sister's kindness and hospitality, I longed to find myself once more
settled in a home of my own.

The day after our arrival, I was agreeably surprised by a visit from
Monaghan, whom Moodie had once more taken into his service. The poor
fellow was delighted that his nurse-child, as he always called little