cries that met our ears the other morning, as that beautiful boat Brothers started from the wharf. Well I declare!' said a stander by, there she is actually turning the point already.' And sure enough, when we turned again to look, all we could see was the tops of her tapering spars, and the dense volume of smoke that curled in her rear, mixed with the glittering spray, like the dust which the mettled steed, in his rapid course, flings in clouds behind him. We feel proud that our little town is able to send such a boat on the broad waters of our lakes. * * * Who has been on board the Brothers, and has seen the taste and elegance displayed in her fittings up, and viewed her cabin table groaning under the weight of savoury dishes and delicacies of every kind; but, above all, who that has feasted on the good things of that table, that will not join with us in the meed of praise to the jolly fellow who commands her?-one of the best little captainswot walks the plank.' There are very few boats on the western waters can compete with the Brothers in speed. She literally

'Walks the waters like a thing of life,'" &c.

Having read the paper through, I rubbed my eyes, and began to look about for the " taste and elegance displayed in her fittings up," which certainly had escaped my notice; but in one thing I could not be deceived-namely, her speed and motion. Never in my life have I suffered more severely from the jolting, tossing, rolling, and heaving, save in a springless waggon on a corduroy road. Every nail in the boat seemed to quake in the straining timbers, during the six hours thus wretchedly spent crossing the Lake St. Clair; certes, we had some squally weather, but the wind was

K

all in our favour. The engine at last ceased to groan, and hastening on deck, I went forward to the bow of the boat, and found one of the hands taking soundings with a long stick.

"What water have you there?" cried the captain. "Four feet!" bawled the boy.

"Go ahead!" said the captain; and we paddled boldly on.

"Stop her-stop her!" was the next order, as sundry jerks, rubs, and scrapes informed us that we were far from the bottom.

not very

"What do you find there, sir?" bawled the captain.

Land, sir," responded the man with the long rod. "Is it the bar?" hallooed the captain.

"May be it is," responded the other. "Hard or soft?" was the next query.

"Soft sand or mud," was the rejoinder.

"Go on-go ahead!" was the command; and presently we pushed and paddled through mud-banks and sand-banks, into the renowned River Thames.

The danger, if any, fairly over, a dirty, curly-headed negro boy, assisted by a greasy yellow man, began to spread out the table-cloth, and arrange the festive board. There was a vast deal of clatter, and "much ado about nothing"--the boy undoing what the man did, the man finding fault with the boy's arrangement; both sleepy, cross, and lazy. At last, the boy began chopping up some greasy butter with a knife, putting square bits upon sundry plates, turning the butter round with his finger and thumb adroitly, then sucking his fingers with his blubber lips. That done, he scratched his head, and began to cut up a loaf of bread expeditiously, while the yellow man set a savoury dish of fried pork and onions upon the board,

and began to pour out some very black tea, which he had brewed aside in a vast metal teapot. "Who that has feasted upon the good things of that table," thought I, and not been most vulgarly sick forthwith! "You don't sup, sir?" said the captain, somewhat crossly, as I paced the deck.

I said something about want of appetite, and he went below, murmuring something about good sauce, and bad sailors. At last we arrived at our destination, as the clock chimed twelve-not the town clock indeed, but a house-clock, even that feeble bell being distinctly heard through the general stillness of the place; in fact, the good folk of Chatham had all gone to bed, and a thick mist hung over the river and town. We were behind time, to be sure, some three or four hours, having left Detroit at four in the afternoon, and arrived at Chatham at twelve; but the boat-owners and hotel-keepers might have afforded the passengers at least a guide, or porter, if, indeed, they expected the Brothers at all. "The jolly fellow" (or acid clerk) who commanded, refused to let any of his men pilot us to the hotel, and we walked up the slippery clay bank and dubious track into the main street. The whole town seemed wrapt in slumber-not a voice was heard; but a solitary dog barked and whined at a creeking branch somewhere in the woods. The Scotchmen and the rest of the passengers now began to thump at the rickety door of the hotel, and presently we were admitted by the burly Boniface in person.

"How many are ye?" said he, beginning to count on his fingers." Well, I suppose I can accommodate ye, two and three in a bed."

"I want a single bed-a bed to myself, at all events;" said I.

The host seemed struck of a heap by this singular request, and he repeated, holding up his hog's-lard candle-" A bed all to yourself-a bed to yourself? You can't have a bed to yourself, sir. I cannot accommodate you."

Forth I sallied, and took the opposite side of the street, beginning with the first of a rickety row of wooden houses, of all sorts and sizes. Thump, thump, thump! went my good hickory against the door, till a voice sung out-" What do you want?"

66

Lodgings, an't please you, for a single man.” "We don't take in no lodgers," was the response.

Then to the next house I addressed myself, and a shrill voice sung out" Who are you?"

66

I responded to the sleepy beauty, and was told to go to de debble-I vartuous young lady."

The devil you are, thought I, as I moved on, singing "Lubbly Dinah;" and was presently informed by a drowsy Hibernian, that if I "followed my nose" for a dozen perches further on I would find the new hotel, a decent house," in which I would be hospitably treated at my own expense." A pole and swinging sign brought me up all standing in front of the new hotel, a vast, rambling, rickety, wooden concern, which soon resounded with kicks and blows, till a light gleamed from a window, and the front door being opened, a sturdy wight, with an axe in one hand and a candle in the other, demanded

"What be in de vind now-que voulez vous faire, avec votre bruit d'enfer ?"

"Restrain your choler, and put on your inexpressibles, cher Monsieur," said I; and I explained my wants, while the host seemed to doubt his senses, that a guest should ever find his way into his hotel, at such a time of night too. It was a godsend worth returning thanks about.

"Hello! Marie-Jean-Antoinette!-get up!" bawled the host; "here is a gentleman wants a bedroom all to himself! Tout, tout, tout-vite, vite, vite— depechez vous, mes enfans." Then, leading the way into his bar-room, this good fellow asked me to drink something, drank my health, and wished me prosperity; he did more, even at that late hour, he pulled on his shoes, and trudged down to the steamer for my baggage, carried it up, on the top of his shoulder, shewed me into a large, airy bed-room, and bid me good night.

This dreary, wet morning, sallied forth to look at the town. A congregation of miserable houses of all colours in the rainbow-blue, white, pink, and grey, and not a few domiciles of bright boards interspersed with rough loggeries, while stumps stood boldly out of the earth on all sides, and the old aboriginal wood frowned dismally at the back of the yards and enclosed gardens. Indeed, it is a matter of great surprise to find so many houses, and streets, and projected buildings, and improvements taken in hand by the people of Chatham, before they had actually cleared land enough about their town to support the tithe of them. The streets are laid out with little judgment—exceedingly narrow and crooked. The

barrack, built on the isthmus, or island, on the Thames, enlivens the prospect. This is the "West End" of Chatham, I suppose; and here, for the first time, I saw the black regiment on drill. They are all run