ships of Canada; my purpose is rather, by the aid of an occasional sketch, to show how and in what manner the humbler and poorer Irish emigrants have succeeded in making a home for themselves in their adopted country. In order to appreciate what they have done, it is necessary to afford some idea of the difficulties that lay in their path. That they have succeeded in rendering themselves in dependent, and in laying the foundation of a prosperous future for their descendants, is undoubtedly true; but we may profitably glance at the past, to see how all this has been accomplished. I prefer rather to deal with those who came out poor, without capital, depending for their daily bread on the labour of their hands, than with those who, emigrating under more favourable circumstances, were never called on for the display of the qualities essential to the rude pioneer, whose chief capital consisted in a strong arm, a keen axe, and a bold heart. I cannot better commence than with a brief sketch of the settlement of one of the most prosperous districts in Canada Peterborough.
In the year 1825, now forty-two years since, a considerable number of emigrants, consisting of 415 families, or 2,000 individuals, sailed from Cork Harbour on their way to Canada, where, under the auspices of the Government, they were to establish a home for themselves in what was then a forest wilderness, the abiding place of the wolf and the bear. These 2,000 people were all from the south of Ireland, genuine Irish in birth and blood. Let us follow the footsteps of those humble people, and learn how they battled with the difficulties of a new and trying position, and what they accomplished for themselves and the country of their adoption.
The voyage across the Atlantic was wonderfully prosperous. Heaven seemed to smile upon the poor exiles, and give them courage for what they had soon to meet. In a few weeks after their arrival at Quebec, they were found
