xt7rjd4pkj6q https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7rjd4pkj6q/data/mets.xml Regan, John. 1852  books b9291773r2612ded2009 English Oliver & Boyd : Edinburgh Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Illinois --Description and travel. Mississippi River Valley --Description and travel. The emigrant s guide to the Western states of America, or, Backwoods and prairies : containing a complete statement of the advantages and capacities of the prairie lands, full instructions for emigrants in fitting out. text The emigrant s guide to the Western states of America, or, Backwoods and prairies : containing a complete statement of the advantages and capacities of the prairie lands, full instructions for emigrants in fitting out. 1852 2009 true xt7rjd4pkj6q section xt7rjd4pkj6q 
    
    
    
    
   THE

EMIGRANT'S GUIDE

THE WESTERN STATES OF AMERICA;

BACKWOODS AND PKAIEIES:

containing

a complete statement op the advantages and capacities of the prairie lands   full instructions for emigrants in fitting out; and in selecting, purchasing, and settling on, land   with particulars of farming and other business  operations, pictures   of the home   manners   of   the people, successes   of emigrants,

&a, &c.

by

JOHN REGAN,

formerly  teacher,  ayrshire; now  of  peoria, illinois.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.

EDINBURGH: OLIVEH & BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT;

R. GRIFFIN & CO., GLASGOW; SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON. 
    
   PREFACE.

America is the land of freedom, notwithstanding her Negro Slavery! Freed from the antiquated and absurd traditions of European States, which weigh like an incubus upon the energies of their peoples, and in the enjoyment of an unencumbered energy, she stands forth the most favoured land under the broad heavens. Hitherto she has enjoyed her freedom to some purpose, and has shown the world that " in order to be free, a man is not now-a-days obliged to repel the arts and sciences, to have nails like claws, and a filthy beard."*

The great Emigration Field in the Mississippi Valley, consisting of the States of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana, embraces a territory of 360,000 square miles, or three times the extent of Great Britain and Ireland, of surpassing fertility, watered by a system of rivers unequalled in the world. To this fine country would I direct the attention of Emigrants. These States all contain Prairie or Cleared Land, with suitable alternations of Forest. A picture of any one of them gives a fair representation of all the rest, and in this work my object is to convey distinct ideas of the people and country.

There is all the difference in the world between the American seaboard and the interior, in the manners of the people. On the coast, the manners of older countries in some measure prevail, and a just estimate of the true character of the people cannot be formed from that source.

* Chateaubriand. 
   iv

preface.

From the firm woof, not the ravelled edge, of American society, I have culled my pictures of Western manners, and they are taken from the life.

The incidents of this work are (rue. Of course, I have availed myself of an author's privilege to dress them up in a suitable and readable form. While the painter adheres to nature, it is not forbidden to cast around his groupings the peculiar resources of his art.

As in all new, well-watered countries, with a warm summer temperature, there is in the Western States a large mass of rank vegetation annually springing up and annually decaying. By temperance, by due care in his habits of life, the emigrant may escape the effects of this, and when the country is once fairly brought under the dominion of man, such causes of sickness will eventually disappear. If I have drawn fair pictures, I have not failed to exhibit a few shades. In America, as in all other tracts of earth, unalloyed good is not found; though the ratios of good and evil are not so fiercely mixed.

In the United States an industrious man has a tenfold better opportunity of improving his condition than here. How few working men in this country are laying up anything for old age and infirmity ? Do they not find that all their weekly earnings are barely sufficient to meet their weekly wants P What must they expect when sickness and old age come upon them ? I am one who believes in the absolute necessity of putting past something against the evil day, and if I cannot do so here I must go to where I can. With the help of God, neither myself nor any of mine shall ever claim a pauper's allowance.   " That's flat."

During the progress of this work, I have received letters and visits from many persons, exhibiting much anxiety to find out a resting-place for themselves and families   a refuge from the want and desolation which, in spite of all their honest thrift, threaten to overtake them.   There was 
   PREFACE.

once a time when one might have said, " The hand of the diligent maketh rich," and relied upon it under all circumstances. We have come to a poor pass, indeed, when, in our native land, such an axiomatic proverb as that must be taken with many exceptions. To all inquirers I would say, being myself actuated by the same motive   He who will not arise, if he can, and make the proverb good deserves the fate that awaits him.

The most of the books we possess on the United States are either the cursory remarks of travellers who have made no great stay in any one place, and who judge more from first impressions than deliberate study of the manners of the people;   or consist of mere compilations by persons who have never been in the country and cannot possibly know the value of their own or others' statements.

In this Book I give my own experiences, in so far as they might conduce to the instruction of the reader; and, as logicians tell us not to generalize from one or two cases, but from wide-spread facts, I have made it a point to submit the experiences of a great variety of individuals, from all which the reader will learn these important points, viz.:    ,

1. That America being such an extensive country, to purchase land there is as easy as to rent it here, and in many cases, more so.

2. That the country is everywhere well watered; that search the world over, and we cannot point to such another great extent of country similarly well watered as the United States.

3. That being well watered, it follows, as a matter of course, that the country should be fertile, which it is, to a very remarkable extent

4. That, as a necessary consequence of the two former conditions, bilious diseases in the newer districts prevail lo some extent.    In fact, wherever the intending emigrant 
   vi

preface.

hears of a very healthy new country, having the same latitude as the United States, he may be sure that it is wanting in that essential condition of fertility   moisture. In our own country we have the moisture too often suspended over-head, and coming down about our ears in the form of fogs and rains. In the States the air is dry, the sky clear, seasonable rains fall, and the vast net work of rivers and lakes, more than compensates for a humid air and an unceasing drip.

5. That the people are essentially Democratic, like their Institutions: that they are an educated people, without which a democracy could not subsist for ten years, but supported by which it may last to the end of time.

6. That work!   work!!   WORK!!! must be the order of the clay with all who emigrate to better their fortunes. To honest and prudent industry every thing will be conceded, to indolence and imprudent movements   nothing but disappointment. The roughnesses of first appearances must not be minded, but a vigorous and resolute hand put forth, and all discouraging appearances will melt as the mists of the morning before the rising sun.

While in the middle of this nineteenth century, up and down the Old World, there is a strong yearning among the people for self-government, and on the contrary part a tenacious clinging to absolutism;   while the fear of anarchy on the one hand, and the hatred of despotism on the other, appear to justify the opposition of the two parties, it is pleasing to think, that in the United States the experiment is going on, of, whether released from all restraints but those of its own choice, a people may not progress more happily, more rapidly, more honourably, than it can possibly do under the will of one man j and that that experiment justifies all the longings of the people for self-government and free institutions.   The good influence of a rising people 
   preface.

Vll

under such auspices cannot but be felt on the eastern shores of the Atlantic; and as the mighty Gulf Stream which traverses the same ocean and precipitates itself upon the Old World, only for good   to elevate its temperature and bless its people   so shall the rays which emanate from the Land of Washington, elevate the hopes, and aid the coming of the happy time, when man universally shall own no restrains but those of Reason and Religion   no Superior but God and the Laws.

Finally.   It has been said, and truly, that " the American Continent, or New World, supplies territory, while the Old World supplies people." Here, then, are the people-    there is the territory. To all who feel themselves pinched and straitened in this Old World, from no fault of their own, I would say   Westward, Ho !   " Get thee out of

thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, and go unto the land which I will show thee!"

J. R. 
    
   CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

page

Leading event   Preparatory movements   Substance of this narrative   Thoughts ou leaving home   Leave Glasgow for Liverpool   Accommodation on board the steamer   On woolsacks   Heavy sea and head wind    Descent into the lower regions-   A tailor, a tea-kettle, and a turn-over ............9

CHAPTER II.

Arrival at Liverpool   Excisemen   Look out for rascals    John Adams   Narrow escape from robbery   Dispute with drayman   Small purchases   Set Bail   Sea sickness-   Gale and accompaniments   Holyhead   Clear the British seas   Fine sailing   Objects observable at sea   Waterspouts   Calms and storms   Adam Pilk-iugton of " ours "   Sorts of provisions.....14

CHAPTER III.

Vicinity of land   Arrangements for landing   Sarah Wams-loy   Spoke a ship   A pilot   A towing steamer   The Mississippi at sea   Low coast   The Balize   Inspecting Surgeon comes aboard   Slaves   Up stream   Appearances   New Orleans..........21

CHAPTER IV.

Description of Now Orleans   Excisemen   Up stream    St. Louis   Arrival at the Desmoines Rapids   Eirst excursion in the woods of Iowa   Deer stalking extraordinary   Pick-nicking by the Mississippi   A deserter 
   m

contents.

page

      Steamboat on the rocks-   A regular " fix "   Collision      .......  .........  28 1

CHAPTER V.

Fresh trouble   Man overboard   Steamer extricated    Camp by the river   The Rapids surmounted   Land at Burlington   Our host's advice   The Dickens to pay   Tour of exploration.........34

CHAPTER VI.

Forward march   Waste lands   A hint to parochial boards    A thunderstorm on the Prairie, and a touch of the sublime ...............45.

CHAPTER VII.

"Bristo's" of Muddy Lane   What a "critter" is   What a " protracted meetin' " is   Preachers   Bitters   Sunday morning   Log church   New mode of throwing light on a subject   Monday morning   Bagly's    .   . 49

CHAPTER VIII.

Satisfactory appearances   A pioneer and virtuoso   Scarcity of bolts and bars   Arrival at the village of Virgil    Joseph Scofield   Ellisvillc, on Spoon river   Choosing a location...............54

CHAPTER IX.

Choosing land   Coal discovered   Favourable situation in respect to market and society   Prospective arrangements ................58

CHAPTER X

Description of the village of Virgil........59

CHAPTER XL First dwelling-house and first labours   Visits of ceremony 
   CONTENTS.

   Mrs Wamsley settled   Pigs and puppies   Start for the land-office at Quincy   City of Monticello   Land speculators   Nigger singing   Quincy   Pat Murphy    The meaning of "chicken fixin'e" and "common doin's"    A walking-stick, and a little of the pathetic

   A pleasant little story under a tree......61

CHAP TEE XII.

A night in the wilderness   A splendid ghost story spoiled

by a little knowledge of natural history.....69

CHAPTER Xin.

Ichabod Davis and his settlement   -Grace   Remarks a-la Pat Murphy   An unthrifty Backwoodsman   Thoni-sonianism   A knock-down argument   Sound maxims for health   Village of Bernadotte   Snake story   End

of the journey, and end of the chapter.....73

CHAPTER XIV.

" Getting along "   Help yourself   Bill Hendryx, and all

sorts of a shaving story..........83

CHAPTER XV. Description of Blinois............90

CHAPTER XVI.

On law-suits and non-suits   showing how they do it up

" slick" on the banks of the sweet winding Spoon     . 97

CHAPTER XVH.

How to " git along " in a new country   Discouragements, versus pleasant prospects   Bricks a circulating medium, and David Crawford's " crack " about the West 109

CHAPTER XVIII.

Charles Williams   " Anti-slavery "  and " Pro-slavery "

Meetings...............119 
   CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIX.

page

Varieties.................130

CHAPTER XX.

Quidnuncs and quiddities; or, "a peert come-out" in

honour of Spoon river character   How they did it 136

CHAPTER XXI. Debate on Slavery .............139

CHAPTER XXIT.

Eourth of July   Dinner at Squire Smith's   Game laws    Babylon and the Babylonians   Ben Brink   Interview with a pioneer ............152

CHAPTER XXIII. Harvest times   Summer temperature   Health and disease 165

CHAPTER XXIV. Visit to a camp-meeting............173

CHAPTER XXV. Building and the bill ............188

CHAPTER XXVI.

Taking the bull by the horns   " A committee of the whole house "   Contemplations, topographical, proprietary, industrial, and prospective.........190

CHAPTER XXVII.

Six stories : first, the man in Clay County; second Thomas Hart; third, Bishop Chase's gardener; fourth, Mr. 
   CONTENTS.

page

Sherman, tho " Britisher"; fifth, George Gifford ; sixth, Harman Rogei-3...........193

CHAPTER XXVIII. " Trading " in genera], and a " horse trade" in particular 203

CHAPTER XXIX.

Home sickness   Remarks on the people of America   Their enterprise   Western States   How they go a-head    Settling a country in one night   Spoon river nothing behind   Letter from Mr. Leighton   Two letters from

southern Illinois   The path of empire westward . .215

CHAPTER XXX. A chapter in which there is no joke, nor room for joking 231

CHAPTER XXXI. On schools and school matters .........234

CHAPTER XXXII. A seven days' tour of exploration on the prairies    .   .   . 243

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Practical hiuts on settling   Proportion of forest and prairie in Illinois   State surveys   Plans of township and section of land   Modes of obtaining land   Preemption rights   Government land   Warranty deed    School land   Tax titles.........284

CHAPTER XXXIV. Buildings ...........".....300

CHAPTER XXXV-

Farm stock   Sheep, and wool-growing   Pork and lard business   Beef   Wheat   Indian corn   Indian corn sugar    Oats, barley   Fencing..........322 
   CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

pace |

Estimates for men of large and of small onpital, being a > complete financial statement of the probable outlay requisite for establishing a man or family upon a farm    With notices of different modes of making a living    The prices of stock, labour, and all kinds of goods in Illinois in 1852 ............   . 350 |

CHAPTER XXXVII. Winter sketches..............368

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Six days' " abandon" on the banks of the Illinois river and Peoria lake, or a new version of " Christopher under Canvas;" snowing how seven wise men gave their wits an airing   How the feathers flew   The gills gasped    The frogs fraternized   The tables were turned   The skunks squealed   How Bill " ripped and tore"   How Ben " spread himself out"   -How Al. " went it strong" And all gave themselves up to fun aud frolic   And how they made it, and how they did'nt   With more than that, not enumerated in the table of contents   .   .   . 373 I

CHAPTER XXXIX. Health and disease   Climate..........393

CHAPTER XL. Concluding remarks............. 397 I

APPENDIX

Answers to Queries

399 
   BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

CHAPTER I.

Hope's starry eyo is glancing o'er The Western plains which lie before    The Prairie Lands, where gleaming stray a thousand matchless streams at play; Where fields, reclaimed from forests dun, Smile in the ray of Summer's sun.

Leading event   preparatory movements   substance op this narrative   thoughts on leaving home   leave glasgow for liverpool    accommodation on hoard the steambr   on woolsacks   heavy sea and uead wind   descent into the lower regions   a tailor a tea-kettle, and a turnove4.

ii.S I was walking up street one day, I observed a small object lying between the stones of the pavement, shining in the sun. I picked it up* It was a cobbler's awl-blade, and had doubtless been dropped by some worthy member of the fraternity, bent on purposes of amendment and reparation anent the soles of the honest lieges.

Reader, I am not much of a lecturing moralist, else here is a fine opportunity for entering upon a long digression on the nature of cause and effect   what great results may be attributed to apparently trivial and incidental occurrences; in short, that

" There's a Divinity who shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will,"

   and all that sort of thing. It will perhaps be enough for you to know, and for me to say, that this simple event proved the moving cause of my emigration to the wilds of America.

The awl called to my remembrance an old acquaintance, NO. I. B

 
   10

BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

himself a professor of the gentle craft, with whom I had spent many pleasant hours in bookish researches. I called, and had not been long seated till an old woman entered, bearing a letter from her son in America, and which she wished to have read. The highly-coloured picture the emigrant drew of his success in America   of the richness and fertility of the soil   and above all, its cheapness   finishing with telling us that he himself, though a poor man, had purchased one hundred acres of the choicest land, on which ho had built a log-house, and was living happily   produced such an effect upon my mind, that from that moment the desire to cross the Atlantic haunted me like a passion. Years passed away. I had chosen a calling and learnt it. Time and change had produced their natural results around me; but still I looked forward with a longing solicitude to the day when I should bid farewell to the shores of Britain, and bound towards the setting sun   to that land of which I had so often thought that the feeling became a part of my very heing. Books descriptive of the promised land were eagerly pored over. The fortunes of emigrants   the habits of the people   -the productions of the soil   formed fruitful subjects of research; and the great valley of the Mississippi was the region I fixed upon as the field of my future adventures.

The period at last arrived when all the intense longings of my heart were to be gratified. I chose for a partner in life, a wise and virtuous Scottish maiden; and we both determined, that on our union we should set out to seek fortune and a home in the " Far West."

We had a small sum of money to begin the world with when we should arrive out. We were both young and healthy   ardent and affectionate. I had learnt "to take the world, rough and smooth, as it came.

For sometimes smooth, and sometimes rough, 1 fuund ravsolf still ricii enough,

In the joys of an humhlo stato!

My partner, I felt assured, would perform her part; and I was not mistaken. With the bounding and buoyant hopes peculiar to youth, we entered upon our arrangements. Our hopes, however, were not so extravagant as to lead us to suppose that our success in life would depend on some wondrous good luck, rather than upon strong and decided action towards that end. They were of that more rational kind which produces in the miiid a pleasing assurance that all 
   BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

11

would be well as regards the future, under the influence of earnest endeavours in the right direction, in a part of the world where, we were assured, industry never failed to obtain its just reward, and where sloth and irresolution would also produce their natural results.

And now, kind reader, my little narrative is based upon the following leading circumstances. It was my wish to purchase, with the small sum of money I possessed, a few acres of good land, erect a cottage, and labour diligently for a living   a project unambitious enough, you will say. And as the experience of one or two persons is not sufficient to give a general view of " Settler Life," I shall introduce accounts of various other individuals, who, though situated differently from myself   some having superior advantages at starting   had all to struggle for the same end, making a settlement for themselves and families. The experiences of others may prove more suitable to the emigrant, in the way of instruction, than any formal directions otherwise conveyed. I have no " travellers' tales" to tell, although I have abundance of curious incidents to relate; and I will relate nothing as fact but what I can vouch for. Having premised so much, let us accompany each other on the voyage out.

A great deal has been said and written on the emigrant's leaving his native land, and many sentimental sighs heaved over the last sight of the shores which enclose the homes and graves of our fathers. This may be very natural for him who has fared well in his own country, and is at a loss for a more serious subject for thought. But to him who has experienced little else than an unceasing round of vexatious conflicts to satisfy the vulgar animal wants   who feels that in the land of his birth, as a Malthusian would say, " The tables are all occupied "      that there is neither knife, fork, nor wooden spoon to spare for him   the love of home is smothered in his heart, and a removal from the scene of so much perplexity, to say the least of it, cannot bring the same feeling of regret as may justly be entertained by those in more favourable situations. If there is one feeling more predominant than another, it is a satisfaction to find the friendly breeze wafting us away towards the promised blessings of a distant region.

On the 8 th of March, 1842, we started for Liverpool in a Glasgow steamer, the Royal Sovereign, which left the Broomielaw at six o'clock in the evening.    The passage- 
   12

BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

lasted a day and two nights. The first night was calm ant! pleasant enough, but towards morning the weather got rather stormy, and we had a high wind all day a-head, driving the spray over the vessel's bows, and drenching everything upon deck. My wife had a berth in the ladies' cabin, but I was stowed away among the canaille in the steerage. Here I found a congregation of the most choice materials for a person of taste. Men half drunk, shouting, dancing, and smoking. Women sick, children squalling, baskets, bundles, and shawls, tumbling about in most admired confusion       the scene enlivened at short intervals by sundry exclamations and shrieks, as a wave more lop-sided than its fellows thundered against the bows, and then followed Wllisn-sh-sh-sh, as it strewed a copious shower upon deck, to the signal discouragement of some luckless wight who might have ventured "up" to note appearances   the atmosphere below being dreadful. Choosing rather to suffer affliction amid the beggarly inconveniences of a parcel of woolsacks, under a flapping tarpauling, than endure the villanous accommodation down stairs, I buttoned my peacoat and thrust myself in among chains and tarred ropes, under the lee of the woolsacks, having on the other side of mc the engine-house with the whole posse of clink-hammers rattling at my ear. Added to this, there was a pretty stiff breeze setting into the hole into which I had thrust myself, so that I had not to complain of any want of fresh air. Nevertheless I fell asleep   not having slept during the fore part of the night   and slept for about two hours, when the barking of a dog aroused me. The animal had thrust himself in beside me and was expressing alarm at the intrusion of a stranger, who wanted to dislodge him, and occupy his place. My sensations on awakening were not of the most agreeable kind. I was wet, cold, oppressed with nausea. Talk of the hard fate of Jacob with his earthen bed and stoney pillow in the desert:   the fate of the Prophet was nothing to this. Did the salt spray of the sea get at him ?   had he not infinite space to stretch himself   had he not to smooth his pillow an agreeable dream, without any squeamishness at his stomach when he awoke ? Prophet and all as he was, he never had the pleasure of an ocean trip in a steam-boat. A notable circumstance, to be sure, which ushered in such an agreeable train of thoughts on the onward tendencies of the age, that I forgot for the time my own petty annoyances in the pride and pleasure 
   BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

13

inspired by a consideration of the happy destinies of the Anglo-Saxon race in particular. About noon the wind moderated somewhat, and I had an opportunity of sitting on deck at peace. The space between the funnel and the quarter-deck was occupied by about a dozen cows, some of which had calved during the morning, so that there was no shelter available anywhere on deck except among the said woolsacks, of which I had already got more than enough.

As the ordinary time of steaming the distance from Glasgow to Liverpool is from fifteen to eighteen hours, we should have been at the latter place between two or three o'clock in the afternoon, had the wind been at all favourable; but we had the disagreeable prospect of another night at sea before landing; and about dark we found ourselves driving head foremost against heavy surges, with a strong wind as before, dead a-head. This night, being unable to bear the cold and damp any longer, I determined to do what the previous night I could not endure   to go down to the steerage den, and brave the worst features of the place. It was not without sundry rueful forebodings of what yet lay before us in the longer voyage, that I submitted to my fate. Down I dived, therefore, with the desperate resolve of one who has no alternative, and seated myself on one of the benches ranged round the miserable place. I was not long here, however, till I became sick, and determining to brave it out, my sickness relieved me considerably, and I bore it pretty well during the rest of the night. Below I found two elderly maiden sisters with a nephew and niece   the first a tailor, the other a widow    emigrating to Little Itock, the capital of Arkansas, to their relatives who resided there. They had got coffee made in a tea-kettle, and in the confusion the tailor was endeavouring to pour it out into tin porringers placed for security on the floor ; but the continual heaving of the vessel, and the unsteady arm of the half-sick tailor, made it a nice affair. In the midst of the operation a wave broke with a thundering crash on the starboard bow. The tailor took a run to leeward, kicking the porringers before him   the spilt cofl'cc made the boards so slippery, that he fell with his feet projecting before him   these coming in full force against the ribs of a lusty Irishman already prostrate, away they went downhill. There they both sat in the spilt'coffee, while the hot kettle with its hotter contents having kept 
   14

BACK.WOODS AND PliAlRIES.

close company, diligently distilled the soothing beverage, which proved anytliing'but soothing tinder the circumstances. A second wave more tremendous than the previous, sent the most of those on the weather side in the same direction, and there they all lay tumbling pell-mell, the Irishman and tailor lowermost. The shriek which arose from the women was terrific, as the vessel lay upon her beam; but as she righted again, the prostrate passengers lighted also, but jokes and coffee were rather scarce the rest of the night; for every one had to hold himself at a moment's warning, so fearfully did the steamer plunge and toss.

CHAPTER II.

" Now westward lio!   in legions, boys, Fair freedom's star Points to the sunset regions, bovs, Aha!

Throw care to the winds Like chatf, boys, ha! And join in the laugh, bovs.

Hah! hah! hah'!"    .Vom'i.

arrival at liverpool   excisemen    look out for rascals    john adams   n A It ROW escape from robbery   dispute with drayman    small purchases   set sail   sea sick nebs    g A le and accompaniments    holyhf.ad   clear the british seas   fine sailing   objects observable at sea     waterspouts     calms and storms    adam pilkington of " ours"   sorts of provisions.

We arrived in the Mersey about day-break, and had to drop anchor in the river till the fide should flow. About eleven o'clock we got alongside of the quay wall, and had scarcely touched, when we were boarded by a host of porters and " runners" from lodging-houses. The porters had brass-plates on their arms, and, as they are the authorised ones, should be preferred to any others. Presently an exciseman came, demanding to see the inside of our packages. Here was a fine business. Our luggage, which had been carefully nailed up and properly roped at Glasgow, had now to be opened up, and no immediate convenience to fasten it up properly again. There was no help for it, however, for the more reluctance you show to open your luggage, the more importunate are these officials. The .search was for Scotch whisky, as that article is subject to 
   BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

15

an additional duty on its introduction into England. While this was going on, I could observe sundry suspicious-looking characters casting villanous looks at our several articles, as thej- were turned over. I warn all emigrants to keep a sharp look-out for rascals in Liverpool, and beware of all strange persons professing friendship. The search over, John Adams, a lad who had accompanied me from Glasgow, came to say that a porter was about to carry off his trunk whether he would or not. " John, there's a policeman on the quay ; he'll help you to dismiss your assistant." This settled the matter.

I took the opportunity of warning him of the danger of trusting himself or his trunk to the guidance of strangers, as there were a thousand sharpers about, eager to lay hold upon any one simple enough to submit to their thievish officiousness. I then got a porter to take a few loose things in his hand, and accompany us to a boarding house, to which I had been directed by a Glasgow frit iid. John I left in charge, strictly warning him not to give anything to any person till my return, which would be in a short time. It was a needful precaution ; for while I was away, a fellow came to him and said, that as I was tired, I had determined to remain in my lodgings, and had given him orders to carry up my luggage. "Vcrra weel," said John, "you're maybe like the fallow that was gaun to rin aff wi' my trunk. There's sac mony vagabon's gaun aboot Liverpool, that I'll no' trust ony ane till he comes hinisel', for he said he'd be back afore lang, d'ye hear that?" This prudent firmness prevented the loss of all we had.

The ship destined to carry us out was the. Hanover of Bristol, Capt. Drummond, chartered for New Orleans with passengers, and lay in the Prince's Dock. We got our luggage taken on board at once from the steamer. Even this could not take place without a fresh exhibition of villany. Eor although another man and I, who hired the dray, made a distinct bargain with the drayman before we gave him our luggage, when we arrived at the ship, the rascal, instead of two shillings, would have three. This imposition we firmly refused, and he as firmly persisted. I then called a policeman, who told us to pajr what we had agreed upon, and nothing more; and that if there was any farther dispute, a magistrate lived close bv, who would settle between us. This ended the matter. The policeman took a note of the number of the fellow's dray, and told him 
   16

BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

to " Beware." Let all emigrants make a distinct bargain with their drayman, and keep by that, calling in the Police if necessary.

It was Thursday when we took our luggage aboard, and the ship did not sail till