ECHOES FROM THE BACKWOODS. BY CAPTAIN LEVINGE. (CONCLUDED.) CHAP. XIII. UPPER CANADA-NIAGARA. Look back! Lo! where it comes like an eternity As if to sweep down all things in its track, From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, An Iris sits amidst the infernal surge, Like Hope upon a death-bed, and unworn Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn: CHILDE HAROLD. Leave Montreal for Upper Canada-Niagara-The Falls in Winter Clothing -Mammoth Icicles-Governor's Feed- The Lady from Troy-Hanging Match-Benito Soto. AT six o'clock in the morning, at least two miles out of the town of Montreal, and in the midst of as much fuss as is generally displayed in an ill-managed garrison field-day, we received an order to march in two hours for Upper Canada, to prevent the self-styled "patriots" from crossing the Niagara. We had neither breakfast or baggage, and were consequently without incumbrance. As the clock struck eight, the right wing moved off, and by nine were packed in boats on the canal cut to avoid the rapids of Lachine-between the Lake St. Francis and Montreal - when we were transferred to steamboats, and ascended the Ottawa, landed and crossed a portage of some twelve miles, to overcome the rapids of the St. Lawrence, which roared on our left during our midnight march. Towards morning, wet through and beat, we were again sent on board steamers, and by noon the following day were landed jaded, fagged, and without food at Cornwall, when a halt showed sufficiently the absurdity of our hurried march, which had been performed in strict conformity with the orders received, viz., "light marching order," no food having been supplied by the quartermaster-general's department, so there was no exertion on the part of the men to carry it; who, poor devils, indulged with what they good-humouredly termed a soldier's supper, viz., "some wind and a pipe of tobacco;" and, when it is taken into consideration that they found the tobacco themselves, it is easy to ascertain the exact amount of the consideration of the quartermaster-general's department. From Cornwall we again marched to avoid the rapids, amongst which was to be discerned the terrific "Long Sault," one of the grandest scenes on this magnificent river, at the moment a fleet of bateaux were shooting the rapid; any description of the sea-green river, the broken and foaming tide, the skill of the voyageurs when entangled in such a rapid, or of the scene, is beyond my powers. The ever-varying scenery of the Thousand Islands was passed, and we were put up in the fort overlooking the town and harbour of Kingston, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, and at the head of navigation of the St. Lawrence; whence, after a couple of days' rest, we were ordered on board a large steamer, where we found the governor of the province and a field battery, and immediately got under-weigh for the Niagara. The next evening we were under canvass on the plateau in front of the village of Niagara. Nothing could be more lovely than the accidental locale of our encampment; on the right flowed the river, sea-green till it mixed its water with those of the deep-blue Ontario, which, calm as molten silver, lay before us. A glorious sunset contrasted the golden-tinted green of the hickory with our gay encampment. An invitation to a dinner and a dance soon arrived, the band played soft music while cool claret and the bright eyes of the Niagara fair obliterated all remembrance of the delicate attentions of her majesty's quartermastergeneral's department in North America. At sunrise we again embarked for the heights of Queen's-town, half the distance to the Falls (our destination), where disembarking we found the march to Drummondville awfully fagging. The sun was burning; the thermometer stood at 96; the glazed patent leather tops of the men's shakos concentrated the rays of the mid-day sun, and many poor fellows fell as if they had been shot. It is extraordinary that of all the host of correspondents in the United Service Journal, who sign themselves “Tuft," "Helmet," "Chako," &c., one old fogy only proposes a headdress more hideous and inconvenient than that thought of by his prede cessor. A long streak or column of spray soon became visible above the lofty forest, and a low murmur announced the Falls of Niagara. These signs of our approach to the mighty cataract had an instantaneous effect on the spirits of our men, who forgot all their sufferings and passed on their way cheerfully. In a quarter of an hour the divisions wheeled into line, and marched straight down upon the table-land above the Falls. The thickness of the foliage at first intercepted our view of them, but no sooner had the arms been piled and the order given to "fall out," than they broke en masse, and rushed to the edge of the precipice. Nothing could be more beautiful than the coup d'œil presented by our encampment. The situation was perfect. The tents of the men were pitched with scrupulous exactness, in regular order, upon a green plateau elevated some 130 feet above the level of "the Falls." A snow white column of companies extended along the whole length of the field, while to the rear the tents of the non-commissioned officers, band, and married soldiers were scattered upon ground slightly elevated, and backed by groves of dark-green foliage. In the centre of the plateau stood one solitary magnificent butter-nut tree, the branches of which carried a canopy of leaves far over the sward. Under this the band played every evening, to the amusement of countless visiters, who came for the double purpose of visiting our encampment and the grandest of all stupendous sights. On the edge of the precipice which overhung the falls, clothed with a magnificent foliage of hiccory and pine, in quiet nooks and corners, the officers' tents were nestled, peeping up here and there from the aforesaid fringe of forest which formed the limit of the turf. The manycoloured stripes of their canvass, coming out against the dark wood, made an unrivalled foreground to the scene. My tent was perched upon a small isolated green spot scarcely larger than the circumference of the tent itself-upon a sort of step a little lower than the plateau above. From it I looked through a labyrinth of acacia and hiccory, on to the mighty cataract itself, as it poured its everflowing emerald flood into the abyss beneath. But the influence of the spray often had its effect "tent-lines," and it required no little attention to keep our canvass standing. It is a certain sign of there being an old soldier in a tent, when (on the elements threatening a down-pour) a man is seen to débouche from the cover of his tent to slack off the ropes, a dodge" which the young soldier will never learn until taught by experience. Unless it be done, the rain tightens the rope so much that the pegs are dragged out of the ground, and the occupants are awakened by suddenly finding the canvass about their ears. upon our 66 Probably most visiters to the "eternal city" will remember the obelisk in front of Michael Angelo's wonderful Basilica, and with the Egyptian monument will associate the story of the English sailor, who, on a demur arising in getting it up, called out before the assembled multitude, "wet ropes, a hint immediately complied with, and the mass of porphyry was raised without further difficulty on the back of the four tortoises, its destined pedestal. the But as every thing in this life must have its dark side, ups and downs, and reverses, so our beautiful encampment, which in the morning appeared swan-like and resplendent in the sunshine, whilst flitting rainbows danced amidst the evanescent spray, was one night visited by one of those sudden whirlwinds which descend here, accompanied by sheets of rain and hail, unknown except in tropical climates; rushed down upon the devoted encampment like an avalanche, tore up the tent-pegs, prostrated some tents while it took others up bodily, and turned them inside out like an umbrella. The trenches round the camp were soon filled and flooded, and the unfortunate soldiers were seen crawling about dripping wet, like a nest of rats suddenly inundated. I have before said that to attempt a delineation of Niagara either with pen or pencil is equally hopeless. Being in camp and cantonments there for a year, we had ample opportunities of observing them during every change of atmosphere and weather, and we were never tired of watching the sublime variations that these occasioned. Sometimes the spray would rise in a clear column, until lost in the deep blue of the heavens. Again, the whole heavens themselves would appear as if they were part and parcel of this mighty column, conducted, as by a water-spout, into the very centre of the cataract. This appearance was usually the forerunner of a storm; then the water would roar like thunder itself; and when the angry storm broke above them, the peals reverberated above, below, and through the forest. It is at such times that the column of spray may be seen at Toronto, across Lake Ontario, and from sixty to eighty miles in all directions. But to see this glorious scene in its fullest magnificence, it must be visited towards the end of winter, when the spray, carried by the winds, has crystalised rocks, trees, and every thing within its reach. The spreading oak, the beach, and tow'ring pine, and huge icicles, like church steeples reversed, frozen columns, and obelisks, of the height of a hundred and fifty feet, enclose the water, pouring over the centre, green as a vast emerald. It was the duty of the orderly-officer to visit every night a guard placed at the ferry below the Falls, at a short distance from them. A narrow path led down to where this guard was stationed, and it was anything but agreeable, on a dark night, to find one's way down a frozen, slippery path, beset with monster icicles, which, hanging overhead, threatened destruction at every pace; most of them only awaiting a partial thaw to disengage themselves and come thundering down, dashing themselves, and all within reach, to pieces. Upon these frontier guards several sentinels were shot at. Little urchins, from the other side of the river, would shy an axe into a tree, and making a rest of it, take a deliberate shot at them. Soon after we were established at the Falls, the governor-general made his appearance, with an enormous staff. Steamers and numerous hotels were retained for enormous sums, and a major of the United States was desired by his excellency to invite a number of the free and enlightened citizens of the United States, to witness a grand review in honour of his person, and to partake of a magnificent dinner afterwards. It so happened that the major had originally been a tailor by trade. The consequent result from such a "high-way and bye-way" collection as were bidden to the feast, can be more easily conceived than described. Officers were invited, but only to fill up the intervals between a given number of guests, and by way of completely frustrating the harmony of the evening, an equal number of loyal Canadians were invited to meet a set of men, who, to say the least, were "sympathisers" with the rebellious proceedings of the past year. A young officer of our regiment sat next me, who had just joined from England; on his right sat a genuine Yankee. The boy was bashful and silent; Jonathan quite the reverse. The young ensign had no wish to enter into conversation, but his neighbour had, so he began, "Well, I guess you are a private, now ?" Poor B- did not know what to say, and appealed to me. I answered, "Take no notice of him." Soon after, the down-easter dropped his pocket-handkerchief. B- had been educated in France, and without thinking, from an impulse of civility, unluckily picked it up, and presented it to the Yankee, whose answer was, "Well, now, I guess you do take me for a woman, don't you?" After dinner, the governor proposed the health of the "Queen of England." So far, so good. He then proposed that of the "President of the United States," ," which sounded all fair; but unfortunately the Canadians present, whose hearths had been invaded, and whose brothers and friends had been murdered, if not by any of those at table, at least at their instigation, turned rusty, and a scene of much confusion ensued. One man near me was pulled back into his chair by his wife-who tugged at his coat tails, until she got him down-he all the time during the operation vociferating loudly, "he would be d-d if he drank such a toast." After dinner, the governor and his suite passed over to the other side in full uniform, feathers flying and swords glittering, whilst a numerous train followed; much to the amusement of the Yankees, men and boys, who came down in crowds, and got up into the trees to see "Durham." We had a hundred volunteers sent us fortunately most of them soon disappeared, as they were no particular acquisition. Some tried to swim across the river, and perished in the attempt; their bodies being found below the Falls. One or two reached the other side, where we heard of them-received and fêted. Apropos to desertion.-A soldier at Gibraltar took it into his head to commit that crime, and succeeded so far as to clear the British lines, and gain those occupied by the Spanish outposts; no sooner, however, had he been taken to the guard-room, than some qualm of conscience struck him -he repented his rash step, and determined to retrace it—and, as it generally so happens, that a determined man is sure to succeed in any undertaking-so ingenuity at once came to his assistance. He would persuade the Spanish soldiers on guard to show him how they performed their "manual and platoon exercise," having first bribed them to do so by volunteering to go through his own; the ruse succeeded admirably, and no sooner did they come to "ram down cartridge," and that he heard that peculiar ring of the ramrods at the bottom of their barrels, which told him they were not charged, than he at once "bolted," and long before they could go through the process of biting, priming, shaking out, and ramming a cartridge down, to say nothing of the cocking of the piece and that of the eye of the marksman, he had regained his own lines. N.B.-In consequence he was not brought to a court-martial. The colonel who commanded on the frontier discovered that there were "crimps" on the other side. They were well dressed and disguised, and came over to tamper with the men. The day after Lord Durham's review, a number of visiters came over from the opposite shore; amongst them one of these crimps, who, unfortunately for himself, pitched on the colonel's orderly, a peninsula veteran, who allowed him to go on, and afterwards pointed him out to his colonel, as he was turning in to the great table-d'hôte at which we all dined, together with the visiters who daily came to see the lions. After dinner, the colonel got up-he was a magnificent fellow, a noble figure, the hero of a hundred fights. He began with a little soft sawder; the Yankees were all attention: "He regretted that there should be a set of persons on the other side, who tried to induce his men to desert their colours, and forfeit their honour and allegiance to the Queen of England. There is," here he beckoned to his orderly to step forward (on which a man, covered with rings and chains, was observed to become deadly pale) "such a man here present, who, by his appearance, ought to be above such a rascally action." Upon a "Yes, sir, that's he," from the orderly, the colonel, with Herculean strength, took hold of the fellow by the collar, and lifting him completely off his seat, gave him a kick in that part where the smallest particle of honour, be there any, is supposed to be seated, and handed him over to a file of the guard, to see him safe to the other side of the water. The curiosity of the various visiters to the camp was beyond belief; particularly that of the fair sex; more particularly were they excited and astonished at the sight of our kits, from which we had been separated for many months; and which, having now just arrived, |