71

few of them have very nice farms, but most of them are
totally destitute of fences. They have a patch of corn here,
20 or so apple trees there, then a patch of potatoes, all grown
& planted higgledy-pig-gledy. Even the apple trees along the
road had no fences whatever. All seems to be wild like
the people. It took us a day and a half to go down to
Lake Erie. The first night we slept in the waggon.
Fastened the horses to a stump, and wrapped ourselves
in our blankets. Mine was a horse cloth, and Charlie's
cape that he gave me. I slept sound as a top with
these round one. We set off again in the morning at
2-o-clock, got to the Lake, took the boat off the waggon
put her on the Lake and sat down to breakfast. Then
sent the waggon to a farm 4 miles off, put all our
traps in the boat, and then rowed off to a sort of island
which joins the mainland by a deep and bottomless swamp
mud weeds, bulrushes, and wild rice growing on mud
on a bed of quicksand. Two of our party got out here, and
the rest went on looking for ducks. I and George Murphy
went hunting Quackers as they call the grey ducks in the
swamp. Every now and then we were up to out middles
in swamp mud, sand, and water, and I can assure you
when you are up to your middle, you are obliged to keep