| Title: | Lord Caledon, Quebec, to the Countess of Caledon, England |
|---|---|
| ID | 3620 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | lord caledon/152 |
| Year | 1840 |
| Sender | Lord Caledon (James Du Pre Alexander) |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | army officer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Quebec, Canada |
| Destination | England |
| Recipient | Countess of Caledon |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | son-mother |
| Source | D 2433/B/8/25: Deposited by the Trustees of the Caledon Estate. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9605315 |
| Date | 27/10/1840 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 28:05:96. |
| Word Count | 1450 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | My dear Mother I write because the Unicorn is to sail tomorrow and not that I have any thing to say as this place has retained its forever dullness & I have not been outside the walls for some time. The snow is coming and going but the ground is still visible and I don't think we shall regularly lose sight of it for some time this is now a very heavy fall. I expect to ship off any [--?] very soon. I shall give directions [then?]. As [--?] [--?] they are very easily fed and kept and are quite tame. I have got a young moose deer alive and hope to be able to send him early next spring, he will be a great curiosity. He is very healthy and quite tame he is only six months old and is already much larger than your fallow deer I got it from some Indians at [Batiscan?] river and keep him in my stables I shall try and get another, but take they care and proper feeding. I feed him on branches of the moose wood and keep him in the cold, the merchants here get them sometimes but cannot rear them as they do not understand the feeding of them. The [Athott?] transport with the [---?] sailed this morning for Portsmouth I have sent some drawings done by a person in this town by Lamberts brother directed to my grandmother they are very rough ones but give a pretty good notion of the country as well indeed as if they were the best and I thought it might be an amusement never having seen similar ones in England myself they may be a novelty to her Lambert called late last night and had to go on board immediately so I only had time to [----?] down in [----?] a sort of rough explanation of what they were as you may not understand it I just put down what they are as I marked them. No.1 Night in the Bush the moose lying frozen in the corner and the Indians cooking their supper the cabin is made of a blanket the open part of the bush is not common but must be made to show the figures the trees are rather too large and not thick enough No.2 The Moose [--?] hard and come to a stand still he is dangerous to come [---?] one man sliding down on the snow shoes, the snow is not made deep enough as it generally lets the moose down the whole length of the leg and the snow shoes are hardly large enough No.3 Starting to Hunt the plain before the Indians is a lake in summer and now frozen over and covered [in?] snow from perhaps 4 to 7 feet deep and as much as 15 feet in some places the little sleigh is what the Indians call a taborcan [toboggan?] and they pull it along after them with their provisions, [maybe?] this gives a very good notion of the beginning of the hunt but the snow is [much?] too hard on the top as the man could not [kneel?] on it- 4 [Pouite Leve?] opposite to Quebec an Indian wigwam and family, a bark canoe and children with their bows and arrows, the wigwam is made of bark and [--?] so much wood as is presented there 5 Winter on the River a ship frozen up and above is the Citadel with the flag flying this is just the sort of warm comfortable appearance in the winter 6 The Breaking up of a Wooden Canoe on the [--?] sometimes the ice jams up a canoe and smashes it this very seldom happens, but when it does the smash is pretty severe it is the only way of [----?] the river in winter and the Canadians are so used to it that they are very expert they lift the canoe from one [piece?] of ice to another and when they come to the water they embark again but as the tide was very strong it takes them some time to get [across?] the first winter we were here 16 people were killed in one and one woman had her head cut clean off by the ice 7 [?] Sketch of Indian looking for the Caribou deer or something of that soil 8 & 9 the Citadel at Quebec in a snow storm the reliefs by day and night this is not exaggerated the least in some places it is [unpofrible?] unprofitable to post the sentries and I have been nearly an hour getting half a mile when I used to have to go my rounds there- they will not reach you till the beginning of December most probably they were the best I could pick out though they are not very good. The fires here always make a point of taking place when I am on duty we had one the night before last but to the delight of himself and staff [--?] Edgeworth is getting very old and the cold weather [pinches?] him up. I am afraid my old servant McKay will never get home he will if he gets through the winter [-?] his discharge and I shall let him go to Caledon, but I do not think he is long for this world I have not heard anything of Clarke since I left England I hope that he and the Bishop of London have not quarrelled Next spring I shall hope to send home a mooses' head stuffed of my own shooting. I am going to get as many of the Canadian birds as I can I shall have them skinned here and set up at home The snow is getting to be [ably?] deep and if I can get a few days leave I shall be off to get a shot at the caribou if it remains on the ground I am in hopes of a hard winter and plenty of snow as the Indians who have come in tell me they see the marks of the moose. I am glad you think that the House will not require any thing done to it as I thought it was beginning to look a little green before I left home I will write to [----?] what you mentioned about the [planting?] as I have to do so this this post about other matters relating to the houses &c. Let me know what sort of Indian work you would like and send any patterns as they have no great variety here & they are very lazy and tedious about finishing them the young ladies at [Loiette?] prefer dancing and amusement to working not unlike the English in that respect. I have treated myself to a carpet and fire rug this year the first I have had since I have been in the [nest?] and have also got a sofa and [winchair?] with buffalo skins so I am quite furnished and my apartments are very smart but I have a great deal of difficulty in persuading my friends the Indians to spit in the fireplace instead of taking shots at the gay flowers on my carpet which appears to be a great amusement they are as bad as the Yankees, whose only clear like [?] consists in picking out a clean place to spit upon. I do not hear any talk of our going home in Spring but I suppose if there's any chance of War we shall be started off instantly However it is the other Battalion which goes out [--?] for service unless we go to the Mediterranean at once which is not likely now. Every thing here is quiet as yet and likely to be so I think. We have not heard of the party that went to [--?] Farthest yet but they will appear again this about the middle of next month. The blankets I brought out with me have turned out very well but I have not had mine made with a coat yet, but shall soon do so as the snow will I hope soon get deep & then we shall get on our shoes and blanket [--?] ready for the woods, at present the place is dead to all appearance no one moving [--?] and the double windows and [--?] up gives it the appearance of a deserted town. This will be I suppose be the last trip of the Unicorn so I shall most likely write by New York next time. Your affecte [Affectionate?] Son Caledon |
