| Title: | Countess of Dufferin, Canada, to her Son, Archie, Co. Down. |
|---|---|
| ID | 1654 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Marchioness of Dufferin/21 |
| Year | 1872 |
| Sender | Harriot, Marchioness of Dufferin |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | socialite |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Canada |
| Destination | Co. Down, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Archie |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | mother-son |
| Source | D/1231/H/2/2: Deposited by Lady Hermione Blackwood. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9806860 |
| Date | 28/06/1872 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 25:06:98. |
| Word Count | 807 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | (Harriot, Countess of Dufferin, Canada, to her Son, Archie, Co. Down.) [Druid ?] June 28th My dearest Archie, I begin a little letter to tell you how we are getting on, though I daresay it will be some time before I can send it to you - We are far from Post Offices & telegraphes, and can only wonder how you all are. The day we left Tadousae we had a beautiful voyage, and arrived at the Godbout river at five in the afternoon. Some gentleman came on board and settled that we were to get up at six tomorrow morning to go out fishing - We were very punctual, and went ashore at the proper time in a boat, then we walked across a small peninsula and were met on the other side by canoes, in which we paddled up the river "Godbout" till we came to some little wooden cottages where the gentlemen live who came to fish. They gave us some breakfast, & then Papa, Col. [Colonel?] Fletcher, & Fred began to throw their flies in to the water in the hopes that some foolish salmon would come & hook itself - This day however, they would not bite, they jumped and [___?] right out of the water, & played about under the rod, but would not be caught, so that after fishing all day, the fishermen only caught one each - They went out again on Friday, but were not more fortunate, Papa had however great fun with the salmon he caught.- You know that when a salmon is hooked, he cannot be pulled ashore like a common fish - he is so strong that he would break the line if you were rough to [___?] - so you have to "play" kind; if he pulls, let him have as much time as he likes, & then when he stops, wind it gently up again, managing always to let him feel that he has something in his mouth, without dragging him too much; at last he gets tired & you guide him gently to the shore when a man catched hold of him with a great hook. Well, Papa was playing his salmon, and it made a great dart and rushed down the stream, Papa let out his line and ran after it, jumping from rock to rock with his great rod in his hand; dart - jump goes the salmon, down goes Papa into the water, up to his waist - he holds on tight to the rod and in a few minutes more lands this naughty troublesome fish. - Papa then went to the huts, and dressed up, in a very fat gentleman's clothes - and these he has carried off in the "Druid" for when we came back it was too rough to send them back in the boat. We saw some Indian huts on shore, and in one of them they had two Baby beavers, which we bought and have on board - We christened them Muriel and May; they live in a barrel, and we give them a bath several times a day - and potatoes, biscuits, & bread to eat - Their bodies are covered with fur, but their tails are flat & smooth their hind feet are webbed, but not the front ones - I hope we shall get them safe home to Ottawa where we can make a little pond for them, and see them build their houses. June 30th "The Mingaw" - we have arrived at our river, and are enclosed in a very good harbour. We had a little row in a canoe after dinner one night. We were coming hear [here?] to a small island covered with sea weed. I said to Papa, "I think there is a man on it" when we came nearer, the "man" made a sudden plunge and swam fast out to sea - then he dived under and disappeared. He must have been a seal, not a man. Monday July 1st A very, very sad thing has happened, dear Archie - William has been drowned. He went out fishing, and was standing on a rock, when he slipped into the water, and never rose again - A sailor jumped after him, and dived twice but could not see nothing of him. About twenty minutes later his dead body was found. We saw a piece of bread lying on the rock which he had just been eating five minutes after he left it there, he was dead. He will be buried today in the church yard here. I hope you will be very careful, not to go near the sea on those rocks, for you see, even with a good swimmer there to jump in after you, you may be lost. - This accident has made us feel very sad here. Goodbye dear Archie Y [Your ?] loving Mother, H. [Harriot ?] Dufferin. |
