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March 15th, 1792
"I quite enjoy the thoughts of the long journey we have before us, & the perpetual change of scene it will afford."
September 17th, 1791
"We arrived at Weymouth. I walked with Lady Collier on the Esplanade in the evening."
Saturday Oct. 15, 1791
"Wind N.W., cold, hard gale. This hard gale did not cool the cabins, which had been so extremely heated. I was, therefore, glad to be on deck to get rid of my headache, notwithstanding the weather was so rough that I was obliged to hold fast by a cannon. The waves, rising like mountains, have the grandest and most terrific appearance, and when the ship dashes with violence into the sea, much as a chaise in the act of overturning, it is surprising she rights again. I viewed this tempestuous scene with much astonishment."
Tuesday Feb. 14, 1792
"During the winter, large masses of ice float down the river, and the people who come to market from the opposite shore pass in canoes, which they quit when they come to one of these large bodies of ice, and carry their canoes across the ice on their shoulders and launch them again in the water, and this is repeated several times before they reach Quebec . . . The mode of crossing the river appears so difficult and dangerous that it hardly seems credible till it has been seen."
Sunday July 1, 1792
"Kingston is a small town of about 50 wooden houses and merchants' storehouses. Only one house is built of stone. It belongs to a merchant. There is a small garrison here and a harbour of ships . . . .
The situation of this place is entirely flat, and incapable of being rendered defensible. Therefore, were its situation more central, it would still be unfit for the seat of government."
Saturday July 7, 1792
"I walked this evening in a wood lately set on fire by some unextinguished fires being left by some persons who had encamped there, which in dry weather often communicates to the trees. Perhaps you have no idea of the pleasure of walking in a burning wood, but I found it so great that I think I shall have some woods set on fire for my evening walks. The smoke arising from it keeps the mosquitoes at a distance, and when the fire has caught the hollow trunk of a lofty tree, the flame issuing from the top has a fine effect. In some trees where but a small flame appears it looks like stars as the evening grows dark, and the flare and smoke, interspread in different masses of dark woods, has a very picturesque appearance."
Wednesday July 26, 1792
"At nine this morning we anchored at Navy Hall, opposite the garrison of Niagara, which commands the mouth of the river. Navy Hall is a house built by the Naval Commanders on this lake for their reception when here. It is now undergoing a thorough repair for our occupation, but is still so unfinished that the Governor has ordered three marquees to be pitched for us on the hill above the house, which is very dry ground and rises beautifully, in parts covered with oak bushes . . . There is no church here but a room has been built for a Freemasons' Lodge, where divine service is performed."
August 3, 1792
"I descended an exceedingly steep hill to get to the Table Rock, from whence the view of the Falls is tremendously fine. Men sometimes descend the rocks below this projecting point, but it is attended with great difficulty and perhaps little picturesque advantage.
The prodigious spray which arises from the foam at the bottom of the falls adds grandeur to the scene, which is wonderfully fine, and after the eye becomes more familiar with the objects I think the pleasure will be greater in dwelling on them."
August 17th, 1792
"We were so cold and wet we were glad to drink tea. It was quite dark and too windy to allow of our burning candles . . . I wrapped myself up in two or three greatcoats and intended, if the tent was blown down, to take shelter under the great dinner table. The rain and wind did not cease for two hours, and we had no means of drying our clothes and were obliged to sleep in a wet tent. However, we have not caught cold."
Tuesday Sept 23, 1793
"I rode on the peninsula. My horse has spirit enough to wish to get their before others. I rode a race with Mr. Talbot to keep myself warm. I gathered wild grapes. They were pleasant but not sweet.
Mr. Smith has gone to open a road, to be called Dundas Street, from the Head of the Lake to the River La Tranche (the Thames). He has 100 men with him."
Thursday July 17, 1794
"The Governor was walking on the hill this evening when his shoulder and finger were struck by a shot fired by a soldier belonging to the guard tent, who had fired at an Indian dog which had taken away some pork. A shot remained in the Governor's finger and was very painful. A gentleman walking with him was struck and the dog severely wounded. An Indian was also struck by the shot. The Governor immediately gave him the soldier's gun to appease him and reprimanded the soldier."
Friday Apr. 14, 1795
"The Governor has been so ill since the 21st of March that I have not left his room since that day. He has had such a cough that some nights he could not lie down, but sat in a chair, total loss of appetite and such headaches that he could not bear any person but me to walk across the room or speak out loud. There was no medical advice but that of a horse doctor who pretended to be an apothecary. The Governor, out of consideration for the convenience of the staff-surgeon, had allowed him to remain at Niagara, and his not being made to attend his duty has caused me a great deal of anxiety to see the Governor so ill without having proper attendance. Capt. Brant's sister prescribed a root - it is, I believe, calamus, a genus of palm, one species of which yields a resin called dragon's blood, the root of which is the sweet flag, which really relieved his cough in a very short time."
Sunday June 12, 1796
"This part of the mountain is said to abound with rattlesnakes, and why I did not meet them in these unfrequented places I do not know. I gathered a great many plants. Green gave them all names, and I stopped at his house to write them down. Ginseng, a root highly valued as a tonic, which the merchants tell me they send to England, and in some years has sold at a guinea a pound; sarsaparilla; consumption vine, a pretty creeper. Green's daughter was cured of consumption by drinking a tea made of it."
July 21st, 1796
"Took leave of Mrs. McGill & Miss Crookshank. I was so much out of spirits I was unable to dine with her. She (Mrs. McGill) sent me some dinner, but I could not eat, cried all day."
"Nov'r 10th saw Brandy Potts Isles NE wind still going fast as we can by the Lead.
Nov 11th anchored at one this morning in the town of Quebec. the gentlemen are just gone ashore to see the Governor & to look for Lodgings for me I am left here for the present & have promised Cap't Murray to take good care of the Ship & not to run away with her to my favorite Isle of Entry; tho' indeed tis a temptation I think to me to leave me here considering how fond I am of being at Sea. Oh they are now just firing the Salute, as Coll. Simcoe is leaving the Ship, this I did not order, for it is a part of the stay I do not like as it jars the Cabins so much & makes such a noise.
I shall dine aboard here to day, Cap't Murray goes to Hallifax the moment the wind changes, but this North East keeps him here for the present. he is an exceedingly pleasant amiable man & has showed us every attention."
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