The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-04 00:00:00

14./tAti

THE TROOPS IN CANADA.

The following is an extract from the journal of
an officer of the 16th Regiment :
" January 3.
" My last to you from on board ship was dated
Thursday, the 26th of December, when we had
commenced to disembark the men at Bic. We were

only able to get three companies on shore on that
day, when darkness set in and put an end to our
operation for the day. We intended to resume the
work on the following morning at 4 o'clock, but a
strong northerly wind, with heavy snowstorm, set
in during the night, and it was pitch dark until we
had regular daylight at 8 o'clock. Even then we
could only see a few yards around us, owing to the
thick, blinding snow ; however, we set to work
with a will, and at 11 o'clock I got into a boat with
the last group of the right wing, including two
subalterns with the colours, and we pulled ashore a
distance of two miles, a strong head wind against

us, with a rough sea, the snow beating in our faces
bitterly cold, and threading our way cautiously

hrough immense masses of ice and frozen snow.
" We landed with some difficulty at a most deso-
,ate-looking spot, every inch of ground and the

woods of stunted pine and larch covered with snow,
the village of Bic lying about a mile inland. It was
amusing to see the way in which the men stumbled

and staggered along with their great heavy boots
and under their heavy burdens, every man having,

in addition to his pack, a blanket to carry. On ar.

riving at Bic I found Colonel P-, who had gone

on shore the day before with the first batch of men,
busy organising relays of carioles to convey officers

and men to their destination. A cariole is a sort of
open sleigh, drawn by one horse, and holding two
men and the driver. The regular sleigh is more com-

ortable and higher from the ground. I was immedi•

ately put in charge of a party, and brought up the
rear of a string of carioles. G— very kindly lent me a
buffalo robe, this, with the fur coat, which I found
most useful, keeping me as warm as a toast. We
started at 12 ; weather fine and clear, though cold
enough in all conscience ; the village of Les Trois
Pistoles, about 30 miles distant, our destination for
the day. The driving was most reckless—a very
loose rein and up hill and down hill at a most furi-
ous rate, at the risk of an upset every moment. I
had L— in the cariole with me, and we enjoyed
it amazingly, thinking it capital fun. The jolting,
however, when we passed over a succession of deep

ruts, which were frequent along the road, was some-

thing frightful, nearly pitching us out of the convey-

ante. There was plenty of upsets, but L-- and I
escaped without one. The scenery along our route
was wild and desolate. The villages looked very
picturesque,the houses built entirely of wood, a good
deal of taste being displayed in the construction of
some of them, every door and window carefully closed
to exclade the cold, the inmates—French habitans—
peering curiously at us through the frosted panes as
we passed, not a soul to be seen at work outside, ex-
cept an occasional habitant clearing away the snow
where it had drifted to a great depth on the road.
Twilight is of short duration here, and as the sun
disappeared below the horizon darkness suddenly set
in. It became intensely cold, the wind having gra-
dually increased until it blew a furious gale from the
north. This was the sure forerunner of snowstorms,
and in a very short time we came in for them with a
vengeance. We soon found it impossible to preserve
the compact order in which we had started; the
darkness, the blinding snow, and the intense cold
rendered all our efforts utterly useless. We soon
became separated from each other, and each cariole
had to look out, for itself. Every now and then
L-- and I came upon a cariole which had upset
in the snow, the unfortunate occupants stumbling
and fumbling about in the drift ; then another
with a broken shaft, and unable to
proceed in consequence. We stopped several times
to render assistance, which detained us so long on
the road that we were obliged at last to pull up at
a village called St. Simon's, nine miles from our
destination. Here we found a lot of carioles col-
lected together, unable to proceed any further. We
managed to get a very comfortable billet at the
Cures, who treated us most hospitably; four officers
and all the sick were at the same billet. We had
some difficulty with our broken French in making
the Cure understand how much we appreciated his
kindness. I enjoyed my bed here most thoroughly,
though the night was the coldest I had ever expe-
rienced. There were no regular sheets to the bed,
but soft blankets above a sort of soft woollen sheet
under me, everything beautifully clean. The driver
of our cariole was a brother of the Cure. The next
morning, after a comfortable breakfast of cold beef
and home-baked bread, good butter, and green tea,
we resumed our journey at half-past 7, with the
same cariolo and horse. We had 36 miles before
us.to Riviere-du-Loup. It was awfully cold, con-
siderably below zero ; however, we got through our
journey, and arrived without any misadventure at
Riviere-du-Loup just as darkness set in. Here we
came upon a terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway,
the point of junction being at Richmond, between
Quebec and Montreal. On reaching the station we
found the greater part of the companies had arrived,
though detached parties were still coming in. All
was bustle and confusion, officers collecting their
men, men running about in search of their com-
panies, those who had arrived cooking their rations,
the railway authorities preparing the carriages for
the reception of the troops. We were to be con-
veyed by special train, and all in the dark. By 8
o'clock we got all the men, including half a com-
pany of Engineers, detachment of Commissariat the
Army Hospital corps, safely stowed away in
carriages, and started on our journey to Montreal.
All the officers, 20 in number, were in one large
carriage warmed by a stove in
othe centre. When
near the stove I felt as if I shuld be scorched to
a cinder—when any distance from it frozen to an
icicle. We were 18 hours performing this journey,
caused by eb-
including a delay of
an hour
had to. telegrap thh
toreak the
in g of a wheel, when we
nearest station for another engine. We reached
Montreal—passing through that wonderful struc-
ture, the Victoria-bridge—at 2 o'clock on Sunday.
We found the Commander of the Forces—the hero
of Kars—and a number of Staff officers, with an
immense concourse of people, waiting to receive us
at the station. 'We had quite a triumphal entry
into the town. On our way through to the bar-
racks destined for us we were repeatedly and most
enthusiastically cheered by the crowds collected in
the streets. Our men had a travel-stained, toil-
worn look, with grim black visages, none of us
having shaved since we left England; but they
stepped out with good heart, glad, no doubt, to
arrive at the end of their fatiguing journey.
Moleson' College was being prepared as a temr-
rary barrack for our regiment ; the men slept on.
straw on the floors, and workmen were employed