This is an early and rare book describing Canada in the form of a report, to the British Government, of its development and the opportunities it offers. While this is the second of two volumes comprising the whole book it stands in its own right without any loss of information or intelligence. This is because the author, John MacTaggart, does not seem to have been following any plan for the contents or format of the book but simply collected his observations, interpretations and impressions into a random order and published them. Perhaps the only exceptions to this rule may be found towards the rear of this volume where he suggests “advantageous” courses in which Canada’s development might be directed.
As well as gathering materials for this book, MacTaggart was employed as the Clerk of Works under Col. John By in the construction of the Rideau Canal from Ottawa (Bytown) on the Ottawa, or Grand, river to Kingston on the St Lawrence at its exit from Lake Ontario. He earned himself a reputation as a free-thinker and was known for being free with his views, especially when he’d been drinking. A good deal of these attitudes come through in the book making his descriptions and impressions all the more valuable by probably being more accurate and less influenced by the politics of the day. On the other hand, he does not hold back in expressing his own opinions and ideas in a way which tends to jar with our current perceptions and knowledge. Altogether this gives us a wonderful insight into the early development of Canada, its people and its customs.
High quality scanned images of the whole of the original book. This CD has been bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged and printed out if required.
Click here to download a file of sample pages (812KB) from this book
Right click on the link and select "save as" - to a location on your hard drive. The sampler can be opened, navigated and searched as with the full CD file/s.
