READER IN CHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. BOSTON : CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN AND WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLI Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK, &c. &c. DEAR SIR EDMUND, I dedicate these volumes to you, partly because they contain, among other matters, the observations I made during a lengthened Tour through the province of which you are the Governor, and in the prosperity of which you feel so lively an interest. But I do so chiefly as a mode of testifying the respect and regard I entertain for yourself and your family, and as affording me an opportunity of expressing my sense of the many acts of kindness I experienced during a prolonged stay at Fredericton, under your hospitable roof. Believe me, DEAR SIR EDMUND, with great respect, Your obedient Servant, JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON. PREFACE I HAVE given to the following volumes the title of "NOTES," because I am conscious of the imperfect and hurried character of some of the observations they contain, and that mistakes, generally trivial I hope, and always unintentional, may be discovered in them by natives of North America. In recording my remarks and impressions, while I am sensible that I have regarded objects with the eyes and feelings of a "Britisher," and have generally written as if I were addressing British readers only; yet I have endeavoured to speak fairly and with candour, both of the institutions and of the social condition of the States and Provinces through which it was my fortune to travel. While I have expressed my opinions freely, I have endeavoured to avoid either ridicule or causeless reproach. And although I cannot hope that my remarks will be always agreeable to my friends in the United States, yet I hope none will accuse me of a desire either to violate confidence, or to return bitterness of |