CONTENTS.

the export of wheat from these new States continue ?—Quantity
of seed-corn per acre sown in the several States.-Copper
mines of Lake Superior.-Immense masses of native copper.
-How they occur.- -Ancient Indian workings.-State of
Wisconsin.-Popular feeling in regard to the several new
States.-Land sold in each in 1847.-Minnesota, the New
England of the West.-Influence of these new States on the
future traffic of the St Lawrence. - Wonders of the hog
crop of Ohio.-Indian corn the staple of Ohio.-Hogs killed
in the western States. How they are fed. 66 Packing
business" at Cincinnati.-Various marketable products of this
business at Cincinnati,

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221

FROM BUFFALO TO THE FALLS, AND DOWN LAKE ONTARIO TO KINGSTON IN LOWER CANADA.

Case of American cleverness.-Butcher in Buffalo.-Influence of Europe on the progress of American cities.-Cause of dif ference in the progress of Canadian and New York cities.— Lake Erie. Supposed periodical rise and fall in the level of the great lakes.-Water discharged by the Niagara River.— Hotel at the Falls.-Coloured waiters.-Geological Section at the Falls.-Wearing action of the water.-Influence of the winds on Lake Erie.-Influence of the noise of the Falls on their impression upon the mind. - Railway to Lewistown. View from the mountain ridge. - Voyage on Lake Ontario.-Profits of New York farming by a New York farmer.—City of Oswego.—Sackett's Harbour.—Railway to Canada.-Kingston in Upper Canada.-Character of the Upper Canadians.-Difference between a Canadian and a New York wife to a working man,

Kingston.

CHAPTER X.

KINGSTON AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

Show of the Upper Canada Agricultural Society.— Implements in the show-yard. - Canadian coffee. - British sympathy with colonial grievances.-Alleged pusillanimity of the Governor-general. Wheat the surest crop in Canada West.-Total produce of Canada West, and average yield per acre.-Diminished productiveness of the wheat-crop.—Social position of the farming class in Upper Canada. United

-

242

xiv

CONTENTS.

Page

Empire Loyalists.-Indian-corn whisky.-Extensive manufac-
ture of it at Cincinnati in Ohio. - Whisky from pease.-
Prospects of Kingston.-The Thousand Isles of the River
St Lawrence.-Descending the rapids. The Sault St Louis.
-Approach to Montreal. Metamorphic limestone rich in
phosphate of lime.—Agricultural value of this rock.-Deposits
of mineral phosphate in the State of New York. Origin of
this mineral phosphate, and of garnet, graphite, &c. found in
crystalline limestones.-Singular contortions exhibited by this
limestone,

264

CHAPTER XI.

MONTREAL AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

Montreal.-New churches.-Ruins of the Parliament House.-
Scotch farmers in the Island of Montreal.—Cultivation of
hops.-Price of land.-French Canadian farms and farming.
-Clerical obstacles to the settlement of Protestant farmers.—
Importance of a better husbandry in Lower Canada.—Instruc-
tion in agricultural principles.-Excursion to St Hilaire.-St
Lawrence and Atlantic railroad.-Maple sugar manufacture
in Canada and the adjoining States. Soil of the valley of St
Lawrence. - Pigeon or stone weed, its prevalence. — What its
history teaches.-Bellœil Mountain.-Beautiful view of the St
Lawrence flats.-Exhaustion of this formerly fertile region.-
Seignorial tenure of land.-Reserved rights of the seigneur.—
Sherbrooke.-Lands of the "Canadian Land Company," in the
eastern counties.-Their progress.-Voyage to Quebec.—The
Ottawa River and District.
- British
Its rising importance.
and French in Montreal. Parties in the city.
British members from Upper Canada voted for the Rebellion
Losses Bill.-Explanation of one of their number,

Why

287

CHAPTER XII.

FROM QUEBEC DOWN THE ST LAWRENCE TO THE MITIS RIVER.

Land opposite Quebec. Its quality and value.-Few immigrants into this region.-Roman Catholic seminary.-Self-sacrifice of the teachers -Falls of Montmorenci.-Sun-setting on Quebec. -Proportions of the different sects.-Comparative prosperity of Montreal and Quebec. - Fires in the latter city.-Journey down the St Lawrence.-Flat lands of St Thomas.-St Roque

CONTENTS.

des Annais.-Long farming streets.-Upper Bay of Kamouraska.
-Price of farms.-College of St Anne.-Rapid increase of the
French population.-Early marriages. Healthiness of the
climate. Comparative births and deaths in Lower Canada
and in England.-Kamouraska.—Village of Du Loup.-Cacona.
-Extent of wild land in these lower counties.-Large families
of the peasantry.-Subdivisions of farms.-Resemblance of the
poorer habitants to the poorer Irish.-Wages in the Rimouski
district.-Longitudinal valleys parallel with the St Lawrence.
-Bog-earth of North America.-Rimouski.-Irish landlord.-—
Scotch settlers at Mitis,

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322

CHAPTER XIII.

THE AGRICULTURE AND WHEAT-PRODUCING CAPABILITY OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA-AND THE NAVIGATION OF THE ST LAWRENCE.

Ideas generally entertained of American fertility and agricultural resources. - Agriculture as an art in North America.- Effect of general exhaustion on the production of staple crops.Retreat of the wheat-exporting lands towards the west.-Remarkable change in Lower Canada.-Its effect on the cornmarkets of the world.-Similar changes probable in other parts of North America.-Import duty on Canadian Corn.— Would its removal benefit Canada as a whole?-Why can Rochester millers compete with Canadian?-Large profits expected in Canada.-Growth of flax and export of linseed.— The St Lawrence the natural outlet of the Lake-bordering countries.-Exertions of Canada in the construction of canals. -Its energy compared with that of New York.-Ohio wheat will prefer the St Lawrence to the Mississippi route.-Importance of this route to the political independence of the free North-western States.-Difficulties and future prospects of the navigation of the St Lawrence,

354

CHAPTER XIV.

FROM MITIS ON THE ST LAWRENCE BY THE KEMPT ROAD ACROSS THE PENINSULA OF GASPÉ TO CAMPBELTON AND DALHOUSIE ON THE

RESTIGOUCHE.

Road through the forest. Clearings and accommodations by the way. Great Metapediac Lake.-Little lake.-Burned forests and bridges.-Noble's.-First green fields.-Home associations.

Campbelton.-

-Scotch settlers. - Yankee adventurers. ·

River Restigouche.-Flat lands.-Views on the river.-Old

settlers, their fond recollections of home.-Home and provin

cial geographers.—Indian settlement.— Sugar-loaf Mountain.—

Agricultural societies and shows. — Lumber-trade on this

river.-Town of Dalhousie.-Settlement on the Eel River.-

Illustrations of social and domestic differences between the

States and the provinces.—Ancient republics and modern,

Page

384

NOTES

ON

NORTH AMERICA

CHAPTER I.

Halifax in Nova Scotia.-Fresh complexions of the people.--Roman Catholic fête.-Roman Catholics in Halifax.-Precedence and title conceded to Bishops.—Coloured people in Nova Scotia.—Micmac Indians.-Maritime commerce of Nova Scotia, its certain extension. -Mackerel fishery.-Shoals of mackerel.-Export of salt fish.— Scratched rocks, and agricultural character of the neighbourhood of Halifax. Stony and unfertile surface of the coast line.-Young's Letters of Agricola.-Increase of population in Nova Scotia.-Proportion of the agricultural produce to the population.—Inner Bay of Halifax.-Railway from Halifax to Windsor.-Soils and forests of the Ardoise hills.-Drought of 1849.-Pacing horses of Canada.-How trained in Sardinia.-Gypsum quarries at Windsor.-River Avon.— Dyked alluvial lands of the Bay of Minas.-Varieties of land, and their money-values.—Sand plain of Aylesford.—Structure of the vale of Annapolis.-Town of Annapolis.-Ice-holes in the North Mountains.-Ironworks of Bear river.-Healthiness of the country.— Handiness of the Nova Scotians.-Blue-nose provincialisms.

On Saturday the 28th of July, at 3 P.M., I sailed from Liverpool in the steam-ship America. We took the northern course; lost sight of the west coast of Ireland on the afternoon of Sunday the 29th; about noon of the following Sunday came in sight of Newfoundland; and

VOL. I.

A