private parties, are also common; and there are races annually near the town. There is excellent fishing and shooting at no great distance from the town.

Fifty years ago, the site of this thriving city, with the exception of a few straggling huts, was covered with trees. This was its condition at the peace of 1783; and when we now (1833) view it, with its population of nearly 14,000, its stately houses, its public buildings, its warehouses, its wharfs, and the majestic ships which crowd its port, we are more than lost in forming even a conjecture of what it will become in less than a century. Its position will ever command the trade of the vast and fertile country watered by the lakes and streams of the River St. John, as all towns through which the bulk of the imports and exports of the country in which these towns are situated necessarily pass have, in consequence, flourished.

We view this in the long and continued prosperity of Hamburgh, the boundless commerce of Liverpool, and the amazing prosperity of New York.

CHAP. III.

RIVER ST. JOHN. - LOWER CATARACTS. - INDIAN TOWN. STEAM BOAT. - RIVER SCENERY. - GRAND BAY. - KENNEBECACIS. - ALWINGTON MANOR. - LONG REACH. - BELLE ISLE BAY. - WASHEDEMOAK. - GRAND LAKE, ETC.

THE River St. John, called by the Indians Looshtook, or the long river, is, next to the St. Lawrence, the finest river in British America. About a mile above the city of St. John, at rugged narrows, the river is interrupted by huge rocks, over and among which the waters of this great river, and its tributary streams, roll in foaming impetuosity, and render the navigation, except for four short diurnal periods, impracticable. The great rise of tide at St. John, however, so far overflows these falls or rapids, that, when the flood rises twelve feet at the fort, sloops and schooners pass in safety for about twenty minutes, and for the same time when the tide ebbs to twelve feet.

This cataract, viewed from the high ground on the Carleton side, forms, with the adjoining scenery, a picturesque and, indeed, romantic picture. The foam is frequently carried down in frothy bodies past St. John; and the agitated waters, holding the juices of mossy deposits from the interior in solution, and running to the sea, impart to it, in the spring, at the harbour, and for some miles out at the Bay of Fundy, a dark-brown colour.

A chain-bridge, at the cost probably of not more than £ 10,000, might be suspended across the river at the Falls. The breadth is not more than four hundred feet, and the precipices on each side sufficiently high; there are also more than one rock in the centre, on which abutments might be built; but these would not, I think, be found necessary.

The prairie, lying between the town and the height of land that separates the former from the present channel, is considered by the speculative as the ancient bed of the river. I admit this conjecture to be quite within the bounds of probability; but, on examining the features of both places, I could observe no reasonable ground to conclude that any other than the one over which this great river now rolls, was at any former period its channel.

Above the Falls, the river widens, and forms a bay of some magnitude, surrounded by high and rugged woodlands. At the lower part of this bay, there is a small village called Indian Town, about a mile and a half, by a good road, from the city. From this village the steam-boat for Fredericton starts. Passing up the bay, we are struck with the extraordinary wildness and desolation of the country, although within a few miles of St. John. Huge calcareous rocks, bursting through stern dark fir forests, stretching up the sides of lofty hills and promontories, which frown over the dark waters, impart a most savage and menacing character to the scenery. miserable hovel, in a mere speck of cleared land, occasionally opens to view; and the inhabitants derive little more benefit from the soil, than the lime which the rocks afford, and the fuel which the

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forest supplies, for both of which they find a market at St. John.

Proceeding up the river, and entering Grand Bay, scenery of much the same character prevails. From this extensive bay, Kennebecacis Bay and River bends off to the eastward for nearly forty miles; twenty of which are navigable for large vessels. The shores of the Kennebecacis are generally abrupt and rocky; but, near the head, we arrive at a beautiful tract of country, called Sussex Vale, populously settled, and allowed to be one of the most fertile districts of the province. Leading roads, but not in very good condition, lead through it from St. John to the River Petit Coudiac, and to the settlements on the River St. John. The banks of the Kennebecacis abound in limestone, gypsum, coal, and salt springs. The inhabitants manufacture great quantities of maple sugar.

Fatal accidents frequently happen to the raftsmen in passing down Grand Bay; and few years occur without some of them being drowned. A small arm, named South Bay, branches off to the south; and, as we proceed up the river, the country begins to assume less forbidding features. On the left, we pass a beautiful and picturesque spot, called Alwington Manor *, near which, on receiving the Neripis from the west, the river bends rather abruptly, and forms a beautiful vista of eighteen miles, called the Long Reach; along which the cultivation of the soil appears to be attended to, but carrying firewood to St. John is said to occupy the chief attention of the settlers. The lands are stony, but, when subjected to cultivation, very productive.

At the head of the Long Reach, the lands on each side the river, and the pretty islands which divide it into several streams, present beautiful and rich features. Belle Isle Bay, a fine sheet of water, receiving several rivers, branches off here, for upwards of twenty miles, to the eastward. The River St. John then winds to the north, from the head of the Long Reach to Fredericton, receiving the waters of the Washedemoak and Grand Lake from the east, and the Oromucto from the west. No part of America can exhibit greater beauty, or more luxuriant fertility, than the lands on each side, and the islands that we pass, in this distance. I can only compare it to the St. Lawrence, from Fort William Henry to Montreal; and those who have had the opportunity of observing both, will readily agree with me in considering the banks of the River St. John to be naturally quite as beautiful and fertile as those of the St. Lawrence.

The parishes of Maugerville and Sheffield, on the right; Gage Town and Oromucto, on the left; and Long Island, with its neat church, are truly imposing.

This part of the province, including the lands around the Grand Lake, and along the Washedemoak *, must become a very populous and rich country. A great proportion of the soil is intervale or alluvial, and excellent coal is found in great plenty, near the Grand Lake, where a mine has lately been opened.