BRITISH AMERICA. BOOK VI. NEW BRUNSWICK. CHAPTER I. GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES. - GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. - MINE- TION. REVENUE. THE province of New Brunswick extends from the River St. Croix, which is considered the boundary line of the United States, to the Bay de Chaleur and the River Restigouche, which divide it from Canada. The greater part of this colony is yet in a wilderness state, although its soil, with the exception of a few rocky districts, principally on the Bay of Fundy coast, and several but not extensive swampy tracts, is rich and fertile. The River St. John, with its lakes and myriads of streams; the tributary waters of one side of the St. Croix; the River Petit Coudiac; the Miramichi, with its majestic branches; the river Nipisighit, and many lesser rivers, open an inland navigation into almost every part of the province. Dense forests cover nearly the whole country; and the trees, which grow to an immense size, are of the same kind and quality as already described under the head of forest trees. Pine abounds in greater plenty than in any of the other lower provinces. Birch, beech, and maple are the prevailing hardwood trees. The quality of the soil here, as elsewhere in America, may always be ascertained by the description of wood growing on it. Along the countless rivers of this province there are innumerable tracts of what is termed intervale land: this kind of soil is alluvial, with detached trees of luxuriant growth, principally elm, maple, black birch, and butternut; and, like the lands of the Nile, annually irrigated and enriched by the overflowing of the rivers. In several parts of the interior country, generally along small brooks, are wild meadows, caused originally by the irrigation of a flat tract with the water arrested by the dams constructed by the industry of the beaver. The aspect of the coast of New Brunswick, along the Bay of Fundy, is generally rugged, and the soil near the shore stubborn, and difficult to cultivate. The geology of the province is very imperfectly known. Limestone, greywacke, clay slate, with sandstone, interrupted occasionally by gneiss, trap, and granite, seem to prevail on the southern coast. Among these, however, calcareous rock appears to predominate. Marble, of fair pretensions to beauty, |