goons, with shallow entrances. To Taboo-in-tac and Tracadie, the principal of these places, several thousand tons of timber are annually hauled out of the woods, and rafted to Miramichi. To the northward of Tracadie, and near the passage of Shippigan, which divides the island of that name from the continent, are the small and shallow harbours of Little and Great Poumouche, inhabited principally by a few families of Acadian French. The inhabitants along this coast are scattered thinly near the shores, and subsist by means of fishing, cultivating potatoes, and a little grain, and hewing timber. They are poor, ignorant, and unambitious. Want of industry, or rather the improper application of their labour, alone prevents their prosperity; and a few worthless characters, mingled with the Acadians, and who have probably been driven by their roguery from among the English and Scotch settlements, while they want the simplicity and honesty of their neigh. bours, are equally bad farmers, and less industrious as fishermen. MISCOU. - SHIPPIGAN. - ST. PETER'S. - RUSTIGOUCHE. - SALMON FISHERY. - LUMBERERS. THIS bay, or rather gulf, and the River Rustigouche, which falls into it, divide Canada and New Brunswick, Cape Mackerel (Maquereau) on the Canadian side, and Point Miscou on the south, distant from each other fifteen miles, from the entrance to this bay. Point Miscou is in latitude 47° 58', and in longitude 64° 30′. The length of this magnificent gulf, from Point Miscou west to the mouth of the River Rustigouche, is about eighty-five miles. In one place it is twenty miles broad; in others, from fifteen to thirty miles. On the Canadian or north side, the land rises into lofty mountains; on the south side, except within twenty miles of the head of the bay, the interior country is low; although along the shores the cliffs are in some places perpendicular. In 1534, Jacques Cartier sailed into this bay, previous to his discovering the St. Lawrence. From the intensity of the midsummer heat which he then experienced, he gave it the name of Bay de Chaleur. Miscou Island is about ten miles round. Here the French, previous to the conquest of Canada, had an extensive fishing plantation, conducted by the "Company of Miscou." The remains of their buildings, &c., still appear. In 1819, I landed on this island; there was living on it one family, consisting of a disbanded Highland soldier, of the name of Campbell, his wife, son-in-law, and two daughters.* He chose this spot, from a truly Highland attachment to flocks and herds. It affords excellent pasturage in summer, and produces plenty of hay for winter fodder. There is a safe and deep harbour formed between this island and Shippigan. The entrance, from the gulf, must not be attempted, as it will scarcely admit boats; but the other, from the bay, has water sufficiently deep for large ships. There is little wood on it; the trees are dwarf birches and firs. Several varieties of wild fruit abound. Shippigan is about twenty miles long, low, and sandy. It produces bent-grass, fir, and birch-trees, shrubs, and abundance of cranberries, blueberries, &c. We saw some foxes running along the downs, and were told they were numerous. Wild geese and ducks occasionally hatch their young on these islands: both are great resorts of wild fowls. The passage between Shippigan and the continent, being at the eastern entrance choked with sand, has only seven or eight feet depth of water. The channel leading from the Bay de Chaleur is deep and broad; but on each side, flat, rocky, and sandy shallows stretch two or three miles from the land. On this island, and on the mainland opposite, there are about ninety families of Acadian French, whose principal occupation is fishing. The soil is tolerably fertile, and produces wheat, potatoes, and oats; which, however, the inhabitants raise but in small quantities. A few cargoes of excellent timber have been exported from Shippigan, chiefly rafted from Poumouche, a few miles to the southward; and from which place, large rafts of timber have frequently been poled along the shore, sixty or seventy miles, and delivered at Miramichi. * Three individuals of this family were, I have learned since, drowned; the boat in which they were attempting to cross over to Caraquette having swamped on a reef about two miles from the land. One of these was the unmarried daughter. Her appearance was certainly interesting when I saw her; and I could not help thinking, at the time, that it was a matter of regret that she should wear out life on an island thirty miles from any one but her own family. A black servant, that I had with me, told me, after we left, that she was anxious to escape from her prison, as she named it, and would gladly do so then, if she could. Two months after, the unfortunate girl was drowned, Caraquette is situated a few miles west of Shippigan. There is an island at the entrance, which forms the harbour; on each side of this island there is a deep but intricate channel. A long, populous, but straggling village, extends several miles along the south side of Caraquette Bay; at the head of which stands the old Catholic chapel, in one of the most beautiful spots imaginable-at least, it is so during summer and autumn. On one side is a beautiful transparent stream, issuing from between the crevices of a rock; on the other, before the skirts of a luxuriant forest of birch and maple, are a few acres of green sward, on which the villagers, during the interval between mass and vespers, delight, in fine weather, to repose in groups, to talk over the incidents of the week. In front of this spot a beautiful view opens of the harbour, Caraquette Island, and a broad prospect of the Bay de Chaleur, and the highlands of Lower Canada. In the middle of the village, and on pretty high ground, stands the new stone church-a large plain building, with a high spire, and one or two bells. The inside is lined with pictures of a showy cheap description. The inhabitants felt great reluctance in abandoning the old chapel, which, with every object surrounding it, had been for twenty or thirty years familiarised to them; and they were anxious, although the distance was very inconvenient, to build the new one on the same spot. The soil about Caraquette is very fertile. I have seen as fine wheat growing there as in any part of America. The inhabitants of this place and Shippigan, particularly the women, show more of the features and colour of the Micmac Indians, than any of the Acadians that I have elsewhere seen. This circumstance arises from the first settlers, of whom they are descended, having intermarried with the savages. These people employ themselves principally in the cod and herring fisheries, and depend only as an auxiliary means of subsistence on the cultivation of the soil, which they leave, in a great measure, to the management of the women and younger sons. There are some excellent grindstone quarries in this place. Red ochre, also, of excellent quality, abounds. Between Caraquette and Nipisighit Bay, there are three or four small Acadian settlements, the inhabitants of which live by fishing. On the east side of Nipisighit (or St. Peter's) is situated the young flourishing settlement of New Bandon; the inhabitants of which, now consisting of seventy-two families, went from Ireland a few years ago, and have, by confining their labour chiefly to agriculture, and by persevering industry and good management, succeeded in rising, from comparative |