| [4] | St. John and Miramichi are the two places from whence the exportation of timber is principally carried on in New Brunswick. The town of Miramichi is seated at the mouth of a beautiful and majestic river of the same name, which divides into three great branches, upon whose banks dwell a thinly-scattered population, who employ themselves during the winter chiefly in hewing timber in the woods, and in rafting it down the river in summer to the places where the ships load. |
| [5] | Many Americans make a practice of clearing a few acres of wood farm, and then setting or selling the land and improvements the first opportunity that offers. When this is accomplished they travel farther into the forest, and settle upon another farm, which they clear, build on, and dispose of in the same way they did the first. |
| [6] | Mr. McGregor gives the following account of this dreadful conflagration: “It appears,” writes he, “that the woods had been, on both sides of the north-west branch, partially on fire for some time, but not to an alarming extent until the 7th of October, when it came on to blow furiously from the north-west, and the inhabitants on the banks of the river were suddenly alarmed by a tremendous roaring in the woods, resembling the incessant rolling of thunder; while at the same time the atmosphere became thickly darkened with smoke. They had scarcely time to ascertain the cause of this phenomenon, before all the surrounding woods appeared in one vast blaze, the flames ascending more than a hundred feet above the tops of the loftiest trees, and the fire, like a gulph in flames, rolling forward with inconceivable celerity. In less than an hour Douglastown and Newcastle were enveloped in the destroying element, and many of the wretched inhabitants perished in the midst of this terrible fire.” It was calculated that upwards of 500 persons fell victims to the conflagration throughout the province. |
| [7] | Carleton, named from Sir Guy Carleton, one of the early governors of this province, is a thriving little place, situated on the opposite side of the harbour to St. John. The saw mills, within the aboiteaux, a little above the village, are deserving the notice of strangers. Opposite to the town is a low muddy islet called Navy Island. The Indians say that it was carried down at one time by the stream in a body. It is, however, evidently an alluvial deposit, and has been gradually formed. |
| [8] | Pic-nic excursions are much in vogue all over America. To show how far these differ from any thing to which they may be compared in England, it may be sufficient to observe, that pic-nic parties generally consist of families of respectability, with their friends, who are on a perfectly intimate footing with each other. In summer, some romantic spot is fixed upon, to which the party proceed; if by water, which is most commonly the case, in an open boat; or if by land, in gigs or in calashes, and on horseback. The ladies consider it as within their particular province to furnish eatables: the gentlemen provide wines and spirits. At these parties there is usually less restraint and more enjoyment than at the assemblies. On some grassy glade, shaded by the luxuriant branches of forest trees, and not far from some clear spring or rivulet, the contents of the well-filled baskets are disclosed; feasting on which forms certainly the most substantial part of the day’s enjoyment; but perhaps the most agreeable is that which succeeds, when the party divides for the pleasure of walking; and there are undoubtedly “worse occupations in the world” than wandering with a pretty woman through the skirts of a wood, or along the margin of the sea, enjoying “sweet converse” and the delights of the open air and surrounding scenery. As the evening approaches they re-assemble; and the party, followed by their servant, bringing along the fragments of the pic-nic, return to the boat, in which they embark.—McGregor’s Sketches. |
| [9] | This word in usually applied to land so situated, with respect to some adjacent stream or river, as to be occasionally overflowed by it, and thus to enjoy the advantage of alluvial deposits. |
| [10] | The province of Nova Scotia is an extensive peninsula, connected with the continent of North America by a narrow isthmus of only eight miles in width, between Bay Verte in the Straits of Northumberland, and Cumberland Bason at the eastern extremity of the Bay of Fundy. It is supposed to have been discovered in 1497, by John Cabot, then in the service of Henry VII. of England. The first settlement was made there in 1604, by a number of French adventurers, who founded Port Royal, now Annapolis; by these the country was named Acadia. The occupation by France of this important province was opposed by England, and was the cause of the hostilities between these countries in America, which did not terminate until France was stripped of all her North American possessions by the peace of 1763. |
| [11] | This stone was discovered in 1827: it is about two feet and a half long and two feet broad; on the upper part are engraved the square and compass of the free-mason, and in the centre, in large and deeply cut Arabic figures, the date 1606. |