Scotia, Quebec and Ontario, including Prince Edward's Island, New Brunswick is comparatively a wilderness region; indeed, with the exception of the southern portion, little has yet been done towards reclaiming the vast forests about the sources of the Upper St. John River,* and where the Miramichi and Restigouche take their rise. These embrace districts presenting all the features of the primitive forests of other portions of the continent; and, although for the most part thinned by the axe of the woodman, they continue still to maintain their ancient denizens, in spite of the trapper and hunter. The moose, woodland reindeer, bear, beaver, sable, mink, etc., although greatly reduced and decreasing in numbers as compared with former years, are not yet on the verge of extinction; and while the excessive waste and destruction by man of the fishes in the lakes and running waters have greatly reduced their numbers, still, notwithstanding the shutting off of migratory species by means of mill-dams and other artificial barriers, and the illicit use of the spear and net, vast shoals of salmon, white fishes, smelts, shad, etc., continue to frequent a few of their ancient haunts, and require only a safe passage through obstructions, and some consideration on the part of the settlers, to increase and multiply in many inland waters from which they had been expelled.

New Brunswick therefore embraces three degrees of latitude, and is upwards of 200 miles in breadth, and, although the least populated of the four grand provinces composing the Dominion of Canada, is watered by many large rivers, besides noble lakes, all of which now present a remarkable contrast, as regards the numbers of the fishes, with the boundless waters washing its shores. So much is this the case, that, turning to the narratives of the early voyagers and settlers, we find that incredible quantities of fishes frequented localities

*The St. John is 450 miles in length, and navigable more or less to its sources, with the exception of the Grand Falls, distant 225 miles from the ocean; the falls are about 60 feet in height.

Destruction of Food Fishes.

3

where not one individual now exists; and, on referring to dates, it will be observed that less than a century has sufficed to bring about this extinction. I shall frequently refer to the rapid extermination of many animals through human agency, and to the destructive propensity which characterizes the settlers of the present day-a wanton love of destruction, in many instances similar to that of the Indian, as if a spice of the old savage nature still lurked in them also. No doubt the imprudent use of the spear and net has been the chief cause of the decrease in inland fisheries, but the most effectual modes of extermination have been through mill-dams, and pollution of rivers and their bottoms.

On these points all inquirers are unaninious, whilst it is the belief of many that, by proper surveillance, introduction of fish-ways, and prohibition of nuisances, the salmon will return to his ancient haunts. I am doubtful, however, if this will be a sovereign remedy. I doubt very much whether a salmon will care to go up streams paved several feet deep with decomposing sawdust and rubbish, to find a by no means tempting entrance to the dam, and when that is surmounted another or another expanse of the same bottom before he gains clear water. Surely, small blame to him should he be somewhat punctilious under such circumstances, more especially in rivers choked up by rubbish and lumber for long distances above their debouchures.

There are few rivers better adapted for migratory fishes than the St. John. From its mouth to the Grand Falls, there drain into it no less than fourteen large influents, once the favourite haunts of salmon, shad, gaspereau, etc.; and even now, with all the poaching and obstructions, it is wonderful that any fishes attempt to run up: indeed, almost every second salmon or grilse caught by the rod either presents spear wounds, or is maimed in some manner by standing nets. Not long since many hundreds of salmon were speared on the spawning-beds of the Miramichi River, in order to procure ova for transmission

to the United States! Fortunately, the St. John is too broad to be effectually netted; so that, if its influents were protected, there would not be much difficulty in re-stocking them.

The waves of the Atlantic impinge on shores deeply indented by bays, creeks, fiords, and river estuaries, up which the majestic tidal wave rushes for miles, and mingles with fresh. water far above the usual limits observed in European rivers So enormous is the pressure on the influent waters of the St. John, that a spring tide raises the river eight inches at the capital, eighty-two miles from its mouth. Moreover, the vertical rise in some of the most distant reaches of the Bay of Fundy attains the unexampled height of sixty to seventy feet, or even more. Such conditions, therefore, must doubtless favour the migrations of the finny tribes.

The attractions of the lakes, rivers, and forests, the unparalleled beauty of the foliage in autumn, the glorious sunsets, and the sombre and impressive grandeur of the forest solitudes, are all full of art studies, whilst the disciples of Nimrod and good old Isaak Walton may, by proper selection of season and locality, indulge their tastes to the fullest extent.

The country is exceedingly flat, the highest point scarcely exceeding 3,000 feet above the level of the sea.*

The climate, although far more severe and trying as regard extremes of cold and heat than that of Great Britain, is, with the usual precautions, well adapted to the constitution of the Northman. Of course the coast region enjoys milder seasons than the central and northern portions. The Newfoundland fogs cool the summer heat, and the extremes of winter are tempered by southern winds and oceanic currents, neither of which, however, extend their influences beyond short distances inland. Indeed, so marked are the differences between the climates of the interior parts compared with the coast region,

* Bald Mountain, near the sources of the Nepsiguit and Tobique rivers, is in one of the wildest and least explored regions of the province. The height of this mountain has not been carefully measured, but possibly it is not less than 2,500 feet above the sea,

Climate and Seasonal Conditions.

5

that the maxima of ten degrees of heat and twenty-one degrees of cold obtain in the former over the climate of the seaboard.

Among the first impressions of Canadian scenery, few are more striking than the freezing, snowing over, and breaking up of the ice on the great rivers and lakes. The short-lived but hot summer is succeeded by the sharp biting frosts of autumn, and a long and rigorous winter, occupying more than half the year. There is no spring worthy of the name; for the rush from winter hoar to refulgent summer is so rapid that the leaf buds and opens out in the course of two days. It is the absence of that gradual transition from one extreme of temperature to another that arrests the attention of the fresh arrival, as compared with the climate of England.

Towards the end of October, soon after the hard-wood forests have cast off their gorgeous autumnal attire, and those beautifully coloured leaves that hang so gracefully and decorate so grandly many a spreading maple, now lie stiff and faded on the soil; when the snipe and woodcock have left the alder swamp, and with all the summer birds of passage are on their way to Florida and the south, and the time has arrived when the hare and weasel are turning grey; then it is we look forward to the severe frosts that are to close up the navigation and cause the steamboats to beat a hasty retreat seaward. First, there forms some shore ice along the banks, then portions float downwards, and, provided a north-wester is blowing, these soon coalesce and run in fields, gliding silently onwards. The passenger steamboats which plied daily during the summer months are in readiness for immediate departure, and probably before two days they have gone, for the sheets of ice begin to join, consolidate, get packed, and forced under and above one another, so that there is no knowing how soon the river may be frozen over completely. Sometimes without any premonitory appearances there is an equal freezing all over, and the surface becomes like a mirror in a single night; but oftener, from the pressure of the floes, the surface becomes very rough and un

even. As the words pass from mouth to mouth," The river has closed!" idlers stroll toward the bank to witness adventurers with their long poles picking their way from hummock to hummock, until at length they gain the shore. Next day it is perfectly safe; skaters are seen wherever the ice is unbroken, and horses and sleighs cross. The river is now hermetically sealed for the next five months, unless at what are called “airholes," where several blocks jammed together cause an eddy which does not freeze up for some weeks afterwards. The latter is one of the dangers in skating and travelling on the rivers, until the safe portions have been indicated by sticking pine saplings along the routes. Should an unsuspecting traveller fall into one of these open air cavities, he will most assuredly be carried under the ice if the current is at all strong, his only chance, in the absence of assistance, being to swim against the current. One afternoon I saw a skater plump into one of these dangerous places, when suddenly another, observing the accident, pulled off his coat, and as he skated past the man in the water, tossed it towards him, who caught the sleeve, and was dragged out by the impetus wherewith the other was going. The feat was done so cleverly that I asked the performer if he had been accustomed to save persons in that way, and he told me that he had pulled many out of air-holes, and that provided one is a good skater and can get near enough to the individual, there is no more ready and efficacious method. On another occasion I observed a skater fail, when another pulled off his coat and dashed toward the drowning man, who caught it, and was lying on the ice in a shorter time than I take to write down the fact. The best skating takes place,immediately after the freezing-over. Sometimes when the ice is glare and smooth, a good skater can in a few hours go down from Fredericton, the capital, to St. John, over eighty miles. The climate inland is dry, cold, and bracing, with a clear atmosphere and most exhilarating, so that when well wrapped up one absolutely does not feel a temperature many degrees under zero