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N. AME- vail, from the anxiety of the British government to conciliate the affections of the French inhabitants, All lands both in Upper and Lower Canada, under certain Political restrictions, are conveyed over to the guarantee, in free and Moral and common socage. The English parliament, by an act passed in the 18th year of his present Majesty's British reign, possesses the power of making any regulations Possessions. which may respect the navigation and commerce of Canada, and could also impose import and export duties, restricted to the use of the province. In both provinces, every religious sect is tolerated; but the Roman Catholic faith is professed by a majority of the inhabitants. By the Quebec bill of 1774, the clergy of that persuasion received a legal right to recover all dues and tithes which belonged to them from the Roman Catholic inhabitants; but, at the same time, they were not allowed to demand any dues or tithes from Protestants, or from lands held by Protestants, notwithstanding such lands were formerly subjected to the payment of dues and tithes. These tithes and church dues, however, are still collected for the maintenance of the Protestant clergy actually residing in the province, and are regularly paid into the hands of persons appointed by the governor, and kept in reserve by his Majesty's receiver-general for the above-mentioned purpose. By another act, passed in the year 1791, it was ordered, that one-seventh of the crown lands should be set apart for the use and benefit of the Protestant clergy; such allotments to be particularly specified, otherwise the grant should be entirely void. With the advice of the executive council, the governor is authorized to institute rectories or parsonages, and to endow them out of these appropriations; and to present incumbents to them who had been previously ordained, according to the rites of the church of England. In both provinces, the clergy of this church amount to only twelve persons, including the bishop of Quebec; but the clergy of the church of Rome consists of 120, a bishop, three vicargenerals, and 116 curès and missionaries, all of whom are resident in Lower Canada, with the exception of five missionaries and curates. There are also a few dissenting ministers scattered through the provinces.

New Britain.

New Britain we have already observed to be included with the island of Cape Breton, in the government of Lower Canada. It comprehends the most northern parts of the British possessions toward and around Hudson's bay and the coast of Labrador. The district to the W. of Hudson's bay is more generally marked in the maps as New North and South Wales, and that to the east of this inland sea East Maine. How far the territories of Great Britain may be said really to extend westward, and whether we may not pursue them to the Pacific ocean, to which the researches and settlements of the North-west company have nearly approached, is a question by no means determined; it may be enough to observe here, that she has no European or civilized rival in this direction.

Sixty years after the intrepid navigator Hudson had first penetrated the noble gulf that bears his name, the British government assigned to a company of traders to these parts, by the style of the Hudson's bay company, the chartered possession of extensive tracts, west, south, and east of Hudson's bay. Their territories are stated by some writers to extend from 70° to 115° W. lon. and southward to about 49° N. lat., comprehending from 1,300 to 1,400 geographical miles

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in length, and a medial breadth of about 350 miles. They are said annually to export about 16,000Z. of the RICA productions of the country, and to return about 30,000/ A rival body, called the North-west company, has Politic been recently erected at Montreal. These companies and M establish factories or small settlements, which sometimes are garrisoned, on the most promising spots. B Albany fort, Moon fort, and East Maine factory, are Pe amongst the principal ones in their southern possessions, round St. James's bay; further south are Brunswick town and Frederic town; northward are Severn town, at the mouth of a large river of the same name, flowing from the Winnipeg lake; York fort, on Nelson's river; and Churchill fort, or Fort Prince of Wales, the most northerly of any of these establishments. Hudson's town is the furthest station of the Hudson's bay company westward, but the North-west company have penetrated considerably beyond it. The little that is known of the interior and of its general inhabitants, who have a very circumscribed and transient connection with the factories, will come more correctly under our consideration among the Unconquered Regions of this continent.

Cape Breton, or Sydney island, is situated in about Cape B W. lon. 60°, and N. lat. 46° N. E. of the extreme to, ora point of Nova Scotia, from which it is separated by eyis a strait of only about a mile broad. It is attached, as we have noticed, to the government of Lower Canada, and is about 100 miles in length and from 50 to 60 in breadth. Supposed originally to have been part of the adjacent continent, it was called by its present name by the French, who discovered it early in the sixteenth century, but did not take possession of it until 1713, when Fort Dauphin was erected; and in 1720, Louisburg, one of its principal towns at the present time. It was taken by the British, in an expedition from New England, in 1745, but shortly after restored to the French, from whom it was retaken by Admiral Boscawen, when the garrison amounted to 5,600 men, protected by a fleet of 11 ships of war, which were all taken or destroyed. It was ceded finally to Great Britain by the peace of 1763. The town of Sydney has been since built, and the fishery is important, but the inhabitants do not exceed 1,000 souls. Until 1784, it was attached to the government of Nova Scotia; but it now has a distinct administration, under the name of Sydney (dependent on Lower Canada), and is said to have become, of late, a very flourishing colony. The soil is not, in general, very promising for agriculture; the climate is very bleak and foggy; several considerable lakes are found here, and some noble forests. There is a small fur trade carried on by the settlers. A remarkable bed of coal runs horizontally at from six to eight feet only below the surface, through a large portion of the island; a fire was once accidentally kindled in one of the pits, which is now continually burning. They are said to yield to government a yearly revenue of 12,000 7. This island has been called the key to Canada, and is the principal protection, through the fine harbour of Louisburg, of all the fisheries of the neighbourhood.

WICK

NEW BRUNSWICK.-This province, together with New Nova Scotia, was originally comprehended under the latter name. It appears to have been first colonized by the French, under the name of Acadie; but the Eng

ite.

AME- lish obtaining possession of it in the reign of James I. CA. the whole district, bounded by the gulf of St. Lawrence on the N., and the province of Maine on the S., was cal granted, in 1621, to Sir William Alexander, afterwards Moral Lord Stirling. At this time it seems to have received the name of Nova Scotia, but was wholly neglected itish until the middle of the last century, when the town of Sons. Halifax was built. On the close of the war which alienated the greater portion of her North American colonies from Great Britain, considerable attention began to be paid to those which remained to her, and Nova Scotia, in 1784, was divided, by act of parliament, into two provinces, of which New Brunswick is by far the more important, comprising the whole of the original Acadie, except the peninsula formed by Fundy bay southward, and bay Verte to the N.

New Brunswick is bounded on the E. by the bay of Fundy, the British province of Nova Scotia, and the Atlantic ocean; on the W. by the British province of Lower Canada; on the N. by the gulf of St. Lawrence; and on the S. by Maine, a part of the United States. The river St. Croix, which falls into the bay of Passamaquady, forms the southern boundary, from its mouth to its source. Its chief towns are, St. John, Frederic town, St. Andrew, and St. Ann. The principal rivers are, St. John, Magedavic, Dicwasset, St. Croix, Miramichi, Grand Codiac, Petit Codiac, and Memramcook, all of which, the three last excepted, empty themselves into the bay of Fundy. The river St. John runs through a fine country of vast extent, being bordered by low grounds, locally called intervals, as lying between the river and the mountains, and which are annually enriched by the inundations. It is navigable for vessels of 50 tons above 60 miles of its course, and for boats above 200, the tide flowing about 80 miles. Salmon, buss, and sturgeon, abound in its waters. The greater part of these lands are settled, and under cultivation. The upland is generally well timbered; the trees are pine and fir (the former the largest in British America), beech, birch, maple, elm, and a small proportion of ash. Timber and fish have hitherto been the principal exports of New Brunswick; but the gradual clearing of the country, and increase of population, bid fair to render it an important agricultural district.

The Apalachian chain of mountains penetrates the N. W. of the province, and terminates at the gulf of St. Lawrence. The sea-coast abounds with cod and scale fish, and its numerous harbours are most conveniently situated for carrying on the cod-fishery, to any extent imaginable. The herrings which frequent its rivers are a species peculiarly adapted for the West India market, and are found annually in such abundance that the quantity cured is limited only by the number of hands that can engage in this occupation. The interior is everywhere intersected by rivers, creeks, and lakes, and covered with inexhaustible forests of pine, spruce, birch, beech, maple, elm, fir, and other timber, proper for masts of any size, lumber, and ship-building. The smaller rivers afford excellent situations for sawmills, and every stream, by the melting of the snow in the spring, is rendered deep enough to float down the masts and timber which the inhabitants have cut and brought to its banks during the long and severe winters. The capital is Frederic town, on the river St.

VOL. XVII.

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John. St. Andrew's and St. Ann's are also principal N. AMEtowns. NOVA SCOTIA. The province now known by this name consists only of the peninsula formed by the bay Political of Fundy and the Atlantic ocean; being divided by the and Moral straits of Northumberland from the island of St. John on the N., and from New Brunswick W. by a nar- British row isthmus at the approaching points of Fundy and Possessions. Verte bay. It is not more than 250 miles long from Nova cape Sable to cape Canso, and about 88 miles broad, Scotia. containing 8,789,000 acres of land, of which about 3,000,000 have been granted, and 2,000,000 settled and cultivated. Nova Scotia is said to contain several harbours equal to any in the world. The bay of Fundy stretches inland 50 leagues, and the ebb and flow of the tide in it throughout is from 45 to 60 feet. The chief town is Halifax, situated in about the centre of the eastern coast, and well calculated for communications inland or outward. The harbour is excellent, and the town contains upward of 5,000 inhabitants. Chedabucto harbour, at the northern extremity, and Annapolis bay, the basin of Minas, and Windsor bay, in the W., are also commodious harbours. Here are three considerable British forts-Fort Cornwallis, Cumberland, and Edward. The entire district is divided into eight counties, viz. Hants, Halifax, King's county, Annapolis, Cumberland, Sunbury, Queen's county, and Lunenburg, which are again subdivided into forty townships. The entire population of the province is calculated at about 50,000. Great Britain imported, previously to the new settlements, about 26,5007. into the colony per annum, in linen and woollen cloths chiefly, and grain. Perhaps the present average of British imports may be taken at 30,0007. Nova Scotia exports to England, in return, from 40 to 50,0001. annually in timber, and the produce of her fisheries.

There is a small Indian tribe, called the Miamis, settled to the east of Halifax; the northern side of the district is high, red, and rocky; and some of its extremities, according to Mr. Pennant's Artic Zoology, are very sublime and imposing. There are some good farms in the interior; a society for the encouragement of agriculture has been established, and the whole colony is rapidly advancing in consideration. Spruce, hemlock, pine, fir, and beech abound. Nova Scotia trades in lumber of all sorts, except oak-staves; horses, oxen, sheep, and all other agricultural productions, except grain; and the northern and eastern parts of the province abound in coal. The climate, however, is unfavourable to the health of Europeans, foggy, and extremely cold in the winter months. Copper has been found in small quantities at cape d'Or, or the basin of Minas.

FISHING BANKS.-The situation of Nova Scotia, in Fishingrespect to the fisheries, is represented as scarcely inferior banks. to that of Newfoundland. At the Sable islands, as the banks off cape Sable are called, Brown's and St. George's, are myriads of cod-fish taken annually, which constitute the staple of the province, and form an invaluable nursery for a hardy race of seamen. "Of all minerals," said Lord Bacon," there is none like the fisheries;" but we shall have occasion to return to this subject under the head of Newfoundland. A whale-fishery has been undertaken occasionally from the port of Halifax, and in 1791 twenty-eight vessels,

3 1

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N. AME of from 60 to 200 tons burden, were engaged in this trade alone. Connected with the government of Nova Scotia, are the islands of St. John and Newfoundland. Political The former is about 70 miles in length by 28 broad, and Moral and has various convenient harbours and fertilizing streams. It abounds in timber, and, at the time of its cession to England, in 1745, contained 4,000 inhabitPossessions, ants and about 10,000 head of cattle. It was called St. John's by the French, at this time, the granary of Canada. and New The island is divided into three counties-King's, Queen's, and Prince's, twenty seven townships, and contains 1,363,400 acres. Its capital is Charlotte's town, where a lieutenant-governor resides. Salmon and fine shell-fish are caught on its shores. The inhabitants are now reckoned at about 5,000.

foundland.

The

fisheries.

Newfoundland, as we have seen, was the first of our Trans-atlantic possessions, and discovered nearly, perhaps quite, as early as the American continent. After various disputes, it was ceded to the English in 1713, the French having liberty to dry their nets on the northern shore. It is of a triangular shape, about 320 miles long and broad, presenting a line of coast of upwards of 1,000 miles; the interior has been very little penetrated. On the S. W. side there are several lofty headlands, and the hilly parts of the island appear to be crowned with heath, fir, and a small pine; but the vallies are barren, and abounding with morasses; and the cod-fishery exclusively gives it consideration. Over the whole of Newfoundland a dense fog almost constantly rests, and particularly over what is called the Great Bank. This is a large accumulation of sand, stretching round the southern and western sides of the island, about 580 miles in length and 233 broad; the depth of water varying from 15 to 60 fathoms, and the bottom abounding with shell and other small fish, which form the food of the cod. A great swell of the sea and thicker fogs mark the larger divisions of this bank. Full 300,000l. per annum is returned in its produce from the Catholic countries of Europe alone. In 1785, Great Britain and the United States together employed 3,000 sail of small craft in the fishery, which occupied, with curing and packing, upwards of 100,000 hands. By the treaty with France in 1763, the subjects of that country were permitted to fish in the gulf of St. Lawrence, and the small islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon were given up to the French, on condition of their erecting no forts, and keeping not more than 50 soldiers thereon, to support a police. In 1783 her former right of visiting the northern and western shores of this island were confirmed to France, and the inhabitants of the United States were allowed the same privileges, with respect to all its fisheries, as they enjoyed when they were British colonists. This seems to be the present arrangement with regard to these powers. St. John's, on the S. E. coast, is the chief town of Newfoundland; Placentia, on the S., and the ancient Bonavista, on the E., are busy towns in the fishing season, which begins about the 10th of May and ends in September; but not more than 1,000 families remain on the whole island through the

winter.

The shallops, or fishing-boats used on these banks, measure about 40 feet in the keel, and are furnished with a main-mast, fore-mast, and lug-sails. They are conducted by means of one very large oar and three

State.

smaller ones; the former being used on one side of the N. AME stern, and serving to steer as well as pull on the vessel RICA against all the others, which are worked on the opposite side. The fishermen are each furnished with two Political lines, double hooked, which are cast out, one on each and Moral side of the boat, and are calculated to bring in from five to ten quintals of fish daily, though they sometimes British produce from twenty to thirty quintals, for which each Posestima boat has stowage-room. About 200 quintals is thought a profitable voyage. The maws of the fish caught are sometimes used as bait, but sea-fowl, which abound in the rocks, and are caught by nets laid over their holes, are preferred, and small fish of all kinds answer still better. The herring, lance, capelin, and torn cod, or young cod, are commonly used, and the first is pickled down as a resource in case the others should fail.

The fish being brought to shore, are carried to the Mode of stage, which is built with one end over the water, for curing the the conveniency of throwing the offal into the sea, and cod. for their boats being able to come close to discharge their fish. As soon as they come on the stage, a boy hands them to the header, who stands at the side of a table next the water, and whose business it is to gut the fish and to cut off the head, which he does by pressing the back of the head against the side of the table, which is made sharp for that purpose, when both head and guts fall through a hole in the floor into the water. He then shoves the fish to the splitter, who stands opposite to him; his business is to split the fish, beginning at the head and opening it down to the tail: at the next cut he takes out the larger part of the backbone, which falls through the floor into the water. He then shoves the fish off the table, which drops into a kind of hand-barrow, which, as soon as filled, is carried off to the salt pile. The header also flings the liver into a separate basket, for the making of train-oil, used by the curriers, which bears a higher price than whaleoil. In the salt pile the fish are spread one upon another, with a layer of salt between. Thus they remain till they have taken salt, and then are carried, and the salt is washed from then by throwing them off from shore in a kind of float, called a pound. As soon as this is completed, they are carried to the last operation of drying them, which is done on standing flakes, made by a slight wattle, just strong enough to support the men who lay on the fish, supported by poles, in some places as high as 20 feet from the ground: here they are exposed with the open side to the sun; and every night, when it is bad weather, piled up five or six on a heap, with a large one, his back or skinny part uppermost, to be a shelter to the rest from rain, which hardly damages him through the skin, as he rests slanting each way to shoot it off. When they are tolerably dry, which, in good weather, is in a week's time, they are put in round piles of eight or ten quintals each, covering them on the top with bark. In these piles they remain three or four days to sweat; after which they are again spread, and when dry, put into larger heaps, covered with canvass, and left till they are put on board.

Thus prepared, they are sent to the Mediterranean, where they fetch a good price, but are not esteemed in England; for which place another kind of fish is prepared, called by them mud-fish, which, instead of being split quite open, like their dry fish, are only