too busy in studying the attractions of objects to turn towards a general meditation on the pleasure in connection with the scenery, climate, and incidents of travel. All these come back in the form of agreeable recollections subsequently, especially if conjured up under circumstances likely to make them more appreciated. Thus I often recall very pleasurable remembrances of foreign lands merely by comparison with less agreeable scenes at home, and particularly when contrasted with dismal London fogs and uninviting landscapes.

I must acknowledge, however, that it was an extremely bitter April day when our vessel cast anchor in the harbour of St. John, New Brunswick. The snow had scarcely disappeared, and the noble river, flooded by up-country thaws, was pouring its gelid waters into the Bay of Fundy, whilst the great tidal wave, compressed on either side, was rapidly rising to levels far above what are seen elsewhere; at all events as compared with the shores of the Mediterranean which we had lately left. Recounting first impressions, I may briefly, en passant, jot down the chief novelties that greeted us on the above occasion; to wit, the muddy streets and wooden side pavements, which give one an idea of walking over a log bridge; the busy, bustling inhabitants and their wharfs crowded by piles of timber ready for shipment. Naturally, there was always a regular exodus from the city of the inquisitive to see new comers, which they were in the habit of repeating weekly on the occasion of the advent of the steamboats from the States, just like the squireen who comes down from the domain to see the coach come in; and why not? But withal these were troubled times as compared with ordinary occasions, for cannons were bristling on the heights of Carleton opposite, and the St. John Militia were out. In fact, the good folks on shore were in a ferment, for there was a threatened Fenian invasion, which we had been ordered on from Malta to assist in repelling. At all events the mandate came to us to "Clear decks!" "Bank fires, and prepare to depart at the shortest

First Impressions of New Brunswick.

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notice!" So sending the non-combatants on shore, we hung about in harbour during the next ten days, expecting either to sail, or what was, I suspect, more congenial to the tastes of some of us-viz., an order to disembark and make ourselves comfortable on the mainland.

These were anxious days, however, to many, but possibly far less serious than rumour stated; at all events, to us, they were uncommonly uncomfortable, seeing that a cold north wind blew down river, and often a chopping sea prevented the inquisitive from landing to view the lions of the place, thus driving us to become victims of that horrid tedium and "that awful yawn which sleep cannot abate." Being tied to the ship, we felt the restraint the more that it was forced, whilst diversities of opinion as to the crisis seemed to indicate that the step was unnecessary, some politicians who came on board asserting that the whole affair was a hoax got up by our American cousins to bother John Bull on account of the precious Alabama. Others looked with earnest faces at our red coats, and remarked that "Colonel Harding and his fine fellows had not come an hour sooner than wanted"! At length the rigour of martial law slackened, and availing myself of the opportunity, I proceeded on shore for the purpose of examining a remarkable fragment of Old Red Sandstone which fringes this portion of the southern coast, and overlies a series of strata supposed to belong to the same age as those of Ontario, in which Sir William Logan discovered the oldest known fossil, named the Eozoon Canadense.* As our captain's gig dropped astern of the transport "Simoon," and was being rowed towards Carleton, numbers of fishing boats were seen dragging nets. heavily laden with the well-known American shad named the "Alewive," which at this season crowds the harbour before proceeding up the rivers for spawning purposes; indeed so burdened were several of the nets that the wonder was how

* See Dawson, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. xxi., p. 51; and Carpenter, ditto, p. 59.

the meshes held together.* I thought of the poor Maltese fisherman who so often slaves all day and catches little, and of the adventurous natives of old Albion, who frequently go forth on the same errand never to return, while here among crowded steamboats and heavily-laden wood vessels, the hardy New Brunswicker encloses such great multitudes of fishes that his net fills the boats until they wellnigh sink.

The interesting locality famous for the beautiful specimens of fossil plants met with in the above-mentioned Old Red Sandstone beds is fully a mile distant from Carleton. The "Fern Ledges," as they are familiarly called, comprehend shelves of shale covered by seaweed, which the geologist must remove before cleaving the rock, when he will disclose most beautiful and perfect impressions of ferns and numerous other cryptogamic plants, many of which have been described by Mr. Hart and Dr. Dawson,† and doubtless more remain for the assiduous paleontologist.

One of the chief characteristics of New Brunswick scenery is its flatness,-the traveller's difficulty being to attain an elevation wherefrom a prospect can be obtained. Excepting the ridges and low hills in the neighbourhood of the city of St. John, and the higher lands in the northern part of the province, it is rare to meet with an eminence commanding anything like an extensive view. To him, therefore, who has sojourned on the Continent of Europe, there will come an occasional feeling of disappointment-such as that which strikes the tourist on the Nile, when, in the absence of monuments of antiquity, he is continually surrounded by

"The annual catch of this shad in the harbour of St. John varies from 12,000 to 16,000 barrels, and sometimes reaches 20,000 barrels." This represents an enormous weight of fishes, seeing that a barrel is calculated to contain about 196 lb. of flour. Of course a smaller figure would be required for fish, unless when packed herring-fashion.-See Perley's Catalogue, p. 208.

+ Hart, Appendix A., p. 131, Bailey's Report, and Dawson, Acad. Geol., p. 514; and Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. xvii., p. 296, 1862.

New Brunswick Scenery.

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mud banks, and patches of cultivation, or the eternal sameness of the desert. This, however, should not perplex the student of nature.

The St. John derived its name from the early voyagers, but the circumstances under which it was so designated are not altogether clear.* To the natives it was known by the name Wollastook, or Awolostook, which signifies "big river." It is indeed a grand and noble river, for, independent of its navigability, there is an annual inundation like that of the Nile, at the spring freshets, when the low or carse lands become flooded, and settlements insulated, so that when the retrocession takes place, irrespective of irrigation, there has been a deposit of fertilizing mud thrown down, which serves to nourish the grass, and produce remunerative hay crops, especially on the islands. It takes several hours to steam upriver, and there are many turnings and twistings which open up some varieties of woodland scenery. Near Fredericton are "the narrows," a sudden bend in the river's course to be particularly referred to in the sequel; then the spire of the handsome cathedral comes in view; and finally a pretty

*Mr. Hind writes: One of the earliest historical notices of the River St. John dates from 1598, when it was called 'Riviere de la Grande Baie,' or 'La Baie Francaise,' as the Bay of Fundy was formerly designated. This occurs in the letters patent confirming the appointment of the Sieur de la Roche, Lieutenant-General au Canada, Hochelaga, Terre-Neuve, Labrador, Riviere de la Grande Baie (St. John in the Bay of Fundy), Norembegue (the present State of Maine), et les terres adjacentes. (L'Escarbot.) In the admirable Report by the late Dr. Robb on the Agriculture of the Province, reference is made to the discovery of the St. John by Champlain, on St. John's Day, in the year 1604;' and in Monro's New Brunswick there is a quotation from Haliburton's Nova Scotia, in which the name St. John is stated to have been given to it because it was discovered on the 24th of June, the day of the Festival of St. John the Baptist. Mr. Munro says also that this noble river was discovered by Dee Monts. It is clear from L'Escarbot, that the river was known previously to 1598. But in 1604 Sieur de Monts visited La Riviere de la Grande Baie, and changed its name to the St. Jean."Report on Geology of New Brunswick, page 28.

little country town surrounded by trees, and spread out on a broad alluvial flat, which, like a rounded promontory, is washed in front and two sides by the St. John.

In honour of the House of Brunswick, Fredericton has its Queen, King, Brunswick, George, and Charlotte streets. As at St. John, wood houses and wood pavements predominate; indeed everything is timber, and its wharfs groan with piles of the same material; altogether a thriving, bustling little town, now brought in direct communication with the seaport by a railway which is being extended further northwards. Although dwarfed as regards size by the city just named, still, from position and antiquity, Fredericton claims to be the capital, although shorn of the little grandeur of the older days of irresponsible governments, when the mother country was teaching her colonies how to walk. But now that the infantile stage, as we may so designate the past, has given place to adolescence and a promising manhood, what between railways, and other latter-day features of the industry and enterprise of this hardy people, there is to all appearances a bright future for little Fredericton. The city of Frederick (how the "k" has got out of the modern orthography I cannot say) was founded by the early settlers at this point, chiefly because the situation was central, and about the highest navigable station for vessels,* However, steamers of small draught, with paddle-wheel astern, find their way up even to the Grand Falls, which are 125 miles above Fredericton. At the latter the river is about three-quarters of a mile in breadth. Among the institutions of the past régime, there is still an Upper and Lower House of Assembly, and a Governor, although the province is but an integral portion of the Great Dominion, and by way of comparison has not half the demand for this paraphernalia of government as, for example, either Scotland or Ireland; but perhaps it is as well to let the present generation live out their old associations.

* Fredericton, as the crow flies, is about sixty miles inland.

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