150 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
sea boundaries of the Province are the only ones which have never been 
in dispute. Emptying into these seas are many fine rivers, which would 
form abundant and unmistakable boundaries. But, though unmistak- 
able, these rivers are not otherwise good natural boundaries, for most 
of this region was and is settled only in the valleys, and to use them 
as boundaries is to separate peoples of kindred interests, which wisely 
has not been done. In three cases, however, political exigencies or his- 
torical peculiarities have brought it about that rivers do form important 
boundaries, namely, the St. Croix to its head ; the St. John from Grand 
Falls to the St. Francis and up the latter river ; and the Restigouche- 
Patapedia. In the case of the Misseguash-Tidnish, however, physiogra- 
phic reasons plainly dictated the choice. The factors determining the 
selection of these rivers as boundaries in preference to any others will be 
discussed in the following pages. To bridge the gaps between these 
rivers, however, artificial lines have had to be used, and it is notable 
in New Brunswick that all of these have been long and strongly dis- 
puted. But for the reasons above mentioned, the rivers have been very 
little used as county or parish boundaries, the only exceptions in the 
former case being the Petitcodiac (a large river difficult, because of its 
great tides, to cross), Eel River and River des Chutes, while in a few 
cases smaller streams form parish boundaries. Passing next to moun- 
tains and other watersheds, we must note that New Brunswick has no 
proper mountain ranges. The nearest approach to it is the range of 
hills known as the New Brunswick Highlands, running north-east and 
south-west, south of and parallel with the Tobique and Nepisiguit 
Rivers, a region of rounded hills from 1000 to 1200 feet in general ele- 
vation, and rising in extreme cases to 2700 feet. Rivers navigable for 
canoes extend into and across these highlands, however, and, although 
they figured to some extent in the boundary disputes preceding the Ash- 
burton Treaty, no attention whatever has been paid to them in laying 
out the administrative boundaries of the province, and nowhere do they 
form any kind of boundary. This is true also of the Southern High- 
lands forming the entire southern part of the province, rising in places 
to 1200 or 1400 feet. Aside from these two ranges of highlands, most 
of New Brunswick consists of gently undulating plateaus, and on these 
occur the minor watersheds, with the heads of the rivers separated by 
very irregular and sinuous lines. Carrying out the idea, however, of 
keeping under one division the people of a single valley, the watersheds 
have been selected for most of the county lines of the province, but owing 
to their sinuous courses and the difficulty of recognizing them, it has 
been necessary to mark the boundaries by compass lines following only 
the general courses of the watersheds, and it is on this principle that 
