2SO ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



It is stated by Monro in liis artirlc hust-mentioned, tliat tlit' routo finally 

 selected for a nliip canal acrot^s the istlnnns is in the vicinity of an old Indian 

 trail ; there would thus have been a portage route from near Hackmatack 

 Lake, on the Misscguash, through to Tidnish, near its north branch. 



It is said by the Indians there was formerly a route from tluir camp 

 ground near Midgic through to the Aboushagan, which perhaps indicates an 

 old portage mute from the head of the Tantramar, (a stream flowing through 

 bogs nnich as the Missiguash does,) thro\igh to the Aboushagan river ; but I 

 have ni) fiirtliiT information about it. 

 B.— Memramcook-Scadouc. It is said by tlu' Indians there was a portage of 

 three or four miles in lengt h between these rivers. A stream at the head of the 

 former river is on some maps called Indian Stream, which shows, no doubt, 

 where the route left the Memramcook. A route for a canal was surveyed 

 through here in 1842. Ordinarily the ^lemramcook is navigable for canoes 

 to Calhoun's Mills and the Scadouc to Smith's Mills, leaving an interval of 

 some eight miles, which would be greatly reduced in times of high water. 



It has been supposed by Laverdière and by Slafter, in their editions of 

 Champlain, that the river Scadouc, or else the Shediac, was that called 

 SoKricona by Champlain in his 1603 narrative, and said by him to form a 

 route to the Bay of Fundy. This, however, is extremely unlikely, for Cham- 

 plain on his map of 1632 marks a " Riviere par où l'on va à la Baye 

 Françoise," which is doubtless his Souricoua, and makes it head with Miniis 

 Basin, from which we mast infer that it was one of the rivers near Pictou. 

 jNIoreover, Champlain himself, in speaking of the Souricoua, states that at 

 the entrance is found an island about a league out to sea, which by no means 

 fits the Scadouc, but does fit perfectly the rivers at Pictou. Further, he 

 states that they go up that river two or three days and then cross two or 

 three leagues of land, which account fits far better a river at Pictou than 

 the very small Scadouc. I have not been able to settle the point by the 

 testimony of the Micmac names of the rivers near Pictou. 

 C. — Petitcodiac -Shediac. The only reference to this portage known to me is 

 in a document of 1756 given by Rameau de St. Père,' which reads : " De 

 Chedaïque à la rivière Pécoudiak, c'est un portage de six lieues et beau 

 chemin." It is marked on ^Montresor's map of 1768, and stated to be six 

 leagues in length. 



Between the different rivers of the Richibucto System (i. e., from 

 Escuminac to Tormentine) there was a very eiujy route along the sea-coast. 

 The low sandy shores everywhere make landing from canoes easy and safe, 

 while an occasional portiige over narrow necks of sand allows long stretches 

 to be made through lagoons and inside sandy islands. It was along this 

 route that CJamaliel Smethurst travelled in 1761 from Bathurst to Bay Verte, 

 and his " Narrative" gives a vivid picture of some of the difficulties of such 

 travel. 

 D. — Shemogue-Baic Verte. A portage from tlu' head of tide on Shemogue to 

 Bay Vert<^' is mentioned jus part of a regular route in the Parkman MS. 

 (New France, I., 26.")). 



Smethurst in 1767 was taken across country from near Shemogue to 

 Bay Verte. A six-mile portjige would piuss over a level country, and cut off 

 a long distance around Cape Tormentine. 



> Une Colonie féodale, IJ,, 373. 



