CANADIAN BOTANY. 51 



figure was clearly cut with a knife, as shown by the well-preserved incised lines ; though 

 the outer cast, being in black, at first leads one'to suppose a hot iron to have been employed. 

 Upon closer examination, however, it appears that the black or carbonised portions were 

 the result of partial decay, the decayed portions being subsequently covered, and thus 

 producing the appearance observed. The specimen was found at Belle Rivière, in the 

 parish of Two Mountains, and was only discovered by accident, when cutting up fire-wood. 

 It was rescued and presented to the museum by Mr. William Oswald, Jun. Mr. John 

 Reade has recently drawn my attention to the fact that Abbé Tanguay ' gives the year 

 1721 as the date when this parish was established. This would exactly coincide with the 

 probable time that has elapsed since the blaze was cut, and suggests the possibility of its 

 having been one of several other boundary blazes. If this be the case, it is not improb- 

 able that others may be found on the line of the old parish boundary. 



The next missionary of note who claims our attention, was the Jesuit, Charlevoix," 

 who reached Quebec on September 23rd, 1*720. Travelling by way of the St. Lawrence 

 and the great lakes, he descended the Mississippi and visited St. Domingo, whence he 

 returned to France, without again visiting Canada. 



Although like so many ot his predecessors, Charlevoix appeared to devote his attention 

 chiefly to the Indians, his journals contain notes on the botany of the country, which are 

 not without interest. Speaking of the grandeur of the forests, and size of the trees, which 

 seem to have made a great impression upon him, he saj^s, " Nothing can present a nobler 

 or more magnificent prospect to the eyes ; the trees hide their tops in the clouds, and the 

 variety of diflerent species of them is so prodigious, that even amongst all those who have 

 most applied themselves to a knowledge of them, there is not perhaps one, who is not 

 ignorant of at least one-half of them." •' He refers to the abundance of both red {Juniperus 

 Virginiann, L.) and white cedar {Thuya occidentalis, L.). He also distinctly speaks of the 

 general distribution all over Canada— probably intending to refer more particularly to 

 Ontario and the West— of both white {Quercus alba, L.) and red {Quercus rubra, L.) 

 oak. Of the walnuts he mentions three kinds, but from his description, he evidently 

 includes the butternut and two of the hickories in this list. He recognised the hop, 

 (Humulus lupulus, L.) though an old world species, as also clearly indigenous to this con- 

 tinent. He also makes the somewhat surprising statement that " The Indians were 

 acquainted before our arrival in their country, with the common and water melon. The 

 former are as good as those in France, especially in this island (Montreal) where they are 

 in great plenty." * There is an obvious error of observation here. De Candolle distinctly 

 states what is commonly accepted by botanists— and in contradiction of which we have 

 seen no good proof— when he says that the water melon was introduced into America by 

 Europeans,^ and the same may also be said of the common melon." Yet, as we shall see 

 again, later travellers in Canada appear to have been misled into giving currency to the 

 same opinion. 



Among other observations of interest, he mentions the milkweed (Asdepias Cornuti) 



' Dictionnaire Généalogique, i. 601. 



2 Histoire et Description générale de la Nouvelle France, Paris, 1744. Journal of a Voyage to North America, 

 London, 1760. 



' Voyage to North America, i. 245. * I^i-d., i. 250. 



^ Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 264. ^ lUd., p. 261. 



