58 



ferent farms being laid off in squares, and each farmstead having a 

 large orchard attached to it, render this tract with its natural beauties 

 very interesting. The soil seemed a light-coloured clay, and the wood 

 on the lower grounds was not very plentiful ; but the rising grounds 

 behind were closely studded with scraggy pines. 



" Approaching the northern extremity, the lake begins to contract; 

 by this time we had entered upon the lower Canadian territories. The 

 country here presented a totally ditferent appearance, owing to the 

 dense dark masses of pines, elms and spruces, which covered a vast 

 extent of the country, and having every here and there along the edge 

 of the lake, rustic but picturesque log houses, inhabited by French 

 Canadians, employed in felling the timber, dressing and carrying it 

 to the lake, for the purpose of being floated down to the harbour at 

 Lapraire, on the St. Lawrence river, for exportation. On reaching 

 St. John's, the northern extremity of Lake Champlain, the forests pre- 

 sented the same appearance as they did when we first entered upon 

 the lake, with the addition of the balm of Gilead fir {Abies halsami- 

 fera) ; numbers of this tree were seen covering the drier grounds, the 

 largest observed did not exceed thirty feet in height and four feet in 

 circumference. On the dry surface of these woods, the spice-root 

 {Daliharda repens) formed exceedingly beautifiil tufts, resembling, in 

 its ground-clothing propensity, the Epigaea repens, as seen in the 

 New Jersey forests. The sugar-maple [Acer saccharinum) is here 

 in greater quantities, and attains a larger size, than hitherto noticed ; 

 and notwithstanding the great mutilation to which it is yearly sub- 

 jected, in spring, for the sap, which is here extensively used in the 

 manufacture of sugar, it appears in the most perfect state of health. 



" At St. John's, in the swampy grounds and in the shallow water 

 by the edge of the lake, we picked luxuriant flowering specimens of 

 the sweet flag [Acorus Calamus), Iris versicolor and Utricularia vul- 

 garis. On the drier grounds, Eupatorium verticillatum was the chief 

 plant in flower, and covered a great extent. 



" Passing onwards to Lapraire, the only tree observed of any inte- 

 rest and deserving of notice, was the canoe-birch [Beiula papyracea). 

 Several compact masses of these trees, evidently of second growth, 

 occupied the lower grounds ; but from their closeness none had at- 

 tained a gi'eat size. Large trees, however, must exist in the neigh- 

 bourhood, though we did not fall in with them, as many of the canoes 

 in this district were made fi'om the bark of this tree. The greater 

 number, however, were scooped out of the trunks of the fir-tribe. 



