64 UPPER CANADA. 



ages had been tenants of the soil, have by the 

 application of fire and axe been reduced to 

 stumps four feet in height, so thick set as in 

 many places to bid defiance to the plough, 

 and to preclude any mode of cultivation ex- 

 cept sowing and hand-raking the seed. 



There are here no railways, and no interior 

 water-carriage, advantages so amply enjoyed 

 in the States, and although there are roads, 

 they are of such a description as to be nearly 

 impassable, excepting in winter when the 

 sleigh is made use of. 



Upper Canada, too, is comparatively destitute 

 of local markets, or of any proper outlet for the 

 surplus produce of the land ; for the population 

 is not only thin and widely scattered, but them- 

 selves chiefly agricultural, each family there- 

 fore raising sufficient for its own supply ; and 

 there are no towns of any magnitude to create 

 any considerable demand for the surplus, nor 

 if there were, are easy means of transport af- 

 forded. 



In such circumstances, it is by no means 

 surprising to find that the greater number of 



