24 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



The greatest length from north to south is 230 miles ; greatest breadth, 

 190 miles; area, 27,322 square miles. The surface is generally flat or 

 undulating. The shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the waters of 

 the St. John, Restigouche, Miramichi, Richibucto, and Ste. Croix rivers 

 contain valuable tracts of spruce and pine timber. All these rivers 

 mentioned are large, and the St. John, 450 miles long, is navigable for 

 100-ton vessels to Fredericton, ninety miles from the sea. Shallow- 

 bottomed steamers run thence a hundred miles further up the river. Two- 

 hundred and twenty miles up the river is a magnificent cataract known 

 as Grand Falls, about eighty feet high. The valley of the St. John is ex- 

 ceedingly fertile, and salmon, bass, pickerel, mackerel, and other valuable 

 fishes are found in them in considerable number. The chief industry of the 

 province is agriculture, next lumbering, then fishing, and after that manu- 

 factures. There are some valuable mineral deposits found in the " min- 

 eral belt " skirting the southern coast, and then striking northerly. The 

 lakes are numerous, the principal one being Grand Lake, thirty miles long, 

 and two to seven miles wide. This communicates with the river St. John, 

 fifty miles from the sea. Coal is plentiful, and iron is abundant. Cop- 

 per and manganese also abound. The valuable bituminous deposit in Al- 

 bert county produces for every ton of coal 100 gallons of crude oil. There 

 is no country on the continent more bountifully wooded and watered, and 

 the soil is exceeding fertile. The climate is subject to extremes of heat 

 and cold. All kinds of crops grow and ripen well. There are several 

 manufactures in operation of late years. There is a free non-sectarian 

 system of education ; and, like in Nova Scotia, educational affairs are 

 administered by a chief superintendent and a board of education. There 

 is no minister of education, as in Ontario, and the system works admir- 

 ably. There are about 1,400 Indians in the province, chiefly Micmacs, 

 and Milecites. The government is administered by a lieutenant-governor, 

 and an executive of nine members ; there is a legislative council of eigh- 

 teen members, and a house of assembly of forty-one members, the latter 

 elected every four years. There is a supreme court, with a chief justice 

 and four puisne judges having jurisdiction in law and equity ; a marriage 

 and divorce court ; a vice-admiralty court ; and a county court for each 

 county. There is a large quantity of excellent settlement land yet in the 

 province ; and extensive timber areas. The province was settled by the 

 French in 1639. It fell into the hands of the British after the conquest 

 of Quebec. In 1867 it joined the Confederation. Shipbuilding is one of 

 its important industries. 



