228 INTERCOLONIAL EAILROAD. 



Metapedia has somehow or other got into the hands of a 

 cute Yankee speculator, and the consequence of this is 

 that the whole shore of the lake, which has a circumference 

 of 20 to 30 miles, and would support a thriving settle- 

 ment, is monopolized by a foreigner or by foreigners. The 

 railroad runs along the shore of this wild and pretty lake, 

 and then follows the course of the river of the same name 

 for 35 or 40 miles. The parallel terraces on this river are 

 the most perfect I have ever seen. Frequently three and 

 even four of these steps or terraces may be seen at each side 

 of the stream, of corresponding form and equal altitude. 

 This is a wild and rapid stream. Its rocky banks, bristling 

 with charred cedar and spruce trees, rise sheer up to a 

 height of several hundred feet. The Intercolonial winds 

 under them along the river's edge. At the mouth of the 

 Metapedia is the charmingly situated residence of Mr. 

 Dan Fraser, whose kindness and hospitality to sportsmen, 

 in those days when his comfortable and beautiful home- 

 stead constituted the last outpost of civilization, will be 

 long remembered from one end of Canada to the 

 other. 



For many years the mails were carried once a week 

 from the St. Lawrence to the Restigouche by dog sled. 

 The Indian who drove the team had to walk, backwards 

 and forwards, a distance of over 200 miles in six days. 

 This was not bad walking for a continuance, along a mere 

 track (there was no road at that time) through snow and 

 ice and rough forest. Yet I knew a man who never missed 

 the trip during a whole winter. 



After a road was made, the mail was carried by " stage." 

 I travelled it once or twice in this way, and I sincerely 



