EVIL OF CHURCH -HOLIDAYS. 11 



so long as they have a barrel of flour in the hou se ; and 

 when they get work, they are not to be depended upon 

 as servants. A trifle will take them away from their 

 work ; and so many church-holidays interfere with their 

 regular operations for they are all zealous Roman 

 Catholics that they are employed by British settlers 

 who require continuous labour only when no other ser 

 vants are to be had, or when they are willing to bind 

 themselves to regular attendance, despite of their holi 

 days. The result of such constant interference with the 

 necessary labours of their farms, on the social and 

 economical prosperity especially of a people living in 

 so short a summered climate as this ought to be well 

 considered by those clerical authorities who are said to 

 be now devising means for inflicting this new evil on 

 already sufficiently unhappy Ireland. 



Oct. 14. This morning was very fine, with a coldish 

 wind, but a clear warm sunshine. I went to-day up the 

 Nepisiguit river as far as the settlements extend, a dis 

 tance of eight miles, and visited the Falls of the Papineau. 

 From its mouth upwards, the Nepisiguit flows for the 

 greater part of its course, wherever the rocks are visible, 

 over slightly inclined red-sandstone rocks, which form a 

 long rapid about three miles above Bathurst. At the 

 falls, the river breaks through a barrier either of granite 

 or of hard conglomerate, I forget which that separates 

 the newer from the older rocks. 



So far up the river, the land is either light and sandy, 

 or stony, poor, and gravelly. This stony land extends 

 several miles farther up ; but, beyond this, a rich maple 

 country is said to succeed, and to stretch into the interior 

 for a great many miles. Generally, on this part of the 

 Bay de Chaleur, the land is inferior for a dozen miles 

 above the mouths of the rivers; but higher up the streams 

 it improves. This inner country, however, is not yet 

 opened up by roads, and is therefore not easily accessible 



