PAYMENTS IN TOBACCO. 45 



Nova Scotia was in 1845. They seem to be pursuing 1 

 the deer towards the east, and probably both races will 

 be exterminated together, as a high bounty is now 

 offered in both provinces for the destruction of the wolf. 

 They formerly existed in great numbers in the older 

 States of the Union. So late as 1715, a former act was 

 renewed by the Legislature of Maryland, offering &quot; the 

 sum of 300 Ib. of tobacco &quot; for every wolf s head that 

 should be brought by any colonist or Indian to a justice 

 of the peace. An act offering a similar reward, in the 

 State of Virginia, was repealed in 1666.* 



From the Bay du Vin River to the Kouchibouguac is 

 a distance of twelve miles, over a flat country, resting 

 on the sandstones of the generally flat coal-formation of 

 New Brunswick. For a few miles south of the former 

 river the soil is reddish, strong, and capable of improve 

 ment by drainage ; but only a few clearings, apparently 

 very recent, were to be seen. I have already said that 

 in New Brunswick a wet country is not unhealthy, or 

 productive of fevers, as in our climate ; but to clear and 

 drain land both is too expensive for the settler. Such 

 wet lands, therefore, will be slowly cleared and reclaimed 

 by private parties. The remaining distance to the 

 Kouchibouguac was poor, sandy, flat, wet, boggy, and 

 barren. The undersoil was composed of fragments of 

 the unpromising grey sandstone, through which the sur 

 face-water did not penetrate. Where dry patches rose 

 above the ordinary level, they were covered with sweet 

 fern, forming a perfect sweet-fern meadow, of large 

 growth. We had not observed this plant in any quan 

 tity since we left behind us the poor sandy country 



* Graham s Colonial History, i. p. 339. Payments were, in those times, 

 very generally made in tobacco. Members of Council were allowed a 

 daily salary of 180 Ib., and Members of Assembly of 150 Ib. of tobacco. 

 This payment in kind must have been quite as unsatisfactory to the 

 &quot; Old Virginians &quot; as the system of barter now is, of which some of the 

 New Brunswickers in the remote districts complain. 



