FOREST OF OLD HEMLOCK-TREES. 49 



tions in the way of rural improvement which might not 

 otherwise be either thought of or undertaken. 



It was about two P.M. before we reached Richibucto 

 in our shattered vehicle ; but we were still in time to 

 attend afternoon service in the Episcopal church. 



Oct. 22. The town of Richibucto stands at the mouth 

 of a river of the same name, which, like many of the 

 other rivers along this coast, forms, in its lower part, a 

 wide irregular tide-water creek, running back into the 

 land for nearly twenty miles above the town ; while below 

 the town it opens out into a wide sea-harbour, frequented 

 by shipping. 



I enjoyed to-day an agreeable drive of upwards of 

 twenty miles up the south side of this broad tide-water 

 portion of the river, and one of its tributaries. For 

 eight miles the land was dry, gravelly, and poor, and for 

 four more, only interspersed with patches of superior 

 land. But beyond this, and west of the south branch of 

 the St Nicholas River, a tributary of the Richibucto, 

 excellent land occurred ; and it continued of good quality 

 as far as we were able to penetrate. 



The prevailing tree on this upper part of the river 

 was hemlock, Pinus canadensis, mixed with some white 

 pine, and with birch and beech. None of my companions 

 had ever seen the hemlock so abundant in any other 

 part of the province. From the information we received, 

 these trees prevail over a belt of twenty to twenty-five 

 miles wide, as far west into the wilderness as a remark 

 able bend of the Salmon River a tributary of the St 

 John, which flows westward known as the Ox-bow of 

 the Salmon River. Many magnificent stems rose here 

 and there among the woods through which we passed, 

 and where clearings were in progress. It struck me as 

 almost amounting to desecration to see those ancient 

 trees cut down while still sound and vigorous, and either 



VOL. II. D 



