UPPER AND LOWER M1LLTOWNS. 163 



work, and well adapted for barley, turnip, and potato 

 crops, though less suited to grass. The fields over which 

 I walked were undulating and picturesquely situated, 

 having a wide view along the river, and over the cold clay 

 wilderness below. To a stranger, it seems at first very 

 remarkable how, out of the continuous primeval forest 

 which once covered the whole region, settlers should have 

 been able to select for cultivation such rarely-occurring 

 more available spots as these, from the midst of stony 

 and stiif clay-barrens and prevailing swamps. It is only 

 after he learns to understand the indications of the dif 

 ferent species of trees which compose these forests that 

 he begins to understand how, to the pioneer in the wil 

 derness, the broad-leaved trees of various kinds speak an 

 intelligible language, and beckon him to the sites on 

 which they grow, as possessing the qualities he wishes 

 for in the land upon which he would choose to settle. 



About a mile and a half above St Stephens is Lower 

 Milltown, which is a large thriving village indeed two 

 villages, as there is one on either side of the river 5 and 

 four miles higher is Upper Milltown, where there are 

 also two opposite villages. These villages are established 

 on the falls of the river, where the mill-power exists. 

 There are many nice houses in them and along the 

 way-side, and evidences of much prosperity and of a 

 large mill-trade on both banks of the river. Those on 

 the New Brunswick appear quite as flourishing as those 

 on the Maine side of the stream. 



On crossing into Maine, and proceeding through the 

 mist and drizzle back again towards Calais, my recollec 

 tion is very vivid of the execrable condition of the roads. 

 Nowhere in the two thousand miles I had travelled in 

 New Brunswick had I seen the roads so difficult to 

 travel on. Deep ruts, heavy mud, and large pools 

 almost covering the road, compelled our willing horse to 

 linger. To the wet weather, the clayey material of 



