168 THE EIVER MACADAVIC. 



It will be one of the triumphs of some future Adminis 

 tration of the province, that by arterial drainage it has 

 laid dry these naturally swampy tracts, and- given to the 

 labours of human industry the available land which they 

 all contain. 



Having crossed this belt of swamp, we passed the 

 Trout Brook, a feeder of the Macadavic, and, descending 

 towards this river, drove for a couple of miles along a 

 cleared upper intervale of granitic sand to Tail s, about 

 thirty miles from St Stephens, where we stopped to bait. 



We were now on the banks of the Macadavic, a river 

 near the mouth of which, at St George, I had spent part 

 of the previous Friday. At this point, and for some 

 distance above and below, a broad space intervened 

 between the hills on both sides. This space was occu 

 pied by marshy islands overflowed by the river in floods, 

 but from which Mr Tail yearly obtained much of his 

 winter s hay of a small portion of dry intervale land of 

 good quality, from which good crops of grain were 

 obtained but chiefly of an extensive low flat swamp of 

 stunted pines, which, if cleared, was naturally too wet 

 for cultivation. At a higher level was the second inter 

 vale of sandy soil, along which my road had brought me, 

 and upon which four or five farms had been cleared, but 

 which required some attention to manure, if regular 

 crops were desired from it. 



While my horse was baiting, I crossed the river and 

 walked forward over the mile of flat swamp which inter 

 vened between the river and the hills, and over which the 

 road ran. The last rocks I had seen were slates more or 

 less metamorphic ; but when I reached the steep hill, I 

 found myself at a lofty escarpment of grey sandstone 

 conglomerate, the base on this side, as I believe, of the 

 New Brunswick coal-measures. I saw no rocks in place 

 beneath the grey conglomerate ; but my time did not 

 admit of much search. Tail informed me, however, 



