POOR LANDS. 1C9 



that there was limestone in the flat swamp, at some 

 distance from the road. On the top of the hill I passed 

 for some distance patches of red drift, in connection with 

 which a drifted mass of gypsum had been met with. I 

 infer, therefore, that this broad swamp between the hill 

 and the river represents the former site of, or now 

 actually covers, the soft red rocks, the red marls, the 

 deposits of gypsum, the limestone, and perhaps the red 

 conglomerate, which, in this order, are found beneath the 

 grey coal-measures of New Brunswick. A search through 

 the woods would probably discover traces of them ; and 

 such a search may be rewarded by the discovery of 

 tracts of available land now hidden in the wilderness. 



After ascending the hill, the same grey conglomerate, 

 or grey coal-measure sandstones overlying it at a low 

 angle, formed seven miles of a stony pine-clad wilder 

 ness table-land, before we came to a few miserable 

 clearings on soil which, during the present arid season, 

 had yielded most scanty crops. Grey sandstones, for 

 the most part thinner bedded, accompanied me after 

 wardsforming, with occasional exceptions, poor and 

 stony soils all the way to Fredericton. The surface of 

 the harder of these rocks, when they come occasionally 

 to day, and are uncovered by drift, exhibit the grooves 

 and polish usually attributed to the action of currents 

 and icebergs during what has been called the diluvial or 

 drift period. 



One of the exceptions to the general poor character of 

 the land is seen at the Harvey Settlement, about twenty- 

 five miles from Fredericton. This settlement, named 

 after Sir John Harvey, who was governor at the 

 time it was commenced, is now one of the most flourish 

 ing in the province. It was formed in the summer and 

 autumn of 1837, by a number of families who came from 

 the neighbourhood of Wooler in Northumberland, after 

 some arrangement with the officers, and for the purpose 



