CHEAP PURCHASE CHAMBLY EDUCATION. 137 



After dinner, we walked with Mr -, to call on his neigh 

 bour , who once farmed in my native district, and whom we 



found engaged in hay -making. He had lately bought a farm, 

 subject to an annuity on the lives of an old French Canadian 

 and his wife. He was in good spirits, and had lost none of the 

 rotundity of form carried from Scotland. 



Feeling a desire to examine a bull-frog, a reptile which 

 abounds in a pond in front of Mr s house, I found them 

 large, of a dirty green colour, with a remarkably large mouth, 

 and in formation similar to the frog of Britain. 



Mr s farm is not of great extent, and, considering the 



excellency of his dwelling-house, was a cheap purchase. In 

 an enclosure in front of the house, grew some hickory-trees, 

 the nuts of which are held in esteem by the population. The 

 first year of his purchase, these trees bore a great crop, while 

 there was a failure of this nut generally ; and he told me the 

 value of his nuts actually amounted to the interest of the 

 whole price of the estate. 



Next morning, Mr , Miss , my friend and I, 



set out at five o clock, in a four-wheeled waggon, drawn by a 

 strong little Canadian horse, and arrived at Chambly in the 

 midst of a thunder-storm and rain, which detained us during 

 the day, by rendering the roads impassable. The soil in this 

 part of the country is clay, of the most adhesive texture, and 

 the roads being without stone, the clay became so waxy after 

 the rain, as to remind me of bird-lime. Our horse would have 

 had difficulty in pulling the empty waggon along the road, 

 and I found walking on foot a very slow and arduous mode 

 of proceeding. 



The rain having abated, we walked out, after dinner, to view 

 the village of Chambly, which is situated on the river Rich- 

 lieu, in a fine bay or basin, three miles wide, and at the head 

 of the navigation. At present there is a canal forming, to 

 connect the waters of Lake Champlain with Chambly basin, 

 and which is expected to be completed in course of next year. 

 The village contains several churches and mills, and is cele 

 brated for seminaries of education. Here young ladies are 

 taught the French and English languages grammatically, 

 arithmetic, writing, and drawing, for 85 a-month, or about 



