THE HALCYON IN CANADA 195 



eter. The season here, owing to a sharp northern 

 sweep of the isothermal lines, is two or three weeks 

 earlier than at Quebec. The soil is warm and fer- 

 tile, and there is a thrifty growing settlement here 

 with valuable agricultural produce, but no market 

 nearer than Quebec, two hundred and fifty miles 

 distant by water, with a hard, tedious land journey 

 besides. In winter the settlement can have little 

 or no communication with the outside world. 



To relieve this isolated colony and encourage fur- 

 ther development of the St. John region, the Cana- 

 dian government is building ^ a wagon-road through 

 the wilderness from Quebec directly to the lake, thus 

 economizing half the distance, as the road when 

 completed will form with the old route, the Sague- 

 nay and St, Lawrence, one side of an equilateral tri- 

 angle. A railroad was projected a few years ago 

 over nearly the same ground, and the contract to 

 build it given to an enterprising Yankee, who pock- 

 eted a part of the money and has never been heard 

 of since. The road runs for one hundred mUes 

 through an imbroken wilderness, and opens up scores 

 of streams and lakes abounding with trout, into 

 which, until the road-makers fished them, no white 

 man had ever cast a hook. 



It was a good prospect, and we resolved to com- 

 mit ourselves to the St. John road. The services 

 of a young fellow whom, by reason of his impracti- 

 cable French name, we called Joe, was secured, and 

 after a delay of twenty-four hours we were packed 

 1 Written in 1877. 



