244 RIVER LIFE. 



CHAPTER VI. 



NEW BRUNSWICK. 



Object of the Chapter. — Description of St. John's River. — First Falls. — Con- 

 tiguous Country. — " Mars Hill." — Prospect. — Grand Falls. — The Aea- 

 dians, curious Facts respecting them. — The Mirimachi River. — Immense 

 amount of Timber shipped. — Riots. — State of Morals. — The great Miri- 

 machi Fire. — Hurricane. — Destruction of Human Life. — Area of the Fire. 

 — Vessels in Harbor. — Painfully disgusting Sights. — Destruction among 

 Fish. — Fire, rapidity of Progress. — Curious instance of Escape. — Risti- 

 gouche River, its Length — Capacious Harbor. — Appearance of the Coun- 

 try. — High Banks. — Groves of Pine. — A Statistical Table. 



"With a view to give a general outline of the immense capac- 

 ities of the strip of country lying east of the St. Lawrence, be- 

 tween the latitudes of 42° and 44° north, I shall include (as the 

 terminus of Maine, not regarding geographical lines) that part of 

 the country known as the province of New Brunswick, whose lum- 

 ber in quality has, in years past, quite outrivaled that of Maine. 



The River St. John's, the Mississippi of the East, " has a course 

 of nearly six hundred miles from its source, near the Chaudiere, 

 in Lower Canada, to where it falls into the Bay of Fundy. At 

 its entrance into the harbor the river passes through a fissure of 

 solid and overhanging rock, exhibiting every appearance of hav- 

 ing been formed by some convulsion of nature. The volume of 

 water collected in a course of so many hundred miles, being here 

 compelled to pass through so narrow a passage as thirteen hund- 

 red feet, occasions what are called the Falls of St. John's, which 



the prompt and intelligent responses the author has received from gentle- 

 men wherever his inquiries have been directed, whether to the province of 

 New Brunswick, or to gentlemen in Calais, Bangor, Augusta, Brunswick, and 

 Portland, Maine. 



