352 SCOTCH SETTLEES AT MITIS. 



till I began to speak for myself, I was believed to be 

 French. 



Oct. 5. — After an unpleasant delay in procuring a 

 conveyance, I was again on my way from the little town 

 of E-imouski towards Mitis. A tolerably good road — the 

 latter part of it close to the river — a good horse and an 

 intelligent driver, made the morning's drive agreeable, 

 and I reached Mitis about one o'clock. By the way 

 were many French settlements scattered at intervals, 

 and now and then a superior-looking house. My driver, 

 himself a thriving farmer, informed me that here, as else- 

 where, his countrymen often built houses beyond their 

 means. Passing one of more than ordinary pretension, 

 which had cost £500, he remarked that the owner had 

 contracted much debt in building it, and that, when his 

 farm came to be sold, it would not bring more than the 

 sum which the new dwelling-house alone had cost. 



Around Mitis, which is not even a village, there is 

 much good hardwood — maple-land. About thirty years 

 ago the first house was built in this neighbourhood, and 

 now there is a large settlement of prosperous farmers, 

 the greater part of them Scotch, who settled here a 

 number of years ago. Few settlers from Scotland have 

 come to this place during the last few years ; but the 

 habitants are flocking to it from the higher parts of the 

 St Lawrence, partly because the land is good and crops 

 excellent, and partly because some of it at least can be 

 obtained in freehold. The greater part of the land 

 around Mitis is held from the seigneur, but the Govern- 

 ment also possesses land which is sold at from Is. to 4s. 

 an acre. From the conversations I had with the natives, 

 they seemed to value highly the freedom from annual 

 payments, and from the droits de vent^ or as they 

 expressed it, " being the seigneurs of their own land." 



Mitis lies at the northern extremity of what is called 

 the Kempt Eoad, which connects the waters of the 



