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The two parishf.s dl'St. I"":il)ii'n iiiul St. Simon loriii tlic iii)i)('r i)ortiou 

 nl' the county ol' Kiniouski. In rear ol the latt'T is tlu> iiitcn'slini;' parish 

 f)l'St. Mathit'U. loundi'd only twi'iity-lour years aii'o and wliii'h seems to 

 have a hi'illiaiit ruture Ix't'ore il, owinij' to tli" excellence ol' its soil, th(^ 

 benuly ol'its site, lis exieiisive (juarries ol' red stone which a"' only Just 

 (.'oniuieiiciii'j,' to he worked mid. liiially,lo the h^'autil'ul laki' whicli (;rosses 

 il fhrouu'h almost its entire lenuth. which has I'or nr iiy years h'eii cele- 

 hrated as one oi'lhe linest lakes and one most ahoundiiiy in lisli oi' the wholo 

 I'l'ovince. It s -ems to he inexhaustible and miiiht easily he ma<h a pro- 

 Jitat>h' nu'ans of providinu' subsistence i'or many peoi)le. |,ake St. Mathiou 

 (111 plies into the Soutli-AVesi rivi'r which in its turn falls into the St. Iv.iw- 

 rence at llic, after a vei\' capri'-iou.s course of about twenty miles naviii'able 

 without inierruption. Tiiis parish is remarkable jWr the i'erlility (d' its 

 soil, its situation and its piciiliar I'aturcs wliich seem full of vigour and 

 orig'inality, "Wlinever has sen J^aki' Si. Mathieu will lony remember it, 

 lor it is one of tiios" v.'hich h'ave an impression on the mind whi(di be- 

 comes more and more delined with time ; such are also Lakes TemiscoxuUa, 

 Tem;scamina-ue. .Archainbault and li'iaUy Lak > St. John. Their aspe('t 

 pli'ases us and wh' n no Ioniser before us, the miml reverts to them with 

 pleasure and gladly dwells npon the pictnre thi'y i)ri sent. 



Notwithstaiidiny' all these advantaii-es. the parish of St. Maihieu ha.s 

 not nuxde rapid progres.^,. This is due to the i)hui'ue of emigration which 

 decimates our countrv parts I'rom one end of the Province to the other. 

 Nevertheless. Ilie ])laLrue has a ten<b'iu'y to diminish a little in the parish 

 of St. Mathieu. Its present population is nearly one thousand souls, but 

 unfortunately lh(' vouny' men care less and less for auriculture. They 

 prefer to wMirk in tiie facitories ; they go faraway and the parish deprived 

 of its most robust (dements, can only increase slowly and does not develop 

 ill proportion to tlie many advantages it enjoys. 



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