13 



is to be paid by the purchaser, and is exclusive 

 of the sum agreed upon between him and the 

 seller ; for prompt payment of it a reduction 

 of a fourth part is usually made. In cases of 

 a sale of this nature the lord possesses the droit 

 de retrait, v\^hich is the privilege of pre-emption 

 at the highest bidden price within forty days 

 after the sale has taken place ; it is, however, 

 a privilege but seldom exercised. All the 

 fisheries within a seigniory contribute to in- 

 crease the proprietor's revenue, as he receives a 

 tithe of all the fish caught, or an equivalent 

 sum. Besides these rights, he is privileged to 

 fell timber anywhere within his seigniory for 

 erecting mills, repairing roads, or constructing 

 new ones, or other works of public and general 

 utility. Many proprietors of seigniories have 

 become very wealthy from these revenues, as 

 the sales and exchanges of estates have been 

 of late years very numerous. Lands held by 

 Roman Catholics under any of the aforemen- 

 tioned tenures are further subject to the pay- 

 ment to their curates of one twenty-sixth part 

 of all grain produced upon them, and to oc- 

 casional assessments for building and repairing 

 churches, parsonage houses, or other works 

 belonging to the church. The remainder of 

 the granted lands within the province, not 

 held under any of these tenures, are in free 



