203 



horse and carriage. In the second range of 

 concessions is the Brule St. Antoine, and in the 

 fourth Le Grand Brule : these places derive 

 their appellations from the method sometimes 

 adopted of clearing the lands bj burning the 

 wood upon the ground where it is felled, after 

 such parts of it as are wanted for immediate 

 use are removed ; or else by setting fire to the 

 trees and underwood while standing: when once 

 fairly on fire, they will often continue to burn 

 for weeks before the flames are again subdued. 

 How far the conflagration has spread is shewn 

 by the blackened and scorched appearance of 

 the contiguous woods, and many of the half 

 consumed trunks and roots, that remain for 

 years in the ground ; being extirpated only as 

 the farmer s leisure offers convenient opportuni- 

 ties. Accidental fires sometimes occur in the 

 forests, which, being spread by the wind, and 

 no means taken to extinguish them, occasion 

 brules to a great extent. There are two neat 

 churches and parsonage-houses in the seigniory, 

 but no village ; the houses however are numer- 

 ous, distributed along the different roads in the 

 concessions, and towards the banks of the Saint 

 Laurence. The group of small islands in front, 

 called Les Islets de Contrecoeur, is an ap- 

 pendage to the propert3\ 



St. Ours (the seigniory of) and its augmenta^ 



