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granted March Sd, 1639, to the Order of Je- 

 suits, and now reverted to the crown. Border- 

 ing the St. Lawrence the land is low, but it 

 soon obtains a gradual rise for the distance of 

 nearly four leagues and a half to the interior ; it 

 then becomes mountainous, as it gains upon the 

 north-western ridge. The soil in the lower 

 parts, like the adjacent seigniories, is a light 

 earth, rather sandy, laid over a stratum of good 

 clay ; but proceeding northward, it gets stronger, 

 and is enriched for a considerable space with 

 fine black mould, affording many capital tracts 

 for the growth of all kinds of grain. On the 

 front the wood is nearly all cleared away and 

 the land cultivated for two or three miles in- 

 ward, and rather more than five miles upwards, 

 on both sides of the River Batiscan, upon which 

 there are many good settlements, where the dif- 

 ferent farms appear very neat and well managed. 

 The whole of its depth has not been explored, 

 but as far as it has been visited is found to pro- 

 duce timber of the best species, and excellent 

 of the different kinds. La Petite Riviere Cham- 

 plain, with some smaller streams, water the 

 front, besides the large River Batiscan, that 

 rolls a much broader current, but is so shallow 

 as not to be accessible for boats higher than 

 six or seven miles from its mouth. Over this 

 and the Champlain there are ferries, where 



