353 



clothed with maple, beech, birch, and fir-trees 

 of good size; on the flat lands ash and cedar 

 prevail. A few swamps occur here and there, 

 but they are of so trifling a depth as to be 

 drained w^ith very little trouble, and might 

 then be converted into excellent meadows. 

 It is watered by two large streams and several 

 small ones flowing into the St. Francis. Not- 

 withstanding the superior excellence of the 

 land, this township is badly settled; but the 

 whole of it has been granted to the officers and 

 privates of the Canadian Militia, who served in 

 1775 and 6; it was intended as some compen- 

 sation for their past services, but scarcely any 

 of them w^ere inclined to make the most advan* 

 tage of the reward, by turning their swords into 

 ploughshares, and themselves into industrious 

 cultivators ; instead of which, they preferred 

 disposing of their lots for whatever present 

 profit they could turn them to : indeed, the 

 lands granted in this manner have been almost 

 generally neglected. The population of this 

 township scarcely exceeds 50 souls, a circum- 

 stance difficult to be accounted for, when the 

 advantages of its locality and goodness of soil 

 are taken into consideration. 



Stoke, in the county of Buckingham, on 

 the east side of the St. Francis, joins Windsor 



