408 



the front, but as the lateral boundaries do not 

 run parallel, its breadth in the rear is more than 

 four leagues ; its depth is ten leagues ; granted 

 April l6th, 1647, to Sieur GifFard, and is now 

 the property of the crown. Of this tract two 

 leagues and a half were granted March 13th, 

 1651, to the Hurons inhabiting the village of 

 La Jeune Lorette, and the remainder trans- 

 ferred by donation on the 2d November, l667, 

 to the Order of Jesuits, by Sieur Giffard. The 

 lower part of this seigniory is good fertile land, 

 the soil in general a fine black mould; near 

 the first mountains, and in the vicinity of Lake 

 St. Charles, it is a light loam ; the remainder, 

 and much the largest portion of the grant, is so 

 extremely rough and mountainous, as to be 

 wholly unfit for agricultural purposes. Tim- 

 ber about the front is rather scarce, of inferior 

 size and little value; but on the sides of the 

 rising grounds, and in the interior, beech, ma- 

 ple, and birch, are abundant, and some pine, 

 and now and then a little good oak may be 

 found. The River St. Charles bends a most 

 picturesque course from south-east to north- 

 west, for nearly two leagues along the lower 

 part of the seigniory, and receives the waters 

 of several small tributary streams that com- 

 pletely answer the purposes of irrigation. The 

 Ptivers Jacques Cartier, St. Anne, and Batis- 



