490 



access may be had into the American terri- 

 tories, and from them into Canada, daring the 

 whole year. From Quebec along the eastern 

 bank, there is an excellent road for about fifty 

 miles, and thence a tolerably good one in con- 

 tinuation, as far as the River du Loup, on 

 which the Canadian settlements at present 

 terminate. The first settlements on the River 

 Kennebec, within the American frontier, are 

 seventy miles distant from those on the River du 

 Loup : the country between them is mountain- 

 ous, intersected by rivers and small streams, 

 and every where in a state of nature. The 

 chain of mountains is not so closely connected 

 as to render it impracticable, or even diflScult 

 to open a road through the passes between 

 them, that would afford a free intercourse from 

 the state of Massachussetts to Lower Canada. 

 Previous to the late war, the legislature of that 

 state had nominated commissioners, for the 

 purpose of making a route from the settle- 

 ments on the Kennebec, up to the height of 

 land dividing the two territories. If this plan 

 be carried into execution, there will then re- 

 main no greater distance than about twenty 

 miles to the English settlements on the River 

 du Loup. The facility with which this line of 

 communiccition may be made, and the com- 

 pletion of it on the American side, should be 



