8 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA : 
at Quebec and Montreal,, who send agents 
through the country to the farmers to buy up 
all the corn they can spare. The farmers are 
bound to have their corn ready by a certain 
day on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and 
bateaux are then sent by the merchants to re¬ 
ceive and convey it to the port where it is to 
be shipped. 
All the settlements in Lower Canada lie 
contiguous to the River St. Lawrence : in no 
place perhaps do they extend farther back 
than twelve miles from it, except along the 
banks of the River St. Jean, the River des 
Prairies, and some other navigable streams 
falling into the St. Lawrence. This is owing 
to the disposition of the French Canadians, 
who, like the Germans, are fond of living near 
each other ; nay more, as long as the farm of 
the father will admit of a division, a share of 
it is given to the sons when they are grown 
up, and it is only when the farm is exceed- 
\ 
ingly small, or the family numerous, that they 
ever think of taking up a piece of fresh land 
from the seignior. In this respect a wonder¬ 
ful difference appears between their conduct 
, and that of the ydung people of the United 
States, particularly of those of New England, 
who, as soon as they are grown up, immedi¬ 
ately emigrate, and bury themselves in the 
woods, where, perhaps, they are five or six 
