instructive than half the common books of travels that are every day intruded upon the public. The causes of the deplorable state of this valuable country, whilst under the French dominion, are well explained; it was neglected on account of the report which spread itself at an early period over the parent kingdom, that it contained no mines, and the sole objects for commerce became fish and furs. New France therefore fell into disrepute before the qualities of its soil, and the production which it might bring forth were known, and a considerable time elapsed before a proper spot was chosen for settling. The thoughtlessness of the new comers led them to clear lands; and plant them with grain without having previously ascertained whether they would repay their toils with harvests. When disappointed in their expectations, they forsook the buildings they had erected, and removed to another spot.-The province of Acadia, now Nova-Scotia, was shared among adventurers who soon exhausted the treasures which its extensive forests contained, by destroying their wild inhabitants, for no other design but that of amusement, and of exercising address in the chace.

The colonists in Canada were men driven by poverty from their native land, and desirous of acquiring fortunes which would enable them to re-appear in affluence among those who had witnessed their indigence. The produce of the chace supplied them with the means of becoming quickly rich; it is not astonishing therefore that their improvident avidity should have soon exhausted that source of wealth, and taught the Indians the real value of their furs; thus in the words of our author,

"Considerable fortunes were made with

whose number was not to exceed the value of a hundred thousand francs, and whose use in

any other country was prohibited. But diffi culties arising from the want of specie, the council published a decree, by which it was which was in circulation in France, should ordained, that this coin, and all other money not only be used in the islands, but also in the provinces on the continent, on augmenting the value one-fourth. The decree enjoined that all notes of hand, accounts, purchases, and payments, should be made by every person without exception, at the rate of exchange

thus settled.

"This regulation tended, in its execution, to occasion many difficulties. The intendant of Canada found at that period inexpressible embarrassment, not only in the payment of the troops, but for all other expences of govern

ment. The funds remitted for this purpose from France, generally arrived too late; and it the officers and soldiers, and to satisfy other was necessary, on the first of January, to pay charges not less indispensable. To obviate the most urgent occasions, the intendant, with the concurrence of the council, issued notes, instead of money, observing always the proportional augmentation of the value of the coin. A proces-verbal was accordingly framed, and by virtue of an ordinance of the governor. general and intendant, there was stamped on each piece of this paper money, which was a card, its value, the signature of the treasurer, an impression of the arms of France, and on sealing wax, those of the governor and inteu

dant.

in circulation, and cards were again resorted "This species of money did not long remain to, on which new impressions were engraved. Those of the value of four livres and upwards, were signed by the intendant, who was satisfied with distinguishing the others by a particular mark. Those which were six livres and up wards, the governor-general formerly signed. In the beginning of autumn all the cards were

rapidity; but they were almost as quickly dissi-brought to the treasurer, who gave for their puted as they had been acquired; like those moving hills, which in the sandy deserts of Asia, or of Africa, are drifted and deposited by the whirlwinds, and which possessing no consistency, or solidity, are by the same cause again as suddenly dispersed."

Among the chief causes of the languishing state of trade in this colony, the following is enumerated :—

The company of the West Indies, to whom was conceded the domain of the French islands, was permitted to circulate there a small coin,

value bills of exchange on the treasurer-general of the marine, or on his deputy at Rochefort, on account of the expences of the ensuing year. ́ Such cards as were spoiled were not again used in circulation, and were burnt agreeably to a proces-verbal for that pur pose.

"Whilst the bills of exchange continued to be faithfully paid, the cards were preferred to money; but when that punctuality was discontinued, they were no longer brought to the treasurer, and the intendant had much fruitless trouble in endeavouring to recall those

which he had issued. His successors, in order to defray the necessary expences of the government, were obliged to issue new cards every year, by which means they became so multiplied that their value was annihilated, and no

person would receive them in payment. Commerce, by this injudicious system of finance, was entirely deranged; and the inconvenience arose to such a height,, that in 1713, the inHabitants proposed to lose one half, provided the government would pay them the other in money.

"The commerce of the colony was, in 1706, carried on with a fund of six hundred and fifty thousand livres, 26,000l. sterling, which for several years afterwards did not much augment. This sum distributed among thirty thousand inhabitants, could not plače tuem in affluent circumstances, nor afford them the means of purchasing the merchandise of France. The greatest part of them were there

fore almost in a state of nature; particularly they whose residence was in the remote settlements. Even the surplus of their produce and stock they were unable to sell to the inhabitants of the towns, because in order to subsist, the latter were necessitated to cultivate farms of their own.

"Thus fell the credit of the colony; and in falling, it occasioned the ruin of commerce, which in 1706, consisted only of furs of an inferior quality.”

The account our author gives of the division of lands among the first settlers in Canada, and of the rights granted to the|| owners of these portions conveys a considerable share of information, the principal heads of which we will select for the improvement of our readers. As the passage would be too long for an extract, we will explain the meaning of the original in as few words as we possibly can.

Canada, on the arrival of the French, was loaded with unbounded forests, and property was granted in extensive lots, called seigneuries. Each of these contained from one hundred to five hundred square miles, and was divided into smaller tracts, on a freehold lease to the inhabitants. These tracts, or portions, consisted of three acres in breadth, and from seventy to eighty in depth. The proprietors of the seigneuries were authorized to hold courts, and sit as judges in what is termed haute and basse justice; in which all crimes committed within their jurisdiction, murder and treaSons excepted, were included. At every

new pur

change of freehold tenant, the chaser was bound to pay a sum equal to a fifth part of the purchase money to the seigneur, or to the king, but if this fine was paid immediately, it was reduced to oneeight. When an estate fell by inheritance to a new possessor, he was by law exempted from the fine. The revenues of the seigneurs were derived from the yearly rent of their lands, from lots and ventes, or a fine on the disposal of property held under them, and from grist-mills. That rent was inconsiderable, each person paying in money, grain, or other produce, only from five to twelve livres per annum.

Had the estates of the seigneurs remalued entire, they might have risen to a state vided between the different children of a of comparative opulence; but being difamily, they dwindled away almost imperceptibly. The portion of the eldest son retained the name of seigneuries, and the rights attached to it, and the other partitions were denominated fiefs. Their tenants follow the example of their superiors, parcel out their small tracts of land, and it is not uncommon to find a house belonging to several proprietors.

The number of seigneuries now existing in Canada rises above a hundred, and that at Montreal, is the richest and most productive; it belongs to the seminary of St. Sulpicius. The next in value is that of the Jesuits; and some of the domiciliated savages hold in the province lands in the right of seigneurs. The power of patronage to the church was not attached to any of the seigneuries, it was confined to the bishop alone.

The salaries granted to the officers in the civil department, were so low as not to enable them to support the dignity of their stations. That of the Marquis de Vaudreuil Governor and Lieutenant-general of Canada, in 1758, amounted only to the small sum of 2721. 1s. 8d. sterling; out of which he was to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting of two sergeants and twenty-five soldiers; 5141. 11s. sterling sufficed to pay the whole of the officers of justice and police, and the total sum dedicated to the various branches of civil power did not exceed 38091. 8. sterling.

The cupidity and imprudence of the Canadians is strongly illustrated by the

following instance of their mistaken po- of Montreal, formed an association of

licy.

dise. These are dispatched about the begin

several merchants of that place, for the "Ginseng was first discovered in the woods purpose of deriving from this branch of of Canada in 1718. It was from this country commerce greater advantages than had exported to Canton, where its quality was pro- hitherto been reaped. The account of the nounced to be equal to that of the ginseng Company's voyageurs, and their canoes, İs procured in Corea, or in Tartary; and a pound too curious to be passed over in silence. of this plant, which before sold in Quebec for "The company trading to the north-west twenty pence, became, when its value was once sends every year to the posts on Lake Supe ascertained, worth one pound and tenpencerior, about fifty canoes loaded with merchausterling. The export of this article alone is said to have amounted, in 1752, to twentyning of May, from La Chine, a distance ofnine thousand pounds sterling. But the Canadians, eager suddenly to enrich themselves, reaped this plant in May, when it should not have been gathered until September; and dried it in oveus, when its moisture should have c gradually evaporated in the shade. This fatal mistake, arising from cupidity, and in some measure from ignorance, ruined the sale of their ginseng among the only people upon earth who are partial to its use, and at an early period cut off from the colony a new branch of trade which under proper regulations, might have been essentially productive."

miles above Montreal. The canoes are formed of the bark of the birch tree, and closely lined with thin ribs, made of a tough wood. The seams are sewed with radical fibres called watape, and they are afterwards ewrefully covered over with gum, to exclude the water. The bottom of the vessel is nearly flat, the sides are rounded, and either end terminates in a sharp edge. The price of one of these is about twelve pounds sterling; and it is calculat ed to contain, on the perilous voyage for which it is destined, a weight equal to that which follows; sixty-five pieces of merchandise, of ninety pounds each; eight men, each weighing at least one hundred and sixty pounds; bag

The flourishing state of Canada since it became part of the British empire in North America, will appear in the most satisfac-gage allowed to these men, at forty pounds tory light from the following estimate:—

"The quantity of grain exported from Canada in 1802, was one million and ten thousand bushels of wheat, of flour thirty-eight thousand barrels, and of biscuit thirty-two thousand cwts. The number of vessels engaged in the export of these and other productions of the colony, was two hundred and eleven; the quantity of tonnage was near thirty-six thousand,

and the number of sailors was one thousand eight hundred and fi.ty.

"The exports from Canada consist of wheat, and ot her grain, flax-seed, beef and pork, butter and lard, soap and candles, grease and tallow, balsam, ale, porter, essence of spruce, salmon dry and pickled, fish-oil, timber, plank, boards, hemp, horses, cattle, sheep, pot and pearl-ashes, utensils of cast iron, furs of various descriptions, castoreum and ginseng. The articles amounted in value, in the year mentioned above, to five hundred and sixty-three thousand four hundred pounds sterling.

“The imports were, wine of various kinds, rum, sugar, melasses, coffee, tobacco, salt, coals, and different articles of the manufacture of Great Britain."

The establishment of the Company of the North-west for the fur trade, is not of older date than 1787, when Mr. Mactavish

each, together with the weight of their provisi ons. The whole cargo of a canoe is, therefore, not less than eight thousand three hundred and ninety pounds, exclusive of two oil-cloths to cover the goods, a sail and an axe, a towing line to drag the canoe up the rapids, a kettle, spunge to bail out the water imbibed by leakage; with gum, bark, watape, and utensils for repairing any injury which may be sustained on the voyage. The men are engaged at Montreal four or five months before they set out on their journey, and receive in advance their equipment, and one-third of their wages. Each -man holds in his hand a large paddle; and the canoe, although loaded within six inches of the gunwale, is made to move along with wonderful expedition. The voyageurs or navigators, are of constitutions the strongest and most robust, and they are at an early period inured to the encounter of hardships. The fare on which they subsist is penurious and coarse (chiefly the grease of the bear, and a meal, or coarse flour, made from Indian corn). Fortified by babit against apprehension from the species of difficulties and perils with which they are about to struggle, they enter on their toils with confidence and hope. Whilst moving along the surface of the stream, they sing in alternate strains the songs and music of their country, and cause the desolate wilds on

the banks of the Outaouais, to resound with || sixty miles further, that of Defon; and at the voice of cheerfulness. They adapt (n a distance of two hundred and seventyrowing) their strokes to the cadence of their two miles from the latter, Point au Bapstrains, and redouble their efforts by making tême, where such persons as have never them in time. In dragging the canoes up the travelled thus far are plunged into the rapids, great care is necessary to prevent them from striking against rocks, the materials of waters of the Outaouais, an ordeal from which they are composed being slight and which they may be exempted by paying a easily damaged. When a canoe receives an fine. About one hundred and twenty injury, the aperture is stopped with gum, miles from Point au Baptême, they leave melted by the heat of a piece of burning charon their right the great branch of the Oucoal. Fibres of bark, bruised, and moistened taouais, flowing from Lake Tamiscaming, with gum in a liquid state, are applied to and proceed through the smaller branch, larger apertures; a linen rag is put over the the distance of thirty-six miles, when the whole, and its edges cemented with gum. fall of Paresseux opens on their sight.Twenty-five miles further, they walk along named Premier Portage Musique, cross a a carrying place of eight hundred paces, lake of nearly the same extent, and enter hundred paces. From hence to the source on the second Portage Musique, of twelve of the smaller branch of the Outaouais, the distance is thirty miles. On quitting this river, they proceed by a portage of twenty acres to the winding stream, named Chaussée de Castor, some of whose sinuosities are avoided by two other portages of five hundred paces each. They then enter Lake Nipissing, fifty miles long, and whose discharge into Lake Huron, through a course of a hundred and eight miles, is called French River, on which there is a carrying place. They then navigate their canoes along the northern coast of Lake Huron, and pursue their route to the cascades of St. Mary.

"The total number of men contained in the canoes, amounts usually to about three hundred and seventy-three, of which three hundred and fifty are navigators, eighteen are guides, and five are clerks. When arrived at the grand depôt, on Lake Superior, part of these ascend as far as the Rainy Lake, and they are usually absent from Montreal about five months. The guides are paid for this service thirty-seven pounds sterling, and are allowed besides a suitable equipment. The wages of the person who sits in the front of the canoe, and of him whose office it is to steer, are about twenty-one pounds sterling each; those of the other men, about twelve pounds ten shillings of the same money.

"To cach man a blanket, shirt, and pair of trowsers are supplied; and all are maintained || by their employers during the period of their engagement. The advantage of trafficking with the savages, is likewise permitted; and some individuals procure, by this means, a profit amounting to more than double their pay."

We will now give a short sketch of their voyage, without including the descriptions. of the different parts which they visit, though teeming with interest, and elegantly written, as they would pass the bounds of

a review.

"In travelling to the north-west, by the Outaouais river, the distance from Montreal to the upper end of Lake Huron, is nine hundred miles; the journey may be performed, in a light canoe, in the space of about twelve days; and in heavy canoes, in less than three

weeks.

From La Chine the voyagers repair, with "About one-third of the men winter in the their fleet of canoes, to St. Ann's, where ren vote territories, during which they are occuthe course of the river is so interrupted piea' in the chase, and for this service their that they are compelled to unload. While wages and allowance are doubled. The other ascending the Outaouais, they meet with two-thirds are engaged for one or two years, the rapids, and draw their canoes to the and have attached to them about seven hunshore, except one, which they join in drag-dred It dian women and children, maintained ging up, and lodge in a place of security. At night they encamp on the islands upon the borders of the river. On the northeast shore, about sixty miles higher up than the falls called Les Chats, they reach the ruins of the old French fort, Coulogne;

occupati on of the latter, is to scrape and clean
at the expence of the company. The chief
the packages of peltry.
the parch ments, and to make up and arrange

"At the portages, where waterfalls and cataracts oblige them to unload, the men unite in aiding each other to convey the canoes and

goods across the land, by carrying the former upon the shoulders of six or eight men, and the latter upon the back. A package of merchandise forms a load for one man, and is sus

the cold, the causes of its long duration, the method of travelling in winter, the roads and houses of that country.

The three hundred and fifty-nine pages

tained by a belt, which he places over his fore-that follow (the whole volume consists of

head.

six hundred and two) are equally rich ia information, especially that which relates to the Americans in general, the Iroquois, the Mexicans, Caraibs, Brazilians, and the Peruvian empire. The last chapter contains an interesting dissertation on the origin of language, in which our author

"The period of engagement for the clerks is five or seven years, during which the whole of the pay of each is no more than one hundred pounds, together with clothing and board. When the term of indenture is expired, a clerk is either admitted to a share in the company, or has a salary of from one hundred to three hundred pounds per annum, until an oppor-proves that Indian tongues may be arranged tunity of a more ample provision presents itself.

"The guides, who perform likewise the functions of interpreters, receive, besides a

quantity of goods, a salary of about eighty five pounds per annum. The foremen and steersmen, who winter, have about fifty pounds sterling; and they who are termed the middle men in the canoes, have about eighteen pounds sterling per annum, with their clothing and maintenance.

"The number of people usually employed in the north-west trade, and in pay of the company, amounts, exclusive of savages, to twelve hundred and seventy or eighty men, fifty of whom are clerks, eleven hundred and twenty are canoe men, and thirty-five are guides.

"The beaver- skin is, among the savages, the medium of barter; and teu beaver-skins are given for a gun, one for a pound of powder, and one for two pounds of glass beads. Two martin-skins are equal in value to one beaverskin, and two beaver to one otter-skin."

under rules of grammar, and gives speci mens of four different languages. As we are compelled to pass through such a wide and teeming field without gathering any portion of the wealth it contains, we may

be allowed, at the end of our journey to snatch the last opportunity of plucking some instruction, before we bid it a reluctant adieu. We will, therefore, select some of the examples from the Algonquin language.

Abac winikan
Abinont-chen
Alouin
Amik

Alim
Awoité
Alimouse

Agackouet
Agackoueton
Alisanape

Ante, or Sankema
Assin

Arimá

Babelouchins
Chayé
Chiman
Chimaniké
Dibie kijis
Dibikat
Entayank
Emanda

Gaomink

The brain.
Infant.
A ball.
A beaver.
A dog.
That way.

A little dog.

A large hatchet.
A small hatchet.
Man.

Yes, yes, indeed.

A stone.

It is of consequence.
Children.

It is done.

A canoe.

To build boats or canoes
The moon.

Night.
It is I.

Lay hold.

On the other side.

The following chapter is filled with matter of the highest interest; and we are sorry to be obliged to withhold the inforImation which it contains from our readers, but want of room will not allow us to insert more than the heads of it. It treats of the former state of colonial government the introduction of the criminal code of England-the Quebec bill-the new constitution-gives a sketch of that system-of the division of Canada into Ickoue, or Ickquois Woman. provinces, and of these into counties.It lays before us the advantages of Canadian settlers, the state of society, the manners and character of the inhabitants, or landholders, the mode of clearing lands, the acquisition of property, the seigneuries, the various produce of soils, and their cultivation. From thence it leads us to Upper Canada, and gives us an account of

Ickouessens
Trini

In

Inini

A girl.
Nation, tribe, people.

Yes.
Map.

This dictionary of the Algonquin tongue contains an immense number of words, with their signification, to which we refer

our readers.

After perusing the foregoing extracts,