and hazy weather in the day, as well as its light at night; and if there was a great gun to be fired, or a bell to be rung at intervals in foggy weather, it would show its position, and enable a ship to shape her course accordingly. The want of this I have no doubt has been the cause of many shipwrecks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, south coast of Newfoundland, and Cape Breton Island, together with the extreme inaccuracy of the latitudes and longitudes of the different headlands, which has been proved by minute astronomical as well as chronometrical observations made on the spot at the respective headlands under your orders. "I have the honour to be,

"To Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Ogle, Bart. "Commander-in-Chief, &c. &c. &c."

"&c. &c.

"JOHN JONES,

"Master H. M. S. Hussar."

"The Island of St. Paul, according to the most correct accounts that have been procured, lies in a direction north 73° east by the magnet, or north 52° east, true, from Cape North, the north-east point of the island of Cape Breton, distance ten miles to the southern extremity, being in length about a mile and a quarter from north to south, and inclining to the eastward at the north end; and in average breadth about a quarter of a mile. The margin is rocky and precipitous nearly all round, indented on the north-east and north-west sides by two coves, in both of which boats may obtain shelter during the prevalence of certain winds. The cove on the north-west side affords a small and bold beach, about 150 feet long, where a landing may be effected, but generally with difficulty, by reason of the continual swell of the ocean. The interior of the island rises into three hills, the highest being nearly in the centre, and terminating in a square summit of about fifty feet on each side, and nearly perpendicular, which is estimated to be about 258 feet above the level of the sea. The surface of the island is in general rocky, with some spots of marsh or bog, which probably supply the fresh water found issuing from the rock. Stunted fir and white birch trees are the only products of the island, but some drift wood may be picked up. It is not known what animals, if any, inhabit the place.

VOL. II.

N

"There is good anchorage all round the island, and close in shore, which circumstance enables vessels to lie there with any winds by shifting their stations as the wind and weather require-a mode practised by the privateers of the United States during the last wars. There are tolerably regular soundings off the north-west side, at the distance of half or three quarters of a mile; on the north-east side a bank lies off about three quarters of a mile, with from seven to eight fathoms of water. The general depth of the soundings round the island, half a mile from the shore, is from twenty to forty, but the water soon deepens to one hundred fathoms. The current runs generally about four miles an hour, about south-south-east. There is a plentiful fishery of cod and mackarel round the coast of the island, and also an abundance of seals.

"The situation of this island, in the very entrance of the great thoroughfare leading from the Atlantic to the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, together with the abrupt nature of its shore and the depth of the sea around, admitting a ship to run her jib boom against the cliff before she strikes the bottom; the frequent fogs and tempestuous weather; the uncertain currents; and, at the opening of the navigation of the St. Lawrence, the large bodies of ice; all these circumstances combine with the inaccuracy of many of the charts in general use, to render the island of St. Paul probably the most dangerous to shipping that is to be found on the coast of British America. It has been the scene of innumerable wrecks since the first settlement of the colonies, many, perhaps most of which, are only told by the relics strewed upon the rocks. So constant are these disasters, that it is the custom of the inhabitants of Cheticamp (a French settlement on the north-west coast of Cape Breton) to visit the island regularly every spring for the purpose of collecting the spoil. Human bones are to be seen scattered in various parts, and very lately fourteen large anchors were counted lying at the bottom of the sea near the shore. The destruction of life and property on this fatal spot has been incalculable. For the future it might doubtless be prevented, in great measure, by the erection of a light-house, provided with a great gun or a gong, to be used in foggy weather. The central eminence, already mentioned, appears to be the best site for this purpose. Stone

may of course be procured in abundance on the island, but timber, and probably lime, with all other materials, must be imported, and can be supplied from Cape Breton.

"The following vessels have been ascertained to be among the number that of late years have met their fate on St. Paul's Island:

"Not many years ago a transport, full of soldiers and their families, struck on St. Paul's, and went down; the bodies floated into all the harbours along the north-east coast of Cape Breton. Two hundred perished.

"Sydney, Cape Breton, 23d June, 1829.

"(True Copy) J. LAMBLY, H. M. "Quebec, August 19th, 1829."

CHAPTER VIII.

NEW BRUNSWICK-The Territory on the Banks of St. John's--Madawaska Settlements -York-Sunbury-Queen's County-King's-St. John's City and County-Harbours, Roads.

THIS Province is situated between the parallels of latitude 45° 5′′ and 48° 4′ 30′′ north, and between 63° 47′ 30′′ and 67° 53′ of longitude west from the meridián of Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by the Bay of Chaleurs, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and by the river Ristigouche, which in its whole course from its source to its estuary in that bay, divides the province on the north from the county of Bonaventure, in Lower Canada: on the south by the bay of Fundy and Chignecto, which indenting from the Atlantic, separate it from Nova Scotia, Cumberland Basin, a deep inlet from the latter bay, and by the boundary line drawn from Fort Cumberland to Bay Verte, in Northumberland Straits, which separates the county of Westmoreland in this province from that of Amherst in Nova Scotia. Its eastern boundary being Northumberland Strait, which flows between it and Prince Edward's Island, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence: its eastern limit, commencing at Passamaquoddy Bay, is the river Scodie or St. Croix, the river Chiputnetikooh flowing into the former, and a chain of lakes, the principal of which is termed Grand Lake, extending north-westerly to the source of the Chiputnetikooh, thence by the boundary line separating it from the United States' province of Maino, and from Lower Canada. The difference between the British and American commissioners as to the position of this line, the decision of the King of the Netherlands, the umpire agreed to, and the considerations enforcing the view of the British commissioners, have been amply treated of in an earlier part of this work, and therefore require no further mention in this place. To this province also pertain the islands in the Bay of Fundy as far south as the 44° 36′ of latitude north,