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Show TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: or fi1 x 11 0Ll1rC S are t b c 1r•0 011 ' :•m d beyond theft: there is .n o fcttl.e ment be-fide tl at on Stoneham town(hip, the one under im~nt:cha~e. not1cc. (' · · "t t!n arnv1ng.. 1c lJ.I< ' we· .fi t1nd two cano<.:s 111 w:11tmg for us, and em b 11 I ~·d n board. Lake St. Charles is about our miles and a halfin length, and its breadth 011 an average about three quarters of a mile. .It confi 1ls of two bodies of water nearly of the fam'~ !izc; they commn111 ate tog ther by a ~arrow pa[s, throu gh whi ·h a f111art cuiTl'n.t fct .· toW;lr.d ucb..:c. The 1cenery along the lower part of the lJ.kc 1S unlllterdhng, but along the upper pnrt f it the view are highly pidnrcfquc, particularly upo~1 a fir.fl: entrance through the paD·. The lake is here intcrfperfc 1 wtth large rocks; and clo(e to the w~1ter on one fide, a ftr :1s the eye can r ach, rocks and trees appear blemled together in the mort b :mtiful manner. 'I he !hores nrc bold, and richly ornmnented with hanging woods; and the head of the lake being concealed from the view by fcveral little 1 romontories, yon arc led to imagine that the body of wat r is far more cxtcnfive than in reality. Towards the upp r en i the view is terminated by a range of blue hill, which appear at a difl:ance, f cepin over th • top of the tall trees. When a few fettlements come to be made here, open to the lake, for the land bordering upon it is quite in it JJJ.tural fiate, this mu.fl: indeed be a heavenly little fpot. The depth of the water in the lake is about eight fc t, in fome places more, in others lcfs. The water is clear, and as fcvcral fmall ftrcam fall into it to fupply what run off by the River t. Charles, it i kept confbntly in a flate f circul::ttion; but it is not wc11 ufic I, owing as is conceived to the bottom being in fome parts ovcr,rrown \VI h weeds. Prodigious numbers of bull frog,, however, arc fo tnd about the fh.orcs, which {hews that fprings of good W<ttcr abound ncar it, for thcfc creatures arc never met with but where the water i of a good quality. At the upper part of the lake we landed, and having proc..n.(Ld for about half a mile over fomc low ground bare of trees, from bt ing annually flo ded on the difiolution of the fnow, we fl:ruck into the woods. llcre a road newly cut foon attraClcd our attention, and follo ving the 4 courfc S T 0 N E HAM TOWNSHIP. courfc of it for a mile or two, we at b.fl: dpied, through a fnddm 0~, n-ing betwe n the tree , the charming !itt c ft:.ttkment . . The dwelling hem fe, a neat boarded I it tie manfion pain ted 1,11. hit l • to_ gcthcr with the o£11ccs, were fitmtLd n a fmall (mim:ncc · to the ri ~1 1 t ' .. , ' at the.: botton of the fl rJpe, fbc>tl tl c barn, the l.trge!l in nll Ctn:ldn. with a farm yard ex::1.Clly in the Englifh flyk; behind the barn vas !.1id 1t1t a. n ·at garden, at the hott m of which, over a bed of gr. vel, ran a p 111 li 11 ,~ llrcam of the purefl: water, deep enough, xcept in a very dry fc ,tfo11 , to float a large anoe. A. fmall lawn laid cl own in gra!s app<:arul in front of the ho1.1fc, ornamented with llump c f pine. , and in it~ neighbourhood were about fi xty acre of cleared lalJLl. The common method of clearing hnd in America is to grub up all the bru{hwood and fmal\ trees merely, and to ut down the Ltrgc tr 'es :1bont two feet above the ground: the n:maining Il:umps rot in from fix to tc 1 years, according to the quality of the timber; in the mean time the fanner ploughs between them the bcfi way he can, and where they arc very numerous he i fometimes obliged to ufc even the fpade or the hoc to tnrn up the foil. The lands, however, at thi fettlemcnt had heen cleared in a <.liffcrent manner, for the trees and roots had all been grubbed np at once. Thi mode of proceeding is extremely cxpenfivc, fo that few of thofc ddl.itJccl to make new fettlcmc nts could afrord to adopt it; anci, moreover, it has not been accurately proved that it i the: mofl: prufi ta blt: one; hut the appearance of lands fo cleared . is great] y fu perior to thofc cleared in the common method. In another refpcCl aJ!o the lands at this fcttlcment had been cleared in a fuperior manner to what is commonly to be met with in America ; f<>r la.rge clumps of trees w 're ldt adjoining to the houCe, and each field was encircled with wood, whereby the crops were fecured fr m the b;ld effi,C.ts of fiorms. The appe.trance of cnltiv;ttcd fldds titus fituatcd, as it were, in the midfl: fa ford!:, was inconceivably be.tutiful. The economy of this little f.u·m equalled its beauty. The fields, neatly fenced in and furnifb ~d with h:wdfome gates, Ll'l' cultivated according to the Norfolk fy!l:em of hufl>andry, ami h:td h.:eu brt>ught tt> yield the mofr plentiful crops of every different fort of grain; the rmll I i 2 yard |