Echoes from the backwoods; or, Sketches of transatlantic life

Front matter

i the estate of

J. Stuart Fleming

ECHOES

Preface

to add his mite to the general stock, and to serve, to the best of his ability, a colony of whose capabilities and resources he has the highest opinion, and of which his recollections are most agreeable.

To the sportsman it may not be amiss to mention its having recently been ascertained that the rivers on the northern side of New Brunswick, which flow into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, abound with salmon, and offer every facility for fly-fishing, fully equal to that found in Norway. The best season to pursue this sport in New Brunswick is from the middle of July to the middle of September; after which there is a succession of snipe, woodcock, and wild-fowl shooting of every description on the coast, until the setting in of winter compels the birds to migrate to a more southern clime.

The regularity and certainty with which the Cunard steamers now cross the Atlantic would enable the sportsman to reach this region in fifteen days from London. He may fish and

PREFACE.

vii

shoot, ascend the mighty St. Lawrence, visit the Lakes, look upon “ The Thunder of the Waters,”^ close his autumnal tour with a run through the United States, visit the principal Atlantic cities, and be at the meet ” at Kirby Gate.

The far West, too, might be reached by a slight extension of time, and although the spirit of Davy Crockett exists there still, that hero would be found to have departed. — He fell gallantly fighting at the storming of the Alamo, in Mexico, and was found dead within the walls, with six enemies whom he had slain lying around him. Innumerable as are the stories arising out of the “Sayings and Doings” of Davy Crockett, which circulate in the United States, one which relates to his introduction into society at Washington would seem worth presenting to the reader.

Davy was invited, with other members of Congress, to dine at the White House with

* The literal meaning of the word Niagara.

Vlll

PREFACE.

General Jackson, then President of the United States, and amongst other good things with which he was regaled on that occasion was champagne, to which Crockett was a stranger. He was told that it was northern cider. Davy imbibed it freely. On calling for a fresh supply, he was presented with a plate of olives, a handful of which, supposing them to be pickles, he grasped, and commenced munching ; disgusted with the flavour, he began spluttering and spitting them forth, jumped upon his feet, and shouted high over all the din to GeneralJackson at the other end of the table, Gin’ral ! gin’ral ! I like your cider — I like your cider, gin’ral ! — but curse your little pickles !”

The Author trusts that if the Public find in these volumes any “cider” which may be to their fancy, they will, in consideration, excuse the “little pickles.”

London, May, 1847.

PREFACE.

It is much to be regretted, by every one who has at heart the promotion of British prosperity, that the province of New Brunswick should be so little known in England ; that a colony containing many millions of acres of excellent land, magnificent rivers, inexhaustible mineral wealth, and most extensive coal-fields, should be passed over as unheeded as if it belonged not to the British empire. Even in Parliament the advantages of emigration to Canada or the United States are frequently expatiated upon in glowing and persuasive terms, but very rarely is any notice taken of New Brunswick.

VI

PREFACE.

Owing to the diffusion of information, bymeans of numerous publications respecting our other northern colonies, the stream of emigration has been directed that way ; so that, though some thousands who have left their homes in the Old World in search of new abodes annually find their way to the shores of this our nearest colony, yet few, and those of the most indigent class only, remain. In Canada, moreover, where public works have been of late years carried on, the government and private companies have held out strong inducement to emigrants by assisting them to procure lands ; while the great public enterprises continually going on in the United States attract the great majority of the labouring classes, especially Irish, who eventually become settlers.

In none of our colonies does the a^ricultural settler find so many advantages as in

PREFACE.

vii

New Brunswick. In the counties of Gloucester and Restigouche, the most northern parts of the province, have been grown excellent crops of wheat ; and scarcely an instance can be adduced in which the crop of grain of any kind has failed ; whilst, in the production of potatoes and other nutritious roots, New Brunswick cannot be excelled.

Lord Sydenham, in a letter to Lord John Russell, which accompanied his Report on Emigration to Upper Canada, observes : — Give me yeomen, with a few hundred pounds each, who will buy cleared farms, not throw themselves into the Bush, and I will ensure them comforts and independence at the end of a couple of years — pigs, pork, flour, potatoes, horses to ride, cows to milk, but you must eat all you produce, for devil a purchaser is to be found : however, the man’s wants are supplied and those of his via

PREFACE.

family; he has no rent or taxes to pay, and he ought to be satisfied.”

So said Lord Sydenham of Canada ; and all this is true in regard to New Brunswick, with this essential and striking difference, that in New Brunswick there is a market, and a man may not only supply his own wants and those of his family, but actually accumulate money from the sale of his surplus produce. And, above all, nowhere are the liberties so dear to Englishmen to be enjoyed in a higher degree than in this province. It is therefore to be hoped that the time is not far distant when a spur shall be given to enterprise ; when the tide of emigration, instead of flowing through this magnificent colony, shall be arrested in its course ; when mining and manufactures shall give employment to thousands of workmen, who, from the lack of such sources in

PREFACE.

IX our own colonies, are forced to seek them in the United States.

In placing before the public these volumes, the author takes leave to premise that, favourable as may appear to be the picture which he draws of New Brunswick, he has no schemes of speculators or adventurers to second, neither is he biassed by any motive of personal interest ; in one or other of which too many works of this nature have originated. His main object has been to present facts and information derived chiefly from his own observation, particularly of a kind likely to prove useful to persons intending to settle in the country of which he treats.

Subjects of less important interest have not been omitted; and he flatters himself that the sportsman in his own chimneycorner in Old England will be gratified, at least, if not ' warmed, by his account of the

X

PREFACE.

opportunities afforded in New Brunswick for the display of skill and dexterity in exercises in which it may never be his lot to participate.

Information concerning the haunts of game in North America is often not to be obtained at all, and, if so, often not to be relied on. It frequently happens, therefore, that, after hard fagging, and great perseverance, just as the sportsman is obliged to leave the country, he then, and not till then, discovers their favourite resorts. Many hints collected from the Indians, from personal experience in the pursuit of deer and other game, of fish and fishing, and of what is termed wood-craft, are offered to such sportsmen whom accident, inclination, or duty may lead to the New World.

If Brother Jonathan should feel rather sore about the sketches of himself and his

PREFACE.

XI hopeful progeny introduced into these volumes, I can assure him in all sincerity that, if I have nothing extenuated, still less have I been prompted by the national antipathy too prevalent on his side of the Atlantic to set down aught in malice.”

To the kindness of Mr. Perley I am indebted for some particulars concerning the remnants of the two Indian tribes still resident in New Brunswick, and for much statistical information; This gentleman is a descendant of that Isaac Perley who first explored the St. John : he is the head of all enterprise in the colony. Government Emigration Agent, and last, but not least, Wunjeet Sagamore, or head Chief of the Micmacs.

London, June, 1846.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. L

1. The Air Hole

2. Moose run down ^ -

3. Salmon 'Spearing by Torchlight

VOL. n.

1 . Caraboo showing Fight

2. War-dance, Wisconsin

3. “ Treeing” a Bear

Frontispiece, - 160 186

Frontispiece, - 190

OP

THE FIRST VOLUME.

Preface . . . v

Chapter I

Voyage out. — The Transport Service — Military Life in Country Quarters — Voyage across the Atlantic — Dense Fogs — ^Banks of Newfoundland — ^Forests of the New World — “The Maid of the Mist” — River St. John . 1

Chapter II

New Brunswick — Hints for Emigrants. — First settlement of the Province — General description — Government — ^Boundary question—Rivers — “ The Stone Wigwam” — > Wooden Bridge — ^Fish — ^Waterfowl — The Bore — ^Mineral Productions — Whal es — Cod — Mines — Divining Rod — Measures . . . . . .12

Chapter III

New Brunswick — continued. — Towns — Labrador dogs — Horse-dealing — Cohbett — Agent for “Morrison’s

XIV

Contents

pills” — A fire — Amusing incident — Climate — Lumber, hard and soft wood — Below Nero — Effects of frost — Skating — Sleighing — Coasting — Sleigh Club — Corn-bin extraordinary— Perilous situation . . .57

Chapter IV

Of the Milicete and Micmac Indians. — Origin of the Indians, a Quere — Fossil remains — Mr. Gesner — Micmacs, or “ Salt-water” Indians — Boundary between them and the Milicete — Render homage to the Iroquois — Council fire still burns — Their Totems — Language — Papoose — ^Wigwams — Snow-shoes — Patterns — Old J ohn and Cockney . . . . .94

Chapter V

Kew Brunswick. — Op the Birds and Beasts. — Passenger Pigeons — ^Wild and Water fowl — Novel way of gunning — Genus Tetrao — Birch and Spruce Partridge — Humming-birds — ^Wax-bird — Soiree of Owls — Luctfees — Skunk — Wild Cat — Novel mode of catching Wolves — Musk-rat — ^Porcupine — Hares — ^Bears and Chimneys — A sound sleeper — The Governor gammoned . .127

Chapter VI

New Brunswick. — Of the Deer and Woodcraft. — Moose — Cervus Hibernicus, not Antediluvian — Caraboo — Accidents “ will happen” — ^Virginian Deer — Toggery for the Woods — Snow-Shoes — “ Mai a la raquette” prevented — Hints — ^Woodcraft — Lose way — ^Escape being frozen 159

CONTENTS.

XV

Chapter VII

New Brunswick. — Of the Fish and Fishing.— Salmon-spearing — Sturgeon and Molly Greenbaize — Shad — Gaspereaux — Bass — Flies — The Curry- Curry, gaudy and large, the best for North American waters — Matty Blake and the “ YollyBuff” — Receipts for dying — ^Mosquito mixture ...... 184

Chapter VIII

Nova Scotia. — A Fortnight in Bush.— The Start — Annapolis — Micmac Village — Flappers — Trout — Lakes — Rivers — Still Waters — Tracks — Moose — The Death — Potatoes — Indigestion — Turtle — Lampreys — Stone Pipes — Calling the Moose — Emperor of China . .209

Chapter IX

A Race through the United States. — Star-bespangled banner — Flying Artillery — Crimping System — Table d’Hotes — Whales and Peas — Mercantile Fowls — Sea Speculations — Sky-blue — Yankee’s Shaving — Frigid Baptists— Canals — Ontario . . . .231

Appendix

Hints to Emigrants. From Mr. Gesner’s Reports on New Brunswick ..... 263

Average Retail^ Prices of Provisions and Clothing in New Brunswick . . • . . 268

XVI

CONTENTS.

Average Wages of Mechanics and others in New

Brunswick ..... 269

Of Immigration to New Brunswick . . 270

Prices of Agricultural Produce, Farming Stock, and implements of Husbandry in New Brunswick . 271

On the present state of New Brunswick in reference to a proposed Line of Railway . . . 272

On the Trees of New Brunswick . . . 280

On the Forest Trees of New Brunswick. Substance of a Lecture delivered by M. H. Perley, Esq. . . 289

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

Chapter X

A Race through the United States continued. — Have you ever seen Buffalo? — Cranberries out of Season— Antidote against Travelling-Illness — Higb -pressure in a Stage — Davy Crockett — Economical dress for Jockeys — Mesmerising Deer — Lynch Law — Captain Harris’s Soiree — Possums — Red River — Six Feet and a half . 1

Chapter XI

A Race through the United States continued. — Slave chase — Departure for the Prairies — Advantages of a corduroy road — ^Woodpeckers — How alligators like “ chicken-fixens,” and how we had to put up with “common doings” — An Indian hanging — ’Possuming — Atchafalaya — Mississippi — New Orleans — Triumphs — Battle ground — St. Rosa Sound — Independent post — Railway improvements ' . . . . 40 iv

CONTENTS.

Chapter XII

A Race through the United States continued. — Avoid the Swamp — An extra Passenger — Canvass-backed Ducks — Mint Julep — Spinning-knives — Mammoth Oysters — Military Umbrellas and Cavalry — Fine Arts — Receipt for a fine Head of Hair — The Apollo at a Discount ..... 67

Chapter XIII

The Atlantic — A Winter’s Passage. — Bad Weather— Good Living — Thunder and Lightning — Lobsters out of their Element — The Duke of York’s Friend ; his Life saved at the Coa — Difficulty of Steering the Samuel Walker — Liberality of American Custom Houses — Harassing Journey . . . .87

Chapter XIV

Of the Outbreak in Lower Canada. — Symptoms of rebellion- — Sons of Liberty — Attacks on St. Dennis and St. Charles — Rebel leaders desert their men — Regiments ordered from Nfew Brunswick — The passage of the Portage of the Madawaska — Dresses of the officers — Reception of the 43rd Light Infantry by the Inhabitants of Quebec — Cahots — Breaking-up of the Sea — Montreal 107

Chapter XV

Upper Canada — Niagara. — Leave Montreal for Upper Canada — Niagara — The Falls in Winter — Clothing-Mammoth Icicles — Governor’s Feed — The Lady from Troy — Hanging Match — Benito Soto . 124

CONTENTS.

V

Chapter XVI

Upper Canada — Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan. — American “ Gunners ” — An excursion planned — “ Cutting out ” of the Caroline — Murder of Captain Usher — Navy Island — Detroit Landlord — Sporting friends — Woodcocks — The St. Clair — Lake Huron — Mackinaw Indians — Manitou — Going to the Infernal Regions — Chicago 151

Chapter XVII

Second Outbreak in Lower Canada, in 1838.— Attack on Beauharnois — Capture of the Henry Brougham — Gallant conduct of the Iroquois at Caughnawaga — The Volunteers at Odelltown — The Windmill affair at Prescot ..... 178

Chapter XVIII

Prairies of Illinois. — The Prairies a vast flower-garden — Strawberries — The soil alluvial, or wet Prairies — Dry Prairies — Of the Game — Indians —Big Thunder— The Starved Rock — Indian Mounds — Prairie Hens — Cure of Ague — Amherstburg — Wild Turkeys — The Gobblers 189

Chapter XIX

Upper Canada — Niagara District. — Deer-stalking in the woods — Of the best kind of gun for Upper Canada — The log-hut and process of clearing the land — Waterfowl — Novel kind of card -table — Long Point — Silver and cross foxes — Singular kind of Boa — Starkey’s Museum — Racoons — Squirrels — Rifles — Black corps on skates — Long-tailed Ducks — The Bald Eagle — The wind-up 230

ECHOES

FROM

THE BACKWOODS.

Chapter I. Voyage Out

And now there came both mist and snow.

And it grew wondrous cold :

And ice, mast-high, came floating by,

As green as emerald.

Coleridge.

The Transport Service — Military Life in Country Quarters — Voyage across the Atlantic — Dense Fogs — Banks of Newfoundland — Forests of the New World — • “ The Maid of the Mist” — Eiver St. John.

In June, 1835, the transports destined to convey the left wing of a light infantry regiment to our colonies in North America had ‘‘ made its number” in the Cove of Cork. At

VOL. I.

B this time the transport service was a disgrace to the country, and, although so many men-ofwar, which might have been employed as troopships, were lying idle in our numerous dockyards, yet the comfort of the soldiers troubled not the heads of those gentlemen who sit at home at ease.” It was not sufficient that the poor devils should be ‘‘food for powder,” but that the fishes also should have their chance. A tub of a vessel, without a sailing point in her composition, was hired, and a mass of white paint, in the form of a parallelogram, smeared over her bows, the better to relieve the huge number by which she was designated. Watertanks, heaps of biscuits, barrels of pork, and but one of rum ; a pennant, an ensign, a skipper, a fat mate, and a superannuated lieutenant of the navy, by way of agent, and a most inadequate crew, were put on board, and the transport was reported fit for sea.^

^ In the month of July, 1836, the service companies of the Royal, or 1st Regiment, landed at Quebec “ after a long

THE BACKWOODS.

The service companies selected for duty in New Brunswick marched through Cork to the tune of The girls we left behind us.” The solemn vows of eternal constancy of the previous night were echoed and wafted from a hundred balconies ; but —

“ O, Nelly Gray ! O, Nelly Gray !

Is this your love so warm ?

The love that loves a scarlet coat Should be more uniform !”

We knew that a few hours would bring thither the new regiment, their band playing “ Rory O’More,” or Sich a getting upstairs,” and that the pretty faces of the Cork fair would light up, their best bonnets would be put on, first appearances being every thing.

voyage,” says Lord Charles Beauclerk in his sketch of the “ Military Operations in Canada,” rendered tedious from the crowded state of the ship. “ In a transport of eight hundred tons, seven hundred souls were huddled together, — a number greater by far than is allowed even to vessels carryingout emigrants : .and, hut for the judicious arrangements of the commanding officer, malignant disease must have been the result.”

Such is military life in country quarters, such is life everywhere ; so —

How happy’s the soldier who lives on his pay,

And spends half-a-crown out of sixpence ^ a day !

He cares not a mar’vedi ^ how the world goes,

The king finds him money, and quarters, and clothes.

With a row-de-dow, row-de-dow, &c.

The crowd and confusion of embarkation are not to be described : the squeaking of pigs, the quacking of ducks, the crowing of cocks, the din of French horns and kettle-drums, stray friends come to see the last of one, the curses and maledictions of the skipper, who was eventually obliged to be snubbed, and the firing off of soda-water corks, lasted until the old tub got under weigh in the most lubberly manner. Soldiers, as well as every thing else, shake into their places in a wonderfully short time ; one-third of the number are always upon deck, and are called the

1 Sixpence was the daily pay of a British soldier previously to 1792.

2 Maravedi, a small Spanish coin of the value of about a farthing.

THE BACKWOODS.

watch — not that they are employed as such, but there is room only for two-thirds below. Sea-sickness was urged by many of the officers as a reason why they were not “in force;” but sundry three-cornered billets, delivered to the last weather-beaten and amphibious-looking fisher for haddocks, who boarded us when off Cape Clear, and the strict injunctions overheard as to committing them to the first post-office, induced a suspicion that to the sea could not be imputed all the sickness on board. A breeze sprung up, and, as the Emerald isle receded from view, we turned our backs upon our homes, our hunting, and our loves.

A voyage across the Atlantic, even in the best of weathers, muse necessarily be a bore : calms for days ; fogs, as thick as that in which the Cockney found himself enveloped when steering down Father Thames, and who requested an old tar to let him know “ when they were off the Nore, for that he was very anxious to ' see where the mutiny had taken place.”

‘‘ You are this moment abreast of it,” quoth Jack ; “ hut it is so thick I cannot point out the Mutiny r

These fogs wet us to the skin as effectually as the heaviest rain, and, to use a sailor’s phrase, you might almost cut them with a knife.” Occasionally we signalized vessels, which in return telegraphed that they should be happy to take our letters ; an insult which had no sort of effect in hurrying our sulky skipper. It was no object to him to make a quick passage ; mais^ au contraire, the longer he contrived to remain at sea (thanks to the authorities) the more pay he received. What little sail we carried was shortened at night ; and, as the fat mate generally contrived to sleep well through his watch, no advantage was taken of a shift of wind.

After five weeks, we were on the banks of Newfoundland ; got soundings, but no cod ; tried to surprise turtle dozing, which proved to be wide awake ; fired at whales, and got disagreeably near to icebergs-. However, at

THE BACKWOODS.

the end of six weeks, in spite of calms, fogs, and the sleepy mate, seas of floating kelpweed and strong tides were met with — certain symptoms of being in or near the Bay of Fundy — and all hands looked anxiously for land. There was a dense fog ; I was on deck in charge of the watch ; one of the men came and reported that he saw a light, and pointed out the direction. I could not see it, but roused the fat mate, who sent men aloft, and exerted himself so far as to climb to the mizen cross-trees. I called the watch — no one could see it. The man was laughed at, but persisted in saying he distinctly saw it ; he could not be drunk, for there was not the wherewithal to get so on board. Next morning’s light found us close off Bryar’s Island : this man had seen the light upon it, although invisible to sixty others.

Owing to strong tides and the prevalence of fogs, the navigation of the Bay of Fundy is ticklish in the extreme, and we felt our way by the deep sea-lead. When in stays, a large ship, unperceived until then, passed so close under our stern that a biscuit might have been thrown on her deck. She was a transport, having on board the regiment which we were going to relieve : three cheers were hardly given and returned before she was lost to sight. The fog cleared up soon afterwards, and the black masses of the pine forests of the New World opened upon us, stretching away in continued lines, until lost in distant perspective.

The first view of land, after the monotonous combination of two elements for six weeks, is exhilarating : the first sight of the primeval forests of the New World was sublime ; surely such a view as this would have awakened to the power of nature even that lady’s-maid who, when passing the magnificent scenery of the Via Mala, asked — from the ‘‘ rumble tumble ” — Lor, how do they manage to plant trees in such frightful places as them there?”

On rounding a headland, the view of St.

THE BACKWOODS.

John’s broke suddenly upon us, and, from the distance, it appeared placed, as it were, in a large gap, hacked out of the Bush.” When abreast of Partridge Island, the anchor was dropped, and the transport swung to her moorings, until leave from the authorities was granted for our disembarkation. Soon after, the Maid of the Mist ” — a most appropriate name for a steamer navigating the Bay of Fundy — came alongside, and carried off a subaltern and twenty-five men to St. Andrew’s, where they were to remain on detachment.

We were now within a couple of miles of the town, the largest in the province of New Brunswick. The rocky promontory upon which it stands rises from the water’ on all sides, and the wooden houses piled up on a series of landings give it the appearance of a fabrication made with cards to amuse children, the summit being crowned with steeples and the spires of many churches ; while the base, fringed with a forest of masts, and huge ves-

B 5 sels on the stocks, proclaimed the commercial prosperity of the place, and presented a not unpleasing picture to our land-expecting eyes. All hands began peering through the telescopes, in hopes of getting a sight of ‘‘ what like ” were the natives among whom we expected to pass the better part of three years ; and the flutter of a petticoat, or the appearance of a straw bonnet, was sufficient attraction to draw all the glasses to that spot. The head-quarters of the regiment had arrived a week earlier, and had been ordered up the river St. John to Fredericton. It was our fate to occupy the town before us. Permission having at length arrived, we were disembarked, and marched to a range of barracks pleasantly situated on a rocky promontory jutting into the harbour, and commanding the entrance of the river. No sooner had we stowed away our men than a party of us ‘‘ Subs” rushed down into the town, hardly checking our pace to stare at some squaws

THE BACKWOODS.

and their papooses ; nor did we stop until we arrived at a confectioner’s, and obtained enormous bowls of the most delicious woodstrawberries and cream. We had just landed from a long sea-vojage; the thermometer stood at 85° in the shade ; in addition to which, the woods, being on fire, made the atmosphere close and sultry ; while the excitement of landing, and the bustle of putting up the men, concurred to render this the most grateful feast I ever remember to have enjoyed, and such a contrast to our ship fare, that the gluttony of the proceeding must be pardoned.

Chapter II. New Brunswick — Hints For Emigrants

Warm and buoyant, in his oily mail,

Gambols on seas of ice th’ unwieldy whale ;

Wide waving fins round floating islands urge His bulk gigantic through the troubled surge ;

With hideous yawn, the flying shoals he seeks.

Or clasps with fringe of horn his massy cheeks ;

Lifts o’er the tossing wave his nostrils bare.

And spouts the wat’ry columns into air :

The silvery arches catch the setting beams.

And transient rainbows tremble o’er the streams.

Darwin.

First settlement of the Province — General description — Government — Boundary question — Rivers — “ The Stone Wigwam” — Wooden Bridge — Fish — Waterfowl — The Bore — Mineral Productions — Whal es — Cod — Mines — Divining Rod — Measures.

Those acquainted with the history of America will no doubt remember the expedition for the discovery of heathen countries, fitted out by Henry VII., the command of

THE BACKWOODS.

which was intrusted to Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian adventurer residing in Bristol. In March, 1495, Cabot sailed from Bristol with a small fleet, and, proceeding in a due westerly course for some weeks, discovered a large island, which his sailors named Newfoundland. Thence, continuing his westerly course, he soon fell in with another island, (now known as Prince Edward’s Island) from which he brought off three of the natives, who conducted him across to the mainland of North America, on which he first landed in July, 1495, somewhere between Richibucto and Miramichi, on the northern shore of New Brunswick. This was the first landino' on

O

the continent of America, for it will be remembered that Columbus did not reach the mainland until 1498.

The English paid little attention to Cabot’s discovery, but the French very soon frequented the Gulf of St. Lawrence in great numbers, attracted by. the excellence and extent of the fisheries. The first permanent fishing stations were established about 1530, within the Gulf. In 1604, an expedition sailed from France under the Sieur Des Monts, and that expedition discovered the Bay of Fundy, and the principal river of New Brunswick, the St. John, so called from its having been first entered on St. John’s Day (S4th June) 1604. The party of Des Monts founded Annapolis, and various fishing and trading ports were established in its vicinity. In 1625, a patent was granted by Charles I. to Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, of nearly the whole of British America, and a large portion of the Northern States of the Union. Sir William made some few settlements, which existed for a short time, while various French adventurers were possessing themselves of the country, under grants from the crown of France. A constant warfare was kept up between the several settlers and claimants, until the whole country was ceded to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667.