e within the dominions
of the Queen. It drains an area of about 80,000 square miles, and
receives at various points in its course the waters of streams, some
of which equal in magnitude the chief rivers of Great Britain. These
streams open up to the enterprise of the lumberman the almost
inexhaustible pine forests with which this region is clothed, and
afford the means of transporting their produce to market. In improving
these natural advantages considerable sums are expended by private
individuals. L50,000 currency was voted by Parliament last session for
the purpose of removing certain obstacles to the navigation of the
Upper Ottawa, by the construction of a canal at a point which is now
obstructed by rapids.

[Sidenote: Demand for labour.]

From the nature of the business, the lumbering trade falls necessarily
in a great measure into the hands of persons of capital, who employ
large bodies of men at points far removed from markets, and who are
therefore called upon to make considerable advances in providing food
and necessaries for their labourers, as well as in building slides and
otherwise facilitating the passage of timber along the streams and
rivers. Many thousands of men are employed during the winter in these
remote forests, preparing the timber which is transported during the
summer in rafts, or, if sawn, in boats, to Quebec when destined for
England, and up the Richelieu River when intended for the United
States. It is a most interesting fact, both in a moral and hygienic
view, that for some years past intoxicating liquors have been
rigorously excluded from almost all the chantiers, as the dwellings of
the lumbermen in these distant regions are styled; and that,
notwithstanding the exposure of the men to cold during the winter and
wet in the spring, the result of the experiment has been entirely
satisfactory.

The bearing of the lumbering business on the settlement of the country
is a point well worthy of notice. The farmer who undertakes to
cultivate unreclaimed land in new countries, generally finds that not
only does every step of advance which he makes in the wilderness, by
removing him from the centres of trade and civilisation, enhance the
cost of all he has to purchase, but that, moreover, it diminishes the
value of what he has to sell. It is not so, however, w