thorities. In the Maritime Provinces the
system worked better, and when the railway came these provinces
possessed a good network of great roads and by-roads, without a single
toll-gate. With the passing of the Joint Stock Act by the Canadian
{19} legislature in 1849, toll-road companies were freely organized,
and many of the leading roads were sold by the government to these
private corporations, and without question their operations brought
marked improvement for a time.

To realize more concretely the mode of travelling before the railway
came, let us make the journey, say, from Quebec to Toronto, at three
different periods, in 1800, in 1830, and in 1850.

'In no part of North America,' wrote an experienced traveller just at
the close of the eighteenth century, 'can a traveller proceed so
commodiously as along the road from Quebec to Montreal.'[1] A posting
service had been established which could fairly be compared with
European standards. At regular intervals along the road the traveller
found post-houses, where the post-master kept four vehicles in
readiness: in summer the caleche, a one-horse chaise built for two
passengers, with a footboard seat for the driver and with the body hung
by broad leather straps or thongs of bull's hide; in winter the
carriole, or sledge, with or without {20} covered top, also holding two
passengers and a driver. The drivers were bound to make two leagues an
hour over the indifferent roads, and in midwinter and midsummer the
dexterous, talkative, good-humoured driver, or _marche-donc_, usually
exceeded this rate for most of the journey of three days. From
Montreal onward no one travelled in winter except an occasional Indian
messenger. Even in summer few thought of going by land, though some
half-broken trails stretched westward. The river was the king's
highway. The summer traveller at once purchased the equipment needed
for a week's river journey--tent, buffalo-skins, cooking utensils, meat
and drink--and secured passage on board one of the bateaux which went
up the river at irregular intervals in brigades of half a dozen. The
bateau was a large flat-bottomed boat, built sharp both at bow and
stern, with movable mast, square sail, and cross benches for the crew
of five or six. Sometimes an awning or small cabin provided shelter.
In still water or light current the French-Canadian crew--always merry,
sometimes sober, singing their voyageur songs, halting regularly for
th