The New Hampshire Gazette Newspaper, July 24, 1761, Page 1

| 'BRIDAY, JULY 24. 176r: New-Hamp A Dei'cripfidn of Canada. . f} ,'mNAD a Colony in North Americs, : belong™d to the French before the preient (3 ‘f__ war. Itisreported, in order to account T BEB IR for che etymology of the word ¢ Canada,’ " that the Spaniards had, long before the Prench, vifited this coalt ; but, finding no figns of any minerals, they were in a harry (o go off again; cryin out in their language, ¢ AcaNada I* that is, * There is wothing here,’ meaning the country was good for no- thing ; which words the Indians retained, and, when the French came athore, ‘cried dut ¢ Aca Nada ! Aca Nada . whieh they.took for the name of the voatiry ; {0 thatit has beea cplled Canada ever fince, « Geographers are sot agreed in fixing the limits of this large country ; butss ity extent is very confidera- ble, both in Jength and breadth, its temperatyre, foil, climate, &c. cannot but very atcordingly ; Al that part which. was inhabited by the French, asd which s mbltly along the banks of that great river St. Law- sence, is, erally fpeaking exceflive cold in wiater, thoagh imp:n femmer; ae ls':ofi: of thofe American itralls to.the northward. The reft of the country, as far s is known, is interfefted with large woods, lakes, and rivers, which render it fill colder. It has, how- #ver, no intonfidérable quantity of good fertile lands, which by experience are. found capable of producing Wheat, barley, rye, and other grain. The meadow grounds, which are all well watered, yield excellent grals, and breed great quantites of large and fmall cattle ; 4ad, where the aravle land is well maayred, it produces large and rich crops. The moun'- tains abotnd with coal mines, and fome, we are told, of filver and other materials, tho’ we have not learncd that any great advantage has been made of them. The marfhy grounds, which are likewile very extenfive, Twarm with otters, beavers, 8:c. The lakes are both large and humerons ; the prin- tipal'of which are thofe of Esie, Michigan, Superior, Huron, Frontinac or Ontario, T'emilcaming, befides others of 2 {maller fize ; but the largeft of them is that Which they naie Superior, or Upper Lake; which is fituated the fartheft north, and is reckoned above #00 leagaes in length, ‘and abont 70 where broadeft, and, hath feveral confiderable iflands on it. The -whele covntry abounds with very large rivers, avhich it s ‘endlefs to enter into a detail of ; the two principal are thofe of St. Lawreiice and the Mifiippi ? the former of which abounds with no lefsa variety than pleaty of fine fith; and reteives feveral confiderable kivers in iis conrfe. The eatrance into the bay of 8, fLawrente lies betwéen the cape de Retz on the ifland of Newfoundland, and the north cape is that called the Royal Iand, or more commbnly Cape Breton. That of the M.{ifippi, which runs throngh the greateft part ‘of the provincé of Louifiana, fiom horth to fouth, is valled By the French the river St. Louis, and by the natives Milchiflp, Mififippi, and Mefchagamifii, on accoant of the valt tratt ot ground which it overflows ¢ certain feafons 5 and by the Spaniards alfo called 18 Paliflada, from the_prodigious guantites of timber which they ferd down tipon itin floats to the fea. It s navigable above 430 leagaes up from its mouth. “T'hie fpring head of this river is ot yet fatisfallorily knéwn ; but itis certain that it difcharges itfelf into the gulph of M:xico by two branches; which form an ifland of-confiderabie length. y F Canada, in its largeit fenfe, is divided into eaftern and weltern, the former of which is commonly known by the name of Canada, or New-France, and the latter, which is.of much later difcovery, Logifiana, in honour of the late Loais X1V, The eaftern Canadacontains the following provinses, wiz. ‘Canada, propetly fo-called ; 2 Sanguenay ;3 Acedia; 4. Atrarumborg; §.New England ; 6. New- [Holiand+; 7. New Sweden ; the five latt of which have beendifmembred from it fome titiie fince ; fothat there’s but two proyinces inthiseafternCanada that be- longed to 1lve French before the prefent war, viz. Cand- «da proper and Sanguenay. iCanada properis by far'the moft confiderable ‘pro- wince of ail New - France, the farcher fubdued, the beft peopled, and thebeftcaltivated. ‘It has on the north the Terra de Lidhrador, Hudfon's Bay, and New Wales ; ‘©n the enft the great” river S¥nguenay divides it from thé provinceof Louifiana, and the Iroquois and Eteche- wmins ; as to the northern boundaries, ‘they dre not known, and mult be left to time to difcover. * This province is allowed to have greater plenty of ‘beavers, aod larger and ‘finer than any-that are bred throughout Canada. ~ Thefe, as well as the caftors, are very much valued, net only for their furs, but the lat ter for its tefticles, which from long experience have Containing the Frefbef} Advices,, § b Been found to be an’ cffications remedy apaingt feveral Silefes, efpecially of she hyfteric kind ; and accor- dirigly the ndtives carry: on 2 farge commerce of boti. his colony, before the prglert war, was faid 16 be inhabited by 80,000 Frénch, "Who lived in plenty and tranquility ; They were free Trom alf caxes, had fuil liberty to bust, fith, fcll timber for fuel or bgifldib%, @nd to Tow and plant: as méch land as they could cu tivate. Their greateft haidthip was the wipter cold, which ##there (§ exceflive, frem December till Apsil, that the greateft rivers frecze over, and the fqw lies commonly two or three feet decp on the groond, thoagh this part lies no farthes porch than from 4o to 48 degrees of latitude.. - Trois Rivieres, or Three Rivers, fo catladfrom the - three rivers which join their currents. abouc a mile:be- low it, and fall into the great one of St. Lawrence,was the capital of the French government in New Prance, and much reforted to by feveral nations, which came dowh thele rivers to it,and trade with it in various kinds of furs. The town here is {urrounded with paliifadoes, and advantageoufly fituated in the ecnter of the country, and confequently free from the incurfions of the favage Troquois. It was the refidence of the Governor, who kept a Major under him, and it has a monaftery of Re- colle@s, wha a& as Curates. It was formerly the com- won empory, where the wild natives brouget their furs, and other commodities, for {ail, before the Ea- glith feized it, and their fettlement at Montreal. The celony was again reftored in 1635, and the Monks who had fettled a mifiion there returned to it in 1673. The country about it is pleafant, and fertile in corn, fruits, &c. and has a good number of lordthips and handlome feats. ' On each fide of the river ftands a vaft number ‘of gentéel boules, fcarce a gun fhot from each other, and:the river is full of pleafure and fithing boats, which ferve for catchiog vaft quantities of fith, . " Montreal is fituated on an ifland of the {ame pame, in the river St. Lawrence, 14 leagnes long, and four wide where broadeft; and is very. fertile in ¢orn, fruits, &e. Thistown catried on a prodigious trade with the natives, whofe chiefs went firft to pay their dury to the governor, and make him lome 'pxe?;nts,_ in order to prevent the prices of the goods which they came for, being raifed to an exo/bitant height. This congourfe began about June, and fome of them came hither from places diftant ebove oo leagues ; the fair was kept slong the banks of the river; where the ratives ex- changed their commodities with the French, and cen- tinels were placed 2t proper diftances, (o prevent the diforders which might atherwile happen from fuch vatt crouds of different nations. This concourfe lafted vear three months. The natives bro’t thither all forts of fars, which they bartered for guns, powder, ball, great- coats, and other garments of French manufacture, iron end brafs work, and trinkets. : SR S Sanguenay, a province in eaftern Canada, is divided on the weft, from that properly (o called, by the river of its nge. Ithas on the porth e2ft the nation called Kileftiatr®W or Creftinacx ; on the north welt that of Efquimaux ; on the fouth eatt it is bounded by the river St. Lawrence, and on the fouth weft by that of Sanguenay, at the mouih of which is the town of the Three Rivers, before mentioned. Its extent is com- puted from this town, which is the frontier of Canadd preper, quite to the farther end of the bay called the Seven Ifles. ‘The territory and lands on each fide were found fo indifferent, thit'the colony which fet- tled at Tadoufac fuffered {o much there, that it quite difcoursged the French for a long time from fettling : but at length, upon their failing up as high as Quebec, they found fuch encouragement as vas fulliciently pra- duétive of their profperity there. This province is snuch the fame, s to its {oil, climate, and inbabitants, with Canada proper. It isremarkable, indeed, for an extraordinary plenty of maible of feveral kinds, info- much that not only the principal towns, forts, churches, and palaces, but evén the houfes of private fien, are built with-it. ‘ OUBBEC, the metropolis of all Canade, &nd an epifcopal fee, isin the latitude of 46. 33. N. and wett longitude 70. 40, It isficudted oo the confluence of the rivers St. hawrence and St. Charles, on the north fide of the former, and about 146 leagues from the fea, The haven is Jarge, and capable of containing above ‘100 fhips of the line ; and the great river whereon it ‘ftands, tho’ sbout 4 leagties wide, here contracls itfelf at once to thie'breadth-of a mile ; and it is on that ac- count that the rame of Quebec was given, which, in the ‘Algonkine Indian laoguage, it leems, fignifies a fhrinking, or growing narrower, which 18 a patiral etymolopy ewough ‘of chie name. ; The Efquimaux are one of the fierceft and_bitherto unpolifhed people in all North America, They are v NU){B. 151 TW Sfixiffinéc,tbis Parer was fidt Publifh'd, AZETTE. Foreignand Domefiich Teated on th&molt eaftern verge of it, beyond rhe river St. Lawrence, and fpread themfelver op north and ealt, into the 13rg¥ trafl ot-dand caiied Teria de Labrader, oppofite Wewfopndtrd . - ' . The lrcguois are the mo® corfiderzble, and beft kdown of aij the Indian pations in thefe paris ; they are {eated along ‘the morth fice of the lake ‘Outario, Frontinac, and alopg the river of their name, which is that which carries the waters of the !ake into the river St. Lawrence., They are bounded on the north by the nations calied Algonkiis and Outavis, and fettlemeots at and about Montreal ; on the eait 2pd {outh calt by NewEngland, NewYork, Jerfey, &¢. on the fouth by .. part of Canada proper and lake Erie,and on the well that of the Ha.o%:,‘g th:”;mfil‘ ‘bgt’w‘t%cg' thefe mhk:s, . The liinois inhabit near the river Ohio ; they live (n villages at 8 great diflance from each other, the'cur- rent of the river is moftly fouth-weft, and the current is fo fmooth-and ngreesbie, that vefiels of a corfiderable fize may fail op and down it with eafe and fafety, for a eourfe of 1 20 leagues, before it falls into that of Miffifippi. . They are great friends (o the French for having protecied them from other Indian wmation: ; and the French have deait with hovour and honefly, ard in-; violably regarded their alliances with thefe people, which indeed are the ratural ‘means to aitach them to their interet, both in refpe&t to their trade, and what they may Rill keep poffcflion of in thofe parts. .. Louifiana contains a vaft tra& of land, ard extends itfelf from north to fouth about 15 degrees, that is, from the z25th to the 4oth of north latitgde ; and from eaft to weft aboiit 10 or i1, that is, from 86 to 96 or g7a According to Le Sieur, a French writer, the northern boundaries of Louifiana may reach as far as the northen pole. certain, the Miffouri, a grest river, which gives name to a valt tract of land unknown,flowing from that point inta the Miffifippi, about 4 lezgues from its month ; fo that, if we except the fouth where the fea bounds i, all the reft muft be left uncertaih ; and fo indeed it is likely 10 remain, till preper perfons ate appointed to Tettle thofe boundaries,on the eaft with the Englith,and on the weft with the Spaniards. Till hen they will ever be lisble to difputes, and perhapsto a continual fleétuation, sccording as either of the three nations fhall have op- portuaity to enlarge their conquefls, or encroach upon their neighbgurs, : But the chief glory of Louifiana is the famous Miflifippi,in many relpe@s the fine@ river in the world 3 it is free from flioals and cataraéls,and pavigable within 6o leagues of its fource : The channél is every way deep, and the current gentle, except at a certain feafon,’ when, like the Nile, it floods. Its banks are adorn’d with a delightful variety of meadows and groves, and inhabited by almoft 200 different nations, whom the French found tra&able to their medfures. QOur Ame- rican feamen affert, that feveral of their rivers are fit to receive fhips of the largeft burthens, and have fafe and commodious harboiirs. . What renders the Miffifippi more confiderable, is @ greater number of other large and navigable riversthat sun from the eaftward and weflward, and mix at lat with its fiream. Of the firft; Monl. Defale, in the relation he prefented to Count Frontinac of his voyage on this river;, affirms there are fix or feven, each 300 leagues in length, that fall below the Hlinois ; and propofes it @s a matter of the laft importance, "that the difcovery of them fhould be carried on, to prevent the Englith of Carolina interfering with the French in their commerce with the Iudians, fince fome of thefe rivers take their rife from the Apabachian hills, not far from our fettlements in that colony, : _ The French, before the prefent war broke out, im- ported from Canada,in beaver, 75.000 I. ‘in deersking, 20,000 1. ‘in furs, 40,0001. totsl 135,000 ). The En- glith imported from North- America,in the fame articles, to the amount of go,000 |. ‘The greatadvantages gain- ed by the French from fuch a furprifing incresfe in trade, are confpicuous from the immenfe fums they draw annually from other countries, in return for gheir American produéts, as well as for their cambrics, ted, brandy, wine, and other home manufz&ures. Itis from hence that they chiefly maintained fuch plentiful fubfidies and penfions to feveral powers in Europe ; and from hence they built fhips of war, and nourithed and maintained feamen to fupply them. It is computed, that they drew from two to three mil- : Tions of pounds fierling per anoum from forcign coun- tries, in return for fugars, indigo,coffee, ginger, beaver manufaflured into bats, falt'fith, and other American produfts ; and near one million more from Great-Bri- tain_and Ireland only, in wool and cafh, in return for cambricks, tea, brandy, and wine ; and thereby Foaght us in war, with our own weapons, Neither are thofe on the noith weft lefs an-