spring; the "freshets" caused by the melting of the snow raising the
waters above their ordinary level. I have often sailed over them, and
'twas strange to see each familiar footpath and strawberry bank far down
beneath the shining waves. As the creek goes onward to the river the
_intervale_ disappears, and the banks become grey and steep, crowned
with the tall and slender stems of the spruce and cedar. New Brunswick
is rich in minerals, and veins of coal and iron abound at this place;
but many years must elapse ere mines are worked to any extent. A few are
in operation at present; but while the pine waves the wealth of her
green plumage to the lumber-man, or the new-cleared ground will yield
its virgin crop to the farmer, the earth must keep her deeper treasures.
In the spring, this creek presents a busy picture. The rivers of New
Brunswick are to her what the railroads are now to other countries: and
richly is she blessed with sparkling waters from the diamond flashings
of the mountain rill to the still calm beauty of the sheltered lake, the
silvery streams, the sweeping river, and the unfrozen width of the
winter harbour of her noble bay. True, much can be done on the icy ways
of winter, but then the home work must be minded, and market attended.
Fire-wood for the year must be _hauled_; the increasing _clearings_ call
for extended fences, and these also must be drawn from the woods on the
snow, so that when the spring opens, the roots and other spare produce
are quickly shipped off (boated would be a better expression) into large
open boats, called market-boats. Another description, called wood-boats,
are used for carrying deals and cord-wood, so called from the stick
forming the measure of a cord, which is the mode of selling it in the
city for fuel. The deals are floated from the saw mills over the
shallows, and piled into the boats. One could sometimes walk across the
river on the quantities of wood floating about. The larger pieces of
wood or timber are floated singly down the stream nearest to the place
whence they are cut. This operation is called stream-driving, and