To Miss Rivers, Clarges Street.

Silleri, Sept. 25.

I have been rambling about amongst the peasants, and asking them a
thousand questions, in order to satisfy your inquisitive friend. As to
my father, though, properly speaking, your questions are addressed to
him, yet, being upon duty, he begs that, for this time, you will accept
of an answer from me.

The Canadians live a good deal like the ancient patriarchs; the
lands were originally settled by the troops, every officer became a
seigneur, or lord of the manor, every soldier took lands under his
commander; but, as avarice is natural to mankind, the soldiers took a
great deal more than they could cultivate, by way of providing for a
family: which is the reason so much land is now waste in the finest
part of the province: those who had children, and in general they have
a great number, portioned out their lands amongst them as they married,
and lived in the midst of a little world of their descendants.

There are whole villages, and there is even a large island, that of
Coudre, where the inhabitants are all the descendants of one pair, if
we only suppose that their sons went to the next village for wives, for
I find no tradition of their having had a dispensation to marry their
sisters.

The corn here is very good, though not equal to ours; the harvest
not half so gay as in England, and for this reason, that the lazy
creatures leave the greatest part of their land uncultivated, only