established upon them. The main westerly ranges of mountains terminate upon the river hereabouts. In the latter township, the first range, and part of the second, are an almost continued ledge of flat rocks, with scarce any soil upon them, except only a very few lots that have been granted; the third and fourth ranges appear to be very good land, that would soon become profitable with careful culture; but the fifth and sixth are poor and swampy, not worth the trouble of draining, and covered with hemlock, and other woods of small value. At the west end of this township is one of the many rapids of the Ottawa, called the Rapide des Chats. NEWTON, in the county of York, lying oetween the seigniories of Rigaud, Soulange, and New Longeuil, is of an irregular figure, and very advantageously situated, contiguous to the settlements in the Upper Province. On the western side the land is of a very superior quality, and will produce all sorts of grain; many parts also might be employed to great advantage in growing hemp and flax. The eastern side is much lower, inclining here and there for short distances to be marshy: there is, however, no actual swamp; and if the low grounds, that are rather wet, were carefully ditched and drained, they would prove most excellent land, and furnish luxuriant meadow and pasture, as well as good arable. On the most elevated parts, the principal timber is maple, beech, and birch; on the others, cedar, red spruce, alder, and hemlock. As the grants in this township are all recent, only a few of the lots are yet cultivated, but the goodness of situation, and several other local advantages, are likely soon to induce settlers in much greater numbers. The greatest landholders are the Honourable A. C. de Lotbiniere, Saveuse de Beaujeu, Esq. and Mr. John M'Nider. R R Newcastle, Midland, Johnstown, and Eastern Districts. M. for Methodist; R. for Roman Catholic; L. for Lutheran, and P. for Presbyterian. GENERAL SUMMARY, &c. HAVING produced the whole regular information concerning Upper Canada, which the inhabitants put into my hands, and having from place to place introduced SUMMARIES of such facts and opinions as seemed of most consequence to bear in mind and arrange, I shall now combine these, and make out a general abstract of information. The amount of population has been the first object of attention, and results stand as follows: The writer of the Sketches (page 139) calculates, that in 1811, the province contained 76,984 people. The grounds of his calculation were the number of people, taxed, multiplied by 8, the number which he had found to be the proportion to the number taxed in a particular township. Without having looked back to his reckoning, I assumed the number of people taxed in the Newcastle District as my ground work, multiplied that number by 6, as the average number of each family whose head member was taxed, and added 266 persons for untaxed families and individuals, to make up the even number of 5,000 as the total. Had I calculated by 8, the total would have been 6,312, or 1,312 above my fixed result. Were the rule of calculation adopted by the writer of the Sketches generally correct, my error would be in assuming too small a number of untaxed people, viz. 266 instead of 1,578, and this would be a great error indeed; but it is well to investigate error for the sake of coming at truth. My assumption of 6 for a family was fair. The assumption of the number 266 was purely hypothetical, and in the Newcastle District may not be so far wrong as it would appear to be from the above contrast. The writer of the Sketches assumes the number 8 for each name on the assessment roll, from his certain knowledge of one Township, viz. Ernesttown. Now Ernest-town was one of the first settled Townships, and in 1811 perhaps the most flourishing in the Province. In such a Township the proportion of untaxed persons will be much greater than in a thinly settled one, and where improvement is proceeding with spirit. Spirited improvement requires many hands, and attracts them from other places; and so we find it said in the Ernest-town Report, that " itinerant tradesmen |