The reader will see in the cut a picturesque view of a section of this beautiful water-fall, with its high ledges, overhung with a heavy growth of cedar-trees. The country in the vicinity of the falls "becomes more elevated, and lofty precipices of limestone and calciferous slate rise on each bank of the river, while the country in the rear is broken, hilly, and covered with an abundant mixed growth of forest trees."
We next turn our attention to the "Mirimachi," one of the principal rivers of the province, "which falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 47° 10' north latitude, 64° 40' west longitude, forming at its estuary a capacious bay, with several islands, and a ship channel for vessels of seven hundred tons burden, and navigable upward of thirty miles from the sea. Chatham, Douglass, and Newcastle are the principal towns, situated on the banks of the river, about twenty-five miles from its mouth. At these settlements upward of two hundred vessels annually load with timber for Great Britain, &c. Seven miles above Chatham the Mirimachi divides into two branches, one running southwest and the other northwest. The southwest branch of the river contains more water than the River Thames from London upward. The sea-coast of Mirimachi is low, but inland the country rises in some places, consisting of extensive and rich intervales, in others of a rugged, rocky territory."
This river is particularly prominent, in the history of New Brunswick, for the astonishing amount of ton timber which was formerly procured from the territory bordering it, and as the scene of a bloody and protracted riot on the part of the Irish population, chiefly emigrants, who rose _en masse_, and attempted to drive the Americans, who had flocked there in large numbers, from the country. Desperate encounters took place from time to time between small parties, but the Americans maintained their ground against fearful odds, and after the lapse of a few months quiet and order again prevailed. But in a more particular and impressive sense will the Mirimachi be remembered as the scene of one of the "most terrible natural conflagrations of which we have any record in the history of the world." The annexed account[25] will be found deeply interesting.