From this period the Province slowly improved in Agriculture, Ship Building, and the exportation of Masts, Spars, &c. to Great-Britain, and Fish, Staves, Shingles, Hoop Poles, and sawed Lumber to the West-Indies. Receiving in return coarse Woollens and other articles from England; and Rum, Sugar, Molasses, and other produce from the West-Indies.--a Town was built at the mouth of the River Saint John, and another at St. Ann's Point, called Fredericton, where part of two Regiments were stationed till the French revolution.--Barracks and other public works were erected in different places, and the upper part of the Country settled by establishing two military posts in the interior, one at the Presqu-Isle, eighty miles above Fredericton, and another at the Grand Falls, fifty-two miles farther up. But the difficulties to which the first settlers were exposed continued for a long time almost insurmountable. Having been reared in a pleasant Country, abounding in all the comforts of life, they found themselves suddenly transplanted to a wilderness with a rigorous climate, devoid of almost every thing that could make life tolerable.--On their arrival they found a few hovels where Saint John is now built, the adjacent country exhibiting a most desolate aspect; which was peculiarly discouraging to people who had just left their homes in the beautiful and cultivated parts of the United States. Up the River Saint John the country appeared better, and a few cultivated spots were found occupied by old settlers. At St. Ann's, where Fredericton was afterwards built, a few scattered huts of French were found; the country all around being a continued wilderness--uninhabited and untrodden, except by the savage and wild animals; and scarcely had these firm friends of their country began to construct their cabins, when they were surprised by the rigors of an untried climate: their habitations being enveloped in snow before they were tenantable. The climate at that period (from what cause has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained) being far more severe than at present. They were frequently put to the greatest straits for food and clothing to preserve existence; a few roots were all that tender mothers could at times procure to allay the importunate calls of their children for food.--Sir GUY CARLETON had ordered them provisions for the first year at the expense of Government; but as the country was not much cultivated at that time, food could scarcely be procured on any terms. Frequently had those settlers to go from fifty to one hundred miles with hand sleds or toboggans through wild woods or on the ice to procure a precarious supply for their famishing families. The privations and sufferings of some of those people almost exceed belief. The want of food and clothing in a wild, cold country, was not easily dispensed with or soon remedied. Frequently in the piercing cold of winter a part of the family had to remain up during the night to keep