Page:The Under-Ground Railroad.djvu/187

167 Having said so much relative to the coloured people of Canada, we will say a word as to Canada itself:—the Province of Canada extends over an area of 242,500 square miles, or 240,000,000 acres, consequently one-third larger than France, and nearly three times larger than Great Britain and Ireland, the settled portion is about 40,000 square miles, the entire population in the Canadas exceeds 2,500,000. That part of Canada east of the Ottawa river is called Lower Canada, the inhabitants are chiefly French extraction, in this part of the colony, 160,000,000 acres; and not more than 15,000,000 have been surveyed. Upper Canada, west of the Ottawa river, the majority of the population are British, an enormous system of Lakes, forms a net-work of water communication over the entire province, and a line of rivers connecting the inland Lakes with the sea, between the inland waters and the sea, the remotest recesses of Canada are within the reach of trade and navigation, and large vessels can proceed a distance of 2,000 miles inland. The lines of railway are the Great Western and Grand Trunk, with a few other still shorter lines, altogether about 849 miles. The reader has now before him a geographical bird's-eye view of that great province, possessed by nature; many very great advantages quietly waiting the indefatigable hand of humamhuman [sic]