The Land

New Brunswick borders on Nova Scotia, Quebec and the U.S. state of Maine. It is rectangular in shape, extending 322 kilometres north to south and 242 kilometres east to west. New Brunswick has a land mass of 73 500 km2, 85 percent of which is forest.

The northern part of the province is quite mountainous, the tallest peak being Mount Carleton at 820 metres high. The interior consists mainly of a rolling plateau, flatter in the east and more hilly in the southeast. The main rivers are the Miramichi, Nepisguit, Restigouche and Saint John. Known as "oa-lus-tuk" or

"beautiful river" to the Aboriginal people, the Saint John waters the fertile lands of the western part of the province over a distance of 725 kilometres. Downstream, in the Madawaska area, it traces a natural boundary between Canada and the state of Maine.

Twice a day, with the rising tide of the Atlantic Ocean, 100 billion tonnes of water stream past a rocky headland in the Bay of Fundy. The current created is practically equal to the flow of all the world's rivers over a 24-hour period. The eastern end of the Bay has tides of nearly 15 metres, the highest in the world, sufficient to completely submerge a four-storey building.