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 S " 
 
 
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f 
 
 ? 
 
 IN 
 
 LOWER CANADA, 
 
 WITH THE author's RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 THE SOIL, AND ASPECT; THE MORALS, HABITS, 
 AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS, 
 
 OP 
 
 THAT COUNTRY. 
 
 By JOSEPH SANSOM, Esq. 
 
 MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF 
 LETTERS FROM EUROPE, &C. 
 
 Moit National Habitudes are the Result of naobierved Causes and Necessities. 
 
 GRAY. 
 
 LOXDOX: 
 
 PRINTED FOR SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS and Co. 
 
 KRIDK-COURT, BRIDCE-STHEET ; AND TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1820. 
 
 », t 
 
/- loij 
 
 ,/^r' 
 
 W. Lewii, Printer, yi, Finch-Ianr, Cornhill. 
 
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 We liave hitherto had no accounts of Canada written 
 hy American travellers. We have only seen our next 
 neighhours, through the magnifying glasses of superfi- 
 cial observers ; who inverted the telescope, when they 
 contemplated Independent America; and we have ac- 
 cordingly no information, upon which we can rely, of 
 the sentiments of the people, or the comparative situa- 
 tion and future prospects of that country. We know 
 not whether the French, in Canada, are to be dreaded 
 as enemies, or be conciliated as friends. 
 
 The Author of the following work, when it was put 
 to press (after having been hastily written, from pen- 
 ciled memorandums, during a fortnight's stay at Btdls- 
 town and Saratoga) had no idea of any thing more than 
 a simple narrative of a journey, during which some in- 
 teresting circumstances had unexpectedly occurred ; and 
 the title, printed on the first page, is accordingly " A 
 Trip to Canada.'' But the composition insensibly as- 
 suming a more historical and scientific form, in going 
 through the press, amidst the libraries of New York, it 
 was decided in a literary circle, at Dr. Hosack's, that 
 the scope of the work demanded a more elaborate de- 
 signation : and the title has been accordingly varied to 
 that of " Travels in Lower Canada, historical and de- 
 scriptive;" the discrepancy of which, with the 67y/e 
 and matter of a Book of Travels, may possibly be ex- 
 
 ! 
 
iv Preliminary} Observations, 
 
 cused by the learned, in favour of the obvious occasion 
 for more general views of society on the American con- 
 tinent, than have hitherto obtained, either at home or 
 abroad. 
 
 New York, Sept. 20. 
 
 *^* The Editor of this London Journal has preferred to 
 allow Mr. Sansom to speak for himself in his own wordSf coU' 
 ceiving that this would he more just towards Mm; and tftat, as 
 a specimen of .Americanisms, used by a man of' good education, 
 the work would thus be a greater curiosity to those English 
 Readers, who are not aware of the deterioration which the 
 language is suffering in the United States, JRor analogous 
 reasons, many opinions of' the Republican Author are retained, 
 because they will add to the interest of' the work, though they 
 may sometimes offend by their coarseness, and evident toant of 
 discrimination. If, however, an individual, or a people, would 
 correct errors, the exposition of them must be borne, from 
 whatever quarter or country it proceeds. 
 
 These observations apply chiefly, however, to the work of Mr, 
 Sansom ; for the " Virginian Sketches** are obviously the pro- 
 duct of a mind disciplined, by accurate researches, in those 
 sciences which bear with obvious advantage on the subjects of 
 observation, 
 
 London, March 1820« 
 
 at 
 
 '/. p m» mf> N^ 
 
}casioii 
 in con- 
 fine or 
 
 T RAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 LOWER CANADA. 
 
 ferrerf to 
 'dSf cori' 
 
 thati as 
 lucatioJij 
 English 
 hich the 
 nalogous 
 retained^ 
 ugh they 
 
 want of 
 e, would 
 le, from 
 
 k of Mr, 
 
 the pro- 
 
 in those 
 
 hjucts of 
 
 UNDER the iiiipressiohs liintod at in my prefatory re- 
 marks, at three! o'clock I*. M. on the .3()th day of June, 
 1HI7, I stepped (»n-board of the Bristol steam-boat, at Market- 
 street wharf, with a portmanteau, containing notiiing* more 
 than was absolutely necessary, a cane in my hand, and 
 Thomson's Seasons in my pocket ; but no other companions 
 excepting such as 1 might meet with in the public convey- 
 ances, who may be not inaptly considered the tourist's family, 
 as the inn is said to be the traveller's home. 
 
 We reached Bristol in due time and in perfect safety, from 
 moving accidents by fire or fioo<l, notwithstanding the really 
 terrifying explosions that have lately happened on-board of 
 these accommodatory conveyances; I Imving purposely avoided 
 the superior expetlition which, promised by the steam-boat 
 Etna, for the sake of ease and safety, under the graduated 
 force of what is called the lower pressure, for whose secure 
 operation we are indebted to the late ingenious Rodert 
 Fulton, of New York. 
 
 We started immediately from Bristol in thv^ York stage, one 
 of the six or seven passengers being a cr* >; ^ from ^aw Or- 
 leans, M'ho had alreacly travelled in similar coLveyances fifteen 
 hundred miles an end. 
 
 We lodged at Princeton that night, entered the steam-boat 
 Sea- Horse at Elizabethtown Point, and landed at New York 
 time enough to dine at the City Hotel, a place of entertainment 
 little, if at all, inferior to the London Tavern, or the Red 
 House at Frankfort, so mucV and si> justly celebrated by Eu- 
 ropean travellers.* 
 
 * BofoiT cntciing Biuiiswick, or behvoon that ancient town whicli pro- 
 serves so nntcli oi the neatness and forniaUty of its primitive inhabitants, and 
 Il»e dclighttui villafje of Newark, wliieii has been so often seleeted as tlic 
 temporary residence of involuntary refn>;fes of quality, from diJlerent parts 
 of Europ<'; as the driver linjrered alon^v thi: sands of Jersey, \v(> passed by 
 
 VovAtii-is and Travels, JVo, l. Vol, III, R 
 
1 
 
 2 Travels in Loirer Canada. 
 
 NKW YORK. 
 
 I sliall not atop to ilesrribe the Bny of New York, nor to 
 make comparisons wliicli mi^lit load nie to Na|)les or (joii- 
 Btantinople, thouj[);li neither of those places unite the various 
 advantages of sea and river coinntunication ; and they must 
 therefore yield, in point of convenience, to the American em- 
 porium — whatever superiority they nmy possess in expanse of 
 water, or diversity of objects— the rich inheritance of a hun- 
 dred ag-es. 
 
 The islands in the Bay of New York haying been stripped 
 of wood, are not very ornamental, and one 'of them, which has 
 been fortified, obstructs, by a massy tower, the view which was 
 formerly enjoyed of the entrance called the Narrows, through 
 which whole fleets could be seen on their first entering- the 
 bay, and before they approached the basin ; where alone they 
 are now visible to a spectator on the battery — a promenade of 
 liealth and pleasure, always crowded of an evening- with the 
 familiar intercourse of youth and beauty amid the retiring- 
 sons of business and care. The shores of Staten Islaml, and 
 even those of the North River, are too distant to admit the 
 charm of distinct variety, but those of Long Tsland, as they 
 stretch along- toward the Sound, are beautifully variegated 
 with hills ana valleys, woods and cultivate! fields, near enough 
 to gratify the eye with ideas of rural tranquillity, even from the 
 busy (|uays of a sea-port town. 
 
 But, as an admirer of architecture, I cannot pass without 
 notice the City-hall, for the costly magnificence of which we 
 are probably indebted to that national taste for the substantial, 
 which induced the Dutch ancestors of our New York burghers 
 to erect, at Amsterdam, a fabric, upon piles, which is justly 
 ranked among the first public edifices in Europe. 
 
 The principal front and two sides are of white marble ; 
 the back front and the basement story of freestone, of a red- 
 
 one tavern, the sign of the Union, and stopped to water at another under 
 the same patronage. These people are great admirers of union, it Mould 
 seem, said one of our company. Yes, replied I, they are so fond of union 
 that they di-vide it. We had come on so very slowly, for the last few miles, 
 that one had proposed to put a snapper upon the driver's whip, as we waited 
 for him without quitting our seats ; and, he staid so long at the bar while the 
 people of the house were sitting down to meat, that another suspected he 
 was going to breakfast there, and we should have to wait till he was done. 
 That would be an unlucky snap for us, said I. He, however, presently 
 came out again, and we drove of!" at an accellerated pace ; but, it was not long 
 before we snapped one of our jack-springs, and we were fain to crack our 
 jokes with less merriment the rest of the \vay. 
 
 I 
 
 ■4 
 
 '0Stf- 0§ 
 
I 
 
 .VVa* )'(»/• A". 
 
 a 
 
 nor to 
 r Coii- 
 varioiis 
 y III list 
 an (.III- 
 nnsc of 
 u huii- 
 
 fii|)pod 
 
 icli has 
 
 <li was 
 
 iroiioh 
 
 ng the 
 
 le they 
 
 laile of 
 
 ith the 
 
 etiriii"' 
 
 kI, nnu 
 
 nit the 
 
 IS they 
 
 eg"ate<l 
 
 ? no ugh 
 
 •om the 
 
 without 
 lich we 
 tantial, 
 irg'hers 
 justly 
 
 larble ; 
 a red- 
 
 r under 
 t voiild 
 if union 
 w miles, 
 ) vaitcd 
 bile the 
 ;cted he 
 is done, 
 resently 
 lot long 
 ick our 
 
 dish cast ; both of wiiirh are found i» quarries within a hundred 
 miles of thu spot. 
 
 This noble structure is two stories high, and it is orna- 
 mented with a portico of eight columns, each hewn out of a 
 single block, fifteen feet in length ; and pilasters of the Ionic 
 and Corinthian orders arc carried round the building, with 
 their appropriate entablatures — all executed in marble. 
 
 The second story shows nineteen windows in a row — the 
 number of individual states at the time it was finished. Thus 
 tacitly marking the date of its erection. The five intercolum- 
 niations in ilie entrance correspond to as many arcades, 
 which open upon the portico for egress and regress — like the 
 arched doors, of equal number, belonging to its prototype in 
 Holland. 
 
 One of the fronts of that building (I cannot remember 
 which) has a figure of Atlas supporting the Globe— Admire 
 this linppy emblem of Dutch patience and perseverance. 
 
 The New York City-hall is two hundred feet long — eighty 
 deep, in the projecting wings, which enclose a flight of twenty 
 steps, sixty or eighty feet in length, for they are returned at 
 the sides. It is sixty feet to the eaves, and the roof is sur- 
 mounted by a cupola, ornamented with coupled columns, and 
 n statue of .Justice, with her suspended scales, at a height of 
 ninety feet from the ground. 
 
 In this cupola a light is kept every night, by a watchman 
 who cries the hour, from this elevated situation; and gives 
 the alarm in case of fire. 
 
 I shall not describe the interior of this superb edifice, with 
 its circular hall, and double staircase, with its column8,its balus- 
 trades, nnd its dome. The picture-gallery, or hall of audi- 
 ence, hung with portraits of the governors of New York, and 
 the presidents of the union. Or the council chamber; glit- 
 tering with gold and scarlet : as I am not quite satisfied that 
 so much splendour is consistent with practical republicanism $ 
 and we know that the Town-hall of Amsterdam lias been al- 
 ready converted into the palace of a sovereign. 
 
 In short, I am sufliciently superstitious in politiccil omens, 
 
 to dread the inference (however unlikely it may be thou«-ht 
 
 every where — but at Washington) that where there are palaces 
 there will be princes. 
 
 But I can take a view of Rroadway, without turning aside, 
 as it is my road to the hotel I put up at. 
 
 This beautiful avenue comes in straight for a mile, lined on 
 both sides with every variety of public and private buildings 
 —churches, halls, houses, many of which are ornamented with 
 taste ; shops, in which every necessary, and every luxury of 
 
4 Tntvvta In [.otver Cuinula, 
 
 life arc ilisplaycd with cli ^uticc and s|)l«>ii(luiir. After it luu 
 parsed ilicSradt FIous<! aliovc-tiiciiiMMicd, uliicii hy thruay iti 
 now sadly ubMCiired hy ra«rirt'd trees, which entirely prevent a 
 front view — they .iii^hi he readily exchanged for a neat 
 clump or two, at distant intervals, leaving* from the street an 
 uninterrupted view of the Niructnre in different directions. 
 
 The Ntreet now winds to the hft, and gradually widens until 
 it opens upon the water, after fornunii- a trian<rular plot, which 
 is raih'd in with an iron balustrade, and once exhibited a 
 stalui.' of kint» (ieorm'. I'l"'^ ^va.s removed at the revolution — 
 but the pedestal remains, and it is hoped that it will not be 
 loui;- before the liberal and patriotic citizens of New York 
 shall replace the hit^torical monument with — another George 
 — far better entitled than the former to the veneration of 
 posterity.* 
 
 THE NORTH uivi:r. 
 
 Next day f took my passage for Albany, in the Paragon, 
 or the ('ar of Neptune, I lortret which — but any of the steam- 
 boats of the North River are Justly entitled to either of these 
 proud appellations. Since they prooceeil — not, wind and 
 wvnlhrr pcnniltinfj, like all anterior navioators; but ar/ainst 
 wind ami tide, at the rate of seven (»r eioht miles an hour. 
 And ihey are not exceeded in one of their dimensions — that of 
 length, by a ship of the line. 
 
 da 
 
 * Of the t;xtont aiul arcuiuinod.itidiis of tlu- siipoib nni l»ofore mentioned, 
 some idea may he formed hy the sum which has l)eeii just laid out upon fur- 
 nishing!;', anti titlinj;; it up, for the use of lh(! present tenant. It was not less 
 llian tliirty thousand tloliars, and he pa>s lor it the liberal rent of ten thou- 
 sand dollars a-jear. 
 
 I''amily parties are provided for m a disliiiet part of the establishment, with 
 the use of eli'ffaut drawing-rooms: and |)ul)lie eulertaiiuuents were f?iven, oc- 
 easionally, in apartments of rua^nitieent dimensions, on the prineipal lloor: but 
 at the Table tVHote tlie fare is exeellent, and a hundred persons sit down there 
 every day, in the summer season, when New York beeomes the j^rand tho- 
 ron<i;hfare between the south and die north, during the stated migration of 
 tl»e gentry of tlie southern stat( s, toward the more salutary regions of New 
 Kngland and the Canadian provinces, where the heat of sununer is compa- 
 ratively temperate, and to a southern e<tnstitution highly invigorating. 
 
 Here the Scotchman of Detroit, and the Frenchman of New Orleans, 
 from the borders of Lake Huron and the Banks of the Mississippi — when at 
 home Mot less than two thousand miles apart, meet each other half-way, upon 
 common ground, as American citizens, professing allegiance to the consti- 
 tuted authorities of the same republic. 
 
 And the occupant of central woods and waters here shakes hands and in- 
 terchanges sentiment and information, with brother sailors ; who seek a live- 
 lihood upon tiie eastern coasts of the Atlantic, penetrate every nook and 
 corner in the Baltic, or tlve Mediterranean, or doubling either Cape, ransack 
 the Antipodes for objects of commercial enterprise. 
 
 ■^ 
 
r 
 
 ! 
 
 rr it liu« 
 i(> way IN 
 ic'vent a 
 a neat 
 ttrcet ail 
 ions. 
 ms until 
 t, whicli 
 ibited a 
 lution — 
 I not be 
 w York 
 
 CtEOROR 
 
 fition of 
 
 'arag-oii, 
 ; $<teain- 
 o( these 
 nd and 
 ftf/ainst 
 in hour, 
 -that of 
 
 enlioned, 
 upon t'lir- 
 s not less 
 ten thou- 
 
 oiit, with 
 ;iven, oc- 
 (luor: hut 
 »wii tlnTC 
 rami llio- 
 I'iiliuii of 
 s of New 
 * cumpa- 
 
 Orleans, 
 
 Mlien at 
 
 ay, upon 
 
 e coiisti- 
 
 « and in- 
 k a live- 
 ook and 
 ransack 
 
 The North hivei. 6 
 
 Wi' Uft thu (lock about live in the rveniiif>-, and the noxt 
 day, aixMit noon, an I was leaning over the prow, niid conlein- 
 plalino- alternately the niovinp^ landscape on either hand, and 
 the water over which we were imperceptibly j^lidin^, I per- 
 
 ceived Komethinn^ forward that looked like Niender spir<>N, at 
 the h<.>ad and foot of a distant hill. It was Albany, and by 
 three o'clock we stepped ash(»re sij^ain, one hundred and sixty 
 iniles north of the ca[)itid, which we had quitted but twenty- 
 two hours before. 
 
 The distance, I am told, has been run down the stream in 
 seventeen hours ; formerly an unccrtnin voyage of three or four 
 dnys, or a week or two, according to the state of the winds and 
 tides. 
 
 \ few miles before we reached Albany, wc met the Chan- 
 cellor Livin«»stoii, said to be the finest boat on the river. Sho 
 looked, iiid(u;d, very jyay upon the water. We passed each 
 other with the most animatin<r rapidity, and the adverse mo- 
 tion of two such vessels, breasting* the surge, in a narrow part 
 of the river, made a sensible concussion of the waves from 
 shore to shore.* 
 
 The influx of multitudes on-board these boats, arriving in 
 crowds, on foot, and in carriages; their punctuality of de- 
 parture, which often leaves lingerers upon tfie wharf, to follow, 
 .IS liiey cjui, in boats, which are always ready to put off after 
 them ; together with the unvarying steadiness of their pro- 
 gress, admitting' of the most entire independence, and the most 
 miobstructed observation — whether of moving life, perpetually 
 fliffing- before your eyes ; or of the face of Nature, ever calm 
 and majestic, yet alternately rising and receding in perpetual 
 variation, keep the mind in a state of animating excitement. 
 
 * On my return, a nionlli u('(<'rwiivd, this same vessel, the Chaneellor Li- 
 vingston, >vlii< h h-.id just lirou;;ht up two iiiindrcd passeii>>;ers, in nineteen 
 lioins, was in course t<» ji!;o down the stream. 'I'liere had heen a freshet in 
 the river, whieii is here about tlnce hundred yards over : yet this tine s'lip 
 (one hiUKh'ed and fifty-sevon feet \ou^) seemed to require the wh<tle space to 
 turn in, as she swnn^- round from th(^ wharf, in majestic evolution, and when 
 she l)egan to descend the stream, wliich was now unusually rapid, herin(»tion 
 seemed to sway the river, and command llic current. TJie wake of a ship 
 nteasurinp^ live hundred t(»ns, and proccedin;? at the rate of ten or twelve 
 miles an liour (for we reached Hudson, which is thirty miles, in two hours 
 and three-(|uarters) soon spread itself from side to side, and produced a visi- 
 l)le agitation upon both shores of the river. — The sea-boats which ply in liOng- 
 Island Sound sometimes make^ thirteen knots an hour ; but one is accustomed 
 to flying at Sea, and the receding shores of a river give a stronger sensation 
 of rapidity, by the comparisons whicli they aflbid with the apparent motion 
 of stationary objects. She cost one hundred and ten thousand dollars, and 
 sometimes makes for her owners fifteen hundred dollars a trip. 
 
 ^ 
 
c> 
 
 Travels i?i Lower Canada, 
 
 (■ 
 
 A' constant chan^a^e of company is perpetually going on, in 
 this little world. Some getting out at every great town, o^ 
 noted landing-place, and others coming in ; but all this is ma- 
 naged with little or no delay of the moving Ark, by merely 
 slackening her course, and lowering a boat, which discharges 
 her burthen with astonishing dexterity, and — to me, terrifying 
 speed. 
 
 There is another circumstance of communication with the 
 adjacent shores, which takes place occasionally — Nothing is 
 wanted but an exchange of papers, for instance — A boat puts 
 off from the shore, and at the same instant, another boat quits 
 the vessel. They meet, as it were on the wing, for the speed 
 of the steam-boat is not now at all impeded to favour the 
 operation, and it takes place between the passing watermen 
 in the twinkling of an eye. 
 
 The animating bugle gives notice of approach, and the 
 bell rings for departure. Every thing concurs to create bustle 
 and interest. People ot' the first consequence are often among' 
 the passengers ; amidst whom they can lay claim to no pecu- 
 liar privilege, or accommodation. The only exception is in 
 favour of the ladies ; who have a cabin to themselves, where 
 gentlemen are not permitted to intrude. 
 
 Bye-laws are enacted for the preservation of order, and the 
 forfeitures incurred are scrupulously exacted. 
 
 There were no persons of particular note on this voyage, 
 nor any of those annising characters styled great talkers — one 
 or more of whom is generally to be found in all companies, 
 who voluntarily, and ex mero motit, take upon themselves the 
 task of entertaining the silent part of their species. 
 
 On a former occasion, I had been highly diverted by a son 
 of Chief-Justice J'.y — himself a limb of the law, to enforce 
 the laws and usages cf the steam-boat, with all the affected 
 formalities of legal process. Under his humorous arrange- 
 meiiit, the offender M'as put to the bar. Witnesses appeared^ 
 and counsel, on both sides, pleaded the merits of the case — 
 not to be sure with all the gravity and decorum which are 
 laudably observed in cases of high crimes and misdemeanors j 
 but with sufficient acuteness and pertinacity. What was want- 
 ing in solemnity was made up m laughter, and I remember 
 young .fay kept the quarter-deck in a continual roar. 
 
 I have ever since regretted that I did not preserve a sketclr 
 of his opening speech, which was introduced with all the pre- 
 cision of serious argument. — Several persons of note were then 
 present. I recollect particularly Governor Lewis ; some of 
 the Morrises from Morrisania, and the lady of a former governor 
 of South Carolina. 
 
 ii; 
 
ng on, in' 
 town, o^ 
 Ill's is mn- 
 y merely 
 iscbarg'PS 
 terrifying 
 
 with the 
 othing is 
 boat puts 
 3oat quits 
 the speed 
 ivour the 
 watermen 
 
 and the 
 \te bustle 
 3n among' 
 
 no pecu- 
 tion is in 
 ;s, where 
 
 and the 
 
 voyage, 
 ers — one 
 tmpanies, 
 elves the 
 
 by a son 
 
 enforre 
 
 affected 
 
 arrange- 
 
 ppeared^ 
 
 ne case — 
 
 hich are 
 
 ineanors ; 
 
 as want- 
 
 emeraber 
 
 a sketch 
 the pre- 
 ere then 
 some of 
 tovernor 
 
 I^rom Albany to Lake Champlain, 7 
 
 Ferry-boats, propelled by steam, and so constructed that 
 carriages drive in and out, at pleasure, may be observed at 
 every large town on the north river. These convenient vehi- 
 cles are likely to supersede the use of bridges, or navigable 
 waters. They are, in fact, a sort of flyino'-bridge, with this 
 advantage even over the numerous and costly structures of that 
 kind, which now span the broad surface of the Susquehannah, 
 in the interior of Pennsylvania. They do not require such ex- 
 pensive repairs, and they may be secured from the effects of 
 sudden floods : but what is of far more importance, they pre- 
 sent no obstruction to the stream, and are no hindrance to na- 
 vigation. 
 
 The shores of the north river, sublime as they are, where the 
 Allegheny mountains must have crossed from west to east, be- 
 fore the lofty chain was broken through, to admit the passage 
 of the river (the sight of which is unfortunately lost to tra- 
 vellers by the steam-boats running through the Narrows in the 
 night) owe much of their interest and beauty to the superb seats 
 of the Livingstons and the Clintons, some of which overhang the 
 water, at an imposing elevation. Spectators from these mostly 
 line the bluffs, at the ptissage of the steam-boats, which seem to 
 electrify every thing within their sphere. And the antiquated 
 mansions of the Schuylers and Van Rensselaers, in the vici- 
 nity of Albany, are beheld with historic recollections, as the 
 places where General Burgoyne and his principal officers 
 were quartered, until they could be exchanged, after the me- 
 morable defeat at Saratoga. 
 
 FROM ALBANY TO LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 
 
 The next day after our arrival at Albany was the 4th of 
 .Tuly ; and the good citizens of Albany were preparing to ce- 
 lebrate the declaration of independence — not as Weld ridicu- 
 lously represents, from the information of his host, as if they 
 rejoiced against the grain, regretting in their hearts the pro- 
 tection of Great Britain ; but with all the zeal and fervour of 
 heart-felt exultation, for the incalculable advantage of na- 
 tional independence, and emancipation from a foreign yoke. 
 
 But I was now become earnest to reach C tnada. 
 
 I had intended to take Ballston on my way, for the benefit 
 of the mineral waters, for which that place and its vicinity 
 have become so celebrated, since Sir William Johnson was 
 conducted hither by Indians in 17G7, to drink the water of 
 the rock spring for the removal of the gout, to which he was 
 subject. But my mind I found was now too much engaged in 
 the ultimate objects of purvuit, to admit of turning side at this 
 period of the journev. 
 
f 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 So, finding- myself in time for the steam-boat on Lake 
 Champlain, al ten o'clock, instead of going to hear a historical 
 oration from some patriotic burgher of Piatt Deutch, descent, 
 I took my seat in another stage-coach ; lodged, I forget where ; 
 and reached White-hall about noon, an hour or two before the 
 putting ofi" of the steam-boat for St. John's, the first town, or 
 rather village, in Canada. 
 
 By the way this White-hall is not a royal palace, nor even 
 a gentleman's seat ; but a small post-town at the mouth of 
 Wood Creek. It is the same that was called Skeensborough 
 (Query, why change the name ?) when Weld wrote his ingeni- 
 ous comparisons between Canada and the United States, and 
 fearlessly quoted General Washington as his authority, for 
 the palpable falsehood that the musquitoes of this place would 
 bite through the thickest boot — The musquitoes have since 
 utterly vanished — stings and all ; and they would have been 
 quietly forgotten, together with the fire-flies, and bull-frogs, 
 and supposed rattle-snakes of other translantic peregrinators, 
 in American wilds, if it had not been for this contemptible 
 story — preserved, like bugs in amber, by their unaccountable 
 conjunction with the pellucid name of Washington. — Rattle- 
 snakes are already so rare in America, that I, who have tra- 
 velled thousands of miles in our back country, never met with 
 but one of them ; and no doubt they will become, in another 
 century, as scarce as snakes are said to be in Ireland, through 
 the interference of St. Patrick; though the fact may very well 
 have happened without a miracle, since Ireland has been 
 peopled for thousands of years, and every peasant has a hog 
 or two, to whom snakes are a favourite repast. 
 
 But before I take boat, let me recall the village of Schagti- 
 coke, which was passed on the road, somewhere about midway 
 — the never-enough celebrated berg or dorft' from which the 
 cervantic genius Knickerbocker, in his incomparable history 
 of New- York, derives his pretended pedigrecr The scattered 
 houses of which it consists are built in nooks and crannies 
 round the yawning gulf of a roaring cataract, which descends 
 between jutting rocks and craggy pines, with as many 
 twists and turns, and as much of spray and splutter, as the 
 never to be forgotten work itself proceeds under its charac- 
 teristic motto : 
 
 I 
 
 3: 
 
 Die wahrhcit die in dunstcr lag, 
 Da koiitint niit kiahrheit an den tat;. 
 
 The truth vvhirh late in darkness lay 
 Now breaks with clearness into day. 
 
Lake Champlain, 
 
 it on Lake 
 a historical 
 ch, descent, 
 'get where ; 
 before tlic 
 St town, or 
 
 ?, nor even 
 » mouth oC 
 ensboroug-h 
 his ingeni- 
 States, and 
 thority, for 
 dace would 
 have since 
 have been 
 bull-frogs, 
 regrinators, 
 mteniptible 
 iccountabic 
 n. — Rattle- 
 lo have tra- 
 er met with 
 in another 
 id, through 
 y very well 
 I has been 
 t has a hog 
 
 Df Schagti- 
 3ut midway 
 I which the 
 ble history 
 lie scattered 
 id crannies 
 h descends 
 as many 
 ttcr, as the 
 its charac- 
 
 Or perhaps better : 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 Truths which lay hid in darkest night 
 My pen shall bring ag^ain to light. 
 
 LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 
 
 To return to the steam-boat, on Lake Champlain, though it 
 is greatly inferior in size and accommodation to those on 
 the North River, (at least so was the boat which conveyed me ; 
 but a new one has just commenced running, which is said to 
 excel Hhem in elegance and speed) yet it will bear a compari- 
 son even with the English post-chaise, or other mode of easy 
 and rapid conveyance ; in despite of Dr. Johnson's ipse dixit, 
 that life had few things better to boast than riding in a post- 
 chaise — because, if 1 remember right, * there was motion or 
 change of place without fatigue ;' since to these agreeable cir- 
 cumstances the steam-boat adds the conveniences of a tavern, 
 of which Johnson was so fond, and the advantage of a bed at 
 night, without loss of time. 
 
 The creek, as we call such waters, or to use the English 
 phrase, the river, winds round broken crags,'^shagged with fir- 
 trees, for many miles, before it becomes more than just wide 
 enough for the steam-boats to veer round in. Yet in a gloomy 
 cove, near the harbour, sufficient space has been found to 
 moor the five or six sloops of war that were taken from Com- 
 modore Downie upon this lake. 
 
 Toward evening we entered Champlain Proper. The lake 
 gradually widened to an expanse of fifteen or twenty miles, 
 and the sun set, gloriously, behind golden clouds, and moun- 
 tains of azure blue, whose waving outline, at an elevated 
 height, was finely contrasted by the dark stripe of pines and 
 firs, that here lines the unvarying level of the western shore. 
 
 The solemnity of the scene was heightened with indistinct 
 ideas of Burgoyne's disastrous descent in 1777 — of the melan- 
 choly fate of the first Lord Howe in the year 1759, and of an- 
 terior scenes of massacre and horror which rendered the sono- 
 rous name of Ticonderoga terrific to our peaceful ancestors — 
 after passing the ruins grey of this dilapidated fortress (the 
 French called it elegantly Carillon, from the hub-bub usually 
 kept up there in time of war) and those of Crown Point (called 
 by them Fort la Chevelure, or the scalping place) a barbarous 
 denomination M'hich the English melted down into Crown 
 Point, still indicative of the sanje savage practice. 
 
 I awoke in the night under these solemn recollections j and 
 the morning-star was shining in, with perceptible reflection, 
 at the little window of my birth. It is now peculiarly bril- 
 
 VoYAOEs and Travels, No. 2. Vot, IIL C 
 
 I 
 
I 1 
 
 
 
 ;■!' 
 
 10 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 liant, and I was forcibly impressed with a sense of God's pro- 
 vidence, for the benefit of nis creature man, especially when 
 travelling" upon the Maters, when his journeys must be pursued 
 by night as well as by day. 
 
 And here let me observe, that, during travel, the spirits are 
 renewed, as well as the body invigorated. The energies of 
 the mind, so often latent, through inactivity, are called into 
 action, by dangers and difHculties, which it requires unremit- 
 ting watchfulness to steer through or to shun ; and the habi- 
 tual inattention under which, safe within the walls of cities, 
 an accustomed face is beheld without notice, and a next-door 
 neighbour passes by unknown, is necessarily exchanged for 
 the active exercise of observation and inquiry. 
 
 In another point of view too, occasional journey, especially 
 into foreign countries, creating a total change of scene and 
 habits, may be said to lengthen the sense of existence, if they 
 do not actually prolong life. So many changes of habit occur, 
 and such a variety of unusual circumstances takes place, that 
 the recollection of a few months, passed abroad, seems equal, 
 in the memory, to the lapse of years spent in the unvarying 
 monotony of home. 
 
 The sublime operations of nature, which are rarely attended 
 to amidst the incessant occupations of domestic care, force 
 themselves upon a traveller's observation, disengaged as he is 
 from the daily concerns of common life. — He now feels his 
 dependance upon the varying atmosphere, and remarks, per- 
 haps for the first time, the subservience of the celestial lu- 
 minaries to the occasions of life. 
 
 When the moon rises to illuminate his path, as the sun sets 
 in the west, which it does with such evident co-operation, 
 whenever the moon is at full, he can hardly fail to be touched 
 with admiration and gratitude at the splendid provision of 
 which he stands so much in need. — He can but feel, with con- 
 scious elevation, the dignity of his being, as a creature of God, 
 when 
 
 Soas roll to waft him, suns to light him rise; 
 His footstool earth, his canopy the skies. 
 
 Yet is there ample occasion, on the face of nature, for hum- 
 bling considerations of the littleness of man, and all his 
 works, in comparison of the wide spread surface of the planet 
 we inhabit. Inadequate must needs be the ideas of a man 
 who, confined for life within the streets of cities, has never 
 seen an eTitensive horizon, or beheld those majestic features of 
 the earth, a mountain, or a lake — no man that has ^ot tra- 
 relled a day's journey on foot, nor ever lost his way in track- 
 
rod's pro- 
 illy when 
 e pursued 
 
 pirits are 
 lergics of 
 
 lied into 
 
 unreniit- 
 the liabi- 
 
 of cities, 
 next-door 
 
 nged for 
 
 specially 
 cene and 
 if they 
 t>it occur, 
 lace, that 
 ins equal, 
 mvarying 
 
 attended 
 ire, force 
 d as he is 
 
 feels his 
 rks, per- 
 estial hi- 
 
 s sun sets 
 operation, 
 e touched 
 jvision of 
 with con- 
 re of God, 
 
 Lake. Champlah. 
 
 11 
 
 for huin- 
 d all his 
 he planet 
 >f a man 
 las never 
 eatures of 
 1 ^ot tra- 
 in track- 
 
 less wilds, when spent with hunger and fatigue, can have a 
 competent idea of the spares that intervene between town and 
 town, sometimes botvvcen one human habitation and another. 
 
 We must have seen a good deal of the globe we inhabit 
 to form a just notion of tlie overwhelming extent of its sur- 
 face, in proportion to the pigmy race, to whom animal nature 
 has been subjected, by the Creator of all things. And, after all, 
 the imagination is unavoidably confounded, amidst the bound- 
 less sands whirli occupy the internal parts of Africa and Asia. 
 It has often revived my own humility to spjin their extent 
 upon the maps in my study. And wiien I compaK; the desert 
 of Zaarah, for instance, with the island of Cire;it Britain, and 
 perceive that in its vacant spaces there would be room for ten 
 such islands, with all its millions ofcivili/ed inhabitants, I am 
 ready to exclaim, with Job — 
 
 Lord ! what is man, llml thou shouhlest sot fhino licait iij)ori him ♦ 
 And that tlioii shoiddcsl visit him every mornings, 
 And try him (!very moment ? 
 
 Having passed Burlington, the capital of Vermont, in the 
 night, next morning, after breakfast, we were called up to see 
 the British flag flying at Illinois (Isle aux Noix as the French 
 call it) and his majesty's crown over the gate-way, at the stairs 
 leading to the officers' house, a handsome building, with ra- 
 ther a ffintastic air, from being built of squared logs painted 
 in alternate stripes of white and gny ; green varandas, as light 
 as gossamer, in the centre and at each end ; the whole sur- 
 mounted with a heavy pediment, and a tinned cupola, the 
 openings of which are glazed, to make it a comfortable look- 
 out. 
 
 I observed nothing particular in the fortifications at Illinois ; 
 but a sweet little cottage struck my eye, as we passed, con- 
 nected with a string of convenient out-houses, a little gar- 
 den before them, running to the water's edge, with covered 
 seats, of elegant simplicity, in which, in all probability, some 
 British officer, and the fair compar.ion of his voluntary exile, 
 indulge their recollection of happier auspices and a forsaken 
 home. 
 
 As we ran by the place, a boat put off to exchange papers, 
 with three young marines, in Scotch bonnets and trim uni- 
 forms, to whom our captain threw a rope; but so little dei:- 
 terous were they in inaunging it, that they had like to have 
 overset the boat before they reached us. They M'ere, however, 
 insensible of their danger, and I remember one of them showed 
 a very fine set of teeth, as he laughed with the byesfanders at 
 his own absurdity. 
 
 ^ C2 
 
12 
 
 IWavelt in Lower Canada, 
 
 Hi 
 
 •; 
 
 ^ 
 
 Endugh — perhaps too much of Illinois. 
 
 By noon we reached St. John's, of which still less may serve^ 
 and we did but drive throui^h it for La Prairie — a consider- 
 able town on the St. Lawrence, nine miles above 3Iontreal. 
 
 The rest of the company, among- whom were several ladies 
 from Carolina, crossed directly over, in a drizzling rain ; but I, 
 being no longer impatient of delay, as this is a considerable 
 town of long standing, with a large French church, and other 
 public establishments, stayed over night, and slept, thouj^h it 
 was midsummer, under I know not how many blankets, in a 
 bed close hung with worsted curtains, in flaming red. 
 
 I was now ready to doubt whether it ever was what we call 
 hot, in Canada ; but I had occasion afterward to change my 
 mind upon that score, as well as some others, as will be seen 
 in due time. Rapid travellers are apt to be hasty in forming 
 their conclusions, of which, in course, plodding critics take 
 notice at their leisure, without making one grain of allowance 
 for the innumerable perplexities and contrarieties through 
 which we have to pick our way in the research of truth. 
 
 Next morning the sun glittered upon the tinned spires and 
 plated roofs of Montreal, many of them being sheathed with 
 sheet-iron. I was told that the passage by water was tedious, 
 and that a waggon would convey me much quicker to the ferry 
 opposite the town. I went on accordingly to Longeuil, and 
 crossed over from thence, in a canoe, which was managed by 
 two diminutive Canadians, with Indian paddles. 
 
 MONTREAL 
 
 shows from the water like an old country sea-port, with long 
 ranges of high walls and stone houses, overstepped here and 
 there by churches and convents, with something that resembles 
 a continued quay, though it is nothing more than a high bank, 
 to which large vessels can lie close enough for the purposes of 
 loading and unloading, in consequence of the unusual depth 
 or-water at the verv edue of the current, which sets close in- 
 shore from an opposite island, and a string of rocks and shoals, 
 which obstruct it on the opposite side. 
 
 I took a hasty dinner, glanced at the public buildings which 
 I bad seen before, and walked the streets till night, when the 
 principal avenue, in which is the cathedral, was lighted up, 
 before dark, in the English manner, the twilight being almost 
 as long here as it is there. I then took up my lodging on- 
 board the steam-boat, for Quebec, which was to sail next morn- 
 ing at three o'clock ; for I had now a mind to see in how short 
 a time one might make a total change of religion, language, 
 
Voyage down the Sl Lawrence. 
 
 13 
 
 1 
 
 lay serve^ 
 consider- 
 itreal. 
 ml Indip!^ 
 hut I, 
 siderablo 
 md other 
 though it 
 ets, in a 
 
 t we call 
 iino-e my 
 I be seen 
 
 form in o- 
 tics take 
 llovvance 
 
 through 
 h. 
 
 n'res and 
 
 hed with 
 
 tedious, 
 
 tlie ferry 
 
 euil, and 
 
 Jaged by 
 
 ith long 
 lere and 
 psembles 
 ^h bank, 
 I'poses of 
 ^1 depth 
 "lose in- 
 d shoals, 
 
 IS which 
 ^hen the 
 I ted up, 
 H" almost 
 ing on- 
 :t morn- 
 ►w short 
 iguage. 
 
 government, and climate, in quitting the metropolis of the 
 United States for that of the British provinces. 
 
 It was now but the eighth day from my leaving Philadolphiii, 
 and there was a chance that I might reach Quebec on the 
 ninth (July Hth,) the current of the St. Lawrence being 
 often so powerful, that, when the wind favours, this passage of 
 170 miles is sometimes made in seventeen hours, in sea-phrase 
 ten knots an hour, arriving at Quebec, in summer-time, by 
 sunset the same day. 
 
 VOYAGE DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE. 
 
 I was not now in luck, if I may be allowed the phrase, or 
 to speak with becoming dignity of a voyage upon the St. Law-r 
 rence, the wind was right a-head, and blew strong from the 
 north-east, with occasional s(|ualls of rain through the day 
 and the following night ; and 1 was glad to come off' with two 
 tedious and wearisome nights, spent at sea, to all usual intents 
 and purpose, of seafaring life, such as incommodities of every 
 kind, apprehension of danger, disinclination to stir hand or 
 foot, and irremediable delay. But I am anticipating events, 
 and ought, perhaps, to have kept the reader in that happy state 
 of suspense under which wc usually advance to the most dan- 
 gerous or disagreeable adventures, without apprehension or 
 reluctance. 
 
 First, then, of the first. After passing the night under an 
 incessant trampling and runnnaging overhead, the boatmen 
 being at work all night, stowing away heavy freight, and 
 clearing the decks of luggage, for the steam-boats of the St. 
 Lawrence are as much used for the conveyance of freight as 
 of j)assengers, I awoke an hour or two after day-light, some 
 leagues below 3Iontreal. 
 
 The great church of Varennes, m ith its two steeples, was 
 distinctly visible, together with the isolated mountain which 
 rises near Bouchervillt, in the midst of surrounding plains: 
 but every other object was at such an immeasurable distance, 
 for river scenery, that I was much disappointed of the boasted 
 appearance of towns, and villages, and scattered handets, upon 
 the banks of the St. I/au rence — said to excee<l so far, in use 
 and beauty, the scanty improvenients upon the North River. 
 
 It is true (he occasional spires of the parish-churches would 
 be necessarily beautiful, if, as they are described by fanciful 
 travellers, (fatigued by the repetition of substantial mills and 
 meeting-houses in the United States,) they were actually seen 
 peeping over trees and woods: but the trees are all cut away 
 round Canadian settlements, and the unvarying habitations, 
 stand in endless rows, at equal distances, like so many sentry- 
 
^ 
 % 
 
 
 14 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 IfOXCR or soldier's iewts, without n treo, or even a f(Micc of any 
 kiiul, to shelter them ; instead »>f beinn irrenularly iiitersi)rrscd, 
 as with us, aiuonn- fields and woods, surrounded with every 
 variety of domestic aeronunodiTlion, and eollerted every ten 
 or twelve miles into hiuulefs, or tradinii- towns, of which there 
 are fifteen or twenty upon tlie North River, wiiilst there are 
 but four in the like spnce upon the River St. Lawrence, in- 
 cludino- Quebec an<l Montreal. 
 
 Tiiese circutnstances admit of no comparison lietween the 
 two rivers, and tlie improvements on their bjnks, in point of 
 interest or eflect. Still less with those of the Delaware, from 
 Trenton to New ('astle, where, in less than half the distance, 
 beside innumerable farm-houses afui country-seats, we have 
 the cities of Trenton, Burlington, Philadelphia, and Wilrninir- 
 ton ; and the beautiful towns of Rordentown, Rristol, Chester, 
 and New Castle ; together with a like number of inland vil- 
 lages, in distant ])erspcctive, literally surrounded v.ith or- 
 chards and g-ardens, and fre(|uently ovnnmented with modest 
 spires, or rather cupolas ; which are iu)t to bo sure so favour- 
 able to display, half concealed as they are by neighbouring 
 woods. 
 
 Yet this is the only point of view in which any comparison 
 at all can be supported between the two countries: for it is 
 only on the banks of its rivers that Canada pretends to any 
 population, or improvement, whatever ; whereas with us the 
 
 cheering 
 
 Tract and blest abode of man 
 
 is scattered, more or less, over the whole surface of the soil, by 
 hardy adventurers, who are not afrnid to quit their native 
 hearths in quest of the most distant establishments. And we 
 have inland-towns little inferior in populatmn to the capital of 
 Canada. 
 
 It is but fair to observe, however, that the mode of settling 
 upon the River St. Lawrence seems pointed out by nature in 
 this region of perennial snow. It would have been difficult 
 for inhabitants, far removed from each other, to have ke(;t their 
 roads open in M'inter ; aiul they must have passed the season, 
 like so many bears sucking their paws, if they had been sepa- 
 rated from each other by hills and hollows ; but, in many places, 
 the banks of this miglity stream would seem to have been 
 formed, by its waters, into different levels, running parallel 
 with its course. Cpon these levels the first settlers found it 
 convenient to establish themselves in lines, whose communica- 
 tion could be readily preserved. 
 
 At the island of Kamouraska, some distance below that of 
 
 t 
 
Town of William-Henry, 
 
 15 
 
 lire in 
 
 fficult 
 
 tlioir 
 
 ?asoij, 
 sepa- 
 ilnres, 
 been 
 iraiiol 
 iikI it 
 inica- 
 
 lat of 
 
 New Orleans, the appearance of the neij^hbourinjjf heights is 
 Kaid to indicate uneqiii vocally that the bed of the 8t, l^aw- 
 rence was there once at a much higher level than that which 
 it now occupies, a circunijstance which corroborates the pre- 
 sumption that these ridges liave been originally formed by the 
 ancient current of the river. 
 
 THF-: TOWN OF WILLI AM-IIENRY. 
 
 Wo came too, about iew in the morning, at the town of 
 William-! fcnry, on the right bank of the River Sorel, which 
 forms the outlet of Lake Champlain, for the purpose of 
 taking in wood, of which article there is a very rapid con- 
 sumption onboard of steain-bonfs. 
 
 As we approached the wharf, all the people in the place 
 seemed to bo taking post at the landing. Among the fore- 
 most came purting a good-humoured looking mortal, genteelly 
 dressed, of that description of bipeds that are said to laugh and 
 be fat. Me is currently known, it seems, by the name of Sir 
 .Tohn Falstaff, and thus, like his prototype, of facetious me- 
 mory, if he be not witty himself, he is ofttimes the cause of wit 
 in others. 
 
 Sir .James Sherbrooke, the governor-general of both the 
 Canadas, has a seat near this place, where he spends the sum- 
 mer-months. He is now here, and I think we were told that 
 Lady Selkirk was there, on a visit, from the dreary confines of 
 Hudson's Bay. 
 
 This is but a small town, yet here is both a Catholic and a 
 Protestant church. I entered the former, while the business 
 of the boat was expediting; and found the aisles crowded 
 with children, saying their catechism in a style of tedious rota- 
 tion, whicii afforded a striking contrast to the compendious 
 meihods of llie Lancasterian plan. 
 
 At the door I bought of a little girl a penny-worth of mo- 
 lasses candy, for which I put into her hand two coppers, 
 saying I <lid not uaiit any more, and she should have them 
 both : but so competently had the principle of honesty, or in- 
 dependence, been impressed upon her memory (under the un- 
 promising system {ibove-menlioned,) that she ran after me, with 
 the odd penny, crying, " Tenez, monsieur! Voici votre 
 copper."* 
 
 Beggary is unknown, I find, in Canada, and thieving is 
 said to be very rare. I afterwards learned, that it is no un- 
 common thing for the English inhabitants to receive again. 
 
 * Stop, Sir? here's your penny. 
 
If) 
 
 Traveli in Lower Canada. 
 
 V 
 
 ■Sit: 
 
 from the hands of the fatlicr-coiifessors, money Mhich hns hueii 
 stolen from them, without their knowleilg-e, cnrcfnlly lapped 
 up ; with a reque.st to take it ajn^ain, and ask no questions. 
 
 THE LAKK OF ST. PIERRE. 
 
 Passinn- throug-h the Lake, and anion"' tlie woody Islands of 
 St. Pierre, the weather being- hazy, we almost lost sight of 
 the main land; and when it again came in view, we were still 
 tantalized with the perpetual repetition of house alter house, 
 or rather hut after hut (for the log hovels of the hahihiuts^ 
 square hewn and neatly white-washed as they are, e>en to 
 the roofs, which are clap-hoarded and sometimes thatched 
 with a species of long grass, which grows on some of these 
 islands, called Vlierhe-uii-lieUy or wild grass, are little bigger 
 than huts,) in which it very frequently happens that two or 
 three generations of Canadians pig together, preferring the 
 pleasures of ease and fellowship to all the advantages of inde- 
 pendence and exertion. When necessity absolutely obliges a 
 swarm of them to quit the parent hive, it is not to seek an 
 establishment where land is cheap, for the future settlement of 
 themselves and their children, but to sub-divide the original 
 patrimony, and run up another hovel a (gw hundred paces dis- 
 tant, upon the same unvarying* line which was traced out by 
 their remotest ancestors, when they were obliged, above all 
 things, to consult their safety from the irruptions of the sa- 
 
 vag-es. 
 
 THE TOWN OF THREE-RIVERS. 
 
 Towards evening we stopped for an hour or two off the 
 town of Three-Rivers; there being no wharf for vessels to come 
 too at, although this has been a place of trade more than 170 
 years; and it was once the seat of the colonial government — 
 so indifferent are the Canadian French to matters of mere ac- 
 commodation. Churches and monasteries are the principal 
 features of the place, when seen from the Mater. One of these, 
 that of the Recollects, is overshadowed by g-igantic elms. 
 
 There were Indian canoes along shore, this place being" yet 
 frequented by the Aborigines of the north and west, with 
 skins and peltry, which they bring with them many hundreds 
 of miles ; having- their whole families on-board of these fragile 
 conveyances. 
 
 Dun night and driving rain drove us below, and the next 
 morning we were still thirty or forty miles from Quebec ; 
 having narrowly escaped the necessity of coming to anchor, 
 by the wind's abating in the night. 
 
 During breakfast-time, we passed near the church of St. 
 
-_t- 
 
 1 
 
 >l1b. 
 
 lands of 
 sight of 
 L>re still 
 liouso, 
 hititiits, 
 
 t!VC'll to 
 
 liatchetl 
 )f tlu'se 
 hii»«ver 
 two or 
 iiif>- the 
 of inde- 
 bliges a 
 seek nil 
 iinent of 
 original 
 xcea (lis- 
 I out l)y 
 jove all 
 the sa- 
 
 off the 
 to come 
 hail 170 
 iiiient — 
 ere ac- 
 inripal 
 f these, 
 pns. 
 ing yet 
 ^it, with 
 iindretls 
 fragile 
 
 le next 
 Quebec ; 
 anchor, 
 
 of St. 
 
 Town qf Thr99-Rivert, 17 
 
 Augustine Calvaire, which standi^ entirely exposed upon a 
 naked beach. 
 
 The iiiounlains here begin to rise, and produce more inter- 
 esting scenery; the country in view having before been inva- 
 riably tiat. About nine o'clock we came in sig^ht of the 
 heights of Abraham on the left, and those of Point Levi on 
 the right ; between which were fifteen or twenty sail of mer- 
 chantmen and ships-of-war riding at anchor ; the island of 
 Orleans appearing- in the back-ground of this interesting* 
 picture. 
 
 . We rapidly passed Wolfe's Cove, and were brought-too with 
 admirable dexterity, at a wharf of most inconvenient height; 
 for the tide rises, in this wild channel, from eighteen to 
 twenty-four feet. 
 
 Here, and for half-a-mile round the precipice, which consists 
 of a black slate, there is but just room for one narrow street. 
 The rock is almost perpendicular till near the top; and as you 
 look up from the water to the stone-wall, which caps the sum- 
 mit of the hill with projecting bastions, you wonder what pre- 
 ventN the ponderous masses from coming down upon your 
 head. 
 
 GENERAL MONTGOMERY. 
 
 In this dismal ditch, where it first became exposed to a 
 strong battery, which has been since taken down, on the 31st 
 day of December, fell General Montgomery, and his aide-de- 
 camp, M'Pherson, at the very first fire from the fort; and 
 their <lisheartened followers were easily made prisoners, after 
 a hopeless conflict; the snow being then four feet thick upon 
 the ground. 
 
 Yet I was told, upon the spot, by a Canadian burgher, of 
 confidential appearance, who said he was in the place at the 
 time of the attack, that the town might have been taken, by 
 surprise, if General Arnold had pushed his opportunity, when 
 he first reached Point Levi, instead of waiting for the com- 
 mander-in-chief, who was then coming down the St. Lawrence. 
 In the mean time, the citizens had recovered from the panic 
 into which they had been thrown by so unexpected an event. 
 Sir Guy Carleton had thrown himself into the town, and the 
 favourable moment for the attack was irretrievably lost. — The 
 unfortunate general was interred by the British commander, 
 upon one of the bastions of the citadel, with what are called 
 toe honours of war.* 
 
 * My informant, an old man, and a native Canadian, had in his yoatii 
 been under the Falls of Montmorency, that is to say, within the tremendous 
 concavity between the rock and the cataract j reverberating with ineesnnii; 
 
 Voyages and Travels, Ao. 2. Vol, III, D 
 
1 
 
 If 
 
 Truvttli in Lowtr ( 'anadu. 
 
 4b 
 
 Almott perpendicularly over tlio place wlicre IVfontg-oiiKTy 
 fell, uii the very brink of the precipice, which is here not lesH 
 than two hinulred feet high, i)i lieu oi' the ancient fort or 
 chateau of St. Louis, which name, by courteny of lOn^rlnnd, it 
 yet retains, is erected the (lOverninent-HitUHe, the apartments 
 of which are occupied by tiie various oftices of ihe civil and 
 military departments, acting- un<ler the orders <»f the 'rovernor- 
 ffciieral of British America; the provinces of New liriinswick 
 and Nova 8cotia beinj^ incliide<l under his command. Hut 
 his residence is in a cunvenieiit building, on the opposite side 
 of the s(uiare. 
 
 I'lie lower town, from which we have not yet rei»ularly 
 as(*ended, is a dismal congeries of the most wrefclM><l l)uildiii;>>i, 
 risin«r, in darkness visible, amidst every kind of lilth, between 
 the rock and the river; which is said to have washed the very 
 base of the promontory, when Jac<pies Cartier first sailed by 
 the crni^oy spot. I quitted the narrow confines, with the ala- 
 crity of a funitive escaj)iiig' from the confinement of a prison, 
 (though here. 
 
 In dirt and duikiioss hundrods stink, content,) 
 
 by ft long- flight of steps, ending- in slope after slope; down 
 which trickles perpetually the superfluous moisture of the 
 upper town ; the streets of which, in wet weather, are rinsed 
 over the heads of the luckless passeng-er, by those projecting- 
 
 thiinder, and dripping with ptrpetnal spray; and lie had often Jnntped down 
 into the circular basins, of unusual niai;nitudc, worn in the solid rock, from 
 whence the name of the river Ciiaudiere, which now pursues its foamiuju 
 course at a distance far beneath these indubitable indications of the anterior 
 elevation of its waters. Tlu > diller in nothing but their size fnun tlie well- 
 known perforations which were observable at the Falls of Sehuilkill, before 
 tiic progress of improvement had obliterated all remains of those curious 
 appearances. I embrace this opportunity to record that such things were 
 >*ithin five miles of Philadelphia, that it may not be utterly f((rg(»Uen that 
 such interesting phenomena UaA ever existed. Nor can 1 Ibrbear to put the 
 question which they suggest,— why may not these acpieous perlbrations be 
 as well admitted, to prove that the globe is not of a date exceedingly remote, 
 (at least in its present form,) as the contrary can be inferred from the varions 
 layers of lava round Mount Etna, by the periods of whose decomposition the 
 Canon Recupero could read the history of the earth, and discover, with un- 
 mis^ving presumption, that 
 
 He that made it Jind revealed its date to Moses, 
 Was mistaken in its age. 
 
 The largest of these perforations, which have any where been observed, 
 would not have required more time for its production, w ith the assistance ol' 
 cjirttulatiog pebbles, than is allowed by the sacred bistori:tn. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ■; 
 
 •I 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
1 
 
 Quehfip* 
 
 19 
 
 npoiit*! wliicli arn to common in tho nntiquatod tnwni^ o( Qv.V' 
 iMiiny. 
 
 liu' U|)|)<MT()wn, n{ a ln'i|r|it of ono Innulretl anil fiOy feof, 
 from which if ovrrlookM thv Lower, nn<l NhowN thr Nhippin;*- so 
 |)<>r|>(Mi(li(Mihirly hehiw, that yon think yon C(nil(l tosN a hiNcnit 
 into thcni from the raini^itrts, is < ouiplotely fortified with walls 
 and j^ates, and all Mi«' other ifj^onvonieneies of n pfarrisoned 
 town; Mich as nentniv U on j^nard at every avenue, &r. &e., 
 indeoendently (»f the citadel, which, with ifN ontworks, of conni- 
 derald(? extent, ocrnpij's an elevation two hundred feet hii»her. 
 
 The cathedral, and the Neuiinary for the cleroy, toocfJH'r 
 with the JesuitN* colIej>e ojmoNite, now c'(»nvert<Ml into a bar- 
 rack for the troops, who make its (tnce tranrpiil walls resound 
 twice a day with the animatincc Nonnds of martial music — the 
 buiii'le — the fife — and the spirit-stirrinyf drum. — These exten- 
 sive estahlishments, all ori^iFially devoted to religion, together 
 with the ITotel Dieu, as it is called, after the name of a similar 
 institution in Paris, beinn;- a hospital for the sick, and the sin<rle 
 sisters who attend them; the monastery of the Recollets, now 
 taken down, to make room for more useful edifices; and the 
 convent of the Ursuline nuns, with other relif^ious establish- 
 ments, and their courts and j^ardens, occupied at least one- 
 half of the ground, within the walls, leavinj*- the streets nar- 
 row, irre*rular, and invariably up-hill and down ; a circum- 
 stance which must render them singularly inconvenient in 
 frost and snow. 
 
 Such is the famous city of Quebec, for the acquisition of 
 whicb General Wolfe willingly devoted his life, in the 
 year 1759; the only memento of which circumstance, upon 
 the spot, is a wooden figure of the celebrated hero, in his 
 broad-skirted coat, with slashed sleeves, painted red, stand- 
 ing in a niche, at the corner of a street, in the attitude of 
 C/Omanding the decisive action which for ever separated 
 Canada from the dominion of France. It is called St. John- 
 Street, and it leads to the Gate of St. Louis, whence, through 
 I know not how many covered ways, protected by a like 
 number of salient, angles, (I may very probably be incor- 
 rect in the terms of fortification, never having made the science 
 of destruction my particular study,) it finally disgorges the 
 weary passenger, thwarted by recurring obstacles, upon the 
 open air of the adjacent common. 
 
 We are now upon the plains of Abraham ; yet the ascent 
 continues sufficiently to cover the scene of action from the 
 fire of the batteries. Turning round when you arrive at the 
 ftummit, and leokiag down the rirer, between the two steeples 
 
 D2 
 
90 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 ii 
 
 !i. 
 
 .t . 
 
 iy 
 
 ^3 
 
 tl 
 
 of the catholic and pratestant cathedrals, you have what I 
 thought the most interesting' view of Quebec, because it em- 
 braces in the same coup d ceil the principal objects in the 
 vicinity. Overlooking tne basin, which is six miles wide, you 
 behold the island of Orleans stretched out before you, till it 
 terminates in undistinguishing haze, whilst on the left you 
 have the north coast, rising gradually into distant mountains, 
 from which the river Montmorency, precipitating itself into the 
 St. Lawrence, is all but seen, through a grove of firs, and the 
 view terminates abruptly in the perpendicular promontory of 
 Cape Tourment, which is two thousand feet high, and there- 
 fore may be distinctly seen at the distance of thirty miles. On 
 the right you have the rocks of Point Levi, and behold the 
 shipping in the harbour, at an immense depth below. Imagine 
 the effect of this whole fairy scene, connected as it is by the 
 broad surfaces of the river, which is seen again upon the edge 
 of the horizon, winding round the stupendous bluff above- 
 mentioned, in its course toward the sea. 
 
 The field of battle lies a mile further west.— >The common 
 remains bare and uncultivated ; and a little to the left of the 
 road to Montreal, you perceive a large stone, near which the 
 general fell. It may be easily distinguished by the repeated 
 efforts of British visitors to possess themselves of the minutest 
 specimen of this monument of national prowess, to carry 
 home with them, as relics, on their return to England. It is 
 a whitish granite, of a finer grain than usual. 
 
 This interesting spot has been devoted to history, not by an 
 English professor of the fine arts, but by our countryman West, 
 who considers himself acting patriotically as a British sub- 
 ject, in celebrating any event which is counted honourable to 
 the British arms, that had occurred before the revolution, 
 which established the independence of his country. 
 
 The French governor of Quebec, M. de Montcalm, fell like- 
 wise on the field-of-battle ; yet such is the injustice of mankind 
 to those who seek 
 
 the bubble honour in the cannon's mouth, 
 
 that the man who died in the defence of his country is never 
 mentioned with applause, because unsuccessful, whilst the 
 victorious invader of a foreign shore is puffed to the skies by 
 the meretricious trumpet of Fame. 
 
 I sat up my head-quarters, to adopt the military phraseology 
 that prevails here, at the Union Hotel, in the Place d'Armes or 
 Parade, intending from hence to make excursions into the 
 country at my leisure. Malhiot*s Hotel, in St. John's-Street, 
 is said to be the best house of entertainment at Quebec ; but 
 
 i 
 
 fi.. 
 
Quebec, 
 
 21 
 
 ^e what I 
 jse it em- 
 3t8 in the 
 wide, you 
 roUf till it 
 8 left you 
 nountains. 
 If into the 
 .s, and the 
 nontory of 
 and theie- 
 niies. On 
 jehold the 
 Imagine 
 t is by the 
 n the edge 
 ufF above- 
 
 e common 
 left of the 
 which the 
 e repeated 
 le minutest 
 , to carry 
 md. It is 
 
 not by an 
 man West, 
 ritish sub- 
 lourable to 
 revolution, 
 
 1, fell like- 
 >f mankind 
 
 y IS never 
 vhilst the 
 e skies by 
 
 iraseology 
 'Arnies or 
 ) into the 
 n's-Street, 
 ebec ; but 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I generally find the second best, in thiu ca^e, best suited to the 
 indulgence of my desultory habits. 
 
 At this place I met daily at dinner, while in town, a shrewd 
 English agent or commissary, a man of mature age, univer- 
 sal information, and a culd, calculating temperament, and a 
 young Canadian from the country, who was studying law at 
 Quebec. The cool-headed Englishman occupied the head of 
 the table, with the strictest observance of the customary forms 
 ttf politeness ; but, amidst the reciprocation of formal civilities, 
 took care to maintain a prudent reserve ; but the vivacious 
 Frenchman attached himself to me immediately, with the most 
 engaging frankness. This is not the first time I have had occa- 
 sion to remark the mutual attraction and repulsion which takes 
 place between total strangers, on sitting down together, for the 
 first time, at a public table ; nor yet to observe the preference 
 which the French every where discover for the American cha- 
 racter. It was as good as a passport when I was last in France ; 
 and an application under that name was respected by sentinels 
 on guaru, when permission was generally refused to others. 
 " Vous etes Americain ! Entrez, Monsieur,"* and command- 
 ants, who received nie with all the sternness of official autho- 
 rity, have softened their manner as soon as I called myself an 
 American. 
 
 T thought my young friend an Englishman, so well did he 
 speak the language ; and I afterward understood that he had 
 renounced the French from his childhood, and now spoke it 
 so ill, that he declined conversing in it, even when he learned 
 that I spoke French myself. 
 
 In the perpetual ebullitions of his vivacity, he put me to the 
 question a great deal more than is agreeable to me, but I 
 could not find in my heart to iliscountenance his volubility, or 
 discourage his wish to be serviceable to me in the objects of 
 my pursuit. 
 
 Accordingly, M'hen I left Quebec, I was furnished by him 
 with a list of the post-houses on the road, accompanied by 
 notes of the inns, and other information, highly useful to a tra- 
 veller by land. But this was not enough to satisfy his assi- 
 duity; I must have letters of recommendation to no less than 
 four gentlemen of his acquaintance, in the different towns I 
 should pass through, though I professed, with my usual blunt- 
 ness, very little expectation of delivering any of them. And 
 there was one to his grandmother at Machiche. But I will not 
 anticipate the amusing visit to M'hich this afterward gave rise. 
 I recollected some of the sprightly sallies of Monsieur Gugy, 
 
 * Are you an American? \^'alk in, Sir. 
 

 
 H 
 
 1 V 
 
 1 
 
 if .1' 
 
 r: 
 
 it - ■• 
 I ^' 
 
 if 
 
 i' Si. 
 
 22 
 
 Travels in Loieer Canada* 
 
 with the intention of putting them upon paper ; but so much 
 of the effect of that volatile spirit 
 
 Whence lively wit excites to gay surprise, 
 
 unavoicla])Iy evaporates in repetition ; and so much of its pun- 
 gency depends upon attending- circumstances, which cannot be 
 conveyed by the pen, that I shall not risk the attempt, lest it 
 should discredit the convivial powers of my young friend, 
 whose esteem I should be very unwilling to forfeit. 
 
 One retort, however, which took place when the cloth was 
 removed, between the two ends of the table, was national, and 
 I shall therefore preserve it. The sober Englishman was asked 
 to mention a historical subject upon which the student might 
 exercise his talents for composition during the recess. He 
 proposed " the rise and progress of the most extensive colony 
 upon the globe." — " Not Botany Bay, sure," said I. — " JNo, 
 no," interrupted Monsieur, " it shall be the decline and fall 
 of Quebec." 
 
 On another occasion the American revolution being in ques- 
 tion, the cause was on all hands allowed to be just. "Nay," 
 said they, " the British government itself has virtually ac- 
 knowledged it, in granting, by act of parliament, to the Ca- 
 nadian provinces, the only privilege which the leading pa- 
 triots at one time contended lor, that of not being taxed with- 
 out their own consent." 
 
 My young friend would gladly have accompanied me to the 
 religious houses ; but to such places I always choose to go by 
 myself. One of my earliest visitations was to 
 
 THE HOTEL DIEU, 
 
 where a superieure and twenty-seven sisters take care of the 
 sick poor of both sexes, who are lodged in separate wards, and 
 furnished by them with every thing necessary. The sisters, 
 however, having a good deal of leisure on their hands, being 
 themselves almost as numerous as their patients, employ or 
 amuse themselves in making ornaments for altars, and em- 
 broidering with fruit and flowers a variety of trinkets, such as 
 pocket-books and work-bags, which visitors take home with 
 them for presents to children, or mementos of their journey : 
 they are made of thin, smooth, and pliable bark of a tree, 
 which is common here (the French call it Boulotte ;) it will 
 bear writing on as well as paper, the ink not spreading in the 
 least. I brought away a specimen of it from the falls of Mont- 
 morency, Avhich T intend to present to Peale's museum. 
 
 I introduced myself to one of the nuns whom I met in the 
 passage, (she was dressed in white linen, very coarse, with a 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 bla 
 
 wm 
 
 I pou 
 
 I ^^ ^ 
 are 
 
 wit 
 
 I 
 
Quehee, 
 
 23 
 
 80 much 
 
 f its puii- 
 cannot be 
 pt, ]est it 
 g friend, 
 
 cloth was 
 ional, and 
 ^as asked 
 ent might 
 cess. He 
 ve colony 
 I.—" JVo, 
 5 and fall 
 
 g in ques- 
 , « Nay," 
 tually ac- 
 to the Ca- 
 lading pa- 
 ixed with- 
 
 me to the 
 to go by 
 
 lare of the 
 
 ards, and 
 
 'he sisters, 
 
 ds, being 
 
 imploy or 
 
 and em- 
 
 >, such as 
 
 lome with 
 
 journey : 
 
 lof a tree, 
 
 ;) it will 
 
 ling in the 
 
 of Mont- 
 
 im. 
 
 jet in the 
 Iset with a 
 
 black veil, pinned close across the forehead, and thrown back 
 upon the shoulders,) by asking permission to see their chapel. 
 — " Asseyez vous. Monsieur, un petit moment."* There was a 
 window-seat at hand. " Je vais chercher une de mes Sceurs, 
 pour nous accompae'ner."t It seems tliey are never allowed 
 to go any where without a cottipanion, which is the reason they 
 are always seen abroad in p.'iirs. She returned immediately 
 with another sister, who saluted me with apparent pleasure. 
 
 They introduced me to the door of the chapel, but went 
 not in themselves; the sisters having a private place of devo- 
 tion appropriated to them along-side, they never enter the 
 public chapel when it is frequented by others. 
 
 I soon returned to them, finding nothing interesting in the 
 building, though it seems it was founded in l()38,by thei)uches8 
 d'Aiguillon, who sent over three nuns of this order from the 
 hospital at Dieppe, on the establishment of this charitable in- 
 stitution. It contains but two pictures worth attention. They are 
 large pieces, without frames, by good French masters, leaning 
 against the walls of the side chapels, as if they had never been 
 hung up. The subjects I remember were the Visitation of 
 St. Elizabeth, and the dispute with the doctors of the law. 
 
 The two sisters had waited for me in the sacristy behind 
 the chapel ; they seemed gladly to embrace the opportunity for 
 a few minutes conversation with a stranger. I was curious 
 about their regulations. " Vous n'avez done pas de commu- 
 naute chez vous Monsieur."^ We had not any. I was from 
 Philadelphia. " Cependant," said one of them, " on en a la 
 Louisiane. Mais ce ne'est pas si loin. Voila la raison appa- 
 ramment."§ Did they permit women who had once been mar- 
 ried to take the veil ? " Oui Monsieur, si elles n'ont point 
 d'enfans. Cela pourroit les distraire. Et d'ailleurs elles doi- 
 vent plutot s'occuper a elever leurs enfans. — II y avoit der- 
 nic'rement Madame une telle qui vouloit faire profession : Mais 
 Monseigneur I'Eveque a dit qn'il etoit plutut de son devoir 
 dV'lever ses enfans, que de soigner les ma]ades."|| Having 
 once entered the house, were they obliged to perpetual resi- 
 
 * Sit down one minute, sir. 
 
 t I Hin goinu^ for one of my sisters to accompany us. 
 
 I Have you no communities in your country, sir? 
 ^ Yet they have them in Louisiana ; but that is not so far. That must be 
 
 th<^ reason. 
 
 II Yes, sir, if they have no children, that might divide tlicir affections; 
 and beside, they are bound in duty to bring up their chikiren. It is but 
 hitely that Madame Such-a-one wanted to enter the house ; hut my lord- 
 bishop told her that it was rather her business to see to the education of her 
 cliildten than to take care of the sick. 
 
94 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 
 H f 
 
 ' i' 
 
 11,; 
 
 dence f — " Apres un an et demi de profession I'on ne petit 
 plus sortir, jusques Id il est permis de so retirer (laiiffhin^) 
 conibien y a t-il de gens maries, Monsieur, qui voudroient 
 bien renoucer au mariage, si cela se pouvoit, apres un an et 
 demi de noviciat?"* — Assuredly, said I, a great many. — But 
 I took the vow of matrimony twenty years ago, and have never 
 had occasion to repent my obligation. 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL OF QUEBEC. 
 
 I next went to see the cathedral, which is a plain rough 
 building on the outside, with a handsome steeple, as usual co- 
 vered with tin. It is erected on one side of the great door. 
 Within, this church has much of the imposing effect of Eu- 
 ropean cathedrals, arising from great length and lofty height. 
 
 I was struck with the rich carved wainscot of the choir, 
 much in the style of that of Notre Dame at Paris. Over it four 
 Corinthian columns support an arch in scroll-work. Upon this 
 rests the globe, on which stands a figure of the Redeemer, in 
 the attitude of benediction, holding tn his left liand, oi* rather 
 leaning upon a ponderous cross, rays of glory emanating from 
 the body on all sides. This part is painted white, and the 
 whole work is admirable, both in design and execution, as well 
 as the open work of the bishop's throne, and the stalls for the 
 canons ; but the sculptured pulpit, and the statues in the choir, 
 are painted and gilded in a gaudy style unworthy of notice 
 or description. 
 
 The Sacristan now accosted me, observing my peculiar cu- 
 riosity. He was a hard-headed veteran of the ciiurch, with 
 all his features settled into that imperturbable insensibility, 
 which is naturally contracted by beholding, without interest 
 or regard, the perpetual flux and reflux of the tide of human 
 life at the doors of a Catholic cathedral, where every period of 
 existence, from the cradle to the grave, is in continual rotation. 
 
 I had myself seen that morning the different ceremonies of 
 a christening and a burial ; nothing was wanting but a mar- 
 riage to complete the whole history of life ; and that, I am 
 told, often takes place contemporaneously also. 
 
 I asked him whether the church was not a hundred and 
 fifty feet long? He said it was one hundred and eighty-six. 
 He had measured it himself. It is ninety wide, and the mid- 
 
 »'."•' 
 
 ill: 
 
 * After a year and a half of trial they are no longer permitted to with- 
 draw. Until then they are at liberty to do so. How many married people 
 are there who would gladly renounce matrimony, after the experience of a 
 y^ar and a half? 
 
Quebec, 
 
 S25 
 
 on ne peat 
 (lati^hin^) 
 vouuroient 
 I un an et 
 lany. — But 
 have never 
 
 lain rougfh 
 s usual CO- 
 ► reat door, 
 ect of Eu- 
 fty height. 
 
 the choir, 
 )ver it four 
 
 Upon this 
 deemer, in 
 I, or rather 
 ating" from 
 te, and the 
 ion, as well 
 alls for the 
 p the choir, 
 of notice 
 
 eculiar cu- 
 urch, with 
 sensibility, 
 nt interest 
 of human 
 y period of 
 al rotation, 
 emonies of 
 mt a mar- 
 that, I am 
 
 ndred and 
 eighty-six. 
 d the mid- 
 
 Itcd to with- 
 Eurried people 
 )erienGe of a 
 
 die aisle, which is divided from the side aisles by masfe;y ai"- 
 cades, is al least sixty high. 
 
 In what year, said !> was the church erected? — " 3Ion- 
 sieur, il y a environ cent cinquante ans. Je ne saurois vous 
 dire le jour meme."* But the carved work in the choir is not 
 of that age, (it is of some rich wood not yet much darkened by 
 time). " Cest que I'Eglise a ete brulee il ya environ cinquante 
 ans."t The pulpit, said I, was probably saved from the 
 wreck, (it is of gothic construction, and grossly painted in 
 colours.) " Non, Monsieur, Rien ne fut sauve tout est a neuf."J 
 Was the beautiful carved work of the choir made in this 
 country ? " Oui, Monsieur, 9*a ete fait par un de nos propres 
 Canadiens, qui a fait le voyage de France expr^s pour s'eii 
 rendre capable."§ Was that Lewis XIII. or Lewis XIV. 
 that stood on the right hand of the altar? (a marshal of 
 France, perhaps Montmorencit on the opposite side.) '* Non^ 
 Monsieur, ce nest ni I'un ni I'autre. Cest — Cest — Le Louis 
 des Croisades."|| It is then Louis IX* or St. Lewis^ said I. — 
 " Eh oui, oui. Monsieur, vous avez raison. Mais comment 
 I'avez vous reconnu pour etre roi ?"1i By the crown and seep-* 
 tre. " Oh ! bin,"** said the old sexton, fwho appeared to have, 
 till that moment, overlooked his kingship, ana considered the 
 canonized Lewis as nothing more than one of the saints of the 
 choir, it being not uncommon to crown the figures of saints 
 in catholic churches.) " Les autres d'alentour," continued 
 he, " sent St. Pierre, St. Paul, St. . He could not recol- 
 lect the name of the third — it was the marshal of France, 
 
 St. . Vous sentez bien que nous ne les croyons pas les 
 
 veritables saints memes; mais seulement leurs representantst'^ff 
 
 yes, yes, I understand it. 
 
 THE CHAPEL OF THE tJRSVLIMES. 
 
 Next morning I went to the chapel of the Ursulines, in the 
 expectation of seeing the nuns at their devotions ; but in that 
 
 1 was disappointed. An old priest was saying mass at a mag- 
 
 * Sir, it is about one hundred and fifty years old. I cannot tell you to the 
 very day. 
 
 t No, for the church was entirely burnt down about fifty years ago. 
 
 j No, Sir, nothing was saved ; every thing is new. 
 
 ^ Yes, Sir, it was made by one of our Canadians, who went over to 
 France on purpose to qualify himself for the work. 
 
 II No, Sir, it is neither of them. It is — It is — tlie Louis of the Crusades. 
 
 il Yes, yes, Sir; you are right. — But how did you know him to be a king ? 
 
 ** O ! true. 
 
 tt Tlie others round are St Peter, St. Paul, St. —— . You understand 
 that we do not take them to be tlie very saints themselves, but only their re- 
 presentatives. 
 
 Voyages and Tuavels, No* 2. VoL JIL E 
 
2fi 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 ri 
 
 ?! 
 
 iiificent altar, the tabernacle uncommonly splendid, Corin- 
 tliifui colmuns, g-ildod statues, a bishop on one side, and a 
 queen on the otiier, (|)r()bably Ann of Austria, the mother of 
 Lewis XIV^. as this institution was founded in lG3i^) St. Jo- 
 seph with the child in his arms over head ; seraphs are reclin- 
 in(>- in the ang-Ies of the pediment, and cherubs spread their 
 wings above and below the niches ; bas-reliefs of apostles and 
 evnng-elists, with their appropriate emblems, occupying* the 
 pannels of the pedestals. All this in the finest syle of the 
 ag-e of Lewis XIV. both sculpture and architecture. 
 
 This rich chapel may be eig;hty feet long", forty wide, and 
 forty high. It is now dark with age, though it has always 
 been neatly kept, by the piety of the nuns, and has therefore 
 suft'ered nothing- else from time. 
 
 On the left is a side chapel hung with Gobelin tapestry, 
 (probably a royal present, as Lewis XIV. kept that manufac- 
 tory in his own hands for such purposes.) On the rig-ht is a 
 large arched grate, with a black curtain drawn behind it, 
 through which the nuns were occasionally heard hemming and 
 coughing ; for this was a silent mass. I now despaired of see- 
 ing- the particular objects of my curiosity ; but presently the 
 curtains were drawn from within, and discovered the nuns 
 kneeling, in their black dresses, with white neckerchiefs. This 
 was at the moment of the elevation of the host; and no 
 sooner was it over than the curtains were closed again, and the 
 ^lender audience seemed to be left behind, to receive the 
 " Dominus vobiscum,"* and coldly respond " Amen." 
 
 The paintings in this elegant chapel are chiefly unmeaning 
 representations of celebrated sisters of the order, in attitudes 
 of adoration or beatification, on their knees, or in the clouds. 
 There is, however, upon these venerable walls, a historical 
 representation of the Genius of France, just landed upon the 
 shores of Canada, from a European vessel, which is seen 
 moored to the rocks. She is pointing to the standard of the 
 cross at the mast-head, and offering, with the other hand, to a 
 female savage, the benefits of religious instruction, which .she 
 receives upon her knees. Wigwams, children, &c. are seen in 
 the back ground. 
 
 This conventufil institution, probably the most strict in 
 North America, short of the vice-royalty of Mexico, owes its 
 rise to the piety and self-denial of a rich young wido.' . who, 
 devoting herself to religion upon the death of her nusband, 
 chose Quebec for her retreat, as a place of seclusion from the 
 world. 
 
 * The Lord be with you. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
, Corin- 
 , and a 
 other of 
 St. Jo- 
 G reclin- 
 ul their 
 ities and 
 the 
 of the 
 
 Quebec* 
 
 27 
 
 THE GENERAL HOSIMTAL AND THE WIirrE NUNS. 
 
 mg 
 
 ide, and 
 
 alwjiys 
 
 herefore 
 
 tapestry, 
 iianufac- 
 ^•ht is a 
 diind it, 
 ningand 
 d of see- 
 mly the 
 he nnns 
 fs. This 
 and no 
 and the 
 eive the 
 
 meanino- 
 attitudes 
 
 clouds, 
 istorical 
 pon the 
 
 is seen 
 
 Id of the 
 
 nd, to a 
 
 lich she 
 
 seen in 
 
 itrict in 
 owes its 
 who, 
 usband, 
 rom the 
 
 The General Hospital, which is beautifully located, in a r< - 
 tired situation, on the banks of the little river St. Charles, 
 about a mile westward of the town, now only remained to be 
 explored. 
 
 I walked that way one evening", when all nature wears an 
 cispect of tranquillily, and invites to meditation or repose. 
 
 It is the most regular of all the religious editices of this 
 place, and remains, without alteration or addition, as it Mas 
 originally founded by its beneficent pntron, M. de St. Vallier, 
 (he second bishop of Quebec, who en<lowed it, I believe by 
 will, in the year 101)3, for the relief of the aged and infirm. 
 They are attended by thirty-seven sisters, under the direction 
 of a Svpfiieure, or Lady Abbess. 
 
 Tin's extensive building forms a hollow square, two stories 
 high ; and the front, next the town, has a venerable appearance 
 of antiquity, with its high pitched roof, and broad portals at 
 each end, under the protection of St. Joseph and the Virgin, 
 (if J remember right,) in their respective niches. Fortunately 
 I did not enter it at this time, but sHuntered about the lonely 
 environs of the place, thinking upon the melancholy absur- 
 dity of th«)se human inventions and traditions, by which God 
 is robbed of his honour, so to speak, and his son Jesus Christ, 
 is, at it were, superseded by Joseph and Mary, as if the 
 heaven-born Saviour were yet under the tutelage of earthly 
 parents. 
 
 I say fortunately, because this circumstance brought me 
 here a second time, but a few minutes before a procession took 
 place, Mhich was the most impressive tiling of the kind I ever 
 saw in Canada. 
 
 I had passed through the lower ward, into the chapel, at- 
 tended by one of the patients, who told me on my giving' him 
 something ' to discharge him,' that there was going to be a 
 procession of the nuns, that afternoon, agreeably to the rules 
 of the founder, which enjoin, it seems, the formal visitation of 
 the altars in the respective wards, to be performed by the sis- 
 terhood, in full habit, at certain set times in every month. 
 
 I bade him bring me word when the procession was coming, 
 and applied myself to the perusal of two broad tablets upon 
 the walls, which narrated, in French verse, the style and title, 
 the talents and the virtues, of Jean Baptiste le Cheva- 
 LiER DE St. Valuer, who had been forty-two years bishop 
 of Quebec, when he founded, this beneficent institution, and 
 was here interred at the foot of the altar. 
 
 I had not near finished the verses, which Iiad no particular 
 
 E 2 
 
28 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 merits of their own to recommend them, when my attendant 
 returned in haste to tell me, that the procession was forming:. 
 An I re-entered the ward at the upper end, the sisterhood were 
 coming- in at the other. They were preceded by a lay-sister, 
 bearin*^ a silver crucifix. She was evidently in her noviciate, 
 having- only the white veil, which was pinned across her fore- 
 head, and fell loose upon her shoulders. The rest had all 
 Mack veils of the same description ; but the dress of all of 
 them was white, with large open flannel sleeves, a small cross 
 depending from the neck. 
 
 The cross-bearer was the handsomest woman, or rather, she 
 was the only handsome woman I had seen in Canada — very 
 fair, but tall, without colour; and her unusual height was set 
 off to advantag-e by the little girls that carried lighted tapers 
 on either side of her. But there was something-, even in her 
 downcast eyes, which failed to convince me that the fair pro- 
 selyte had voluntarily drawn the lot of a recluse. They all 
 three took their station on one side, directly opposite to where 
 I stood, while the superior, between two sisters, bearing with 
 both hands a ponderous imag-e of the Virgin, approached the 
 altar; and, kneeling down before it, was imitated by all the 
 sisterhood, as they followed her in pairs. 
 
 They remained for some minutes in this uneasy attitude, 
 singing aloud, 
 
 Virgo piissima ! Ora pro nobis ! 
 
 Mater dolorissima ! Ora pro nobis ! &c. &c.* 
 
 the Catholic spectators on their knees responding with zealous 
 vociferation, 
 
 Pomine exaudi nos ! f 
 
 THE LEGISLATURE OF CANADA. 
 
 The legislature of Canada holds its sittings in what waj? 
 once the bishop's-palace, a building which has been long al- 
 lowed to be applied to other uses by the now humble bisnops 
 of the see, who are content to reside in the seminary among 
 their clergy ; and the old chapel has been handsomely fitted 
 up by government for the accommodation of the legislature. 
 
 I walked into it one day with permission from one of their 
 secretaries, who was writing in the anti-chamber, 
 
 The speaker sits, as at St. Stephen's, in a high-backed chair, 
 at the upper end of the room, surmounted by his niajesty's 
 
 * Most pious virgin ! Pray for us. Most painful mother ! Pray for us. 
 + Lord, we beseech thee to hear us. Or, as it stands in our Protestant 
 Liturgy, Qood I^ord, we beseech thee to hear us. 
 
 % 
 
ittendant 
 forming-, 
 00(1 were 
 ay-sister, 
 loviciate, 
 her fore- 
 t had all 
 of all of 
 lall cross 
 
 ther, she 
 la — very 
 t was set 
 ;cl tapers 
 "n in her 
 fair pro- 
 They all 
 to where 
 ing with 
 ched the 
 y all the 
 
 attitude. 
 
 1 zealous 
 
 /hat wan 
 long al- 
 ! bishops 
 y among 
 3ly fitted 
 slature. 
 of their 
 
 ed chair, 
 lajesty's 
 
 for us. 
 Protestant 
 
 The Falls of Montmnreneif . 2.9 
 
 arms. The members sit upon benches, without desks. It will 
 be recollected that our delegates in congress occupy armed 
 chairs and every member is provided with a desk. Which 
 arrangement is best a<laptfld to the various purposes of discus- 
 sion and deliberation, I shall not venture to opine; as it is 
 evidently one of those questions upon which much may be 
 said on both sides. 
 
 The proceedings in this miniature parliament, for so it is 
 called, take place in both languages; though I perceived by 
 the names of the actual members, which hung up in the lobby, 
 that few of the representatives are now French. 
 
 The debates are said to be sometimes very animated ; but 
 they are more frequently personal than political : The crown 
 having a veto upon all their proceedings. 
 
 After various changes in the system of government had been 
 adopted and rejected, in the vain expectation of reconciling 
 the customs of France with the laws and usages of England, 
 in the year 1792, all the benefits of the British constitution 
 wore extended to this part of the empire ; and the province of 
 Canada was divided into two separate governments ; a legis- 
 lative council and assembly being allotted to each. But both 
 of them were placed, together with the lower provinces of 
 New Brunswick and Nova 8cotia, under the controul of the 
 same governor-general. 
 
 PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION TO THE FALLS OF MONTMORENCY. 
 
 My curiosity being now nearly satisfied at Quebec, I sat out 
 by myself on a pedestrian excursion to the Falls of Montmo- 
 rency, about eight miles north-east of that city. 
 
 On crossing the river St. Charles, I found myself in a 
 muddy plain, or bottom of black mould, mixed with sand ; 
 through which I with difficulty picked my steps for a mile or 
 two ; after which the rising ground became stony and rough. ; 
 
 On the left I passed two or three large old French mansion- 
 houses, very long in front, but shallow. They wore the ap- 
 pearance of desertion and decay ; but the church of Beauport 
 on the right, with its two steeples and a comfortable college 
 for the priests, looked in good repair. I envied them nothing, 
 however, but a small grove of trees on a projecting knowl, 
 through which they had laid out a gravel walk. It terminated 
 at an oaken table, with seats for study or reflection ; from 
 which tranquil spot the fathers could see Quebec, without any 
 intervening object, but the majestic river and the shipping in 
 the harbour. 
 
 About noon I reached the river Montmorency, which is 
 crossed by a bridge a little above the fall. Having overlooked 
 
f 
 
 ■:i 
 
 i I 
 
 II 
 
 in 
 
 1.^. 
 
 ao 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 ! ! 
 
 tliu foaming- torrent from a grove of firs (ihe French call tlieni 
 olrgjuitly pincttes,) I crossed llie In-iclge and dined, or rather 
 would have dined, at a small inn on the other ^ide ; but I 
 found the hrown hread was totally unpalatable to my pam- 
 pered nm)etite, an<l nothing- else but eggs were to be had. 
 
 A (juiet nap, however, refreshed me — I forgot the want of 
 dinner; and, in the afternoon, I went round the hill, on the 
 lo\v(,>r side of the; fidls. } saw them on the way to much better 
 advnnfiige than before, jjouriiig, in an unbroken sheet of foam, 
 info the abyss below; and, de-sceuding to the beach, I ap- 
 proached the thundering cataract near enough to be sprinkled 
 with the spray; and to satisfy myself that the height of this 
 celebrated fall has been much over-rated. It does not in rea- 
 lity exceed, if it even equals, the g-ig-antic falls of Niagara, in 
 the smallest of their dimensions, 1 mean that of height. 
 
 ri:Miot calls it 24fi feet, which is about 100 feet beyond the 
 truth ; and yet he must have viewed it with attention, ns he 
 gives a beautiful view of Montmorency. 
 
 The bank over which it rolls consists of a lime-slate, in ho- 
 rizontal strata, of various thicknesses, connected together by 
 occasional veins of fibrous gy[)sum. 
 
 The rocks of 3fontmorency have received little injury, or 
 rather impression, from the course of the water; which does not 
 appear to have receded mnny feet from what must have been 
 its pristine situation, at the period of Noah's flood — perhaps 
 long' before : for 1 am one of those g-eologist*i ivho, with Pro- 
 fessor Cuvier, of the French Institute, <lo no? believe that the 
 face of the earth was much, if at all, materially changed at 
 the tin»e of the deluge; the waters of which might rise to the 
 height mentioned in scripture, and withdraw their covering- 
 without leaving any more permanent marks of their irruption 
 than the mud and slime which they would naturally deposit. 
 
 It fi\\U upon a flat rock, which bears no marks below the 
 present basin of having ever been more worn by the waters 
 than it is at present ; and the adjoining banks are within a few 
 hundred feet of the great river, to Avhich they descend almost 
 perpendicularly. 
 
 These circumstances disprove the fond presumption, so 
 lightly adopted by Schultz and others, that the cataract of 
 Niagara, which now pours over a perpendicular wall of simi- 
 lar rocks (as no doul>t it has done from the beginning, and 
 will continue to do to the end of time) has receded from a dis- 
 tance of, I forget how many miles below, wearing away the 
 soli<l rock, at the rate of so many inches in a year. 
 
 This groundless hypothesis is accompanied with sage calcu- 
 lations of how nearly this prodigious wear and tear can be 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ll 
 
 li 
 
 r(| 
 o| 
 
 Hi 
 
 HI 
 
all tliem 
 )r rather 
 ^; but I 
 ny pam- 
 
 want of 
 ) on tliu 
 li bettor 
 of foam, 
 I, I np- 
 prinkled 
 
 of this 
 t ill rea- 
 •»'aia, in 
 t. 
 
 end the 
 1, ns he 
 
 'f ill bo- 
 ther by 
 
 jury, or 
 Joes not 
 ve been 
 perhaps 
 [th Pro- 
 hat the 
 ffed at 
 to the 
 jvering' 
 ruption 
 losit. 
 ow the 
 waters 
 a few 
 almost 
 
 on, so 
 act of 
 ' simi- 
 , and 
 a dis- 
 
 ay the 
 
 calcu- 
 an be 
 
 The Falh of Montmovpncij, 9^ 
 
 kept within the limits of the Mosaic chronoloc •; niul I »r 
 much more time — looking" forward with fearful < ;pet'(iiti»., s 
 will be siiliicient to wear through the remaining bed of \\w 
 river, and let out the waters «)f l.nkc lOrie, to deluge \\w sub- 
 jacent plains !* 
 
 A truce to speculation — let us return to acknowledged refi- 
 lities. 
 
 By going round the mouth of the river, and ranging the flat 
 rock, which forms its level bottom, I got within the influence 
 of the spray ; and, turning from llic sun, was gratified with tiie 
 aiirial splendours of a <'ircular rainbow, Miiich formed around 
 me a perfect ring, or halo, of the prismatic colours. 
 
 I now followed the course of tin? beach down the shore of the 
 St. Lawrence, as far as the little church of Ange CJardien, (not 
 less than three miles) and was by that time weary enough to 
 have accepted a humble lodging in one of the neighbouring- 
 cots; but I did not feel inclined to solicit admittance, while I 
 could possibly command accommodation at an inn. 
 
 I therefore stopped at a house to iiujuire the road, w here an 
 old woman and her daughter were weaving in a large room, 
 which apparently answered all their purposes, as there wore 
 several beds in it. Whilst I was taking her directions, the 
 priest of the parish came in with that peculiar air of uncon- 
 cern, approaching- to apathy, vhich is so observable among the 
 
 * The rocks nf Motitrijorency afford ample confinnation of the corniiara- 
 tively recent date of the present state of (liiii<;a, according to tlje Mosaic 
 (!lironoh)j!:y ; as it is evident from the proximit}', or rather juxta-position of 
 tills cataract to Ihe river .^.t. Lawrence, into which it falls almost perpend i- 
 cidarly, in connexion with tlie nnworn surface of the tlat rock on which it 
 it falls, (every where bnt at the existinj? basin) that these waters could not 
 have continued so t(» fall for any very lonj? |)eriod of time, without having 
 worn away the rocks c""r which they pour, in a much greater degree than 
 they have y«,'t done. 
 
 I consider these falls as afl'ording palpable proof of Professor Cuvier's opi- 
 nion in his Theory of the Marth, " That, by a careful examination of w hat 
 has taken place, on the smface of the globe, since it has been laid dry for 
 the last time, and its continents have assunimcd their present form, (for the 
 learned Professor traces the formation of the rocks and mountains, throu{;h 
 gradual and successive changes, both of composition and position, at least 
 in such i)arts as are somewhat elevated above the level of the ocean) it may 
 be clearly seen, that this last revolution, and consequently the establish- 
 ment of our existing societies (in other words, the creation of the human race) 
 cannot have been very remote. Accordingly, it is obvious to remark, that among 
 the bones (of animals) found in a fossil state, those of the human species have 
 never yet been discovered." Several of those specimens, which had passeed 
 for remains of that kind, Cuvier examined with attention, and that able 
 naturalist declares, that not a single fragment among them had ever belonged 
 to a human skeleton. ><- 
 
 
 
 ^x^ 
 
 _ *- < < ♦*-• 
 
 
 
 A- 
 
 c.Z 
 
 / 
 
 ijAi. •«. • ^. ■e 
 
 
 .V;:^^" 
 
 ■*' <-.--- .*' 
 
 
 
 6^ 
 
ml 
 
 Travels in Lower Canadii, 
 
 ,. I 
 
 clergy in Ctinnda. Upon tlio pricst'H sitting- down, the good 
 woninii laid aside tier Nluittle, and hrou^lit in a mu<j' of beer ; 
 which she set between nv, with niNlic civility — not oU'ering* it 
 to eilher. IliN reverence w:im not in(|uisitive, an<l I was not 
 lo<|naeions nnder the f;itit»'nes of my jonrney ; no 1 soon rose, 
 and took my leave. I have nince re^reKed that I had not 
 taken the o|i|)ortnnity of sonn; professional information ; bnt 
 one has always 8ometliin(>- to regret ; and 
 
 The ej« is not satisfu'd with .sreinjf, nor lliP cur willi luarififf. 
 
 iMiere was no tav<>rn, he said, for two lea«»nes; luit there were 
 m'ood houses upon the road ; and they were accnstomed to ex- 
 ercise hos|>il)dJty. That is to say, in this country (iiey would 
 receiv<! travellers, and take pay for their ent(>rtainment. Hos- 
 pitality implies, in (Ainada, nothing like the disinterested kind- 
 ness of the (hiakersi in Pennsylvania, which has been lately 
 sk<'lched with such glaring colours in (»alt's TM\} of West ; 
 ntn* yet <loes it indicate the liberal welcome of the getleman 
 farmer of Maryland, or Virginia, to whom the company of an 
 intelligent stranger is such an acceptable treat in those iso- 
 lated situations, that lie is recommended from house to house 
 by way of conferring a favour; and he may live among the 
 neighbouring gentry, at free cost, as long as he chooses. 
 
 I continued my progress by cottages and handets, mills and 
 water-falls, till 1 came at last within ken of the expected place 
 of repos«? ; but its wretched appearance so disheartened me, 
 after walking fifteen miles in expectation of a place of shelter, 
 that I had, at last, a great mind to have begged a night's lodg- 
 ing in the neighbourhood. I actually knocked at one door 
 for that purpose; but the people within answered as if they 
 had retired to rest, (it was now between nine and ten o'clock) 
 and I reconciled myself as well as I could to the brawling of 
 watermen, who were to put off as soon as the tide served, 
 which would be some time before midnight, for Quebec. The 
 landlady (one of the coarsest women 1 have ever seen) had 
 some tolerable wine, as it happened, so I had a pint of it, and 
 declined having any thing else for su()per. I threw myself, in 
 my clothes, upon the wretched bed that was made for mej^ 
 and next morning I turned out as early as possible, after swal- 
 lowing a couple of raw eggs, the only eatable I could stomach 
 in this squalid abode. 
 
 The peasants of Canada have got the disagreable habit, stf 
 common in Europe, of never telling their price. Ce que vous 
 voulez, Monsieur, (What you please, Sir,) is the universal an- 
 swer, even at professed inns, in unfrequented places. But I 
 must say they hever asked me for more than I gave them. 
 
 4 
 4 
 
the good 
 of" het'i* ; 
 tr»>riiig- it 
 
 wuN not 
 oon rose, 
 
 liad not 
 loii ; but 
 
 "Iff. 
 
 ere were 
 1(1 fo «\\- 
 'y wdiild 
 It. Hos-- 
 od kiiid- 
 RFi lately 
 )f' \\ est ; 
 •etietunii 
 my of an 
 lose iso- 
 to house 
 loiiy the 
 
 K'S. 
 
 nil Is and 
 ed place 
 ned me, 
 f shelter, 
 It's lodg- 
 Jiie door 
 1 if they 
 o'clock) 
 wlinj[»- of 
 served, 
 ec. The 
 !en) held 
 fit, an(f 
 lyself, in 
 for mdf 
 ter swal- 
 stomach 
 
 abit, so 
 |ue vous 
 irsal an- 
 But I 
 e tbeni, 
 
 I 
 
 The Falls of Montmorency. 9t^ 
 
 whatever it wm; and they ^ways appeared to be perfectly 
 NutiNfittd. 
 
 Yet theri^ are no beggars in Canada any more than in the 
 United States. The 8tranger is no where importuned for 
 money, or i^isgiiNtcd by the shameless display of natural or 
 nctpiired deformity, with which European roads and cities uni- 
 verNally abound. Whilst I was at Montreal, a street beggar 
 arrived frou Europe. Upon taking his stand in the public 
 s(|uare, he >» as noon noticed by the police, and clappedf up in 
 a place of confinement, till he should learn to respect the cua- 
 toiiis of the country, and betake himself to some honest meann 
 of obtaining a livelihood. 
 
 I was much annoyed, however, by the little whiffet dogs 
 that run unt upon passengers from every hovel, barking tdl 
 they are out of sight. I often admired the patience of the pos- 
 tillions — but they are probably fond of it. Noise seems to be 
 here the general passion. Church-bells are perpetually ring- 
 ing out, drums beat twice a-day, in the principal to\vns, mak- 
 ing the streets resound with the tattoo, or the reveille; and in 
 the country whole dozens of little bells are constantly jingling 
 upon the harness of ev<!ry caleche. 
 
 Before I turned about, I examined the ruins of the Fran- 
 ciscan convent, which had been l)urnt by General Wolfe to 
 dislodge its inhabitants, whose in6uence prevented supplies 
 from being brought him by the neighbouring peasantry, and 
 the chateau, as it was called, (I conjecture from its having 
 been originally a seignorial mansion-house or gentleman's seat} 
 was never allowed to be repaired. 
 
 The neighbouring churcti, called Chateau Richer, from this 
 castellated mansion (whose walls are yet perfectly sound, 
 though they have been so long dismantled^ was built in 1638; 
 and it is now undergoing a thorough repair. 
 
 The whole island of Orleans may be seen from hence ; but 
 its appearance is uninteresting, on so near a view; from the 
 monotonous style of the settlements, house after house, at 
 equal distances, and so much alike that you cannot distin- 
 guish one from another. 
 
 The French settlements do not extend above fifty miles 
 below the island, though they are sprinkled along as far as 
 the harbour of Tadoussac on one side, and the town of Ka- 
 raouraska on the other, from whence downward, in a space of 
 hundreds of miles, nothing is to be seen on either hand but 
 mountains covered with brush-wood and rocks, grey with 
 the moss of ages, over or beside which innumerable streams 
 and rivers seem to gush, or roll in vain. 
 
 Voyages and Travels, No* 2. Vol, III. F 
 
u 
 
 Travtis in Lower Canada, 
 
 In this gigantic river, the water is brackish n" farther thanf 
 the lower end of the island of Orleans, and the tide flows ncr 
 farther than the Lake of St. Pierre, yet the white porpoises 
 are frequently seen to pitch in the basin of Quebec, and ^f'halesr 
 occasionally ascend as far as the river Sanguenay.* 
 
 On my return toward Quebec, I proceeded more leisurely thaii 
 I had done in coming down, and now found time to admire the 
 beautiful plant!?, or rather vines, which were occasionally to be 
 seen hanging from the lintel of an open window ; the windows 
 in Canada opening on hinges, from side to si<le, instead of 
 being hung with Meighfs, to rise and fall, as with us. Thefee 
 vines, it seems, are called Jils d'nraigner:, or spiders' threads, 
 from the singular delicacy of their tendrils ; they are sus- 
 pended in small pots, which the earliest leaves soon cover, so 
 as completely to conceal the vessel which contains tJrem ; the 
 plant then pushes forth its pendent sirings of sprigs and floM'ers, 
 green, red, and blue, the clusters of which seem to be growing 
 in the air : frequently single pots of pinks, marigolds, and 
 other flowers, occupied the sills of the windows in the meanest 
 cottages, and gave them, more than any thing within, an ap- 
 pearance of domestic enjoyment. 
 
 As I walked along, the men had generally turned out to 
 mend the voads, much rain having fallen latterly, and the 
 surface being full of holes rooted up by the hogs. I asked 
 one grey-headed man how old he was. He (old me he was 
 
 • The impetuous torrent of the Sanguenay is a ruriositjr of the watery 
 element, little, if at all, inferior to the thundering- Falls of Niagara. Thfi 
 banks are naked rocks, which rise from one hundred and seventy to threj 
 hundred and forty yards above the stream, whose current is at once broad, 
 deep, and violent. In some places, falls of flfty or sixty feet cause it to rush 
 onward with inconceivable rapidity. It is generally from two to tiiree miles 
 wide, to a distance of one or two hundred miles from its mouth, where it is 
 suddenly contracted by projecting rocks to the width of one mile only. At 
 the place of its discharge, attempts have been made to sound its depth, with 
 five hundred fathom of line, but without etfect. At two miles up, the bot- 
 tom is indicated at one hundred and thirty or forty fathoms, and seventy 
 miles from the St. Lawrence it is still from fifty to sixty fathoms deep. 
 
 Its course is Tcry sinuous, owing to iUi^nerable projecting jwints, con- 
 tiacling its width from either shore : yet theftrae runs up it for seventy miles ; 
 and the ebb, on account of these obstru«'tioti's, is much later than it is in the 
 groat river, in consequence of which, at low water in the St. Lawrence, the 
 force of the Sujiguenay is perceivable for several miles, after its current has 
 been absorbc<l in the broad bosom of the former, which is here twenty or 
 thirty miles wide. 
 
 Just within its mouth is the harbour of Tadoussac, which is well shel- 
 tered by surrounding heights, and furnishes anchorage for any number of 
 vessels, of the krgoat sisre. ; 
 
 
Loretto, 
 
 ^ 
 
 her tharr 
 flows na 
 »orpoises 
 d ^halesr 
 
 rely thair 
 niire the 
 lly to be 
 windows 
 istead of 
 Thefee 
 
 threads, 
 are sus- 
 'over, so 
 em ; the 
 I floM'ers, 
 g^rowing" 
 Ids, and 
 
 meanest 
 , an ap- 
 
 d out to 
 
 and the 
 
 I asked 
 
 he was 
 
 he watery 
 aia. TIk> 
 y to thre J 
 ice broad, 
 ^ it to rush 
 hree miles 
 vliere it is 
 only. At 
 eptb, with 
 
 the bot- 
 (I seventy 
 >ep. 
 
 lints, con- 
 nty miles ; 
 
 is in the 
 re nee, the 
 urrcnt has 
 twenty or 
 
 well shel- 
 lumber of 
 
 righty-one. « Ah ! Monsieur," added he, " J'ai ru bren de 
 
 I quitted him with the obvious re- 
 
 la misere, au munue 
 
 mark, that such were generally those that lived the longest. 
 
 In the yard of a large grist-mill, through which the road 
 passed, I sat down to rest myself among; ihe work-people who 
 were employed at tiieir different occupations. I soon perceived 
 that one of them noticed me particularly ; and I was just go- 
 ing to continue my journey, to avoid interrogation, when he 
 asked me, with more responsibility than his appearance indi- 
 cated, if I would not walk into the house to rest myself. I 
 assured him I was very well where I was. Then he would 
 have me to come in and take a cup of tea, for the French have 
 learned to love tea in America, though they have forgotten the 
 receipt for soupe maigre. 1 civilly declined the offer, wishing 
 to reach Beau|)ort by dinner-time, where I knew I might lay 
 by for the day at a tolerable inn. 
 
 I now jogged on, without any farther adventures, to the in- 
 hospitable ihii at Mootmorency, where, however, the children 
 now broug-ht me plates of wild strawberries, for which 1 paid 
 them to tlieir hearts' content. These Canadian strawberries 
 are so very small, that I did not always think it necessary to 
 pull off* the stems, but ate them sometimes by handfuls, stems 
 and all. Here they had been picked clean, and were served 
 up to me like a delicacy, which they really are. 
 
 Knowing this was no place to dine at, 1 went on, after a nap 
 in my chair, and reached Beauport, as the family were sitting 
 down to table; so I dined with them, as I could, upon salt- 
 fish, without eggs ; for it was meagre day. The bread, how- 
 ever, was now eatable, for there is a baker in the village. 
 
 Next morning, instead of returning to Quebec, I concluded 
 to eross the country to Charlebourg; dined there, after stop- 
 ping at the church, where I was glad to shelter myself from 
 a drizzling rain ; and in the afternoon proceeded to the 
 
 INDIAN VILLAGE OF LORETTO, 
 
 but was obliged to stop by the way, under a friendly roof, w hile 
 a smart shower refreshed the air. It cleared up bt^fore night, 
 and I readily found the village, by the direction of the steeple. 
 The ("anadinn Loretto takes its name from a representation 
 of the Holy House, on its way through the air, from Beth- 
 lehem, in Palestine, under the conduct of angelic guanlians, 
 which the Catholic founders of this Indian churcli, whose zoal 
 will, at the present day, be readily allowed to be more con- 
 spicuous than their judgment, have placed over the altar. 
 
 ♦ Ah ! Sir, 1 lmv« Men a great deal of misery in my time. 
 
 F 2 
 
 I 
 
H- 
 
 36 
 
 Travels in Laioer Canada* 
 
 ■i: 
 
 II 
 
 I Ik 
 
 h 
 
 ll 
 
 I' ■ 
 
 t,.: 
 
 i y 
 \'i 
 
 1 I 
 
 'iill, 
 
 This, may I be permitted to observe by the way, is littfe 
 better than initiating the Hindoos in the Christian faith, by ex- 
 plaining, or rather attempting to explain, the mystery of elec- 
 tion and reprobation, by an arbitrary election of some, and re- 
 jection of others; whereas, the election of which the scriptures 
 speak (although in some parts they are hard to be understood, 
 and the unlearned wrest them to their own destruction,) the 
 election o/* grace is universal, being in Christ the seed of 
 Jacob, the second Adam, the quickening spirit : and the re- 
 jection or reprobation is of £sau, a figure of the first-born, or 
 natural man, not in some, but all; for it is a literal truth, 
 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We 
 must be born again. We must actually put on Christ, or 
 we shall nevor be saved by him ; for he came to save his people 
 from their sins, not in them. " Know ye not, that Jesus Christ 
 is in you, except ye be reprobates ?" — " These are hard say- 
 ings," said the Jews, " Who can bear them ?" 
 
 Perhaps these children of nature had better have been left 
 to " the Great Spirit," whom their fathers worshipped, how- 
 ever ignorantly ; and their intuitive belief in " the Land of 
 Souls," than to have been thus impressed with one of the 
 idlest impositions of ancient superstition. 
 
 The village consists, besides the church, which appears now 
 to be much neglected, of forty or fifty square houses, standing 
 separate from each other, with spaces between, which serve 
 both for streets and yards to the listless inhabitants. Some 
 young men were lounging about. A girl, as fleet as a fawn, 
 frolicked round them occasionally, and the children were at 
 some noisy play. 
 
 These simple people are of the Huron tribe, and they have 
 long been civilized, or rather naturalized, among the French 
 in Canada. They have lost their native habits of contempt for 
 labour, and fondness for war, and now live much in the Cana- 
 dian manner, though they preserve the Indian dress, as less 
 constraining to their limbs. 
 
 They occupy about two hundred acres, I was told, of their 
 own, but depend more willingly upon the precarious chances of 
 hunting and fishing, having recourse, when those fail them, to 
 hiring themselves out for bread among the neighbouring 
 farmers. 
 
 Under such circumstances they are fast forgetting the tra- 
 ditions of their ancestors, which are no longer preserved by 
 belts of wampum, and renewed, by periodical revival, during 
 the solemnities of a council fire ; even the song and the dance 
 are now only taken up at distant intervals, to the monotonous 
 soundf of 10 1 He ! Waw ! in perpetual repetition, to gratify 
 
Loretto, 
 
 37 
 
 is littfe 
 h, by ex- 
 of elec- 
 
 and re- 
 icriptures 
 (lerstood, 
 lion,) the 
 seed of 
 d the re- 
 t-born, or 
 al truth, 
 tod. We 
 hrist, or 
 lis people 
 us Christ 
 lard say- 
 been left 
 ed, how- 
 Land of 
 le of the 
 
 ears now- 
 standing 
 ich serve 
 5. Some 
 a fawn, 
 were at 
 
 hey have 
 French 
 tempt for 
 he Cana- 
 , as less 
 
 , of their 
 lances of 
 them, to 
 bbouring 
 
 the tra- 
 rved by 
 , during' 
 16 dance 
 lotonous 
 gratify 
 
 ^ 
 "i 
 
 the curiosity of European visitors, with the ferocious attitudes 
 and frantic gestures ot triumphant massacre. 
 
 The next day, being the sabbath, I should have gone to 
 church with the Indians, but there was to be no service ; and I 
 should have staid to dinner with my host, but there was no 
 meat in the house ; so I concluded to go to the French church, 
 half a mile distant : after visiting the Falls of St. Charles, 
 called by ihe natives Cabir Coubat, to express the abrupt turns 
 which the river here makes, as it descends, with a shrill con- 
 cussion, through narrow tunnels which it has worn in the 
 rocks, till it loses itself to the eye amid overhanging pines. 
 
 On the road to church the peasantry were collecting in 
 great numbers ; they were decently but coarsely clad, in 
 jackets and trowsers of grey coating ; and the youth were 
 amusing themselves with harmless sports, till the bell rung for 
 mass, for there was to be no sermon, the priests finding it 
 easier to perform their accustomed rig-ma-role of the mass, 
 than to task their ingenuity with the composition of a discourse 
 adapted to the uninformed situation of their parishioners, wbo 
 are thus literally left to " perish for lack of knowledge." 
 
 We bad what is called High Mas«, that is to say, the cere- 
 monies of the mass were accompanied with singing; they are 
 sometimes performed in apparent silence, the priests alone ut- 
 tering certain parts of the ritual in a low voice, not designed to 
 be heard by (he congregation ; and there was much smoaking 
 of incense, and sprinkling of holy water, a practice so very 
 puerile, that it is difRcult for a Protestant to behold it without 
 a feeling of contempt lor the operator. 
 
 Uut the rehearsal of a language that has ceased to be spoken 
 ever since the decay of the Roman empire, and which there- 
 fore involves a period of at least fifteen hundred years, is a so- 
 lemn commentary upon the lapse of ages. 
 
 I consider this perpetuation of a dead language (however 
 absurd it may appear in practice) as an unbroken link in the 
 chain of history, that attaches, with irresistible conviction, the 
 NewTestamcnt dispensation to that of the Old; and I reverence 
 it in the order of Providence, as I do the Jews, that peculiar 
 people, prepared of (he Lord, for (he introduction into the 
 world of his only bog-otten Son, by whose g-enealogies and pro- 
 phetic annunciations, (however unwittingly on their part,) we 
 are assured of the birth of the Messiah, which was to be (I ap- 
 peal to Moses and the prophets) before the kingdom should de- 
 part from JiidaJi, before the daily sacrifice should be taken away, 
 and whilst it was yet possible to trace the descent of the King of 
 Israel from the house of David, and the tribe of Judah. 
 
 And if the truf l»ej«»ver cannot but contemn the mummery 
 
 
38 
 
 Tiaeeh in Lower Canada. 
 
 < 
 
 r 
 
 ■h 
 
 '!■ • 
 
 ^ 
 
 H' di! 
 
 
 N^ 
 
 li 
 
 ■;-»i! 
 
 if 
 
 
 of superstition, cngraiflted by priestcraft upon primitiire sim- 
 plicity, it may yet excite liis wonder, that the uecayed fabric 
 of Christianity should have stood the shock of reformation, 
 and been restored in the Protestant professions to new life and 
 vigour. 
 
 The rocks which compose the chain of mountains, which 
 forms an immense amphitheatre behind the village of Loretto, 
 and terminates in the promontory of Cape Tourment, consist, 
 I am told, of a quartz of the colour of amber, sometimes white, 
 with a black glimmer, and a i'ew grains of brown spar. Not 
 far from the point of the Cape, there is said to be a considerable 
 lake upon the summit of the mountain. 
 
 I was now nine miles north of the 8t. Lawrence, upon a 
 commandino' elevation, from which there is an unbounded 
 view of the great river, in its course toward the ocean ; of the 
 heights of Quebec, and its glittering roofs and spires, whose 
 reflection is' too powerful for the eve, even at this distance ; 
 of the island of Orleans ; of the southern coast, and, far beyond 
 all, of the long chain of mountains which separates Canada 
 from the United States. 
 
 Nothing can be more sublime than this uninterrupted view 
 of one of the greatest rivers in the world, it being five miles 
 wide, where it is unequally divided by the island of Orleans, 
 M'hich is upwards of three hundred from the sea. 
 
 You trace the channel as far as Cape Tourment, a bluflT 
 nearly perpendicular, which rises to a haight of two thousand 
 feet, and is distinctly visible, in its majestic outline, at the dis- 
 tance of forty miles, abruptly terminating, to the eye, the dim- 
 seen mountains that bound the horizon, at an unknown dis- 
 tance, for at least as many leagues, allowing to the ravished 
 eye, at one protracted glance, a softened view of the tremen- 
 dous precipices. 
 
 Which pour a sweep of rivers from their sides ; 
 And, higii heiweeii contending nations, rear 
 'J'he rocky, Ions; division. 
 
 I now set out in good spirits for Quebec, refreshed myself 
 at Charlebourg, and reached town as the bells were tolling for 
 seven o'clock, the hour at which the churches are closed. Here 
 I supped deliciously upon fresh salmon, after the poor fare I 
 had met with in the country ; and I listened again at nine 
 o'clock to the penetrating trumpets, by which the hour of re- 
 tirement is sounded every night. 
 
 The first bishop of Quebec was a Montmorency, of the no- 
 ble house that has furnished so many dukes and marshals of 
 France, in the most brilliant periods of the French monarchy. 
 
 f 
 
 re< 
 
 ha 
 ce! 
 bb 
 de 
 
 m 
 lit 
 fl- 
 ab 
 ai 
 
f 
 
 Quebec, 
 
 S9 
 
 iitire 8im- 
 lyed fabric 
 formation, 
 iw life and 
 
 ns, which 
 f Loretto, 
 t, consist, 
 tries white, 
 spar. Not 
 nsiderable 
 
 S upon a 
 n bounded 
 n ; of the 
 es, whose 
 distance ; 
 w beyond 
 s Canada 
 
 f)ted view 
 
 five miles 
 
 Orleans, 
 
 a bluff 
 thousand 
 t the dis- 
 the dim- 
 pwn dis- 
 ravished 
 trenien- 
 
 myself 
 lling- for 
 d. Here 
 
 fare I 
 at nine 
 
 of re- 
 
 thc no- 
 *shals of 
 marchy. 
 
 I must hare somewhere seen his epitaph, though I cannot now 
 recollect where; but ihe celebrated Falls we have just visited, 
 were probably called after him, and, if so, he may be said to 
 have a more splendid monument than any of his illustrious an- 
 cestors. How much more durable ! Since those were proba- 
 bly overturned in the fury of the rerolution, whilst the resplen- 
 dent cataract, faithful to its trust, will perpetuate the name 
 of the good bishop to the end of the worhl. 
 
 Quebec is subjected to frequent rains, by the neighbourinjy 
 mountains which arrest the clouds in its vicinity ; and it has 
 little to boast of in summer, though the days are very Ion"-, 
 from its high northern latitude, (46. 56.) The sun now rises 
 nhout four o'clock, and sets about eight. — The winter is 
 allowed to be the season of enjoyment here. 
 
 A sufticlent stock of meat and poultry is killed when the 
 cold sets in, ^vhich it usually does in November, continuing 
 without intermission till April, and sometimes encroaching 
 upon May. The snow then usually lies upon the ground from 
 four to six feet deep. The meat, as well as every thing else 
 that is exposed to the cold, instantly freezes; and it is thus 
 kept, without further trouble, till it is wanted. 
 
 As the snows fall, the inhabitants turn out to keep the road 
 open, that their intercourse with their neighbours may not be 
 impeded. The air is constantly serene ard healthful ; the 
 nights are illuminated with the aurora borealis; and the time 
 is spent in giving and returning visits between town and coun- 
 try. Dancing-parties are frequently formed by the young people 
 at one another's houses, and the gay scene is at its height when 
 the great river freezes over, as it sometimes does from side to 
 side. The island of Orleans is then accessible, and every 
 body turning out upon the " pont," as they call it, on skates, 
 or else in sleds and carrioles, 
 
 The then gay land is maddened all to joy. 
 
 Spring at length opens suddenly ; the ice breaks up with 
 tremendous crashes ; and vegetation follows in surprising 
 rapidity, as soon as the surface of the ground is clear of snow. 
 
 Such iliey say is, occasionally, the extremity of the cold, 
 that wine freezes even in apartments heated by stoves, the 
 pipes of which are conveyed through every room. Brandy 
 exposed to the air will thicken to the consistence of oil ; and 
 the quicksilver of thermometers condenses to the bulb, and 
 may possibly congeal, for even mercury freezes at 39 degrees 
 below the beginning of Fahrenheit. 
 
 Heavy snows come in October. During November they 
 
40 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 '!h 
 
 sometimes continue tallino; for weeks topcellier ; and when the 
 cold at leng-th puiifies the atmosphere, the moon-light nights 
 ore almost as brilliant as the day ; for the sun cannot rise very 
 hig-h between eig-ht in the morning and four in the afternoon; 
 and the full-moon, reflected by the snow and ice, is bright 
 enough to admit of reading the smallest print. 
 
 The roads, which would have been utterly impassable had 
 they not been kept beaten, as the snow fell, and marked across 
 the undistinguishing waste by pine-bushes, stuck in from 
 space to space, now harden to the consistence of ice, under the 
 runners of the carrioles, which seem to flit in air as they whirl 
 along the impatient passenger (muflled up in furs till nothing 
 appears but the tip of his nose,) at the rate of fifieen or twenty 
 miles an hour. 
 
 One of the amusements of winter is to go a fishing upon the 
 ice. For this purpose large openings are made, in certain 
 places, which the fish are known to frequent. The broken ice 
 is piled up arch-wise, to shelter the fishermen from the ^/ind ; 
 and the fish coming hither for air, are easily caught, especi- 
 ally at night, when the men use lights, anrl sometimes kindle 
 fires, which attract the fish to the circle, and produce a singu- 
 lar effect, at a distance, through the hollow masses of trans- 
 parent ice, the angles of which glitter on your approaching 
 them, as if they were hung with diamonds. 
 
 Notwithstanding this extraordinary frigidity, Canady lies in 
 the same latitude with the smiling provinces of old France, 
 The greater degree of cold upon the new continent must be 
 attributed to the land stretchmg away to the vicinity of the 
 Pole, with little intervening sea, and expanding at the same 
 time very far to the west. The whole range of winter winds, 
 therefore, from N. E. to N. W. passing over but little sea to 
 divest them of their rigour, gather fresh cold in traversing 
 immense tracts of snow and ice. 
 
 The Episcopal Cathedral, a handsome building, erected at 
 a great expence (I believe of royal munificence) upon the spot 
 once occupied by the convent and cloisters of the Recollects, 
 or Franciscan Friars, is now undergoing a reparation which 
 marks ostensibly the peculiarities of the climate. 
 
 This structure is of Grecian architecture (lonick, if I re- 
 member right), finished with the broad entablature and low 
 pediment, prescribed by the rules of that order ; but its flat 
 roof has been found incapable of supporting the weight of 
 snow which annually rests upon it; and to render the building 
 tight and comfortable, it has been found necessary to spoil its 
 elegant proportions, by raising the roof at least ten feet 
 biglier. 
 
# 
 
 ^hen the 
 it nights 
 rise ve\y 
 fternooii ; 
 is bright 
 
 able had 
 3(1 across 
 in from 
 mder the 
 bey whirl 
 I nothing" 
 3r twenty 
 
 upon the 
 n certain 
 roken ice 
 he T/ind ; 
 f, especi- 
 es kindle 
 a singu- 
 [)f trans- 
 roaching 
 
 ly lies in 
 France, 
 must be 
 ty of the 
 ^he same 
 Br winds, 
 1e sea to 
 aversing 
 
 rected at 
 
 the spot 
 
 Bcollects, 
 
 [)n which 
 
 if I re- 
 and low 
 iit its flat 
 '^eight of 
 building 
 spoil its 
 ten feet 
 
 C 
 
 
 « * 
 
 > .*^ 
 
 #■■ 
 
 
 I 
 
 ■■* 
 
 ^.. 
 
 %• 
 
 9 *■*• 
 
 # 
 
 % 
 
 * » 
 
 ^ 
 
 <i 
 
#% 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 mr. 
 
 r * 9 
 
 [■ 
 
 #, 
 
 
 
 i ^y' 
 
 W¥ 
 
 
 ' '"nfl 
 
 
 ,*» 
 
 #■ 
 
 ^m' 
 
 4#K » 
 
 %- 
 
 ■» 
 
 *- 
 
 ^.* 
 
 ♦ 
 
 * 
 
 i^: 
 
 i:^ 
 
 i 
 
 •% 
 
 ♦ 
 
 #. 
 
Quebec, 
 
 41 
 
 The steeple of this church, though on a emaller scale, ia 
 evidently modelled from that of Christ Church, Philadelphia, 
 which is the handsomest structure of the spire kind that ever 
 I Kaw in any pnrt of the world ; uniting- the peculiar features 
 of that species of architecture, the most elegant variety of 
 forms, with the most cha3te simplicity of combination. It is al- 
 lowed by all foreigners to do great credit to the taste and 
 talents of the architect, (Robert Smith A/' 
 
 Quebec is much nearer to Boston tnan it is to Halifax, or 
 St. John's. By the route of the Chaudiere and the Kenne- 
 beck, it is no more than 370 miles to the capital of New Eng- 
 land; but it is not less than 627 to that of Nova Scotia, by the 
 road which was traced, by General Haldimand, in the year 
 1783, to St. John's in New Brunswick, thence crossing the 
 Bay of Fundy to Halifax ; but it is even now barely practica- 
 ble, stretching for the most part across uninhabited ciesarts. 
 
 By Craig's road, which was cut by the command of Sir 
 James, when governor-general in 1809, toward the American 
 frontier, but which remains still unfinished, it would be only 
 200 niiles to Hallowell, a town on the Kennebeck, from whence 
 that river is navigable to the sea It is but seventy miles from 
 the out-settlements on the Kennebeck to the French posts on 
 the riviere du Loup, a branch of the Chaudiere — the country 
 between, mountainous and rugged, but intersected by rivers 
 and streams. 
 
 I now prepared for my return by land, resolving to take 
 the caliche, the Canadian post-chaise, that I might have the 
 better opportunity of seeing the country, and observing the 
 manners of the people; though I had been almost discouraged 
 from the attempt, by apprebensions of imposition from the 
 post-masters ana postillions, whom I supposed to be no better 
 than their brethren in Europe; and toe certainty that this 
 mode of conveyance would cost me at least twice as much as 
 a passage in the steam-boat ; the fare on-board of which, up 
 the river, is but twelve dollars, including every thing, (ten 
 dollars down.) Passengers are also provided for in the steerage, 
 on-board of these boats, at one- quarter of the price. 
 
 I left Quebec with a confirmed opinion, that, although its 
 citadel, reputed the strongest fortification in America, with 
 its hundreds of heavy cannon, and its thousands of well-disci- 
 plined troops, might possibly, in future wars between the two 
 countries (which Heaven avert), fall a prey to American enter- 
 prise and intrepidity ; yet the conauest would cost infinitely 
 more than it could be worth; ana must be with difficulty 
 maintained against the re-action of th^ greatest naval power on 
 
 VoYAGBs and Travels, ^o, 2. Vol, HI, G 
 
42 
 
 Trav&U in Lower Canada. 
 
 h 
 
 ■i 
 
 ''. 
 
 eartli, to whose npproacbo.s by sen it must ever remain ac- 
 cesMJblf. 
 
 I siiy nut tlie same of Upper Canada, wliofle population is, 
 or will l>e, essentially American ; and wIionc attnciiment to the 
 government of Great Uritain must inevitably yield to the" 
 hubifis and opinions of their continental nei<rhbours. In short, 
 I may venture to predict, with little apprehension of contro- 
 versy, that hy the next competition between Eng-land and 
 America, if it bo not very hastily broui^lit on. Upper Canada 
 will be nearly Americanised, Montreal itself will have be- 
 come to all efficient purposes an American town ; the French 
 f copulation there will gradually assimilate, or disappear; un- 
 ess, indeed, French Canada should be consolidated by na- 
 tional independence; and the eventual boundary of Lower 
 Canada will probably be the Soi*el on one side, and the St. 
 Maurice on tlie other ;* leaving- to his Majesty of Great Bri- 
 tain and his successors the steril and inhospitable shores 
 that stretch — 
 
 To fill tliest Luplaud and tlie frozen main. 
 
 Canada is as costly a feather in the royal cap as any other of 
 the imperial trappings; and why should republicans volunteer 
 their services to prevent its being paid for beyond its value. 
 
 Yet, if the useless expenditure of men or money — if the un- 
 necessary waste of thousands of the former, and millions of the 
 latter, should ever be allowed to enter into the calculations of 
 courts and cabinets ; if, in short, it had been ever known, that 
 nations, or rather ministers, should voluntarily relinquish 
 power, when once obtained, by whatever means, or for what- 
 ever purpose, I should not think it altogether hopeless to re- 
 commend it as the policy of Britain, in case of another war 
 with America, to relinquish Upper Canada, and leave the 
 French to their own gx)verDment, as an independent nation ; 
 
 * This is a line of demarkation, not merely superficial ; but wbich has been 
 tiiaced out, for hundreds of miles, by navigable waters ; whose course, from 
 north to south, is marked by a perceptible variation of soil and elimate. — 
 There is a difference of six weeks in the opening of spring, between Mon- 
 treal (where the seasons do not diifer materially from the meridian of King- 
 ston) and the petrifying winter of Quebec. There is at least half that dilfer- 
 enoe between the Island of Montreal and the eastern side ot the rivers above- 
 mentioned ; and I shall venture to say it, (however imaginary the fact may 
 seem) that an observant traveller, in ascending the St. Lawrence, can hardly 
 fail to mark the variation in the looks and manners of the people ; as soon 
 as he crosses this line, by the wide ftixy which appears to traverse the mouths 
 of three rivers, an illusion occasioned by two islaiids that here divide the St. 
 Maurice into three different cliauaels. 
 
 
 
Qutlee* 
 
 49 
 
 13 ■ 
 
 I 
 
 witlnlrawing all future protection and support from t\wir 
 North American Provinces ; exceptinjr tliosc of Now HrunN- 
 wick and Nova Scotia, with their Hepencloncies ; wiiich, brino" 
 on tlie sea-board, may })c easily defended if ever they NJionld 
 be attacked ; and which wo«ld continue to atford to Great 
 Britain all the benefits she ever drew, or could expect to 
 draw, from the possession of Canada: — An acquisition which 
 became worse than useless to £n|;land, from the moment of 
 the declaration of independence by her adjacent provinces, 
 now the United States. 
 
 Her gigantic navy would preserve its nursery — the fisheries 
 of Newfoundland ; the territories of New fJrunswick and 
 Nova Scotia could b» maintained without the enf(t?ebling strain 
 of perpetual exertion ; and Canada would be no longer, what 
 it must ever be, while it remains a British Province — a bone 
 to pick between England and America — or a shell for the lot 
 of either pariyy while the oyster is throivm atcny between 
 them. 
 
 Let not these ideas be rejected with contempt, as altoge- 
 ther visionary, (however unpalatable they may be in England.) 
 — Trans-atlantic dominion can never be perpetual in the heart 
 of the American continent — however long, or however 
 cheaply, it may be maintained upon the peninsula of Nova 
 Scotia; in the secluded recesses of New Holland ; (though 
 they embrace another continent) — in the West^Tndies, or in 
 the East. 
 
 As soon as the native population of Upper Canada (and 
 soon it will, in a clime anci upon a soil whereon the principle 
 of life is evidently susceptible of its utmost vigour') becomes 
 sufficiently numerous to make self-government, (the natural 
 right of all distinct associations of men) convenient and desir- 
 able; all the power of Britain cannot delay the event ; when- 
 ever another Franklin shall arise, at Toronto, or on the 
 borders of the Lakes, to enlighten the minds of his country- 
 men with political truth, and direct their eflTorts towards the 
 acquisition of national independence. 
 
 How much wiser then would it be (to say nothing of huma- 
 nity, Christianity, and so forth — since those principles are not 
 allowed to obtain among nations who, individually, profess 
 their obligation) to permit the course of nature to take place 
 without a struggje ?-^NaturaI parents take delight in the in- 
 dependence of tlieir offspring. Will mother-countries, as they 
 proudly call themselves, always insist upon the perpetual sub- 
 jugation of their colonial progeny ? 
 
 This, if I may be allowed to dilate the figure, is acting the 
 
 G2 
 
 i 
 
r 
 
 V' .' 
 
 
 li'^i 
 
 44 
 
 TraveU in Lower Canada. 
 
 part of a step-mother— who hat but an f^quivurnl claim to filial 
 obedience. 
 
 Upper Canada, or British America, is proudly stretched Uy 
 Dnglish jj^eographers from the shores of the Atlantic to the 
 Southern Ocean ; and the houn<lle«8 pretension serves to co- 
 lour, with red, upon the map of the world, n ^rent jnirt of the 
 northern hemispliere, until it whitens the Pole, liut Upper 
 Canada, Proper, or that part of it which is at all likely to l>e 
 inhabited during the present g'eneration, is a fertile territory, 
 lying* under a temperate sky, of about equal dimensions with 
 the State of New Y(»rk, which already contiiins a million of 
 souls ; and upon which it bounds, both above and below Lake 
 Ontario, for a space of one or two hundred miles. 
 
 This extensive tract is isolated by nature, between the 
 Ottawa River, a branch of the St. Laurence, and Lako 
 Nippissing-, with its outlet, called French River, emptying- 
 into Lake Huron on the north ; the broad expanse ot Lake 
 Huron on the north and west ; and Lakes 'Erie and Ontario 
 toward the south. 
 
 Upper Canada presents a solecism in politics ; as' well as a 
 paradox in geography. An island, or at least a peninsula, in 
 the heart of a contment: Its prosperity, as a nation, will be 
 its ruin as a province. The stronf^er it j^rows, the weaker it 
 will become, as a dependency of Britain. Let her beware of 
 enumeration — Davia was under a delusion when he numbered 
 Israel. 
 
 I would not be counted an enemy of England, because I 
 tell her unwelcome truths. I am a friend to Britain ; and 
 have ever been proud of my descent., from the first nation upon 
 earth. 
 
 This isolated territory, or, if you will, peninsula, at a dis- 
 tance of a thousand miles from any sea, is now fifettling--— not 
 with English, but with Americans, who pass into it by thou- 
 sands, throug'h the ample isthmus which separates Lake Erie 
 from Lake Ontario — and a man must shut his eyes not to see 
 the inevitable consequence. 
 
 It appears, from history, that in the year lf)29 the infant 
 Province of Canada was taken from the French by the Eng- 
 lish: but it was then held in little estimation, (as it would 
 have been in 1759, if it had not been a security for the peace 
 of the adjacent provinces) and, three years afterward, the un- 
 profitable possession was restored to its rightful owners. Tho 
 jBritish Crown (it was worn by Charles I.) was then, it seems, 
 wise enough to relinquish Canada, as an acquisition not worth 
 the expence of maintaining; iind, if it should eventually do so 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 'I 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 Montreal, 
 
 45 
 
 A^in, bj its own act, the deed will not be without a precedenf. 
 Ir Canada was then worth letis than it is now — How much 
 leM did it cost*/* 
 
 RETtRN TO MONTREAL, BY LAI^D. 
 
 I wan a little frettod upon leaving' Quebec, at the unex- 
 pected demand of the Fosto Royale, which has been carefully 
 transferred to Canada, by the brethren of the whip : but no 
 other imposition did I suffer till I reached Montreal. Every 
 post-boy took his established fare, one-quarter of a dollar per 
 league, and looked for no gnUuity. Tlie two first |)ostillion8 
 had no whips. Not one of them swore at their horses, invari- 
 ably managing the obedient animals with nothing more than. 
 " Marche done !" There was no liquor at the post-houses, 
 not even where they professed to entertain travellers; for the 
 police regulations are here very strict, against unnecessary 
 tippling houses; and instead ofcallins: for something to drink, 
 at every stage, the post-boys invariably sat down and smoked 
 a pipe, in familiar conversation with the people of the house. 
 One of them was deaf — of course he was silent ; but the next 
 hummed a tune, with incessant volubility; and a third — 
 " Whistled as he went, for want of thought." 
 
 At St. Augustine, whose church is at the bottom of a hill, 
 along the summit of which runs the road, there stands what is 
 here called a Calvary; that is a crucifix, ns large as life, ele- 
 vated upon steps, railed in, and covered overhead with a bell- 
 shaped roof, surmounted, as are most of the simple crosses, 
 with a cock; not as a late traveller has supposed, in remem- 
 brance of Peter's denial of his Lord, but as the symbol of 
 patriotism. 
 
 At a place called Sillery Cove, in this vicinity, the Jesuits 
 erected a chapel, and other buildings, as early as the year 
 1()37, for converting the natives to Christianity. They had 
 arrived from France but twelve years before. The ruins of 
 this edifice still remain ; and in Sillery Wood, where the Al- 
 gonquins, the ancient allies of the French, against the Iro- 
 quois, or Five Nations, had a large village, there still 
 remains some of the tumuli of these native inhabitants of the 
 
 * Charlevoix says, vrith amusing simplicity, that the French King would 
 not have reclaimed La Nouvelle France, considering it as a possession (Imt 
 was a burthen to the crown, (the advances exceeding the returns) bnt for 
 the sake of b( ing instrumental in converting the natives to Chrislianity ; a 
 deed whidi was in that age thougirt no less meritorious than had been, in 
 the dayi of Ijewis IX. that of dispossessing the Infldels of the Sepulchre of 
 Christ [See vol. I. p. 1.73.1 
 
46 
 
 Traveli in Lower Canada, 
 
 i 
 
 I ' 
 
 forest ; and their mementos, cut upon the stems of trees, may 
 yet be traced by the curious observer. 
 
 My post-boys scrupulously lifted their hats to every body 
 we met, whether man, woman, or child ; but that kind of 
 obeisance to the crosses would appear to be now dispensed with, 
 for there was but one postillion out of twenty or thirty that 
 appeared to take any notice of them whatever — perhaps the 
 service may have been commuted for a mental Ave Mary, in 
 consequence of the ridicule to which that ceremony exposed 
 them from British travellers. 
 
 POINTE AUX TREMBLES. 
 
 At the little villag-e of Pointe aux Trembles, where] there is 
 not only a church, but a small convent of nuns, the parson of 
 the parish was strolling through the village, with a book under 
 his arm — to show that he was not absolutely 
 
 Occup6 a ne rien faire.* 
 
 Among the half-dozen hovels of the place was a lodging- 
 house, under the pompous designation of I'Hotel Stuart. I 
 had seen a tavern among the dirty lanes of the lower town of 
 Quebec, which was kept by a Valois ; and a petty grocery, 
 hard by, under my own proper names, both first and last, 
 with the variation of a single letter in the surname ; to which 
 I was now indifferently reconciled by finding myself in such 
 company. 
 
 I am in the habit of observing the names upon si&'ns, they 
 are often curiously appropriate to the occupations of the par- 
 ties — What think you for instance of Burnop for a baker ? 
 Sometimes they afford genealogical traces, and hints of nati- 
 onal history. I have often been amused in New England 
 with the names of Endicot and Coddington — the posterity of 
 former governors, metamorphosed into shop-keepers, and 
 tailors ; and in a suburb of Montreal, unconscious of the ho- 
 nours of illustrious descent, I observed a Rapin on one side 
 of the way, and a Racine on the other. One was a petty 
 grocer, the other a shoemaker, who had probably never heard 
 of the historian or the poet. 
 
 It was at this place that General Arnold, after ascending 
 the Kennebeck, against its rapid current, from the sea-coast 
 of Maine, and crossing the White Mountains, where they are 
 interrupted by the impetuous torrent of the Chaudiere, (ap- 
 pearing, like a vision of enchantment, in the eyes of the Sons 
 citoyens of Quebec, who would as soon have expected an 
 
 * Engaged a doing nothing. (BoiJeau.) 
 
 (( 
 
 (i 
 
Point aux Trembles* 
 
 47 
 
 eg, may 
 
 ry body 
 kind of 
 edwiti), 
 rty that 
 laps the 
 [ary, in 
 exposed 
 
 there is 
 arson of 
 k under 
 
 odging- 
 uart. I 
 
 town of 
 B^rocery, 
 nd last, 
 ;o which 
 
 in such 
 
 ns, they 
 the par- 
 baker ? 
 of nati- 
 Bn^land 
 iterity of 
 ers, and 
 r the ho- 
 one side 
 a petty 
 er heard 
 
 icending 
 ;ea-coast 
 they are 
 jre, (ap- 
 the bans 
 icted an 
 
 arrival from the moon upon the opposite peak of Point Levy) 
 formed a junction with General Montgomery, who, having 
 possessed himself, ahnost without resistance, of the castle of 
 Chamblee and the town of St. John's, had entered 3Iontreal 
 in triumph, and descended the St. Lawrence to this point- 
 Sir Guy Carleton fleeing before him in a boat with muffled 
 oars. Thus scouring in a few weeks the whole province of 
 Canada, to this short distance from its capital. 31ontgomery 
 had a regiment of Canadians in his train, for the French pea- 
 santry had, at the breaking out of the war, refused to arm 
 against their neighbours, and were disposed to favour the 
 American cause, notwithstanding it appeared among them in 
 tlie equivocal guise of successful invasion. 
 
 The postillion that conducted me to the river Jacques Car- 
 tier was quite a humourist. He replied to my first inquiries 
 about the state of the country : — " Monsieur, Cest le pays le 
 '' plus aimablo, pour la misere, que vous trouverez nulle part. 
 " On travaille beaucoup pour gagner peu. Oh ! c'est une oc- 
 " cupation que la vie, ici, je vous en assure. Nous avons un 
 " petit bout d'ete et done, tout de suite, la gele, qui vient 
 " toujours a la St. Michel [the 29th of September] Quelque 
 " fois pendaant la Recolte meme. Toujours avant la Tous 
 " Saints,"* [the 1st November.] 
 
 I asked him his age, thinking he might be about sixty.— 
 " Monsieur, J' ai quarante ans, juste'*t I told him I was 
 fifty, " Mais vous avez I'air plus jeune que moi. Et comme 
 " vous avez de Tembonpoint ! Je pense que vous devez 
 " venir de Boston ? Lcs Bostonnois sont tous de grosjhom- 
 " mes (He was himself a little fellow of five feet three) 
 " Vos chevaux aussi sont grands. Les notres sont petits. 
 " Mais nous les faisons aller a toutes jambes."J (We were 
 now descending a hill, at the rate of ten or twelve miles an 
 hour, I thought at the imminent risque of our necks.) " Comme 
 " les hommes de notre pays, Ton est oblige de fair plus q'on 
 " ne peut."§ 
 
 * Sir, it is tlie most t hariniiif? country for misery that you shall find any 
 where. We work a great deal lo earn a little.— Oh ! Life is an occupation 
 here, 1 assure you. We have a little bit of summer, and then directly comes 
 IVost ; which happens always by St. Michael's day. Sometimes in harvest 
 — Always by All Saints. 
 
 t Sir, I am forty years old. 
 
 I But you look younger than I do ; and in what good case you are, I 
 think you must be from Boston. The Bostoners (a general term here for 
 Americans) are all big men. Your horses too are large. Ours are very, very 
 little : but we make them lay leg to it. 
 
 § Liktt the men of our country, they arc obliged tu do more than they 
 can. 
 
48 
 
 T^ravelt in LiMoet Canada* 
 
 \ i 
 
 jiS-i 
 
 I enquired how the French liked the Engh'sh* " Cominti 
 Qa ! Messieurs les Ang-lois/* were very brave, e^enerous, and so 
 forth. *' Mais lis ne sont pas polls, comme les Francois. Quel^ 
 que fois aussi ils ne sont pas de bonne bumeur. lis se mettent 
 en colore souvent sans savoir pourquoi."* 
 
 Were the Canadians content under the British Government ? 
 " Oh pour 9a, oui ! I'on ne sauroient fitre niieux." — Y-a-t-il 
 loin, Monsieur, d'ici k Philadelphie ? "f Ansvi^er, two hun- 
 dred leagues. *< C'est bien loin. — Mais ce doit Stre un bien 
 beau pays.":]: 
 
 We had, by this time, reached the little river Jacques Car- 
 tier, so called from the first explorer of the Saint Lawrence, 
 who wintered here in 1535, or his return down the river. It 
 here disembogues itself between steep banks, with a rapid 
 current. 
 
 I was set over this wild ferry, in a small canoe, just before 
 dark, and had to find my way, with my baggag-e in my hand, 
 as well as I could, up the opposite hill. Its rugged heights 
 had been fortified to oppose the descent of the Fnglish in the 
 year 1760. I was received, however, at the inn (one of the 
 best on the road) as well as if I had arrived in a coach and 
 four. 
 
 I enquired after the Salmon Leap, for which this river is 
 famous. They had just begun to appear. Two had been 
 caught at the Falls that morning; but they had been sold. 
 For how much ? — Three-quarters of a dollar a-piece. 
 
 Salmon have been caught here weighing from thirty to forty 
 pounds. They are impatient of the heat, which prevails in the 
 great river at the time of their arrival, and dart eagerly up the 
 cool streams of the smaller rivers, with a view to deposit their 
 spawn in places of security. When a rapid, or cataract, ob- 
 structs their passage, (which is often the case in Canada,) they will 
 leap ten or fifteen feet at a time to get over it ; and these pow- 
 erful fish are sometimes seen struggling with insurmountable 
 obstacles, against which they will leap six or seven times, if as 
 often thrown back into the adverse current. 
 
 Upon my expressing a wish to have some salmon for break- 
 fast, the men said they would go out in the morning' and try to 
 catch one for me. By the time I got up they had brought in 
 a fine one, weighing twelve or thirteen pounds. 
 
 * Pretty well — but they are not polite like the French. Sometimes they 
 are fretful. They often get angry, without knowing why. 
 
 t Oh yes, for that matter. We could not be better. — Is it far from here 
 to Philadelphia? 
 
 I That is a great way ; but it must be a very fine country. [The word Phi- 
 ladelphia is bore synonimons with Pennsylvania.] 
 
, Pointe Aux Tremblet, 
 
 40 
 
 " Comme 
 IS, and so 
 s. Quel- 
 mettent 
 
 irnment ? 
 -Y-a-t-ii 
 two hun- 
 i un bien 
 
 lies Car- 
 
 awrence, 
 
 iver. It 
 
 a rapid 
 
 St before 
 ny hand, 
 I heights 
 h in the 
 e of the 
 oach and 
 
 river is 
 lad been 
 ien sold. 
 
 r to forty 
 ils in the 
 y up the 
 osit their 
 ract, ob- 
 theywill 
 ese pow- 
 ountable 
 aesy if as 
 
 r break- 
 id try to 
 ought in 
 
 dmes they 
 from here 
 word Phi- 
 
 ,1 
 
 I breakfasted with an excellent relish, and passed liglitly 
 through Cap Sant^, Port Neuf, and Dechambaulf, observinsja 
 large old mansion-house upon the right ; upon the left a grove 
 of trees, near a small church. At the river Sr. Anne there was 
 a large church, unusually situated, fronting the water. A^ I 
 crossed a widu ferry, a groupe of Indian boys were amusing 
 themselves on the shore, half naked, a wig-wam near. 
 
 At Batliscan, another large river not many miles from this, 
 there was an Indian encampment. Several comfortable wig- 
 wams stood close together. The females belonging to this 
 tribe, very decently dressed, in their fashion, were industriously 
 occupied under the trees, while children of all ages were playing 
 upon the beach. 
 
 The men, I was told, were out a hunting. They catch bea- 
 vers, otters, raccoons, opossums, and other wild animals, such 
 as hares, rabbits, deer, and sometimes bears ; upon which, to- 
 gether with fish from the river, such as sturgeon, salmon, pike, 
 perch, &c. they often feast luxuriously, while the inactive Cana- 
 dians are sitting down to scanty portions of bacon and eggs. 
 
 Of the feathered game, with which these woods and waters 
 abound in their season, I may mention wild geese, an endless 
 variety -^ ducks, wood-cocks, plovers, quails, wild-turkies, 
 heath-b^-. v tjd-pigeons, in inconceivable abundance. The 
 eagle, it .'o.-k, and the crane, are not unknown in Canada, 
 though rare, these noble birds sedulously keeping themselves 
 out of danger in unfrequented wilds. 
 
 During my progress, I was frequently amused with the sim- 
 ple naivete of the post-boys, one of whom was only twelve years 
 old, but had already driven several years. 
 
 " Comment vas ton Pere ? Barrabie,"* said one of them to 
 a boy that followed us on horseback, apparently for the plea- 
 sure of company. 
 
 '' Je veux boire un peu d'eau,"t said another, as he stopped 
 short at a spring by the road side, without leave or licence. 
 
 *' 8i vous voulez aller plus vite, passez avant,":}: said one 
 that was returning empty, to the boy that was driving me, and 
 whom we had quietly followed at his own pace for some time. 
 
 " Pourquoi courez vous a pied?" said another to a little 
 fellow that was running after us, for his own pleasure. <'Mon- 
 tez derriere."§ 
 
 Observing larger barns than usual, as I advanced, and a good 
 
 * How is your father ? Barrabie. 
 
 t I will take a drink of water. 
 
 I If you want to go faster, drive on. 
 
 § Why do you run a-foot 1 Get up behind. 
 
 Voyages and Travels, No. 2. VoL III, H 
 
 4 
 
■ 
 
 Pi. 
 
 ' :.:, 
 
 I 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
 'N^ 
 
 
 50 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada* 
 
 graziog country, thou&^h the cattle looked very smalt and lean, 
 (there were but few sheep in the whole route,) I asked my 
 man whether thdy had begun to mow in those parts. It was 
 near the borders of Lake St. Pierre. " Non, 3Ionsieur," said 
 lie, " Cela ne se fait jamais avant la St. Anne,* [the 2(}th of 
 July.] Every thing goes by saints here. I now observed fre- 
 quent patches of flax, barley, and oats, but very little wheat or 
 corn. Toward evening we approached 
 
 THREE-RIVERS, 
 
 and I was now obliged to take boat, or rather to seat myself upon 
 straw, in the bottom of a canoe, to be ferried over the mouth of 
 the St. Maurice, a stream that flows from the north-east some 
 hundreds of miles ; by which the savages in the vicinity of Hud- 
 son's Bay formerly descended to this town in great numbers. 
 
 As we landed upon the beach, there was a boat asliore from 
 a vessel from Glasgow. It was interesting to one who had 
 been in Scotland, to see the sailors with their ]}lue bonnets and 
 plaids. 
 
 In the town, which has nothing extraordinary in its appear- 
 ance, there is, or rather was, a monastery of Recollets and 
 convent of Ursulines. The monastery has long been con- 
 verted into a jail, and the convent having been burnt down 
 a few years since, and wholly rebuilt, has lost the prestige of 
 antiquity, though it was founded in 1677, by the same good 
 bishop that endowed the one at Quebec for the education of 
 young women, and an asylum for the old and sick. 
 
 A young girl from the States, (as the American Union is fa- 
 miliarly called here) brought up a Protestant, had taken the 
 veil in this convent a few days before I was there. 
 
 There is a superieure and eighteen nuns here, but I was dis- 
 appointed of seeing them at matins, by that invidious curtain 
 which I have already had occasion to reprobate. Nothing was 
 to be seen but an old man prostrating himself before the altar. 
 I was struck with something unusual in his manner, as he rose 
 from his knees, and passed out into the sacristy. It was the 
 Abbe de Calonne, brother to the prime-minister of that name, 
 who took refuge here during the French revolution, and who 
 now, it seems, thinks himself too old to return to France, even 
 to behold the restoration of the throne and the altar. 
 
 As I returned to the inn, I met an old man of whimsical ap« 
 pearance, with a large cocked-hat flapped before. I enquired 
 who it might be, and was told that he was a man in his 104th 
 year; that ha had been a singular humourist ; was still fond of 
 tiisjoke, and always made a point of flourishing his cane when- 
 
 j 
 
 wl 
 
 W{ 
 Mi 
 
 niil 
 
 di 
 
 No, Sir, We never mow before St. Anne's day. 
 
lean, 
 d my 
 t was 
 
 said 
 )th of 
 d fre- 
 eat or 
 
 from 
 
 I 
 
 N 
 
 Three-Rivers, 
 
 ever he met 
 
 61 
 
 freak of fondness, 
 
 v'oman : whether this was 
 or nvcision, I neglected to enquire. 
 
 There are here several Jewish families of the names of Hart 
 find Judah. They are said to be no less respectable than the 
 Grafzes of Philadelphia, and the Gomezes of New- York. The 
 father of the former, when he first came hither, could have 
 bought half the town for a thousand pounds, and thought it 
 dear. But property is now becoming valuable. It lies on the 
 right-side of the St. Maurice, as respects the United States ; 
 being on the road to which is here reckoned a recommendation 
 to Ia!)ds on sale. A new jail and court-house are erecting, 
 and cross-roads are laying out into new townships now settling 
 in the neighbourhood, with disbanded soldiers. 
 
 I got all this local information from two of his British ma- 
 jesty's civil officers, with the exception of the recommendation 
 above hinted at; (I picked that out of a newspaper.) These 
 gentlemen introduced themselves to me as king's counsel and 
 recorder (if I remember right) during my evening's ramble 
 from the inn — excused their freedom, as being happy to see a 
 new face, and insisted upon the plersure of accompanying me 
 round the town. 
 
 The former was a young gentleman of a refugee family of 
 the name of Ogden, originally of New York ; the latter a Ca- 
 nadian, of Scotch descent. He led the way to his own house, 
 ordered wine and water, and pressed me earnestly to consent 
 to dine with him next day. He took me for an Englishman 
 just landed at Quebec, and deprecated any fresh disputes with 
 America. 
 
 The commissioners for settling the boundary-line between 
 Canada and the United States were said to be setting up oppo- 
 site claims to the vacant territories, which it was observed could 
 not be worth disputing about ; but that each party on such oc- 
 casions must appear strenuous for the rights of his country. 
 The people here M'ish for nothing more than the establishment 
 of the line upon the height of land which separates the streams 
 which run into the St. Lawrence, from those which run south- 
 ward ; and it is devoutly to be hoped that this definite barrier 
 will not be exchanged for a line of demarcation, less strongly 
 marked by nature, as the northern limit of the United States — 
 the preservation of which is of infinitely greater importance to 
 the peace and welfare of the two countries, than the possession 
 of a few millions of useless acres on one side or the other. 
 
 The commissioners are collected, it seems, at St. Regis, some 
 distance above Montreal, where the ideal line strikes the [St. 
 Lawrence, and from thence proceeds westward, up the middle 
 of the river, and through the great lakes Ontario, Erie, Hu- 
 ron, and Superior, to the unexplored lake of the woods. 
 
 m 
 
 i'i 
 
 
 n 
 
 t 
 
I . 
 
 I ., 
 
 il 
 
 ! i 
 
 M 
 
 ! 11 
 
 &2 
 
 TravU in Lower Canada^ 
 
 if 
 
 Sf. Regis is an Indian villag'e, a sort of neutral regionf 
 where the contending parties will be likely to spend a good 
 deal of time, as ambassadors use to do, in disputing fur the 
 honour of their respective principals. 
 
 In a shop-window of this unfrequented place, I saw again, 
 with renewed interest, a caricature of the fall of Bonaparte, 
 with which I remember to have been particularly struck, when 
 the event was recent, in the British metropolis, where this 
 species of substantial wit is carried to its utmost perfection. It 
 is not understood at Paris, where the spirit of satire evaporates 
 in a transient pun, or a temporary distich. 
 
 The little ravager of ihe world appears on the left of the 
 scene — on the ri^ht is Atlas with his globe. A label issuing 
 from the mouth of Bonaparte exclaims: "De Prusse be mine.. 
 De Russe be mine ! All the world will be mine ! if you will 
 only hold it up a little longer, Monsieur Atlas!" "No, no," 
 replies the sturdy bearer of the world, in vulgar Engi'sh, " I'll 
 be hang'd if I do. Since you wont let it alone, Master Bony, 
 you may carry it yourself." And as the grim.Colossus launches 
 the monstrous burthen upon the little conqueror, (who kicks 
 up his heels, to save bis bacon, with ridiculous earnestness) his 
 principal generals, Marmont, Massena, and the rest, with cha" 
 racteristic levity, bid their old master, " Good night."* 
 
 * This hidicroas caricatnre reminds me, perhaps not inopportunely, of a 
 serious representation of the great Napoleon, which was re-published in 
 America, after tlie first fall of the tyrant, and before his temporary restora- 
 tion. I remember it was on-board the ship in which I sailed for Europe in 
 the spring of 1815 ; and it had been the subject of my contemplation but a 
 few days before we were surprized, in the British channel, with the incredi- 
 ble intelligence that Eon..parte was again upon the throne of France. 
 
 It is a bust of the emperor, seen in profile, with his hat on his head and 
 a star upon his breast : — 
 
 The Hat represents the Prussian Eagle, m ho has settled upon Napoleon's 
 head, and ceases to struggle for release ; his neck being twisted round, to 
 form, with his crest and beak, a cockade for the conqueror of the earth— 
 hithet'to invincible. 
 
 The' Face is ingeniously made out, in every feature, by the victims of his 
 insatiable thirst for glory, the contours of their naked limbs forming, with- 
 out distortion, the physiognomical traits of the unfeeling despot. 
 
 The Collar, which is red, typifies the effusion of blood occasioned by 
 his ambition for universal dominion. 
 
 The Coat is interlined with a map, representing the Confederation of 
 the Rhine ; on which are delineated, particularly, all those places where 
 Napoleon lost battles. 
 
 The St A II on his breast is a Spider's Web, whose threads are extended 
 over all Germany. 
 
 But, in the Epaulette, is seen the hand of the Almighty, descending 
 from the North, and, with a finger, leading the unconscious spider to that 
 4ettruatioH wbieh awaited him ainou§^ the inows of Russia; for it was nei-' 
 
 i 
 
Three'Rivert* 
 
 53 
 
 if 
 
 Near Three-Rivers is an iron-foundery, which has been 
 worked ever since the year 1737, and the castings produced 
 there are uncommonly neat. The ore, it seems, lies in horizon^ 
 tal strata, and near the surface. It is found in perforated masses, 
 the holes of which are filled with ochre. This ore is said to pos- 
 sess peculiar softness and friability. For promoting its fusion, 
 a grey limestone is used, which is found in the vicinity. The 
 hammered iron from these works is pliable and tenacious, and 
 it has the valuable quality of being- but little subject to rus^. 
 
 The country is here very flat, and the soil a fine sand, mixed 
 with black mould* The neighbouring woods abound with elm, 
 ash, oak, beech, and maple, of which sugar is made in suflicient 
 quantities for home-consumption ; and those beautiful ever- 
 greens, the white pine, the cedar, and the spruce, are here in- 
 digenous in all their varieties. 
 
 No sooner had I quitted the town of Three-Rivers than I 
 perceived indications of being on the road to the United States. 
 1 am sorry to say it, they were not all of them favourable to 
 American morals : but there was now less bowing, and more 
 frequent intercourse ; yet the inhabitants continued to make 
 themselves easy, without the trouble of sinking wells, in con- 
 sequence of their convenient proximity to the water; and they 
 still appeared to hold what we esteem necessaries, as unneces- 
 sary as ever. 
 
 At Machicho I delivered the letter from my young friend at 
 Quebec, to his worthy grandmother. I found the old lady in 
 a retired situation, half a mile from the road. She was de- 
 lighted to hear from her grandson, who, it seems, had been out 
 of health. She pressed me to stay to dinner— to drink some- 
 thing, at least ; and sent for the young gentleman's brother to 
 detain me. He presently came in with his dog and gun. They 
 resembled each other very much. They had both been in the 
 army, 1 was told, but their corper had been disbanded. She 
 should make a point of letting her grandson know that I had 
 done him the honour to call upon her. 
 
 I must have detained the postillion half-an-hour, but he 
 showed no signs of impatience, and never asked me for any 
 
 therthe coalition of 1813, nor yet that of 1815, but the retreat from Mos- 
 cow, that anniliilated the power of the tyrant, and dispclle*! the chami with 
 which he was impiously attempting to bind the destinies of Emope. 
 
 Whose powerful breath — from northern rejfions blown — 
 
 Touches the sea, and turns it into stone ! 
 * A sudden desart spreads o'er realms defaced, 
 
 And lays one-half of the creation waste? 
 
!i 
 
 li 
 
 64 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 remuneration, though he had had the trouble of opening 
 gates, &c.* 
 
 Oil approaching- tlie riviere dii Loup, I asked him if wo 
 crossed it in a boat. " Non pas, Monsieur! II y a un pout 
 " superbe !"t I figured to myself a model of architectural 
 symmetry— something like the superb elevations which have 
 been thrown over the Schuylkill and the Delaware. It was 
 a plank causeway, with a single rail on each side, to prevent 
 accidents. 
 
 Here I would have dined, having sedulously made choice of 
 the best of two inns for that purpose, but could not eat the 
 " ragout de mouton, et de veau," that was already " tout pret,":J: 
 when it was set before me, so completely had the meat been 
 deteriorated in the cooking — Aliens ! — Patience. — I took up 
 my hat and walked over to the church. It is under the patron- 
 age of St. Anthony, who stands over the portal, with the holy- 
 child in his arms. Now I can bear to see St. Joseph, with 
 liis adopted son, in his hand : but to see the Babe of Bethle- 
 hem in the arms of St. Anthony, or any other saint in the 
 calendar, is too much for my spirit of toleration ; and, I will 
 say, it reminds me of nothing better, than going from Jeru- 
 salem to Jericho, and falling among thieves. 
 
 By the >vay, St. Joseph, a saint scarcely ever heard of, or 
 at least ungraciously overlooked, among us heretics in the 
 United States, is the patron of Canada; and the Virgin Mary 
 must be something more than mortal, at least " Sin peccado 
 concebida,"§ as the Spaniards say. 
 
 I continued my route, by a straight road, over an extensive 
 flat, between large fields of wheat and barley ; (soil a light 
 reddish earth, a little sandy) and crossing the Maskinonge, by 
 a handsome bridge, truly in the American style, which ap- 
 peared to have been just finished, to the admiration of the 
 neighbourhood, who were gathered about it in crowds as we 
 passed ; I entered the town of Berthier, which consists of one 
 long street, or rather row of houses, fronting an arm of the 
 river, which here flows round an uncultivated island j upon 
 which horses are suffered to run wild, until they are wanted 
 
 * I find from Bouchctte, that the seigniory of Gros Bois, or Yamachiche, 
 was granted, in 1G72, to the Sicur Bouclier ; and is now the property of 
 Louis Gug-y, Esq. the eldest brother of my Quebec friend. I'he territory 
 belonging to this manor is low and flat, near the Lake ; but the neighbour- 
 ing settlements look thrifty and comfortable. ^ 
 
 t No — There's a superb bridge. i^ 
 
 X Ragout of mutton and veal— all ready. 
 
 § Conceived without siu. 
 
 « 
 
\i 
 
 icinnii 
 
 if wo 
 II pout 
 !Ctiiral 
 i have 
 It was 
 reveut 
 
 oice of 
 eat the 
 pvetrt 
 it been 
 ook up 
 ;)atroii- 
 le holy 
 1, with 
 Bethle- 
 in the 
 , I will 
 1 Jeru- 
 
 l of, or 
 in the 
 
 I Mary 
 eccado 
 
 tensive 
 a light 
 
 II ge, by 
 ich ap- 
 
 of the 
 3 as we 
 s of one 
 1 of the 
 I ; upon 
 
 wanted 
 
 machiche, 
 roperty of 
 territory 
 leighbour- 
 
 Berthkr. 
 
 55 
 
 by their owners ; a Canadian practice which is supposed to 
 have deteriorated the breed, at least in point of size. 
 
 A number of these beautiful animals were now to be seen, 
 sporting themselves at large, with fantastic gambols. Now 
 collecting- in droves, as if lor purposes of sociality, or combi- 
 nation — Then coursing* each other over the plains, in every 
 variety of pace and attitude, perfectly happy in the absence 
 of cruel man. 
 
 Horses, however, are much better treated in Canada than 
 they are in the United States ; where, to our shame be it 
 spoken, these g-enerous animals, to whose labours we are so 
 much indebted, and who are as docile to our wills as they are 
 serviceable to our occasions, are often hardly used by carters 
 and stage-drivers ; and sometimes shamefully abused in the 
 wantonness of power. I have often wished that some protec- 
 tion could be extended, by the magistrate, to prevent their un- 
 necessary sufferings. And, surely, it must be in the power of 
 stage-owners to prevent their teams from being injured, as 
 they often are, by the dangerous and fool-hardy competition 
 of headstrong and unfeeling drivers. 
 
 The soil is here rich, (a fine vegetable earth, upon a sub- 
 stratum of strong clay.) It is well cultivated, and the prospect 
 of an abundant harvest is now very promising. 
 
 The road kept its course along the side of the great river, 
 and I lodged this night upon its bank, at a lone house near 
 La Noraye. 
 
 Observing a good many young people about, I asked my 
 landlord, (who took me on next morning himself, and mos a 
 sedate, substantial farmer,) how many children he had? INine 
 was the answer. Some of them married. " Ah ! Monsieur," 
 said he, " C'est terrible comme les families se grossissent ioi."* 
 I remarked the favourable appearance of the grain. It looked 
 well this year, he said, but the last season the crops had been 
 very scanty, particularly below Three-Rivers, where I !ind 
 already observed, that the true climate, soil, and manners of 
 Canada Proper, or Lower Canada, appear to be marked by 
 a definitive line. 
 
 " Avez vous la disette quelque fois, a Philadelphie, Mou- 
 "sieur?"t 
 
 This simple question, at such a distance from that favoured 
 soil and climate, where the annual enjoyment of |)lenty is too 
 familiar to be remarked, excited in my brenst the most lively 
 sensations of gratitude to Heaven ; bringing to mind the \\\\- 
 
 * All, Sir, it's tcnihle to think lunv fainilios increase here, 
 t Have 30U the scarcity sometimes at Philadelphia, Sir ? 
 
60 
 
 Traveh in Lowtr Canada. 
 
 
 \V 
 
 merited superabundance with which we have been uninter- 
 ruptedly Aivoured, from the first settlement of our " happy 
 land." 
 
 Two caleclies now approached us, at a rapid rate; the first 
 of them with two horses, which is very uncommon in Canada, 
 and between its broad and lofty ears sat a well-fed ecclesi- 
 astic. It was the curate of Maskinong^, returning from Mon- 
 treal, where he had been with a neighbouring brother of the 
 cloth (who was reading as we passed him, or appearing to read, 
 without ever raising his eyes from his book) to pay his devoirs 
 to the bishop ; who was about going on a visit to Quebec. 
 
 We now entered a beautiful oak wood, extending for half a 
 mile, on both sides of the way. Expressing my admiration of 
 this grateful shade, (this being the only wood through which 
 the road passes between Quebec and Montreal ; though an un- 
 broken forest bounds the horizon at no great distance the 
 whole way,) I was assured that " Tons les g^n^raux et les 
 " messieurs Anglois Tadmiroient infiniment."* 
 
 It belongs fo a Seigneurie, of which we saw the manor- 
 house, called La Valterie, on quitting the road. We stopped 
 hard by at a decent inn, about which a few isolated silver 
 pines had been Judiciously preserved ; and in the garden were 
 some of the finest roses I have ever seen. On alighting, I ran 
 to treat myself, for a moment, with their delightuil smell, and 
 was politely invited to help myself to as many of them as I 
 chose to take; upon which 1 stuck one of them i-nto my button- 
 hole, and rode into Montreal, with this rural decoration, as 
 the peasants here frequently do, with flowers stuck in their 
 hats. 
 
 From this enchanting spot, (for it was on a gentle eminence, 
 from whose airy brow an open green descended to the river, 
 which was now sparkling at its foot with the cheerful play of 
 morning sun-beams,) I was taken forward in a style of the 
 same pastoral simplicity, by a delicate-looking youth, whose 
 manners and appearance resembled nothing more remotely 
 than the audacity of a European postillion. 
 
 A stage or two before I had been conducted by a boy of 
 eleven years old, who told me he had already driven three, 
 and must therefore have begun to hold the reins at the tender 
 age of eight years. I could not but congratulate myself on 
 the child's having had some years* practice before he took 
 charge of me. Immediately on our arrival at the next stage, 
 he was saluted by a chum, in the most affectionate manner 
 imaginable, and the two boys went off together, arm in arm, 
 
 * All the generals, and the English gentlemen, admired it prodigiously. 
 
 to 
 ca 
 thi 
 sa 
 
 CO 
 
 ^f 
 
St» Stilpice* 
 
 bi 
 
 nintcr- 
 liappy 
 
 le first 
 
 Canada, 
 
 jcclesi- 
 
 Mon- 
 
 of the 
 o read, 
 devoirs 
 )ec. 
 
 half a 
 ition of 
 
 which 
 
 an un- 
 ice the 
 : et les 
 
 manor- 
 stopped 
 silver 
 en were 
 p» I ran 
 lell, and 
 em as I 
 button- 
 ition, as 
 in their 
 
 ninence, 
 [le river, 
 I play of 
 e of the 
 I, whose 
 •emotely 
 
 a boy of 
 n three, 
 e tender 
 yself on 
 he took 
 it stage, 
 manner 
 I in arm, 
 
 ligiously. 
 
 like two students at coilego, instead uf professors of the 
 whip. 
 
 Now, however, tnk:n<»- boat at St. Sulpice, to cross over to the 
 island of Montreal, I fell into the hands of a snrly fellow, the 
 «Mily post-boy on the m hole route who had ever been out of 
 hiitnour with his hors(>, or showed the least signs of dissatis- 
 faotion with himself, or any thing about him; though both 
 horse and chaise, at the post-houses below Three-Rivers, 
 had often looked as if a puff of wind might have blown them 
 away, and I often thoug'ht what a show the antinuated harness 
 and long'-eared vehicle would have made for the nnished coach- 
 Inakers of Philiidelphia. 
 
 On this passage, an elegant mansion-house presents itself 
 at some distance to the right, and a new tavern, in the neat, 
 two-story, low-roofed, American style^ is beheld with pleasing 
 anticipations by the returning Columbian. 
 
 It is, I believe, or rather was, an appendage of the new 
 bridges, which were constructed over the different branches 
 of the river, that here separate the adjacent islands from the 
 main land, and which were intended eventually to supersede 
 this tedious ferry, by connecting Montreal, on the north side, 
 with the adjoining shore. 
 
 But the projectors of this laudable undertaking had for- 
 gotten to consult their climate, or to obtain security from the 
 Great River, as the Indians expressively call it. Accordingly, 
 after serving the intende<l purpose, through the following 
 winter, they were carried off bodily by the ice, when " the 
 roused-up river*'* swept away every obstacle to his passage, 
 in the spring. 
 
 This idea of bridging the St. Lawrence, even where ap- 
 proaching islands invite the attempt, is for the present totally 
 abandoned. Yet I have no doubt that it will be tried again, 
 and that with success, when adventurous New-Englanders 
 shall have taken that ascendency at Montreal which the 
 Scotch have hitherto enjoyed. 
 
 The ferrymen here vented their passions, as watermen seem 
 to be every where particularly apt to do, in scurrilous provo- 
 catives. Every other word Mas ^owfre, or diantre ; and every 
 thing that thwarted their humour was bete! and bougre! and 
 sacre rafltin ! 
 
 We met nothing on the road, after we reached the island, 
 but a solitary caleche or a market-cart, or a foot-passenger, at 
 distant intervals, as we drove forward five or six miles, by a 
 country church and a tavern. It was the sign of the Three 
 
 * Thomson. 
 VoYAGFS and Travels, No, 2. VoK III, I 
 
69 
 
 Travi'U in Ltnetr Canadct' 
 
 ii 
 
 t! 
 
 ;t 
 
 1*1* 
 
 W 
 
 Kinq-«, wliirli is luro n favourite ciii))lom, n« well «s in Clef- 
 irmny : iIumi;^!! tlw (ustcrii sajrrs nro liern so ludirrou^ly trans- 
 nio^rnfied tiint T did i)(»l at tii'Mt i-ecognize the allusion. 
 
 MONTRF.AT,. 
 
 As vro entorod tlio touii it had become very fiot, T was 
 disappointed in the roinrorts of the I^Veiieh hotel, to which I 
 had IxMii direeted.— Did not think it worth while to chan^'e 
 even for the niiinsion-houwe, late the residence of 8ir John 
 .lolinson. Tired invstdf almost off my le/^s with neiamhulat- 
 iriji;- the streets and lanes — SuHi-red excessively with <he heat, 
 (to my conviction that it mi«»ht occasionally be hot in Canada) 
 and would have set out immediately for Wew York, if I should 
 not have been too eiirly for the next steam-boat. 
 
 The thermometer was now, on tin; liith day of July, at 
 iiinety-six degrees of Fahrenheit. T^caumur was quoted at an 
 ale-house where I stopped for refreshment, at twenty-eight 
 an<l three-quarters, which answers to ninety-seven of Fahren- 
 heit, a deoreo of heat at which spermaceti melts, and at the 
 next elevation of the scale ether boils. 
 
 In (he eveninn-, however, I cooled myself delightfully in a 
 flo.iting-balh that is moored offWindmill Point; and the next 
 morning- my spirits were restored by writing home and mak- 
 ing the necessary preparation for my approaching- departure, 
 which was to be the next day: the weather having- in the 
 mean time become very cool and pleasant, after refreshing' 
 showers I a change which 1 had predicted at the table d'hote, 
 from the very extremity of the heat, agreeable to the well- 
 known remark with us, that extreme weather seldom lasts 
 longer than three days. But I did not find that the opinion 
 gained confidence. Jt appeared to have heretofore escaped 
 observation ; nor did any one notice the fulfilment of the pre- 
 diction but myself when it took place, as it usually happens 
 with voluntary prognostications. 
 
 But a French confectioner, at whose house I called occasi- 
 onally, had known the thermometer at Pondicherry as high as 
 a hundred and two. He was a man of observation, and re- 
 marking- my full habit, he recommended me to drink Lisbon 
 wine, rather than Madeira, because Lisbon will bear the sea, 
 whereas Madeira will not, without a powerful admixture of 
 brandy. This, it seems, is usually infused immediately after 
 the fermentation takes place, and before it is refined with 
 isinglass ; but the operation is often performed in England, 
 whence the term, London particular Madeira, as it will bear 
 the short voyage to that cold climate ; but, if sent pure to the 
 neig^hbouring- hot countries, it would infallibly turn sour. I< 
 
 I 
 
Montreal, 
 
 " 60 
 
 i 
 
 in re^tilnrlj braiKlied, it nociih, more or Ies<i, acconiin;]^ to tho 
 cliiiiato it is to l»<> to. 
 
 Hu (Iniiik liiins<>lt'iiotliin<; Ixit |>(>rl, rliirct, and thv Sjintiin'i 
 wines, which will all bear the Kca, without th(> pernicious in- 
 termixture of r'o;;Miac. It is lliii<<, nnyn he, a J'reiuJMiin i 
 will live in a hot eli.nate to a IiuimImmI vcars; whilst (']uulish- 
 men, who peisist in drinkino- Miideiia hetween the tiopies, 
 die accordingly at sixty.* 
 
 I now ju^ave inyselftime to visit the r(!li«»ious institutions of 
 Montreal, which are no less numerous and extensive than 
 those of Quebec, though they are far less interestin<»- to a 
 8outhern visitor, havin<>- mostly hist that venerable appearance 
 of antiquity which chara( liri/es those of th(! capital. 1 say 
 mostly, because there is one anti(iuated exception, which I 
 shall proceed to desionate, while its chilling- elfect is still 
 fresh in my recollection. It itj 
 
 THE CHURCH ANI> MONASTERY OF THE RECOLLETiS, 
 
 in the outskirts of Montreal. Nothing- presents itself to the 
 jstreet hut the din<»y facade of the chapel, and the outer walls 
 of the cloisters, which are still overshadowed by coeval elms, 
 thoug^h the precincts have been jiiveo up to the use of the 
 troops in garrison, ever since the decease of the last sur- 
 viving incumbent. Only the chapel, and the school-rooms 
 on one side of it, have been reserved for religious purposes. 
 The great floor is accordingly no longer opened; but I 
 obtained admissi-m at the wicket, by the favour of a lay- 
 brother, who had been sent for from the country, to retain pos- 
 session of the premises, upon the demise of the last of the friars. 
 He, poor soul, is content to wear alone the cowl of the order, 
 to gird himself with a rope, and walk barefoot in solitary 
 singqlarity. The good monk informed me, with a face of 
 unconscious simplicity, that be was labouring to restore the 
 church, (II travail loit a la restaurer.) He did not, how- 
 ever, accompany me in; and I found that his restorations 
 consisted in some tinsel lamps, which he had huiig up beforo 
 
 * This adventurer had been in the cainpais^ns ot" IMoreaii, npon fha 
 Rhine, from thence to the East Indies, thenre to Uie United Slates, where 
 he had married, and was now lately transferred to ^fonlreal, lur the benelils 
 of Catholic communion. His name was (iirard, spelt ex'ully as it is hy his 
 countryman, that eminent merchant, who has raised in IMiiladelphia a for- 
 tune of I know not how many milhons, and is now sole propiiotta- of onoof 
 onr priicinal banks, and owner of half-a-dozen Indiaium. 
 
 13 
 
60 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 I 
 
 
 (lii j 
 
 11 
 
 Ml 
 
 ill 
 
 the altar, but their lights were gone oat. I found the wallif 
 dark with age, and dreary with neglect and desertion. 
 
 This chapel is very lofty, in proportion to its other dimen- 
 sions, which are not great. The windows are at a height of 
 twenty feet from the floor ; and the dingy intervals were hung, 
 neither with crucifixes nor Madonnas, but with ecstasies of St. 
 Francis, and prostrations of Petrus Recollectus. 
 
 Pursuing my walk into the country, more sensible than 
 ever of the cheerfulness of open air and day-liglit, 1 soon 
 came across the general burying-ground, which is, by a late 
 law of the British Government, without the town, none but 
 the priests being now allowed to be buried in the cities of 
 Canada, the health of which was supposed to have been en- 
 dangered by the multitudes of bodies, which were formerly 
 crowded together in confined places, insufficiently covered 
 over. 
 
 Here was a chapel and a corpsa house, the one was recom- 
 mended to the particular care of St. Anthony, by an inscrip- 
 tion over-head, (St. Anthoine, priez pour nous)* and the other 
 had upon its folding-doors the menipnto mori, which makes so 
 little impression upon callous survivors, *' Aujourd-hui pour 
 moi, demain pour vous."t 
 
 A mile further on, I marked the castellated mansion of the 
 Seigneurie, which belongs to the seminary of this place. It 
 has all the peculiarities of an old French chateau. There 
 are round towers on each side of the gate-way, which are said 
 tp have been fortified in the ancient Indian wars, and loop- 
 holes are still discernible in them, at a secure elevation : for 
 there was an Indian villooe at this place, when the French 
 arrived, in 1640, the displacing of which was an early cause 
 of sanguinary conflicts. 
 
 Directly back of this curious specimen of the specious in- 
 conveniencies of antiquated abodes is the isolated mountain, 
 which rises abruptly in the plain of Montreal. Its summit 
 is still covered with thick woods ; but the descent upon the 
 other side is highly cultivated and beautifully picturesque, 
 being thickly strewed with villages and spires, interspersed 
 with wood and water. 
 
 IV f 
 
 m 
 
 1 1-' 
 
 ♦ St. Anthony, pray for us. 
 
 t To-day for me, to-morrow for you ; or, in other words, so often re-, 
 pealed upon moralizing tombstones, 
 
 As I am now, so you must be. 
 
 Prepare for death, and follow mn. 
 
 If 
 
MontreaL 
 
 61 
 
 walls 
 
 limen- 
 ht of 
 
 \l 
 
 ung-, 
 of St. 
 
 [e than 
 Moon 
 a late 
 i»e bul 
 ities of 
 ten en- 
 rinerly 
 overed 
 
 recom- 
 iscrip- 
 3 other 
 ikes so 
 i pour 
 
 of the 
 Ce. It 
 
 There 
 ire said 
 1 loop- 
 •n : for 
 ^'rench 
 ' cause 
 
 us I'n- 
 mtain, 
 ummit 
 on the 
 esque, 
 versed 
 
 'ten rc-> 
 
 At a considerable height on this mountain may be seen, 
 from the streets of Montreal, a large house, with wings of 
 hewn stone, and a monumental jiilTar appears in the woods 
 behind it. The house was built, it seems, some years ago, by 
 the oldest partner in the firm of Me Tavisli and Me Gillivray, 
 (a Scotch house,) long the principal proprietors of the North- 
 West Trading Company. Mc Tavish died whilst the house 
 was building, and his uephews, the Mc Gillivrays, declining 
 to finish the house, erected this monument to his memory. 
 There is nothing remarkable in the inscription; but the 
 column itself is a striking memento of the uncertainties of 
 life. 
 
 The heirs of the estate prefer spending it in the city, and 
 have built themselves fine houses in the eastern suburbs, 
 where they are said to keep hospitable tables, especially for 
 their countrymen from Scotland, of whom such numbers have 
 resorted hither, ever since the conquest, that Montreal, origin- 
 ally French, was in danger of becoming a Scotch colony, 
 before it began to be over-run by the still more hardy and 
 more adventurous sons of New England. 
 
 NORTll-AVESTERN TUADE. 
 
 From the village of La Chine, which is situated at the 
 upper end of the island, merchandise intended for Upper 
 Canada, together with military stores and presents for the 
 Indians, are embarked in flat-bottomed boats, to proceed up 
 the St. Lawrence; but the fur-trade is carried on by the 
 North-West Company, through the Ottavva, or Grand River, 
 by means of birch canoes. These are made so light that they 
 may be easily carried up the banks of rapids, or across necks 
 of land. Of these carrying places, there are reckoned no 
 less than six-and-thirty between Montreal and the New se<- 
 tlement on Lake Superior, called Kamanastigua. Accord- 
 ingly, the wares to be sent out are put up in snug packages, 
 and the return of furs comes back in solid packs, which the 
 voyageurs carry on their backs at the different portages.* 
 
 * The canoes employed in lliis trade urc about lliirfy feet long, and six, 
 wide. Tlicy are sliarp at eaeli end : llie tVanie is cdmpdscd of siendcr ribs 
 of some light wood, whicli are covered with narrow strips of the baik of 
 the birch-tree, about half-a-qnarter of an inch in thickness. 'J'hcse are 
 sewed or stitched together with threads, made of the tiltrcs of certain roots, 
 •well twisted together; and ttie Joints arc made watcr-liglit by a species of 
 gum, that adheres lirmly, and become perlcctly hard when dry. No iron- 
 work is used in them of any dcs(ri|(ti(»n, not c\en nails. When complete, 
 these fragile barks weigh no more than five luiutiivf! ponndi. 
 
62 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 About a thousand persons are supposed to be employed m 
 this occupation, who, spending most of their time at a distance 
 from home, contract habits of idleness in the midst of hard-, 
 ships, and become so attached to a wandering and useless 
 life, that they rarely establish themselves in society. 
 
 The fare of these poor fellows is of the meanest qnality, 
 being mostly nothing* better than bear's grease and Indian 
 meal, wliich is made up into a sort of broth, requiring little 
 cookery ; and they beguile the fediousness of their progress 
 with songs to the Virgin, the solemn strains of which, in the 
 darkness of night, when different parties of these poor pil- 
 grims overhear etich other, have a very impressive effect 
 amid these desert wilds. When I have occasionally heard 
 them myself, they reminded me of Christian overhearing 
 Faithful, when they were passing, unknown to each other, 
 through the valley of the shadow of death. 
 
 The distance from 3fontreal to the upper end of Lake 
 Huron is nine hundred miles, and the journey usually con- 
 sumes three weeks. A number of the men remain all winter 
 in those remote and comfortless regions, employed in hunt- 
 ing and packing up skins. That of the beaver is, it seems, 
 among Indians, the medium of barter. According to usage 
 immemorial, ten beaver-skins are given for a gun, one for a 
 pound of powder, and one for two pounds of glass-beads. 
 
 The river 3Iichipicoton, one of the thirty or forty streams 
 which supply Lake Superior with its chrystalline waters, in- 
 terlocks the territories of Hudson's Bay ; and it has been the 
 scene of frequent disputes about property and jurisdiction, 
 between the subjects of the same prince (carrying on the 
 same traffic, in that remote corner of the globe) under the 
 authority of different patents from the crown. The Hudson's 
 Bay Company, it seems, are compensated for the hardships 
 of their frozen colony, by its superior readiness of access, 
 which enables them to undersell the tardy voyageurs of the 
 North West Company, who are obliged to make their way 
 up the rivers, and across the lakes of Canada. 
 
 THE FOIJEIGN TRADE OF CANADA 
 
 is chiefly confined to the different ports of London and Glas- 
 gow for the various articles of British manufacture, and to 
 the West Indies for the productions of the tropics; a solitary 
 ship or two being now and then dispatched for the brandies, 
 oils, and wines of the south of Europe; for which they return 
 lumber, furs, wheat, and flour, beef and pork, pot and pearl-. 
 
Montreal, 
 
 03 
 
 in the 
 
 or pil- 
 
 effect 
 
 heard 
 
 ash, Rome horses and cattle, hemp and flax-seed, g'iiiseii<:»', and 
 castor-oil, &c. Ship-building is also carried on at Quebec to 
 a considerable extent ; but the balance of trade would be 
 much against Canada, if it were not for the sums annually 
 expended by Government upon fortifications, and the pay- 
 ment of the troops. 
 
 In the year 1795, at which time wheat and flour commanded 
 unusual prices in Europe, no fewer than one hundred 
 and twenty-eight vessels arrived in the Si^. Lawrence from 
 foreign parts, amounting to nineteen thousand tons, and 
 navigated by upwards of a thousand men. A still larger 
 exportation of grain (much of it, by the way, received from 
 the neighbouring states) took place in 1799, and the three 
 following years. The quantity of flour shipped in 1802 was 
 thirty-eight thousand barrels; and the wheat is said to have 
 exceeded a million of bushels. 
 
 EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The colonial revenues that year amounted to thirty-one 
 thousand pounds, and the expenditures of Government 
 exceeded forty-three thousand; so little profitable is the 
 sovereignty of Canada to the kingdom of Great Britain. 
 
 So much for civil government. The military peace es- 
 tablishment, about five thousand men, can hardly be supported 
 at a less expence than two or three hundred thousands ster- 
 ling. Extraordinaries, such as erecting new fortifications, 
 the repair of old ones, allowances for waste and peculation, 
 with other incidental expenses, may be one or two more 
 hundreds of thousands. But in time of war, when the latter 
 items are always increased beyond all calculation or credi- 
 bility, (witness our own experience during the late war) the 
 sums laid out upon Canada must amount to at least as many 
 millions; to say nothing of the navf^.l armaments which pro- 
 tect, and the transports which convey, fresh troops across the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 It is to these circumstances mainly, that Canada owes her 
 apparent prosperity. She fattens on the wealth of Britain ; 
 and the most refined policy would dictate to the United 
 States to leave the unprofitable possession to burn a hole in 
 the pockets of its possessor. 
 
 As for Upper Canada, it is, in fact, an American settle- 
 ment — the surplus population of the state of New- York; and 
 it will, sooner or later, fall into our hands, by the operation 
 of natural causes, silent but sure; or if mo should become too 
 wise to extend our unlimited territory, a powerful colony of 
 
64 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 ■V 
 
 .. .* 
 
 
 American blood must in time become an independent nation^ 
 and will naturally be to us an amicable neighbour. 
 
 Hitherto the ships employed in foreign commerce have 
 persisted in ascending the great river to Montreal, in spite 
 of the currents, rapids, rocks, and shoals, which opposed their 
 course, and rendered it as difficult und dangerous as the open 
 sea. In some instances, when the winds likewise have been 
 unfavourable, they are said to have been as long getting up 
 this part of the river, as they had been in crossing the At- 
 lantic ; I have myself seen a fleet of sixteen sail stemming 
 the current in sight of 3Iontreal, for hours together, without 
 advancing a furlong. Bnl the invention of steam-boats is 
 likely to produce a total change in the system of trade. There 
 are already three of these boats running, whose principal ob- 
 ject is freight; and a fourth has just been finished, of the 
 burthen of seven hundred tons. These boats will, it is sup^ 
 posed, eventually supersede the necessity of sea vessels 
 ascending higher than Quebec; where they will probably, 
 in future, unload their cargoes, and take in the returns. One 
 vessel, however, may perhaps be allowed to keep the run as 
 long as she lasts. She was built on purpose for this difficult 
 navigation, and draws but twelve feet water, though of five 
 hundred tons burthen, having made the tedious voyage suc- 
 cessively for one-and-twenty years. 
 
 Sabbath-day now occurring for the third time since I en- 
 tered Canada, and probably the last, I took the opportunity 
 which I had before sought, without success, to attend morn- 
 ing prayers at 
 
 THE CHAPEL OF THE DAMES NOIRS, 
 
 a charitable institution, which was founded by the piety of a 
 Duchess of Bouillon, in 1644. I now found the sisterhood 
 sitting, or rather kneeling, in a long oratory, ranging on the 
 left with the church of the hospital, and through an open 
 window they could be seen as I approached it, in long pros- 
 tration before the altar. 
 
 The church was crowded with a motley congregation of the 
 meanes., looking people that can well be imagined, (I speak 
 not of dress, for they were decently clad, but of person and 
 countenance.) Being naturally a physiognomist, I could not 
 help remarking the various kinds and degrees of weakness 
 ancT simplicity which were strongly marked upon their fea- 
 tures. There was not one face among the hundred that was 
 lighted up with any indications of refinement, sensibility, or 
 
•Montreal, 
 
 65 
 
 have 
 spite 
 
 reflection. The priest himself was little better than bis flock ; 
 «nd I could not forbear the ready comparison of the blind 
 leading- the blind ; though I dare to say, they were every one 
 of them 
 
 Much too wise to walk into a well. — Pope, 
 
 I looked over one of their books, and found that they were 
 reciting what is called the office of the Virgin ; among the 
 innumerable clauses of which, I was soon disgusted with that 
 sacrilegious one of 
 
 Dei genitrix intercede pro Nobis,* 
 
 as if we were not expressly told in the Scriptures of truth, 
 the written word, that Christ himself stands "at the right 
 hand of the Father, making intercession for the sins of the 
 world;" and that " there is no other name given under heaven 
 by which we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ of 
 Nazareth." The changes were rung, however, at the same 
 time Mpon 
 
 Dominus — Domine — Domino •,\ 
 
 and before the audience were dismissed, we had the Dominus 
 Vobiscum from the priest, with the response from the people, 
 (whether they understood it or not) 
 
 Et cum spiiito tuo,^ 
 which was followed by 
 
 Oremu*. 
 
 In Soecula Soeculorum — 
 
 Amen. § 
 
 The perpetnal repetitions of the Catholic ritual have cer- 
 tainly a stupifying influence upon the human mind, inasmuch 
 as they occupy the place of reflection, if they do not even 
 exclude it; yet I have no doubt but that many good people 
 have found their way to heaven through this bye-path, in the 
 long course of seventeen hundred years, from the early cor- 
 ruption of Christianity; and I copied with pleasure, from the 
 walls of this benighted cell, the following modest and edifying 
 inscription : 
 
 s '' 'i 
 
 * Mother of God ! pray for us! 
 
 •\ The name of the Lord. 
 
 J And with thy Spirit. 
 
 % Let us pray, for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 VoYACBs and TRAviSLSf Ao. 2. Vol III. 
 
 K 
 
I : 
 
 ! 
 
 yi 
 
 
 HW 
 
 6(5 Travels in flower Canada. 
 
 Cygit 
 Tenerable Demoiselle, 
 Jeanne Lebel, 
 - bienfaitrice de cette Maison ; 
 qui, ayant et6 Recluse 
 quinze ans, 
 dans la maison deses pieux Parens, 
 en a passe vingt, 
 « dans la retraite qu' elle a faite ici 
 Elle est decedee 
 le 3 d 'Octobre 
 1714, 
 ^gee de cinquante deux ans.* 
 
 I remember nothing else particularly in this cliapel, but 
 that the great window opening into the nuns' oratory was 
 glazed, instead of being grated, and no curtain drawn, so that 
 tne sisters could be seen by the audience at their own altar. 
 There was a picture of some Catholic missionary among the 
 Heathen, St. Francis Xavier, or some other legendary pre- 
 tender to apostolic zeal, holding up a crucifix by way of 
 preaching the cross — not surely that which was " to the Jews 
 a stumblmg block, and to the wise Greeks foolishness ;" for 
 that was declared to be nothing less than the " power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God, in all them that believe and obey the 
 Gospel." 
 
 THE GREY NUNS. 
 
 From this place I went to the Grey Sisters, or General 
 Hospital, whicn is a little way out of the town. This chapel 
 is richly ornamented by the piety of the fair devotees ; and it 
 has this interesting peculiarity, that the arched entrances of 
 the cross aisles are unincumbered either by grates or doors. 
 
 I'' 
 
 Sill 
 
 * Here lies 
 
 that venerable Lady, 
 
 Jeanne Lebel, 
 
 a benefactress of this House; 
 
 who havins? been a Recluse 
 
 fifteen years, 
 
 in the house of her pious Parents, 
 
 passed twenty 
 
 in the retirement of this place. 
 
 She deceased 
 
 the 3d of October, 
 
 1714, 
 
 aged fifty-two years. 
 
 F 
 
Montreal. 
 
 67 
 
 And llie correspond i II nr windows run down to the floor> so that 
 you see through them the burylng-ground on one side, and a 
 flower-garden on the other, in which pinks and poppies, with 
 yellow lilies, and other showy flowers, unite, very happily, 
 M'ith the golden hues of the altar, the crucifix of which is of 
 ivory, in producing a rich glow of solemn colouring, reminding 
 the traveller of the vivid reflection from painted windows in 
 the gothic edifices of the north of Europe. 
 
 These sisters have the care of the lunatic, as well as the 
 maimed and the infirm. A heavy task it seemed to me; but 
 tlioy appeared to show me every thing with pleasure ; partly 
 at least, we may suppose, (without discrediting any sentiment 
 that excites to love and good works) arising from self-ap- 
 probation. I declined entering the lunatic ward, the sad 
 objects of which are, I think, every where too freely exposed 
 to public view, and would gladly have omitted that of the 
 aged and infirm; but I could not so readily get clear of my 
 conductress, to whom I had given something for the orphan 
 children (Enfants trouves) who are received here without 
 inquiry or objection. 
 
 1 asked the sister who had the superintendence of this de- 
 )avt!nent, (a chatty old woman, who seemed determined to 
 lold me a while in conversation,) whether her patients ever lived 
 to a great age. — She said, not often ; but that one had died 
 lately, aged ninety-eight, and another some years ago, at a 
 hundred and ten. I asked if they were natives of Canada. 
 ** Non, Monsieur, c'etoient des Fran9ois. Les vieux Francois 
 ont de bons estomacs.'' * 
 
 Thus I found the ancient prejudice that old countrymen 
 born, live longer than the native Americans, prevails here, as 
 well as with us; because, for many years, it was observed that 
 there were more instances of old people who were born else- 
 where, than of such as were born in America. Although it is 
 obvious, that as the first comers were not born here, but came 
 over from the European continent, most of them at mature 
 age, there could not at first, in the nature of things, be so 
 many natives dying of old age, as there would be of old coun- 
 try born. Yet with us in Pennsylvania, be it remembered, 
 that the first child born of English parents lived to be eighty. . 
 five. Several of our natives born have since turned a hundred, 
 These, it has been observed, have been chiefly women.— But 
 one is now living, at the town of Beaver, on the Ohio, who was 
 
 li 
 
 • No, Sir, they were Fronchraen. The p|tl French have excellent con- 
 •fitutiont. 
 
 K2 
 
fS 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 :1 
 
 
 u\ 
 
 ??•■ 
 
 borii in New Jersey in lOSG, within a very few yeari of the 
 first settlement of the province. Well, therefore, might our 
 patriarch Franklin say, when, during Win long agency at Lon« 
 dor, he was pressed to tell whether people lived as lont; in 
 America as they do in England, " I do not know— for the first 
 settlers are not all dead yet." 
 
 The most frequent instances of longevity may now be ob- 
 Berve<l to occur in the most old settled parts, such as Virginia, 
 and the New England States; and for this plain reason, that 
 it Ik there that there were most children to take a chance for it 
 a century ago. The comparative numbers of old people in 
 any country, is not to be made upon the population of those 
 counlries when they died, but when they were born. It is well 
 known lliat whilst most of the towns in the Old World have 
 increased but little within the period of a lung life, the oldest 
 towns in America have doubled and quadrupled, some of then» 
 ten or twenty-fold. 
 
 It appears by the London bills of mortality, for thirty years, 
 viz. from 1728 to 1758, that out of seven hundred and fifty 
 thousand deaths which took place in that city, there were two 
 hundred and forty-two persons who had survived their hun- 
 dredth year. Tliis is something over one for every three 
 thousand, which was more than half of the whole number of 
 ^ubabitants in Philadelphia a hundred years ago. If, therefore, 
 lj '^e Philadelphia bills now show two centenarians in a year, 
 /^^ \ich they invariably do) it is sufficient to place us on a similar 
 scale ' ^''^ ^''® ^^^y ^^ London. And if that proportion is 
 irreati ^ exceeded in Russia, according to the annual bills for 
 that exf ^^'^'^^ empire, let it be remembered, that large deduc- 
 tions raa\ ' ^* safely made from the accounts furnished by the 
 illiterate r '^^^^ ^^^ papas of a nation, the interior of which is 
 vet but halt civilized, and which, a hundred and fifty years 
 
 utrn «,o» I-..1 'likely to be very correct about births and dates, 
 ago, was little "^ .u r e .u n 
 
 Let us hea "^** more, therefore, of the groundless presump- 
 tion that people i '^'^^^ '«"§«»-. »» *^"''«P« t»»an they do in America. 
 It is not th f If ^^^ climate, nor our soil, if we da not live 
 
 as long here as in^ '^^ ^'' "^ ^^^u """"'^fA '^''''^^ '*"• ^%"f?* 
 partjcioation f th I '***''**''» ** w®'* ^^ <*» *"® necessaries of life, 
 may oftener ^ ^ t' ^'*^ "** '^® natural term of existence 
 •fnn»». ♦k^* i'^'^'' '^/•" ^ '*» fhe hard-workinsf poor, which most 
 
 life. 
 
 THE CATHE 
 
 I now went to the cathei 
 up, gilded and painted in 
 
 li^Kh <iP MONTREAt. 
 
 aral, tvhich has been lately new fitted 
 the most glittering style imagiBable. 
 
Montreal. 
 
 C9 
 
 This building is neither so long uor so high as the cathedral 
 of Quebec ; and it makes a very plain appearance outside, 
 standing as it does in the middle of the principal avenue, which 
 leads round it, on the north side, across a public square. But 
 no expence has been spared up(Mi the interior, nor has any idea 
 of Christian simplicity been suffered to check the exuberance 
 of fancy in the decorations of the choir. 
 
 1 found the tribune of tills church parliculaily offensive to 
 my orthodoxy, as the great crucifix does not occupy its proper 
 station (can it be possible that it should have been removed 
 to a side isle, where it now stands?) in the centre of the tribune, 
 the appropriate situation which it invariably retains in our 
 Philadelphia chapels (which, by the way, are a good deal new- 
 modelled by the benefit of surrounding observation and ex- 
 ample) to make room for a statue of the V irgin — not as usual 
 with the child in her arms, which could alone countenance the 
 impropriety, but in the elegant contours of a Grecian female 
 (it might pass as well for a Juno or a Ceres) standing in a 
 niche above the altar; whilst Corinthian columns, fluted in 
 green and gold, and surmounted with curved scrolls of the same 
 glittering materials, support over her head a crown richly gilt. 
 
 Is not this worshipping the creature more than the Creator? 
 Yet we are told, that " the Lord our God is a jealous God, who 
 will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven 
 images." Alas! that the professors of the first Christian church, 
 instead of leaving those things that were behind; and, going 
 on unto perfection, should fall short of the ancient Jews, under 
 the shadowy dispensation of the Law. They were forbidden 
 to make unto themselves the likeness of any thing in heaven or 
 upon earth, to worship if. There was accordingly (we are told 
 by Sf. Paul, a Hebrew proselyte of the tribe of Benjamin) 
 nothing contained in the Ark of the Covenant (beside the Tables 
 of the Law) save a pot of manna, and Aaron*s rod, that budded 
 in the presence of Pharaoh; which things were preserved for a 
 memorial to succeeding generations of the wonders which the 
 Lord had wrought in Egypt, for the deliverance of his chosen 
 people: and to this day, the Jews have nothing in their taber- 
 nacles but a copy of the Law, which is produced before the 
 people every Sabbath-day; not to be worshipped, but merely 
 to be commemorated and obeyed. This cathedral is dedicated 
 to Noire Dame, rather than to God Almighty; and the per- 
 petual recurrence of Ave Marias all over the building, shows 
 indeed too plainly that this is a temple dedicated, in the first 
 place to the Virgin Mary, in the second to Jesus Christ.* 
 
 ■■',t 
 
 * It is truly and excellently spoken of Seneca, says Lactantius, " Con- 
 sider tlM majesty, the g;eodne8S, and th« adorable mercies of the Almig^lity t 
 
( r 
 ! 
 
 11 
 
 70 
 
 Travels in lAnetr Canada, 
 
 JSven Sf. Peter, with bis keyn, has been here oblig^ed to gfive 
 way to the exclusive prefeiii*ioii8 of the Virgin. — None but 
 saints of their own in-tking have been able to stand the too 
 powerful competition here. (They worship the work of their 
 own hands, that which their own fingers have made.) In the 
 side chapels, opposite to the altars of the favourite divinity, 
 the cuiioiis stranger may find a St. Francis, or a St. An- 
 thony, in garments of Mack-cloth, gaunt and ghastly, who have 
 been permitted to pay their obeisance to the incarnation; but 
 every close, and every open compartment throughout the aisles 
 and galleries of this — I will not call it Christian temple, ex- 
 hibits the name (must I say of the idol of its adoration ?) 
 in which, in a single cipher, are interwoven the letters M, A, 
 fir the name of Marin, and V, for the attribute of Virginity. 
 
 Apropo of keys — I do not myself regret the absence of the 
 
 Prince of the Apostles, as (hey call him at Rome. — I think St, 
 Peter has kept the keys of Heaven's Wicket* long enough, 
 since they were first given, not to him as a man, subject, as the 
 history tibuMdantly testiKes, to like passions with his fellow- 
 creatures, but to the revelution which he had received in com- 
 mon wiih olher believers. — And liJssuccessor,Iike the dog in the 
 manger, will neither enter in himself, nor sufiTer them that would. 
 But Pius VII. with all his briefs and his bulls, (even if they 
 
 W- 
 
 ; !^«. 
 
 his pleasure lies not in tlie magiiificenrtt of temples made with stone, but 
 in the piety and devotion of consecrated hearts." And in the book that this 
 same Heathen Philosopher wrote against superstitions, treating- of those 
 who M'orshipped images, St. Austin observes, he writes thus: " Tlu-y re- 
 present the holy, the immortal, and the invisible Gods, with the basest 
 materials, and without life or motion, in the forms of men." — ** All these 
 things," (ont Junes the ancient Sage, " a wise man will observe for the 
 law's sake more than for that of the gods ; and all tiiis rabble of deities, which 
 the superstition of many ages has gathered together, we are in such manner 
 to adow;," says Seneca, (darkly, as one wiio could yet only see men as trees) 
 " as to consider their worship to be rather matter of custom than of con. 
 science." — How much farther did this enlightened Heathen penetrate into 
 the nature of spiritual worship than those who venerate images? or at least 
 make use of such representations hi Christian churches, as the means of 
 heightening religions fervour. 
 
 But Christians have no occasion for heathen authorities against outward 
 temples and symbolic worship. "For the Lord God," said David, "dwell- 
 eth not in temples made with hands ;" not surely then in a consecrated host, 
 at the command of a sinful priest, to bring forth as a God, or to put away as 
 a thing of nought. " What house will ye build me ? saith the Lord, or where 
 is the place of my rest?" Yet this was the same munifioent potentate that 
 prepared, before his death, for the house that was to be built in Jerusalem 
 for the God of Heaven, a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand 
 thousand talents of silver, and of brass and iron witliout weight or number. 
 
 * Milton. 
 
 • 
 
Montreal, 
 
 n 
 
 should again be seconded by the thunder of the Vatican) can- 
 not prevent the candle, which has been liq^hted by the Bible 
 Societies, from bein? put upon the candlestick, no more to 
 be hid under a bed or under a bushel. The Scriptures of 
 Truth will at length be circulated throughout the habitable 
 globe; and there will be, if I may be allowed the comparison, 
 a second preaching of the Gospel among all nations. 
 
 In this dark cathedral (I speak of spiritual darkness, for this 
 church is as brilliant as a ball-room) the trade of auricular 
 confession is more extensively carried on than in any gotliic 
 edifice I ever was in, and I have been in many of them in my 
 time, in the most bigoted countries in Europe. I suppose 
 there are not less than twenty confessionals around the walls, 
 at which penitents are occasionally seen ringing the bells, to 
 call their favourite confessors to the seat of judgment; and 
 priests, in their white vestments, are to be seen pacing the 
 aisles to answer these incessant requisitions every hour in 
 the day. 
 
 This magnificent edifice was now crowded to overflowing ; 
 not with the populace merely, many of whom having no seals 
 in the church stood bare-headed about the door, or kneeled 
 upon the steps, it being impossible fur them all to get in. But 
 the choir was lined with priests and chaunters in white. The 
 Black nuns were there, and the Grey Nuns were there, (though 
 they have all churches of their own to go to) — nay, 1 found 
 my old monk assisted here, instead of attending to his res- 
 torations at the Recollets, making a grostesque appearance, 
 amidst glittering gew-gaws, in his coarse gown and hood, which 
 was thrown back to discover his shaven crown. In short, it 
 seemed as if the hierarchy had mustered all its forces, 
 
 Black, white, and grey, with all their trumpery ; 
 Cowls, hoods, and habits. 
 
 There was, however, a sermon to countenance this universal 
 assemblage, which was declared by an old woman that sat 
 next me, (between one pinch of snuff and another) to be un 
 beau sermon. But I shall not give myself the trouble to re- 
 port any part of it ; for the next morning, seeing a Catholic 
 catechism in a bookseller's window, I asked to look at it, and 
 returned it with evident indignation, as soon as I came to the 
 following passage, which is worthy of the intolerant spirit of 
 the darkest ages : 
 
 Demande. Ya-t'-il plusieurs eglises Catholiques?* 
 
 • Question; Are there several Catholic churches ? 
 
n 
 
 Traveh in Lowtr Canada, 
 
 ll!! 
 
 Reponse. Non. II n'y a de Catholiques que la seule Eg^lis* 
 Romaine. Hors de laquelle il n'y a point de salut.* 
 
 Dernande. Que fnut il done pcnoer de res aufres Societ^s 
 qui se nomment Efj^lisec, et ne prufeiisent pas la moiiie fui que 
 nous ? ou ne sont pns souniises aux monies pasteurs?! 
 
 Reponse. £lles sent des institutions liumaines, qui ne ser- 
 vent qu' u egarer les hoinmes, et ne sauroient les conduire k 
 Dieu.t 
 
 But let me not involve myself in darkness till I become 
 myself uncharitably blind. Adjoining to this cathedral is the 
 extensive edifice called the Seminary, which was here insti* 
 tuted in the year 1657 by the Abb^ Quetus, and a deputation 
 of teachers from the celebrated brotherhood of St. Sulpice, at 
 Paris^ 
 
 The present superiors of this noble institution, with other 
 clergymen, particularly of the dignified class, are said to be 
 men of great learning and exemplary piety, who confine them- 
 selves, with the most self-denying strictness, to the exercise of 
 their religious duties, and lead irreproachable lives ; deprived 
 as they are, by their stations, of the inestimable comforts of 
 female society. 
 
 This seminary of learning is chiefly designed for the educa- 
 tion of the priesthood ; but others are admitted into this truly 
 Catholic college, even Protestant children, from whom confor- 
 mity is not exacted. To this excellent institution is attached 
 an extensive garden, with shady avenues for air and exercise, 
 which I regret not having seen, as I have since understood 
 that the teachers are not merely acccessible, but politely atten- 
 tive to strangers, who wish to survey the establishment, or to 
 prosecute, in its academical groves, botanical researches. 
 
 The city of Montreal has thriven surprisingly within a few 
 years, and now contains as many inhabitants as Quebec, say 
 twelve or fifteen thousand. 
 
 There has been, and in time of peace will continue to be, a 
 great influx of Americans, chiefly from the New England 
 States, who are winding themselves into all the most active 
 and ingenious employments. Episcopal and Presbyterian 
 chapels, or meeting-houses, have long been established here ; 
 and of lute the Methodists, those pioneers of reformation, have 
 
 ♦Answer. No. There is no Catholic church but that of , Rome, out of 
 >vhich there is no salvation. 
 
 t Question. What must we then believe of those other societies which 
 call Ihenisclves churches and do not profess the same faith with us, or arQ 
 not subjected to the same pastors ? 
 
 t Answer. They are human institutions, which serv© to lead men astrfty, 
 and can in no wise direct them to God. * 
 
ociet^s 
 fui que 
 
 le ser- 
 luire k 
 
 )eGome 
 I is the 
 e insti* 
 utatioa 
 pice, at 
 
 h other 
 d to be 
 Q them- 
 rcise of 
 eprived 
 forts of 
 
 educa- 
 lis truly 
 
 confor- 
 ttached 
 xercise, 
 €\jr8tood 
 y atten- 
 it, or to 
 
 IS. 
 
 in a few 
 )ec, say 
 
 to be, a 
 England 
 st active 
 jvterian 
 d here ; 
 >D, have 
 
 tue, oat of 
 
 ies which 
 us, orarQ 
 
 len astray» 
 
 Monlrcnl. T-J 
 
 broke ftround within the precincts uf the Catliolic liiiircli, onu 
 
 and indivisible as it is ! 
 
 th 
 
 The relations of trade inrroasc jlaily bftwrrn tiiisj pinrc snu 
 the Unittjd Sfatcs ; and such ix the course of cxciianoc, li);it 
 tho notes of uiir principal baiik*; circiihito freely in ail llio Io.viih 
 of Canadii. The merchants of Montreal arc; now, lioucvij, 
 about cstahlishing a bank of their own, nilh a c .|)Ita1 of 
 2.')(),000/. sterling, something;- more than a niiiliDU of dullau^. 
 This will have a tendency to limit the circulation of fori'i;;n 
 paper, and promote domesttic improvement, as well a?; facilitate 
 the operations of trade ; thoUj»li the exporls from hence arc! 
 chiefly confined to wheat and flour, peltry, luinher, &c. re- 
 ceived from Upper Canada, or the United .States. 
 
 If the vicinity of Montreal is less wildly uiagMiificcnt than 
 that of Quebec, it is far more luxuriant and .smilii;;*'' Mero 
 wheat and rye seldom fail to reward the labours of ihe husband- 
 man, (however ill-directed they niay be) thoui;h the summers, 
 even here, are found too short to encourapi^e the cultivation of 
 Indian corn ; and peaches will sscarcely ripen without shelter- 
 ing walls. Plums, apples, pears, are likewise much belter hen; 
 than at Quebec ; and the berry fruits, particularly currants 
 raspberries, and strawberrito, from foreign stock>i, are pro- 
 duced as large, and some of them as fine, as they are with us:;. 
 The C'dtivated gooseberry is njuch larger, the general coolness 
 of the sumiper favouring its growth, by retardmg its maturily. 
 
 There is here a Society of Florists, who gave premiums, 
 whilst I was at Montreal, for the finest specimens of ranuncu- 
 luses and carnations. 
 
 As many weekly papers are already published, both in Mon- 
 treal and also at Quebec, in the Etiglish language as in the 
 French ; and it is evident that the former w ill gain the ascen- 
 dency here — perhaps at no distant day. 
 
 The streets of business, and especially the shops, have the 
 snug look of an English town ; and it was amusing to see how 
 exactly the young men of any fioure were in the I^undon cut. 
 
 The British Officers, I am lold, do not mix much in society 
 with the natives of Canada ; yet military manners prevail here, 
 as well as at Quebec. The rabble flock in crowds to rogimen- 
 tal parades ; and even women, of any appearance, make u 
 point of stepping to a march. 
 
 Before I quit 3Iontreal I shall not do justice to its public 
 edifices witliout mentioning, as a handsome structure, the 
 government-house, for the administration of justice, ^e. with 
 the king's arms in the pediment, elaborately executed inConde's 
 artificial stone ; a new jail, of aj)propria;e rons?ruelion, accoiu- 
 
 Voyages and Travels, »\o. 2. Vol. III. U 
 
74 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 iM 
 
 iK.i 
 
 fin 
 
 \h 
 
 panied by that eye-sore to American feelings — tlie Whippin, 
 Post ; and a naval pillar (which has been unfavourably place 
 in front of the latter) intended in honour of Lord Nelson. 
 
 nelson's pillar. 
 
 This beautiful memento (I recollect nothing superior to it in 
 England, where, to l.e sure, li.ey are not remarkable for public 
 monuments any mor? than ourselves) stands upon an elevated 
 pedestal, upon the front of which is a suitable inscription, in 
 wiiich ij not forgotten the hero's last order, " England expects 
 every man wi!' do his duty." On the two sides, in circular 
 compartments, are rc'presented, in the boldest bas-reliefs (of 
 the composition before mentioned) the horrid scenes of ships 
 sinking to the bottom of the deep, or blowing up into the air, 
 as they occurred at the Nile, and off Trafalgar. In that of 
 the fourth side is represented the Crown-Prince of Denmark, 
 who is seen submittins^ to Nelson's lawless requisition at the 
 moment when, it is said, that victory was turning against the 
 conqueror. 
 
 The shuft of this pillar is fifty feet high. Upon its capital 
 stands the admiral, v/ho makes, it must be allowed, but a very 
 sorry figure in statuary, with his arm in a sling ; but his lord- 
 ship leans, witli peculiar propriety, upon the remains of a 
 broken mast ; and the base of the column is a well-wrought 
 cable. 
 
 This monument is iijudicionsly placed in the common 
 3Iarket-placc, instead of the Place d'Armes, or the parade 
 upon the bou.'evaids, at one end of which are two very fine 
 new houses of hewn stone, and in the neighbourhood new 
 streets are laying out, which will greatly modernise the town, 
 and connect it wifli the adjacent suburbs, from which it was 
 formerly very inconveniently disjoined by the ramparts, which 
 are now dismantled. 
 
 THE PEASANTRY OF CANADA. 
 
 The peasantry in Canada, (by which term I hope Lower 
 Canada will be always understood in these sketches) that is to 
 say, the great body of the people, is in a state of ignorance 
 but little exceeding the simplicity of the Indian tribes in their 
 neighbourhood, and of poverty almost as little removed from 
 a state of absolute want; yet 
 
 Patient of laliour, with a little pleased, 
 they are, perhaps, as happy as tlieir more polished neighbours ; 
 and certainly they are mote harmless and less discontented : 
 
 No taiicieil ills, ik> pride-cicated wants, 
 Disturb the pcaceliil current of their davs. 
 
 ,!' ) 
 
jMontreaf. 
 
 4'J 
 
 }d tVom 
 
 Relieved from the horrors of !niii(ary conscription and feu- 
 dal tyranny, pinning their faith upon the priest's sleeve, these 
 simple people are literally satisfied >vit!i their daily bread, and 
 leave the morrow to provide for itself 
 
 No more — Where ignoiauoo is biiss, 
 
 (says the poet) and I shall not now stop to controvert the po- 
 sition, 
 
 'Tis folly to be wise. 
 
 In point of morality and devotion, the French, in Canada, 
 may be compared to the Swiss and the Scofcli in Europe, 
 though far behind the former in industry, and the latter in in- 
 genuity and enterprise. Infidelity is unknown among them ; 
 and the passion for military glory almost extinct, as well as 
 that thoughtless gaiety which distinguishes the French in 
 Europe, no longer enlivened by the exhilarating wines of the 
 mother-country : 
 
 Those healthful cups which cheer but not inebriate, 
 
 as Cowper elegantly said of the English beverage — tea. 
 
 So g'*eat is the change of manners and principles which has 
 followed, in two centuries, an alteration in the overruling cir- 
 cumstances of climate and governmenf. 
 
 National pride, in its proper sense, as confined to the country 
 M'hich gave us birth, is scarcely felt in Canada, where every 
 sensation of national ;i^lory reverts to the forgotten history of a 
 distant land ; and the government that is obeyed, per force, is 
 foreign to the people ; and they can have no sentiments in 
 unison with the objects of its ambition. 
 
 A Canadian is ready to admit the superiority of the Amcii- 
 can character, and shews nothing of French partialities, save 
 in the display of the Gallic cock, which is perched upon the 
 spire of every steeple, and upon the top of every cross, toge- 
 ther with the sun, the flower-de-luce, and other degraded em- 
 blems of the French monarchy, which British policy has 
 wisely permitted these harmless people to retain as long as they 
 were content to let go the substance of national independence, 
 and grasp a shadow. 
 
 Even m person and countenance they are perceptibly altered 
 from their European ancestors. The Canadian peasant is not 
 so tall as the native Frenchman ; neither is he so well-shaped, 
 or so comely in feature as his progenitors. He is also brownefj 
 by many degrees, than the natives of France. 
 
 From this marked example it would appear that national pe- 
 culiarities may be formed by the operation of imperious cir- 
 cumstances, ill far less time than is required to chdDge the 
 
 L 2 
 
 'M 
 
76 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada. 
 
 n^-v 
 
 III 
 
 r.H 
 
 <()io«ir of llio ^kin, by the influence of climate; and we need 
 be at no <lijli< nity to aditiit the gfndual origin of the variety of 
 romplexions in the human rare; since a change of feature and 
 pervoi! c;in ))o so soon brought about in a colony of Europeans 
 ihifs roinnletely separated from the parent-stock. 
 
 The Fi onrli tojisjue, however, has been very little deteriorated 
 in Ccinad.'!. The peasantry coming from different provinces, 
 Ifft ihf>ir rf.spf(live allotments of the "Patois de cliez nous" 
 behind thcr,;, in the land of their ancestors; and their posterity 
 now speak but one language, which is very toiorable French ; 
 thongii not, to be sure, like th.e English of America, as pure 
 niid perfect as the chastest dialect of the motlier-country ; al- 
 though spread over an inhabited surface often times its extent. 
 
 And here let me warn the British reader, that whenever an 
 English tnivfller in America undertakes to amu^e his couritry- 
 in^n, as Weld has sometifnes done, with pr'?lcnded conversa- 
 tions of American peasants, delivered in bad language, it is of 
 his ov.n manufacture ; bad English is not coined in the Ame- 
 rican minfrf 
 
 Tiiere appears to have been but very little emigration from 
 France since the year ]6()0, when the province was already 
 compnrntivejy well-peopled ; and it was about the same time, 
 in the following century, that the Canadians yielded their inde- 
 pendence to the ascendency of the British arms; since which 
 there has been far mora connexion and intercourse between 
 France and the American provinces of British origin, than be- 
 tv,een thnt powerful nation and her own descendants. 
 
 Thus the deterioration of pristine vigour, that it was possible 
 for a few centuries to produce, in national character, has been, 
 in this instance, completely exemplified. 
 
 In North America a colonization originally gradual and pro- 
 gressive, together with the incessant intercourse of commerce 
 and curio.sity, has admitted of so little variation of national 
 character and appearance, that the Englishman of the United 
 States is not now to be distinguished in form or feature ; in 
 temper or intellect, (excepting certain shades of difference 
 which I shall not now undertake to define) from the English- 
 man of Europe: and the two branches from the parent stem 
 may now be considered, with infinitely more propriety, in the 
 light of elder and younger brothers, established in different 
 countries, than in the fancied relationship of parent and child, 
 Aviiich, if it was true of our ancestors a hundred years ago, is 
 no longer so of the two separate races which have since sprung 
 from the same parent-stock. 
 
 A hundred years hence, when obsolete pretensions have 
 been forgotten, and jealousies and prepossessions shall be no 
 
m 
 
 Pmmntrii ^f f-(inada. 77 
 
 Ion;;pr remembered, it will be the proudest boast of Britain 
 timt she jilanled tlie Colonies of North America; and the 
 (kniTsl title of the United States, that their progenitors came 
 from Old England. 
 
 To an American from the United States, the smallneps of 
 towns so noted, and so long established as Quebec and Mon- 
 treal, is inconceivable, and scarcely credible to the observer. I 
 could mysolf nith ilifHculty believe, that the population of the 
 latter is now eslimated at but fiftoen thousand, of the former at 
 no more thasj twelve ; numbers which might have been rougiilv 
 computed by the English at the time of the conquest. Still 
 l".-;s can we imagine how the population of the country wl:i(h,at 
 that [)eriod, was estimated atscventy or eighty tiiousand, should 
 have little more than doubled itself since, although sixty years 
 have nearly elapsed, a period in which the stan<ling population 
 oftlic United Slates lias more than trebled itself. I speak not 
 of the rapid red-.iplicalion of the New States, which arises from 
 emigrafio;), and takes place at the expense of the Old. 
 
 In the year 170(j, tlie people of New France were estiaiated 
 at thirty thousand. At the Conquest, fify-tive years afterward, 
 they were variously computed at seventy and at ninety thou- 
 sand souls. If the latter was the true number (whicli I very 
 much doubt) they cati have little more than doubled since ; fur 
 on the peace of 178"} an account of them was taken, by order 
 of the government, and the whole amoun?, including the Eng- 
 lisii with the French, was only one hundred and thirteen tiiou- 
 sai'd. There were, at the same time, ten thousand loyalists 
 estabjisljed in Upper Canada. 
 
 If, therefore, the French stock has doubled itself since the 
 year 17()0, it is as much as can be inferred from the data given 
 above. Taking the mean number (eighty) for a basis, its 
 •louble will be a hundred and sixty thousand, which is proba- 
 l)ly not far from the truth : for 1 cannot adopt the flattering 
 estimate of common computation, by which the present inhabi- 
 tants of Lower Canada are raised to the suppositious amount 
 of two hundred and fifty thou5and. 
 
 There are many circumstances in Canada wliich control the 
 energies of life, beside occasional scarcity and the long ab- 
 sence of the voyagers ; preventing the natural tendency of 
 new colonies to increase and multiply. 
 
 The extreme heats of the climate, though not lasting, ener- 
 vate the body, and its extreme cold chills the blood, and has a 
 benumbing effect upon the powers of the njino Frequent 
 festivals, or holidays, introduce habits of idleness and relaxa- 
 tion. The lands are held by military tenure. The occupants 
 are liable to the teazing claim of quit-rents, and the unseason 
 
 '< I 
 
 m 
 
'H. 
 
 ts 
 
 Travels in Lower Canada, 
 
 able exaction of military service. At every transfer of prc>- 
 perty the new purchaser is bound to pay one-fifth to the 
 seignior, and in case of war the land-holder is liable to serve 
 without pay. In short, under the Ancien Reqime,eyery peasant 
 was a soldier, and every seignior an officer ; and althoug^h the 
 natives are now excluded from the king's troops, the Creoles 
 are enrolled in the militia, and are still called out, occasionally, 
 without fee or revvard. Accordingly, the frequent may-poles to 
 be observed on the road-sides, do not mark, as at first si^ht I 
 fondly imagined they might have done, the circle of a village- 
 dance, where the sons and daughters of poverty might forget 
 their wants in their enjoyments ; but the superintendance of a 
 Serjeant, or a captain of a militia, as the rallying-point of duty 
 iti cases of alarm.* 
 
 Most of those who cultivate the soil can neither read nor 
 write, of course they know nothing of the advantages of com- 
 posts or the rotation of crops*, by which the means of life are 
 so cheaply multiplied by intelligent agriculturists. And before 
 Quebec was taken by the English, all the manure produced 
 in its stables was regularly thrown into the river. 
 
 Another check to population remains to be mentioned (though 
 last, not least.) It is the law of celibacy to which the priests 
 and nuns are prescriptively subjected, and to whose mortifying 
 restrictions, [lowever unnatural, there is no reason to doubt 
 their scrupulous conformity. 
 
 * By the ancient custom of Canada, lands en fief, or en roture, were lield 
 immediately from the king, on condition of renderin<? fealty and homage, 
 upon every accession to the seignorial property, and, in the event of a 
 transfer, by sale, or olherwise, except in the line of hereditary succession, 
 they were subject to the payment of a quint (one-fiith) of the purchase- 
 money. 
 
 The Tenanciers, or holders of lands, en rotnre, were subject to the pay- 
 ment of a (juit-rent, which was generally accompanied with some trilling 
 gratuity, such as apairof fowls, or a bushel of wheat. They were also bound 
 to grind their corn at the Moulin banal, or the Lord's mill, where one-four- 
 teenth part is taken by way of mouture, or toll, for grinding ; likewise to 
 repair highways, and to open new roads, when directed so to do, by the 
 Grand Voyeur, or Supervisor of the district. 
 
 The Lords were also entitled to a tithe of the fish caught within their do- 
 mains, and might fell timber wherever tliey chose, for necessary purposes. 
 
 Lands held by Roman Catholics are farther subject to the payment, to the 
 curates, of the twenty- sixth part of all grain produced upon them ; also to 
 occasional assessments for building and repairing churches, parsonage-houses, 
 and other church-occasions. 
 
 The remainder of the located lands arc held in free and cohimon soccage, 
 from which is, made a reservation of two-sevenths, one of which is appropri- 
 ated to the crown, and the otht.' to the maintenance of the Protestant clergy. 
 
[ 79] 
 
 HISTORY OF CANADA. 
 
 If I have said little of the early history of Canada, it is 
 because little is to be said ; yet. the reader of these loose 
 hints may be curious to know when the first settlements took 
 place, and under what auspices they were established. I 
 shall briefly transcribe the meajn're historians of Canada; I 
 say meagre in point of facts, for both La Hontan and Char- 
 levoix are insufferably ve.-;ose, and the ponderous quarter of 
 the latter may be called any Aung but meag-re. 
 
 The island of Newfoundland, that inhospitable waste of 
 naked rocks and barren mountains, which lies at the mouth 
 of the river St. Lawrence, and which is supposed, notwith- 
 standing its immense extent, to have never had any abori- 
 ginal inhabitants ; none but wandering l^squimaux from the 
 neighbouring coast of Labrador having ever been observed 
 there, was first discovered by John Cabot, a Venetian ad- 
 venturer, under the patronage of Henry VII. of England. 
 But no advantage whatever was derived from this discovery, 
 until after the lapse ui' half a century, when the French 
 navigators began to fre(|uent these seas for fish ; and the two 
 nations iong enjoyed, without molestation from each other, 
 the privilege of drying cod on the shores of this island, by 
 prudently occupying the one the southern and northern, and 
 the other only the eastern coast.* 
 
 It was in 1523 that Francis I. King of France, commis- 
 sioned John \^erazzani, a Florentine, then in his service, to 
 make discoveries (which were then considered in the same 
 light as conquests) in America. He sailed from Dieppe, 
 and returned to Dieppe the same year, and this is all that is 
 now known of his first voyage. — In 1525, however, he set 
 sail again, ranged the coast of America from south to north, 
 and having touched at Newfoundland, returned as before. 
 He now prepared to plant a colony in North America, and 
 
 * The banks of Newfoundland, so called, arc, slricUy speaking, a sub- 
 marine mountain of }?r< at extent, no wliere covered with less tlian twenty 
 fathom of water, and varying IVom tliat deptii to sixty ami upwards. It is 
 ascertained by soundins?s, that tliere are vast quantities of shells upon these 
 banks, and immense mnltidvles of lish of various sizes, which serve for 
 nourishment to the cod, whieii is so nuich prized in Europe. This, it seems, 
 is one of the most voracious of fish. J'.oth f^lass and iron are often found 
 in its st«miach, which, by the provision of nature, has a power of inverting 
 itself, and thus disgorgin,"- iis 'indigestible ctiutents. Their number is ap- 
 parently inexhaustible, seeing that two or thre;> hundred vessels have been 
 annually freighted witli then' for the last three centuries, without any ap- 
 parent diminution. 
 
 Mil 
 
« i' 
 
 
 I 'iv 
 
 80 History of Canada, 
 
 sailed from France for that purpose, but was never afterward 
 heard of. 
 
 The river St. Lawrence, one of the largest bodies of fresh 
 water on tije surface of the globe, received its name from 
 .Jacques Caitier, who, in the year 1535, had ascended the 
 river as far as the place where Montreal now stands, iii the 
 vain hope of finding a nearer passage to China, the fruith\ss 
 research which so long engrossed the attention of European 
 navigators, with a small ship or two from St. Maloes, a sea- 
 port of France, upon the coast of Brit(any. 
 
 That magnificent monarch, Francis I. still occupied the 
 throne of France; but that prince being engaged at home in 
 perpetual conflicts with his formidable rival, Charles V. of 
 Spain, from this period, until the beginning of the following 
 century, no effectual attempts were made by Europeans to 
 form a settlement in Canada. 
 
 When Jacques Cartier arrived at the island called by him 
 Montreal, from the singular mountain which there rises, in 
 solitary majesty, over the present town, they found there an 
 Indian village, or rather a fortified town, since the fifty 
 cabins, of wnich it >vas composed, were surrounded by a 
 triple row of palisades. It was called Hochelaga, and it was 
 imder the command of a chief, whose name has not been pre- 
 served, so far as I know. 
 
 Although .Jacques Cartier appears to have been prevented, 
 either by discouragement or inability, from returning to fake 
 possession of Montreal, yet, in 1541, Francis de la Roque, 
 Seigneur de Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy, having been 
 endowed by the king with the unlimited powers of viceroy of 
 Canada, set sail, with no fewer than five small vessels, for 
 New France, where he planted a colony, at the head of which 
 he placed Cartier, who had accompanied him, and went back 
 to France to prosecute the interests of the new settlement at 
 court. 
 
 On his returning the next year with fresh recruits, he met, 
 opportunely, his new colonists off Newfoundland, returning 
 Lome in despair of relief. He readily persuaded thcin to 
 return ; and this enterprising nobleman made afterward 
 several other voyages in prosecution of his favourite settle- 
 ment, before the last unfortunate embarkation in 1-349, when 
 he «as lost at sea, upon which the colony was broken up ; 
 and with this unfortunate event terminated the first attempts 
 at colonization upon the river St. Lawrence. 
 
 The Protestants of France, unlike those of England, ap- 
 pear to have been little disposed in this nge to expatriate 
 tiiemselves for the sake of tlie free exercise of their religion, 
 
 ;,-^' 
 
History of Canada. 
 
 81 
 
 ' iVesh 
 from 
 (1 the 
 ill the 
 uitlcss 
 lopeaii 
 a sea- 
 
 ed the 
 ome ill 
 V. of 
 lowing 
 cans to 
 
 by him 
 ises, in 
 lere an 
 e fifty 
 1 by a 
 it wafo 
 en pre- 
 vented, 
 to take 
 Roqiie, 
 ig been 
 :eroy of 
 els, for 
 f which 
 nt back 
 inent at 
 
 he met, 
 turiiiiig 
 hcin to 
 terward 
 ! settle- 
 9, when 
 :cii lip ; 
 ittempts 
 
 Hid, ap- 
 patriate 
 eligion, 
 
 being headed at home by men of qualify and influence, who 
 for a long time maintained a successful stand against (he 
 power of the crown, and the intolerance of the clergy: yet 
 about this time Coligni, then atlmiral of France, and after- 
 Avard remarkable for suffering martyrdom in the tumultuous 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew, with the permission of (.'harlcs 
 IX., over whose weak mind he appears to have eiijoyed gnat 
 influence, notwithstanding his religion, altemp(e<l a settiement 
 in Florida, for the retreat of the Calvinists, or Hugonots, of 
 France. But these unfortunate emigrants were not long 
 afterward indiscriminately murdered by the Spaniards, under 
 the express directions of the gloomy tyrant Philip II. 
 
 In the year I5D8, the Marquis de la Roche, a nobleman of 
 Brittany, was again commissioned as viceroy. His colonists 
 were convicts from the French prisons, and he left them be- 
 hind to perish upon the isle of Sable, being prevented from 
 returning to their relief by untoward circi'mstances, in con- 
 sequence of which he is said to have died of grief. 
 
 Other attempts to people Canada continued to be made 
 from time to time, but they were all equally unsuccessful. 
 
 Champlain, (the future father of the colony,) came over for 
 the first tifue in IfiOS, and returned to Fiance the same year; 
 but, in ]()04, the Sieur do Monts, a Calvinist, obtained per- 
 mission from Henry IV. to exercise his religion in America, 
 obliging himself, oddly enouoh, to promote the Catholic 
 faith among the savages. His object uas the peltries of 
 Canada, wliich had now become an important branch of 
 commerce. 
 
 He established his company upon the coast of Acadie, now 
 Nova Scotia, where he found a rich soil, covere<l with gigan- 
 tic woods, and abounding with game of every desciipfion. 
 
 It was in the year 1()08, that Samuel de Champlain, an 
 enterprising and intelligent merchant, of the town of Dicjjpe, 
 in Normandy, who had been for some years engaged in !he 
 above-mentioned traffic of furs, resolved upon establishing 
 himself permanently in the new worbf. 
 
 Henry IV., the prince so long iduiized in France as the 
 only favourite of the people, in a loag line of sovereigns, now 
 swayed the sceptre in his native country ; but it does not 
 appear that that easy and amiable ivionarcii gave himself any 
 concern about the claims of his crown upon the unknown 
 regions of the north. The kingdoms of Spain and Portugal 
 had been fortunate in their American acquisitions. They 
 had discovered mines of gold and silver sufficient to tempt 
 their cupidity across half the globe; but even England had 
 not yet established colonies for the sake of commerce, and it 
 
 Voyages and Travels, No» 2. VoL III. 31 
 
 M 
 
 :^h 
 
 M 
 
■'i 
 
 'I 
 
 I'ii 
 
 I: 
 
 8'3 History of Canada. 
 
 is not to be wondered at that the French, who despise the 
 useful but unostentatious pursuits of trade, in comparison of 
 the fancied g-lories of war and conquest, should see nothing* 
 attractive in a country which opened to thein no prospects but 
 those of honest and industrious thrift. 
 
 When Champlain surveyed the banks of the g-reat river, 
 for the choice of a suitable situation for his infant colony, it 
 is asserted, upon the authority of tradition, that when they 
 came in sight of the lofty promontory, that reared its head 
 between the two rivers St. Lawrence and St. Charles, some 
 of his attendants cried out at the first sight of this abrupt and 
 imposing eminence. Quel bee! and the bold adventurer is said 
 to have immediately adopted this exclamation in his native 
 tongue, as the future name of his projected town. 
 
 No later than the next year we find (]!hamplain, under the 
 romantic notions of honour, which then prevailed in Europe, 
 imprudently engaged in an Indian Avar. He found the 
 Algonquins of the vicinity of Quebec, and the Hurons of the 
 fertile island since named Montreal, at war (according to the 
 immemorial custom of neighbouring savages,) with the Iro- 
 quois, a powerful confederation on the western border of the 
 present states of New-York and Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Indians of North America, a generous and intelligent 
 race of men, would seem to have required the excitement of 
 war and bloodshed in defiiult of the active pursuits and in- 
 genious occupations of civilized life, to preserve them from 
 sinking into the torpidity of indolence, rather than for the 
 indulgence of the brutal passionsof a-nger and revenge. Can 
 the European sophist assign as plausible a reason for the fre- 
 quency of >vars among civilized nations? much less among 
 professing Christians, fighting under the same banner, pro- 
 fessing to obey the same spiritual Commander? Since the 
 plea of aggression can never be good on both sides, and even 
 in defensive wars, which are mostly ht'd to be justifiable, on 
 the principle of necessity, that system (no less prudent than 
 humane, I refer to universal experience) is sure to be aban- 
 doned, with all its advantages, as socn as opportunities occur 
 for retaliation or reprisal. 
 
 In the spring of 1609, he headed a large party of the 
 savages, (the name seems to be now not unappropriate) who 
 were goin?- against the Iroquois, upon the great lake, to which 
 the French adventurer then gave his ovvi.\ name. They pene- 
 trated into the lake by the river since called the Sorel, and 
 Champlain remarked that the fertile islands of the lake were 
 full of roebucks, deer, elks, and other wild animals, particularly 
 jjeavers, who absolutely swarmed in those unfrequented re- 
 
 I 
 
 ^hc 
 
Uhtory oj' Canada. 8«*3 
 
 treiats, wlioiein tlicy had never been digturhed by the restless 
 avarice of man. 
 
 The two pintles met arcidenlally upon the hike; but it 
 seems the Indians of America Avere not accustomed to figlit 
 on tile water, thouoh Jliey were sucli perfect masters of tlie 
 
 1 Kiddle, that tlie descendants of the most polished nation \\\ 
 ^^urope have never yet made any improvement upon their 
 canoes for river navi<>ation. 
 
 Tiiey landed upon I his occasion on the eastern shore, 
 where they fouoht with bows and arrows, the oidy missile 
 weapons of which they were then possessed. The French 
 fusees soon decided the fortune of the day, and the Irocpiois 
 fled with terror, after a few discharges, which were accom- 
 ])anied with the loss of many of their leaders, cut down by the 
 unerring- aim of the llurojiean rifle. 
 
 Only fwo years aflerward Champlain went again on the 
 same idle expedition, now soothing his conscience with the 
 fond imagination that it might be a means of spreading the 
 knowledge of the cross, and procuring the future establish- 
 ment of a permanent peace. The Algoncjuins, or rather the 
 Tf^^ench, for the victory was gained by their flre-arms, were 
 now again victorious. 
 
 In M)15, " Like a true knight-errant of the woods and 
 lakes," says Charlevoix, (from whose authority I derive the 
 ancient history of Canada) Champlain was inconsiderate 
 enough to make a third of these marauding expeditions, to 
 please his savage neighbours, the Hurons of Hochelaga. He 
 now received several wounds from the Iroquois, who had by 
 this time recovered from their surprise at the novel instruments 
 of warfare adopted by their enemies, and the Hurons re^ 
 treated with great loss, carrying otF their wounded in a sort, 
 of wicker baskets, constructed for that purpose. 
 
 Only two years after this, so little popularity had Champ- 
 lain gained among his more immediate neighbours by his 
 imprudent courtesy, these same allies of his had plotted to 
 rid themselves of the new-comers, and the timely discovery of 
 the plot alone prevented its execution. 
 
 Thus was the colony of New France immersed in ruinous 
 (Jontests with the natives, from its very first establishment ; 
 and we need look no farther to account for its retarded pro- 
 gress, and protracted population, at the end of half a century. 
 
 But in justice to the Indians of North America, let it never 
 be forgotten, that they every where received the new-comers 
 with open arms; and, while they conducted themselves peace- 
 ably, entertained no ideas of repulsing, much less of exter-* 
 minating, the intruders. 
 
 M2 
 
Itt 
 
 hi 
 
 84 Ilistarif ojCauMtla, 
 
 Accordingly, when William Penn laid (he foTiiKlation of IiIb 
 colony, in pence and rriendsliip, the only treaty, it has heen 
 wittily ohservod by Voltaire, that vas not rritified by an oath, 
 and that never was broken, a peace of eighty years was the 
 happy consequence ; and when it was at length infringed, in 
 the prosectition of European quarrels, the neaceful followers 
 of Penn withdrew from a govcrtiment whicli could no longer 
 be administered without the use of the sword. 
 
 In the year 1()'20, the Marshal de Montmorency pur- 
 chased the vic(?royalty of New France, of his brother-in-law, 
 the Prince of Conde, (only brother to Lewis XIII.) who 
 had caused himself to be invested with the proud title of Vice- 
 roy of New France, apparently without (he least inten(ion of 
 interesting himself in the affairs of the colony. 
 
 The nuirshnl appears to have slighted the bauble as soon 
 as it had gratified his vanity, parting with it, in l(i23, to his 
 nephew Henry de Levi, Duke of Ventadour, in the same ig- 
 noble manner in whicli he had acquired it. From the surname 
 of this nobleman, it will be remarked, comes the name of Point 
 Levi. It is, I believe, the only memento of his administration 
 that can now be traced in Canada. 
 
 In the next year (I (i24) the powerful league of the Iroquois 
 made a general attack upon the French settlements, in the 
 hope of exterminating the obnoxious intruders; but they were 
 repulsed with great slaughter. 
 
 ' The Duke de Venta.lour was a devotee of the fashion of the 
 times, (Charles V. had but a little before strove, in vain, to 
 shroud his royal temples in the cowl of a monk, and to bury 
 imperial solicitudes in the oblivion of a cloister.) He only 
 wished for the viceroyalty of Canada, as a means of facilitat- 
 ing his views for the conversion of the savages; for whicli 
 purpose he engaged the Jesuits, that sect of the Catholic 
 Church which was, at its first institution, remarkable for 
 application, zeal, and talent; so many of whose members, ap- 
 parently denying the honours, the interests, and the pleasures 
 of this life, were afterwards selected by the sovereigns of Eu- 
 rope as their prime-ministers, or bosom counsellors. 
 
 In 1G25 (I mark the epoch with exactness, because I con- 
 sider it as a date of the first importance in the history of 
 Canada) the Duke sent over three fathers and two brethren 
 of that distinguished order.* 
 
 ■'•''-*-■■-- 
 
 * When the possessions of the Jesuits fell to the British Crown, a few 
 years since, on the demise of (he last incumbent, (for the Jesuits in Canada 
 were protected from the general proscription which awaited tliem in Europe) 
 they were valued at an income often thousand p':^^ ind3 steilisf a-year. The 
 
 I'i 
 
pnr- 
 in-la«', 
 I who 
 
 ice- 
 ioii of 
 
 Hhlor}} of Canada, 85 
 
 Diirhigf all tlils timr, riz. from IGO.S fo the period of the nr- 
 rival of the Jesuits, Cliaiii|)lain appears to have rart'ly 
 remained ahove one, two, or at most tiiree, years at a time in 
 Ameriea, although the atl'airs of the colony always went ill in 
 his ahsenee. 
 
 The next year, however, (1(120) three more Jesuits arrived 
 from Franer, with a number of industrious meclianics; an<l 
 now, says (Jiiarlevoix, " Quehee hejifaii to asminie the ap- 
 " pearanee of a town ; for till iIkmi it had hecMi hut a fortified 
 " (radino-house, and it was not considered at home in any 
 « other lii»!it." 
 
 In 1(527, another form was g-iven to the pfovernment of New 
 Franee, l)v ( 'ardiniil Kirlielieu ; (he Duke de ^^•l>!adour "avc 
 up his vieeroyalty, and the affairs of Canada were afterward 
 nianaoed hy a company of merchants, with the cardinal at 
 their head, until ihe next wars hetM'een France and l']nj>land, 
 and the chishino- interests of their respective colonics rendered 
 a military commander indispensable. 
 
 The first missionaries in Canada appear to have been mon 
 of eminent piety and zeal ; whose labours were wonderfully 
 blessed amontj- tlie Hurois ; thouiih their well-meant exhortn- 
 tions were rejected by inimical tribes; and many of the zeahms 
 fathers, in time of war, suffered martyrdom lor the profcissiow 
 of their faith.* 
 
 The superannuated survivors of this early period of simpli- 
 city and devotion (it was considered as the goldcii age of t'a- 
 nada) have always been venerated as the patriarchs of New 
 France. Some of them were vet alive, though bendinff be- 
 neath the weight of years an«l services, when Charlevoix made 
 his first visit to the new world ; and their memory is still pre- 
 served in Canada with apostolic veneration. 
 
 In the year 1629, under the pretence afibrded by the siege 
 of Rochelle, an English fleet, said to be conducted by a 
 French Protestant, who was inimical to the colony, attacked 
 and easily made themselves masters of Quebec, at a time 
 when the infant settlement had reduced itself, by its own mis- 
 nanagement and the failure or neglect of its harvest, to a state 
 so nearly approaching starvation, that they could scarcely re- 
 
 whole was approprintcd l>y the l>riti.sli nation, witlj its usual munificence, to 
 the establishment of public schools. 
 
 * Among other atlcctiiis iiisfanees of conversion which then occurred 
 among the sava<:fcs, so culled, an «)Id chieltain is mentioned by Charlevoix, 
 of a hundred years of age, who had been baptized by the Jesuits but a little 
 before his dea^h. He said, m his last illness, with great tenderness and 
 self-abasement, " Seigneur ! Jai commoner bicn tard a vous aimer !" Lord ! 
 I have begun to love thee very late. 
 
^. 
 
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 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
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 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 
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 Hiatory of Canada. 
 
 u 
 
 fraiii from openiijo' their gates to the enemy, as their deliverer 
 from the still greater evil with vi^hich tiiey had been threat- 
 ened. The transient conquest was, however, restored by ami- 
 cable compromise, between the two sovereigns, at the treaty of 
 St. Ciermains, in 1032.* 
 
 In the year 1()35 died Samuel de Ciiamplain, who has 
 justly been denominated the father of New France. This 
 circumstance casta damp upon (he joy occasioned by the res- 
 toration of the colony to its original governors, that was heigh- 
 tened, a year or two after tiiat event, by a general sickness 
 among- the Hurons, which had well nigh swept away the In- 
 dians of Canada by a bloody Hux. The French, it seems, 
 were seiz.ed by the same disorder; but to them it was not 
 fatal; whether owing- to the difference of their constitutions, 
 or the different manner of treating- the complaint. 
 
 The court had early forbidden the E*rotestants to go to New 
 France, and it does not appi.'ar that any of that long- perse- 
 cuted people ever established themselves j)ermanently on the 
 banks of the Sf. Lawrence ; but upon the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantz, toward the close of this century, a considerable 
 body of those JHunble and devout professors of the Christian 
 faith, who might say with St. Paul, " After the way which 
 " they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers;" took 
 refuge in the then province of New York, where their poste- 
 rity have become numerous and respectable. 
 
 In 1()42 the Hollanders of Manhattan are mentioned as fur- 
 nishing- the Iroquois with fire-arms and spirituous liquors, and 
 from this period, which appears to have terminated the g'oldeii 
 age of Canada, we read of nothing for twenty years but wars 
 
 1' 
 
 ■■I 
 
 * Tlicie is soinclliing so (>x<|uisitoly artless in Charliivoix's account of the 
 (lilTcrciit niainicr in whicii tlie Eii<;lisli settlors treated tiic Indians, from that 
 Ity which the J'rench had gained the alTections of tlieir sava<;e ueighhours, 
 that I rannot forlicartranscrihing it for tlic ainnsenient of the reader — " Tlie 
 " Engiisli, during the little time in which they had been masters of the 
 " eonnfry, had not known how to acquire the good-will of the savages. The 
 " llurons never apjjearcd at (^)!iebec ;),s long as the English remained there. 
 *' The other tribes that resided nearer to the capital, many of whom, on ac- 
 " count of particular causes of dissatisfaction, had openly declared against 
 " us, on the api)roacli of the English squadron showed themselves afterward 
 " very rarely. All were disconcerted, when, upon taking the same liberties 
 " witli the new comers, which they had been accustomed to do with the 
 " ]*'rench, they per(;eived that such manners gave olfence. 
 
 " Jt was still worse some time aft(!rward, when they saw themselves 
 " driven out of those houses with blows, w here, till then, they had entered 
 " as freely as into their own cabins. They accordingly kept at a distance 
 " from the English habitations ; and nothing afterward more strongly at- 
 " tached them to our interests than this dillcrence of manners and disposi- 
 " tion between the two nations." 
 
History oj' Canada. 
 
 87 
 
 This 
 
 without and conspiracies within ; and the whole history of New 
 France is but a tissue of attacks and reprisals, of missions re- 
 ceived or rejected, of dissentions between the civil and eccle- 
 siastical authorities. 
 
 To these calamities were added those of famine and pesti- 
 lence, under the effects of which we can scarcely wonder, con- 
 sidering' the temper (»f the times, that " voices were heard 
 upon earth, and portents appeared in the air. There were 
 eclipses of the sun, and halos round the moon. Straufve lights 
 were seen to traverse the country in the day ; and globes of 
 fire gleamed among- the shades of night." Witches, however, 
 do not appear to have ever haunted Canada, though they were 
 not unheard of, at this period, in France. 
 
 All these things were considered as manifest intimations of 
 the wrath of God ; and such was, indeed, the situation of the 
 unhappy colonists about the year l(>(>(), that they did not dare 
 to leave the forts without an escort ; and during' some time the 
 sisters of the two nunneries, in the outskirts of Quebec, used 
 to retire into the city every night for safety. The harvest 
 could not be gathered in, and serious thoughts were enter- 
 tained of abandoning' the settlement and returning* to France. 
 .Seven hundred Iroquois kept Quebec, all summer, in a state 
 of siege. The next year, however, these people (it seems 
 they Avere not inveterate enemies) sent a flag down the great 
 river with ])roposals of peace, demanding, as the only condi- 
 tion, the residence of a missionary among" them. The propo- 
 sition was gladly embraced by the humbled colonists; and 
 they now set themselves to repair the losses which they had 
 sustained, by neglecting to cultivate the arts of peace rather 
 than those of war. 
 
 In the year 16()3 there were several shocks of an earthquake, 
 which are said to have been felt throughout New Eng'land 
 and New Holland, The earthquake would appear to have been 
 real ; though its effects are evidently exaggerated by the cre- 
 dulous historian, since, though the houses were shaken from 
 side to side, none of them fell down ; and in the yawning 
 chasms which were seen to open in the bosom of the earth, 
 no person appears to have perished. 
 
 But all these supposed indications of the wrath of that mer- 
 ciful Father, and ail-gracious Benefactor, who causcth his sun 
 to shine upon the righteous and the wicked, and sendeth rain 
 alike upon the just and upon the unjust, were now at an end ; a 
 new epoch commenced under brighter auspices ; and, in 1663, 
 the king (Lewis XIV.) took the government into his own 
 hands. His majesty sent out the Marquis de Tracy as vice- 
 roy of New France ; the old trading company, before men- 
 

 88 
 
 Hitloiy of Canada. 
 
 tioned, relinquishing the privileges, which had turned to ko 
 little account in their hanuH, to a new association, called (lie 
 West-India Company, which was modelled by the great 
 Colbert. 
 
 It was in the year 1671, that the first discovery was made 
 by rambling' voyagers, of the existence of that great river in 
 the west, M-hich was destined for the future outlet of an indus- 
 trious (perhaps immense) population, by the Gnlph of Mexico. 
 It now only served to confirm the ambitious views of France 
 for the subjection of North America, 
 
 In 1672 arrived the Count de Frontenac, as governor- 
 general ; M'ho built Fort Cataraqui, now Kingston, at the 
 entrance of Lake Ontario, But the haughty manners of this 
 nobleman gave universal umbrage in America, and he was re- 
 called by his royal master in 1682. He returned again, how- 
 ever, in 1681), with renewed powers, the French king then 
 entertaining the project of possessing himself of the more fer- 
 tile province of New York; a design which appears to have 
 been prevented, at (Ise fime, by an irruption of the Iroquois; 
 and afterwards prudently abandoned. 
 
 In the summer of 1690, before the count's arrival, the Five 
 Nations had attacked Montreal. They landed at I^a Chine, 
 twelve hundred strong, and sacked all the plantations on the 
 island. The French at the same time had been obliged fo 
 abandon Cataraqui; and (he neighbouring Indians were with 
 difficulty prevented from joining the Iroquois, by the persona! 
 influence of the Sieur Perot, then governoi- of Montreal, to 
 whom they were strongly attached. New France is said \o 
 have been on this occasion reduced almost as low as it had 
 been in 1663, by a concurrence of similar circumstnnces. 
 
 In the year 1690 a joint invasion of Canada was concerted 
 between New England, that Mas to attack Quebec by sea, 
 and New York, that was to invest 3Ionlreal by land. Major 
 Peter Schuyler commanded the party sent from New York, 
 having been joined at Albany by a body of Indian!-, some of 
 whom were now always enlisted in every quarrel between their 
 European neighbours. He penetrated as far as the Prairie de 
 la Madeleine, where he was repulsed by the Count de Fron- 
 tenac, who was there posted, wilh a large body of French and 
 Indians. The fleet destined to attack Quebec, consisting of 
 thirty sail, fitted out in the ports of l^iassachusetts, was com- 
 manded by Sir William Phips. Arriving before the town on 
 the .5th of October, Sir Willinm summoned the Count de 
 Frontenac, who had by this time returned from 3fontreal, to 
 surrender the place. In the chronicles of the times, the pom- 
 pous message is said to have received an insolent answer. 
 
 
History of' Canada. 
 
 80 
 
 eil (o Ko 
 lUed the 
 »e great 
 
 Hs mndo 
 river in 
 n inrfiis- 
 Mexico. 
 France 
 
 ovenior- 
 , at the 
 s of this 
 } was re- 
 in, ]iow- 
 in^ then 
 lore fer- 
 to have 
 rofjuois; 
 
 the Five 
 a Chine, 
 s on the 
 Ijoed (o 
 ere witli 
 f)er.soMal 
 treal, to 
 said to 
 s it had 
 cs, 
 
 >ncerted 
 by sea, 
 Major 
 ►V York, 
 some of 
 en their 
 airie de 
 e Fren- 
 ch and 
 sting of 
 as com- 
 ovvn on 
 lunt de 
 real, to 
 e pom- 
 ui-swer. 
 
 Upon this he landed a few miles below, thinking to take the 
 town by storm; but he was so warmly received by the French 
 commander, that he was fain to re-embark in the night, leav- 
 ing behind him all his baggage and artillery. The fleet now 
 cannonaded the town, but with little effect ; and, being driven 
 from their moorings by stress of weather, Sir William retired 
 in disorder, on the 12th of October, under the necessity of 
 avoiding the approach of winter. Several of the ships of this 
 unfortunate squadron were blown off to the West-Indies, as 
 they endeavoured to make the coast of New England ; and some 
 of them were wrecked in the Bay of St. Lawrence, or never 
 more heard of. Sir William himself did not arrive at Boston, 
 with the shattered remainder, until the 19th of November. 
 
 Quebec had been, for the first tiiop, regularly fortified in 
 the summer of 1G90, and was thus enabled to resist a formid- 
 able attack, which it would have been utterly unable to with* 
 stand, had it taken place but a few months before. 
 
 Tile Englisn and Dutch settlers, upon the more favourable 
 coasts and rivers to the south, had now become sufficiently 
 populous and powerful to stimulate the Iroquois or Five Na- 
 tions to commence hostilities upon the French, during the 
 frequent wars which have been always taking place between 
 those two powerful and warlike nations. 
 
 The early emigrations were principally from the northern 
 coasts of France, which would seem to be one of the reasons 
 why no Protestants engaged in this colonial adventure, the 
 great body of the Protestants of France being situated on the 
 coasts of the Mediterranean ; whilst the migrations from Eng- 
 land were almost entirely confined to dissenters from their 
 national establishment; a circumstance which has probably 
 had no small share in producing the various fortunes of the 
 respective colonies. 
 
 The society of Jesuits had been among the first to locate 
 and improve the Island of Montreal, which they founded 
 agreeable to traditional record, by the express command of 
 Lewis XIV. as far up the great river as it was possible for 
 ships to sail. They were followed in 1657 by the Abbe Que- 
 tus, and the brotherhood of St. Sulpice. 
 
 From this time till the conquest of Canada by the English, 
 which occurred in the year 1759, there continued to take place^ 
 at distant intervals, repeated incursions on both sides, between 
 the French and English provinces, as likewise that of the 
 Dutch, with various degrees of success, or rather of disap- 
 pointment and disaster; for the French never gained any 
 ground upon the neighbouring frontier, and the hardy sons of 
 
 VoYAGB* and Travels, JVo. 2. Vol, III. N 
 
iV 
 
 i)0 Uialory oj' Canada. 
 
 Now England had mote than once invaded Canada to as titCle 
 pnrpose, or rather worse than none ; particularly in the year 
 1711, when Admiral Walker was cast away in the Bay of St. 
 Lawrence, with a fleet of ships intended to co-operate in ano- 
 ther attack upon Quebec ; before (General Abcrcrondjie, at the 
 head of fifteen thousand men, was repulsed (in 175H) by the 
 French and Indians at Ticondero<>;a, a forniidal)le out-post 
 at the conlluence of Lake (ieorn-e and Lake Champlain — . 
 now far within the ackno>v!e(lged boundary of the United 
 States. 
 
 It was before this savage entrenchment, the remains of 
 which may still be traced by those who sail upon those inland 
 waters, that the first LonI Howe lost his life. The same no- 
 bleman, whose two sons afterwards acted so conspicuous, yet 
 so negative a part, the one as admiral, the other as comman- 
 der-in-chief, in the strug's^le that soon afterward took place 
 between the British colonies and the mother-country, for con- 
 tinental indei)Qndence. 
 
 In the following year, General Wolfe succeeded in wresting* 
 Quebec out of the hands of the Marquis de Montcalm, who 
 fell, together with the successful invader, in the same bloody 
 field. The marquis is sai<l to have replied, with characteristic 
 magnanimity, when he was told that he had but a few hours 
 to live — " So much the better ! — 1 shall not live to see the 
 surrender of Quebec." 
 
 During- the revolutionary contest, in the year 1775, the 
 American General Montgomery fell, in like manner, during* a 
 fruitless attack upon Quebec. And the British General Bur- 
 goyne, in 1777, having descended Lake Charnplain, and dissi- 
 pated his mighty force among- the trackless woods which then 
 surrounded it on all sides, was fain, at Saratoga, to strike the 
 royal standard to that very undisciplined multitude whom his 
 fulminating proclamation from Illinois, for we are not the 
 only people that are chargeable with similar rhodomontades^ 
 had begun with denominating rebels and traitors. 
 
 Five-and-thirty years after this event, in the year 1812, dur- 
 ing- another struggle between the same parties, in support of 
 national pretensions, the British Commodore Downie, with 
 five or six sloops of war, was completely discomfitted by 
 31'Donough, the American commander, upon the same Lake 
 Champlain ; and the trophies of his victory, their dismantled 
 hulks, still exhibit their black and battered sides among the 
 dark firs and frowning precipices of Wood Creek. 
 
 Sir George Provost, who bad penetrated to Plattsburgh, at 
 the head of fifteen thousand men, precipitately retreating to 
 
 ii < 
 
 [''i 
 
s litCfe 
 e year 
 of St. 
 Ill alio- 
 , nt the 
 by tlie 
 ut-po»t 
 )Iain — . 
 United 
 
 aiiis of 
 inlniul 
 me no- 
 us, yet 
 •minan- 
 c place 
 or con- 
 resting- 
 n, wlio 
 bloody 
 :'teristic 
 V hours 
 see the 
 
 7D, 
 
 th( 
 
 uring- a 
 al Bur- 
 d dissi- 
 ch then 
 ike the 
 loiii hia 
 not the 
 nitadesj 
 
 2, dur- 
 iport of 
 ie, with 
 tted by 
 le Lake 
 nan tied 
 ong the 
 
 Lirgh, at 
 [iting to 
 
 History of Canada. f)l 
 
 St. John's, upon tliis event taking* place before hiscyrs, wllh- 
 ont his being able to do any thing- to prevent the niiox peeled 
 catastrophe.* 
 
 Such are the melancholy details of national prowess: alas! 
 that it should have been hitherto in vain for moralists, philoso- 
 phers, and poets, under the iinino<liatc sanction of the PiuncI': 
 ofPi:ace, the Captain of our Salvation, to deprecate the un- 
 necessary effusion of blood in national quarrels, — 
 
 All ! what more shews the vanity of life, 
 
 Than to boliold the Nations all on tire, 
 
 In cruet broils enj^a-^ed, and deadly strife ; 
 
 Most Christian Kinp;s intlamed by black desire, 
 
 AVith honourable rullians in their hire, 
 
 Cause war to raj^e, and blood around to pour ; 
 
 Of this sad work, when each begins to tire, 
 
 'J'hey set them down just where tliey were befon; ; 
 
 Till, for n(!W scenes of woe, pence shall their force restore. 
 
 TIIK ANCIENT NOHLESSli. 
 
 Of the ancient Noblesse of Canada, the Counts of Lono-ucil 
 and St. Laurence have long been extinct; and the small re- 
 mainder being now deprived of the advant.iges of privilege 
 and prepossession ; and having* no longer any other cliaiice 
 for the appointments of power and profit, but what they must 
 •derive, in common with their fellow-subjects, from p£ rsoual 
 merit, are rapidly sinking into decay or insignificance. Kvoiits 
 which they are said to have accelerated by their ow n inatten- 
 tion to qualify themselves for public confidence, and their 
 neglecting to preserve their families from the supposed conta- 
 mination of plebeian intermixture. 
 
 Yet there still remain in 3rontreal and at Boucherville, in 
 dignified retirement, the uoble families of Lavigniere, Dc 
 Beau Jeu, Dechambault, De la Naudiere, and others. And 
 at Quebec are yet found the ancient Chevaliers de Lery. 
 
 The Baronies of Port Neuf and of Longueil preserve upon 
 parchment the obsolete titles of their ancient lords ; but those 
 dignities no longer descend with the estates; and they may 
 be considered as virtually extinct, since the honours which 
 they claim iiave not been derived from the British Crown. 
 
 ♦ I say nothiu}? of the tur^i"! manifestoes and retrograde mau(«;uvres of 
 General 1 lull, oi"Oencrdl Sniythe, upon Canadian ground ; and many other 
 futile attempts on Imth sides to penetrate into each others borders— in pun; 
 bravado— or on marauding ex|)editions, without end or aim— since they all 
 terminated, as usual in such eases, in the disgrace or discomliture (»f th«' in- 
 vader; and served no other |)urpose than to add another lesson to the many 
 already forgotten by disappointed ambition, upon the in<!vilable mischances 
 of oilcnsive war. 
 
 N2 
 
 I 'I 
 
99 History of Canada, 
 
 I much doubt the coi'rcctnes8 of my orthography in these 
 foreign deuominations, but I have now no means of correctin<^ 
 it; having collected most of this local information on-boaru 
 the steam-boat, in Lake Cliamplain, not from printed docu- 
 ments, to whicii I might again recur, but from two Canadian 
 gentlemen, one of them a father, and the other a bachelor- 
 brother, oif' reserved habits, but of gentle manners, and affec- 
 tions mild. They reminded me of Sterne's " my Father and 
 Uncle Toby," calculating the possibilities of his eldest bro- 
 ther Bobby s projected tour of Europe. For these two good 
 souls were going all the way to Philadelphia, to accompany 
 the hope of the family (a well-grown youth, whom American 
 parents would have considered fully competent to the task of 
 taking care of himself) on his way to take shipping for France, 
 to perfect himself in the celebrated schools of Paris, for the 
 
 firactice of physic ; which, it seems, is a profession less wil- 
 ingly embraced in Canada, by youths of family or spirit, than 
 that of the law — Creoles havmg no chance for preferment in 
 the army. 
 
 They had heard the well-merited fame of our penitentiary, 
 and were solicitous to inform themselves of its details, as there 
 is a probability that some, at least, of its beneficial provisions 
 may be adopted in the new places of correction and confine- 
 ment which are now erecting at Montreal. I told them what 
 I knew of the system, and recommended them to apply to the 
 benevolent managers of that institution, for the information 
 which I know they will most willingly impart. 
 
 Thus the benevolent (may I not say, with reverence, the 
 godlike) plan of correcting, with a view to reform rather than 
 punish, is generally extending itself from land to land. May 
 it one day pervade the world, and do away the barbarous 
 custom of inflicting sanguinary punishments, in the face of 
 day, with which the streets of the most polished capitals in 
 Europe now shock the feelings of the American traveller! 
 
 ; % 
 
 \S'\ 
 
 ON THE LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS, OR FIVE NATIONS. 
 
 The justly celebrated confederacy of Five Nations, which existed in the 
 heart of the New Continent, when the first migrators landed from Europe, 
 was a powerful league, which had existed for ages, like Ihat of the States of 
 Holland, or the ancient Republics of Greece, for the purpose of mutual de- 
 fence agaiust powerful neighbours ; but witiiout impairing the independent 
 jurisdiction pf any of its members. 
 
 It affords a stiiking parallel to that potent and wide-spread confederation, 
 which has since tnken place among the succeeding occupants of the samo 
 rich and well-watered territory, which is adapted, in an unexampled degree, 
 tM carry to tlisir utmost limits the active energies of civilized man. 
 
League of the Iroquois. 
 
 »3 
 
 1 llieae 
 recting- 
 n-board 
 i docu- 
 inndiaii 
 iclielor- 
 d affijc- 
 ber and 
 .'St bro- 
 70 good 
 [unpaiiy 
 mericaii 
 
 t.ask of 
 FVance, 
 
 for the 
 ess wil- 
 *it, than 
 nent in 
 
 sntiary, 
 as there 
 ovisions 
 confine- 
 m what 
 y to the 
 rmation 
 
 ice, the 
 er than 
 May 
 rbarous 
 face of 
 itals in 
 tier! 
 
 lTIONS. 
 
 ted in tlic 
 I Europe, 
 States of 
 iitiial dc- 
 cpendent 
 
 idcratioHj 
 the saino 
 id degree, 
 
 This abori)^inal a«.sociation, which is entitled to more rcspcctt'ul notice 
 than has ever yet been aUottcd to it in American history; but to wliiili 
 amph;, thoun^h tardy, Jnsliee will be done by our future poets and historiatis, 
 (niay it not be when ioo late to trace the features of their character with the 
 precision of which (he interesting sul)je«;t is yet susceptible !) then consisted 
 of tijo Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onouilagoes, the I'ayugas, and the 
 Sennckaas. 
 
 Of these, the Mohawks, then situated on the fertile banks of the river 
 which still bears their name, were considered as the chief nation, or tribe ; 
 l>ut the great council of the confederacy assembled annually at Onondaga (I 
 have mys«lf seen the great wigwam, sixty or eighty feet in length, in 
 which was kindled the eouncil-fire, before the dereliction of National Sove- 
 reignty to the Congress of the United States had dissolved the aboriginal 
 union) on account of tlic central situation of that place, which rendered it 
 convenient for the assembling of the confederatcil tribes. 
 
 Of this powerful league, which is supposed to have once extended the 
 terror of its arms from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Kay, the Sennekaas 
 are the only tribe that is now numerous enough to be of any political import- 
 ance. They are yet to be found in large bodies upon the eastern banks of 
 Lake Erie ; where the curious traveller may still witness, at their occasional 
 rouneils, all the striking pcruliaritics of the Indian character. 
 
 An old war-chief, called the Farmer's IJrolher, whose person and features 
 are stamped with all the hardihood of anticpiily, is yet living; and the chief 
 speaker, vulgarly called Red Jacket, but in his own tongue, with ap|)ro- 
 priate qualilication, Tsekuyeaalhaw, " the num that keeps you awake," may 
 .still be heard, occasionally, delivering orations that Cicero or Demosthenes 
 woidd have listened to with delight. I liavt^ myself heard this native orator 
 speak for hours together, at one of the last jiublie treaties that was held with 
 this tribe. His discourse was then taken in short-hand. It was upon local 
 policy, and therefore is now forgotten, though it went through the newspa- 
 pers of the day ; but some of his speeches, in rejjly to the solicitations of dil- 
 ferent missionaries to the Scnnekaa tribe, to change the religion of their 
 fathers for the Christian creed, have been often reprinted in our periodical 
 publications, and can only be read with astonislun(!nt. Tliey elevate tli(! 
 untutored Indian far above Fopc's elegant apology for that sujiposed igno- 
 rance and imbecility with which selt-complacent Europeans have been 
 pleased to designate the wild man of Ame'-or>. 
 
 When Father Charlevoix, a learned Jesu ;, :irst assisted, as the French say, 
 at an Indian Council (for the gift of ehiquence was not confined to the orators 
 of the Five Nations) ho could not believe that the Jesuit, who acted as inter- 
 preter, was not imposing upon the audience the eflusions of his own brilliant 
 imagination. 
 
 Yet Charlevoix had been accustomed to the orations of Masillon and 
 Bourdaloi'.R ; when those eminent orators displayed all the powers of pulpit 
 ckxpience. t the funersls of princes, upon the fertile subject of the vanity 
 of Ufc; but ho confess'', that he had never heard any thing so interesting as 
 the extempore discourses of an Indian chief. 
 
 Even those vrlio have had the enviable privilege oflistcuing, in the IJritish 
 House of Commons, to 
 
 The popular liKtangue, tlie tart rpply, 
 The logic, aod the wisdom, and tlie wit, 
 
 Ihat flowed spontaneous from Burke, and Sheridan, and Fox, and Pitt, during 
 the most splendid period of British oratory, have freely acknowledged, llial 
 tliey never heard any thing more impressive than an Indian speech, accom- 
 panicd, as it usually is, with all the graces of unconstrained delivery. 
 
^ I) 
 
 r4 ^ 
 
 [ OA ] 
 A I)i:S< UII»TI()N OF Tin: nnAVKH, IN CANADA. 
 
 That siij;;»(i«nis aii<l i)ris('voriii<; aiiiiiial, tlic liravn, is tlir pmitcr niiMnn 
 f)!' K'liiililicaii Amrrira, and wa.s so atloptod l»v I'ranklin, in his •lrsi;;iis \\>i 
 ihv rtHilinintnl (tills. He is a paltcrn ot'corijiiViil liddity and paicrnal (-:ii<-. 
 Lahoiious, (liril'ty, fruj^al, >vat(*litMl, and in^onions. Jlc snitniils lo ^;(iv< rn- 
 incnl in tlic rrpnldicaii forni lor 1li(> hcnclils of political association; Itnl is 
 luvci known, in (lie most jtowciinl connnnnitu .';, to make di'i>H(latiou.s 
 iijHui his weaker n(M<;-hl>onrs. 
 
 (.)ii IIk; (ir.st arri\al (»f l'4iiropeans in Canaila, i\\v Ix'aver Mas found of tlio 
 M/.e of lour feet in leiifjlli, and llie Meiglil of lifty or si.\t>^ pounds; lint all 
 animals, liiiut<>d for llieir furs, or skins, have hecomo much less, or rather 
 have heen prevented (rom heeominj; so lar^c, as they vv<'re lufort- the ap- 
 l»roach <tf civilized man. lie is now rarely met with of a fj;reat«r lenj;th 
 than three feet, or a greater vveij^ht than twenty-live to thirty p(tiinds. 
 
 'J'lie hack of this remarkahle animal rises like an are. His teeth are l(in<>-, 
 broad, stronj;, and sharp. Four of these, two above and two below, are 
 called incisors. Thesj! teeth jiroject one or two inches, and are curved like 
 a j;(»u}?e. The toes of his fore-leet tire separalecl, as if dcsij;ned to answer 
 tlie purpose of lin'!:ers. His liind-feet are fitted with wi-bs, adapttd to the 
 purpose of swinmiin^. IJis tail is a 'oot Ion;;, an inch thick, and tive or six 
 inches broad; it aecordin{?ly serves the; purpose of a tiowcl in plasterinj; his 
 4Jam, 
 
 AVherever a nund)cr of these animals come t(i«;ether, they immediately 
 combine, in society, to perfumi tlu; connnon business of constrnctina: th<'iV 
 habitalit)ns; apparently actii;<; under the most intelligent dcsi^;ri. Thon^^h 
 thcri! is no appearance^ indii-aiinj; the atillitnity of a chief or leader, jet no 
 contention or <lisa;;reement, is ever observed amon;; them. 
 
 When a sullieitMit nundierof them is collected to form a town, tlic public 
 biisin(*ss is (irst attended to; and, as tlicy :ir(> am])hibious animals, provision 
 is to be made for spending their time, occasionally, both in and out of tlu; 
 water. In ccmibrmity to this law of their nature, they seek a situation which 
 is adapted to both these purposes. 
 
 With this view, a lake or pond, sometimes a runnin«; stream, is pitched 
 upon. ]f it l)e a lake or pond, the water in it is always deep enough to 
 admit of their swimming; under the ice. If it be a stream, it is always su(th 
 a stream as will form a pond that shall be every way convenient for tlniir 
 purpose ; and such is their forecast, that they never fix upon a situai )n that 
 will not eventually answer llieir views. 
 
 'i'heir next business is to construct a dam. This is always placed in the 
 most convenient part of the stream ; the form of it is cither strai<!;ht, rounding^, 
 or aii<;ular, as the peculiarities of the situati(m re<|uirc ; and no human in<;'e- 
 nuity could improve their labours in these respects. 
 
 The materials they use, arc wood und earth. They choose a tree on the 
 river-side vvhich vvilf readily fall across the stream ; and some of them apply 
 themselves with diligence to cut it through with their teeth. Others cut down 
 smaller trees, which they divide into equal and convenient lengths. Some 
 drag these pieces to the brink of the river, and others swim with them to the 
 spot where the dam is tbrming. 
 
 As many as can find room are engagecl in sinking one end of these stakes ; 
 and as many more in raising, futing, and securing, the other ends of them. 
 Others are employed at the siime tinit; in carrying on the plastering part of 
 the work. I'hc earth is brought in their mouths,|formcd into a kind of moitar 
 with their feet and tails ; and ibis is spread over th(; intervals between the 
 stakes, saplings and twigs being occasionally interwoven with the mud and 
 slime. 
 
 Where two or three hundred beavers are imitcd, these dams are from six 
 to twelve feet thick at the bottom ; at the lop, not more than two or three. 
 
Dcsviiplioii ttj' lite Beacer. 
 
 1>5 
 
 r riiil>l<*in 
 'si<;'iis lui 
 iiiiil cair. 
 
 II ; lull is 
 rcdatioiis 
 
 lul (if llio 
 'S ; liiit all 
 
 »ir riithiT 
 1' (lie ap- 
 iT lrii};(li 
 s. 
 
 arc Inii;;-, 
 iluw, arc 
 lived lik(! 
 () answer 
 ted to tlic 
 ive (»r si\ 
 Icriii};- his 
 
 iiicdiafcly 
 
 tin;; llicir 
 
 'ri.oii-li 
 
 r, jol no 
 
 lie pnltlio 
 
 provision 
 
 lit of tin; 
 
 ion wliieli 
 
 pilelied 
 
 lousli <'> 
 
 a}'s siu^li 
 
 for llmir 
 
 i )ii thai 
 
 ■d in the 
 rounding:, 
 
 cc on the 
 
 em apply 
 
 euttlowii 
 
 Some 
 
 m to the 
 
 <e stakes ; 
 of them. 
 p; part of 
 r)t" inoilar 
 ween the 
 nud and 
 
 from six 
 or thu'c. 
 
 In that |iart of 'le diun which Is opposed to lli(< current, Iho stakes are placed 
 ohiiipieiy ; hut on that side where tlu; water is to fall over, they aro placed 
 ill a perpcMiliciilar dirrction. 
 
 These dams arc soniclinirN a hundred lect in leii<rtli, and always of the 
 <'\acl hci;;lit MJiicli will answer their purposes. 
 
 The pdiids thus tunned, somctiiiK's cover live or six hundred acres. 'I'lM\y 
 )(eiiciali> spread o\cr •grounds al)oiiiidin<; with tites and hushes of the softest 
 wood, maple, hircii, poplar, willttw, \c. and, to preserve the dams against 
 inundation, tiie Iteaver ai\ra}s leaves sluices near the middle, for tlie rc' 
 diitidaiil water to pass u|]'. 
 
 \\ hell the pniilic works are completed, the Ix'avers separate into small 
 eompani<-s, to hiiiid eahiiis or Iioiincs for themselves. These ar(^ hiiilt upon 
 piles, aloii^ the holders of the [lond. They are of an o\al eoiistruction, rv- 
 semltiiii;;' ahee-hive ; and tJK^y vary from four to ten feci in diameter, ac- 
 coitliii^ to the niimher of I'amilics they are to aecommodate. 
 
 Tiicse dwellings are never less tliuii two stories liii-li, ;c<'in'ii»lly three ; 
 and soinetimes they contain four apartments. The walls of these are from 
 two to Miiee feet thick, formed of the same materials with the dnms. On 
 the inside they are made smooth, hut left rou<;li w ithoiit, heiii;^ rendered im- 
 penetrahle to rain. The lower story is ahout two feet hi<;li, the second i.s 
 formed hy a lloor of sticks covered with mud, and the up|ier apartment ter- 
 minates with an arched ro(»f. 'l'lirou>;-|i each Moor there is a i>assu^'e, and 
 tlic uppermost lloor is always ahove tin- level of the water. 
 
 I'.a(;li of these huts has two doors, one on the land-sitlo, to admit of tiieir 
 o-oiiii;- out and s(M-kiii<j: pro\ision that way; another under the water and 
 helow where it free/es, to preserve their c(jminiini(^ation with the pond. 
 
 No association of people can possihiy appear monUiappy, or ho hetter 
 regulated, than the trilx; of heavers. 'I'he male and female always pair. 
 In S?<'ptemher they lay up their winter's stock, which consists of hark, and 
 the tender twi<?s of trees. 'J'hen commences the season of love and repose; 
 and duriii";- the winter they remain within, every one enjoyinj? the fruits of 
 his ow n lahoiir, without pilfering from any other. 
 
 'J\)wards sprint^ (l^. females hriii^ forth their youn<c, tu the numher of 
 jllireo or four. Soon after, the male retires to gather (irs and vej^etahles, as 
 th(; spring opens ; hut tin; dam remains at home, to imrse and rear up their 
 ,>oiing. The mah> occasionally returns home, but not to tarry, until the 
 end of the y<'ar; yet, if any injury should happen to their works, tlie wholo 
 scK'icty are soon collected, hy some unknown means, and they join all their 
 forces to repair the injury which has Ix en sustained. 
 
 Whenever an enemy approaches their village, the heaver who first per- 
 ceives the unwelcome stranger, strikes on the water with iiis tail, to givo 
 notice of the approaching »huigcr; and the whole careful trilte instantly 
 pliingo into the water. 
 
 'I'he fur of this wonderful animal, which is so much prized in commerce, 
 is an interior coat, tln'R; being a <louble growth of it over all |>arts of the 
 body ; tlio outer and longer being of an inferior (piality, while the inner, 
 being thus preserved from air and injury, is thick, tine, and as soft as silk. 
 The sacks which contain the precious oil, used in medicine under the name 
 of castoreuni, lie concealed hehiiul the kidneys. 
 
 They vary very niiich in colour. The most esteemed shade is black, and 
 they have been found perfectly white; but the general colour of the species 
 is a chesnnt-brown. 
 
 In a state of nature, niidistiirbed Ijy barharons and selfish man, this |)rovi- 
 dent animal lives fifteen or twenty years, and prepares the way lor several 
 generations, adapting his dwellings to the increase of his family. 
 
 END OF SANSOM'S TRAVELS. 
 
 ,1 
 
TOUR 
 
 tN 
 
 VI R a INI A , 7' K N .V E S S R E, 
 
 &r. &c. &c. 
 
 BY THE REV. ELIAS COKNEIJUS. 
 
 TTAA'ING recently returned from a lour of considerable 
 -*"*• extent in the United States, I avail myself, with plea- 
 sure, of the first leisure moment to communicate some facts 
 relative to the Mineralogy and Geolog-y of that part of the 
 country through which 1 have passed. 
 
 INTRODUCTOllY REMARKS. 
 
 Before doing this, permit me to premise, that, in consequence 
 of my limited acquaintance with these branches of Matural 
 Science, and the still more limited time, which other and im- 
 
 f»ortant concerns allowed me to devote to the subject, I can do 
 ittle more than give a <2:eneral description. What my eye 
 could catch, as I travelled from one country and wilderness to 
 another, preserving occasionally a few of the most interesting 
 specimens, was all I could do. The narrative I am about to 
 give, is drawn principally from the notes which were taken on 
 the journey, and will be confined to a simple statement of'ftuch 
 facts as were either observed by myself, or derived from good 
 authority. Their application to preconceived theories I leave 
 to those who have more leisure and disposition for speculation 
 than myself. 
 
 A description of a ieyf natural and artificial curiosities which 
 came under particular notice, will not, I trust, be thought au 
 improper digression. The whole is committed to your dispo- 
 sal ; and, if it shall add but one mite to the treasury of Ameri- 
 can Natural History, I shall be gratified, and rejoice to have 
 made even this small remuneration for your unwearied efforts, 
 to impart to one, formerly your pupil, a love for Natural Science* 
 
 The Author*s Route* 
 
 My route was in a line nearly direct from Boston to New 
 Orleans ; passing through the principal cities to Washington ; 
 
 ■^ 
 
itlerahle 
 itii plea- 
 >me facts 
 rt of tbe 
 
 jequence 
 Matural 
 and iin- 
 I can do 
 : my eye 
 ;rnes8 to 
 teresting 
 about to 
 taken on 
 t of such 
 oni good 
 I I leave 
 ;cuIation 
 
 ?s which 
 »ught au 
 r dispo- 
 ■ Ameri- 
 to have 
 \ efforts, 
 Science* 
 
 to New 
 lington ; 
 
 fieoloijii of Virfinia. D7 
 
 thence, diagonally, through Virginia, East Tcnncss(H», ami tlit: 
 north-wcHtern angle of (Georgia; in a western course tliroiij;li 
 the north division of the territory of Alabama, to the norlli- 
 eastern boundary of the State of Mississippi ; an<l the luii in a 
 line nearly south-west to Natchez. From this lust place I 
 <lescended the river Mississippi to New Orleans. On my re- 
 turn, I frequently varied from this course, and had iniTcasod 
 opportunities for surveying the country. In both instances I 
 passed through the countries belonging to the ( 'herokee, 
 CJhickesaw, and Choctaw tribes of Indians, and travelled ainong 
 them, in all, about one thousand miles. 
 
 Gaoloyy of Virtjinia, 
 
 As others have described more minutely and accurately than 
 I can, the country north of Virginia, I shall begin with a few 
 remarks on the geological character of that State. It is iIhtc 
 that the traveller, in passing from the Atlantic to the interior, 
 crosses successively the most important foimations of the earth, 
 from the most recent alluvial to the oldest primitive. For a 
 considerable distance from the coast, the country is alluvial, ll 
 then assumes an older secondary formation — and sandstone 
 and puddingstone are frequent. This is the character of the 
 district of Columbiai andi indeed, of a great part of the valley 
 of the Potomac. 
 
 Sandstone of the Capitoly Sj-c. 
 
 In this valley, and adjacent to the river, is found the sand- 
 stone of which the president's house and the capitol are con- 
 structed. It is composed of fine silicious grains, is easily 
 wrought, and, from its colour, haa the appearance, at a small 
 distance, of white marble. 
 
 Beautiful Breccia, 
 
 It is also in the valley of this river, and not far from its fa- 
 mous passage through the Blue Ridge, that immense quarries 
 of beautiful Breccia have been opened. This rock was first 
 brought into use by Mr. Latrobe, for some years employed by 
 the government as principal architect. It is composed of peb- 
 bles, and fragments of silicious and calcareous stones, of almost 
 every size, from a grain to several inches in diameter, strongly 
 and perfectly cemented. Some are angular, others rounded. 
 Their colours are very various, and often bright. Red, white, 
 brown, grey, and green, are alternately conspicuous, with 
 every intermediate shade. Owing to the silicious stones which 
 are frequently imbedded through (he mass, it is wrought wi^h 
 much difficulty ; but, when finished, shews a fine polish, and is 
 unquestionably one of the most beautifuMy variegated marbles 
 
 Voyages anf/Tn AVKLs, :Vo. 2. Vol. Ill, O 
 
98 
 
 Tour through Virginia, ^c. 
 
 11.1 
 
 ' '■ 
 
 
 that ever ornamented any place. It would be difHrult to con- 
 ceive of any thing more grand than the hall of the Representa- 
 tives, in the capitol, supported as it is by twenty or thirty pil- 
 lars formed of tlie solid rock, and placed in an amphithcatrical 
 range; each pillar about three feet in diameter, and twenty in 
 height. Some idea of the labour which is employed in work- 
 ing the marble may be formed from the fact, that the expense 
 of each pillar is estimated at five thousand dollars. The spe- 
 cimens in your possession are good examples of its general 
 structure^ but convey no adequate idea of its beauty. 
 
 Petrifaction of Wood, 
 
 It will be proper to notice, in this place, a petrifaction of 
 wood,which is found on the road from Washington toFreder- 
 icksburgh, sixteen miles from the latter, and four miles north of 
 the court-house in Stafford county. It is remarkable for its size, 
 rather than for any singularity in the composition. It was 
 found by digging away the earth on the side of the road, and 
 appears to have been the trunk of a considerable tree. It is 
 firmly fixed in the ground, and penetrates it obliquely ; how 
 far has not yet been ascertained. At the time I saw it about 
 two feet had been exposed. The diameter is about eight 
 inches. Its colour is white, sometimes resembling that of 
 wood. The fibres are well preserved, and so is the general 
 structure. It is much to be desired, that some one would clear 
 it from its bed, and give it entire to one of our mineralogical 
 cabinets. 
 
 Geological Features, 
 
 Next to the alluvial and secondary formations, as you pass 
 to the west aad north-west, are to be found ranges of granite 
 and shistose, and other primitive rocks ; interspersed with 
 these may be seen sandstone, clay, slate, quartz, and limestone. 
 Granite ranges were particularly seen in the neighbourhood of 
 Fredericksburgh, crossing the Rappahannock ; and in Orange 
 and Albemarle counties, extending nearly to the Blue Ridge. 
 Great quantities of quartz and quartz-rock, sometimes cover- 
 ing with their fragments the sides of hills, are frequent. An- 
 other and more interesting rock in the same connexion, is found 
 in Albemarle county. For some time I doubted to what class 
 to refer it. But from its resemblance to the rocks of the east 
 and west mountains near New Haven, I ventured to call it trap, 
 or whinstone. It becomes more abundant as you approach the 
 Blue Ridge, and the granite disappears. On the sides and 
 summit of the mountain its appearance is more decidedly that 
 of greenstone. In crossing the south-west mountain, the range 
 to which Monticcllo belongs, and distant from the Blue Ridge 
 
 .1 
 
Blue Ridfjp. 99 
 
 about twenty-five miles, I observed the same rock. Whether 
 this opinion is jnst, you will be able to decide troui the speci- 
 nie^ns which have been forwarded. 
 
 Bhie Riftgp, 
 
 I have repeatedly named the Blue Ridge. It is the first of 
 those long and parallel ranges of mountains, called the Alle- 
 ghany ; and constilntes one of the most prominent features in 
 the geology of the United States. Its height I cannot deter- 
 mine with accuracy. Probably it would not average more than 
 one thousand iee\. Its base may extend in diameter from one 
 to two miles ; and yet such is the influence it has on the cli- 
 mate, that vegetation on the eastern is usually two weeks ear- 
 lier than on the western side. And, what is remarkable, this 
 difference obtains, on the former side, at least, until you arrive 
 witliiti a few hundred yards of the summit. I crossed the 
 niountiiin in two places, distant from each other one hundred 
 miles, but observed nothing essentially different in their mine- 
 ralogy. At one of tlieni, called the Rockfish-Gap, on the road 
 fromC'harlotteville to Staunton, I spent a few hours, and b|;§ught 
 awoy specimens (»f ali the varieties of minerals which I could 
 find. These have bicn submitted to your inspection. Among 
 them you will, I think, see greenstone, epidote, and slate,mnre 
 or less ?.!lied to the first. These are the most common rocks, 
 and, excepting the second, are usually stratified. The epidote 
 is generally associated with (|uarl%, and sometimes is imbedded 
 in if. In some instances it has a porphyritic appearance, and 
 is very beautiful. In others, it is coated with small filaments 
 of a greenish asbestos. Other minerals were found, M'hose 
 nature I could not so easily determine. I regret exceedingly 
 that I cannot furnish you with a more complete description of 
 this interesting mountain. Tl»at its character is peculiar, or 
 different from the country on either side of it, must be obvious 
 to the most superficial observer, lis principal rock does in- 
 deed bear a resemblance to the trap or whinstone of Albe- 
 marle county, and yet I tliink you will say it is not the same. 
 One fact (»f importance cannot bo mistaken ; this mountain con- 
 stitutes the great dividing line Oelween the granite and lime- 
 stone countries. For you no sooner reach its western base, 
 than the greenstone and epidote disappear ; and limestone per- 
 vades the country for hundreds of miles in every direction. In 
 all the distance from this mountain to New Orleans, I did nt)t 
 find a single specimen of granite, or greenstone. This may 
 appear singular, since Mr. Maclure and Professor Cleveland 
 have a granite range on their maps, immediately west of the 
 Blue Ridge ; and even (hat nntuntain is on those maps, in some 
 
 O Z 
 
im 
 
 Tour through Virffinia^ Sf-c, 
 
 parts of if, covered with the granitic tinge. This may be true- 
 1 can answer for only two points of it, and for that part of the 
 country beyond, lying near the main road to Tennessee. la 
 this route I descended almost the whole length of tlie great 
 valley included between the Blue Ridge on the east, and the 
 north mountain on the west. But in no instance did I meet 
 with speciniens of granite ; nor west of the Blue Ridge with 
 any prevailing rock but limestone. I know of no reason why 
 the Blue Ridge should not be regarded as the first great di- 
 viding line between the granite and limestone countries. The 
 change in the geological formation is so sudden and striking, 
 that it would be difficult for the most careless traveller, with 
 bis eyes open, not to observe it. The face of nature, he can- 
 not but perceive, wears a different aspect ; the air is more 
 cocl and lively ; even the water which he drinks possesses 
 new properties perceptible to his taste. The inhabitants no 
 longer speak of their "sandstone water;" but everywhere 
 lie hears of " limestone water." Indeed, for 800 miles in the 
 direction which I travelled, he tastes no other water. Every 
 spring and every rivulet is strongly impregnated with carbo- 
 nate of lime. Ihe vessels in which it is prepared for culinary 
 n>ie, soon become lined with a white calcareous crust. Nor is 
 its taste the only inconvenience experienced by the traveller 
 unaccustomed to it. It often injures the health of a stranger, 
 and covers the surface of the body with cutaneous eruptions. 
 
 Limestone Country in inclined Strata. 
 
 The geological observer has now entered upon a very in- 
 teresting- field. Its great extent, and its wonderful uniformity, 
 give new facilities to investigation. Two divisions of it seem 
 to have been made in nature. 
 
 The Jirst is that which includes the limestone lyinjj in in- 
 clined STRATA. This division extends from the Blue Ilidije 
 to the Cumberland mountain in East Tennessee, a distance in 
 the direction of my route of 500 miles. Oi' course it includes 
 all the ranges, five in number, of the Alleghany mountains. 
 The strata lie in a course north-east and south-west, the saim; 
 as the general course of the mountains. The angle which 
 they make with the horizon is very variable, from 25° to 45°. 
 The colour of the rock varies from blue, and pale blue, to grey, 
 or greyish v/hite ; frequently it presents a dull earthy appear- 
 ance. The fracture is more or less conchoidal. Sometimes 
 the rock assumes a different character, and the fracture is un- 
 even, and the texture firm. This last is distinguished from the 
 former, not only by the fracture, but by the colour. It is 
 iisuuliy spoken of by the inhabitants as the grey limestone^ the 
 
 I 
 
caii- 
 
 LimesiojK} Country. 101 
 
 colour of the olher being usually of a hluish ensf. It diU'ers 
 from that also by being less brittle, and possessing the quality 
 denominated by stone-cutters "tough." In consequence of 
 this, and its enduring heat betJer, it is more frequerjtiy used iii 
 building than the other. This variety of limestone is not un- 
 common. Its colour is not always f/rry, sometimes it is a red- 
 dish brown, and sometimes white.' Immense quantities of it^ 
 possessing either a greyish or /eddish brown colour, are foimd 
 in the vicinity of Knoxville, East Tennessee. One rnnge ol 
 it is crossed by every road, passing to the south and east of 
 Knoxville. Its appearance is that of some variegated marbles ; 
 white veins penetrate it, and Wind through it in every direc- 
 tion. Whether any part of it has a texture sufficiently iisie 
 and firm to be wrought to advantage, is yet to be determined. 
 To the eye of a superficial observer, there nre many indica- 
 tions that it has. A specimen of very fine white marble, re- 
 sembling the Italian white, was shewn me in Augusta county, 
 Virginia, which was found fifteen miles from Staunton, where 
 there is said to be a considerable quantity of it. 
 
 Limestone Country in Horizontal Strata. 
 
 The second great division of the limestone country expends 
 on the route which I took, two hundred miles from the (Cum- 
 berland mountain, and others associated with it south-west, as 
 far as the Dividing Ridge, which separates the waters flowing 
 into the Tennessee from those which proceed direct to iho 
 gulf of Mexico. The grand circumstance which distinguishes 
 the limestone of this division from that already tlescribed, is 
 this, ITS STRATA ARE HORIZONTAL. Frequently immense piles 
 may be seen forming bold precipices, but always in horizontal 
 layers, differing in thickness from a few inches to many {e^t. 
 How far this arrangement extends to tl:e west and north, I 
 have not yet been able to learn. Travellers always speak of 
 the limestone rocks in West Tennessee and Kentucky as //r/^ 
 from which circumstance I conclude, that the Cumberland 
 mountain forms, foi^ a considerable distance at least, the eastern 
 boundary. I have observed but three other particulars in 
 which the strata of the horizontal differ from those of the in- 
 clined limestone. 
 
 1. Its colour is not so strongly marked with the bluish tinge. 
 
 2. It is not so commonly penetrated with white veins of a 
 semicrystallized carbonate of lime ; nor is it so frequently as- 
 sociated with the uneven fractured species. 
 
 f3. Petrifications are oftener found in it. 
 I will here take the liberty to suggest, whether, in our maps 
 of geology, some notice should not be taken of this very im- 
 
 n 
 
102 
 
 Tour through Virginia, ^c. 
 
 portant division in the limestone country. Such a division ex- 
 ists in J'act ; nature has made it ; and if geology depends ou 
 nature for its only legitimate inductions, there can be no reason 
 why a feature so prominent as this should be overlooked. I 
 shall not undertake to account for their diflerence : but would 
 not every geological theorist consider them as distinct for- 
 mations?'* 
 
 Cumberland Mountain, 
 
 The Cumberland mountain, which forms a part of this di- 
 viding line, is itself a singular formation. It belongs to the 
 class called ** Table mountains." Its width varies from a few 
 miles, to more than fifty. Its height is not perceptibly different 
 from that of the Blue Ridge. It forms a circuit, in a shape 
 somewhat resembling a half-moon. Winding to the south-west, 
 it keeps a course north of the Tennessee river, in some places 
 nearly parallel with it; passes a few miles to the south-east of 
 Hunts ville in the Alabama territory, and not long after ter- 
 minates. At one part, over which I crossed, the mountain is 
 eighteen miles wide. This is about 160 miles south-west of 
 Knoxviile, a little north of the 35th degree ofN. Lat. I had 
 not ascended the mountain more than half-way, before I foun<l 
 sandstone bes^in to intermingle with limestone strata. As I 
 drew near the summit, the limestone disappeared entirely, and 
 sandstone prevailed in abundance, with no other mineral asso- 
 ciated until I reached the western descent, where I met bold 
 precipices of horizontal limestone, reaching fVom the base to 
 the summit. I examined several sandstone-rocks while cross- 
 ing the mountain, found them usually imbedded in the earih, 
 generally with flat surfaces, of a fine grain, and strong texture. 
 The colour is usually a reddish brown, or greyish red. The 
 specimen which you have received is a good example. I 
 crossed this mountain in the vicinity of Huntsvilie, not less 
 than 100 miles south-west of the place above-mentioned, and 
 found it not wider than mountains commonly are. Its height 
 had also become less, and horizontal limestone in regular strata 
 prevailed in every part. 
 
 * The modesty of the writer has prevented him from applying? to tlic forma- 
 tions which he has well described, the t(!rms tratisition and secondary, whieli 
 there can lie little doubt do, in fact, belong to them. His strata of highly 
 inclined limestone appear to belong to the transition class of Werner, and 
 his flat strata to the secondary. It may be observed, in this place, that the 
 specimens alluded to iu the text (passim,) appear to be correctly described 
 bv iMr. Cornelius, and to Jnslify his geological inferences as far as hand-s|)e- 
 ( imens, seen at a distance from their native beds, cJin form a safe basis fov 
 general geological inductions. 
 
Scenery, 
 
 100 
 
 strata 
 
 fovnia- 
 , wliicli 
 highly 
 br, uikI 
 [hat the 
 Isoribcd 
 lliil-spe- 
 lasis ('Xa 
 
 Although ttliis mountain forms a part of the dividing line 
 which hits been mentioned, it does not exclusively so: for the 
 Kackoon mountain, which crosses I he Tennessee river, at the 
 place so well known by the name of ** the Suck," and the 
 Look-Out mountain, which termijiates abruptly about six miles 
 to the left of " the Suck," form an acute angle with the Cum- 
 berland, and are composed of horizontal strata of limestone. 
 Thus, it would appear, the line which divides the two kingdoms 
 of this rock is nearly north and south, inclining, perhaps*, a 
 few points to the east and west. 
 
 Scenery, 
 
 And here I cannot forbear pausing a moment to call your 
 attention to the grand and picturesque scenery which opens to 
 the view of the admiring spectator. The country is still 
 possessed by tlie aborigines, and the hand of civilization has 
 done but little to soften the wild aspect of nature. The Ten- 
 nessee river, having concentrated into one mass tlie nume- 
 rous streams it has received in its course of three or four 
 hundred miles, glides through an extended valley with a rapid 
 and overwhelming current, haif-a-mile in width. At this place, 
 a group of mountains stand ready to dispute its progress. First, 
 the " I.ook-Out," an independent range, commencing thirty 
 miles below, presents, opposite the river's course, its bold and 
 rocky termination of two thousand feet. Around its brow is a 
 pallisade of naked rocks, from seventy to one hundred feet. 
 The river flows upon its base, and instantly twines to the 
 right. Passing on for six miles further, it turns again, and 
 is met by the side of the Rackoon mountain. Collecting its 
 strength into a channel of seventy yards, it severs the moun- 
 tain, and rushes tumultuously through the rocky defile, wafting 
 the trembling navigator at the rate of a mile in two or three 
 minutes. This passage is called " The Suck." The summit 
 of the Look-Out mountain overlooks the whole country. And 
 to those who can be delighted with the view of an intermina- 
 ble forest, penetrated by the windings of a bold river, inter- 
 spersed with hundreds of verdant prairies, and broken by 
 many ridges and mountains, furnishes, in the month of May, 
 a landscape which yields to few others in extent, variety, or 
 beauty. £ven the aborigines have not been insensible to its 
 charms; for in the name which they have given to the Look- 
 Out mountain we have a laconic, but very striking description 
 of the scenery. This name, in the Cherokee language, with- 
 out the aspirated sounds, is 0-iullce-ton-tannu-t(t-kun?i(t'CC ; 
 literally, "mountains looking at each other." 
 
 I have already remarked that the limestone of this mountain 
 
 
 1(4 
 
. ( 
 
 104 Tour throufjh Virfjiina, ^c. 
 
 lies in horizontal strata : one mile east from its base it is in- 
 clined. Like the Cumberland, it contains immense rocks of 
 sandstone, but of a coarser g^rain, verijing occasionally into 
 puddini*--stoiic. I was luld by a white man, a professed mill- 
 wright, that among these sandstone-rocks, he knew of many 
 which were suitable for millstones. At the missionary estab- 
 lishment, called '' Brainerd," eight miles east of the mountain, 
 1 saw one of them which was used for this purpose to much 
 advantage. It is composed of fine and large grains of silicious 
 stones, nearly white, and resembling pebbles of white quartz : 
 the texture is firm. 
 
 Silicious Minerahi Sfc, 
 
 I will now notice an important fact, applicable to the whole 
 extent of limestone country which has come under my obser- 
 vation. It is its association with a description of minerals, all 
 of which appear to be silicious. To describe them minutely 
 would require several pages. From the time I entered the 
 limestone country till I left it this association was observed. 
 The minerals included in it differ much in their external 
 character. Their size varies from that of rocks to the smallest 
 fragments. Usually they lie loose upon the earth, in angular 
 forms, having the appearance of a stone that has been broken 
 in pieces by the hammer. Sometimes they cover the sides of 
 hills and mountains in such abundance as to prevent or impede 
 vegetation. When the disintegration is minute, they are ser- 
 viceable rather than otherwise ; and the farmer talks of his 
 "good black," or "white gravel land." It renders this ser- 
 vice, 1 presume, not by decomposition, but by preventing the 
 soil and its manure from being washed away. Indeed, the 
 different varieties of it are generally scattered over the surface, 
 in pieces so small, that, for convenience-sake, the whole may be 
 denominated a silicious gravel. 
 
 Sometimes the mineral is imbedded in limestone, in the 
 form of nodules, thus indicating their original connexion 
 with it. 
 
 The varieties, so far as I have observed, are quartz, horn- 
 stone, flint, jasper, and semi-opal ; and several, which to me 
 are non-descripts. Quartz is the most abundant. It is found 
 of different colours ; compact, and porous or cellular ; of every 
 size ; simple and associated with other silicious stones ; mas- 
 sive and crystallized. In Augusta and Rockbridge counties in 
 "Virginia, beautiful crystals of quartz, of a singular form, are 
 found. They are six-sided prisms, wilb double acuminations, 
 that is, with six-sided pyramids, mounted on the opposite ends 
 of the prism. A specimen of two such crystals united, you 
 
 I 
 
 ti 
 h 
 
Cavts. 
 
 105 
 
 IS HI" 
 
 cks of 
 f into 
 [ mill- 
 many 
 estab- 
 intain, 
 much 
 licious 
 [uartz : 
 
 whole 
 obser- 
 ala, all 
 inutely 
 •ed the 
 served, 
 xternal 
 imallest 
 angular 
 broken 
 sides of 
 impede 
 are ser- 
 
 of his 
 lis ser- 
 ting the 
 led, the 
 surface, 
 
 maybe 
 
 in the 
 naexion 
 
 z, horn- 
 ;h to me 
 is found 
 of every 
 ; mas- 
 unties in 
 orm, are 
 inations, 
 site ends 
 ed, you 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 bave received. It was found near Lexington. A curious va- 
 riety of the quartz gravel-stone occurs on both sides of Elk 
 river, a few miles above its junction with the Tennessee, in the 
 Alabama territory. As you travel to the west from Hunts-, 
 ville, it appears first in the neighbourhood of Fort Hampton, 
 two miles cast of Elk river, and may be seen for ten miles 
 \t'est of that river. The mineral is remarkable for containing 
 a curious petrifaction. Its first appearance is that, of a solid 
 screw. On examination, however, you find it is not spiral, 
 but consists of parallel concentric layers. Their diameter 
 varies in difterent specimens, from that of a pin to half an inch. 
 They stand in the ctMitre of a hollow cylinder, extending its 
 •whole length, and occupying about one-third of its dimen- 
 sions. The stone is sometimes perfectly filled with these 
 forms. The petrifaction I could not have named had you not 
 pronounced it the " Entrochite." 
 
 Hornstone^ next to quartz, is the most abundant of the sili- 
 4Cious minerals associated with limestone. It is very often 
 «een imbedded in rounded masses, both in the inclined and 
 horizontal strata. 
 
 Flint is more rare. Several fine specimens were observed 
 on the western declivity of the Look-Out Mountain, but in no 
 instances in large masses or quantities. 
 
 Semi-Opal was found in one instance on the dividing ridge, 
 which constitutes the south-western boundary of the lime-stone 
 strata. 
 
 Of the non-descripts yoit have several specimens. One 
 variety strikes fire with steel, is a milk-white colour, adheres 
 slightly to the tongue, and has no degree of translucency on 
 its edges. As Mr. Kain has furnished you with an interesting 
 detail of particular minerals found in East Tennessee and 
 Western Virginia, I need not recapitulate what he has so 
 well said. 
 
 I will conclude this part of the narrative with a brief notice 
 of a few curiosities occurringf in the reo'ion which has been 
 described. 
 
 Caves, . 
 
 1. It is well known that it furnishes a great number of in- 
 teresting caves. They are found alike in the incli' ed and 
 horizontal strata. Some of them are several miles in extent, 
 and afford fine specimens of earthy and alkaline salts. 
 
 Wlef's cave, in Virginia, has been described by Mr. Kain. 
 I have in my possession a map of its most important apart- 
 ments, including its whole length, copied from a survey made 
 by Mr. J. Pack, in October, 1806; also the notes of another 
 
 VovAQF.s and Travels, No.2, Vol, III. P 
 
106 Tour through VirginiUf ^c. 
 
 surrey made in May, 181(>, by the Rev. Conrad Speece, of 
 Auffiista county, and Mr. Robert Grattnn ; which, with an 
 explanation, and particular description, I hope to be able to 
 transmit to you at a future time. 
 
 From these surveys, it appears that the whole extent of the 
 cave, hitherto discovered, does not exceed eight hundred yards. 
 This was the length stated to me by the guide, when I visited 
 it in August, 1817. I cannot but think there is some mistake 
 in Mr. Kain's remark, that " it is a mile and a half in extent." 
 I spent four hours in examining every accessible part, and by 
 permission of Mr, Henry Bingham, the owner, made a large 
 collection of specimens, which were transmitted for the cabinet 
 of Yale College. 
 
 The Natural Bridge, 
 
 2. My object in naming this celebrated curiosity, is not to 
 give a new description of it, but merely to furnish a correct 
 account of its cfimenttions. I visited it in company with the 
 Rev. Mr. Huson, who had previously found its height, by a 
 cord, to be two hundred ana ten feet. We now found it, by 
 the quadrant, to be two hundred and eleven feet, and the arch 
 through the centre about forty feet. 
 
 Some have attempted to account for this great curiosity, by 
 supposing that a convulsion in nature may have rent the hill 
 in which it stands asunder, thus forming the deep and narrow 
 defile over which the rocky strata were left, which constitute 
 its magnificent arch. If so, the sides should have correspond- 
 ing parts. At a distance from the base no such correspond- 
 ence is perceptible. At the base, the rocks are more or less 
 craggy and irregular. This led me to take the courses and 
 distances of each side. The following was the result : 
 
 Eaitern side presents 4 angular points. 
 
 \. N. 56» W. 1 chain. 09 links. 
 
 2. N. 72 W. 1 05i 
 
 3. N. 57 AV. 1 12§ 
 
 4. N. 50 W. 33 — . 
 
 Western sid« presents 3 angular points. 
 
 1. N. 50° W. 0. chain. 46 links. 
 
 2. N. 67 W. 1 12J 
 
 3. N. 77. W. 1 44 
 
 The chain used contained 50 links, equal to 33| feet. 
 The distance between the abutments at the north end of their 
 bases is 80 feet, at the south end 66 feeU As they ascend, the 
 distance is greatter. These data give the following diagram i — 
 
 
A Rivtr flouting from a Cave, 
 
 107 
 
 Although considerable resemblance appears at the base, yet 
 las no such correspondence is visible forty feet above it, and the 
 sides for the whole remaining distance to the arch, one hun- 
 dred and thirty feet, lose their craggy '^appearance entirely, 
 and present the smooth, irregular surface of the oldest rocks. 
 
 The following anecdote will evince the effect which the 
 sight of the natural bridge produced on a servant, who, with- 
 out having received any definite or adequate ideas of what he 
 was to see, attended his master to this spot. 
 
 On the summit o^ the hill, or from the top of the bridge, 
 the view is not more awful than that which is seen from the 
 brink of a hundred other precipices. The grand prospect is 
 from below. To reach it you must descend the hill by a blind 
 path, which winds through a thicket of trees, and terminates 
 at the instant when the whole bridge, with its broad sides and 
 lofty arch, all of solid rock, appears perfectly in sights Not 
 one in a thousand can forbear to make an involuntary pause ; 
 but the servant, who had hitherto followed his master, without 
 meeting with any thing particularly to arrest his attention, 
 had no sooner arrived at this point, and caught a glance of 
 the object which burst upon his vision, than be fell upon his 
 knees, fixed in wonder and admiration. 
 
 A River flowing from a Cave* 
 
 3. I will next mention a singular cave, which I do not re- 
 member ever to have seen described. It is situated in the 
 Cherokee country, at Nicojack, the north-westefin angle in the 
 map of Georgia, and is known by the name of the Nicojack 
 cave. It is twenty miles S. W. of the Look- Out mountain, and 
 half-a-mile from the south bank of the Tennessee river. The 
 
 P 2 
 
• I 
 
 106 7'our through Viryinia^ jr. 
 
 Uackoun mountain, in which it ig situatcil, here frontt to the 
 north-enst. Iinmense layers of horizontal limestone form a 
 precipice of considerable height. In this precipice the cave 
 commences; not however with an openinpfof a few feet, as is 
 common, hut with a nioiilh flfiy foct hioli, an<l one hunclred 
 and sixty wide. Its root" is formed by a solid and rei^idar 
 layer of limestone, havino- no Huppurt but the sides of tlio 
 cave, and as level as the lloor of a house. The entrance xa 
 partly t)]>str4icted by piles of fallen rocks, which appear to have 
 been dislodo-cd by some j;reat convulsion. From its entrance, 
 the cave consists chiefly of one grand excavation throuo'h the 
 rocks, preserving for a great distance the same dimensions as 
 at its mouth. 
 
 What is more remarkable than all, it forms, for the whole 
 distance it has yet been explored, a walled and vaulted pas- 
 sage, for a stream of cool and limpid water, which, where it 
 leaves the cave, is six feet deep and sixty feet wide. A few 
 years since, Col. .Tames Ore, of Tennessee, commencing early 
 in the morning, followed the course of this creek in a canoe, 
 for three miles. He then came to a fall of water, and was 
 obliged to return without making any further discovery. 
 Whether he penetrated three milcfs up the cave or not, it is a 
 fact he did not return till the evening, having been busily 
 engaged in his subterranean voyage for twelve hours. He 
 stated that the course of the cave, after proceeding some way 
 to the south-west, became south; and south-east-by-south the 
 remaining distance. 
 
 Natural Nitre* 
 
 The sides of the principal excavation present a few apart- 
 ments which are interesting, principally because they furnish 
 large quantities of the earth from which the nitrate of potash 
 is obtained. This is a circumstance very common to the caves 
 of the western country. In that at Nicojack it abounds, and 
 is found covering the surfaces of fallen rocks, but in more 
 abundance beneath them. There are two kinds, one is called 
 the " clay dirt," the other the "black dirt;" the last is much 
 more strongly impregnated than the first. For several years 
 there has been a considerable manufacture of saltpetre from 
 this earth. The process is by lixiviation and crystallization, 
 and is very simple. The earth is thrown into a hopper, and 
 the fluid obtained passed through another of ashes, the alkali 
 of which decomposes the earthy nitrate, and uniting with its 
 acid, which contains chiefly nitrate of lime, turns it into nitrate 
 of potash. The precipitated lime gives the mass a whitish 
 *€olour, and the consistence of curdled miJk. By allowing it 
 
Moundi, 
 
 109 
 
 lo ttand in a larg'e trough, the precipitate, which is principal ly 
 Jime, subsides, and the superincumbent fluid, now an nikalinc 
 instead of an eartliy nitrnte, is carefully removed jind boiled 
 for some Jime in iron-kettlos, till it is rendy to cryslnllize. It 
 is then removed .ig'tvin to a larne trough, in which it sliootw info 
 crystals. It is now called ♦♦rough sliot-pelre." In this state 
 it is sent to market, nnd sells usually for sixteen dollars per 
 hundred weij^lit. Sometimes it is dissolved in water, re- 
 boiled, and re-crystallized, when it is called refined, nn<l sells 
 for twenty dollars per hundred. One bushel of the clay dirt 
 yields from three to five pounds, and the blnck dirt from 
 seven to ten pounds of the roufrh shot-petre. The same dirt, 
 if returned to the cave, and scattered on the rocks, or minoled 
 with the new earth, becomes impregnated with the nitrate 
 ag-ain, and in a few months may be thrown into the hopper, 
 and be subjected to a new process. 
 
 The causes which have produced the nitric salts of these 
 caves, may not yet have been fully developed. But it is 
 liijrhly probable they are to be ascribed to the decomposition 
 of animal substances. 
 
 It is reasonable to suppose, that in an uncultivated country 
 they would become the abodes of wild animals, and even of 
 savajre men. That they have been used by the natives as 
 burial-places, is certain. In one Avhich I entered, I counted 
 a hundred human skulls, in the space of twenty feet square. 
 All the lesser and more corruptible parts of each skeleton had 
 mouldered to dust, and the whole lay in the greatest confusion. 
 I have heard of many such caves, and to this day some of the 
 Indians are known to deposit their dead in them. From the 
 decomposition of such substances, it is well known the acid of 
 the nitric salts arises, and it would of course unite with the 
 |in;ie every where present, and form nitrate of lime. 
 
 Monncift, 
 
 4. I have but one more article of curiosity to mention under 
 this division. It is one of those artificial mounds which occur 
 so frequently in the Mestern country. I have seen many of 
 them, and read of more; but never of one of such dimensions 
 as that which I am now to describe. 
 
 It is situated in the interior of the Cherokee nation, on the 
 north side of the Etowee, vulgarly called Hightower River, 
 one of the branches of the Koosee. It stands upon a strip of 
 alluvial land, called River Bottom, I visited it in company 
 with eight Indian chiefs. The first object which excited at- 
 tention was an excavation about twenty ieet M'ide, and in some 
 parts ten feet deep. Its course is nearly that of a semicircle ; 
 
110 
 
 Triivuls ihi'vuf/k VirginiUf ^c/ 
 
 the cxIrt'iiiiticM oxt(iiuliii<r townrdw the river, which forniK n. 
 HtnnW elhow. 1 had not time to examine it minutely. Ai« 
 Indian said it extended each w.iy to the river, and had Neveral 
 unexcavateil parts, which served for pas^apfes to the area which 
 it encloses. To my Rurprise, I fouml no embankment on either 
 Nide of it. Hut I did not long doubt to what place the earth 
 had been n^moved; for I had scarcely proceeded two liundred 
 yards, m hen, through the thick forest-trees, a stupendous pile 
 met the (jye, whose dimensions were in full proportion to the 
 entrenchment. I had at the time no means of taking an accu- 
 rate admeasurement. To supply my deficiency, I cut a long 
 vine, M'liich was preserved until I had an opportunity of as- 
 cerlaining lis (>xact length. In this manner I found the dis- 
 tance, from IJic margin of the summit to the base, to be one 
 hundred and eleven feet ; and, judging from the degree of its 
 declivity, ilie perpendicular height cannot be less than seventy- 
 five feet. The cu'cumference of the base, including the feet of 
 three parapets, measured one thousand one hundred and four- 
 teen feet. One of these parapets extends from the base to the 
 summit, and can be ascended, though with difficulty, on horse- 
 back. The other two, after rising thirty or forty i'eet, ter- 
 minate in a kind of triangular platform. Its top is level, and, 
 at the time I visited it, was so completely covered with weeds, 
 bushes, and trees of most luxuriant growth, that I could not 
 examine it as well as I >vished. Its diameter, I judged, must 
 be one hundred and fifty feet. On its sides and summit are 
 many large trees of the same description, and of equal dimen- 
 sions with those around it. One beach-tree, near the top, 
 me.'isured ten feet nine inches in circumference. The earth 
 on one side of the tree was three and a half feet lower than on 
 the opposite side. This fact will give a good idea of the de- 
 gree of tiie mound's declivity. An oak, which was lying down 
 on one of the parapets, measured, at the distance of six feet 
 from the butt, without the bark, twelve feet four inches in 
 circumference. At a short distance to the south-east is another 
 mound, in ascending which I took thirty steps. Its top is 
 encircled by a breast-work three feet high, intersected through 
 the middle with another elevation of a similar kind. A little 
 farther is another mound, which I had not time to examine. 
 
 On these great works of art, the Indians gazed with as much 
 curiosity as any white man. I inquired of the oldest chief, if 
 the natives had any tradition respecting them ; to which he 
 answered in the negative. I then requested each to say Mhat 
 he supposed was their origin. Neither could tell; though all 
 agreed in saying, "they were never put up by our people." 
 It seems probable they were erected by another race, who 
 
Allutial Formation, 
 
 111 
 
 
 \ 
 
 oru'<» inlin1)it<Ml flic country. Tlint micli n rnre existed, ir now 
 ^('nn:illy n«iiiiiltcMl. Who tliey \\vvi\ nnd what wvvvt tho 
 < iiiiMr's ol' their Jet;('ncraev, or of their extermiiiatioii. no cir- 
 enmslioices have yet explained, lint this \h no reason »vhy 
 Me should not, :\*i in a liiHidred other instances, infer (he ex- 
 istence of 'Ik- <'auike from \\u eftects, without any previous 
 kn«Mvledi»e ol ts histeiy. 
 
 In reoard to the ohpcts whuli these mounds were desi^netl 
 to answer, it is obvious they were not always the same. Sorn(» 
 were intended as receptacles for the d( ad. Thes«« are sn»all, 
 and are distinguished hy containing' human bones. Some may 
 hav<.' been desinncd as sites for public buildings, whether of a 
 civil orreli<>ious kind, and others no doubt Mere constructed 
 for tin; purpctses of uar. Of this last description is the Ktoweo 
 mound. In proof of its 8uitableness for such a purpose, I 
 need only mention, that the Cherokees, in their late Mar with 
 the Creeks, secured its summit by pickets, and occupie<l it a^i 
 a place of protection for hundreds o( their women and children. 
 Gladly Mould T iiave spent a day in examining- it niore mi= 
 nu((ly; but niy companions, unable to appreciate; my motives, 
 gr(MV impatient, and I Mas oblio-ed to M'ithdraM', and leave a 
 more perfect observation and description to some one else, 
 
 A lluvial Form aitoti. 
 
 1 M'ill now call your attention to the last geoloo-ical division 
 which came under my observation. It is the alluvial tract 
 extcndinii" from the Dividing- Ridge already mentioned, to the 
 (iulf of Mexico. This ridge is the last range of high land 
 which I crossed on the journey to Nom' Orleans, and lies about 
 six hundred miles north of the Gulf of ^fexico. Its course at 
 the place I crossed it, is a little south of west. It divides the 
 waters of the Tennessee from those Mhich proceed directly 
 to the Gulf. Travellers ahvays observe it. They often men- 
 tioned it to me as the southern boundary of the stony country. 
 After crossing- it, you see no more limestone; and, Mhich ex- 
 cites more joy in tlie traveller, no more of the silicious gravel 
 M'ith M'hicli it is associated, and which is so troublesome to the 
 feet of horses. The soil consists of a soft clay, or light sand, 
 on which you seldom meet with a stone of any kind. The 
 surface of the earth is undulating- and hilly, but not mountain- 
 oi|s. The water-courses do not move rapidly and tnmultu- 
 ously, as in the limestone country, but form in the soft earth 
 deep trenches, through which they glide smoothly and silently 
 along. The smallest rivulet often has a trench ten feet deep; 
 and the earth over which it passes, is continually yielding to 
 its gentle attrition. 
 
f 
 
 112 
 
 Tour through Virginia, ^c. 
 
 The only minerals which I observed, are sandstone, coramori 
 Jlnd ferruginous; silicious pebbles in beds of creeks, and oc- 
 casionnliy on the Uplands; earthy ores of iron, particularly 
 red oxides, and petrifactions of shells, wood, &c. In addition 
 to these, it may here be mentioned, that galena has been found 
 in small quantities at Gibson's Port, and at Ellis's Cliffs, in 
 the state of Mississippi: a crystal of amethyst, in the same 
 state, by 3Ir. Blannerhasset ; and a great variety of useful 
 ochres, in many places on the banks of the Mississippi. 
 
 In the g-eological map attached to Professor Cleaveland s 
 Mineralogy, the alluvial country bordering- on the Gulf of 
 Mexico is represented as terminating at Natchez. But why 
 its termination is placed here I am unable to understand. 
 The country above and below Natchez, so far as it has come 
 under my observation, presents no difference of appearance in 
 its geology or mineralogy. I am aware that at Natchez, 
 rS'hen the water of the Mississippi is lowest, a soft rock is seen, 
 from which lime has been obtained. But this rock is two 
 hundred feet below the surface of the adjoining" country; and 
 admitting* that it is a limestone rock, there is no difficulty in 
 supposing it may constitute the basis of the alluvial deposit 
 which rests upon it. That the incumbent earth is alluvial, can 
 be doubted I think by no one who has had an opportunity of 
 examining it. By means of a road, which has been cut ob- 
 liquely down the side of the bluff, distinct layers of clay, sand, 
 and pebbles, have been exposed for the whole distance from 
 the summit to the base. The same character is observed at 
 a distance from the river, where the earth has been excavated 
 by washing, or digging. In the vicinity of the town there is 
 a curious exhibition of the fact. A stream of water has worn 
 away the earth to the depth of fifteen or twenty feet, and is 
 Continually lengthening the chasm, in the direction opposite 
 to its own course. Thus, as the water flows from the town, 
 the chasm approaches it. In examining the cause of this fact, 
 I perceived it was owing chiefly to the difference of cohesion 
 in the alluvial deposits, of which the earth is formed. That 
 at the surface, being a thick loam, wears away with more dif- 
 ficulty than the deposit below it, which consists of a loose sand. 
 The consequence is, that the water, which has once obtained 
 a perpendicular passage of a iew inches through the first, 
 washes away the second with such rapidity, that it is constantly 
 undermining it. This occasions a perjjetual caving in of the 
 surface, in a direction opposite to the course of the stream. 
 The same fiact is observed in many parts of the country for a 
 great distance above Natchez. If there be wanting any other 
 fact to prove that the earth on which the town of Natchez 
 
Alluvial I'^oi million. 
 
 IIJ 
 
 stntids is alluvial, it h fuuiui itt the eiiect vvliicb tlic Mib.sissij){)i 
 liias upon the base of the Natchez biuft". In conseqiieiico oi a 
 bend in the river, the whole force of its current is thrown 
 against this bnse. If it consisted of solid rock, the river 
 would probably have no ett'ect upon if; but of sucii lotse and 
 friable materials is it composed, liuit the river is continually 
 undermining it, and producing- ettocts not less to be dreaded 
 than those of an earthquake. Several years ago, a great 
 number of acres sunk fifty feet or more below the general sur- 
 face of the hill ; and, in 1805, there was another caving of that 
 {)art directly over the small village at the laiuling. 8(>veral 
 muses were buried in consequence of it, and strong- fears arc 
 entertained bv the inhabitants, tiiat the same cause will yd 
 submerge in the Mississippi the whole of the present landing- 
 place. 
 
 These facts, I think you will say, furnish satisfactory evi- 
 dence of the alluvial character of the country at Naichez. 
 The same character belongs to the whole extent south of llie 
 Dividing Ridge. This may be safely inferred from the geneval 
 features of the country. But I have two facts of a geological 
 kind to mention, both of which go to confirm the opinion. 
 
 1. A well was duo- in the Choctaw nali«)n, at the ao'encv of 
 the United States, in the year 1812 or 1810, under the direc- 
 tion of Silas Dinsmore, Esq. the agent. The excavation was 
 continued to the depth of one hundred and seventy-two feel. 
 No water was found. At no great distance (roin the surface, 
 marine exuvioe were found in abundance. The siielis were 
 small, and imbedded in a soft clay, similar to marine earth. 
 This formation continued till the excavation ceased. Disper- 
 sed through it, Mere found lumps of selenite, or foliated gyp- 
 sum, some of which were half as large tis a man's list, Si»cei- 
 mens of the earth, the exuviye, and the selenite, liuve been 
 transmitted for your examination. This excavation Mas made 
 one hundred and twenty miles north-north-east of IVatchez. 
 The Pearl River is four miles to the east of the place, and is 
 the only considerable stream in this part of the country. 
 
 2. [n the Chickasaw nation, one hundred and seventy miles 
 north of the Choctaw agency, commence beds of oysler-shelis, 
 which continue to be seen at intervals for twelve miles. Four 
 miles from the first bed, you come to what is called '* Cliick;>- 
 saw Old Town," where they are observed in gre.u abundanci". 
 They are imbedded in low ridges of a white ni:ul. They ap- 
 pear to be,of two kinds. S[)ecintens of each, and also of tiio 
 marl, you have received. " Chickasaw Old Town," is a name 
 now appropriated to a prairie, on a part of which there for 
 inerly stood a small vdlage of Chickasaws. The prairie 'n 
 
 VoYACJts and Trat&ls, JVo, 2. Vol. II f. Q 
 
 IS 
 
114 Tour throu(jh Viryinhfi ^'C, 
 
 twenty miles long- and four wide. The sIigIIb occur in tlire^ 
 ])laces as you cross it, and again, on two contiguous hills to 
 the east of it, at the distance of four miles. They do not cover 
 the surface merely. They form a constituent part of the hills 
 or plains in which they are found. Wherever the earth has 
 been washed so as to produce deep gutters, they are seen in 
 4>n?atost abundance. Nor are they petrifactions, such as are 
 found in rocks. Thoy have the sanie appearance as common 
 oyster-shells; thoy lie loose on the earth, and thus indicate a 
 roniparatively recent origin. They occur three hundred miles 
 iifuth-east of Natchez, and but sixty miles south of the Divid- 
 Jno- Ridjje. 
 
 if the country north of Natchez ia alluvial, no one will doubt 
 it is so from this place to the Gulf of Mexico. At Baton 
 Ttouge, one hundred and forty miles north of New Orleans, you 
 meet the first elevated land in ascending from the Gulf. The 
 banks of the Mississippi are higher than the interior, and woul(if 
 b<» annually overflowed by the river, but for a narrow embank- 
 liiont of earth about six feet higii, called the Levee. By 
 uieans of this, a narrow strip of laiul, from half a mile to a 
 mile in width, is redeemed, and cultivated wilh cotton and the 
 siigar-cnne, to the great advantage of the planter. Generally, 
 within one mile from the river, there is an impenetrable morass. 
 The country has every whore the appearance of an origin 
 comparatively recent. Not a rock on which you can stand, 
 and no mountain to gladden the eye, you seem to have leffc' 
 the older parts of creation to witness the encroachmenls which 
 the earth is continually making upon the empire of the sea; 
 ajid, on arriving at the mouth of the Mississippi, you find the 
 grjuid instruments of natwro in active operation, producing with 
 fclow, but certain gradations, the same results. 
 
 A destructive Insect, 
 
 Uni I will not enlarge on a fact already familiar. I will ask 
 yonr further indulgence only, while I communicate an authen- 
 tic and curious fact for the information of the zoologist. 
 
 In the Choctaw country, one hundred and thirty miles 
 north-east of Natchez, a part of the public road is rendered 
 famous on account of the periodical return of a poisonous and 
 destructive fly. Contrary to the custom of other insects, it 
 always appears when the cold weather commences in Decem- 
 ber, and as invariably disappears on the approach of warm 
 weather, which is about the 1st of April. It is said to have 
 been remarked first in the winter of 1807, during a snow- 
 st-orm ; vvhen its efl'ects upon cattle and horses were observed 
 to be similar to those of the gnat and musqueto, in summer, 
 
A destructive Insect. 
 
 116 
 
 Except that they were more severe. It continues to return nt 
 the same season of the year, witliout producing extensive mis- 
 chief, until tlie winter of ISIG, when it began to l)e generally 
 falnl to the horses of travellers. So far as I recollect, it was 
 stated, that from thirty to forty travelling horses were de- 
 stroyed during this winter. The consequences were alarming. 
 In tlie wilderness, where a man's horse is his chief de- 
 pendance, the traveller was surprised and distressed to see 
 the beast sicken and die in convulsions, sometimes within 
 three hours after encountering this little insect. Or, if the 
 animal were fortunate enough to live, a sickness followed. 
 Commonly attended with a sudden and entire shedding of the 
 hair, which rendered the brute unfit for use. Unwilling to 
 believe that elfects so dreadful could be produced by a cause 
 apparently trifling, travellers began to suspect that the In- 
 dians, or others, of whom they obtained food for their horses, 
 hiid, for some base and selfish end, mingled poison with it. 
 The greatest precaution was observed. They refused to stop 
 at any house on the way, and carried, for the distance of forty 
 or fifty miles, their own provision ; but, after all, suffered the 
 same calamities. This excited a serious inquiry into the true 
 cause of their distress. The fly, which has been mentioned, 
 was known to be a most singular insect, and peculiarly trou- 
 blesome to horses. At length it was admitted by all, that the 
 cause of the evils complained of could be no other than this 
 insect. Other precautious have since been observed, particu- 
 lar! v that of ridino' over the road infested with it in the nisrht; 
 and now it happens that comparatively few horses are de- 
 stroyed. I am unable to describe it from my own observation. 
 1 passed over the same road in April last, only two weeks 
 after it disappeared, and was obliged to take the description 
 from others. Its colour is a dark brown ; it has an elongated 
 Ijead, with a small and sharp proboscis; and is in size between 
 the gnat and musqueto. When it alights upon a horse, it 
 darts through the hair, much like a gnat, and never quits its 
 hold until removed by force. When a horse stops to drink, 
 iSwarms fly about the head, and crowd into the mouth, nostrils, 
 and ears; hence it is supposed the poison is communicated in- 
 vcardly. Whether this ne true or not, the most fatal conse- 
 quences result. It is singular, that from the time of its first 
 appearance, it has never extended for a greater distance than 
 forty miles in one direction, and, usually, it is confined to 
 fifteen miles. In no other part of the country has it ever been 
 seen. From this fact, it would seem probable that the cause 
 of its existence is loca!. But \\Um it is none can tell. After 
 the warm weather commences, it dis:q)pears as effectually froin 
 
r 
 
 1 16 Tour through VirginiUf ^'C, 
 
 Iiuman observation, as if it were annihilated. Towards the 
 close of December it springs up all at once into being again, 
 and resumes the work of destruction. A fact, so singular, I 
 could not have ventured to state, without the best evidence of 
 its reality. All the circumstances here related are familiar to 
 hundreds, and were in almost every man's mouth M'hen I 
 passed through the country. In addition to this, they were 
 confirmed by the account which I received from Colonel John 
 M'Kee, a gentleman of much intelligence and respectability, 
 who is the present agent of the general government for the Choc- 
 taw nation. He has consented to obtain specimens of the insect 
 for your exarninalion, wben it retnrns again ; and will, I ho|»e, 
 accompany the transmission with a more periect description 
 than it has been possible for me to communicate. 
 
 In conclnding this narrative of facts, I should be glad (o 
 take a comprehensive view of the whole. The bold features 
 in the geology of the United States, as they are drawn by the 
 Blue Ridge, the Cumberland, with its associated mountains, 
 and the Dividing Ridge, deserve to be distinctly and strongly 
 impressed upon the mind. Such is the order and regularity 
 of their arrangement, that they can hardly fail to conduct the 
 attentive observer to important results. What has now been 
 said of them, is but an epitome of the M'hole. I trust the 
 public will soon read, in the pages of your journal, a detail 
 more perfect and more interesting-. And allow me to suggest, 
 whether, under the auspices of our learned societies, some men 
 of science might not be employed and suj)ported in exploring 
 the country, with the prospect of greatly enlarging the science 
 of our country, and of enriching our journals and cabinets of 
 natural history. Tours of discovery have often been made for 
 other objects, and with success. Our country yields to no 
 other in I he variety, or the value, of its natural productions. 
 We owe it to ourselves aiul to the M'orld, to search them out 
 with diligence and without delay. 
 
 SoMERs, (jY, Y.J Oct. 1818. 
 
 
 END OF CORNELIUS S TOUR. 
 
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