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TORONTO, ONTA^RIO
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Location central to all points of Interest.
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i-»i i%ii,
HISTORICAL AND SPORTING NOTES
ON
QUEBEC 11 m EHMONS
BY
J. M. LeMOINE
Author of " Quebec] FMb and PreseTd;" « Chronicles of the Si.
Lmorenee;" ".Maple Leaws; "Piebwreeqm Q%ubeCf** etc
4|aebee t9 Kaiitmoreiicl-'4||ieb^ i^ Cap Eo«gt^
i|nebeel;o IndUui Larette— Indian hoittttf^ '
The Knron Cliler-Chalean iBlRot
Lake SU John t TheLandoftke Wananlsh
Onr Blorthem Trent Lakes
Summer and Winter Sperts
FOUBTH BDinON
^■.
PRINTED BT L.-J. DEMBRS As FRBRE
Edttora qT ** £« Canadien " and •* L'^vinement »
,„g^^
188B
c^m\ym'Av^
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TEntered according to Act of Parliament, in 1889, by J. If.
LeMoine, in J:|]|e pj^oe of the Minister of Agriculture,
Ottawa.
TO
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE
PRINCESS LOUISE
THESE NOTES ON QUEBEC AND ITS ENVIRONS, ETC, ARK
BY SPECIAL PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY
INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR
Spencer Grange, 4th June, 187a,
J. M. LeMOINE.
9
i
(1
forii
QUEBEC TO MONTMORENCI
An excellent turnpike road leads past the Dorchester
bridge, (erected by Asa Porter, in 1789, and called after
Lord Dorchester, then Governor General of Canada) —
through a double low of neat cottages and white farm
houses, to the foaming cataract of Montmorenci.
Previous to 1789, the St. Charles was crossed by a
scow ; and, at low water, by a ford.
One of the njost conspicuous landmarks in this neigh-
borhood towards the shore, at La Canardihe (i), in a
line with Hedleyville, is Maizkrets ; a long two story
farm house belonging to the Quebec Seminary, where
their blue-coated boys, each Thursday, spend their
weekly holiday, since time immenv-rial, walking back to
the city with the descending shades of evening and
awakening the echoes of the Beauport shore with their
jolly old French songs : La Clatre Fontaine^ — Par der-
nere chez mon Perr^ — En toulant^ ma Boule roulant, &c. ;
the usher in charge, with his long black cassock flowing
to the night wind, merrily joining in the chorus.
In 1778, the historic t»ld mansion was rebuilt, after
having been ruthlessly burnt to the ground by Col.
Benedict Arnold's rude followers, in the fall of 1775.
In 1850, it was enlarged to its present size; a dimi-
nutive i>land — christened in July, 1^:52 St. Hyacinthe (2)
— was added in the centre of the sheet of water in rear
(1) Would Im Canardi^rc have taken its name from being, in
former days, the roHort of innumerable canards ?
(2) To commemorate the presence of the St. Hyacinthe College
boys, then on a visit to the Quebec Seminary scholars.
— 6«
of the house, and communicating, at high tide, with the
St. Lawrence. It is provided with row boats, canoes, &c.
This long, narrow pond, served in 1759, in lieu of a
ditch, to one of General Montcalm's redoubts ; for a
succession of years, in summer, it has been the source of
unspeakable delight, on every weekly holiday, to the
Seminary scholars. — Crede experto.
On the 7th March, 1850, the pupils, in solemn con-
clave, and after exhaustive discussion of several names
proposed — among which that of Montigny (after the
great Bishop Laval, Abb^ de Montigny, founder of the
Petit Shninaire in 1668) came prominently to the front —
decided that their pleasant trysting place should be known
to succeeding generations as Maizerets.
Majzereis is the name of the venerable Superior of
the Quebec Seminary, during whose protracted tenure of
ofifice this valuable property was acquired by this educa-
tional institution. Revd Louis Ango des Maizerets
closed his career, on the 22nd April, 1721, at the ripe
age of 85 years, loved and regretted.
The main road, overhung by wide-spreading elms,
leads past the lofty, lurreted dome, extensive buildings
and pleasure grounds of the Piovincial Lunatic Asylum^
founded in 1845 ; first, in Col. Gugy's roomy stone
stables, (i) adjoining the Diichesnay Manor, by three of
the leading physicians of Quebec, Doctors James Douglas,
Joseph Morrin and Joseph Fremont, and then transferred
to the present location. The east wing, occupied by the
females, stands on the site of ihe old Chateau di Bonne^
where Judge de Bonne, an active i olitician in his day,
and also a learned jurist, resided for years, in the early
part of the century. No more suitable, nor healthy
locality, could have been selected as a home for the 1,000
(1) This commodious receptacle of Col, Gugy's stud was takei^
4ow^ w ;88T,
" -1-
unfortunates, bereft of reason, and over whom the Pro-
vincial Government is expected to watch. The streamlet,
known as the Hivihe des laupiereSy winds through the
leafy seclusion and flows under the rustic iron, suspension
bridge of Gienalla, now Villa Mastai
During our war with the United States, in 1812-14, ^bis
diminutive, though deep brook was assigned as the
western limit of the paroled American prisoners — some
40 odd, officers and privates — taken at Detroit, &c. ;
among them. Generals Hull, Wincb'^sier and Chandler ;
they were at first located in the Chctteau de Bonne. Capt.
Mathew Bell's cavalry escorted them to Quebec in the
winter of 181 3, and they were placed in the hou^e, No.
8k, St. Louis street — in which the historian Hon. Wm.
Smith expired, on 17th December, 1847 — now the resi-
dence of Sheriff Chs. Alleyn. Their fellow prisoner,
taken at Queenston, Col. (afterwards Genl. Winfield
Scott), had the run of the city on parole. Col. Scott won
laurels in the Mexican war, and acquired, on account
of his bustling activity and love of display, the well
remembered sobriquet of old Fuss and Feathers. The
stately, athletic Colonel, however lived under parole with
Colonel (afterwards Major General) Glasgow, the Com-
mander of the Quebec Garrison, in 18 13. In 181 7, we
shall find him again, within our walls, an honored guest,
under the hospitable roof, at March mont, Grande Alike ^
of Sir John Harvey, who subsequently became Governor
of one of the British Colonies.
The eastern parole limit of the unhappy (i) warriors
was the second stream occurring on the road to the falls :
(1) The Qmhcc Mercury of 9th November, 1813, advertises for
the capture of Abraham Walter, pilot, native of Grandfield, aged
24 years, who had deserted from Beauport on the 6tli November,
1813. Captain Kempt, the agent for the prisoners of war, offers
for his apprehension one guinea reward over and above the Fro^
vincial reward allowed in such cases.
— 8 —
le ruisseau de tours^ Bear Creek, whose waters yet furnish
motive power to mills in the second range of Beauport,
and, until a few years back, to an extensive grist mill —
now in ruins — formerly owned by the laie William Brown.
In 1759, this stream had, at this spot, steep banks, since
solidly bridged over, as porii(»n of the public highway.
The hollow formerly existing was then designated, and
frequently appears in Chevalier Johnstone's and Capt.
John Knox's diaries of the siege, as the " ravine at Beau-
port." What lively scenes Benedict Arnold's myrmidons
enacted in this locality during the crucial winter of
1775-6?
Col. Jos. Bouchette mentions the erection here of a
distillery, about 1790, by the Hon. John Young.
A year or two later, Prince Edward — Her Majesty's
father — then a jolly Colonel of Fusiliers, twenty-four
years of age, might have been nut, on bright summer
mornings, trolling his pair of Norman ponies over the
Beauport road, from Haldimand House to the city, with
the fascinating Madame de Saint Laurent at his side.
Half a century later, in 1841, the Ctue de Beauport,
the Revd. Abb^ C. Chiniquy, the idol of the Beauport
teatotellers, was raising the Temperance jiillar which
now, on the north side of the road, attracts the attention
of tourists.
Let us hie back to this historic ruisseau de Pours.
What gave it its sporting name ?
I have a faint remembrance of a bear story, more than
two hundred years old, in which the local Nimrod,
Seigneur Giffard, whilst lying /^rd?// for wild geese — one
spring — on the sedgy banks of this river, is stated to
have spied a huge bear roaming in the neighborhood,
mayhap in quest of the seigniorial mutton. Gaunt, tired,
possibly unconscious of evil intent, Bruin was lapping
— 9 —
of a
than
11 rod,
one
id to
lood,
ired,
ping
the crystal draught of the ntisscau. To substitute in his
long duck gun, slugs, for goose shot, was the affair of an
instant fur the sporting Laird, and lo ! Bruin's brave
spirit wrs wafted to where all good bears go !
Let us cross Bear Creek close to the front door
of the Beauport Manor and ask about the Seigneur.
" Who was the first Seigneur of this flourishing village ? "
I hear you say —
Here is what we read in history :
Seigneur Robert Giffart or Giffard, Sieur de Beatiporty
a native of Perche, left old for New France, in 1627.
Later on, we find him an English prisoner of war. Taken
on board of Rocmont's fleet, he it was who gave the
l)arish its name, and, as its first Seigntur, watched over
its feeble beginnings. We shall find him a practising
surgeon at Quebec, in 1634 : the calling at that distant
time must have been a bit of a sinecure.
He applied for and was granted by the Company of
New France, the Seigniory of Beauport, on the 14th
January, 1634, according to a Parliamentary return
printed in 1852 ; on the 31st December, 1635, says
Colonel Bouchette. Giftard had several sons and daught-
ers ; two of the latter married the brothers Juchereau,
the sires of the warlike clan of Duchesnays who occupied
the Beauport manor for nearly two centuries.
Robert Giffart, a man of importance in his day, was
elected Church Warden, at Quebec, in 1646. It is
recorded that the Jesuit Fathers selected his house, at
Beau pot t, to ct lebrate their first mass The lettered and
SI oning Esculapius died on the 14th April, 1668, and
was buried in the cemetery at Beauport.
Let us now knock at the chief entrance of the Manor !
Had we, with us, Jean Guion, we might possibly have
a chance of meeting his worthy contemporary. Frangois
Boulle, Seignior Giffart's faithful farmer of the 14th
March, 1634. Alas! Both are enjoying their long rest.
— 10 —
for the last two hundred and fifty years, in yonder rustic
necropolis.
But I was forgetting that, of the venerable Duchesnay
Manor some disjointed ruins are all that^now remain, of
a residence endeared to Canadians for having been the
head-quarters of the chivalrous Marquis of Montcalm
during the thrilling summer of 1759. The circumstance
of the sojourn of the French General, at that Manor, had
so aroused the cupidity of the Quebec treasure seekers
after the hurried departure of the Gallic legions, that
cellars and outer courts were more than once dug up
for gold and silver, supposed to have been concealed
and forgotten there prior to their hurried retreat.
These Doustirswivels might have saved themselves much
labor, many midnight vigils, suffamigaticns and incan-
tations, under suitable planetary influence for searches,
— with or without " a hand of glory, by the light uf a
taper, manufactured from the fat of an executed mur-
derer, — when the clock strikes twelve at midnight " — had
they chosen to bear in mind, that during the drooping,
closing years of French rule, the chief circulating medium
at Quebec was card money, supplemented with Bigot's
Exchange on the French treasury — destined to be dis-
honored.
Some time after the destruction by fire of the old
Manor, in 1879, a mysterious inscription was unearthed
from the ruins Mrs. Gugy, the owner of the property,
kindly forwarded it to the President of the Literary and
Historical Society for eximiination. It gave rise to a very
lively discussion in the English and French press.
The tablet was a circular plate of lead or pewter nine
"nches in diameter, one-quarter of an inch in thickness.
I he fire had much injured it. It appears to have contained
withm its rolls, originally, coins, but the diggers apparently
had abstracted them ; also some document, which alas !
— 11 —
crumbled into dust when exposed to the air. The ins-
cription, as well as can be deciphered, ran thus :
I.H.S. M.I.A. (1)
LAN 1634 LE
NTE
26 IVILBT.IB.BTB-PIiA
PRBMIERB.P.O.GIFABT
SlIfGNBVR.DE.OB.LIEV (2)
The Beauport strand was privileged, by its proximity
to Quebec to play a conspicuous part in the numerous
sieges which have beset the old city
There, in 1690, 1759, 1760, 1775, the invader left in
marks of blood, his foot-prints. Some of Canada's most
noble sons found there a glorious death, others a no
less glorious record of services rendered to their country.
During the occupation by the English of Quebec by
the Kirkes, 1628-33, Beauport, with the exception of the
Ferme des AngeSy had little to do with these unauthorised
conquerors, as peace had been proclaimed between
England and France, when the Kirkes took Quebec. It
was very different in 1690 — J/<^/-(? Juchereau, Monseignat,
Walley and Davis, have each a stirring tale to tell.
Admiral Sir William Phips' abortive attempt to capture
the old rock, on the i6th October, 1690, whilst his second
in command. Major John Walley, landed and headed a
detachment on the Beauport flats, has brought out credit-
ably the successful and stout resistance offered by Count
de Frontenac, ** speaking from the mouth of his cannon,"
and whilst his lieutenants Prevost, Longueuil, de Ste.
H^l^ne, at the head, of his regulars and Beaupre and
(1) JcBU Hominum Salvator; Maria, Josepli, Anna.
(2) For explanation, vide rieturesqtie Qt«e6ec, pages 440-8.
-1^-
Lorette volunteers, met and routed Major Walley's
Puritan Boston host
What an exciting discovery it must have been fur the
sentinels on the Saultau-Matelot batteries, when they,
at day break, on the i6th October, 1690 — spied the
slowly moving lights of the Massachusetts fleet, thirty-
four armed vessels, gliding past the Point of Orleans,
and casting anchor in view of Quebec, thronged with
soldiery, — in their French eyes, merciless heretics, who,
** it had been reported, meant to kill them all, after
cutting off their ears to make necklaces " ?
A grand spectacle awaited Admiral Phips' entrance in
our port. As Parkman well remarks : " One of the
grandest scenes <n the western continent opened up n
his sight. The wide expanse of waters, the lofty promon-
tory beyond, and the opposing heights of Levi, the cata-
ract of Montmorenci, the distant lange of the Laurentian
Mountains, the warlike rock with its diadem of walls and
towers, the roofs of the Lower Town clustering on the
strand beneath, the Chateau St Louis perched at the
brink of the cliff, and over it the white banner span-
gled with fleurs-de-lis^ flaunting defiance in the clear
autumn air. "
The dramatic account of Admiral Phips' repulse has
been too often giv^cn and too well, for me to attempt to
repeat in here. I shall confine myself to a bare menti n
of a few incidents which happened during the week of
alarm, which marked the operations of Major Walley,
on the Beauport beaches, in his vain attempt to cross
the St. Charles at th • ford and assail the city in reverse.
Walley's van, though brave levies of Massachusetts fisher-
men and farmers, had no mean enemy to contend. with.
In one of the engagements, Frontenac in person sallied
forth at the head of 1000 soldiers — Montreal, Three
Rivers ar ^uebec men — to wait on the south side of
the St. C V ics, near the ford, for the appearance of the
invaders, whilst Baron de Longueuil and his chivalrous
13 —
brother, LeMoyne de Ste. H^lbne, headed the Canadian
Militia. Both were wounded, Ste. H61^ne fatally. He
was huried on the 4th December, 1690, in the Hottl-
Dieu cemetery, at Quebec. His two other brothers,
LeMoyne de Bienville and LeMoyne de Maricour, won
laurels in this memorable campaign, whilst the sturdy
Seignior of Beauport, Juchereau de Saint Denis, more
th m sixty-four years of age, in the act of leading his
armed peasants., lost an arm. For his bravery, the French
Monarch awarded him a patent of nobility. He was
more fortunate than his companion-in-arms, the Cheva-
lier de Clermont, an officer of distinction, who was
killed.
The Boston invaders, on re-embarking, had been
compelled to leave behind 5 cannons, 100 lbs. gunpower
and 40 or 50 cannon balls. A detachment of armed
peasants from Beauport and the adjoining parishes, aided
by 40 scholars from the St. Joachim Seminary, led by le
Sieur Carre^ a fighting inhabitant, of Sie. Anne du Petit
Cap, seized and htld the guns, in spite of the detach-
ment sent from the fleet to recapture them. Governor de
Frontenac was so well pleased wth their spirited conduct,
that he presented one of the captured guns to the Semi-
nary scholars and anoiher to the Sieur Qarre. (i)
The little Church, in process of construction in the
Lower Town Market Place, since 1688, and still in exis-
tence, was named, in commemoration of Phip*s defeat.
''■ \otre-Dame de-la-Victoire," and King Louis XIV
ordered a handsome me'ial to be struck, in memory
of it — the well-known Kebeka Liberata Medal.
The occupation of Beauport and adjoining parishes
round Quebec, by Arnold and Montgomery's New
Englanders, in 1775-6, gave rise in this locality to many
strange incidents, unrecorded by the general historian.
L Cown d!Histoirc du Canada. F£aLANO.
— 14 —
The following, I gather, from an account recently furn-
ished me : —
BsiGNioR Ddchesnat, at Beanport, in 1775 — His former, Vincent
Giroux ; current prices of horses, cows, sheep, chickens, tur-
keys, geese, that fell. Jeremiah Duggan, the hair-dresser :
the pi^ he played in the blockade of Quebec.
The following document occurs among the family records of
the late Henry F. Duchesnay, Esq., M.P., for Beauce. Mr. Duches-
nay was a lineal descendant of that fighting seignior of Beauport,
Juchereau Duchesnay, who lost his arm, in 1690, whilst repelling
the invasion of Phips and who received from the French King,
letters of iwhlesse for his meritorious conduct.
It purports to be a tnie copy of a claim made by Seignior
Duchesnay, in the fail of 1776, on the Government for indemnity
on losses suffered whilst upholding the King's authority. The
losses are on farm produce, &c. The claim is sworn to before
Hon. Thomas Dunn, a loyal official of the period. The Caldwells,
Allsops and others had preferred similar claims for which His
Excellency, Guy Carleton, had them indemnified. The document
is curious as indicating the current rate of prices of several objects
still in general use. A rapacious Irish hair-dresser, rejoicing in
the name of Jeremiah Duggan, was a leading figure in this raid
on the Tories, as the Loyalists were then styled.
The Duchesnay stone manor, the head-quarters of General de
Montcalm during the siege of 1759, after being the femily seat of
the Duchesnays for nearly two centuries, became about 1845 the
property of the late Col. B. C. A. Gugy.
Statement of the losses caused to Mr. Duchesnay by the
Amei'ican inva^iony in 1775.
" Vincent Giroux, farmer, residing in a house belonging to Mr.
Duchesnay, Seignior of Beauport, declares under oath that at the
end of November, 1775, there came to Mr. Duchesnay's residence,
at Beauport, a band of about fifty armed rebels, commanded, as
they asserted, by one Jeremiah Duggan, also present.
" That the said Duggan, who was well known to deponent,
entered the house, asked for eatables and told deponent that he
(Duggan) knew that deponent had fettened a cow — that he had
killed pigs and that, at the instant, Duggan declared himself
master of the house.
as
— 15 —
" That on this day Duggan and comrades seized all articles of
furniture — removed them to the garret of the house, locked the
door of the garret and took the key away
" That the said Duggan visited other form houses, leaving other
rebels in charge of M. Duchesnay's house, forbidding them to
interfere with the garret, where the furniture was.
*' That this guard remained at this house — but that other par«
ties of rebels succeeding one another, broke into the garret and
carried away the furniture stored there, a few days before Christ-
mas.
« That from date of entry of the rebels, in the said house — that
is from the end of November, 1775, to the beginning of May last,
(1776), they took the live stock, house furniture, grain, hay and
other objects belonging to the said Mr. Duchesnay."
The old record very clearly discloses the worth, in 1775, of
numerous house utensils, cattle aud farm produce, some of which
have not apparently increased much in value after a hundred
years. Hay does not, each fail, fetch more than $8 per hundred
bundles at Beauport ; horses seem higher in value. Turkeys and
geese are a trifle more in price. The 15 couple of domestic pigeons
" lifted " by Jeremiah Duggan's pals, from the manor, recall by
their presence the old feudal privilege of the seigneur, to keep
pigeons — le droit de colombier — as Lord of the Manor ; in this case
might have been added, Sic vos, non vobis. The Beauport andirons
may yet, possibly, be doing duty in some antique New England
home, with the picture of the « Mayflower " over the mantlepiece.
Jeremiah and his hungry gang of raiders, bent on having their fat
goose for Christmas, 1775, with great foresight inspected, and
with success, the seigniorial larder, also carrying away the kitchen
utensils, a roasting apparatus, a skewer, a gridiron (without even
asking for « the loan " of it) and a goodly supply of cedar pickets,
to do the cooking and broil the steak.
On the 6th May following the English frigate " Lowestoff,"
rounding Pointe Levi, was the signal for the hasty departure of
the hungry Sons of Independance and the occasion for loud
English cheers, when the standard of Britain was run up the
flagstaff on Cape Diamond. Hurrah!
A central figure in the parish of Beauport, in full
view of the city and of the green Isle of Orleans, stands
out : the Roman Catholic temple of worship. The
diminutive structure of 1759, has been replaced by the
large and handsome edifice of our own day.
.<>
-16-
Who could tell of the fervent orisons and daily
prayers sent up to Heaven, during the ever memorable
summer of 1759, in the cherished fane, to avert the war
of extermination, of which the colony was threatened ?
It adjoined Montcalm's headquarters ; its steeple, on the
. 28th June, 1 759, was selected by Goven or de Vaiidreuil
as a safe and suitable observatory from which he could
feast his eyes on the sure destruction of the English fleet,
then lying, since the 23rd June, at anchor near the Island
of Orleans. Monsieur Deslouches, a French naval officer,
had designed and equi|jped at great cost several " infer-
nal engines " to wit : five fire-ships and two large rafts,
which he had sent down at ten o'clock that night from
the Lower Town, with the ebb, to wipe out the Briiish
squadron of 60 ships.
Capt. John Knox, of the 43rd, an eye witness and
accurate observer, in \\\6 Journal of the Siege ^ pronounces
the display the grandest fire works, conceivable. Though
according to Montcalm, who had no faith in them, they
had cost ** a million," they turned out worse than a
failure. Some having been set on fire too soon grounded
before reaching the fleet ; others were courageously taken
in tow by the fearless British tars, in their boats, and run
ashore, where their rigging and hulls blazed away until
the morning " with no oiher harm, says Parkman, than
burning alive one of their own captains and six or seven
of his sailors who failed to escape in their boats." Knox
relates how the " air and adjacent woods reverberated
with sonorous shouts and frequent repetitions of alls
wellf from our gallant seamen on the water."
The whole of that night scene evidently was one of
dismal and appalling grandeur.
What would you give for the prospects of promotion
in the French Navy, of Deslouches, the originator of this
costly and primitive torpedo experiment ?
— 17 —
Governor de Vaudreuil, dejected and crestfallen,
hurried back to his doomed city.
Parkman vividly recalls this incident :
« There was an English outpost at the Point of OrleanK ; and
about eleven o'clock the sentries descried through the gloom the
ghostly outlines of the approaching ships. As they gazed, these
mysterious strangers began to dart tongues of flame ; Hrc ran like
lightning up their masts and stiils, and then they burst out like
volcanoes. Filled as they were with pitch, tar and every manner
of combustible, mixed with fireworks, bombs, grenades, and old
cannon, swivels and muskets loaded to the throat, the effect was
terrific. The troops at the Point, amazed at the sudden eruption,
the din of the explosions and the showers of grape shot, that
rattled among the trees, lost their wits and fled.
The blazing dragons hissed and roared, spouted sheets' of fire,
vomited smoke in black, pitchy volumes and vast illumined
clouds, and shed their infernal glare on the distant city, the tents
of Montcalm, and the long red lines of the British army, drawn up
in array of battle, lest the French should cross from their encamp-
ments to attack them in the confusion." (^Muntcalm and Wolfe,
Vol. II, p. 211)
The Montmore ici falls are still known to old French
peasants as La Vache (the Cow) on account of the
resemblance of their foaming waters to milk, though
others have attributed the name to the noise, like ihe
bellowing of a cow, which is made by the roaring torrent
pending the i»revalence of certain winds. They present,
when swollen by spring floods or by autumnal rains, a most
imposing spectacle. The volume of water, though much
less than that of Niagara, falls from a much greater height,
viz., 251 feet. When the sun lights up its brilliant pris-
matic colors, the undulating mass of foam, rainbow-tinted,
assumes hues of marvellous brightness. Beaupori's won-
drous cataract may be seen under various attractive
aspects.
I have ridden back from it to the storied city, at sunset,
watching entranced, the departing orb of day, shedding
its golden rays on the quaint, old metal-sheathed roofs
— 18 —
of Quebec, and the city windows looking westward ; the
whole panorama, a realm of fairy land lit up with the
quivering sheen of diamonds.
I also remember, on a brisk, starry night amid-winter,
contemplating in dreamy, rapt silence, a novel spectacle,
seldom vouchafed to Quebecers. The snowy peak or
cone at the foot of the cataract, had been scooped out
by an enterprising city restaurateur^ to represent a vast,
glittering palace, provided with icy couches, seats, &c., a
cold,bright,but fitting throne for the Frost King, illumined
by weird Chinese lamps, reminding one of Cowper's glow-
ing description of imperial Catherine's Russian ice palace
of 1787 :
Silently as a dream, the fabric rose,
Ice upon ice, tho' well adjusted parts
Lamps gracefully disposed, and of all hues,
Illumine every side
So stood the bright prodigy
Convivial table and commodious seat
A scene of evanescent glory, once a stream,
And soon to glide into a stream again
(Thk Task, book V., 127)
About a mile and a half from the bridge, occurs the
geological curiosities, denominated the Natural Steps^
adjacent to cascades of three or four yards in depth.
" The rocks are so-called because they exhibit, " says,
Lossing, " a series of rectangular gradations ' resembling
stairs. They are composed of shaly limestone and sup-
posed by some, to have been formed by the abrasion of
the waters, and by others to be original in their shapes.
For an eighth of a mile the river rushes in irregular cas-
cades among these rocks, in a very narrow and tortuous
channel its surface white with foam, and here and there
ird; the
vith the
d-winter,
pectacle,
peak or
ped out
a vast,
5, &c., a
lumined
r's glow-
e palace
)
1*8 the
StepSf
1.
says,
ibling
i sup-
on of
lapes.
cas-
iUOUS
there
niontinorenci Falls.
t !
I n
— 19 —
Fending up fleeces of spray. On the bold, rocky bank we
sat, *.vatching the rushing waters, and made an early
dinner of sandwitches. "
Sweetser adds that fine specimens of trilobites have
been found in the vicinity.
Over the strand at the foot of the Fall, adjoining the
vast saw mills of the Messrs. Hall & Price, a muddy beach
of more than a mile broad extends at low tide. You r n
now at this spot hear the whistle of the Quebec^ Montmo-
renct and Charlevoix Railway conveying its myriads of
halt and rheumatic pilgrims to La Bonne Sainte Annty a
cherished shrine, fourteen miles lower down. Very diffe-
rent scenes greeted here the eye on a sultry July after-
noon (the 31st in 1759) ; a deadly encounter between
Britten and Gaul. Read the oft, told tale in Garneau and
Parkman. Wolfe paid dearly for his ill-timed and rash
assault, from an unprotected position on the beach :
attempting to scale the wet, perpendicular heights
flanked with earth works, protected by woods, bristling
with cannon and crowned by expert French-Canadian
marksmen. He lost nearly 500 men, in killed and
wounded, including those scalped by the Hurons and
other savages. The dauntless English leader and his rash
grenadiers made a grave mistake and the heroic French-
man Montcalm failed to make the most of a victory
which the tide and elements brought to an unsatisfactory
close, (i)
(1) A full account of the siege of Quebec and battle ot Beauport
Flats appears in the Mapk Leaves, for 1864, and in Quebec, Past
and PreserU,
— 20 —
QUEBEC TO CAP ROUGE
Returning by St. Foye Road.
A few doors from the Kent H juse on St Louis street,
occurs the St Louis Hotel, the head quarters of tourists,
salmon and trout fishers.
No american traveller or pleasure seeker should pass,
unnoticed the modest tenement (Gobert's House) close to
Ste. Ursule street where Brigadier General Montgomery's
body was laid out on the 31st December. 1775.
An other land maik in the vicinity is the solid old
Sewell manor, built in 1804, now the head quarters of the
Dominion school ot Cavalry.
On emerging fiom St. Louis Gate, the first object
which attracts the eye is the Skating Rink. Adjoining
stood the old home of the Prentices, in 1781, — Bandon
Lodge, (i) once the abode of Sandy Simpson, (2) whose
cat-o'ninetails must have left lively memories in Wolfe's
ariny. Did the beauteous damsel about whom Horatio,
Lord Nelson, raved in 1782, when, as Commander of
H. M.'s frigate Albematle^ he was philandering m Quebec,
ever live here ? (3)
(1) Tlio omato residoiue of Hon. Jos. Sheliyn. M. P. P., occu-
pies now this historic site.
(2) Sau.ndkrs Simpson. — " He was Provost Marshall in Wolfe's
ujMny, at the atfairs of Louisbomg, Quebec and Montreal, and
cousin of my fathi'i's. He resided in tliat house, the nearest to
Saint Louis Gate, outside, which has not undergone any external
alteration since I was a boy." — From Diary of Deputy Commis-
sary General Jan. Thompson.
(3) Recent evidence extracted by the historian Miles out of the
Thompson papeis and letters, lead to strengthen the theory pre-
viously propounded by me, and to indicate Miss Mary Simpson,
dauyhter of Saunders Simpson, as the famed Quebec beauty of
1782.
— 21 —
D.
is street,
tourists,
J Id pass,
close to
jomery's
)lid old
rsofthe
object
Ijoining
andon
whose
Volfe's
oratio,
der of
uebec,
occn-
Volfo's
il, and
est to
eternal
wimis-
of the
y pre-
ipson,
ity of
This seems very likely. The Parliament Buildings, an
imposing /^/ock facing east, north, south and west with a
si)acious court yard m the centre, a jet-d'eau and lawns
are erected on the north side of the Grande Alice.
The Parliament and Departmental Buildings, the lar-
gest public edifice in the Province of Quebec, begun in
1878, are now completed at a cost of $1,393,784.40. It
forms a square, each side of which externally me.isures
300 feet and encloses a court 198 x 195 feet.
The style of architecture, though not over ornate, is
what was used in public edifices of the XVII century.
JMnbossed pilasters in rustic work, ri>ing from the base-
ment up to the cornice, close the salient angles of each
projection.
The height of the body of the edifice from the ground
to the great cornice is 60 feet, English measure, and 72
feet to the top of the cornice above the attics.
A heraldic Lion passant^ between two fleur de-lys and
three maple leaves, displays the arms of the Province of
Quebec. On the piers of the first story are cut in relief,
the escutcheon of the two first Lieutenant.-Ciovernors
of ihe Province of Quebec ; sculptured on the central
window of the second story, is visible from afar, the
" year " when the structure was commenced, " 1878 ",
and on the side windows are mscribed the monograms
of the Governor General and Lieutenant-Governor, under
whose adniinistj-ation the edifice was built.
Niches on diff. rer.t i>oints of the edifice will exhibit
statues of Jacques Cartier, of Chim plain, «>f Maisonneuve,
Laval, Breb'jeuf, Viel, Oiier, Frontenac, Wolfe, Montcalm,
Levi, de Salaberiy, Elgin; $28,000.00 has be<_n votel
for this object and an able sculptor, Mr. Hebert, is now
pushing on in Paris, this work of art. A statue of the
historian F. X. Garneau, will also be erected in the
grounds, near the fountain.
The interior of the building, will furnish a complete
epitome of Canadian history, by the heraldic groups,
— 22 —
armorial inscriptions, &c., on the pannellings and stair
cases.
Opposite, looms out the handsome Drill Hall and its
adjunct the Cavalry Riding shed. ** Ferguson's house,"
next to it, noted by Professor Silliman in his " Tour
between Hartford and Quebec in 1819," is now difficult
to recognize ; its late owner A. Joseph, Esq., added so
much to its size. It is now leased to Monsieur Boul^ and
rejoices in the name of Le Lion d^Or. Its proximity to
the Legislative Halls, will doubtless make it a popular
resort for members of the Provincial Legislature. Another
landmark of the past deserves notice — the ex-Commander
of the Forces' lofty quarters ; from its angular eaves and
forlorn aspect, it generally went by the name of " Bleak
House." I cannot say whether it ever was haunted, but
it ought to have been, (i) We are now in the Grande
Alice — the forest avenue, which two hundred years ago
led to Silleiy Wood. Handsome terraces of cut stone
dwellings erected by Hon. P. Garneau, Messrs. Joseph,
Hamel, Duquet, Roy, Bilodeau, add much to the appear-
ance of this fashionable neighborhood. On turning and
looking back as you approach Bleak House, you have an
excellent view of the Citadel, and of the old French
works, which extend beyond it, to the cime du Cap^ over-
looking \Ansc dcs Meres. A little beyond the Comman-
der's house, at the top of what is generally known as
Perrault's Hill, stands the Perrault homestead, dating
back to 1820, \Asile Champetre^ lately owned by Mrs.
Henry Dinning, but by the expiration of the lease-hold
of 99 years, claimed by the Ursuline Nuns of Quebec.
To the east of it, on a most commanding position, on
the Buttes-d-NepveUy stands the old Freer Mansion,
rebuilt and adorned by John Roche, Esq. — The Hillocks.
(1) The widening and paving of tlie Grande AlUe^ deserve also
to be noted as signs of progress.
and stair
11 and its
s house,"
i "Tour
difficult
idded so
3ul^ and
imity to
popular
Another
inlander
ves and
" Bleak
ted, but
Grande
ars ago
: stone
[oseph,
ppear-
g and
avean
rench
over-
nman-
•vvn as
iating
Mrs.
-hold
ebec.
1, on
sion,
locks.
3 also
— 23 —
The adjoining range of heights, at present occupied by
the Martello Tower, is known as the ButUs-a-Nepveu^
from the name of one of their earliest occupants under
French rule.
" It was here that Murray took his stand on the
morning of April 28th, 1760, to resist the advance of
Levi, and here commenced the hardest-fought — the
bloodiest action of the war, which terminated in the
defeat of Murray, and his retreat within the city. The
Martello Towers are bomb-proof, they are three in num-
ber, and form a chain of forts extending along the ridge
from the St. Lawrence to the River St Charles. The fact
that this ridge commanded the city,unfortunately induced
Murray to leave it and attempt to fortify the heights, in
which he was only partially successful, owing to the frost
being still in the ground.
The British Government were made aware of the fact,
and seeing that from the improved artillery, the city was
now fully commanded from the heights, which are about
seven hundred yards distant, decided to build the towers.
Arrangements were accordingly made by Col. Isaac Brock
then commanding the troops in Canada. In 1806, the
necessary materials were collected, in the following year
their construction commenced. They were not, however,
completed till 181 2. The original estimate for the four
was ;£8,ooo, but before completion the Imperial govern-
ment had expended nearly ;if 12,000. They are not all
of the same size, but like all Martello Towers, they are
circular and bomb-proof The exposed sides are thirteen
feet thick and gradually diminish like the horns of the
crescent moon, to seven feet in the centre of the side
next the city walls. The first or lower story, contains
tanks, storerooms and magazine ; the second has cells
for the garrison, with port- holes for two guns. On the
top there used to be one 68-pounder carronade, two 24,
and two 9-pounders." {Wfn.J. Anderson),
— 24 —
A party of Arnold's soldiers ascended these heights in
November, 1775, and advanced quite close to the city
wails, shouting defiance at the little garrison. A few
shots soon dispersed the invaders, who retraced thtir
steps to Wolfe's Cove. On the Buttes-a- epveUy the
great criminals were formerly executed. Here, la Corri-
veau, the St. Valier Latarge, met her deserved fate in
1763, after being tried by one of General Murray's Cou t
Martials for murdering her husband. After death she
was hung in chains, or rather in a solid iron cage, at the
fork of four roads, at L^evis, close to the spot where the
Temperance monument has since been built. The loath-
some form of ihe uiurderess caused more th£\n one shud
der amongst the peaceable peasantry of Levis, until
some biave young men, one dark night, cut down the
horrid cage, and hid it deep under ground, next to the
cemetery at Levis, where close to a century afterwards, it
was dug up and sold to Barnum's agent for his Museum.
Sergeant Jas. Thompson records in his diary, under
date i8th Nov., 1782, another memorable execution:
" This day two fellows were executed for the murder
and robbery of Capt. Stead, commander of one of the
Treasury Brigs, on the evening of the 31st Dec, 1779,
between the Upper and the Lower Town. The criminals
went through Port St Louis, about 11 o'clock, at a slow
and doleful pace, to the place where justice had allotted
them to suffer the mo^t ignominious death. It is astonish-
ing to see what a crowd of people followed the tragic
scene. Even our people on the works (Cape Diamond)
l)rayed Capt. Twiss for leave to follow the hard-hearted
crowd." It was this Capt. Twi^s who subsequently fur-
nished the plan and built a temporary citadel, in 1793.
Eleven years later, in 1793, we have, recorded in his-
tory, another doleful procession of red coats, the Quebec
Garrison, accompanying to the same place of execution a
mess-mate (Draper), a soldier of the 7th Fusiliers, then
— 25 —
commanded by the young Duke of Kent, who, after pro
nouncing the sentence of death as commander, over the
trembling culprit, kneeling on his coffin, as son and
representative of the Sovereign, exercised the royal prero-
gative of mercy and pardoned poor Draper.
Look down Perrault's hill towards the south. There
stand, with a garden plot and trees in the foreground, the
Military Home, — where infirm soldiers, their widows and
children, could find a refuge. It has since been purchased
and converted into the " Female Orphan Asylum. " It
forms the eastern boundary of a large expanse of verdure
and trees, reaching the summit of the lot originally
intended by the Seminary of Quebec for a Botanical
(iarden ; subsequently, it was contemplated to build
a new seminary there, to afford the boys fresh air.
Alas ! other counsels prevailed.
Its western boundary is a road leading to the new
District Jail, — a stone structure ot great strenLjtIi, sur-
mounted with a diminutive tower, admirably ada[)ted,
one would imagine, for astron )mic il pursuits. From its
glistening cupola, the Provincial Observatory is visible
to the east.
I was forgetting to notice that substantial building,
dating from 1855 — the Ladies' Home. The Protestant
Ladies of Quebec have here, at no small expense and
trouble, raised a fitting asylum, where the aged and infirm
find shelter. This, and the building opposite,St. Bridget's
A'^ylum, with its fringe of trees and green plots, are real
ornaments to the Grande Alice.
The old burying g-^ound of 1832, with all its ghastly
memories of the Asiatic scourge, has assumed quito an
ornate, nay, a respectable aspect. Close to the toll-bar
on the Grande Allee^ may yet be seen one of the meri-
dian stones which serve to mark the western boundary
of the city, west of the old Lampsoi Mansion. On the
adjoining domain, well named ** Battlefield Cottage, "
— 26 —
formerly the property of Col. Charles Campbell, now
the handsome residence of Mr. Alphonse Charlebois,
who added a new front to the house, a conservatory and
out houses, was the historic well out of which a cup
of water was obtained to moisten the parched lips of the
dying hero, Wolfe, on the 13th September, 1759. The
well was filled in a few years ago, but not before it was
nigh proving fatal to Col. Campbell's, then young son —
(Arch. Campbell, Esq., of Thornhill.) Its site is close to
the western boundary fence, in the garden behind " Bat-
tlefield Cottage."
Here we are at those immortal plains — the Hastings
and Runnymede of the two races once arrayed in battle
against one another at Quebec. The Plains of Abraham
are the eastern boundary of Marchmont, formerly owned
by John Gilmour, Esq., now magnificiently rebuilt by
Thos. Beckett, Esq.
Opposite to the west extremity of Marchmont may be
seen indistinctly from the road, John Burstall's, com-
modious mansion — on a well wooded estate recently
bought from the Marquise de Bassano — nee Symes — a
magnificent and some smaller elms, deck its lawns ;
hence, its name Elm Grove.
A few minutes more brings the tourist to Honb. J. E.
Price's villa- Wolfe-field, where may be seen the precipi-
tous path up the St. Denis burn, by which the Highlanders
British soldiers gained a footing above, on the 13th and
September, 1759, and met in battle array, to win a vic-
tory destined to revolutionize the New World. The
British were piloted in their ascent of the river by a
French prisoner brought with them from England — Denis
de Vitre, formerly, a Quebecer of distinction. Their
landing place at Sillery was selected by Major Robert
Stobo, who had, in May, 1759, escaped from a French
prison in Quebec, and joined his countrymen the English,
at Louisbourg, from whence he took ship again to meet
— 27 —
Saunders* fleet at Quebec. The tourist next drives past
Thornhill, Sir Francis Hinck's old home, when Premier
to Lord Elgin. Adjoining Thornhill amidst trees, glistens
the shining roof of Villa St. Denis^ Israel J. Tarte's
cosy cottage, built close to the diminutive stream, the
ruisseau St. Denis, up which climbed, in 1 759, brave VVolfe,
at the spot where it leaps into Wolfe's Cove, west of
Marchmont hill. In view may be seen from the St. Louis
road, the new stable, farm buildings and well tilled fields
of the intelligent agriculturist who now owns it. Opposite,
appear the leafy glades of Spencer Wood, so grateful a
summer retreat, that Lord Elgin used to say. " There
he not only loved to live, but would like to rest his bones."
Next comes Spencer Grange, the seat of J. M. LeMoine,
Esq., ; then Woodfield, the homestead of the Hon. Wm.
Sheppard (i) in 1847, now of Messrs. John I. and Jas.
Gibb. (2) The eye later dwells on the rustic Church of
St. Michael, embowered in evergreens ; close to which,
looms out, at Sous les Bois, the stately convent oi Jesus-
Marie-, then you meet with villas innumerable — one of
the most conspicuous is Benmore House, Honble Col.
Rhodes' country seat. Benmore House is well worthy,
of a call, were it only to procure a bouquet. This is not
merely the Eden of roses ; Col. Rhodes has combined
the farm with the garden. His underground rhubarb
and mushroom cellars, his boundless asparagus beds and
strawberry plantations, are a credit to Quebec and to the
new Minister of Agriculture, P. Q. The highway which
branches off towards Ste. Foye, is called the Gomin
(1) Hon. I W. Sheppard died in 1867 — regretted as a scholar,
an antiquary, a type of the old English gentleman
(2) This realm of fairy land, so rich is uature's graces, so pro-
fusely embellished by the late James Gibb, Esq., President of the
Quebec Bank^was recently sold for a Cemetery, and if not denuded
pf trees, \% |ikely to continue as an ornament to St. Louis road.
— 28 —
road, after one of its earliest inhabitants, Dr Gomin, a
french botanist, whose dwelling stood, in the last cen-
tury, on the norih side. A few acres to the west, a
conspicuous landnjark is Roslin, the ornate homestead
of Lt. Col. Joseph Bell Forsyth. Amidst a plantation of
lovely trees grown by the owner of the ground, peeps out
Montague Cottage, the residence of Alfred P. Whee-
1-r, Esq., on the north side of the road, adjoining the
Siliery Rectory.
Next come Clermont (i) Beauvoir, (2) Kilmarnock, (3)
Cataraqui, (4) Kilgrasion, Kirk-Ella, (5) The Highlands,
Bardfield (6) Dornald, (7) Meadow Bank, (8) Ravens-
wood, (9) until, after a nine miles drive, Redclyffe
closes the rural landscape — Redclyffe, (10) on the toj)
of Cap Rouge promontory. There, many mdications yet
mark the spot where Roberval's ephemeral colony win-
tered as far back as 1542. One can return to the
city, by the Ste. Foye Road, skirting the classic heights
where General Murray, six months after the first battle
of the Plains, lost the second, on the 28th April, 1760 ;
the Ste. Foye Church was then occupied by the British
soldiers. Your gaze next rests on Holland House, Mont-
gomerys head-quarteis in 1775, behind which is Holland
(1) The stately home of Lt. Col. Ferdinand Turnbull.
(2) The picturesque villa of R. R. Dobell, Esq.
(3) A mossy old hall founded by Mr. McNider in the begin-
ning of the century ; now occupied by the Graddon family.
(4) The gorgeous mansion of Mrs. Chas. E. Levey.
(5) The property of Robert Campbell, Esq.
(6) The picturesque cottage of Alfred Furaiss, Esq.
(7) Founded by the late Hon. John Neilson.
(8) The highly cultivated farm and summer residence of Gus-
tavus Stuart, Barrister, Esq.
(9) The beautiful home of W. Herring, Esq.
(10) Recently acquired by Amos Bowen, Esq.
— 29-
Tree, overshadowing, as of yore, the grave of the Hol-
lands (i)
The view from the Ste Foye road, of the gracefully
meandering St Charles, below, especially during the high
tides, is something to be remembered. The tourist
shortly afte>" detects the iron pillar, surmounted by a
bronze statue of Bellona, presented in 1855, by Prmce
Napoleon Bonaparte — intended to commemorate the
fierce struggle at this spot, of 28th April, 1760. In close
vicinity, appear the bright partenes or umbrageous groves
oi Bellevuey (2) Hamwood, (3) Bijou, (4) Altamont, (5)
Sans-Bruity and the gothic arches of Finlay Asylum ;
soon he re-enters by St John's suburbs, with the broad
basin of the St. Charles and the pretty Island of Orleans
staring him in the face. A trip to the Island will also
repay trouble ; half an hour of bri>k steaming will do it.
The Island contains hotel accommodation. Let him
cross then to St. Joseph, Levis, in the ferry steamer, and
go and behold the most complete, the most formidable,
as to design, the most modern earthworks, making one
forget those of Antwerp. They are capable of contain-
ing three regiments of soldiers. At a point to the north-
east of the lower fort, a plunging fire from above can be
brought to bear, which would sink the most invulnerable
ironclad in the world.
(1) For account of the duel, which laid low one of the Hol-
lands see Picturesque Quehe,c. The tree, however, has lately been
destroyed by a storm,
(2) A stately Convent of Congregational Nuns.
(3) The ornate country seat of Robt, Hamilton, Esq.
(4) The cosy dwelling of Andrew Thomson, Esq., President,
Union Bank.
(5) The homestead of Hon. David A. Ross, L. C.
— 30 —
QUEBEC TO INDIAN LORBTTE.
Of the many attractive sites in the environs of the
city, few contain in a greater degree than the Huron
village of Lorette, during the leafy months of June, July
and September, picturesque scenery, combined with a
wealth of historical associations. The nine miles inter-
vening between Quebec and the rustic auberge of the
village, thanks to an excellent turnpike, can be spanned
in little more than an hour. I shall now attempt to reca-
pitulate some of the sights and incidents of travel which
befell me, while escorting to Lorette an old world tourist,
of very high literary estate, the Revd. Arthur Penhryn
Stanley, then Dean of Westminster and Chaplain to Her
Majesty, Fortunately for myself and for my genial but
inquisitive companion, I was fresh from the perusal of
Bressani, Ferland and Faillon, as well as the excellent
French sketch " Tahourenche, " which A. N. Montpetit
had published, to whom I take this early opportunity of
makmg due acknowledgment. My agreeable and distin-
guished companion had spent one day in the old capital,
sight-seeing. He had devoted the whole forenoon,
visiting
The Citadel on Cape Diamond,
The site of the old French Walls
Wolfe and Montcalm's Monument,
The Laval University — its Museum and Picture
Gallery,
The Literary and Historical Society and its
Museum,
The French Basilica — its Relics, Painting, ^c,
-st-
The Ursuline Convent and its Oil Paintings,
The Dufferin Terrace — the Dufferin Improve-
ments,
The Kent Gate,
The New Parliament Buildings,
The Plains of Abraham,
Spencer Wood and its Grand River Views,
where His Honor Lieut. -Governor Letellier had asked
some of the Quebec literati to meet the literary Hon,
after luncheon. The Dean had engaged a comfortable
carriage and driven down to the Falls of Montmo-
renci, the promenade obligee of all tourists, — crossing
over to the east bank and contemplating the striking
panorama and glittering distant city roofs, from the very
spot, mayhap, on which Wolfe, in July, 1759, ^^^
stood, whilst settling the details of the compaign, which
by its results, was to give the Anglo-Saxon, he who
rejoices in ** Chatham's tongue, " the supremacy in the
New World.
The Natural Steps and the historic ford adjacent
thereto, defended in 1759 t>y Montcalm's militiamen
and Indians, had been inspected ; nothing had escaped
the eagle glance of the learned man. My functions as
Ciceronne, confined to a visit to Lorette, were to com-
mence on the morrow
With a mellow autumnal sun, just sufficient to bronze
the sombre tints, lingering at the close of the Indian
summer, we left the Citadel, where Dean Stanley was
the guest of the Governor General, Lord Dufferin, and
drove through Fabrique and Palace streets, towards the
unsightly gap in our city walls, of yore yclept Palace
Gate, which, thanks to his powerful initiative, we expect
yet to see bridged over with graceful turrets and Norman
towers. The New City Gates and imposing Dufferin
— 32— ^' '
Terrace have since been built, a lasting proof of his
Lordship's interest in the welfare of Quebec.
A turn to the west brought us opposite to the scarcely
perceptible ruins of the Palace (i) of the French Inten-
dants, destroyed by the English shells in 1775, to dislodge
Arnold and Montgomery's New England soldiery.
The park which intervened formerly between it and
the St Charles, many years back, was converted into a
wood yard to store the fuel for the garrison ; a portion
now is used as a cattle market. Opposite, stand the
station and freight sheds of the Can. Pacific Railway ; the
road skirts the park towards the populous St Roch
suburbs, rebuilt and transformed since the great fire of
28th May, 1845, which destroyed 1,600 houses, occupy-
ing the site of former spacious pasture grounds for the city
cows, hence styled by the early French Za Vacherie. In a
trice, we reached Dorchester bridge, the second one, buiH
there in 1822 — the first opened with great pomp by His
Excellency Lord Dorchester in 1789, having been con-
structed a few acres to the west, and called after him.
One of the first objects on quitting the bridge and
diverging westward, towards the Charlesbourg road, on
the river bank, is the stately, solid, antique mansion of
the late Mr Chs. Smith, who at one time owned nearly
all the broad acres intervening between this house and
Gros Fin. The area took, for a time, the name of Smith-
ville ; it was inherited by several members of his family,
who built cosy cottages thereon. These green fields
fringed with white birch and spruce plantations, are
(1) Originally a brev^ety owned by Intendant Talon, and sold
to the French King in 1686, for 15,000 6cibs. Later on, the
Intendant's Palace, in magnificence, rivalled the Ch6ieav. St.
Louis. Messrs. Boswell's extennve Malt House was built in 1886,
on its still solid foundations*
— 33 —
f of his
scarcely
1 Inten-
dislodge
it and
into a
portion
Eind the
ray; the
)t Roch
t fire of
occupy-
the city
rie. In a
ne, buiU
by His
en con-
him.
ge and
)ad, on
sion of
nearly
se and
Smith-
family,
fields
lis, are
ad sold
on, the
eav, St.
a 1886,
watered by the St Charles, the Ka/iir-Koiihat (i) oi
nncient days. In rear of one of the first villas, Jiini>;fieldy
owned by Cleo. Holmes Parke, Esq., runs the little
stream, the Lairet^ at the confluence of which Jacques-
(.'artier wintered in 1535-6, leaving there one of his
ships, the Petite- ITtrmme^ of 60 tons ; its decayed oak
timbers were exhumed in 1843 '^V J<*s. Hamel, City Sur-
veyor of Quebec. Our antKiuanes are starting doubts
anent this discovery. The discussion may yet culminate,
in a second Querci/e (Vantiquaires ! A very remarkable
vestige of French domination exists behind the villa of
Mr Parke — a circular field (hence the name Ringfield)
covering about twelve acres, surrounded by a ditch, with
an earth work once about twenty feet high, to the east, to
shield its inmates from the shot of Wolfe's fleet lying at
the entrance of the St. Charles, befoie Quebec. A minute
description has been given by (ieneral Levi's aide-de-
(ami), the Chevalier ]^^\\\'>,X(^x\<l (2), of what was going on,
(1) Kahir-Kouhat " ft mcnnderinf; strcjim. " Ahatsistnri's lioufio
(tormorly Poplar Grove, thi' liomcstoad of L. T. McPherson Esq),
oil tlic north bunk of the St. (.'Iiarlcs, is now called Kahir-Koubiit.
Here, formerly, dwelt, we are told, Col. De Salaberry, the hero of
Clinteansnay, iintd 1814.
(2) An eye-witness, the Chevalier Johnstone, thus writes :
« The French army in flight, scattered and entirely dispersed,
rushed towards the town. Few of them entered Quebec ; they
went down the heights of Abraham, opposite to the intendant's
Tidace (past St John's gate), directing their course to the horn-
work, and following the borders of the Rlvir ^t. Charles
" It is impossiltle to imngine the disorder and confusion that I
found in the horn work
" The hornwork had the River St. Charhss before it, about
seventy paces broad, which served it better than an artificial
ditch : its front facing the river and the heights, was composed
of strong, thick and high i)alisades, planted perpendicularly, with
gun-holes pierced for several pieces of large cannon in it ; the
river is deep and only fordable at low water, at a musket shot
before the fort. This made it more difiicult to be forced on that
2
-34-
in this earthworth, where at noon, on the 13th Sept.,
1759, were mustered the disorganized French squadrons,
in full retreat from the Plains of Abraham towards their
camp at Beauport. Here, on that fatidical day, was
debated the surrender of the colony, the close of French
power, at the first settlement and winter quarters of the
French pioneers — Cartier's hardy little band.
From this spot, at eight o'clock that night (13th Sept.),
began the French retreat towards Charlesbourg church ;
at 4 a. m. the army was at Cape Rouge, disordered,
panic-stricken.
side than on its other side of earthworks facing Beauport, which
had a more formidable appearance ; and the hornwork certainly
on that side was not in the least danger of being taken by the
English, by an assault from the other side of the river
" M. de Vaudreuil was closeted in a house in the inside of the
hornwork with the Intendant (Bigot) and with some other per-
sons. I suspected they were busy drafting the articles for a
general capitulation, and I entered the house, where I bad only
time to see the Intendant, with a pen in his hand, writing upon
a sheet of paper, when M. de Vaudreuil told me I had no business
there. Having answered him that what he said was true, I
retired immediately, in wrath, to see them intent on giving up
scandalously a dependency for the preservation of which so much
blood and treasure had been expended. On leaving the house, I
met Mr. Dalquier, an old, brave, downright honest man, comman-
der of the Regiment of Beam, with the true character of a good
officer — the marks of Mars all over his body. I told him it was
being debated, within the house, to give up Canada to the English
by a capitulation, and I hurried him in to stand up for the King's
cause, and advocate the welfare of the country. I then quitted
the hornwork to join Poularies at the Ravine of Beauport, but
having met him about three or four hundred paces from the
hornwork, on his way to it, I told him what was being discussed
there. He answered me that sooner than consent to a capitulation,
he would shed the last drop of his blood. He told me to look on
his table and house as my own, advised me to go there directly, to
repose myself, and clapping spurs to his horse, he fled like light-
ning to the hornwork." — (Johnstom^s Diary of Siege of Qtiebec,
X769).
— 35 —
On ascending a hill (Clearihue's) to the north, the eye
gathers in the contour of a dense grove, hiding in its
drooping folds " Auvergne," the former secluded country
seat of Chief Justice Jonathan Sewell, now owned by
George Alford, Esq.
A mile to the north, in the deep recesses of Bourg
Royal, rest the fast crumbling and now insignifiant ruins
of the only ru.al Chateau of French origin round Quebec.
Was it built by Talon, or by Bigot ? an unfathomable
mystery. Silence and desertion at present reign supreme,
where of yore Bigot's heartless wassailers used to meet
and gamble away King Louis's card money and piastres.
" And sunk are the voices that sounded in mirth I
And empty the goblet? and dreary the hearth.
The tower or boudoir, where was immured the Algon-
quin maid Caroline (i) the beautiful, that too has
crumbled to dust. The Rossignol and Hermit thrush
now warble ^heir soft melody over the very spot which
once echoed the dying shriek of this dusky Rosamond ;
the poniard of a rival had struck deeply, had struck home.
Charlesbourg, in part, colonized by Intendant Talon's
quiet peasantry, with its white cottages, its frugal colo-
nists, its erect cedar picket fences, like stockades or
French sentries forgotten to prevent Indian surprises,
Hv
(1) Beyond the unmistakable vestiges of its having 'been of
early French construction, there is nothing known of the origin
under French rule, of Bigots little Chateau. History is replete
with details about his peculations and final punishment in the
Bastille ot France ; possibly the legends in prose and in verse,
which mantle round the time-worn ruin, have no other founda-
tion than the fictions of the poet and the novelist. Thanks to
Amed6e Papineau, W. Kirby, Jos. Marmette, Edmond Rousseau,
Beaumanoir, Bigot's Chateau, is now immortalized.
— 36 —
amidst its lands, which fan-like all radiate (i) from a
common centre, the parish church, is not an unapt type of
the primitive New France village.
But let us hurry on, over the pleasant road, meandering
rouna the crest of the highlands, towards the quaint In-
dian settlement of Lorette. Here we are at last, but whtre
are the wigwam of the chief medecine man, his chichiquois
and totems ? I had expected an Indian greeiing such as
rejoiced the ears of friend Ahatsistari^ when recently he
escorted there the light-hearted offirers of the French
frigate Laplace^ anchored under Cap Diamond.
" Quaig ! quai^ ! oiataro ! (Good morning ! Good
morning I Friend !) and the response " Qutagf Quaig /
(Good morning ! Good morning !) was ready, when
instead of the great Chief Tahourenche^ a comely young
woman, with nothing in her air to remind you of Poca-
hontas, in classic French, informed us that if it was her
father Paul we were seeking, she regretted to say, he
was not at home. We were politely asked to come in and
rest, and as I was known to her father, a silver tray with
French wine was brought in ; proud we felt in pledging
the health of the great Tahourenche, whose hospitable
roof, says Ahatsistari, has sheltered " dukes, counts and
earls, " as well as many men famous in letters, war and
trade.
(1) Louis XIV, granted to his Canadian Intendant Talon, in
1665, the lauds of Bourg-Royal, Bourg La Reine, Bourg-Talon.
The great Intendant had located French settlers here ; — the lots
were divided and tapered ott' to a point round the church, so that
in the event of an Indian raid the tolling of the bell — U tocsin —
might call them to arms and make them concentrate in one spot.
from a
t type of
mdering
laint In-
Jt whtre
'chiquois
such as
?ntly he
French
Good
Quaig /
, when
young
f Poca-
as her
ay, he
in and
y with
edging
)itable
and
ir and
m, m
aloQ.
le lots
that
)sin —
spot.
— 37 —
TAHOURENCHE,
" I'm the chieftain of this mountain.
Times and seasons found me here,
My drink has been the crystal fountain.
My fare the wild moose or the deer. "
{The HuiioN Chief, by Adam Kidd,)
There is a faithful portrait of this noble savage,
such as drawn by himseif and presented, we believe, to
the Laval University at Quebec ; for glimpses of his
origin, home and surroundings, we are indebted to an
honorary chief of the tribe, Ahatsistari. (i)
Paul Tahourenche. (Francois Xavier Picard), Great
Chief of the Lorette Hurons, was born at Indian Lorette
in 1810 ; he is consequently in 1879, 69 years of age.
tall, erect, well proportioned, dignified in face and
deportment ; when habited in his Indian regalia : blue
frock coat, with bright buttons and medals, plumed fur
cap, leggings of colored cloth, bright sash and armlets,
with war axe, he looks the beau ideal of a respectable
Huron warrior, shorn of the ferocity of other days. Of
the line of Huron chiefs who preceded him, we can fur-
nish but a very scant history, Adam Kidd, who wrote the
Huron Chief m 1829, and who |)aid that year a visit to
the Lorette Indians and saw their oldest chief, Oui-a-ra-
lih-to, having unfortunately failed to fulfil the promise he
then made of publishing the tr ditions and legends of
the tribe furnished him on that occasion. Of Oui-a-ra-
lih-to, we learn from Mr. Kidd, " This venerable patri-
(1) Ahatsistari, such the name of tht; former ^rt;at Huron
warrior, which Mr. Montpctit was aHuwwl to assume when
elected Honorary Cliief of the Council of Sachems, possibly for
the service rendered to the tribe, as their historiographer,
sit
Jf ,
— 38 —
arch, who is now (in 1829) approaching the precincts of
a century, is the granison of Tsaa-ra-lih-to^ head chief of
the Hurons during the war of 1759. Oui-a-ra-lih-to^
with about thirty-five warriors of the Indian village of
Lorette, in conjunction with the Iroquois and Algon-
quins, was actually engaged in the army of Burgoyne, a
name unworthy to be associated with the noble spirit of
Indian heroism. During my visit to this old chief — May,
1829 — he willingly furnished me with an account of the
distinguished warriors, and the traditions of different
tribes, which are still fresh in his memory, and are handed
from father to s )n, with the precision, interest and admi-
ration that the tales and exploits of Oisian and his heroes
are circulated in their original purity to this day among
the Irish." Mr. Kidd alludes also to another great chief,
Atsistariy who flourished in 1637, and who may have
been the same as the Huron Saul Ahatsistarty who lived
in 1642.
THE HURONS OF LORETTE.
Of the powerful tribes of the aborigines, who, in remote
periods, infested the forests, lakes and streams of Canada,
none by their prowess in war, wisdom in council, success
as tillers of the soil, intelligence and lofty bearing sur-
passed the Wyandats, or Hurons. (i) They numbered
15,000 souls, according to the historian Ferland; 40,000
(1) The French named the Wyandats, Hurons, from their style
of wearing their hair — erect and thrown back, giving their head,
says the historian Forland, the appearance of a boar 8 head, " uiie,
hurc dc sanylicr,"
— 39
:mcts of
chief of
m-lih-tOy
illage of
Algon-
joyne, a
spirit of
•—May,
it of the
lifferent
handed
d admi-
» heroes
among
Lt chief,
ay have
10 lived
emote
mada,
uccess
ig sur-
bered
1.0,000
\t style
head,
" utie
according to Bouchette, and chiefly inhabiting the country
bordering on Lakes Huron and Simcoe ; they might,
says Sagard, have been styled the " nobles " among
savages in contradistinction to that other powerful confe-
deracy, more democratic in their ways, also speaking the
Huron language, and known as the Five Nations
(Mohawks, (i) Oneydoes, Onondagas, Cayugas and
Senecas,) styled by the French the Iroquois, or Hiro-
quois, fjom the habit of their orators of closing their
orations with the word " Hiro " — I have said.
" Tis a curious fact that the aborigines whom Jacques
Cartier had found masters of the soil, at Hochelaga
(Montreal,) and Stadacona (Quebec,) in 1535, sixty-eight
years later on, in 1603, when Champlain visited these
Indian towns, had disappeared : a different race had
succeeded them. Though it opens a wild field to conjec-
ture, recent mvestigations seem to indicate that it was
the Huron-Iroquois nation who, in 1535, were the en/an/s
du sol at both places, and that in the interim, the Algon-
quins had, after bloody wars, dispersed and expelled ihe
Huron-Iroquois. The savages with whom the early French
settlers held intercourse can be comprised under two
specific heads — the Algonquins and the Huron-Iroquois
— the language of each differing as much, observes the
learned Abbe Faillon, as French does from Chinese.
It would take us beyond the limits of this sketch to
recapitulate the series of massacres which reduced these
warlike savages, the Hurons, from their high estate to
that of a dispersed, nomadic tribe, and placed the Iroquois,
or Mohawks, at one time nearly destroyed by the Hurons,
in the ascendant.
(1) The Dutch called them Maqim8;the English, Mohawks,
probably, from the name of the river Mohawk which flows into
tlie Hudson.
— 40 —
Their final overthrow may be said to date back to the
great Indian massacres of 1648-49, at their towns, or
missions, on the shores of Lake Simcoe. the first mission
being founded, in 16 15, by the Friar L. Caron, accom-
panied by twelve soldiers sent by Champlain in advance
of his own party. The Jesuit missions were attacked by
the Iroquois in 1648; St. L')uis, St. Joseph, (i) St.
Ignace, (2) Ste. Marie, (3) St. Jean, (4) successively fell,
or were threatened ; all the inmates who escaped sought
safety in flight ; the protracted sufferings of the missio-
naries Breboiuf and Gabriel Lallemant have furnished
one of the brig'.itest pages of Christian heroism in New
France. Brebceuf expired on the i6th March, and Lalle-
mant, on 17th March, 1648. A party of Hurons sought
Manitoulin Island, then called Ekaent ton ; a few fled
to Virginia ; others succeeded in obtaining protection on
the south shore of Lake Erie, from the Erie tribe, only
to share later on, the dire fate of the nation who had
dared to incorporate them in iis sparse ranks.
Father P. Ragueneau (the first writer, by the by, who
makes mention of Niagara Falls — Relations de 1648,)
escorted three or four hundred of these terror-stricken
people to Quebec on the 26th July, 1650, and lodged
them in the Island of Orleans, at a spot since called
HAnse du Fort^ where they were jo'ned, in 1651, by a
paity of Hurons, who in 1649, on hearing of the mes-
sacre of their western brethren, h. id asktd to winter at
Quebec. For ten years past, a g ouj) of Algonquin^, Mon-
tagnais and Hurons, amiist incessant alarms, had been
located in the picturesque parish of Sillery ; they, too,
(1) The mission of St. Joseph, composed of 400 Huron families,
was suddenly attacked by the Iroquois ou the 4th July, 1648.
(2) St. Ignace was surprised and taken on tlie 16tl) Marcl), 1049.
(3) Ste. Marie mission-house was given to the tlames by tlio
Jesuits themselves on tlie 15th May, 1649.
(4) St. Jean was ravaged on 7th December, 1042.
41 —
who
1648:)
rickeii
odged
called
by a
m es-
ter at
Mon-
bten
too,
[Qilies,
18.
1G49.
' the
were in quest of a more secure asylum. Negotiations
were soon entered into between them and their perse-
cuted friends cf the West ; a i)lan was put forth to com-
bine. On the 29th March, 1651, the Sillery Indians,
many of whom were Hurons, saught a shelter, though a
very unsecure one, in a fortified nook, adjoining their
missionary's house, on the land of E'eonore de Grand-
maison, purchased for them at VAnse du Forty in the
Island of Orleans, on the south side of the point opposite
to Quebec.
Here they set to tilling the soil with some success,
cultivating chiefly Indian corn, their numbers being occa-
sioiKilly increased during ihe year 1650, by their fugitive
brethern from the West, until they counted above 600
souls. Even under the guns of the picket fort of Orleans,
which had changed its name to He Ste. Marie, in remem-
brance of their former residency, the tomakawk and
seal ping-knife reached them ; on the 20th May, 1656, 85
of their number were carried away captives, and six men
killed, by the ferocious Iroquois ; and on the 4th June,
1656, they had to fly before their merciless tormentors.
The big guns of Fort St. Louis, which then stood at the
north-west extremity of the spot on which — Dufferin
Terrace has lately been erected, seemed to the Hurons a
more effectual protection than the howitzers of Anse du
Fort, so they begged from Governor Djillebout for leave
to nestle under ihem in 1658. T'was granted. When the
Marquis de Tracy had arranged a tiuce with the Iroquois
in 1665, the Hnr^n refugees bade adieu to city life and
t(j city dust. Two years later, we fmd them ensconced
at lieauport, where oihers had squatted on land belong-
ing to the Jesuits ; they stopped there one year only, and
suddenly left, in 1667, to pitch their wigwams for a few
years at Cote St. Michel, four and a half miles fiom
(Quebec, at the Mission of Notre-fXtme de Foye, now
Called Ste. Foye. On the 20th December, 1673, restless
— 42-.
and alarmed, the helpless sons of the forest sought the
seclusion, leafy shades and green fields of Ancienne
Lorette (i). * Here they dwelled nearly twenty-five years.
The youths had grown up to manhood, with the terrible
memories of the pass still fresh in their minds. One fine
day, allured by hopes of more abundant game, they
packed up their household gods, and finally, in 1697,
they went and settled on the elevated plateau^ close to
the foaming rapids of St. Ambroise, now known as
Indian, ox Jeune^ Lorette.
T'is here we shall now find them, 336 souls all told (2)
living in comparative ease, successful traders, exemplary
Christians, but fast decaying Hurons.
" The Hurons," says Ahatsistari, (3) ** are divided into
four families ; that of the Deer ; of the Tortoise ; of the
Bear; of the Wolf. The children hail from the maternal
side. Thus, the great Chief Fran^ois-Xavier Picard —
Tahourenche — is a Deer^ and his son Paul is a Tortoise^
because (Her Highness) Madame Tahourenche is a Tor-
toise ; a lithe, handsome, amiable woman for all that.
" Each family has its chief, or war captain ; he is
elected by choice. The four war captains choose two
(1) This parish was called after the celebrated Church of Santa
Casa, of Loretto, in Italy. The Huron missionary, father Chau-
monot, had disposed their huts around the church, which he had
erected in imitation of the Loretto Chapel in Italy, where he had
seen a vision of angels.
(2) A census of the settlement taken on 19th January, 1879,
exhibit the population as composed of 336 souls, divided as
follows : Adult Males, 04 ; Adult Females, 137 ; Boys, 49 ; Girls, 56.
Total 336. 143 males to 193 females; bachelors must liave been
at a premium in the settlement. VVc understand that a complete
history of the tribe is now in coiirse of preparation by the Revd.
Prosper Vincent, a son of Chief Vincent.
(3) An excellent sketch in French has been published of
TalwurencJie and his tribe, in the Opinion Piiblique, under the
110m deplume of A/iutsistari,\yh\ch we think ourself warranted in
crediting to the elegant pen of A. N. Montpetit, one of their
honorary Chiefs.
>ught the
Ancienne
ve years.
I terrible
One fine
Tie, they
in 1697,
close to
lown as
I told (2)
cemplary
ided into
/ of the
maternal
*icard —
Tortoise,
is a Tor-
that.
; he is
ose two
of Santa
|er Chau-
he had
•e he had
ry, 1879,
dded as
rirls, 56.
ive been
[omplete
|e Revd.
Ished of
lider the
^nted in
)f their
— 43 —
council chiefs ; the six united select a grand chief, either
from among themselves or from the honorary chiefs, if
they think proper."
The Lorette Chapel dales back, as well as the Old
Mill^ to 1 73 1. In 1862 the Chapel suffered much by fire.
The tribe occupies land reserved by Government,
under the regulations of the Indian Bureau of Ottawa.
" Indian Lorette comprises from forty to fifty cottages,
on the plateau of the falls — spread out, without design,
over an area of about twenty square acres. In the centre,
runs the king's highway, the outer half sloping down
towards the St. Charles. The most prominent objects are
the Church, a grist mill and Mr. Reid's paper mill ;
close by, a wooden fence encloses " God's acre, " in the
centre of which a cross marks the tomb of Chief Nicho-
las. " (i) It is, indeed, *' a wild spot, covered with the
(1) Probably the same as alluded to in a quaint old engraving
in our possession. Under tlie portrait of Chief Nicholas is printed
" Nicholas Vincent, Isawanhonhi," principal Christiun chief and
Captain of the Huron Indians, established at La Jeune Lorette,
near Quebec, habited in the costume of liis country, as when
presented to his Majesty George IV, on the 7th of April, 1825,
with three other chiefs of his nation, by Generals Brock and
Carpenter, the chief bears in his hand the wampum or collar, on
which is marked the tomahawk given by his late Hajesty Geoige
HI. The gold medal on his neck was the gift of His Majesty on
this presentation.
" They were accompanied and introduced into llngland on the
14th December, 1824, by Mr, W. Cooper, who, though an English-
man, they take to be a chief of their nation, and better known to
them as chief ToiirJmunchir
N. B. — It may be well to say that from the earliest times the
Lorette Indians have been in the habit of electing as " Honor.iry
Chiefs " Quebecers of note, who may have rendered service to the
tribe. An oil painting is now in the possession of Noble Campbell,
son of the late Wm. Darling Campbell, of Quebec, exhibiting the
installation as a Chief, in 1837, of the Lite Robert Symes, J. P. of
Quebec.
J
"-^m
-44-
primitive forest and seamed by a deep and tortuous
ravine, where the St. ('hatles foanis, white as a sn(jw-
drift, over the black ledges, and where the sunshine
struggles through mntted boughs of the pine and the fir,
to bask for brief moments on the mossy r^cks, or flash
on the hurrying waters Here, to this day, the
tourist finds the remnants of a lost people, harmless
weavers of baskets and j ewers of mocissins, the Huron
blood fast bleaching out of ihem." (Frs. Parkman.)
Of " free and independent elector " none here exist,
the little Lorette world goes on smoothly without them.
" No Huron on the reserve can vote. No while man is
allowed to settle within the sacred precincts of the
Huron kingdom, composed, ist, of the iofiy Plateau oi
the village of Indian Lorette, which the tribe occupy.
2nd. Of the forty square (40 x 40) acres, about a mile
and a half to the north-west of the village. 3id. Of the
Rocmont settlement, in the adjoining Coimiy of Port-
neuf, in the very heart of the Laurentine Mountains,
ceded to tlie Hurons 'oy Government, as a comiiensation
for the Sei^^niory of vSt. Oabnel, of which Government
took possession, and to which the Hurons set up a claim.
'* In all that which pertains to the occupation, the
])Ossessio;i and the ;ulniinisir.ition of these fragments (-f
its ancient extensive lerntory, the usag s and cnstoms
of the tribe have fo ce of law. The \illage is govi rned
by a Council of Sachems ; in cases of misunderstandings
an appeal lies to the Ottawa Bureau, under the control
of the Minister of the Interior (our Dow ung street wisely
abstaining to interfere, except on very uge.u occasions).
Lands descend by right of inheritance ; the Huion
Council alone being authorized to issue location tickets ;
none are granted but to Huron boys, strangers being
excluded. Of course, these di jabiliiies affect the denizens
of the reserve only ; a Huron (and there aie some,
Tahourenche^ Vincent and others) owning land in his own
— 45 —
ortuous
I sn(j\v-
Linshine
the fir,
)r flash
ly, the
armless
Huron
n.)
e exist,
t them.
man is
of the
T^eai/ of
Dccupy.
: a mile
Of the
)f Port-
intains,
insation
nment
claim.
»n, the
ents (»f
isioms
vi rned
n clings
control
wisely
>ions).
luiun
kt'ts ;
being
lizens
some,
s own
right elsewhere, and paying taxes and tithes, enjoys the
rights and immunities of any other British subject."
From the date of the Lorette Indian settlement in
1697, down to the year of the capitulation of Quebec —
1759 — the annals of the tribe afford but few stirring
incidents : an annual bear, beaver, or cariboo hunt ; the
return of a war party, with its scalps — English, probably
as the tribe had a wholesome horror of meddling with
the Iroquois.
An occasional pcnv-wmv as to how many warriors could
be spared to assist their trubted and brave allies, the
French of Quebec, against the heretical soldiers of Old
or New England.
We are in possession of no facts to show that these
Christianised Hurons differed much from other Chris-
tianised Indians ; church services, war-councils, feasting,
smoking, dancing, scalping an i hunting, filling in, socia-
bly, agreeably or usefully, the daily routine of their
existence. Civilization, as understood by Christianised
or by Pagan savages, has never inspired us with unqua-
lified admiration.
The vaiious siege narratives we have perused, whilst
they bring in the Indian allies, at the closj of the battle,
10 "finish off" the wounded at Montmorenci, in July,
1759 ; at the Plains of Abraham, in September, 1759 ;
at Ste. Foye. in Ai)ril, 1760, generally mention the Abe-
niquis lor this charming office of friseurs. The terror,
n ly, the horror, which the tomahawk and scalping knife
inspired to the British soldiery, was often greater than
their fear of the French musquetoons.
British ru'e, in 1759, if it did bring the Hurons less
of campaigning and fewer scalps, was the harbinger of
domestic peace and stable homes, with remunerative
contracts each fall for several thousands of pairs of
snow-shoes, cariboo mocassins and mittens for the En-
glish regiments tenanting the citadel of Quebec, whose
^^
— 46 —
wealthy officers every winter scoured the Laurentine
range, north of the city, in quest of deer and cariboo,
under the experienced guidance of Gros Louis, Sioui,
Vincent, and other famous Huron Nimrods.
The chronicles of the settlemeut proclaim the valour
and wisdom of some of their early chiefs ; conspicuous
appears the renowned Ahatsistari, surnamed the Huron
Saul, from his early hostility to missionaries ; death
closed his career, on the verdant banks of Lake Huron,
in 1642, a convert to missionary teachings.
At the departure of the French, a new allegiance was
forced on the sons of the forest ; St. George and his
dragon for them took the place of St. Louis and his
lilies. The Deer^ the Bear^ the Tortoise and the Wolf^
however, have managed to get on well with the Dragon.
In 1776, Lorette sent its contingent of painted and
plumed warriors to fight General Burgoyne's inglorious
campaigns. The services rendered to England by her
swarthy allies in the war of 181 2 were marked; each
succeeding year, a distribution of presents took place
from the Quebec Commissariat and Indian Department.
Proudly did the Hurons, as well as the Abenaquis, Mon-
tagnais, Micmac and Malecite Indians bear the snow-
white blankets, scarlet cloths and hunting- knives awarded
them by King George, and by the victors of Water-
loo. Each year, at midsummer, Indian canoes, with
their living freight of hunters, their copper - coloured
squaws and black-eyed papooses, pad led from Labrador,
Gaspd, Ristigouche, Baie des Chaleurs, and pitched
their tents on a point of land at Levi, hence called Indian
Cove, the city itself being closed to the grim monarchs
of the woods, reputed ugly customers when in their cups.
A special envoy, however, was sent to the Lorette
Indians on similar occasions. The Indians settled on
Canadian soil were distinguished for their attachment
— 47 —
to England, who has ever treated them more mercifully
than did " Uncle Sam."
What with war medals, clothing, ammunition, fertile
lands specially reserved at Lorette, on the Ristigouche,
at Nouvelle, Isle Verte, Caughnawaga, St. Regis, Pointe
Bleue, the '* untutored savage," shielded by a beneficent
legislation, watched over by zealous missionaries, was at
times an object of envy to his white brethren ; age or
infirmity, seldom war, tore him away from this vale of
sorrow, to join the Indian " majority " in those happy
hunting grounds promised to him by his Sachems.
The sons of the forest were ever ready to parade their
paint, feathers and tomahawks, at the arrival of every
new Governor, at Quebec ; and to assure Ononthio (i)
of their undying attachment and unswerving loyalty to
their great father or august mother ** who dwells on the
other side of the Great Lake. " These traditions have
descended even to the time when Ononthio was merely
a Lieutenant-Governor under Confederation. We recol-
lect meeting, in plumes and paint, on the classic heights
of Siilery, on the 31st March, 1873, ^ stately deputation,
composed of twenty-three Hurons from Lorette, return-
ing from Clermont, the country seat of Lieutenant-
Governor Caron, where they htd danced the war-dance
for the ladies, and harangued, as follows, the respected
Laird of Clermont, just appointed Lieutenant-Governor :
Ononthio :
Aisten tiothi nonSa (2) tisohon dekha hiaiononstati
desonSaSendio daskemion tesontariai denonSa ation dati-
toSanens tesanonronhSa nionde, aonSa desonSaSendio
(1) Means the Qrmt Mountain, the name they gave Governor
de Montmagny and his successors.
^2) The 8 is pronounced oia.
— 48 —
deSa desakatade ; aSeti desanonronkSanion datitoSanens
chia ta skenralethe kiolaoutouSison tothi chia hiaha aSeti
dechienha totinahiontati desten de sendete ataki atichiai
aSeti alonthara deskemion ichionthe desien tiodeti aisten
orachichiai.
Rev. Prosper SaSatonem. The Memory Man. (Rev.
Mr. Vincent, a Chiefs son, then Vicar at Sillery.)
Paul Tahourenche^ ist Chief. The Dawn of Day.
Maurice Agnolin^ 2nd Chief. The Bear.
Francis Sassennio. The Victor of Fire.
Gaspard Ondiaralethe. The Canoe Bearer.
Philippe TheonSatlasta. He stands upright.
Joseph Gonzague Odilonrohannin. He who does not
forget.
Paul Jr, 7 ,'eianontakhen. Two United Mountains.
Honord Telanontoukhe. i ne Sentry.
A. N. Montpeiit Ahatsistari. The Fearless Man —
And others ; in all, 23 warriors.
[Translation].
'* The chiefs, the warriors, the women and children of
our tribe, greet you. The man of the woods also likes
to render homage to merit ; he loves to see in his chiefs
these precious qualities which constitute the statesman.
" \11 these gifts of the Great Spirit : wisdom in
council, prudence in execution, and that sagacity we
exact in the Captains of our nation, you possess them
all, in an eminent degree. '
" We warmly applaud your appointment to the exalted
post of Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec,
and feel happy in taking advantage of the occasion to
present our congratulations.
49 —
oSanens
ha aSeti
atichiai
ti aisten
. (Rev.
)
►ay.
oes not
lins.
Ian —
" May we also be allowed to renew the assurance of
our devotion towards our August Mother, 'vho dwells
on the other side of the Great lake, as well as to the
land of our forefathers.
" Accept for you, for Madame Caron and your family,
our best wishes."
P. S. — Whilst closing these lines, we learn th.t
Tahourenche and his Huron braves will again be allowed
(i) to renew the assurance of their devotion and loyalty
to our gentle Queen, and that ere many suns set, in full
costume they will offer to Ononthio^ her envoy and her
accomplished daughter, ihe Princess Louise, their
rebpeciful homage, under ihe whispeiing pmes ot
Spencer Wood, where oft' of yore have roauied their
forefathers.
ith June 1879.
ren of
> likes
chiefs
>man.
ni in
y we
them
alted
tibec,
m to
(1) The Lorette Huioiis piiid their respects to His Excellency
und to H. R. H., the Princess Louise, later on, but not at Spencer
Wood.
50 —
CHATEAU-BIGOT.
ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE.
. " Ensconced 'mid trees this chateau stood —
'Mid flowers each aisle and porch ;
At eve soft musie charmed the ear —
High blazed the festive torch.
But, ah ! a sad and mournful tale
Was her's who so enjoyed
The transient bliss of these fair shades —
By youth and love decoyed.
Her lord was true — yet he was false,
False — false — as sin and hell —
To form(* plights and vows he gave
To one that loved him well."
The Hermitage,
From time immemorial an antique and massive ruin,
standing in solitary loneliness, in the centre of a clearing
at the foot of the Charlesbourg mountain, five miles
from Quebec, has been visited by the young and the
curious. It was once a two-story stone building, with thick
ponderous walls. In length, it is fifty-five feet by thirty-
five feet broad — pierced for six windows in each story,
with a well proportioned door in the centre. In 1843, at
the date of my first visit the floor of the second story
was yet tolerably strong ; I ascended to it by a rickety,
old staircase. The ruin was sketched in 1858, by Col.
Benson Lossing and reproduced in Harper's Magazine
for January, 1859. The lofty mountain to the north-west
of it, is called La Montagne des Ormes; for more than a
T.
ve rum,
clearing
^e miles
and the
ith thick
thirty-
h story,
1843, at
d story
rickety,
y Col.
agazine
th-west
than a
I
f — ^•
c «^ a
*^ ?
^ r.
3.0
C(
a;
te
ih
m
ci
ta
th
to
F]
D
a
le
illi
til
(
the
pie
wai
per
444
gao
wh:
1)0E
fror
mat
A
sior
atey
8te\
inl
is ii
land
(leec
rant
ia Aj
vent
— 51 —
century, the Charlesbourg peasantry designate the ruin
as La Mauon de la Montagne, The English have Chris-
tened it The Hermitage^ whilst o the French portion of
the population, it is known as Chateau-Bigot, and Beau-
manoir ; and truly, were it not on account of the asso-
ciations which surround the time-worn pile, few would
take the trouble to go and look at the dreary object.
The land on which it stands was formerly included in
the Fief de la TrinHe^ granted between 1640 and 1650
to Monsieur Denis, a gentleman from La Rochelle, in
France, the ancestor of the numerous clan of Denis,
Denis de la Ronde, Denis de Vitre, &c. (i) This sei-
gniory was subsequently sold to Monseigneur de Laval,
a descendant of the Montmorenci who founded in
1663 the Seminary of Quebec, and one of the most
illustrious prelates in New France : the portion towards
the mountain was dismembered. When the Intendant
(1) I am happy to be able to throw some additional light on
tlie early times of this mysterious ruin, wliich has so i)er-
plexed Quebec antiquaries. T'is probable this stately mansion
was built by the great Intendant Talon, as the Baronial clmtcau^
permitted by his grant, (see Seiifniurial Documents, 1852 — " page
444 and 448) according to which he was empowered to establish
iraols, a fourpost gibbet a post Avith an iron collar on
which his arms should be engraved." Of all this redoutable feudal
pomp, there are no vestiges now extent. Of how the chateau fared
from Talon's time to Bigot's, we have failed to unearth any infor-
mation.
After the conquest, the land came by purchase into the posses-
sion of the Stewart family, lately represented by the Hon.. John
Stewart's. A most interesting but lengthy letter from one of the
Stewart, describing the winter months he spent at the Hermitage
in 1775-6, whilst Arnold, held for Congress, the environs of Quebec
is in my possession. Mr. Wm. CraAvford, the late owner of the
land and ruins, having kindly allowed me the use of his title-
deeds. I read that '• Charles Stewart, avocat ot notaire demeu-
rant k Quebec, proprietaire du fief de Grand Pre, autrefois dit De
lu Mistanguenne ou Mont Plaisir, k la Canardi^re, par acte de
vente du 26 Juin 1780,Jdevant Jean Antoine Panet, N. P., conc^da
— 52 —
Talon formed his Baronie Des Islets (i) he annexed to
it certain lands of the Fief de la Tiinit:\ amongst others
that port on which now stand the remains of the old
chateau, of whi( h he setms to have been the builder,
but which he subsequently s Id. Bigot having acquired
it long after, enlarged and improved it very much. He
was a luxurious French gentleman who more than one
hundred years ago, held the exalted post of Intendant
under ihe French Crown in Canada. (2) In those days
the forests which skirted the city were abundantly stocked
with game : deer of several varieties, bears, foxes, perhaps
even that noble and lordly animal, now extinct in the Pro-
vince of Quebec, the Canadian stag or Wapiti, roamed in
herds over the Laurentine chain of mountains and were
\x, titre de cens ct rentes seigueurijiles ii Monsieur Jean Lees,
le Jeune, Simon Fraser, le Jeune, et William Wilson, n^gociant
en cette ville, 10 arpents de front situes dans le fief Grand Pre
on Mont Plaisir, i\ la Canardii^re, au lieu nomine La Montague ou
r Hermitage, prenant d'un bout, vers le sud .lUx terres de Joseph
Hedard et Jean-Baptiste LeRoux dit Cardinal, et allant en pro-
fondeur vers ienoid, quatorze arpents ou environ, jusqu's!i la vielle
cloture du verger, icelui verger compris en la presente concession
et vente, les dix arpents de front joignant du cote du sud-ouest
au fief do la Trinite, appartenant au Seminaire, et du cote du
nord-ouest i\ la terre de Jean Chattereau, ensemble la raaison &
deux etages, une grange et une etable en bois, construits sur les
dits dix arpents.
The property was resold tlic 12tli August 1805, by John LcfS
ci aL, to Oliarles StcAvart, Esq., Comptroler of Customs, Quebec.
(1) May 1675, Louis the XIV and Colbert granted to Monsieur
le comte Tahm, Intendant, the seigniory des Islets, '' together
with those thiee neigliboring villages to us belonging the first
called Bourg Royal, the second Bourg la Reine, the third Bourg
Talon, subsecjuently changed into the Barony of Orsainville." —
For /and, II Vol., p. 69.)
(2) Hawkin's Picture of Quebec will give us an idea of the
splendour in which the Intendant lived in his town residence :
" Immediately through Palace Gate, turning towards the left,
and in front of the Ordinance building and store-houses, once
— 53 —
nexed to
jst others
r the old
) builder,
acquired
ich. He
■han one
ntendaiit
lose days
y stocked
, perhaps
I the Pro-
earned in
md were
fean Lees,
negociant
I rand Pro
iitagne ou
le Joseph
t en pro-
i la vielle
onces.sion
siid-ouest
cote (In
maisoQ ^
s sur les
hn Lcf s
Quebec,
^lonsleiir
together
tlie first
d Bonrg
ville."—
I of the
nee :
the left,
es, once
shot within a few miles of the Chateau St. Louis. This
may have been one of the chief reasons why the French
I.ucullus owned the casde, which to this day bears his
name — a resting place for himself and friends after the
chase. The profond seclusion of the spot, combined with
its beautiful scenery, would have rendered it attractive
during the summer nionths, even without the sweet
repose it had in store for a tired hunter. Tradition
ascribes to it other purpose-^, and amusements less per-
mis-.ible than those of the chase. A tragical occurence
enshrines the old building; with a tinge of mystery.
Francois Bigot, thirteenth and last Intendant of the
Kings of France in Canada, wa-* born in the [)rovince of
(juienne, and descended of a family distinguished by
professional eminence at the French bar. His Commis-
sion bears dnte " loth June, 1747, " the Intendant had
the charge of four departments : Justice, Police, Finance
and Marine. He had previously filled the post of Inten-
stood an edifice of great extent, sunounded by a spacious garden
looking towards the River St. Charles and as to its interior decora-
tions, iar nioro splendid than the Castle of St Lewis. It was the
I'alace of the Intendant, so called, because tlic sittings of the
Sovereign Council were held there, after the establishment of the
Royal Crovifinnient in New France. A small district adjoining is
still called L,' Palak by the old inhabitants, and the n.imc of tlit*
yate, (since removed) an»l of the well-proportioned street whith
leads to it, are derived from tiie same origin.
" The Intendant's Palace was described by LaPotherie, in 1698,
iiR consisting of eighty <o/,sc.v, or four hundred and eighty feet c*!"
buildings so that it appeared a little town in itself The King's
stores were kept there. Its situation does not at the present time
apptNir advantageous, but the aspect of the River St. Charles was
widely different in those days. The property in the neighborhood
belonged to the Government, or to the Jesuits ; large meadows
and tlowery parterres adorned the banks of the River, and reached
the base of the rock ; and as late as the time of Charlevoix, in
1720, that quarter of the city is spoken of as being the most beau-
tiful. The entrance was into a court, through a large gate way,
the ruins of which, in St. Valier street, still remain."
— 54 —
dant in Louisiana, and also, at Louisbourg. The disaffec-
tion and revolt which his rapacity caused in that city,
were mainly instrumental in producing its downfull and
surrender to the English commander, Pepperell, in 1745.
Living at a time when tainted morals and official cor-
ruption ruled at court, he seems to have borrowed his
standard of morality from the mother country : his mal-
versations in office, his extensive frauds on the treasury,
some ;£'4oo,ooo ; his colossal speculations in provisions
and commissariat supplies furnished by the French
government to the colonists during a famine ; his dis-
solute conduct and final ^downfall, are fruitful themes,
wherefrom the historian can draw wholesome lessons
for all generations. Whether his Charlesbourg (then
called Bourg Royal) castle was used as the receptacle
of some of his most valuable booty, or whether it was
merely a kind of Lilliputian Parc-aux-Cerfs^ %mh. as his
royal master had, tradition does not say. It would
appear, however, that it was kept up by the plunder
wrung from sorrowing colonists, and that the large profits
he made by pairing from the scanty pittance the French
government allowed the starving residents, were here
lavished in gambling, riot and luxury.
In May, 1757, the population of Quebec was reduced
to subsist on four ounces of bread per diem, one lb. of
beef, HORSE-FLESH OR CODFISH ; and in April of the fol-
lowing year, this miserable allowance was reduced to
one-half. *' At this time. " remarks the historian Gar-
neau, '* famished men were seen sinking to the earth in
the streets from exhaustion."
Such were the times during which (i) Louis XV.'s
minion would retire to his Sardanapalian retreat, to
(1) These were times in which royalty did not shine forth in
peculiarly attractive colors. On one side of the English Channel
loanied out the effeminate figure of the French Sultan, Louis XV.,
revelling undisturbed in the scented bowers of his harem, the
disaffec-
hat city,
ifull and
in 1745-
cial cor-
wed his
his mal-
reasury,
ovisions
French
his dis-
themes,
lessons
I (then
:eptacle
it was
1 as his
would
blunder
^ profits
French
here
duced
lb. of
he fol-
ed to
Gar-
irth in
XV. 's
It, to
rthin
annel
J XV.,
, the
— 55 —
gorge himself at leisure on the life-blood of the Canadian
people, whose welfare he had sworn to watch over ! Such,
the doings in the days of La Pompadour. The results of
this misrule were soon apparent : t/ie British lion quietly
and firmly placed his paw on the coveted morsel. The loss
of Canada was viewed, if not by the nation, at least by
the French Court, with indifference. Voltaire gave his
friends a banquet at Ferney, in commemoration of the
event ; the court favorite congratulated Majesty, that
since he had got rid of these " fifteen thousand arpents
of snow, " he had now a chance of sleeping in peace ;
the minister Choiseul urged Louis the XV to sign the
final treaty of 1763, saying that Canada would be un
embarras to the English, and that if they were wise they
would have nothing t j do with it.
In the mean time the ed cross of St. George was waving
over the battlements on which the 1 illy-spangled banner
of Louis XV, (i) hai proudly sat with but one interrup-
tion for one hundred and fifty years, the infamous Bigot
was provisionally consigned to a dungeon in the Bastille
— subsequently tried and exiled to Bordeaux ; his pro-
perty was confiscated, whilst his confederates and abettors
Parc-aux-Ccrfs ; La Pompadour, managing state matters ; on the
other, a Brunswicker, (George II) one who, we are told, " had
neither dignity, learning, morals, nor wit — who tainted a great
society by a bad example : who, in youth, manhood, old age, was
gress, low and sensual : " — although Mr. Porteus, (afterwards My
Lord Bishop Porteus) says the earth was not ^good enough for
him^ and that his only plaee was heaven! — whose closing speech
to his dying, loving, true-hearted Queen is tlius related by Thac-
kery : <* With the film of death over her eyes, writhing in intole-
rable pain, she yet had a livid smile and a gentle word for her
master. You have read the wonderful history of that death-bed?
How she bade him marry again, and the reply the old King
blubbered out, " Non, ncn.faurai des inattresses. There never was
such a ghastly farce." — (^The Four Gfeoryes.)
(1) lu 1629, when Quebec surrendered to Kerth.
— ■■•i
— 56 —
such as Varin, Breard, Maurin, Corpron, Martel, Estebe
and others, were also tried and punished by fine, impri-
sonment and confiscations : one Penisseault, a govern-
ment clerk (a butcher's son by birth), who had married
in the colony, but whose pretty wife accompanied the
Chevalier de Levi on his return to France, seems to have
fared better than the rest.
But to revert to the chateau walls, as I saw them on
the 4th June, 1863.
After a ramble with an English friend through the
woods, which gave us an opportunity of providing our-
selves with wild flowers to strew over the tomb of the
" Fair Rosamond," (i) such as the marsh marygold,
clintonia, uvularia, the siarflower, vero lica, kalmia, tril-
lium, and Canadian violets, we unexpectedly struck on
the ruin. One of the first things which attracted notice
was the singularly corroding effect the easterly wind has
on stone and mortar in Canada : the east gable being
indented and much more eaten away than that exposed
to the western blast. Of the original structure nothing is
now standing but the two gables and the division walls ;
they are all three of great thickness ; certainly no modern
house is built in the manner this seems to have been. It
must have had two stories, with rooms in the attic and a
deep cellar : a communication existed from one cellar to
the other through the division wall. There is also visible a
very small duor cut through the cellar wall of the west
(1) The fascinating daiigliter of Lord ClilFord, ftimoiis in the
legendary history of England, as the mistress of Henry II, shortly
before his accession to the throne, and the subject of an old
ballad. She is said to have been kept by her royal lover in a
secret bower at Woodstock, the approaches to which formed a
labyrinth so intricate that it could only be discovered by the
clew of a silken thread, which the King used tor that purpose.
Queen Eleanor discovered and poisoned her about 1173 — (Noted
names of Fiction^ 1175. See also Woodstock. — Wavcrly-Novels.
Jl, Estebe
ne, impri-
a govern-
married
mied the
IS to have
them
on
^ugh the
ling our-
of the
narygold,
mia, tril-
truck on
d notice
k^ind has
le being
exposed
3thing is
walls ;
modern
)een. It
c and a
ellar to
visible a
le west
in the
, shortly
an old
er in a
rmed a
by the
mi pose.
-{Noted
vels.
--57-^
gable ; it leads to a vaulted apartment of eight feet square :
the small mound of masonry which covered it might origi-
nally have been effectually hidden from view by a plan-
tati(jn of trees over it. What could this have been built
for, asked our romantic friend ? Was it intended to secure
some of the Intendant's plate or other portion of his
ill-gotten treasure ? Or else as the Abbe Ferland sug-
gests : (i) "Was it to store the fruity old Port and
sparkling Mosel'e of the club of the Barons, who held
their jovial meetings there about the beginning of this
century ? " Was it his mistress's secret boudoir when the
Intendant's lady visited the chateau, like the Woodstock
tower to which Royal Henry picked his way through
" Love's I^adder ? " Qtiien sabe) Who can unravel the
mystery? It may have served for the foundation of the
tower which existed when Mr. Papmeau visited and des-
cribed the place fifty-eight yeais ago. The heavy cedar
rafters, more than one hundred years old, nre to this day
sound: one has been broken by the fall, probibly, of
some heavy stones.
(1) I am indebted to my old friend the late Abbe Ferland for the
fallowing remark: *' I visited Chateau-Bigot during the summer
of 1834. It was in the state described by Mr. Papineau. In the
interior, the walls were still partly papered. It must not be for-
gotten that about the beginning of this century, a club of Bor.
vivants used to meet frequently in the Chateau."
(Three celebrated clubs tlourisJied here long before the StacLv
cona and bt. James'Club were thought of. The first was formed
in Quebec, about the luginning of this century. It was originally
culled, says Lambert, the Beef Steak Club, wiiich name it soon
chiinged for that of the Barons Club. It consisted of twenty-one
members, '• who are chiefiy the principal merchants in tlie colony,
and are styled barons. As the members drop off, their places are
supplied by knights elect, who are not installed as barons until
there is a sufficient number to pay for the entertainment which is
given on that occasion." J. Lambert, during the winter of 1807,
attended one of the banquets of installation, which w<as given in
the Union Hotel (now Morgan's Tailoring Store facing the Place
— 58-
There are several indentures in the walls for fire
places, which are buit of cut masonry ; from the angles
of one, a song sparrow flew out, uttering its anxious note.
We searched and discovered the bird's nest, with five
spotted, dusky eggs in it. How strange ! in the midst
of ruin and decay, the sweet tokens of hope, love and
harmony ? What cared the child of song if her innocent
offspring were reared amidst these mouldering relics of
the past, mayhap a guilty past ? Could she not teach
them to warble sweetly, even from the roof which echoed
the dying sigh of the Algonquin maid ? Red alder trees
grew rank and vigorous amongst the disjointed masonry,
which had crumbled from the walls into the cellar ; no
trace existed of the wooden staircase mentioned by Mr.
Papineau ; the timber of the roaf had rotted away or
been used for camp-fires by those who frequent and fish
the elfish stream which winds its way over a pebbly ledge
towards Beauport. It is well stocked wiih small trout,
which seem to breed in great number in the dam near
the Chateau.
d'Armes.) The Hon. Mr. Dunn, the President of the Province,
and administrator during the absence of Sir Eobert. S. Milnes,
attended as the oldest baron. The Chief Justice and all the prin-
cipal officers of the government, civil and military, were present.
This entertainment cost 250 guineas. The Barons club, says Wm
Henderson, was a sort of Pit Club, — all, Tories to the backbone.
It was a very select affair — and of no long duration. Among the
members, if my memory serves me right, were John Coltman,
George Hamilton. Sir John Caldwell, Sir George Pownall, H. W.
llyland, George Heriott, (Postmaster and author), Mathew Bell.
Gilbert Ainslie, Angus Shaw. (Notes of IF. Henderson, of Hemison.
The other club went under the appropriate name of " Sobet
Club " — lucus a non lucendo perhaps : it flourished about 1811. It
seems to me more than likely that it was the Club of Barons, and
not the Sober Club, who caroused under the romantic walls of
the Hermitage. The third Club flourished at Montreal ; it took
the name of the Beaver Club, and was, I believe, composed of old
Northwesters.)
ovince,
Milnes,
e prin-
•resent.
5 Wm
bone,
g the
tman,
:. W.
Bell,
ilson.
ISobei
111. It
and
ills of
took
)fold
— 59 —
Those who whish to visit the Hermitage, are strongly
advised to take the cart-road which leads easterly from
the Charlesbonrg church, turning up. Pedestrians will
l)refer the other road ; they can, in this case, leave their
vehicle at Gaspard Huot's boarding-house, — a little higher
than the church of Charlesbourg, — and then walk
through the fields skirting, during greater part of the
road, the murmuring brook I have previously mentioned,
but by all means let them take a guide with them.
I shall now translate and condense, from the interest-
ing narrative of a visit paid to the Hermitage in 1831,
by Mr. Amdd^e Papineau and his talented father, the
Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau, the legend which attaches
to it :
CAROLINE, OR THE ALGONQUIN MAID.
(By AMfiDliB Papinhad.)
" We drove, my father and I, with our vehicle to the
very foot of the mountain, and there took a foot-path
which led us through a dense wood. We encountered
nnd rro<^sed a rivulet, and then ascended a plateau cleared
d, a most enchanting place ; behind us and on our
^ as a thick forest ; on our left the eye rested on
ou .less green fields, diversified (i) with golden harvests
(1) It is painful to watch the successive inroads perpetrated by
sports men an idlers on the old Chateau. In 1819, an old
yse, visited it ; doors, verandah, windows and
. as complete. He, too, lost his way in the woods,
in without the help of an Indian beauty. It was
he haunted house ; supposed to contain a deal of
Qiiebccer, Mr
cverythiDg el
but found it ...
then known ah
French treasoror and called La Maison du Bourg Jtoyal.
— 60 —
and with the neat white cottages of the peasantry. In
the distance was visible the broad and placid St. Lawrence
at the foot of the citadel of Quebec, and also the shining
cupolas and tin roofs of the city houses ; in front of us,
a confused mass of ruins, crenelated walls embedded in
mos'i and rank grass, together with a tower half destroyed,
beams, and the mouldering remains of a roof. After
viewing the tout ensemble,, we attentively examined each
portion in detail — every fragment was interesting to us ;
we with difficulty made our way over the wall, ascending
the upper stories by a staircase which creaked and trem-
bled under our weight. With the assistance of a lighted
candle, we penetrated into the damp and cavernous
cellars, carefully exploring every nook and corner, listening
to the sound of our own footsteps, and occasionally star-
tled by the rustling of bats which we disturbed in their
dismal retreat. I was young, and therefore very impres-
sionable. I had just left college ; these extraordinary
sounds and objets at times made me feel very uneasy.
I pressed close tc my father, and dared scarcely breath ;
the remembrance of this subterranean exploration will
not easily be forgotten. What were my sensations when
I saw a tombstone, the reader can imagine ? ' Here we
are, at last ! ' exclaimed my father, and echo repeated
his words. Carefully did we view this monument ; pre-
sently we detected the letter ' C ', nearly obliterated by
the action of time ; after reniaing there a few moments,
to niv uns|)eakable delight we made our exit from this
chamber of death, and, stepping over the ruins, we again
alighted on the green sward. Evidently wheie we stood
had formerly been a garden : we could still make out the
avenues, the walks and plots, over which plum, lilac and
apple trees grew wild.
*' I had not yet uttered a word, but my curiosity getting
the better of my fear, I demanded an explanation of
this mysterious tombstone. My father beckoned me
towards a shady old maple ; we both sat on the turf, and
ntry. In
Lawrence
le shining
nt of us,
edded in
lestroyed,
)f. After
ined each
ig to us ;
iscending
and trem-
a lighted
:avernous
•, listening
nally star-
i in their
y impres-
aordinary
y uneasy.
breath ;
tion will
ns when
Here we
repeated
nt ; pre-
rated by
oments,
rom this
:e again
^e stood
out the
lac and
L' getting
iation of
led me
lurf, and
— 61 —
he then spoke as follows : — You have, no doubt, my son,
heard of a French Intendant, of the name of Bigot, who
had charge of the public funds in Canada some where
about the year 1757 ; you have also read hew he equan-
dereJ these moneys and h(jw his Christian Majesty had
him sent to the Bastille when he returned to France, and
had his j)roperty confiscaterl. All this you known, I
shall now tell you what, probably, you do not know.
This Intendant attempted to lead in Canada the same
dissolute life which the old noblesse led in France before
the French Revolution had levelled all classes. He it
was who built this country seat, of which you now contem-
plate the ruins. Here, he came to seek relaxation Irom
the cares of office ; here, he prepared entertainments to
which the rank and fashion of Quebec, including its
Governor General, eagerly flocked : nothing was wanting
to complete the eclat of this little Versailles. Hunting
was a favorite pastime of our ancestors, and Bigot was a
mighty hunter. As active as a chamois, as daring as a
lion was this indefatigable Nimrod, in the pursuit of bears
and moose.
" On one occasion, when tracking with some sporting
friends an old bear whom he had wounded, he was led
over mountainous ridges and ravines, very far from the
castle. Nothing coi'.ld restrain him ; on he went in
advance of every one, until the bloody trail brought him
on the wounded animal, which he soon dispatched.
" During the chase the sun had gradually sunk over
the western hills ; the shades of evening were fast des-
cending : how was the lord of the manor to find his way
back ? He WjS alone in a thick forest : in this emergency
his heart did not fail him, — he hoped by the light of the
moon to be able to find his way to his stray companions.
Wearily he walked on ascending once or twice a high
tree, m order to see further, but all in vain : soon the
unpleasant conviction dawned on him that, like others in
.v-J-
— 62 —
similar cases, he had been walking round a circle. Worn
out and exhausted with fatigue and hunger, he sat down
to ponder on what course he should adopt. The Queen
of night, at the moment shedding her silvery rays around,
only helped to show the hunter how hopeless was his
present position.
Amidst these mournful reflections, his ear was startled
by the sound of footsteps close by : his spirits rose at the
prospect of help being at hand ; soon he perceived the
outlines of a moving white object. Was it a phantom
which his disordered imagination had conjured up ?
Terrified, he seized his trusty gun and was in the act of
firing, when the apparation, rapidly advancing towards
him, assumed quite a human form : a Hth figure stood
before him with eyes as black as night, and raven tresses
flowing to the night wind ; a spotless garment enveloped
in its ample folds this airy and graceful spectre. Was it
a sylph, the spirit of the wilderness ? Was it Diana, the
goddess of the chase, favoring one of her most ardent
votaries with a glimpse of her form divine ? It was
neither. It was an Algonquin maid one of those ideal
types whose white skin betray their hybrid origin — a
mixture of European blood with that of the aboriginal
races. It was Caroline, a child of love born on the
shores of the 2:reat Ottawa river : a French officer was
her sire, and the powerful Algonquin tribe of the Beaver
claimed her mother.
" The Canadian Ni nroJ '•cruck at the sight of such
extraordinary beauty, askeO ner name, and after relating
his adventure, he begged of her to show him the way to
the castle in the neighborhood, as she must be familiar
with every path of the forest. Such is the story told of
the first mcetmg between the Indian beauty and the
Canadian Minister of Finance an 1 Feudal Judge in the
year 175.—
le. Worn
sat down
le Queen
s around,
IS was his
s startled
)se at the
;ived the
phantom
ired up?
;he act of
; towards
ire stood
en tresses
nveloped
Was it
iana, the
^t ardent
I? It was
ose ideal
►rigin — a
jboriginal
on the
icer was
Beaver
of such
relating
|e way to
familiar
told of
inJ the
[e in the
— 63 —
" The Intendant was a (i) married man : his lady
resided in the Capital of Canada. She seldom accompa-
nied her husband on his hunting excursions, but soon it
was whispered that something more than the pursuit of
wild animals attracted him to his country seat : an intri-
gue with an Indian beauty was hinted at. These discre-
ditable rumors came to the ears of her ladyship : she
made several visits to the castle in hopes of verifying her
worst fears : jealousy is a watchful sentinel.
" The Intendant's dormitory was on the ground floor
of the building : it is supposed the Indian girl occupied
a secret apartment on the flat above ; that her boudoir
was reached through a long and narrow passage, ending
with a hidden staircase opening on the large room which
overlooked the garden,
" The King, therefore, for his defence
Against the furious Queen,
At Woodstock builded such a bower,
As never yet was seen.
Most curiously that bower was built,
Of stone and timber strong."
(Ballad of Fair Rosamond.)
'* Let us now see what took place on this indentical
spot on the 2nd July* i75- — It is night; the hall clock
has just struck eleven ; the ceaseless murmur of the neigh-
boring brook, gently wafted on the night wind, is scar-
cely audible : the (2) Song Sparrow has nearly finished
his evening hymn, while the (2) S^vtet Canada bird.
(1) Error — he was a bachelor. These unions were not uncom-
mon. We find the Baron de St. Castin marrying Matilda, the
Lcnutiful daughter of Madocawando : he became a famous Indian
Chief, helping D'Iberville, in Acadia, and left a numerous pro-
geny of olive colored princesses with eyes like gazelle's — (J. M. L.)
(2) Melospiza melodia.
(3) Zouotrichia leucophrys.
— 64 —
from the top of an old pine, merrily peels his shrill
clarion. Silence the most profound pervades the whole
castle; every light is extinguished ; the pale lays of the
moon slumber softly on the oak floor, reflected as they
are through the gothic windows ; every inmate is wrapped
in sleep, even fair Rosamond who has just retired.
Suddenly her door is violently thrust open ; a masked
person, with one bound, rushes to her bed side, and
without saying a word, plunges a dagger to the hilt in
her heart. Uttering i piercing shriek, the victim falls
heavily on the floor. The Inttndant, hearing the noise,
hurries up stairs, raises the unhappy girl who has just
time to point to the fatal weapon, still in the wound, and
then falls back in his arms a lifeless corpse. The whole
household are socn on foot ; search is made for the
murderer, but no clue is discovered. Some of the inmates
fancied they had seen the figure of a woman rush down
the secret stair and disappear in the woods about the
time the murder took place. A variety of stories were
circulated ; some ])retended to trace the crime to the
Intendant's wife, whilst others alleged that the avenging
mother of the Creole was the assassm ; a few again urged
that Caroline's father had attempted to wipe off the
stain on the honor of his tribe, by himself dispatching
his erring child. A profound mystery to this dny sur-
rounds the whole transaction. (Caroline was buried in
the cellar of the castle, and the letter " C " engraved on
her tombstone, which, my son, you have just seen."
More thin a century has n *w eiap ed >.ince ihe jieriod
mentioned in th s narrative. I seaich in vain for several of
the leading characteristics on which Mr. Papineau des-
cants so eloquently : time, the gt. it destroyer, has oblite-
rated many trace>. Nothing meets my view but moulder-
ing walls, over which green moss and rank weeds cluster
profusely. Unmistakable indications of a former garden
there certainly are, such as the outlines of walks over
which French cherry, apple and gooseberry trees grow
lis shrill
le whole
s of the
as they
wrapped
retired.
masked
de, and
le hilt in
tim falls
ie noise,
has just
und, and
le whole
for the
I inmates
sh down
bout the
ies were
; to the
ivenging
in urged
off the
atching
ly sur-
uried in
ved on
In.
[•eriod
tveralof
lu des-
oblite-
loulder-
cluster
gaiden
:s over
is grow
— 65 —
in wild luxtiriance. I take home from the ruins a piece
ot bone ; this decayed piece of mortality may have
formed part of Caroline's big toe, for aught I can
establish to the contrary. Chateau-Bigot brings back to
my mind other remembrances of the past. I recollect
reading that pending the panic consequent on the sur-
render of Quebec in 1759, the non-combattants of the
city crowded within its walls ; this time not to ruralize,
but to seek concealment until Mars had inscribed another
victory on the British flag. I would not be prepared to
swear that later when Arnold and Montgomery had pos-
session of the environs of Quebec, during the greater
portion of the winter of 1775-76, some of those prudent
English merchants (Adam Lymburner at their head),
who awaited at Charlesbourg and Beauport, the issue of
the contest, did not take a quiet drive to Chateau -Bigot,
were it only to indulge in a philosophical disquisition on
the mutability of human events ; nor must I forget the
jolly pic-nics the barons held there some eighty years
ago. (i)
On quitting these silent halls, from which the light of
other days has departed, and from whence the voice of
revelry seems to have fled for ever, I recrossed the little
brook, already mentioned, musing on the past. The soli-
tude which surrounds the dwelling and the tomb of the
dark-haired child of the -vilderness, involuntarily brought
to mind that beautiful passage of Ossian (2) relating to
the daughter of Reuthamir, the " white bosomed "
Moina : — " I have seen the walls of Balclutha, but they
(1) The Hon. Mr, Dunn, Administrator of the Province in
1807, was the senior baron ; Hons. Mathew Bell, John Stewart,
Messrs. Muir, Irvine, Lester, McNaught, Grey Stewart, Munro,
Finlay. Lymburner, Paynter, these names were doubtless also to
be found amongst the Canadian barons ; the Hon. Chas. de Lanau«
didre, was the only French Canadian member
(2) Book of Carthon.
d
J-
— 66 —
were desolate. The fire had resounded in the halls : and
the voice of the people is heard no more. The thistle
shook there its lonely head ; the moss whistled to the
wind. The fox looked out from the window's the rank
grass of the wall waved round its head. Desolate is the
dwelling of Moina, silence is in the house Raise
the song of mourning, O bards ! over the land of stran-
gers. They have but fallen before us : for one day we
must fall."
Is : and
thistle
to the
e rank
! is the
. Raise
f stran-
day we
JI F'A.RT:
L^KIE ST. J-OHIsr
^^liTL"' * « W«-»*^-«««*i-Our Trout Lakes
and Clubs. ~ Our Summer and Winter Sports.
I
TO
OUR OLDEST SPORTING FRIEND
CHAELES LANMAN
OF Georgetown, Washington, whose pen and
PENCIL HAVE DONE MUCH IN THE PAST, TO
MAKE KNOWN OUR WOODS AND LAKES.
These hasty notes are gratefully inscribed.
9
Spencer Grange, 4th June, 188a
«l- M. LeMOINE.
c
o
n
B
( •
QUEBEC TO LAKE ST. JOHN
Roberval Hotel, 16th May, 1889.
It was with feelings of intense relief, that I left this
morning, the dusty and parched streets of old Quebec,
and took my seat on the Quebec (5^' Lake St. John train^ (i)
next to a sporting friend, bound, like myself, to the land
of the Wananish.
Do not for all that, fancy, I was in quest of the peer-
less king of our great Northern Inland sea — the land —
locked salmon of Lake St. John ?
Oh ! no : the season when this dainty gentleman nib-
bles at the fly, was not yet., and besides, I bid adieu,
long since, to the rosy dream of my youth, fly-fishing.
A few years back, I had performed the same journey,
but under far less pleasant auspices. No railway, nor
Origin op Q. & L. S. J. Ry (1)
Quebec & Gosford Railway, as a wooden railway, commenced
construction in 1869-1870. Route, Quebec to Gosford. Suspended
operations in 1872-73. Failure : wooden rails. In 1879, an Iron
road was commenced, and continued slowly till 1883, when H. J.
Beemer took the contract to complete line to Lake St. John, and
completed it to Roberval in 1888.
Distance Quebec to Roberval 190 miles
to complete and under contract. Eastern Extension
to Chicoutimi (5 miles completed) 65 "
Roberval to St. Prime 5 "
La Tuque Branch 30 «
StGabriel 10 «
Total 300 «
H. G. Joly, first president in 1869-70 ; W. M. Baby, President
palace cars in those days, to span the mighty, unexplored
trackless wilderness, north of Quebec.
The trip to Chicoutimi was made in that dear old tub,
the defunct steamer Clyde ; the weather being propitious,
it was pleasant enough.
Alas ! for the remainder of the route ! the intervening
seventy miles from Chicoutimi to St. (J^de'on, on the
eastern shore of Lake St. John !
How can I becomingly recall that dire tale of discom-
fort and misery ?
Rain began to pour as soon as we passed the Terres
Rompues and fell without intermission, until we reached,
at Hebertville, the house of Henry Dery, an old forester
and native oi Jacques Cartier^ who, as he informed us,
had been called after the pioneer of salmon fishers on
the Jacques Cartier, Dr. Henry, stnff surgeon to His
Majesty's Forces, at Quebec, in 1828 — the charming
author of Trifles from my Port Folio.
Ere the era of railways, travellers had many painful
experiences in the Saguenay region.
I had resigned myself to being jolted on a buckboard^
over one hundred hills, comprised in the seventy miles
of highway from Chicoutimi to Lake St. John, on roads
rendered nearly impassable by rain. It was mud and
in 1875; Hon. E. Chinic, Vice-President, 1875 ; John Ross, Esq.,
J. B. Renaud, Hon. P. Garneau and W. Withall, Directors, 1875 ;
J. J. Rickon, chief engineer.
S. Peters, Esq., President ; H. J. J. B. Chouinard, Vice-Presi-
dent. Hon. D. A. Ross, John J. Ross, Jules Tessier, M.P.P., J. D.
Brousseau, G. G. Stuart, Hon. F. Langlier, J. A Gagne, Chicou-
timi, Directors ; J. G. Scott Sec. and Manager, 1889.
Qtcebec ofc Lake St. John Railway Lumhei'ing <£• Trading Co,
Frank Ross, Esq., President ; E. Beaudet, Vice-President ; Hon.
A. P. Caron, Hon. P. Garneau, Hon. I. Thibaudeau,J. A, Pidding-
ton. Gasp. LeMoine, Directors j J. G. Scott, Secretary Manager,
1889.
^lored
d tub,
itious,
vening
)n the
iscom-
Terres
ached,
orester
ed us,
ers on
:o His
arming
painful
'boards
miles
roads
Id and
is, Esq.,
I, 1875 ;
-Presi-
., J. D.
Jlxicou-
Hon.
^dding-
mager,
— 73 —
rain — rain and mud all the time — a sticky, grey, uncanny,
diluted earth, bespattering one from head to foot.
The weather was so repulsive, that even the Saguenay
muskitoes (and every traveller know:* how much, in sum-
mer, they enjoy an outing) were remaining in doors.
There were other troubles : the absence of hostel-
ries in this distant region. Experience had taught me
long ago, that the Hotels de Temperance and Repos des
Voyageurs, as a rule, were frauds of the very worst
type.
Having disregarded the advice of an old traveller and
come, unprovided with canned meats, I had to make
the most of ham and eggs — des omelettes au lard.
It was ham and eggs for breakfast, eggs and ham for
dinner and ham and eggs for tea : this unvaried regime
was beginning to get irksome, when my friend and myself,
found ourselves one night at a place, where there was
nothing but ham solus for supper. The daughter of the
house, a buxom lass, informed us in a suppliant way that
their hens had given up laying ; that she had thought of
getting the parish priest to pray over them !. . .
" On strike, are they ? " inquired my youthful friend.
Je ne sais^ monsieur^ replied Angelina, mais^ fa va trh mal
cet ete.
We were well repaid however for all our hardships
when old Henry Dery and his assistant landed us safely
from his canoe on Alma Island, at the Grande Decharge \
my companion having procured a permit from W. Griffith,
Esq., of Quebec, the proprietor of this marvellous fishing
station, soon set to work. Before two hours were over, he
had landed more wananish than he could carry back to
camp : the remou de la vache caille, seemed alive with
these alert denizens of the lake ; they sported their
dark fins at the surface, amidst the clots of froth, caused
— 74-. •
by the surging and roaring rapids ; two, in their eagerness
to take the fly, actually jumped into the canoe.
P was the grandest sight, in the way of fly fishing, I had
ever Aritnessed.
" All aboard ! " sung out the conductor of the train at
the Palais station and off we went.
Having plenty of time on hand and being desirous of
procuring all possible information about the railway,
recently completed, I unfolded the railway map and
time-table ; my friend kindly explained every point on
our journey, which I then and there jotted down.
ST AMBROISE (loth mile from Quebec.)
A magniticent view of the valley of the St. Charles,
opens as well as of the city of Quebec, Levis, the
Island of Orleans ; elevation, 450 feet about tide level.
The heavest grade on the railway is here ; two miles
long, ascending 132 feet per mile ; one embankment on
this grade (30 feet high) cost $50,000. This station is
less than two miles from the celebrated falls of Lorette
and Lhe village of the Huron Indians, which I have pre-
viously described.
JACQUES CARTIER RIVER (i6th mile.)
*
The railway bridge crosses the falls of this river — a
substantial iron structure, built by Clarke, Reeves & Co.
Philadelphia, 60 feet above water. The river is naviga-
ble for 5 miles above the bridge, to and beyond the
village of Jacques Cartier. The Jacques Cartier and its
deep pouls immortalised in prose by Dr. Henry, Chs.
Lanman, Chs. Hallock, R. Nettle, Geo. M. Fairchild,
Jr., is a very picturesque river ; the valley abounds in
exquisite scenery
eagerness
ing, I had
he train at
lesirous of
le railway,
map and
y point on
wn.
bee.)
t. Charles,
Levis, the
tide level.
two miles
kment on
station is
of Lorette
have pre-
ule.)
river — a
[ves & Co.
is naviga-
jyond the
ler and its
mry, Chs.
iFaifchild,
)ounds in
75
LAKE ST. JOSEPH, (24th mile.)
This beautiful lake, 8 miles long and 22 miles, in
circumference, is rapidly becoming one of the favorite
summer resorts of Quebecers (i). It is surrounded by
mountains, clad in magnificent hardwood trees. Maple,
Birch, Beech, Ash, &c., reaching down to the waters
edge. The scenery around this lake is thought by many
to be superior to that of Lake Memphramagog. The
water is very deep and clear, and the excellent beach of
hard sand, sloping gradually into the lake offers excellent
facilities for bathing. On the side of the lake, opposite to
that touched by the railway, the land is more level, and
much of it is under cultivation. A summer hotel — the
" Lake View House' — has been opened here,and between
it and the railway station, ihe steamer " Ida " makes four
trips daily in connection with trains to and from the city.
The steamer also makes a daily trip around the lake ; a
trip occupying about two hours, and, with its ever chang-
ing variety of scenery and pure mountain air, affording
an opportunity of spending a delightful afternoon. The
water is so deep that the steamer runs close along shore,
at the foot ot the mountains. In the autumn, the wooded
shores of this lake are one mass of blazing scarlet ;
(1) "A jouroey of but oae hour brings the adventurer to
Lake St. Joseph, a beautiful slieet of water with twenty miles of
crooked circumference, embellished with many cosy, verdure-
embowered nooks aud oft-recurring vistas of charming scenery.
This lovely water alfords an abiding place to the trout, the black
bass, and the voracious togue or lake trout. In outline this
splendid fii \ somewhat resembles the salmon, ulthonjxh a little
more chunky and less symmetrical. It has a brownish back, a
bright, pearly lustre underneath, is < overed with < ircular sienna
spots, and has a broad, long-forked tail, It is a powerful tish, and
gives a good fight, indeed a hard fight, if a thirty-pounder happens
to take the hook, and such are often found in this lake." {Kit
Clarke. )
76 —
the trip in the steamer is a continuous feast to the eye of
the lover of nature. The points of interest in the voyage are
the "Sergeants Lighthouse ", a rock jutting into the lake,
named after some military veteran of olden times, the
" Round-top Mountain " at the head of the lake ; on sum-
mit of which there is a small lake, the Riviere aux Pins^
which feeds Lake St. Joseph ; the " Blueberry Strand ";
Morrissey's Bay, at the south end of the lake, the scene of
the Hanlan-Hosmer boat race, and the outlet, near the
railway station, where a dancing platform has been erected
in a shady grove, for the use of ])icnit: ])arties. Sewells
Mill is situated on the outlet, at the station, and cuts up
annually about ten million feet of lumber. Wharves, at
which the steamer calls, have been built near the station,
at Mr. Thomas' cottage, at Gurry's Hotel and at the Lake
View House. Trout, Shad and Black Bass, here ; and
lake trout (fork tail) have been caught weighing 32
pounds.
LAKE SERGEANT, (29th mile.)
Is a beautiful sheet of water ; along its shore the
railway runs for about 2 miles. It is the resort of bass
and perch ; at one time a favorite lake, but, now,
depleted of its speckled beauties, by overfishing.
BOURG LOUIS, (31st mile.)
Has not much of interest, to tourists. Here is the
manor house of the old Panet family, the proprietors of
Bourg Louis seigniory.
ST. RAYMOND, (36th mile.)
Approaching this village, the railway takes a long dovvPi
grade, skirting the side of a mountain, and descending
into the valley of the River St. Anne. St. Raymond, a
beautiful village with its clean white houses, and groves
77
dovvPi
nding
tnd, a
roves
of elm trees, lies in this \ alley. The two branches of
the River St. Anne, one flowing from the east ; the
other from the north, known as the *' Little Saguenay "
from its resemblance in miniature to the wild scenery
of the celebrated river, join together a little below the
village. The geological formation is very singular,
consisting of three distinct plateaux, level and well
cultivated. The view from the highest of these is magni-
ficent. The angler who makes St. Raymond his head-
quarters, may make excursions every day in a different
direction always finding a new lake or stream where
good sport may be had. The workshops and car shops
of the railway are in this village, and since the construc-
tion of the road, its population has exactly doubled A
brass band is one of the modern improvements intro-
duced ; a convent is spoken of. Many families from
Quebec and Montreal make St. Raymond their residence
for the summer months.
ALLEN'S MILLS, (43rd mile.)
A new saw mill has been started at this station on the
outlet of Lake Simon ; it promises to become quite
a busy place.
PERTHUIS, (52nd mile.)
A large new mill has been completed here by Mr.
E. L. Sewell, which, it is expected, will cut up about 5
million feet of lumber this year.
RIVIERE A PIERRE, (58th mile.)
This is a new settlement started, in 1886, the land
being comp .ratively level, a large number of settlers
have takon up lots. It promises soon to become quite
a thriving place. An extensive saw mill, is built here
which will employ a number of hands. A few years ago
— 78 —
this was the unbroken forest. To-day there is quite a
village. A little higher uj), the Riviere k Pierre widens
' into some very beautiful lakes.
BATISCAN SUMMIT, (66th niile.)
At this point, the summit between the waters of the
Riviere a Pierre and the River Batiscan, the railway
passes along a ledge cut out of the solid rock in the
mountain side, and glancing from the car windows on
the opposite side, I looked down on the tops of tall pine
trees in the abyss below.
BATISCAN RIVER, (68th to 88th mile.)
The railway follows the east bank of this river for 20
miles ; its valley affords some of the finest scenery in
the province, especially at the mouth of the Miguick
which flows into the Batiscan at the 76th mile, at the
mouth of the Jeannotte, at the 8ist mile, and at the 88th
mile where the railway crosses it, to reach the Island of
Lake Edward. At the Miguick, a pretty lake — Lake
Bellevue — has been leased from Government, for fishing
purposes ; on the opposite side of the Batiscan, the
Laurentides Fish and Game Club have secured a chain
of lakes, abounding in trout. Beyond the Batiscan bridge,
the railway runs for 24 miles on the Island of Lake
Edward, better known to foreign tourists as Lac des
Grandes /j/<?^,touching the northern side of the lake of that
name, at the 112th mile, from Quebec. Lake Edward is
18 miles in length or more than twice the size of Lake
St-Joseph. It abounds in fish of large size and being
leased to the Hotel Company, whose new hotel has just
been opened, for the reception of tourists, it naturally
offers especial attractions to the disciples of Old Isaac.
I found Mr. Baker, the manager, a shrewd, civil, and
obliging host : he pointed out to mc the rare facilities of
vo-
ls
ike
lust
illy
lac.
Ind
of
the post, for recreation and sport. Two fairy little steam
launches, the Ripple and the Emma, were lying at anchor,
close to the shore and a whole fleet of boats and canoes
intended for the use of the inmates of the Lake Edward
house, which also provides guides.
I am not at all surprised at the enthusiastic account
Kit Clarke, gives of this Elysium of trout fishers, at the
risk of disturbing the peace of mind of Mr. Jean R.
Stebbins. (i)
" Beneath the umbrageous protection of majestic
forests, hidden deep in the sheltered recess of a trackless
wilderness, bordered completely by pompous wood-
crowned mountains, reposes in peaceful seclusion Lac
des Grandes Isles . .......
" A rarer panorama of lovely scenery cannot be un-
folded between the oceans. Were it bordered by the
snow-capped Alps, Lac des Grandes Isles would far
transcend in grandeur the peerless journey from the
Schweitzerhof Quai to Fluelen. True, there is no Rigi,
no Vitznau with its precipitous railway, no Pilatus in an
opulence of rainbow hues, no Axenstrasse and no chapel
to mark the spot of the Liberator's escape, but there are
a thousand tongues ever murmuring the comeliness ot
primitive nature in an endless anthem of praise.
" Lac des Grandes Isles affords a delightful home to
vast numbers of salwo fontinalis — the jeweled crown-
princes of their valiant race. Many large streams empty
their waters mto the lake, and, ere the first snows fall,
legions of trout congregate in these streams and procreate
their kind. The legends related of this annual event
are almost beyond belief, the assertion being boldly
advanced, by those worthy of all credence, that the fish
are crowded in like pins in a row.
(1) %^QF<yrestand8iream<ii\<oi\\W\y 1889, for particulars of
this lively correspondanc^.
^80 —
** The story is authentic of two young men from a
New England city, who, in one day at the lake, filled a
flour barrel to overflowing with big trout, and taking
them home, made a grand display of their quarry in the
city hall of their native town. This narrative is true,
and not to be classed with that told of the depleted
Rangeley Lakes, wherein one man, in seven hours,
landed five hundred trout, or one and a fifth every
minute, not even once stopping " ten minutes at
Poughkeepsie for refreshments." This dainty allegory
was doubtless sent forth to bolster, if possible, the
departed glory of a once famous fishinp resort, and, as
usual in such attempts, was ridiculously overdone. On
Tuesday, Sep. ii, 1888, at Lac des Grandes Isles, the
writer, with two friends, took seventy trout during the
heat of the day; whose gross weight reached one hundred
and fifty-four pounds, or an average of more than two
pounds each. Three days later these fish were distributed
among friends in New York, and if judgment may be
passed upon official statements, they proved as good in
the eating as in the landing. "
" The only habitation upon all the shores of Lac des
Grandes Isles is here, perched upon a rocky edge of the
island. It is p-imitive indeed, but replete with creature
comforts, and is 1 he summer home of the(i) Paradise Club
of Anglers, which is doubly fortunate in having selected
for its President that esteemed gentleman, eminent jurist
and foremost among riflemen, Hon. Henry A. Gilders-
leeve, of New-York." (2)
("Ij " Kit Clarke escaped the turmoil of the Centonuial celeLni-
tion by a few days' fly casting on the brooks of Monroe Co., Pa.
Result- -a creel of nice trout. On May 20 he starts northward to
explore a new country, wljere it is claimed big trout are as tliick
and bite as hard as mosquitoes and black flies." ( The Angler.)
(2) " The Paradise Fin and Feather Club are erecting their
club Iiouse at Lake Edward, Canada. Judge Henry Gilderaleeve,
from a
filled a
I taking
J in the
is true,
epleted
hours,
every
ites at
llegory
!e, the
md, as
J. On
;s, the
ng the
mdred
n two
i bated
ay be
)od in
ic des
of the
mature
Club
ected
jurist
Iders-
lebra-
., Pa.
ird to
thick
r.)
their
eeve,
fa
40
fa
— 81 —
We soon hope to welcome back this gifted and
enthusiastic angler: — whose dainty booklet (i) will
doubtless draw northward hundreds of disciples of the
gentle craft.
That skilful wordpainter, Adirondack Murray, thus
describes some of our northern lakes :
" One hundred miles from Quebec the tourist will find
himself, as the train stops, at Lake of the Great Islands —
than which I know of nothing lov^^lierjnor likelier to please
the angler or the health and pleasure seeker.
LAKE OF THE GREAT ISLANDS
(Lake Edward.)
" There may be a thousand lakes between Quebec and
T^ake St. John, but certainly there cannot be many so
completely beautiful as this Lac des Grandes Isles, mis-
named on the railroad maps and schedules Lake Edward.
Its size is sufficient to rank it among the chiefest of the
region, for it is over twenty miles in length, and at its
widest section, six or eight in breadth. But it is, in fact,
far larger than these figures suggest, for it is characterized
by islands of great size, some of them miles in length and
width, and also by wide and deep bays, which penetrate
far in between the adjacent hills, some with broad,
unobstructed entrances, and others with such narrow
openings lakeward that one »^ust search closely to find
them, and which, w'' ^' you are a little way within.
H. C. Miner, Kit Clarke, J. Charles Davis, Dr. Duncun, J. Kliuo
Emrnet, Jr., Grover Cleveland and Jas. T. Duvis, principal mom-
bers of the club will visit their trout watci- on tlic first day of
June and remain there untill the merry little black fly and niOK-
quito drive them cityward." {The Angler.)
(Ij " IVhcrc the Trout Hide. Kir Clakkk. Brontano-Publisher
New-York, 1889.
— 82
become lost to the eye, so that you seem to be in some
other lake, without outlet, for the circle of the green
enclosure seems perfect, and the surrounding hills shut
you as completely from the world beyond them, as were
those who lived in the happy valley of Rasselas.
" These deep bays, whose waters search out the land
inwardly to so great a distance, often have many islands,
both small and great, so that the careless canoeman can
almost be lost in them, and be compelled to rediscover
the entrance which admitted him to this lovely solitude.
For the reader must remember that those northern lakes
are, at this writing, almost altogether unvisited, and
that on and around them he finds nature absolutely un-
disturbed by man and his rude doings, which so mar her
loveliness and introduce harsh, discordant noises into the
realm of her sweet harmonies. "
Whilst making inquiries at Lake Edward, when the new
hotel would be open, I noticed on the platform car, a
pretty new steam launch — on its way to Metabetchouan,
Lake St. John. Mr. Harry Poole, the owner of this fairy
white craft, rejoicing in the appropriate name of The
Siaan, civilly informed me that the Swan^ in a day or
two would sail over the glad waters of Lake St. John,
that she was intended for the use of the sporting world,
generally, which he expected at his new hot ! : we regret-
ted much that time prevented my friend and self from
accepting his civil invitation to go with him, on an
exploring tour, and view the frothy rapids and pools of
the Metabetchouan and Grande Decharge^ where the
Wananish hide, thou^^h the season had not yet opened.
-Lake Batiscan discharges into that river about 4 miles
above the 88th mile. It is a large lake surrounded by
lofty mountains, those at its head being over 1000 feet
above its waters. Lake Batiscan is leased from Govern-
ment by A. Ludgers Light, Esq., of Quebec.
e in some
the green
hills shut
m, as were
IS.
t the land
ny islands,
3eman can
rediscover
r solitude,
hern lakes
sited, and
lutely un-
o mar her
is into the
n the new
rni car, a
-tchouan,
this fairy
J of The
a day or
St. John,
g world,
^e regret-
self from
, on an
pools of
lere the
opened.
4 miles
ded by
>oo feet
Govern-
0,'^
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IMAGE EVALUATION
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Photographic
Sciences
Corporation
23 WEST MAIN STREET
WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580
(716) 872-4503
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Oulatchonan Falls.
-^83 —
Tbe railway skirts lake Kiskisink, 135 miles from ;
Quebec : a boy rushed to the train as it stopped, with a
string of good size trout, caught here that very morning :
they readily found a purchaser . This lake is the source
of the Metabetchouan River, a grand angling stream,
which empties its waters into Lake St. John.
Few indeed were the objects of interest between Kis-
kissink station and the Chambord Junction, 42 miles
further, when the grand, never to be forgotten view of
the lake opened on our enraptured eyes.
On the Ouiatchouan River, which empties into the
lake, but a short distance from it are the Ouiatchouan (i)
falls.
" They are very beautiful, but to be seen to best
advantage, as is the case of all Falls, should be seen at
short distance and looking upward. Not that these falls
are less than the greatest on the continent in height, for .
they stand in tke v**ry first rank as to altitude. Niagara
is 180 feet in height ^: i icmember rightly, Montmorenci
220, (2) while these -alls near Lake St. John are 280
feet in height ! And in early summer, when the river
runs downward with full banks, one must search far to
find a finer sight than the white torrent tumbling as from
the clouds.
But if the tourist, for any reason, would stop sooner, ,
he need not, by any means, go clean on to Lake St.
John to find health, pleasure and game."
After landing, among other freight, Harry Poole's
pretty steam .launch, the Sivan^ en route for Metabet-
chouan, the train whirled us into Roberval ; several acres
on the picturesque shores, were flooded by the spring
overflow of the lake which rises 20 feet. We hurried to
(1) OuiaAclumanf "means the moving white color '■ in MontO'
(jnais.
(2) Montmorenci falls, 275 feet.
— 84 —
m
m
the hotel, where a hot supper awaited us, prepared by a
considerate hostess Mrs. Baker : broiled Wa-nd-nish (i)
and delicious white fish caught that very day, in front of
the hotel. We were informed that though in advance of
the season, we were welcome ; what more could we wish
for?
In looking over this hasty sketch, I notice that I have
omitted mentioning an incident, which though it may
seem of minor importance, affects in a powerful degree
the welfare of all travellers in bush lands, as the hot spell
comes on : the presence of black flies and musquitoes.
I recollect seeing, nay feeling the lance of two
warlike fellows — veritable Zulous in armor, on my way
from the train^-possibly, lying in ambush and mistakmg
me, for some of those " cultured " Bostonians or cosmo-
politan New-Yorkers, who may later on, invade their wild
domains, within the " three miles limit."
OUR TROUT LAKES
HOW TO REACH THEM
•
I leave the town with its hundred noises,
Its clatter and whirr of wheel and steam,
For woodland quiet and silvery voices.
With a forest camp by a crystal stream.
— G. W. Nears.
The Lake St. John Railway, which now furnishes
means of communicating with the Quebec markets to
(1.) Wa-ndrnishVith the accent on second syllable, means in
Montangais dialect "Petit Saumon," small salmon, says Mr. Ernest
Gagnon, the clever-writer of a sporting sketch in the Revue
Oiographique Internationale, intituled : Au Pays des Ouanani"
chea.
— 85 —
pared by a
i^-nish (i)
in front of
idvance of
d we wish
lat I have
gh it may
iu\ degree
i hot spell
usquitoes.
of two
my way
mistakmg
)r cosmo-
their wild
Vears.
irnishes
kets to
neansin
r. Eraest
e Hevue
htanani-
the 40,000 settlers of that region, has also opened up to
colonization, some of the richest land in this province,
from Roberval westward ; the climate being more mild
than that of Quebec, the season earlier, and malaria
iin^-'.ov/n in tb'>t locality, colonization and lumbering is
advancing at a giant's strides : the contractor, Mr. Beemer,
unquestionably deserves our congratulations for the
energy displayed by him in constructing this road under
no ordinary difficulties.
There are features about the Lake St John Railway,
which cannot be overlooked : the rare facilities of locomo-
tion,offered to a numerous,a well-to-do class of sportsmen,
anglers, tourists, attracted from the United States and
Canadian cities. The road opens out for enjoyment or for
profit, some hundreds of lakes, north of Quebec, and
brings chis paradise of anglers, within the reach of all, at
a most insignificant cost.
Instead of trudging as formerly through the northern
wilds and venturing heavy laden, over hundreds of
arduous portages^ from lake to lake, the choicest fishing
grounds can now be safely and pleasantly got at
in two or three hours. For instance, the Bastican bridge,
can be reached in three hours for a fare of $2.75 :
one of the landing \>\2iCQs of the Quebec fishing clubs, who
have recently purchased from Government the leases
of some of the adjoining trout lakes : there are plenty
more lakes in the market.
Several most delightful fishing excursions are now
open to anglers round Quebec, and the routes to the
same can be either extended, varied or lessened ad infi-
nitum : it is asserted, that north, east and west of Quebec,
more than three hundred lakes and lakelets, crystal
streams, sequestered pools, alive with trout of several
varieties, can be counted. The Quebec clubs and pri-
vate individuals do not own fishing priveleges in more
than twenty, and charming little sheets of water are
discovered every day in the depths of the Laurentides,
— 86 —
N
to which the Lake St. John Railway leads. Some noted
Bostonians (i) have already found their way hither
and are spending their holidays, camped on the banks
of the Batiscan river.
I * ■ Jji'
til'
Ui^f
H
m
ill
FIRST FISHING EXCURSION.
The populous and comparatively new parish of St.
Raymond, 36 miles from Quebec, nbw of so easy access
by the new line of railway, has become a favorite starting
point for the disciples of " Old Isaak ". It contains more
than 3,000 souls, a handsome village church, a number
of general stores, five or six boarding houses.
It is easy to secure a guide and a canoe, if wanted, on
the shortest notice : the charge varies from $1 to $1.50
per diem.
The country round St. Raymond abounds in trout
streams — diminutive lakes and surging waterfalls. The
most noted are : —
I.
T.ac
Sept Isles
2.
((
aux Chiens.
3-
((
aux Deux Truites.
4,
it
au Coeur.
5-
«
k I'Epaule.
6.
«
Clair.
7.
((
Waskawan.
8.
«
Fortin.
9,
((
aux Ventres Rouges.
10.
(t
aux Cfedres.
II.
It
Perth.
12.
((
Sergeant, close to railway track.
(I) Last season a brillant writer in Harper' a Magaaine, C. H.
Farnnam, pitched his tent for the summer close to the teeming
pools of the Batiscan, whera his friend, the historian Francis
^ Parkman and Lord Landsowne paid him a pleasant visit.
— 87 —
me noted
y hither
le banks
h of St.
ly access
'. starting
ins more
number
nted, on
to $1.50
in trout
s. The
, C. H.
ieming
rancis
These lakes disembogue generally in the river Ste.
Anne, which divides itself into two branches at St.
Raymond, the eastern branch winding in the direction of
a place called Petit Saguenay^ because, it was at one time
considered to offer the most direct route to the Saguenay
district. Some, however, mingle their crystal waters with
the river Poitneuf and the fierce and raging Jacques
Cartier, whose eddies are surmounted by salmon up to
Dery's bridge.
The lakes vary in size from one to four miles. Lac
Sept Isles is the biggest. The largest fish is caught in
this lake and in Lac aux Chiens^ such as the variety
known to the Canadian peasant a«, Queues Fourchues^ and
to the Huron. Indian as, Touladiy weighing from 12 to
15 lbs.
Lac Clair^ four miles from the depot of the defunct
Gosford Wooden Railway, is still in renown. But this,
like many other lakes, requires the eye of the overseer
in the close season. Lake St. Joseph has suffered by
being overfished. I can recollect when ToUladi of 25 lbs.
weight used to be frequently caught in winter or in the
spring under the ice. For all that, it harbors yet in
abundance, frisky, speckled beauties. On the i8th
of June instant, I met at the Lake St. Joseph station, a
city youth staggering under the weight of fish, captured
by him the day previous, with fly and bait, in about
twelve feet of water at the mouth of the lake, 25 dozen
of fine trout.
Lake St. Joseph, however, can afford to reign supreme,
in its own quiet, sylvan loveliness.
It is an elysium, even without the attractions of the
finny tribes, which roam through its wavelets : the rail-
way and the " Ida," have brought this blissful abode
within an hour's travel from the city.
Can there be any purer pleasure for the robust in
health or even the pale invalid, at midsummer, to tear
— 88—
r
Ill *
if
himself away from city dust and St. Peter street worry,
taking the afternoon Lake St. John Railway, over whose
rising destinies, watches with maternal care its tireless
manager, Mr. J. G. Scott, and rushing with a full head of
steam, through the emerald meadows of the Little River
St. Charles, up the cool, green glens of Lorette, over the
picturesque Jacques Cartier Bridge, until the sunset
lands him at the Lake station, where awaits him either
his trusty birch bark canoe, or else that fairy craft, the
Ida^ ready, the sweet creature, to convey him rapidly
across our winsomt^ " Windermere " to the peaceful
haven, yclept ** I^ke View Hotel, " where Mynheer
White's broiled trout is simmenng on the kitchen range,
a dish fit for Apollo ; the trout followed by a chop cuiU
h pointy and accompanied by a dainty cup of Souchong
or Mocha, and cream, with, as an indiscreet French guest
added " au besoitiy une bouteille de Medoc^ ou d'Eau de
Saint Leon^ pour les gens de temperance"
To morrow, at break of day, we go fishing, for, as the
Venerable Izaak Walton has it : — " No life, my honest
scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant, as the life of a
well-governed angler, for when the lawyer is swallowed
up with business and the statesman is preventing or
contriving plots, there we sit on cowslip banks, hear the
birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as
these silent silver streams, which we now see glide so
quietly by us."
ist Tuly, 1888.
J. M. LeMoine.
^89-
eet worry,
ver whose
ts tireless
II head of
ttle River
, over the
e sunset
iim either
:raft, the
n rapidly
peaceful
Mynheer
en range,
lop at/^g
ouchong
ich guest
"£au de
r, as the
)r honest
life of a
rallowed
iting or
lear the
tness as
;lide so
SECOND FISHING EXCURSION.
" There are, says W. W. Witcher, many good fishing
grounds for the lake trout and brook trout — (salmoferox
and salmo fontinalis) in the immediate vicinity of Que-
bec, such as Lake St. Joseph, famous also for its black
bass. Lake Seven Islands and the neighbouring Frog
Lake, Perth Lake, Dog Lake and Red Trout Lake, all
within a few miles of Lake ; St. Joseph also Clear Lake
and its neighbors, Mackenzie Lake, Lake Jaune, Lake
Sagamit^, Burns Lake, Lake Bonnet, Lake Berryman,
Lake Beauport abounding in trout of exquisite flavour.
Lake St. Charles occasionally yielding splendid catches,
despite the merciless treatment its teeming waters are
subjected to ; Lakes Philipe and St. Joachim, below the
Ste. Anne River are well stocked ; Lake Gravel and
Grand Lac, at Murray Bay, are old favorites. And on the
south shore of the St. Lawrence, you may fairly revel in
fresh pastures of trouty luxuriance by taking the rail
cars to Somerset station, driving a few miles into the
interior and whipping such quiet pools as Lake Joseph,
Lake William, Trout Lake, and the connecting streams
up towards Black Lake.''
I am indebted to a Waltonian friend, for the following
sketch of the old Megantic region and lakes :
TE.
\l
'.V
ii
>-90 —
THE MB6ANTIC LAKES
Have you heard of great Megantic, where the sights are so
rromantic ?
That the traveller often lingers on the landscape he admires 5
Stands to view the winding river, while the balmy breezes quiver,
On the vast extending vista, where the vision never tires.
There are rough and rugged mountains, there are floods and
[flowing fountains,
There are lovely lakes expanding in the valley to be seen ;
There are peaks that cast their shadows over undulating meadows.
But the winter scene is grandest where the woods are ever green.
In the darkening distance yonder, there are hills that stood the
[thunder.
Of the ages long departed ere this continent was known ;
Lofty woodlands most enchanting, sylvan ranges gently slanting
Downward, to the chain of waters that for centuries have flown. (1)
A. McKILLOP.
" Truly has the bard said, the landscape of Megantic
is most lovely ; but though the hills and dales, mountains
and valleys are grandly beautiful, yet they are eclipsed
by the charming aspect of the lakes, that run through
the county — four in a string, pearls on the " Thames "
necklace ; the upper one. Black Lake, is situate in a wild
region, full of minerals and where now are worked several
rich asbestos quarries. A few miles further down runs
Trout Lake, well deserving its name, and below that
again, its waters emptying themselves into Lake William
one of the most lovely lakes to be seen in the wide
universe ; both hidden between high mountains, clothed
(1; Suggested during a sleigh ride over the hills that overlook
Lake Joseph and the valley of the Thames, to the beautiful estate
of the late Col. Ohas. Cahpbbll, near the Village of St. Ferdinand,
on the shores of Lake William^ Halifax,
91 —
its ate 80
romantic ?
Imiresf
zes quiver,
es.
floods and
fountains,
len ;
meadows,
iver green.
stood the
[thunder.
a;
Y slanting
flown. (1)
LOP.
legantic
Duntains
eclipsed
through
lames "
a wild
several
m runs
)w that
fVilliam
wide
clothed
verlook
il estate
dinand,
to their summits, in summer, with the most luxuriant vege-
tation, where abound the stately elm, the wide spreading
black birch, the magnificent maple without a branch for
40 or 50 feet, from the ground and then branching out
with enormous limbs that keep other giants of the forest
at a distance and make these woods have a peaklike
appearance. Here and there, the mighty pine, cedar
and spruce give variety to the monotony that would
otherwsie be, if there were but one description of timber.
The lake itself is about 5 miles long and from ^ to i}4
broad, having the most lovely points or capes as seamen
would call them, jetting out into its waters and which
form picturesque bays which present even on stormy
days when the outer water is studded with white
caps, a placid and mirror-like appearance, so pro-
tected are they by the woods or hills that surround,
them, from every breeze that otherwise might ruffle their
surface. In one of the recesses of these sunny bays, has
sprung up within a couple of decade, the large village of
St. Ferdinand, with its stately church, seminary, convent
and various factories, surrounded with prettily designed
houses and cottages, and where ** all save the spirit of man
is divine. " When first the traveller catches a glimpse of
this romantically situated village, when topping the crest
of the hill .on the Gosford Road, from which he looks
down upon it and the Bay, he becomes lost in bewilderment
at the beauty of the scene, and if, at the time when the
Angelm bell might on a still evening be ringing, his
senses become enraptured by the musical chimes which
air, water and the eternal hills echo, throw back and
assert th?*; an omniscient One reigns and gives to us poor
mortals on earth a faint view of paradise. Truly St.
Ferdinand is a favored spot.
And lastly comes Lake Joseph or as the Scotc*h who
settled upon it, call it. Lock Lemond ; it vies with Lake
William, in its beauty, but lackes its breadth. "
" Claymore. '*
— «—
THE TROUT LAKES ABOUT QUEBEC
" Away to the brook ;
All your tackle out-look,
Here's a day that is worth a year's wishing
See that all things be right,
For't would be a spite
To waist tools when a man goes a'fishing. *'
—Cotton's PoewM— 1689.
Having in a previous communication pointed out the
importance of the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway,
as an outlet to the numerous settlers in that fertile section,
I. shall now lay before the reader the information I was
able to gather on the recent angling operations connected
with the trout lakes during a late visit to this district.
Few incidents last spring caused a more pleasurable
flutter of excitement among the lovers of sport in Que-
bec, than the news that the builder of the Quebec and
Lake St John Railway, Mr. Beemer, had successfully
pushed his operations as far as River Batiscan, and that
in a very few weeks a solid iron bridge across its dark
and deep pools, would give anglers and others, access to
the very depths of our northern wilds, in which accord-
ing to Mr. Bureau, the Crown lands explorer, lakes and
streams are so numerous that fully one-third of the area
is represented by water.
Two of our leading fish and game clubs at once sent
out exploring parties, on the report of which, each of
them acquired for a term of years from the Crown Lands
Department, the lease of a group of lakes. These clubs
were the " Stadacot;a Fish and Game Club " and ** Les
Laurentides," the first limited to forty members and the
last, to twelve members. Private individuals joined in the
new scheme and for weeks nothing was heard in the
streets among the disciples of the gun and rod — > but
— »3 —
m
)g
*t
t»— 1689.
d out the
Railway,
le section,
on I was
:onnected
s district,
leasurable
in Que-
ebec and
ccessfully
and that
its dark
access to
accord-
ikes and
the area
>nce sent
each of
n Lands
ise clubs
id « Les
and the
:d in the
in the
i — but
trcut lakes and hunting grounds. One of the first cares
was that of providing each fishing stand with a house
for the sportsmen, and a lodge for the overseer. The
services of the latter would be in requisition all the year ;
especially in autumn and winter, when it is custom-
ary to deplete our bkes of trout — tons of them being
conveyed in a frozen state to our markets.
In reply to an enquiry I made, I learned that seventy-
five miles from Quebec, the river Myguick discharges
into the Batiscan. The Club, £es Lauren fides^ had
leased from the Government a group of lakes — an area
of considerable extent. The chief lakes were those of
the valley of Lac des Isles, Lac Vert, Lac Long and
thirty or so^more, of less extent. There is abundance of
fish in these lakes, varying in weight from two to three
and four lbs., grey speclded trout with pink flesh and
square tails. Deer, caribou, beaver, otter and grouse
(ia petdrix) are numerous throughout the whole region.
Four and a half miles from the Myguick river, the Jean-
notte stream occurs. It faces a group of lakes not yet
leased, an area of 60 miles, comprising the great Lac au
Lard, Lac Vermillion and a swarm of smaller lakes,
though some of them are pretty considerable. A little
further on occurs another group about 10 to 15 miles
from the River Batiscan, comprising Lac Trompeur and
several minor lakes not yet explored. To the west,
group, leased to the Stadacona Fish and Game
Club, is an area of forty or fifty miles. The chief trout
lakes here are Lac aux Rognons, Lac Long, Lac du
Centre, Lac Cariboo, Rivibre aux Rognons and several
others of lesser size. Some of these lakes are situated on
the islands of Lake Edward. This island is formed by
the rivers Batiscan and Jeannotte, whose source is in
Lake Edward. NeaHy all these lakes discharge into the
Batiscan, except a few which mingle their waters with
those of the River Jeannotte. Fish, in our opinion, is
just as abundant in one group as in the others.
-94^
Lake Bastican is well supplied with fish. The Crown
Lands explorer, Mr. Bureau, claims to have seen a red
trout taken out of it weighing 9 pounds. The Bastican
would be of easy access by rail by cutting a path through
the bush, of about ten miles, but could also be ascended
in a birch canoe, from the Beaudet station. The following
statet ent of the extent of several of the lakes now leased
or to be leased was furnished me by an official of the
Crown Lands Department :
Grand Lac, Batiscan 6 miles in length.
L. Claire 2^
L. des Passes 9
L. de la Croix 3
L. h. la Loutre i J^
L. de la Grosse Roche ... i ^
I,, au Lard 4
L. aux Rognons ij4
L. Vermillion i ^
L. Archange ij4
L. k la Belle Truite 2
Petit Lac Ha ! Ha ! 2j4
Grand Lac Ha ! Ha ! . . . . 3
Lac Long j4
L. des Sables 2%
tc
«(
cc
«
(C
tl
u
«
(C
((
tc
u
Ir
«
In looking over the chart, one is surprised at the innu-
merable lakes, big and small, which will be accessible
further north when the railway is completed. L. Upiko-
ban. Grand Lac Metasquash, L. Saint Henri, L. Hugh,
L. Quiquathanshisa, L. k la Place, L. Kamamutgoni-
que, L. Kispahigonish, L. k la Carpe, L. auxBrochets,
L. aux Betsies, L. au Canot, L. aux Canards, L. Croche,
L. Simon, L, Blanc, L. Talbot, L. k Beaujour, L. h. la
Pi^che, Raven Lake, Lake Gemine, Lac des Deux Bras,
Lac Kakiskopetenne, L. du Renvers^, L. k Moisie, L. h
la Biscuit^ Heme Lake, St< George Lake Burretfc Hill
-95-
The Crown
i seen a red
he Bastican
ath through
>e ascended
le following
now leased
ficial of the
Lake, Rainey Lake, Cariboo Lake, Lac Baptiste, Lac
Etoile, Mirror Lake, Lac Kakiskagamak, Rat Lake, Lac
Naquagarai, Lac Najoualand, Lac Ecarte, Lac Dor^,
Lac des Commissaires, Lac Bouchette, Lac Ouatchouan,
Lac de la Belle Riviere, and hundreds of others that I
might add.
July, 1887.
length,
it
((
C(
C(
((
((
t(
tl
tt
«
if
((
t the innu-
acqessible
L. Upiko-
L. Hugh,
lamutgoni-
xBrochets,
L. Croche,
Lir, L. k la
)eux Bras,
oisie, L. i
irretl Hill
LIST OP FISHING CLUBS ALONG THE LINE OP THE
Q. & L. S. J. RAILWAY.
1. Little Saguenay Pish & Game Club.
2. Talbot Club, open to public on payment of small fee.
3. Laurentides Club.
4. Tardivel Club.
5. Stadacona Club.
6. A. L. Light, Large lake Batiscan.
7. Metabetchouan Club
8. Paradise Fin & Feather Club.
9. Lake Quaquakamaksis.
11. Springfield Club.
12. Riviere Noire Fishing Club.
13 Lac au Lard Club.
THE METABETCHOUAN FISHING & GAME CLUB.
(Incorporated.)
Hon. 0. H. Piatt. U. 8 . S., President Meriden r-onn.
« Stephen W. Kellogg, Vice-President Waterbury "
John C. Chamberlain, Sec.-Treas Bridgeport "
W. R. Briggs, members "
A. Chamberlain, " Meriden Conn.
John W. Coe, " « "
Joseph W. Davis, " New- York.
Geo.H. Esterbrook, " Boston, Mass.
Walter Hubbard, « Meriden Conn.
H. W. Lines, « « «
Wm. R. Mackay, « « «
h i
- 96 —
Allan W. Page, mumbers • New-York.
Jas.P.Platt, « Meriden Conn.
Geo. L. Porter, M. D., « Bridgeport «
Maj. D. M. Read, « « «
Hon. M.W. Seymour, « « «
A Swords, " Stanford «
Prof.W.K.Townsend, " New-Haven "
Geo. H. Wilcox, « Meriden «
R. W. Stocking, « Quebec Q.
Hon. Th. W. Downs, Hon. member. Bridgeport Ct.
LOWER PART OF METABETCHOUAN RIVER
THE FISHING A GAME CLUB.
E. S. Brewer, President Springfield Mass.
D. N. Coats, Vice-President
E. M. Coats, Sec. & Treas
Frank D. Foot, members,
R. W. Day, «
Louis H. Orr, «
Walter H. Hessen, «
E. C. Barr,
Dr. S. W. Bowles,
Col. M. V. B. Edgerby,
Dwight 0. Gilmore,
Henry S. Dickinson,
Col. H. M. Phillips,
E. A. Alden,
N. D. Bell,
A. B. Wallace,
John Pettigrew,
W. H. Lockwood,
Charles McKnight,
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« Hartford County.
<« .Springfield, Mass.
York.
Icn Conn.
jeport «
I «
I u
ord «
Haven "
len «
BC Q.
eport Ct.
[VER
igfield
Mass.
«
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11
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rd County,
ield, Mass.
UPPER PORTION OF METABETCHOUAN RIVER. (28 miles)
PHILADELPHIA FISHING A OAMK CLUB.
Amos R. Little, President ,.„ PhiladeIphia,Penn.
David G. Yates, Vice-President " «
F. H. Downs, Secretary & Treasurer Quebec Q.
George Ohilds Dupwell ; " "
W. Borden & ethers «' «
THE LAURENTIDIS CLITB, QUEBEC.
President : E. B. Garneau.
Vice-President : Louis F. Burroughs.
Secretary : J. Geo. Garneau.
Treasurer : Joseph Winfield.
Directors : C. A. Pentland, Crawford Lindsay, Charles J.
Burroughs, J. I. Lavery, James H. Anderson.
48 members and 4 honorary members — its best lakes are Lac
des Isles, Lac Traverse and Lac Fou.
LOWER PART OF LAKE EDW^ARD.
THE PARADISE FIN AND FEATHER CLUB.
Judge Henry A. Guildersleeve President New- York
John C. Davis Vice-President .... « ; j< m
Joseph K. Emmet, jnr Secretary Albany r^
Birkett Clarke Treasurer New- York
William F. Duncan, M. D Members.
James T. Davis
John Woods
E. R. Lewis, M. D
H.C.Taylor
Hon. Grover Cleveland, ex-Pres. U.S.
W.W.Randall
Charles W. Thomas
C. B. Jefferson
H.C.Miner
L. Richardson
Hon. Hugh J. Grant, Mayor N-Y. City
William Moser, jr «<
Aug. Piton «
4
ii
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— 98'
LITTLK SAOniKAT FISH AND GAME CLUB.
C. A . Scott, C . E President Quebec
E. A. Panet, N. P Vice-President 8t. Bajmond
C. S. Parke, M. D Secy.-Treasnrer Quebec
J. G. Teneyck, atty. at law . . . Members New-Tork
W. S. Downes, " ... " Birmingham, Conn.
W.L.Bennett, « ... " New Haven, "
Revd. M. Frechette " St. Croix, P. Q.
John Sherring Budden '^ Quebec
W. W. Welch, secy. Quebec Fire Ass. Co. do «
A. G. Demers, of Ths. May a Co. do "
BTADAOONA FISH AMD GAME CLUB OF QUEBEC
H. T. Machin, President, Quebec
F. Holloway, Vice-President, "
W. C. Beaton, Treasurer, «
J. L. Bell, Superintendent, <<
J. E. Livemois, Secretary. "
J. L. Welch, J. J. Codville, T. S. Hetheiington, John Hamilton,
W. Dobell, T. Beckett and E. Fitch.— Limited to twelve members.
ASCENT OF THE FIRST STEAMER TO THE
MISTAS8IN1 FAILS.
Lake St. John, 17th May, 1889.
1 readily accepted the invitation of Mr. B. A. Scott,
manager of the Roberval Lumber Co. to form one of a
small party desirous of exploring, in the jPeridonka, the
falls of the Mistassini river, 21 miles from its mouth : a
feat never yet performed by steam. The Pertdonka,
la' hed last autumn, was subsidized by the provincial
g ^ .iiement for the promotion of the colonization of
...Quebec
. Raymond
...Quebec
New-York
lam, Conn,
yen, "
!roix, P. Q.
...Quebec
Hamilton,
members.
THE
1889.
Scott,
>ne of a
tka^ the
mth : a
ibonka^
>vincial
ition of
— 99 —
the Lake St. John^ district, by facilitating, communica-
tion between the different settlements on the lake. It is a
handsome and powerful craft — 97 feet keel — built ex-
pressly to draw, but little watei — so as to adapt herself —
to the shallow waters on the lake shore — though there
is a depth of 100 feet in the centre. '
The present time seemed particularly suitable for
exploring the numerous tributaries of Lake St. John, as
the spring-overflow of the lake — some eighteen or twenty
feet — was at its height. The river Mistassini is two miles
broad at its mouth, tolerably deep in some parts, 300
miles long and dotted all through with innumerable,
beautifully wooded isles. Its banks are wild and unsettled,
except a straggling thatchcovered house, here and there
— about eleven miles from its entrance. The Peribonka
made the asctnt to this unexplored region in charge of
an experienced old woodsman — a special pilot for the
occasion — amidst sunshine and rain accompanied by
very vivid lightning and thunder. The little boat would
rush through a fog bank, slacken off speed or stop,
just as the weather and fog permitted — under perfect
command.
At 9 P. M., the fog having increased, it 'was judged
prudent to anchor for the night. The stream being deep
with a bold shore, the Peribonka was moored in front of a»
woodman's hut, close to the shore \ our party landed with-
out any trouble : the whistle was blown ; all listened in
rapt silence to the tremendous echo leaping from one
range to the next, — no steamer had ever ventured there
before. The woodman and trapper, monsieur Lalancette,
jr., surrounded by his numeroiis ()rogeny, rushed to ib.e
beach and di9chai;^ed. t^ fowling piece,^ invituig lis to visit
his' modest root The ceijemoRy oC s^^Jt^ "hand^ oy^jy
Madame Lalahcette gave us most graphic sket'dies of
her forest life — free from the bustle and noise of the
outer world.
--too
f.
Few white men, in summer, ascend the Mistassini in
their canoes, — ; in winter, the lumbermen use her house
as a camp. She told us of an eccentric professor and
two students camping on the shore last summer. Professor
Julian C. Jaynes, of Hartford, who, she vowed, lived on
roasted frogs and broiled crows, after skinning them ; she
added an anecdote about a bull frog, which much amused
us.
Professor Jaynes, according to madame Lalancette
must have been no ordinary angler ; he is stated to
have caught, at the foot of the Mistassini falls so many
Wa-na-nish, that his creel full, he deemed right to return
the rest to their native element.
Monsieur Lalancette, jr., related with gusto, his
various experiences as a trapper of otter, minx, even of
beaver — though beaver were getting, he said, very
scarce. No red deer and few Caribou on the shores of
the wild Mistassini — but occasionally, bears on the hills,
in the blueberry season. During his whole career, he
had, he said, trapped in a steel trap en for otter, but one
carcajou (wolvereen) — but then he was a wopper — as
fierce, with his lacerated paw, as ten thousand wild cats.
" Any round here " inquired my sporting friend ?
I do not think so, replied, the disciple of fur, fin and
feather.
This exciting camp gossip went buzzing throngh our
bram, the live long night, when we retired to our
improvised bunks, over one of which floated the Union
jack to scare away the musquitoes, probably ; no other
noise, in the pitchly darkness, but the brek I brek / of
Professor Jaynes friends, the frogs.
About midnight, my sporting friend awoke, sprung up,
towing, he had heard the howls of a carcajou, close to
where the Peribonka was moored : the door of Madame
Lalancette's hut opened, to let in her disconsolate pet —
the house, dog, Prince, forgotten in the cold fog outside,
wining ; then all was again wrapped in silence*
-10! —
tassmi in
ler house
ssor and
Professor
lived on
lem ; she
1 amused
alancette
stated to
so many
to return
istOy his
even of
id, very
shores of
the hills,
ireer, he
but one
er — as
Id cats.
bd?
fin and
ngh our
to our
Union
other
rek ! of
Ling up,
ose to
adame
pet —
utside,
At break of day, the Peribonka got up steam : and
with a lovely sunshine, we steamed up to the mysterious
falls which few white men have seen — none certainly,
from the deck of a steamer : the patches of froth and
soon after, the roar of the falls hidden by three inter-
vening islands were noted. These islands girt with
rocks, create strong and dangerous rapids ; the Peri-
bonka turned back : on a council of the authorities, it was
decided to try the rapids again. We shot past the two
last islands and came in full view of the roaring cauldron ;
but no further could we go, and the descent was made at
race horse speed. An old trapper firing a gun in res-
ponse to our salute, the steamer's whistle, the effects
in these wild woods were loud, grand indescribable. One
incident much amused us : the terror of the sheep and
some cows, on hearing the bi at's whistle ; they retreated
at a gallop up a hill — concealing themselves in a thicket.
Such my pleasant experience of a visit — the first ever
made by a steamer — to the faHs of the Mistassini, where
the celebrated french savant, Andr^ Michaux, was boto-
nisins; on the 22nd August 1792.
Doubtless if the water does not get two low, from the
summer drought, the Peribonka, will more than once be
put in commission to explore thi". maccessible fastness of
the north.
J. M. L.
LAKE ST. JOHN.— 7)%^ land of the Wa-na-nish,
'* Mxdta latent in majestate naturce. '*
(Pliny.)
" Lake St. John, says Murray, is a geological curiosity
and a geographical surprise " : we think so too. It is
30 miles long by about 26 miles broad, is situated in
latitude 48*" north, longitude 72° west, a large sheet of
■J.l
— 1,02 —
water, nearly circular in shape which covers an area
of about 700 square miles. Picfouagami which mesins
" flat lake " is its name in the Montagnais dialect. Nine-
teen (i) rivers, if not more, carry the tribute of their
waters to Lake St. John.
The Peribonka " the curious river " the largest is
about 400 miles long : the Mistassini, about 300 miles
in length. The Ashuapmouchouan, " the river where
they watch the Moose " is the smallest af the three.
RIVERS FLOWING INTO LAKE ST. JOHN (1)
OOHMENCING NEAR LITTLE DISCHARGE SOUTH SIDK OF LAKE
Names of Rivers
Length
Navigable ?
Boudreault
3 miles..
10 « ..
30 " ..
30 " ..
80 " ..
10 " ..
30 " ..
60 " .
8 " ..
40 <' ..
150 '•' ..
50 « ..
300 « ..
8 " ..
8 « ..
100 " ..
400 « ..
16 « ..
8 « ..
No
(1)
Grandmont
CuslipagaD or Belle Riviere
Cushuafiranishe
No
No
No
Metabetchouan < .
1 milo. Good Harbor
Au Foin ..,,,. ..
No
(1)
Ouiatchouan
No
Ouiatchouanishe
No
La Chasse
No
IroQuois ....
No
Ashuapmouchouan
Tiauabe
toSt. Felicien,10mile8
10 "
MistassiDi
to 1st falls 20 «
La Savanue
No
Willie
No
Petit Peribonka
to Ist falls 9 <<
Grmd Peribonka
do 12 "
Oochon
No
La Pipe
No
(1) Length of these rivers only given to Ist lakes. A number of
small streams flow into these lakes, these streams are from 10 to 30
miles in length.
B. A. SOOTT.
V
in area
I means
. Nine-
of their
irgest is
»o miles
• where
ee.
1)
>AKB
>le?
1 Harbor
,10miles
10 "
20 "
9 "
12 «
mber of
10 to 30
TT.
— 103 —
** The lake has but one outlet, divided for the first
eight miles into two branches by Alma Island, at the
foot of which the Grande Ddcharge, after a circuit of
twelve miles in mighty rapids, unites with the Petite
D^charge, to form La D^charge du Lac St. Jean
a mighty stream which after a turbulent course of some
thirty miles above Chicoutimi .... becomes the Sague-
nay. "
This watery exi)anse was discovered by the Jesuit
Dequen, on 15th July 1647. After remaining as it were
a terra incognita for two centuries, though explored and
reported on by Provincial commissioners selected for
that purpose : Col. Jos. Bouchette, Andrew Stuart, Esq.
K. C, in 1829, its exuberant soil attracted about forty-
five years ago, the attention of the redundant population
of the counties of Islet, Kamouraska, &:c.; the great trou-
ble was how to reach this ultima thult of civilization
and find a market for its agricultural products.
Kamouraska had an enlightened and far seeing pastor,
the Revd. Mr. Hebert ! alas ! his death is reported, a
few months ago at Kamouraska : he became by his un-
tiring energy and successful efforts, as it were, the re-dis-
coverer of Lake St John. The valley of the lake, which
in the days of Jacques Cartier and Roberval, in 1543,
must have formed part of that weird "Kingdom of Sague-
nay" visited by the first explorers of our soil and travelled
over by Fathers Dequen, Dablon, Crepieul, has now on
the lake shoies blossomed out mto ten flourishing parishes
viz : St. Gedeon de Grammont, St. Joseph d'Alma, Saint
Coeur de Marie, (Mistouk), St. Henri de Peribonka, Ste.
Mdthode, St. Felicien — the pearl of the lake settlements,
St. Prime, Notre-Dame de Roberval, St. Louis de Cham-
bord : two sweet names to French legitimistes I
(These two latter are separated by the old H. B. post of
Metabetchouan and are thus two of the oldest R. C. Mis*
sion stations,) and St Jerome.
-i04-
I'he patriotic curd Hubert bequeathed his name to a
settlement which has since become a flourishing parish,
Hebertville, I had the pleasure of visiting it, in 1883,
on my way to the Grande Decharge.
There is a healthy sign of progress in thf se ten parishes,
cut out of the forest primaeval, explored by Fathers Druil-
letes and Dablon, in 1660 and, in 1672, by Father Albanel,
on his way, with M. de St. Simon, to the distant shores of
Hudson Bay, where on the 28th June, 1672, they trium-
phally raised the fleur-de-lys banner of the Great Louis
XIV ; each parish has now one or more cheese factory
in operation. Nor is the education of the youth of both
sexes, forgotten : parish schools are springing up ; a suit-
able building was acquired on ist August 1882, by the
Ursulines Nuns of Quebec and a convent of their order,
opened there, with great eclat, under the superintendence
of a much respected prelate, the first Bishop of Chicou-
timi, Monsgr. Dommique Racine : a handsome new
structure has now superceded it. In August last, Messrs.
Cressman & Baker erected for tourists, their magnificent
hotel, which was honored by a visit of His Excellency
Lord Stanley and the Vice-Regal party : the elevated
site selected on the shore of the lake, the wild scenery
on every side and its proximity to the haunts of VVa-na-
nish, Trout, Dord, White fish, &c., bid fair to attract here
hundreds of sportsmen and pleasure seekers. We regret-
ted much, on our way to the Peribonka river, in the ni w
steamer Peribonka^ time did not allow us to land at the
Montagnais reserve and old Hudson Bay Post : a writer
in the Empire^ describes as follows, his visit there, last
August.
*' On Sunday I visited with a number of other tourists
this Indian reserve at Pointe Bleae. The Montagnais,
who gather here for their summer mission and for the
manufacture of their canoes, hunt in winter the woods
that lie between Betsiamis on the Lower St. Lawrence,
VI
name to a
ng parish,
in 1883,
t parishes,
lers Druil-
r Albanel,
shores of
ley trium-
;at Louis
5e factory
:h of both
p ; a suit-
I2, by the
leir order,
itendence
f Chicou-
ome new
t, Messrs.
Jgnificent
xcellency
elevated
i scenery
f VVa-na-
ract here
/"e regret-
the ni w
id at the
a writer
lere, last
tourists
itagnais,
J for the
e woods
.wrence,
— 105 —
and Mistassini lake. They are probably the most inte-
resting tribe in North America, and certainly no other
Canadian Indians can nearly approach them in darkness
of skin. They are so decidedly copper-colored that the
Hurons, of Lorette, would appear quite pale-faced along-
side of them. Here and there I picked out one of some-
what doubtful origin, and in almost all of such cases was
but little surprised to learn that they had been born in
the vicinity of the Hudson Bay Company's posts at Lake
Mistassini or James' Boy. The children and younger
women of the tribe are, as a rule, healthy looking and
full in the face. The men and the older women are
almost invariably marked with hollow cheeks and other
symptoms of an approachmg decline. There are scarcely
any old men or women in the tribe. The hardships
that they endure are certainly responsible for the absence
of longevity. They spend their winter nights in tents or
lodges, sleei)ing upon sapin boughs piled up on the snow,
and when game is scarce they not unfrequently feel the
pangs of hunger for several days together, while many of
their number have been known to die of starvation. The
squaws display great admiration for gay colors and wrap
their shoulders in the brightest of bright cotton hand-
kerchiefs, which are also used as head dresses for the
girls. The costume of a Montagnais matron it incom-
plete without the tribal tuque, similar in shape to the
ordinary tuques of Canadian snowshoers, but with the
point caught down in front to the band, and the whole
formed of alternate pointed stripes of red and black,
each stripe piped in blue. The distinguishing feature of
a Montagnais belle is the manner of dressing htr deep
black hair. This is divided in two by a parting at the
back, and at each side it is fastened in front of her ear
in a large roll finished off around the middle exactly like
a hank of yarn. I attended their service on Sunday in
the little Indian church and heard them sing in their
own peculiar language in adoration of the Virgin,"
— 106 —
On the occasion of his recent visit to Lake St. John,
His Excellency the Governor-General was presented by
Mr. Commins, agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, on
behalf of the Company with a couple of magnificent
bearskins and a splendid birch bark canoe. The Monta-
gnais Indians of Pointe Bleue presented the Governor
with the following address in their own language : —
Tehe etshimau katseuaVshet^
Usham ni mirueritenan tshi petamaiats emijikain
mametshitiskuem, tshi utuspamokots ote ntshiskatats,
kassino etamiskatats kie mak e naskumitats.
Ome eshijueiats nileinats ofsipiiro tie tshe t>hi tshisse-
rimiats ushkuats mishimik no.
Tshil ka miskiipapistut tshe olshimaskneu nimierueri-
tenan e napamitats, alo tahisserimitsits Tshipesuau ote
thshitiskuem, miam Tshe Otehismaskueu itaelkakust.
Ustunil eakun kie uir tshe ispish shatshiakant eokum
ispish uilamatats,
N tan eliniuiats,
Kamistuiats, 22 etsnisluaskant epopushum 1888.
Translated into English, theaddiess would read some-
what as follows : —
*' May it please your Excellency — Great Chief of the
generous heart : — The news that you were coming with
your noble spouse to visit the Montagnais filled us with
joy. This is why we are all here to meet and salute you.
Thanks. This word is in our hearts and is written on the
bark to prove our sincerity. Representative of the Queen,
you are welcome amongst us."
In his charming volume En Canot, Judge A. B.
Routhier, has described the delightful outing, he had
enjoyed in July 1882, with Count Foucault, professor
Claudio Jannet, both of Paris, and some other friends
skiming in their light canoes over the quiet waters of
Lake St. John, or descending the foaming rapids of the
I
5t. John,
;nted by
pany, on
giiificenc
) Monta-
lovernor
;mijikain
liskatats,
1 tshisse-
nierueri-
uau ote
kust.
t eokum
88.
d some-
f of the
ng with
us with
te you.
on the
Queen,
A. B.
Bie had
ofessor
friends
ters of
of the
~ 107 —
Great Discharge and crossing their picturesque portages.
In speaking of the Pointe Bleue Indians, he mentions an
extremely beautiful and very youthful bride, who two
weeks previous, had wedded one of his indian guides.
Alas ! for human bliss, at the time we write, the graceful
Pocahontas " whose queenly deportment, piercing black
eyes and raven tresses " had struch with such admiration
the Parisian tourists, was still in the flush of youth and
beauty, sitting disconsolate in her wigwam, grieving over
the recent loss of her second husband — "urrounded by
her sister's children — the angel of fecundity having
ignored her nuptial couch !
At the time we write Messr>. Frank Ross and H. J.
Beemer, are just completing an extensive steam saw
mill, on the end of a point facing westwardly the
Roberval Hotel : its active and energetic manager, B. A.
Scott, Esq.. predicts success to the mill and to Roberval
and so say we.
Roberval Hotel, i6th May, 1889.
J. M. L.
THE LAKES AND THE LAKERS.
The paradise of angler.^, north of Quebec, has given
rise to a literature of its own, so far, chiefly in prose.
Doubtless, the sons of Phoebus-Apollo will shortly, sing
its praise, in their mellifluous " winged words."
In a treatise recently published, intituled Chasse et
Pkhe^ we took pleasure in enumerating the leading
works, written so far on our salmon rivers and trout
streams. It may not be out of place, to mention for the
benefit of those interested in this kind of literature, the
names of these writers.
First in 1839, the interesting sketches of the Jac-
ques Cartier salmon pools — the river Murray, Riviere
i-y
— 108 —
aux Canards et Riviere Noire on the loweK St. Lawrence,
contained in Dr. Wm. Henry's Trifles from my Portfolio^
a rare incunabula at present.
In 1858, Richard Nettle of Quebec brought out
his useful Manual on Pise culture, which so pleased His
Excellency, Sir Edmund Walker Head, that he conferred
on him the important post of Superintendent of Fisheries.
In i860, Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, of
London, published for Sir James Edward Alexander,
Col. of the 1 4th Regt., stationed at Quebec, Revd. Dr.
W. Agar Adamson's tastefully illustrated book Our
Salmon Rivers — a volume much sought after to this day.
In 1863, we published a small treatise on Deep Sea
and River Fisheries.
Canada is deeply indebted to Charles Lan nan, of
Georgetown, Washington, for the series of works he
wrote on Canadian scenery, fly fi-.hing and adventures
in Canadian woods. His position as private secretary to
the Hon. Daniel Webster, and, his being an accepted
writer in the American press, gave his utterances
peculiar weight, beyond the line 45'*.
Frank Fortster (Henry William Herbert) of New
York, the prince of Sjjortsmen, brought out prominently
his adventures with gun and rod, at Quebec, about 1842.
Charles Hallock, the first editor of Forest 6^ Stream^
dwelt lovingly, in his volu ninojs works, on the charms
of our lakes, waterfalls, trout streams.
Frederick Tolfrey, of England, that dashing young
Royal Engineer officer, who^e rod and line wipped
so many of our lakes and who enriched our sporting
annals by his Sportsman in Canada^ published, in 2 vols,
in London, in 1845.
Robert B. Roosevelt wrote, in 1862, The Game Fish
of the North and The Game Birds of the Norths both
useful works.
Several interesting works on Canadian sports have
followed recently.
— 109 —
.awrence,
Portfolio,
ught out
ased His
:onfe:Ted
Fisheries,
)berts, of
iexander,
evd. Dr.
lok Our
this day.
)eep Sea
nan, of
orks he
ventures
retary to
iccepted
terances
of New
ninently
Lit 1842.
Stream,
charms
young
wipped
iporting
2 vols.
ne Fish
:, both
s have
The Pleasures of Angling^hy George Dawson, Sheldon
& Co., New-York, 1876.
Sport with Gun and Rod in American Woods and
Waters, edited by Prof. Alfred M. Mayer, New- York,
The Century Co., 1883.
The American Salnwn Fisherman^y. P. Wells, 1886.
Geo. M. Fairchilds, jr.. New- York, has also contributed
some excellent sporting sketches, in Forest and Stream,
Outing, ^'c, these old favorites of the sporting craft.
The latest works on our Northern lakes, are the
attractive writings of W. H. H. Murray, Kit Clarke,
Leroy Milton Yale, and J. G. Aylwin Creighton.
Scribner's Magazine for May 1889, contains a well
written illustrated paper on The Land of the Wana-
NiCH from the pens of Leroy Milton Yale, and J. G. A.
Creighton, formerly of the Montreal Gazette, now of the
civil service, Ottawa. We have read it with care and
commend it to our readers.
" This region," say the authors of the paper, " was
better known to the French colonists two centuries ago
than it is to the average Canadian to-day.
" Traders had their eyes on the supposed El Dorado
as early as Roberval's ill-fated expedition in 1543, and as
soon as Champlain established La Nouvelle France, the
port at Tadoussac attracted the Indians from the upper
Saguenay. The " Relations des Jesuites " for 1647 ^"^
1652 give accounts of Pere De Quen's voyages to Lake
St. John. In the Relation of 1658, the various river
routes to Hudson's Bay are described with much greater
accuracy than in the would-be discoveries of sensational
writers of the present time. In 166 1, Fathers Gabriel
Druillettes and Claude Dablon, in " the first voyage
made toward the Northern Sea," got as far as Lake
Nikouban at the head of the Ashuapmouchouan, where
a great trading fair was held annually by the Indians.
But for fear of the Iroquois, who were then on the war-
path, they would have anticipated Pt;re Albanel's journey
--110 —
to Hudson's Bay in 1672. In 1680, an adventurer named
Peltier had a trading post at Nikouban.
** It was not till 1842 that the expiration of the lease
of the King's Posts to the Hudson's Bay Company, the
successors of the North-west Con^pany and of the farm-
ers of the Domaine du Roi, ended two centuries of
monopoly which had represented the region to be an
Arctic desert. But the energy of the Prices, " the Lum-
ber Kings," and of colonization societies, formed in the
counties along the Lower St. Lawrence among the des-
cendants of the Normans and Bretons who gave English
blood its strongest strain of adventure, has filled the tri-
angle between Ha Ha Bay, Chicoutimi and Lake St.
John with thickly settled parishes, and strung out a chain
of settlements round the south and west shores of the
lake to 120 miles from Chicoutimi. Except the missions
and posts which connected Tadoussacwith Mistassini and
Hudson's Bay, there was not a settlement on the Sague-
nay till 1838. Ten years later the colonists were at Lake
St. John, and now the population is over 40,000. Pro-
tected from the cold winds of the Gulf, with a climate
and winter better and shorter than at Quebec, and a soil
in which the long hot days of the brief northern sunimer
bring to quick maturity such semi-tropical products as
maize, melons, hemp and tobacco, the region has
developed slowly, because so isolated. To get to Quebec
there were the Saguenay steamers in summer or a long
round over the mountains by roads impassable for weeks
in autumn and spring, and running through a hundred
miles of wilderness.
" But whatever value the region may have for the
settler or charms for the eye of the tourist, it has for the
angler an unique attraction — it is the land of the wana-
nish. And what is a wananish ?
" In appearance a fresh-run salmon and a fresh-run
wananish do not differ much more than salmon from
different rivers. The back of a wananish is greener blue,
^m-:
er named
the lease
pany, the
the farm-
ituries of
to be an
:he Lum-
ed in the
the des-
Engh'sh
I the tri-
^ake St.
a chain
2S of the
missions
>sini and
i Sague-
at Lake
o. Pro-
chmate
d a soil
ummer
ucts as
n has
Quebec
a long
weeks
ndred
)r the
3r the
ivana-
i-run
from
blue,
and in a fish just out of water can be seen to be marked
with olive spots, something like the vermiculations on a
trout ; the silvery sides are more iridescent, the X marks
are more numerous and less sharply defined ; the
patches of bronze, purple and green on the gill-covers
are larger and more brilliant, and with them are several
large round black spots. As the water grows warm the
bright hues get dull, and toward autumn the rusty red
color and hooked lower jaw of the spawning salmon
develop. As the wananish, unlike the salmon, feeds
continuously, and in much heavier and swifter water than
salmon lie in, it has a slimmer body and larger fins, so
that a five pound wananish can leap higher and oftener
than a grilse and fight like a ten-pound salmon. The
variety of its habits, which are a compound of those of
the trout and those of the salmon, with sojne peculiarities
of its own, gives great charm to^ wananish-angling, and
opportunity for every style from the " floating fly " on
tiny hooks to the " sink and draw" of the salmon cast.
It takes the fly readily when in the humor, though wary
and capricious like all its relations, and fights hard,
uniting the dash of the trout with the doggedness and
ingenuity of the salmon.
" In railway and hotel prospectuses, the wananish
weighs from five to ten pounds. In Lake St. John
and the Ddcharge, the average is two and a-half ; four-
pounders are large and not too plentiful, while six-pound-
ers are scarce. The wananish is, however, much longer
than a trout of the same weight ; a five-pounder, for
example is twenty-five inches long, twelve in girth, and
looks hke an eight-pound salmon. Now and *.hen solitary
fish of great size are seen, old habitants dating from " les
premieres ann^es " when " ^a en bouillait, Monsieur, des
gros comme des carcajous " (it just boiled, sir, with
ones as big as wild-cats), but they are intensely wary and
carefully guarded by the demon of ill-luck. Oh ! the
agonizing memory of that wananish which, after a two
— 112 —
hours' fight, made even tough old Theodose lose his
head and — the fish. Mr. David Price is credited with an
eleven-pounder — the Prices always did things on the
largest scale — but among some thousands, we have seen
only one seven-pounder. With a rod of eight to ten
ounces one gets almost the excitement of salmon fishing
— without its hard work and vexation of spirit, for the
number and gameness of the fish make up for the smaller
size. They are unfortunately decreasing fast, both in
number and weight. In the Grande D^charge, where, on
account of the wananish's peculiar ways, the pools were
always few in proportion to the extent of water, there are
but a few places nov^ where a day's sport is certain, and
these are in private hands. Settlement and netting in
the lake have had a great affect, and the opening up of
markets by the railway will hasten the extinction of this
beautiful game fish."
We all hope nDt. But let us now give our readers an
idea of the scenery of the district, as described by Yale
and Creighton : —
" The road lies pleasantly near the border of the lake,
and its course can be traced, right and left, round the
oval contour, by the slender white thread of houses on
the slopes that lead from the broad sand beaches to the
low hills which close in the landscape on three sides. At
intervals the sparkle of tincovered spires shows where the
churches bring the wide-scattered parishes to a locus. To
the west a snowy patch, visible from all round the lake, like
the topsail of a ship hull down, marks the three hundred
feet fall of the Ouiatchouan ; lies des Couleuvres and
lies de la Traverse appear only as stripes of lighter green
against the dark forests of the mainland ; Roberval is
high enough on its slaty bed studded with corallites and
madrepores to be seen as a cluster of white dots ; but
Pointe Bleue is a mere bank of indigo cloud on the far
horizon, and only an Indian's eyes could distinguish the
Hudson's Bay Post and the buildings on the Indian
— Its-
lose his
I with an
on the
ave seen
t to ten
1 fishing
, for the
i smaller
both in
here, on
ols were
here are
lin, and
Jtting in
g up of
I of this
iers an
y Yale
le lake,
md the
ises on
to the
les. At
2re the
IS. To
ce, like
ndred
3 and
green
rvai is
s and
; but
he far
h the
adian
Reserve from the crests of the waves which even a light
summer breeze raises so fast and high. An outpost flash
from the church of St. Prime just indicates where, at the
mouth of the Ashuapmouchouan, Fathers Druillettes and
Dablon started " on the road to enter for good and all
into the lands of Sathan," but northward there is nothing
but water and sky, for the sand dunes and savannes of
the unsettled northern shore are far below the horizon.
Eastward the long curve of yellow sand, banded red and
' black with beds of iron ore rich in garnets, ends in the
low blue bluffs and rocky islets that guard the mouths of
the Decharges, and is backed by the wooded ridge
between the lake and the Saguenay, over which rise the
distant peaks that border the Shipshaw.
** The houses differ little from the ordinary French
Canadian farm-houses of other sparsely settled districts.
Built of squared logs well calked wiih the beaten bark
of the white cedar or white oakum, they are frequently
sheathed with large pieces of birch-bark held in place
by hand-split laths of cedar, while the curved-eaved roof,
in default of shingles, is covered in the same manner.
The barns are often thatched with straw, but the out-
buildings frequently present a greater appearance C)f
thrift than the houses. One picturesque outbuilding
always catches the eye — the oven. That alter of weekly
burnt-oflfering which was the glory of the New England
kitchen is here set up out-of doors, as if to give it the
sanctity of isolation. On a substructure of logs the oven,
is built of stones plastered over with clay ; over all, if
the family can aflord it, is a pent-roof of bo irds. "
Kit Clarke thus describes the Wa-na-nish : " As
every man conceals within himself a hidden life, so Lake
St. John holds within its bosom a life multitudinous,
wonderful and beautiful. " The terrestrial forests," says
Darwm, " do not contain anything like the number of
animals that these of the water do." In their hidden
home in this great lake, safe from the disturbances of
— 114 —
man, are myriads of finny creatures absolutely unknown
to the most enthusiastic angler, yet " the bravest of the
brave " — warriors endowed with a prowess and heroism
unsurpassed among all of their kind
Two or three American lakes to which this piebald
champion has been transplanted know him as the land-
locked salmon ; but in Lake St. John alone does he
display his amazing and obstinate strength, his marvelous
finesse, his tempestuous somersaults and his tremendous
fighting qualities. Weight for weight, in my opinion, he
is immeasurably the grandest game fish that has yet
fallen to the fisherman's lure.
The winninish in formation bears an exceedingly close
resemblance to salmo salar — the illustrious salmon. He
is silvery white in color, with pronounced irregular black
spots on head, and opercle, and with very large fin power,
especially in the caudal, which is immense. The open
fins at once reveal the source of his inordinate strength,
while his dauntless courage is the native attribute of his
species. In these waters he rarely exceeds seven pounds
in weight, while but few are taken that reach five pounds.
In general outline the wininnish is a far more graceful
fish than the salmon, and in delicacy and flavor of flesh
is infinitely more palatable than either salmon or trout.
As a game fish, affording stimulating sport and foment-
ing excitement in his captor, he is the absolute sovereign
of the watery kingdom. The sportsman whose hook for
the first time impales the fish will be dumbfounded at
the tremendous leaps and fiery struggles of this heroic
antagonist. His vigorous contentions are astounding,
while at every leap into the air he turns a complete
somersault, all the while shaking his head with the fier-
ceness of an enraged tiger. These terrific leaps are so
continuous that one seems to be fighting the fish in the
air as much as in the water."
** The wininnish are most plentifully taken in the Peri"
— 115 —
unknown
rest of the
1 heroism
is piebald
i the land-
does he
marvelous
smendous
>inion, he
t has yet
ngly close
non. He
liar black
fin power,
rhe open
strength,
ute of his
n pounds
i pounds.
graceful
• of flesh
or trout.
I foment-
overeign
hook for
nded at
heroic
)unding,
omplete
the fier-
; are so
h in the
be Peri-
bonca River, on the north side of the lake, and at the
Grand Discharge, the outlet of the lake as it passes into
the Saguenay River. In the spring they are baited with
raw beef or the white meat of suckers, and I was told
they took the fly in June, but although I tried various
kinds of flies I did not get a " strike " or see a rise.
Afterwards I learned that July was the proper time for
fly-casting, and that then the fish rise with avidity.
The lightest wininnish that fell to my rod weighed two
pounds, and the heaviest, a trifle under five pounds. In
six days I took thirty-eight, and could readily h we taken
many more, but I had enough.
Why they are dubbed " land-locked " I cannot under-
stand, for in these waters they have free and ea^y ace ss
to the sea by way of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence
Rivers, and have often been taken in the latter riv^er.
My belief is that they are a distinct species of salmon,
and that they will soon become extinct, like thymallus
tricolor^ save in waters' where they are bred and pre-
served."
MULTA LATENT IN MAJESTATE NATUKAE
I'
If/
--116 —
IN THE WILD WOODS OF CANADA. (0
'ii
I'.. ' '
I-
' if'
((
It would be hard, I think, for a man to spend a
holiday more pleasantly and beneficially than
in the Canadian woods. Hunting leads him
into beautiful scenery ; his method of like
induces a due contemplation of nature an i
tends to wholesome thought. He has not
much opportunity for improving his mind
with literature, but be can readT out of the
great book of Nature and And " books in run-
ning brooks, sermons in stones and good in
everything. —3foo»e Hunting in Canada by
the Eakl of Dunraven.
Spending a holiday pleasantly in the Canadian
woods " is a boon not only within the reach of the
sterner sex : more than one gentle, venturesome, high-
spirited lady in Canada to our knowledge has indulged
in such active a pastime without detriment to her health
— mayhap, adding roses to her cheek, vigor to her frame,
elasticity to her footsteps, self ■'reliance to her mind
for scenes and ti iais in after life. Before detailing some
memorable instances, in connection with our wild
sports, it may not be out of place to describe the
hunting grou ids rou id Quebec, the game they contain,
the guides used for its capture, through the pathless
forest, pending the season sacred to that grim monarch,
King Hiems. The pleasures of the chase are coeval with
the pre-historic man : they are reckoned as fresh, as
seductive in the nineteenth century as they were known
to be at the dawn of civilization : the only requisite is
game. Its size, ferocity or wariness matters little : man's
ingenuity is sure to devise means to subdue or outwit it.
Though Canada has long ceased to be the grand " fur
country " of old, eagerly sought after and grasped by
powerful European trading companies, it still, in many
(1) From Carnival No. of MmUreal Star.
ii'
)i. (0
an to spend a
eflcially than
ng leads him
>thod of like
f nature an i
He has not
ng his mind
la out of the
books in nm-
and good in
t Canada by
Canadian
ch of the
me, high-
indulged
^er health
^er frame,
tier mind
ling some
our wild
:ribe the
contain,
pathless
monarch,
eval with
fresh, as
e known
^uisite is
J : man's
)utwit it.
nd " fur
sped by
n many
im-
parts, abounds with game. Countless herds of deer of
every description roam over the boundless and seldom-
travelled territory reaching from Quebec to the lone land
of the north, and during the winter months the hardy
trapper successfully lures to his snares and pitfalls, the
bear, the minx, the musk ox, the beaver, the wily fox,
&c. One order of mammalia, in Canada, still continues
to furnish the aborigines the greater part of his winter
outfit, and materially helps to replenish his scanty larder :
the deer family. It comprises several species : the
moose, the elk or Wapiti, the Virginian or red deer, the
Arctic or Barren Ground Caribou and its southern cou-
sin,the Woodland Caribou (i). The lordly Wapiti or Cana-
dian elk, once common in the Ottaw.i Valley and Western
Canada, has been extinct here, for more than one cen-
tury ; it exists, however, yet in the far west. The most
graceful member of the tribe, the Red Deer, still abun-
dant in Ontario, of late years has made its appearance
in our forests round Quebec ; the enormou-, ungainly
moose is becoming scarce ; but the Woodland Caribou,
in some localities, is as numerous as ever.
THE MOOSE.
By his great size the moose might claim to rank as the
king of the species ; an old male occasionally stands
eighteen hands high, attams in weight 1,500 pounds, and
when standing erect on his long legs, with outspread
antlers, thick, bristling mane, in his wintry ^ark coat,
presents a striking, though an uncouth, appearance on
the whitened plain. In September his coat is brownish
gray. His ears are nearly- twelve inches long. The horns,
(1) Though modern writers persist in recognizing but one
form of caribou, Eangifcr Chcenlandicus, Quebec sporting folks
insist on two forms ; the Barren Ground Caribou, Le Caribou des
Piaines ; Woodland Carihou, Le Caribou des Bois.
I*' I.'
— H8
confined to the male, palmated at his fourth year, attain
their prodigious size when he is five years old ; they
sprout in April and are dropped in December, so that
they are, at best, during the rutting season in September,
when they are freely used by the jealous bucks in fierce
combat. The moose, though easily domesticated and as
useful as a draught horee, cannot be depended on when
advancing in years. The animal, whilst using his horns
in attacking min or beast, when pressed by dogs, employs
his fore and hind legs and kicks out most desperately.
Deep snow in his travels does not suit him. Sometimes
moose horns weigh from fifty to sixty pounds. The young,
usually two in number, are brought forth in May. A calf
moose, though a grotesque little creature, may be made
quite a pet of and comes readily to its master's call for
food, which, however, must be placed within its reach, as
its long legs make it awkward for it to bend. It being
difficult for a moose to crop grass on a level ground, he
resorts to the foliage or buds of trees for a considerable
portion of his food. The young and tender shoots of
the birch, maple, mountain ash, poplar, are its chief
provender in the spring. During the summer of chews the
roots of the pond-lilies, of the willow and of other aquatic
plants. In winter, his long incisive teeth are used to strip
off the bark and buds from various shrubs and trees. A
species of shrub, called moose-wood, is for him a che-
rished morsel.
With the first snow, the moose seeks the thickly-
wooded heights, and prepares his winter-quarters in a
dense grove, until failing food-supplies beckon him to go
forth in search of pastures new. The winter-quarters
are what our Indian guides call a " rava^e^ " and what is
known to deer-stalkers as a moose-yard ; a curious site
in winter, from ten to one hundred acres in area, accord-
ing to the number of moose it is intended to harbor, inter-
sected, crossed and recrossed in all directions by moose-
— 119 —
trails, overgrown by shrubs and forest trees, denuded of
buds and foliage, twelve feet from the soil ; as high, in
fact, as the moose standing on his hind legs can reach.
The location of the moose-yard is, as a rule, permanently
settled on by the beginning of November, when the
wandering bucks have quieted down after the rutting
season. As the snow increases in depth, the animal cir-
cumscribes the area of the ravage and nips the buds
and branches which are the handiest to him. The female
with her young generally " yards " separately, until the
latter are one year old. Bulls from three to ten years old
also select separate yards ; very old bulls frequently
lead solitary lives and yard alone on some sequestered,
sheltered mountain peak in winter ; in summer they
may be found in a cool thicket, in the neighborhood of
a lake or rivulet.
Sometimes as many as nine bulls have been found in
one yard ; generally the number does not exceed four
or five ; sometimes a cow and the calves of two seasons.
The mode of I ravel of the moose in the deep snow is
peculiar. Once alarmed by the hunter on snowshots, all
will start at a swinging, long trot, each treading into one
another's footprints. To any other than an experienced
eye, it looks like the track of one moose only. The leader,
when tired, steps aside ; the herd passes on and he closes
the march. Moose are said not to live beyond fifteen
years. The two years old bucks are the longest-winded.
They are gifted with an acute sense of sight and smell.
In the sprmg, they frequent the neighborhood of lakes
and live on aquatic plants, and during the heated season
they immerse themselves in water to escape the mosqui-
toes. The heights of land in rear of Baie St Paul, known
as Les Jardins, in the county of Charlevoix, are favorite
haunts of the moose in winter, where our Nimrods hunt
them in November and December.
— 120 —
THE WAPITI OR CANADIAN STAG.
Civilization has assuredly had a baneful influence
on many wild animals in Canada, by destory their
haunts. Instead oi capturing them, as in the days of
Baron Lahontan, in the thickets round Stadacona, the
hunter, in quest of several of the most notable specimens,
has to explore the distant shores of the Mackenzie and
Red Rivers.
Dr. Robert Bell, F. R. S. C, kindly furnishes us with
the following notes, which from his explorations in the
far west and scientific knowled8;e, we are inclined to
think very reliable.
" Up to about 1878, the Wapiti was tolerably nume-
rous in the province of Manitoba, west of Manitoba lake
and westward to about the longitude of the Great
Bend of the south Saskatchewan. His extreme north-
ern range is about Edmunton, on the north Saskatchewan.
He is not found in the Athabasca McKenzie River
regions, but he ranges, across the mountains all the way
to the Pacific Ocean and is (or was until late years)
found on Vancouver Island. The favorite haunts of
these animals are in the half-wooded regions and along
wooded valleys in the prairie country
In 1872-74, I remember the Wapiti was numerous
along the margin of the prairie country from Lake
Manitoba northward and along the southwestern border
of the great forests to the north-east. I brought home
a number of pairs of their antlers and some of them,
very large.
I do not know how far they ranged east in former
times : some years ago, I presented to McGill College,
Montreal, a nearly complete pair of antlers with pari of
the skull holding them together, which was taken from a
bog on the margin of a lake just behind Kingston, Ont.
I have heard of their antlers being du^ up occasionally
-121-
influence
tory their
le days of
cona, the
pecimens,
-nzie and
s us with
ns in the
clined to
ly nume-
oba lake
e Great
e north-
:chewan.
e River
the way
2 years)
aunts of
d along
merous
1 Lake
border
t home
them,
former
ollege,
Jart of
"rom a
Ont.
onall^
in the western part of the western peninsula — county of
Essex. "
At present the Wapiti recalls visions of a distant,
one might add, nearly of a fabulous i)ast for the
province of Quebec. What thrilling encounters the
pursuit of this stately ruminant must have afforded our
hardy ancestors ! What glorious sport the noble animal
still has in store for the western hunter ! We can recall
a curious tradition, current in Montmagny, in the rose-
tinted days of our youth, — handed down from several
generations. Whilst whipping for trout, the limpid pools
of the diminutive Rivifere des Perdrix, a tributary of the
Bras St. Nicholas, which marries its dark current with
the rapid Riviere du Sud, at St. Thomas, an old forester,
our guide in many an angling excursion, confided to our
attentive ear, the story of a giant caribou, wapiti, or
moose, he could not say which, — as told him by his octo-
genarian grand sire. " All St. Thomas that day," sa d he,
" was agitated. A gigantic animal had scudded past on
the glare ice of the river, with the rapidity of a railway
train. Was it a caribou — a moose, or some other
monster of the forest ? Who could say ? Startled by a
woodcutter's dog, on the rocky heights of a range or
concession called Le Buton, it took, panic-stricken, a
mountain path, frequented in winter by wood hewers. It
followed it at the top of its speed, the owner of the dog,
his horse and loaded sleigh blocking the path. At one
bound the gigantic animal cleared the obstruction and
rushed past towards the river, landing on the ice and head-
ing for a long and lofty bridge, which, like a black ribbon,
connects both shores of the river, a few acres lower than
the railway bridge. This vast structure seemed to startle
him, and rather than venture under its arches, he slightly
diverged to the right, crossed over the ice at the Bras and
continued his headlong and mad career towards a settle-
ment called La Basse Bretagne, half way between St,
122
Thomas and Cape St Ignace, where he got confused,
hngered in a fir grove, where he soon was despatched by
a combined attack of the local chasseurs, who turned out
with guns and dogs. "
The wapiti or Canadian stag is also known as the
American elk. Much larger than the Virginian deer,
it is provided with lofty horns, not palmated. Its'
color is yellowish brown above. According to tradi-
tion, this deer was not uncommon north of the St.
Lawrence one hundred and fifty years ago. A large
and elegant animal, much resembhng the stag of Europe,
its existence is known in Eastern Canada by its horns
and scattered bones discovered in the forest when the
land is cleared. A pair of horns from the head of a full
grown wapiti weighs from 35 to 45 lbs, whiUt those of
the red deer weigh about 4 or 5 lbs. Its horns have
been found in the County of Renfrew, and while exca-
vating for the Rideau Canal about 55 years back, " the
perfect skeleton of a wapiti was exhumed at the Hogs
Back, near the site of the present City of Ottawa. "
The horns fall off in February or March and are
reproduced in four or five months to their full size ;
during the growth they are covered with velvet like those
of the common red deer. Though easily domesticated
and thriving in parks, the males become vicious as they
grow old and will sometimes, in a fit of passion attack
their best friends.
Judge Caton, who had in his park, at Ottawa, Illinois,
a large herd of deer of diiferent kinds, furnishes a startling
instance,illustrative of the wapiti's habits and disposition,
in a paper read in 1868 before the Ottawa Academy of
Sciences. The accident occurred on the loth September,
1868, and the victim, Mr. M. Dimock, who had impru-
dently introduced himself and two friends in the closed
park, where more than fifty specimens of the deer family
— 123 —
: confused,
matched by
turned out
wn as the
nian deer,
ited. Its'
to tradi-
>f the St.
A large
f Europe,
its horns
when the
d of a full
t those of
3rns have
liiie exca-
,v:k, " the
he Hogs
»
and are
j11 size;
ke those
isticated
as they
attack
Illinois,
tartling
•osition,
lemy of
tember,
impru-
closed
family
were kept for scientific study by the sporting jurist and
naturalist, was gored to death by an elk four years old. ^
" In the autumn the males are subject to an ungovern-
able passion, roaming to and fro over the plains, and
fighting most de^^perate battles wgh each other. Their
cry is de.cribed as a shrill whistling, quivering noise,
which can be heard at a distance of one mile, and it is
not very unlike the braying of a jackass. It is prolonged
and acute, consisting of the successive sounds a, o, u,
uttered with such vehemence as to offrend the ear. While
einitting this whistle or cry they turn their heads upwards
and backwards," so says a reliable writer. " The teeth
are much prized by the Indians also to ornament their
dresses. A ' Queen's ' robe of antelope's skins presented
to Mr. Audubon, decorated with the teeth of fifty-six elks,
was valued at no less than thirty horses." Alas ! the
noble beast has deserted our lattitudes and, with the
buffalo, roams still in large herds in the western prairies.
11 ^, RED OR VIRGINIAN DEER.
Of the five species of the genus in North America, one
only, ti e Virginian deer, ranges in Canada.
The Virginian deer is a beautiful and graceful little
animal, formerly more confined to Ontario, but of late
years very common en the south side of the St. Law-
rence, in the vicinity cf Quebec ; seldom seen on the
north side. Last year, forty odd were captured in the
counties of Bellechasse and Montmagny. It is reddish
or bliiish gray, according to the season, the young are
spotted with white, the horns of moderate size, curving
fon^'ard, with the concave part in fiont — they are occa-
sionally palmated and weigh from 4 to 5 lbs. The male
1. American Cervics : Paper read before the Ottawa Academy of
Sciences, 2 let May, 1868, by John D. Caton, LL. D., late Chief
Justice of Illinois.
— 124 —
alone has horns. This deer has a long tapering pointed
head, and large, soft bluish black eyes, full of intelli-
gence. The legs are slender, but well formed, and in
proportion to their size, possessed of prodigious muscu-
lar strength, while \\^ body is moderately stout and
flexible. The doe gives birth in May or June to one or
two, rarely to three calves, which she carefully conceals
in a clump of bushes. The Virginian deer " yard " in
winter in a cedar or spruce swamp several together. In
spring time they resort to the uplands and feed in the
cultivated fields ; their provender during the night is
leaves, tender grasses, berries, peas, turnips. The buck
generally selects a clump of low bushes, where he makes
a comfortable bed with plenty of soft leaves. Like the
moose, they seek the water in the night to protect them-
selves against flies and mosquitoes.
They are fattest in autumn ; in December the bucks
become lean. In September they are pugnacious and
fight fiercely with their antlers, occasionally, locking
their horns together, and perif-h, when they fail to disent-
angle them. They occasionally use their front feet as
weapons of defence. They are easily domesticated and
become very much attached to the children of the house,
rushing to their call for cake or other delicacies. The
Crown Land Agent at Monlmagny, Mr. Eugbne Renault,
kept for years a pair of red deer, who used to follow
him like house dogs. More then once I have admired
their shy, affectionate ways. The buck was captured
alone on 25th January, 1887, tired out by plodding his
way through six feet of snow, A very high fence is
required to retain them, they will easily leap over an
enclosure eight feet high. The late Lieutenant-Governor
of the province of Quebec, the Honorable Luc Letellier,
had some elegant specimens at Spencer Wood ; they,
however, escaped, one reaching the woods, opposite
Quebec. The strides of this deer, when pursued, are
— 125--.
marvellous ; Mr. Renault measured an ordinary stride of
the biggest of his pets and found it covered eighteen
feet of ground.
THE CARIBOU.
As these lines are not addressed to scientists and
systematists, but to the lovers of out do r sports, a much
more genial class, we have to tell not of one only, but
of two species of caribou, on our territory. The
Arctic or Barren Ground, which on rare occasions has
been shot on the sterile coast of Labrador and on the
Baie St. Paul and Murray Bay heights, at the Cruche
on River Malbaie. His color is lighter than that of the
other species, the Woodland Caribou ; his horns are
nearly twice the size of his compeer, though his compact
body weighs nearly one half less. He scarcely reaches
in weight 200 lbs., and the woodland ruminant attains
500 lbs. and moie. The sense of smell in both species
is excessively acute ; the wary Indian never attempts to
approach him except up wind and by lying in ambush.
As winter draws near he quits the northern barren
grounds of Hudson Bay and takes to the hills, roaming
over immense distances and sejourning for months on our
Laurentine mountains. He wanders back north in the
bpring to the shores of the frozen ocean, where the does
bring forth their young, whilst the Woodland caribou
migrates to the south. Much more shy and swift, the
Woodland species seeks in* summer swamps, where he
thrives on mosses, on buds and leaves of several
shrubs. The Esquimaux capture the Barrei;i Ground
Caribou, m concealed pits dug in the snow, or by snares
made with deer skins, thongs, of great strength, or by
imitating his call. Our Woodland caribou is a marvel
of agility and endurance ; for all that, he is surprised
and falls a victim to thit fearful denizen of our northern
forests, the Carcajou ; or Indian Devil. This shy, swift
— 126 —
deer travels in herds and can walk, trot or gallop alike
gracefully and rapidly ; some think him fleeter than the
n\ouse. When pursued, the caribou, if possible, takes
to a swamp or will swim or wade through a lake to
escape and ascend even a mountain when the tired
hunter has to give up the pursuit, after tracking him on
snowshoes for days. Not one hunter in a thousand can
successfully stalk in summer, the flying wanderer Ocior
Euro.
INDIAN GUIDES
Though of late years, lithe and reliable foresters, of
French Canadian descent, have successively piloted city
Nimrods through our swampy woods in quest of deer,
when Charles Cauchon, of Chateau Richer, among them
became so expert, as to be known as the King of North-
ern Hunters, " the arduous duties of finding and follow-
ing the large game, m the past, generally devolved on
Indian trappers. The Huron Village at Lorette, nine
miles northwest of Quebec, for years was taxed to supply
experienced deer stalkers to sportsmen.
Frajcis Gros-Louis, Vincent, Tahaurenchiy the half-
breeds Charles, George, Pierre, Theodnle, Nephone
Polinock were for years the guiding spirits in the numer-
ous hunting excursions organized by Quebec sportsmen.
*
Few however, can tell who were the guides employed
half a century back by Col. (afterwards General) Cod-
rington, of the Coldstream Guards, then stationed ^t
Quebec, to escort him and his handsome wife through
our northern wilds inquest of deer.
— 127 —
COL. AND MRS. CODRINGTON'S OUTING AT QUEBEC
IN 1838.
Whilst casually glancing recently over Kinglake's
" Invasion of the Crimea, " we ware struck with the
reflexion the historian makes at page 506, vol. I, where
General Codrington formed the resolve to storm the
Grand Redoubt, ascribing to the quickness of glance of
a man accustomed to huntin.ir, the general's ability to
decide at once what to do on any great emergency.
Where did the chivalrous leader, we asked, get his hunt-
ing experience ? Was it that acquired sixteen years pre-
vious, at Quebec, when he was issuing from the Dalhousie
chain gate,, on the citadel, accompanied by his spirited
and beautiful spouse, both intent on an outing after deer
on the I^aurentian Mountains ? Was it, the pursuit and
capture of our noble game which helped so to nerve his
arm and quicken his vision in the perilous charge he was
then leading on his gray Arab ? Was it, reverting to
Quebec scenes, this invigorating outdoor exercise which
heightened the bloom on the cheek of his comely help-
meet and made her the admired of all in our Quebec
Assembly balls ? We hear an inquisitive reader ask :
Who were their Indian guides ? Was it, Gros-LouiSy
Stout, Vincent, Tahourenchk ?
What game did the valiant Colonel bring home ?
Where those antlers which deck the main hall in the
citadel bequeated by Col Codrington ? Ah ! we fear we
can throw no light on these particulars. All we can
vouch for is that his accompHshed English wife returned
from the hunt as fresh, as bloommg as ever.
Are the toils and fatigues of a Canadian hunstman not
too much for members of the gentler and weaker sex ?
We think so ; nay, we have seen even the proud lords
of creation occasionally break down after an exhausting
pursuit of one or two days' duration.
-^1^-
|:
fy^
t)R. JAMES DOUGLAS AND MISS DOUGLAS' OUTING At
QUEBEC IN 1853.
For denizens of the Ancient Capital, it is scarcely
necessary to describe one of its leading citizens so well
remembered as the learned and eccentric surgeon, the
late James Douglas, the worthy successor in surgery of
Dr. Fargues. Dr. Douglas closed his career in Philadel-
phia in 1886, aged 87 years.
He owned at Beauport a charming summer retreat, in
which he varied his leisure hours between the culture of
flowers and the scientific researches which his books
and his museum of Egyptian mummies and curios
afforded him.
Blest with wealth, the doctor liked out-door sports,
and each autumn devoted a few weeks to hunting cari-
bou and moose on the northern districts round Quebec.
On one occasion his only daughter — a bright, active,
high-spirited girl, about 20 years old — prevailed on her
father to allow her to accompany him in one of his hunt-
ing excursions. Indian guides were procured as well as
snowshoes and toboggans to bring the stricken deer to
camp ; but it appears on this occasion, one of the tobog-
gans bore not a stricken deer — but a tired young lady,
whose snowshoes had given out, though Miss Annie was
not the worse of her outing and lived many years to tell
of her sporting experience in Canadian woods.
But enough of these reminiscences of the past ; let
us close with the saying of a Roman Nimrod :
Venandi studium cole.
The Grange, Spencer Wood,
New Year's Eve, 1888.
}
J. M. LeMoine.
UTING AT
is scarcely
ens so well
urgeon, the
I surgery of
in Philadel-
r retreat, in
B culture of
his books
and curios
oor sports,
inting cari-
id Quebec,
ight, active,
iled on her
)f his hunt-
as well as
en deer to
he tobog-
oung lady,
Annie was
ars to tell
past ; let
flOINE.
QUEBEC AND ITS HISTORIC PAST.
(From Canadian llluatrated News, 16th Sept. 1882.)
" We insert the address by the President of the Literary
and Historical Society, James McPherson LeMoine,
together with a few preliminary remarks, delivered at
the Harbour excursion in the steamer Canada^ and the
luncheon given to the Delegates of the American Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science, on their visit to
Quebec, 26th August, 1882 :
Jacques Cartier landed on the banks of River Saint Charles,
September U , 1535
Quebec founded by Samuel de Champlain, July 3 1808
Fort St. Louis built at Quebec 1620-4
Quebec surrendered to Admiral Kirk 1629
8uebec retiimed to the French 1632
eath of Champlain, the first Governor, Dec. 25 1635
Settlement formed at Sillery 1637
A Royal Government instituted at Quebec 1663
guebec unsuccessfully beseiged by Admiral Phipps 1690
oimt de Frontenac died Nov. 28 , . . 1698
Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Sept. 13 1759
Capitulation of Quebec, Sept. 18 1759
Battle of Ste. Foye — a French victory, April 28 ^. 1760
Canada ceded by treaty to England ,....,. 1763
Blockade of Queoeo by Montgomery and Amold,November 10. 1775
Death of Montgomery, Dec. 31 , 1775
Retreat of Americans from Quebec, May 6 « • 1776
Division of Canada into Upper and Lower Canada r. . • • • • 1791
Citadel of Quebec built by the Imperial Government «n^. 1823
Insurrection in Canada ■, 1837
Second Insurrection 1838
Union of the two Rrovinces, in one • 1840
Dominion of Canada formed, July 1 1867
Departure of English troops from Citadel 1870
Second Centenary of Foundation of Bishopric of Quebec, by
Monseigneur Laval, Oct. 1, 1674 1874
Centenary of Repulse of Amoldand Montgomery before Quebec, ' -n
onSlstDec., 1775. 31st December 1875
Dufferin Plans of City embellishment, Christmas day • 1875
Departure of the Earl of Dufiferin, 18th October « 1878
Arrival of the Marquis of Lome and Princess Louise, 20th Nor. 1878
Dufferin Terrace named, 9th July »* 1879
Dufferin City Gates, St Louis and Kent erected 1879
5
-130 —
:-$i
'^, Mr. LeMoine, as it was growing late, added the folio v-
ing'brief remarks :
"jLadies and Gsntlemen. — The annals of this vast
dependency of Britain, which we are proud to call
our country, vaster even in extent than the territory of
your prosperous republic, are divided into two distinct
parts. The first century and a half — 1608 to 1759 —
represents the French domination. Though totally alien
in its aims and aspirations from the succeeding portion,
it has nevertheless for Quebec an especial charm, most
endearing memories. It was the fruitful era of early
discovery, missionary zeal and heroism, wealthy, fur trad-
ing companies — shall we call them monopolies ; — inces-
sant wars with the ferocious aborigines and sanguinary
raids into the adjoining British provinces. When the
colony expanded, an enlarged colonial outfit caUed into
existence more powerful machinery, more direct interven-
tion of the P'rench monarch : a Royal Government in
1663, to save and consolidate the cumbersome system
based on the Seigniorial Tenure in land ; a mild form of
feudalism implanted at Quebec by the Grand Monarque.
It would take me far beyond the limits I have prescribed
myself, were I to unravel the tangled web of early colonial
rule or misrule, which until the conquest by Britain in
1759, flourished, under the hly banner of the Bourbons,
on yonder sublime cliff. Let us revert then, to that
haunted dreamland of the past ; let us glance at a period
anteriorto.the. foundation of Jamestown, in 1607, even
much anterior to the foundation of Ste. Augustine, in
Florida, On the north bank of the river St. Charles,
about a mile from its entrance, Jacques Cartier wintered
in 1535; What a difference in the tonnage of the arrivals
from &ea,. in. September, 1535 ; the " Grande Hermine",
120 tons ; the " Petite Hermine ", 60 tons ; the " Eme-
rillon 'V40 tons ; and, in August i860. Captain Vine
Hall's; leyiathM the ** Great Eastern ", of 22,500 tons !
— 131 —
the folio -.v-
f this vast
id to call
territory of
vo distinct
to 1759 —
Jtally alien
ig portion,
larm, most
ra of early
J, fur trad-
; — inces-
janguinary
When the
:aUed into
t interven-
rnment in
le system
d form of
\fonarque.
)rescribed
y colonial
Britain in
Jourbons,
to that
a period
)o7, even
ustine, in
Charles,
wintered
e arrivals
;rmine ",
i " Eme-
lin Vine
>o tons !
What terror the shipping news that morning of September,
1535, must have caused to swarthy Donnacona, the Chief-
tain of the Indian (Iroquois or Huron) town of Stadacona !
the first wave of foreign invasion had surged round the
Indian wigwams which lined the northern declivity of the
plateau on which Quebec now stands (between Hope
Gate and the Coteau Ste. Genevifeve) ! Of course you
are aware this was not Cartier's first visit to the land of
the north ; his keel had, in 1534, furrowed the banks of
Newfoundland and its eternal fogs ; in 1541-2, he had
wintered a few miles, higher than we now are — at Cap
Rouge — west of Quebec. Then, there occurs in our
annals of European settlement, a gap of more than half a
century. No trace, nor descendants on Canadian soil,
of Jacques Cartier's adventurous comrades. The wheel
of time revolves ; on a sultry July morning (3rd July, 1608),
the venerated founder of Quebec — Samuel de Cham-
plain — equally famous as an explorer, a discoverer, a
geographer, a dauntless leader, and what to us, I think,
immeasurably superior, a God fearing, Christian gentle-
man — with his hardy little band of Norman artificers,
soldiers and farmers, amidst the oak and maple groves of
the lower town, laid the first stone of the " Abitation " or
residence, so pleasantly, so graphically described by your
illustrious countrymen, Parkman and Howells.
Ladies and gentleman, I have promised you the brie-
fest of discourses ; but if, instead of pointing out to you
the historical spots, brought under your notice in the
course of our excursion, it were my lot to address, as a
Canadian annalist, such an appreciative audience as I see
here, what glowing pictures of soldierlike daring, of
Christian endurance, of heroic self sacrifice, could be
summoned from the pregnant pages of Champlain's
journal and from that quaint repository of Canadian
history, the Relations of the Jesuits ? you would, or I am
much mistaken, be deeply moved with the story of- the
— 132 —
^i:-/
m :
trials, sufferings and devotion to king and country of the
denizens of this old reck ; your heart would warm towards
that picturesque promontory — sometimes, seemingly dear
to sunny old Frarxe.
One occasionally would be tempted to forgive her cruel
desertion of her offspring in its hour of supreme trial.
From the womb of a distant past would come forth a
tale of deadly, though not hopeless, struggles with savage
or civilized foes — a tale harrowing, not however devoid
of useful lessons. The narrative would become darker,
more dreary, when to the cruelty of Indian foemen woiild
be added, as oft' was the case, the horrors of a famine
or the pitiless severity of a northern winter. A transient
gleam of sunshine would light up the canvass when
perchance, the genius of a Talon,the wisdom of a Colbert,
or the martial spirit cf a Frontenac succeeded in awak-
ening a faint, Canadian echo on the banks of the Seine.
In those winding, narrow, uneven streets, the forest-
avenues of Montmagny and de Tracy, which now resound
to no other sounds but the dm of toil and traffic, you
would meet a martial array of fearless, gay cavahers, and
plumed warriors, hurrying to the city battlements to repel
the marauding savage or the foe from Old or New
England, equally objects of dread. From the very deck
of this steamer, with the wand of the historian you would
conjure the thrilling spectacle of powerful fleets, in 1629,
in 1690, and in 1759, anchored at the very spot which we
we now cross, belching forth shot and shell on the sturdy
old fortress, or else, watch flotillas of birch bark canoes
laden with lithe, tattoed, painted warriors landing on
that beach, bearing peace offerings to great Ononthio.
Varied, indead, would be the panorama which history
would unroll Finally, you might cast a glance on that
crushing 13th of September, 1759, which closed the
pageant of French rule on our shores^ — when all the
patriotism of the yeomanry lead by the Canadian Gentils-
i
— 133 —
try of the
n towards
ngly dear
her cruel
e trial,
e forth a
h savage
r devoid
J darker,
;n would
I famine
ransient
>s when
Colbert,
n awak-
e Seine,
forest-
esound
fie, you
rs, and
repel
New
y deck
would
1629,
ich we
sturdy
anoes
ig on
nthio.
story
1 that
I the
Ithe
hommes — the Longueuils, Vaudreuils, De Beaujeus, de
St. Ours, L^ Naudifere, &c., was powerless against the
rapacity and profligacy of Bigot and his follow plunderers
and parasites
These were the dark days of the colony under French
rule ; a glimpse of the doings in those times suffices to
explain why French Canada, deserted by France, betrayed
by some of her own sons, accepted so readily as z.fait
accompli the new regims ; why, having once sworn fealty
to the new banner implanted on our citadel by the
genius of a Chatham, it closed its ear and steeled its
heart even against the blandishments of the brave, gene-
rous Lafayette, held out in the name of that grand oM
patriot and father of your country, George Washington."
HUNTING & FISHING
PROYIHCI OF gUIBEC.
€IiOS£ SEAfiM>KS-HIJJNTINO.
i\
^'
w
.1%
.;
St,
1 »'i
1^
■ 4.
&
i 1
; .^;
gu
'■ '»:•
1
■ 1i
f^"
t!:
1. Moose and caribou From IstFeb. to 1st Sept*
8. Deer " 1st Jan. to 1st Octob.
^. B.r- The hunting of moose, caribou or deer with dogs or by
means of snares, traps, die, is prohibited,
JVo person iwhiteman or Indian) has a right, during one «< ^'«
hunting, to kill or take alive— unless he has previously ob i
a permit from the Commissioner of Crown Lands /or that pui\i,^se
^more than 2 moose, 3 caribou and i deer.
j^ter the first ten days of the close season, all railways and
steamboat companies and public carriers are forbidden to carry
the whole or any part {except the skin) of any moose, caribou or
deer, without being authorized thereto by the Commissioner qf
Crown Lands.
3. Beaver, mink, otter, marten, pekan.
4. Hare
5t Musk-rat (only in the coimties of
Maskinone^, Yamaska, Richelieu
and Bertluer)
6. Woodcock, snipe, partridge of any-
kind
7* Black duck, teal, wild duck of any
kind
(except sheldrake and gull.)
N. B.— Nevertheless in that part of
the Province to the East and North
of the counties of Bellechasse and
Montmorency ,the inhabitants mav,
at all seasons of the year, but only
for the purpose of procuring food.
Sec, shoot any of the birds men-
tioned in No. 7.
From Ist April to 1st Nov.
" Ist Feb. to 1st Nov.
" Ist May to 1st Apri
following.
" Ist Feb. to 1st Sept.
•' 15th April to Ist Sept.
And at any time of th«
year, between one hour
after sunset and one hour
b^ore sunrise. It is also
forbidden to keep exposed,
during such prohibited
hours, lures or decoys, <S:o,
if-
- 135-
Birds known as porchors, such as
swallows, king birds, warblers,
flycatchers, woodpeckers, whippor-
wUls, finches. <song-sparrows, red-
birds, indiffo birds, &o.,) cow-bunt-
inffs. titniico, goldfinches, grives,
(robin, woodthrushes. Sec.,) king-
lets, bobolinks, grakles, grosbeaks,
hummingbirds, cuckoos, owls, &c.,
except eaffles, falcons, hawks and
other birds of the falconidee, wild
pigeons, king-fishers, crows,raven8,
waxwings {r4collet.t) shrikes, jays,
magpies, sparrows and starlings. . .
From 1st March to IstScp.
9. To take nests or eggs of wild birds. . . At any time of the year.
N. B.— Fine of $2 to $100, or imprisonment in default of payment.
Nopergon who ignot domtciled in the Province of Quebec , nor in
tJwt 0/ Ontario can, at any time, hunt in thit Province without
having previously obtained a license to that etfect from the Com-
missioner of Ciown Lands. Such permit is not transferable.
Fee : S20.
" $10.00 for members of a " fish and game Club " duly Incorpo*
rated in the Province of Quebec.
I. Salmon (angling) From 15th Aug. to 1st Fob.
8. Speckled trout, {salvenilusfontina-
lis)
3. Large grey trout, lunge & winninish.
4. Pickerel
5. Bass and Maskinong^
6. Whiteflsh
1st Oct. to 1st January
16th Oct. to 1st Deo.
15th April to 15th May
15th April to 15th June
19th Nov.* to 1st Doc.
Fine of $5 to $20, or imprisonment in default of payment.
N. B.— Angling by hand, (with hook and line), is the ONLY means
permitted to be used for taking fish in the lakes and rivers under
control of the Government of the Province of Quebec.
No person, who is not domiciled in the Province of Quebec, cant
afjany time, fish in the lakes or rivers under control of the govern-
ment of this Province, not actually under lease, without having
previously obtained a permit to that tsffect from the Commissioner
of Crown Lands. Such permit is only for the time, place and per-
sons therein indicated.
Department op Crown Lands,
Quebec, 8th May, 1889.
K. E. TA€HE,
Assistant-Commissioner of
Grown Lands,
^W^ORKS
OF
J. M. LkMOINE, F.R.S.C.
■'St'
ENGLISH.
LEGENDARY LORE OF THE LOWER St. LAWRENCE,
(1 vol. in-32) 1862
MAPLE LEAVES, (Isi Series) (1 vol. in-80) 1863
(2nd Series) (1 vol. in-8o) 1864
(3rd Series) (1 vol. in-8o) 1865
THE TOURIST'S NOTE BOOK, (1 vol. in-64) by Cosmopolite. . 1870
THE SWORD OF BRIGADIER GENERAL MONTGOMERY,
(A memoir) (1 vol. in 64) 1870
TRIFLES FROM MY PORTFOLIO, (New Dominion Monthly) 1872
MAPLE LEAVES, (New Series) 1873
QUEBEC PAST & PRESENT 1876
THE TOT RIST'S NOTE BOOK, (second edition) 1876
CHRONICLES OF THE St. LAWRENCE, (1 vol. in-8o) 1878
HISTORICAL NOTES ON QUEBEC AND ITS ENVIRONS. 1879
THE SCOT IN NEW FRANCE, a Lecture before L. & H. Soc'ty 1880
PICTURESQUE QUEBEC, (1 vol. in-8o) 551 pages 1882
HISTORICAJj AND SPORTING NOTES ON ENVIRONS OF
QUEBEC 1889
EXPLORATIONS IN EASTERN LATITUDES, by Jonathan .
Oldbuck, F. G. S. Q (in press)
» FRENCH.
L'ORNITHOLOGIE DU CANADA, (2 vol. in-8o) 1860
ESSAI SUR SIR WALTER SCOTT joete, romancier, historien 1862
NAVIGATEURS ARCTIQUES-P^anklin-MClure- Kane—
MfClintock 1862
LES PECHERIES DU CANADA, (1 vol. in-8o) 1863
MEMOIRE DE MONTCALM, VENGEE, (1 vol. in-32) 1865
L' ALBUM C AN ADIEN 1870
L'ALBUM DU TOURISTE ,. 1873
CONFERENCE SUR L'ORNITHOLOGIE devant I'Institut
Canadien, Quebec 1874
NOTES HiSTORIQUES SUR LES RUES DE QUEBEC 1876
TABLEAU SYNOPTIQUE DES OISEAUX DU CANADA,^
I'usagc des 6cole8 1877
MONOGRAPHUS ET ESQUISSES, 500 pages 1885
CHASSE ET PECHE, 300 pages 1887
Orders filled by
O. E. HOLIWELL,
Bookstore^
Opposite Post Office, Quebec.
R. S. C.
:nce,
1862
1863
1864
1865
•lite.. 1870
ERY,
1870
ithly) 1872
1873
1876
1876
1878
ONS. 1879
ioc'ty 1880
-... 1882
S OF
•••.. 1889
than
(in press J
. 1860
rien 1862
e—
... 1862
... 1863
... 1865
. . . 1870
... 1873
ut
. 1874
. 1876
,k
1877
1885
1887
ST. LEON SPRINGS.
jbec.
What wonders does not the name convey! Within a brief
period tlie healing qualities thereof have been worid-wide spread.
Centuries ago the efficacy to be derived from their use was known
to the pristine Savage, who knew their beucticial powers and
drank thereof and laved therein, as blessings tliat the "Great
Manitou " had sent him Just as the buffalo of the prairie or the
beasts who roam over Central Africa repair to their '• Salt Lick,"
so did the Indian repair to St. Leon Springs as the " Great
Medicine Man." If what was then known as efficacious to the
simple Red Man, how much more shall we, in this nineteenth
century, benefit fro*-;, .t, when its properties have been chemically
analyzed and o<*'or.d to us in the Materia Mcdica.
Doctors Oi our day not only have sung its praises, but thousands
testify LO its healing properties in multitudinous disorders ; while
druggists feel alarm that Galen's teachings, — and even Hahne-
mann's— pale before Nature's remedy, ST. LEON WATER.
A word as to the location of these Springs, which have brought
blessings of health to so many. They are situated in Maskinonge
Co., P. Q., nearly equidistant and within easy access from Mon-
treal and Quebec. From 300 to 400 gruests can be accom-
modated at the Springs Hotel So famed is this water that
with each return of early Summer crowds flock from all points.
Many pronounced incurables come and about 90 per cent go
away rejoicing in good health. Such testimony establishes beyond
dispute the remarkable powers of ST. LEON WATER.
The increasing popularity of this WATER with the public, not
excepting the Medical Faculty [a sure sign of its excellence]
p
clearly shows << that kind Nature's healing balm " is as much, or
even more to be trusted than the long prescriptions culled from
the Books of Galen. .
A three hours' ride from Montreal or Quebec will land the
visitor at Louiseville, five miles from the Spring. Last Summer
saw 17,600 visitors who drank and bathed there, about one
half of whom suffered as follows : — From Dyspepsia, Rheumatism,
Kidney and Liver Diseases, Indigestion, Constipation, Uric Acid,
Gravel, Biliousness, Headache, Blood Poison, Bronchitis, Heart-
burn, Bright's Disease, Diabetes, &c. » We carry them to the
Springs," said the 'bus-driver, " sore, stiff, sick, moaning, and
many withered skeletons. They return in one to four weeks, not
a sad groaning company, but full of health and frolic ; refusing to
ride they bound along the foot-paths heading the 'bus ; myself
grinning a poiket loss grin of 25c. a head." One and all insura-
bles, so-called, return in perfect health or amazingly benefitted—
incontestable proof of the virtues of St. Leon Mineral Water.
Not only do invalids resort to St. Leon Springs, but those in
full health, determined to have " a good time " at this favorite
Summer resort. Here can be had good manly and womanly
exercise, such as boating, cricket, lawn tennis, football, bowls,
tenpins, and many other amusements.
Were these Springs situate in England or on the Continent of
Europe, they would be designated as a " Spa," and be flocked to
by myriads. As it is, each year brings around an additional
influx of visitors who thoroughly enjoy themselves, while
inhaling the beneficial air amroniiding this sanitarium. As before
mentioned, the invalids, after a brief sojourn, leave cure<i, at far
less cost and with more certainty, than had they remained at
home under the care of their regular Professional Attendant.
In a word, there is no place within easy reach of Quebec or
Montreal where so much health, and recreation can be had at
slight expense than at St. Leon Springfs. Try it.
For terms apply to
THE ST. LEON MINERAL WATER CO.,
Sole proprietors of the celebmted St. Leon Mineral Water.
€. £. A. liAWOIiOIS,
Manager.
Agencies: 101^ King St., West, Toronto.
4 Victoria Square, Montreal.
3 Port Dauphin Street, Quebec.
if
much, or
lUed from
land the
t Summer
ibout one
iumatism,
U^ric Acid,
tis, Heart-
ra to the
aing, and
veeks, not
L'fusing to
s ; myself
11 inrura-
nefitted —
'^ater.
t those in
3 favorite
womanly
11, bowls,
itinent of
locked to
tdditional
•s. while
A. 8 before
j<i, at far
ained at
ant.
uebec or
>e had at
I Water.
fanager.
ESTIBLISHED
SO Tears
u. R.
ESItBLISHED
so Team:
Jt Co.
35-37JMMMliIE35-37
QUEBEC
BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT
FURRISRS TO THS QUEEK
THE FINEST STOCK in the DOMINION of RICH FURS
Hadson Bay Sables and Beavers, Silver Foxes, Grizzly Isabella and
BLACK BEARS, BUFFALOS
Novelties in Ladies Paris Mantles made
from real Alaska Seals
BOAS, MUFFS and CUFFS
Oentleinens^ Fur Lined Coats
ALL AT THE MOST MODERATE PRICES
iBv'
THE CeiNIC HARDWARE CO., {
SPORTING
DEPARTMENT
}
:ri'
FOOT OP MOUNTAIN HILL
1^ — :a © "a
0.= g
53+3 « « « .§
Sole Aoents.— Province of Quebec. Horton Bristol Rods, our
own models for Salmon and Trout pattern.
iillll
Commodore Orboorts Repellant, manufactured and sold only
hj us after his famous Recipe.
(THE BEST IN THE WORLD.)
riNG \
PARTMENTJ
5 §'^t5«
5 2 2 S*—
> t- c; o ca Q
* » « S.S S ei
^ Ills
^ p^ -I i
~ c 00 X a Q
. f-'- a» S o
5*s « « « .5
»1 Rods, our
nd sold only
CLO?ll,FElf&CO.
FABRIQUE STREET
I MPORTERS OF
iS" OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS -^
v^
_^
y
Established 1848
^ ^
SPECIAL NOTICE IS CALLED TO THE FOLLOWING
DEPARTMENT :
fj ARPETS, ]|| ATTIN6S AND pRNISHINB Q QQDS •
INCLUDING
IRON BEDSTEADS, MATTRESSES,
PILLOWS, ' BLANKETS,
TRAVELLING WRAPS, TABLE LINEN,
TOWELLING
Mosquito NetS| Veiling and other Requi-
sites for Camp Equipage
ALSO TO THEIR
TAILOR AND OUTHTTER'S DEPARTMENT
Where a fine Stock of Blanket Cloths and other useful Over*
- coatings and Coatings will be found, as well as Flannel
and Serge Shirts, Underclothing and Hosiery
of all kinds.
GARMENTS made to order at sbort noticer
I
t
1; .
LAKE S T. JOHH REg lOH, &c
SPORTMEN'S OUTFITS
TO THE —
FLY FISHERS
— OF THE —
SALMON RIVERS AND TROUT STREAMS
OF THE PROVITCE OF QUEBEC
The undersigned an old firm in this city as
Wines, Spirit and Grocery Dealer,
Is prepared at the shortest notice to fill up as usual, all orders left
with him, for outfits, and to forward the same, m carefully-
packed boxes by rail to Lake St. John, or by steamer
to Bale des Chaleurs or elsewhere.
He can conjidently, invite attention to his extensive Stock of
Wines, Spirits, d-c, cDc, cDc.
CHOICE BRANDS OF
Champaioie, Old Martiiiiane,
Sherry, St. Croix Rum,
Scotch Whisky, Cofimac, Hollands,
All kinds of French cordials.
Speciality of Imported Havannah Cigars & Liquors
^— — fc— ■— — ^M^— i— ■, — ■■ ■ _i ,, I
Also more than one hundred varieties of PICKLES, SAUCES.
BISCUIT, CANNED MEAT, FISH, FRUIT AND
VEGETABLES, fresh direct from the large
Chicago houses, " Armour Canning Co., '
Libby & Co., ai^d London and Pans houses.
78, ST. JOHN STREET, 78
Please send, order the day previous, if possible.
TS
IRS
STREAMS
by as
Dealer,
all Orders left
1 carefully
teamer
iive Stock of
iane.
X Rum,
Hollands,
2; Liquors
3, SAUCES,
' AND
irge
uses.
8
POBBiblO.
SJ.SHAW&Co.
13 ST. JOHN ST., UPPER TOWN ***
AND
37 SOUS-LE-FORT ST., LOWER TOWN
QUEBEC
FISHING TACKLE
[ Every description, amongr which will be
found very fine
o
ii
I I I I I I I I I I i •
I I I I I I I I I I I I
JL27I) BOMB GOOD KILLING
TROUT & SALMON FLIES
Adam Wahers
WLOLESALE AND RETAIL
C3" K.- O-O-EJ^
lit:
M .
^m
>
FABRIQUE STREET, Quebec
^urvetjor to pi6 fP^ccellenctj the j|ovemor general
By Appointment
Notice to Sportsmen, Anglers and Tonrists
iT my establishment, hunting parties, anglers, tourists,
whether of Canada or from the States, can purchase all
their supplies of the finest quality and at the
lowest price-
Supplies of all kinds, car 3/w%2)ac^(3c?, and sent promptly
to any address.
Tents and full camp outfits, charts and maps of lakes and rivers
north of Quebec, cooks and laborers, furnished to order. An
angler and sportsman myself, I can appreciate the needs and
position of campers in the woads.
f/S^ Orders from any of the lakes and rivers on the line of the
Lake St. John Railway can be sent daily by letter or telegraph :
Rbfbrbnobs : — a. L. Light, M. I. C. E. ; Col. Rhodes, J. D.
Gilmour, Capt. Holiwell, H. H. Sewell, W. H. H. Murray.
im
UEBEC
general
bed 1877
ourists
!, tourists,
chase all
id at the
oiuptly
and rivers
rder. An
leeds and
ine of the
egraph :
les, J. D.
Spfirtsaten's Outfits
TO THE
FLY . FI
»»»*»»•»»«««««««««
OP THE
Salmon Rmrs and Tront Streams of the Promoe of Qiebeo
The nndersigned, one of the oldest firms In this city, as
Wines, Spirit and Grocery Dealers,
are prepared at the shortest notice to fill np as usual, all orders
left with them, for outfits, and to forward the same, in
carefully packed boxes by rail or by steamer, to Bale
des Chaleurs or elsewhere.
Thq can ConideDtli Invite attentioi to their Eitensive Stoci: of Winesi Spirits, 4c.
CHOICE BRANDS of
CHAMPAGNE,
SHERRY,
PORT. Ac.
SCOTCH WHISKY,
COGNAC,
HOLLANDS.
Also more than one hundred varieties of Pickles, Sauces. Biscuit,
Canned Meat, Fish, Fruit and Vegetables, fresh direct from
the large Chicago houses, Armour Canning Co.^
libby & Co., Sc London and Ontario houses.
G. & O. HOSSACK
Garden Street, Quebec
fSf Please send order th4'dayprmou9 if posHble, fM
ii 'A
JOHN DARLINGTON
I I I
I I ■ I I I I t I I
Cim AND.HILITART TAILOR
AND — ■ —
IMPORTER OF BENTS' FITRNISIINBS
HAS ALWAYS ON HAND
The Finest lines of Reversible Waterproof
CoatSy Inverness Capes, American
Rubber Coats for Sportsmen
ALSO
CHOICEST BANGES of WINTER and SUMMER
UNDERCLOTHINa IN SCOTCH WOOL,
VIENNA MERINO, NATURAL WOOL
CASHMEER, SILK AND LISLE
THREAD
A LARGE VARIETY OF
Trowserings, Coatings and Vestings
FROM THE BEST LONDOII IIID PtilS HOUSES
MILITARY CLOTHS, LAGES, BRAIDSi BUTTONS, &c.,
AliWATS IN STOCK
OPPOSITE POST OFFICE
IK !
lit
TON
R
[SHINffS
terproof
rican
m
SUMMER
[OOL.
3
istings
NS,ftc.,
ICE
Tailor to His ExMlleney tke Governor Oenenl
Under tbe dlstinsnished Patronage of
H. R. H. PRINCESS LOUISE FOR UDIES JACKETS
t mtm t
FliACE B'AKUKS
Opposite DufPerin Terrace
CaXJEBEQ
(6 BEWARE OF MOSQ^^^
(Successor to Roderick MoLeod)
PROPBIETOB OF THE MEDICAL HALL
16 FABRIQUE STREET 16
Hasinventeda " MOSQUITO PRE VENTIVE " which is unequalled
for wardinK off the attacks of Mosquitoes, black flies, and other
insects, and which is endorsed by many anglers and sportsmen of
reputotion. He also imports many articles necessary to sportsmen,
such as India rubber pillows, camp sheets and cushions. Extract of
meat, meat, Biscuits & Lozenges, condensed milk, best brands, and
CoDdiDtntd Melecloes Suitable br TiUig Is tke WoeiL
BOOK Al CIGAR STORE
ST. LOUIS HOTEL
Q,TJBBBO
I
■ ; ! ■ if! 1
A large variety of Books, Fancy Goods, Sco., Abo.,
Can be had at the Olgar Stand In the rotunda
of this hotel
WE tLWtVS KEEP 01 HtlD THE UTESI EICLISH HID IHERIUI lOffiLS
PHOTOGRAPHS OP QUIBIO
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL
f llll# ¥i<»WS ifi nil gillies
STEREOSCOPIC VIEWS, ($1.50 PER DOZ.)
The attention of Tourists ■• <i ^ o our
Steele of Cigars impor «i v. ^t ron%
Havana fc/-
ST. LOU IS HOTEL OIQAR PET ARTMBN T
Meershanm Croods on hand in great Tariety
Priar Koot Pipes, 4tcct, &e»
rotunda
in loiEu
IBIC
llra^S
tR DOZ.)
oour
it rom
? MENT
variety
G. R. REIFREW 1 COS
BRANCH STORE.
-♦-^♦<
St. IjOtjis Hotel
QUEBEC
TOUKI8TS are invited to visit thu FUR WAREROOM
rtdjoininjij the Ladies Parlor, containing one of the larj^est
and most valuable stocks of Furs in Canada, at moderates
prices.
First Prize Gold Medal
Awarded by the United States Continental Commission, Phila-
delphia 1876, and First Prize Gold Mkdal awarded
by the Colonial and Indian Exhibition,
London England, 1886.
In Seal, Persian Lamb, Astraoan, Sco.
Ladies Fur lined Circulars and Dolmans, Sealskin and Fancy
Fur Satchels in great variety.
Sleigh Robes and Travelling Rugs, Black, Brown and Grizzly
Bears, Red and Arctic Fox, &c., i&c.
A large variety of Gentlemen's fur coats, adjustable collars
and cuffs, and caps in all the latest styles.
Fancy Fur Rugs for Drawing Rooms
Indian Cur'osities and Novelties in Ltidit-s and Gentlemen
slippers^ made of Bearskin, Sealskin, Caribou, &c.
it
iiii
IK
III 1 i
;i i
CONDENSEDJIME TABLE.
Quebec to Lake Edward, all the tUbing stations and Lake
St. Jolm.
liCHve Quebec daily except Sunday 8»10 A.iH.
Arrive at Lake Edwaixl «... 1.55 P. Hi •
Arrive »t Chambord Juuctiou ...» 5.04 iP.MT.
Arrive at Roberval (Lake St. John) 5.35 P.M.
Leave Roberval (Lake St. John) daily except Satordtiy Q.IIO l*.]II.
L(iave Chambord Junction • ft.SO P.jII-
Arrive at Lake Edward... .•••12«38 A..tl.
Arrive at Quebec O. SO A.M •
An Exprest} train leaves Quebec for Lake SI 'ohnand
intermediate HtatioD^ every jS t::rday nit-.l. at. . . ft.lS
A I riving at Lake St. John (liober . al) at 7«0O A.M.
Also Leaviv;;- RoI)cj v ' every Monlay at O.OO A.Hf •
Arriving at Quebec i- H*Vti P.M.
Blonaroli parlor and sleeplas oars on all throui^ trains.
Sxcellent hotel and restaurant aeoommodatlon
at Lafco Xaward and Lake St. John.
LOCAL TRAIN SERVICE.
Qael)6c and St. Baymond and intermediate stations.
Leave Quebec daily (except Sunday) at 5. SO P.M.
Arrive at Lake St. Joseph..... II.4|N P.M.
Arrive at St. Raymond 7.15 P.M.
Leave St. Raymond 7.00 A.M.
9.40 P.M.
Arrive at Quebec 8.40 A*M'
" 8.15 P.M.
AIii:X. HARI>\% jr. U. SCOTT,
Gen. Freight and Pass. Agt. SectV Mwaager,
- Quebec, May^ 1889.
ms.
.BK.
1p.m.
lager.