shore, and landed a committee of inquiry, who reported so
unfavourably of the miserable cabin from which it issued, that
we determined to proceed, tired as the ladies were. Our scouts
informed us, that they had found in the cabin four or five
Canadians, dancing to a sleeping fiddler, whose music ceased as
soon as they awoke him. A mile or two further, we found a better
house, where we called the family up, and, with the help of our
well-bred and efficient ladies, some gunpowder tea they had with
them, some milk that was obtained from a cow that was awakened
for the purpose, and the services of my servant, we sat down, a
party of twenty, to a tolerably comfortable meal. When the
ladies were about to retire, they found there was no door to
their chamber, but they supplied the deficiency with a sheet.
The gentlemen lay on blankets, in a sort of barrack room; but I
found the fleas so annoying, that I got up and sat at the door
of the house. I should have enjoyed the clear night after the
storm, and the placid lake, if I had been less tired and sleepy;
but wearied as I was, I was very glad to see the day break. Our
gunpowder tea made its appearance again at five o’clock; after
which we embarked, passing the remaining rapids, (the Cedars,
the Split Rock, and the Cascades, as they are called,) and the
mouth of the Ottawa River; and, being becalmed in the fine lake,
St. Louis, we arrived at night at La Chine, about 150 miles from
Ogdensburgh, which we had left the preceding morning. As we
approached La Chine, the houses and villages on the banks of the
river and lake assumed a much more comfortable appearance; but
of the Canadians in my next letter.
“Some of our party staid all night at La Chine, but several of
my friends and myself proceeded to Montreal in a wretched
vehicle, for which I was obliged to apologize to my American
companions, by reminding them that it was only a colonial, and
that there were parts of our colonial system which none of us
attempted to defend. We met some miserable _calèches_, of which
I was ashamed even as colonials; and I was compelled to repress
the rising smiles of the party, by suggesting to their
recollection, that, after all, we were still in America and not
in England. After riding nine miles, almost in the dark, we
entered the faubourg of Montreal, and jolted along a narrow
street a mile long, which my companions, accustomed to the
spacious streets in America, supposed to be an alley, though it
is the principal street. At the end of it we stopped at the
Mansion-house, a very fine inn; and here I was not ashamed to
welcome my companions to the dominions of his Britannic Majesty.
“The Mansion-house is situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence,
which its handsome apartments overlook, and which is here almost
two and a half miles broad. The windows of our room open upon a
fine terrace, from which there is a charming and extensive view
of the distant country. In the evening this is a very favourite
promenade with the inmates of the house.
“I am delighted to sit down once more under the British flag,
which is waving over us, for Lord Dalhousie, the governor, is
staying in the house; and I am gratified by the sight of our own
red coats, who have mounted guard.”
“_Montreal, 23d August, 1822._
“I have just received your letter of the 19th ult. The uncommon
cold of the last winter, and the unusual heat of the present
summer, appear, in some degree, to have extended to you.
Individually, I am not sorry to have the opportunity of
experiencing, in the course of the year I have passed in
America, a range of temperature beyond even the ordinary limits
of the country. The great and sudden changes, however, continue
to strike me more than even extremes of cold and heat, so much
beyond those we experience in England. After a week of the
hottest weather they have had here this summer, (the other
morning the thermometer was currently reported, and I believe
correctly, to be 98° of Fahrenheit in the shade,) thin clothes
of every description have disappeared; and last night, when I
sat down to write to you, I found it too cold to proceed. The
oppressive heat of the summer here, and in the United States, is
alleviated, in some degree, by the liberal use of ice. We see it
in every form, and use it with the utmost profusion. The butter
regularly comes to table with a fine thick transparent piece of
ice upon it; large pieces are generally floating in the water
jugs at dinner, or in your chambers; and it is often handed
round on plates, in small pieces, to be used at dinner. The plan
of preserving ice in this country, and the United States, is
much more simple than with us, and, I have no doubt, more
judicious, as, notwithstanding the superior heat of the climate,
it is so much more cheap and plentiful. Almost every farmer has
his ice-house.
“I have already given you some account of our sail down the
Rapids. It was extremely pleasant; and although we were becalmed
for many hours, we descended on the St. Lawrence in less than
two days, a distance which the boatmen seldom reascend in less
than nine or ten, even with the occasional assistance of locks
at the side of the river. I am surprised we hear so little of
this noble river. It is computed, I do not know with what
accuracy, to discharge one-half more water than the Mississippi.
Its depth between Ogdensburgh and La Chine (130 miles) seldom
varies more than three feet in the course of a year; while the
Mississippi was falling one foot each day when I ascended it.
The St. Lawrence is much clearer than the Mississippi, and its
current much more rapid; so rapid, indeed, that the Lake Erie
steam-boat, which has been in operation for three years, has not
been able to ascend from Black Rock to Lake Erie more than twice
without twelve oxen. The banks of the St. Lawrence do not
present the rich and beautiful cultivation which adorns the
banks of the Mississippi in Louisiana; but if they do not
exhibit extensive and highly-dressed plantations of sugar and
cotton, or the magnificent forest trees peculiar to the south
and west, the prospect is never blackened by a range of
miserable slave-cabins, or gangs of negroes working like cattle
in the field. I cannot describe to you the pleasure I derived
from contrasting the various scenes through which I am passing
with each other, they have so many peculiar features, and all so
highly interesting.
“It is remarkable, that, rising from the same table-land, and so
intimately connected by intersecting branches, which
occasionally flow into each other during periods of inundation,
the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence present the most striking
contrast in their general features. Many of these are mentioned
in the observations I will copy for you from Darby; but others,
not much less interesting, might be added.
[Illustration: _Montreal, from the St. Lawrence._]
[Illustration: _The St. Lawrence at Montreal._]
“‘The Mississippi is turbid, in many parts to muddiness; the St.
Lawrence unusually limpid. One river is composed of almost an
unbroken chain of lakes; the other, in all its vast expanse, has
no lakes that strictly deserve the name. Annually the
Mississippi overleaps its bed, and overwhelms the adjacent
shores to a great extent; an accidental rise of three feet, in
the course of fifty years, is considered an extraordinary swell
of the waters of St. Lawrence; this circumstance has occurred
the present season for the first time within the lapse of forty
years past. The Mississippi, flowing from north to south, passes
through innumerable climes; whilst its rival, winding from its
source, in a south-east direction, to near north latitude 41°,
turns gradually north-east, and again flows into its original
climate of ice and snow. The Mississippi, before its final
discharge into the Gulf of Mexico, divides into a number of
branches, having their separate egress; the St. Lawrence
imperceptibly expands to a wide bay, which finally opens into
the gulf of the same name. The banks of the Mississippi present
a level, scarce rising above the superior surface of that
stream; those of St. Lawrence, by a gentle acclivity, exhibit
the opposing sides of an elegant basin. Much of the surface
watered by the Mississippi is a region of grass, where few
shrubs or trees rise to break the monotony of the face of the
earth; the shores that bound the St. Lawrence, when in a state
of nature, are covered with an almost continuous and impervious
forest. And, lastly, though rather an accidental than a natural
distinction, the Mississippi rolls its mighty volume, swelled by
more than a thousand rivers, through one empire; and is, as I
once before observed, the largest stream on this globe, whose
entire course lies within one sovereignty. The St. Lawrence is,
for more than 1,300 miles, a national limit, and, as such,
marked with the sanguinary points which distinguish the bounds
of rival power.’
“We arrived here on the 10th, as you would learn from my last
letter. On the 11th, I was awakened by the matin-bells of the
different catholic churches; and while my steam-boat companions
went to see the _Lions_, I set out to deliver my letters of
introduction, and soon found that the mornings of the ensuing
week would be entirely occupied by commercial engagements, and
the evenings with dinner-parties; for the merchants are very
hospitable. On the 12th, I was left alone, all the party at the
Mansion-house, with whom I was intimate, having proceeded to
Quebec. On their return, in a few days, I was a little more at
leisure, and accompanied them to the nunneries. The ‘Grey
Sisters’ admitted us; but the ‘Black Sisters’ expressed their
regret, in the politest French, that their devotional
engagements would prevent them from seeing us till the following
Thursday.
“On the 17th, there was a grand levée held here, (in a spacious
room in our inn,) as Lord and Lady Dalhousie, with their suite,
were paying a short visit to Montreal. I attended, and was duly
presented. The Governor and Countess gave great satisfaction;
but I hear many apprehensions expressed, that his lordship will
not incur the responsibility which the Duke of Richmond is said
never to have hesitated to assume, in acting first and sending
for instructions afterwards. It was about this time last year
that the Duke left this house, a few days before his melancholy
death up the country. I was told, that on the day he had fixed
for his return he was brought into the house a corpse; and on
the subsequent day, which had been appointed for his levée, a
large concourse of the gentlemen of Montreal attended his coffin
to the vessel which carried him away. His loss is deeply
regretted. Sir Peregrine Maitland, his son-in-law, the Governor
of Upper Canada, and Lady Maitland, are much respected; and, I
understand, are doing much for the promotion of religion in the
newly settled districts in their neighbourhood.
“The bishop of Canada preached at the church I attended on
Sunday; and, as I was returning home, a veteran soldier of
General Wolfe’s army was pointed out, in his scarlet uniform.
“I have had a few rides into the country in the neighbourhood,
which is very beautiful. I have also met most of the principal
merchants at dinner during my stay. On these occasions I am
always gratified by the allusions I continually hear to home.
‘At home, we do so and so;’ ‘Mr. ——’s carriage is just arrived
from home;’ ‘Here are some biscuits from home; fresh from
Threadneedle-street, where I always get them.’
“In the streets, however, there were many peculiarities to
remind us that we were not at home. More than three-fourths of
the inhabitants are said to be catholics; and the bells of the
cathedral are never at rest. The priests, who are the seigniors
of the island, are very rich; but they are said to be
charitable, moral, and by no means luxurious. Our young friends
would be amused by the numerous dog-carts, the dogs in gig or
tandem harness, in every part of the town, and by the _calèches_
of the last century, which would serve as a foil for a north of
England shandan. A considerable number of Indians are usually
walking the streets with moccasins for sale; and I saw several
on the river-side, a mile distant, in wigwams, of which their
birch canoe formed a principal part. The town is most agreeably
situated, and there is an air of industry and animation in the
inhabitants; and yet, occasionally, the narrow streets and iron
window-shutters excite a sensation of gloominess, of which I
cannot readily divest myself till I return to our cheerful inn,
where the arrival and departure of steam-boats occasion a
constant succession of guests. Our party at table, which
dwindled to six, rose, two days since, suddenly to sixty, all
fugitives, as those who are not on business seldom allot above
two days to this part of their tour. As the friends with whom I
am most intimate have been detained since their return from
Quebec, by the want of a steam-boat, I have been very well off,
having access to their three drawing-rooms, with an agreeable
female party in each. Our host, although a Londoner, and
adopting London hours, accommodates himself by pursuing the
American plan of compelling us to eat at a common table; but the
style of the house is admirable, and we can obtain private
sitting-rooms. One of those occupied by our party is that which
Lord Selkirk usually occupied while here, and often recalls him
to my recollection. All I hear, and I have conversed with many
of both parties on the subject, has only served to confirm my
previous impressions with respect to the treatment which he
received; in some instances, too, in quarters where it was least
excusable, and at the hands of those from whom every British
subject was entitled to demand impartiality. In an hour we are
going on board the Swiftsure steam-boat for Quebec, and I am
glad to find that several of my acquaintances will be of the
party.”
[Illustration: _Raft in a Squall on Lake St. Peter._]
[Illustration: _The Three Rivers, River St. Lawrence._]
“Steam-boat, on the St. Lawrence, August 28th, 1820.
“I began this letter at Montreal, on board the Swiftsure
steam-boat. This is probably the finest steam-boat which has
been built, and I was proud to see her under the British flag;
the Americans readily conceded her superior claims. The style of
living and attendance is more like that of a good hotel, at the
west end of London, than any thing I have seen on this side of
the Atlantic, notwithstanding the handsome style of some of the
American hotels, and the comfort of some of the boarding-houses.
There is an ice-house on board, and the owner supplies her table
with grapes and peaches from his own garden.
“I often feel a strange sensation, when gliding down the
American rivers, in these floating palaces; and have sometimes
turned away almost ashamed, when bearing down in all this
ostentatious luxury on the poor half-naked Indians, in their
birch canoes, struggling to reach the shores on which their
fathers roamed fearless and independent.
“We left Montreal about noon on the 22d, and for sixty miles
averaged thirteen miles an hour. The banks of the river, which
is from one and a half to three miles broad, though too flat to
be romantic, till you approach within thirty miles of Quebec,
are interesting, from the white cottages, which seem to form one
continued village, and the neat churches, of which two or three
are often in sight at once; the spires are usually covered with
tin, and have a very dazzling appearance.
“The cottages have originally been placed at equal distances
from each other, the farms having been laid off, with a front of
a given length to the river; but the Canadian custom of dividing
the farm between the children of the deceased (more congenial
with their indolence than striking deeper into the woods) has
broken uniformity by repeated and often inconvenient
subdivisions. A mass of deep woods usually bounds the farms, at
the distance of a few acres from the river.
“The navigation on Lake St. Peter is so difficult, that we were
obliged to lie at anchor all night. On the 23d, we passed the
Three Rivers, a handsome town, on the three mouths of a
respectable river; and at five o’clock in the evening arrived at
Quebec, 180 miles from Montreal. As we approached the town we
passed close under the plains of Abraham, and the precipitous
rocks which our gallant hero scaled; and after straining our
eyes to reach the fortifications, which seem to frown
destruction to any hostile force which might have the temerity
to approach, we were pleased, on looking round us, to find
ourselves in the middle of British shipping. I cannot tell you
with what satisfaction I renewed my acquaintance with old
Cumberland brigs, which in England I should not condescend to
notice. As soon as we landed, an English friend and I procured a
calèche, and drove off to the Falls of Montmorency, nine miles
distant, which we reached just at sunset. Our beautiful summer
evening closed in upon us before we had seen the Falls from the
most favourable situation. The full moon, however, soon rose,
and threw her light upon the broken torrent, which precipitates
itself from a height of 220 feet, while the dark shadows of the
rocks and trees, which overhang the waters below, contributed
greatly to heighten the grandeur of the scene. Our conductor was
an interesting little peasant girl, nine years of age, whose
pretty French was most agreeable. The ride home was delightful,
the full moon ‘walking in brightness,’ and throwing her
horizontal rays across the river as she rose. The fortresses of
Quebec were constantly in sight, and did, indeed, seem
impregnable by human force. It would be difficult even to
imagine a more commanding site, and I could not help admiring
the skill with which the French had chosen their northern post,
which they evidently intended to connect with New Orleans, by a
series of intermediate forts, which might confine the British
within a narrow strip on the Atlantic. Reflections on their
system of policy were the more interesting to me, from having so
lately visited the southern extremity of their trans-Atlantic
dominions, and having in the interval passed through so many of
the immense forests which lie between them. We stopped at
Malhrot’s, the best inn in Quebec; but an unwillingness to
intrude on the present occupiers of my bed decided me to prefer
a chair, in which I sat till after three o’clock, looking on the
beautiful moonlight prospect before me. At five o’clock we set
out in a calèche on our way to Loretto, an Indian village of the
Hurons, nine miles from Quebec. They have a neat catholic
church, and speak French; but, from what I could gather from the
chief, they have no land, and support themselves by fishing and
hunting. In that case they are not so well off as my friends the
Choctaws and Cherokees, or the Caughnawagas, whom we saw nine
miles from Montreal, who have a handsome catholic church, and
cultivate the land.
“In the course of our ride we were often reminded of home by the
rich little meadows and thickly settled country on every side.
The distant mountains were very fine. We reached our inn at nine
o’clock, having accomplished, after six o’clock the preceding
night, what usually occupies two days. After breakfast I devoted
myself to business; and, declining an invitation from Judge ——
to accompany him to the ‘military mess’ to dinner, I set off to
the Falls of the Chaudière, seven miles distant, intending to
drink tea on our return with a gentleman who lives on the way.
It was so dark, however, when we reached his house, five or six
miles from Quebec, and had begun to rain so heavily, that we
thankfully accepted his offer of a bed. The Falls of the
Chaudière were highly interesting, even after Niagara. In the
deep seclusion of a thick wood, the river, nearly 250 yards
wide, precipitates itself a hundred feet into a rocky channel,
which appears to have been rent asunder by some dreadful
convulsion of nature, by which the rock has been broken into
huge masses, that combine with the surrounding objects to impart
an air of most magnificent wildness to this extraordinary scene.
On our return we had several fine views of Quebec down the
river.
[Illustration: _Bridge near Quebec._]
[Illustration: _The Chaudière Bridge,_
near Quebec.]
“The next day we went into town early, and I was again engaged
in business till afternoon, when I walked round the
fortifications with my old military friend and his wife. At five
o’clock I went to dine at Judge ——’s, where I met several
gentlemen, and where I staid till it was nearly time to embark
in the steam-boat, which was to set sail at midnight for
Montreal.
“I think you will be amused by the following extract from the
journal of one of my fellow-travellers, who left me at Montreal
to visit Quebec, and on his return found on board the steam-boat
one of the Indian chiefs, belonging to the village of Loretto,
to which I have alluded.
“‘We have on board one of the Indian chiefs who walked in the
procession at Loretto, and his daughter, a genteel young woman.
He speaks the English language. He said he knew General
Washington, and had dined with him twice; and that the general
had made him a present of a very good horse. ‘I told General
Washington,’ said he, ‘that your horse; he tell me to call one
of his aids, and he say, Col. Trumbull, write order for Vincent,
(that my name,) for that horse; so I keep him. He very good
horse.’ The story of the horse was thus explained. Vincent
commanded a body of Indians at the capture of Burgoyne, and was
made a prisoner with that general. The horse had been taken by
him from the Americans; and hence he called him not his own, but
Washington’s. This information I obtained from others on board.
Taking me aside, he said, ‘I saw you Loretto.’ _C._ ‘I was
there, and saw you walking at the head of the procession.’ _V._
‘Yes, I walk.’ _C._ ‘What was that the priest carried?’ _V._
‘What religion you?’ _C._ ‘I am a protestant.’ _V._ ‘Then you
very good man; priest carry image Virgin Mary. This is all
nonsense. He tell us poor Indians we must believe, or be
condemned, that Virgin Mary was taken up into heaven—soul and
body; you believe that?’ _C._ ‘I do not understand it: what is
your opinion?’ _V._ ‘I do not believe; I do not read that in
Scripture. Priest tell us poor ignorant Indians that we must
worship her, and saints, and images. I do not find that in
Scripture neither; but I read, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and him only shalt thou worship. Thou shalt make no graven
image, nor worship them: that my belief. I think it wicked to
worship images; but God is merciful. Priest tell us ignorant
Indians we must have mass; fetch out purgatory our fathers, dead
hundred years ago; and we pay sometimes one, sometimes two
dollars each mass. Brother, you believe there is a purgatory?’
_C._ ‘I have no knowledge of such a place. What is your
opinion?’ _V._ ‘I don’t believe; and tell you my opinion. I
believe if our heart be not purge in this life, it never will
purge.’ On my assenting to his doctrine, he asked, ‘Where do you
think is hell?’ I told him I did not know. Then added he, ‘I’ll
tell you where I think it is: it is in the sun.’ I felt some
surprise at all this; and, asking him where he had been
educated, he replied at Hampshire. He then asked me to drink a
glass of grog; and on my declining, he bid me good bye, and
walked to the forecastle to sip it by himself. On observing a
young Indian on board very attentive to the chief’s daughter, I
told Vincent I supposed this man was courting her; on which he
replied with much warmth, ‘No; him Mohawk.’
“I do not know why he regarded a connexion with the Mohawks as
degrading, for they were members of the celebrated confederation
of the Six Nations—the Iroquois Confederation. The other
members were the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the
Senecas, and the Tuscaroras.”
[Illustration: _The Chaudière Falls,_
near Quebec.]
It is our wish to assemble pictures of Canada by as many different
classes of observers, and during as many different seasons, as is
possible. Here are some winter sketches, which are not unentertaining.