round Quebec, and instances have been known of parties of pleasure
reaching it. It is about three miles in length, and perhaps one at its
greatest breadth. Towards the middle of it, two rocky points shoot out
so as to form, properly speaking, two lakes, connected by a narrow
channel. A scattered hamlet, taking its name from the lake, is seen with
its meadows and tufted orchards, along the right bank of the outward
basin. Wooded heights rise on the opposite shore, and surround the whole
of the interior lake, descending everywhere to the water’s edge; the
whole forming a scene of lovely loneliness, scarcely intruded on by the
canoe of the silent angler. There is more in the whole landscape to feel
than to talk about, so that it is little wonderful that an excursion to
Lake Charles should be more frequently talked about than made.
The Huron village of Loretto stands on the left bank of the Charles,
about four miles below the lake, (eight from Quebec). The river,
immediately on passing the bridge, below the village, rushes down its
broken bed of granite, with a descent of about seventy feet, and buries
itself in the windings of the deeply-shadowed glen below. A part of the
fall is diverted to turn a mill, which seems fearfully suspended above
the foaming torrent. The village covers a plot of ground very much in
the manner of an English barrack, and altogether the reverse of the
straggling Canadian method; it is, in fact, the method of their
ancestors. I found the children amusing themselves with little bows and
arrows. The houses had generally an air of poverty and slovenliness;
that, however, of their principal chief, whom I visited, was neat and
comfortable. One of their old men gave me a long account of the manner
in which the Jesuits had contrived to trick them out of their seignorial
rights, and possession of the grant of land made them by the king of
France, which consisted originally of four leagues by one in breadth,
from Sillori north. Two leagues of this, which were taken from them by
the French government, upon promise of an equivalent, they give up, he
said, as lost; but as the property of the Jesuits is at present in the
hands of commissioners appointed by our government, they were in hopes
of recovering the remainder, which it never could be proved that their
ancestor either gave, sold, lent, or in any way alienated.
END OF VOL. I.
TRANSCRIBER NOTES
Spelling maintained as written except where obvious errors or omissions.
Multiple spellings of words and names were adopted consistent with
Volume II as follows: General Wolf to Wolfe; General Van Ranssellaer or
Van Renssellaer to Van Rensselaer; Montmorenci to Montmorency; St.
Laurence (river) to St. Lawrence (river); St. John for river and town in
New Brunswick; St. John's for Newfoundland and Quebec early settlement
on the Richelieu River; Abram to Abraham; and moccassins or mocassins to
moccasins.
Punctuation maintained except where obvious omissions or printer errors
occurred.
Engravings have been enhanced and some engravings have been relocated to
coincide with the text.
[The end of "Canadian Scenery Vol. I of II", by N. P. Willis (Nathaniel
Parker).]