further north of this place. At bay St. Paul, there are two or three
walnut-trees of that species which the English call butter-nut-trees;
but they are looked upon as great rarities, and there are no others in
the neighbourhood.
Oaks of all kinds, will not grow near this place, nor lower down, or
further north.
Wheat is the kind of corn which is sown in the greatest quantities
here. The soil is pretty fertile, and they have sometimes got
twenty-four or twenty-six bushels from one, though the harvest is
generally ten or twelve fold. The bread here is whiter than any where
else in Canada.
They sow plenty of oats, and it succeeds better than the wheat.
They sow likewise a great quantity of peas, which yield a greater
encrease than any corn; and there are examples of its producing an
hundred fold.
Here are but few birds; and those that pass the summer here, migrate in
autumn; so that there are no other birds than snow-birds, red
partridges, and ravens, in winter. Even crows do not venture to expose
themselves to the rigours of winter, but take flight in autumn.
The Bull-frogs live in the pools of this neighbourhood. Fire flies are
likewise to be found here.
Instead of candles, they make use of lamps in country places, in which
they burn train-oil of porpesses, which is the common oil here. Where
they have none of it, they supply its place with train-oil of seals.
September the 1st. There was a woman with child in this village, who
was now in the fifty-ninth year of her age. She had not had the
catamenia during eighteen years. In the year 1748, she got the
small-pox, and now she was very big. She said she was very well, and
could feel the motions of the fœtus. She looked very well, and had her
husband alive. This being an uncommon case, she was brought to the
royal physician, M. Gaulthier, who accompanied us on this journey.
At half an hour after seven this morning we went down the river. The
country near Terre d’Eboulement is high, and consists of hills of a
loose mould, which ly in three or four rows above each other, and are
all well cultivated, and mostly turned into corn-fields; though there
are likewise meadows and pastures.
The great earthquake which happened in Canada, in February, 1663, and
which is mentioned by Charlevoix [80], has done considerable damage to
this place. Many hills tumbled down; and a great part of the
corn-fields on the lowest hills were destroyed. They shewed me several
little islands, which arose in the river on this occasion.
There are pieces of black lime-slate scattered on those hills, which
consist of mould. For the space of eight French miles along the side of
the river, there is not a piece of lime-slate to be seen; but instead
of it, there are high grey mountains, consisting of a rock-stone, which
contains a purple and a crystaline quartz, mixed with lime-stone, and
black glimmer. The roots of these mountains go into the water. We now
begin to see the lime-slates again.
Here are a number of Terns [81], which fly about, and make a noise
along the shore.
The river is here computed at about four French miles broad.
On the sides of the river, about two French miles inland, there are
such terraces of earth as at Terre d’Eboulement; but soon after they
are succeeded by high disagreeable mountains.
Several brooks fall into the river here, over the steep shores, with a
great noise. The shores are sometimes several yards high, and consist
either of earth, or of rock-stone.
One of these brooks, which flows over a hill of lime-stone, contains a
mineral water. It has a strong smell of sulphur, is very clear, and
does not change its colour, when mixed with gall-apples. If it is
poured into a silver cup, it looks as if the cup was gilt; and the
water leaves a sediment of a crimson colour at the bottom. The stones
and pieces of wood, which ly in the water, are covered with a slime,
which is pale grey at the top, and black at the bottom of the stone.
This slime has not much pungency, but tastes like oil of tobacco. My
hands had a sulphureous smell all day, because I had handled some of
the slimy stones.
The black lime-slate now abounds again, near the level of the water. It
lies in strata, which are placed almost perpendicularly near each
other, inclining a little towards W. S. W. Each stratum is between ten
and fifteen inches thick. Most of them are shivered into thin leaves at
the top, towards the day; but in the inside, whither neither sun, nor
air and water can penetrate, they are close and compact. Some of these
stones are not quite black, but have a greyish cast.
About noon we arrived at Cap aux Oyes, or Geese Cape, which has
probably got its name from the number of wild geese which the French
found near it, on their first arrival in Canada. At present, we saw
neither geese, nor any kind of birds here, a single raven excepted.
Here we were to examine the renowned metallic veins in the mountain;
but found nothing more than small veins of a fine white spar,
containing a few specks of lead ore. Cap aux Oyes is computed
twenty-two, or twenty-five French miles distant from Quebec. I was most
pleased by finding, that most of the plants are the same as grow in
Sweden; a proof of which I shall produce in the sequel.
The sand-reed [82] grows in abundance in the sand, and prevents its
being blown about by the wind.
The sea-lyme grass [83] likewise abounds on the shores. Both it and the
preceding plant are called Seigle de mer [84] by the French. I have
been assured that these plants grow in great plenty in Newfoundland,
and on other North-American shores; the places covered with them
looking, at a distance, like corn-fields; which might explain the
passage in our northern accounts, of the excellent wine land [85],
which mentions, that they had found whole fields of wheat growing wild.
The sea-side plantain [86] is very frequent on the shore. The French
boil its leaves in a broth on their sea-voyages, or eat them as a
sallad. It may likewise be pickled like samphire.
The bear-berries [87] grow in great abundance here. The Indians,
French, English, and Dutch, in those parts of North-America, which I
have seen, call them Sagackhomi, and mix the leaves with tobacco for
their use.
Gale, or sweet willow [88], is likewise abundant here. The French call
it Laurier, and some Poivrier. They put the leaves into their broth, to
give it a pleasant taste.
The sea-rocket [89] is, likewise, not uncommon. Its root is pounded,
mixed with flour, and eaten here, when there is a scarcity of bread.
The sorb-tree, or mountain-ash, the cranberry-bush, the juniper-tree,
the sea-side pease, the Linnæa, and many other Swedish plants, are
likewise to be met with here.
We returned to bay St. Paul to-day. A grey seal swam behind the boat
for some time, but was not near enough to be shot at.
September the 2d. This morning we went to see the silver or lead veins.
They ly a little on the south-side of the mills, belonging to the
priests. The mountain in which the veins ly, has the same constituent
parts, as the other high grey rocks in this place, viz. a rock-stone
composed of a whitish or pale grey lime-stone, a purple or almost
garnet-coloured quartz, and a black glimmer. The lime-stone is in
greater quantities here than the other parts; and it is so fine as to
be hardly visible. It effervesces very strongly with aqua fortis. The
purple or garnet-coloured quartz is next in quantity; lies scattered in
exceeding small grains, and strikes fire when struck with a steel. The
little black particles of glimmer follow next; and last of all, the
transparent crystalline speckles of quartz. There are some small grains
of spar in the lime-stone. All the different kinds of stone are very
well mixed together, except that the glimmer now and then forms little
veins and lines. The stone is very hard; but when exposed to sun-shine
and the open air, it changes so much as to look quite rotten, and
becomes friable; and in that case, its constituent particles grow quite
undistinguishable. The mountain is quite full of perpendicular clefts,
in which the veins of lead-ore run from E. S. E. to W. N. W. It seems
the mountain had formerly got cracks here, which were afterwards filled
up with a kind of stone, in which the lead-ore was generated. That
stone which contains the lead-ore is a soft, white, often
semidiaphanous spar, which works very easily. In it there are sometimes
stripes of a snowy white lime-stone, and almost always veins of a green
kind of stone like quartz. This spar has many cracks, and divides into
such pieces as quartz; but is much softer, never strikes fire with
steel, does not effervesce with acids, and is not smooth to the touch.
It seems to be a species of Mr. Professor Wallerius’s vitrescent spar
[90]. There are sometimes small pieces of a greyish quartz in this
spar, which emit strong sparks of fire, when struck with a steel. In
these kinds of stone the lead ore is lodged. It commonly lies in little
lumps of the size of peas; but sometimes in specks of an inch square,
or bigger. The ore is very clear, and lies in little cubes [91]. It is
generally very poor, a few places excepted. The veins of soft spar, and
other kinds of stone, are very narrow, and commonly from ten to fifteen
inches broad. In a few places they are twenty inches broad; and in one
single place twenty-two and a half. The brook which intersects the
mountain towards the mills, runs down so deep into the mountain, that
the distance from the summit of the hill, to the bottom of the brook,
is near twelve yards. Here I examined the veins, and found that they
always keep the same breadth, not encreasing near the bottom of the
brook; and likewise, that they are no richer below, than at the top.
From hence it may be easily concluded, that it is not worth while
sinking mines here. Of these veins there are three or four in this
neighbourhood, at some distance from each other, but all of the same
quality. The veins are almost perpendicular, sometimes deviating a
little. When pieces of the green stone before mentioned ly in the
water, a great deal of the adherent white spar and lime-stone is
consumed; but the green stone remains untouched. That part of the veins
which is turned towards the air is always very rough, because the sun,
air, and rain, have mouldered a great part of the spar and lime-stone;
but the green stone has resisted their attacks. They sometimes find
deep holes in these veins, filled with mountain crystals. The greatest
quantity of lead or silver ore is to be found next to the rock, or even
on the sides of the vein. There are now and then little grains of
pyrites in the spar, which have a fine gold colour. The green stone
when pounded, and put on a red-hot shovel, burns with a blue flame.
Some say, they can then observe a sulphureous smell, which I could
never perceive, though my sense of smelling is very perfect. When this
green stone is grown quite red-hot, it loses its green colour, and
acquires a whitish one, but will not effervesce with aqua fortis.
The sulphureous springs (if I may so call them) are at the foot of the
mountain, which contains the silver, or lead ore. Several springs join
here, and form a little brook. The water in those brooks is covered
with a white membrane, and leaves a white, mealy matter on the trees,
and other bodies in its way; this matter has a strong sulphureous
smell. Trees, covered with this mealy matter, when dried and set on
fire, burn with a blue flame, and emit a smell of sulphur. The water
does not change by being mixed with gall-apples, nor does it change
blue paper into a different colour, which is put into it. It makes no
good lather with soap. Silver is tarnished, and turns black, if kept in
this water for a little while. The blade of a knife was turned quite
black, after it had lain about three hours in it. It has a disagreeable
smell, which, they say, it spreads still more in rainy weather. A
number of grasshoppers were fallen into it at present. The inhabitants
used this water, as a remedy against the itch.
In the afternoon we went to see another vein, which had been spoken of
as silver ore. It lies about a quarter of a mile to the north-east of
bay St. Paul, near a point of land called Cap au Corbeau, close to the
shore of the river St. Lawrence. The mountain in which these veins ly,
consist of a pale red vitrescent spar, a black glimmer, a pale
lime-stone, purple or garnet-coloured grains of quartz, and some
transparent quartz. Sometimes the reddish vitrescent spar is the most
abundant, and lies in long stripes of small hard grains. Sometimes the
fine black glimmer abounds more than the remaining constituent parts;
and these two last kinds of stone generally run in alternate stripes.
The white lime-stone which consists of almost invisible particles, is
mixed in among them. The garnet-coloured quartz grains appear here and
there, and sometimes form whole stripes. They are as big as pin’s
heads, round, shining, and strike fire with steel. All these stones are
very hard, and the mountains near the sea, consist entirely of them.
They sometimes ly in almost perpendicular strata, of ten or fifteen
inches thickness. The strata, however, point with their upper ends to
the north-west, and go upwards from the river, as if the water, which
is close to the south-east side of the mountains, had forced the strata
to lean on that side. These mountains contain very narrow veins of a
white, and sometimes of a greenish, fine, semidiaphanous, soft spar,
which crumbles easily into grains. In this spar they very frequently
find specks, which look like a calamine blend [92]. Now and then, and
but very seldom, there is a grain of lead-ore. The mountains near the
shore consist sometimes of a black fine-grained horn-stone, and a
ferruginous lime-stone. The horn-stone in that case is always in three
or four times as great a quantity as the lime-stone.
In this neighbourhood there is likewise a sulphureous spring, having
exactly the same qualities as that which I have before described. The
broad-leaved Reed Mace [93] grows in the very spring, and succeeds
extremely well. A mountain-ash stood near it, whose berries were of a
pale yellow fading colour, whereas on all other mountain-ashes they
have a deep red colour.
They make great quantities of tar at bay St. Paul. We now passed near a
place in which they burn tar, during summer. It is exactly the same
with ours in East-Bothnia, only somewhat less; though I have been told,
that there are sometimes very great manufactures of it here. The tar is
made solely of the Pin rouge [94], or red Pine. All other firs, of
which here are several kinds, are not fit for this purpose, because
they do not give tar enough to repay the trouble the people are at.
They make use of the roots alone, which are quite full of resin, and
which they dig out of the ground; and of about two yards of the stem,
just above the root, laying aside all the rest. They have not yet
learnt the art of drawing the resin to one side of the tree, by peeling
off the bark; at least they never take this method. The tar-barrels are
but about half the size of ours. A ton holds forty-six pots, and sells
at present for twenty-five francs at Quebec. The tar is reckoned pretty
good.
The sand on the shore of the river St. Lawrence, consists in some
places of a kind of pearl-sand. The grains are of quartz, small and
semidiaphanous. In some places it consists of little particles of
glimmer; and there are likewise spots, covered with the garnet-coloured
sand, which I have before described, and which abounds in Canada.
September the 4th. The mountains hereabouts were covered with a very
thick fog to-day, resembling the smoak of a charcoal kiln. Many of
these mountains are very high. During my stay in Canada, I asked many
people, who have travelled much in North-America, whether they ever met
with mountains so high, that the snow never melts on them in winter; to
which they always answered in the negative. They say that the show
sometimes stays on the highest, viz. on some of those between Canada
and the English colonies, during a great part of the summer; but that
it melts as soon as the great heat begins.
Every countryman sows as much flax as he wants for his own use. They
had already taken it up some time ago, and spread it on the fields,
meadows, and pastures, in order to bleach it. It was very short this
year in Canada.
They find iron-ore in several places hereabouts. Almost a Swedish mile
from bay St. Paul, up in the country, there is a whole mountain full of
iron ore. The country round it is covered with a thick forest, and has
many rivulets of different sizes, which seem to make the erection of
iron-works very easy here. But the government having as yet suffered
very much by the iron-works at Trois Rivieres, nobody ventures to
propose any thing further in that way.
September the 5th. Early this morning we set out on our return to
Quebec. We continued our journey at noon, notwithstanding the heavy
rain and thunder we got afterwards. At that time we were just at Petite
Riviere, and the tide beginning to ebb, it was impossible for us to
come up against it; therefore we lay by here, and went on shore.
Petite Riviere is a little village, on the western side of the river
St. Lawrence, and lies on a little rivulet, from whence it takes its
name. The houses are built of stone, and are dispersed over the
country. Here is likewise a fine little church of stone. To the west of
the village are some very high mountains, which cause the sun to set
three or four hours sooner here, than ordinary. The river St. Lawrence
annually cuts off a piece of land, on the east side of the village, so
that the inhabitants fear they will in a short time lose all the land
they possess here, which at most is but a musket shot broad. All the
houses here are very full of children.
The lime-slates on the hills are of two kinds. One is a black one,
which I have often mentioned, and on which the town of Quebec is built.
The other is generally black, and sometimes dark grey, and seems to be
a species of the former. It is called Pierre à chaux here. It is
chiefly distinguished from the former, by being cut very easily, giving
a very white lime, when burnt, and not easily mouldering into shivers
in the air. The walls of the houses here are entirely made of this
slate; and likewise the chimnies, those places excepted, which are
exposed to the greatest fire, where they place pieces of grey
rock-stone, mixed with a deal of glimmer. The mountains near Petite
Riviere consist merely of a grey rock-stone, which is entirely the same
with that which I described near the lead-mines of bay St. Paul. The
foot of these mountains consists of one of the lime-slate kinds. A
great part of the Canada mountains of grey rock-stone stand on a kind
of slate, in the same manner as the grey rocks of West-Gothland in
Sweden.
September the 6th. They catch eels and porpesses here, at a certain
season of the year, viz. at the end of September, and during the whole
month of October. The eels come up the river at that time, and are
caught in the manner I have before described. They are followed by the
porpesses, which feed upon them. The greater the quantity of eels is,
the greater is likewise the number of porpesses, which are caught in
the following manner. When the tide ebbs in the river, the porpesses
commonly go down along the sides of the river, catching the eels which
they find there. The inhabitants of this place therefore stick little
twigs, or branches with leaves, into the river, in a curve line or
arch, the ends of which look towards the shore, but stand at some
distance from it, leaving a passage there. The branches stand about two
feet distant from each other. When the porpesses come amongst them, and
perceive the rustling the water makes with the leaves, they dare not
venture to proceed, fearing lest there should be a snare, or trap, and
endeavour to go back. Mean while the water has receded so much, that in
going back they light upon one of the ends of the arch, whose moving
leaves frighten them again. In this confusion they swim backwards and
forwards, till the water is entirely ebbed off, and they ly on the
bottom, where the inhabitants kill them. They give a great quantity of
train-oil.
Near the shore, is a grey clay, full of ferruginous cracks, and pierced
by worms. The holes are small, perpendicular, and big enough to admit a
middling pin. Their sides are likewise ferruginous, and half-petrified;
and where the clay has been washed away by the water, the rest looks
like ocker-coloured stumps of tobacco-pipe tubes.
At noon we left Petite Riviere, and continued our journey towards St.
Joachim.
Between Petite Riviere, which lies in a little bay, and St. Joachim,
the western shore of the river St. Lawrence consists of prominent
mountains, between which there are several small bays. They have found,
by long experience, that there is always a wind on these mountains,
even when it is calm at Petite Riviere. And when the wind is pretty
high at the last-mentioned place, it is not adviseable to go to Quebec
in a boat, the wind and waves, in that case, being very high near these
mountains. We had at present an opportunity of experiencing it. In the
creeks between the mountains, the water was almost quite smooth; but on
our coming near one of the points formed by the high mountains, the
waves encreased, and the wind was so high, that two people were forced
to take care of the helm, and the mast broke several times. The waves
are likewise greatly encreased by the strong current near those points
or capes.
September the 7th. A little before noon, we continued our voyage from
St. Joachim.
They employ tree-mushrooms very frequently instead of tinder. Those
which are taken from the sugar-maple are reckoned the best; those of
the red maple are next in goodness; and next to them, those of the
sugar-birch. For want of these, they likewise make use of those which
grow on the asp-tree or tremble.
There are no other ever-green trees in this part of Canada, than the
thuya, the yew, and some of the fir kind.
The thuya is esteemed for resisting putrefaction much longer than any
other wood; and next in goodness to it is the pine, called perusse
here.
They make cheese in several places hereabouts. That of the isle of
Orleans is, however, reckoned the best. This kind is small, thin, and
round; and four of them weigh about a French pound. Twelve of them sell
for thirty sols. A pound of salt butter costs ten sols at Quebec, and
of fresh butter, fifteen sols. Formerly, they could get a pound of
butter for four sols here.
The corn-fields towards the river are sloping; they are suffered to ly
fallow and to be sown alternately. The sown ones looked yellow at this
distance, and the fallow ones green. The weeds are left on the latter
all summer, for the cattle to feed upon.
The ash wood furnishes the best hoops for tuns here; and for want of
it, they take the thuya, little birch-trees, wild cherry-trees, and
others.