Travels in North America Part 21

Few countries possess greater commercial advantages, in an agricultural view, than this. The productions of the West Indian islands, might all unquestionably be cultivated here, as well as most others which are grown within the tropics. But the cutting of logwood and mahogany is the chief occupation of the British settlers. The banks of the river Balize have long been occupied by mahogany-cutters, even to the distance of two hundred miles from its mouth.

About thirty miles up the Balize, on its banks, are found what are denominated the Indian hills. These are small eminences, which are supposed to have been raised by Indians over their dead; human bones, and fragments of a coa.r.s.e kind of earthenware, being frequently dug up from them.

_Nicaragua_ is a Spanish province, between Honduras and the isthmus of Darien. It is about eighty leagues in length and fifty in breadth; and consists, for the most part, of high and wooded mountains, some of which are volcanic. The valleys are watered by many streams, but only one of these is of any importance. This is the river _Yare_, which runs, from west to east, through the northern part of the province. The most important productions of Nicaragua are timber, cotton, sugar, honey, and wax. The chief town is _Leon de Nicaragua_, a place of considerable trade, situated near the north-west border of the lake of Nicaragua; and in a sandy plain, at the foot of a volcanic mountain, several leagues from the sea.

From New Spain we must return northward, for the purpose of describing the British dominions of Nova Scotia and Canada.

Twenty-second Day's Instruction.

BRITISH AMERICAN DOMINIONS.

NOVA SCOTIA,

Is a province bounded on the east by the _Gulf of St. Lawrence_, on the south by the Atlantic, and on the west by the United States. It is somewhat more than two hundred miles long, and one hundred and seventy miles broad. The southern division is a peninsula of triangular form, having an isthmus not more than thirty miles in breadth. Nova Scotia is divided into counties, and subdivided into towns.h.i.+ps; and, in the whole, contains somewhat more than fifty thousand inhabitants.

The climate is unhealthy. During a considerable part of the year, the maritime and lower districts are enveloped in fog. The cold of winter is intense, and the heat of summer excessive. The soil is various. In many parts it is thin, barren, gravelly, and covered with forests: in others, especially on the borders of the rivers, it is fertile and agreeable.

Some of the tracts yield hemp and flax; but the inhabitants have not hitherto made much progress in agriculture. Nova Scotia has many bays and harbours; but much of the coast is bordered with dangerous rocks.

Great numbers of cod-fish are caught in some of the bays, and in many parts of the sea adjacent to the coast.

_Halifax_, the capital of Nova Scotia, was built about the year 1749. It is now a flouris.h.i.+ng town on the sea-coast, and has an excellent harbour, accessible at all seasons of the year, and with depth of water and anchorage sufficient for the largest vessels. The town is about two miles in length, and a quarter of a mile in width; and is laid out in oblong squares, and in streets that run parallel or at right angles to each other. It is defended by forts of timber, and contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants. At its northern extremity is the royal a.r.s.enal, which is well built, and amply supplied with naval stores.

CANADA,

Is an extensive but thinly-peopled district, lying between the same parallels of lat.i.tude as France and England, but in a climate infinitely more severe. During winter the frost is intense, and the surface of the ground is covered with snow to the depth of several feet. In many parts of the country, however, the summers are hot and pleasant.

The _boundaries_ of Canada are, the United States on the south; the Atlantic Ocean, Labrador, and Hudson's Bay, on the east and north; and a wild and undescribed region on the west. This country is divided into two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada: the executive power in each province is vested in a _governor_; and a legislative council and an a.s.sembly are appointed for each, having power, with the consent of the governor, to make laws. In the legislative council of Lower Canada, there are fifteen members; and in that of Upper Canada seven; and the appointments are for life. In the a.s.sembly of Lower Canada there are fifty members; and in that of Upper Canada sixteen: these are chosen by the freeholders and do not continue in office longer than four years.

Canada was originally discovered by Sebastian Cabot, a navigator sent out by the English about the year 1497; but in the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was colonized by the French, who kept possession of it till the year 1763, when it fell into the hands of the British, to whom it still belongs. The long possession of this country by the French, has occasioned the _French language_ to be chiefly spoken: it has also occasioned the prevailing _religion_ to be Roman Catholic. The British government permits a toleration of all religions; but by far the greatest number of inhabitants are catholics. The clergy of the church of England, in both provinces, are only twelve in number, including the bishop of Quebec; whereas, those of the church of Rome amount to one hundred and twenty, including a bishop, and three vicars-general.

The whole number of _inhabitants_ is considered to be about two hundred thousand, of whom fifty thousand are Indians. "Essentially a Frenchman, (says Mr. Hall,) the Canadian is gay, courteous, and contented. If the rigours of the climate have somewhat chilled the overflowing vivacity derived from his parent stock, he has still a sufficient portion of good spirits and loquacity. To strangers and travellers he is invariably civil; and he seems to value their good word beyond their money. He is considered parsimonious, because all his gains arise from his savings, and he is satisfied with the humblest fare." The Canadians have a great antipathy to the inhabitants of the United States. At this day, many even of the better informed among them believe that the American government is constantly plotting the ruin of Canada.

Whilst Canada was in the hands of the French, the _commerce_ of the country was chiefly confined to the fisheries and fur-trade: agriculture was neglected, and extensive tracts of fertile soil lay uncultivated.

But the English have both peopled and improved a very considerable portion of territory; and the trade is now of much importance. The Canadians export to Britain and to different British establishments, wheat and other grain, biscuit, beef, pork, b.u.t.ter, salmon, oil, timber, hemp, and various other articles. In many parts of both Canadas the _soil_ is well adapted for the production of grain. Tobacco also thrives well in it; and culinary vegetables arrive at great perfection. The forests produce beech-trees, oaks, elms, ash, pine, sycamore, chesnut, and walnut; and a species of maple-tree, from the juice of which sugar is made, abounds throughout the country.

Many extensive tracts in Canada are covered with lakes and marshes; and the country is intersected by numerous rivers, some of which are navigable to considerable distances. Of the _lakes_, the most important are lake Superior, lake Huron, lake Michigan, lake Ontario, and lake Erie. These are adjacent to the territory of the United States. Lake Winipic is an expanse of water, more than two hundred and fifty miles in length, situated about the 53d degree of north lat.i.tude. The largest and n.o.blest _river_ in Canada is the St. Lawrence, which flows from lake Ontario, past the two towns of Montreal and Quebec, and falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This river meets the tide four miles from the sea; and to this place it is navigable for large vessels.

_A Description of Quebec._

This city, the capital of Canada, stands at the northern extremity of a strip of high land, which follows the course of the river St. Lawrence, as far as the mouth of the Charles. The basis of these heights is a dark slate rock, of which most of the buildings in the town are constructed.

_Cape Diamond_ terminates the promontory, with a bold precipice towards the river. This rock derives its name from numerous transparent crystals, which are found upon it; and which are so abundant that, after a shower of rain, the ground glitters with them.

The Lower Town of Quebec is built at the foot of the heights; and the Upper Town occupies their crest. The former, snug and dirty, is the abode of persons engaged in trade, and of most of the lower cla.s.ses: the latter, lofty and cold, is the seat of government, and the princ.i.p.al residence of the military.

With few exceptions, the _houses_ in Quebec are built of stone. The roofs of the better sort are covered with sheets of iron or tin, and those of an inferior description, with boards. On the roofs ladders are usually placed, near the garret-windows, for the purpose of the chimney-sweepers ascending, on the outside, to clean the chimneys: for, in this country boys do not go up the chimneys, as in England; but two men, one at the top and the other at the bottom, sweep them, by pulling up and down a bundle of twigs or furze, tied to a rope.

The _streets_ of the Lower Town are, for the most part, narrow and irregular. St. Peter's street is the best paved, and the widest of the whole. It contains several good and substantial _houses_, which are chiefly occupied by merchants and traders; but, from the colour of the stone of which the houses are constructed, and of the iron roofs, all the streets of Quebec have a heavy and gloomy appearance.

A street, called _Mountain Street_, which leads to the Upper Town, winds, in a serpentine direction, from the market-place up the hill, and terminates near the Upper Town market-place. This street, in winter, is extremely dangerous. The quant.i.ty of snow and ice, which here acc.u.mulate in large ma.s.ses, renders it necessary for the inhabitants to wear outer shoes, that are shod with iron spikes. The boys of Quebec have a favourite amus.e.m.e.nt, in lying at full length with their breast upon a small kind of sledge, and sliding along the snow, from the top of the hill to the bottom: they glide down with astonis.h.i.+ng velocity; yet, with their feet, they can guide or stop themselves, at pleasure.

The _shops_ or stores of the traders in the Lower Town, do not exhibit any of that diversified and pleasing appearance which is so remarkable in London. Here the stranger sees nothing but heavy stone buildings, gloomy cas.e.m.e.nts, and iron-cased shutters, painted red. If any show is made at the window, it is with paltry articles of cooking, earthen and hardware: there is, however, a tolerable display of bear-skins, seal-skins, foxes-tails, and buffalo-robes.

The _taverns_ in Quebec are numerous; yet a stranger is much surprised to find only two houses which deserve that high-sounding appellation.

This arises from the vanity that possesses all our trans-Atlantic brethren, to designate their paltry public-houses or spirit-shops, by the more dignified t.i.tle of "tavern;" for through the whole of America, every dirty hole, where a few gla.s.ses of rum, gin, or whisky, are sold, is so called.

Of the _public buildings_ in Quebec, the most important is the government-house, or castle of St. Louis, a large, plain, stone edifice, which forms one side of an open place or square, called the parade. Its front resembles that of a country gentleman's house in England; and the interior contains comfortable family apartments. The furniture is inherited and paid for by the successive owners. Opposite to the government-house stand the English cathedral church, and the court-house, both handsome buildings of modern construction. The other sides of the parade are formed by the Union Hotel, and a row of buildings which form the commencement of St. Louis Street.

The _Upper Town_ is by far the most agreeable part of Quebec: its streets are not, indeed, remarkable for width, but many of them are well paved. In the Upper Town the heat, during summer, is not so intense as in the Lower Town; nor, in winter, though the cold is much severer, is it, as a residence, so dreary and uncomfortable.

There are, in Quebec, several catholic _charitable inst.i.tutions_. Of these, the princ.i.p.al is the "Hotel Dieu," founded in 1637, for the accommodation and relief of poor sick people: it is under the management of a superior and thirty-six nuns. The "General Hospital," which stands at a little distance from the town, is a somewhat similar inst.i.tution; and is governed by a superior and forty-three nuns. In the admission of patients into each of these establishments, no distinction is made, as to catholics or protestants. The Ursuline convent, founded in 1639, for the education of female children, stands within the city, and has a considerable appearance of wealth. Among the ornaments of the chapel are the skull and bones of a missionary, who had been murdered by the Indians for attempting their conversion.

About two miles from the town is a break in the line of cliffs, which forms a little recess, called _Wolf's Cove_. A steep pathway leads thence to the heights of the plains of Abram. On these plains are still to be seen, in the turf, traces of field-works, which were thrown up by the British army, in the celebrated siege of Quebec; and a stone is pointed out as that on which General Wolf expired.

The _markets_ of Quebec are well supplied with every thing that the country affords; and, in general, at a very cheap rate. In the autumn, as soon as the river betwixt the town and the island of Orleans, is frozen over, an abundance of provisions is received from that island.

The Canadians, at the commencement of winter, kill the greatest part of their stock, and carry it to market in a frozen state. The inhabitants of the towns supply themselves, at this season, with butcher's meat, poultry, and vegetables, to serve them till spring. These are kept in garrets or cellars; and, so long as they continue frozen, their goodness is preserved. Before they are prepared for the table, they are laid for some hours in cold water, to be thawed. In wintertime, milk is brought to market in large frozen cakes.

Great quant.i.ties of maple-sugar are sold, in Quebec, at about half the price of West India sugar. The manufacturing of this article takes place in the spring. The sap or juice, after it has been drawn from the trees, is boiled, and then poured into shallow dishes, where it takes the form of a thick and hard cake. Maple-sugar is very hard; and, when used, is sc.r.a.ped with a knife, as, otherwise, it would be a long time in dissolving.

The fruit of Canada is not remarkable either for excellence or cheapness. Strawberries and raspberries are, however, brought to market in great abundance: they are gathered on the plains, at the back of Quebec, and in the neighbouring woods, where they grow wild, in the utmost luxuriance. Apples and pears are chiefly procured from the vicinity of Montreal. Walnuts and filberts are by no means common; but hickory-nuts and hazel-nuts are to be obtained in all the woods.

The _climate_ of Lower Canada is subject to violent extremes of heat and cold. At Quebec, the thermometer, in summer, is sometimes as high as 103 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer; and, in winter, is at 36 degrees below 0. The average of summer heat is, in general, from 75 to 80 degrees; and the mean of the cold, in winter, is about 0.

From Christmas to Lady-day the weather is remarkably clear and fine; the sky is of an azure blue colour, and seldom obscured by fogs or clouds; and the frost is not often interrupted by falls of snow or rain. These advantages render a Canadian winter so agreeable, that the inhabitants, from sudden alterations of the weather, are never under the necessity of changing their style of dress, unless it be to discard their greatcoats and fur-caps, which, in consequence of the powerful warmth of the sun, is sometimes necessary. In the early part of the winter there is always much snow.

The spring, summer, and autumn of Canada, are all comprised within the five months of May, June, July, August, and September. The rest of the year may be considered as winter. During the month of October, the weather is sometimes pleasant, but nature has then put on her gloomy mantle; and the chilling blasts, from the north-west, remind the Canadians of the approach of snow and ice. November and April are the two most disagreeable months of the year: in one of these the snow is beginning to fall, and in the other it is going away.

MR. HALL'S _Journey from Quebec to Montreal_.

MR. HALL was in Canada during the summer of 1816; and, on the 28th of July, he left Quebec, on a journey to Montreal. He deviated somewhat from the usual road, that he might pa.s.s by the _Jacques Cartier bridge_, six or seven miles above the ferry. Here the river falls wildly down, betwixt its wooded sh.o.r.es; and, after forming several cascades, foams through a narrow channel, which seems cut out of the solid rock, to receive it. The rock, which const.i.tutes its bed, is formed into regular platforms, descending, by natural steps, to the edge of the torrent. The Jacques Cartier is a river famous for its salmon, which are caught of large size, and in great abundance, below the bridge. At the foot of this bridge stands a little inn, where the angler may have his game cooked for supper, and where he may sleep in the lull of the torrent, below his chamber-window. After quitting this neighbourhood, the scenery of the St. Lawrence becomes flat and uniform. The road follows the direction of the river, sometimes running along the cliff, which once embanked it, and sometimes descending to the water's edge.

From Quebec to Montreal, the country may be considered as one long village. On each sh.o.r.e there is a stripe of land, seldom exceeding a mile in breadth, which is bounded by forests, and thickly studded with farm-houses, white-washed from top to bottom: to these, log-barns and stables are attached, and commonly a neat plot of garden-ground.

Mr. Hall preferred the travelling in Lower Canada to that in every other part of the American continent. You arrive (he says) at the post-house, (as the words "_maison de poste_," scrawled over the door, give you notice;) "Have you horses, Madame?" "_Oui, Monsieur, tout de suite._" A loud cry of "_Oh! bon homme_," forwards the intelligence to her husband, at work, perhaps, in an adjacent field. "_Mais, a.s.seyez vous, Monsieur_;" and, if you have patience to do this quietly, for a few minutes, you will see crebillion, papillon, or some other _on_ arrive, at a full canter, from pasture, mounted by honest _Jean_, in his blue nightcap, with all his habiliments shaking in the wind. The preliminary of splicing and compounding the broken harness having been adjusted, the whip cracks, and you start to the exhilarating cry of "_marche donc_,"

at the rate of six, and often seven miles an hour.

The village of "_Trois Rivieres_" stands at the three mouths of the _River St. Maurice_. It contains an Ursuline convent, which marks it for a place of some note, in a catholic country; but it is still more worthy of distinction, as being the residence of the amiable Abbe de la Colonne, brother to the unfortunate French minister of that name.

Having engaged two experienced boatmen, and a bark canoe, Mr. Hall ascended the St. Maurice, to visit the _falls of Shawinne Gamme_, distant somewhat more than twenty miles. At his return, he left the St.

Maurice, and, having been ferried from _Berthier_ to _Contrecoeur_, he proceeded, "_en caleche_," with two crebillions, towards _St. Ours_, in the direction of the _Beloeil Mountain_, which was seen before him in the misty horizon. The meadows were profusely decorated with orange lilies; and the banks and dingles with the crimson cones of the sumac, and a variety of flowering shrubs. Several brigs and merchants' s.h.i.+ps were dropping down with the tide, their crowded sails scarcely swelling in the languid summer breeze.