a thunder-storm. The shores and islands of the river are generally covered with cedar trees, and amongst them we observed some neat houses and churches, with bright tin roofs. At the village of Coteau des Cèdres, we were obliged to encounter the last and most dangerous rapid, called the Cascades. The waves were uncommonly high, and our vessel passed over the dangerous parts with incredible velocity. Along these rapids there is also a canal provided with locks, and intended to facilitate the ascent of vessels. If these rapids are viewed from the shore, it appears incredible that a canoe should venture in without being swallowed up. Such a misfortune, however, does not happen, as we had just proved. Below this rapid the river, where it receives the Ottawa, again spreads out so as to form another lake called Lac St. Louis. North of this lake, and at the place where the Ottawa unites with the St. Lawrence, it forms another lake, Lac des deux Montagnes, which is separated from Lac St. Louis by three islands, called Jesus, Perrot, and Montreal. The thunder-storm passed close by us; the wind blew heavy, but favourably. We met a steam-boat, having a corpse on board, and her flag at half-mast; this was a bad omen! Another steam-boat got ahead of us as we were passing towards La Chine, and excited our desire to sail faster; but suddenly we saw a terrible storm approaching. In an instant every hand was endeavouring to take down the sails, and the small one was fortunately drawn in before the arrival of the squall, but the large one, in consequence of its bad cordage, was only half way down when it struck us. Near us we observed a sound, with a dangerous cliff, which it was necessary to avoid by steering to the left, but we were driven directly towards it. Six men could scarcely manage the helm. Half of the sail floated in the water, and our destruction appeared inevitable. No one knew who commanded; the sailors thought themselves better qualified than the captain, and every thing was hurry and confusion. I deemed it best to remain silent, and commit myself to the care of Providence, who guides the destinies of man. At length a sailor climbed the mast and cut the cord, so that the sail could be taken down, by which time we had fortunately passed the sound. The storm also, which altogether did not last much longer than five minutes, began to abate. The steam-boat ahead had been in the same dangerous situation, and would have been cast upon the rocks in the sound, had she not speedily returned into the lake, where she cast anchor. Immediately after the storm, during which it had rained, we observed a remarkable phenomenon, viz. a fall of white-winged insects, of which a great quantity fell upon our boat. It continued during five minutes. These insects had in all probability been driven from the neighbouring forests. The storm, though unpleasant, had the effect of propelling us swiftly forwards. After 6 o’clock in the evening, we reached without any other unpleasant occurrence La Chine, a village, which has a harbour situated upon the island of Montreal.
La Chine appears to be an insignificant village, though in consequence of its favourable situation, it is said to do considerable business. The French was spoken so badly here, that I thought myself transported to our provinces of Hennegau or Namur. The village is said to have obtained its name from the circumstance that during the time the country was occupied by the French colony, they believed they could pass to China by way of the St. Lawrence; and with this object, an expedition had been fitted out, which embarked at La Chine.
Between La Chine and Montreal, the river has a very dangerous rapid, on account of which the government has built a canal as far as this place, which is nine miles long, has several locks, and is said to be of much importance to the trade. As we preferred going by land we hired a stage-coach, and started about eight o’clock in the evening during a violent thunder-storm. Lady Clare, who was scarcely recovered from the fear which she experienced on the water, would willingly have spent the night here in a tavern, as she was much afraid to travel during a thunder-storm at night. It soon turned out that her fears were not unfounded. We had scarcely passed three miles over a good turnpike road, before we came in contact with several carts that stood in front of a tavern, loaded with iron bars. The drivers had gone into the tavern, and left their carts in the middle of the road, and as the night was dark we approached one of them so suddenly that three of the iron bars entered the breast of our shaft-horse, which immediately fell and expired. After much dispute between the coachman and the carters, we rode on with three horses, and arrived at Montreal about ten o’clock at night. We stopt at the Masonic Hall, a hotel which has been established within the last year. It is a very large, convenient, massy building, four stories high, and built of blue stone. It affords a fine view of the St. Lawrence, which is upwards of twelve hundred yards wide here. At our arrival, I became immediately acquainted with Captain Mellish, of the engineers, who was sent from England on a scientific expedition into the interior of the colony.
We remained at Montreal nearly three days. The city, which I examined in company with Lieutenant Colonel Evans of the seventieth regiment, in garrison here, contains about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. It extends upon a hill to a considerable distance, between the St. Lawrence and Le Mont Réal, which is about seven hundred feet high, and is lined with timber. It has two principal streets, which run parallel with the river, and are intersected by a third, that runs along the ditch of the demolished fortresses. The houses are generally built of blue stone, and covered with bright tin, have iron doors and shutters to protect them against the fire, which give the city a very dismal appearance. In our walk we passed a number of young men who wore belts, and were dressed in blue coats, the seams of which were covered with white cord. We were informed that they were the pupils of the Catholic ecclesiastical school. It is well known that most of the Canadians, and four-fifth of the inhabitants of Montreal, are Catholics; they are bigotted, and the lower classes are exceedingly ignorant. There is a very broad street, which unites the two principal streets, and in the centre is the market-house. At one of the extremities of this street, are the court-house and prison; behind which is the place where the old forts stood, since converted into a parade. Montreal has several hospitals, which are superintended by nurses. These hospitals, however, are not sufficient, especially as the nuns do not admit any fever patients. In consequence of this, some of the most wealthy citizens have joined, and selected a healthy spot, on which they have erected a new hospital, three stories high, capable of containing seventy patients of both sexes. In this hospital, the sick, fifty in number, receive cheap and excellent accommodations. They are under the care of nurses, and are attended gratis, by the best physicians of the city. The arrangement is similar to that of the hospital at Boston, but there is less of luxury here in their management.
The public library is as yet small, though it is rapidly increasing. It has united with it a cabinet of natural history. We also observed the foundation for a large cathedral, which is to be built by private contributions. At the barracks of the subalterns, I was much pleased with the mess-room, which has a library connected with it; I was also much gratified with the school for the education of the soldiers, and their children. The barracks were formerly occupied as the Jesuit college, which stood in the old French citadel, of which not a vestige remains. Not far from the barracks is a steam-engine, which conveys the water from the river into the city, at the same time that it moves a mill. At the market-house stands a monument erected by the colony in honour of Lord Nelson. It consists of a statue resting upon a single column. On one side of the pedestal is an inscription; two others contain representations of naval engagements; and the fourth, a representation of the capitulation of Copenhagen.
The next day, Lieutenant-colonel Mac Gregor conducted me to the parade, where a part of his regiment was assembled. They formed a battalion of six divisions. The battalion exercises were not performed, but the manœuvres, which were very complicated, and only adapted to the place, were executed with much precision and admirable celerity. I learned a new mode of making ready. At the command “ready,” the soldiers levelled their muskets, cocked them in this position; at the command “fire,” they brought them slowly to their cheeks. The infantry were divided into two bodies, but in making a flank march, they formed into three, by passing through the files. The platoons were divided into sections, containing from four to six files, in consequence of which the oblique march was easily executed.
After this manœuvre was completed, we took a boat, in company with the officers, for the island of St. Helen, oppositely to Montreal, in the middle of the St. Lawrence. This island contains a large artillery depôt, under the direction of Major Wallace. Upon landing we were saluted with a discharge of twenty-one guns from the battery on the neck of the island. This battery is of a crescent shape, and serves as a training-place
