Part 22 (1/2)
The Canadian summer, observes Mr. Hall, is hot in proportion to the severity of the winter; and the heat is sufficient to enable the cultivator to raise Indian corn, water-melons, gourds, capsic.u.ms, and such vegetables as require a short and intense heat. Hence the country a.s.sumes the aspect of a Portuguese summer, by way of appendix to a Russian winter.
Mr. Hall pa.s.sed through the village of _Beloeil_; again crossed the river, and proceeded towards the mountain, which towered, like an immense wall of rock, above the flat surrounding country. Scattered at its base were a few wretched houses, the inhabitants of which subsisted by the produce of their apple-orchards.
The weather was excessively hot; and volumes of smoke, from the casual, or intentional burning of the woods, every where clouded the horizon, and seemed to give additional heat to the glowing landscape.
The basis of the _Montreal Mountain_ is freestone; the ascent is consequently less steep, and the surface less broken, than that of Beloeil: it is thickly wooded, and, from the river, forms an elegant back-ground to the city.
_A Description of Montreal._
When approached from the water, the town of _Montreal_, which is situated on an island in the River St. Lawrence, has a very singular appearance. This is occasioned by the grey stone of the buildings, and their tin-covered roofs; the latter of which emit a strong glare, when the sun s.h.i.+nes. The sh.o.r.e is steep, and forms a kind of natural wharf, upon which the vessels discharge their cargoes: hence the s.h.i.+pping which frequent the harbour of Montreal are often anch.o.r.ed close to the sh.o.r.e.
Many English vessels visit this place; but the navigation of the St.
Lawrence, above Quebec, is so hazardous, that few captains are willing to make the voyage a second time.
The interior of the town of Montreal is extremely gloomy. The _streets_ are regularly built, but the buildings are ponderous ma.s.ses of stone, erected with little taste, and less judgment. Including the garrets, they have seldom more than two stories above the ground-floor. The doors and window-shutters are covered with large sheets of tin, painted red or lead-colour, and corresponding with the gloomy colour of the stone, with which most of the houses have been built; hence a heavy sameness of appearance pervades all the streets.
The only _open places_ in the town, are the two markets, and a square, called the Place d'Armes, in which, under the French government, the troops of the garrison are accustomed to parade. The French catholic church occupies the whole east side of the square; and, on the south side, is a tavern, called the Montreal Hotel. Every thing, in this tavern, is neat, cleanly, well conducted, and perfectly agreeable to an Englishman's taste.
Montreal is divided into the _Upper_ and _Lower towns_, though these have very little difference in elevation. The princ.i.p.al street of the latter, extends, from north to south, through the whole length of the place. This street contains the wholesale and retail stores of the merchants and traders, the lower market-place, the post-office, the Hotel Dieu, a large tavern, and several smaller ones. It is narrow, but it presents a scene of greater bustle than any other part of the town; and is the chief mart of the trade carried on in Montreal.
Most of the streets are well paved; and the improvements which are going on throughout the town, will, in a few years, render it much more commodious and agreeable than it is at present. The four streets or _suburbs_ occupy a considerable s.p.a.ce of ground, and the number of inhabitants is computed at twelve thousand. The _religious_ and _charitable inst.i.tutions_ of this place, are counterparts to those at Quebec. There are a general hospital, and an Hotel Dieu, for the relief of sick poor. The princ.i.p.al catholic church is rich and handsome. The college or seminary, is a capacious stone building, and has lately been repaired and enlarged. It was originally endowed as a branch of the seminary at Paris; but, since the French Revolution, it has afforded an asylum to several members of the latter, whose learning and talents have been employed in its advancement. Among other _public edifices_ must be reckoned the English church, an unfinished building; the old monastery of Franciscan Friars, now converted into barracks; the court-house, and the government-house. The court-house is a neat and s.p.a.cious building.
In front of it, a column has been erected in honour of Lord Nelson, and is crowned with a statue of him. Near the court-house a gaol has been built, upon the site of the old college of Jesuits.
There seems to be a greater spirit of munic.i.p.al improvement in Montreal than in Quebec. It is also, probably, a richer place; for, being the emporium of the fur-trade, its merchants carry on a considerable traffic with the United States, and particularly with Vermont and New York.
At the back of the town, and behind the court-house, is a _parade_, where the troops are exercised. The ground, along this part, is considerably elevated, and forms a steep bank, several hundred yards in length. Here the inhabitants walk in an evening, and enjoy a beautiful view of the suburbs of St. Lawrence and St. Antoine; and of numerous gardens, orchards, and plantations, adorned with neat, and, in many instances, even handsome villas. Green fields are interspersed amidst this rich variety of objects, which are concentrated in an extensive valley, that gradually rises towards a lofty mountain, about two miles and a half distant; and covered, towards its upper part, with trees and shrubs. It is from this mountain that the town obtained its name of Montreal, or ”Royal Mount.”
All the princ.i.p.al north-west merchants reside in this town; which is the emporium of their trade, and the grand mart of the commerce carried on between Canada and the United States: they live in a splendid style, and keep expensive tables.
The _markets_ of Montreal are plentifully supplied with provisions, which are much cheaper here than in Quebec. Large supplies are brought in, every winter, from the United States; particularly cod-fish, which is packed in ice, and conveyed in sledges from Boston. Two weekly newspapers, called the Gazette and the Canadian Courant, are published here.
At Montreal, the winter is considered to be two months shorter than it is at Quebec; and the heat of summer is more oppressive.
Twenty-third Day's Instruction.
NORTH WESTERN TERRITORY.
_The Route, from Montreal to Fort Chepewyan, pursued by a company of traders, called the North-west Company_.
The requisite number of canoes being purchased, the goods being formed into packages, and the lakes and rivers being free from ice, which they usually are in the beginning of May, the persons employed by the North-west Company set out from _La Chine_, eight miles above Montreal.
Each canoe carries eight or ten men, and a luggage consisting of sixty-five packages of goods, about six hundred weight of biscuit, two hundred weight of pork, and three bushels of peas, for the men's provisions: two oil-cloths to cover the goods, a sail, and an axe, a towing-line, a kettle, and a sponge to bail out the water; together with a quant.i.ty of gum, bark, and watape, to repair the canoe. An European, on seeing these slender vessels, thus laden, heaped up, and their sides not more than six inches out of the water, would imagine it impossible that they should perform a long and perilous voyage; but the Canadians are so expert in the management of them, that few accidents happen.
Leaving La Chine, they proceed to _St. Ann's_, within two miles of the western extremity of the island of Montreal. At the rapid of St. Ann, the navigators are obliged to take out part, if not the whole of the lading; and to replace it when they have pa.s.sed the cataract. The _Lake of the two Mountains_, which they next reach, is about twenty miles long, but not more than three miles wide, and is, nearly surrounded by cultivated fields.
At the end of the lake, the water contracts into the _Utawas river_; which, after a course of fifteen miles, is interrupted by a succession of rapids and cascades for upwards of ten miles: at the foot of these the Canadian Seignories terminate. Here the voyagers are frequently obliged to unload their canoes, and carry the goods upon their backs, or rather suspended in slings from their heads. Each man's ordinary load is two packages, though some of the men carry three. In some places, the ground will not admit of their carrying the whole at once: in this case, they make two trips; that is, the men leave half their lading, land it at the distance required, and then return for that which was left. There are three carrying places; and, near the last of them, the river is a mile and a half wide, and has a regular current, for about sixty miles, to the first _portage de Chaudiere_. The whole body of water is here precipitated, twenty-five feet, down, craggy and excavated rocks, and in a most wild and romantic manner.
Over this portage, it is requisite to carry the canoe and all its lading; but the rock is so steep, that the canoe cannot be taken out of the water by fewer than twelve men, and it is carried by six men.