Description of the Town of Montreal.—Of the public Buildings.—Churches.—Funeral Ceremonies.—Convents.—Barracks.—Fortifications.—Inhabitants mostly French.—Their Character and Manners.—Charming Prospects in the Neighbourhood of the Town.—Amusements during Summer.—Parties of Pleasure up the Mountain.—Of the Fur Trade.—The Manner in which it is carried on.—Great Enterprise of the North West Company of Merchants.—Sketch of Mr. M‘Kenzie’s Expeditions over Land to the Pacific Ocean.—Differences between the North West and Hudson’s Bay Companies.
Montreal, July.
THE town of Montreal was laid out pursuant to the orders of one of the kings of France, which were, that a town should be built as high up on the St. Lawrence as it were possible for vessels to go by sea. In fixing upon the spot where it stands, his commands were complied with in the strictest sense. The town at present contains about twelve hundred houses, whereof five hundred only are within the walls; the rest are in the suburbs, which commence from the north, east, and west gates. The houses in the suburbs are mostly built of wood, but the others are all of stone; none of them are elegant, but there are many very comfortable habitations. In the lower part of the town, towards the river, where most of the shops stand, they have a very gloomy appearance, and look like so many prisons, being all furnished at the outside with sheet iron shutters to the doors and windows, which are regularly closed towards evening, in order to guard against fire. The town has suffered by fire very materially at different times, and the inhabitants have such a dread of it, that all who can afford it cover the roofs of their houses with tin-plates instead of shingles. By law they are obliged to have one or more ladders, in proportion to the size of the house, always ready on the roofs.
MONTREAL.
The streets are all very narrow; three of them run parallel to the river, and these are intersected by others at right angles, but not at regular distances. On the side of the town farthest from the river, and nearly between the northern and southern extremities, there is a small square, called La Place d’Armes, which seems originally to have been left open to the walls on one side, and to have been intended for the military to exercise in; the troops, however, never make use of it now, but parade on a long walk, behind the walls, nearer to the barracks. On the opposite side of the town, towards the water, is another small square, where the market is held.
There are six churches in Montreal; one for English Episcopalians, one for Presbyterians, and four for Roman Catholics. The cathedral church belonging to the latter, which occupies one side of La Place d’Armes, is a very spacious building, and contains five altars, all very richly decorated. The doors of this cathedral are left open the greater part of the day, and there are, generally, numbers of old people in it at their prayers, even when no regular service is going on. On a fine Sunday in the summer season such multitudes flock to it, that even the steps at the outside are covered with people, who, unable to get in, remain there kneeling with their hats off during the whole time of divine service. Nearly all the christenings, marriages, and burials of the Roman Catholic inhabitants of Montreal are performed in this church, on which occasions, as well as before and during the masses, they always ring the bells, to the great annoyance of every person that is not a lover of discords; for instead of pulling the bells, which are five in number, and really well toned, with regularity, they jingle them all at once, without any sort of cadence whatever. Our lodgings happened to be in La Place d’Armes; and during three weeks that we remained there, I verily believe the bells were never suffered to remain still for two hours together, at any one time, except in the night.
MONTREAL.
The funerals, as in other Roman Catholic countries, are conducted with great ceremony; the corpse is always attended to the church by a number of priests chanting prayers, and by little boys in white robes and black caps carrying wax lights. A morning scarcely ever passed over that one or more of these processions did not pass under our windows whilst we were at breakfast; for on the opposite side of the square to that on which the cathedral stood, was a sort of chapel, to which the bodies of all those persons, whose friends could not afford to pay for an expensive funeral, were brought, I suppose, in the night, for we could never see any carried in there, and from thence conveyed in the morning to the cathedral. If the priests are paid for it they go to the house of the deceased, though it be ever so far distant, and escort the corpse to the church. Until within a few years past it was customary to bury all the bodies in the vaults underneath the cathedral; but now it is prohibited, lest some putrid disorder should break out in the town in consequence of such numbers being deposited there. The burying grounds are all without the walls at present.
There are in Montreal four convents, one of which is of the order of St. Francis; the number of the friars, however, is reduced now to two or three, and as by the laws of the province men can no longer enter into any religious order, it will of course in a few years dwindle entirely away. On the female orders there is no restriction, and they are still well filled. The Hotel Dieu, founded as early as 1644, for the relief of the sick poor, and which is the oldest of the convents, contains thirty “religieuses”—nuns; La Congregation de Notre Dame, instituted for the instruction of young girls, contains fifty-seven sœurs, another sort of nuns; and L’Hospital Generale, for the accommodation of the infirm poor, contains eighteen sœurs.
The barracks are agreeably situated near the river, at the lower end of the town; they are surrounded by a lofty wall, and calculated to contain about three hundred men.