LETTER XXXVIII.
| Leave Philadelphia.—Arrive at New York.—Visit Long Island.—Dreadful Havoc by the Yellow Fever.—Dutch Inhabitants suspicious of Strangers.—Excellent Farmers.—Number of Inhabitants.—Culture of Corn.—Immense Quantities of Grouse and Deer.—Laws to protect them.—Increase of the same.—Decrease of Beavers.—New York agreeable to Strangers.—Conclusion | page [367] |
TRAVELS, &c.
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LETTER XXVIII.
Leave Quebec.—Convenience of travelling between that City and Montreal.—Post Houses.—Calashes.—Drivers.—Canadian Horses very serviceable.—Salutations on arriving at different Post Houses.—Beautiful Prospects from the Road on the top of the Banks of the St. Lawrence.—Female Peasants.—Style of Farming in Canada.—Considerably improved of late.—Inactivity of Canadians in not clearing more Land.—Their Character contrasted with that of the People of the States.—Arrival at Trois Rivieres.—Description of that town and its Vicinity.—Visit to the Convent of St. Ursule.—Manufactures of Birch Bark.—Birch Canoes, how formed.—Leave Trois Rivieres, and reach Montreal.
Montreal, August.
HAVING remained in Quebec and the neighbourhood as long as we could, consistently with the plan which we had formed of visiting the Falls of Niagara, and returning again into the States before the commencement of winter, we set out for Montreal by land.
In no part of North America can a traveller proceed so commodiously as along this road between Quebec and Montreal; a regular line of post houses, at convenient distances from each other, being established upon it, where calashes or carioles, according to the season, are always kept in readiness. Each postmaster is obliged to have four calashes, and the same number of carioles; and besides these, as many more are generally kept at each stage by persons called aids-de-poste, for which the postmaster calls when his own happen to be engaged. The postmaster has the exclusive privilege of furnishing these carriages at every stage, and, under a penalty, he must have them ready in a quarter of an hour after they are demanded by a traveller, if it be day-light, and in half an hour should it be in the night. The drivers are bound to take you on at the rate of two leagues an hour. The charge for a calash with a single horse is one shilling Halifax[[1]] currency per league; no gratuity is expected by the driver.