[1]. According to Halifax currency, which is the established, currency of Lower Canada, the dollar passes for five shillings.
The silver coins current in Canada are dollars, halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths of dollars, pistareens, Spanish coins somewhat less valuable than quarter dollars, and French and English crowns and half crowns. Gold coins pass only as bullion by weight. British and Portugal gold coins are deemed the best; next to them those of Spain, then those of France.
CANADIAN HORSES.
The post calashes are very clumsily built, but upon the whole we found them easy and agreeable carriages; they are certainly far superior to the American stage waggons, in which, if persons wish to travel with comfort, they ought always to set out provided with cushions for their hips and elbows, otherwise they cannot expect but to receive numberless contusions before they get to the end of their journey.
The horses in Canada are mostly small and heavy, but extremely serviceable, as is evident from those employed for the post carriages being in general fat and very brisk on the road, notwithstanding the poor fare and ill usage they receive. They are seldom rubbed down; but as soon as they have performed their journey are turned into a field, and there left until the next traveller arrives, or till they are wanted to perform the work of the farm. This is contrary to the regulations of the post, according to which the horses should be kept in the stable, in perfect readiness for travellers; however, I do not recollect that we were at any place detained much beyond the quarter of an hour prescribed, notwithstanding that the people had frequently to send for their horses, more than a mile, to the fields where they were employed. When the horses happened to be at a distance, they were always brought home in a full gallop, in order to avoid complaints; they were yoked in an instant, and the driver set off at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour; a little money, indeed, generally induces them to exceed the established rate; this, however, does not always answer, but play upon their vanity and you may make them go on at what rate you please, for they are the vainest people, perhaps, in the world. Commend their great dexterity in driving, and the excellence of the Canadian horses, and it seldom fails to quicken your pace at least two or three miles an hour; but if you wish to go in a gallop, you need only observe to your companion, so as to be overheard by the driver, that the Canadian calashes are the vilest carriages on earth, and so heavy that you believe the people are afraid the horses would fall down and break their necks if they attempted to make them go as fast as in other countries; above all, praise the carriages and drivers of the United States. A few remarks of this sort at once discompose the tempers of the drivers, and their passion is constantly vented in lashes on their horses.
CANADIAN DRIVERS
To hasten the speed of their horses they have three expressions, rising above each other in a regular climax. The first, “Marche,” is pronounced in the usual tone of voice; “Marche-donc,” the second, is pronounced more hastily and louder; if the horse is dull enough not to comprehend this, then the “Marche-donc,” accompanied with one of Sterne’s magical words, comes out, in the third place, in a shrill piercing key, and a smart lash of the whip follows. From the frequent use made by the drivers of these words, the calashes have received the nick-name of “marche-doncs.”
The first post house is nine miles from Quebec, which our drivers, of their own accord, managed to reach in one hour. No sooner were we in sight of it, than the postmaster, his wife in her close French cap, and all the family, came running out to receive us. The foremost driver, a thin fellow of about six feet high, with a queue bound with eel skins that reached the whole way down his back, immediately cracked his whip, and having brought his calash to the door, with a great air he leapt out, bowed respectfully at a distance to the hostess, then advancing with his hat off, paid her a few compliments, and kissed both her cheeks in turn, which she presented to him with no small condescension. Some minutes are generally spent thus at every post house in mutual congratulations on meeting, before the people ever think of getting a fresh carriage ready.
The road between Quebec and Montreal runs, for the most part, close upon the banks of the River St. Lawrence, through those beautiful little towns and villages seen to so much advantage from the water; and as the traveller passes along, he is entertained with prospects, if possible, superior to those which strike the attention in sailing down the river.
For the first thirty or forty miles in the way from Quebec, the views are in particular extremely grand. The immense River St. Lawrence, more like a lake confined between ranges of mountains than a river, appears at one side rolling under your feet, and as you look down upon it from the top of the lofty banks, the largest merchant vessels scarcely seem bigger than fishing boats; on the other side, deep mountains, skirted with forests, present themselves to the view at a distance, whilst, in the intermediate space, is seen a rich country, beautifully diversified with whitened cottages and glittering spires, with groves of trees and cultivated fields, watered by innumerable little streams: groups of the peasantry, busied as we passed along in getting in the harvest, which was not quite over, diffused an air of cheerfulness and gaiety over the scene, and heightened all its charms.