The red Cedar is called Cedre rouge by the French, and it was likewise planted in the governor’s garden, whither it had been brought from more southern parts, for it is not to be met with in the forests hereabouts. [[66]]However, it came on very well here.
About half an hour after seven in the evening we left this pleasant island, and an hour after our return the baron de Longueuil received two agreeable pieces of news at once. The first was, that his son, who had been two years in France, was returned; and the second, that he had brought with him the royal patents for his father, by which he was appointed governor of Montreal, and the country belonging to it.
They make use of fans here, which are made of the tails of the wild turkeys. As soon as the birds are shot, their tails are spread like fans, and dried, by which means they keep their figure. The ladies and the men of distinction in town wear these fans, when they walk in the streets, during the intenseness of the heat.
All the grass on the meadows round Montreal, consists chiefly of a species of Meadow-grass, or the Poa capillaris, Linn.[23] This is a very slender grass, which grows very close, and succeeds even on the driest hills. It is however not rich in foliage; and the slender stalk is chiefly used for hay. [[67]]We have numerous kinds of grasses in Sweden, which make infinitely finer meadows than this.
July the 30th. The wild Plumb-trees grow in great abundance on the hills, along the rivulets about the town. They were so loaded with fruit, that the boughs were quite bent downwards by the weight. The fruit was not yet ripe, but when it comes to that perfection, it has a red colour and a fine taste, and preserves are sometimes made of it.
Black Currants (Ribes nigrum, Linn.) are plentiful in the same places, and its berries were ripe at this time. They are very small, and not by far so agreeable as those in Sweden.
Parsneps grow in great abundance on the rising banks of rivers, along the corn-fields, and in other places. This led me to think, that they were original natives of America, and not first brought over by the Europeans. But on my journey into the country of the Iroquois, where no European ever had a settlement, I never once saw it, though the soil was excellent; and from hence it appears plain enough, that it was transported hither from Europe, and is not originally an American plant; and therefore it is in vain sought for in any part of this continent [[68]]except among the European settlements.
August the 1st. The governor-general of Canada commonly resides at Quebec; but he frequently goes to Montreal, and generally spends the winter there. In summer he chiefly resides at Quebec, on account of the king’s ships, which arrive there during that season, and bring him letters, which he must answer; besides other business which comes in about that time. During his residence in Montreal he lives in the castle, as it is called, which is a large house of stone, built by governor-general Vaudreuil, and still belonging to his family, who hire it to the king. The governor-general de la Galissonniere is said to like Montreal better than Quebec, and indeed the situation of the former is by far the more agreeable one.
They have in Canada scarce any other but paper-currency. I hardly ever saw any coin, except French sols, consisting of brass, with a very small mixture of silver; they were quite thin by constant circulation, and were valued at a sol and a half. The bills are not printed, but written. Their origin is as follows. The French king having found it very dangerous to send money [[69]]for the pay of the troops, and other purposes, over to Canada, on account of privateers, shipwrecks, and other accidents; he ordered that instead of it the intendant, or king’s steward, at Quebec, or the commissary at Montreal, is to write bills for the value of the sums which are due to the troops, and which he distributes to each soldier. On these bills is inscribed, that they bear the value of such or such a sum, till next October; and they are signed by the intendant, or the commissary; and in the interval they bear the value of money. In the month of October, at a certain stated time, every one brings the bills in his possession to the intendant at Quebec, or the commissary at Montreal, who exchanges them for bills of exchange upon France, which are paid there in lawful money, at the king’s exchequer, as soon as they are presented. If the money is not yet wanted, the bill may be kept till next October, when it may be exchanged by one of those gentlemen, for a bill upon France. The paper money can only be delivered in October, and exchanged for bills upon France. They are of different values, and some do not exceed a livre, and perhaps some are still less. Towards autumn when the merchants ships come in from France, the merchants endeavour [[70]]to get as many bills as they can, and change them for bills upon the French treasury. These bills are partly printed, spaces being left for the name, sum, &c. But the first bill, or paper currency is all wrote, and is therefore subject to be counterfeited, which has sometimes been done; but the great punishments, which have been inflicted upon the authors of these forged bills, and which generally are capital, have deterred people from attempting it again; so that examples of this kind are very scarce at present. As there is a great want of small coin here, the buyers, or sellers, were frequently obliged to suffer a small loss, and could pay no intermediate prices between one livre and two[24].
They commonly give one hundred and fifty livres a year to a faithful and diligent footman, and to a maid-servant of the same character one hundred livres. A journeymen to an artist gets three or four livres a day, and a common labouring man gets thirty or forty sols a day. The scarcity of labouring people occasions the wages to be so high; for almost every body finds [[71]]it so easy to set up as a farmer in this uncultivated country, where he can live well, and at a small expence, that he does not care to serve and work for others.