I have been told by all those who have made journies to the southern parts of Canada, and to the river Mississippi, that the woods there abound with peach-trees, which bear excellent fruit, and that the Indians of those parts say, that those trees have been there since times immemorial.
The farm-houses are generally built of stone, but sometimes of timber, and have three or four rooms. The windows are [[80]]seldom of glass, but most frequently of paper. They have iron stoves in one of the rooms, and chimnies in the rest. The roofs are covered with boards. The crevices and chinks are filled up with clay. The other buildings are covered with straw.
There are several Crosses put up with the road side, which is parallel to the shores of the river. These crosses are very common in Canada, and are put up to excite devotion in the travellers. They are made of wood, five or six yards high, and proportionally broad. In that side which looks towards the road is a square hole, in which they place an image of our Saviour, the cross, or of the holy Virgin, with the child in her arms; and before that they put a piece of glass, to prevent its being spoiled by the weather. Those crosses which are not far from churches, are very much adorned, and they put up about them all the instruments which they think the Jews employed in crucifying our Saviour, such as a hammer, tongs, nails, a flask of vinegar, and perhaps many more than were really made use of. A figure of the cock, which crowed when St. Peter denied our Lord, is commonly put at the top of the cross.
The country on both sides was very delightful [[81]]to-day, and the fine state of its cultivation, added greatly to the beauty of the scene. It could really be called a village, beginning at Montreal, and ending at Quebec, which is a distance of more than one hundred and eighty miles; for the farm-houses are never above five arpens, and sometimes but three, asunder, a few places excepted. The prospect is exceedingly beautiful, when the river goes on for some miles together in a strait line, because it then shortens the distances between the houses, and makes them form exactly one continued village.
All the women in the country, without exception, wear caps of some kind or other. Their jackets are short, and so are their petticoats, which scarce reach down to the middle of their legs; and they have a silver cross hanging down on the breast. In general they are very laborious; however, I saw some, who, like the English women in the colonies, did nothing but prattle all the day. When they have any thing to do within doors, they (especially the girls) commonly sing songs, in which the words Amour and Cœur are very frequent. In the country it is usual, that when the husband receives a visit from persons of rank, and dines with them, his wife stands [[82]]behind and serves him; but in the towns, the ladies are more distinguished, and would willingly assume an equal, if not a superior, power to their husbands. When they go out of doors they wear long cloaks, which cover all their other clothes, and are either grey, brown, or blue. The men sometimes make use of them, when they are obliged to go into the rain. The women have the advantage of being in a deshabille under these cloaks, without any body’s perceiving it.
We sometimes saw wind-mills near the farms. They were generally built of stone, with a roof of boards, which, together with its flyers, could be turned to the wind occasionally.
The breadth of the river was not always equal to-day; in the narrowest place, it was about a quarter of an English mile broad; in other parts it was near two English miles. The shore was sometimes high and steep, and sometimes low, or sloping.
At three o’clock this afternoon we passed by the river, which falls into the river St. Lawrence, and comes from lake Champlain, in the middle of which latter is a large island. The yachts which go between Montreal and Quebec, go on the south-east side of this island, because it is [[83]]deeper there; but the boats prefer the north-west side, because it is nearer, and yet deep enough for them. Besides this island there are several more hereabouts, which are all inhabited. Somewhat further, the country on both sides the river is uninhabited, till we come to the Lac St. Pierre; because it is so low, as to be quite overflowed at certain times of the year. To make up for this deficiency, the country, I am told, is as thickly inhabited further from the river, as we found it along the banks of the river.
Lac St. Pierre is a part of the river St. Lawrence, which is so broad that we could hardly see any thing but sky and water before us, and I was every where told, that it is seven French miles long, and three broad. From the middle of this lake as it is called, you see a large high country in the west, which appears above the woods. In the lake are many places covered with a kind of rush, or Scirpus palustris, Linn. There are no houses in sight on either side of the lake, because the land is rather too low there; and in spring the water rises so high, that they may go with boats between the trees. However, at some distance from the shores, where the ground is higher, the farms are close together. We saw no islands in the [[84]]lake this afternoon, but the next day we met with some.
Late in the evening we left lake St. Pierre, and rowed up a little river called Riviere de Loup, in order to come to a house where we might pass the night. Having rowed about an English mile, we found the country inhabited on both sides of the river. Its shores are high; but the country in general is flat. We passed the night in a farm-house. The territory of Montreal extends to this place; but here begins the jurisdiction of the governor of Trois Rivieres, to which place they reckon eight French miles from hence.