From Quebec to Montreal, the country may be considered as one long village. On each shore there is a stripe of land, seldom exceeding a mile in breadth, which is bounded by forests, and thickly studded with farm-houses, white-washed from top to bottom: to these, log-barns and stables are attached, and commonly a neat plot of garden-ground.
Mr. Hall preferred the travelling in Lower Canada to that in every other part of the American continent. You arrive (he says) at the post-house, (as the words "maison de poste," scrawled over the door, give you notice;) "Have you horses, Madame?" "Oui, Monsieur, tout de suite." A loud cry of "Oh! bon homme," forwards the intelligence to her husband, at work, perhaps, in an adjacent field. "Mais, asseyez vous, Monsieur;" and, if you have patience to do this quietly, for a few minutes, you will see crebillion, papillon, or some other on arrive, at a full canter, from pasture, mounted by honest Jean, in his blue nightcap, with all his habiliments shaking in the wind. The preliminary of splicing and compounding the broken harness having been adjusted, the whip cracks, and you start to the exhilarating cry of "marche donc," at the rate of six, and often seven miles an hour.
The village of "Trois Rivieres" stands at the three mouths of the River St. Maurice. It contains an Ursuline convent, which marks it for a place of some note, in a catholic country; but it is still more worthy of distinction, as being the residence of the amiable Abbé de la Colonne, brother to the unfortunate French minister of that name.
Having engaged two experienced boatmen, and a bark canoe, Mr. Hall ascended the St. Maurice, to visit the falls of Shawinne Gamme, distant somewhat more than twenty miles. At his return, he left the St. Maurice, and, having been ferried from Berthier to Contrecœur, he proceeded, "en caleche," with two crebillions, towards St. Ours, in the direction of the Belœil Mountain, which was seen before him in the misty horizon. The meadows were profusely decorated with orange lilies; and the banks and dingles with the crimson cones of the sumac, and a variety of flowering shrubs. Several brigs and merchants' ships were dropping down with the tide, their crowded sails scarcely swelling in the languid summer breeze.
The Canadian summer, observes Mr. Hall, is hot in proportion to the severity of the winter; and the heat is sufficient to enable the cultivator to raise Indian corn, water-melons, gourds, capsicums, and such vegetables as require a short and intense heat. Hence the country assumes the aspect of a Portuguese summer, by way of appendix to a Russian winter.
Mr. Hall passed through the village of Belœil; again crossed the river, and proceeded towards the mountain, which towered, like an immense wall of rock, above the flat surrounding country. Scattered at its base were a few wretched houses, the inhabitants of which subsisted by the produce of their apple-orchards.
The weather was excessively hot; and volumes of smoke, from the casual, or intentional burning of the woods, every where clouded the horizon, and seemed to give additional heat to the glowing landscape.
The basis of the Montreal Mountain is freestone; the ascent is consequently less steep, and the surface less broken, than that of Belœil: it is thickly wooded, and, from the river, forms an elegant back-ground to the city.
A Description of Montreal.
When approached from the water, the town of Montreal, which is situated on an island in the River St. Lawrence, has a very singular appearance. This is occasioned by the grey stone of the buildings, and their tin-covered roofs; the latter of which emit a strong glare, when the sun shines. The shore is steep, and forms a kind of natural wharf, upon which the vessels discharge their cargoes: hence the shipping which frequent the harbour of Montreal are often anchored close to the shore. Many English vessels visit this place; but the navigation of the St. Lawrence, above Quebec, is so hazardous, that few captains are willing to make the voyage a second time.