CANADA.

or from the mother-country, scarcely attempted to establish themselves among the ancient settlers; thus producing a kind of reciprocal isolation, which, even down to the present day, has not been materially disturbed. Generally speaking, therefore, the two grand elements of the provincial population are locally distinguished from each other a relative position which has happily excluded, as between them, nearly every difficulty as to education and religion. The settlers of French origin, almost entirely confined to East C., occupy the banks of the St Lawrence and of the lower courses of its tributary streams; all the rest of East C. and the whole of West C., so far as they are reclaimed at all, belong to colonists of English race. According to the census of 1851, the former numbered about 700,000; while the latter, including a small proportion neither English nor French, amounted to about 1,140,000. The population of French origin may be reckoned, according to natural increase, to amount in 1860 to 875,000; the others, taking immigration into account, to 1,710,000. The way in which the population was divided, in 1851, in respect of creed, will be seen from the following table:

890,261

12,089 7,460 103 76,563

952,004

Totals, The two divisions of the province present a striking contrast in their rates of progress. To take, for instance, the growth of towns: In Lower C., Sherbrooke, the capital of the Eastern Townships, with about 1500 inhabitants, forms almost the only addition to Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montrealthe three French foundations; in Upper C., besides five cities, to be immediately noticed, there are already six-and-thirty towns at least equal, on an average, to Sherbrooke. With respect, again, to cities, properly so called, the growth of Montreal and Quebec, remarkable enough in itself, has been owing rather to their commercial facilities with regard to the country at large than to the agricultural resources of their immediate vicinities; while Toronto, London, Kingston, and Hamilton-each nurtured chiefly by its own locality-have an aggregate population of about 100,000; the first two having quadrupled their numbers respectively within the last 20 and 10 years.

commencement on the Lower St Lawrence to the shores of Lake Huron. Below Quebec-to say nothing of the precarious nature of the crops-there may always be seen, on one or on both sides, the primeval forest. Between that city, again, and the basin of the Ottawa, a gradual improvement shews itself, even on the north side; and towards the south, there stretches away to the frontier of the United States a broad belt of generally undulating character, probably the best field in the country for the blending of pasturage and agriculture. From the basin of the Ottawa inclusive, the parallel of the south end of Lake Nipissing may be said to cut off, towards the south-west, the entire residue of the practicable soil, in the shape of a roughly defined triangle, which, as a whole, is at least equal, in the growth of grain in general and of wheat in particular, to any region of the same extent in North America.

As C. slants southwards eight or nine degrees from the mouth of the St Lawrence to that of the Detroit, which communicates between Lakes St Clair and Erie, the climate of the west must be warmer than that of the east. In addition to this cause of difference, it holds as a general law over the continent that the climate improves in advancing westward, even on the same parallel. Besides, the lakes of Upper C. appear, in a good measure, to neutralise and mitigate the extremes of a Canadian climate. While Quebec in winter ordinarily enjoys five or six months of sleighing, the corresponding season in Toronto ranges from five or six days to five or six weeks. As to summer, the difference in favour of Toronto is rather in point of duration than of intensity. As indications of the climate of C., it may be stated that the isle of Orleans, immediately below Quebec, is famous for its plums, and the island of Montreal for its apples; and from the neighbourhood of Toronto to the head of Lake Erie, grapes and peaches ripen without any aid whatever. Melons, again, of large size, come to maturity, through the settled parts of the province, in the open air; and pumpkins and squashes attain enormous size, some of them near Toronto having weighed 300 lbs. The climate of C., though, as a whole, vastly steadier than that of the British Isles, is yet occasionally liable to such changes as among us are all but impossible. Montreal, for instance, may be said, on an average, to have an extreme cold of 24° below zero, and an extreme heat of 96° above it. Now, on short notice, a thaw may surprise the former temperature, and a frost the latter; so that there is room, in winter and summer respectively, for a comparatively sudden rise or fall of about 60°.

In the matter of communications, C. is unrivalled. The St Lawrence, with its lakes, puts it in connection at once with the most commercial sections of the United States, and with the open ocean. The navigation of this great water-system has been Great part of C., more especially the shores of greatly assisted by art. Below Montreal, Lake St Lake Superior, is valuable only for mineral resources, Peter has been deepened; and above that city, a such as iron, zinc, lead, copper, silver, gold, cobalt, series of cuts, skirting the rapids, admit sea-going manganese, gypsum, marl, granite, sandstone, lime- vessels into Lake Ontario. Beyond this, the stone, slate, and marbles of nearly every imagin- Welland Canal lifts the maritime navigation round able colour. Considerable portions, also, though the Falls of Niagara into Lake Erie. Without heavily timbered, chiefly with pine, are yet but little reckoning, therefore, the American works between adapted to settlement and cultivation. Towards the Huron and Superior, the Canadian settlement at gulf of the St Lawrence, again, a considerable section the foot of Sault Ste Marie, now a free port, is derives importance mainly from the fisheries, being, virtually, as it were, washed by the tides of the with partial exceptions in Gaspe, comparatively Atlantic. The government has subsidised a line worthless for every other object. Thus the area for of steam-ships, running weekly to England from the profitable production of ordinary cereals cannot the St Lawrence in summer, and from Portland, materially exceed 40,000 square miles, containing, in the state of Maine, during winter. In addition however, within this space a singularly small propor- to the navigation of the main artery, there are tion of irreclaimable surface. This cultivable block numerous canals and navigable streams and lakes increases regularly in width and fertility, from its throughout the province. The chief canal is the