the north side, the mountains run up as far as Quebec; on the left, the range, at sixty miles distance from Quebec, runs to the south, and enters the United States, where they form the Alleghanies, the wellknown mountains which, rising from three to four thousand feet above the level of the sea, divide the Atlantic coast from the valley of the Ohio. The country between these two ranges of mountains is now the seat of war. The whole portion of the banks of the St. Lawrence, from the coast to the boundary of Upper Canada, is divided into three portions, the first part swampy, wild, and but thinly inhabited; the second nore fertile and better peopled, with a picturesque andscape, and many fine rivers; the third and most mportant portion lies between the St. Maurice river and the Ottawa, where the provinces join. The councry from five to fifteen miles from the river is slightly elevated into table ridges. The St. Lawrence in this portion contains the three islands of Montreal, Jesus, and Perrot. Montreal is a fine island, thirty-two miles long by five broad; the isle Jesus is twenty-one miles long by six broad, is level and fertile. Isle Perrot, lying near Montreal, is seven miles long by three broad, level, but sandy. The southern side of the St. Lawrence forms a vast province, in some parts ninety miles wide, and with the sea-coast extending three hundred and fifty miles. This territory is but little peopled and little known. It is, however, ascertained to be deeply wooded, and capable of singular fertility. The third section of Lower Canada on this side is a fine district, having in its front the St. Lawrence, and having in its rear the high lands of Connecticut, and the boundary which divides Lower Canada from the United States. A portion of the country along the banks is remarkably bold, as at Quebec and Point Levi. But higher up the river the shore sinks into the plain. On the advance towards Montreal the southern side exhibits new figures of beauty, and its pastoral loveliness emulates the finest scenes of England, with the still superior effect to be derived from a back ground of noble mountains.

which, unless the evil fates of England predominate, will yet form the noblest appanage of the British empire. This noble river frequently changes its name. From the sea to Montreal it is called the St. Lawrence; thence to Kingston in Upper Canada the Cataraqui, or Troquois; between Lake Ontario and Erie the Niagara; between lakes Erie and St. Clair the Detroit; between lakes St. Clair and Huron the St. Clair; and between lakes Huron and Superior the distance is called the Narrows, or falls of St. Mary.

The scenery of this river from its mouth to Quebec is unrivalled in the whole Western Continent. From the high grounds above the river, the landscape expands in sudden bursts of the most singular beauty, a succession of deep bays, bold headlands, pastoral settlements, rocky islets, powerful rivers, some gliding through the valleys in broad and quiet channels, some rolling over precipices, some bursting through perpendicular chasms in the granite chain, as if an earthquake had but just cleft the mountain; and moving in broad and quiet grandeur through the centre of this fine view, the St. Lawrence, covered with ships of war and trade, foreign commerce, and the active and animated navigation of the country.

As the voyageur ascends the river he sees the land thoroughly take the shape of a lofty promontory, and the river narrow to little more than a thousand yards. Here the scene becomes more imposing. On the left, Point Levi, with its romantic church, and cottages; on the right the isle of Orleans, strongly resembling the coast of Devonshire. Beyond this the mainland opens to view, and the falls of Montmorency are seen, a cataract two hundred and fifty feet high; again, beyond this, a country rising amphitheatrically, with the battlements of Quebec cresting the ridge of Cape Diamond, and looking down on a vast extent of country, the natural capital of a transatlantic empire. And in front of Quebec, the grand basin formed by the St. Charles river, between three and four miles long, and two broad. The population of Quebec, in 1831, was 25,916. Quebec has been pronounced impregnable, But the great canal, artery, and life-giver of the the Gibraltar of the New World, and if defended by try is the St. Lawrence itself, a river which throws British troops, and sufficiently provisioned, would proar European conceptions into the background, bably be equal to resist the assault of any transatlantic equalling in point of length, and surpassing in army. The citadel stands on an eminence 350 feet magnificence and picturesque beauty, perhaps high, and with its strongly constructed works, extends ther river in the world, with an entrance extend-over an area of forty acres. The approach to it from Nova Scotia to Labrador, 106 leagues, run- the lower town is steep, and enfiladed by heavy canof nearly three thousand miles, varying non. A redoubt of great strength commands the harmiles broad, 2000 of those miles bour. The works altogether are of the most massive , and the rest by vessels up to order, and seem calculated to bid defiance to all regular attack, yet no fortress, however powerful, is proof against surprise.

aracteristic features of
and most important The United States, always thirsting for new terri-
water seas passing tory, in addition to the almost boundless realm of
mighty region, which they have never been able to people a thou-

sandth part, and which they will be unable to people | a finer deposit for population; or afford more adequate for a thousand years to come, have accustomed them- means for putting the whole of its surface at the dis selves to look with an eye of rapine towards Canada. posal of its population. Extending for nearly 1000 i A want of vigilance on the part of the garrison, or want of common sense in the Government at home, might leave it destitute in the commencement of a new war, and a rapid rush even of thirty or forty thousand of the American militia, might achieve an enterprise which European discipline might attempt in vain.

Beyond Quebec, the St. Lawrence widens again, and the scenery on the right hand, the Quebec side of the river, is finely varied with groves, orchards, and | corn fields, for nearly fifty miles. From this point to Montreal, nearly 100 miles, the general landscape owes little to the hand of man, yet some parts are highly cultivated, and in some portions the villages are so numerous, as apparently to form one continued mass of population. Montreal at length bursts upon the eye in the southernmost point of its island. The island is level, with the exception of one fire feature, which instantly strikes the eye, and gives the whole an air of magnificence; an isolated hill on its western extremity, rising 800 feet above the level of the river, and covered with the gardens, orchards, and villas, of the opulent citizens. Montreal ís French in its buildings, in its fashions, and in its finery. In all matters of display, and even of trade and population, it exceeds the acknowledged metropolis. It has increased greatly in opulence since the war. Its population in 1825, was 22,000. Since then it has increased upwards of fifty per cent., and is now at least 35,000.

miles along the St. Lawrence, it has that vast river fe its central communication for bringing down the wealth, of Upper Canada and the American Continent, and by its sea-coast opening to the ocean and the commerce of i Europe. The only drawback upon this facility a communication is the freezing of the St. Lawrence the winter; but this, though an obstacle to a commu nication with Europe, would probably impede but i tle the internal communication of an active, comme cial, and fully peopled country. In Russia, winter the chief period of intercourse between the remote pr vinces. Lower Canada abounds with rivers in magtude and number altogether unequalled by the genera irrigation of Europe. Those rivers which in summe are canals, in winter would be high-roads, and unles popular convulsion should destroy the prosperity this great settlement, the next quarter of a century would probably see the colonists achieving every thing. that can be accomplished by vivid and vigorous ente: prise. The extent of solid soil, even within the bounds ries of the province, is immense, upwards of 200,00 square miles, about three times and a half the size = Great Britain; but to the north extends a territory which may literally be called boundless, a region wi and wintry, but capable of supporting life, and offering to the energies of Englishmen a noble space for the industry and intelligence which are made to maste the difficulties of Nature.

One of the most striking natural features of this fine Upper Canada, which is more completely in th country is the Cataract of the Montmorency. The river, hands of British settlers, is also a province of gres about the breadth of the Thames at Windsor, rushes promise, nearly twice the size of Great Britain; in it over a marble ridge, a hundred feet higher than the inhabited parts along the river chiefly level, finely u great Niagara fall. A slight declination of the bed of dulated, and towards the North rising into ranges the river before it reaches the precipices gives a mountains. Beyond its northern boundary, this cour great velocity to the stream, which plunges from try, too, is unlimited, or limited only by the Pola that vast height in an extended sheet of foam. A Ocean. Upper Canada, though receiving perpetua perpetual spray rises from the bottom, displaying all accessions from England, is still but beginning to b the variety of the prismatic colours, and, when the peopled. Vast districts are still a wilderness, yet the sun shines strongly, completing the various beauties of soil is singularly fertile, the climate comparative this most picturesque of waterfalls. One of the most Villages are rapidly planting where but a fe singular rivers of the Continent, and tributary to the years since was forest; schools, mills, and churches, St. Lawrence, is the Saguenay. Its course is inter- sure sign of civilization, are erecting; villages a rupted by rocks, through which it foams with irresisti-growing into towns; the Colonists are branching ov ble violence. The depth at its mouth has never yet in all directions; and the foundation is already laid been ascertained; it is probably the deepest of rivers. permanent empire. It has been tried in vain with 330 fathoms of line. Two miles higher, the soundings have been 140 fathoms. The height of the banks is as extraordinary as the depth of the stream, rising from 200 to 2000 feet high.

mild.

But the most extraordinary feature of Upper Canad | is the chain of lakes. In this it differs altogether from any European country. It is scarcely going too far t assert, that the lakes exhibit a peculiar provision c nature, for the double purpose of tempering the seve Lower Canada is a vast province, and if fully peo-rity of the climate, and of securing general communi-" pled, will be equal to the largest European empire, cation. The great unbroken mass of North America. excepting Russia. No country in the world would be scarcely penetrated in any part by the ocean, would bɛ

almost wholly destitute of inland navigation except for the smallest of the lakes, oval, and rather less than a those great lakes. Of course, we speak of inland navi- hundred miles in circumference. Passing the lake, we gation on a large scale, as the smaller rivers amply again reach the St. Lawrence, under the name of the supply the communication between the several districts St. Clair, and enter the Lake Huron; its shape irreguof each province; but the great lakes supply this com- lar, its length two hundred and fifty miles long, by a munication to a vast and unexampled extent. hundred and ninety miles broad, and covering an area of five million acres. Still passing upwards from the head of the Huron, where the river takes the name of the St. Mary's Strait, the great rapids are entered, a low cataract, three-quarters of a mile long, by half a mile broad, where the water rushes down with prodigious velocity from slope to slope, till it enters the Huron. We then approach the greatest of all the lakes, Lake Superior, an irregular oblong of about 1255 miles in circumference, and with an average depth of 1000 feet, its waters extremely cold, and singularly pure, but exposed to storms, and rising into waves that rival those of the ocean. This may be fairly called a fresh water Mediterranean, its Canadian coast being estimated at 1200 miles long. One remarkable peculiarity in the chief lakes is their extreme depth, and the probable object in this seems to be, that at no future period those lakes should cease to exist. It is the opinion of the engineers who have examined the face of the country, that there is a gradual diminution of the waters of all the lakes, from the widening of their outlets into the St. Lawrence, and from the St. Lawrence into the ocean. As the lakes are on a succession of plateaus constantly ascending, until the surface of the Lake Superior is 617 feet above the surface of the Atlantic, the consequence if they were shallow would be, that they would be all drained into the ocean in process of time. But this is guarded against in the instance of Lake Superior, by its bed being certainly more than 500 feet below the level of the Atlantic, and it is remarkable, that the lakes, as they descend in succession, are not merely successively of smaller dimensions, but of inferior depth, the extreme depth becoming less necessary as the plateaus descend nearer to the ocean.

Following the course of the St. Lawrence upwards, we first come to Lake Ontario, a magnificent sheet of water, nearly five hundred miles in circumference. The shores of this noble lake exhibit great diversity; on the north, bold, on the American shore, low, on the Canada side, well wooded, with thriving settlements, and with the picturesque town of Toronto overhanging the waters. Still ascending the stream, where it changes its name to the Niagara, we meet the famous cataract, too famous for any description here, or for any other mention than as the great outlet of the upper lakes, discharging at the rate of a hundred and two million tons of water in the hour. Still ascending, we come to Lake Erie, about six hundred and fifty-eight miles in circumference. The southern shore of the lake, which belongs to the United States, is low; the northern shore, which belongs to Canada, is generally abrupt and bold; but the Erie is still more remarkable as forming the head of the most extensive navigation in the world, and enabling vessels to visit the Atlantic, north and south. The great American Erie Canal connects the waters of the lake with those of the Hudson; this is an achievement of which human industry may be proud. It is three hundred and sixty-three miles long, and occupied eight years in making, at a cost, including the Champlain Canal, of eleven millions of dollars. Its annual tolls are now upwards of a million of dollars. Another great canal, the Oswego, connects the Erie canal with Lake Ontario. Other canals, more obscure, yet scarcely less important, connect the principal lakes and rivers, and, within a short period, it is expected that the steam-boats from New Orleans will reach the lake. On the British side, the efforts are scarcely less vigorous. The ships from Quebec will soon pass into Erie through Ontario; thence the Ohio and Pennsylvania canals will open a communication through the Ohio river to the Mississippi, and even the Gulf of Mexico will be reached by the way of the upper lakes. In fact, the whole country lies open, a great theatre for all the triumphs of inland navigation; and it is remarked, that as in the Alps, a person without changing place, may drink of water which flows into the Mediterranean, the Rhine, and the German Ocean; so the point will probably yet be fixed in this region, from which the individual may find his way, either by canal or by river, to the Atlantic, to the Gulf of Mexico, to the Pacific, or to Hudson's Bay.

Still ascending the St. Lawrence, which now takes the name of the Detroit River, we reach Lake St. Clair, VOL. XXXIII.—MAY, 1838.

4

We shall now give a general sketch of the history of this great country. The name of Canada itself has been long a matter of dispute among the etymologists. It has been supposed to have arisen from an exclamation of some of the early Portuguese navigators, who, observing the desolation of the country, either cried out or wrote on their maps, Aca-Nada-aca-Nada. It has also been supposed to have taken its name from the Spanish, Canada, a canal, from the shape of the country, forming the blank banks of the St. Lawrence, but the more received explanation is the Indian one, Canata, a collection of huts.

The splendid discoveries of the Spaniards in equinoctial America had turned the attention of the European sovereigns to the West. England, though scarcely recovered from the wars of the Roses, fol