48

CHARMING SCENERY AROUND QUEBEC.

some places mountainous, but so well cultivated that a large tract in the vicinity of Riviere du Sud, which flows from the S. through a picturesque, extensive, fertile and thickly settled country, has long been familiarly called the granary of the Province.

Mr. M'Gregor truly observes that the river St. Lawrence and the whole country from the lowest parishes to Quebec unfold scenery, the magnificence of which in combination with the most delightful physical beauty is unequalled in America and, probably, in the world. As the eminence is ascended, over which the post road passes, or in sailing up or down the St. Lawrence, there are frequently prospects which open a view of from 50 to 100 miles, of a river from ten to twenty miles in breadth. The imposing features of these vast landscapes exhibit lofty mountains, wide vallies, bold headlands, luxuriant forests, cultivated fields, pretty villages and settlements, (some of them stretching up along the mountains):fertile islands, with neat white cottages, rich pastures and well tended flocks;-rocky islets and tributary rivers, some of them rolling over precipices, and one of them, the Saguenay, like an inland mountain lake, bursting through a perpendicular chasm in the granitic chain; while on the surface of the St. Lawrence majestic ships, large brigs, and schooners, either under sail or at anchor, with innumerable pilot boats and river craft, in active motion, charm the mind of the immigrant or traveller from Europe.

We now approach the noble-looking capital of Lower Canada, Quebec; where the St. Lawrence is only 1314 yards wide, but with a bason formed by the St. Charles river below the city of three and three quarters of a mile long, and two broad, with the greatest depth of water at twenty-eight fathoms, and a tide rising eighteen feet at neaps, and twenty-four at spring tides. The scenery on approaching Quebec is truly magnificent; on the left point Levi, with its romantic church and cottages; on the right the western part of Orleans isle, so much resembling our own sweet Devonshire coast; beyond the lofty mainland opens to view, and the spectator's attention is

STRONG POSITION OF THE AMERICAN GIBRALTAR.

49

rivetted by the magnificent falls of Montmorenci, a river as large as the Thames at Richmond, and which precipitates its volumes of constantly flowing waters over a perpendicular precipice 250 feet in height: the eye then runs along a richly cultivated country for miles, terminating in a ridge of mountains, with the city and battlements of Quebec, rising amphitheatrically, cresting, as it were, the ridge of Cape Diamond, and majestically towering above the surrounding country, as if destined to be the capital of an empire; the whole panorama being one of the most striking views in the Old or New World.

Before proceeding with the description of the St. Lawrence, we must stop to give a brief notice of this far-famed city.

QUEBEC, in Lat. 46.48. Lon. 70.72. is situated upon the N. E. extremity of a rocky ridge or promontory, called Cape Diamond (350 feet above the water's edge), which runs for seven or eight miles to the westward, connected with another Cape called Cape Rouge, forming the lofty and left bank of the river St. Lawrence, which is but for a short space interrupted by a low and flat valley to the N. E. adjoining the level in which the river St. Charles now runs to the N. of the city.* The site of the town on the N. of the promontory has apparently been chosen from its more gradual slope on this side than to the southward, which is precipitous. To the N. and W. of the city the ground slopes more gradually, and terminates in the St. Charles valley. The large river St. Lawrence flows to the southward of the city, washes the base of the steep promontory of Cape Diamond, and unites its waters with the small river St. Charles, flowing along the N. side of the city, the junction being in front of the town where they expand into a considerable bason forming the harbour of Quebec.† On sailing up the river nothing

This flat channel is supposed by Dr. Wright, Inspector of Hospitals, to have been at some distant period a second channel to the St. Lawrence, which must have insulated the whole of the space on the N. E. extremity of which the city of Quebec now stands.

+ The distance from one river to another across the ridge is rather more than a mile.

50

DIVISION OF QUEBEC CITY IN TWO TOWNS.

of the city is seen until the spectator is nearly in a line between the W. point of Orleans isle and Point Levi, when (as eloquently expressed by an intelligent and delightful traveller),* Quebec and its surrounding sublimities burst suddenly into view, the grand and vast landscape being so irresistibly striking that few ever forget the majestically impressive picture it presents. An abrupt promontory 350 feet high, crowned with an impregnable citadel, (the Gibraltar of the New World), surrounded by strong battlements, on which the British banners daily wave; the bright tinned steeples of the cathedrals and churches; the huge vice regal chateau of St. Louis, supported by piers, and overhanging the precipice; the denseness of the houses, and hangards (warehouses) of the lower town; the fleet of ships at Wolf's Cove and others at the wharfs; steamers plying in every direction; multitudes of boats of every shape; ships on the stocks or launching; the white sheets of the cataract of Montmorenci tumbling into the St. Lawrence over a 220 feet ledge; the churches, houses, fields and woods of Beauport and Charlesbourg, with mountains in the distance; the high grounds, spire, &c. of St. Joseph; some Indian wigwams and canoes near Point Levi, and vast rafts or masses of timber descending on the noble river from the forests of the Ottawa, may impart some idea of the view unfolded to the spectator who sails up the St. Lawrence, when he first espies the metropolis of the British Empire in North America.

The city is nominally divided into two, called the Upper and Lower, Towns: the latter being built at the base of the promontory, level with the high water, and where the rock has been removed to make room for the houses, which are generally constructed in the old style, of stone, two or three stories high, with narrow and ill ventilated streets. From the Lower to the Upper Town there is a winding Street (MOUNTAIN-STREET), extremely steep, which is commanded by well

* John M'Gregor, Esq. who, I understand, is now preparing in Paris, a valuable work on the statistics of the whole world.

POPULATION OF QUEBEC AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.

51

planted cannon, and terminates at an elevation of 200 feet above the river, at the city walls; or by 'Break Neck Stairs,' where the Upper Town commences, extending its limits considerably to the westward, along the slope of the ridge and up the promontory towards the Cape within fifty or sixty yards of its summit. The aspect is N. and well placed for, ventilation, although the streets are narrow and irregular. There are suburbs to each town; in the Upper they extend along the slope of the ridge called St. John's; in the Lower they extend along the valley from the St. Charles called the Rocks. The influence of the tides, which extend several leagues beyond Quebec, raise the waters at the confluence of the two rivers many feet above their general level, and overflow the St. Charles valley, which rises gradually from the river to the northward, in a gentle slope for a few miles, until it reaches the mountains. This valley and slope is wholly under cultivation and extremely rich and picturesque. The ridge on which Quebec stands is also cultivated as far as Cape Rouge to the westward.

In 1662 Quebec did not contain more than 50 inhabitants; in 1759 the population was estimated at between 8 and 9,000; in 1825 and 1831 the census gave as follows:

:

* Exclusive of the Banlieue of St. John and St. Lewis.

52

PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF QUEBEC.

MONUMENT TO WOLFE.

As a fortress Quebec may be now ranked in the first class, the citadel on the highest point of Cape Diamond, together with a formidable combination of strongly constructed works extending over an area of forty acres : small batteries connected by ramparts are continued from the edge of the precipice to the gateway leading to the lower town, which is defended by cannon of a large calibre, and the approach to it up Mountain Street enfiladed and flanked by many large guns: a line of defence connects with the grand battery a redoubt of great strength armed with 24 pounders, entirely commanding the basin and passage of the river. Other lines add to the impregnability of Quebec if properly defended, the possession of which may be said to give the mastery of Upper as well as of Lower Canada.*

A great number of commodious and elegant public buildings adorn Quebec-such as the Castle of St. Louis, the Hotel Dieu, the Ursuline Convent, the Jesuit's Monastery (now a barrack), the Protestant and Catholic Cathedrals, the Scotch Church, Lower Town Church, Trinity and Wesleyan Chapels, Exchange, Bank, Court House, Hospitals, Barracks, Goal, Seminary, &c. &c. The town in general is pretty much like an English or rather a French city, except that the houses are mostly roofed with shingles (small pieces of thin wood); many of the best houses, public buildings and great warehouses, are, however, covered with tin or iron plates, which, owing to the dryness of the climate, retain their brightness for many years. There are several distilleries, breweries, tobacco, soap, candle and other manufactories;

On the W., and in front of the citadel, are the celebrated plains of Abraham, on which Wolfe and Montcalm fought and perished, and to whose united memories the chivalry of our own times (under the auspices of the gallant Earl of Dalhousie), has erected an appropriate obelisk with the following inscription :- Mortem virtus communem famam historia monumentum posteritas dedit. Hanc columnam in virorum illustrium memoriam WOLFE et MONTCALM, P. C. Georgius Comes De Dalhousie in Septentrionalis America in partibus ad Brittanos pertinentibus summam rerum administrans; opus per multos annos prætermissum, quid duci egregio convenientius? Auctoritate promovens, exemplo stimulans, munificentia fovens. A. S. MDCCCXXVII-Georgio IV. Britanniarum Rege.