Sometimes It Appeared As If There Were No
Egress, And As If We Were Running Straight Upon A Rock, And The Water Is
Everywhere So Deep, That From The Deck Of The Steamer People Can Pull The
Leaves From The Trees.
A hundred varieties of trees and shrubs grow out of
the grey lichen-covered rocks - it seems barbarous that the paddles of a
steamer should disturb their delicate shadows.
If I found this lake so
beautiful on a day in the middle of October, when the bright autumn tints
had changed into a russet brown, and when a chill north-east wind was
blowing about the withered leaves, and the snow against the ship - and
when, more than all, I was only just recovering from ague - what would it
be on a bright summer-day, when the blue of heaven would be reflected in
the clear waters of the St. Lawrence!
By nine a furious snow-storm rendered all objects indistinct, and the fog
had thickened to such an extent that we could not see five feet ahead, so
we came to anchor for an hour. A very excellent breakfast was despatched
during this time, and at ten we steamed off again, steering by compass on
a river barely a mile wide! The New Era was a boat of a remarkably light
draught of water. The saloon, or deck-house, came to within fifteen feet
of the bow, and on the hurricane-deck above there was a tower containing a
double wheel, with which the ship is steered by chains one hundred feet
long. There is a look-out place in front of this tower, generally occupied
by the pilot, a handsome, ruffian-looking French voyageur, with earrings
in his ears. Captain Chrysler, whose caution, urbanity, and kindness
render him deservedly popular, seldom leaves this post of observation, and
personally pays very great attention to his ship; for the river St.
Lawrence has as bad a reputation for destroying the vessels which navigate
it as the Mississippi.
The snow was now several inches deep on deck, and, melting near the deck-
house, trickled under the doors into the saloon. The moisture inside,
also, condensed upon the ceiling, and produced a constant shower-bath for
the whole day. Sofas and carpets were alike wet, everybody sat in
goloshes - the ladies in cloaks, the gentlemen in oilskins; the smell of
the latter, and of so many wet woollen clothes, in an apartment heated by
stove-heat, being almost unbearable. At twelve the fog and snow cleared
away, and revealed to view the mighty St. Lawrence - a rapid stream
whirling along in small eddies between slightly elevated banks dotted with
white homesteads. We passed a gigantic raft, with five log shanties upon
it, near Prescott. These rafts go slowly and safely down the St. Lawrence
and the Ottawa, till they come to La Chine, where frequent catastrophes
happen, if one may judge from the timber which strews the rocks. A
gentleman read from a newspaper these terrible statistics, "horrible if
true," - "Forty-four murders and seven hundred murderous assaults have been
committed at New York within the last six months." (Sensation.) We
stopped at Prescott, one of the oldest towns in Canada, and shortly
afterwards passed the blackened ruins of a windmill, and some houses held
by a band of American "sympathisers" during the rebellion in 1838, but
from which they were dislodged by the cannon of the royal troops. Five
hundred American sympathisers, with several pieces of cannon, under cover
of darkness, on a lovely night in May, landed at this place. Soon after,
they were attacked by a party of English regulars and militiamen, who
drove them into a windmill and two strong stone houses, which they
loopholed, and defended themselves with a pertinacity which one would have
called heroism, had it been in a better cause. They finally surrendered,
and were carried prisoners to Kingston, where six of them were hanged.
Their leader, a military adventurer, a Pole of the name of Von Schoultz,
was the first to be executed. He fought with a skill and bravery worthy of
the nation from whence he sprung, and died without complaint, except of
those who had enticed him to fight for a godless cause, under the name of
liberty. Brighter days have since dawned upon Canada, and at this time the
most discontented can scarcely find the shadow of a grievance to lay hold
of.
As an instance of the way in which the utilitarian essentials of a high
state of civilisation are diffused throughout Canada, I may mention that
when we arrived at Cornwall I was able to telegraph to Kingston for my
lost watch, and received a satisfactory answer in half an hour.
After sailing down this mighty river at a rapid rate for some hours, we
ran the Galouse Rapids. Running the rapids is a favourite, and, I must
add, a charming diversion of adventurous travellers. There is just that
slight sense of danger which lends a zest to novelty, and it is furnished
by the facts that some timid persons land before coming to the rapids, and
that many vessels have come to an untimely end in descending them. There
is a favourite story of General Amherst, who during the war was sent down
by the river to attack Montreal, with three hundred and fifty men, and the
first intimation which the inhabitants received of the intended surprise
was through the bodies of the ill-fated detachment, clothed in the well-
known scarlet, floating by their city, the victims of the ignorance or
treachery of the pilot.
One of the great pleasures which I promised myself in my visit to Canada
was from running these rapids, and I was not disappointed. At the Galouse,
the river expands into a wide shallow stream, containing beautiful
islands, among which the water rushes furiously, being broken into large
waves, boiling, foaming, and whirling round. The steamer neared the
rapids - half her steam was shut off - six men appeared at the wheel - we
glided noiselessly along in smooth, green, deep water - the furious waves
were before us - the steamer gave one perceptible downward plunge - the
spray dashed over the bows - and at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour we
hurried down the turbulent hill of waters, running so near the islands
often that escape seemed hopeless - then guided safely away by the skill of
the pilot.
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