"The Residences In The Suburbs Of Montreal Are Usually Well Built,
Large, And Beautifully Situated.
We drove through the suburbs to
Monklands, which is on the western side of the mountain, and commands a
fine view of the country.
This house, which is capacious and handsome,
is now used as an hotel. It was the seat of the Governor-General, Lord
Elgin; and the landlord showed us a point at the end of the now
dilapidated, but some time beautiful, garden, from whence, he said, his
lordship viewed afar off the burning of the Parliament Houses at
Montreal a year or two back. Lord Elgin shut himself up in Monklands
for about three months after this outrage, and the Parliament and court
were removed to Toronto, which, until the turn comes round to some
other place, has the exclusive honour of hearing the rather strong
oratory of the Upper Province. The country about Monklands is very
beautiful, and there are still abundant openings on the mountain sides
for villas, similar to the very handsome and tasteful erections with
which they are at present pretty thickly studded.
"Leaving Montreal one evening by steamer, I dropped down to Quebec. The
St. Lawrence below Montreal is broad, deep, and, in some places,
winding. The principal population of Lower Canada is on its immediate
shores; and the numerous cottages and houses, with cultivated fields
around them, would lead to a belief that the whole population of the
country, so thickly appearing on the margin of the river, was greater
than it is. The sail by daylight must be beautiful, and as the hours of
day, which going and returning allowed, enabled me to see a great part
of the distance, I only regretted that I could not see more of so noble
a river, and of the industry and the people settled on its banks.
"When within five miles of Quebec, coming down the river, there
commences a succession of wharfs, to which the timber, which forms so
great a trade here, is floated down stream, and from which it is loaded
into vessels for Europe and other parts of the world. The stock of
timber balks floating in the basins about these wharfs and landings is
now so great, that for three miles the margin of the river looks like
one great raft. We passed two immense rafts of timber, floating down
the stream, to be stowed here, one of which was some 400 yards long,
had eighteen sails set, and four wooden houses complete, erected upon
it.
"Quebec is admirably placed as a fortified city, and also as a point
for commerce. It stands on a high point of land opposite the Isle of
Orleans, which here divides the St. Lawrence into two large streams.
The citadel overlooks the Bay of Quebec, the Isle of Orleans, and the
high banks of the St. Lawrence. The view from it is most extensive, in
whichever direction the eye wanders. Forty miles of the St. Lawrence
are seen from it.
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