Hot Sun, Cold
Winds, Snow, Hail, Icebergs, And Gales Of Wind, And, When Nearing Belle
Isle, Dense Fog, Inducing Our Able, But Prudent, Captain To Stop His
Engines Till Daylight, When Was Sighted A Wall Of Ice Across Our Track
At No Great Distance.
Captain Smith prefers to take the north side of
Belle Isle.
There is a lighthouse on the Island, not, I thought, in a
very good situation for passing on the north side. But I found that
there was no cable communication between Belle Isle and Anticosti.
Thus, in case of disaster, the only warning to Quebec would be the non-
arrival of the ship, and the delay might make help too late. I ventured
to call the attention of a leading member of the Canadian Government to
this want of means of sending intelligence of passing ships and ships
in distress. In winter this strait is closed by ice, and the
lighthouses are closed too. Inside the fine inlet of "Amour Bay," a
natural dock, safe and extensive, we saw the masts of a French man-of-
war. The French always protect their fishermen; we at home usually let
them take care of themselves. This French ship had been in these
English waters some time; and on a recent passage there was gun-firing,
and the movement of men, to celebrate, as the captain learned, the
taking of the Bastille. On the opposite coast is a little cove, in
which a British ship got ashore, and was stripped by the local pirates
of everything. Captain Smith took off the crew and reported the piracy;
but nothing seems to have been done. A British war-ship is never seen
in these distant and desolate northern regions. It may well be that the
sparse population think all the coasts still belong to France, in
addition to the Isles of St. Pierre and Miquelon. This is how our navy
is managed. Can it be true that the Marquis of Lorne recommended that
an ironclad should be sent to Montreal for a season, as an emblem of
British power and sway - and was refused?
After some trouble with fog and wind, preceded by a most remarkable
Aurora Borealis, and some delay at night at Rimouska, we reached
Quebec, and got alongside at Point Levi, on the afternoon of Saturday,
the 11th September; and I had great pleasure in meeting my old friend
Mr. Hickson, who came down to meet Mrs. Hickson and his son and
daughter, fellow-passengers of mine. I also at once recognized Dr.
Rowand, the able medical officer of the Port of Quebec, who I had not
set eyes on for twenty-four years. I stayed the night at Russell's
Hotel; and next day renewed my acquaintance with the city, finding the
"Platform" wonderfully enlarged and improved, the work of Lord
Dufferin, a new and magnificent Courthouse being built, and, above all,
an immense structure of blue-grey stone, intended for the future
Parliament House of the Province of Quebec.
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