Part 5

Montreal is the second town in Canada, in regard to size and wealth; but it is the first on account of its fine situation, and mild climate. Somewhat above the town, the river St. Lawrence divides into several branches, and by that means forms several islands, among which the isle of Montreal is the greatest. It is ten French miles long, and near four broad, in its broadest part. The town of Montreal is built on the eastern side of the island, and close to one of the most considerable branches of the river St. Lawrence; and thus it receives a very pleasant, and advantageous situation. The town has a quadrangular form, or rather it is a rectangular parallelogram, the long and eastern side of which extends along the great branch of the river. On the other side it is surrounded with excellent corn-fields, charming meadows, and delightful woods. It has got the name of Montreal from a great mountain, about half a mile westwards of the town, and lifting its head far above the woods. Mons. Cartier, one of the first Frenchmen who surveyed Canada more accurately, called this mountain so, on his arrival in this island, in the year 1535, when he visited the mountain, and the Indian town Hoshelaga near it. The priests who, according to the Roman catholic way, would call every place in this country after some saint or other, called Montreal, Ville Marie, but they have not been able to make this name general, for it has always kept its first name. It is pretty well fortified, and surrounded with a high and thick wall. On the east side it has the river St. Lawrence, and on all the other sides a deep ditch filled with water, which secures the inhabitants against all danger from the sudden incursions of the enemy’s troops. However, it cannot long stand a regular siege, because it requires a great garrison, on account of its extent; and because it consists chiefly of wooden houses. Here are several churches, of which I shall only mention that belonging to the friars of the order of St. Sulpitius, that of the Jesuits, that of the Franciscan friars, that belonging to the nunnery, and that of the hospital; of which the first is however by far the finest, both in regard to its outward and inward ornaments, not only in this place, but in all Canada. The priests of the seminary of St. Sulpitius have a fine large house, where they live together. The college of the Franciscan friars is likewise spacious, and has good walls, but it is not so magnificent as the former. The college of the Jesuits is small, but well built. To each of these three buildings are annexed fine large gardens, for the amusement, health, and use of the communities to which they belong. Same of the houses in the town are built of stone, but most of them are of timber, though very neatly built. Each of the better sort of houses has a door towards the street, with a seat on each side of it, for amusement and recreation in the morning and evening. The long streets are broad and strait, and divided at right angles by the short ones: some are paved, but most of them very uneven. The gates of the town are numerous; on the east side of the town towards the river are five, two great and three lesser ones; and on the other side are likewise several. The governor-general of Canada, when he is at Montreal, resides in the castle, which the government hires for that purpose of the family of Vaudreuil; but the governor of Montreal is obliged to buy or hire a house in town; though I was told, that the government contributed towards paying the rents.

In the town is a Nunnery, and without its walls half a one; for though the last was quite ready, however, it had not yet been confirmed by the pope. In the first they do not receive every girl that offers herself; for their parents must pay about five hundred ecus, or crowns, for them. Some indeed are admitted for three hundred ecus, but they are obliged to serve those who pay more than they. No poor girls are taken in.

The king has erected a hospital for sick soldiers here. The sick person there is provided with every thing he wants, and the king pays twelve sols every day for his stay, attendance, &c. The surgeons are paid by the king. When an officer is brought to this hospital, who is fallen sick in the service of the crown, he receives victuals and attendance gratis: but if he has got a sickness in the execution of his private concerns, and comes to be cured here, he must pay it out of his own purse. When there is room enough in the hospital, they likewise take in some of the sick inhabitants of the town and country. They have the medicines, and the attendance of the surgeons, gratis, but must pay twelve sols per day for meat, &c.

Every Friday is a market-day, when the country people come to the town with provisions, and those who want them must supply themselves on that day, because it is the only market-day in the whole week. On that day likewise a number of Indians come to town, to sell their goods, and buy others.

The declination of the magnetic needle was here ten degrees and thirty-eight minutes, west. Mr. Gillion, one of the priests here, who had a particular taste for mathematicks and astronomy, had drawn a meridian in the garden of the seminary, which he said he had examined repeatedly by the sun and stars, and found to be very exact. I compared my compass with it, taking care, that no iron was near it, and found its declination just the same, as that which I have before mentioned.

According to Mons. Gillion’s observations, the latitude of Montreal is forty-five degrees and twenty-seven minutes.

Monsr. Pontarion, another priest, had made thermometrical observations in Montreal, from the beginning of this year 1749. He made use of Reaumur’s thermometer, which he placed sometimes in a window half open, and sometimes in one quite open, and accordingly it will seldom mark the greatest degree of cold in the air. However, I shall give a short abstract of his observations for the winter months. In January the greatest cold was on the 18th day of the month, when the Reaumurian thermometer was twenty-three degrees below the freezing point. The least degree of cold was on the 31st of the same month, when it was just at the freezing point, but most of the days of this month it was from twelve to fifteen degrees below the freezing point. In February the greatest cold was on the 19th, and 25th, when the thermometer was fourteen degrees below the freezing point; and the least was on the 3d day of that month, when it rose eight degrees above the freezing point; but it was generally eleven degrees below it. In March the greatest cold was on the 3d, when it was ten degrees below the freezing point, and on the 22d, 23d, and 24th, it was mildest, being fifteen degrees above it: in general it was four degrees below it. In April the greatest degree of cold happened on the 7th, the thermometer being five degrees below the freezing point; the 25th was the mildest day, it being twenty degrees above the freezing point; but in general it was twelve degrees above it. These are the contents chiefly of Mons. Pontarion’s observations during those months; but I found, by the manner he made his observations, that the cold had every day been from four to six degrees greater, than he had marked it. He had likewise marked in his journal, that the ice in the river St. Lawrence broke on the 3d of April at Montreal, and only on the 20th day of that month at Quebec. On the 3d of May some trees began to flower at Montreal, and on the 12th the hoary frost was so great, that the trees were quite covered with it, as with snow. The ice in the river close to this town is every winter above a French foot thick, and sometimes it is two of such feet, as I was informed by all whom I consulted on that head.

Several of the friars here told me, that the summers were remarkably longer in Canada, since its cultivation, than they used to be before; it begins earlier, and ends later. The winters on the other hand are much shorter; but the friars were of opinion, that they were as hard as formerly, though they were not of the same duration; and likewise, that the summer at present was no hotter, than it used to be. The coldest winds at Montreal are those from the north and north-west.

August the 2d. Early this morning we left Montreal, and went in a bateau on our journey to Quebec, in company with the second major of Montreal, M. de Sermonvile. We fell down the river St. Lawrence, which was here pretty broad on our left; on the north-west side was the isle of Montreal, and on the right a number of other isles, and the shore. The isle of Montreal was closely inhabited along the river; and it was very plain, and the rising land near the shore consisted of pure mould, and was between three or four yards high. The woods were cut down along the river-side, for the distance of an English mile. The dwelling-houses were built of wood, or stone, indiscriminately, and white-washed on the outside. The other buildings, such as barns, stables, &c. were all of wood. The ground next to the river was turned either into corn-fields, or meadows. Now and then we perceived churches on both sides of the river, the steeples of which were generally on that side of the church, which looked towards the river, because they are not obliged here to put the steeples on the west end of the churches. Within six French miles of Montreal we saw several islands of different sizes on the river, and most of them were inhabited; and if some of them were without houses on them, they were sometimes turned into corn-fields, but generally into meadows. We saw no mountains, hills, rocks, or stones to-day, the country being flat throughout, and consisting of pure mould.

All the farms in Canada stand separate from each other, so that each farmer has his possessions entirely distinct from those of his neighbour. Each church, it is true, has a little village near it; but that consists chiefly of the parsonage, a school for the boys and girls of the place, and of the houses of tradesmen, but rarely of farm-houses; and if that was the case, yet their fields were separated. The farm-houses hereabouts are generally built all along the rising banks of the river, either close to the water or at some distance from it, and about three or four arpens from each other. To some farms are annexed small orchards; but they are in general without them; however, almost every farmer has a kitchen-garden.

I have been told by all those who have made journies to the southern parts of Canada, and to the river Mississippi, that the woods there abound with peach-trees, which bear excellent fruit, and that the Indians of those parts say, that those trees have been there since times immemorial.

The farm-houses are generally built of stone, but sometimes of timber, and have three or four rooms. The windows are seldom of glass, but most frequently of paper. They have iron stoves in one of the rooms, and chimnies in the rest. The roofs are covered with boards. The crevices and chinks are filled up with clay. The other buildings are covered with straw.

There are several Crosses put up with the road side, which is parallel to the shores of the river. These crosses are very common in Canada, and are put up to excite devotion in the travellers. They are made of wood, five or six yards high, and proportionally broad. In that side which looks towards the road is a square hole, in which they place an image of our Saviour, the cross, or of the holy Virgin, with the child in her arms; and before that they put a piece of glass, to prevent its being spoiled by the weather. Those crosses which are not far from churches, are very much adorned, and they put up about them all the instruments which they think the Jews employed in crucifying our Saviour, such as a hammer, tongs, nails, a flask of vinegar, and perhaps many more than were really made use of. A figure of the cock, which crowed when St. Peter denied our Lord, is commonly put at the top of the cross.

The country on both sides was very delightful to-day, and the fine state of its cultivation, added greatly to the beauty of the scene. It could really be called a village, beginning at Montreal, and ending at Quebec, which is a distance of more than one hundred and eighty miles; for the farm-houses are never above five arpens, and sometimes but three, asunder, a few places excepted. The prospect is exceedingly beautiful, when the river goes on for some miles together in a strait line, because it then shortens the distances between the houses, and makes them form exactly one continued village.

All the women in the country, without exception, wear caps of some kind or other. Their jackets are short, and so are their petticoats, which scarce reach down to the middle of their legs; and they have a silver cross hanging down on the breast. In general they are very laborious; however, I saw some, who, like the English women in the colonies, did nothing but prattle all the day. When they have any thing to do within doors, they (especially the girls) commonly sing songs, in which the words Amour and Cœur are very frequent. In the country it is usual, that when the husband receives a visit from persons of rank, and dines with them, his wife stands behind and serves him; but in the towns, the ladies are more distinguished, and would willingly assume an equal, if not a superior, power to their husbands. When they go out of doors they wear long cloaks, which cover all their other clothes, and are either grey, brown, or blue. The men sometimes make use of them, when they are obliged to go into the rain. The women have the advantage of being in a deshabille under these cloaks, without any body’s perceiving it.

We sometimes saw wind-mills near the farms. They were generally built of stone, with a roof of boards, which, together with its flyers, could be turned to the wind occasionally.

The breadth of the river was not always equal to-day; in the narrowest place, it was about a quarter of an English mile broad; in other parts it was near two English miles. The shore was sometimes high and steep, and sometimes low, or sloping.

At three o’clock this afternoon we passed by the river, which falls into the river St. Lawrence, and comes from lake Champlain, in the middle of which latter is a large island. The yachts which go between Montreal and Quebec, go on the south-east side of this island, because it is deeper there; but the boats prefer the north-west side, because it is nearer, and yet deep enough for them. Besides this island there are several more hereabouts, which are all inhabited. Somewhat further, the country on both sides the river is uninhabited, till we come to the Lac St. Pierre; because it is so low, as to be quite overflowed at certain times of the year. To make up for this deficiency, the country, I am told, is as thickly inhabited further from the river, as we found it along the banks of the river.

Lac St. Pierre is a part of the river St. Lawrence, which is so broad that we could hardly see any thing but sky and water before us, and I was every where told, that it is seven French miles long, and three broad. From the middle of this lake as it is called, you see a large high country in the west, which appears above the woods. In the lake are many places covered with a kind of rush, or Scirpus palustris, Linn. There are no houses in sight on either side of the lake, because the land is rather too low there; and in spring the water rises so high, that they may go with boats between the trees. However, at some distance from the shores, where the ground is higher, the farms are close together. We saw no islands in the lake this afternoon, but the next day we met with some.

Late in the evening we left lake St. Pierre, and rowed up a little river called Riviere de Loup, in order to come to a house where we might pass the night. Having rowed about an English mile, we found the country inhabited on both sides of the river. Its shores are high; but the country in general is flat. We passed the night in a farm-house. The territory of Montreal extends to this place; but here begins the jurisdiction of the governor of Trois Rivieres, to which place they reckon eight French miles from hence.

August the 3d. At five o’clock in the morning we set out again, and first rowed down the little river till we came into the lake St. Pierre, which we went downwards. After we had gone a good way, we perceived a high chain of mountains in the north-west, which were very much elevated above the low, flat country. The north-west shore of lake St. Pierre was now in general very closely inhabited; but on the south-east side we saw no houses, and only a country covered with woods, which is sometimes said to be under water, but behind which there are, as I am told, a great number of farms. Towards the end of the lake, the river went into its proper bounds again, being not above a mile and a half broad, and afterwards it grows still narrower. From the end of Lake St. Pierre to Trois Rivieres, they reckon three French miles, and about eleven o’clock in the morning we arrived at the latter place, where we attended divine service.

Trois Rivieres, is a little market town, which had the appearance of a large village; it is however reckoned among the three great towns of Canada, which are Quebec, Montreal, and Trois Rivieres. It is said to ly in the middle between the two first, and thirty French miles distant from each. The town is built on the north side of the river St. Lawrence, on a flat, elevated sand, and its situation is very pleasant. On one side the river passes by, which is here an English mile and a half broad. On the other side, are fine corn-fields, though the soil is very much mixed with sand. In the town are two churches of stone, a nunnery, and a house for the friars of the order of St. Francis. This town is likewise the seat of the third governor in Canada, whose house is likewise of stone. Most of the other houses are of timber a single story high, tolerably well built, and stand very much asunder; and the streets are crooked. The shore here consists of sand, and the rising grounds along it are pretty high. When the wind is very violent here, it raises the sand, and blows it about the streets, making it very troublesome to walk in them. The nuns, which are about twenty-two in number, are reckoned very ingenious in all kinds of needle-work. This town formerly flourished more than any other in Canada, for the Indians brought their goods to it from all sides; but since that time they go to Montreal and Quebec, and to the English, on account of their wars with the Iroquese, or Five Nations, and for several other reasons, so that this town is at present very much reduced by it. Its present inhabitants live chiefly by agriculture, though the neighbouring iron-works may serve in some measure to support them. About an English mile below the town, a great river falls into the river St. Lawrence, but first divides into three branches, so that it appears as if three rivers disembogued themselves there. This has given occasion to call the river and this town, Trois Rivieres (the Three Rivers).

The tide goes about a French mile above Trois Rivieres, though it is so trifling as to be hardly observable. But about the equinoxes, and at the new moons and full moons in spring and autumn, the difference between the highest and lowest water is two feet. Accordingly the tide in this river goes very far up, for from the above mentioned place to the sea they reckon about a hundred and fifty French miles.

Whilst my company were resting, I went on horseback to view the iron-work. The country which I passed through was pretty high, sandy, and generally flat. I saw neither stones nor mountains here.