and take the remainder below the lake from river craft which accompany them.

The country in the neighbourhood of Montreal is very fine. About two miles from the town there is a very beautiful hill, commonly called the Mountain; it is about 700 feet in height from the level of the river. A part of this hill is covered with wood, but much of it is in a state of cultivation. I rode to the top of it, whence you have a noble view of the surrounding country, bounded by the mountains in the state of New York towards the south.

Between the Mountain and town of Montreal, there are a great many very fine gardens and orchards, abounding with a variety of fruit of the very first quality, and no place can be better supplied with vegetables than Montreal. Quebec, too, is extremely well supplied with vegetables, and a regular succession of fruit; but cannot vie with Montreal, where both soil and climate combine to produce the finest fruit I have ever seen. The apples are particularly good.-The Pomme de Neige, so called from its being extremely white, and from its having the granulated appearance of

snow, when broken; it also dissolves, almost entirely, in the mouth like snow; the Fameuse, Bourassa, and Pomme Gris, are very fine apples. Peaches, apricots and plums, are found in the greatest perfection; and, with the protection of glass, you have grapes as good for the table as any I ever saw in Portugal. Currants, raspberries, gooseberries, and every sort of small fruit are found in great abundance. The markets of Montreal are extremely well supplied with all the necessaries and most of the luxuries of the table; provisions are particularly plentiful in winter, for then their industrious neighbours the Yankees bring in great quantities, such as fresh fish, bacon, cheese, &c. The greater distance of Quebec prevents them from receiving this sort of supply from the United States; but their own resources are copious.

The orchards in the neighbourhood of Montreal produce apples, which yield as fine cyder as ever was drank.

La Chine is situated about nine miles from Montreal. It is a place of considerable consequence, from the circumstance, mentioned before, of its being the place

where the bateaux (flat-bottomed boats), and canal navigation commences for Upper Canada, and for the country in the north-west. The first, go by way of Lake Ontario and Niagara; the second, go up the Outawais river towards Lake Superior. They are under the necessity of commencing their voyage from La Chine instead of Montreal, because the river St. Lawrence is so rapid between Montreal and La Chine that loaded canoes cannot be forced up.

I had the pleasure of seeing both an arrival and departure of canoes from and to the north-west territories.—It certainly is a curious spectacle. It is surprising to see the great quantity of goods put into one of the large birch canoes; and it is no less surprising to think, that with such a load, and in such a vessel, they should undertake a voyage of some thousand miles.

The canoe is one of the most frail conveyances you can imagine;-you probably have seen the model of one. The length of the large ones is about thirty feet, the greatest breadth about six feet; they become gradually narrow towards each end,

till they terminate in a point; the bottom is rounded, and they have no keel. A frame of thin slips of wood is formed, over which they fasten sections of the bark of the birch tree. These sections are sewed together with filaments of the roots of a tree, and the seams made water-tight by a species of gum, which hardens and adheres very firmly.

The canoe is constructed with much ingenuity it is extremely light, and therefore answers the purposes for which it is intended perfectly well. The canoe is the common conveyance on the river St. Lawrence, and on the lakes: the largest, however, are used by the North-west Company, for conveying goods into the Indian territory, and bringing down furs. These cost about 201.

The North-west Company consists of a number of merchants associated for the purposes of trading with the Indians in furs. They formed the association in the year 1784; and have carried on the trade with great spirit and success. Those who manage the concerns of the company reside in Montreal: they receive a compensation

for their trouble, besides their share of the profits of the concern. From Montreal they send up the country large quantities of goods, to be bartered with the Indians for furs. For the conveyance of these goods, and for bringing back the furs, they have employed, generally, about fifty canoes, and upwards of a thousand people; such as canoe-men (styled voyageurs), guides, clerks, &c. The capital employed in this trade, in goods alone, is, I have been told, upwards of 100,0001.

The goods are made

up

in packages of about 80lbs. for the convenience of stow

In

ing, and of carrying across these places, where the loaded canoe cannot pass. many places they meet with rapids and falls, which arrest their progress: in such cases, they unload the canoe, and carry both it and its cargo to the next canoeable water. Six men carry one of the largest canoes: its load weighs generally from four to five tons; consisting of a number of small packages, which they carry very expeditiously. These Canadian voyageurs are hardy, strong fellows: they have been known to carry at one time five packages,