y6 Montreal to Lake Champ lain 



ful of loyalists, the latter threw themselves into this church, 

 where they awaited the approach of Dr. Nelson, the leader 

 of the revolt, from Plattsburg, with the Napierville party, 

 which they finally repulsed with heavy loss. About four 

 miles distant is the American stronghold, Fort Montgomery, 

 which for some years belonged to Canada, but by the Ash- 

 burton Treaty was given up to the U. S. ; it completely 

 defends the pass of the lake. Lake Champlain is so called 

 after the celebrated French explorer of the same name, who 

 sailed through it into Lake St. George in 1608. It is one 

 of the most picturesque of inland waters, being 120 miles in 

 length. Almost the whole of it is in the U. S. territory, 

 with the exception of a bay, or rather arm of it, stretching 

 to the north-east, called Missisquoi Bay. The same de- 

 scription applies to it as has been given to the whole lake. 

 * It usurps the business of the canal ; floats its heavily laden 

 boats; mirrors numberless hills covered with pine, maple 

 and oak, as well as many farms, all richly cultivated ; rolls 

 under a picturesque bridge (the R. R. Bridge of the Vermont 

 Central) ; enriches broad meadows ; laves the threshold of 

 rural cabins, with children sporting beside them in wild 

 glee ; yields its treasures to the fisherman ; wears upon its 

 bosom the most charming islands ; perpetuates in its colour 

 the emerald of summer ; receives into its flood a hundred 

 laughing brooks, teeming with trout ; and finally waters a 

 broad valley (the valley of the Richelieu) where the yeoman 

 tills his soil in peace, while from many a grove is heard the 

 pleasant singing of the birds." Westward from Rouse's 

 Point some ten or twelve miles, and at a distance of thirty- 

 six miles from Montreal, is Hemmingford, where there is 

 a remarkable huge rent or cleft in a flat rock called "the 

 Gulf" at the top of Covey Hill. This chasm is about one 

 hundred feet deep, and about one hundred rods wide ; at the 

 bottom of it flows a river, whose water has an inky black- 

 ness in appearance, as you look at it over the precipice. 



