Montreal to Quebec. 81 



is the first stopping place for steamers to Quebec. This 

 place is also called William Henry, after William IV, who, 

 when in the navy and lying off Quebec, visited this place, 

 coming up in his vessel to Lake St. Peter, whence he took a 

 small boat upwards. It is built on the site of a fort, con- 

 structed in 1665 by De Tracey, and was for many years the 

 summer residence of successive Governors of Canada. This 

 is the wintering place of most of the river craft and steamers 

 that ply between Quebec and Montreal. There is splendid 

 snipe shooting in the neighbourhood in October, and very 

 good'fishing all through the year among the numerous islands 

 which here stud the surface of the river. About five miles 

 further down the river expands into a vast sheet of water, 

 about twenty-five miles long and nine miles broad, which is 

 known as Lake St. Peter. It is for the most part quite 

 shallow, except in a narrow channel, which has been artifi- 

 cially deepened, so that the largest sailing vessels and the 

 Canadian and Liverpool steamers pass up and down without 

 difficulty. This channel, however, is very intricate, and re- 

 quires to be marked out with buoys, and fir-poles stuck in 

 the mud, with part of the green tuft left on their tops. It 

 affords very good pike fishing, and enormous quantities of 

 eels can be taken here ; there is also good duck shooting 

 along the margin of the lake in the bayous or inlets, which 

 are numerous on its shores. Lake St. Peter in stormy weather 

 is a dangerous place, both for rafts, which are apt to get 

 broken up here and their timbers parted asunder by a storm, 

 and for large vessels, from its shallowness, in event of their 

 getting out of the channel. In passing through this lake the 

 traveller will be almost sure to see several rafts on their way 

 downwards, floating lazily along with the current, or, if there 

 be any breeze, with two or three huge pieces of canvass 

 spread out . from an upright fir-pole in lieu of mast or sail. 

 On each of these rafts a shed is built, or "shanty," as it is 

 called, for the raftsmen's sleeping quarters, several weeks 



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