ioo Up the Ottawa. 



and so in Canada West. The streets are all wide and 

 regularly laid out, and it reflects great credit on the engineer- 

 ing skill employed. Most of the buildings in the town are 

 exceedingly plain, but substantially built, and being of grey 

 limestone, much resemble in appearance some of the streets 

 of Montreal. From Barrack Hill, the highest elevation of 

 the town, the view is one of surpassing grandeur and extent, 

 combining in it a trinity of river, landscape, and water-fall 

 scenery, which few places can boast of. In the North- West, 

 towards Chelsea, is a range of hills, one of which is conspi- 

 cuous as towering above the others, and remarkable for its 

 naked summit, locally called "Bald Mountain," looming up 

 in the distance, all of which add to the beauty of the scene. 

 Here many of the names seem associated with Quebec, for 

 instance, the Chaudiere Falls, and the divisions into Upper 

 and Lower Town — probably from the intimate connection 

 between the two cities, induced by the lumber trade, these 

 affinities of names have sprung. Barrack Hill is in many 

 respects a counterpart of the citadel of Quebec ; in the rear 

 is Central Town, whilst Upper and Lower Town are com- 

 pletely commanded by it on each side ; in front is a precipi- 

 tous embankment, running down almost perpendicularly to 

 the river, thus completely sweeping it and the opposite shore 

 north, south, and east. From this Ottawa may be said to 

 occupy one of the finest natural positions, and in that respect 

 is the key to an immense territory of back country, valuable 

 in wood and minerals. This hill, the site of the Government 

 buildings, rises almost perpendicularly from the river about 

 250 feet, and the group of the buildings forms a most pictur- 

 esque object from every approach to the city. The structure, 

 consisting of the Parliament and Departmental Buildings^ 

 forms three sides of a large square, facing the city, and from 

 its position it overlooks most of the houses. The whole is 

 in the Italian Gothic style, and built of a stone found in the 

 vicinity, two colors being used, a warm tint set off with 



