OF CENTRAL CANADA PART V. 



333 



climate is suitable for carrying on agriculture as a principal occu- 

 pation until we have passed over more than half the distance to Lake 

 Winnipeg. This region appears to offer no engineering difficulties 

 to the construction of a railway from the sea-coast to the better 

 country beyond. Some of the timber found in the country which 

 sends its waters into James' Bay may prove to be of value for ex- 

 port. Among the kinds which it produces, may be mentioned white, 

 red, and pitch pine, black and white spruce, balsam, larch, white 

 cedar, and white birch. The numerous rivers which converge to- 

 wards the head of James' Bay offer facilities for " driving " timber 

 to points at which it may be shipped by sea-going vessels." 



PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 



This Province is separated from Ontario on the west by almost the 

 entire course of the Ottawa River, and by a line drawn directly 

 north from Lake Temiscamingue : but a small area on the Ontario 

 side of the Ottawa at its junction with the St. Lawrence, although 

 properly within the limits of the western province, is given to Que- 

 bec. This area includes the small counties of Vandreuil and Sou- 

 langes. On the south, the Province of Quebec is bounded by the 

 northern portions of the States of New York, Vermont, New Hamp- 

 shire, and Maine; and by the New Brunswick counties of Victoria 

 and Restigouche, and the Bay of Chaleurs. The St. Lawrence Gulf, 

 Labrador, and Hudson's Bay bound it on the east and north, but its 

 limits in the latter direction are still practically undefined. Its area 

 is approximately stated at 190,0^0 square miles. 



The river St. Lawrence, widening into its majestic Gulf, traverses 

 the province from south-west to north-east, and receives, as principal 

 affluents on its northern bank, the Ottawa, the Assomption, the 

 St. Maurice, the St. Anne, the Montmorency, and the Saguenay ; 

 and on its southern bank, the Richelieu, the St. Francis, the Chaudiere, 

 the Du Loup, Metis and other rivers. Two mountain ranges follow 

 roughly the course of the St. Lawrence : and to these, in con- 



