QUEBEC 



4SS7 



QUEBEC 



UEBEC, kwcbck', formerly LOWER 

 (\\NAUA or CANADA EAST, is the oldest and the 

 largest province of the Dominion of Canada, and 

 the home of nearly two millions of people, 

 who for more than a century and a half have 

 to the minutest detail preserved their language, 

 their religion, their social customs and their 

 laws, making of themselves a nation within a 

 nation. It is the only province that is not 

 prohibition territory. 



Location and Extent. Quebec is bounded on 

 the south by Ontario, a corner of New York, 

 the Northern New England states, New Bruns- 

 wick and Chaleur Bay. It extends eastward to 

 the Atlantic Ocean and northward to Hudson 

 Strait, and the greater part of its western bound- 

 ary is formed by Hudson and James bays, the 

 remainder by Ontario. Labrador, a long, nar- 

 row strip of coast belonging to Newfoundland, 

 separates it from the ocean on the northeast. 

 Its most easterly point is 500 miles farther east 

 than Porto Rico, and its western boundary has 

 practically the longitude of Buffalo, N. Y. 



Since 1912 Quebec has had an area of 706,834 

 square miles, making it nearly double its former 

 size, 351373 square miles. It covers an area 

 nearly equal to that of the seven American 

 states farthest west Washington, Oregon, Cali- 

 fornia, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. The 

 entire Dominion of Canada is not much more 

 than five times as large as Quebec*. It is the 

 most easterly of the provinces, and through it 

 flows the Saint Lawrence, the great, natural 

 gateway to the interior. Anticosti and a num- 

 ber of other islands belong to the province. 



The People. When Canada became a British 

 possession in 1763 there were about 70,000 

 French in the country. The British govern- 

 in, tit wisely allowed these new subjects to re- 

 tain their laws, religion, language and social 

 customs; these have been handed down from 

 one generation to another practically without 

 change, so to-day we find in the French portion 

 of Quebec a rare and beautiful picture of the 

 old Norman customs of a past age. This life 

 is at its best in the great, nion bonier- 



ing the Saint Lawrence River and extending 

 eastward from Montreal. 



Throughout this region the farms and roads 

 are as regularly laid out as are the blocks and 

 streets of a city. According to the original 

 plan each farm was thirty rods wide and a mile 

 long. The main roads are parallel and two 

 miles apart, with connecting c/ossroads every 

 two miles. The best roads are macadamized, 

 and in the most densely-populated sections 

 such a road may for miles resemble a village 

 street, since it is bordered on either side with 



A TYPICAL FRENCH VILI. A 

 Such communities are found throughout the 

 eastern part of the province. 



groups of farm buildings. The houses are with 

 few exceptions of wood, with curveil roofs and 

 the eaves projecting so as to form a veranda on 

 tin front. These homes are usually white, with 

 red roofs, and the barns are kept fresh and 

 clean with whitewash. Kvcry few miles the 

 h church, with its slender, tin-covered spire, 

 pointing heavenward, towers above .its sur- 

 roundings. Near the church are the post office, 

 the public school and usually one or two stores. 

 Amid these surroundings dwells a happy and 

 prosperous people. As a rule families are large, 

 and class distinctions based on wealth or posi- 

 tion are unknown; but one transgresses the 



