CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



synods, presided over by moderators. In 1881, 

 there were 1,792,000 Roman Catholics in the 

 Dominion, the mass of the inhabitants of Quebec 

 Province being French Catholics. The Presby- 

 terians numbered 676,000; the Methodists, 

 743,000 ; Baptists, 225,000 ; and the Episcopal 

 Church, 575,000. Lutherans, Congregationalists, 

 Mennonites (21,000), and others are represented. 



Education is carefully fostered in the Dominion. 

 The province of Ontario has some 5000 educa- 

 tional establishments, including nearly 20 called 

 colleges. Quebec has 3 universities, one being 

 Catholic, and above 20 classical and industrial 

 colleges. Manitoba has already a university at 

 Winnipeg. Over 500 newspapers and periodicals 

 are published in Canada, mostly in Ontario. 



Revenue. The total ordinary revenue of the 

 year ending June 1880, was $23,307,407 ; but with 

 loans, &c., amounted to $53, 1 77,629. The ordinary 

 expenditure was $24,850,634 ; but with payments 

 on account of funding the debt, &c., it was 

 850,879,271. In 1882-83 the revenue was calcu- 

 lated at $30,600,000, and the expenditure at 

 $27,600,000. The debt of the Dominion, incurred 

 chiefly on account of public works, amounted in 

 1880 to $156,900,000. 



Commerce. The trade of the Dominion is 

 chiefly with Great Britain and the United States. 

 Of a total exportation of $94,000,000 in 1 880-81, 

 54 millions went to Great Britain, 33 millions to 

 the United States ; while of a total importation of 

 $92,000,000, 43 millions came from Great Britain, 

 but 36 millions from the United States. The 

 staple articles of export are wood and bread-stuffs ; 

 also fish, furs, cotton, &c., and minerals. The 

 chief imports from the United Kingdom are iron, 

 wrought and unwrought, woollen manufactures, 

 and cotton goods. The protective system lately 

 in vogue is held to promote Canadian manu- 

 factures. In 1882 there were n cotton-mills at 

 work, and 9 building. 



Shipping. The merchant shipping of Canada 

 is remarkably extensive. In 1880 there were 7377 

 vessels on the books of the Dominion, measuring 

 1,31 1,218 tons. Canada is, accordingly, the fifth in 

 rank of the shipowning states of the world, follow- 

 ing, for extent of shipping, Britain, the United 

 States, Norway, and Italy; but taking preced- 

 ence of Germany, France, and all other maritime 

 powers. 



Fisheries. The total produce of the Canadian 

 fisheries in 1880 was valued at .2,400,000. In 

 that year, fish to the value of ^1,400,140 were 

 exported. This includes the fisheries of British 

 Columbia, but of course excludes those of New- 

 foundland. In 1879 there were seven establish- 

 ments in Canada for artificial fish-culture, from 

 which, in the preceding year, 13,500,000 young 

 fish (salmon, speckled trout, and white fish) were 

 sent forth into the waters of the Dominion. 



Mines. In 1870 1880, Canadian mines pro- 

 duced (including coal, gold, gypsum, manganese, 

 mineral oil, copper, iron, lead, silver, salt, slate, 

 and stone) a value of over .700,000 a year. 



Canals and Railways. In the matter of com- 

 munication, Canada is unrivalled. The St 

 Lawrence, with its lakes and extensive canals, 

 forms admirable waterways. In 1881 there were 

 7600 miles of railway in operation. There were, 

 besides, about 3000 miles in construction, includ- 

 ing part of the Dominion railway from the 



310 



Atlantic to the Pacific, as a rival to the great 

 Pacific line of the United States. Details are 

 given under the particular provinces. 



Canada, as a geographical designation, has had 

 in history a variety of meanings. Originally, it 

 denoted an extensive range of country, reaching, 

 under the French, as far as even the Mississippi, 

 away beyond the boundary lakes. It was subse- 

 quently limited to a region occupying chiefly the 

 basin of the St Lawrence, which, in 1791, was 

 divided into two provinces Upper or Western, 

 and Lower or Eastern Canada. In 1840, these 

 were re-united under one Legislative Council and 

 House of Assembly; but in 1867 they again, under 

 the respective names of Ontario and Quebec, 

 became separate members of that great confedera- 

 tion before mentioned the Dominion of Canada. 

 The country composed of these two provinces 

 extends westward from the Gulf of St Lawrence 

 to the frontier of the district of Keewatin (lying 

 north and east of Manitoba), in long. 90 30' W. ; 

 and northward from the Great Lakes and the 

 St Lawrence to the ridge of land which forms the 

 water-shed between that river and Hudson Bay. 

 The northern boundary is very irregular in out- 

 line, and has not been definitely surveyed ; and 

 the westernmost portion of the province of On- 

 tario (formerly Canada West) is a strip of land 

 lying north of Lakes Huron and Superior, and 

 varying in width from 30 to near 200 miles. A 

 considerable portion of Quebec province (Canada 

 East) lies on the south or south-east side of the 

 St Lawrence. The principal river of Canada is 

 the St Lawrence. Its principal tributary on the 

 north or left side is the Ottawa, which forms the 

 boundary between the provinces of Ontario and 

 Quebec. Those from the south are insignificant 

 in point of size. 



Quebec, or Lower Canada, was originally a 

 French colony ; five-sixths of the population are of 

 French descent ; old French usages prevail, and 

 the French language is generally spoken. Ontario, 

 or Upper Canada, is occupied mainly by settlers 

 of British descent, a very large proportion of whom 

 are from Scotland, both Lowlands and Highlands. 

 The two provinces have presented a striking con- 

 trast in their rates of progress. To take, for 

 instance, the growth of towns : in Quebec, Sher- 

 brooke, the capital of the eastern townships, 

 situated on the river St Francis, with about 6000 

 inhabitants, forms almost the only addition to 

 Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers the three 

 French foundations ; while in the province of 

 Ontario, the towns of Toronto, London, Kingston, 

 and Hamilton, have an aggregate population of 

 more than 100,000. A great part of both provinces, 

 more especially the shores of Lake Superior, is 

 valuable only for mineral resources, such as iron, 

 zinc, lead, copper, silver, gold, cobalt, manganese, 

 gypsum, marl, granite, sandstone, limestone, slate, 

 and marbles of nearly every imaginable colour. 

 Considerable portions also, though heavily tim- 

 bered, chiefly with pine, are yet but little adapted 

 to settlement and cultivation. Towards the Gulf 

 of St Lawrence, again, a large section of terri- 

 tory derives importance mainly from the fisheries, 

 being, with partial exceptions in Gaspe, compara- 

 tively worthless for every other object. Thus the 

 area for the profitable production of ordinary 



