358 



CANADA. 



Aspect of 

 the coun- 



Canada, ties paid upon the sale of property), rent paid for the 

 v king's posts on the Labrador coast, and for the for- 

 ges of St Maurice. To these are to be added certain 

 permanent and moderate duties, (imposed either by 

 acts of the British parliament prior to the constitu- 

 tional act of the year 1791, or by those of the 'pro- 

 vincial legislature,) on wine, spirits, tea, and a few 

 other articles imported into Canada. The whole ta- 

 ken together, produce from *. 30,000 to j35,000 a 

 year ; and nearly suffice for the ordinary expences of 

 the civil government, any deficiencies being made 

 good from the military chest. Duties, to nearly the 

 same amount, are also collected under temporary acts 

 of the provincial legislature, and applied to particu- 

 lar purposes, such as the building of court houses, 

 gaols, &c. The expences of the Indian department 

 of the two Canadas, including the salaries of the offi- 

 cers, and what is paid in England for goods sent out 

 as presents to the Indians, (who are treated by the 

 British government as military allies), amount, on an 

 average, to about 25,000 per annum ; and are re- 

 gularly included in a vote of parliament, and defrayed 

 out of the army extraordinaries. But the surplus 

 expence of Great Britain in supporting Canada is 

 well repaid by the consumption of her manufactures, 

 the employment given to her seamen, the supplies af- 

 forded to her West India islands, and the variety of 

 useful productions which she imports from the colo- 

 ny. 



The external appearance of Canada, like that of 

 North America in general, is altogether of the majes- 

 tic character ; and inanimate nature is there exhibited 

 on the grandest scale. Every thing is vast and sub- 

 lime. Lakes, that can be compared only to seas ; 

 rivers of immense and amazing velocity ; cataracts of 

 inconceivable magnificence ; mountains and forests 

 apparently interminable, are every where presented to 

 the view, in continued succession and inexhaustible 

 variety. In the districts of Upper Canada there are 

 plains of great extent and beauty ; but the general 

 and ordinary prospect throughout the country is that 

 of mountainous ridges, rising behind each other, 

 stretching in all directions, and completely covered 

 with wood ; so that the cultivated parts appear like a 

 few islands scattered upon the surface of the ocean ; and 

 are almost wholly lost to the view, except in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the towns, where the scenery is rich and 

 pleasing, presenting a beautiful mixture of cottages 

 and corn fields, of villages and country residences. 

 On entering the St Lawrence, a continued forest ap- 

 pears down to the very brink of the water ; but the 

 trees are there rather dwarfish and scraggy, more 

 like brushwood than timber. On both sides, are 

 mountains of immense height, which frequently ter- 

 minate in acute pointed capes; and from the bottom 

 of these to the edge of the river lies a level tract of 

 land gradually advancing to general cultivation. 



The great river of Canada, the St Lawrence, is 

 universally regarded as the second, and may even be 

 affirmed to be the first, on the face of the globe. Its 

 length, if reckoned from the egress of lake On- 

 tario, is 700 miles ; but if computed from lake Su- 

 perior, is not less than 2500. But the greatness of 

 its breadth, and the extent to which it is navigable, 

 form its distinguishing characteristics. It is 90 miles 



Sivers. 



wide at its mouth, where it is divided into two chan- Canada, 

 nels by the island of Anticusti, which is ]20 miles x " v * 

 long and 30 broad, barren and of little value, and oc- 

 cupied only in winter by a few savages for the pur- 

 poses of the chase. It is navigable for s v ips of the 

 line nearly 400 miles from its mouth ; for ships of 

 considerable size, as high as Montreal ; while ships 

 of the largest class may be navigated on the lakes, 

 through which it flows, at a distance of 2000 miles 

 from its junction with the ocean. It receives in its 

 progress an innumerable multitude of smaller rivers, 

 and several of considerable magnitude. These tribu- 

 tary waters flow chiefly from the north ; and the 

 most remarkable are, the Saguenay, a very deep and 

 impetuous torrent, about three miles in breadth, ex- 

 cept at its mouth, bounded by high arid precipitous 

 banks, sometimes 600 and even 1000 feet in height, 

 taking its rise from lake St John, flowing through a 

 course of 150 miles, interrupted by numerous falls in 

 its progress, and falling with a contracted stream, 

 but with a powerful impulse, into the waters of the 

 St Lawrence atTadoussac ; the Monlmorcncy, which 

 also flows from the north, abounds in cascades, and 

 meets the St Lawrence, about eight miles to the 

 eastward of Quebec ; the Chaudiere, which flows 

 from lake Megantic, through a course of 120 miles, 

 and falls into the St Lawrence about eight miles to 

 the south west of -Quebec, where its mouth is com- 

 pletely confined by thick woody banks ; the St Ann, 

 a stream of considerable size, flowing from the north 

 coast, and abounding in falls ; the Jaques Cartier, 

 which falls in about 30 miles above Quebec, and 

 which sweeps its broken current with great impetu- 

 osity over a very rocky bed ; the Sorel, or Cliambly, 

 arising from lake Champlam, and flowing through 

 a very fertile tract of country ; the Otaouuis, or Ula- 

 jvas, or Grand river, the largest of all these tributary 

 streams, issuing from various lakes in the centre of 

 Upper Canada, rushing over a bed of remarkable 

 declivity, and pouring its waters, of a bright greenish 

 colour, into the muddy bosom of St Lawrence, a few 

 miles above Montreal. 



The numerous and magnificent cataracts, which WaterfaU'*- 

 are to be found in this country, are its greatest natu- 

 ral curiosities. In most of these falls, there is indeed 

 a considerable similarity in point of effect, aa the pre- 

 cipices, over which they are thrown, are nearly per- 

 pendicular ; but, still, each of them is distinguished 

 by some peculiar features of the sublime, the wild, 

 and the picturesque. The cascades and rapids are 

 innumerable ; and are to be found, in all the va- 

 riety of romantic beauty, in almost every stream that 

 flows into the St Lawrence. The following appear 

 to be the most worthy of particular notice : The falls 

 of St Thomas? which are extremely beautiful, and 

 about 25 feet in height ; of St Charks, a very ro- 

 mantic cataract of 30 feet, near tht- lake of the same 

 name; of Saguenay, at the mouth of that river, about 

 50 leet high, forming an immense sheet of water,, 

 which is so perpetually broken in its descent, as to 

 assume a resplendent white appearance ; of St Ann, 

 which are seven in number, very near to each other* 

 the largest of which is about 130 feet high, and ia 

 surrounded with remarkably rugged steep woody- 

 banks ; of La Puce, the chief of which is 1 12 feet 



