116 EMIGRATION, OR 



and clean in their houses, and excepting the boatmen, and a 

 few of the lowest classes, in their persons also ; they are of 

 a nankeen, fresh colour j not many of them in the country 

 speak much English. We have passed several smart vil 

 lages on our route : Cornwall, in Upper Canada, Cota-du- 

 lac and Lachine, in Lower Canada, are pleasantly situated, 

 and apparently thriving by the trade from the Upper Province. 

 Numbers of boats and batteaux going up, which, in the 

 Rapids, have to be pulled and hauled with horses and oxen. 

 In some places there are locks to go through in going up, 

 to avoid the worst parts. It takes five or six days, and some 

 times more, going up from Montreal to Prescott, and two and 

 a half down. 



Entered Lachine Canal, nine miles above Montreal. This 



canal is cut to avoid the Lachine Rapids; the most dangerous 



and lowest on the river, of any importance. It is small, 



admitting only boats. The first night we put a shore after 



dark, at a tavern kept by a Dutchman, to sleep ; and 



although the boatmen assured us he was a person of some 



property, he had miserable accommodations. The second 



night, stopped at Cotu-du-lac, at a French tavern ; a good 



house, but the beds all taken by travellers, and too late 



to seek farther, so we had some of us to be content with a 



&quot; bunk,&quot; or a &quot; shake down,&quot; (sleep on a bed laid on the 



floor), no very uncommon thing for travellers in America. 



Warm weather of late, but some rain and thunder last 



night has cooled the air. Left Lachine in a caleche, or 



calash, drawn by one horse, to Montreal; this was the first 



time I saw the pluck and spirit of the little Canadian or 



French horse. It is astonishing what heavy weights they 



draw, thorough bottom, not handsome, thick, bony, and 



fat, with hairy fetlocks. In carting wood, stone, &c., about 



town, one person will manage three or more carts with one 



horse each : he drives the first, the others follow close 



after. The first tavern I stopped at in Montreal, I paid 



4s. 6d. per day for board and lodging ; but after a few days 



I removed to another, with very good accommodations, at 



2. 3d. per day. Montreal is a large and improving place, 



and of great trade. Merchants from the upper province 



come here once a year for a supply of merchandise for the 



coming year, and take the money for the last year s produce 



sent down. A considerable number of them are in the town 



at the present time. Some of the streets are too narrow, 



