CANADA. 



347 



distant from Cairo, and in the desert, we were over- 

 taken by one of those violent winds from the south, 

 about which many travellers have told us such 

 wonderful and incredible stories. During the night 

 there had been a light breeze from the north-east ; 

 but a short time after sun-rise it began to blow 

 fresh from the S.S.E., and the wind gradually in- 

 creased till it blew a violent storm. Clouds of 

 dust filled the whole atmosphere, so that it was 

 impossible to distinguish any object clearly as far 

 off as fifty paces ; even a camel could not be re- 

 cognised at this distance. In the meantime, we 

 heard all along the surface of the ground a kind of 

 rustling or crackling sound, which I supposed to 

 proceed from the rolling sand that was dashed about 

 with such fury by the wind. Those parts of our 

 bodies which were turned towards the wind were 

 heated to an unusual degree, and we experienced a 

 strange sensation of smarting, which might be com- 

 pared with the pricking of fine needles. This was 

 also accompanied by a peculiar kind of sound. At 

 first I thought this smarting was occasioned by the 

 small particles of sand being driven by the storm 

 against the parts of the body that were exposed. 

 In order to judge of the size of the particles, I 

 attempted to catch some of them in a cap ; but 

 how great was my surprise when I found I could 

 not succeed in securing a single specimen of these 

 supposed little particles. This led me to conceive 

 that the smarting sensation did not proceed from 

 the small stones or the sand striking the body, 

 but that it must be the eflect of some invisible 

 force, which I could only compare with a current 

 of electric fluid. After forming this conjecture, I 

 began to pay closer attention to the phenomena 

 which surrounded me. I observed that the hair 

 of all our party bristled up a little, and that the 

 sensation of pricking was felt most in the extremi- 

 ties and joints, just as if a man were electrified on 

 an insulated stool. To convince myself that the 

 painful sensation did not proceed from small parti- 

 cles of stone or sand, I held a piece of paper 

 stretched up against the wind, so that even the 

 finest portion of dust must have been detected, 

 either by the eye or the ear ; yet nothing of the 

 kind took place. The surface of the paper re- 

 mained perfectly unmoved and free from noise. I 

 stretched my arms out, and immediately the prick- 

 ing pain in the ends of my fingers increased. This 

 led me to conjecture that the violent wind, called 

 in Egypt Camsin, is either attended by strong 

 electrical phenomena, or else the electricity is 

 caused by the motion of the dry sand of the desert. 

 Hence we may account for the heavy masses of 

 dust, formed of particles of sand, which, for seve- 

 ral days, darken the cloudless sky. Perhaps we 

 may also go so far as to conjecture that the Camsin 

 may have destroyed caravans by its electrical pro- 

 perties, since some travellers assure us that cara- 

 vans have occasionally perished in the desert ; 

 though I must remark that in all the regions I 

 have travelled through, I never could hear the least 

 account of such an occurrence. At all events, to 

 suppose that such calamities have been caused by 

 the sand overwhelming the caravans, is the most 

 ludicrous idea that can be imagined." 



CANADA, (a.) Lower Canada is comprised 

 within the parallels of 45 and 52 N. lat., and the 

 meridians of 57 50' to 80 6'. W. of Greenwich; 

 embracing, so far as its boundaries will admit of 

 estimation, an area of 205,863 square miles, includ- 

 ing a superficies of 3,200 miles, covered by the 



numerous lakes and rivers of the province, and ex- 

 cluding the surface occupied by the St Lawrence 

 river and part of the gulf, which cover 52,000 

 square miles ; the entire province, land and water, 

 being about a quarter of a million square miles, or 

 160,000,000 of acres. 



Upper Canada is comprised within the parallels 

 of 41 to 49 N., and the meridians of 74 to 117 

 W. of Greenwich, embracing an area of about 

 100,000 square miles, or 64,000,000 of acres. 



The province of Lower Canada is divided into 

 three chief districts Quebec, Montreal, and Three 

 Rivers; and two inferior districts Gaspe and St 

 Francis. These districts are subdivided as 

 under : 



Counties. Signiories. 

 Quebec district 13 79 



Montreal 19 70 



Three Rivers district 6 25 



Gaspe 2 1 



40 



175 



Fiefs. Townships. 

 12 38 



6 59 



9 53 



6 10 



33 160 



The inferior district of St Francis contains 

 thirty-nine townships, which are included above 

 with the townships of Montreal and Three Rivers. 

 In this extent of country there are not less than 

 sixty considerable rivers, besides many of smaller 

 size, and upwards of seventy lakes, large and 

 small. 



Upper Canada has only been begun to be settled 

 within comparatively recent years. It is nearly 

 three times the size of England. Its superficies 

 presents a much more level surface than that of 

 Lower Canada the features of the latter province, 

 especially on the north, are those of the " moun- 

 tain and the flood," on the most magnificent scale. 

 The boundary-line between the United States and 

 Upper Canada runs through the centre of the lakes, 

 so that the navigation of those inland seas is di- 

 vided between both. 



The earliest European census of Lower Canada 

 took place in 1622, when Quebec, then a small vil- 

 lage, did not contain more than fifty persons. A 

 general capitation took place in 1676, at which 

 time there were 8415 inhabitants. The rapid in- 

 crease of late years, is chiefly owing to emigra- 

 tion from Europe. 



From 1760 to 1836 the population has doubled 

 itself 3^ times in Lower Canada. Taking the cor- 

 rected census returns in 1825, and those of 1831, 

 and the generally supposed population in Decem- 

 ber, 1836, the population of Lower Canada would 

 appear to double itself in twenty-nine years only. 



Quebec district contains thirteen counties, viz. 

 Beauce, population, 11,900; area in square miles, 

 1007. Bellechasse, p. 13,529; sq. m. 1775. Dor- 

 chester, p. 11,946; sq. m. 348. Islet, p. 15,518; 

 sq. m. 3044. Kamouraska, p. 14,557 ; sq. m. 

 4320. Lotbiniere, p. 9151 ; sq. m. 735. Magan- 

 tic, p. 2283; sq. m. 1465. Montmorenci, p. 3743; 

 sq. m. 7396. Orleans, p. 4349 ; sq. m. 69. Port- 

 neuf, p. 12,350; sq. m. 8640. Quebec, p. 36,173; 

 sq. m. 14,240 ; Rimouski, p. 10,061 ; sq. m. 8840. 

 Saguenay, p. 8385 ; sq. m. 75,090. Total pop. 

 151,985; sq. m. 127,949. 



Montreal district contains nineteen counties, as 

 follows: Acadie, p. 11,419; sq. m. 250. Beau- 

 harnois, p. 16,857; sq. m. 717. Berthier, p. 

 20,225 ; sq. m. 8410. Chambly, p. 15,483 ; sq. m. 

 211. La Chenaye, p. 9461; sq. m. 299. La 

 Prairie, p. 18,497 ; sq. m. 238. L'Assomption, p. 

 12,767; sq. m. 5008. Missisqui, p. 8801; sq. m, 

 360. Montreal, p. 43,773 ; sq. m. 197. Ottawa, 



