MONTREAL. 17 



The country is very flat, but the land improves in quality 

 as we approach the St. Lawrence, which, opposite Montreal, is 

 a magnificent stream, like an arm of the sea, rushing with a 

 great tide, two miles broad. From the ferry steamer the city 

 is seen to great advantage, its wharves stretching along the 

 river, and the tin roofed houses and church cupolas sparkling 

 brilliantly in the sun. It is a remarkably handsome town, 

 backed by a lofty wooded hill, the Mountain, which all stran- 

 gers are expected to visit, and from which the prospect is very 

 extensive. One striking object is the Great Victoria Tubular 

 Bridge now being constructed across the St. Lawrence, two 

 miles in length, as the viaduct of the Grand Trunk Kail way, a 

 prodigious engineering work, but which, when completed, will 

 in all seasons, summer and winter, afford to the railway a con- 

 tinuous outlet to the Atlantic for the whole stream of traffic 

 from British America and the North Western States of the 

 Union. The vast expenditure on this railway and its works 

 has greatly enriched Montreal. 



From Montreal I proceeded to Ottawa, taking railway to 

 La Chine, and there embarking on a wide lake-like water which 

 is the confluence of the rivers St. Lawrence and Ottawa. Some 

 miles farther up we reach the rapids of St. Anne, the scene of 

 Moore's song, and the point at which the Grand Trunk rail- 

 way crosses from the island of Montreal to the mainland by 

 another large engineering work, a tube and bridge, five hun- 

 dred yards long. Beyond this the stream divides, sending part 

 of its waters along the northern side of the island of Montreal, 

 which is nearly forty miles in length and fertile, farmed by 

 French peasants and English and Scotch farmers. On the op- 

 posite northern shore a fine tract of wooded country, about ten 

 miles square, has been reserved for an Indian tribe, whose vil- 

 lage is on the shore. They are said to be completely controlled 

 by French priests, who suffer no intercourse with settlers, 



