VIEW FROM BELCEIL. 309 



To obtain a view of the country, I climbed the hill 

 of Beloeil. On the top is a cross and chapel, and it 

 is a place of popular pilgrimage. It is a pleasant, but 

 a steep and laborious climb. The ascent is divided 

 into fourteen parts or stations, at each of which is, or 

 was, a cross, bearing an inscription having reference to 

 the journey of our Saviour, as he bore the cross to 

 the place of crucifixion. Pious devotees, who visit the 

 mountain iu considerable numbers, rest a while at each 

 — as at the similar stations on the Rigi and other places 

 of pilgrimage in Koman Catholic Switzerland — and, 

 while they rest, repeat the appropriate prayers. These 

 are printed and sold under the title of '' Meditations 

 and prayers adapted to the stations of the Holy Way of 

 the Cross." Without underrating the efficacy of theee 

 devotions, the site of the chapel and place of pilgrim- 

 age are well selected. The healthful exercise, the free 

 air, and the lovely view from the summit of the moun- 

 tain, must lighten the heart, and send home the most 

 sorrowful and careworn with a more cheerful spirit. 



Looking towards Montreal, the River Richelieu flowed 

 at my feet, far down in the valley — a long, scarcely 

 sinuous, silver ribbon, singularly narrowing as it descends 

 from its source in Lake Champlain on the south, to its 

 confluence with the St Lawrence at Sorel, far away to 

 the north. On its surface, a few specks showed where 

 the passing craft were carrying the produce of Canada 

 or the merchandise of Europe to their respective desti- 

 nations. Villages and church-spires occurred at inter- 

 vals above its banks ; and far as the eye could reach, on 

 either hand, a seemingly flat plain extended from the 

 Richelieu to the St Lawrence, and beyond this — broken 

 only by the height of Mont Royal — to the north-west, 

 into the counties on the left bank of the great river, 

 til] the sky seemed to rest on the still-extending flat. 



Turning towards the north-east, the same level land 



