FIRES IN QUEBEC. 333 



over, and that blanket-coats and homespun cloth, and even 

 buffalo-robes and dresses, must be speedily provided. 



All Europe is aware of the superior ease and expedi- 

 tion with which the people of Quebec contrive to enlighten 

 and enliven their wooden city with frequent fires. Three 

 successive times the fire-bell had already rung since my 

 arrival ; but the affairs had been small, all of them during 

 the day, and had attracted little general attention. But 

 things were differently managed to-night. As I was 

 falling into my first dose, the bells began to sing out, 

 a running of many feet followed, and then the clattering 

 of engines, and by-and-by a light began to fill my bed- 

 room ; and as I lay in bed, the playing of a huge flame 

 became gradually visible, rising and falling above the 

 houses on the opposite side of the square in which the 

 hotel was situated. All night long, the fire and the light, 

 and the varying flame, and the noise of the bells, and the 

 mingling tones of many sounds and voices, continued, 

 and when daylight returned, four houses were already 

 consumed. But the flames were subdued and danger 

 over ; and as I emerged into the street to prepare for my 

 departure from the city, the weary firemen and their 

 soiled engines were again on their way homewards. 



Monday^ Oct. 1. — After an early breakfast, I crossed 

 the river to Point Levi, and soon after nine A.M. was 

 on my way down the right bank of the St Lawrence 

 in a light caleche, guided by a French Canadian, and 

 drawn by a single horse. I proposed to descend the 

 river as far as the Mitis, and thence to cross the 

 province of Gaspe, by what is called the Kempt Road, to 

 the Restigouche River in New Brunswick. All this I 

 proposed to accomplish in the course of the week, and to 

 arrive at the town of Campbelton on the Restlgouche on 

 the evening of Saturday. 



Among the more striking objects of this day's journey 

 was the Fall of MontmorencI, which I had visited on 



