CHAMBLY CANAL AND LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 381 



which castaway mariners can be subjected. The 

 expense of such winter depots would be only small, 

 while they would create In the breasts of seamen such 

 a feeling of confidence as would often prevent the 

 disasters, the consequences of which they are designed 

 to relieve. 



No legislative Interference, of course, can ward off 

 icebergs from the banks of Newfoundland, or make the 

 seas more safe in the bay of the St Lawrence, In early 

 spring, and when winter approaches ; but greater skill 

 and care In the masters of vessels may lessen the casual- 

 ties arising from these sources. The proposed examina- 

 tion of master mariners, the advantages of which have 

 already been frequently discussed in the Home Parlia- 

 ment, will go some way towards securing this greater 

 care and skill. 



There is still one branch of the internal navigation of 

 Canada which Is likely to tend not only to the extension 

 of the traffic on the St Lawrence, but to the improve- 

 ment also of the general commerce of the province. 



I have already spoken of the river Eichelleu as flow- 

 ing from Lake Champlain, in a northerly direction, 

 through the once fertile flat country in which Chambly, 

 St Hilaire, and other villages stand, and out of which 

 rises Beloeil, and the other Isolated mountains, which add 

 so much to the picturesque character of the district. 

 This river falls into the St Lawrence at Sorel, forty-five 

 miles below Montreal. From this point upwards to 

 Lake Champlain, the Richelieu has been made navigable 

 by the lock or dam of St Ours, and the canal of Cham- 

 bly, extending a distance of eleven and a half miles from 

 the town of Chambly to St John, between which places 

 considerable interruptions occur in the bed of the river. 

 This canal cost £120,000; and though it has hitherto 

 returned comparatively little revenue, the state of the 

 trade on the Erie Canal is likely very soon to give It au 



