558 PANORAMA SEEN FROM QUEBEC RAMPARTS. 



in breadth. The current however runs swiftly, and 

 (as usual in river gorges) its depth is very great, the 

 water abreast the city being 28 fathoms deep, while 

 immediately above it the river again expands to what 

 may then be considered its normal width of a mile 

 and a quarter broad, with a channel still 28 fathoms 

 in depth. Below Quebec, between the city and the 

 Island of Orleans, however, the St. Lawrence entirely 

 changes its character and here assumes that of an 

 extensive basin or roadstead, which forms a commodious 

 harbour, where an immense fleet of the largest ships 

 can lie at anchor. The sea estuary may be said to 

 commence at this point, and the rise of its spring tides 

 is here 18 feet. * 



Looking down from the citadel in this direction a 

 noble prospect is spread out before the beholder, as 

 the eye travels over a wide panorama of land and water 

 enclosed in the distance by lofty hills. To the south 

 the fortified bluffs of Point Levi occupy the opposite 

 bank of the St. Lawrence, while the approaches to 

 Quebec from the rear, to the northwards, are guarded 

 by the rocky gorge of the St. Charles River. East- 

 wards the northern shore is seen covered with numerous 

 villas and white houses which extend down the river 

 to the vicinity of the falls of Montmorenci. 



These celebrated falls which plunge over a precipice 

 nearly 250 feet high, close to the point where the river 

 of that name flows into the St. Lawrence, form a leading 

 .attraction for visitors, and from above them a splendid 

 view of Quebec in the distance is obtained. It was upon 



* Admiralty Sailing Directions The St. Lawrence River Pilot, 5th 

 .Edit. 1882. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the 

 .Admiralty. Vol. i., p. 280. 



