560 ICE UPON THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



moving 1 up and down with the tides with irresistible 

 force. The regular ice bridge is generally located 5 

 or 6 miles above Quebec, and from thence upwards, 

 as far as Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence is everywhere 

 frozen across, except in places where the current is 

 very strong. * Taking the mean of a number of years 

 the navigation is closed by ice at Quebec from the 

 25th of November to the 25th of April, but in the com- 

 paratively narrow channel there the river is kept open 

 by the rapid tides, f The break-up of the ice upon 

 the St. Lawrence in spring is quite one of the sights 

 of the world to witness, as an example of the irresistible 

 power of Nature, and has often been made the subject 

 of description by abler pens than ours. It is generally 

 preceded by loud noises, sometimes almost resembling 

 those produced by the firing of heavy artillery, caused 

 by the cracking of the immense masses' of ice, under 

 the constantly increasing pressure of the stream, and 

 finally the great break-up occurs as sudden as the com- 

 ing of a thief in the night. The iron bonds of winter 

 are loosened and the mighty river flows again. The 

 accumulations of pack ice at certain points are frequently 

 of an extraordinary character; partial break-ups occur 

 during the course of the winter, caused by alterations 

 of the water level created by the tides and by thaws 

 and storms ; broken masses of ice thus become heaped 

 up by the pressure of the moving masses, until they 

 form a spectacle of the wildest confusion, of which 

 photographs alone can convey an adequate conception. 

 Once the final break-up however has taken place in 



* Admiralty Sailing Directions The St. Lawrence River Pilot, com- 

 piled by Admiral H. W. Bayfield, 5th Edition, 1882, Vol. i., p. 282. 

 (published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty). 



j Ibid., p. 3. 



