THE LOWER ST. LAWRENCE. 



[EKE is a railroad from Montreal to Quebec; but 

 one of the splendid steamers of the " Eichelieu " 

 line, the finest in the New Dominion, is the prefera- 

 ble conveyance fare, three dollars. Leaving Mon- 

 treal in the afternoon, we approach Quebec at 6 

 o'clock in the morning, and passing within view of the 

 beautiful Chaudiere Falls, round Cape Diamond under 

 the frowning citadel, and glide into a berth at the Lower 

 Town.* Here on the wharf is a jam of vehicles of every 

 ancient and modern pattern, from the old French caleche 

 to the pretentious metropolitan hackney-coach. Heteroge- 

 neous drivers thrust their importunate whips into one's face 

 ajid confuse the ear by a jargon of bad English, execrable 

 patois, and rough Milesian. Groups of Jiabitans and emi- 

 grants get mixed up with the crowd, and vainly endeavor to 



* Quebec has been dismantled ! They say its ramparts are to be 

 thrown down, and its grim walls obliterated, that no traces of the 

 ancient fortifications may remain. Only the everlasting cliffs will stand 

 the cliffs which omnipotent hands erected, and which none but 

 omnipotent power can overthrow. Ah, well ! Now let us destroy St. 

 Augustine and the Castle of St. Mark, and then we shall have wiped 

 out the only interesting relics of the ancient days which we of this new 

 country possess. This is too practical an age to permit these obstacles 

 to bar the progress of innovation. Let relic hunters henceforward go 

 to the Rhine, to Egypt, and the Campagna ! 



