30 THROUGH CANADA 



census. In 1889 it was estimated at 170,000 ; the 

 last 1910 returns show a leap to 402,567. Its assess- 

 ment is ;^6i,829,4io. It is the seat of the Ontario 

 Government, the buildings of which are undergoing 

 the process of enlargement to meet the demands of 

 increasing departments. Toronto has a university of 

 over 4000 students, and the industries it fosters are 

 many and varied, including 978 factories, which give 

 employment to over 75,000 hands. It leans towards 

 English customs and habits in as pronounced a degree 

 as Quebec gravitates towards French. Religious life 

 is typified in handsome architectural edifices repre- 

 sentative of all the denominations. Its commercial 

 enterprise effectually detracts from its beauty as a 

 city. Its streets are interlaced with trams and 

 railway lines, and its sky almost blocked out with 

 towering stores, and a tangled network of electric 

 wires. The facilities for getting about are a set-off 

 against this unaesthetic and undiscriminating com- 

 mercialism. Tram-cars ply to and from the suburbs, 

 where primitive conditions are still preserved in park 

 and stream and rural charm. 



Toronto is situated on Lake Ontario. The belt 

 of land stretching along the north shore is one of 

 the chief fruit-growing districts of Canada. The 

 effect of this beautiful inland sea is to modify the 

 summer heat, and temper the winter cold, and so 

 exercise a beneficial influence on the soil. It is 

 almost impossible to realize that about fifty years 



