QUE 



QUE 



houfe where the legiflative council and affembly of repre- 

 ientatives meet, which is alfo an old building, that has 

 been plainly fitted up to accommodate the legiflature. 



The armoury is fituated near the artillery barrack, in 

 another part of the town. About ten thoufand (land of 

 arms are kept in it, arranged in a fimilar manner with the 

 arms in the Tower of London, but, if poflible, with greater 

 neatnefs and more fancy. 



The artillery barracks are capable of containing about 

 five hundred men, but the principal barracks are calculated 

 to contain a much larger number ; they Hand in the market- 

 place, not far diftant from the fquare in which the chateau 

 is fituated, but more in the heart of the town. 



The market of Quebec is extremely well fnpplied with 

 provilions of every kind, which may be purchafed at a much 

 more moderate price than in any town vifited by Mr. Weld 

 in the United States. It is a matter of curioGty to a 

 Itranger to fee the number of dogs yoked in little carts, 

 that are brought into this market by the people who at- 

 tend it. The Canadian dogs are found extremely ufeful in 

 drawing burthens, and there is fcarcely a family in Quebec 

 or Montreal, that does not' keep one or more of them for 

 that purpofe. They are fomewhat fimilar to the New- 

 foundland breed, but broader acrofs the loins, and have 

 fhorter and thicker legs ; in general they are handfome, 

 and wonderfully docile and fagacious ; their itrength is 

 prodigious. A fingle dog will draw a man for a confider- 

 able diftance, that could not weigh lefs than ten ftone. 

 People, during the winter feafon, frequently perform long 

 journeys on the fnow with half a dozen or more of thefe 

 animals yoked in a cariole or fledge. 



An attempt was made in 17 ii by the Englifh and Ame- 

 ricans, under the command of brigadier Hill, to furprife 

 Quebec ; but it proved abortive. In 1759 it was taken 

 by the Englifh, under the command of the valiant Wolfe, 

 who facrificed his life in the engagement ; and by the peace, 

 in 1763, it was ceded, with the reft of Canada, to the con- 

 querors, in whofs poU'eflion it has fince continued. 



The fcenery that is exhibited to the view from various 

 parts of the upper town of Quebec, furpafl'es for grandeur, 

 beauty, and diverfity, any other, as Mr. Weld fays, that he 

 has feen, either in America, or in any other part of the 

 globe. In the variegated expanfe that is laid open before 

 you, llupendous rocks, immenfe rivers, tracklefs forefts, and 

 cultivated plains, mountains, lakes, towns, and villages, 

 in turn ftrike the attention, and the fenfes are almoft be- 

 wildered in contemplating the vaftnefs of the fcene. Nature 

 16 here feen on the grandeit fcale ; and it is fcarcely poflible 

 for the imagination to paint to itfelf any thing more fub- 

 lime than are the feveral profpefts prefented to the fight 

 of the delighted fpeftator. From cape Diamond, fituated 

 one thoufand feet above the level of the river, and the 

 loftieft part of the rock on which the city is built, the 

 prolpeft is confidered by many as fuperior to that of 

 any other fpot. A greater extent of country opens upon 

 you, and the eye is here enabled to take in more at once, 

 than at any other place ; but it appeared to Mr. Weld, that 

 the view from the cape is by no means fo fine as that, for in- 

 ftance, from the battery ; for in furveying the different 

 objefts below you from fuch a ftupendous height, their mag- 

 nitude is in a great meafure loft, and it feems as if you were 

 looking at a draft of the country, more than at the 

 country itfelf. It is the upper battery that Mr. Weld 

 alludes to, facing the bafon, and is about three hundred feet 

 above the level of the water. Here, if you ftand but a 

 few yards from the edge of the precipice, you may look 



down at once upon the river, the veffels upon which, as the-, 

 fail up to the wharfs before the lower town, appear as it 

 they were coming under your very feet. The river itfelf, 

 which is between five and fix miles wide, and vifible as far as 

 the diftant end of the iflaiid of Orleans, where it lofes itfclt 

 amidft the mountains that bound it on each fide, is one ol 

 the moft beautiful objeils in nature, and on a fine Hill 

 fummer's evening it otten wears the appearance of a vatt 

 mirror, where the varied rich tints of the Iky, as well as the 

 images of the different objefts of the banks, are feen re- 

 flefted with inconceivable luftre. The fouthern bank of 

 the river, indented fancifully with bays and promontories, 

 remains nearly in a ftate of nature, cloathed with lofty trees ; 

 but the oppofite fhore is thickly covered with houfes, ex- 

 tending as along other parts of the river already mentioned, 

 in one uninterrupted village, feemingly, as far as the eye 

 can reach. On this fide the profpect is terminated by an 

 extcniive range of mountains, the Hat lands fituated between 

 and the villages on the banks not being vifible to a fpedtator 

 at Quebec, it feems as if the mountains rofe direftly out of 

 the water, and the houfes were built on their fteep and 

 rugged fides. 



Beautiful as the environs of the city appear when feen at 

 a diftance, they do not appear lefs fo on a more clofe in- 

 fpeftion ; and in pafling through them the eye is enter- 

 tained with a moft pleafing variety of fine landfcapes, whilft. 

 the mind is equally gratified with the appearance of content 

 and happinefs that reigns in the countenances of the in- 

 habitants. Indeed, if a country as fruitful as it is pic- 

 turefque, a genial and healthy chmate, and a tolerable 

 fhare of civil and religious liberty, can make people happy, 

 none ought to appear more fo than the Canadians. There 

 are, however, in the vicinity of Canada two fcenes, more 

 particularly deferving of attention than any others : thefe are 

 the falls or cataradls of the rivers Chauiliere and Mont- 

 morency ; which fee refpeftively. N. lat. 46°4S' 38". W. 

 long. 71° 5' 29". Weld's Travels, vol. i. 



QUEBITEA, in Botany, a name which feems to have 

 been whimfically extradted by Aublet, from the Caribbean 

 appellation of this plant, Daquejoab'ite. Aubl. Guian. v. 2. 

 838. t. 327. This has many creeping roots, and a twifted, 

 decumbent, hairy Jlem, with alternate, elliptical, broad, 

 entire, hairy leaves, three or four inches long, on hairy 

 footjlalks. Floivers minute, in (hort, denfe, axillary, ftalked 

 /piles, with a fmall fcale at the bafe of the ftalks. Aublet 

 did not inveftigate the ftrufture of thefe flowers, but he 

 fufpefts the plant to be nearly akin to Dratontlum, under 

 which genus it is accordingly noticed by Juflieu. The 

 roots, when chewed, are very acrid. The bruifed herb is 

 ufed externally, to cure the bite of ferpents. It grows on 

 the banks of rivulets in Guiana. 



QUEBRANTAHUESSOS, in Ornithology. See Pro- 

 CELLARIA Gigantea. 



QUECALA, in Geography, a town of Mexico, in the pro- 

 vince of Mechoacan; 105 miles S.S.E. of St. Luisde Potofi. 



QUECHUA, in Literary Hiftory. See Peru. 



QUEDA, a fea-port city on the W.coaft of the peninfula 

 of Malacca, the capital of a kingdom, tributary to Siam, 

 with a good harbour at the mouth of a river that will ad- 

 mi*, a veflel drawing 12 or 14 feet water on the fprings 

 over the bar, which is gravel and mud. The town con- 

 tains about 400 houfes, inhabited by Chinefe and Malays. 

 The environs are agreeable and fertile ; the woods abound 

 in elephants and other animals, ar.d in fome places are mines 

 of lead, which fupply large quantities of thofe metals for 

 exportation to Hindooihin, Arabia, and Perfia. The go- 

 1 1 vernment 



