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not ill-befit the bastions of a fortress " were they built 

 as a protection against Indian surprises. " Facing the 

 portico, a handsome garden, of goodly extent and cul- 

 tivated with care ; in rear, a deep ravine, embedding 

 a rivulet, which turns the seignorial grist-mill ; the 

 latter, situate a few feet to the left, at the base of the 

 great hill. Its dam furnishes a sheet of limpid water, 

 fringed with alder bushes and young beech ; myriads 

 of lively trout frisk there. Beyond, the eye rests 

 pleasantly on a cultivated valley, which rises gently to 

 the foot of the mountain-ranges. At one corner of the 

 garden, on the brink of a precipice from whence comes 

 the murmur of a little waterfall, there is a small chapel, 

 half-hidden under a mass of verdure ; it is dedicated 

 to the Virgin. A great family grief renders the spot 

 sacred ; the untimely death of the seignor's eldest son, 

 by the bursting of an old French cannon, long since 

 condemned, " but fired off, possibly, by the manor 

 children on great fete days, St. Jean-Baptiste, &c, &c. 

 Here comes, daily, the pious, sorrowing mother, to 

 offer up a prayer in memory of her first-born cut off in 

 his prime. 



Where ends the garden, begin the Chemins Perdus, 

 the Stray Paths in the park. A truly Canadian land- 

 scape in all its wildness : rocks, hills, valleys, steep 

 declivities, gentle slopes, precipices, with the unceasing 

 roar of the rivulet which flirts and whimpers through 

 the park ; dashed into rapids, waterfalls, silvery sheets 

 of foam gleaming here and there, through the curtain 

 of green woods. 



The Stray Paths, carefully raked, wander in every 

 direction, athwart the park ; a maze of ups and downs, 

 curves, leading straight to rustic seats ; then, receding, 

 and opening up unexpected vistas. It takes close to an 

 hour to saunter through. 



Here a lofty plateau, discloses beneath you, through 

 forest, clearings a glimpse of the St. Lawrence and of 

 the Isle-aux-Coudres ; the green isle from this point, 



