îoo An Hijîorical Journal of 



ar€ very clear, arid on a Tandy Bottom, their great and continu 

 Agitation blunt the Rays of the Sun, hinder it from raifing many 

 Vapours, or caufes them to fall again in the Fogs ; for the 

 Winds excite upon thefe frefli Water Seas as frequent and as 

 violent Storms as upon the Ocean : And this alfo is the true 

 Reafon why it feldom rains at Sea. 



The fécond Caufe of the exce/Tive Cold of Canada^ according 

 to Father BreJJani^ is the Neighbourhood of the Northern Sea, 

 covered with monflrous Heaps of Ice above eight Months in the 

 Year. You may here recoiled. Madam, what I faid in my firft 

 Letter of the Cold we felt in the Dog Days, from the Neigh- 

 bourhood of a floating Ifland of Ice, or rather from the Wind 

 v/hich blew upon us from the Side where it was, and which 

 ceafed the Moment it was under the Wind. It is moreover 

 certain, that is does not fnow here, but with a North ii^^afc Wind, 

 which comes from the Quarter where the Ice of the North lies ; 

 and though we do not feel fo great Cold while the Snow falls, 

 there is no Doubt but it contributes greatly to render fo piercing 

 the Weft and North Weft Winds, which come to us acrofs vaft 

 Countries, and a great Chain of Mountains v/hich are covered 

 with Snow. 



Laftly, if we take the Opinion of this Italian Miflionary, the 

 Height of the Land is not the leaft Caufe of the SuiTtiity of the 

 Air which we breathe in this Country, and coYifeq-uefi^ly of the 

 Severity of the Cold. Viiûïtr Breffani takes great Pèi-ïi^ to prove 

 this Elevation by the Depth of the Sea^ v/hich' -in^rêare s , fays 

 he, in Proportion as we approach Canada'^ -and by the Number 

 and Height of the Falls of the Pvivers. But it feems to me that 

 the Depth of the Sea proves nothing at all, and that the Falls 

 of the River St. Laurence^ and of fome Rivers in Ne^w France^ 

 prove no more than the Catara£ls of the Nile, On the other 

 Hand, we do not obferve that from Montreal where the Falls 

 begin, down to the Sea, that the River St, Laureiice is much 

 more rapid than fome of our Rivers in Europe, I think there- 

 fore, we muft keep to the Neighbourhood of the Ice of the 

 North, as the Caufe of the Cold, and that even in Spite of this 

 Neighboî^rhood, if Canada was as free from Woods, and as well 

 peopled as France^ the Winters here would not be fo long and 

 fo fevere. But they would be always more fo than in France^ 

 becaufe of the Serenity and Purity of the Air : For it is certain 

 that in Winter, all other Things being equal, the Froft is 

 keener when the Sky is clear, and the Sun hasrarified jhc Air. 

 When the Winter is paft, Fifhing, Shooting, and Hunting, 

 i-iy ; 27 '^-z? abundantly fupplies thofe with Proviflons 

 OftheEeiiup^ who take the Pains for it: Béfides^hè Fifti 

 ^^y* and Wild Fovvl, which I have already men- 



tioned, the River St, Laurence and the Foreft, furnifh the Inha- 



bitantâ 



