49 



the country that adjoins it cannot be easily rival- 

 ed in its generarappearance ; the great number 

 of churches, telegraph stations, and villages, 

 whose houses are ahuost always whitened, are 

 so well exhibited by the dark contrast of the 

 thick woods covering the rising grounds behind 

 them up to their very summits, and the ter- 

 mination so completely defined by the distant 

 range of lofty mountains forming the boundary 

 before noticed, that very few landscapes will 

 be found actually superior to it. Beyond 

 Riviere du Sud is a channel named the Traverse, 

 which deserves mention from the circumstance 

 of the river being here 13 miles across; yet 

 the Isle aux Coudres, the shoal of St. Roch, and 

 another called the English Bank, interrupt the 

 fair way so much, that this passage, which is 

 the usual one the pilots choose, is not more 

 than from 17 to 1800 yards between the two 

 buoys that mark the edge of the shoals ; it is 

 the most intricate part of the river below Que- 

 bec ; the currents are numerous, irregular, and 

 very strong, on which account large ships must 

 consult the proper time of the tide to pass it 

 without accident. On the north shore between 

 the Isle aux Coudres and the main there is an- 

 other channel, but the current is so rapid, the 

 depth of water so great, and the holding ground 

 so bad in case of being obliged to anchor within 



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