10 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: 
Oh the second day of our journey from 
Quebec to Montreal we reached Trois Ri¬ 
vieres, lying nearly midway between the two 
places. This town is situated on the banks 
of the St. Lawrence, close to the mouth of 
the River St. Maurice, the largest of upwards 
of thirty that fall into the St. Lawrence, on 
the north-west side alone, between Quebec 
and Montreal. This river, before it unites 
with the St. Lawrence, is divided into three 
streams by two large islands, so that to a per¬ 
son sailing past its mouth it appears as if three 
distinct rivers disembogued at the one spot; 
from hence it is that the town of Trois Ri¬ 
vieres receives its name. 
The St. Maurice is not navigable for large 
vessels, neither is it for sloops more than a few 
miles about its mouth. In bateaux and canoes, 
however, it may be ascended nearly to its 
source; from whence, if credit is to be given 
to the accounts of the Indians, the distance is 
not very great to the head of navigable riv'ers 
that fall into Hudson’s Bay; at a future day 
therefore, if ever the dreary and inhospitable 
waste through which it passes shall put on a 
different aspect from what it now wears, and 
become the abode of human beings instead of 
wild beasts, the St.. Maurice may be esteemed 
a river of the first importance in a commercial 
point of view; at present there are a few 
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