310 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA : 
gates: the bouses in the suburbs are mostly built 
of wood, but the others are all of stone ; none 
of them are elegant, but there are many very 
comfortable habitations. In the lower part of 
the town,, towards the river, where most of the 
shops stand, they have a very gloomy appear- 
anee, and look like so many prisons, being all 
furnished at the outside with sheet iron shut¬ 
ters to the doors and windows, which are re¬ 
gularly closed towards evening, in order to 
guard against lire. The town has suffered by 
fire very materially at different times, and the 
inhabitants have such a dread of it, that all 
who can afford it, cover the roofs of their houses 
with tin plates instead of shingles. By law 
they are obliged to have one or more ladders 
in proportion to the size of the house, always 
ready on the roofs. 
The streets are all very narrow; three of 
them run parallel to the river, a.nd these are 
intersected by others at right angles, but not 
at regular distances. On the side of the 
town farthest from the river, and nearly 
between the northern and southern extremi¬ 
ties, there is a small square, called La Place 
d’Armes, which seems originally to have been 
left open tofhe walls on one side, and to have 
b.een intended for the military to exercise in ; 
the troops, however, never make use of it now, 
but parade on a long walk, behind the fealls* 
