338 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA “ 
the logs are made to fit more closely toge¬ 
ther,, and instead of being left rough and un¬ 
even ou the outside, are planed and white¬ 
washed. At the inside also the walls are 
generally lined with deal boards, whereas in 
the United States- the common log;-houses.' 
are left as rough within as they are without.. 
One circumstance, however,, renders the 
Canadian houses very disagreeable, and that 
is the inattention of the inhabitants to an¬ 
them occasionally by opening the windows, in¬ 
consequence of which they have a close 
heavy smell within doors. As we travelled by 
land from Quebec to Montreal, we scarcely 
observed ten houses- the whole way with the 
windows open, notwithstanding that the wea¬ 
ther was very warm. If you ask; the people 
why they don’t let a little fresh air into their 
houses, their constant answer is, as- it is to all- 
questions of a similar tendency, Ce n’esi 
4 ' f pas la maniere des habitant,”—It is not the 
custom of the people of the country. 
Some of the lower classes of the French 
Canadians have all the gaiety and vivacity of 
the people of France; they dance, they sing, 
and seem determined not to give way to care; 
others, to appearance, have a great deal of 
that sullenness and bluntness in their .manners 
characteristic ©£ the people of the United 
States ; vanity, however, -is the ascendant fea- 
