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Impressions of Canada on travellers part 1 · Canadian Scenery

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Section eighteen of Canadian Scenery Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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please visit LibriVox dot org. Canadian Scenery, Volume one by Nathaniel Parker Willis
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Chapter five, Impressions of Canada on Travelers. Among the various books on Canada,
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there is none which seems to us written with a more friendly, fair
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and philanthropic spirit than that of mister Hodgson, who was there in eighteen twenty
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two. A great part of his large volume is occupied with his rambles in
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the United States. But from that which is strictly Canadian, we extract the
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following interesting letters. Soon after I had finished my letter on board the steamboat,
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we stopped near the mouth of the Genesee River to give us the opportunity
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of seeing Rochester and its vicinity. Stages have been previously sent for in which
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we proceeded to Rochester, nine miles distant. On our way, we stopped
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to see the lower falls of the Genesee River and Carthage Bridge. This wooden
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bridge is now in ruin. When perfect, it must have been extremely beautiful.
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It was a single arch, whose spend was about three hundred and fifty
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feet wide, and its extreme height above the surface of the river one hundred
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ninety six feet. It gave way from the slightest of materials immediately after two
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children acrossed it. A short distance above it are the falls of the Guidgecy,
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which appeared to me to bear a strong resemblance to those of the Clyde.
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At Rochester, we found a handsome mill and every symptom of a thriving
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town. Instead of cash store being painted over the shops, as in most
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towns of the United States, to tell the customers that the shopkeepers sell only
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for cash, while they may almost be induced to sell even a thimble on
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credit. Here, cash given for wheat, cash given for et cetera,
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et cetera was the usual motto. We learned also that the town was blessed
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by the absence of a bank, while in the smallest American town I have
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been accustomed to find banks. The first objects which presented themselves the farmer's bank,
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the merchant's bank, the planter's bank, the mechanics bank, the Franklin
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bank, the patriotic bank, et cetera, et cetera, with their various
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combinations had met my eyes more or less in every village. We embarked again
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about two o'clock, and in the morning, by daylight found ourselves at Sackett's
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Harbor, of which we heard so much during the war. It is a
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noble natural harbor, and the place where American ships employed on the lakes were
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built so rapidly. Many of them are now rotting under wooden covers. There
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is one half finished, said to be longer than our largest ship of the
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line, covered with a wooden shade, which itself, our conductor, told
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us, costs seven thousand powers. This immense vessel, so far inland on
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the banks of a lake, was a singular sight and excited some incongruous ideas.
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We sailed again soon after breakfast, and in the morning ninth found ourselves
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at Ogdensburg, about two hundred and sixty miles from Niagara, which we had
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left on the sixth. The preceding afternoon we had entered the Saint Lawrence,
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and I had been much delighted with our sail through that expanse of it,
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which is called the Lake of the Thousand Islands. In reality there are more
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than two thousand of every size and form, and a lovely afternoon exhibited them
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in all their beauty. As we guided past them on the smooth surface of
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the Saint Lawrence, I thought I had never beheld a scene which so nearly
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realized my ideas of enchantment. The banks of the river as we proceeded,
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were rather less wild and interesting than I had expected. At Ogdensburg, which
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is said to belong principally to mister Parrish, who was endeavoring to settle a
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tract of land in the vicinity, we breakfasted at a large stone tavern which
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he has built, and then prepared in high spirits to descend the rapids.
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For this purpose, we hired a long boat, which would accommodate the whole
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party, and which, with twenty five people on board and their baggage and
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twenty five barrels of flower for ballast, was said to draw only eight inches
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of water. We set sail about ten o'clock, and in four hours in
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a few minutes, had been carried forty eight miles down the stream, in
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the course of which we had passed the first three rapids, one of which
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was half a mile, another two, and another about nine miles long.
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We always discerned them at a great distance, the dashing of white foam resembling
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the tossing of the ocean, and as we approached them, our velocity gradually
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increased, till we were carried by the stream at a rate of fourteen or
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fifteen miles an hour. When we got into the middle of the surges,
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our velocity, though still great, was checked by the eddies and by waves
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which frequently struck the bottom of the boat with great force. And from the
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appearance of troubled waters it seemed difficult for a boat to live. The confidence
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of the boatmen, however, checked our apprehensions, and our ladies behaved extremely
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well. The most alarming appearance was that the pointed rocks, which, from
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the transparency of the water, seemed to rise almost to the surface and to
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threaten inevitable destruction. As I stood on the bow, I saw combinations of
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rocks towards which we hurried with impetuosity, and which it seemed impossible our boat
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could pass without striking. In some of the rapids there were channels called lost
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channels, from the accidents which had happened in them, and into which our
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boatmen had to guard against our being carried. The river varies from three fourths
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of a mile to two miles in width, and although there are no mountains
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near the Green Mountains of Vermont, were often in sight at a distance.
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The White Pine and Cedar gave a picturesque appearance to its banks, and a
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resemblance to the river views in Norway or Sweden. One of the most singular
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sensations we experienced was that of sailing many miles perceptibly downhill. Soon after passing
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the third rapid, the Saint Lawrence expanded into a wide lake, the Lake
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of Saint Francis. There we lost our wind and stream, and were obliged
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to have recourse to our oars. The evening was now closing in, and
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a violent thunder storm brought on a premature darkness. But the ladies enlivened us
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by singing the Canadian boat song Row Brothers, Row, et cetera, which
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transported me to where I have so often heard it. About ten o'clock we
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made towards a light which we saw on the shore, and landed a committee
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of inquiry, who reported so unfavorably of the miserable cabin from which it issued
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that we determined to proceed. Tired as the ladies were, our scouts in
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fours us that they had found in the cabin four or five Canadians dancing to
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a sleeping fiddler, whose music ceased as soon as they awoke him. A
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mile or two further we found a better house, where we called the family
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up, and with the help of our well bred and efficient ladies, some
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gum powdered tea. They had with them, some milk that was obtained from
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a cow that was awakened for the purpose, and the services of my servant,
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we sat down a party of twenty to a tolerably comfortable meal. When
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the ladies were about to retire, they found there was no door to their
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chamber, but they supplied the deficiency with a sheet. The gentlemen lay on
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blankets in a sort of barrack room. But I found the fleece so annoying
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that I got up and sat at the door of the house. I should
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have enjoyed the clear night after the storm and the placid lake if I had
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been less tired and sleepy, But wearied as I was, I was very
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glad to see the day break. Our gunpowder team made its appearance again at
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five o'clock, after which we embarked, passing the remaining rapids, the Cedars,
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the Split Rock, and the Cascades as they are called, and the
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mouth of the Ottawa River, and being becalmed in the fine Lake Saint Louis.
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We arrived at night at Lachene, about one hundred and fifty miles from
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Ogdensburg, which we had left the preceding morning. As we approached Lachene,
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the houses and villages on the banks of the river and lake assumed a much
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more comfortable appearance. But of the Canadians in my next letter, some of
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our parties stayed all night at Lachine, but several of my friends and myself
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proceeded to Montreal in a wretched vehicle, for which I was obliged to apologize
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to my American companions by remembering them it was only a colonial and that there
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were parts of our colonial system which none of us attempted to defend. We
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met some miserable cash, of which I was ashamed, even as colonials,
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and I was compelled to repress the rising smiles of the party by suggesting to
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their recollection that, after all, we were still in America and not in
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England. After riding nine miles, almost in the dark, we entered the
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Faubourg of Montreal and jolted along a narrow street a mile long, which my
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companions, customed to the spacious streets in America, supposed to be an alley,
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though it was the principal street. At the end of it, we
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stopped at Mansion House, a very fine in and here I was not ashamed
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to welcome my companions to the dominions of his Britannic Majesty. The mansion house
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is situated on the banks of the Saint Lawrence, which has handsome apartments overlook
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and which is here almost two and a half miles broad. The windows of
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our room open upon a fine terrace, from which there is a charming and
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extensive view of the distant country. In the evening, this is a very
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favorite promenade with the inmates of the house. I'm delighted to sit down once
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more under the British flag which is waving over us, for Lord Dalhousie,
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the Governor, is staying in the house, and I am gratified by the
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sight of our own red coats, who have mounted Guard Montreal twenty third August
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eighteen twenty two. I have just received your letter of the nineteenth vault.
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The uncommon cold of the last winter and the unusual heat of the present summer
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appear in some degree to have extended to you individually. I am not sorry
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to have the opportunity city of experiencing, in the course of the year I
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have passed in America a range of temperature beyond even the ordinary limits of the
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country. The great and sudden changes, however, continue to strike me more
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than even extremes of cold and heat, so much beyond those we experienced in
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England. After a week of the hottest weather they have had here this summer,
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the other morning the thermometer was currently reported, and I believe correctly to
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be ninety eight degrees of fahrenheit in the shade, thin close of every description
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have disappeared, and last night, when I sat down to write to you,
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I found it too cold to proceed. The oppressive heat of the summer
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here and in the United States is alleviated in some degree by the liberal use
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of ice. We see it in every form, and use it in the
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utmost profusion. The butter regularly comes to the table with a fine thick,
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transparent piece of ice upon it. Large pieces are generally floating in the water
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jugs at dinner or in your chambers, and it is often handed round on
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plates in small pieces to be used at dinner. The plan of preserving ice
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in this country and the United States is much more simple than with us,
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and I have no doubt more judicious, as notwithstanding the superior heat of the
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climate, it is so much more cheap and plentiful. Almost every farmer has
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his ice house. I have already given you some account of our sail down
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the rapids. It was extremely pleasant, and although we were becalmed for many
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hours, we descended on the Saint Laws in less than two days, a
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distance which the boatmen seldom rescend in less than nine or ten, even with
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the occasional assistance of walks at the side of the river. I am surprised
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we hear so little of this noble river. It is computed, I do
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not know with what accuracy to discharge one half more water than the Mississippi.
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Its depth between Ogden'sburg and Lachine, one hundred and thirty miles seldom varies more
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than three feet in the course of a year, while the Mississippi was falling
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one foot each day when I ascended it. The Saint Lawrence is much clearer
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than the Mississippi, and its current much more rapid. So rapid indeed,
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that the Lake Erie steamboat, which has been in operation for three years,
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has not been able to ascend from Black Roussalk to Lake Erie more than twice
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without twelve oxen. The banks of the Saint Lawrence do not present the rich
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and beautiful cultivation which adorns the banks of the Mississippi in Louisiana. But if
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they do not exhibit extensive and highly dressed plantations of sugar and cotton, or
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the magnificent forest trees peculiar to the south and west, the prospect is never
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blackened by a range of miserable slave capins or gangs of negroes working like cattle
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in the field. I cannot describe to you the pleasure I derive from contrasting
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the various scenes through which I am passing with each other. They have so
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many peculiar features, and all so highly interesting. It is remarkable that,
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rising from the same table land, and so intimately connected by intersecting branches which
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occasionally flow into each other during periods of inundation. The Mississippi and the Saint
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Lawrence present the most striking contrast in their general features. Many of them are
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mentioned in the observations I will copy for you from Darby, but others not
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much less interesting might be added. The Mississippi is turbid and many parts to
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muddiness. The Saint Lawrence usually limpid. One river is composed of almost an
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unbroken chain of lakes. The other, and all its vast expanse, has
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no lakes that strictly deserve the name. Annually, the Mississippi overleaps its bed
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and overwhelms the adjacent shores to a great extent. An accidental rise of three
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feet in the course of fifty years is considered an extraordinary swell of the waters
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of Saint Lawrence. The circumstance has occurred the present season for the first time
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within the lapse of forty years past. The Mississippi, flowing from north to
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south, passes through innumerable climes, whilst its rival, winding from its source
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in a southeast direction to near north latitude forty one degrees, turns gradually northeast
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and again flows into its original climate of ice and snow. The Mississippi,
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before its final discharge into the Gulf of Mexico, divides into a number of
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branches having their separate egress. The Saint Lawrence imperceptibly expands to a wide bay,
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which finally opens into the Gulf of the same name. The banks of
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the Mississippi present a level scarce rising above the superior surface of that stream.
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Those of Saint Lawrence, by a gentle acclivity, exhibit the opposing sides of
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an elegant basin. Much of the surface watered by the Mississippi is a region
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of grass, where few shrubs or trees rise to break the monotony of the
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face of the earth. The shores that bound the Saint Lawrence, when in
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a state of nature, are covered with an almost continuous and impervious forest.
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And lastly, though rather an accidental than a natural distinction, the Mississippi rolls
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its mighty volume, swelled by more than a thousand rivers through one empire,
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and is, as I once before observed, the largest stream on this globe
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whose entire course lies within one sovereignty. The Saint Lawrence is, for more
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than thirteen hundred miles a national limit, and as such marked with the sanguinary
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points which distinguish the bounds of rival power. We arrived here on the tenth,
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as you would learn from my last letter. On the eleventh I was
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awakened by the matin bells of the different Catholic churches, and while my steamboat
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companions went to see the lions, I set out to deliver my letters of
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nation, and soon found that the mornings of the ensuing week would be entirely
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occupied by commercial engagements, and the evenings with dinner parties for the merchants are
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very hospitable. On the twelfth I was left alone all the party at the
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mansion house, with whom I was intimate, having proceeded to Quebec. On
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their return in a few days, I was a little more at leisure and
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accompanied them to the nunneries. The Gray sisters admitted us, but the Black
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sisters expressed their regret in the politest French, that their devotional engagements would prevent
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them from seeing us till the following Thursday. On the seventeenth, there was
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a grand levee held here in a spacious room, and are in as Lord
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and Lady Dalhousie with their suite, were paying a short visit to Montreal.
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I attended and was duly presented. The Governor and Countess gave great satisfaction,
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but I hear many apprehensions expressed that his lordship will not incur the responsibility which
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the Duke of Richmond is said never to have hesitated to assume in acting first
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in sending for instructions afterwards. It was about this time last year that the
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Duke left this house, a few days before his melancholy death up the country.
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I was told that on the day he had fixed for his return,
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he was brought into the house at corpse, and on the subsequent day which
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had been appointed for his levy, a large concourse of the gentlemen of Montreal
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attended his coffin to the vessel which carried him away. His loss is deeply
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regretted. Sir Peregrine Maitland, his son in law, the Governor of Upper
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Canada, and Lady Maitland are much respected, and I understand are doing much
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for the promotion of religion in the newly settled districts in their neighborhood. End
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of Section eighteen