island an impoverished and unpropitious appearance. It is about 48 miles in circumference; its length is twenty, and its greatest breadth six miles. At the lower extremity of the island, the river is about fifteen miles across; and the stream is, thence to the Western point, divided into two nearly equal channels; where a basin opens, which extends in every direction about six miles, and may be said to be bounded in one angle by the mouth of the river St. Charles, and in another by the shores of the St. Lawrence opposite the extremity of Cape Diamond. Within its safe and ample bosom may be seen riding at anchor an immense number of merchant-men, and minor trading vessels, from various quarters of the world; but "the forest of masts," which is a conspicuous object in all busy sea-ports, dwindles here into insignificance, in consequence of its contiguity to thicker and more towering woods.

On entering this basin, a delightful combination of imposing scenery arrests the attention. On the left, the falls of the Montmorenci, the waters of which pour over a precipice Two Hundred and Ninety feet in height;-the rocks of Point Levi on the South shore, displaying signs of human industry down to the very banks; and the elevated promontory opposite, on which the city of Quebec stands ;-combined with the crowded trees on each side of the river, compose a grand scenic exhibition, from the contemplation of which the stranger turns aside with the utmost reluctance.

In fact, the whole country, for nearly One Hundred and Fifty miles below Quebec, differs greatly in its features from that which presented its rugged visage at the entrance of the Gulf, and is calculated most powerfully to affect the mind of an observant traveller. Admiration is excited, not merely by the novelty of the entire landscape, which, however, varies much from any in Europe; but by the broad masses of some of its component parts. Lofty mountains, covered with imper vious woods, whose summits bound the horizon, rapid and meandering rivers, which discharge their tributary streams into the St. Lawrence,-innumerable islands, the nurseries of luxuriant trees, whose umbrageous foliage throws deep and lengthened shadows over the vast expanse of waters with which they are surrounded, and numerous cataracts at several points in the distance, reflecting with effulgent brightness the rays of the sun, while they pour their foaming torrents upon projecting rocks, whence they rebound in light and airy spray, and when again collected rush downwards in an impetuous current, till they murmur at fresh interruptions, and hasten to gain the parent stream: These are some of the bolder and more uncommon features of the country, which offer themselves to the view of the spectator from the river.

But there are others of a milder and more civilised cast, that give an air of liveliness and delightful variety to several parts of the scene; and designate them as more peculiarly the abodes of men, and the objects of human culture. The

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churches with their tin-covered roofs and steeples, reflecting, at intervals of nine miles, light and splendour on every thing around them, the neat farm-houses which, for nearly fifty leagues, form a close and well-connected settlement,-the thick brush-wood on some points of the banks, and the beautiful diversity of the more minute parts of inanimate creation which fill up the interstices,→ exhibit altogether such an assemblage of every thing essential to constitute the picturesque and the romantic, that an attempt to convey any adequate idea of the whole, would only expose the insufficiency of human language and prove the absurdity of human vanity.

It was nearly six o'clock in the evening, when we anchored before the city of Quebec. As we sailed slowly up the basin, the cannon from the batteries, and the continued fire from the shipping in the port,-all saluting their new Governor, who had anchored a few minutes before us, created such a general confusion, that it was some time before I recollected our voyage was concluded. When the smoke had disappeared, the city, hitherto partially concealed from our view, presented itself in sober majesty.

The houses, most of which are covered with tin, rising tier above tier, in the form of an amphitheatre, the impregnable walls and batteries, pointing their foe-defying guns down the river,the Martello towers, with their more aspiring neighbour a Telegraph,-and the lofty steeples, whose o'ertopping spires illuminate the very heavens with

their chastened radiance, are objects which fill every stranger with an astonishment at once solemn and pleasing, and produce in his mind the most favourable impressions of the country.†

As soon as the revenue-officers had inspected the ship, orders were issued by our Captain, that no person should attempt to go on shore, until the ensuing morning. This injunction was not very patiently received by the passengers, many of whom were most anxiously desirous of mingling with the crowds that lined the quays, and were waiting to receive their illustrious Governor. As my father's family was not included in this prohibition, I received an invitation from Captain Blake to accompany him in an excursion to the city. The ship lay in the centre of the basin, which obliged us to put ashore in a boat. Arrived at the Queen's Wharf, we proceeded up a narrow gloomy street, partially illumined by a few paltry lamps, which were then just lighted. We next entered a more creditable street, (Cul de Sac;)

+ Some allowance, it may be supposed, ought to be made for the feelings of one who had not seen such a vast concourse of human dwellings for several weeks preceding. Admitting this, I may be allowed to add, the emotions that arose within my mind, at the first view which I obtained of Quebec and of the bold scenery in its environs, as I stood on the quarter-deck of the Brunswick, were excited, in all their freshness, at a subsequent visit to the capital. This, to myself at least, is a good criterion of the truth of my first impressions, and of the objects from which they were received; and it is confirmed by the acknowledgment of every intelligent man with whom I have had an opportunity of conversing.

crowded like the former with a motley train of all nations, from the torrid, frigid, and temperate zones; among whom it was impossible to say, whether the descendants of Shem, Ham, or Japheth were the most numerous. Africans, Indians, Americans, Europeans, and Asiatics, composed the variegated groupe. Some were clothed in purple and fine linen, and appeared, from certain external indications, to have fared sumptuously every day; others displayed their grotesque figures in a state of almost total nudity; and here and there a sable countenance was seen peeping through the spoils of the forest; while, at intervals, the eye relieved itself by resting on the charms of female beauty, arrayed

In all the glaring impotence of dress.

In a word, such an exhibition of the costumes of all the nations which inhabit the terraqueous globe, is nowhere to be witnessed, except in America, and perhaps in the modern capital of Russia. The confused chattering and inharmonious diversity of languages had such an effect upon my auditory organs, that I could almost have fancied myself about to place the last stone upon the Tower of Babel. Not a word of English did I hear, not a face that was English did I see, until, to my great satisfaction, I found myself in a British mercantile warehouse; where, on looking around me, and reflecting on the short excursion I had taken, I