which nature has not refused them in a region so remote, and beneath a climate so severe.

In regard to soil, indeed, that of a large portion of the provinces is uncommonly good. If it is not to be compared, in this respect, to the rich plains and valleys to the south of the lakes, and along the courses of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and their tributary streams; yet, as the forests are cleared away, they present, over extensive tracts, a dark earth, which is very fertile. The texture of the soils generally over the face of the country, is said to be less palpable than in Great Britain,,which is attributed to the frosts and thaws; and in many parts, such is their richness, that the farmers are afraid of superabundant produce, lest the price should fall. With respect to Lower Canada, it has been observed, that the land improves in proceeding from the east towards the west. From an irregular and uneven surface, consisting of sand or gravel, it changes to clay and loam; and in the western part becomes mixed with a good black earth, supposed to be endued with properties peculiarly fertilizing. An effort has been made to introduce hemp and flax among the staple articles of the province; but though the different soils are said to be well suited to their growth, the inadequate measures that have been pursued, the want of general agricultural knowledge, the prejudices of the farmers, and other circumstances, have impeded their successful cultivation. In Upper Canada, as the country has been less thickly settled, the soil is of course less known; it is said, however, in general, to be excelled in few parts of the continent, and to be so happily varied in its nature, as to present situations where agriculture may be profitably carried on in all its branches. Along the northern shores of the St. Lawrence, the land rises only a few feet from the river bank, and thence extends in an almost uniform level; well watered, and of great fertility; above this—that is, on the edge of lake Ontario-there runs a ridge of highlands, not indeed of any great breadth across, but embracing a large portion of the settled land. When, however, we pass the western extremity of Ontario, we find, in the peninsula formed by lakes Erie and Huron, a region uncommonly rich, and so diversified with rivers abounding with fish, and woods, thickets, and meadows filled with game, that it has attracted the particular notice of all who have explored it. Beyond this, the provinces can scarcely be called settled; large tracts of land stretch far to the north and west, but they are covered with immense forests, and are known only to the Indians and the hunters who roam over them in the chase.

Canada does not appear to be particularly rich in mines, or perhaps it has not been sufficiently explored, to know its real resources in that respect. The Indians, who are best acquainted

with them, have a superstitious prejudice, which prevents them. from divulging their existence and situation to a white man; and the thickness and intricacies of the forests, and the length of time during which the land is covered with snow, conspire with this to retard discovery and research. Iron ore, however, occurs in several places, and in considerable quantities. Very early in the last century, its abundance in the neighbourhood of Three Rivers, led to the establishment of a foundry, which has existed ever since, and has at length become the principal manufactory of hardware for the province. Near Hull, on the Ottawa, and at Marmora, on Crow river, ore has been observed in large quantities and of excellent quality; and in exploring the Saguenay country, a few years since, strong indications were noticed of rich and valuable beds of it. In some spots, the ore was seen near the surface of the ground, in black metallic masses, and all the information that could be obtained, led to the belief that it might be procured around to a considerable extent. Plumbago is supposed to prevail largely, up the Ottawa; and at the falls of the Gattineau, it has evidently been washed down for ages, in great quantities, the banks of the river in that neighbourhood being covered with it. On the borders of the same stream, much lead and tin abound; beautiful specimens of which are from time to time brought in by the Indians. Silver, too, has been procured in the neighbourhood of the bay of Quinty, on the northern shores of lake Ontario ; and if the Rocky Mountains were considered as part of the province, it probably possesses there mines of this metal, as rich as those in the continuation of that vast chain far to the south. Of a mineral less valuable in general estimation, but ministering far more directly to the comforts of mankind, only a few indications have been noticed in Canada; it has been said, lately, that a large deposit of bituminous coal has been discovered in the neighbourhood of St. Paul's bay, in Lower Canada; but it is uncertain what credit should be attached to the report; small quantities have been seen also about Quebec, but there is no appearance of any abundance. The prevalent stone is limestone, and granite is also common in great varieties; there are many kinds of sandstone and slate, but flint and chalk are rare, although there is plenty of flint sand, which might be used in the manufacture of glass. At the mouth of the Saguenay river, extensive beds of marble have lately been explored, the existence of which was partially known in the time of Charlevoix; this marble is remarkably translucent, and of a dazzling white colour, occasionally slightly tinged with pink; its solidity, too, is such, as to render it at once a durable, cheap, and beautiful material for building; but it does not appear to have that granular structure which is essential for the statuary. In no

ticing the minerals of Canada, a traveller is struck with the great number of boulders, or large round stones, found in the rivers at the foot of the rapids, and, in general, differing entirely from the neighbouring rocks; there is little doubt that these are brought down from the lakes above, by the sheets of ice on to which they have fallen, or into which they have been frozen along the shallow shores. Perhaps, in a similar manner, the icebergs from the Arctic seas, have brought into the gulf of St. Lawrence the boulders of similar character, but infinitely larger, which line its shores; these are of a dark gray colour, very hard, and frequently not less in weight than twenty tons.

Another circumstance may impress a traveller with surprise; it is, to find in a region so remote, productions which are to be expected only in more genial climates; yet grapes are raised in the open air, of the finest kind, and in the greatest profusion; melons are indigenous, and all the usual garden fruits are produced in as much perfection as in many southern countries. The wheat and grain, too, though not sown till May, are ripe in August, and require only a better husbandry to render them an article of greater export. The neglect, however, in this respect, may perhaps be attributed to the readier inducements to commercial speculation, found in the boundless forests, that still continue to be the great characteristic of this province. It is from these, that the vast rafts which are seen floating down the St. Lawrence are formed, and from these, that the larger portion of the vessels which navigate it, derive their cargoes. They afford nearly every species of valuable timber. The oak grows in extensive groves near the banks of some of the large lakes and rivers, having a medium thickness of eighteen inches square, and height of fifty feet. The pine, the most common timber of Canada, is found, chiefly in large quantities together, and is about twenty inches square, and sixty feet long, on an average; it is, however, the loftiest tree in the forest, and looks down on the more sturdy oak. These form the principal articles in the trade of lumber; but besides them, the birch, the beech, the elm, and the maple, abound in all directions. From the forests, too, especially such as lie more remote from civilization, are brought, what may be deemed the other great staple of Canada, its furs and peltries. These, it is said, are becoming every day more difficult to be obtained, notwithstanding the vast space the animals have to breed on; for it seems to be a truth in natural history, that when pursued by man, when their haunts are broken up, and their habits invaded, their increase is diminished far beyond what might be expected to arise immediately from their destruction. The furs are chiefly those of the fox, the beaver, the otter, the muskrat, and the wild cat; and also, of the decr, the bear, and the

buffalo. It is, indeed, remarkable, how little ferocious in their natures are the wild beasts that inhabit these forests. The wolf, though larger than that of Europe, will skulk away when approached by man; the bear steals out from his hollow tree to pursue his prey unobserved; the snakes are not of the venomous nature of those farther to the south, though the Indians and voyageurs have traditions of islands where such are collected in vast numbers, forming knots and wonderful festoons. Indeed the traveller will find, that he has less cause to dread the larger animals of prey, than the smallest, and apparently most insignificant creatures. The stories which have been told of musquitoes, and other insects, appear truly ludicrous, yet repeated observation has thoroughly confirmed the fact, that in the short and rapid summers of northern climates, they exist in such numbers, and display such powers of annoyance, as to render them serious foes.

The heat, indeed, of the Canadian summers, is very remarkable; for it is great, not merely in proportion to the severity of the cold, but is actually intense; the thermometer, during the hottest weather, varies, usually, between ninety-six and one hundred and two degrees of Fahrenheit, and nothing but the uncommon purity of the atmosphere abates the oppressive fervour which such a temperature must produce. Rain, at this season, is not abundant, and is generally attended by thunder and lightning, which are uncommonly loud and vivid. From these extremes of heat, the transition to cold is so sudden, that the thermometer has been known to fall nearly thirty degrees in a very few hours. When the winter has fairly set in, the excess of cold is equally remarkable; the depression of the thermometer is sometimes as low as thirty-six degrees below zero; this, indeed, is to be considered as its extreme, which may happen only once or twice in a season, or, perhaps, not more than thrice in two seasons, and then its continuance rarely exceeds forty-eight hours; but the general range of cold, has been estimated from twenty degrees above, to twenty-five degrees below zero. In October, the frosts usually commence; and from that time, one snow storm rapidly succeeds another, until the whole country is covered to a great depth. Violent hurricanes are frequent until the middle of December, and gales of biting coldness blow from the north. Serener skies, and less tempestuous, though not warmer winds, at length set in, the streams become frozen, and winter assumes his undisputed reign. The communication, by means of the rivers, is changed in its character; tracks are soon marked out along them; a more expeditious intercourse is maintained by vehicles of transport of all descriptions; and traineaux, sleds, and sleighs, convey passengers and loads of merchandise in all directions with inconceivable velocity. The in

tense cold is augmented and maintained by the prevalence of north-western winds during this season; sweeping across the mountains covered with perpetual snows, which intersect the cheerless regions that stretch from the St. Lawrence to the pole, they acquire a severity that is undiminished by the change of latitude. The thickness of the ice depends much on the rapidity and eddies of the stream, and its exposure to the winds; but it has been observed, that on the large lakes it is never so thick as on the lesser ones, under the same parallel of latitude; when that of lake Ontario is within half an inch of two feet, that on the Chaudiere is three feet and a half. The lake ice does not remain level; it swells and gently curves upwards, and enormous cracks, from side to side, take place along the top of the curve; as these form, they make a heavy sound, which is heard to a great distance, and they present a dangerous obstacle to travellers along the lakes. About the latter end of April, the snows begin to dissolve, and as soon as they disappear, spring advances rapidly, vegetation resumes its activity, the ice is broken up on the lakes and rivers, and immense masses of it are hurled down by the floods, swollen with melted snow, tearing away in its course rocks and trees, from the neighbouring shores and forests; spring and summer are blended together, and the rapid increase of heat leaves no vestige of the long and bitter season which has passed.

Though Canada, like the more eastern and northern parts of the continent, is, in general, free from earthquakes and those violent convulsions of nature, which elsewhere prevail, it bears many marks of their ravages, in times more or less remote; and there are particular spots at which they are still said to occur. Lieutenant Baddeley, in his valuable researches in the Saguenay country, obtained particular information with regard to those which have been noticed in the neighbourhood of Malbay, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. About thirtysix years ago, these shocks were much more violent than at present, but they still happen nine or ten times a year. "They are most frequent in January and February; their direction appears to be north-west; the duration of the movement is about one minute; and notice of the coming motion is generally given by a noise like a chimney on fire, sometimes accompanied by two distinct blows. The weather, previously, is sometimes sultry, at others cold; in the former case, it becomes cool after the shock, and in the latter, mild; when foggy, it clears up afterwards; in short, they are always accompanied by a change of weather."*

* Lieutenant Baddeley, on the geognosy of a part of the Saguenay country, in the Quebec Transactions, p. 142.