AIR AND CLIMATE.

The climate is not very different from that of the New England States; but as it is farther from the fea, and more to the northward than most of them, the winters are more fevere. Winter continues with fuch feverity from December to April, as that the largest rivers are frozen over, and the fnow lies commonly from four to fix feet deep during the whole of that time. But the air is fo ferene and clear, and the inhabitants fo well defended against the cold, that this season is neither unhealthy nor unpleasant. The fprings open fuddenly, and vegetation is furprisingly rapid. The fummer is delightful, except that a part of it is extremely hot.

HISTORY OF ITS SETTLEMENT, &c.

Canada was undoubtedly difcovered by Sebaftian CABOT, the famous Italian adventurer, who failed under a commiffion from Henry Vil. But though the English monarch did not think proper to make any ufe of this discovery, the French quickly attempted it; we have an account of their fifhing for cod on the banks of Newfoundland, and along the fea coaft of Canada, in the beginning of the fixteenth cen tury. About the year 1506, one Denys, a Frenchman, drew a map of the gulph of St. Lawrence; and two years after, one Aubort, a fhipmaster of Dieppe, carried over to France fome of the natives of Canada, As the new country, however, did not promife the fame amazing quantities of gold and filver produced by Mexico and Peru, the French for fome years neglected the difcovery. At laft, in the year 1523, Francis I, a fenfible and enterprifing prince, fent four fhips, under the command of Verazani, a Florentine, to profecute difcoveries in that country. The particulars of this man's first expedition are not known, All we can learn is, that he returned to France, and next year he undertook a fecond. As he approached the coaft, he met with a violent form; however, he came fo near as to perceive the natives on the fhore, making friendly figns to him to land. This being found im practicable, by reason of the furf upon the coaft, one of the failors threw himself into the fea; but, endeavouring to fwim back to the fhip, a furge threw him on fhore without figns of life. He was, however, treated by the natives with fuch care and humanity, that he recovered his ftrength, and was allowed to fwim back to the ship, which immediately returned to France. This is all we know of Verazani's fecond expedition, He undertook a third, but was no more heard of, and it was thought that he and all his company perished before he could form any colony.

Is

In 1534, one Jaques Cartier, of St. Maloes, fet fail under a commiffion from the French king, and on the 10th of May arrived at Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland. He had with him two finall fhips befides the one in which he failed. He cruifed along the coals of that illand, on which he discovered inhabitants, probably the Efkimaux. He landed in feveral places along the coaft of the Gulf, and took poffeffion of the country in the king's name. On his return, he was again fent out with a commiffion, and a pretty large force; he returned in 1535, and paffed the winter at St. Croix; but the feafon proved fo fevere, that he and his companions must have died of the fcurvy, had they not,. by the advice of the natives, made use of the decoction of the tops and bark of the white pines. As Cartier, however, could produce neither gold nor filver, all that he could fay about the utility of the fet tlement was difregarded: and in 1540, he was obliged to become pilot to one M. Roberval, who was by the French king appointed viceroy of Canada, and who failed from France with five veffels. Arriving at the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they built a fort; and Cartier was left to command the garrifon in it, while Roberval returned to France for additional recruits to his new fettlement. At laft, having embarked in 1549, with a great number of adventurers, neither he nor any of his followers were heard of more,

This fatal accident fo greatly discouraged the court of France, that for fifty years no measures were taken for supplying with neceffaries the fettlers that were left. At last Henry IV. appointed the Marquis de la Roche lieutenant-general of Canada and the neighbouring countries. In 1598 he landed on the ifle of Sable, which he abfurdly thought to be a proper place for a fettlement, though it was without any port, and without product except briars. Here he left about After cruizing for

forty malefactors, the refufe of the French jails, fome time on the coast of Nova Scotia, without being able to relieve thefe poor wretches, he returned to France, where he died of a broken heart. His colony muft have perifhed, had not a French fhip been wrecked on the island, and a few sheep driven upon it at the same time, With the boards of the fhip they erected huts; and while the sheep lafted they lived on them, feeding afterwards on fish. Their clothes wearing out, they made coats of feal-fkins; and in this miferable condition they spent seven years, when Henry ordered them to be brought to France, The king had the curiofity to fee them in their feal-skin dresses, and was fo moved with their appearance, that he for gave them all their offences, and gave each of them fifty crowns to be gin the world anew,

In 1600, one Chauvin, a commander in the French navy, attended by a merchant of St. Malo, called Pontgrave, made a voyage to Canada, from whence he returned with a very profitable quantity of furs. Next year he repeated the voyage with the fame good fortune, but died while he was preparing for a third. The many fpecimens of profit to be made by the Canadian trade, at laft induced the public to think favourably of it. An armament was equipped, and the command of it given to Pontgrave, with powers to extend his discoveries up the river St. Lawrence. He failed in 1603, having in his company Samuel Champlain, who had been a captain in the navy, and was a man of parts and fpirit. It was not, however, till the year 1608, that the colony was fully established. This was accomplished by founding the city of Quebec, which from that time commenced the capital of all the fettlements in Canada. The colony, however, for many years continued in a low way, and was often in danger of being totally exterminated by the Indians. As the particulars of thefe wars, however, could neither be entertaining, nor indeed intelligible, to many of our readers, we choose to omit them, and in general obferve, that the French not only concluded a permanent peace with the Indians, but fo much ingratiated themselves with them, that they could, with the greateft eafe, prevail upon them at any time to murder and scalp the English in their fettlements. Thefe practices had a confiderable share in bringing about a war with France, when the whole country was conquered by the British in 1761; and at the treaty of Paris, in 1763, was ceded, by France, to the crown of England, to whom it has ever fince belonged.*

FACE OF THE COUNTRY, PRODUCE, &c.

Though the climate is cold, and the winters long and tedious, the foil in general is very good, and in many parts extremely fertile; producing many different forts of grains, fruits, and vegetables. The meadow grounds, which are well watered, yield excellent grafs, and breed vaft numbers of great and small cattle. The uncultivated parts

are a continued wood, compofed of prodigious large and lofty trees, of which there is such a variety of fpecies, that even of those who have taken most pains to know them, there is not perhaps one that can tell half the number. Canada produces, among others, two forts of pines, the white, and the red; four forts of firs; two forts of cedar and oak,

* For a more particular history of this country the reader is referred to Charlevoix's bitory of it; to the Encyclopedia Britannica; articles, Canada, Quebec, and America, No. 195, 200, and 207,

the

1

the white and the red; the male and female maple; three forts of afla trees, the free, the mungrel, and the baftard; three forts of walnuttrees, the hard, the foft, and the fmooth; vaft numbers of beech trees and white wood; white and red elms, and poplars. The Indians hollow the red elms into canoes, fome of which made out of one piece will contain twenty perfons; others are made of the bark; the different pieces of which they few together with the inner rind, and daub over the feams with pitch, or rather a bituminous matter refembling pitch, to prevent their leaking; the ribs of these canoes are made of boughs of trees. In the hollow elms, the bears and wild cats Take up their lodging from November to April. The country produces alfo a vast variety of other vegetables, particularly tobacco, which thrives well. Near Quebec is a fine lead mine, and many excellent ones of iron have been discovered. It hath alfo been reported that filver is found in fome of the mountains.

The rivers are extremely numerous, and many of them very large. and deep. The principal are, the Quattauais, St. John's, Seguinay,' Defpaires, and Trois Rivieres; but all these are swallowed up by the great river St. Lawrence. This river issues from the lake Ontario; and, taking its courfe north eaft, washes Montreal, where it receives the Quattauais, and forms many fertile inlands. It continues the fame courfe, and meets the tide upwards of four hundred miles from the fea, where it is navigable for large veffels; and below Quebec, three huudred and twenty miles from the fea, it becomes fp broad and fo deep, that ships of the line contributed in the last war to reduce that city, After receiving in its progrefs innumerable ftreams, it at last falls into the ocean at Cape Rofiers, where it is ninety miles broad, and where the cold is intense, and the sea boisterous. This river is the only one upon which any fettlements of note are as yet formed.

A river has been lately furveyed, by the deputy Surveyor General of Canada, from its entrance into the Bay of Kenty, near Cardaraqui, to its fource of Lake St. Clie; from which there is an easy and short portage acrofs N. W. to the N. E. angle of Lake Huron; and another that is neither long nor difficult, to the fouthward, to the old fettle. ment of Toronto. This is a fhort rout from Fort Frontinac to Michil limakkinak.

PRINCIPAL TOWNS,

QUEBEC.

Quebec is the capital, not only of Lower Canada, but of all British America; it is fituated at the confluence of the rivers St. Lawrence and

Sta

St. Charles, or the Little River, about three hundred and twenty miles from the fea. It is built on a rock, partly of marble, and partly of date. The town is divided into an upper and lower. The houses in both are of ftone, and built in a tolerable manner. The fortifications are ftrong, though not regular. The town is covered with a regular and beautiful citadal, in which the governor refides. The number of inhabitants is computed at about fifteen thousand. The river,' which from the fea hither is four or five leagues broad, narrows all of a fudden to about a mile wide. The haven, which lies oppofite the town, is fafe and commodious, and about five fathoms deep. The harbour is flanked by two bastions, that are raised twenty-five feet from the ground, which is about the height of the tides at the time of the equi

ΠΟΥ.

From Quebec to Montreal, which is about one hundred and feventy miles, in failing up the river St. Lawrence, the eye is entertained with beautiful landscapes, the banks being in many places very bold and fteep, and shaded with lofty trees. The farms lie pretty close all the way, feveral gentlemens' houfes, neatly built, fhew themselves at intervals, and there is all the appearance of a flourishing colony; but there are few towns or villages. It is pretty much like the well fettled parts of Virginia and Maryland, where the planters are wholly within themfelves. Many beautiful iflands are interspersed in the channel of the river, which have an agreeable effect upon the eye. After paffing the Richelieu iflands, the air becomes fo mild and temperate, that the traveller thinks himself transported to another climate; but this is to be understood only of the fummer months.

TROIS RIVIERES.

The town called Trois Rivieres, or the Three Rivers, is about. half way between Quebec and Montreal, and has its name from three rivers which join their currents here, and fall into the river St. Lawrence. It is much reforted to by feveral nations of Indians, who, by means of thefe rivers, come hither and trade with the inhabitants in various kinds of furs and fkins. The country is pleasant, and fertile in corn, fruit, &c. and great numbers of handsome houfes ftand on both fides the river.

MONTREAL,

Montreal ftands on an island in the river St. Lawrence, which is ten leagues in length, and four in breadth, at the foot of a mountain which gives name to it, about half a league from the fouth fhore.

While