lightning, occur during these months about once a-week, or every ten days, which generally shift the wind to the NW, and produce for a short time an agreeable coolness. The nights at this season exceed in splendour the most beautiful ones in Europe. To portray them in their true colours, would require more than any language can accomplish, or any pencil, but that of imagination, can execute." The winter, although very severe, is not without its enjoyments. The Canadians always take advantage of this season to visit their friends at a distance. By means of curioles, or sledges, they transport themselves over the snow in a most agreeable manner, and with a degree of swiftness that appears almost incredible; for with the same horse, they will go 80 miles a-day, so light is the draught of these vehicles, and so favourable is the snow to the feet of the horse. "Many of these are very handsome, ornamented with rich furs, and drawn by fine horses, with showy harness, set off by high hoops with silver bells on the saddles, rosettes of ribbon or glass, and streamers of coloured horse hair on the bridles; while the gay chirping sound of the bells, and the nice crisp sound of the runners of the sleigh through the new snow, have a very cheerful effect. Ladies' dress in winter does not undergo so great a transformation as that of men; all wear muffs and boas, certainly, but their bonnets and pelisses are much like those worn in England. Men always wear fur caps, often with large flaps down over their cheeks, enormous pea-jackets or blanket coats, with India-rubber shoes or moccassins of moose skin, or thick cloth boots, with high leggings. In the very cold weather they often wear coats of buffalo, or other skins, and move about like some great wild animal, with nothing to be seen of the human form but a blue nose and a pair of red eyes. Although the temp. is usually kept very high within doors, by means of stoves, people never seem to suffer by sudden transition to the extreme cold of the open air. The great dryness of the air preserves them from danger. In the very low temp., a razor may be exposed all night to the air without contracting a stain of rust. Colds are much less frequent in winter than in summer. The winter-markets at Quebec are very curious; everything is frozen. Large pigs, with the peculiarly bare appearance which that animal presents when singed, stand in their natural position on their rigid limbs, or upright in corners, killed, perhaps, months before. Frozen masses of beef, sheep, deer, fowls, cod, haddock, and cels, long and stiff, like walking-sticks, abound in the stalls. The farmers have a great advantage in this country, in being able to fatten their stock during the abundance of the summer; and, by killing them at the first cold weather, they keep frozen, to be disposed of at their pleasure during the winter. Milk is kept in the same manner, and sold by the pound, looking like lumps of white ice." [Hochelaga.] Soil and Cultivation.] The northern parts of L. Canada are too barren to be cultivated with any success; and, even in the neighbourhood of Quebec, the crops of grain seldom exceed 12 bushels to the acre. The settlements of this prov. are chiefly on the banks of the St. Lawrence; the soil of which gradually improves as you ascend the river. Wheat is sown early in May, and is generally ripe by the end of August. Maize also grown, and a little tobacco. The grass land is good, even as low as Quebec. Good arable land, in the best situations, sells for £5 per acre; indifferent land for 4 or 5 dollars; wood land for 2 dollars. When the French commenced their settlements in C., the country presented the appearance of one vast unbounded forest; and great privileges were bestowed on the colonists to encourage them to attempt its improvement. The lands on each side of the St. Lawrence, and of the rivers which fall into its channel, for a space of nearly 300 m. in length, extending from 90 m. below Quebec to 30 m. above Montreal, were granted, in extensive lots called seigneuries, to officers in the army, and such other individuals as possessed interest to procure them, and who thus became seigneurs or lords of the territory. These tenures were entirely of a feudal nature, held immediately of the king; and, upon every transfer of the property, the new purchaser paid a fifth part of the value to the receiver-general, who gave a receipt upon the title, and by this act invested him with the possession. Each of these seigneuries occupied from 100 to 500 sq. m.; and the proprietors were bound to concede them in smaller lots to settlers, upon certain conditions. These lots were very narrow in front, seldom extending along the course of the river more than 3 acres. but they stretched a considerable way, generally 80 acres, into the country. These grants, or concessions, were of a feudal char. acter; the grantees were the vassals of their lords, as the lords were the vassals of the king. It was seldom that any price was given by way of purchase money for these lots; and the rent paid by each tenant was very inconsiderable, frequently not more than three livres, (2s. 6d.) a-year, besides a bushel of wheat and a couple of fowls. But the seigneur derived a handsome revenue, partly from these trifling rents, partly from the fees received at his mills, to which his tenants were bound to bring their grain, and partly from the fine due to him upon every transfer of the lots by sale or long lease. There were about 100 of these seigneuries in Lower C., all subject to French law. By the 'customs of Paris,'-as the French laws of Č. were termed the lords, poor as they were, holding immediately of the crown, gave out portions of their seigneuries to other lords, who again gave out to others some of these lands, all which were subdivided into such small parts as not to be capable of further severance; and so these lands have descended ever since, so that now these subdivisions of property are a source of the greatest difficulty. One might read in a C. newspaper an advertisement offering for sale 1-300th part of one of these lordships. It was quite a common thing to see and hear of a third, of a seventh, or of a half of a sixth, and so on in such a way as made it quite impossible for any one to know what suit, or service, or fines, he was to owe. Each possession owed various services and duties, all of a most vexatious description. "Can a law," it has been asked, "which, along the whole coast of the St. Lawrence, so far as it is directly open to the sea, would keep every acre of real estate subject to the payment of a heavy tax on all improvement, to a seigneur who does nothing to im prove it,- -can such a law, by any skill of man, be kept in force for ever? All land held under the seigneurial tenure is burdened with a yearly payment of a fixed irredeemable rental-cens et rentes-to the seigneur, often light, but not unfrequently the reverse. Whenever it is sold, a twelfth part of the purchase-money is due to this same seigneur, in the shape of lods et ventes. Thus, if a man buy land for 1,000 dollars, and in a year or two improve or build upon it to the value of 20,000 dollars, it will cost him the twelfth part of that sum to dispose of what he has just spent so much to get. If he had made no improvements, he might have sold again for the twelfth part of his first 1,000 dollars, the cost at which his unimproving predecessor parted with it. Let an estate change hands often, and its whole value is soon gone, in successive twelfths to the do-nothing seigneur. The seigneuries extend all along both banks of the St. Lawrence, and for miles back on of late years, and to a small extent, that they hav Population.] The pop. of C., when it fell into the The habitans or French settlers "are usually tall and slender, jackets or mantelets, which are made of bright colours, and on each side, till we get beyond Montreal, the head of In consequence of the peculiar tenures before mentioned, their farms are generally small, and their capitals limited. They are also generally ignorant of recent improvements, inclined to indolent habits, and strongly averse to any innovations. It is only The landholders, among the old French settlers, are described from the pen of Volney, himself a Frenchman, is little favourable to talk of it. He consults his wife on what he shall do, and lis- band insists upon or yields the point, is irritated or disheartened. Sometimes his house is irksome to him, and he takes his gun, with good humour, or in quarrelling and scolding."-"This alone," adds Volney, "is one of the most distinguishing and characteristic features of the two nations; accordingly, the more I reflect on the subject, the more I am persuaded that the domestic silence of the British Americans is one of the radical causes of their industry, activity, and success in agriculture, commerce, and the arts; and the same applies to the English, Dutch, and other people of the north, from whom they are descended. In silence they concentrate their ideas, and have leisure to combine them, and make accurate calculations of their expenses and returns. They acquire more clearness in their thoughts, and consequently in their expression. Hence there is more decision in their conduct, both public and private, and it is more to the point, On the contrary, the Frenchman, with his perpetual domestic chattering, evaporates his ideas, submits them to contradiction, excites around him the tattling of women, backbiting, and quarrels with his neighbours; and finds at length he has squandered away his time, without any benefit to himself or his family." The antagonism between the French and English settlers, thus noted and lamented by Volney, many years ago, is still apparent to the latest observers. Sir Charles Lyell thus sketches the contrast in taste and habits between the two races even in the S part of the United States: "I observed that all whose native tongue was English were indignant at the small value which the captain seemed to set on their time; but the Creole majority, who spoke French, were in excellent humour. A party of them was always playing whist in the cabin, and the rest looking on. When summoned to disembark at their respective landings, they were in no haste to leave us, wishing rather to finish the rubber. The contrast of the two races was truly diverting, just what I had seen in C. Whenever we were signalled by a Negro, and told to halt 'till master was ready,' I was sure to hear some anecdote from an Anglo-Saxon passenger in disparagement of the Creoles. My attention was next called to the old-fashioned make of the French ploughs. On this river [the Mississippi], as on the St. Lawrence,' said an American, the French had a fair start of us by more than a century. They obtained possession of all the richest lands, yet are now fairly distanced in the race. When they get into debt, and sell a farm on the highest land next the levee, they do not migrate to a new region farther W, but fall back somewhere into the low grounds near the swamp. There they retain all their antiquated usages, seeming to hate innovation. To this day they remain rooted in those parts of Louisiana where the mother-country first planted her two colonies two centuries ago, and they have never swarmed-off, or founded a single new settlement. They never set up a steam-engine for their sugarmills, have taken no part in the improvement of steam navigation, and when a railway was proposed in Opelousas, they opposed it, because they feared it would let the Yankees in upon them. One of the passengers had been complaining to me that a Creole always voted for a Creole candidate at an election, however much he differed from him in political opinions, rather than support an Anglo-Saxon of his own party. I could not help saying that I should be tempted to do the same, if I were of French origin, and heard my race as much run down as I had done since I left the Balize. A large portion of the first French settlers in Louisiana came from C., and I have no doubt Gayarre is right in affirming that they have remained comparatively stationary, because they carried out with them, from the mother country, despotic maxims of government, coupled with extreme intolerance in their religious opinions. The bigotry which checked the growth of the infant colony was signally displayed when Louis XIV. refused to permit 400 Huguenot families, who had fled to 8 Carolina, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, to be incorporated among the new settlers of the Mississippi. Notwithstanding the marked inclination of the Anglo-Saxons to seek no other cause than that of race to account for the alleged stationary condition of the Creoles, I was glad to find that one of the most intelligent citizens of New Orleans took a more hopeful and less fatalist view of the matter. I observe,' he said, that those French emigrants who have come out to us lately, especially the Parisians, are pushing their way in the world with as much energy as any of our race; so I conclude that the first settlers in Canada and Louisiana quitted Europe too soon, before the great revolution of 1792 had turned the Frenchman into a progressive being. Among the Creoles with whom I came in able, and I felt as I had done towards the Canadian 'habitans, that I should have had more pleasure in associating with them than with a large portion of their Anglo-American rivals, who, from a greater readiness to welcome new ideas, are more likely to improve, and will probably outstrip them in knowledge and power." contact, I saw many whose manners were most polite and agree III. OF CANADA IN GENERAL.] We shall now devote a few paragraphs to some general notices of the entire province of C. which could not be conveniently arranged under either of the special heads of the Upper and Lower prov. customs of Paris,' was given to the colony, and a The government above traced has undergone several modifications of late years; and on the 23d July, 1840, an act was passed for the re-union of the provinces of Upper and Lower C., which are governed by a governor appointed by the Crown, assisted by a legislative council, and house-of-assembly; the former answering to the house-of-lords, the latter to the su-house-of-commons in the British constitution. The governor gives or refuses his assent to bills originating either in the council or assembly; but this assent or refusal must be signified within two years of the time when the bill is presented. The governor trans Government.] Previous to the year 1664, the preme authority in C. was entirely military; and the will of the governor was the sole fountain of justice. At that early period, a code of laws, founded upon the practice in Paris, and hence called 'the mits copies of such bills as have been passed; and his majesty may confirm or annul them within two years after such official information. In addition to these powers, he appoints the speaker of the legislative council; all the various functionaries of the internal government (judges, revenue-collectors, justices of the peace, militia and police officers, &c.); he exercises certain portions of the Crown's power in the government of the church, in presenting Protestant incumbents to parsonages, rectories, &c.; in virtue of his office of providing for defence against exterior attacks, he has the control over the British troops in the country, and the militia; he remits or carries into execution sentences of death; he may remit or commute fines, &c.-The executive council, corresponding to the privy council of England, consists of 12 members. Its office is to supply the governor-necessarily a stranger-with such information regarding persons and local affairs as is necessary to enable him to discharge the duties of his office. To this body are delegated the powers of the treasury. But the Canadians demand the immediate cession to the house-of-assembly of the whole public revenues of the province, from whatever source derived, without any preliminary stipulation for a civil list, or even for the continuance of a few life-charges created on the hereditary portion of those revenues, before the cession of her majesty's right to them was contemplated by government. The members of the legislative council, or upper house, are appointed and summoned by the governor under the queen's authority. They are not to be under 20 in number. These members continue in office during life, unless their place is forfeited by four years' continued absence, or by swearing allegiance to a foreign power. Their qualification consists in being seised as of freehold in lands or tenements of the clear value of £500.The house-of-assembly, or lower house of parliament, consists of 84 members, who are chosen by the freeholders in the towns and counties, each province returning 42. The qualification of electors remains the same as above-noted, and includes nearly every active male. The legislative council and house-of-assembly must meet at least once every year; and the same assembly continues four years, unless sooner dissolved by the governor. The forms of business are nearly the same as in the British parliament; the proceedings and reports are in the English language; and every matter is decided by a majority of votes. Her majesty has power to authorize the governor to appoint the time and place of the meetings of the Council and assembly, and to prorogue or dissolve when he shall think proper. On the union of Upper and Lower C., Montreal, from its centrical position, was made the seat of government; but this measure was very unpopular with the British settlers. In consequence of the outrageous proceedings of a party in Montreal styling themselves 'loyalists,' who publicly assaulted the governor-general, and set fire to the parliament-house, on the 26th of April, 1849, the seat of government was transferred to Toronto in Upper C.; and it is understood that this arrangement has been definitively settled. Judiciary.] There are independent supreme courts in Quebec and Montreal,-the court of Queen's bench for the district of Quebec, and the court of Queen's bench for the district of Montreal. The former consists of the chief-justice of the province, and 3 junior judges; the latter of the chief-justice of Montreal, and 4 junior judges. A court of Queen's bench for Upper C. is held at Toronto. There is an admiralty court in which a single judge-who is also one of the judges of the court of Queen's bench-presides. The two courts of Queen's bench have each a civil and criminal side, and despatch all business not included in the jurisdiction of certain petty courts. There is a provincial court at Three Rivers, over which a single judge presides; and similar courts at Gaspé and at St. Francis. From all these courts, with the excep tion of the admiralty court, there is an appeal in civil cases to the court of appeals at Quebec, which is composed of the governor or lieutenant-governor, two or more members of the executive council, and the chief-justice of Montreal,-any 5 of these form a court; but the judge from whom appeal is made is unable to sit on the trial of the appeal. All the judges are appointed by the governor; and there is a graduated scale of appointments, by which the younger judges are maintained in a state of expectancy of more important and lucrative situations. The salaries of the various officials are as under: The Revenue.] There are no direct taxes raised in C., except on licenses for retailing spirits. The revenue, arising chiefly from the duties of customs, yielded £206,000 in 1835, and £182,000 in 1836. average is £194,000. But, adding about £6,000 for sales of land and licenses to cut timber, the whole amounts to £200,000 gross receipts, and in currency, or £170,000 in British money. The taxes paid by the Canadians, therefore, amount only to 5s. 3d. per head, which does not amount to one-tenth part of the sum taken from the pockets of their fellow-subjects in Britain, and is even less by one-half than what is paid by the Americans in their neighbourhood. Of these taxes, too, a part comes back to them; for the civil government does not absorb one-half, and the residue is applied to the support of schools, and to other purposes for which a local tax would have been more appropriate. The Canadians, moreover, are so happy as not to pay for their own defence; Britain sustains that charge herself. In 1832, it was £208,000, and must be more now. Her generosity, indeed, goes much farther: she has disbursed about £2,000,000 within the last twelve years, on public works, chiefly on the Rideau and Welland canal. Religious establishments.] When under the domi nion of France, the inhabitants of C. universally professed the Roman Catholic religion, and the Jesuits were possessed of immense wealth in this country. In 1793, his Britannic Majesty erected the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada into a bishop's see. The bishop had the title of Bishop of Quebec. In 1839, the prov. of Upper C. was created a bishopric under the Bishop of Toronto. New settlers repairing to C. are encouraged by government to take out with them ministers of whatever denomination they choose; and 100 acres of ground is appropriated by government for the support of every such minister, which is cultivated for him by his flock. In Lower C., the great majority of the inhabitants profess the Roman Catholic religion. The annual expense of the ecclesiastical establishments in Lower C. is about £6,500. The bishop of Quebec has £2,000; the Catholic archbishop at Quebec, £1,000; the ministers of the Presbyterian churches at Quebec and Montreal, £50 each; and their brethren at Argentuil, £100. 66 Emigrants.] C. offers an excellent field to emigrants of industrious habits and accustomed to country life and labour; for artisans and mechanics the prospects of employment are not quite so good. But "with perhaps a few exceptions," says an intelligent settler, there will not be a family of emigrants to C., when ample scope is given to their labour and industry, but will, in the space of two or three years, be enabled to clothe their families with English manufactures." The emigration to C. and the United States for 12 years, from 1829 to 1841, was as follows: Canada. United States. 1829 15,945 11,501 1830 28,000 21,433 1831 50.254 22,607 1832 51,746 28,283 1833 21,752 16,100 1834 cleared farms will range from 20 to 30 dollars per acre, according to situation, &c.; and wild land at from 10 to 12-with the exception of the townships of York, Toronto, and Scarborough, in which the uncleared land is valuable for the wood, on account of their vicinity to Toronto. In the northern townships of the district, wild land may be bought at from 1 to 4 dollars per acre, and cleared at from 10 to 15 dollars. In the Huron district prices vary according to locality, with the exception of the two government townships, Ashfield and Wawanosh, where all the land (wild) is rated at 8s. currency. In the back townships between the Thames and Lake Erie, and also in those on Bear creek, land of fine quality may be purchased at from 1 to 3 dollars. On the river St. Clair there is but little wild land, at least close to the river, and that is worth 10 dollars per acre, the wood being in demand for the steamboats. In the townships of Plympton and Warwick, wild land of the best quality is to be bought at from 2 to 3 dollars per acre. By cleared farms is generally understood those which have from 70 to 80 acres cleared out of 100, and it is for such farms that these prices are calculated; and of course the price will always vary according to the quantity of land cleared and under cultivation, and the value of the buildings. Comparatively few British emigrants settle in Lower C. Indian population.] As the country is far from being completely settled, the ground already laid out in farms being only about one-tenth of that still lying in woods, the number of Indians is still considerable. In 1841, the Indians resident in Upper C. were returned at 11,143. All the various tribes of Indians inhabiting the British possessions in North America, and the back settlements of the States, have a strong resemblance to each other, in their general manners and customs. Their progress in civilization-if one may so speak, where so little progress has actually been made-is everywhere the same; they are all in that primary state of soci The emigration from 1842 to 1848 was as follows: ety which by philosophers has been called the state Animals.] The greater part of the animals peculiar to North America are found within the bounds of C. Of buffaloes there are three kinds: the bufAverage, falo properly so called, the musk-bull, and the bison. All lands in the possession of the Crown, with The buffalo has a striking resemblance to the comvery few exceptions, are sold at 8s. currency per mon ox, both in its appearance and in its habits: acre, which may be paid for either in cash or scrip. nevertheless, it is said to be a species entirely disThis scrip is usually to be purchased at a discount tinct. It is larger than an ox, high upon the shoulof 20, 25, and sometimes 30 per cent. If the settler ders, and deep through the breast. The flesh is used gets it at a reduction of 25 per cent., his land (sup- as beef; the hide makes good leather; and the hair, posing he purchases Crown lands) will only cost him which is woolly, has been manufactured into a kind 6s. currency per acre, which is 3d. per acre less than of coarse cloth.-The musk-bull is so called from a the government price of land in the United States. strong smell of musk of which its flesh cannot be In the Victoria district of Upper C., land near the divested. It has a hump on its shoulders, and very front may generally be purchased at from 4 to 10 long hair of a dusky red colour. They herd togedollars per acre for wild land; and for cultivated ther, abound chiefly in rocky and mountainous counfarms (including buildings), from 20 to 35 dollars tries, and ascend the steeps with much agility.-The per acre; in the back townships, at from 1 to 4 dol- bison, though more unlike the ox than the buffalo, is lars for wild land, and from 8 to 20 for cultivated. nevertheless found to be of the same species with In the Newcastle district, in the first range of town- the former. It is larger than the domestic ox, and ships, wild land will be worth from 5 to 10 dollars, has a bunch on the back which is covered with long and cultivated from 20 to 30; and in the back town- woolly hair.-There are several varieties of the deer ships, from 2 to 5 dollars for wild land, and from 12 kind in this country. The great stag, or roundto 25 for cultivated. Some few farms in the neigh-horned elk, is a very large animal, nearly 5 ft. high; bourhood of Port Hope and Cobourg may be valued as high as 40 or 50 dollars. In the Colborne district, in the townships of Whitby, Pickering, Scarborough, Markham, Whitchurch, York, Vaughan, the front of King, Toronto, and Chinguaconsy, and about 9 ft. in length from the end of the muzzle to the insertion of the tail. The horns are not palmated, but when full-grown measure about 6 ft. from tip to tip. Its hair is long, of a dark dun colour on the back and sides, and brown on the head |