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shilling." In a moment my graceful Indian maiden was changed into an Irish porter, and the burthen of fruits and flowers to my well-worn portmanteaus, which were presently laid at my feet in the barroom at Rasco's Hotel.

CHAPTER X.

KINGSTON.- -LAKE ONTARIO.

On this occasion my visit to Montreal was a very short one, but I have several times been there, both in winter and summer. There is but little in the neighbouring country to tempt you to explore; the ride round the mountain, indeed, gives some views of much beauty; particularly where you see the Ottawa pouring through its many channels into the northern branch of the St. Lawrence. Generally the country is flat, and has but little character; there are several islands about; that of St. Helen's is the most picturesque in the group, but unsightly barracks and rough field-works deform its gentle slopes.

A clumsy stage-coach carried me to Lachine, nine miles from Montreal: there it was put on board a steamer, borne through Lake St. Louis,

and released again at the cascades, to carry us on sixteen miles further to Coteau du Lac. In a short time the great works, to bear large steam-boats past all the rapids, will be complete: the Lachine, Beauharnois, St. Lawrence, and Welland canals will be the connecting links of this immense chain of communication; from the gulph of St. Lawrence to the furthest of the great lakes-one broad highway. We pass over Lake St. Francis, and through the St. Lawrence canal; opposite to its entrance is the Indian village of St. Regis, close to which is the boundary line between Canada and the United States, where the forty-fifth parallel of latitude strikes the great river.

The most remarkable of the rapids, whose interruption the industry of man is busied to avoid, is called the Cedars. The stream is here pent into several narrow channels among wooded islands, and tumbles fiercely along over its rocky bed. Steamers and other boats constantly venture down this perilous passage, but not unfrequently pay dearly for their temerity. At present they can only return up to the great lakes by the Ottawa river and the Rideau canal, from which they emerge at Kingston, on Lake Ontario; but the works are going on rapidly, and by them this great round

will be saved. In the year 1759, when General Amherst entered Canada, his advanced guard, of about three hundred men, was embarked above the Cedars; the intention was to float down and take up a position on the opposite side of the river. Perhaps it was that those dangerous channels were then but little known, or that the pilot played them false-none remained to accuse; the next day the lifeless bodies of the British soldiers, clothed in the well-known red, floating past the town of Montreal, gave the first notice of invasion.

There were many Americans in the steamer; at this time of the year great numbers, particularly from the sultry south, crowd all the conveyances in Canada and the northern States, in search of the health which their own climate denies them. Amongst them was a taciturn, sallow, austerelooking, middle-aged man, whose place at dinner, luncheon, and breakfast, happened to be next to me; he stared at me a good deal, but spoke never a word. Except when at meals, he sat in a particular part of the vessel, smoking without intermis sion, protected from the sun by the enormously broad brim of a white beaver hat. At Ogdensburgh, the first place on the American side where the steam-boat touches, we all went ashore for a few

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seconds, to stretch our limbs; my silent friend heard me say that I had never before been in the States; when he saw me fairly landed, he for a moment removed the cigar from his mouth and observed, "I reckon, stranger, you have it to say now that you have been in a free country." afterwards discovered that he was a planter from Alabama, and that, to the pleasures of his tour, he united the business of inquiring for runaway slaves. From Ogdensburgh, there is a daily American line of steamers up through the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to Lewiston, near Niagara. The inhabitants on both sides of the frontier are superior to any confined and illiberal feeling of nationality as to their preference for either this or the Canadian line; in comfort, speed, safety, both are on a level -and a very good level too; therefore, as either side abates a few pence in the fare, the human tide flows certainly to it. In most of the American steamers, here and elsewhere, the fare includes the expenses of the table for the passengers; a bell or gong summons them to the different meals. The table is usually covered with an infinity of very small dishes, containing a great variety of curious animal and vegetable matter, in such proportions that a plate may bear the contents of two or three

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