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Show 190 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: L E T T E R XXIII. Vo)1age to GJucba down the St. La'wrcnce.-A Bateau preferable to a Keel Boat.-~orzt.m qf Sorelle.-Ship-bui!d£ng tbere.-Difcription of Lakt St. Pt'erre.-Balifco7t.-Cbarming Scenery along the Banks qf St. Lawrcnce.-In •what nfpe[/s it df(fers from the Scenery along any other River £n America.-Canadian Hoifes.- ':iketch qf the Charatler and manners if the lower Clafjes of Canadiam.-Their Supajlition.Anecdote.- St. Augujh'n Calvaire.-Arriuc at ~ebec. OEebcc, Augu.fi. WE remained in Montreal until the :fidl: day of Auguft, when we fet off in a bateau for ~ebec, about one hundred and fixty miles lower down the St. Lawrence. A bateau is a particular kind of boat, very generally ufed upon the large rivers and lakes in Canada. The bottom of it is perfectly flat, and each end is built very lharp, and exactly alike. The fides are about four feet high, and for the convenience of the r-owers, four or five benches are laid acrofs, fometimes more, according to the length of the bateau. It is a very heavy awkward fort of veffel, either for rowing or failing, but it is preferred to a boat with a keel for two very obvious reafons; firfi, becau[e it draws lefs water, at the fame time that it carries a larger burthen; and fecondly, becaufe it is much fafer on lakes or wide rivers, where florms arc frequent: a proof of this came under our obfervation the day of our leaving Montreal. We had reached a wide part of the river, and were failing along with a £wourable wind, when ftlddenly the horizon gre 11 very dark, and a dreadful ftorm arofe, accompanied with loud peal•; of thunder and torrents of rain. Before the fail could be t1.ken in, t e ropes which held it were [napped in pieces, and the waves began to d. {h over the fides of the bateau, though the water had bet!n qnitc 1mooth five minutes before. It was impoffible now to counteraCt ll t; force of the wind with oars, and the bateau was confequently driven on :fb.ore, but the bottom of it being quite flat, it was carried fmoo-thly npon the beach without fuflaining any injury, S 0 R E L L E. injury, and the men leaping out drew it up on dry land, wh.::re were~ mainvd out of all dan rrer till the ftorm was over. A keel bo.1t, however, of the f;tme fize, could not have approachcJ nearer to the {bore than thirty feet, and ther~ it would hav ftuck fa.fl: in the f.1.n l, and probably have been fi lled wtth water. From· bcinrbr fitted Urt ) "" 1't was, our bateau proved ~o be a very plc:t(1.nt convcyan e: it was one of a large fi ze, and over the ~v1ddl: part of it ::u~ oilcl th awning was thrown, fupported by hoops fimtl a.r to the roof of a waggon : thus a mofl: xccllent cabi1 was for~1ed, large enough to contain half a dozen chairs and a table, and wh1ch, at the fame that it afforded iheltcr from the inclemency of the weather, was airy, and fu.fTiciently open to let us fee all the beauties CJf the profpeCt on each ihore to the greateO: advantage. It was about eleven o'clock in the morning when we left Montrea1, and at fi~e in the afternoon we reached the town of Sorelle, fifteen leagues dt·!bnt. Tkle current is very ftrong the whole way between the tw~ pla ces. Sorelle fiands at the mouth of the river of the [ 1me name, wh1ch runs from Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence. It was laid out about the year 1787, and on an e:xtenfive plan, with very wide ftrcets and a large fquare, but at prefent it contains only one hundred houfes, are all very indifferent, and ftanding widely afunder. This is the o~ly tow~ 01.1 the St. Lawrence, between Montreal and ~ebec,. wherem Enghlh IS the predomin.ant language. The inhabitants ~onflll:. principally of loyalifls from the United States, who took r fuge in Canada. The chief bufinefs carried on here is that of /hip-building; ther are feveral veffels annually hunched from fifty to two hundred tons bur~ hen; the~e are fiolted down to ~ebec, and there rigged. Ship-building lS not earned on to [o much advantage m Ca.nad{l as might be imagined~ ~11 the bolts and other articles of iron, the blocks,. and the cordage, being ~mport.ed; ~o t.hat what is gained by having excellent timber en the fpot lS loft m bnngmg over thefc different articles, which are fo bulky, from, Europe. The river of Sorelle is deep at the mouth, and affords good ihelter for fi1ips from the ice, at the breaking up of winter: it is not navigable far beyond the town, even in boats, on account of the rapids. |
