OCR Text |
Show !200 TRAV "LS THROUGH LOWER CAN ADA: under M ont!;omet .y an d A t· nold were rCf)Ul fc cl with a mere handful of men: the different d mchments, fent down from th_c upper town • 11. t11e former did not altogether amount, it is fatd, to two hun:: J gatnH • l1 . S J 1 · dred men. Arnold', attack W:l.S the mad cleO: pofTib1c ;_ 01 t. o 1n , Gate, and the , •alls adjoining, ar fiupcndous, :tnd a pcrfon need bu.t fee them to he conv inc d th:tt any attempt to fiorm them mufl 1 e frmtlefs without th aid of heavy artillery, which the Americans had ~ot. Ind pendent of wh,1t it owes to its fortiG :ttion_s, and fi ttt.ttlon on the top o f a 1. o c l.·.. , n~ u eb c j indebted for much of 1ts flreng h. to. the fe-v 1 i ty and grca t 1 ·n rrth of the win tel:, a, in that fcafon 1t 1 '~·ho l~ · .n· bl .c0 tmprautca e r ·:t beflcgino- army ctthcr to carrv on any wo1J ....s 0 1 J' • b " blockade.: the town. Jt.requires about five thonfand foldiers to man the works at ~ebee completely. A brge garrifon i always kept in it, and a~undan e of fl:orcs of every defcription. The troops ar~ lodged partly 111 barracks, and partly in block houfcs ncar Cape Diamond, whi ·h is the mofl: elevated part of the point, and is reckoned to be upwards of one _thoufand feet above the level of t JC river. The C, pe is fl:rongly fort died, and may be confidcred as the citadel of ~ · bee; it commands the town~ in every clircction, and alfo the plains at the outfidc of the walls. 1 he evening and morning guns, and all falutes and fignals, are fired ~rom hence. Notwithfl:anding the great height of the rock above the nver, water may readily be had even at the very top of it, by finking wells of a moderate depth, and in feme p:uticular places, at the fides of the rock, it gu01es out in large fl:reams. The water is of a very good quality. No ccnfus has been lately taken of the number of houfcs and inhabitants in ~ebcc 5 but it is fuppofed that, in luJing the upper and lower town and fuburbs, there are at lcafl: two thoufancl dwclllngs; at the rate of fix therefore to each houfe, the number of inhabitants oulJ a•non 1t to twelve thouf<111d. About two third of the inh<\bit~tnts an: of French extraction. The focicty in ~cb c i~ agrceablt, and very xtenfive for a place of the i1ze, owing to its being the capital of the lower province, and therefore the rcfidvncc of Q_ U E ll E C. !OI of the gove-rnor, difrcr nt civil oDiccrs, prin ipal L wyers, cc. . c. T'1c ]~rgc garrifon con!lantly kept .in it makes the place a1 pear very g·ty :-tn l hvcly. The lower town of ~c.:bcc is moll:Iy iJJhabitcd by the traders who arc concerned with t!Jc.: i11ipping, and it is a very di 1:1gr cabk pl.lce. The flrcets arc narrow and dirty, and owinrr to the grc.1t lwi (J·h t of the l1ou1cs in moft of them, the air is much confinc.:d · in the fl re~ts next tcJ the water alfo, there is oftcntimc.:s an int lctablc flcnch from the {hot , when the tide is out. The upper town, on the contrary, .is eA.trc.:mc.:ly agreeable: from its elevated fituation the :-tir is a pure a pof1ible, and the inhabitants arc never oppreflcd with heat in fummcr; .it is .t:u·, however, from being well laid out, the fl:reets being narrow and very irregular. The houfes arc for the moll: part built of flone, and except a few, ereCted of l:tte years, iinall, ugly, and in onvcnicnt. The chateau, wherein the gov mor rc.:fides, is a pbin building of common fionc, fituatcd in an open place, the houfcs round which, form three fJd s of an oblong fquarc. It conJifl:s of two parts. The oll and the new arc feparatcd from each CJther by a fpa iou court. The former {rands jufl: on the verge of an inacccDibh.: part of the rock; behind it, on the ontfiue, there is a long gallery, hom whence, if a pebble were let drop, it would £t11 at lcafl: iixty feet p8rpcndicularly. 'I his old part is chiefly taken up with the public oRiccs, and all the apartments in it arc fmall and ill ontriv ·d; but in the new parr, which flands in front of the other, fteing the fqnarc, they are fpacious, 'nd tolerably well fini{ hcd, but none of them can be called de;:,ant. Tlli~ p:trt i · inhabited by the governor's family. The chateau is built with out any regularity of defign, nc.:ithcr the old nor the n ·w part lt:L v in !r c vcu an uniform front. It i not a place of flrcngth, as commonly rcpr ·icnteJ. In the gardc.:n acljoining to it i · merely a pam pen wall along the edge.: f the rock, wirh embrafurcs, in which a few iinall guns arc planted, commanding a part of the lower town. Every evening during fummcr, when the w ather is ftne, one of the regiments of the garrifon parades .in the open pJa e before the chateau, and the band plays for an hour or two, at whi h D d time • , |