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Show 1 0 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CAN ADA: another fort of nuns; and L'Ilofpital Generale, for the accommodation of the infirm poor, contains eighteen fccurs. The barr:1eks arc agreeably fituated ncar the river, a.t the lower end of the town; they nrc furroundcd by a lofty wall, and calculatt:d to con t:tin about three hundred men. Tile walls round the town arc mouldering away very fafl:, and in fome places nr totally in ruin s ; the gates, however, rt:n~ai n quite ~)erL ·ct. The walls were built principally a~ a defence a amfi the Indtans, J,y whom the country wa thicl ly inhabited when Montreal wa founded, and they w rc found nec:eO~try, to repel the open attacks of thcfc p oph.: as hte as the year r736. \.Vhcn the large fairs uicd to be held in Montreal, to which the Indians from all parts refortcd with their furs, they were alfo found extremely u (eful, a<; the inhabitants were thereby enabled to !hut out the Indians at night, who, had th y been [uffercd to remain in the town, addicted a they arc to drinking, might have been tempted to commit g reat outrages, and would have kept the inhabitants in a continual fiatc of ahnn. ln their be:O: !late the walls could not have pro t eCted the to m :1gainfl: cannon, not even againfl: a fix pounder; nor? indeed, would the fhongcfl: walls be of any ufc in defending it againil: artillery, as it is completely commanded by the eminences in the iOand of St. Helene*, in the River St. Lawrence. Montreal has always been an ea(y co1H1uefl: to regular troops. By far the greater number of the inhabit:mts of Montreal arc of French e traCtion; a1l the minent merchants, howeve r, and pri ncipal people in the town, arc either Englifh, catch, Irifh, or their defcendants~ :1ll of whom pafs for Engli01 with the 1• rench inhabitants. The French retain , in a great mcafure, the manners and cufl:oms of their ancefior, a!l well as the language ; they have an unconquerable averiion to learn Englif'h, and it is very rare to meet with any pcrfon amongO: them that can {peak it in any manner; but the Englifh inhabitants arc, for the moO: rart, wt:ll acquainted with the French langunge. • This i.Oo.nd was the lall place which lhc French furrcndcrcd lO lhc Driti.Ol, The I S L A N D 0 F M 0 N T R E A L. 1 8 1 The people of lVTon tn:al, in gcncr.l, arc r ·mark.tbly hofpitublc and attentive to flr:wgersj they arc ioc iablc :..,;[o amongfl thcmfdv s, and fond in the extreme of convivial amu k rncnts. In wint -r, they keep up fuch a conibnt and friemlly intcrcourfe .v.ith ca h other, th.lt it fccms then as if the town were inhabited but by one L rge funi ly. During fummcr they live fomcwhat more retired; h ,t t throu;)10ut that fcafon a club, formed of all the prineipal inhahit.tnts, both male and female, meet every week or fortni15 h t, for the purpok of di11ing :tt fomc agreca bl , ii)ot in the neighbourhood of the town . rl he i11.tnd of J\.t[ontr ; I i. about tWCl ty-cight mil s in length and ten in breadth; it is the lar•)c of kvcral ifbnds \·vhich an.: fi tu.t ed jn the St. Lawr ·nee, at the mouth of the U tawa River. Its foi l is luxuriant, and in fomc parts mu h cultivated and thickly tlJhabi tcd. lt is aprceably diverfificd with hill and d:tk, and towJ.rd its center, in the neighbourhood of l.Vluntr ·al, there arc two or thr ·e confidcrablc monntains. The largcfl: of thcf~ flands at the difh nce of abou t one mile from the town, which is named from .it. T he bafe nf th is mountain is furrounded with nea cou ntry honfes and gardens, and parti,ll improvemen ts have b en macie about one third of th way up; the remainder is entirely covered with la ity tre . On that fide towards the riv r .is a large old monafl:ery, with extenflvc inclofures W(lllcd in, round which the ground has been de red for fome difiancc. This op ·n part is cov red with a r.ich verdure, nd the woods en ircling it, in C\1d of being overrun witb bruDnvood, ;1re quite k arat bottom, i () th:tt you n ay here Toam about at plc.1furc fo r milt.:s top·cthcr, ihacl d, by the lofty trees, from the rays of the fun. The view from h ence is grand beyond dt:fcription. A prodigious expanfc of country is bid open to the eye, with the nobk river St. Lawrence w"nding through it, \1\-hich may e t raced fi·om the ren.o tdl. part of the horizon. The river cones fr rn the right, and flo\ 'S !moot 1ly on aft r paffing d wn tl e tremendous rapids a.bove the t vtn, where it is hurried over huge rocks with a. noifc that is h :ud even up i.he mountain. On i.hc left below you aprcars the town of M ontn.:. I, with its churches, monafl:crics, glittering fpir s, :1nd the fh.ip11ing under its old § wal~ ; , |