| OCR Text |
Show TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: farmers having nothing elfe to engage them, and having a quantity of meat on hand, that i never injured from being fcnt to market, flock to the towns in their cariol s in great numbers, and always well fup-plicd . The winter generally con tin ues till the latter end of April, and fome-timcs even till May, when a thaw comes on very fuddcnly. The .l.i10w foon difappears; but it is a long time before the immenft.: bo lies f icc in the rivers ar diflolved. The fccnc which prefcnt iticlf on tht.: St. Lawrence at thi feafon i moH tremendous. The ice t1·1l: bcgi11S to crack from fide to fide, with a report a lond as that of a c.umon. Afterwards, as the waters bccom fwollcn by the m lting of the fnow, i.t is broken into pieces, and hurried d wn the flream with prodigious impctuofity; but its coJtfe is often interrupted by rhe ill.tnd ' and !h-1llow places in the river; one large pice is p~rh 1 P" tir.t il ppcd, other pic 'CS come drifting upon tb.lt, and ~t length prodigi >n he.tpc; arc accumulated, in fome 1laccs rifin (r feveral yarcis .tbovc th-: level of the water. Sometimes thefe ruounds of icc arc driven from the ifbnds or rocks, upon which they have a~.cumnbtcd, by the wind, and ar..; floJ.tcd down to the fea in one C'ltirc boJy: if ]n ~o ing down they happen to flrikc again{\: any of the rocks along the ihor-:, the cntfh is horrible: at other times they rem, in in the f:tmc fpot where they were fidl: formed, and continue to obflrutt the navigation of the riv r for wcd.." afi:cr every appcar.1nce of froO: is baniihcd on D1 n..:; fo v ' ry widely alfv do they fr qucntly cxtcn l in p:1rticn .1r parts of th "' river, and ii folid arc they at the f<m1c time, that in cro!lin from D10rc to D10re, the people, 1nilc:..td of being at the tro tble of goi11g ronnd them, make di1 celly for the ice, d:fcmb, u k upon it, dr,1o- their bat aux or canoes acrofs, and launch them again on the oppofitc fill . As long a the ice 1 cmains in th' St. Lawren ce, no (hips attempt to p.1C: up or down; for one of the."c Luge bodies o icc is equally dangerous with a rock. The rapid pron-reCs of v,·2,etation in 'an:uh, :-ts fcon as the wint';·r is ewer, i mo!l: afloniG1ing. ..3prill,S Ius fc.uccly Jpp 'ard, w 1en you find it is fummcr. In a few days th.: 1ie1ds arc clothe l witn the ri<..hc11: verdure.:, and th trees ob ain t 11.. · • ult.J.;e. 1 he various produClions of the garden C L I M A T E. garden come jn after ca h oth r in quick fucceffion, and the gr, in foWl in May affords a rich harvdl by the latter end of July. This part of t c yc.tr, in wl11 h f]winrr and fumther are fo happily blended torretbcr, is deligh tful beyond defcription; nature then puts on her ga;dl: at tire ; at the fc11nc time the heat is never found oppreffive; it is [cldom that the mercury in ]•abrcl'lleit's th rmomctcr then rifes above 84": in July ·1nd A1 gufl: the weather becomes warmer, and ,L few days often inter enc vh 11 the heat is ovcrcommg; during thcfc months the mcrcmy! metimcs ri fes to f)6°. Th ~.Tc is a great difference, however, in the wcat b:::r at this fear n in different y 1r ~ : during the whole of the time tl at I was ill t1 e country, I never vbf.:rved the thermometer higher th:tn g, o; for the gre, ter p.u-t vf the rnonths of July ancl AuguO: it was ot 1i r-her than 8oo, and for many days together it did not rife beyond 6 5°, between 02eb.:c and Montreal. .' h~.: fall of the year is a mofi agreeable V'afon .in C.mada, as well as the fummer. It is obiervcd, that there is in general a diftcrencc of about three wcd~s in tl!c length of the winter at Montreal and at ~cbcc, and of courfe in the other fca[Jl1s. When green peas, flrawb rrics, &c. were entirely gone at Montreal, we met with them in full fcaCon at ~ - b~c. |
