The geese raised on their farms afford sufficient feathers for beds; and the habitans are never without them. Their sheets and blankets are rather coarse, but manufactured by themselves of the fleeces of their sheep, and of the flax they cultivate.

The barns and cattle-houses are plain oblong buildings. The farms run parallel with each other: pole fences occasionally separate them, and from ten to seventy arpents of each are cleared and cultivated. The post-road runs across them all, and each habitan keeps his own portion in repair.

The most populous or important parishes or fiefs below Quebec, or at least those which arrested my attention most as a traveller, are Rivière de Loup, Kamouraska, St. Anne's, and St. Thomas'.

The saw-mills, erected on a great scale at an immense expense, on the Rivière de Loup, by Mr. Caldwell, are well worth visiting.

Kamouraska, during summer and autumn, is a very delightful spot. It is the watering-place of Canada, and is frequented, during the bathing-season, by families from Quebec and Montreal, who here enjoy a salubrious atmosphere, tempered by the sea air. A steam-boat occasionally plies between it and Quebec. There are several inns here; but the most commodious, and it was certainly very comfortable, when I visited the place, was kept by an Englishman. It had hot and cold baths, to which sea water was conducted, attached to the hotel. The St. Lawrence is twenty miles broad here; but above this its waters are no

longer salt. Salmon and herring are caught at the mouth of the river, and near the islands opposite. It is a small mountain stream with a fall, some distance, of thirty feet.

The scenery is very picturesque on approaching the parish of Ouelle; the parish or village of St. Anne is also populous, and prettily situated on the western side of the River Ouelle. In front there is a wide shoal bay; and opposite, the high lands of Eboulemens frown in the distance over the St. Lawrence.

The village church and the seminary, a handsome large stone edifice, three stories high, stand in a beautiful situation on the brow of Mont St. Anne. The seminary was established by the indefatigable energy of the curé, M. Painchaud, but not yet chartered. In the bay, a porpoise fishery has long been followed, at little more expense than by driving a line of stakes placed close together in an oblique direction, so as to lead the porpoises over the shoals lying between the mouth of the Ouelle and a rocky ledge which juts into the St. Lawrence four miles below. When the tide ebbs, the porpoises are left dry. They are from nine to sixteen feet long, and yield about a ton of oil each. The seigneur claims one-tenth as his due. There is a cross planted on the ledge of rocks, which the priest sanctifies every spring, to bless the spot where a successful fishery is expected.

The parish of St. Thomas, on the Rivière de Sud, is one of the most populous below Quebec. This river flows from the south, through a beautiful, extensive, fertile, and rather thickly settled country, and rolls over a ledge of rocks, twenty feet high, into the St. Lawrence. It has several excellent bridges over it; and along its banks are many of the best cultivated farms in Lower Canada. In the rear of the village, Chapel Hill, a pretty eminence, rises amid fertile

fields.

In the village there is a handsome, though plain, stone church, said to contain near 3000 persons. I had the opportunity of being at this church on a Sunday. Nothing could be more pleasing than the scene which presented itself. It was on a delightful calm summer morning; the meadows, corn-fields, and woods were as richly decked as imagination could well fancy, and the surrounding scenery as interesting as a picturesque tourist could even wish. The whole creation was wrapt up in peaceful, but not solemn stillness; for the lively verdure of the country, thickly decked with neat white cottages, and the smooth flowing beauty of the St. Lawrence, with several tall ships carried along by the tide, banished every impression except those of the most happy admiration, while the spirits were just raised to that pitch of cheerfulness, in which neither volatility nor gloom has any share.

About 10 o'clock, the roads leading through this extensive parish exhibited a decently dressed peasantry, clad chiefly in fabrics manufactured by them. selves, of the wool, and flax, and leather, and straw, produced on their farms. A great number moved on with a sober trot, in caleches or cabriolets; several on horseback, and others on foot; but no one disturbed the calm tenor of the day, farther than casual converse between two or three.

In church, if the most close and devout attention during the whole service of mass, and the delivery of a short practical, but not argumentative sermon, which dwelt altogether on their moral conduct,

without alluding to points of faith, be considered as general proofs of sincerity and piety, the habitans of this parish have undeniable claims to these virtues. I believe there is little difference to be found, in this respect, among the other parishes. If there be, I have failed to discover it; and admitting, as I have frequently heard, that they are religious by habit and imitation, rather than by conviction, no one who has travelled among them can deny that they are sincere, amiable, charitable, honest, and chaste. Let us leave abstract points of Christian doctrine to theological disputants; but if we look for a more correct or moral people than the Canadian habitans, we may search in vain. A Sabbath morning in the Scotch parishes most remote from the towns, bears the nearest resemblance to a Sunday, before mass, in Canada. The interval, however, between morning and evening service differs, but not widely; for, in both countries, those who do not return to their houses, spend the time in conversing on local incidents, or in communicating what news is gathered during the week. But the evenings of Sunday are far more cheerfully spent than in Scotland. The people of the parish often meet in small groups, or at each other's houses, for the sake of talking; and on these occasions they sometimes indulge in dancing.*

A low belt of thickly-peopled country, lying between the St. Lawrence and the high lands, extends from the Rivière du Sud until we arrive within a few miles of Pont Levi, where the post-road ascends over a high eminence, the heights of Lauzon; from which we have a rich prospect of the Isle of Orleans; and, soon after, the city of Quebec, and the heights and citadel of Cape Diamond, burst suddenly into the view, and draw our attention from all other objects. Before I attempt, however, to describe Quebec, I will finish my sketch of the lower country, by briefly describing the settlements on the north side, and the islands of the St. Lawrence.