in fury; long sprays leap up from
below like grabbing fingers clutching to drag men down; miniature
whirlpools boil, and in the centre the water is forced up higher than at
the sides.

All the time our American friend and his son, who seems quite a man of
the world, and has been to the Falls several times before, are trying to
persuade us to go home by New York and pay them a visit _en route_.
Unfortunately we cannot. Our passages are booked by a steamer belonging
to the Allan Line, which sails from Montreal the day after to-morrow.
But I think perhaps sometime we may come back and make a tour of the
States!

[Illustration: THE ST. LAWRENCE.]

It is hard to say good-bye and tear ourselves away from our hospitable
friends, but it must be done. The next day sees us at the fine city of
Montreal, having come by way of Toronto, the capital of Ontario.

Montreal is a very bright city, with trees lining the streets and the
mountains rising at the back, and all the inhabitants seem cheerful and
good-natured. The great liner waiting to carry us homeward can only get
as far as this up the St. Lawrence in the summer; in winter she sets
down her passengers at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, right out on the ocean.

As she steams slowly up the beautiful river we see the trees bursting
out here and there into a perfect flame of colour. The maple is Canada's
special tree, and it is the maples that make those crimson flame-like
patches among the other foliage. We notice, too, what an unusual
quantity of dead wood is left standing; this, in a small country like
England, would be cleared out or cut away, but here the forests are so
vast that it is left to rot.

Then we pass Quebec on its heights, where Wolfe won his great victory,
and so made Canada British for ever. It is odd, however, to notice,
especially during the last part of our journey, how very French the
people are in their ways and customs. At one small station I remember
hearing a man chatting away in French and gesticulating like a
Frenchman, and as he turned to go another called after him, "Ha,
MacDougall!" The truth is that the original settlers here were mostly
French, but after a while many emigrants came over from Scotland and
intermarried with them, and the children, who naturally bore their
father's surnames, learned their mother's native tongue!

Once out of the St. Lawrence we begin to feel the roll of the great
waves, but we need not at this time of year expect a