-west, remind the
Canadians of the approach of snow and ice. November and April are the
two most disagreeable months of the year: in one of these the snow is
beginning to fall, and in the other it is going away.

MR. HALL'S _Journey from Quebec to Montreal_.

MR. HALL was in Canada during the summer of 1816; and, on the
28th of July, he left Quebec, on a journey to Montreal. He deviated
somewhat from the usual road, that he might pass by the _Jacques Cartier
bridge_, six or seven miles above the ferry. Here the river falls wildly
down, betwixt its wooded shores; and, after forming several cascades,
foams through a narrow channel, which seems cut out of the solid rock,
to receive it. The rock, which constitutes its bed, is formed into
regular platforms, descending, by natural steps, to the edge of the
torrent. The Jacques Cartier is a river famous for its salmon, which are
caught of large size, and in great abundance, below the bridge. At the
foot of this bridge stands a little inn, where the angler may have his
game cooked for supper, and where he may sleep in the lull of the
torrent, below his chamber-window. After quitting this neighbourhood,
the scenery of the St. Lawrence becomes flat and uniform. The road
follows the direction of the river, sometimes running along the cliff,
which once embanked it, and sometimes descending to the water's edge.

From Quebec to Montreal, the country may be considered as one long
village. On each shore there is a stripe of land, seldom exceeding a
mile in breadth, which is bounded by forests, and thickly studded with
farm-houses, white-washed from top to bottom: to these, log-barns and
stables are attached, and commonly a neat plot of garden-ground.

Mr. Hall preferred the travelling in Lower Canada to that in every other
part of the American continent. You arrive (he says) at the post-house,
(as the words "_maison de poste_," scrawled over the door, give you
notice;) "Have you horses, Madame?" "_Oui, Monsieur, tout de suite._" A
loud cry of "_Oh! bon homme_," forwards the intelligence to her husband,
at work, perhaps, in an adjacent field. "_Mais, asseyez vous,
Monsieur_;" and, if you have patience to do this quietly, for a few
minutes, you will see crebillion, papillon, or some other _on_ arrive,
at a full canter, from pasture, mounted by honest _Jean_, in his blue
nightcap, with all his habiliments shaking in the wind. The preliminary
of splicing and compounding the broken har