xcellence_.

At half-past eight P.M. of the same evening I was put on board the
"British America" steamboat, a fine large-class vessel, having a
heavily laden schooner in tow.

As we swept down before the river-front of the city, I was struck with
the appearance of the steep tin-roofed houses and many little domes
glancing back the moon's rays; when, turning to regard St. Helen's, the
blaze of a port-fire arrested my attention; the flash of the gun
instantly succeeded, whilst, amidst its prolonged echoes, rose the
contending notes of drum and bugle. It was just nine o'clock; in a few
moments all was again calm and still, the last spire of Montreal quickly
retreated in the shades of night, and the low banks of the St. Lawrence
stretched away far and wide before us.

After a couple of hours' walk on deck, where two or three ladies and
gentlemen were promenading with the quick, active step that at once
proclaimed them English, I felt sufficiently wearied by some eighteen
hours actively passed on foot or in saddle, to calculate on a sound
sleep.

About midnight a devil of a row awakened me; I listened, and heard a
rush overhead like a burst of cavalry, the trampling of horses, the
yelling of dogs, together with the loud voices of many men in high
contention. What the mischief can have come to us? thinks I.

A stray waiter, whom I discovered discoursin' a friend in the pantry,
was at last made sensible of my calls, and from this youth I quickly
learned our whereabout.

We were lying at Sorrel, the country-residence of the Governor, Lord
Aylmer; and the noise was occasioned by the shipping of his lordship's
stud for Quebec, whither the family had removed from this summer abode,
to await and receive the commission about to supersede him in his high
office.

Finding that the din was not occasioned by an infall of the aborigines,
but was only a peaceful taking in of freight, I dismissed my waiter to
his friend and pantry, and "addressed me again to sleep."

_Sunday, 7th._--About noon arrived at _Trois Rivieres_, a very pretty
little town, which, being Sunday, was thronged with the rural population
of the vicinity attending church.

Numbers of these persons were pacing along the river-bank upon sturdy
little ponies, and in the harbour were many _bateaux_ filling with them,
before re-crossing the St. Lawrence: their dress was invariably neat
and picturesque, and their physiognomy, though somewhat heavy, was
gentle and