inhabitants here and at Quebec generally are
entirely French Canadians, and the driver here, as at Montreal, was
quite in the Cohare[4] style for intelligence and respectable
appearance. The falls of Montmorency are a little way off the road, and
the approach to the top of the fall down a flight of wooden stairs is
very easy. The river here descends in one great fall of 250 feet, and as
the river is 60 feet wide, the proportion between the height and the
breadth of the fall seems nearly perfect. It falls almost into the St.
Lawrence, as it tumbles over the very bank of the latter river, and the
view up and down the glorious St. Lawrence is here very beautiful. We
were elevated so far above the bottom of the chasm that the spray
apparently rose up only a short way, but it really does rise upwards of
150 feet, and in winter it freezes and forms a cone of ice exceeding 100
feet in height, which is said to present a most wonderful appearance.

Returning to Quebec we had a splendid view of the town. The fortress on
Cape Diamond seemed to jut out into the river, along the banks of which,
and rising to a great height above it, the town lay in all its glory.
The tops of the houses and the spires of the churches are covered with
tin, and from the dryness of the atmosphere it looks as fresh and
polished as if just put up. The sun was shining splendidly, and the
effect was almost dazzling. This and the richness of the intervening
country produced an impression which it would be difficult to efface
from the memory. The citadel, I should think, is hardly as high as the
castles of Edinburgh or Stirling, but in this country everything (even
to the heavenly bodies!!!) is on such a scale that it is not easy to
draw comparisons. The guide book, however, says that the rock rises 350
feet perpendicularly from the river, so that by looking at some of your
books of reference, you may find out which is the highest. The approach
is from the town behind, by a zig-zag road, and the fortifications seem
very formidable and considerable, though papa says greatly inferior to
Gibraltar, or to Malta, which it more strongly resembles as a work of
art.

Mr. Baily procured us an order for admission, so that we went to the
highest point, and the view up and down the river was truly magnificent.
A little below the town it is divided by an island of considerable size,
and as the river takes a bend here, it is rather difficult to make out
its exact course.