New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-09-08
TRAVELS AT HOME.

VIII.
e.,y.spOndepoe Of The y. y Tribune q,
RTyIERE DU LoUP, Lower ST. Lawrence,
July o. 1860

hoard the steamer hargnet, Sap'' h'" ,
bound for the Sagueusy River. Most of the Sun
ner tourists whom we Lad met at Russells, on our
arrival, were boo Sed for the same trip and oil the
hundred p-.sseugers on board, more than half were
A~sricaus. The remainder were Eogh'n cana
dams bound Tor the various watering-plsces down
tha Ct Lawrence. As so Duch-Hay, sh-of cur
snio,mept depended on the weather, it was com
fortins to find the morning mist rolled away, tne
sky clear, and warm, genial sun IN the midst
Of it.
The st. Lawrence, which, at Quebec is not
more than mile wide, brosdens Immediately be-
law the city into majestic expanse OF water,
which The great Isle d'OrleaDs divides into two
nearly equal arms. The hurricane-deck oil the
steamer from the moment of departure, offered us
a nanorsma 90 grand, and fair, and attractive on
sl aides, that the fear of losing any portion OF II
kept us vibrating from f re to aft, and from All
forward again. Behind us lay the city, with lts
timed roofs differing in the morning sun'h'oe'
and its citadelrock Towering over the river;
nm the southern shore, Point Levi, picturesqney
climbing the steep bank, empowered ia dark trees;
then the wooded bluffs with their long levels oil
farmland behind them, and the scattered cottage
nj the habitams while, nOrthward the shore rose
with a gradual, undulstng sweep, glitterlog' lar
inland, with houses, aud gardens, ana cre"oi"g
villages, Until it reached the dark stormy hne OF
che Laureptier Mountaios ia the northeast. III
front the Isle of Orleans reproduced the picture OF
the shores. Pictures SO bright, 80 broad so
.rowdea with life and beauty, had not expected
10 fud.
"Tbis is no longer America" said my friends.
there was not a feature in all the wide view
fexcept our double decked steamer), to remind US
of the New World; yet, on the other band, we
could lot have referred it to any one portion OF
Eurooe. The sky, the air, the colOrs of the land
sc,pe, we're from Norway; Quebec and the sur
rounding villages suggested NOrmandy-except the
tin roofs and spires, which were Russian, rather;
while here and there, though rarely, were the
marks of English occupancy. The age, the order,
the apparent stability and mmObility OF society," as
Illustrated by external things, belonged decidedly
to Europe. This part Of Canada is but seventy or
eighty years older than New. England, yet there
seen 70 be difference of five hundred years.
century of foreign domination has made no mate
rial change in the character and habits of the
French population. In fact the change in the
peassntry of France has been much greater during
the same period. That magic atmosphere of the
past, which makes Europe so attractive to an
American, already spreads thin vail ever these
Cansdian shores.
knew that the Falls Of Montmorenci were eight
miles east of Quebec, alo, having traced cOOtiDu-
oUs line of cottages aud gsrdens--the evidences of
q much travelled road-f,om the city TO the top of
deep, black chasm in the shore, opposite the Isle
d'Oilears confidently announced the spot to my
companions. As we approached the end nf thn
island, sparkle of silver light shone through the
trees frirgirg the chasm--tben long, wavy line,
and, at length, the whole cascade opened to view,
entering in the sun. We were two or three miles
distant, and no sound reached our ears, but the
movement of the falling water, the Silent play of
ARREST light and shadow over its face--like rppes
en- skein of snowy silk-was luisitey beautiful.
Many varieties of scenery as have looked upon, it
was at last something new TO zee a great waterfall
set in the midst of vast sunny landscape, where
1t is of many features, and not itself the
point TO which all others are subordinate.
Taking the channel between Isle dOrleans and
the south shore, lost sight of Quebec, and set
tied ourselves quietly on the forward deck, to con-
template the delicious pastoral pictures which
were unfolded on either side. The island, which
is twenty miles long, is de- sey populated and most
thoroughly cultivated. The high, undulating hls
are dotted with cottages, mostly white as snow,
roof ard all, and every cove of the irregular shore
has i.s village. Most of the ST. Lawrence pilots
have their homes upon this island, the population
of which lie exclusively French The permane zee
of habits to which have referred, is exhibited on
the southern shore of the river, where the broad,
original fields of the father have been pOTtiOned
amt ne his children, and their diminished inherit
aDces again subdivided among theirs, until you see
narrow ribbons of soil rather than felds. There
is thus an apparent density of population an
aspect of sge and long culture, which is scarcely
to be seen anywhere else on the American CONT
nent.
The grand features of the scenery, no less than
the power of transmitted associations, must bind
these peop,e TO their homes. They are happy, con-
tented and patriotic--if such term can be prop
erly applied to them, whe, governed by foreiga
race, have forgotten the ties which once bouod
them to their own. The soil, believe, is good,
but the climate-that of lat. 6Oo on the European
Coast-mskes their lives necessarily laboriOus, and
diministes the profits of agriculture to such an ex
tent that most of them barely live. Cattle must
be stabbed during seven mon lbs OF the gear, and
when the hay crop fails, as this Summer, half their
resources fail with il. A gentleman who owns
farm on the no thern shore informed me that he
can Just support his family and no more. Another,