St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-08-23
Letter from Quebec.

QUEBEC, Aug. IL, 1873.
Editor CdIedOnidn MANY of your
readers are familiar with the beauties
of this city of old renown, where the
Wolfe of England scattered the flock of
France, and quietly laid him down in
their fold to sleep his last sleep. But
not so many have fioated down the
wide waters of the st. Lawrence to the
far-famed Saguenay, and so have never
seen all the beauty of this part of the
world.
The Saguenay river rises in the
Wotchish MIS-, and, after flowing three
hundred miles in south -easterly course,
enters the st. Lawrence one hundred
and thirty-four miles below Quebec.
Midway in its course it enters large
natural basin, forming Lake st. Johns.
at is celebrated for its beautiful
scenery, stupendous cliffs forming the
banks in some places, and it is of great
depth. About sixty miles from its mouth
is Ha Ha bay, celebrated for its scenery"
1t was while the steamer was entering
the portals of this Ha Ha bay, after a
night voyage up the river, that we saw
the rising sun lend his beams to beau
tify the landscape: and charming in
deed was the view.
The bay is in the shape of triangle
with one angle at the entrance or
toward the East. Soon the cliffs, that,
like sentinels, guard the passage, settle
down in the distance giving place in
our view to less precipitous banks,
while around the harbor are lowlands,
dented by little inlets and striped by
: numerous streams rising in the noun
famous districts beyond. An inlet OF
two breaks the surface of the bay, while
. a village near by, and st. Alexis on the
opposite side of the harbor, with their
;. whitewashed houses and neat churches,
contrast pleasantly with the desolation
of the surrounding country.
Though uncultivated, this region pro-
duces blueberries in abundance, and
d here is the depot for them. Over three
thousand boxes, containing twenty
quarts each, are to be shipped this
morning. In the meantime let us run
wider view. At our feet the hamlet
= lies; beyond, the bay, its waters spark
T ling in the morning sun, and refectng
objects around, and its shores echoing
the songs of birds, the lowing of cattle
- and the shouts of men. Still further in
the distance are the cliffs cOncealins
the t0rtuous channel of the river, anG
rising high and grim above the horizon
Behind us the desOlate country stretches
away toward the Wotchish range and
= HudsOn's bay. Feast upon the view
long, for you will wander far before
you see such landscape again. Erect
- some monument, if you like, to show
the next pleasure seeker here that 9th.
;. ers before him have seen and admired
D. the grand and beautiful face of nature
and when done, return to the boat.
At length the cargo is loaded, tn,
captain returns from his salmon trou
st fishing, and our boat swings from he
moorings, leaving behind a scene NJ
less grand than some scenes in Europ,
which attract and delight travellers o
$. all lands.
y. Continuous walls of cliffs form bank
for the stream from the bay to th,
mouth, as if some huge plowshare hat
turned a furrow. Here we catch
glimpse of a waterfall, leaping down tn
: crags; there bare promentory lifts hi
. head above his fellows. Coming nearer
a cave appears, in which no man ha
ever yet set foot, and before which
sentinel crag kept needless guard fo
ages, before he was overcome by TIN
i' frosts of winter and hurled into th
e deep waters below.
i, Rounding this cape another gran'
a. view presents itself. Two capes, Trim
) ity and Eternity, appear, between whicl