66

LOWER CANADA.

a scanty and precarious subsistence, than leave their friendsbehind.

The sugar that is collected from the maple-tree overCanada and the Northern States of America, amounts to alarge quantity in the aggregate. But it is almost entirelyconsumed in the districts in which it is collected, and boththe Canadas import a considerable quantity of sugar from theWest India Islands. The sugar is obtained from the treesin April by making incisions in the trunk. The sap beingcollected in wooden troughs, is boiled down to a certainconsistence, after which it crystallizes on cooling. It iscommonly used in a rough and unpurified state, and thoughretaining the peculiar flavour of the maple, is far frombeing disagreeable. During the collecting season parties gointo the woods and camp out for several weeks, when theprocesses of bleeding the trees and boiling down the sap arejointly carried on. The maple is often seen growing on verybarren soils, but its trunk is seldom more than a foot and ahalf in diameter. A single tree, on an average, yields aboutone pound of sugar in a season.

At the junction of the St. Charles River with the St.Lawrence, Quebec is built, on the steep slopes and brow of ahigh and sharp promontory that points down to the Isle ofOrleans, where the noble river begins to open out into abaylike breadth. The streets leading from the wharves arenarrow and steep, and are at this season all bustle andactivity. The St. Lawrence commonly freezes here by theend of November, and business is in a manner suspendeduntil the following May. During the close season the townis deserted by the labouring population, who then findwork in the country. In the town and neighbourhood thereare many spots of great historical interest, and the view fromthe fortifications is one of the most picturesque in America.

During the few days that I remained in Quebec, I madesome excursions into the country. One day I drove, incompany with the w’ell-known traveller, Dr. Kohl of Berlin,to the falls of Montmorenci, about six miles down the northbank of the St. Lawrence. The cultivated land, entirelyfree from wood, rises in a long and easy slope from the river