draws a veil betwixt us and her most extraordinary operations.

On my arrival at Montreal, I found the good folks employed in precisely the same way, that those I had left in Quebec, passed their time. In all countries, people pass their leisure hours pretty much alike; that is, they dedicate them to amusement. In Canada, as most of their winter hours are leisure hours, there is, of course, some ingenuity necessary to give such variety to their amusements as may prevent them from becoming insipid by frequent repetition. Hence, in Quebec and Montreal, to the regular town parties, are added, irregular country parties. Pic-nic feasts, where every one carries with him a ready-dressed dish, are very common; and as the place of rendezvous is generally a few miles out of town, the ladies and gentlemen have the pleasure of a little carioling before dinner; the roads, it is true, are often abominably bad, being a constant succession of cahots, in which you are jolted most unmercifully; not to say any thing of cariols being very frequently upset, and their contents, ladies, gentlemen, soup, poultry, or roast beef,

tumbled into the snow, to the no small amusement of the rest of the party. It is also any thing but excessively pleasant, after having dined, danced, supped, and passed the evening in festive glee, enlivened by the song and the catch, to drive home in the middle of the night, let the wind blow, and the snow drift as much as they please. Besides, there sometimes come on such dreadful storms, that neither man nor horse can shew their face to them. The consequence is, the party remain all night; the fiddlers again strike up the merry dance, and the whist players again cut for partners; what cannot be cured, must be endured. Day-light comes at last, and enables the party to take the road homeward without the danger of losing their way, which most probably would have been the case with some of them had they attempted it in the course of the night. The little hardships, disasters, or inconveniences of these country parties, give a zest however to the more elegant amusements of the

town.

A stranger in Canada, who has had a respectable introduction, is well received,

and meets every where the greatest hospitality.

To travel from Canada to the United States, is, in England, considered to be à most arduous and perilous undertaking. In truth, it is not without its dangers and difficulties, particularly in winter; yet, with all the inconveniences attending it, the journey is performed very frequently. The Americans are constantly coming into Canada, particularly to Montreal. They bring provisions, and various sorts of dry goods, generally in Sleighs, which resemble the Canadian cariole, except that they are placed on high runners, and are larger and more commodious than the cariole. The high runners give them one great advantage, which is, that they do not form in the roads those inequalities the Canadians call cahots, which jolt you so much, and are one of the principal drawbacks to winter travelling in Canada.

I procured one of the Yankie sleighs, as they are usually termed, and left Montreal in a very cold, hazy morning. Our first stage was from Montreal cross the St. Lawrence to Laprairie, a distance of about nine miles.

After travelling about two hours on the river, we began to think it was more than time to reach the other side. We continued our course for half an hour more; still no appearance of the place of our destination. In fact, we had lost our way. The weather was so thick and hazy we could see but a very short space, and our driver had struck into a wrong track. There were a variety of tracks on the river, formed by the people coming from different parts of the opposite side, with fire-wood, &c. for Montreal. Indeed, I reckoned from 2 to 300 sleighs on that part of the river alone, all directing their course to Montreal.

On inquiring of some of these people, we found that instead of crossing the river we had taken a direction upwards, and were very near the rapids, a little below a part of the country inhabited by a tribe called the Caghnawaga Indians, at a considerable distance from Montreal. We had to retrace our steps; and in about two hours more, we arrived at Laprairie.

This circumstance is trifling in itself; I mention it merely to shew you the liability to go astray, when travelling over a

T

level surface of snow.

You can hardly

imagine any thing more easy than to cross from one side of a river to another, over a track which we had been accustomed to look at every day, and yet, we went a considerable way out of our road, in a very short space of time. It was a good lesson for us, as we had to go on Lake Champlain ; where, if we once lost ourselves, it might be long enough before we again found out the right road.

After leaving Laprairie, we very soon got into a primeval forest, through which a road has been cut as far as the American boundary line; and it is continued onwards to Lake Champlain. This is the principal communication in this district, between Canada, and the United States. For many miles the country is very level, and completely covered with large timber, principally pines. I saw no cross roads, so that it is a kind of pass that might be defended with very few men.

The vicinity of Montreal to the United States, encourages the soldiers occasionally to desert, by the road we passed; to prevent which, a few invalids are stationed in