feet downwards into Lake Ontario.  From Lake Ontario to the sea along the St. Lawrence there is uninterrupted navigation, though there are rapids that require careful steering both with steamers and boats.  Quebec marks the place where the St. Lawrence River suddenly broadens from a river into a tidal gulf of brackish or salt water.  Ocean steamers from all over the world can come (except during the height of the winter, when the water freezes) to Quebec.  But for the ice in wintertime Quebec would be the great sea-port of eastern Canada.

[Footnote 9:  The south shore of Lake Superior, the whole of Lake Michigan, the west shore of Lake Huron, and the south coasts of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are within the territories of the United States.]

“If pitiless rock is commonly understood by an ‘iron-bound shore’, then the coasts of the River St. Lawrence along the northern side of the Gulf may truly be so styled, as nothing scarcely is to be seen for hundreds of leagues but bare rocky mountains, capes and cliffs in various shapes and figures, some of which are dotted with a few spruce firs, while others present their bald pates deprived of covering by the unmerciful hand of time.” (James M’Kenzie).

The winters of the Quebec province are extremely cold, but the summer and autumn are warm and sunny.  The best winter climate, possibly, in all Canada (though not as good as that of Vancouver Island, British Columbia) is to be found in the small peninsula region, on the shores of Lakes Erie and Huron, between Toronto and Detroit.  This is the district which the Jesuit missionaries described as “an earthly paradise” even during the winter-time.

The following extracts, mostly from the journals of Alex.  Henry, jun., give a good idea of the difference in climate and temperature between the western and the central parts of the Canadian Dominion.

The late spring of northern Canada (Lake Nipigon, 50 deg.  N. lat.):—­About May 15, the tops of the poplars begin to appear green, with fresh buds; the hills are changing their hue from a dry straw colour to a delightful verdure, and fragrant odours greet us.

“Early in March, 1800, in the Assiniboin country (Manitoba, about 29 deg.  N. lat.) the snow was entirely gone, for this winter had been an abnormally mild one for central Canada.  The birds soon realized the openness of the season, for, on the 7th of March, turkey-buzzards began to arrive from the south, and cormorants, ducks, swans, and other spring birds; indeed, by the 24th of March not only had the snow quite melted, but the meadows had grown so dry with the hot sun that some accidents set them on fire.  By April the 11th the weather had become excessively hot, and immense flocks of the traveller-pigeon (Ectopistes) flew northwards over the country.”

In somewhat similar latitudes (50 deg.) the spring bursts on the Pacific coast region of British Columbia towards the end of February.  “The tall raspberry bushes were in blossom with a beautiful red flower, which appeared more forward than the leaf (Rubus spectabilis).  The elder had sprouts an inch long, the alder was also beginning to sprout, and willows were budding.”