Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence in 1535 and claimed possession of the new land in the name of “Christ and France.” Later, French soldiers and priests pushed their way up the river, explored the Great Lakes, and went down the Mississippi. It was French fur traders, fishermen, and farmers who opened up and populated eastern Canada. With no immigration from France since British rule began, the population of the province of Quebec has had a natural increase from about sixty thousand to more than two millions. The average family numbers from six to eight persons, while families of twelve and fourteen children are common. Quebec maintains the highest birth rate of any province in Canada. It has also the highest death rate, but there is a large net gain every year. Quebec is one of the chief reservoirs of Canada’s natural wealth. It leads all other provinces in its production of pulpwood, and contributes more than one half the Dominion’s output of pulp and paper. It is second only to British Columbia and Ontario in lumber production, while its northern reaches contain the last storehouse of natural furs left on our continent. Canada is one of the world’s great sources of water-power. Nearly half of that already developed is in the province of Quebec, and her falling waters are now yielding more than a million horse-power. Tens of thousands of additional units are being put to work every year, while some five million horse-power are in reserve. It would take eight million tons of coal a year to supply as much power as Quebec now gets from water. [Illustration: The ancient citadel on the heights of Quebec is now dwarfed by a giant castle-like hotel that helps make the American Gibraltar a tourist resort. Its windows command a magnificent view of the St. Lawrence.] [Illustration: The St. Louis gate commemorates the days when Quebec was a walled city and always well garrisoned with troops. Just beyond is the building of the provincial parliament, where most of the speeches are in French.] At Three Rivers, about halfway between Montreal and Quebec, the St. Maurice River empties into the St. Lawrence. Twenty miles upstream are the Shawinigan Falls, the chief source of power of the Shawinigan Company, which, with its subsidiaries, is now producing in this district more than five hundred thousand horse-power. This is nearly half the total power development in the province. Around the power plant there have grown up electro-chemical industries that support a town of twelve thousand people, while at Three Rivers more paper is made than anywhere else in the world. Shawinigan power runs the lighting plants and factories of Montreal and Quebec, and also serves most of the towns south of the St. Lawrence. The current is carried over the river in a thick cable, nearly a mile long, suspended on high towers.