There are some peculiar and interesting features in the neighbourhood of Quebec. The lofty banks of the St. Lawrence, from Cape Diamond to Cape Rouge, are composed of clay-slate, generally of a dark colour, sometimes of a dull red, whence the name of “Cape Rouge.” The bed of the river is of the same crumbling stone; and being triturated by time and the elements, gives its sands a close resemblance, both in colour and consistency, to smith’s filings. Bare, however, as they are of soil, these perpendicular cliffs are everywhere clothed with a luxuriant verdure of shrubs and trees, whose roots, wreathing themselves round barren rocks, seem to woo from the charity of the heavens the nutriment denied them by a niggard parent. About two miles above Quebec, a break in the magnificent line of cliffs forms the little recess, called Wolfe’s Cove; a steep pathway leads up the heights to the Plains of Abraham; traces of field-works are still visible on the turf, and the stone is pointed out on which the hero expired. The cove is at present appropriated to the reception of lumber, which comes down the river from the States and Upper Province, in rafts, which frequently cover the surface of half an acre; when the wind is favourable they spread ten or twelve square sails, at other times they are polled down; the men who navigate them build small wooden houses on them, and thus, transported with their families, poultry, and frequently cattle, form a complete floating village. A great proportion of the timber is brought from Lake Champlain, and the trade is almost wholly in the hands of the Americans.