The scenery in the neighborhood of Montreal is pleasant, but not particularly attractive; yet the severity of the weather and the long reaches of graceful hills thereabout afford opportunity for the most enjoyable winter sports. Tobogganing is a favorite pastime in season, and the most charming scenes imaginable may be witnessed by a visit to the west side slide when a heavy snow has prepared the ground for the host of red-cheeked merry-makers, who flock there by thousands with their toboggans, and fly down the hill in long lines of variegated color. Winter is the carnival season, and for some years Montreal has been specially distinguished by the brilliant fetes which her leading citizens have provided notably that of 1888. On this occasion the city was a scene of extraordinary splendor, exceeding, in the magnificent sights afforded, the carnivals that take place on the frozen waters of the Neva River, before the Russian capital of St. Petersburg, famous alike in song and story. The great ice-palace, of which an illustration is here given, was a most exquisite imitation of mediæval architecture, rivaling in its imposing and charming appearance the finest castles of the old world. When illuminated by thousands of lights, the palace presented a scene which must ever remain fadeless in the memory of those who witnessed it. But to increase the beautiful effect, the city’s population turned out in the gayest of winter attire, filling the spacious ball-room of the palace with a marvelous display of color in graceful evolution, while outside the gay revelers sported as jolly maskers and filled the air with songs of glee. A similar carnival was held at St. Paul in 1889, and an ice-palace of equal proportions was constructed in honor of the Frost King, with grand illuminations and display of fire-works at night, as illustrated in a previous chapter, but no fete ever given on the western continent is believed to have been so magnificent as that of Montreal in 1888. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: SCENERY ALONG THE LINE OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.—The finest scenery along the line of this railway is to be found in the distant Northwest, where it passes over the Rocky Mountain range; but in many other places there are views both splendid and imposing. The lakes and the mountains photographed in this page belong to the Rocky Mountain region, and they are part of a series of views that would do credit to the most famous scenic regions of the world. They are in the midst of perpetual snow and vast glaciers, where all the wonders of the Swiss Alps are reproduced on a gigantic scale. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: WINOOSKI FALLS, VERMONT.]