Before narrating Wolfe's determination in this crisis, and the events consequent thereupon, it will, perhaps, be well to recall the reader's attention to the position of the Canadian army. The north shore of the basin of Quebec is a curve of about eight miles long. The waters shoal as they approach this shore, and at low tide a muddy bank is exposed, in some places nearly half a mile in breadth. The long-crested height, mentioned in a former description, at some parts of the line overhangs high-water mark, at others recedes into the country, and leaves some rich alluvial fields between its base and the river's banks. Wherever this height was not sufficiently precipitous to form a natural defense, the face was scarped, the summit crowned with a parapet, and the foot pallisadoed or armed with abattis. The irregular line of this formidable front shaped itself here and there into projections and inclinations, as if traced in flank and ravelin by the skill of the engineer. The extreme left of the French army rested on the rocky banks of the Montmorency. The beautiful cataract, and the foaming rapids for three miles up the stream, forbade the passage of an enemy: there was, indeed, a ford, but it was well defended; beyond that, the tangled bush defied the strength of battalions. Below the falls, however, the waters spread themselves in numerous shallow channels over the sands, and the stream is fordable except at high tide. To strengthen this weak point, Montcalm had thrown up a four-gun redoubt at the foot of the overhanging cliff. Although defiladed from the British artillery, these cliffs were altogether exposed to that of the French, and therefore untenable in case of falling into the assailants' hands. Toward the right of the French position the crested ridge subsides in a gentle slope upon a valley, through the center of which winds the St. Charles or Little River. The entrance to this stream is deep, and forms a small harbor; here the French had run their ships of war aground, and these powerful wooden batteries, with their heavy guns, swept the slopes on either side, both toward the city walls and the right shoulder of the crested height.