This city, the capital of Canada, stands at the northern extremity of a strip of high land, which follows the course of the river St. Lawrence, as far as the mouth of the Charles. The basis of these heights is a dark slate rock, of which most of the buildings in the town are constructed. _Cape Diamond_ terminates the promontory, with a bold precipice towards the river. This rock derives its name from numerous transparent crystals, which are found upon it; and which are so abundant that, after a shower of rain, the ground glitters with them. The Lower Town of Quebec is built at the foot of the heights; and the Upper Town occupies their crest. The former, snug and dirty, is the abode of persons engaged in trade, and of most of the lower classes: the latter, lofty and cold, is the seat of government, and the principal residence of the military. With few exceptions, the _houses_ in Quebec are built of stone. The roofs of the better sort are covered with sheets of iron or tin, and those of an inferior description, with boards. On the roofs ladders are usually placed, near the garret-windows, for the purpose of the chimney-sweepers ascending, on the outside, to clean the chimneys: for, in this country boys do not go up the chimneys, as in England; but two men, one at the top and the other at the bottom, sweep them, by pulling up and down a bundle of twigs or furze, tied to a rope. The _streets_ of the Lower Town are, for the most part, narrow and irregular. St. Peter's street is the best paved, and the widest of the whole. It contains several good and substantial _houses_, which are chiefly occupied by merchants and traders; but, from the colour of the stone of which the houses are constructed, and of the iron roofs, all the streets of Quebec have a heavy and gloomy appearance. A street, called _Mountain Street_, which leads to the Upper Town, winds, in a serpentine direction, from the market-place up the hill, and terminates near the Upper Town market-place. This street, in winter, is extremely dangerous. The quantity of snow and ice, which here accumulate in large masses, renders it necessary for the inhabitants to wear outer shoes, that are shod with iron spikes. The boys of Quebec have a favourite amusement, in lying at full length with their breast upon a small kind of sledge, and sliding along the snow, from the top of the hill to the bottom: they glide down with astonishing velocity; yet, with their feet, they can guide or stop themselves, at pleasure. The _shops_ or stores of the traders in the Lower Town, do not exhibit any of that diversified and pleasing appearance which is so remarkable in London. Here the stranger sees nothing but heavy stone buildings, gloomy casements, and iron-cased shutters, painted red. If any show is made at the window, it is with paltry articles of cooking, earthen and hardware: there is, however, a tolerable display of bear-skins, seal-skins, foxes-tails, and buffalo-robes.