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Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 2 of 2]Weld, Isaac

History

Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 2 of 2]

Name: Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 2 of 2]
Author: Weld, Isaac

Weld, Isaac

Canada -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; United States -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800

_Leave Philadelphia.—Arrive at New       page 367
             York.—Visit Long Island.—Dreadful
             Havoc by the Yellow Fever.—Dutch
             Inhabitants suspicious of
             Strangers.—Excellent Farmers.—Number
             of Inhabitants.—Culture of
             Corn.—Immense Quantities of Grouse and
             Deer.—Laws to protect them.—Increase
             of the same.—Decrease of Beavers.—New
             York agreeable to
             Strangers.—Conclusion_


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                             _TRAVELS_, &c.
                                 ──────




                           _LETTER _ XXVIII.

_Leave Quebec.—Convenience of travelling between that City and
  Montreal.—Post Houses.—Calashes.—Drivers.—Canadian Horses very
  serviceable.—Salutations on arriving at different Post
  Houses.—Beautiful Prospects from the Road on the top of the Banks of
  the St. Lawrence.—Female Peasants.—Style of Farming in
  Canada.—Considerably improved of late.—Inactivity of Canadians in not
  clearing more Land.—Their Character contrasted with that of the People
  of the States.—Arrival at Trois Rivieres.—Description of that town and
  its Vicinity.—Visit to the Convent of St. Ursule.—Manufactures of
  Birch Bark.—Birch Canoes, how formed.—Leave Trois Rivieres, and reach
  Montreal._


                                                       Montreal, August.

HAVING remained in Quebec and the neighbourhood as long as we could,
consistently with the plan which we had formed of visiting the Falls of
Niagara, and returning again into the States before the commencement of
winter, we set out for Montreal by land.

In no part of North America can a traveller proceed so commodiously as
along this road between Quebec and Montreal; a regular line of post
houses, at convenient distances from each other, being established upon
it, where calashes or carioles, according to the season, are always kept
in readiness. Each postmaster is obliged to have four calashes, and the
same number of carioles; and besides these, as many more are generally
kept at each stage by persons called aids-de-poste, for which the
postmaster calls when his own happen to be engaged. The postmaster has
the exclusive privilege of furnishing these carriages at every stage,
and, under a penalty, he must have them ready in a quarter of an hour
after they are demanded by a traveller, if it be day-light, and in half
an hour should it be in the night. The drivers are bound to take you on
at the rate of two leagues an hour. The charge for a calash with a
single horse is one shilling Halifax[1] currency per league; no gratuity
is expected by the driver.

Footnote 1:

  According to Halifax currency, which is the established, currency of
  Lower Canada, the dollar passes for five shillings.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 2 of 2] — John Shaqi

Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 2 of 2]

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