It was about eleven o’clock in the morning when we left Montreal, and at five in the afternoon we reached the town of Sorelle, fifteen leagues distant. The current is very strong the whole way between the two places. Sorelle stands at the mouth of the river of the same name, which runs from Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence. It was laid out about the year 1787, and on an extensive plan, with very wide streets and a large square, but at present it contains only one hundred houses, are all very indifferent, and standing widely asunder. This is the only town on the St. Lawrence, between Montreal and Quebec, wherein English is the predominant language. The inhabitants consist principally of loyalists from the United States, who took refuge in Canada. The chief business carried on here is that of ship-building; there are several vessels annually launched from fifty to two hundred tons burthen; these are floated down to Quebec, and there rigged. Ship-building is not carried on to so much advantage in Canada as might be imagined, all the bolts and other articles of iron, the blocks, and the cordage, being imported; so that what is gained by having excellent timber on the spot is lost in bringing over these different articles, which are so bulky, from Europe. The river of Sorelle is deep at the mouth, and affords good shelter for ships from the ice, at the breaking up of winter: it is not navigable far beyond the town, even in boats, on account of the rapids. [Sidenote: SCENERY.] The next morning we left Sorelle, beyond which place the St. Lawrence expands to a great breadth. Here it abounds with small islands, situated so closely to each other, that it is impossible to think without astonishment of large vessels, like those that go to Montreal, passing between them: the channel through them is very intricate. This wide part of the river is called Lac St. Pierre; the greatest breadth of it is about four leagues and a half, and its length from the islands at the head of the lake downwards about eight leagues. From hence to Quebec the river is in no place more than two miles across, and in some parts it narrows to the breadth of three quarters of a mile. The tide ebbs and flows in the river within a few leagues of Lac St. Pierre; the great expansion of the water at the lake, and the strong current which sets out from it, prevents its action higher up.