Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West: The Experience of an Early Settler (Volume I) — John Shaqi
Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West: The Experience of an Early Settler (Volume I)Strickland, Samuel
History
Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West: The Experience of an Early Settler (Volume I)
Strickland, Samuel
Ontario -- Description and travel
I awoke on the 21st of April literally wet to my skin by the deluge of
water pouring down the cabin. I dressed myself in great haste and
hurried upon deck to learn the cause of this disaster, which I found
originated in the coming on of a terrible hurricane, which would not
permit us to show a stitch of canvas, and found us continual employment
at the pumps; my chest in the cabin shipped a sea which did not improve
the appearance of my wardrobe. The following day we had calmer weather,
and pursued our course steadily, no longer exposed to the fury of the
elements.
On the following day I killed several birds, and saw two whales and
many porpoises. The weather was foggy, but the wind favourable for us.
As we were near the bank of Newfoundland, we got our fishing tackle
ready, with the hope of mending our fare with cod; but the water was
not calm enough for the purpose, and the fish would not bite. We passed
over the Great Bank without any danger, though the wind was high and
the sea rough.
On the 29th of April we fell in with some icebergs. A more magnificent
and imposing spectacle cannot be conceived; but it is very fearful and
sufficiently appalling. Suddenly, we found ourselves close to an
immense body of ice, whose vicinity bad been concealed from us by the
denseness of the fog. Our dangerous neighbour towered in majestic
grandeur in the form of a triple cone rising from a square base, and
surpassed the tallest cathedral in altitude. The centre cone being
cleft in the middle by the force of the waves, displayed the phenomenon
of a waterfall, the water rushing into the sea from the height of
thirty feet. If the sun had pierced the vapoury veil which concealed it
from our view, the refraction of his rays would have given to the ice
the many-coloured tints of the rainbow. We took care to keep a good
look out; but the fog was thick. We fell in with many other icebergs;
but none so beautiful as this.
We doubled Cape Ray, and entered, on the 5th of May, the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. The thermometer fell many degrees a change caused by the
vicinity of the ice. On the 5th of May we passed the Bird Rocks, three
in number, to windward, so called from the immense number of geese and
aquatic birds which resort thither to rear their broods. These rocks
rise to the height of four hundred feet, perpendicularly from the sea.
The fishermen, nevertheless, contrive to climb them for the sake of the
eggs they find there.
The 6th of May found us in the river St. Lawrence, between the
westernmost point of Anticosti to the north, and Cape Gaspe to the
south, in the middle of the channel, surrounded by ships tacking up the
stream, bound for Quebec and Montreal. We had plenty of sea-room, as
the river was more than ninety miles in breadth, and it is supposed to
be full a hundred at its _embouchure_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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