Chapter VII: Part 7

December. During this month it is observed, that the autumn has been much milder than usual. On the 1st a ship could still set sail for France; but on the 16th the river St. Lawrence was covered with ice on the sides, but open in the middle. In the river Charles the ice was thick enough for horses with heavy loads to pass over it. On the 26th the ice in the river St. Lawrence was washed away by a heavy rain; but on the 28th part of that river was again covered with ice.

The next observations shew, that the winter has likewise been one of the mildest. I now resume the account of my own journey.

This evening I left Quebec with a fair wind. The governor-general of Canada, the marquis de la Jonquiere, ordered one of the king’s boats, and seven men to bring me to Montreal. The middle of the boat was covered with blue cloth, under which we were secured from the rain. This journey I made at the expence of the French king. We went three French miles to-day.

September the 12th. We continued our journey during all this day.

The small kind of maize, which ripens in three months time, was ripe about this time, and the people drew it out of the ground, and hung it up to dry.

The weather about this time was like the beginning of our August, old stile. Therefore it seems, autumn commences a whole month later in Canada, than in the midst of Sweden.

Near each farm there is a kitchen-garden, in which onions are most abundant; because the French farmers eat their dinners of them with bread, on Fridays and Saturdays, or fasting days. However, I cannot say, the French are strict observers of fasting; for several of my rowers ate flesh to-day, though it was Friday. The common people in Canada may be smelled when one passes by them, on account of their frequent use of onions. Pumpions are likewise abundant in the farmer’s gardens. They dress them in several ways, but the most common is to cut them through the middle, and place the inside on the hearth, towards the fire, till it is quite roasted. The pulp is then cut out of the peel, and eaten; people above the vulgar put sugar to it. Carrots, sallad, French beans, cucumbers, and currant shrubs, are planted in every farmer’s little kitchen-garden.

Every farmer plants a quantity of tobacco near his house, in proportion to the size of his family. It is likewise very necessary that they should plant tobacco, because it is so universally smoaked by the common people. Boys of ten or twelve years of age, run about with the pipe in their mouths, as well as the old people. Persons above the vulgar, do not refuse to smoak a pipe now and then. In the northern parts of Canada, they generally smoak tobacco by itself; but further upwards, and about Montreal, they take the inner bark of the red Cornelian cherry [104], crush it, and mix it with the tobacco, to make it weaker. People of both sexes, and of all ranks, use snuff very much. Almost all the tobacco, which is consumed here, is the produce of the country, and some people prefer it even to Virginian tobacco: but those who pretend to be connoisseurs, reckon the last kind better than the other.

Though many nations imitate the French customs; yet I observed on the contrary, that the French in Canada in many respects follow the customs of the Indians, with whom they converse every day. They make use of the tobacco-pipes, shoes, garters, and girdles, of the Indians. They follow the Indian way of making war with exactness; they mix the same things with tobacco, they make use of the Indian bark-boats, and row them in the Indian way; they wrap square pieces of cloth round their feet, instead of stockings, and have adopted many other Indian fashions. When one comes into the house of a Canada peasant, or farmer, he gets up, takes his hat off to the stranger, desires him to sit down, puts his hat on and sits down again. The gentlemen and ladies, as well as the poorest peasants and their wives, are called Monsieur and Madame. The peasants, and especially their wives, wear shoes, which consist of a piece of wood hollowed out, and are made almost as slippers. Their boys, and the old peasants themselves, wear their hair behind in a cue; and most of them wear red woollen caps at home, and sometimes on their journies.

The farmers prepare most of their dishes of milk. Butter is but seldom seen, and what they have is made of sour cream, and therefore not so good as English butter. Many of the French are very fond of milk, which they eat chiefly on fasting days. However, they have not so many methods of preparing it as we have in Sweden. The common way was to boil it, and put bits of bread, and a good deal of sugar, into it. The French here eat near as much flesh as the English, on those days when their religion allows it. For excepting the soup, the sallads, and the desert, all their other dishes consist of flesh variously prepared.

At night we lay at a farm-house, near a river called Petite Riviere, which falls here into the river St. Lawrence. This place is reckoned sixteen French miles from Quebec, and ten from Trois Rivieres. The tide is still considerable here. Here is the last place where the hills, along the river, consist of black lime-slate; further on they are composed merely of earth.

Fire-flies flew about the woods at night, though not in great numbers; the French call them Mouches à feu.

The houses in this neighbourhood are all made of wood. The rooms are pretty large. The inner roof rests on two, three, or four, large thick spars, according to the size of the room. The chinks are filled with clay, instead of moss. The windows are made entirely of paper. The chimney is erected in the middle of the room; that part of the room which is opposite the fire, is the kitchen; that which is behind the chimney, serves the people to sleep, and receive strangers in. Sometimes there is an iron stove behind the chimney.

September the 13th. Near Champlain, which is a place about five French miles from Trois Rivieres, the steep hills near the river consist of a yellow, and sometimes ockre-coloured sandy earth, in which a number of small springs arise. The water in them is generally filled with yellow ockre, which is a sign, that these dry sandy fields contain a great quantity of the same iron ore, which is dug at Trois Rivieres. It is not conceivable from whence that number of small rivulets takes their rise, the ground above being flat, and exceeding dry in summer. The lands near the river are cultivated for about an English mile into the country; but behind them there are thick forests, and low grounds. The woods, which collect a quantity of moisture, and prevent the evaporation of the water, force it to make its way under ground to the river. The shores of the river are here covered with a great deal of black iron-sand.

Towards evening we arrived at Trois Rivieres, where we staid no longer, than was necessary to deliver the letters, which we brought with us from Quebec. After that we went a French mile higher up, before we took our night’s lodging.

This afternoon we saw three remarkable old people. One was an old Jesuit, called father Joseph Aubery, who had been a missionary to the converted Indians of St. François. This summer he ended the fiftieth year of his mission. He therefore returned to Quebec, to renew his vows there; and he seemed to be healthy, and in good spirits. The other two people were our landlord and his wife; he was above eighty years of age, and she was not much younger. They had now been fifty-one years married. The year before, at the end of the fiftieth year of their marriage, they went to church together, and offered up thanks to God Almighty for the great grace he gave them. They were yet quite well, content, merry, and talkative. The old man said, that he was at Quebec when the English besieged it, in the year 1690, and that the bishop went up and down the streets, dressed in his pontifical robes, and a sword in his hand, in order to recruit the spirits of the soldiers.

This old man said, that he thought the winters were formerly much colder than they are now. There fell likewise a greater quantity of snow, when he was young. He could remember the time when pumpions, cucumbers, &c. were killed by the frost about mid-summer, and he assured me, that the summers were warmer now than they used to be formerly. About thirty and some odd years ago, there was such a severe winter in Canada, that the frost killed many birds; but the old man could not remember the particular year. Every body allowed, that the summers in 1748, and 1749, had been warmer in Canada than they have been many years ago.

The soil is reckoned pretty fertile; and wheat yields nine or ten grains from one. But when this old man was a boy, and the country was new and rich every where, they could get twenty, or four-and-twenty, grains from one. They sow but little rye here; nor do they sow much barley, except for the use of cattle. They complain, however, that when they have a bad crop, they are obliged to bake bread of barley.

September the 14th. This morning we got up early, and pursued our journey. After we had gone about two French miles, we got into lake St. Pierre, which we crossed. Many plants, which are common in our Swedish lakes, swim at the top of this water. This lake is said to be covered every winter with such strong ice, that a hundred loaded horses could go over it together with safety.

A craw-fish, or river lobster, somewhat like a crab, but quite minute, about two geometrical lines long, and broad in proportion, was frequently drawn up by us with the aquatic weeds, its colour is a pale greenish white.

The cordated Pontederia [105] grows plentiful on the sides of a long and narrow canal of water, in the places frequented by our water-lilies [106]. A great number of hogs wade far into this kind of strait, and sometimes duck the greatest part of their bodies under water, in order to get at the roots, which they are very fond of.

As soon as we were got through lake St. Pierre, the face of the country was entirely changed, and became as agreeable as could be wished. The isles, and the land on both sides of us, looked like the prettiest pleasure-gardens; and this continued till near Montreal.

Near every farm on the river-side there are some boats, hollowed out of the trunks of single trees, but commonly neat and well made, having the proper shape of boats. In one single place I saw a boat made of the bark of trees.

September the 15th. We continued our journey early this morning. On account of the strength of the river, which came down against us, we were sometimes obliged to let the rowers go on shore, and draw the boat.

At four o’clock in the evening we arrived at Montreal; and our voyage was reckoned a happy one, because the violence of the river flowing against us all the way, and the changeableness of the winds, commonly protract it to two weeks.

September the 19th. Several people here in town have got the French vines, and planted them in their gardens. They have two kinds of grapes, one of a pale green, or almost white; the other, of a reddish brown colour. From the white ones they say, white wine is made; and from the red ones, red wine. The cold in winter obliges them to put dung round the roots of the vines, without which they would be killed by the frost. The grapes began to be ripe in these days; the white ones are a little sooner ripe than the red ones. They make no wine of them here, because it is not worth while; but they are served up at deserts. They say these grapes do not grow so big here as in France.

Water-melons [107] are cultivated in great plenty in the English and French American colonies; and there is hardly a peasant here, who has not a field planted with them. They are chiefly cultivated in the neighbourhood of towns; and they are very rare in the north part of Canada. The Indians plant great quantities of water-melons at present; but whether they have done it of old is not easily determined. For an old Onidoe Indian (of the six Iroquese nations) assured me, that the Indians did not know water-melons before the Europeans came into the country, and communicated them to the Indians. The French, on the other hand, have assured me, that the Illinois Indians have had abundance of this fruit, when the French first came to them; and that they declare, they had planted them since times immemorial. However, I do not remember having read that the Europeans, who first came to North-America, mention the water-melons, in speaking of the dishes of the Indians at that time. How great the summer heat is in those parts of America which I have passed through, can easily be conceived, when one considers, that in all those places, they never sow water-melons in hot-beds, but in the open fields in spring, without so much as covering them, and they ripen in time. Here are two species of them, viz. one with a red pulp, and one with a white one. The first is more common to the southward, with the Illinois, and in the English colonies; the last is more abundant in Canada. The seeds are sown in spring, after the cold is entirely gone off, in a good rich ground, at some distance from each other; because their stalks spread far, and require much room, if they shall be very fruitful. They were now ripe at Montreal; but in the English colonies they ripen in July and August. They commonly require less time to ripen in, than the common melons. Those in the English colonies are commonly sweeter, and more agreeable, than the Canada ones. Does the greater heat contribute any thing towards making them more palatable? Those in the province of New-York are, however, reckoned the best.

The water-melons are very juicy; and the juice is mixed with a cooling pulp, which is very good in the hot summer-season. Nobody in Canada, in Albany, and in other parts of New-York, could produce an example, that the eating of water-melons in great quantities had hurt any body; and there are examples even of sick persons eating them without any danger. Further to the south, the frequent use of them it is thought brings on intermitting fevers, and other bad distempers, especially in such people as are less used to them. Many Frenchmen assured me, that when people born in Canada came to the Illinois, and eat several times of the water-melons of that part, they immediately got a fever; and therefore the Illinois advise the French not to eat of a fruit so dangerous to them. They themselves are subject to be attacked by fevers, if they cool their stomachs too often with water-melons. In Canada they keep them in a room, which is a little heated; by which means they will keep fresh two months after they are ripe; but care must be taken, that the frost spoil them not. In the English plantations they likewise keep them fresh in dry cellars, during part of the winter. They assured me that they keep better when they are carefully broke off from the stalk, and afterwards burnt with a red-hot iron, in the place where the stalk was fastened. In this manner they may be eaten at Christmas, and after. In Pensylvania, where they have a dry sandy earth, they make a hole in the ground, put the water-melons carefully into it with their stalks, by which means they keep very fresh during a great part of winter. Few people, however, take this trouble with the water-melons; because they being very cooling, and the winter being very cold too, it seems to be less necessary to keep them for eating in that season, which is already very cold. They are of opinion in these parts, that cucumbers cool more than water-melons. The latter are very strongly diuretic. The Iroquese call them Onoheserakatee.

Gourds of several kinds, oblong, round, flat or compressed, crook-necked, small, &c. are planted in all the English and French colonies. In Canada, they fill the chief part of the farmers kitchen-gardens, though the onions came very near up with them. Each farmer in the English plantations, has a large field planted with gourds, and the Germans, Swedes, Dutch, and other Europeans, settled in their colonies, plant them. Gourds are a considerable part of the Indian food; however, they plant more squashes than common gourds. They declare, that they have had gourds long before the Europeans discovered America; which seems to be confirmed by the accounts of the first Europeans that came into these parts, who mentioned gourds as common food among the Indians. The French here call them citrouilles, and the English in the colonies, pumpkins. They are planted in spring, when they have nothing to fear from the frost, in an enclosed field, and a good rich soil. They are likewise frequently put into old hot-beds. In Canada, they ripen towards the beginning of September, but further southward they are ripe at the end of July. As soon as the cold weather commences, they take off all the pumpions that remain on the stalk, whether ripe or not, and spread them on the floor, in a part of the house, where the unripe ones grow perfectly ripe, if they are not laid one upon the other. This is done round Montreal in the middle of September; but in Pensylvania, I have seen some in the fields on the 19th of October. They keep fresh for several months, and even throughout the winter, if they be well secured in dry cellars (for in damp ones they rot very soon) where the cold cannot come in, or, which is still better, in dry rooms which are heated now and then, to prevent the cold from damaging the fruit.

Pumpions are prepared for eating in various ways. The Indians boil them whole, or roast them in ashes, and eat them then, or go to sell them thus prepared in the towns, and they have, indeed, a very fine flavour, when roasted. The French and English slice them, and put the slices before the fire to roast; when they are roasted, they generally put sugar on the pulp. Another way of roasting them, is to cut them through the middle, take out all the seeds, put the halves together again, and roast them in an oven. When they are quite roasted, some butter is put in, whilst they are warm, which being imbibed into the pulp, renders it very palatable. They often boil pumpions in water, and afterwards eat them, either alone or with flesh. Some make a thin kind of pottage of them, by boiling them in water, and afterwards macerating the pulp. This is again boiled with a little of the water, and a good deal of milk, and stirred about whilst it is boiling. Sometimes the pulp is stamped and kneaded into dough, with maize flour or other flour; of this they make cakes. Some make puddings and tarts of gourds. The Indians, in order to preserve the pumpions for a very long time, cut them in long slices, which they fasten or twist together, and dry them either by the sun, or by the fire in a room. When they are thus dried, they will keep for years together, and when boiled, they taste very well. The Indians prepare them thus at home and on their journies, and from them the Europeans have adopted this method. Sometimes they do not take the time to boil it, but eat it dry with hung beef, or other flesh; and I own they are eatable in that state, and very welcome to a hungry stomach. They sometimes preserve them in the following manner at Montreal: They cut a pumpion in four pieces, peal them, and take the seeds out of them. The pulp is put in a pot with boiling water, in which it must boil from four to six minutes. It is then put into a cullender, and left in it till the next day, that the water may run off. When it is mixed with cloves, cinnamon, and some lemon peel, preserved in syrup, and there must be an equal quantity of syrup and of the pulp. After which it is boiled together, till the syrup is entirely imbibed, and the white colour of the pulp is quite lost.

September the 20th. The corn of this year’s harvest in Canada, was reckoned the finest they had ever had. In the province of New-York, on the contrary, the crop was very poor. The autumn was very fine this year in Canada.

September the 22d. The French in Canada carry on a great trade with the Indians; and though it was formerly the only trade of this extensive country, yet its inhabitants were considerably enriched by it. At present, they have besides the Indian goods, several other articles which are exported from hence. The Indians in this neighbourhood, who go hunting in winter like the other Indians nations, commonly bring their furs and skins to sale in the neighbouring French towns; however this is not sufficient. The Indians who live at a greater distance, never come to Canada at all; and, lest they should bring their goods to the English, as the English go to them, the French are obliged to undertake journies, and purchase the Indian goods in the country of the Indians. This trade is chiefly carried on at Montreal, and a great number of young and old men every year, undertake long and troublesome voyages for that purpose, carrying with them such goods as they know the Indians like, and are in want of. It is not necessary to take money on such a journey, as the Indians do not value it; and indeed I think the French, who go on these journies, scarce ever take a sol or penny with them.

I will now enumerate the chief goods which the French carry with them for this trade, and which have a good run among the Indians.

Muskets, Powder, Shot, and Balls. The Europeans have taught the Indians in their neighbourhood the use of fire-arms, and they have laid aside their bows and arrows, which were formerly their only arms, and make use of muskets. If the Europeans should now refuse to supply the Indians with muskets, they would be starved to death; as almost all their food consists of the flesh of the animals, which they hunt; or they would be irritated to such a degree as to attack the Europeans. The Indians have hitherto never tried to make muskets or similar fire-arms; and their great indolence does not even allow them to mend those muskets which they have got. They leave this entirely to the Europeans. As the Europeans came into North-America, they were very careful not to give the Indians any fire-arms. But in the wars between the French and English, each party gave their Indian allies fire-arms, in order to weaken the force of the enemy. The French lay the blame upon the Dutch settlers in Albany, saying, that they began, in 1642, to give their Indians fire-arms, and taught them the use of them, in order to weaken the French. The inhabitants of Albany, on the contrary, assert, that the French first introduced this custom, as they would have been too weak to resist the combined force of the Dutch and English in the colonies. Be this as it will, it is certain that the Indians buy muskets from the Europeans, and know at present better how to make use of them, than some of their teachers. It is likewise certain, that the Europeans gain considerably by their trade in muskets and ammunition.

Pieces of white cloth, or of a coarse uncut cloth. The Indians constantly wear such pieces of cloth, wrapping them round their bodies. Sometimes they hang them over their shoulders; in warm weather, they fasten them round the middle; and in cold weather, they put them over the head. Both their men and women wear these pieces of cloth, which have commonly several blue or red stripes on the edge.

Blue or red cloth. Of this the Indian women make their petticoats, which reach only to their knees. They generally chuse the blue colour.

Shirts and shifts of linen. As soon as an Indian fellow, or one of their women, have put on a shirt, they never wash it, or strip it off, till it is entirely torn in pieces.

Pieces of cloth, which they wrap round their legs instead of stockings, like the Russians.

Hatchets, knives, scissars, needles, and a steel to strike fire with. These instruments are now common among the Indians. They all take these instruments from the Europeans, and reckon the hatchets and knives much better, than those which they formerly made of stones and bones. The stone hatchets of the ancient Indians are very rare in Canada.

Kettles of copper or brass, sometimes tinned in the inside. In these the Indians now boil all their meat, and they have a very great run with them. They formerly made use of earthen or wooden pots, into which they poured water, or whatever else they wanted to boil, and threw in red hot stones to make it boil. They do not want iron boilers, because they cannot be easily carried on their continual journies, and would not bear such falls and knocks as their kettles are subject to.

Ear-rings of different sizes, commonly of brass, and sometimes of tin. They are worn by both men and women, though the use of them is not general.

Vermillion. With this they paint their face, shirt, and several parts of the body. They formerly made use of a reddish earth, which is to be found in the country; but, as the Europeans brought them vermillion, they thought nothing was comparable to it in colour. Many persons have told me, that they had heard their fathers mention, that the first Frenchmen who came over here, got a great heap of furs from the Indians, for three times as much cinnabar as would ly on the tip of a knife.

Verdigrease, to paint their faces green. For the black colour, they make use of the soot at the bottom of their kettles, and daub their whole face with it.

Looking glasses. The Indians are very much pleased with them, and make use of them chiefly when they want to paint themselves. The men constantly carry their looking glasses with them on all their journies; but the women do not. The men, upon the whole, are more fond of dressing than the women.

Burning glasses. These are excellent pieces of furniture in the opinion of the Indians; because they serve to light the pipe without any trouble, which an indolent Indian is very fond of.

Tobacco is bought by the northern Indians, in whose country it will not grow. The southern Indians always plant as much of it as they want for their own consumption. Tobacco has a great run amongst the northern Indians, and it has been observed, that the further they live to the northward, the more they smoke of tobacco.

Wampum, or, as they are here called, porcelanes. They are made of a particular kind of shells, and turned into little short cylindrical beads, and serve the Indians for money and ornament.

Glass beads, of a small size, and white or other colours. The Indian women know how to fasten them in their ribbands, pouches, and clothes.

Brass and steel wire, for several kinds of work.

Brandy, which the Indians value above all other goods that can be brought them; nor have they any thing, though ever so dear to them, which they would not give away for this liquor. But, on account of the many irregularities which are caused by the use of brandy, the sale of it has been prohibited under severe penalties; however, they do not always pay an implicit obedience to this order.

These are the chief goods which the French carry to the Indians, and they have a good run among them.

The goods which they bring back from the Indians, consist entirely in furs. The French get them in exchange for their goods, together with all the necessary provisions they want on the journey. The furs are of two kinds; the best are the northern ones, and the worst sort those from the south.

In the northern parts of America there are chiefly the following skins of animals: beavers, elks [108], rein-deer [109], wolf-lynxes [110], and martens. They sometimes get martens skins from the south, but they are red, and good for little. Pichou du Nord is perhaps the animal which the English, near Hudson’s bay, call the wolverene. To the northern furs belong the bears, which are but few, and foxes, which are not very numerous, and generally black; and several other skins.

The skins of the southern parts are chiefly taken from the following animals: wild cattle, stags, roebucks, otters, Pichoux du Sud, of which P. Charlevoix makes mention [111], and are probably a species of cat-lynx, or perhaps a kind of panther; foxes of various kinds, raccoons, cat-lynxes, and several others.

It is inconceivable what hardships the people in Canada must undergo on their journies. Sometimes they must carry their goods a great way by land; frequently they are abused by the Indians, and sometimes they are killed by them. They often suffer hunger, thirst, heat, and cold, and are bit by gnats, and exposed to the bites of poisonous snakes, and other dangerous animals and insects. These destroy a great part of the youth in Canada, and prevent the people from growing old. By this means, however, they become such brave soldiers, and so inured to fatigue, that none of them fear danger or hardships. Many of them settle among the Indians far from Canada, marry Indian women, and never come back again.

The prices of the skins in Canada, in the year 1749, were communicated to me by M. de Couagne, a merchant at Montreal, with whom I lodged. They were as follows:

Great and middle sized bear skins, cost five livres.

Skins of young bears, fifty sols.
—— lynxs, 25 sols.
—— pichoux du sud, 35 sols.
—— foxes from the southern parts, 35 sols.
—— otters, 5 livres.
—— raccoons, 5 livres.
—— martens, 45 sols.
—— wolf-lynxes [112], 4 livres.
—— wolves, 40 sols.
—— carcajoux, an animal which I do not know, 5 livres.
Skins of visons, a kind of martens, which live in the water, 25
sols.
Raw skins of elks [113], 10 livres.
—— stags [114].
Bad skins of elks and stags [115], 3 livres.
Skins of roebucks, 25, or 30 sols.
—— red foxes, 3 livres.
—— beavers, 3 livres.

I will now insert a list of all the different kinds of skins, which are to be got in Canada, and which are sent from thence to Europe. I got it from one of the greatest merchants in Montreal. They are as follows:

Prepared roebuck skins, chevreuils passés.
Unprepared ditto, chevreuils verts.
Tanned ditto, chevreuils tanés.
Bears, ours.
Young bears, oursons.
Otters, loutres.
Pecans.
Cats, chats.
Wolves, loup de bois.
Lynxes, loups cerviers.
North pichoux, pichoux du nord.
South pichoux, pichoux du sud.
Red foxes, renards rouges.
Cross foxes, renards croisés.
Black foxes, renards noirs.
Grey foxes, renards argentés.
Southern, or Virginian foxes, renards du sud ou de Virginie.
White foxes, from Tadoussac, renards blancs de Tadoussac.
Martens, martres.
Visons, or soutreaux.
Black squirrels, écureuils noirs.
Raw stags skins, cerfs verts.
Prepared ditto, cerfs passés.
Raw elks skins, originals verts.
Prepared ditto, originals passés.
Rein-deer skins, cariboux.
Raw hinds skins, biches verts.
Prepared ditto, biches passées.
Carcajoux.
Musk rats, rats musqués.
Fat winter beavers, castors gras d’hiver.
Ditto summer beavers, castors gras d’été.
Dry winter beavers, castors secs d’hiver.
Ditto summer beavers, castors secs d’été.
Old winter beavers, castors vieux d’hiver.
Ditto summer beavers, castors vieux d’été.

To-day, I got a piece of native copper from the Upper Lake. They find it there almost quite pure; so that it does not want melting over again, but is immediately fit for working. Father Charlevoix [116] speaks of it in his History of New-France. One of the Jesuits at Montreal, who had been at the place where this metal is got, told me, that it is generally found near the mouths of rivers, and that there are pieces of native copper too heavy for a single man to lift up. The Indians there say, that they formerly found a piece of about seven feet long, and near four feet thick, all of pure copper. As it is always found in the ground near the mouths of rivers, it is probable that the ice or water carried it down from a mountain; but, notwithstanding the careful search that has been made, no place has been found, where the metal lies in any great quantity together.

The head or superior of the priests of Montreal, gave me a piece of lead-ore to-day. He said it was taken from a place only a few French miles from Montreal, and it consisted of pretty compact, shining cubes, of lead ore. I was told by several persons here, that furthermore southward in the country, there is a place where they find a great quantity of this lead-ore in the ground. The Indians near it, melt it, and make balls and shot of it. I got some pieces of it likewise, consisting of a shining cubic lead-ore, with narrow stripes between it, and of a white hard earth or clay, which effervesces with aqua fortis.

I likewise received a reddish brown earth to-day, found near the Lac de Deux Montagnes, or Lake of Two Mountains, a few French miles from Montreal. It may be easily crumbled into dust between the fingers. It is very heavy, and more so than the earth of that kind generally is. Outwardly, it has a kind of glossy appearance, and, when it is handled by the fingers for some time, they are quite as it were silvered over. It is, therefore, probably a kind of lead-earth or an earth mixed with iron-glimmer.

The ladies in Canada are generally of two kinds: some come over from France, and the rest natives. The former possess the politeness peculiar to the French nation; the latter may be divided into those of Quebec and Montreal. The first of these are equal to the French ladies in good breeding, having the advantage of frequently conversing with the French gentlemen and ladies, who come every summer with the king’s ships, and stay several weeks at Quebec, but seldom go to Montreal. The ladies of this last place are accused by the French of partaking too much of the pride of the Indians, and of being much wanting in French good breeding. What I have mentioned above of their dressing their head too assiduously, is the case with all the ladies throughout Canada. Their hair is always curled, even when they are at home in a dirty jacket, and short coarse petticoat, that does not reach to the middle of their legs. On those days when they pay or receive visits, they dress so gayly, that one is almost induced to think their parents possessed the greatest dignities in the state. The Frenchmen, who considered things in their true light, complained very much that a great part of the ladies in Canada had got into the pernicious custom of taking too much care of their dress, and squandering all their fortunes, and more, upon it, instead of sparing something for future times. They are no less attentive to have the newest fashions; and they laugh at each other, when they are not dressed to each other’s fancy. But what they get as new fashions, are grown old, and laid aside in France; for the ships coming but once every year from thence, the people in Canada consider that as the new fashion for the whole year, which the people on board brought with them, or which they imposed upon them as new. The ladies in Canada, and especially at Montreal, are very ready to laugh at any blunders strangers make in speaking; but they are very excusable. People laugh at what appears uncommon and ridiculous. In Canada nobody ever hears the French language spoken by any but Frenchmen; for strangers seldom come thither; and the Indians are naturally too proud to learn French, but oblige the French to learn their language. From hence it naturally follows, that the nice Canada ladies cannot hear any thing uncommon without laughing at it. One of the first questions they propose to a stranger is, whether he is married? The next, how he likes the ladies in the country; and whether he thinks them handsomer than those of his own country? And the third, whether he will take one home with him? There are some differences between the ladies of Quebec and those of Montreal; those of the last place seemed to be generally handsomer than those of the former. Their behaviour likewise seemed to me to be somewhat too free at Quebec, and of a more becoming modesty at Montreal. The ladies at Quebec, especially the unmarried ones, are not very industrious. A girl of eighteen is reckoned very poorly off, if she cannot enumerate at least twenty lovers. These young ladies, especially those of a higher rank, get up at seven, and dress till nine, drinking their coffee at the same time. When they are dressed, they place themselves near a window that opens into the street, take up some needle-work, and sew a stitch now and then; but turn their eyes into the street most of the time. When a young fellow comes in, whether they are acquainted with him or not, they immediately lay aside their work, sit down by him, and begin to chat, laugh, joke, and invent double-entendres; and this is reckoned being very witty [117]. In this manner they frequently pass the whole day, leaving their mothers to do all the business in the house. In Montreal, the girls are not quite so volatile, but more industrious. They are always at their needle-work, or doing some necessary business in the house. They are likewise chearful and content; and nobody can say that they want either wit, or charms. Their fault is, that they think too well of themselves. However, the daughters of people of all ranks, without exception, go to market, and carry home what they have bought. They rise as soon, and go to bed as late, as any of the people in the house. I have been assured, that, in general, their fortunes are not considerable; which are rendered still more scarce by the number of children, and the small revenues in a house. The girls at Montreal are very much displeased that those at Quebec get husbands sooner than they. The reason of this is, that many young gentlemen who come over from France with the ships, are captivated by the ladies at Quebec, and marry them; but as these gentlemen seldom go up to Montreal, the girls there are not often so happy as those of the former place.

September the 23d. This morning I went to Sault au Récollet, a place three French miles northward of Montreal, to describe the plants and minerals there, and chiefly to collect seeds of various plants. Near the town there are farms on both sides of the road; but as one advances further on, the country grows woody, and varies in regard to height. It is generally very strong; and there are both pieces of rock-stone, and a kind of grey lime-stone. The roads are bad, and almost impassable for chaises. A little before I arrived at Sault au Récollet, the woods end, and the country is turned into corn-fields, meadows, and pastures.

About a French mile from the town are two lime-kilns on the road. They are built of a grey lime-stone, burnt hard, and of pieces of rock-stone, towards the fire. The height of the kiln from top to bottom is seven yards.

The lime-stone which they burn here, is of two kinds. One is quite black, and so compact, that its constituent particles cannot be distinguished, some dispersed grains of white and pale grey spar excepted. Now and then there are thin cracks in it filled with a white small-grained spar.

I have never seen any petrefactions in this stone, though I looked very carefully for them. This stone is common on the isle of Montreal, about ten or twenty inches below the upper soil. It lies in strata of five or ten inches thickness. This stone is said to give the best lime; for, though it is not so white as that of the following grey lime-stone, yet it makes better mortar, and almost turns into stone, growing harder and more compact every day. There are examples, that when they have been about to repair a house made partly of this mortar, the other stones of which the house consists, sooner broke in pieces than the mortar itself.

The other kind is a grey, and sometimes a dark grey lime-stone, consisting of a compact calcareous-stone, mixed with grains of spar, of the same colour. When broken, it has a strong smell of stink-stone. It is full of petrified striated shells or pectinites. The greatest part of these petrefactions are, however, only impressions of the hollow side of the shells. Now and then I found likewise petrefied pieces of the shell itself, though I could never find the same shells in their natural state on the shores; and it seems inconceivable how such a quantity of impressions could come together, as I shall presently mention.

I have had great pieces of this lime-stone, consisting of little else than pectinites, lying close to one another. This lime-stone is found on several parts of the isle, where it lies in horizontal strata of the thickness of five or ten inches. This stone yields a great quantity of white lime, but it is not so good as the former, because it grows damp in wet weather.

Fir-wood is reckoned the best for the lime-kilns, and the thuya wood next to it. The wood of the sugar-maple, and other trees of a similar nature, are not fit for it, because they leave a great quantity of coals.

Grey pieces of rock-stone are to be seen in the woods and fields hereabouts.

The leaves of several trees and plants began now to get a pale hue; especially those of the red maple, the smooth sumach [118], the Polygonum sagittatum, Linn. and several of the ferns.

A great cross is erected on the road and the boy who shewed me the wood, told me that a person was buried there, who had wrought great miracles.

At noon I arrived at Sault au Récollet, which is a little place, situated on a branch of the river St. Lawrence, which flows with a violent current between the isles of Montreal and Jesus. It has got its name from an accident which happened to a recollet friar, called Nicolas Veil, in the year 1625. He went into a boat with a converted Indian, and some Indians of the nation of Hurons, in order to go to Quebec; but, on going over this place in the river, the boat overset, and both the friar and his proselyte were drowned. The Indians (who have been suspected of occasioning the oversetting of the boat) swam to the shore, saved what they could of the friars effects, and kept them.

The country hereabouts is full of stones, and they have but lately began to cultivate it; for all the old people could remember the places covered with tall woods, which are now turned into corn-fields, meadows, and pastures. The priests say, that this place was formerly inhabited by some converted Hurons. These Indians lived on a high mountain, at a little distance from Montreal when the French first arrived here, and the latter persuaded them to sell that land. They did so, and settled here at Sault au Récollet, and the church which still remains here, was built for them, and they have attended divine service in it for many years. As the French began to increase on the isle of Montreal, they wished to have it entirely to themselves, and persuaded the Indians again to sell them this spot, and go to another. The French have since prevailed upon the Indians (whom they did not like to have amongst them, because of their drunkenness, and rambling idle life) to leave this place again, and go to settle at the lake des Deux Montagnes, where they are at present, and have a fine church of stone. Their church at Sault au Récollet is of wood, looks very old and ruinous, though its inside is pretty good, and is made use of by the Frenchmen in this place. They have already brought a quantity of stones hither, and intend building a new church very soon. The botanical observations which I made during these days, I shall reserve for another publication.

Though there had been no rain for some days past, yet the moisture in the air was so great, that as I spread some papers on the ground this afternoon, in a shady place, intending to put the seeds I collected into them, they were so wet in a few minutes time, as to be rendered quite useless. The whole sky was very clear and bright, and the heat as intolerable as in the middle of July.

One half of the corn-fields are left fallow alternately. The fallow grounds are never ploughed in summer; so the cattle can feed upon the weeds that grow on them. All the corn made use of here is summer corn, as I have before observed. Some plough the fallow grounds late in autumn; others defer that business till spring; but the first way is said to give a much better crop. Wheat, barley, rye, and oats are harrowed, but pease are ploughed under ground. They sow commonly about the 15th of April, and begin with the pease. Among the many kinds of pease which are to be got here, they prefer the green ones to all others for sowing. They require a high, dry, poor ground, mixed with coarse sand. The harvest time commences about the end, and sometimes in the middle of August. Wheat returns generally fifteen, and sometimes twenty fold; oats from fifteen to thirty fold. The crop of pease is sometimes forty fold, but at other times only ten fold; for they are very different. The plough and harrow are the only instruments of husbandry they have, and those none of the best sort neither. The manure is carried upon the fallow grounds in spring. The soil consists of a grey stony earth, mixed with clay and sand. They sow no more barley than is necessary for the cattle; for they make no malt here. They sow a good deal of oats, but merely for the horses and other cattle. Nobody knows here how to make use of the leaves of deciduous trees as a food for the cattle, though the forests are furnished with no other than trees of that kind, and though the people are commonly forced to feed their cattle at home during five months.

I have already repeatedly mentioned, that almost all the wheat which is sown in Canada is summer wheat, that is such as is sown in spring. Near Quebec it sometimes happens, when the summer is less warm, or the spring later than common, that a great part of the wheat does not ripen perfectly before the cold commences. I have been assured that some people, who live on the Isle de Jesus, sow wheat in autumn, which is better, finer, and gives a more plentiful crop, than the summer wheat; but it does not ripen above a week before the other wheat.

September the 25th. In several places hereabouts, they enclose the fields with a stone fence, instead of wooden pales. The plenty of stones which are to be got here, render the labour very trifling.

Here are abundance of beech trees in the woods, and they now had ripe seeds. The people in Canada collect them in autumn, dry them, and keep them till winter, when they eat them, instead of walnuts and hazel nuts; and I am told they taste very well.

There is a salt spring, as the priest of this place informed me, seven French miles from hence, near the river d’Assomption; of which during the war, they have made a fine white salt. The water is said to be very briny.

Some kinds of fruit-trees succeed very well near Montreal, and I had here an opportunity of seeing some very fine pears and apples of various sorts. Near Quebec the pear-trees will not succeed, because the winter is too severe for them; and sometimes they are killed by the frost in the neighbourhood of Montreal. Plum-trees of several sorts were first brought over from France, succeed very well, and withstand the rigours of winter. Three varieties of America walnut-trees grow in the woods; but the walnut-trees brought over from France die almost every year down to the very root, bringing forth new shoots in spring. Peach-trees cannot well agree with this climate; a few bear the cold, but, for greater safety, they are obliged to put straw round them. Chesnut-trees, mulberry-trees, and the like, have never yet been planted in Canada.

The whole cultivated part of Canada has been given away by the king to the clergy, and some noblemen; but all the uncultivated parts belong to him, as likewise the place on which Quebec and Trois Rivieres are built. The ground on which the town of Montreal is built, together with the whole isle of that name, belongs to the priests of the order of St. Sulpicius who live at Montreal. They have given the land in tenure to farmers and others who were willing to settle on it, in so much that they have more upon their hands at present. The first settlers paid a trifling rent for their land; for frequently the whole lease for a piece of ground, three arpens broad and thirty long, consists in a couple of chicken; and some pay twenty, thirty, or forty sols for a piece of land of the same size. But those who came later, must pay near two ecus (crowns) for such a piece of land, and thus the land-rent is very unequal throughout the country. The revenues of the bishop of Canada do not arise from any landed property. The churches are built at the expence of the congregations. The inhabitants of Canada do not yet pay any taxes to the king; and he has no other revenues from it, than those which arise from the custom-house.

The priests of Montreal have a mill here, where they take the fourth part of all that is ground. However the miller receives a third part of this share. In other places he gets the half of it. The priests sometimes lease the mill for a certain sum. Besides them nobody is allowed to erect a mill on the isle of Montreal, they having reserved that right to themselves. In the agreement drawn up between the priests and the inhabitants of the isle, the latter are obliged to get all their corn ground in the mills of the former.

They boil a good deal of sugar in Canada of the juice running out of the incisions in the sugar-maple, the red maple, and the sugar-birch; but that of the first tree is most commonly made use of. The way of preparing it has been more minutely described by me, in the Memoirs of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences [119].

September the 26th. Early this morning I returned to Montreal. Every thing began now to look like autumn. The leaves of the trees were pale or reddish, and most of the plants had lost their flowers. Those which still preserved them were the following [120]:

Several sorts of asters, both blue and white.

Golden rods of various kinds.

Common milfoil.

Common self-heal.

The crisped thistle.

The biennial oenothera.

The rough-leaved sun-flower, with tri-foliated leaves.

The Canada violet.

A species of gentian.

Wild vines are abundant in the woods hereabouts, climbing up very high trees.