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42 CANADIAN GUIDE BOOK. on such occasions a band of music, formed of amateurs of their own body, enlivened the procession as it went and returned.—Such tourists as feel the natural desire of seeing somewhat more of Canadian coun try life should avail themselves of the favourite drives to Longue Pointe, or across the Island to Sault aux Recollets on the Ottawa. We shall now suppose the tourist on board one of the steamers that ply daily betwixt Montreal and Quebec, the ancient capital of Canada. He has now a good opportunity of inspecting the port, which altogether is one of the finest in the world. The quay ex tends crescent-like along the whole front of the city for nearly a mile, containing numerous basins and wharves for vessels of every size, and leaving ample space for the passage of almost countless cabs, charrettes, omnibuses, and trucks. A most substantial stone wall, about twelve feet high, the top of which is level w ith the front street, and guarded by a handsome cast-metal railing, bounds the entire quay. This wall in winter acts as a defence against the immense masses of ice, which are heaved frequently above the level of the street, on the occasion of shoves before the river takes, i. e. is so bridged over with ice that regular roads can be constructed, and an uninterrupted communication kept up, usually for upwards of three months, as upon terra firma. The wall, also, serves as a defence on the break- ing-up of the winter. The river here runs at the rate of about six miles an hour, and is nearly two miles wide. The current between fet. Helen’s and the opposite shore, called St. Mary’s Current, is so strong that steam-tugs are in constant requisition for towing ves sels to the different basins.—We may here premise that the distance from Montreal to Quebec is one hundred and eighty miles, that the town of Three Rivers lies half way, and that above this town the banks vary from five to fifteen feet in height, while below it they gradually increase their elevation till they attain to some hundred feet within a few miles of Quebec. The intermediate country is on the whole well cultivated, and on either side is seen an uninterrupted suc cession of neat whitewashed cottages and of thriving villages at al most regular intervals, in which handsome churches with tin-covered spires are conspicuous. This dense succession of farm-houses along the shores is accounted for by the fact, that the seigneurs, to whom