Volltext Seite (XML)
46 CANADIAN GUIDE BOOK. the Legislature from year to year in attempts to deepen the channel to the requisite depth for vessels of large tonnage, but from the shifting nature of the bed, or injudicious management, or some other cause, the results have been hitherto unsatisfactory.—On passing the group of islands we leave the District of Montreal and enter that of Three Rivers. Three considerable rivers, the Yamaska, St. Francis, and Nicolet, flow at equal intervals into the Lake on the south shore. The St. Francis issues from a lake of the same name, and after a course of upwards of a hundred miles reaches the Lake. Near its mouth are several islands, the largest of which is four miles long, is well settled, and contains a chnrch and parsonage-house. There is an Indian village on the east side of the river. The settlement com prises thirty-seven acres. These Indians are of the Abenaquais tribe, and subsist by raising in a very indifferent manner a little Indian corn and potatoes, and rearing a few pigs and poultry. To these means they add a little by fishing, and by hunting during the winter. They are chiefly Roman Catholics, and on that account the Government supports a Roman Catholic Missionary. A Methodist Missionary has recently resided amongst them, and a few families adhere to him. They number about three hundred. A few miles from the mouth of the last is Nicolet, near which is a College on an enlarged scale, founded about the beginning of this century, and maintained in its infancy by the liberality of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec.— After passing Port St. Francis, where passengers land for the Eastern Townships, the River soon resumes its usual breadth.—The town ofTrois Rivieres or Three Rivers is pleasantly situated on the west side of the St. Maurice, at its confluence with the St. Lawrence. Two small islands in the mouth of the St. Maurice give the appearance of three distinct rivers, and hence originated the name. It is one of the oldest places in Canada, having been begun in 1618 by some French colonists, with the view of making it a depot whence the fur-trade might be carried on with the Indians to the north ward ; but Montreal, being found a more convenient station, became the main emporium for this traffic. On this account the town made little progress till the year 1737, when the establishment of a Foundry at St. Maurice, eight miles in rear of the town, con-