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force of summer heat; and although the weather in September is mild and pleasant, it partakes more of the summer than of the autumn of temperate climates. The season of vegetation seems kindly prolonged, till surprized in a manner at once by the return of winter, without much of what may be called autumn weather.

Frost is felt in October, but the sun still retains enough of power to make the weather, during the day, tolerably

warm.

During the month of November the frost becomes daily more severe, and snow begins to fall. Your house is now put upon the winter establishment; stoves are put up in your rooms, and in your passages; the windows are well secured and made tight; and you lay aside your summer dress, and adopt flannels and furs.

One snow storm now succeeds another, till the whole face of the country is covered. The eye in vain looks for a bit of ground to rest upon--the trees alone remain visible-the chilling grasp of winter is every where felt, and every precaution is taken to resist its effects.

There is something very awful and terrific in a Canadian snow storm. A heavy fall of snow is generally accompanied by a violent gale of wind, which driving along the snow with immense velocity, and forming a thousand eddies and turnings, according to the inequalities af the surface, and resistance consequent thereon, you are able to form an idea of the velocity of the wind-it becomes, as it were, visible. The most severe snow storms they experience in Canada, come from the north-east, the frozen regions of Hudson's bay and Labrador.

During summer the woods of Canada abound with birds of a great variety of sorts and sizes-partridges, woodcocks, pigeons, and singing birds without number. The lakes and rivers abound with aquatic birds, such as ducks, geese, snipes, &c. Some of

these pass the whole summer in Canada; others, such as the pigeons, are only found at certain seasons, as they pass from the southern to the more northerly parts of the American continent, and vice versa. No sooner does the frost set in, than almost all the feathered tribes take the alarm, and leave the country; even the hardy crow is obliged to take himself off. A species of partridge, called the pine partridge (from its living on certain parts of the pine tree, of which it tastes very strongly), alone remains-but it is very rarely seen. Few quadrupeds are to be seen; some hares are found, but to see them is difficult, for they have changed their colour to as pure a white as the snow in which they lie; -a kind precaution in nature to conceal them from their enemies. Many other quadrupeds, no doubt, remain in this country during the winter. Like the bear, they probably do not change their lodgings while the snow is on the ground, but remain stationary, and in a torpid state.

The Canadians change their appearance as much as a complete change of dress can do. The hat and bonnet rouge are laid aside, and they use fur caps, fur cloaks, fur gloves, and worsted hose, over, as well as under boots.Thus defended, they venture with impunity into the severest frost.

The snow soon covers the ground to the depth of several feet, and wheel carriages can no longer be used: the wheels would sink so deep, that it would be impossible to advance a step. In place, therefore, of wheel carriages, a sort of sledge is used which in Canada is called a cariole. It passes over the snow without sinking deep. It is placed on what they call runners, which resemble in form the irons of a pair of skaits, and rise up in front in the same manner, and for the same purposes. The cariole is generally from nine to twelve inches above the snow. called high runners, are about eighteen inches. The body of the cariole va

Some

ries in shape, according to the fancy of the owner. It is sometimes like the body of a phaeton, sometimes like a chair or gig, sometimes like a vis-avis, and sometimes like a family coach or chariot. The cariole, in short, is the name for all sorts of vehicles used in winter, from a market cart, up to a state coach.

The generality of them are light, open carriages, drawn by one horse. The snow, after being trodden on for some time, becomes compact enough to bear the horse, and gives very little resistance to the cariole. Some people are extremely fond of driving out in carioles, for my own part, I think it is a very unpleasant conveyance, from the constant succession of inequalities which are formed in the snow by the carioles. These inequalities the Canadians call cahots (from the French word cahoter, to jolt,) and they certainly are very well named, for you are jolted as if you crossed a field with very deep furrows and high narrow ridges. The motion is not unlike rowing in a boat against a head-sea-a thing that requires to be only once tried, to be disliked.

As no other sort of carriage can, however, be used in this country, custom and example reconcile one to it: all ranks use them, of one sort or other. Sometimes you see them conveying a dashing buck up one street and down another at a gallop, to the no small annoyance of people who are fond of keeping their bones whole, a thing those gentlemen seem very carcless about. Sometimes you see the close covered family ones, convey ing an old lady quietly and steadily to church, or to have a little gossiping with a friend; and sometimes you see them coming in from the country conveying beef and mutton, turkies and geese, for the supply of the market.

When the navigation of the St. Lawrence becomes impracticable, little business is done by the merchants, who then appropriate a considerable

a six

part of their time to amusements. It is necessary to do something to give a little variety to the sameness of months winter. They have parties of pleasure in town, and parties of pleasure in the country, in which you. have dancing and music, and the social enjoyments of conviviality.

There is a public assembly once a fortnight, which is very well attended. If you are fond of dancing you have an opportunity of indulging in it; if you like a sober rubber, you find. very good whist players. The civil and military gentlemen mix very cordially together. Such of the Canadians as can afford it, and have an inclination, join the amusements that are going forward, particularly the assemblies: and dancing parties; and indeed they are an acquisition, as many of the ladies want neither beauty nor the accomplishments necessary for their gracing an assembly.

One should naturally suppose that very bad consequences would be likely to arise from being heated by dancing in so cold a climate. This, however, is not the case: both ladies and gentlemen, in the coldest weather, are dressed in the assembly room as thinly as they are in England in summer; and the rooms are very comfortable, being kept moderately warm by a stove. Immediately after dancing, and while very warm, the company go into the open air in the middle of the night when the cold is extreme (from 20 to 30 degrees below the freezing point,) without next day feeling the least inconvenience. It is true, they take every precaution ne-` cessary, by clothing themselves very. warmly.

People are less liable to suffer from cold in Canada than they are in England, notwithstanding the greater severity of the weather. Many reasons: are assigned for this fact. The Canadians take care not to expose themselves to the external air without being warmly clothed; particular at

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tention is paid to keeping the feet, the hands, and the head warm.

The air is extremely dry in winter, being deprived of its moisture by congelation; the intense frost causes naturally a deposition of the aqueous par ticles, in the shape of hoar frost.Now, it has been accurately ascertain ed and proved by experiments, that eold dry air is not so good a conductor of heat from our bodies as cold moist air; it follows, therefore, that the thermometer may shew a very low temperature in cold dry air, such as we have here, without our being sensible of a great degree of cold; and, that in cold moist air, such as you have in England, the thermometer may not be under the freezing point, and yet the quantity of caloric or heat carried off from your body, be greater than if the thermometer shewed a temperature many degrees below freezing. Were the effect of the cold here on one's feelings, to increase in proportion as the thermometer falls, and go as far beyond what it is in England, as the real quantum of caloric in the atmosphere is more there than here, it would be impossible to exist in this country; but the evil carries its cure along with it, the frost deprives the air of its moisture, and consequently decreases its power of carrying off from our body the heat it contains. If we wish to know how the weather is to affect us, we should consult a hygrometer as well as a thermometer.

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When the cold dry air of this country enters your apartment, and is warmed by the heat of the stove, its drying power becomes very great.To be convinced that this is the case, it is only necessary to observe how much the furniture of the house suffers from it. The very pannels of the doors shrink so much as almost to fall out of the frame, and the frame itself shrinks to such a degree that the bolt loses its hold.

I recollect to have remarked the very same effects from the hot easterly Nov. 1809.

wind, which blows occasionally, in the end of summer, in the southern countries of Europe. The Italians call it the siroc wind. It is equally known and dreaded, for your sensations are extremely disagreeable; the effect on furniture is the same as that of the air of this count.y, heated by the stove; but its effects on your body are much more severe. The skin, when the westerly wind blows, is covered with a gentle moisture, but as soon as the easterly or siroc wind blows, the skin becomes dry and parched, and your sensations are oppressive, and undescribable. When the air here is very much heated by the stoves, you feel in some degree the same sensations and effects; but you have a remedy at hand: you have only to open a door, and you get a fresh supply of cold air. There is no avoiding the siroc wind➡ let your doors and windows be ever so tight before it begins to blow, it soon makes a passage for itself through the crevices of the shrunk pannels.

An Englishman can with difficulty form an idea of the cold of Canada, or of its effects, till he feels and sees them. The coldest weather is generally during the month of January.The thermometer fell last January 60 degrees below the freezing point, and it continued at that temperature for several days. The medium temperature in December and January is about 22 degrees below freezing.

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About the beginning of December all the small rivers are frozen so completely, and covered with snow, that bridges for passing them are no longer necessary, and little attention is paid to keeping in the summer roads. Where they are hollow, or where there are fences, the roads are so completely filled up with snow, that they are on a level with the fields on each side,

The country people who first form the winter roads on the snow, direct their Carioles by the nearest course where the snow is most level; and they go in as straight a line as possible, to

the

the place to which they are destined. They put up branches of trees on each side the new track, as a direction to others who wish to go that way.These they call des balises, or beacons. When they can conveniently follow the course or bed of a river it is generally done, because the surface is evener than over the fields, and there is less snow on them, as they do not freeze till after a considerable quantity of snow has fallen on the fields:

Even the great St. Lawrence is arrested in its course. It freezes completely over, a few leagues above Quebee, and serves occasionally as a road to Montreal. It seldom freezes over, opposite to Quebec, or in the bason. As the river narrows here, the current is increased, and the tide sets up and down with such force, that it generally keeps the floating masses of ice in motion. When the river freezes over, opposite to Quebec, it is called, in the language of the country, a pont, because it answers the purpose of a bridge to the people who live below Quebec, and who then bring up provisions and fire-wood in great quantities.

A variety of circumstances must combine to form a pont; when many very large masses of ice happen to come in contact, and fill the whole space between one side of the river and the other, they become stationary. If this happens at neaptides, and in calm weather, the frost fixes the whole, and it becomes a solid mass before the rising tides derange it; when it has stood a few days, it generally acquires strength enough to resist every impulse it may receive, till the warmth of the April sun affects it.

mirror. Thousands of people crowd, upon it every day, and booths are erected for their entertainment. In one quarter, you see numbers of people enjoying the amusement of skaiting; in another, you see carioles driving in different directions; for the ice is so strong, that horses go on it with the greatest safety. Sometimes you see cariole races, they go over the ice with great swiftness. In short, when the pont takes, (as they term it) it occasions a kind of jubilee in Quebec.

In one point of view it is a subject of real rejoicing to the city; it is accompanied with substantial advantages. Provisions of all kinds, and firewood, a no less necessary article in this country, fall in price, from an increase in quantity, as soon as the pont enables the people in the country below Quebec to bring their surplus stock to market in their carioles, without the expence and risk of passing the river in canoes. These canoes are not such as have been before described, used in the north-west trade. They are one solid piece of wood, the trunk of a large tree scooped out, and formed in the outside something like a boat; some of them are very large, carrying easily 15 or 20 people.

The passing of the St Lawrence in canoes, in the middle of winter, is a very extraordinary operation. The time of high water is chosen, when the large masses of ice are almost stationary. The canoe is launched into the water, where there is an opening: the people are provided with ropes, boathooks, and paddles. When they come to a sheet of ice, they jump out of the canoe upon it; draw the canoe up after them; push it to the other side of the sheet of ice; launch it into the water; paddle till they come to another sheet of ice; again haul up the canoe, cross the ice, and again launch -and so on till they reach the other You see twenty to thirty cacrossing in this way at the same and you cannot help trembling for

All these circumstances so seldom happen at the same time, that it is about ten years since the river took opposite to Quebec. This year, how ever, I have had the pleasure of seeing it in that state, and it certainly is an interesting and curious sight. For the side. distance of eight miles, you see an im- noes mense sheet of ice, as smooth as a time;

for them, when you see two immense masses of ice coming together, and they between, apparently in the great est danger of being crushed to pieces; but the people extricate themselves with great dexterity.

Custom has taught them to avoid the danger which seems to threaten them with destruction: they dexterously jump upon the first piece of ice with which they come in contact, and haul the canoe after them. I have never, myself, been under any neces

sity to pass the river in this way; and I must own that it seemed fraught with so much danger, that I never from mere curiosity was induced to attempt it. One might, by the aid of the people, escape drowning, if one even did fall into the water; but I con ceive that a ducking in the river St Lawrence, in the month of January, and remaining half an hour or more in wet clothes, would be likely to put a period to one's existence as effectually as drowning.

Military Expeditions sent by ENGLAND to the Continent of EUROPE, from the Commencement of the War betwixt GREAT BRITAIN and FRANCE, in 1793, to the present period.

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When sent-August 1799.

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Second to Holland.

Commanders-D. of York Failed. Lost nearly half the army; and entered

and Generals Harmann

and Essen. Force-27,000 English, and 20,000 Russians. Object Deliverance of Europe.

into a capitulation on the 18th of October, whereby the Duke agreed, on condition of being allow→ ed to re-embark, to liberate 8000 French and Batavians then prisoners in England.

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