IV. So far as we know, the geologicul structure of Canada exhibits a granite country, accompanied with calcareous rocks of a soft texture, and in horizontal strata. The prevailing rocks in the Alleghany mountains are granite in vast strata, but sometimes in boulders between the mountains and the shore; greywacke and clayslate also occur with limestone occasionally; various other rocks, usually detached, present themselves. The lower islands of the St. Lawrence are mere inequalities of the vast granitic strata which occasionally protrude over the level of the river; the Kamouraska islands and the Penguins in particular exhibit this appearance, and in Kamouraska and St. Anne's parishes large masses of primitive granite rise in sharp conical hills (one is 500 feet high) with in some places smooth sides and scarcely a fissure, in other places full of fissures and clothed with pine trees which have taken root therein-the whole country appearing as if the St. Lawrence at one period entirely covered the land. At St. Roch the post road leads for more than a mile under a perpendicular ridge of granite 300 feet high. The banks of the St. Lawrence are in many places composed of a schistus substance in a decaying or mouldering condition, but still in every quarter granite is found in strata more or less inclined to the horizon, but never parallel to it. In the Gaspé district there have been obtained numerous and beautiful specimens of the quartz family, including a great variety of cornelians, agates, opals, and jaspers; coal indications have also been traced. Among the mountains to the N. W. of the St. Lawrence have been obtained iron felspar, hornblende, native iron ore, granite, (white, grey and red) and a kind of stone very common in Canada, called Limestone Granite, it being limestone that calcinates to powder, yet by fracture apparently granite: marble is in abundance and plumbago of the finest quality. The iron mines of St. Maurice have long been celebrated, and the metal prepared (with wood) is considered equal if not superior to Swedish; there is no doubt that Canada is rich in copper, lead, tin, and other mineral productions. The beautiful spar peculiar to Labrador, whence it derives its name, has long been celebrated; some specimens are of an ultra marine or brilliant sky-blue colour-others of a greenish yellow—of a red—and of a fine pearly grey tint. Marble of excellent quality and of varied hues (white, green, and variegated) is found in different parts of the country, and limestone, so useful to the agriculturist, almost everywhere abounds. The minimum for January, February, and March, of course, indicates below zero. The greater severity in the eastern or lower province is owing to its more N. E. position, and to the contiguous N. E. range of uncultivated mountains. In the N. E. the snow commences in November; but seldom continues many days on the ground before December, when the whole country is covered for several feet deep, which does not entirely disappear before the beginning of May. The frost during this period is generally intense, with N. W. winds and clear atmosphere during the greater part of the winter; but on a change of wind to the southward and eastward, the weather is overcast, the atmosphere becomes damp, sometimes accompanied with thick fog and snow-falls, with a considerable rise in the thermometer,-which usually ranges, during the months of December, January, February, and March, from 32 to 25 below zero, Fahrenheit. Below Quebec the St. Lawrence is not frozen over, but the navigation is impeded by the large masses of ice which are floated down the river from the upper districts, and kept in motion by the combined action of the current at the narrows opposite Quebec, and the diurnal influence of the ocean tides. The quantity of good soil in Canada compared with the extent of country is equal to that of any part of the globe; and there yet remains locality for many millions of the human race. The best lands are During the month of April the influence of the sun those on which the hardest timber is found-such on the ice and snow begins to be felt, and about the as oak, maple, beech, elm, black-walnut, &c. though first week in May the snow has all disappeared in the bass-wood when of luxuriant growth, and pine when neighbourhood of Quebec, (the spring is three weeks large, clean and tall, also indicates good land. Many earlier at Montreal, distant on the St. Lawrence about of the cedar swamps, where the cedars are not stunted 180 miles) and the ice which had been accumulating and mingled with ash of a large growth, contain a in the great lakes and rivers that pay tribute to the very rich soil and are calculated for the finest hemp mighty stream, rushes down in vast masses and almost grounds in the world. So great is the fertility of the incredible quantities towards the ocean, which again soil in Canada, that 50 bushels of wheat per acre are dashes it inland with the impetuosity of the gulf tides, frequently produced on a farm where the stumps of presenting an extraordinary and almost terrific scene: trees which probably occupy an eighth of the surface, sometimes the St. Lawrence is choked up from bank have not been eradicated some instances of 60 to bank with masses of ice from 4 to 500 yards in bushels per acre occur, and near York in Upper Ca- diameter,—the sea-tide and land current forces these nada, 100 bushels of wheat were obtained from a single on one another, and breaks them into small pieces, acre! In some districts wheat has been raised suc-forming fantastic groups of figures high above the surcessively on the same ground for 20 years without manure. face of the river;-the effect of the wind and water on these masses may well be imagined. The navigation Days. of the river is not said to be completely open until they have all disappeared, which is about the second week in May; vessels attempting to get out of, or to enter the St. Lawrence while the ice is forming or disappearing, are frequently lost by being embayed and crushed to pieces during a severe storm, when the running rigging, and even the rudder becomes immoveable. The climate of Canada has undergone a change as shown by the mean height of the thermometer at 8 A. M. for the month of July, from 1799 to 1818 consecutively: 1799..66.87; 1800..66.70; 1801..66.51; 1802.. 68.35; 1803..69.38; 1804..72.19; 1805.. 67.93; 1806..65.96; 1807..75.18; 1808..73.35; 1809.. 60.60; 1810..59.16; 1811..65.32; 1812..62.16; 1813..51.41; 1814..60.45; 1815..65.87; 1816.. 58.65; 1817..62.19; 1818..64.00. The warmest of the foregoing years in July was 1807, and the coldest 1813. Since 1818 the climate of Canada has undergone considerable change, partly owing to the motion of the Magnetic Poles and the clearing consequent on the cultivation of the country, the effect of which is mainly observable in the lengthened duration of summer and consequent shortening of winter. The state of the weather during the height of summer and winter at Cape Diamond, Quebec, (lat. 46.48 N., long. 71.17 W.) will be yet further seen by a Meteorological Register for January and July, taken in the year 1828, a year of rather remarkable high and low temperature. During the summer months there is a great deal of electric fluid in the atmosphere, and the vividness of the lightning and loudness of the thunder are sometimes appalling in the extreme. As a general rule it may be observed that the prevailing winds (viz. N.E., N. W. and S. W.) have considerable influence on the temperature of the atmosphere and state of the weather. The S. W. (the most prevalent) is generally moderate and accompanied by clear skies,-the N. E. and E bring continued rain in summer and snow in winter, the N. W. is dry, cold and elastic, owing to the ice-bound region it springs from. Winds from due N., S. or W. are not frequent, and the direction of the tide (which is felt for nearly 60 miles above Que bec) often causes a change in the atmospheric current. [See "Colonial Library," vol. I.—2nd Edn.] VI. Canada, as well as the other portions of the American continent, was comparatively densely peopled by a dark race, termed Indians, when first discovered by Europeans; and as colonization extended, the coloured population perished before the civilization of the whites. The earliest European census of Lower Canada was in 1622, when Quebec, then a small village, did not contain more than 50 persons. A general capitation took place in 1676, since which the increase, according to Charlevoix, La Potheraye, and public documents, has been as follows: 8415 11249 2834 15000 3751 20000 5000 26904, 6904 65000 38096 113000 48000 450000 337000 511917 61917 Comparative Statement of the Number of Emigrants arrived at Quebec since the Year 1829, inclusive. Grand Total, 238,881.-For other returns, see Appendix. Rate of Increase in the General Population of Lower Canada, from 1760 to 1836, inclusive. . 450,000 48,000 337,000 . 511,917 61,917 . 600,000 89,581 13 per cent. 17 2-5ths. 2,000 8,219 10,319 17,816 In 1825, the population of Lower Canada, by a corrected census, say In 1831, the population of Lower Canada, by a census of this year, was In 1836, the population of Lower Canada, supposed to be Increase in six years, from 1825 to 1831, of Lower Canada Increase in five years, from 1831 to 1836, of Lower Canada General rate, from 1825 to 1836, of Lower Canada, 11 years Average increase from 1760 to 1784, of Lower Canada, per annum Average increase from 1784 to 1825, of Lower Canada, per annum Average increase from 1825 to 1831, of Lower Canada, per annum Average increase from 1831 to 1836, of Lower Canada, per annum In a general view, the French and French-descended population are estimated at 400,000; and the British and British-descended, at 200,000; the latter, however, are rapidly increasing by births and immigration. The last complete census of the Colony was in 1831, but the births, marriages, and deaths of the districts of Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers, have been returned to the Colonial Office thus :-[See B. B. Lower Cadada, 1836.] Years. District of Quebec District of Montreal District of Three Rivers Births. Mrrgs. Deaths Incrs. Births. Mrrgs. Deaths Incrs. Births. Mrrgs. Deaths Incrs. 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 8133 1629 5023 3110 14217 2592 6514 7703 2740 517 1195 1545 Cholera caused great destruction of life during several of the preceeding years. X 7396 Orleanst Portneuf + Quebect 1987 2156 2039 312 8689 11900 1488 1573 1 369 18 337 482 405 1376 110 299 37 360 360 454 1421 150 488 27 538 22 325 394 443 1315 107 302 18 250 1946 1410 535 9032 11419 2660 3012 1 54802 48323 32572 17270 245367 290050 44771 51537 210 12397 473 7166 9913 9765 30621 3909 362 38 283 404 241 1089 66 127949 22931 17215 6429 123052 151985 22079 26838 128 6003 248 3925 4673 4990 16768 1696 4222 19 1610 40 1311 1556 2231 4816 978 707 308 212 596 436 358 32 10 590 289 1769 131 332 97 54802 18323 32572 17270 245367 290050 44771 51537 210 12397 173 7166 9913 9765 30621 3909 5994 1347 3498 354 1568 120 183 179 Total.... 205963 82437 58716 26087 422573 511917 78729 92704 401 21697 907 13302 16574 17278 54028 6413 11243 2000 Thus marked are on the S. side of the river St. Lawrence. + Thus marked are on the N. side of the river St. Lawrence. 56292 38337 26601 11901 3762 254 195 462 21952 10192 229293 6044 7001 2180 85 944 28229 5175 1240 504 11775 243 1431 56292 38337 26601 11901 15679, 18012| 16008 7207 10709, 7421 5371 2652 45 3762 254 195|46221952 10192 229293 6044 7001 2180 85 944 28229 5175 1240 504 11775 243 1431 3 39 29 184 466 330 10 10 115 979 1171 433 575 83659 64941 48413 22333 5278 408 334 924 34620 15069 403472 7019 7811 2461 107 5577 50824 7602 2503 1282 21591 313 1499 * Who have arrived by sea, since 1st May, 1825. + Who have arrived by any other way than by sea, since 1st May, 1825. Who have arrived since 1st May, 1825. |