of the most thickly populated parts of a city. Had Quebec in
Wolfe's time been as it is now, Wolfe would have stuck in the mud
between the river and the rock before he reached the point which he
desired to climb. In the upper town the roads are not as bad as
they are below, but still they are very bad. I was told that this
arose from disputes among the municipal corporations. Everything
in Canada relating to roads, and a very great deal affecting the
internal government of the people, is done by these municipalities.
It is made a subject of great boast in Canada that the communal
authorities do carry on so large a part of the public business, and
that they do it generally so well and at so cheap a rate. I have
nothing to say against this, and, as a whole, believe that the
boast is true. I must protest, however, that the streets of the
greater cities--for Montreal is nearly as bad as Quebec--prove the
rule by a very sad exception. The municipalities of which I speak
extend, I believe, to all Canada--the two provinces being divided
into counties, and the counties subdivided into townships, to
which, as a matter of course, the municipalities are attached.

From Quebec to Montreal there are two modes of travel. There are
the steamers up the St. Lawrence, which, as all the world know, is,
or at any rate hitherto has been, the high-road of the Canadas; and
there is the Grand Trunk Railway. Passengers choosing the latter
go toward Portland as far as Richmond, and there join the main line
of the road, passing from Richmond on to Montreal. We learned
while at Quebec that it behooved us not to leave the colony till we
had seen the lake and mountains of Memphremagog; and, as we were
clearly neglecting our duty with regard to the Saguenay, we felt
bound to make such amends as lay in our power by deviating from our
way to the lake above named. In order to do this we were obliged