town, however, is of a different character, and the houses are
interspersed with gardens and pleasant walks, which looked very
agreeable from the windows of the ball-room of the Nelson Hotel. This
room, which is painted from top to bottom, the walls and ceiling, with a
coarse imitation of groves and Canadian scenery, commands a superb view
of the city, the river, and all surrounding country, taking in the
distant mountains of Chamblay, the shores of St. Laurence, towards La
Prairie, and the rapids above and below the island of St. Anne's. The
royal mountain (Mont Real), with its wooded sides, its rich scenery, and
its city with its streets and public buildings, lie at your feet: with
such objects before you the eye may well be charmed with the scenery of
Montreal.

We receive the greatest attention from the master of the hotel, who is
an Italian. The servants of the house are very civil, and the company
that we meet at the ordinary very respectable, chiefly emigrants like
ourselves, with some lively French men and women. The table is well
supplied, and the charges for board and lodging one dollar per day
each*.

[* This hotel is not of the highest class, in which the charge is a
dollar and a half per day. Ed.]

I am amused with the variety of characters of which our table is
composed. Some of the emigrants appear to entertain the most sanguine
hopes of success, appearing to foresee no difficulties in carrying their
schemes into effect. As a contrast to these there is one of my
countrymen, just returned from the western district on his way back to
England, who entreats us by no means to go further up this horrid
country, as he emphatically styles the Upper Province, assuring us he