on a grand scale; and the mountains, woods, lakes, rivers, precipices and waterfalls all combine to make the country one of the grandest in the world. Canada’s beautiful Mediterranean, the noble St. Lawrence, traverses the province from south-west to north-east, and receives as tributaries the great rivers Ottawa, Richelieu, St. Maurice and the Saguenay, as well as a multitude of other rivers of considerable size.

“What river is this?” ..... asked Cartier of his Indian pilot, when first he sailed over the broad expanse of the St. Lawrence. With impressive dignity came the reply, “A river that has no end." How apt this conception was is apparent when we remember that in its widest sense—for the great lakes are but river beds of the Ice Age—the St. Lawrence system is over 2200 miles long.

It is interesting to remember that all the early navigators sailed up the St. Lawrence with the hope of thus reaching China and the Indies. It was this quest for a direct western seaway to the Orient that led to the discovery of the North American con- tinent. Indeed, in Roman times and many centuries before the Norse discovery of a thousand years ago, Iberian shipping, bound west, is believed to have reached the St. Lawrence as far as Tadousac and the Saguenay River. All of these daring naviga- tors believed that the Western shores reached by them were the bold headlands of the Asiatic continent.

The value of Cabot’s discovery of the Western continent in early days—or the niggardly character of the ‘royal’ Henry—may be inferred from the following entry in the expenditure account, for the year 1497, still to be seen in the British Museum : ”August 10th ........ To hyme that founde the new Isle ........ £10.”

The great Champlain, in his search for a western water— way to China, penetrated as far as the lake in the State of New York that now bears his

name.

There is such a wealth of scenic beauty in the Province of Quebec, and such a delight- ~. ful, old-time life is found in ’ its many quaint villages, that a tour in any part of the province is full of very pleas-