426 COLONIAL AND TRANSATLANTIC

ferry from Montreal to La Prairie, the usual route to the United States, was crossed in a wooden canoe. Passengers, horses, and carriages, are at present car- ried over in spacious and beautiful steam-boats. The Uttawa, and the lakes of Canada, are also navigated by steam-vessels. A steam—ship, of about 1200* tons, belonging to the St Lawrence Steam Naviga- tion Company, is nearly ready to navigate the seas between Halifax and Quebec, touching at the points marked in the general map. There are two steam- boats belonging to the General Mining Company at Pictou; there is another employed at Halifax; and three at St John’s, New Brunswick—one of which goes daily between that city and Fredericton, another crosses to Annapolis, from which stage~coaches run to Halifax, and a third plies betWeen St John’s, St Andrew’s, and the United States. All this has been done in a few years; and as certainlyas the “popu- lation of our colonies will increase, so will also the number of vessels propelled by steam power.

A company was formed in London, under an act of Parliament, in 1825, for the purpose of navigating the Atlantic with steam-packets. In 1826, a great num- ber of the shareholders of that year either withdrew or sold out. The fine steam—ship they purchased was also sold, and bought by the Dutch government, who employed it successfully between Holland and Curacgoa.

The American and Colonial Steam Navigation Company then obtained an amended act, when they published a prospectus. The following extracts from

* This splendid ship was launched at Quebec in April last (1831.) 2