snow-covered peaks of
a great but unknown height; thence to the pole extends the dreary region
of the Hudson Bay territory.

The lesser elevation begins near the eastern extremity of Ontario, and
runs almost parallel with the shores of the lake to a point about
twenty-four miles northwest from Toronto, where it separates the streams
flowing into Lakes Huron and Ontario: it then passes southeast between
Lakes Erie and Ontario, and terminates on the Genesee in the United
States. This has a more perceptible elevation than the southern ridge,
and in some places rises into bold heights.

The only portion of the vast plain of Western Canada surveyed or
effectually explored is included by a line drawn from the eastern coast
of Lake Huron to the Ottawa River, and the northern shores of the great
chain of lake and river; this is, however, nearly as large as the whole
of England.

The natural features of Lower or Eastern Canada are unsurpassed by those
of any other country in grace and variety: rivers, lakes, mountains,
forests, prairies, and cataracts are grouped together in endless
combinations of beauty and magnificence. The eastern districts,
beginning with the bold sea-coast and broad waters of the St. Lawrence,
are high, mountainous, and clothed with dark forests on both sides, down
to the very margin of the river. To the north, a lofty and rugged range
of heights runs parallel with the shore as far westward as Quebec;
thence it bends west and southwest to the banks of the Ottawa. To the
south, the elevated ridge, where it reaches within sixty miles of
Quebec, turns from the parallel of the St. Lawrence southwest and south
into the United States; this ridge, known by the name of the Alleganies,
rises abruptly out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Perce, between the
Baye de Chaleur and Gaspe Cape, and is more distant from the Great River
than that upon the northern shore. Where the Alleganies enter the United
States they divide the plains of the Atlantic coast from the basin of
the Ohio; their greatest height is about 4000 feet above the level of
the sea.

The Valley of the St. Lawrence, lying between these two ranges of
heights, is marked by great diversities of hill, plain, and valley. Both
from the north and south numerous rivers pour their tributary flood into
the great waters of Canada; of those eastward of the Saguenay little is
known beyond their entrance; they flow through cliffs of light-colored
sand, rocky, wood