w, the refraction of his rays would have given to the ice
the many-coloured tints of the rainbow. We took care to keep a good
look out; but the fog was thick. We fell in with many other icebergs;
but none so beautiful as this.

We doubled Cape Ray, and entered, on the 5th of May, the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. The thermometer fell many degrees a change caused by the
vicinity of the ice. On the 5th of May we passed the Bird Rocks, three
in number, to windward, so called from the immense number of geese and
aquatic birds which resort thither to rear their broods. These rocks
rise to the height of four hundred feet, perpendicularly from the sea.
The fishermen, nevertheless, contrive to climb them for the sake of the
eggs they find there.

The 6th of May found us in the river St. Lawrence, between the
westernmost point of Anticosti to the north, and Cape Gaspe to the
south, in the middle of the channel, surrounded by ships tacking up the
stream, bound for Quebec and Montreal. We had plenty of sea-room, as
the river was more than ninety miles in breadth, and it is supposed to
be full a hundred at its _embouchure_.

The land was partially covered with snow, which fell throughout the
day. On the 8th of May we sailed as far as the Seven Islands. The day
was glorious, and the prospect most beautiful. Our vicinity to "the
cold and pitiless Labrador," rendered the air chilly, and we could hear
the howling of the wolves at night, to me a new and dismal sound. The
aurora borealis was particularly splendid, for the air was clear and
frosty.

On the 10th of May we stood for the Island of Bic, and took on board a
pilot. He was a handsome young man, a French-Canadian, under whose
guidance we made the place, but we were becalmed before it for the
whole forenoon.

The beauty of the scenery atoned, however, for the delay. Nothing,
indeed, could surpass it in my eyes, which had then only been
accustomed to the highly-cultivated and richly-wooded tracts in Suffolk
and Norfolk, and therefore dwelt with wonder and delight upon the
picturesque shores and lofty heights that crowned the noble St.
Lawrence.

The wind changing in our favour, carried us swiftly up the stream,
which was still thirty-six miles in breadth, though distant 280 miles
from the Gulf. We passed Green Island and the Kamouraska Island, and
Goose and Crane Islands. These beautiful islets, which stud the broad
bosom of the St. Lawrence, are evidently of volcanic origin. That