Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/851

Rh CANADA 69 The character of the above Canadian immigration as an addition to the industrial population of the Dominion may be partially tested by the following classification of the occupations or trades of the heads of families and other adult males who landed at Quebec during the last-named four years. Occupations. 1870. 1871. 1S72. 1873. Farmers 4,144 2,989 2,336 1,470 Labourers. . 12,248 11,465 6,189 6,202 Mechanics 1,717 1,674 6,809 7,662 Clerks and Traders 146 89 79 62 Professional Men 10 4 14 7 Total 18,265 16,221 15,427 15,403 In the year 1872 the total number of emigrants who sailed from British ports, both to the Colonies and to foreign states, amounted to 295,213; but 26 per cent, of the whole were foreigners, availing themselves of the route through Great Britain to their final destinations. Climate. The variations of the Canadian climate are less than in many countries of much smaller extent. But throughout nearly its whole area, Canada is characterized by greater heat in summer and a much lower temperature in winter than in corresponding European latitudes. Its general character is level, though it includes the Rocky Mountains, with the picturesque and diversified region lying between them and the Pacific, and the Laurentian range, continued northward to the Arctic Ocean. Besides the great lakes which find their outlet through the St Lawrence to the sea, there are thousands of lakes throughout Canada, many of them of large dimensions. Foremost among those is Lake Winnipeg. The two great branches of the Saskatchewan take their rise in the Rocky Mountains, and after uniting their streams, flow into this lake, which also receives the Assiniboin, the Red River, and other smaller rivers. The St Lawrence and the great lakes, of which it is the outlet, are estimated to contain 12,000 cubic miles of water; and the Niagara Falls, which constitute the main feature in the descent from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, are on a scale commensurate with this vast fresh water system of rivers and lakes. The River Niagara issues from Lake Erie in a broad, tranquil stream, varying in breadth from one to three miles, and continuing through a course of about 15 miles, with a fall of little more than a foot per mile. But on reaching the rapids, the descent is suddenly increased to about 80 feet in less than a mile, before the waters reach the grand leap of about 1G5 feet perpendicular over the great falls. The Horse-Shoe Fall, on the Canadian side is upwards of a third of a mile broad. Between this and the American Fall Goat Island intervenes ; and then another volume of water, about GOO feet wide, plunges with like abruptness into the abyss below. The great breadth as compared with the height of the falls tends in some degree to mislead the eye in the first impression produced ; and it is only by slow degrees that the mind is brought to an adequate estimate of the grandeur of the scene. Sir Charles Lyell thus describes the effect produced on his mind, at a first glance, and after prolonged study of all their remarkable features : &quot; We first came in sight of the Falls of Niagara when they were about three miles distant. The sun was shining full upon them no building in view nothing but the green wood, the falling waters, and the white foam. At that moment they appeared to me more beautiful than I expected, and less grand ; but after several days, when I had enjoyed a nearer view of the two cataracts, had listened to their thundering sound, ancl gazed on them for hours from above and below, and had watched the river foaming over the rapids, then plunging headlong into the dark pool, and when I had explored the delightful island which divides the falls, where the solitude of the ancient forest is still unbroken, I at last learned by degrees to comprehend the wonders of the scene, and to feel its full magnificence.&quot; The river passes over the centre of the Horse-Shoe Fall in a solid column of water of 20 feet ; and it is estimated that fifteen hundred millions of cubic feet pass over the falls every minute. This great water system of rivers and lakes affects the climate of the older provinces of Canada ; and the other large rivers, with the numerous bodies of fresh water distributed over so large a portion of the whole surface of the Dominion, help to preserve an equable climate, and afford many facilities for local transport. Reckoning Lake Erie and Lake Ontario with the Niagara River as parts of the St Lawrence, the river system trends in a N.E. direction throughout the whole course from Point Pelee, which is situated in 42 lat., to Tadousac, the earliest French trading port, at the mouth of the Saguenay, in 48 2 lat. From this the coast still continues to trend north ward till it merges in the inhospitable shores of Labrador, in a latitude which is still as far south as London at the Strait of Belle Isle. The degrees of latitude indeed, are a very partial guide to the character of the Canadian climate as compared with that of the British Isles ; and any state ment of the mean temperatures of the two is deceptive. The severity of the winter, as tested by the thermometer, leads to a very exaggerated impression of Canadian experiences. Owing to the dry, clear, bracing atmosphere which generally prevails, the sense of discomfort produced by the raw easterly winds and damp fogs of an English spring suggests an idea of cold, such as is rarely thought of in a Canadian winter. There are indeed, every winter, a few days of intense cold, as in the summer there are brief periods of equally intense heat, when the thermometer ascends, or descends, through a scale unknown in the more equable English climate. But throughout the greater part of the winter season in Canada the sky is bright and clear, and the weather thoroughly enjoyable. Open sleighs are in use by all. Sleighing parties of pleasure are arranged for the period of full moon, that they may return home over the snow, after an evening s enjoyment at some appointed rendezvous : skating, snow-shoeing, and other outdoor exercises are in universal favour ; and the sound of the sleigh-bells in the open thoroughfares adds to the exhilarating sense produced by the pure bracing atmosphere. Snow accordingly brings with it no such ideas of discomfort as are associated with it in England ; while by the farmer it is hailed as altogether beneficial. In the province of Quebec .the snow begins to lie early in November ; in Ontario it is fully a month later ; and it differs correspond ingly at various localities throughout the Dominion. But everywhere the appearance of the snow is hailed as season able and beneficial. It protects the wheat sown in autumn from the frost, affords facilities to- the farmer for bringing his produce to market, aids the lumberer in collecting the fruits of his labour in the forest at suitable points for transport by water with the spring freshets, and so con tributes alike to business and pleasure. The following tables, carefully prepared from official reports transmitted to Professor Kingston, director of the Magnetic Observatory, Toronto, from the chief stations throughout the Dominion, supply reliable data for deter mining the temperature and climatic changes at the most important points throughout Canada ancl Newfoundland. In the column of first frost at Montreal, as shown in the last of the tables, the dates for the years 1872, 1873, and 1874 indicate the first fall of the thermometer to 32, while the earlier dates mark the first hoar frost of the autumn. IV. - 97