be very unintelligible to them; but nevertheless it is probably a
subject of deep speculation. If the reading world were to take to
sermons again and eschew their novels, Messrs. Thackeray, Dickens,
and some others would look about them and inquire into the causes
of such a change with considerable acuteness. They might not,
perhaps, hit the truth, and these Indians are much in that
predicament. It is said that very few pure-blooded Indians are now
to be found in their villages, but I doubt whether this is not
erroneous. The children of the Indians are now fed upon baked
bread and on cooked meat, and are brought up in houses. They are
nursed somewhat as the children of the white men are nursed; and
these practices no doubt have done much toward altering their
appearance. The negroes who have been bred in the States, and
whose fathers have been so bred before them, differ both in color
and form from their brothers who have been born and nurtured in
Africa.

I said in the last chapter that the City of Ottawa was still to be
built; but I must explain, lest I should draw down on my head the
wrath of the Ottawaites, that the place already contains a
population of 15,000 inhabitants. As, however, it is being
prepared for four times that number--for eight times that number,
let us hope--and as it straggles over a vast extent of ground, it
gives one the idea of a city in an active course of preparation.
In England we know nothing about unbuilt cities. With us four or
five blocks of streets together never assume that ugly, unfledged
appearance which belongs to the half-finished carcass of a house,
as they do so often on the other side of the Atlantic. Ottawa is
preparing for itself broad streets and grand thoroughfares. The
buildings already extend over a length considerably exceeding two
miles; and half a dozen hotels have been opened, which, if I were
writing a guide-book in a complimentary tone, it would be my duty
to describe as first rate. But the half dozen first-rate hotels,
though open, as yet enjoy but a moderate amount of custom. All
this justifies me, I think, in saying that the city has as yet to
get itself built. The manner in which this is being done justifies
me also in saying that the Ottawaites are going about their task
with a worthy zeal.

To me I confess that the nature of the situation has great charms,
regarding it as the site for a town. It is not on a plain; and
from the form of the rock overhanging the river, and of the hill
that falls from thence down to the water, it has been found
impracticable to lay out the place in right-angled parallelograms.
A right-angled parallelogramical city, such as are Philadelphia and
the new portion of New York, is from its very nature odious to me.
I know that much may be said in its favor--that drainage and gas-
pipes come easier to such a shape, and that ground can be better
economized. Nevertheless, I prefer a street that is forced to
twist itself about. I enjoy the narrowness of Temple Bar and the
misshapen curvature of Picket Street. The disreputable dinginess
of Hollowell Street is dear to me, and I love to thread my way up
the Olympic into Covent Garden. Fifth Avenue in New York is as
grand as paint and glass can make it; but I would not live in a
palace in Fifth Avenue if the corporation of the city would pay my
baker's and butcher's bills.

The town of Ottawa lies between two waterfalls. The upper one, or
Rideau Fall, is formed by the confluence of a small river with the
larger one; and the lower fall--designated as lower because it is
at the foot of the hill, though it is higher up the Ottawa River--
is called the Chaudiere, from its resemblance to a boiling kettle.
This is on the Ottawa River itself. The Rideau Fall is divided
into two branches, thus forming an island in the middle, as is the
case at Niagara. It is pretty enough, and worth visiting even were
it farther from the town than it is; but by those who have hunted
out many cataracts in their travels it will not be considered very
remarkable. The Chaudiere Fall I did think very remarkable. It is
of trifling depth, being formed by fractures in the rocky bed of
the river; but the waters have so cut the rock as to create
beautiful forms in the rush which they make in their descent.
Strangers are told to look at these falls from the suspension
bridge; and it is well that they should do so. But, in so looking
at them, they obtain but a very small part of their effect. On the
Ottawa side of the bridge is a brewery, which brewery is surrounded
by a huge timber-yard. This timber yard I found to be very muddy,
and the passing and repassing through it is a work of trouble; but
nevertheless let the traveler by all means make his way through the
mud, and scramble over the timber, and cross the plank bridges
which traverse the streams of the saw-mills, and thus take himself
to the outer edge of the wood-work over the water. If he will then
seat himself, about the hour of sunset, he will see the Chaudiere
Fall aright.

But the glory of Ottawa will be--and, indeed, already is--the set
of public buildings which is now being erected on the rock which
guards, as it were, the town from the river. How much of the
excellence of these buildings may be due to the taste of Sir Edmund
Head, the late governor, I do not know. That he has greatly
interested himself in the subject, is well known; and, as the style
of the different buildings is so much alike as to make one whole,
though the designs of different architects were selected and these
different architects employed, I imagine that considerable
alterations must have been made in the original drawings. There
are three buildings, forming three sides of a quadrangle; but they
are not joined, the vacant spaces at the corner being of
considerable extent. The fourth side of the quadrangle opens upon
one of the principal streets of the town. The center building is
intended for the Houses of Parliament, and the two side buildings
for the government offices. Of the first Messrs. Fuller and Jones


<< previous page | next page >>

Jump to page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 |