Quebec marks the place where the St.Lawrence River suddenly broadens from a river into a tidal gulf of brackish or salt water.

Ocean steamers from all over the world can come (except during the height of the winter, when the water freezes) to Quebec.

But for the ice in wintertime Quebec would be _the_ great sea-port of eastern Canada.
[Footnote 9: The south shore of Lake Superior, the whole of Lake Michigan, the west shore of Lake Huron, and the south coasts of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are within the territories of the United States.] "If pitiless rock is commonly understood by an 'iron-bound shore', then the coasts of the River St.Lawrence along the northern side of the Gulf may truly be so styled, as nothing scarcely is to be seen for hundreds of leagues but bare rocky mountains, capes and cliffs in various shapes and figures, some of which are dotted with a few spruce firs, while others present their bald pates deprived of covering by the unmerciful hand of time." (James M'Kenzie).
The winters of the Quebec province are extremely cold, but the summer and autumn are warm and sunny.

The best winter climate, possibly, in all Canada (though not as good as that of Vancouver Island, British Columbia) is to be found in the small peninsula region, on the shores of Lakes Erie and Huron, between Toronto and Detroit.

This is the district which the Jesuit missionaries described as "an earthly paradise" even during the winter-time.
The following extracts, mostly from the journals of Alex.