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[Illustration: MONTMORENCI FALLS, NEAR QUEBEC.]
Montreal is the metropolis of Canada, having a population of about 220,000, and being at the head of ship navigation, has improved its advantages and become the chief commercial port of the Dominion. The name is derived from Mount Royal, which rises 700 feet above the river, the eminence which Jacques Cartier ascended in 1535, and looked with startled eyes upon the palisaded Indian town of Hochelaga, surrounded by vast fields of grain, at the west base of the mountain. Sixty years later, when Samuel de Champlain made his way up the St. Lawrence and climbed to the summit of Mount Royal, he looked in vain for the town which Cartier had discovered and described. Only two of the native Indians of Hochelaga were found, from whom was learned the tragic history of the place, the inhabitants of which had been exterminated and the town destroyed by a rival tribe.
Montreal is situated on an island of the same name, and the eminences about it were so important as vantage-places that during the French and Indian wars (in 1665), the mount was fortified by the French, and in 1722 a citadel was erected on a height now laid out as Dalhousie Square. In its early history, therefore, the city was the scene of many incidents of Indian warfare, and was on disputed ground until the surrender of Quebec, in 1759, when the English gained permanent possession of the place.
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REPRESENTATIONS OF WINTER CARNIVAL SCENES AT MONTREAL.—Winter is the carnival season at Montreal, and for some years the city has been specially distinguished by the brilliant fêtes which her leading citizens have provided, notably that of 1888. On this occasion there were many scenes of extraordinary splendor, exceeding, in the magnificent sights afforded, the carnivals that take place on the frozen waters of the Neva River, before the Russian capital of St. Petersburg, famous alike in song and story. The great ice palace was a most exquisite imitation of mediæval architecture, rivaling in its imposing and charming appearance the finest castles of the Old World. ]