Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
poised on the threshold of life. This indication of the narrative frame is
followed immediately by a description of the falls:
L'onde bouillonnante se précipite entre deux rochers escarpés, avec un
bruit sourd qui ne laisse pas que de plaire. Les environs sont magnifiques
et sont bien relevés par la beauté de cette chute. Il nous semblait voir une
belle colonne d'albâtre incrustée de pierreries, dont toutes les parties
auraient eu un mouvement oscillant, tant la masse d'eau écumait, tant
elle est étroite et perpendiculaire. Le soleil y dardait ses rayons, et ache-
vait de rendre le spectacle imposant. [80; The bubbling wave hastens
between two steep rocks, with a muffled sound that does not fail to please.
The surroundings are magnificent and highlighted by the beauty of the
falls. We seemed to be seeing a beautiful alabaster column encrusted with
precious stones, whose every part had an oscillating movement, so frothing
was the mass of water, so narrow and perpendicular is its flow. The sun
shot its rays and finalized the imposing spectacle.]
We are clearly far from Champlain's sparse verbal designation of this
very spot as simply 'de 25 toises' and much closer to Davies's waterco-
lour of these very Montmorency Falls (figure 1.4). While being im-
pressed, indeed pleased ('plaire') by the turbulence ('bouillonnante')
and ruggedness ('escarpé') of the spectacle, Papineau's narrator is also
struck by its architectural form ('une belle colonne d'albâtre incrustée de
pierreries'). Although movement is seen in the parts ('un mouvement
oscillant'), the main mass remains geometrically sound ('étroite et per-
pendiculaire'), in short, a perfect combination of nature and culture, to
which the addition of the visual effect of active light ('le soleil dardait ses
rayons') completes the magnificent scene ('spectacle imposant'). After
considerable time spent admiring 'ces beautés de la nature' (80; these
natural beauties), the party then actively seeks signs of national culture,
'à la recherche d'un morceau d'antiquité canadienne' (80; looking for a
morsel of Canadian antiquity), all the more precious as they are rare in
this new and still wild land. Following a three-hour walk, they reach a
high plateau, from which they contemplate another vast scene:
A notre droite et derrière nous, était un bois touffu; à notre gauche, on
voyait au loin des campagnes verdoyantes, de riches moissons, de
blanches chaumières, et à l'horizon, sur un promontoire élevé, la ville et
la citadelle de Québec; devant nous s'élevait un amas de ruines, des murs
crénelés et couverts de mousse et de lierre, une tour à demi tombée,
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