Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Paragraph six accentuates the variety of the landscape:
La vaste nappe d'eau présentait trois ou quatre aspects différents. La ma-
rée montait dans la petite anse au fond de laquelle étaient les deux mai-
sons que nous venons de décrire; la brise s'élevait avec la marée, et l'eau
plus épaisse prenait une teinte brune. À droite, on découvrait une grande
étendue d'un azur tranquille; à gauche, éclairée par un soleil d'automne,
l'eau paraissait comme une large plaque d'argent incrustée d'or; une
marque d'écume blanche séparait cette partie de l'autre: c'était l'endroit
où une petite rivière traversant un lit de cailloux se jetait dans le fleuve.
[The vast sheet of water presented three or four different aspects. The tide
rose into the small cove at whose base were the two houses just described;
the breeze picked up with the tide, and the thicker water took on a brown
tint. To the right, one saw a large expanse of a tranquil azure colour; to the
left, lit by the autumn sun, the water appeared like a wide plate of silver
incrusted with gold; a mark of white foam separated this part from the
other: this was the place where a small river crossing a bed of pebbles
went into the river.]
Here, Chauveau returns from the vast river ('la vaste nappe d'eau') to
the cove where the viewers are located, then reconfigures the scene in
terms of space and colour. On the right, towards the open sea, the water
is perceived ('on découvrait') as a large mass of blue ('une grande éten-
due d'un azur tranquille'); on the left, towards the commercial centres
of Quebec and Montreal, the water takes on the appearance of a large
silver plate incrusted with gold, the colours themselves suggesting
commercial interests. In the middle, the dark brown waters of the cove
are cut by the white foam of a small river running into the Saint
Lawrence and dividing the blue waters on the right from the silver and
gold waters on the left. The landscape thus lays out the murky dilemma
faced by the brothers, on the cusp of a decision, one of whom will head
for the adventure of the open sea (to the right), the other for the lure of
financial gain in the city (to the left).
If the cove marks a dividing point in the water, it does so also in the
surrounding land, as we see in paragraph seven. The two points of
land on each side of the cove serve to frame the river as in a painting
('servaient de cadre au fleuve'), yet again, each point is distinct from
the other, continuing the ongoing organization by contrast that char-
acterizes the overall description. The right point of land is lush ('riche
végétation') and contains the beginnings of a village ('un groupe de
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