Inscrit. Signé. Daté., Inscription: à l'encre, verso, h. c. : Blankney; à l'encre, sur le support, recto, b. d. : Lt. Col Alderson; (Complete transcription), Inscription: Fiche descriptive, de haut en bas : Description of the Falls of Montmorency / This sketch represents the front view of the Falls in January 1832. The conical Hill of / Ice is called the Cone and is gradually formed by the spray rising from the foot of the / Fall which becomes frozen. The present cone is about 60 or 70 feet high, the falls being / 245 from the surface of the River at the top to the same at the foot of the Fall - The foreground / on which the figures stand is the River Montmorency frozen over under which the water from / the Falls pursues its course to the St. Lawrence, about 1/2 a mile the surface of which river is also / frozen over at this place - The severity of the frost has contracted the fall on each side as is shown by / the Ice, and the small fall of water on the right shows that under it water still finds vent - In the / foreground is a sketch of a common sleigh answering to a hack Cabriolet in England which has /brought some visitors to the falls,...Cont'd...., Inscription: Cont'd... It has the Buffalo robes or skins used in all Sleighs thrown over it / and a Habitant driver in it - The small wooden shed on the left is built on the Ice for the sale of / Spirits, and for the use of such as may require it to defend them from the cold - Boys (one of whom is in the foreground) ascend the Cone for the amusement of the visitors who give them / money, they lie all their length on a small Sleigh of Truck without wheels and precipitate them- / selves down the side of the Cone, the velocity they acquire sending them a considerable distance / on the Ice - In order to ascend the Cone it is necessary to have creepers or something on the / plan of Cricket Shoes - There is a small wooden Aquedut leading from the house along / the Cliff which conducts water that turns very extensive Saw Mills which have been / since our arrival burnt down, but are now rebuilding - For a considerable distance above / the Falls, the River descends in Rapids so that the water arrives at the edges of the Precipice / broken and in foam, à la plume et à l'encre., Inscription: Filigrane : partiel, c. g.
