CHAP. v. SWIFTXESS OF THE CUERENT. 75 



' Steep rocks ? Where are they ? ' 



'A few miles up.' 



Pierre here asked whether this was the place that 

 Bartelimi spoke of ; and when Louis answered ' Yes,' he 

 said that Bartelimi, a Montagnais Indian, told him before 

 we started that we could not pass these rocks while the 

 river is high - - that the rocks go straight up from the 

 water on both sides, leaving no room to track, while the 

 rocks themselves are always wet and slippery. 



The river where we stopped for dinner was about 

 100 yards wide, the current running between six and 

 seven miles an hour. The country is lovely, as far 

 as magnificent rocks, 600 to 800 feet high, could 

 make it so. But the current pressed us sorely, and the 

 anxiety occasioned by the doubt of Louis that we should 

 not be able to pass 'the steep rocks,' made us feel 

 very uncomfortable, and rather desponding for a while. 

 Towards evening we arrived at the foot of the gorge, 

 through which the river rolled its pent-up waters with 

 terrible force. 



'Are those your "steep rocks," Louis ?' I said, as we 

 landed on a low flat shelf of rock sloping to the river. 



Louis shook the hair from his face, pointed his hand in 

 the direction of the gorge, gazed at it for a while, and 

 said, ' There ! - - steep rocks ; water very swift must try 

 to-morrow with light canoe. Perhaps we can pass don't 

 know.' 



As soon as the baggage was landed, I went with Pierre 

 and another man in a light canoe to try the strength of 

 the current. All attempts to paddle against the stream 

 we found hopeless ; we could not gain an inch after 



