﻿1848. MOUNTAIN PORTAGE. 14d 



next in order, the rock, which is a porphyritic 

 granite, acquires a polished glistening surface. 

 There is a cascade here of fifteen or twenty feet. 

 The succeeding portage, named the " Mountain," 

 from the steep bank down which, the boats are 

 lowered, is shorter than the others, being only one 

 hundred and seventy paces across. The rock at 

 this place is a red, compact, shining or vitreous- 

 looking granitic porphyry, much fissured, and 

 breaking, by the action of the frost, into cubical 

 or rhomboidal blocks, sometimes of great size. 

 The principal fissures are generally, but not 

 always, parallel to each other, and may be traced 

 for seventy or eighty yards without a break, in a 

 transverse direction to that of the eminences and 

 projecting tongues of the rock. Their course is 

 north-east by north, and south-west by south ; and 

 they are, for the most part, four or five feet apart. 

 The minor cracks meet the chief ones at various 

 oblique angles, and sometimes cross them, but not 

 generally. At another denuded point of rock, the 

 wider cracks crossed each other, one set running 

 east-south-east and west-north-west. The recesses 

 left by the blocks which fall away retain their 

 sharp-cornered rectangular shape. A layer of 

 hornblende-slate or basalt shows itself at one spot. 

 The launching-place for the boats here is both 

 steep and rugged ; and a brigade seldom passes 



