166 Mr Poulis' Account of the Falls 



from the mouth of the Rustigouch River, in the Bay of Chaleur, 

 to the junction of Grand River with the St. John, 230 miles dis- 

 tant from where that river falls into the Bay of Fundy. 



The principal tributaries to the Main River, above the falls, are 

 the St. Francis, the Madawaska, Grand River, and River Verte : 

 the last so named from the singular tint of its waters, which may 

 be seen in green streaks, as its stream mingles with the waters of 

 the St. John. 



A chain of high lands crosses the country where the Grand Falls 

 are situated, and taking a circular direction on each side, ranges on 

 the left to the south-west, and on the right to the north-west, form- 

 ing the boundaries of a broad extensive valley through which the 

 river majestically meanders. 



The flat tracts extending on each side, from the banks of the 

 river to the foot of the high lands, called in the language of the 

 country intervales, have evidently at some distant period been co- 

 vered with the waters of the river, when tliey must have formed the 

 bed of an immense lake, although such changes have taken place, 

 that but small portions of these alluvial deposits are now overflown 

 even by the annual freshets which inundate the intervales in the 

 lower districts of the river. These plains are generally covered 

 with long grass, and occasionally studded with clumps of large elm 

 trees, which at every turn of the river present landscapes that im- 

 press the mind with feelings of seclusion and peaceful serenity, 

 forming a striking contrast with the scenery below the falls, where 

 the bold projecting rock, the rugged precipice, the shelving bank, 

 the struggling violence of gushing waters dashing on confused accu- 

 mulations of fallen trees, bring the mind, amid the turbulence of 

 jarring elements, to a feeling of awe and devotional superstition. 



When the traveller has ascended the river, and approached with- 

 in three miles of the falls, he arrives at what is called the White 

 Rapids, where the river is about 300 yards broad. These rapids 

 are occasioned by ranges of projecting rock, composed of greywacke 

 slate, which cross the river at right angles, having an inclination of 

 30 degrees to the north, over which the water descends with a ve- 

 locity equal to 130 feet in 20 seconds. The banks on the right 

 present masses of unstratified rocks, consisting of granite, green- 

 stone, limestone, and conglomerates. On the left there is a bank 

 of gravel 80 feet in height, containing many boulders. Masses of 

 this bank are continually falling into the river, rendering the pas- 

 sage dangerous and diflicult. 



On approaching the Portage at the falls, the first appearance of 

 the place would lead a stranger to suppose that the river terminat- 

 ed here in a basin, surrounded by high lands which form a magni- 

 ficent natural ampliitheatre, the inlet of the water being complete- 

 ly hid from view by projecting rocks on the right ; and it is not 

 until the traveller has arrived at the foot of the pass, that he per- 

 ceives the river issuing with great rapidity of current from a nar- 

 row rugged chasm on the northern side of the basin. 



