197 

 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION TO "THE CHATS." 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY MR. R. B. WHYTE JAN. 28, 1892 



Mr. Robert B. Whyte gave an account of a botanical excursion 

 he had taken with Mr. R. H. Cowley to the Chats Rapids, Falls and 

 Island during the past summer. The address was illustrated by a map 

 of the county of Carleton showing part of the Ottawa River, upon 

 which the various places mentioned were pointed out. The Missis- 

 sippi River divides south of the Chats Island, one branch flowmg 

 straight north, and the other called the Snye, flowing east, and empty- 

 ing into the Ottawa River at Fitzroy Harbor. The interest attached to 

 the Chats is not only on account of the many plants found there ; for 

 just at the northern point of the island a series of wild rapids begins, 

 which ends near Fitzroy Harbor in a lovely waterfall of thirty feet. 

 This extends right across the river, and is of great beauty, being a 

 succession of falls with wooded islands between them. Indeed Mr. 

 Whyte thinks it is the prettiest fall in Canada. Some years ago the 

 construction of a canal was started on the north side of the rapids, and 

 nearly half-a-million of dollars were expended on it, but the rock was 

 found to be so hard that the builders decided it was not worth the 

 trouble, and gave it up. This is the original Laurentian rock which 

 forms the islands at the falls, and from there runs down past Galetta 

 and Perth to the St. Lawrence. Near the proposed route of the canal 

 there was formerly a horse tramway from Pontiac to Bristol, but it is 

 now almost in rums. About twenty-five years ago Mr. Whyte took a 

 trip on this railway, and was then struck by the profusion of wild 

 flowers of all kinds which lined both sides of the track. On this 

 occasion Messrs. Cowley and Whyte took the train to Arnprior, 

 from which place they proceeded by steamer. The water was too 

 shallow to land on the island, but through the kindness of Mr. Cowley's 

 brother, they were set down about a mile from shore, and rowed in a 

 small boat to land. Here they met Capt. Cowley, who accompanied 

 them in a walk along the north shore, a beach formed of shingle and 

 broad flat stones, amongst which they found some of their most inter- 

 esting specimens, a previously unrecorded Aster and the shrubby 

 Potentilla, with yellow flowers, which would be well worthy of cultivn 



