YALE. 317 



must a similar catastroplie have occurred before the 

 waters were lowered into their present narrow and 

 rocky channel. Each of these accidents must have 

 been separated from the preceding one by an im- 

 mense lapse of time, during which the enormous 

 quantity of detritus accumulated to form the exten- 

 sive plateaux which have been described. 



We arrived at Yale about four o'clock in the 

 afternoon, and immediately ordered the best dinner 

 they could give us at the Colonial Hotel. The house 

 was kept by a Frenchman, who excelled himself on 

 this occasion, and provided a meal which to us, who 

 had not eaten anything deserving the name of a 

 dinner for at least eighteen months, appeared perfec- 

 tion. The champagne, however, and sundry drinks 

 with fraternising miners, caused us to wake with 

 most tremendous headaches next morning. Some of 

 the visitors to the bar amused us greatly. One tall 

 Yankee, considerably intoxicated, was possessed with 

 the idea that he was Lord Nelson, and associating 

 the great admiral in some way with cucumbers, ate 

 several in succession, to prove his identity. 



The little town of Yale is merely a single row of 

 houses facing the river, which, having just escaped 

 through the Canons, here sweeps to the west, a broad 

 and noble river. The town is built on a small flat, 

 backed on the north by lofty hills, and looking 

 down the widening valley to the south, where the 

 receding mountains still tower up grand and high. 

 The situation is exceedingly picturesque, and the 

 clean, white, wooden buildings were as gay with flags 



