CHAP. XXIII. THE ESTUAEY OF THE ST. LAWEENCE. 49 



from danger to mariners, but shoals generally project 

 towards Anticosti. All the islands are named from 

 some historical association, or from natural features, 

 — Mingan Island, from the first Seigneur; Moniac 

 Island, from the duck of that species which frequents it ; 

 Walrus Island, in consequence of its being formerly a 

 favourite haunt of that strange marine animal, now no 

 longer an inhabitant of the Gulf; Esquimaux Island, 

 because the Esquimaux were wont to assemble there 

 every spring, in searcli of seals, &c., &c. These islands, 

 with Anticosti and Cape Rosier, form the boundaries of 

 the estuary of the St. Lawrence. It is here 105 miles 

 broad, Anticosti separating the vast estuary into two 

 channels, the northern fourteen miles and a half broad, 

 the southern about sixty miles in width. 



Large Island (eleven miles in circumference), the largest island. 



Quarry Island, two miles and a half long. 



Niapisca Island, two miles long. 



Gum Island, one mile and a quarter long. 



Fright Island, two-thirds of a mile long. 



Esquimaux Island, two miles and three quarters long, one mile and 

 three quarters wide. 



Gull Island. 



Green Island. 



Walrus Island (Sea-cow Island), one mile and a half long. 



Whale Island. 



Charles Island, three miles long, one mile and a half wide. 



St. Genevieve, five miles in circumference. 



Gorge Rock. 

 These limestone islands extend for forty-five miles along the coast, none 

 of them 300 feet above the sea. They are thickly wooded with spruce, 

 birch, and poplar ; plenty of seals on the reefs, and codfish off the coast ; 

 wild fowl are abundant in the season. 



VOL. IT. 



