CHAP. XXIX. THE ASHWANIPl RIVEE. 137 



over twenty miles and involve fifteen portages. The 

 Hudson's Bay Company's barges were taken as far as the 

 foot of these rapids ; the remaining part of the river, 

 up to the now abandoned Fort Nasquapee, is tra- 

 versed in canoes. The river above the grand falls is 

 tranquil and easily navigable. In 1839, Mr. McLean 

 descended the Ashwanipi from Fort JSTasquapee to its 

 mouth. He I'eached the fort from Ungava Bay, after 

 enduring many hardships and privations. 



After one day's rest (at Fort Nasquapee) we embarked in a 

 canoe sufficiently large to contain several conveniences to which 

 I had been for some time a stranger — a tent to shelter us by 

 night and tea to cheer us by day ; we fared, too, like princes, on 

 the produce of ' sea and land,' procured by the net and the gun. 

 We then proceeded gaily on our downwai'd course without meet- 

 ing any interruption, or experiencing aoy difficulty in finding 

 our way ; when one evening, the roar of a mighty cataract burst 

 upon our ears^ warning us that danger was at hand. We soon 

 reached the spot, which presented to us one of the grandest 

 spectacles in the world, but put an end to all hopes of success 

 in our enterprise. 



About six miles above the falls the river suddenly contracts, from 

 a width of from 400 to 600 yards, to about 100 yards ; then, rush- 

 ing along in a continuous foaming rapid, finally contracts to a 

 breadth of about fifty yards, ere it precipitates itself over the rock 

 which forms the fall ; when, still roaring and foaming, it continues 

 its maddened course for about a distance of thirty miles, pent up 

 between walls of rock that rise sometimes to the height of 300 

 feet on either side. This stupendous fall exceeds in height the 

 falls of Niagara, but bears no comparison to that sublime object 

 in any other respect, being nearly hidden from view by the 

 abi'upt angle which the rocks form immediately beneath it. If 

 not seen, however, it is felt ; such is the extraordinary force with 

 which it tumbles into tlie abyss underneath, that we felt the 

 solid rock shake under our feet, as we stood 200 feet above the 

 gulf. A dense cloud of vapour, which can be seen at a great 



