THE RESTIGOUCHE — WITH NOTES ON ITS FLORA. 23 



hilarating flow as we seized our paddles and shoved out 

 into mid-stream. The success of our expedition and our 

 own safety depend on the careful handling of our canoe. 

 Tenderly we lift it over shallows and guide it carefully 

 and slowly through the swirling eddies as the river rushes 

 past some precipitous hluff. Then, as we shoot out of 

 the rapids and glide gently over some smoother current, 

 we rest on our paddles and gaze for a moment on the 

 wondrously beautiful scene around us. But it is only 

 for a moment or two. The eager and impetuous stream 

 ahead of us is chafing over pebbles and rocks, and we 

 must choose the course that promises the greatest safety 

 and the least labor. But it is done safely ; and the caution 

 and unerring instincts of the steersman were rewarded by 

 not even the approach to an accident during the whole 

 descent of the river. Here and there, as if to lighten our 

 task, little brooks and larger streams came dashing in 

 with their supplies, and the river grew more expansive 

 and deeper, but more headstrong. Our course at first 

 lay among gently elevated hills well back from the river, 

 not more than fifty to one hundred feet in height, but 

 the river seemed bent on diving farther and farther into 

 the recesses of the earth. The gorge deepened as we 

 advanced, and the hills grew into mountains until they 

 attained in places an altitude of a thousand feet and 

 upwards. 



On our first afternoon we passed several fertile mea- 

 dows where the Ostrich Fern {Onoclea Strut hiojJter is) grew 

 in the greatest abundance, and so luxuriant that fronds six 

 feet in height were not rare. This fern is probably the 

 most abundant on the river, the rich alluvial soil and cool 

 shady ravines furnishing a most congenial habitat. A 

 shield fern [Aspidium aculeatum var. Braunii) was found 

 growing with the Ostrich Fern in "greater abundance than 



