96 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
appeared to us of little Interest and Beauty contrasted with the larger. 
We had scarcely Time to admire this beautiful Scene when the Chau- 
dière in all his Wildness and Majesty appeared before us. The Imagina- 
tion cannot picture anything so wild and romantic. The Utawa divid- 
ing itself into two streams forms an extensive Island covered with the 
finest Trees (principally Oak), in a Bed of Long Grass and beautiful 
Verdure. The River then uniting becomes an immense Body and as if 
angry at the interruption to its Course is rough and agitated, and in this 
State runs over a Bed of rugged, uneven, excavated Rocks for several 
hundred yards in a Breadth of nearly a mile. One of the Rocks in the 
Middle of the Fall more excavated than the others has the Appearance of 
a kettle of boiling water from which the Fall takes its Name, and into 
this vast Abyss, gurgite vasto, the waters fall. The surrounding coun- 
try is rocky and mountainous and covered with the black Pine. The 
Rock is a sort of Slate in strata which Time has mouldered into the 
oddest shapes which have the Appearance of Ruins. The Beauty of the 
Scene is perhaps a little destroyed by the Appearance of Cultivation. 
A Mr. Wright? an American has built a little Town near the Falls, and 
Deal Mills. One singular Part of the Fall is a Basin into which the 
Water constantly passes and there is no visible means of Discharge or 
outlet. It has of course a subterraneous Egress, which is nowhere to be 
found. Here our Canoe was carried about 650 yards. The manner of 
carrying the Canoe:—She is first turned over. Four men then go into 
the water, two at each End, raise the Canoe and then two more place 
themselves about midships of the Gunwale on the opposite side. The 
weight of our Canoe was about 6 ewt. The Goods are carried on the 
Shoulders of the men and in this manner; each Canoe Man is provided 
with a leather Sling broad in the middle; the Ends he fastens to a Pack- 
age, this is placed on his shoulders, the broad part of the Sling placed 
across his Forehead. On this Package a second is placed and in this 
manner they generally carry two Packages of 90 lbs. each and sometimes 
athird. There is a second Portage of the Chaudière to which we walked 
and encamped. The Ceremony of Encamping is, that the moment we 
land a Fire is made, the Tent raised, the kettle put on the Fire and in 
the short space of a quarter of an Hour your Inn is prepared. Our Tent 
is about 30 Feet by 15, of Canvas, handsomely striped in Paint on the 
Top. An oil cloth is placed as a Carpet at the Bottom, this forms the 
covering of the Tent [when packed up?] Our Boxes and our Casettes 
become our Chairs and Tables. After Supper all this is cleared and our 
1 Philemon Wright, of Woburn, Mass., settled in 1800 on this spot—the site of 
Hull, in the province of Quebec. The Rideau canal was not constructed, nor had 
Bytown come into existence at the date of this diary. 
