172 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
various falls and rapids. The water escapes by numerous rocky channels 
which bear a marked resemblance to one another. The presence of many 
of these was unsuspected, until the detailed survey made of the river by 
Mr. Alexander Murray of the Geological Survey in 1856. The two long- 
est channels are known as the ‘ North” and “South,” and each of 
these is divided into an east and west portion. The old travelled canoe 
route utilizes the “South Channel East” in the upper portion of the 
river and the “ North Channel West” in the lower portion, as they are 
nearly in line with one another and form the best and most direct course. 
This is the channel proposed to be followed by the canal, and it seems 
admirably adapted for the purpose as the natural obstructions present no 
great engineering difficulties. The presence of two or more channels 
would also materially aid in the prosecution of any improvement, as by 
damming an outlet the water below the dam would assume a lower level 
and thus enable work to be carried on to greater advantage. 
The country in the vicinity of the French River is in general rocky 
and barren, presenting numerous more or less rocky. hills or ridges, which 
are in no case of any great height, with intervening stretches of com- 
paratively level land, which are usually occupied by swamps. There 
are occasional small tracts of good land, chiefly to the north of the river, 
but the shores are, as a general rule, bold and rocky. The Chaudière Falls 
are divided into two descents, separated by an interval of still water, the 
total fall being about twenty-six feet, and the whole length about a mile. 
At the Lower Chaudiére the perpendicular rocky banks of the river are 
not more than fifty feet apart. Between the Chaudiére Falls and the 
next interruption in the stream, “ Rapide du Pin,” the river widens into a 
lake about eight miles long, containing numerous islands. In general 
this stretch of water is from half a mile to a mile in width, although at 
one place opposite Bear Point it is scarcely a quarter of a mile wide. 
The outlet of the north channel, which, after a course of twenty-three 
miles, empties into the main channel about two and a half miles above 
“Grand Recollet Falls,’ is at the west end of a small bay extending to 
the northwest from above “Rapide du Pin.” This rapid has a fall 
of 2°60 feet, and in the next four miles the stream is interrupted by 
as many rapids, which are known as ‘‘ La Grande Faucille,” fall 5°60 
feet ; “ Rapide du Buisson,” fall 3:30 feet ; “ La Petite Faucille,” fall 4:40 
feet, and ‘‘ Le Parisien,” fall 1:20 feet. A stretch of deep still water then 
ensues which is seventeen miles in length before the falls of “ Le Grand 
Recollet’”’ are reached. These are occasioned by a rocky bar which 
here extends across the river. In the next sixteen miles, before ‘“ Les 
Petites Dalles” are reached, as the last rapid on the river is called, there 
are only two small rapids. The first, about a mile below “Le Grand 
Recollet,” shows a descent of scarcely a foot ; while the second one, about 
four miles further down, has a fall of only two feet. Eleven and a half 
