126 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
way eastward, delving deeper into the earth as it approaches the sea. 
Next to the St. John and Miramichi, the Restigouche is the largest 
river in New Brunswick, draining an area within the province of some 
2,200 square miles. The wide divergence of its four chief tributary 
streams, three from the north which drain a portion of the province 
of Quebec and one from the south, the Upsalquitch, explains the origin 
of its name — the river of the five fingers. This divergence of its 
branches, one of which is as large as the main stream, and all of them 
flowing nearly at right angles to the main stream, makes the drainage 
area of the Restigouche system not far from 5,000 square miles. The 
length of the main stream is 150 miles and during its course there 
is a descent cf about 600 feet. Its flow is strong and swift, over a 
gravelly bottom, broken by rapids on an average of every hundred 
yards or so, but everywhere navigable for canoes. Jts waters are clear 
and cold, from the springs of the dense wilderness to the north. As one 
descends the stream, the valley becomes extremely narrow, flanked by 
hills rising steep from the water’s edge, but scarcely ever too steep 
to admit of a luxuriant vegetation, chiefly evergreen, which gives a 
somewhat sombre character to the lower course of the river, although 
in autumn enlivened by the scarlet and yellow of the numerous maples, 
birches and other deciduous trees. The prevailing evergreens are the 
white and red spruce and fir with a few white pines of small growth. 
In the loops formed by the winding course of the river there may be 
seen at frequent intervals, now a stretch of meadow land, now beautiful 
terraces from thirty to seventy feet above the river; but so suddenly 
does the stream change its course that these meadows and terraces 
alternate in quick succession from one side of the headstrong river to 
the other. These level spots are clothed with the most luxuriant 
vegetation whose vivid green in the growing season contrasts with the 
clear flashing waters below them and the darker evergreen of the hill- 
sides beyond. The small area of the meadows and terraces with the 
precipitous hillsides and wild scenery around them, make them suited 
for garden spots of those fishing lodges so picturesquely perched above 
the salmon pools at various points on the river. 
The rich alluvial soil, the many sequestered nooks and shady 
ravines of the Restigouche furnish most congenial habitats for ferns. 
There is probably no district in Kastern Canada, except Owen Sound, 
where they are found in greater luxuriance and variety. Nearly every 
species found in the province of New Brunswick is represented there. 
In the fertile meadows in the middle and upper course of the river the 
most abundant was the Onoclea Struthiopteris, or ostrich fern, growing 
in such luxuriance that fronds six feet in height were not rare. 
Equally luxuriant and growing beside it in many places was the shield 
