SOURCE OF ST. PETER^S RIVER. 295 



has already imparted to this place, situated as it is at an 

 immense distance from civilization, many of the comforts 

 of life. The quarters are well built, and comfortable. 

 Those of the commanding officer are even elegant, and 

 suitable for the principal military post to the north-west. 

 There were, at the time we visited it, about two hundred 

 and ten acres of land under cultivation, of which one hun- 

 dred were in wheat, sixty in maize, fifteen in oats, fourteen 

 in potatoes, and twenty in gardens, which supply the table 

 of the officers and men with an abundant supply of whole- 

 some vegetables. 



On the 6th of July we walked to the falls of St. Anthony, 

 which are situated nine miles, (along the course of the river, 

 seven by land,) above the fort. The first glimpse which 

 we caught of the fall was productive of disappointment, 

 because it yielded but a partial view, but this was amply 

 redeemed by the prospect which we obtained of it when 

 the whole fall opened itself before us. We then discovered 

 that nothing could be more picturesque than this cascade. 

 We had been told that it appeared like a mere mill dam, 

 and we were apprehensive lest a fall of sixteen feet would 

 lose all its beauty when extended upon a breadth of seve- 

 ral hundred yards: but we soon observed that this was by 

 no means the case. The irregular outline of the fall, by 

 dividing its breadth, gives it a more impressive character. 

 An island, stretching in the river both above and below the 

 fall, separates it into two unequal parts, the eastern being 

 two hundred and thirty yards wide, and the western three 

 hundred and ten. The island itself is about one hundred 

 yards wide. From the nature of the rock, which breaks 

 into angular and apparently rhomboidal fragments of a 

 huge size, this fall is subdivided into small cascades, which 

 adhere to each other, so as to form a sheet of water, unrent 



