SOURCE OF ST. PETER^S RIVER. 99 



canoe, and that being very closely pursued, he, either ac- 

 cidentally or intentionally, it is not known which, suffered 

 his canoe to approach so close to the fall, that it was car- 

 ried down by the torrent, and never afterwards seen. The 

 river at this place is about eighty yards wide, and the fall, 

 in the course of one hundred yards, is computed at twenty 

 feet. At the upper part of it there is a fine cascade, below 

 which the rapids continue for a short distance, presenting 

 a beautiful landscape. This was sketched by Mr. Seymour, 

 and is represented in plate 9. Notwithstanding the real 

 beauty of this spot, we experienced some disappointment. 

 It had been represented to us as the finest on the river, 

 and finding it inferior in wildness and effect to that of 

 "the moving waters," the pleasure which it would other- 

 wise have afforded was checked. 



The navigation of this stream is frequently attended with 

 fatal accidents, and the number of wooden crosses which 

 we observed at some of the rapids, are the brief mementos 

 erected by the survivors, to the memory of the shipwreck- 

 ed voyagers ; they form, as it were, beacons which point out 

 the dangers of the stream. These accidents are generally 

 occasioned by the breaking of the tow-line. The only 

 chance of escape which the canoe-men have, in such cases, 

 if they be not too close to the rapid, is to throw them- 

 selves into the stream, and endeavour to swim to one of 

 the eddies, which fortunately are very numerous. We 

 were told of a canoe that was lost at Slave falls by the 

 breaking of the tow-line ; the men who were in it had suf- 

 ficient presence of mind to abandon the canoe ; they were 

 saved, while the bark was shattered in its way down the 

 stream, and lost in the rapid ; its cargo was picked up at 

 some distance below. This fall is about eighty miles above 

 Fort Alexander. It is probable that this, as well as the 



