180 H. P. STEENSBY. 
Office No. 100, “The Gulf and River St. Lawrence” [Washington 1908], 
and with a suitable chart! of the territory, try to follow the east coast 
southwards, we shall find a locality rather far to the south which satifies 
all requirements. 
The place is best designated by the name of the little town St. 
Thomas, or Montmagny (Monmagny), as it is also called. It is said to 
have been founded in 1670 under the name of Pointe a la Caille. It got 
the name Montmagny later, after Charles Huault, seigneur de Mont- 
magny, who was the second French governor of Canada (Nouvelle 
France) and Samuel de Champlain’s successor. The town, which has 
about 2000 inhabitants, is of no little importance as a commercial town, 
and as the port for the fertile neighbourhood. The topography of the 
environs, meanwhile, is of most interest to us here. 
St. Thomas or Montmagny lies on the low coastland, which, however, 
very soon rises somewhat. A little further inland a mountainous terrain 
is found. Thus the map shows, about 9 km south-east of St. Thomas, 
heights of 400 m, whilst a few km to the west of the town some hills 
rise to about 80m. The river Riviére du Sud runs immediately east and 
north-east round the town, receiving the smaller afflux Bras St. Nicholas, 
which comes from the north-east. The combined streams form rapids, 
or a fall 9 m high (about 30 feet). About one km from the junction the 
river opens out to a broad basin, which again opens into the St. Lawrence. 
This outlet-reservoir always has water, especially in its inner part, 
even at low-water; but outside the reservoir the coast is attended by a 
sand-bank — St. Thomas Bank — which becomes dry at low-water. 
A small channel runs through this sand-bank, and forms the low-water 
outlet from the basin, but even this channel has at low-water only a 
depth of about 1% а metre. I will quote from the American book on 
pilotage?, which shows that St. Thomas Pier, built out in the basin at 
the western point of entrance to Rivière du Sud, “has a depth of 4 feet 
at its end at low water.” Thereafter it continues: “The channel from St. 
Thomas pier and basin through St. Thomas bank to the river St. Lawrence 
trends north-westward in one bend and is marked by buoys, but it nearly 
dries at low water.” : 
It is reported of the sand-banks themselves: “St. Thomas bank 
extends rather more than 2 miles northward and also westward offshore 
at the village of St. Thomas; it is composed of sand, mud, and stones, 
and dries at low-water nearly to its northern edge, which is very steep. 
Boulders are visible at low water beyond the north-eastern extreme of 
that part of the bank which dries.” St. Thomas Bank is continued 
* The charts that have been at my disposal are the American ones Nr. 1112, 
River St. Lawrence; Nr. 1490, Saguenay River to Orignaux Point; and Nr. 
1491 Orignaux Point to Goose Island; besides the English chart Nr. 318 
Beaujeu Channel. 
2 p. 468 and p. 476. 
