300 Topographical Notices. 



every respect less eligible. The whole distance from 

 where we leave the Muskoka, to the mouth of the Vieille 

 stream, appears about fifty miles, and in this space there 

 is no less than three dividing heights of land, and altogether 

 thirty portages, three of them between two and four miles 

 long, and several exceeding one mile. Nineteen lakes, 

 great and small, are crossed. 



1 now return to the Muskoka : — As already noticed, this 

 river ceases to widen out into lakes, about twelve miles 

 from the first one on the route, and from this point it con- 

 tinues to flow in a regular channel for about twenty miles. 

 On the first seven or eight miles of this space, there are 

 several small rapids, and for the ensuing ten or twelve, 

 is a smooth stream, winding in a most extraordinary man- 

 ner, through a level sandy valley, timbered chiefly with 

 balsam, tamarac, and poplar, beyond which, however, the 

 hard-wood rising grounds are seen, seldom a mile distant 

 on either side. The river here is of a very uniform breadth, 

 from sixty to eighty feet ; the depth is six feet and upwards 

 quite across the channel, and the current about one mile 

 per hour. 



This winding channel is terminated by a great and 

 sudden descent in the river. First is a little rapid water, 

 and then succeeds a fall, nearly perpendicular, of about 

 thirty feet. Below this are some rapids, for half a mile, 

 which suddenly and in a great slanting fall, descending 

 perhaps fifty feet. Neither of the portages at these falls 

 exceed a furlong in length. On the lower one is a curious 

 variety of the rock. When broken, it is of a light carmine 

 colour, and resembling free-stone in the grain. Not much 

 of it is seen above ground, but it appears to be in regular 

 beds, three _or four feet thick, and though rather hard 



