112 Down the St. Lawrence. 



views to be met with in Canada, and one which, Hke Niagara, 

 though often described in various ways, is really i7idescribable 

 to do it justice, — The Lake of the Thousand Islands. 



The river issuing from the eastern extremity of Lake On- 

 tario is now, for the first time, called the St. Lawrence. This 

 name was given to the mighty river by Jacques Cartier, 

 who began to explore it on the festival of that martyr. In 

 the course of a few miles the channel becomes so wide, and 

 so full of islands, that it has obtained the name of " The 

 Lake of the Thousand Islands." These islands, which 

 have obtained a world-wide celebrity, consist of fully i8cx) 

 in number, of every imaginable shape, size, and appearance, 

 some of them barely visible, others covering many acres ; 

 some only a few yards long, others several miles in length ; 

 some presenting little or nothing but bare masses of rock, 

 whilst others are so thickly wooded over, that nothing but the 

 most gorgeous green foliage in summer is to be seen, whilst 

 in autumn, the leaves present colours of different hues of 

 light crimson, yellow, purple and other colours scarcely 

 imaginable. They are truly " emerald gems in the ring of 

 the wave," and their broken outline presents the most pic- 

 turesque combinations of wood and water. The first or 

 largest of these islands is Grand or Wolfe Island, containing 

 about 9,000 acres, to which there is a ferry-boat constantly 

 plying from Kingston ;• it is of an irregular shape, and in- 

 dented by numerous bays. Betwixt its >vestern shore and 

 the city of Kingston lies Garden Island, containing about 30 

 acres, belonging to a firm largely engaged in the rafting 

 business. They employ a large number of vessels in bringing 

 staves from the western portion of the Upper Province to 

 the island, where they are made into rafts for the voyage to 

 Quebec. The boundary line between the United States and 

 the British dominions extends along the middle of the south 

 channel of the St. Lawrence, passing by Cape Vincent on 

 the American shore (a pretty little village), the terminus of 



