THE SAULT ST LOUIS. 279 



same tact appeared, but with a greatly superior intellec- 

 tual skill, in handling and guiding a large boat with a 

 heavy cargo through a crooked channel, where the 

 slightest oversight, for a single moment, would cast all 

 upon the rocky shallows. 



Let the reader fancy to himself a ledge of rocks run- 

 ning across the river, over which the water has a distinct 

 fall — to the eye appearing to be somewhere between six 

 and ten feet — into deep water below. Through this 

 ledge is a narrow channel of deep water, where the 

 rock has been torn away, and through which the river 

 rushes with great velocity. Below this ledge, at a short 

 distance, is a second ledge of rock, over which the water 

 falls, and through which, as in the case of the first, a 

 natural gap or sluice-way exists. Between these two 

 ledges deep water exists, but the openings of the two 

 are not opposite to each other, or in the same line. 

 You must descend the one, then turn sharp in the deep 

 water along the foot of the first ledge, and at the proper 

 time turn sharp again to go through the other. The chan- 

 nel is a true zigzag, and to sail along this letter Z in the 

 face of a strong current, and a heavy pressure of water, 

 requires a degree of skill and coolness in the captain, and 

 of mobility in the ship, which it requires a little considera- 

 tion fully to realise. Four men at the wheel, and six at 

 the tiller, to guard against accidents, steered us safely 

 down ; and it was beautiful to see with what graceful 

 ease and exactness the prow of the long vessel turned 

 itself to suit the sudden turns of the rocky channel. 

 We reached Montreal about nine o'clock, soon after 

 which, a pelting rain came on — the first serious fall 

 of rain I had yet encountered on the American con- 

 tinent. 



The approach to Montreal from the river reminded 

 me of the approach to Leith from the river Forth. The 

 town of Montreal on the river bank, and the hill of 



