258 TRIP UP MINGAN RIVER. 



shifting, while in places they have overrun each other and piled up 

 small islands of sand which becoming overgrown with grass or scant 

 vegetation have become the nesting places of gulls and ducks, thus 

 supplying the people with birds and eggs in large numbers when- 

 ever they are desired. Following up the river you will find sand 

 and sand banks on either hand," and extending, with scant vegeta- 

 tion, far inland. Soon we approach the rapids, where the river 

 widens into a baylike expansion of water bounded everywhere by 

 granite cliffs, which, rising to a height of three hundred feet extend 

 in undulating billows of uneven height, far towards the dim out- 

 lines of the hills beyond, while tangled vegetation, and bowlders 

 and loose rock lie mingled in confusion on all sides. 



In front of the rapids, and just before reaching them, we came 

 to a partial clearing, on our right, in the dense mass of fir and 

 spruce trees here grown so closely together, where a party of pleas- 

 ure seekers from "the States" had built a "cabin" which they 

 used as a rendezvous during the summer sporting season. The 

 rapids, directly opposite this charming spot, consist of a body of 

 water pouring over a series of rocky ridges running from shore to 

 shore, and which form a regular pair of steps of fifteen to twenty 

 feet in height. The opening of the river is between perpendicular 

 walls of granite which have apparently been worn down and crum- 

 bled away by time and the water so constantly dashing and splash- 

 ing over it in its path to the ocean. Above the rapids the stream 

 is narrow but deep. 



To the left of these rapids formerly existed a narrow pathway 

 which, ascending to the height above, led to a position whence the 

 descent to the river again was comparatively easy. This path was 

 once much used by the Indians who sought the interior of the 

 country by this route, but it has long since been discontinued. I 

 ascended this path with the guide for nearly two miles, but the 

 walking was so difficult, the pathway often so obscure, and the whole 

 surface of the plateau exhibiting such a sameness of general 

 feature that we soon gave it up as a bad job and returned with 

 difficulty the way we had come. I found in the rocks several small 



