THE SEA ESTUARY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 561 



spring, the ice masses are quickly carried out to sea, 

 and disappear, and the navigation becomes open again. 

 This sudden transition from winter to spring is one 

 of the most striking phenomena of Canadian life. To-day, 

 the country is one vast expanse of ice and snow: 

 to-morrow the streams beg'in to flow, the canopy of 

 snow dissolves, grasses and wild flowers immediately 

 begin to make their appearance, and the voice of the bird 

 is heard again, as flight after flight of these beautiful 

 creatures wing their way overhead to wards their nesting 

 grounds in the frozen north. 



The estuary of the St. Lawrence begins, as we have 

 said, at Quebec, from which point the river gradually 

 expands in shape like the mouth of a funnel, until 

 it reaches the sea. This may be regarded as Nature's 

 most perfect form of river estuary, and the few rivers 

 which possess estuaries thus formed are generally free 

 from bars. Of these the St. Lawrence is undoubtedly 

 the finest example.* Those of the Thames, the Severn 

 and the Scheldt however afford minor instances of the 

 same kind. Proceeding down the river from Quebec, 

 after passing the Isle of Orleans (which we have already 

 mentioned as enclosing the splendid harbour of Que- 

 bec), the channel has already expanded to a width of 

 1 1 miles, and at the mouth of the Saguenay, 1 30 miles 

 below the city, it is 16 miles wide. This river is the 

 most important tributary of the lower St. Lawrence, 

 the last 50 miles of its course forming a magnificent 

 estuary, or mountain loch, enclosed almost everywhere 



* The estuary of the Congo in Western Africa is however now 

 ascertained to be another great example of a river whose sea entrance 

 is unobstructed by a bar, and the depth of water for some distance 

 up its channel is enormous. 



VOL. II. 36 



