68 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



for some distance from the mouth of the river. The 

 day was fair and the wind favorable, the birds sang 

 their welcome merrily, and the trees bowed grace- 

 fully as we passed. An old duck and her young 

 were startled by our approach, and fled, making such 

 use of their powerful legs as to outstrip us readily. 

 A short distance beyond the smooth water, and 

 almost three miles from the lake, we came to the 

 lower fall or pitch of the stream, which had become 

 quite narrow, and there we made our camp. 



It was a lovely spot ; the thick trees formed n 

 dense shade over our tent, the trembling cascade fur- 

 nished continual music; opposite, a rivulet of purest 

 ice-water emptied into the stream ; in front the 

 river spread out into a broad, quiet pool ; while 

 through intervening trees and bushes we could catch 

 glimpses of the high falls a few hundred yards above 

 us. Previous camps had been located at the same 

 place, and a path had been cut to the rock close by, 

 from which we could fish below the cascade. 



Hastily disembarking such things as we had brought 

 with us, impatient to explore the river, and tanta- 

 lized by half glimpses of the cataract beyond, we 

 crossed the stream in the barge, and guided by 

 Frank, followed a well-worn pathway in the woods. 

 A few hundred steps brought us to the bank, where 

 a glorious prospect greeted us. The stream, rising 

 among the summits of the hills, pitched down 

 over a slanting precipice, seaming its brown face with 

 irregular, delicate lines of silver. Issuing from a 

 mountain gorge, so far above as to be scarcely dis- 



