NEW BRUNSWICK. 143 



object in the channel above seems to keep in sight for hours ; 

 body and limbs are sweltering; joints twinge with. aching; 

 the mouth and tongue grow parched with thirst, and mouth- 

 fuls of warm river-water, hastily gulped, are as quickly spewed 

 out again. How grateful then is a copious draught from an 

 ice-cold brook which comes tumbling into the river from its 

 mountain source! How delicious the shade of the cool ledge 

 under which we take our nooning ! Precious then is a bot- 

 tle of Bass's ale, set in the brook to cool, and drank with our 

 frugal meal. 



Very romantic is the scenery of the Tobique for the first 

 eleven miles. One mile above the mouth commence the 

 rapids of the " Narrows." The river at this place passes 

 through a chasm of an average width of only one hundred 

 and fifty feet, with perpendicular cliffs from fifty to. one hun- 

 dred feet high. Through this contracted channel, too nar- 

 row to give free vent to the waters above, the river surges 

 and rushes with great impetuosity, and the projecting crags 

 of rock form violent whirlpools which render the passage 

 impossible for canoes in time of freshets. The "Narrows" 

 continue for a mile, and then give place to a long reach, of 

 smooth but rapid water.. In the next ten miles there are 

 two more rapids, and above an unbroken stretch of clear, 

 deep water for seventy miles, with, settlements along the 

 banks at intervals. Twenty-one miles above the upper 

 rapids, the Wapskanegan flows in from the east, and thirteen 

 miles further on the Agulquac. Between these two tribu- 

 taries the Tobique is filled with beautiful islands, with ex- 

 tensive fertile intervales on both its banks. Still proceeding 

 northward, the character of the river, with its intervales and 

 islands, remains unchanged, and its beauty is increased by 

 the lofty hills seen in the distance. Eighty miles from its 

 mouth are the " Forks," where four branches of the Tobique 

 come together; and from this point the country becomes 

 broken and very mountainous, and the river narrow. 



Cedar Brook is usually the last camping-ground for 



