166 THE LOWER ST. LAWEEKCE. 



When we returned to the St. Louis Hotel, after a week's 

 absence, we carried home the hamper filled with large and 

 luscious trout. 



From Quebec to the Saguenay there are few salmon rivers 

 worth mentioning. At Murray Bay, 78 miles from Quebec, 

 and at Cacouna, 110 miles, both of them fashionable summer 

 resorts for the Canadian elite, a few salmon are caught, and 

 the trout-fishing is pretty good. Thus far, the southern 

 shore of the St. Lawrence is lined by the little farms and 

 cottages of the liabitans ; the northern shore, after leaving 

 the vicinity of Quebec, is rocky, desolate, and dotted at in- 

 tervals by fishing-stations and hamlets. The river is inter- 

 spersed with islands of various sizes. From the Saguenay 

 to Belle Isle Strait in the Labrador division, no less than 

 sixty salmon rivers empty into the St. Lawrence. The dis- 

 tance is six hundred miles. The whole coast is rock- 

 bound, in many parts walled by precipitous cliffs several 

 hundred feet high, over which cascades tumble from the 

 plateaus above. At intervals the hill-ranges recede from 

 the shore, or wide gaps open into the granite ; and through 

 these the salmon rivers flow with a volume vast and deep 

 like the Moisie, or with rapid and dashing current like 

 the impetuous St. John and Natashquan. There is a little 

 steamboat belonging to the Molsons, of Montreal, which runs 

 once a week from Quebec to their iron-works at the mouth 

 of the Moisie, 364 miles. The iron is manufactured from 

 black magnetic sand, which is found along shore in vast de- 

 posits. If one can get passage by favor in this steamer, it is 

 easy to visit any of the intermediate salmon rivers. The 

 only means of access to other parts of the Lower St. Law- 

 rence and the Labrador is by private vessel, or by passage on 

 some fishing craft, with an uncertain chance of return. 

 Small vessels or schooners can be chartered at Quebec, with 

 crews and pilots who are familiar with the coast. The 

 warmest kind of clothing should be taken in abundance, for 

 though in midsummer the noonday heat is sometimes in- 



