182 THE SAGUEKAY. 



corresponding indentation. And is it not probable that the 

 same volcanic agency which reft this chasm, split off Anti- 

 costi and Newfoundland from the main continent, upheaved 

 the interior mountains, changed the beds of rivers, and sent 

 detached masses of rock flying into the sea, scattering them 

 -in a belt nine miles wide along the coast of Labrador ? The 

 Abbe Clavigero informs us that in Canada, in the year 1663, 

 an earthquake began on the 5th of February, and continued 

 at intervals for the space of six months, causing the most 

 dreadful agitation in the earth, the rivers, and the coasts of 

 the ocean over the extent of .nine hundred miles from east 

 to west, and four hundred and fifty from south to north, and 

 actually overwhelmed a chain of freestone mountains more 

 than three hundred miles long, changing this immense 

 tract into a plain. The Eiver St. Lawrence underwent" re- 

 markable changes with respect to its banks and some parts 

 of. its course, so that new islands were formed, and others 

 were considerably changed. Have we not in this record the 

 date of the epoch which has so singularly illustrated the 

 geological history of the Saguenay from its mouth to Lake 

 St. John? 



Only half the curiosities of this mighty river have been 

 seen when the tourist has reached Ha Ha Bay. And to the 

 angler and explorer nothing can be more delightful or easy 

 than this trip, which includes no hardships or wearisome 

 journey by stage or wagon, but carries them at once into a 

 region teeming with fish, and brimful of freaks of nature. 



From the little camp at the head of the third rapids of 

 Chicoutimi there is a stretch of still water for three-quarters 

 of a mile, with a circumvallation of rocks and pines. Sitting 

 here in the cool of the long" summer evenings, one can see 

 the rough waters of the " Grand Discharge " glistening like 

 a snowbank in the evening sunlight, and listen to their 

 sullen roar, which is more deafening than the rush of the 

 Niagara speeding to its mighty leap. 

 Louis allons a coucher ! 



