CHAPTER VIII. 



'BO VE the rapids we had a lovely reach 

 of river, from a quarter to half a 

 mile wide, with no perceptible cur- 

 rent. Impelled by our united efforts, 

 _our light cedar canoe shot over the 

 water as lightly " and almost as 

 swiftly as the gulls above us sped 

 Jsthrough the air. I took one of the 

 poles and used it while the In- 

 jSr dians plied their paddles, and for 

 a distance of nearly two miles the depth of 

 water did not vary two inches from four and a half 

 feet. The bottom was composed of a hard, white 

 sand, into which the pole, with my weight on it, 

 sunk less than an inch; in fact, the current is so 

 slight, the width of tlie river so great, and the gen- 

 eral character of the water such, that it might all be 

 termed a lake above the falls; though the foot of 

 the lake, as designated on the map, has a still 

 greater widening five miles above the head of the 

 falls. 



Abrupt basaltic walls, 500 to 1,000 feet high and 

 nearly perpendicular, rise from the water's edge 

 on either side. On the more sloping faces of 

 these, vegetation has obtained root-room, little 

 bunches of soil have formed, and various ever- 

 greens, alders, water hazels, etc., grow vigorously. 



(75) 



