2 ALL AFLOAT 



It forms a class of its own. And well it may, 

 even for its minor attributes, when the island 

 of Newfoundland at its mouth exceeds the area 

 of Ireland ; when the rest of its mouth could 

 contain Great Britain ; when an arm of the 

 true deep sea runs from Cabot Strait five 

 hundred miles inland to where the Saguenay 

 river soundings go down beyond an average 

 of a hundred fathoms ; and when, three hun- 

 dred miles farther inland still, on an island in 

 an archipelago at the mouth of the Ottawa, 

 another tributary stream, there stands the city 

 of Montreal, one of the greatest seaports in 

 the world. 



But mere size is not the first consideration. 

 The Laurentian waters are much more im- 

 portant for their significance in every stage of 

 national development. They were the high- 

 way to the heart of America long before the 

 white man came. They remained the same 

 great highway from Cartier to Confederation 

 a period of more than three hundred years. 

 It is only half a century since any serious com- 

 petition by road and rail began. Even now, 

 in spite of this competition, they are one 

 of the greatest of all highways. Nor does 

 their significance stop here. Nature laid out 

 the St Lawrence basin so that it not only 



