Among the Thousand Islands. 579 



direction would dash the boat against the rocks, she makes a sudden 

 deviation to the left, another to the right, and lo ! the Canadian 

 channel lies before her a good mile and three-quarters broad, and 

 Grenadier Light-house lifts in the far distance. After passing a 

 number of curious Canadian lumber stations, perched high on the 

 steep bank, the boat rounds the lower end of Wells Island, directs 

 her course among the little isles on the American side, and finally 

 stops at Alexandria Bay. 



The islands in the Canadian channel of this part of the river are 

 chiefly in possession of the Government of the Dominion. Among 

 them are some of the most interesting of the whole group. Old 

 Bluff raises his rugged front from a hundred feet of water to eighty 

 feet of bare, perpendicular rock, his forehead closely matted with a 

 thick growth of scrub pines. Through the center of the island 

 runs a valley, almost a gorge, in which stands an uninhabited 

 frame shanty for the accommodation of visitors. It is a rough, 

 unfinished structure of the coarsest deal, but it looks picturesque 

 and romantic enough, shaded and almost hidden as it is by maples 

 and white birch. From the top of the high bluff, fronting down the 

 river, a magnificent view is obtained of the islands lying beneath, 

 both in the American and Canadian channels. Here the artist sat 

 perched upon the sheer edge of the bluff, sketching diligently, in 

 full view of the natives for a mile around, and vastly to their 

 astonishment. 



" Hulloa, Cap ! " came faintly up from below. He looked down ; 

 a cockle-shell of a melon-boat was tossing on the waves below. 



" Be ye needin' a watermillin ? " 



He thought not, unless the anxious fruit-vender would carry it 

 up the hill at the rear of the bluff. While engaged in this collo- 

 quy, the artist's sketch-book slipped from his hand and landed after 

 many gyrations about half-way down the face of the cliff. Two of 

 the party were obliged to go below in a boat, one of them climbing 

 the rocks to secure the lost book, while a third remained above to 

 direct their movements. 



One of the most curious of the American islands stands a short 

 distance above Alexandria Bay, — a cubical block of granite having 

 almost the appearance of being carved by human hands, rejoicing in 

 the not very savory name of The Devil's Oven, its summit giving 



