248 THE HALCYON IN CANADA. 



it into clear, crisp space, with room enough for any 

 eye to range in. On the south the shores of the 

 great river appear low and uninteresting, but on the 

 north they are bold and striking enough to make it 

 up high, scarred, unpeopled mountain ranges the 

 whole way. The points of interest to the eye in the 

 broad expanse of water were the white porpoises 

 that kept rolling, rolling in the distance, all day. 

 They came up like the perimeter of a great wheel, 

 that turns slowly and then disappears. From mid- 

 forenoon we could see far ahead an immense column 

 of yellow smoke rising up and flattening out upon 

 the sky and stretching away beyond the horizon. Its 

 form was that of some aquatic plant that shoots a 

 stem up through the water, and spreads its broad leaf 

 upon the surface. This smoky lily-pad must have 

 reached nearly to Maine. It proved to be in the In- 

 dian country in the mountains beyond the mouth of 

 the Saguenay, and must have represented an im- 

 mense destruction of forest timber. 



The steamer is two hours crossing the St. Law- 

 rence from Riviere du Loup to Tadoussac. The 

 Saguenay pushes a broad sweep of dark blue water 

 down into its mightier brother, that is sharply de- 

 fined from the deck of the steamer. The two rivers 

 seem to touch, but not to blend, so proud and haughty 

 is this chieftain from the north. On the mountains 

 above Tadoussac one could see banks of sand left by 

 the ancient seas. Naked rock and sterile sand are 

 all the Tadoussacker has to make his garden of, so 



