THE HALCYON IN CANADA. 249 



far as I observed. Indeed, there is no soil along the 

 Saguenay until you get to Ha-ha Bay, and then there 

 is not much, and poor quality at that. 



What the ancient fires did not burn the ancient 

 seas have washed away. I overheard an English 

 resident say to a Yankee tourist, "You will think, 

 you are approaching the end of the world up here." 

 It certainly did suggest something apocryphal or 

 anti-mundane a segment of the moon or of a cleft 

 asteroid, matter dead or wrecked. The world-build- 

 ers must have had their foundry up in this neighbor- 

 hood, and the bed of this river was doubtless the 

 channel through which the molten granite flowed. 

 Some mischief-loving god has let in the sea while 

 things were yet red hot and there has been a time 

 here. But the channel still seems filled with water 

 from the mid-Atlantic, cold and blue-black, and in 

 places between seven and eight thousand feet deep 

 (one and a half miles). In fact the enormous depth 

 of the Saguenay is one of the wonders of physical 

 geography. It is as great a marvel in its way as Ni- 

 agara. 



The ascent of the river is made by night, and the 

 traveler finds himself in Ha-ha Bay in the morning. 

 The steamer lies here several hours before starting 

 on her return trip, and takes in large quantities of 

 white birch wood, as she does also at Tadoussac, 

 The chief product of the country seemed to be 

 huckleberries, of which large quantities are shipped 

 to Quebec in rude board boxes holding about a peck 



