172 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



sleighing, tobogganing, and other outdoor games, and to 

 social amusements indoors, many of which are borrowed 

 from the Yankees, and will be described farther on. 



The road that we have been travelling over runs 

 parallel with the river, or nearly so, and at no great 

 distance from it. Often we got enchanting views of the 

 water. As to the general appearance of the country, it 

 varied a great deal, presenting a succession of scenery 

 from flat plains to rugged mountains. In some spots 

 the river banks were several hundred feet high, and 

 very precipitous, but generally covered with trees, which 

 found a lodgment in the crevices, or on narrow shelves 

 of rock; at other places the banks were low — almost 

 level with the water. The ascent to the higher ground 

 was gradual, by a series of terraces. Inland from the 

 river the country is hilly, often rising into rugged ranges. 

 I was told that still farther north the country was very 

 mountainous, with a bold, rocky outline — in fact a very 

 similar range to the Rockies of the west ; but this part 

 of the country was not visited by me. I saw enough, 

 however, to show me that the country below Quebec, 

 trending northward, is very mountainous ; and the rivers 

 have deep, rocky beds, with fierce currents, and a con- 

 tmuous line of cataracts and falls that make the 

 navigation, where attempted, most laborious, more than 

 three-fourths of the men's time being taken up in 

 making portages; in fact there is practically no navi- 

 gation on the rivers falling into the gulf. The estuary 

 of the St. Lawrence is very wide, insomuch that I could 

 not tell the point where the gulf really commenced. 

 A great portion of the channel, which is often called, 

 and marked on the maps as, the River, is, I think, more 

 properly a portion of the gulf, and is so considered here. 

 All portions of the river below the mouth of the 

 Saguenay being not less than thirty miles wide, and 

 absolutely salt, I look upon as the waters of the gulf. 



Below Mai Baie the forests cover large tracts, although 



