THE SAGUENAY AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 167 



ing along his airy pathway near the summit of the cliffs, 

 or glance across the watery plain, and see the silvery 

 salmon leaping by hundreds into the air for their insect 

 food. Here, too, you may always discover a number of 

 seals bobbing their heads out of water as if watching your 

 every movement, and on the other hand, a drove of white 

 porpoises rolling their huge bodies along the waters, ever 

 and anon spouting a shower of liquid diamonds into the 

 liir. yes, manifold indeed, and beautiful beyond com- 

 pare, are the charms of the Saguenay. 



" ' The wilderness through which this river runs is of 

 such a character, that its shores can never be greatly 

 changed in their external appearance. Only a small por- 

 tion of its soil can be brought under cultivation, and as its 

 forests are a good deal stunted, its lumbering resources are 

 far from being inexhaustible. The wealth which it contains 

 is probably of a mineral character ; and if the reports I hear 

 are correct, it abounds in iron ore. That it would yield 

 an abundance of fine marble, I am certain ; for in passing 

 up this stream, the observing eye will frequently fall upon 

 a broad vein of an article as pure as alabaster. 



" ( In speaking of the Saguenay, I must not omit to men- 

 tion its original proprietors, a tribe of Indians, who are 

 known as the Mountaineers. Of course it is the duty of 

 my pen to record the fact that, where once flourished a 

 large nation of brave and heroic warriors, there now exists 

 a little band of about one hundred families. Judging 



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