"LA. GRANDE DECHARGE" or LAKE ST. JOHN 177 



our canoes at this point, and drove the whole remain- 

 ing distance of twelve miles to St. Anne de Saguenay, 

 where we crossed by ferry to Chicoutimi at 2 P.M. 

 We might have portaged the canoes by buckboard 

 for the first six miles, and then proceeded in them to 

 Chicoutimi, but that would have added another day 

 to the time of the guides, taking into consideration 

 their descent to Chicoutimi and the additional time 

 required for the ascent. As it was, they counted upon 

 taking two days, from ten o'clock Saturday morning, 

 when we left them at Kiver des Aulnaies, to portage 

 and paddle up against the rapids back to the Island 

 House, the distance that, in descending with us in 

 their canoes, they had covered in little less than half 

 a day, deducting the time we had spent en route in 

 fishing. Now that the railway is fully open from 

 Lake St. John to Chicoutimi, the descent of the Grand 

 Discharge may be much more cheaply made than in 

 the past ; for, once at Chicoutimi, both guides and ca- 

 noes can be carried back, at a trifling cost, to Lake St. 

 John by the cars in the short space of three or four 

 hours, and a saving effected of the hire and provisions 

 for at least a day to a day and a half for a couple of 

 guides to each member of a party of tourists or sports- 

 men. 



