193 THE PERIBONCA AND TSCHOTAGAMA 



borne in mind that between the spring and summer 

 levels of the river there is a difference of at least thirty 

 feet. At all seasons of the year the Chute au Diable 

 is a heavy, steep, resistless cataract, though never, of 

 course, seen to such advantage as during the spring 

 floods. For a long distance below the falls the rapids 

 are of extreme violence ; yet a portion of them, at 

 least, must be ascended and another part crossed in 

 order to gain the foot of the summer portage. And 

 as the canoe nears the base of the cliffs the surround- 

 ings may reasonably recall the shores of Acheron, 

 notwithstanding the contrast offered by the immobil- 

 ity of expression and contented countenances of your 

 Indian guides to the "demoniac form" and "eyes of 

 burning coal " of the old man Charon " hoary white 

 with eld." 



In some of the pools near the shore, at the foot of 

 the easterly branch of the falls, the ouananiche were 

 seen swimming in the foam just as they do in the 

 Grand Discharge. "We took with flies as many as we 

 required for food, both in ascending the river and on 

 our way down again ; and in some of these pools one 

 of our guides, on a hook baited with pork, at the end 

 of a cord suspended from a paddle, dragged out of the 

 water a couple of large dore, the firm white flesh of 

 which served as a change from the rich salmon-fla- 

 vored flakes of the ouananiche. 



Between the Chute au Diable, at the very brink of 

 which we again took to our canoes, and our next por- 

 tage at the Chute de JMcLeod or ninth falls, four miles 

 distant, we had some splendid pike-fishing. Here the 

 appearance of the banks of the river was very differ- 



