148 LABRADOR 



detailed account of the various courses and characteristics 

 of the valley than can be given here may be found in my 

 report, and might be consulted by any intending visitor 

 to the falls. 1 



The river flows into the head of Lake Melville on the south 

 side of Goose Bay, and is separated from it by a long, low, 

 sandy point. The mouth of the river is obstructed by 

 wide shoals with numerous narrow channels between them. 

 These continue for about ten miles, where the stream is 

 about a mile wide and gradually narrows to Muskrat Falls. 

 Above the falls there is a steady current for fourteen miles 

 to the foot of Porcupine Rapids, which are nearly three 

 miles long. Good tracking along the banks with deep 

 water makes the ascent easy. An expansion called Gull 

 Island Lake extends six miles from the head of Porcupine 

 Rapids to the foot of the next rapids. In the next twenty 

 miles, to the mouth of the Minipi, the valley gradually 

 narrows, leaving very little bottom-land between the river 

 and its rocky walls. This portion of the river is very rough 

 and almost a continuous rapid. Ascending the stream, 

 Gull Rapids extend for nearly five miles above the lake, 

 with shallow water and great boulders obstructing the 

 channel. The second, or Horseshoe Rapid, is at the sharp 

 bend to the southward; it also is shallow and filled with 

 boulders. The river now contracts to about one hundred 

 yards in width, and deepens, so that although the current 

 is swift, the surface is broken only for a short distance- 

 below the junction of the Minipi, where a short portage 

 may be necessary to pass the head of the rapid. 



1 Report on Labrador Peninsula, A. P. Low, Ann. Rep. Geol. Survey 

 of Canada, Vol. VIII, Part L, 1895. 



