()n the St. Lawrence. 49 



at some places, and what is called " Lake Fever/* 

 bearing some resemblance to our country fever, 

 sometimes, though rarely, occurs. The River St. 

 Lawrence, contrary to most rivers, which run south, 

 has a northeasterly course. Its shores are rocky, 

 and in many cases the water is fifty feet deep, only 

 three feet from the shore. Indeed, the rocks seem 

 almost perpendicular. This river is studded with 

 about seventeen hundred islands, some of them not 

 five feet wide. A rock rises out of the water to the 

 height of ten or twenty, or even a hundred feet. It 

 has a tree or two upon it, which withstands all the 

 storms and violence of this mighty river. Some- 

 times it looks like a dining table with an umbrella 

 over it. Sometimes you imagine that a row of stone 

 houses, forming a little village, lies before you ; at 

 other times, you fancy there is a mighty castle in 

 sight. You think you see the cannon frowning 

 upon you ; but it is all a deception, all made by the 

 hand of nature, and man has had nothing to do 

 with it. The navigation is by no means difficult. 

 There appear to be no sunken rocks, and a man has 

 only to keep his eyes open, and avoid the little 

 islands that seem to float like ducks upon the water.* 

 In general, the islands and the shore are sterile 

 and there must be hard scratching for a living. 

 Here and there, you see a log cabin along the 

 water's edge with a sign hung out on some hemlock 

 tree, indicating that there are accommodations for 

 the voyager — miserable accommodations they must 

 be. On the Canada side, there are fine farms and 

 orchards, many noble stone houses, and, in some 

 places, an appearance of wealth and plenty; and on 

 the American side, wherever the land is good, clear- 

 ings are beginning to be made. Although this is 



*This was before he reached the rapids at Montreal. 



