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.’ | 
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. 
