152 LABRADOR 
amount of upwards of four million three hundred thousand 
horse-power. Neglecting the rapids above and below the 
falls and confining the calculation to the power of the falls 
itself, we find that it would develop energy equal to one 
million seven hundred thousand horse-power, an amount 
sufficient to operate a large proportion of all the manu- 
factories and railways of Canada. 
For a mile downstream from its lakelike expansion, the 
river is dotted with small, rocky islands, covered with small 
evergreens. The great stream is thereby broken into a 
number of narrow channels with swift current. The river 
then narrows to less than four hundred yards, and for a mile 
passes over a number of rocky ledges between low, wooded 
banks, falling fifty feet in a succession of rapids. It again 
widens. to nearly a mile, and flows swiftly between small 
islands for two miles; then, turning southeast, it contracts 
to less than half its previous width and rushes along with 
heavy rapids in a shallow channel obstructed by huge 
boulders. In this manner the river continues for two miles, 
gradually narrowing as it descends. The banks and bottom 
are solid rock, and the stream in the next mile has cut a 
narrow and gradually deepening trough, so that, at the 
lower end of the course, it dashes through a gorge about 
fifty yards wide with steep walls, one hundred and ten feet 
below the level of its upper end. In the last three hun- 
dred yards the grade is very steep, where the confined 
waters rush along in a swirling mass, thrown into enormous, 
long, surging waves, at least twenty feet high, the deafening 
noise of which completely drowns the heavy boom of the 
great falls immediately below. With a final great surge 
the pent-up water is shot down a steep incline for a hundred 
