32 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



gall to worr}^ for fear I would miss my steamer. The night came 

 on bitterh^ cold. We went ashore, and the Indians threw down 

 wood from one of the piles belonging to the steamers and built a 

 roaring fire. Solomon was a good Christian, but he did not 

 scruple to take the wood. I lay down in the boat and fell asleep. 



I woke up in the night alarmed. Something seemed wrong. 

 My bed did not feel steady and a splash of water came over the 

 side into my face. Then I saw that we were afloat and whizzing 

 down those rapids at about three o'clock in the morning. I tell 

 you I was delighted to be down and have it over with. I canght 

 ni)^ steamer all right, and found when I came to pay off the Indians 

 that it would take them ten da\'S to go back. They had to pull 

 their boat iip. 



We are rather proud in Eastern Canada of our canal system, 

 by which boats can pass from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and on 

 up into Take Superior. Take Superior is 600 feet above sea level. 

 Hazelton is 700 feet above Port Essington. Imagine a steamer 

 climbing up without a single lock. 



A word or two about the Yukon. This river is more than 

 2,000 miles long. It was at this river that we had a dispute with 

 our neighbors about the boundary. Its watershed is the White 

 Pass. That watershed is only sixteen miles from the salt water, 

 but the river flows 2,000 miles before it reaches the sea. It is by 

 the Yukon that we reach the Klondyke. By traveling north on it 

 you come to Dawson, St. Michaels, etc. This river is not entirely 

 ours, however. A large part of it is in American territory. 



The St. Lawrence is the great river of Eastern Canada. If 

 you measure from the Straits of Belle Isle it is more than 2,000 

 miles long. There is some dispute about the headwater of the St. 

 Lawrence. Some say that it is the St. Louis River ; others claim 

 that Lake Nepigon is the headwater. 



This is the most astonishing river in the world. It is the one 

 river in the world that does not change its level. It does not rise 

 or fall more than three feet from one year's end to the other. It is 

 the clearest river in the world. It is never muddy after leaving 

 Lake Ontario. The reason for this is plain. The Great Lakes 



