168 "la QEANDE DECHAEGE" op lake ST. JOHN 



very great distance could be seen th'e columns of leap- 

 ing spraj' thrown up ever and anon from the crests of 

 the rapids on the northern side of the island that were 

 simply a series of oft-repeated falls. As we approached 

 closer to the point of the island that divides the stream 

 we were in full view of the head of the dangerous rap- 

 ids that run away down by its southerly shore. There 

 was, it is true, a comparatively narrow space of water, 

 to the immediate south of the island's nearest point, 

 between the falls at the head of either rapid. But in 

 that narrow space was to be encountered one of the 

 principal perils of our trip. Safety .from the dangers 

 of the rapids on either side would, under other cir- 

 cumstances, have dictated a course for the shore as 

 nearly as possible through the middle of the open. 

 But just there, we knew from conversation with our 

 guides, and from a diagram that Mr. B. A. Scott had 

 drawn for us before we left Boberval, was the treach- 

 erous whirlpool known as le remous de Vile Maligne. 

 It is the terror of all the voyageurs that descend the 

 Grand Discharge, and one of the chief reasons why 

 they prefer the passage of the Little Discharge, and 

 why in the spring of the year they never attempt any 

 other. Many are the hair -breadth escapes that are 

 told of those who have ventured near it. The island 

 must be reached between the heads of the two rapids, 

 as to enter either would be speedy destruction. To 

 cross too near to the head of one would be to run a 

 fearful risk of being swept into it by the force of the 

 stream. But in avoiding the Scylla - divided current 

 there is danger of meeting doom in Charybdis. The 

 chance is often against steering clear of both. Fear- 



