184 THE PBEIBONCA AND TSOHOTAGAMA 



park-like, strewn to the water's edge with a grassy verdure. It is 

 these very changes in the nature of the river^rom wild to peaceful, 

 from calm to furious — that make the Peribonca such a river that one 

 seldom sees, and one almost impossible aptly to describe." 



"With good guides the ascent of the river to Tsohota- 

 gama may be made comfortably in three days, and 

 the descent therefrom in two. But two Indians 

 and a canoe to each tourist are a necessity. When 

 we made the trip we left Roberval at five o'clock 

 in the morning, and reached the lake, which is nearly 

 seventy miles distant, about two o'clock on the af- 

 ternoon of the third day. But we had the best of 

 guides and the most favorable weather, and made 

 the crossing of Lake St. John from Eoberval to the 

 mouth of the river, and the first three miles of the 

 stream, on board the little steamer Undine, which we 

 had chartered for the occasion. The mouth of the river, 

 though nearly two miles in width, is extremely diffi- 

 cult of navigation. For some miles from Lake St. 

 John both banks of the Peribonca are of sand and 

 loam, and comparatively low. The immense rise in 

 its waters in the spring of the year have washed 

 down very great quantities of this sand, so that as a 

 rule the waters of the lake, never very deep, are here 

 unusually shallow, and the water brought down by 

 the great river has so much space for diffusion that 

 the navigable channel is exceedingly narrow and 

 tortuous. This channel was ascended by the steamer 

 for two or three miles, until close to the mouth of the 

 Little Peribonca, which is to the left in ascending the 

 larger stream. Here, after adding a small bag of 

 potatoes to the supply of bread, biscuits, cheese, tea, 



