106 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



research through both these great provinces is yet to be 

 made, and would, I am persuaded, develop great natural 

 riches, as well as many objects of curious inqiury. 



" At the falls of Montmorenci, a little below Quebec, 

 that river has cut through the junction of sienite with the 

 superincumbent limestone, and illustrated not a few of 

 the recondite secrets of the early history of rocks. At 

 Beauport, in the same neighbourhood, enormous quantities 

 of marine shells in a state of remarkable preservation — the 

 colours even yet perfect — are found embedded in blue 

 claj'. Further down the north shore, the country liecomes 

 more purely granitic and mountainous to the very edge of 

 the St. Lawrence ; the bold capes and headlands increasing 

 in boldness and altitude, until they are interrupted by the 

 singular and enormous fissure through which the Saguenay 

 runs. The waters of this great tributary, beneath a 

 perpendicular bank, from 600 to 900 feet high, and only a 

 yard from the sliore, are one thousand feet deep, and in 

 some places no bottom has yet been found. 



" It was a fine afternoon when we left Malbaie ; the 

 river was calm, and the white i^orpoises, those unwieldy 

 looking creatnres, were tumbling in all directions. We 

 had guns, and tried a few shots without effect, the balls 

 ricocJiettinfj off then- smooth and oily skins, whenever they 

 struck them. As it approached sunset our Canadian boat- 

 men began a quartette, by no means inharmonioiTS, though 

 the voices were rough enough, and kept it up with great 



