232 RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 



contracting to 50 yards at the falls themselves. We are 

 not satisfied with Mr. Holme's estimate of the probable 

 height of these falls ; their exploration would certainly 

 reward any one who is sufficiently enterprising and has 

 sufficient knowledge of geology and natural history to 

 make the journey profitable. 



In regard to the canoe route from the Strait of Belle 

 Isle up the Esquimaux River to Lake Melville, we may 

 add that the Rev. C. C. Carpenter, kindly obtained dur- 

 ing the winter of 1888-89 the following notes from Mr. 

 W. H. Whiteley, who has spent many summers at Bonne 

 Esperance, a little island at the mouth of this river, and 

 can speak with authority, as he is "the most intelligent 

 and reliable man on the whole coast," and is the magis- 

 trate of this section of the Labrador coast 



"About Esquimaux River, from all I have been able 

 to gather from the Indians, I think that there is a large 

 plateau in the interior about five days' walk, for an In- 

 dian, from our place, probably about 250 miles. They 

 can walk from Bonne Esperance to Rigolet in ten days, 

 so they say. They tell us that St. Augustine River rises 

 from the same lake as Esquimaux River, but I think 

 they mean the same level plateau. The interior of Lab- 

 rador is wholly water ; certainly four fifths of the surface 

 is cut up into small ponds and lakes, which makes trav- 

 elling except by water impossible unless in winter ; 

 when on the ice one can make a straight course, and I 

 suppose this accounts for the intense cold for such enor- 

 mous bodies of ice, for the lakes are mostly shoal and 

 freeze to the bottom, making a huge ice-house of Labra- 

 dor all the spring months, and, as you know, well up 

 into the summer." 



