470 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION". 



continues nearly level as far as the lower end of the 

 portage, where the top of the rock is 25*36 feet above 

 the surface of the water, and about the same height above 

 the lower plateau. The lower plateau continues some 

 distance further down, but is soon hidden by drift clay- 

 banks, which, at the foot of the rapid, have an altitude of 

 twenty to thirty feet above the water. 



It is not improbable that the Grand Eapid is the result 

 of the eroding influence of the great body of water in the 

 river, upon the rock through which it flows — the lime- 

 stone being of a crumbling and yielding nature. At 'a 

 remote period, the water of the Saskatchewan was per- 

 haps lowered from the top of this rock formation, by a 

 perpendicular cataract ; the precipitous leap most pro- 

 bably began at the lower end of the portage, or at the 

 eastern limit of the highest limestone plateau, from whence 

 the river gradually wore away the rock, at the same time 

 diminishing the height of the fall, until it became a 

 foaming rapid from beginning to end. 



The upper portion of the Grand Eapid — of which I 

 succeeded in getting a sketch — presents a scene that 

 strikes the beholder with wonder and admiration. The 

 great body of water that has been stealing along, swiftly 

 but silently, for many miles, appears to be suddenly 

 imbued with life — the rippling of the river becoming 

 gradually more turbulent, until the tumultuous surges 

 grow into huge, rolling billows, crested with foam, like 

 weaves in a tempestuous sea. The great rollers and breakers 

 seem, to the spectator, to be continually changing in shape 

 and appearance, owing to the lines of surf and the peculiar 

 colour of the water; but although the mighty cataract 

 thus appears to be for ever changing, it really rolls on for 

 ever the same. 



The ascent of the Grand Eapid is one of the most 



