488 



racter of some importance, and merits a few 

 observations. It takes its source from Lake 

 Megantic, flowing northerl}^ forty-one miles, as 

 far as the seigniory of Aubert Gallion ; from 

 thence north-westerly, it winds through the 

 seigniories of Vaudreuil, St. Joseph, Ste. Marie, 

 St. Etienne, Jolliett, and Lauzon, to the St. 

 LawTence, a distance of sixty-one miles, making 

 the whole course one hundred and two from 

 Lake Megantic to its estuary ; in breadth it 

 varies from four hundred to six hundred yards. 

 The stream is frequently divided by islands, 

 some of them containing many acres, and co- 

 vered wdth timber-trees : the banks in general 

 are high, rocky, and steep, pretty thickly 

 clothed with wood of an indifferent growth; 

 the bed rugged, and much contracted by rocks 

 jutting from the sides, that occasion violent 

 rapids. The descent of the stream over the 

 different shelves occasions falls of considerable 

 height ; the most noticeable are those called 

 the Chaudiere, about four miles before the 

 river discharges itself into the St. Lawrence. 

 Narrowed by salient points extending from 

 each side, the precipice over which the waters 

 rush is scarcely more than one hundred and 

 thirty yards in breadth ; the height from which 

 they descend is about as many feet. Huge 

 masses of rock rising above the surface of the 



