THE ALLEGASH AND EAST BRANCH. 
263 
it vertically in the direction of its length, keeping the 
southwest half. Such was the general form. 
There was a remarkable series of these great rock- 
waves revealed by the burning; breakers, as it were. No 
wonder that the river that found its way through them 
was rapid and obstructed by falls. No doubt the absence 
of soil on these rocks, or its dryness where there was any, 
caused this to be a very thorough burning. We could 
see the lake over the woods, two or three miles ahead, 
and that the river made an abrupt turn southward around 
the northwest end of the cliff on which we stood, or a 
little above us, so that we had cut off a bend, and that 
. there was an important fall in it a short distance below 
us. I could see the canoe a hundred rods behind, but 
now on the opposite shore, and supposed that the Indian 
had concluded to take out and carry round some bad 
rapids on that side, and that that might be what he had 
beckoned to me for; but after waiting a while I could still 
see nothing of him, and I observed to my companion that 
I wondered where he was, though I began to suspect 
that he had gone inland to look for the lake from some 
hill-top on that side, as we had done. This proved to be 
the case; for after I had started to return to the canoe, 
I heard a faint halloo, and descried him on the top of a 
distant rocky hill on that side. But as ? after a long time 
had elapsed, I still saw his canoe in the same place, and 
he had not returned to it, and appeared in no hurry to do 
so, and, moreover, as I remembered that he had previ¬ 
ously beckoned to me, I thought that there might be 
something more to delay him than I knew, and began to 
return northwest, along the ridge, toward the angle in 
the river. My companion, who had just been separated 
from us, and had even contemplated the necessity of 
