42 • TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA ! 
have been made at the expence of government* 
and the profits arising 1 from the tolls paid by 
every bateau that passess through them, are 
placed in the public treasury. At these ra¬ 
pids, and at several of the others, there-are very 
extensive flour and saw mills. 
On the fifth night we arrived at a small farm 
house, at the top of the ff Long $aut,” wet 
from head to foot, in consequence of our-hav¬ 
ing; been obliged to walk past the rapids 
through woods and bushes still dri pping after 
the heavy rain that had fallen in the morning. 
The woods in this neighbourhood are far more 
majestic than on any other part of the St. 
Lawrence ; the pines in particular are uncom¬ 
monly tall, and seem to wave their tops in the 
very clouds. In Canada, pines grow on the 
richest soils ; but in the United States they 
grow mostly on poor ground ; a tract of land 
covered solely with pines is there generally de¬ 
nominated a pine barren ,’ 3 on account of its 
■great poverty. 
'During a considerable part of the next day, 
•we also proceeded on foot, in order to escape 
the tedious passage up the ^ Rapide Plat,” 
•and some of the other dangerous rapids in this 
part of the river. As we passed along, we had 
excellent diversion in shooting pigeons, several 
large [lights of which we met with in the 
woods. The wild pigeons of Canada are not 
i 
