116 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA l 
side of the river that the waters are so much 
troubled ; in the middle of it, though the cur¬ 
rent is also there uncommonly swift, yet the 
breakers are not so dangerous but boats may 
pass down, if dexterously managed, to an is¬ 
land which divides the river at the very falls. 
To go do wn to this island it is necessary' to set 
off at some distance above Cfaippeway, where 
the current is even, and to keep exactly in the 
middle of the river the whole way thither ,* if 
tlie boats w ere suffered to get out of their course 
ever so little, either to the right or left, it w r ould 
be impossible to stem the current and bring 
them again into it; they would be irresistibly 
carried tow ards the falls, and destruction must 
inevitably fo!!ow r . In returning from the is¬ 
land there is still more difficulty and danger 
than in going to it. Notwithstanding these 
circumstances, numbers of persons have the 
foolhardiness to proceed to this island, merely 
for the sake of beholding the falls from the op- 
posite side of it, or for the sake of having in 
their power to say that they had been upon it. 
The river forces its way amidst the rocks 
with redoubled impetuosity, as it approaches 
towards the falls ,* at last coming to the brink of 
the tremendous precipice, it tumbles headlong 
to the bottom without meeting with any inter¬ 
ruption from rocks in its descent. Just at the 
precipice the river takes a considerable bend to 
