Ottawa are suddenly precipitated over the Falls of the
Chats, which, to the number of fifteen or sixteen, form a curved line
across the river, regularly divided by woody islands, the falls being in
depth from sixteen to twenty feet."--M. Martin's _History of Canada_.]

[Footnote 146: See Appendix, No. XIX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 147: "At Quebec, the River St. Lawrence narrows to 1314 yards;
yet the navigation is completely unobstructed, while there is formed
near the city a capacious harbor. About twenty-one miles lower, its
waters, beginning to mingle with those of the sea, acquire a saline
taste, which increases till, at Kamauraska, seventy-five miles nearer
its mouth, they become completely salt. Yet custom, with somewhat
doubtful propriety, considers the river as continued down to the island
of Anticosti, and bounded by Cape Rosier on the southern, and Mingau
settlement on the northern shore."--Bouchette's _Top. and Stat. Descr.
of Canada_, vol. i., p. 164-169.]

[Footnote 148: See Appendix, No. XX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 149: "The Falls of the Rideau are about fifty feet in height
and 300 in breadth, being, at the time we saw them, more magnificent
than usual, by reason of the high state of the waters. It is from their
resemblance to a curtain that they are distinguished by the name of
Rideau, and they also give this name to the river that feeds them, which
again lends the same appellation to the canal that connects the Ottawa
with Lake Ontario."--Simpson, vol. i., p. 16.]

[Footnote 150: Modern alluvial accumulations are rapidly increasing on
some points of this coast, owing to the enormous mass of fresh water,
charged with earthy matter, that here mingles with the sea. The surface
of the water at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, where the depth is 100
fathoms, is stated by Bayfield to be turbid from this cause: yet that
this discoloration is superficial is evident, for in the wake of a ship
moving through the turbid surface, the clear blue waters of the sea are
seen below.]

CHAPTER V.

Upon the surface of Canada are found manifest indications of that
tremendous deluge, the effects of which are so plainly visible in the
Old World. Huge bowlder stones[151] abound in almost every part of the
province; sometimes they are seen rounded, piled in high heaps on
extensive horizontal beds of limestone, swept together by the force of
some vast flood. Masses of various kinds of shells lie in great
quantit