,
intermixed with the earth, probably brought to the spot to be used in
the process. Amongst the Indians along the Gulf, a greater degree
of skill was displayed than with those on the upper waters of the
Mississippi, and on the lakes. Their vessels were generally larger and
more symmetrical, and of a superior finish. They moulded them over
gourds and models, and baked them in ovens. In the construction of those
of large size, it was customary to model them in baskets of willow or
splints, which, at the proper period, were burned off, leaving the
vessel perfect in form, and retaining the somewhat ornamental markings
of their moulds. Some of those found on the Ohio seem to have been
modelled in bags or nettings of coarse thread or twisted bark. These
practices are still retained by some of the remote western tribes.

* * * * *

=_Benjamin Silliman, 1779-1864._= (Manual, p. 505.)

From "A Tour to Canada."

=_268._= THE FALLS OF MONTMORENCI.

... The Montmorenci, after a gentle previous declivity, which, greatly
increases its velocity, takes its stupendous leap of two hundred and
forty feet, into a chasm among the rocks, where it boils and foams in a
natural rocky basin, from which, after its force is in some measure
exhausted in its own whirlpools and eddies, it flows away in a gentle
stream towards the St. Lawrence. The fall is nearly perpendicular, and
appears not to deviate more than three or four degrees from it. This
deviation is caused by the ledges of rock below, and is just sufficient
to break the water completely into foam and spray.

The effect on the beholder is most delightful. The river, at some
distance, seems suspended in a sheet of billowy foam, and contrasted
as it is, with the black frowning abyss into which it falls, it is an
object of the highest interest. As we approached nearer to its foot, the
impressions of grandeur and sublimity were, in the most perfect manner
imaginable, blended with those of extreme beauty.

This river is of so considerable a magnitude, that, precipitated as it
is from this amazing height, the thundering noise, and mighty rush
of waters, and the never-ceasing wind and rain produced by the fall,
powerfully arrest the attention: the spectator stands in profound awe,
mingled with delight, especially when he contrasts the magnitude of
the fall, with that of a villa, on the edge of the dark precipices
of frowning rock which form the western ba