CHAPTER V.

THE LAKES AND RIVERS OF CANADA.

HAVING traced the connexion of the "Great River of Canada," as the St. Lawrence was originally called, through its tributaries, by which the lower part of the province is watered both to the north and south, and with the upper by the shores of the Great Lakes, which form its southern land boundary, it remains only to give a more particular account of this mighty mass of fresh water, far exceeding in superficies and contents, if not in length, the rivers Amazon and Mississippi, although from the depth of the lakes it does not probably carry to the ocean a larger volume of water. *

* The Tables of Physical Geography give the following comparison:

miles.

Without this the topography of Canada would indeed be incomplete, more especially as it has been the basis of the previous description; as it is the natural link between its two divisions, and the source of the beauty, fertility, and prosperity of the province.'

If the St. Lawrence be considered as flowing through the lakes, its source must be sought in the river St. Louis, which falls into the western extremity of Lake Superior, to the south of the boundary of the United States, through which, by an easterly and south-easterly course it reaches Lake Erie, and thence, with a gradually increasing northeasterly direction, flows through Lake Ontario to the Atlantic, above two thousand miles from its source.

The name of the river, thus considered, varies in different places; between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, it is called the Narrows, or the Straits or Falls of St. Mary's; from the latter lake to Lake St. Clair it is termed the River St. Clair; and thence to Lake Erie, the Detroit or River Detroit; between Lakes Erie and Ontario the River Niagara, and from Lake Ontario to Montreal

>

the Cataraqui or Iroquois; below this it assumes its more common appellation, derived from the gulf into which it flows, viz. the St. Lawrence.

Lake Superior, the most northern of these fresh water inland seas, being situated between the parallels 46° 25′ and 49° north lat. is unequalled in magnitude by any other in the world; its length, measured on a curved line through the centre, is about 360 geographical miles, its extreme breadth 140, and its circumference 1500. The surface of its waters is 627 feet above the level of the Atlantic, while its greatest depth exceeds 1,200, or nearly 600 feet below the level of that ocean. Its shores, however, sufficiently indicate that the former height of its waters must have exceeded the present by at least forty or fifty feet, while its basin, extending in some places fifty miles from its present limits, was bounded by those mountain ridges, in which the rivers tributary to it have their rise.

The summits of these hills in many places attain an elevation of 1500 feet above the level of its waters, and the sources of the rivers have in some instances been ascer

tained to be from 500 to 600 feet above their mouths. These are indeed numerous, but not remarkable for their length, although they contribute in the aggregate a vast volume to its waters.

Worthy of comparison with seas, and like them exposed to the power of storms and tempests, it exhibits in their effects the same appearances, and its raging billows lose nothing of their terror by the comparison. It is not, however, like them, affected by a periodical flux and reflux, and the only changes in its apparent level are consequent upon the spring freshets, particularly after a more than usually rigorous winter, or upon the long continuance of a strong breeze in one quarter.

The waters are remarkable for their extreme purity, which permits the bottom to be seen at extraordinary depths. That they were once salt, is by no means improbable, from the nature of the fish that inhabit them, and the marine shells that are found along the beaches or imbedded in the shores. It has indeed been asserted that they are so at present in the lowest depths. ·

On the north and north-east it has several islands; of these Isle Royal is the largest, measuring above 100 miles in length, by 40 in breadth.

The waters of Lake Superior are discharged through the Strait of St. Mary, or, as it is more familiarly termed, the Narrows, which are about fifty miles long, and connect it with Lake Huron. About midway between the lakes there is a rapid fall of twenty-two and a half feet in the bed of the river, causing the confined mass of waters to rage in their narrow channel with tumultuous and unceasing violence, creating a scene of confusion, which, from the noise and turmoil of the waters, and the dazzling whiteness of the surge, is not deficient in grandeur of effect, although it cannot be compared with others more worthy the term of "fall," which has been applied to this. It is called the falls of St. Mary, and has been descended by intrepid and experienced voyagers, but is generally avoided by a portage of two miles.

The boundary line between the British dominions, and those of the United States, commencing at the mouth of Pigeon River, and