many miles below where this great tributary pours its gloomy flood
into the pure waters of the St. Lawrence: 120 miles westward it flows
from a large, circular sheet of water, called Lake St. John; but the
furthest sources lie in the unknown regions of the west and north. For
about half its course, from the lake to Tadoussac at the mouth, the
banks are rich and fertile; but thence cliffs rise abruptly out of the
water to a lofty height--sometimes 2000 feet--and two or three miles
apart. The depth of the Saguenay is very great, and the surrounding
scenery is of a magnificent but desolate character.

Below the entrance of the Saguenay the St. Lawrence increases to twenty
miles across, at the Bay of Seven Islands to seventy, at the head of the
large and unexplored island of Anticosti to ninety, and at the point
where it may be said to enter the Gulf between Gaspe and the Labrador
coast, reaches the enormous breadth of 120 miles. In mid-channel both
coasts can be seen; the mountains on the north shore rise to a great
height in a continuous range, their peaks capped with eternal snows.

Having traced this vast chain of water communication from its remotest
links, it is now time to speak of the magnificent territory which it
opens to the commerce and enterprise of civilized man.

Upper or Western Canada[148] is marked off from the eastern province by
the natural boundary of the Ottawa or Grand River. It consists almost
throughout of one uniform plain. In all those districts hitherto settled
or explored, there is scarcely a single eminence that can be called a
hill, although traversed by two wide ridges, rising above the usual
level of the country. The greater of these elevations passes through
nearly the whole extent of the province from southeast to northwest,
separating the waters falling into the St. Lawrence and the great lakes
from those tributary to the Ottawa: the highest point is forty miles
north of Kingston, being also the most elevated level on that
magnificent modern work, the Rideau Canal;[149] it is 290 feet above the
Ottawa at Bytown, and 160 feet higher than the surface of Lake Ontario.
Toward these waters the plain descends at the gradient of about four
feet in the mile; this declivity is imperceptible to the eye, and is
varied by gently undulating slopes and inequalities. Beyond the broad,
rich valley lying to the north of this elevation there is a rocky and
mountainous country; still farther north are seen