CHAPTER II.

OF THE RIVER SAGUENAY, AND THE SAVAGES WHO VISITED US THERE.--OF THE ISLAND
OF ORLEANS, AND ALL THAT WE OBSERVED THERE WORTHY OF NOTE.

After this agreement, I had some carpenters set to work to fit up a little
barque of twelve or fourteen tons, for carrying all that was needed for our
settlement, which, however, could not be got ready before the last of June.

Meanwhile, I managed to visit some parts of the river Saguenay, a fine
river, which has the incredible depth of some one hundred and fifty to two
hundred fathoms. [293] About fifty leagues from the mouth of the harbor,
there is, as is said, a great waterfall, descending from a very high
elevation with great impetuosity. There are some islands in this river,
very barren, being only rocks covered with small firs and heathers. It is
half a league broad in places, and a quarter of a league at its mouth,
where the current is so strong that at three-quarters flood-tide in the
river it is still running out. All the land that I have seen consists only
of mountains and rocky promontories, for the most part covered with fir and
birch, a very unattractive country on both sides of the river. In a word,
it is mere wastes, uninhabited by either animals or birds; for, going out
hunting in places which seemed to me the most pleasant, I found only some
very small birds, such as swallows and river birds, which go there in
summer. At other times, there are none whatever, in consequence of the
excessive cold. This river flows from the north-west.