For ten miles downwards the stream is beautifully diversified by wooded islands, through which it rushes with various degrees of violence. The banks, great part of the way, consist of white marble, somewhat soft and coarse; but farther inland, it is believed, a superior description would be found. At the end of this tract, Bisset’s _chantier_, a solitary log-house, with a few cleared acres, relieves the eye after the monotony of these vast solitudes; it affords also a welcome asylum to the fur and timber traders. Soon after, the view opens upon the magnificent expanse of the Lake des Chats, about fifteen miles long, studded with richly-wooded islets. On the south are one or two scattered mansions, and particularly Kinnell Lodge, the residence of the Highland chieftain, M^{c}Nab. The northern side appears uninhabited; yet at a little distance from the beach is the settlement of Clarendon, formed in 1829, and in 1831 containing 257 inhabitants. The township of Bristol, in 1828, presented only a few poor hovels and 31 settlers, which number had, in 1831, increased to 96, and in 1836 to not less than 445. At length the lake suddenly contracts, and the rapids of the Chats, for three miles, dash in violent eddies, amid a labyrinth of islands. They terminate in the Falls des Chats, fifteen or sixteen in number, extending in a curved line across the river, and divided by wooded islands; but only from sixteen to twenty feet high. The northern coast, having a rocky and uneven surface, forms the township of Onslow, which in 1836 had 150 settlers. [Illustration: _Portage des Chats._] [Illustration: _Falls of the Ottawa at Les Chats._] About six miles below this point commences Lake Chaudière, an expanse eighteen miles long, and, like the former, terminating in rapids, succeeded by falls. These last, called the Great and Little Chaudière (Kettle), are on a larger scale, 60 feet high and 212 broad. The descending torrent, striking on a great circular rock, is thrown up in clouds of spray, which conceal the bottom of the fall, and often rise in revolving columns high above its summit. A great portion of the water being unaccounted for, is believed to escape through subterraneous channels. Immediately below, where the stream still rolls in rapid eddies, a bridge has been thrown across. The difficulties of the undertaking were overcome by dividing the structure into four parts, consisting of different materials. The broadest span is stretched by means of a hempen fabric, composed of three-inch cables, forming an inverted segment of a circle, the lowest point of which is only seven feet above the torrent. But at no time can it be passed without a feeling of peril. [Illustration: _A Shanty on Lake Chaudière._ (Canada)] [Illustration: _The Owls Head._ (Lake Memphremagog.)]