[Footnote 141: "The St. Lawrence traverses the whole extent of Lower Canada, as the lakes every where border and inclose Upper Canada. There is a difficulty in tracing its origin, or, at least, which of the tributaries of Lake Superior is to be called the St. Lawrence. The strongest claim seems to be made by the series of channels which connect all the great upper lakes, though, strictly speaking, till after the Ontario, there is nothing which can very properly be called a river. There are only a number of short canals connecting the different lakes, or, rather, separating one immense lake into a number of great branches. It seems an interesting question how this northern center of the continent, at the precise latitude of about 50 deg., should pour forth so immense and overwhelming a mass of waters; for through a great part of its extent it is quite a dead flat, though the Winnepeg, indeed, draws some tributaries from the Rocky Mountains. The thick forests with which the surface is covered, the slender evaporation which takes place during the long continuance of cold, and, at the same time, the thorough melting of the snows by the strong summer heat, seem to be the chief sources of this profuse and superabundant moisture."--H. Murray's _Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in North America_, vol. ii., p. 459, 1829.] [Footnote 142: "The statements laid before Parliament thus enumerate and describe the five rapids of the St. Lawrence, which are impassable by steam, and occur between Montreal and Kingston, a distance, by the St. Lawrence River, of 171 miles, and by the Rideau Canal, 267 miles. The rapids vary in rapidity, intricacy, depth and width of channel, and in extent, from half a mile to nine miles. The Cedar Rapid, twenty-four miles from La Chine, is nine miles long, very intricate, running from nine to twelve miles an hour, and in some places only from nine to ten feet water in the channel. The Coteau du Lac Rapid, six miles above the former, is two miles long, equally intricate in channel, and in some places only sixteen feet wide. Long Sault, forty-five miles above the preceding, is nine or ten miles long, with generally the same depth of water throughout. It is intersected by several islands, through whose channels the water rushes with great velocity, so that boats are carried through it, or on it, at the rate of twenty-seven miles an hour; at the foot of the rapid the water takes a sudden leap over a slight precipice, whence its name. From the Long Sault to Prescot is forty-one miles shoal water, running from six to eight miles an hour, and impassable by steamboats. Then the Rapid du Plas, half a mile long, and Rapid Galoose, one and half a mile long, intervene."]