North America

The author left Quebec, Dominion of Canada, July 4, 1874, with a single assistant, in a wooden canoe eighteen feet in length, bound for the Gulf of Mexico. It was his intention to follow the natural and artificial connecting watercourses of the continent in the most direct line southward to the gulf coast of Florida, making portages as seldom as possible, to show how few were the interruptions to a continuous water-way for vessels of light draught, from the chilly, foggy, and rocky regions of the Gulf of St.

ISLAND OF ST. PAUL. - THE PORTALS OF THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE. - THE EXTINCT AUK. - ANTICOSTI ISLAND. - ICEBERGS. - SAILORS' SUPERSTITIONS. - THE ESTUARY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. - TADOUSAC. - THE SAGUENAY RIVER. - WHITE WHALES. - QUEBEC.

THE WATER-WAY INTO THE CONTINENT. - THE WESTERN AND THE SOUTHERN ROUTE TO THE GULF OF MEXICO. - THE MAYETA. - COMMENCEMENT OF THE VOYAGE. - ASCENT OF THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE. - LAKE OF ST. PETER. - ACADIAN TOWN OF SOREL

THE RICHELIEU RIVER. - ACADIAN SCENES. - ST. OURS. - ST. ANTOINE. - ST. MARKS. - BELCEIL. - CHAMELY CANAL. - ST. JOHNS. - LAKE CHAMPLAIN. THE GREAT SHIP-CANAL. - DAVID BODFISH 'S CAMP. - THE ADIRONDACK SURVEY. - A CANVAS BOAT. - DIMENSIONS OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN. - PORT KENT. - AUSABLE CHASM. - ARRIVAL AT TICONDEROGA.

THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE GEORGE BY FATHER JOGUES. - A PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY. - THE HERMIT OF THE NARROWS. - CONVENT OF ST. MARY'S OF THE LAKE. - THE PAULIST FATHERS. - CANAL-ROUTE FROM LAKE CHAMPLAIN TO ALBANY. - BODFISH RETURNS TO NEW JERSEY. - THE LITTLE FLEET IN ITS HAVEN OF REST.

THE PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE PAPER BOAT. - THE HISTORY OF THE ADOPTION OF PAPER FOR BOATS. - A BOY'S INGENUITY. - THE PROCESS OF BUILDING PAPER BOATS DESCRIBED. - COLLEGE CLUBS ADOPTING THEAM. - THE GREAT VICTORIES WON BY PAPER OVER WOODEN SHELLS IN 1876.

PAPER CANOE MARIA THERESA. - THE START. - THE DESCENT OF THE HUDSON RIVER. - CROSSING THE UPPER BAY OF NEW YORK. - PASSAGE OF THE KILLS. - RARITAN RIVER - THE CANAL ROUTE FROM NEW BRUNSWICK TO THE DELAWARE RIVER. - FROM BORDENTOWN TO PHILADELPHIA.

We awoke bright and early the next morning, much refreshed by our day of rest and variety. With an early start we were soon pulling down the river, and noon found us several miles below the camp, having run eleven rapids with no particular difficulty. A reference in my notes reads: "Last one has a thousand rocks, and we could not miss them all. My rowing is improving, and we both got through fairly well." In the afternoon they continued to come - an endless succession of small rapids, with here and there a larger one.

Naturally we were very impatient to know just what success we had met with in our photographic work. Some of the motion pictures had been printed and returned to us. My brother, who meanwhile had taken his family to Los Angeles, sent very encouraging reports regarding some of the films.

In recording our various mishaps and upsets in these pages, it may seem to the reader as if I have given undue prominence to the part I took in them. If so, it has not been from choice, but because they happened in that way. No doubt a great deal of my trouble was due to carelessness. After I had learned to row my boat fairly well I sometimes took chances that proved to be anything but advisable, depending a good deal on luck, and luck was not always with me.