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The total number of rapids on the upper waters is seventy-eight.
From Shinoro river to the mouth of the Ishi-kari is about 1212 miles. The river maintains a width of at least 250 yards and the depth in the channel is between three and seven fathoms. There is twelve feet on the bar and the result of 24 days observation shewed a mean of five inches rise and fall of tide. Ishi-kari town is situated at the mouth of the river on the left bank; here ships could load from stages erected on the bank as there is four or five fathoms of water close to the shore.
From Camoyi Cotan to the sea the river banks rarely exceed twenty feet in height, the general average being fifteen feet. The slopes are usually covered with short grass and on top is a continuous fringe of willows, rising in places to the dignity of trees in other places mere saplings.
The willows were very useful in estimating the age of the different portions of the banks, as no sooner does any change take place than up shoots a fresh crop of willows. The driftwood lodged in their branches gave the height of the river during floods. The timber varies very much both in size and quality, but large quantities of fine oak, ash, chestnut, walnut, elm and several other hard woods, exist in the vicinity of the river and its tributaries. The best timber is generally to be found in the narrow belts of wood that border the large stretches of prairie grass.
The climate of this portion of Yezo can compare favorably with some of the great grain producing states in America.
The Ishi-kari watershed is naturally divided into two portions by the range of mountains containing the gorge Camoyi Cotan. It is stated that in the upper portion the climate is colder in winter and warmer in summer than in the lower portion, and that this difference is due principally to the fact of the lower plain opening on to the sea coast, whereas the upper plain is surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides and it is more removed from the sea.
