HAMILTON (GRAND or ASHUANIPI), the chief river of Labrador peninsula, Canada. It rises in the Labrador highlands at an elevation of 1,70o ft., its chief sources being among the many irregularly shaped lakes of central Quebec. The river itself flows into a line of weakness on a very old and worn down ancient shield whose present drainage has not been able to establish itself finally since the Ice Age. After a course of 600 m. the river empties into Melville Lake (90 m. long and 18 wide), an extension of Hamilton inlet, on the Atlantic. About 220 m. from its mouth occur the Grand Falls with a vertical drop of 316 ft. Below the falls are many rapids, and the river sweeps through a deep and narrow canyon. In certain portions of the valley spruce and poplars grow to a moderate size. From the head of Lake Attikonak, one of the southern sources of the Hamilton, a steep and rocky portage of less than a mile leads to Burnt Lake, which is drained into the St. Lawrence by the Romaine river.