﻿144 OPPRESSIVE HEAT. July, 



without some of the boats being broken. One of 

 ours was injured ; but, being soon repaired, we 

 left the portage by six in the evening, and en- 

 camped for the night at the south end of the 

 Pelican Portage, which is seven hundred paces 

 long. 



The power of the sun, this day, in a cloudless 

 sky, was so great, that Mr. Rae and I were glad to 

 take shelter in the Avater while the crews were en- 

 gaged on the portages. The irritability of the 

 human frame is either greater in these northern 

 latitudes, or the sun, notwithstanding its obliquity, 

 acts more powerfully upon it than near the equator ; 

 for I have never felt its direct rays so oppressive 

 within the tropics as I have experienced them to 

 be on some occasions in the high latitudes. The 

 luxury of bathing at such times is not without 

 alloy ; for, if you choose the mid-day, you are 

 assailed in the water by the Tabani, who draw 

 blood in an instant with their formidable lancets ; 

 and if you select the morning or evening, then 

 clouds of thirsty moschetoes, hovering around, 

 fasten on the first part that emerges. Leeches 

 also infest the still waters, and are prompt in their 

 ao-o-ressions. 



The Geum stinctum grows plentifully on these 

 portages, and is used by the natives for the purpose 

 of increasing the growth of their hair. They dry 



