OF THE POLAR SEA. 



181 



the openings of which we could not discern the shore. The guide's 

 knowledge of the river did not extend beyond the last portage, and 

 our perplexity continued, till we observed some foam floating on the 

 water, and took the direction from which it came. The noise of a 

 heavy fall, at the Mountain Portage, reached our ears, at the dis- 

 tance of four miles, and we arrived there at eight A.M. The 

 portage was a difficult ascent over a rocky island, between which and 

 the main shore were two cataracts, and a third in sight above them, 

 making another portage. We surprised a large brown bear, which 

 immediately retreated into the woods. To the northward of the 

 second portages we again found the channels intricate, but the 

 shores being sometimes visible we ventured to proceed. The cha- 

 racter of the country was new, and more interesting than before. 

 The mountainous and strong elevations receded from the banks, 

 and the woods crept through their breaches to the valleys behind; 

 the adventurous pine alone ascending their bases, and braving storms 

 unfelt below. 



At noon, we landed at the Otter Portage, where the river ran 

 with great velocity for half a mile, among large stones. Having 

 carried across the principal part of the cargo, the people attempted 

 to track the canoes along the edge of the rapid. With the first they 

 succeeded, but the other, in which were the foreman and steersman, 

 was overset and swept away by the current. An account of this 

 misfortune was speedily conveyed to the upper end of the portage, 

 and the men launched the remaining canoe into the rapid, though 

 wholly unacquainted with the dangers of it. The descent was 

 quickly accomplished, and they perceived the bottom of the lost 

 canoe above water in a little bay, whither it had been whirled by 

 the eddy. One man had reached the bank, but no traces could be 

 found of the foreman, Louis Saint Jean. We saved the canoe, out 

 of which two guns and a case of preserved meats had been thrown 



