Chap. XII. BACK'S JOURNEY TO THE POLAR SEA. 465 



was stated to have an extensive knowledge of the 

 country to the northward of the Great Slave Lake. 

 He was brought with his Indians to Back's encamp- 

 ment, for the purpose of giving him some informa- 

 tion of the river he was about to descend to the 

 sea-coast. With all befitting ceremony prelimi- 

 naries were opened by the customary pipe, for, 

 as Back observes, " a social puff is to an Indian 

 what a bottle of wine is to an Englishman — 

 aperit prcecordia — it unlocks the heart and dis- 

 sipates reserve." He thus sketches the inmates of 

 one of the chief's canoes : — 



" The tout ensemble of this ( people,' as they with some 

 vanity style themselves, was wild and grotesque in the 

 extreme. One canoe in particular fixed my attention ; it 

 was small even for a canoe ; and how eight men, women, 

 and children contrived to stow away their legs, in a space 

 not more than large enough for three Europeans, would 

 have been a puzzling problem to one unacquainted with the 

 suppleness of an Indian's unbandaged limbs. There, how- 

 ever, they were, in a temperature of 66°, packed heads and 

 tails, like Yarmouth herrings — half naked — their hair in 

 elf-locks, long and matted — filthy beyond description — and 

 all squalling together. To complete the picture, their dogs, 

 scarce one degree below them, formed a sort of body-guard 

 on each side of the river ; and as the canoe glided away 

 with the current, all the animals together, human and canine, 

 set up a shrill and horrible yell." — p. 79. 



One of the half-breeds, named De Charloit, is 

 described as being a dexterous canoe-man in pass- 

 ing rapids : Back's canoe, though frail, and too 



2h 



