466 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XII. 



weak to encounter rude shocks, ." was never- 

 theless threaded through the boiling rapids, and 

 sunken rocks, with fearful elegance : the cool dex- 

 terity with which she was managed was truly ad- 

 mirable/' 



As they proceeded, the chief, " Le Camarade," 

 gave them some information regarding the river; 

 but it was difficult to make out the bearings of the 

 plan he sketched; and when Back attempted to 

 question and assist him, he at last peevishly ex- 

 claimed, " that we did not place the world as it 

 was; whereas he kept steadily to the rising and 

 setting: sun." The river, however, is stated to have 

 been graphically portrayed by him, as originating 

 in rapids ; narrow, shoal, and dangerous ; destitute 

 of wood, even for fuel ; full of perilous cascades and 

 falls ; and that after a course more tortuous than 

 that of any river known to the oldest and most ex- 

 perienced of their tribe, it tumbled over its northern 

 barrier in a foaming cataract into the sea. 



The party was now approaching the highlands 

 from which the waters take an opposite course, and 

 from whence the labours which Back says had 

 hitherto been so cheerfully undergone (being little 

 more than those to which voyageurs are accus- 

 tomed), were now to be changed into extraordinary 

 efforts and patient perseverance. Cascades and 

 rapids followed each other in quick succession. To 

 avoid them it was necessary, with infinite labour, to 



