476 AECTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XII. 



she was still the beauty of the tribe ; and with that con- 

 sciousness which belongs to all belles, savage or polite, 

 seemed by no means displeased when I sketched her por- 

 trait.''— p. 307. 



From this time till their approach to the sea a 

 constant succession of falls, and rapids, and cata- 

 racts, more or less obstructed their progress ; and, 

 as Back says, " made him hold his breath, expect- 

 ing to see the boat dashed to shivers against some 

 protruding rocks, amidst the foam and fury at the 

 foot of a rapid." In passing down one of these, 

 where the river was full of large rocks and boulders, 

 the boat was obliged to be lightened; and Back 

 says, " I stood on a high rock, with an anxious 

 heart, to see her run it. Away they went with the 

 speed of an arrow, and in a moment the foam and 

 rocks hid them from my view. I heard what 

 sounded in my ear like a wild shriek ; I followed 

 with an agitation which may be conceived, and, to 

 my inexpressible joy, found that the shriek was the 

 triumphant whoop of the crew who had landed 

 safely in a small bay below," In short, strong and 

 heavy rapids, with falls and whirlpools, kept the 

 men, for eighty or ninety miles, in a constant state 

 of exertion and anxiety. 



He sives an instance on one occasion of the con- 



summate skill of De Charloit, who 



" ran our rickety and shattered canoe down four successive 

 rapids, which, under less able management, would have 

 whirled it, and everybody in it, to certain destruction. No- 



