478 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XII. 



the most essential service to Captain Back ; for in- 

 formation being brought to him from the leading 

 man of the boat that, so perilous was the cataract 

 now to be passed, no boat could descend it, and 

 that the crew were utterly unequal to the task of 

 conveying it over the long and steep portage — 

 " Taking advantage/' he says, " of the good-hu- 

 mour of our new acquaintances, I requested them 

 to give us a helping hand. The request was cheer- 

 fully complied with ; and, with their assistance, we 

 succeeded in carrying the boat below the fall; so 

 that in reality I was indebted to them for getting to 

 the sea at all." 



Having parted from the Esquimaux on the 28th 

 of July, on the following day they got sight of a 

 lofty headland at a great distance to the north, ap- 

 parently on the eastern side of the river, which 

 they conjectured to be one side of the opening into 

 the sea, and it proved to be so. To this promon- 

 tory Back gave the name of Victoria, in honour of 

 the Princess Royal. And on the arrival of the 

 party at this point, Back thus sums up a general 

 view of this impetuous river of rapids, cascades, and 

 cataracts : — 



" This, then, may be considered as the mouth of the 

 Thlew-ee-choh, which, after a violent and tortuous course 

 of five hundred and thirty geographical miles, running 

 through an iron-ribbed country without a single tree on the 

 whole line of its banks, expanding into fine large lakes with 

 clear horizons, most embarrassing to the navigator, and 



