114 TOILSOME ASCENT 



in his attempt to reach the Pole, I have given 

 the name of Beverley's Fall, was the com- 

 mencement of a series of appalling cascades and 

 rapids, which, according to their account, were 

 the distinguishing characteristics of Hoar Frost 

 River ; and, indeed, some fifteen or twenty 

 small canoes, concealed in the bushes, belonging, 

 as was conjectured, to my old friend Akaitcho 

 and his party, who were hunting on the barren 

 Lands, showed pretty clearly the obstacles we 

 might expect to encounter. Maufelly, however, 

 maintained that it was the only practicable route, 

 and added, that by following its channel we 

 should shorten the distance, and not improbably 

 fall in with an old man who could give all the 

 information I required about the Thlew-ee- 

 choh. 



The greater part of our lading, consisting of 

 three bags of pemmican, with a little ammunition 

 tobacco, &c, had been carried up the ascent 

 the evening before ; and on the morning of the 

 lyth of August, after emptying a net which had 

 been set, of a few blue and white fish, the re- 

 mainder was taken. The principal difficulty con- 

 sisted in bearing the canoe over a slippery and 

 uneven acclivity, thickly beset with trees and 

 underwood. The first ridge, where we rested, 

 was formed of sand and debris from the sur- 

 rounding rocks, mostly red felspar and quartz. 



