378 SLUGGISHNESS OF THE COMPASS NEEDLES. 



that the arrangements were again completed for 

 resuming the journey. 



' I may take occasion to remark here, that ever 

 since leaving Rock Rapid, the compass needles 

 had been getting daily more sluggish ; and at 

 this place, where there were many rocks in 

 situ, or lying in fragments on the mossy soil, 

 though I could not find that these directly 

 affected them, they would hardly traverse at all 

 when at rest ; and mine frequently remained 

 wherever it was placed, without evincing the 

 slightest tendency to recover its polarity. How- 

 ever, the constant jerking motion of pulling did 

 so far move them about as to enable me to get 

 the courses with some approach to exactness, 

 though certainly not so as to be depended upon 

 without the assistance of the chronometers. 



A fine open reach ahead at first held out 

 the prospect of repaying us for lost time ; but, 

 at the end of three miles, the river became 

 again pent in by almost meeting rocks of con- 

 siderable altitude, the summits of which were 

 crowned with the usual upright marks, still 

 more numerous even than before. The disap- 

 pearance of the surface line of water, and 

 successive jets of mist thrown up against the 

 grey rocks, gave unequivocal tokens of a fall ; 

 and, while examining the rapid that led to it, 

 we perceived that, besides the marks on the 



