OF THE POLAR SEA. | 205 
from being broken in going down these almost 
perpendicular heights, or being precipitated into 
the glens oneach side. Asa precautionary mea- 
sure the dogs were taken off, and the sledges 
guided by the men, notwithstanding which they 
descended with amazing rapidity, and the men 
were thrown into the most ridiculous attitudes in 
endeavouring to stop them. When we had ar- 
rived at the bottom I could not but feel astonish- 
ed at the laborious task which the voyagers have 
twice in the year to encounter at this place, in 
conveying their stores backwards and forwards. 
We went across the Clear Water River, which 
runs at the bases of these hills, and followed an 
Indian track along its northern bank, by which 
we avoided the White Mud and Good Portages. 
We afterwards followed the river as far as the 
Pine Portage, when we passed through a very 
romantic defile of rocks, which presented the ap- 
pearance of Gothic ruins, and their rude charac- 
ters were happily contrasted with the softness of 
the snow, and the darker foliage of the pines 
which crowned their summits. We next crossed 
the Cascade Portage, which is the last on the way 
to the Athabasca Lake, and soon afterwards came 
to some Indian tents, containing five families, . 
belonging to the Chipewyan tribe. We smoked 
the calumet in the chief’s tent, whose name was 
