THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION. 245 



The brigades of boats were to move singly or in 

 groups of two or three, according to circumstances ; 

 but three was the largest number that could work to- 

 gether on a portage, two being the best. When one 

 of these detachments reached a portage which it 

 generally did before the one immediately in front of 

 it had got all its stores, &c., over, and had again 

 started the boats were at once drawn in to the shore 

 as close as possible and unloaded, the stores belonging 

 to each boat being put in a separate pile. These were 

 covered over with tarpaulins if the hour was too late 

 for work, or if as was always the case with the lead- 

 ing detachment, consisting of three brigades the 

 road over the portage had to be opened out, and 

 rollers for the boats laid down upon it. At other 

 times the men began to carry over the stores without 

 delay, piling them in heaps, one for each boat, at the 

 far end of the road. The ordinary method in vogue 

 with Indians and the regular North American voy- 

 ageurs for carrying loads, is by means of a long strap 

 about three inches wide in the centre, where it is 

 passed across the forehead, but tapering off to an inch 

 in width at the ends, which are fastened round the 

 barrel or parcel to be portaged. 



Men accustomed to this work will thus carry 

 weights of 400 lb., and some 500 lb., across the long- 

 est portage, the loads resting on the upper part of the 

 back, and kept there by the strap going round the 

 forehead. The great strain is thus upon the neck, 



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