218 Crossing the Line 



ca. 1950, continued 



— Rex boaided plane and christened two pollywogs: J. W. H. Smith and 

 P. V. H. Weems." The chiistening consisted of a rather generous baptism of 

 water while I was working away on my chart. 

 ( Letter from Captain Weems, May 10, 1954. ) 

 Printed with permission. 



C — CROSSING ON LAND 

 1793 



Crossing the Line (6:143 et al). A ceremony similar in many respects to 

 that performed on shipboard when the Equator is crossed was practiced in 

 tlie northern frontier regions of North America in the late eighteenth cen- 

 tury. A detailed account of the affair was given by John Macdonnell in his 

 "Diary" entry for August 11, 1793. (Charles M. Gates. Five Fur Traders of 

 the Northwest. Minneapolis, 1933. ) 



Macdonnell, an employee of the Northwest Company, tells how he was 

 dubbed a "North man by Batême." The initiation was performed by sprink- 

 ling water on his face with a small cedar branch dipped in water. He had to 

 accept conditions reminiscent of those imposed on sailors at the Equator — 

 not to let any novice pass without practising the same rites on him, and 

 particulai'ly not to kiss any voyageur 's wife against her will. The ritual was 

 touched off by the sound of "a dozen of Gun shots fired one after another 

 in an Indian manner." And, naturally enough, the ceremony called for a po- 

 tation. ( An Editor's note says that an initiatory celebration of the kind was 

 customary among voyageurs. The formality of the custom varied from oc- 

 casion to occasion, but the drink was a constant, an essential. ) 



Frederick R. Edwards 



( American Notes & Queries, June 1947. v. 7, no. 3, p. 45. ) 



When the voyageurs passed from the St. Lawrence into the Ottawa and 

 again when they entered the Mattawa, they performed one of the many 

 rites that were traditional with them on their journeys. They puUed off their 

 red caps and a man in each canoe uttered a prayer. A little later, when they 

 left the Mattawa river, they performed another rite. Up to this point they 

 had used "setting poles" as well as paddles wherever the cmTent was too 

 swift for the ordinary method of propelling the canoe. This system was called 

 "tracking." At Lake Nipissing, however, they left the streams running east 

 and entered one, French River, whose current was with them. For that rea- 

 son they chose to express their joy of labor ended by going through a formal 

 ceremony of throwing away their setting poles to the accompaniment of 

 loud huzzas. 



Another custom had already manifested itself on their trip. Near danger- 

 ous saults and rapids they had caught sight of tall wooden crosses on the 

 banks. Whenever such a cross was passed, red caps came off and a prayer 



