336 CAPTAIN BACICS LAND EXPEDITION— l^Z^-Zo. 



suspicious-looking columns of mist were seen to rise. There was evidently a 

 fall ahead, and it was necessary to land and inspect it. The baggage was 

 carried down below the fall, and afterwards the boat, managed with splendid 

 dexterity and nerve by Sinclau-, the bowman, a half-breed, and M'Kay, the 

 steersman, a Highlander, was carried through the rush of the fall, and made 

 to sweep into the eddy " with the ease and buoyancy of a water-fowl." At 

 this spot the stream was a quarter of a mile broad ; but it soon narrowed 

 to two hundred yards, and, running with a winding course, formed a series 

 of no less than five rapids, to the turbulence of which, two tributaries that 

 joined the main stream here contributed not a little. A still sheet of water 

 now brought the boat to a long and appalling rapid, full of rocks and huge 

 boulders ; the sides hemmed in by a wall of ice, and the current flying with 

 the velocity and force of a torrent. " The boat," says Back, " was light- 

 ened of her cargo, and I stood on a high rock, with an anxious heart, to 

 see her run the rapid. I had every hope which confidence in the judgment and 

 dexterity of my principal men could inspire ; but it was impossible not to 

 feel that one crash would be fatal to the expedition. Away they went with 

 the speed of an arrow, and in a moment the foam and rocks hid them from 

 my view. I heard what sounded in my ear like a wild shriek, and I saw 

 Mr King, who was a hundred yards before me, make a sign with his gun 

 and run forward. I followed with an agitation which may be conceived, 

 and, to my inexpressible joy, found that the shriek was the triumphant whoop 

 of the crew, who had landed safely in a small bay below. I could not but 

 reward them with a glass of grog apiece, and they immediately applied them- 

 selves to the fatiguing work of the portage, with as much unconcern as if 

 they had only crossed a mill-pond." The rapid thus successfully run, named 

 Malley's Eapid, by Back, is in longitude about 107° 20' W. 



On July 13th, the sun shone out for the first time for nine days, which 

 enabled Back to take observations, and afforded his men an opportunity, 

 while he was thus engaged, to go after the deer that were feeding in the 

 neighbourhood in considerable numbers. In less than an hour the men re- 

 turned with four fine bucks. The change from pemmican to fresh food was 

 agreeable enough ; but as Back was provided with abundance of provision 

 for his small party, and as the boat was already too heavily laden, he forbade 

 all such hunting excursions in the meantime, 



On the 17th July, the mouth of Jervois River, a large affluent from the 

 fight, was passed, and observations were taken in 65° 9' N., and 103° 33' W. 

 At this point the threatening appearance of the curling waves, and the roar 

 and gloom of a defile, along which the course now lay, suggested the 

 necessity of reconnoitring a little in advance, and finding out what dangers 

 might await the voyagers among the frowning rocks which, overlapping as 

 they receded in the distance, seemed either to engulf the stream or to forbid 



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