OF THE POLAR SEA. 



145 



dred or six hundred feet high. It is con- 

 fined between perpendicular cliffs, resem- 

 bling stone walls, varying in height from 

 eighty to one hundred and fifty feet, on 

 which lies a mass of fine sand. The body 

 of the river, pent within this narrow chasm, 

 dashed furiously round the projecting rocky 

 columns, and discharged itself at the northern 

 extremity in a sheet of foam. The canoes, 

 after being lightened of part of their cargoes, 

 ran through this defile without sustaining any 

 injury. Accurate sketches of this interest- 

 ing scene were taken by Messrs. Back and 

 Hood. Soon after passing this rapid, we 

 perceived the hunters running up the east 

 side of the river, to prevent us from dis- 

 turbing a herd of musk oxen, which they 

 had observed grazing on the opposite bank ; 

 we put them across and they succeeded in 

 killing six, upon which we encamped for 

 the purpose of drying the meat. The 

 country below the Rocky Defile Rapid 

 consists of sandy plains, broken by small 

 conical eminences also of sand, and bounded 

 to the westward by a continuation of the 



VOL. III. L 



