OF THE POLAR SEA. 



151 



was very strong, running four or five miles 

 an hour ; but the navigation was tolerable, 

 and we had to lighten the canoes only once, 

 in a contracted part of the river where the 

 waves were very high* The river is in 

 many places confined between perpendicu- 

 lar walls of rock to one hundred and fifty 

 yards in width, and there the rapids were 

 most agitated. Large masses of ice, twelve 

 or fourteen feet thick, were still adhering 

 to many parts of the bank, indicating the 

 tardy departure of winter from this inhos- 

 pitable land, but the earth around them was 

 rich with vegetation. In the evening two 

 musk oxen being seen on the beach were 

 pursued and killed by our men. Whilst we 

 were waiting to embark the meat, the In- 

 dians rejoined us, and reported they had 

 been attacked by a bear, which sprung upon 

 them whilst they were conversing together. 

 His attack was so sudden that they had not 

 time to level their guns properly, and they 

 all missed except Akaitcho, who, less con- 

 fused than the rest, took deliberate aim, 

 and shot the animal dead. They do not eat 



