OF THE POLAR SEA. 



65 



point. The immense loads too, which they 

 carry over the portages, is not more a mat- 

 ter of surprise than the alacrity with which 

 they perform these laborious duties. 



At six on the morning of the 21st, we 

 left our encampment, and soon after arrived 

 at the Mossy Portage, where the cargoes were 

 carried through a deep bog for a quarter of 

 a mile. The river swells out, above this 

 portage, to the breadth of several miles, 

 and as the islands are numerous there are a 

 great variety of channels. Night overtook 

 us before we arrived at the Second Portage, 

 so named from its being the second in the 

 passage down the river. Our whole dis- 

 tance this day was one mile and a quarter. 



On the 22d our route led us amongst 

 many wooded islands, which, lying in long 

 vistas, produced scenes of much beauty. In 

 the course of the day we crossed the Upper 

 Portage, surmounted the Devil's Landing 

 Place, and urged the boat with poles 

 through Groundwater Creek. At the up- 

 per end of this creek, our bowman having 

 giver the boat too great a sheer, to avoid 



VOL. i, F 



