OF THE POLAR SEA. 



77 



It is a pine-tree divested of its lower 

 branches, and having only a small tuft at 

 the top remaining. This operation is usu- 

 ally performed at the instance of some in- 

 dividual emulous of fame. He treats his 

 companions with rum, and they in return 

 strip the tree of its branches, and ever after 

 designate it by his name. 



In the afternoon, whilst on my way to 

 superintend the operations of the men, a 

 stratum of loose moss gave way under my 

 feet, and I had the misfortune to slip from 

 the summit of a rock into the river betwixt 

 two of the falls. My attempts to regain 

 the bank were, for a time, ineffectual, owing 

 to the rocks within my reach having been 

 worn smooth by the action of the water ; 

 but, after I had been carried a considerable 

 distance down the stream, I caught hold of 

 a willow, by which I held until two gentle** 

 men of the Hudson's Bay Company came 

 in a boat to my assistance. The only bad 

 consequence of this accident was an injury 

 sustained by a very valuable chronometer, 

 (No* 17 33,) belonging to Daniel Moore, 



