OF THE POLAR SEA. 



5 



runs at the bases of these hills, and followed 

 an Indian track along its northern bank, by 

 which we avoided the White Mud and 

 Good Portages. We afterwards followed 

 the river as far as the Pine Portage, when 

 we passed through a very romantic defile of 

 rocks, which presented the appearance of 

 Gothic ruins, and their rude characters 

 were happily contrasted with the softness 

 of the snow, and the darker foliage of the 

 pines which crowned their summits. We 

 next crossed the Cascade Portage, which is 

 the last on the way to the Athabasca Lake, 

 and soon afterwards came to some Indian 

 tents, containing five families, belonging to 

 the Chipewyan tribe. We smoked the 

 calumet in the chief's tent, whose name 

 was the Thumb, and distributed some 

 tobacco and a weak mixture of spirits and 

 water among the men. They received this 

 civility with much less grace than the 

 Crees, and seemed to consider it a matter 

 of course. There was an utter neglect of 

 cleanliness, and a total want of comfort in 

 their tents; and the poor creatures were 



