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46 T H R O U G H T H E M A C K E N Z I E B A S IN
how often the same service, these same chants and canticles,
had awakened the sylvan echoes in like solitudes on the St.
Lawrence and Mississippi in the old days of exploration and
trade, and of missionary zeal and suffering. It recalled, too,
the thought of man's evanescence and the apparent fixedness
of his institutions.
Shortly after our tents were pitched a boat drifted past
with five jaded- looking men aboard— more baffled Klondikers
returning from Peace River. We had heard of numbers in
the interior who could neither go on nor return, and expected
to meet more castaways before we reached the lake. In this
we were not astray, and several days after in the upper river
we met a York boat loaded with them— alert and unmistakable
Americans, but with the worn features of disappointed
men.
We were now constantly encountering the rapids, which
extended for about twenty- five miles, and very difficult and
troublesome they proved to be to our heavily- loaded craft.
Most of them were got over slowly by combined poling and
tracking, the line often breaking with the strain, and the
boats being kept in the channel only by the most strenuous
efforts of the experienced men on board. If a monias ( a
greenhorn) took the bow pole, as was sometimes the case, the
orders of our steersman, Cyr, were amusing to listen to.
" Tughkenay asswayegh tamook!" ( Be on your guard!)
" Turn de oder way! Turn yourself! Turn your pole— Hell!"
Then, of course, came the customary rasp on the rocks, but,
if not, the cheery cry followed to the trackers ashore,
" Ahchipitamook!" ( Haul away!) and on we would go for
a few yards more. Once, towards the end of this dreary
business, when we were all crowded into the Commissioner's
boat, where we took our meals, in the first really stiff rapid
the keel grated as usual upon the rocks. With a better line
we might have pulled through, but it broke, and the boat at
once swung broadside to the current and listed on the rocks
immovably, though the men struggling in the water did their
best to heave her off. The third boat then came up, and
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| Title | Page 53 |
| OCR | 46 T H R O U G H T H E M A C K E N Z I E B A S IN how often the same service, these same chants and canticles, had awakened the sylvan echoes in like solitudes on the St. Lawrence and Mississippi in the old days of exploration and trade, and of missionary zeal and suffering. It recalled, too, the thought of man's evanescence and the apparent fixedness of his institutions. Shortly after our tents were pitched a boat drifted past with five jaded- looking men aboard— more baffled Klondikers returning from Peace River. We had heard of numbers in the interior who could neither go on nor return, and expected to meet more castaways before we reached the lake. In this we were not astray, and several days after in the upper river we met a York boat loaded with them— alert and unmistakable Americans, but with the worn features of disappointed men. We were now constantly encountering the rapids, which extended for about twenty- five miles, and very difficult and troublesome they proved to be to our heavily- loaded craft. Most of them were got over slowly by combined poling and tracking, the line often breaking with the strain, and the boats being kept in the channel only by the most strenuous efforts of the experienced men on board. If a monias ( a greenhorn) took the bow pole, as was sometimes the case, the orders of our steersman, Cyr, were amusing to listen to. " Tughkenay asswayegh tamook!" ( Be on your guard!) " Turn de oder way! Turn yourself! Turn your pole— Hell!" Then, of course, came the customary rasp on the rocks, but, if not, the cheery cry followed to the trackers ashore, " Ahchipitamook!" ( Haul away!) and on we would go for a few yards more. Once, towards the end of this dreary business, when we were all crowded into the Commissioner's boat, where we took our meals, in the first really stiff rapid the keel grated as usual upon the rocks. With a better line we might have pulled through, but it broke, and the boat at once swung broadside to the current and listed on the rocks immovably, though the men struggling in the water did their best to heave her off. The third boat then came up, and |
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