For a second or two the canoe remained stationary, and seemed to tremble on the brink of destruction, and then inch by inch, it began slowly to ascend the stream. The danger was past!-Page 268.

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of shadow and their checkered gleams of light; and, as it is in the physical aspect of nature, so it is in the every-day history of men, more especially of those men who travel in the wilds of North America, where grave succeeds to gay, and rain to sunshine, with a violence and frequency that renders a life in the woods at once captivating and instructive. The preceding anecdote illustrates one of the dangers to which the traveller is sometimes exposed; the following extract from the journal of one who resided in these solitudes, will exhibit one of the many ludicrous incidents that tend to enliven the voyage and furnish food for agreeable reminiscence in after years:—

"One cold frosty morning," says he, "(for the weather had now become cold from the elevation of the country through which we passed), while the canoe was going quietly over a small, reedy lake or ford, I was awakened out of a comfortable nap and told that the canoe was aground, and that I must get out and walk a little way to lighten her. Hastily pulling up my trousers (for I always travelled barefoot), I sprang over the side into the water, and the canoe left me. Now, all this happened so quickly that I was scarcely awake; but the bitterly cold water, which nearly reached my knees, cleared up my faculties most effectually, and I then found that I was fifty yards from the shore, with an unknown depth of water around me, the canoe out of sight ahead of me, and my companion (who had been turned out while half asleep also), standing with a rueful expression of countenance beside me. After feeling our way cautiously-for the bottom was soft and muddy—we reached the shore; and then, thinking that all was right, proceeded to walk round to join the canoe. Alas! we found the bushes so thick that they were nearly impenetrable; and, worse than all, that they, as well as the ground, were covered with thorns. which scratched and

JUNE

lacerated our feet most fearfully at every step. There was nothing for it, however, but to persevere; and, after a painful walk of a quarter of a mile, we overtook the canoe, vowing never to leap before we looked upon any other occasion whatsoever."

On the 6th of June the canoes arrived at Fort Alexander -situated at the southern extremity of Lake Winipeg. Here Captain Back found it necessary to remain a few days, to await the arrival of Governor Simpson, who was expected daily. During this period he and Mr. King employed themselves in making a set of observations for the dip of the needle, while the men busied themselves in unpacking and drying the provision and packages, which had got slightly damp during the voyage. Any spare time they had, one would almost suppose, had been devoted to the destruction of mosquitoes; which tormentors Captain Back speaks of as being awfully numerous. This voracious little insect is fully two-eighths of an inch long, exclusive of the proboscis, or trunk, with which its head is armed; and it would be highly amusing, were it not tremendously irritating, to watch the vigorous way in which it goes to work. Alighting, it may be, on the hand, it applies its trunk instantly to the skin, and with surprising rapidity finds out the tender points which occur where the lines of the skin intersect each other. For an instant the villain's head remains ominously still, as if collecting all its energies for the plunge, and then down goes the probe, full quarter of an inch, up to the very butt. Having performed this feat, it retracts the weapon a little, and begins to suck, which it continues doing till quite surfeited. On close inspection the proboscis is found to be enclosed in a sheath, which is split all the way up on one side, and does not penetrate into the wound, but doubles conveniently away to one side when the probing is going on. So numerous and tormenting are

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these insects, that they drive the deer into ponds of water for shelter, where the agonized animals remain for hours, with their noses alone out of the water; and it is said that bisons are not unfrequently suffocated by the swellings in their nostrils and mouths caused by the unremitting assaults of mosquitoes. Poor Back speaks feelingly on the subject. The men had been making a portage.

"The laborious duty," says he, "which had been thus satisfactorily performed, was rendered doubly severe by the combined attacks of myriads of sand-flies and mosquitoes, which made our faces stream with blood. There is certainly no form of wretchedness, among those to which the checkered life of a voyageur is exposed, at once so great and so humiliating, as the torture inflicted by these puny bloodsuckers. To avoid them is impossible; and as for defending himself, though for a time he may go on crushing thousands, he cannot long maintain the unequal conflict; so that at last, subdued by pain and fatigue, he throws himself in despair with his face to the earth, and, half suffocated in his blanket, groans away a few hours of sleepless rest."*

On the 10th of June the governor arrived, and communicated the measures which had been taken for the furtherance of the object of the expedition. Letters were given to Captain Back, addressed to various experienced gentlemen who resided near to the remote scene of intended operations, urging them to lend all the assistance in their power to the exploring party, and, if required, to accompany it. Provisions were laid up at several stations on the route for their use, and all that could possibly be accomplished was done by the agents of the company, with a zeal and alacrity which called forth Captain Back's warmest expressions of gratitude.

*Captain Back's Journal, p. 117.