All seemed motionless as if an
unseen hand had touched and stilled it. A death-like quiet reigned
and as we glided smoothly down with the tide we could see all about
us a soft, boiling motion at the surface of this black flood, which
gave the sense of treachery as well as mystery. As I looked down
the long slope to where the river appeared to lose itself into the
side of the mountain it seemed to me that there, if anywhere, the
prophecy of Job's dream must be fulfilled. Cerberus might easily
be waiting for us there. He would have scarcely time to fawn upon
us till we should go shooting past him into the Pit.
But after all the river was not shallow up in the mountain. It
only turned to the west and swifter than ever, we flew down with
its current, no longer smooth and dark, but broken into white water
over a broader bed of smooth-worn boulders, till three miles below
we passed out into a quiet expansion, where the tension relaxed and
with minds at ease we could draw in long, satisfying breaths.
The travelling day was a short one during this part of the trip,
and I wondered often how the men stood the strain. Once I asked
Job if running rapids did not tire him very much. He answered,
"Yes," with a smile and look of surprise that I should understand
such a thing.
The nights were made hideous by the mosquitoes, and I slept little.
The loss of sleep made rapid running trying, and after a
particularly bad night I would sit trembling with excitement as we
raced down the slope. It was most difficult to resist the impulse
to grasp the sides of the canoe, and to compel myself instead to
sit with hands clasped about my knee, and muscles relaxed so that
my body might lend itself to the motion of the canoe. Sometimes as
we ran towards the west the river glittered so in the afternoon
sunshine that it was impossible to tell what the water was doing.
This made it necessary to land now and again, so that Job might go
forward and look over the course. As the bow of the canoe turned
inshore, the current caught the stern and whirled it round with
such force and suddenness, that only the quick setting of a paddle
on the shoreward side kept the little craft from being dashed to
pieces against the rocks.
On Thursday, August 24th, I wrote in my diary: "Such a nice sleep
last night albeit blankets and 'comfortable' so wet (the stopper of
my hot-water bottle had not been properly screwed in the night
before and they were soaked). Beautiful morning. Mountains ahead
standing out against the clear sky with delicate clouds of white
mist hanging along their sides or veiling the tops. One just at
the bend is very, very fine. It reminds me of an Egyptian pyramid.
Job is not feeling well this morning and it bothers me. I asked
him if it were too many rapids. He smiled and said, 'I don't
know,' but as if he thought that might be the trouble.
"Later. - Just a little below our camp we found a river coming in
with a wild rush from the east. It was the largest we had yet seen
and we wondered if our reckoning could be so far out that this
might be the river not far from the post of which the Nascaupees
had told us. Then so anxious for the noon observation and so glad
to have a fine day for it. Result 57 degrees, 43 minutes, 28
seconds. That settled it, but all glad to be rapidly lessening the
distance between us and Ungava.
"After noon, more rapids and I got out above one of them to walk.
I climbed up the river wall to the high, sandy terrace above. This
great wall of packed boulders is one of the most characteristic
features of the lower river. It is thrown up by the action of ice
in the spring floods, and varies all the way from twenty feet at
its beginning to fifty and sixty feet farther down. One of the
remarkable things about it is that the largest boulders lie at the
top, some of them so huge as to weigh tons. On the terrace, moss
berries and blue berries were so thick as to make walking slippery.
The river grows more magnificent all the time. I took one
photograph of the sun's rays slanting down through a rift in the
clouds, and lighting up the mountains in the distance. I am
feeling wretched over not having more films. How I wish I had
brought twice as many.
"While running the rapid George and Job were nearly wrecked. Job
changed his mind about the course a little too late and they had a
narrow escape. They were whirled round and banged up against a
cliff with the bottom of the canoe tipped to the rock and held
there for a while, but fortunately did not turn over till an
unusually tempestuous rush of water reached up and lifted the canoe
from its perch down into the water again. Then tying a rope at
either end they clambered out to a precarious perch on a slope in
the cliff. By careful manoeuvring they succeeded in turning the
canoe round and getting in again, thus escaping from the trap. Joe
and Gilbert came through without mishap. Practically the whole
river from Indian House Lake is like a toboggan slide. I shall be
glad for everyone and especially for Job, when we have left the
rapids behind. He says be feels better to-night.
