On the 20th we passed open rapids about half a mile long, where
we had to take the land. From the top of the hill it was a grand
spectacle to look down upon the seething torrent and see the great
cakes of ice broken off above and crushed to atoms as they passed
through and under the ice below.
[Illustration: THE DANGEROUS RAPIDS, BACK'S RIVER.]
We had hoped to have Narleyow go with us to Depot Island, as he had
previously been up Back's River and knew a route overland by which in
three days we could reach a river where some Kinnepatoos were encamped
all the year round. Here we could refit with meat and clothing and
follow the river, which flows into Chesterfield Inlet, and then keep
upon the salt-water ice to Depot Island. But with true Inuit
perverseness he decided at the last minute not to go. He, however, gave
Toolooah minute directions for finding the place where to leave Back's
River, which is nearly as far west as Lake McDougal, and the route
overland, where we would find sledge tracks and footprints to guide us
to the camp.
We found the travelling on Back's River much more tedious than we had
anticipated, owing to the bare ice in the vicinity of the open-water
rapids and the intense cold which kept the air filled with minute
particles of ice from the freezing of the steam of the open water.
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