The banks of this river
are of clay and rising from fifty to one hundred feet, the clay of the
banks is so smooth and white that a traveller has compared them in color
to the white, chalk cliffs of Dover. Thus far though it has required
exertion on the part of the boatmen, a good stretch of a hundred miles
from the Factory has been passed without any obstruction or delay. Now
the serious work of the journey begins. The Hill River, as this part of
the river is called, is a series of rapids and portages--where the cargo
and boat have both to be carried around a rapid; of decharges where the
cargo has thus to be carried, and of semi-decharges--where a portion of
the cargo only needs to be removed.
At times waterfalls require to be circuited with great effort. A high
mountain or elevated table-land seen from this river shows the rough
country of which these cascades and rapids are the proof. Here are the
White-Mud Falls and other smaller cataracts. To the expert voyageur such
a river has no terrors, but to the raw-hand the management of such boats
is a most toilsome work. The birch-bark canoe is a mere trifle on the
portage, but the heavy York boat capable of carrying three or four tons
is a clumsy lugger.
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