Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/381

Rh, much smaller than the reindeer, spun into thread and then wove, and partly of a kind of long grass manufactured in the same manner.

We then reascended the Richardson, which, at a short distance beyond where we first fell upon it, turns away westward, flowing in a wide channel, with an almost imperceptible current, through a long plain bordered on either hand by a range of rocky Mils, that slope gradually from the north, and shew an abrupt front to the south,—the general character of both mainland and highland elevations along this coast. The clayey plain and banks of the river are gashed by numerous ravines, serving as so many ducts to swell the inundation when the snow dissolves on the mountains, and were at this time so miry, that, in crossing them, we often sank over the knees in the tenacious mud.

On the 26th I continued the ascent of the river, till it separated into two branches; the principal one, as far as it could be traced, maintaining its westerly direction between the opposed lines of hills, which, at the distance of twenty or thirty miles, seemed to clasp each other, and from that junction the tranquil stream must change into a mountain torrent. Then retracing our steps in a direct line to the boats, and indulging by the way in a few "flying shots"