Adventure and adventurers > Away in the wilderness, or, Life among the red Indians and fur-traders of North America

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AWAY IN THE WILDERNESS.
making a portage. It took about an hour to make
this portage.
Portages vary in length and in numbers. In
some rivers they are few and far between ; in
others they are so numerous that eight or twelve
may have to be made in a day. Many of the
portages are not more than an eighth of a mile in
length, and are crossed for the purpose of avoiding
a waterfall. Some are four or five miles in extent,
for many long reaches in the rivers are so broken
by falls and rapids, that the voyagers find it their
best plan to take canoes and baggage on their backs
and cut across country for several miles; thus they
avoid rough places altogether.
Jasper delayed starting for half an hour, in order
to give Heywood time to finish his sketch of the
fall. It began to grow dark when they again
embarked, so, after paddling up stream until a
convenient place was found, they put ashore and
encamped within sight of another waterfall, the
roar of which, softened by distance, fell upon their
ears all that night like the sound of pleasant
music.