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JOURNEY OF MAUPERTUIS. 235
accident was eafily to be found again, by marks which we made on the rocks, and
{takes which were driven deep into the earth and covered again by great ftones: in
fhort thefe fignals were fufficiently commodious for obfervations, and as fubftantially
con{tructed as moft of the buildings of the country.
As foon as the fignal was finifhed, we defcended the mountain, and having embarked
on the little river Tenglio which pafling the foot of Avafaxa, empties itfelf into the great
river; we went up it as far as to that part which feemed to us neareft to a mountain
apparently calculated for our work ; there we landed, and after a march of three hours
acrofs a marth, arrived at the foot of Horrilakero. Although greatly fatigued we
afcended it, and pafled the night in cutting down what trees we found. A great part
of the mountain is of red ftone, interfperfed with a fort of white cryftals, long, and
tolerably parallel to one another. The fmoak was not here a preventative again{t the
flies, more vexatious upon this mountain than on Nirva. We were obliged notwith-
ftanding the exceflive heat to cover our heads with our Lapmudes (a drefs made of the
fkins of rein-deer,) and-to caufe ourfelves to be furrounded by a thick rampart of
branches of fir, and even by whole trees which almoft almoft overwhelmed us, but
which preferved us only for a fhort time.
After having felled all the trees on the top of Horrilakero, and conftruéted a fignal
there, we left it and retraced our road to find the boats which we had drawn
into the wood ; it is thus the inhabitants of the country manage for want of cordage,
which is very {care with them. A few very thin planks of deal compofe their {kiffs,
fo light, and fo flexible, that notwithftanding they continually {trike againft the {tones
with which the rivers are full, borne by the whole violence of the torrent, they bear
the fhock without injury. It affords a fight, terrible for thofe unaccuftomed to it, and
aftonifhing to all, to behold this frail machine in the midft of a cataract the noife of
which is deafening, carried away by a torrent of waves, froth, and ftones; fometimes
borne up aloft, and at others loft amid the waves; one dauntlefs Fin fteering it with an
oar, while two others row with all their might, to efcape the following waves, that
threaten to overwhelm them ; at fuch times the keel is often above the water, and only
fupported by one extremity prefling on a wave, which finks at every inftant. Although
thefe Fins be particularly bold, and fkilful amid cataraéts, they are every where elfe
ingenious in fteering fmall veffels, in which moft frequently they have nothing but a
tree with its branches, to ferve for a maft, and fails.
We re-embarked on the Tenglio, and having entered the Torneo, we failed down it
to return to Korpikyla. Four leagues from Avafaxa, we left our boats, and after
walking nearly an hour in the foreft, we found ourfelves at the foot of Cuitapari, a
very rugged mountain whofe top was a rock covered with mofs, commanding a prof-
pect all around for a confiderable diftance ; from it on the fouth we could diftinguifh
the fea of Bothnia, we raifed a fignal here from which we faw Horrilakero, Avafaxa,
Torneo, Nirva, and Kakama. We continued then to fall down the river, which between
Cuitaperi and Korpikyla contains dreadful cataraéts that it is not.ufual to pafs in boats.
The Fins did not fail to land in the neighbourhood of thefe, although excels of fatigue
made it more {fupportable for us to pafs them in boats, than to walk a hundred paces,
At length the eleventh of July at night we came to Nirva, where the remainder of our
company was eftablifhed; they had feen our fignals, but the fky had been fo much
charged with vapour they had been unable to make any obfervation. I know not
whether it was owing to the continual prefence of the fun above the horizon which
raifed vapors that there was no night to condenfe, but during the two months that we
pailed upon thefe mountains the heavens were always overcaft until the north wind
H Hi2 came
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