C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

I02THE LADIES, THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATthe guides could seldom move upstream by paddling the canoe, they had to pushor pull it up, yard by yard, sometimes even inch by inch, in order to keep movingonward up the muddy current. There could be no question of our adding totheir labour by remaining in the canoe. Our part henceforward was to keep theguides in sight as we struggled along the shore, now stumbling over stones, nowsquelching through mud, but most of the time forcing our way through undergrowthof willows and alders, with arms curled round our heads to protect themosquito veils which were, as we had already realised, our life-lines. They cameat us in one wave after another, like Napoleon's inexhaustible attacking armies.Once, when walking behind Gwen, I noticed that they had massed on hershoulder blades, where the cloth was drawn tightly over the skin and the puttycolouredmaterial was hardly visible through their wings and bodies.Meanwhile, slowly but surely, Lazarus andJimmy pulled the canoe throughshallows and rapids. Sometimes Lazarus would shout and beckon us to get intothe canoe, then they would ferry across to the opposite shore where there was amore open stretch of land for us and an easier reach of water for them. In theserare spells of easy going we were able to collect wild flowers and the highlights ofthat day were a pink Oenothera and a very showy, large -petalled willow-herb.At some hour well after noon we stopped on a stony spit ofland and the guidesmade a huge bonfire to roast the goose, while we sat on flat stones, trying to writeup our notes and press our flowers. We were a muddy, unwashed, unbrushed,beveiled couple, wet to the knees from contact with dripping undergrowth, andwe laughed at each other's appearance. The sun shone for a while and then camea puff of wind that scattered the mosquitoes for a short spell, during which weraised our veils and stepped into the river with sponges and toothbrushes. It was ablissful half-hour.Meanwhile the guides were in their own seventh heaven with the goose.Lazarus plucked it, opened it out like a wafer and spitting it on a sharpened stickhe toasted it fore and aft. It was a tough bird, but we all enjoyed it and both of ustried to forget those tragic orphan waddlers of yesterday.Before lunch we had been moving up the river at about a mile an hour, butafterwards conditions became worse and progress was slower. More than once wecame to what the guides termed "swift water" and we regarded as rapids, andseveral times, in order to reach an easier shore, we were ferried across one ofthese rapids on a diagonal course, swiftly losing ground as the current carried usdownriver at a giddy pace.