*This chapter is from the upcoming book Inkonze: The Stones of Traditional Knowledge

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Defile; North West Passage; Tundra
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.453.3110; http://mouv4x8.perso.neuf.fr/11Sept01/A9028_1_ClashofWorlds.pdf

We passed through a romantic defile of rocks, which presented the appearance of gothic ruins, and their rude characters were happily contrasted with the softness of the snow, and the darker foliage of the pines which crowned their summits (Description of Methye Portage by John Franklin 1859: 75). It is a somewhat surprising fact of history that the significance of Methye Portage has never been adequately understood by historians. To The People of Denendeh, its complex maze of lakes, rivers and portages had been like a secret passage to their vast lands. Amazingly, for almost three centuries after Columbus ' arrival in North America, explorers searched in vain for the fabled North West Passage to the Orient. Methye Portage, the key northern gateway across the continental divide, would stand as one of the last barriers to this mythical route. Hidden in the muskegs of Northern Canada, it was like the moats and walls of an ancient castle, defending its inhabitants from uninvited intrusions. In the North, Denendeh was well isolated by a frozen desert of inhospitable barren lands. Men like John Franklin and James Knight who attempted to traverse its frozen tundra or treacherous Arctic