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colour in the nominal form ('de bleu et de vert'), while mixing states of
matter ('cette eau du ciel') and forms of art ('un chant'). It is at this point
that Pierre longs for the coloured pencils of his youth; his friend Steve,
undertaking a hazardous trip in search of vitamin C for scurvy, finds a
package of pencils, and with them Pierre rejuvenates his drawing (51).
8
In the three final chapters of part one, the most dominant and reveal-
ing aspect of the landscape for Pierre is water, in whose movement he
senses a freedom that produces a feeling of joy (53). This perception
about life in turn leads him to a discovery about art: that movement
and complexity call for oil painting - 'ces somptueuses couleurs, cette
matière ambiguë appelaient l'huile' (57; such sumptuous colours, such
ambiguous material, fairly cried out for oils [56]) - a medium that
proves far more difficult than pencils and crayons (60).
At the same time he also comes to realize that to grow means to dis-
cover, and for that he must remain alone and thus leave behind his
good friend, Steve. As he sets off towards 'un immense et solitaire ré-
gion' (63; a vast and lonely expanse [64]), he narrowly avoids a fatal
canoe accident, during which he loses his paints by grasping onto, sig-
nificantly, the branch of an isolated tree:
Du canot emballé il s'élança, sauta en l'air, saisit la branche retombante. Il
y resta suspendu, vit son canot courir, se fracasser contre les écueils.
Déchiré également, le coffret à peintures laissa échapper son contenu.
Alors, cette rivière étrange, se couvrant de taches de couleurs, offrit le plus
étrange spectacle. Jaillies en tous les sens, les toiles aux couleurs fraîches
bondissaient, viraient, se dissociaient, puis de nouveau venaient se juxta-
poser comme pour composer à la surface de l'eau une suite d'images bri-
sées, sans lien ni signification, quoique belles d'un éclat extraordinaire. Ce
ne fut plus que des carmins, des verts acides, des jaunes ensoleillés qui
tournoyaient … Cependant, la petite pochade dernière venue semblait
vouloir retourner à Pierre. Des courants adverses se la jetèrent de l'un à
l'autre. Avec sa surface peinte offerte au ciel, elle tourna dans les parages,
un moment en vint presque à se réfugier dans les eaux plus tranquilles,
sur le bord. Pierre se penchait, allait tenter de la rattraper … alors elle
glissa vivement, fut à son tour happée par les remous. Elle s'engouffra
dans l'entonnoir profond de la rivière. [65-6; He hurled himself up into
the air out of the runaway canoe and grasped the trailing branch. There he
hung, swaying, saw his canoe race on and shatter against the reefs. Also
torn apart, the painting box disgorged its contents. Then this strange river,
covering itself with spots of colour, offered the strangest of sights. Scattered
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