178 JOHN C. FREMONT. 



blankets and instruments, consisting of a sex- 

 tant, telescope, spy-glass, thermometer, and baro- 

 meter. 



""We left the camp at sunrise, and had a very 

 pleasant voyage down the river, in which there was 

 generally eight or ten feet of water, deepening as 

 we n eared the mouth in the latter part of the day. 

 In the course of the morning we discovered that 

 two of the cylinders leaked so much as to require 

 one man constantly at the bellows, to keep them 

 sufficiently full of air to support the boat. Although 

 we had made a very early start, we loitered so much 

 on the way stopping every now and then, and 

 floating silently along, to get a shot at a goose or a 

 duck that it was late in the day when we reached 

 the outlet. The river here divided into several 

 branches, filled with fluvials, and so very shallow 

 that it was with difficulty we could get the boat 

 along, being obliged to get out and wade. "We 

 encamped on a low point among rushes and young 

 willows, where there was a quantity of drift-wood, 

 which served for our fires. The evening was mild 

 and clear: we made a pleasant bed of the young 

 willows ; and geese and ducks enough had been 

 killed for an abundant supper at night and for 

 breakfast the next morning. The stillness of the 

 night was enlivened by millions of water-fowl 



