304 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



The place where the horse had slipped and 

 struggled was easily found, for the bark torn off the 

 recumbent trunks marked the course of his headlong 

 descent. The place from which he fell was about 120 

 or 130 feet above the river, and the last thirty or 

 forty feet of this a perpendicular face of rock. Cheadle 

 crept down and looked over the edge, and on a little 

 flat space below saw Bucephalus, astride of a large tree, 

 lengthwise. The tree w^as propped up by others hori- 

 zontally at such a height that the animal's legs hung 

 down on each side without touching the ground. The 

 two then descended, expecting to find him mortally 

 injured, but, to their astonishment, he appeared quite 

 comfortable in his novel position. The packs w^ere 

 taken ofP, and Cheadle, by a vigorous Hft— Mr. O'B. 

 declining the suggestion that he should haul at the 

 tail, on the ground of the dangerous nature of the 

 service — rolled the horse from his perch. He was un- 

 injured, and Mr. O'B. led him past the most dangerous 

 part, whilst his companion toiled after, carrying the 

 packs up the brow to safer ground. After the horse 

 had been re-loaded, the two pursued their way, but 

 before many yards were passed, the other horse slipped, 

 and rolled down the hill. He luckily brought up 

 against some trees, before reaching the bottom ; but 

 again the pack had to be cut ofi*, again carried up, and 

 the horse hauled on to his legs and led up the steep. 

 Soon after they joined the rest, another horse, refusing 

 to jump some timber in the path, bolted aside and fell 

 into a regular pit, formed by fallen trees and rocks ; 

 every effort to extricate him was useless. We were 



