Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 383 



day. It was discovered also that some of them had 

 thrown away the fishing-nets, and burnt the floats, 

 depriving them, by this thoughtless act, of the means 

 of obtaining a supply of fish, which might be ex- 

 pected while coasting the margins of the several 

 lakes they would have to pass. 



On the morning of the 14th, while the officers 

 were assembled round a small fire, Perrault, one 

 of the voyagers, presented each of them with a 

 small piece of meat, which he had saved from his 

 allowance. " It was received," says Franklin, et with 

 great thankfulness, and such an act of self-denial 

 and kindness, being totally unexpected in a Cana- 

 dian voyager, filled our eyes with tears." On the 

 same day Franklin, St. Germain, and Belanger 

 embarked in the remaining canoe, to cross a river, 

 and when in the midst of it, the current and a 

 strong breeze drove the canoe to the very brink of 

 a tremendous rapid, of which a most frightful 

 account is given : Belanger, unluckily, applied his 

 paddle to avert the danger of being forced down the 

 rapid ; he lost his balance, the canoe overset in the 

 midst of the rapid, but the party kept hold of it till 

 it came in contact with a rock,^ on which the water 

 was not higher than their waists. Belanger re- 

 mained on the rock, the other two, on the third 

 attempt, got to the shore. After many fruitless 

 efforts, a small line was thrown to Belanger, and he 

 was dragged through the rapid in a perfectly sense- 



