188 DISCOMFORTS OF AN INDIAN CANOE. 



either by the natives, or those who resided at 

 them ; and it surprised me to learn how much 

 disease has spread through this part of the 

 country. 



Having procured the tar, Mr. King embarked 

 in a half-sized canoe with four men, and followed 

 the bateaux, which had been sent ahead, with- 

 out other guide than James Spence, one of 

 my men in the last expedition, who had ex- 

 changed with a Canadian, to join me, — an excel- 

 lent lad, but with not a very accurate memory, so 

 that the canoe was nearly drawn into the fright- 

 ful rapids and falls of the "Cassette," to run which 

 is never even attempted. He had passed the pro- 

 per turning to make the portage, and the Iroquois 

 in the bow declared he could neither advance 

 nor retreat. Luckily they were near the land, 

 which they reached ; and, by converting their 

 ceintures, or sashes, into a towing line, they 

 hauled up against the strong current, and ulti- 

 mately got into the right track. On descending 

 the Slave River, Mr. King met some Indians, 

 and engaged one to take him in his small canoe 

 to Fort Resolution, under the impression of 

 gaining time ; and this species of travelling he 

 described as not being over comfortable. " I was 

 forty hours in the Indian canoe," said he, " and 

 it was decidedly the most irksome time I ever 

 spent. I was not able to move hand or foot ; 

 and this occasioned such a state of drowsiness, 



