OBSERVATIONS. 331 



and so alternately lifted, launched, and lowered, 

 until she was safely brought to the eddy below, 

 which being also rough, she was finally hauled 

 on the gravel. The observations to-day gave the 

 latitude 65° 14' W N., longitude 106° 0' 53" 

 W., and variation 39° 12' E. ; so that it appeared 

 we had got considerably to the southward and 

 eastward of our position two days before. The 

 country was still composed of the same variety 

 of rocky hills and swampy prairies, though the 

 latter were far more extensive, and, near the 

 cascades, might be called plains, all thickly in- 

 habited by deer. 



July 16th. — We embarked before 4 a.m., and 

 a strong current carried us to a broad part of the 

 river, which, I was rejoiced to see, took a sudden 

 turn to the northward ; but at a detached conical 

 hill, somewhat farther on, it again bent suddenly 

 to the southward, and, as there was no passage 

 perceptible at its farther extremity, the crew 

 jocosely said we should be sucked under ground. 

 However, an extremely sharp angle led us be- 

 tween cliffs in a contracted channel into a rapid, 

 at the foot of which it was necessary to land to 

 avoid another, the waves of which were too high 

 to allow of its being run with the cargo. When 

 lightened, the boat ran it uninjured. A loud 

 roar of rushing water, heard for the distance of 

 about a mile, had prepared us for a long line of 



