EPISODES 389 



proceeded. Some rapids we came to, when every one, 

 glad to assist her, leaped on shore, and tugged a la cor- 

 dclle. Some miles farther we passed a curious cataract, 

 formed by the waters of the Pokioke. There Sambo led 

 his steeds up the sides of a high bank, when, lo ! the 

 whole party came tumbling down, like so many hogsheads 

 of tobacco rolled from a store-house to the banks of the 

 Ohio. He at the steering oar hoped "the black rascal" 

 had broken his neck, and congratulated himself in the 

 same breath for the safety of the horses, which presently 

 got on their feet. Sambo, however, alert as an Indian 

 chief, leaped on the naked back of one, and showing his 

 teeth, laughed at his master's curses. Shortly after this 

 we found our boat very snugly secured on the top of a 

 rock, midway in the stream, just opposite the mouth of 

 Eel River. 



Next day at noon, none injured, but all chop-fallen, we 

 were landed at Woodstock village, yet in its infancy. 

 After dining there we procured a cart, and an excellent 

 driver, and proceeded along an execrable road to Houlton 

 in Maine, glad enough, after all our mishaps, at finding 

 ourselves in our own country. But before I bid farewell 

 to the beautiful river of St. John, I must tell you that 

 its navigation seldom exceeds eight months each year, 

 the passage during the rest being performed on the ice, 

 of which we were told that last season there was an un- 

 usual quantity, so much, indeed, as to accumulate, by 

 being jammed at particular spots, to the height of nearly 

 fifty feet above the ordinary level of the river, and that 

 when it broke loose in spring, the crash was awful. All 

 the low grounds along the river were suddenly flooded, 

 and even the elevated plain on which Fredericton stands 

 was covered to the depth of four feet. Fortunately, how 

 ever, as on the greater streams of the Western and South- 

 ern Districts, such an occurrence seldom takes place. 



Major Clarke, commander of the United States garri- 



