254 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



maining meal for the party ; but several of the 

 men urged me to it, with much kindness. The 

 ground was covered a foot deep with snow, the 

 margins of the lakes were incrusted with ice, and 

 the swamps over which we had to pass were en- 

 tirely frozen ; but the ice not being sufficiently 

 strong to bear us, we frequently plunged knee- 

 deep in water. Those who carried the canoes 

 were repeatedly blown down by the violence of 

 the wind, and they often fell, from making an in- 

 secure step on a slippery stone ; on one of these 

 occasions, the largest canoe was so much broken 

 as to be rendered utterly unserviceable. This 

 was felt as a serious disaster, as the remaining 

 canoe having through mistake been made too 

 small, it was doubtful whether it would be suf- 

 ficient to carry us across a river. Indeed we had 

 found it necessary in crossing Hood's River, to 

 lash the two canoes together. As there was 

 some suspicion that Benoit, who carried the 

 canoe, had broken it intentionally, he having on 

 a former occasion been overheard by some of 

 the men to say, that he would do so when he got 

 it in charge, we closely examined him on the 

 point; he roundly denied having used the ex- 

 pressions attributed to him, and insisted that it 

 was broken by his falling accidentally ; and as 

 he brought men to attest the latter fact, who saw 



