[how ay] argonauts OF 1862 53 



The other voyagers and the goods were soon once more on board 

 and the raft resumed her journey. 



Emboldened by this success and pressed by the dire need of 

 provisions they determined to float night and day down the stream. 

 All except two or three look-out men lay down to sleep as the unwieldy 

 craft floated on through the night towards the land of their hopes. 

 The next day at dawn they noticed that the speed had perceptibly 

 increased. Almost instantly they found themselves in a long stretch 

 of rapids, extending about fifteen miles. The channel was full of 

 ragged rocks, contact with any of which would unquestionably have 

 knocked the float into its component parts. Now they realized 

 clearly the dangers of night navigation. All hands were at the sweeps 

 again; and they made their way safely through the perilous spot. 

 Then they floated along until about noon, when despite their utmost 

 care the raft struck upon a sunken rock from which their best endea- 

 vours could not release it. Fortunately at this point the current 

 was not swift. Three of the party swam ashore with a line and while 

 those on the raft cut away several of the timbers others pulled upon 

 the line and succeeded in getting the raft into deep water once more. 

 They then encamped for the night;, and on the next day, September 

 8th, reached Fort George, at the junction of the Fraser and the 

 Nechako, without further difficulty. 



On their arrival Mr. William Charles, the gentleman in command 

 of the post, was absent; but as his return was expected hourly they 

 awaited his home-coming. Meanwhile other rafts arrived bringing 

 the sad story of the drowning of Mr. Robertson, one of the party. 

 He and two others had set out in a canoe from Tête Jaune Cache, 

 preferring to risk the descent by that mode of travel, rather than 

 to venture on the unwieldy and apparently unmanageable rafts. 

 In the Grand Canyon the canoe was swamped. "Two of them," 

 says the diary, "escaped by holding on to the canoe, and were drifted 

 on an island and picked up by a raft, neither of them being able to 

 swim; while Mr. Robertson, being a splendid swimmer, struck out 

 for the shore and was lost (as the others thought) but a short distance 

 from it. They lost everything they had but a- little flour." 



After remaining at Fort George for two days in the vain expecta- 

 tion of meeting Mr. Charles, whose return was long overdue, they 

 hired an Indian guide and resumed their voyage. Fifteen miles 

 below Fort George they encountered its canyon, which Fraser has so 

 well described. Here, for a distance of half a mile, the river is cut 

 by huge rocks into several channels. The rugged banks and over- 

 hanging cliffs bore a striking resemblance to the Grand Canyon, but 



