LOSE OUR WAY. 189 



of flat-bottomed canoe made its appearance. In 

 this we stowed ourselves, with our baggage and 

 saddles, and having tied the horses together head 

 and tail, the surrigee seated himself in the stern of 

 the boat, or barge, katamaran, or whatever it may- 

 be called, and holding the halter of the leading 

 horse, we shoved off, and pulled across the mouth 

 of a river which had flooded the whole country, the 

 horses sometimes wading, sometimes floundering, 

 and sometimes swimming. The current was 

 strong in some places, and the river deep ; in 

 others it was very shallow. After proceeding in 

 this manner for about an hour, we reached terra 

 firma, disembarked, saddled our horses, and 

 trotted off. 



We had not proceeded far when the surrigee 

 contrived to miss his way, and instead of passing 

 a part that was overflowed at a tolerably shallow 

 ford, we found our horses up to their girths in a 

 deep place, where the baggage-horse tumbled 

 into a hole. Here I found the ultj^a highland 

 costume I had before adopted very advantageous ; 

 and by despising fashion, and establishing one of 

 my own, I contrived to preserve a dry set of clothes 

 to put on when I arrived at our resting-place. 



