12 Thirty Years 



The next morning our camp was in motion at five 

 A. M., and we soon afterwards embarked with the flat- 

 tering accompaniment of a fair wind : it proved, how- 

 ever, too light to enable us to stem the stream, and 

 we were obliged to resume the fatiguing operation of 

 tracking, sometimes under cliffs so steep that the men 

 could scarcely find a footing, and not unfrequently 

 over spots rendered so miry, by the small streams that 

 trickled from above, as to be almost impassable. In 

 the course of the day we passed the scene of a very 

 melancholy accident. Some years ago two fami- 

 lies of Indians, induced by the flatness of a small 

 beach, which lay betwixt the cliff and the river, chose 

 it as the site of their encampment. They retired 

 quietly to rest, not aware that the precipice, detached 

 from the bank, aud urged by an accumulation of wa- 

 1 r in the crevice behind, was tottering to its base. 

 It fell during the night, and the whole party was buried 

 under its ruins. 



The length of our voyage to-day was, in a direct 

 litie, sixteen miles and a quarter, on a S. S. W. course. 

 We encamped soon after sunset, and the tent was 



;«■ ly pitched when it began to rain heavily, and 

 c mtinued i" do so all night. 



Sixteen miles on the 11th, and five on the following 



iming, brought us to the eommeiicenient of Hayes' 



River, which is formed by the confluence of the Shu- 



