"5 ria y 
- 
him andthe two others on board, and trust to skill and fortune to reach the 
other end in safety. We placed ‘ourselves on our knees, with nat ay 
paddles in our hands, te. most skilful boatman at the bo nd 
again we commenced our rapid descent. We cleared rock after ik, and 
shot past fall after fall, ¢ our little boat seeming to play* with the cataract. 
We became flushed with success, and familiar with the danger; and, yield- 
ing to the excitement of the occasion, broke forth together into a Canadian 
boat song. Singing, or rather shouting, we dashed along; and ma 
believe, in the midst of the chorus, when the boat struck a concealed rock 
immediately at the foot of a fall, which whirled her over in an instant. 
ree of my men could not swim, and my first feeling was to assist them, 
and: save some of our effects; but a sharp coneussion or two convinced me 
that I had not yet saved myself. A few strokes brought me into an eddy, 
and I ona pileof rockson the left side. Looking around, I'saw that » 
Mr, Preuss had gained the shore on the same side, about twenty yards 
below ; and a little climbing and swimming soon brought him to my side. 
On the opposite side, against the wall, lay the boat bottom up; and Lambert. 
was in the act of saving. Descoteaux, whom he had grasped by the hair, 
and who <—_ = swim ; “Lache pas,” said he, as I afterward learned, 
“ lache pas, ch ere..”? * Crains Re. e was the reply, “Je m’en vais 
mourir eiaeki ~ de te lacher.”’ Such was the reply of” ottaee ‘and 
generosity in this danger. For a hundred yards below, the current was cov- 
ered with floating books and boxes, bales of blankets, and scattered articles” 
of clothing; and so strong and boiling was the stream, that even our heavy - 
instruments, which were all in cases, “kept on the surfaces and the sextant, 
circle, and the long black box of the telescope, were in view at once. For 
a moment, I felt somewhat disheartened. All our books—almost every 
_ record of the journey—our journals and registers of astfone ties! and bar-* 
ometrieal observatio tions—had been lo lost ina moment. But it was no time to 
m the wreck, Meany ourselves ‘understood as well as al ible by 
could be heard in the roar of eorns 8.) commenced our 
e-only article that had b 
aii. las a short time, he was joined ‘by Lambert ; a bipme: cao 
nti ae sous panties aut ¢ nio8y plang pire shops! s the agian»: 
