230 OBLIGED TO RETURN. 



The rain still continued so far, but about noon it 

 gradually cleared off, and in the afternoon it became 

 fine. We proceeded up these winding arms and 

 branches of fresh water, always choosing that which 

 seemed to run most nearly north, till about three or 

 four o'clock in the afternoon, when we began to 

 think of returning, as we were only victualled for 

 three days, and had been a day and a half away ; 

 Captain Blackwood, also, was anxious about the 

 position of the ship and the missing boats. We were 

 now in an expanse of water, from which several 

 arms went in every direction, the two broadest run- 

 ning, one north and the other south, The view 

 northward was very tempting ; the land seemed to 

 rise a little higher in that direction, and we saw 

 distant trees in the north-west, which must certainly 

 have stood on more elevated ground. What seemed 

 to be a main branch of the river, stretched with a 

 width of full half a mile to the north, till it became 

 lost to sight among the most magnificent woods ; and 

 I stood regretting the necessity of leaving it unex- 

 plored, when one of the men called our attention to 

 something moving in the water. Looking more atten- 

 tively, we saw, in a narrow channel, about half a 

 mile off, two or three canoes paddling about, the 

 people having evidently caught sight of us before 

 we espied them. We immediately pulled towards 

 them, and on entering the channel others seemed to 

 emerge, as if by magic, out of the bushes at its side ; 

 and a line of six or eight now crossed our path, 



