NARRATIVE, Hi 61 



by creating an area, for the purpose of » reding a Rag staff. 



This was braced by forked stakes, and a small Hag hoisted to 

 ns place. Taking specimens of the forest growth of the island. 

 Of a size suitable for walking canes, and adding its few species 

 to our collections of plants and conchology, we embarked on 

 our descent. The flag which we had erected continued to be 

 in sight for a time, and was finally shut out from our view by a 

 curve of the lake. We found this curve drawn out in such a 

 manner as to form, with the opposite shore, the channel of the 

 outlet. We soon felt our motion accelerated by a current, and 

 began to glide, with velocity, down a clear stream with a sandy 

 and pebbly bottom, strewed with shells and overhung by fo- 

 liage. Ten feet would, in most places, reach from bank to bank, 

 and the depth would probably average over a foot. The water 

 was not, however, equally distributed. A strong and winding 

 channel, made it a labor of active watchfulness for the canoc- 

 incn. to keep our frail vessels from being dashed against boul- 

 ders, or torn in pieces by fallen timber or overhanging trees. 

 Chopping with the axe, was frequently necessary to clear the 

 passage, and no small labor was imposed by getting through the 

 drift wood, piled up at almost every Bttddeu bend* We were 

 almost imperceptibly drawn into a series of rapids and petty 

 falls where the stream was more compressed, and the water 

 deepened : but the danger rendered tenfold greater by boulders 

 of blackened rocks, and furious jets of the stream. We were 

 rather hurled than paddled through these rapid passes, which 

 increased in frequency and fury as we advanced. After being 

 driven down about twelve miles of this species of navigation, 

 during which the turns are very abrupt, the river displays itself, 

 so to say, in a savannah valley, where the channel is wider and 

 deeper, but equally, or more circuitous, and bordered with sedge 

 and aquatic plants. This forms the first plateau. It extends 



eight or nine miles. The river then narrows and enters another 



defile, beset with an almost continued series of rapids. The 



•ii. in going down these, where the channel is Dree from 



