THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 503 



tation on or in sight of it, and the whole way one extended and lovely prairie, with 

 high banks fronting the river, and extending back a great way, covered with a high 

 and luxuriant growth of grass. To the top of this bank I went with my paddle in 

 my hand, quite innocently, just to range my eye over its surface, and to see what 

 might be seen ; when, in a minute or two, I turned towards the river, and, to my al- 

 most annihilating surprise and vexation, I saw my little canoe some twenty or thirty 

 rods from the shore, and some distance below me, with its head aiming across the 

 river, and steadily gliding along in that direction, where the wind was roguishly 

 wafting it. What little swearing I had learned in the whole of my dealings with 

 the civilized world, seemed then to concentrate in two or three involuntary exclama- 

 tions, which exploded as I was running down the beach, and throwing off my gar- 

 ments one after the other, till I was denuded, and dashing through the deep and boil- 

 ing current in pursuit of it, I swam some thirty rods in a desperate rage, resolving 

 that this must be my remedy, as there was no other mode ; but at last found, to my 

 great mortification and alarm, that the canoe, having got so far from the shore, was 

 more in the wind, and traveling at a speed quite equal to my own, so that the only 

 safe alternative was to turn and make for the shore with all possible despatch. This 

 I did, and had but just strength to bring me where my feet could reach the bottom, 

 and I waded out with the appalling conviction, that if I had swam one rod farther 

 into the stream, my strength would never have brought me to the shore ; for it was 

 in the fall of the year, and the water so cold as completely to have benumbed me 

 and paralyzed my limbs. I hastened to pick up my clothes, which were dropped at 

 intervals as I had run on the beach, and having adjusted them on my shivering limbs, 

 I stepped to the top of the bank, and took a deliberate view of my little canoe, which 

 was steadily making its way to the other shore — with my gun, with my provisions 

 and fire apparatus, and sleeping apparel, all snugly packed in it. 



" The river at that place is nearly a mile wide, and I watched the mischievous thing 

 till it ran quite into a bunch of willows on the opposite shore, and out of sight. I 

 walked the shore a while, alone and solitary as a Zealand penguin, when I at last sat 

 down, and in one minute passed the following resolves from premises that were before 

 me, and too imperative to be evaded or unappreciated. ' I am here on a desolate 

 island, with nothing to eat and destitute of the means of procuring anything, and if 

 I pass the night, or half a dozen of them, here, I shall have neither fire nor clothes to 

 make me comfortable, and nothing short of having my canoe will answer me at all.' 

 For this, the only alternative struck me, and I soon commenced upon it. An occa- 

 sional log or limb of driftwood was to be seen along the beach and under the bank, 

 and these I commenced bringing together from all quarters, and some I had to lug 

 half a mile or more, to form a raft to float me up and carry me across the river. As 

 there was a great scarcity of materials, and I had no hatchet to cut anything, I had 

 to use my scanty materials of all lengths and of all sizes and all shapes, and at length 

 ventured upon the motley mass with paddle in hand, and carefully shoved it off from 

 the shore, finding it just sufficient to float me up. I took a seat in its center, on a 

 bunch of barks which I had placed for a seat, and which, when I started, kept me a 

 few inches above the water, and consequently dry, whilst my feet were resting on the 

 raft, which in most parts was sunk a little below the surface. The only alternative 

 was to go, for there was no more timber to be found ; so I balanced myself in the mid- 

 dle, and by reaching forward with my paddle to a little space between the timbers of 

 my raft, I had a small place to dip it, and the only one, in which I could make but a 

 feeble stroke, propelling roe at a very slow rate across, as I was floating rapidly down 

 the current. I sat still and worked patiently, however, conteut with the little gain, 

 and at last reached the opposite shore, about three miles below the place of my em- 

 barkation, having passed close by several huge snags, which I was lucky enough to 

 escape without the power of having cleared them, except by kind accident. 



" My craft was ' unsea worthy ' when I started, and when I had got to the middle of 

 the river, owing to the rotten wood with which a great part of it was made, and 



