THIRD JOURNEY. 



203 



I was a day and a half in dissecting our cayman, and 

 then we all got ready to return to Demerara. 



It was much more perilous to descend than to ascend 

 the falls in the Essequibo. 



Great danger The place we had to pass had proved fatal 

 thSisofthf ^° ^ our Indians about a month before. The 

 Esseqmbo. wa ter foamed, and dashed, and boiled amongst 

 the steep and craggy rocks, and seemed to warn us to 

 be careful how we ventured there. 



I was for all hands to get out of the canoe, and then, 

 after lashing a long rope ahead and astern, we might 

 have climbed from rock to rock, and tempered her in 

 her passage down, and our getting out would have 

 lightened her much. But the negro who had joined 

 us at Mrs. Peterson's said he was sure it would be safer 

 to stay in the canoe while she went down the fall. I 

 was loth to give way to him ; but I did so this time 

 against my better judgment, as he assured me that he 

 was accustomed to pass and repass these falls. 



Accordingly we determined to push down : I was at 

 the helm, the rest at their paddles. But before we got 

 half-way through, the rushing waters deprived the canoe 

 of all power of steerage, and she became the sport of the 

 torrent ; in a second she was half full of water, and I 

 cannot comprehend to this day why she did not go 

 down ; luckily the people exerted themselves to the 

 utmost, she got headway, and they pulled through the 

 whirlpool ; I being quite in the stern of the canoe, part 

 of a wave struck me, and nearly knocked me overboard. 



We now paddled to some rocks at a distance, got out, 

 unloaded the canoe, and dried the cargo in the sun, 

 which was very hot and powerful. Had it been the wet 

 season, almost everything would have been spoiled, 



