162 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



upon the Indians to remain behind, and 

 they did not consent until I had declared 

 that they should lose the reward which had 

 been promised, if they proceeded any 

 farther, before we had prepared the Esqui- 

 maux to receive them. We left a Canadian 

 with them, and proceeded, not without 

 apprehension that they would follow us, 

 and derange our whole plan by their obsti- 

 nacy. Two of the officers and a party of 

 the men walked on the shore, to lighten the 

 canoes. The river in this part flows be- 

 tween high and stony cliffs, reddish slate 

 clay rocks, and shelving banks of white 

 clay, and is full of shoals and dangerous 

 rapids. One of these was termed Escape 

 Rapid, both the canoes having narrowly 

 escaped foundering in its high waves. We 

 had entered the rapid before we were aware, 

 and the steepness of the cliffs preventing 

 us from landing, we were indebted to the 

 swiftness of our descent for preservation. 

 Two waves made a complete breach over 

 the canoes ; a third would in all probability 

 have rilled and overset them, which must 



