T'ravels in North America. ■ ^oi 



I am here. Madam, one hundred and fifty Leagues frofei the 

 '77 n jj Place' where I began this Letter: I am.goin^ 

 Extreme Cold. ^.^.^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^.^j^ ^ Traveller, 



who reckons to be at Ne^ Orleans much fooner than I, becaufe 

 he will ftop no where, and I niuft make fome Stay at the 

 Natchez, I had depended on two Things on leaving the Illinois j 

 the firft, that as I was going do^n a very rapid River, and oa 

 which I was in no Danger of being ftopt by thofe Falls and 

 Torrents fo frequent in the Rivers of Canada^ I fliould not be 

 long in my Journey, though I had near four hundred Leagues to 

 go, becaufe of the Windings which the River makes. The fé- 

 cond was, that my Route being all the Way to the South, it 

 would be quite unneceiTary to take any Precautions againfl: the 

 Cold ; but I was miilaken in both. I found myfelf obliged to 

 fail ftill flower than I had done on the Lakes, which T was 

 obliged to crofs, and I fufîer'd a Cold as piercing as any I had 

 ever felt at ^.ehec. 



It is true, that it was ilill quite another Thing at the KafiafquI-- 

 ÛS, which I had left a few Days before; for the River, as I heard 

 on my Route, was foon frozen in fuch a Manner that thev went 

 upon it in Carriages. It is notv/ithllanding a good half League 

 wide at that Place, and more rapid than the Rhoiie, This is the 

 more furprizing, as generally excepting fome flight Froits, caufed 

 by the North and North Wefc Winds, the Winter in this Coun- 

 try is fcarcely perceivable. The River v/as not frozen where I 

 was, but I was all Day in an open Pettiaugre, and by Confe- 

 quence expofed to all the Injuries of the Air, and as I had taken 

 no Precaution againft the Cold which Idid not exped, I found 

 it very fevere (a). 



If I could have made more Way, I fhould have found everjr 

 rhe Manner of ^'^^ ^ fenfible Decreafe of the Cold ; but we 

 a-j^ atho' the navigate the MiJpJJi.ppi with Prudence, 



M^Wi'^'^i W^e do not readily hazard ourfelves upon it 



* in Canoes of Bark, becaufe the River al- 



ways bringing down a great Number of Trees, Vv^hich fall from 

 it's Sides, or which are brought into it by the Rivers it receives ; 

 many of thefe Trees are ilopt in paffing by a Point, or on ^ 

 Shoal ; fo that every Moment one is expofed to run upon ^ 

 Branch or againil: a Root hidden under the Water, and there 

 needs no more to fpilt thefe brittle Carriages ; efpecially when 

 to fhun an Enemy's Party, or for any other Reafon, we proceed 

 in the Night, or fet out before Day. 



Therefore one is obliged to ufe Pettiaugres inflead of Canoe* 

 «f Bark, that is to fay, Trijnks of Trees made hollow, which are 



(a) This îafted two Months, 



|10t ^ 



