North-West Continent of America. 25 



The information which they gave respecting the river, 

 had so much of the fabulous, that I shall not detail it : it 

 will lie sufficient just to mention their attempts to persuade 

 us, that it would require several winters to get to the sea, 

 and that old age would come upon us before the period of 

 our return : we were also to encounter monsters of such 

 horrid shapes and destructive powers as could only exist 

 in their wild imaginations. They added, besides, that 

 there were two impassable falls in the river, the first of 

 which was about thirty days march from us. 



Though I placed no faith in these strange relations, they 

 had a very different effect upon our Indians, who were al- 

 ready tired of the voyage. It was their opinion and anxious 

 -wish, that we should not hesitate to return. They said 

 that, according to the information which they had receiv- 

 ed, there were very few animals in the country beyond us, 

 and that as we proceeded, the scarcity would increase, and 

 we should absolutely perish from hunger, if no accident 

 befel us. It was with no small trouble that they were con- 

 vinced of the folly of these reasonings ; and, by my desire, 

 they induced one of those Indians to accompany us, in 

 consideration of a small kettle, an axe, a knife, and some 

 other articles. 



Though it was now three o'clock in the afternoon, the 

 canoe was ordered to be re-loaded, and as we were ready to 

 embark our new recruit was desired to prepare himself for 

 his departure, which he would have declined ; but as none 

 of his friends would take his place, we may be said, after 

 the delay of an hour, to have compelled him to embark. 

 Previous to his departure a ceremony took place, of which 

 I could not learn the meaning : he cut off a lock of his 

 hair, and having divided it into three parts, he fastened one 

 of them to the hair on the upper part of his wife's head, 

 blowing on it three times with the utmost violence in his 

 power, and uttering certain words. The other two he 

 fastened with the same formalities, on the heads of his two 

 children. 



During our short stay with these people, they amused 

 us with dancing, which they accompanied with their voices ; 

 but neither their song or their dance possessed much va- 

 riety. The men and women formed a promiscuous ring. 

 The former have a bone-dagger or piece of stick between 

 the fingers of the right-hand, which they keep extended 

 wbove the head, in continual motion ; the left they seldom 



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