North-West Continent of America. 



73 



my people was subdued by the fatigue they had undergone; 

 and we soon had reason to believe that we should pay 

 dearly for the indulgence of our own. The wood, which 

 was chiefly of spruce-firs, was so thick that it was with 

 great difficulty we made our way through it. When we 

 had walked upwards of an hour, the underwood decreased, 

 while the white birch and poplar were the largest and tall*, 

 est of their kind that I had ever seen. The ground now 

 began to rise and was covered with small pines, and at 

 length we got the first view of the mountains since we had 

 left the canoe ; as they appeared to be no nearer to us> 

 though we had been walking for three hours, than when 

 we had seen themfromthe river, my companion expressed 

 a very great anxiety to return ; his shoes and leggins were 

 torn to pieces, and he was alarmed at the idea of passing 

 through such bad roads during the night. I persisted, 

 however, in proceeding, with a determination to pass the 

 night on the mountains and return on the morrow. As 

 we approached them, the ground was quite marshy, and 

 we waded in water and grass up to the knees, till we came 

 within a mile of them, when I suddenly sunk up to my 

 arm-pits, and it was with some difficulty that I extricated 

 myself from this disagreeable situation. I now found it 

 impossible to proceed : to cross this marshy ground in a 

 straight line was impracticable ; and it extended so far to the 

 right and left, that I could not attempt to make the circuit : 

 I therefore determined to return to the canoe, and arrived 

 there about midnight, very much fatigued with this fruit- 

 less journey. 



Tuesday 11. We observed several tracks along the 

 beach, and an encampment at the edge of the woods, which 

 appeared to be five or six days old. We should have con- 

 tinued our route along this side of the river, but we had 

 not seen our hunters since yesterday morning. We ac* 

 cordingly embarked before three, and at five traversed the 

 river, when we saw two of them coming down in search 

 of us. They had killed no other animals than one beaver, 

 and a few hares. According to their account, the woods 

 were so thick that it was impossible to follow the game 

 through them. They had seen several of the natives' en- 

 campments, at no great distance from the river ; and it 

 was their opinion that they had discovered us in our pas- 

 sage down it, and had taken care to avoid us ; which ac- 

 counted for the small number we had seen on our return. 



