140 Journal of a Voyage through the 



firmed by a return of the signal from the people. I was, 

 however, so fatigued from the heat of the day, as well as 

 incommoded from drinking so much cold water, that \ 

 did not wish to remove till the following morning ; but 

 the Indian made such bitter complaints of cold and hun- 

 ger which he suffered, that I complied with his solicita- 

 tions to depart ; and it was almost dark when we reached 

 the canoe, barefooted, and drenched with rain. But these 

 inconveniences affected me very little, when I saw my- 

 self once more surrounded with my people. They in- 

 formed me, that the canoe had been broken ; and that 

 they had this day experienced much greater toil and hard- 

 ships than on any former occasion. I thought it prudent 

 to affect a belief of every representation that ihe\ r made, 

 and even to comfort each of them with a consolatory 

 dram : for, however difficult the passage might have been, 

 it was too short to have occupied the whole day, if they 

 had not relaxed in their exertions. The rain was accom- 

 panied with thunder and lightning. 



It appeared from the various encampments which we 

 had seen, and from sveral paddles we had found, that the 

 natives frequent this part of the country at the latter end 

 of the summer and the fall. The course to day was 

 nearly East-South -East two miles and an half, South by 

 West one mile, South-South-East one mile and an half, 

 East two miles, and South-East by South one mile. 



Thursday 6. At half past four this morning we con- 

 tinued our voyage, our courses being South-East by South 

 one mile, East by South three quarters of a mile, South- 

 East by East two miles. The whole of this distance we 

 proceeded by hauling the canoe from branch to branch. 

 The current was so strong, that it was impossible to stem 

 it with the paddles ; the depth was too great to receive 

 any assistance from the poles, and the bank of the river 

 was so closely lined with willows and other trees, that it 

 was impossible to employ the line. As it was past twelve 

 before we could find a place that would allow of our land- ) 

 ing, I could not get a meridian altitude. We occupied 

 the rest of the day in repairing the canoe, drying our 

 clothes, and making paddles and poles to replace those 

 which had been broken or lost. 



Friday 7. The morning was clear and calm ; and since 

 we had been at this station the water had risen two inches ; 

 so that the current became still stronger ; and its velocity 



