North-West Continent of America, 191 



cross in as direct a line as they could proceed, to the 

 waters of the Peace River, a scheme which could only be 

 suggested by despair. They intended to have waited for 

 us till noon, and if we did not appear by that time, to 

 have entered without further delay on their desperate 

 expedition. 



This alarm among the natives was a very unexpected 

 as well as perilous event, and my powers of conjecture 

 were exhausted in searching for the cause of it. A general 

 panic seized all around me, and any further prosecution 

 of the voyage was now considered by them as altogether 

 hopeless and impracticable. But without paying the least 

 attention to their opinions or surmises, I ordered them to 

 take every thing out of the canoe, except six packages : 

 when that was done, I left four men to take care of the 

 lading, and returned with the others to our camp of last 

 night, where I hoped to find the two men, with their fami- 

 lies, whom we had seen there, and to be able to bring them 

 to lodge with us, when I should wait the issue of this 

 mysterious business. This project, however, was disap- 

 pointed, for these people had quitted their sheds in the 

 silence of the night, and had not taken a single article of 

 their property with them. 



These perplexing circumstances made a deep impression 

 on my mind, not as to our immediate safety, for I enter- 

 tained not the least apprehension of the Indians I had hi- 

 therto seen, even if their whole force should have been 

 combined to attack us, but these untoward events seemed 

 to threaten the prosecution of my journey; and I could 

 not reflect on the possibility of such a disappointment but 

 with sensations little short of agony. Whatever might 

 have been the wavering disposition of the people on former 

 occasions, they were now decided in their opinions as to 

 the necessity of returning without delay ; and when we 

 came back to them, -their cry was — " Let us re-embark, 

 " and be gone." This, however, was not my design, and 

 in a more peremptory tone than I usually employed, they 

 were ordered to unload the canoe, and take her out of the 

 water. On examining our property, several articles ap- 

 peared to be missing, which the Indians must have pur- 

 loined , and among them were an axe, two knives, and 

 the young men's bag of medicines. We now took a posi- 

 tion that was the best calculated for defence, got our arms 

 in complete order, filled each man's flask of powder, and 



