192 



Journal of a Vdijage through the 



distributed an hundred bullets, which were all that re- 

 mained, while some were employed in melting down shot 

 to make more. The weather was so cloudy that I had 

 not an opportunity of taking an observation. 



While we were employed in making these preparations, 

 we saw an Indian in a canoe come down the river, and 

 land at the huts, which he began to examine. On per- 

 ceiving us he stood still, as if in a state of suspense, when 

 I instantly dispatched one of my Indians towards him, but 

 no persuasions could induce him to have confidence in us ; 

 he even threatened that he would hasten to join his friends, 

 who would come and kill us. At the conclusion of this 

 menace he disappeared. On the return of my youngman, 

 with this account of the interview, I pretended to discre- 

 dit the whole, and attributed it to his own apprehensions 

 and alarms. This, however, he denied, and asked, with a 

 look and tone of resentment, whether he had ever told me a 

 lie? Though he was but a young man, he said, he had 

 been on war excursions before he came with me. and that 

 he should no longer consider me as a wise man, which he 

 had hitherto done. 



To add to our distresses we had not an ounce of gum 

 for the reparation of the canoe, and not one of the men 

 had sufficient courage to venture into the woods to collect 

 it. In this perplexing situation I entertained the hope 

 that in the course of the night some of the natives would 

 return, to take away a part at least of the things which 

 they had left behind them, as they had gone away without 

 the covering necessary to defend them from the weather 

 and the flies. I therefore ordered the canoe to be loaded, 

 and dropped to an old house, one side of which, with its 

 roof, had been carried away by the water ; but the three 

 remaining angles were sufficient to shelter us from the 

 woods. I then ordered two strong piquets to be driven 

 into the ground, to which the canoe was fastened, so that 

 if we were hard pressed we had only to step on board and 

 push off. We were under the necessity of making a smoke 

 to keep off the swarms of flies, which would have other- 

 wise tormented us; but we did not venture to excite a 

 blaze, as it would have been a mark for the arrows of the 

 enemy. Mr. Mackay and myself, with three men kept 

 alternate watch, and allowed the Indians to do as they 

 fancied. I took the first watch, and the others laid down 

 in their clothes by us. I also placed a centinel at a small 



