194 



Journal of a Voyage through the 



something to eat, and added a present of such articles a$ 

 we thought might please her. On her expressing a wish 

 to leave us, we readily consented to her departure, and in- 

 dulged the hope that her reception would induce the na- 

 tives to return in peace, and give us an opportunity to con- 

 vince them, that we had no hostile designs whatever against 

 them. On leaving us, she went up the river without taking 

 a single article of her own, and the dog followed. The 

 wind was changeable throughout the day, and there were 

 several showers in the course of it. 



Though a very apparent anxiety prevailed among the 

 people for their departure, I appeared to be wholly inat- 

 tentive to it, and at eight in the evening I ordered four 

 men to step into the canoe, which had been loaded for 

 several hours, and drop down to our guard-house, and my 

 command was immediately obeyed : the rest of us pro- 

 ceeded there by land. When I was yet at a considerable 

 distance from the house, and thought it impossible for an 

 arrow to reach it, having a bow and a quiver in my hand, 

 I very imprudently let fly an arrow, when, to my astonish- 

 ment and infinite alarm, I heard it strike a log of the 

 house. The men who had just landed, imagined that 

 they were attacked by an enemy from the woods. Their 

 confusion was in proportion to their imaginary danger, 

 and on my arrival i found that the arrow had passed within 

 a foot of one of the men; though it had no point, the 

 weapon, incredible as it may appear, had entered an hard, 

 dry log of wood upwards of an inch. But this was not all: 

 for the men readily availed themselves of this circum- 

 stance, to remark upon the danger of remaining in the 

 power of a people possessed of such means of destruction* 

 Mr. Mackay having the first watch, I laid myself down 

 in my cloak. 



Wednesday 26. About midnight a rustling noise was 

 heard in the woods which created a general alarm, and I 

 was awakened to be informed of the circumstance, but 

 heard nothing. At one I took my turn of the watch, and 

 our dog continued unceasingly to run backwards and for-, 

 wards along the skirts of the wood in a state of restless 

 vigilance. At two in the morning the centinel informed 

 me, that he saw something like an human figure creeping 

 along on all-fours about fifty paces above us. After some 

 time had passed in our search, I at length discovered that 

 his information was true, and it appeared to me that a 



