Narth-West Continent of America. 219 



tempt to follow them proved unsuccessful. One of my 

 Indians, however, who had no load, overtook them, when 

 they excused themselves to him by declaring, that their 

 sole motive for leaving us was, to prevent the people, whom 

 they expected to find, from shooting their arrows at us. 

 At seven o'clock, however, we were so fatigued, that we 

 encamped w ithout them : the mountains covered with snow 

 now appeared to be directly before us. As we were col- 

 lecting wood for our fire, we discovered a cross road, 

 where it appeared that people had passed within seven or 

 eight days. In short, our situation was such as to afford a 

 just cause of alarm, and that of the people with me was of 

 a nature to defy immediate alleviation. It was neces- 

 sary, however, for me to attempt it ; and I rested my 

 principles of encouragement on a representation of our 

 past perplexities and unexpected relief, and endeavoured 

 to excite in them the hope of similar good fortune. I 

 stated to them, that we could not be at a great distance 

 from the sea, and that there were but few natives to pass, 

 till we should arrive among those, who, being accustomed 

 to visit the sea coast, and, having seen white people, would 

 be disposed to treat us with kindness. Such was the gene- 

 ral tenor of the reasoning I employed on the occasion, and 

 I was happy to find that it was not offered in vain. 



The weather had been cloudy till three in the afternoon, 

 when the sun appeared; but surrounded, as we were, 

 with snow-clad mountains, the air became so cold, that 

 the violence of our exercise was not sufficient to produce 

 a comfortable degree of warmth. Our course to-day was 

 from West to South, and at least thirty-six miles. The 

 land in general, was very barren and stony, and lay in 

 ridges, with cypress trees scattered over them. We passed 

 several swamps, where we saw nothing to console us but 

 a few tracks of deer. 



Saturday 13, The weather this morning was clear but 

 cold, and our scanty covering was not sufficient to pro- 

 tect us from the severity of the night. About five, after 

 we had warmed ourselves at a large fire, we proceeded on 

 our dubious journey. In about an hour we came to the 

 edge of a wood, when we perceived an house, situated 

 on a green spot, and by the side of a small river. The 

 smoke that issued from it informed us that it was in- 

 habited. I immediately pushed forward toward this man- 

 sion, while my people were in such a state of alarm, that 



