North-West Continent of America, 257 



CHAPTER XII. 



Return up the river. Slow progress of the canoe , from the 

 strength of the current. The hostile party of the natives 

 precede us. Impetuous conduct of my people. Continue 

 our very tedious voyage. Come to some houses; received 

 "with great kindness. Arrive at the principal^ or Salmon 

 Village. Our present reception very different from that 

 we experienced on our former visit. Continue our jour- 

 ney. Circumstances of it. Find our dog. Arrive at the 

 Upper , or Friendly Village. Meet with a very kind re- 

 ception. Some further account of the manners and cus- 

 toms of its inhabitants. Brief vocabulary of their lan- 

 guage. 



1793.' 5 4 HE current of the river was so strong, that I 

 should have complied with the wishes of my people, and 

 gone by land, but one of my Indians was so weak, that it 

 was impossible for him to perform the journey. He had 

 been ill some time ; and, indeed, we have been all of u$ 

 more or less afflicted with colds on the sea coast. Four 

 of the people therefore set off with the canoe, and it em- 

 ployed them an hour to get half a mile. In the mean time 

 the native, who has been already mentioned as having 

 treated us with so much insolence, and four of his com- 

 panions, went up the river in a canoe, which they had 

 above the rapid, with as many boxes as men in her. 

 This circumstance was the cause of fresh alarm, as it 

 was generally concluded that they would produce the same 

 mischief and danger in the villages above, as they had 

 in that below. Nor was it forgotten that the young chief 

 had left us in a manner which would not be interpreted in 

 our favour by his father and friends. 



. At length the canoe arrived, and the people declared in 

 the most unreserved terms, that they would proceed no 

 further in her ; but when they were made acquainted with 

 the circumstances which have just been described, their 

 violence increased, and the greater part of the men an- 

 nounced their determination to attempt the mountains, 

 and endeavour, by passing over them, to gain the road by 

 which we came to the first village. So resolved were they 



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