46 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



The men began at an early hour to bind the 

 willows in fagots for the construction of the 

 raft, and it was finished by seven ; but as 

 the willows were green, it proved to be very 

 little buoyant, and was unable to support 

 more than one man at a time. Even on 

 this, however, we hoped the whole party 

 might be transported, by hauling it from 

 one side to the other, provided a line could 

 be carried to the other bank. Several at- 

 tempts were made by Belanger and Benoit, 

 the strongest men of the party, to convey 

 the raft across the stream, but they failed 

 for want of oars. A pole constructed by 

 tying the tent poles together, was too short 

 to reach the bottom at a short distance from 

 the shore ; and a paddle which had been 

 carried from the sea-coast by Dr. Richard- 

 son did not possess sufficient power to move 

 the raft in opposition to a strong breeze, 

 which blew from the other side. All the 

 men suffered extremely from the coldness 

 of the water, in which they were necessarily 

 immersed up to the waists, in their endea- 

 vours to aid Belanger and Benoit; and 



