374 
JOURNEY ACROSS THE 
[1813. 
with us on a visit to their friends down the Great 
River. 
We were all now on an island, compleatly sur- 
rounded by water. We walked to its western point, 
from whence we crossed the next arm of the river, which 
was about two hundred yards over, in the same order, 
and with the same success as the former, and came 
to another island ; walking across it, we came to the 
last branch of the river, which might be about two 
hundred and fifty yards wide, which we crossed much 
in the same way, only the shaft of my waggon split 
when descending the steep side of the island ; it held, 
however, though when ascending the opposite bank, 
which was steep also, it gave some serious cracks, 
as if on the eve of breaking to pieces, when we 
expected every minute the waggon would violently 
roll back into the river, but after all we safely 
landed. 
When we had all got safe on the south side of the 
Great River, the greatest difficulty seemed to remain, 
for we found ourselves apparently hemmed in by a 
thicket of trees a quarter of a mile deep, which 
appeared to be impenetrable by waggons. This was 
a serious obstruction. We thought of halting on the 
spot, and cutting a path across the wood ; but this 
would be a work of time ; and likewise to halt on a 
level with the river, and so near it, might prove 
extremely hazardous, for should it swell in conse- 
quence of rain higher up, every thing we possessed 
