dangerous descent of the boats. 99 
clear, and that we should shoot down it without interrup- 
tion ; but in this I was disappointed. The boat struck with 
the fore-part of her keel on a sunken rock, and, swinging 
round as it were on a pivot, presented her bow to the rapid, 
while the skiff floated away into the strength of it. We 
had every reason to anticipate the loss of our whale-boat, 
whose build was so light, that had her side struck the 
rock, instead of her keel, she would have been laid open 
from stem to stern. As it was, however, she remained fixed 
in her position, and it only remained for us to get her off 
the best way we could. I saw that this could only be done 
by sending two of the men with a rope to the upper rock, 
and getting the boat, by that means, into the still water, 
between that and the lower one. We should then have 
time to examine the channels, and to decide as to that down 
which it would be safest to proceed. My only fear was, 
that the loss of the weight of the two men would lighten 
the boat so much, that she would be precipitated down the 
rapid without my having any command over her; but it 
happened otherwise. We succeeded in getting her into the 
still water, and ultimately took her down the channel under 
the right bank, without her sustaining any injury. A few 
miles below this rapid the river took a singular bend, and 
and we found, after pulling several miles, that we were 
within a stone’s throw of a part of the stream we had 
already sailed down. 
The four natives joined us in the camp, and assisted the 
men at their various occupations. The consequence was, 
h 2 
