30 
Account of 
a tent with the boat sails, and enjoying some refreshment, 
the before-mentioned gentlemen with three of the boat’s- 
crew, M'Kenzie, Wright, and Peck, took the dingy, 
and proceeded higher up the river, leaving the remainder 
of the party to fish, and prepare for dinner. They found 
each succeeding rapid to increase in velocity, till they 
came to regular falls, when it getting late they thought 
of returning. At the recommendation of Mr. Kinghorn, 
the rapids were descended stern-foremost, which gave 
the men that were pulling a better opportunity of 
guiding the boat with their oars. They observed some 
fine blocks of marble,—one in particular, measuring forty 
feet in length, had been excavated by the waters, so as to 
resemble exactly the run under a ship, which induced 
them to name it the “ Royal George.” They safely 
came in sight of the party, and at the view of the cheerful 
fire, surrounded with casseroles and the never-failing bush 
companion, the tea-kettle, they rejoiced in the idea of 
the comforts which awaited them. Exhilarated in spirit, 
they determined, instead of landing at the point, to round 
it by running down the fall stem-forward. Mr. King- 
horn was in the head of the boat with the compass which 
had enabled him to take the bearings. Captain Butler 
steered, the Commissary was merely a passenger. In a 
moment they were in the rapid, struck on a sunken tree 
in the centre, and all plunged into the water. The Com¬ 
mandant, a most active man, sprang to the bank and 
caught hold of a tree, Mr. Kinghorn got fast to a sunken 
branch of a tree. The poor Commissary, whose pockets 
were full of geological specimens, had the greatest diffi¬ 
culty to get his head above water: he was, however, soon 
seated astride another part of the sunken tree between 
two of the crew, the third having made the shore. 
The soldiers and crew contrived to let the Com¬ 
mandant’s gig glide down towards us, holding on by a 
