999 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
J ODRHET. 
Great 
danger in 
descend¬ 
ing the 
falls of 
the Esse- 
quibo. 
It was much more perilous to descend than to 
ascend the falls in the Essequibo. 
The place we had to pass had proved fatal to four 
Indians about a month before. The water foamed, 
and dashed and boiled amongst the steep and craggy 
rocks, and seemed to warn us to be careful how we 
ventured there. 
I was for all hands to get out of the canoe, and 
then, after lashing a long rope ahead and astern, we 
might have climbed from rock to rock, and tempered 
her in her passage down, and our getting out would 
have lightened her much. But the negro who had 
joined us at Mrs. Peterson’s said he was sure it 
would be safer to stay in the canoe while she went 
down the fall. I was loth to give way to him; 
but I did so this time against my better judgment, 
as he assured me that he was accustomed to pass and 
repass these falls. 
Accordingly we determined to push down : I was 
at the helm, the rest at their paddles. But before 
we got half way through, the rushing waters deprived 
the canoe of all power of steerage, and she became 
the sport of the torrent; in a second she was half full 
of water, and I cannot comprehend to this day why 
she did not go down; luckily the people exerted 
themselves to the utmost, she got headway, and they 
pulled through the whirlpool; I being quite in the 
stern of the canoe, part of a wave struck me, and 
nearly knocked me overboard. 
We now paddled to some rocks at a distance, got 
out, unloaded the canoe, and dried the cargo in the 
