CANOE TRAVELLING OVERLAND 
one of the ropes was fastened, broke, and in its fall just 
missed killing a man. 
When once we had begun pushing the canoe up that 
hill we could not leave her for a moment, as she would at 
once proceed to slide back on the rollers. 
Fourteen hours’ incessant hard work saw us and the 
canoe on the top of the hill. From there we had before 
us a very steep descent of some 400 feet, the first 150 feet 
almost vertical. 
My men all looked at me in a most inquisitive way 
in order to find out how I would manage to hold the canoe 
when we let her down that steep incline. 
I had fastened some pieces of wood vertically at her 
stern, which, by scraping on the ground, would hold her 
to a certain extent. Then, with all the ropes we possessed 
we made her fast to the trees as we went along, and let 
her slide gently, the weight of the canoe being such that 
deep grooves were actually cut into the trees as the ropes 
unwound themselves. 
We were only half-way down that incline when one 
tree broke. The canoe gave a leap on one side, knocking 
down Antonio and the man X, the jerk immediately after 
breaking another tree on the opposite side. Off went the 
canoe down the hill in her mad career, knocking some of 
us down, dragging the others, who were holding on to her. 
Two or three men were badly thrown about, but fortu¬ 
nately no broken bones were recorded. The canoe by 
that time had, in great leaps, reached nearly the bottom 
of the hill, but had got so jammed between a rock and a 
big tree that it required several hours’ hard work with our 
axes and knives in order to disentangle her. 
The shock, however, had been too great for the rickety 
canoe. I became anxious, for I feared she might split in 
two at any time, and I had no way of repairing her 
properly. When we reached the water again I patched 
her up as best I could with improvised nails which I made 
vol. ii. —12 177 
