340 TRAVELS IN THE UNITED STATES t 
dear though cold afternoon that we left the 
village, and the current being strong, we 
hoped to be able to reach before night a ta¬ 
vern, situated, as we were told, on the banks 
of the river, about six miles below Newtown. 
For the first two miles we got on extremely 
well; but beyond this the river proving to be 
much shallower than we had been led to be¬ 
lieve, we found it a matter of the utmost diffi¬ 
culty to proceed. Our canoes repeatedly 
struck upon the shoals, and so much time was 
consumed in setting them again free, that be¬ 
fore we had accomplished more than two- 
thirds of our voyage the day closed. As night 
advanced a very sensible change was observable 
in the weather; a heavy shower of hail came 
pouring down, and 3 involved in thick darkness, 
whilst the moon was obscured by a cloud, our 
Canoes were drifted by the current, to which, 
being unable to see our way, we had consigned 
them, on a bank in the middle of the river. 
In endeavouring to extricate ourselves we 
O 
unfortunately, owing to the darkness, took a 
wrong direction, and at the end of a few 
minutes found our canoe so firmly wedged in 
the gravel that it was impossible to move 
them. Nothing now remained to be clone but 
for every one of us to jump into the water, 
and. to put bis shoulder to the canoes. This 
we accordingly did, and having previously un~ 
i 
