100 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA: 
at last over-ruled, and every thing was pre¬ 
pared for cutting a way across the river. 
The passengers were about twelve in num¬ 
ber, with four horses; the boat’s crew con¬ 
sisted of seven blacks; three of whom, with 
large clubs, stood upon the bow of the boat, 
and broke the ice, whilst the others, with 
iron-headed poles, pushed the boat forwards. 
So very laborious was the task which the 
men at the bow had to perform, that it was 
necessary for the others to relieve them every 
ten minutes. At the end of half an hour 
their hands, arms, faces, and hats, were glazed 
entirely over with a thick coat of ice, formed 
from the water which was dashed up by the 
reiterated strokes of their clubs. Two hours 
elapsed before one half of the way was broken ; 
the ice was found much thicker than had been 
imagined; the clubs were shivered to pieces; 
the men were quite exhausted ; and having 
suffered the boat to remain stationary for a 
minute or two in a part where the ice was 
remarkably thick, it was frozen up, so that 
the utmost exertions of the crew and passen¬ 
gers united were unable to extricate it. In 
this predicament a council was held ; it was 
impossible to move either backward or for¬ 
ward; the boat was half a mile from the 
shore; no one would attempt to walk there 
on the ice; to remain all night in the boat 
