however, I heard a man halloo, and I very gladly returned the fignal.
In a fhort time our young Indian arrived with a fmall roll of indifferent
bark: he was oppreffedwith fatigue and hunger, and Mis clothes torn to
rags : he had parted with the; other two men at fun^fo^ who had W#ked
the whole day, in a dreadful country, without procuring any good bark,
or being able to get to thelargg riven His,account o l the river, On wliofe
hanks we were, could not be more unfavourable or difcouraging; it had
appeared to him to he little more than a fuccelfion of falls and ra'pidsy
with occafional interruptions of fallen trees. I
Our guide became fo diftatisfied and .£ropbj.e(l,,in mind, that we, could
not obtain from him. any regular account.pf the country before .us., All
we could co lle t from, him was, that the riverfoto which this empties
itfelf is but a branch of a large river,„the great-forh beicg, at,no great dif-,
tance from the coniBugnce ^ this; and that he knew p f no lake, or large
body o f ftill water? [in the vicinity of thefe riyers^, To this account of
the country, he added fome ftrange, fanciful but. terrifying dpfcrip»-
tions of the natives, fimilar to thofe which were mentioned in the former
voyage.
"We had. an efcape this day, which I muft add to the m^ny jnljances of
good fortune which I'experienced in this perilous expedition. The
powder had been fpread out, to the. amount o f eighty pounds .weight, to
receive the air; and, in this fi.tuation,,lpne of, the men carelefsly and
compofedly walked acrofs it with a lighted pipe in his mouth, but .with-
out any illconfequence refultiog from fuch an a£l of criminal , negligence.
I need not ad4 .that, one fpark might have put a period to all my anxiety
and ambition. .
I obferved
I ©Ifeöed ieveral tresèsïand plants on the bdnks o f this river, which I
June.
had not feen to thè North of the latitude 52. fuch as the cedar, maple, *----*~-
bemlo|ïl£,^&c. i-iAt. time and paffed On With the
rapidity of an-arrow fhót -from a bowr‘
' The weather was fine, cle$r, and warm, and at an early hour of the Friday 14.
morning we trefumdd ocrr repair of,.the canöè. At half paft feven our
two men returned hungry and cold, not having tailed food, or enjoyed
the leaft rèpófe -for twentyufomr hours, with their efófhef torn itito-tatters;
pid their fhni lacerated; in paffittg thfeugh thé woods, Their account
waS the fame as that brought by ïtó indiéh; With this èkceptiöh, that they
had reafon to think they faw the river -. ór braneh which our guide had
mentioned; but they were o f opinion that from ihè frequtent obftruQions
in this river, we fhould have to carry the whole way to it, through a
•dreadful country, where müch. time and labour would be required to
open a pall’age through it.
Difcouraging as thefe accounts were, they did not, however, interrupt
for a moment the talk in which we were engaged, of repairing the canoe;
and : this work wp contrived; to complete by the conciulipu o f the day.
The bark which, was brought by the Indian, with fome pieces ©f Öil-
cloth, and plenty of gum, enabled us to put our ihattered veffel in a condition
to anfwer our prefent purpofes,; The guide, who has been-mentioned
as manifefting continual figns of dilfatisfa&ion, now aflumed an air
of contentment, which I attributed to a fmoke that Was vififeïe in the
dire&ion of the river; as he naturally expe&ed, if we fhould fall iti With
any natives, which was now very probable, hfom füch a circumftanee,
that