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Show ... [ 243] 70 ~ ... hen we launched into this, the men jumped overboard, to check the velocity of the boat, but were so?n i.n water up to their n?cks, and our boat ran on · but we succeeded m bnngmg her to a small po111t of rocks on the nrrht dt the month of the caflon. Here was a kiud of elevated sand beach, ngt .~any y~rds square, hacked by the rocks, and a.ronnd ~he . point .the nver swept at a right angle. Tnlllks of trees deposited on JUUlllg p01nts twenty or thirty feet above, and other marks, showed that the water here frequently rose to a considerable height. rrhe ridge was of the same decomposino- o-ranite already mentioned , and tlte water hnd worked the surface, in n~n~y plac.es, into a wavy surface of ridges nnd hol es. \tVe ascended the rocks to reconnoitr the g-round, and from the sumrn1t the pas age appearrd t9 be a continued cataract foaming over llltmy obstruction , and broken by a number of small falls. vV e saw nowhere a fall unsweri11g to that which had been de cribcd to us as having twenty or twenty five feet, but stil l cot1clnded th ts to be the plnce in que tion; as in the season of tloods, the rush of the river ngainst tile wnll would produce a great rise, nnd the waters reflected squarely off, wonld descend throu~h the pnssage in a sheet of foam, havin%" every appearance of a large fall. Eighteen year previous to this time, as I have subsequently learned from him elf, Mr. Fitzpatrick, somewhere above on this river, had embarked with a valuable cargo of beaver. Una.cquainlCd with the stteam, which he believed wonld conduct him safely to the l\'lissouri, he came unexpectedly into tlli canon, where he was wrecked, with the total lo s of his furs. It would b:we been a work of great time and labor to pack onr bag-gage across the rid~e, and I determined to run the caflon. \Ve all again embarked, and ;tt fi rst attempted to check the way of the bout; but the water swept through with so much violence that we narrowly escaped being swnmped: and were obliged to let her go in the full foree of the cnrrent, and trnst to the skill of the boatmen. The da.ugerous plnces in this cnf1on were whe1e hucre rocks had fallen from above, and hemmed in the already lWITow pas~ of the river to an open space of tluce or four and five feet. 'fhe~e ob~ tructions raised the water con idernbly above, which was sometin1es precipitated over in a fall; and at other places, whe1e this dam was too hi o-11, rushed through the contracted opening with tremendous violence. Had our boat heen made of wood, in pasjng the narrmvs she would have been staved ; l~ t~t her elasticity pre~e rved her unhurt from every shock, and she seemed fairly to leap over the fat Is. ln this way we p::u-:;~ed three catnracts in succession, where, perltnps, a hundred feet ~f m?otll water intetTened ; nnd finall y, with a. hout or pleasure at our s_uccc8s, 1 ~s uccl from our tunnel into the op 'll day beyond. \Ve \'.'ere so deltghtcd With lhe performance of our bunt , i.\11(} ::;o coufident in her powers, that we would not ha.\'c hc::;itnted to Jpnp a fnll of ten f 'et with he1. vVe put to ~bore for brea lda~t at ome willow Oll the lin ht hnnk imntcdintely below the mouth of th C<lflOn; for it \\·as now irrht bo'clock \1lld we had been working since (~nyli~·ht, iliH] were all wet, fatig;1ed, and h;mgry. While 1he men were prepanng urenkfa t, I went out to reruunoitre. The ,·iew was \'ery lirnit.ed. rl'he course of the ri\·er was smooth , so fur as I could see; on both sides were broken hills; and hut a mile or two below was another ~1 igh rid~e. r~he rock at the mouth of the cailon was till the decomposmp: ~ ramie , wtt~l great quantities of mien; which made a very glittering sand. We t~e-embc:Ht<ed . at ~ o'clock, and in nhot:t twenty millutes reacl tcd the next canon. Landmg on a rocky ·bore at its conmtenccmenr , we usc ended 71 [ 243] the ridge lo reconnoitre. Portage was out of the question. So far as we could see, the jncrged rock:s poiuted out the course of the en non, on a wind- 1ng line of seven or cirrht rniles. It was siutply a narrow, dark chasm in he rock; and here the perpendi cular faces were much higher than in the j)reviOIIS pass, being at th is end tWO tO three hundred, and further down, as we afterward ascertained, five hundred feet in \'ertical lJCight. Our previous c;uccess had made us bold, and we determined again to run the caflon. Every thing wns secured as firmly as pos~ib l e; and, havi ng divested our: elvc;-; of the greater part of our clothing, we pu h e~ in to the strealll. To sn\'e our chronometer from accident,. Mr. Preuss took it , and attempted I () proceed nlung th e shore on the tna.sses of rock, which in places were piled up on either side; but, aft er he lwei walked about fi\'e mi nt1tes, e\'cry th ing; like ~ horc di ~n ppeared, and the vertical wall caine sq uarely down into the wale: ·· lie, tlwreforc, wait ed until we came up. ...\ n ugly pas~ lay before u~. We had mnde fast lO the stern of the boat a ·t rong rope about fifty feet long; <md three of the men clambered along among the rock , alld with th is rope let l1er down slowly through the pa :s. In several places high rocks lay ~ca t- 1ered about in the channel; and in the narrows it required all our Rtrength. <md skill to n\·oid staving the boat on the sharp point3. In one of the.se, the I.Joat proved a little too broad, and stuck fa ·t. fur an instant, while the water flew over us; fortunately it was bt-tt for an instant, ns our united st1 en gilt forced her immediately through. The water swept o\·crboard on ly a sextant and a pair of addle bags. I caurrht the sexlant as it p~sscd hy llle; but the nddlcbags became the prey of the whirlpools. \V e rea ched tltc plnre where .Mr. Preu. s wa~ tanding, took him on board, atl(l, with the aid of the boat, put the men wtth the rope on the ucceeding pile of rock . \V e found th ig j>assnge much worse than tiJC previous one, nnd our position was rather a bad one. 'l'o go back was impossiule; before us the cataract wn · n ~ h eet of foam ; und, shut 11p in the chasm by the rocks, wJ,i cll in some places seemed a1 I!lost .to meet overhead, .the ro~r of t_he wat er wa deafening. \V e pushed oil agam ; but, after tna.kmg a ltttle dt ~ ta.nce, the force of the current became :oo gr~at for the m n on shore, nnd two of them let rro the 10pe. Lajeunesse, the th11·d man, hung on, and was jetked headforemost into the river from n rock about tweh'e feet high ; and uown the boat shot like an nrrow Basi l · fo~lowing us in ~he rapid current , and exerting all his streng-th to Jleep in m1d channel-Ius head only ·een occasionally like a black spot in the white ~on m. }lo\v. far we went l do not exactly know·; but we succeeded in turnmg th? bo~ t tnto ~.m eddy below. "'Cre Dieu," aid Basil Lejeuncsse, as he nrnved mmt ~dJ ~: t c ly aft.er u:;, " Jc crois Lien qnc fai nage un demi mile." ~e had owed Ills ltfc to l.l1s kil l as a. c::\rimmer ; and 1 d termined to take hun nnd the two others on board and tlust to skill and for tune to reach the othe1: end in safety. \Ve placed ~ur~elv es on our knees, with th e short padtiles m our hands, tb.e most skilful uoatma.n being at the bow; and again we commenced our mptd descellt. We cleared rock after rock, and shot past fall aft er ~all, our l11tle boat seeming to play "·ith the cataract. \V e became :flushed wllh success and familiar with the danrrer · and \' ieldi nrr to the ex- . 0 ' 'J b - C I.te n~ cnt of tl1e occa.~io!1, broke forth toget l1cr into a Cnnncliau boat ~ong. • J_ngmg, or rath er shout.tng, we dnsl1ed along; and were, I believe, in the m1dst of ti le chorus, .wh en ~he bont struck a concealed rock immediately at the fooL of a _fall, wl11ch whirled her O\'cr in an iustnttt. Thrrc of my men co uld ~lOt · WJm, and my fir~t feel ing was to a. ~· ist them, ntH! sa,·e some of our efiecl~; but a s!tnrp concussion or t\VO convinced nt• tlmt f bad not yet· |