d still slower by our frequent deviations from our course; my
guides having paid but little attention to their instructions last
year. We at length reached the post on the 16th of August, half
starved, half naked, and half devoured. A friendly reception, and the
good cheer the place afforded, soon restored our spirits, if not our
"inexpressibles;" and although much annoyed that no Indians could
be induced to guide us to Esquimaux Bay, I determined on making the
attempt with such assistance as Mr. Erlandson could give me, who was
well acquainted with the upper part of the river.

After one day's rest, we embarked in a canoe sufficiently large to
contain several conveniences, to which I had been for some time a
stranger,--a tent to shelter us by night, and tea to cheer us by
day; we fared, too, like princes, on the produce of "sea and land,"
procured by the net and the gun. We thus proceeded gaily on our
downward course without meeting any interruption, or experiencing any
difficulty in finding our way; when, one evening, the roar of a mighty
cataract burst upon our ears, warning us that danger was at hand.
We soon reached the spot, which presented to us one of the grandest
spectacles in the world, but put an end to all hopes of success in our
enterprise.

About six miles above the fall the river suddenly contracts, from a
width of from four hundred to six hundred yards, to about one hundred
yards; then rushing along in a continuous foaming rapid, finally
contracts to a breadth of about fifty yards, ere it precipitates
itself over the rock which forms the fall; when, still roaring and
foaming, it continues its maddened course for about a distance of
thirty miles, pent up between walls of rock that rise sometimes to
the height of three hundred feet on either side. This stupendous fall
exceeds in height the Falls of Niagara, but bears no comparison to
that sublime object in any other respect, being nearly hidden from the
view by the abrupt angle which the rocks form immediately beneath it.
If not seen, however, it is felt; such is the extraordinary force with
which it tumbles into the abyss underneath, that we felt the solid
rock shake under our feet, as we stood two hundred feet above the
gulf. A dense cloud of vapour, which can be seen at a great distance
in clear weather, hangs over the spot. From the fall to the foot of
the rapid--a distance of thirty miles--the zigzag course of the river
presents such sharp angles, t