hey became aware that silence was necessary. The natives (probably
anticipating misfortune) stood leaning upon their spears upon the lofty
bank above us. Desiring the men not to move from their seats, I stood
up to survey the channel, and to steer the boat to that part of it
which was least impeded by rocks. I was obliged to decide upon a hasty
survey, as we were already at the head of the rapid. It appeared to me
that there were two passages, the one down the centre of the river, the
other immediately under its right bank. A considerable rock stood
directly in own way to the latter, so that I had no alternative but to
descend the former. About forty yards below the rock, I noticed that a
line of rocks occupied the space between the two channels, whilst a
reef, projecting from the left bank, made the central passage
distinctly visible, and the rapidity of the current proportionably
great. I entertained hopes that the passage was clear, and that we
should shoot down it without interruption; but in this I was
disappointed. The boat struck with the fore-part of her keel on a
sunken rock, and, swinging round as it were on a pivot, presented her
bow to the rapid, while the skiff floated away into the strength of it.
We had every reason to anticipate the loss of our whale-boat, whose
build was so light, that had her side struck the rock, instead of her
keel, she would have been laid open from stem to stern. As it was,
however, she remained fixed in her position, and it only remained for
us to get her off the best way we could. I saw that this could only be
done by sending two of the men with a rope to the upper rock, and
getting the boat, by that means, into the still water, between that and
the lower one. We should then have time to examine the channels, and to
decide as to that down which it would be safest to proceed. My only
fear was, that the loss of the weight of the two men would lighten the
boat so much, that she would be precipitated down the rapid without my
having any command over her; but it happened otherwise. We succeeded in
getting her into the still water, and ultimately took her down the
channel under the right bank, without her sustaining any injury. A few
miles below this rapid the river took a singular bend, and we found,
after pulling several miles, that we were within a stone's throw of a
part of the stream we had already sailed down.

The four natives joined us in the camp, and assisted the men at their