w at a distance a canoe with four men coming towards me,
and waited in confidence to hear the sound of their paddles; but in this
I was disappointed; the men, as I afterwards learnt, were Indians
(genuine descendants of the Tartars) who, happening to fall in with one
of the passenger's trunks, picked it up, and returned to shore for the
purpose of pillaging it, leaving, as they since acknowledged, the man on
the boat to his fate. Indeed, I am certain I should have had more to
fear from their avarice, than to hope from their humanity; and it is
more than probable, that my life would have been taken to secure them in
the possession of my watch and several half-eagles, which I had about
me.

The accident happened at eight o'clock in the morning. In the course of
some hours, as the day advanced, the sun grew warmer, the wind blew from
the south, and the water became calmer. I got upon my knees, and found
myself in the small lake St. Louis, about from three to five miles wide;
with some difficulty I got upon my feet, but was soon convinced, by
cramps and spasms in all my sinews, that I was quite incapable of
swimming any distance, and I was then two miles from shore. I was now
going, with wind and current, to destruction; and cold, hungry, and
fatigued, was obliged again to sit down in the water to rest, when an
extraordinary circumstance greatly relieved me. On examining the wreck,
to see if it was possible to detach any part of it to steer by, I
perceived something loose, entangled in a fork of the wreck, and so
carried along. This I found to be a small trunk, bottom upwards, which,
with some difficulty, I dragged up upon the barge. After near an hour's
work, in which I broke my pen-knife, trying to cut out the lock, I made
a hole in the top, and, to my great satisfaction, drew out a bottle of
rum, a cold tongue, some cheese, and a bag full of bread, cakes, &c.,
all wet. Of these I made a very seasonable, though very moderate use,
and the trunk answered the purpose of a chair to sit upon, elevated
above the surface of the water.

After in vain endeavouring to steer the wreck, or direct its course to
the shore, and having made every signal (with my waistcoat, &c.) in my
power, to the several headlands which I had passed, I fancied I was
driving into a bay, which, however, soon proved to be the termination of
the lake, and the opening of the river, the current of which was
carrying me rapidly along. I passed several small u