I
had never descended the St. Lawrence before, but I knew there were more
rapids a-head, perhaps another set of the Cascades, but at all events
the La Chine rapids, whose situation I did not exactly know. I was in
hourly expectation of these putting an end to me, and often fancied some
points of ice extending from the shore to be the head of foaming rapids.
At one of the moments in which the succession of waves permitted me to
look up, I saw 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.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96