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Page 30
In the course of the winter I was favoured with a visit from Mr. F----r,
to whose district this post had just been annexed, and had the
gratification to receive, through him, a letter from Governor Simpson,
conveying, in very flattering terms, his approbation of my conduct. I
was told that I was in the direct road to preferment--that my merits
should be represented to the Council on his arrival in the
interior--and that he should be happy to have an opportunity of
recommending me to the Governor and Committee, when he returned to
England. We shall see, in the sequel, how these promises were
fulfilled.
I embarked, on the 15th June, 1827, for Montreal, and found Mr.
K----h, a chief factor in the service, at the head of affairs; and my
outfit being prepared in a few days, I re-embarked, taking my passage,
as formerly, on board of a large canoe, deeply laden. The last rapid
and portage on the Rivi�re aux Li�vres is within eight miles of the
establishment, and generally takes the men a day to pass it. Arriving
at this place late in the evening, I resolved on going on a-foot; it
being fine moonlight, I felt confident of finding my way without
difficulty. The weather having been immoderately hot for some time
past, I had sat in the canoe divested of my upper garments, and
thought I might, without inconvenience, dispense with them now, as I
expected to reach the house ere the night air could prove injurious to
me.
Setting off, therefore, in "light marching order," I immediately
gained the high grounds, in order to keep clear of the underwood that
covers the banks of the river; and just as the moon appeared above the
surrounding hills, arrived on the banks of a small stream, where I
observed a portage path sunk deep in the ground, a circumstance which
proved it to be much frequented--by whom or for what purpose I could
not say, for I had seldom passed the limits of my farm during last
winter, and was nearly as ignorant of the topography of the environs
as the first day I arrived. I had not heard of the existence of a
river in the quarter, nor did I imagine there was any; the conclusion
I arrived at therefore was, that I had lost my way, and that my most
eligible course was, to endeavour to find the main stream, and by
following it, retrace my course to the portage.
I soon fell on the river, but my retrograde march proved exceedingly
toilsome; at every step I was obliged to bend the branches of the
underwood to one side and another, or pressing them down under my
feet, force my way through by main strength: some short spaces indeed
intervened, that admitted of an easier passage; still my progress was
so slow that the sun appeared before I reached the upper end of the
portage. Finding an old canoe here, belonging to the post, I resolved
on crossing to the opposite side of the river, where I knew there was
a path that led to the house, by which the Indians often passed when
travelling in small canoes. I accordingly ran to the lower end of the
portage for a paddle, where I found my men still asleep; and having
heard that the lower end of this path came out exactly opposite to the
upper end of the portage, I struck out into the woods the moment I
landed, fancying that I could not fail to discover it.
The sun got higher and higher as I proceeded, and I went faster and
yet faster, to no purpose;--no path appeared; and I at length became
convinced that I was lost--being equally in difficulty to find my way
back to the river as forward to the post.
The weather was very sultry; and such had been the drought of the
season that all the small creeks were dried up, so that I could
nowhere procure a drop of water to moisten my parched lips. The
sensations occasioned by thirst are so much more painful than those we
feel from hunger, that although I had eaten but little the preceding
day, and nothing on that day, I never thought of food. While my inner
man was thus tortured by thirst, my outer man scarcely suffered less
from another cause. The country through which I passed being of a
marshy nature, I was incessantly tormented by the venomous flies that
abound in such situations,--my shirt, and only other habiliment,
having sustained so much damage in my nocturnal expedition, that the
insects had free access _partout_.[1]
[1] There are three different kinds of these tormenting
insects, viz. the mosquito, the black-fly, and the gnat--the
latter the same as the midge in N. Britain--who relieve each
other regularly in the work of torture. The mosquitoes
continue at their post from dawn to eight or nine o'clock,
A.M.; the black-flies succeed, and remain in the field till
near sunset; the mosquitoes again mount guard till dark, and
are finally succeeded by the gnats, who continue their watch
and incessant attacks till near sunrise.
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