Return to Port Chipewyan: . 181

expectation of further trouble, so alarmed the voyageurs
that most of them swore that they would not again enter
the canoe, but would take to the mountains and try to gain
the trail on the plateau above by passing over the range.
Having decided on this course they threw everything which
they had into the river, except their blankets,

“T was sitting all this time patiently on a stone, and in-
dulging the hope that, when their frantic terror had subsided,
their returning reason would have disposed them to perceive
the rashness of their project, but when I observed that they
persisted in it, I no longer remained a silent listener to their
passionate declarations, but proceeded to employ such argu-
ments as I trusted would turn them from their senseless and
impracticable purpose.”

‘The steersman, who had been with Mackenzie for five
years in that capacity, instantly replied that he was ready
to follow his leader anywhere, but would not again enter
the canoe. His example was followed by all the rest, except
Mackay and one of the Indian hunters who was now sick.
As the latter was not in a condition to be of any use, Mac-
kenzie and Mackay were therefore compelled to pole the
canoe upstream, while the six veyageurs and the other Indian
walked along the shore. Their progress was consequently
slow. Nothing that they had yet undergone in the way of
canoe-work was comparable with the labour of getting up
this river. The land party had continually to wait for them.
Mackenzie excuses them on many occasions, but on this
occasion when they were homeward bound, no excuse can
be urged. ‘They were in a state of fear, they were not only
afraid of the Indians, but acknowledged by their action
that the river was too much for them and that they were
unable to negotiate it.

The leader, on this return trip up the Bella Coola River,