124 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

All were nervous about their reception
there, for the young chief had gone ahead, and
so had the insolent Indian and some of his
companions. Progress by canoe was so slow
against the current that Mackenzie would
gladly have travelled by land, but that one of
his own Indians was too ill to walk. After
toiling for a while in the canoe, the men were
seized with sudden panic, vowed they would
not enter the canoe again, and announced their
intention of trying to scale the mountains at
once so as to avoid Great Village. They
showed their sincerity by throwing part of
their loads into the river. Mackenzie, after
waiting patiently for a while, told them that
they were fools, that they would die of cold
and hunger in the hills, and that they would
have to go without him, since he would never
leave the sick Indian behind. Finally he,
with Mackay, who had behaved admirably
throughout, and two voyageurs, took the
canoe upstream by pulling it from branch to
branch, while the rest followed on shore. They
were received fairly well at the houses which
they passed, and they managed to persuade