er
portage we encamped.

On the 18th we had rain, wind, and thunder, the whole day; but this
weather was much preferable to the heat we had borne hitherto. We passed
three portages, and, at six P.M., encamped on the north bank. Below the
third portage is the mouth of the Rapid River, flowing from a large lake
to the southward, on which a post was formerly maintained by the
North-West Company. Next morning we found ourselves involved in a
confused mass of islands, through the openings of which we could not
discern the shore. The guide's knowledge of the river did not extend
beyond the last portage, and our perplexity continued, till we observed
some foam floating on the water, and took the direction from which it
came. The noise of a heavy fall, at the Mountain Portage, reached our
ears, at the distance of four miles, and we arrived there at eight A.M.
The portage was a difficult ascent over a rocky island, between which
and the main shore were two cataracts and a third in sight above them,
making another portage. We surprised a large brown bear which
immediately retreated into the woods. To the northward of the second
portage we again found the channels intricate, but the shores being
sometimes visible, we ventured to proceed. The character of the country
was new and more interesting than before. The mountainous and strong
elevations receded from the banks, and the woods crept through their
openings to the valleys behind; the adventurous pine alone ascending
their bases, and braving storms unfelt below.

At noon we landed at the Otter Portage, where the river ran with great
velocity for half a mile, among large stones. Having carried across the
principal part of the cargo, the people attempted to track the canoes
along the edge of the rapid. With the first they succeeded, but the
other, in which were the foreman and steersman, was overset and swept
away by the current. An account of this misfortune was speedily
conveyed to the upper end of the portage, and the men launched the
remaining canoe into the rapid, though wholly unacquainted with the
dangers of it. The descent was quickly accomplished, and they perceived
the bottom of the lost canoe above water in a little bay, whither it had
been whirled by the eddy. One man had reached the bank, but no traces
could be found of the foreman, Louis Saint Jean. We saved the canoe, out
of which two guns and a case of preserved meats had been thrown into the
rapid[17]. So early