wards the
natives was excessive at the commencement of our journey, now became
weary of such constant communication as we had kept up with them. Their
sameness of appearance, the disgusting diseases that raged among them,
their abominable filth, the manner in which they pulled us about, and
the impossibility of making them understand us, or of obtaining any
information from them,--for if we could have succeeded in this point,
we should have gladly borne every inconvenience,--all combined to
estrange us from these people and to make their presence disagreeable.
Yet there was an absolute necessity to keep up the chain of
communication, to ensure our own safety, setting aside every other
consideration; but as I had been fortunate in my intercourse with the
natives during the first expedition, so I hoped the present journey
would terminate without the occurrence of any fatal collision between
us. The natives, it is true, were generally quiet; but they crowded
round us frequently without any regard to our remonstrances, laying
hold of the boat to prevent our going away, and I sometimes thought
that had any of them been sufficiently bold to set the example, many of
the tribes would have attempted our capture. Indeed, in several
instances, we were obliged to resort to blows ere we could disengage
ourselves from the crowds around us, and whenever this occurred, it
called forth the most sullen and ferocious scowl--such, probably, as
would be the forerunner of hostility, and would preclude every hope of
mercy at their hands. With each new tribe we were, in some measure,
obliged to submit to an examination, and to be pulled about, and
fingered all over. They generally measured our hands and feet with
their own, counted our fingers, felt our faces, and besmeared our
shirts all over with grease and dirt. This was no very agreeable
ceremony, and a repetition of it was quite revolting, more especially
when we had to meet the grins or frowns of the many with firmness and
composure.

TEMPESTUOUS WEATHER.

The weather had been tempestuous and rainy, for three or four
successive days: on the 28th it cleared up a little. Under any
circumstances, however, we could not have delayed our journey. We had
not proceeded very far when it again commenced to rain and to blow
heavily from the N.W. The river trended to the South. We passed down
several rapids, and observed the marks of recent flood on the trees, to
the height of seven feet. The all