We got safe through this dangerous river, on the 15th; but two of the
men had a narrow escape in one of the last portages. Our guide here,
as everywhere else, having a picked crew, pushed on, and left us
considerably in the rear. Approaching a fall, Le Bonnet, where no
traces of a portage could be discovered, the men unloaded the canoes,
and commenced carrying the goods through the woods; but the _boutes_
(bowsmen and steersmen) determined on wading down with the canoes, the
water being shallow, until they should come close to the fall; where,
by lifting them across a narrow point, they could place them in the
smooth water beneath. The attempt was made accordingly, by the leading
canoe; but the rock over which the current flows being smooth, and
covered with a slimy moss, the men slipped, and were in an instant
precipitated over the fall. When we saw the canoe rushing over the
brink, with the poor fellows clinging to it, we all concluded they had
reached the end of their voyage. Running down to the foot of the fall,
which was about eleven feet high, having previously ordered a canoe to
be carried across the point, and some shots to be fired to recall the
guide, who was now nearly out of sight, I was astonished to find the
canoe had not upset, although the men had got into it, and it was half
full of water, and so near the shore that I extended my arm to lay
hold of the bow. The next moment, however, the stern having come
within the influence of a whirlpool, it was hurried out into the
middle of the stream, and dashed with such violence against a rock,
that the crashing of the timbers was distinctly heard from the shore.
This shock, which had nearly proved fatal to the men, threw the canoe
into an eddy, or counter-current, which whirled it to the opposite
shore, where it was about to sink when assistance came.

In the evening, we arrived at the post of Bas de la Rivière, in charge