In the morning we observed a man riding on horseback down towards the
boat, and we were much pleased to find that it was George Shannon, one
of our party, for whose safety we had been very uneasy. Our two horses
having strayed from us on the 26th of August, he was sent to search for
them. After he had found them he attempted to rejoin us, but seeing some
other tracks, which must have been those of Indians, and which he
mistook for our own, he concluded that we were ahead, and had been for
sixteen days following the bank of the river above us. During the first
four days he exhausted his bullets, and was then nearly starved, being
obliged to subsist, for twelve days, on a few grapes, and a rabbit which
he killed by making use of a hard piece of stick for a ball. One of his
horses gave out, and was left behind; the other he kept as a last
resource for food. Despairing of overtaking us, he was returning down
the river, in hopes of meeting some other boat; and was on the point of
killing his horse, when he was so fortunate as to join us.

Wednesday, September 12. The day was dark and cloudy; the wind from the
northwest. At a short distance we reached an island in the middle of the
river, which is covered with timber, a rare object now. We with great
difficulty were enabled to struggle through the sandbars, the water
being very rapid and shallow, so that we were several hours in making a
mile. Several times the boat wheeled on the bar, and the men were
obliged to jump out and prevent her from upsetting; at others, after
making a way up one channel, the shoalness of the water forced us back
to seek the deep channel. We advanced only four miles in the whole day
and encamped on the south. Along both sides of the river are high
grounds; on the southern side particularly, they form dark bluffs, in
which may be observed slate and coal intermixed. We saw also several
villages of barking-squirrels; great numbers of growse, and three foxes.