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.* So early a disaster
deeply affected the spirits of the Canadians, and their natural vivacity
gave way to melancholy forebodings while they erected a wooden cross in
the rocks near the spot where their companion perished.
(*Footnote. Mr. Hood himself was the first to leap into the canoe and
incite the men to follow him and shoot the rapid to save the lives of
their companions. Dr. Richardson's Journal.)
The loss of this man's services and the necessity of procuring a guide
determined us to wait for the arrival of the North-West Company's people
from Fort Chipewyan and we encamped accordingly. The canoe was much
shattered but, as the gunwales were not broken, we easily repaired it. In
the evening a North-West canoe arrived with two of the partners. They
gave us an account of Mr. Franklin's proceedings and referred us to the
brigade following them for a guide.
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