Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/279

Rh a less easy matter to teach them to keep time with the oar. Many deer were seen, and one small herd was browsing so near the bank that the Indians gave them chase; but, the foolish fellows having in their hurry slipped in balls over charges of shot, two of their guns burst, and one of them narrowly escaped a shattered hand. The weather was dark and cold, and the water had fallen four or five feet from the ice-marks. In arriving at a rapid much stronger than the rest, one of the boats sustained some damage from the sharp stones: it was repaired in the course of the night.

10th.—Marmot Rapid, so called from the number of those little animals' burrows in the neighbourhood, occupied us some time this morning, and there were several shallows between it and my tempestuous encampment of 29th March. When we halted, soon after, for breakfast, our quick-sighted hunters espied a musk-bull feeding at some distance among the willows. After they had fired several shots at him ineffectually, he took the direction of the boats; but, stumbling into a deep creek, swam out to the river, where he was wounded in the act of crossing. The animal instantly turned about and endeavoured to climb the bank where we stood, his eyes darting fire, and his nostrils distended with pain