from not having followed the advice of Mr. Dease, who had counselled us to take along a bag of pemican, we found ourselves absolutely without food.
{337} CHAPTER XXVII
Arrival at Fort William—Description of the Fort—News
from the River Columbia
Starving men are early-risers. We set out on the 14th before day, and effected the portage, which is long and difficult. At the foot of the rapid we found a sort of restaurant or cabaret, kept by a man named Boucher.[206] We treated the men to a little eau de vie, and breakfasted on some detestable sausages, poisoned with salt.
After this wretched repast, we set out again, and passed toward noon, the Mountain Portage. Here the river Kaministiquia flings itself over a rock of immense height, and forms a fall scarcely less curious to see than that of Niagara. Below, the succession of falls and rapids is constant, so that we made no fewer than thirty-six portages {338} in the course of the day.[207] Nevertheless we pursued our labo-*
