the outlook for stones or logs under water, and who occasionally would have steered my bark. Being obliged to sit on a low seat with my back forward, I was most unfavourably placed for observing obstacles in the way, and, on approaching rapids, I was usually in the very draught of them, before I could discern the proper channel.
The weather has of late been cold during the night, and the season is so far advanced that I cannot calculate on sleeping hereafter in an open boat. To enable me to put my baggage ashore every night, I have procured smaller boxes, to supersede the use of larger ones. Travellers in this country ought not to adopt large boxes, which are the most liable to injury, from the jolting of waggons, and are comparatively unmanageable on every occasion. Eighty or a hundred pounds, are enough for each parcel.
There is not the least appearance of a rise on the river. I have exchanged my pine skiff for a larger and a stronger oak one, and have determined on getting once more upon the water.
During my stay here, I have had the satisfaction of living with a polite and respectable family, which has treated me with the utmost civility; {76} their integrity is beyond suspicion.—If I had entertained any doubt on that head, the very repacking of my baggage would at once have removed it.—My inventory is complete, not a single article is wanting.
