The Branch We Navigated Today Is Almost Five Hundred
Yards Wide.
The exhalations from the marshy soil produced a low fog
although the sky above was perfectly clear.
In the course of the day we
passed an Indian encampment of three tents whose inmates appeared to be
in a still more miserable condition than those we saw yesterday. They had
just finished the ceremony of conjuration over some of their sick
companions; and a dog which had been recently killed as a sacrifice to
some deity was hanging to a tree where it would be left (I was told) when
they moved their encampment.
We continued our voyage up the river to the 20th with little variation of
scenery or incident, travelling in that time about thirty miles. The near
approach of winter was marked by severe frosts which continued all day
unless when the sun chanced to be unusually bright and the geese and
ducks were observed to take a southerly course in large flocks. On the
morning of the 20th we came to a party of Indians encamped behind the
bank of the river on the borders of a small marshy lake for the purpose
of killing waterfowl. Here we were gratified with the view of a very
large tent. Its length was about forty feet, its breadth eighteen, and
its covering was moose-deer leather with apertures for the escape of the
smoke from the fires which are placed at each end; a ledge of wood was
placed on the ground on both sides the whole length of the tent, within
which were the sleeping-places, arranged probably according to families;
and the drums and other instruments of enchantment were piled up in the
centre.
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