When they perceived that the strangers were fabricating
canoes, they shook their heads and gave them to understand that the
river was not navigable. Their information, however, was scoffed at by
some of the party, who were obstinately bent on embarkation, but was
confirmed by the exploring party, who returned after several days'
absence. They had kept along the river with great difficulty for two
days, and found it a narrow, crooked, turbulent stream, confined in
a rocky channel, with many rapids, and occasionally overhung with
precipices. From the summit of one of these they had caught a bird's-eye
view of its boisterous career for a great distance through the heart of
the mountain, with impending rocks and cliffs. Satisfied from this view
that it was useless to follow its course, either by land or water, they
had given up all further investigation.
These concurring reports determined Mr. Hunt to abandon Mad River, and
seek some more navigable stream. This determination was concurred in by
all his associates excepting Mr. Miller, who had become impatient of
the fatigue of land travel, and was for immediate embarkation at all
hazards. This gentleman had been in a gloomy and irritated state of mind
for some time past, being troubled with a bodily malady that rendered
travelling on horseback extremely irksome to him, and being, moreover,
discontented with having a smaller share in the expedition than his
comrades.
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