The river flowed swiftly along between high and steep banks of rock, their slopes clothed with magnificent timber of all kinds. From time to time the stream narrowed so that the travellers were forced to paddle briskly in order to keep ahead of the current. As they approached Kootenay Falls, in Lincoln county, Montana, the river entered a cañon no less than a mile in length, terminating in a gorge where the trail left the river side and meandered along the dizzy slope of steep bed rock, three hundred feet above the level of the stream. An hour and a quarter was necessary for the carry; and they cut their shoes to pieces. The least slip would have meant sure destruction; and they struggled along over the jagged rocks without a grain of earth or sand on them to relieve their crippled feet. On the 14th of May, having followed the winding course of the stream southward across the present international boundary and northward again as far as Kootenay lake, they at length came upon ten tepees of Indians. During all this time, they had shot nothing except for a few antelope and they were nearly famished. Once they came upon the carcase of an antelope, on which an eagle was feeding. Chasing the bird, they seized the meat, but it was tainted and made them all sick. The day following, they encountered the Indians. These, however, had nothing to offer the white men except a few dried carp and some bitter black bread, made of the moss collected from the bark of the resinous fir and the larch. The snows of the mountains were now melting, and the water of the river had risen six feet, overflowing the wide meadows. Owing to the floods, none of the Kootenays were willing to come to the house to trade. To paddle home against the current was impossible. Thompson therefore laid up his canoe, bought horses from the Indians and engaged a guide who undertook to lead him overland by a well-known native trail northeast along the valley of the Grand Quête river to Kootenay House. A day's travel brought them to a large brook, so deep and rapid that the horses could not cross. Thompson selected a large cedar growing by the bank. This he felled so that it lay across the stream and served as a bridge over which they carried their luggage. The horses were taken separately, and by means of a heavy strap of rawhide, dragged kicking and struggling to the further bank. The guide then went hunting, but returned empty handed, and the party went supperless to bed. Early next morning, he killed a small antelope, which was eagerly devoured. But the faint-hearted guide had already had enough. Without warning, he decamped and returned to his people, leaving the white men stranded among the hills, without provisions and utterly ignorant of the country.